Chapter Two
The Future: 7245 A.D.
WHEN THE NEARLY unintelligible message from the aliens known as the Soonseen had come, the twelve members of the Council of Thirds knew their time was drawing short. Vio Quann, leader of the Fourth Third of the Council of Thirds, directed everyone to the atmosphere ships he had ordered to the council's headquarters, called the Unbroken Tower.
Only a few seconds had passed when the message arrived, and great green beams of energy hurtled through space from one alien ship to another.
Dust scattered from the ceiling as the floating building shook with an impact, the type of which it had not been subject to for many hundreds of years. The rotating image around the table once had shown the face of an old Unquill Hester as Hinjo Junta, the singularly damning image that had haunted Vio's sleepless nights for the last few days.
The single piece of information the computer told the world for days was that Unquill Hester and Hinjo Junta was the same person. After that, the computer despaired for a few days, and suddenly was working again. All of a sudden, the image had disappeared.
In its place came a message in the Soonseen language consisting of small pictographs. Vio knew what the image said without the assistance of a reference guide to the alien language.
The treaty has been broken. The responsible parties shall be punished.
Once they learned of it, the other council members knew what it meant as well. Zan Gopal, fat and waddling, had left the Unbroken Tower at once, and headed for his home in Hong Kong. Quinn Yester and Loyan Axon had departed as well. That left Vio and Yill Onnu as the only remaining council members, along with their council leader, Erson Dillon.
The past week had not treated Erson well. For many years, Vio had grown used to seeing Erson's silent, persistent presence at council functions. The man hardly ever spoke except to say something important.
At over 1,000 years, Erson had grown so old that his skin stretched tightly over his body. His teeth had long since fallen out, to be replaced with a set of too-white dentures that betrayed themselves in their perfection. Not a single hair remained on top of his head, which had given way to so many liver spots that they had all joined together to form one large spot turning the top of his head brown.
Whenever Erson deigned to open his eyes, Vio always had the sense that despite all the outward signs of age the man had carried, his mind had not yet given in to the ravages of time. He looked about the room with a sharp, piercing intelligence that Vio could not deny.
Erson did not speak a word as the Unbroken Tower shook once again, spilling dust out from between cracks in the ceiling. He placed one bony, withered hand upon the table, and his fingers with broken yellow nails tapped against the green table.
Vio said to Erson and Yill, "We must go."
Yill Onnu did not acknowledge him. Her large, gaudy earrings pulled down her elongated earlobes even further as she stared at the message. She had tried putting on eye makeup at some point during the day, yet it had run down her cheeks in dark blue streaks.
The streaks had remained there, even as the council met to discuss what would be done about the impending attack from the Soonseen. They had not reached a conclusion before shots soared out high above the planet.
Erson pushed himself up with both hands. Vio saw that doing so took quite a bit of effort. The man's arms shook with the effort of pushing himself out of the chair in which he sat. In days past, Vio might have helped the old man to his feet.
When he had done so, Erson had rewarded him with a spiteful look and a slap on the nearest body part to be found. Now, Vio watched in silence as the leader of the Council of Thirds grunted while struggling to do something as simple as stand up.
Finally, Erson stood upright. He leaned forward against the table to support himself. A wet pink tongue emerged from his mouth, licking pale red lips, and a breath of air passed out of his lungs. He said in a raspy, croaky voice, "You will carry me."
Vio couldn't help but smile at the old man. Such had been Erson's way for as long as Vio had known him. Instead of asking for help, his request turned into an order. What might have shamed another person became a reason for him not to bother touching the ground with his feet any longer.
Vio circled around the table, and knelt down one knee before him. Erson's skin felt cold as he climbed onto Vio's back as best he could. After some amount of struggle, they found a comfortable position in which Erson grasped Vio's shirt with his hands and Vio put his arms behind him to secure Erson's legs in place.
Yill Onnu continued staring into the screen displaying the Soonseen's message. A glint had appeared in her eye that Vio didn't like. The odd way her mouth quirked upwards together with the glee that appeared in her dull, gray pupils showed a unique kind of madness that made Vio hesitant to speak to her a second time.
Yet, for all her faults, she was a council member just as he was.
He said, "Are you coming?"
As Yill's face turned to him, the madness in her expression increased. She reminded Vio of a chasm opening, at the bottom of which could be found nightmares beyond his imagination. He took a step back from her. Yill said, "Oh, I'd very much like to stay."
Erson pulled a knee up into Vio's back. Carrying the most powerful man in the world upon his back, Vio Quann exited the meeting room, glad to be gone from the one place in the entire world where he had never felt comfortable.
Journey Through Time (A Time Travel Adventure Collection Part 1) Page 17