by Karl Morgan
“The spark of life is always immortal, Eon,” Bandopaz noted. “It is only our physical existence that makes us unique. It is both a sacred and heinous gift. On one hand, we can help others forever. That is our role in the universe, at least that’s what I think. We can watch new civilizations grow and achieve monumental good. But, unfortunately, we will also see them turn on their people and see their power erode until they are lost in the dust of time. You will know countless people and love innumerable women, only to see them age before your eyes and die.”
“But if we exist on the spiritual plane as well, can’t we be with them even after they pass away?” Eon asked. “Please say yes, as the alternative would be unbearable.”
“Yes, of course we can still be with them,” Bandopaz smiled. “But it’s not the same thing. My last wife lived a very long life, and our time together was perfect and loving. But she passed, as will everyone but you and I. When I reach out to her in the Source, she still loves me and wants me to be happy, but eventually she will choose to live in the physical universe again. She will hopefully have another long and wonderful life, but she won’t be my wife. She may choose to be male or female, even a different species like the Galliceans walking by us. That brief window when she and I were alive and together is the only chance I had to let her know how much I loved her. And I will never get that chance again. The love in my heart for her will continue for a long time, but remain unrequited.”
“You make transcendence seem like a bad thing,” Eon noted. “Why did we do it if we must suffer so?”
“Life and death involve suffering for everyone,” Bandopaz began. “When a male dies, leaving his grieving wife behind, she suffers. He is in the Source and sees her pain and he suffers. Eventually wounds heal and people and spirits get on with their own existence. That is life. The others have a period in the Source between their lives to consider the past and plan for the future. In that period, they know the truth of the universe and can place their past lives in perspective and become excited by the next.”
“You keep saying we’re in the spiritual plane too, so why can’t we do that too?” Eon argued. “This is very confusing.”
“We do, Eon. We have the opportunity at each second to consider the reality of the universe and accept what has happened. However, every day, we wake up, get dressed and go about our business. The memories of those we have lost are still there, even though we may know they’ve been reborn as a Donnaki or whatever. Since our physical existence never ends, we don’t have the separation others do.”
“Why are you telling me this? I don’t feel any better and I’m not using my powers. Is this just the bad news part of my transcendence?” Eon asked.
Bandopaz put his hand on Eon’s shoulder and said, “No. I’m just trying to share what I’ve learned so you can be prepared for the future. We will do what we can to stop The Accord from destroying all life in this galaxy. We will try to save Dave and Lini. But you must understand that their lives are short and they will all eventually forget about us, no matter how much we love them.”
“You think I’m in love with Lini, don’t you?”
“I don’t know if it’s love, but it is clear you have strong feelings for her,” Bandopaz said. “You rescued her from a firing squad and dismantled Vanda’s robots to protect her. If you are in love with her, I think that’s fantastic. If you two have a long, happy life together, I will be overjoyed for you both. But eventually, she will pass over. After some more time, she will likely begin a new life. While it is possible she will choose to be near you, there is no guarantee. Once she learns the truth about existence, she will choose what she wants next.”
“How do you get over the pain, Bandopaz?”
“The passage of time is the only cure, Eon. When it is especially difficult, I choose to disappear and find a new world where I can be a different person or species, although there are plenty of human planets in need of help right now. You never really forget them, but somehow you learn to accept their new reality and move on with your own.”
“The battle is about to begin, Bandopaz,” Eon reported. “What do we do now?”
“I’ll leave that up to you.”
Chapter 26
The first waves of robots to meet were the screamers, smaller robots about twenty feet long with four articulating arms ending in blasters, a large head with an alligator-like mouth to rip their prey apart, and a small bit of brain matter buried deep within the superstructure belonging to either Mantarcus or Vanda. They were exceptionally fast, designed to soften the defenses of their targets for the larger robots not far behind. Vanda’s fleet of five hundred heavily outnumbered the three hundred from Mantarcus.
To an observer, there was no way to differentiate which side was which. However, the brains of the two Friends controlled every plasma blast, twist and turn. It looked like two large schools of silver fish running into each other, with blaster fire taking the place of the dappled sunlight coming from the surface. Here it was more like schools of sharks as the robots blasted and then chopped their foes to pieces. The fleets spun around one another taking any shots they could. Bits of metal and crippled robots filled the open space, and the strikers rushed forward to join the battle.
The strikers looked much like a fighter jet with a two-man crew. They were armed with high energy plasma rockets and blaster pods. The pilot was controlled by Vanda or Mantarcus, while the gunner was a younger Friend of The Accord. This would be the first time in history that Friends of The Accord would attempt to kill one another. As Vanda’s screamers began to open a hole in the sphere of fighting ships, Vanda’s two hundred strikers shot through it toward Mantarcus, only to engage his four hundred strikers. Vanda was shocked that Mantarcus had more strikers. The rules of The Accord required all Friends to be less powerful than their leader. He reached out to Mantarcus to scream at him again, but was ignored.
Sensing his advantage, Mantarcus directed one hundred strikers to join the battle between the screamers. The battle began to favor Mantarcus, and he again reached out to Vanda. “I told you I would not speak again, Vanda, but I offer to disengage if you will turn about and leave this Cloud.”
“I knew you were a traitor, Mantarcus. Now you have too many strikers, another sign of your contempt for The Accord. But I will not turn back,” Vanda spat. He unleashed the rest of his attack fleet and ten battle cruisers, and five landing ships raced toward Mantarcus. Mantarcus launched his five cruisers and his unique tool, the spidunk.
Five of Vanda’s cruisers flew as cover for the landing ships while the others engaged the enemy cruisers. The spidunk withdrew and hovered at a safe distance from the battle. If Dave Brewster had been awake at that moment, deep in the night on Stit, and gone outside, he would have seen the blaster trails even at this distance and might have tried to escape with Lini.
Mantarcus knew it was only a matter of time now. Vanda’s advantage in battle cruisers was too large to overcome. The landing ships would arrive and begin to cut through the shell of his vessel. Eventually, the internal atmosphere would fail and all of his humans and animals would die a horrible death in seconds. His robots were fighting gallantly, but could never win. Eon’s offer to help him transcend was not fulfilled. He would die as Vanda’s robots chopped up his brain and fed it to their hungry troops. His brain alone would feed The Accord for several weeks. He relished his death. His life as a machine was too terrible to bear, but his sole regret was for the humans inside his ship. He would have failed them too. “Eon, why have you forgotten about me?” he thought.
“I never forgot, brother,” Eon said.
“Where are you? You sound very near.”
“I am in the elevator car above your brain. Please let me come and speak with you,” Eon said. The golden elevator dropped down its transparent shaft until it was deep within the brain.
“I will lose this battle, Eon. Nothing can stop that now. I don’t regret my death, but my people will die in agony along with me. What am I t
o do?”
“I have already moved them to Stit, along with the animals on your farms,” Eon said. “Please verify that is true.”
Mantarcus activated all scanners to review the interior of the vessel. He could only find Friends within the ship and he watched them searching frantically for the humans as well. “How did you do that?”
“You must join me as well, Mantarcus, before Vanda is able to attack your brain,” Eon said.
“Can you extract me as you did my people?”
“I could make you a man again, but that would not help us stop The Accord,” Eon noted as three landing ships attached their spikes to the surface of Vanda’s planetoid. “You must choose to transcend and join me.”
“I don’t know how to do that, brother,” Mantarcus cried as the spidunk accelerated to near light-speed in a fraction of a second. After another fraction of a second, it flew right up the engines of the fourth landing ship, smashed through the landing bay and incinerated the robots waiting for the ship to land. Finally, it flew out through the front of the ship and rocketed away from the scene of the battle. The landing ship exploded in a massive ball of flame and smoke. Deep in his planetoid, Vanda groaned in pain.
“You could kill Vanda with your spidunk, you know,” Eon noted.
“I never wanted to kill anyone! And now look what I’ve done!”
“Release your fears, Mantarcus!” Eon begged. “Surrender your mind to your spirit and join me in this elevator car.”
“I’m afraid,” Mantarcus gasped as Vanda’s robots sliced open the skin of the planetoid, and the rush of atmosphere shot out into space. While the robots controlled by Vanda rushed headlong for the brain chamber, many of the Friends were dumbfounded by the emptiness of the vessel. “Where are the humans?” they thought. “Where are the defenders?” they wondered.
“Mantarcus, choose your destiny!” Eon shouted. “Choose to join me! Give me your hand, for God’s sake!”
Vanda’s robots broke through the shell of the brain chamber and rushed inside to slice his brain to shreds, finally to free The Accord of this vile traitor. But there was no brain. The chamber was empty. Sensing life ahead, they rushed toward the central elevator shaft and stopped cold when they arrived. Two men were standing in the elevator cab. One was crying and clinging to the other, who was laughing and comforting his friend. One Friend approached until it was less than a foot from the column and said, “Where is Mantarcus? Who are you?”
“Nisfaz of The Accord, it is good to see you,” Eon laughed. “Mantarcus is right here with me. I am Eon, in case you didn’t guess that already.”
A striker came alongside, and a golden robot opened the canopy and gasped, “Eon, are you responsible for this?”
“Vanda, how are you today?” Eon said. “I am somewhat responsible, I suppose. I did move all the life-forms from this station to Stit. But Mantarcus transcended by himself.” He hugged Mantarcus and said, “I am so proud of you, brother!”
“You think I won’t just kill you both now and go to Stit to recover the feedstock?” Vanda laughed. “You two are idiots to think being human is superior to being of The Accord!”
Eon was doubled over in laughter. Mantarcus was trembling in fear and could not understand Eon’s reaction to the threat. “Brother, we must flee.”
When he could compose himself, Eon put his hand on the Mantarcus’ shoulder and replied, “There is no need to flee, brother. Vanda with all of his robots and bombs cannot harm us any longer.” Vanda’s striker turned to aim its weaponry at the elevator chamber. The sound of power building inside the ship was deafening. “Please wait here.” Eon turned and walked through the glass wall as though it was an illusion and continued walking through the vacuum inside the open chamber, even though there was no floor.
“Goodbye boys,” Vanda said as he fired all of his weapons at Eon. The blast filled the brain chamber with light and fire, which all reflected back and vaporized the striker. When the explosion faded, Eon was still standing in the same spot, completely unaffected by the blast. Mantarcus was standing in the elevator, with his mouth opening and closing, and looking totally confused.
Eon spoke, and his voice resonated in the mind of every Friend of The Accord. “My dear brothers, the days of The Accord are over. Now is the time of our further evolution. This is a moment to rejoice! Mantarcus and I want you to join with us. If you choose to stay with Vanda, that is your decision, but all that awaits you in the spiral is death. You cannot succeed there. I will not allow you to succeed. If you want to live, come to Stit in peace and we will transform you. Some will be able to transcend like us, and the rest will become human again, as you were born and as you should have remained.” He turned and walked back through the glass wall to stand with Mantarcus.
“What do we do now, brother?”
Eon smiled and looked out at the brain chamber. Several dozen Friends had approached the car. Their weapons were deactivated. “Mantarcus, let us take these friends home with us,” Eon replied.
“How do we do that? I feel as though I’m in a fog, watching a movie on a screen. None of this seems real to me.”
“You need to exercise your considerable talents, brother,” Eon said. “Put your arm around my shoulders and close your eyes. Then remember the small park in Tanat and believe that we are all there and human; you, me and our friends. Believe and make it true, Mantarcus!” The chamber was instantly empty. Hundreds more robots rushed in and fired on the center column, which shattered into tiny fragments.
§
All over Stit, millions of people wandered about, wondering where they were and how long it would be before Vanda arrived to take his revenge. The men who had been Friends of The Accord marveled at their new bodies and the sensation of air in their lungs. They knew what had happened on the planetoid and tried to comfort the people and find food to eat and a place to rest. Those who had been ranchers on the planetoids gathered the cattle and sheep and herded them toward new pens which had been built by Eon’s robots in anticipation of this day. Throughout Tanat and the other cities, people began to clean and repair homes and businesses that had been abandoned for millennia. Stit was a human planet once more.
But for how long? Vanda was incensed. His enemies had escaped and he knew where they were. It would be a simple task to send the robots down to Stit to claim the feedstock from the Mantarcus planetoid. Yet there was a new sensation in his mind: doubt. Eon was definitely not a mere man, although that was exactly what his sensors told him. A human could not walk through glass or breathe in the vacuum of space, and yet that is what Eon did. Massive plasma blasts would not bounce off a mortal man and destroy the firing ship, but that happened as well. Was there some truth to Eon’s fairytale about transcendence? What other explanation could there be? He reached out to Opala of The Accord. “Brother, may we speak?”
“Of course, Master Vanda,” the other replied. “How may I serve you today?”
“You heard what Eon said, didn’t you?”
“Yes, Master, we all heard it. I must report that some of our Friends are frightened. Several planetoids have left the fleet and appear to be headed toward Stit,” Opala reported.
“More traitorous bastards!” Vanda replied. “How much mutiny must we suffer at the hands of Eon?”
“Most of our Friends remain loyal to you, Master. Are you coming to join us now?”
“No, my fate is on Stit. I need to understand what has happened to Mantarcus. I now know that Eon is not just a human, but I don’t know what he is. Perhaps Mantarcus is like him, or maybe he is just a man I can kill.”
“Master, perhaps we should all join you. Our overwhelming force would certainly defeat Eon,” Opala noted.
“I am impressed by your loyalty, Opala, but you have a more important role to play now. While I keep Mantarcus and Eon busy, I want you to lead The Accord into the spiral. My actions might buy you sufficient time to find some metal-rich planets. If I am lucky, I will join you there later.”
&nb
sp; “We are now underway, Master. I wish you the best of luck.”
“Thank you, old friend,” Vanda replied. “If I die on Stit, I want you to assume leadership of The Accord. Keep fighting and taking as many new planets as you can. Our Friends need metal and feedstock. Let nothing stop you from that mission. Your greatest gift to me will be a galaxy full of Friends anxious to fulfill the ultimate victory of The Accord. Good luck.”
“And good luck to you, Vanda.”
§
Dave and Lini were walking through the streets of Tanat in shock. Galat told them that millions of humans were suddenly on the planet and rushed them out of the compound to the small town. As they passed each person or building, Galat stopped to introduce himself and offer any robotic assistance. Already, Eon’s robots were busily gathering lumber and building supplies. A group of robots worked feverishly to prepare food and refreshments for the new citizens of Stit. Galat had sent robots all over the planet to work with the new population. Dave was amazed that every Nan planet seemed to have kept the ancient Nan language, which he had learned while imprisoned on Solander. He received plenty of attention since he was a head and a half taller than most of the residents.
As they approached the small central park, they could see hundreds of people facing the small gazebo. Standing there was Eon and another man. After seeing them in the crowd, Eon motioned for them to join him in the gazebo. He introduced Mantarcus to Dave, Lini, and Galat. Then he turned to the gathered crowd and announced, “Welcome home, new citizens of Stit!” The crowd applauded uproariously. “I know this is a big shock to all of you who have been living inside the planetoid your whole lives.” He put his hand on Mantarcus’ shoulder and continued, “In case you didn’t guess, this is my dear friend, Mantarcus, formerly of The Accord, as are several dozen others here in the crowd.” More applause rang out. “It will take some time for us all to make this planet more livable, but we will help and do whatever we can to make your new lives comfortable.”