“What the hell did he say?” Saturn asked.
Liam smiled. “Looks like I was right.”
“Are they going to help us?” Ju-Long asked.
“It seems like it. That device seemed to use telepathy. I get the feeling they don’t like whatever attacked us.”
“I still don’t like it,” Saturn said. “We need to find ourselves a ship and get off this rock.”
Liam spread his hands and asked, “And go where?”
For a moment Saturn seemed like she was going to speak, but she closed her mouth, crossed her arms, and reiterated, “I still don’t like it.”
Liam shrugged and started to follow Toras toward one of the large spires. The alien’s long legs made it hard for him to keep up. Soon, Ju-Long and Saturn were jogging to keep up. None of them could afford to be alone on this planet. Not when they were basically an endangered species. The other fish-men carried their weapons slung over their shoulders now, which made Liam feel a bit more at ease. After all, if they were going to kill them, they likely would have done so already.
12
The spire nearest the spaceport was taller than any building Liam had ever seen on Earth. It seemed to cut into the sky such that he couldn’t even see the top. It might as well have gone into outer space. The spire’s metallic structure spiraled around like a screw, some manner of windows lining the inner grooves. The mirrored surface of the building reflected back blinding sunlight, far brighter than Earth’s modest star. The temperature was easily forty three degrees Celsius, as hot as Liam had ever felt.
Toras led them up to the edge of the spire, stopping before he reached the entryway and turning to face the crew. He spoke into his telepathy device and images filled Liam’s head. This time he couldn’t discern any words, only what he guessed Toras wanted him to see. Liam saw a path outlined for him; the way up the spire. They were supposed to meet someone.
The images ceased and Toras turned to leave. Liam took a few steps after him and said, “Wait.”
Toras turned, his tattered brown cape fluttering in the wind and his expression remarkably akin to confusion.
“You’re not coming with us?” Liam asked.
He shook his head, and then spoke into the device.
“It is not my place to attend this meeting. Do not stray the path or I will know it. Good Day, Liam of House Kidd.”
Toras pulled the oblong helmet over his head and walked back toward the airstrip, his henchman a shadow in his wake.
“So what then, they’re leaving us here?” Saturn asked.
Liam turned to face her, shaking his head before answering. “He showed me the way. Still, it seems a little trusting don’t you think?”
“Do we get to go to the top?” Ju-Long asked eagerly.
Saturn brushed by him on her way up to the spire’s large metal doors. “Don’t get too excited hotshot.”
As she approached, the heavy doors swung inward, revealing an open lobby with a hard floor made from some kind of smooth stone. Sand had been tracked in from countless visitors, though the foyer was empty at the moment. Saturn turned to Liam, walking backward through the open expanse. “Where to, leader?”
Liam was growing weary of Saturn’s attitude, but now was not the time to bring it up. He looked skyward. A few stories above them the ceiling was black, the only light in the room coming from the spiraling bank of windows. He could see a section of light coming around the side of the floating ceiling. The building was a marvel of old and new, leading Liam to believe the tower had been constructed over a long period of time, adding bits and pieces as they could.
Liam pointed toward the spiraling bank of windows. As he approached several images flashed in his mind, showing him the way. Liam stood on a platform of rock that was cut out from the original stone, a deep crease surrounding an area a few meters square. When both feet reached the platform a beam of purple light shot up from the crease around the rock.
“Get on,” Liam said, hurrying his crew with gesturing hands.
Saturn and Ju-Long jumped on before the rock levitated up a few meters. A moment later, it shot off, spiraling around the structure and up the building. The crew knelt down, unable to control their balance while standing. They passed several levels, each more advanced than the last as they climbed the spire. They passed living quarters, work areas, and rooms apparently devoted to worship. It was an entire city in a building. They were moving too fast to make out the many figures that populated the spire.
After several minutes, the stone elevator halted, a few floors short of what Liam expected was the top. He looked out the windows and saw the city, or cities, underneath a haze of dust. Liam liked the view, but thought it would be made better without all of the sand. He was a city kind of man. Being in a city you’re never really alone, even if you don’t know anyone.
The purple glow faded from around the stone and the crew stepped off onto a surface that reminded Liam of white marble, in steep contrast to the floors below. The room was immense, with ceilings ten meters high and walls that seemed too far apart to be possible. Several support pillars raised up from the floor, thick as tree trunks. A ways away Liam saw someone with their back turned, looking out over the airstrip so many stories below. Nearby, he had an enormous desk made of jagged rock seemingly cut out of a mountain and shaped to his whim.
Liam started towards him cautiously until Saturn put a hand around his bicep. For the first time, she didn’t look angry or headstrong or any of her usual expressions. She was scared. Her dark brown eyes darted back and forth between his as though searching for something hidden underneath.
“Liam, this doesn’t feel right,” she said.
He placed his hand over hers and nodded, putting on a confident face.
“I know, but we’ve come this far.”
Liam broke her grasp and walked toward the alien assertively while Ju-Long and Saturn followed behind cautiously. Ju-Long cracked his knuckles and turned back toward the elevator while he walked backwards, checking for anyone else in the vicinity. When they were in front of the desk a cool voice greeted them in the alien language.
The fish-man turned around and approached his desk, putting his palms down on the rocky surface. Liam noticed his hands had only four digits, but were otherwise remarkably similar to his own. Apart from the white scales that is.
“We don’t speak your language,” Liam replied.
The alien hovered his hand above the desk and a holographic image appeared. It seemed to be a scanner of some kind, taking readings on Liam and the crew. The alien touched something on the image and it disappeared. He returned to the window as though he’d lost all interest in them.
Liam turned to Saturn and Ju-Long, who were as baffled as he was. Why bring them all that way just to ignore them? It didn’t make any sense. His question was answered quickly as a noise similar to the elevator sounded on the opposite side of the room. Liam turned just as six more aliens were approaching. The fish-man looking out over the colony spoke once more in the alien language, seemingly commanding his troops.
They approached with weapons drawn, forcing them down to their knees. One of the aliens retrieved a device from his brown utility belt. It was longer and sharper than the translator Toras had used, giving Liam a sinking feeling in his stomach. Two of the aliens bent Ju-Long’s head down while one jabbed the device into the back of his neck. Liam could hear it connect with his spine with a sickening thud. Ju-Long cried out in pain before collapsing in a heap on the marble floor.
Liam and Saturn exchanged a knowing look. Before the alien made a move toward Saturn, they sprung from the ground, attacking them with everything they had. No shots were fired, but the six aliens were easily able to subdue them. The fish-man with the injector forced Saturn’s head down. Liam struggled against the two aliens who held back his arms.
“You won’t get away with this,” he cried.
“Liam!” Saturn shrieked before being injected with the device and crumpling to the grou
nd.
It was happening so fast, Liam couldn’t believe his eyes. Were they dead? A number of scenarios played out in his head as the alien approached him with the device. Maybe they would use them in some kind of sick experiment? That thought scared him more than dying. He was nobody’s lab rat.
The fish-man grabbed Liam’s blond hair and forced his head down. When the injector pierced his skin he felt a tingling sensation down his spine. That tingling turned to fire and his vision blurred. Soon his mind was putty, too tired to think and too woozy to resist. He fell face first into the ground. The room fell to darkness.
13
Liam’s eyes creaked open. As he tried to focus, he realized he was still on the stone floor in the room atop the spire. Saturn and Ju-Long lay splayed out next to him, still unconscious. The six troops had given them a wide berth, their weapons now pointed at the ground, their stance non-threatening. Liam put his hands underneath his body and pushed up to one knee. His brain felt compacted, crushed by some unseen weight. Next to him, Saturn and Ju-Long began to stir.
Liam came onto both knees before trying to stand. On his way up he stumbled into the jagged desk, bracing his weight against it. The alien in charge still looked out the window, aloof. They couldn’t have been out for too long.
“What the hell did you do to us?” Liam asked him, though he knew the alien wouldn’t understand.
The alien turned to face him, hands held behind his back as he walked toward his desk and sat down in his uncomfortable-looking chair. Saturn stood up and braced herself against Liam’s shoulder, gripping it a little tighter than he would have liked. Ju-Long stumbled twice before successfully standing, though he still swayed as though he were drunk.
“You’re welcome,” the fish-man said.
Liam’s eyes grew and his mouth hung open. The alien had spoken in his native language, but Liam’s mind translated it into Earth Common. The alien’s lips didn’t match the speech Liam heard in his head, like a bad dub in a low-budget film.
“How is this possible?” Saturn asked.
“The device implanted into your spine can translate anything, sending pulses along your nerves so you can understand.”
Liam and Saturn exchanged looks. Liam spoke first, “How did you know it would work?”
“We scanned you when you entered. Your biology seemed compatible.”
“Seemed?” Saturn interjected. “What if we’d died?”
The alien gave what Liam knew was his version of a smile. The translation device must also have translated body language, because the alien’s smile would have been a look of discomfort for a human.
The alien said, “It was a risk we were willing to take.”
“You were willing,” Saturn began hastily, pointing at the alien, “Listen, buddy, no one screws with my body without my consent, got it?”
Liam lowered Saturn’s arm and shook his head. “Let me handle this.”
The alien’s smile faded. “In the future we will be more careful. I assure you we mean you no harm. Please, sit.”
Liam looked around the desk. There were no chairs. Then, a purple glow surrounded three square tiles. They each took a step back as the tile levitated up to an appropriate height. Liam took the seat in the middle without hesitation. Saturn and Ju-Long were a little more hesitant, but Ju-Long seemed to be more focused on what Liam knew was a pounding headache. Finally, they each took their seats. The alien put his elbows on the desk and put his hands together.
“Good, let me introduce myself. I am Ragnar of House Ansara. Caretaker of Garuda Colony and emissary of the Ansara Alliance.”
“That’s some title,” Saturn jeered.
Liam smacked her arm lightly. Saturn wasn’t the best at reigning it in.
“I am Liam Kidd and this is my crew, Saturn Vera and Ju-Long Ma. We come from Earth.”
“I have not heard of this Earth. A planet not known to us is some feat. You must be a long way from home.”
“Ten thousand light years by our estimation.”
“Ten thousand,” Ragnar mused, his large pointed ears pricking at the sound. “How is it you are here?”
Liam explained the alien ship and the wormhole, everything up to crash-landing on the planet. The whole time, Ragnar sat with his hands together in front of him, deep in thought. Liam kept getting the feeling he knew more than he let on. When Liam was finished, Ragnar sat back in his stone chair, slumping down a bit. Liam noticed he’d shed some white scales on the jagged rock of his desk.
“The Kraven Throng,” Ragnar stated.
“Who are they?”
“To know that, you’ll have to learn about the Ansarans and our less civilized cousins, the Dinari. Thirty thousand years ago three clans lived on a planet together. Not this planet, but one far away named Ansara. We were a young race, and made war with each other over land and resources. Petty things given our knowledge now. One clan, the Kraven, were far more violent than the rest, and they were banished. It took centuries, but eventually, they were rounded up and sent to a far off planet. It was not one of our finer moments, to be sure.”
Liam took in every word. If they had the power to send an entire race of people to another planet thirty thousand years ago, how much had they grown since? Or, had they regressed to a less advanced state? Liam never was much of a history buff on Earth, but something about these new cultures invigorated him, like he was meant to know every fact and every story.
Ragnar continued, “The planet the Kraven inhabited was far colder than Ansara. Over the years, they shed their scales to survive. Their blood boiled and they grew into monsters. It took thousands of years for them to develop space flight, but when they did, they sought revenge. The Dinari, our lesser cousins you could say, helped us force back the Kraven Throng after countless generations of war. Ever since, every few hundred years or so we hear of a sighting, mostly from trade ships. They’ve become ghosts, legends even. Tales of their makeshift crafts are rife within the mercenary circles. If you’ve truly seen the Kraven Throng then we should all be frightened from the deepest parts of our hearts.”
There was silence while Liam and the crew sorted through what was said. If they’d stumbled into an old war, perhaps their presence would agitate things. Liam asked the first question that reached his tongue, “How did the Kraven Throng get to our solar system?”
“That I do not know. Perhaps it was luck that a wormhole opened between our systems. Perhaps not.”
Liam wondered if he was suggesting someone created the wormhole. The best physicists on Earth had only postulated their existence. This would be manipulation of forces unheard of by Earth standards. Though the Ansarans were far more advanced than even he’d imagined, he wasn’t sure they had the ability to open a singularity. Though, he supposed, anything was possible.
“Do the Ansarans have the kind of technology to open a wormhole?” Ju-Long asked.
“I only lead this small colony. Besides, knowledge of our latest advancements would be restricted to those who must know. Understand, you are outsiders to our race.”
“What happens now?” Liam asked.
“We have never seen your kind before. I would ask that you stay on Garuda. At least for a while longer. We would like to learn more about you, and I’m sure you have questions of us as well.”
Saturn stood up from her floating chair and paced behind the solid desk. Liam turned to her questioningly and asked, “What’s wrong.”
“This, all of this. It’s too much. I can’t do this, Liam. I didn’t sign up for this,” she said. “I’m not trying to get caught in the middle of someone else’s war. The longer we stay here the worse off we’ll be.”
Liam sighed and stood up. Though he saw Saturn’s point, they couldn’t go back. Saturn must have known that. She wasn’t the kind of person who appreciated situations that were out of her control. He’d seen it on their missions together for Vesta Corporation. Her personality was domineering at best. Liam tried to calm her down. “Even if we could get
back through the wormhole, there’s no guarantee Earth still exists. This Kraven Throng might be on their way there now.”
“All the more reason we should go back. We can help.”
“With what ship?”
Saturn’s shoulders slumped. They were caught in the middle of three race’s politics whether they liked it or not. At least on this side of the wormhole, they stood a chance of finding out if the wormhole was random or manufactured. For now, they would have to take Ragnar up on his offer and play the good guest. They would have their time for action. Now was a time for learning what they could about Garuda and its strange inhabitants. Liam turned to Ragnar and said, “Where do we start?”
Ragnar motioned to one of his troops, who brought out large cups of water for them that looked more like bowls than anything else. He motioned for them to drink and Liam hesitantly obliged. When he seemed okay, Ju-Long and Saturn followed suit. Ragnar sat back in his chair once more.
“Let’s start with you telling me all about Earth,” Ragnar said with an odd smile curling up his scaled cheeks.
14
“You may rest here for the night,” Ragnar said.
An hour had passed, filled with discussions of culture and customs, a comparison of Earth and Ansara. Liam was fascinated by the aliens, but redirected the conversation whenever Ragnar asked too many piercing questions about their technology. Liam was wary not to portray humans as weak or incapable, lest the aliens decide they be better off conquered. Liam felt the weight of being the first human to interact with another intelligent form of life and was determined to keep it civilized, despite his deeper inclinations.
Ragnar gestured to their sleeping quarters, a plain room with several thin mats laid out on the floor just a few stories below Ragnar’s chamber. The spiraled window crossed the quarters along the right wall, a few meters of clear material between them and a very long drop. Liam was reluctant to call the material glass. It was more of a metal with a low opacity that allowed them to see through clearly. From a certain angle, it was apparent that the window was in fact a solid wall.
The Corsair Uprising Collection, Books 1-3 Page 6