The Syndicate's Journey

by Nicholas Bogucki

  Major General Lokhorst thought for a moment and yelled back. “You’re right, but we can’t give up this easily. It’s probably the snow that the scan predicted earlier.”

  “Didn’t it say a few days, though?” Major General Brentari yelled. “I’m just glad we can’t feel how cold it really is out there!”

  “Who knows!” Major General Lokhorst yelled and pointed in the distance. “What is that?”

  In front of them, a shadow appeared. The shadow had to be a creature. Major General Lokhorst saw what Major General Brentari was pointing at and nodded, Major General Brentari shook her head but knew that this was their mission to explore everything.

  They continued walking as the wind blew harder against them. Major General Lokhorst swiped her hand, and her INH appeared, she looked and noticed the temperature was dropping. -220 then -230, and it continued to fall as they got closer to the shadow. The Major Generals stood roughly twenty feet away and could tell that either it was a big rock, or it was a big creature. Major General Lokhorst pointed at Major General Brentari then at the creature signaling to scan it. Major General Brentari obeyed and started to scan whatever it was. They stopped in their tracks and walked closer to one another. Major General Brentari yelled. “Whatever that thing is, it is massive.”

  “Yeah. I wonder why it isn’t moving, could it be a rock?”

  “I don’t think so, Lokhorst.”

  Major General Lokhorst cautiously walked towards it, and Major General Brentari pulled her back.

  “Don’t walk closer until we know what it is!”

  “What if the scan comes back and says unknown?”

  “Then...I guess we have to walk closer.”

  In a moment, her INH appeared in front of her, and she projected it so Major General Lokhorst could see it.

  ◆◆◆

  SCAN COMPLETE

  UNKNOWN SPECIES

  POSSIBLE AMBYSTOMA

  NO SIGN OF LIFE DETECTED

  ◆◆◆

  “No sign of life detected. What does that mean?” asked Major General Brentari.

  “I have no clue. Maybe it is deceased… or hibernating?”

  “Hibernating? It would have a heartbeat, right?”

  “Well, you’re right, but haven’t you heard of various creatures that can stop their heartbeats while hibernating?”

  “No, I haven’t.” Major General Brentari stated.

  “There are some on Nuwurth that stop their heartbeat by up to eighty percent of their normal resting heart rate.” Major General Lokhorst explained. “What if it is happening here, too?

  “You may have a point.” Major General Brentari agreed. “What should we do?”

  “Only one thing to do, Brentari.” Major General Lokhorst walked closer to the figure, she saw that the back of the creature had thousands of scales and looked as if a bunch was missing from its back. A fin was protruding out of its back and produced a nauseating smell.

  She walked around to the front and saw that the creature was, in fact, deceased. The creature was missing both eyes, where two giant black holes replaced it. The creature had two legs, and one of them was torn off. A bone was sticking out from where its leg would have been. The creature's arms looked too long for its body, and they were hanging down at its side on the ground. As Major General Brentari saw the creature, she covered her mouth.

  “I guess it really is deceased.” Major General Lokhorst agreed. “Strange how it is just sitting here.”

  “Y-yeah, I guess so.”

  “Are you squeamish, Brentari?”

  “No, I just don’t like dead things.”

  Major General Lokhorst looked at her then looked around them. “If this creature is here, it must have been placed here. But by what?”

  “What makes you say that?” asked Major General Brentari.

  “Well, look around. Everywhere you look, it is flat, and there is no water for a while.”

  “Maybe something walked here then?”

  “If that is true, then we should look on the ground for tracks.”

  “Oh, right! That is if this snow hasn’t covered them.”

  “Well, would you help me, Brentari?”

  “Well... okay.” Major General Brentari mumbled. “Wait, shouldn’t we scan the creature first?”

  “Good idea! Scan the creature while I scout for tracks.”

  “N-no I-” As Major General Brentari spoke, Major General Lokhorst was already a few feet away. She tried to say something, but it was not heard. Major General Lokhorst turned around while she scanned the creature.

  “Did you say something?”

  “No. It’s okay. I got it here!”

  “Good. I won’t travel too far. Plus, I think I found something.” Major General Lokhorst got down on her knees and slightly moved the snow around, trying to uncover prints. She moved a few inches to the right, and she found a partial footprint. She moved slowly towards the direction that the track was and searched for more footprints. Major General Brentari walked behind next to her.

  “Find something?”

  “Yes, I have. It looks like whatever was here, whether it dropped this body off or not, is going this way...” She pointed out the direction that they were going.

  Major General Brentari looked down at the track. “That looks like a transhuman foot, Lokhorst.”

  “Does it?” she asked, “What about this one?” She pointed to a track nearby, “This has six digits instead of five.”

  “Hmm, oh. Never mind. It looks similar, though, but the digits look longer.” Major General Brentari noted. “Should I scan it?”

  “Wouldn’t hurt, I’d say.”

  Major General Brentari scanned the track as Major General Lokhorst found a few more tracks leading in the same direction.

  “Uh, Lokhorst, I think I found something.”

  “What’s that, Brentari?”

  “Look at this.” Major General Lokhorst looked at Major General Brentari’s INH as she proceeded, projected it with her finger, then pointed at the track. On her INH appeared an option “Track,” and she tapped on it. The direction of the tracks in the snow appeared on her INH.

  “Brentari, you’re a genius! Let’s go!”

  “Th-thanks! I just hope whatever it is, is gone.” She stammered.

  “Well, let’s hope so, but only one way to find out. Brentari, lead the way!”

  “Oh no, I-I couldn’t,”

  “You have to. It’ll be okay.”

  Major General Brentari exhaled and looked at the tracks in the ground and swiped away her INH. The tracks were silhouetted on the ground, and she could see the location through her eye implants. She then followed the direction that they came from, and Major General Lokhorst followed her. They continued to follow the tracks for what seemed to be an hour or two.

  “Are we sure these are accurate, Lokhorst?”

  “I’m sure. I’ve tracked a lot of animals in my life. If I know one thing about animals is that they all leave behind evidence.”

  “Yeah, maybe I just feel like we are going nowhere.”

  “Sometimes it takes a while, but worth it in the end. But hey, at least the wind let up, right?”

  “Yeah, that’s true.”

  They continued to walk and follow the tracks until they noticed that something was in the distance, and it was pretty big. Major General Brentari looked and saw that the tracks went both ways around the rock and continued that way. She stopped to tell her.

  “Uh, Lokhorst?”

  “Yeah?”

  “The tracks go around the shadow in the distance.”

  “Okay so follow them.”

  “No, like both sides, it then continues...it looks like two sets of prints now.”

  “Wait, really? Let me see!”

  Major General Brentari swiped her hand to show her INH to Major General Lokhorst and saw what she had just explained to her.

  “Well, this is a good thing. So, it looks as if multiple things were here. We’re gettin
g closer, Brentari. This is good!”

  “If you say so...” She swiped down her, and her INH disappeared, they continued following the tracks.

  “Hey, Brentari, maybe we should pick up the pace. At this rate, who knows how long these tracks go on for. We should probably walk faster or run.”

  “You’re not wrong about that! Who would have thought that we would be running on Varenok?” She chuckled.

  The Major Generals started to jog in the direction that the tracks were going, and through Major General Brentari’s eyes, she could see more tracks appearing. Major General Lokhorst could see more tracks appearing too, she did not need a scan to find that out. She could tell that these were fresh tracks.

  “Lokhorst...you see that?”

  “I do. We’re getting close.”

  As they continued jogging, they saw the tracks turn into three sets, and the three turn into six sets.

  “I wonder where these came from.” Major General Lokhorst asked.

  “Uh, Lokhorst... look.” Major General Brentari stopped jogging and pointed in front of them. Major General Lokhorst looked up from the tracks and saw a group of shadows in the distance.

  “Is that what we’ve been tracking?” asked Major General Brentari.

  “It would make sense. How many can you identify?”

  “Uh...” Major General Brentari looked at the tracks move from the ground to each shadowy figure. “Six...seven...eight? I’m not sure.”

  “They’re moving, right? Or is that just my eyes deceiving me?” asked Major General Lokhorst.

  “No, they’re definitely moving.”

  “Coming towards us?”

  “No. Doesn’t look like it.”

  “Good, we have the advantage then.” Major General Lokhorst continued speaking. “How do you want to play this?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Want to rush in there? Walk slowly and introduce ourselves? Wait them out?”

  “I’d rather not get attacked again today if that’s what you’re asking.” Major General Brentari stated.

  “Okay, well, I guess we’re going to make contact with them, then.”

  “We’re not rushing in, are we?”

  “No, of course not. I was kidding.” Major General Lokhorst responded.

  “Then what?”

  “We walk to them and introduce ourselves.”

  “It can’t be that easy...I mean, think about it. The deceased thing we saw back there, what if that is one of them? What if that one disobeyed them?”

  “Those are all what-ifs. We won’t know until we make contact. It’s now or never, Brentari.”

  “You’re right. It’s just... I’m scared, Brentari. You saw that thing back there. It was huge! That thing was sitting down, and it was taller than us!

  “Yeah, but this is our mission. We have to go through with it. No more ‘what-ifs,’ Brentari.”

  Major General Brentari knew what they were supposed to do, but she couldn’t move. Physically she could, but in her mind, her legs did not want to walk.

  “What do we do if they are hostile?” asked Major General Brentari

  “Well...I guess we’ll figure that out if that happens. If you look close enough, it seems like water is behind them. Maybe we could swim our way out of it? I don’t know.” Major General Lokhorst continued speaking, “Listen to me when we get to them and scan them nonchalantly. We need to know what those things are. I’ll do the talking... just don’t act like you are going to hurt them. Okay?”

  “You got it.”

  Major General Lokhorst started to walk towards the creatures slowly, and Major General Brentari followed her. The wind slowly started to blow in the direction that they were walking. As they reached the creatures, their shadows made them seem taller than they were. In fact, they were only a few feet taller than the Major Generals. As they got closer, General Lokhorst yelled out to them.

  “Hey! Hello!”

  The creatures silently turned and looked at them. There were eight in total, and they were easily identifiable now. The creatures looked exactly like the deceased creature that they had run into before. They did not say a word.

  “Hi there. I’m Major General Lokhorst...” She turned her head and motioned for Brentari to scan the creatures. She continued to speak. “And this is Major General Brentari.”

  Major General Lokhorst saw the eyes of the creatures looking at them back and forth as if they understood what she was saying.

  “Do you talk?” she asked them.

  Major General Brentari noticed something moving behind the creatures and whispered to Major General Lokhorst to look at it. It seemed like one of the creatures was sitting down and slowly standing up. The creature stood on both legs and walked towards them. The creatures moved to allow the one that stood up to pass; it was like they knew he was going to walk that exact spot. As he passed and stood in front of the creatures, he looked at Major Generals Lokhorst and Brentari.

  “Hello there...” Major General Brentari said softly.

  “You do speak.” The creature spoke.

  “Uh...yeah. We both do.” Major General Lokhorst responded. “You can understand us?”

  “Of course, we can.”

  “How? How can you understand us?” Major General Lokhorst asked.

  “We have no clue.”

  “We? What do you mean?” Major General Brentari asked.

  “We. All of us here.” The creature lifted its arms and raised them. “We hear you.”

  “Why aren’t they talking?” Major General Lokhorst asked.

  “They are mutes.” The creature responded.

  “How so?”

  “You ask a lot of questions.”

  “I apologize. We’re just trying to learn about you.”

  “Why?” the creature asked. “What for?”

  “Well… we’re here from Nuwurth.”

  “New-wurth?”

  “Yes. The green and blue planet.”

  “Oh, we call it something else.”

  “What do you call it?”

  “You would not understand it in your language. Nuwurth… why are you here? What are you?”

  “So now you’re the one asking questions?”

  The creature’s lips moved, and what resembled a smile appeared upon its face.

  “We came here because our General, the leader of Nuwurth, sent us on a mission to explore Varenok.” Major General Brentari stated.

  “What is Varenok?” asked the creature.

  “Varenok is what we are on right now.” Major General Lokhorst stated.

  “We don’t understand.”

  “Varenok is here, the planet. This world that we are on.” Major General Lokhorst spoke. “This ground, this water, everything you see is Varenok.”

  “Varenok? Hmm…You did not answer us. We asked what you were.” The creature commanded.

  “O-oh. We are transhumans. Our ancestors came from another solar system many years ago.”

  “Transhumans?” the creatures in unison all shook their heads.

  “Why do you continue saying us?” asked Major General Lokhorst.

  “Us? Because we speak.”

  She shook her head. “No, you are the only one talking.”

  “Transhuman. Both of you can talk. Can you both talk in your head?” The creature asked.

  “Thinking? Sure, we both can.” Major General Lokhorst responded.

  “Can you hear what you are saying?” the creature pointed at Major General Brentari.

  “Can I hear her? No, I cannot.” Major General Lokhorst replied.

  “We can. We hear one another in our head and speak.”

  “I wouldn’t want to hear what she would say in her head.”

  Major General Brentari turned to look at her and shouted. “Hey!”

  “Vulnerability is key.”

  “I’m not sure what you mean by that, but sure I’ll take your word for it.” Major General Lokhorst suggested. “What are you called?” />
  “Me? Or us?” asked the creature.