The Unreachable Stars: Book #11 of The Human Chronicles Saga

by T. R. Harris

  “Human, of course. I am surprised that you have not come to realize this. Does not your species have a non-physical bond with your offspring?”

  “Lila’s my daughter?”

  “Yes…unless Arieel had relations with another Human, perhaps Riyad.”

  “No she didn’t.” At least he was pretty sure she hadn’t.

  A whole flood of thoughts and emotions swept over him. He was a father—again—and of a daughter. And yet even as those words formed in his consciousness, he knew there was so much more to the story. It appeared as though he was the last to find out.

  “And Arieel knows?” he asked, just for confirmation.

  “She before all others. Although she has not admitted this to me, I could tell.”

  “And her father, Convor?”

  “He was not told before his death. As the Second Celebrant, and then the First, I was able to command certain information be kept from him. He died believing that his daughter had given birth to a pureblood Formilian who would one day assume the role of Speaker. You must realize that even without the current state of affairs, Lila could never become Speaker. Her abnormal physical growth would have begun the questioning, and eventually the truth would have come out. Arieel—because of her unexplained feelings for you—has destroyed the very foundation of our religion and brought an end to two thousand years of stability for my planet and my people. Now there will be a tumultuous period of confusion, introspection, and possibly even outright revolt. What appears at the other end of this cycle will be nothing like the Formil of today. And I have only you to blame.”

  “It takes two, Trimen, if you hadn’t noticed.”

  “Do not attempt to deflect. Yes, Lila is your daughter, yet you must also realize she is no one’s to possess. She is advancing at such a rapid pace, both mentally and physically, that what she eventually becomes is beyond speculation. And now you say she can communicate mentally, even without assistance. What other powers will she manifest as she grows older, more powerful? You should also be aware that Panur has known from the moment the two of them met. It must be a psychic bond between mutants.”

  Adam trembled at the thought. Lila and Panur had been aboard the same ship for over eight days, and the tiny mutant hadn’t told him what he knew. Why not? The implications of that question made Adam tremble. What would Panur do now that he’d found a kindred spirit, the only other creature he’d encountered in five thousand years that was like him? Panur was likely to do just about anything.

  ********

  When Adam and Trimen returned to the cargo bay, Lila looked at the two of them with a blank and even expression—lingering slightly longer on Adam—before returning to the crystal. Arieel, on the other hand, let tears flow down her ruddy cheeks. Trimen went to her and sat close, while she wrapped her arms around him and began sobbing even louder, more uncontrollably.

  Adam stood near the doorway, glaring at Panur, who stopped his work on the nearly complete crystal and met Adam’s rigid stare. Then he shrugged.

  It was a strange scene in the cargo bay, and one not lost on Riyad and Regina.

  After a moment, Riyad asked: “What did we miss?”

  Chapter 20

  There was a strange tension aboard the Crescent Star, yet all the occupants pushed it aside as the crystal cutting was completed and the stone placed in the cradle Panur had built to hold it. This unit was then placed in the center of the larger apparatus that was the portal detector itself.

  Power lines ran to the device, along with a myriad of wires, fans, movement dampers and other unnamed and unexplained equipment that all formed a twelve-foot-square conglomeration of stuff. At least that’s how it looked to Adam. To Panur—and now Lila—it all seemed to make sense.

  Panur was ecstatic, bouncing around the cargo bay like a kid on Christmas morning, anxious to try out his new toy. Somewhere, lost in the mass of the device, were four of the Formilian brain-interface implants. Panur had skillfully removed all of them from their hosts a week before, saying he needed to begin their reprogramming as soon as possible. He pulled them from their bodies in less than ten seconds each, severing the physical connections that linked them to their brains without a moment’s hesitation. It was as if he did this every day, and had for years.

  Adam and Riyad felt no real difference once the implants were gone, and Lila seemed to take it in stride as well. Arieel wasn’t so fortunate. She was nearly one hundred Formilian years old, and had carried the device within her body for all except the first five. For the two days after its removal, she remained in her room suffering through what looked to be drug withdrawals. Lila and Trimen spent hours with her, helping when and where they could, and when Arieel finally emerged from the stateroom, she had lost weight and her skin was sallow, her eyes vacant.

  She remained quiet for another two days, even when engaged in conversation, giving one word answers and never asking questions. She was much better now, but Adam could tell the effects still lingered inside her.

  Everyone’s mood changed when Panur announced that the detector was complete. This was the moment of truth, time to learn if there was a way out the mess they all were in…or not.

  ********

  The Crescent Star undocked from the Pegasus II, and Adam’s ship was flown remotely to a distance of a thousand miles before being powered down of everything except a standby battery to reinitiate startup. Panur couldn’t risk the possibility of his DPS engines interfering with the detector. To further assure the best reception, the two vessels were situated in interstellar space and at least two light-years from the nearest star.

  A solitary monitor was set up on a bench along the bay wall, and Adam wasn’t surprised when Panur awarded the honor of activating the detector to Lila. She flicked an innocent looking switch and suddenly the contraption sprung to life. Lights came on, fans swirled, and humming could be heard. From deep inside the device, Adam could see the huge, oblong—and now many-faceted—diamond crystal begin to glow. The light wasn’t steady, however, appearing to move within the stone while casting sparkles of brilliance escaping through the open areas in the detector. The light danced against the bulkheads, ceiling and deck of the cargo bay, particularly bright in the dark eyes of both Panur and Lila, which were exceptionally wide as they reveled in their own unspoken moment of eureka!

  Panur turned to the screen and began making adjustments using control knobs on a panel on the tabletop. The monitor was all static; then the image began to waver, the frenetic black and white background displaying squiggly lines coursing through it.

  Panur and Lila turned to the small crowd of people behind them and beamed wide smiles—even as doing so was not customary for Formilians.

  Adam stared at the two aliens, before focusing on the screen behind them and its squiggly lines. “Now what?”

  Both mutants lost their smiles and blinked several times.

  “What do you mean, Now what?” Panur asked, genuine confusion in his tone.

  “I mean when do you start detecting the portals?”

  Panur glanced back at the screen and then to Adam again. “It already is…can’t you see?”

  Adam exchanged startled looks of confusion with Riyad and Regina.

  “All we see are squiggly lines,” Adam admitted.

  Panur and Lila’s expressions suddenly buoyed. “Ah, then you can see!”

  “I see squiggly lines…that’s all. What do they mean?”

  Panur and Lila looked at each, until a revelation passed between them. “Oh, you cannot decipher the readout!” Panur exclaimed. Lila nodded.

  “And you can?”

  “Of course,” the two mutants said in unison.

  “Then please tell us what they reveal,” Arieel pleaded, looking with both love and concern at her daughter, Trimen at her side.

  Lila turned to the screen and began pointing at several lines. “There is one, as is another. There are eight in total, complete and in operation.”

  Adam stepped past the
two aliens and leaned in close to the screen. He turned to Lila. “I’ll take your word for it, but can you pinpoint locations, something that has relevance in the real world?”

  Lila looked insulted. “Do not blame me if you are unable to understand the data.”

  “I’m not, it’s just that I’m going to have to let Admiral Tobias know where the portals are located, and I obviously can’t send him a screen-print of your data, now can I?”

  Panur pushed between the two of them. “I will translate the results into stellar coordinates, although you must realize your Admiral Tobias may still not accept your report.”

  “Why not?”

  “It would not be him. Others will see the coordinates, others who may not wish to have the locations revealed at this time. The majority of those aligned against us still see my return as being far more acceptable than launching major military operations against a huge invading force. Many lives would be lost, when in their opinion none would be if I’m returned. The galaxy would be free of the Sol-Kor menace, and without anyone having to die.”

  “Because they still believe the immunity offer is real,” Riyad stated. “You know they always will until proven that it’s not.”

  A new voice spoke up. “Then we return Panur to the Sol-Kor, and when they attack anyway, everyone will know the truth.” All eyes turned to Regina, particularly the two belonging to Panur. She continued: “After that, we’ll have the locations of the portals and can shut them down.” Then she smiled. “That’s one way of doing it. I didn’t say it was the only way.”

  Panur relaxed, but only for a moment.

  “Regina’s right,” Adam said. “If there truly was an option, we’d be crazy not to take the one that saves the most lives. So the question is: how do we get the SK to tip their hand without actually returning Panur?”

  “Pretend to return him,” said Regina. All eyes returned to the fiery redhead. She squinted at the group, a mischievous grin stretching from her lips. “Let me explain…”

  Chapter 21

  The planet Fillion-Cassada was located only three thousand light-years from Earth, and although it was not a member of the Orion-Cygnus Union, it had been surveyed and its natives classified as Future-Potential. This designation meant that in about fifty years or so they will have reached a point in their development that contact with alien races would not be a shock to them, at which time membership in the Union would be offered.

  Andy Tobias found this line of thinking to be funny, if not ironic. Here Humans were now the UFO’s in the night, the creatures making clandestine visits to an unsuspecting world, planning for the population’s eventual assimilation into the greater collective.

  That was about the point in his thinking when his stomach turned sour and he became nauseated.

  Unfortunately, the intelligent natives of Fillion-Cassada were not going to get the chance to witness the awe and wonder of Human starships descending from the Heavens, proving once and for all that there was advanced—and benevolent—life in the universe.

  Their first contact with an alien species would be when their world was blanketed in a mind-numbing pale blue light, after which thousands of huge starships would land on the surface to collect the natives as food. It was a clichéd plot found in too many science fiction novels and movies, yet Andy Tobias would be there to see, firsthand, the horrible aftermath of that first encounter.

  As a matter of fact, since the offer of immunity had been extended, nineteen worlds within the Union and thirty-six in the Expansion had fallen to the Sol-Kor suppressor beam. Fortunately—if it could be called that—the leaders of the Expansion and the Union had negotiated with the alien bastards to have them only harvest worlds which were not members of either empire. This placated the fears of members, but it did nothing for the trillions of creatures who had already lost their lives to the invaders from another dimension.

  In Andy’s opinion, the-powers-that-be were having entirely too much contact with the Sol-Kor. It was almost as if the politicians hoped they could wiggle their way out of the current crisis by just giving up a little bit more here and there, even without an official immunity agreement. In fact, Andy could imagine a time when Expansion, Union, and Sol-Kor officials would meet to plan for the systematic—yet managed—harvesting of the entire Milky Way galaxy. Sure, there would be winners and losers, but who better to decide which category a species belongs in than our glorious leaders? Then, a thousand years in the future, when it’s their time to be consumed, the so-called survivors will look back on all the time their clever negotiations had bought them and give themselves a pat on the back...just as the blue pulse beams begin to radiate over the surface of their homeworlds.

  Admiral Andy Tobias had come to the Fillion-Cassada system at the head of a ninety-ship-strong Union fleet. He was there to observe, not interfere. He was also under orders not to be provocative with his presence. He’d questioned President Osbourne about this, asking how a fleet of ninety warships couldn’t help but be provocative. The politician had hemmed and hawed, before finally blurting out with frustration: “Just don’t act too powerful.”

  There had been a time when Tobias admired Michael Osbourne. Unfortunately, those days were long gone. Now he was disgusted with the whole pitiful lot, the appeasers and sycophants who were letting the SK’s walk all over them.

  But what was really irking Tobias at the moment was the fact that he was under orders to act just like one of the fucking politicians. Soon a representative of the Sol-Kor harvest fleet was due aboard his flagship. As a Navy SEAL with over thirty years of experience, Tobias was a trained killer of the utmost skill. But now he had to be in the presence of the most despicable creatures any universe could produce. And he couldn’t kill any of them.

  He wasn’t about to parade the flesh-eating assholes through the Mount Rushmore, his flagship, essentially bowing before them to his entire crew. A meeting room had been set up in a pressurized room off the main landing bay instead. They would come aboard, do their business right next to the landing bay, and then be gone. He had no idea why they had insisted on the meeting; the fleet wasn’t there to cause them any trouble. Yet he was under orders to accommodate the SK, and that meant spending time with them in a room aboard his ship.

  They wore black armor made of strong composite material, and helmets with wide, clear faceplates. Other than the gray of their skin and the faint trace of tiny scales on their faces, Andy couldn’t tell much more what a Sol-Kor looked like. Sure, he’d seen plenty of their corpses; these would be the first live ones.

  There were only three. The leader was introduced as High-Noslead Sala. Another of the entourage referred to him as the supreme leader of the SK forces in this universe, which Andy understood to mean the Milky Way galaxy—as of now—so his presence here was significant.

  It was Andy’s sincere hope that the alien wasn’t coming aboard simply to flaunt his superiority—and immunity—to Human attack, that the Sol-Kor were in such a position of power that they could walk aboard the flagship of a Human war fleet with impunity. If the alien bastard took that attitude during the visit, Tobias wouldn’t be responsible for what happened next. And he wouldn’t care. It would a glorious way to go out.

  When all parties were seated around a large round table, the Sol-Kor leader began the conversation. His voice was tinny coming through the helmet, but his words were clear.

  “What progress is there in locating Panur? My Queen demands an update.”

  My Queen demands! This isn’t starting out right.

  “We’re still working on it,” Tobias said aloud. “There have been a few opportunities, but you—better than most—know the capabilities of the mutant. And he’s being helped by one of our most skilled operatives.”

  “The Queen feels you have not put all the resources you have available to this endeavor.”

  “No offense, but she would be mistaken.”

  Even through the faceplate, Andy could see the alien bristle. He’d just calle
d Sala’s queen a liar.

  “She has decided to tighten the deadline for his return.”

  “I didn’t realize there was a deadline.”

  “There is now. Thirty-eight of your days.”

  Andy was confused. “Why thirty-eight? It seems to such an odd number.”

  Now the alien was really showing signs of being upset. “That is the number of Sol-Kor millennia my Queen has been alive. It converts to five thousand, two hundred and four Human years. The number is significant to her.”

  “Sorry, it just seemed at little…different. But I can’t guarantee we can meet that deadline. What happens if we don’t?”

  “Then there will be no immunity, and no concessions as to the worlds we harvest. The Sol-Kor only grow stronger in your universe. Even now you cannot match us in power. I have long awaited permission to treat this galaxy as all the others. In thirty-eight days, I will be given that permission.”

  Andy stared at the alien with undisguised hatred. His eyes were mere slits and his jaw muscles pulsed. If the gloves are coming off…then let’s start here!

  “However,” the alien said, “in an effort to remedy this situation and bring about a more cordial accommodation, I have information which may aide you in the search for Panur.”

  Tobias fought to regain his composure, only seconds before he was about to pounce. “What…what is that?”

  “The Human identified as Adam Cain will be near the Lupcanen star system in four days’ time. It is believed he will have Panur with him.”

  “How do you know this?”

  “We have detected certain communications between his ship and another designated the Crescent Star—is that correct?” He looked to one of his subordinates, who nodded his agreement. “Yes, the Crescent Star.”

  Tobias was stunned. “This message was in the clear?”