Star Chaser- The Traveler

by Reiter

  Garanous laughed at the fear of the large Savanté and he applauded the Malgovi Traveler. “My, what an impact you have made! And so quickly! I have the notion to be afraid of you, too!”

  “Then your instincts are strong,” Dungias said, taking a tighter hold of Alpha. The Vinthur stopped laughing almost immediately.

  “I am called Garanous. Every man should know his superiors when he meets them.”

  “Then I suppose it is a good thing you already know me,” Dungias replied. “It saves time.”

  Garanous slowly lifted his left hand which started glowing with white light at his fingertips. His right hand clenched into a fist. Once the left hand reached the height of his face, Garanous smiled again. “Two things to remember for the few moments you have left.”

  “I have so many who are willing to be my teacher!” Dungias sighed.

  “One, your style of combat is nearly perfect… when you are attacked, that is.” A glint of light sparked from the right eye of the Vinthur as his smile brightened.

  “Damn!” Dungias thought as he started considering his escape options.

  “And two, there is only one thing wrong with your side of the corridor: I don’t need it!” As the man’s right hand burst open, Dungias felt a wave of iro-form pass over his body. He had only felt it on one sort of occasion and he dropped to his knee, thrusting Alpha into the floor.

  The tip of the Osamu had just pierced the stone when the floor started to crumble, eventually giving way altogether. Dungias went from standing on solid ground to descending. No less than five olig-trams beneath Dungias was a lake of fire surrounded by reddened black rock that looked to be too hot to touch. The sky around him was ablaze. The only things not burning were the floors, walls, ceiling and the charred remains of the oldest Savanté, but the heat made Dungias thankful for his trainers and their ability to be creative with their instruction. Harsh elements were something Nugar had stressed for all of them to impart upon Dungias. The pains of star-terms past were now a profound pleasure.

  Using Alpha, Dungias floated over to the still smoldering form of Salvigaron and touched the Osamu to the man’s skull. The chest and lower body had received the three photons and there was no doubt the man was dead. But with the iro-forms that had destroyed the aging Savanté, Dungias did not know if the brain had stopped functioning. Dungias set himself to do two things with Alpha: record, if there were still memories to be recorded, and access the compartment inside his Osamu that held a small sparkling gem.

  “Sai-Eg!” he cried out, sending his thoughts through Alpha and what he hoped was enough of an anchor in his own dimension to allow his Radient friend to hear him. Fire burned all around Dungias and he prepared himself to absorb a tremendous amount of energy to keep from burning.

  As the air around him burned closer and closer, Dungias started to absorb the energy surrounding him. His body shuddered at the initial touch of it! How could there be so much power?! He closed his eyes and was only slightly relieved to find the link between his mind and his Osamu was strong and holding steady.

  Dungias’ body shuddered again as the fire seemed to surge around him, seeking the touch of his flesh. He opened his eyes to see fire burning everywhere, but it was unlike any flame he had ever seen before. He could feel it, and the sentiment coming from the flame flowed through his absorption measure, seeking to breach his psyche. Dungias knew he could not keep the flame from consuming him, maintain the possible anchor in his own dimension, reach out to make contact with Sai-Eg, and contend with this new madness. It was a gambit he would have preferred not to take, but his options were limited and preservation of life had to take priority. He closed his eyes, reaching for a stronger level of concentration than he had ever even employed, let alone confirm he possessed. The fact that it would be the first time did not hinder his ambition or lessen his need. His eyes slowly closed once more as the fire snarled, burning all around him and lunging again to touch his body and begin feeding on his flesh. Another surge of the feeling within the fire penetrated Dungias and his brow tightened. Was it concentration? Could it be fear? Or anger?

  Images flooded into his mind and while he could hear the fire, he no longer felt it. He could see the Jagged Kraythe… Gavis Station… Nugar’s domicile… the chamber of the Radients… even a few pictures of The Campus. Alpha started to glow as the falling Traveler felt a presence drawing near… but it came from both sides of him, inside and out. It was nothing he recognized, and Alpha signaled it had reached half of its absorption capability. It was expending power trying to maintain the link with the gravity lock Dungias had tried to leave at the Palace and additional power in aiding in its master’s attempt to reach Berylon of the Radients. Still, the intake was greater than what was being used. Neither Alpha nor Dungias knew how to spend more power without taking more of Dungias’ concentration.

  “You try to absorb my fire?!” a voice called to him and Dungias could hear it outside the fireball he had become, as well as echoing inside of him. It was proud, this entity, and quite accustomed to being viewed as powerful. More than that, however, it possessed passion! The question came in a tone it seldom used, and why it had chosen to use it was a mystery to the Traveler.

  “I know not of your fire,” Dungias replied and he could feel his body begin to slow down in its descent. “I was just becoming aware of my own,” he continued as he opened his eyes, feeling that his descent had stopped altogether. There was a definite advantage to the way Dungias had been raised, and though he was shay-spawn, he was still Malgovi and they were a people who always demonstrated control and manners. His heart might have skipped a beat, as it was quite acceptable to be amazed to find oneself standing in the palm of living fire, but Dungias corrected the condition of his habiliments, finishing with the cloak, and greeted the massive fiery form with a bow and a formal greeting. “I am Z’Gunok Tel Dungias, a Malgovi Star Chaser and I have been forcefully cast into your realm. While I apologize for the intrusion–”

  “You are angered by the one who sent you here,” the form finished. “And you burn for retribution.”

  “I…” Dungias looked down, feeling his own rage swell inside of him. The lengths a select few had gone through to be the voice and choice for countless others! The rank of the injustice raked against his station of tranquility and every belief he had come to hold dear. That crime deserved punishment. “But I am not worthy to be the face of the punishment!”

  “You are unworthy if you fail to be the force required to effect the change you see in your mind’s eye,” the form asserted. “And how can you be anything of worth if you quell the fire within you?

  “Look around you, Star Chaser,” the living brazier spoke, waving its inflamed hand over the horizon. “This is the realm of Living Fire! It burns!” the form spoke, closing its black eyes, taking in the essence of burning and deriving an obvious pleasure from the exercise. “It burns all about us, but you do not see how it burns!

  “There are many kinds of fire and all of them can be found here,” the blazing creature spoke, opening its eyes. “Above us burns the simplest sort, yet if it does nothing but burn, soon it will have no fuel and it will burn out. So it chooses to fire in small pockets that burst here and there. They take their taste of whatever fuels them and they recede… not die. You do not see the fire, but you will always feel the heat!

  “I can look upon you and see the conflict within,” the form said, gazing at Dungias. “Your sister, your Vi-Prin, means well, and you wish to demonstrate your love for her. So you cage the so-called animal. Bah! You have tried to extinguish your inner flame! You try to suppress it with the watery fear of being something you cannot control. But it is this unknown strength that has allowed you to champion the impossible. You attempt to suffocate it with the air of love and devotion to your woman, but it is the passion of your touch upon her form and her soul that she misses most.

  “If I have learned nothing else from my kin, little song, it is foolish to contend with a single e
lement when it is the chorus of them that sustains life!” As the entity lifted its hand, Dungias’ body slowly ascended into the sky. He looked up and suddenly his perspective of where he was had shifted. It was not fire that burned around him… these were the clouds of this realm! And the only thing that lurched for him was his fear given fiery form.

  “Control is not the goal,” Dungias thought, focusing his mind on his anger and all that came with it.

  “Then what is, Star Chaser?” the fiery form asked.

  “Harmony!” Dungias said, opening his eyes. He held up Alpha and allowed the flames to grant his body propulsion. He had become a living missile, carried and fueled by the fire of the realm and the fire within… a rage that was about to be released!

  “Dungias?” a voice called out to him and the Traveler looked up to see ten female Radients begin to fly in a circular pattern with light trailing behind each of their bodies. The ring of light had been formed by the time Dungias reached their altitude.

  “Well met, Star Chaser,” the form spoke, but when Dungias looked down, he saw a red-skinned man modeled much like a well-toned Malgovi with fire for hair and eyebrows. He wore robes of flowing magma and held a scepter of red crystal that did not burn in his grasp. “I am Infernon!” The portal closed behind Dungias and he was blinded by a bright flash of light. The sensation of passing through a dimensional portal touched upon his body again and Dungias opened his eyes to see five female Radients floating in the middle of a white sky and smiling at him.

  “There you are, my friend,” Berylon said as he clapped down on Dungias’ smoldering shoulder. The Traveler looked around in awe at the black star-filled sky that surrounded him. “I must say, I like the uniform, and given your destination when last we spoke, I expected you to use the gem much sooner than you did.”

  “Sooner?” Dungias said, turning quickly to look Berylon in the eyes. The glowing Radient smiled and patted both of the Traveler’s shoulders.

  “Be at ease, my friend, your first attempt at an anchor was good enough to hold your place in time.”

  “Time? Should I be concerned with your choice of words, Sai-Eg?”

  Berylon paused for a moment, keeping his smile, but looking down as he collected his thoughts. “You are indeed a Traveler, Dungias. Your instincts only seem to be getting sharper. And I must remind myself that you have yet to reach your prime, so I look forward to you improving to an even greater ability. That said, the answer is yes, you should be concerned, but only mildly so. The rules for this sort of thing are quite clear.”

  “I am not a student of The Campus and therefore you can only do so much,” Dungias stated. “And it would appear that you have nearly reached that limit to bring it up at this point of the conversation. There is no offense in this, my friend. I hope that is not a weight you bear.”

  “Well, not any longer, at any rate,” Berylon replied, nodding in gratitude. “As I was saying, you managed to hold your place in time, but with what happened to the area where the anchor was made, I’m afraid this is your place in space.” Berylon gestured to the space surrounding their floating bodies. “This place has many names, but my makers call it the Realm Astral.”

  “My people call it the InterVoid,” Dungias added as he looked around. “… the realm between realms. And it is as I have read, a place that is much like the Void, but possesses the ability of preserving life that passes through it. There is air for me to breathe and my skin is not darkening from what should be a freezing cold.”

  “Exactly!” Berylon replied with a slight sigh of relief. “Good then, you know where you are.”

  “Sai-Eg, I haven’t the first notion of where I am!” Dungias returned. “Knowing of the Void does not mean I can name every Star System or how many left turns it will be before I find my way home!

  “But, in truth, none of that matters,” Dungias said softly, closing his eyes and asking himself if he truly wanted to make the move that was laid in front of him.

  “So many decisions,” he thought.

  “Master Berylon,” one of the female Radients called out. “We must be away.” Dungias opened his eyes and looked at the Radient who had spoken. He and Berylon then looked in the direction she was looking to see a spacecraft in the distance.

  “But oft times, if one can afford to wait a moment, decisions are made for them,” Dungias whispered before taking hold of Berylon’s arm. “I thank you, my friend. You have saved me yet again, and I am even deeper in your debt.”

  “Shallow waters in comparison, Dungias,” Berylon said, giving the wave to have the female Radients create a portal back to their place in the depths of Nugar’s domicile. “I have already restored the gem in Alpha and I await your next summons. Mayhap upon the next occasion I can be of greater use to you!”

  “I am sure he does not realize how that means I will be in a worse position than on this occasion for that to be true,” Dungias thought, smiling at the notion. He held up his hand in salute to a very good friend. It had only been star-terms, from Dungias’ perspective, since they met, but Berylon felt like a lifelong friend.

  “If your light can bear it,” he said, sending his thoughts, wishes and love for one occupant of the domicile… his lovely Saru. Berylon smiled as he passed into the portal; the female Radients broke their pattern and passed through it before the frame of the portal faded from sight. “As a Traveler, I am forever envious of your means of transit, Sai-Eg.

  “And speaking of transit,” Dungias thought, looking at the ship that was beginning to slow down.

  He placed Alpha in the sleeve on his weapons belt and turned to face the approaching craft. There was no debate to be had; the ship was nothing more than a floating enigma drawing closer with every passing tanku. And while there were mysteries to unfold about the ship and whatever was aboard, Dungias still had reason to smile. From all accounts, he had just faded from sight in his home dimension, and the Censurer was no doubt pleased with himself as he was probably shocked that the Savanté in the palace on Quantia Prime had been all but destroyed.

  “But I digress,” he thought, focusing his thoughts on the ship. The form of the craft was simple and easily appreciated. It was a sphere, though hardly a smooth-skinned one. From Dungias’ understanding, the ship did not have an engine of the traditional sort. There was no propulsion coming from the rear of the craft. In fact, it would be a poor assumption to claim the ship had an aft section at all. It appeared to be a system of rings fashioned to make a spherical shape. Several of the rings rotated so that lights were made to face Dungias before they were activated. The lights were most peculiar to see in action. The space around Dungias dimmed, becoming gray, while his body seemed to be outlined in a thin layer of white light. A scanning light ran quickly over his body, stopping for a moment when it reached his forehead.

  “Greetings,” Dungias spoke aloud, repeating the word in K’Vo. There was a greater chance that a Traveler had reached and mapped the InterVoid. The chances for a Malgovi to achieve the same feat in recent ages were less than remote. “I am Z’Gunok Tel Dungias. Malgovi, Traveler and Star Chaser. I mean you no harm and I am greatly in need of assistance.”

  “You speak the tongue of the Travelers, but you are not of their make,” a young, female voice replied in K’Vo and in-between chewing sounds.

  “The Vinthur and the Malgovi share much of the same history,” Dungias replied. “I know it is customary to state one’s lineage, but mine extends only to Nugar.”

  A few moments passed before anything else was said. “Nugar?!” the female replied, choking and coughing. “That old Space Wolf is still alive?!”

  “And teaching,” Dungias added.

  “We will have you aboard momentarily then.”

  “Many thanks!” Dungias replied and the light was deactivated. He could see doors opening near the center of the sphere. A smaller craft was departing the larger ship and flying in his direction.

  “Garanous,” Dungias said with a slight chuckle, recalling what i
t had been like to be introduced to the Realm of Elemental Fire. “I know your name. Your incredible effort to resolve the matter of me fell short, Vinthur. Pray you can say the same when you receive my effort! Your actions have managed to introduce me to yet another new chamber in my ever-growing spatial dwelling. I will not be returning that grace unless that chamber is the Savanté crypt!”

  Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned.

  William Congreve

  (VII)

  The last of the automated ships docked with the science vessel. All of the data had not been reviewed, but the obvious conclusion remained the only one. Tau Upsilon was no more, and the gravimetric readings in the immediate vicinity were too powerful and prevalent to ignore. The solar system was the victim of a very tragic event, but nothing other than nature could be blamed for the calamity. Only a third of the debris cloud had been scanned and searched. Millions of bodies had been pulled from the bits of rock, metal, plastics and ice; none were alive and only a small percentage wore uniforms of the militia which had been dedicated to the protection of the region. It was for this reason that the Empire had decided to send the science vessels to aid in the investigation; it was absolutely vital that the guilty party, if one existed, be found, charged, and hounded to the limits of their ability.

  Though they were closer to Tau Upsilon, due to a nearby outpost floating in Free Space, Ardrian warships arrived after the Imperial ships. The response, like all things Truebreed, was unmistakable! For every Imperial ship that had arrived, three Ardrian ships had come to Tau Upsilon, and while most of the Imperial effort was designed to be perceived as scientific exploration or humanitarian aid, the hard-armoured and heavily armed Ardrian ships only served one purpose. Not all of their gun decks were visible, but only half of their onboard weaponry possessed the ability to retract inside the ship. Little aid was given, but much had been promised along the lines of firepower when the culprits were named. For days they lingered, without so much as a simple communication, keeping an eye on each Imperial vessel.