The Rylerran Gateway

by Mark Ian Kendrick

  The other Telkan lay face down in the sand near the nose of its craft. There was a dark stain on his clothing and it didn’t move. Naylon was sure it was dead.

  They continued to watch the action on the forward screen. The Telkan had descended the ramp and was forced down to its knees. One of the soldats approached the creature and forced it to place its hands on top of its head. Then he yanked a weapon from its holster. The soldat then removed the belt that went around the creature’s waist and flung it far into the underbrush. On the belt hung various apparatuses besides just the previously holstered weapon. Naylon could only guess what the other items were, but apparently were determined to be dangerous.

  The gesturing and evident yelling continued. The soldat covering the Telkan with his weapon motioned for it to stand now. With its hands still on top of its head, it was lead away from its craft and toward their own. They were bringing the creature inside the ship! Seconds later the view was just of the Telkan ship and nothing more. Nothing Tann asked the monitor to do could produce an image of the interior of the ship.

  Soldat Ocio had been in the corridor covering Tann and Naylon’s quarters. She opened their door once she got word that the prisoner had been secured in the infirmary. Tann had just turned off the monitor with a voice command. She was unaware they had been watching what had transpired outside the ship.

  “Come with me,” she told them. Her weapon was at the ready.

  “Why do you need that? You already know we’re unarmed,” Naylon asked her.

  “Orders,” was all she would say.

  Naylon shook his head ever so slightly. She motioned for them to head toward the infirmary, then pointed for them to enter a small adjacent observation room just before they reached it. They could see the Telkan through the wide window that separated them from the infirmary. It was strapped down on the same exam table Tann had been on. Naylon could barely believe there was yet another alien species in the ship. It was as if these people were used to them!

  The two soldats who had been in the clearing were in the infirmary with weapons drawn and trained on the Telkan, who was obviously completely under restraint. Captain Pacudas was standing at the foot of the table while, to the side, the ship’s doctor was preparing a cylinder of Pelinex. Naylon thought the Telkan was dead at first, but then saw it breathing. Moments later the doctor stuck the cylinder against the Telkan’s neck and withdrew it. He nodded to Pacudas, who turned and exited the room. He joined Ocio, Naylon and Tann in the observation room.

  “Wha-what is that thing?” Tann exclaimed.

  Ocio exchanged glances with the captain. “What kind of question is that?” she asked.

  Tann shook his head. “We saw some dead ones.”

  “Where?” Pacudas demanded, greatly interested in what Tann had to say.

  “In a cavern upriver.”

  Naylon watched the brief exchange from a different perspective. It was beginning to dawn on him that they probably shouldn’t tell their captors too much. The very idea that they knew something might implicate them in the bizarre alien war these soldiers seemed to be embroiled in.

  “It was a cave we took shelter in before we ended up here. There were three of them there. I guess you guys took them out,” Naylon said for Tann. He knew they had been dead for far longer than just recently. In addition, they weren’t in the cavern on ‘this’ side, as he had recently concluded, especially after Tann had told him they had seemed to be missing when he had tried to find Darreth.

  Ocio shook her head. “It couldn’t have been us, sir.”

  The captain was the one who had ordered Ocio to bring Naylon and Tann to the small observation room. He had wanted his ‘guests’ to see what they were doing to the Telkan, wanting to observe their reactions and body language. Tann’s statement was completely unexpected. “Answer her, Tann. What kind of question is that?” the captain demanded.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “What do you mean you have no idea what he is?” He pointed his chin in the direction of the Telkan.

  Tann stood his ground. “You just don’t get it, do you,” he said defiantly.

  “Tann,” Naylon warned.

  The captain’s ready room was small but could fit four people comfortably. Right now, it had only three people in it. The captain sat behind his small desk. The commander stood next to the desk. Tann sat in front of the captain. The captain had a stylus in his hand, tapping it on the table.

  “How is it possible you don’t know what a Telkan is?”

  “Telkan,” Tann repeated. That was the first time he’d heard a name used for their species. He was feeling considerable anxiety. When they had led Naylon away, back to their quarters, and he was directed to follow the captain, he was sure it wasn’t going to be pleasant. But he got the hint from Naylon just before they were separated. Don’t say too much, seemed to be what Naylon wanted to tell him. “If I never saw one before, how could I know what they are?”

  “You saw dead ones in a cave.”

  “Yeah, dead ones.”

  “Was their clothing homeworld, colony or military?”

  “I have no idea what that means.”

  “Sir, he’s not lying.” Selaye lowered the sensor device he had in his hand and set it on the captain’s desktop.

  The captain leaned back in his chair, trying to absorb all that had transpired over the last several hours. First, these two Terrans who had never spoken Empire Spanish just ‘happened’ to be on the very same planet where they were doing recon. There certainly were not supposed to be any Terrans within two-dozen light years of here. Then they both insisted they resided on a Telkan Held World. It had to be a completely fabricated story. None of it made any sense. The captain called for Ocio who came and led Tann away. The door shut behind them.

  “He’s lying,” the captain told his commander.

  “Sir, the sensor is accurate to point zero zero one.”

  “Have it re-calibrated. There is not a single Terran in the Empire who’s not heard of a Telkan. Bring in the other one,” he ordered, an edge to his normally calm voice.

  Selaye pressed a button on his wristcomp and spoke to Ocio. Shortly, she brought Naylon into the ready room.

  Naylon was motioned to take a seat in front of the captain.

  “We’ll start again. How is it possible you don’t know what a Telkan is?”

  “So, that’s what you call them.”

  The captain glanced at the commander, then reached into a drawer and pulled out the necklace Darreth had given Naylon. He dropped it on his desktop. Naylon thought it was lost in the river.

  “That’s mine,” Naylon said angrily.

  “Where did you get it?”

  “A… uh… a friend gave it to me.” It was obvious he needed to be very careful. Although Naylon wasn’t used to having to guard his sexual orientation, he was beginning to realize this military unit wasn’t his culture. It was completely different than anything he’d ever encountered before and something nagged at him to be very cautious indeed. He was sure anything he said or did could be construed incorrectly if it went too contrary to what was expected. After all, he was in the minority on his own planet. Gays were in the minority on all Inhabs. That’s just the way it was. Who knew what harm might befall him if such a minority status was against the law with these people.

  “This coin. It’s Chinese, no?” The captain poked at it with the stylus.

  “I was told it was.”

  “Known contraband. And you admit it’s yours.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Naylon said. That was one of the most bizarre statements he’d heard so far. Apparently, Chinese coins were forbidden! How such a ban could be in place he had no idea. Chinese culture was just about ubiquitous on every Inhab. Granted, not all that many of them actually lived on the Inhabs. Darreth was only one-eighth Chinese. But their goods were certainly everywhere. And had been for centuries. But apparently, that culture was not welcome in this alt
ernate universe! This whole experience was becoming more and more bizarre by the minute. It’s a good thing after all he didn’t reveal that his boyfriend had given it to him!

  Pacudas was beginning to be supremely frustrated at what he felt was total insubordination. Regardless, he decided to play into Naylon’s hand to see what he might divulge. “Tell me more about your… society.” He opened the drawer and pulled the necklace back until it dropped in. He shut it firmly. The captain was beginning to entertain a new hypothesis about Naylon and Tann and needed some more input to confirm his suspicions.

  Damn it, Naylon thought. That’s mine! “It’s certainly not like yours.” The possibility that he and Tann had somehow entered some sort of dimensionally parallel world was at the top of Naylon’s list. Given everything that had transpired so far, it was the only explanation that fit the facts. Clearly, it mattered little, if at all, about what he might tell the captain as long as he didn’t divulge too much about his personal life. “For starters there’s no military running the show. There are no aliens of any sort and there’s certainly no war between our species.”

  “Go on,” the captain said. An amused smile started across his face. Naylon’s story sounded impossibly naïve. If he thinks I won’t catch his lies, he’s sadly mistaken, the captain mused.

  Naylon continued, trying to sound convincing, but realizing the man probably wouldn’t believe him anyway, no matter what he said or how he tried to convey it. “I can’t imagine who funds your little operation here, but it’s certainly not the Consort. They had enough trouble deciding to fund an upgrade to our Planetary Transport Security Division.”

  “On Ozol,” the captain responded.

  “Ozol?”

  “You called it Anda-something.”

  “Andakar.”

  “And this Andakar is where you live and work?”

  “Maybe you’d like to scan for it. We’ve both established it’s not too far away. Last I checked it was .26 light years from here.”

  “Of that, we’re quite certain. Indeed, I’m betting your Telkan friend in the infirmary is from there. Since you’re both from there I will assume you know him.

  Naylon chuckled briefly. “You can assume no such thing.”

  The captain ignored Naylon’s denial. “What is this-this Consort of which you speak?”

  “Large and powerful companies that run everything.”

  “Where is its base of operation?”

  “Earth.”

  “Earth,” the captain repeated.

  “That’s where their central business operations are located, but they’re on all the Inhabs.”

  “Inhab. That is not a word.”

  “Occupied planets, then. Ones with businesses.”

  “All sixty-seven of them,” the captain stated.

  Naylon’s mouth fell open, taken by surprise. They had inhabbed sixty-seven worlds? Things were far different here than he suspected. “All fourteen of them,” he replied.

  “And one of them just happens to be Ozol?” The captain’s face was openly scornful.

  “No, one of them happens to be Andakar,” Naylon insisted.

  “Troop strengths on their bases. Tell me about that,” the captain countered.

  Naylon decided it wouldn’t matter if he played along now. Pacudas indeed didn’t believe him at all. “If you mean the Space Navy, I’d say somewhere around, oh, ten thousand.” It was a total exaggeration, but at this point Naylon didn’t care.

  “He’s lying, sir,” Selaye said from behind him. It was the first time he’d said anything since the questioning had begun.

  Naylon looked back at the man. Selaye issued a grin and held up the sensor to Naylon. He hadn’t had time to recalibrate it. Besides, he knew it was functioning perfectly. Naylon eyed the device, trying to determine if it really could determine whether he was lying or not.

  “Again, Dr. Ress. What is the troop strength?” Captain Pacudas asked quietly.

  “Three hundred, give or take.” Naylon really had no idea. Nonetheless, there was no response from the commander.

  “And what are their armaments and weapons?”

  “Look. I’m a paleo-microbiologist. I don’t keep track of that kind of stuff.”

  “Tell me more about this Consort.” The captain was digging. He figured it was nothing more than a command center or a cover name for their operations.

  “Like I said, it runs all the corporations and divisions that span the Inhabs. Tell me more about your Consort. Who funds your army?”

  The captain wasn’t in the mood for games but he decided to help Naylon give him more information. The more friendly he sounded the more Naylon might reveal.

  “Funding is an odd word to use, but perhaps it’s because of the Pelinex. The Empire has always been built around the engine of expansion. Expansion is paved by the military. The military oversees the building of the infrastructure and the people occupy the conquered territory. It’s a simple equation. You know it. Everyone knows it. And everyone supports it. That’s why it works so well.”

  Conquer. Territory, Naylon said to himself. “You’re going to invade them, aren’t you?”

  The captain leaned forward and looked Naylon squarely in the eyes. “You’re working with or for the Telkans, aren’t you?”

  “What?” Uh, oh, Naylon thought. The man was accusing him of collaborating with their enemy.

  Commander Selaye kept the sensor trained on Naylon.

  Naylon was fed up with this. He wasn’t going to divulge that he and Tann had come through some sort of dimensional tunnel. Their way back might be lost forever if he did so. These people even had some sort of scanner that could determine whether he was lying or not! Knowing that, he wasn’t going to divulge anything that might prevent their return. “Look, you know as well as I do that I know nothing about this little war you have with those aliens.” He looked back at the commander after saying that. “We don’t know any of them and we’ve never heard the word ‘Telkan’ until you people said it.”

  “Little war. Another interesting choice of words, Dr. Ress. What is the name of the Telkan we just captured?”

  Naylon stayed silent.

  “We’ll just have to ask him. You and your young friend will be present when the questioning begins.”

  Naylon was escorted from the ready room and brought back into the quarters with Tann. For the moment, they were left alone. Both of them stood in the middle of the room trying to make sense of what they had gotten themselves into.

  “The captain asked me all sorts of stupid questions. At least we know what those aliens are called,” Tann told Naylon.

  “And from what I’ve been able to piece together so far, they think we’re collaborators,” Naylon replied.

  Tann shook his head. “But we’re not!”

  The door slid open a few minutes later. Ocio motioned for them to accompany her. She stood aside and they went ahead of her. “To the right,” she said. They walked down the corridor to the air lock. She pressed a sequence of buttons on the bulkhead and the inner door opened. Naylon watched. The panel had two rows of three buttons. Top left, twice. Bottom right, once. Middle left, then middle right. The three of them entered the small compartment. Naylon repeated the sequence in his head several times until he’d imprinted a visual memory of it. She pressed the reverse sequence in the inner chamber and the door closed. Once it was sealed the outer one opened with a press of a large green button next to the keypad after a safety cover was lifted. Naylon noted that, too.

  Outside the entire crew was assembled in front of the Telkan, who had been brought outside. It was restrained and it had obviously gained consciousness after the injection, since it was standing up. It had been stripped of its clothing except for a ripped piece of cloth that dangled from its waist. It barely covered what were obvious genitals. The alien creature was at least a third of a meter taller than anyone there. Its arms had been lashed to a metal pole. The pole was across the Telkan’s shoulders and attached t
o a metal ring around a collar that had been fastened around the alien’s neck. There was no way it would be able to defend itself in that position. There were manacles around the creature’s lower limbs. It had no boots or shoes on. Its feet were long and narrow with long toes that resembled a frog’s. The creature was breathing heavily.

  Both Tann and Naylon noted the being’s thick, dark brown, shiny skin. It reminded Naylon of hippo or elephant hide. He had never seen either animal in real life, but had been through a holo zoo plenty of times. Wading in a river right next to them had been one of the most fascinating things he’d ever done when he was a teen. Since the Telkan was nearly naked, Naylon could see distinct marks above its waist. Vertical scars. Long ones. But they looked old, not fresh. Maybe this wasn’t a different species after all. Maybe this one had had its smaller limbs removed for some reason. There was no way Naylon could be sure.

  “Speak, snake!” Lazcún bellowed.

  There was no utterance from the Telkan prisoner.

  “I said speak!” With that, he punched the Telkan in the stomach with the butt of the staff he was carrying. The alien didn’t do much more than grunt. Based on the amount of force Lazcún had to use, in Naylon’s estimation the Telkan easily weighed 125 kilos, if not a lot more.

  Finally, it spoke. “I am Second Tier Ranger An’Arka J’selnof. You are trespassing on a Telkan Held World. You will leave.”

  Naylon and Tann were astonished. The alien spoke perfect Empire Spanish! It was more than bizarre to hear the odd toothy sound coming from the creature’s mouth.

  Tann whispered to Naylon his surprise. “They can talk.”

  “Quiet,” Ocio told him.

  The captain stepped up to An’Arka, dismissing what it had said. “What do you know about these two Terrans?” Ocio turned her rifle horizontally and used it to push both Naylon and Tann forward from behind.

  An’Arka gazed at them. “I do not recognize their markings.”

  “You lie,” the captain said flatly.

  The manacles around An’Arka legs rattled slightly as it stood taller. “You accuse me of collaboration with my enemy. It is not so. You dare to set foot onto our Held World. You imply those Se’leth collaborate with the Telkan Ascendency. If it is so then you have lost control of your people. Your time is at an end.”