Daniel turned and felt his own rock. It was cold and hard and felt very solid. The moss growing on it seemed real, too, and he was about to turn around again when he felt a small depression in the stone. He stuck his finger in the small opening and pulled up. To his surprise, the top of the boulder popped off easily. Inside was a compartment with odd instruments inside.
“Hey, take a look at this,” Daniel said.
Jason joined him and they both pulled out what looked like virtual reality head sets. They were light, almost as if they were made of plastic, but the material was solid on the outside and soft on the inside. There was no adjustment mechanism that Daniel could see, but the headset seemed to expand in his hands.
“What do you think these are?” Jason asked, holding his own headset.
“They look like those virtual reality game headsets that were popular a few years ago.”
“Yeah, could be. They sure are lightweight.”
“Should we try them?” Daniel asked.
“I guess so.”
Daniel pulled his headset onto his head, the dark visor covered his eyes and he felt the pliable back shrinking down to a comfortable fit.
“Oh, that’s weird,” he said.
Then the set flickered to life. The picture was slightly skewed, probably because it was designed for beings with two eyes, Daniel thought irritably. The scenes were grandiose, wide angle shots of what Daniel guessed was Tolligark. It reminded him of nature movies that came on the environment networks. The clarity was nearly perfect, or probably would have been if Daniel hadn’t lost his right eye. There was a strange buzzing in his head again, the same as when they had been walking Scott to his shuttle on the space station orbiting Earth.
“You feeling that?” Jason said.
It was odd hearing his friend speak, his voice was so close, but Daniel felt as if he were in the middle of a broad prairie with waving crimson grasses and rugged, reddish mountains on the far horizon.
“Yeah, like my brain is itching,” Daniel said. He instinctively turned his head toward Jason when he spoke, and the image on the headset changed just as if he had turned his head. He could now see new mountains in the background and a river of sparkling, amber water running through the prairie.
“These things are amazing,” Jason said.
“Try turning your head.”
“Wow! That is really cool. I’m looking at the Tanoma Badlands, what about you?”
“Mine just changed to the Torkrind Forest,” Daniel said without thinking. He didn’t know how he knew that information, it had just come to his mind. The prairie had been in Scophley and before that the beach of Acraquit.
“How did you know the name of what you’re seeing?” Daniel asked.
“I don’t know, I just…”
“It just popped in your head, didn’t it,” Daniel said, pulling off the headset.
“Yeah,” Jason said, still looking from side to side with his headset on.
“You look ridiculous,” Daniel told him.
“Hey, you should tell me when we’re taking these things off.”
“No, go ahead and watch the show. I’m just going to look around.”
Jason leaned back against his boulder and continued viewing the scenes from Tolligark. Daniel was troubled that they had been instructed telepathically, but at least his theory had been confirmed. The aliens communicated with their minds, and probably operated the translation device with their minds, too. He didn’t yet know whether they could read his mind, but it was a good possibility. He looked inside his rock again and found what appeared to be a control device, either a universal remote that controlled the room’s environment or perhaps a small, handheld computer device. He touched what looked like a screen on the device and it lit up, but there were no controls or instructions. He touched the screen again, but nothing happened. There was nothing else in his rock, so he began to search the others.
After nearly half an hour or so, with no more compartments found, Daniel was beginning to get restless. Jason was still viewing the scenes of Tolligark, occasionally commenting about what he saw, the scenes had begun to include wildlife. Then, without warning, the elevator doors swished open and Norixum floated in.
“You found the education instruments,” came the strange voice from some hidden device that Daniel could not see. “I hope you have enjoyed learning about our grand homeworld.”
“Yes,” Daniel said. “We have learned much. When do we meet with the supreme commander?”
“Not for several days, I’m afraid,” said the small alien. “The supreme commander is extremely busy.”
“I hope you don’t expect us to sit confined to this room until then.”
“No, we shall tour the capital and visit the Hall of Achievement,” Norixum said; his voice seemed to rise with excitement, but it was so mechanical, it was hard to tell. Jason had finally pulled his headset off and was standing by Daniel now. “But first, we must see to your needs. I have arranged for clothing to be made for you. And I need to show you how to order food or other necessities. Have you found the Claxton?”
“The what?” Jason asked.
“Yes,” Daniel said, surprised that he knew what a Claxton was, but an image of the handheld device with the bright screen had popped into Daniel’s mind when Norixum had asked. He turned to the rock and pulled the device out.
“Yes, good,” said Norixum. Jason was looking at the device while the alien spoke. “As you have learned, our technology is based on rhythmic neuro waves. Simply focus your thoughts on what you desire and touch the screen. The Claxton will boost your natural neuro waves so that it can be registered by the staff.”
“You’re saying that if I think about a cheeseburger and I touch this thing, that someone will bring me a cheeseburger?” Jason asked.
“No, it is not that exact,” Norixum explained. “Your brain is not yet strong enough to communicate openly, that is why the translator unit is needed. Nor do we have your native foods, but if you think of food and touch the screen, sustenance will be provided.”
“I have a question,” Daniel asked. “What about hygiene?”
“We have facilities, just put on the educational set and use the Claxton to learn how to use them. I am sure you are getting tired, but the Tolligarkian sunset is spectacular and I would not want you to miss it. Please come with me and we shall go up to the observation deck.”
Daniel sat the Claxton down and followed Norixum toward the elevator. The little alien’s floating cushion had swiveled around and was moving gracefully ahead of them. Jason leaned close to Daniel and whispered, “Man, this place is amazing.”
“Yeah,” Daniel whispered back.
In the elevator, they rode in silence, watching through the highly polished walls as the city moved swiftly past. They rode all the way to the top of the spiral shaped tower. The observation deck was a large, circular room with glass walls. They could see in every direction, and the tower seemed to be in the center of the capital city. The sun was setting over the ocean and as they watched, the color of the sky began to change.
Another alien floated in on what amounted to a mini bar. The alien was standing on a small platform, with a circular counter around him. Daniel watched as the being prepared a beverage for Norixum. The counter rotated first one way, then the other as the bartender pulled fantastically shaped bottles and containers from underneath the bar. The drink was purple, mixed from two separate liquids, and poured over amber colored ice. The glass the bartender handed Norixum was narrow at the top and round on the bottom. It reminded Daniel of a beaker from a science laboratory. The bartender was dressed in a plain looking robe, his trunk-like arm was in the only sleeve.
“May I fix you a drink?” came a voice from the bar. The voice was mellow and feminine, with the same strange, clipped diction as Norixum.
“Uh, yes, thank you,” said Daniel.
The bartender mixed another strange looking concoction, this one different from Norixum’s. It w
as made from four separate liquids poured into a normal looking glass that was first filled with amber colored ice chips. Daniel took his drink and turned once again to the windows. The sky was now a golden color, as if the horizon were molten metal, and there were streaks of reddish gold spreading back toward them from where the sun was sinking toward the ocean.
“That is beautiful,” Daniel said.
“Yes, it is a wonderful treat to see Tolligark in twilight,” said Norixum.
Daniel took a sip of his drink. It was cold and tart. The flavor was completely foreign and tasted like cheap candy that was trying to mimic fruit. The drink tingled as Daniel swallowed it, and a warm feeling spread from his stomach throughout his whole body.
They stood watching the sky until the light began to fade. Then Norixum took them back down to their room. Inside, another alien was waiting. Norixum introduced them to the tailor who would be fitting them for clothes. The tailor was not Tolligarkian, and was tall and slender, with arms that seemed to be mere bones. The arms folded several times, and were held close to the being’s body. When he reached out, the arm reminded Daniel of a robotic mechanism. The alien’s head was small, its eyes were uncovered and its mouth remained open, revealing a circle of small, pointy teeth. The alien wore a plain looking robe, much like the bartender’s, but the tailor had no sleeves over his bone-like arms. His skin was grey and leathery and his legs rose from the hips to large joints on either side of its body. The alien moved quickly, using a laser to measure both Daniel and Jason. The way the tailor moved reminded Daniel of a person walking on stilts, but the alien had no trouble with balance and quickly left the room.
“Your evening meal will arrive shortly,” said Norixum. “I regret that I cannot stay, but while I am in the system, there is much work to be done. Our planet’s rotation is much longer than your own, so you will have plenty of time to rest. I’ll return in the morning.”
“Alright, thank you,” said Daniel.
Norixum turned and left through the elevator.
“I hope they have something good for supper,” said Jason.
“Yeah, another one of those drinks and we won’t care what we eat.”
“I’ve got a good buzz going on, don’t spoil it.”
Just then a hidden door in the center of what Daniel thought was a fire ring opened and a table rose up, laden with food. There were strange looking fruits, meat that appeared to have been grilled, and a large pitcher of red liquid.
“I guess it’s time to eat,” Jason said. He moved toward the table, but Daniel stayed where he stood. He suddenly felt sad as he looked at the food. He couldn’t help but think of Lana. Would she have enjoyed tasting foods from another world? He missed her and couldn’t quite hide it.
“Daniel, are you okay?” Jason asked.
“Yeah, just thinking.”
“Well get over here and try this fruit. It tastes like a kiss.”
“A what?”
“I’m not kidding, it tastes like you’re kissing a woman,” he said, laughing.
Daniel made a mental note to go easy on the red beverage. If it was anything like they had at the observation deck, it would probably make him crazy.
Chapter 37
The food was too strange for Daniel to enjoy. After only few bites, he picked up the Claxton and thought of a bathroom. When he touched the view screen, there was a slight hissing sound and a panel-like door slid open, revealing a dazzling, white room.
“I’m going to check out the facilities,” Daniel said.
“Good, this wine, or whatever it is, feels like it’s going right through me.”
Daniel walked into the room and found what amounted to a sanitation stall, a basin with a pitcher of the amber colored water beside it, and a stack of neatly folded towels. There was no toilet, but an oddly shaped depression in the floor was obviously for waste. Daniel stepped up the sanitation stall. There were many knobs and even more nozzles. He decided he would need a tutorial before he tried to shower, and he wasn’t sure when their fresh clothes would be delivered. He went back to the central area of their room and picked up the educational set, as Norixum had called it. He was about to think of the bathroom and touch the Claxton screen when he felt his mind buzzing.
“You feel that?” he asked Jason, the viewer in the headset had not come back on yet.
“I’m not feeling anything,” Jason said. He was talking slowly and his voice sounded funny.
“You better lay off the wine.”
“Hey, what’s the use of coming halfway across the galaxy if I can’t have a little fun?”
Daniel was about to answer when a strange thought entered his mind. He was still feeling the strange buzzing, like an itch deep inside his head. He wasn’t sure what Coolique was, but the word kept coming to his mind, and so he said the word to himself over and over as he pushed the Claxton.
Light flickered in his headset and suddenly he saw a small room and a strange looking being with thick fur over its entire face. There were other beings, but they were less visible, even as he moved his head to look around the room.
“You are from the planet Earth,” said a voice in the back of his mind.
“Yes,” Daniel said aloud. “Who are you?”
“My name is Coolique and I am a Trailadon from the fourth planet on the Tridar system.” The furry being’s mouth did not move, but his eyes were focused intently on Daniel. “I am sorry to contact you this way, but the ambassador will not let you see or speak to anyone unsupervised. I have broken into their neuro wave system to warn you that your planet is in danger.”
“Danger?” Daniel said and he heard Jason scrambling to get his headset on. “I don’t understand, danger from what?”
“Blast, I can’t see anything,” Jason said.
“Here,” Daniel said, holding the Claxton out toward the sound of Jason’s voice. “Think Coolique and press the screen.”
In Daniel’s view, a soft glow appeared next to him, and he looked over to see a holographic image of Jason without the headset.
“Can you see me?” Daniel asked.
“Yeah, but you’re fuzzy. And you’re talking out loud, don’t forget the protocol.”
“That is because you are using the education set,” said the furry alien, Coolique. “It was not made for communication. You can merely ask your questions silently, and I should be able to pick them up. I am sorry I don’t have much time, but I will try my best to answer your questions. You must not agree to join the Free People, we are not free.”
“Please explain,” Daniel said.
“My people were visited by the Tolligark nearly 70 Standard Epochs ago and convinced to join the Federation of Free People. We were a peaceful race, but the Tolligarkians were an advanced race with wonderful technology, and so our leaders signed a treaty with them. Soon, the supreme commander decreed that we were to move off world into large space stations. He said that we needed to give our world time to heal and return to its pristine state, like Tolligark. At first this sounded like a good plan, but many of our people did not wish to move off world. That is when the troop carriers landed and soldiers forced our people to leave our world. From space, without the resources to return to our own world, we watched as the Tolligarkians stripped our planet of its resources. What is left is a barren rock, and we have seen this pattern happen to planets over and over again.”
“Why?” Daniel asked. “Why didn’t your government stop them?”
“As I said, my people were a peaceful race. Diplomacy was met with hostility, and unfortunately, the damage was done before my people could move against the Tolligarkians.”
“What about the Plauggid Empire?” Jason asked, his voice still thick from the wine he had drunk. “Are they not at war with your people, too?”
“Yes, the Plauggid are at war with Tolligark. But they are not the aggressors. In fact, they are the only people who have had success in resisting the Tolligark.”
“Are you saying that the Plauggid Empire i
sn’t trying to take over the galaxy?” Daniel asked.
“No, they are not. The Tolligarkians have assimilated or destroyed every world and race they have found. The Plauggid are the only resistance, but Earth could be the second. I do not believe that the Federation could continue to expand with resistance on two fronts.”
“You want us to fight the Tolligarkians?” Jason asked.
“Yes,” said Coolique
“I’m afraid that’s impossible,” said Daniel. “Even if we could somehow match their technology, our race was nearly destroyed before the Tolligarkians arrived.”
Coolique turned to face one of the other beings in the room. Daniel couldn’t quite make out the creature; it was large and looked like a jellyfish. Daniel couldn’t be sure of what he was seeing. After a moment, Coolique turned back to Daniel.
“Let me guess,” said the furry alien, “did your people seem to fall into a sleep from which they cannot be awakened?”
Daniel looked at the fuzzy form of Jason beside him and said, “Something like that.”
“It has begun then,” said the alien. “Your people are not dead, but in a form of suspended animation.” Coolique turned again, speaking to the jellyfish-like alien, then turned once more to Daniel. “Tell me, have your people begun to decay?”
Daniel’s heart leapt. He knew it; he knew that people weren’t dead. A voice in the back of Daniel’s mind was questioning this new information and accusing him of believing merely what he wanted to believe. Still, the aliens seemed to know exactly how the plague had struck, and were even talking about the one thing that puzzled Daniel most: why, even after all these months, had the bodies of the plague victims not shown any kind of decay?
“No,” Daniel said, “they haven’t.”
“It is a form of Biopan,” said Coolique. “It is a drug used to preserve life in a form of suspended animation for interstellar spaceflight. The Tolligarkians have weaponized the drug, which is unfortunate. They can simply release their drug on an entire world and render most of the inhabitants helpless. There would be virtually no resistance at all.”
The New World Page 33