by E. R. Mason
Catherine giggled. Patrick wondered if I was serious about the swabbing.
In the cramped flight deck, R.J. was slumped back in the right seat with one arm over the backrest. I pulled into the command chair, toasted him with my coffee, and glanced through a systems check.
“Green across the board, Captain,” he said.
“Why is everyone suddenly calling me that? It’s some kind of underground joke or something, right?”
“Well, at least you haven’t been asked to marry any couples, but I wouldn’t count on that never happening.”
“Very funny. Has Danica been up yet?”
“Nope. It’s a record for both of you. I’ve never seen her sleep for more than five. I guess I was right. You were both way overdue.”
“So nothing up here but stars, then?”
“Actually a couple unexpected things did happen, but nothing to do with ship systems.”
“Well?”
“Those samples we took from Enrika. As we passed from Enrika’s heliosphere space into interstellar medium, Wilson watched them fade and disappear right in their monolite encasements. We have nothing at all from there except data.”
“Wow! Spooky.”
“The stuff apparently can’t exist outside the radiance of that blue star.”
“Although we’re pretty sure that skull was taken from there.”
“Yeah, it confirms the skull is not Enrika matter. And speaking of the skull...”
“Yeah?”
“I ran more searches while I sat up here. I finally found something from its origin, at least I think I did.”
“Well, I can’t wait to hear that.”
“It’s some records from that ancient culture that supposedly no longer exists. It refers to the Elohim again, supposedly the builders of the universe. The skull is called the Godhead. The crystals are referred to as keys. There is an ancient script that alludes to the use of the skull. It’s only been partially translated.”
R.J. pulled a tablet out from alongside his seat and handed it over.
Age and letter
Seed lest _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ of sun
Harvests begun
man to man
astride command
woman to woman
neither be sovereign
Speak name and harbour
be one the other
“Well, that’s about as informative as a rock carving,” I said.
“I have some ideas.”
“Like what?”
“As I mentioned before, we need to set up and try the thing.”
“Like I’ve been saying, you don’t know what it does, or even if it does anything at all. It could even cause brain damage or something.”
“Nope.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Once again, because Danica’s old boss there, Blackwell, was just dying to try it, and he knows more than we do. He’s also one of those people who cares only about himself. He wouldn’t dare chance hurting himself.”
“Still…”
“We test it one little step at a time. If anything seems wrong, you’re there to break the link.”
“Let’s think about it some more.”
“Okay.”
Danica suddenly appeared between us. I assumed my poker face. She looked down at R.J. and said, “I relieve you, sir.”
R.J. looked up with a smirk. “I am relieved.” He pushed up, squeezed by, and watched as she lowered into the seat.
“Don’t forget the hand-off checklist, guys,” he said mockingly.
“I do believe he’s getting bossy,” said Danica.
“It’s his way,” I replied.
“Off to the blue stuff and sleep,” said R.J., and he disappeared aft.
There were a few uneasy moments. Danica finally said, “Wow. I slept like a log. I was asleep before my head hit the pillow. Don’t remember a thing. How about you?”
I paused and took the hint. “Same thing. Out like a light all night.”
“I see the number four O2 is fluctuating, but it just switched over. Stellar Drives are right on the money, as usual.”
“Yep.”
“So we need to run through the hand-off checklist, then?”
“Already did it while I was talking to R.J. He didn’t pick up on it.”
“In that case, you are welcome to return to the habitat if you want to make me some eggs. I’m famished.”
“Coffee or tea?”
“Tea and English muffins, please.”
“A pleasure to serve you, ma’am.”
“Make sure it’s nice and hot or you’ll blow your tip.”
“So back to our regular shifts, then. I take it you want this first one. We’re only two days from XiTau, so we should be able to make out its star tomorrow sometime.”
“That always amazes me about this ship. You tell it where you want to go, ask it to please avoid any solid objects in the path, then sure enough, when you get near, there’s the beautiful star you asked for dead center ahead in the view screen. It still knocks me out.”
I nodded and smiled. “Me, too.”
Without actually saying so, we had agreed to forget what had happened the night before. It was apparent she had sorted it all out, along with the soul searching that had brought her into my sleeper cell in the first place. I doubted such an encounter would ever happen again, nor would it ever be spoken of, unless I broke the unwritten rule of indiscretions betrayed. Respecting her wish for solitude, I pushed out of the command chair and tucked in a loose seat belt. “I shall return with your service shortly.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
In the habitat area, Catherine and Patrick were glued to the port windows, a bit surprising since they had spent so much time in space already. I refilled my coffee and joined them, thinking I might defuse any social tension, but the view out those port windows was in such contrast to the forward screens it captured my attention completely.
NGC 6188 was far more a work of art than the best Earth telescopes had suggested. We were so deeply embedded in the cluster that even at light speeds we were getting phase-shift and a sense of velocity out the side windows. The closest of the stars passed by looking like streaks of ball lightning, changing color in a warped Doppler color stream. Behind those, the universe was a dense tapestry of stars, clusters, and colorful clouds of astral phenomena, so much of it unrecognizable that it sparked a small amount of fear in me at how little we knew about where we were.
A little bit after midnight, R.J. emerged from his sleeper cell and joined me at the conference table where I was studying anything I could find about XiTau. He had his strange health concoction in a cup and was stirring it placidly, sprinkling in flakes of something as he went. “I’m ready, and the time is right,” he said, and he sipped carefully from the steaming cup. There was a photo of Elvis Presley etched on it.
“You know what scares me about this place?” he said.
“A million things?” I responded.
“Exactly. There is so much stuff outside these windows, you could never learn it all, never study it all, not even a damn tiny bit of it.”
“It must have felt that way to Lewis and Clark, don’t you think?”
“Touché. Anyway, I’m ready.”
“For which?”
“To quote one of my favorite trek episodes, 'to put upon my head the teacher.'”
“Lost me.”
“There was an episode called Spock’s brain. These uneducated women would put this electronic crown on their head and it would download knowledge to them. They’d become geniuses until it wore off.”
“You still want to mess with the skull, to hell with the danger.”
“It’s time.”
“You learned something more about it?”
“Not really. I’ve done some more com searching but so much of that stuff is like space graffiti. People out here ramble on to each other because they’re so bored they don’t have anything else
to do. I need to give that thing a quick try to get more information on it, a foothold maybe.”
“You think it’s going to bestow knowledge upon you?”
“It’s possible, but I’m more expecting some kind of communication link, like I’ve been saying.”
“Why do we need to do this at all? We could just bury the thing somewhere. As you’ve pointed out, it’s so valuable it’s dangerous to anyone who possesses it.”
“Ignorance can hurt you.”
“So can brain experiments.”
“Dorian Blackwell was dying to try it.”
“When and where would we do this?”
“Here and now. Catherine and Patrick are asleep. It’s just you, Danica, and me.”
“Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to have a doctor on hand.”
“They’re just a sleeper cell away.”
“Tell you what, let’s get Danica’s opinion, then decide.”
“Fair enough.”
We went forward with our cups and sat among the flight deck Christmas tree lights and star-filled forward view screens and took turns explaining the arcane story of the crystal skull to Danica. She did not seem surprised by any of it, and mocked us with looks of skepticism each time R.J. suggested there could be metaphysical properties.
“It’s late at night Earth time and you boys are trying to scare me with ghost stories. Sorry, I’m not that gullible. It looked dumb while Blackwell was trying to do it. The two of you will look just as silly.”
“Then you have no objection?” asked R.J.
“No, and afterward we can break out the Ouija board and have cocoa.”
R.J. ignored the sarcasm and looked at me. “I’ll go get the crystal set. You get the skull.”
“If you boys scare yourselves, just call and Mommy will come and protect you,” joked Danica.
“You might want to set a few monitors up here to watch,” I replied.
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
With Danica setting up to watch from her seat, I pulled back the command chair and removed the fake pressure screws from the compartment below. Lifting the skull out of its hiding place seemed to cast an eerie ambience about the flight deck. As I removed the wrappings, the strange glow from it reflected off the instruments. The effect jumped around as the skull was moved. Some of Danica’s cynicism turned to curiosity. I shrugged at her and made my way back to the conference table. R.J. arrived a moment later, carrying the crystal set pedestal as though it were dangerous.
There was no question that when he set the crystals down on the table, the glow from both artifacts increased. It was possible I was hearing a supersonic tone in my ears, though more likely imagination.
“I’m seeing a definite interactive relationship here, don’t you agree?” said R.J.
“I guess. How do you plan to go about this?”
“How about I insert the clear crystal half in the skull forehead, then we wait a few minutes, and if nothing bad happens I’ll try the other crystal on my forehead for just a moment.”
“Okay, but I feel like one of the Marx brothers for some reason.”
“Here goes.” R.J. removed the walnut crystal pair from the mount and separated them. He stood and bent over the table, and with the greatest of care positioned the clear half-crystal in front of the indentation in the skull. But before he could place it, the crystal jumped from his grasp and locked into the forehead of the skull. Instantly, different intensities of white light began to flow within the skull. R.J. straightened up, his eyebrows raised in wonder.
“Wow! Didn’t expect that!” he said.
“Oh, brother.”
“No, no. Let’s just wait a minute and see.”
We watched in silence the swirling glow within the artifact. R.J. continued to hold the other half of the crystal in his left hand. It was now glowing with equal agitation. R.J. had an expression that begged, “Do I really want to try this?” He looked over at me and bit his lower lip. “Do I really want to try this?” he asked.
“I do not think so.”
“No. We’ve got to give it a shot. Just for a second. It’s now or end up wondering forever.”
“That could be okay.”
“No. We need to know.”
R.J. slowly sat, facing the skull at the table’s center. I took a seat alongside. Ever so cautiously, he raised the companion crystal, as though worried it might jump from his hand like the other had. He lifted it to eye level and paused. “You be ready to pull this thing off, right?”
“Count on it.”
Ever so gradually, he moved the crystal to his forehead and pressed it in place. For a moment there was nothing, but as I watched, a shadow came over his face, the kind you see on a late night Boris Karloff movie. His face became stolid and distant. His eyes dilated into wide dark lenses. He gradually stiffened in his seat.
“Aaahhhhh!” he yelled. He grabbed frantically at the crystal and scooped it away, slapping it to the table top. He sat back, wide-eyed, and shook his head, then began slapping his face as though trying to wake himself. I lurched from my seat and grabbed his shoulders and held on. He began to breathe in long, deep gasps, then looked around as though trying to reassure himself that he was alright.
“Oh my god!” he said with a blank look of astonishment. “Oh my god, oh my god!”
I eased up on his shoulders and jockeyed back into my seat without taking my eyes off him. “What? What the hell happened?”
He looked at me but continued to try to regain his focus. “Holy crap!”
“You’re killing me here, R.J. What happened?”
He took a deep breath, sat back, and rubbed his face. Slowly, he lowered his hands into his lap. “How the hell do I describe that?” he said. “It was like my head went up through a bubble to a whole different world. It was like looking around in another dimension or something. It scared the crap out of me because I was afraid I couldn’t get back.”
“You were in a bubble of some kind?”
He thought for a moment. “You know what? It was actually like we are in a bubble and I was able to stick my head outside it. It felt like I had access to every living thing in the universe.”
“You got to be kidding.”
“Man, oh man.”
“Well, that’s that for that.”
“No, no. I just need time to sort it out and collect myself. It did not hurt and it wasn’t unpleasant. It just scared me. I understood something while it was happening, but I need to digest it. Let me back away from this for a while and then try it again after I work it out. I don’t feel injured in any way. It was not harmful, just unbelievably intense.”
“I don’t know, man. You’re scaring me. I’ll tell you that.”
“This thing is no fraud. It’s real. We’ve proven that, at least. They told you Blackwell had visions of world domination, right? This thing was going to give him that. Who we going to trust this thing to? Give me a little time for reflection. You can watch me and see if I’m going crazy in the meantime.”
“How will I tell?”
“Tomorrow night, same time, same channel. I’ll keep it hidden in my sleeper cell until then. Trust me.”
“Don’t even think about screwing with it unless I’m with you, okay?”
“Are you kidding? I wouldn’t dream of it.”
The next morning brought even more stellar phenomena outside the portals. I wanted to put in some workout time in the gym, but the reclusive Catherine and Patrick were spending most of their time in the lab, and the workout equipment was uncomfortably close by. I bided my time, finishing up studying the CD-48 11069 system, yet another place of alien mystery and intrigue. And the closer we came to XiTau, the more information there was to be gleaned from the myriad of transmissions that originated there.
It seemed to be a planet designed to support the privileged, even though they only accounted for about 10 percent of the population. All others seemed only to contribute to the needs of the few. The com interception
s were wrought with petitions for service positions that promised an opportunity to eventually become one of the glorious elite. I kept trying to fit a philosophy of ethical fairness to the social image of XiTau, but kept coming up short.
Oddly compatible with the doctrine of the privileged was the diverse society that enjoyed it. There were no restrictions on which species were allowed to obtain the large estates offered to aristocrats. The wide variety of languages intercepted in XiTau’s communications pieced together to show that the Sumani lizard people were just as influential as Tagons and Kantarians. In fact, there were no majority groups of aristocratic species, at all. That level of wealth was held by so many different bloodlines, it was like a United Nations of the rich.
So the bill being sold by all the official language coming from XiTau was that it was a planet comprised entirely of satisfied middle class, topped by gifted social architects who maintained the eminently successful economic structure. But if you looked closely at the less official communiqués, there seemed to be a very macabre undercurrent to it all. The more I read between the lines, the more it left me with a sick feeling in my stomach.
Late that evening, the XiTau star came into view in the front view screens. Wilson came forward to the flight deck where Danica and I were contemplating what lay ahead, and asked, “You need anything before I dial out, Adrian?”
“Just one thing. It affects all three of you. I won’t be screwing up the way I did last time. We need to reprogram our transponders and our com stations. We do not want to identify ourselves as the Griffin or as an Earth-based ship. Everything we emit needs to indicate we are from somewhere else. We’ll become the starship Exxeter for the time being. We’re registered on Sirenia.”
R.J. suddenly appeared beside Wilson. “Blue people? You’re kidding. Are you going to disguise yourself as a baldheaded blue person?”
“Probably, and Danica better hope I don’t decide I need a female companion.”
Danica frowned.
“The story will be that I’m an extravagantly rich bastard and am visiting XiTau because I’m interested in purchasing an estate there.”