by Andrew Gates
“It’s what allows me to speak to the mantises,” Dr. Parnel replied, spinning her head back around to face them. “There’s a translator chip installed in my brain. It translates the thoughts I think into words that the mantises can understand. All I need to do is speak my own language naturally and the chip does the rest.”
“Fascinating,” Dan said.
“It reads minds?” Ophelia asked, leaning forward now too.
“Essentially, yes,” Dr. Parnel replied.
“Then how come these mantises haven’t killed you yet?” Ophelia continued.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, didn’t you blow up their mothership? How did they take the news? Wouldn’t they want to kill you when they learned you were the one who did it?”
Dr. Parnel froze at those words. After a brief moment of paralysis, she quickly checked the faces of the mantises around her, then turned to face Ophelia again with wide eyes and a nervous expression.
“My Lord, Sanja, they don’t know, do they?” Dan said, suddenly speaking the words on everyone’s mind.
“Some details are better left unsaid. Look how much good has come from this alliance,” she replied.
“Lord Beyond Both Seas,” Selena muttered.
“You really are twisted, Sanja. You killed them and now you’re acting like nothing happened,” added Grey.
“You’ve been playing both sides this whole time,” said Dan.
“Don’t act like I’m a monster,” Dr. Parnel interrupted. “That was months ago. Things have changed. Circumstances have changed. If I knew then what this alliance could become-”
“Don’t even finish the sentence, Sanja. You might have the mantises fooled, but you don’t fool me. You don’t care about an alliance. You care only about yourself. That’s it.”
“I… I…” The woman struggled to come up with a response.
Why are they being so mean to her? Jallah wondered. She made a mistake. So what? We all thought the mantises were evil back then. All of us were happy to see that ship destroyed, including Dan.
“I have a question,” Jallah said, hoping to change the subject. He didn’t want to see Dr. Parnel get attacked anymore. The hypocrisy was beginning to bother him.
“Yes, what?” she asked, motioning to him.
“How did you start to work for the Mantis King?”
“The Supreme Chieftain, you mean?”
Jallah nodded.
Dr. Parnel smiled, pleased to be speaking about something else now.
“There is a lot to explain. It’s a very long story.”
“That’s okay,” Jallah said. “I want to hear it.”
Dr. Parnel shifted in her seat and nodded to him.
“Alright. I’ll start at the beginning. You should know that there have been a lot of big changes in the political leadership in the last several months. When the mantises first found and attacked us in the Atlantic Station, the leader at the time was named Kal Khtallia. She didn’t hate humans, but she attacked us because she feared us. She thought we might’ve been evolved zombies. You know, those things that attacked you guys on the surface? They call them ‘ruors’ here. We look similar enough to them. Hell they even called us ‘evolved-ones’ for that very reason.”
“They thought we were evolved zombies? That’s why they attacked?” Grey repeated, apparently too caught up in her story to spew out anymore accusations.
“That’s right,” Dr. Parnel replied, nodding.
“But we are nothing like them.”
“They know that now, but at the time, they didn’t. Hence ‘evolved-ones’,” she explained.
Jallah trembled at the thought of zombies being smart like humans. They were already scary enough being dumb.
“After the mantises destroyed our city and took captives, they were finally able to study us in detail. That’s when they learned that we weren’t dangerous. But by that time, they’d already wiped out the Atlantic Station. Kal Khtallia eventually sympathized with us. I heard a rumor that she even befriended one of the human captives. As a result, she ordered that humans not be harmed anymore.”
“Not harmed, huh?” Dan said, chuckling. “What the hell happened? We’ve been harmed quite a bit. Hell, they killed Iris!”
“Kal Khtallia didn’t make the order right away, and even when she did, there were those who resisted her order. But once she did, well… then… well… you know,” Dr. Parnel replied, shrugging.
“You blew their mothership to bits,” Grey said, finishing the sentence for her.
“You can see how that would upset them,” she said. “One of those upset folks was Kho Veznek, who hated humans even before the incident with their mothership. His hatred for our kind went all the way back to the start.”
“And who was he? Who was this Kho Veznek guy?” Margery asked.
“Second-in-command of the Chiefdom, right there under Kal Khtallia.”
“Oh.”
“Oh is right. He didn’t like that Kal Khtallia was getting friendly with the humans, so he decided to do something about it.”
“What did he do?” Jallah asked.
“He killed her and made himself the new Supreme Chieftain.”
There were gasps all around.
“He killed Kal Khtallia?” Margery repeated.
“He did. He even made it look like it was a human who did it. The whole thing was an attempt to get the public to join his side, to get everyone to hate the humans again. And, for a lot of them, it worked. He put an order out almost immediately: all humans were to be exterminated. But, like any politician, not everybody liked his idea. Some people still sided with Kal Khtallia. Even in death, they wanted to follow her command. That’s where I arrive in the story. When I came to the surface, I met a group just like that, a group that rejected Kho Veznek’s policies and wanted to protect humans from harm.”
“You were lucky,” Grey said.
“Yes, I was,” Dr. Parnel agreed, nodding. “At least, I was lucky until Kho Veznek found out about them and murdered them all for defiance.”
“Damn,” Dan muttered.
“But just as Kho Veznek was about to kill me, I spoke to him and I convinced him to spare me. I… I…” Dr. Parnel suddenly paused mid-sentence and stared forward, as if wondering how to tell this next part of the story.
“What?” Dan asked. “What happened next?”
“I… I convinced him that I could be useful,” Dr. Parnel continued. “He agreed to let me prove myself, but I’m afraid, before I got the chance, he was killed too.”
“Kho Veznek was killed?” Grey asked.
Dr. Parnel nodded.
“Who killed him?” said Margery.
“A soldier named Kho Ikharus. He found out that Kho Veznek was the one who killed Kal Khtallia and swore to get revenge. As a result, Kho Ikharus is now the current Supreme Chieftain, and my boss.”
“And this new guy, Kho Ikharus, he likes humans, right?” Jallah asked.
“He does,” Dr. Parnel replied. “Trust me, you will be safe with him.”
“None of this sounds safe to me,” Selena replied. “How many of these Supreme Chieftains end up dead? It sounds like the safest thing to do is to get as far away from these Supreme Chieftains as possible.”
“You can relax,” Dr. Parnel assured them. “I know things sound bad, but they aren’t. This is a new era. Trust me, we are completely-”
Growl! Roar! Grr! A mantis suddenly turned and muttered some incomprehensible words to Dr. Parnel, forcing her to stop in the middle of her sentence. A concerned expression suddenly covered her face.
That doesn’t look good, Jallah thought.
“What is happening?” Dan asked, leaning forward.
“Rakhaan,” Dr. Parnel replied. “We’re here.”
Jallah had been too caught up in the story, he didn’t even think to check outside. He quickly turned to face the window and peered out.
The view immediately caused Jallah to freeze in awe. Tall str
uctures shot up into the air like beautiful metal spears. In between them, long, thick streets crisscrossed in a grid covered in lights. Ships zigzagged in and out of the structures like insects. And the city sprawled on and on as far as he could see, making the Pentagonal Megastructure look tiny by comparison.
“Wow,” Jallah instinctively muttered.
“I’ve never seen a city before,” added Margery, “at least, not in person. I’ve just seen old pictures from textbooks. It’s… it’s so pretty.”
“Unfortunately, there’s a problem,” Dr. Parnel continued. Her tone was serious.
“What?” Dan asked.
“The pilot says we’ve been denied permission to land,” she said.
Jallah turned away from the window now to face Dr. Parnel. The concerned expression still clung to her face.
“Why?” Dan asked.
“Hold on,” Dr. Parnel said, pointing a finger to the air. She turned around to face the mantises again and loudly spoke to them for a few more seconds before turning back to face the other humans. “Oh, these goddamn trogs,” she said with an exhale.
“Who are trogs?” Dan asked.
“The people in Rakhaan. They know we are part of Kho Ikharus’s army, and that’s the problem. That’s why they don’t want us to land. Apparently the city of Rakhaan is now under the control of a faction loyal to Kal Khtallia. Even though she’s dead, they’ve sworn their allegiance to her and they want nothing to do with Kho Ikharus-loyalists.”
“What? That’s crazy!” replied Dan.
“I thought you said Kho Ikharus was the Supreme Chieftain!” Selena said.
“Yes, yes, he is. These Rakhaan-ians are just being stubborn.
How can you follow a dead person? Jallah wondered.
“Well, what does that mean for us?” Margery asked.
“Apparently it means we’re not welcome here,” Dr. Parnel replied. She let out a frustrated huff and spun around again. This time, she stood up from her seat and pointed to the mantises aggressively. “Let me talk to them. Let me speak to them. I can convince them to let us land,” she pleaded with the mantises.
The mantises roared and growled back to her.
“I don’t care if the translator doesn’t work through radio. You can still talk to them, right? Translate for me!” she shouted.
The mantises continued to talk back. All the while, Dr. Parnel clearly grew more and more frustrated with them.
“This is ridiculous!” she said, tossing her hands in the air. “How can the entire city kick us out? How can we be banned so nonchalantly like that? We can’t go to space. We can’t go to Rakhaan. Where the hell are we supposed to go?” Her voice got louder and louder with every word.
The ship angled up again, ascending away from the city. It seemed, regardless of Dr. Parnel’s pleads, the pilot was committed to landing somewhere other than Rakhaan. Jallah took one last glance at the vast city below, enjoying the sight while he could.
“If I can’t talk to them and you won’t speak for me, then let me speak in person. Tell them we just want to land briefly so that I can talk to them. If they hear from me, they’ll-”
Growl! Roar! Grr! A mantis interrupted her mid-sentence. This time its voice was much louder. It was clear that this mantis was not in the mood to negotiate.
Dr. Parnel’s expression went blank, then she let out a deep huff of frustration and stormed back over to her seat, defeated. Once she sat down, Jallah had to know what happened.
“What did the mantis say?” he asked.
“I wanted to speak to Rakhaan, to let them know that we came in peace, but he wouldn’t let me. He said perhaps it’s best if we find another city,” Dr. Parnel replied.
“Another city?” Grey repeated.
“How long can we keep flying around like this looking for a place to land?” Dan asked. “Won’t we run out of fuel eventually?”
“At the very least, we need to stop and use the bathroom!” added Selena.
“I… I don’t know,” was all Dr. Parnel said in response.
“Well, did he at least say where we are going?” Dan continued.
Instead of answering his question, Dr. Parnel sighed, closed her eyes, then spun around to face the mantises again.
“Where are we going now?” she asked the nearest mantis.
The standard roars and growls followed. Dr. Parnel slowly nodded her head, then spun around again.
“What did he say?” Grey asked.
“He said we’ll land in a city called T’Dakho. It’s an even bigger city somewhere in the south. It is the only city the pilot is certain we will be accepted.”
“How does he know that?” Dan wondered.
“Because,” Dr. Parnel replied, leaning forward, “apparently the Supreme Chieftain himself has just arrived there.”
Chapter Twelve
Regroup
Sup-Chief. Kho Ikharus
The trip to the surface was strangely quiet. The cabin was tense, yet no one spoke a word. Ikharus was practically frozen. He had not moved a muscle in minutes. Eyes glanced at all other eyes in the ship, though beyond the breathing and the hum of the engine, nothing else was heard.
Ikharus lowered his head, finally putting an end to his tense immobility, and stared down at his trembling feet. I’m shaking, he realized. It had been a long time since he had ever shaken out of fear.
The Supreme Chieftain let out a deep breath and closed his eyes, trying to calm himself down and, more importantly, hold back the sea of tears he knew would inevitably come. He knew, like him, the others in this cabin were doing their best to hold back those same tears, though, like him, none were showing it.
Do not cry. You must stay strong, Ikharus told himself. But deep down, he could not help but feel compelled to let it all out. Why should I hold back the tears? In times like this, how can I not cry? I am afraid, sad, horrified. I witnessed my fleet destroyed before my very eyes. Should that sight not justify my tears?
Ikharus slapped his own head. Those thoughts were poison. Despite everything, Ikharus did not cry. He held back the tears and gulped. He was trained as a soldier, trained to mask his emotions and to show resolve above all else. That was his way. Even as a hierarch, he would not falter.
“T’Dakho coming into view now,” said Ukhrani, suddenly interrupting the silence of it all.
Ikharus straightened his back and peered out the window as best as he could from his seat. Sure enough, he was able to see the tall spear-like towers of T’Dakho poking up from the ground, clustered together in rows like the spikes of a rengtal tiger. Under normal circumstances, Ikharus would have smiled at the beautiful sight, but there was nothing normal about these circumstances and no reason to smile.
“Good,” was all he said in return. “Let us land quickly. I have had enough time in the sky.”
“Air traffic is thick. Ships are arriving from all over the Chiefdom,” Ukhrani continued.
“We take priority,” the standing guard said, moving his way up to the cockpit. “Tell them we are prepared to show all necessary clearance codes.”
“No need,” Ukhrani said in a distracted tone, obviously reading off some sort of data as she spoke the words. “Apparently Kho Vylan has already notified T’Dakho of our arrival. Escort fighters are moving in now.”
“Good,” Ikharus said again. He slowly nodded his head and leaned back.
Seconds later, a fighter pulled up alongside the ship’s port side. Ikharus could see it clearly through the window from where he sat. He assumed there must have been another on the starboard.
A comforting claw pressed against Ikharus’s left shoulder, prompting him to turn that way. Jakhu stood there, staring at him through her helmet.
“We are almost there,” she reassured him. “We will be safe soon.”
“Safe,” he muttered back to Jakhu. He had never been so unsure of the meaning of that word until now.
You can run to the surface, but know that Earth will be ours. The words of the
unknown enemy echoed through Ikharus’s mind again, haunting him. It almost stung his brain just to recall them.
Our entire fleet is destroyed. Space is now controlled by an unknown enemy. What is to stop them from coming to T’Dakho next? He subtly shook his head. Safe was the last word he would choose.
“I am receiving landing instructions,” Ukhrani narrated, once again pulling him away from his thoughts. “We will touch down in t-minus 85 seconds.”
“Your Majesty, prepare for landing,” said the guard seated to Ikharus’s right.
Ikharus nodded and sat upright, making sure the straps holding him in place were secure. He closed his eyes and let out a deep breath as the next minute and a half flew by in what seemed like an instant.
Then, at last, the ship touched down on solid ground. Everything quickly grew still and Ikharus felt strangely relieved for the first time in what felt like an eternity. He sighed again and allowed the standing guard to undo the straps that held him in place.
“T’Dakho,” Ikharus said as he stood up from the seat, “you draw me back to you once more.”
It took a few seconds for Ukhrani to open the door and lower the ramp. Fresh air poured into the cabin as soon as the rear door opened. Scion and the honor guards formed up around the Supreme Chieftain as the ramp slowly touched down on the hangar floor.
“You set the pace, Supreme Chieftain,” one of the guards said.
Ikharus hobbled as he walked down the ship’s ramp and into the hangar. Though no longer flying, he was still dizzy from the high g forces and constant course adjustments. Two honor guards, Jakhu and Ezenkharam escorted him from the front, while the remaining two honor guards plus Evirak, Kozakh and Ukhrani took up the rear. They did not appear as dizzy as he, though he supposed they were just doing an excellent job hiding it.
Kho Vylan, along with two more honor guards and a Kholvari that Ikharus did not recognize stood mere kotans away from the ship, waiting for them. They bowed.
“You may rise,” Ikharus said, waving his scepter as he neared the others.
The welcoming party rose.
“Kho Vylan,” one of the honor guards in front greeted.