Jack turned and saw his companions enter the room. Ganix rushed up to him and knelt at his side. “You okay, son?” he asked.
“Oh, peachy,” said Jack, his head throbbing.
“We heard you screaming,” said Yeoman Porter. “It sounded like you were dying. Half of us started running away.”
“That took some guts, kid,” said Rodham. “Good work.”
“Aye,” said Scallywag. “Who knew such a little man would have such big stones, eh?”
Scallywag elbowed Faruuz. “Yeah,” mumbled the alien. “Ya did good, I guess.”
“Thanks,” said Jack.
Ganix helped Jack to his feet as the group gazed around the room cautiously.
“What is this place?” mumbled Rodham.
“Judging from the architectural style, it would appear to be some type of place of worship,” said Heckubus.
“Like a church?” asked Jack.
“Most depressing bloody church I’ve ever seen,” said Scallywag.
“Whatever it is, it’s got a way out,” said Ganix. “Everyone, weapons ready – teams of two. Let’s find our exit.”
The group broke apart and began searching the room. It was larger than Jack had previously thought, the black and grey stone that comprised it almost danced with the shadows in the flickering light of the mounted torches.
Jack and Grohm walked along the wall of the room, the strange glyphs and symbols emblazoned on it pulsed slowly with light. Jack checked his mental map, but it made no mention of where the exit was within the room. Jack just knew it was there.
As they walked, they met up with Faruuz and Scallywag, who approached them from the opposite direction.
“Anything?” Scallywag asked.
Jack shook his head. “Nothing. Just solid wall.”
“Could it be like the cliff entrance?” asked Scallywag. “Do ya need to ask yer ship to let us out again?”
“Maybe, but I don’t think so,” said Jack. “Something about this place is… different.”
“Different, how?” asked Scallywag.
“I don’t know,” replied Jack. “It’s like… being in the Principal’s office.”
Scallywag and Faruuz exchanged a look. “The what?” they both asked.
“It’s a place where you only go if you’re in really bad trouble,” said Jack. “You know, you don’t choose to go to the Principal’s office. You’re summoned there so he can yell at you and dish out punishment, and you’re not allowed to leave until he says so.”
“Oy, sounds like me second wife,” said Faruuz thoughtfully. “Me first one, too, come ta think of it.”
“Yeah, this Principal fellow sounds like a right ol’ browner,” said Scallywag. “But if there’s someone around here who can let us out, we need ta find him right quick. Yer ship got anything to say about that?”
“I don’t know,” said Jack with an exhausted sigh. “It’s not like it speaks to me. I just get these images and… feelings.”
“But ya can communicate with it, yeah?” asked Scallywag.
Jack nodded. “I think so.”
“Well then, tell it to stop lollygaggin’ and show you a blasted picture of the bloody exit,” said Scallywag.
Jack focused on the back of his mind and felt the buzzing sensation there. He asked for his ship to show him a way out, but the only thing he got in response was a small feeling of rejection.
“Well?” prodded the pirate.
Jack furrowed his brow. “It’s… not working,” said Jack.
“Whaddya mean it’s not working?” growled Faruuz.
“It’s not telling me anything!” said Jack. “In fact, it’s almost like it can’t tell me the answer… like it isn’t able to.”
“Ask it again,” instructed Scallywag.
“But—”
“Oy, yer ship led us here for a reason,” said Scallywag. “Ya said it told you this was the way out, so either yer asking the wrong question or yer ship has one nasty sense o’ humor. Either way, find out what’s going on!”
Jack pouted, but he knew Scallywag was right. The way out was somewhere in this room; he was sure of it. He just needed to find it. Jack focused on the back of his mind again and tried asking the same question a different way, but for some reason he wasn’t getting a response. He asked again, and again there was no response. After the third time without an acknowledgement from the ship, Jack was starting to get worried, but his fears quickly vanished when a cry rang out.
“MAJOR!” the voice resounded, echoing slightly throughout the cavernous room.
Immediately, Jack, Grohm, Faruuz, and Scallywag ran toward the shout. At the base of the steps leading to the raised platform stood Rodham and Porter, both with their weapons trained toward the top.
“Major!” called Porter again. “Over here!”
Ganix ran up, his weapon ready, and the rest of the group crowded around them.
“What is it?” asked Ganix.
“Eyes up top, sir,” said Rodham.
Everyone turned and looked at the platform. At its peak was a large throne, twisted, gnarled, and opulent, made from veined black rock. It looked out on the room, towering over everything below it intimidatingly. There were no torches around it, so it was draped in shadow but still visible from below.
However, that wasn’t the disturbing thing. There appeared to be someone sitting on the throne – a shadowy figure, clad in aged and faded black robes.
“Who the bloody hell is that?” muttered Scallywag.
“Crikey, ya don’t think that’s the sodding Principal, do ya?” asked Faruuz.
Jack looked up at the throne. It was hard to see anything at the top of the platform.
“Everyone, stay back,” ordered Ganix.
The group moved away from the base of the platform cautiously.
“Heckubus,” said Ganix. “Get some light up there.”
Heckubus reactivated his ocular lamps, blasting a spotlight on the robed figure on the throne. It did not move, sitting silently on its perch, its head down, and its heavy hood covering its face.
“Orders, Major?” Rodham asked.
Ganix looked up at the robed figure for a moment, pondering his next move.
“Cover me,” he finally said.
“You’re not seriously going up there,” grunted Rodham.
“We’ve come this far,” said Ganix. “Whoever that is might be our key to getting out of here.”
“I’ll go,” said Rodham.
“No,” said Ganix. “Stay back and cover me from here.”
“But if you die–”
“Then you’re in charge,” said Ganix.
Rodham scowled, but demurred to his commanding officer. Ganix took a few steps toward the platform, never taking his eyes off the figure at the top. Jack got a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as he watched Ganix approach the stairs leading up to the throne.
I’ve got a bad feeling about this, thought Jack.
Then, as Ganix placed his foot on the first step, a deep, rumbling voice echoed throughout the room.
“Kneel before your master…”
To a man, the group took a step back in alarm. Those who had weapons leveled them at the figure tensely, ready to fire.
The figure did not react. In response, it sat patiently on its throne, as if it were awaiting Jack and the others to obey its command.
The group stirred. A few of Ganix’s men glanced at him nervously, waiting for some type of order to tell them how they should be reacting. Jack looked at him, too, but it was clear to anyone who could see Ganix’s face that he was just as frightened and confused as the others.
After what seemed like an eternity, Ganix cleared his throat.
“I am Major Ganix of the Imperial Space Force,” he said, trying to sound braver than he must have felt. “My men have you surrounded. Identify yourself.”
The figure did not move at all in response. No sound came from it, not even the sound of breathing. The silence hun
g in the air like a foul smell, and Ganix’s men began to twitch nervously.
“Identify yourself, or we will open fire,” said Ganix more forcefully.
Then the voice rumbled from the figure again, echoing throughout the chamber…
“Kneel before your master…”
Jack could feel a chill run up his spine, and from the looks of those around him, he was not alone. The voice rattled inside his brain like broken glass and made his teeth set on edge.
“Um… maybe we should do what the creepy robed guy wants?” Jack suggested, his voice sounding meek after the rumblings of the figure before them.
“That thing is a Deathlord,” sneered Sergeant Rodham. “I’d rather die than kneel before it—”
No sooner had the words left his mouth than the figure’s hand shot forth, reaching toward him. Sergeant Rodham jerked upright, his body arcing backwards. His mouth opened in a terrifying scream as the ghostly form of his body ripped from his skin and snaked with frightening speed to the clawed fingers of the robed figure.
Rodham’s lifeless body crumpled to the ground.
“NO!” screamed Ganix. Without wasting another moment, he opened fire on the figure, and those in the group with weapons followed suit, unleashing deadly plasma blasts upon the seated figure with a fury.
Jack watched for what seemed like an eternity as his group blasted away at the figure, until finally, they ceased fire. The smell of burnt ozone from all the blaster fire assaulted Jack’s nostrils, and he looked at the seated figure as it towered above them, unmoving. The only sound was the ragged, frightened breaths from the men in his group.
“Kneel before your master…” came the figure’s voice again.
“Crikey,” breathed Scallywag. “It’s still alive…”
“Nothing could have survived that,” cried Yeoman Porter. “We blasted him with direct fire for a good minute. How can it still be alive?”
“Probably because it was never alive to begin with,” said Heckubus.
Jack looked at the robot. “What do you mean?” he asked.
“I’m getting no heat signature from the throne,” said Heckubus. “There are no sounds of breathing, heartbeat, or any other signs of life. Whatever is sitting up there is definitely not organic.”
“Probly because it’s a bleedin’ Deathlord!” grumbled Faruuz.
“Deathlords are not organics, true,” replied Heckubus. “But they do possess energy signatures unique to their race, and I am not reading any such energy from whatever is sitting on that rather gaudy throne.”
“Coulda shared that little tid-bit before we emptied half a battery into the blasted thing,” muttered Scallywag.
“Oh, so now you want to hear my opinion?” chided Heckubus.
“If it’s not alive, and it’s not a Deathlord… then what is it?” asked Jack.
“If I had to guess, I’d say it’s some sort of machine,” replied Heckubus, the gears in his head audibly whirling.
“Whatever it is,” said Ganix, “it has proven it can kill any of us it wants with a flick of its wrist.”
“Only after he said he wouldn’t… um, you know… do what it wants,” said Jack. “I mean, if it wanted us dead, why ask us to kneel before it?”
Ganix scowled. It was obvious he did not like his options.
“Major?” prodded Yeoman Porter. “What should we do?”
Ganix looked at Jack and sighed. “I guess we kneel,” he said.
Jack nodded and dropped to one knee, followed by Ganix. One by one, the others followed suit. Beside Jack, Grohm stood defiantly looking at the robed figure.
“Hey, big guy,” whispered Jack. “C’mon, kneel.”
“Grohm kneels before no one,” grumbled the Rognok.
Scallywag rolled his eyes. “Here we go… blasted Rognok pride.”
“Tell you what,” said Jack, ignoring Scallywag’s comments. “Just kneel until we find a way out of here.”
“Grohm kneels before no one.”
“We won’t tell anyone, promise.”
“Grohm kneels before–”
“Okay, okay,” said Jack. “What about sitting? Will Grohm sit before someone?”
Grohm’s large black and red eyes looked at Jack suspiciously.
“Just get down here with the rest of us for a little while,” said Jack. “And when we find a way out of here, you can start smashing stuff to make up for it, okay?”
Grohm snorted, glancing back up toward the robed figure, which seemed to be waiting patiently. Finally, the large Rognok lowered himself to the floor, sitting down beside Jack.
“Thanks, big guy,” said Jack.
The Rognok grunted defiantly. “Grohm smash,” he grumbled.
“Promise,” nodded Jack. “You can smash all you want.”
Ganix looked around at the group, now all on their knees. His eyes moved to the robed figure on the throne before them, sitting still and silent. “Now what?” he wondered aloud.
Then, a low hum began to emanate from all around them. A few of the men clasped their hands to their ears as the hum grew louder. Jack could suddenly feel the pressure of the sound building around his body, as though heavy weights were being stacked on his back. All said, it was not the most pleasant feeling he’d ever experienced.
The robed figure’s head moved. For the first time it lifted its gaze at the group, revealing itself.
It had no face; instead it was composed of smooth black stone with three holes in it, two where the eyes should have been, and one where the mouth should have been. Each hole was large, about the size of a fist, and each began to glow with an eerie white light.
The floor before the throne began to warp and twist, growing into a perverted looking altar adorned with various jagged edges and spikes. In the center of the altar, a holographic image of a planet appeared, hovering over it.
The planet was white, dry, and pocked with craters. In a way, Jack thought it looked like Earth’s moon, but something was off about it. It seemed to glow, and the surface of the planet appeared to shift slightly as though the ground itself were alive and moving.
“Behold,” echoed the chilling voice of the figure. “The ghost planet of Terahades.”
“Ghost planet?” muttered Jack, wondering what the heck that meant.
“After our victory at the battle of Tarchimache,” continued the figure, “during the scourge, our enemy grew desperate.”
“The Scourge,” gasped Ganix.
Jack could see the look of surprise on the Major’s face. “He’s talking about the time when the Ancients and their technology disappeared?” Jack asked.
“Looks like they didn’t disappear, lad,” muttered Scallywag. “Apparently they were exterminated.”
Before Jack could ask anything else, the figure continued.
“We pursued our enemy as they retreated into the Veil nebula…” the voice droned. As it did, the image of the planet faded to a star map, pointing out the site of the nebula to which it was referring. “Resistance was slim. We were confident we would be able to destroy them with ease. But we underestimated our enemy.”
The image of the Veil nebula grew, showing Jack and the others a beautiful blue and purple cloud that stretched out far and wide across space.
“The nebula interfered with our technology, rendering us blind to the trap our enemy had set until it was too late. During the Battle of the Veil, our enemy was somehow able to manifest the planet of Terahades, trapping our armada within its core.”
“They did what now?” asked Jack.
“The Ancients…” said Ganix. “It’s saying they manifested a planet.”
“You mean that quantum stuff?” asked Jack. “They made an entire planet appear out of nowhere?”
“Interesting…” said Heckubus, twiddling his fingers. “There’s never been a recorded quantum manifestation of something as large and complex as a planet.”
“We had underestimated the abilities of our enemy,” the figure continued. “Ter
ahades became the prison which held the bulk of our armada. The planet itself is in a constant state of dimensional flux. Whether this was intentional or evidence of our enemies’ inability to control their powers, we do not know. But because of the nature of its creation, it exists, and yet, it does not exist…”
The image above the altar shifted back to that of the planet. “Terahades is constantly moving through dimensions, even though it is always anchored in our own. Because of this flux, the planet can be accessed from your space and time, but those trapped there cannot leave it.”
“Brilliant,” said Heckubus. “If the planet is constantly moving through dimensions, those trapped inside it – or even on the surface of it for that matter, would never be able to leave. If they did, the chances of them coming back to their own space and time would be astronomically slim.”
“So ya can check in, but ya can never check out,” muttered Scallywag. “Sounds like hell.”
“Our enemy designed Terahades to be the perfect prison,” continued the figure. “After the battle, they set about making it impossible for anyone to gain access to it, for fear of the possibility that our invincible armada might once again be released upon the universe. The Veil keeps its location hidden from all technology. The enemy seeded the nebulous cloud surrounding the Terahades oasis with mines to ensure the destruction of any ship that approaches it. Even if you were to find the ghost planet, it is protected by a planet-wide energy shield strong enough to withstand even our most powerful weapons.”
“A planet-wide shield?” said Scallywag. “How’s that even possible?”
“The energy requirements for a shield that big alone are prohibitive,” said Heckubus. “And to have it be strong enough to keep out all enemy weapons’ fire…”
“Sounds like the Ancients didn’t mess around,” said Jack.
“That’s putting it mildly,” said Ganix.
“And past the energy shield is the last line of the Ghost Planet’s defenses,” said the figure. “The surface of the planet itself is designed to drain the life force out of any who sets foot upon it.”
“Dude…” whispered Jack. As if all that other stuff wasn’t cool enough, the planet also had life-sucking dirt to boot.
“Our brothers have been trapped in Terahades for far too long,” rumbled the figure. “You are commanded to find this ghost planet and free those confined within it. When you do, our invincible armada will once again sweep across the galaxy and finish our glorious work.”
Earthman Jack vs. The Ghost Planet Page 32