by J. N. Chaney
“It thought you would be bigger,” Jezra said, blinking a few times for good measure. “You know, more savior-like. Oh well, I guess you will have to do. We should probably get started then. Ready to save our world?”
20
“I have so many questions, I don’t even know where to start,” Stacy said, finally lowering her weapon. She took a long, weary sigh.
I felt for her, being just as tired, hungry, and emotionally and mentally drained. I just wanted a plate of food and a warm bed to go curl up in and assume the fetal position. I was reminded of a saying my coach Johnny had for me. He used to say, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”
“What the heck, I’ll bite,” I said, also lowering my weapon. “How are you watching all of us on the screen? I mean, you have drones or something overhead?”
Jezra rose from her seat and shuffled over to me wearing some kind of old sandals on her three-toed feet. She looked at me from all angles then blinked a few times, even poking at my arms and butt.
“Hmmm, yes, yes,” Jezra muttered to herself. “Maybe he is the one. Maybe, maybe, maybe…”
Her voice trailed off as she continued to inspect me like a piece of meat. I had done the same thing to juicy pieces of steak on my dinner plate.
“Excuse me,” I said, turning to look at her again. “Answers? How are you able to see everything on these monitors?”
“I believe the word you use for it is cameras. No, maybe a satellite,” Jezra said, rethinking her own word. “Hold on.”
We watched open-mouthed as Jezra shuffled over to her seat, digging for something in the cushion. She came back with a pair of thin glasses she wrapped around her reptilian head. The lenses of them made her eyes look even larger.
“Ah, that’s better,” Jezra said, coming over to us yet again. “Now does that answer your question?”
“You have satellites?” Stacy asked, looking from Jezra to Tong like he had been holding out on us this entire time. “Why didn’t you tell us you have satellites?”
“Not satellites.” Tong said the word as if he were trying to figure out exactly what it meant. “I could really use Iris to communicate right now. I do not think you would call them satellites. We have a low-flying station that is able to pick up images at great distances.”
“Uh, yeah, sounds like a satellite to me,” I said.
“Is it in space?” Stacy asked.
“No, not in space. Low flying in our orbit, just visible to the naked eye if you knew where in the sky to look,” Tong answered.
While they were going over the definition of what a satellite was, Mutt went over to sniff at Jezra.
Jezra, unlike Tong, did not seem to be as amused with our mascot. She shooed him away with an open hand. When that didn’t work, she lightly hissed at him to be gone.
Mutt stopped growling at her and thought it was a game. His tail started to wag and he jumped from side to side.
“No, no, shhh, shhhh,” Jezra said, waving both hands at the dog. The motion only excited Mutt more.
“Easy, buddy,” I told Mutt. “Let’s leave this priestess or seer or whatever she is alone for the time being. We need more answers from her.”
Mutt looked at me with his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth. He pretended to pounce on Jezra one more time for good measure. She recoiled, then Mutt grinned and came back to my side.
“Filthy four paws.” Jezra scowled at him.
“So getting back to topic,” Stacy said, taking in the room once more. “You’ve been watching us and learned English when Iris taught Tong? You can hear us? Why haven’t you been communicating with us? Why didn’t you let Tong know you were awake?”
“So many questions, so many questions.” Jezra said, rolling her eyes. “The answer is yes and no, like so many answers tend to be. If you have so many questions, why aren’t you asking me why I woke from our hyper sleep? Why aren’t you asking how I control the fog and mist monsters?”
“Well, yeah, I was getting around to that,” Stacy said, doing a double take. “Did you just say you controlled them?”
“Yes, yes, that’s right,” Jezra said, leaning back in her chair. She pressed the fingertips from both hands together, creating a steeple. “I did not reach out to you when the Orion crashed for two reasons. I can only hear audio transmission, not send it. Also, I was not sure you were the Children of the Dawn until this very moment.”
I exchanged looks with Stacy again.
“Why weren’t you sure until now?” I asked her. My frustration was starting to show through in my tone. I didn’t care. “Why didn’t you know right away if you foretold this whole prophecy?”
“My vision came to me and I knew our savior would come in an alien race of people. Two would rise up as lovers to lead the charge—those two are standing right in front of me now,” Jezra said as if it were fact. “I knew Tong believed you to be the Children of the Dawn but I was not completely sure until I saw you two look at one another. It was the same look in my vision, the very same look.”
I intentionally didn’t look over at Stacy, nor did I acknowledge the fact that Jezra referred to us as lovers. It was just a little too much.
“So you monitored us with some kind of low-flying satellite and you learned English by spying on us, but how did you wake up?” I questioned. “Tong said his people were in hyper sleep. Only he was supposed to wake up when we arrived.”
“Unless he was lying to us,” Stacy said with steel in her voice, narrowing her eyes at him.
“No, no,” Tong insisted, looking back at us. He shook his head wildly. “I did not lie. That was what was supposed to happen.”
“He speaks the truth,” Jezra confirmed, placing her hands onto her lap as she muttered something under her breath.
We all stood silent, waiting for her to continue.
She muttered more under her breath. It wasn’t English.
“Well, how or why did you wake up? How long have you been awake?” Stacy blurted out.
“Ahhh, there is the question I’ve been waiting to answer,” Jezra said, nodding along with Stacy’s words. She repeated them again. “How long have I been awake?”
Jezra mumbled to herself, counting her three fingers on each hand, then going down to her toes and counting those. She went back to counting her toes and fingers over and over again, then finally lifted her head with a smile. “Sixty-eight years. I’ve been awake sixty-eight years, three months, two weeks, five days, nine minutes, and eight seconds if I am using human means of time correctly. And I’ll be the first to say I’m probably not.”
“Sixty-eight years?” I took a step back in shock. “You’ve been awake sixty-eight years all by yourself? Here?”
“I have been hard at work preparing for your arrival and securing our location as well as providing the means in which to defeat Legion and the Rung,” Jezra said, blinking at us through her thick-framed lenses. “I was awoken from my hyper sleep by yet another prophecy. Instead of going back to sleep, I elected to remain awake and prepare.”
“Another prophecy?” Tong asked with awe in his voice. “Please, tell us. What did you see?”
Even I had to admit this Jezra chick had me on the edge of my seat. If she was right about us coming to their planet, what else could she be right about?
“That is not to be told at this time,” Jezra said, rising from her seat. “But come, you all looked famished and in need of rest and a shower if I detect the odor correctly.”
“Not so fast,” I said, still wanting to know more despite the angry roar my stomach made in protest. “The fog, those creatures in the mist—what are they? They killed some of my people when we landed.”
“Yes, I couldn’t stop them in time,” Jezra said. For the first time, I saw regret wash over her wrinkled face. “I did stop them from killing you, though.”
“What are they?” Stacy asked again.
“I knew I couldn’t chance either the Rung finding this installation or Legion until he
was wiped out,” Jezra said. “When I awoke, I created the mist around this marsh as well as the creatures through scientific engineering. The creature already existed in a way. I only made them larger through experimentation. I also gave them the ability to permanently walk on land.”
“The sawg?” Tong asked.
“Yes,” Jezra answered. “The sawg already indigenous to our planet were upgraded in a way. They became my protectors that live in the mist.”
“I still have a million questions, but I could use some food and I’m sure Arun would like something to eat now as well,” I said, motioning for the door. “Lead on.”
Jezra nodded then headed out of the chamber and to the circular stairs leading to the first floor.
I hung back with Stacy.
“You buying all of this?” I asked under my breath.
“Something seems off,” Stacy said, shaking her head. “Everything has an answer that fits too perfectly in line.”
“Yeah, and she’s kooky as an old bat,” I said. “I don’t think she’s playing with a full deck, if you know what I mean.”
“Eyes open,” Stacy said with a nod. “We’ll talk with Arun and see how she wants to play all of this.”
Up ahead, we followed Tong and Jezra to the eating area. It turned out to be nothing more than an open room with tables and chairs. There was no kitchen or service line, just a number of square openings in the wall. Above each opening was a display screen with a series of buttons.
I watched, interested, as Tong and Jezra each went up to their own square in the wall. They maneuvered through the display screen, pressing buttons and swiping until they each decided on a food item, or what I guessed were food items.
After they each selected their meals, they pressed a button. A moment later, the food they’d decided upon came out on a tray from further into the wall.
“What the f—”
“How did you do that?” Stacy asked, cutting me off.
“Oh of course.” Tong waved us over to an empty square in the wall. He showed us how to maneuver through the options for food. “This is called a—a nutrition creator. I think those would be the words closest to it in your language at least. You can scroll through food options here. Once you’ve decided on something, you select it and then press this button.”
Tong ran through the process, looking at us with a nod.
Jezra took her food to one of the tables and started to eat.
Stacy and I followed Tong’s instructions, going through choices we didn’t understand. I stopped my sideways scrolling on something that looked like a bowl of spaghetti. I knew it couldn’t be spaghetti, but it looked like white noodles with meat sauce on it.
“What do you think, Mutt?” I looked down, asking him. “How much like spaghetti could this taste?”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jezra and Tong speaking. Jezra motioned to the door of the room and the two stood up and walked over. I wasn’t sure what they were talking about. It was in their own tongue again, but Tong looked worried.
I saw motion coming from the square opening in the wall. My bowl of definitely not spaghetti came to rest in front of me on a conveyer-like belt. It smelled like tuna.
“Dean!” Stacy yelled so loud from right next to me she nearly gave me a heart attack.
“I know, I know, it can’t be spaghetti smelling like that,” I said, looking back at my bowl of food.
“No, the doors!” Stacy yelled again.
I looked over to where she pointed. A clear glass door to the room we were in separated us from Jezra and Tong. On the other side of the door, Tong looked just as confused as we were.
White gas from the ventilation shafts overhead poured inside our room.
Mutt started to bark. He raced for the closed door and jumped at it. Despite throwing his weight at the barrier, it didn’t move.
Stacy and I followed, already coughing as the gas filled our lungs.
“Let us out! What are you doing!?” Stacy screamed, slamming her fists into the white door as we reached it. “Tong, open the door.”
Tong’s mouth was moving, but we couldn’t hear a word. He slammed on the door from his side.
When I joined them, I caught sight of Jezra lifting something out of her robe. It was a short piece of steel.
“Tong, behind you!” I screamed, lending my own weight toward bringing down the door.
Already my head felt lighter, courtesy of whatever gas was being pumped into the room. I coughed, still trying to point behind Tong at Jezra. The old Remboshi wore a look of utter madness in her eyes.
Jezra brought her weapon down on the back of Tong’s head hard. He crumpled to the ground in front of us.
I slammed my fists into the door so hard, the entire clear door shook but didn’t break.
I started to cough, my head swimming.
“Stand—stand back,” Stacy said, lifting her weapon to the door. Her movements were slow as if she were performing them under water.
I fell backward.
BOOM!
Stacy sent a round into the glass door. It didn’t do a thing. Mutt was already unconscious next to me. The last thing I remembered before blackness came for me were Jezra’s huge eyes peering down at us from the other side of the door.
21
One second I was on the floor, thinking, There goes my chance to see if it tasted like spaghetti at all, the next I was awake on the ground in a circular-shaped room. The room was big enough to fit a dozen crawlers inside. Lights set into the two-story ceiling gave me enough illumination to know I was alone.
Two doors set on opposite sides of the room were the only way in and out. There were no windows.
I dragged my sorry behind from the ground, thinking I should have seen this one coming. I was putting too much trust in people these days. I knew there was something off about the Remboshi prophetess. Something hadn’t seemed right about her from the start.
My head started to clear from whatever it was I had been gassed with.
What the heck, might as well try the doors, I told myself. It’s not like you have anything to lose.
I tried the two doors in the room without luck. Worry laced my thoughts, not for myself but for everyone else.
Tong, Stacy, Arun, Ricky, and even Mutt were in danger. Who knew what the mad Remboshi had done to them.
“Oh, I see you are awake.” Jezra’s voice filled the room. “I will give you a moment for your head to clear from the Niox.”
“Why are you doing this to us, you old bag?” I asked to the ceiling. I couldn’t tell where her voice was coming from. My best guess was there were speakers mounted somewhere overhead. “I thought you said you believed us, that we are the Children of the Dawn?”
“I do believe that, but I have been wrong before.” Jezra laughed as though she had just shared something funny. “These are my people’s lives that hang on your shoulders. I have to not only be sure, I have to be positive without a shadow of a doubt.”
“What did you do with everyone else?” I asked, clenching my hands into fists. “Where are they?”
“Rest assured I am only holding them in cells for the time being,” Jezra answered. “They are safe. Even your smaller friend that was wounded and the woman with him are cared for. I locked them in the medical wing.”
“How generous of you,” I said through bared teeth.
“Despite what you may think, I am not your enemy,” Jezra said.
I laughed.
“Yeah, okay,” I said, shaking my head. “I might have believed that before I saw you crack Tong over the head and gas Stacy, Mutt, and me.”
“Tong would not see reason. He refused to have you endure the tribunal.” Jezra sighed. “I had to do what I did to ensure you are the one.”
“Listen, lady,” I said, raising my hands into the air. “I don’t even want to know what a tribunal is. I’m not going to play any of your games. Being awake so long by yourself has warped your mind, you feeble old bat. You’re not th
inking straight. Let me out of this room and we’ll take Ricky and the supplies we need to defeat Legion, then we’ll be on our way.”
“You keep using terms to describe me like ‘bag’ and ‘bat,’” Jezra said over the speaker. “But I wonder what they mean.”
“Nothing good,” I promised.
“Look to your left, if you would,” Jezra said.
I really didn’t want to, but what else was I going to do? Go sit in a corner and feel sorry for myself? Not my style.
With one door behind me and the other on the opposite side of the circular room, I looked left to the plain wall.
This chick has really lost her mind, I thought to myself. How did I not see exactly how crazy she was before?
A portion of the wall receded a few inches, then up into the ceiling. A monitor flicked to life, showing Jezra on one side and three smaller squares giving me views of my friends.
True to her word, the monitors showed Ricky and Arun safe and in the medical wing. Ricky was actually sitting up and aware. He looked better—tired, but better.
Stacy and Mutt were together in a room not unlike my own but much smaller. Mutt walked back and forth nervously. Stacy was studying the door to her room, no doubt trying to think of a way to get out.
Lastly, Tong stood alone in a room much like the smaller circular room Stacy and Mutt were in. The alien sat down in the middle of the room with a look of resignation.
“See,” Jezra said with a smile. “I have not hurt them, only placed them in rooms until we know with certainty that you are the Great Dawn. Like you said, I have been awake for too long. My brain is not what it used to be. What if I am mistaken? What if there is a one percent chance that you are not the Great Dawn and I doom my people by giving over all of our supplies and assets to you?”
I remained quiet for a moment, studying Jezra on the right side of the monitor. I beat myself up for not giving her enough credit. Single-handedly, she had captured all five of us—six if you counted Mutt. There was so much more to her than met the eye.
