9-Understanding
Irridan, in an alien sort of way, was smugly proud of her slingshot maneuver. The other racers had been too dependent soley on technology, and they forgot the benefits of using laws of nature. With this extra momentum, the Bat's speed was back up to High speed. At least until docking with a tradelane or landing on PX-433. Then Irridan would have to contend with the Bat's diminished engine output again. At least tradelanes were faster than Medium.
..........................................................
Bret felt a white-hot spray rush over his body, then cold, then nothing but blackness and silence.
The black shroud lifted. Bret was standing in a huge room--so huge, he couldn't see the walls or ceiling. Lights embedded in the stone floor illuminated a path. Bret followed the path. He walked for miles and miles. It was an endless journey, forever going onward. Then, there was something in the path ahead. Bret walked closer and saw what it was. Or rather, who it was. The man was standing there with his arms folded. The stoic expression on his face revealed nothing to Bret.
Then, for the first time in Bret's memory, he spoke, "I have been waiting for you." The deep, smooth voice assuaged Bret's first instinct to run. "Who..." Bret started to say.
"Who am I?" the man finished. "I am the Warden." The cryptic remark did little for Bret's curiosity.
"Why have you been showing me these...these things?" Bret demanded.
"There are many things you humans do not know. Some, you must never know. Others, you must soon know. I am here to show you what humans must soon know, and must heed, ere they face their destruction. Come. There is much to show you..." The Warden turned and walked down the path.
At length, the two came to a small stone structure. It had no joints or seams; it seemed to be carved out of the ground. Which was strange, because there had been no other sign of irregularity in the vast, smooth ocean of stone. Bret knew it was an accessway because it had a door. Everything seemed to be made of the same dark stone. The Warden stood before the door, and without any warning, the door swung open. "How did you do that?" Bret asked in amazement.
"I am the Warden, and I have been given power over this place," was the only answer.
A stairway descended out of sight into the depths below. An ominous red light ubiquitously illuminated everything, even though there was no light source. The two descended the stairway; the stair seemed almost as long as the path aboveground. At length, they came to a door, only it was different from everything else--it wasn't made of stone, it was made of metal. Bret turned the handle, pulled it open, and stepped inside.
This was the white room! There at the far end of the room was the door! Bret felt a sense of dread wash over him; he kept expecting that claw to punch through the metal and sieze him. "Do not fear," the Warden said, "the vision I have shown you has not yet come to pass. The creatures are yet locked within. However, this room is the furthest extent of my authority. Beyond this place, the creatures have complete domination over this world. My task was to lay down an impenetrable shield to imprison these vile beings for all eternity. For eons I have struggled against these things. I have never yet lost my battles, but my strength wanes. I cannot imprison these creatures forever, and eventually they will break free, to roam the galaxy and devour all life at will."
A great silence followed. Once, Bret thought he heard the sound of claws in the distant places beyond the door, but he was never sure. Then the Warden quietly said, "There is yet time. The creatures grow in strength every day, and I weaken from my battles, but they are yet vulnerable to attack, even in their own stronghold. I know naught but that of this world; I cannot help you find this place. Bret Durance, find me and the Black World...we must stop the Devourers!"
.......................................................
Irridan suddenly jerked her head up. The medical alarms were going nuts! She leaped out of the maintainance well in one motion and sprinted for the medical bay. When she got there, Bret was writhing on his bed in sickening contortions. The monitors showed that Bret's body was trying to come out of sedation, but it was destroying itself in the process. Irridan ripped out the sedative IV and grabbed another hypodermic. In five seconds Bret was limp as a rag doll. His heart slowed and his breathing normallized. Irridan had been afraid of this--the sedative she had used mimics the effects of suspended animation, only for a much shorter period of time and with less effect. The problem with it was that some humans' bodies react violently to being in such a state, trying to "wake up." The hypo she had given Bret was a fast-acting agent that broke up the sedative molecules and brought Bret out of his induced coma. Bret looked up at Irridan with huge, terrified eyes and said, "Irridan! We have to warn someone!"
.......................................................
Bret and Irridan sat across from each other in the crew lounge aboard the Bat. Irridan sat with her legs pulled up to her chest with her head resting on her knees and her arms wrapped around her ankles. Bret leaned forward in his seat and jittered excitedly, "Irridan, I can't tell you what this means to me. It's like a flood has come bursting out of me. All my life I've been a drifter, a wanderer with nothing to say for myself, searching for, I don't know what. But now, I feel like I have a purpose. Something to live for!"
Irridan did not know what to make of this. She felt guilty for having shot him, although her intentions were to keep him safe until she could get him to proper medical or psychiatric help. She also felt that maybe the drugs had done something to him. She also felt that his dreams and the drugs had changed him mentally for the worse. She was a little scared now of Bret. His demeanor now was unlike anything he had been like before. She remained quiet.
"I was scared to death of this guy, the Warden, but I think he was just trying to instill in me a sense of seriousness about the situation. Plus, I think there was just a pervading sense of fear in the air from those creatures, the Devourers. They are pure evil, Irridan, I can sense that. And plus, this Warden has got to be some sort of alien, so maybe he wasn't contacting me just right, you know?"
"Bret, Namorrian legend holds that there are many ancient evils in this galaxy. They are from the time of the ancients. Some are leftovers of that time, some are the ancients themselves. There were many wars then between the forces of good and evil on a scale we cannot imagine. It sounds to me like these Devourers may be something like that. They were definitely imprisoned to keep the galaxy safe."
"Yah, that's it! So you know that we have to do something. We have to find this black planet and stop these things before it's too late!"
"Bret, they are legends. They do not exist."
"Oh yah, what about the, the, Dura Magi we heard about in the Cruan'atan sector?"
"The Dura'nagai. They are probably not, I will give you that. They are known to the Namorrians as the Hala'kai'esh, or the Servants of Darkness. They exist in several sectors and are indeed an ancient race that embody everything we have come to know as evil. But Bret, these Devourers, I have never heard of them in legend."
"Maybe they just didn't make it out to your part of the galaxy the last time they were out and causing trouble. Does it matter? You said that there were several. I don't recall having seen any history books detailing the list of who's who in the galaxy since the creation of the universe."
"Very well, Bret. So what do you plan on doing?"
"I'll need to talk to Iruoko about this, the Bat'll have to drop from the race and get clearance from Helix to wander around and all that."
"Bret, the Bat is Iruoko's ship. One, it is not equipped for exploration or for combat. Two, Iruoko is here to win the prize money if possible to get the Intergalactic Trader's Alliance up and running stronger. The Granth sector has fallen into civil war and the ITA, still located on Cra, does not have the resources to relocate to another world. Short of stopping the civil war, this is our only option to save the ITA."
"The war has not reached Cra. The war is still being fought in only a few sub sectors of the Granth sector, and it probably won't be long until the Feeraas lose against the rest of the Republic."
"Bret, they cannot lose the war. If anyone loses then there will be genocide. The five races of the Republic have hated and slaughtered each other for centuries. This war is the perfect excuse to resume that slaughter. And you know as well as anyone that the loser will be annihilated completely from existence. Iruoko is trying to save the ITA in hopes to prevent death and destruction on a scale not seen in this galaxy for two millenia."
"I'm not just going to sit here in this race when we need to act now."
"I will stand with Iruoko."
"Then where does that leave me?"
"That is for you to decide, Bret. We will arrive at Emanon soon. You can decide what you will do then."
.....................................................................................................
Iruoko checked the public displays of the race; the Bat was still on the space lanes and closing on Emanon. She was near exhausted; she had spent her time on the station tracking down mechanics and parts dealers who might help her out. She came up with zilch. This system was near starved for technology and parts, and mechanics were just not available. Also, the Bat was too foreign a model. This meant that the Bat was doomed to no better speeds than medium quality while in the Helix sector.
So, Iruoko spent her time familiarizing herself with the race, making sure that she could run this blindfolded if necessary. She was also worried about Bret and Irridan. Her friends were terrific, but they had apparently been put through their paces in this race. She sent a message to the Bat, hoping that they got it, that she was on Emanon. It looked like Irridan had chosen to stay the course to Emanon anyhow.
As it should also happen, when she was looking at ships registered in the sector, she caught a glimpse of a Feeraas ship that just entered the sector a day ago. It was the Grey'nar under the command of Julanar. She laughed, her pal in the Star Republic really was coming here. She guessed that Julanar did not have many friends on Feeraas if he fled to Helix. This worried her though; it seemed like he might be here specifically to ask for her help. She owed it to him since he was a phenomenal help in establishing the ITA in the Granth sector. But right now, she did not have much to offer. She really hoped that he found the help he needed elsewhere.
..........................................................
Bret felt a white-hot spray rush over his body, then cold, then nothing but blackness and silence.
The black shroud lifted. Bret was standing in a huge room--so huge, he couldn't see the walls or ceiling. Lights embedded in the stone floor illuminated a path. Bret followed the path. He walked for miles and miles. It was an endless journey, forever going onward. Then, there was something in the path ahead. Bret walked closer and saw what it was. Or rather, who it was. The man was standing there with his arms folded. The stoic expression on his face revealed nothing to Bret.
Then, for the first time in Bret's memory, he spoke, "I have been waiting for you." The deep, smooth voice assuaged Bret's first instinct to run. "Who..." Bret started to say.
"Who am I?" the man finished. "I am the Warden." The cryptic remark did little for Bret's curiosity.
"Why have you been showing me these...these things?" Bret demanded.
"There are many things you humans do not know. Some, you must never know. Others, you must soon know. I am here to show you what humans must soon know, and must heed, ere they face their destruction. Come. There is much to show you..." The Warden turned and walked down the path.
At length, the two came to a small stone structure. It had no joints or seams; it seemed to be carved out of the ground. Which was strange, because there had been no other sign of irregularity in the vast, smooth ocean of stone. Bret knew it was an accessway because it had a door. Everything seemed to be made of the same dark stone. The Warden stood before the door, and without any warning, the door swung open. "How did you do that?" Bret asked in amazement.
"I am the Warden, and I have been given power over this place," was the only answer.
A stairway descended out of sight into the depths below. An ominous red light ubiquitously illuminated everything, even though there was no light source. The two descended the stairway; the stair seemed almost as long as the path aboveground. At length, they came to a door, only it was different from everything else--it wasn't made of stone, it was made of metal. Bret turned the handle, pulled it open, and stepped inside.
This was the white room! There at the far end of the room was the door! Bret felt a sense of dread wash over him; he kept expecting that claw to punch through the metal and sieze him. "Do not fear," the Warden said, "the vision I have shown you has not yet come to pass. The creatures are yet locked within. However, this room is the furthest extent of my authority. Beyond this place, the creatures have complete domination over this world. My task was to lay down an impenetrable shield to imprison these vile beings for all eternity. For eons I have struggled against these things. I have never yet lost my battles, but my strength wanes. I cannot imprison these creatures forever, and eventually they will break free, to roam the galaxy and devour all life at will."
A great silence followed. Once, Bret thought he heard the sound of claws in the distant places beyond the door, but he was never sure. Then the Warden quietly said, "There is yet time. The creatures grow in strength every day, and I weaken from my battles, but they are yet vulnerable to attack, even in their own stronghold. I know naught but that of this world; I cannot help you find this place. Bret Durance, find me and the Black World...we must stop the Devourers!"
.......................................................
Irridan suddenly jerked her head up. The medical alarms were going nuts! She leaped out of the maintainance well in one motion and sprinted for the medical bay. When she got there, Bret was writhing on his bed in sickening contortions. The monitors showed that Bret's body was trying to come out of sedation, but it was destroying itself in the process. Irridan ripped out the sedative IV and grabbed another hypodermic. In five seconds Bret was limp as a rag doll. His heart slowed and his breathing normallized. Irridan had been afraid of this--the sedative she had used mimics the effects of suspended animation, only for a much shorter period of time and with less effect. The problem with it was that some humans' bodies react violently to being in such a state, trying to "wake up." The hypo she had given Bret was a fast-acting agent that broke up the sedative molecules and brought Bret out of his induced coma. Bret looked up at Irridan with huge, terrified eyes and said, "Irridan! We have to warn someone!"
.......................................................
Bret and Irridan sat across from each other in the crew lounge aboard the Bat. Irridan sat with her legs pulled up to her chest with her head resting on her knees and her arms wrapped around her ankles. Bret leaned forward in his seat and jittered excitedly, "Irridan, I can't tell you what this means to me. It's like a flood has come bursting out of me. All my life I've been a drifter, a wanderer with nothing to say for myself, searching for, I don't know what. But now, I feel like I have a purpose. Something to live for!"
Irridan did not know what to make of this. She felt guilty for having shot him, although her intentions were to keep him safe until she could get him to proper medical or psychiatric help. She also felt that maybe the drugs had done something to him. She also felt that his dreams and the drugs had changed him mentally for the worse. She was a little scared now of Bret. His demeanor now was unlike anything he had been like before. She remained quiet.
"I was scared to death of this guy, the Warden, but I think he was just trying to instill in me a sense of seriousness about the situation. Plus, I think there was just a pervading sense of fear in the air from those creatures, the Devourers. They are pure evil, Irridan, I can sense that. And plus, this Warden has got to be some sort of alien, so maybe he wasn't contacting me just right, you know?"
"Bret, Namorrian legend holds that there are many ancient evils in this galaxy. They are from the time of the ancients. Some are leftovers of that time, some are the ancients themselves. There were many wars then between the forces of good and evil on a scale we cannot imagine. It sounds to me like these Devourers may be something like that. They were definitely imprisoned to keep the galaxy safe."
"Yah, that's it! So you know that we have to do something. We have to find this black planet and stop these things before it's too late!"
"Bret, they are legends. They do not exist."
"Oh yah, what about the, the, Dura Magi we heard about in the Cruan'atan sector?"
"The Dura'nagai. They are probably not, I will give you that. They are known to the Namorrians as the Hala'kai'esh, or the Servants of Darkness. They exist in several sectors and are indeed an ancient race that embody everything we have come to know as evil. But Bret, these Devourers, I have never heard of them in legend."
"Maybe they just didn't make it out to your part of the galaxy the last time they were out and causing trouble. Does it matter? You said that there were several. I don't recall having seen any history books detailing the list of who's who in the galaxy since the creation of the universe."
"Very well, Bret. So what do you plan on doing?"
"I'll need to talk to Iruoko about this, the Bat'll have to drop from the race and get clearance from Helix to wander around and all that."
"Bret, the Bat is Iruoko's ship. One, it is not equipped for exploration or for combat. Two, Iruoko is here to win the prize money if possible to get the Intergalactic Trader's Alliance up and running stronger. The Granth sector has fallen into civil war and the ITA, still located on Cra, does not have the resources to relocate to another world. Short of stopping the civil war, this is our only option to save the ITA."
"The war has not reached Cra. The war is still being fought in only a few sub sectors of the Granth sector, and it probably won't be long until the Feeraas lose against the rest of the Republic."
"Bret, they cannot lose the war. If anyone loses then there will be genocide. The five races of the Republic have hated and slaughtered each other for centuries. This war is the perfect excuse to resume that slaughter. And you know as well as anyone that the loser will be annihilated completely from existence. Iruoko is trying to save the ITA in hopes to prevent death and destruction on a scale not seen in this galaxy for two millenia."
"I'm not just going to sit here in this race when we need to act now."
"I will stand with Iruoko."
"Then where does that leave me?"
"That is for you to decide, Bret. We will arrive at Emanon soon. You can decide what you will do then."
.....................................................................................................
Iruoko checked the public displays of the race; the Bat was still on the space lanes and closing on Emanon. She was near exhausted; she had spent her time on the station tracking down mechanics and parts dealers who might help her out. She came up with zilch. This system was near starved for technology and parts, and mechanics were just not available. Also, the Bat was too foreign a model. This meant that the Bat was doomed to no better speeds than medium quality while in the Helix sector.
So, Iruoko spent her time familiarizing herself with the race, making sure that she could run this blindfolded if necessary. She was also worried about Bret and Irridan. Her friends were terrific, but they had apparently been put through their paces in this race. She sent a message to the Bat, hoping that they got it, that she was on Emanon. It looked like Irridan had chosen to stay the course to Emanon anyhow.
As it should also happen, when she was looking at ships registered in the sector, she caught a glimpse of a Feeraas ship that just entered the sector a day ago. It was the Grey'nar under the command of Julanar. She laughed, her pal in the Star Republic really was coming here. She guessed that Julanar did not have many friends on Feeraas if he fled to Helix. This worried her though; it seemed like he might be here specifically to ask for her help. She owed it to him since he was a phenomenal help in establishing the ITA in the Granth sector. But right now, she did not have much to offer. She really hoped that he found the help he needed elsewhere.
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