“I’m sure he will benefit greatly from this visit,” Carlos said.
This was for a training camp? she wondered.
“We shall attend to that shortly,” the High Priest said. “The ship will reach our city in a few minutes’ time. For now we need to scan the area for any potential threats.”
“You think we were attacked?” Carlos asked.
“We do not think. We know,” he said. “For the past few weeks we’ve been having similar attacks on our merchant vessels and we’ve even had small raids happen in Armorica’s capital city.”
“I didn’t expect your race to be capable of something of this sort.”
“The Getafixians would never abandon their morality, however high the gains may be,” he said. “These raids and attacks are caused by the other race.”
“Ah,” Carlos paused. “The Thanonians.”
The High Priest nodded, “They are nothing but poor excuses for intelligent life,” he said. “They’ve been causing us plenty of trouble for the past few months.”
A man scuttled into the room, also dressed in a white gown, “Sire, the scanners picked up a Thanonian vessel in the immediate vicinity.”
The High Priest’s face distorted with disgust, “Initiate contact and capture them if necessary,” he said and turned back towards them. “I’m sorry, Commander, but our trip to the capital might get delayed a bit. But the Thanonian ships are no match for our vessel, so it shouldn’t take more than a few minutes.”
“No worries, High Priest,” he said.
The High Priest called for two other men, “Guide our guests to my chambers,” he said and turned to Carlos. “I will join you shortly after this. Please rest in my quarters until we reach the city.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Carlos said.
“I insist,” he said with a little more sternness.
Carlos didn’t seem to be intimidated but he obliged anyway.
“Thank you for your generosity,” he said.
Two Getafixian men bowed before them and led them into a corridor. They walked straight ahead, not turning into the paths that branched out.
Elizabeth felt her body shift backward as the ship picked up speed.
“Impressive speed,” the pilot mumbled.
Elizabeth jerked for a second. She had completely forgotten about their pilot. And speaking of the pilot, she seemed to be walking perfectly fine, which meant her legs hadn’t been hurt when that metal block had trapped her.
“Armorica’s tech is usually high class,” Carlos said.
“Better than ours?” Q asked.
“Definitely. This planet has huge sums of money reserved back from its early sponsors. Our sponsors at Aliea Academy can only provide to a certain extent. The tech we invest in is high class, but the Getafixians buy God-level tech. Amazing stuff.”
Elizabeth had to admit she was intrigued at what exactly this planet was. All she knew was that it was like the Earth, and the natives dressed like the Pope.
They finally stopped at the end of the corridor, in front of a sleek double door, each one spanning half the width of the corridor. The men swung open both sides and bowed their heads, which was probably their way of asking them to head in.
“Thank you,” Carlos nodded at both the men and walked in, with the others behind him.
The room was dimly lit by blue lava lamps in each corner of the room. On the right side was a large bed, with a canopy and translucent cloth screens around it. On the other side was a semicircular couch, with a circular table in the center. A window stood about five feet above the floor on either side but no light came through.
“Well, this looks like some sort of a royal chamber,” Q said.
“It is in a way,” Carlos said. “The Getafixians follow a sort of monarchy.”
“Really?”
“They elect a High Priest, and then the position is filled until he or she dies.”
“That’s interesting.”
“It’s also how the Vatican works,” Elizabeth chuckled.
A thundering explosion shook the ship, sending waves through the metal walls and floor.
“What was that?” Elizabeth asked as she shifted her weight to balance herself.
Carlos looked at them, his face devoid of emotion, “The Thanonian vessel just destroyed.”
***
1-4
“I hope you’re comfortable in here,” the High Priest said as he walked into the room.
Q stood still with the others, contributing to the utter silence that filled the air. The only sound that resonated was the dull ‘glob’ noise from the bubbles in the lava lamp.
The High Priest stood still for another few seconds, his hand gripping his staff, his eyes looking at everyone intently, trying to get someone to say something.
“Commander Carlos,” he said. “Is there a problem?”
Carlos stood up, his face stern, “Was it really necessary to blow that ship up, High Priest?”
The High Priest’s face changed, “Blow up? What in the world are you talking about,” he said. “That Thanonian ship was an attack drone. It self-destructed when we rendered it immobile.”
Now it was Carlos’ turn to change expressions.
Q was surprised that his brother would make such an inaccurate assumption. Although, he had to admit, he’d pretty much thought the same thing. Only difference was that he wasn’t that sure about it, whereas Carlos was very confident about his statement.
“Self-destruction?” he asked, not convinced by the High Priest’s answer.
“The Thanonians do not want us learning about any of their weaponry. So all their ships, satellites, and drones are programmed to self-destruct as soon as they fall into the wrong hands.”
Carlos eased up a bit, but remained silent, hindered by the awkward atmosphere he’d left in the room.
“Do not worry about it, Commander,” The High Priest smiled. “I’d have made the same assumption if I were not familiar with these practices.”
Carlos managed a smile.
“Come,” The High Priest sat down on the U-shaped sofa, and everyone else followed suit.
Q sat down at the edge and stretched his legs out. All that standing had made him feel sore. The regular ‘standing in a ship’ was fine, but this ship was accelerating through space, and that usually made it harder for the body to cope with it.
“Why do you think the Thanonians attacked us?” Elizabeth asked. “Did they think we were one of the Getafixians?”
“I believe so,” The High Priest said. “But we can’t really say for sure. These days the Thanonians have us under a small siege, attacking all sorts of small merchant vessels that head to our planet.”
“Can’t you just threaten them?” Q asked. If the Getafixians had such superior tech then it would make sense to threaten to wipe them out.
“They know we won’t wipe out an entire group of people,” he sighed. “It is not our way of life.”
“Well, I guess you’re in a spot then.”
“Yes,” he clutched his cane. “We’re indeed in a spot. But the positive to all this is that they don’t have high quality ships or drones. So as long as we predict their moves we’ll be fine. But even then, a trivial amount of damage always occurs.”
“How many of their drones have been taken out so far?”
“This week the number is around ten or so. These frequent attacks are the reason we now have our ships orbiting the planet at all times. Constant surveillance is the sole thing that helps us, but every once in a while we have one of our ships taken out by a Thanonian drone swarm.”
“You know,” Q said. “If there’s a significant risk involved should you really be on this ship? Aren’t you kinda important on Armorica?”
As soon as he said it Q realized he hadn’t expressed himself very politely. Frankly, he’d expressed himself in the worst way possible, and Carlos’ subtle glare let him know he was spot on about that.
He opened his mouth to apol
ogize but was cut off by the High Priest’s hoarse laughter.
“The youth these days,” he said. “So direct with everything,” he turned to Q. “Well little one, it is as much a risk for you as it is for me. I wanted to safely bring you to the capital and so I boarded the only surveillance craft that intersected with your entry path. Good thing we planned that whole thing out.”
The door swung open and a younger Getafixian man walked in, “High Priest, we have reached the capital.”
“Wait, we’re on the ground?!” Elizabeth asked
Q could see why she was surprised. He hadn’t felt a single jerk the entire time. Heck, he hadn’t even felt the ship slow down.
And boom, they were on the ground.
Future tech, he thought.
Well, it wasn’t exactly future tech. This tech was very much in the present. It was just that most of the Universe didn’t have it. He made a mental note to check out the other tech these people had. If space engine drives were this good their day-to-day tech would probably be insane. The High Priest stood up, and his staff’s base softly thudded into the floor, “Shall we get going then?” he said and led them out the door.
The young man led them along and turned into the first corridor that branched out towards the left.
A total maze, Q thought.
He wondered if these men went through drills just to remember where everything was. Seemed like there was no other way to figure out all these routes.
“I trust the accommodations have been taken care of?” the High Priest asked the man just as they stopped in front of a tall door that seemed to have popped out of nowhere. Its textured metal spanned the entire height of the corridor, making it look like it was a door to one of those high-security prison cells.
“The palace is awaiting their arrival, Sire,” he said and placed his palm on a fingerprint scanner on the side of the door. The door hissed and rose up, allowing rays of light to enter the ship and reflect between the metallic walls.
The High Priest turned around at the doorway and faced them, his hands and staff raised, the light turning him into nothing more than a silhouette.
“Welcome to Armorica.”
***
1-5
Oh. My. God, Q thought.
The whole planet was basically everything one would want in a fantasy world. Lush greenery, flowers that glowed like jewels, a clear blue sky with the faintest of breezes flowing through it. He stared up at the towering stone castle in front of him, its architecture making it seem like it came straight out of the middle ages.
“Are you serious?” Elizabeth said. “Alien planets have castles now?”
“Well, Armorica’s entire culture is sort of medieval,” Carlos said.
“So we get to do quests for pretty women?” Q chuckled.
“This isn’t Skyrim or some other fantasy video game,” Elizabeth punched him lightly.
“Beautiful place is it not?” the High Priest said and raised his staff into the air.
A dull burst of light hit Q’s eyes and left him a bit dazed.
“What was that?” Elizabeth asked.
“That, my child, was feedback from deactivating the force field.”
“What?”
“The main palace has an invisible force field around it - our form of a high-tech medieval drawbridge. Deactivating the force field causes a small burst of light. That’s all.”
Wow, Q thought.
Common thinking would suggest that there was nothing special about an invisible force field, but in reality it was very different from every other type of force field. Most ships and armies had energy scanners that scanned the surroundings for energy or heat. A regular force field would radiate heat and thus be seen on a scanner, but an invisible one wouldn’t radiate even a bit of heat and would just blend into the surrounding energy readings.
Usually, force fields could be forced to shut down using complex processes, but each of those processes took time, expensive equipment, and a hell of a lot of planning. The only way the enemy would even find out about the force field would be if they realized their attacks were getting stopped by emptiness, and by then it would have been too late to even attempt to shut down the force field.
Q found the force field’s concept to be pretty clever, and much stronger than any high end defense mechanism. No enemy force can take down something whose existence they’re not even aware of.
“Come along now,” the High Priest led them to the palace.
At the entrance were wooden double doors stood shaped like an inverted shield. They automatically creaked open as they walked towards the castle.
Q stopped mid-stride and took a good close look at the the brown doors. There were small inscriptions all over their surface. Alien scripts and rugged drawings lay embossed in the wall with delicately carved lines filling the gaps between adjacent inscriptions.
“Q! We need to get going,” Carlos yelled out from inside.
He jumped past the doorway, and into the castle just as the massive doors slammed shut, leaving a thud that resonated through the air.
The inner palace was, not surprisingly, just how a medieval castle would have been. A gold-bordered, red carpet spanned almost the entire width of the room, with a few yards gap on either side. It ran from the door all the way to a wide staircase at the end of the corridor, where it branched off into the two doorways on either side.
Several men and women stood on each side of the carpet, all of them dressed in gown-like robes. They bowed down respectfully as the High Priest walked past them.
Can’t get any more medieval than that, Q thought.
The High Priest led them straight towards the staircase, but instead of heading up its steps, he went around to its side.
“Come along,” he said.
Q walked over to the side of the staircase and noticed a rectangle, about the size of a person, engraved on the wall.
The High Priest touched the wall and the engraved outline glowed with a bright white light. The entire section retreated back into the wall, revealing a hidden passageway.
“It would be best for the men and women to enter at different times,” he said.
“What?” Elizabeth asked. “Why in the world does gender matter?”
He raised his hand and two women Getafixians hastened to him.
“Show these two ladies to the master quarters,” he said and turned to Elizabeth. “As to why your gender matters. You shall soon find out.”
“That’s just absurd,” she said, her choice of words slowly becoming less respectful and more attacking.
“Elizabeth,” Carlos put his hand on her shoulder. “No one’s trying to offend anyone here. Just calm down will you?”
Her body relaxed, but her eyes still locked onto the High Priest.
Q sighed. He didn’t really blame her for her reaction. She had good reason to take any gender discrimination very personally.
She was from the Seraphian race, a race of angel-like beings. But though they resembled those holy doers of good, their structure of society was quite messed up. Women were just objects, subject to abuse and discrimination, and in such a society men got away with the most unethical of things.
Elizabeth’s mother had lost her life when her father abused her to the point of fatality. Elizabeth never really talked about it, but Q was very sure she was still bothered by it.
“Come along, Mistress,” both of the ladies bowed to Elizabeth and led her and the pilot up the staircase.
“We will be with you within the hour,” the High Priest said.
Elizabeth nodded, almost forcefully, and the women disappeared up the staircase.
“Shall we get going then?” he walked through the opening in the wall and Q followed him through along with Carlos.
The dimly lit pathway seemed to run parallel to the staircase. The only visible light came from a small bluish glow radiating from the stones on the walls and ceilings.
“Out of curiosity,” Q said. “Wher
e exactly are you taking us?”
“For centuries, our race has possessed a certain sight,” the High Priest said, his words spaced between the soft thuds of his staff. “One that we show to every one of our visitors.”
“Like a monument?”
“A special place,” he said.
They walked further until they reached a dead end in the wall. The High Priest tapped his staff against it. A blue, door-shaped outline appeared just as before, and this section of the wall slid into the ground.
A small cloud of mist flowed into the passageway, and a warmth seeped through the air and the walls. Q walked on, feeling a light breeze blow through, bringing with it the scent of fresh jasmine and lilies. The mist dissolved in the wind, revealing the faint image of a pool of water.
“Welcome to Armorica’s best tourist spot,” the High Priest said.
Q’s face broke into a smile when he realized what this was.
“Hot springs.”
***
2-1
Q laid back against the smooth stone wall and let its warmth soothe his body. He had to admit, when the High Priest said ‘special place’, a hot spring was not exactly what he’d expected.
“This water has the rarest natural occurrence of a set of minerals,” the High Priest said. “Strongest relaxation agent in existence.”
Q couldn’t see him speaking though. The mist around them was thick enough to hide them all from one another.
“Must be good to have it in your backyard,” Carlos said. “A quick dip now and then?”
“This spring is reserved only for special visitors and ambassadors,” the High Priest said. “Overusing the pool could deteriorate its healing qualities. The general public, including myself, use the lower quality springs all over the planet.”
“So is healing the Getafixians speciality?” Q asked. It seemed to make sense that a planet filled with nutrient-rich springs would have caused the natives to develop an affinity to healing wave-skills.
“The Getafixians were born wielders of the Elementa of light,” the High Priest said.
ZeQuest: A Space Opera Mystery Novella (The Quest Saga Science Fiction Adventure Series Book 2) Page 2