Maz turned her back to Kevak — the only insult she could think of.
The door to the anteroom opened, and Tariq and Jasper escorted her to the brig.
Kevak watched as J’Vor entered. These few minutes alone would be their last. Kevak could not speak as he opened his arms and held J’Vor in a tight embrace. As they clung to each other, they tried to hold back the crushing tide of sorrow that threatened to engulf them.
“I had a dream that we were back in our cave just outside of the village of Bazna,” said J’Vor. “You had made some fresh paints for me, and I covered the walls with all the triumphs and sorrows we have experienced together over the centuries.”
“That was a special place,” said Kevak. “It was where I first read the book of Iam.”
Kevak opened up his flight pack and showed J’Vor the Bible he had kept with him through the centuries.
“I am now going to become a missionary,” Kevak said, trying to keep the mood light. “I don’t think in all history has a missionary traveled as far as I will to reach a new flock.”
“But before you tend to your flock, you must be Navigator Kevak one last time,” said J’Vor, also attempting to sound happy.
With the thousand embryos in stasis on the Newisla, Kevak remained steadfast in his hope that a new generation on Vambiri would learn the word of Iam from him, and the caste system would never rear its ugly ahead again.
They could hear murmurs and scuffling noises just outside the anteroom.
“The Primus is assembling the Council,” said Kevak.
“Stay a minute longer, Father,” said J’Vor as he embraced Kevak again.
“You were a precious miracle given to me by Iam,” whispered Kevak. “Through you, I experienced the true, unconditional love a parent has for a child. I will treasure it until my last breath. I will always love you.”
“I will always love you, Father,” said J’Vor.
Their private time was at an end. Kevak opened the door of the anteroom and walked stoically out to the platform. The Newisla’s hatch was open, and the Newlunders waited to hear Kevak’s valediction before boarding. The stasis pods containing Vrin, Kwetz, Tolum, and Jirza had already been placed in their respective chambers.
“Thousands of years ago,” said Kevak, “the hemoplants of Vambiri were irradiated, and we were forced to seek refuge in the coldness of space. When we awoke from stasis, our eyes beheld a new world. For a brief time there was the hope of rebuilding our lives in peace, but it was not to be. The blood addiction drove the Vambir to the brink of madness, and humans were set on a course for extinction. Through the grace of Iam, that course was averted. Through our time spent here we saw the evil of the caste system, and our eyes were opened to the love and forgiveness of Iam. Today is a new beginning — our Genesis. When we rebuild Vambiri, we will do so with memories of Earth forever in our hearts.”
As the Newlunders began to file into the Newisla, Kevak embraced Emanui, Jasper, and Tariq, pausing with each of them to exchange a few private words and make the symbol of the cross on their foreheads.
Before turning away to enter the hatch, he and J’Vor exchanged a final embrace. After kissing his forehead, Kevak made the sign of the cross, then tenderly ran his fingers along his cheek.
As soon as the hatch had closed, J’Vor, Emanui, Jasper, and Tariq took the elevator to the control room. Once inside, J’Vor flicked the switch that opened the faux rock panel above the Newisla.
“Navigator Kevak,” said Jasper over the comline, “the skies are clear, and the cloak is online. All systems are green, and you are good to go. Godspeed.”
*******
Maz stepped out of the helicopter.
“Hold out your hands,” said Emanui.
Maz said nothing as Emanui unlocked the cuffs.
“There is the village of your childhood,” said Emanui, pointing at the flickering street lights in the distance. “We will wait until you have safely reached it before we leave.”
Maz turned and slowly walked toward the lights. True to her word, Emanui waited until Maz had been spotted by the inhabitants before departing.
“This isn’t right,” said Tariq. “She murdered Boris.”
“Because her Aztec god commanded it,” said J’Vor. “Quetzalcoatl is gone, never to return, and she knows it.”
“What do you suppose will happen to her?” asked Tariq as they flew away.
“She will find consolation with other Travelers,” said Emanui.
“Other Travelers,” repeated J’Vor. “For her sake, I hope so.”
EPILOGUE
The Arctic Circle, 2014
“I still can’t get used to the idea that Newlun no longer exists,” said Jasper.
Immediately after the departure of the Newisla, the underground city was gutted and stripped of all traces of technology, and concrete was poured into all passageways and chambers. It was as if the Vambir were never there.
Tariq looked out at the desolate white landscape. “I miss the monastery.”
“We needed to relocate,” said J’Vor. “More and more tourists were finding their way to Kozheozersky.”
J’Vor did not mention that he was glad to be away from the memories of Kozheozersky. He knew that one day he would journey back there and smile, but for now he struggled daily to cope with his loss. The white landscape of the Arctic mirrored his empty, broken heart. Every night he would compose an email to Kevak, and he had come to regard the routine as more of a diary entry, since thousands of years would pass before Kevak would read his messages. It was his only link to his father now.
“We always have the option to move to the dark side of the moon if this region becomes overrun,” joked Jasper, trying to keep the mood light.
“Have you mentioned that possibility to Nadia?” asked Tariq with a laugh.
Even though their mentor was gone, they were upbeat about the future. The Vambir were no longer on Earth to pose a threat to humanity. The Feral bloodline was dying out. Kevak’s network was increasingly discovering transformed humans like Venomy that could tolerate daylight and human food. All would be right in the fullness of time.
*******
Alone in the laboratory, Emanui stared pensively through the magnifier at the small, twisted metallic implant that had been removed from Dujot’s brainstem. Senfo’s hard drive that had sustained the massive feedback surge had been retrieved from Newlun and sent to her.
Since first encountering Tolum and Jirza at the debriefing, Emanui had felt uneasy. She could not explain why — perhaps it was because she was being extra cautious since they had all been fooled by Kwetz. It was true that Dujot was every bit the evil mastermind the siblings had described. It was logical to assume that he was the aggressor, and the siblings, at their tender age, were merely pawns. The things the siblings told them had for the most part been confirmed.
Yet doubts continued to gnaw away at her, and today she finally realized what it was: the conclusion drawn from Dujot’s autopsy was that the cause of death was the stab wound to the back of the neck inflicted by Tolum. Since Dujot’s cerebral implant showed no signs of swelling, the stab wound was the only thing that would have been fatal to him.
“No signs of swelling,” she murmured. “How could I not have seen it?”
They had all assumed that Dujot’s cerebral implant would have killed him by swelling, since that was the method used by the implants fitted to Newlunders and Ferals upon detecting blood ingestion. It was how Maz had been able to kill Boris.
But Dujot and the siblings needed to ingest blood in order to take on human form to complete their mission. The implants designed for Dujot and the siblings would have had a different kill trigger. And if the trigger was different, then it was possible the method of killing was different.
She had to find out. She replaced the fried printed circuit board of Senfo’s hard drive with a new one and installed it in a new portable terminal. Taking the implant, the portable terminal, and a printout of
the last commands entered into the mainframe during the takeover, she made her way to the lifeboat’s central command.
Powering up the portable terminal, she held her breath as she entered same keystrokes on the printout directly into the mainframe. The terminal lit up and bleeped, and the implant buzzed loudly, with sparks emanating from it.
The siblings killed Dujot with an electronic overload to his implant! He was entering commands they had all memorized — the keystrokes were the trigger! The stab wound to the back of his neck was inflicted post mortem. Once Dujot was dead, it was the siblings who relayed the kill command to the implants of Senfo, Johep, and Gyran!
A feeling of dread encompassed Emanui.
The program to locate Kwetz’s pod was downloaded after Dujot’s death.
What did the siblings want with Kwetz? Did they seek to form an alliance with another intelligent, rebellious youth? Or was it merely an attempt to divert more suspicion to Dujot, since his connection to Kwetz had been firmly established?
She would never know the answers to those questions. Kevak and the Newlunders would arrive at Vambiri with three adolescent vipers in their midst thousands of years after her own death.
Emanui did the only thing she could — she composed an email to Kevak detailing what she had discovered and flagged it with a death-head icon.
Please, Iam, once Kevak emerges from stasis, let him read it before it is too late.
She picked up the implant and portable terminal and deposited them in the furnace. As she watched the flames consume the evidence, she felt better.
It is my burden alone to carry.
If J’Vor ever suspected that his beloved father would be in imminent peril upon awakening, it would eat away at him for the rest of his life. She loved him too much to allow that to happen.
It is now in the hands of Iam.
“It is now in the hands of Iam,” she repeated aloud.
END
The story concludes in the final book of the trilogy…
The Nosferatu Chronicles: Return to Vambiri
Kevak and the Newlunders return to their home planet and are overjoyed to discover survivors who escaped the cosmic disaster that ravaged Vambiri. But not all is as it seems: the survivors are hiding something linked to Earth that will shake the foundation of Kevak’s faith.
Dear Reader,
You’re two thirds of the way through the trilogy! I hope you have enjoyed the journey with the Vambir, and please leave a review on Amazon if you have the time. Many surprises and twists are in store for them once they return to their home world. Thank you for your continued support, and get updates of future projects on my author pages on Facebook (@SusanRileyHamiltonAuthor) or Twitter (@Soozyham).
Susan xoxo
The Nosferatu Chronicles: The Aztec God Page 21