Ghosts of Ophidian (12 page)

Eighteen

Conner lay there in his bed staring at the ceiling above him. Dawn shivered suddenly, drawing her leg overtop him as he held her. Three nights ago, she came to his room asking if they could share a bed. She promised that her question was pure in nature and that even with three blankets; she was too cold and would often wake up shivering.

Conner was more than happy to invite her into his bed, as he also couldn’t seem to stay warm at night especially if he lost part of the covers in his sleep. As they grew closer throughout their days together, the kisses became more frequent and their conversations grew more intimate. He knew in spite of himself that he was falling in love with her and she with him, but neither had the courage to speak the actual word to each other, whether in English or Ophidian.

So when she stood in that doorway three nights previous and asked if she could share his bed, he could think of nothing he wanted more
in the whole universe. Even if he had to hold her all night and struggle to control his desires, he would gladly share his bed.

He wondered on this particular evening if the pretense of wanting to share their body heat beneath the covers was actually just a way to conceal that she was afraid to be alone on the ship anymore.
Everywhere she went, she somehow managed to bring him with her. Even when she bathed, she somehow always manufactured a conversation that required he stay outside the door to continue talking to her. He didn’t mind it at all and as a matter fact, he enjoyed their conversations. He only worried how long it could continue before they both started searching for some time alone and away from each other.

He didn’t ever recall looking for time away from Nicole, so he wondered if that could ever happen now with Dawn. With Nicole, he was always searching for more and more time to be with her.
When she died, he reevaluated every moment they had spent together and wondered if he had made the best of those moments. Then he reevaluated the time they had spent apart and questioned whether those moments were even necessary.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked.

“Just… life,” he sighed, running his fingers through her hair, “I thought you were asleep.”

“You look sad and I heard you sigh three or four times,” she said, “Really,
tell me what’s wrong.”

He bent down and kissed her forehead.

“She’s haunting you again, isn’t she?” Dawn asked.

He tilted his head back and looked at her.

“Am I that transparent?” he asked, “You haven’t even known me long enough to be seeing through me.”

“I just have a
sixth sense when it comes to other women,” she said, “I can always tell when another woman has a hold on my man and right now, Conner, you’re my man whether you like it or not.”

“So that means that
Nicole is ‘the other woman’,” he muttered, “I’m sorry that I’m such a haunted man.”

“How long has it been?” she asked, tracing her fingertips across his chest.

“Three years,” he said, “I started dating her through the mail my last year in the Navy. When I got my discharge, I asked her to marry me. She said no.”

“No?” she
leaned up on her elbow and looked at him.

“She said that we didn’t know each other well enough because most of our dating had been spent on the phone or in letters. So we started dating
in a more physical sense,” he said, “It was nice. She was an elementary school teacher and I was leasing a boat while determined to start my own business. The next time I asked her to marry me, she said yes.”

“But you never married,” she said.

“No,” he said, “She died in a diving accident.”

He sighed again, then looked down at her, trying to force something of a smile for her.

“Were you there?” she asked.

“Yes, that’s the worst part,” he said, “We were on a dive in a blue hole in the Caribbean. A
‘blue hole’ is something like an underwater cave system. Divers love exploring these and I’d already taken her through one before. This one was like a random hole going straight down into the sea floor.

“We were down about
a hundred and fifty feet in a small cave when something went wrong with her equipment. She panicked and pulled the regulator from her mouth. I swam over to her. The worst part is, we’d gone over everything before and she was smart as a whip, so I don’t know why she didn’t…”

“You don’t need to do this, Conner,” Dawn said, rubbing his chest with her hand, “I’m sorry for asking.”

“No, it’s fine. You might as well know who it is that haunts ‘your man’,” he said with a broken smile, “Anyway, she panicked and went for the surface. I couldn’t catch her and even if I had, she would have probably knocked me out in her frantic state. I found out later that it was a faulty regulator that took her life - something that could have been resolved by her simply grabbing her spare or borrowing mine. Hers was a meaningless and
easily
preventable death.”

“I’m so sorry, Conner,” she said, laying her head on his chest.

He drew the blanket up over her shoulders and held her to him.

“I’m sorry for sticking you with damaged goods,” he said, “I’ll bet you wish you’d have known this before you signed up.”

“I knew you were damaged since that day in the rec room at the BEQ,” she said, “I can handle a damaged Conner, but the question presents itself. Will you trust me to help put the pieces back together.”

“If anyone could do it, I think it’d be you, Dawn.”

Nineteen

After a breakfast of the same alien food they always consumed, they grabbed their bags and weapons and headed toward the cargo hold. They returned to their regular activity of quizzing each other on the new language they were learning as well as asking the AI for assistance with unknown words.

When they arrived at
the same door that had nearly smashed Conner the last time, they stopped. Conner brought out one of the charges he had prepared and placed it on the door.

“The last time I did this, I was wearing a space suit with bulky gloves,” he said, setting the timer, “It sure is easier without gloves on.”

“Hey, did you notice that this place doesn’t smell as musty as it used to back when we first removed our helmets?” Dawn asked.

“I’m sure it smells the same. We’re probably just used to it
now,” he said.

He ran away from the door, grabbing Dawn by the hand on his way. A moment later, the door exploded into the cargo hold, then slid noisily across the floor for several yards.

“Oopa!” an alien voice hollered the word for “go” from somewhere inside the cargo hold.

“Vee oclan ee!” Dawn shouted, running to the open doorway.

They saw none of the ghosts as they rushed into the cargo hold. They continued running; searching down the corridors between the buildings as they went. It wasn’t until they located the open cells that they saw two red-hooded wraiths running aft in the distance.

“We are friends!” Conner called in their language, “Please talk to us.”

“I don’t think our explosive entrance really helped our cause,” Dawn said, catching her breath as she walked toward the open cells, “Uh… and I think they freed some more of their people since we last visited.”

He counted the open cells and verified that now there would be eleven ghosts
they would be forced to contend with now. Dawn then tapped Conner on the shoulder and pointed up at the catwalk above the cells he’d been staring at.

A level above
, one of the red-cloaked specters was holding onto the railing and looking down at them. Its face, partially hidden beneath the large hooded outfit, was that of an Ophidian. The creature showed no fear as it examined them.

“We are not your enemies,” Dawn said in Ophidian, setting her bag down onto the floor and stepping away from it, “We are
far from our home and we’re confused by what has been happening around here.”

“You
are friends of the slave masters,” the creature said.

“Who are the slave masters?” Conner asked, hoping he pronounced the unfamiliar word correctly.

“The one who speaks loudly to you,” he said, “The one who speaks your alien tongue and then teaches you our own.”

“The AI,” Conner said, “We call it
‘AI’. So far, it is the only one who has taken the time to speak to us. We only know what it tells us.”

“Then
you are a slave to the link,” he said, “Like these.”

The creature
gestured toward the cells around it. Conner realized in that moment that several of the cells behind the Ophidian were also open. They had woken many others using whatever hacking method they had used on the others.

“We don’t know what that means, but whatever it is, we wish to know more,” Dawn said, “We want to know why you are hiding and why you won’t talk to us.”

“You are aliens and we don’t know you. We don’t know if we can trust you. You blow up doors,” he stated.

“You have found the ghosts,” the AI interrupted, “I can hear them, but I still don’t see them.”

“The slave master has employed you to find us!” the Ophidian said, “So you see why you can’t be trusted.”

“As I stated before, we’ve only had a chance to speak to the… to the slave master,” Conner explained, “Please tell us what is going on. Tell us why you call it the slave master. Tell us why you are the enemy of this ship’s pilot.”

The Ophidian looked toward the rear of the ship, then looked to Conner again. It appeared to be considering his request.

“If you wish to talk, you will wear these
robes and leave all your supplies on the floor. Only then will you be permitted to follow me to the electricians lab,” the Ophidian said.

It reached into a barrel on the catwalk and drew out two red robes. It tossed them down to
Dawn and Conner who caught the fluttering clothing.

“They refer to me as slave master, but this confuses me,” the AI stated while Conner and Dawn tried to don their robes, “My only task and mission is to take this ship and its cargo to a life supporting planet.”

“Who programmed you with this mission of yours, Slave Master?” the Ophidian said, moving down the catwalk toward the stairs.

“I do not have a
ny memory of the time proceeding my inception, so I cannot answer this question of yours,” the AI replied, “Conner? Dawn? Where did you go?”

“I’m right here,” Conner stated, looking around the room.

“You are now invisible to the slave master,” the Ophidian stated, “These robes were smuggled aboard by our savior, Eilkenon. They are woven with ponia fibres which perform as a damper of electrical signals and conceal the warmth of our bodies, rendering the slave master blind.”

“I don’t understand half of what you just said,” Dawn said.

“The ghost is telling you that there was a conspiracy that started long before we left the home world. It seems that I am the enemy of the Ah Fidonay, though I’m uncertain how this has happened or what this theory is based upon,” the AI stated.

“The ignorance of the slave master is not unexpected,” the Ophidian said,
motioning for Conner and Dawn to join him near the stairs, “Follow me. We will be able to talk in private beyond the cryochambers.”

Conner placed his bag on the floor then held onto his P90 for a moment longer while he considered what to do with it. Dawn patted him on the back and whispered in English for him to leave it. He removed the magazine from the P90, then cocked the weapon, causing the
remaining bullet to be ejected from its chamber. He placed the weapon into his bag, then took a hold of Dawn’s hand.

“It’s all or nothing from this point, I guess,” he whispered to her, “This could be the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.”

“Or the most heroic,” she replied, “You already saved the world, so now you get a chance to save another world.”

He chuckled. They approached the Ophidian who had his back to them as he led them aft.

“I am not a slave master, Conner and Dawn,” the AI stated.

Twenty

A door opened on the aft wall of the cargo hold as they approached. The Ophidian stepped into the doorway, then waited for them to join him in the corridor beyond. The door closed behind them after they entered.

“My name is B
elfenon. The slave master cannot hear us anywhere aft of the cryochamber,” the Ophidian said, “I did not wish for Slave Master to know my name.”

“I am Conner and this is Dawn,” Conner stated, “We truly are here with peaceful intentions and we are not under the employ of the slave master.”

“Slave Master asked us to fix the sabotaged cables in the cargo… in the cryochamber,” she said, using the unfamiliar word they had for the cargo hold, “We haven’t repaired them and didn’t intend to do so until we reached a hospitable planet.”

“You must not fix those or Slave Master will discover that we are overriding the implants and freeing our species,” Belfenon stated.

“You use a lot of words we haven’t learned,” Conner said, “We are very limited in our knowledge of your language. Please treat us like children as you speak.”

“
Understood. Let us walk while we talk,” the Ophidian said, leading the way through the corridor, “Slave Master cannot know that we are freeing our people from this.”

He lowered his hood and pointed to a metal circle imbedded into the side of his head. They noticed in that moment that the circle was sunk into his skull with a
deep socket-like appearance in the middle.

“Our people have been slaves to the Gods of Pli for more than a million years,” he
explained, “You can remove your hoods now. I just didn’t want the slave master to see where I was taking you. He cannot see you in here.”

“Again, some of these words you use, we
simply don’t know. Who are the Gods of Pli?” Conner asked.

“All in due time,” Belfenon stated, “I am taking you to the electrician’s lab where you can meet Eilkenon
himself. He can probably explain things better to you.”

The sight of the metal socket in the side of the alien’s head continued to draw Conner’s attention. He couldn’t imagine it not
causing the Ophidian some pain, especially since it appeared to sink deep into the Ophidian’s brain.

“Stop staring,” Dawn whispered in English.

“That’s got to hurt,” he said, clenching his teeth.

The Ophidian opened a door and invited them into the room. As they entered the room, two Ophidians caught sight of them and leapt from their seats.

“Belfenon!” one shouted, “What is this?”

“You bring the aliens in here?” the other shouted in shock.

Conner raised his hands up in mock surrender.

“Friends,” Conner said.

“These are slaves just like us,” Belfenon stated, “The slave master has tricked them into staying aboard to help him regain access to the cryochambers.”

“So you befriend them
like an idiot and bring them here?” one asked, retrieving an object from the wall and aiming it at them.

Dawn gasped when she realized it was something of an alien crossbow with a wickedly
sharp bolt jutting from the business end. Conner stepped in front of her, keeping his hands up in surrender.

“We have come in peace and only want to learn what is going on,” Conner stated, “Would you kill an innocent creature?”

“You are not innocent,” he replied, jabbing the crossbow as he spoke, “You damage the integrity of the ship, then make it worse by blowing up the doors. We now risk death on a daily basis because of the flimsy door you made to repair the hole in our hull.”

“This ship was in orbit around our planet and we received no replies to our hails,” Conner said, “What would you do if the situation was
reversed? We needed to board the ship and find out why it was here.”

“And you find it full of our people, so you send it off with a paper door to fix the damage you’ve done,” he replied, “Because we’re not important.”

“Paper door?” Conner asked.

“Gorilla
Tape,” Dawn said in English, “I think they sort of have a point.”

“It’s all we had with us to fix the damage,” he said in Ophidian, “Get me some welding supplies and a sheet of metal and I’ll gladly fix the damage we’ve done. We seriously mean you no harm.”

“There, you see?” Belfenon said, “Now put the weapon away.”

“We already fixed the damage as I’m sure you already know,” the alien said to Conner, “You know about everything we’ve been doing. I’ve seen you two inspecting everything for the slave master.”

“They don’t work for the slave master!” Belfenon stated, “Now put the weapon down before I tell Eilkenon how you treated my guests.”

“Your guests?” he replied in disgust, aiming the weapon now at Belfenon, “You are merely an Awakener, Belfenon. You risked the success of the mission of those who are doing the
real
work here.”

“We think the slave master may have tricked us,” Dawn said, slipping out from behind Conner, “Up until a little while ago, the only person we spoke to was the slave master. We only knew what i
t told us. We only want to know what is really going on here.”

“We have come to you without weapons or explosives,” Conner said,
again showing his empty hands to the Ophidian, “And we’d appreciate the same gesture in return.”

“Drop the weapon, Tippenon,” a
deep voice came from the passage behind them, “This is not how we treat ambassadors who speak of peace.”

The Ophidian
immediately lowered the weapon and lowered his head almost apologetically. Conner turned to see who it was that had just spoken those words. Belfenon was stepping out his way as he entered the room.

“You risk it all for information?” the creature asked, “You leave your weapons behind and risk death or torture?”

“The evidence suggests that you are an intelligent race that doesn’t kill the innocent,” Conner said, “Otherwise we would have been killed two nights ago when one of your people was in our bedroom.”

“What?” Dawn gasped.

“I believe it was the one you call Tippenon. I know defiance when I see it and I think I saw it that night,” Conner said.

“You don’t know me, Alien!” Tippenon shouted, raising his weapon again.

“Tippenon!” the Ophidian shouted.

“He carried a
jagged blade in his hand as he stood near the door watching us sleep,” Conner said, “And I reminded him that only a
coward
would kill an innocent and unarmed creature. He growled at me, then rushed out of the bedroom.”

Tippenon was growling even now as he held the weapon firmly. Conner nodd
ed, then turned to the Ophidian who had reprimanded Tippenon earlier.

“I had a weapon at my bedside even t
hen, but I didn’t reach for it. I could have killed him long before he reached the bed with his blade. You have nothing to worry about from me or Dawn,” Conner said.

“I am Eilkenon,” the Ophidian beside Conner stated, “I am the first of the free and have devoted my life to freeing others.”

“I am Conner and this is Dawn,” he said, drawing his arm around her waist and pulling her close, “We hail from a planet we call Earth. The planet this ship last orbited.”

“It is nice to meet you. I understand the purpose you had for gaining access to the ship and for insisting on its departure. I don’t however understand your continued presence aboard this ship,” Eilkenon stated.

“We had to make a promise in order to get the slave master to agree to leave our planet,” Conner said, “It was a promise I don’t believe the Ah Fidonay would want me to keep.”

“A promise to give the slave master access to the cryochambers again,” he stated.

“Yes,” Conner said, “And this is why I am here with you right now. I want to know if this promise should or should not be kept. I have an open mind and don’t wish to make any stupid decisions.”

“See what I mean, Eilkenon?” Tippenon blared, “We kill them now and we don’t have to worry about whether they agree with us or not.”

“They are of a civilized race, Tippenon,” he replied, “And they have requested a civil audience with us. You embarrass me and all the Ah Fidonay with your continued outbursts. I don’t know if I should permit your continued presence.”

“We understand his reluctance to trust us, Eilkenon,” Dawn said,
reaching out and touching the alien’s forearm, “I feel I’d have a little trouble also if I were in his position.”

Eilkenon nodded, then reached out and touched her chin. She looked at him cur
iously as he drew his hand back. He then reached out and touched Conner’s chin.

“This is a gesture of trust with the Ah Fidonay,” Eilkenon explained, “To touch one’s chin is to show
a blind trust in the other person.”

Conner nodded, then reached ou
t cautiously toward the Ophidian. He touched his chin, then smiled at the creature. Dawn also touched the creature’s chin.

“Let’s depart this lab and meet somewhere more comfortable,” Eilkenon said, turning to the others in the room, “You are all welcome to join us, but only if you can remain civil.”