The Pinnacle

by Gary Moreau

  “Casey,” she said. “Help me.”

  Casey knelt next to her, but she pulled away from his touch.

  “I’ll help you, Lisa,” Casey said, “when I can, but for now you need to be strong. Don't drift away. We’ll find a way out of this.”

  Slater laughed.

  Casey ignored Slater and looked over at the person crab walking along the curve of the oval chamber, stopping only after he had gained the farthest distance possible from the rest of the group, about fifteen meters. He was big and fair skinned. His ice-blue eyes darted wildly about. It could only be Sten Olson.

  Casey walked slowly toward the cringing figure. “Sten?”

  The man shivered with fear and brought his arms up to ward off Casey’s approach. “Stay away!” he screamed. He renewed his efforts to escape, pushing with his legs, seemingly unaware that the pumping of his legs resulted in no further movement.

  Casey stopped and returned to the group at the other end of the oval room.

  “Sit down, Conklin,” Slater ordered. “I’m in charge here.”

  Casey glared at Slater for a moment before replying. “No one is in charge here, least of all you.”

  Casey was no longer a feeble old man; he was taller and stronger than Slater. Slater made a motion as if he was going to stand up and physically confront Casey, but then settled back into place and smiled.

  “All right, Casey,” Slater said easily, “tell us what to do, if you think you’re capable of making command decisions.”

  “What decisions? We don’t know where we are, or why our bodies have been subjected to these weird changes, or even who did this to us. It’s time for us to pool our thoughts and work as a team. Did you do something that triggered this…change?”

  Slater grunted derisively. “Did you? That seems more likely. You are such a simpleton. All teams need a leader and I’m the only one trained to lead. I’m the only one capable of assuming” He stopped in mid-sentence and stared past Casey.

  Casey followed the direction of Slater’s gaze. He was as speechless as the rest.

  The being had arrived soundlessly. Its skin was a rich indigo and its large, black eyes seemed to stare, with the occasional flickering of a transparent membrane. The creature’s mouth was shark-like with a jack-o-lantern smile filled with sharp triangular teeth. Its arms appeared to end in stubs but, when the creature spoke, it flipped the lower part of its arms forward. It had triple-jointed arms that ended in two delicate fingers and a thumb and, when the lower arm was extended, a sharp blade projected backward from its lower elbow. Its legs were bent at the knees and seemed to consist of two parts, like that of a human. There was something about the creature that touched a memory in Casey’s mind.

  “I am CkCkCk,” the creature said. It was a guttural sound, from deep in the creature’s throat. When it spoke, the wide shark-like smile did not change. It was as if the words were being projected out of a monstrous marionette. “I serve the Masters and the Mother. They are pleased with you. The new generation of Masters was well nurtured. All but one survived and were strong and healthy when they were harvested from your care.”

  The voice issuing from the creature’s mouth paused. When no one said anything, it continued. “You are confused and frightened. Rebirth can be stressful. I am here to introduce you to your new lives, as the fortunate chosen. You are currently being cradled within the Space-Mother. I am going to transport your perceptions into space. Do not be afraid.”

  The green, seamless walls, floor and ceiling dissolved, along with body perception, until Casey existed as only a point of consciousness, hanging in the vacuum of space. He saw innumerable, sharp points of light, stars as he had never seen them before, but the focus of his attention was an object that appeared to be suspended in space, with the stars as a backdrop.

  It was a green, globular structure, with a large cylinder projecting from one end. It was not difficult to identify the cylinder as the star-engine and a portion of the Pinnacle, but the amorphous, green substance engulfed the forward end of the Pinnacle.

  With only a thought, Casey’s orientation changed. He was now looking toward a yellow star. When he focused on it, his consciousness shot toward it. He passed three colorful gas giants and came to a stop above an Earth-sized planet. His vision was god-like. He saw human beings inside enclosed cities and some on the surface of the planet. He could almost smell the ongoing transformation of the atmosphere and the sweetness of oxygen.

  Casey’s attention returned to the defiled starship Pinnacle and he plunged forward to enter the green mass directly adjacent to the starship. The view faded and Casey stumbled to maintain his balance as the room reappeared around them. It had been a stunning sight, an awesome view of the galaxy and a horrifying view of the degraded starship…and then there was that planet, inhabited by humans.

  Casey turned to Yamaguchi. “Did you see them? It wasn’t Earth, but there were people.”

  “Yes,” Yamaguchi replied, “we traveled with you and saw what you saw.”

  The creature spoke again. “You now know your place. Your function will be to serve the Masters and the Mother and you will be rewarded, just as I serve and am rewarded.”

  The association in Casey’s mind clicked into place. “You’re Wheeler!” he blurted.

  The creature rotated as if its back and neck were inflexible. Its large, black eyes were directed at Casey. “I serve the Masters and the Space-Mother, but when I was on the Birth-World and served the Land-Mother, you perceived me as Wheeler. I am not Wheeler. I am CkCkCk.”

  The creature returned its unblinking gaze to the group as a whole. “Your species is particularly suited to nurture the birth of new Masters and, although your artifacts are crude, they are worth preserving. Under the direction of the Masters you will refine them. Your spacecraft has already been upgraded. You have been chosen to join in the Glorious Symbiosis. Your lives will be extended into the distant future. You will be the hands of Masters and Mothers. You will be the bridge through which the Masters and Mother work their magic. You will be the channel that allows the power of the Mother to work the will of the Masters. You will enable the recruitment of other fortunate members of your species, who will be granted the opportunity to feed and care for new Masters. It is a noble fate and you will be rewarded.”

  “If these so called Masters and Mothers think our species is so wonderful, why did they mutilate our bodies?” Casey asked.

  “You are not lessened. You are improved. The Masters know smoothness and simplicity are the basic beauties of the universe,” the creature said to the group as a whole.

  Casey objected. “Improved? You’ve destroyed the delicate balance in our bodies. Among other things, we won’t be able to rid ourselves of waste. We’ll die.”

  The creature turned to Casey. “There will be no waste. You have been raised to a higher plane. You will feed on the love of the Mother and want nothing more. You will find more joy and contentment that you could ever have imagined.”

  “Where is the rest of your kind?” Casey asked.

  “They are gone. They have served the Masters and Mothers and now they are gone. I am the last.”

  “What happened to––” Casey began.

  “I don’t give a shit about that,” Slater declared. “Where are my people? I demand that you return them to me.”

  “You have no further need of them. They are in their stasis capsules, awaiting their turn to be uplifted and to serve,” the creature said.

  “They’ll die!” Casey shouted.

  “If you are referring to the impurities in your stasis system, that was an unfortunate oversight. It has been purified.”

  “An unfortunate oversight,” Casey repeated with disbelief. “You call the death of a thousand men and women ‘an unfortunate oversight’?”

  “The Masters have reaped the knowledge of a hundred species. The Masters know all there is to know,” the creature replied.

  “And what happened to those hundred spe
cies?” Casey yelled.

  “After sharing their knowledge with the Masters, most have been allowed to nurture the Birth-World with their bodies, but few can nurture the Masters.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  This time the creature ignored Casey’s outburst.

  Yamaguchi spoke. “Where have we been and where are we going?”

  “You have been to the Birth-World of the Masters and the Mothers. Our destination is your destination. Thousands of your years ago, you set out to visit a planet. Soon, you will complete that journey. Others of your kind followed after you and found a hostile world, barely capable of supporting your species. They endured hardship. They did not have the benefit of a Land-Mother and the Masters to shape their perceptions. They suffered. It has taken them millennia to tame and transform the planet, and now they have finally reached the stage of producing deep space traveling artifacts of their own. The Space-Mother and the Masters will accept the gift of their starship. They are ripe.”

  “What if they don’t want to give it to you? They’ll never give it to you.” Casey declared.

  Suddenly, the mint green room was gone. A balmy wind caressed Casey’s skin. The sea was a bright turquoise and the beach, a fine white sand. High overhead, the tops of tall palm trees swayed in the breeze. He leaned his head back against the pillowed chaise.

  “I’ve missed you.”

  Casey turned his head. “Britty?”

  She smiled and reached toward him. He grasped her hand and felt her again, after so many years.

  “Britty, I’ve missed you so terribly.”

  “Me too. Do you remember that night before the starship crew went into seclusion in preparation for the journey?”

  He sighed. “Yes.”

  “You came to my room and you slept with me in my bed. Why didn’t you make love with me?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe I was afraid. Maybe out of respect for you.”

  “I wanted you to. I wanted to make love with you. I’ve dreamed about it.”

  “If I had, I would never have left you. I would’ve stayed at Copper Mountain.”

  She leaned across and he met her halfway. Her lips were soft and the kiss delicious. Her kisses were special; each time it was like it was the first time she had ever kissed anyone.

  When they parted he noticed three people walking up the beach. They were holding hands and the woman was gorgeous, with her blond hair blowing in the sea breeze. Her breasts were barely contained by her minimal bikini. Her waist narrowed and then flared to a womanly pelvis with her genitals covered by a tiny triangle of cloth. Her buttocks were bare. On her left was a tall, well-muscled man with blond hair, and on her right was a man with a black beard, pointed at the chin, but it was to the woman that his gaze returned.

  “Do you know her?” Britty asked.

  Casey chuckled and returned his attention to Britty, to her round face and serious expression. “Yeah, I know her, but you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

  She smiled and then laughed; her laugh made his heart ring.

  “I love you, Britty.”

  “I love you, too. I have a room, we could finally make love or, if you want to, we could make love right here on the beach, right now. She reached up and undid the top of her bikini, throwing it aside and exposing her breasts, her nipples erect with excitement.

  Casey’s breath caught and he could feel the response in his groin. He swung around to sit up and was about to join her, to smother her with kisses and hugs and to find ultimate pleasure, ultimate intimacy, at long last, when his gaze momentarily strayed. He noticed a giant samurai warrior, wearing black leather armor and a helmet with horns. There was a katana hanging at his side in its sheath. He was standing perfectly still in the shade of a palm tree, observing.

  He paused. Britty scooted over to make room for him, but he continued to stare at the giant. And then he noticed another man, lounging on a nearby chaise and watching them, with a lascivious smile. His nose was narrow, his lips thin and his jaw blocky.

  A tuxedo dressed waiter approached. “Can I get you a drink, perhaps a mojito?” The waiter’s mouth was stretched with a plastered smile and he stared without blinking.

  Casey moaned. He glanced toward Lisa who was cavorting in the surf with Olson and Protonov. What were they doing here? Where was here? His expectation of fulfillment collapsed. It was a sharp-edged, brittle crumbling.

  “What’s wrong?” Britty asked.

  The softness of her hand warmed his thigh.

  He returned his gaze to her. “This is not reality.”

  “How can you even say that? You can feel me and see me and hear me.” She took his hand in hers and pressed it against the soft fullness of her breast.

  “Britty….”

  “Are you crying?” she asked. “After so many years, we’re finally together. Come to me.” She opened her arms. “Make love to me.”

  “Yamaguchi, help me!” he yelled.

  The samurai warrior stepped from the shade of the palm tree into light.

  “I can’t overcome my desire by myself. Help me,” Casey begged.

  The warrior drew his katana from its sheath and held it two-handed. Sunlight sparkled off the edge of the long, curved blade.

  The green room reappeared.

  “Why did you bring us back?” Lisa yelled. “I don’t want to be here. I want to be back there. Take us back, right now! I demand it!”

  “Yeah, Casey,” Slater said. “I would’ve enjoyed watching you fuck that babe. You are such a loser.”

  The tears were gone. His new body could not cry. He had no means to express the devastation of his loss. He wanted to go back, real or not. His gaze met Yamaguchi’s.

  Yamaguchi answered Casey’s look. “You taught me that without reality there is no future. Joy will become sorrow. Success will become failure. Life will become death.”

  “Yes,” Casey whispered.

  The blue alien turned its attention away from the two men to address the group as a whole. “The dreams and desires of the humans on the planet will be fulfilled. They will give us their starship, just as you did. They will want to.”

  “How did you find this planet?” Yamaguchi asked.

  “Your ship told the Masters much before we cleansed it of useless data. This is your original destination. We brought you here and waited.”

  “That’s stupid,” Slater said. “You aren’t so smart.”

  “Shut the hell up, Slater!” Casey ordered and walked toward him.

  The alien turned its large eyes toward the two men as Casey stood ready, his hands balled into fists.

  “So, now you’re a tough guy,” Slater said with a sneer. “Don’t take it out on me. I wasn’t the one who turned down that bitch who offered to fuck you. She was hot.”

  “Shut up, Slater!”

  “You never would’ve satisfied her. She needed a real man. I bet she would’ve fucked me next. Too bad.”

  “I could kill you,” Casey snarled.

  Yamaguchi joined them and stood at Casey’s side.

  The alien seemed to be listening to something and then refocused on the group. “The Masters thank you, human Slater. Your recommendation that we first offer the gift to your birth world is well received. While you slept, we visited the star you call the Sun and discovered a Slan starship on the fourth planet from the star. The Masters and Mothers have learned that it is best not to enter a system that has been claimed by the Slan.”

  Slater smiled. “Oh, really?”

  Yamaguchi wrapped a giant hand around Slater’s throat. “You speak again, you die.”

  “Remember your duty, Mister. I’m your leader.”

  Yamaguchi began squeezing. Slater clawed desperately at the hand around his neck. His face became ruddy and then took on a purple tinge.

  Casey touched Yamaguchi’s arm. “Let him live, for now.”

  Yamaguchi loosened his grip but kept his hand around Slater’s neck. Slater
sucked in some deep breaths, the only sound in the room until the alien spoke.

  “When the Masters determined the inhabitants of this world were ready to receive the gift of the Glorious Symbiosis, you were awakened.”

  Casey pivoted to face the alien. “This isn’t a symbiosis,” he growled. “This is slavery. It’s xenocide. This is an abominable infestation by parasites. Your artificial manipulation of our perceptions does not lead us closer to the unknowable reality. It is destructive. I saw the parasitic invasion of the bodies of our friends. Was that a ‘Glorious Symbiosis’?”

  The creature's tone remained flat, words well-spaced. “You are referring to the Little Ones. If you had not interfered, your fellow humans would have lived far beyond their expected life spans, but you took them into the sterile bowels of the ship, depriving them of the life-giving mud. The symbiosis was destroyed. Your ignorance killed them, but you cannot be held responsible. The Land-Mother is indulgent with the Little Ones and did not object when a few of the non-reproductive members of your species were visited and took an alternate path of service.”

  “Alternate path?” Casey’s voice shook. “They were killed by the so-called Little Ones, little killers is more like it, little monsters!”

  “Transformational adjustment can be difficult but you will witness the truth,” the alien said. “You will give but you will receive more than you have given. You will join in a true symbiosis.”

  “The hell I will!” Casey declared. “You and your glorious infestation will destroy our species, just like it did to all the others. Just like it did to your kind.”

  “To the contrary,” the creature replied, “as long as you survive, your species will survive. Humankind will survive far longer than its projected time of existence. You will be protected from the Slan.”

  “Wrong!” Casey yelled. “The survival of individuals does not equate with the survival of a species. Only reproduction insures survival. Look what happened to your species. They’re dead. You said so yourself.”

  “I am uncountable thousands of your years old. When great reptiles roamed your birth world, I was alive. Adjustment to a higher plane is not easy, but you will come to understand.”