by David Byrd
There were three other areas marked on the planet with labels in Plakorii out beside them. They seemed to be more or less equidistant from each other but neither could make out what the labels meant. One of those sites had to be this very lab in the ravines at the equator.
“My dear you are a wonder,” Hollis said. “I’m confident that we will do great things here.”
They made great progress on the language primer in the next several days and then Kai returned. He informed the group of all that had taken place and brought back happy wishes for Hollis. They were overjoyed that he was still alive. Kai also brought back enough supplies for a month and another portable hab unit. Although Kai was quite fond of Hollis, he felt that some privacy was needed.
“That’s amazing,” Kai said after Elia had merged with him and shared all the information they had uncovered. “You two have made so much progress in a couple of weeks, maybe I should have stayed away longer.”
“Don’t you dare,” she said while smacking him on the arm. “Oh I get it, joking again. Well Mr. Zale, we have a lot of serious work going on here and you need to get with the program.’
Mentally they shared much more but it was sufficient to say that they were happy to be together again.
Hollis cleared his throat as he walked in on the couple. “I…Um…Am I interrupting anything?”
Elia and Kai both laughed out loud. They had been so focused on the merge neither had seen Hollis come in. “Not at all Uncle Hollis, we were just…catching up,” she said.
Hollis raised one eyebrow but graciously let the matter drop.
“Excellent. Then follow me to the stasis room. I believe I have uncovered the sequence to open the other tubes.”
Standing around the central pedestal with the floating red crystal, Hollis started moving his hands over and around the crystal in a specific motion. As he did so, Elia and Kai both heard the high pitched tones that sounded like a melody. When Hollis completed his movements, all the closed cylinders looked unchanged except the depressions about two meters up that seemed to be for a 6 fingered hand were all glowing.
“So what I’ve been able to surmise is that when I entered the target area, the automatic mechanism assumed stasis,” Hollis said. “But this control crystal has other properties. I’ve found references to healing, education and other functions. Those have to be selected like selecting something from an electronic menu but in this case, it’s a series of motions.”
“Kai my boy would you be so kind as to press those finger controls on the blue cylinder?” Hollis asked. “I’m afraid you are the only one who can reach them.
Kai walked over and as he had done with Hollis’ tube, he depressed all 6 of the spongy depressions. Nothing happened.
“Hmmm,” Hollis said. “Oh well back to the drawing board as they say. You know most of science is just an educated guess.”
Elia had been going over the melody in her mind again just like with the display in the main room. “Uncle Hollis, make the motions again but this time change the last hand movement.”
Hollis did as Elia suggested and this time the last tone was lower. Kai had been listening to the tones as well. “I think I see where you are going with this,” he said. The melody doesn’t seem right at the end. Almost as though the last note is…off.”
“Yes…this time move your hand higher at the last motion,” she said. “Higher again…again…there that sounds right.”
Ding…Ding
A pleasant tone sounded twice audibly where all could hear it and the controls on the tubes were glowing brighter.
Kai tried again and was rewarded with another audible tone sounding in the room. He stepped back with Elia and Hollis as the something started to happen inside the tube.
By degrees, the tube started to brighten and the blue faded lighter and lighter until it was transparent.
“Good lord what have we done?” Hollis asked.
Chapter 29
T’Kreil awoke from a seemingly long dream. He knew long term stasis had this effect and wondered just how long it had been. He was weak and his eyes would not yet focus so it must have been a very long time indeed. That was unfortunate since his life expectancy would be very brief the longer the period. As his eyes cleared he was startled to see three very short aliens in front of him. They were bipedal like him with two arms but were of different colors. One of them was closed to his mind but the other two shone brightly.
When the tube cleared, Elia, Kai and Hollis were confronted with an alien. It was about 2.5 meters tall with light gray skin. It had a roughly humanoid shape with two arms and two legs. It seemed to be hairless but there was some sort of clothes or covering over everything except the head and hands. The material shifted with prismatic colors. The eyes were slightly larger than a human. It was obviously carbon based as it was breathing the air through a sort of slit or membrane. The mouth was expressionless in a sort of straight line with no real lips.
The being opened its mouth and they could all hear musical tones. It was speaking! Its eyes fluttered and the alien slumped forward and fell to the ground.
Hollis was the first to the alien’s body and he picked up one of the impossibly long arms. There was an elongated palm with six very long fingers. The whole impression of the being though was not horrific...rather it was graceful like the musical tones and language. Hollis tried to feel for some kind of pulse knowing all too well the being may have nothing of the sort of internals a human being had.
The alien gently touched Hollis and whispered a short lilting series of tones.
Elia and Kai were conferring mentally. “Do you think it needs water? She asked. “I mean it is breathing the air and looks to be somewhat humanoid.”
Suddenly the alien looked at Elia directly as if sensing her thoughts. It motioned for her to come near. She came to kneel beside it and the alien moved its hand to touch her arm.
Elia’s head exploded with light, color, sounds as a flood of impressions, knowledge, information and a million other things hit her at once. She staggered under the onslaught. Kai had felt most of it through their merge but Elia had managed to block some of the spillover.
“Elia!” Kai shouted moving to her side anger flaring in his mind.
“No…it’s ok…it’s ok now,” she said. “He’s not hurting me…He’s…teaching me.”
The being visibly relaxed and regarded the group with something akin to warmth.
“You said he my dear,” Hollis said.
“His name is T’Kreil and he is one of the Plakorii who built this place,” she said. “He’s weak and needs water. After that I’ll tell you all I know.”
They brought water and after T’Kreil drank deeply he laid back on the blankets Kai brought in and closed his eyes to rest.
Elia led the others out to the first portable hab so they could talk. She shared everything with Kai through their merge of course so he had all the same knowledge right away. Then she accessed Hollis’ link and uploaded as much raw data as she could. There would be a lot of gaps because she couldn’t express emotions through link as she could with Kai.
“So essentially, T’Kreil could see that Kai and I had an affinity for mental communication,” she said. “I’m not quite clear on that point but he did something to me that they normally do to their children. He taught me by downloading directly into my mind. It’s something they seem to do to toddlers. I’m still reeling from the download but more and more information is becoming clear. We can talk to him now through our mental ability and he can understand our language. I doubt we would ever be able to use his though. It’s in multiple sonic ranges from audible to ultrasonic that our vocal cords cannot imitate.”
“Astonishing,” Hollis said. “This could increase our knowledge of the universe immensely.”
“It’s my impression that he sees us as kind of childlike,” she said. “But that’s really not surprising with the amount of knowledge they have obtained. Something else though, there was excitement,
surprise and something like sadness although not like our emotions. They were more like thoughts as if the concept of the emotion was there but not really like ours. I know that’s not making much sense but it’s just what I’m feeling now.”
They spent some time discussing the situation and then decided to go back and check on T’Kreil. As they entered the main room, T’Kreil was sitting in one of the morphing chairs and the room was flooded with three dimensional images of all kinds. From detailed data displays to extensive planetary data simulations. Above it all, T’Kreil was weaving his hands over the consoles and speaking in what could have been a symphony. He noticed the humans enter and stopped his movements to stand and face them.
Bowing at the waist towards them he spoke softly in musical tones, but the words were being broadcast throughout the room in English.
“Much gratitude…fondness for your discovery,” he said. “Slowly much learning your language to understand. This communication method…slow/difficult but needed for the aged/older/wise human to understand without the joining ability/skill.”
“I’m not sure quite how to take that,” Hollis said miffed. Aged or older indeed. I’m no invalid you know.”
“Relax Hollis,” Kai said. “T’Kreil is trying to honor you by speaking in what has to be an old archaic method to include you in the discussion. He’s giving you respect.”
T’Kreil nodded in agreement with what Kai had just said to Hollis and could see that Elia and Kai both understood him.
“T’Kreil, can you tell us about yourself and this place?” Kai asked.
“If the Hollis aged one will permit,” he said.
“Uncle Hollis he is asking if he can link mentally with Kai and me,” she said. “He’s not proficient enough in our verbal communication method.”
“Hmmpf, well I guess this aged one will have to agree to that,” Hollis said. “But don’t think that I will stand for anything less than a word for word recitation of all that is going on inside you two.”
Elia smiled and hugged her uncle then nodded to T’Kreil.
T’Kreil initiated contact with Elia as the strongest telepathic mind and through her merge with Kai, they were all three now in mental conversation.
“Ah to be able to communicate again is gratifying…I never thought I would again have that chance.” T’Kreil said. “I can use your full language in this format but forgive me if some of the words are not in your correct order. I will go about telling you of the Plakorii and how I came to this place. As you have seen, we are carbon based beings like yourself requiring gasses to breath. We were once very much like you many ages ago. Our people grew and developed over many millennia and we explored vast stretches of the universe. In time, our physical makeup changed along with our technology until we reached a crossroads that we couldn’t predict. For all of our accomplishments we had slowly lost something very precious that you both have. The ability to merge mentally and the ability to feel and act on deep emotions. Somewhere along the way we lost that in our genetic makeup. So a grand effort began with the most brilliant scientists to try and find a way back to our genetic roots. Some among the people disagreed with this preferring to continue the genetic path we were on. Those of the Keliq Path created conflict/destruction/war. Losses on both sides were tremendous and threatened to destroy our entire race. A truce was agreed to and we jointly terraformed this planet you call Trellis II using all of our technology and seeding it with all of the compounds necessary to provide that spark that we were missing. That was thousands of years ago in your span of time. When the time was right we brought volunteers to the planet to live. We had hoped that future generations would develop what we had lost but alas it was not to be. When I opened my mind in the stasis chamber I was surprised to see your two minds shining brightly. The same spark we had been attempting to recapture was standing before me in other beings.”
“We’ve seen no evidence of previous people here except this place,” Kai said. “Shouldn’t there be ruins or some other evidence?”
“From my learning/investigation of your history and time measurements, the experiment ended many thousands of your years past. There would be no trace now.” T’Kreil said. Our job was to research and analyze the planet to see if something we did was incorrect.”
“You said our job. Were there others here with you?” She asked.
“Yes there were four gathering sites or laboratories created around the planet. One of those succumbed to an energy event/explosion/disaster and all were lost. That lab was of my faction. The other labs are from the Keliq faction.”
“T’Kreil, why did you go into stasis in the first place?” Elia asked.
“We received news from our home world of great destruction and ships dispatched to destroy any knowledge gained from these centers. The decision was made to shield and cloak/obfuscate the area so that no weapon or sensor probe would find any evidence of life. We also agreed to go into stasis for what we believed would be only a few hundred years which is how long we set the automatic controls. I’ve no idea though why we were not animated for over a thousand years.”
“We?” Elia asked.
“Oh yes,” he said. “Two of my partners/companions/colleagues/lovers in the other stasis tubes have made the journey to the infinite. The stasis process can preserve organic matter and stop all processes on an atomic level but it has limitations. I will also be joining them soon as my energy force is even now departing.”
Concern and compassion flared in both of the younger humans minds.
“Please, I am honored and envious of the deep feelings you display. It is one of the things we were trying to return to for we lost our connection to each other and with it our care for the universe.” T’Kreil said. “But the universe demands payment and I must honor that. I am happy/warm/content that I was able to share our story.”
The mental conversation had only taken a few minutes and when it was over, Hollis detected a marked change in the young people.
“What’s happening?” Hollis asked. “Is there something wrong?”
“Revered/aged one named Hollis,” T’Kreil said. “I give/present to you this laqcha, may it assist you in your work.” T’Kreil bowed and reverently held out to Hollis a white crystal about the size of a fist. Hollis accepted the crystal with a small bow of his own.
“Ah…thank you…I’m also honored to receive your…laqcha,” he said.
With several graceful motions and a lilting melody from his lips, T’Kreil made a series of motions over the consoles and the room was once again filled with images of all kinds but this time they were all displayed in English.
“To your language/tongue, I have encoded this station/lab for you to honor the Plakorii with your presence.” T’Kreil said as he turned and walked to the stasis room.
Elia and Kai felt something like completion or satisfaction coming from T’Kreil. They all followed him down the hallway as he prepared the control crystal to return to stasis.
“I bid you farewell my new friends. May you keep the memory of the Plakorii alive for I see in you the beginnings of what we were striving/attempting/trying for.” T’Keil said. He stepped on the stasis base and the tube engaged and quickly became opaque red matching the other two tubes.
“My first alien encounter and it lasted all of one day,” Hollis said. “I’m going to retire to my hab and get very drunk on some of that god-awful vodka Max gave me ages ago.”
Elia and Kai were both still in shock at the speed with which events around them were happening and they also needed a break and some time alone to sort things out. They left the lab and went to their own hab for the evening.
Chapter 30
It was after midnight and Hollis had made good on his threat of drinking to oblivion. It was after all the only alien he would probably ever see and talk with. A being that had travelled the universe as Hollis could only imagine. As he sat there the laqcha was sitting on the table. He was playing with it and rolling it back and forth on the ta
ble. The faceted sides making a hollow thudding sound as it turned on each side.
“So what am I supposed to do with you?”
Feeling restless, Hollis went back inside the lab and sat down at the main console. He brought up some of the displays now in English but he was really too drunk to understand them. He sat back as much as possible lamenting whatever grain Max used in that brew but as he was staring with his eyes only half focused, he noticed something in the center of the console ring floor. He walked or stumbled rather into the middle and there was a slot in the very center. He had been over this lab a hundred times and had never seen this before. He knelt down and felt the area. It was octagon shaped. That meant something but he couldn’t quite grasp the thought.
It hit him through the brain fog that the laqcha was the same shape. He pulled the crystal from his pocket and placed it in the depression. A deep tone sounded and the crystal sank into the floor and sealed as if nothing was ever there. The room exploded with millions of dots of every color in the rainbow.
“Well T’Kreil, that was good for entertainment at least.”
Hollis absently touched the nearest dot and it expanded outward into a larger display. Since T’Kreil had modified the lab for English he could read the first listing…
7th lac 233 kipleri -system j43 trinary…
Understanding started to seep into his alcohol addled brain as he touched another dot.
16th lac 330 kipleri – system k4 binary…
Hollis went around the room accessing one then another then another.
“Oh my heavens…it’s a compendium of knowledge,” he said. It could be the entire knowledge of the Plakorii.”
He remembered the last thing T’Klreil said…”Keep the memory of the Plakorii alive.”
“Well my alien friend, you have given us something we could never have dreamed of.”
Hollis changed the display to the planet before going back to the hab. He had plenty to tell Elia and Kai tomorrow and a whole lifetime of work reading the Plakorii knowledge.