The Cain Legacy (The Human Chronicles Saga Book 18)

by T. R. Harris

  “A mind meld, like placing your fingers on my head and reading my thoughts?”

  Panur frowned. “I don’t understand the reference.”

  “Like Mr. Spock does in Star Trek.”

  “Ah, the broadcast program you’ve referred to before.” The mutant smiled and looked over at J’nae. “I’m afraid it’s a little more complicated than that. I propose to blend our minds together…physically.”

  Adam recoiled. “I don’t like the sound of that. How exactly would that be done?”

  “As you know, I’m able to manipulate the individual cells in my body to take on other forms. This also allows them to interact with the cells of other living creatures—”

  “You want to literally melt our brains together?”

  “That is one way of describing it.”

  “Well…let’s see. Not only no, but hell no!”

  “It should be quite painless and leave no residual effects.”

  “Our friggin brains will melt together. Just knowing that will be a residual effect.”

  “Do you want to save Lila or not?”

  “Don’t even go there. You know I do, but there has to be another way. Meld you mind with Trimen’s brain.”

  The Formilian jerked his head in Adam’s direction. “Forgive me, but I, too, find the prospect abhorrent. However, I did not observe the Aris during any of my experience. Yes, my brain may have recorded events, but yours recorded events in more detailed. If anyone should have their brain scanned, it should be you.”

  “I agree,” both mutants echoed.

  “You’re overlooking one important factor: It’s my brain.”

  Panur’s face turned sour. “One would think you’d jump at the chance to merge it with mine.”

  “Why, because you’re a genius? I thought you said there would be no residual effects? What benefit would there be if I couldn’t tell it happened?”

  “My statement was an unsuccessful attempt to enlist your cooperation,” Panur snarled. “I’ve never done this before, yet I can extrapolate much better than you. I can enter and leave without you knowing.”

  “Bullshit…I would know.”

  Panur’s eyes remained locked with Adam’s. “You would know, you say? Then observe your arm.”

  Adam looked down. He gasped when he saw that his arm was fully merged with Panur’s. Neither hand remained, just one contiguous limb, with light grey skin merging seamlessly to pink.

  Reacting instinctively, Adam pulled his arm back, dragging the smaller creature halfway across the tabletop. “Dammit, Panur, give me back my hand!”

  “Calm yourself!” the mutant cried out. “Let me regain my seat.”

  Adam was on his feet, his breath coming in quick gulps. He was connected to the alien, with his hand missing. He had feeling—in fact he had feeling all the way to Panur’s narrow shoulders. The thought almost made him vomit.

  A moment later, the joined limb began to lose focus, as the mid-point swirled like a liquid. Panur pulled back his arm, and as he did, his hand began to take form, along with Adam’s. It only took a few seconds before everything was back to normal.

  Adam wriggled his fingers and flexed his fist.

  “See…no lasting effects, and you felt nothing. You must let me do this,” the mutant declared. “Without a means of countering the Aris technology, we will fail in our attempt to rescue Lila.”

  Adam looked at Trimen and J’nae, hoping to find support for his concerns in their eyes. He found none. Instead, both appeared excited by the prospect.

  “Dammit, you alien bastard! Let’s just get this over with,” Adam pouted. “But don’t hang around in there too long. Just get what you need and get out.”

  “Trust me, Adam, there’s nothing in your mind that I would find of value…except this tiny thread of memory.”

  With a growl, Adam flashed his teeth at the mutant. It wasn’t meant to be a smile.

  “We should sit back-to-back,” Panur instructed.

  Chairs were arranged, after which Adam and Panur took their places. The mutant increased his size until their heads were at the same level. “Now lean back,” Panur commanded. “I will do the same.”

  Adam obeyed, feeling Panur’s head contact his. That was the last thing he felt.

  To the observers in the room, the mutant’s hairless head appeared to lose its solidity, turning instead into a viscous grey liquid. It flowed back, over the bulk of Adam’s skull to be absorbed through his hair and directly into the skull. It took only ten seconds before the two heads were one.

  Even if Adam couldn’t feel anything, he was still affected by the merging. His eyes rolled back in his head and his mouth fell slack, yet in his mind’s eye, he was fully awake and staring into a hazy darkness. Off in the distance, a cluster of sparking lights moved closer as he focused his attention on them. He remembered what was happening, knowing that somewhere in here Panur was rummaging through his brain. He felt a natural resistance taking place, but he didn’t know how to stop the mutant. And even as his mind fought the intrusion, his consciousness didn’t want it to stop. He wanted to save Lila.

  The lights were closer now, almost upon him. He squinted against the flashes; they were painful. Panur said he would feel no pain, but that wasn’t true. There was pain, a lot of it. Within his mind, Adam squeezed his eyes shut, but the sparks were all around him now, burning his virtual skin with each flash. His breathing came fast as he drew his arms in around him for protection. It didn’t help. His body was on fire. He couldn’t take much more of this….

  ********

  Adam’s eyes fluttered open. He was drained, struggling for even the energy to breathe. He was on his back, a soft light glowing overhead. He recoiled mentally from the light until he realized it was nothing threatening, just normal illumination in the real world.

  As his awareness returned, it was accompanied by a growing anger. Panur had said there would be no pain, no lasting effects to the mind meld. That definitely wasn’t the case. He opened his eyes a little more and turned his head to the right. Panur was seated next to the bed, staring at him with emotionless eyes.

  “You…bastard,” Adam managed to whisper.

  “Yes, I was mistaken as to the impact the procedure would have on your primitive brain. I apologize, however, be assured your condition is only temporary—and the meld was a success!”

  “You almost killed me.”

  “You’re being melodramatic. At no time was your life was in danger.”

  “That’s what you say.”

  Panur nodded. “I have never done a meld before, so I was only working on theory. It seems my mind merged with yours more rapidly than I had anticipated. My mission was rather straightforward; separating our bodies, more difficult. However, it was a fascinating experiment.”

  “Am I all right?”

  “Perfectly normal, just drained of energy. Not physical, but mental. Your mind simply couldn’t cope with what it was experiencing and fought hard against the intrusion.”

  There was an IV in his arm, feeding electrolytes and other stimulants into his body. Adam sat up, feeling another pair of hands helping him. It was Trimen.

  “Easy, my friend,” he said.

  Adam was recovering rapidly, feeling almost normal again. He looked at Panur. “Lila? You said the meld was a success.”

  “Yes, I learned much. It was in fact Lila who provided the answers we seek.”

  “What do you mean?”

  J’nae entered the stateroom carrying a cup of hot tea. She handed it to Adam, who found it disconcerting that the evil former queen of the Sol-Kor was serving him tea. It was something he could have never imagined before this moment.

  Panur watched as J’nae took a seat beside the bed. Adam got the impression that what Panur was about to say was the first revelation of what he’d found in Adam’s mind.

  “When you and Trimen entered Lila’s chambers, she used the opportunity to quiz the Aris how she was being held. She spoke the words, kn
owing your minds would be recording the event. It would be the only reason she would have used words, since she and the Aris were able to communicate telepathically. She sent me a message.”

  “She sent the message to you? But you were not present at the time of her abduction,” Trimen pointed out.

  “True, but she knew I would come, then she used the verbal input in your brains to leave a clue.”

  “What clue?” Adam asked.

  “The Aris used dimensional interphase shields to subdue her.”

  Adam nodded. “Well of course they did; I could have told you that,” he said with sarcasm. “What the hell are dimensional interphase shields?”

  Panur frowned. “It’s obvious none of my genius transferred to you during the meld,” the mutant said with equal sarcasm. “The Aris have found a way to make finite shifts in the space-time continuum around a specific space, placing all within into a state of indeterminate positioning.”

  Adam blinked several times.

  “It means Lila was trapped outside our space and unable to interact physically with her abductors, or anything else. The Aris were also inside such void areas, making them impervious to any weapons, if any could have been brought against them. There was nothing you could have done to prevent the abduction.”

  “That’s good to know, but I haven’t been feeling guilty,” Adam said. “If Lila couldn’t prevent her kidnapping, I’m pretty sure I couldn’t either. So what now? Do you have any idea how to counter their dimensional intercourse shields, or whatever you call them.”

  “I do, at least in a preliminary stage. J’nae and I will work on the details as we make our way to the Aris hiding place.”

  “So there is hope?” Trimen asked.

  Panur nodded. “Yes…at least against this weapon of the Aris. It’s impossible to tell what else we’ll encounter once contact is made.”

  Adam sighed. “Let’s worry about that later. Right now, I’d like to sleep off the rest of this weariness. I think I deserve it.”

  “Deserve…why would you think that?” Panur asked. “All you did was sit there while I did all the work.”

  Adam didn’t reply. Instead he took a last sip of the tea and set the cup on the stand next to the bed. Then he rolled over and rudely closed his eyes. “Be gone, all you scary alien apparitions,” he chanted. “I can have nightmares on my own without your help.”

  ********

  He fell into a deep sleep moments later, but it was a different kind of sleep. He was aware of the room and the others in it, as they reluctantly left the cabin. His body rested, but his mind remained active.

  Honestly, Adam was curious if any of Panur’s genius had rubbed off on him, but all he noticed was this strange duality of sleep and consciousness. Normally, the mind rested with the body, creating abstract dreams that helped make sense of the day’s activities. He couldn’t call this strange awareness a dream—it was too real. He was sure it was just the shock his mind had experienced with the addition of billions of alien brain cells merging with his—and then being withdrawn. His own feeble intelligence was trying to sort it out, creating this quasi-wakefulness, even as his body slept comfortably.

  With some effort, Adam convinced his mind that it was time to rest. He began to lose the starkness of vision and awareness, feeling his mental eyelids flutter shut. He hoped this awkward conflict wouldn’t last. He had enough on his mind as it was.

  ********

  “A dimensional interphasing effect,” J’nae said with awe. “That would involve a time-shift interference at the quantum level.”

  The two mutants—Panur and J’nae—were in the common area of the ship, while Trimen piloted the vessel and Adam slept. Immediately upon hearing the phrase—as relayed by Lila—both mutants understood the concept and the implications. They even had a rudimentary understanding of how it could be accomplished. Often it wasn’t the creation of a great invention that was revolutionary, but rather the vision that brought it to the fore. Knowing such a thing was possible now unlocked the genius of the mutants. If they could reproduce the effect, then they should be able to devise a means of countering it.

  “Panur…did you hear me?”

  “Yes…a quantum interference.”

  “Are you all right?”

  Panur looked up at his towering creation. “Yes, I’m fine. I suspect, however, that the mind meld may have been more draining on me than first suspected. I believe I’ll go aft and take in an energy infusion from the generators. That should cure me of my lethargy.”

  “Yes, please do. I have never seen you like this before,” J’nae pointed out.

  Panur disappeared down the spine corridor to the engine room. J’nae watched him go, her mind racing at a speed only immortal mutant geniuses were capable of. The mind meld had indeed impacted her creator, dulling his senses and the quickness of his thoughts. It was possible his incredible mind was simply fatigued by the complexity of the procedure. However, it was also possible that merging with such a primitive mind could have damaged Panur’s. In one way, that would be unfortunate; in another, advantageous.

  J’nae would have to temper her reactions or else Panur may notice. Her plans were coming into focus, and this latest escapade only increased her confidence. Panur—her creator—would bear watching. He must not know…not until it was time.

  Chapter 10

  Four days later The Najmah Fayd slowed as it entered a dead star system. Long range sensors surveyed the region and displayed a graphic on the main viewscreen.

  “There’s the brown dwarf remnant of the Aris star,” Panur pointed out. “And there—the third planet—is the charred remains of their homeworld.” The line of planets continued outward, very similar to that of the Solar System. There had once been five rocky inner worlds and six outer gas giants. The two planets closest to the brown dwarf looked more like moons, having had most of their outer crust blown off as the star expanded, before receding to its present size. The gas giants had lived on—for a while—until their own internal heat gave out. Without even the minuscule contribution of solar radiation from the distance star, they turned cold, their gases now compressed into dense atmospheres, as the lack of outward radiating heat was easily overcome by the effects of gravity.

  The system was dead, and had been for nearly two billion years.

  “There is another world above the ecliptic,” J’nae pointed out, “quite distant from the star remnant but of comparable size to the Aris homeworld.”

  “I am not picking up a visual on the planet,” Trimen reported from his station. “A planet producing such a gravity-well should be visible to our instruments.”

  “I believe the anomaly has just warranted our investigation,” Panur announced. “Please set the appropriate course, Mr. Cain. I believe we are very close now to our destination.”

  ********

  It wasn’t so much the presence of the gravity signature that stood out, as the lack of any substantial object at the location. The readings were that of a normal size planet, yet from this distance, nothing was visible. But as they drew closer, something did appear. It was a large asteroid, approximately seven hundred miles in diameter with a strange, almost solid-looking ring around it, visible only from reflections of distance stars off the shiny surface. An object that small could not produce the gravity of an Earth-size world, not without help.

  Panur was studying the readouts at his computer station. “There’s a gravity generator located at the core of the object, surrounded by a solid ball of metal, more than likely iron, or an alloy of iron, such as steel.”

  J’nae was at another station. “The exterior is showing rock of assorted variety and density.”

  “As would be expected,” Panur said. “I suspect over time the station has become encrusted with layers of rogue material drawn to the gravity source. This coating has provided a convincing camouflage, if one discounted the effects of gravity.”

  “So this is it?” Adam asked the mutants. “This is the hiding pl
ace of the Aris?”

  “It’s definitely an artificial structure,” Panur confirmed. “And a generator capable of creating a gravity field for such a large area indicates advanced technology. I would say we have indeed reached our destination.”

  “I detect no signs of exterior radiation or detection sources,” Trimen said from his station.

  “I would not rely too much on your instruments,” Panur said. “Undoubtedly the Aris know we’re here. Their world could not have survived all this time without some kind of detection and defensive system.”

  The Najmah Fayd was about a million miles out from the object when they first noticed the three glowing lines running vertically in the space before them. Adam shifted course slightly, and the lines changed with them, effectively blocking their approach to the anomaly.

  “That looks like some kind of defensive shield,” he said to the room. “Not sure if I’m willing to test it.”

  “The lines appear to be areas of space-time disruption,” J’nae reported.

  “Which in English means what?”

  “They are similar to the interphase spheres you witnessed before, only on a much larger scale. There is only a single panel, yet it is maintaining its position relative to us.”

  “So how do we get through?” Adam asked.

  “By going around it,” Panur answered. He was at the nav console. He set to work on the keypad and a moment later turned to Adam. “I’ve plotted a very short trans-dimensional jump to an area beyond the shield. We’ll transit to another universe then instantly reenter this one at our predetermined location. The course is already entered into your piloting computer. You may engage.”

  “I hope this works,” Adam said, turning to his controls. “This thing has survived for three billion years, so I’m assuming their defenses work.”

  He triggered the dimensional jump.

  The view outside changed to the greenish glow of a universe shift before only moments later resolving back to the familiar space of the Milky Way. There had been no sensation of movement, but move they did. The asteroid/planet of the Aris was now only a few thousand miles below, with the three bands of bluish-white light having vanished. Without an outside threat detected, the shield had been turn off.