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Episode 43: The Keepers
Nova struggled to open her eyes.
"Where are we…?" she thought.
She managed to get one eye half-open, then pried the other one partially open too. She looked around – or tried to. It was so dark she couldn't see much from where she lay on the cold, damp floor of what she thought might be a cell of some sort.
Her eyes adjusted slowly, but when she could see well enough to look around she took stock of the situation.
The door – if you could call it a door – looked like a slice of honeycomb had been inserted into the opening at the front of the cell.
There was some sort of dim light emanating from somewhere outside their prison.
"Daniel!" She thought, looking frantically around the room for her crewmate.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the outline of his body lying on the floor nearby. She listened for his breathing and realized that her EV suit was gone and that their captors had left her with only her crew uniform. They'd taken all her equipment, her communicator, and anything she'd left in her pockets was gone too.
She slowly lifted herself up off the floor, a splitting headache suddenly cracking through her skull, demanding her undivided attention.
Nova tried her best to ignore the pain and made it over to the unconscious man.
"Daniel!" she shook the science officer's shoulder and whispered insistently into his ear. "Are you okay? Wake up!"
The only reply she received was a quiet groan.
At least he was still alive. That had to count for something.
She tried looking around their cell again and caught a glimpse of red and yellow metal off in one corner.
"IQ!" she exclaimed, going over to the robot as quickly as she dared in the darkness, "I thought you were left out in the jungle –" She was stopped mid-sentence when she realized that the robot had been shut off. His usual indicator lights were dark and his typically sarcastic, or otherwise annoying remarks were not there to greet her this time.
She was in the middle of searching for IQ's power switch when she heard an odd clicking. It was getting louder by the second, like something was coming towards the cell.
Nova dropped quickly to the ground and closed her eyes, pretending to still be asleep, hoping that whoever this was wouldn't remember exactly where they'd dropped her earlier.
The clicking soon came to an abrupt halt and Nova carefully peeked up at the door.
She nearly gasped in surprise when, in the light of a torch their visitors bore, she saw the face of a man – not like the odd faces she'd seen in the downed ship.
The man turned to someone next to him and made the same chittering she'd heard on board the ship.
"Who are these people?" she thought, then she heard the telltale creak of the door opening and she squeezed her eyes shut again, listening for any indication that the man and his companion – or companions – were coming near her.
Her heart pounded in her chest as she heard the clicking sound again – she realized now that it was footsteps.
The clicking was slow and measured. Whoever had entered the cell was walking around carefully, perhaps studying them as they slept.
She heard the footsteps stop somewhere over near Daniel. Then there was a scraping sound, like a body being dragged along the dirt floor. The scraping was followed by a succinct thump and another quiet groan. Then the footsteps turned and started towards… her.
She waited, hoping the visitor would lose interest, or that he merely wanted to take another look at IQ-9 for some reason.
Her hopes were dashed when she felt a big hand grab her by the collar and haul her up onto her feet.
She played dead, letting her head, arms, and legs hang limply. She tried to control her breathing, make it look like she was still out from whatever they'd shocked her with earlier.
Angry chittering met her ears and then she felt another hand sting her cheek. The slap hurt worse than any hit she'd taken to the face during training fights, but it was nothing compared to the pain she'd felt when she'd been jolted aboard the downed ship. She kept up her ruse.
The sudden shock of a solid punch to the jaw threw her out of her fabricated sleep and she yelped, one hand flying to her jaw, the other lashing out at her attacker.
She landed two good hits on the man before he let go of her collar and caught both her arms, twisting her around so that he had both her hands securely behind her back.
"What do you want?!" Nova demanded of her captor.
The only reply she received was being wrenched around and forced through the now-open door. The only good thing about this was that she could now see better since the man holding the torch was standing outside.
Nova looked at the light-holder – the normal-looking man – and noted his olive skin and dark hair. She couldn't quite make out the color of his eyes in the low light, but she was fairly sure they were dark as well. His face was hard, but, not cruel, and she wondered how he had come to be here.
She continued to stare at the man until he glared at her, obviously not thrilled with her open expression of astonishment.
Nova looked away.
The man behind her forced her onward through a tunnel. The light-bearer followed them and soon they met up with another group of the green-skinned, bulbous-eyed beings she'd seen aboard the wreck.
She stared at the nearest one, noting the strange rubber-like sheer to the beings' skin and the shine on their golden eyes. With the antenna and some sort of wings attached to their backs they looked much like… bees.
She continued to study the beings until they reached a great hall, carved out of the redish, clay-like substance that made up all the passageways they'd come through to get here.
As soon as they entered the room a wave of sound assaulted Nova's ears and she fought the urge to try to cover them. Trying to rip her hands away from her captor would most likely make him unhappier than he already was.
She felt her face starting to swell from the punch she'd taken back in her cell and wished for some ice to put on the abrasion.
There was a cacophony of buzzing and clicking that seemed to come from everywhere at once. When she looked around, she realized why.
Every available wall space was covered with insects of varying sizes.
Upon closer examination of the wall nearest her, Nova discovered that they were some species of bee – at least, that was the closest approximation she could conjure. She wasn't very familiar with anthophila* in general and prayed that whatever these things really were, that they weren't poisonous.
"There are so many of them…" she thought with both awe and trepidation at the sheer number of bees in this one room alone.
After a brief pause in the buzzing hall, during which time Nova was properly bound and the man who'd been holding her hands behind her back stepped away from her and started poking at her back with a sharp stick, prodding her onward. After this, the group continued on their way through another series of tunnels, these being better lit than the previous ones.
They walked for so long that Nova thought they would never come to their intended destination, but finally they stopped. By this time her back was sore from the constant poking and she was so annoyed with the man on the other end of the stick that she wanted to rip the prod out of his green hands and smack him over the head with it. Naturally, her bonds prevented that particular course of action, so she was reduced to merely giving him an irritated glare, which he ignored.
A silence fell over the group as they stood in this new room. There were no hives here, like there'd been in the hall they'd stopped in before, but if she listened closely, Nova thought she could hear buzzing coming from somewhere else in the complex.
The group waited for a long time and Nova thought they would be stuck standing here for hours before anything happened.
She was surprised when, from somewhere off to their right another being entered the room. This one was obviously female and her black and red dress cascaded all the way down to the floor. Her skin was pale like Nova's, but it had the same shiny quality as the green beings' skin. The female's eyes were also large and golden and she sported two antennas, longer than the men's and somewhat finer. Her wings were golden and more opaque than the males' translucent white ones. The female also had long black hair, unlike the green males who wore no hair at all.
The female stood before the group and chittered at them all quite loudly.
"It must be some sort of announcement." Thought Nova, "But what in the world is she saying?"
The answer to her question became clear when one of the green beings took hold of Nova and dragged her over to where the female stood. She was unceremoniously forced to her knees before the "woman."
Nova looked up at the female and finally saw what looked like some sort of golden circlet around her head. "This must be their queen." She thought. "If they're anything like bees, the green ones must be the worker population."
As she looked up into the female's golden eyes, something started to happen, slowly at first, then more rapidly as the change took hold of the female.
Her golden eyes melted away, revealing a set of piercing blue eyes, but these eyes looked just like Nova's. The strange rubbery sheen of her skin dissipated, replaced by the soft glow of light tan skin, a little bit darker than Nova's own. The wings disappeared, as though they were nothing more than a hologram. The antenna, however, remained where they were.
Nova's eyes widened as she realized what was going on, "They're wearing suits!" she thought. "And the clicking is some sort of addition to their shoes."
Her theory was confirmed when one of the green beings stepped up beside the woman and proceeded to go through the same transformation. The golden eyes disappeared along with the wings, and the green skin peeled back to reveal another olive-skinned man with dark eyes and hair – hidden by the shining green skin that had covered his head previously. Like the woman, his antennas also remained.
Nova looked around, seeing that every other man had done the same as the pair standing before her.
She let out a tiny sigh of relief; knowing that she was dealing with people made her just a bit more at ease with the situation, though she had no idea how she was going to communicate with them. Their language of clicks and chitters was something she had no way of deciphering, much less replicating. If only she had IQ with her, perhaps he could help her a little bit, but he was back in the cell, deactivated.
Her wondering was put to rest a moment later when the woman reached out and stuck a little triangular metal piece onto Nova's forehead, then stuck another one on her own.
"I am Queen Melina." The woman's voice echoed through Nova's mind even as the chittering emanated from her mouth. "What are you doing here on Bemera, snooping around?"
The anger in the woman's voice was almost palatable.
"I apologize," Nova began, "We didn't know that anyone lived here; if we had, we would have asked your permission before we landed."
The queen scoffed at Nova, "You are not the first interlopers we have had to fend off, and I have no doubt that you will not be the last."
"Interlopers?" Nova thought, "Who else has been here? The Iscandari?" she replied carefully, "I'm sorry, Queen Melina, but I don't know what you mean."
The Queen gave a curt laugh, "Right! I'm supposed to believe that you weren't sent here to try to discover our secrets! To steal our resources – or perhaps to kill us all!"
"But we weren't, your Majesty." Nova protested as humbly as she could think to, "We are merely traveling through the area and needed to restock our food supplies before continuing. We –"
"So why were you investigating that old ship? Answer me that, intruder! Surely you didn't expect to find food in something that old, now did you?" Melina's voice squeaked in displeasure and the tone of her chittering changed to one of rage, then she added something that surprised Nova, "That witch Sabera will have none of our secrets today!"
"Sabera?" Nova asked, genuinely confused by the use of the strange name – at least, she thought it was a name.
"Don't play dumb with me, little spy." Melina's voice turned icy and it gave Nova chills to hear it. "You know her well. You may bear the same skin tone as we do, but I know well the ash-green skin that witch wears, and I know that your associates – however many you brought with you – bear it as well. And that android with you – he's one of their new soldiers, isn't he!"
Nova was speechless at this outburst. None of it made any sense to her. Obviously they'd been mistaken for someone else – someone whose presence was quite a bit less than welcome.
"I – I apologize for upsetting you, your Majesty, but we don't know anyone named 'Sabera,' and we all bear variations of the same skin tone as you and I." Nova tried to assure the woman that they weren't who she thought they were, but Melina would have none of it.
"Take her back to her cell and bring me the man." Melina hissed to the formerly-green man standing next to her.
The servant bowed and stepped away from the queen, grabbing Nova by the arm and jerking her to her feet again before dragging her away, the tiny triangle still affixed to her forehead.
The men loosed Nova from her bonds and threw her back into the cell she'd been taken from. An instant later, they were hauling a half-conscious Daniel out.
The cell door rang with the sound of clanking metal as it closed behind the group once again.
The clicking of the men's shoes faded as they left with their new hostage.
"God, protect him." She prayed as Daniel was hauled off to stand before their accusers, just as she had, "Please, don't let them hurt him. He doesn't know any more than I do. And give us a way out of here, Lord. We have no defense against these people. They won't believe that we mean them not harm…" tears began to well up in her eyes as the adrenaline she'd been running on began to ebb and the emotion of the moment crashed down on her.
Daniel was jolted awake when a solid right hook connected with his face.
"Ow!" he yelled at whoever had punched him, "Cut that out!" His eyes popped open to see a number of olive-skinned faces staring at him.
"Lovely…" he thought, "Where have we ended up now…?" he took a deep breath, trying to secret away the fear that was rising in him.
A man, standing right in front of him, grabbed Daniel's collar and pulled him up so his feet were flat on the ground.
The science officer realized that he'd been hanging from the shoulders of two other men. They'd dragged him a good ways away from wherever he'd been before, that he was sure of.
He vaguely remembered Lieutenant Forrester's voice asking him if he was alright, but other than that, he couldn't remember anything after he'd been jolted into unconsciousness back aboard that old wreck of a ship.
Now solidly on his feet, Daniel's hands were bound behind him and he was poked with a stick until he started walking in the assigned direction.
They passed through a room with walls covered in insects. Daniel didn't pay them much mind; he just made sure that none of them stung him on their brief journey through the room.
Once out of there, the rest of the trip seemed fairly short to Daniel. They trekked into another large room. At the other end stood a woman. She didn't look particularly remarkable to him. She wasn't ugly, but she was no beauty either.
Daniel's captors shoved him forward towards the woman and once he stood before her he was forced to his knees.
The science officer was stunned when the woman reached out and stuck something to his forehead.
"Hey, what's that?" he asked, nervous that it might be something that would do him harm, but he relaxed a bit when he noticed something stuck to the woman's head too. Then he heard her voice inside his head and his eyes widened.
"I am Queen, Melina." The woman said, "And if you don't tell me who sent you, I will kill you right where you are."
The woman's chilling words struck fear into Daniel's heart. He didn't know if she meant them or not, but he didn't want to find out. "Th – the Argo, Queen."he managed, "I'm part of a team sent to get food for our ship. We didn't intend to be here very long."
The woman stood and lunged at Daniel, striking him with blood-red nails, gashing his cheek. "You and that woman can't fool me, spy!' she hissed into Daniel's shocked face, "Tell me the real reason you're here!" she whipped out a small object and Daniel realized that it was the little pen-like thing that he'd found – the one with the odd map on it. "I know you stole this from that ship!" she pointed animatedly at the tiny object, "Why is it so important to you?!"
Daniel had no words. The woman was making no sense.
"I – just…" he began, then choked, fearing what this "Queen Melina" might do to him, but there was no other answer than the truth, so he continued, "I found it while we were exploring that old ship. We were just about to leave to search for food. I don't even know what it is."
Melina's eyes narrowed, "You will tell me now, spy. And you will tell me how many others Sabera has employed to come here with you."
The Queen raised a threatening hand.
Daniel swallowed hard as he saw his own blood still caked under those sharp, crimson nails.
"I – I'm sorry, your Majesty, but I don't have an answer for you." Daniel replied in as small a voice as he could.
The cold fist of fear rammed through his clenched gut when he heard the queen's next words.
Melina looked at two of her men and pointed to Daniel, saying, "Beat it out of him."
The science officer braced himself, knowing exactly what was coming and feeling panic set in as he also realized that there was nothing he could do to stop it.
* Anthophila - Any of numerous winged, hairy-bodied, usually stinging hymenopteran insects of the superfamily Apoidea, including both solitary species and social species such as the honeybees, and characterized by sucking and chewing mouthparts for gathering nectar and pollen.
Episode 44: The Three Sisters
Nova sat in the dark cell, listening intently for the sound of the clicking footsteps of their captors. Would they never bring Daniel back? It had been over two hours since they'd left – too long.
She had been trying to get IQ-9 back online, but in the dark, she was too handicapped to successfully repair him. Whatever these people had done to the robot, it was far beyond her ability to fix. She wished Sandor were here. If he had been, he would surely be able to get IQ back up and running.
She shook her head, "No use in wishing," she thought. "I just hope Daniel's alright…"
She was just about to get up and start exploring the cell when she heard faint clicking footsteps.
Less than a minute later the cell door opened and a body flew into the darkness, thudding to the floor as the cell closed and locked once again.
The clicking faded as their captors left.
A low groan emanated from where the body now lay.
"Daniel…?" Nova whispered, her words echoing through the darkness. "Are you alright?" She asked, taking a step towards the groan.
A harsh cough rang through the cell, followed by retching. Nova abandoned her caution and was at the man's side in half a moment.
She couldn't see him very well, but by the feel of his clothes, she knew it was definitely her ship-mate. He had rolled over on his side – probably because of the vomiting.
She reached up to touch his face. Something wet and sticky covered her fingers and she pulled back, bringing her hand to her nose and taking in a whiff of whatever the substance was.
The sharp smell of blood flooded her nostrils.
"What did they do to you…?" She whispered.
"What –" Daniel let out another harsh cough, "Does it look like?" He managed.
"I can't see you." Nova replied, "But you're bleeding."
She carefully felt the science officer over for other injuries, receiving yelps of pain every so often.
"And it looks like you've broken a few things." She added. "How many of them were there?"
"Two to start." He choked, "Then –" He was interrupted by another cough, "three, four… I lost count at six."
"Why?!" Nova exclaimed, suddenly very angry with these people. "What have we done to them?"
"Something about –" Daniel tensed – from pain, no doubt – then continued, "'Sabera'? I don't even know who that is."
"The Queen said that same name to me. Whoever she is, this group doesn't like her, or anyone who works for her." Nova laid a hand on Daniel's forehead, checking for any signs of increased body temperature, "Melina called her a 'witch.'"
"Yeah –" Daniel tried to laugh, but only managed a groan, "Seems like a nice girl, doesn't she?"
Nova shook her head, "Whoever she is, Melina said she had 'ash-green' skin. She's not one of us, and all the Gamilons we've met or seen so far have blue skin. Queen Starsha's is like ours. There must be another group out there – one we've yet to come in contact with…" Nova shivered at her own words, "And if this 'Sabera' is any indication… they may not be very good company."
Noting that the man seemed to have a fever, Nova felt Daniel's back again, looking for the one spot where he'd been hit hardest. She came to a place right above one of his kidneys and was met with a pain-filled yowl.
"Does it really hurt that much even to touch it?" Nova asked, concerned.
"Just stop touching it!" Daniel exclaimed.
"I'm sorry, but I need to." Nova replied, letting her hand rest gently over the spot once more.
This time she was rewarded a scream, ending with the sound of the science officer throwing up again.
"I think you may have ruptured a kidney," Nova said, taking her hand away from the tender area. "Try to stay still and don't talk unless you have to."
"Can you move me a couple feet away from here…?" Daniel groaned, "It stinks."
"Sure…" Nova replied, slowly and carefully dragging the man away from the overwhelming smell of vomit.
After that, all was silent for a long time. Once, Nova thought she heard Daniel's breathing slow, and she hoped he was asleep. Maybe the rest would do him some good. There was nothing else they could do for him right now.
While her ship-mate slept, Nova prayed over and over that they would find a way to get out, or that the crew might send out a rescue team to find them. If they didn't, Daniel might not make it out of here.
After a while, Nova found herself getting sleepy. Night must have fallen above-ground by now. She would be of no use to Daniel exhausted.
She found a place to lie down and dozed off to sleep.
Wen stood some distance from the knot of men as they struck the stranger over and over. From time to time they would stop and Queen Melina would ask the man the same question over and over, "Why has Sabera sent you here?"
Wen knew that this man was no servant of Sabera. He was nothing like the other men and women the Witch had sent to them before. It had been a long time since an intruder had dared show his face here. That last time, Wen and his people had killed the man; after that, Sabera had left them alone – at least, that's what they all thought.
With the appearance of this stranger, his traveling companions, and their intrusion into the sacred ruins, the Queen had jumped to the conclusion that they too were Sabera's spies.
Wen's stomach clenched at the stranger's pleas for mercy, and he wanted to intervene – tell them all that this was a mistake. He had seen the strangers' ship land and watched them as they inspected the ruined ship. They had meant no harm. The equipment they brought with them was nothing like the weapons that Sabera would have sent with her people.
But though he knew all this, he dared not interrupt the Queen – wrong though she may be. He valued his life more than that. No. He would wait until he saw a chance to talk with the stranger and his friends alone.
Wen reached up and touched the translator affixed to his forehead, turning it off. He couldn't bear to hear the stranger's pain any more. He looked away, waiting for the beating to end and hoping that it wouldn't cost the stranger his life.
Wen breathed a secret sigh of relief when the Queen finally bade the others to stop. When they backed away from the stranger Wen saw the blood oozing from his head and staining his white and blue clothes. The man's face was swollen and Wen was surprised he wasn't missing any teeth.
The man slumped to the floor and was grabbed by two of the Queen's guards. The ruler motioned for the guards to take the stranger away.
Wen reached up and turned his translator on again.
He watched as the guards dragged the stranger back out of the throne room.
The remaining guards turned their attention to the Queen, expressing their outrage at the boldness of their old enemy in sending another spy after the demise of her last envoy.
Wen waited until the Queen rose and left the room, her guards close at her heels.
As soon as they were gone he quickly stole out of the throne room and through a series of dark passageways. Within a few minutes he'd reached his tiny home. The place was not much to speak of – just another hole in the wall, much like all the other dwellings here in the capitol.
Wen lit a torch set into one wall of his living area.
The orange-red clay that made up everything – walls, furniture, floor, and ceiling – glowed with the light of the small fire.
Wen would have lit more torches, but he wouldn't be here long and he didn't want to draw any more attention to himself than he had to.
Quickly, he gathered a full water-skin, an unlit torch, some healing herbs, bandages, and a little food, and stuffed them into a small bag. With that, he snuffed out the light and continued on his way through the silent darkness, hoping he wouldn't be caught doing this.
Nova woke to a persistent scratching noise.
She slowly opened her eyes and looked around as well as she could. Her eyes had adjusted, but she still couldn't see well enough to be able to clearly view most of the cell. Instead of looking for the source of the noise with useless eyes, she closed them again and sat up slowly, listening.
The sound was coming from somewhere ahead of her.
Slowly, she crawled forward, trying not to make any noise, lest she alert whatever it was to her presence.
The scratching came to a sudden halt.
Nova stopped right where she was and tried to slow her breathing, making herself as quiet as she could. Thankfully, Daniel was still asleep.
Another sound came to Nova in the darkness, and it made her skin crawl.
Clicking.
Someone was in here with them.
She fought the surge of panic as she quickly thought of some way to protect herself and her wounded crew-mate. There wasn't anything on the ground, not even rocks; she'd looked.
If it came down to her or this "visitor," she might have to fight him hand-to-hand. Taking a silent breath, she steeled herself for whatever was to come. But just when she thought she was ready for anything, a hand touched her shoulder and she shrieked, lashing out with a closed fist.
"Friend! Friend!" came the loud, startled whisper as the man jumped back.
The words sounded in her mind and Nova knew that this must be one of their captors.
"You're no friend!" She hissed back, "A friend wouldn't have beaten a stranger half to death!"
"I am sorry that happened." The stranger whispered back, "But please, believe me, I wanted no part of it. I know you are who you say you are."
With those words came the hiss of lit fire and the glow of a torch flickered to life. The man's face appeared next to it and Nova breathed in sharply as she realized it was the man whose face had been uncovered when the group had come to get her.
The stranger approached Nova slowly, hand outstretched, showing her he was unarmed.
"Why are you here?" she asked, still quite suspicious.
"I've come to help you." He replied, starting to reach for a bag he had slung over one shoulder.
"Hold it right there." Nova said, authoritatively. "What's in that bag?"
"Things to help your friend." He motioned to Daniel, still lying on the floor several feet away.
"Hand it over." Nova held out a hand so that the stranger could pass her the bag.
He did as she asked and gave it to her.
She opened the bag slowly, just in case it held something nasty, or poisonous, but as she held the contents up to the light of the torch, she found the stranger to be telling the truth. The only things she didn't recognize right away were some dried leaves in a clay container, but upon closer examination, she realized that they were herbs of some kind.
"What do these do?" she asked the stranger, pointing to the herbs.
"They have potent healing properties. We use them to treat wounds." He replied.
"You use some of it first." Nova directed, holding out the clay jar for the man to take.
"Alright…" He replied, slowly taking out a little bit of the herb. He crunched it up into tiny pieces and sprinkled it over a small cut on his arm. "Hand me the water," he said to Nova.
She reached into the bag and pulled out the water-skin, handing it over.
The man opened the container and poured a few drops of water onto the crushed herbs. Then he proceeded to mix it into a thin paste and rub it on the cut.
Nova waited a few minutes in silence. Finally satisfied that the plant wasn't poisonous, she relented, "Alright, you can use it on him." She indicated her ship-mate, "But keep your hands where I can see them."
"Alright." The man nodded, "I understand."
He slowly moved over to the man lying on the ground. "Can you hold this?" he indicated the light.
Nova slowly took it. At least now she had a weapon if she needed it.
Both Nova and the stranger knelt beside Daniel. The stranger examined the science officer much as Nova had a while ago.
Daniel felt the wave of pain tear through him again and jerked awake. Confusion clouded his mind when he saw the Lieutenant kneeling in front of him. If she wasn't touching him, then who was?
Panic shot through him as unfamiliar hands began to take off his shirt.
"What's going on?!" He exclaimed, trying to look behind him to see who else was here with them. "Lieutenant, where'd you get that torch? Who's here with us?!"
The woman held a finger to her lips, then answered, "I don't know who he is, but he says he's here to help us."
"'He' who?" Daniel managed before a hard cough. Then he addressed the man behind him, "Who are you?!"
The man stopped what he was doing and came around to where Nova knelt.
The stranger took a knee and his face appeared in the light of the torch. "I am Wen Yi Khan." He said simply. "I am of the Zögii*."
"What's a 'Zögii'?" Daniel asked, wincing as he spoke.
"It is the name of my people." Wen replied before returning to his work on Daniel's back. "We have lived here for many hundreds of years. Our people have made a life of working with the insect colonies on this planet. This is Altai, the capitol. Here, we work with bees. They provide us with food and many other products that we trade with the other cities."
"Why didn't our ship detect any life signs here when we scanned the planet?" The Lieutenant asked.
"Specialized shielding." Wen replied, "To protect us from Sabera's minions."
"Alright, who is this 'Sabera'?" Daniel asked, irritated. "I'm tired of being accuse of knowing this woman when I've never heard of her before." He coughed and winced when he left a little bit of blood spray onto his hand.
The stranger let out a soft, mirthless chuckle, then replied, "She is not someone you wish to meet – ever. She would just as soon kill you as look at you if she decides to take a disliking to you. She is a warrior – but not an honorable one. She is cruel and manipulative. Once she even tried to turn our Queen against the governors of the other cities so that our government would tear itself apart. But what she wants most is to have the great secret we possess."
"And what might that be?" The Lieutenant echoed the question in Daniel's mind.
"We know of the whereabouts of one of the Three Sisters." Wen said cryptically.
The words made no sense to Daniel. He was just about to try to ask Wen what he was talking about when the Lieutenant, once again, asked for him.
"'Three Sisters'?" She asked, "Who are they? Why are they so important?"
Wen did not answer for a long time. Instead, Daniel felt the man plastering some substance over his damaged kidney. The stuff was cool and eased his pain a bit. Then Wen wrapped a bandage around Daniel's hip and moved on to the cut on his head.
Once Wen started cleaning out the wound on his head, Daniel ventured the question again, "Who are the 'Three Sisters'?"
Wen sighed, "They are not a 'who.' They are a 'what.'" He stopped, and Daniel wondered if he would continue.
Finally Wen said, "They are three great ships – world-ships. They left the place history calls the 'Point of Creation' many hundreds of years ago. My own people are descendants of the travelers from one of those ships – as are Sabera's people. That is why she seeks them. She wants to find them – to know where we came from. It is said that the Sisters each carry with them knowledge of the past – a chronicle of their journeys and the worlds they have populated."
"Each ship has information that could lead to the discovery of the Point of Creation. We have all searched for it for so long, and only the Sisters hold the knowledge we seek. There were once rumors of a Book that told of the Origin Point, but I have never seen it." Wen sounded sad and even Daniel started to feel sympathetic towards the stranger. "Perhaps one day I will." He cleared his throat and continued, "The Sister's names are Shambleau, Dezaria, and Aquarius."
Wen's words struck Nova and a sense of pure sorrow ran through her soul. Wen and his people just wanted to find their home. Then another thing he'd said registered and a thrill ran through her.
"Wen!" she exclaimed, startling the stranger whose eyes darted towards her in surprise. "We know what planet you're looking for! The Point of Creation! It's our home – where we've just come from! It's called 'Earth.'"
The Zögii's eyes narrowed "Do not tempt me with false hope. I have come to help you and you would lie to me so cruelly?"
"It's not a lie, Wen. I promise." Nova reached into her pocket for her communicator, then remembered that the Zögii had taken everything from her. "If I had my communicator I could show you the very book you were talking about."
"Now I know you're lying." Wen hung his head. "You just want me to get your communications devices back so you can get out of here – not that I blame you." He finished cleaning Daniel's cut and stood up.
"Let me have my light." He said simply, reaching out to take the torch back from Nova. "I will get you your belongings back, but not because I believe you. Stay quiet, and if another of my people comes before I get back, do not let them know I was here." Wen said as he stifled the light before disappearing into the darkness in the back of the cell.
"Wen?" Nova called out into the blackness. "Wen?"
There was no answer.
* Zögii – Mongolian word for "bees" or "hive"