by T. R. Harris
“Not much, just that he runs the Gradis Cartel and he’s more of the chief executive type than a head-basher.”
“Why is this prospector so important to him?”
Adam noticed a movement from the side of the room outside the cell. Frandon had been monitoring the thawing process and was now returning.
“I’ll let him explain,” Adam said.
It was an odd scene when the heads of the mutants rotated to watch Frandon walk up to their shiny metal prisons. Adam got the impression only their heads swiveled and not their frozen bodies. With Panur and Lila, that was possible.
“You know you cannot hold us indefinitely,” Lila informed the Cartel boss.
“That is not my intention. Eventually your utility to me will be over.”
“And then you will dispose of us in a manner designed to keep us incapacitated until well after your life has expired.”
Panur smiled at the conclusion of Lila’s statement. “And it will be my singular focus to make sure your expiration date is sooner rather than later,” he added.
“Please, Mr. Panur, threatening bombast is beyond your intellect.”
“It’s simply Panur. Mister is not necessary.”
“Very well.” Frandon sighed while looking around the room and through the transparent wall of the cell. “Let me explain your task. There is a race of beings who have built a trans-dimensional portal. One of their species entered it and traveled to a parallel universe where he discovered a new source of incredible energy that is both unlimited and stable. Now the portal has ceased to function, trapping their member in this other universe. This new form of energy is supposedly based within the realm of dark matter, or dark energy more correctly. Unfortunately, such technical data is outside my area of expertise, yet I am sure with your advanced intellect, you understand this more than I.”
“A stable form of dark energy?” Panur asked. “That doesn’t make sense. Energy is energy. Electricity is stable and able to be utilized. Yet it can also power weapons, and in a plasma state, is the basis of bolt launcher operation. Nuclear power is stable, when controlled. It can also be made to be unstable. Therefore, your statement is nonsensical. It depends on the use of the energy source which determines whether it is safe or not.”
Frandon waved off the argument. “That matters not. Of course, nearly anything can be turned to evil. In the instance of the dark matter collector I momentarily had in my possession recently, the Aris used the energy in a variety of ways, including as a food source. Yet it could also be used as an explosive weapon. This new material is rumored to be even greater in utility, able to revolutionize travel and communications not only across the galaxy but opening up multiple galaxies for our exploration and domination. To be in on the ground floor of a dramatic shift in the economics of the galaxy will bring incredible power to the Gradis. This is what we seek. Yet to accomplish this, the TD portal to this lost universe must be repaired, or adjusted, or whatever it will take to make it work again. That is why you have been called. You, Panur, have the expertise to make that happen.”
“And why did you not simply ask for my assistance?”
“That would have been easier, if we knew where you were,” Frandon admitted. “And even if we did, I am sure you would not have done so voluntarily if you knew the intentions of the Cartel.” He snickered. “Yet this strategy was not mine originally. I simply appropriated that of another. Knowing that you would come to the rescue of Arieel Bol and Adam Cain, it seemed a logical alternative to place them in jeopardy and then await your arrival.”
“That does make sense,” Lila agreed. “Yet did you consider the repercussions?”
“I did, and hence the precautions I have taken.” Frandon waved a hand at the containment boxes. “I would have preferred another tact, but I am now committed. I fear that even if you agreed to help me voluntarily at this stage, it would be only a ruse to gain your freedom. Therefore, I must continue with my original plan.”
“Where is this portal you need fixed?” Panur asked.
Frandon grimaced. “That is an issue. I do not know.”
“What!” Adam cried out from behind the glass wall. “You’ve gone through all this and you don’t even know who’s paying the bills?”
“Your Juirean friend Tidus Ne Landon is holding that information ransom. He has the creature Lo’ol hidden away. Lo’ol knows.”
Dammit! This is just what Adam suspected. And Lo’ol was still holding out. If not, then Tidus would have disposed of him long ago.
“And when do you expect to have this information?” Panur asked. “Time is wasting. If you want me to fix the portal, we need to know where it is.”
“I have summoned the Juirean here. When he arrives, you can ask him yourself. Maybe you can be more persuasive.”
“I can if you let me out of here.” Panur’s grin was met with a mirror image from Frandon.
A shackled and guarded Tidus arrived a minute later, looking aghast at the scene before him. He didn’t have an ATD, leaving him in the dark with regards to the goings on beyond the team’s brief attempt to escape. Now he recognized the heads of Panur and Lila sticking through the metal boxes. Adam didn’t need a mental link with the Juirean to read his thoughts: Frandon did it. He captured the mutants!
Frandon walked up to the taller alien, who was now sporting the massive mane of blue hair rising above his forehead and cascading down his back. Adam had only seen him wearing the non-traditional ponytail. He wondered if Tidus had done this to intimidate Frandon. If he had, it wasn’t working.
“It is now time for the reveal,” announced the leader of the Gradis Cartel. “Who is it that seeks the mutants for the task?”
“I do not know, not yet,” Tidus said, his eyes shifting around the room. “Lo’ol has not revealed them to me.”
“He is lying,” Lila said with confidence.
“I am not!” said Tidus to the mutant. He had a look of terror on his face, something rarely seen in a Juirean. Their emotions were normally held closely in check. But this was Lila who was now scrutinizing his every move, breath and twitch of his green-tinted face. His eyes averted hers.
“Yes…he knows. He has always known.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Adam asked.
“It did not matter, not until the mutants were located. Information is best when revealed only when needed.”
“Which is now,” Panur said.
Tidus looked into the gray face of the mutant. “I do not fear you, not in your current state.” His body language betrayed his words.
Frandon nodded and two of the guards placed Xan-fi rifle barrels to either side of Tidus’s head. “But you should fear me.”
“If you kill me, you will never know.”
“That is incorrect. The sponsors wish only for the repair of their portal. Once the news circulates that I have Panur and Lila Bol, they will approach me. Your death will only cause a brief delay. I am already preparing the broadcast. I will give you only a few more heartbeats to reveal what you know.”
Frandon stepped back from the Juirean, so as to not get blood on his clothing should it become necessary to give the order to shoot.
“Olypon! It is the Olypon you seek.”
“Why do I know that name?” Adam asked.
“They are the sister race within the Kracori system,” Panur said, tapping into his incredible memory. Although the Kracori war was before his time in the Milky Way, he had studied its history upon arriving.
“That’s not helping,” Adam said. “I know there were two habitable worlds in the system, but beyond that, not much more.”
“The Klin maintained a large base on the planet for centuries from which they monitored their Kracori allies on the neighboring world of Elision,” Panur began. “It is located within the Dysion Void of the Juddle Nebula. When the forces of the Expansion and Earth invaded the region in the final battle of the Juirean-Human War, the Klin on the planet evacuated to their fleet of Colony Ships. Ver
y few escaped the slaughter. The planet Elision was subsequently ravaged by nuclear weapons, essentially exterminating the Kracori race. Since that time, mention of the planet of Olypon has been rare. Until now. Apparently they have the technological know-how to build trans-dimensional portals—if not repair them. This is something of which I was unaware.”
“The knowledge must have come from the Klin,” Lila offered. “In light of their long-term occupation of Olypon, this adds credence to what the Juirean says. The Klin built the trans-dimensional array that Panur first detected within the Milky Way galaxy. The Klin did have the technology, and now so do the Olypon.”
“Thank you, Tidus,” said Frandon, smiling. “You saved me a little time and effort. I will now contact the Olypon and negotiate the next phase of the operation.” He turned to the grey head of Panur resting on top of his metal prison. “You will come with me. The others—including Lila Bol—will remain here until the completion of your assignment.”
“You are not bringing Lila with us?” The statement was as cold as the ice holding his frozen body in place.
“She is not necessary. You have the expertise on your own to repair the portal. She will provide you with more incentive to accomplish your task, and without resistance. Otherwise, I will cast her into the nearest star, along with Arieel Bol, Adam Cain and all the others.” Frandon waved his hand again in dismissal. “Yet that is a worst-case scenario. Simply do the job and then we will discuss a mutually-beneficial resolution to our association.”
“Would this resolution have anything to do with me hovering over your dismembered body and laughing?” Panur asked with a wicked grin.
“I sincerely hope not,” said Frandon, unafraid. “And it is comments like that which could make our negotiations exceedingly difficult. But first things first.” He turned to the guards watching Tidus.
A look of terror came to the Juirean’s face. He lifted his hands high into the air in a sign of surrender. “Do not do this! I succumb. I will cause no problems…in fact I will join you, join the Cartel. I have extensive contacts throughout the Expansion which could be beneficial.”
As he spoke, Tidus buried his hands into his great mane of blue hair, as if in an effort to pull it from his roots. Yet when he removed his hands, they held not masses of hair, but two small laser pistols.
Crossing his hands in front of his face, each weapon fired, hitting the two armed guards in their heads. Then he swept the small, yet effective guns at the other two sentries in the room. His next shot was at a fleeing Frandon G’Bur. The Cartel leader had been unarmed—he wasn’t the type to carry a weapon.
With the room temporarily clear of the enemy, Tidus dialed down one of his guns and aimed the bright red laser beam at the latches holding Panur’s containment chamber together. He pulled the halves apart. A flood of thick, white frost poured to the floor. Tidus jumped back to avoid the super-cooled liquid. Panur’s body tumbled to the floor, everything below his head frozen stiff.
Seeing the incapacitated mutant, Tidus panicked. He’d been expecting Panur to help. Now instead, he did the same to Lila’s chamber, hoping that being free of the freezing liquid would help them thaw quicker.
“The flash rifle,” Lila said. “Take one from a guard and shoot me with it.”
“What?” Tidus said.
“Just do it,” Adam, Arieel and Panur all shouted in unison.
Shocked into action, Tidus bent down a grabbed one of the discarded weapons. He dialed it to full power and aimed it point blank at the body of the frozen female mutant. He fired.
“Again!” Lila ordered.
Tidus fired, then fired again.
The brilliant flash bolts were absorbed into Lila’s body, causing her skin to glow under the now burnt away clothing on her torso. The white glow continued to spread as Tidus fed more energy into the mutant. Within a few seconds, the light had spread to her extremities. Lila stood up. Tidus shifted his aim and kept firing in a panic, until Lila reached out casually and ripped the Xan-fi from the Juirean’s hands.
“Arieel,” said Panur, who was still lying on the floor in wisps of ephemeral gas. “Locate the controls for the freezing agent Frandon has in the ceiling and floor. We cannot have him reactivating the agent.”
“I have the controls. Any second. There.”
“Thank you.”
Lila walked shakenly to Panur and lifted the smaller mutant, holding him close to her now-naked form, letting the glowing heat from her body enter his.
Guards entered from both sides of the room, weapons at the ready. They fired on the mutants. Both stood their ground, absorbing the blue balls of plasma with almost erotic pleasure on their faces. It took only a moment for the Cartel members to see the futility in their actions. The mutants didn’t bother chasing after the fleeing guards.
Only the mutants and Tidus remained in the room outside Adam and Arieel’s cell. After a moment, Panur was able to walk on his own. He went to the mechanical lock on the door to the cell. His glowing hand melted the device, allowing the securing chain to fall to the stone floor. He backed away as Adam and Arieel passed through the portal. They joined Tidus at a far corner of the room, away from the radiant heat emanating from Panur and Lila.
“How long will this last?” Tidus asked, a look of shock and awe on his angular face.
“A couple of hours,” Adam answered. Then he looked up at the tall Juirean. “That was pretty slick, that whole thing with the laser pistols. Where the hell did you get them?”
“I have always had them hidden within my glory. I suspected there may be others on the quest for the mutants. It seemed to be a logical precaution.”
Adam reached up and placed a hand on the alien’s shoulder. “Great job. I guess you’ve earned your membership card.”
“I am now a member of your team—officially?” It was rare to see a Juirean smile, a full-tooth grin that wasn’t a death challenge. The corners of Tidus’s mouth twitched, telling Adam he wasn’t used to the expression.
“Provisional, yet official,” Adam said, displaying a thin grin of his own.
Arieel and Lila were now facing each other, yet at a safe distance. They desperately wanted to rush into each other’s arms, but that would have to wait.
Adam took up one of the fallen Xan-fi rifles on the floor. “Come with me,” he said to Tidus. “Let’s go free the others.”
“What of Frandon?” Tidus asked.
Adam looked at the angelic face of his daughter. The glow of her skin had dimmed, but not much. “I wouldn’t worry about him,” Adam replied. “He’s going to have to answer to Lila for what he did to Arieel. I definitely would not want to be in his shoes…not now, not ever.”
By the time the mutants had cooled, Frandon and his lieutenants were off the planet and racing for Navior. Lila did state her desire to follow him. Panur resisted, but eventually gave in. She could take their small TD ship, while he went with Adam and the team in the Davion and Tidus’s NT-4. They made her promise not to spend too much time exacting her vengeance. Then she was to meet up with the rest of the team at Olypon.
Panur was mad as well, yet in his case, with the Olypon. They had set the entire affair in motion, although Tidus assured him they had not set the conditions for the reward. All they wanted were the mutants to help. Others—chief among them the Z’inif Lo’ol—had brought Adam and Arieel into it, figuring that was the only way to attract Panur and Lila.
In the end, the strategy worked, to the benefit of some, the detriment of others.
“So, you will become rich through this adventure?” Panur asked as he lounged with the team in the common room. Riyad was at the controls of the Klin KFV-A. Tidus was trailing behind in the NT-4.
“It sounded good at the time,” Adam said. “After what you said about energy sources, I’m not so sure anymore.”
“But there’s no harm in checking,” Coop added quickly. He still believed there was a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, even if the pot was in another unive
rse.
“I am willing to look at the portal, if it is as the Juirean says, that the Olypon had nothing to do with your kidnapping and subsequent threats upon your lives.”
“But even if so, wouldn’t it be fitting if we made all the money and the Olypon got screwed. It would serve them right.”
“Relax, Coop,” Adam said. “We’re on our way to Olypon. We’ll see if their story checks out, and then decide at that point if we’re willing to go any farther.”
Panur was shaking his head. “I find the story of the dark energy source to be questionable, although I admit to having little background in the subject.”
“You…little background?” Sherri asked incredulously.
“As I have said many times, knowledge is not absorbed organically. Even I have to be exposed to learn. My genius lies in the fact that I have lived for five thousand years. During that time, I have been exposed to a lot. Of course, I know of dark matter and dark energy, and I am able to correlate information better than the most-advanced computers. It’s just that even with the technological level of the galaxy at this point, very little is known or understood on the subject. The data is very thin. Also, it was only recently that we learned the Aris service modules are powered by dark energy. Zee—Lila’s pet orb—informed us of this when the subject came up after the affair at the Aris station. The ancient beings used the elusive energy to power their civilization, as well as to maintain their bodies. In a distant past, they may have considered dark matter as a weapon, but not as they evolved. They harnessed the hidden energy of the universe—all universes—and failed to destroy themselves with it.”
“I couldn’t say the same about us,” Adam remarked. “Even though the potential of the dark matter collector was phenomenal, the most anyone wanted to do with it was to build weapons. I’m not so sure we could handle even a benign version of the material.”
“Which is my quandary, Adam. For it to be truly benign, it would lose any of its potential as an energy source. That is another reason I am willing to pursue this adventure. I am curious if what has been said is true.”