by Stone,Kord
Jerren sighed, he was afraid Enyali was the cause of Eneria’s nightmares, and he thought that if Eneria could have witnessed Enyali’s execution, she may have had closure. Jerren had an idea, pulled back and said, “I want you to try to read my mind.”
“But I cannot.” Eneria said looking confused.
“I’m going to try to open my mind to you; I want to show you my memory of their executions. It may help you.” Jerren focused on the memory, and said, “Now.” Jerren could feel Eneria’s attempt, and when she told him she could see it, he let the memory play out.
Jerren showed Eneria everything, from the beginning of the interrogation of Gebb, to the recitation of their crimes. After which Jason had transported them into the sun, then he turned to command them to carry out the other executions in the quavering voice.
Jerren felt Eneria’s despair upon waking, and was quite pleased to sense that it was now eased a bit. It was now replaced by the feeling of relief, and she began crying again. He was hoping it had not been a mistake showing her the execution, she had witnessed so much in the past, and the last thing he wanted to do was make Eneria feel worse.
Jerren was about to ask if Eneria was alright, when she peered up at him. “Thank you, that did help,” Eneria said with a sniffle. Looking down at his chest she said, we need to check your injury.
Jerren looked down to see the point of contact Eneria’s fist had made and saw it was a little deformed and turning bright red from the bruising. He let out a pained chuckle, placed his left hand over the injury and focused on healing himself. He felt a harmonic hum as the energy resonated throughout his body, and a moment later he withdrew his hand and after taking in his condition, he noted that he still felt a little weak and light headed, but he figured it was probably due to the shallow breaths he had been taking, and said, “see, all better.”
Eneria appeared to be gawking at him a moment, then she said. “That is amazing, but I would still like to have you checked out in the medical unit, your chest still doesn’t look right.”
Jerren was about to protest, but a second later there was a flash and he found himself laying on a medical bed, then a second later he dozed off.
*****
Eneria approached the medical units display and reviewed the results. The injury she had inflicted upon Jerren were not minor. He had three fractured ribs, and although the scan showed that the ribs were partially mended, there had been a rib fragment that had caused damage that Jerren did not heal. The magnitude of what she had done began to wash over her, and she moved to Jerren’s side and waited for the medical unit to finish mending his wounds.
Eneria was standing beside Jerren holding his hand. When he awoke he looked around, and smiling up at her he said, “See, I’m alright.”
Eneria sniffled a little, and then said, “You were still injured, the wounds you healed were superficial, the hematoma was caused by three broken ribs, but you still had a pulmonary artery bleed that was caused by the blow. You could have died and it is my fault.”
Jerren sat up and pulled Eneria close, “Listen to me, it’s not your fault,” he insisted and he gave her a kiss.
Despite the reassurances from Jerren that his injury was not her fault, and only an accident, Eneria couldn’t forgive herself. She knew what she was capable of, and she wasn’t going to allow this to happen again.
*****
The rest of Jerren’s trip to Abydos was uneventful, with the exception of the fact that Eneria had created and moved into a room on the second level. She had told Jerren that she feared that she might injure him in the same manner again, and she absolutely refused to put him in danger like that.
Jerren had argued with Eneria repeatedly but it was to no avail. She was stubborn when she set her mind on it, and she wouldn’t relent. Jerren felt irritated that a lucky blow pretty much put an end to their bonding, Eneria refused to discuss the topic any further, and to top that off, she distanced herself from him both emotionally as well as physically.
Upon arriving at Abydos, Jerren began evaluating the data coming in from the probe he had launched, and Eneria quietly joined him in the control room. She appeared to have been crying, and after asking if she was alright, and her only telling him she was fine, he went back to the scans.
Abydos really wasn’t much different from Earth in appearance. The planet had roughly the same amount of land to water ratio. They did have the occasional space ships taking off and landing on the planet however, and he was pleased to find there were no explosives or an armada of ships waiting for them there. Jerren looked over to Eneria, “Where would you suggest we begin the search for Osiris and Isis?”
“The pyramids generators on this planet look as if they have been partially dismantled. They would most likely be close to scavenge the technology from them.
“There are these two cities nearby,” Eneria pointed to the locations, “I would surmise that if Osiris and Isis are still on this planet then they would be near that location.”
Eneria frowned after looking at her monitor, “The total humanoid population of the planet is only three million three hundred and ninety-six. We can scan the populous and we should be able to differentiate between genetics that are normal from those who have been altered,” Eneria began the scanning process.
“How long should that process take?” Jerren asked.
Eneria tapped on her display and replied, “Twenty-four more minutes to account for all humanoids, but we already have three potentials from the cities I pointed out.”
“Should I send another probe to those locations to get a visual confirmation?” Jerren asked.
“Yes, that should expedite our search.”
A minute later a visual image of their first subject came up, “Damn…” Jerren almost felt like he was going to be ill, “What the hell happened to that person?” the image showed someone crouched and hiding in an alleyway, He looked as if his body had been chopped apart and inexpertly reattached with no care as to where the pieces were put together. Jerren looked over and saw Eneria shiver a moment.
“Nothing I have not seen before. I think we can expect to find Osiris and or Isis on this planet still. The most recent injuries were sustained in the last month,” Eneria stated sadly.
Jerren looked at the figure with sorrow building, “Is there anything we can do for him?”
Eneria had performed a scan and replied, “We can repair the damage done to her body, but the emotional toll will be extensive, and she is heavily medicated. The earliest damage appears to be over seven years ago. So if we were to perform a mind wipe on her, she will lose the past seven years.”
Jerren’s eyes welled up and he said, “I would think the loss of seven years would be acceptable. After we locate these... these butchers, how would you feel about helping her?”
Eneria appeared to think about it a moment then replied, “We will probably be here until we interrogate Osiris and Isis anyway. It would not take long, but we do not know if she would even accept our assistance.”
Jerren nodded and said, “I would like to make the offer all the same.” Then he maneuvered the probe to examine the other two potential targets but they turned out to be the same as the girl in the alley.
Eneria sat back waiting on the probes to return, and thought over her dilemma, she had deliberately tried to distance herself from Jerren. She felt great pain at the thought that she caused him injury, but she knew it could have been far worse. It was destroying her not being close to Jerren over the past week, and she found that her emotional state was deteriorating.
She had cried herself to sleep every night, and when she awoke as well. She was at least happy that she did not have any more of the nightmares of Enyali, but she felt a week was not enough time to prove she was over it.
Another twenty minutes had passed and Eneria’s console chirped. Looking down she sighed, “There are thirty-two others with altered genetics around this planet. I almost forgot the entire family had the chlorophyll procedu
re performed on them. They could not alter that part of their genetics, so I narrowed the parameters and when I did, all of our potential targets disappeared,” Eneria looked at the data from the second probe. She performed a multi-spacial scan and let out a hum.
“What’s wrong?” Jerren asked.
Eneria pointed to her display, “That structure there, I am unable to get any readings from within it. Hold on a moment,” She maneuvered the probe into the building and tried to perform another scan. “That structure has Imortum technology built into the walls and it is interfering with the probes transmission. I think we will need to go down to the surface to check it out.” She re-maneuvered the probe backing it out of the building and set it on a new task.
“What did you do with the probe?” Jerren asked her.
“I tasked the probe with getting detailed scans of the other thirty-two victims of Osiris and Isis’s experiments. It will take a while.”
Jerren nodded and asked, “Would anyone down there know if we brought that first girl up here?”
“I doubt it, why?” Eneria asked.
“By the look of her, I would bet she may have information we can use. I want to transport her up here in stasis, and then we can repair her body. Afterward, we can attempt to talk to her.”
Eneria agreed and transported the girl directly to medical saying, “It will take a few minutes to repair the damage she has sustained. Like I said she was highly medicated, and there is no telling how she will respond once she wakes, and the medications have been cleared from her system,” Eneria stood and headed for medical trying not to make eye contact with Jerren, but she could feel that he was following closely behind her.
Jerren stood next to the medical bed watching in apparent awe as the young lady’s body seemed to mold like putty. Scars and disfigurements smoothing out until what was left was a beautiful young lady that looked to be no older than sixteen.
“That’s amazing, every time I see the medical unit heal someone, it just floors me. I only hope her mind is repaired as easily. How much longer until we can wake her?”
“Her body chemistry is back to a normal range for her race. I am increasing her dopamine level. That will increase her awareness of her surroundings and allow her to accept what she is experiencing. I am going to keep her restrained though.”
Jerren nodded at Eneria and a moment later she saw the young lady’s eyes open in panic.
“You don’t need to fear us,” Jerren said as he approached her side.
The girl’s eyes began darting from side to side, and her breaths became rapid along with her heart rate. Eneria watched as Jerren placed his hand on her forehead, and the moment he made contact she seemed to calm dramatically.
“We’ve transported you to our ship to repair the damage inflicted upon you. Do you understand me?” Jerren had asked of her.
The girl nodded, and Jerren removed his hand from her forehead. The second the contact was broken, the girl’s blind panic returned and it appeared as if he instinctually returned his hand to her head.
“Ok, can you speak?” Jerren had asked.
“Who… who are you, are you a God?” the girl asked.
Jerren let out an audible sigh, Enyali would usually say yes, then proceed to destroy whatever will the being had. Eneria could feel the girls fear from several feet away and Jerren answered her.
Speaking in a strange quavering, yet soothing sounding voice Jerren said, “no young one, we are not gods. We are from another planet, we are here in search of criminals, and we saw you were in distress. Who inflicted these injuries upon you?”
Eneria could feel the girl’s trepidation rising and Jerren must have too, because he attempted to calm her, saying, “No harm will befall you for anything you say here.”
“I was punished by the gods because my father refused to aid them,” the girl said as a tear ran down her cheek.
“What were these Gods names?” Jerren had asked softly.
As if reciting a well-programmed statement, the girl replied, “The only true gods, Osiris God of the Underworld and Isis Goddess of Health, Love, and Marriage.”
The quaver to Jerren’s voice became more pronounced as he said, “Know this, neither Osiris nor Isis are gods. They are long-lived aliens from another planet, nothing more. They are the criminals we are seeking. Are they hiding in the temple?”
The girl seemed to concentrate a moment, and then said, “I’ve only ever seen them in the temple.”
The room began glowing when Jerren’s next words were spoken, “Listen carefully little one, the damage to your body has been repaired. But your mind has seen too much. The only way I can help you now is to remove the memories. Do you understand?”
“What happens if I don’t want to forget what happened to me?” the girl asked with a fearful voice.
Jerren replied, “I am the only thing keeping you in the here and now. If I leave the memories, you would have to be highly medicated the same as we found you. Would you like to see the alternative to having the memories removed and not being medicated?”
The girl nodded and Jerren removed his hand from her forehead momentarily. A second later the girl’s eyes rolled back into her head, she began convulsing and she let out a screech of despair. A few seconds later Jerren’s hand came to rest back on the girls head.
Tears streamed down the girls face and she nodded, “Take them away, please,” She said imploringly.
Eneria was watching and not quite understanding what was happening. She had never heard Jerren speak in the voice he was using. It was strange but compelling, kind of like when Inola took over Jason’s body in Jerren’s memory of Enyali’s execution. But this time it somehow ensured a deep peacefulness, and she wondered how Jerren could know how to speak the girl’s language, with him coming from Earth, and Eneria wondered if it were Inola doing it.
The girl agree to having the memories removed, and Eneria approached to begin the procedure. She only took a few steps when she was frozen in place, and the room began to glow brightly and a second later Jerren collapsed to the floor, and whatever force was holding Eneria in place dropped the moment Jerren hit the floor as well. Not knowing what happened to him she rushed to his side, and frantically took in his condition.
Jerren opened his eyes while she was examining him. “What happened? Why am I on the floor?” he asked a little confusedly.
“You were talking to the girl and you just fell unconscious,” Eneria stated with concern.
A moment later Jerren reached up and he pressed tightly upon his eyes and temples in apparent pain, and Eneria asked, “What is wrong!?”
A moment later Jerren seemed to regain himself, and then he replied, “It was a data transfer. She gave me the information we needed.”
“Who?” Eneria asked, but she thought she knew who he was referring to.
Jerren looked from her to the girl on the medical table, and Eneria peered over as well, then with a brilliant flash, the girl was gone.
“What!? Where did she go?” Eneria asked.
Jerren said, “It was Inola. She got the information we needed from the girl and passed it on to me,” Jerren appeared to be thinking something over, then added, “Osiris and Isis are both down there in the temple. We have to go down there to collect them. They cannibalized the pyramids generator and used the material to fortify a sanctuary. It’ll be easy enough to get in to the temple, we just can’t transport into or out of it.”
Eneria peered through the transport log and said, “Where did the girl go? She was not transported by the ship.”
Jerren closed his eyes a moment then said, “I don’t know where she is, all I get is a strong feeling that she’s safe now… Not on this planet though.”
“How is that possible? We are nowhere near another habitable world.” Eneria asked.
Jerren sighed and got to his feet, “I’m not sure, all I know is that Inola is very powerful,” Jerren changed the subject a little, “What happened exactly? I don’t have muc
h of a recollection of the events after I took my hand from the girl’s forehead.”
Eneria explained what was said, and what happened. When she made it to the end she said, “I was going to clear the girls memory, but I was frozen in place. If it was Inola, why did she not let me help the girl?”
Jerren shook his head, and then said, “I think Inola removed the memories on her own.”
Eneria then asked, “How did you know the girls language? You were speaking it just after you touched her.”
Shrugging, Jerren said, “I don’t know, I vaguely remember speaking, but I can’t remember what was said, or the language I spoke it in. I’ve learned several languages because of the bonding process with the ship, but this one feels different.”
Eneria looked at Jerren a bit puzzled and said, “I am fluent in all of the languages the ship is programmed with, and her language isn’t one of them. The only reason I could understand what was being said is because one of my prior commanders could speak the language.”
“I don’t know how to explain it, I did feel something strange when I first came into contact with her, it may be that, or it could be Inola.” Jerren said with another shrug.
Chapter Fifteen
Jason and Justin’s ships arrived at Abydos and Justin called over, “Jerren, were you successful in locating Osiris and Isis?”
“Yes. We need to go to the surface to collect them though. They’re hold up inside a temple that’s shielded with Imortum technology from the pyramids generator. Tell Jason to meet us down there in ten minutes,” Jerren looked over the scan of the area a second. “We’ll insert one klick south of the entrance. I’ve sent the location to the both of you.”
“Got it, I’ll let Jason know, see you in five,” Justin’s voice cut out.
Jerren turned to Eneria. “I want you to do me a favor.” Eneria nodded and he continued, “If we aren’t out of there in two hours, I want you to ram the temple with this ship. It might be enough to get a lock on us to get us out. I doubt if it will come to that, but just in case.”