Rising Son

by S. D. Perry

  Excited, ready to be relieved of his second purpose, Tosk stopped in front of Opaka…and didn’t know what to do next. There was something else, there had to be something else because he still felt it, but he didn’t know what it was. Opaka looked up at him, smiling slightly, waiting.

  I brought her back. I brought her, what else is there?

  A full minute passed, Tosk staring at Opaka, waiting, his desperation growing…and still, nothing.

  “Well, that’s anticlimactic,” the Aarruri stated dryly, and someone told him to be quiet.

  “I don’t know,” Tosk said pleadingly, looking down into her kind face, dreading that it might not yet be over…and he saw her eyes widen. She turned away, closing her eyes, one hand pressed to her chest, the other reaching out. She took a few steps, and a few deep breaths. After a moment, she opened her eyes again, smiling a slightly puzzled smile.

  “I…It’s that way,” she said, gesturing vaguely west, looking at Tosk again. “Do you feel it?”

  “What?” the captain asked quickly.

  Opaka shook her head. “I really couldn’t say. I sense…pagh. It’s a kind of spiritual energy, but I’ve never…I’ve never in my life had such a strong sense of it.”

  Tosk walked several steps to the west as she spoke, and did feel something, but he would not have known it as a spiritual energy. It was more like a…lessening, similar to what he’d felt on Ee…as though a vast noise in his head was becoming softer, an anxiety falling away.

  The first officer was holding up a reader, frowning at the sensory device’s readings. “Nothing, same as on the ship. According to this, there’s nothing out there.”

  “Can we walk to it?” the captain asked Opaka, and again she shook her head.

  “I don’t know how far it is, but it’s so powerful…it can’t be far,” she said.

  She turned back to Tosk, smiling up at him. “Shall we see?”

  He nodded, and together, they started walking, picking their way across the algae-wet rocks beneath the cool sky. After a moment, the others followed.

  The pagh was like a river, flowing over them from somewhere ahead, an invisible outpouring of spiritual energy unlike any Opaka had ever known. It reminded her of the monastery, before she’d left Bajor, the feel in the air at the weekly mass meditations…but even then she’d felt only a fraction of what she now sensed. Her whole body tingled as she walked, flushed with the subtle but distinctive rush of life.

  She occasionally leaned on Tosk for support as they navigated their way over and through the rocks, Opaka letting her feelings guide them. Wex caught up to them and did what she could to help, but the going was unsteady, the rocks treacherous with moist algae.

  Behind them, she could hear Jake trying to explain his understanding of pagh to his friends, and a few skeptical whispers and jokes in response. Opaka liked the Even’s crew, overall, particularly Glessin and Neane, who had each privately expressed to her a personal interest in spiritual seeking during their journey…but she had not found them to be the most patient people she’d ever met.

  No matter, no matter… She could feel the pagh getting stronger, its source very close, but there seemed to be nothing in sight to account for it. The landscape was an endless expanse of stone, and while there were rises and dips in the rocky sea, there were no buildings, nothing large enough to contain the life it would take to create such an outpouring. Unless…

  Could they, whoever they were, be underground? Because of the environment’s sameness, it was hard to see, but she thought they were walking toward the edge of a low cliff, a drop-off, really, only a few meters high. A few stumbling steps later, she was sure…but again, because of the conformity of the stones, she couldn’t see a way to get down without jumping.

  She looked back, and was surprised to see that they’d already lost sight of the ships among the stones, the small Tosk vessel and the larger dropship. The crew of the Even Odds were all watching her, their expressions ranging from polite interest to curiosity to hunger, the hunger coming from the captain and his first officer. They were searching for something salvageable, she understood, and hadn’t yet found it.

  “We have to find a way down,” Opaka said, and gestured at the drop-off, still fifty meters away. “I think there must be a cave opening, or—”

  “Pif, why don’t you see—” Dez said, before she had finished, and before he had finished the Aarruri had darted away to the south, angling toward the drop-off at a scrambling run. His feet danced and skittered across the slippery rock, but he made excellent progress; in seconds, he angled downward and then seemed to disappear, dropping out of sight.

  “Quite the runner,” Wex said, her eyebrow ridges arched, and Tosk silently nodded agreement. Wex was an unusual, solitary girl. Opaka had still not decided what to make of her, but she sensed a strong and gentle spirit in the young Trelian; she was not unhappy that Wex would be returning with her to Bajor.

  Less than a minute after he’d disappeared, Pifko reappeared, north of where Opaka and the others were standing, and close enough for her to hear him panting lightly.

  “You’re right, there’s a cave down there,” he said, grinning. “There’s a gradual slope to the south, but this path is a lot faster.”

  “Not as fast as you,” Dez said, smiling, and Pif grinned impossibly wider. “Let’s do it.”

  * * *

  The path was only a tumble of slick stones, but they managed to get down without anyone falling, much to Jake’s relief…and there was the cave, a long, dark, narrow fissure in the frozen flow of rock, a dozen meters from where the “path” leveled out.

  As the last of the crew carefully made their way down, Jake noticed that Facity and Dez were immersed in some private conversation, standing away from everyone else. It was the third time he’d witnessed one of their huddles in less than an hour; they’d done it back on the Even while the crew got ready, and again after landing, as everyone was getting off. They were both wound up about something, and the whole crew knew it, and still, they weren’t telling.

  Jake looked away as everyone reassembled outside the cave, reminding himself that he was just one of the crew, that no one else knew, either, that there was no reason to feel slighted. Whatever they were up to, he’d just have to wait along with everyone else until they decided to share.

  Facity started to take a reading on the cave…and Opaka simply walked inside, Tosk right behind her. Wex glanced back at the others and then hurriedly followed.

  “No screaming,” Pif said, a beat later. “Guess it’s safe.”

  Jake glared at him, but Facity was nodding, looking at the reader.

  “Small and empty,” she said, and sighed, looking at Dez with an expression Jake couldn’t read.

  “Glessin, Brad, stay out here,” Dez said, turning on his light as he stepped through the narrow opening. The others fell in behind him, the cold damp of the cave making Jake shiver as he turned on his own light.

  Though the opening was tight, the natural cave opened up on the other side, a tall, narrow room defined by the bobbing lights of the Even’s crew, and by the sliver of natural light that crept in through the entrance. Opaka had walked to the point farthest from the opening and had her hands pressed against the stone wall, her eyes closed. Tosk and Wex both stood close by, watching her.

  As the last of the crew filed inside, Opaka dropped her hands and turned, looking confused and exhilarated at once. “I still feel it, I can feel it, but…there’s no one here.”

  “False wall?” Dez asked. Facity held up her reader, but Opaka answered him first.

  “No, I don’t think so,” she said. “The energy is unfocused…but this is where we’re supposed to be, this place is where it’s all coming from.”

  Dez looked frustrated. “All right, let’s have a look around. Everybody pick a piece of a wall, look for anything unusual, anything that doesn’t belong.”

  The crew spread out. Jake turned his own light toward the back wall and started l
ooking, focusing on the tiny sphere of light as he worked it up and down, seeing nothing but plain rock. A few scratches, a few cracks, a lot of dust, but nothing he’d call unusual.

  “There are some rocks sticking out over here,” Neane said. “I can’t quite reach them….”

  “Rocks?” Pif’s voice came out of the dark. “That’s amazing! I haven’t seen anything like that—”

  “Quiet, Pif,” Dez snapped. “Just keep looking.”

  They worked in silence for a moment, Jake going over the same places, wondering what it was Dez expected to find…and how long he’d been expecting it. It would explain a few things. Dez had been so quick to invite Tosk aboard, had talked Facity into it without a struggle, even though Jake knew they’d fought about his coming aboard…he’d been avoiding talking to Jake ever since, and now, today, he and Facity were both acting like they’d planned on finding something—

  “What about the writing?” Tosk asked.

  Jake turned, saw that everyone else’s lights were suddenly trained on Tosk. Tosk squinted against the brightness, and pointed to where wall met floor.

  They all turned their lights to where he was pointing. Dez crouched next to the wall, putting one hand out to support himself, shining his own light along the base of the wall. As the lights spread out, searching for the writing Tosk had seen, Jake saw nothing but scuffed and scratched rock. There did seem to be a lot of scratches, some of them even shaped oddly…. Struggling to make something out of them, Jake saw what looked like a symbol in ancient Bajoran, three crossed lines with another line on top. It meant “bird,” he thought, and immediately felt stupid. That’s not ancient Bajoran.

  “It’s not writing,” Dez said. “Trust me, I know. It’s much too random.”

  “Yes, it is,” Tosk said, leaning over. “There, it says, ‘and from the now to the beginning, in order touch the eras—’You must move the light, I can’t…”

  Tosk trailed off, straightening abruptly. “Tosk only know ochshea-hos, the Hunter’s word.”

  He turned to Opaka, an expression on his face that Jake hadn’t seen, didn’t know he was capable of. Tosk was overwhelmed with excitement, his eyes shining, even bulging with it, his mouth curved into a tiny “o” of shock and understanding.

  “That is it!” he said, looking from Opaka back to the rock floor again. “I know the language there, that is what I was supposed to do, that’s the last part of my purpose! To bring you to see it, to know what it says!”

  Opaka touched his arm, smiling. “Then you’ve fulfilled your purpose,” she said gently.

  “What else does it say?” Dez asked eagerly, turning his light back to the wall—

  —and Glessin’s sharp voice filled the small cave, a single word that stopped everything.

  “Hunters.”

  18

  THE QUAD OF Ochshea had been forced to circle around the small and stormy planetoid, away from the ship that had carried their quarry, using the time to mask their own ship’s outer hull signature. Their shields now projected a series of readings that mimicked a cloud of icy debris, allowing the quad to draw close; not a perfect cover, but near enough, provided the Tosk’s comrades did not notice that the cloud’s drift patterns repeated every five cycles. It would not do to tip the Tosk to their presence, not now, when they were so close after so long. It had been many weeks since they’d last spotted the prey, the days barren and uninteresting by the end in spite of an extremely promising beginning.

  No matter, thought Elshada, as they stepped to the particulate transmitters on their hidden ship. Elshada was leader, and felt a great pride that they had tracked the Tosk so successfully. It had been difficult, tracing rumors on the trader’s planet, scanning the dark, silent seas for traces of the ships that had docked there when their quarry had last been seen—it had been mere chance that they had stumbled across an acquaintance to the wise woman, who told them that she had left for the Alpha Quadrant with their Tosk at her side—but today was their day, he could feel it, and he knew that the others could feel it, too. Their visors were polished and in place, their bows charged and missiled, the victory shroud packed. It would be today.

  Elshada nodded at the others, secure in the knowledge that they were ready. Bryn and Halada would transport closer to the Tosk ship, while he and Yimis tracked from the last clear read, a small cave. It was unfortunate that the small planet offered so little cover, but perhaps an unhindered kill was for the best. Elshada knew his team, knew that their frustrations—as well as his own—could be sustained no longer. This Tosk had been away from their sight for too long.

  Together, the quad stepped into the beams of transmission, stepping again onto the surface of the planet in two groups. Elshada took in the environment at a glance, and was pleased. Prime target distance.

  “Stand ready,” Elshada said, his heart thumping with pleasure, his senses alive and alert. Yimis raised his bow. In front of them was a rock ridge, two beings standing near a dark fissure in the rock, neither armed. At the sight of the Hunters, the smaller of the two spoke into an earpiece. Elshada couldn’t hear his words, but they were close enough that he could see their expressions of shock, their faces telling the story of the Tosk inside the cave. His visor’s sensory read told the same story.

  Excellent! Elshada raised his own bow, smiling tightly, feeling the glory of life as he waited for Tosk to emerge.

  Tosk spun and ran. Behind him, someone shouted, but he was gone, through the fissure, invisible before the light of day touched him.

  Two of them, southwest at fifty meters, others must be at my ship but he had no choice, he had to get off the planet. He turned north and ran faster.

  “Tosk! I have him!”

  They wore their visors, they had their weapons drawn, and Tosk could hear the excitement in the lead Hunter’s voice, and was proud…but they knew he was present, and there was nowhere to hide.

  Tosk sprinted, parallel to the line of the cave, wishing there were a way to mask the sound of his feet against the wet rock, that there were real cover to be had. With their visors on, they only had to scan for heat.

  “Wait!” someone shouted. It was the captain. “You don’t understand, we need him—”

  Tosk leapt, came down four meters away, using the cover of voice to conceal his landing and was running again—

  —and saw a dancing green light sweep the stones in front of him, a visor scope. They were closing in. Tosk leapt again, won’t make it—

  —and heard the sharp, electrical cra-ack of a Hunter’s bow firing, and saw the blinding light, and felt most of his lower left leg disintegrate.

  Tosk came down on his right and immediately tried to leap again, the pain bearable, the damage too great. He fell, and heard a Hunter laugh, and heard the most glorious, most wonderful words he could imagine.

  “You die with honor, Tosk!”

  Tosk just had time to smile, to feel whole.

  Cra-ack—

  They all watched in numb silence as the Hunters gathered, four of them, and carefully approached the Tosk. He was very much dead; Facity had made it out of the cave just in time to see the second shot burn a fist-sized hole through his chest.

  Two of the four Hunters solemnly wrapped the blasted body in ceremonial red, the same red as their uniforms. All four bowed their heads for a moment, and one of them spoke a few words—and then they were carrying the Tosk away, chatting agreeably, congratulating the Hunter who had dealt the final blow. One of them stopped long enough to tell the stunned watchers that the first half of the Hunt had been excellent, though it had fallen off until the very end, and to ask if they knew anything about that. Dez had snarled a furious negative, the rest of the crew too shaken or angry to respond. The Hunter had expressed indifference to his emotion, and gone to catch up to his group, their red-clad bodies sharply defined against the blue-green rocks as they walked away.

  Facity watched the last Hunter hurrying to join his fellow killers, watched with the others as the red f
inally disappeared behind a curve of rocks and didn’t reappear. She had to resist an urge to scream. She couldn’t believe it, it was like a joke; just as the Tosk was going to tell them what the impossible writing actually said, was going to offer up some proof that the empty rock had once belonged to the Eav-oq, the Hunters had arrived.

  “That’s just great,” Dez said, a look of disgust on his face. “Could the timing have been any better?”

  Jake stared at him, his gaze wounded and disbelieving, but Dez didn’t seem to notice, turning and stalking back into the cave. Facity saw that while the entire crew was unhappy, Opaka and Jake both seemed particularly upset, or were at least having a harder time disguising their feelings. Alphies. It was a sad business, but the Tosk were bred for it, after all.

  “Brad, Glessin, if you could keep watch for another minute,” Facity said, and sighed. “The rest of you, let’s see if we can find anything else.” They’d have to go back to the ship, see if the text translator could figure out what the scratches meant…and she was already dreading what would certainly be a long, drawn-out, and probably pointless production. They’d have to take casts of the scratches for depth as well as shape…and she was willing to bet that there was no real writing on the wall, or at least nothing that they’d be able to prove. It had been something the Tosk had seen because of the crystal he’d inadvertently touched.

  And I don’t see any more of those lying around, she thought sourly, as the silent crew moved back into the cave, Wex and Opaka following. Except for the Tosk’s “writing,” she hadn’t seen anything at all to suggest that they were on a planet that had ever been inhabited, by anyone. The only good news so far was that Dez wouldn’t have to admit to Jake that he’d helped the Tosk for less than altruistic reasons…though considering the look Jake had given him after his timing comment, Facity thought that there was already a little disillusionment going on there. Dez had only said what everyone had probably been thinking, anyway, but Jake was a sensitive young man…and unfortunately for them all, it didn’t look like he was planning to toughen up any time soon.