“Sergo,” I said. “Where is she?”
He motioned for us to sit down. We obliged, not that we had a choice with two guns pointed at us.
“You are a resourceful man, aren’t you? I knew it the moment I saw you all those years ago. Kareem spoke highly of you,” Sergo said. His eyes were wide and black, his mouth a slim line on an oval-shaped head, highlighted by two antennae moving of their own volition, as if seeking answers to a problem.
“Kareem was a good man.”
“That’s right. He was.” Sergo leaned forward and took his mug, taking a small sip before setting it back down. “How rude of me. Can I get you anything?”
“We’re fine,” I said.
“I wouldn’t mind one of those,” Magnus cut in, and Sergo chuckled, the sound eerily human in nature. He’d spent enough time with the hybrids to pick up a few things, as well as our language. Sergo waved the goon with a gun away from behind me. Till remained beside us, standing casually with her gun in her hand.
“You have more on your mind than just finding Leslie, don’t you?” he asked.
“You know why we’re here. We need to know everything about the Supreme’s latest mission.” I shifted in my seat, nervous he wouldn’t have any information for us. If this whole trip proved to be a waste of time, I’d lost far too many days.
“Yes, Leslie mentioned that,” Sergo said.
“Where is she?” Magnus asked, his voice threatening.
“Don’t worry about her. We go way back, now don’t we? I have her safely tucked away in case things go wrong. Not that they will, right? Dean, your reputation precedes you. Where you go, bodies follow. Dead bodies. Just like the recent deaths of some of the Supreme’s top people. They were on a secret mission and never came back. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?” He spoke in English, and I looked around, making sure there were no prying eyes or ears. If someone overheard the fact we’d killed two of the Supreme’s troops, we might not leave Volim alive.
“Keep it down, would you? Yes, we know something about that, but they came in guns blazing. We had no choice. If they’d explained why we should stop instead of tracking us, we could have prevented…” I almost said, “Mary being taken,” but caught myself. “…the Iskios from escaping.” I whispered the last part.
“The Unwinding. I always thought that was a crazy religious fable. I guess they do know the inner workings of the universe up there in their towers. I, for one, have to thank you guys.” Sergo took another sip.
The guard approached from behind, and I jumped in my seat as he flung two mugs down at the table. The nectar spilled out, wetting the dark wooden tabletop.
“Thank us? For what?” This bug-eyed gangster was getting on my nerves.
“There’s great opportunity for a man like me in times of crisis. And the Unwinding is just that: the ultimate crisis.”
“Just tell me what you know, Sergo, and we’ll leave you to your opportunity.”
“Why so hostile, Dean?”
I started to stand up, but Magnus set a hand on my forearm. “Because I need to know where that crystal world is so I can get there and find my wife,” I hissed.
Sergo leaned back once again. “You were there, weren’t you? When Kareem died?”
I settled back down. “I was.”
“What did he say?” Sergo asked.
I hesitated to tell him but thought he might be easier to work with if I gave him a connection to his old friend. “He told me to change the universe.”
Sergo laughed again; this time, it wasn’t off-putting. “For a Deltra in hiding, he sure was an idealist. I miss him, you know.”
“It looks like we have something in common,” I said.
Sergo smiled a thin grin and nodded. “It does. So you want to know the coordinates to this so-called crystal world you unleashed the Iskios from?”
“We didn’t know. We thought they were the Theos. They fooled us,” I said. This guy knew how to push my buttons. I expected it was part of his game. Make the other side uncomfortable and keep them off balance while trying to get facts. It was working, and I wanted nothing more than to expedite our transaction.
“Regardless, this is what you’re after?” He knew it was, and I could see it in his smug black eyes. His left antenna twitched and gave him away.
“Yes.”
“And what do you have to offer in exchange for this information?” he asked.
Magnus looked over at me. Why hadn’t Leslie anticipated this? Did we think a rogue smuggler like Sergo, who’d had to spend a few years on Haven while his crimes cooled down around him, would freely give us this information?
“We…don’t have anything of value at the moment.” I glanced behind me, seeing Till standing there, pretending to not pay attention to our conversation.
“I think you do have something I can use. Kareem sent you after a device. He was quite the inventor. Those Deltra loved to make things. Some quite dangerous, some more for convenience.”
I didn’t like where he was going with this.
“This particular device would have a lot of value on the open market.” Sergo set his hands on the table. “It’s rumored a whole Bhlat outpost was taken down with it in an instant.”
My gut churned. We needed to find Mary and stop the Unwinding, which we still didn’t know much about. I didn’t have the portable Kalentrek with me, but would I be willing to trade it even if I did have it? I couldn’t have it fall into the wrong hands. With it, they could kill countless beings without so much as a bang. I knew. I’d killed the Kraski with the original Shield, and, as Sergo had stated, the Bhlat outpost where Mae had been shot.
“Look, we aren’t here to negotiate weapons with the likes of you,” Magnus snarled.
“Then I guess I have nothing for you either.” He went to get up, and I shoved the table toward him, pinning him back there. In an instant my gun was in my hand and pointing at him under the table. By the look in his eyes, he knew it. Till was quickly behind me, but Magnus had already stood up, kicking his chair away and drawing on her.
“Well, well. It looks like the rumors about you are true, Parker. You aren’t just a scared Zebtron like you appear.”
“Damn right they are.” I was past the point of caring what this bastard thought of me. “Now you’re going to tell me how to get to the planet, or we’re going to leave here with two less scumbags alive on Volim.”
“If we don’t come back, neither does Leslie.” His words hit me hard.
“I thought you were friends,” I grunted.
“We are, but what kind of friend sets up a deadly meeting like this?” he asked.
A thought occurred to me. I reached into my jumpsuit pocket and pulled out a palm-sized device. “Here. This is worth the trade.”
He eyed it skeptically. “What is it?”
“Kareem gave it to me. It’s called a Relocator.”
Magnus interjected, “Dean, you sure you want to part with that? We could use it to get out of here, you know.”
“We aren’t leaving without Leslie. Not after all the help they’ve given us.” I still held on to the device but let it rest on the table for now.
“How does it work?” he asked, eyes wide.
I had the greedy insectoid hook, line, and sinker. I explained the value of the device, and he watched me teach him the controls with vested interest.
“It’s not what I’d hoped for, but it’ll do in the current situation. If I can’t get the right price for it, I can use it myself. Do you know how many predicaments I could have escaped from with that?” Sergo asked.
“I’d rather not know. Do we have a deal? You give me what I want, and this is yours.” I slid it forward a few inches.
Sergo reached for a breast pocket on his jacket. “Hold on,” Magnus said.
“It’s what you came here for. I happen to have a few sets of eyes in the towers. They were able to procure it quite quickly. If the Supreme knew it was you on that world, you wouldn’
t be sitting here now. Just remember that. My advice is to get off Volim as fast as you can. You never know who might feel like selling you out.” Sergo pushed a small datastick across the table.
I snatched it up and left the Relocator there.
“Thanks for your advice. Where’s Leslie?” I asked, getting up from the seat.
“Probably sleeping in her suite by now,” Sergo answered.
“You mean she wasn’t ever in danger?” I asked.
“Why would she be? As you said, we’re friends. Nice doing business with you.” Sergo disappeared to the far corner, Till in tow. She turned back and gave us a wink before holstering her gun and stalking after her boss.
____________
Light poured in through the windows, and I realized I’d forgotten to close the blinds last night. The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon as we made it to our rooms. We’d found Leslie pacing in her suite, waiting for us. She’d given us each a hug when we returned.
My door buzzed now, and I rolled out of the comfortable bed feeling like I hadn’t slept at all. I threw on my jumpsuit, noticing someone had been in the room and laundered it. It sat nicely folded, smelling like honey and lavender. They were a strange people, but not so different from us.
“Coming,” I called, and when I opened the door, Denni stood there with Magnus and Leslie.
“Guess it’s time to see the Supreme,” Magnus said. He had bags under his eyes, and I wondered if I looked that terrible.
“Just a second. I’ll be right there.” I closed the door and used the facilities before grabbing the datastick under my pillow. I was glad I hadn’t left it in my jumpsuit. That was likely why it had been cleaned. They could snoop while playing the gracious host.
We headed back down the tower and into the room where the Supreme had met with us the day before. He was already at the table, tapping on a tablet in front of him.
“Good. You made it,” he chirped, and our translators did the rest. The small Padlog rubbed his hands together, looking even more like an insect as he did so.
“Can you help us?” I cut right to the chase. If we could get the details on the Theos while we were here, we’d be killing two birds with one stone. Otherwise, I was happy to have the location of the crystal world in my pocket. That was if Sergo had been honest about what the datastick contained.
The Supreme watched us for a moment. “The portals are a vital part of our society. Not the Padlog per se, but the whole of the universe. The Theos created them long ago, and there is an importance behind them you can’t even begin to understand. If they are failing, this is an omen of the end.”
I wasn’t sure making up the lie was such a good idea. “How can I find them?”
“You won’t. Many have tried. We’ve studied them, and countless other beings and deities from the known universe, and believe me, every world has one; some have many. They elude us. It’s almost as if they never did exist, though there is ample proof from numerous worlds. But we cannot find their home world.”
I wondered if he was telling us the truth. He had no reason to be honest with us, and every reason to hide information. “Can you share some of your findings on them? I have an interest in the Theos.”
He chirped a command, and Denni was back with a clear tablet. “On here, we have compiled a history as we know it. It’s not as elaborate as the findings at Bazarn Five, but most of that is useless information. Here we have the necessary details.”
I was flabbergasted he’d share this. “Thank you, Supreme. Hopefully, we can find something of use for our mission.”
“You’re welcome, Dean,” he said. His eyes twinkled. “I hope you had fun in the Vespiary.”
Ten
I was happy to be leaving Volim. We wound our way past the busy moons and intricate space station, back out into calmer territory.
“Think we’re far enough away?” I asked, flipping the datastick between my fingers.
“Yes. Let’s see if Sergo was good to his word. If he isn’t, then he’ll have a nice surprise waiting for him on his next visit to Haven,” Leslie said.
I pushed the universal stick into the helm console and held my breath as data appeared on the small screen. The text was unreadable to my human eyes.
“Here, try this,” Magnus said, grabbing something from a shelf on the bridge. “Clare gave it to me. Apparently, it can translate anything.”
I pulled the datastick out and plugged in the adapter from Clare. When I plugged the stick back in, the readouts came in English. “That woman never ceases to amaze me. Remind me to buy her something special when we’re back home.” Home. It felt so far away.
I tapped the folders open and found the one marked “Leslie.” The data files inside were basic. There was just one line. Coordinates. “Got them!” I yelled. A tiny piece of anxiety broke free, but it was short-lived. The world wasn’t close.
Leslie keyed in the location. “Even with the hyperdrive, it’ll take us two years to get there.”
“The portal. We can map this now.” I went to the captain’s chair and used the console to bring up images on the viewscreen. “Follow me. We know there’s a world a week’s trip from the crystal planet. I was there. We flew in that small ship, but by Mary’s memory.” I zoomed out on the map, and we found twenty habitable worlds within that rough distance.
“How do we know which one it was?” Magnus asked.
“I have a question,” Leslie said. We stopped talking, waiting for her to ask it. “How did the Padlog get there so quickly?”
That made me pause. How had they? If they’d been tracking us, there was no feasible way for them to be waiting so close by.
“I don’t know. Maybe they were in all corners of the galaxy, waiting for someone to arrive?” I said, but it didn’t feel right.
“Wormholes,” Magnus said.
“That’s it. A wormhole.” I leaned back in the captain’s chair, the 3D map of the crystal solar system rotating on the viewscreen.
“Dean, don’t…”
“What?”
“I can’t. You know what happened last time you used them to travel. You came back home and missed seven years. I can’t do that. I have a family. Nat…the kids.” Magnus’ jaw was set in a hard line.
I wanted to yell at him that my wife was gone with my unborn child, but I clenched my teeth together and stopped myself. He was right.
“What are we going to do?” Leslie asked, and no one answered. We didn’t know.
____________
I flipped through the Theos document from the Supreme, trying to grasp anything about the portals I didn’t know. Apparently, that was a lot. We were heading back to Haven, with no better plan at the moment. We decided to get back home, then go as planned to Bazarn Five with everyone. We needed to find the Theos in order to counter the Iskios. I didn’t like the idea but had no choice but to go along with them. I vowed to myself I’d get back to the crystal world alone once my friends were safely at home. I’d do anything to find Mary, and traversing through wormholes counted as anything.
I lay on my bed, staring at the sterile white ceiling. Every time I tried to sleep, I saw her face looking at me, black mist filling the whites of her eyes. I tried to puzzle it out. I was missing something. The portals, the symbols. I’d accessed the portal icons in the computer, but those only showed the ones visible to everyone using the portals.
There were still a large number of worlds blocked off by the mysterious Theos Collective. I had access to those worlds, being gifted the skill by Kareem before his passing, but I couldn’t see the symbols, as I didn’t want to store them where prying eyes might see them.
Something clicked in my mind, a clear image, and I knew it was important. I got up and fumbled for my tablet. Scrolling through my stored images, I flipped open the file on the Iskios’ cube we’d found on the ice world. It was a map. On it was a symbol for the water world, where I’d first laid eyes on the Iskios shadow playing at being a Theos.
B
ut I’d searched high and low for those icons already. They weren’t in either catalog. I stared at the images long and hard. They were stretched out on the page like an unfolded cube, looking ever like a cross. I couldn’t figure it out. The clue had to be there, on this image.
We were getting close to Haven again. Frustration boiled inside me, but I felt powerless to do anything about it. I was helpless when Mary needed the most help. I threw the tablet down on the bed in anger. It spun and slid to a stop as it hit the wall. From here, I could see I’d cracked the screen. Something caught my eye as I looked at the fractured tablet. The symbol on the bottom burned into my eyes.
I recognized it. I’d been looking at it the wrong way this whole time. I ran to the tablet and picked it up, sure I was right. With it now upside down, I knew I’d found the symbol.
“Guys, I need to get to the portal! How far are we from Haven?”
____________
“Dean, it wasn’t a waste of time. We would’ve had no idea how to get to the crystal world if we hadn’t met with Sergo. At least now we can get to the place where you borrowed the ship. It’s just another week.”
Magnus was trying to help me, but it just made me angrier. Another week. A week was forever while Mary was infiltrated by the essence of the Iskios.
“Why don’t you go home?” I asked Magnus. We were at Leslie and Terrance’s. They’d made me go there first to get more supplies.
“I’m coming with you. Can you wait one more day?” he asked.
Could I? Everything in me wanted to rush for her, now that I knew how to get there, but I also knew I should let Magnus see his family. Nat would kill me if anything happened to him.
“Fine. Let’s go.”
Terrance walked in as we were heading out the door. “Ready to go back already?”
“Yeah, we’re going to go back to Spero for a few hours,” I said, catching Magnus’ grim reaction. A couple of hours was better than no time with his family at all. I decided I could convince him to stay once we were home.
The Survivors Box Set Page 92