‘Whatever happened, I don’t think he’s here by choice.’
It was Teera who spotted the craft last, her view partially blocked by Mikhain and two of the Morla’syn guards. Evelyn heard her soft gasp.
‘Taron Forge? What the hell is he doing here?’
‘The Phoenix looks like she’s under guard,’ Evelyn whispered. ‘Maybe they caught him up to no good and brought the ship here?’
‘Taron Forge and his ilk wouldn’t have come within light years of Oassia,’ Mikhain said from behind them. ‘This place represents everything that they despise even more than Ethera did. Besides, they were doing a roaring trade alongside Salim Phaeon picking up stragglers and survivors from the Core Systems. There’s nothing out here for them but a jail sentence.’
Evelyn’s heart quickened as she looked up at the towering spire before them, a silvery metallic building that shone in the bright sunlight as they approached. Evelyn scanned its surface and quickly noticed something.
‘There are no windows,’ she said.
Idris’s eyes widened as he looked at the building and he realized what Evelyn was getting at.
‘It’s a jail,’ he uttered in amazement.
Idris stopped walking and turned to the nearest Morla’syn. ‘Get in touch with Councillor Rh’yll for me. I want to speak to him immediately about…’
The Morla’syn trooper whirled his rifle around and the butt slammed into the captain’s chest and hurled him across the walkway to land with a deep thud against the transparent floor. Evelyn spun on one heel as she swung a fist toward the towering infantry trooper, but his fellow soldiers moved faster and two plasma rifle barrels blocked her blow, one of them pointing at her face from barely two inches away.
‘On your knees!’
The Morla’syn commander’s voice rang out on the walkway as the soldiers surrounded them, rifles jammed against their bodies as they crouched down and got onto their knees. Captain Sansin crawled to join them, wincing in pain as he clutched his chest.
‘What the hell is this?’ Teera demanded.
‘Hostile takeover,’ Evelyn replied in a harsh whisper as a set of metallic manacles were fastened around her wrists with brutal efficiency. ‘They’re locking us down.’
Evelyn was yanked to her feet as the Morla’syn troopers, now with their rifles activated and their bulbous eyes hooded with thin lids that protected them in combat, prodded them toward the entrance to the towering spire.
‘It’s why we’re so high up,’ Mikhain scowled from behind them. ‘No escape.’
The troopers shoved and jostled them toward two armoured doors at the end of the transparent walkway, which opened automatically before them to reveal more Morla’syn soldiers awaiting them, their weapons likewise charged and ready for combat.
Evelyn felt a claustrophobic fear creep beneath her skin and tighten her chest as she saw the interior of the jail was a black and foreboding chasm, the complete opposite of the brilliantly illuminated and sunny exterior of the city. A waft of stale, thick air tainted with the coalesced stench of closely confined creatures assaulted her senses and made her eyes briefly stream.
She was shoved inside behind Captain Sansin and saw large, bulky, thug–like creatures watching her, each with sets of four hungry black eyes like glossy discs with no soul. Each Gaollian Guard possessed four muscular appendages, the animals quadrupedal and thick–set, their skin lacerated with ancient scars, their fingers thick and multi–jointed.
Before Evelyn could react one of the Gaollians skittered across to her and fastened more manacles about her ankles with extraordinary dexterity, an intelligence that belied the species’ appearance.
One of them looked up at Captain Sansin and spoke in a screeching dialect that almost drowned out the monosyllabic drone of its universal translator.
‘Welcome to Oassia, compliments of Councillor Rh’yll. He hopes you enjoy your stay.’
‘You’re making a big mistake,’ Idris snapped back.
‘Not as big as the one you made when you walked in here.’
The creature glanced at the Morla’syn troopers and nodded once, waving them away as though disgusted. The troopers withdrew through the doors, and moments later they slammed shut with a boom that echoed through the prison.
A crescendo of whoops, howls, jeers and screams soared through the darkness, and as Evelyn’s eyes adjusted to the gloom she saw that they were standing on a platform that overlooked the entire interior of the prison. Like a gigantic hollow cylinder, the prison’s curved interior was lined with ranks of cells, each with a single gate that opened out onto a dizzying drop into oblivion hundreds of feet below. Access to the cells was via a series of remotely controlled gantries that were suspended from cranes, meaning that nobody could leave their cell without the warden’s and prison officers’ direct permission and control.
Amid thousands of species all incarcerated within the prison Evelyn got her first sight of human beings imprisoned in one particular ring of cells about a dozen cubits below her. She saw colourfully dressed, swaggering pirates among them, but to her horror she realized that many looked like ordinary men and women.
Then she saw the children.
‘It’s a trap,’ Teera said from behind her. ‘They’ll bring every single one of us here!’
Idris glanced over his shoulder at the prison entrance, the quadrupedal guards standing before it, heavy clubs in their hands and savage blades clipped to belts around their waists.
‘This is what they’re hiding,’ Idris said. ‘Damn it, they’re imprisoning anybody who comes into the system, no matter what species.’
‘They’re suffering from deeply ingrained xenophobia,’ Teera replied as she looked up and saw one of the remote gantries swinging down and around toward them from its supporting crane. ‘The Council must have decided to close ranks, and if you’re not in the club…’
‘You’re on your own,’ Evelyn finished the sentence for her. ‘We need to get the hell out of here!’
‘It doesn’t make any sense,’ Mikhain said. ‘What good will it do them to leave us locked up?’
The gantry swung into place and one of the guards opened the metal gate to it and ushered Evelyn and the others forward. The guards shoved them along and the gate slammed shut behind them as the crane hoisted the gantry out over the dizzying drop. Teera gulped and grabbed hold of the side of the cage as she closed her eyes.
‘What is it with these people and heights?’
‘I thought you were supposed to be a fighter pilot?’ Mikhain uttered.
‘Raythons have wings, I don’t.’
The gantry descended alongside cells filled with countless species, and Evelyn could tell that the vast majority of them were convicts of one kind or another. Sometimes, the aura of danger and despair that surrounded the career criminal was present even in species that she had never seen before, but then perhaps she too had spent too much time locked up with murderers and thieves for company.
The gantry swung in alongside a row of cells filled with other humans who hurried forward and readied themselves. Evelyn was surprised to see men who were transparently convicts or pirates working together, their hands reaching through the bars to steady the gantry as the gate opened.
‘Move, quickly,’ one of them said. ‘If you don’t get out they’ll tip the gantry and you’ll be leaving the fast way. They place bets on who loses their grip first.’
Evelyn looked down through the gratings beneath her boots at the ground floor of the prison, hundreds of feet below, and with Idris and the others she hurried into the crowded cell just as the gantry’s latches suddenly clicked open and the gantry tipped over on its side.
The cell gate rattled shut behind Evelyn and the empty gantry was lifted away. The cries and howls from around the prison faded away and she turned to see dense ranks of men, women and children watching them with curious gazes, drawn to the captains’ uniforms and her flight suit.
‘Don’t tell us that you’re
the cavalry, come to get us out of here?’ one of the men who had helped them into the cells asked.
Idris was about to reply but another man did so for him as he swaggered through the crowd to confront them.
‘I doubt that,’ said the man, his eyes cold and his dark hair hanging before them in thick strands. ‘He’ll be the one who put his faith in Councillor Rh’yll and got himself imprisoned for his troubles.’
Idris Sansin ground his teeth in his skull and shook his head.
‘Taron Forge,’ he murmured. ‘I see you’re back where you belong once again.’
Taron laid eyes on Evelyn and his grin broadened. ‘Well, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?’
‘Up yours, Taron,’ Evelyn snapped. ‘What the hell’s going on here?’
‘You didn’t know?’ Taron asked, raising one amused eyebrow. ‘Don’t tell me you wandered in here for help?’
‘Start talking,’ Mikhain rumbled.
Taron grinned and shrugged.
‘We’re here to help the Morla’syn and the Galactic Council fight back against the Legion.’
‘How can we fight back when we’re stuck in here?’ Teera asked as she gestured to the prison around them.
‘We’re not here to do the fighting,’ Taron replied, his humour disappearing. ‘We’re the bait.’
***
XXVI
‘You honour us, Councillor.’
The Council Tower was a silvery spire that soared higher than all other buildings on Oassia, the city around them a gigantic disc of metal and glass that glistened like a jewel amid the burnished ocean.
Governor Gredan sat on a plush couch that was one of several surrounding a glass table, Ayek and Vaughn perched on their own seats with Meyanna Sansin. Councillor Rh’yll moved with surprising grace on his bulbous, shimmering body, muscles contracting and pulsing to allow him to slide across the mirror–smooth floor beneath them, this time slightly opaque to avoid any unwanted bouts of vertigo afflicting visiting dignitaries to this most auspicious of locations.
‘You’re welcome, all of you,’ Rh’yll replied as he settled into an ornate seat opposite them, the sunlight streaming through the massive windows that encircled the tower’s conference room also passing through the councillor’s body.
‘Where is my husband?’ Meyanna demanded immediately. ‘Where have you taken him?’
‘Captain Sansin is safe,’ Rh’yll assured her. ‘We felt it best to debrief the military command structure of your fleet separately.’
‘Then at least let me speak to him,’ Meyanna insisted.
‘You will, in due course,’ Rh’yll replied. ‘I promise that you will not be apart for long.’
Meyanna found it both fascinating and oddly disconcerting that the Councillor’s body was transparent enough for her to be able to make out the city beyond through him, its image distorted by the way the light was bent through the councillor’s form.
‘The Oassian Council elected us as spokespeople,’ Rhy’ll said, noting Meyanna’s gaze, ‘because our natural transparency was considered a benefit in dealing with other races. It gives them the impression that we have nothing to hide.’
‘An impression,’ Meyanna purred in reply.
Rh’yll’s bioluminescent lights flickered as though they had suffered some kind of disruption to their power.
‘One formed over many, many long centuries, Governor Sansin,’ he replied. ‘It is not by chance that we came to represent so many differing species.’
‘I don’t doubt that at all,’ Meyanna replied. ‘Chance favours the prepared mind, as they say.’
Rhy’ll sat in silence for a moment. ‘You do not trust us.’
‘We don’t trust anybody right now. I want to speak to my husband.’
‘All in good time,’ Gredan cut in and directed a stern gaze at Meyanna. The governor leaned forward over his belly, his hands clasped before him. ‘It’s not entirely true that we don’t trust you, councillor. We believe that the Galactic Council is the key to defeating The Word and bringing peace to the galaxy once again. Without your help, Captain Sansin is unable to offer an effective defence against such a powerful enemy.’
‘Even with the Council’s help, we might not be able to defend against the Legion,’ Meyanna corrected him.
‘Better with than without,’ Gredan shot back.
‘He’s right,’ Vaughn insisted. ‘This is the time for cooperation.’
‘I agree, so I ask again,’ Meyanna said as she looked at Rh’yll, ‘where is my husband?’
‘Captains Sansin and Mikhain are being questioned by our tactical and military commanders and are helping us to understand more about the Legion,’ Rh’yll explained.
‘Why are they not here?’ Meyanna asked. ‘There is no good reason to have us separated.’
‘Your concern is your civilians,’ Rh’yll explained, ‘whereas the captains’ roles concern military matters. We can cover more ground more quickly this way.’
‘I don’t like it,’ Meyanna shot back. ‘A divided force is a weakened one.’
‘This is what you wanted!’ Gredan exclaimed. ‘You said it yourself: we need assistance!’
‘Yes, assistance,’ Meyanna shot back, ‘not being isolated, controlled and kept in the dark. This is not what we came here for and you still haven’t explained how you came to know about the effect of microwaves on the Legion’s Infectors.’
‘Does that really matter so much? Gredan challenged her. ‘We have the opportunity here to forge an alliance with the most powerful force in the known galaxy. Are you really going to let such a small issue become a stumbling block?’
‘Only if the Oassian solution isn’t something that favours humanity,’ Meyanna replied without taking her gaze from Rh’yll’s tiny black photoreceptors. ‘We’re sitting here and we know that at no time since the apocalypse has the Galactic Council formed a fleet to assist humanity, despite having already admitted that it knew of The Word’s slaughter. Tell me, Councillor: how did it feel to sit back and do nothing as several billion people died?’
Rh’yll’s glowing lights flickered again, rippling as he shifted position in his seat.
‘The same way I felt the last time it happened,’ he replied simply.
‘What do you mean?’ Meyanna gasped. ‘You’ve sat back and allowed genocide to occur on your watch before?’
Rh’yll gestured with one appendage out of the broad, sweeping windows to the larger universe beyond.
‘The cosmos is vast and even we only know a small portion of our own galaxy, which as I’m sure you’re aware contains hundreds of billions of star systems. Beyond, there are countless billions more galaxies, all of which I have no doubt contain life. Over the centuries we have witnessed many species become extinct, both directly and remotely via distant signals that reach Oassia and the many detectors we deploy here. I cannot recall how many times we have sat in sombre reflection as we listened to the dying gasp of some far–flung civilization that never quite made it to the stars.’
Meyanna stared at Rh’yll in disbelief. ‘You chose not to intervene,’ she said with a finality every bit as succinct as the doomed fate of the civilizations Rh’yll was describing.
‘It is not our place to intervene,’ he replied. ‘How many species became extinct on your home world long before The Word was created, long before humanity even evolved? Extinction is a part of life, Governor Sansin, and always will be. I have no doubt that in the future some other species will sit here where I am now and perhaps mourn the loss of my own people. Nothing lasts forever,’ Rh’yll said, ‘not conquest, not defeat, not life. Not the Legion.’
‘Do you have a plan, councillor?’ Gredan asked. ‘Is there a strategy for dealing with the Legion?’
Rh’yll’s lights flickered more brightly, something that Meyanna was beginning to understand indicated excitement or happiness.
‘Yes,’ he replied, ‘we have both and will begin executing them very shortly indeed.’
A nearby door hissed open and a Morla’syn hurried in.
‘Councillor, there has been a development,’ he snapped in a harsh tone.
The Morla’syn hurried to Rhy’ll’s side and leaned down to whisper into the councillor’s barely visible ears, little more than sensorium patches of opaque skin on his translucent body. Rh’yll’s body suddenly lit up with a brilliant flickering of light.
‘How many?!’ he gasped.
‘What’s happening?’ Meyanna demanded.
The Morla’syn whispered something more and immediately Rh’yll shouted out. ‘Guard!’
Morla’syn troops hurried into the council room and surrounded them as General Veer followed his men in.
‘Treachery!’ Veer growled as one long, slender arm pointed at the governors. ‘They have deceived us!’
‘What the hell is going on?!’ Meyanna demanded.
‘The Legion is here!’ Veer snapped. ‘We have detected a large force closing in on Oassia, Colonial vessels most of them! They’re exchanging signals with the humans, probably through the Word’s creator aboard their ship.’
Rh’yll looked at Governor Gredan. ‘Tell us that this is not true.’
Gredan looked genuinely perplexed. ‘The Lazarus terminal is confined,’ he promised. ‘There is no way that he could transmit or receive signals from anywhere, let alone from the Legion!’
Meyanna stood up despite the guns pointing at her. ‘How long do we have?’
‘Their super–luminal bow shock suggests less than an hour,’ General Veer replied, apparently not concerned about discussing military matters with a human woman.
‘We need the captain back aboard Atlantia,’ Meyanna said as she turned to Rh’yll.
‘That will not be possible,’ Rh’yll replied. ‘If the source of this treachery is your vessels, then any possible alliance between our species is already null and void.’
‘There was no treachery!’ Gredan insisted. ‘Our vessels were clean, we know that the Legion was not aboard when your Morla’syn destroyers intercepted us!’
‘And before?’ Rh’yll demanded. ‘Were you infected at any time in the last few hours, or even days?’
Defiance (Atlantia Series Book 5) Page 18