Equilibrium of Terror: Part 2

by Eddie R. Hicks

  Progress at last. “I’m listening,” Queenea said.

  “Good, because you’re no good to me and my business if you’re not.” Iey’liwea sat back in her chair and allowed her waving tail to relax. “The university may have rejected your idea, and yes I admit the council did play a hand in it.”

  “Did they?”

  “You’re an intelligent woman, I’m sure you figured out why that happened. Your theory however is brilliant and warrants further study. This could be the solution to our future energy crisis and the council won’t back it due to religious fears it will anger the gods.”

  “So what’s your plan to go against them?” Queenea stopped as the server returned with their requested second meals, placing the elegantly decorated food in front of them. Queenea watched as the server walked away, as he glanced back at her genetically enhanced body. It gave him the wrong idea, the idea that she was fascinated in him. “Do you plan to defy the gods?”

  “My name as you know was originally a traditional Rabuabin name, ‘Iey’liw’,” Iey’liwea said, before she began to consume her piping hot soup. “I was born an exile; my father wanted to live in the union and begged that the sins of his parents be forgiven so that we can live here. I’m not saying the gods don’t exist, all I’m saying is we shouldn’t make our every decision based around what the Patriarch thinks will upset them or not.”

  Queenea began to eat her meal and waited until she was half way finished it before she announced. “Thirty million credits.”

  “Straight to the numbers, I like you.”

  “I’ll give you my report and assist your new project.”

  “We need to be silent about this of course, should the council or the Patriarch find out . . .”

  On the other side of the restaurant, a lanky Linl man listened in on Queenea and Iey’liwea’s conversation via a hidden recording device underneath their table. Iey’liwea thought she’d be slick and have a secret meeting away from the council towers, her office, and her home. What she didn’t know was that her data pad wasn’t hard to hack into and monitor remotely. The conversation had started to upload into the data pad of another party, interested in what the Rabuabin council representative had to say.

  “You’re going to want to listen to this right away sir,” he whispered into his hidden communicator on his wrist.

  Radiance Council delegation chambers, Aervounis, Luminous system

  Ienthei received a message on his data pad hours after Queenea had left to visit Iey’liwea. The message was asking him to come to the delegation chambers to speak of an urgent matter. He had hoped for the best, that the council was going to admit they were wrong and that he should have been nominated, perhaps even allow him to run for elections while Dienei gets removed from the race.

  Ienthei’s mouth twisted as he stepped off the elevator into an empty chamber. He scratched his blond hair wondering what was going on as he stepped further in to take a closer look.

  “Where is everyone else?”

  “Not here,” Marchei said as he spun around in his chair to unveil his presence to Ienthei. It was just the two of them, nobody else. “And they won’t be.”

  “What did you call for me?”

  Marchei folded his tiny Vorcambreum hands together. “There’s a problem I need your assistance with.”

  “Me?”

  “You should have been nominated, we need people like you on the council,” Marchei said. “Your father, a great war hero, was killed by Dienei who now stands a chance at being elected. Does this sound right to you? Shouldn’t the son of Jainuzei take a seat amongst us?”

  Ienthei was delighted to hear that someone else other than his dear sister agreed with him, a council representative no less. “Yeah, but.”

  “Not everyone on the council is exactly who they appear to be. Some are allied with the heretics, others with the exiles. Some like Iey’liwea wishes to go against the will of the gods. And drag your sister with her.”

  Marchei picked up his data pad off the council table and tapped on its screen. An audio recording of Queenea and Iey’liwea played. It sounded as if they were inside a crowded establishment, like a restaurant.

  “I could bring this information to light,” Marchei said. “But it would create unnecessary drama and arguing. Not to mention a long investigation. One that would probably result in the excommunication of your sister, you can protect her however and may prevent said drama.”

  “Explain.”

  “The great temple, the two of need to visit the acting Patriarch there, and pray for forgiveness.”

  “That’s it? Seems rather easy.”

  “With the temple giving you their full support and accepting your apologies, nobody will speak ill of you two,” Marchei said. “This would also result in Iey’liwea’s plans coming to an end as she can’t push forward without your sister.”

  The auto recording repeated and Ienthei listened to it again and carefully considered his next words and plan of action. “I’ll speak with her at once.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Leviathan, En route to Mars, Sol system

  Noylarlie's quarters was still a mess so was her mind as she tried repeatedly to reestablish telepathic communication with Kroshka upon her return from aether space. Noylarlie tried everything, meditating, breathing, even sought guidance from gem she kept on her. There were no results, either she wasn’t good at reaching out to someone, or something happened to Kroshka.

  She destroyed the frame to her bed by snapping it into pieces, as a means of releasing some frustration. It was that frustration that needed to be purged from her body for her to return to the realm of aether space. Noylarlie lay back with her arms spread out from side to side, and entered the all too familiar trance she needed to astral project into the alternate plane of existence. No water, no weightless was needed, the process almost second nature, like opening up a door in front of you and walking through it.

  She hoped that perhaps Kroshka had returned to aether space as Noylarlie had left it. It would explain her being unable to reach her mind via telepathy.

  Aether space, Lower realm

  The beach and ocean beneath the nebula appeared as Noylarlie opened her eyes. Her mother Iolysta was there, Kroshka was not. There goes that idea.

  “Where she?” Noylarlie asked as she approached Iolysta sitting on the beach.

  “Kroshka? I don’t know. I haven’t touched her mind since her disconnect from here.”

  “I can’t connect with her.”

  Iolysta stood and faced Noylarlie, the sand that touched her body melted away and fell from her as if it were droplets of water. Iolysta touched Noylarlie’s head with two of her fingers as her eyes shut. “There’s too much stress on your mind. You need to be more relaxed or you will not be able to speak with her via telepathy.”

  “Can’t relax when you suddenly want to change sides and have me follow you,” Noylarlie said as she resisted the urge to raise her voice. “The Leviathan will be heading toward Earth along with the Hashmedai fleet.”

  Iolysta opened her eyes and withdrew her fingers from Noylarlie, “Unfortunate.”

  “I can’t stop it mother! I may be powerful but I can’t stand up to all of them alone.”

  “Find a way, you have to.”

  “What will happen if I don’t?”

  Iolysta looked her daughter and smiled. “Come with me,” she said, starting to walk toward the ocean, on the surface of the water at that.

  Noylarlie followed, half expecting her body to submerge into the blue shimmering waters. But she didn’t, her psionic mind sensed a section the ocean’s surface tension was solid and stable enough for one to step on. It went against everything she knew about the normal world and physics. But there she was, walking on the surface of water, the areas that allowed her to at least. Two meters next to her, the water acted like one would expect in normal space, Noylarlie dipped her hands into it and felt its cold flow.

  She continued to follo
w behind her mother deeper across the ocean until it began to rise. No, it wasn’t rising, it was folding around them. The beach they had left was high above Noylarlie’s head as the rest of the ocean folded and formed into a sphere, in which the two women were inside.

  “What the fuck,” was all Noylarlie had to say.

  Once the sphere was complete, Iolysta faced Noylarlie and extended her hands out for Noylarlie to hold. “Let me show you the truth,” Iolysta said.

  Noylarlie and Iolysta’s hands embraced. There was a flash of white brilliant light.

  Everything became dark seconds later.

  Noylarlie felt like she was falling off a cliff, yet she saw nothing that would indicate that, just darkness. Her hair, her outfit was all rustling and her senses told her she was falling into pit. There was no surface below her, nothing her feet could feel or her hands to touch. Just eternal nothingness and falling.

  The darkness cleared and the strange sensation stopped. Noylarlie’s body hovered high above a city, a Lyonria city. It was a vision, she knew it was, just like she knew it was a Lyonria city, yet she had never seen one.

  She just knew, somehow.

  Noylarlie watched the vision play out in a form of an accelerated time lapse. She saw the Lyonria civilization rise from their home world and travel the stars, colonizing many worlds. Their ships were enormous. FTL was possible, artificial gravity was something they could easily build. Even Lyonria school children could build a simple artificial gravity generator.

  The fleet of Lyonria ships dominated space, terraformed planets, seeded worlds to encourage life to evolve, brokered alliances between other alien species. During their travels they encountered a pocket of space, a rift in the space time continuum. The Lyonria were explorers, and masters of science, they thought they knew everything about physics. This rift proved they only knew half of it, the rest of the unknown existed within the rift, a rift that led them to the discovery of aether space. The first Lyonria explorers inside aether space gained psionic powers over a period of time as strange beings from inside the realm guided and taught them about their newly discovered existence.

  Time went on and more and more Lyonria ventured inside aether space, establishing colonies, gaining psionic powers, and learning about the secrets of the universe. Those that truly mastered their newfound psionic powers were selected by the strange beings inside aether space and were offered a chance to venture deeper inside. What became of them was a mystery to all. What became of the Lyonria that didn’t venture too far in however was not. They felt superior, better than the Lyonria that existed in normal space and time.

  A new label was created to identify the two groups of Lyonria. Lesser was a title bestowed upon those in normal space, greater a title for the psionic Lyonria within aether space. Lesser elders and the elite from normal space were invited to travel and live with the greater. A new system of accession was formed in the centuries that came. Lesser Lyonria had to work hard and build themselves up to an elite status, a key that would allow them to travel to aether space and gain all the benefits from living there.

  The lesser who were forced to live in normal space had to do so under the guidance of their elders, they were forced to view them as if they were divine beings that knew all and could influence all. Few people questioned them at the time as several showed the power to predict events in normal space, like a seer. The greater Lyonria also guided the lesser into advancing their technology, such as the invention of wormholes and the aetheric matter needed to coat the throat of the wormhole so that it could remain stable enough for ships or people to travel through it.

  The wormhole network gave the lesser Lyonria access to remote regions of space that even their FTL ships couldn’t reach due to the distances and fuel required. Travel from galaxy to galaxy became common place and every galaxy had an interesting story to tell and primitive races evolving on many different worlds. Nivrui, Aviuheart, and Emelia, three greater Lyonria, from an elite sorority, centuries earlier appeared in normal space to assist and oversee the lesser in their new task of studying and helping with the advancement of a primitive alien species. The three were different from most greater Lyonria, some figured they were in aether space so long they achieved a level of psionic power that was unheard of. Others suspected they were amongst the many chosen by the mysterious creatures to travel deeper into aether space.

  Whatever the case was, they were powerful and choose the planet of Paryo to make their presence known. Primitive Hashmedai saw the three descend from the skies, they told them they were goddesses and offered a bright and promising future as long as they worshipped them and followed their guidance. The lesser Lyonria were forced to assist the three women by protecting the Hashmedai people from all natural threats. Asteroids that were on a collision course to their world were shot down by their mighty battleships. Plagues that had the potential to wipe out the Hashmedai were rendered inert via secret vaccines developed by Lyonria scientists.

  The Hashmedai people continued to evolve and conquer the harsh conditions of their world. Nivrui, Aviuheart and Emelia got all the credit as they continued to develop and prepare their future plans with the Hashmedai people, the lesser Lyonria that did most of the work got none.

  Years later a rebellion broke out, the lesser wanted into aether space and wanted their old government restored. And most of all, they wanted Nivrui, Aviuheart and Emelia to stop dictating to them how they should develop and live their lives. Not all the original Lyonria that ventured into aether space stayed there, some retired in remote regions of normal space, along with their newly found psionic powers. Their descendants inherited those gifts and passed them down as the generations went on. The lesser rebels sought out those few and forced them to train, enhance their powers and become the soldiers they’d need to win the war and gain their freedom and independence.

  The war was long, and resulted in many of the Lyonria colonies in the Milky Way galaxy crumbling. The greater Lyonria sought to slow their progression by destroying as many wormhole gates as they could, cutting them off from the rest of the lesser throughout the universe. The psionic lesser however devised a means of entering aether space without the need of the temporal rifts that normally allowed them. Aetheric energy orbs, white glowing balls of pure psionic energy allowed psionics to enter aether space via astral projection. Red gem like matter acquired from aether space encased these orbs, to contain their power and make it easier to physically keep it on them. The more one used the orbs encased in a red gem, the more their knowledge and thoughts were etched into it, an unexpected side effect that proved to be useful as fallen psionic soldiers could have their psionic gifts transferred into another, not to mention it worked as an excellent communications tool between normal space and aether space.

  The rebels over time forced the greater Lyonria inside aether space to fall back further in the strange realm. Many were forced to seek refuge in unexplored regions and spread out. The leaders of the rebels weren’t convinced it was enough and chased after them, none returned. With the leadership of the rebels gone, lesser Lyonria society in the Milky Way galaxy crumbled as the three goddesses vanished, seeking refuge in captured gems.

  Stoarior, Tym, and Livie appeared from an undiscovered rift leading into aether space. They monitored what had become of the galaxy in the aftermath of the rebellions as the Milky Way was the original source of the uprising. During their observation they discovered the planet Aervounis and the struggling Aryile facing extinction. They appeared to the Aryile people much like how the goddesses did to the Hashmedai and helped them heal their dying world, then assigned them a task.

  Explore the galaxy, advance other races they discovered, share the gifts and Lyonria technology they would provide to them over time. Let the Aryile lead the newly created Radiance Union and hope that they uncovered in their travels what became of the lesser Lyonria rebels and what became of the goddesses.

  The goddesses took advantage of the situation in the galaxy. The L
inl discovered Lyonria outposts and ruins within their home system, such discoveries eventually led them to build ships and travel the stars to learn more of the Lyonria. Eventually they arrived at the Morutrin system, the location where the first gems were discovered by Hashmedai salvagers. The Empire and the Union both found their way into the system, and the eventual exposure to the gems and the voices that said to the salvagers that found them in the aftermath of the fighting for control of the system.

  Some people in Radiance were convinced their gods were speaking to them. Some Hashmedai heard the voices and its lure as well and blindly followed the directions it gave them. Said directions were actually ones by the goddesses, which led to the creation of the Celestial Order. The goal on the outside, follow the true teachings of the gods, the real goal, then kill the gods, the gods who were once generals in the lesser Lyonria rebellions.

  Noylarlie appeared back standing on the ocean with her mother at her side. The folded waters had returned to normal. For a brief moment, she forgot she was in aether space. The vision was so vivid and immersive and made her forget about her reality and existence.

  “This is why we can’t support the order,” Iolysta said.

  “The gods and goddesses are just two feuding alien factions that will turn the galaxy into their battlefield.”

  “Humans, Hashmedai and Radiance will be the tools they’ll use to make it happen.”

  “And you wonder why I get stressed . . .”

  “Help me achieve balance, the goddesses only wanted to help the Hashmedai and give us the gifts and knowledge that exist in aether space. Let’s create that form for them and end this conflict.”

  Noylarlie started to understand why her mother wanted to perform the sudden change in plans. Iolysta at a time was an Archmage loyal to the order, she only wanted to carry out the plans that were given to her. Her death somehow resulted in her mind being trapped here, in which records of the Lyonria wars were no doubt recorded somewhere.