From: "Sel" Subject: The Secret of Arias, Chapter 4/10 - Part A Date: Mon, 8 Feb 1999 22:30:55 +1030 It has been a couple of weeks since I have sent any new chapters of The Secret of Arias, but now here are three complete chapters for you to enjoy (or not...) If you have any comments of critisims of my work then please don't hesitate to mail me. More chapters will be avalible shortly. 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 4 By Sel Vecantie ------------------------------------------------------------ The tall trees of the jungle did not last long, and the two IPX rovers quickly found themselves in another world entirely. Gone was the lush vegetation, and in its place was a dark mockery of the healthy jungle that existed in the sunlit regions. The remnants of the ancient jungle could still be seen, tall trunks of once great trees reaching for the sky, reminding those who saw them of fire blackened ribs. But, that was all that was left, the rest of the jungle was gone, replaced with a low forest of giant fungi and other stunted plants. Despite the feeling of devastation this view engendered, Susan found it eerily beautiful. It might not have the same feeling of wondrous life about it that the jungle did, but there was beauty to be found here nonetheless. Several species of plants possessed a phosphorescent glow to their leaves, and they gave the forest a faint glow, as if it were lit up by millions of fairy lights. It made her feel almost sad to watch the rovers tear into the forest of fungi like giant hungry beasts, destroying everything in their path. That feeling soon passed though, as Susan realised that the lack of tall trees and jungle was making the going a lot easier. The tallest of the fungi barely even made it up to the top of the rover's wheels, and while there were a few taller plants, the journey should pass a lot quicker now. With luck it could cut the travel time from the originally expected day and a half, to a little over a day. If they followed the same path on the way back, the return trip would be even quicker. For a brief moment, Susan allowed herself to hope that this mission would be over a lot sooner than she had originally imagined. Dr. Melis though, soon put an end to that hope. "What's that," he asked in a curious tone, pointing towards the window. Outside could be seen a small hill the rovers were currently passing. It was fairly unremarkable as far as hills went, but Melis seemed to have found something interesting about it. "That's a tree," Susan replied, peering out the window in the direction the doctor indicated. On top of the hill it was just possible to see a tall tree-like shape jutting out from the summit. Melis shook his head in disagreement. "No, it is too regular to be a tree. I think it is some sort of construction. Look around you, all the other trees are only there because they have vines and other parasites growing all over them. This one is alone on the top of the hill, with nothing growing anywhere near it." Susan frowned, but then realised he was right. What she had first taken to be the bare trunk of a dead tree, was in fact something else entirely. "It looks like a pillar of some kind," she mused, watching the object carefully as the rovers were forced to alter their course to go around the hill. "I think we should check it out," Melis said, looking excited by the prospect. "It might be important, and we can't pass up the opportunity to let something like this slip through our fingers." "It is probably nothing," Susan replied. "Anyway, we are on a rescue mission and don't have time to check out every interesting object we might happen to pass. Mark it on the navigation system, and you can take a look another time. If it is here now, then I doubt it is going anywhere anytime soon." As she spoke though, a strange feeling was beginning to creep into her thoughts. At first she dismissed it, but then the feeling began to grow in strength. It was as if the pillar was calling out to her, urging her to come closer. "It won't take long," Melis argued. "All we have to do is walk up to the top of that hill. It would take ten minutes at the most. It might have something to do with this storm, and if that's true then we can't miss this opportunity." Despite her better judgement, Susan found herself agreeing. "Very well, Doctor," she said. "We will investigate, but only for fifteen minutes, no longer. I don't want to hold up this mission any longer than necessary." She turned to the marine in charge of the rover's sensors, and communication system. "Signal the other rover of our intentions," she ordered. "Tell them to stop and wait until we return, and also that no-one else is permitted outside without my permission." "Understood, Captain," came the snappy reply from the sensor operator. Talia looked at her with a faintly worried look on her face. she asked telepathically. Susan replied. "Captain," the sensor operator suddenly interrupted. "Major Logan wishes to join you if you are going anywhere outside the rover, and asks if she can send a bodyguard along as well." Susan's first thought was to turn down the Major's request, but after considering what they faced, she agreed with the idea. After all, she didn't know what was out there, and despite the strange compulsion she felt to examine this object, she wasn't about the go outside without protection. There could be anything waiting for them out in the darkness. "Tell the Major to join us as soon as she can," she said, getting out of her chair and moving towards the rovers hatch. Talia and Melis quickly joined her, and all three left the command cabin together. As she walked down the narrow corridor towards the hatch, Susan felt almost as if she were being guided somewhere, and that her feet were travelling almost without her direction. Normally she would have found this most alarming, but for some reason what was happening to her seemed right. She felt as if there was something important about this pillar, something she had to see, and that if she didn't see it, then something bad was going to happen. ------------------------------------------------------------ Jarz stopped his pursuits of the alien machines for a second, just long enough to pluck two juicy white worms from the pile of broken mushrooms that marked the passage of the rovers. After wiping the dirt off them, he dropped them into his mouth, relishing the soft, honey-like flavour of their flesh. Then, he turned his attention back to tracking the aliens. Actually it wasn't a difficult task, their machines had left a trail even an untrained hatchling could follow with ease. Despite the devastation though, Jarz realised that the environment had suffered little permanent damage. Floating through the air in front of him, the scout could see thousands of tiny white filaments, spores from the damaged fungi. Soon they would settled and grow, replacing their damaged parents. In about three weeks there would be almost no trace of the damage caused. He didn't have time to stand around and watch the spores floating about though, he had aliens to track. After tossing another couple of worms into his belt pouch for an afternoon snack, he continued his run, following the wide trail the rovers had left. To his surprise, he soon caught up with the two alien machines, stopped just down the trail from where he had found the worms. He quickly ducked into behind a fallen log, crouching down so they could not see him. There he watched as a small group of aliens set out from their machines, making slow progress across towards a nearby hill. Jarz scratched an itchy spot on the top of his round head, wondering why the aliens had abandoned their machines. From what he had been told, they were not very mobile through this sort of landscape, and he wondered why they would try to walk through the forest of fungus without their machines. Curious, he edged closer. It was then he saw it, a tall pillar riding above the hill. He knew at once what it was, and who had put it there. Like many things in his society, the pillars were something that only a few were every permitted to know the truth about. But, despite this, stories always seemed to filter down to the lower ranks. So, like the other younger warriors, Jarz had heard the story of these pillars, and the creatures who had made them. It was rumoured that before she came to this world, the Mistress had been enslaved by an evil race of creatures that travelled among the stars. Jarz knew about stars, of course, having seen them during his journeys through the jungle beyond the Mistress' domain. To him though, they were just lights in the sky, and of little value to anyone. The Mistress, however, seemed to put great value in them, and the stories often mentioned of her desire to return to the stars and rain vengeance down on those who had wronged her. This evil race that had imprisoned her was also supposed to be responsible for the construction of the pillars. Legend said that the evil ones built them as a barrier to prevent the Mistress from escaping her prison. They were also said to have been a warning to others who may come, like the aliens who now walked on this world, a warning that none could resist. Jarz knew as well that the Mistress had ordered them all destroyed centuries ago, but somehow this one must have survived the search, for here it stood, still intact. For a moment he thought about informing his superiors back in the fortress, but chose instead to wait and see what happened when the alien's reached the pillar. ------------------------------------------------------------ After spending the last five minutes walking across this dark landscape, Susan was beginning to change her opinion of its beauty. Up close, it lost its gloss, and began to resemble a rotting corpse. The mushrooms and other fungi became parasites, leaching away the life from the world, and the phosphorescent glow of the leafy plants took on an eerie, ghost-like quality. But worst of all was the stench of rotting vegetation. Inside the rovers there had been no smell at all, but outside the stench of rot hung heavy in the air, permeating everything. Susan and the rest of the small group that had set out to investigate the pillar were wearing filter masks, but they provided little protection against the smell. So, they had been forced to put up with it, trying to ignore it as they slogged slowly through the muddy soil towards the top of the hill. Fortunately there must not have been any rain recently and the ground was still reasonably hard. Susan could tell that if it had rained any time in the past week, the ground would have been so soft that they would not have been able to walk up the steep slope of the hill. As it was, she had already slipped over once, catching herself just in time. Dr. Melis had not been so lucky, and shortly after starting up the hillside found himself sliding back down again, his expensive suit now covered with mud. It certainly hadn't done much to improve his attitude. "How much longer," he called out for the third time in two minutes. She choose not to answer this time, just continuing her walk up the hill. Melis grumbled about arrogant Earthforce officers, but didn't slow his walk. Behind both of them Talia and Major Logan were walking slowly up the hill, conducting their own private conversation. Susan felt a brief stab of jealousy, before dismissing it, remembering with the absolute certainty that only joined minds could give that Talia was in love with her, and not about to leave her again. Turning back to the climb, Susan continued on, walking as fast as she could. The feeling of being drawn towards the strange structure had grown, and with it a feeling of profound disquiet. Susan now felt as if she was being led there by some power beyond her control, but when she tried to slow down or turn around, found that her feet would not obey her commands, and that she was compelled to continue on. Finally the group made it up to the summit of the small hill. Before them, rising out of the muddy ground was the object of their expedition, a dark stone pillar. It looked as if it had been crafted by some primitive tribe, and they could almost imagine the pillar being chipped out with stone axes and chisels. "Well, that doesn't look like much," Melis said, a tone disappointment in his voice. "It was hardly worth coming all this way for." "It's Vorlon," Susan replied softly, her voice seeming distant. She felt herself pulled closer, and despite trying to resist her hand slowly raised to touch the stone surface of the pillar. "How do you know," Melis asked in surprise, looking over at her. "Have you seen this sort of thing before." Susan didn't reply. Instead, she reached out to touched the pillar. She found its surface smooth and cold, with no indentations or other markings. It was like touching stone, but it didn't feel like stone, instead it felt somehow alive. Then, she felt a faint electrical shock run through her, and suddenly she no longer stood on the muddy hilltop. Instead she was elsewhere, somewhere cold and almost equally desolate. It took a few seconds for her to realise exactly where she was, but then she recognised the snow-covered street she stood on as the same one her family's home had been on, back when she was a child in St. Petersburg. In front of her lay an old store, a place her father had always forbidden her to go near during her childhood. She remembered always wanting to find out what was inside the store, but she had been too afraid. She was an adult now, but she still felt a feeling of growing trepidation at the sight of the boarded up windows and cracked paint. Finally, she summoned up enough courage to take a step forward, and moved closer to the darkened doorway of the store. Then, out of the shadows of the doorway, the figure of her father appeared. "Do not go there," her father said, his voice sounding the same as she remembered. "There are bad things in here." Her father then turned and looked down the street, and Susan followed his gaze to see her childhood home in the distance. For some reason it was glowing, and it seemed to exude a sense of warmth and comfort. "Go there," the image of her father said. "You will be safe there. Do not venture into the darkness, only death awaits you." Susan frowned, suddenly realising that, while the person in front of her might look like her father, there was none of the warmth and love she was used to. "Who are you," she asked, while at the same time opening her mind and attempting to read the thoughts of the being standing before her. The results of her telepathic probe were immediate, not to mention violent. The false images of her father, along with the image of the street, vanished, exploding into a riot of colour and light. When her vision cleared she was standing in on a white plain, standing in front of an encounter-suited Vorlon. "Do not go any further," the Vorlon said, its voice sounding almost identical to Kosh's. "There is danger here, go back before it is too late." Susan felt a feeling of fear begin to rise inside her. Despite that though, she managed to say, "I must." She became vaguely aware of a throbbing in her head, making it hard to think. She concentrated for a second and the throbbing left her, and with it went the feeling of fear the Vorlon had been generating. "There are people I must rescue. If I don't help them, they may die." "Let them die," the Vorlon replied. It felt like Kosh was once again speaking just to her. "You must not go any further, or you too will die. This world is quarantined, and none may walk on its surface without our permission. If you proceed you will be destroyed." The Vorlon turned around again and in the distance she could see a spark of light. "Go there," it said. "Go home, and leave this world while you still can." Susan felt a feeling of rage well up in her. She had been through a lot during the Shadow war and since, and the thought of the Vorlons still being able to tell her what to do, made her more than a little angry. "I will not leave," she said harshly, backing up her words with all the telepathic muscle she could muster. The image of the Vorlon seemed to waver for a second and then suddenly it vanished and Susan found herself standing before the pillar once more. "I said, have you seen this kind of thing before," came the voice of Dr. Melis from beside her. Susan blinked to clear her head, and turned around to look at him. "No, I haven't," she replied. Beside her the pillar suddenly began to break up, large shards of rock sliding off and landing in the mud. Susan turned back just in time to see the pillar break in half and fall to the ground. As it shattered Susan felt her mind clear, and the compulsion that had been pushing her all the way up the hill faded away, becoming nothing but a memory. "Well, that was unusual," Talia said, poking a fallen piece of the pillar with a muddy boot. "I wonder why it did that." "It was probably because I touched it," Susan replied, not wanting to tell anyone about what she had experienced. Perhaps later she would tell Talia, but she didn't want the rest to know about the warning. This mission was already dangerous enough without everyone worrying about non-existent enemies. "Come on, lets get back to the rovers, we have wasted enough time on this already." The others nodded, and after pausing to pocket a piece of the pillar, even Dr. Melis followed her back to the base of the hill. As she walked Susan wondered about the warning the Vorlon had tried to pass on to her. Perhaps there was something else alive on this world, something dangerous. After all, this world had never been settled by the Vorlons, and it was a life supporting planet, a rare commodity in a universe full of rocky worlds with no atmosphere. Then there was the strange circumstances of the Sturt's crash landing. The story of the energy drain just hadn't matched what she had seen when the shuttles had landed in the clearing. Neither shuttle pilot had reported even the slightest drain on their systems, and although it was possible that it didn't start until the ship had been there for a while, it still didn't match the story told by the IPX crew. On the other hand, she wasn't about to turn back and give up on her mission now. Compared to what she had faced before, this was nothing. ------------------------------------------------------------ The lightning seemed to crash into the collection towers with increased vigour this morning, Azrak noticed, watching the rolling clouds rotate slowly in the sky above the fortress. He wondered if it had something to do with the arrival of this new group of aliens. He was beginning to get a very bad feeling about this mission the Mistress was about to send them on. It was as if some great change was coming, and when it arrived he wasn't sure he was going to survive. Sighing, he turned back to look at the force he had gathered to carry out the Mistress' will. They were the finest warriors he had even had the chance to work with, a perfect mixture of experience and youthful vigour. Among his people, a male was not counted among the warriors ranks until he had reach the age of ten thousand cycles. Until then, he was only a worker, slaving away on the construction sites, or maybe a miner or servant. Azrak was five times that age and could barely even remember his time as a worker. For a moment he felt old and tired, but then he remembered that however old he was, the Mistress was older. According to the records she had lived for nearly a million cycles, perhaps even more. Azrak shook his head, trying to image what it would be like living for that long. His life was nearly over, with perhaps another five thousand cycles left to him, if he was lucky. But she would survive long after he was gone, living forever. Her voice stopped any further thoughts though, snapping his attention back to the throne. "Assemble your warriors, Azrak," the Mistress said. "I have arranged a special surprise for you." Azrak nodded and gave the order for the warriors to form up into ranks. They quickly complied, although he noticed that a few were sneaking the occasional glance in the direction of the throne. He looked over, but saw that the Mistress hadn't noticed, so he decided not to discipline those responsible. After all, for most of those here this was their first visit to the throne room, and therefore a day to be remembered. He wasn't about to spoil it for them. Instead he made his way over to the Mistress' side and took up his position. "What is this surprise, Mistress," he asked. She turned to look at him, and when she replied there was an amused tone to her voice. "If I told you that then it would hardly be a surprise, would it." Then, seeing that Azrak didn't really understand her humour, she signed and explained. "Do you remember your concerns about the alien's weapons?" "I was not concerned," Azrak quickly cut in. "I don't fear anything. I was merely interested to know how we were to capture creatures with such weapons." He then paused, and looked a little ashamed at interrupting her explanation. She didn't seem to notice, waiting until he had finished speaking and then continuing. "I have asked artisan Kaj to build some protective clothing for you, something to stop the alien's weapons from harming you." "Clothing?" Azrak asked, the tone of his voice leaving her in no doubt what he thought of the idea. The Chosen warriors usually wore as little as possible, claiming more clothing would restrict their movements, and make them vulnerable to predators like the Jurm snake. Of course, the fact that the Jurm snake was only found in one small region of the swamp didn't enter into the matter. The Mistress had once voiced the opinion that the warriors wore as little as possible so they could pose and hopefully attract the attention of the females, but she had not ordered them to do otherwise, so the practice had continued. "This is important, Azrak," she said. "Without this protection you would be vulnerable to their weapons. With it, they will have no effect on you, and you will be able to capture them easily." As soon as she finished speaking the doors opened, and artisan Kaj, followed closely by a group of her apprentices, entered the throne room. The gathered warriors quickly snapped to attention, standing as straight as they could. Grateful that the shadows she had gathered around her hid her smile, the Mistress gestured for Kaj to approach. Standing beside the throne, Azrak's attention was not on the females, but rather the stacks of dark material they carried. It was tough looking, like the shell of a Tosim beetle, but at the same time it looked flexible. He wasn't happy with the idea, but he had to agree that if this was going to protect them from the alien's weapons then it had to be good. He had viewed the recording made by Pathfinder Jarz, and seen on the ISN broadcasts what the weapons could do. Faced with that evidence he had to admit that he was more than a little nervous about facing them in combat. Kaj quickly made her way across to the throne, and ordered the piles of armour dropped on the ground. She bowed in the direction of the Mistress. "I am here as requested Mistress," she said after rising to look her leader in the eye. She was an impressive creature, tall for a female and well muscled from her long years in the workshops. Despite her age, her scales still gleamed a brilliant emerald colour, attracting the attention of many a warrior when she had time for dalliances. Even Azrak, who rarely found himself interested in a female these days, felt rising lust at her appearance. "Good, Kaj," the Mistress relied. "Azrak here has just volunteered to be the first to try on the new armour. Please outfit him at once." Kaj bowed again, and then turned her gaze on the leader of the warriors. Unlike the warriors, her gaze held no hint of romantic intentions, instead she observed the warrior only to determine what size armour he would require. After making the measurements visually, she turned to her apprentices, most of whom were her own hatchlings, and ordered them to begin fitting the armour. Azrak looked a little nervous as the females swarmed around him, strapping on the dark, leathery material. Before he could complain though, most of his scales had vanished beneath the smooth armour, and he had an opportunity to examine himself. The armour felt strange, and would take some getting used to, but it seemed to fit him like a second skin, so smooth and flexible that it hardly even restricted his movements at all. He quickly flexed his muscles, and found that the dark material expanded with his body, allowing him full movement in his upper arms and legs. Kaj looked him over with a appraising gaze, and asked a couple of questions about the fit. Based on his answers she made one minor adjustment, and then stepped back to pick up the final part of the armour, a large round section meant to go over the head. Azrak immediately started to complain. "I will not wear that," he said to Kaj. "It will restrict my vision." Artisan Kaj looked at him with a frown marring her beautiful face. "You must," she replied. "If you do not, then the circuit will not be complete and the suit will not work." Seeing Azrak's confused look, she muttered something about stupid males and pointed towards the centre of the warrior's chest. There, embedded into the material was a large blue crystal. "That is the storage crystal," the artisan explained. "It will collect the energy from the alien's weapon so it doesn't harm you. If you do not wear the head piece, then the circuit will not be complete and the suit will not work." Azrak stared at the crystal for a second, and then relented, allowing the artisan to fit the head piece. To his surprise it wasn't restricting at all, fitting perfectly over his head, while still allowing him to see clearly. He turned towards the throne and looked at the Mistress with a questioning look on his face, as if asking her opinion. "It will do," the Mistress said, standing and walking slowly over to Azrak's side. "As long as the suit makes them invulnerable to the alien weapons, then it will do." She turned back to Kaj and asked, "did you bring it." The artisan nodded and passed over a small PPG pistol, one taken from one of the earlier captives. The Mistress weighed the pistol in her shadowy hand, as if getting a feel for the weapon. Then, in one swift motion she levelled the pistol and Azrak's chest and pulled the trigger. The warrior jumped, certain he was going to die. But, instead the bolt of plasma energy impacted on the suit with little effect at all, just a faint stinging feeling. Looking down, he saw the front of the suit crackling with blue energy. The explosion of energy didn't last long though, quickly drawn off by the crystal. He looked up at the Mistress. "It seems to work," he said, realising that she had only fired because she knew it would not harm him. That, and the fact that she wanted to show the warriors gathered in the room why they needed the armour. "Indeed it does, Azrak," she replied, tossing the pistol back to Kaj and making her way back to the throne. With a weary sigh, she lowered herself down onto the cushioned seat, and continued to speak. "This suit will protect you, and as you have seen it will make you invulnerable to their weapons. They will be at your mercy." Azrak nodded, and turning around to look at his warriors saw that many of them were already examining the armour, as if eager to try it on. He gave the order for them to do so and then turned back to the throne. "Perhaps now you will tell us of our mission?" She nodded, and activated one of the display screens. It quickly lowered itself from the ceiling and when she switched it on, it bought up the image of the alien's landing. The warriors quickly focused their attention on the screen, as many had not seen this before. After allowing them to see the entire report once, she changed the view until it showed a picture of the two rovers. "I want you to capture one of these machines, " she told the gathered warriors. "With your new armour it should not be too difficult." "What about the aliens?" one of the warrior asked, before closing his mouth in a hurry and looking at the throne with a slightly frightened gaze, as if afraid he would be punished for speaking out of turn. Both his commander, and the Mistress, however, chose to ignore his indiscretion. "I want them captured," she replied. "Whatever you do, I do not want them injured in any way. Bring them back here with the machine." Close to the throne, Azrak leaned forward and asked a question in a low voice. "Am I to consider the lives of these aliens as more valuable than my own?" She considered the question for a second before answering. "No, but I would prefer that none were injured during this mission. My plans may be compromised if any aliens are injured, but I do not want any of your warriors to be killed." He nodded in understanding, and then he saw that she was growing tired. He had seen her like this before, whenever she tried to walk or do anything but sit on her throne. Realising that she needed to be alone, he quickly hurried over to his men and ordered them to leave, along with the artisan and her apprentices. Then, with a low bow in the direction of the throne, he also followed. He still had questions about the mission, especially why it was being conducted at all, but knew that the Mistress must have her reasons for what she did. All he could do is bring back the alien's machine as she had requested. Back on the throne, the Mistress felt her strength beginning to fade away. Usually when she was this tired she would retreat to her personal quarters above the throne room, to be alone until she recovered. Today though, her fatigue was too great and before she could call for her servants to assist her she succumbed to her exhaustion and slumped over. Her breathing, which had been ragged and desperate, grew more regular as much of her body slipped into unconsciousness. Then, the shadows she had shrouded herself with faded away, and she gathered herself into into a ball, hugging her knees, while resting her head against the cushioned arm of the throne, her dark hair cascading down the side of the tall chair. Across the throne room, a small door opened, and through it stepped her counsellor, Morkazz. He had been told by Azrak of the Mistress fatigue, and had hurried to see what he could do. Approaching the throne though, his thoughts of assistance changed to amazement, as he glanced on the true features of his Mistress for the first time. Suddenly everything she was doing made sense, and he realised why she had hidden herself from his people, and why she was interested in these aliens. He knew also that the others must not find out yet. While they would still respect her when they knew the truth, they did not need distractions right now, not when she had important work for them to do. Setting his staff aside, the old servant reached down and gathered the Mistress' tiny figure in his arms, carrying her across the throne room. After a quickly worded phrase a set of stairs suddenly appeared, spiralling their way down from the ceiling. Morkazz looked at the stairs and sighed, realising the pain he was going to be in after he climbed them. Concern for his Mistress filled his thoughts though, and so he carried her up the stairs to her personal quarters, ignoring the jolts of pain shooting up his injured leg. Above him, the doorway in the ceiling spiralled open and allowed him entrance into the Mistress' personal quarters. He had never been here before, and knew that she permitted none but the blind female servants access here. He also knew that these were special circumstances, and so he continued. Stepping into her room, he looked around in amazement, surprised by what he saw. Strange devices that he had never seen before filled the room, and most strange of all was a large piece of furniture covered with soft looking cloth. Before he could decide what to do, a voice spoke. "Put her down on the bed," it said. Morkazz looked around, before suddenly recognising the speaker. It was Harj, one of the blind females who served as the Mistress' servants. Before the Mistress' arrival the blind and lame were left to die, but after she had become the leader of the Chosen, the Mistress had ordered that they be made her personal servants, which not only kept them alive, but also gave them a purpose in their lives. Morkazz himself owed his life to this decree, for otherwise his existence might have been over when he had been injured during a hunting accident, the tusks of a Tosim beetle slicing open his leg and leaving him lame. "The bed?," he asked. "What's that." Harj pointed towards the strange piece of furniture he had seen earlier. "That is a bed," she replied. "The Mistress likes to rest on it when she is tired. Put her there and then leave. My sisters and I will help her." Morkazz nodded, and then gently lowered the Mistress onto the bed, watching as she seemed to melt into the soft material. "Will she be all right," he asked. "In time," Harj replied, as she reached down and pulled the soft covering on the bed over the Mistress' body. Morkazz realised, that although she was blind, she knew this room better than he did with his full vision. Then, when the Mistress was safely tucked up in her bed, the blind servant looked up at him. "You saw her?" Morkazz nodded, before remembering that Harj couldn't see his movement and saying, "Yes I did." "You will not tell anyone," the female servant said firmly. The servant was only small compared to Morkazz, but he knew that her devotion to the Mistress was such that he couldn't even think about disobeying her commands. "I won't," he promised. Harj nodded, as if satisfied. "Good. Now go, she will recover in a few hours. Return then with her elixir, she will need it to fully recover." Morkazz nodded and started back down the stairs, ignoring the worsening limp in his leg. He did not know what the Mistress would do when she learned that he had seen her true face, but he would obey her no matter what. She had given his people so much, and asked nothing in return. She was the heart and soul of his entire race now, and the small fact that she was not one of them was not about to make to make him betray her now. In fact, he felt even more devoted to her than ever now, realising that she had devoted centuries of her own life to help those not even of her own species. ------------------------------------------------------------ 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 4/10 - Part B Date: Mon, 8 Feb 1999 22:31:31 +1030 ------------------------------------------------------------ The two rovers had driven through the day and into the night, following the invisible path that led towards their goal, the tiny dot on the map where they would hopefully find the crashed survey ship. As they moved further and further away from the jungle, the landscape had changed again. Gone were the forests of fungi and stunted shrubs, and they had found themselves in a dank swamp. Instead of the straight path they had been following, the two rovers had been forced to continually bypass the pools of stagnant water, weaving their way across the swampy ground. This had made the going a lot tougher than expected, as along the shores of the swamp a new kind of forest had grown. Now, instead of a low forest of fungus, a tightly woven mass of plant life had blocked their path. Vines seemed to clutch at them as they passed and more than once they had been forced to use the cutting lasers, mounted at the front of the rovers, to slice away a path through the vegetation. However, as day passed into night, the trees had faded away and the landing party found themselves driving across a plain of reeds. The ground was soft and slippery, but the rovers were equipped for such conditions, extending sharp spikes from their metal wheels. These spikes extended just before the wheel touched the ground and then retracted as it left the surface, allowing the rovers to grip the slippery ground properly. Satisfied with their progress Susan had ordered the command crew of her rover to get some sleep. Then, after she made sure the rover's driver would wake her if there were any problems, she had allowed herself the luxury of a short nap. She had only originally planned for a couple of hours rest, but those two hours soon turned into six. The ride through the reeds was very comfortable and smooth, and the hissing of the reeds against the rovers outer surface, strangely relaxing. In the command cabin Sergeant Drake finished his shift at the controls, and passed on that responsibility to one of his soldiers. Somehow they had managed to complete this change over without waking anyone, despite Drake's replacement dropping a heavy clipboard on the metal floor. It had struck the floor with a loud bang, a noise that echoed around the room for what seemed like forever. No-one woke though, and the only reaction came from Talia who turned in her sleep and muttered something inaudible. That had been three hours ago, and now the landscape outside was beginning to change again. The reeds were starting to thin out, and ahead could be seen another forest. This one was different again, appearing to be made up entirely of eerily glowing trees, their phosphorescent nature visible even from this distance. It was like driving down a dark lonely road, and then seeing the lights of a town in the distance. This time though, the glow wasn't from anything man made, but instead it came from the trees themselves. Each different variety seemed to glow with a slightly different colour, creating an amazing mural of yellows, whites, and reds. The new driver, Private Alexi Hvasanov, didn't see the beauty in the scene though. Instead he groaned as he realised that he was going to have to wake the Captain. He had enjoyed the past three hours. It had been somehow restful and relaxing, just driving across a flat landscape, with nothing to worry about but keeping the rover in a straight line. He was about to call out when he suddenly spotted something, a path that seemed to lead through the forest. He glanced down at the navigation display, and saw that the needle indicating the required direction was pointing straight towards the path. Almost amazed at this sudden stroke of good luck, he turned the rover onto the path. The forest closed around the rover, and for a moment Hvasanov had the impression of driving down a tunnel of light. For a moment he seriously considered switching off the rover's lights, which currently shone only on the road directly ahead of him, and relying solely on the glow from the forest. But reason soon reared its head and he dismissed that idea. While the phosphorescent glow was strong, it was nowhere near powerful enough to light up the path in front of him like the double row of spotlights mounted underneath the front of the rover. So, he just sat back, and concentrated on driving, watching the incredible forest pass by. So rapt was he in the forest, he didn't notice the obstruction until it was too late. Suddenly, a log appeared across the path, blocking their passage. For a second Hvasanov's blood ran cold, and he could see disaster approaching. But, the log looked bigger than it first appeared, and he sighed in relief as he realised that the rover was going to pass over it without any major damage. He didn't have time to slow down though, so it was still going to cause a bump. Then it struck, the rover shuddering as it hit the fallen log. The log, rotten with age, exploded under the weight of the massive machine, sending shards of wood in all directions. It wasn't as bad as he had originally thought, but the damage had already been done. Behind Hvasanov the Captain stirred in her seat. After a long yawn Susan opened her eyes and blinked, before glancing down at the sheepish looking driver with a questioning expression on her face. "Sorry for the bump, Captain," he said apologetically, before turning his attention back to the rover's controls, intent on keeping an eye open for any further obstructions. Susan frowned for a second, wondering who the new driver was. It took a few seconds for her sleep clouded brain to dredge up the order she had given Drake about a roster system for drivers. This private, she realised, must be the sergeant's replacement. After rubbing her eyes to clear them of the last vestiges of sleep, and yawning again, She looked around the command cabin. In the sensor operator's chair, the same marine who had been their the previous day was fast asleep in his chair, his snores resounding around the cabin like a chainsaw. She shook her head in amazement, wondering how she had managed to sleep through that racket. Behind him, Talia sat curled up in her chair, somehow also still asleep. She was resting her head on her hands, and there was a faint smile on her lips as if she was dreaming. Susan watched her for nearly a minute, marvelling at the way Talia still looked so beautiful, even when she was fast asleep. Unclasping the safety belt from around her waist, Susan walked across the gently swaying cabin to Talia's side. The telepath looked so comfortable that Susan didn't want to disturb her. Instead, she brushed aside a few errant strands of hair and turned around to speak to the driver. It was then she noticed that Dr. Melis was missing. She stared at his empty seat for a few seconds, before asking, "Private, where is Dr. Melis." "I don't know, Captain," Hvasanov replied with shrug of his broad shoulders. "He wasn't here when I arrived to take over from Drake." Susan frowned, remembering that he had been here when she ordered everyone but the driver to get some sleep. Then she also shrugged, and decided to take his seat, which was after all the one set aside for the rover's commander. The doctor would probably appear in due course, and she only hoped he wasn't going to be any more irritable than he already was due to his lack of sleep. That was assuming of course that he wasn't sleeping somewhere else. Given the amount of baggage he had bought with him, Melis probably had a mattress inside one of his bags, and was even now asleep on a soft bed somewhere. She yawned again, then stretched, trying to work out the kinks in her muscles. Then, still feeling tired for some unknown reason, she looked out the front window at the forest that was rushing past outside. She frowned, realising that although the rover was passing through a thick forest there was almost no noise. Before, when they had gone through the thick vegetation near the swamp the noise had been almost deafening. "Where are we?" she asked Hvasanov. "Um, in a forest, Captain," he offered "I can see that, Private," she said. "Why is the rover getting through it so easily." "We are on a path," the driver replied. "I was going to wake you when we reached the edge of the forest, but then I spotted this path, and decided to go down here instead." Susan raised an eyebrow at that explanation and moved closer to the window, looking down to where the lights from the rover lit up the path ahead of them. She quickly determined that what Hvasanov had said was correct, they were indeed travelling down a path. However, there was something about it that was wrong. It was too regular, too clean to be natural. Naturally occurring paths like this just weren't possible. Nature was curved, it didn't have straight edges, and this path was most definitely straight. It shot like an arrow from the edge of the reeds, right through the heart of the forest. It was obvious that someone, or something built this path, but for what purpose Susan couldn't even begin to imagine. She didn't have long to think about it though, as in the chair beside her Talia stirred and softly called out her name. Susan quickly looked over, but saw that the blonde woman's eyes were still closed, which meant that she must have called out in her sleep. Then the rover struck another bump and Talia's eyes flickered open. "Good morning," Susan said. "Is it morning already?" Talia asked, sounding faintly disappointed. "I was just having the most wonderful dream." Mindful that they were not alone, Susan didn't ask Talia what her dream had been about, although she had a pretty good idea. She knew that some of the command staff probably knew about their relationship, but she didn't want the rest of the crew to know, especially when it went against standard Earthforce policy. Of course, Talia wasn't actually a member of Earthforce, but she was a telepath, which in some ways might be considered worse. So, instead of asking out loud, she kept reached out with her mind. she asked telepathically. Talia looked at her and smiled. Susan replied, a faint look of amusement on her face. Talia blushed. she asked, glancing around the cabin. Then she realised that no-one else was here except her, Susan, the driver, and the snoring sensor operator, who seemed to be able to sleep through anything. She stared at the driver for a moment, but he still had his eyes on the road, and his thoughts were on things other than her possible relationship with Susan. Then she noticed someone missing. "Where's Melis," she asked, switching back to normal speech. Susan was about to say that she didn't know, when a noise behind her distracted her. Looking towards the passage way, Susan saw the errant Dr. Melis suddenly appear. clutching a chunk of rock in his hands. "This is amazing stuff," the doctor said excitedly, taking the last remaining seat. He didn't seem to notice that Susan had stolen the central seat, which had been his the previous day. "What's that?" Susan asked, looking at the curious rock he held. "It is a chunk of that pillar," Melis explained. "I have been examining it. It has some very interesting properties indeed. It appears much like normal stone, but when you look closer it is possible to see that it is also alive." "Have you been up all night with that?" Susan asked him. Melis looked confused by that question. "What do you mean?" he asked. "It has only been an hour hasn't it." "Try seven hours," Susan said, shaking her head in amazement. "We are nearly at our destination. With any luck the Sturt should be just over the other side of those hills." She pointed out of the front window at a line of hills that were just coming into view in the distance, appearing as little more than as dark blobs. Melis glanced briefly out the window, but it was too dark to see any details. "Well I guess I was distracted then," he said. "I was back in the lab, checking this rock with every experiment that I could think of." Susan realised that he meant the small on board lab that the rover possessed. It was right at the very back of the vehicle, behind the passenger and cargo sections, and was mainly for examining samples to determine their worth before sending them back to the mother vessel for a more thorough analysis. "I think you might have been better served getting some sleep," she said. Melis looked indignant. "I feel fine. Anyway there will be plenty of time for sleep when we get back to the Rasputin. If I feel tired I can just use stims." Susan looked less sure. Stims were never a replacement for real sleep, as Franklin had proved back on Babylon 5. However, she didn't want to spend the morning debating the matter with Melis, so conceded the argument and turned back to Private Hvasanov. "Where is the other rover?" she asked. The driver quickly scanned his instruments, before snapping his eyes back to the path in front of him. "They are about a kilometre behind us," he replied, not taking his eyes away from the window. Susan frowned. "Why are they all the way back there," she said. "Get me them on the link." Hvasanov nudged his companion in the sensor operator's chair. The other marine was instantly awake, cut off in mid snore. "Was is it," he asked. "Call up the other rover," Susan told him. "I want to speak to them." The sensor operator nodded, and without even a trace of sleepiness, activated the link to the other rover. The connection crackled with static, probably caused by the storm overhead, but everyone in the command cabin could soon hear the voice of Major Logan over the speaker. "What is it?" the Major asked. "Why are you so far back?" Susan asked her. "I want us to keep together. Otherwise we could lose you, or you lose us. It is safer for everyone if we remain close together." Logan's reply sounded slightly irritable, as if she hadn't got a lot of sleep during the night. "I will do what I can, Captain," she said. "Logan out." Susan wondered what was eating the Major today, but decided not to press her. Instead she turned back to the window and watched the dark landscape outside slowly passing by. The forest of glowing trees was starting to thin out now, and the rovers were now starting to head into a range of small hills, the ones she had pointed out to Melis earlier. Fortunately the path they were on seemed to head through a small gap in the hills, ensuring that they wouldn't have to climb to get over them. Once again the feeling that the path had been constructed by some intelligence struck her. For a second the warning the Vorlon's had left behind came back to her, and Susan wondered if there wasn't something to it after all. Perhaps there was an alien intelligence out there, watching them and luring them in. For a minute she even wondered if the rocket from the Sturt hadn't been a ploy by this invisible alien, designed to bring them down to the surface so they could be eaten or have their bodies mutilated by sharp instruments, just like in the old vids. Shaking her head she dismissed the idea. If the readings were correct then the Sturt was just over the other side of these hills. Her goal was close and it wouldn't pay to let irrational fears eat away at her confidence. She needed to be strong, to be a leader. Somewhere close by was the object of their mission and she would be damned if she was going to turn back now, especially because of some message from a now vanished race. ------------------------------------------------------------ Azrak held up his hand, calling a halt to the march. Far below he could see something out of place, two sets of lights making their way towards the gap in the hills. Nothing he knew created light like this, except the devices the alien bought with them. Certainly none of his people would ever waste energy in this manner. This meant that the lights must mark the locations of the two machines he was sent to attack. He quickly called up his second in command and pointed out what he had seen. "Look," Azrak said, pointing down towards the lights. "There are our targets. You see how one is slower than the other. We will capture that one. That way the other one may not realise that its companion is missing." "Where do we attack?" his second asked. The tall general stopped and thought for a second. Then the solution came to him. "There," he said, pointing towards the base of the hill. "The path leads through there, and then splits in two. The aliens will be going to meet with their companions in the swamp, so they will go down the main path. We will capture the second machine before then, and take it down the side path. That is also the quickest way back to the fortress." The slightly shorter warrior at his side nodded in agreement. "That is a good plan. The side path also leads to the construction area, and it is a straight journey from there to the fortress. Now all we need to do is stop this machine." Azrak nodded, his mind already working on the problem. He could see that the alien machines were still some distance from the hills, while his men could be at the ambush site in less than a minute. That should give him plenty of time to come up with something. He looked back at the rest of the warriors. "Come," he ordered. "We march." The warriors, all clad in the new armour, quickly gathered up their equipment, which consisted mainly of their weapons and a small bag of food each. Only seconds later they were ready and resumed their march, making their way down the steep hill slope towards the chosen ambush site. Overhead, a crash of thunder sounded, and slowly at first, but then growing in strength, rain began to fall. Soon torrents of water were falling from the sky, turning the soft ground of the hillside into slippery mud. The warriors though, marched on, the long claws on their feet allowing them to grip the slippery ground with a lot better traction than most other creatures could achieve. They ignored the rain, allowing it to run off their armour. Even if it could reach their skin they would not have been worried. Their scaled hides were not troubled by a little rain, and the importance of their mission would have negated any discomfort anyway. ------------------------------------------------------------ Lily peered out of the rover's window in frustration. It was all very well for the Captain to tell her to go faster, but this rain was making it impossible to see anything, let alone where they were going. She found the Captain's orders more than a little irritating, almost as though Ivanova was speaking to her like a child, asking her to keep up or be left behind. Then, she sighed, realising that she had little choice. "Try to catch up with the other rover," she told the driver. Unlike Susan she hadn't allowed any of the IPX scientists in the command cabin, restricting them to the passenger section only. Instead, she had two marines, the only two on this rover, runing the controls. That had meant that each marine, including Lily herself, had been forced to take a shift driving, while the others slept. "It is difficult going, Major," the current driver, Private Hawke replied. "Visibility is down to almost nothing in this rain." Lily was about to tell him to try anyway, when a loud clang sounded through the entire rover and it shuddered, coming to a sudden stop. "What the hell was that," she asked. "Did we break an axle or something." The other marine, Anderson, quickly scanned the sensor console. "Everything looks fine here, Major," he said. "These vehicles should be able to get through almost anything, so I don't think it is anything wrong with the rover." "What then?" Lily asked. "Just a minute," Anderson said. "I will bring up the external camera." She looked over his shoulder as one of the screens in front of him cleared to show the image of a large log caught behind one of the front wheels, the right one by the look of the picture. "That is the problem," Anderson said, pointing to the log. "Someone will have to go out and cut it away." "I will do that," she replied, without a moment hesitation. "Hawke, you can come with me." The driver nodded, and switched off the rover's systems before following Lily towards the hatch. There she said a few words to the IPX scientists, informing them of what had occurred, before opening the hatch and stepping out into the rain. It was still pouring down, and visibility had now been reduced to only a few metres. Lily was forced to feel her way along the edge of the rover, searching to the troublesome log. Her uniform was quickly soaked, but she ignored it, turning all her attention on completing the task at hand. She soon found the log, wedged behind the front wheel on the right side of the rover. It had been splinted by the impact, but was still stuck behind the wheel, preventing the rover from moving. With a nod to Hawke she grabbed hold of one end and dragged it away from the wheel. To her surprise it came free fairly easily. She had been thinking that she would need a laser cutter to get it out. At least something was going right for her today. Then, a muffled sound behind her suddenly snatched her attention away from the log. She spun around, just in time to see Hawke being dragged off into the darkness by a large black monster, its hand covering his face. Seeing two more of the monsters approaching through the rain, Lily quickly knelt down and drew her PPG pistol. When the monstrous beings didn't stop, she levelled the weapon with the closest one and pulled the trigger, squeezing off several shots. The plasma energy hit the creatures all right, but instead of killing them it only seemed to slow them down temporarily. The energy seemed to play across their bodies, before being drained away by something. Then they were on the move again, heading straight towards her. Lily quickly turned and ran towards the hatchway, hoping that the rifle she had stashed inside would prove more effective. As she ran she squeezed off another couple of shots, scoring direct hits both time, but not stopping her attackers. Then, she suddenly found herself lying on the ground, something having swept her feet out from beneath her. Another of the creatures, this one even larger than the others, loomed over her, clutching a greenish-yellow sword in its hands. Lily tried to get away, but the creature lowered the sword to her throat. "You will not move," it said in perfect English. If their sudden arrival had surprised her, the fact that they spoke English left her gasping in amazement. The creature seemed to take her lack of movement as submission and reached down to snatch the pistol from her hands. Lily let him take it, realising that it wasn't any use against these creature's anyway. Instead she decided to go along with whatever they wanted, looking for a chance to escape later. The tall alien standing over her turned away and looked towards one of the others. "Are they all captured?" he asked. The other alien nodded. "Yes, General Azrak. Most were not warriors like this one. There was only one other who resisted, and it has now been captured. The others did not resist us." "Good Hataz," Azrak said. "Take this one on board and put it with the other warriors." The alien called Hataz nodded, and grabbed Lily in its claws, slicing into her uniform, but fortunately not her skin. It then dragged her onto the rover, and along the passage way to the command cabin. There she found herself tossed into a corner with Hawke and Anderson. "What the hell is going on, Major?" Anderson whispered to her. "Who are these guys?" The aliens in the room looked around as if interested in what Anderson was saying. She quickly motioned for him to be quiet, but it was too late. The tall one called Azrak looked at her and said, "You are the one known as Major?" Lily sighed, realising now that these creatures were highly intelligent, and it was going to be difficult hiding anything from her. "That is my rank," she replied. "My name is Lily Logan." "Lily Logan," the creature said, as if trying to get a feel for the name. "I know of ranks. The Mistress told us about them. I am General Azrak, leader of the Chosen. You must come with us, the Mistress wants to speak to you." "And what if I don't want to speak to her?" Lily asked. Azrak looked confused. "Why would you not want to speak to the Mistress?" "Never mind," she replied. "What are you going to do with us." "Do you know how to make this machine move?" Azrak asked her. He pointed a claw in the direction of the controls as he spoke. Lily glanced over and Anderson, as if searching for help. But, the other marine could offer nothing, so she turned to the alien general and said, "yes, I know how to drive the rover." "Rover?" Azrak asked. "Is that what this machine is called?" When Lily nodded he looked pleased. "Then you will drive this rover for us," he told her. "You must drive it to the fortress. The Mistress awaits you there." The other aliens then moved closer and hustled her into the driver's seat. "Drive," Azrak said again. "We will show you the way to go." Lily sighed again, and switched on the rover's power supply. She realised that against such opposition she had little chance of escape, at least not until she knew a little more about them. However she had no intentions on letting them get away with the rover either. Realising that the alien's knew absolutely nothing about how the vehicle worked, she flicked a several switches on the control board. One switch activated the rover's communications system, while the other shifted fuel from the main tank to the reserve. With any luck the other rover would pick up their signals, but if that failed then the fuel transfer would soon exhaust the reactor's supply, shutting it down. She glanced over her shoulder and smiled when she saw that the alien's hadn't noticed anything. There were always other ways to fight a battle, and Lily was a master of finding a way out of even the stickiest situations. ------------------------------------------------------------ Cradling the tiny phial of the glowing elixir in his cumbersome hands, Morkazz made the torturous journey back up the stairs to the Mistress' personal room. Behind him the stairs retracted, each step disappearing shortly after he had taken his foot off it. Progress was slow, as not only was the staircase tall and narrow, but with each step the pain in his lame leg seemed to grow worse. The counsellor gritted his fangs, and continued the journey, finally stumbling into the room at the top of the stairs. The room looked much the same as when he had left last night. The only difference was in the Mistress. She was now sitting up on her bed, her pale skin gleaming in the dim light. Kneeling next to her, the blind servant Harj, was running a strange object through the Mistress' dark hair. Morkazz knew about hair of course, the prisoners in the mines below also possessed it. The Mistress' was different than the prisoner's though. It was longer, and much darker. In fact it was so dark that it seemed to absorb the light. Morkazz shuffled his feet, feeling suddenly nervous about approaching the vulnerable, not to mention visible, form of his Mistress. He would not have felt the same before he had seen her, thinking her all powerful and invulnerable to injury. He knew different now, having seen how weak she really was. She seemed to sense his presence though, and motioned him to approach. He did so cautiously, not wanting to damage anything in her room. As he came closer she held out her hand, and with only a moment of hesitation he dropped the phial into her palm. She tugged the stopper, and then swallowed the elixir in one quick gulp. Morkazz watch as her body shuddered for a second, and then she turned her head around to face him. "It is not working, Morkazz," she said, sounding a little sad. "What, Mistress?" he asked, having no idea what she was talking about. He wasn't aware of anything that wasn't working. Perhaps she meant the attack Azrak and his warriors were carrying out on the alien machines. There had been no word back from the general, but that could also mean that he had not carried out the attack yet." "The elixir," she replied, looking down at the empty phial in her hand. "It is no longer sustaining me as it once did. I seem to need more and more each day. Soon there will not be enough to keep me alive." "Do you need another?" Morkazz offered, trying to avoid staring at her. He hadn't had time the previous night to get a good look at her features, but now he could see more. She was very similar to the aliens, but at the same time there was also something different about her. Had she been one of his race he might have been able to pick up what it was, but he was not adept at spotting the differences between the different aliens yet. All he had managed to determine so far was which ones were male and which were female, and that had taken him nearly a day of observation. "No," she said, declining his offer of another phial of elixir. "Keep the three that are left in reserve. Soon I may need them." Behind her, Harj finished whatever she was doing to the Mistress' hair and put the strange object aside. Morkazz glanced at it, noticing that it was made of wood, and was covered with what looking like the spines of a Guni beetle. The counsellor wondered why the Mistress would need to have something like that brushed through her hair. He realised that not possessing hair himself meant that there was much about it that he didn't understand. However, why anyone would subject themselves that that sort of torture was beyond him. The Mistress though, hadn't seemed in pain from Harj's ministrations. In fact, she had seemed almost peaceful. "Perhaps we could siphon off more energy from the fortress," he suggested. "That would create more elixir, and..." "I am afraid that the elixir is no longer what I need, Morkazz," she said, interrupting him. He looked back at her face, and saw that She was looking thoughtful, at least that was the impression Morkazz received. He knew he couldn't tell for sure, not being totally comfortable with reading her expressions. He was used to only seeing her eyes, and the fact that he whole face moved when she was talking was still something new to him. "Besides," she continued. "The fortress is already running on minimal power. If I drained away any more then it would begin to die." Morkazz looked confused by the mention of the fortress dying. He didn't see how a structure could die, especially something as large as the fortress. He began to wonder if the weakness she was feeling was beginning to effect her more than ever. Then he remembered that she had just taken the elixir, and her strength was at its greatest right now. Curious about her comment he asked, "how can the fortress die?" The Mistress leaned back and allowed Harj to begin to work on her hair again. The servant quickly began to wind strands of the Mistress' hair around each other, creating some unfathomable pattern. It looked almost to Morkazz like the servant was trying to weave the Mistress' hair, just like one would weave a basket. "The fortress has grown too large, Morkazz," she said, interrupting the counsellor's observation and focusing his attention back on their conversation. "And the collection towers can no longer supply it with all the energy it needs. Like me, it needs energy to survive. I require the elixir, you eat food, and the fortress needs raw energy. Also, just as you would die without food, it can not survive without energy." "I understand, Mistress," the counsellor replied, although he was still a little fuzzy on the details. But, if she said it was so, then it must be true. "Shall I order more workers to the construction sites then? The next tower is almost complete and with more workers it can be finished by the end of the month." The Mistress shook her head, much to the annoyance of Harj who was braiding her long dark hair. Despite being blind the servant was doing a good job, her work nearly half finished already. "No, not yet," the Mistress replied. "What is needed is something else. The cloud must be destroyed." Morkazz frowned. The Chosen had tried for centuries to make it through the great ice field to the device that the Mistress said was creating the cloud. Every time though, they had been driven back by the extreme cold that surrounded the device. "How can we do that?" he asked. "I have a plan," the Mistress replied. Then she glanced back at Harj. "Are you finished?" she asked. Harj bowed low. "It is done, Mistress." "Good, now get my robe." Harj bowed again and hurried out of the room, heading through a door that Morkazz had not noticed before. As soon as she had left the Mistress looked up at Morkazz. "I must ask you something, Morkazz," she said. "Do you understand why the others must not know what I am." Morkazz nodded. "I believe so, Mistress." She stood for the first time since he had entered the room, and crossed to the counsellor's side. He could now see that she was dressed only in a thin white robe. Her body was still mostly visible through it, and he could see that she resembled the female aliens. Before he had time for further observation though she placed her hand on his arm, sending a cold chill running through his body. "When it is time, I will tell them," she said softly. "But for now, it must remain a secret. You must not tell anyone yet, they would not understand." "I will not tell them, Mistress," Morkazz promised. "Good," she replied, removing her hand and turning away, looking towards the door Harj had vanished through. Morkazz looked torn for a moment, but then finally decided to ask the question that had been troubling him for much of last night. "Mistress..." he began falteringly. "I was, Morkazz," she said, somehow anticipating his question. "I was, but now I am... something else." Morkazz nodded, not really understanding what she meant. He didn't want to press any more though, just in case he upset her. Fortunately, Harj soon returned, brining with her another of the blind female servants, along with a large pile of dark cloth and several other items. Turning her back on Morkazz, the Mistress slipped out of the white robe and allowed the two servants to quickly dress her in the black one. Morkazz had a brief glimpse of pale skin, and then it was gone, hidden behind the dark material of her robe. After fastening the robe, Harj handed the Mistress a thin circuit of green metal, set with several large emeralds. The Mistress quickly slipped it around her head, allowing it to rest just above her ears. Then she turned back to her counsellor, and Morkazz felt a sudden flash of understanding. He knew now what was different about the Mistress from the aliens. She lacked colour. The aliens were a very strange race, their skin seeming to alter colour with the changing conditions. When they were afraid it was pale or white, but when they were working hard it changed to a reddish colour. The Mistress' skin never changed colour, remaining the same pale white no matter what she was doing. Of course Morkazz had not seen her like this much, but somehow he knew that no matter what activity she was involved in, her appearance would not change. "How is your leg, Morkazz," she suddenly asked, looking faintly amused at the way he had been staring at her. He quickly diverted his eyes downwards towards the ground. "It is fine, Mistress," he replied. "There is no need to trouble yourself over me." "Rest your leg on the bed," she ordered him. Not wanting to make her angry, Morkazz quickly complied, although he could see nothing that she could do that would be any good. The finest healers had tried to repair his injured leg, but with only minor success. She walked slowly across the room and picked up a small knife that sat on the top of a wooden chest. Morkazz looked at the knife with a faint feeling of fear as she walked back to his side. She did not use the knife on him though, instead slicing open her own thumb. Morkazz winced as the razor sharp knife cut through the pale flesh, feeling the injury she had dealt herself as if it were cutting into his own flesh. She held her thumb over his leg and he watched as two drops of glowing blood dropped from the wound onto his flesh. A tingling sensation flowed through his leg, and as he watched the two drops of blood seemed to disappear, as if they were absorbed by his skin. The tingling soon stopped, and then he realised that the pain in his leg was gone, completely vanished. "What have you done?" he asked in amazement. "It will not last," she replied. "But for the next couple of days you should be able to walk without pain. I think that is a fitting reward for your assistance." "Thank you, Mistress," he said, tears of joy coming unbidden to his eyes. Almost all of his adult life he had been forced to walk with a limp, but now, if only for two days, he would be able to walk without pain. Any doubts that he had about the Mistress' intentions towards his people were gone at that moment. The Mistress smiled at Morkazz's glee. She glanced down at her thumb, pleased to see that the wound was already gone. She still felt weakened by what she had just done, but it was not as bad as she had first though. Replacing the knife on the chest she took Morkazz by the arm and led him towards the stairs. "Come," she said. "We have work to do." "Yes, Mistress," her counsellor replied eagerly. He felt more energetic that he had even done before, and his body had never felt this alive. It was as if this Mistress' blood had revitalised him, making him strong and youthful again. Shaking his head in amazement, he allowed himself to be led away. She hadn't noticed his surprise, or the spring in his step. Instead she just continued talking. "The first thing I need you to do is make some alterations to my throne. What happened yesterday must never occur again. Then we must get in contact with Azrak. He should have captured that machine by now." Morkazz nodded in agreement. He too wanted to know how the general's mission was proceeding. It was close to the time when he should have reported it, and if he didn't call soon it would suggest that perhaps his mission was not proceeding as planned. While he had full confidence in the warrior, and in the armour that the Mistress and Kaj had designed, Morkazz was still a little nervous. He didn't know how much of the Mistress' plan revolved around capturing one of these alien machines, but it seemed important to her, and if it was important to her, then it was also important to him. ------------------------------------------------------------ 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 4/10 - Part C Date: Mon, 8 Feb 1999 22:31:38 +1030 ------------------------------------------------------------ The rain pelted down on the surface of Arias for all of twenty minutes, and then, as quickly as it had begun, it stopped. Behind, it left a thick mist that rose out of the swampy landscape and cloaked everything in a dark fog. Oblivious to the fate of Logan's team, Susan's rover ploughed on through the mists, its powerful spotlights illuminating enough of the path for them continue toward their destination. Inside the command cabin, Susan shivered. She had been watching the mist for several minutes now, and it was starting to get to her. At first it was just another obstacle to confront, but now it took on another form altogether. The mist seemed to clutch at the rover as it passed, as if trying to drag them down into the muddy ground. Susan knew it was only her imagination playing tricks on her again, but she couldn't help but feel a chill run down her spine as she watched the eerie landscape passing outside. Then a voice called out to her and she dragged her attention back to the warm cabin. Corporal Howell, the marine in charge of the rover's sensors, was looking up at her. "What did you say, Corporal," she asked. "I said that we are picking up a signal, Captain," Howell said, pointing to something on his console. Susan felt a surge of anticipation and leaned forward to see what he was pointing out. On one of the monitors, a distorted image crackled and wavered. "Is that all?" she asked. "Can't you clear it up a little." Howell shook his head. "Sorry, Captain. That is the best I can do. There is too much distortion and interference to get a clean signal. All I am getting is a very dodgy video image, no audio so far." "Who from?" she asked, trying to make some sense of the distorted image. "Is it from the Sturt?" "No, I think it is the second rover," the corporal replied. "But the interference is playing hell with these systems. All I am picking up is the odd image, and nothing more." As he spoke the picture suddenly cleared, and Susan caught a brief glimpse of Major Logan. Then the screen went black. "Lost it," Howell explained. "Either someone switched off the transmitter, or they passed behind a hill." "Can you get them back?" Susan asked. Howell shook his head. "I'm not even picking them up on the sensors any more. If I knew where they were I could use a narrow band transmission, but I don't, so there is nothing I can do." Susan frowned. "I hope nothing is wrong." "Perhaps we should turn back and look for them," Talia suggested, a faintly worried look on her face. "Something might have happened to them." "I thought you didn't like Logan," Susan teased. Then to Howell she said, "keep trying to raise them. Scan for any signal. If you get anything let me know." "It was Logan that didn't like me," Talia replied in an slightly offended tone. "I have been trying to be nice to her though. After all, we do have to work together." Susan nodded, but her attention was no longer on Talia, instead she was focused on the front window. outside, a swamp had suddenly appeared, seeming to surround them. "Be careful," she ordered Hvasanov, who was still driving the rover. "We don't want to end up stuck in this swamp." The marine nodded, and slowed the rover, edging his way past the dark waters. "It looks like we might to have to turn around," Talia commented. "I don't think the rover is made for swamps." Glancing out of a side window, Susan nodded in agreement. The swamp was all around them now and, despite all of its other abilities, the rover was not made for swamps. She was about to order Hvasanov to reverse his course when Dr. Melis, who had been quietly occupied with his chunk of stone, suddenly shouted out, "Wait." With a trembling hand he pointed out the front window. "What is that." Susan peered out of the window in the direction he indicated. At first she didn't see anything, the mists reducing visibility to almost nothing, but then it appeared. The wind had changed, and the mists began to recede. Then, like some prehistoric monster, a gigantic shape began to slowly reveal itself. As she watched the shape changed from an indistinct blob into something much more familiar. The curved tentacle-like prongs at the front of the shape, and the petal-like wings at the back left no doubt as to the shape's origin. "It's a Vorlon ship," Melis said, confirming what they could all now see. Everyone stared out of the rover's windows in amazement, looking at the huge shape of a Vorlon transport. It rested in the swamp, looking as though it had just been parked there while its owner went out for a walk. The hull seemed intact, and it was impossible to determine how long it had been there. It could have landed last week, or it might have been here for centuries. It looked almost as if it was waiting for someone, or something. "We have to take a closer look," Melis said softly, breaking the silence that had hung over the command cabin. Still examining the Vorlon vessel for any signs of life, Susan just nodded in agreement. ------------------------------------------------------------ Lily's face remained as impassive as ever, but inside she was smiling, very satisfied with her work. On the console in front of her, the red line showing the amount of fuel left in the main tank was slowly creeping towards empty. Beside it, a green line displayed the reserve tank level as almost two thirds full. In the rough terrains the rover was designed for, the possibility of a hole in the fuel tank could spell disaster, so a means of transferring fuel to a second tank was of vital importance. The reserve tank was there specifically to replace the main one if it was damaged, so it hadn't taken much effort for Lily to pump the fuel between the two. However, now came a more difficult task, convincing the aliens that it is a mechanical fault when the fuel in the main tank finally ran out. The three aliens crammed into the command cabin had been keeping a close eye on her and the other two marines. She wasn't sure how many more of the creatures there were on the rover, but she was certain that she wouldn't be able to take on all three on her own. The other two marines, privates Hawke and Anderson, were of little use. Once she had been chosen to drive the rover, the alien commander, the one they called Azrak, had ordered them manacled. The manacles appeared to be made of the same metal as everything else the alien's possessed. She didn't know exactly what it was, but neither of her men had been able to break through their restraints. In a mirror conveniently mounted on the dash, she had seen both of them trying to open the manacles, but despite their training neither had been successful. The manacles didn't appear to have a lock, and somehow the metal fused together after they were clamped shut around the marine's wrists. Lily herself didn't have any restraints at all, but she was being closely watched by the aliens. The leader, Azrak, had left the command cabin shortly after ordering her to turn down a side path, away from the path that lead towards the crashed IPX survey vessel. But, despite his absence she hadn't seen any chance for escape. One of the three remaining aliens had been constantly badgering her with questions about every tiny detail of the rovers operation. Most of what she had told him had been blatantly false, but the alien seemed to nod as if he understood every word. The other two aliens were less talkative, but made up for that in watchfulness. Already they had spotted Hawke trying to free himself, and threatened him with injury if he tried to do it again. Lily wasn't sure if they would carry out their threats, but the sight of the two huge aliens, with their long, sharp claws, and equally dangerous swords, had put a stop to any future escape attempts. At least they had for the moment. Lily was still hoping that her plan with the fuel tanks would work. The alien's obviously wanted to capture the rover, and if it broke down, the distraction that caused might enable her to find a chance of escape. Somewhere in the back of the rover were several mobile transmitters. If she took one of them, and set off across the jungle in the general direction of the Sturt's supposed location, then perhaps she would get lucky. Of course, she would prefer to make it out of here with the rover, and all of its crew, but if that wasn't possible then she intended to raise the alarm. Then, with some starfuries, the rest of the Rasputin's one hundred and twenty marines, and the four experimental battle tanks locked away in storage on the warship, she intended to come back and kick some alien butt. At least that was the plan. There were still so many variables that Lily didn't want to plan that far ahead just yet. Right now her main concern was organising some sort of escape attempt. After that was successful she could start planning a rescue, assuming that she didn't manage to free everyone in the first attempt. She glanced down at the console again, while at the same time trying not to attract the attention of the alien who was crouching behind her. The gauge showed only two minutes of fuel remaining in the main tank. They weren't going to get far with only that amount of fuel left, so she flicked the switch above the indicator, turning off the pump that had been working away nicely for the past fifteen minutes. Fortunately the alien who had been watching her didn't notice. He was still playing with the hand held holographic game she had given him to keep him out of her hair. She had found it stashed under her chair, and passed it off as a driving simulator. The alien didn't seem to mind that it was actually some sort of golfing simulation, and had been playing with it for the past two minutes. His clawed hands couldn't grip the controls properly, but that didn't stop him trying as hard as he could, as if mastering the game meant that he would be able to drive the rover. Lily chuckled quietly to herself and turned back to watching the road in front them. The path was fairly straight though, so all she really had to do was keep the steering column steady and the rover pretty much drove itself. All she had to do was wait until the fuel ran out, and the crisis would begin. Breathing deeply, she began to prepare herself for possible battle. Lily had served in Earthforce for nearly fifteen years, an in that time she had picked up a lot of habits. Most members of the marine corps were like her, having their own little routines and traditions that they had to go through before they were ready to fight. Lily knew one old sergeant who had prepared for battle by spitting three times in the direction of the enemy and muttering an old war poem. Her own routine was less unusual, just a simple pattern of breathing, steeling her nerves and hardening her will. Then, looming out of the darkness ahead, something appeared that broke her concentration. It looked like a gigantic spire, although it appeared to be only half finished. Scaffolding and cranes could be seen clustered around the tower, signs that this was definitely a building of some sort. It it confirmed all of Lily's worst fears. She had been hoping that the aliens were not advanced enough to be erecting complex structures. They were obviously intelligent, the fact that they could learn so quickly, and also that they spoke English, which she assumed they must have learnt from members of the Sturt's crew, proved their intellect. Actually, she didn't really believe that could have learnt to speak English from the Sturt's crew. But, she had to find some reason for the alien's being able to speak perfect English, and that seemed the most logical. She hadn't seen any sign of a translation device, and even if they had been using one, no translator she'd ever seen, alien or human, had produced distortion free speach in real time. The alien's voices were deeper than the average human's, but despite this it was still possible to understand perfectly every word they were saying, without a translator's tell-tale distortions. Before she had time to think further on the matter, one of her guards was pointed out the window towards the half complete tower in the distance. "Go there," he said, pointing again to emphasise his message. Lily nodded, and turned the steering column in the direction the alien had indicated. At the same time, her eyes flicked down to look at the fuel indicator again. There was now less than a minute of fuel left. Looking back out the window, she began to work on her breathing again, ready for whatever might happen when the fuel ran out. Then, a shudder ran through the rover, and ever so slowly it began to decrease its speed, creeping to a halt as its fusion reactor ran out of fuel. Even if the alien's did find out what she had done, Lily knew that it would be hours before they managed to restart the reactor. The reactor was never meant to be shut down, and when it had been, a cold restart took a hell of a long time and was devilishly complicated. "What has happened," the largest of the aliens in the command cabin asked. "Why are we not moving. Make us go again. The Mistress is waiting for us." "I don't know what's wrong," Lily said, flicking switches and pushing buttons as fast as she could, trying to give the impression that she was doing all she could to restart the rover. While one hand was busy with the controls, she sent a quick signal to the two marines with the other, letting them in on her intentions. The EAS marines had an entire language of hand signals, so it was not difficult to pass on a message without the alien's noticing, especially when they were more interested in what was wrong with the rover. "Fix it," the alien demanded, edging closer. "I am not sure I can," Lily said. "Everything has just gone dead." "What is happening," a new voice asked. "Why have we stopped. Lily glanced over her shoulder to see the alien leader squeezing down the passage way from the cargo section. The other alien's bowed, and briefly held their clench fists over their chests, in what Lily assumed was a salute. "I do not know," the second in command replied. "The warrior alien said that it is dead." "This is a machine, no a creature," Azrak replied. Then he looked at Lily. "You will repair it. The Mistress expects me to bring this machine, and will be angry if I do not." "Then she is going to be disappointed," Lily replied, trying to keep a faint note of fear from creeping into her voice. "I can't fix it. I am not an engineer, I don't repair these things, I only drive them." "What is an engineer?" Azrak asked, looking at her with a curious expression on his face. "Engineer's design things," Lily replied. "Like these rovers, but also starships and a lot of other things." Azrak nodded. "Ah... like artisan's then. I understand. Are there any of these engineers in this machine." Lily shook her head. "No, not one. We didn't bring any with us." Azrak frowned and then looked thoughtful. After nearly a minute of this, he looked at his soldiers and said, "take them all outside. I will contact the Mistress and ask her what we must do. She will know." The other alien's nodded, and quickly began to herd Lily and the other two marine's outside, although not before slipping a set of manacle's around Lily's wrists, dashing any hopes she had of a quick escape. She soon found herself standing outside on the damp earth, a gaggle of frightened IPX scientist gathered around her, looking to her for hope and direction. Lily wasn't sure she had much to offer though. The alien leader followed them outside and moving away from the rover, he pulled something from his belt. Lily watched as he casually opened his 'hand', dropping the device. It didn't fall; but floated in the air before him! Lily raised her eyebrows at that, realising that she was witnessing something defying gravity. Now she was beginning to get seriously worried about the technological level of these aliens. Earth was only just beginning to learn the secret of artificial gravity, and it certainly hadn't learned how to create anti-gravity, which allowed objects to float inside a gravitation field. She pushed aside her amazement though, and concentrated on trying to hear what was being said. But the voices were too faint, and she couldn't understand anything. The conversation didn't last long, and Azrak soon returned. He had a relieved look on his face, at least that is what Lily assumed his expression meant. Some of the alien's expressions she could pick up at once, but others were more difficult to read. "We continue on without the machine," he told his warriors. "The Mistress only wants the aliens, and their possessions, not the machine." He turned to his second in command. "Go to the construction site and return with the workers. We will need them to carry all of the alien's possessions to the fortress." The other alien nodded, and hurried off in the direction of the tower. Azrak turned to the rest of the gather warriors. "Ten of you will remain here to help Huzin. The rest will come with me and escort the prisoners back to the fortress. See that none escape, the Mistress wants them all." The warriors nodded and quickly hurried to follow his orders, most moving to guard the humans, while the rest began to dismantle parts of the rover. Lily realised that when the alien leader had meant possessions, he had included everything that was mounted on the rover, including all the external sensors and probably even the doors. The alien obviously could not tell what was part of the rover and what was just cargo. Then Azrak approached the collection of frightened scientists and the three, still defiant marines. "You will all come with me," the tall alien warrior said. "The Mistress awaits you, as do the others of your kind. Do not try to escape and you will no be harmed." "And if we do try to escape?" Lily asked. "Then you will be hurt," Azrak replied, his voice leaving no doubt in her mind that he would personal take care of her punishment. "The Mistress has ordered that none be killed, but she also want all of you to come with us. She will not be angry if you obey her. If you do not, then she will be very angry." "Do you always do everything the Mistress tells you?" Lily said, wondering if perhaps she couldn't stir up some trouble among the alien's ranks. There was always the possibility that this Mistress was some sort of tyrant, lording over the lesser aliens. Of course it was equally likely that she was the female equivalent of the aliens, and they formed some sort of hive-like arrangement. Azrak did not seem interested in her barb, instead he just replied, "Of course. That is the way of things. She orders and the Chosen obey her. There is no other way." The warrior then moved away from Lily, and the rest of his soldiers began to herd their human captives down the muddy path that led up towards the construction site. The two marines looked at her, as if asking if they should resist. She shook her head, and allowed herself to be led away from the rover. It was now obvious to her that these aliens were a lot more than they originally appeared. They might not have powerful energy weapons, but they were still very advanced. It didn't look likely that she was going to be escaping any time soon. As they slowly walked away, Lily glanced behind her, watching forlornly as the aliens began to tear the rover apart, stripping it of anything that might be of value. Antennae, sensors, everything except the massive wheels, was quickly torn from the outer hull, and boxes of supplies were soon being carried out from inside. Even her favourite PPG rifle was pulled out of the cargo locker where she had stowed it and thrown onto the growing pile outside the rover. ------------------------------------------------------------ Susan, along with the other three members of her small team, slowly made her way through the shallow swamp, her clothing now thoroughly soaked by the cold water, and her boots heavy with caked mud. "I am beginning to think that this might not have been such a good idea," she said, swatting at a buzzing insect that had been hovering around her for the past minute. The insect retreated for a few seconds, but then promptly returned... with two of its older, and much larger brothers. "We have to check this out," Melis replied, the insect inhabitants of the swamp steering clear of him for some reason. "The chance to examine an intact Vorlon vessel is too good an opportunity to pass up. It will be the find of a lifetime." "Right now I am more worried about what has happened to Major Logan and her rover," Susan replied, wondering again why she allowed Melis to talk her into this, not that it had taken too much convincing. Part of her had to admit that the idea of recovering an intact Vorlon transport was quite exciting, but another part was worried that this might be some sort of trap. Everything she knew about Vorlons suggested that they would not just leave examples of their technology lying around. She glanced back along their path, and could see the faint lights of the rover in the distance. The mist that had appeared after the rain stopped had grown thicker again, and now it was almost impossible to see more than a few metres in any direction. Fortunately the rover's spotlights were very powerful and they cut through the mist like a knife, shining in the direction of their goal. That didn't stop Susan from feeling almost alone in the swamp, her only companions the cold water and the insects gathering over her head. Actually she wasn't that alone, the tall figure of an EAS marine was just in front of her, carefully scanning the swamp with infra-red goggles. While behind her was Melis, and even further back another marine took up the rear, her PPG rifle clutched tightly in her hands. So far nothing dangerous had appeared, but Susan didn't want to take any chances. That was why she was grateful that Talia hadn't insisted on coming along. Fortunately, this time Talia had readily agreed to remain behind, saying that she preferred the warmth of the rover to a cold walk through the swamp. Susan was beginning to wonder if she should have remained in the rover as well. Then, the marine in front of her suddenly stopped, without even a word or gesture of warning. Susan only just managed to pull up in time to prevent herself from running headlong into his back. Walking around the imposing obstacle of the marine's body she looked up at him in annoyance. "What is it?" The marine didn't reply, but instead held up a hand to point in the direction they had been travelling. Susan follow his gesture, and then she saw what the marine had spotted. Out of the mists the Vorlon ship had appeared again. When she had been back in the rover, Susan hadn't really realised how big this thing was. Up close it seemed to loom above them like some dark cliff face, only it wasn't a wall of rock she faced, but a wall of blackish-grey metal. "Amazing," Melis breathed. "Do you see that, it's still in one piece." He paused to get an image of the ship on his recorder, and then muttered. "I must get closer." A slithering sound echoed across the swamp, and Susan glanced nervously in the direction it came from. When nothing appeared, she turned back to the ship and followed Melis and the two marine towards it. The Vorlon vessel appeared to rest on an island in the swamp, and again Susan was struck with the impression that it was waiting for its owner to return. "Come on," Melis said, wading through the deepening waters of the swamp towards the muddy island. "Wait," Susan tried to say. But it was too late, the doctor had already gone, the thickening mists swirling around and hiding his passage. Scowling in annoyance at the doctor's impertinent nature, she nodded to the marines, and ordered them forward towards the Vorlon vessel. The tall marine in front of her unslung his PPG rifle and sloshed forward, creating small waves as he pushed his way into deeper water. Another slithering sound reached their ears. Susan and the last remaining marine exchanged nervous glances and hurried after Melis. Fortunately the deep water did not last long, and Susan soon found herself climbing out of the chilly water and onto the muddy sand of the island. The spotlights from the rover were barely visible now, so the team were forced to rely on small portable torches, which didn't give out much light, but were adequate enough. Overhead the sun must have set again, and the dim twilight of day had faded into the total darkness of night. Susan's attention was elsewhere at the moment though, and the growing chill in the air did not interest her as much as the sight that loomed above them. Up close the Vorlon ship lost a lot of its beauty, but none of its mystery. Unlike the other Vorlon vessel's Susan had seen, this one was a blackish-grey in colour, looking faded and dull compared to the bright colours of Ambassador Kosh's transport. It also appeared to have been here for some time. Susan didn't know how long plants took to grow on this world, but if it was the same as on Earth, then the Vorlon ship had been sitting her for at least a century, maybe much longer. A thick growth of vines had wrapped themselves around the vessel, as if they were trying to restrain it, while across the rest of the ship's surface a grey fungus had taken root. Clearly the first impressions she had of vessel during the journey here were wrong; this ship wasn't going anywhere. A sudden realisation came to Susan, and she knew without any trace of doubt that this ship was dead. She knew that the Vorlon's used organic technology, and had even seen it proven to her by the sensors on Babylon 5, but never before had she thought of a ship dying. But there was no doubt that this is what had happened to this one. Somehow it had been killed, but by what or who she didn't know. Beside her the two marines regarded the ship with detached curiosity, while Melis swarmed over it like an eager puppy, poking his nose into every nook and cranny. From somewhere he had pulled a small laser scalpel and was using its delicate beam to slice away the plant life that covered the section ship's surface closest to him. At the same time he was trying to balance a recorder in his other hand, making sure he kept a record of his work. Experiencing a strange urge deep inside her, Susan found herself drawn to the ship. Like the pillar they had encountered earlier, there was something her that wanted her to come closer. Despite fighting the urge with all her will, Susan felt her hand reaching up to touch the fungus covered surface of the ship. Beside her the tall marine suddenly gasped. "Look," he said pointing to the surface of the hull where Susan's hand had touched. Tiny specks of light had suddenly appeared. Even Melis turned and watched as light flared up around Susan's hand. Bright like the sun, it lit up the swamp like the spotlights had done earlier. All trace of the cold mist began to vanish, while deeper in the swamp two gigantic snakes that had been hunting the four humans quickly turned and swam away, seeking to escape the light. The light grew brighter again, and the moss and fungus beneath Susan's hand began to smoke, before bursting into flame. Susan though, was unharmed, the warmth of the flames not even reaching her skin. She closed her eyes and listened to the voice that suddenly began to speak in her head. "Learn," it said, carrying with it a feeling of authority and order that could only be Vorlon in nature. Inside her mind, Susan felt a tingling sensation and then the darkness of the inside of her eyelids flared with brilliant light. When the effects of that light vanished, she found herself floating in space, the greenish sphere of Arias far below. Then she became aware that she was moving closer to the jungle moon. Curious she examined the moon and saw that it was much as it appeared now, mostly jungle, but about a third covered by a great storm cloud. She felt a sense of foreboding and again the voice sounded in her head. "The prison," it said. "A prison?" she queried. The voice of the Vorlon didn't answer her question, instead it continued with its tale. "The prisoner is trying to escape. From the council I came, seeking to ensure that the wards were secure. They are not..." >From the very centre of the dark cloud, far below her, a pencil-thin beam of energy suddenly lanced outwards, striking Susan directly in the centre of her chest. Curiously she felt no pain, but instead she felt a feeling of weakness, as if her life force was slowly being drained away. Then she began to spiral downwards, falling towards the surface of the world below. In her mind she heard the voice of the Vorlon again. "It must never escape, you must ensure this." "What?" Susan screamed, but her words seemed to be swept away by the speed of her fall. Weaker now the voice of the Vorlon responded. "I have waited here until they sent another. You must take up my place as guardian. Ensure that it never escapes. The empire depends on your success. If you are not successful, then we will fall and our cause will be lost with us." Darkness seemed to envelop her, and then Susan found herself back in the swamp. Opening her eyes she saw the flames and jerked her hand away from the ship as if she had been stung. On the surface of the ship, the flames suddenly faded, but the light remained. "What the hell is that," Melis was saying, pointing his recorder at the side of the ship, where a circle of light had appeared, and in its centre Susan could see the imprint of her hand. She glanced down at her hand. It didn't appeared to have suffered from what had just happened, but a curious tingling sensation remained, tiny pinpricks of pain running across her palm. "Are you all right, Captain," the female marine asked, looking at Susan with a worried expression on her face. Susan nodded, then asked, "what did you see." "You reached out to touch the ship, and then that light appeared. Then, the part of the ship you were touching burst into flames and you pulled your hand away." The marine looked down at Susan's right hand, which she still cradled in her other hand. "Do you want me to take a look at that, Captain," she asked. "I have a medkit with me. There should be something for burns in it." Susan shook her head. "No it is fine," she replied, in a strangely detached voice. "I didn't get burnt. There was no heat in the flames." "What did you see, Captain," the other marine asked suddenly, a suspicious edge to his voice. "This world," she replied, glancing down at her hand again. "And there was something else... a voice. I think it was a Vorlon." "Amazing," Melis said again, moving closer to the glowing circle, his recorder clutched in his hands. Before anyone could stop him, he reached out to touch the ring of light. Unlike Susan's touch, he produced a more violent response. The light flared again, so brightly it left those watching it temporarily blinded. Only Susan, who had been looking down at her hand at the time, escaped from the fate of the other three. As the flare of light died down, she looked up. The circle of light on the ship's surface was gone. Then she saw that it was still light around the ship, even though the team's torches were lying forgotten in the mud. She looked up, straight into the eyes of a figure that hovered above the ship. The angelic being hovering there seemed to nod once in her direction before gently lifting itself into the air, drifting higher and higher. As it rose into the air, its radiance dimmed, and soon it was only a faint speck of light. Then, it was gone all together, leaving behind only a feeling of loss and death. With it went the light that had filled the swamp. The cold chill began to creep around them again, and with it the mist began to return. Susan reached down and picked up one of the discarded torches, while the other three members of the team blinked and rubbed their eyes to clear away the last after effects of the light. Melis let out a short cry of disappointment when he saw that the light was gone. "It's gone," he said, scrabbling at the surface of the ship with his fingernails, as if that would bring back the light. "And it's time we were also gone," Susan said. She bent down and picked up the doctor's recorder and torch. Shoving them into his hands she said, "we can't stay here any longer." "But..." Melis began. "We just got here. We have to examine it, take samples and recordings." "We don't have time," Susan replied. "We have to find the Sturt, and rescue her crew. Then, we are going to get the hell off this world. If you want to come back here and look for Vorlon artefacts then you can, but you will do it on your own time. There is something strange happening on this world, and I don't really want to stick around and find out what it is." "Sounds like the best idea I have heard so far," the tall marine said, spitting into the swamp. "There is some weird shit going on around here, and I don't want to be walking through these swamps any longer than I have to. This swill is starting to rot my uniform." "I agree," the female marine said, picking up her torch and attaching it to her rifle. "Lets get back to the rover." Outnumbered, Melis shut up, and followed the others as they walked away from the Vorlon ship and back towards the distant lights of the rover. As they disappeared into the mists there came a faint noise from the Vorlon ship, almost as if something had just sighed. Then, it began to crumble, the rotten metal of its structure finally giving way and crumbling into dust. The lingering presence of the dead Vorlon had been all that had kept the ship together, and with it now finally passing away into whatever the Vorlon imagined as their afterlife, there was nothing left to hold the dead ship together. However, so quietly did it collapse, not one of Susan's team heard a thing. They just continued through the mists and water, until finally the shape of the rover appeared in front of them, its bright spotlights lighting the way to the warm security it offered. Standing on the muddy shore were two human shaped figures. As the team made there way towards them, the figure soon resolved themselves into the figure of Talia and the much larger one of Sergeant Drake. "You made it back," Talia said, sounding relieved. She reached down and helped Susan climb back up onto dry land, although in this case the land wasn't exactly that dry. "We were a little worried when that light suddenly appeared. What was that?" "A memory," Susan replied, trying to wring some of the water out of her soaked uniform. She wasn't having much success though, and soon gave up. Before Talia, or anyone else, could ask her what she meant by that remark, Sergeant Drake stepped in. "Captain," he said in his deep, gruff voice. "We are picking up a signal." "From Major Logan?" she asked eagerly. The sergeant shook his head. "No, we still haven't managed to raise the other rover. This signal is from the Sturt, a Captain Lawton to be precise." "Then they are still alive," Susan said, relief showing on her face. "How far away are they?" "About two kilometre's," Drake replied. He pointed over the swamp, back in the direction the Vorlon ship had been. "They're on the other side of this swamp though, so it is going to take us about thirty minutes to make our way around it. That's assuming that we can make our way around it at all." Susan nodded. "Then we had better get going. Everyone back in the rover." She looked over at Melis. "And no more distractions. We have a job to do, and it is about time we started doing it." "What about Major Logan," Drake asked. "Hopefully she will be waiting for us at the Sturt. If she isn't, then we will worry about sending out a search party. Now let's get moving." There was a general movement towards the rover, with only Melis dragging his heels, still looking wistfully in the direction of the Vorlon ship. Then, with an almost forlorn resignation, he also climbed aboard and the rover started up again, backing its way towards solid ground. Behind them the mist began to clear once more, and the island appeared again. This time though, there was no sign of any Vorlon ship, just a pile of tangled vegetation and blackish-grey dust. ------------------------------------------------------------ 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 5/10 - Part A Date: Mon, 8 Feb 1999 22:31:44 +1030 ------------------------------------------------------------ The Secret of Arias - Chapter 5 By Sel Vecantie ------------------------------------------------------------ "This is starting to really annoy me," Susan said, sounding frustrated as yet another path turned out to be a dead end. "This is the fifth time this has happened." She looked over to her left. "Are you sure this is where it is suppose to be?" Beside her, Dr. Melis tapped the portable navigation console he had perched on his lap. "According to this machine, the Sturt should be about a hundred metres directly in front of us. If we hadn't lost contact with Captain Lawton, then I might be able to tell you for sure, but without their signal, I can't make an accurate reading. However, based on their last signal, that is where they should be." Susan peered out of the window, trying to see something through the darkness. "The spotlights don't reach that far," she reminded the doctor. "We can't see if there is anything out there or not." She slumped back into her seat and looked over at the driver. "All right, Sergeant, turn us around... again." Before Sergeant Drake could carry out her command though, another voice pulled him up. "Wait," Talia said, a look of concentration on her face. "I can sense something." She shook her head as if trying to clear it, and seemed to shudder slightly. "There are human minds out there. They are distant but coming closer." Susan glanced around the command cabin and after checking to make sure everyone else's attention was elsewhere, reached out with her own mind. Her telepathic abilities were now a lot stronger than Talia's and she had no trouble sensing the thoughts of those Talia had already detected. After confirming that they were indeed human minds, she looked back at Talia and nodded, indicating that she too had sensed the same thing. "Look," Drake suddenly called out, pointing at something that had appeared off in the distance. Susan followed his outstretched finger until, at the distance where image was swallowed by imagination, a dim light was just emerging through the gloom. At first all they could see was just the light, but then, as the seconds ticked by, more and more details emerged. Soon the shape of a makeshift raft, manned by two men, slowly moved towards them. The men on the raft had obviously seen the rover, and were alternating between rowing and waving, as if trying to get the attention of the rover's crew. "It appear you were right after all, doctor," Susan admitted, rising from her seat to get a better look at the raft. "Of course," Melis replied, looking a little smug. But even the arrogant IPX team leader couldn't help but smile as he realised that they had found the Sturt's crew after all, and at least some of them were still alive. Seeing that they had been spotted, the two men of the raft began waving their arms and shouting even more aggressively. Susan smiled faintly, before ordering several marines to go and help the survivors to the shore. There was still a lot of work to do, and the rescue wasn't over yet, but she still felt relief at finding someone alive. Now all they had to do was keep them alive. That, and transfer them all to the Rasputin before anything else happened. ------------------------------------------------------------ Major Logan let out a tired groan as the aliens guarding her party called another halt to the march. She slumped down onto the muddy ground, no longer concerned with the condition of her uniform, just grateful for the brief respite from the forced march. The alien's, with their wide, clawed feet and thick tails, had experienced no trouble at all walking along the muddy trail. Their human prisoners though, had been forced to trudge through thick mud and along steeply sloping roads, following the path that led towards the alien's fortress. Lily wasn't sure how many hours had passed since the rover had run out of fuel, but she was sure it was at least five. Above them the sky had begun to lighten somewhat, changing from pitch black to a dull twilight. It didn't help much though, and the only light of any magnitude came from the glowing cable they had been following throughout the night. She had tried to take a closer look at the cable, hoping that it might provide some clues about the aliens, or maybe their destination. Each time she had moved closer though, one of the aliens had spotted her and made sure she didn't touch the cable. She could still feel a twinge of pain from the time one of the alien guards had grown a little enthusiastic in discouraging her and pushed her to the ground. Unfortunately, it happened to be one piece of ground that wasn't covered in mud. Instead, it had been studded with a scattering of rocks and Lily had landed heavily among them, knocking some of the skin off her right elbow and landing heavily on her shoulder. The experience, no matter how painful, had still been very useful. Through it, she had discovered that the aliens were under orders not to harm their captives. When the guard pushed her to the ground the alien leader had quickly hurried over and told him off. Listening to their conversation Lily had learned that the alien's mysterious Mistress had ordered that none of the prisoners be harmed. That at least gave her something to work with. If they were not allowed to hurt her, then perhaps she still had a chance of escape. Accepting the unexpected offer of a drink from one of the alien guards, Lily gulped down the liquid, savouring the coolness of the water. Handing back the canteen she looked around at the group of prisoners with renewed vigour. It didn't last long. Looking at the rest of the prisoners, worn out and broken by the difficult march, stole some of her confidence away. Even the other two marines, who should have handled the situation better, were slumped on the ground, looking dispirited and tired. Lily frowned as she observed them, wishing that she had some of the older marines in her command along with her. She was sure that someone like Sergeant Drake, an old campaigner who had fought in the war against the Minbari, wouldn't have given up so easily. All she could hope for now, was that Drake and Ivanova could discover what had happened to her, and send a rescue party. She certainly didn't want to be trapped on this world for the rest of her life. Spotting the alien leader, Azrak, walking past, Lily yelled out. "Where are you taking us." The alien warrior turned and looked at her. She pointed towards the rest of her party. "We can't continue like this for much longer. You might be able to keep up this pace, but we can't." Azrak walked over to her side, towering over her, almost as if he needed to feel superior to Lily before he could talk to her. "As long as you can walk, we will continue. It is not far now, just beyond this ridge." Then he turned and walked away, heading towards the largest group of guards, who were busy handing around a small container. Lily couldn't see exactly what was in the container, but it appeared to be some kind of food, although the way it seemed to wiggle in their fingers didn't encourage her to ask for a sample. The mere presence of food though, was enough to make her stomach rumble, reminding her that it was at least twenty hours since she had last eaten. While it would be at least another day before she began to feel really hungry, she hoped that their captors would feed them before then. Whatever Azrak wanted, it seemed to involved them moving again. Soon after he finished talking to the guards, they returned and ordered everyone back to their feet. A chorus of groans and complaints sounded as the tired scientists hauled themselves back to their feet and resume the march. Lily felt similar pains, but wasn't about the let the aliens know that. She climbed back to her feet without a word of complaint and took up her place at the rear of the group. They marched on for perhaps another hour and Lily continued to look for escape possibilities, but none presented themselves. Even if the guards had left an opening, she wasn't sure how far she would get on this alien world. There could be anything hiding out there, and without a communicator to signal the other rover, she knew she wasn't going to escape. The last time she had seen one of the communicators, it had been in a pile of other items being heaped up outside the rover. She didn't know what had happened to it, or the rover, last seen as they had been led away down this long, muddy road. Since then, all she had seen were alien constructions, and certainly nothing that reminded her of home. Most prominent were the tall towers that seemed to dot the landscape. She had passed three of them so far, and up ahead she could see another four grouped together on the top of a large hill that had just appeared once they crossed the ridge. She didn't know what purpose they served, but they seemed to be important to the aliens. Lost in her thoughts, Lily followed the person in front of her, not noticing that they had drawn closer to the hill. Then she noticed a change that made her jerk her head up and look around her again. Beneath their feet the ground had changed from a muddy dirt track into a stone path. That was not all that had changed either. Over them, a tall rocky hill now loomed, while directly ahead the dark mouth of a cave waited to swallow them. Several groups of aliens were walking along the path, all casting curious glances towards Lily and the other humans. From the tools they were carrying, Lily assumed they must be work crews heading out to the first tower she had seen. That one was still being built, and several hundred aliens had been gathered around it, all busy with sheets of metal, and strange silver coils. The guards didn't allow her time to examine these new groups of aliens. Instead, they pushed her towards the wide tunnel that headed deep into the hillside. Unlike the trail they had been following, this tunnel was dry and clean, a welcome relief from the muddy conditions they had been battling through ever since leaving the rover. Lily took a moment to glare at one of the guards, before following the other prisoners into the tunnel. As she passed into the wide entrance, another party of worker aliens marched out, carefully avoiding the humans and their guards. Inside the tunnel Lily was struck by the realisation of how different it felt. Gone was the cold chill of the early morning air, and replacing it was a warm breeze that seemed to flow from beneath the rocky hill. While she wondered how that was possible, Lily also noticed a row of light globes embedded in the roof of the tunnel. The light they provided wasn't very bright, but it was just enough to see by. Still with thoughts of escape on her mind, she glanced around to see where the guards were. Unfortunately for her, they had formed into a line behind their prisoners, ensure that no-one attempted to return to the surface. Curiously, only two guards were at the front of the group, so obviously there was no chance of escape in that direction. Frowning in annoyance at the alien leader's foresight, she moved towards the front of the group, seeking the other two marines. She found them trudging along with the other prisoners, their eyes downcast. Lily moved closer and whispered, "have either of you come up with a way out of here yet?" Hawke, the soldier closest to her, looked up, surprise in his eyes. "You must be kidding, Major," he replied, while at the same time eyeing the nearest guard nervously. "If we try and make a dash for it, then they are going to cut us to pieces." "And if we don't, then they will probably do the same thing," Lily whispered harshly back. "We have to look for a way out of this place. Someone has to warn the Captain about what is going on here. Then we can think about rescuing the other prisoners. At least one of us has to escape." Before Hawke could reply, further conversion was halted by the sudden appearance of the alien leader, Azrak, who was walking towards the front of the group. He looked at Lily with a suspicious tint in his gaze, but said nothing. However he kept a close eye on the three marines for the rest of the short journey through the tunnel. Lily ignored his presence and examined the walls of the tunnel instead. Unlike the muddy road they had followed from the rover, the tunnel was more natural looking. The walls did not appear to have been carved, and in several placed they had to walk around large rock formations. However, the tunnel had a strange feel to it, and the ground felt a lot warmer than it should have. Before Lily had time to examine that phenomena though, the tunnel ended and she found herself gasping in surprise at what lay beyond. She had thought that the aliens were leading them into some underground dwelling of some kind, but instead the tunnel was a passage leading through the side of a vast impact crater. Below them lay the rest of the crater, hundreds of metres in diameter, and nearly the same in depth. It wasn't the crater itself that surprised Lily though, but rather the huge building that rose up out of the mists below them. It wasn't its size that was so spectacular, Lily had seen taller buildings on Earth, but rather its very existence. She had come to the conclusion that the aliens were fairly advanced, but even she hadn't imagined that they could build something like this. It was like nothing that she had seen before, yet at the same time it also had a strange familiarity about it. The more Lily looked at the stronger that feeling of familiarity became. Most of the fortress was obviously alien. It was constructed of a dark material that seemed to absorb the light, and only the tiny pinpricks of light across its surface gave any indication that it was there at all. However, as she looked further up, Lily noticed that its architecture changed. The entire top fifth of the fortress was a gigantic dome, ringed with windows and topped by a series of minarets around a tall central spire. While the structure itself didn't suggest anything familiar, Lily found her eyes drawn to the windows in the dome. It was then that she realised what it was that felt so familiar to her. Each of windows had been cleverly designed to resembled the stained glass windows of the old cathedrals and churches back on Earth. While the figures that they depicted were obviously alien, the design of the windows was identical to those she remembered. The restaurant owned by her father had been built in a converted church and some of her earliest childhood memories had been of the sunlight shining through the stained glass windows. While there was no sunlight here, just a dim light from inside the dome, the effect was almost identical. Shaking her head in amazement, Lily didn't notice that the rest of the prisoners, along with most of the guards, had already moved on, walking down a wide set of stairs that wound down the side of the crater towards the base of the fortress. For a second her heart leapt, and she wondered if they had forgotten about her. A quick look behind her though, dashed those hopes. Standing there, quietly watching her, was Azrak and two of his largest warriors. "That is the Mistress' palace," Azrak said to her, pointing towards the fortress. Then he pointed towards the windows. "The Mistress made each image to show the greatest of our race." Then his voice grew a little wistful. "Perhaps one day she will make one for me." "Will I get to meet this Mistress of yours," Lily asked him. Azrak looked at her with a curious expression on his face. "Perhaps," he replied. "Who can tell what the Mistress desires. Even I, the leader of my people can not tell what she will choose to do. She will call for you is she wishes to see you, otherwise you will be sent to the mines with the rest of your people." Lily frowned. "The Mines?" she asked, not really liking the sound of that at all. "What mines?" Azrak though, refused to elaborate and instead pointed towards the stairs. "Come, we must go down here." Lily glared at him, but when the other two warriors moved closer she slowly complied with his command, walking down the stairs towards the bottom of the crater. At the same time though, she turned and looked back at the top of the fortress. Outlined in one of the windows, she noticed two small, dark shapes that hadn't been there before. Perhaps it was just the angle she was viewing them from, but Lily was convinced that someone or something was watching her from the palace. ------------------------------------------------------------ Standing at the very edge of the throne room, where the row great windows looked out over the tall cliffs that surrounded the palace, two creatures were observing the slow passage of the returning raiding party. Leaning wearily against the metal archway that surrounded the window, the Mistress peered through the patterned glass, watching closely as last of humans began to walk down the stairs. Standing nearby, her counsellor, Morkazz, tried his best to spot what she was pointing out to him. Of course, the fact that her eyes were greatly superior to his didn't help at all. The Mistress though, was so caught up in her examination of the new prisoners that she hadn't noticed that her counsellor couldn't see anything through the murky darkness outside the window. The dim light of the pre-dawn sky and the mud splattered clothing of the prisoners conspiring to hide them from his vision. In fact, all he could see was a odd flutter of movement against the distance rock face, and that could have been anything. However, he knew that the Mistress would not mislead him, so trusted in her observations. "Shall I order Azrak to bring the prisoners before you?" Morkazz asked as soon as the prisoners had reached the bottom of the stairs and entered the tunnel that led into the living areas below the surface. "Or, would you prefer that they be taken straight to the mines instead?" Instead of answering directly, the Mistress turned from the window and slowly began to walk back towards her throne. Pausing briefly she looked back at Morkazz and said, "Come." Morkazz nodded and turned away from the delicate crystal window, following her obediently back to the throne. Then, after she had lowered herself into the cushioned seat with a pained grimace, the Mistress activated one of the display screens. As it lowered itself down from the ceiling, Morkazz found himself looking at an image of one of the many passages and corridors that snaked their way beneath the surface of the ground. The prisoners could be seen marching down the passage, and then, as the screen focused on one of the prisoners, the Mistress froze the image. Because the Mistress seemed to be interested in this particular alien, Morkazz took a moment to examine the image. It showed an alien, he recognised as a female, although he wasn't one hundred percent certain about that. She appeared to be only short, with cropped blonde hair and a brown uniform. It took Morkazz nearly a minute to see what had attracted the Mistress' attention, but eventually even he spotted it. This alien was still defiant. While the others walked with their heads down, and appeared afraid of their guards, this one didn't. "Interesting," he mused softly. "Yes she is, isn't she," the Mistress replied. "See how she is still looking around for a way to escape. It shows that she possesses a strong and defiant spirit. The others have already submitted, but she has not." "What would you have us do?" Morkazz asked, unsure if the alien's defiant nature pleased or angered this Mistress. He glanced over at the figure on the throne, but couldn't pick up anything from her expression. So he just waited, knowing that she would tell him soon enough what her wishes were. "Tell Azrak to take her to a cell," the Mistress ordered finally, after considering his question for nearly a minute. "The others can go to the mines, I have no further use for them at this time. Also provide this one with fresh clothing, and food if she requests it. Then tell Azrak to bring the items he captured from the alien machine to the throne room, I wish to examine them." "Yes, Mistress," Morkazz replied with a bow. He quickly turned and hurried towards the great golden doors that marked the exit of the throne room. Behind him the Mistress deactivated the screen and leaned back against the throne, a faint shudder of pain running through her. For a second she reached towards a newly constructed compartment that had been built in the side of the throne, but then changed her mind and pulled her hands back. Instead, she looked back towards the retreating form of her counsellor and called out, "make sure artisan Kaj is also present. I may have need of her insight as well." Morkazz turned and bowed again, before slipping behind the doors. The Mistress smiled as she realised that the counsellor was still showing no signs of the limp that had troubled him for much of his life. Then her mind turned to other matters. Her plans were nearing fruition, and with some gentle prodding the human prisoners would play their part. But she couldn't risk having anyone defying her now, especially not one of the prisoners. ------------------------------------------------------------ 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 5/10 - Part B Date: Mon, 8 Feb 1999 22:31:50 +1030 ------------------------------------------------------------ Captain Lawton sighed in contentment as he sipped the hot drink provided by the rover's crew. "I haven't had anything warm to eat or drink for nearly a week," he said, reluctantly putting aside the mug. "I sure am glad you turned up, we were beginning to think that we were all going to die here." The other man from the raft, the Sturt's second officer, Terry Maloney, nodded in agreement, pulling the warm blanket tightly around his body, trying to restore some warmth. Water still dripped from his long black hair, a legacy of a quick dip in the swamp after their over exuberant celebrations on sighting the rover. He scratched his thick moustache before adding, "or be carried off by swamp monsters." "Monsters?" Susan queried. Lawton cut off Maloney's reply. "We don't know that they are monsters, but something has been taking my crew. Since we crashed over forty have vanished, including two of my senior officers. We have never seen what was responsible, but it is too many to just be accidents. Someone, or something has been killing off my crew." Standing behind Susan, Talia looked shocked. "You don't think that is what happened to the other rover do you, Susan?" she asked, forgetting for the moment to use Susan's formal title when they were around the rest of the crew. None of the marines, or the two wet survivors noticed though, they all just looked towards Susan. "The other rover?" Lawton asked. "You mean you have lost someone as well?" Susan frowned. "We don't know that for sure yet. All we know is that the second rover vanished. We can't go blaming invisible monsters yet." "Believe me, Captain," Maloney said in a dark tone. "These creatures exist. We might not have seen them, but I have heard the screams of those they captured. They were horrible, as if a great demon had just leapt out and grabbed them. I don't want to have anything to do with these creatures if I can help it. And if I were you I would get away from here as soon as possible." "How many crew are left on your ship," Susan asked Lawton. "One hundred and twenty six," the red-haired captain replied. "Assuming no more have gone missing over the past hour." Susan drummed her fingers on her forearm, quickly running the figures through her head. "Four round trips then," she said. She turned to Drake, who was leaning back against a row of lockers. "Unpack the heavy weapons, and pull out some of those inflatable rafts. I want this rover ready to make the return trip before the hour is out." "Are we going back with the rover, or staying here, Captain," he asked. "Staying here. I want the marines to guard the Sturt, while the rover shuttles the crew back to the landing site. Choose three men, and put them in charge of the rover. You will be staying here with me." She turned to look at the two officers from the Sturt. "Mr. Maloney, you can go on the first return trip if you prefer. I would like someone to take charge of the operation." The two officers glanced at each other, looking a little disturbed by her orders. "Is there something wrong, Captain Lawton," Susan asked him irritably. "I would have thought that you both would have wanted to get off this planet as quickly as possible." Lawton nodded. "That's true, Captain, I do. However it seems a shame to leave the Sturt behind. After all, apart from a complete loss of power, there is nothing wrong with it." Seeing the confused look on the faces of his rescuers he sighed. "But of course, you don't know about that. Perhaps it would be best if I started at the beginning." "Please do," Susan replied, an impatient look appearing on her face. Lawton paused for a second, then started his explanation. "You see, the Sturt is still intact. In fact, if we could find some way to restore the lost power, then it would be possible to take off again. There is still plenty of fuel for the reactor, but not enough energy to start it up again. If we could somehow restore the reserves then it would be possible to restart the reactor and fly the ship off the surface." "I am still not sure I understand," Susan said. "Why can't you replenish the energy reserves, and why exactly did you crash?" "I wouldn't call it a crash exactly," Lawton replied, a wry smile on his face. "I prefer to call it a controlled descent." He sighed again when that comment failed to cause even the slightest smile on the faces of his rescuers. "What happened was that the reactor cut out in mid flight, and we were forced to fly the ship on reserve power. As the captain of a starship, I am sure you will know that is impossible to do. Fortunately I have... or rather I did have... a very good pilot, and he managed to land the Sturt in the swamp, without damaging any of her systems. As for why we can't replenish the energy reserves, that can only be done with solar collectors." he paused to wave his hand towards the hatch. "And, as I am sure you have seen, there isn't a lot of sunlight out there." "What caused the reactor to cut out like that?" Susan asked. Lawton glanced over at Maloney. The second officer took up the explanation, while Lawton returned to his drink. "We think it was due to the energy drain. As you would be aware, the fusion reactor requires a continuous input of energy to function. Normally part of the energy it generates is just recycled back into the reactor, but during take-offs and landings the ships systems require much more energy than reactor can generate. That is where the reserves come into play. They are normally supposed to hold enough energy to do the job ten times over, but this time there was a problem." "This energy drain?" Dr. Melis asked, suddenly growing interested in the conversation. "What can you tell me about that." Maloney looked over at his captain, who just shrugged. "Not much," Lawton admitted. "We didn't stick around long enough to see what was causing it. As soon as I detected it, I ordered a lift off, which in hindsight turned out to be the wrong decision. Had we remained where we were then we would have been able to recharge the reserves with the solar collectors. Instead we are stuck in this damn swamp." "You weren't to know what would happen," Susan said. "I know that, but it doesn't stop me blaming myself for what happened." Susan nodded understandingly, realising that she would probably be feeling exactly the same thing if she were in Lawton's place. "It is too late to worry about what happened," she said. "Right now, we need to work out what to do next." She glanced over at Melis. "Can we use the rover's power supply to recharge the Sturt?" Melis shook his head. "If the reactor on the Sturt was active then we could. While it is dormant though, there is nothing we can do. Their reactor is at least a hundred times more powerful than ours, and even at maximum output the rover couldn't put out enough energy to start it up." Looking thoughtful, Susan considered other possibilities. "How about one of the shuttles?" she asked. "We could fly one through the cloud and land it near the Sturt." "That is a possibility," Melis said, nodding his head. Then his eyes widened. "Except of course, the cloud interferes with all electrical activity. That must have been what happened to the Sturt." He looked down at Lawton. "Did you fly into the cloud at all when you attempted to take off?" Lawton nodded. "Yes. We didn't have enough reserves left to go straight up, so we had to take off into the cloud. It puts less strain on the reactor that way, and I was hoping that we wouldn't need the reserves at all." "That's what happened then," Melis told Susan. "The Sturt's systems were shorted out when they flew into the cloud. Remember what happened to the missile, and the Starfury." Susan nodded, remembering what they had found on the Rasputin when they opened up the missile Lawton had ordered fired through the cloud. "The electronics were burnt out." She looked over at Lawton. "Have you checked the systems on your ship." He nodded. "Of course, that was the first thing we looked at. They are shielded though, and supposed to survive any natural storm, even high radiation. They should not have been effected by it. We didn't find any damage, although they may have just been temporarily deactivated." "I am beginning to think that this isn't a natural storm," Susan muttered, remembering what the Vorlon in the swamp had said about wards. "It looks more like a shield of some kind. Perhaps it is an artificial storm the Vorlon's put here to keep something trapped here." "That is a possibility," Melis agreed. "This is, after all, a Vorlon world. We don't know what they left lying around here when they left the galaxy. We have already found one crashed ship, and then there was the pillar we saw soon after arriving. You said that was Vorlon." Susan nodded, then quickly changed the subject. She didn't want Melis to learn exactly how she knew it was Vorlon in nature, that would raise too many questions as this stage. "We still need to work out what to do with the Sturt and her crew. Speculating about possible threats isn't going to help us right now." She turned back to Lawton and Maloney. "I am still in favour of getting everyone off this world as soon as possible. We can worry about the Sturt once everyone is safe." Lawton nodded. "I agree. I would prefer to fly out of here on the Sturt, but the safety of my crew comes first... At least those that are left." "Then we will compromise," Susan replied. "Pick forty members of your crew that you can do without for now, and send them back with the rover. Three of my team will go back with them, and signal for a shuttle. With any luck there might be something on the Rasputin that can recharge the Sturt, although I can't think of anything at the moment. The rest of my team will remain here and we will see if we find out what has happened to your missing crew, not to mention my missing rover." "That sounds dangerous to me," Lawton cautioned. "If there is some sort of monster out there, then we might just end up with you going missing as well. Every team I have sent out so far has vanished without trace." "But they didn't have any of these," Sergeant Drake cut in, hefting a weighty PPG cannon in one meaty hand. "My boys will take care of any monster, after all that is what we do best." Lawton could only nod in agreement. "Perhaps you are right," he said cautiously, eyeing the gun nervously. "All we had were a few standard pistols, and they wouldn't have stopped anything really big." "Then we are agreed," Susan said. "Sergeant, I will put you in charge of unpacking the equipment. Everyone else I want to get ready to move onto the Sturt for a while. It looks like we could be here for a week at least, so we might as well get comfortable." ------------------------------------------------------------ The normally quiet throne room was a hive of activity. The Mistress had ordered all of the items taken from the alien machine to be bought into the throne room, and now they were heaped up near her throne. Around the piles of alien devices and other strange items, a group of females, all high ranking artisans, were picking up and examining each item in turn. Even the alien's clothing was strange and new, and one shirt had already been torn apart by an artisan who was testing the strength of the fabric. The female might not have the sharp claws of the males, but their strength was still great enough to quickly rib the thin material. Watching over this chaotic scene were the Mistress and her two closest advisers, General Azrak, and Counsellor Morkazz. The two males did not seem as interested in the alien artefacts as the artisans, but the Mistress had taken an interested in several items so far, and had even examined a couple personally. Currently she held a slim, dangerous looking, PPG rifle. She already knew how the Earthforce weapons worked, having seen them in use several times on ISN, but quickly snapped up the opportunity to examine one up close. Then another object caught her eye, and after placing the PPG rifle carefully on the ground next to the throne, she leant forward and pointed towards the interesting device. Although she had again cloaked her form in shadows, Morkazz noticed her interest and quickly picked the item up, carrying it carefully over to the throne. As Mistress took it from him, she began to turn the object over in her hands, feeling the edges and examining the buttons that were mounted on its front panel. "What is it," the closest of the artisans, the venerable Kaj, asked. The artisan picked up another of the strange devices and gazed at it suspiciously. Like several other objects Azrak's warriors had recovered, it was constructed of metal, but had been painted a dark green, which seemed to be a popular colour among this particular group of aliens. Artefacts recovered from the first aliens that had landed had been a wide variety of colours, but these newer arrivals seemed to favour drab greens and greys. "It appears to be a communication device," the Mistress replied, after she had completed a cursory examination. "I do not know how it works though." "Perhaps one of these buttons activates it," Kaj suggested, while at the same time keeping her fingers well away from the suspicious looking buttons. The artisan had learnt from past experience that wasn't a good idea to start playing with alien devices without first working out what they did. She already had a long scar on her hand where a laser scalpel taken from one of the captured aliens sliced through her scaly skin while she had been examining it. The Mistress, however, had no such fears. After examining the device for another minute, she gently touched the large flat button mounted on the side. There was a click, and then a faint hissing sound came from the device. The hiss quickly started to echo around the room, as if the material of the walls and ceiling were somehow amplifying the device's signal Everyone in the room turned to look at it questioningly, wondering what its function was, and why it was making the peculiar sound. The Mistress tapped another button and then, after a short wait, an unfamiliar voice spoke through the static. "Who is this? Are you receiving me? This is Sergeant Drake. Please respond... Major Logan?" Everyone in the room looked at the transmitter in shock, Azrak even going so far as to drop his hand to one of his sheathed weapons. The Mistress, however, seemed unaffected by the strange voice. Instead she just held her finger to her lips to call for silence, and then, when everyone had stopped moving about and all was quiet, pressed the transmit button again. "You may call me Jeanne," was all she said, before taking her hand off the button and waiting for a response. She didn't have long to wait, the voice on the other end quickly returning. It sounded excited, as if her reply was unexpected, but still very welcome. "Please repeat, did you say Jeanne? Are you a member of the Sturt's crew?." She didn't answer him though, instead she switched off the transmitter with a quick flick of her finger and placed it careful down on the arm of her throne. "Very interesting," she said, slowly tapping the device with one dark fingernail. "This may come in very useful indeed." "What for, Mistress," Azrak asked her, still looking suspiciously at the alien device. "Won't they be able to use that to discover our location? We can find the scout's locations by using the tracking device if they are using their communicators. Remember, you showed us how to do it. Won't the alien's have a similar device for finding where their transmitters are?" She nodded. "Yes they will, Azrak. That is what makes it so useful." When the general looked confused, she almost smiled, before continuing, "I will explain later, when it is time." "Very good, Mistress," Azrak replied, although he still looked at the communicator as though it was going to bite him. He looked around at the rest of the equipment and personal possessions heaped up around the throne. "Is there anything else here that is going to be... useful?" "Perhaps," she replied, her voice seeming to grow softer. "But, further examination can wait until later. Right now, I wish to rest." Azrak bowed. "Understood, Mistress. When shall we return?" She considered that question for a few seconds before replying. "Come back in five hours time, and bring the new prisoner with you when you come. I wish to question her about the function of some of these items." Azrak looked concerned by that idea, he didn't like the idea of allowing an alien warrior so close to the Mistress. "Are you certain, Mistress?" he asked. "She is a dangerous creature, much more violent that the other aliens. I would not want her to get loose." "I am sure you can handle her, Azrak," she replied. "Now leave." She turned towards Kaj and the other artisans. "Take what you wish to examine, and return when you have the results of your studies." The chief artisan bowed, and quickly collected a small pile of objects, including one of the communicators, a PPG pistol and several other devices they still hadn't discovered the function of yet. The other artisans did much the same, although they were more cautious about their selections, not wishing to upset their mistress by choosing something that she may be interested in. Then, loaded down with alien artefacts they bowed and hurried out of the throne room. Soon only Kaj, Azrak, and the counsellor, Morkazz, were left. Then, Kaj bowed again and also left, although she took the time to snatch up two heavy looking bags and sling them over her shoulders before departing. The counsellor and the warrior watched the shapely figure of the artisan until she had left the throne room, and then turned back to the face the Mistress, who was examined both of her servants with a faint smile on her face. "Is there anything you wish to examine closer, Azrak?" she asked in a faintly teasing tone, the smile still on her face. Then she added, "a weapon perhaps?" "Nothing, Mistress," the general replied quickly. "None of these alien things interest me. However, I would like to see the results of the artisan's examinations when they are finished. A good warrior always tries to learn as much as possible about his opponent. These aliens are very strange, and they may still prove a threat. Knowing what we face is useful." The Mistress nodded. "Indeed it is," she agreed. "You may go then. Remember to bring the prisoner when you return." "Yes, Mistress," Azrak said, before bowing and withdrawing, heading back down to the lower levels, and the small cell where he had left the prisoner that the Mistress was so interested in. Personally, he thought the idea of capturing these prisoners wasn't very wise, as sooner or later other aliens would come to rescue them. While his warriors, with their new energy absorbing armour, were safe enough, he still worried for the workers on the various construction sites. However, the Mistress must know what she was doing. Apart from one rather spectacular tragedy many years ago, she had never failed his people. He did wish that she would tell him a little more of her plan though. Still in the throne room, Morkazz had no such concerns. He knew little more than Azrak about the Mistress' plan, but was absolutely certain that whatever she was planning would work. However there was one thing that was troubling him, something that she had said during the brief conversation with the alien who had answered the communication device. As the last of the artisans, closely followed by Azrak, filed out of the throne room, he turned back to the throne. "Mistress," he said slowly, as if hesitating about what he was to about to say. "May I ask you something." "Of course, Morkazz," she replied, slowly allowing the shadows she cloaked herself in to fade away again, now that she was alone once more, with just her counsellor to see her. Had he not been aware of her appearance she would have maintained them, but the effort it required tired her. She was, after all, a creature of light, and the darkness only made her weaker, but the cloaking effect was still need for now, at least until her plans were complete. Then it wouldn't matter who saw her, or what they thought. As her features came into view, the counsellor got the impression that she was very tired. While she had appeared confident and strong while the others had been present, now she slumped back against the cushioned throne, and no longer appeared to be her normal strong self. Morkazz wondered if she was growing weaker again. He was beginning to worry, as each day she seemed to grow more and more feeble. However, her weakness didn't stop him asking the question. He knew that if he didn't it would trouble him for days, and it was better to ask now and not have to worry about it. "When you were talking to the alien device," he began cautiously. "You used a name... Is that your name?" A look of sadness flickered across the Mistress' lips for a fraction of a second. "It was my name, but I was a different person then. I was young and driven, now I am old and tired. However, if it pleases you, then you may think of Jeanne as my name. It is as good as any other. But the girl who it belonged to is long dead, and all that is left of her are my memories." Morkazz nodded. "I understand, Mistress... Jeanne." "Good," she replied softly. Then she looked up, and seemed to grow stronger again. "Now, bring me that book over there. I wish to read it." Morkazz looked over at what she was pointing toward, and saw a thick volume with a dark brown cover, and gold leaf along its spine. "What is it?" the counsellor asked, as he tugged the book free of the pile it was stuck under. He glanced down at the book, reading the writing on the cover. The words didn't seem to make sense to him, but he handed it over anyway. "I don't know," she said, taking the book from him, and brushing away some dust that had collected on it during the rough journey from the rover to the palace. "However it reminds me of something, that is why I want to look at it. You may leave, I will be fine here alone for a while. You do not need to worry about me. Return when Azrak brings the prisoner." "Yes, Mistress," the counsellor replied with a low bow, before picking his way past the piles of alien equipment, heading towards the throne room doors. He paused for a second to look back at her, concerned for her health. She noticed him though and motioned with her hand for him to leave. He bowed again and pulled the huge golden doors closed behind him. They shut with a faint echoing clunk, and then she was alone in the vast, almost empty, throne room. Looking down at the book in her hands, she slowly ran her fingers over the rough material that had been used for the cover. It had been a long time since she had seen a book from Earth, and the ones she had read in her youth had mainly been hand-written religious tomes, not well crafted like this one. She had seen pictures of books on ISN, usually in stories about record prices paid for some ancient mouldy tome or another. However, this book appeared to be fairly new and probably wasn't more than two or three years old. There was no words on the cover, so she turned it one its side and examined the writing along the spine. "Diary of Anne Kasper," she read aloud, scanning the handwritten words. She hesitated for a moment, before opening the cover and turning to the first page of entries. She knew about diaries, of course. In fact, she even had her own upstairs in her bedroom. Of course, hers was written on paper made from a local reed, and with an ink distilled from the blood of a spiny beetle found in the swamps, but the principle was the same. This was probably why she felt a little strange about prying into the private thoughts of the woman who owned the diary. But Jeanne was still intrigued, wondering why the woman would use a book instead of the more modern recording devices available on Earth - the ones that were always being advertised on ISN, during the commercial breaks the network seemed to insist on having ever few minutes. She touched a control built into her throne, and the lights of the throne room increased in magnitude, allowing her to see the lines of neat handwriting better. Then she settled back in the throne and began to slowly read the first page. ------------------------------------------------------------ Commander Gregor Petrov rested his boots on the command console, slowly sipping a warm cup of coffee, while reading from a data pad he clasped in his right hand. To anyone viewing him for the first time, he looked the picture of a relaxed and calm first officer, but the bridge crew that were serving under him knew better. The commander had spent the past two days pacing around the bridge, awaiting word from the surface. He wasn't normally like this, but he couldn't help but be concerned when the Captain was risking her life on the surface of an alien world, instead of up here commanding the Rasputin as she should have been. For the moment though, he was taking a break from shouting at the crew and pacing around the bridge. Instead he was catching up on the latest reports from the warship's sensors. He had ordered an around the clock watch on the moon, just in case something new happened, but so far Arias had remained much the same as it had been when they first approached. There had been some minor changes in the pattern of the lightning that flashed continuously through the dark cloud, but nothing that would warrant an investigation. Then, just as he was reaching the end of the third report, that all changed. Lieutenant Heneker, the pretty red-haired officer who was currently acting as his second in command, suddenly called out, "Commander, I think you had better take a look at this." Petrov quickly swung his feet down onto the metal floor of the deck beneath him. He placed his coffee cup and the data pad on the console his feet had been resting on, and then hurried down the stairs into the sunken bridge area. Heneker was sitting next to the communications console, while through the console's speaker a strange message was being delivered. In fact it wasn't much of a message, just a single short phrase. "You may call me Jeanne," Petrov muttered to himself. He looked up at Heneker. "What the hell does that mean, and who is Jeanne. Was that all there was to the message, nothing more?" "That was it, Commander," Heneker assured him. "Of course, we shouldn't have even been able to pick up that much, the storm has blocked all other communication attempts. You would need something with the power of a starship's communication array to cut through that much interference. The Sturt might be able to do it, but we haven't heard anything from them before now, so I doubt it was them. It might have been a site to site communication though, using one of the portable communicators on the rovers. We may have just picked up a small snippet of the conversation. Perhaps there was a brief gap in the storm, and part of the communication slipped through. "It's still a strange thing to say. It sounds... strange. I can't quiet explain it, but it just doesn't seem to be something that I would say in normal conversation. I don't know anyone called Jeanne either." "One of the landing party?" Heneker asked. "There is no-one on the landing party with that name," Petrov replied with absolute certainty, without even pausing to consider the possibility. Not only had he been assisting the captain as she picked out the marines to accompany the IPX team to the surface, but he also knew most of the crew on board. Having been responsible for organising much of the day to day activities on the Rasputin, he had quickly picked up their names even if there were over a thousand crew members now on board the warship. "Maybe it's one of the Sturt's crew," another crewman standing nearby suggested. Petrov glanced over at the crewman, recognising him as Harry Ericsson, a tactical specialist who usually spent most of his time down on the secondary bridge. Petrov vaguely remembered Ericsson being rostered onto the main bridge today, part of the Captain plan to familiarise all the crew with the Rasputin's operations. "I don't remember anyone by that name in the briefing documents," he told the tactician. "However, you had better check just in case. Use the navigation console, it has a link to ships database." Ericsson nodded, and slipped into the seat on the console opposite, quickly calling up the required information. "Just checking now, Commander," he said, feeding the information into the console. Data flowed across the screen for a second and then the computer popped up a message informing him that it was checking with Earth Central. "Looks like it could take a while," he said apologetically. "The computer hasn't found a match against crew records, for either the Rasputin or the Sturt, and is now attempting a match with Earthforce records back on Earth. If she was ever in Earthforce, then it will find her." Petrov turned back to Heneker, who was still trying to retrieve more of the communication. "It was Jeanne wasn't it? Did you hear the same as I did?" She nodded. "It was very clear, Sir. In fact, lot clearer than I would have expected. I definitely heard Jeanne, the same as you." Across the other side of the bridge, Ericsson suddenly leaned forward. "It looks like the computer has come up with something, Sir. It doesn't appear that she is, or ever was a member of Earthforce. The analysis suggests human, female, aged eighteen to twenty years. The accent suggests Western European, possibly France or Belgium, at least that is what the computer is telling me. That seems to be all it can come up with though, and it is giving me a twenty percent error margin on that analysis, so it could still be wrong." "That doesn't give us a lot to go on," Petrov replied. He walked over to Ericsson's side and leant down to look at the data. "Bring up the Sturt's crew list again. I want to check something." Ericsson nodded, and soon a list of names scrolled across the screen. Petrov studied them for several seconds before turning away again. "Hmm, no-one there that matches that description, and there certainly wasn't anyone in the landing party that it could be. This is starting to get strange." "There is a Janet Petrilli here," Ericsson said, pointing out one entry on the screen. "That is nearly the same as Jeanne. It could have been here." Petrov shook his head. "Dr. Petrilli is thirty eight, and even if the computer analysis was wrong, it is unlikely that it would be that wrong. Anyway, I definitely heard Jeanne, as did the lieutenant here." He looked up at Heneker. "Play it again, and increase the volume so everyone can hear it." She nodded, and the entire bridge crew listened to the short phrase. As soon as it had finished, Ericsson nodded. "You're right sir, definitely Jeanne." "Which means that we have someone down there who doesn't appear on any of the crew lists." Petrov looked around at the crew. "Now, does anyone have any suggestions as to how she got there?" Most of the bridge crew shook there head, unable to come up with any possible reason. One though, offered the suggestion that the message might not have come from the planet, and it could have been a stray communication from somewhere else that had been picked up by the Rasputin's sensors. Petrov looked over at Heneker, but she shook her head. "It definitely came from the planet, Commander. I can even pinpoint the exact location for you." "You can?" Petrov asked, looking surprised at that revelation. "Put it up on the screen then." She nodded, and tapped in a few commands on the keyboard. Above them, the holographic screen that covered the bridge ceiling changed from the normal view of the planet they were orbiting to a close up of the dark, cloud covered region. Heneker typed in a few commands, and the expanse of darkness was lit up with several bright indicators. One showed the possible location of the Sturt, while another, barely twenty kilometres from the first according to the display, showed the spot where the communication had been detected. After stepping back so he could see most of the ceiling at once, Petrov examined the display for several seconds before speaking. "Now this is interesting. Correct me I am wrong, Lieutenant, but isn't that location at the very centre of the storm." Heneker looked down at her screen and frowned. Then, she looked up at the holographic display again. Finally, she zoomed out the view and nodded in agreement with the Commander's observations. "I believe you are correct, Sir. The location of the communication corresponds almost exactly with the eye of the storm. That might explain why we could pick it up, there may be less interference down there." Petrov turned back to Ericsson. "Can the sensor's pick up anything down there?" The tactician quickly moved from the navigation console, and over the tactical. There, he linked in with the ships sensors and did a quick sweep on the area Petrov had pointed out. "Nothing on the first pass, Sir. I can order a full sweep, but based on this information I don't think we will find anything. The interference is still too thick down there. It would take a pretty powerful transmitter to cut through it." The Commander tapped his chin thoughtfully, before walking back up the his command station. He looked down at Heneker and Ericsson as soon as he had resumed his seat. "Continue to look for any signs of a resumed transmission. If you pick up anything let me know." "Yes Sir," they both replied. Then, just as Petrov was about to turn back to his data pad, Heneker asked, "is that all, Sir? You don't want us to try and contact Captain Ivanova, or anything like that. The Rasputin's transmitter could reach the surface with little trouble." Petrov put aside his data pad again. "There isn't a lot more that we can do from up here. The last message we received from the Captain said that everything was fine, and that she would be out of communications beneath that cloud for the next three to seven days." "But the message..." Petrov nodded. "I know, it's still strange, but there is still the possibility that the computer just picked up a transmission that was garbled by the atmospheric interference and we heard it wrong." He held up his hand before Heneker could attempt to argue the point. "Now, I admit that isn't a very likely scenario, but I did promise the Captain a week before I sent another team in to look for her, and she is going to get that week. We will just have to hope that she sorts out whatever is happening down there." Heneker nodded, and turned back to her console. Her face though, told a different story. She obviously wasn't convinced by his arguments and, although it was only a single short phrase that they had picked up, Petrov agreed with her. There was something about that voice that worried him, not to mention the way the transmission had been crystal clear, with almost no interference at all. It was almost as though the signal had been boosted somehow, and as far as he knew there was nothing on the rovers, or on the Sturt that could do that. ------------------------------------------------------------ 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 5/10 - Part C Date: Mon, 8 Feb 1999 22:31:56 +1030 ------------------------------------------------------------ A guttural roar shattered the peace of the swamplands. Heading away from the crashed survey ship, a small inflatable hovercraft swept across the water toward the area of drier land where the rover had been parked. Several annoyed screeches answered it as the local wildlife voiced their disapproval of the craft in their swamp. As it vanished into the darkness, Susan picked her way across the muddy island to the small rocky outcropping where Sergeant Drake was supervising the unpacking of several equipment crates. "Is that the last of them?" She asked, while at the same time looking suspiciously at a ripple in the water. The creature causing the ripple must have felt her gaze, as there was a sudden blur of something black and scaly and then the waters grew quiet again. Susan shuddered and looked away. She was beginning to think that she would prefer not to know what was living in this swamp. "That's it, Captain," Drake replied. "The rover can leave as soon as we get this last load of passengers over to the shore. We have enough supplies here to keep us going for weeks, and enough weapons to hold off a small army." "Good," Susan said. Then she pulled three data crystals out of her pocket and handed them to Terry Maloney, who was waiting for the last hovercraft to carry him over to the rover. "Give these to Commander Petrov as soon as you get onto the Rasputin." Maloney took the crystals and shoved them into his deepest pocket, while Susan turned back to speak to Drake. "Give the order for the rover to depart as soon as all the passengers are on board." She glanced back at Maloney again. "Do you remember my instructions?" "Don't stop for anything," Maloney said with a impish grin. "You can rely on me, Captain." Susan nodded and said, "I'm sure I can." Then, she walked over to where Captain Lawton stood, watching the swamp with a dejected expression. "The first load of your crew will be leaving soon," she said. "If there is anything you want to say to Mr. Maloney, then you had better do it now. I want that rover on its way back to the landing site within the hour." Lawton glanced over at the inflatable hovercraft pulled up on the muddy shore. Maloney was just clambering on board. "I think he should be able to handle himself OK without me telling him what to do." Susan shrugged. "Suit yourself. I always prefer to have a quick word with my officers before they leave on a mission. But, you're right, he should be fine. We didn't have any trouble on the way in, so he should be all right backtracking our path." "You did lose one of your rovers though," Lawton reminded her. "I wouldn't call that 'no trouble'." "I am still hoping the Major will turn up," Susan said with a frown, not really wanting to be reminding of the overdue rover. She was growing very worried by now by the sudden disappearance of the second rover, especially after what she had seen in the swamp when they had gone to investigate the crashed Vorlon ship. She still hoped that nothing more serious that mechanical failure had struck it, but with every passing minute that possibility became more and more unlikely. "I did the same when my crew started going missing," Lawton said gloomily, shuffling his feet and looking out over the swamp. "They never did..." Susan's frown grew deeper. She was usually the one that saw the worst in every situation, but now it seemed she had met her match in the despondent Lawton. "Don't speak that way around the crew," she said, probably a lot more harshly than was necessary. "We need to keep everyone's hopes up. Morale is very important in these sort of situations. I don't mind what you think, but keep your thoughts to yourself, at least until we are out of this swamp and safely back on board the Rasputin." Lawton looked like he was about to speak, but the sudden throaty roar from the nearby hovercraft downed out his voice. It quickly rose on its cushion of air and sped off across the swamp toward the rover. "I wish they could make those things quieter," Lawton said when the noise had finally died down to a more tolerable level. "They are designed to operate in most conditions," Susan replied. "Also they have to be carried inside a relatively small vehicle, so that means that bulky, and therefore quieter, engines are impossible." Lawton nodded, and watched as the small hovercraft disappeared into the gloomy darkness. Only the occasional burst of lightning provided any relief from the continual night, and it certainly wasn't very comforting. During their journey to the Sturt, Susan and her team had seen several trees being struck by lightning, and behind them a burnt patch on the Sturt's hull marked the location of yet another lightning strike. The ground nearby was still littered with fragments of the solar collector damaged in the strike. "Captain Ivanova," a voice cut in, ending her musings. She turned around to face the speaker. "What is it, Dr. Melis?" "I wanted to know when we are going to be leaving on this search for the missing rover." Susan looked at Melis in surprise. She noticed that he had changed back into his suit, and despite the mud clinging to his shoes, he looked like he was a businessman preparing for a trip. "You want to come with us?" she asked incredulously. "It isn't going to be an easy journey, especially not on foot." "I used to go hiking every weekend back on Earth," he replied. "I think I can keep up with you without too much trouble." Susan had to agree with that. Dr. Melis might be a pain, but he was obviously fit enough to keep up with her. He was a big man, but didn't appear to be at all overweight. "You might need to find some more suitable clothing than that," she said, looking disdainfully at his immaculately tailored suit. "I have something in one of my bags that should be suitable," Melis replied, glancing over at the pile of personal belongings near where Sergeant Drake was working. "As well as a good pair of hiking boots." Susan sighed. "Very well then, doctor. You can come, but try to stay out of trouble, and if their is a fire fight then keep well out of everyone's way." "I will," Melis assured her, and quickly made his way back to where his bags had been piled. Susan looked at the pile of baggage and shook her head in amazement, wondering how someone could need so much. As Melis started pulling out clothing and a new set of boots she turned her gaze over to where the rest of the equipment had been off loaded. Seeing Sergeant Drake wasn't busy, she walked over to talk to him. "Captain," the sergeant said with a quick salute. "Is everything on schedule," she asked him. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Melis hurry off towards the Sturt, his hiking gear bundled beneath his arm. Drake nodded, and then pointed in the direction the hovercraft had just travelled. "The last of the passengers should be boarding the rover now. I have Tiedtke and Cooper doing a search of this swamp with the third inflatable, while everyone else is moving this stuff into the Sturt. I didn't think it would be a good idea to leave it lying out here with people missing." "Good work," Susan said, pleased with his initiative. "Make sure you keep all patrols in groups of two. I don't want anyone wandering around here without someone to watch their backs." "Already taken care of , Captain," Drake replied. "I have even roped in some of the Sturt's crew to do patrols while we are off looking for the Major and the others." "As long as you don't give them anything more than a standard PPG rifle," Susan warned. "I don't want them shooting themselves or something that might blow anything up." "That's about all we can spare," Drake said with a smile. "We only have a few of these big guns unfortunately. I should have asked the Major to pack more, but I didn't really think we were going to need them. Now, I think we need every weapon we can lay out hands on." Susan nodded, and then a sudden thought came to her. "Did the other rover have much in the way of weapons?" Drake shook his head. "No, just three rifles and few pistols. Seeing most of that team was made up the IPX guys, Major Logan didn't think she wanted too many weapons lying around. Not that she didn't trust them, but she just though that they might damage them or something. I don't think she likes scientists." Seeing that Melis was still in hearing range, Susan choose not to agree openly with the Sergeant's statement. Although she agreed wholeheartedly with the what Drake had said, she didn't think her personal views would help the already strained relations between the Earthforce officers and the IPX team. Already this mission was starting to go wrong, and although she couldn't really blame that on the IPX team, she still blamed them for being ordered here in the first place. Every time she had been forced to work with researchers, especially those from IPX, the situation had turned out badly. "Just make sure we have plenty of firepower with us," she ordered Drake. "We don't really know what is out there, and I don't want to be caught short. Load plenty of spare caps as well." Drake nodded, and opened a crate in front of him. "Is this enough for you, Captain," he said with a smile. Susan glanced down at the neatly stored rows of energy caps. "Are you sure you didn't pack the Rasputin's entire arsenal?" she said, shaking her head. "This is enough to outfit a whole regiment." "Major Logan likes to be prepared, Captain," Drake said, closing up the lid of the crate again so nothing would damage the energy caps. "I wouldn't mind one of the new tanks here right now though." Susan couldn't help shuddering at the mention of the new experimental tanks. They had been designed during the last days of the civil war, and used more than a little Shadow technology. She had ordered them locked securely away in one of the cargo holds, and was hoping that everyone had forgotten about them. "We will just have to make do without them," she replied. Drake nodded, and then looked at something over her shoulder. "It looks like Captain Lawton wants to speak to you again." Susan followed his gaze and saw Lawton motioning to her to come and join him over by the Sturt. "Continue with your work, Sergeant," she said as she walked away. "Make sure everyone is back here within the next hour. I want to start out as soon as possible." Lawton waited patiently as Susan made her way over to his location, close to the ladder leading up into the Sturt. "What is it, Captain," she asked as soon as she reached him. "I wondered if you would like a tour of the Sturt before you set out?" the survey ship's captain asked her. "We have a lot of equipment for surveying planets on board. There might be something that you find useful." "Sounds like a good idea," Susan said. "You go ahead, I will join you in a minute." Lawton nodded and began to climb up the ladder towards the hatch above. Susan glanced around the small island, just to check to make sure everything was proceeding correctly. She was about to follow Lawton, when she noticed Talia gesturing to her. Looking up towards the hatch she saw that the Sturt's captain had already disappeared, so she climbed back down from the ladder and walked over to see what Talia wanted. "What is it?" she asked, noticing the worried look on her lover's face. Talia nervously brushed a few strands of hair away from her face before speaking. "I wanted to ask you about that Vorlon ship," she said. "I wanted to ask you a about it before, but I didn't want to say anything with everyone one else around." She looked around nervously again. "Did you... feel anything strange when you were examining it?" "Did you feel something?" Susan asked her cautiously. She hadn't told Talia about what had happened when she went to investigate the crashed Vorlon ship yet, but somehow she realised that this wasn't just about what she had seen. Talia had felt something there too. "What was it?" she quickly added, before Talia had time to reply. "I... I don't know," the blonde telepath replied. "That's the problem. I thought I felt a presence, another intelligent mind out there. But it only lasted for a few seconds, then it was gone. It felt familiar though." Susan nodded, and then guided Talia away from the ship so no-one else could overhear what they were saying. To make even more certain she switch to telepathic speech. she informed Talia. Talia asked. Then when she saw a brief flicker of fear crossing Susan's face, she added, Even though she was closer with Talia than she had been with anyone before, Susan still felt fearful every time she allowed Talia all the way into her mind. It was difficult to give up twenty years of hated and fear, but despite her lingering terror of submitting to a telepathic probe, she nodded, and allowed Talia's thoughts to gently caress her mind, awakening the memories of what had happened. Together they went back several hours, back to the vision the now dead Vorlon had showed her. When it was over, only seconds later, Talia pulled away slowly, a look of awe on her face. she asked. Susan nodded. Talia asked. Susan replied. Susan admitted. Talia asked, peering nervously in the direction of the swamp. A trail of bubbles was slowly making its way across the water, so she edged behind Susan. Then, a loud cracking sound echoed across the swamp, followed closely by a distant splash. Susan said, although her hand slipped lower to grip her PPG, and she scanned the now quiet swamp for several second's before replying. Talia said, still looking nervously at the swamp. Then, she frowned and looked at Susan. Susan was about to tell her about the pillar when an excited voice called out to her from the water's edge. She turned around to see Sergeant Drake waving a portable transmitter at her. She turned back to Talia for a second. she said, before hurrying over to see what Drake wanted. Talia followed her. "I picked up a transmission, Captain," Drake told her excitedly as soon as the two woman reached the rocky outcropping where the crates of equipment had been off loaded. "It was from one of our transmitters." "From one of your patrols?" Susan asked. "Are they in trouble?" Drake shook his head. "No, not one of the patrols. I meant it came from one of the transmitters on the other rover." Susan raised her eyes at that. "What did they say?" she asked, a note of relief creeping into her voice. Drake frowned. "Well, it was a little strange," he said. "I was checking the transmitters when I saw a the signal indicator light up." He held up the transmitter to show Susan the indicator he was talking about. "I thought it could be someone trying to reach us, so I asked who it was, thinking it could be Major Logan." "Was it?" Susan cut in. "No," Drake replied with a shake of his head. "At least I don't think so. It was some woman, and all she said was 'You may call me Jeanne.' Then the signal cut out. I tried to raise her again, but there was no response." "Jeanne?" Susan said, looking confused. "I don't remember anyone called Jeanne." She glanced over at Talia, who was looking thoughtful. "Do you know anyone by that name?" After a couple of seconds, Talia shook her head. "Not among the IPX team, or the Sturt's crew. However there was a Janet somebody on the Sturt. Jeanne... Janet, they are sort of the same." Susan looked back at Drake. "Could it have been Janet that you heard?" Drake looked doubtful, but still nodded. "It could have been, I guess. I thought I heard Jeanne though, but there may have been some interference." "That is still a strange thing to say," Talia noted. "When I am reply to someone like that I don't usually say, 'You may call me Talia.' Some alien races speak that way, but not Humans." "It is strange," Susan agreed. "There might have been more to the communication though." She looked at the transmitter, before asking Drake, "Did you get a recording?" "Sorry, Captain," he replied. "I was just testing the equipment, I didn't think to press record. I didn't think anyone was going to answer me." "Damn, we might have been able to find out more." "I did find out where it was being sent from though," Drake offered. "I flicked on the locate switch as soon as I saw the signal indicator. It was a little vague, but I got enough of a fix to narrow it down to the nearest square kilometre." "Can you show me?" Susan asked quickly. Drake nodded and began rummaging around in the same create he had taken the transmitter from. Eventually he emerged clutching the portable navigation unit that Dr. Melis had been using earlier, when they had been on the rover. He switched it on and plugged in the transmitter. A few seconds latter the holographic map appeared on the screen. Talia and Susan moved closer to examine what Drake had come up with. "It looks like it came from here, Drake said, pointing to a red mark near the centre of the map. "Isn't that the location we thought was the centre of the this storm," Susan asked, pointing to one of the indicators that Melis had left on the map. One mark showed the location of the Sturt, and another indicated what had been decided was the eye of the storm, based on the surveys conducted by Lt. Commander Schmitt's fighter pilots. "Looks like it, Captain," Drake agreed. "It is about thirty clicks from here." "How the hell did Major Logan get all the way over there." "Assuming it was Major Logan's transmitter," Talia cautioned. "It had to be," Drake informed her. "All of these transmitters and locked into the one frequency. They are designed to communicate only with another transmitter set to the same frequency. None of the Sturt's crew had anything like this. So it had to have come from the Major's rover." "That is a long way from where we last saw them though," Susan noted, still examining the map. Drake nodded. "If it was a clear run then they could have made it there easily. It has been nearly ten hours since we were last in contact with them. They could have probably made that trip about twenty times over by now." "It could be a trap," Talia said, still cautious after what Susan had just shown her. "If there is some alien monster out there that has been grabbing the Sturt's crew, then it might be intelligent enough to set a trap. It might be trying to entice us into its lair or something like that." Drake looked at Susan, who said, "that is another possibility." Then, she looked at Drake. "What do you think, Sergeant?" He looked surprised at being asked his opinion. "Well, I guess it could be a trap. But I still think we should check it out. If there is some sort of creature out there, then my boys will have to take care of it. But, I don't think we should just abandon the Major because there could be something out there." "I agree," Susan said, standing up. "Recall the patrols. I want the rescue team ready to leave in thirty minutes. I will speak to Captain Lawton and Dr. Melis." Drake nodded, and saluted. Then he picked up one of the transmitters and began to contact the three inflatable hovercrafts, ordering everyone back to the Sturt. Talia and Susan headed off toward the Sturt's ladder again. On the way though, Talia asked Susan turned a looked at her, a slightly apologetic expression on her face. When Talia nodded, she continued. Talia commented. Susan replied, with a grim expression. Then the corners of her mouth lifted in a wry smile. Talia said, her telepathic voice soft and wistful. Susan looked at her in shock, amazed that she would even think such a thing. Talia noted, as they reached the ladder. Susan stopped walking. She reached out and gently stroked Talia's cheek, while looking lovingly into her companion's eyes. She pulled away again, and looked out over the swamp. Then, she looked up towards the dark hatch way leading into the survey ship. Talia nodded, and both women climbed up the slippery ladder leading into the darkened interior of the Sturt. As they vanished into the ship's interior a feathery shape detached itself from the side of the ship and flew over the island. Even Drake, who was busy sorting through his weapons, didn't notice the Swordhawk as it circled above the encampment. Then with a whisper of sound it was gone, gliding noiselessly across the swamp toward its master. The Chosen scout, who had just finished climbing back out of the water after the branch he had been sitting on had collapsed, held out his arm. Once the Swordhawk was resting comfortable on his arm, the scout packed up his recording equipment and slipped away into the forest. It was a long walk back to the Fortress, but he would have a good head start of the aliens. He knew the Mistress must be informed about their plans. He didn't think she would like uninvited guests arriving at her home, especially ones with dangerous weapons like those the big alien was carrying. ------------------------------------------------------------ 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 6/10 - Part A Date: Mon, 8 Feb 1999 22:32:02 +1030 ------------------------------------------------------------ The Secret of Arias - Chapter 6 By Sel Vecantie ------------------------------------------------------------ A small procession slowly wound its way through the maze of corridors beneath the palace. At its head was the alien leader, Azrak, who was keeping a very close eye on his prisoner. Lily guessed his nervousness was due to her attempted escape when they had come to collect her from the cell she had been placed in. Unfortunately, the thick skull of the alien guard hadn't been affected by the metal tray she had struck him with, and she had been quickly overpowered. They hadn't hurt her though, just dragged her along the corridor until she had agreed to walk on her own. Since then, the small collection of guards, except the one she had walloped of course, had been her constant companions. The maze of corridors had been confusing and, although Lily had tried to keep track of where they were going, it wasn't long before she was lost. Finally the frustration got to her and she blurted out, "Where are we going?" The alien leader glanced back at her for a fraction of a second, and then turned away without answering. Lily sighed in frustration. This had been the third time she had tried to get some sort of information out of her guards about their destination, but they had continued to remain most uncooperative. She brushed a few specks of dried mud off her uniform. The aliens had given her new clothing, but she didn't trust anything they gave her. Instead, she had used it to try and clean up her uniform. For the most part she had been successful, but had been a few places where the mud hadn't dried properly, and she had been forced to wait until it dried before picking it off with her fingernails. Two new guards hurried out of a side corridor and moved into position behind her. Lily glanced at them briefly, wondering what she had done to earn such a large escort. She began to wonder if they were not a little afraid of her. If they were, then perhaps she had some hope of getting out of this place alive. Certainly, at the moment anyway, she didn't see how she could fight her way free without some help, or failing that, a lot of luck. So far, she had seen at least a thousand aliens during her travels through their city. Most were smaller than the warriors that were now guarding her, but there had still been enough of them to give her cause to worry. Then, the hallway she was being led down widened out and a pair of massive doors appeared in front of her. Lily examined the doors with interest as she approached. They looked almost as if they were made of solid gold, although there were also markings and symbols carved into the soft metal. She scanned around the corridor, and noticed several other passages leading off the main one. She also noticed the extraordinary number of warriors in this section. There were at least fifty, most guarding the big doors, but others were also stationed in the passages leading up to them. Her warrior guide didn't hesitate. Azrak strode straight up to the doors and ordered them opened. He then dismissed the rest of her escort and took her by the arm, pushing her roughly towards the doors. Lily grimaced as the strong fingers gripped her upper arm, but was at least grateful that Azrak hadn't used his claws to hold her. They looked incredibly sharp, and Lily was certain that they would slice right through her skin if she was ever attacked by one of these aliens. The golden doors closed behind them, and Lily quickly looked around the room she found herself in. Her eyes widened in surprise as she noticed the glittering ceiling and walls. Then, she saw the big windows that lined the edge of the room, and realised that she had seen this room from the outside when she had been led down the stairs into the alien city. It was then that she realised just how big this room actually was. >From the outside the tower it was located in had looked pretty big, but inside the room appeared even larger. It was at least a hundred and fifty metres across, and semi-circular in shape. Its ceiling was high and lofty, reminding her again of the old church her family restaurant had been built in. Arches framed the windows and also rose up until they reached a point directly above the centre of the room. Lily couldn't see what was up there, but she had an impression of a circular pattern of some kind. The whole room was somewhat reminiscent of the domes in the great cathedrals back on Earth. Either the whole thing was some giant coincidence, or whoever had designed this place had visited Earth sometime in the distant past. However, despite a nagging similarity with Earth architecture, a serene quality existed in this room. It lacked the bustle of the other corridors, and it was empty and quiet. The glittering array of gem stones shone even in the dim light provided by the globes scattered about the room, and even the lightning Lily could see outside the tall windows didn't detract from the feeling of peace and serenity. The vast room also had a different smell to the rest of the corridors and rooms she had seen while being led through the alien city. While the air in the other rooms had been tainted by a metallic sent, the air in this room carried the faint impression of a flowery perfume to the Major's nose. The scent reminded her of home, especially of the wild flowers that had grown in the fields near the small village in western Ohio where she had been bought up. For a brief moment she felt a little homesick, but that feeling quickly vanished as Azrak resumed dragging her across the room. As she was led across the room, Lily became aware of something that hadn't been visible from the doors. In the very centre of the room was a dark throne, surrounded by four of the large crystal globes that passed for lights in this place. Lily could see that someone was sitting on the throne, but the being's features were almost completely lost in the shadows that seemed to gather around the throne. Only the rough, humanoid shape of the creature could be made out, that and the two fiery dark eyes that peered out at her. Lily had the strangest feeling that the shadows around the throne weren't natural, and were somehow being generated by the creature sitting before her. However, before she had time to investigate this feeling, she was pushed to her knees by Azrak. The warrior then walked closer to the throne and bowed deeply. "I have bought the prisoner as asked, Mistress," he said, in a deeply reverent voice. "She did attempt to escape, but my warrior proved too much for her meagre skills." Normally, Lily would have been insulted by the disparaging tone in Azrak's voice, but today her attention was focused elsewhere. As the alien warrior had bowed, Lily eyes had suddenly been drawn to the knife that hung from his belt. She had seen the huge sword hanging from the warrior's back, but she hadn't noticed the knife before as she been too busy trying to track her path through the alien city. Now though, it almost leapt out at her, opening up new possibilities. She knew that if she could get hold of that knife, then just maybe she might have a way out of here after all. The aliens had removed her manacles when they had taken her to her cell, so now all she had to do was reach out and the curved knife was hers. Before she could make an attempt to snatch it though, Azrak stood up again and moved out of range. Lily was disappointed, but hid it well. Instead she stood and watched as a robed alien she hadn't noticed before stepped out from behind the throne and unfurled a long piece of yellow paper he had been clutching. At first glance, Lily thought that the paper was yellow with age, but then she noticed that it was the material it was made of, not its age, that gave the document its peculiar colour. The alien's eyes scanned the document and then, in a deep voice, he began to read. "What is your name?" As soon as he had said that, he looked expectantly up at Lily, as if waiting an answer. Lily looked at him for a few seconds, watching as the alien grew nervous over her slowness in replying. Finally, just when the alien was about to ask the question again, she replied, "Major Lillian Logan." Then she smiled at him. "But, you can call me Lily if you like." "I see," the alien said, before clearing his throat and moving down to the next question on the list. Before he could ask it though, Lily spoke up again. "What is your name?" she asked. "I am Morkazz, the first counsellor," was the slow reply. There was a note of pride in the alien's voice, and Lily realised that the position of first counsellor must be very high indeed among the alien hierarchy. "Now, why are your people on this world." "I do not have to answer that," Lily replied. The warrior Azrak quickly moved closer, towering over Lily's much smaller frame. "This Mistress wishes to know," he told her. "You will answer the question at once." His face looked angry, as if the very thought of disobeying the Mistress was a most horrendous crime. "I will not," she replied calmly, although inside she was a little afraid of what they would do to her if she continued to refuse to answer. She wasn't afraid of torture, but she had a responsibility to try and rescue the others that had been captured. She wasn't going to be able to do that if she was dead. However, despite her fears, she continued with her defiant tone. "I am a prisoner of war, and as such can not be forced to answer any questions against my will." A fiery look of anger swept across Azrak's face and he stepped forward with a hand raised to slap her. Lily flinched, anticipating the General's strike, but it never came. Instead, a soft feminine voice pulled him up before he struck the Major. "Wait," was all it said. But, that was enough. The powerful warrior instantly halted the movement of his hand and pulled back from Lily, before bowing apologetically in the direction of the throne. As soon as Azrak turned away from her, Lily immediately made her move. As quick as she could, she snatched the knife from the back of the warrior's belt and leapt across the small gap between her and the throne. Then she waved the sharp knife in the general direction of the shadowy figure on the throne and shouted out, "Get back, or I will stab your Mistress." Lily wasn't exactly sure where on the throne exactly the Mistress was, for all she knew she could be aiming the knife above the alien's head, but the two male aliens stepped back. Azrak drew his large sword, but didn't look quite ready to use it, just in case Lily carried through with her threat. Lily moved closer to the throne and pressed the knife up against the edge of the Mistress' form. It slid in effortlessly, indicating that whatever sat on the throne, it wasn't as large as it shadowy outline suggested. "Stay back," Lily warned again. "I don't want to hurt anyone, but if you don't get back I will." The two males looked at each other, and slowly moved away. Neither looked like they were going too far though, the concern on their faces showing that they didn't want to abandon their ruler. Lily glared at them, just to make sure they knew she meant business, and then began to edge closer to the throne again, her eyes on the two aliens and her knife waving in front of their Mistress. The two aliens followed her, and edged closer again. Seeing their intentions, Lily glared at them again, and moved the knife even closer. ------------------------------------------------------------ Despite the dangerous confrontation going on in front of her, Jeanne smiled beneath her shadowy disguise. With slow, cautious movements, her hand crept across the arm of the throne. Then, with a quick flick of her finger, she opened the tiny compartment that had been built into the throne the previous day. The lid slid open and a faint glow began to creep out, a glow she quickly covered by moving her hand over the compartment's mouth. As the Major shouted again for her advisers to move back, Jeanne removed the phial from the clamps that held it, sliding it smoothly into her hand. Leaving the compartment open, she moved her hand away, careful to keep the phial completely hidden. While the shadows she created around her body kept her almost completely hidden from view, the light generated by the incredible amount of energy stored in just the one phial of elixir was enough to break through even the darkest night. She certainly didn't want the prisoner catching sight of it, so slipped it into a pocket of her robe, waiting until the Major's attention was focused elsewhere before trying to drink it. In front of the throne, Major Logan was waving the dagger around with threatening movements, while Azrak and Morkazz looked helplessly at her, undecided about what to do when their Mistress was threatened. Jeanne chose not to speak again just yet. Instead she would wait and see what the prisoner wanted. Azrak had drawn one of his other weapons, the long bladed sword he kept slung over his shoulder, and was advancing in the threatening posture. Lily though, had seen him, and jabbed the knife closer. The knife that the Major was waving about was still a long way from her actual body, so there was no immediate threat. She could have told Azrak to just attack, but chose not to for the moment. Instead, she sat back and watched as Lily threatened her. She could see that both of her advisers were distraught over the threat the Major provided, but didn't see anyway of telling them that she couldn't be harmed with a simple knife, without also alerting Lily of that fact. Jeanne was also looking for a chance to swallow a portion of the elixir. At the moment, her body was weak, but by consuming an addition half a dose or so of elixir she would temporally have enough energy to fight of any threat. It wouldn't last long, maybe only an hour, but that would be enough to defeat any danger that Lily could possibly offer. So, instead of being concerned for herself, Jeanne was actually more worried that Lily would be injured. Her plans required that none of the human prisoners be killed. If any were injured or killed, then it would be more difficult to achieve her aims, not impossible, just more difficult. Looking over at Azrak, she said softly, "Wait outside, General." Azrak didn't appear at all happy with that order and glared at Lily with murderous intent. "I can destroy this creature for you, Mistress," he snarled. "She will not be allowed to harm you." Lily didn't seem that impressed by his threats though, and just glared back at him, her stolen knife still held in a threatening position near Jeanne's brow. Of course, it wouldn't do a lot of damage even if she did strike. The Vorlon's had made many improvements to Jeanne during their experiments, and one of more significant had been the replacement of her entire skeleton with an organic metal. Her new bones were shaped exactly the same as the old ones, and behaved just like normal bone, but were almost completely invulnerable to physical attack. It would take a lot more strength than any human could muster before a knife like the one Lily held would even scratch Jeanne's skull. At the moment though, Jeanne didn't think it would be wise to tell Lily that. Instead, she looked over at Azrak and smiled. Of course, the general couldn't see her expression any better than the Major could, but the confidence in her voice calmed him. "I can take care of the situation myself," she told him firmly. "There is no need to risk injury for me. Wait outside, I will call you when you are required." The general still didn't look happy, but bowed and slowly sheathed his sword. Then, he backed away from the throne and headed for the door, although he made sure to stop several times and look back, just in case she had changed her mind. Eventually, he slipped through the huge golden doors. Jeanne knew that he would go quickly to raise the alarm, and probably within five minutes half the warriors in the city would be gathered outside the doors, all ready to take a piece out of the alien who had dared to threaten her. But, that would be a problem that she would deal with when it arose. Beside her, Lily looked over at Morkazz and then turned back to the throne. "He goes as well," she demanded, pointing out the counsellor with her knife. Then, she quickly realised what she was doing and moved the knife back so it was pointing at Jeanne once more. "He is just a counsellor," Jeanne said. "He is not a warrior, so there is no need for him to leave." Actually, Morkazz had been a warrior back before the injury that had left him lame in one leg, but like so many other facts, Jeanne didn't really think that the Major had to know that. "I want him gone," Lily almost shouted, obviously becoming more than a little agitated by the whole situation. "Then who will carry your demands to the others?" Jeanne asked her. "I assume that you do have demands, and this whole unfortunate episode is not some sort of greeting among your people. If so, then I have serious misjudged your intelligence." Lily, who hadn't actually planned much further than holding Jeanne hostage, was a little dumbfounded by Jeanne's question. Finally she said, "Yes, of course I have demands." Making a quick decision, she turned to Morkazz. "I want my people released, and taken back to the surface," she told him. "Then, I want safe passage out of here as well. If you do all that, then your precious Mistress here won't be injured." Morkazz turned to Jeanne with a quizzical expression on his face. "Mistress?" he asked. "Go, Morkazz," she replied. "Make sure none enter for the next hour or so. I will take care of this situation, there is no need for you do worry." Lily scowled at Jeanne. Actually, she scowled at a spot above Jeanne's head, but the intent was still there. "What do you mean by that," she demanded. "Tell him to carry out my demands." Instead of replying, Jeanne just waved a hand in the general direction of the door. Morkazz took the hint, and after a quick bow he hurried away. A faint limp was beginning to reappear, but he was still a lot faster than Lily could have ever hoped to be. Surprisingly, she didn't chase after him, and instead just watched as the counsellor hurried through the door and shut them firmly behind himself. As Lily watched the counsellor closing the throne room doors, Jeanne saw her opportunity. While the Major's eyes busy elsewhere, she quickly reaching the pocket of her robe and unstopped the phial of elixir. With equal urgency, she bought it to her lips and drank. She only took a brief swallow, barely even half of the liquid, but it was enough to make her shudder as energy flowed into tired limbs. Lily though, saw the movement and, thinking Jeanne was pulling a weapon on her, lunged at the shadowy figure. Suddenly energised, Jeanne jumped to one side, just avoiding the Major as she tried to grab her. Lily had been expecting to find something solid to grab hold of, but when Jeanne moved, Lily kept on going, and there was nothing left to stop her forward movement. A brief touch of cold flesh against her outstretched fingers was all she felt, before the much less enjoyable collision with the solid throne. However, not everything turned out as Jeanne had desired either. As she leapt out of Lily's way the hand holding the elixir struck the arm of the throne. It wasn't a painful blow, she rarely ever felt pain any more, but it was powerful enough to cause the hand to spring open, and the priceless crystal phial to fall. She quickly tried to grab it, but her hand couldn't move fast enough and the shadows she used to hide her appearance hindered her attempts to locate the falling phial as it tumbled towards the hard metal ground. However, instead of striking the floor, the phial bounced off the much softer fleshy area just below her ankle and rolled away towards the throne. As soon as it moved away from her, out of the shadows and back into the dim light cast by the globes, Jeanne followed its passage. She noted with some relief that it didn't appear to have been damaged by the fall. The phials were made of a very delicate crystal, so they were prone to breaking. This time though, that hadn't happened, and the remaining elixir was still intact. The elixir itself was almost as delicate as the crystal and had to be stored at exactly the right temperature, as well as be shielded from all sources of radiation, or it would evaporate within a couple of hours. Jeanne thought about retrieving the phial and returning to the compartment in the throne. But, when she saw Lily stirring, she decided that it would survive for a little while longer where it lay. ------------------------------------------------------------ Unaware of the presence of the phial, or the effects the elixir had on Jeanne, Lily pulled herself back to her feet. Her head still swimming following the collision with the throne, although no permanent damage had been done. With one hand on throne, and the other on her throbbing head, she turned around to see what had happened to her hostage. To Lily's surprise, the alien had moved only a short distance away, and was observing her with almost hidden eyes. Lily knew now that inside the shifting mass of wispy shadows was a much more solid creature. She had misjudged her previous lunge because she had been unable to see where the Mistress ended, and her shadowy cloak began. However, she had still felt a brief touch of something soft and fleshy as she had passed by, indicating that this alien wasn't a just a mass of shadow, but also something living and possibly even breathing. Realising that she was still holding the knife she had taken from Azrak, Lily raised it once more and began to walk towards the shadowy alien, holding it in front of her like a shield. To her surprise the Mistress didn't seem to resist, and just stood their observing her as she raised the knife level with where she thought the its throat would be, assuming that it had a throat. As she slid her stolen knife slowly into the darkness, she felt it prick the alien's skin, and allowed herself a tiny smile of triumph that her guess had been correct. "Don't move," Lily added, just to make her intentions entirely clear. "All I want to do is get out of here. So, if you stay still and calm, then I won't hurt you." "I am already calm, Major Logan," the soft voice told her. "There is, after all, nothing you can do that can hurt me." Lily shivered as the Mistress spoke, the alien's almost unnaturally calm voice sending a chill running down her spine. There was something about it that frightened her deeply. Perhaps it was the complete lack of fear, or maybe it was the feeling that the Mistress was telling the truth when she said that that Lily couldn't hurt her. Eager to change the subject, Lily asked, "do you have a name?" Then, before the alien woman could reply, she added, "or do I have to call you Mistress all the time, like those fools that you have working for you." "You may call me Jeanne," the shadowy figure answered. "And, I would ask you not to call my advisers fools. Please try to remember that you are a guest in my palace, and you live and die by my word alone. My advisers may be a little strange compared to what you are used to, but they are not fools." "Jeanne?" Lily said, her voice echoing her surprise. She had missed most of what the Mistress had said, still in shock over her name. A strange suspicion was beginning to form in the back of her mind, one that was far more troubling than it was comforting. "That is a human name," she noted. "My mother was called Jeanne." "Was she?" Jeanne said. "Well isn't that interesting, so was my aunt." "I want to see you," Lily demanded, pressing the knife closer. "But, aren't you already seeing me," Jeanne said with an amused tone creeping into her voice. Although she couldn't see Jeanne's expression, Lily had the unshakeable impression that she was being toyed with, much like a cat plays with a mouse before killing it. "I mean the real you," Lily replied, trying not to get angry with the way she was being treated. She knew Jeanne was probably just trying to get her angry, to make her lose her temper. "I know this is just an illusion, and that beneath this darkness there is something else. I want to know what I dealing with." "How do you know that what you see now before you isn't what I really am, Major Logan," was the swift reply. "Because my knife is currently pressed up against your skin," Lily replied, edging it closer to make her point. "I know you are under there somewhere. This darkness you gather around you is just a disguise. I want to see what you look like without it." "Very well, Major," Jeanne replied, in a soft, almost sad voice. "You may see me. I just hope you are prepared to accept who and what I am." Almost at once, the shadows began to fade and Lily found herself holding a knife to the forehead of a young Human girl, who appeared to be barely even out of her teens. "You... You're just a girl," Lily gasped, her voice quavering as the shock began to register in her mind. However, despite her shock, she still had the presence of mind to move the knife lower, so it was in a far more threatening position. Then, she examined the being in front of her with a more critical eye. Jeanne's face and frame, gave the Lily the impression that she was looking at a thin, almost skeletal, teenage girl. Her eyes, as black as the deepest reaches of space, lacked life. Her skin appeared deathly pale, almost as if it were bloodless. Even Jeanne's long dark hair was dull and limp, completely lacking the shine of healthy hair. Her clothing also lacked lustre, consisting of a single dark coloured robe, which looked frayed and worn around the edges. All of this combined to remind Lily of someone who was very sick. Her mother had been much the same way before she died, it was as if she was just wasting away. But, when Lily looked closer she saw a lot more. Certainly, the girl was thin, but she seemed to possess a wiry strength about her, almost like some dangerous beast who had gone several days without food. Her eyes might be tired looking, but there was also no fear there, or her stance. She just stood there and allowed Lily's eyes to sweep over her body, all the while with a faint look of amusement gracing her thin lips, as if she knew something the Major didn't. Lily frowned, and scanned her gaze downward, passing over Jeanne's small breasts, and the rest of her thin body, before looking down at her bare feet. Jeanne's toenail's were dark like her hair, although they did not appear to be painted. Quickly Lily looked up, and saw that Jeanne's fingernails were the just same. Both sets of nails appeared to be made of a material other than the protein that made up Human nails and hair. Instead they appeared to be some sort of metal, a metal that gleamed even in the dim light. "Who the hell are you?" Lily asked suspiciously. Just for a second Jeanne's eyes seemed to blaze with a inner fire, and then they returned to their normal calm blackness. When she spoke though, the girl's voice carried with it a strength that it hadn't possessed only moments earlier. "I am Jeanne," she said again, only this time a lot more haughtily. "I rule this world, and you are my prisoner. If you have any sense left in that thick skull of yours you will drop that weapon and surrender before I tear you apart. I do not like people threatening me in my own home." Lily looked at Jeanne, and then her eyes narrowed. "I don't like being threatened either," she said, levelling the knife with the girl's throat again, and set her face into a steely expression. "You are going to show me the way out of here, or I am going to have to hurt you." Jeanne looked down at the blade, which was resting just beneath her chin and, to Lily's surprise, she just smiled. Then, she looked up at Lily and caught the Major's eyes with her own. "I do not think so, Major Logan. I am not going anywhere. You are my prisoner, and I can not allow you to leave my home... at least not just yet. Do not think that you can escape either. Outside this room there are probably hundreds of warriors gathered by now, and if you hurt me, nothing will stop them from killing you. You might be strong, but you are not strong enough to force me to go with you if I refuse to leave. Without terror, you have nothing left to threaten me with, and believe me, I am not afraid of you." Looking towards the golden doors at the far end of the throne room, Lily couldn't help but agree with Jeanne's words. She felt despondent as she realised that all she had achieved was a stand-off. She couldn't use Jeanne as a hostage if she refused to leave the throne room, and Lily doubted that she could force the girl to go with her. She didn't know what hold Jeanne had over the creatures of this world, but after seeing the way they had looked at their Mistress, Lily didn't doubt for a second that the alien warriors would kill her if she harmed even a single hair on Jeanne's head. A sinking feeling in her stomach, Lily slowly lowered the knife from Jeanne's throat. ------------------------------------------------------------ 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 6/10 - Part B Date: Mon, 8 Feb 1999 22:32:07 +1030 ------------------------------------------------------------ Ancient, decaying trees thrust grime-covered limbs out of the torpid waters of the swamp, reaching towards a sun that no longer shone in their world. Their gnarled trunks rose on grotesque, stilt-like roots that were home to an extraordinary variety of fungal life. In one place a cluster of luminescent violet toadstools sprang fan-like from a low-hanging branch. Ripples in the ebony water below made their reflections dance like a purple flame. While throughout the swamp, a profuse menagerie of insect life buzzed, whirred, and hummed in the air, or fluttered above the tranquil waters. Into this corrupt wetland a single canoe suddenly appeared, sliding out of the miasmic fog that hung constantly over the swamplands. Its single occupant paddled cautiously through the algae choked waters, his eyes constantly darting from one side to the other, searching for any sign of possible danger. This particular section of the swamp was known to be home to several Júrm snakes, which could grow to as much as thirty metres in length and were more than capable of swallowing even the largest Ariasan warrior whole. Given the urgency of his mission, the scout certainly didn't want to stray into the hunting grounds of one of these fearsome creatures. In ancient times, the Ariasans had hunted the creatures for sport, tracking them through shallow jungle waterways in rough dugout canoes. These dangerous hunts had often been used as a way of choosing a chieftain when there was no clear line of succession, with the warrior who obtained the first successful strike chosen as the new chief of the tribe, assuming that he survived of course. Over the past eight hundred years though, the Júrm hunts had slowly become less and less popular, and eventually stopping altogether just over a hundred years ago. With the Mistress ruling all of Arias, the warriors no longer saw the need to risk their lives for so little gain and they had turned to less deadly pursuits, such as training their fighting skills for the annual tourney. While this had resulted in a steady decline in the death rate among the warrior population, it had also led to a sharp rise in the number of Júrm snakes. Following the Vorlon's bombardment of this world, the old rivers had vanished and now vast swamps covered almost a third of the Mistress' Domain, the Ariasan name for the region covered by the dark storm cloud. These new swamps were the perfect hunting grounds for the snakes and now that they were no longer being constantly pestered by Ariasan hunters, they had flourished. This made travel through the swamplands a risky affair at the best of times, while to try and make the journey alone in a small canoe could almost be considered suicide. The scout knew this, but he also knew that the Mistress must be warned of the alien's intentions. So he kept his spear and sword close, gripped his paddle tightly, and tried to traverse the swamp as quietly and quickly as possible. Júrm snakes hunted by sensing vibrations and ripples in the water. So still were the waters of the swamp, that a stone dropped from chest height could create ripples that resonated for hundreds of metres. The smooth surfaces of the paddle slid smoothly through the water, raising barely a ripple, but the scout knew that a single careless stroke could awaken one the fearsome predators. So far though, he had been lucky and the journey was proceeding without incident. Fortunately, the closer he got to the fortress the less likely it was that a Júrm snake would be encountered. The warriors may no longer hunt the creatures on a regular basis, but they certainly weren't going to allow them to move in next door. That wasn't a lot of comfort to the nervous scout though. He still had a long way to travel before he reached the areas covered by the outer patrols. Part of being a scout was learning to survive in the wilderness for weeks at a time, but right now he would have gladly been reduced in rank to a servant if it meant he didn't travel this swamp again. Gripping his paddle even tighter, the scout turned as his concentration to trying to make as little splash as possible. As the canoe passed a small rocky island dotted with unusually tall fungi and several broken trunks from ancient jungle trees, a gigantic snake-like creature slowly raised its head to observe the scout's passage. Massive even for a Júrm snake, this ancient and cunning creature had lived in this swamp for nearly five hundred years. During that time it had eaten almost every type creature in the swamp, and had even ventured onto drier land to hunt down a particularly tasty looking morsel. It has also had several encounters with Ariasan warriors, and during these short battles had learned two things about them. The first was that they didn't really taste very nice, at least not compared to some of the other creatures that dwelled in the swamp. Their skin was leathery, their flesh tough and totally lacking in flavour. The second thing the old snake had discovered was that they fought back. Many times in the past, it had been wounded by the warrior's sharp weapons and the dark scars covering its pale vermilion scales bore testament to the fighting spirit of an Ariasan warrior. Even the dim intellect of a Júrm snake eventually got the message and this particular snake had learned its painful lesson many years ago. So, instead of hunting this particular prey, the snake settled its head back down on the mossy rock that served as a pillow and went back to its digesting yesterdays meal of Guni beetle. The spiny beetle's flesh might have been nearly as inedible as the scout's, but at least it didn't fight back. Curling its massive, sinuous body around a large tree, the snake was soon dozing comfortably, no longer interested in the small titbit of food that had just passed by its island. Thirty minutes later though, the creature's head suddenly whipped up, its sensory organs tingling wildly as a new kind of prey came into range of its sensors. Tiny tentacles that the snake had resting in the water felt it first, the ripples of its passage created visible to even the most dim-witted predator. Feathery antennae along the snake's wide, triangular head were next to sense the approaching creature. Designed to distinguish between the individual scents of prey animals, the antennae were almost vibrating for joy as they picked up the scent of several distinct creatures, all travelling together. Unlike the almost invisible smell given out by the Ariasans these new beings were virtually shouting their presence across the swamp. The snake considered the approaching creatures for a moment, before curiosity and hunger got the better of it. Uncurling itself from around its tree, the snake slipped smoothly into the tranquil waters of the swamp. A full thirty metres of armour-plated body followed quickly after, until almost all of the creature was submerged and only its head was visible. All along its underbelly, tiny webbed feet extended and began to paddle at the water. Although it was called a snake by the Ariasans, it was actually an unholy cross between a snake, and a centipede. It combined the best elements of both creatures and the result was the almost perfect waterborne predator. Right now that predator was winding its way through the dark waters towards the appetising scent of its next meal. Deeper in the swamp, completely unaware that they were now being hunted by this world's most fearsome predator, the occupants of a small open-topped hovercraft were scanning the swamp for any signs of dry land. At the rear of the small inflatable craft, Sergeant Ernest "Mad Dog" Drake kept one steady hand on the hovercraft's controls, while the other tapped rhythmically on his leg. So far they had made pretty good time since leaving the small island where the Sturt was currently residing. Travelling by hovercraft was certainly a lot quicker than it would have been if the rescue party had been compelled to walk the last ten kilometres. He had been forced to keep the speed a lot lower than normal, due to the hidden perils of submerged rocks, but they had still made very good time. If things continued this way, then they would be at their destination inside an hour. With a contented sigh, Drake leaned back against the soft, rubbery material of the inflatable hovercraft and began to enjoy the scenery, at least the small amount of scenery he could actually see in the dim twilight that was midday on Arias. The gentle rhythm of the water lapping against the hull, and even the constant, steady roar of the engines behind him, was strangely comforting. It bought back memories of happier times, before all the wars and fighting of his military career had taken him away from Earth and his family. Inside the hovercraft, crowded into its three rows of seating, were the rest of the rescue team that was being sent to find Major Logan's team and hopefully the missing crewmen from the Sturt as well. Sitting high on the bow were two marines, their PPG rifles held at the ready. They were currently sharing the contents of a small hip flask, probably alcohol of some kind. Drake had considered reprimanding them, but decided that it wouldn't be worth breaking the peaceful calm that had settled across the craft. Behind them, another three soldiers crouched down among the pile of packs and other necessary equipment. One of the three was asleep, his shoulder resting on Dr. Melis' overstuffed pack, while the other two were cleaning their weapons. Drake's gaze quickly passed over them and came to rest on the middle seat. There, Susan and Talia were sitting, along with their packs and Susan's rifle, carrying out a low conversation. Noticing Drake watching her, Susan twisted around to face him and asked, "is everything OK, Sergeant." "Yes, Ma'am," Drake replied, while quickly moving his gaze to the last of the hovercraft's seats. There, squashed between the bulky presence of the two largest marines under Drake's command, was the thin frame of Dr. Jack Melis. Drake smiled, silently agreeing with Susan's solution to the doctor's tendency to try and involve himself in every little aspect of the mission. Stuck where he was, there was little chance he could get into any trouble, let alone move. Finishing his quick inspection of the hovercraft's passengers, Drake turned to the last of his soldiers, currently perched on the edge of the raft, right next to the sergeant. "How is our position," he inquired. Corporal Cooper looked down at the hand-held navigation console and quickly tapped in a few commands. "Looking good, Sarge. If we keep going straight like this, then we should hit the target area in a little over nineteen clicks. That is assuming we don't reach solid ground first of course." Drake nodded, then went back to watching the scenery pass slowly by. Several ghost-like trees, hung with stands of glistening slime, appeared in front of the hovercraft, glowing in the light cast by the bow-mounted spotlight. Turning to avoid them, Drake guided the hovercraft into a narrow passage between two small islands. The water thrown up in their wake forced several large spiny insects to scurry towards higher ground. Then the islands slipped away behind them, and the hovercraft headed out into what looked like deeper water. Suddenly, the hovercraft shuddered, almost as if it had just hit a hidden rock or branch. However, the inflatable craft still continued on, seemingly not that effected by whatever it had just struck. "What the hell..." Drake began to say, before his gaze fell on the cause of the disturbance. Swimming alongside the hovercraft, somehow keeping up with the swift pace Drake was setting, was a gigantic snake-like creature. In the dim light of the swamp it appeared almost invisible, but every time it moved into the light from the hovercraft, the Sergeant caught a glimpse of bright scarlet scales and hundreds of scurrying flipper-like feet. As he watched its quick dark-like movements, the creature suddenly swept beneath the hovercraft again, and with a quick flick of its powerful tail, lifted the inflatable boat out of the water and tossed it a short distance away. The hovercraft landed with a shuddering crash, men and equipment flying everywhere. The two marines sitting in the front of the boat were thrown free, landing with a splash in the black waters of the swamp. The rest of the passengers were able to remain inside the inflatable, although a lot of their equipment went overboard. The first to recover from the impact, Drake looked back just in time to see the creature swimming straight towards him at incredible speed. He quickly reached for the throttle, but when he twisted it, the twin engines cut out all together. Coming to the conclusion that the bump must have knocked them out somehow, Drake abandoned the engines and reached for his pistol. He would have preferred to use his rifle, but that had been lost overboard along with a lot of the other equipment. Levelling the weapon at the oncoming creature, he pulled the trigger and squeezed off several ineffective rounds, before the snake smashed into the hovercraft again and he toppled overboard. Such was the force of the blow the creature dealt the hovercraft that much of the inflatable craft was driven underwater, and only by holding on for dear life was anyone able to remain inside. Sitting on the opposite side to where the snake struck, Susan quickly found herself under the freezing water, lost in a world of chilling darkness. She quickly swam back to the surface, only to find that the hovercraft was now nearly ten metres away. It was upright again and the snake circling it, while Talia and one of the marines tried to fight it off by throwing bags and other loose objects at it. Ignoring the bodies thrashing around in the water for the moment, the gigantic snake let out a bone-chilling screech and reared up above the hovercraft, it massive jaws opening in preparation to strike. Directly in its path, Talia didn't even have time to scream. However, she had time to think and in a moment of self-preservation she drew on every scrap of telekinetic power she could muster and tired to stop the snake's large triangular head from attacking. Fortunately, pure terror was a great motivator and her desperate gamble worked. The snake's head suddenly pulled up short, undulating just in front of Talia's face. Her eyes may have been bright with fear, but her face was a mask of concentration as she used all her strength to stop the fanged mouth from moving. Beads of sweat began to form on her forehead as the mental toll her effort was taking began to show. The snake, for its part, appeared confused. Even on the best of days a Júrm snake could not be considered one of Arias' great intellects. It relied mainly on instinct and a considerable amount of raw cunning. However, none of these assets helped it in this situation. Its mind kept sending the signals for the head to attack, but for some reason the head refused to obey. All its senses still showed its prey right in front of it, but the force gripping its head refused to allow it any closer. The rest of its body, however, was still free to move. From the other side of the hovercraft, the creature's thick tail leapt out of the water, and began to wrap itself around the small craft. Along its underbelly, a line of tiny webbed claws opened and closed, and as soon as the tail touched the hovercraft, these claws dug into the inflatable material. There was a hiss of escaping air, but for the moment the craft still remained afloat. Recognising the predicament that Talia was in, Susan searched her mind for something to help. She thought about trying to contact the creature telepathically, but when she opened her mind all she felt was a immense wave of rage that almost knocked her senseless. As she reeled back in pain though, a solution presented itself. By some miracle, she had landed almost right on top of one of the PPG rifles, which, thanks to air trapped inside, as well as the algae choked water, floated just below the surface. Remembering that the rifles were not only waterproof, but also designed to function in almost any environment, Susan lunged for it. Sweeping it out of the water, she raised the weapon until it was level with the creatures head. Then she took aim and carefully squeezed the trigger. By an amazing stroke of good luck, the first plasma bolt sliced straight through the snake's two feather antennae. That didn't stop it, but it did slow it down. Without a sense of smell, it was forced to rely on its other senses. Being completely blind, that left it with touch and hearing. Its feeling tentacles, currently just dipped in the water, were quickly confused by the number of creatures around it. Without a sense of smell to determine one from the other, the snake quickly became confused. For a few brief seconds it paused in its attack, trying to reorient itself and relocate its prey. That proved to be all the time its prey needed. Susan quickly squeezed off another few shots, most of them ricocheting of the diamond-hard scales of the snake, but a couple getting through. She was quickly joined by Corporal Cooper and the two other marines who had managed to keep hold of their rifles. Streaks of red plasma lit up the swamp for several seconds, and when Susan finally called a halt, the snake's head was little more than a charred hunk of meat. The raised head hung in the air for a second, before collapsing into the water. There was a brief hissing as the burning flesh slid into the water, but then everything went quiet. The snake's body gave one last nervous twitch before going limp. The only soldier still in the hovercraft quickly hurried to push the thick, scaled tail overboard, while Talia let out a sigh of relief and slumped back against Susan's pack. Slinging the rifle over her shoulder, Susan quickly swam the short distance across the hovercraft and clambered aboard. Talia smiled weakly at her, and then went back to massaging her temples. "Are you all right?" Susan asked, looking worried. "Just a headache," Talia informed her. "Holding something that powerful took a lot of effort." "I'll get you a pain killer," Susan said, glancing around the soggy interior of the hovercraft. "At least I will as soon as I find out what happened to the medkit." "It probably went overboard with the rest," Drake suggested as he hauled his large frame out of the dank swamp and into the hovercraft. "Almost everything is watertight, so it shouldn't be too much trouble picking everything up." He looked down at the deflated sections of the hovercraft. "I think it might be a good idea to fix these hole first though," he said, bending down to examined the damaged section. "We aren't going to sink are we?" Talia asked, forgetting about her headache for the moment. Drake stroked his chin thoughtfully, before replying. "I don't think so. The hull is partitioned into about a hundred different sections, and only a few seem to be damaged. I will have someone slap a patch on those holes and then it should be as good as new." "As long as no more of those things turn up," Susan muttered, helping two marines shove the last of the snake into the water. It splashed into the dark water, throwing even more water into the already soaked hovercraft, and then quickly vanished beneath the dark surface. Drake glanced nervously around the swamp. "I will set some guards," he said, reaching down to help Dr. Melis out of the water. The doctor looked a little like a drowned rat, his expensive clothes little more than water soaked rags. However, despite what he had just been subjected to, Melis still had an excited gleam in his eye. "What an amazing creature," he said admiringly. "Did you see how well adapted to its environment it was. I know some colleagues that would sell their own mothers to study something like that." "It just tried to kill us, Doctor," Susan reminded him. "Yes, but it was only obeying its instincts," Melis argued. "You can't blame it for that. To think, it must have evolved here for millions of years to reach that sort of level of perfection." "Do you think it could have been what caused the disappearances in the Sturt's crew," Talia asked suddenly. "I certainly hope not," Susan replied, shuddering at the very idea. "I don't think it is likely," Melis said. "Even something that big wouldn't have been able to eat that many people. It also probably has a very defined territory. In fact, there may only be one in every hundred square kilometres. So it is unlikely that there were more than one of them. If there were, then the ecology of the region wouldn't be able to support them." He glanced around at the swamp. "I doubt there is enough game around here to keep a large number of predators of that size alive. It chould have been the only one in this entire swamp." Drake cleared his throat and spat into the water. "I certainly hope so," he said darkly. "I don't want to see one of those things ever again." "How can you say that," Melis said, sounding hurt. "It was a beautiful beast. I would like to capture one and take it back to Earth. It would be an amazing creature to study." "You will have to capture it alone," Drake told him. "There is no way I am going to throw the lives of my men away helping you snare one of those beasts. We are marines, not big game hunters. If you want to go around collecting giant snakes then I would try hiring Colonel Lloyd." Melis looked a little annoyed at the mention of the famous hunter from the Vega colony. "I hardly think some vid star is going to be much use," he said. "You won't get anyone else willing to risk their lives." "But think of the rewards," Melis implored him. "I can think of a lot of zoos that would pay considerable amounts of money for an exotic creature such as this. And then there is always the vid rights for an expedition, they could run into the millions." Fortunately, one of the marines choose that moment to arrive bearing the medkit, which Susan quickly commandeered. Turning away from the still arguing pair, she passed Talia a pain killer and a flask of water from her pack, then picked up a strip of soft cloth from the medikit. Taking the flask back from Talia, Susan wet the cloth and proceeded to wipe several specks of purple blood that had landed on the blonde telepath's face. Susan sent telepathically, ignoring for the moment the argument that was continuing between Drake and Melis. Talia responded, gently stroking Susan's mind with a tender mental caress. Susan lifted her hand to cup Talia's cheek, intensifying their contact. For nearly a minute they just sat there, staring into each others eyes, while their minds communicated their feelings of relief at surviving the attack. Then, a finger tapped Susan on the shoulder. Annoyed, mostly at herself for allowing personal feelings to manifest themselves when she should have been concentrating on the situation at hand, Susan spun around to glare at Dr. Melis. "What is it," she demanded irritably. "Can I have that," he asked earnestly, pointing to the small square of white cloth she had used to wipe the snake's blood off Talia's face. Susan glanced down at the purple stained cloth. "What do you want it for," she asked. "A genetic sample," he replied. "It might be possible to grow a clone from the blood on that cloth, but if it isn't then it will still provide some good research material. I would have like to have taken a closer look at the carcass, but I don't really want to go searching around in that water for it." "I don't blame you," Susan agreed, handing him the cloth. For a moment she had considered tossing it overboard, but realised that it was very unlikely that a clone could be grown from the genetic material in the creature's blood. Cloning usually required taking a sample directly from the living creature, and the blood cells on the cloth should already be beginning to die. "Thank you, Captain," Melis replied, slipping the cloth into a sterile sampling jar that he pulled from his pack. Susan had already forgotten about him, shuffling over to where Drake was working on the holes in the inflatable hull. "How long is it going to take to repair," she asked. Drake pressed an auto-seal patch down on the tear the snake's tiny claws and opened and watched as the sealant began to fill the gap cause by the tear. "I would estimate about twenty minutes, Captain," he replied. She nodded, and went to help the marines search the swamp for the equipment from the hovercraft. It took nearly forty minutes to locate and retrieve all the equipment that had been thrown overboard during the snake's attack. The ferocity of that attack had left items scattered across a wide area, and with fog pressing down on them again, finding the equipment took some time. Fortunately, only a few items had been lost. The thick soup that passed for water in the swamp provided a lot of buoyancy, and most things just floated on the surface. Also just as fortunate, was the complete lack of injury. All of those tossed into the water, had been thrown well clear and escaped injury. In fact, the worst anyone suffered was a graze caused while tossing the snake's body overboard. With all the equipment and supplies finally repacked, the hovercraft continued slowly on its way. This time though, the marines at the bow were a lot more alert, constantly scanning the surrounding water with nervous eyes. The thought of another giant snake leaping out of the water at them, was enough to make even the slackest soldier concentrate on their duty. No more giant snakes presented themselves for the remainder of the journey though, but several floating logs suffered severe PPG burns. As the vibrations left by the hovercraft's passage died down, there was a sudden explosion of movement in the water behind them. Although grievously wounded, the snake was still very much alive, although it wasn't about to try and take on a hovercraft full of armed marines again in a hurry. It swam away, heading back to it lair to rest and recuperate. Unlike most creatures, its brain was not located in its head, but rather lower down in its neck. So the wound it had suffered was not mortal, and after several days the head would regenerate and when it did the snake would be sure to take a little bit more care in picking its prey in the future. Compared to humans, even Ariasans looked appetising. ------------------------------------------------------------ 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 6/10 - Part C Date: Mon, 8 Feb 1999 22:32:13 +1030 ------------------------------------------------------------ While Susan and the rest of her party were fighting for their lives against the giant Júrm snake, Major Logan was facing an equally dangerous opponent of her own. Her original plan had been so much simpler - kidnap the alien queen, then use her as a hostage to get the rest of the aliens to release the prisoners. Unfortunately, not only did the hostage refuse to cooperate, but the alien queen turned out to be little more than a sickly teenage girl, albeit with rather strange fingernails . Slumping back against the solid presence of the throne, Lily lowered the knife. "Why are you doing this?" she asked, looking up at the dark-haired girl who had, until moment before, been her hostage. "You are human, just like me. Why are you keeping us captive." "I need to study something," Jeanne explained. "It is very important to me. But, when I am finished, you may leave and return to your home. Now, put down that knife and return quietly to your cell. I will ensure that you are not harmed in any way. There is no need for this... incident to result in violence." "Or I could just slit your throat right here," Lily snapped, growing angry with the condescending tone in Jeanne's voice. Jeanne just smiled at her. "I have already told you that you can not hurt me," she reminded Lily. "If you try you will only end up getting hurt yourself. While I can not be injured, you most certainly can. Don't throw your life away like this for no reason, you are worth so much more than that. Put down the knife and live to fight another day. There will be other battles for you to win, just accept that this is one that you must lose." "I don't lose," Lily growled. "Everyone has to lose some time, Major Logan," Jeanne replied sadly. "Even me." "I don't," Lily repeated again. "I don't give up, especially not to someone as young as you." A sudden fiery gleam came into Jeanne's eyes. It didn't last long, but Lily had the distinct impression that dark-haired girl was more than a little angry with her comment. When Jeanne spoke again though, her soft voice remained calm and carried no trace of anger, or any other emotion. "Do not judge me by my appearance," she told Lily. "I am older than I look. A lot older." "If you say so," Lily said, still not sounding entirely convinced. Jeanne raised one delicate eyebrow and looked at Lily with a faintly quizzical expression. Then she smiled again, and waved her hand in a sweeping motion around the room. "See those windows, Major," she said, indicating each of the fragile crystal panes in turn. "They are monuments to the greatest heroes of this world." She pointed out one at random, a window on the right side of the throne room with the image of a tall alien warrior with some sort of long tube-like device clutched in his claws. "That is Tiazan, the archer. He destroyed a warship belonging to my greatest enemies with a single shot. Its remains are still out in the swamp somewhere if you would like to go and look." She pointed to another, this time a slimmer, more feminine alien. "Giaj, the crafter. She designed the first of the collection towers. It was she who made this city possible. Before then the people of this world were doomed to live beneath the ground, as close as possible to the warmth at the centre of the planet." With a thoughtful frown on her face, Lily looked at the windows. She hadn't really taken the time to look at them closely since she had entered the throne room. When she had first spotted them on the top of the stairs leading down into the crater, she had thought they were made of glass. Now that she had seen them up close though, she could see that they appeared to be made of some kind of crystal, not individual pieces of coloured glass. Each window was also lit by a small light globe, which was probably what made them visible from the outside. Inside, the effect was dramatically weakened, but they were still impressive nonetheless. Lily wasn't about to let Jeanne know how impressed she was though. Instead, she dismissed her wonder and said, "Is there some point to this history lesson. I have never really one for art galleries, probably because I got taken to so many when I was a child." Jeanne nodded slowly, not really listening to what Lily was saying. "Each of these windows shows an important figure from the past three hundred years of this world's this world history and I have ruled here during the lives of all of those depicted here. It was I who ordered that these windows to first be constructed. They were mainly to honour the achievement of Tiazan, but since then I have had a new window added to honour every major achievement the people of this world have made." "You don't look three hundred years old," Lily pointed out. "Looks can be deceiving, Major Logan, as I have already pointed out to you. I am... condemned to live with this body for eternity, but inside my soul is old and tired. I have seen and experienced things that you wouldn't believe. I have learned to speak in languages now dead to this universe, and have even outlived those who imprisoned me here." "The Vorlons," Lily said, realising suddenly who it was that Jeanne was talking about. Jeanne exploded. Wheeling on Lily, she lashed out with a backhand that sent the unprepared marine flying. "Never mention their names," Jeanne screeched at her. "They are evil deceivers. I was only a girl, I didn't know any better. They said they needed my help to fight demons. I didn't know what they were really like, I thought they were angels." Her voice suddenly grew softer, and a lot sadder. "But, there are no angels... not for me anyway." Lily wiped the thin trail blood off her lip and pulled herself back to her feet. She moved her jaw experimentally, but found to her amazement that it wasn't broken. The power behind Jeanne's blow both amazed and frightened her. She glanced over to where she had last seen the girl, but before she could even finish turning, she found herself lifted off her feet. Jeanne may have only been around the same size as Lily, but she was considerably stronger. Grasping the front of Lily's uniform, and lifting her into the air with an arm that shook only slightly, Jeanne waved her other hand into front of the Major's face. "You see my fingernails," she raved. "Do you know how they came to be this way." When Lily shook her head, she calmed down a little, although her voice still sent a chill running down the Major's spine. "They aren't like your fingernails, they are part of the bones in my fingers. The Vorlon's sliced me open and took out my bones, one by one, then they replaced them with this... metal. It was a very painful experience, and that was just one of the things they did to me." "I didn't know," Lily said, trying to remain calm despite being held several centimetres off the ground. Just then, a loud knocking sound echoed through the throne room, interrupting Jeanne's anger. She carefully lowered Lily to the ground and walked across to the throne. There, she pressed a button on the right arm of the throne. A voice quickly answered her summons. "Yes, Mistress?," it inquired. Ignoring Lily's presence for the moment, she replied, "Morkazz, make sure that none of the warriors enter the throne room until I permit it. If they argue, remind them that I can take care of myself, and need no assistance at this time." "Yes, Mistress," the counsellor repeated again. While the short conversation had been taking place, Lily quickly scanned around the room, searching for something that might be of some assistance for an escape attempt. Jeanne was beginning to scare her, and while the tough marine normally wouldn't admit being frightened of anything, there was something about this short, waif-like girl that terrified her. She had just about given up hope of finding anything useful in the barren throne room, when her eyes fell on a familiar and very welcome sight. Resting up against the side of the throne, almost invisible in the dim light, was the blunt shape of a PPG rifle, her own to be exact. Carefully sliding her stolen knife into her belt, Lily crept across the short distance between her and the gun. Then, with Jeanne still occupied with the communicator mounted on the throne, she snatched up the weapon and leapt back, levelling it at her captor. Tapping a control on the throne's arm to shut off the communicate, Jeanne noticed what Lily was doing and looked calmly over at her. "I hope you do not think that you can threaten me with that device, Major Logan," she said scornfully. "That is not a real weapon." "It will seem real enough if I pull this trigger," Lily replied, annoyed at the dark-haired girl's disparaging comment about her beloved rifle. A slight frown marred Jeanne's face for a second, before she walked around the throne and picked up a scabbard and sword that was suspended from leather strap hung around one corner of the throne. Lily stared at the sword in shock, wondering how she could have missed the weapon hanging there. True, her attention had been focused on Jeanne for most of the time, but she shouldn't have missed something as large as a sword. With a quick movement, Jeanne drew the sword and held out its silvery blade for Lily to examine. "This is a real weapon," she told the marine. "Devices like your gun are not weapons, they are just machines used for killing. Guns are weapons for soldiers, while this sword is a weapon for a warrior." The sword she held out in front of Lily was plain, almost dull in appearance. It lacked any decorative scrolling or gems, like the one Lily had always seen the heroes carrying in the vids, but made up for that though, with its metre and half and razor sharp metal. Lily wasn't sure what metal it was constructed of, but unlike almost everything else in this place, it looked more like something that you find on Earth. Most of the palace and the city below was constructed of the same yellow-green organic metal, but this sword appeared to be made of steel, or maybe something very similar. Whatever it was, it looked incredibly sharp, and Lily took a step back just to feel a little more comfortable. "I don't see the difference," Lily replied, after finishing her examination of the blade. "They both kill people." Jeanne sighed in frustration. "Anyone can be a soldier," she explained. "All you need to know is how to point a gun in the right direction. Then, you pull the trigger and hope it hits your enemy. If you hit your enemy most of the time, then you are a good soldier. If you miss, then you are dead. That is all there is to being a soldier, but there is a lot more to being a warrior." She lowered the sword until the tip of the blade rested on the floor. "There is something... impersonal about a gun. You point it and pull the trigger, but you never really feel what your enemy is suffering. With a blade, you feel it enter your enemies flesh, you know what it is doing to them. Then, when they die, you see the light go out in their eyes and you know that you have ended another person's life. With a gun there is not this connection." "I would still rather have my rifle in a battle," Lily told her. "Someone with a sword wouldn't last a minute in a fire fight." Jeanne smiled dangerously. "Care to test that theory," she asked, giving the thin blade a quick swish through the air. "You're crazy," Lily told her, stepping back again, while at the same time levelling her rifle with Jeanne's chest, just in case." In response Jeanne leapt forward and swung the sword toward the Major, who ducked just in time. The blade sliced through the air just above Lily's head, and as Lily rolled out of the way, several severed hairs floated slowly down to the ground, testament to just how close the sword had come to cutting Lily's head off her shoulders. "Are you still so sure of your weapon," Jeanne asked the pale looking Lily. Lily responded by pointing the rifle in Jeanne's direction and ordering her to lower her weapon. "If you don't put it down, I will fire," she warned. Jeanne didn't seem to be taking any notice of her though, and stepped forward with her sword ready. "Don't move," Lily shouted. "I will fire." Jeanne raised the sword again, and was about to bring it down, when Lily fired. It wasn't a conscious action, just done in a moment of self-preservation. She immediately regretted it, but by then it was too late. Five bolts of superheated plasma smashed into Jeanne's thin body, two on her left arm, one just below her chin, and the other two right into the centre of her stomach. However, instead of slicing into her body and leaving deep craters of burning flesh, all the bolts of energy seemed to do was cause the bare skin to change from a pale white to a dark, almost black colour. That change didn't last long either, as the effected skin soon returned to its normal state, leaving behind a slight pinkish flush as the only sign that Jeanne had even been hit at all. Despite showing no visible injury, Jeanne still staggered back a step, before steadying herself and looking down at the spots where the bolts had struck. Her worn robes were burning in two places where the plasma bolts had struck her stomach, so she quickly patted at the flames with her hand to put them out. Then, Jeanne looked up at Lily, her dark eyes narrowing in anger. Raising her sword, she lashed out at the Major, the razor sharp blade humming softly as it sliced through the air. Lily leapt backward, but Jeanne was not aiming for her, Instead the blade slashed down towards the weapon in Lily's hands. There was a loud screech as metal struck metal, and then the sword sliced almost halfway through the barrel of the PPG weapon, instantly rendering it completely useless. Disgusted, Lily threw the now unusable rifle away and pulled out her stolen knife, as Jeanne danced out of reach again. "Now you see the use of a blade," Jeanne said softly, pointing her sword towards the knife in Lily's hands. "It doesn't break quite as easily as a gun." Scowling in anger, Lily drew back her blade and tossed it with all the strength and accuracy she could muster. It was a testament to her skill that the curved blade flew straight at all, let alone hit its target. Of course, it didn't hit exactly where Lily wanted. She had been aiming for Jeanne's shoulder, hoping to disable her sword arm, and instead it lodged between the bones of her forearm. There was a loud clatter as the sword fell from Jeanne's hand. Lily thought about grabbing it, but Jeanne promptly dropped her foot on it, and slid it back behind her, taking it out of Lily's reach. Then, she glanced over at Lily with a half smile of amusement. Still keeping her gaze locked with Lily's she bought her arm up before her to examine the wound, and also so the Major could see what she was doing. Then, with the smile widening, she grasped the hilt of the knife and drew it swiftly from her arm. Lily couldn't help but shiver at the grating noise, caused by metal scraping against bone, the blade made as it was withdrawn from the wound. Jeanne though, didn't even grimace, as if she felt no pain from the deep wound. Two tiny drops of glowing white blood slipped from the blade and dropped slowly towards the floor. Fascinated by the sight, Lily's eyes followed them down until the splashed onto the metal floor. On contact with the organic metal, the blood began to sizzle, almost like acid would against more normal metals. Two small wisps of smoke rose from the floor, and when they cleared the blood had vanished, appearing to have completely evaporated. "I said you could not hurt me, Major Logan," Jeanne said softly, drawing Lily's attention from the floor back up to Jeanne's face. Seeing that she had the Major's attention, Jeanne held out her arm from Lily to examine. As first Lily didn't see what she was supposed to be looking for, but then she noticed that the deep wound appeared to be closing before her very eyes. One second there was a deep wound, edged with streaks of glowing blood, and the next the wound was almost gone. Jeanne closed her eyes and seemed to concentrate and the wound faded even further, until, finally, it disappeared altogether. Even the blood faded away, as if was being reabsorbed through the pores in Jeanne's skin. "How did you do that?" Lily demanded. Jeanne looked down at her arm, and then glanced up at ceiling of the room. "They did it to me, it was perhaps their biggest mistake. They tried to make me the ultimate warrior, designed to kill their ancient enemies without risking their own lives. They wanted me to become the guardian of light, so they made my survival dependent on the existence of light and energy. Wherever there is heat or light, I can survive, but it is the dark and cold places that I can not exist in. Which is rather curious really, as their enemies exist in these dark places, not of the warmer worlds." "But, if you are a creature of light, why do you hide in shadows all the time?" Lily asked, sounding a little confused. "It is how I absorb energy," Jeanne replied, holding up her now completely heal hand to demonstrate. As Lily watched, the skin of the hand darkened to become almost coal black in colour. Then, the space around Jeanne's hand also began to darken. It was already dim, due to the small number of lights in the throne room, but now the dull light faded away into shadow. "If there is light, heat, or other energy, then I can absorb it in this way." Jeanne said, allowing her hand to return to a more normal pale shade. "They changed me somehow. It took a long time, and at first I was still eating like normal. But, after about ten years of treatments, I found that I could absorb energy through my skin. Now, I can walk into a blazing inferno and still come out alive. However, it is taxing to maintain." "Why?" Lily asked. "What would happen if you opened and closed your mouth, but put no food in?" Jeanne asked. As soon as a look of understanding washed over Lily's face, Jeanne motioned towards the nearest light globe, sitting quietly on its metal tripod. "These globes provide some light, but it is not enough to replace the energy I am expending to absorb their light." "Why bother then?" Jeanne leaned against the nearby throne and thought back to the moment of her first encounter with the natives of Arias. "It is difficult to explain," she told Lily. "I was a lot younger when I first arrived here, older than you are now, but still so very young. I was afraid, the Vorlon attack had left me too weak to fight and I thought the creatures I encountered on this world would kill me. So I did the only thing I could do and hid myself in shadow. That way, I was able to convince them that I was a lot more powerful that I really was. They became my followers, and in return I taught them the secrets of technology." "I am surprised you didn't set yourself up as a god." Jeanne's dark eyes flashed angrily, although her voice remained as calm and controlled as always. "I do not ask for worship," she said coldly. "I am no goddess, but I am the key to this world's survival. Without me, then the society of peaceful coexistence that I have created here would collapse, just like an arch would if you removed its keystone The beings of this world need me to provide stability and peace. Before my arrival they warred amongst themselves, but now they work for one cause." "Your cause," Lily pointed out. "They are little more than slaves to your desire." Jeanne nearly choked over her laughter, while Lily looked on in astonishment. "You think they are slaves?" Jeanne said bitterly. "I have spent the past eight hundred years serving the people of Arias. I have given them virtually my entire life, all to ensure that they survived. No-one here is a slave, they all serve me because they desire to do so. If they wish to leave then they are free to do so. I would not prevent it." "What about your human prisoners?" Lily demanded. "Are they free to go as well, or do you intend on keeping us prisoner." "I would prefer the term guest," Jeanne replied, turning around and walking a short distance away. "It will not be for long, just until your commander gives me what I want. Then, as soon as certain Vorlon device is... removed, I will allow all the prisoners to leave. Until then, you must all remain in the mines below the city." "Earth doesn't deal with terrorists," Lily informed her. "I don't know what you want, but Earth will send a fleet to destroy you before they give in do any demands you make." Jeanne spun around to face Lily, her eyes gleaming. "They will agree," she assured the Major. "I have studied those I have captured, and the desires of those on Earth differ little from when I was there. They will agree, and even if they send a fleet, that will also suit my desires. I survived bombardment by a good portion of the Vorlon fleet, and few Earthforce vessel are not going to kill me now. If they attack, then it would be like turning the key in the lock that binds me to this world." "I don't know who you think you are," Lily said furiously. "But, I know Earthdome would never agree to some Vorlon killing machine." Lily was expecting an angry reaction to her comment, but instead Jeanne looked at her with a tormented expression on her face. Tears welled in her dark eyes, and it was obvious that the Lily's careless remark had struck a wound a lot more painful than the one the knife had caused. "I was human once, Major Logan," she said wistfully, her voice heavy with remorse and pain. "Before they came and took me away, my blood was just as red as yours. I breathed, I ate, I did all... well most anyway, of the things that makes you human. But, they soon changed all that. They took away my humanity, and left me like this. Now, I am nothing more than a weapon, designed solely to fight their stupid war for them." She glanced down at the dagger in her hands, still streaked with her blood. "I am no better than this cold, unfeeling lump of metal." Lily shuffled uncomfortably, disturbed by the reaction she had caused in Jeanne. Despite her occupation, she never really liked to cause pain to others. Certainly she could kill, but in the heat of battle she never had to stand around and watch the pain her enemies went through. Over time she had grown so used to bottling up her own feelings, that public displays of emotion from others always made her feel uneasy. Not really knowing why, she reached out a comforting hand. Jeanne waved away Lily's offer of assistance and, after wiping away the single gleaming tear that had been trickling down her cheek, smiled wanly at the blonde-haired marine. "Of course, it all happened a long, long time ago," she said softly. "In fact, it has been over eight hundred and fifty years since the day I took my first breath, and nearly as long since I was last on Earth." While Lily's eyes opened wide with surprise over her last comment, Jeanne looked down at her left shoulder, staring at something hidden beneath the material of her robe. Still holding the bloody knife in her left hand, she pulled at the collar of the robe with her right, tugging it aside to show Lily the pale flesh of her shoulder. Unlike the rest of her body, the skin here was marred, the white lines of a jagged scar visible despite the paleness of the flesh beneath. Although it had healed long ago, Lily still winced, realising that the wound that had caused it had been deep and probably very painful. With a distant look on her face, Jeanne traced the lines of scar tissue with her fingers. "I got this when I was still human," she told Lily. "It was caused by an arrow from an English longbow. It penetrated my armour and impaled my flesh. I had to pull it from my body with my own hands. It was very painful and I was faint from loss of blood, but I still managed to struggle to my feet and continue the battle. Then, I looked on it as an annoyance, a wound that would slow me down and prevent me from doing what I thought was my destiny. Now, it is one of the few things I have left that reminds me that I was once human." "I... I'm sorry..." Lily tried to say. Jeanne smiled, then reached out and tenderly stroked the Major's cheek. "Le lis était toujours ma fleur de favori," she murmured softly. Then she pulled away and looked down at the knife, which was still coated with her own blood. Running her fingers along the blade, she quickly wiped it clean and tossed it back to Lily. Then, as Lily tried to catch the knife without cutting herself, Jeanne licked the blood off her fingers. "What is that supposed to mean," Lily asked, looking a little sickened by Jeanne's method of cleaning a knife. "Thank you for feeling for me," Jeanne told her. "There is perhaps still some hope left for you yet. A warrior must always use her feelings to fight. If you are without feeling then you are already dead." Lily frowned. "Thanks... I think." "A true warrior also knows when to fight, and when not to fight." Jeanne said as she turned away from Lily, walking across towards where her sword had ended up. "Now, you must leave. I have much to do, and I no longer need your presence." Seeing that it was Jeanne's intention to pick up the blade again, Lily leapt towards her, aiming to knocking the sword from the other woman's hand. Given the way Jeanne had thrown the knife back to her, and her last comments, Lily thought that she intended continuing the battle they had just fought, and she had no intention of allowing that to happen. However, she also didn't know just how fast Jeanne could move, and before Lily had even covered half the short distance between them, Jeanne had spun around to face her, the incredibly sharp sword facing straight toward the Major's chest. Lily's gasped in shock and tried to stop herself. But, she had put so much into the rush, that it was impossible to pull up in time. Jeanne had only intended on swinging around to face Lily with the sword, just to stop the Major from doing anything stupid while she called for the guards to remove her to the mines. When she saw Lily coming head on toward her, she also tried to pull back. But, even with all her strength and speed, it was too late to stop Lily from impaling herself on the blade. So sharp, it could cut through steel, the sword sliced straight through Lily's chest, its tip exiting from her back. Lily didn't say a word, but her mouth opened in shock, and when she looked up, Jeanne could see the Major's eyes begin to cloud with pain. There was a sickening silence. It only lasted for second, but that single moment of deathly stillness seemed like forever to the two women. Then, with a faint moan, Lily slid backwards, the blade of the sword sliding out of her body with the same ease it had cut into her. She staggered away for a couple of steps, and then looked down at her chest. The brown material of her uniform was wet with her own blood, and more was gushing from the wound with each passing second. Lily pressed her hands over the wound, but was unable to stop the flow of her life blood. Then, she began to feel faint, and knew that she must be dying. The sword had struck her between her breasts, and she realised that it had probably cut open her heart. She tried to speak, but her lungs were quickly filling with blood and she could only manage one word before the pain of the injury suddenly rushed in. Overcome by agony, Lily collapsed slowly towards the floor. "Help..." she whispered, before her eyes closed and her world went black. ------------------------------------------------------------ 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 7, Part A Date: Sat, 27 Feb 1999 23:06:19 +1030 Here is the next chapter of "The Secret of Arias." It did take me a while to get this done, but here it is in all its glory. The good news is that Chapter 8 is already half finished, so it should be along early next week. Hopefully I can get this story finished and be on to the next one shortly. 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 7 By Sel Vecantie ------------------------------------------------------------ Lily lay stretched out on the floor, looking more like a rag doll than the unyielding, but vibrant woman she had been only moments before. A thin trail of blood leaked from one corner of her mouth, while a much larger stain was quickly spreading across the metal floor beneath her. Standing above her, a look of undiluted horror on her face, Jeanne held her sword in trembling hands, tiny drops of Lily's blood sliding slowly down the smooth metal to drip off the tip. The shock over what she had just done was plainly visible on her face and she stared down at the weapon as if it were a traitorous servant, instead of the unfeeling, mindless weapon it really was. Her hands shook for a second and then, with a loud scream of rage and pain, she hurled the sword away from her with all her strength. Such was the power behind the throw that the blade flew all the way across the throne room and lodged into the wall above the golden doors. It hung there quivering for several moments, before falling back to the floor with a loud clang. Jeanne didn't notice the noise though, her attention was still firmly focused on Lily. Kneeling down next to the mortally wounded marine, Jeanne pressed her hands against the wound in an attempt to stem the flow of blood. There was no stopping it though, and within moments her hands were coated red with Lily's life blood. Tears began to stream down her cheeks as she realised that Lily was dying, and there was nothing she could do. For a moment she thought about calling her servants, in the hope that one of the healers could be summoned in time, but she knew it would take them at least ten minutes to reach the palace level and by then it would be far too late. Removing her hands from Lily's chest she stared at the blood covering them, wishing that it was her blood that had been spilt, not the marine's. If she had been injured in the same way she would recover quickly, while a mortal like Lily would soon die from her wounds. Jeanne stared at her blood-stained hands for several precious seconds, before a sudden revelation came to her. With new urgency guiding her actions, she dug razor sharp fingernails into her palm, tearing deep gouges in the soft flesh. Almost immediately, the lines of torn flesh began to well with droplets of pale blood, as her body began the process to repair the damage. Before that process could be completed though, she placed her wounded hand over Lily's chest and squeezed as much of her blood as she could onto the reddish stain on the other woman's chest. As she watched, the glowing blood quickly ate its way through the material of the Major's uniform and was absorbed by the flesh beneath. Flexing her now fully healed hand, Jeanne watched nervously, unsure how her blood would effect Lily. After watching for nearly a minute, she noticed that Lily's chest continued to rise and fall, although there was no other visible response. She didn't truly know what effect her desperate gamble would have. She had used her blood in the past to heal several of her servants, but the effects on them had only been temporary, lasting perhaps a week at the most. Arisians were very different from humans though, and while she could hardly be called human any more, Jeanne hoped the Vorlons may had left just enough of her original genetic make-up intact for the effects to be more permanent on Lily. Another minute slowly ticked by, and there was still no reaction for the injured marine. Growing more concerned by the second, Jeanne climbed to her feet and hurried over to the nearby throne. There, she tapped a control mounted on the arm. The worried voice of her counsellor, Morkazz, quickly answered her summons. "Are you all right, Mistress?" the old servant asked, his voice carrying the full weight of the anxiety he was feeling. "I am well," Jeanne replied. "But please return to the throne room, I have need of your assistance at once." "I am on my way, Mistress." Seconds later the golden doors opened and the counsellor slipped though, careful to shut and lock them behind him. He then quickly hurried over to the throne, noting the bloody sword lying near the doors as he passed. Spying Major Logan lying on the ground near the throne, he approached cautiously. "Is she wounded?" he asked, noticing for the first time the large bloodstain on the floor. "Yes," Jeanne replied softly, her voice pained as the guilt she felt over Lily's injury began to eat away her composure. "It was an accident, I never meant to hurt her. She must have thought I did though, and she tried to attack me. I didn't see her coming and she was injured. I have tried my best to heal her, but I do not really know how to make her better." Morkazz looked down at Lily, before nudging her with one clawed toe. "Is she alive?" he asked cautiously. "She is not moving." "She is alive," Jeanne confirmed. "But I do not know if she will survive." She looked at Morkazz with a worried expression on her face. "I do not want her to die. None of them must die. I desire my freedom, but it must not come through the deaths of others. That is too high a price to pay. I would prefer to die rather than let another die for my selfish needs." "Perhaps one of the healers may be of assistance," the counsellor suggested. "They are very skilled and can heal most wounds that occur among the Chosen." Jeanne knelt down beside Lily again, gently wiping several beads sweat off the marine's forehead. "They are very skilled at treating the injured of this world," she agreed. "But this woman is not of this world. Our healers do not have the experience with her people, she may be better served by one of her own healers." "Shall I order one of the prisoners bought from the mines? Perhaps one of them is trained as a healer. I heard one of them calling another doctor. In the transmissions we watched from her world, a doctor was one that treated the sick." After considering this suggestion for several seconds, Jeanne shook her head. "No, I do not want them here yet. Bring Harj, she can assist me. I have healed the sick before, long ago in another life time. I still have my memories of that life and perhaps I may be able to help her. I still do not know if she will survive, but at least I know how to ease her pain while we find out." "I will summon Harj," Morkazz agreed, before hesitating and looking at the buttons on the arm of the throne in confusion. "How do I do that?" he asked. "I am not familiar with the functions of these buttons." Jeanne pointed toward one of the smaller buttons and the counsellor pressed it. Almost at once the spiral staircase leading down from her quarters appeared, slowly gliding down until it touched the floor of the throne room. Morkazz bowed once in her direction and quickly hurried up the stairs to find the blind servant, Harj. As he climbed the winding flight of stairs, Jeanne noticed that his limp had begun to return. The effects of her regenerative blood on the old counsellor were starting to wear off and with growing trepidation she looked down at Lily again, wondering how long she could keep the marine alive this way. As the counsellor walked up the stair, Jeanne tore a strip of cloth off her already ragged looking robe and began to wipe away the blood that stained her hands. Once that was done, then she started to do the same for Lily. The small piece of cloth was quickly soaked in the Lily's blood, but it did help to ease some of the guilt she was feeling. Cleaning the last of the scattered blood splatters off Lily's face, Jeanne unzipped the Major's uniform to examine the wound itself. The white shirt Lily wore beneath her uniform jacket had been ruined, but at least there didn't appear to be any more blood flowing from the wound. A jagged tear in the white material marked the spot where her sword had sliced into Lily's chest, so Jeanne unbuttoned the shirt there and searched for the wound. To her surprise, she couldn't find any trace of an injury. There was a lot of blood, but no wound, at least not any more. Curious, Jeanne unbuttoned the rest of the shirt, and wiped away some of the pooled blood with her already soaked cloth. Again she could find no trace of an open wound, just a long, narrow scar where the sword had entered the Major's flesh. The realisation that the regenerative properties her blood must have completely healed Lily came as something of a shock to Jeanne. She had been hoping for some reaction, but not anything like this. When she had used her blood to heal her servants all that had resulted had been an easing of their pain. It hadn't been permanent, but the effect it had achieved on Lily obviously was. In fact, the injured woman appeared to be sleeping comfortably, although her skin was pale due to the massive blood loss she had just experienced. Pressing her hand against Lily's chest, Jeanne could feel the Major's heart beating slowly. It was weaker than it should have been, but it was still regular. The fact that it was beating at all gave Jeanne some hope that Lily would recover. Her own heart no longer beat, in fact she wasn't even sure if the Vorlons had left any of her internal organs intact. If Lily was only being kept alive by the blood she had infused, then the marine's heart probably wouldn't still be working. At least that is the way Jeanne imagined it worked, her understanding of genetics was poor at best. The Vorlons had only given her knowledge about fields of science that they thought would be useful to a warrior. Thus, she had a lot of knowledge about the various races of the galaxy, as well as their military technologies and ways to defeat them. Over the centuries she had become an expert at adapting those military technologies to other uses, but had specifically chosen to stay well away from genetics. After what the Vorlons had done to her, she never wanted to see another creature go through the same agony. Taking her hand away, she pulled the white shirt closed and buttoned it up again. She then began to stroke Lily's forehead, slowly running her hand though the Major's spiky blonde hair, while at the same time thinking back to the experiments that the Vorlons had conducted on her. A moan from Lily soon interrupted Jeanne's musing though, and she looked down at the injured woman with a feeling of sudden relief. Then the Major's eyelids flickered and slowly opened, her pain filled brown eyes looking up at Jeanne. "What... What happened?" she asked, sounding confused. "You hurt yourself," Jeanne explained, choosing not to inform Lily of the extent of her injuries just yet. "I have healed you. You are still weak, but now that you are awake, I believe that you will recover in time." Lily tried to raise herself off the floor, but quickly fell back again when a sudden wave of dizziness came over her. She lifted one trembling hand to try and bat away Jeanne's hand. "You were trying to kill me," she said accusingly, before breaking off into a coughing fit. Leaning over, she spat out some the blood that had choked her lungs. "You are mistaken," Jeanne said softly, laying a comforting hand on Lily's shoulder. "You do not remember what happened correctly. You tried to attack me, and there was an... accident." "That is not the way I remember it," Lily frowned, although she looked slightly confused, as if unsure of her own memories. Everything had occurred so quickly that she didn't remember what had happened exactly. However, despite the gap in her memories, she didn't think she would ever attack someone without cause. That just wasn't the way she did things. She was a soldier, but not a killer. "I would not willingly hurt you," Jeanne assured her. "You should not listen to what your memories tell you, they can tell you strange things. Your head can lie to you, or they can get in there and make you think things that you don't want to think. Follow where you heart guides you, it will lead you to what is right. You should always listen to your heart, it always tells you the truth." Lily just looked at her in confusion, before pain clouded her features and she slumped back against the floor. She tried to flex her hand, but suddenly froze up as pain arched through her body. It felt as though every pore of her skin was being stabbed with tiny, burning needles. In only lasted a second, before subsiding to a dull throbbing pain, but it was enough to make her gasp out loud. "Are you all right?" Jeanne asked, disturbed by Lily's reaction. Lily smiled wanly. "I'm fine," she said, although she felt anything but fine. She felt thoroughly exhausted, and every time she tried to move she felt a stabbing pain in her chest. "I think I need to sleep," she muttered to herself. "I will have you taken to the mines," Jeanne said hurriedly. "Your friends are there and they will be able to take care of you better than me. I was just worried that you were not going to survive your injury, but now that you are awake again I think you will live." "I can't walk," Lily said. "In fact, I don't think I can even stand." "You do not need to," Jeanne told her, pointing toward the stairs. ""I will have some of my servants carry you. Do not worry they will be gentle and I will ensure that you are not hurt." Lily moved her head just enough to see what Jeanne was indicating and her gaze fell on the staircase. Even with her mind clouded with pain, she still remembered that the stairs had not been in the throne room before. She didn't have time to wonder where they had come from though, as the robed alien she had seen earlier was just stepping from them onto the throne room floor, followed closely by a much smaller, green-skinned alien who's eyes were covered by a pinkish film. She watched them suspiciously as they walked quickly across the room until they reached the throne. It was then that Lily realised that the new alien was actually blind. She had thought that the pinkish colour to its eyes was natural, but when it stumbled over the blood soaked strip of cloth Jeanne had torn from her robes, Lily suddenly realised that this new alien could not see anything. However, despite its blindness the alien still managed to find her way across the throne room without any assistance. Reaching the throne, Morkazz and Harj bowed low in the direction of Jeanne. "I have come as summoned, Mistress," Harj said sniffing the air curiously, before turning to face Lily. "Is this the creature that needs tending." Jeanne nodded. "Yes, bring water, cloths and a clean robe from my collection. She had been injured, and the wound must be cleaned before she is permitted to leave and rejoin her companions." Harj frowned, her delicate eye ridges drooping lower on her face. "Is this not a job for the healer," she asked carefully. "They would better know how to heal one of these creatures." "I have already healed her," Jeanne explained. "I need only clean away her blood and replace her damaged clothing so she can be returned to her people. She is shorter than I am, but my robes should still fit." Harj seemed to accept this explanation. "As you wish, Mistress," the servant replied. "I will bring you what you require. However there is only one robe left. The rest were no longer able to be repaired." Jeanne frowned. "Bring it anyway," she said, making a mental note to look into the matter of her clothing as soon as possible. It had been a long time since she had asked for anything new to be made for her, and perhaps it was far too long. Certainly the condition of her robes had deteriorated over time, and replacements were certainly called for. "As well as some cloths for cleaning. Also I will need the service of the other cleaning staff later, to mop away the blood on the floor." Harj nodded and after a quick bowed walked away, heading unerringly towards the staircase. Morkazz looked down at Lily for a second, before turning to Jeanne. "What is it you desire of me, Mistress?" he asked. "When Harj returns I want you to arrange for Azrak to carry Major Logan to the mines. She can not walk in her condition and I do not want her injured again. Ensure that the general understands that it is my wish that she not be injured." "Yes, Mistress," the counsellor replied, looking at Lily with a curious expression on his face, wondering what it was about her that made Jeanne treat her this way. The Mistress certainly hadn't shown any special treatment to the other prisoners, but then she had not injured any of them either. Perhaps she was feeling guilty over the near death, and wished to atone for her actions. "I shall arrange a stretcher," he said. "It will take some time, so I will leave now." "Go," Jeanne said. "But return with Azrak, I still have need of you." Morkazz bowed and left, Lily's eyes following him until he had left the throne room. Then she turned her head to look at Jeanne, wincing a little at the pain that small movement caused her. "Why are you acting like this," she asked, sounding annoyed more than anything. "Only a minute or so ago you were trying to kill me, now you seem to be doing everything possible to try and make me better. Don't give me any of that crap about my memory not being right either. It is working fine and I remember everything that happened. You were trying to kill me, you picked up the sword and said that you no longer needed my presence." Jeanne stared at her in amazement. "You thought that meant I was trying to kill you?" she asked, sounding stunned. "I did not want to hurt you. Despite what the Vorlon tried to make me into, I could never hurt anyone, well... except for them. I was just going to summon the guards to take you to the mines." "It didn't seem that way to me," Lily said, before wincing again as another jolt of pain shot through her. Lifting one trembling hand up until she could see it, she stared at her pale flesh, wondering why she kept feeling pain in her limbs. "You must rest," Jeanne admonished Lily. "You have lost a lot of blood and were badly wounded. It will take some time before you are well again, but at least you are alive." Lily's caustic response was cut off before she even opened her mouth. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the blind servant approaching again, several other aliens in tow. Lily turned and stared at them for a second before realising that the other servants were also blind. She looked back at Jeanne. "Why are they all blind?" she asked. "It seem a little strange." "They were born blind," Jeanne explained, taking a container of water from Harj and wetting a cloth. "It is a illness among the females of this world. Perhaps one in a thousand is born this way. Before I arrived they would soon die from lack of food, now they serve in a variety of roles. Some act as my personal servants, as they can not see what I really am." "So it is all just one big happy family is it?" Lily said. "But what happens to those who don't obey you. Are they forced to work in the mines like your human prisoners." Jeanne frowned at her, wondering what the Major was talking about now. Dipping the cloth into the water again, she washed away the rest of the blood before dropping the cloth back into the container and directing the servants to begin to clean up the blood stain on the floor. Then, with that out of the way, she turned back to Lily. "I do not know what you are talking about," she said angrily. "I have told you before, I serve the people of this world, not the other way around. They only obey my rules because they are correct, not because they are afraid of me. As for my guests, it was they who decided to work in the mines. I did not force them, they chose to do the work I ordered." "That is correct, Creature," Harj suddenly butted in. "Do not talk to this way to the Mistress. You do not know her as I do. She serves this world every day, despite being close to death. Every day I see her growing sicker and sicker, but she still tries to do everything she can to make our lives better. You should not speak to her in this way, especially after she saved your life." Lily looked from Jeanne and Harj, a frown on her face. Another jolt of pain assaulted her, and for a second it felt as though her blood was on fire. It made concentrating on what Jeanne and the servant were saying difficult. "I need to sleep," she said painfully. Her vision suddenly blurred, and before she could say anything more her eyes closed and she sunk back into unconsciousness. Jeanne immediately dropped back to Lily's side, feeling guilty for allowing her anger to get the better of her again. For a moment she wished that she hadn't clung on to her emotions so strongly during the Vorlon's alterations. It would be nice not to have to feel anger or guilt over her actions and the actions of others. But she quickly dismissed that idea, realising that without her emotions then she would be just what Lily had said before, a Vorlon killing machine. With them, there was still a part of her that was human, no matter how small that part had become. After checking to make sure that Lily was still alive, Jeanne tugged off the Major's blood stained clothing and took the robe Harj had bought with her. "There was no need to defend me so strongly," she told the servant, as she pulled the robe over Lily's shoulders and pulled it closed. "I can defend myself." "I am sorry, Mistress," the servant said, bowing. "I will remember that in future." "Thank you anyway," Jeanne said, looking up at Harj. "It is good to know that I am still welcome. It is a pity that she could not see that, but in time perhaps she can be made to learn." She reached out and gently stroked Lily's face. "She reminds me so much of the person I used to be. She never lets the opinions of others throw her from her convictions, and will continue to fight even when the odds are against her. It is an admirable trait and if she had wisdom to guide her action she would be a much better person. Perhaps in time she will learn the lessons that need to be taught." "Perhaps you can teach her," Harj suggested, picking up the blood stained jacket and shirt, and dropping them into the water container. Jeanne shook her head. "No, she must learn for herself. After today, I do not think she will speak to me again." She sighed and stood up, leaving Lily sleeping on the metal floor. Looking over at Harj, her eyes dropped to the Major's clothing. "Have them cleaned and taken to the mines," she ordered Harj. "If that is the only robe I have left, I can not afford to give it away." "I will take care of the cleaning myself," Harj said, looking down at Lily. "This creature may remind you of yourself, Mistress, but she is nothing like you. For one thing, she smells funny." "That is her blood," Jeanne explained. Harj snorted. "If you say so, Mistress." For some reason, Jeanne felt strangely annoyed at the servant's attitude towards Lily. It may have just been some residual feeling of humanity clawing its way back up from deep within her, but for some reason she felt close to Lily. She sensed that they were kindred spirits in some way. Not only were they alike, but there seemed to be something linking them. Jeanne frowned as she realised that the feeling she was now experiencing had not been present before Lily's wound. Perhaps the fact that some of her blood now flowed in the Major's veins had bought them closer. Although she was intrigued by this development, Jeanne didn't want to dwell on such matters. Instead she walked away from Lily and took her seat back on the throne. Then, as she darkened the air around her once more, she turned to Harj and said, "you may leave, Harj. When the clothing is cleaned please arrange for it to be taken to the mines, and for my robe to be returned." "Yes, Mistress," the blind servant replied with a low bow. She then turned and walked towards the throne room doors. As she approached they opened suddenly and a small group of warriors burst in, their weapons clutched in their hands. Behind them, arguing with Morkazz, came their leader, Azrak. Spotting Jeanne's sword lying near the throne room doors, the general picked up the weapon and followed his warriors over to the throne, ignore the servant as she passed. "Are you uninjured, Mistress," he asked as soon as he arrived, eyeing Major Logan's sleeping form suspiciously. "This alien warrior did not hurt you." "No she did not," Jeanne replied. "However she was injured and I require you to carry her to her friends in the mines. They can take better care of her than I could." Azrak flexed his claws for a couple of seconds, looking annoyed at this development. But, despite his feelings, he bowed and submitted to Jeanne's wishes. "I will see that it is done," he said. "My warrior will ensure that she suffers no further injury... if that is you wish." "It is," Jeanne said firmly. "As I said before none must die. She is very close to death, so must be treated carefully if she is to survive. Take her to her friends, they can look after her better than I can. Ensure that they have everything they need." "Is there anything else that you require, Mistress?" Azrak asked as the four warriors carefully picked up the sleeping Lily and began to carry her out of the throne room on the stretcher. "There is just one more thing that you can do for me right now," Jeanne said, reaching one hand down beside the throne. Resting against the throne, completely hidden in the shadow of the tall chair, were two objects. One was the small communicator Azrak had bought back when he had captured the IPX rover, the second was a medium sized package wrapped in yellowish paper. It was this second object that she picked up and handed across to the general. "What is this?" Azrak asked curiously, slowly turning the object over in his hands, while at the same time taking extra care to ensure that his claws did not pierce the paper wrapping. "Take it to the prisoners," Jeanne ordered, choosing not to answer his question. "They will known what to do with it. Give it to one of their leaders and tell him to pass it on to the person it is addressed to." Azrak frowned at the two words written on the package, trying to make out the name. The characters were in English, but the quality of the writing was so poor that he gave up. Instead, he bowed in the direction of the throne and said, "as you wish, Mistress." Then he turned and marched out of the throne room, following the small procession carrying Lily. Jeanne watched their passage right up until the great doors shut behind them. As soon as they were gone, she let out a tired sigh, and slumped back into the cushioned throne, allowing the shadows around her to fade away again. Noticing Morkazz still standing nearby, she turned to him and said, "I do hope Major Logan will recover for her wound." "As do I, Mistress," the counsellor agreed. "They are indeed a violent people, but I do not wish them harm. After all, our warriors are violent when needed, and these human warriors must have their reasons for their violent natures." "You do not know them as I know them," Jeanne replied, a distant look in her eyes. "When I was still on Earth I saw so many things that horrified me, some even still haunt my nightmares. If it were not for the fact that I thought that what I was doing was my destiny, I do not think I would have survived the pain and bloodshed so long. Some humans are capable of great evil, but others can also perform great good. However, despite their faults, I also wish no harm to any of the prisoners. A part of me feels sorry for having to imprison them here, but another part knows that they will not feel any ill effects from their short stay. Some may have bad memories of their time here, but most will leave with only good memories." Morkazz turned to look at her, the scaly ridges above this eyes crinkling downwards in the Arisian imitation of a frown. "How is that, Mistress?" he asked. "They did not seem happy when we took them to the mines, why will they feel otherwise when we leave." "Because I intend on allowing them to leave with all their possessions. That should make them feel a lot better." "I still do not understand," Morkazz replied. "Is this some human trait that I am unaware of?" Jeanne turned to him and smiled for the first time since her confrontation with Lily. "It is called greed," she said softly. "I have watched them as they worked in the mines. At first they were very reluctant to work, but once they saw what they were mining, they suddenly lost that reluctance and began to work with considerably more gusto." "Because of those shiny rocks?" Morkazz asked, waving one clawed hand in the direction of the gem studded ceiling. "Like the ones in the throne room." "Exactly," Jeanne replied with a amused nod. "On Earth rocks like those are very valuable. Many of the prisoners have taken the time to put aside a small amount of the gems they have been mining, possibly in the hope that they will be able to keep them when they are rescued. I intend on making sure they do so." "They are valuable?" Morkazz questioned, his eye ridges rising in surprise. "But there are so many of them, how could they be valuable. I have spoken many times to the artisans and they do see them as valuable, just as useful for ornamentation." "They become valuable when they are rarer," Jeanne explained. "On Earth they are very rare and so they are valuable. Here gemstones are common, so they are of little value. Here other things are of value." "Like Júrm leather," the counsellor said, suddenly getting the idea. "Artisan Uijan said that it is finest of materials available for her clothing, and all of the warriors want to wear uniforms made of Júrm leather. I even heard that Worker Himaz traded four loads of Yuital fungi for a single cloak of Júrm leather." "Traded?" Jeanne asked, her voice suddenly growing harsher. "I trust he picked the four loads during his own time." Morkazz looked a little nervous, hoping that his ill chosen words hadn't placed his old friend Himaz in any trouble. "I am sure he did, Mistress," he replied. "He would not break the your laws. I believe that many of the workers do extra work so they can trade for possession that they desire. Many of the artisans also work longer hours so they can have goods to trade with." Jeanne nodded. "That is all right then. If the workers wish to spend more time slaving away in the fungi farms, then I will permit them to trade for goods they desire. But the restriction on the markets remain. Greed is something that must never arise on this world. I have seen what it can do to people, and I will not allow it to happen to those who follow me. On this world it is effort that is rewarded, not greed and theft." "We understand, Mistress," Morkazz assured her, swishing his tail nervously. "All understand that your rules are in place for the good of our society and we thank you for them. There is no suffering on this world thanks to the rules you have put in place. When I watched the transmissions from other worlds I have seen how lucky we are to live on this world, despite its problems. We would not disobey your sacred laws if it means becoming like the other worlds." "Good," Jeanne said, closing her eyes for a second and sighing tiredly. "I hope that your people will continue this way when I am gone, Morkazz. I have spent so long making everything perfect, making everyone work together to improve society. I would hate to see my efforts wasted." "You are leaving, Mistress?" Morkazz asked, disappointment and fear creeping into his voice. She smiled at him. "Eventually, I must leave," she told him gently. "If my plans work, then the humans will free me and if they fail, then I die. Eventually I must leave you here. Over the past hundred years I have been needed less and less, and in time your people will no longer need my input. You have grown much in the centuries since my arrival and it is time you were free to pursue your own destiny." "But, Mistress," the counsellor said. "We do not wish you to leave." "I know that," she replied. "But I can not remain forever. There are other worlds that would benifit from my assistance, and once I am freed from this one then it will soon be time for me to move on.Also, somewhere out there are the creatures that made me the person I am today. I want to find them and... thank them properly. Then I will be free at last." "Will you return?" "In time. But there is so much more I need to see. I was born on Earth, but I have not seen my homeland for eight centuries. I would like to see my old home one more time. Then there are the alien worlds, and other realms yet to be discovered. I will visit them all and then, with my memories full of visions of wondrous lands, I will return here to die, secure in the knowledge that I have seen all that there is to see." Morkazz tapped his claw together in the traditional Arisian sign of grief or sorrow. "This world will miss you greatly, Mistress," he said sadly, before straightening and looking more resolute. "But, we will survive without your presence. You have taught us many things during your time here, and we will use them all to survive. We will construct our own starships and sail among the stars like the humans and the other races. Then, perhaps sometime in the future, ships from this world will meet you and you will see what we have accompanied. We will make it our aim to reach out to the stars and show them the glories of your rule." Jeanne reached out a hand and placed on the counsellor's robed arm. "Thank you," she said softly. "I am glad my choice was not wrong." Then, before Morkazz had time to digest her words, she continued. "Right now though, I need you to do something else for me. I want you to go and summon Artisan Uijan and bring her here." Morkazz looked confused for a second, both by the sudden change of topic, and by the request. "Why Uijan?" "I have need of her services," Jeanne said, fingering the old robe she wore. "I have learned one things from my encounter with Major Logan. Image is important to humans, and I need to look the part if I am to convince them to do what I require. Tell Uijan to bring her apprentices and a good supply of materials. There will be much work for her to do, and little time to do it." "Yes, Mistress," Morkazz said, bowing. "I will summon her." "Good," Jeanne replied. "Now go. We will speak again soon." Morkazz nodded, and hurried out of the throne room. As he left, Jeanne looked down at her robe again, shaking her head. The robe, like most of her clothing, was nearly a hundred years old and had been patched several times. While it was still very comfortable to wear, she should have realised that appearance was more important when meeting newcomers. She had grown so used to hiding herself away from sight, that she had taken little care of her own appearance. Tapping her finger slowly on the arm of the throne Jeanne closed her eyes and began to think about what she could ask Uijan to make for her. She knew there was little time left before the leaders of the Earthforce expedition arrived, but that should be enough time to produce something a little bit more impressive than a tattered old robe. Smiling to herself she began to run through ideas in her head, already planning ahead for the meeting she knew was only a matter of days, if not hours away. ------------------------------------------------------------ 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 7 - Part B Date: Sat, 27 Feb 1999 23:07:12 +1030 ------------------------------------------------------------ Several hours later, a young Arisian scout found himself crouching behind the stump of an ancient tree, trying to do his best not to be seen while he observed the aliens walking along the valley floor below. Just in front of him, the rocky hilltop suddenly dropped away, forming a steep and dangerous slope. This rough hillside of loose rock and dead trees formed part of the inner borders of the Mistress' domain. Below stretched the valley floor, and beyond that the unclaimed lands where the sometimes dangerous wildlife of Arias ran free. The scout was one of the many charged with watching these borders, a job that rarely saw any excitement at all. Apart from the occasional Júrm snake crawling its way out of the nearby swamps, few creatures ever came this close to the Mistress' citadel. Today though, was different. Today the aliens had arrived, picking their way alone the old road towards the outlying farms. Of course he had heard of these creatures before, having seen them on the interstellar broadcasts picked up by the Mistress' satellite, which had been almost compulsory viewing up until the satellite had been destroyed last week. These creatures were called humans and lived among the stars with many other alien races. Before today though, they had been little more than stories. He had heard the rumours that a group of these humans had landed a spaceship somewhere in the outer regions, but only the higher ranks were ever permitted to know what occurred outside the civilised lands. His knowledge ended at the last of the construction sites. As far as he was concerned, that was his world. Until he reached the rank of full scout, he would never be permitted to leave the inner borders. However, today he had a chance to prove himself worthy for such an honour. Orders had arrived early that day from General Azrak that the borders were to be watched closely for any signs of aliens. He hadn't really believed that these aliens were real, but here they were, walking along the road as if they owned it. Curious, the young scout moved closer to the cliff top, eager to see these creatures for himself. The images he had seen on the display screens had been blurred and distorted after their passage through the barrier of the storm, but here he could see these creatures in real life. They were indeed curious creatures, carrying strange light making devices that the shone along the path, almost as if they could not see where they were going without them. The scout did a quick head count and discovered that there were only twelve of the aliens. He frowned, wondering why the great General Azrak would be so worried about them. In the southern perimeter guard alone there were over two thousand scouts, along with their warrior leaders. Surely such a small group of aliens couldn't pose any serious threat. The scout eyed the aliens again, looking for something he might have missed during his earlier observation. He couldn't see anything though, apart from some other strange devices that the aliens were carrying in their arms. These creatures also seemed to be wearing a lot more clothing than most Arisians, except maybe the theologians who tended the archives. Apart from the clothing and the strange devices, there was nothing else about these creatures that posed a threat. Shrugging to himself, the scout continued his observations. His orders had called for carefully recording of all the alien's movements and he intended on doing the best job possible, in the hope of being noticed by his superiors and chosen for promotion. Suddenly one of the aliens stopping walking, and looked up in his direction. The scout quickly ducked out of sight, accidentally bumping against a small pile of loose rocks as he moved. The rocks slid over the edge of the cliff top and tumbled down the slope, colliding with more rocks along the way, until it eventually started a minor avalanche that slide noisily down the steep slope. To the young scout it sounded like a deafening roar, and he slunk away into to the nearby forests, knowing that there was no way the aliens would have missed the avalanche. It seemed that his promotion might have to wait after all. ------------------------------------------------------------ Susan glanced up towards the top of the cliff that towered high above them. The rescue team had left the hovercraft behind when they had reached the end of the swamps, and now made their way on foot across this alien world. Fortunately the going had been good, with the ground hard and rocky instead of muddy as it had been along the edge of the swamp. In fact, it almost felt as though they were walking along a path created by some sentient being, instead of a rough animal track running through a thickening forest of knee-high fungus. She scanned the cliff top, wondering what it was that had attracted her attention. She had felt a strange tingling on the back of her neck, almost as if someone or something was watching her. Her rational mind told her it was probably nothing, but her experience as a fighter pilot told her something else entirely. Suddenly, a dark shadow leapt up from behind the broken stump of an ancient tree and vanished into the forest Susan could just see over the top of the cliff. For a second she wondered if she hadn't imagined the shadow, but when a small rock slide started tumbling down the cliff face, she knew there must have been something up there watching them. "What the hell was that?" Drake suddenly called out from the head of the column. "Shine a light along the cliff top," Susan ordered. "There was something up there watching us." Two marines hurried to carry out her orders, shining their powerful spotlights along the cliff face, and finally along the top of the cliff itself. However, apart from some dust left over from the rock slide, there was nothing out of the ordinary. "What did you see?" Drake asked, making his way back down the short column to Susan's side. "I'm not sure," she replied. "It was a shadow of some kind. I didn't really get a good look, it was dark and I only caught a glimpse of it for a second. There was definitely something up there though, so keep an eye out from now on. It was probably just some animal, but if there is some hostile alien out there, I want to know about it before it comes down here and bites me." Drake smiled faintly and then nodded in agreement. "I will make sure everyone is on their toes," he said, glancing around at the dark hills that surrounded them. "There is something about this place that gives me the creeps anyway. This is the second time now I have felt something watching us. It makes me think we are being herded somewhere." "There is definitely something strange about this place," Susan agreed, staring up at the cliff top again. Drake glanced around at the rest of the rescue team, noticing that several of his soldiers were looking tired from the long walk up from the swamp. "Perhaps we should rest here for a while. It has been a long day, and it might be time to set up camp for the night. I don't think it would be a good idea to be tired if we do have to fight some alien menace." "I would prefer to be on high ground first," Susan said. "I don't want to be stuck down here if something is going to attack us, we are too vulnerable." "How about the top of the hill then," Drake suggested, pointing towards the cliff top above them. "We might be able to find a way to climb up there. If we post a guard then we shouldn't be bothered by whatever it is that has been watching us." Susan frowned, looking down the rough trail to the point were it turned around the corner of the gorge and vanished off into the darkness. This narrow valley was a dangerous place to be trapped if there was something out there that wished them harm. A boulder pushed over the edge of the cliffs would quickly lead to a proper avalanche, probably burying them in the process. Up ahead the valley only seemed to get narrower. "How far until we reach our destination?" she asked. "Still around another six or seven kilometres," Drake replied. "If the terrain remains like this though, it is going to take us another half a day to make it there. That is assuming that we don't run into anything along the way." He hesitated for a second, before saying, "I can send out a scouting party if you want." "Good idea, Sergeant," Susan said, nodding in agreement. "Pick three men and scout out the rest of this valley. Try and find a way up onto the ridge if you can, of a more defensible position to camp. Everyone else will have one drink from their canteens and fifteen minutes off their feet, starting now. Then we'll 'slow walk' until we catch up with you." "Yes, Captain," Drake said with a salute. "We will get back as soon as we can." "Look for somewhere to set up camp as well," Susan ordered. "Preferably somewhere protected. And keep an eye open for anything suspicious." Drake nodded and hurried off to carry out her orders. As he assembled his scouting party, his orders receiving a chorus of groans from the tired marines, Susan made her way over to where Talia was sitting. Despite carrying a lighter pack than the marines, the blonde telepath still looked exhausted after the long trek from the swamp. "Are you OK," Susan asked as she sat down on a large chunk of rock next to Talia. Talia stopped rubbing her sore feet for a moment and looked up at Susan with a tired smile on her face. "I don't think I have ever walked so far before. I must be out of shape, I think it is because I have spent so long in space." "I know what you mean," Susan replied, unclipping her pack and sliding off her shoulder. "We are taking a rest break now, so take off your pack and get something to eat. We should be stopping for the night soon. It is too far to continue on tonight. Drake is going to scout ahead and see if there isn't a suitable place to set up camp somewhere up ahead." "Sounds wonderful," Talia said, as she also removed her pack and dropped it onto the hard ground behind her. "After today, I think I could sleep for a month." As Susan smiled, Talia looked over at the Drake and three other marines, who were just walking heading off on their scouting mission. "What was all that noise a minute ago about?" she asked. "There was something on the cliff top," Susan informed her. "I think it might have been some sort of animal. It started a small rock slide. I didn't get a good look at the creature, just a quick glimpse of something black, before it vanished into that forest up there." Talia looked up, following the cliff top with her eyes, before frowning and turning back to Susan. "Did you sense anything out there," she asked in a low voice, after first checking around to make sure there wasn't anyone else nearby who might overhear their conversation. "You should have been able to pick up this creatures mental signature. That should have told you if it was an animal or something sentient." Susan shook her head. "I didn't think of trying." Talia stared at Susan in exasperation. she said telepathically. Susan replied. Talia reminded her. Susan sighed, and after glancing around at the marines to ensure none were watching her, she nodded. Closing her eyes, she began to reach out with her mind, searching for any sign of the creature she had seen earlier. Almost immediately the thoughts of those nearby began to intrude into her mind. Fortunately there were only the five marines, Dr. Melis, and Talia who were left, and it took her less than a minute to block them all out. She felt a small rush of pride at her effort, realising that she was slowly improving in her abilities. It was now possible to block out the thoughts of others with little more than a moment of concentration, where before she would have been overwhelmed by the rush of voices. For a moment her mind wandered, searching around the small clearing the rescue party was resting in. Then she felt a brief flash of encouragement from somewhere close by, and a warm hand closed over hers. Talia sent. Nodding, Susan allowed her mind to search beyond the clearing, reaching across the surrounding country side, searching for anything that might be alive. Tiny specks of mental activity marked the locations of animals and other wildlife. She didn't stay long in their minds, they were too small to pick up anything but the most basic of emotions and in the case of most of these creatures it was hunger they were feeling. Letting her thoughts leap from mind to mind, she reached out across the nearby forest, always searching for the mind of the creature that had been observing them. Then she found it, an alien mind travelling away from them as fast as it could run. The creature was so alien that she picked up less from it than she had from the animals and insects she had scanned before it. All she received was a thought of failure, as if the creature had failed in some duty it was to perform. It was too far away now for a proper scan, but she still tried to dig deeper, to learn why it was watching them. Then she stopped herself, realising that she could not find out anything more without alerting the creature to her presence in its mind. Instead, she left the alien's mind and searched for other mind nearby. Once she had contacted one of the aliens, locating the others became considerably easier. Soon another three creatures had been located, all arranged in a line. Unlike the first creature, these aliens had a feeling of watchfulness about them, as if they were looking for something. Susan quickly realised that the something they were looking for was her rescue team. All of the aliens had thoughts about humans most prominent in their minds. They were searching for her. Before she had time to be worried about her findings though, another alien mind suddenly leapt into view in her mental landscape. This new mind was located far beyond the others, several kilometres distant at least, but it was considerably more powerful. With a sudden feeling of trepidation, she realised that this new mind could sense her, and that it was telepathic. However, it did not seem interested in her, instead it appeared not to even notice her, as if she wasn't important to it. Curious she looked closer, reaching out to the creature. Almost immediately though, she recoiled in shock, recognising the thoughts of the mind she had located. It was similar to the thoughts she had felt from Ambassador Kosh's transport when she had watched it. Back on Babylon 5, her mind hadn't been as powerful as it was now, and all she had detected was a faint echo of what she now felt, more a feeling that anything else. Now though, she felt the full weight of the thoughts and briefly shared in the ship's dreams of flying among the stars. It was an intoxicating dream, almost like a lullaby, and it was only her own shock at discovering another Vorlon vessel on this world that enabled her to break free. "What was that?" Talia asked, as Susan opened her eyes and shook her head to clear away the after effects of her mental contact with the Vorlon vessel. "A Vorlon ship I think," Susan replied, rubbing her temples to ease a sudden headache that was developing. She glanced up at Talia with a questioning look on her face "Did you see it?" "I was scanning you," Talia admitted. "I didn't know Vorlon vessels were alive though." Susan frowned. "I knew they were based on organic technology, but I didn't think they were actually sentient beings. I used to watch Kosh's ship, but I never felt anything like this before. This was definitely the mind of a intelligent creature." "Do you think it knew you were there?" Talia asked, sounding worried. "I don't think so," Susan replied, shaking her head. "It felt like it was asleep, as if it were resting and what I experienced was just a dream. It didn't seem interested in me at all." "Well at least we know there is something out there now." "I am not sure that knowledge is going to provide much comfort though," Susan said. "What ever it is out there, it had the Vorlons scared, and even the Shadows didn't do that. I'm not sure I want to meet whatever this creature is." The sound of approaching footsteps crunching on the loose rock that made up the clearing cut off any further conversation. Susan looked up and was surprised to find that the person approaching was one of the marines who had gone with Drake earlier. It seemed like it had only been a minute or two since the scouting party had left, but she must have spent a much longer time scanning for the alien watcher than she had though. She didn't allow her surprise to break her composure though, glaring at the marine and asking, "what is it." "Sergeant Drake sent me to get you, Captain," the marine said with a quick salute. "He said to tell you that he has found the second rover." Susan leapt to her feet. "He has? Show me at once." "This way, Captain," the marine said, indicating the path up the valley. "It is only about a five minute walk." Susan nodded, before looking back to Talia. "Will you be OK waiting here?" she asked. "I'll be fine," Talia replied. "I need the break, anyway I have the doctor to keep me company." She pointed over her shoulder to where Melis was searching through the forest of mushrooms and other fungi with a scanner in one had and a small collapsible pick in the other. Susan looked at Melis for several seconds, wondering what he was up to now. Then she nodded slowly. "I will be back as soon as I can," she told Talia, before turning and following the waiting marine along the path. Beyond the small clearing, the path widened and smoothed out. "It is not far, Captain," the marine. "About a hundred metres down this track, the path splits in two and one fork heads up to the summit of the hill. The sergeant is up there with Bozovic, while Cooper is searching along the other path in case there is anything important along there. She should be nearly back by now though." Just then the light from a spotlight appeared, its owner obviously heading back towards Susan and her guide. "This could be her now," Susan said, remembering that Private Cooper was one of the marines who had been with her during the examination of the crashed Vorlon transport. Susan and her guide met up with Cooper at the folk in the path. If the private was surprised to see Susan, she didn't show any sign of it. Instead, she just saluted and said, "nothing in that direction, Captain. The trail peters out after a couple of hundred metres. Obviously it is no longer used." "Head back to where the others are then," Susan ordered. "Get some rest and something to eat." "Sounds good to me," Cooper replied with a faint smile. She shouldered her PPG rifle, and with a faint nod to Susan's companion headed back down the trail towards the clearing where the others waited. Susan turned to her guide. "Is it much further?" As if in answer to her question, the sound of sergeant Drake's voice reached her ear. She turned around again and stared towards the hill top. Only about fifty metres above her, she could see the sergeant waving his spotlight towards her. "Up here, Captain," he called out. "Just follow the path until it reaches the base of the hill and then take the stairs up the summit. "Stairs?" Susan asked her guide as she began walking along the right fork in the path. "That's what they look like," the marine with her said, shrugging his shoulders. "It is almost as if they have been carved out of the rock. Bozovic thought they might be natural, carved by water or something like that. I am not so sure though." As the stairs came into view, Susan found herself agreeing with her guide. The stairs turned out to be tall steps carved directly from the stone of the hillside. Although they were obviously very old and had been worn away due to erosion and the passage of time, Susan was almost certain that they could not be natural. Given that she had just discovered that there were intelligent alien creatures on this world, she was even more convinced that these stairs were artificial. At the moment though, who made them was less important than their actual existence. Without them, it would have been almost impossible to make it up the steep slope of the hill. Placing her feet carefully, to avoid slipping on the moss that grew in abundance over the ancient stairs, Susan began to journey up to the summit of the small hill. "You've found the other rover?" Susan asked, as she clambered up onto the rocky summit where Drake and another marine were scouting the surrounding landscape. They both carried enhanced binoculars which were capable of seeing through the darkness and spotting any source of heat within range. As soon as she reached the grove of yellow mushrooms where the scouting party had set up their equipment, the sergeant passed her his pair of binoculars. "It is just sitting there," he said, pointing to a distant object. "No sign of anyone nearby either. They could be inside, but I would have thought that they would have set a guard, or at least left a light on." Susan raised the binoculars to her eyes, quickly activating the zoom and image enhancements. A moment later she was looking down on the silent form of the second IPX rover, standing dejected and mud splattered in the centre of barren field. "The reactor is off line," she noted, after activating the heat sensors on the binoculars. "There doesn't appear to be anyone nearby either. The only thing the heat detector is showing is local plant life." "Scan twenty degrees to the left," the other marine, private Bozovic, suggested. "There is something very interesting going on there." Susan slowly turned, so she could see what the marine was looking at. "What the hell..." she muttered as soon as the binoculars focused on the structure the marines had found. "It appears to be some sort of spire," Drake explained. "Bozovic noticed it shortly after I found the rover." "There are lot of creatures moving around its base," Susan noted, scanning downwards with the binoculars until they picked up the heat signatures of a large group of creatures. "There isn't enough light to give a good indication of what they are though." "It could be the Major and the missing crew from the Sturt," Drake suggested. "But you are right, it is too difficult to tell from this distance." "How far between that spire and the rover?" "About two hundred metres," Drake replied. "It is open ground in between as well, so anyone at that spire would be able to see the rover and vice versa." Susan nodded slowly and returned to watching the activity around the tall black spire. With the binoculars it was impossible to get any details about the spire's structure, as it gave out no heat and appeared as a cold, black blot against an equally dark background. It was only the occasional flash of lightning that gave any indication that it existed at all. The display was giving a strong readout on the creatures though, enough to tell her that they were approximately human sized, although at this distance any further details were impossible to pick out. "So, what do we do, Captain," Drake asked, looking at her for orders. Handing him back his binoculars, Susan thought for a second before replying. "We rest here for another hour, that should give everyone time to get something to eat and rest their tired muscles. Walking over this rough ground has been tiring on everyone. How far from here to the rover?" "About two kilometres, although the ground is a lot smoother once we get down the other side of this hill." Drake paused and pointed at the track heading down the other side of the hill. "This path seems to continue on, and it might even go all the way to were the rover." Susan nodded. "Good, then we can follow it. Once everyone had rested up for a bit, I want to continue on until we reach the rover. I would prefer to be inside it, rather than sitting out in the open. Then, if nothing happens during the night, we can set a guard on the rover and continue on towards that spire. That isn't were the signal was detected from, was it?" Drake shook his head, pointing off in a completely different direction. "About six more kilometres in that direction. Going to check out the rover actually increases the distance." "I still think it would be best to examine the rover first. There doesn't appear to be anyone nearby, but there may be some clue as to what happened to Major Logan's team." "That does seem like the best course of action right now," Drake confirmed. "Pack up here then, and head back to the clearing." "We will be along in a minute, Captain." Susan nodded and after a final glance in the direction of the rover, heading back down the stairs towards the rest of the marines. Back on the summit, Drake and Bozovic spent several minutes packing away the delicate binoculars and scanners in the sergeants pack, before following her. Then they also walked back down the stairs. No-one noticed the silent figure lying beneath a particularly tall mushroom. As soon all the humans had vanished, the scout picked himself up and switched off his recording device. Then, careful not to make any noise, he hurried off down the path towards the construction site, eager to make his report before the aliens could continue their journey. Perhaps now his promotion would not be so far away. ------------------------------------------------------------ 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 7 - Part C Date: Sat, 27 Feb 1999 23:07:50 +1030 ------------------------------------------------------------ Lily awoke slowly, her entire body feeling as though it were on fire. Slowly dragging her eyelids open she stared at the blurry landscape in front of her for a moment before quickly closing them again as her head began to feel woozy and the room began to spin around her. From somewhere nearby a voice called, "it looks like she is awake, doctor." She concentrated on the voice, using it to focus her confused mind. She noted that the speaker had a Russian accent, something the cheered her no end as it meant that it wasn't one of the aliens. They always spoke perfect English, well all except for their leader, Jeanne. She frowned, remembering the last time she had been awake. She had been in the throne room and had been injured. The facts about how she had come to be injured were still a little hazy, but Lily was sure they would come to her in time. All she remembered for the moment though, was that she had been injured and it had been Jeanne who had healed her. A dull ache began to creep along her forehead, and it was several seconds before she realised that it was the act of frowning that was causing it. "How are you feeling," the voice asked her. This time Lily recognised that the speaker was male as well as Russian. Confused she tried to remember anyone under her command that fitted that description. "Major Logan?" the voice asked, sounding concerned. Curious about the identity of the speaker, Lily opened her eyes again, blinking against the glare of the light someone was holding above her. She blinked several more time and her vision began to clear, bringing an unfamiliar face swam into view. It was a handsome face, framed by a mop of curly dark brown hair, which had been allowed to grow much longer than was regulation in the marines. Noticing that Lily was awake, the unfamiliar man's brown eyes lit up and he smiled a friendly tooth-filled smile. "Welcome back to the land of the living," he said cheerfully. "You had us worried for a while there." After staring blankly at him for several seconds, Lily finally asked, "who are you." Her voice came out as a dry croak, but the man seemed to understand her anyway. "Nicolai Luchenko," he said in his annoyingly cheerful voice. "I thought you would remember me from the academy, Lil." Lily groaned, partly due to the way she felt, but mostly because she finally recognised him. During her days at the academy, Nicolai had also been a student there. Like most of the jobs he had tried in his life, he didn't stick at it for long and he was only attended for a few weeks. That was long enough though to date almost all of the woman in the academy. Lily had been one of the few to resist his charm, which only made him try harder. "I thought you were going to be a politician," she muttered. "Not as exciting as this, Lil," Nicolai said, still smiling. He dug a hand into a pocket and pulled out a large chunk of stone, which Lily recognised as an enormous uncut ruby. "Take a look at this beauty, and there a thousands more like it, just waiting to be dug out of the ground." Lily had a sudden flash of understanding, realising what Jeanne had been talking about when she had said that the prisoners were working the mines without any encouragement from her guards. If they were mining gemstones of the same quality as the one Nicolai was holding, then it made perfect sense. Further thoughts on the subject were halted though, as another unknown figure pushed himself into her field of view. "Hello, Major Logan," the middle aged man said gently. "I am Dr. Abbado. I was the ship's doctor on the Sturt, now I am trying to keep everyone here healthy." "How am I doing then?" she asked, her voice beginning to regain some of its strength. She still felt terrible though, and every time she made even the slightest movement a jolt of pain ran down the limb she was attempting to move. "Now that is an interesting question," Abbado said, his bushy eyebrows arching upwards as he studied the readout on a medical scanner he held in his left hand. "According to this data you are extremely lucky to be alive. There is an indication of damage to your heart muscle, although somehow it has been repaired. You have also been infected with an unknown virus and I can't even begin to make a judgement on what that is doing to you." "What do you mean?" "Well, it is proving very difficult to pick up the virus with these instruments," Abbado explained. "The scanner is reading a foreign compound in your blood, but when I try to get specifics about its effects, or even its general structure, it can't find anything. It is almost ghost-like, there, but at the same time, not really there. There is nothing I can do about it, so if it proves to be deadly, then I don't think I will be able to stop its effects. Fortunately though, it doesn't seem to have had any negative effect so far, at least none that I can register." He stopped and stared at the scanner again, before continuing. "Have you been exposed to anything that might have done this?" he asked, looking back down at Lily. Lily closed her eyes for a second and began to sort through her memories. Since waking up fully a lot more had come back to her. Images of a sword piercing her chest, and then a worried looking girl bending over her flooded back. "I think she might have done something to me," Lily said finally. "She said that she healed me and I wondered what she meant. Perhaps this virus is what she used." Abbado nodded, and began fiddling with his instruments again. Next to the doctor, Nicolai stared at Lily with a confused look on his face. "Her?" he asked. "Jeanne," Lily replied. "That psychopathic witch who runs this whole place. She stabbed me and then tried to claim that it was my fault." "Jeanne," Nicolai mused. "Is she the one that the aliens call 'The Mistress'?" Lily nodded in confirmation. "Yes," she said. "They all seem to treat her as though she is some sort of god, but as far as I can work out, she is a human who was taken from Earth several hundred years ago and altered by the Vorlons. I don't really understand all of what she told me, but I think she might have got off side with the Vorlons for some reason and they imprisoned her here. I don't really remember much more than that." "That's more than I knew before," Nicolai said. "Everyone here has been curious about this Mistress character, ever since we were first bought here. All the aliens do is talk about her. It is always the Mistress this, and the Mistress that, when you try to talk to them. They way they discuss her, it is as if she were their goddess." "They may think she is, but believe me, she is definitely no goddess," Lily replied, pulling herself up until she rested on her elbows. She realised that she was in a small room, a little smaller than the cell they had placed her in when she had first arrived at this place, but still comfortable enough to big enough to accommodate several people comfortably. Apart from Nicolai and Dr. Abbado, there were also another five people in the room, or standing nearby. Two she recognised immediately as Hawke and Anderson, the two marine who had been with her on the rover. The others were unfamiliar, so she assumed they must be crew from the Sturt. Noticing that Lily was looking at him, a short, stocky man dressed in a torn and dirty flight suit stepped forward. "I am Jeremy Curran, the Sturt's first officer, and this is Stefano Candelli, the security officer and Janet Petrilli, the IPX team leader." "How did you all get here?" Lily asked, staring at each of them in turn. They didn't looks like they were in poor health so however long they had been here, they had obviously been treated well. Their clothes, however, where another matter all together. With the exception of Dr. Petrilli, everyone's clothing was covered with a film of white dust. Obviously they had all been busy working in the mines. "I would imagine that we arrived here much the same way you did," Curran replied. "Shortly after we ended up in that swamp, the Captain sent us out to take a look around and that is when they pounced on us. I'm not sure exactly how long it has been, but we have been here for at least three weeks." Lily nodded, pulling herself up into a sitting position. It was then that she noticed that her uniform was gone and in its place was an old black robe, almost identical to the one Jeanne had been wearing. "Where is my uniform?" she asked, fingering the robe with a slightly disgusted look on her face. "Over there," Nicolai said, pointing to a small table near the entrance where her uniform lay, all neatly folded as though it had just been cleaned. "They bought it in a couple of hours ago. Said something about the Mistress wanting her robe back too. Anything you want to tell us about, Lil." As Lily scowled at Nicolai, Curran cut in. "Actually anything you can tell us about this Jeanne would be useful. We don't know a lot, only what Dr. Petrilli told us from her meeting." Lily nodded. "I don't know a lot. However, I can tell you it is impossible to kill her. I know, I tried. She heals almost as quickly as she is wounded." "Why were you trying to kill her?" Nicolai asked her. "That doesn't sound like the Lillian I knew." "Stop using my first name," Lily snarled at him. "You will address me as Major Logan, as I seem to be the highest ranking Earthforce officer here." "The only Earthforce officer here," Curran reminded her. "Everyone else is a civilian and so they are not really used to the military discipline. We then to keep things fairly informal around here. Why don't we wait outside while you change. When you are ready, I can show you around." "See you later, Lil," Nicolai said, putting on his most charming smile, before ducking out of the room before she could turn on him again. "Are you sure you are ready to get up?" Dr. Abbado asked, looking concerned for her. "Only minutes ago you were out cold and I thought you were going to die." "I will be fine," Lily replied, waving a hand towards the door. "Good to have you back, Major," Hawke said as he left, quickly followed by the everyone else. As soon as the door had spiralled shut, Lily swung her legs over the edge of the bed and tried to get to her feet. As soon as her feet touched the ground pain shot up both legs. She gritted her teeth and forced to herself to stand, noticing to her surprise that the pain slowly faded away after a couple of minutes. It was as if her body hadn't been used for some time and she had to force herself to move. Walking stiffly across to the table where her uniform waited she tore off the robe and tossed it away, noting that at least the aliens who had dressed her had left her underwear on. Picking up her shirt, she noticed that it was still slightly stained in one spot, obviously where her blood had flowed out of the wound. She glanced down and noticed that there was only a faint scar left to remind her of the wound that had nearly killed her. She didn't know how Jeanne had healed her, but it had certainly done a good job. Staring closely at her shirt, she noticed that it had been repaired as well, the gash where Jeanne's sword had cut through the thin material, almost invisible now. Whoever had sewn it back together had been a real expert. Pulling it on, she quickly buttoned it up and picked up the rest of her uniform. As quickly as she could, she dressed, ignoring the occasional jolts of pain that occurred when she bent over or made any sudden movements. Then, after making sure her Earthforce insignia was straight, she opened the door and left the small cell. Everyone who had been in her room, along with several new arrivals, were waiting for her outside. Before anyone could say anything, Lily jumped in asking, "is there anything to eat around here?" Curran nodded. "There is a mess hall at the end of the hall. They provide us with all the food and water we want. The water tastes a bit funny though, and the food is rather bland. You can eat it though, no-one has come down sick yet anyway." "Right now I just want something to eat," Lily told him. "I don't care what it taste likes." "This way then," Curran said, sweeping his hand in towards the left end of the hall. "The rest of you can get back to what ever you were doing," Lily ordered, when she noticed that everyone else was about to follow her and Curran. "I will be around in a while to examine our situation." Then she looked at the two marines. "Hawke, I want you to scout out the exits to this place. Look for any way we might be able to escape. Anderson, see what we have in the way of tools. This is a mine, so there should be drills or laser cutters around her somewhere. We might be able to use those as weapons." "Right away, Major," the two marines said, almost in unison, before staring at each other and then hurrying off to carry out their orders. "I can save them the trouble," Curran said, as they began the short journey down towards the mess hall. "We've already had a thorough look around, and there is only one way out of this mine... the front door. And that is heavily guarded. There are always at least ten guards there at once, and beyond that there is a large barracks were there are even more guards. I was talking to one of the aliens last week and after I explained the concept of an army to him, he told me that over quarter of their population serves as warriors or scouts." "Interesting," Lily replied, examining the metallic walls of the corridor as they walked. "And the tools we were given are extremely basic," the Sturt's first officer continued. "All we have are picks and shovels, nothing that would be any use against those creatures." "They cut through rock don't they?" Lily asked. "Yes, but..." "Then they will do," she said firmly. "We are not soldiers, Major," Curran argued. "Most of the prisoners here are just scientists and quite frankly we don't want to do anything that might upset the guards. We have been getting along quite nicely with them, and they have treated us badly or anything like that." Lily spun on him and, gripping the front of his dusty flight suit in both hands, lifted Curran off the ground and pushed him against the wall of the corridor. "I don't care if they bring you morning tea each day," she snarled. "I am not going to give that bitch the comfort of knowing she has beaten me." Then she frowned, as if the strength her anger provided had surprised her. Carefully lowering Curran back down to the ground she turned and continued back down the corridor. After noticing that Curran wasn't following her, she turned back and said, "besides, I don't think I could last more than a couple of days with Mr. Luchenko." "He does have somewhat of an annoying personality," Curran agreed, rejoining Lily. "However, ever since we found out what they wanted us to mine here, he has been busy in the mines every day. Most of us have put aside quite a nice stash of gems by now." "That is what she wants you to do," Lily explained. "She is letting you keep part of what you mine to keep you happy. A happy slave won't try and escape quite as often." "It's not like that," Curran tried to argue. "No-one is a slave here. If we didn't want to work, then we don't have to." "You don't even know you are a slave," Lily snorted, as she pushed open the door to the mess hall. There were two other prisoners in the mess hall, one of them Lily recognised as Laura Altmann, one of the IPX scientists who had been on her rover. She didn't stop to say hello though, instead she pointed to them and then jerked her thumb in the direction of the doorway. "Everyone out," she ordered. "This is a private conference, come back later." The two scientist took one look at the fiery glare in Lily's eyes and then ran for the door. "Was that really necessary?" Curran asked, as Lily poured herself a jug of water and collected a plate of food. "What we are about to say is hardly private or anything." Instead of replying, Lily simply said, "God, I'm thirsty." She put the plate of food down on a table and began to gulp down water directly from the jug. She discovered that Curran was right, the water did have a strange taste, but to her it was like the sweetest wine. She couldn't remember the last time she had had anything to drink and all she knew was that she was incredibly thirsty and had to drink something. Before she knew it, the entire jug was empty. "Are you all right," Curran asked, looking shocked and disgusted at the same time. "I have never felt better," Lily replied, as she placed the now empty jug back on the table with a satisfied gasp. "All I needed was something to drink." "But... a whole jug? You will only make yourself sick." "I said I am fine," Lily said. "Now sit down. We have to discuss our escape plan." "What's the use of trying to escape," Curran muttered as he took a seat opposite Lily, who was busy shovelling chunks of some sort of plant root into her mouth. "This is really nice stuff," Lily exclaimed between mouthfuls. She munched on another chunk and chewed it experimentally, as if trying to determine its taste. "It could do with a little salt though," she decided. "What the hell is wrong with you, Major," Curran demanded. Lily put down the fork she had been using as glared at him. "Look, I haven't had anything to eat or drink in at least ten hours, probably twice that. I have been stabbed, nearly killed, and finally poked by that doctor of yours. So you will forgive me if my actions seem a little strange, but I need to regain my strength for the escape attempt." "And I said there is not going to be an escape attempt," Curran snarled, losing his temper at last. "You can't just waltz in here, take over, and then order everyone to risk their lives because you order it. We are best just waiting here for a rescue." Lily looked at Curran as if he was something that she had just scraped off her shoe. Carefully pushing her plate to one side, she leaned forward and grabbed the first officer by the front of his flight suit. Then in low, precise tones, she said, "I am your rescue. If you sit here waiting for someone else, then you are going to be here for the rest of your life. So you are going to start doing what I say, or I will have you confined to quarters." "I am not out of your grunts," Curran managed to get out, although his collar was beginning to squeeze his neck and it was becoming difficult to breath. Lily released her grasp and allowed Curran to slump back into his chair. "That's right, you're not," she agreed. "Each one of my soldiers is worth twenty times one or you civilian fools. Men like Hawke and Anderson know how to follow orders and they aren't going to just give up and let some psychopath imprison them. We are going to get out of here and you are going to help us." "Very well," Curran said with a defeated sigh. "I don't suppose you would like to fill me in on exactly how we are going to escape." "Easy," Lily said with a broad smile. "We are going to dig our way out." "You can't be serious," Curran spluttered. "Why? We have all the tools here, you said so yourself. Obviously I wouldn't try to fight my way out, not with a bunch of civilians to look after. So we will have to dig a tunnel out of this place." "But, we don't know which way to dig. For all we know, it could be solid rock in all direction. And what happens if we strike an underground river?" "Then we all die," Lily replied. "But, doing something is better than sitting here and doing what she wants. Bring everyone in here, I want to talk to them. We have to work out a plan, as well a roster for working. We also need to set up guards to make sure none of her minions find out what we are doing." "As you wish, Major," Curran said, getting up out of his chair. "I still think this is a stupid idea and is probably going to get us killed." "When we escape you can tell my superiors that I recklessly endangered your lives if you wish. But, right now I want everyone doing what I order. We are going to get out of this prison, or we are going to die in the attempt." Shaking his head sadly, Curran left the mess hall to gather the rest of the prisoners. Behind him, Lily smiled, before turning back to her meal. All trace of the pain she had felt when she first awoke was gone, and now all that was left was a feeling of euphoria and power. It was as if every cell in her body was truly alive for the first time in her life, and her body felt charged with energy. "I am going to show you," she muttered to herself, as she bit down on another chunk of the bland vegetable. "There has to be a way out of this place and I am going to find it. After all, you can't use us as hostages if we have all escaped." ------------------------------------------------------------ Sel Vecantie e-mail: vecantie@geocities.com homepage: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/9933/ ICQ: 23223547