Starblazer- Through the Black Gate

by Reiter

  “Spotting that hardly makes you impressive,” Danavyn advised. “Of course I am setting him up. That much was assured when the fool actually confronted Maradothia. And I explained myself because he had activated his veracity monitor. And no, I am not blaming you for not seeing it,” Danavyn quickly added. “Both the device and the means by which he activated it were shrouded. That boy’s getting bold! Not that it matters. I won’t be needing him much longer.” Looking at his brace-com, Danavyn found reason to smile. “At least he managed to get her into a room with him alone. The drones I had placed in his robes are now in Maradothia’s clothes… and, oh look, they are now also in the Emperor’s cloak! In two hours’ time, the Imperial Family will be seated together for dinner and I will be able to mark each one!”

  “If they do not detect them,” Thanneus remarked. “We’re talking about some of the best protected people in the Rims!”

  “Against the Energies, yes,” Danavyn agreed. “But my spies do not run on MannA, KaA, or Chi! And thus, even the watchful eye of the Empire is not so sharp in regards to my approach!”

  ** b *** t *** o *** r **

  “We see them, but they cannot see us,” Gantee said softly as he looked out into the Void, though that was not the term used to define the place of the celestial bodies in this region. Here it was called ‘outer space’, but the Malgovi was not about to waste his attention on delineations. “Where is he?”

  “Full-range scans have been initiated, Master,” the crewman reported. “While our presence has alerted several facilities, I can see nothing of Malgovi technology in the range of our equipment.”

  “Master Gantee,” the young female Vinthur said as she made a slow approach. Her name was Deerka and it was not respect which caused her to move slowly, her body simply was not able to move with any haste or coordination. What she had achieved had been more than taxing on her body. She was, in fact, amazed to still be conscious! “… it is as I told you. I was only able to find this location because it was of great importance to your Vu-Prin. I doubt that he is here.”

  “The Jump-Stride wake is beginning to disperse, Master Gantee,” another crewman reported. “What are your orders?”

  “Return,” Gantee said quickly, lowering his head. No one dared to speak to him, and he took the arm of Deerka, forcibly escorting her off the Bridge of his ship.

  Down the dim corridor, Z’Gunok Tel Gantee walked at a pace much faster than what would be considered normal. The female Vinthur forced herself to keep in step as the ship returned through the wake of the young Traveler’s Jump-Stride.

  “You seem to be in a hurry, good Master.” Though his eyes flared wide in surprise, Gantee did not jump from the sound of an uninvited presence. He pushed Deerka forward and whirled around, summoning MannA to surround his hand and lash out in the form of electricity. Nugar’s extended hand caught the attack. Blue-white light flared, illuminating the Master Traveler, revealing the devilish grin he held on his face. “Mistakes are made when actions are taken too quickly.”

  Gantee yelled, adding his free hand to the effort. The amount of electricity increased three-fold, but Nugar did not move. Only after the flow of energy had been allowed to continue for a moment did his head tilt toward his left shoulder. “You’ve always had a liking for electricity, haven’t you?”

  “Osur Nugar!” Deerka exclaimed as soon as she placed her bronze eyes on the noted figure.

  “What?!” Gantee asked, allowing the spell to wane. “What did you say?!”

  “She called me by my title, Gantee. The Travelers and the Council have seen fit to promote me to Osur. It might have had something to do with Her Majesty’s request, but nothing official was ever said to me. Which means we can speculate forever, but what would that yield us?

  “Are we done with the attacks?” Nugar asked, looking at the smoke coming from his palm. He blew it clear from his flesh as he stared at the young Malgovi.

  “I felt a presence aboard my ship,” Gantee replied. “One that I had not invited. I thought for a moment that I might have been boarded.”

  “And when you could see it was me?” Nugar pressed as he walked toward Gantee, “before you increased your efforts, my young friend.” Nugar waited only for a moment before he nodded once and spoke again. “Perhaps you should spare us your attempts at quick wits and give the order to attack. I have things to do this star-term.”

  “Take him!” Gantee yelled as he lashed out, hurling electricity at the female Vinthur. A powerful energy blast interrupted the electrocution as seven men in stealth suits came through the walls, their hands glowing with abundant EnerJa.

  With his hand still smoking, Nugar chuckled as he stepped back, avoiding the first blast. He started to his left, but streaked to his right, thrusting his shoulder into the chest of an opponent who was surprised to see the Master Traveler cover fifteen trams of distance in one stride that passed before the man could blink his eye. While the armour took the brunt of the impact, the Malgovi man was forced off his feet, flying into a wall that he bounced off of. He was caught by Nugar who used his body as a club, striking two more Malgovi across their faceplates. Nugar then stepped forward and spun, avoiding three successive energy blasts. He then stepped back and received his Osamu.

  “There you are!” Nugar said as his hand blocked another energy surge. “Are we ready?” The top of the Master Traveler’s Osamu glowed white for a moment before the main generator of the ship completely failed. “Yes, I would say that we are. You gentle creatures aren’t afraid of the dark, are you?”

  Deerka crawled along the corridor floor, finally coming to a door that would allow her to leave the skirmish area. She could not say what insanity had taken hold of the commander of the ship or its crew, but she did not want the Osur to make the mistake that she was in conflict with him. Entering the small storage area, she scurried along the floor until she ran into a pair of sturdy legs.

  “I would not even begin to think that, good Traveler,” Nugar said, offering his hand to the Vinthur female. She quickly took it and the Osur aided her to stand.

  “This is madness!” Deerka claimed.

  “I could not agree more,” Nugar agreed. “But you need not worry, the madness has run its course and reason will return to the mind… where it belongs.”

  “You have seen this in the Stars?”

  “No. But my Jump-Stride has taken this ship to a system with a very unstable star. We are currently in its electromagnetic field, which is why all the power systems have failed.”

  “All of them?!” she gasped in wonder. The Osur had jumped a ship that was not his.

  “Even the emergency reserves,” Nugar explained as he looked around. “I can’t tell you how many Travelers have come to their end jumping to this place.”

  “And we are to join them?!” Deerka asked.

  “That is yet to be seen,” Nugar replied. “But you will live to see another star-term. You will go back to your pack and you will advise them that jumping to the region you previously reached will be met with swift and sure corrective measures.”

  “Corrective measures?!”

  “Yes. Master Gantee is hunting Dungias so that he can kill him!”

  “Kill?!” Deerka exclaimed, shrinking away from Nugar. “And I…”

  Nugar stepped forward and took the young Traveler into a warm embrace. “Be at ease, my child. No harm has come to our savior this star-term. And now that I am done chasing all of Gantee’s dupes, all we have to do is wait.”

  “Wait for what?” Hands pounded on doors in the corridor. Without any power, they would be difficult to open, and it had been made clear the ship did not have much time before the gravity of the super-giant sun would crush the vessel.

  “We yield, Osur,” one voice called out.

  “Where is your Master?” Nugar yelled.

  “Trapped in a launcher,” the voice replied. “The escape craft he had boarded will not release.” Nugar had to bite down hard on his hand to keep from laughing. It
took a few moments and more desperate knocking on the door before he could compose himself.

  “Osur, please!”

  “Oh very well,” Nugar sighed, taking two crystals out from his pocket. “If you please, Berylon.”

  “My pleasure, Master Traveler!” the Master Radient’s voice reached inside the ship and the vessel jostled as it materialized on the grounds of The Campus.

  Life is the continuous adjustment of internal relations and external relations.

  Herbert Spencer

  (Rims Time: XII-4112.17)

  The Xara-Mansura came to a stop well before the outermost planet of the Ziere System. Dungias received the notice that the drives had been disengaged. He acknowledged the automated systems and initiated the normal scans.

  “Thank you,” Satithe said softly.

  “Why are you thanking me?” Dungias asked as he completed the assembly of Jocasta’s gun.

  “Because she won’t, even though she will want to. Though I can’t say why she hates the idea of traveling in a ship that is a sphere. The planets are spherical in nature. Why not move from planet to planet in a construct that honors so many celestial bodies?”

  “Satithe, ‘logical’ and ‘human’ are often conflicting terms,” Dungias explained. “I have been watching them for years and there are times when it still feels like the first day.”

  “Aren’t the Malgovi just as unpredictable?” Satithe asked.

  “You misunderstand my point, Satithe,” Dungias said. “Any race clinging to life holds the same potential for unpredictability. I suppose that is the beauty of living. What the Terrans do with that life is what confuses so many. Take for instance the mere fact of living. Many Terrans do not appreciate the abortion of a fetus.”

  “Are you saying they should?!” Satithe quickly asked.

  “Please, control your emotions when we are talking,” Dungias requested, smiling at the fact that Satithe was obviously gaining a level of comfort in expressing her beliefs. “To finish my observation, that very same individual would count themselves in favor of the taking of a life as a fitting punishment for a capital crime.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense.”

  “Welcome to the understanding of humanity” Dungias said, placing the gun in the shoulder holster.

  “Of course, now I am concerned about something,” Satithe said in a lower volume.

  “Given that I have killed, I must be in favor of a procedure that will abort a fetus,” Dungias concluded.

  “Yes, Master.”

  “Life is precious, I have taught you that much, have I not?” Dungias asked as he activated the camera in Jocasta’s room. Their timing could not have been better. She had completed her round of flight simulations, worked out with her weights and even stretched. She was just emerging from soaking in sonic-driven heated oils. She was practically glowing and beginning to dress.

  “Indeed you have.”

  “And do you know what life that belief is applied to first?” Dungias inquired, turning to face the computer console. He only waited for a few moments before speaking. “Self, Satithe; that appreciation for life applies first to oneself. In the course of defending my life, I am sometimes called upon to resolve conflict with another life. That resolution is not always harmonious with the continuance of both lives. I do not relish in the killing, but I will not hesitate to preserve my life or the lives of those I hold dear.”

  “Thank you, Master,” Satithe replied.

  “Are you all right, Satithe?”

  “I am sure you have stated this to me before,” she said. “But that was before my awareness was brought to where it is now. Why is it that I do not review those logs before asking you questions?”

  “You and I share a common thirst for knowledge,” Dungias answered. “And sometimes we want to know the answer to a question so badly that we forget that we might already know the answer; or in your case, able to find the answer faster than our conversation can deliver.

  “Captain, we have reached the Ziere System,” Dungias broadcasted.

  “What’s our distance to Zhok-Tarr?” Jocasta asked.

  “The lander shuttle has been prepped for flight, Captain. We are outside the orbital path of the outermost planet; our stealth field should have us invisible at the moment.”

  “Attaboy, Z. I’ll see you at the launch bay.”

  “Understood, Captain.”

  “Why did you do this to me, Master?” Satithe asked. Dungias smiled at the way she had found a way to review her protocols so quickly. “Why would you make it so that I could fail you?!” Dungias chuckled as he grabbed his shoulder bag. “And I thought you were no longer holding back.”

  “I did not make you so that you could fail me,” Dungias answered. “I made you because… in many ways I had been asked to. Your predecessor–”

  “The one called Kiaplyx,” Satithe stated.

  “Yes, Kiaplyx,” he confirmed. “Satithe, personal issues aside, Kiaplyx was nothing short of magnificent! It was alive and wonderful! I cannot and do not fault it for the errors it encountered in its programming.”

  “But Kiaplyx killed–”

  “It was alive, but it was still a machine. It was still so very young and needed guidance. Without that guidance it made many mistakes… resulting, eventually, in its own destruction. Instead of having someone or something to which it could bring ideas and inquiries, it was given a maintenance job! It–” Dungias stopped talking as in the midst of trying to defend the ideal of Kiaplyx, he had come across a rather interesting point that was new to his thought processes.

  “Master?”

  “I lied,” he thought. “Why did I lie to Borsidia?

  “CK, engage!” Dungias commanded as he held out his right hand. Alpha was in his grasp before his second program assumed main control.

  “You rang,” CK said as Dungias inserted his Osamu into the access port.

  “With all of the things I have gained, I find myself in error of my Osamu. I know Alpha forgives me, but I have to fathom whether I can forgive myself.” Dungias looked at Alpha as he activated the access port. He pressed his lips together, recognizing and containing the anger building inside him. Already he had come to an instinctual conclusion; now he needed facts. “I am downloading the latest readings I have taken with Alpha to you, CK. Satithe is not to know of this. I want you to find any thoughts or memories I recorded originating from Borsidia. There were many instances when we touched. I gave her many things to review… I would like to know what Alpha collected.”

  “This sounds serious,” CK stated. “What am I looking for?”

  “No, that I will not answer,” Dungias said, returning Alpha to its sleeve on his side. “One semi-blinded investigator is enough. Find all that you can and be ready to report to me upon my return.”

  “It will be done, Master,” CK, taking a much more formal tone.

  “I pray that I am wrong.”

  “Even though your intuition tells you that you are not?” a voice questioned. Dungias closed his eyes. Not because of the sound of the light, soft, female voice, but because of the sensation that accompanied the sound. “It feels just as good to be heard, Star Chaser.”

  “Cihpares,” Dungias whispered.

  “That is the name you gave me, all those years ago,” she said as she put her hands on his shoulders. Now Dungias knew he was out of his time, out of his space, and once again floating among the heavens and the Stars that tended to them.

  “It seemed to be the right thing to do,” he defended.

  “I did not speak to imply I have taken any exception to what you did,” she replied, kissing his cheek. His body shuddered with long forgotten delight. “Not then, Star Chaser.”

  “How disappointed you must be with me now,” Dungias admitted.

  “That is not our place,” she quickly stated. “You know that. Such words speak to how deeply you are disappointed with yourself! As you revealed so long ago, we who are of and among the Stars give to all, b
ecause we take all. What they do with the light given them is their choice.

  “But you have busied yourself with so many things. Too busy you have grown to even visit us. I suppose it is to be expected; one cannot be among children for too long without becoming childish on some level. How fortuitous when that childishness takes the form of how freely a child can love… and how unfortunate when it becomes the form of a short-sighted belief, thinking their petulance and whining will bend the fate of the universe to their will.”

  “And thusly I was disciplined,” Dungias added.

  “You have been disciplining yourself, Star Chaser,” she corrected. “Only once more will I tell you that we are not in any position of judgment. Is this why you have toiled so hard to avoid us?”

  “It is,” he admitted. “After feeling so much in the way of success and victory… I was not prepared for defeat,” Dungias said as his head lowered. Her warm, silken hands found his chin before it could meet with his chest. “… not that defeat… they were so young...”

  “Children,” she added, “your precious Ten.”

  “They were not ready for this world,” he said, grasping his left fist with his right hand and squeezing. “They were so weak.”

  “Vulnerable,” Cihpares agreed. “And they trusted you, did they not?”

  “Yes they did,” Dungias wept. “They did not know any better.”

  “Like the children they were.”

  “Children…”

  “And yet you struggle to maintain that you are not their father; the only loving guardian given to them,” Cihpares argued. “You would like to think that you do this so that they can stand in their own light, find their own place, be their own entities. But…”

  “I do it to protect myself,” Dungias concluded. “Because of the fate of the last two I dared to love so deeply… and what it felt like to lose them…”

  “But you haven’t lost anything, Dungias,” a male voice spoke and the Malgovi Traveler could remember the sound and the feeling that accompanied it as well.