Kahnu (The Guardians of Tomorrow Book 1)

by Yves LF Giraud

  “Wooow!” was all he could say, as he drifted away into the depth of the purple fog and disappeared.

  “FRANÇOIS!” called out Dedrick, his arm raised toward his friend, but it was too late. The Frenchman had already disappeared in the purple haze.

  “I’m OK! I’m OK. It’s a bit weird, but it’s like floating in zero gravity. Nothing to it. Come on!” came the Frenchman’s voice.

  Dedrick, somewhat reassured to hear his calm voice after watching him vanish, approached the doorway. After putting a foot on the floor of the entrance, he took a deep breath and followed in.

  The others left behind, held their breath as they watched their two colleagues disappear from their screen. Seconds later, the tunnel was slowly closing back on them, leaving no trace of the entrance. Fear suddenly gripped them as they realized they may never see their friends again. A wave of panic rushed through Vera. Holding Chasma’s hand more tightly, she stared at the white structure in the distance that had just swallowed her daughter’s father. The purple glow was gone. She turned her attention back on the small screen in front of her. Dedrick and François’ helmet cams were transmitting good images.

  Inside, the wide cylindrical corridor was bathed in an ambient purple light that seemed to come from everywhere around them, but the thick fog they had encountered at the entrance was no longer obstructing their view of the surroundings. The two men were moving slowly but effortlessly, when Vera noticed the thick fog churning above the explorers. Slowly making its way down the smooth curved walls of the tunnel, the purple haze seemed to come from within the ceiling of the—

  The screen suddenly went completely black.

  “Shit!” said Tendai. “Dedrick? François? Crap, I think we’ve just lost them.”

  Inside the big white cloud, unaware their teammates could no longer see their progress, the two intruders were drifting slowly down the long tunnel, hovering a few meters above the floor. The walls were smooth and featureless, and appeared to be made of the same material as the outside of the structure. The curved ceiling above them was covered with a thick fog, slowly floating down the corridor’s walls. François tried to move towards one of the walls, only to find he was powerless. Whatever was pulling them through the ship had complete control of their floating bodies.

  “Hey, look at your gauges. Notice anything?” asked François.

  Dedrick brought his forearm up and read the levels.

  “Wait… That’s impossible. 79% nitrogen, 21%… There’s oxygen in here?”

  “Yep, looks like it; and just the right amount, too. Don’t you find that interesting?”

  And with that, he released his helmet locks and removed the restricting contraption off his head, leaving only enough time for Dedrick to scream, “Wait, what are you DOING?! DON’T-!”

  François, looking straight at him, took a deep breath through his nose, and held it for a few seconds, before exhaling loudly through his mouth. A satisfied smile appeared on his face.

  “Ahhh, that’s much better.”

  “What the fuck!? Are you out of your mind?”

  François looked at his Russian friend with a puzzled look on his face. “What?”

  His helmet was now silently floating next to him.

  “What is wrong with you? You could have been killed, taking your helmet off like that! What’s gotten into you?”

  “Oh, come on. You saw the levels just as I did. It’s perfectly safe. In fact, the air in here is even more pure than ours at the station.”

  “Oh yeah? And what if the analyzer was faulty? What if there was some other toxic gas in here? You are completely careless.”

  “Both of our suits? Defective at the same time? Reading the same numbers? I doubt it.”

  Dedrick abstained from replying. Instead, he simply stared at François in frustration, the latter floating a few meters ahead of him. The Frenchman’s helmet was now hovering next to him, quietly following its owner. The commander finally let out a heavy sigh and began unlocking his.

  “I guess now we know what that purple gas is for,” said François. Dedrick did not respond.

  Several more minutes passed before the two came to a fork. The tunnel split into three passages of equal importance. Although he already knew he could not control where he was going, François was about to ask Dedrick which path he thought they should take, when he felt his body pulled strongly to the right. Something or someone had made the decision for him. Hovering behind him, Dedrick suddenly felt the tug and followed down the new passage. They encountered two more intersections as they progressed through the tunnels, and were pulled in a specific direction each time, obviously guided by an intelligence of some kind along a predetermined path. Dedrick, always planning ahead, made a mental note of each turn for the way back. Of course, he realized there was a good chance they would have no more control coming back than they did going in, but he figured it couldn’t hurt.

  A few minutes later, the two men arrived in front of a doorway not unlike the Gate they were so familiar with. This one, however, appeared to be made of the same material as the rest of the structure, smooth and white. Countless lines and geometric shapes, similar to the ones found on the Gate, seemed to be glowing randomly, as if lit by an invisible current flowing through the intricate design.

  “The second door in my dream,” thought Dedrick. He had never been beyond it.

  As the two kept approaching, the portal began to slowly morph, becoming more and more opaque, until it had completely vanished, leaving a wide opening for the two to gently glide through without ever slowing down. Dedrick turned his head just in time to see the door re-materialize quickly behind them.

  They were now in a large oval room, the size of an average movie theater. The walls were featureless, and Dedrick noticed there was no other door visible anywhere, not even the one they had just come through. In the center of the large space, what looked like big long cylindrical containers were arranged in a wide circle. François quickly counted twenty-six. In the middle of them, another white sphere, like the one they were familiar with, was resting on the flat surface of a large round platform. Reaching the center of the room, the two men felt they were slowing down and, to their pleasant surprise, gently brought to the floor where they finally came to a stop, comfortably landing quietly on their feet. They both let out a big breath of relief. François’ helmet fell silently to the floor, right next to him. Dedrick was still holding his.

  “Feels solid,” he said, looking at the floor.

  Pointing at one of the twenty-six horizontal capsules, François wondered… “What do you think those are?”

  “Not sure, but I have a theory.”

  “Yeah, me too…”

  The room, just as the rest of the structure, radiated the same purple hue, but again, they could not see where the light was coming from. The space had no sharp angles or corners, and the floor, walls, and vaulted ceiling curved into each other flawlessly. Other than the sphere and its twenty-six containers, there was nothing else noticeable. The long capsules, blending with the purple-lit egg-shaped space, were sparking Dedrick’s interest, especially due to their shape. Although oversized for a human being, it did not take much imagination to suspect they could hold beings. Dedrick suddenly realized the two of them might be standing in a room full of aliens. He was now questioning their decision to come inside.

  “If there’re aliens in those containers, they must be big, very big. And there are twenty-six of them…” he thought to himself. Another wave of doubt rushed through him. He turned to François, who was already studying the pod next to him. The Frenchman didn’t seem the least concerned.

  “Man, look at those things! Can you believe how big they are? I’m telling you, there’s gotta be aliens in there!”

  “Keep it down, will you? We don’t know what we’re dealing with here. You might wake-up something or someone we should not disturb.”

  “Come on! Don’t be such a wuss. I doubt talking loudly or softly matters.
Either way, there’s no turning back now. We’re here, and something tells me we’re supposed to open these things.”

  “I’m serious, François. We have no idea what we are doing. Half of me is screaming we need to get the hell out of this place, right now!”

  “And the other half?”

  Dedrick just looked at François without replying. He took another look at the closest capsule. There was no apparent line or break, no feature of any kind on the surface of the pod, and no obvious way of opening it.

  “How do you think we open one of these?”

  “I don’t know, and I don’t think we should try to find out.”

  “And I think we should. Something or someone guided us here just for that. I’m-”

  Dedrick turned to his French friend, and with a finger raised in front of his lips, let out a quiet, “Sssshhhh! Listen…”

  With a pondering look on his face, François listened attentively for a few seconds, before shrugging his shoulders at Dedrick. He was about to dismiss the Russian, when realized what he was listening to; nothing. His Russian commander was tapping his boot on the floor, but there was absolutely no sound. Or at least, their headsets could not pick up any. He quickly checked that his suit’s microphone was on and had confirmation. Even after removing his ear piece, the place was absolutely dead quiet. To think of it, it had been so ever since they had entered the structure. That wasn’t necessarily alarming in itself, considering they had made their way inside by floating through it without touching any surface, but now that they were walking on solid ground, they should be able to hear their own footsteps reverberating across the large room, especially without their helmets on. Yet, even the friction of the fabric of their suits was silent.

  “That is so weird. How can sound not travel in here?”

  “I honestly don’t know,” replied Dedrick.

  François removed his headset completely. “Can you hear me now?”

  The Russian just shrugged his shoulders, with a negative head nod.

  That suddenly reminded Dedrick he had been so absorbed, he had failed to communicate with the team ever since they had gone in. His headset still on him, he called, “Vera, can you hear me?... Tendai? Ladli? Anyone?”

  No answer came.

  François put his earpiece back on. “What is it?”

  “I can’t reach the team. I had a feeling we would have heard from them already, if our communicators still worked. It’s doubtful they are getting any video feed either. We shouldn’t stay too long. Let’s just get some footage and head back, if we can figure out how...” added Dedrick, looking back at the now featureless wall behind him.

  “What about Chasma’s voice? What did she call him? John? Jore? I thought we were going to meet an alien…” added François disappointed.

  “Well, whoever he is, Chasma mentioned him being trapped, right? So, my guess is he’s probably in one of these pods.”

  “I second that. So why don’t we try to figure out how to open one of these things.”

  Dedrick was about to object, but François was already running his hands over the closest one to him, obviously hoping to mimic the way Chasma had opened the back of the ship earlier. To his great disappointment, nothing happened.

  “Well, can we get back, now?”

  “Yes, I guess...”

  Looking at the invisible entrance, Dedrick asked, “So, what do you think? My guess is we just walk back towards that wall, and hopefully, the door will appear again.”

  “Well, you know what I always say…There’s only one way to find out.”

  Before Dedrick could add anything, he watched his colleague walk a few steps forward, before being gently lifted up in the air and floated back towards that side of the room. As both men had suspected, the door began to rematerialize in front of his hovering body. François, helmet in hand, glided silently thru the temporary opening and vanished down the corridor beyond. Dedrick, giving himself a push, was instantly lifted as well and was soon following his friend. He looked back briefly. The solid door was already closing behind him.

  #

  “How long have they been gone, Tendai?” asked Vera, nervously.

  “It’s been almost fifty-five minutes. They shouldn’t be long now...” he replied, trying not to sound concerned.

  “Maybe one of us should go check on them?” she asked.

  “Don’t look at me. I’m not going in there,” he said right away. “Dedrick said we should start heading back if they didn’t return after an hour.”

  He looked somewhat embarrassed, but he was not the only one who felt uneasy about staying in the cave this long. It was even more understandable now that they had turned off several of the lights around them to conserve energy. The generator was now only feeding three of the eight projectors they had originally setup around the immense cave. One was near the four members, and the other two were illuminating the back of the ship, where Dedrick and François had disappeared earlier.

  “I’m not leaving without Dedrick,” replied Vera firmly. “And if Dedrick told you an hour, they still have a good five minutes left.”

  “Don’t worry, Vera, we’re not leaving anyone behind,” assured her Ladli. She wasn’t showing it, but she was getting anxious. “Come on guys, now would be nice.”

  #

  Back inside the alien ship, Dedrick and François were silently gliding through the structure’s belly. Dedrick was still trying his radio.

  “Vera? Vera? Looks like they still can’t hear us from here either, but I think we’re close to the entrance. Time to get our helmets back on.”

  Another couple of minutes passed before they were finally in signal range and able to communicate with their companions waiting in the cave.

  “Crrrk_ are on... ssshhhhway. Vera? Can... crrrrk ...me?”

  “Dedrick...Dedrick? It’s Vera. We can hear you, but you’re breaking up. Can you hear me?”

  “Ssshhhhhsss – I can hear you loud and clear now. We’re alshhhh back, I think. Yes, I see the exit.”

  At that same moment, Tendai jumped on his feet.

  “Look, the passage is opening up again!”

  The purple glow of the structure’s entrance had appeared as suddenly as it had an hour earlier.

  “Here they are! I see them!”

  The two men soon emerged and landed effortlessly on the floor of the cave. Behind them, the entrance was already disappearing. Dedrick waved to the group, and the two men began walking their way back to them.

  “So? What did you find? What is it like inside?” asked Tendai.

  “You guys are not gonna believe this!” answered François.

  Dedrick and his French teammate began telling their discovery to the bewildered group who listened attentively.

  “I’m telling you, we can’t say for sure what’s in those pods, but whoever or whatever they are, they’re big,” replied François.

  “And you say there’re twenty-six of these things in there?”

  “Yes…We tried to figure out, or I should say I tried to figure out a way to open one of them, like Chasma did when she touched the ship. I ran my hands all over one of the pods, but nothing happened.”

  “The thing is, we really don’t know what we’re dealing with here,” volunteered Dedrick.

  “The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that whole structure is a ship of some kind, and we just found its passengers,” added François.

  “Maybe…” Dedrick was pretty sure he was right.

  “Either way, we need to find out. We’ll have to come back more prepared and figure out how to wake-up whoever’s there.”

  “I’m not too hot on that idea, François. You guys were in there for almost an hour, and we had no way of knowing if you were OK. It seems quite unsafe to me. If anything happens to one of you in there… And how do you plan to open that thing again, anyway? I’m not letting Chasma near it again.” asked Vera.

  “Look, I understand your concern, Vera. But it looks lik
e she’s the only one who can. I tried to, but nothing happened.”

  “Even if I agreed to let her touch that thing, how do you expect to open one of these containers?”

  François looked briefly at Dedrick before replying. “The same way we got inside the ship.”

  “What are you saying?” asked Vera, fearful she already knew the answer.

  “I’m saying we need to go back in there with Chasma.”

  There’s only one way to find out

  Almost two weeks had passed since the team had found the ship and its twenty-six pods. Luckily, they had quickly discovered that the vessel’s entrance no longer needed Chasma’s touch to open. It simply did anytime one of them approached the back of the white structure, and that was a good thing. Vera had not allowed her daughter to go back after that first day. She categorically refused to put her little girl in any situation she considered dangerous, and taking Chasma back to the cave was on top of her black list; especially now that the “voice” was no longer talking to her daughter. At least, she hoped so.

  Unable to convince her, Dedrick and François had gone back with the others in small groups almost every day, hoping to find out more about their incredible discovery. Ladli was almost as enthusiastic and dedicated as the commander and his French friend. The medical officer was by now convinced the “big cloud” was a flying ship, and François couldn’t agree more. The two had discovered several recesses on the outside of the white structure, that led them to believe they hid some sort of propulsion system or retractable wings. Dedrick felt they were jumping to conclusions, but he knew there was no point arguing with his engineer on that one. Ladli had also shown more interest in other structures housed in the immense cave, including the “machine” in particular. While surveying the entire perimeter of the cave, she had also discovered three more nodes leading to other small chambers in the mountain. Two of the narrow tunnels had led to dead ends and collapsed roofs, but a third had opened out into another small chamber, similar to the one they passed through every time they came down. Again, another sphere sat at its center. Beyond it, the small corridor continued, until it ended at a flat wall. In the middle of it, the outlines of another door had convinced them they were looking at the back of their Gate outside the cliff.