The Renegade

by P. M. Johnson

  Komatsu hesitated before speaking, apparently unsure whether he should share his thoughts. “This is a rather wild hypothesis,” he said after a few moments, “but it happens to fit the facts nicely. Assuming we are descendants of the Geth and that our ancestors remained behind because they either chose not to join the others, or perhaps could not join them, there is the problem of the khâl which the Sahiradin battleship, Dominion, and the Lycians used to reach Earth five years ago. I’m certain it was built by the Alamani long after these pillars were created as part of the Alamani’s process of exploring the galaxy, colonizing planets, and expanding their Trade Federation. But something disabled the khâl and prevented the Alamani from renewing their efforts to fully explore this system.”

  “What are you suggesting, Doctor?” asked Ravenwood. “Do you think the Geth still have some hidden presence in this solar system?”

  “No, I’m not suggesting that,” said Komatsu. “I…”

  “You think there’s another Stone somewhere on Earth, and the Geth use it from wherever they are to exert influence here,” said Logan, giving voice to the swirl of impressions that were forming in the dark valleys of his subconscious. The spirits within him consisted of Navigators, which gave them a deep understanding about the Kaiytávae that only those with the ability to commune possessed. The presence of an additional Stone would also explain the communion he’d experienced in the cave.

  “Yes,” said Komatsu. “I have no evidence to support my hypothesis, but as I say, the presence of another Stone, which I have taken the liberty of calling the Omega Stone, would answer many of the questions I have about this place.”

  As the others continued to discuss Komatsu’s hypothesis, Logan reached out with his mind. He felt the spirits within him doing the same, magnifying his abilities. If there were a fourteenth Stone, an Omega Stone as Dr. Komatsu called it, their combined strengths as Navigators might be able to detect it. He soon became aware of a space-time signature. He looked at Ravenwood and the others, but they noticed nothing. The signature was hidden, or perhaps masked to appear as something else, but there was definitely something nearby causing small ripples in the fabric of the universe. Logan turned his head in the direction of the fusion reactor. He felt something. It brushed by the edge of his senses, like a scent passing by on a light breeze, here for a moment then gone but leaving behind a hint of something familiar.

  “Anyway,” continued Komatsu. “The Omega Stone is one possibility, but there may be others. I will simply need to continue my studies until the truth reveals itself.” Then he smiled and said, “We had better be leaving now. General Vessey is expecting us soon, and I don’t want to test his patience; he has been very supportive of my research.”

  The group returned the way they had come and soon re-entered the cave illuminated by the glow of the fusion reactor. While Ravenwood was thanking Komatsu for inviting them to see the pillars, Logan looked once more at the swirling orange and yellow light of the massive ball of energy, marveling at the level of sophistication required to construct it.

  The sound of a distant wind reached his ears, distracting him. He looked at the others, but they did not appear to have noticed anything unusual. The sound grew louder and louder. He was about to say something to the others when he heard a voice calling from far away. It was emanating from the nearby alcove. Entranced, he followed the sound of the voice then stopped at the alcove’s threshold.

  “Navigator,” said the voice, suddenly reverberating all around him. “You are revealed!”

  Logan’s hand began to twitch, the first sign of a seizure. A communion was being established. A sharp pain knifed through the front of his skull. It spread quickly backward through his brain like a red-hot iron spike. Dizzy with agony, he sought to sit down with his back against the cave wall.

  “What’s happening?” asked Komatsu, noting Logan’s obvious distress.

  “I just need to rest for a few minutes,” said Logan, doing his utmost not to show the pain he was suffering.

  Noticing his twitching hand, Beth asked, “Is it a seizure?” Then more urgently, “Is it a communion?”

  Logan nodded his head. “A seizure, I think.”

  But it was not a seizure, Logan knew that much. It was something very different. No seizure ever began with a booming voice declaring that he was a Navigator. It was the same voice he had heard three years before when he first came to this cave.

  He raised his hands and pressed his palms against the sides of his head, but the pain only grew worse. He heard loud groaning, realizing it was his own voice, though somehow it was apart from him. Now something was reaching out to him, clawing at the boundaries of his mind, pulling down the barrier that separated his consciousness from the world around him. Terrified, he tried to prevent the approaching communion, but the connection was firmly established and he could do nothing to break it.

  Chapter 28

  There is nothing outside of yourself that can ever enable you to get better, stronger, richer, quicker, or smarter. Everything is within. Everything exists. Seek nothing outside of yourself.

  - Miyamoto Musashi. The Book of Five Rings.

  Logan opened his eyes to find himself standing in a vast, featureless space of brilliant white. He looked to his left and right, above and below. It was all the same, uniform, pure absence of any color. He attempted to walk several steps forward but felt nothing solid under his feet. He could feel his legs moving as they performed the function of walking, but in that indistinct blank place he could not gauge whether he was moving. Was he advancing? Was there anything to advance toward? At first he thought he might be suspended in the air, but that was not right. To be suspended in some medium, whether that be air or anything else, would suggest that he should feel that substance around him, but he did not. He took a deep breath and discovered that although his chest expanded and contracted, he detected no gases around him; no air passed through his nostrils or filled his lungs.

  “Hello? Is anyone here?” he asked loudly.

  Though comforted by the fact that he could create sound in this sterile environment, his voice seemed strange to him. He could hear himself speaking, but because there was nothing against which the soundwaves could reflect, his words seemed frail and lonely. The great white expanse swallowed them as though they had never been uttered.

  “Where am I?” he shouted. “What is this place?”

  He looked left and right once more, but still there was only the infinite white. His heartrate began to rise as the silence closed in around him like a dense but invisible fog. He started jogging, still unsure whether he was moving forward but needing to feel his arms and legs moving. He quickened his pace to a sprint, furiously pumping his arms and stretching his legs out before him as far as they could reach. After running for what seemed like minutes, he slowed to a trot. He should have been breathing heavily from the exertion, but he wasn’t. His chest should have been heaving in and out to gather oxygen to feed his straining muscles, but it was not. Nor did he feel sweat on his brow, chest, or palms. Had he been running or was this all an illusion?

  He abruptly ceased all motion then turned in what he believed was a full circle. There was nothing to break up the maddeningly uniform whiteness. He reached a hand down to his feet, but could feel nothing below them. He lifted his right leg and stretched it out parallel to his waist then brought his left leg to meet it. In a universe of oxygen, color, and gravity Logan would have fallen on his side as soon as he lifted his left leg. But he did not. The motion felt as though he had simply stepped to the side, yet in his mind he had just rotated ninety degrees. The thought was upsetting. He felt nauseated as his brain and his body struggled to orient themselves to this impossible place.

  “Hello!” he shouted once more. “Where the hell am I?”

  Where was the booming voice which had declared him to be a Navigator? Where was the mysterious being who had so violently ejected him from the alcove several years prior?

  He shouted
again and again in all directions, but it made no difference. His calls vanished into the nothingness as soon as they left his mouth. While he searched for some hint of variation in this environment, it occurred to him that perhaps he was not in an infinite white void at all. Perhaps he as in a small space, but lacking friction to push against, he could not move in any direction to find its boundaries. This hypothesis was suddenly replaced by another equally frightening one. Perhaps he was within some kind of sphere, and when he walked or ran, he was not progressing in a linear fashion but rather in a circle, like a hamster running on its wheel.

  Frustrated and afraid, he placed his hands on his hips, taking comfort in their solidity for it proved that at least he was real. He was about to scream in anger and frustration once again when something caught his eye - a tiny black dot in the distance. He focused on the dot and watched as it grew larger and larger until he realized it was a man walking toward him. As he came closer, Logan could see the man wore black trousers, a black shirt, and a black suit jacket. Then he saw the stranger’s face.

  A tight knot formed in his gut.

  “How did you get here?” asked Logan when the man bearing the likeness of his father, Walter Brandt, stopped just an arm’s length away from him.

  “A simple question that defies a simple answer,” replied the man.

  “How am I able to commune with you if the Sahiradin have you?” asked Logan as feelings of rage began to boil in his chest. He felt the others within him writhing in fear and anger. They whispered their warnings of danger and betrayal.

  The man in the form of Walter Brandt gave a knowing nod. “I see.” He folded his arms over his chest and asked, “Which of the Aenor did you commune with?”

  The question set Logan aback. His growing anger quickly changed to confusion. “What do you mean? Are you denying that you are Suvial?”

  “Ah, Suvial,” said the figure knowingly. “It is not surprising. The cleverest and most deceitful of all the Aenor.”

  Logan raised a hand to his forehead and closed his eyes. “What’s happening here? Who are you if you’re not Suvial?”

  “I’m like you. I am a Navigator. And because you thought I was Suvial, I assume he manifested himself in this form as well.” The image of Walter Brandt lifted his arms slightly as he looked down and glanced over his body. “Of course, it’s really you doing this. It is not uncommon for a Navigator to caste the Aenor or other Navigators in the form of someone they know well or hold dear. It is also frequently the case that the Aenor search a Navigator’s mind and select a memory to emulate. Tell me, what person do I represent to you?”

  The muscles in Logan’s throat suddenly tightened, preventing him from speaking.

  Seeing Logan’s discomfort, the stranger said, “Do not be alarmed. It is simply your mind seeking to make sense of its environment.”

  A host of childhood memories of his father flooded Logan’s mind as never before. Birthdays, trips to the park, games of chess, warm embraces. Images of a thousand events big and small crashed through his mind like a mighty river that has breached the walls of a dam to storm through old channels of thoughts and feelings which had dried up long, long ago.

  “You appear as my father,” he said in a trembling voice.

  The image of Walter Brandt smiled. “I suspected it was someone of great personal significance. You may call me Alahendrus.”

  Logan nodded his head. “I’m…”

  “You are Logan Brandt,” said Alahendrus.

  “How do you know my name when I did not know yours?”

  The man smiled kindly. “I am what you would call a Geth. We have been observing the affairs of Earth from our distant shores for millennia. We seek to assist humans whenever possible.”

  A thought sprung into Logan’s mind. “Ravenwood.”

  Alahendrus nodded his head and smiled.

  “Is he one of you?” asked Logan.

  “No. Once crossed, we dare not traverse this bridge again for it would expose us to great danger. Nevertheless, from time to time we do find someone on your side of the divide whom we enlist to aid us and our descendants. Ravenwood is one such person.”

  Looking around him, Logan said, “Is that what this is? A bridge between our universes?”

  “In a way, yes.”

  “So this must be some kind of communion,” reasoned Logan. “And if you and I are communing, there must be a Stone making it possible. Where is it?”

  “You are clever, Navigator, but time is short,” said Alahendrus, skipping over Logan’s question, “The Aenor plot the destruction of both ends of the bridge. They have deceived another of your kind into believing that he will achieve great power if he helps them.”

  “Who? Another Navigator?”

  “Yes.” Alahendrus raised his eyes upward and looked around. “Suvial senses our communion. He cannot shift space without a Navigator but he can search through the stars with his mind. The longer we remain on this bridge, the greater the danger he will discover us.”

  Logan felt it too; something was amiss. He was being hunted. Like a hawk searching for its prey in an open glen, a malicious presence was circling the boundaries of the universe, seeking him out.

  “If the Sahiradin have a Navigator, then I don’t think we can win this war,” said Logan. “Our allies, the Lycians, have nearly lost their will to fight, and we humans are too weak and too few to withstand the Sahiradin alone. After they defeat the Lycians, they will conquer Earth. I’m sure Suvial will easily gain access to our side of the bridge. Can you help us?”

  “As I said, we cannot cross the bridge. It is up to you to stop the Sahiradin. If you fail, what you see around you will be the fate of all existence. All matter will be reduced to its most fundamental level and it will be uniformly distributed across a featureless expanse, just like this.”

  Logan glanced around him. What did Alahendrus mean all matter reduced to its most fundamental level? Logan surmised the Geth was referring to that theoretical state of the universe before the Big Bang when all matter, energy, and space-time was confined to an infinitely small point. Was this white oblivion in which Logan now stood where Suvial and the Aenor were from? Was this what they sought to return to?

  He looked up and to his left. Suvial was ranging close now. He would discover them at any moment.

  “Tell me how to stop them!” said Logan urgently. “How can I defeat the Sahiradin? How can I keep Suvial from finding this place?”

  Alahendrus glanced upward as if seeing something in the distance. When he looked back at Logan, his countenance had grown dark. Logan looked into the Geth’s eyes and saw for the first time how their irises blazed red.

  “A Navigator can stop both the Sahiradin and Suvial,” said Alahendrus. “But the cost is great.”

  “I don’t understand.” Logan looked around once again. The feeling of being hunted was becoming intolerable. He wanted to run, to flee from this strange place between realities. “Quickly! Tell me what I need to do!”

  Alahendrus didn’t say a word. Instead, he slowly reached forward with his index and middle fingers. Logan felt the urge to lean away and avoid contact with his ancient ancestor, but he stopped himself, allowing the Geth to touch his forehead just above the bridge of his nose.

  “Understand,” whispered Alahendrus, his eyes now glowing a deep burgundy like the embers of a roaring fire.

  Upon hearing that word, understand, Logan was suddenly pulled into a swirling vortex of colored lights and images. He saw millions of Geth and Alamani. He sensed the seeds of conflict taking root in the soil of Geth arrogance and Alamani resentment. He watched Sahiradin warriors storm the halls of the Geth. He bore witness as the red-eyed Geth, as big and strong as humans, responded in kind with swords, guns, and warships in an ever expanding conflagration that set entire worlds ablaze. In the center of the flashing images of the dead and dying he saw Suvial, first as his father, then as a kindly old Geth, then a female Alamani. The Aenor changed again and again into some
new figure of significance to the Navigator who held him. Logan became abruptly aware of not just Suvial but the other twelve Aenor. He felt their combined power. He sensed their rage at being cast into Permidian to hang suspended for all eternity on its event horizon. He felt their hatred for this universe. They loathed every star, planet, and life form it had produced.

  Everything went suddenly black. The images of war and death, murder and betrayal departed as quickly as they had appeared. Yet, as disturbing as the visions had been, there was something about the pure darkness Logan found even more unsettling. He soon realized that there was something there with him. He looked about him, searching for a sign of the other. Then the figure of a pale humanoid emerged out of the darkness. It walked forward until it reached Logan. It stopped and stood there like a statue with its feet slightly apart, its arms hanging loosely at its sides, eyes closed. Logan slowly walked around it, taking in the details of the hairless, heavily muscled creature. When he had completed his circuit, Logan closely examined its face. A head taller than Logan, it had a human appearance, though there were hints of the Sahiradin athletic grace about it as well as something else, something familiar that he could not quite recognize.

  The figure opened its eyes, and quick as lightening, it took hold of Logan’s left arm. Logan struggled to free himself but he could not break away. With his right hand, he grasped the creature’s throat and squeezed with all his might. The creature slowly pulled Logan’s hand from its neck and regarded him through bright, amber-colored eyes. It opened its mouth and pulled him closer. Logan kicked and pushed, but the creature took no notice. Its mouth opened ever wider, far wider than Logan would have thought possible.

  Terror gripped his mind. He smashed the crown of his head into the creature’s jaw. He felt the impact on his head, but the beast maintained its iron grip on him. The mouth continued to open grotesquely, like a snake that has unhinged its jaws to swallow its prey whole. Unable to break free, Logan shut his eyes and roared loudly in defiance.