Authors: Craig Gaydas
Jasper huffed. Like father-like daughter, I thought whimsically.
She turned quickly before I could tear my eyes away. “What is your issue?”
I swallowed audibly. It was like trying to shove a basketball through a garden hose. “Um…n-nothing. Well, I saw your weapon and I believe it is missing something.” I gestured toward the hilt.
“Oh?” She glanced down and removed the weapon.
Holding it out in front of her she pointed it toward me. I felt a burning sensation along the base of my throat and fell back against the wall. She smiled but continued to point the hilt toward me.
“What the hell?” I placed my hand to my neck and put it in front of my face. Despite the lack of blood I continued to experience a faint burning sensation.
She turned her wrist and the weapon captured the light at the right angle. It had a clear blade, curved like a scimitar, which reflected the iridescent lighting in the room. It sparkled off of the weapon like the moon off a lake. She lowered it, the blade retreating out of view when it passed from the light, and reattached it to her hip.
“Never assume anything, human,” she muttered, repeating what Satou warned long ago. “Behind every door lies danger.”
“Well, that's comforting,” I grumbled.
“The DFS Pandora is ready if needed,” she said to Calypso.
I turned to Satou and whispered, “What the heck is a DFS Pandora?”
“DFS stands for Defense Fleet Starship. The Pandora is a starship.” Kedge replied.
“Wait a minute, I did not approve the use of Defense Fleet resources!” Kale cried.
“I stress the words
if needed
,” Lianne countered. “My presence here has been approved by Embeth. He became concerned about the lack of contact after your hostile encounter.”
I couldn't see Kale's reaction underneath the tinted glass of his helmet, but I assumed he wasn't happy with the latest developments.
“Thank you, Lianne,” Calypso replied. Turning to me, he asked, “Are you ready?”
I shrugged, no longer concerned about my personal safety with Lianne looming over my shoulder. “I guess I'm as ready as I will ever be.”
“We have Shuttle Navetta standing by,” Jasper said. He caught sight of Satou's frown and added, “Don't worry we repaired what needed to be repaired and I promise it is ready.”
An icy tendril snaked its way around my heart. I was angry about the needless deaths of Madoc and Crag'Dughai, but my desire to know what Kedge had to say outweighed my desire for revenge. I couldn't shake the feeling the Consortium wasn't telling me the whole story, and I believed my meeting with Kedge would provide me the opportunity to fill the gaps—at least I hoped it would. I needed to channel my anger into something productive and make sure their deaths weren't in vain.
“It is what it is,” I replied. “Let's go.” I strolled past Gard and met his gaze. He gave me a slight nod and I felt better knowing I had a companion for the voyage.
Calypso led me to the docking bay along with Satou. Lianne insisted on coming along but Kale was not done expressing his objections, and she reluctantly remained behind to weather the storm. We entered the docking bay and Calypso wished me luck before leaving to attend to other matters. Satou escorted me into the shuttle and took his place in the pilot's chair.
“Be safe down there, Nathan,” he urged. “Try to get as much information as you can so we can discover his intentions.” He handed me a radio communicator. “If you need assistance, all you need to do is call us. I can promise you that we will not be far away.”
I accepted the radio and tried to fight the sinking sensation in my stomach. If I ran into trouble with Kedge, I doubted that he would allow me the time to call for help. I remembered the force with which he knocked me back and his hateful expression before he vanished into the woods. He had a staff almost as big as me and the ability to disappear at will, what the hell could I do against that?
As if sensing my self-doubt, Satou placed a comforting hand upon my shoulder. “It will be OK. The fact that he requested an audience with you instead of attacking us outright is a positive sign.”
I frowned. “You keep saying things will be OK, but it seems that it gets worse as time goes on. It was supposed to be OK before Crag and Madoc were killed. Everything was supposed to be OK because the Lumagom were destroyed `long ago' but here I am about to come face-to-face with their leader.” I felt a familiar swelling in my eyes but refused to cry. My ability to be a normal, hormonal teenager had been stolen from me and it was time to become a man.
Satou resigned himself to the facts. “I don't know what to say, all I can offer you is hope.”
I chuckled humorlessly. It was unintentional, but it popped out nonetheless. “I
hope
for our sake we have more than that.”
I entered the shuttle and strapped myself in. Satou took the controls and Gard took the spot as copilot and helped guide the shuttle out of the docking bay. Not one word passed between us until we broke the planet's atmosphere.
“This is the Navetta requesting coordinates to land, please respond.”
Kedge's voice boomed over the intercom. “You are cleared to land at the coordinates I have uploaded to your ship's computer.”
I gazed at the familiar violet ocean and déjà vu took over. This time we flew over the pink trees, passed the mountain and landed in a field which resembled a wheat field. As soon as we touched down, five figures emerged from their wheat camouflage and approached the shuttle. Satou lowered the ramp and Kedge led the contingent toward the ramp to await my descent. I drew in a deep breath, unbuckled the safety harness and glanced at Satou one last time. His eyes filled with regret.
“Good luck,” he offered weakly.
I nodded my appreciation before descending the ramp. Gard followed me and as I walked down the ramp I felt like a death row inmate, staring at the bottom like it was the door to the execution chamber.
The brightness of the sun blinded me temporarily when I stepped from the shuttle. I looked away to clear my vision then continued my journey forward with my hand over my eyes. Kedge stood about thirty feet in front of me and surrounded by four other individuals of various races, reminding me of my initial experience aboard the Cirrus. A reptilian character stood to his left, which I assumed to be a Tyrrian. To the right was an Orgellian and next to him was a small, badger-like alien who stared down his snout at me, his beady eyes refusing to blink. It wasn't until I set eyes on the fourth character that I fell back a step. Shock rendered me speechless. It was Madoc.
“Oh my God, Madoc you are
alive
,” I blurted.
A confused expression spread across his face and he glanced at Kedge nervously. Kedge returned the look briefly before fixing me with an amused nod.
“I understand your confusion, but this is not who you think it is. He hails from the planet Exorg 7, which is why you confuse him for someone else. They do have a tendency to look alike.”
I mentally face-palmed myself. “Oh yeah right, my bad. Sorry I was overcome by a bit of emotion after seeing someone who had been so viciously murdered in cold blood.”
I stared at him, my lips forming a thin line of anger, but he did not back down and I eventually looked away. A centuries old alien would win a staring contest over a rookie teenaged wannabe astronaut any day of the week.
“What is that?” Kedge pointed behind me.
“That is Gard, my robotic companion. The Consortium figured I shouldn't come here alone and I guess they were correct since you didn't.” I motioned toward his contingent.
Kedge chuckled. “If I wanted to kill you, Nathan Chambers, I would have just destroyed your ship.” He circled around Gard. “And honestly, I am not sure your companion would be much defense against the five of us.”
“So what do you want with me?” I asked, my anger rising.
Instead of answering he turned toward his group. “You can leave us now. He didn't come alone, but he didn't come with the security force I anticipated either.”
The group walked toward the mountain and disappeared among the trees. I folded my arms across my chest and tried to maintain the fiercest scowl I could, but failed miserably. Kedge's aura of power wilted me like a decade-old flower.
“I suppose you are wondering why I asked you here?”
“It's crossed my mind,” I retorted.
“That is what makes us unique,” he chuckled. “Our sense of humor. Never lose who you are, Nathan Chambers.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
Kedge waved his hand dismissively. “Never mind, let's return to the task at hand. I called you here because you and I are the only humans among the stars. We have achieved greatness. We are the last of our kind.”
I shook my head. “I told you there is a whole planet of humans on Earth.”
It was his turn to shake his head. “When I left you, I returned to my ship and accessed the Consortium's planetary files. After our conversation, you had me intrigued to say the least.”
“How did you manage that?” I asked skeptically.
“I have my ways, but never mind that. I looked up your `Earth',” he muttered, his gaze distant.
“So you know I'm right,” I interjected.
He held up his hand. “Now wait a minute, I found something of interest. Something you may have missed, or didn't have access to.”
I sat down on a nearby rock and peered at him, awaiting the great revelation he had for me.
“While I was scanning the data on their computers I learned that you are their new Cartographer. I guess I should offer my congratulations eventually, but we have more important matters. This means that you have access to the universal map and I assume its function have been explained to you?”
I nodded.
“Good, so that saves us some time. Anyway, Ales Banda was the designer of the map, and during his travels with the Explorer's League he discovered wormholes on each planet.”
I waved my hand impatiently, indicating that I was aware of all of that. Kedge didn't appreciate my impatience and fixed me with a hard look.
“This is how I know for sure you're human. Impatience is one of their many faults.”
“I'm sorry,” I lied.
“Mars had two wormholes. Ales led a team through the first one which led to the planet Caelum. The discovery of a wormhole that led directly to the Consortium's home planet was indeed quite a find. Ales' assistant led a second team through the other one, and their discovery dwarfed the first wormhole in comparison.”
“Well, where did it lead?” I prodded.
“It led to Mars.”
“That was quite a find indeed,” I responded sarcastically.
“700 years into its past,” Kedge clarified.
“What?”
“The second wormhole led to a point in the planet's past,” he said. “That was the single most important discovery in the history of the universe. Prior to that time travel was thought of as impossible.”
“Wow,” I exclaimed, genuinely excited with the news. “But how did they know they were in the past?”
“Through scientific research and carbon dating,” Kedge replied. “Once news of the discovery reached Ales, he made it his primary focus to tap into the power of that wormhole.”
“Why?” I asked.
Kedge jammed his staff into the ground and sat on a nearby rock. “In the beginning his intentions were good. He wanted to see if it was possible to go back into the past and stop events that would impact the planet negatively. For example stopping a war, or bringing a modern vaccine into the past to avoid a biological epidemic.”
I scratched my head and thought of the endless possibilities. What atrocities could I have prevented if I could return to Earth's past? Could I have stopped Hitler–or maybe stop cancer with medicine from the future?
“I can see by the look in your eyes that you believe as Ales did. In the beginning, his intentions were noble, but after the destruction of his planet he went insane with rage and used the knowledge to fuel his vengeance.”
“How do you know all of this?” I asked, searching his eyes for signs of deception. They were cold and calculating, yet genuine.
Kedge looked at Gard but my robotic companion was consistent when it came to looking at people with cold, emotionless stares. He didn't reserve them for me alone and I found it rather comforting. Kedge, however, looked away nonchalantly.
“I was in his company for a long time,” he replied. “During long journeys through the recesses of space we had a lot of time for—how shall you say—
conversation
.”
“What do you want with me,” I prodded. “Why have you called me down to the planet?”
Kedge stood up and pulled his staff from the ground. He ambled toward Gard and for the first time since our initial encounter I noticed he moved with a slight limp. His left leg dragged ever so slightly and I wondered if it was an old war wound, or perhaps a side effect of being implanted with the biological device keeping him alive. It was of little comfort to know that even though he had been alive for centuries, he was still mortal and could be wounded…or perhaps even killed if the need arose. I decided to file that nugget of information away for a later time, in case I needed it. He parked himself next to Gard and towered over him menacingly and I became concerned for my robot companion's safety.
He lifted the staff and caressed the side of Gard's head. Gard followed his movements but made no move to defend himself. Perhaps the robot did not perceive Kedge as a threat, as I did.
“Hey what are you doing?” I shouted.
Kedge looked over his shoulder. His eyes were dark yet intense and caused me to lose what little courage I mustered.
“How do you turn
this
off?” he motioned toward Gard with a look of contempt.
I suddenly got a sick feeling in my gut, afraid that I would lose my only source of defense. “W-what?” I stuttered.
“I want you to shut him down,” Kedge clarified. “I don't like to take chances.”
“Chances with what?” I asked.
“I don't want to take the chance that he is recording.”
“Are you afraid you might end up on YouTube?”
Although he had a puzzled expression, Kedge didn't respond to my comment. He motioned toward the robot and lowered his hand to his head. He made it abundantly clear the choice was mine and it would be up to me if I wanted to hear what he had to say. Eventually, curiosity overcame concern for my personal safety.