Richard’s thoughts were interrupted by Servilus. “If you must go north, at least leave the children with me. I will see them safely to the south. I give you my word I will keep them as safe as I keep my own family.”
“No,” said Dren emphatically. “We stick together.”
I agree, Rick, said Nickelo. Whatever you do, you need to keep the children close. If ‘the One’ starts to teleport you back home, it will do the children no good if they are a thousand kilometers to the south.
Richard had not planned on leaving the children behind, but he was glad to hear his battle computer affirm his decision.
“Thank you, Servilus,” Richard said, “but Dren is right. For better or worse, we are sticking together. Right, kids?”
“Right,” said Dren.
“Omar says right also, Rick,” said Brachia.
Chapter 13 – The Children’s Secret
____________________________________
Two days after they left Chinto’s Crossing, Richard and the children came upon an intersection where a well-maintained road left the northern road they’d been traveling on. The new road headed almost due west.
“This must be the road Servilus told us about,” Richard said. The mayor and his son having told them the gnome and her escort planned to visit an oracle in the mountains to the west.
“If Servilus and the mayor gave us the correct information and the correct location,” said Nickelo, “then this road should lead to the Oracle. Our drone has mapped the area all the way to the start of the mountains. The land appears to be pretty deserted.”
“So, are we going west then?” asked Dren.
“That’s my first choice,” Richard said. “The information we got from the drone indicates the first parts of the Northern Mages’ army are about three days walk to the north. This is as close as I want to get to them. I had more than my fill of dealing with undead creatures last year. I hope neither Brachia nor you have to see any on this mission. And, you won’t if I have anything to say about it.”
“The good news,” said Nickelo, “is that our mission is to ‘help the children help her’ and to ‘find what they need’. Unless you held something back from me, Rick, ‘the One’ didn’t say anything about helping ‘her’ fight. Maybe this is a simple search and recovery mission.”
“Yeah, right,” Richard said. “What are the odds of that?”
“Less than two percent,” said Nickelo.
“I didn’t really want to know, Nick. I was being sarcastic.”
“I know you were, Rick,” said Nickelo. “That’s why I told you.”
Brachia and Dren giggled.
“You two are funny sometimes,” said Brachia. “Do you argue a lot when you talk in your head to each other?”
“Pretty much,” said Richard and Nickelo at the same time.
This time, even Richard laughed.
As the day wore on, Richard stopped to give the children several breaks. They’d been on their feet a lot during the last few days. Although the children did not complain, Richard knew they had to be feeling the unaccustomed exercise. While the children relaxed, Richard followed the drone on his heads-up display as it continued mapping to their west.
Nick, Richard said privately, the drone’s video just showed some rock outcroppings that looked a little too regular to be natural. Did you see it?
Of course I did, Rick, said Nickelo defensively. What’d you think I was doing? Sleeping on the job?
Don’t get all huffy, buddy, Richard said. What was it?
It’s a small set of ruins, said Nickelo. The drone has passed over several such in the last couple of days. I didn’t notice anything unusual about it.
How far away is it, Nick? Richard said. From the position on the heads-up display, I’d guesstimate about twelve kilometers or so.
Good guess, Rick, said Nickelo. It is eleven point six kilometers from our current location if we travel on the road. Why are you interested in it?
I’m not sure, Richard said. Can I do an active scan from this far away? Or would that be pushing it.
It’s a little beyond a typical active scan, said Nickelo. Ten kilometers is normally what I consider a maximum range for a scan. We could send in the drone for a closer look see if you want.
Yeah, Richard said. Go ahead and do that. In the meantime, we’re headed in that general direction anyway.
Richard wasn’t sure why, but he definitely felt an urge to go to the ruins. Whether Dren’s theory about the tele-bots influencing him was correct or not, he wasn’t sure. But in the absence of any other useful leads, Richard was going to go with his feelings.
Once he felt Dren and Brachia had rested long enough, he got everyone walking westward on the road once again. They had encountered no one on the road all day, and the drone had not spotted anyone either.
“So, will we be making camp at these ruins of yours?” said Dren as she trudged along beside Richard.
“I’m not sure,” Richard said. “Nickelo says we’ll probably get there just before it gets dark. I would wait until morning, but I don’t think we can afford to waste time.”
“Is that what you’re feeling, Rick,” said Dren, “or is that your logic talking?”
Richard gave a laugh.
“I think that’s just me talking,” Richard said. “With an army three days to the north and moving south, I don’t think we have time to spare. I’d like to be long gone before those Northern Mages and their lifeless buddies get anywhere close.”
“I think I would prefer that too, Rick,” said Dren. “I’ve been thinking a lot about it. I know I initially expressed disbelief in your story of the undead, but I’m having second thoughts.”
“Really?” Richard said. “Why? What’s changed your mind?”
“Well, Rick,” said Dren, “as you may remember, I told you our mother specialized in teleportation relays and inter-dimensional monitors.”
“I remember,” Richard said. “So?”
“Nickelo told me he had explained dimensions and planes to you,” said Dren.
“He mumbled something about them,” Richard said. He hoped Dren wasn’t going to go into a long explanation about dimensions and planes. It hadn’t been all that interesting when his battle computer had tried to explain them. He doubted Dren would fare much better.
“I won’t bore you with the details,” said Dren, “but Mother was involved with several projects that successfully sent tele-bots into our sister dimensions. One of those projects concentrated on the spiritual plane. Do you know anything about it?”
“Not really,” Richard said. “I’ve just been told it exists. I hope I never have an opportunity to visit. When you say spiritual plane, do you mean like hell or something?”
“No,” said Dren hurriedly. “I mean, at least not the dimension in the spiritual plane that Mother was familiar with. Her equipment could only reach the sister dimensions of the physical dimension we are from.”
“When you say sister dimensions,” Richard said, “you mean like the room below and above our room.”
“Yes,” said Dren with a smile. “You’ve heard of the house theory of dimensions. That’s the easiest way to explain it. That’s how I learned.”
“Dren,” Richard said. “I don’t mean to be pushy, but are we going somewhere with all of this. I have to be honest. The theory of planes and dimensions is not all that interesting to me. I think we’ve got more pressing problems right now.”
“Okay, Rick,” said Dren hesitantly. “I’ll get to the point. I think it’s time you knew our secret. That includes you too, Nick. I know you’re listening.”
“Of course, I am,” said Nickelo. “I never said I wasn’t.”
Dren stopped. “Brachia,” she yelled. “Come back here, please. I think it’s time we told Rick and Nick.”
Brachia had been staying about twenty meters ahead. He had picked up a stick somewhere and was dragging it in the dirt road. He’d told his sister he was marking a trial to th
e treasure for his shipmates to follow. When his sister called, he threw his stick to the side of the road and walked back.
When Brachia got close, he said, “Are you sure, Dren? Mommy and Daddy said not to tell anyone unless it was an emergency. They said only tell someone if we knew we could trust them to keep the secret.”
“I’m sure, Brachia,” said Dren. “We can trust Rick and Nick.” She looked at Richard, “Can’t we?”
“Dren,” Richard said, “I can’t promise anything unless I know what we are talking about. Plus, if what you said is correct, there may be a tele-bot or two here with us right now. If that’s true, and ‘the One’ is controlling the tele-bots –“
“I know,” said Dren. “But if there are, and he is, then ‘the One’ already knows our secret anyway. I do not believe for one second that we were teleported here by accident. I believe ‘the One’ brought us here because you need our secret to protect this world and to protect our world. I believe that’s why we were brought here, to tell you about our secret.”
Nick, Richard said privately. Are you getting all this?
I’m all ears, so to speak, said Nickelo. I think this is going to get interesting.
“Please stop that,” said Brachia. “We’ll only tell you if you agree to talk out loud when no one else is around.”
“Fine,” Richard said. “We’ll try. But I forget sometimes. It’s just a habit.”
“We’ll trust you,” said Dren. “This is important. Mommy and Daddy and Keka’s brood mate died to protect it.”
Richard stayed silent. He wasn’t sure what to say. Things had definitely taken an unexpected turn.
“Gates can exist between sister dimensions,” said Dren.
“I’ve heard something about gates before,” Richard said. “I don’t quite remember what, though.”
“The elf explained it during your last mission, Rick,” said Nickelo. “Gates are major doorways between dimensions.”
“Not like teleporting between dimensions, though,” said Brachia. “Gates are major openings between dimensions. Teleports between dimensions are limited to a handful of creatures at a time. Entire armies can be transported between dimensions using gates because they will stay continuously open. Gates are sort of like tunnels.”
“So?” Richard said. “I’m not getting the importance of this discussion.”
“So,” said Dren, “this world must have a gate to the spiritual dimension. Somehow, these Northern Mages must have at least partially opened a gate. I’ve been thinking about it a lot. That would explain their ability to create an entire army of undead. They must be bringing spirits from the spiritual plane to this dimension using a gate.”
“Nick?” Richard said. “I don’t mind admitting I’m out of my league on this one. I’ve killed the undead, so to speak, but I don’t know what makes them work.”
“It’s possible,” said Nickelo. “The elf priestess told us there was a gate on her home world. But, Rick, you helped her get the seed she was seeking. It was supposed to somehow protect the gate so it couldn’t be used.”
“I don’t know anything about that,” said Dren. “All I can say is based upon the little evidence we have. I believe the Northern Mages are using a gate to bring spirits to this world in mass. I believe our secret could help defeat them.”
“Okay,” Richard said. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Our mission is to ‘help the children help her’ and to ‘find what they need within thirty days’. No one said anything about defeating a bunch of mages and their undead army.”
“Rick,” said Nickelo. “I think if a gate has indeed been opened between this world and the spiritual plane, then it may also eventually be opened in our plane as well.”
“Sounds iffy to me,” Richard said. “Besides, I thought you said there might be a time difference between this world and our world. You know, that time is like a river thing you talked about a couple of days ago.”
“I’ll admit I don’t know where we are in the flow of time on this world,” said Dren. “I’m basing my assumptions on ‘the One’ knowing what he’s doing and setting up variables in his algorithm in a logical manner. Since we are all here, we are all here for a reason, and we are all here at just the right moment. Whether we are at the same point of time on this world that we were at in our world, I don’t know.”
“Okay, okay, whatever,” Richard said. He wasn’t following the logic, and he didn’t really want to try. Especially since it would mean acknowledging ‘the One’ might actually know what he was doing. As far as he was concerned, it didn’t matter whether ‘the One’ was a person, a computer, or the entire tele-network, he was still a no good, backstabbing butt who used people and caused them pain without asking permission or for volunteers. Richard hated ‘the One’ for forcing him to do things instead of asking.
“Let’s say I buy all that you’re saying,” Richard said, “which I don’t, by the way. But, let’s say I did. What’s that got to do with the big secret that everybody seems to want. We were briefed it was some kind of weapon.”
Brachia and Dren looked at each other for a moment. Brachia nodded. Then Dren spoke.
“Our parents’ and Keka’s brood mate’s work expanded the work of many others to develop a device capable of manipulating the void that is between dimensions. That device can either open or close a gate between two adjacent dimensions.”
Dren must have seen the blank look on Richard’s face, because she continued with her explanation without waiting for a question.
“The scientists who worked on the theory for the device imagined it as being a safety net in case a gate was ever opened in our galaxy to one of its sister galaxies. Specifically, they created it in case a gate was opened from the spiritual plane. If that ever happened, then entire armies of spiritual creatures could spill out into our galaxy and overwhelm every living creature. I believe that is what is happening here. I believe the Northern Mages, whoever or whatever they are, have somehow at least partially opened a gate to the spiritual plane. Those spirits need a physical body in this world, so they are at least temporarily occupying corpses and doing the Northern Mages’ bidding. Anyway, that’s my theory.”
Richard saw a lot of flaws in the girl’s logic, but he latched onto one in particular.
“I thought zombies were created by some virus,” Richard said. “You know, that infects a person’s brain and brings them back to life after they die.”
“Yeah,” said Dren a little sarcastically, “I saw that video too.”
She must have realized she’d hit a sensitive nerve with Richard, because she hastily added, “Look, Rick, I’m no expert on undead. There are probably many variations of undead, assuming they do exist, and many ways in which they can be created. I just know from my mother’s memories that some creatures from the spiritual plane can inhabit corpses and make them move as if they were alive. These are not the unthinking zombies you’ve probably seen in horror videos. These would be intelligent, thinking creatures. I know it’s possible, because my mother saw it done. What she saw frightened my father and her so much that they devoted their lives to developing a device capable of closing a gate if one should ever be opened.”
“So,” interrupted Nickelo, “this device could be used for peaceful purposes by closing a gate. You said it could also be used to open a gate. I assume that’s how it could be used as a weapon of war. Is that why the Crosioians and the Empire want it so badly?”
“Yes,” said Dren. “But only a fool would use it as a weapon. If the device was used to open a gate on some enemy planet, the inhabitants of that planet would soon be overwhelmed and destroyed by the creatures from the spiritual plane. But eventually, those same creatures would move onto other planets once they were in our dimension. Given time, the entire galaxy would be overrun. Even the fools who used the device would be destroyed.”
“So far, I don’t see anything super-secret about what you’ve told us,” Richard said. “The Crosioians and the Empire
apparently already know about this theoretical device. Since both governments are interested in your Keka, they must know your parents had the knowledge to develop such a device. You implied once that Brachia and you now have that knowledge, although everybody seems to think your Keka has it. But, I don’t see how any of this helps us with our current situation. Unless, of course, you’re saying you can somehow build the device yourselves on this world. Is that what you’re saying?”
“No, of course not,” said Brachia.
“Oh, no, Rick,” said Dren. “Building that device would take hundreds of scientists working in tandem for years. It would also take half a dozen R12 planetary-core energy generators to develop some of the parts. Even once the device was completed it would take the energy of an R12 planetary-core energy generator to run it.”
“So, what are you trying –” began Richard.
“One has already been built, hasn’t it?” interrupted Nickelo. “Your parents succeeded in building one, didn’t they? How did they ever keep the project a secret if it required hundreds of scientists and every R12 planetary-core energy generator on your planet to build it?”
“They were able to keep it a secret,” said Dren, “because everything was being coordinated through the ComSec computer on Veturna. Only secured tele-network communications were used to manage the project. Portions of the project were completed by teams on dozens of planets, and none of the teams had any idea they were working on a multi-planetary project. Our parents completed the assembly of the device and conducted the final testing on a backwater planet in the Tresoris sector. The exact location of the planet is a well-guarded secret. Even our parents did not know its location. They were put into hyper-sleep during the flight to and from the planet where the device is stored.”
Things were getting too complicated for Richard. He had an above average intelligence, but secret, behind the scenes shenanigans held no interest for him. They only irritated him. He was a soldier. He liked things clear cut. Tell him to attack a hill, and he would attack a hill. Tell him to live a life of lies where the right hand doesn’t know what the left is doing, and he would balk every time. Richard was pretty sure he knew who had pulled the strings on the kids’ gate project, and he did not like it.
Wizard Cadet (Intergalactic Wizard Scout Chronicles Book 2) Page 18