Three Conclave-security Darts roared overhead as they flew around the installation. The red fighter ships split up and fell into patrolling patterns further out to sea before a new ship arrived. This new ship was sleek, like the Darts, but entirely silver and lavish in design. Six out of place, chunky-looking engines brought the craft to land gently on the platform in front of Bal and Gelda. The two stood to attention, straightening their backs while trying to ignore the unusual landscape.
“Is this really happening?” Gelda squeaked.
“Yes.” Bal cleared the lump in his throat. “Just try to think of them as our benefactors or sponsors…” He didn’t want her to embarrass him.
“You mean rather than the most powerful beings in the galaxy?” Gelda replied in a smaller voice.
Doctor Bal thought about that statement and considered the eleven beings frozen in their Rem-Stores beneath their very feet. Powerful was a term the Terran had redefined for the doctor.
The shuttle door slid aside and a ramp protruded down to the platform. The first to exit was Xydrandil, the Nix. Though not a member of the Highclave, this particular alien was considered their gatekeeper. The Nix’s billowing black and silver robes covered the majority of his pincer-like legs, as he scurried across the platform. Xydrandil was soon followed by the council of aliens that ruled over seven hundred and twenty worlds.
They defined regal. These five beings held the weight of multiple civilizations on their shoulders. Bal had only ever spoken with them over a holo-feed, and even then there had only been one or two of them. The doctor’s attention was momentarily torn away by the increasing size of the oncoming wave. Though several miles away, the weight and speed of the water would certainly kill them all.
“Greetings of peace, Doctor Bal.” Elondrasa towered over the Trillik with her levitating headdress.
“Councillors…” Bal was lost for words. “Greetings of peace!” he said at last, as was the Novaarian custom. “I didn’t realise you were honouring us with a visit.”
Brokk, the hulking Raalak, glanced over his stone shoulder. “A visit that will be short-lived if we continue this conversation out here.”
Bal followed the councillor’s look of concern and agreed with his assessment. “Please…” The doctor ushered them into the Translift.
Xydrandil trailed behind with a small group of elite soldiers, all dressed in black armour. It was quite the squeeze once they were all inside the lift - especially with Brokk’s girth. Thankfully, the installation was relatively spacious inside, allowing for the group to regain their regal postures.
“Would you like a tour of the installation, Councillors?” Bal wasn’t really sure what he was supposed to be doing. The conversation over the holo-feed was only meant to be an update report.
Nu-marn, whose Shay features gave him a permanent frown, replied, “We didn’t come all this way to see where you shit and eat.”
Bal noticed the briefest of inflections across the other councillors’ faces, suggesting their dislike for the Shay.
“Take us to them,” Elondrasa added with more diplomacy.
“As you wish.” Bal was only too happy to deal with the Novaarian councillor.
The walk was tediously long with the installation branching out the deeper they travelled. The silence offered the councillors time to ask simpler questions Bal was only too happy to answer.
“Does this facility have a name?” Lordina asked.
Doctor Bal turned to the Laronian and found his reply hard to come by, as he dwelled for a moment too long on her beauty. “No, Councillor. This installation, like the planet in which it resides, is without a name or designation. Neither can it be found on any star charts. One or two of the staff have attempted to name the installation and even the planet, but I have discouraged them from doing so. High Charge Uthor was quite clear about the level of secrecy surrounding this project. It is to remain nameless…”
Ch’lac, the smallest and slowest of the group, stopped to make an observation. “I see the renovations are still underway.”
The group turned as one to regard the newest lab, still under construction, filled with floating mechs who were busy building the framework.
“Yes…” Bal wasn’t sure where the Ch’kara was going with his comment. “The mechs have to be quite careful in their work, being so far below sea level. One wrong adjustment and the entire installation will implode under the pressure!” The Trillik lost his smile when the councillors failed to enjoy the levity.
“I take it there are no issues with funding?” Elondrasa inquired.
“Oh no, Councillor,” Bal was quick to reply. The funds being supplied to the project were large enough to build a fleet or buy an entire planet. “The renovations are just taking time due to the speed with which the installation required altering. As you know, it was originally designed to house only one occupant.”
“Kalian Gaines is no longer considered an active threat,” Elondrasa stated the fact as if she were making a public announcement.
Nu-marn added, not-so-subtly, under his breath, “That could change in a heartbeat…”
Brokk’s giant flat head swivelled towards the Shay, creating the sound of grinding rocks. Nu-marn matched the Raalak’s scowl but remained silent.
Doctor Bal excused himself to open the next door - the most secure in the whole facility. The Trillik stood over a concealed pressure matt, which measured his weight, while his hand rested inside a circular alcove, where his fingerprints and a small sample of his DNA was taken from the top layers of his green skin. A retinal scanner ran a blue light over one of his four eyeballs as another scanner measured his height and checked for concealed weapons. Using the glass interface beside the hand scanner, Bal adjusted the detectors to allow for the Highclave’s guards and their weapons.
Finally, the oval door parted with a hiss, revealing another lab. A small team of scientists was already inside, busy working away on what was clearly the centrepiece of the lab. Bal showed the Highclave in, walking backward to gauge their reactions at the sight. A single Gomar female stood upright in the middle of the lab, her legs mostly covered by the lower half of the Rem-Store. Everything else was on show without the usual screen and casing that housed an occupant.
“I don’t understand…” Elondrasa looked the female Gomar up and down, taking in her short, red hair that only covered half of her head.
“Yes, as you can see,” Bal directed their attention to the glass wall on their right, where the other ten sleeping Gomar could be seen inside their Rem-Stores, “we have found a way to remove most of the outer shell without waking them.”
The Highclave’s attention fell back on the female Gomar, who was still inside her bulky, black armour. Several tubes and wires protruded her head and bare hands, giving and taking fluids.
Bal could see that this new step made the councillors nervous. “It’s perfectly safe.” The doctor reached out and touched the Gomar’s fingers. “She is still very much asleep. It’s quite astonishing really; for all their advanced technology, their Rem-Stores are very similar to our cryo-pods. The tricky part was building an interface that would allow us to talk to the hardware.” Bal flicked the Rem-Store with his bulbous finger. “Every one of them is made from nanocelium and coded in Terran, to which we have no working translation. However, we managed to remove the outer shell and insert intravenous lines before the occupant could be roused. It was touch and go while we experimented with different sedation techniques.”
“She has never woken?” Lordina asked, raising the blue scales above her eye.
Bal gestured to a series of tanks that lined the wall - all connected in some way to the Gomar. “Some of our first concoctions proved to be insufficient, placing the subject in a stupefacient state. We have since increased the dose, though we are forced to make regular adjustments.”
“Adjustments?” Ch’lac inquired.
“Her immune system is unlike anything we’ve ever seen in the Conclave. She’s always
fighting it, as if her mind knows that something isn’t right. Now, from what we know about them, the Gomar are essentially Terran. They are identical in every way, except the Gomar struggle to control their natural abilities, making them dangerous. These exo-suits,” Bal placed the palm of his hand on the cold breastplate, “appear to be linked in a surgical manner to the Harnesses that run the length of their spines.” The doctor brought up a hologram of recent scans to illustrate. “As you can see, the Harness has been fused with the central nervous system along the spine. Without these exo-suits, the Gomar would be as powerless as any human. Somehow the nanocelium inside the suits is able to not only counteract the Harness but also provide the user with a measure of control.”
“Can you remove the exo-suit?” Brokk asked.
“We’re working on that…” Bal had indeed been studying the suits and their users closely since the outer shell of the Rem-Store had been successfully removed.
“The only way we’re going to get answers from them is if they’re awake,” Ch’lac stated. “I think we are all in agreement that consciousness should not be achieved until their abilities are nullified?”
“Agreed,” Nu-marn added.
Elondrasa walked over to the glass wall and looked out on the ten Rem-Stores, their occupants frozen within. “If even one of them became aware of what was happening, they could bring this entire installation to its knees, not to mention the havoc they could create in the Conclave.”
“There are fail-safes in place for such an incident,” Bal explained. “Every floor is fitted with enough explosives to disintegrate this installation and everything inside it. And should that not be enough, this planet was chosen for a reason, Councillor. There is no land from pole to pole, since we had the ice-caps destroyed. We keep no shuttles or spacecraft of any kind as we are resupplied monthly. There is no way off this world.”
Ch’lac looked up at Bal. “What became of the recent security breach?
The doctor averted his eyes in embarrassment. Only a month ago, during a supply landing, had the internal systems been compromised. The apparent hack had only lasted half a second before the firewalls shut it out and tracked the source to a cluster of asteroids in Bendeesi system.
“We still aren’t sure how the intruder found a way into our systems, but High Charge Uthor is certain the supply ship was the cause. After the entire installation was swept, the supply ships were all swapped out and personnel changed. The signal was traced via the supply ship to the Bendeesi System, but I am told there were no life forms in that region of space. Either way, they were shut out before any data could be taken.
“A disturbing series of events,” Ch’lac replied, gravely.
“Indeed. All of our security systems have been upgraded since.”
Nu-marn cleared his cybernetic throat. “Have you gleaned any weaknesses in all your research, Doctor Bal?”
“We’ve been learning more every day since we removed the outer shell,” Bal replied with enthusiasm. The doctor brought up a new hologram, this time with images of the female’s right palm. “One of my first tests was to measure her immune system.” The image changed to that of an inch-long cut on her palm. “The wound didn’t heal instantly as I had expected it to. This proves that their ability to heal is a conscious decision. However,” the image changed again to clean palm, “the wound did seal back up without any scar tissue within a few days - much quicker than any natural healing factor we know of.”
Lordina frowned. “Doesn’t that prove their healing isn’t a conscious decision? We all saw how Kalian Gaines healed himself after that incident on the Nova.”
Indeed Bal had seen the footage of what could only be described as a miraculous feat of biology. Kalian Gaines had contained an entire starrillium from exploding, saving the crew, and then healed himself from what should have been fatal burns - with a little help from a medder tank.
“Yes, I believe that the Terran, or the Gomar - whatever label you prefer - can heal instantly, should they wish to, but I also believe that their evolution has granted them a naturally increased healing state. In fact, if my calculations are accurate, a Terran could continually adjust their immune system, healing and aging factors. They could live forever or simply choose to stop replenishing their cells, allowing them to age naturally. Though why they would ever choose to die is beyond me…”
“That all sounds like a strength to me,” Nu-marn commented. “Weaknesses, Doctor?”
Bal stopped himself from frowning, exasperated with the Shay’s level of understanding. “This shows us that the Terran use their abilities consciously. It’s not a reflex, though I have a theory that Terran children do have reflexive abilities, as a protective measure - but that’s not…” Bal had to collect himself and stay on topic. “Essentially, if you can surprise a Terran, you can harm them. They have to be actively protecting themselves, which I don’t believe is a state they can maintain for long periods of time. Also, when they’re asleep, they’re vulnerable.” Bal flicked the female’s cheek.
The Highclave shared a communal glance at one another. Doctor Bal knew that all this information he was collating on Terran physiology was to ensure they had a chance of controlling Kalian Gaines. They might say he isn’t an active threat, but his capabilities made him a danger to everyone in the Conclave. They simply had no way of combating a being that could tear ships apart with a single thought.
Bal was more upset that he hadn’t been able to get his hands on Esabelle’s body. The things he could have learned from her corpse would unlock every secret the Terran had. Of course, that was the perfect example of Kalian’s power; he said they couldn’t have her body and no one disagreed with him.
“Anything else, Doctor?” Elondrasa asked, casually.
“We’ve been scanning her brain, but I could really do with a human to compare their different states of evolution. There’s certainly a lot of activity for someone under heavy sedation, but I can’t be sure whether this is normal for their kind, regardless of their level of evolution.”
Elondrasa’s tone was stern. “The humans are not animals to be tested on. The Gomar destroyed their world and killed thousands of our own; the humans are victims in all this.”
“My apologies, Councillor.” Bal shrunk away.
Elondrasa took a calming breath. “You may continue your work, Doctor Bal. Your priority is to relieve them of their exo-suits, while maintaining the integrity of their Harnesses.”
“As you wish, Councillor.” Bal just wanted them to leave now. While they were here, he was no longer the god of all he surveyed.
Brokk adjusted his four-legged stance. “When you have the exo-suits you are to alert us immediately. They will be transferred to a different installation.”
Bal nodded absently, wondering just how many secret installations the Highclave had, each devoted to understanding the Terran in a different way.
The Highclave gave the female Gomar a last look before turning to leave. The councillors left the installation as abruptly as they arrived, and Bal was thankful for it. He watched their ship lift off from the landing platform and made a mad dash back to the Translift, along with Gelda. The giant waves were only moments away from crashing into the installation. As the lift descended, the facility shook ever so slightly when the wave finally slammed into the walls. Bal breathed a sigh, though not at surviving the mountainous waves, but at the departure of the Highclave.
“Prep a new Rem-Store,” Doctor Bal instructed. “We’re going to split into two teams and work on both Gomar at once. The Highclave want those exo-suits and it is our job to deliver them.” His twin-tail clung tightly to his leg.
Elondrasa sat back in her comfy chair, designed especially for her Novaarian physiology, and watched the waterworld fade away as they passed through the atmosphere. The Marillion’s protective golden hull awaited them, shining in the distant sun.
Three Darts hovered around their craft, flying in tight formation. Elondrasa knew they would not be the
only Darts flying in this region of space, as the Marillion was home to five hundred Darts, each with a pilot ready and waiting to die for their Highclave. She knew that at least a quarter of their complement would be patrolling nearby.
“It’s confirmed,” Brokk announced to the group, his eyes fixed on the holo-pad in his large hands. “High Charge Uthor reports that there are just over one hundred thousand humans aboard the Paladin. They are working to solve the mystery of their appearance.”
“That’s all we need,” Nu-marn spat, “more humans and their mysteries!”
Brokk ignored the Shay’s comment and continued, “Captain Fey has made contact on our behalf. A small engineering crew is being permitted to fix their engine and the radiation leak.”
“They are to be escorted back to Raalak space?” Lordina asked, incredulously.
“The habitat we gave them cannot sustain those numbers…” Ch’lac offered from his corner.
Nu-marn looked directly at Elondrasa. “Don’t say it,” he warned.
The Shay’s tone grated on the Novaarian. “The Planetary Location Office has chosen an appropriate world for them.” Elondrasa concealed her smile at Nu-marn’s audible groan.
“Where is it?” Lordina asked.
Elondrasa frowned, as they should all be aware of this information. “It is within the Novaarian sector. I have already spoken with my government on Nova Prime and they all agree it is for the best.”
“If we give them a world we give them membership…” Brokk’s tone wasn’t argumentative. The Raalak was simply throwing out a fact and seeing where it fell within the group.
“They have nothing to offer the Conclave!” Nu-marn’s tone was argumentative.
Ch’lac sat forward. “They are in possession of technological secrets that could change our entire society! We have just built our first successful Starforge. With the Conclave’s resources, we could have hundreds within a month.”
“Then there’s the nanocelium…” Lordina sipped a flute of Atari sweet-ale.
The Terran Cycle Boxset Page 102