Nevlen looked at both of the Assemblymen before speaking, “So you want me to be a spy?”
Tallis chuckled, “No, no, no, Captain, I just want you to be the eyes and ears regarding anything Gashnee you may come across. You see, Assemblyman Qurinden wants to be the one who reaches out the olive branch to Commander Parejas. She wants to erase the estrangement that Parejas has for her. She will bring her knowledge of ancient races regarding the Gashnee mystery. This is that bridge. In turn, we rebuild trust between the Ordinance and Assembly. This would be a high honor for the both of us, Captain. I respect your position and what you have done for the Ordinance in your career. I would call upon you again to fill a need.” Tallis paused to take a breath, “Will you help us?”
Nevlen pondered the request.
Tallis and Kayleon looked on, awaiting his answer.
It came.
“I will. I can see the importance here. I will help you restore the trust between the Ordinance and the Assembly.”
“Thank you, Captain. I am indebted to you, as is the colony of man,” Tallis said, smiling towards his old friend.
“I guess I will be going.” Nevlen got up from his seat. “When should I contact you next?”
“I think it best if I contact you, Captain. Let’s just take our time with this important assignment. It will benefit all parties and assure its success,” Tallis responded.
Nevlen nodded to both Assemblymen before he left.
The door shut behind the captain.
“I believe he will be a good asset,” Tallis admitted.
“What if he doesn’t believe us?” She questioned.
“I have a plan for that. We’ll let Commander Parejas make a believer out of him in what I have said is true.”
“How will the commander do that for us?”
“By showing his hatred of you.” Tallis smiled broadly, staring into the eye of his cohort-in-law.
Data Cell 15
The caseerendi trees covered the walkway with their shadows. Their green and yellow broad leaves made for perfect refuge from the glare of the midday Mydian star. The fauna and foliage waved in the breeze as Lieutenant Kason and Keeper Laurenell walked amongst the beauty of the Adytum gardens.
The Keeper walked with her hands behind her back, taking in the scents of the colorful flowers around her.
Kason watched her eyes close as she took in the wondrous setting, “You must like this place,” he said.
She smiled, reopening her eyes and glancing his way, “I always come here to think. It gives me a sense of peace.”
“I can see why,” Kason admitted.
“Can you?” she said with a playful look.
“I can.” He smiled back.
They continued through the gardens into denser foliage, obscuring the surrounding outside buildings.
“Can I ask you something, Lieutenant?”
“You can call me Kason. Your father did.”
“Very well, Kason. When you were introduced to me back there, you had an odd expression on your face,” she looked over at him, “What was it?”
“I am a bit embarrassed to say.”
“Please don’t be. I hold no judgment, Kason.”
“I thought at first you were your sister. I mean, I met her several years ago and forgot Alon had a second daughter.”
Laurenell laughed, “I can understand that. Why, we look so alike.”
Kason knew the two were different. Laurenell was ten years younger than Kason. She was at least two meters tall with a striking figure, even giving the Keeper robes some curves underneath. Her sister was blonde and a bit shorter.
Kason chuckled under his breath, “I would agree; but, from a distance, I thought you were Tenny. Until we were introduced,” Kason looked over at her, “You two are different. Tenny looks a lot like Alon and you–”
“I don’t?”
“No.”
“Darker skinned?”
Kason stopped walking, “I was going to say you look like your mother, whom I’ve never met. I apologize for my ignorance of genealogy. I was trying to place your skin tone, it’s–”
“Catching?”
“I was going to say beautiful, but catching will also do.”
The Keeper smiled, “My father and mother chose it before I was born. They thought a genetic reference from Earth’s past would help keep our ancient heritage alive, since racial origins don’t play a role in our society as they once did in the past. We’re all just Human. Similar to your lineage, Kason.”
“I see someone has been studying.”
“You know, as a Keeper, that is one of my duties, to study.” They continued their walk down the garden path, “So, where would you place my genetic origin, Kason?”
Kason thought for a moment before he answered, “I would say from the South Americas.”
“Well, you’re on the same planet, but wrong continent. The DNA origin comes from my mother’s line, from a country called Spain on the New Free European continent. This is where the golden brown tone comes from.”
“Interesting.”
“And yours comes from the North American continent based on the ancient native people who lived there. Am I correct?”
Kason smiled again, “You’re surprising me; but, yes, you are correct.”
“Reaver Kason Bender. Born in two hundred twenty-nine at Reaver Facility Forty-Two on Veriton, embryonic-chamber number seven. How’s that for a surprise?” she said with a coy grin.
“I can’t compete with that, Keeper. Always prepared, just like your father.”
“He taught me well.”
The two came to an intersection along the pathway. Kason continued to walk straight ahead. Laurenell turned to her right to take the other path.
“This way, Kason. I want to show you something.”
“You’re the host. Lead the way.”
The garden canopy gave way to a vined archway leading out of the floral patch. The stone path they walked entered into a larger, circular platform of white stone.
The platform opened up to a monument in the center of the garden. Three other garden pathways entered from each side.
In the center, rose four natural laccolith formations. Each were at different heights, but the tallest hexagonal middle column was about twenty meters tall. Each column had a circumference of about two meters. The white columns stood tall around a crystal center display.
The white crystals rose up from the center of the platform in front of the laccolith monuments of stone. There were a total of ninety-three crystals. Each varied in height from three to six meters, with each being a meter across.
Kason’s eyes were on the large Laccolith columns, but fell on the flickering crystals to his front. He could see an inner, blue flame in over half of the crystals. The internal flame made the crystals shimmer in the midday sun.
“What’s this?” he asked Laurenell.
She walked toward a glass podium that rested in front of the crystal patch with the looming columns behind, “This is the monument of the Fallen; the Keepers who gave their lives for the Annals of Humanity.”
Kason approached her side, “Is Alon here?”
She moved her hand over the glass board to their front. She found a colored pattern in the glass and touched a marker with her finger.
All the flames inside the crystals lessened, but did not go out.
Then, out of the collection, one crystal outshone all of them, its blue glow emanating from its faceted sides, sparkling in a prism of radiant light.
A female computer voice intoned over the monument.
[For the history of man above all else. Here lies the Keeper Alon Renske. The Annals hold these souls to a forever peace. Their sacrifice will live on within the Honor Crystals before you. His life was dedicated to the preservation of. . .”
The computer voice faded in the background as Kason faced Laurenell.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t make the service, Laurenell.”
She kept
her gaze forward on the crystal, “I understand, Kason. Your love for my father is enough.”
“He would still be here if it wasn’t for my actions. I caused his death.”
She turned from the podium to face him, “You are not to blame, Kason. We all know the risks of living a hidden life amongst our enemies. None moreso than my father. He loved you as a son and wouldn’t want you to carry this burden. All Humanity now shares the burden for our race. You and the Ordinance are the guardians of our future. The Keepers are the historians of the days already past. We live or die together now. If you want to remember him, then never let these flames fall silent, Kason.”
Kason nodded, “I will carry his honor with me. He will never be forgotten.”
She touched the board again, cancelling the eulogy and restoring the flames to each crystal.
“I have no doubt you will carry what he taught you along with the memories of your friendship. I want to share in that continued journey with you, Kason, just as my father did. This is why I’ve put in my request to leave the Adytum and replace my father at his post onboard the Orion’s Rage.”
Data Cell 16
Commander Parejas was guided by the High Keeper to the innermost sanctum of the Adytum. There, they entered a circular, stone chamber about twenty meters in diameter. The ceiling rose to over twenty meters high.
The stone walls were interwoven with pretidyne crystals. A substance three times harder than diamond. The rock itself was one of the densest types of stone known in the galaxy. Intertwined together, they made for an impervious barrier against almost anything
Commander Parejas had never been inside the Annals, but knew of the structure when they built it. He now stood before the data cells of the entire Human race.
The High Keeper Brentice walked over to the door’s edge, leading into the chamber. He spoke some coded dialect to the stone corner of the entrance.
A stone plate, no bigger than the palm of one’s hand, receded back into the wall. A scanner then protruded out from the opening.
A green-hued beam quickly scanned the High Keeper before retreating back into the opening.
Next, a small terminal rotated out and downward. The High Keeper entered several codes into the interface before him. Once accepted, the panel folded back into the wall and the opening closed.
Without a sound, the seamless floor of the circular room began to drop down, forming a spiral, stone staircase.
Parejas looked upon it with a raised eye brow, “Nice trick you have there, High Keeper.”
“It’s one of my favorites,” the Keeper admitted, turning back towards the commander. His hands were folded to his front, “Once you’re at the bottom, a lift will take you the remainder of the way. If you need anything, please let me know, Commander.”
“Thank you, High Keeper.”
Parejas descended down the staircase as the Keeper looked down from above.
The commander knew what he was looking for. There had to be more than what Keeper Alon had let on. He knew Alon wasn’t deceiving him when he told him of the Gashnee, hinting that there might be more to the alien race.
He made it to the bottom of the staircase as the steps folded and retreated back up the circular shaft to close above.
There, in the center of the chamber, was a transparent elevator.
As he entered, a scanning beam traversed the lift followed by a male computer voice.
[Welcome, Commander Parejas. Authorization granted.]
The door slid shut and he descended further into the Adytum.
The lift was silent. Parejas thought it was controlled either by air pressure or a mag-lev device from below. Inside was illuminated by a soft light, just enough to make out one’s reflection in the glass and the texture of the stone shaft wall outside flashing by. It didn’t take long for the lift to find the bottom of the five hundred meter chute.
The commander exited the transportation unit.
As the commander exited the lift, he found himself in another circular room, similar to the one he had descended from and made of the same rock-and-crystal formation.
A new, female computer voice greeted him.
[Welcome, Commander Parejas. I am Antiquity. I am the voice and holder of all that is the Annals of Humanity. I hope your descent was a pleasant one.]
Shenta stepped forward towards the center of the chamber, responding, “It was. Thank you, Antiquity.”
Shenta’s eyes went to the chamber’s wall and to the pretidyne crystals embedded in it. He noticed several of them blinked when the computer greeted him. He only paused for a moment before the computer chimed again.
[Commander, would you prefer our communications be purely auditory, as it is now, or would you prefer to speak directly to me with a more comforting image?]
He placed his hands behind his back, “I have always been a face-to-face type of person, Antiquity.”
[Very well, Commander.]
The pieces of crystal in the wall surrounding him began to move through the stone and arrange themselves to the commander’s front. Each piece looked as though it was simply gliding through a liquid surface rather than through solid stone.
The crystals formed an ovular pattern in the wall to his front. They blended together to form one solid and smooth, blue crystal surface. The surface began to change shape, as if inner pieces of crystal were unfolding themselves to make an image.
The image was the face of a beautiful Human female. The color hues were still in blue variants of the crystal pieces, but formed a clear and smooth monochromatic image.
She spoke, [Does this suit you, Commander Parejas?]
“It does. Thank you.”
He studied the face for a moment and it didn’t take long for his computer host to comment.
[Do I look familiar to you, Commander?]
He smirked, “You can read Human facial expressions, or would that be my thoughts?”
[Facial patterns, Commander. I believe I am in reference to my creator, Keeper Maureen Taldon]
“Yes, the first Keeper of the Adytum. She was striking, I was told, as the image before me is now.”
[Thank you, Commander. I will take that as a compliment.]
Shenta wasn’t here for pleasantries. “What are the prevailing stories of the Gashnee demise?”
[Authorization?]
“Juliett-2-0-Sierra-Sierra-Romeo-Hotel-2-7-4”
[The first account, Commander, says the Gashnee were a dying race, a product of DNA degradation. They ruled the Milky Way Galaxy for ten thousand years and had many subjugated races. They were bound for extinction, only to be reborn from a new light, per their ancient prophecies. Even in their vast technology as the most advanced sentient race, they were doomed to destruction. Some of these stories say that they became eccentric and lashed out at the other races, starting a massive galactic war. It was said the Kryth Mahr Domain fought and destroyed the unbalanced race and brought order back to the galaxy.]
Shenta laughed, “That would be the Kryth’s interpretation, I presume.”
[“History is written by the victors”]
“Indeed it is, Antiquity. Please continue with the second.”
[The second prevailing historical account says the Kryth took advantage of the dying race and attacked them outright at their lowest point, seeking their chance to be the dominant race throughout the galaxy, as they were the second in power to the Gashnee.]
“My credits are on that one. Continue, please.”
[It is recorded that, during this battle, the Kryth made it look as though the Gashnee were the eccentric, malevolent, and reckless race. Even though the Cuukzen tried to stop this propaganda, the Kryth were charismatic. The new narrative overruled the latter and all soon joined the Kryth in defeating the ancient race.]
“The Cuukzen?”
[Yes, Commander. The Cuukzen were the primary subordinate race under the Gashnee. They also became the subjugated worker race under the Kryth. The Cuukzen race is fourth, behind the
Gashnee and the Kryth, as one of the oldest races within the galaxy.]
“Fascinating.”
[Indeed, Commander.]
Shenta put his hand up to his chin and began to walk around the chamber, “Who’s the second oldest race?”
[The Annals reference the Aggeliones, an ancient race who wrote and held the Gashnee prophecies. They were the equal to my role as keeper of records, but for the Gashnee.]
“I’ve never heard of them.”
[They were only known by the stories that were passed down about them. There is no archeological evidence that the Aggeliones ever existed.]
“Then how can we accept any of this as fact?”
[The Cuukzens hold onto these stories as truth and say the Ancient Ones of the Gashnee are still alive and continue to foresee their return.]
“What evidence do you have that would suggest any of this is true, besides our own past history with the Gashnee?”
[The only evidence we have that would suggest these prophecies may be true lie in the astrological data on periodic space energy tendrils, or Ribbons, as they are sometimes called.]
“Like the one that caused the First Fleet to vanish?”
[Yes, Commander. These energy tendrils are rare throughout the galaxy. The tendrils are thought to be connected to wormhole events, and the residual energy that is released from them cause these Ribbons to appear. It is this residual energy that holds the truth to these stories.]
“Let me guess. It’s made of the same Gashnee matrix that is in our hyperspace tech?”
[Correct, Commander.]
“When was the last occurrence of these Ribbons?”
[We have only known about them since the First Fleet encountered one back in 206 P.E. One tendril has been appearing every twenty or so years. We are expecting the next one soon.]
“Do they appear in the same location?”
[Yes.]
Shenta stood there, thinking. He knew the Kryth were paranoid when it came to the Gashnee, and all these stories seem to tie into a larger mystery. Or threat, he thought. But, how and why were the real questions.
“Antiquity, I would like all the files encrypted and sent to my personal record onboard the Orion’s Rage.”
Annals of the Keepers - Deception Page 10