SHADOW STAR

by Patrick Rees

  “Sam, do you have time to talk. I need to talk to someone now if you don’t mind.” I think he could tell I was trying to say something about my other persona but did not know how to say it.

  “Sure, you busy now? I have most of my class stuff taken done. I can’t study for finals all the time.”

  “Can I meet you at your house? I think the long walk would do me some good.”

  “Ok. Is something wrong?”

  “Not really, I have to sort out how to feel about a lot of different things that is all.”

  “Take your time. I will be here when you get here.”

  I took my shower thinking about the little demonstration in the high elder’s office. A mere glance had scorched the wall while I held Venessa’s hand. I had changed that much? Would I even be considered human anymore? Everything else was still normal. I had been given the blessings of the scroll, the suit and weapons. I had been involved in an interstellar war without my consent. The Keeper would always be a friend. I have no idea how old he was but his

  species seemed to live a very long time. What were they anyway? You could not tell them apart from other earthlings when they were here. They aged very slowly and lived hundreds of yeas if not thousands of years. Venessa had turned out to be a good friend and a lover. She had searched me out. We met at Sam’s party and she was asking for me before I arrived there. Could our relationship be any more than what it was today?

  I had to laugh at myself when I thought about it. How do you break it to your parents, ‘I am in love with and may marry an alien.’? It sounded nuts when you spelled it out like that to yourself. What about this war business? I had a feeling I would be called shortly after finals were over. They were very considerate people. We would be between semesters and my absence would not be missed if I was gone for some period of time.

  How long could I be gone if they did call me to help protect the home sectors? What if the invasion to capture or kill Crass went badly? I still was haunted by my dream. Things were starting to fall into place which made the dream a scary possibility. I had heard the word attack and now the elders were preparing to send the Star People across the border in a full scale invasion. They had other defenses and other offensive weapons. They did not have the degree of mastery of space travel I would anticipate.

  Would they send ordinary citizen soldiers in the invasion with the Star People? I had to guess they would. It would be hard to do a surprise attack with forces moving slowly. To my estimation, they were using the Star People as an advanced force and then the regular armed forces behind them when surprise no longer mattered.

  How many Star People would they use in the initial wave? We did not number too greatly. We were spread across half the known universe. The home sectors were smaller and the first sectors added to the order were only marginally larger. Lucky me, last one chosen

  and assigned to one of the largest sectors. I had still only seen two other Star People, Venessa and Death Star. Who was Venessa anyway? It occurred to me she had the chance to introduce me to people on her planet and had not? She was from one of the home sectors. Had we even been on her home planet? I had not thought to ask until now.

  What were the other Star People like? I did not have a conversation with Death Star. He had saved my life and left. All Star People were chosen. They were not born into the order so their families may not even know they are Star People. I was still thinking about my alien friends as if they were human. They might look human but they were far from human. I still did not understand all of their capabilities much less understand how many different cultures encompassed the scope of the Star People.

  I walked on to Sam’s house deep in thought. He was a good friend. You sometimes need to be able to talk to someone you can trust not to say anything to anyone else. Sam was that kind of guy. Joe and Mike were good people. Joe was not a deep thinker and Mike could not keep a secret to save his life. I did enjoy hanging out with all of them. School seemed less like school with those guys around. I did not want to think any more. I had too many questions and not enough answers. Maybe a cold beer at Sam’s would be just the ticket.

  “Hey, Sam, you here?”

  “Come on in. I am in the back.”

  “You have beer in the frig?”

  “Sure, help yourself.”

  I got a beer and found Sam in the back. He had been studying but was burned out from that and just sat there staring at the stars. I had a feeling he was thinking about things I had told him.

  “You been anywhere special for the holiday?”

  “Yes, I took Venessa home for Thanksgiving dinner. It was great. She seemed to enjoy herself there.”

  “Well, yes, Thanksgiving. Did you do anything else?”

  “Yes… I have been out there.” I said looking up at the stars with him.

  “I thought so. Where did you go?”

  “We went to a foreign planet. I was asked to talk to their leader, the high elder. He had some interesting things to say. Sorry, I can not let you in that conversation. The war is going to escalate soon. I may have to go if they call. Can you cover for me around here for a while if they do need me?”

  “Sure. Don’t be gone too long and I can keep people out of your business. What else happened?”

  “I met their whole governing body they call the council of elders. The Keeper was there. It was good to see him again.”

  “Do you think the war will come here?”

  There it was; the real worry for Sam. He was smart enough to know the possibilities. I told him I did not think so. Earth held no special value or location. I had to tell Sam the only real threat was me. The Dark Side did know I was here. They also know I am out of the way for now. They only know my selection put these things in motion.

  They don’t know my importance to the war effort, yet. I did not know either really. I did know the possibility was there for the outcome of the war to depend on me. Sam had listened with interest. He was still staring out at the stars. We sat in silence for a time. I thought of counting shooting stars camping with my dad when I was only grade school age.

  “Not much we can do, right?”

  “No. I was told to go on with my normal life until called, if called. I wish I could tell you more. I was trying to find a way to focus on finals and forget this mess for a while.”

  “I know what you mean. The quite times seem to be the time when I think about all the stuff you have told me. Incredible, I wonder if they would want to talk to me also. I may not be able to help them but I can show we are not so weak and backward as they might think.”

  “It would be a nice gesture, to offer to help. I don’t think there is much anyone can do to help at this point. They are going to invade and that is that. The Crass fellow they told me about is the key to this whole mess. He was trained by the high elder and knows his stuff. The Dark Warriors are his private army. We can not do much to help. It might attract the wrong attention if we did so anyway.”

  “I never thought about that. Earth has the advantage of being out of the way. We are on the edge of our galaxy on the outskirts of the universe.”

  I had to laugh at that comment. I joked about banjo music and said something like ‘you have a pretty smile boy’. That did it. Sam almost broke down laughing. We finished our beers just watching the stars.

  I went back to the dorm. I had class in the morning and a whole lot of studying to do. I felt much better having talked to Sam. I faded off into another dreamless sleep still smiling about my banjo joke. Where we that backward to them?

  Chapter 17

  I woke and went to class. All was back to normal. I would have the time to study for finals. The time was busy so I could not worry about any ‘outside’ interests. I was grateful.

  The nagging sense I was being watched made me nervous. I knew they could not actually see me, but I remembered when Sam was in t
he hospital and the Keeper had ‘helped’ Sam. He knew what was going on and had somehow communicated through me. They were not telling me everything. If I had no real idea of the extent of their capabilities I had to take the next step and guess I had no real idea what the Dark Side could and could not do. The elders had asked me about them. What you ask tells a lot about what you know and don’t know. How advanced was Crass when he left the council? How much did the high elder teach him and what else could the high elder possibly know or could do which was beyond the scope of the ordinary elders? He had cautioned Venessa and me not to trust even the council with his instructions. What else could he fear he did not tell us?

  I had caught up on homework and was tired of studying for finals. It was one of the quite times before the storm. I was one of them now. What could I do which I had not discovered yet?

  I went to the park near campus and found a secluded place in the trees to meditate. Venessa had taught me to heal this way. What else could be done this way? I closed my eyes and focused on the high elder’s office. Soon I did not hear the birds around me or feel the breeze which was blowing. I felt the cold of space and saw the planet as I had seen it as Venessa and I had approached it. My mind was ‘flying’ there and drifted into the high elder’s office. He was sitting there. Suddenly he stopped doing what he was doing and closed his eyes. Was this an invasion he would not appreciate?

  He had to know I was experimenting and meant no harm. His thoughts focused on the intruder he felt and I had to concentrate to keep from breaking the meditation I was in. He placed a thought in my head, ‘Shadow Star?’. He knew. I simply repeated ‘Yes.’, to him a few times. I could see him relax and sort of laugh to himself. He focused another thought and said ‘Good, good’. I was now aware I should leave him in peace and let him do his work.

  I was taking another step into the world Venessa had introduced me to. I relaxed as much as I could and thought about Venessa. I had no idea where she was so I could not direct my mind to her location. I was aware of the charm she gave me and I wore beneath my shirt. It felt warmer now but I ignored it. She was out there, somewhere. The home sectors were home to most of the people in the known universe. She was there. I was becoming aware this ancient culture had journeyed out to colonize the local systems which made up the home sectors. They were all one species. I had not been told that fact.

  Venessa had been born on a different planet but was the same as the people on the original planet. That alone helped explain a great many things. I began to focus on a smaller but much greener planet. It did have water but its predominant color was green. I did find her there. She was busy about her day. I saw many people with her I had not seen in the council meeting. Was some of these people her family? Suddenly I thought about my dream and a cold shudder went down my back. ‘Welcome home…’ were the only words I had heard at the end of my dream. Fear crept into my mind and I broke the meditation.

  I was sweating and the time had slipped by. I was in the meditation state for over a half an hour. I felt great but tired. Letting my mind drift like that took a lot of energy. I wondered if Venessa had felt me watching her. The high elder certainly knew I had drifted though his office. He was much more in tuned to his surroundings than the

  others. I was reminded of his rank and status. There were reasons he was their leader.

  Finals would be soon and I would not have time to explore my new discovery for the time being. I did not know if I would tell Sam what I had discovered. He was treating me oddly enough already. I did not want him to think I was mutating into something he would have to fear. I was still Patrick Wright after all.

  The guys were all feeling the ‘finals stress’, and we all needed a break. Sam had suggested another big bash. I mentioned we might just need a quite ‘boys night’ out. My idea won. We all met at one of our favorite haunts and just drank and talked like old times. It was what all of us needed. I needed to feel normal as possible and it was perfect.

  We struggled through finals like we always did. No one hit a grand slam but no one crashed either. We all survived with the grades we either wanted or at least expected. Then we were going home for the winter break. It was almost five weeks for those of us who finished finals early. I did not know if I would adjust to hanging out at home again, not after all which had happened this semester.

  As if on cue I got that nagging sense someone was looking for me. There was a big guy down at the desk asking for me. I walked up to him slowly. He called himself Kevin Smith but that did not fit. I felt I was talking to Death Star before I knew it. He looked at me hard and said we needed to talk in private. I knew no place more private than my room so I brought him up.

  “I am Death Star.”, he said without much emotion.

  I let that information sink in before I said anything. “You said we needed to talk. What is going on?”.

  “The invasion has happened. The council needs you.”

  “Do you know what exactly they want and how long I will be gone?”

  “No, they said to pack for a long stay. I was given this message for you through a relay of Star People across the universe. Please report as soon as you can. I must leave to return to my sector. The war is going to intensify. We don’t know what the other side may do now.”

  “I want to thank you for saving my life. You left with the ship that day without saying much.” He turned out to be a big teddy bear. He smiled and I swear he almost teared up.

  “My pleasure. You had handled yourself well enough without my help. Those guys don’t fight fair. That is a good thing to remember. We have to watch each other’s back.”

  “Well thanks anyway. I would have been killed by that last guy if you had not arrived when you did. You hit him hard. I remember there was not much left of him. He was gone.” He seemed to ignore this last part of my comments. He was a big guy but turned out to be a sensitive softy. He looked pained he had to take the guy out the way he did.

  “Forget it. I know who you are. You will matter in the next few days. Remember there is not too many of us. I want to see how you react when you meet the rest of the Star People. I must really go however. We can talk more, later.”

  I knew he was right. I took him down to the front desk. He smiled and walked out. I did not follow him out, he was big boy and could take care of himself.

  I had to pack, again. I did not think my backpack would do this time. I fought with how I would tell Mom and Dad I would not be home in the next few days. I had hoped I would be home for Christmas, but who knew? I was reporting for duty. It was war. The name of the war was the Three Year War. I had no idea how long it would last. I hoped not three years. These people took care of business quickly and decisively. It may be over quickly.

  As I packed, in strangely enough an old army duffle bag I used for laundry, I thought the best thing to tell Mom and Dad was Venessa wanted me to meet her parents. The back story for her was she was from Germany. I could substitute the truth (was I really lying?); Germany – foreign planet; it was a matter of distance, right? She could afford to be here in school so her parents were well off enough to pay for my ticket over there. It sounded acceptable enough to me. I had to leave soon so I had to call them.

  They were surprised and mad at the same time. I could tell Mom was not too surprised and not too mad. She knew how to handle Dad. I was in the clear to go and be gone for a few weeks. If I got ‘stuck’ for longer I would have to deal with that issue then.

  I resisted the urge to call Sam. I did not need him worrying and asking questions I could not answer. I was to move out of the dorm anyway. I could leave stuff there since I was staying in the same room the next semester. Everyone who had not moved into temporary quarters (into another dorm), had to be out by the end of the week. The dorm would be closed and watched for the holidays. No one would be allowed inside until after the holidays.
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  I walked outside with my duffle bag. It was the usual green and heavier than I usually had it when I carried my laundry in it. I had my suit on under my clothes. The mask and weapons were right on the top of the bag. I knew it was a several hour trip (even at the speeds Star People could reach). I ate on campus and left.

  I stopped briefly on the moon to completely change. I wanted to be ready if anything happened. I had experience with the enemy and was not going to be surprised by anything if I could help it. I left the moon as Shadow Star and fully armed. My mind was already in the high elder’s office, wondering what really was happening. I had expected the call and when. I had prepared myself for this day by many a long walk around campus. I flew on uneventfully.

  Chapter 18

  As I approached the home sectors I slowed my flight across space. This was a war front and I was well aware of it. The invasion had happened. I had no further information to tell me where conditions stood. The other side may have responded with armed forces into our side of the border in mass. I did not see any space activity. There were usually transports between the home worlds. Trade was a normal activity even on this side of the universe. Not today. I wondered what else was changed or suspended.