Chapter Two
Morn Kail’s shuttle came to a stop at the foot of a tall steel staircase, leading to Delendra Tower’s main entrance. A swinging side hatch opened, allowing him to step out onto the black concrete road beneath the hovering ship. As soon as he came to a strong stance beside the ship, the hatch automatically closed behind him and the shuttle sped away into the busy downtown area across from the tower.
As he watched his transport disappear into a chaotic sea of other hover crafts of various shapes and sizes, weaving through a web of steel skyscrapers and stone monuments, he took a deep breath and began to ascend the stairs before him.
A minute later, he reached the top and was greeted by Lurge, an incredibly strong and fearless cyborg in the Emperor’s employ. Lurge’s hands were the only parts of his body that had remained completely comprised of his original organic tissue, after an energy grenade launched by the insurgency had destroyed half of his body, years earlier.
The sight of his hands indicated that his skeleton was at one time covered with strong olive colored skin, though slightly pale, as was common for ancient humans. He stood six inches taller than Morn, and extended his bulky right arm; covered in interwoven, multicolored wires and circuits, in order to shake Morn’s hand.
Morn reluctantly took hold of Lurge’s human hand, which when triggered by Lurge’s synthetic nervous system, produced an unnecessarily tight grip. But Morn remained stern and steadfast, not allowing Lurge to see the great pain the handshake had caused him.
Lurge released Morn then scanned his retinas with his gleaming blue mechanical eyes, in order to ensure that he was not a synthetic imposter sent by the insurgency, who had the ability to produce such elaborate and authentic looking copies of citizens. The faint blue light was emitted from two metallic discs that were embedded in all that remained of the olive skin on his face. The inside of Lurge’s mouth appeared human enough, but his lips were seemingly stapled to his cheeks by thin metal fibers that stretched the corners of his mouth onto the sides of his face.
A quiet humming sound vibrated his jaw when he spoke the words, “Master Kail, you’re right on schedule. The Emperor will see you now,” with a low pitched raspy voice.
Morn nodded as Lurge stepped aside, allowing him to step through the narrow rectangular doorway leading into Delendra’s main foyer. Lurge followed closely behind him, as their loud footsteps echoed off of the walls of the large, rounded white stone room, from the black marble floor beneath them.
Upon reaching the center of the foyer, Morn tilted his head back and gazed up at the hollow center of Delandra Tower. The cylindrical shaft began just a few feet above his head and extended a full mile up, connecting it to the Gate Chamber on the top level. The shaft’s walls were lined with multicolored electrical conduits and small black boxes called grounders that formed a solid black ring at each of the tower’s numbered level markers.
Occasionally, a wayward burst of energy resembling a bolt of lightning, would slowly dance its way down the shaft and towards the foyer, before being instantly stopped and diminished by one of the black rings. Morn was staring up into the shaft at the exact moment one such occurrence was taking place. Lurge waited emotionlessly behind him, as Morn found himself captivated by a group of sparkling electrical streams. They slowly crawled down towards him in perfect unison, as if they were part of the same spider-like organism, before being consumed by the grounders.
“He is waiting,” Lurge said impatiently.
Morn let out a lengthy exhale, before turning to him and giving the slightest of nods. Then without any further delay, Lurge raised his right hand to the right side of his neck. He then located a small black disc with a small flickering blue light at its center. Lurge firmly pushed down on the disc, which turned off the flickering light and also sent the device nearly a full inch into his oily skin. He remained silent and still, while appearing to be in no pain.
Morn squinted at the circular wound in Lurge’s neck, as he spotted a slimy black discharge, slowly oozing out from the device Lurge had pushed inside of himself. Morn had been a part of this routine dozens of times, but had never been able to ignore the urge to vomit upon seeing the way Lurge was forced to treat his already mangled body.
Two transparent tubes of white light then descended from high inside the electrical shaft and encapsulated Morn and Lurge. They were then propelled upwards at an incredible velocity and arrived at the very top of the tower, seconds later.
The white light then pushed them forward, through a wide rectangular opening in the electrical shaft. They levitated just a few inches over the dark red carpeting of the narrow hallway inside, before the light vanished, causing Morn and Lurge to drop to the floor of the Emperor’s Gate Chamber.
They walked several feet down the narrow hallway, as the sound of the spinning metal stanchions that surrounded the swirling wormhole before them, was becoming deafening.
Morn could see that the singularity at the center of the stabilizer chamber was reflecting the colors of its surroundings; casting a faint glow of blood red from the carpeting, gleaming silver from the stanchions, and a small sliver of black. The black sliver slid across the face of the wormhole like a slithering snake, and was eventually revealed to be a shadow, cast by Emperor Covlar’s black military uniform.
Covlar then stepped in front of the chamber, revealing himself to Morn and Lurge. As he crept closer to them, the black sliver imprinted on the wormhole, shrank and eventually dissolved, leaving a swirl of shimmering silver and dark red, dancing behind him.
The Emperor was a tall slender man, standing at nearly nine feet tall. His bright blue eyes glistened in the light from the glowing lamps lining the walls of the hallway. His skin was the palest shade of white Morn had ever seen on a person from the region.
As he was a man in his mid-nineties, wrinkles covered his face and pale boney hands, and a few hundred thin strands of white hair were all that remained on his peeling scalp.
Covlar staggered towards Morn, piercing him with a cold gaze that Morn could find no reason for. After running his fingers along the wall for a few seconds, Covlar came across a long wooden cane that had been resting there waiting for him. He gripped it tightly, as he came to a stop, inches away from Morn.
“The might of the people,” Morn said dutifully as he bowed his head.
It was the traditional thing to say when in the presence of Tyrran’s highest leader, as the Emperor’s house was looked upon as the sole representative of the strength of the Tyrranese people.
“The might of the people,” Covlar repeated, sarcastically. “What an ironic thing to say now, since I am the last of my kin and am forced to live out my remaining days in this decaying shell of filth. Then again, I suppose that is why you’re here,” he coldly added.
“I certainly meant no disrespect,” Morn assured him with a slight stutter. “I only wished to convey my admiration for your family, as I have always done.”
Covlar remained silent, while piercing every inch of Morn’s flesh with his nightmarish gaze. He appeared to be scanning Morn from head to toe, in a means more mechanical than even Lurge was capable of.
A moment later, Covlar turned to Lurge and said, “Leave us. This no longer concerns you.”
Lurge bowed his head and retreated back to the opening from which he and Morn had first appeared in the Gate Chamber. Covlar and Morn looked on, as Lurge was once again encapsulated by brilliant white light and pulled down to the lower levels of the tower.
Morn hesitantly looked back at Covlar, who appeared less than appreciative of Morn’s presence to say the least.
“Is there something wrong, Your Excellency?” Morn quietly asked.
Morn’s typical authoritative tone and presence had both become non-existent since he entered the tower that morning.
In response, Covlar lifted his cane and slammed it against the red carpet. The abrupt thud caused a powerful echo to briefly engulf the walls of the room, and
then close in around them like a tightening noose.
“Such innocent words, from a cowardly two-faced man, who would dare accuse my family of being warmongers!” Covlar screamed.
Morn was beginning to panic, as he noticed that Covlar’s loud insinuations were causing tiny ripples to form in the Gate Chamber’s event horizon, behind him.
“I beg your pardon,” Morn gasped, as he took a step back away from Covlar’s sudden demonic presence.
A moment later, the room darkened and a small orb of blue light appeared, hovering in mid-air between the Emperor and his frightened subject. The orb gradually increased in size and then converted itself into a rectangular monitor.
Both Morn and Covlar looked on as the holographic screen displayed a conversation between Morn and his wife that had taken place days earlier. After seeing the time stamp and hearing the first few words uttered by his angry spouse, Morn realized that he had all but lost any hope of bringing the throne of Tyrran to Kail House.
During the conversation Morn was being forced to relive, Syll had stated that the Covlar family was responsible for the rise of the insurgency and were also at fault for every major dispute on Tyrran for the last three hundred years. Morn was shown to have agreed with his wife’s statement and he had also vowed to put an end to the corruption that had divided the people.
After every last ill word about the Emperor’s house had been uttered, the image dissolved and the lighting in the room returned to normal.
“You don’t have the right to even stand within these walls, Kail,” Covlar rasped, as he coughed a few times to clear his throat.
“I haven’t shared this with anyone else and I don’t intend to. Out of respect for your family, specifically your newborn son, I will keep your slanderous words between us, in order to ensure that Drellic Kail the 2nd will be able to have at least some kind of future.”
Morn was still partially frightened by Xene Covlar’s presence, but it was the Emperor’s arrogance and audacity that were beginning to anger Morn and reignite his courage.
“I think that would be wise,” Morn said confidently. “Considering that what you have done is illegal according to the laws of your own house. You’ve violated both my privacy and my family’s right to free speech. If you made that video public, you would only be condemning yourself to further ridicule.”
Covlar became even more enraged. He struck Morn across the face with his cane, knocking him to the floor with a bleeding gash on his left cheek.
“What was that, Kail?!” Covlar screamed. “Have you forgotten yourself? Need I remind you that my family has owned this planet since long before you were born! The vast majority of its citizens are willing to live and die by my command. So, do not presume to speak to me as if we are equals!”
Upon hitting the floor, Morn was no longer concerned with minding his tongue.
“Careful, Emperor,” Morn said, as he got back to his feet. “Even the most skilled of your geneticists and physicians say you have less than a month to live. Are you certain your heart can handle this much strain?”
“Get out!” Covlar screamed at the top of his lungs. “Get out and never come back! You are no longer welcome here! Neither this holy tower nor my house will ever see your face or the face of any Kail again!”
Morn slowly backed away from Covlar and prepared to return to the base of the tower, knowing he had failed his family.
“Understand this, Morn Kail!” the Emperor continued. “Your family will never see the throne of Tyrran! Never! Your father paid the price for defying my house. Do not repeat his great mistake!”
Morn was just about to retreat into the central shaft of the tower, before hearing Covlar’s last words to him. His eyes widened, as he turned back to the Emperor. He had quickly slipped on a pair of black leather gloves, he’d pulled from his pocket, before turning completely around.
In that instant, he became fearless and selfless. Nothing would prevent him from learning the truth of what he had so long suspected.
“What did you just say?” Morn asked in an irate tone.
“You heard me,” Covlar boasted. “And you’ve always known the truth. Now, here I stand with mere weeks left to my life. The Covlar reign is over. So, why shouldn’t the truth be known to a delinquent like yourself? Drellic Kail the 1st was not a casualty of war. He was a casualty of his own stupidity!”
“Did you murder my father, you unconscionable snake?” Morn asked, as he quickly walked towards Covlar.
The Emperor remained silent for a moment.
“You started this! Now, answer my question!” Morn screamed
“I wasn’t the only one,” Covlar answered. “I, too had to take a test of sorts, to prove that I was worthy of the throne. Your father betrayed his government and decided that the insurgency was more morally just than his own Emperor. It was my father who presented Drellic Kail to me as a prisoner, guilty of treason. And as you know quite well, treason is punishable by the death penalty. Making your father appear to be a martyr was simply the most efficient way to inspire a timely retaliation against our enemies.”
“And you dared to be offended when I first called you a warmonger?” Morn gasped; his eyes filled with bitterness. “Your actions make that a gross understatement, and you have never been worthy of our people. Your father made you a monster, Xene. And as you know quite well, there’s only one thing to be done with a monster.”
Morn lunged at Covlar, catching him off guard. Covlar landed on his back, allowing Morn to pin him to the ground. Before the Emperor had a chance to defend himself, Morn locked his hands around his throat and squeezed as hard as he could.
Covlar thrashed around while gasping for air. He kicked his legs against the floor for several seconds, before passing out from oxygen deprivation. Morn then released him and picked up the Emperor’s cane. He repeatedly bashed Covlar in the face and temple with it, until the carpet was soaked with blood and Covlar’s face was unrecognizable.
As far as Morn knew, he and the Emperor had been alone in the Gate Chamber the entire time. Not knowing if Covlar had managed to alert security, Morn ran to the chamber entrance and used a square keypad to the right of the giant rectangular opening to seal it, with a thick sheet of metal that slid down from the top of the opening. He then darted back to Covlar’s body, knowing what he had to do in order to ensure he would ever see his family again.
He used all of his strength to lift the Emperor and carry him over his shoulder towards the spinning Gate Chamber. Upon detecting Covlar’s DNA, the metal stabilizers that surrounded the wormhole stopped spinning, immediately. Morn then carried Covlar up to the confined singularity and hurled him into the event horizon with all of his might, sending the Emperor to the Gate Chamber on Siren.
Seconds later, Morn heard the sound of the giant metal door opening behind him. He peered down the hallway to see Lurge entering the chamber, alone. Lurge’s mechanical arms stretched behind his back and he pulled a long barrel shaped energy weapon out from a holster connected to his protruding metal spinal column.
Morn then thought to greatly exaggerate his injuries. He slowly hobbled towards Lurge, while holding his cheek, where the Emperor had struck him with his cane.
“I tried to stop him!” Morn called out to Lurge.
On the off chance Lurge hadn’t been witness to any incriminating security footage, Morn had quickly prepared an alibi for himself. Lurge had yet to fire his weapon, which gave Morn hope for his survival.
“What happened here? Where is the Emperor?” Lurge asked, while keeping his weapon aimed directly at Morn’s chest.
“I tried to stop him,” Morn answered, while pretending to be out of breath. “He told me that the real reason he wanted to see me was to ask for my help in assassinating Siren’s Prime Minister. He just went through the gate with a bomb!”
Morn then quickly glanced back at the gate, which had resumed its spin cycle.
“What are you talking about? Your v
ital signs indicate that you are lying. Where is the Emperor?” Lurge asked, after a detailed scan of Morn’s voice and heart rate.
“I just told you!” Morn screamed. “He knows he only has weeks left to live! He doesn’t care anymore! He just went back to Siren with a fucking bomb!”
Lurge remained silent for a moment, then raised his weapon, aiming it at Morn’s temple. A moment later, Lurge’s metallic glowing blue eyes began to flicker.
“Reviewing security footage. If you have in any way harmed the Emperor, you will be terminated immediately. Stay where you are,” Lurge commanded.
Morn was then frozen with fear, with his back to the spinning Gate Chamber and a powerful energy weapon pointed at his skull.
“You’ve failed us, Lurge!” Morn then yelled as loudly as he could.
Lurge was abruptly paralyzed by the sound of Morn’s words. A strange look of fear and confusion came over his face, as he lowered his weapon with his trembling hand.
“What did you say?” Lurge gasped, while beginning to take quick panicky breaths.
Morn then approached Lurge without hesitation and boldly proclaimed, “You’ve failed your people, Lurge! You are no longer an adequate protector of the state!”
Once those last words had been uttered, Lurge nervously looked down at the metal gears and levers, which he could see beneath the web of multi-colored wires that covered his right arm. They had suddenly begun to move on their own and were no longer under the control of Lurge’s organic brain.
Unbeknownst to Lurge, Emperor Covlar had never fully trusted the cyborg, and had secretly programmed him with a failsafe phrase that would force him to take his own life, if Covlar ever felt threatened by him.
Luckily for Morn, he had learned the failsafe phrase by accident months earlier, after overhearing a private discussion between the Emperor and his engineers.
Morn looked on, as Lurge screamed in agony. Lurge’s left arm fell limp, while his right arm pressed the barrel of his weapon against his head. He shook with unfathomable fear as his glowing blue eyes locked onto his right index finger, which pulled the trigger and instantly ended his life with a brilliant blue flash.
Morn breathed a heavy sigh of relief and fell to his knees, as Lurge’s body fell to the floor beside him. He spent the next several seconds pondering everything that had just happened within the last fifteen minutes or so. After becoming teary eyed, while contemplating his next move, he quickly turned his attention back to the spinning Gate Chamber.
Morn knew that Covlar’s body must’ve already been discovered on the other side of the wormhole, and that enforcers from Siren would begin pouring through the gate at any moment.
He ran to a glowing red holographic projection of a rectangular data screen, which hovered before him at eye level, and was located at the start of a metallic runway. The runway lead directly to the center of the Gate Chamber, beneath the swirling wormhole.
If the weight of a living being was applied to the runway, the metal stanchions would stop their spin cycle, as the computer would assume a traveler was preparing to leave for Siren. But Lurge was no longer living, and Morn desperately needed to be on his way. He didn’t even know if anyone else in the tower had seen the security footage from the room, and was on their way to capture him.
Morn took a deep breath and raised his hands to the data screen, praying that he hadn’t been discovered and locked out of the system. He then entered his personal access codes, using the holographic keys and found that he was still able to initiate a “Force Quit”, which would temporarily shut down the gate for thirty minutes.
This feature was only used when the chamber was in fear of overheating from excessive use, but Morn was still able to enter the command and stop the stanchions from spinning, rendering the wormhole dormant. He did this just as the wormhole itself was beginning to change color, indicating that travelers from Siren were trying to come through at that exact moment.
Morn then assumed the worst; that enforcers from Siren had already contacted Tyrran’s enforcers, and that he was seconds away from being pounced on and executed. But once he had come to that conclusion, a wave of euphoria passed over him. He thought back to when he had first entered the room and approached Covlar. Covlar had told him that all of the incriminating affairs of his past had been kept a secret from his family, and that all he had to do to keep that secret, was leave and never return. Morn made the choice to avenge his father and put himself in that awful place. He knew that and suddenly found that he was more than willing to accept his fate.
Morn fell to his knees once again; only without tears and confusion weighing him down. He stared deeply into the red carpet beneath him with a subtle smile on his face, as he waited for the soldiers to come crashing through the metal door at the opposite end of the corridor. But even after everything that had just transpired, several minutes of silence passed.
He was still alone in the hallway with Lurge’s mechanical corpse and a pleasant sound, reminiscent of a light ocean breeze, coming from the suspended wormhole to his left.
For just an instant, he wondered if fate were for some reason handing him a second chance. With only fifteen minutes until the gate reopened, giving Siren’s soldiers the chance to flood into the chamber, Morn felt motivated to save himself again. He was ready to do whatever was necessary, in order for him to be reunited with his family.
After retrieving Lurge’s weapon from beside his lifeless body, Morn slowly crept towards the chamber door, separating him from the central shaft of the tower. He pressed his ear to the cold rusty metal, hearing not even the faintest whisper or footstep on the other side.
It was becoming clearer that no one was coming for him; at least not yet. He then hesitantly walked to the keypad beside the door, and used it to send the steel divider shooting back up into the top of the door frame.
The area was completely silent. He cautiously peered over the edge and stared down the mile long stretch of conduits and electrical sparks, leading back to the foyer. He attempted to retreat back inside the Gate Chamber, but was quickly snatched up by a light capsule. The tower’s transit system was designed to secure anyone in danger of taking a one mile plunge to the planet’s surface.
As Morn was quickly thrust downward towards the foyer, he ordered the transit system to stop and drop him off on Delendra’s security level. Delendra’s main computer was still responding to Morn’s voice commands, indicating that he was still not being pursued.
On his journey to the security level, Morn peered inside whatever open doorways he could see, and found the tower to be seemingly deserted. Upon reaching the security level, the light capsule carried him through the already open rectangular hatchway on the wall of the central shaft, and deposited him on the hard black marble floor inside, before vanishing.
Morn took a few steps inside the chamber, then gasped as he jumped back and pressed himself against a cold white stone wall. As he looked around the room, he found that the floor was littered with dozens of dead soldiers.
While Morn had been in the Gate Chamber, killing both Lurge and the Emperor, someone else had been on the lower levels, killing Covlar’s entire security staff.
The Drellic Saga: Books One, Two and Three Page 55