by J. N. Chaney
We all looked over to the pyramid.
“Whoever is inside,” I said, shouting to the pyramid. “Whoever you are, we need help for our friend. We are not your enemy. Please, please, let us inside. He’s dying.”
The stone pyramid remained silent.
Anger started to build in my chest. I didn’t ask nicely often, and I never asked twice.
“If you are one of my own race, then please believe what we are saying,” Tong said, picking up my tactic. “The Great Dawn has come. Our salvation is at hand. I’m not sure how or why you woke early, but our salvation is nigh. You must be familiar with the prophecy. He is here, he is the Great Dawn, and I can prove it.”
Tong came over to me with an excited look in his eyes. He reached for my necklace.
Maksim had broken the chain, but it was still in my pocket. I got the idea of what he was trying to accomplish, so I fished the medallion out and handed it to him.
“Look! Just look! This is the symbol of the Great Dawn,” Tong said, lifting the medallion into the sky and toward the pyramid. “Just look.”
Once more, the pyramid was silent for a moment.
“I’m going to rip this thing open with my bare hands if that’s what it takes,” I growled.
“You would not be able to get in,” a voice came from some hidden speaker set in the pyramid wall. “You moronic beings would not be able to get in.”
We all exchanged looks with one another. The voice sounded like Tong’s. It spoke haltingly and slowly, over-pronouncing the T’s and S’s just like he did.
“Who are you?” Tong asked, his confusion mirroring my own.
If this is a Remboshi like Tong, how the heck does it know how to speak English? I asked myself. It was a thought in futility. There was no way for me to know.
“I am Remboshi like you,” the voice said in broken English. “I’ve been watching, monitoring your progress. I know you believe they are the Children of the Dawn but I am not convinced. No, no, I am not convinced at all.”
“Look, just look, if you are a Remboshi, then you know the symbol that was foretold of his coming. Just look,” Tong said, lifting the medallion he held in his hand toward the pyramid again. “You must also know who I am. You know that our people trusted me and me alone to awake when the Dawn arrived. If you do not trust them then trust me.”
The pyramid grew silent.
I took the opportunity to look over at Ricky. He didn’t look good. Arun had him on his side, stroking his hair and whispering soothing things into his ear. If Rick hadn’t been on death’s door, he would have loved that.
Arun caught my gaze, everything she couldn’t say out loud in her tear-filled eyes. She shook her head.
We needed to get him in. I knew that.
“It does appear that the medallion is the same symbol as the one we were foretold to watch for,” the voice said thoughtfully. “Is aid all you seek here?”
“Aid and the use of the weapons and gear left for us,” Tong said. “Pardon my candor, but you are not supposed to even be awake. I was supposed to bring the Great Dawn here for supplies and, if there was no threat, to awaken the first installation of our people.”
“But I am awake, I did awaken. Now what do I do?” the voice hummed to itself. “Maybe I’ve been talking to myself for too many years now. Maybe I do need to branch out and make new friends. Okay, I’ll let you in. Hold on.”
“How do you speak English?” Stacy asked reluctantly, as if she wanted to save the question for a later time but couldn’t help herself. “How are you able to speak our language?”
“I told you, young one, I’ve been watching you. I’ve been watching it all, even the communication between Tong and the light woman you call Iris. I learned as Tong learned,” the voice answered.
Stacy and I exchanged looks. I knew I shouldn’t have been surprised. What on Genesis was easy? What on this godforsaken planet was ever simple to understand?
A hiss came from a piece of the ebony pyramid in front of us. A section of the stone, large enough for the crawler to enter, opened. The slab of rock receded a few feet into the pyramid before lifting into the ceiling, revealing a square entrance. A moment later, lights clicked to life, running the length of the cube-shaped tunnel.
“You should hurry and get your dying friend inside,” the voice said in a rush of words. “He does not seem like he will make it much longer.”
As if the spell were broken, we jumped into action, Arun and I gently placing Ricky in the back of the crawler. Stacy and Tong jumped into the cab of the crawler, while Mutt remained content to trot alongside the vehicle.
The tunnel was shorter than I first thought, and we were only a hundred meters inside when it opened into a wide holding area with numerous vehicles of alien design.
These vehicles were neither like the crawlers nor the rovers we used. They were closer to weapons of war. Four large tires, even larger than those on the crawler, supported a bulky frame lifted from the ground. Two seats opened in the front of the vehicle with an open cab roof.
A weapon was placed behind the driver and front passenger, the barrel of the weapon extending over their heads. The back of the vehicle was smaller than that of the crawler, room for one person to stand while firing the weapon.
There had to be dozens of the vehicles all lined up, ready to be deployed. The staging room was also lined with neat rows of crates, all painted dark green. The letters burned into the crates were alien, but the symbols for weapons were universal.
Images of rockets, explosives, and blasters identified their contents. My heart skipped a beat. There was enough equipment in here to arm every single survivor at the Orion. We could have our own army. Perhaps not as numerous as Legion, but definitely better equipped.
Stacy pulled our crawler to a stop in the middle of the giant room. The pyramid door we used to enter closed behind us, then another door opened to our left, leading us further into the pyramid.
“This way,” Tong said, jumping out of the crawler. “This way to the medical wing.”
Questions crashed through my mind, but I pushed them away to focus on Ricky. Arun and I supported him as Tong led the way. Stacy and Mutt brought up our rear. The pyramid was even larger than I’d originally thought. A wide white hall that was brilliantly lit led us to a long room full of medical equipment.
At least I guessed it was medical equipment. I wasn’t really sure what I was seeing. The only things that looked remotely familiar were reclining chairs with a variety of monitors and tools attached to them.
“Here,” Tong said, pointing to a chair bed in a line of them to our left. “Place Ricky here and remove his armor.”
We didn’t waste time, and all of us pitched in to help. Arun and Stacy started at Ricky’s feet, while I worked on his breastplate, his breathing coming out shallow and labored. His eyes were closed and deep rivers of sweat came from his dark hair and brow.
“Stay with us,” Stacy said fiercely, voicing what we were all thinking. “You stay with us.”
A few seconds later, we had Ricky lying on the table in his cargo pants and long-sleeved shirt.
“The shirt as well,” Tong said. The Remboshi grabbed a stool on wheels beside Ricky. He reached up and brought one of the monitors down in front of his eyes. With the three fingers on each hand, he started to type in commands.
I ripped off Ricky’s shirt, ignoring the amount of blood soaked into the fabric. Bruising around where the round found him gave way to a nasty hole right under his armpit.
“Is he going to be okay?” Arun asked. “Tong, tell me he’s going to be okay.”
“We shall see,” Tong said, biting his lower lip. It wasn’t an expression I was used to seeing from the Remboshi. It didn’t make me feel any better.
19
Standing there and watching Tong work on my friend was one of the most frustrating and humbling things I’ve ever had to do in my life. Ricky’s life was out of my hands at the moment. I had done all I could do—we
all had. Now it was time to sit back and wait.
Tong maneuvered his hands around the display screen like a conductor leading a full orchestra. I was surprised to see the part of the ceiling above Ricky’s bed lower down and a series of metal arms extend, which Tong controlled with his panel. They were equipped with everything from syringes and gauze to pliers and clamps.
Tong walked us through the process as we stood back and waited.
“I’m going to give him a sedative so he doesn’t wake while I begin the procedure,” Tong started, tapping a button. “After that, I’ll use a clamp to widen the wound and a tool we created to deal with wounds such as this. It will draw the projectile out of his body. We should then be able to close the wound.”
I heard everything he said but registered none of it. I felt helpless and sick to my stomach when I noticed Ricky’s blood staining my hands.
I looked down at the crimson stains on my palms, remembering the last time I had cared for someone whose blood was on my hands. As soon as the memory came, I was drawn from those thoughts as Tong looked up from his monitor and smiled.
“Ricky will be fine,” Tong said firmly. “I’m sure of it.”
“How can you be sure?” Arun asked, confused. The metal arms of the machine were still working on Ricky. A needle retracted from one of his veins while a clamp made the entrance to his wound larger. A sleek metal rod rested just outside of the wound and vibrated slowly.
“Our technology is advanced to the point where it will be able to tell us the probability of the surgery’s success,” Tong said with a wide grin, indicating he was pleased with the results. He moved his monitor over for all of us to see. Of course we didn’t understand a thing on there. The scribbling looked like hieroglyphics to me.
“Nope, still different language,” Stacy reminded him.
“Oh right,” Tong said. “It says the round missed any major organs. The round will be pulled out, the wound closed, and a full recovery is expected.”
I let out a sigh of relief. Fatigue and the need for a meal hit me next. I wasn’t sure what time it was, but I knew we’d missed lunch. It had to be closer to dinner.
We all stayed and watched as the vibrating rod outside of Ricky’s wound drew the metal round out. Just like Tong said, the metal piece was as long as a finger and just as thick.
Another arm came down from the ceiling to laser his wound shut. I wasn’t really sure it was a laser, but it looked close enough and seemed to perform the same function.
Tong let out a heavy sigh as he pushed himself away from the monitor and rubbed at tired eyes. “He just needs rest now. I can have the system wash him and give him what nutrients he needs by way of an injection, but he’ll heal.”
Tong finished his words by flipping us all off again. The symbol he thought was a thumbs-up would have been comical if we weren’t all so tired.
“One of us should stay with him.” Stacy said what we were all thinking.
“I assure you he will be safe,” Tong said, tilting his head to the side. “We can check on him later. He will be sleeping with the sedative I administered.”
“Thank you, Tong,” Arun said, moving over to the stool by Ricky’s bed. “Thank you for everything you’ve done to save our friends, but I agree with Stacy. One of us should stay with him. I’ll stay.”
Tong shrugged as if he didn’t understand the human sentiment.
“We’ll bring you back some food,” Stacy said to Arun.
“As much as I want to tear into a bacon sandwich,” I said, feeling the pit in my stomach grow a little bit bigger, “I want answers more. Suddenly, that voice we were talking to in the pyramid has gone quiet. What do you say we go pay it a visit?”
Stacy nodded, patting the blaster at her hip, and handed me the rifle she carried strapped over her shoulder.
“Of course,” Tong said, lifting his hands, “although I assure you, you will not need your weapons. Whoever has awoken from my species allowed us in. He or she might be a bit untrusting or not used to dealing with anyone, depending on how many years they’ve been awake, but there will be no need for weapons.”
“Always be prepared,” I said. “Lead the way.”
Tong nodded and we left Ricky and Arun to watch over Ricky.
Tong led the way out of the medical wing, past the staging area where we left the crawler, and to the center of the pyramid. Another wide-open room with a spiraling staircase in the center led us to the second floor.
“The lower levels of the pyramid expand deep underground. That is where my kind rest in hyper-sleep,” Tong explained as we traveled up the steps. “The ground floor consists of the housing, supply rooms, and the medical wing as you’ve seen. It also holds our sleeping quarters and food supplies.”
“What’s on the second level?” Stacy asked.
“The command station, communications, and security,” Tong explained. “Whatever Remboshi have awoken would be at the command station.”
I tightened the grip on my blaster, preparing myself for anything. My instinct told me Tong was right. The Remboshi in control here had let us in. If they wanted to try to hurt us, they could have already. They could have let Ricky bleed out right there in front of the pyramid.
Still, if I had learned anything during my time on Genesis, it was to be prepared, and I didn’t take my hand off the rifle as we crested the last step. The level consisted of a wide-open atrium allowing the light to fall into the room through a glass-like ceiling two stories above us.
From the outside, the black pyramid looked as though it had been made of one complete piece of rock. Apparently, looks could be deceiving. The upper pointed dome of the pyramid was made from dark glass.
The room showed four different paths in a kind of plus-sign-shaped intersection. Tong once again led the way. He made for the door directly in front of us. This time, when he pressed his hand to the smooth wall, a green light activated. A slab of metal receded a few inches into the wall then lifted into the ceiling.
Stacy and I followed, our weapons at the ready.
So far, this was the only room that was not brightly lit with light coming from the floor and ceiling. This room was dark, with the only means of illumination coming from monitors on the right and left sides of the walls. In front of us, another darkened window pane showed the view of the planet beyond. Not that there was much of a view to begin with. The window showed a few meters of dark soil, then the swirling mist wall beyond.
A control panel with a low-backed chair looked out onto the scene below the pyramid. The back of a reptilian head greeted us in silence.
“Thank you for letting us in,” Tong said in English so Stacy and I could understand. “Our friend’s life was saved because of you.”
The Remboshi with its back toward us didn’t say a word.
I sensed something off and brought my weapon up. Stacy must have felt the same thing. Her blaster came to bear on the back of the alien’s green scaly head.
While Tong spoke to the back of the head, I picked up images on the monitors. There had to be twenty screens on both sides of the wall. Images of the forest, the jungle, the mountains, and even the Orion popped up. My mouth dropped open as I saw the wall we’d constructed, and even survivors as they labored within our walls to construct the watchtowers and fortify the wall.
“Will you not turn and look at the Great Dawn who has come to save us?” Tong asked with a sense of disapproval in his voice. “Will you not greet your saviors who have come to aid us?”
We were still a dozen meters from the chair when it began to slowly turn. To say the events in the dark room were creepy would be an understatement.
“They’ve been watching us?” Stacy whispered under her breath.
Mutt, who had been following us, lowered to the ground and growled.
When the chair finally made its way around, I wasn’t sure what I had been afraid of this entire time. The Remboshi who sat there was even smaller than Tong. If I had to guess, it was female, with
longer lashes. Whether it was male or female, one thing was for sure, it looked old and tired. Bags hung from its eyes and a series of wrinkles clung to its mouth and neck.
Unlike Tong, it didn’t wear a uniform. Instead, a white robe fell from its body.
Tong immediately knew who it was. His mouth dropped open, and he fell to his knees as if he were in the presence of some king or queen.
I had no idea who the wrinkled gecko was in front of me and didn’t even bother to lower my blaster. The Remboshi in the chair studied us with impassive eyes.
“Forgive me,” Tong said, still looking to the ground in front of him. “Forgive me. I did not know it was you.”
The Remboshi in the chair moved its eyes to me and Stacy as if it were looking for a similar act. I shook my head and shrugged as if to tell it, “Nope, not doing that.”
Stacy didn’t move either.
“Who are you and why have you been watching us on these monitors?” Stacy asked.
Tong looked back at us from his kneeling position, mortified. He shook his head, about to say something. Terror lived in his eyes as well as a healthy dose of confusion.
I wanted to tell him, “Welcome to the club, buddy,” but didn’t think this was the appropriate time.
All right, you old bag, I thought to myself as I held eye contact with the Remboshi in the chair. Out with it. What kind of nonsense are you going to tell us now?
“Please, please, lower your weapons,” Tong said, shaking his head and twisting his six fingers around each other. “You do not need them. This is the one. This is Jezra herself, who told of the prophecy of your coming. She alone said the Children of the Dawn would come to free us.”
“That’s great.” Stacy relaxed her grip on her weapon. She still didn’t lower it. “Now answer the question, Jezra. Why have you been watching us?”
Jezra pursed her thin lips and squinted at us like an old woman would in trying to see her grandchildren. Her eyes moved from me to Stacy, then back again.