CHAPTER FOUR
After the last particles of the planet disbanded into the darkness of space, Riona turned towards the human. He pressed another button which closed the screen doors. He raised his right index claw again, and approached Jeff, more solemn than before.
“You don’t understand me, do you, Mr. Walker?” he asked. “I am not a violent being, and I don’t like war, but sometimes there is no other way. I am only trying to do what is best for the Republic, as you are trying to do what is best for Tolaria.”
“I’m from Mars, not Tolaria.”
“You’re a liar! Mars is a cold and barren world. There are no humans there!”
“Something must have happened to them,” Jeff said. “Maybe the Tolarions attacked them.”
“Perhaps, “Riona pondered. “Or maybe you are trying to block it from your memory?”
“Only you would know,” Jeff joked.
“True,” Riona answered, as he smiled again.
“Release my friends at least!” Jeff pleaded with him. “They have done nothing.”
“You will all be executed in good time!” he yelled and became more psychotic, physically slamming Jeff against the wall, grabbing him tight around the neck. “Do you know what type of atmosphere is outside? It is much like your own. It is totally poisonous and unbearable. What better way to kill you than to let you suffocate in a soup of noxious gas! Enough sentimentality, it’s time to die!” Jeff crouched, short of breath as the guards lifted him and began towards the door.
“Isn’t there any other way?” Zarcon pleaded.
“No, Zarcon,” he stated. “You know the Republic is firm on such matters.”
While he grabbed Jeff, Zarcon caught Riona off guard, and used his mind to inflict pain on two of the guards. Riona turned towards the commotion, and Jeff grabbed his hand, firing the laser into his leg, which caused Riona to fall to the floor in pain.
“Run!” Zarcon yelled to his friends, transmitting brain waves that pierced through Riona’s head painfully. When Riona was near unconsciousness, Zarcon ran behind his friends into the corridor. Riona regained his strength, and lifted himself up. Even though Zarcon had maimed him, he was still quite powerful.
Terror flowed through their bloodstreams while they approached the hangar deck. When they entered the Rigil Four, a guard tried to grab Jeff from behind but Zarcon counteracted his attempt by using his mind. They entered the craft and prepared for take-off. Jeff fired up their propulsion system and the ship began to propel down the hangar deck, and left the dome city, as several Belorians chased after the craft, leaving a path of blue flames behind them as the hangar doors closed behind them.
“How powerful is Riona’s mind?” Jeff asked, as they accelerated through the atmosphere and towards space.
“Not powerful enough to do us any harm once we get away from them,” Zarcon answered. “I can feel him trying to attack my mind, but his influence is getting weaker.”
“Thank God for miracles!” Jeff barked, as the lingworts smiled at him. “Dormiton, switch that red button on the panel. The one that activates the gravity control onboard the ship.” His friend responded to his request.
Zarcon glanced at the viewing screen as they approached space.
“Republic ships closing at 79,000 parsecs,” he stated. “We also have Tolarion ships closing in at 120,000 parsecs.”
“Looks like we’ve outstayed our welcome on both sides of the fences,” Jeff said. “Zarcon, you didn’t by any chance get time to have your men put the jamming device in, did you?”
“With Riona coming?” he answered. “Their minds were probably under his control the whole time.”
“Well then,” Jeff answered. “It’s gonna take some ingenuity and quick maneuvering to get out of this one. Dorm, activate the dimensional transporter on my command. Zarcon, do the shields need to be on when you travel through the wormhole?”
“Yes,” he answered. “But if any those ships get into the field of the portal, they will be with us on the way out.”
“Then we’ll just have to get them to come after each other. Dorm, how close are they now?”
“Republic ships at 40,000, Tolarion at 80, 000,” he answered. “They’re activating their weapons system. Impact in eight seconds.” Three seconds passed and Jeff responded.
“Now,” he yelled. “Get us out of here, Dorm!” He pressed the button, and within seconds, a solar flare appeared again from the closest sun intersecting with the ship’s light beam and forming a wormhole, which they passed through and found themselves in any empty quadrant of space.
“Where are we?” the amphibian asked, feeling a bit dazed again.
“Back in Mr. Walker’s own universe,” Zarcon stated. “Somewhere in the Orion system. We cannot stay here long; they will find us. We’ve got to find a place to hide and come up with a plan.”
“I agree,” Jeff answered.
The lingworts looked at each other like their friends were insane. All this jumping in space was making them feel like they had rolled down a hill.
“Are you two out of your minds?” Dormiton screeched. “A plan to do what? How do you expect us to go up against both sides? We’ll be killed!”
“If we don’t do something we’re as good as dead anyway,” Jeff replied.
“You are willing to die for this senseless war?” Milgic asked.
“They’ve probably killed off both our races already. What else do you suggest we do,” Jeff asked the amphibians.
“Survive,” Dormiton answered. “If what you say is true, we are the last of our races and we must preserve that legacy.” He admired the fact that he finally was catching onto the idea of optimistic thinking.
“I don’t intend on dying yet,” Jeff said. “But we can’t allow Riona to go through with his plans of using that death ray.”
“Well,” Milgic muttered. “You can count me out of any plans you have.”
“Well, at any rate,” interrupted Zarcon. “We have to find a place to hide. I’ll send out a probe.” He pressed a button, which launched a tiny probe into the darkness ahead of them.
The computer relayed its findings to the crew of the Rigil Four. “Nearest planet is Zebula. Two weeks arrival at maximum speed,” it said. “Oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere, surface temperature 90 degrees at equator, approximately 72% water. Land masses at the North and South poles and at the equator. No intelligent life forms present.”
“Set course for Zebula, maximum speed. Keep shields down, unless enemy ships are indicated.” Jeff was curious to find out a little more about the Tolarion government so he consulted the computer. “Computer,” Jeff commanded. “Tell me more about these Tolarions.”
“The Tolarions evolved as a race 105 years ago," the computer responded. “They are a race of genetically altered humanoid, developed from simian, human, and an undefined alien DNA by the 21st century human Tolarion leader, Akros.”
Jeff digested the information, amazed to believe that a human had anything to do with this grotesque race of beings or with wormholes for that manner. This explained why they were able to understand English. He remembered from Earth history one particular man had gone farther on the study of genes than others, but he found himself unable to remember his name. The other question he had was how this particular human would know anything about theories that weren’t even developed on Earth or Mars yet.
“How did the human reach Tolaria?” Jeff asked.
“Insufficient data,” it answered.
“What was his name?”
“Insufficient data.”
“What is the location of Tolaria and its known defense systems in relation to its own universe?”
“Tolaria is in star sector 18-905 in the Aria star system. Defense systems unavailable to this unit,” the machine answered. He became impatient with the device. He began to wonder if the alleged attack on Mars wasn’t a deliberate attack to get humans involved with the conflict. They wanted to rule every planet in both universes, and the humans were
just as much a threat to them as Riona.
“How did the Tolarions develop the ability to travel through wormholes?” the human asked.
“Insufficient data,” the computer evasively stated again.
While Dormiton periodically monitored the scanners, Jeff consulted the computer one more time about a connection between the three worlds of Earth, Beloria, and Tolaria. They all were similar in composition, but their atmospheric characteristics were different. Earth was mostly nitrogen-oxygen based, Tolaria was mostly nitrous oxide, and Beloria was mostly carbon-dioxide. Oxygen was present in each atmosphere, but the concentration of each one was different.
Something else was odd. They received readings of a distress call from Beloria which was recorded before they left the other universe. It couldn’t have been a Tolarion attack because the Republic sensors would have detected this. Two thoughts passed through his mind-either the Republic set a trap for them, or he suspected something more sinister was going on.
“Is it possible for your planet’s defenses to have a malfunction?” he asked Zarcon.
“Not likely. The Tolarions must have attacked.”
“No, I don’t think so,” Jeff said. “I’ve got a bad feeling that something else has gone terribly wrong. Well, at any rate, we can’t turn back.”
“Our lives are in your hands, Captain Walker,” Zarcon said.
He liked the sound of ‘captain.’ He always wanted his own starship to command, but not under these stressful circumstances. He only flew small scout ships that surveyed close to uninhabitable worlds that tormented the soul. He didn’t realize at the time the size of the ship he would later command was much larger than even this one. He allowed Zarcon to pilot the craft while he slept on their journey towards Zebula. He’d been through one of the toughest weeks of his life, and was exhausted. Dormiton and Milgic remained awake with Zarcon, mesmerized by the stars, and began to fully realize how vast space can be.
“I always thought that Lingwort was it,” Dormiton said to his life-long friend. “To think, we’re only one kind of animal among billions in this emptiness called ‘space.”
“Will we ever see home again?” Milgic asked.
“Probably not. Once we left there, I don’t think Jeff had any intentions on going back.”
“I wonder what happened to the rest of our people.”
“They are probably all right. That is if the Tolarions didn’t get them.”
“I don’t like this thing called ‘war.’ It has separated us from our homeland, and brought out bitterness in Jeff.”
“Yes, I know. He used to be a lot happier.”
“Until the aliens came.”
“Yes the aliens. Milgic, would it be wrong to feel anger over the loss of our friends?”
“I think I can answer that,” Zarcon interrupted. “If you feel the Tolarions are responsible for their deaths, then you are not wrong. Although it is not always advisable to fight for what you believe is right, sometimes you have no choice. This is what we call ‘war.”
“Why can’t we just find a planet to live on in peace?” Milgic asked.
“Because the Tolarions will not allow us to do so. They’ll keep on invading worlds until somebody stops them. Right now we just have to bide our time until we come up with a plan.”
“How can the four of us defeat an empire?” screeched Milgic, who almost woke Jeff up. He rolled over, and went back to sleep.
“We alone cannot,” Zarcon explained. “But we can find other worlds willing to join our cause.”
“Like the world we’re going to?” Milgic asked.
“No, there isn’t any advanced life there. We’re going there to seek refuge until we can figure out what to do.”
“Will we be safe there?” Dormiton inquired.
“For a while,” Zarcon said. “I have to work on a jamming device so the Tolarions cannot detect us. The Galactic Republic won’t be as easy to escape from, however. Their ships are just as fast as this one, and we cannot hide from Riona’s powers. He knows everything about the Tolarions and the Republic’s defense systems.”
“He does?” Jeff asked, just awaking from his long rest. “That explains a little. Is it possible that he is a double-agent?”
“You’re joking,” Zarcon stated. “He’s the president of the council!”
“Which gives him full access to all information, correct?”
“That is correct,” Zarcon answered, seeing his point. He also now saw that something much more sinister was going on than just an attack or invasion. Someone in the council lied to him, and he was going to get to the bottom of it sooner or later. “You don’t suppose he’s used the fusion ray again do you?”
“Let’s hope not,” Jeff said. “But it kind of appears that way. Why don’t you explain to me how it works?”
“The gun is fired by a nuclear fusion based generator in its base that can absorb the amount of energy needed from a nearby sun, and then distributes it to its target wherever that may be. It is also capable of generating a wormhole if necessary to achieve the task.”
“Again I ask,” the human inquired. “Why the hell would you create such a thing? You people sure like to play with fire!”
They obtained every piece of information they could extract from the ship’s computer banks, including the location of their main control center and weapons arsenal on the planet of Tolaria. Zarcon did the best he could on a jamming device but he lacked certain materials he needed. He lacked Cobalt to finish the casing on it, and there was none on the ship. He was certain he could find it on Zebula. With the planet only a few days away, they prepared themselves for whatever animal life was there. Zarcon was more of a scientist than a diplomat, and was eager to study it. Jeff warned him, however, to keep any life forms away from the ship, and to carry a weapon with him just in case they were hostile.
Dormiton and Milgic were ordered to stay on board after their arrival. They were trapped inside the vessel for a long while and were starting to get edgy with one another.
"I need someone to watch the ship,” Jeff explained to them. “We can’t afford to risk all of our lives!”
“If there are dangerous animals what do we do?” Milgic asked.
“Stay in the ship!” Jeff answered. “Even if I’m killed in the process.”
“What if we’re captured?”
“I don’t have all the answers, Guys,” Jeff said. “Chances are we will not get killed if we’re careful. Isn’t that right, Zarcon?”
“Yes, that is correct,” he answered.
“What will this world be like?” asked Dormiton. “Will we able to swim in it?”
“I don’t know,” Jeff said. “I don’t even know if we can drink the water, let alone swim in it.”
“I hope so,” Milgic replied. “I hope it’s filled with beautiful trees and white sandy beaches, just like Lingwort.”
“That’s very doubtful,” Zarcon stated. “Sensors indicate that the vegetation is limited and only in certain regions.”
“Well, Zarcon, let’s aim for one of those regions,” Jeff instructed. “We’re all very hungry and tired. Hopefully there will edible vegetation there.”
“You do not eat meat?” Zarcon asked the human, surprised.
“I do, but my friends don’t.”
“Don’t they eat insects like most amphibians?”
“Their ancestors once did. Their culture has taught them that it’s wrong to kill, even for food.” Zarcon nodded, and checked the scanners again.
Ten days passed since their departure from the other universe, and there was still no sign of enemy craft. They knew their luck wouldn’t last forever, and they were beginning to get a little nervous. Zarcon eyed the scanners and the lingworts stayed alert in case they were needed.
“Still no sign of Riona,” Zarcon stated. “We’ve been lucky.”
“What’s so lucky about two days without food?” grumbled Milgic.
“Well,” Jeff said. “Let’s not press ou
r luck. We’ve still got to make it to Zebula in one piece once we get there, however, it will be difficult to leave without being attacked.”
“Not if I can finish the jamming device in time,” Zarcon added.
“If we have time to finish it. Besides, you even said yourself that it would not be effective against your own people.”
“Yes, that is true. The only way to defeat him is with the mind,” Zarcon said.
He turned back to the scanner console. The probe sent back more information about the aquatic world.
“Sensors indicate that there are reptilian life forms on Zebula.”
“Reptilian?” asked the commander.
“Yes, reptilian.”
“Any indication of size and anatomical structure?”
“Not at this time.”
“Send out another probe.”
“There is only one left. If we use that, we have no indication that there may be life on other worlds.”
“Well then,” Jeff stated. “We only have one other choice. We’ll have to land and hope for the best. We’ll have to probably still hijack another Tolarion ship for supplies at some point.”
The two lingworts looked at each other in disgust and disbelief, and Dormiton put his hand over his face and shook his head.
“That may be difficult,” Zarcon said. “They seldom travel alone.”
“Why don’t you find a hole and bury yourself deeper?” shouted Dormiton. “Why can’t we just land and hide until they’re gone?”
“We’re not sure we’ll even be able to,” Jeff answered.
By the next morning, they were only an hour or two away from their destination. As the time passed, they faintly saw the bluish green world, slightly larger than Earth and orbiting a small yellow sun. Its two moons shined brightly towards the star as the renegades’ ship passed by them. The two lingworts stared at the world in wonder, and Jeff knew in his mind their thoughts were on home. They didn’t want any part of the situation; they just wanted to be left alone in an environment they could live peacefully.
“We’re coming up on Zebula now,” Zarcon stated, as peered in his scanners.
“Reduce engines to orbital speed,” the leader told the computer. It followed the order and the ship's engines slowed down. “Any sign of enemy craft?”
“None,” Zarcon answered, a little bewildered why Riona hadn’t found them yet.
“Good,” Jeff said. “Prepare to enter the atmosphere. Shields on; fire reverse thrust.”
They approached the surface, and Jeff directed the ship towards the equatorial land-mass. There were many mountains and desert regions upon the land, but he didn’t see much in the way of vegetation, only in scattered areas. He figured they better land before any Republic vessels picked them up on their sensors. They entered a canyon, in which there was a river running through it. There was some foliage along its edges, in the form of brush and trees. He switched the velocity to sub orbital speed and landed along the dry embankment of the river. It was a little tricky to land in such a narrow space, but he was successful. Dust flew everywhere until the ship firmly set on the ground. He turned to Zarcon once they landed.
“Everyone will stay on board until I say it’s safe, understand?” They all nodded. “Are there still readings of reptilian life?”
“Yes,” Zarcon answered.
“Any signs of whether they’re primitive or advanced?”
“Not at this time.”
Jeff grabbed a laser pistol, some supplies, his backpack, and headed for the main door hatch.
“Zarcon,” he said, turning towards him. “I want you to stay here with the other two. If there's hostile life out there, I don’t want us all to get killed. You can do your scientific observations after we know what we’re dealing with. Luckily we landed near a river. I’ll bring back some water with me. It is safe to drink?”
“Yes,” Zarcon answered.
“If I’m not back in three hours, you can look for me, but only you. I don’t want our ship to fall into enemy hands.”
He nodded, as Jeff hit the main door controls. He held his laser tight as it slid open, and revealed the earth-like gorge that surrounded him, and the bright blue sky and the shadows that silhouetted the rocks around him.
Jeff jumped out, and felt the sandy soil beneath his boots. He started to follow the river embankment that flowed about six miles to the south, according to his hand held locating device. Judging from the vegetation in the area, the world didn’t appear to support dinosaurs. He surmised the reptiles picked up by the sensors were probably snakes or lizards. That would explain why the probe didn’t pick them up clearly. The sensors were designed to detect life forms, but only on the surface and not underneath.
Jeff embraced the full beauty of this livable, likable world. The sound of the river was extremely tempting, and he couldn’t resist going for a swim. He set his laser gun down and hid it beneath his suit he took off. Completely naked, he jumped into the cool and refreshing water. He knew he needed to be careful, but the alluring appeal of the river was too hard to resist. The river’s current was just strong enough to make it difficult to stand, and although it was a little chilly, it was refreshing. This didn’t bother Jeff because he was an excellent swimmer, swimming quite frequently in the artificial lakes on Mars and the ocean on Lingwort.
After Jeff bathed and drank a canteen full of it, he submerged some extra canteens underwater. He put his suit back on, picked up his laser gun, and started back to the ship to the others. He decided to investigate after he heard a startling sound up the river. It was as if something was watching him through the woods. He dropped the canteens in the sand, raised his laser gun, threw on his pack, and headed south following the river embankment.
The temperature felt around eighty degrees to him and was quite comfortable. He guessed they arrived in the spring months due the fact that the foliage was green. The forest nearby budded leaves, and the river was high but not overflowing the embankment. Jeff also heard the sound of the birds in the distance, but this was not the sound he heard a few minutes before.
It was a long time since he actually felt water that wasn’t salty or stagnant, other than the waterfall or springs on the island. Jeff also breathed the air here easier. He found many times the air on Lingwort wasn’t to his liking because it was thinner. He began to wonder why he ever wanted to get back to Mars in the first place. If his suspicions were true, there was really nothing left for him anyway.
Nonetheless, Mars was where his people were, and if he was wrong, he had to protect them from these invaders from a parallel universe. The idea was so bizarre he had a hard time believing it, but it was really happening. If he told Mars Mission Control there was a race with a weapon that was capable of destroying entire worlds and able to travel through wormholes, they would think he was crazy.
A mile down the river, Jeff came to a lake surrounded by a small jungle. The ravine got rockier, and was part of a mountain ridge that overlooked the lake on its north side. Jeff climbed on some rocks overlooking the area where a waterfall flowed into it, and admired the view of the rain forest for a few moments. He guessed the lake was about two miles long and the forest went on as far as his eyes could see. There was some wreckage near the lake in a small clearing, but it was impossible to determine its identity from such a distance.
Jeff also saw an ocean to the west side, as well as more mountains. It was a breathtaking view a photographer would have died for. He eyed the waterfall below him, and anchored his footing, careful not to slip.
It took Jeff back to a time when his grandfather was still alive. He was twelve when he last saw him on the Martian base. Colonel Thomas J. Walker saw the destruction of Earth firsthand, the rebuilding of society first underground and then on the space stations. He told Jeff the stories his father told him; stories that seemed like ancient fables now. Grandfather Walker used to have a cup of hot chocolate with Jeff and his uncle and talk about the way Earth used to be before the war. N
one of them saw it personally, but they’d describe it just the same.
Thomas Walker asked his grandchild if he wanted a marshmallow in his chocolate to start the conversation. “Yes please,” Jeff said, as he smiled. His uncle and his grandfather raised him since he was eight, when his parents were killed in an explosion.
“Did I ever tell you what you’re great grandfather used to tell me?” Thomas asked. “It was in 2045, I was almost your age. He talked about how beautiful the Earth was before the war, how there were great cities with millions of people. This was before we moved underground, before the air strikes.”
“How long did people live underground?” Jeff asked, as he sipped his hot chocolate.
“At least thirty years,” he said, mimicking his grandchild’s action.
“Before that everybody lived above ground,” his Uncle Clark added.
“What was that like?” the tween asked.
“Completely different from here,” Thomas exclaimed. “The forests weren’t in domes and there was an atmosphere to breath.”
“Were there rivers, lakes and beaches like in the domes?” Jeff asked.
“Yes,” his grandfather continued. “They were much vaster than here. The oceans were so large that it took weeks to get from port to port. The mountains were so large they touched the sky!”
“They touch the sky here,” Jeff remarked.
“But you can’t climb them here,” Clark reminded him.
“What about the forests?”
“There were all kinds of forests,” Tom explained. “Rainforests with pine trees, jungles with vines, and swamps. They were like the forest we have here, only bigger.”
“What about animals,” Jeff asked.
“There was every kind of animal you can think of,” his grandfather told him.
“There were birds, lizards, raccoons, wolves, kangaroos, and giraffes.”
“What are kangaroos and giraffes?” the inquisitive child asked.
“Well,” Clark said. “A kangaroo looks a little like a rabbit, but is bigger, has bigger legs and a pouch in its front. They used to live in Australia.”
“What about a giraffe?” Jeff asked.
“They have four legs like a horse, have spots, and are about fifteen feet tall,” Clark answered.
“Really?”
“Yes, really,” Thomas laughed.
He never forgot about those last days he sat with his elderly grandfather, and the days he spoke about working for NASA. They built an underground base prior to the attacks from the Iranians, Iraqis, and the Russians that were safe from nuclear fallout. Thomas Walker was born there, and lived most of his life there until they built the space stations and the Mars base. The governments that were left unified into one organization, the NASA Initiative for Interplanetary Exploration, and it was from this that the Martian Space Academy was born.
As he was lost in deep nostalgia, he felt the pain of something sharp piercing into his back, and then being pushed over the cliff into the raging water. He screamed in pain when he felt the sudden blow of rocks on his back and thighs. It propelled him down the waterfall, his body twisted every inch of the way, and amazingly he survived. Falling into the lake, he desperately gasped for air. When finally reaching calmer waters, he maneuvered himself to shore, dragged his bruised body across the sand, his arm broke, and legs bleeding badly. Jeff, now exhausted lay on the shore, closed his eyes, and slipped into unconsciousness.