STARWEB 1-5

by M. Modak

  Elohim means Gods. He had wondered about this for many years, Lavar believes in one God but he also considered everyone gods…One God or many? Both? Could the many be one? He finally decided that it was a true dichotomy and let it rest.…

  When the space age had come, Prophets of God from all the worlds left their home planets. They peacefully inspired the galaxy by the similarities and subtle differences between their understandings of a Universal Consciousness that guided all things. From then on, all cultures were marked by drastic alterations in their civilization’s art. When their minds had changed about what they were, and more importantly, who or what they considered the highest ideas of themselves, the art had also changed.

  Some portrayals of life during the pre-space times, when minds were limited to one worldview, life was hopeless and horrifying and the impressions they captured in their art scared him. However, he was amazed how others had written books and had designed stunning representations of a bright future.

  The idea of a bright future gave him hope. It drove him to never give up, even when his heart was drained of all joy by his present conditions. The concept of feeling joy again boosted his energy and he quickly hid it. The others would be attracted to his good feeling. He had learned to hide his true self well. Any hints of happiness would summon the dark ones and they would choose the extreme opposite. Then they would make him experience their pain.

  He approached the last flight of rugged stairs that would lead pass the great room and to a chamber where his friends waited. He paused as he stared up into the darkness and hesitated.

  The fear of darkness had been a recent development. Every shadow was suspect. Cracks in the walls were possible portals to pain and suffering. Every truce between the old ones and the young had been broken. Being trapped in a hole in the ground with beings whose sole joy in life was in terrifying anyone they could, was hell.

  More than once, he had been snatched by the darkness. Hands reaching from unknown fissures followed by waves of blind hatred had taken him before. He was dragged, kicking and screaming, into deeper caves where gangs waited mindlessly. He knew them all of coarse but it was that glazed look in their eyes, a dead look that haunted him. Those black eyes never saw him and that scared him more than anything else did. There was no recognition in those eyes. No matter what he said, how much he begged or cried out, the mental and physical rape continued until his assailants had worn themselves out. Then he was left naked and bleeding. Lying in pain, it took days before his body healed enough to escape the shadows. Though a part of him never left.

  It was the youngest who had endured reenactments of past cruelties previously inflicted upon the so-called weak of TOL, the helpless. He wasn’t weak, but he was no match for the sheer numbers of the old ones.

  The old ones possessed human bodies that were the same as his. Physically, they were all on the same level. Mentally, the old ones were set in there ways. They repeated themselves, almost predictably. Their ways led to lunatic discriminations, reasons that had no reason. Apologies, of a sort, had always come but truces never lasted.

  Within the first few years it had happened to all the younger ones. By the time the first decade had passed, misery had become a way of life. He had banded together with the youngest, and they never traveled the tunnels alone. But when long periods of time passed, attacks warded off, tensions built and the number of their attackers grew. Then more hands reached from everywhere…

  Blazer shuttered then took a deep breath. This wasn’t the time to dwell on scars. He pushed the echoes of raw screams from his past, deep inside. He was glad Lavar hadn’t favored the old with stronger bodies. Lavar had impartially selected human forms for each of them.

  With his strength, he had extracted punishments against most of his assailants. He had been the kidnapper more than once, hoping to teach them a lesson. They had learned that he was more than capable of handling his own in a fair fight. However, fair fights were rare.

  They had all done great evil. Blazer believed he deserved what he got. They were all guilty of unspeakable acts of pointless horror back on TOL. But It was the older one’s ruthlessness, their willingness to inflect endless pain that had always given them the advantage over him. Moreover, there was a small voice inside him, which questioned every action, “Who are you? Will doing this get what you want?” The thoughts were a distraction during the first few times he had gotten his revenge. But he couldn’t ignore the question he would ask himself, “Who are you now? What do you want, now?” He wanted to be anyone but like them.

  Those questions eventually led him to stop retaliating. When he was in the heat of the moment, when he had committed to the act, he felt himself slipping into the same abyss the old ones were lost in. His eyes were dying.

  Blazer decided long ago that there was something seriously wrong with the old ones; with all of them. They had been so close to the age of their parents, the forgotten generation of dragons. Their insanity had something to do with hopelessness, abandonment and rejection by those, everyone, deemed perfect, the elders. How could the elders discard them? Perhaps there was something inherently evil about them?

  Quietly he walked up the narrowing steps. As he entered the last story, where the shadows were the deepest, he caught himself holding his breath. He had to be silent. His thoughts locked onto the coldness of the dark, the only hiding place in his mind. He let the darkness keep him. The emptiness became a part of his being, as he had done so many times before. He was a void in the darkness, feeling no joy or sadness. He was like one of the robots he had felt before. All emotion was instantly reduced to the black infinity that had surrounded him for so long.

  The steps narrowed some more and he felt the walls squeeze in tightly around him. It was hot up here, making it difficult to breath. He had to be careful. Every thought can create a chemical response, an e-motion. The others could easily detect emotions. He breathed deeply, putting his mind at rest and his fears subsided.

  He heard a shuffle! Something had shifted its stance up ahead. He could not stop now; a change in his state of being could cause a response that they might recognize. The noise came again. Is someone waiting for me, he thought. Fear threatened to rise up and take his body into the fight or flight mode but by sheer will power, he forced the horrific images to fade away.

  He reached the last step and someone took him by the hand and gently helped him up the rest of the way. His heart leapt inside his chest but Nalena placed her hand on his heart and comforted him until he was calm. He could feel her energy surrounding him like a dampening field, keeping the surprise he had expressed secret. He waited a moment longer but they were alone. He dared not say anything, instead he gave three short squeezes to the well-known hand that was on him and they slipped into the deepest shadows.

  Slowly they crept toward the entrance to the great room. Someone was yelling as others barked a response, a typical exchange among the old ones. He didn’t need to know what they were talking about as long as they were staying inside. Quickly, they dashed past the opening, paused in the next shadow, and then went on to the end of the hallway where their last friend waited.

  The hallway narrowed until he and Nalena pressed against one another. The hot, damp air made it more difficult to breathe. A dim, green glowing panel marked the entrance to their living quarters. The others had done many evil things to them in this room, things he could never forgive. The thought of those times lifted his mind completely out of the fear he felt on the stairs. These creatures did not deserve to be released, the most any of them could hope for now was a long life together. He wondered how long it would take before they started turning on each other, once all their pets were gone.

  The last girl, Enla, sat up as he entered. He thought that Enla slightly enlarged form, brought on by her latest pregnancy from the most recent round of rapes, would slow them down. Before being imprisoned down here, with them, he would not have thought twice about the countless feticides that had taken place in the m
ain hall. He decided right then that he was going to save this baby, if she chose it, and it would be raised with love.

  “What are you up to now Blazer,” Enla whispered.

  “We’re getting out of here. We’ve been locked up so long we all forgot what day or year it was. A ship is outside waiting for us, all of us, but only we are leaving.”

  Enla understood the “We.” They were their only strength. The two girls looked around the room as if saying good-bye or checking to see if anything here was worth bringing but found nothing. Together, they all headed for the door. Blazer said, “We will have to be absolutely silent.” The women nodded.

  Just then, one of the older women entered. She looked at Enla for a long moment, staring at her belly. She said, “Won’t be long until we have ourselves a purging party. I’ve won the heart this time,” she said with a sickening smile as she smacked her lips. She stared at Enla’s enlarged belly and bit her lower lip. “It’s so hard to wait for it.”

  Enla smiled and submissively walked closer to the older woman and said, “Intrusia, we’ve been here for 150 years today.”

  Recognition sparked in Intrusia’s beautiful pink eyes.

  “All this time, being alone with you, has taught me one thing, some creatures should not be allowed to live.” In a flash Enla reached out with clawed fingers and ripped the woman’s throat out. Blood squirted everywhere as she gurgled a cry then went still.

  Instantly Nalena sent out a covering wave of static, so Intrusia’s emotional outburst would feel more like an old, energy echo released from the walls and not a scream that ended in bloody gurgling. They all knew that the loss of blood, even the missing larynx would not kill her. However, none of the others would spend their energy to heal her and that injury would take a long time to restore. When the others saw her like this, her weakness, she was sure to become their new toy. A fate Blazer pitied. He didn’t bother to scold Enla for what she had done; he only wanted to get out now.

  He motioned for them to follow. As quietly as they could be, inside their minds and out in the cave, they slipped passed the great room and down the stairs. The three others were still waiting just inside the door, still inside their environmental suits. Blazer said, “Grusaw, climb out of your suit and let Enla have it, we’re all going to the ship together and I think the radiation will hurt the baby.”

  All the others looked at him for a moment. Then Grusaw released the magnetic seals and his suit separated at the contacts.

  Blazer quickly added, “We need to change. We’ve seen the result of living our lives like the old ones. Starting with this baby we will protect life, which is the opposite of what they did to us.” He looked at each one, ready to do what was necessary, right then, if they chose to continue the old ways. However, inside his heart he knew they understood. What they had done to the innocent, the helpless was exactly what had been done to them. It was time to choose a new way.

  Adgeal removed her helmet, “I want Nalena to wear my suit, she is the smallest among us and is the most vulnerable.” Blazer smiled and shook his head. Adgeal quickly took off the rest of her suit then he and Grusaw helped Enla into her suit. When they were ready, Blazer opened the large interior door and they headed into the exit chamber.

  Just then three hands reached from the darkness, took Grusaw by the neck, arms, and hips, and pulled him apart. The four bloody sections of Grusaw hit the ground with a splat. Everyone froze in horror as four, dead eyes locked on them.

  Blazer shouted, “Send them everything they have given us, right now, before they stop our escape!” They screamed as they set free their collective anger. Raw power erupted from their eyes and hands. All the hate they had stored up over the past century and a half, all they had suffered under the Red Dragon’s stewardship, unleashed into the two old ones. Red plasma lashed out across their attackers like boiling iron, slicing through flesh and bone until nothing was left but the smell of dragons fire. An oily smear of black ash splattered against the cave walls. Then all the lights went out.

  “Take hold of Grusaw’s body!” Blazer commanded, “The others will be here in seconds. He pulled the suits into the exit chamber and waited for the others to join him.

  After they had all the parts of Grusaw Serlenya shouted, “Now let’s get out of this hell hole!” The others robotically obeyed, pulling the inner door closed with all their might. Together they sent white-hot energy into the lock, melting it into place. Through the door they could hear a full alarm coming from the remaining exiles, half of them were still up in the great room and the other half were now at the door!

  The four in the environmental suits each carried a part of Grusaw’s body. The ship wasn’t far from the main gate. The suits and the low gravity would make the short hike take forever.

  Blazer couldn’t wait! The outer chamber door creaked, hissed and then went perfectly quiet as he opened it and jumped onto the exposed surface of Medloh. The cold in the vacuum of space cut to the bone. It was amplified in the shadows of the tall rocks. But when he stepped into the light his agony doubled. The heat and stinging radiation cooked is skin and insides. He screamed as he rapidly bounced forward, leaving the others to come as quickly as they dared.

  When he reached the spacecraft, a transparent door opened and a ramp quickly descended allowing him to run inside the ship. The door closed behind him and an energy shield appeared around him. Cool air released and blew across his skin as he took deep, panting breaths. The cold numbed the pain. For a moment, Blazer feared the outer door wouldn’t open again, that his friends would be left to the sun or worse, they would be left with them.

  However, after a few minutes passed, the door slid open and the ramp lowered, just as it had done for him, and the last of his friends entered. The door closed, sealing them all in. The pain from the frostbite and the radiation burns had started to subside as his body quickly acted to heal itself. The others began holding the sections of Grusaw together and when every part was in the correct place, they focused their energy into the joints, directing it to heal and bridge the damaged tissues. When the body looked intact again, they all stopped. It was best for Grusaw’s body to finish the task from here, it knew what it needed better than they did.

  Behind them a wall became opaque and then transparent. They all inhaled deeply when they saw Drahca standing in white robes alone with a grim look on his face. He watched them for a long moment; they could feel him like a black hole drawing their emotional history from them. The difficulties, their shared experiences, the hate…and their love for each other, all started coming out. He was drawing it from them. They were amazed to sense the love they did share with each other. They had all felt this, feeling, of something light and refreshing inside for each other but living as prisoners as a Dragon Exile meant that love was not an experience one kept at the forefront of ones heart for very long.

  Finally, the wall turned into an energy field and Drahca stepped through. He named each one as he looked at them. He recited their history and ages, as dragons. He recounted the crimes they had all committed on TOL and the roles they had played in the deaths of his wife’s father and the other government representatives. When Drahca had finished he asked them, “I sense a deeper spectrum of experience dwelling in your hearts. I can feel your anger at yourselves and for what the others have done and I know your remorse for the pain you have caused. But, tell me, what does your mind’s say about all this? Have you found reason during this long night of darkness or have you all gone mad?”

  Chapter 20 Ashes to ashes

  “We are gathered here; on this moon where Governor Fael lived his last days and was buried, to celebrate life. We are here to give our grateful thanks to Governor Fael’s daughter, this galaxy’s greatest matriarch. Emyeu Fael lived 175 years…that’s 25 more years than the average life span when she was first elected. She isn’t the only one who’s lifespan has increased. Nearly everyone in our union has lived longer.

  “President Emyeu was an inspiration and ex
ample to all the citizens as to what one can accomplish when given the right opportunity. She dedicated her life to the service of others. As President, she created opportunities in the lives of trillions. Today there are hundreds of thousands of schools named after her and I’m told that by the end of the day there will be hundreds of thousands more schools who will take on the name Fael.

  “The name, Fael, has become a light in the darkness of space. It is evoked by the young and old, the poor, the orphaned and those who believe that the dream of, “Equal opportunity for all,” is not just a fantasy. We will miss her greatly.” The minister closed his eyes for a moment of silence.

  Drahca’s tears had been flowing for the last few days. Today, until now, he had held them dry during all the ceremonies. His wife, his love, had seen him, the real him the first moment she laid eyes on him. That felt like so long ago. He missed her dearly. The thought that Elohim had brought him to this universe for one reason, came to mind. It was to love her, and now she was gone…

  For the 10,000 years, he was a dragon, he never would have imagined that one day he would become a human male and fall instantly in love with a 22 year old woman.