From: "Sel" Subject: The Secret of Arias, Chapter 8 - Part A Date: Fri, 5 Mar 1999 00:41:03 +1030 Here is the latest chapter of "The Secret of Arias." Things have started to get very interesting now, and I have had to extend the story by at least one more chapter to fit everything in. Chapter 9 is now half complete and the it should be along early next week. For other stories, as well as properly formatted chapters of this tale see my webpage http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/9933/index2.html Spoilers: There are spoilers for seasons 1-4. This story is set in 2262, but takes place well outside the normal Babylon 5 universe. Disclaimers: The small number of B5 characters that I use in my storys remain the property of Waner Brothers, TNT, JMS, and whoever else wants to lay claim to them. The rest are the proporty of my imagination and you can do what you will with them. ------------------------------------------------------------ The Secret of Arias - Chapter 8 By Sel Vecantie ------------------------------------------------------------ It was early morning on Arias, although that fact didn't really mean a lot to those living beneath the dark storm cloud that dominated the jungle moon's weather patterns. To the Arisians working slavishly to build the latest of the Mistress' energy collection towers, it was simply a way of marking time. As the sun rose above the world again, it marked the end of the previous day and also the changing over of shifts at the construction site. Amazingly, a day on Arias was almost exactly equal to eight Earth hours, which meant that there were three Arisian days to one Earth day. Unfortunately though, when Jeanne had first introduced the idea of time and hours to the Arisians, they took the idea to heart and began to work out the difference between Earth and Arias time down to the nearest second. Since each day there were approximately two seconds difference between the two and the Arisian artisans working on constructing clocks could not be anything less than precise, a small war nearly erupted out of the arguments over those two seconds. Finally everyone had settled on the idea of leap minute, which occurred once every thirty days and marked the end of the Arisian week. It also neatly divided the week into three days of work, three of walking to and from work, or extra rest depending on the rank of the individual involved, three days of sleep and one day of rest. Of course, none of this mattered at all to Susan's party, who were currently watching the construction site from the safety of rock strewn hill top high above the construction site. All they were aware of, was that one group of aliens was just arriving at the site, while another was packing up their tools and preparing to depart. "What do you think this place is for," Sergeant Drake whispered to Jack Melis, who was lying in the patch of toadstools next to him. "Could be many things," Melis replied, staring at the construction site through a pair of powerful binoculars. "My first guess was that it is some sort of temple or monolith. But, now that I have had a closer look, I will have to reject my initial hypothesis." "So what do you think now then." Melis clicked his tongue several times, considering the question before answering. "A power station," he said finally. "What?" Drake said incredulously, forgetting for a moment to keep his voice down. "A power station," Melis replied. He pointed towards something standing near the spire and handed the binoculars over to Drake. "Take a look at what's on that cart." Drake bought the binoculars up to his eyes and quickly focused on the area Melis had pointed it. The cart he had mention was a fifty metre long tray of metal, with several sets of small wheels beneath and four gigantic horned beetles milling around in front of it, obviously providing its motive power. "I don't see anything out of the ordinary," Drake muttered, sounding annoyed at his failure to see whatever it was that had excited Melis. "Take a closer look at the objects on the back of the cart," Melis urged. "OK, I see them," the marine replied. "I don't know what they are supposed to be, but I see them." Melis sighed in frustration. "Didn't you ever see that documentary on the old Earth space stations?" Drake shook his head. "I have never really been fond of documentaries," he admitted. After another sigh, Melis looked over at the marine and frowned, trying to think of a way to explain what he had just discovered so the obviously thick marine could understand it. "Well, on those stations they had folding solar panels. Those objects on that cart down there look almost identical. I would bet my hat that is what they are. That whole structure is a gigantic solar power station." "This place doesn't exactly receive a lot of light from the sun," Drake said, pointing out the flaw in Melis' hypothesis. "In fact, I don't think I would be stretching the truth too far if I said it doesn't get any at all." "I admit I am still working out the details," Melis said, snatching back his binoculars and continuing his observations. "This isn't really my field of expertise though, so I can't be expect to know everything." "What exactly is your field of expertise, Doctor?" the Sergeant asked. "I'm an archaeologist," Melis told him. "But, I have also spent long enough with other scientists that I have picked up quite a lot. And my instincts tell me that structure is a power station." "Will you two shut up," Susan whispered urgently from the top of the ridge. "This is supposed to be a covert reconnaissance, not a debate." "Sorry, Captain," Drake whispered back. "We were just discussing the threat provided by this structure." "Can you tell me what it is?" Susan asked. "Or what those creatures are down there." Melis crawled back up the hill to where Susan, Talia and the five remaining marines were waiting. The other three marines, along with most of their equipment were waiting back at the second rover, which was currently being repaired in case it was needed on the return journey. "I think the structure could be some sort of power station," Melis told her, as soon as he made it safely back onto the ridge. "As for the creatures, they could be a native life form. There are several irregularities though." "Such as?" Melis pointed out a large cylinder which was busy belching thick black smoke into the atmosphere. "Take that engine for instance..." "That's an engine?" Susan interrupted. "It's a very basic combustion engine," Melis confirmed. "I know it doesn't look much, but it has a lot of lifting power. The question it raises though, is why they need it at all. It is obvious by the design of the tower itself, along with the advanced technology they are sticking in that thing, that these creatures have access to technology way in advance of an old style combustion engine." "Perhaps that is the best they can manage," Susan suggested. "If this is a power station, then maybe they don't have the energy to run their other machines. They might be building this structure to power them." "That is a possibility," Melis admitted. "But then there is the matter of their weapons. Their soldiers are still using spears and swords, which doesn't make a lot of sense if they have this sort of technology available to them. Surely they must have some sort of projectile weapons, a slug thrower at the very least." Susan shrugged. "That is a little weird," she said. "Although considering the number of those creatures down there, I am not overly concerned by it at the moment. I would prefer to be the only one on the planet with energy weapons. If we do get involved in a battle that fact might just give us a reasonable chance of success." "The question that worries me, is why we haven't encountered any guards yet," Sergeant Drake said as he hauled his bulky frame over the small bank of rocks and into the small depression where the others were hiding. "Any race as advanced as these, should have guards posted. I don't believe for a minute that they don't know we are here. It's very likely that they are responsible for the disappearance of the Sturt's crew, not to mention Major Logan and her team." "There is no sign of them down there?" Susan asked. "Not a trace," Drake confirmed. "Just hundreds of those alien critters. There is a road that leads north from here though. It is possible that the road leads to some major settlement. If these critters did grab the Major, then that is where she will be, assuming she is still alive." "Hopefully, that message we received earlier means that she is," Susan said, not wanting everyone to lose hope yet. "According to the map, it is about another five kilometres north to the place from where the message was sent. That would fit perfectly with what you just suggested about the road. If we set out now we should be there around midday." "Do we take the road or carry along the top of this hill?" Talia asked, looking longingly at the smooth surface of the alien road. "I am afraid we are going stick to this ridge," Susan replied, glancing over at Talia with a comforting smile on her face. "But we will take it easy. I don't think I am used to this sort of exercise either." She looked back at Drake, who was picking dried mud off the side of his PPG rifle. "Is everyone ready, Sergeant?" Drake looked up, and then nodded. "Ready to go, Captain." "Good," she replied. "Everyone grab your packs then, we've got a long way to walk and not much time to do it in." Amid the chorus of groans, Susan walked over to help Talia to her feet, a gesture that didn't go unnoticed among the rest of the rescue party. "Hopefully, they will be able to get the rover started," she told the tired telepath. "That will mean that we don't have to walk as far on the way back." "I think I will survive," Talia replied, allowing Susan to help her back to her feet. Susan nodded and then, catching some of the marines staring at her and Talia, glared at them. She quickly shouldered her own pack and walked back to the head of the small procession. A minute later they all set out, trudging along the narrow ridge. With the aliens so close by, lights were out of the question and it was slow progress as everyone had to be careful to avoid starting a rock slide. Fortunately though, the next hour of the journey passed uneventfully and after the great spire fell away into the background, Susan ordered lights activated. Then, after another short rest, the rescue party set off again, heading towards whatever awaited them at the end of the road. ------------------------------------------------------------ Jeanne sighed with pleasure, stretching out her arms and allowing the warm water to caress every part of her tired body. The mixture of exotic Ariasian bathing oils alternatively stung and soothed her skin, leaving her body tingling and alive. She so rarely took the time for a bath lately, that it had become a rare luxury, reserved for the few times that she was alone. In less an hour, she would be meeting with General Azrak, but until then she could relax and enjoy herself, something that she almost never took the time to do any more. Allowing herself to slip fully beneath the water, she closed her eyes so the oils wouldn't sting her eyes. Not needing to breath had its advantages, she thought, running her hands through her long hair. Let loose from the tight braid that had imprisoned it, her hair floated all around her as she closed her eyes and settled onto the bottom of the huge bath. She lay there for another ten minutes, just enjoying the warmth of the water. A normal person would have surfaced, needing to breath, but Jeanne felt comforted and protected under the cleansing oils and three feet of water. The water was drawn from the underground lake beneath the city, where it was warmed by the river of lava that flowed beneath this part of the world. It had been almost boiling when she had first stepped into the bath, but her Vorlon-enhanced body soon drained away that heat. She could have pumped in more water, but her conscience was beginning to get to her. For each bath she took, an entire section of the city had to do without power for several minutes, as the pump hauled the water up from deep beneath the earth. Finally, as a chill began to settle into the now cold water, Jeanne sat up, water cascading down her back and dripping from her soaked hair. Hauling herself out of the bath, she stepping onto the cold tiles of the bathroom floor. One of her servants quickly handed her a fluffy towel, which she took with some relish. The towel was made from a reed that grew in the western swamps. It was soft and warm, and also soaked up water at an incredible rate. Jeanne wrapped her arms around it, and hugged it tight, enjoying the way it warmed her and took away the chill. Two other servants began to dry the rest of her body, while another dried her long hair. As soon as she was fully dry, Jeanne wrapped the towel around her body and stepped through the door that led into her bedroom, one of the servants remaining behind to drain the bath and clean up the room. Standing next to her bed, the head of the servants, Harj, awaited her. With a sigh of contentment, Jeanne sat down on the soft bed and allowed the servant to begin work on her hair. "Are you well, Mistress," Harj asked, as she ran the brush through Jeanne's long hair. "I feel better," Jeanne replied. "I am still weak though. The encounter with Major Logan has left me a lot weaker than I thought. The injuries I sustained have healed, but their effects still remain. If I had access to unlimited energy it would be nothing, but I don't, so I feel the effects of every wound I suffer." "She was an evil creature," Harj muttered, putting aside the brush and beginning to carefully braid Jeanne's hair. "Not evil," Jeanne said admonishingly. "Just misguided. She thought that the best way to help her friends was to threaten me. She was wrong, and nearly died for her error." "She should have know better than to challenge you, Mistress." Jeanne didn't reply. Part of her agreed with Harj and felt angry at the way Lily had challenged her authority and tried to injure her. The other, larger part, felt comforted by the fact that there were still someone that would stand up to her. Jeanne knew that the Vorlons had altered her to become an all powerful leader, the secret weapon in their never-ending war with the dark ones. She wasn't supposed to be resisted, people were supposed to follow her orders without question. Of course, in her current condition she wasn't as powerful as the Vorlons had originally planned, but the way Lily had responded, made her feel that there might still be some hope for her. She needed the challenge in her life, something to keep her going. Blind obedience did become boring after a while. "I am finished, Mistress," Harj said, interrupting Jeanne's musings. Jeanne ran her hand across her head, pleased that Harj had done a perfect job, as usual. She stood, allowing her neatly braided hair to fall behind her. The end of the braid came to rest somewhere around her knees, where it tickled the bare flesh of her leg. She frowned, remembering that once she had kept her hair short, cut in an almost boyish style. Then it had been necessary, now she just couldn't be bothered cutting it. For a second she considered cutting it short again, but quickly dismissed that idea. She needed all the weapons at her disposal and right now her beauty was one of her most important weapons. Cutting her hair short might make it easier to handle, but she had always thought it made her look gawky. "Shall I bring your robe?" Harj asked, interrupting Jeanne's train of thought for a second time in as many minutes. "No," Jeanne replied, pointing towards a large package that lay on the floor near the bed. "I think it is time to try on artisan Uijan's creation." "As you wish, Mistress," Harj replied with a bow, feeling her way across to where the unfamiliar package lay. Although she knew the lay out of the room by hand, it took her nearly a minute to retrieve the package Jeanne had indicated. She had not seen where her Mistress had pointed to, but remembered one of the other servants leaving it lying somewhere on the far side of the room. Eventually locating the package, she picked it up and bought it over to Jeanne, who quickly pulled off the thin layer of wrapping paper and unfolded the garment that lay within. "It's beautiful," Jeanne breathed softly, running the delicate material through her fingers. She unfolded the gown to its full length and lay it out on the bed, observing it, but making no move to put it on. "Remind me to commend Uijan on her work." "She did a good job on your clothing?" Harj queried, feeling about on the bed for the gown. "She did an incredible job," Jeanne said. "In fact, I don't think I have ever owned anything this nice before. This will do very nicely for what I have in mind." Not bad for someone who was blindfolded when making the measurements anyway, Jeanne thought to herself. "I am pleased, Mistress. Uijan's apprentice said that the other clothing you ordered will be ready soon and she asked if you wished anything more from the Artisan?" "Tell her that I may need some more gowns like this one," Jeanne replied, picking up the beautiful dress before Harj could touch it and holding it up against her body to check the fit. Finding it was a perfect fit, just as she knew it would be, she let her towel drop to the ground and quickly pulled the gown over her head, letting the folds of cloth settle on the ground with a soft swishing sound. Hearing Jeanne pulling on the gown, Harj walked around behind her and helped button up the back of the gown. She remembered what the apprentice had told her about the new clothing and was eager to help her Mistress' enjoyment. Although completely blind, her nimble fingers quickly located the emerald buttons and quickly slipped them through the buttonholes. Once that was done, she smoothed out the back of the gown, wondering why anyone would want to wear so much cloth. Jeanne smoothed out the folds of the gown and then walked across to look at herself in the mirror. Then she frowned, realising that the effect she wanted wasn't quite there. The gown itself was perfect, the beautiful white and pink cloth combing with a generous amount of gemstones to creature a picture of pure elegance and purity. Her hair however, didn't fit the image she wanted to project. Tightly braided as it was, it didn't match her new clothing. "I need to change my hairstyle," she muttered to herself. Harj, who's perfect hearing could pick up the sound of a pin dropping at a hundred paces, caught her words. "Change?" she asked cautiously, remembering the years of work it had taken her to learn how to braid her Mistress' hair. "Why does it need changing." "Bring me the brush," Jeanne demanding, quickly undoing the braid with her fingers, and spreading her hair out. Realising that it still didn't look right, she reached down and picked up a pair of dusty scissors. It had been nearly fifty years since she had last cut her hair, but the scissors, made of the same metal as everything else in her city, were still just as sharp as ever. Five quick snips later and two thirds of her hair lay on the floor. "Mistress?" Harj asked, her ears picking up both at the sound of the scissors and the noise the hair made as it fell to the floor. "The brush," Jeanne demanded, reaching back behind her. Harj quickly pushed it into her hands, and Jeanne ran it through her now shoulder length hair several times before standing back and looking at the effect in the mirror. It's not perfect, she thought, brushing aside a few out of place strands. Picking up the scissors again she snipped off a bit more of her hair and then smoothed it out with the brush. Then she nodded, pleased with her rather rough efforts. "Not bad," she muttered. "It might just work." "What is that, Mistress," Harj asked, feeling a little left out as she couldn't see what Jeanne was talking about, or why she was acting so strangely. For a moment she almost reached out and felt Jeanne's hair to see what all the fuss was about, but pulled herself back at the last moment, just in case her Mistress didn't want her to do that. Jeanne didn't reply. Instead she clasped her hands in front of her, almost as if she were praying, and allowed a pleading look to come over her face. "Please, you must help me," she said, in a voice full of emotion. "I am all alone here, you can't leave me here like this." "Mistress?" Harj cried. "What is the matter." Jeanne looked at her, as if realising that the servant was here for the first time. "Nothing," she replied quickly. "I was just trying out something." She brushed a few stray strands of hair off the shoulders of her gown and look in the mirror again, smiled to herself as she realised that she had finally achieved the look she had been wanting. "Not bad at all," she mused, straightening out the bodice of her gown. Harj still looked concerned, but fortunately another of Jeanne's servants chose that moment to arrive. "Mistress," the servant said, bowing low. "I apologise for disturbing you, but General Azrak awaits you in the throne room. He said that he has the latest reports from the scouts. I would not have bothered you, but he seemed rather concerned about the information the reports contain. He was most insistent that I summon you." "No doubt," Jeanne muttered, a smile breaking out on her face. Then she became more serious and turned to face the servant. "Return and tell him I will be down to see him shortly." The servant nodded hurriedly and almost ran out of the room. Jeanne turned to Harj and smiled again. "Well, Harj," she said. "It is time to go to war." "But, Mistress," Harj argued. "Your sword is still being repaired." "Not that sort of war," Jeanne chuckled. "I am talking about a psychological war. I am going to convince a nice Human commander to do me a favour. If he doesn't agree to swap my freedom for the prisoners, then there is always other methods I can try." "I am sure this Human will agree to your demands, Mistress," Harj said confidently. "Perhaps," Jeanne mused as she headed out of the bedroom and towards the staircase leading down into her throne room. "But just in case, I need to be prepared for every eventuality." "I see," Harj replied. "Is there anything you need me to do then?" Jeanne looked back at the pile of hair lying on the floor of her bedroom. "Clean up this room," she ordered. "I will be busy for the next couple of days, so once you are finished here you may have that time off." "You are most kind, Mistress," Harj said, bowing low as Jeanne swept out of the room, her gown brushing lightly against the surface of the floor. Leaving her quarters behind her, Jeanne started down the stair, remembering at the last moment to darken the air around her and hide herself from Azrak. She didn't like having to hide away while wearing her new gown, but until she regained all her powers she had no choice. Once she had bathed in the sunlight for a few hours, nothing would be able to harm her and it didn't matter what the General thought. Until then though, she still had to be careful. "Mistress," Azrak said, as she came down the stairs. "I have the latest reports from the scouts here." He held out a large sheet of paper and two recording devices. She took them from him, and quickly scanned the summery of the information that had been written on the paper. "Interesting," she mused, as she took her seat on the throne. "As you can see, another group of aliens is coming closer to the fortress," Azrak said, shuffling nervously. "As per your instructions, we have not interfered in their passage, but they are coming very close now. The last report stated that they had pasted the first tower and were following the road in this direction." "Good," Jeanne said, tossing the paper aside and looking at the recorders. "I thought that you would want us to stop them, before they found a way into the fortress. They might try to free the prisoners." "I am sure that is their aim," Jeanne replied, looking up from the recorder and noticing how worried Azrak was for the first time. "Do not worry, General, I have no intention of allowing them to free the prisoners. Gather a legion of your best guards and intercept the Humans just before they try to enter the fortress." "I will go and stop them at once, Mistress," Azrak said, sounding relieved. Jeanne shook her head. "You do not understand," she said. "I only want them stopped when they are about to enter the city. Allow them to get close and then invite them in to meet with me." "Meet with you," Azrak said, his eye ridges gathering up into a frown. "Is that wise? The last one tried to kill you. These new aliens have many weapons and are almost all are warriors. I would not want you to be injured." "Was I injured before?" Jeanne asked. When Azrak shook his head, she smiled and continued. "I want them to look around at the city, the fortress and everything else first. Once they have seen what they are up against they will be more pliable to my suggestions. Leave them alone until they are about to try and enter the city and then stop them. But remember, I do not want them injured or captured. I want you to invite them to meet me, not force them." Azrak frowned again. "Invite, Mistress?" Jeanne sighed in frustration. "Yes invite," she replied. Thinking quickly, she remembered something that she had seen on one of the interstellar networks a couple of months ago. "I will retrieve a file from the archive," she told the General. "I want you and your warriors to watch it. Observe how the Humans invite one another to go somewhere. Then use the same technique on our visitors." "Yes, Mistress," Azrak said brightly. "I will obey." "Good," she replied, turning her attention back to the recorder. "Now please go, I have other things to do." "Yes, Mistress," Azrak repeated, bowing low, before withdrawing as quickly as he could. As soon as the great throne room doors had clicked shut behind him, Jeanne allowed the light around her body to return to normal. Then she activated the monitor above her and quickly searched through the archive until she found the program she was looking for. Then, she unloaded it to the barracks, trusting the Azrak would follow her orders and watch it. That done, she turned back to the recorder, quickly coming to the conclusion that most of the images recorded were useless due to the poor quality and the dismal light conditions outside the city. Soon growing bored with the images displayed on the recorder, Jeanne dropped it down next to the throne, and turned her attention back to the monitor. A few well worded phrases and the screen changed to show the mines where the prisoners were being kept. She wanted to check in and see how Major Logan was doing. It had been some time since the injured woman had been taken to the mines, and she wanted to make sure that she was still alive. Not finding Lily in any of the living quarters, Jeanne quickly flicked through the other cameras. There were some prisoners in the mess hall, for some reason all were looking a lot more tired than normal, but no sign of Lily. Another change of camera, and Jeanne was looking over the mine itself. She noticed at once that several of the humans were clustered around a newly dug tunnel leading into the wall. Two were pushing one of the mining carts out of the tunnel, and she noted that it was loaded down with chunks of broken rock. Obviously either Major Logan had organised the humans into an escape attempt, or they had all suddenly become very interested in mining. Not overly concerned by the prisoner's actions, Jeanne made a few quick mental calculations and compared the results to the reports from the scouts that Azrak had bought her earlier. Satisfied that Lily couldn't arrange an escape before her own business with the rescue ship's commanding officer was complete, Jeanne switched off the monitor. She could have ordered the guards to stop the digging in an instant, but decided that there was no harm in allowing them to escape. She would have to release them eventually anyway, and if they escaped then it saved her the trouble. Even if her talks with Major Logan's commander went badly, there was nothing to worry about. The tunnel the prisoners were digging was heading straight towards the great canyon west of the palace. Due to its importance, that area was well guarded and there was no way they could escape... unless she allowed them to, of course. ------------------------------------------------------------ Sel Vecantie e-mail: vecantie@geocities.com homepage: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/9933/ ICQ: 23223547 From: "Sel" Subject: The Secret of Arias, Chapter 8 - Part B Date: Fri, 5 Mar 1999 00:41:47 +1030 ------------------------------------------------------------ Lily paused for a second to mop her brow, wiping away some of the sweat that had been threatening to run into her eyes. She rested her pick on the ground and looked around at the tunnel they were digging. The work had been proceeding at an incredible rate, much faster than she had originally imagined possible. It had taken two hours to convince everyone in the mines of need to escape and then another full hour to set up a roster for the digging and decide where to begin the excavation. But, now that they had actually started work, they had cut nearly thirty metres of tunnel in less than two hours. That incredible effort had been mainly due to two factors. One was Lily's enthusiasm for the project, which was starting to rub off on the other prisoners. The other factor was the picks they were using. When Curran had first mention picks, Lily had conjured up an image of old steel implements that would barely cut through limestone, let alone the hard granite-like rock the mine's walls were made of. Instead, she had been handed a pick made of some alien metal, apparently the same metal as the rest of the alien city, although it had been hardened and sharpened. The result was a razor sharp cutting tool that sliced through the rock walls as if they were as soft as butter. Picking up the pick again she swung it downward, slicing deeply into the rock face. The rock splintered under the blow, and several large chunks tumbled to the ground. Lily smiled at the ease she was cutting this tunnel. The rock might look incredibly hard, but when it was struck with a solid enough blow, it broke up very easily indeed. In fact, the digging was proceeding so well that she had decided to widen the tunnel and make it possible for two people to work side by side. While it meant that the tunnel would take a little longer to complete, it did make access a lot easier. Right now though, she was alone. Jeremy Curran had been working alongside her, but he had left a few minutes ago, saying that he was tired and need a rest. For some reason, Lily hadn't felt the same way. She had been working for nearly two hour straight, but so far had suffered no ill effects. She still felt as fresh as she had when she had first begun digging, with no trace of the crippling pain and exhaustion that had gripped her when she had woken up in her small room in the living section. She lifted the pick again, eager to get on with the digging, but a scraping noise behind her distracted it her. Thinking it was her new digging partner, Lily lowered the pick and turned around. It came as something of a surprise to see the short, stocky figure of the Sturt's doctor standing behind her. "What are you doing here, Doctor," she asked. "Aren't you supposed to be looking after the sick, or something like that." "I'm here because I am worried about you, Major, we all are." Lily looked confused. "Why should you be worried about me? I feel fine. In fact, I haven't felt this good in a long, long time." "That's what I wanted to talk to you about," Abbado replied, holding out a medical scanner for Lily to examine. "I have just done a quick scan of your body, and according to these readings the virus I told you about seems to be extending its hold on your body. All this exercise is only weakening your body's defences and if you don't get some rest soon then it could kill you." "I thought you didn't know anything about this thing," Lily said, refusing to even look at the scanner readings. She placed her pick on the ground next to her, leaning it up against the wall, and glared at Abbado. "Didn't you say that you couldn't get any direct readings on it. How can you be sure that it is going to kill me. I might be causing a beneficial effect." "That is true," Abbado admitted, starting to sweat a little himself under Lily's gaze. "It is almost impossible to pick up with these instruments. However, I can see the effect it is having on your body. The readings I took earlier and the I ones I just took now don't match. That means that something has been affecting you. I can't tell exactly what it has been doing though. Perhaps if I had a proper set of scanners I could detect a lot more." "It doesn't appear to have done anything," Lily argued. "I feel as though I could take on the world." "Some viruses have been know to cause a feeling of euphoria in their victims," the doctor pointed out. "I suggest you rest for a while and let me run some more tests. It is obvious that this virus is alien in nature and I need to do a lot more research before I can discover how to combat its spread." "Don't bother,' Lily replied. "I don't have time to do any tests, even if I thought I needed them. I don't have the time to spare waiting for you to run tests. After we get out of here and back to the Rasputin, then you can run all the tests you want. Right now though, this tunnel has to be completed as quickly as possible, before she notices what we are up to." "That's another thing I wanted to talk with you about," Abbado said. "I have spoken with First Officer Curran, and we both think that you obsession with defeating this Jeanne woman isn't healthy. You are going to kill us all if you don't stop this nonsense." Lily's eyes flashed dangerously. "I have had nearly enough of your nonsense as well," she said, in a low and controlled tone. "I am trying to help everyone escape and all you and Curran can do is try and get in my way. It seems to me that you like being prisoners here a little too much. Everyone else is pulling their weight and I think it is about time that both of you started helping out around here instead of trying to undermine my efforts." "But..." "Enough," Lily shouted. "Get out of my sight. I am fine, there is nothing wrong with me, so there is nothing you have to worry about. When I keel over, then you can come and poke me to see what's wrong, but until then I am going to keep working." "Don't say I didn't warn you then," Abbado snarled, spinning around and marching back down the rough tunnel. Lily watched him walking for several seconds, before noticing that their conversation had attracted considerable attention from the others working on the tunnel. Only a few metres back, two of the scientists who had been drafted into clearing away the rubble from the digging, were looking at her with concerned faces. "Get back to work everyone," she said softly, her anger draining away as she remembered that everyone here was looking to her to provide them with some sort of leadership. She wasn't going to do that by shouting every time someone challenged her.. "We have a lot of work to do, so there is no time to stand around gawking at me." The two scientists nodded quickly and went back to piling chunks of broken rock into the large cart like vehicle that the aliens had provided to carry away the left over rock from the mining. "At least she is going to be happy with the amount of gems we have been mining today," Lily muttered to herself, bending down to reclaim her pick. She was about to resume digging when another noise distracted here. Spinning around with the pick clutched in her hands like a weapon she demanded, "what now." "Whoa there, Lil," came the annoyingly cheerful voice of Nicolai Luchenko. "I know we didn't get off on the best foot, but that is no reason to skewer me." He knelt down on one knee and looked up at her with a pleading look in his eyes. "Can't we just be friends?" he asked, before ruining the effect by chuckling to himself, as if what he had just done was humorous for some reason. Lily considered hitting him with the pick, just to shut him up. But, she knew it wouldn't go down too well with her superiors, so settled for an irritated groan. "What are you doing here," she demanded. "Here to help out with the digging, Lil," Nicolai replied, hopping back to his feet and snatching up the pick discarded by Curran. "Hmm, these things are really light aren't they. I wonder how they make them so strong." "You mean you haven't used one before now?" Lily asked with an exaggerated groan. Nicolai shook his head. "I didn't want to ruin my hands," he replied. "I might never be able to play the piano again," he added, chuckling again. "Of course, I never played the piano before anyway." "What made you volunteer now then?" "Well," he began, making a show of examining Lily's body closely, a leering look on his face. "Have you seen yourself lately, Lil. It's enough to make any red-blooded man volunteer. Most of the women too." Lily started at him for several seconds, trying to decide if he was serious or not. He looked serious, but she knew from past experience that Nicolai was an incredible actor. He would have had a very successful career in any acting profession of his choice, if he hadn't decided to become a good-for-nothing playboy. Noticing when his eyes were focused, Lily glanced down, suddenly remembering that she had discarded her most of her uniform for a singlet borrowed from one of the scientists. It was a little big for her, but made swinging a pick a lot easier than with the tight jacket and shirt on. However, after two hours of constant work, it was soaked with sweat, and left very little to the imagination. Hurriedly turning away from Nicolai, Lily muttered, "can't you be serious just for a few hours?" "At least I appreciate you for..." Nicolai suddenly cut himself off before he completed the sentence and bent down to pick up a hunk of rock that was lying near his feet. "Now this is what I call a diamond," he muttered, pulling a strip of cloth from a pocket and rubbing away some of the dust that covered the gem. "This little baby is going to break some hearts when we get back to Earth." "You are supposed to be helping me dig this tunnel," Lily said exasperatedly. "That means you should be hitting the wall with that pick, not staring at me like some lovesick schoolboy, or stopping every ten minutes to pick up pretty looking rocks. This tunnel is our best chance to get out of here and on our way back to Earth. Until then, all these gems are worthless." "You are really trying to make me feel bad, aren't you Lil," Nicolai said, sounding disgusted at her lack of enthusiasm for the king's ransom of gemstones that lay strewn along the tunnel. "I know you are big on this loyalty and honour thing, but there is nothing wrong with looking after yourself once in a while. If you are right and we do escape, then I intend on taking a few little souvenirs with me. You should do the same." "I have better things to do," Lily replied, turning back to her digging. Raising the pick above her head, she bought it down, putting all her strength behind the blow. Rock shattered as the razor sharp metal sliced into the rough tunnel wall. Several large chunks of rock broke free and tumbled to the ground, while a cloud of dust and tiny rock chips rose into the air. Nicolai swore loudly as several of the tiny chips of rock struck his face, one hard enough to cut through his flesh. Wiping away a spot of blood he glared at Lily and said, "can't you be a little more careful." "Lily glared at him. "If you were working, then you wouldn't have any trouble," she pointed out. "Now either put that stone away and grab your pick, or get out of here and bring back someone who actually wants to do some work." "You know, I really don't know what I see in you," he muttered, smashing his own pick into the rock wall. "I mean you are obviously bad for me, the sort of girl my father always warned me about. But here I am, digging a tunnel through solid rock in some attempt to win your affections. I must be crazy." "Don't you even shut up?" "Only when my mouth is otherwise occupied." Lily glared at him, caught halfway between exasperation and shock. For a second she once again found herself seriously considering doing him some major injury involving the handle of her pick and a delicate part of his anatomy. Instead though, she just muttered, "Shut up and dig." It was obviously going to be a long couple of hours. ------------------------------------------------------------ About a hundred metres above the mines, and several hundred metres further south, Susan's party had finally reached the end of the undulating hill top ridge that had been following ever since they had passed the outermost of the energy collection spires. They had passed close by three more of the tall spires during the last four kilometres, and had seen even more of them off in the distance. Each tower had sat cold and silent against the Arisian night and their inactivity had only raised even more question about their exact purpose. Ahead, the relatively gentle hills abruptly ended, the ground rising to form a single large rocky mountain. Below, the winding road Susan and her companions had been following also vanished, heading into the mountain through a single, massive cave. The aliens they observed earlier were now everywhere, at least a thousand had either entered or departed from the cave mouth in the past half hour alone. Overhead, the sky was beginning to lighten from pitch black to the dim twilight of the Arisian day, so it was likely that the activity along the road was somehow related to the coming of dawn. "Well, where to now?" Jack Melis asked. "Not down there, that's for sure," Susan replied, observing the comings and goings of the aliens through her binoculars. "It is like the entrance to an anthill down there." Melis looked at her strangely for a second. "Perhaps that's what it is," he then said excitedly. "These creatures might be this world's equivalent of ants, and this mountain is their home." "Perhaps," Susan said, although she didn't sound too convinced. "They are organised a little like ants," Melis continued, pointing out the various groups of aliens. "See, there are the warriors and that big group over there must the workers." Susan focused her binoculars on the large group of aliens Melis indicated. They were just setting out from cave mouth, turning down a road that headed east through a large forest of fluorescent yellow trees. They were all carrying large cutting tools that were remarkably similar to scythes. Susan wasn't sure if she should compare them to the mythological figure of Death, or to a bunch of medieval peasants on their way off to work on their farms. Then she noticed the hat one of the creatures was wearing on its round dome-like head. It looked remarkably like a rough straw hat, just like the ones the stereotypical farmers always wore on the vids. The whole scene had an eerie feeling of familiarity about it and it was making Susan nervous. Quickly, she moved her binoculars to observe the group of warriors instead. There were nearly a hundred in the group that Melis had pointed out and they were just heading back towards the cave. Each warrior wore a small kilt around their waist and had large leather bandoleer-like straps across their chests. Over their right shoulders they rested a long metal spear, which appeared as though it was glowing in the almost non-existent light. Like the group of workers, or the farmers as Susan had now decided to call them, the group of warriors also dredged up memories of Earth's history. Arranged as they were, and with the clothing they were wearing, they almost looked like a Roman legion marching off to battle. All they were missing were the sandals and the metal helmets. The warriors marched towards the cave and then stopped just before the entrance. As one, they all spun around until they were facing the hill where Susan and her companions were currently hiding. Another, much larger alien, walked out of the huge cave and began to parade up and down in front of the warriors, obviously either giving them orders or conduction some sort of inspection. Susan noticed that unlike the other warriors, this new one had two large gemstones set into the leather of his bandoleers and even more gems on his kilt. He also had a large sword strapped across his back. Susan zoomed out the image a little to examine the entire cave mouth again, noticing several more warrior leaving the cave. Unlike the warriors in the main group, these aliens carried swords and wore gem studded kilts, just like the leader she had been observing moments earlier. Obviously the warriors in the main group were either new recruits or there were a lot of high ranking officers in their army. She also noticed the size difference between the different warriors, observing that the larger the alien was, the more elaborate the display of gems was. "This doesn't look good," she muttered to herself. "There are way to many of these things." "I wouldn't like to try and shoot my way in there," Drake agreed, from his location behind a large boulder a little further down the hill. "There are definitely too many for a frontal assault." "Is this where the signal was coming from?" Susan asked. Drake nodded. "According to my calculations it was about another five hundred metres of so north of here. That would put it slap bang in the middle of that mountain." Susan looked over at the mountain, noting the four gigantic towers that rose from its flat, table-like summit. While it certainly was the tallest piece of land they had seen so far, it was too small to really be classified as a mountain. It appeared from here that it rose about two hundred metres above their current location and then leveled off into a plateau of some kind. If it was lighter she would have been more certain of her observation, but at the moment it was too dark for her to learn much, even with the latest in night vision binoculars Earthforce had to offer. "So, do we go up, around, or inside?" she queried, looking around at her companions. "Down?" Talia asked hopefully. "Maybe they are friendly and will give us all foot massages." A low titter of laughter ran through the gathering, ending when Melis looked down at the cave below and said, "I say we go around. There might be another entrance on the other side of this mountain that is quieter than this one." "That's a possibility," Drake agreed. "Although it could be just as busy as this one, and all we will accomplish is a lot of walking." "It's still better than climbing all the way up there," one of the marines muttered, looking at the dangerously steep slope of the mountain towering above them. "I agree," Talia cut in. "Around it is, then," Susan said. "West looks as good a direction as any, so we will go that way. Everyone take a quick two minute break and then we will get moving again. Remember to keep an eye open for any patrols. I know we have been amazingly lucky so far, but I can't imagine that luck is going to continue forever, not this close to their base." There was a chorus of agreement and then the marines unshouldered their packs and started dragging out canteens and ration bars. Susan shoved her binoculars back in their case and handed them over to Drake. Then she walked over to where Talia was sitting. "How are you feeling?" she asked. "Apart from the blister on my feet, and feeling as though I have been walking for a week, I'm not bad," Talia replied, a weak smile fluttering across her lips. "Do you want a longer rest?" Talia shook her head. "No, I will be OK. I guess I'm not used to this sort of exercise and I will probably feel terrible tomorrow, but I don't want to slow everyone down." She paused for a second and glanced around at the others, who were all busy devouring their ration bars and taking sips of water. Switching to telepathic speech, she asked, Susan replied. Then out loud she said. "Hopefully it won't be too much further." "Hopefully," Talia smiled. she continued telepathically. "All right everyone, time to go," Susan said to the group at large. "Sergeant Drake, you take the lead. Dr. Melis you are with me, the rest of you spread out and keep an eye open for anything like might look like a back entrance into those caves. Also keep an eye open for those aliens. I would be very surprised if there isn't some sort of patrol around here." she added telepathically, reaching down to help Talia back to her feet. Talia picked up her pack and shouldered it with a groan. Talia replied, not sounding convinced. Talia admitted. The arrival of Melis cut off any further conversation. While the doctor couldn't listen in, it was difficult to carry on a telepathic conversation unobserved with someone so close. Instead Susan continued on in silence, while further back Talia trudged along. Three marines took up positions between Susan and Drake, while bringing up the rear were two marines, who were carefully covering the trail behind them, just in case someone tried to sneak up on them. ------------------------------------------------------------ Sel Vecantie e-mail: vecantie@geocities.com homepage: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/9933/ ICQ: 23223547 From: "Sel" Subject: The Secret of Arias, Chapter 8 - Part C Date: Fri, 5 Mar 1999 00:42:29 +1030 ------------------------------------------------------------ Half an hour later, Susan and the rest of the rescue team found themselves walking along a narrow path that led around the mountain. Despite the width of the path, it was surprisingly easy going. Someone, possibly the aliens they had observed earlier, had taken considerable time to construct a narrow road around the entire mountain. They must have done this for a reason, but so far there hadn't been any sign of another entrance into the mountain. "There is probably something just around the corner," Melis said, walking along slightly in front of Susan and Talia, his heavy pack not appearing to cause him any concern at all. "There has to be another entrance into this place. That cave we saw can't be the only way in." "Assuming of course, the alien live inside the mountain," Talia pointed out. "That cave could have just been some sort of storage site." "If it was, then it was a very important one," Melis replied. "There were over a thousand creatures down there, with more arriving and leaving all the time. It is most likely that there is a network of tunnels and caves somewhere beneath this mountain." Up ahead, Drake had stopped and had pulled out his binoculars again. "What is it, Sergeant?" Susan asked, hurrying ahead of the others to catch up with the marine. He was staring at something off in the distance, and did not look pleased at his discovery at all. Drake pointed toward a long hill that had just appeared once they had come around the corner of the mountain. It was higher than their current location so it was impossible to see what lay beyond. However, along the ridge were another five of the great towers, almost evenly spaced in a neat line running to the west. It wasn't the towers that had caught Drake's eye though, rather the faint glow that came from somewhere beyond the hill. "Lights," he said. Susan nodded, understanding that what she saw was the glow from a large number of lights just out of sight over the ridge. "Looks like we came the right way after all," she murmured. "That might be a town of something. Is it close to where the signal came from?" Drake shrugged. "A bit hard to tell from here, Captain," he replied. "I will get a better reading when we are closer. But at a guess, I would have to say yes. It is probably very close indeed." "Look at that!" Melis suddenly shouted, ignoring Susan's orders about keeping his voice low in his excitement. Both Susan and Drake turned, just in time to see the after effects of what the doctor had observed. One of the towers, the second from the end, was glowing faintly. The glow quickly disappeared and as the tower went dark again, Susan turned to Melis. "What happened?" she demanded. "The lightning struck that tower," the doctor replied excitedly. "I was wrong after all, they aren't solar power stations, those things are gigantic lightning rods." Susan frowned. In the storm cloud above, the lightning had returned, a sign that the hidden sun had also returned. For some reason the lightning faded away during the night and returned only after dawn. Right now, there was only the occasional burst of lightning, but in less than half an hour it would have returned will all the same vigour of the previous day. "I'm not sure I understand," Susan admitted, staring at the tower. As she watched, another bolt of lightning arched downwards, this time striking the closest of the towers. The tower seemed to draw in the energy and for a second it glowed with power, before the energy absorbed seemed to drain away. "Amazing," Melis muttered. "The way those towers attract the electrical energy. I have heard a lot of talk of harnessing the power of a thunder storm, but I have never seen anything this advanced." Second later, another lightning bolt tore down out of the skies, amazingly also striking one of the towers. Susan shivered, realising she was observing some very advanced technology at work. "How much energy are those towers absorbing?" she asked Melis. Melis considered the question, mentally tallying up numbers before giving his answer. "A lot," he replied. Seeing the look on Susan's face, he quickly added, "of course, I don't know exactly how much energy is in each of those bolt, or how many of those towers there are. But, they are drawing in a hell of a lot of electrical energy, possibly enough to power a large city." "That would explain the lights then," Drake commented. Melis nodded. "Yes, if they have an electrical storage system of some kind, then they would have lights and possibly other electrically powered devices." "And even weapons?" Susan asked, sounding concerned. "I don't know," Melis admitted. "We haven't seen any energy weapons so far, or even any basic slug throwers." Suddenly he frowned. "In fact, I don't think I have even seen a bow and arrow. All those alien soldiers were carrying were spears and swords, no missile weapons at all." "That is strange," Drake agreed. "Not that I am complaining, mind. If they want to muck around with swords then they are welcome to them. I am quite happy to hang onto my baby here." With his left hand, he patted the muzzle of the heavy PPG rifle he was carrying. Susan nodded in agreement. "I'm more worried about this new development, than what weapons their warriors are carrying. If they have electrical power, then it could make our task a lot more difficult." "Do you want to return and call up the rest of the boys and girls from the Rasputin?" Drake asked. "We could probably drag enough juice out of the Sturt's batteries to break though the interference. Especially if we link its power supply to the rover. The first rover won't be back at the landing site yet, and if we made the request now, then they could send down a load of marines with the next shuttle. Perhaps we could even drag a couple of those tanks out of storage?" Susan shuddered, remembering the evil looking tanks that Earthforce R&D had given them to test. Like the Rasputin's troop transport, they had been designed with Shadow technology, and their appearance still gave Susan nightmares occasionally. She had ordered them stowed away in the ship's most remote cargo bay and then left them there, hoping everyone would forget about them. "I don't think that will be necessary just yet," she told Drake. "I want to at least try and find the Major and the rest of the Sturt's crew before calling for reinforcements. I would prefer not to put any more lives at risk just yet." Drake nodded. "As you wish, Captain," he replied. "Just a suggestion. What do we do now then?" Susan glanced down the path, noting that it lead almost straight to the hill which hid the source of the lights from view. "We continue on," she replied. "I want to see exactly what we are up against before deciding what to do next. We will proceed along this path until it reaches the summit of that hill. That should give us a good enough view of whatever lies beyond. Then we can work out our next move." "Sound good to me," Drake replied, shoving his binoculars back into their pouch, which was now attached to his belt. He readied his PPG rifle and looked down the path. "Look out aliens, here we come," he muttered to himself, as he resumed the march along the path. Susan smiled faintly and waited until Talia and the rearguard had caught up to her before following the Sergeant down the narrow road towards the still distant lights. ------------------------------------------------------------ Lily stared at the water in the metal jug, watching as it swirled around in response to every slight movement she caused the jug to make. "What is wrong with me?" she moaned out loud, before taking another sip of the tepid water. The water tasted as bad as even and she angrily shoved the jug away, clutching her head in her callused hands. "Why don't I feel tired like everyone else?" Running her hands though her short hair, Lily rubbed at a sore spot on the back of her neck. She might not feel the exhaustion her work on the escape tunnel should have caused, but several of her muscles were beginning to complain after four hours of strenuous, back-breaking labour. That was normal though, and it didn't worry her. A good night's rest and a few stretching exercises in the morning and she would be as good as new, if only she felt tired enough to rest. Lily knew that she should be thoroughly exhausted by now and stretched out asleep on one of the hard beds in the cell-like rooms the aliens had provided for the prisoners. However, she wasn't tired, not even a little bit. Everyone else who she had assigned to the work roster on to work on the tunnel was now fast asleep, recovering from their own exertions, but Lily found herself sitting alone in the mess hall drinking strange tasting water and wondering what the hell was going on with her body. She had never had trouble sleeping before. The unusual hours of her occupation meant that she had learned to snatch whatever sleep was available, no matter what the conditions. Now though, she couldn't even think of sleep. Her entire body was still charged with energy and it was difficult to keep still. She kept wanting to leap to her feet and pace around the room, anything to keep moving. It was if she had been pumped full of caffeine or one of the more exotic stimulants available on the market these days. Lily knew that what she was feeling must be an after effect of whatever Jeanne used to heal her, a fact that only made her hate her captor more than ever. She had an irrational urge to try and fight her way out of here and confront Jeanne again, and the only thing that was stopping her was that she knew violence wouldn't work. She had already tired to kill Jeanne once. The attempt had nearly killed her leaving her with some sort of alien virus wrecking havoc with her body. Although she had dismissed Dr. Abbado's concerns earlier, Lily knew that he was probably right. For all she knew, whatever Jeanne had done might have only provided her with a temporary reprieve. In the end, the cure might turn out to be just as deadly as the wound had been in the first place. Although, at least the pain was gone now. In fact, there was no trace at all of the crippling agony that had gripped her earlier, both in the throne room and when she had awoken in the mines. That seemed to be gone, although Lily knew it would probably be back tomorrow, assuming that she ever got any sleep of course. Sighing, she picked up the water jug again, draining the last of its contents. Then she pushed the now empty jug aside, rested her head in her hands and stared at the wall in front of her. "Are you all right, Major," a female voice asked suddenly, making Lily jump. Spinning around, Lily found herself face to face with one of the scientists who had been on her rover. The middle-aged woman didn't really resemble an archaeologist, or one of the other scientists from IPX. Instead, she looked more like a librarian in her wool cardigan and drab coloured clothing. She was even carrying a book under one arm. Suddenly aware that she was staring, Lily muttered, "I'm fine," and turned back to watching the wall. Undaunted, the other woman took a seat next to Lily and placed her book down on the table. "Are you sure?" she asked. "You looked a little dejected sitting over here, all alone. As I was also alone, I thought I would come and keep you company." "I prefer to be alone," Lily told her, growing slightly annoyed at the woman's attitude, although it was obvious that she only wanted to help. Lily, however, had never been one for publicly admitting her feelings. She preferred to keep them under wraps until she was in private, although over the past day she had let her anger get the better of her on several occasions. Beside the Major, the scientist smiled faintly and then held out her hand for Lily to shake. "I am Anne Kasper," she said. Lily shook her offered hand, noticing a peculiar bracelet around Anne's wrist at the same time. It appeared to consist of ten distinct shapes, each made of the finest silver, set with an unfamiliar red-coloured stone. The whole bracelet seemed to shimmer faintly as Anne's hand moved, a strangely hypnotic effect. "It's an Thrakallan wedding bracelet," Anne explained, seeing Lily's interest in the bracelet. "My husband has one as well. They are supposed to bring good luck, although so far it doesn't seem to be working." "Your husband is still back on Earth?" Lily asked, realising that Anne must be missing her husband greatly. She had never had been in a relationship long enough to grow that attached to anyone, but could see what the scientist was feeling. Anne nodded. "Yes, he works at IPX headquarters in Geneva. I usually work there was well, this is my first trip away from Earth actually. Trust my luck to get the one were we all get kidnapped by hostile aliens." Lily nodded understandingly. "Hopefully not for too much longer," she said. "Once the tunnel is complete, we should be able to slip out without them even knowing we are gone. Then, all we have to do is make our way back to the landing site, and we will be off this world and on our way home." "I hope so," Anne said, her hands playing nervously with the book in front of her. Both woman sat silently for nearly a minute, each lost in her own thoughts. Finally, Lily broke the silence, pointing to the book and asking, "where did you get this from? I thought they took everyone's personal possessions away." Anne looked down at the book, before clutching it too her chest in a unconscious protective gesture. "This is my diary," she explained. "My husband bought it for me on my birthday. I thought I had lost it when we were captured, but one of the aliens bought it back to me. He said that his Mistress had asked him to deliver it too me. There was also a quill pen and a bottle of ink as well." "She gave it back to you?" Lily asked incredulously. "I find that difficult to believe." Anne turned to Lily with a faintly sad look on her face. "I don't think she is as bad as you think," she said softly. "She is," Lily replied harshly. "She tried to kill me." "But she also healed you again," Anne pointed out, before turning away looking faintly embarrassed. "At least that is what I heard." "Only so she could torment me further," Lily replied, turning away and staring at the wall again. "I don't know what she did to me, but I'm not even sure if I'm still myself any more. All I remember is her sword cutting into me and then waking up with only a scar to show for it." "I think I feel sorry for her," Anne murmured. "I heard what you told Curran about her. Imagine being snatched away from her home and taken here against her will. It must have been terrifying. I don't think I could have survived this long, so far away from my home, my family and every thing I had even known or loved." "Perhaps," Lily replied, although she didn't really sound entirely convinced. In her opinion, Jeanne did not seem concerned about being away from Earth, rather, she was more concerned with being imprisoned and prevented from carrying out whatever plans she had for the galaxy. "She sent me a note," Anne said, pushing a torn slip of paper along the table to Lily. "When the alien bought my diary, this was attached to the package." Curious Lily picked up the rough note and read it out loud. "I think you nead this moore than me." She paused and looked over at Anne. "How can anyone misspell need and more?" "I don't think English is her native language," Anne replied. "That wasn't what interested me though. Turn the note over." Lily did as she was asked and saw a line of alien symbols printed along the other side. "Do you know what they mean?" Anne shook her head. "No, but I think they are Vorlon. They seem to be written with the same writing instrument, so they were probably done by the same person. However, the symbols have been executed perfectly in their form, while the English characters on the other side are very poorly written indeed. It is likely that this Jeanne can write and speak in Vorlon." "So?" "It is an incredible opportunity," Anne replied, sounding slightly exasperated with Lily over the Major's lack of understanding when it came to important archaeological facts. "No-one knows how to read Vorlon. There are no dictionaries or other translation devices available. The Vorlon's always used their own translators to communicate, so no-one ever has ever heard what their true language sounds like. It's also impossible to translate their writing, without a common form of reference." "So you are mainly interesting in her because she can translate Vorlon for you." "Not only that," Anne replied, her eyes shining with excitement. "You said she is over eight hundred years old. Think of all things she must have seen in her life time. She would be able to tell us a lot about medieval Earth as well. It is a wonderful opportunity. I would love to just speak to her for a couple of hours." "Why don't you ask the guards to arrange an interview," Lily said angrily. "I'm sure they would love to take you to see her." Anne didn't appear to notice the anger or sarcasm in Lily voice. "They said she was too busy," she replied. "However, the one in the robe who came down here yesterday said that she might be able to see me in a couple of days. Hopefully I will get to see her before we leave. I am just working on the questions I want to ask at the moment." "I think I better get back to work," Lily said, standing up. "I want to keep an eye on the digging." Anne nodded. "It was good talking to you, Major." Lily nodded, and quickly walked away. She couldn't believe that she had actually felt sorry for the scientist. She was just like all the other prisoners, consumed by her own greed. She could see now how Jeanne was manipulating everyone. All she had to do was offer them what they wanted. Gold and gems for the Sturt's crew and the chance to examine Vorlon technology for the rest. They had all fallen for it too, each leaping at the opportunity to grab whatever they could. She knew now how Jeanne planned to manipulate Earthforce into giving her what she wanted. All she had to do was offer them something they wanted, Vorlon technology perhaps, and Earthforce would fall for it, just as the prisoners here had succumbed to their own greed. Now even more convinced that ever to complete the tunnel before Jeanne had a chance to work her magic, Lily marched off towards the mines. The other prisoners may not be overly enthusiastic about her escape plan, but she was damned if she was going to wait around and let Jeanne get away with whatever evil plan she was cooking up. ------------------------------------------------------------ Up close, the gigantic tower was even more incredible. It reached high into the atmosphere, at least a hundred and fifty metres above the summit of the hill and, with each lightning strike, it briefly lit up like a beacon. A strange humming sound could be heard emanating from somewhere near the tower's peak, and the air almost crackled with the power contained within. Surprisingly though, the base of the tower was partially overgrown with clinging fungi and climbing vines. Despite the regular lightning strikes, they did not seem to be affected and were slowly climbing their way up the towers sides. Susan didn't feel like risking her life touching the tower, though. Right now she was more concerned over which road to take. The path the rescue team had been following ever since they first started up the mountain's southern side, wound its way across the summit of the hill and past the eastern most of the towers, before heading downwards again. However, another path had now appeared, heading up the mountainside to the east. The mountain appeared almost circular in shape now. It reminded Susan a little of the lip of an impact crater, although whatever had caused this crater must have been very powerful indeed. "Which way, Captain?" Drake asked, resting up against the surface of the tower. Susan looked down each of the paths, noticing that the one that led east up the mountain quickly became very steep, while the one that continued north was flat, although after a few hundred metres it entered a thick forest that appeared to stretch for some distance. Beyond the forest was the other side of the hill, and the source of the lights they had spotted earlier. After carefully weighing up the options, Susan pointed to the north trail. "We go that way," she said firmly. "Is that wise, Captain?" Melis asked, turning away from his examination of the tower for a moment. "I mean, that leads straight towards those lights. If we went east, we might be able to avoid any contact with the aliens." "I want to find out what is there," Susan explained. "I thought we might be able to see something from up here, but obviously we need to get a lot closer." Melis nodded and after packing away his equipment, he shouldered his pack and fell in behind Susan and Drake. For several minutes everyone walked in silence, all scanning the nearby area for any sign of the aliens they had spotted earlier. To Susan, the strange absence of any alien guards was a worrying sign. After observing the close watch they kept over the construction site to the south, she was amazed to find that there were no patrols or guards posted along the mountain side. If that was a town up ahead, then she would have expected some sort of guard posted. But none appeared, and the small group continued on their way unmolested. After another five minutes of walking, they were at last approaching the point where the hill dropped away. Whatever the lights they had been walking towards signified, they would find out soon enough. The rough path they were travelling on had suddenly become a lot smoother, and suddenly Susan found herself walking on neatly cut paving stones instead of a rocky dirt track. "What the hell," one of the marines muttered. "It looks like a proper road now," Melis said. "I wonder why they stopped here?" "Perhaps they are going to finish it later," Drake replied, pointing out a large pile of flat stones sitting by the side of the road. Next to the stones was a scattered pile of picks and shovels, looking as though they had suddenly been abandoned. Behind that a vast vat sat on a smouldering fire. Even to the untrained eye it was obvious that the workers here had only recently abandoned their posts. There was no sign of the workers, but this entire region was covered with a thickening forest of strangely twisted trees, so they could have been hiding only fifty metres away and they would have still been invisible. "This is starting to get suspicious," Susan muttered. "We haven't seen any sign of those creatures since we entered the mountains, but this is obviously a well used road." "Do we go on," Drake asked, looking down the road to were it entered a thick grove of trees, which were almost invisible in the twilight of the Arisian day. The whole place had a eerie feeling about it and it also blocked their view of whatever lay beyond. Drake realised that if they continued along the road, then it would be impossible to see what lay ahead until they exited the forest. That meant that it would be impossible to see the source of the light until they had left the cover the forest provided. It wouldn't give them a long time to prepare for anything that might be waiting for them. "We go on," Susan said. "But everyone keep on your guard. Those creatures may know we are here. They could even be waiting for us right now." Everyone nodded, and the marines activated their PPG rifles, the whine from the energy caps sliding into position interrupting the temporary silence that had settled over the party. Then, with his rifles held at the ready, Drake led the small team into the forest. The trees seemed to close around them, dark branches reaching out to pluck at uniforms and try and snag rifle straps. If it wasn't for the glow from the lights at the end of the road, Susan imagined that they wouldn't have been able to see anything at all. Even the powerful flashlights everyone was carrying didn't seem to penetrate very far into the closely knit mass of trees, vines and fungus. Almost as soon as the forest began though, it was gone. It had only last for about a hundred metres before opening out onto a rocky ledge overlooking a deep canyon. Around the ledge, a metal railing prevented accidents, while on one side a narrow staircase headed down into the canyon. None of this attracted the attention of Susan and her companions though. They were all far too busy staring at what the canyon contained. In an almost dreamlike state, they walked away from the forest to stare down at the gigantic vessel that rested on the canyon floor. Well over a kilometre in length, the familiar shape of a huge Vorlon war cruiser almost filled the entire canyon. Hundreds of metres below, where a small river could be seen slowly winding its way along the canyon floor, someone had constructed a massive system of pylons and support beams. The warship rested comfortably on these, keeping it free of the thick growth of vines and fungus that had already begun to wind their way up the pylons. There was no telling how long the ship had been there, but it looked ready to take off at a moments notice. "This isn't good," Susan muttered to herself, shaking her head. She had seen these ships in action before, even fought against them at Coriana 6. She knew how powerful these vessel were, almost invulnerable to normal energy weapons and powerful enough to destroy most Earth vessels in a single shot. This one appeared to differ slightly from the Vorlon ships she had seen though. It had the same basic shape, but instead of the normal greenish-yellow colour, this ship was a pale white. Also different were the markings. The Vorlon ships she had seen had huge red symbols inscribed on the side of the main section. This vessel had the shape of a strangely familiar pink flower instead. "Look," Melis said, pointing to something on the canyon wall. Susan looked, and discovered the source of the lights they had been following. Along the sheer walls of the canyon were a series of ledges and walkways. Along the edge of the walkway had been placed a series of large braziers, which combined to fill the canyon with light. One of the braziers currently wasn't lit and she could just make out two small aliens tipping a viscous black oil from a large jug into the metal pan on top of the brazier. Once their task was complete the two carrying the jug stepped back and another, larger, alien stepped forward with a glowing stick clutched in one hand. He cautiously dipped the stick into the oil, which burst into the light. The alien scuttled away, shielding his eyes from the light and then walked along the ledge towards the next unlit brazier, his two jug carrying companions in tow. Susan wondered why the aliens would bother with light if they obviously didn't like it. Perhaps it was just the one creature, but it seemed strange to her. Then she noticed something else that caught her eye. Above the great vessel, a narrow stone bridge arched its way across the canyon. For a moment she wondered how it stayed up there, but then she noticed a glint of green metal and realised that it was suspended with the assistance of the steel framework. From the bridge hung a dark cable, which stretched down to the top of the warship. As she watched a glowing pulse travelled down the cable to the ship. The small patch of the ship surface near where the cable attached to glowed briefly, before returning to its normal pale shade of white. "Its almost as if it's on life support," Melis said, also watching the cable. Susan was about to answer him, but as Talia jumped in first. She asked, stepping closer to the railing and reaching out as if to try and touch the ship's surface. For a second Susan wondered what she was talking about, before remembering what she had felt when she had used her own telepathic abilities back at the first rest stop. She had been so busy examining the ship that she hadn't even noticed that she could hear the same singing again, a distant background noise that cut through the dampening effect that had blocked out the thought of those around her. She realised that Talia was right, the voice of the warship was intoxicatingly beautiful. It was a song of joy and freedom and although it was only soft, Susan felt herself being drawn into the ship's dreams, feeling it loneliness and sadness. She suddenly realised that the ship had been here a long time, and it yearned to see the sun and swim among the stars. The last part troubled Susan slightly, as she realised that the ship considered flying through space to be swimming as if the void was a vast ocean. Talia turned to look at Susan, a feeling of joy on her face. Her face quickly changed though, a sudden look of shock coming over her. Susan quickly spun around, all thoughts of the Vorlon ship gone. Approaching out of the dark forest was a group of large aliens, at least twenty of them. Unlike the other alien soldiers she had observed, these warriors wore a dark suit, almost like armour, over their skin and carried long swords. She glanced to her left, and noticed another group of the creatures climbing up the stairs. By now, everyone had realised the aliens were there, and the marines had raised their rifles to point at the aliens. The aliens stopped moving as soon as the PPG rifles appeared, arranging themselves in a large semi-circle around Susan's team. She realised that her team was in a very precarious position, trapped on a ledge with nowhere to retreat. If the aliens did choose to attack them, and the PPG rifle didn't stop them, then she knew that the marines would stand little change in hand to hand combat with the larger and heavier alien warriors. "What do we do now?" Drake whispered to her. He had knelt down near the stairs and was covering the aliens attempting to cut them off that way. "This doesn't look good." "I agree," Susan replied, also keeping her voice low. "Perhaps they will be friendly." "Perhaps," Drake muttered, although he didn't sound convinced." Further conversation was cut off as a new alien arrived. This warrior was the tallest Susan had seen yet and by the number of gems on his chest straps, he was obviously some kind of major leader. The other warriors all wore one or two gems, but this one had five huge rubies on each strap. The warriors covering Susan's team parted to allow their leader through and he walked forward until he was only a few metres away. There he stopped, resting his tail on the ground while he pulled out a strip of paper from his belt. For several seconds he fumbled with the paper, trying to unfold it while still holding onto his sword. The vicious looking claws at the end of his fingers certainly didn't help matters, but he eventually managed to get the paper unfolded, only ripping it a little bit. He then tried to read what was written on the paper, while at the same time trying to keep an eye on Susan and her companions, in case they tired to make a move. He reminded Susan of an actor who had forgotten his lines, and his appearance was so comical that she had to force herself not to laugh. For about thirty seconds, he scanned the page, before finally recalling what he was supposed to say. He shoved the ragged piece of paper behind him with a slightly embarrassed look on his face, or at least that's what Susan imagined his expression meant. Then he held his head up straight, stuck his non-existent chin out, and in perfect English said, "All right you scumbags, reach for the sky. This is a bust." ------------------------------------------------------------ Sel Vecantie e-mail: vecantie@geocities.com homepage: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/9933/ ICQ: 23223547 From: "Sel" Subject: The Secret of Arias, Chapter 9/11 - Part A Date: Wed, 10 Mar 1999 12:18:10 +1030 For other stories, as well as properly formatted chapters of this tale see my webpage http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/9933/index2.html Spoilers: There are spoilers for seasons 1-4. This story is set in 2262, but takes place well outside the normal Babylon 5 universe. Disclaimers: The small number of B5 characters that I use in my stories remain the property of Warner Brothers, TNT, JMS, and whoever else wants to lay claim to them. The rest are the property of my imagination and you can do what you will with them. ------------------------------------------------------------ The Secret of Arias - Chapter 9 By Sel Vecantie ------------------------------------------------------------ Susan stared at the tall alien warrior, who was looking back at her, waiting for her to respond to his orders. "What?" she finally managed to blurt out, still in shock over discovering that the alien could speak English. That, and the way he had just spoken, sounding a lot more like some twentieth century police officer than an alien warrior. "I did not say it correctly?" the alien asked, cocking his head to one side and peering at her quizzically. He examined the scrap of paper again, before looking back up at Susan and saying, "it is what I wrote down. The Mistress told me to invite you to see her, and when I watched the long archive she sent me, this was how they asked someone to come with them. I think I am supposed to take you to the station now." Susan looked helplessly back at him. "The station?" she asked, finally deciding to take some sort of control of the conversation. "That is what it said on the show," the alien confirmed. Then he stopped and peered intently at Susan for several seconds. She shifted uncomfortably under his gaze, noticing that his stance was changing from one of curiosity to one of caution. "I know you," he said finally, not sounding pleased at all by that discovery. "You do," Susan replied. "I don't think I have ever seen you before. I think I would remember if I did." "You are on the screen quite often," the alien explained. "They reported that you were working with the creature your people call Sheridan. The Mistress was most angry with this Sheridan for driving them away." "Them?" Melis asked, before quickly closing his mouth when he realised that he had spoken out loud. "Sorry," he muttered under his breath as Susan glared at him. The alien leader spun around and stared at Melis. After looking the scientist up and down several times and eventually dismissing him as unimportant, he turned back to Susan. After looking slightly confused for a second or two, as if deciding how to explain something, he pointed a cautious claw towards the dark sky. "Them," he said, jabbing the long claw towards the storm cloud above. "The Mistress wanted to destroy them herself, but the one called Sheridan drove them away and she was very angry." "You mean the Vorlons?" Susan asked, suddenly understanding who the alien leader was referring to. An angry murmur raced its way around the gathered warriors and their slitted, snake-like eyes all glared at her as if she had committed some grievous sin. The tall, muscular leader looked at her with a concerned face. "Do not mention their name," he warned. "The Mistress does not like to hear of them. She may become angry if you mention their names in her presence. The warrior who I took to see her must have mentioned them and the Mistress became very angry with her. Fortunately the Mistress is merciful and your warrior friend still lives." "My warrior friend?" Susan asked, with a sinking feeling in her stomach. There was only one person that she could think of that fitted the bill, and she had learned over the past few weeks that Major Logan had both the temper and the attitude to anger anyone, should she choose to do so. Sergeant Drake appeared to have picked up on the same thing that Susan had and he stepped forward angrily. "If you have harmed the Major..." "Sergeant Drake!" Susan interrupted him. "This isn't the time." Drake nodded and took a step back, although he still had his finger on his rifle's trigger and was pointing it at the alien leader. The alien hadn't even blinked during Drake's outburst. Instead, he just turned to face the Sergeant and stared at him with a curious gaze. Then, after Susan ordered Drake to stand down, he turned back at her and flashed a fang-filled half smile. He then waved a hand in the direction of the crater-like mountain that rose above them. "I believe the Mistress can explain all your questions," he said. "You mentioned something about an invitation," Susan reminded him. The alien leader nodded. "Yes, the Mistress said to invite you to come and see her. I apologise if I was incorrect in the protocol of such invitations, but my people do not get many guests on this world. In fact, your people are the first. The Mistress sent me to find you and bring you to her throne room so she can talk to you. I must insist though, that all of your warriors remain outside. I will not permit another alien warrior within reach of the Mistress again, not after what happened with the last one." "What did happen with Major Logan?" Susan asked, growing slighty concerned for the Major. While she knew that Lily could probably take care of herself, Susan was worried that she might have done something stupid. First contact situations were difficult enough as it was, and not really suited for soldiers. "Is she still all right?" The alien leader nodded again. "She lives and has recovered from her foolishness. The Mistress healed her injuries. She was fortunate, however, that the Mistress ordered that she not be harmed. She dared to try and injure the Mistress, and for that crime she should have punished. But, the Mistress showed her mercy and permitted her to live." "I don't suppose you will let us see her?" "You must ask the Mistress," the alien replied. "I will take you to her now." "Just a minute," Susan said. "I must talk with my team first." The alien leader nodded and walked the short distance back to the rest of his troops. Susan turned to Drake and asked, "what do you think, Sergeant?" "I'm not sure if I would go anywhere with this bunch," Drake replied. "I don't know what they did with the Major, but it is obvious that they are keeping her prisoner. If we go along with them now, then we might just end up in the same place she is. I think it would be better if we tried to make them give up the prisoners now. My men can probably take these guys if you give the order. They don't appear to have any dangerous weapons. Swords I can handle, they won't even get a chance to fire back." Susan shook her head. "I don't think that would be the best way to handle this situation, Sergeant. We are backed up against the long drop, and I don't really want to start something if these creatures aren't hostile. I'm concerned about the Major as well, but they haven't appeared violent yet. I think that if they wanted to hurt us, they could have done so long before now." She turned and looked at Melis. "What about you, Doctor. Do you have any suggestions?" "I think they are very interesting," Melis replied. "I can't agree with the Sergeant though, I don't think they want to hurt us. They are probably just as curious about us as we are about them. It is possible that they only captured prisoners due to a misunderstanding. If that is so, then we should do everything in our power to improve relations. I do not think these creatures are the real power on this world. It is obvious that there is some creature guiding their actions. It is this Mistress that we need to speak to. These warriors are obviously the servant race here, we need to speak to the leader of this world." "And what do you base these deductions on, Doctor?" Susan asked. Melis paused for a moment, mulling over how to explain his theories so everyone could understand him. Finally he pointed behind him, indicating the Vorlon war cruiser. "This ship gave me the final clue," he said. "I have examined Vorlon artefacts before, and they require one of two things to operate. Most of their organic machines require sunlight to work, while some of their smaller devices need a telepathic signal to switch on. That level of technology is way beyond anything these creatures have. They strike me more as a primitive race who has been given technology, but has no idea how it works. This then leads to the question of who gave them the technology. This ship seems to suggest that it was the Vorlons, but they are gone from the galaxy. Perhaps they supported this world before they left, but I don't think that is likely, not given the way they think of them around here." "So, who is it then?" Susan asked. "I'm not sure yet," Melis admitted. "Which is why I am curious to meet this Mistress of theirs. If she is the one who built all of this, then I would like to speak with her. She could be some creature that is even more powerful than the Vorlons." Susan nodded. "So would I, but not for the reasons you are thinking off. You are forgetting our mission. We are here to retrieve the Sturt's crew and Major Logan, not conduct an investigation of this world. As far as I am concerned, if they give us back everyone who's missing, then I will leave this place quite content." She turned away and walked forward, attracting the alien leader's attention. "Can you guarantee our safety?" she asked as soon as the alien walked over to see what she wanted. He nodded. "The Mistress said to invite you to see her. She was most specific that you not be harmed in any way, and that you be treated as her honoured guests. She was also very insistent that I bring you to see her, it is important to her." "Will we be able to leave again?" The alien looked hesitant. "I do not know," he admitted. "The Mistress does not inform me of all her plans. My orders are to find you and invite you to see her, nothing more." Susan stared at him for a moment, wondering if he was telling the truth or not. It was almost impossible to tell when the only facial features the alien had was a thin pair of ridges, just above his eyes and a fang filled mouth that for the most part only moved when he was speaking. Finally she decided that taking a chance was better than nothing. "Can we keep our weapons?" she asked, pointing out the Sergeant's rifle. "Those are weapons?" he asked, peering at the rifle and snorting derisively. "The Mistress did not say to take your weapons, only that I was to bring you to see her."He waggled a claw around at the group of warriors facing Susan and her team. "My soldiers wear her special clothing anyway, so your weapons can not harm us." "You don't though," Susan pointed out. "I do not need it," the alien replied. "It constricts my movements. Besides, the Mistress said that you would not hurt her and she is almost never wrong." "Almost?" The alien hesitated again, looking nervously around the ledge, as if he was afraid that someone was watching him. "She has not been herself ever since your people arrived on this world," he said in a low, conspiratorial tone. "I think she is sick." "Why do you do what she tells you?" Susan asked, deciding to try and find out as much as possible about this Mistress creature before she chose to put her life on the line. The alien frowned, and waved a clawed hand towards the canyon below. "She has given us much," he replied. "All of this has been built because of her gifts. She works to make our lives better, she gives us laws and she makes sure that we understand the ways of other races, so that when we leave this world and venture beyond the clouds we will know of what lies before us." "Is that why you speak English?" "English?" the alien replied, looking confused. "The language you are speaking," Susan replied. "On our world it is called English." The alien shrugged. "I do not know of your world. The Mistress told us that we must learn this language many generations ago. Before then, we spoke another language that she had taught us and before that we spoke our own language. Recently, when the screen started to show images, the people on there that looked like you spoke in the same language. We assumed that all aliens spoke that way." Susan shook her head, a faint smile on her face. "Only Humans," she replied. "The other races have their own languages. You mentioned a screen, what is it?" "The screen the Mistress created. It shows images from far away. The scouts can use it to send reports from the lands of light and it used to be able to pick up the ISN. However, something stopped it several cycles ago and it was then that the Mistress started to act strangely." Susan considered the alien leaders words, before realising that a cycle must be a day and that meant the satellite the Rasputin destroyed must have also been acting as a receiver for the ISN broadcast. If that was true, then it meant that the Vorlons must have tapped into the ISN feed from Geneva somehow. There certainly wasn't a relay station anywhere near the Vorlon border. "I think I would be very interested in meeting this Mistress of yours," Susan said. The alien looked pleased. "I will guide you," he said, pointing towards the stairs leading down into the canyon. "That is the quickest way to the palace." He then hurried over to his troop and began to give them orders, his words just audible to Susan's ears. She could hear him muttering something about guarding something, but nothing more than that. She turned around to face her own team, a thoughtful expression on her face. "Are you sure this is wise, Captain," Drake asked her. "Probably not," she replied. "But, I think it is worth a shot. It may be that this Mistress just wants to talk and will let us go again. If not then we may have to fight our way out. I don't fancy our chances though. If what their leader said is true, then our weapons may have little effect." "That may explain why Major Logan was captured so easily," Talia suggested. Telepathically she added. Susan replied telepathically, while trying to look as though she was considering what Talia had just said. Susan then looked around as the rest of her team and said, "I don't like having to do this, but it may be the easiest way there is to get everyone back. Dr. Melis is right, this whole thing could just be one gigantic misunderstanding. They might have thought the Sturt's crew were trying to invade or something." Melis looked pleased that Susan was agreeing with him, but any comment he was about to make was cut off by the return of the alien leader, along with his all of his troops. They had put away their swords, but each alien warrior still looked dangerous enough with just his claws. "This way," the leader said, pointing towards the stairs. "It is not far." Susan indicated to Drake that she would take the lead and followed the alien leader onto the stairs. The warriors who had been watching them from the top of the stairs turned around and took up the lead, Susan and the leader falling in behind them. Further back was the rest of Susan's team and behind them the remaining alien warriors. Then, walking in single file, they all set off down the stairs, heading towards the canyon floor, hundreds of metres below them. ------------------------------------------------------------ The long staircase appeared to go on forever, zigzagging its way down the rocky side of the massive canyon. In several places the alien metal had been replaced by steps carved out of solid rock, a welcome relief from the rickety metal framework found along the rest of the journey. The aliens seemed to be having very little trouble with the stairs, almost bounding down them as they led the way towards the floor of the canyon. Susan and the rest of the humans were having considerably more difficulty though, forced to slowly pick their way along at a snails pace. Fortunately, no-one suffered from a fear of heights, although a journey like this was almost enough to give anyone vertigo. Finally the alien leader called a halt, stopping where the stairs suddenly transformed into a long bridge that arched across the bottom of the canyon. Below, a gentle stream slowly trickled its way along the canyon floor, winding between strands of jungle trees and vines. Much of this part of the canyon was cloaked in shadow, the vast bulk of the war cruiser blocking out the light from the braziers, which all appeared to be on the higher ledges. "Are you sure this is safe," Susan asked the alien warrior, indicating the bridge in front of them. "It is too dark down here to see where we are going." The alien looked at her, one eye ridge raised in a questioning expression. "You can not see?" he queried. Susan shook her head. "No, it is too dark. We can not see where we are going." The alien seemed to consider this for a moment and then he walked back across the wide ledge until he reached the canyon wall, stopping just next to the lowest of the metal steps. There was a thick strand of orchid-like flowers hanging from the rocky cliff face right next to him and the alien dug into the soft soil they were growing out of, eventually tugging out a dirt encrusted sphere that had lain hidden in between the flowers. He wiped his hands across the sphere's smooth surface, he removed most of the dirt and caused the sphere to glow with a dim light. It wasn't much, but it would be enough to see by. "The Mistress placed globes all along the walkways," he explained as he handed the globe to Susan. "Its power is low, but it will work for a while yet, at least until you reach the other side of the bridge. From there on, you will be within the city and its tunnels have their own globes." Susan nodded and stepped back to allow the alien leader to resume his place at the head of the group of warriors who were leading her and the rest of her team. She glanced up for a second and couldn't help shivering at the sight of the gigantic warship that hung just above them. She could almost reach out and touch its smooth surface, something Dr. Melis had been attempting to do ever since they had reached the end of the staircase. From their current location, the vast supports that lifted it off the canyon floor were lost in the darkness and it appeared as though the ship was just floating in mid air, right above them. If she didn't know that the supports where there, Susan would have been even more concerned. As it was, she couldn't help a small shiver of fear as she imagined what that ship could do. She had seen them in action, and even though this one wasn't active - asleep in fact - if the feelings she was picking up were correct, it still looked dangerous, like a powerful war engine just waiting for a chance to destroy something. "Come," the alien leader called, interrupting Susan's thoughts. He pointed his claw across the long bridge and in the dim light the globe provided, Susan could see that the bridge was a lot safer than she had first thought. Like the larger bridge that spanned the very top of the canyon, this one was constructed of stone, and Susan imagined that it would also have metal supports beneath it, as it certainly didn't appear to have any other form of suspension. Taking one cautious step forward she started across the bridge, only to have Melis brush past her as he hurried to catch up with the alien. "Can I ask you a question?" Melis said as he reached the tall warrior's side. The alien turned and looked at Melis, regarding him with the sort of disdain someone would look at something they had just scraped off their shoe. "What is it you wish to know?" he asked, sounding none to pleased at being interrupted "I want to know about that ship," Melis replied, pointing to the warship above them. "Where did it come from? Who made it? That sort of thing." The alien stopped and looked up at the ship. "It has always been here," he replied. "The Mistress asks us to care for it and so we light the fires that keep it warm and ensure that it is connected to the power network. The Legends say that it arrived shortly after the Mistress, growing out of the ground." "But who owns it," Melis pressed. "Does it belong to the Mistress?" "I know nothing more," the alien insisted, turning and walking away from the scientist, heading out of the circle of light cast by the globe in Susan's hand and across onto the dark span of the rest of the bridge. Melis looked a little annoyed, but allowed the alien to depart without pressing him further. Susan quickly caught up with him. "That was foolish, Doctor," she whispered angrily. "I don't want to anger them. Just leave the talking to me will you." "I was just trying to find out more about this ship," Melis whined. "I thought that if we knew something more about how it came to be here, then it would help us when we meet this Mistress creature." "Perhaps," Susan agreed. "But it's not worth starting an argument with that creature, no matter what the reason. Stay back with Sergeant Drake and keep out of the way." Melis nodded submissively and waited until the big marine caught up with him. Then, they all set off across the bridge in pursuit of the alien leader and his warriors. Another group of alien waited behind on the ledge. They tried to look nonchalant, but it was obvious to Susan and everyone else that they were there solely to ensure that no-one attempted to return up the stairs. As Susan's team moved off, they also followed, keeping a good distance between them and the Humans, but still staying close enough to deal with anything that might arise. Susan wasn't concerned about them for now though, her attention was focused on the upcoming meeting with the creature that the alien leader had called "The Mistress". She wondered what sort of being this Mistress was, wondering if perhaps she wasn't a Shadow agent the Vorlon had imprisoned here. Something told her that wasn't likely, especially considering the make of ship the Mistress preferred to fly, assuming of course that is was her vessel. Susan had never heard of a Shadow agent flying a Vorlon war cruiser, especially one with such unusual markings. "I wonder," she muttered to herself, looking up at the vast bulk of the warship as they passed beneath one of the four gigantic tentacle-like appendages that formed the ship's main gun. "What do you wonder?" a soft voice asked from just behind her. Susan turned, and smiled at Talia, who was following along just behind her. "I was just wondering what that flower is," she explained, pointing towards the region where the pinkish symbol was inscribed across the side of the warship. It wasn't actually visible from here, but Talia had seen it from the top of the canyon, so Susan knew she was aware of its existence. "It is so familiar, but I just can't quite place it." "You don't buy many flowers do you, Susan," Talia said, shaking her head in amusement. When Susan looked at her in mock indignation, she smiled and said, "it's a lily. I used to have one in my quarters on Babylon 5, only it was white, not pink." "You're sure?" "Positive," Talia replied. "It has a fairly distinctive shape, I don't think I would make a mistake, especially not after looking at it every morning for nearly two years." "I don't remember seeing it," Susan muttered. "That's because you didn't really go into my quarters a lot," Talia replied. "If you remember, it took you nearly a year before you would even talk to me like a person." "You know what this means then." "That you aren't very observant," Talia suggested, a teasing smile on her face. "Or do you mean that you just take too long to get over your insecurities?" Susan looked at Talia with a slight frown on her face. "I was talking about the flower," she replied. "Don't you think it a little strange that an Earth flower is being used by some alien ruler." Talia looked at her companion with a shocked expression on her face, suddenly realising what Susan had discovered. "You don't think this Mistress comes from Earth do you?" she asked excitedly. "It has to be a possibility," Susan replied. "We know that the Vorlon have visited Earth many times in the past, and we know they have taken people away to serve them. What if this prisoner of theirs comes from Earth. That might explain why the aliens thought that she was acting strangely when she found out about the Sturt's arrival and it might also explain why everyone here speaks English." "Do you think it's possible?" "I don't know for sure," Susan admitted. "But I intend on finding out." She handed Talia the light globe. "Take this," she said. "I have someone I need to talk to." As Talia stood there with a quizzical look on her face, Susan ran across the long, darkened section of the bridge and onto the wide ledge that waited on the other side. Fortunately, the bridge headed in a straight line for all of its long span, or Susan wouldn't have been able to stop herself from falling off the side. However that didn't happen and a dim light shining out of a nearby passageway, provided just enough light for Susan to see the alien leader, and the small group of warriors who accompanied him, waiting on the far side of the bridge. They all appeared to be discussing the way the light glistened off the skin of someone called Kaj. Susan didn't know who this Kaj was, but the way the warriors were talking it was obvious that he or she was of great interest to them. "Can I talk to you for a moment," Susan asked, as soon as the alien warrior noticed her. "What is it you want, Captain Ivanova?" the alien asked, eyeing her suspiciously. "You know my name?" Susan asked in surprise, before cutting off the alien's explanation. "Wait, I remember, ISN. I have been on there often enough over the last few month that I'm surprise half the galaxy doesn't know who I am." "The oldest of our people are permitted to watch the screens whenever they are not working," the alien explained. "Those of lesser rank may only watch in the communal halls, the Mistress does not wish to waste too much energy. I have spent many hours watching the ISN when I am not otherwise occupied. It was very interesting, although it was difficult to see much due to the... interference I think the Mistress called it." "Do you have a name?" Susan asked suddenly, slightly annoyed that the alien leader knew who she was, but she didn't have a clue what to call him. It was obvious that they had names, unless this Kaj was some sort of animal, their equivalent of a horse or something like that. After the way the warriors were talking about her though, Susan didn't think that likely. "I am General Azrak," the alien told her. "You said you wanted to talk to me?" Susan nodded. "I wanted to ask you about the Mistress," she told Azrak. "Can you tell me what she looks like?" Azrak raised both eye ridges and peered quizzically at her for several seconds before replying. "The Mistress is a being of great beauty," the General told her. "When I look at her, I see nothing, just a shadow in the place where she should be and her eyes. But her eyes are very warm, dark and mysterious like her body, but they shine with an inner light. She is the most wonderfully kind and generous being in all of the universe." "Then she is not one of your people?" "Of course," Azrak snorted. "She is our leader and all here would willingly give their lives for her." "I mean, she isn't the same as you," Susan said, struggling to find a way to explain what she meant. Azrak stared at her, an unreadable expression on his face. "No," he said finally. "She does not look like me. She is different." "Does she look anything like me?" Susan queried. A round of laughter greeted her question, and it seemed that all the aliens found her suggestion extremely amusing. "No," Azrak replied finally, a wide smile covering his face. "As I said she is the most wonderful being in the universe, not a creature like yourself." He waved his hand in front of Susan, indicating her body. "She does not have thin arms and legs like you, or unhealthy white skin. She also doesn't have this strange... hair?" "So, she is a creature of shadow then?" Susan asked. The General frowned angrily. "She is not a creature," he said in a low, dangerous tone of voice. "It is you who are a strange alien creature, not the Mistress. She is glorious being and you should not talk that way about her. She does appear as a shadow to us, but her servants say that she is just as wonderful close up as she is to observe from afar. You should not call her a creature when you have not even met her." "I'm sorry," Susan said. "I was just curious about what she looked like." "You will see her soon enough, Alien," the General replied. "She has requested that I take you directly to the throne room, so you will be allowed to see her there." Susan nodded, and then turned around to watch the rest of team arrive at the end of the long bridge. They had been taking their time, so it wasn't only Melis that was interested in examining his surroundings. "Did you find out what you wanted," Talia asked, pulling Susan's attention away from the tardiness of the marines. "Not really," she replied. Talia smiled at her, and handed back the light globe Susan had given her. As their hands briefly touched, Susan opened up her mind and projected her thoughts in Talia's head, silently informing Talia of what she had really discovered after questioning Azrak. Talia replied. Susan confirmed. Talia replied, stretching in an attempt to more evenly distribute the weight of her pack, which had become unbalanced during the long walk down the stairs from the top of the canyon. "I wish we didn't have to carry these things," she muttered out loud. "It seems to get heavier with every minute." Susan nodded in agreement, before a sudden idea struck her. She turned back to the General who had been watching her mostly silent conversation with Talia with a look of bored indifference on his face. "Can we leave some of our equipment here?" she asked. "It is heavy and if we will be coming back this way, then it will save us having to carry it all the way there and then back again." "You will not be returning this way," Azrak replied. "What?" Drake, who had been listening in on what Susan had asked, demanded angrily. The Sergeant looked furious, holding his rifle in a threatening manner. "I thought you said you didn't know what your Mistress wanted with us. How do you know we won't be returning this way then?" Azrak turned and looked at Drake, sniffing derisively at the PPG rifle. "I do not know what she desires with you," he replied. "But I do know that this is the long road. If you wish to return to the swamp, where the alien ship is, then it is a lot quicker to take the tunnel from the centre of the city. This way is only used by the workers who are constructing the new road, and occasionally by the other workers who repair the collection towers." "We didn't know that though," Susan pointed out. The General looked back at her and nodded. "Leave your belongings here," he said. "I will order the first workers that we see to collect them and bring them along to the throne room." "I wouldn't want to put anyone one out," Susan said, not really wanting the aliens to have a chance to examine the belongings of her pack. Not that she had anything personal in there, but it was just the principal of the thing. "It would be an honour to the workers," Azrak replied. "They will get to see the throne room door, and that is a great honour, for only those of the higher ranks are usually permitted into the palace." "Sounds good to me," Talia replied, unclipping the straps of her back lowering it to the ground with a tired sigh. Most of the marines quickly followed suit, piling the packs and the other equipment they didn't need near the passage way that led into the rock face. After a moment of hesitation, Susan also followed suit. Although, as she lower her pack onto the growing pile, she noticed that both Dr. Melis and Sergeant Drake were hanging onto theirs, obviously not willing to allow their packs out of their sight. "Are you ready now?" General Azrak asked impatiently. "The Mistress awaits your presence, and I do not intend on keeping her waiting any longer than I have to." "We're ready," Susan confirmed. "Good," the General replied, walking into the passageway. "This way then, and you will not need the globe. The way from here is lit. While we can see in the darkness, we see better in the light, although only if it isn't too bright. The Mistress created the globes for us, and they will provide you with enough light to see by. You may leave the globe by your equipment. The workers will take it away to be recharged when the come to collect you possessions." Susan nodded and placed the globe down on the pile of packs. Then she looked around at the rest of her team, indicated for them to follow the General. There was an obvious hesitation to be the first to enter the passageway, until finally Susan sighed in frustration and stepped in after Azrak. The passageway was made of the same greenish-yellow metal as the stairs had been, but apart from that it appear much the same as every other passageway she had ever seen. "Come on," she said to her companions, before turning and following the General into the hillside. ------------------------------------------------------------ Sel Vecantie e-mail: vecantie@geocities.com homepage: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/9933/ ICQ: 23223547 From: "Sel" Subject: The Secret of Arias, Chapter 9/11 - Part B Date: Wed, 10 Mar 1999 12:18:49 +1030 ------------------------------------------------------------ Lily leaned back against the roughly hewn wall of the tunnel, intermittently surveying the continuing digging. She had been worried that the lack of any good light source would be a problem, but the light globes from the living quarters were found to retain a lot of their power, even after being torn out of their settings. She had used them sparingly along the tunnel itself, but had set several on the ground near the actually digging site, not wanting anyone to injure themselves due to poor lighting. So far it seemed to be working, and the digging had continued on through the mountain side, with only the occasional scrape or cut. Currently the two marines, Hawke and Anderson, were taking their turn digging, with most of the scientists and crew from the Sturt having long ago finished their turns with the picks and were currently sleeping off their exertions. Lily herself still didn't feel like sleeping, but had pushed her worry about what was happening to her body and metabolism into the deepest, darkest recesses of her mind. When this was over, and everyone was on their way back to Earth, then she could worry about it. Now, she had a tunnel to build and over sixty people looking to her to save them. She had finally relinquished control of her pick to one of the other workers about two hours ago. She wasn't mentally tired, but physically she was exhausted. Despite her training and fitness, her body just wasn't strong enough to keep going at that pace forever. In the face of her physical depletion, her mind was still absolutely awake. Knowing she couldn't sleep, she'd chosen to supervise the digging, making sure that it continued without interruption. Some of the more out of shape scientists had complained about the tough pace she was forcing them to adhere to, but Lily had dismissed those concerns. She knew that they had to work fast. They had been working on the tunnel for nearly eight hours now, nearly an entire day on this world. The guards who bought their food and took away the gems had last come three hours ago, and Lily was sure they were getting suspicious. She had ordered the tunnel blocked by a makeshift barrier. In the poor light it look much like the rest of the wall, but she had still seen one of the alien soldiers looking closely in its direction. The soldiers had left without comment though, but Lily knew that another inspection, the next was due in about five hours, could spell their doom. So she had been pushing everyone extra hard, working them until they dropped, all in an effort to finish the tunnel and get out of here before the alien soldiers returned. Suddenly, one of the marines stopped his digging, pausing and looking down at the rock face in front of him. "What is the problem, Private Hawke?" Lily demanded, hopping up and walking across the rough tunnel floor to where the digging was being conducted. As she took her first step, she also reached down and scooped up one of the spare light globes, running her hand across its surface to activate it. "I'm not sure," Hawke admitted, standing back to allow Lily to take a look at the crack his pick had made in the rock. "I think I can almost feel a cool draft coming from beyond this wall." By now Anderson had also stopped digging, and they all clustered around the crack in the rock, feeling a slight breeze gently brushing their faces. It bought with it the smell of vegetation, probably rotting, but at least it was something. With renewed vigour, Lily snatched Hawke's pick out of his hands. "Stand back," she ordered, as she raised it above her head. Both of the marines quickly complied, stepping well back as Lily swung the pick with all her strength, down onto the hard rock. There was a loud ringing sound as the metal of the pick struck the rock and then came the sound of falling rock. Fortunately though, it wasn't the ceiling that was caving in, but rather the rock wall in front of them. Lily leapt out of the way, standing well clear until the last of the rocks had stopped moving and the dust began to settled. "Looks like you did it, Major," Hawke said, shaking his head in amazement. "We made it through to the other side." "Don't get you hopes up yet," Lily replied. "We could still be underground, this might just be a cavern." "But Major, the air." Lily hesitated, the smiled as she realised what Hawke meant. The stuffy air of the tunnel was gone and in its place was air smelling of the surface, just like the faint breeze they had detected moment earlier, only much more powerful and exciting. The pile of rocks in her way almost reached up to the ceiling, but she could still see a small passage through, into whatever lay beyond. Tossing the pick to one side, Lily clambered up the rocks towards the passage, unmindful of the possible dangers of the still unstable rock pile. It was rough going, but she soon managed to squeeze through the gap between the rocks and ceiling and tumbled down into the cavern beyond. "Are you all right, Major?" Hawke voice called from the other room. Lily picked herself up and dusted off her clothing. Somewhere in the distance, the musical tinkle of a river running over rocks reached her ears, while the tangy smell of some flower or mushroom made her nostril twitch with the beginnings of the sneeze. She managed to hold back the sneeze, and called back to her companions, "toss one of the lights through. I can't see a thing in here." One of the marines, she didn't see which, hauled himself up on the pile of rocks and pushed a globe through the gap into this new cavern. It bounced across the rocks before falling into Lily's outstretched hand. After checking to make sure it wasn't damaged she held it aloft and looked around the new cavern. It wasn't very big, but there was a passage leading out of one end. That was a very good sign, as it meant that they wouldn't have to do more digging for a while. The breeze they had felt was coming from somewhere down that passage, so hopefully it also led to the surface. "Clear away the rest of those rock," Lily ordered, shining the light into a dark corner of the cavern and frightening a tiny lizard that had been resting there. It hissed at her, before deciding that she was too much to take on and scuttling away down the passage. The sounds of renewed work came from the other side of the rock pile, and it quickly began to decrease in size as the chunks of rock and gemstone were carted away. Lily sat down on a large, rounded rock and amused herself by trying to clean up the singlet she was wearing while she waited for the others to arrive. It didn't take long for the two marines to haul away enough rocks to form a proper passage between the tunnel and the cavern, and as soon as they had broken through Hawke hurried into the cavern, eager to see what Lily had discovered. "Do you think this leads back to the surface?" Hawke asked. "I hope so," Lily replied. She stood up, looking over at Hawke. "You didn't bring your pick?" "I didn't think I would need it," Hawke replied. "Get it. If that rock fall was heard by any of the aliens, then they might be on to us. We may need to defend ourselves. Get two picks and another light for yourself and meet me back here." Then as an afterthought she added, "also bring two flasks of water and my uniform jacket." "Right away," Hawke replied with a salute. As he ran off, Lily peering back into the tunnel. "Anderson?" she asked, looking around for the other marine. "Right here, Major," came the reply from the lanky Swede, still hidden from Lily's sight in the shadows at the end of the tunnel. "Can you take over here?" "Are you going somewhere?" Anderson asked. "I thought I would check out this tunnel with Hawke," Lily replied, pointing towards the passage on the other side of the cavern. "The air in this place obviously comes from the surface and I saw a lizard so it must have found its way in here somehow. With any luck, we won't have to do any more digging." Anderson walked into the cavern and peered down the passage. As soon as he had satisfied his curiosity, he turned back to Lily. "I can take care of it, Major," he replied with a nod. "But, are you sure you don't want to take me with you?" Lily shook her head. "I need someone I trust in charge here," she replied. "Besides the fewer or us there are, then the more likely that we won't be spotted by any alien patrols." Hawke chose that moment to come running back down the tunnel, slightly out of breath. He quickly handed Lily her wrinkled jacket and a pick, while keeping the two water flasks and another pick. "Ready to go, Major," he said with another academy trained salute. Lily nodded, taking a few seconds to pull on her jacket and zip it up. "Good," she said. "Anderson, keep an eye on everyone, and if we aren't back in an hour, then you can come looking for us." Anderson nodded. Then, with Hawke in tow, Lily set off down the passage. It wasn't long, in fact a lot shorter than even she had imagined. It ran perhaps fifty metres before ending in a thick curtain of leafy vines. Unlike the rest of the vegetation Lily had seen on this world, these plants were much more verdant, almost resembling the jungle trees and vines she had seen around the landing site. Beyond the vines the sound of moving water had grown stronger, and Lily almost imagined that she could see a faint light filtering down from somewhere up above. For a moment, she thought that they might have dug their way all the way out of the cloud covered region and back into the sun light, before she realised that it wasn't possible. They were still beneath the cloud, so that meant that the light had to be artificial. "Do we go through?" Hawke asked, pointing towards the vines. "We should be careful around here, any one of these plants could be poisonous or something like that." Better not take the chance then," Lily replied, lashing out at the vines with her razor sharp pick. The metal didn't cut as well through the vegetation as it had through rock, but Lily discovered by aiming at the roots of the vines they were soon removed and the way out cleared. Beyond lay a thick forest of bushes and trees, again resembling the jungle that covered the lit areas of the world. "This is becoming a little strange, Lily muttered to herself, stepping out of the cave mouth and onto the soft earth beyond. She glanced up, looking for the source of the faint light that was shining down on them. The light appeared to flicker slightly, but that effect was probably caused as it filtered down through the leaves, bouncing from leaf to leaf. At least that's what Lily decided was causing the flickering. She couldn't see the source from here, so further investigation were impossibly until they reached a clearing. "Which way now?" Hawke asked, joining her at the edge of the jungle. He stared cautiously at a trio of medium sized lizards that were hiding under a fallen log, looking at him. "Do we go back and tell the others?" "We might as well take a look around, Lily replied. "I told Anderson an hour, and it has only been five minutes so far." "Which way then?" Hawke asked, sweeping his hand around the cave mouth, pointing out all the directions open to them. He glanced up at the high cliff that towered above the cave. "We obviously can't go up, so we either go along the cliff walls or head out into the jungle." "That way," Lily replied, pointing straight out into the jungle. "The water we can hear sounds like it is coming from that direction. That seems the most logical place to start." Hawke nodded and they both set off, hacking at the thick vines and bushes that stood in their way. The jungle was so thick that It took them nearly ten minutes to make their way to the edge of the fast moving steam. On reaching the water, Lily knelt in the dark moss on the bank of the stream and reached down with one hand, scooping up the water and sampling it. She knew she should have had it tested first, but all of their survey equipment had been on the rover, which was probably lying in pieces somewhere by now. Fortunately the water didn't kill her. In fact it tasted identical to the water they had been drinking in the mines, although it was just a little warmer. "Major," Hawke said softly, tugging on her jacket. Lily looked at him, annoyed at being interrupted. Before she could say anything though, she noticed that he was staring at something above her, a look of fear on his face. She quickly glanced up and what she saw made her fall backwards with shock. "What the hell is that," she demanded. The vast shape seemed to hang in the air above them, like some gigantic alien squid. It was long, so long that Lily couldn't even see the far end, and wide enough to fill the entire canyon. It took Lily several seconds to recognise the shape, remembering a briefing she been present at five years ago. There, she had been shown pictures of a Vorlon war cruiser and its escorts massed outside Babylon 5. That sight had been frightening enough, but to see one of the huge war cruisers up close was terrifying. Since the end of the civil war she had heard stories from starfury pilots who had fought against the shadows. A few pilots had returned to Earth from Babylon 5 and they bought with them tales of fighting against the Vorlons and another race they called the Shadows. In the briefing and in the stories, the ships had always been green, but although this one was a pale white, there was not doubting the shape. "A Vorlon warship," Hawke breathed. "What the hell is one of those things doing here." "I don't know," Lily replied, pushing her fear aside and examining the ship as if it was something to analyse, instead of a gigantic alien warship that could probably fry her and this entire forest in a nanosecond. She suddenly noticed the rows of walkways along the sides of the canyon walls, as well as the braziers that had been scattered along them. "It looks like they almost worship the thing though," she said, pointing to the flames leaping up from the metal braziers. "This is a Vorlon world," Hawke reminded her. "Perhaps they worship the Vorlons and this is their idol." "Perhaps," Lily murmured. It didn't seem like the aliens she had seen though. They worshipped their Mistress and no-one else, and after having come face to face with Jeanne, Lily didn't think it was likely that she would allow them to worship anyone else either, especially the Vorlons. That then raised the question of exactly why a Vorlon cruiser was sitting here in this canyon. After Jeanne's reaction, Lily didn't think that the she would have wanted to have anything to do with Vorlon technology. Just then, the sound of something scrapping against metal snapped her attention away from the ship and reminded her that she was not supposed to get caught. She grabbed Hawke's arm and dragged him back into the forest. When he tried to complain, she held a finger to her lip and whispered, "be quiet." With her other hand, she pointed above them, toward a dark bridge that crossed the canyon, high above the tree tops. Hawke nodded and pulled himself beneath a large overhanging leaf, frightening a sleeping lizard at the same time. As the lizard screeched at Drake, Lily also moved back out of the line of sight. She couldn't see who was on the bridge, but she could hear the sound of footsteps. They sounded a lot like the alien's footsteps, with the scrapping of claws across metal. There was quite a few of them, but they moved quickly, not appearing to notice her or Hawke hiding beneath them. Then, just when she thought it was time to come out, another set of footsteps could be heard, lighter than the first ones. Whatever the creature was, it quickly passed across the bridge, almost as though it was running. Then the sound of distant voices echoed could be heard. Neither Hawke nor Lily could pick up the details, but they sounded as thought they were speaking in English. Of course, on this world that didn't mean a lot. Hawke glanced across at her and inclined his head in the direction of the cave mouth, silently asking if they should leg it. Lily shook her head, and signalled for him to wait. Hawke nodded his understanding and sat still. It was a good thing he did too, as another two group of creatures passed overhead, all going in the same direction. With the third group, Lily also noticed a light passing travelling along the bridge at the same time, probably either a torch or one of those light globes. Then, everything went quiet again. The light was switched off and soon even the voices faded away. However, Lily still waited another ten minutes before coming out of hiding, just to be sure. "A patrol?" Hawke asked as he stood up, brushing off dirt and crawling insects. "Probably, "Lily replied, stretching her legs to try and relieve a soreness that was starting to set in. "Lets get back to the tunnel," she said, retrieving her pick and leading the way down the path of hacked up vegetation they had created. "What do we do now, then?" Lily looked up at the canyon walls. "We get out of here," she replied firmly. "There must be a way up these walls, all we have to do is find it. After that, we can get out of this hellhole and back to the Rasputin. Then, I intend on having a long, hot bath and spending a couple of days in bed." "Sounds good to me, Major," Hawke replied, shouldering his pick. ------------------------------------------------------------ Sel Vecantie e-mail: vecantie@geocities.com homepage: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/9933/ ICQ: 23223547 From: "Sel" Subject: The Secret of Arias, Chapter 9/11 - Part C Date: Wed, 10 Mar 1999 12:19:40 +1030 ------------------------------------------------------------ Morkazz hurried into the throne room, his brown robe swirling around him as he hobbled along. "Mistress," he called out excitedly, before hesitating and peering intently at the figure on the throne. "Mistress?" he asked cautiously. "Is that you?" "It is me, Morkazz," Jeanne confirmed. "I needed to change my appearance a little as part of my plan. Now what is so important that you would actually try to run?" Morkazz stared at Jeanne for another full second before finally deciding that the figure on the throne was indeed his Mistress. "The Human's have finally arrived," he told her. "Azrak is guiding them through the outer reaches of the city right now." "Is he now," Jeanne mused, flicking two controls on her throne. "Do you know which district he is travelling through?" As the large display screen slid smoothly out of its alcove and began to lower itself toward the floor, Morkazz replied, "Azrak reported that he took the stairs from new road, so I would think they would be in the outer warehouse sector by now, probably just outside the satellite control facility." Jeanne nodded and tapped another control. The screen cleared to show a long, empty corridor. Jeanne frowned and tapped a few more controls, flipping through nearly twenty different camera views before finally finding the correct one. Azrak and his squad were leading the small group of eight Humans down the corridor towards the main elevator, which meant they would arrive outside her throne room in around ten minutes at the latest. A few more alterations to the view and Jeanne had zoomed in on the group of Humans. She quickly dismissed most of them as unimportant, probably just soldiers, and focused on the three who were leading the party. One was a tall man in civilian clothing, with a large pack on his back, who didn't look like an Earthforce officer. The other two were women and Jeanne quickly passed over the blonde one and focused instead on the slightly taller woman in the Earthforce uniform, obviously the leader of this particular group. With a sudden stab of annoyance she realised that she had seen the officer before, several times in fact. "I know her, Morkazz," she said, pointing towards the woman on the screen. "That is Commander Ivanova from Babylon 5." "Captain," Morkazz corrected. When Jeanne turned to stare at him quizzically, he quickly added, "she became a Captain after she left Babylon 5. They said so on ISN." "I didn't know that," Jeanne replied, tapping her fingers on the arm of her throne. "If you remember, Mistress, you stopped watching after... they disappeared, and only started again a few weeks ago. A lot happened in that short time." "So it seems," Jeanne mused. "Is there anything else I should know about? I know you enjoy watching ISN." "I have seen all the episodes," he said proudly. "At least up until the signal was lost. I even saw the episode where the evil president killed himself. Of course we didn't know he was evil then, they said he was good and everyone from Babylon 5 was bad. But he turned out to be evil and Sheridan turned up and saved Earth before the president could kill everyone. It was very exciting because everyone thought that Sheridan was going to attack Earth, but he didn't." "I was aware of that," Jeanne interrupted. Actually she hadn't been. Ever since the Vorlon departed, she had no longer felt the need to watch any of the alien networks and with the Vorlon networks now silent there had been nothing of interest to her, at least not until the IPX survey vessel had landed on this world. She knew that if she ordered him to, Morkazz would have told her everything that had occurred on Earth over the past year or so, but she didn't have the time for that right now. On the screen she could see Azrak's party drawing closer and closer. All her plans had been depending on encountering someone who didn't know the Vorlons, which Ivanova obviously did. This would require a change of tactics. Turning back to her counsellor, she asked, "Morkazz, can you send a messenger to Azrak before he reaches the elevator?" The counsellor peered at the screen and then nodded in confirmation. "That should be easy Mistress. One of the guards outside the throne room should be able to run down to that section before Azrak arrives." "Good, do so then. Tell the General to take the humans through the central plaza first." "That will take him at least half an hour," Morkazz reminded her, sounding confused as to why Jeanne would want Azrak to take longer to arrive. "Good," she replied. "Now hurry, send the messenger and return." After a quickly bow, Morkazz hurried off towards the doors. As soon as he was gone, Jeanne turned her attention back to the screen. This sudden discovery of Ivanova's presence raised some serious problems. She had been hoping that the commander of the rescue vessel would be a typical Earthforce officer, not someone like Ivanova. Several of her options were now gone, as she didn't imagine that she could use bribes or offers of technology. It was obvious that anyone who had broken away from their own government over a matter of principal would probably not allow herself to be bribed. There was, of course, always the chance that a direct exchange of the prisoners for her freedom might work, but she knew that many humans had strange ideas about paying ransoms. It had been so much simpler when she had been on Earth, with rulers regularly paying ransoms to release their soldiers and nobles from enemy captivity. That attitude appeared to have changed considerably since the last time she had seen Earth though. Which left her with very little to work with. In fact, there was really only one thing to try and it was the last thing she really wanted to use. Jeanne knew that Ivanova had seen the Vorlons at their worst, and also had been present on Babylon 5 when Kosh had revealed himself, well appeared to reveal himself anyway. The truth might work on her, but it was always a risk. To someone who didn't know anything about the Vorlons, the truth was so improbable that they would automatically dismiss it as a lie. Which left the question, did Ivanova know enough about the Vorlons to understand the truth when she heard it? "It is done, Mistress," Morkazz said as he hurried back into the throne room, interrupting Jeanne's musing. Jeanne nodded. That would give her a few more minutes to prepare, which might just be enough to work out a way to convince Ivanova to do what she wanted done. "Good," she said. "Now, I need you do something else for me." "Anything, Mistress," the counsellor replied with a low bow. A flicker of a smile crossed Jeanne's face. It soon faded though and she tapped her finger on the lid of a large chest that sat next to the throne. "I want this removed," she told the counsellor. "It is no longer of any use to me." Morkazz stared at the heavy chest of gems. "I will get some of the warriors to take it away. Do I take it to the artisans?" Jeanne was about to say yes, before another use for the gems crossed her mind. "No, put them in storage, I will have need of them one day. Once that is done, arrange for some extra lights to be bought to this room, as well as chairs, a table and some of our best food." The counsellor nodded and once again hurried out of the throne room to call in some guards. As he left, Jeanne allowed herself to sink into the shadows, darkening the room around her. She felt herself growing in confidence again, now sure that she could convince Ivanova of her plight. Everyone had their price and Jeanne was sure that the truth would be a high enough price to convince the woman she was watching on her monitor. ------------------------------------------------------------ "We must go this way," Azrak said, pointing down a narrow corridor that ran off the one they had been following ever since they had left the canyon. "I thought you said we were going down this corridor," Susan reminded him, looking suspiciously at the narrow, dark passage that the general had indicated. "We were, now we must go this way." Susan nodded, but glared suspiciously at the messenger who was heading back along the main corridor. She hadn't caught what he had said, but knew there must have been a sudden change in the General's orders. She had considered using her telepathic powers to find out, but still didn't feel comfortable scanning someone's mind. She couldn't stop herself from picking up Azrak's surface thoughts though, which were so strong they broke through all her blocks. Those thoughts told her the general was extremely annoyed with his new orders. She hoped that was a good thing, and that the General had been asked to do something that he didn't like and it wasn't something that might effect her. "Come," Azrak said again, pointing angrily down the corridor. "Captain?" Drake asked, looking questioningly at her, obviously wondering if her slight hesitation wasn't due to a sudden change of mind about cooperating with the aliens. "Let's go," Susan replied, pointing down the narrow corridor. Drake nodded and followed her as she stepped into the passage. Azrak and his warrior waited until all the Humans had passed and then also followed, the General muttering something about wasting time. The passage itself took a fair amount of time to traverse, running for nearly five hundred metres. Several times other passage branched off it, but the General always pointed them along the narrow passage. Finally it ended, and opened up into a gigantic cave. "What is this place?" Susan asked breathlessly, looking around at the thousands of aliens who were busy with their work. Many stopped to peer back at her, before continuing on their way. All appeared to be smaller in size than the General and his warriors, most having light green scales instead of the dark purple of the warriors. "This is the great plaza," the General explained. "Apparently the Mistress wanted you to see this before continuing on." "It's amazing," Susan said, stepping out onto the smooth tiles that made up the floor. Ahead, a railing circled around a vast lake which filled most of the plaza. The water bubbled and steam rose from the lake's surface, a sure sign that it was probably close to boiling. Despite this fact, there were a large number of aliens playing in the water, splashing each other and tossing balls and other objects around. It was reminiscent of scenes common on a thousand beaches all over Earth, except the playful beings in the pool were obviously not Human, and the water was a lot hotter than any Human could survive. "It is the pool," Azrak said. Then he pointed towards the levels of buildings and tunnels that were built along the walls of the gigantic cave. "There are the artisan's shops and the restaurants." "You have restaurants?" Susan asked, looking surprised. "Of course," the General replied. "You may trade items for food there." "You don't have money then," Dr. Melis cut in, a strangely excited look in his eye as he glanced around the room. The archaeologist was obviously enjoying himself tremendously. "No. The Mistress does not allow money, it is against her sacred laws. She says that to have money will make us greedy, like Humans, and that is a bad thing. We are only permitted to trade our goods and services for the things that we desire. Of course, the warriors are given a certain amount of goods each week, as we need to be strong to protect this world from creatures such as yourself." "We don't mean you any harm," Susan tried to explain. "All we want to do is collect our companions and leave. We have no intention of remaining here." "We will see," Azrak replied, not sounding convinced. "Now, we must go. My orders were to show you the grand plaza. That I have done, now we must return to the main corridor." He pointed back down the passage they had just left. "Go that way." Susan looked down the tunnel and sighed, but allowed herself to be guided away from the plaza and along the narrow, stuffy passage again. The journey didn't seem as long this time though and they soon found themselves walking back along the main corridor. That corridor soon ended, running into a small room that the General identified as some kind of elevator. After hustling everyone into the small room, he ordered it to take them to the throne room. There was only the faintest sensation of movement, much less than any elevator Susan had ever been on, and then the doors opened again, looking out on a new corridor. "This way," Azrak said, pointing towards a large set of golden doors that lay at the end of the corridor. A large group of warriors were gathered around the doors, and piled nearby were their packs and other equipment, which had somehow managed to beat them here. After a brief glance behind her to ensure everyone was still with them, Susan allowed Azrak to guide her towards the great doors. ------------------------------------------------------------ At the southern end of the great canyon, where a small waterfall cascaded over mossy rocks to form a small stream, Major Logan and Private Hawke stood, scanning the cliff walls. "This appears to be the only way up, Major," Hawke said, pointing towards the stairs that ended about fifty metres above them. "There doesn't appear to be any direct route from the canyon floor to the top of the cliffs and this is the only bridge or stairs that comes even close. I have the rest of the scouting parties still looking around for something they might have missed earlier, but it doesn't look like there is any other way." "We are going to have to climb up there then," Lily replied, scanning the cliff wall for hand holds and ledges that would make it possible to climb the fifty metres or so to the ledge where the stairs ended and the long bridge began. She knew that they had go up here. Already too much time had been wasted searching the jungle for an escape route, and before long the aliens would discover that they were missing. "Recall the scouting parties, this is were we go up." "It doesn't look very easy," Hawke noted. "Most of the civilians won't be able to make it without some sort of assistance. In fact, I'm not sure I could even climb up something like that." "I can make it," Lily told him. "Are you sure, Major?" Hawke said, not sounding convinced. "You have been working fairly hard on the tunnel, and a climb like that won't be easy." "I said I can make it," Lily growled angrily. "Don't question me. I'm fine and if I say I can do it, then I can." "Of course, Major," Hawke stuttered, taking a step back. "I was just concerned for you, that's all." "Don't be. There is nothing wrong with me and I wouldn't try to do something if I didn't think it would succeed. I used to go rock climbing for fun back on Earth, so I know what I am doing." "What about everyone else then? How do we get them up there?" Lily looked around the jungle. Her eyes fell on a long, creeping vine that had wrapped itself around a nearby tree. Most of the vines were too old and dried out to be of any use, but some of the younger vines still looked pliable enough to be useable. "We could make a rope or a ladder out of these vines," she said, pointing them out of Hawke. "It might be strong enough to hold together until we got everyone up there." Hawke looked doubtfully at the vines, but lacking a better idea of his own, nodded slowly in agreement. "It might work," he admitted. "We would need to find something to bind it all together though. Once that it done, then all we need is for someone to climb up there and attach it to something." "That will be me," Lily said, her tone of voice not inviting argument. "I guess all we have to do is construct a ladder then," Hawke replied. "Shall I recall all the scouting parties?" Lily nodded and looked back at the cliff and the ledge, her mind already working on the best route for climbing the almost sheer cliff face. As Hawke had already pointed out, it wasn't going to be an easy climb, but as long as her strength didn't give way halfway up, then she should be able to make it easily. ------------------------------------------------------------ The robed alien glared at General Azrak, and Azrak glared back. "I want to be there when these creatures are meeting with the Mistress," he demanded. "They are dangerous and may try to hurt her, remember what happened with the last one, Counsellor Morkazz." "The Mistress was not injured," the alien called Morkazz replied. "It is also her wishes that she meet with these creatures alone, without any of your warriors present." "It is obvious to me that the Mistress has not been well," Azrak argued. "She does not know what she is doing. These creatures will try to hurt her, just like the other one." "You would not want to go against her wishes, would you?" Standing behind Azrak, Susan could hear everything that was being said, and realised what the General was worrying about. If she had been in his position, then she probably wouldn't have let anyone in with weapons either. However, after nearly five minutes of this argument, she had had quite enough. "How about if we leave our weapons behind," she suggested, interrupting the two alien's before they could continue arguing. They both stared at her for several seconds before Azrak muttered, "that would be acceptable, but only two of you may enter at once. The rest must remain here, so I can keep watch and ensure that they don't intend to hurt the Mistress." Morkazz's eye ridges drooped in the Arisian equivalent of a frown. "The Mistress did not say that she only wanted to see two. I assumed that she wanted to see all of you." "I'm sure two will be fine," Susan interrupted again, wanting to get this argument over and done with. It had been a long walk today and she was growing tired of the constant run-around she had been receiving from Azrak. She wanted to get this meeting over and done with, so she could retrieve Major Logan and the rest of the missing crew and get off this hell of a world. Even Proxima III, with its burning deserts and hostile native life forms, hadn't been as trying as Arias. Azrak looked at her again. "Very well, two is acceptable, but I don't want any warrior anywhere near the Mistress. One you and one of the other workers may enter." Morkazz sighed and looked over the group of humans in front of him. Spotting one that didn't look like a warrior, he pointed to Talia and said, "you will go along with Captain Ivanova." When Azrak didn't argue, he continued, "the rest will remain here, until the Mistress desires your presence or it is time for you to leave." "Then we are going to be allowed to leave again?" Susan asked. The robed counsellor looked surprised at her comment. "Of course," he replied. "The Mistress does not want you to remain here, that would achieve nothing. She only wishes you to meet with her so that she can talk to you and arrange the terms for the release of your friends." "Terms," Drake muttered from his location off to one side, where he had been quietly training his rifle on the General. "I don't like the sound of that." Morkazz ignored him and looked over at Susan with a pleasant smile, or rather what looked more like an upturned snarl, on his face. "Shall we continue?" he asked, sweeping his hand towards the huge golden doors that waited behind him. "The Mistress awaits to meet you." "Let's go," Susan agreed, stepping forward. Morkazz looked pleased and directed two guards to push the doors open. As they swung smoothly open, he looked across at Susan and asked, "Can I have your autograph?" "What!" The counsellor looked confused. "Isn't that what I am suppose to do? I saw this program on ISN, the Academy Awards it was called, and everyone there was asking their favourite people for autographs. As you are my favourite person on ISN, I thought I would ask you for one." "I'm not a vid star," Susan corrected him, while Talia struggled to hide her amusement. "I'm just a soldier. I have never even considered acting." "But you are on ISN all the time," Morkazz argued, fingering a piece of paper and what looked suspiciously like a quill pen. "I thought that you must be very famous. I watch all the time you see, and I know all about what happens, even more than the Mistress." Realising that the quickest way to end this was to sign the paper, Susan snatched it out of the counsellors hand and quickly scrawled her signature across the middle of the strip of paper. Then she handed both it and the quill back to Morkazz and marched away through the door. The counsellor looked pleased, and quickly stuffed the paper into a hidden pocket before hurrying after her. Talia teased. Any further comment was cut off as Talia came to a sudden halt, staring in shock at the creature that awaited them inside the throne room. The doors behind them swung shut, coming together with little more than a faint click. No-one really noticed though, they were too busy staring across the huge room. Even Morkazz looked a little surprised by the effect that the Mistress had managed to create with the extra lights and her servant's assistance. Instead of her normal drab appearance, she now looked more like a fairytale princess, with a long white and pink gown, encrusted with tiny gemstones. Her dark hair had been brushed until it shone, and had also been dusted with crushed gems, making it sparkle in the light. Susan looked stunned, before glancing across at Morkazz and asking, "that's your Mistress?" The counsellor looked surprised by the question. "Of course," he replied. "Who else would be in the throne room." "But she's Human." "Not exactly, Captain Ivanova," a soft feminine voice interrupted. "I don't think you could describe me as Human any more." Susan spun around to stare at the throne. "Won't you join me," the girl on the throne continued, indicating the chairs that had been arranged before her. "I have been looking forward to meeting you for some time. We have much to discuss." ------------------------------------------------------------ Back in the canyon, a small group had gathered near the waterfall. Standing close to the cliff face, carefully examining it for possible hand holds, Lily was steeling herself for the long climb ahead. It was only around fifty metres, but it was almost straight up, and with her muscles complaining every step of the way, it wasn't going to be easy. Behind her, most of the rest of the prisoners had gathered, all working hard to complete the rope ladder she was going to carry up to the ledge. "This is foolishness," Curran said, coming up behind Lily and peering up at the distant ledge. "You can't possible make it all the way up there, at least not in your condition." "My condition?" Lily asked, trying to sound as though she didn't know what the Sturt's first officer was talking about. "I assure you, I am fine." "That's not what Dr. Abbado has been telling me," Curran replied. "He said that the virus he detected in your system has spread throughout your body and by all rights you should be dead by now." "I don't feel dead," Lily said. "A little tired perhaps, but nothing I can't handle. You can tell Dr. Abbado that there must be something wrong with his instruments." "You don't believe that any more than I do," Curran muttered. "There is something going on that you're not telling us." "If there was something to tell, then I would tell you. But there is nothing. I feel no different than I normally do. I can make this climb, in fact I am the only one who can make it." "I don't know why you are bothering. They probably have guards waiting for you at the top of the stairs anyway. We are better off waiting for Earthforce to send a proper rescue mission." Lily stared at him incredulously. "You don't call the most powerful ship in the fleet a proper rescue mission?" "It's obviously not enough. You ended up captured, just as we did. We need a proper rescue mission, troops, tanks and that sort of thing, not just a couple of rovers with people who obviously don't know what they are doing." Lily fought down a sudden urge to thump Curran and was fortunately persuaded against that move by the timely arrival of Dr. Janet Petrilli, who was heading the team of scientists working on the ladder. "We have finished, Major," Petrilli said, completely unaware of the argument she was interrupting. "Just in case, I had sixty five metres of ladder made, so we will have plenty left over if the distance turns out of be more than fifty metres." "Good work, Doctor," Lily said, sounding pleased. She turned to watch as ladder the scientist's team had put together was carried out of the jungle and dumped onto the ground nearby. It was long, and it took several people to carry the heavy vines, but it appeared to be holding together well enough. Hopefully it would last long enough for everyone to make it out of the canyon and up to whatever lay beyond. "Will this do, Major?" Janet Petrilli asked as the last of the ladder was lowered to the ground. "Everyone is rather tired, but we can recheck it if you want." "That should be just fine," Lily replied, looking more than a little surprised at the ladder Petrilli and her team had managed to come up with after less than an hour's work. Long vines had been unwound from around trees and bound together with metallic wire stripped out of the walls of the living quarters. The result was a solid looking construct, which appeared strong enough to hold even the most overweight of the scientists. It probably wasn't the best they could do, but as Lily wanted to get out of the canyon before anyone noticed they were missing, it would have to do. "Are you still sure that you want to do this?" Hawke, who had been helping carry the ladder, asked. He handed her a thin, metallic wire that someone had wrapped tightly with torn strips of cloth, most of it from the Major's own shirt. "Can anyone else do it?" Lily asked, taking the wire and wrapping it tightly around her middle. The other end was attached to the rope ladder, which she would need to haul up and attach to a rock or something once she made it onto the ledge. She was then to lower the rock down on the other side of the bridge, using it as a counter-weight, so the heavy ladder could be hauled into position by those below. "I could try," Hawke offered, not looking overly enthusiastic. "Do you think you can make it?" "Probably not," Hawke admitted. "Better leave this to me then," Lily told him. "It is my plan, so if anyone is going to risk their lives, then it should be me." She turned and looked at Curran, who was looking up at the cliff and shaking his head. "Mr. Curran. I want you to look after things down here, get everyone ready to leave, that sort of thing. Once I make it up to that ledge and secure the ladder, I want everyone ready to climb up as quickly as possible. If you have anything you want to take with you, then make sure it is waiting here." "Be right back," a voice called, and everyone turned to watch as Nicolai Luchenko tore off through the jungle. Lily frowned at the retreating back of the president's errant nephew, before turning to Hawke. "Make sure we have plenty of water gathered, Private," she ordered. "I don't know how far it is back to the Sturt, or even which direction it is from here, so we are going to need something to drink. Also collect as much of that meat they have been feeding us as you can. It may not taste that appetising, but no-one is going to complain if that is all we have to eat." "Anderson is already taking care of that, Major," Hawke replied. "I will go and double check though." "Good," Lily said, turning back to the cliff and looking up at the her goal. Remembering one last thing she had to take care of, she turned to Curran. "Mr. Curran. If I don't make it and fall to my death, then I want you to take over. Try and get everyone out of here one way or the other. Whatever happens, promise me that you will try to escape." Curran was about to argue, but through better of it at the last moment and nodded instead. Lily smiled at him and then started up the cliff face. Pushing her feet off the ground, she jumped up and grabbed hold of the closest ledge to the ground. It was only narrow, but it was just wide enough to pull herself up onto it. Then, bracing her feet against the ledge, she began to clamber up rest of the rock face. She moved as quickly as she could, but the hand holds were so spread out that she had to take special care with each one. This made the journey a lot slower than Lily would have liked, but at least ensured her safety. At least it did until she was halfway up the sheer cliff face. Hanging by her fingernails from a tiny ledge, the muscles in her arms and shoulders aching terribly, Lily searched around for something to move onto next. Eventually she spotted a small outcropping of rock, nearly two metres to her right and slightly below her. From there it would be easy enough to climb the rest of the way without any further risk, but she had to make it there first. Mindful of the twenty five metre drop to the ground that would await her if she slipped, Lily edged across the ledge until she was as close as she could get to the outcropping. Closing her eyes, she breathed in deeply, and then flung herself in the direction of the outcropping, reaching for the rough rock. To those on the ground it must have appeared as though she was falling, because there was a collective gasp from the prisoners gathered to watch her. Her aim had been true though, and her outstretched hands struck the rock firmly. Ignoring the screaming pain in her fingertips, as sharp rock tore open her flesh, Lily gripped at the outcropping with all her strength. She hung there for several seconds, calming her wildly beating heart, before pulling herself up again and continuing on up the cliff. As she had predicted, the rest of the climb was fairly easy, with a good number of ledges and other hand holds for her to reach for. Finally, ten minutes latter, she reached the ledge where the stairs were and collapsed onto the rough rock, breathing heavily after such a difficult climb. Remembering the wire she had attached to her waist, Lily pulled up some of slack so it wouldn't fall down again and then began to unwind it. Finding a suitable rock, she attached it to the wire and dropped it over the far side of the bridge. It fell into the jungle below, where it was collected by Curran and several others. They quickly began to haul on the wire and on the Lily's side of the bridge the rope ladder began to rise slowly up towards the ledge. Lily smiled, and sat down on the bottom step to wait for the ladder to arrive. It was then that she remembered the cuts she had gained when she had grabbed hold of the outcropping. Holding up her hands for examination, she noticed that the blood had already dried, which was rather unusual as she continued on climbing after the injury. Normally they would still be bleeding, and raw, but that didn't appear to be the case this time. Curious, she scrapped away some of the dried blood with a fingernail, before staring at her fingertips in shock. There was no trace of any injury, just the almost invisible scars that showed where the rock had cut into her. "What the hell?" she muttered, a cold chill running down her spine. "What has that witch done to me?" ------------------------------------------------------------ Sel Vecantie e-mail: vecantie@geocities.com homepage: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/9933/ ICQ: 23223547 From: "Sel" Subject: The Secret of Arias, Chapter 10/11 - Part A Date: Sat, 13 Mar 1999 10:21:28 +1030 Well, just one more Chapter to go after this one. For other stories, as well as properly formatted chapters of this tale see my webpage http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/9933/index2.html Spoilers: There are spoilers for seasons 1-4. This story is set in 2262, but takes place well outside the normal Babylon 5 universe. Disclaimers: The small number of B5 characters that I use in my stories remain the property of Warner Brothers, TNT, JMS, and whoever else wants to lay claim to them. The rest are the property of my imagination and you can do what you will with them. ------------------------------------------------------------ The Secret of Arias - Chapter 10 By Sel Vecantie ------------------------------------------------------------ "Just who the hell are you?" Susan asked quietly, finally accepting the dark-haired girl's offer and sitting down on one the cushioned seats that had been arranged before the throne. "Who am I?" the girl replied, a faint smile flickering across her bloodless lips. "I have been asked that same question over and over so many times, that it hardly has any meaning for me any more." Pausing for a second, she glanced over at three green-scaled servants who were waiting nearby. "Remove the extra chairs and bring some food and drink for my guests," she told them, before turning back to the two Humans sitting before her. "But, if it pleases you to give me a name, then you may call me Jeanne. That was the name I was given in my mortal existence, and while it has little meaning to me now, it is as good a name as any other." The bustling activity of the servants as they cleared away the surplus chairs, interrupted any further question for a moment. Susan waited until the servants returned with several trays of food and then departed again, returning to their stations off to one side. Jumping in before anyone else, Morkazz reached down and picked up a plate of green, jelly-like cubes, before retreating behind the throne to munch on them in peace. "Eat," Jeanne urged Susan, indicating the vast array of food and drink that had been placed on the table. "This is the finest food of this world and it would considered a great dishonour if you were to refuse it. They are all suitable for your digestive system, so you need not fear injury." Susan nodded and selected a few of the less alien looking foods and piled them onto one of the silver plates that had been provided. Talia proved to be more adventurous and selected a wide variety of foods, including a crystal glass full of a fizzy purple drink. "You are not eating?" the blonde telepath asked Jeanne, as she settled back into her seat. A look of pain briefly flashed across Jeanne's face. "I... I can not eat such foods." "Why not," Susan asked suspiciously, eyeing the food on her plate as if it was about to jump up and bite her. Jeanne didn't answer the question, instead she sat back and watched as Talia sampled the delicacies she had provided. Susan stared at her for several seconds, before finally trying one of the dishes. Soon the only sounds in the vast room were the occasional chewing noises from Morkazz and the whistle of the wind outside, as it brushed against the tall, strained glass windows. Several times the servants returned to clean away unwanted food, or to replace a plate that was now empty. Morkazz appeared to have taken a shine to the green jelly, and devoured several plates full before Jeanne finally called a stop. Calling over her servants, she directed them to take the rest of the food to the Humans waiting outside the throne room. The was another brief pause as the plates were gathered up and placed back on their trays. Then the three servants retreated from the throne room, leaving a wistful Morkazz looking forlornly at the now empty table. "Now we can begin," Jeanne said softly. "I assume that you have many, many questions and I will attempt to answer them in time. But first, let me explain my position. Is that acceptable?" After a nod from Susan, Jeanne continued. "I know you will be wondering why I have detained your companions and you are probably quite angry at me about that. But, nothing I do is without reason. You see, my followers here were very concerned that the newcomers to their world would try and steal it from them, so I had to take action. Your companions have been arrested, mostly for their own good, and must be held until I am sure they - and you - no longer threaten this world." "And when will that be?" Susan asked sarcastically. "When they are dead?" Jeanne shook her head, causing a small cascade of gemstone chips to flutter down, like a shower of tiny lights. "I would be willing to release them today... if you are willing to pay the small fee I demand." "What is it?" Susan demanded, not sounding at all pleased with the idea of a ransom. "My freedom," Jeanne replied, her eyes glinting fiercely. "If I am freed from this prison that surrounds me, then your companions will no longer threaten this world and they can be released." "No way," Susan replied firmly. "Earthforce does not negotiate with terrorists. Release the prisoners and then we will talk." "Susan..." Talia began, before she was cut off by Jeanne. Jeanne leaned forward on her throne and smiled menacingly. "I assure you, Captain Ivanova, if I wished to caused terror, I could." Then her face softened and grew sadder. "But that is not my way. I am not a terrorist, just a sick and tired old woman who sees your arrival here as her one last chance to see some of the universe before she dies." "You don't look very old, or at all sick," Susan said disbelievingly. Jeanne sighed deeply and looked away for a second, glancing over at the throne room's windows. "I am older than I look," she said softly. "Do you see those windows? How old do you think they are?" Susan gaze swept across the room, before falling on the closest of the windows, an image of a large warrior clutching a long tube of some kind. She couldn't tell the age, it could have been ten years old, or it could have been a hundred. Finally she settled somewhere in between, and answered, "Fifty?" Jeanne shook her head and looked up at Morkazz. "Tell her, Counsellor." Morkazz nodded and stepped forward. "They are nearly three hundred years old," he said proudly. "They show the greatest of our race, all of warriors and artisans whose achievements have done something to improve this world are honoured here. It is every hatchling's dream to one day be honoured in this way." "So?" "I was over five centuries old when the first of those windows was constructed," Jeanne explained. "Ever since then, nearly three hundred years now, I have not left the confines of the throne room or rooms above it. To do so would mean my death, as I do not have the energy to survive in the world outside. The temperature here is adjusted perfect to suit my condition, but outside of this place the cold would kill me. I want you to end this imprisonment and in return I will release your companions unharmed and a great deal wealthier than they were before their stay with me." "I'm not sure I understand," Susan replied, frowning. "You can't leave this room, right? Why don't you get some of these creatures to carry you to where you want to go, or use that ship we saw back in the canyon. What can we do, that you can't do yourself." "They are not creatures, Captain," Jeanne replied. "You will address the people of this world as either Arisians, or as my followers. Do not dishonour them with other titles. Now to your questions. I have attempted everything to free myself. As you already suggested, I had some of my followers carry me, in an attempt to escape this cursed cloud that hangs over us. The attempt failed, and I nearly died in the process. I am vulnerable to cold and although the temperature outside may only be a little lower than this room, the difference is enough to seriously weaken me. I also require food to keep myself alive. As you noticed before, I can no longer eat most Human foods, just those that are very high in energy. Instead, I require a more pure form of energy to live. Sunlight is best, but heat can also be enough. Unfortunately neither is common here. As for the ship, it is suffering as much as me. It too requires light to survive, and until it get what it needs, it will sleep." "How do you survive, then?" Talia inquired. Jeanne waved a hand in the direction of a small door on the left hand side of the throne room. "I have created an elixir that will sustain me. It is not perfect, but I have survived long enough on it to live for eight hundred years, and I suspect that I may still have another fifty to live before the elixir is no longer enough." "So what is it you want us to do?" Susan asked. "I want you to remove the cloud that covers this part of the world," Jeanne replied, pointing towards the ceiling. "With that gone, the sun will again shine and I will be free to absorb its energy. Then, I will be free of this constant agony that fills me and my people will be able to walk among the stars with the other races. If you do this then I will return to you those I have kept prisoner, but not before." "How the hell can we remove a weather pattern," Susan demanded. "We can't just reach down and pluck it out of the sky for you, and none of our weapons will have much effect on it." "But they can, Captain. Not on the storm itself, of course, but on the machine that creates it. Destroy the machine and the storm will fade away, allowing sunlight to again fall on this world." "It's an artificial storm?" Talia gasped. "Dr. Melis was right then." "That doesn't sound very likely," Susan argued. "I have heard of weather control technology, the Centauri have it, but nothing like this. How can something make a storm remain in one place like that for eight hundred years? Let alone create such a huge storm in the first place." "You are have only seen the technology of the minor races," Jeanne replied. "There are other, much older races that know considerably more than races like the Centauri will ever discover." "You mean the Vorlons, don't you?" Jeanne's face twitched for a second, before she answered in careful, measured, almost painful tones. "Yes, the... Vorlons," she replied with a choking rasp, forcing herself to say their name. "They created the device that drives the storm and they were responsible for my imprisonment here in the first place." "We saw the warning pillars they built," Susan told Jeanne. "They said that you were dangerous and that you could not be allowed to escape. They sounded almost as though they were afraid of you." "I am sure they did," Jeanne replied, almost laughing. "Why?" Jeanne smiled faintly, but her eyes looked sad. "It is a long story, Captain, one I am loath to tell. I am not sure you would understand everything either." "How can we trust you, then?" Susan asked. "You are asking us to release you from this world. Even if that's possible, and I'm still not sure it is, then how do we know that what the Vorlons said isn't true. I can't release you if you are a threat to Earth." "I no longer have any interest in that world," Jeanne said. "Once, long ago, all I wanted was to go back to Earth, and had I returned, then your world would have been a very different place. Imagine a world where space travel had been achieved in the fifteenth century, and all the world had been united under one ruler. Humanity would have controlled much of the galaxy by now." "Under your leadership, of course," Susan muttered, having seen enough petty tyrants in her life to recognise the way Jeanne was talking. Jeanne smiled at her. "Of course, back then I wanted to rule the entire world, to reshape it into the image I imagined it should have been. I would have succeeded too, the Vorlons knew that, which was part of the reason they stuck me here. They didn't want me to interfere with their plans." "That's what the Vorlon in the swamp said," Susan replied, remembering the crashed transport they had discovered in the swamp while looking for the Sturt. "He said that if you escaped, they would die and their cause would be lost with them." A strange look came over Jeanne's face. "Vorlon in the swamp? What Vorlon in the swamp. There are no Vorlons on this world, if there were I would have killed them. What are you talking about?" "There was a crashed Vorlon transport," Susan explained, slightly concerned about Jeanne's last statement about killing a Vorlon. If it was possible, then she faced a very powerful being indeed. If not, then Jeanne was obviously deranged, which could make her just as dangerous. "We went to examine it, and discovered that part of a Vorlon remained trapped inside. It spoke to me, asking me to take over from it as guardian of this world." Jeanne looked thoughtful, glancing over at the window which depicted the warrior again. "There was a Vorlon ship that came near this world," she mused, as much to herself as to either of her guests. "It was three hundred years ago now. I created a weapon to destroy it, and it crashed into the swamp. None of the search parties found anything, despite scouring the swamps for nearly a full month. If anything was out there, they would have found it... unless, of course, it was being hidden. If there was a Vorlon, or even part of the Vorlon alive inside it, then it might have been able to hide itself from view." She suddenly stopped speaking are glared suspiciously at Susan. "Why did it speak to you then?" "Perhaps, because we were the first non-native beings to wander by," Susan suggested, feeling slightly nervous. She knew the only reason she had picked up on the Vorlon's presence was because she had been a telepath. She wasn't about to tell Jeanne that though, preferring to keep her abilities a secret for now, so she would have something to fall back on should things go badly. "That is unlikely," Jeanne replied, dismissing Susan's suggestion. "The Vorlons were not aware of the presence of any intelligent life on this world before they left me here. They would not have know the difference between you and one of my followers." "Perhaps they knew more than you thought they did." "No, there must be another explanation," Jeanne replied, irritably tapping her sharp, talon-like fingernails on the arm of the throne, unmindful of the scratches she was leaving there. Talia didn't miss them though, and quickly pointed them out to Susan. Jeanne didn't catch their hurried glances, eventually muttering, "I can only think of one other possibility, though." "What's that?" Susan asked, her eyes focused on the damage Jeanne's fingernails were doing to the smooth wood of her throne's armrest. Every time the fingernail struck the wood, it cut straight into it as if it was as soft as the jelly that Morkazz was so fond of. Jeanne's face suddenly clouded over and she stared angrily at Susan. "You must be one of their servants," she said accusingly. "You were on Babylon 5 when the Vorlon Kosh was there, so you must have spoken to him many times. You must have agreed to serve the Vorlon cause, that is why the Vorlon in the swamp recognised you." "I did no such thing," Susan replied angrily, annoyed that anyone could question her loyalty. She might have agreed with the decision to break away from Earth during Clark's rule, but that didn't mean that she didn't still remain loyal to her homeworld in her heart. "I have always served Earth loyally, and after what the Vorlons did, how can you accuse me of serving them." "I have already discovered three Vorlon servants among the prisoners," Jeanne replied. "I have cured them, but I knew there would be more." "Do you mean the telepaths?" Talia suddenly asked, shock plainly visible on her face. "I remember from the Sturt's crew manifests that there were three telepaths on the survey ship. Captain Lawton said that all three were missing. That's who you mean, isn't it?" "Yes, telepaths, that's what they called themselves," Jeanne replied, still staring suspiciously at Susan. "They tried to trick my guards, so I had to cure them. They will recover in time and the Vorlons will no longer have a hold over them. Now, I must cure you, Captain. Otherwise, I can not trust you to tell the truth. The Vorlons are a deceitful race and their servants must also be just as evil." Beside her, Morkazz suddenly stepped forward from where he had stood quietly behind the throne, forgotten by all parties. "Shall I summon the healers, Mistress. There are still three of the devices remaining, and I am sure one can be bought here in only a few minutes. This creature should be healed before she does any more harm." Susan stared at Jeanne in shock, both over her revelations and the fact that there could be a cure that would take away her powers. All her life she had looked on her abilities as a curse, something to be hated, and now there was a chance they could be gone forever. Then she looked over at Talia, and stared the pleading eyes of the woman who meant more to her than anything in the world. What they had discovered over the past few weeks could be lost if she no longer had her telepathic abilities, and Susan knew she couldn't allow that. "No," she said firmly, staring back at Jeanne. "Just because I am a telepath doesn't mean I serve the Vorlons. I fought against them in the Shadow War, for gods sake." "Do not mention false gods to me," Jeanne replied coldly, her eyes blazing. "I know there was no telepaths on Earth when I was there...." Suddenly she stopped and her face went pale. "Oh no," she said under her breath. She looked back at Susan and all her anger seemed to have evaporated, replaced by a look of shock and regret. "I am sorry, Captain," she said softly. "I had forgotten about the second part of their plan. Please forgive me, I didn't mean to hurt you." Susan looked surprised at this sudden change of heart. "What are you talking about?" A tear trickled down one side of Jeanne's face. "I have hurt those telepaths, haven't I? I didn't mean to, I thought I was curing them." "What did you do," Talia asked gently, trying to comfort Jeanne. Jeanne brushed away the hair above her forehead, revealing a thin circuit of metal, studded with four large emeralds. "I created copies of this device," she explained. "It prevents anyone from reading my thoughts. On a telepath, it stops their powers completely, leaving a void in their minds. Had I realised that they were innocent victims, I wouldn't have done it. But I thought they worked for the Vorlons. I was worried they would tell their masters I was still alive. I had forgotten all about the second part to the plan." "What plan?" Susan demanded, managing to avoid shuddering at the though of something that had been with someone for most of their life, suddenly being snatched away. Her own telepathic abilities had only really been with her for a month, but already she couldn't imagine life without them. To never feel the love Talia had for her reflected in her mind would be too high a price to pay. Jeanne turned to one side, awkwardly wiping away the tear that had stained her cheek, before looking back at Susan. "It is a long story," she replied. "But, perhaps it is one that should now be told." She paused and looked over at Morkazz, who was regarding the whole situation with a confused stare. "Counsellor, I need you to do something for me." "Anything, Mistress," the Counsellor replied eagerly, looking pleased to have his services called on again. "Good, go and check on the rest of the Humans. Then, wait there until I call for you." "At once, Mistress," Morkazz replied hurrying off towards the throne room doors. As soon as he was out of earshot, Susan glared suspiciously at Jeanne. "Why did you ask him to leave?" she asked. "There are some things the beings of this world are not yet ready to hear," Jeanne replied. "They only discovered my presence after the Vorlons had finished burning the surface of this world. I hid my true form from view, and told them that I was there to help them. I could not bring myself to tell them the truth, that it was my fault that their world had been destroyed. Like all lies, it has grown, and now I can't ever tell them the truth. They are a good people, far more trusting and loyal than humanity, but they are not ready to learn what I really am." "You are going to tell us, though." "Yes, Captain," Jeanne replied. "I will tell you and then you will see why the Vorlon have imprisoned me here, and why you must release me. I just hope that you understand the pain they have put me through." There was a loud banging sound from outside the throne room, followed by raised voices, obviously an argument of some kind. "Shouldn't you check on that," Talia asked, looking nervously back at the golden doors. "Someone might get hurt." "I am sure Morkazz can handle whatever the problem is," Jeanne replied. "Azrak and his soldiers have strict instructions not to harm any of your companions, so no-one should be injured." She paused and considered where to begin her tale. Finally, she turned to Susan and asked, "What do you know about the Vorlons?" Susan shrugged. "Not a lot. I know that they are very old and that they remained behind, along with the Shadows, to watch over the younger races after the other first ones went away. I know they have organic ships and are very strong telepaths, but that is about it." "You know much more than most," Jeanne complemented her. "Are you aware of what they look like outside the encounter suits? I mean, what they really look like, not the image they project." "I have seen only one of them," Susan replied. "When we had to get rid of the second Vorlon ambassador, I saw what he looked like then." "What did you see?" Jeanne pressed. Susan struggled for words to describe what she had seen. She hadn't actually been present at the battle with the Vorlon ambassador, but had viewed recordings latter and listened to the stories of those who had been there. "He looked sort like a large glowing squid," she decided finally. "I didn't actually see him up close, only on a recording. What I saw though, resembled a squid, with long tentacles and a large bulbous body." "That is close enough," Jeanne replied. "The Vorlons were originally an aquatic species, so they still resembled their ancient ancestors in their ethereal form. Their world was once covered by vast oceans with only a few small islands of land, so their technology developed a little different than most other races. Most of the common metals were useless beneath the water, due to corrosion and rust, so they developed organic metals. These metal enabled them to develop advanced technologies, which lead to the building of vast cities and eventually starships." "Their ships are alive, aren't they. I mean, I know that they are based on organic technology, but their ships are actually living creatures, almost sentient." Jeanne nodded in confirmation. "Like much of their technology. The Vorlons have very powerful telepathic abilities, so they can influence other living things. Each ship is linked to a single Vorlon from birth and they are like them in strange kind of way. A ship will often take on the personality of its owner, it makes them more compatible, and therefore easier to command. But, none of that is important to my story." She paused and hesitated over what to say next. Finally, she asked, "you have heard of the dark ones, the Shadows I believe you call them." After Susan nodded, Jeanne continued. "Millions of years ago, when most of the older races vanished from this universe, some to other galaxies, some to other universes, the Vorlons and the Shadows remained to guide the younger races." "I know this," Susan cut in. "The Vorlons and the Shadows were meant to guide the younger races, but instead, they started warring amongst each other, each seeking to prove that their message was the only one the younger races heard. I was there when they left this galaxy, I heard the truth." "You have heard some of the truth," Jeanne told her. "Some, but not all. But you are right, that is pretty much what happened. However, there is a lot more to the story than just that. Perhaps ten thousand years ago, the wars between the races allied to the Vorlons and those allied to the Shadows covered much of this galaxy. Each side had hundreds of younger races it had manipulated into the serving it. However, like you have now discovered the truth, these other races also learned of the true reasons for their wars. In the last great galaxy spanning war, nearly ten thousand years ago, these other races drove off the Shadows and the Vorlons, sending them hurtling back across the galaxy to their homeworlds. A great coalition of worlds rose out of the galactic core and formed a mighty empire. I don't know if this empire still exists, but at its height it was able to crush both the Vorlon, the Shadows, and all the races who still remain loyal to them." "I haven't heard any of this," Susan admitted. "You were not supposed to," Jeanne said. "Neither of the old races like to admit their failures. They cut off all access to the core worlds, which is why the Vorlon empire stretches over such a large area, yet has few populated worlds. Then they withdrew from most of the galaxy, focusing all their attentions on the small portion of the galaxy around their homeworlds. In the next great war, around nine thousand years ago, the sides were fairly even again, with each race controlling approximately half of the forces. However, after that, things began to go badly for the Vorlons. Many of the races who had supported them died out, and others moved on, leaving for brighter pastures. This left the Shadows at a great advantage and over the next few wars they began to slowly beat the Vorlons, bringing more and more of the younger races under their sway. That was when the Vorlons started to change the rules. They were losing badly, so they had to do something drastic. After a hundred years of consideration and debate, they chose to select from the very young races, those that had not yet made it to the stars, the few who they determined were going to become powerful. The Minbari were the first of these young races to be selected and the Vorlon visited their world perhaps five thousand years ago, sowing the seed of legends." Jeanne paused again and looked sheepishly over at Susan. "I should have remembered the next part of their plan, before I tried to hurt you. My thoughts have been on other matters though, so I did not remember until it was too late." "You mean the part about the Vorlon's creating telepaths?" Susan asked. Jeanne nodded. "Yes, that is what happened, to the Minbari and then more recently to a hundred other worlds. You see, most races will eventually become telepathic once they evolve beyond the physical shells of their bodies. The Vorlon originally communicated to each other in song, which could travel over great distances through the waters of their world." "Like dolphins and whales," Talia suggested. "I have never seen either of those species," Jeanne replied. "Although I have heard of them and I imagine their ways of communication are similar. Anyway, as the Vorlon evolved to become creatures of energy, they became telepathic and could communicate with each other by the powers of their minds, instead of their vocal songs. Of course, they could still use their normal voices, but outside the ocean it was difficult to hear and they need translators to communicate to the other races. But that is all unimportant to the story." She paused for a second to remember where she had left off, before continuing. "After the Minbari, the Vorlon travelled to other worlds, again planting legends in the minds of that world's priests or shamen, so that they would be looked on kindly on their return. On some worlds their plans succeeded, while on others it failed dismally. The Minbari fell for it totally, becoming the Vorlon's most loyal followers." "They didn't know any better," Susan interrupted. "They thought the Vorlons were gods." "Which is what they were meant to think," Jeanne replied with a dark look on her face. "The Vorlons powers are subtle, but very powerful. They knew that once these suggestions had been planted on the worlds of the younger races, they would be much easier to manipulate. I know you were on Babylon 5 when Kosh revealed himself, what did you see?" "You already know the answer to that question," Susan replied, feeling a little annoyed at herself. She remembered the way she had felt when she had seen the angelic figure rising up over the gardens, and there was no way she was going to give anyone the pleasure of knowing how angry she felt when she had learnt it was Kosh. "Yes I do, Captain." "Well I don't," Talia cut in. "In case you don't remember, Susan, I wasn't there." Jeanne turned and look at Talia. "She saw what I also saw, eight hundred and fifty years ago. The Vorlons can reach inside your mind and twist your senses until you see only what they want you to see. Everyone on Babylon 5 that day, saw an angelic being rising up from the garden, each in the image of his or her own species. Of course, there was no record of this on the cameras, was there?" Susan shook her head. "No, there was a problem with the recorders at almost exactly the same time as Kosh appeared." Jeanne nodded. "I thought so, the Vorlon knew that if it had been recorded by a camera the image it was projecting would not have been picked up, and it would have been seen for what it really was. Vorlons can also effect electrical devices, just like most powerful telepaths, so it would have disabled them. I image it was quite a strain on its powers, but Kosh always was one of the strongest of the Vorlons." "You seem to know a lot about this," Susan noted. "Yes, I do," Jeanne agreed. "There is a reason for that, but I do not want to get ahead of myself. As I mentioned before, the Vorlons had manipulated the younger races into following them, attempting to ensure their victory over their enemies. However, it would be many years before these younger races reached for the stars, so they were fated to continue losing until that occurred. The Minbari were the first and they surpassed everything the Vorlons could have imagined. They were proud, strong and loyal, just what the Vorlons were looking for, and when the next war came along, they had new allies to fight off their enemies. Things did not go their way though, and they were not winning. They weren't losing either, but they wanted to win. Then something occurred that changed everything." "Babylon 4," Susan muttered. Jeanne's eyes opened in shock. "You know of what happened to Babylon 4?" she asked in amazement. "How is that possible." "I helped steal it," Susan admitted, ignoring the strange look Talia was giving her. "That was very stupid of you," Jeanne told her, an angry look on her face. "You helped the Vorlons and the Minbari drive off the Shadows in the last war. That altered history, changed the way things were supposed to be. You are partially responsible for what happened to me." "I don't see how," Susan argued. "I thought that without Babylon 4, the Shadows would have come out of the last war with more vessels. Did you want them to win?" "No," Jeanne admitted. "I didn't want to see them win, but then I didn't want the Vorlons to win either. That victory encouraged their efforts, it lead them to alter more and more races. A thousand year ago, after the Shadows had been defeated and driven into hiding, they searched across the worlds of the younger races, seeking to discover those worlds which would be the most powerful during the next war, the one you have just lived through. Their success with Valen made them realise that they needed another leader to take command during the next war and for that task, they chose me." "You!" Susan said disbelievingly. "You mean that eight hundred years ago, the Vorlons had selected you as their new great leader?" "That is correct, although it was eight hundred and fifty" Jeanne replied. "One of the first things they did was give me immortality, although they could have just as easily frozen me for a few centuries. The Vorlons wanted to make me better than Valen though, harder to kill, and a leader who could survive forever, ensuring their victory for all future generations." "Why you," Talia asked. Jeanne shrugged. "I do not know why they originally chose me, but I know why they chose the human race. They knew that during the next war, it would come down to one or two species. Following the last war, several races had sided with the Shadows permanently, travelling to live on their homeworld. The Vorlons were more cautious than the Shadows, and didn't want the younger races seeing their worlds. They preferred to remain cold and aloof, I believe they thought it made them more mysterious. Anyway, the Vorlons determined that the next war would come down to which side Humanity would ally with." "You're kidding," Susan laughed. "Earth barely even made it into space in time for this war. If it wasn't for the Centauri, we would still be stuck back on our homeworld, ignorant of the war that was occurring above us." "Assuming that the Centauri weren't encouraged to visit Earth by the Vorlons, I agree. I think the Vorlons thought that Humanity would reach space much earlier than it did. They saw Earth as a young and vibrant world, ripe for the picking. All they had to do was ensure that Humanity followed them when the time was right. The key to ensure this, was me. They wanted to make me their champion, their messenger to the people of Earth. Had they succeeded, no-one on Earth would have doubted the righteousness of the Vorlon cause and the Shadows would have been defeated again, only this time for good." "How, though?" Susan asked. "Forgive me for saying this, but you don't really inspire me to follow the you into the depths of hell, or anything like that." Jeanne smiled faintly. "As I said before, I am sick and tired. Had I the energy I need to do more than just keep myself alive, you might think differently, but you are right, that was not all there was to their plan. When they took me from Earth, they did it in such a way as to ensure that I would be remembered by those who knew me. A few carefully worded revelations to a loyal priest or two over the years, and I would have become a legend. Then, all the Vorlons had to do was show up with me in tow and present me to a believing world as their chosen leader. No-one would have questioned it, even those who didn't believe in Angels and God. Everyone would have fallen behind me, and the Vorlon victory would have been assured." "What happened then?" Susan asked. "They were overconfident, and I was jusr a little too loyal," Jeanne said softly. She reached up and touched the metallic circuit again. "They gave me this, so they could speak to me easier. But, it turned out to be their worst mistake. Back then, I was so loyal to the Vorlons that it sickens me to even think about it now. I didn't question anything they said. After all, they were the messengers of God. I wanted to help them, to fight the demons they told me about. By the time they gave me this device, they had taught me many things. I knew things that the greatest scientists on Earth today don't even know. I wanted to show them how much I had learned, so I took the device and I... altered it. Their constant thoughts running around in my head was hurting me, so I decided that if I could alter the device to shut the thoughts out, the pain would go away. I thought they would be proud of me, but instead they were angry. Worse than that, the device now shut out all of their telepathic powers. When they came to punish me, I saw them as they really were." Jeanne paused to wipe away the tears that were beginning to fall from her face. She smiled wanly at Susan and Talia. "You must understand, that I was only a young, poorly educated, peasant girl. All my life, I had been taught to follow the word of god, and the sudden discovery that my angels were nothing more than alien creatures trying to manipulate me came as something as a shock. I am afraid I became rather angry and killed six of the Vorlons who were on the ship. The rest fled in a transport, leaving me alone on the research vessel. Eventually they spoke to me again. I demanded to be returned to my world, but instead they tricked me, imprisoning me here. Which brings us to the end of the story, or the beginning, depending on which way you look at it." "There is one thing I don't understand," Susan said. "Why didn't they just kill you? Why leave you here? I can understand them being afraid of what you could tell others, but why not just kill you?" "It is never that simple with the Vorlons. They made me too powerful for a start. Not content with just making me immortal, the Vorlon involved decided to make me into a powerful warrior as well, ensuring that I couldn't be killed easily. It would do no good to place me on Earth, only to have someone kill me off the next day. I had to be able to survive. They made me a lot like them, without regard for the pain it cost me. The awful, awful pain. I don't eat any more, instead I absorb energy and heat through the pores of my skin. Most of my internal organs were no longer necessary, so they removed or replaced them. My blood was altered to become regenerative, so even if I was injured I could heal quickly. In fact, the only things that can hurt me are cold and darkness." "They could have dropped you somewhere in space, or stuck you in hyperspace." Jeanne nodded. "They could have, but there was another reason why they didn't want me dead. Apart from the fact that they hoped I would eventually return to their side, they also sought to regain that which I taken from them." Seeing the confused stares on the faces of her guests, Jeanne added. "You don't know what happens when a Vorlon dies, do you?" Susan shook her head. "Not really. I do know that when Kosh died, part of him was left behind." "Yes, his memories, his knowledge and everything that made him what he was. You see, when a Vorlon dies, it is only the shell that is destroyed. The Vorlon still remains behind for a while as a memory, an image of what it had been. If another of its kind is nearby, then it can hold the Vorlon for a while, long enough to return to the homeworld. There they have this... pool I guess is the best way to describe it. The remaining part of the dead Vorlon is added to this pool, where it joins all the other dead. The other Vorlons come and meditate in the tower where this pool is located and they can speak to those who have gone before, learning their wisdom and seeking answers to their questions. This is why they didn't want to kill me." "Because of the pool," Susan said quizzically, confused by the idea. "Because I prevented those I killed from returning to the pool," Jeanne explained. "The Vorlons I killed didn't leave even the faintest memory behind. They made me too powerful, when I killed them I also drained away their life energy, their knowledge and everything they were. Mercifully, I was spared their memories, but I have within me the combined knowledge of seven Vorlons." "Oh God," Talia exclaimed, shivering slightly. "No wonder they were afraid of you." Jeanne nodded sadly. "I didn't know what I was doing back then, I just wanted to kill them for misleading me. Afterwards, I discovered that I knew much more than I should, all about Vorlon history, how to write and understand the Vorlon language, and how much of their technology works. I think that the Vorlons believed that they could retrieve the memories of those I had killed, which is why they left me alive. They wanted to make me weak, so that they could retrieve their lost companions. I refused to die though, and with the assistance of the beings of this world, made myself strong enough to survive. Now you are here, and I can finally be free of this hell I have been condemned to." "Can we trust you though?" Susan asked her. "How do we know you won't try to conquer Earth or something like that?" Jeanne frowned. "I have just told you everything, Captain, my entire life. I have never told anyone that before, not even my closest advisers and you still doubt me." "I just want to be sure. I believe what you say, so much matches what I know that it can't be wrong, but I need to believe that you won't try to finish off what you started." Jeanne nodded in understanding. "Once long ago, I would have done what I said earlier. Eight hundred years ago, I wanted more than anything to conquer Earth, but that was only so I could destroy the Vorlons. But they are gone now, aren't they? They have gone beyond the galactic rim into whatever lies beyond and so there is nothing I can do against them now. Certainly, I could destroy their worlds, but that would be a hollow, wasteful victory. The war has been won and I wasn't a part of it. In a strange kind of way, I am glad it turned out this way. It is better that the Vorlon's own nature is what destroyed their plans in the end, not my knowledge." "What do you want now then?" Talia asked, cutting in before Susan could ask the same question. "What are your plans if you are freed." A faint flicker of a smile crossed Jeanne's lips. "I want to see a beach." Seeing the shocked look on her guest's faces, she chuckled. "Is that so hard to imagine. All my life I have wanted to go to the beach. To sit on pure white sands and feel the burning sun beat down on my face. I want to sip exotic tropical fruit juices and swim in pure blue waters. Just for once, I want nothing to worry about, no Vorlons, nothing. I just want to lie back and let the troubles of the universe pass me by, I want nothing to do with them any more. You have to believe, that after everything I have been through and everything I have seen, there is nothing on Earth or any of the other younger races' homeworlds that interests me. I just want to get off this dank pit and go out and see the universe. Perhaps, somewhere out there, I will find the beach I am searching for." Sel Vecantie e-mail: vecantie@geocities.com homepage: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/9933/ ICQ: 23223547 From: "Sel" Subject: The Secret of Arias, Chapter 10/11 - Part B Date: Sat, 13 Mar 1999 10:23:07 +1030 "I want to believe you," Susan said softly. "But, if there is one thing I have learned over the past few years, it is that no-one is ever exactly what they seem. Everyone has an agenda, and while you might say that you don't wish to harm anyone, how can I believe that? How do I know that you are not lying to me right now, and when you are free of this world, you won't try to continue what you have begun. What if I were to free you and then you started conquering worlds. How can I be sure that what you are saying is the truth." "You don't believe me?" Jeanne asked incredulously. "After all I have told you, you still don't believe me?" "I want to," Susan repeated. "I can imagine what it must have been like, trapped here for all that time, but I need some proof that you are not a threat. I swore and oath to protect the Earth Alliance from all threats, and from where I am sitting, you are a potential threat. I know you must have suffered, but I can't judge you on what might have happened in the past, only on your current actions, and they haven't really been worthy of trust so far. If I put aside everything that the Vorlons have said about you, and everything that the you have said about them, then I am still left with the fact that you have taken a large number of civilians, as well as one of my senior officers, hostage. To me, your actions only seem to back up the Vorlon warnings." "You are a suspicious woman, Captain Ivanova," Jeanne said ruefully. "Is there no way that I can convince you that story is true, and that my intentions are pure?" "There is one way," Susan answered, shuddering at the mere though of what she was about to suggest. "And I suspect both of us know what it is, and both of us hate the idea of it. Let me look into your mind, let me see the truth of what you saying for myself. That is the only way I can know if you are being truthful or not." "I am afraid that it impossible," Jeanne said firmly, unconsciously reaching up and touching the metallic circuit that rested on her brow. Not if you want me to experience your truth," Susan replied. "But if you won't, then how can I trust you?" Jeanne frowned. "I meant that it is impossible because I can not remove this device, at least not without considerable pain and injury. I have worn it for so long that the skin around it has bonded with the organic metal. If I removed it, I would need to cut away half of my scalp as well, I am sure you don't want me to do that." "I don't want to hurt you," Susan agreed. "And I do want to believe you. But, I can't risk it. I won't be responsible for loosing a Vorlon killing machine on a defenceless universe." "When I was last on the Earth, many people were just as suspicious and disbeliving as you are," Jeanne said angrily. "Like them, you don't understand. I can't kill anyone, the mere thought of ending another person's life is completely against my nature. When I killed the Vorlons I thought I was killing demons, unholy creatures of evil who were attempting to twist my mind and make me betray my god. I didn't realise until later what they really were, or what I had done." "How do we know that, though?" Talia asked. "I have to agree with Susan here. The Vorlon created you to fight for them, but also to rule Earth. Based on what we have seen here, you have obviously grown used to the idea of ruling, the beings on this world treat you as some kind of goddess. If you are freed, won't you just try and expand your empire across other worlds? We only really have your word that you won't attempt anything like that." Jeanne stared at Talia, a shocked expression on her face. "You think that I like ruling this world?" She exclaimed. "I never wanted to rule anything, I just wanted to help people, to heal the injured and the sick. When I was abandoned on this world, the Vorlons weren't just content with creating that cloud to trap me here, they turned their fleet's weapons on the planet's surface as well, burning the jungles and killing many of the native life forms. After they left, the surviving natives crawled out of the jungle, and into the same caves where I had escaped to. I do not know how many there were before the Vorlons came, but after the attack, barely even a thousand survived. I helped them to live, gave them technology to heal their injuries, to feed themselves, and finally to adjust to the world's new environment. In return, they helped me recover from my own wounds and eventually they built this palace for me. I am not their goddess, but merely their guardian and guide." "That's not the way it seems to me," Susan argued. "I spoke to General Azrak on the way here, the way he talk about you is that same why other races talk about their gods. Then there is the rules you have imposed on your Arisians. Your 'followers' aren't permitted to gain personal wealth, and they must speak English. What about their own culture, what is left of that?" "It is not like that," Jeanne replied softly. "What is it like, then? I know what I saw." "Do you?" Jeanne asked. "Do you really understand what you saw? Did you look at the artisans and workers at the great plaza. Did they look unhappy to you? What I did on this world was necessary, not just for me, but for the people of this planet as well. They were a dying race, and if I hadn't intervened, they would no longer exist. Now, there are nearly two million living within this city, and a few thousand more live in the outlying settlements. I did not force them to stay here either, they may leave if they will. My domain only stretches as far as the outermost construction site, beyond that is empty land. They live here though, not because I forced them, but because they wish to remain. Ask them yourself, if you don't believe me. Anyone one of the citizens of this city will tell you the same thing." "I already have," Susan said, remembering the conversations she had with Azrak after they had finished crossing the bridge over the canyon. "I asked General Azrak what you were like, because I thought that you could be Human. He told me you weren't though and that you were a 'shadowy figure' of some kind. Now I find out that isn't true, and my first impression was true after all, which frankly makes me rather suspicious. If you have been lying to the people of this world for so many years, then how do I know you are not lying to me now?" "I am not lying to you," Jeanne replied firmly. "There are good reason why I didn't show them my true form all those years ago. Back then, they were still a young and violent race and they valued strength above all other things. If I had appeared before them, injured and close to death then they would have killed me. I had to hide, make myself appear stronger than I actually was. I had no choice, I wanted to live. You can not blame me for that, anyone would have done the same thing in my position. Now, however, they are more mature. Through my guidance they have learned to channel their efforts into more productive avenues. I have even begun to think that they are ready to rule themselves without my guidance, I have even chosen three of my closest advisors to replace me when I... leave." "It sounds like you knew we were coming," Susan noted suspiciously. Jeanne turned at smiled wanly at her. "Not really, Captain. It came as something of a surprise to suddenly have visitors. I guess I should have expected it once the Vorlons left. There are always those who seek to gain wealth and knowledge that they have not earned. However, I didn't choose my replacements because I thought I was going to be rescued, I chose them because I knew I was going to die. It may be still another twenty or thirty years before I die completely, but long before then I will fall into a deep sleep, from which I will never arise. Already I have been experiencing the beginnings of my death, an unnatural tiredness has been creeping across me and several times I have collapsed, unable to remain conscious." "And if we destroy this machine, or whatever it is, then you will recover?" "That is correct," Jeanne nodded. "I need sunlight now to survive, without it I will die. So if you don't help me now, then you won't just be leaving me imprisoned here, you will be leaving me to die." "But, if we release you, we could be causing the deaths of untold thousands of people," Susan said, before quickly adding, "If you turn out to be as dangerous as the Vorlon insist." "Captain, do you think they would have selected me as their champion in the first place if I was dangerous?" Jeanne asked, sounding annoyed at the very idea. "They chose me because I would best serve their cause, which was one of order. They didn't select me because I went around killing people for no reason. Besides, what could I do now, anyway? Despite the Vorlon's assertions, I am not a powerful being. I can survive in situations that would otherwise kill a normal Human, but I am no stronger than anyone else. I can, however, destroy energy based life forms with considerable ease, but how many energy based life forms exist in this galaxy now that the Vorlons and the First Ones are gone?" "None that I am aware of," Susan admitted finally, after searching her brain to try and come up with one other race who had been similar to the Vorlon. The only being she could come up with was Jason Ironheart, but she didn't think that a single creature composed a race. "And do you think I could just return to Earth and take over?" Jeanne continued. "If the Vorlons had completed their education of the population, then it would have been possible, but they didn't proceed after I rebelled against them. Instead they moved on to their second plan and started creating telepaths on various alien worlds. All I have now, is one ship, one single solitary warship, which I am sure would not last long against the fleets of even the weakest of the alien worlds. I am not a threat any more, once perhaps, but not any more. Even if I wanted to try and conquer the galaxy or something stupid like that, I could not succeed. Surely you should realised by now, after everything that you have been through and everything that you have seen, that I can not possibly pose a threat to even the most minor power in this galaxy." "You seemed to done quite well on this world," Susan noted, although she was beginning to feel less and less convinced by her own arguments. Jeanne looked displeased. "I know how things appear, Captain. But they are not always the way they appear to be. It is much more difficult to convince a civilised being, than it is a barbarian. Eight hundred years ago the people of this world were barbarians, a loose coalition of tribes that warred amongst themselves most of the time. It was not difficult to convince them to change their ways and follow mine, but I do not think it would be as easy to do the same on Earth." "I'm not so sure about that," Susan replied, remembering the way former President Clark had managed to twist everyone's opinions and make them support him. Well, not everyone of course, there were still those like John Sheridan who had stood up against the lies. Clark had a whole support mechanism behind him though, and if Jeanne attempted the same she would be alone. "All right," Susan said. "I am willing to concede the point that there isn't a lot you can do, even if you are bent on destruction. But that still brings us back to the scientists that you have captured and imprisoned. I want them released before I am willing to do anything to help you." "What is to stop you just taking them and leaving me here?" Jeanne asked. "Nothing," Susan admitted. 'Except my conscience,' she thought, sneaking a glance at Talia. "You will just have to trust me." "That is difficult, Captain," Jeanne said softly. "I have been betrayed so many times in my life, that trust is not something that is easy for me to feel." "If you want me to trust you, then you have to trust me. Release the prisoners and I will help you. If you won't do that, then I know I can't trust you. Unless you are afraid that they will tell me something about you that you would prefer to keep hidden?" "I have not harmed any of my guests," Jeanne replied angrily. "I have treated them well and given them food and water and everything else they needed to be happy." She paused, and Susan could see that she was torn about what to say next. Finally, Jeanne decided on a course of action. "Very well, Captain," she said softly. "I will agree to release all of my guests. I will even let them keep the gems they have stolen from me if it will make you feel better." "Gems?" Talia asked, glancing up at the glittering ceiling. "This world is poor in metals, but rich in precious stones," Jeanne explained. "I kept your friends in the mines, because that was the only place I had to keep prisoners. There is little crime on this world and punishment is usually little more than a reduction in rank and status, so I have no gaols. I gave them some mining equipment, so they would have something to keep them busy." "So you didn't try and use them as slave labour then?" Susan asked, still suspicious of Jeanne's motives. Jeanne looked shocked at the very idea. "I do not have slaves, Captain," she replied hotly. "They were not asked to work on the mines, they only decided to do so when they realised what they were mining. As I said, I did not harm them." "All right, I believe you," Susan replied. "I want to see them and speak to them before I agree to anything though." "If you agree to do as I ask, then I will bring them to you," Jeanne counter-offered. "You can still change your mind again latter. It is just that I can not wait, I am too tired to sit around here while your friends are retrieved." "How far away are these mines?" Susan asked. "We can go to them, if you don't want to bring them to us." "I am afraid that is not really possible," Jeanne replied, picking nervously at one of the gems on her gown. "Your friends are no longer in the mines, they escaped a short time ago." "What!" Susan almost shouted. "You have kept us here all this time, attempting to use them as hostages, when they weren't even your prisoners." "I could have prevented their escape at any time," Jeanne replied. "I knew though, that if my discussion with you went well, then they would be released anyway. I thought it would give them a better sense of accomplishment if they escaped on their own. Of course, if our discussions don't end successfully, then I can send Azrak to recapture them. I would prefer not to though." "You have still lied to me again," Susan replied. "Again, I might add. How can I trust anything you say, if you weren't even telling the truth about the prisoners." "They are still my prisoners," Jeanne argued. "I permitted them to leave the mines, but until they leave the patrolled lands, they are still my prisoners. It makes no difference if they are in the mines or walking along on of the roads, they still remain under my control." "That's not the point." "And what is the point?" Jeanne asked angrily. "I have tried to be truthful with you, Captain Ivanova, but you are just being obstinate. I could have told you any story, many a lot more believable than the truth. Instead, I chose to tell you the truth, to throw myself on your mercy in the hope that you would help me out. You didn't believe me though, you have tried every kind of argument that you can to disprove my tale and paint me as some kind of murderous monster that is out to conquer entire worlds. What you fail to realise is that after eight hundred years, I am sick of ruling this world, let alone trying to conquer another. I just want to leave, to go out into the stars and see some of the galaxy before I die." "But is that the truth?" Susan asked. "After this last revelation, I don't know if I can believe you or not." Jeanne slumped back into her throne, looking tired and worn out. She reached into a pocket and pulled out a single data crystal. Slowly rolling it between her finders she watched the light sparkle through the crystal. "This crystal contains all the information about the Vorlon weather control machine," she said softly, handing it across to Susan. "Take it and go. I will have Azrak guide you to your companions, and you can leave with them. I will leave it up to you what you do next. I have told you the truth, it is up to you to decide if you believe me or not. I have freed your friends, now you must decide if you are going to free me, or leave me here to die." "I..." "Go, Captain," Jeanne said, waving a weak hand in the direction of the door. "There is nothing more I have to say. Go and work it out for yourself, I just don't have the strength to argue with you any more. If you want to let me die, then that is your choice, I don't care any more." Susan looked ready to say something, but Talia placed a hand on her arm. she said telepathically. With a cautious nod, Susan signalled her agreement and both woman left the throne room, although Susan stopped once to look back at Jeanne, who was still slumped in her throne, a figure of total dejection. Tears flowed unchecked down her pale cheeks, and Susan felt terrible about what she had said. She glanced down at the data crystal and then slipped it into her pocket, before following Talia out of through the golden doors and out into the hallway beyond. ------------------------------------------------------------ Susan stared back at the throne room doors, a slightly irritated expression on her face. She didn't regret what she said to Jeanne, but she wished that she could know if the dark-haired woman was telling the truth or not. Unlike other people she had met, Jeanne seemed to have an irritatingly annoying ability of hiding her emotions and, without using her telepathic powers, Susan had found it impossible to determine if anything Jeanne had said was true. She ended up torn between belief and scepticism. There was so much that Jeanne had told her that matched facts she already knew, and other things seemed true. But, Susan still found herself sceptical. There was something about Jeanne that was bothering her. Susan fingered the data crystal in her pocket, wondering what information it would contain, and if that information would be enough to convince her to free Jeanne. Right now though, she had other concerns. After leaving the throne room, she had soon found out the reason for the noises they had heard inside. Sergeant Drake had apparently wanted to check and see that she was still all right, something that the Arisian general had resisted very strongly indeed. A scuffle had resulted, leaving Drake with a black eye and two other marines with minor injuries. True to Jeanne's word though, no-one had been seriously hurt. It had left an air of mistrust between the two parties, which wasn't helped by Jack Melis' constant attempts to probe the Arisians for information about their technology and culture. "How much longer do we have to wait here?" Susan finally asked, looking over at General Azrak for an answer. The General shrugged. "Morkazz must return with orders from the Mistress. I find these orders of hers strange and must be sure of her wishes before I will comply." Susan sighed and leaned back against the wall, watching Melis trying to get one of the guards to tell him how the organic metal this entire city appeared to be made of was grown. The guard was ignoring him, concentrating instead on glaring at Drake, who was glaring back just as hard. It was therefore a great relief when the robed counsellor returned from the throne room and started to whisper urgently to the General. Azrak looked displeased with whatever was being said, but finally nodded. "Come with me," he said to Susan. "The Mistress has ordered that you be returned to the construction site. She has also ordered that the items take from the machine, I think you call it a rover, be returned." "What about Major Logan and the rest of the prisoners?" Azrak looked annoyed. "They have apparently escaped from the mine and we are to find them along the way. The Mistress has said that they were last seen moving climbing the stairs that lead to the new road. We will find them there and you can take them with you if you wish. I do not understand the Mistress' reasoning, but she has decreed that you may all leave, so I will obey. Her reasoning is often strange, but she has not failed us yet. Come now, we must leave." Susan nodded, and gestured to the rest of her team to follow the General. Melis looked forlornly at the throne room door, before allowing himself to be dragged away. Azrak led them along a new corridor, which soon opened up into a vast hallway lined with statues of Arisian warriors. "This is the hall of warriors," Azrak explained. "Only the greatest leaders are permitted to reside here." Susan examined one of the statues, noticing how lifelike it was. "You must have great sculptors," she commented. Azrak turned and stared at her, a strange look on his face. "Sculptors?" he asked, sounding as if he had never heard the word before. "Stone carvers, the artisans who created these statues." "They are not called sculptors," Azrak corrected. "The Mistress said they are called embalmers. They do not carve anything from stone either, they dip the warriors in a special liquid so they remain this way for eternity." Talia, who had been about to touch one of the statues, pulled back suddenly. "That certainly is interesting way of taking care of the dead," she said, looking faintly sick. "Are all of your deceased honoured this way?" Azrak shook his head. "No, only the greatest warriors. The rest go north." "Go north?" Susan inquired. "Yes," the General replied, waving a hand in the direction of north. "When a warrior grows old and realises that he will soon die, he sets out on an quest to cross the great ice field and destroy the evil machine that chokes our world." "You have to be kidding," Susan exclaimed. "You mean that Jeanne, I mean your Mistress, makes you throw away your lives like this?" Azrak looked confused. "Throw away our lives?" he asked, sounding confused. "I do not understand. It is a great honour for a warrior to make the trek. It is the last chance he has to give to the Mistress, in thanks for all that she has done for us." "But it's a waste," Susan tried to argue. "Wouldn't these warriors live for several more years if they didn't do this?" "Perhaps," Azrak shrugged. "But when a warrior's limbs grow stiff and his joint's sore, it is no longer worth living. We are not like you, Captain Ivanova. We do not live until we rot away, we prefer to end our lives this way. It is far more noble." Susan shook her head in astonishment. It was obvious that whatever she said, wasn't going to change the minds of Azrak or any of his warriors, so she decided to change the topic and try and get her mind away from the idea of the thousands of Arisians who must have died this way. "What do you know about this machine?" she asked. "The one that creates the storm." "The Mistress told us that it lies at the north pole of this world. It is a vast device that draws on the heat of the world for its power, so it can never be exhausted. The Mistress also said that there was a second device that surrounds it, generating the ice field. This is so no-one can travel north. It is so cold that any living creature dies a few kilometres after entering the ice." "What have you tried, in all your attempts to destroy it?" "The Mistress has tried everything that she knows of to destroy it, but has always failed. She said that they knew her limits and protected the device just enough so that she could not reach it. She said that they did it to tease her, leaving it always out of reach." "And she wants us to destroy it." "You can destroy it?" Azrak asked excitedly. "She seems to think so," Susan replied. "I am not so sure though." "You must try," Azrak urged. "For the sake of the Mistress. She will die if you do not remove that cloud. We do not want to see her die, she has done so much for us and never asked anything in return." Susan nodded. "I will do what I can," she said, although her mind was still undecided on exactly what type of action to take. It was obvious that the Arisian cared deeply for Jeanne, although how much of that was conditioning and how much was genuine was difficult to determine. The thought of thousands of Arisian warriors going to their deaths, just to try and destroy this machine, sickened her, and she wondered if it wouldn't be best to destroy it, just to save their lives. "Come," Azrak said, interrupting her. "We must go this way." The General pointed towards a broad stone staircase that travelled upwards at the end of the hall. "This is the quickest way to find your friends." ------------------------------------------------------------ Sel Vecantie e-mail: vecantie@geocities.com homepage: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/9933/ ICQ: 23223547 From: "Sel" Subject: The Secret of Arias, Chapter 10/11 - Part C Date: Sat, 13 Mar 1999 10:24:07 +1030 ------------------------------------------------------------ Jeanne stared at the screen in front of her, a speculative expression on her face. On the monitor, General Azrak was leading Susan and her companions along the main underground thoroughfare, towards the cave mouth that served as the city gates. Soon they would pass beyond the range of her cameras and she would no longer be able to observe them. This did not overly concern her at the moment, but Jeanne was still a little worried about what Ivanova planned to do. The meeting with Ivanova had not gone at all like she had predicted. She had spent several hours planning for the meeting with the rescue ship’s commander, but when it turned out to be Ivanova, she had been forced to throw away everything she had come up with. Despite this sudden change of plans, Jeanne still believed that she could convince Ivanova to free her. However, the woman had been far more argumentative and mistrusting than she would have thought possible. Jeanne hoped that she had placed just enough doubt in the Captain’s mind to convince Ivanova to do as she desired, but, just in case, she had come to the conclusion that further steps needed to be taken to ensure Ivanova followed her wishes. Looking across to where her counsellor, Morkazz was standing, Jeanne said softly. "I have new orders, Morkazz. These are very important." "Of course, Mistress," the counsellor replied, standing up and hurrying over to her side. "How may I assist you?" "I need you to arrange a messenger to go to General Azrak and pass on to him my instructions. It must be a messenger, I do not want to trust the communicators, in case the Humans intercept my message. The messenger must not reach the General until after the Humans have departed though. Can you arrange that?" Morkazz nodded. "That can be done, Mistress." "Good, then these are my new orders. Inform Azrak that once he has allowed Ivanova and her companions to depart he is to gather his soldiers and head into the swamps where the Human vessel has landed. There he is to surround the ship and await my command to capture it." The counsellor looked confused. "Didn’t you tell Captain Ivanova that all of her companions could go free?" "I did," Jeanne confirmed. "However, I cannot be sure that she will do as I have asked and destroy the Vorlon’s weather control machine. If she fails to do so, then I wish to have other options. I have no intention of being left here to rot. That ship is still usable, and I intend to ensure that it does not depart unless I permit it." "I thought it had crashed," Morkazz said, looking confused. "You do not remember?" Jeanne asked. Seeing the blank expression on her counsellor’s face, she explained. "When I sent the scout to stop it from escaping, all he did was to drain away the energy from the ship’s power cells. He did not damage the vessel, and I made sure that he knew to take only enough energy to disable the vessel, not to ensure that it was destroyed. It is still intact, and if we have it under our control, then it should be possible to restore its power and use it as a weapon against the Vorlon machine." "A weapon?" Jeanne nodded. "Yes, if everything is timed perfectly, then it should be possible to send the ship into orbit and then bring it back down again. Only this time it won’t land safely, it will strike the ground at a considerable speed and that should be enough to set off an explosion in the Vorlon’s weather machine. The explosion will destroy the machine and the cloud will fade away." "That is a good plan, Mistress," Morkazz said excitedly. "But won’t the Humans be angry if you take their ship. They may send warriors to try and stop you." "I am sure General Azrak, with the new armour I have given him, will be able to stop any attack. Besides, this is only a backup plan, something to attempt if Captain Ivanova doesn’t do as I requested." "I believe I understand, Mistress," Morkazz said. "Good, now I have some further orders to give to Azrak, do you have something to write them down on?" Morkazz reached into one of his robe’s pockets and withdrew a small pad of yellowish paper and a quill pen. Then he dropped a hand into another pocket and located his vial of ink. Unscrewing the lid of the ink jar he dipped his quill in and then looked over at Jeanne. "I am ready, Mistress." Jeanne nodded. "Make a note of this. Azrak is to only approach the ship after Captain Ivanova has left and is on her way back to her own vessel. I do not believe that they can communicate very far due to the storm cloud's interference, so once Ivanova has left, then the Humans remaining behind in the swamp will be vulnerable. Order Azrak to wait for half a cycle, then surround the vessel. That should ensure that no-one can leave without my permission. I do not care if he is seen, that isn’t important right now." Morkazz halted his writing for a second and looked up at Jeanne. "Mistress," he said. "Is Captain Ivanova going to destroy the Vorlon machine straight away, or will she wait until after she has retrieved all of her companions?" Jeanne frowned. "That is a good question. I do not know if she has any intention of helping me at all, let alone when she intends of destroying the storm generator. It is troubling not to know, but she would not believe me, and I had little choice but to ask her to leave in the hope that my performance would finally convince her." "Shall I order Azrak to wait and observe what happens before capturing the ship?" "No. I will not let them all escape, that would leave me with nothing. Besides, they may try and damage their ship before they leave, so I can’t attempt to use it. Azrak is to capture the vessel as soon as Ivanova is on her way off this world. That is the only way to be sure. " "If she finds out what you have done, then she could be angry," Morkazz noted. "She could be planning to help you. Then, when she finds out that the rest of her companions are still trapped in the swamp, she may change her mind." "That is true. But, if that occurs, then I will have to use threats instead. She may not want to assist me, but her superiors may have different ideas. Do you remember what I told you about ranks?" "Yes, the lower ranks must always follow the orders of the higher ranks." "That is correct, if need be, then I will hold the rest of that ship’s crew here until the highest ranked soldier on Earth comes and agrees to my demands." "Won’t they be angry?" Jeanne smiled. "Perhaps, but they cannot harm us here within the city. The walls are made of the same material as the towers and my ship. They will absorb any energy from their weapons and take only minor damage. In fact, if they attack me with their weapons, it may provide enough power to launch the first of the satellites. Then, I can destroy the storm generator for myself." "Why did Captain Ivanova not believe you?"Morkazz suddenly asked. Jeanne stared at her counsellor for a second, her gaze narrowing. "I do not know," she said finally. "Captain Ivanova is ruled by different passions that most Humans. Most are greedy, seeking only to better their own lives. She is different and cares more about her duty to her people than she does about herself. I knew she would be difficult to convince, Humans like her always are. Still, I think I may have convinced her in the end, and I hope that she will fulfil my request and destroy that accursed storm generator. If the Vorlons hadn’t created that ice field around it, I would have destroyed it centuries ago myself." "I am sure that she will do that is right," Morkazz said. "On the ISN, she always seems to do what is right." "There is right and then there is right, Morkazz. Sometime one person’s idea of right and wrong does not match another’s. Captain Ivanova has different ideals than I do, she does not understand the good that I am trying to do. She thinks that I am trying to conquer worlds. She thinks that I control you and the rest of your people and that you have no free will." "You have only helped us, Mistress," Morkazz cut in, sounding angry. "Captain Ivanova should not say such things about you. They are not true, you have guided us, made us strong and wise. We would not have survived without you." Jeanne smiled wanly. "I am pleased that you think so, Morkazz. I do try to help, but some do not understand that my work here is only for the good of this world. Before I leave, this world will become beautiful paradise, unlike Captain Ivanova’s world. She sees things only through her eyes, and her experiences shape what she sees. If she had been born here on Arias, she would not have questioned my motives." "She should learn to understand," Morkazz replied. "Then she would not question you." Jeanne’s lips curled up in a faint smile. "That is true, Morkazz. But, she will understand soon enough, they all will. For now though, let us return to my orders. What have you written down so far?" Morkazz glanced down at the notepad in his hands. "You want Azrak to proceed into the swamp and surround the Human vessel, but not before Captain Ivanova has left the swamp. Then he is to capture the vessel and bring the rest of the Humans back here." "Not back here," Jeanne corrected. "He is to hold them there until Captain Ivanova destroys the storm generator. If she doesn’t comply with my wishes, then he is to return the rest of the ship’s crew to the city, but not before. I will need to question them if I am to learn how their ship operates. Now, do you have that?" "Yes, Mistress," the counsellor replied. "Shall I call for the messenger now?" Jeanne nodded. "Yes, but remember he is not to reach Azrak until after Captain Ivanova and her companions have departed in their machine." "I understand." "Good, now go. On your way out, try to locate Harj and send her to me. I will need her assistance to remove this... this stuff." Jeanne indicated her hair and the tiny flecks of glittering gemstone that were still clinging to the dark strands. "It seemed like a good idea at the time," she said ruefully. "But now, it is getting everywhere." "I will send Harj," Morkazz promised, packing away his writing tools and stuffing them back into his pocket. "I go now to find a messenger." Jeanne nodded and waved a hand to dismiss the counsellor, who bowed and slowly walked toward the throne room doors. As he left, Jeanne reached up and tugged off her thin crown, which also doubled as her shield against telepathic contact. A bitter smile twisted her face as she remembered lying about the device to Ivanova. Unlike the tale she had come up with, it hadn’t actually bonded to her skin or anything like that. In fact, she rarely ever wore the device. This world had no telepaths and she didn’t need a fancy crown to convince her followers of her right to rule. Not that it was that fancy, just a thin circuit of dark metal with four medium sized emeralds mounted on the front. Jeanne rolled it between her finger, searching for cracks in the metal. The thin, hairline crack along the inner surface had not grown any larger, so she put it aside. Jeanne felt a little guilty about having to lie to Ivanova, but she had no other choice. There were some secrets hidden so deep inside her mind that no-one could ever be permitted to see, even if it meant lying to protect them. ------------------------------------------------------------ Lily collapsed into the soft dirt, amazed that the climb was finally over. She had lost count of how many steps there had been, but it had seemed like thousands. With great difficulty she remembered why she had hurried ahead in the first place. She had wanted to check out the area before anyone else arrived, to ensure that it was safe. Her body felt so tired that she could barely even stand, but she still dragged herself up onto her feet and began a survey of the surrounding countryside. To her surprise it was empty of any alien warriors, just a small forest and a long paved road that ran south, or at least the direction she imagined was south. It was almost impossible to tell the real direction without spotting some familiar landmark, or even better, possessing a fully automated portable navigation computer. She could see neither nearby though, so she arbitrarily called the direction the road travelled south. The sound of footsteps on the stairs, distracted her observations and she turned to see who was coming. It turned out to be Nicolai Luchenko, complete with a cheerful grin and a heavy back of gems slung across one shoulder. Lily sighed and took a seat on a nearby rock, trying to ignore the shooting pain every movement seemed to be causing her. The pain was nearly as bad as it had been when she first woke up in the mines, and it was getting worse with every minute. "Great view isn’t it, Lil," Nicolai said as soon as he climbed up the last of the staircase. He stood on the ledge and leaned against the railing, looking down at the huge shape of the war cruiser below them. "Now that is one incredible piece of machinery." "I don’t think it has machinery," Lily muttered, noticing that whenever Nicolai was excited about something he seemed to lose his Russian accent. She knew he had spent most of his youth in Geneva, so the only time he had ever been back to Russia had been during holidays. Like much about Nicolai Luchenko, his accent was false and just designed to enhance his image. "Get away from the edge," she said finally, after watching him for nearly a minute. "There might be guards on one of those walkways." Nicolai nodded and walked over to where she was sitting. "You don’t look well, Lil," he commented. "Are you sure you are OK?" "I’m fine," Lily replied, although her pale face, and painful grimace whenever she moved, betrayed her true condition. "I just need to catch my breath." Nicolai nodded. "Well, just let me know if you need a hand. I can carry you if you want me to." Lily laughed. "As well as that bag you have been lugging around." Nicolai self-consciously reached for the bag, before smiling. "I need to look after myself, Lil. My parents have cut off my allowance, so I need some sort of income. Why do you think I took this job in the first place? It certainly wasn’t for the adventure. I can have all the adventure I need back home." "You are hopeless," Lily snorted, standing up and starting to walk away. As she took her first step though, she suddenly doubled over in pain. "Lil!" Nicolai shouted, dropping his bag of gems and hurrying over to her side. "Are you all right?" Lily tried to smile, but only achieved a grimace of pain. "I do... don’t think... so," she managed, before collapsing into the dirt. Nicolai quickly knelt down and picked her up, carrying her gently over until he found somewhere that was a little cleaner and softer than the rough ground near the road. After setting Lily down on the ground, he reached into his pack and pulled out one of the light globes they had scavenged from the mines. Activating it, he bought it close to her face, shocked at how pale she appeared. "Don’t worry, Lil," he muttered. "I will look after you." Fortunately he didn’t have long to wait for assistance, as the rest of the escaping prisoners arrived only a few minutes later. He had only gone ahead because he had wanted to take a look at the war cruiser before Lily made them continue on. Now, she wasn’t going to be giving any more orders for a while at least and they were on their own. For some reason, Nicolai found himself strangely frightened by that realisation. ------------------------------------------------------------ "Are you sure we are going the right way?" Susan asked Azrak, after nearly ten minutes of climbing along a narrow pathway. "This looks like the way we came when we first approached your city." "It is, Azrak confirmed. "The mines were below the bridge we crossed, so the prisoners have escaped this way. Come, they cannot be far away." Susan nodded and hurried after the General. The rest of her team, including Talia and Melis, were waiting back at the cave with the Azrak’s warriors. It didn’t seem necessary to bring everyone, and Susan had to admit that she had learned a lot about the General and his people in the fifteen minutes or so that they had been clambering along this rough path. A few quick questions had soon revealed the depth of Arisian culture. While it was obvious that Jeanne ruled almost every part of this world, it was also just as obvious that the Arisians still had a vibrant lifestyle that didn’t include their Mistress. Azrak had informed her that most Arisians were not allowed in to see the Mistress, only those of the highest rank. To most of the two million or so intelligent beings who lived on this world, she was just a distant being who looked over them and protected them. Despite the obvious parallels with Earth religions, it seemed that the Arisian’s were pretty much allowed to do as they pleased, as long as they followed the Mistress’ ten sacred laws. Azrak hadn’t been too forthcoming on exactly what these laws entailed, but Susan had received the impression that they were very similar to the ten commandments in the Christian religion back on Earth. Surprisingly the few Arisians she had met didn’t have the appearance of a downtrodden race, so if they were slaves, then they were very happy slaves. Even the workers who were marching off to work on the new energy collection towers did not seem to be displeased with their lot in life. After another question to Azrak, she had discovered this was because Arisian culture was based on age. The older an Arisian became, the higher in rank he would become. Of course it was possible to rise in rank at a younger age though the completion of some great deed or service to the Mistress or the Arisian people. But if you were content being a worker, then you could remain that rank for the rest of your life. On the whole it didn’t seem like a bad place to live, Susan certainly wouldn’t have minded serving in an Earthforce where effort was rewarded the same way it was on this world. "There," Azrak called, interrupting Susan’s train of thought. Susan squinted into the darkness, finally locating a flickering light travelling slowly towards them. "Is that them?" she asked. "I can’t see anyone from here, just the light." "My people do not carry lights," Azrak informed her. "We can see quite well in this darkness, although I imagine we see very differently from you Humans." Susan nodded. "I imagine you do," she agreed. "How far away do you think they are?" "Not far," Azrak replied. "Come, we will run to catch up with them." With that, he set off down the path at a fast trot, Susan hurrying to catch up with him. It took them less than five minutes to reach the party of escaped prisoners, who were looking tired and worn out from their trek across the mountain side. Several were carrying mining picks and looked prepared to put up a fight when they saw the massive General running up, but they soon lowered their weapons when Susan arrived. "Captain Ivanova," one of the prisoners said excitedly. "We heard you had come to rescue us. I’m Nicolai Luchenko. You might have heard of me." Susan nodded, and looked around at the rest of the prisoners. "Where’s Major Logan?" she asked. Nicolai turned more serious and pointed towards the back of his group. "She hasn’t been feeling well," he explained. "The Doc says that she has some sort of alien virus running around inside her, but it looked to me as if she is just tired. She has been pushing herself and everyone else far too hard over the past day or so." Susan made her way back to where Lily was. She had been laid out on a makeshift stretcher constructed of a few branches that had probably been torn from a tree. Her face was pale, she was soaked with sweat and appeared to have a fever. A large, middle-aged man was standing nearby. "I am Dr. Abbado," he said sticking out his hand. "I have been taking care of Major Logan ever since she collapsed." "What’s wrong with her," Susan asked. "I think it is some kind of virus," the doctor said, not looking entirely convince with his own analysis. He pulled out his medical scanner and showed it to Susan. "I Can’t be sure with these instruments though. I need something more powerful before I could make a proper diagnosis." Susan looked over at Azrak, who was watching the whole proceedings closely. "Can you get some of your warriors to help carry her?" Azrak nodded. "There is a cart that is taking the equipment from your rover. We can carry her on that as well. I do not understand this though, the Mistress said she healed her." Susan’s eyes narrowed. "What exactly happened to Major Logan," she asked. "I do not really know," Azrak replied with a shrug. "I was not present. The Mistress does not kill though, she said that no-one must die, she made that quite clear." Just then, Lily stirred and opened her eyes, looking up at Susan. "Cap..." she began, her voice so soft that her words were almost inaudible. "Don’t... win." "What was that," Susan replied, bending down so she could hear better. Lily had dropped back into unconsciousness though. "Damn," Susan cursed. She looked up at Abbado. "Can you keep her comfortable until we make it back to the rover?" When the doctor nodded, she continued. "Good, then let’s get moving." Susan looked over at Azrak. "I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, General, but the sooner I am off this world the better." ------------------------------------------------------------ Sel Vecantie e-mail: vecantie@geocities.com homepage: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/9933/ ICQ: 23223547 From: "Sel Vecantie" Subject: The Secret of Arias, Chapter 11 - Part A Date: Fri, 19 Mar 1999 11:26:53 +1030 Here is the final part of this story, I hope you all enjoy it. I will be starting my next story (a lot shorter this time) on monday, so the first part will probably be posted in a weeks time. For other stories, as well as properly formatted chapters of this tale see my webpage http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/9933/index2.html Spoilers: There are spoilers for seasons 1-4. This story is set in 2262, but takes place well outside the normal Babylon 5 universe. Disclaimers: The small number of B5 characters that I use in my stories remain the property of Warner Brothers, TNT, JMS, and whoever else wants to lay claim to them. The rest are the property of my imagination and you can do what you will with them. ------------------------------------------------------------ The Secret of Arias - Chapter 11 By Sel Vecantie ------------------------------------------------------------ Susan took a sip of her coffee, relishing the warm feeling the hot drink generated inside her. It felt good to finally have some real coffee, after surviving on the synthetic version for the past week. After taking another sip, she placed the cup down on her desk and returned to her work, endeavouring to decipher the information that had been on the data crystal that Jeanne had given her. On the screen at the moment was an incredibly beautiful holographic map, which showed the locale around the Vorlon storm generator. The detail was incredible, especially the representation of the machine itself. Every component of the huge device was shown, with notes about its functions and construction. Unfortunately though, all of those notes were in Vorlon and the Rasputin’s computer was unable to translate them. The only section of writing that was readable were the coordinates of the machine’s location, which had been written in an archaic form of French. This was troubling Susan somewhat, as it was becoming obvious that Jeanne didn’t want her to know anything more than she needed to destroy the machine. The data crystal had contained a vast quantity of information, detailing everything about the storm generator, including blueprints. However, with only one exception, all of the information had been in the Vorlon language, which was not translatable by any know technique. The Vorlons preferred to translate other race’s languages than allow anyone to learn their own native tongue. Jeanne though, knew how to understand Vorlon, but for some reason hadn’t chosen to translate the rest of the information. "No luck yet?" Talia asked, as she walked through the door leading from Susan’s quarters. The blonde telepath was wearing one of Susan’s bathrobes, her hair still wet from the shower. She held a hairbrush in one hand, and a steaming mug of hot tea in the other. Susan shook her head. "It’s all in Vorlon," she complained. "The computer can’t translate Vorlon, so most of this data is useless. It looks like the complete schematics for the machine too. But, without being able to read the inscriptions, it’s all useless." Talia sat down in the chair opposite. "I thought you said it was in French," she said, running the hairbrush through her still damp blonde tresses. "Only the coordinates and the information that demonstrates how to destroy the machine. The rest is all in Vorlon." "Do you need the remainder of the data though? Aren’t the coordinates all that you require?" Susan nodded. "If all I wanted to do is destroy this blasted device, then that’s all I need. However, I’m curious. Why didn’t she translate the rest of the information?" "Probably because she didn’t want anyone to be able to recreate the device. I can understand how she must feel too, I’ve also been trapped somewhere I didn’t want to be. Until you came along and freed me, or course." "Perhaps," Susan murmured, switching off the screen. "Then why bother giving me all the schematics? It just doesn’t make sense." "You are getting paranoid again, Susan," Talia laughed. "I can’t help it," Susan replied, pulling the data crystal from the reader and tossing it on her desk. "This whole thing that just doesn’t add up. Besides I think I have seen Jeanne somewhere before." "You have?" Talia asked, sounding sceptical. "She has been down on that world for the past eight hundred years, so I don’t think she would get out much." "I know," Susan replied, a little irritably. "That’s what’s bugging me. I believe that part of her story, yet I’m sure I’ve seen her before. I didn’t realise it at first, but on the way back here in the rover I realised that both her voice and face were familiar. I just can’t remember exactly where it was I saw her." "You should have gone back and asked Jeanne then," Talia suggested, a faint smile on her face. "I was more concerned with other problems by then." Talia nodded, her expression growing more serious. "How is Major Logan? She looked so sick on the rover." Susan shrugged. "No-one knows for sure yet. Dr. Habbib thinks she is suffering from nothing more than exhaustion, but has ordered her placed in isolation just in case there is an alien virus affecting her system. That doctor from the Sturt, Abbado I think his name was, seemed sure he had found something, but none of the instruments in sick bay have been able to detect even the slightest trace of anything irregular in her bloodstream." "Do we all have to go in for a checkup?" Talia asked. "I heard you say something like that to Commander Petrov. One of the medical staff did scan me when I came on board, but I was wondering if you wanted more tests done." "Only if Major Logan is found to be carrying a dangerous virus. I left orders with Dr. Habbib, asking him to scrutinise the first shuttle load of crew members from the Sturt when they arrived. He didn’t locate any unfamiliar organisms in their bodies, so I guess we are probably clean. Let him know if you are feeling sick or anything though." Talia nodded, before putting down her hairbrush and picking up her mug of tea. "I’m glad we’re back," she said, after taking a long sip of the hot drink. "It’s nice to have a change of clothing at last." "That’s my robe, isn’t it?" "I thought you wouldn’t mind," Talia replied with a wicked smile. "By the way, you do intend to have a shower, don’t you?" she asked, looking pointedly at Susan’s uniform, which was same one she had been wearing for the past three days. "As soon as I get all the important things out of the way," Susan replied. "Since I’ve got back on board, I’ve had to organise someone to take a look at the information on the data crystal..." "The one on your desk," Talia interrupted, pointing to the crystal resting next to the illuminated keyboard. Susan shook her head. "No, not that one. That’s only a copy I had made so I could examine the data for myself. Not that I have found out anything, of course." "Didn’t you discover the coordinates of the machine?" "Anyone could have done that," Susan said. "I was hoping for something a little more solid." "Have you decided to help Jeanne yet?" "I don’t know," Susan replied. "There is something about her story that is niggling away at me, as if someone is trying to tell me not to trust her. On the other hand, I want to help the Arisian people, if only to stop any more dying trying to destroy that machine. So you might say I am little undecided at the moment. What do you think I should do?" Talia shrugged, trying to appear noncommittal. "I can’t tell you how to do your job, Susan. However, I do believe that Jeanne was telling the truth. I mightn’t have been able to read her mind, but there was a ring of truth to her words." Susan picked up her coffee mug and considered the remnants of her drink for several seconds. "I felt the opposite," she admitted finally. "I thought she was lying, especially when I asked her what her plans were when she was freed." "I’m sure you will do the right thing," Talia said confidently. "I wish I could be that certain," Susan said, with a wry smile on her face. "After all that trouble we had with the Vorlons and the Shadows last year, I keep worrying that if I free Jeanne, she might turn out to be just as bad as they were. The fact that she admitted killing seven Vorlons scares the hell out of me, especially after all the trouble we had on Babylon 5 trying to kill just one." Just then, Susan’s link beeped. She stared at it with an annoyed expression on her face, before tapping it and saying. "Ivanova." "Captain," the voice of Commander Petrov said. "I have Admiral Mellor on the link from Earthdome. He said that it was very important." "Put him through to my office." "I had better go," Talia said, standing up "We can’t have the Admiral thinking that you are sleeping with the enemy, can we now." She walked around to Susan’s side of the desk and bent over, giving Susan a quick kiss on the cheek. "I have to get changed anyway, especially if you want your robe back." Susan nodded, and waited while Talia slipped back through the door into her quarters. As soon as Talia had left the room, Susan turned to the wall-mounted screen. "Receive incoming message." The screen beeped once and then the standard Earthforce symbol was replaced with the face of Admiral Mellor "Captain Ivanova," the Admiral began. "I’m delighted to see you made it back all right." "It was a little tougher than I thought, Admiral," Susan admitted. Then she frowned, suddenly remembering that she hadn’t contacted Earthdome since her return. "If you will forgive me for asking, Sir, how did you know I had returned from the surface? I only arrived back on board four hours ago and haven’t had time to send in a report yet." "I just had a message from the President’s office," Mellor explained. "Apparently she had a request from IPX..." "Melis!" Susan muttered under her breath. "Sorry, what was that, Captain?" "I just remembered that the head of the IPX team you sent with us requested an interstellar link almost as soon as he came back on board." Mellor nodded. "Yes, the request from IPX is based on his report. Apparently Dr. Melis found a possible source of Vorlon technology on Arias. IPX and Earthdome want to get their hands on it before any of the other races find out." Susan looked amazed, realising now why the doctor had been so interested in the Arisian technology when they had been in the city. "He didn’t mention that the Vorlon technology was in the hands of the native population did he?" she asked. "Dr. Melis’ report was very comprehensive, Captain. It has certainly raised some eyebrows here on Earth. The President is said to be very pleased with your work. In fact, she has asked for you to personally open trade negotiations with the Arisian leader as soon as possible." "Trade negotiations?" Susan spluttered. "Admiral, I’m trying to decide the level of threat this race could pose to the Earth alliance, and the President wants to open trade negotiations? Didn’t Dr. Melis’ report tell you anything about the leader of this world?" Mellor shook his head. "It was a bit vague on that matter." He paused and looked down at a sheet of paper on his desk. "In fact, it says here that you had a private meeting with the Arisian leader and never told the doctor the details of what was discussed." "I didn’t have the time, and quite frankly I didn’t think it was any of his business." "You’re probably correct," Mellor said with a smile. "IPX is always trying to poke their noses into places they don’t belong." The Admiral pushed his papers to one side and his expression grew serious. "Is this new race dangerous, Captain? Dr. Melis’ reports that they are fairly accommodating, and posed no threat to the Earth Alliance. I am well aware that Arias lies on our border, so if there is a threat then I would like to know. We have had trouble with IPX before, and despite their high standing with the government, Earthforce command takes a different approach on matters that could threaten the Alliance." "I’m not sure," Susan admitted. "The Arisians themselves do not appear to be dangerous, but their ruler is a human woman who was altered by the Vorlons. She controls at least one Vorlon war cruiser and could be a threat if her intentions towards Earth are not peaceful." "A human?" Mellor asked, looking shocked. "How long has she been ruling Arias?" "A long time, if what she said was true. It appears that she was working for the Vorlons and then turned against them. In response, they imprisoned her on Arias so she couldn’t threaten them." "Is she dangerous?" Susan grimaced. "I’m not sure, Admiral. She did take several of the Sturt’s crew prisoner, as well as one of my officers. However, she also released them at my request, although she made a request of her own in return." Mellor nodded, picking up the report again. "Yes, I have a mention of that here. Dr. Melis says that the people of Arias have requested that you remove a Vorlon machine that is affecting the planet’s weather. Is that correct?" "Mostly," Susan replied. "The storm this machine is generating also imprisons Jeanne, that’s the Arisian leader’s name. She has personally asked for me to destroy it, so that she can leave this world." "I don’t see the problem," Mellor said. "It might advance the cause of a possible trade treaty with Arias if you assist them. Of course, I don’t have all the information on hand, so I will have to wait until I get your report on the situation before making a decision." "I am a little busy at the moment, Sir," Susan argued. "I still have a small number of the Rasputin’s marines down on the surface, along with nearly a hundred crew members from the Sturt. I would like to get them off the planet before I consider anything else." "I understand, Captain," Mellor replied. "Look, I will leave this in your court. The President has made a request, but, based on the information I have, it looks like the only way to communicate with these Arisians is to actually go down the surface and trek overland. I can’t really ask you do that again, especially as this is still only an informal order. The Joint Chiefs are meeting in three days time to discuss the president’s request, among an assortment of other matters, so you have until then to send back something I can use. If there is a threat from this world, then I want to know. On the other hand, if you think it safe, then the possibility of trading for Vorlon technology is something we may not be able to turn down." "I understand, Admiral," Susan replied. "Good," Mellor said. "I expect to hear from you sometime in the next three days then. Earthdome out." Susan groaned as she switched off the screen. "Damn that arrogant bastard," she muttered, snatching up the data crystal from her desk. She was about to march off and confront Melis, when she noticed Talia watching her from the doorway. "Did you catch any of that," she asked. Talia nodded. "Only the last part, but I think I heard enough." "We have only been back on board for four hours, where did he get the time to write a report?" "On the rover on the way back," Talia reminded her. "Don’t you remember? He was busy with that data pad all the time. I didn’t think anything of it at the time though." "I’m still amazed that IPX could put in a request like that so quickly, let alone send out copies of Melis’ report to the president and the Admiral." "People can move pretty fast when there is money involved," Talia commented bitterly. Susan nodded. "I know what you mean, if a company like IPX did gain access to Vorlon technology, even just the secret of that organic metal they were using down on the planet, they would stand to make billions of credits. Despite their faults, the Vorlons were a very advanced race and their technology is thousands, if not tens of thousands of years ahead of anything Earth or most of the other races have." "That explains their haste then," Talia said. "They want to be the first in, probably so they can sign an exclusive trade deal or something like that." It makes me suspect that Earth, and certainly the Arisians, would be better off if we left this world as it is," Susan muttered. "I can already see the scavengers circling around the planet, eager to strip it of anything that might make them money." "Have you decided what to do yet?" Talia asked. Susan shook her head. "No, not yet. I wanted to see what we could find out from that data crystal first, before making a decision either way. But, after this, I am leaning towards helping Jeanne. Compared to Melis and his IPX buddies, she’s a saint." "Do you want to get some lunch then? It is nearly that time and I am sick of eating ration bars." "I think I might have a shower first," Susan replied, heading towards her room. "I might join you then," Talia grinned, stepping back inside Susan’s quarters and pressing the button to lock the door behind them. "After all, you can never be too clean." ------------------------------------------------------------ Three hours later, dressed in a fresh uniform and looking considerably cleaner than she had been when she arrived back on the Rasputin, Susan met with her senior officers in the warship’s conference room. She had already spent the past half hour explaining what she had discovered during her trip to the surface, leaving out, of course, anything she had learned due to her telepathic powers. Now she was waiting for a report about the feasibility of destroying the machine. In the centre of the room, suspended in mid air above the main table, was a large holographic model of the Vorlon storm generator. Lt. Commander Dreyer, the Rasputin’s chief gunnery officer, was currently speaking, using a remote control for holographic display to highlight his explanations. "It appears that it is possible to destroy this machine," Dreyer began, pointing to the diagram of the gigantic Vorlon structure. "We haven’t been able to decipher the Vorlon writing, which isn’t that surprising, but the instructions on the data crystal were clear enough explain the basics." "Enough to understand how the machine works?" Petrov asked. Dreyer shook his head. "I’m afraid not. It’s possible that Dr. Melis and his team may discover something more about its function, but the information I examined demonstrated only what was needed to destroy the device, nothing more." He paused in his explanation to alter the view of the device, then pointed to a small nodule near the centre of the main spire. "This appears to be the most important part of the entire complex. According to the information provided, all we need to do is destroy this node and the device will be rendered completely inoperative." "How?" Susan asked. "I find it difficult to believe that the Vorlons would leave in a flaw like that. From what I can see, it doesn’t look like it is protected in any way." "That’s not entirely true," Dreyer corrected, pointing out four large edifices, each nearly a kilometre away from the main structure. "It appears that these devices here cool the temperature across the entire region, making it impossible to approach by land. This would explain why it hasn’t been destroyed by now." "He’s right," Lt. Commander Schmitt confirmed. "I had one of the Starfury patrols go down and take a look at the borders of the cloud shortly after we arrived. They reported that there is a vast plain of ice, stretching for perhaps thirty kilometres, in the region where this machine is supposed to be located. It was all inside the cloud-covered region though, so they couldn’t go close enough to see any details. Further flight confirmed that this is the only ice on the entire moon, which suggests that it probably artificially generated." "I knew about the ice," Susan said. "However, I thought there would be some sort of defence system as well, just in case of an attack from space or the air." "Energy weapons probably wouldn’t be usable at such a low temperature," Dreyer commented. "They would be all right in space, but on the surface they would ice up. Also, they might have been relying on the orbital defensive grid. Although I doubt that one satellite would be much use against a determined attacker." "There is debris in the upper atmosphere that suggests there might once have been more satellites," Schmitt offered. When Susan looked at him when a questioning expression, he added, "We discovered it during the sweeps of the upper atmosphere last week. There isn’t a lot there, I would guess most of it burnt up in the atmosphere centuries ago, but it does match the debris from the satellite we destroyed. Given the power of the one we destroyed, I would think around twenty or thirty would have been enough to protect the planet from most attacks." Susan nodded. "That makes sense," she agreed. "That means that this machine is now vulnerable. The question is, are you certain it can be destroyed? I want to know for sure, before committing myself either way." "I believe so," Dreyer said. "Of course, we will never know until we try. But, taking into account the capacity of the Rasputin’s main gun and the relative strength of the Vorlon metal, then I think it can be taken out. Obviously the whole structure is just too massive to destroy with a single shot, but a pinpoint strike against that node I indicated may work. Of course, that is assuming that destroying the node will take out the whole thing. I suspect we will just have to trust the information we have been given." "Which leaves the question, do we destroy the machine, or do we leave it as it is?" Susan asked. "Didn’t you say that Admiral Mellor ordered us to destroy it?" Dreyer queried, looking a little confused as to why Susan was even asking the question. Susan shook her head. "No, he said that he had been requested by IPX, through the president’s office, to open trade negotiations with Arias. He suggested that a way of improving relations would be to agree to Jeanne’s request and destroy the Vorlon storm generator. He did not, however, order us to agree to that request, at least not just yet. He also asked for a report on the threat potential of the Arisian race." "Are they a threat, though?" Commander Petrov asked. "Correct me if I am wrong, but don’t they still use swords. That doesn’t sound as if they are a very big threat to Earth or any of the other worlds." "They do have their armour as well," Susan pointed out. "I didn’t see it in action, but it is supposed to absorb energy, and that would make most of our weapons useless." "Not all of them, Captain," Dreyer corrected. "I don’t know how strong the material of this armour is, but I have seen one of those old flechette pistols cut through solid steel. One of those combat rifles the GROPOS use should take care of any armour, I think they fire armour-piecing rounds. Most PPG weapons have limited physical impact, but even the most basic slug-thrower should give those creatures something to think about." "That just leaves the Vorlon war cruiser," Petrov said. "I don’t know what you think, Captain, but it is my opinion that one ship, no matter how powerful, couldn’t cause too much trouble." "What about that warship we took out over Proxima?" Susan said. "That nearly destroyed this vessel and an entire fleet of Omega’s." "That wasn’t just one vessel though, was it," Petrov replied. "If it had been, then we would have taken it out a lot quicker than we did. Those fighters did most of the damage." "Do Vorlon ships carry fighters?" Lt. Commander Schmitt asked. "I don’t know," Susan replied. "I have always seen their big warships accompanied by a fighter screen, but I have never actually seen them launch fighters. I would suggest that they don’t carry any, although it is possible." "So, we are only looking at a single warship then," Petrov continued. "We are also assuming that this Jeanne woman actually intends on attacking Earth." "One of the reasons the Vorlon’s imprisoned her on this world, was because she wanted to conquer Earth," Susan reminded him. "It is possible that she might try to act on that desire if we free her from this world." Petrov shrugged. "It is possible, Captain. But I don’t think it is very likely that she would succeed. Once that storm is gone, it wouldn’t be very difficult to attack this world. There are no defensive satellites and from what you have told me, there are also no ground-based weapons. A single vessel, like the Rasputin for example, would be able to devastate most the surface of the moon with virtually no way of preventing the attack." "You think we should agree to her request then and destroy this machine?" "It would make the rescue operation easier," Petrov replied. "If it wasn’t for that storm, we would have been on our way back to Earth a day after we arrived. Instead, we are still stuck here while the remainder of the Sturt’s crew is retrieved. That will be for at least another week. Also it would be possible to retrieve the Sturt intact, which should make IPX happy." "I agree," Schmitt added. "I would make our rescue mission considerably easier." "And I don’t really care one way or the other," Dreyer said. "I just pull the trigger. It isn’t my place to question orders. Whatever decision you reach, I will do whatever I can to assist." Susan nodded slowly, considering all the arguments she had heard. "I’m still not entirely convinced of Jeanne’s motives," she said finally. "But I agree that no matter what she is planning, there isn’t a lot she can do if we keep a close eye on her." "So we try and destroy this machine?" Petrov asked. "That’s correct," Susan replied. "Lt. Commander Dreyer, can you begin the necessary calculations at once. I want this over and done with as soon as possible, so we can complete our mission before anything else happens." "Sounds like a good idea to me, Captain," Dreyer said, with a salute. "I have already finished the calculations in fact. All we need to do is to move the Rasputin into position above this machine, and I should be able to take care of it for you." "Can you hit this node?" "I can hit almost anything if I have enough time to line up the shot," Dreyer replied. "This is a fairly easy shot compared to some. The target isn’t moving, and the coordinates on the data crystal are very accurate. It shouldn’t be any trouble at all." "All right, get started then," Susan ordered. Then she turned to the other officers in the room. "Lt. Commander Schmitt, organise a flight of starfuries for launch. If that cloud does start to disperse, I want them ready to examine every inch of the surface. Also prepare a squadron of Thunderbolts and arm them for a ground assault mission." "What are you planning?" Petrov asked as the Rasputin’s two junior officers hurried out the conference room to carry out their Captain’s orders. "Just a precaution," Susan replied. "Just in case, Jeanne’s intentions are not as pure as she claims. That Vorlon warship of hers is currently on the ground, and it will take hours before it can be recharged, if not days. If she is planning some kind of treachery, then I can plan just as well as she can. A squadron of Thunderbolt’s loaded up with ground attack missiles should be enough to collapse the canyon wall, burying that ship under tons of rock." "Are you sure that is wise?" Petrov asked. "Won’t that be considered an act of war?" "As I said, it’s just a precaution. I have no intention on sending the fighters down there unless I feel there is a possible threat to the Earth Alliance or my ship." Petrov nodded. "That seems wise," he agreed, as they both left the conference room and headed towards the bridge. ------------------------------------------------------------ Sel Vecantie e-mail: vecantie@geocities.com homepage: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/9933/ ICQ: 23223547 From: "Sel Vecantie" Subject: The Secret of Arias, Chapter 11 - Part B Date: Fri, 19 Mar 1999 11:28:03 +1030 ------------------------------------------------------------ "We are now in position over the coordinates indicated, Captain," Petrov announced. "I have locked the Rasputin in a geostationary orbit, and Lt. Commander Dreyer reports that he has prepared the main gun for firing. All he is waiting on is your command." Susan nodded and turned back to examine the small jungle moon that lay below them. From above, the storm cloud looked like a vast ink stain, blotting out the natural greens and browns of Arias’ jungles and leaving nothing but darkness. If Jeanne’s assertions were correct, then a single shot from the Rasputin’s powerful main gun and the storm would be gone for good. The particle cannon had been targeted on the storm generator, and now its crew were only waiting for was a single word from her. The trouble was, she was still debating the wisdom of issuing that command. As much as she hated to admit it, this decision would have been considerably easier if she had been able to use her telepathic powers to determine the truth to Jeanne’s assertions. But that hadn’t been possible, so now Susan was forced to rely on her own judgement. "Captain?" Petrov asked. "Is there anything wrong?" "Just a minute, Commander" Susan replied irritably. On the holographic screen above her, the Rasputin’s external camera was showing part the vast storm, and she could see some of the lightning that constantly arched across the world. Susan found her mind shifting to the plight of those caught beneath the storm. She remembered that this wasn’t just about one person, but about an entire race. If she refused to help them now, then she wasn’t just condemning Jeanne to die, but possibly thousands of Arisians as well. She knew she couldn’t do that, condemn someone to die, just because they could be a threat. Tapping a control on her console, Susan opened a link to the control room for the main gun. "Lt. Commander Dreyer, you may fire when ready." "Confirmed, Captain," the voice of the gunnery chief responded. "Firing particle cannon." On the holographic screen, twin beams of purple energy sliced downwards toward the planet’s atmosphere. They cut straight through the storm clouds and impacted on ground beneath. For a second, Susan imagined that she saw the clouds part where the beams had struck, but the two tiny holes in the storm were quickly patched over. "Any effect?" she asked Petrov, who was watching the readouts from the Rasputin’s sensors. "Nothing so far, Captain," the Commander answered. "Of course, the destruction of the node may not have caused any visible effect." "Or we could have missed." "Do you want me to order another strike?" Petrov asked. "We can level that entire region if you think it’s necessary." Susan shook her head. "Not yet, we will give it time. It may take several hours for any noticeable effect to show." "The instrument’s aren’t showing any change in the disposition of the storm," Petrov informed her. "It is still behaving just as violently as before. If it’s being artificially generated, I would have expected an immediate effect to show up, perhaps not visually, but at least something on the instruments." As Petrov finished speaking, a bright flash suddenly lit up the surface of the moon, creating a ripple of energy that swept through the storm. "What the hell?" Susan muttered, turning back to the screen, just in time to see a gigantic mushroom cloud rising out of the atmosphere. "Tell me that isn’t what I think it is." "I’m afraid it is, Captain," Petrov said, reading the data off his console. "The sensors report a thermonuclear detonation. The computer is estimating it as approximately five megatons in size. It appears to have been mostly underground, but damage to the immediate vicinity has been extensive." Susan nodded. "I hope there was no-one living down there," she said. "Any idea on what caused it." "I wouldn’t have a clue," Petrov admitted. Then he paused, reading a new message that had just appeared on his console. "Just a minute, I have a visual link with the gun camera from one of the starfuries patrolling above the moon. The pilot is sending in an image of the ground near the detonation site." "Show me," Susan demanded. Petrov quickly complied, bringing the feed from the starfury’s camera up on the main screen. "It doesn’t look good," he said, as soon as the image of a vast crater appeared. Lava could be seen leaping high into the air from the centre of the crater and a cloud of dust and pulverised rock was slowly spreading across the planet’s surface. "Looks like we hit something vital," he muttered to himself. "Is there any effect on the planet?" Susan asked. Petrov consulted the sensors again. "Planet wide seismic activity, concentrated mainly around the blast site. It only appears to be an after effect of the explosion though, not a symptom of anything more deadly. Apart from that, there appears to be little major effect. It is a good thing the explosion took place underground, or everything within forty kilometres of that site would have been levelled." "And the storm?" "It’s still there. Wait, scrap that. It appears that it is beginning to break down into a series of smaller weather patterns. There are several places where I can see all that way through to the planet’s surface. It looks like it worked, Captain." "I wasn’t expecting the whole place to explode though," Susan said. "I just hope everyone is still all right down there." ------------------------------------------------------------ A faint tremor ran through the throne room floor. It was almost undetectable, but Jeanne noticed. The throne room, like the palace and the rest of the great city, had been stable for so long that even the slightest movement was noticed. Morkazz also noticed the faint shifting of the earth below them, suddenly standing up and looking around nervously. "What is happening, Mistress?" he asked anxiously. "It appears that Captain Ivanova chose to help me after all," Jeanne replied softly, hauling herself up from her cold throne and walking slowly across to one the tall stained glass windows that looked out on the walls of the crater beyond. Morkazz followed, one hand gripping his quill, while the other crumpled several sheets of paper. They were all very important documents, but right now they just didn’t seem important. In the sky above, the lightning was even more violent than ever and the dark clouds seemed to crash together as if at war. A spot of rain splashed against the window, quickly followed by another and another until the spots became a great deluge, as if the storm was giving one last dying performance before expiring and departing from Arias for good. "It is beginning, Morkazz," Jeanne said, pointing up at a bright dot in the sky. The counsellor followed her gaze and saw, to his astonishment, a tiny patch of blue beginning to break through the darkness. "She has done it." "Is that what made the earth move?" Morkazz asked. Jeanne nodded. "A final, futile attempt on the Vorlons part to stop me. They constructed their device so that any attempt to shut it down would cause a chain reaction that would destroy it and anyone nearby. A last desperate gesture of defiance from a race that should have died out long ago." "I do not understand. What is a... chain reaction?" Jeanne turned at smiled adoringly at her advisor. "Do not concern yourself, Morkazz. It is not important. Be happy that we have won and the Vorlons have finally lost." "I am happy, Mistress," the Counsellor replied. "However, I am also sad because you will soon be leaving us." "I will always be here in spirit, Counsellor," Jeanne said softly. "As long as someone on this world remembers me, I will always be here." "We will remember you, Mistress. We will always remember what you have done for our people." "Good, but for now you must leave me. The sun will soon be shining down on this... prison that I have called home for the past eight hundred years. It is a very special event and I must be alone so I can enjoy it fully. You may notice some changes in me when you return, but no matter how I appear, it will always be the same person inside. Do you understand?" Morkazz nodded. "I think I understand, Mistress." "Then leave me here. I must recover my strength and become what I need to become. I will call you when I am ready to talk again. It may be some time though." After a long bow in Jeanne’s direction, Morkazz swivelled around and headed towards the throne room door, with only the occasional glance back at the window to ensure that Jeanne was still there. Jeanne barely even noticed him leaving, her attention was now firmly focussed on the tiny patch of blue in the middle of the storm cloud and the ray of sunlight that shone down onto the ground below. After eight hundred years of darkness, there was no more beautiful sight she could imagine than that of the sun breaking out from behind a cloud. Once, when she had still been a naive and immature mortal girl, Jeanne would have imagined the single ray of sunshine to be a blessing from her god, a sign to wonder at. She knew better now, but the sight was no less glorious to her tired and ancient eyes than it had been to a young peasant girl playing on her father’s farm. The agony of her long imprisonment was finally beginning to fade away, and soon she would feel nothing but the ecstasy and warmth of the sun’s loving embrace. Reaching up, she gripped the lever that opened the window and allowed her access onto the ledge outside. It had become stuck after several centuries of idleness, but with a single sharp twist of her hand, it soon opened. Likewise, the window also creaked open after she applied a sufficient amount of pressure. Then, with the anticipation over what she would soon experience growing within her, Jeanne stepped out of the palace for the first time in nearly four centuries. There was a ledge outside the window, running around the entire palace. Once, long, long ago, Jeanne had enjoyed walking along the ledge during the day, watching the lightning play across the sky and imagining a time when she could look up into the sky and see the gigantic shape of the gas giant Arias orbited, instead of the featureless cloud that dominated her world. Now that day was nearly upon her, so tantalisingly close that she could nearly feel the suns rays on her skin and the energy entering her body. It was still raining outside, but Jeanne ignored the wetness soaking her gown and walked slowly along the slippery ledge towards the northern side of the palace. The crater wall was lowest there, and it was also the location where she had the best view of the single ray of sunlight. Free of the Vorlon’s machine, the natural weather of the jungle moon was beginning to reassert itself. Across the entire region once covered by the massive cloud, rain was thundering down, the storm doing its best to lose the heavy load of moisture it had been storing. The deluge felt like a thousand tiny pinpricks on Jeanne’s skin, as each drop stung her sensitive flesh. She didn’t care, as she could already see the effect the rain was having. As each minute passed the clouds above her lightened and the lightning began to slowly fade away. Then, all of a sudden, the rain began to stop and Jeanne looked up, right into the blazing glare of Arias’ sun. A blazing pain washed through her entire body, only to be replaced a moment later by a feeling of pure euphoria. Her body, which had ached so constantly that she had become used to the pain, suddenly felt light and powerful, while every pore on her skin tingled with vibrant energy. She felt like singing and dancing for joy, but at the same time found herself fixed in position, unable to move. Time passed, Jeanne wasn’t sure how long, but she eventually began to notice a change in the sky as the wind blew the clouds away to the south and the sky above became a smooth azure plain. The light of the sun had transfixed her though, and the changes above her seemed unimportant now, just side issues to the exhilaration she was feeling inside. Finally though, the light that shone down on her began to fade as the sun drooped towards the west, eventually passing below the horizon, bringing darkness to Arias once more. This time though, the darkness was not complete, stars shone down from the heavens and one particularly bright one caught her attention. Jeanne stood and watched the stars twinkle for hours, until the sun again began to rise over Arias. It was then she turned and walked back into the throne room. This time though, it wasn’t like returning to her old prison, instead it was a starting point of a new and wonderful life. Eight hundred and fifty years ago, when she had first started this journey, Jeanne could not have imagined where her long life would lead her. There had been moments of joy and centuries of pain and anguish, but how she stood on the threshold of a new beginning. This time though, it wasn’t the same as her first life. She felt pure now, uncontaminated by her mortal existence and she knew, without a trace of doubt, that this time it was going to be different than before. ------------------------------------------------------------ Jeanne hadn’t been the only one to notice the effect of the storm generator’s destruction. At the same time as a faint tremor was being detected in her throne room, a much stronger earthquake was being felt by the inhabitants of the vast swamp. On the darkened bridge of the Sturt, General Azrak suddenly looked up with a startled expression on his face and stared at the vibrating hull in concern. "What is causing that?" he asked Captain Lawton, who was slumped in a chair nearby. Lawton shrugged, indifferent to this new problem in his already miserable life. "It feels a little like an earthquake," he replied eventually. "Of course I would know for sure if I was outside." Azrak stared at him suspiciously for a moment, before nodding. "Go then, but I will be right beside you, so do not try to escape. The Mistress has asked me to keep you here until Captain Ivanova does as she asks. Do not try and oppose her will. She may order you punished if you do not comply with her wishes." Lawton didn’t respond verbally, but his angry gaze said a lot more than words ever could. He still felt annoyed with himself for allowing his ship to be taken so quickly. Even the Rasputin’s marines had been surprised when the swamp had suddenly come alive with more than two hundred alien warriors, who quickly swarmed across the survey ship, confiscating weapons, and then setting up camp on the island the Sturt rested on. His crew, along with the small force of soldiers who had been supposed to protect them, were now imprisoned in the survey ship’s cargo decks. Only a few of the crew members had been allowed to leave their makeshift prisons, although only so they could explain to the aliens how the ship’s systems worked. Now, he was forced to play tourist guide for the alien leader. Opening the large outer hatch, Lawton and Azrak stepped out on the muddy island that had been the ship’s home for the past few weeks. It was pouring with rain across the entire swamp, reminding the Captain of the tropical deluges he had witnessed back home in Rangoon. It had rained before during their stay in the swamp, but it had never been anything like this. It was almost as if the heavens had opened and an entire ocean was being dumped onto the world below. "What is going on?" Azrak demanded, still concerned about the tremors that shook the island beneath his feet. "It’s raining," Lawton replied. "I’m sure you have seen rain before." "Not the rain," Azrak corrected, pointing towards a spot in the sky to the north. "What is that?" Lawton turned and, through the deluge, he could see a single ray of sunlight reaching down from the dark cloud. From a distant, through the curtain of water that was falling from the sky, the wavy line of sunlight looked like a ladder reaching up into the clouds. "It’s the sun," he said in amazement. Azrak stared at the ray of light for nearly a minute, before replying. "It does not look like the sun I remember," he muttered. "I saw the sun several time during my days as a border scout, and it is a great ball of fire in the sky, not something like that." He waved his clawed hand in the direction of the break in the clouds. "You have never seen the sun shining through the clouds before?" Lawton asked. Azrak shook his head. "No, the sun never shines through the clouds. This is a widely known fact among my people. The sun only comes after you leave the clouds." "It does normally," Lawton explained. "On my world, and on every other alien world I've ever heard of, it does." "Does this mean that Captain Ivanova has done as the Mistress asked?" "It may well do," Lawton agreed hopefully. Above them, the deluge of rain began to diminish in strength, becoming a light shower and then finally fading away all together a few minutes later. "Look," Lawton said suddenly, pointing to the south, where he had just spotted another ray of sunlight breaking through the clouds, looking like a searchlight in the darkness. "It seems that you will see the sun soon enough, General Azrak." A wind began to pick up, blowing across the once tranquil swamp and creating ripples and tiny waves in the stagnant water. With coming of the wind, the storm above them finally began to disperse, breaking up into fluffy white patches of cloud on a beautiful blue background. "I guess you will be leaving now, won’t you," Lawton asked, looking over at Azrak. The General nodded, sneaking the occasional suspicious glare at his world’s new skyline. "The Mistress said that if the storm left, you would be free to depart. My soldiers will be leave now, and you must also leave as soon as you are able. The Mistress will demand it." "Don’t worry," Lawton laughed. "I intend to get off this world as soon as possible. You can count on that." ------------------------------------------------------------ "Captain," Petrov called out. "I have found something I think you should take a look at. I’m just transferring it to the main screen now." Susan nodded and turned to watch as the view of the planet’s surface zoomed in to show a small patch of ground about three kilometres south of the alien city. "That’s one of those towers isn’t it?" she asked, recognising the structure she was looking at. Then she frowned, noticing that it looked almost as though it was starting to collapse. "What is going on down there?" "It appears that I was correct after all, Captain," Dr. Melis said smugly. "It is a solar power plant." Susan frowned angrily at the doctor’s interruption, before realising what the tower was doing. Six gigantic arms were slowly extending from the sides, and each arm was deploying vast triangular panels. It took nearly ten minutes for the tower to fully deploy, but when it was finished, a vast black circle started up at them. "How many of those towers are there?" she asked nervously. "At least fifty," Melis replied. "Even is each one is only 50 percent efficient, then they must be draining a vast amount of energy, probably enough to run one of Earth’s major cities for weeks. I can’t wait to start building them on Earth. They would solve so many of our energy needs." "They have to agree to trade with Earth first," Susan muttered, looking at Melis with the same enthusiasm she had Bester and his psi-cops. She was beginning to wish that she had never allowed him back onto the bridge. "A trivial matter at best," Melis said dismissively. "Why would they refuse to trade with us? There must be things that they can’t produce on their world, and they are certain have new technologies that Earth would be willing to pay for." "That may be true, but any negotiations will have to wait until I have deemed the planet safe enough to travel to again. I don’t want to have to come back here and rescue another group of foolish explorers." "IPX has the permission of the president," Melis argued. "You have to assist us in our mission." Susan shook her head. "I’m afraid you are mistaken, Doctor," she said with a faint smile. "I don’t have to do anything of the sort. My mission was to rescue the Sturt and her crew. The mission profile and orders said nothing about helping you to exploit some poor, alien race. Until those orders change, I intend on carrying out my primary mission. So, until I say otherwise, no shuttles are to leave for the surface unless they are going to collect crew from the Sturt. I trust you understand." Melis looked like he was about to explode, but any comment he was going to make was cut short by the Rasputin’s communications officer. "I have Captain Lawton wanting to speak to you, Captain." Susan nodded. "Put him through." Seconds later, the voice of the Sturt’s captain filled the bridge. "Captain Ivanova? Are you there?" "I’m here," Susan confirmed. "What can I do for you, Captain Lawton?" "Thank God," Lawton replied. "I was afraid that we weren’t going to get in contact with you again. Those alien bastards have been swarming all over the Sturt for the past two days. They said they weren’t going to allow us to leave, unless you agreed to do their Mistress’ bidding." "What? She promised to let the Sturt and her crew go free." "They must have changed their minds then, Captain," Lawton replied. "That General Azrak certainly didn’t seem very interested in letting us leave, at least not until the sun began to break through the clouds. That was a quite wonderful sight by the way, something I never thought I would ever see again." "Is everyone all right down there?" Susan asked, feeling strangely numb as she realised that Jeanne had not kept her word about letting all of the prisoners go free. "We’re all fine now, Captain," Lawton replied. "Never better in fact. The solar collectors are working again and my crew assure me that we will be ready for flight in around ten hours time. We want to check all the systems first though, not to mention the hull, before committing to a take off." "Understood. Do you require any assistance? I can send down a shuttle with anything you might need." "I think we should be all right for now," Lawton replied. "I will let you know if we need anything before we leave. There is just one thing though. As the General and his troops were departing, he demanded that we leave this world as quickly as possible. He said something about the Mistress becoming angry if we remained. I just thought you should know, Lawton out." Susan closed the connection and looked over at Melis. "It looks like your plans may be changing, doctor," she said, sounding more angry with herself than with the arrogant scientist. "It appears that the Arisians may not be friendly after all." "I am sure there is some mistake," Melis replied with a thin smile on his lips. "Once one of our professional negotiators gets down there, then we will soon have an agreement that suits everyone." "I am more concerned about what Jeanne might be planning at the moment," Susan said bitterly. "She said she wasn’t planning anything that would threaten Earth or the other worlds, but these new developments throw considerable doubt on those claims." She flicked a switch on the console in front of her. "Lt. Commander Schmitt, is the first squadron ready to depart." "Ready to go, Captain," Alister Schmitt confirmed. "They are just waiting for your orders. The second squadron of Thunderbolts has also been armed and the pilots placed on standby." "Good," Susan said. "Launch the first squadron. I want every square inch of the planet mapped for possible weapons emplacements as well as anything else that could be a threat. Keep the second squadron on standby for now, just in case they are needed." "Roger that," Alister replied. "What was that about, Captain Ivanova?" Melis demanded angrily. "You can’t be thinking of attacking this world. That will not do at all, I will contact Earth at once and stop this foolishness. I’m sure the president will see things my way." "You will do such thing," Susan said angrily. "It is my job to protect Earth and this woman poses a very large potential threat to not just Earth, but all of the Alliance worlds." "I think you are exaggerating the possible threat, Captain," Melis argued. "No, she’s not," a soft, tired voice behind him suddenly interrupted. "Major," Susan exclaimed in surprise. "Aren’t you supposed to be in isolation in the sickbay?" "I was," Lily replied bitterly. "But the doc released me when he couldn’t find anything wrong, and sent me back to my quarters. I was supposed to get some rest, but I couldn’t sleep knowing that witch was still on the loose down there." Lily walked across to the railing overlooking the sunken bridge area. "I see she managed to convince you, though," she said, pointing towards the newly revealed surface of the world below. "I just hope you are prepared to stop her, Captain." "Captain," Petrov suddenly called out. "Sensors have reported a launch from the planet’s surface." "The war cruiser?" Susan asked, a cold feeling beginning to grip her. "Petrov shook his head. "Not the cruiser, it is a lot smaller and came from an entirely different section of the planet. It could be a missile though." "Order the pilots on the scouting mission to intercept," Susan began, before Petrov interrupted her again. "I am also registering a massive energy buildup near the alien city," he informed her. "On screen," Susan demanded. The display quickly shifted to show the great crater where Jeanne’s palace was located. Around the edge of the crater were four of the energy collection towers, although unlike the others, these four hadn’t deployed into solar collectors. Instead their tips were now glowing with brilliant green energy. "Get us out of range at once," Susan shouted, suddenly realising what the towers were. Before the helmsman could react though, four beams of energy shot out from the towers to collide above the palace. Then, another thinner beam of energy shot straight upwards, directly towards the Rasputin. Everyone braced themselves for the impact, but it never came, the beam missing the Rasputin by the narrowest of margins, impacting on the surface of the gas giant’s second moon behind them. "I think that was a warning shot," Petrov said, his hands flying over his console. "Senors have reported that the towers have gone quiet again. I would say she was just letting us know what sort of defensive system she has down there." "What about the missile?" Susan asked. "It has settled into orbit just above the atmosphere. It appears to be some kind of sphere, possibly a communications satellite of some kind. No wait, it’s unfolding, just like those towers. I am registering four solar panels and a large weapons array. It looks like a defensive satellite of some kind." "Can we destroy it?" Petrov frowned. "It is possible," he said finally. "It is still inactive at the moment, probably waiting until it is charged by the suns light. However..." "If we destroy it, Jeanne will destroy us with that weapon of hers," Susan finished. "In other words, we can’t do anything to stop her." "We could send in ground troops," Petrov sad. "But I wouldn’t give them much of chance of success. Likewise an air attack on those towers, would bring the starfuries into range of that gun. I wouldn’t want to be one of the pilots trying to take on a weapon of that power." "It appears she has won, then," Lily said, walking towards the door to the bridge. Just before leaving, she turned and looked back at Susan "I just hope you are willing to take the blame for what you have done, Captain. That woman is a manipulative psychopath who will do and say anything to get her own way. She convinced you to release her from her prison, and now she is free to work her evil charms on the entire galaxy. I hope you can live with the knowledge of what you have done." ------------------------------------------------------------ Sel Vecantie e-mail: vecantie@geocities.com homepage: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/9933/ ICQ: 23223547 From: "Sel Vecantie" Subject: The Secret of Arias, Chapter 11 - Part C Date: Fri, 19 Mar 1999 11:29:09 +1030 ------------------------------------------------------------ It was a despondent collection of men and women who gathered in the Rasputin’s conference room early the next morning. Dawn was still an hour away back on Earth, but on Arias the sun was shining brightly, and the continued launch of new satellites went on. Nearly a hundred now dotted the skies above the jungle moon, an impregnable curtain of destruction, powerful enough to defeat an entire fleet of warships. Strangely though, not one of the satellites had yet activated, it was as if they were waiting for something. "That’s number ninety seven," Petrov said, as yet another spherical object tore free of Arias’ gravity and gently settled into orbit above the planet. "If this keeps up, the entire planet is going to be surrounded by those satellites before the day is out." "Have you found where are coming from yet?" Susan asked, in a dejected tone. Petrov nodded. "An underground factory of some kind. We can’t get a close look, but have determined that each launch is separated by exactly ten minutes and twenty-seven seconds, indicating the system that is producing the satellites is probably automated." "Can we destroy it?" "I’m afraid not, Captain," Alister Schmitt answered. "The launch site is covered by that big gun at the top of the crater, and any attempt to approach would bring us into range. I am willing to give it a try if you order it, but my boys and girls aren’t keen on the idea, especially after they saw the trench that thing left in the side of the second moon." Susan nodded. "I thought as much. It seems Earthdome agrees with you as well. Admiral Mellor has given us orders to withdraw from the system as soon as the Sturt has been recovered. IPX still wants to send in a negotiator, even more so after seeing those satellites, but the President has withdrawn her support for the idea." "So they are all just going to sweep the whole planet under the rug then?" Petrov asked. "Until there is some tangible threat, I think those were the Admiral’s exact words." "They should be blowing this place apart with everything in the arsenal," Major Logan muttered. She stood away from the main table, watching the latest satellite arrive, her hand clasped behind her back and a grim expression on her pale face. "A few tactical nukes should blow away any problem." "We can’t do that, Major," Susan reminded her. "There are still innocent civilians down there. Besides, there is still no proof that Jeanne means us any harm." "Sounds to me like you are trying to convince yourself, Captain," Lily replied, trudging back to her seat and sitting down. "If she does muster some kind of fleet, and sets off to conquer other worlds, people are going to come looking for the person who set her free." "That is enough, Major," Susan demanded coldly. She knew that Lily wasn’t saying anything that she hadn’t already thought herself, but she just didn’t like to hear it. "We have no proof that there are any other ships down there, apart from that war cruiser." "We didn’t know they had that gun, or the satellite factory either," Petrov cautioned. "Who knows what secrets Arias is hiding beneath its rocky soil." Susan nodded, realising that the Commander was speaking the truth. No-one knew what Jeanne had build in her eight hundred years on this world. In the same time on Earth, great empires had risen and fallen and the humanity had become a great starfaring race. She certainly hadn’t expected the great weapon that protected the city. Her team had walked straight past the four towers along the crater rim without noticing anything strange about them, yet they had turned out to be components of one of the most powerful weapons she had ever seen demonstrated. Certainly, it wasn’t as powerful as the Vorlon's planet killers, but anything that could reach out across the vastness of space and dig a trench three metres deep on another world was a weapon to be respected and feared. The aprupt opening of the door into the conference room shook everyone out of their misery and all turned as an angry looking Dr. Melis entered. "Captain Ivanova," he almost shouted. "I have just heard that you have banned all flights to the surface. I was preparing to take a shuttle down to the alien city and begin negotiations with the alien leader. I demand to know why you have prevented this." Susan looked at him, wondering for a moment if the IPX official wasn’t out of his mind. "Haven’t you seen what is going on out there?" she asked incredulously, waving a hand towards the wall. Melis looked at the holographic screen that dominated the ceiling and walls of the conference room. Currently it displayed a close up view of one of the satellites, currently drifting in orbit next to the Rasputin. "I fail to see anything to be concerned about," he replied. "None of those satellites have threatened us directly, and I’m sure if they intended to injure us they would have done so by now." "I think the blast from that cannon made it pretty clear we are not welcome here," Susan said. "It only just missed us, and I don’t think you are going to get any clearer indication of their intentions than that." "I have dealt with hostile aliens before," Melis sneered. "All you need to do is offer them what they want, and they soon see things your way. I am sure a substantial offer of credits would smooth over relations." "Somehow, Doctor, I don’t think Jeanne is going to be interested in your money." "And you would be correct in that assumption, Captain Ivanova," a soft voice said, echoing around the conference room. "Who said that?" Lily demanded, leaping out of her chair and scanning around the large room. In response, all the holographic generators in the room winked out, along with the lights and several of the luminous consoles. Power to the systems returned a moment later, returning light to the room, but not the view of space outside the ship. Instead of that hologram, another had taken its place, this time the image of Jeanne. Those who had seen her before, Susan and Major Logan, immediately noticed the changes that had occurred. Her hair was no longer dark, instead it had been replaced by delicate white-gold strands that seemed to shimmer down to her shoulders. Her fingernails, which had also been as black as coal, where now a gleaming gold in colour and her skin glowed with energy and light. Her extravagant white and pink gown was also gone, replaced by a simple white dress of a style that probably hadn’t been popular since the middle ages. Jeanne’s eyes were closed at the moment, her hands clasped before her like an innocent schoolgirl, but there was no mistaking the power in her body. Even though she was thousands of kilometres away and her body was only being displayed through the conference room’s holographic system, she still radiated power and strength. Then she opened her eyes, and it was like looking into a blazing inferno. That impression didn’t last long though, as the light in her eyes faded to reveal ice-blue orbs that seemed to contain both wisdom and sadness. Jeanne looked around at those sitting at the table and for a moment they were all entranced, captured by the beauty of her appearance. That fascination didn’t last long though as Lily leapt to her feet and rushed at Jeanne with a snarl on her face. She leapt at the hologram, passing straight through the image of light and landing in a heap on the far side of the room. Jeanne turned and regarded Lily’s crumbled, sobbing form with a tinge of regret showing on her face. "Why do you hate me so?" she asked softly. "I have not harmed you." "What did you do to me?" Lily sobbed. "Why can’t I sleep like I used to?" Jeanne looked sad, reaching down as if to comfort Lily, before realising that she was just a hologram. "I am sorry," she replied gently. "I thought I was saving your life. I did not realise what my blood would do to you." "Your blood?" Susan asked. Jeanne smiled faintly at her, before looking down at Lily with another brief expression of regret. "I used my blood to heal Major Logan. The effects were only temporary on my followers, but on her it seems to have been more permanent. I did not wish to cause her harm, only to save her life." Lily pulled herself back to her feet. "Take your blood back. I don’t want it. I don’t want to live like this, never sleeping and always hungry. I want to be the way I was." Jeanne turned away and walked towards the far end of the room. "I can not do that," she admitted sadly. "My blood has bonded with your body, you can not return to the being you were before. In your case. the effects seem to be permanent. I am so sorry." "No!" Lily shouted. "You must be able to change me back. I don’t want to stay this way. You can build those satellites and that cannon, why can’t you change me back to the person I was before?" Jeanne turned around to face her. "Because I never studied genetics," she replied. "I did not wish to do to others what the Vorlons did to me. I guess it is ironic the way things have turned out. You will just have to learn to live with who you have become, Major. Think of the advantages instead of the weaknesses." "What has she become?" Susan demanded. "What did you do to her?" "I do not know," Jeanne admitted. "She is not like me, but she is similar in some ways, and only time will tell which of her capabilities evolve and expand. But, I did not come here to discuss Major Logan." "Let me guess," Susan said sarcastically. "You came here to tell us how everything that has happened over the past weeks was a mistake and how you are now going to welcome us with open arms." "Fat chance," Lily muttered. She turned at looked at Petrov. "Can’t we shut down the hologram system and get rid of her?" Petrov shook his. "I’m afraid not, Major," he replied. "All the systems have locked me out." Jeanne ignored the conversation between Lily and Petrov and moved across the room until she was standing near the middle of the table. "Not exactly, Captain," she replied, answering Susan’s earlier question. "I have come to inform you that you must leave this world before the day is out. My satellites are programmed to activate once the seeding is complete, so you have less than twelve hours to remove your ships from the vicinity of this world." "What about the Sturt?" Petrov asked. "She is still down on the surface. We can’t leave without them." Jeanne studied him for a second before replying. "I have determined that your other vessel can depart within the hour. It need not remain on this world any longer." "We aren’t just going to let you get away with this," Susan promised her. "Earthforce will not stand by and watch if you extend your empire into other worlds. We will stop you." Jeanne looked at her with one delicate eyebrow raised. "It appears that you still do not understand, Captain Ivanova," she said softly. "My empire, such as it was, ends here. When this day is out, it will cease to exist, and I will no longer rule this world." "Excuse me," Melis suddenly interrupted. "Can I speak here for a moment?" Jeanne turned and regarded him with a curious expression on her face. "Who are you?" she asked. "I am Dr. Jack Melis," he replied proudly. "I wish to speak to you about possible trade between your world and..." "It seems that you do not understand my question," Jeanne interrupted. "I did not ask for your name, that does not tell me anything. I asked who you were." Melis looked confused for a second, before replying, "I am a representative of IPX, and have been authorised to offer a considerably generous financial settlement for access to your technology." Jeanne considered his words. "IPX," she mused. "Interplanetary expeditions, exploring the past to create a better future." "That’s us," Melis replied with a broad smile. "You are not welcome on this world, Dr. Jack Melis, and neither are any of your kind. The people of this world are still young and innocent, they are not yet ready for contact with other races." "But..." "Do not argue," Jeanne said firmly. "I have already made my decision. You may leave this room, what is to be discussed here is not for the ears of one such as you. Begone." "But, I..." "I think you should leave, doctor," Susan urged him, feeling strangely relieved by the idea. "I will keep you up to date with what happens." Melis hesitated, staring at the image of Jeanne in disbelief. When she looked back at him without any trace of a smile or other expression on her pale features, he finally muttered something to himself and left the room. When he was gone, she turned back to Susan. "Now, Captain," she began. "As I was saying before I was interrupted, you must depart this world as soon as you can. It is not just for your own good, but also for my followers." "I don’t understand," Susan said. "I don’t expect you to, Captain," Jeanne replied softly. "My motives must seem strange to you, but I am not like you any more. I operate on a different level from humanity, I see things that you do not. But do not feel bad, the Vorlons did not understand either. They thought they were right in following their great cause, but in the end they were just as flawed and evil as those they sought to defeat." "And you know better do you?" Lily asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "You are right and they were wrong. Is that what you were about to say?" "Perhaps, Major Logan," Jeanne replied. "But you will never know now. You may mistrust me if you wish, I can not prevent that, but please remain quiet for now. You may yell at me later if you wish, but I would like a chance to explain first." "Go ahead," Lily said. "This should prove interesting." Jeanne smiled at her and then walked over to examine a console mounted on the wall. Finally, she turned around and stared at Susan. "I have told you that the Vorlon imprisoned me because I threatened their plans, but I did not tell you the whole story. I did not lie, but I did not explain everything." She paused and tapped at something out of sight from the Rasputin’s crew, most likely a console in her throne room or from wherever her image was being projected. Whatever she was doing, it didn’t take long, and then she looked around at Susan and her crew. "What do you know of the Vorlon’s role in the galaxy?" she asked. Being the only one in the room with anything more than a passing knowledge of the Vorlon race, Susan answered. "They were an ancient race, one of the first ones who stayed behind when the others left, so they could guide the younger races. They followed the principles of order and obedience, while the Shadows were beings of chaos and conflict." "Very good, Captain," Jeanne said with a smile. "You are correct. The Vorlons were creatures of order, and their enemies, beings of chaos. Unfortunately both were so caught up in their own ideals that neither stopped to regard the third force in the argument." "The truth," Susan said, remembering what John had said to the Vorlons at Coriana 6. Suddenly she stopped and her eyes opened wide in surprise. She examined Jeanne again, comparing the blonde woman with her memories from the battle. If Jeanne had been wearing a veil, she would be a splitting image of the projection the Vorlon had created when talking to Sheridan. Now that she thought about it, Jeanne’s voice was even similar, although it lacked the musical undertones the Vorlons had used. "The truth?" Jeanne said, sounding faintly amused. "No, I was not speaking of the truth, that is all around you, all you need to do is open your eyes. No, I was speaking of the innocent. In their battles and causes, neither side paused to spare a moment to consider the innocents caught up in their wars. Untold billions have died over the millennia, just so two ancient races could play out their pathetically senseless battles. Eight hundred years ago, I saw this, and that is why the Vorlon left me here. I saw what they were doing to the other races of the galaxy and I meant to end it. I was going to return to Earth and raise a mighty army capable of driving both the Vorlons and the dark ones from this galaxy for good. When they realised this, they imprisoned me here, for they realised they could not kill me." She paused in her speech and looked over at Susan with a faint smile on her face. "Now you have released me, Captain, and I am finally free to resume what I began so long ago." "What is that?" Susan asked bitterly. "Bringing everyone under your banner so they will be protected and subservient, owing their lives to your generosity." "You still don’t understand," Jeanne replied, her voice still as calm and collected as ever. "That is how the Vorlon thought, but we both know that does not work. The galaxy needs both order and chaos to survive. It is a balance, where both sides must exist and support each other for the galaxy to continue. Life is born out of chaos, but order provides the nourishment that allows it to grow and develop. You see, both are needed if life is to survive and flourish in all of its potential forms. Take the stars for example. They are things of pure chaos, yet they provide the warmth that nourishes entire civilisations. On the other hand order is also needed to provide a guiding hand during any youth's formative development, and protect those who are not strong enough to look out for themselves. The older races like the Vorlons and the Shadows made the mistake of focussing totally on one part of the whole, and so were diminished by that decision." "What does that have to do with you though?" Susan asked. "You cannot change what has already happened." "True," Jeanne agreed. "But I can change the future. I have begun that task here with this world." "With the satellites?" Jeanne nodded. "That is correct. Each of those satellites has been programmed to recognise only the genetic structure of the Arisian race. My followers are still a young race, one open to exploitation and slavery. With this protection I have granted them, they will be free to develop at their own pace. When they are ready to leave this world, then I am also prepared for that eventuality. As soon as an Arisian comes within a hundred metres of one of the satellites, then they will all be deactivated, eventually falling back into the atmosphere. Until that time though, the people of this world will be safe from any who might wish to harm them or attempt to affect their development." "But haven’t you already done that," Petrov noted. "They already have technology that you have provided them." "Only a little," Jeanne replied. "That was necessary so that I could build the city and fortress that have kept me alive all these years. Much of what I have given them though, they do not understand. They are more advanced that they would have been, but not overly so." "I still don’t understand the aim of all this," Susan said. "Why bother? What difference can you make? No matter what happens, the Arisians and all the other races are still going to turn out the same way. If all you do is create a defence system around their world, you aren’t going to change anything." "Precisely, Captain," Jeanne said with a joyful expression. "You finally do understand. I do not want to change how a race turns out. I just want to ensure that they are free to exist at all. I want to give each of the developing races in this galaxy a chance of existence. I am going to give each developing world a defensive system like the one on this world. Then it will be up to them how they end up. But no matter if they follow order or chaos, at least now they will get the chance to choose. It is not for me to guide them one way or the other, each race must make that choice for itself. Only then can they become all that are meant to be." Susan looked at Jeanne in astonishment. "This is why the Vorlon imprisoned you?" she asked incredulously. "Originally I thought the same as the Vorlons," Jeanne explained. "I believed that my destiny was to fight chaos, driving away evil with a sweep of my sword. This is what the Vorlon’s wanted me to do, but as they altered me, my feelings changed. I saw things that I could never have imagined as a child, and I realised that the Vorlon’s argument was flawed. They saw everything as black and white, good and evil, but things are not always that way. In my own mortal life I have seen evil men convert and change their way, becoming soldiers of good; and at the same time I witnessed those who were meant to be the upholders of goodness commit acts of evil. There is no such thing as pure good or pure evil. Everything is always a shade of grey. Even the Vorlon, the mighty upholders of all that was pure and good, committed acts of destruction and violence in the pursuit of their cause. I realised that no matter what principles you adhere to, you can never follow them all the time. So I choose not to follow one path, but instead follow my heart and let it take me where it wills. I saw before me a universe of suffering, where every side was being forced to follow one path or the other and I made the decision to give everyone who wanted it the choice. I have no doubt that some races on worlds I protect will die out, but if they do, it will be their destiny, not because some other race decides it." "What do you get out of all this?" Lily cut in, sounding suspicious. "I find it hard to believe that you would do this without some personal gain." "I would expect that from you, Major Logan," Jeanne said with a faint smile gracing her lips. "You are even more suspicious than Captain Ivanova. Unlike your Dr. Melis, I have no desire for wealth or possessions. None of those things mean anything to me any more. Instead I seek something to give my life meaning. When you have lived as long as I have, perhaps then you will understand. Now I must leave, as must you." "Will we see you again?" Susan asked. A flicker of a smile ran across Jeanne face. "I doubt it, Captain Ivanova," she replied. "You have your life of duty to your world, and I have my new life. Humanity is an old race now, developed and in charge of its own destiny. It needs no protection from me, and neither do the other worlds whose ships travel through this region of space. For now though, I must return to the world below. There is much work to do before I can depart, but you must leave soon, Captain Ivanova." With that final comment, Jeanne’s glowing image winked out and the holographic projectors returned to their normal setting, displaying the region of space directly behind the warship. On the newly restored display, everyone in the conference room could see a trail of fire heading up from the planet, the exhausts of powerful fusion engines propelling the Sturt free of the atmosphere. "It looks like she has made sure we have nothing to stick around for," Lily muttered, as soon as she noticed the Sturt’s arrival. "Orders, Captain?" Petrov asked. Susan hesitated, still trying to digest everything Jeanne had told them. Part of her was still suspicious, but another, larger part felt relieved that Jeanne’s intentions had turned out to be peaceful. Of course, a lot of races that made a living out of exploiting younger worlds would be upset, the Centauri came to mind here, but for some reason Susan felt comforted knowing that there was someone out there looking after those who were unable to protect themselves. In a way, what Jeanne had said made perfect sense, her logic irrefutable. "Captain?" Petrov asked again, looking concerned. "Signal the Sturt, have them set a course for the Io jumpgate, Commander Petrov," she replied. "We will follow. Our mission here is complete." "But, Captain..." "The Sturt and her crew are safe, and there is no threat to Earth... well, no direct threat anyway. Mission complete! It’s time to go home." ------------------------------------------------------------ Three hours later, the world of Arias began to diminish into the background, lost against the vast bulk of the huge gas giant behind it. Susan sat quietly in the conference room, sipping a mug of coffee and watching the world slowly vanish. Just to be safe, she had ordered the Rasputin to climb free of the gas giant's gravity well before attempting a jump to hyperspace. It was probably safe to make the jump ealier, but after everything else that had happened on this trip, she wanted to be sure. Sitting in the chair next to her, Talia regarded a muffin with a suspicious stare, wondering if she dare eat another one. Finally she decided to allow herself a small guilty pleasure and placed the muffin on her plate, pushing the tray she had selected it from across to Susan. When Susan didn’t reach for it, Talia looked at her with a concerned expression on her face. "Are you all right?" she asked. Susan nodded slowly. "I’m just thinking," she replied. "About Jeanne again?" "I was just wondering if I have done the right thing this time. There is still a possibility that she was lying again." "Do you believe that, Susan?" "Not really," Susan replied with a faint smile. "I’m probably just worrying for nothing. She was different this time, and I actually believed what she was saying. There was passion in her voice as if she believed in her words. I didn’t feel that when we talked to her on the planet. I still can’t help feel suspicious though." Talia smiled and tapped the metal tray. "Have a muffin," she told Susan. "It will make you feel better." Susan selected one of the remaining muffins from the tray and took a bite, suddenly realising that this was the first fresh food she had eaten in over a week. The ration bars and self-heating meals could provide nourishment, but they just couldn’t match something that had just been cooked. Once again, Susan was glad that this ship came with its own kitchen. "Is that better?" Talia asked, sipping her hot tea. "Much," Susan replied. "There is still something that is bothering me though." "What is it this time?" "Something I noticed about Jeanne. She is identical to the image the Vorlons used to represent them at Coriana, not just similar, but identical. Her voice is the same and the dress she was wearing today was even similar." "So?" "If the Vorlons were so afraid of her, why did they use her image?" Talia raised an eyebrow, considering the question, before an answer quickly rose to the surface and she laughed. "That’s easy, Susan," she replied. "The Vorlons were telepathically projecting this image, right?" Susan nodded. "I imagine so, I can’t think of any other way they would have done it." "Well, to send an image telepathically, you usually have to seen the image before. It is a lot more difficult to make something up, so most telepaths usually select an image from their past, or from the past of the person they are scanning. I’m sure that the Vorlon could have made Sheridan see anything they desired, but why bother when they could just use Jeanne’s image. I think she must have caused quite an impression on them." "Do you think I did the right thing?" Susan asked suddenly. "Do you think I should have just departed like that, leaving Jeanne free to carry out her plans?" Talia laughed. "Susan, you have to stop worrying about what is done. You can’t change the past and it is obvious that nothing you did was going to change her mind. I think you did the right thing, and so should you." "She going to cause trouble for a lot of companies back home, not just IPX, but all the other exploration companies." "Nothing that the government shouldn’t already be doing. There are a lot of unscrupulous people out there, not just on Earth, but on all the alien worlds as well. In a way, it makes me glad that there is someone out there to look after the younger races." "The Admiral’s going to ask some tough questions about what I did." "Not many. You succeeded in every task he set you. You bought back the President’s nephew and the rest of the Sturt’s crew and - in a way - you have also helped out the entire Arisian race." "I had a chat with Major Logan about him," Susan said, a faint smile finally beginning to creep over her face. "She had some very choice words to say about him." Talia smiled in return. "So I heard," she said. "It’s good to see the Major back to her old self." She paused at looked up at the holographic screen, watching as the darkness of space vanished, to be replaced by the chaotic realm of hyperspace. Finally she turned back to Susan. "You needn’t worry about anything you did, Susan. You are still going to be a hero... again." Susan grimaced. "There are going to be reporters, aren’t there?" "For Nicolai Luchenko?" I would expect nothing less than ISN and probably four or five of the other networks. "Why? Are you considering turning around and heading back to Arias?" "Not in this lifetime," Susan replied. "If this is the sort of thing that is going to happen on just one Vorlon world, I am going to stick to Earth Alliance territory from now on. As I said from the start, I hate rescue missions. If Mellor asks me to do anything like this again, I am going to hand him my resignation and tell him to get some other poor fool." Talia laughed. "I agree," she said. "Anything is better than trudging through that swamp again." Even Susan smiled at that comment. "It was rather awful, wasn’t it," she said. "It was good to be back on board the Rasputin after a week on Arias." "Especially the showers." Susan turned and stared lovingly at Talia. "Especially the showers, she agreed." ------------------------------------------------------------ Back on Arias, Jeanne stood quietly near one of the throne room’s windows. A gentle breeze brushed against her face, ruffling her blonde hair and bringing a faint chill to her body. Overhead, in the night sky, a hundred or more tiny dots of light stood out against the background stars. The satellite network for Arias was nearly complete, ahead lay thousands of new worlds, each needing her protection. Before then though, she would need something, a new vessel to serve her. The cruiser was good enough for travelling across the galaxy, but to create a vast network of protective satellites, she needed something bigger, much bigger. For a moment she felt almost jealous of Susan and her crew. Their mission was over, but hers was just beginning. ------------------------------------------------------------ Sel Vecantie e-mail: vecantie@geocities.com homepage: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/9933/ ICQ: 23223547