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Episode 75: Weep for Gamilon
Desslok heard his communicator chime for attention as all the techs filed back into the room, followed by Krypt. He immediately reached into his pocket to silence the faint sound.
"I shall return momentarily," he said abruptly to the Councilor as he turned and walked back toward the entrance to the war room, passing several men and women as he went. This time, he was not turned back.
Once out the door, he walked a short ways down the hall, looking for a place he could go where he would not be bothered.
A few doors down he saw a sign indicating that this room was under renovation and would not be completed for several more days. He tried the door, but found it locked. He quickly entered an override code on the door panel and quickly looked down the hall in both directions before ducking into the room.
The door closed behind him, and he locked it immediately.
He steps over several new ceiling plates, and various other construction materials. Finally he found a place where he could stand unhindered, and he pulled out a white glove-like object and quickly slipped it onto his left hand.
"Accept the call," he said simply.
An instant later, the face of Starsha of Iscandar appeared before him.
"My Queen, what may I do for you?" He asked the woman.
"Desslok," she said, looking away from him as she did so. "Please, do not try to stop the Eratites from coming here."
"I have no other choice," he replied as he gazed at her steadily. "If they succeed we will all die, you included, dear Starsha."
She blushed a little at his words, but gave no other indication of her discomfort with his terms of familiarity. "Evacuate your people," she replied. "You may use any of the ships I have remaining."
"We have already taken as many off world as we can. Belarus is our last stronghold," he said.
Starsha looked away again, and he could see the shine of tears in her eyes as she said, "I don't understand. Why must you insist on holding to this unreasonable course?"
Desslok did not reply right away, instead he briefly looked around the unfinished room, noting the cracks in the walls, the damaged floor and ceiling, and so many other signs of the stress his world was under. "I do so because I must save my people. Gamilon will die; this I have known for a long time. But her people must always have a place to call their home. I will not allow them to be homeless wanderers forever. They will have a land of their own. It will not be this world, but I would have it to be Erats."
Starsha bit back tears, "You cannot take their home. You must not simply slaughter the Eratites, and lay claim to what is not yours." The bite of anger was in her voice now, "I have begged you for so long. I will beg you no more." Starsha looked him directly in the eyes and said with a fire he had not seen in her before, "You will give them safe passage, Desslok. They are here by the will of Yahweh, and not even you can stop them."
Her image disappeared, and the Leader was left standing alone in the dimly lit room. He slowly took the Iscandarian Interface off of his hand and tucked it away again. He picked his way back to the door, unlocked it, and stepped back out.
It was a short walk back to the war room.
When he entered, he was greeted by Krypt. "Sir, we have it. We have the Eratite ship!"
Desslok nodded to the Councilor and spoke to one of the techs on duty, "Make sure it is secured, then tether it and deactivate the field."
"Yes, Sir," the tech replied, and moved to obey.
Desslok watched the live feed of the strangers' vessel as it was pulled closer and closer to the cage prepared for it near Belarus. He looked at another tech and asked, "Is it ready?"
"The containment area is secure. All tests have returned with results well within the prescribed tolerance levels," the second man replied.
"What about their prime weapon? Will it be able to break through?" Desslok asked.
"No," the tech replied, "It will reflect the energy right back at the ship if they try to use it."
The Leader nodded, "Very good."
Desslok began walking back and forth across the war room, keeping an eye on everything that was going on. He watched as the Eratite ship descended below the crust of Gamilon, and the force field dragged them closer and closer to the glowing sphere positioned several miles outside Belarus.
They were nearly in his grasp. He could almost taste his victory, but he knew better than to celebrate now. This was the ship that murdered Dommel. This was the ship that destroyed Gantz's fleet without a single indication of how they had done it. And this was the ship that Starsha so steadfastly defended against him.
He had to win this last encounter. He had to show her that this could not work. She had to understand that helping Erats would only bring death to her. If the Eratites regained their world, they would muster the strength to fend off his advance. They would never accept such a group of foreigners intruding upon their soil willingly. Conquest was Gamilon's only hope.
He stared up at the image of the Eratite ship, contemplating his next move.
Derek slammed his fist into the bulkhead, "We can't do anything! We're stuck in this field."
Captain Avatar, sitting up in his bed today, watched silently as Wildstar continued to fume about their situation.
"We've come all this way only to end up here! We aren't going to just roll over and die," Derek continued, pacing from one end of the small cabin to the other. Finally, he looked up Avatar and asked, "What did he ask you anyway – the one who hailed us?"
Avatar nodded sagely, and replied, "He said he would show us no mercy – that he admired our tenacity, but that even it would not save us."
"So he called to gloat," Derek said, disgusted, "He couldn't think of something better to say? And why couldn't he have said it to all of us? Why did he just talk to you? Is he too good to talk to us 'little people'?"
"I don't know," the Captain said, "He seemed sincere."
"Of course he was sincere," Derek shot back, "He sincerely wants to kill us."
"There are often many sides to the same story, Wildstar," Avatar cautioned. "We certainly don't know everything about what we're walking into."
Derek's brow furrowed, "The only thing I need to know is that he wants us dead. And I'm not going to let that happen."
Captain Avatar looked into the determined eyes of his appointed replacement and said, "You should get Sandor to analyze the field around the ship. It's our best chance of finding a way to get out of it."
Derek nodded, "Already on it." Wildstar was back out the door in three seconds flat.
As soon as he was gone, the Captain sank back down into his bed, weary from both his conversation with Wildstar, and the brief exchange he'd had less than an hour before with the Gamilon ruler, Desslok.
Avatar hadn't told Derek everything Desslok said. He knew Wildstar well enough to know that revealing everything right now would only erode his focus – something he desperately needed at the moment.
Even though he'd had to have a translator for most of the other man's words, Avatar understood thoroughly the threat in Desslok's voice, and the leader's message still rang through his mind.
"Are you the Captain of this ship?" Asked the Leader.
Avatar adjusted his hat for an instant, making sure it was straight, then replied, "I am."
"I will come to the point," the Gamilon said, "By your actions you threaten the continued existence of my people. I cannot abide this. You will either surrender now, or I will destroy you."
Captain Avatar watched the other man's face as he spoke. Not once did he waver, and the Captain had no reason to believe anything other than that the Leader would not hesitate to fulfill his promise if tested. But, as he looked longer and longer into the face of this man whom he had considered his enemy for so long, he saw the seeds of doubt beginning to take root there.
"We will not back down," Avatar declared in a clear, strong voice – never betraying his ill health. "Earth will endure, and no one, not even you, Leader Desslok, can prevent it."
The Captain saw a flicker of surprise pass through the Leader's eyes, but it quickly disappeared. He did not know much about this man, but, from what he could tell, Leader Desslok was no coward, and he certainly didn't seem like one who would have commissioned the kidnapping of a woman he didn't even know. As a test, and out of a sincere desire to know her fate, Avatar carefully formed his next question.
"You have taken one of my crew. Where is she, and what have you done with her?" The Captain asked.
The Leader looked taken aback by the question. Avatar didn't know if it was because he was surprised that they knew who had taken Nova, or because Desslok wasn't responsible for the kidnapping to begin with.
The Leader turned and said something the Captain couldn't understand to the men and women behind him. A few moments later, every one of them trickled out of the room. It was not until they were all gone that the Gamilon turned to Avatar and said, "She is well."
The Captain did his best to hide his shock. He hadn't expected such a direct answer – or even one at all.
"Where is she?" Avatar repeated his first question.
The Leader took a breath then replied, "She has been safely escorted to Iscandar."
"Iscandar?"
"Yes," the Leader replied quietly, "She is with an… old friend of mine. Rest assured, no harm will come to her." The Gamilon looked Avatar in the eye and continued, "But, the same will not hold true for you if you do not surrender. I will not retreat from this war, and none shall turn me back now – not even you, most tenacious of adversaries."
The Captain watched as the fire rose in the Leader's eyes, almost to the point that Avatar wondered if he might not even bother to wait for them to arrive planet-side before destroying them.
Neither man said anything more.
The Leader stared down the Eratite Captain, and the old man returned his steady gaze.
With a nod of finality, the Gamilon Leader ended the call.
"She's still alive," the Captain said quietly to himself, and looked out the front window of his cabin. "Lord," he began to pray, "It would mean everything to many of this crew if we could bring her home with us. I don't know why or how You have stayed our enemy's hand, but I am grateful that You did." The Captain adjusted his bed so that he could lie down.
As he leaned back his eye caught the tablet computer he kept by his bed. He picked it up and turned it on. The last thing he'd been looking at was still on the screen. He began to read aloud where he'd left off.
"'The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will. Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts. To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice,'" he continued reading down farther, "'The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD.'"
He let the tablet fall to his chest, and even though he didn't understand why, he was glad that he'd had the opportunity to come face-to-face with the enemy. Something about the encounter felt strange to him, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
He closed his eyes, and began to think about the road ahead.
Nova was speechless. She looked at Starsha wide-eyed as the other woman let her hand fall back to her side, cutting the connection to the Gamilon Leader.
The Queen turned to look at Nova, an expression of guilt on her face. "This is my fault," she said quietly. "He would not have done this if…"
"No, you mustn't blame yourself for anything," Nova assured, stepping over to the other woman and wrapping a comforting arm around her shoulders.
To Nova's surprise, tears began to run down the Queen's face and she started to weep. She covered her face with her hands, hiding her tears.
"You sent us that message in good faith. What he did as a result is not your fault," Nova said kindly. "You didn't cause this."
"You don't understand," the Iscandari managed, "I do not blame myself for sending the message. I blame myself because…" Her voice trailed off and Starsha raised her Interface-covered hand again. Haltingly, she commanded, "Display security footage from the sixteenth day of the seventh month of the previous year."
Nova watched as images of a location probably somewhere on the Palace grounds appeared. It was a lovely place. Several large fountains adorned the area, and well-kept plants and flowers grew all around them. It was like looking at a hotel or some of the larger businesses' foyers back on Earth – at least, before the bombings began.
She noticed movement toward the side of the image and looked to see what it was.
At the base of a short flight of stairs stood a man and a woman. Nova instantly recognized them both. Starsha's face was surprisingly clear in the image – much better than anything they had on board the Argo. Beside her, and down one step, looking up at the Queen stood the Gamilon Leader.
But even though he wore the same uniform, he looked different somehow. His face was less… indifferent than it was when she'd spoken with him. In fact, she could see not only the man's intensity, but also the great fondness he held for Starsha.
Nova continued to watch for over ten minutes as the Leader reached up to Starsha and offered her his hand. Starsha shook her head, but did not take his hand. He stepped up so that he stood next to her. Starsha's eyes shone with both uncertainty and longing. Nova realized that she couldn't hear anything of their conversation.
"What did he say to you?" She asked the Queen.
Starsha looked at the image, then back at Nova, a look of sadness in her eyes. Then she looked at the image and directed, "Replay, with audio."
The scene began again, and Nova listened as Starsha and Desslok spoke.
"I was… just heading inside," Starsha said to Desslok.
"May I escort you back then?" He asked boldly.
Starsha nodded, "You may."
The two walked quietly for a minute or two before the Leader said, "I am… sorry we were too late… You have my deepest apologies for the loss of your sister."
"You have nothing to apologize for, Leader Desslok. I assure you, there was nothing else you could have done. Her condition was too grave."
The man seemed to take at least some solace in this and nodded, "I thank you."
"So, what is your opinion of Iscandar thus far?" The Queen changed the subject.
"It is…" He looked around at the courtyard; the harbors beyond; the Sea of Iscandar, vast and rolling; the majestic Palace before them; then finally at Starsha herself and said, "The most beautiful thing I have ever been privileged to lay my eyes upon."
The young Queen looked up to see Desslok's eyes resting on her. Her face flushed a little, and she tried to recover her composure, "Thank you. Iscandar is indeed a lovely place… though I wish that she were still filled with the wonderful people who once graced her shores."
Desslok nodded, still looking at the young woman walking beside him, "Perhaps we could rebuild your homeworld?" He suggested, "After all, the Gamilon-Iscandari Alliance is still in existence, is it not? Deun's treachery did not undo your bond with us, did it?"
Starsha shook her head, "No, of course not. We would never revoke such an important alliance because of one man's evil."
Desslok suddenly stopped. Taken aback, the Queen too paused and turned to face him. Having taken a few steps up some stairs that led to a higher courtyard area, she was able to look down at him instead of having to look up as she would normally have, were she standing on ground level.
The Leader looked at her with eyes full of – was it compassion? Purpose? Longing? – she could not tell. He took one bold step toward her and held out his right hand which, though gloved in black seemed anything but threatening. "Come with me to Gamilon for a while," he said. "We would be most fortunate to have your insight during this time of crisis." His eyes begged her to say yes, "Will you come?"
Starsha stood speechless for a moment, thinking. Then, she gave her answer, "Leader Desslok… as much as I would be honored to come with you, I cannot. Iscandar has suffered much in the year she has been desolate. To take one of her two remaining occupants away from her unnecessarily would place more hardship on the one remaining. I cannot come with you but I would be glad to speak with you whenever you wish to seek my, or my sister's council. We love Iscandar, yes, but we also love your Gamilon. It is not our home, no, but it has been our constant ally through many perilous times. I thank you deeply for your gracious offer, but I cannot accept it."
The Leader let his hand return to its place at his side. He seemed a bit downcast – disappointed at her response, but not despairingly so, for which Starsha appeared to be glad.
Desslok sighed and nodded, "As I thought you would say. I had hoped you would come with me. I very much enjoy your company. Even all those years ago, when you called me in the dead of night, pleading for help from a stranger, I was glad to speak with you." He paused, giving Starsha time to reply, but when she did not he continued, "I am most privileged to have met you, Queen Starsha of Iscandar."
"And I you, Leader," Starsha finally said.
"Please," he held up a hand, "you may dispense with formalities, my lady. I have been 'Desslok' much longer than 'Leader,' and I would be quite happy for you to call me simply by my name and be done with titles."
At this, Starsha smiled and nodded, "I will do so, if you will do the same for me. No 'Queen' or 'my lady,' or any other such title shall rest upon me so long as we converse."
The Gamilon ruler's eyes lit up at her words, "I will be honored to do so, my la - Starsha." He bowed to her.
"Thank you, Desslok," she nodded to him in appreciation of his display of respect her. "I see that we have many conversations yet to come. May they all be as constructive as this one."
Nova took in a deep breath, then let it out slowly, digesting everything she'd heard. Some of it she didn't understand, but the overall tone of the conversation was abundantly clear. She let go of the Queen's shoulder, and looked her in the eye. "I don't know the whole history between you and him, but that man," Nova pointed straight at the glowing green and gold world hanging in the sky above, and continued with fervor, "Fell in love with you at some point, and if you don't see it, then – and pardon my frankness, your Majesty – you are a fool."
Starsha did not reply right away, instead she walked over to the near window and sat on a small couch built into the wall in front of the large pane. Once she sat down, Starsha looked up at Nova and replied, "I know very well. I often regret that conversation, especially as of late. He will not listen to me because he believes he is doing this, not only for his people's sake, but for my good."
The woman's words touched Nova's heart, and she went over to the Queen, settling down beside her. "I'm sorry. I overstepped."
"No, you did not. You gave an honest answer, for which I am grateful." Starsha reached out and placed her hand over Nova's, "It is good to have another woman to talk with after so long."
Nova looked away from the Queen, gathering her courage to ask another question of her.
"What is it?" Starsha asked before Nova got the chance to speak.
Nova took another deep breath and looked the Queen in the eye, "You love him, don't you."
The Queen looked away instantly, hiding most of her face from Nova's knowing eyes. Starsha let go of the Eratite's hand and folded her hands in her lap. She was silent for the better part of a minute before she looked up at Nova again. With eyes filled with tears, and a face overcome with sadness, she replied, "Yes. How can I not? Even now, I find that I cannot stop loving such a benighted soul as his. I love him, not because of what he's done for me, or because of the great and noble deeds of his past, but because I cannot help but reach out to him, hoping that one day he will see the love of Mashiach who bought him with such a great price."
Nova swallowed hard, trying to hold back her own tears at these words. She looked up at Gamilon, then back to the woman weeping before her, realizing just how much she didn't know about Gamilon's King. "Oh, Lord, that I could love someone this much…" she prayed silently, letting the conversation end there.
Episode 76: Path of the Wanderers
Starsha wiped the tears from her eyes and stood. "There is still one more thing I can do to aid your ship," she said quietly. The Queen quickly crossed the great Hall and summoned both Alex and Adam back into the room. When they were all gathered, the Queen addressed the group.
"We may yet be able to gain an edge for your," Starsha nodded to Nova, "and your families 'ship," the Queen then looked at both Adam and Alex. "I will need all of your help to accomplish this. I have not had an occasion to do such a thing before, but I see no other way now…"
"Whatever we can do, we will," Adam reassured the Iscandarian.
Starsha bit her lip and looked away before revealing her plan, "We must break into what remains of Gamilon's military computer core."
None of the three Eratites said anything for a full five seconds. Nova stared at the Queen dumbfounded, stunned at such suggestion after the conversation she had just heard. Adam was likewise surprised, but not nearly as startled as Nova. Alex stared at Starsha, eyes narrowed, lips pursed in concentration. A moment later, his expression morphed from one of uncertainty into dogged determination.
"Let's give my brother a fighting chance," Alex sounded his agreement.
Adam followed up his words with an affirmation of his own," If there really is something left we can do, let's to do it."
Both men and the Queen looked to Nova, awaiting her answer.
She felt odd with them staring at her as she didn't know what she thought about this idea, but the more she pondered it, the more she knew that they had to at least try.
"Okay, I'm in," Nova relented.
"So, where do we start?" Alex Wildstar asked, "Where's the best place to try this from?"
"Follow me," Starsha motioned for all three of them to come with her as she moved swiftly out the door to the great Hall and into the corridor. She turned down one passageway, glancing back to make sure everyone was still behind her. A couple of turns down the corridor, the Queen came to a halt in front of, what appeared to be – at least to Nova – an ordinary wall.
Nova watched as the Queen reached out and touched the transparent crystal that made up the outside of the Palace tower. When her palm met the glassy surface an outline appeared in the wall. A few seconds later Nova saw something float up to their level of the tower. Whatever it was, it appeared to be anchored to the outside of the building somehow, and it was surrounded with a translucent, crystal pod to protect its occupants from the elements.
The outline in the wall melted away to form a door that led out to the waiting platform.
Images of the strange glass-like box that she and Rowland found on Bemera what seemed like an eternity ago flashed through her mind and questions formed unbidden. She shook her head, picked up the hem of her dress so she wouldn't trip on it, and stepped out the door and onto the curious floating object.
"An elevator?" Nova muttered to herself.
"That's the closest thing I know to call it," Adam replied in a low voice.
Nova looked over at the other young man, noticing for the first time exactly how much he looked like his father. He had the old Captain's broad nose and kind brown eyes. He appeared to be about the same height as Captain Avatar, though he stood much straighter than his father, and was unencumbered by age or by a wound so severe as the Captain's.
Nova wondered for a moment if Adam knew about his father's illness due to his wound. She started to open her mouth to ask him, but thought better of it.
They all passed the short ride in silence. Anxiety filled the air between them, and Nova was starting to feel quite uncomfortable with the sensation by the time they reached the intended floor.
Once they arrived, Starsha led the group out into an unfamiliar hallway, up one short flight of stairs, and through a tall, thin door. Both Alex and Adam waited for Nova and Starsha to enter, then they filed in after them.
Nova's first reaction upon entering the room was to look up. A curious latticework of supports arched into a great dome from one side of the room to the other. The design reminded her very much of the pattern on her cell door back on Bemera. Through the ceiling she could clearly see Gamilon as it hung in the sky above Iscandar. Thoughts of Wen Yi and his people suddenly rose, but she pushed them away, concentrating on the task at hand.
On the opposite side of the room stood a machine akin to nothing she'd seen before. Sparkling crystals, both small and great jutted up out of a circular base. The Queen motioned for her to come stand beside the odd device.
Nova stepped up to it, still studying the crystals.
Adam and Alex came to stand on the other side of the Queen. Starsha reached out and laid both hands on the circular base of the device. The area she was touching began to glow and an image appeared, projected in the air above what Nova now recognized as a user interface, much like her duty station's main screen.
The Queen removed her hands and began interacting with the floating image.
"If we are to be successful, we must enter swiftly, make our stay brief, and leave as quietly as possible. If one of us is discovered, all of our presences will be needed to find the information we are searching for. The more of us there are, the more likely we are to find it," Starsha said.
"What exactly are we looking for?" Nova asked.
"The frequency of the magnetic force pulling your friends' ship," Starsha replied without even stopping to look at her. "Here," the Iscandarian made a scattering motioned with her hand and a glowing orb appeared in front of all three Eratites, "You will need these."
"For what?" Alex asked, staring at the ball of light, puzzled.
"For your journey into the core," Starsha replied.
"Why do I get the feeling this isn't going to be anything like hacking back home?" Nova muttered.
"Place either hand directly over the orb in front of you," Starsha instructed.
Nova did as she was told and let her hand hover over the sphere. She could see Adam and Alex doing the same thing out of the corner of her eye.
"Inside the core, time will not flow as you are accustomed to. You will have just under twelve of your minutes to find what we need and come back. There will always be a clock somewhere above you to tell you how much time is left." Starsha tapped something in the air in front of her. "Close your eyes, count to seven, and then open them again," the Queen told them.
Nova let her eyes fall shut and silently counted all the way up to the prescribed number. She waited half a second after she reached seven to open her eyes. When she did, she gasped.
"Sandor, found anything yet?" Wildstar hovered over the science officer's chair, leaning in to look at his screen.
"I'm making progress, but it's very slow," Sandor replied, staring at what little he'd been able to accomplish thus far.
"We don't have much time left," Derek chided.
"I know, Wildstar, but without some sort of encryption key, I can't tell much about the field we're trapped in," the XO bowed his head and sighed. "If I could get into their computer system, I might be able to find it. But I wouldn't know where to begin. What little I've seen of their computers is nothing like ours."
"What about IQ-9? Can't he help you?" Wildstar offered.
"Maybe, but he might be detected by their system. No, the best thing would be for me to go in alone," Sandor looked up at his screen again, then leaned forward in his chair and peered over at Homer. "Send me any information you have on the transmissions we've received from Gamilon ships. Using those, I should be able to at least figure something out."
"How's that going to help you?" Derek asked, standing up straight again.
"This magnetic field is messing with the instruments. With those messages I'll have a basis for the type of signal I'm looking for. Without any kind of comparison, I won't know if I'm hacking into an enemy mainframe, or Royster's videogame server until I've wasted what little time we have left," Sandor replied, looking over his shoulder at Wildstar.
Derek turned around to face Miki, "How long before we reach the bottom of this opening?"
"Ten minutes until we hit the ground," she replied.
Wildstar looked back over his shoulder at the XO, "Sandor, you've got eight minutes. If you can't find what you need by then, we'll have to try something else."
Without a word, Sandor nodded and dove into his desperate effort.
Everywhere she looked there were walls. Nova had never seen such an intricate maze before. She felt displaced. There was no feeling in her hands or feet, which made it difficult to tell if she was actually standing on the floor, or floating in midair. She looked around trying to find Adam or Alex, but neither of them was visible from where she was.
She took a tentative step forward, expecting something to happen. When nothing did she took another step, and looked around again. Absolutely nothing was different.
Deciding she didn't have anything to lose, Nova forged forward down the long gray corridor before her. She looked up. She could tell that the maze walls didn't reach up into the sky infinitely. In fact, they were only a few feet above her head.
Despite not being able to feel her feet, she thought about standing on tiptoe to see if she could see over the walls. To her surprise, her feet obeyed and she rose several inches, straining to see over the nearest barrier. Even though she was closer to the lip of the wall, she couldn't tell the difference. As she rose towards it, it remained the exact same distance from her face.
"Well, I guess I'm not going over them," she mumbled to herself and kept on going.
She came to a bend in the hall. She looked around the corner and saw more of the same gray hallway. She stopped and looked back to the way she'd come. There was no indication that she'd been dropped anywhere special.
She looked up, searching for the clock Starsha promised would be there. Just as the Queen said, hanging in the sky above her were glowing red numbers.
"Eleven minutes, fifty seconds," Nova mumbled the clock reading.
She suddenly felt very dizzy and reached out to touch the wall to steady herself. The moment her fingertips touched the barrier, a garbled mess of words, thoughts, and images rushed through her brain. She jerked her hand away from the wall as though she'd been burned.
"Wha…?" Her mouth dropped open in shock. She stared at the wall in amazement, once again noting that there was nothing particularly unique about this section of the hall.
Ever so slowly, she reached out to touch the wall one more time. Extending a single fingertip, she brushed the barrier.
A single image of a man flashed into her mind, then vanished. Only a few words trickled through the thunderous rapids of sound cascading through the background of that single image, "Lieutenant Gavar Ishte."
Nova's brow furrowed. She didn't recognize the name, or the face. She reached out and brushed the wall again, this time filling her mind with thoughts of her friends and her ship.
Just as her finger made contact with the wall, she was blown back by a monumentous force. She slammed into the opposite wall. Even though she didn't feel the impact, her head was reeling from the sudden movement.
Contact with the wall once again overwhelmed her senses, and she quickly crawled away from it.
Now on her knees in the middle of the corridor, she looked back and forth from one wall to the other. Her mind now silent again, she pulled herself up off the floor and continued walking down the passageway, careful not to touch the walls.
She made many more turns, periodically daring to touch the barriers around her. Every time she did, she saw something different depending on what she was thinking about. She tried one more time to picture her ship when touching the wall, but doing so yielded the exact same response as before though each time she attempted it, she felt more and more like she was being watched.
When the sensation of eyes prying into her back was more than she could stand, she stopped trying to make any contact with the walls whatsoever. Instead, she focused on looking for either Adam or Alex.
She looked up at the clock. To her surprise, it still read eleven minutes, fifty seconds.
She rounded a corner, and thought she heard voices coming from up ahead. Her face brightened when she heard a man's voice. She hastened down the passageway and rounded the next corner, only to see absolutely no one. She could still hear the voice emanating from this area. She stopped and looked around, trying to find the source of the voice.
It didn't seem to matter which way she walked, the sound remained indistinct and far-off.
Out of curiosity, Nova turned around and walked back the way she'd come. When she rounded the second corner, the voice suddenly disappeared. Immediately, she stopped and went back toward the voice. Once again, when she neared the area she could hear the voice.
She strained her ears, listening hard, trying to distinguish whose voice this was. It sounded familiar, but not familiar enough to be the voice of someone she knew well.
She stood and listened for several moments before a sense of urgency gripped her and she decided that this was not the time to stand around listening to phantoms.
She shook her head and chided herself for being so easily distracted and continued down the whispering hall. Curiously enough, the voice did not disappear this time. Instead, it grew louder.
When the volume increased to a low whisper, she thought she could make out a few words, or at the very least, one – a name she did not recognize – Masterson.
She wondered for a moment who this person was, but all too soon she was compelled to continue walking.
She picked up her pace as the voice continued to grow louder. Just when she thought she could identify it, she rounded one last corner and walked into complete silence.
Frustrated, she turned around and went back, but this time the voice was gone. Something about it still hung in her mind, and it bothered her that she didn't know who it was by now.
The lonely gray of the passageway seemed to close in on her as she continued her way through the strange maze.
She rounded another corner and came face-to-face with an image that filled the entire hallway. A small house, much like some of the ones she'd seen on Gamilon seemed to beckon her to enter. The front door was slightly ajar, and Nova walked up to it, cautiously peeking inside.
She could tell the house had a small foyer, but it was dark. She slipped inside the house, making sure the door was still open. She strained her eyes in the darkness, trying to make out some of the shadows she could see hiding in the other room. From their shapes, she surmised that most of them were furniture, but as she eased farther into the house, she saw one odd shadow jutting up out of the floor.
She approached it, her heart beginning to pound with anxiety.
When she was a few feet away she realized it was an open trapdoor.
She tiptoed over to it and peeked down into the darkness below. She could just make out the hint of something glinting at the bottom of the shaft.
She knelt down and squinted in the low light, trying to get a good look at the tiny object. When she still couldn't tell what it was, she reached down into the darkness feeling for a handhold. Her palm brushed the smooth surface of a ladder rung, and even though she couldn't feel its cold tinge, she knew it was metal.
She took a deep breath and reminded herself that she wasn't really here. If there was anything at the bottom of the shaft, it couldn't truly harm her.
She swung one leg down into the hole, searching for the rungs with her foot. She found purchase quickly and descended down into the blackness one step at a time.
She counted as she descended. When she came to twelve her feet hit solid ground. Keeping one hand on the ladder, she turned and peered into the darkness around her. She still couldn't see anything, but as she stood silently she listened. Not a single sound met her ears. Unless she was sorely mistaken, she was alone.
Satisfied that she wouldn't be attacked by an unknown assailant, she finally looked down searching for the object she'd seen from above.
She squinted again, unable to clearly see what she was looking at. Letting go of the ladder, she knelt down and reached out to touch the mystery object.
Since she couldn't feel anything here, she had no idea what she was holding. She looked up to get her bearings. She was glad to find that the ladder hadn't moved since she'd let go of it. Nothing here had behaved too strangely since she'd entered, but she didn't know if the rules of reality applied to everything now that she was essentially inside an alien computer system.
Carefully, she climbed back up the ladder. When she reached the top, she stopped and listened for anything out of the ordinary again. Hearing nothing, she climbed out of the hole and made the slow trek back through the house to the front door.
She stepped out into the light of the gray maze, relieved to finally be out of the darkness again.
She slowly opened her closed hand. Lying in her palm was a small, silver amulet, bearing the face of a woman. A fine chain, also made of silver hung from the amulet.
After examining the talisman thoroughly, Nova decided that if it hadn't harmed her avatar by now that it most likely wouldn't. She hung the chain around her neck so that she wouldn't lose the amulet.
She looked up. The house was gone, replaced once more by the plain, dreary walls of the maze.
She glanced up into the sky. The clock now read eleven minutes, forty-five seconds.
Adam opened his eyes.
On either side of him stood coal-black walls. He couldn't see over the tops of them. He looked over his shoulder, noting that there was a wall at his back. He turned his eyes ahead of him and cautiously began to walk down the foreign hall.
Even though the walls and floor were black, the light coming into the corridor from above was sufficient to see by. It wasn't very bright, almost like the light on Earth right after the sun disappeared from view, but just before it completely disappeared.
Adam came to the first bend in the hall and cautiously peered around it, lest there be someone lying in wait for him there. His caution proved unfounded, and instead of a sentry, a rolling grassland lay sprawled out before him.
The light faded into twilight as he took a step toward the tall grasses. He watched them bend at the mercy of the wind and suddenly noticed that he couldn't feel the touch of the cool breeze.
He peered out into the Safari -like forest. Off in the distance he could just see one tiny light perched up in the foothills, beckoning him to cross this wide field.
Adam listened hard again, wondering if there was anything lurking out there the darkness. Still he heard nothing. He closed his eyes and pictured his father as he'd last seen him, right before that battle at Pluto. He hoped his father was well, but more than that, he hoped to see him again very soon.
Adam opened his eyes and looked up into the sky. There, in glowing red numbers floated the time, eleven minutes, fifty seconds. He took a deep breath and started into the wilderness.
Alex groaned as he opened his eyes. A splitting headache throbbed just behind his eyes for a few seconds, and then disappeared.
He realized he was sitting on the ground in the middle of a long, white hallway. He had to shield his eyes from the brilliance of the walls. It was like being inside a hospital room with the lights turned up too bright. He squinted, trying to make out if there was anything else besides bright white walls in the near vicinity. He shut his eyes against the brilliance once again and slowly got to his feet.
He shaded his face with his hand, then opened his eyes again. He could see a little better, but it was still difficult to tell where he was, or where he was supposed to be going.
He took a slow step forward. The only sound that met his ears was the soft click of his boot against the floor. He took another step, and then another. When nothing strange happened, he began to walk at a normal pace down the hall. He turned several corners without incident. The walls remained the same color and brightness as before.
A while into his trek, he came to a section where two corridors met. He looked down each one, searching for some indication of what lay in each direction. There were no signs, and even if there were, he doubted he could read them.
He remembered Starsha's words and turned his eyes upwards, searching for the clock. He squinted hard and finally caught sight of the display plastered on the ceiling several feet above him. It read eleven minutes, forty-nine seconds.
He stared at the clock for a long moment. No matter how long he stood there, it didn't tick down to forty-eight. He looked away from the clock and checked down each corridor one more time. Deciding he could turn back if he didn't find anything, he took the left passage.
He counted out loud until he reached five minutes, checking the unchanged clock every so often. With nothing of interest to show for his trek, he turned around and started to head back toward the crossroads. Instead of an empty hallway, a blank white wall greeted him, blocking his path.
He gritted his teeth in frustration and growled at the barrier before turning around and continuing on the way he'd been going.
Every few steps he stopped and looked over his shoulder; without fail, the wall advanced, remaining at least five feet behind him. He knew this venture would be strange, even bordering on alien, but he hadn't expected to be stalked by a blank wall of all things.
He counted another five minutes aloud, and then looked back once again to see the same white wall staring at him. He turned all the way around to face his follower, and in anger slammed his fist into it.
He felt the impact, but no pain. Instead, a sea of images flowed over him. He jerked back from the wall, feeling like he'd been shocked. With wide eyes he approached the wall again, this time more cautiously.
In lieu of touching the barrier, he turned and began walking down the passage. A minute or so into his renewed journey, he broke into a jog.
The road was still brilliantly white, but his eyes had adjusted enough for him to be able to see decently without holding his hand over his eyes now.
He turned one more corner and saw off in the distance a dark patch, almost like the end of a tunnel. He set his sights on it and began to run. He could feel the passageway closing in behind him, and it made him shiver with dread. He was fairly certain he wouldn't be locked inside this hallway, but he had yet to discover very much about this place. For all he knew, he might never find what Starsha had sent them to look for.
He threw his head up and began to sprint toward his goal. Within a few minutes, he came skidding to a halt right in front of a doorway cut into the brilliant whiteness of the wall.
Without hesitation, he stepped through the door, relieved to be out of the disorienting maze. He glanced over his shoulder, but this time there was nothing there to indicate the presence of the maze at all. Both the white walls and the door were gone.
He stood in a clearing. In the middle of it lay several small buildings. At several key points around the area, fire pits were built. It almost looked like a camp.
He could hear the wind as it whistled through the trees. Early morning light fell softly around him in silence.
He took a bold step into the camp. The instant his boot touched the ground, a voice behind him made him jump.
"What business have you here, stranger?"
Alex whirled around, ready to make the first attack. He was met by the pleasant face of a young man several years older than Derek with a well-filled-in mustache.
"You're Gamilon," Alex said warily, noting the stranger's blue skin.
"So I am, and you are Eratite," the young man replied.
"You don't find it strange that I'm here?" Alex asked, still on the defensive.
"On the contrary, I expected you to come one day," the Gamilon replied.
"And why is that?" Alex raised an eyebrow.
"I am the manifestation of one Masterson Talan. I am here to help you find what you seek."
Alex dared a glance up into the sky.
The clock floated in giant ominous numbers: eleven minutes, thirty seconds.