Mission: Lights of Langrenus

by V. A. Jeffrey

  “Ragnarok, indeed,” I said.

  “Ragnarok! A curse, that word! An abomination! He had a weapon. He was the greatest of us and he destroyed us, broke our power. To extend his own.” Her voice trailed off and the tone grew darker at the mention of this.

  “Ancus,” I said, waiting fearfully for a terrible reaction. She slowly appeared into the room looking like a bird of paradise, her eyes, slices of light narrowed as she gazed at me and her form grew more substantial.

  “I am a relative of his. A distant cousin. Of the great one who destroyed his own. At one time, his name was a pestilence. Even as we fell, we cursed him: “Cursed is Ancus the destroyer and betrayer of his people!” But the lesser races revere him as the supreme deity of the world.”

  “How do you feel about him?”

  “He is my kin and blood. I hated him and revered him at the same time, as they did. Even as I cursed him as I was taught to do, I was in awe of his charisma, his daring seizure of power and glory. In my family his name was cursed to the deepest vortexes of the universe, but not to all of them,” she said, her voice growing thoughtful. The explanation for this mysterious Ancus was cryptic if nothing else.

  “How did he die?” There was another pause, a very long one this time.

  “He is Ancus. He is eternal. He gave the lower species rule over the whole world and they once again plunged it into chaos and darkness. But he did one thing right. He was behind the ideas of creating the Realm, the concept of Nine Princes to rule all the societies of Eraut and he was behind the ideas of the modern infrastructure of the various modern societies there now.”

  “How tragic.” I could feel her loneliness and great pain, a feeling that was indescribable. “I don't understand-”

  “It is not for you to understand!” she said harshly. I could feel the heat emanating from her body. It took on the countenance like a tiny star ready to expand and explode. The pain from the heat was almost unbearable but in a split second I felt the heat infuse me with vibrant energy. Something I had never experienced before. Then she softened and the energy from her lessened. The scene in the sky before me changed and I saw a great fleet of ships. Or it seemed so. Then the scene changed again as she drew our views of its scope out and much wider until it panned across a swath of the Orion Spiral Arm. What I saw were two, distinct fleets of ships. And one, a fleet of insectoid-looking ships looked sleek, dark and intimidating crossing against that arm of stars in the Milky Way. That first fleet was smaller and some light years behind it was a far larger fleet of bigger, and I could only guess, civilian ships. I wondered if they were all powered by black hole engines.

  “There. The greatest military fleet this galaxy has ever seen. The Mordurum. They are on their way here and behind them the second fleet of civilian ships.” We came in for a closer view as if flying through space.

  “The Black Fleet,” I said fearfully.

  “Is that what you call them?” She asked. The warships looked like dark predators flying through space. Across that spray of stars, they looked like a nightmare, like venomous, hungry animals looking for prey.

  “They are coming this way, headed toward the only other safe harbor there is in this galaxy, Earth. But when my experiments are through and successful, they will get a surprise. They will find that the old gods of Eraut have returned in a new form. They will find that we have returned to take our place as the stars in their firmament and it will be a reversal of fortune, as the saying goes.”

  “Why?”

  “The very species they hope to destroy will have been subsumed into those they once worshiped. Look at the fleets making their way here. Thousands of ships, Robert. They will descend upon you like winged oqir and they consume your planet as they have already consumed and exhausted Eraut.”

  “Like they consumed the Fiorjah.”

  “Join with me! Together we will destroy the Realm and rule as progenitors of the new race.”

  “I don't want to rule anyone! And I have a wife and children!” I averted my eyes from her hypnotic gaze. I had to fight the urge to be pulled in with her. A very difficult fight, as her words sounded like a siren's call, but her ideas underneath the winsome words were no glorious future but quicksand. The mention of my wife and kids seemed to make her angry.

  “What is that to me? I am far superior to any human female consort you may now have! Besides, they too will be subsumed into the new species! Come with me-”

  “No! I will not! Your experiments are destroying the human race and I won't have anything to do with it! I'm sorry about what happened to you and your people, I truly am, but I want to remain what I am, human. I like my simple meat bag well enough!” There was silence and then the room grew cold and black as space. I could feel the deadly chill in my bones.

  “You have been given a great gift and this is how you choose to show your gratitude.” The voice was no longer inviting or seductive but cold as an Arctic wind.

  “It was a gift I never asked-”

  “SILENCE! Go, then! I'll send you back to the labs and instead of becoming my consort, you will become a drone! I will tell Dr. Dorn to use your body for genetic material. You will serve me and the race, very well, whether you like it or not!” The scene of the vast fleet of ships flying through the Milky Way Galaxy appeared again.

  “Look, and know that they are coming. Know that you could have helped me stop them from devouring your people. No matter. I will stop them! You would rather see your own kind die than use reason. Farewell, Robert of Earth!” And the room grew unimaginably cold as I felt her essence withdrawn from the room. I shuddered violently and then my body seemed to grow warm on its own in response to the surroundings. I lay there for hours, dreading what my fate held.

  . . .

  I wondered who else knew about this; if it was only the little cabal in the upper levels of the mine out here that knew of it. It really wouldn't matter if I couldn't find a way out of this predicament. I could hear, dimly, cries and screams far off again which further frightened me. It was the cries of a woman, which really upset me. Fear turned to rage and that rage began to build until I remembered that whatever was happening to her was soon going to happen to me. As my eyes began to focus and the room became clear I felt a hammering heat in my body that was just beginning to subside. I'd hoped those pills the bartender sold me would do me at least some good, but I had serious doubts. I looked over to my left and I saw an object fly down from the ceiling and behind a tank. I looked up and the ceiling was still opened to the plexi-glass like a planetarium scene. What looked like a little star seemed to fall toward me until my eyes could focus and I saw that it was my salvation!

  “Will! Thank God! What happened to you?” I whispered, ready to jump and tear off my bonds. I looked around to see that Justin was still gone.

  “I did what you asked. I'll tell you later what I've found. I see you are all tied up.”

  “Thank you, Captain Obvious! Can you find a way to untie me from these energy bands?”

  “I can try. You look. . .sick, Bob.”

  “I'll worry about that later!” The little mech circled around the room once, taking in everything. It then landed upon a panel at the far side of the room to the north and suddenly my energy bands began to buzz and hum, growing brighter – and very hot!

  “Will! Whatever you've done do the opposite! They're burning!” I said grimacing and twisting in pain upon the bed. Soon the pain was dialed down but it seemed an eternity before they finally were shut off. I closed my eyes in mental exhaustion and lay there.

  “Bob. Like you say, we must hurry,” he said. I heard screams from a man in another room again which spurred me to get up.

  “Where are your clothes, Bob?”

  “I don't know. When the security mechs grabbed me up they didn't exactly inform me of what they were going to do with my clothes. I need to find a man and a woman taken here with me. They're torturing them. You can't imagine the terrible things that are going to happen. I have a chance
to help them get out of here!”

  “I think I can imagine, after what I've seen here but before you think of others, you need to get your clothes, your spacesuit, and your guns back, if possible. You can't help anyone in your birthday suit.”

  “So where do we find them?”

  “I think I found a room with an incinerator where the labor and security mechs take things to be thrown out. They were separating useful things from the trash. I saw perfectly good space suits along with the trash in there to be thrown out. Follow me.” He went to a door leading to a small hallway, having hacked the security codes of the locks in a few doors, keeping them in memory storage. Sure enough, down the hall there was an incinerator and labor mechs were busy throwing garbage and unwanted items onto a conveyor belt leading off into the fires.

  “How do we get down there?”

  “Dog whistle.”

  “Dog whistle?”

  “I've come up with an alarm that can alert only the labor mechs. I can get them to leave the room. I have to program it from here first and it will take me a while. They'll leave, thinking they have an emergency. Then you go in and get that suit lying there. I think it's yours anyway, and then we get your weapons, which I believe are on that table beside the conveyor belt.” The little mech bobbed to and fro in the air as Will remotely communicated to the labor mechs in the trash room. Suddenly, I saw shadows coming from the opposite end of the hall.

  “Security mechs!” I warned. We hid around the corner as they passed and went on down the hall and out the door. I felt desperate and vulnerable, like a newborn baby. Finally, when it seemed safe enough, I peered through the window and saw that the labor mechs had left the trash room.

  “Hurry Bob! Before they come back to resume their work!” Or detect that something is wrong! I thought. I pushed open the heavy metal door and went down the rusted metal staircase and toward the conveyor belt. My suit was almost down the fire chute. I ran and jumped onto the belt, scrambling through the garbage, old clothing, and equipment cast offs along the belt. I nearly fell off, feeling unsure of my own feet, wobbling from side to side. I stilled my balance glancing worriedly at the suit up ahead, then crawled wildly up the belt and grabbed at the suit, nearly losing my balance as the chute took me close almost to the ovens. Inside the chute was a steep drop off into fires far below, looking like the maw of hell. I swung myself on a long metal rod right above me, hands slippery with sweat, back toward the belt and swung myself off the belt, crashing to the floor. I snatched my pair of gravity boots from the far end of the belt and struggled to put them all on. The little mech came swinging near to me.

  “They're coming! We need to go!”

  “I need my guns! Where did you see them?”

  “Right over there on that table!” I ran to the table and digging my arms in the piles of various items. I didn't find the guns I had originally come in with – except the vambraser. I put on the vambraser and stuffed a lasgun in a pocket just in time to see the labor mechs making their way back into the room. Ducking under the large table, the recorder mech hiding with me, I crouched silently as the mechs filed in and resumed their work. I counted the seconds until I would be discovered. I didn't have long. As I struggled quickly to attached my vambraser to my arm and get it powered up, I did so just in time for one of them to detect me.

  “Intruder! Intruder!” It alerted its workmates who all whirled around toward where the mech was pointing. I rolled out from under the table and immediately began firing my vambraser. I destroyed the one who'd alerted the others. It shattered into a million, smoking pieces. The laser gun strapped to my arm had more power and accuracy than I'd suspected and I was surprised and glad for it. I took out two more as the others shuffled for the exit. I chased after them, shooting them all down before they could reach the alarm by the door upstairs.

  “Where to now?”

  “You wanted to help two others captured? We go back to the lab room.” This time, I was much better prepared and I would be not afraid to blast down anyone who posed a threat.

  “Make sure you keep the second lasergun close at hand, Bob. With all the security mechs here with unlicensed gun power, you'll need it.”

  . . .

  Back in the lab room, which was once my prison, I was slightly disoriented by the night sky of the ceiling. I saw great mists and clouds of bright, colorful gases rising up from around the complex and the mines, dissipating away. I went down toward the door that said: “Main laboratory! Keep Out!” I'd discerned that was where the screams were coming from. The doors slid open at my presence and I stepped in, arm at the ready to blast. What I saw shook and angered me. The shocking part were a few alien corpses in tanks and one strapped to a stretcher. Justin was inside a sealed, vertical holding tank, his body writhing in convulsions as light and streams of what looked like electricity coursed through the side panels of the inside of the tank. His mouth was contorted into silent screams; I could no longer hear him. The other sight was even worse. The woman I'd heard previously, the one captured with Justin, her body was contorted into a hideous, painfully impossible position, her mouth open in a permanent howl and her eyes were yellowish white glowing orbs. There was a faint glow to her skin and she looked as if she had radiation burn marks all over her body. She was floating in fluid inside a tank, tubes springing forth from her mouth and nose like tentacles. It was clear to me that she was dead. I had lost any chance to save her. But I could do one thing. I could mete out retribution to those who had tortured and killed her.

  “Call security!” One of the assistants screamed. It was too late. I fired on one of them as they ran to set off the alarm. He fell like a stack of moon rocks and I ran after the other and fired on him. But not before he had managed to activate an alarm on one of the computer screens at the console they'd been working at.

  “So you're not automatons after all!” I yelled. The head scientist was gone before I could get to him, out the doors and down a hallway, screaming maniacally. The vambraser had a long range, but it wasn't long enough to get to him. The recorder mech made to go after him.

  “Forget him, Will! Let's get Justin out of here! How do we open this thing?”

  “If we open it we will be exposed to increased levels of radioactive gas. He is receiving some type of radiation treatment, I think.”

  “We're already exposed to high levels of radiation by coming to this mine, now how do we get the guy out of here? Do we open it from a panel on the tank itself or from a control panel around the room?” I hurried over by the tank which was starting to fill up with fluid from tubes coming from the bottom. The man was banging desperately on the windows of the tank.

  “I can't find anything that seems obvious,” said Will who was over at the computers' control panels, hovering.

  “I think I've found them!” The fluid had now reached the level of his neck. His eyes had the look of someone who was defeated. And I felt a rising panic as well and a feeling of helplessness after what I'd promised him. I heard the doors around the room lock down and seal themselves shut. We were losing time. In the distance, I heard security mechs coming.

  “Hurry, Bob! I've managed to lock the room down, but they'll eventually get in!”

  Calming myself so I could think straight, I came to the tank. Running my hands along the left side of the tank I finally found a small panel of controls. One button had a green light on it. I punched that one and the tank opened with a loud suction sound and bio-embryonic fluid and gases came gushing out. The tank opened just as I heard loud, persistent banging on the doors. Justin came peeling out and collapsed into my arms.

  “Look! You have to bear up! We have to get out of here! Come on, stand up, man!” I demanded. He stumbled to his feet, weakly trying to tear the long feeding and breathing tubes from his mouth and nose. I helped to pull them out and blood gushed from his nose as we finally cleared them from his body and threw them aside. Just then I heard a keening cry for help behind me. I saw, lying on a stretcher a creature I
thought was dead at first but wasn't; an alien Glia female with reddish orange and black wings like a monarch butterfly.

  “Please! Help me get out of here and I can help you escape this building!” She panted. Her eyes were very wide and dark, slightly resembling an insect's. She looked similar to the Suwudi. Her wings were folded against her body and it looked dangerously damaging to her wings, on the bed, folded up. She too had no clothes on and her hair was splayed out in long braids and there were cuts and wounds all over her body.

  “The woman there, the human woman, she did not survive the experiments long.”

  “I kind of figured that out already.” I looked to the control panel near her stretcher and turned her energy band restraints off. She rose quickly and as she turned I could see that the whole right side of her body had been poorly sewn up, with dried blood along the wound which ran from her breast down to her hip.

  “What did they do to you?”

  “They use Erautian gene material to splice with human genes. They are more butchers than scientists,” she said bitterly.

  “So you're basically this guy's walking toolbox, is that it?” I asked. She frowned as if she didn't understand.

  “He's using you for genetic material?” She nodded.

  “One of many. The others of my kind they used have died. I merely took their place. I didn't know your people still used such barbaric practices in this kind of work!”

  “Legitimate scientists and doctors don't. I think Dorn just enjoys seeing others in pain. He's a sadist,” I said. She frowned.

  “I see.”

  “How did he find you?” She hesitated for a second, her expression dark.

  “I was found working in Langrenus, in the Mayor's office. I looked like any other human, but he seemed to tell I was. . .different. As if he could see right through my disguise. I don't know how. They kidnapped me while I was on a short jaunt in the Caucasus Mountains and brought me here.”