by Sulin Young
More people came down from the craft, and Mikin saw Headmistress Marl rush up to a little man, quickly engaging him in conversation. There was some gesturing towards Terrana and the prince, and Mikin could see that both Headmistress Marl and Master Drummik were reacting badly to what they heard. In fact, they looked horrified.
Determined to learn more, Mikin crawled forwards, sticking to the shadows from the nearby bushes. Words started to drift across and he was soon able to catch pieces of the conversation. He could make out Master Drummik’s voice in particular.
“You’re … about Baneyon! It’s … not possible!”
“Drummik,” said Headmistress Marl, laying a hand on his shoulder.
“Quempa, weren’t you with him?” growled Master Drummik.
Quempa hung his head and stared at the ground, unable to face the others, and unwilling to relive Baneyon’s death. He understood why Master Drummik demanded answers — Drummik and Baneyon had grown up together, and news of his death would have been a huge shock to him.
Grandmaster Deitrux stepped forwards, shielding Quempa from saying anything more. “He tried everything he could, Drummik. I am sorry. I know the two of you were close.”
His words were of little consolation to Master Drummik, who clenched his fists and turned away. Perhaps it was to hide the raw emotion on his face. Grandmaster Deitrux continued to speak, but Mikin could not hear him because he switched to telepathy.
There is more. Her Highness has also passed on.
Master Drummik went very still while Headmistress Marl gasped.
Si Ren Da was a disaster. We lost the queen, Baneyon, and Master Ferro. We also lost every single L-Master. The L-Council will be furious. Furthermore, the queen’s guards, the Shakan, will arrive in the next five hours to escort his young majesty back to Swiva. Right now, the children’s states are fragile, particularly the girl’s. I will explain later, but right now they cannot be left alone. It is vital that we never let Terrana out of our sight.
I will take them to the infirmary then. It was Master Drummik who spoke.
Raimus will go with you. He will brief you along the way. Drummik … be gentle with her. She blames herself for Baneyon’s death as well as the queen’s.
Master Drummik was unsure of how to respond to that. He turned away and walked up to Terrana, who paid no attention to him. He offered her his hand, but she didn’t see it. In fact, it was debatable whether she was seeing anything.
“Terrana,” he said softly. Her face was filthy, her hair matted with blood and her eyes swollen from crying. The smile that had entranced him when he first met her in his office seemed lost forever.
“She won’t speak,” said Lorn, who was standing beside her. Master Drummik sighed, then bent forwards to scoop Terrana into his arms.
“Follow me,” he said to the boys.
As he led them away from the Imeldors, a silver-striped animal pounced on Master Drummik’s feet. Drummik reacted immediately, raising the creature into the air. Kazu yowled and glared at him.
“Kazu!” uttered Lorn in surprise. “Master Drummik, that’s Terrana’s pet.”
As if to agree with him, Kazu meowed pitifully and looked to Terrana. His voice must have reached her because she looked up.
“Kazu,” she said softly, recognising her little pet. It was the first time she had spoken since they had left DalKal 7.
“Please, Master Drummik,” pleaded Lorn. “She needs him.”
Master Drummik relaxed his hold on Kazu and lowered him into Terrana’s waiting arms. Kazu meowed happily, snuggling up to his mistress. Master Drummik continued walking, and the others watched as he disappeared into the school lobby, with Lorn, the prince, and Raimus following him.
Headmistress Marl turned to Grandmaster Deitrux. We were worried to death because you were gone longer than expected. So much has happened since then — Pa Gumpina is nearly destroyed!
Grandmaster Deitrux’s expression was a mixture of pain and sadness. I am sorry, Degra. We believed we were gone for four days, but it was only after exiting the time flux belt in Olden Kartath that we realised we had lost three weeks. We never suspected that Nashim would return here.
Is Nashim responsible for these creatures that are destroying our cities?
Grandmaster Deitrux nodded sadly. I’m afraid so. The creatures are called wrails and very little is known about them. By the way … He nodded towards the bushes on their right. You have a few students who wish to speak with you.
I’ve spotted them too. The Nipponian is Terrana’s classmate and a close friend.
Then it’s best we call him and the others out. It must be urgent if they appear to be torn between running after their friends and speaking with us.
With an impatient sigh and a wave of her hand, Headmistress Marl dragged the children out from their hiding spot, planting them right in front of her and the grandmaster.
“You better have a good reason for eavesdropping on us,” she growled. “And Kalindra, I expected better from you.”
“Headmistress Marl, Mikin has some information about the alien creatures!” Kalindra said quickly. “We were on our way to see you when the craft arrived.”
Before the headmistress could reply, Grandmaster Deitrux spoke. “Interesting. What kind of information?” He peered at Mikin closely, and the little elephant squirmed under his gaze. Because he was so nervous, he blurted out the most unnecessary information first.
“My family’s been book collectors for centuries, sir. We’re more like information hoarders because we really like to read and I happened to transload some old books about wars and aliens onto my cube. I have pictures of wrails — a few actually.”
Mikin paused, expecting someone to chide him for wasting their time. He looked at them nervously, wishing the ground would just open up and swallow him. Finally, someone did speak, but it wasn’t the little man. It was the big, hairy Gratchonian who came from the same planet as Bagruth.
“Transload, huh?” said Master Kuldor. “That must be some powerful storage unit you have there. May I take a look?”
Transload wasn’t just a simple matter of transferring information into a storage device. It was reserved for shifting incredibly large chunks of data. The storage devices used to execute the transfer were hard to come by, and were mainly limited to large organisations or to people of considerable wealth.
A transloader, such as Mikin’s cube, had the capacity to store entire virtual interactive libraries containing multiple encryptions. It was designed to protect the information within and, therefore, in addition to the stringent access procedures required, it also came with a set of self-destruction protocols that would activate if it ever fell into the wrong hands.
The fact that Mikin claimed to possess such a device was beyond incredible.
“So, where is it?” asked Master Kuldor.
Kalindra stepped forwards and handed the cube over to him. Master Kuldor examined it closely, turning it between his large hands. He let out a low whistle.
“It really is a transloader.” He stared at Mikin. “I don’t have to guess that you are the only person who can unlock this?”
Mikin nodded and took the cube from Master Kuldor. He rubbed one of its sides lightly and, after a series of what appeared to be random tapping, he activated a retinal scan. Then, his ears spread out and covered both the cube and his hands. In this way, he shielded himself from the curious eyes of the others as he punched through a complicated sequence of codes, aware that he had only a short time to complete them.
Kalindra’s attempts to unlock the cube earlier had resulted in locking it down completely, hence the series of complex key strokes that Mikin had to apply.
Finally, he succeeded, and the cube emitted a series of clicking noises. Thin, spidery legs pushed their way out and dug into the ground. Tiny panels at the top flipped over, and suddenly there was light.
Everyone jumped back as images of wrails began flashing by, some accompanied by pictures of the Va
lpuri. The wrails advanced, their eyes merciless and cruel. A dark cloud loomed in the background, lit up by fire and smoke, no doubt the summation of all the pain and death left in the wake of the wrails.
“Incredible,” gasped Headmistress Marl. “It lists the origins of the creatures and the dates they appeared! More importantly, it explains why we haven’t been able to defeat them — they’re imbued with qi, and some of them even act as nullifiers!”
“Like the dogs of Si Ren Da,” said Master Kuldor grimly. “These creatures are the closest to feiyed we’ve seen, and judging by their descriptions, they are intelligent — the worst possible combination.” He glanced down at Mikin, who was chewing his trunk nervously.
“Looks like you’ll be coming with us then.”
“Huh?” Mikin wasn’t sure he had heard correctly.
“In order to keep this cube activated, you’ll need to come with us,” said Kuldor, giving the boy a pat on the head. “And then you can tell me all about your family and how they managed to build their own transloaders.”
Mikin’s face fell. His family would not appreciate him giving away trade secrets.
Master Kuldor caught his expression and laughed. “You can relax, boy! You don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to, but we need the information stored on this transloader, you understand?”
Mikin nodded. He gave Master Kuldor a hopeful look. “Can I see my friends first?”
Master Kuldor shook his head. “I’m afraid we don’t have time.”
“Are we going to have another war?”
Everyone looked at him in surprise.
“We have a serious pest invasion problem,” said Master Kuldor, “but what makes you think we’ll have another war?”
“Because there was one back before UWIB was ever formed, when the Valpuri invaded six sectors along with someone called the Dream Walker. But please, sir, I would really like to see my friends. They looked like they could do with some cheering up.”
Grandmaster Deitrux levitated towards him. “I’m sorry, little one. Our time here is short and we must leave soon to the Great Council halls. During that time, you would be doing us a great service by filling us in on what you know about the war. Also I would like you to assist Master Kuldor in unlocking your libraries so that we can access the information it contains.”
“But, but I’m not supposed to leave the school without parental consent,” Mikin protested.
Master Kuldor lifted the boy with one arm and started walking back to the craft. “Not to worry, we’ll have it soon enough.”
Grandmaster Deitrux remained behind with Headmistress Marl and the other students. So that the students would not hear what he wanted to relay to the headmistress, he again spoke to her telepathically.
Raimus will brief you on everything that’s happened. I must hasten to a meeting with the L-Council and the rest of the Imeldors as soon as possible. Be ready. I know you are coordinating the evacuation of all the students for tomorrow. Good. Please make sure that Terrana goes with you, and I must stress, never, never let her out of your sight. If the Valpuri, the demons, find out who she is, our fight against the Dream Walker could already be over. Now hasten to Raimus. I will take my leave now.
38
A glimpse into the past
The strange people shuffled between the shelves, digging between the countless rows of books and poring over relevant pages. They looked desperate as they tried to glean any information that could help save their worlds. While some dealt with old-fashioned books and pages, others hovered by large screens as they delivered instructions to the cube’s computer, scanning various libraries for the information they required.
More people appeared — some from the floor, others from the ceiling. They had just come from the virtual libraries embedded in Mikin’s tiny transloader cube; they were all amazed by the vast spread of information the libraries contained —information spanning galaxies and millenniums.
Standing by a small fountain in the middle of a circular lobby, Mikin decided it was best to remain out of their way as he watched them go about their business. At times, he caught a few people pointing at him and whispering, making him feel uncomfortable. Mikin was scared actually. Scared that his parents would learn of him revealing the existence of the transloader cube and the information it contained. He had voiced his worries to Master Kuldor, and the Gratchonian had assured him that no one would lay hands on the technology developed by his family.
Later, he learned that Master Kuldor was an Imeldor; he didn’t know whether to grovel and spout sycophancy, or run and hide. But as it turned out, he did neither — the Gratchonian always spoke to him kindly and for some reason Mikin trusted him. It didn’t take Mikin long to figure out that the little man constantly at Kuldor’s side was none other than the grandmaster. How Terrana and Lorn had wound up in their company, he had no idea.
But what he did know was that the situation was becoming even more dangerous. Master Kuldor and Grandmaster Deitrux were currently attending an urgent meeting. While they were there, they had left him under the watchful eye of another Imeldor, Lady Skiss, who was from Water Loll. Her constant shifting transparent body gave Mikin a headache.
He sighed and gazed out the window from one of the four disc-like buildings of the Solar Aria Domes. The Solar Aria Domes floated above the city of Pa Gumpina and were commonly referred to as the eyes of the city. Constructed to resemble a miniature planetary system, each disc was encircled by colourful radiation belts that served as landing zones for official dignitaries and their vehicles.
Like the planet, the city was named Pa Gumpina and was the main headquarters for the planet’s government.
Strong winds should have blown through the Solar Aria Domes but they did not, not within the anti-gravity shields that suspended the structure. Instead, the shields filtered in a frisky breeze that ruffled the skirts and cloaks of those who occasionally passed through.
“Is there any chance I can contact my friends at school?” Mikin asked. He tried not to look directly at Lady Skiss. When she answered, her voice was garbled static in his head and he winced as he tried to make sense of it.
“No. We cannot afford the risk of interception.”
“Well, if you told me what we were trying to protect, I’d make sure I don’t mention it!” said a frustrated Mikin. “I’d really like to say hello to my friends.”
“You will see them soon enough on the evacuation station,” came the reply. Mikin huffed and walked off, thoroughly upset now. They wouldn’t even tell him what they were searching for in his libraries, but it wasn’t hard to guess; there was a certain way he could find out. It was his cube after all. All he needed was the right … he found it.
Lady Skiss was, of course, not far behind him and so he squeezed himself between two tall shelves and slid to the floor, making sure his legs extended past them so that Lady Skiss could see. As long as part of him was visible, she’d leave him alone. However, just to make sure, she floated past, observing his fed-up expression and folded arms, before parking herself nearby.
Mikin rubbed the inner part of his ear with his trunk, and red lines in the form of a grid ran across his left eye. The cube and his brain were now connected and it would respond to his thought commands.
“Cube, show me what volumes the others are accessing. Categorise.”
A list ran down his eye and Mikin remained still as he read through the selections pointed out by the cube. Nearly all the searches carried out by the wandering people were related to events that happened before UWIB was formed.‘War’, ‘Dream Walker’, ‘Demons’, ‘Valpuri’, ‘Skra’, ‘Namasar’, and many more words appeared. Mikin blinked in surprise. He had spent many wet days reading about the mythical war on his home planet although, according to his favourite historian Flimus Flamus, the war wasn’t mythical — it had really happened.
Furthermore, Flimus went on to accuse ‘higher powers’ of removing the events of the war from people’s memories and slow
ly changing their perceptions of the past. Mikin had been intrigued and had collected all of Flimus’s works, storing it in his own private collection that, coincidentally, he did not make available to the people who were now rummaging through his library.
A line ran across his eye and he turned cold.Terrana, child of Dartkala.
“Warning,” said the cube. “Unauthorised attempt at circumventing file access protocol. User is trying to hide all traces of last search.”
“Define last search,” said Mikin.
“Terrana, child of Dartkala.”
“Identify user.”
“Kuldor Brim.”
Mikin thought quickly. More than five hours had passed since Master Kuldor and the grandmaster had left for the meeting, and therefore it was plausible that Master Kuldor had returned. Why was he trying to conceal his search? As far as Mikin knew, the others weren’t trying to hide their searches but … he quickly scanned the list again. None of them were looking up Terrana. “Grant search privacy to Kuldor Brim.”
“Request executed.”
Mikin frowned. Child of Dartkala. He was sure he had seen those words before.
“Cube, retrieve journal of Flimus Flamus titled The Lost Years from my personal library. Access visibility nil.”
“Do you wish that in grid-eye format or would you prefer a copy in your hands?”
“Grid-eye, thanks.” Mikin took a deep breath and leaned back against the wall.
“Ready,” he said.
Page after page blurred across his vision and milliseconds later, he had the entire journal in front of him. At first glance, it appeared rather worn. Spidery handwriting scrawled across a faded cover and in the top right corner, the name Flimus Flamus was barely visible. Mikin blinked and the journal opened. He flipped quickly through its contents until he arrived at the page he was looking for.
It always struck him as odd that this page stood out from the others, as if something extraordinary had occurred in Flimus’s life and he had rushed to record it. Unfortunately, time must have eluded him because the account had never been completed and, even more intriguing, it was the very last entry Flimus had ever written.