Galactic Satori Chronicles: Kron

by Nick Braker

“What a disappointing beginning to our relationship,” Katerra said.

  Magnus smiled inwardly at the double meaning. Was she aware of the nuance of the word? For some reason, he felt she did understand. He wanted to kill her the moment he knew who she was, but now that he understood the why of it, his rage would not be satisfied in killing an innocent race of beings. Earth and Kron were pawns to the Aliri machinations.

  “How about this,” he said. “You release my crew and send them—”

  “No,” she said, cutting him off. “That one is non-negotiable.”

  “What a disappointing beginning to our relationship,” Magnus said, smirking.

  Katerra’s eyes flashed at him. Magnus would have to learn to be careful around her. She provoked easily. He decided to continue, hoping to divert her anger.

  “Why won’t you let them go?” he demanded. “You can’t keep them locked up forever.”

  Her response came slow. “Releasing them from their cells is an item we can negotiate, but I cannot allow them to return to Earth.”

  “Because it would appear like cooperation? I get that. How about we set up a situation where my people believe they steal a ship and escape?”

  “Interesting notion,” she replied, “but if the entire Aliri armada cannot get near Kron’s solar system, how can one small ship get out?”

  “Noted.”

  “We break in and use your teleportation device?” he asked.

  “No, that nearly destroyed our power systems and we haven’t recovered.”

  “Damn it,” he said.

  “I will offer some hope with that idea and tell you the option is negotiable as I have my technologists working on repairing the teleportation device as well as strengthening our infrastructure to handle the distance to Earth. Repairs and enhancements will be completed in less than one of your Earth months.”

  “So where do I fit in?” he asked.

  “You help me destroy the Aliri. Once they are out of the way, we can restore relations between our species. We are the same after all.”

  Working together did not mean he could completely trust her. Katerra’s story may be true, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have ulterior motives... like using him to help destroy their common enemy and then she would be able to destroy Earth.

  “Why me?” he asked.

  “You are Earth’s best, so let me make you aware that my Omarii have destroyed nearly 100 warlike species who have threatened us. Humans are the only species that have successfully resisted our efforts, with or without the Aliri interference.”

  “So, you brought me here to offer me a job,” Magnus asked. “Got it. Okay, back to my crew. Release them and I will cooperate and assist you in any way I can.”

  Katerra nodded. “One condition. They do not try to escape or harm my people in any way and they accept my guards to escort them everywhere they go in my city. If not, they will live in my prison outside Citron for the duration.”

  She stiffened, subtle but he noticed.

  “Duration?” he asked, probing.

  “You joined WSO for the war against us. Now we work together for the duration of the war against the Aliri.”

  He nodded, completely sure Katerra had covered something and certain he’d get nothing further out of her about it. Was it intentional?

  “Let me talk to my crew,” he said.

  Katerra waved her hand again and the view screen showed Ruth in her cell.

  “Ruth,” Magnus said, standing. “How are you doing?”

  Ruth didn’t look around this time. She remained seated in the corner, her head buried in her hands.

  “Stir crazy,” Ruth said. “Get me the fuck out of here.”

  Katerra placed her hand on Magnus’ shoulder. “You are a prisoner of the people of Kron, but the male of your group is cooperating and I am honoring the arrangement by releasing you.”

  Magnus turned to Katerra mouthing the words ‘what the fuck?’ Ruth’s head snapped up.

  “Magnus, what have you done?” Ruth demanded.

  “The male will speak with you in person soon,” Katerra continued. “We will inform your crew of their imminent release and its restrictions.” Katerra waved her hand, dismissing the connection.

  “Why the hell did you do that?” Magnus demanded. “She will never believe I gave up information.”

  “Apparently, she does,” Katerra said. “Feel free to tell them the truth. My comment about your cooperation can mean anything you wish. I leave it up to you. None of you can leave until this is over. In exchange, I agree to release them from a small prison to a much larger, guarded one. Varuuk will take you to them.”

  Magnus parsed through his options. If he lied, Ruth would know. If he told the truth, she would consider him compromised.

  Fuck me.

  “Fine,” he said.

  “When you finish speaking with them, you will return to me. You have to gain control of Ryikoda. Keep your emotions under control or you will end up killing one of them before my guards stun you.”

  “I’ll keep control,” Magnus said. “In fact, when I return, you’re gonna drop the queen routine with me when we are alone. I’ll let you get away with it when others are around, but remember we are equals. I’m not your lapdog.”

  He turned his back on her as Varuuk entered. Magnus glanced at Katerra’s opaque reflection in the glass wall. Her hand twitched; he smiled.

  Chapter 19

  MAGNUS BELIEVES

  Kron - Capital City of Citron

  Wednesday, October 28, 1987 - 03:30pm

  Magnus

  Varuuk kept his unblemished face slightly downward, his diminutive body in a subtle bow as he led Magnus from the queen’s royal palace. The Kron male shuffled along, showing Magnus to his new home.

  “How old are you, Varuuk?” Magnus asked.

  Varuuk did not answer.

  “Varuuk?” Magnus said, prodding him.

  Varuuk shook his head, continuing to lead him. They reached a walkway suspended a hundred feet above the ground. It connected the two buildings. Magnus recognized it as the same one he used to evade pursuit from the female Kron guards. Magnus glanced left and right along the main corridor of Katerra’s palace for the barriers, nothing. The subtle, shimmering, random sparkles were missing. Not that he needed it, but Katerra did confirm she had led him to her for an unofficial talk. Her story and their later discussion had brought him to one conclusion. He didn’t know shit, not really. If he believed her, and he mostly did, he planned to help Kron destroy the Aliri. If he found out later that she had lied to him... well, the vision of slowly choking the life from her came to mind again. He shook his head as his brows furrowed. The thought didn’t make him feel better this time. Magnus understood her actions but he didn’t think he could ever agree with them. Diplomacy always seemed the best course of action and destroying the innocent to prevent the guilty leaders of warlike races from attacking years later unsettled him. Wouldn’t news of Kron’s actions spread to other species, eventually creating a cyclical reaction? They would attack or plan to attack Kron for fear that the Kron would destroy them and that simple action would be predicted by the TLA system. He rubbed his head, thankful the elevator doors interrupted the numerous questions and answers popping into his head.

  The elevator doors closed. As he waited inside with Varuuk, he glanced up at the lights above the door. If they meant what he thought they meant, he had gone up and not down. The doors opened revealing a large room. Functionally, he had to admit the Kron furnishings resembled Earth. Soft chairs and large couches dotted the room. The softer, gray flooring that lined the corridors covered the entire room. Opposite the elevator, on the far wall, a floor-to-ceiling window revealed Kron’s deadly atmosphere still raining the black ash. He shivered at the memory of what it had done to him. A large counter about four feet high encircled the far end of the room on his left. Several chairs lined the counter and three women sat in them chatting. They turned as Magnus entered.

&nb
sp; “Magnus!” Ruth yelled. She sprang to her feet and rushed him. “Dear god, you’re alright.”

  Magnus hugged Ruth and then Joannah and Giselle, in turn, as they joined him near the elevator.

  “Yeah, the radiation therapy did the trick,” Magnus said, intentionally not telling them the entire story. He turned to thank Varuuk, but the Kron male had already left. Magnus gave the room a quick cursory glance, half rolling his eyes.

  Ruth understood what he was thinking. “Yeah, we exchanged one prison for another.” She grabbed his hand, pulling him to the counter. “You hungry?”

  Ruth had a tender side. It didn’t show often but his near-death experience had probably brought it out of her. The four sat together at the counter, their backs to the large windowed wall across the room.

  “I assume we are being monitored?” Giselle asked.

  Magnus nodded. “Likely, we’re stuck here unless we’re willing to risk certain death trying to escape.”

  “Wait a minute,” Joannah said. “Of course we’re going to try to escape. You were willing to risk it before. What changed?”

  “New information,” he said. Magnus had decided to tell them the truth; well, most of it. “Look, I’ve got a shitload of things to tell you and, in the end, I’m going to ask a favor.”

  “Fuck,” Ruth said. “What have you done? We should be trying everything we can to destroy this planet and get home. If we can...”

  “I believed that before, but now I’m certain we were duped,” Magnus said, shaking his head at her comment. “The Kron and Earth are pawns. We’re both victims of a much larger plan. One that if we do not work together with the Kron, we will be destroyed.”

  “By who?” Giselle asked.

  Magnus paused. They weren’t going to believe him.

  “The Aliri,” he said, finally.

  The three women erupted in protest. He shared with them Katerra’s ruse to separate them for a private meeting with Magnus, a meeting that did not officially happen. He told them how Katerra had helped him survive the radiation poisoning while safely capturing the three of them and Carena. Only the four of them knew Katerra’s plans. He avoided bringing Kada’s name into it. If they ever returned to Earth, the Aliri would eventually discover the truth but, if they remained on Kron where the Aliri probes could not reach, their systems could not monitor them.

  The three were brilliant. They asked intelligent questions, prodding for gaps in his story he’d neglected to mention. Magnus answered them but he couldn’t tell them the whole truth. His new alien curse, the Ryikoda form, would lead to Ruth believing he was compromised and he certainly couldn’t tell her about the physical encounters he had with Katerra.

  Magnus explained the meeting had gone well and that after Katerra showed him the Milky Way map, the history of man’s appearance on Earth, and the extinction of dinosaurs by Aeon due to their colonization efforts, he became convinced she told him the truth.

  Ruth and Giselle stared at him, their mouths open like he was the biggest idiot they’d ever seen. Joannah looked thoughtful. Did she believe him? He buried his face in his hands placing his elbows on the counter, preparing for more of their questions. He would have to lie at times and he needed to keep his reactions neutral or covered.

  “First, why did this meeting take so long?” Ruth asked.

  Bingo, she was leading him. He dropped his head farther, pretending to be tired. He rubbed the back of his neck.

  “The bacterial infection nearly killed me,” he said. “It wiped me out and, even with the Aliri augmentation and Kron’s help, I needed the rest. I barely made it.”

  Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Ruth folding her arms.

  “So why would the Aliri help Earth by augmenting the eight of you?” Joannah asked. “Just in the hopes one of you would be able to destroy the Kron? Do you know how incredibly convoluted that is and how difficult it would be to pull off?”

  “Not if they pulled the strings along the way,” he said, “having every action or decision we make influenced by them. Of course, if Katerra is correct, they can anticipate and guide our choices with their systems, leading us down a path they choose and us none the wiser.”

  Joannah seemed mollified, nodding.

  “All of it, to one ending,” Ruth said, “the extinction of our species... the Kron and humans. Damn it. It sort of makes sense. If it is a lie, it’s a good one.”

  Was Ruth starting to believe?

  “So, this teleportation technology was recently created,” Joannah said, “which means the Aliri didn’t know about it but now they do. They must conclude we were ported off Earth. So, doesn’t that put the Aliri plan in danger with the possibility that the four of us would form an alliance with Kron?”

  “Possible, but not likely,” Magnus said. “Katerra didn’t do anything to stop her Omarii, leaving the Aliri to conclude Katerra still wants us dead. The Aliri would also believe we were teleported out as a last resort to allow the Omarii to finish and then Katerra would simply have us executed. Li stopped her by the way. I’m sorry, I forgot to mention that.”

  Ruth hit Magnus in the shoulder, glaring at him.

  Giselle took a deep breath, putting her hand on her chest. “Li did it? Fuck yeah.” She gave Joannah a high five. “Damn that girl is good. It’s an entire night of drinks for her, on me.”

  “One night?” Joannah said, smiling. “She’s gonna get a week in Cancun, on me.”

  “If we make it back,” Ruth said.

  “We will. I promise,” Magnus said. “Just like we joined up with WSO to save Earth, we’re joining up with the Kron to save both our worlds. Our lives are here until we do that.”

  “Wait,” Ruth said, “that means Katerra has to continue with the ruse. She’ll have to continue to send Omarii to Earth to try and destroy us. If the alliance is real, she’ll have to intentionally fail again and again until we find a way to get to the Aliri and that means bringing a Kron Omarii into the plan, which can compromise it, or sending one who doesn’t know the plan and is hellbent on ending life on Earth.” Ruth paced. “How the hell is she going to pull that off?”

  Magnus shook his head. “I don’t know. I’ll have to ask. Luckily, while we are in Kron space, we’re undetectable which means we are free to discuss and plan.”

  “We are not free,” Ruth reminded him.

  “I’ll see what I can do about that,” Magnus said, nodding.

  “What do you mean, you’ll see what you can do?”

  “Katerra and I are working on a plan,” Magnus said. Damn it. He needed to leave. The longer he kept talking, the more she’d learn. “At this point, I’m an ambassador or liaison. I’ll see if I can get the restrictions lifted.”

  “Restrictions?” Giselle asked.

  “You can’t leave this building and you will be guarded at all times.”

  “Magnus,” Ruth said, getting up and standing close to him.

  Oh, shit.

  “I’m not going to be a prisoner for the next several months.” Ruth walked away from them and stood next to the window overlooking Kron.

  Giselle jerked her head toward Ruth, indicating Magnus should go talk with her. He dropped his head, gritting his teeth. He pushed away from the counter and walked over to speak with Ruth.

  “Neither will I,” Giselle whispered to Joannah.

  Magnus half rolled his eyes as he stood next to Ruth. This wasn’t going well. Katerra would kill them if they tried to escape or threatened her plan. “Ruth, I’m doing the best I can.”

  “I’ll give you one thing and only one thing. You’ve saved Earth three times now and we’re in striking distance of our enemy where no other human being could have accomplished any piece of it, let alone all of it. You have my loyalty for as long as I believe you are fighting for us,” she said, patting her chest.

  “You know I care for you,” he said.

  “Maybe... but honestly, it’s more likely we’re just fuck buddies,” she said, turning to lock eyes with
him.

  Magnus didn’t deserve her love. He knew it would end. Love was fleeting and hurtful. He stared into Ruth’s eyes. Why did he feel this way? Was the loss of Beth the catalyst of his change? He backed up. Wait a minute, if Katerra was right then he needed to rethink how he thought about the Aliri and what they had done to them... him. What if their help included more than the augmentations he’d received? Shit, what if they reprogrammed him? Were all his actions and choices the result of Aliri programming? He had to look at the possibility; he had to face this. If they could change him to be stronger, heal faster and take a lot of pain and physical damage... then could they have rewired him to never let himself get close. Grep had said as much on several occasions. Why though? Was this Alestron playing a game that far into the future? If so, Magnus was being set up and used.

  Damn it. For what?

  “Look Ruth,” Magnus said, glancing back at the other two. “We should discuss this later.” Magnus’ instinct was to reach out to her. He wanted to hold her and tell her he did care. The thought faded and he quelled the desire, sighing.

  “Hell,” Ruth said. “Magnus, do you really think they don’t know we’re seeing each other? Go. Get the fuck out.”

  Kron - Capital City of Citron

  Wednesday, October 28, 1987 - 05:30pm

  Magnus

  Magnus entered the elevator, returning to Katerra’s quarters. Varuuk stood in the elevator, head still bowed. Had he waited here the whole time? Magnus tried to get Varuuk to talk but, again, he would not respond to his questions, only indicating that Magnus should follow. Magnus knew the way but Varuuk insisted on escorting him. Magnus entered the stargazing chamber, seeing Katerra standing in a doorway on the right-side wall. What the hell? How many secret doors did this room have?

  Katerra had changed clothes. She wore a tight-fitting, pullover shirt with sleeves that reached her elbows. Her slacks were tight with the pant cuffs reaching below her ankles. Both items appeared a size too long for her. She motioned him to follow and they walked through another single person hallway. She had braided her long hair into an intricate ponytail and then tied it up in a bun. What did she have planned? On the surface, it appeared she had prepared herself for exercise but that didn’t fit his notion of a ruthless dictator-like queen of an alien race.