Rivo blinked nervously. “Dean. Come. Let’s get out of this crowd.”
“Gladly,” I said, setting my full glass down on a table as we neared the left-hand escalator.
“Father doesn’t have long. He needs to make an appearance.” She led me to the third floor and we passed by another guard, who stepped out of the way for her while eyeing me with contempt.
“Why are they so on edge?” I asked.
“He should have canceled the gala.”
“Why?” I asked as we kept moving down a plush carpeted hall. A railing carved from what looked like a solid piece of crystal ran the whole way down, clear and sparkling in perfection.
“A ship arrived last night.”
“Don’t ships arrive all the time?” I asked, dumbfounded. I knew very few had access to the portals, so almost anyone coming to Bazarn Five would have to arrive by a vessel.
“The planet has a barrier. You don’t get inside without a code. You don’t get a code unless you’ve paid and are authorized.” Rivo kept walking, and I slowed my steps to match her short legs.
“And?”
“And there was a glitch. A section of the southern entrance was opened for a moment, just long enough for a ship to come through,” Rivo said.
“You think someone bribed the tower, and now Lom’s on Bazarn?” I asked.
Rivo stopped in her tracks and spun toward me. She grabbed my suit with small fists and pulled me toward her. “Hold your tongue.” She looked around and let me go.
“Sorry. I’m just trying to get caught up.” I smoothed an imaginary wrinkle on my suit, and we kept moving toward the doors at the end of the hall. Two more large guards stood there stoically as we approached.
“Get inside,” Rivo urged, and we walked through the doors as they slid apart, revealing an office. It wasn’t what I’d expected after seeing the rest of the palace so far. This room was compact, an intimate setting. It clicked in that this was the room where Garo met with visitors. It would put them at ease. Surprisingly, almost everything inside was made from wood, when everything out there was crystal, marble, or metal.
A man sat in a chair, turned away from us. His head was midnight blue, bald. Smoke lifted in front of his face toward the ceiling, drifting effortlessly toward a vent. As he turned in the chair, I was surprised to see his size in comparison to his petite daughter.
He was at least as tall as me, his shoulders wider, and his well-cut suit was subdued and elegant. It was a muted gray color, the opposite of most things on this world. The fashion had no collar, and the sleeves went to the middle of his strong forearms. He inhaled on a pen-sized object and blew thick smoke out before talking.
He spoke something in Molariun before he cleared his throat and spoke in English. “Greetings, Dean Parker. I have much to thank you for.” He stood and spread his arms wide. I didn’t know what he intended to do with them, since there was a dark wooden desk between us, but I copied his gesture and he smiled widely.
“You probably wonder how it is I speak your language,” he said.
I nodded, but this wasn’t the first time I’d come across an alien speaking my tongue.
“One of my companies has developed an integrated language system. I won’t bore you with the specifics, but once installed, you have access to any language your vocal ability allows. There are still some biological barriers, of course.”
“Of course,” I said, not sure I wanted anything of the sort installed into me.
“So you’re the hero who brought my daughter back to me. I thought you’d be bigger.” He then laughed, sounding eerily human.
“Father!” Rivo shouted, and he chuckled all the more.
“Daughter, you’re too serious.”
“Nico was killed, an unmarked ship crossed Bazarn’s barriers, and you’re here laughing in another language!” Rivo was still speaking Molariun, so I was sure she hadn’t undergone the surgery yet.
“We don’t know that for sure. It could have just been a glitch,” Garo said.
“You don’t really believe that, do you, Father? Something’s coming. I know Lom was behind the attack on our ship. He was trying to blame pirates, but he was after your money. And your secret.” Rivo hissed the last bit.
So there had been more than just treasure aboard Rivo’s destroyed vessel.
He spoke once again in his native language. “Watch how you speak to me, daughter.”
She averted her eyes from her father, but I watched him. He was trying to look confident, but I saw fear beneath the façade.
“Rivo’s right,” I said. “I saw a symbol all over that ship, come to think of it. A triangle in a circle, and two squiggly symbols inside.”
“Did she prompt you to say that?” Garo asked me, another puff of smoke lifting to the ceiling vent.
“No, she didn’t. Let’s think about this, sir.” I added the last bit to give him a sense of superiority, though I was sure I didn’t need to remind him of his own stature. “Your daughter just about died. Her love, Nico, did die, and you almost lost something dear to you. Now she’s back, telling you that something’s wrong. If Rivo says that someone’s coming for you, then I’d be hard-pressed not to believe her.”
Rivo smiled at me, and her father glared before glancing at his desk.
“It’s in there, isn’t it?” I asked.
“What is?” Garo said, shrugging it off.
“Whatever your daughter almost died to transport.”
Rivo’s eyes went wide, probably surprised I was astute enough to catch it.
Before he said anything, I spoke again. “Wait. It isn’t you Lom wants to attack. He wants this…whatever it is you’re hiding.”
The wind burst out of Garo’s sails, and he almost folded over, his hands running to his face. “I don’t know what to do with it. If it stays here, they’ll find it.”
I walked up to the desk, leaning over so I was only inches from his face. “What…is…it?” I asked slowly.
“It’s dangerous. We thought we were onto something with it. Dimensional shifting. What if you could transport yourself to another dimension?”
“Why would you want to?” I asked.
“Think about it. We catalog the parallel universes, and you choose which you want to leave to. Neighboring planet threatening to destroy you? Why not reappear somewhere else? Only glitch was, we couldn’t figure it out. All the creds we could ever wish for to research it, and we couldn’t get it to work.” He slunk back down in his chair.
“What happened?” I asked, knowing there was going to be a lot more to the story.
“It functioned, or so we thought. We tested it, but it was a one-way trip. Everything looked like it worked, from what we could tell, but there was no way of knowing for sure.” Garo leaned back, looking out the wide window.
“You sent subjects to their doom?” Rivo asked, hearing this part for the first time.
“They were compensated for volunteering, or their families were. I don’t do business like Lom of Pleva. In the end, we shut the program down, only Lom caught word of it. Unfortunately, we live in a universe where creds talk, and so do employees.”
“So he got wind of the dimensional shifter, and then what?” I asked.
“He wanted the technology, but he planned to use it as a weapon. That’s not what it was intended for. Look, I’m not a hero. I’ve done and funded some horrific things in my time, but that was the younger, power-hungry me. Now I have a family.” He stopped speaking and looked at Rivo, who was giving him a hard stare. “I couldn’t let it get in the hands of that monster. I don’t know how much you know of him, but if I told you half the details, you’d beg me to stop.”
“I’ve heard a bit.” I stood, trying to think of a way to help. I couldn’t get tied up in their politics and rivalry. What I really needed was inside the vault. I needed the Theos to help me stop the Iskios. That was it. End of game.
“Then you can’t blame me for setting up that ‘accident’ at the lorgonium
mine.”
“That was you, Father?” Rivo asked, her rushed words translating through my earpiece.
He nodded and looked out the window again. “He died that day, or I thought he did. Now I’m not so sure.”
“Rivo, you think he sent someone here for the Shifter?” I asked, wondering if my friends were safe at the Eklack, where they were researching as I stood here, dangerously talking about something I didn’t want to be involved in.
“I do. I didn’t even know what it was. Father hadn’t told me. This is what Nico died for? Why not destroy it?” Tears were forming in her lower eyes, and she blinked them away.
“It’s too volatile. It’s made to move planets. If I try to destroy it, it could be the end of everything in its proximity.” Garo was stuck. If he kept the shifter, he was going to be targeted, and if he sold it, it would be used as a weapon. If he destroyed it, chaos would ensue.
“I don’t want any part of this, but I have a proposition for you.” I shifted from foot to foot, knowing I should just keep my mouth shut.
“Go on,” Garo urged. Rivo paled, seeming to know what I was about to offer.
“Bring me to this Regnig, and I’ll take the Shifter.”
Twenty-Three
“Why would you do that?” Garo asked.
“I have more important things than getting involved with your rivalry, but I need information. Data I think I can only find on your planet. I want the real source, not the edited, dumbed-down details on the Theos and the portals. You get me this information and I’ll pocket the Shifter, taking the heat off you for a while.” I had other ideas for it as well but wasn’t going to share those with them. That was between me and the Iskios.
“And you won’t sell it? It would make you a very wealthy man,” Garo said, testing me.
“Look, I don’t give a rat’s ass about money, or creds, or palaces in the sky.” I waved my hand around the room in disgust. “I love my wife, and I want her back. Safe. With me. I didn’t help save my race just so we can be destroyed by the Unwinding and have Mary wielding its insane power because of me. I put her in that situation, and I couldn’t stop her. It should have been me, at the very least.” My knees gave out, and I found myself suddenly sitting in a chair, the emotional damage from the last month finally taking its toll on me.
I leaned forward, my face buried into my hands as a means of subtle comfort.
“Did you say the Unwinding?” Garo asked, his dark blue face a lighter tone.
“Yes. That’s what they called it.”
“They?”
“The Iskios.”
“Rivo, tell you mother we won’t be attending the gala.” He tapped a screen on his desk. “Casell, get my ship and wake up Regnig. We’ll be there soon.” He tapped it off and waved me over.
I came around to watch him stick a blue finger into the air under his desk. A small containment field buzzed, and a drawer appeared from nowhere. He hit a pattern on a screen, and it slid open, revealing a plain metallic box.
I’d had enough of surprise boxes on the Iskios quest and never wanted to see one again. Now here I was, waiting for another to open.
Rivo read her father’s mind and hit a button on the wall, closing the blinds to the room just before he pulled it out and set it on the desk.
“I hesitate to give this to anyone, but if you’re willing to make that trade, I’ll do it. We’ll give you whatever you need to find your Mary.” I could see the excitement in his body language.
It reminded me of a time a friend was giving away a dog online. They’d gotten the puppy without realizing how much work it was going to be, and how big a Great Pyrenees would get. When it was done eating the baseboards in their condo and ripping through a seatbelt in the back seat of their car, they’d posted an ad. I’d met up with him the night someone came to take the dog away, and the sheer relief in his eyes had been similar to what I saw now.
The box opened on a thin piano hinge. The Shifter was round, the size of a compact disc.
“How does it work?” I asked, wondering if he would even tell me.
He described the process in activating it, choosing what you were transporting, and entering the destination. I went over it with him twice to ensure I understood, and he didn’t once ask me why I needed to know. I don’t think he really cared; he just wanted it gone.
“There’s no way to activate it from a distance?” I asked.
“No, someone has to do it. Why does it matter?” he asked with a worried look across his face.
“It doesn’t, just curious.”
A knock rang against the closed doors.
He said something in his native language, and they slid open, revealing a guard. “Your ship’s ready.”
____________
“Where is it?” I asked from inside the luxury vessel. Garo was drinking a clear liquid from a short glass, but when he offered me one, I refused.
The seating was lined along the edges of the ship, with open space in the center, and I got up, moving to the other end in an attempt at some privacy.
I tapped my earpiece to the right channel and spoke softly. “Magnus, are you there?”
The line was quiet for a moment before my friend replied, “Loud and clear, Dean. Where you at?”
“With Rivo and her father, heading to see this Regnig. I think he’ll be able to help me get what I need. How about you guys? Any luck?” I was just glad to hear they weren’t in any trouble down there.
“We’ve got datasticks full of information, and we’ve started to sift through it already. The portal stones are made from a stone only found on one known planet.”
My pulse raced. “What planet?” I asked, anxiously.
“It doesn’t say.” My heart sank as Magnus told me the bad news. “Sarlun thinks it may have been edited out.”
“Keep up the good work. I’ll touch base soon,” I said.
“Good luck, buddy. Stay safe. If you need anyone to come kick some ass, let me know.” Magnus barked a quick laugh, and the call ended. I forgot they could track me by the GPS in my earpiece. At least I could count on them to bail me out of any trouble I found myself in.
“Get ready, we’re approaching.” Garo sat. His drink was still full, or had he poured another one?
I walked to the front of the ship, where a blue Molari piloted us toward the desert dunes. Wind swept in from the north, shooting sand toward us, and I could hear it ting against the hull of the ship as we raced deeper into the desert.
The ship lurched, and for a second, the viewscreen showed blue sky before we swung around nose first, heading straight for the ground.
“Stop, you’re going to kill us!” I yelled right before an impact that didn’t come. We entered the surface through a field that had looked like sand.
“Calm down. I’m sorry I didn’t mention that. This place is hidden. Few know it exists. Fewer have ever set foot down here.” Garo smiled grimly and finally took a drink, gulping most of the clear liquid in one swallow.
We were moving ever downward, through a tunnel only three or four times as wide as our ship. I expected my GPS wasn’t going to work down here, and I tested my communicator when no one was looking. It came up offline. Great.
The ship slowed, and Rivo came to stand beside me.
“Have you seen this before?” I asked the small female being.
“Once. You know you don’t have to take that.” She pointed to my pocket, where the Shifter sat tucked away. “We’ll help you anyway.”
I doubted her father would feel the same way. “It’s okay. Better one ordinary man be a target than a world full of rich tourists, right?”
We followed the tunnel, lights from the ship shining against the dirt walls as we came to a stop, hovering above a platform, the vessel now horizontal.
I felt the walls caving in around me. “How far down are we?”
Garo typed something into a computer pad beside him. “In your distance, around four hundred kilometers.”
We lowered to the platform, settling down with a light puff of dust kicking up to the viewscreen.
“And Regnig lives down here?” I couldn’t imagine anyone being so far below the surface and not losing their mind.
No one answered me as the door opened. “Don’t be startled by Regnig. He’s a little… different,” Garo said.
I let the comment go for the time being and stepped onto the dirt-covered landing pad. An arched doorway was cut into the rock of the upper mantle; a solid wooden door sat closed and windowless.
I walked toward it and glanced back to see if Rivo and her father were following. I hit an invisible energy field and was knocked to the ground. Dust puffed around me in a cloud, covering my white suit with brown particles.
“Thanks for the warning,” I muttered as Garo tapped a holographic projected screen that appeared as he neared the hidden wall.
“Sorry. It’s been a while since I’ve been down here.” His hand shot in front of me, and I grabbed it, getting to my feet.
Even after brushing myself off, dirty streaks stuck to my clothing. Rivo walked past the barrier that was now closed and urged me to the door.
This was it. I was going to find the secret to the Theos. I would discover their world, then… then what? How did I expect to raise them? I’d been so focused on learning where their planet was that I didn’t know what I’d do to speak to them.
A knock broke me from my reverie. The large dark wooden door opened, but no one was on the other side. A throat cleared, and I tilted my head down to the source of the sound. A tiny creature stood before us. It was bipedal, but there the similarities to us stopped. It had a beak the same color as its brown skin, and a single large eye, with red lines stretching to all edges from a pinprick-sized pupil.
Come. You’re letting a draft in. The thoughts slammed into my mind so quickly that I stumbled back. Sorry if I startled you. I don’t get many visitors.
“That’s okay. I’m here to see Regnig.” I crouched down, trying to get on an even playing field with the little being.
You seek Regnig, do you? What business do you have down here? The creature peered around me, its large eyelid blinking a couple times as it stared at Garo and Rivo behind me.
The Survivors Box Set Page 100