by T. R. Harris
“Did we destroy it, TeraDon’s ship?”
“No. Those were Confed ships you destroyed. TeraDon’s ship never returned to Sasin.”
Riyad leaned close to Adam. “Panur said Te’moc could detect J’nae. You don’t think they followed you to AD-14, do you?”
“That’s a possibility. He couldn’t go as fast as we could in the Arya, so we were already gone when he got there.” Adam turned toward the door. “Dammit!”
“Yes?” Aligart responded.
Adam looked at the lizard, not comprehending. He ignored him and turned back to Riyad.
“We could’ve jumped right back there. As it is now, it will take us nine days or more to get there, even in the Sansa. Let’s get out of here.”
“What about this one?” Tidus asked.
Adam turned back to the terrorized Rigorian. The creature had kept his word when he helped Adam before. And he’d helped him again.
“Get out of the building,” he said to Aligart. “Go out the back way and then just keep running. You don’t want to be anywhere near here in a few minutes. Now go!”
Aligart was off the floor a moment later. He squeezed by Riyad and Tidus and then navigated gingerly past Sherri and Coop. It was a fair bet he’d never seen so many Humans in one place before. He was terrified. He ran down the hallway to the nearest stairway leading to the back of the building and disappeared.
The team was gone a moment later themselves, again not bothering with disarming the aliens with the ATDs, instead, ripping them apart with impatient shots from their rifles. They were all pissed and taking it out on every stray alien they could find.
Back at the Sansa, Adam stepped up to where Monty sat at the firing controls.
“Let me in. I need the practice.”
Coop was in the pilot seat, and within seconds the Sansa lifted off, blasting away a cloud of dark grey dust into the eerily quiet field.
Adam aimed with the flash cannon and began to strafe the buildings, sparing none from his wrath. He never did like the Gradis Cartel, and especially the Cartel on Sasin. Sherri took the seat next to him, and after sharing a pair of matching grins, joined in ripping the lightly-built structures apart.
Riyad leaned over Sherri’s shoulder and took his turn with the beam weapons. These were meant to take out heavily-shielded starships, not buildings made of hardened foam. Five minutes later, there was nothing left to shoot.
“Okay, I feel better now,” Adam said to the room. “Get us out of here, Coop. Set a course for AD-14. Our fun is just beginning.”
4,569 years ago
…on the planet Kor
The impasse lasted sixty years, during which time Panur worked sparingly on the immortality project.
The breakthrough came when he found a way to distill the essence of a living being into the necessary form which Te’moc could then process within his body. Panur called this distilled essence a freeform embryo. Once refined, Te’moc would take the embryo into his body and transform it into something that could be transferred to a host. In most cases, it was a straight-line process: distillation, Te’moc, and infusion. There was no need for multiple infusions and extractions to refine the material. It was already refined.
The experiments proved successful, and with the host’s ability to absorb energy directly, the embryo could be brought to maturity almost instantly once infused.
The major drawback to this process was that the original body was destroyed in the distillation process, which caused an insurmountable quandary. The process would work, but not for the Queen. Her unique physiology was required to produce the thousands of eggs per day needed to sustain the Colony. Simply placing her essence into another body wouldn’t work. Unless a host body was created that mimicked all the functions of her current body, she would never be able to attain her goal of immortality. To do otherwise would be to remove her from her position while sentencing the Colony to death. She wasn’t willing to do that.
That was when Panur realized he wasn’t wedded to his current body, not like the Queen. His vessel was old and withered and reaching the end of its usefulness. The process wouldn’t work for the Queen, but it would for him. Also, he had neither vanity nor ambitions to be a great physical presence. He would settle for one of the generic grey masters if it meant his mind would live forever.
Of course, this raised another concern. Even if the transfer was possible, it could only be accomplished through Te’moc, as that was the only way to guarantee complete integration of the embryo. Panur worried whether or not the creature would agree to the procedure. Te’moc was a thinking, emotional creature, and although he wasn’t immortal himself, he had an extremely long lifespan thanks to the regenerative properties he received from his creator—the Eternal Queen. While he tolerated Panur, he was completely devoted to the Queen. Would Te’moc see Panur’s experiment as a benefit to the Queen and the Colony, or simply a way for Panur to become immortal? Te’moc would have to be convinced that what Panur was proposing was for the good of the Queen. It wouldn’t be easy, and it would take time for him to lay the groundwork.
Panur faced another dilemma when considering the procedure, this one personal. Distilling his essence would involve destroying his current body. And this wasn’t simply another host. This was his body, something he’d lived with for over eight hundred years by this time. And if he did this, there would be no going back. Either the procedure would work … or Panur would die. Also, once he was distilled and fused with Te’moc, he would be at the mercy of the creature to carry out the infusion. Was he willing to take the risk?
It turns out he wasn’t, at least not then.
It took another six years before he built up the courage to try, and that came about more from necessity than courage. He’d developed a serious heart condition that even his regenerative cells couldn’t cure. Panur was on death’s bed when he permitted the technicians to begin the distillation process.
There was no sensation of time. He simply closed his eyes and opened them again. His mind was fuzzy on the details, but soon he remembered what he had done. Did it work? It had to. He could see, he could think.
But he couldn’t breathe.
Panic swept through his body, and he gasped, desperately sucking air into his lungs. But nothing helped. He was suffocating, while his mind kept telling him there was nothing he could do to prevent it.
However, consciousness remained. And remained.
The realization hit him like a rock. He wasn’t breathing … because he didn’t need to.
He lay on the recovery bed, staring up at the distant ceiling and lights of the incubation chamber, feeling an overwhelming flood of relief. He was alive and encased in a host body. The transfer worked.
But was he immortal?
It turned out he was, and to his surprise, it infuriated the Eternal Queen, sending her into a screaming rage when she found out.
This alien—this mutant not of the Colony—had become what she could never be. Immortality was something beyond her reach—and nothing was beyond the reach of the Queen. Nothing, except this.
It made her mad.
The Queen closed down the immortality project after that. Te’moc was placed in hibernation, as she couldn’t gather the willpower to destroy him. He was her special creation, and she would preserve him on the off chance something might change. What that something might be, she couldn’t predict, which only made her madder.
With regards to Panur, she vented her frustration at him, while also acknowledging the miracle of his new form and existence. She found it odd looking down at the unimpressive grey body, so unlike that of his other, more familiar form. He would live forever, and with a mind beyond even that of her own. He was a one-of-a-kind entity, and although she felt betrayed and insulted by his transformation, she was determined to use him for the good of the Colony, almost as punishment for cheating her out of her dream. Even so, she didn’t have to keep him at Court.
She exiled him to a secret pyramid in the
snowy southern mountains of Kor designated as M-34 and gave him a small staff. He would continue to innovate for the Colony. And after his humiliation of the Queen, he felt an obligation to do so. Whatever he could do to impress her, he would do. But from where the next great breakthrough would come, he did not know. So he kept his options open. After all, he had all the time he needed … and then some.
3
…at the lost Aris base in the AD-14 star system
Te’moc had been at the abandoned Aris base for twenty-two days, during which time he learned an incredible amount about these amazing creatures. Like everyone else in the galaxy, he knew of the Aris, but mainly about them being the native species of the evil Kracion. Te’moc came to the Milky Way about the time the Mad Aris began his campaign of death and destruction, yet very little else was revealed about his race of origin other than they were rumored to be ancient.
At first, it was believed the Aris came from another universe, as evidenced by Kracion’s arrival through a trans-dimensional portal within the Dysion Void. However, it was Cartel agents infiltrating the Human military complex that provided Te’moc with more information, culled from buried after-action reports going back several years.
As it turned out, the Aris were native to the Milky Way, an ancient race which the reports said had vague connections to Panur and the Formilian mutant Lila Bol. This was interesting, particularly for the mention of Panur, a creature Te’moc knew well. The mutant was well-known within the Milky Way galaxy, with his name mentioned in the eventual demise of Kracion. Another name circulated with that event was Adam Cain. Curiously, it was Adam Cain who rescued the Humans and Juirean from Sasin, the event which led him here.
Adam Cain was also the evil creature who killed Te’moc’s beloved Eternal Queen. There was too much coincidence to let the relationship between Panur and Adam Cain simply be. He had to dig deeper.
That’s when Te’moc noticed an obscure notation in one of the reports about a creature named Jane. He realized that had to be a bastardization of the word J’nae. The data was sketchy, but the word immortality was also mentioned in the briefing documents. The report’s author didn’t see any correlation between the subjects; it was beyond his understanding. Not so for Te’moc. Still, it wasn’t much to go on, but it did prove that J’nae had once been in this universe, confirmation of the Sol-Kor belief that Panur brought her here after stealing her away from the Colony.
What confused Te’moc at the time was why he couldn’t detect her? His documented ability to sense her presence was the reason the Sol-Kor resurrected him, piecing his segmented body back together with a sophisticated exo-skeleton and other linking attachments. They wanted their Queen back. They needed their Queen back. And Te’moc could find her. Or he should have been able to.
His first year in the Milky Way came up dry, with no trace of J’nae. With the help of the Gradis Cartel and their loyal representative, TeraDon Fief, Te’moc crisscrossed the galaxy, avoiding Kracion’s terror while searching for any trace of J’nae. There was nothing.
The only logical conclusion to his dilemma was that J’nae was no longer within this universe. But where had she gone?
And then one day … she was there.
And the signal was strong, meaning she had returned to this galaxy. She was back, but from where, he had no idea.
Once Te’moc had the scent, he and his Cartel servants made a mad dash to recover her before she could once again depart the galaxy. A chain of events followed, all of which led him to this isolated star system, where he lost the signal.
However, it was here that he discovered the lost Aris base … and the drop of J’nae’s essence.
It was a small part of her, left lying on a concrete floor. If not found, the drop of immortal lifeforce would have remained undisturbed for years, until the walls of the underground complex collapsed upon it from the ravages of age. However, now that he found the drop, much was revealed, mysteries resolved. With the help of the Aris computers—as well as considerable deductive reasoning—Te’moc began to piece together the puzzle that was J’nae, the missing Queen of the Sol-Kor—along with her association with the Aris and the Humans.
During his examination of the Aris base, Te’moc found recently uploaded data files which revealed that the Privileged sect of the Aris had achieved immortality by assimilating portions of J’nae’s essence into their ancient bodies. How they accomplished this feat was not detailed, just that the procedure was successful. Te’moc was confused. He knew of no way to extract the essence from a host other than through him, yet, somehow the Aris did it, which was not surprising considering their history and level of technological sophistication. After that, the infusion process to introduce the essence into a new host was fairly simple. Extraction was the hard part.
From J’nae’s essence, fifteen of the Privileged class became immortal. However, most intriguing was the reference to a surplus supply, from which the sixteenth Aris—Kracion—was able to achieve his immortality. This meant there was a cache of essence somewhere, possibly hidden within the base. Te’moc spent over twenty days scouring the facility for the lost vials but to no avail. They were no longer here, which led Te’moc to believe they were moved to another universe, the same universe into which J’nae had disappeared.
On the trip from Sasin, TeraDon had briefed him on the creatures they were following, including what the Cartel knew of the mysterious Human female he now believed was J’nae’s new host. Could she have been the recipient of the bulk of the fluid which produced the lone drop? It was a possibility.
What he found most disturbing was that Adam Cain was involved. He was one of the creatures who killed the Eternal Queen of the Sol-Kor which prompted J’nae’s elevation to the position of Queen. According to copious reports available from multiple sources through the Galactic Library, the Human Adam Cain was neither a genius nor immortal, yet had played critical roles in several crises facing the galaxy, including the recent solution to the Kracion problem. He was also known to be an associate of Panur, as well as the father of the immortal mutant from the planet Formil, Lila Bol. How one mortal creature could be involved in so many galactic affairs was beyond belief. However, the records backed it up. His chronicles were well-documented.
What part he would play in the recent events surrounding J’nae remained to be seen.
It was also during Te’moc’s study of the Aris that he discovered the reason he was unable to detect J’nae’s presence during the time Kracion carried her essence within him. Aris bodies could absorb energy directly, just as Panur and J’nae. The purity of energy could mask any detectible trace of the essence. But the Human female is a biologic and had no such masking ability. Te’moc now surmised the exact time this creature known as Summer Rains assimilated J’nae. It wasn’t long ago, so whatever was happening within the Human host was still in process.
This revelation answered a myriad of questions that had perplexed him, such as why, when his Cartel servants boarded the alien spacecraft on Sasin, they found the Human female instead of J’nae. He excused his shortsightedness. They had indeed found J’nae aboard the vessel; he just didn’t know it at the time.
And now another event was taking place within the galaxy that prompted his recent summons of TeraDon Fief. The slender alien entered the office where Te’moc was scanning yet another amazing data file. It seemed the enigma of the Aris went back much farther than he could ever imagine….
“You summoned me?”
“Yes,” Te’moc confirmed. “I have reacquired the presence of J’nae.”
TeraDon didn’t react one way or the other. Te’moc knew the alien did not care for him, and that he was growing bored with his current assignment for the Cartel. It had lasted over a year with not much happening, save for the few tense hours on Sasin with the Humans and their incredible trans-dimensional starship.
Te’moc was momentarily distracted, thinking of the vessel. He knew Panur had created such craft for the Human incursion int
o the Sol-Kor universe. And if J’nae had been hiding out in another universe, obtaining such a vessel would be crucial to his mission’s success.
“Do you wish me to begin preparations to leave?” TeraDon asked when Te’moc didn’t continue after making his statement.
“There is no need. J’nae is coming to us.”
The last statement got a reaction from TeraDon.
“We must depart immediately. If she comes in the Human ship as before we have nothing to match it. Does this facility have defenses that could ward off an attack?”
“It was not a Human starship we encountered at Sasin,” Te’moc corrected.
“What matter is that? It is still superior to anything we have.”
“Calm yourself, TeraDon,” Te’moc said. “It is too early to consider this a threat or prepare for an evacuation. Besides, I am not certain she even knows I am here. And as for the base, it has no real countermeasures against an outside attack. It was built long before the Aris seeded the galaxy with advanced life forms.”
Te’moc had learned much about the Aris over the past twenty-two days. TeraDon had not.
“I do not understand?”
“It is not your place to understand, but rather to accept what I say as fact. Suffice to say; the base does have an asteroid defense system that should be able to neutralize any foreign spaceships if we attack unexpectedly.”
“That is hardly a guarantee. I have five Cartel ships and crew for which I am responsible. I will not risk their lives on a gamble.”
“Again, calm yourself, TeraDon. As a concession, leave two of your ships on the surface, as a signal to J’nae. Send the other three to hide nearby in space. If they are needed, they will arrive unexpectedly.”