Invardii Series Boxset

by Warwick Gibson

  It could be a killing field if the alcove was opened by force, containing the damage and the response, and keeping everything out of the larger room. It was an interesting question.

  “I’m sitting up here with Cantoselli and her crew,” said Jeneen, “and the pilots are heading down the steps to the alcove now. I’m not getting any of those strange readings Andre got before the Olongetti attacked last time, but I wouldn’t hang about if I were you.”

  Celia didn’t get a chance to make sure she didn’t ‘hang about’. As soon as the door in the alcove slid back inside the wall, they were met by a frightening wall of noise from somewhere deep inside the forest.

  “There has to be hundreds of Olongetti out there,” said Roberto, astonished at the waves of warlike chanting that now greeted them. “I guess they’ve had time to bring in reinforcements. The entire population of every village within a half day’s march has turned up to join in!”

  “They’ve learned a few things, though,” said Celia. “They’re staying out of range of the pilot’s guns. The problem for us is whether they will attack while we’re on the stairs. We’re in a vulnerable position while we’re climbing.”

  Roberto nodded, then added a few comments of his own. “We’ll have to split our forces so we can protect the shuttle,” he said. “The plateau isn’t that far above the trees on the side facing the mountains. I wouldn’t put it past the little devils to bridge the gap.”

  Several of the war clubs bounced off the rock face around the alcove as he was speaking, and the three of them took cover in the small room.

  “That’s quite some throw,” said Roberto. “The little buggers are heaving the clubs up through the canopy, so they come down on us at 45 degrees. They’re good with those things!”

  Celia opened a comms link with Jeneen.

  “We’ve got an Olongetti war party stopping us from returning to the shuttle. What’s happening where you are?” she asked, over the din.

  “Same thing up here,” said Jeneen. “They came out of nowhere. Habid thinks they’re coming over the edge of the plateau on the uphill side. There was no sign of them creeping up on the shuttle, and then suddenly they were attacking us. Habid and his team are coping with our defences okay, I’m just worried their clubs might damage something on the shuttle. There must be fifty of them lying unconscious around the shuttle now.

  “Wait a minute,” she said, “the rest are running off! At least they are for now.”

  Jeneen paused for a moment. She was thinking.

  “The Hud pilots are wearing body armour,” she said, “but the rest of you aren’t. How do you want to do this?”

  The answer, when they called the Orouth Freighter in on the question, came from Andre.

  “We can blind them,” he said. “You’ll need to wear light-sensitive masks coming out of the alcove and up the steps, but Habid can get those down to you from the shuttle. And no, Celia, the effect won’t be permanent. The Olongetti will recover in a day or two. What do you think of my plan?”

  Celia checked the idea with Jeneen in the shuttle. Yes, Habid was confident he could make a run down the steps to bring them the masks, and he pointed out it would also mean there were two pilots watching their backs on the return trip.

  Andre was very pleased with himself when Celia gave the go ahead, but there was a wait while he set up the equipment to make the idea workable. Producing enough light from an orscantium reactor wasn’t difficult, but sending it through the atmosphere created a number of problems. Then he was ready.

  “What are the Olongetti doing?” asked Jeneen, as Andre waited for the order to proceed.

  “Getting restless,” said Celia. She could see them through the trees, getting closer. They were covered in the same grease as before, and they were overcoming their fear of the pilot’s guns. Tunak had stunned several of them, but it was still at extreme range for him.

  Moments after Celia gave Andre the order to proceed, a second sun appeared in the sky. The Olongetti didn’t know what to make of it, their terrified wailing almost as bad as their warlike chanting. Those that looked up instantly lost their sight, and that made them panic further. Unfortunately, they didn’t move away from the plateau.

  Nor was that the only problem. The masks reacted to the light, limiting the amount they would allow to enter her eyes, but it was still too bright for Celia. She was forced to put her hand over the top of the mask to block the light further, and then concentrate on where she was putting her feet. Nonetheless, bit by bit, the team made it up the steps to the top of the plateau.

  Jeneen was yelling at them from inside the shuttle, telling them to move themselves. As soon as Celia and Roberto were safely aboard, the Hud pilots right behind them, she let Andre know. The beam of intense light cut off abruptly, but Jeneen already had the shuttle in the air, spiriting them away from the top of the plateau.

  CHAPTER 24

  ________________

  The discussion of events that followed, back on the Orouth Freighter, turned into a very interesting summary of ideas.

  “Finch says he wants to know everything,” said Ursul, as soon as they were seated. The little Mersa had a sub-space connection to Earth already open, and Finch’s face looked out from a screen at one end of the table. The instantaneous transmission it made possible, from anywhere in the galaxy, was a key part of the Prometheus defence of Earth.

  The screen was the working end of one of the first sub-space video connections. All their sub-space links had been radio only until recently. The atmosphere in the room was different with the head of the Prometheus project present, and those around the room sat quietly, or made notes, as Celia outlined what had happened at the archive.

  “I think we’ve answered some of our questions about the Rothii concept of ‘cultural dissonance’,” she went on. “Of the three variants of our species that we have met so far – the Kantari, the Pellukech, and the Olongetti – the differences between them have been accelerated by the greatly different climates on Orouth.

  “It does seem plausible that these three sub-species will differentiate further, lose awareness of their common beginning, and try to wipe each other out.

  “If that is generally the case around the galaxy, the Rothii may have done us a favour when they established a colony of our ancestors on Earth.

  “The time in the plateau archive turned into a very strange experience for those of us who were the ‘test subjects’,” she said, moving on to a new topic. “The tests eventually became a series of ethical scenarios. It looked to me like we were constantly being asked to choose between right and wrong.”

  “This is excellent news,” said Finch. “Cordez predicted this would happen. I can’t say how or why he knows these things, but he’s more aware of what the Rothii plans are for us than anyone else.

  “The important thing is that you and your team get back to the archive and do whatever it asks you to do. Don’t worry about your responses to the tests, just be yourselves. There aren’t any right or wrong answers. While you’re there your personalities, and your view of the universe and your place in it, will come through in your answers, and that’s what the Rothii want to know.”

  Celia realised the entire Human race was going to be weighed for the value in its collective soul, based on the answers she and Roberto gave. She felt herself grow weak for a moment, then realised she had to push that feeling aside or the pressure of the situation would distort her answers.

  “I know the Olongetti are an obstruction,” said Finch, “but go back to the archive as soon as you can, and be prepared for a lengthy stay. The archive has something in mind with these tests, and we have to let them run their course, and the archive make its own decisions about us.

  Celia told him the team was happy to return to the plateau once they’d tidied up their notes and got some sleep. She thought about bringing in more help in the shuttle as well.

  Though taking new ‘subjects’ into the archive might mean going back to the b
eginning of the testing sequence, and she didn’t want that. She decided to continue with just her and Roberto as the test subjects.

  There was a lot of discussion about the Olongetti, until Andre put forward a new plan for the room to consider. He’d been monitoring the plateau since the first time he landed a shuttle on top of it, and there hadn’t been any activity there on any of the nights, and no sign of guards being posted.

  He proposed that they sneak a team on to the plateau by landing the shuttle there, very quietly, at night. In the end, Celia agreed to the plan.

  Later, the research team were unwinding in one of the Orouth Freighter’s social lounges. Habid and another of the Hud pilots were with them.

  “What do you think of Orouth, Roberto,” said Celia, remembering that Roberto had been the most upset when the research team had discovered Earth was not Humanity’s first home. Roberto thought about his answer for a long time.

  “In the end, it’s the family you grew up with that you’re closest to,” he said, at last, “and I guess it’s a case of the old saying, ‘home is where the heart is’.

  “Orouth will always be our ancestral home, I guess, but Earth shaped me, and the Earth I know is my home now.

  “We all have to belong somewhere, if we’re going to be satisfied with life, and Earth is the only place that gives me something solid beneath my feet.”

  Celia was surprised. It was the longest, and most thoughtful, speech she had ever heard him make.

  “Bed time, people!” said Celia, a little later in the evening. “We have to be back at the archive in the early hours of tomorrow morning, and you, Andre, have to keep us safe from the Olongetti.”

  There was a chorus of ‘yes, Mum’ from the others, started by Roberto, and she rolled her eyes at him. Despite this, the lounge was empty of everyone but her and Roberto a few minutes later.

  “Righto, old girl, time for you to hit the sack,” he said, offering her his arm. She whacked him soundly for the ‘old girl’ comment, before entangling her arm with his. Neither of them were over forty.

  Roberto was such a comforting presence. For a moment she thought the way he put his arm around her, to steady her as she got up, was more than a friendly gesture, and then laughed at herself. He was eight years younger than she was, and he had the height and good looks to get any woman he wanted.

  A stray thought crossed her mind, saying if that was true, why wasn’t he with anyone right now? But she as quickly dismissed it. When they were at her cabin he kissed her goodnight – a peck on the forehead.

  The first rays of the sun were creeping around Orouth as the shuttle left the Orouth Freighter the next day, but the daybreak was an illusion. It would be many hours before the sun finally laid claim to the plateau in the mountains. Celia and her team were plunged into darkness as they fell toward the planet below them.

  Gaining access to the archive went as Andre had predicted. He had rigged the shuttle for something approaching silent running, and he touched down on the plateau feather-light. Everything else went smoothly, and Celia and Roberto were soon inside the archive once more.

  Habid and Tunak were their security team, and the two pilots decided to come inside the archive with them, rather than risk being discovered outside and set off the Olongetti once more.

  The archive powered up when they entered the large room, and since it didn’t have a set of tests and scenarios for them to run through, it allowed them to roam through its memory banks.

  Celia had hoped they would be greeted by a decision based on the results of the tests. A ‘yes’ or ‘no’ that would take them forward on this journey ordained by the Rothii so many thousands of years ago, but it was not to be.

  As she read through the archive’s memories, though, she began to feel that something wasn’t right. She checked with Roberto, but he was investigating something entirely different, and wasn’t of any help. Still, something kept niggling at the edges of her mind. Then she put the vague answers she was getting from the archive into a new mental framework, and the realisation hit her.

  “This isn’t Maka’H’Rosh,” she said, looking up from the work station. She was feeling tired, after working for several hours at a time she should have been asleep.

  The Hud pilots were amusing themselves playing some sort of speed and dexterity game in the corner that came from their homeland. They looked up at the sound of her voice.

  “This archive isn’t Maka’H’Rosh. It’s not what we’re looking for,” she said again. She had the attention of everyone now.

  “What do you mean?” said Roberto, who’d been trying to find out more about the Rothii decision to leave the Spiral Arm 200 thousand years ago. He was sure they’d gone somewhere, but where?

  “The archive is telling me we haven’t arrived at the ‘sky palace of the Rothii’ just yet. There are several more ‘steps’ or ‘decisions’ to be taken. I’m not sure what exactly it’s saying at that point.”

  “Does it say where – or what – Maka’H’Rosh is?” said Habid.

  “No, but I don’t think we get to the next step until we’ve finished something here,” said Celia. “That means we must be missing some task we’re supposed to do. Let’s talk to the team on the shuttle about it.”

  Roberto nodded, and opened a general channel to the shuttle.

  “Tell me that again?” said Sallyanne, who had insisted on coming down in the shuttle this time. She wanted to be closer to the action, and the discoveries the team hoped to make.

  “The archive is doing something strange on the sub-space frequencies,” said Cantoselli a moment later. She was monitoring comms in the shuttle with two of her Mersa technicians. “It’s unclear what’s happening, but if I had to guess I would say the archive is gearing up for something.”

  Celia wondered at that. They were at the mercy of the archive if it decided to turn against them. Then she remembered how she had dismissed Roberto’s similar concerns last time they were down here, and decided she had been right then. She shouldn’t be wary of the Rothii.

  “Try asking the archive some direct questions,” said Jeneen, who had perhaps the most experience of the three exotic races descended from the Caerbrindii, though it had been the Druanii who had healed her.

  “I agree with what Jeneen said,” added Andre after a moment. “I think they value honesty. The direct approach. That sort of thing.”

  Celia thought about it. Maybe they were right.

  “Thanks, you two,” she said, “and you’ve all been helpful, even though it seems like we’re at an impasse.” Then she motioned to Roberto to close the link.

  “So we have to trust the archive,” said Roberto.

  “It appears so,” said Celia, taking a deep breath. They were so close to finding out why the Rothii had left an archive on Orouth when they vanished off the face of the galaxy.

  She got up from her work station and walked about the room. Roberto lifted an eyebrow enquiringly.

  “Here goes,” she whispered to him. “I think I have to try this.” Then she stopped in the middle of the room, and took a deep breath.

  “Rothii archive,” she began. “Those of us who are part of the alliance against the Invardii, those of us who are friends of the Rothii, hope that we are worthy of the things you have shared with us.”

  She paused for a moment to gather her thoughts.

  “Now we have something to ask of you. Our world faces destruction by the Invardii. Many worlds of the alliance have already been destroyed by their fleets of ships.

  “If it is within your power to help us save our homeland, to help the Sumerians, and Mersa, and K’Sarth, save their homelands, we ask that you help us now.

  “When we look at the future of this part of the galaxy, and the greatest good for the greatest number, and the many points of natural law, we conclude that this would be a just thing.

  “We leave our request with you.”

  There was a long silence, stretching out until Celia began to despair. Ha
d she failed?

  “You have exceeded Rothii expectations,” said that same, raspy, Rothii voice from the wall above the work stations, “Maka’H’Rosh, and everything it contains, is yours.”

  Celia felt like laughing with joy, and crying with relief, at the same time. The long wall on one side of the room, the one the Hud pilots had examined for its many inscriptions, folded away. It revealed a tube-like transport that looked something like an underground railway.

  CHAPTER 25

  ________________

  There was a lot of discussion with the shuttle about the new discovery at the archive, and then with the Orouth Freighter. Celia and Roberto desperately wanted to try out the underground railway. They were as ready to proceed as they would ever be, even with a limited night’s sleep, and they did have two Hud pilots with them.

  Celia felt so tense with anticipation that she doubted she could stand another day and night while everything was gone over again and again, and her team had to try and sleep through another night. It was a great relief when Sallyanne finally decided that from a sociological perspective, from what she understood of the Rothii, she had no objection to them entering the strange transport. The shuttle would be close by, and she and the others would monitor the situation closely.

  Once they were given the go ahead, Celia and her team spread out with their equipment across the dozen seats it contained. The wall of the archive slid back into place behind them, and for a moment there was a disquieting darkness. Then they felt the transport come alive under them, and the lighting inside the carriage came on.

  “Passage to Maka’H’Rosh is now underway,” said the Rothii voice, and the transport began a gentle acceleration.

  “Andre, are you tracking us?” said Celia into her commslink.

  “Affirmative,” came the reply. “The shuttle is lifting off now. Will head straight up until we’re out of sight of the plateau. I don’t want the Olongetti following the shuttle, and finding out where your journey ends.”