Two minutes went by and then from beyond the horizon another craft approached, slowly as if it were unsure of its welcome. It waited until the attack craft had discharged their human cargo, who spread out across the spaceport in search of prey. Compassion was in very short supply this day. Silence returned to the spaceport with only the odd blast of Phaser fire reaching the ears of anyone near enough to care. The man who disembarked from the lone craft certainly did not care, but soon all was quiet as the grave, that some said must have spawned one such as Quasar, although hell would have been nearer to the fact.
“Where are they Captain?” Quasar snapped at Odessa.
“They are in the lower levels of the base My Lord, they are trapped with no way of escape, the president and his Grand Council will soon be our prisoners.”
“My prisoners Captain, my prisoners.” Quasar rebuked Odessa who visibly blanched. He stayed very quiet and rigidly to attention, for he knew that Quasar had not finished speaking.
“You could never have accomplished all that I have done, and certainly not in so short a time. Never before was there one born who could compare himself to me. I am the greatest emperor that the galaxy will ever see.”
Quasar’s mood changed as suddenly as it had started, and it was as if nothing had happened to annoy him, his tirade ended, his face alight with a smile as he now recalled that he would have a more appreciative audience in the subterranean rooms of the Regan base.
“Come on Captain, let’s pay a visit to those old men below and you can introduce them to the Emperor of the galaxy, Quasar the first, Quasar the great, Quasar the eternal.” Quasar stopped his exaltations for a moment and silently repeated his words. He found them to his liking; they were obviously the words of one of the great names in galactic history he thought smiling to himself. He now turned to Captain Odessa.
“You will instruct my troops to greet me so from now on.” With that he strode towards the huge doorway set into the side of the mountain that reached almost as high as Quasar’s opinion of himself, the doorway, decorated with intricate carvings of a celestial nature, was set on the far southern edge of the spaceport.
Soon he was walking down a tunnel that descended beneath the mountain. Quasar laughed loudly, his revenge on organics was complete, he had beaten them all into submission, and the death of those awaiting his pleasure below would be the cream on the cake. The way seemed to Quasar to stretch forever before him, he walked by the relay devices that were spaced along the tunnel, they were needed to enable the command centre to function so far below the ground, or so his officers informed him. Soon he was two hundred feet beneath the surface, and six thousand feet beneath the mountain above them. He now caught up with his troops that had tracked down the president and his grand council, now trapped here in their own secret lair.
“What in hell’s name did they want with a place such as this Captain?” Quasar asked. His interest aroused for the moment by the effort that must have been put into creating such a facility that was so far beneath the world of man.
“It was dug out originally by a religious sect whose name escapes me for the moment, My Lord.” Captain Odessa replied. “Now for some reason known only to the grand council, it is used as their forward command bunker in which to shelter away from your armies, My Lord.”
Quasar looked across at Odessa, scorn on his lips. “Well why don’t we use it once more for the original purpose that it was intended for, for religious purposes, here they will finally learn the truth behind my triumphant rise to power. I will honour them by making them my first sacrificial lambs, sacrificed to Quasar the first, Quasar their god.” Quasar`s voice boomed out.
Quasar broke off here to look across at a lieutenant who approached with down cast eyes, he had returned from the depths of the facility with a report.
“We have them My Lord.” The officer stopped here as he caught sight of the expression on the face of Captain Odessa, it took him only a moment to realise his mistake, and he hurried on with the hope that he would live long enough to be able to learn to control his future words.
“Your prisoners await your pleasure below, My Lord.”
The lieutenant lowered his eyes and stood rigid, he fervently prayed that the ground would swallow him up, after so dangerous a mistake, and there was no telling how Quasar would react. Quasar though appeared to have more on his mind, maybe he had not realised the officer’s mistake, or he had decided to ignore it as he pushed by to confront President Thorson and his grand council. Quasar had to walk another one hundred feet further into the complex, by the bodies of the dead Regan soldiers who had fallen defending the installation, and by his own fallen troops, and without even noticing their burnt features. He seemed oblivious to everything until he came to a large natural chamber that would have taken the breath away of a mortal man on first seeing it. The chamber was filled with stalactites, even a few stalagmites grew up from the floor; they dwarfed the imagination with their size and beauty, now though many littered the floor, broken into pieces where they had fallen. They resembled the many fallen soldiers that lay amongst them, Regan defenders who were finally at peace.
In the centre of the chamber was the Regan command centre, sitting behind it were twelve Regans, and it was on these people that Quasar now focused his attention. He stood just inside of the natural entrance and greeted his prisoners almost as if they were long lost friends. The fear felt by the grand council was plain for him to see, but amongst a few of the people in the chamber it was not the predominant emotion, and had Quasar dug deep into their brains he would have found a reason to be worried, if not afraid. Fortunately for these few people, Quasar was feeling intoxicated, for he now ruled the galaxy, these prisoners before him testified to this fact, instead he began to ridicule the men and women before him, who were about to die.
“Good morning President Thorson, members of the grand council of Rega, oh and I must not forget Admiral Amundsen and his brave captain, good morning to all of you. I hope that you escaped from my triumphant victory unhurt, but it is your own fault if you are hurt, for you really should not have resisted my forces.” He stopped his welcoming speech for a moment as he checked those before him for injury, and when he found them well, he continued.
“If I were you President Thorson, I would seek to replace Admiral Amundsen, he is certainly too old for his post as admiral of the fleet. Unless of course the title was to reflect the current status of your fleet.
Quasar then exploded in to a fit of hysterical laughter as he descended the six stairs to the floor of the cavern. No sooner had he fully entered the large cavern than a huge slab of rock that was suspended above the entrance, slipped down outside the cavern to block the opening, then another door slipped down inside the chamber. The crash of their landing rang out making those within put their hands over their ears and cringe in fright, all of them except Admiral Amundsen and Captain Olsen, and of course Quasar. Quasar spun about, initially he was surprised, but then he turned to face his enemies.
“You surely do not think that a mere slab of rock will imprison me for long President Thorson, my men outside will soon have their glorious leader free from your pathetic trap.” He screamed hysterically at Thorson. “I may even use the command centre that your grand council is seated around to order them to free me.” He said and then he began to giggle like a schoolgirl.
“If I may answer for you Sir?” Amundsen asked of Thorson, who gratefully accepted, as he had not yet collected his wits together.
Amundsen turned to face Quasar who became angry with Amundsen for daring to speak to him without his imperial permission. His short temper was about to explode over those around him, and Amundsen was sure that he had only seconds to stave off their instant demise, for the moment at least.
“I think that even with your incredible powers Quasar, you will have trouble doing that, for that rock door is not your usual type of limestone.”
Amundsen stopped to savour the moment, to look at the emotions floodin
g over Quasar’s face as fear began to creep into his mind as he realised that he could not contact the minds of those standing on the other side of the door.
“The limestone rock that makes up this cavern was mixed with a generous amount of an obscure mineral when it was laid down beneath an ancient sea. A mineral, which has been given the innocent name of Verginite. Ah! I see that you are beginning to understand at last, you are perhaps recalling the occasion when last you heard it mentioned.” Quasar stood silently smouldering as he heard Amundsen out.
“It was used in a few experiments of the last century; they looked into the effect it has on our telepathic powers. Rock that is impregnated with Verginite was found to be the perfect barrier for all of the bands of the spectrum of the magnetic radiation band. It was also found that a room coated with just a thin layer of Verginite affected those who were within such a room.” Amundsen continued his speech, as the relish he felt grew more and more apparent.
“This cavern is almost solid Verginite, Quasar; even your powers are not enough to penetrate it. You may kill me, you may kill the others here with us, but we would all willingly die a thousand times to know that we have been part of the reason behind your defeat. I will die happy, for I know that all those poor souls out there will be safe from your perverted mind. I grieve for all those souls that have already been enslaved by you, they will already know that you are no longer part of their lives and will hopefully recover to be free men.” Amundsen said coolly and evenly. He did not want this moment of triumph to be marred in any way.
Across from him, the members of the grand council were beginning to worry, for no one had told them about the part of Amundsen’s plan that involved their death, only of Quasar’s defeat.
“Quasar, the Emperor of the galaxy, Quasar the first, Quasar the great, Quasar the eternal.” Captain Odessa chanted aloud and then burst into hysterical laughter as he recalled all the terrible things that he had done.
Quasar looked across at his captain and killed him with a bolt of mental energy, for it appeared that he was not directly affected by the Verginite, only his power to send telepathic thoughts through it.
The troops that had preceded Quasar into the cavern were already showing signs of confusion, even before they listened to Amundsen, for they had all been controlled by the computers of the starships in orbit around Remus. Confusion also reined within the mind of Quasar, but only for a moment, for seeing his troops regaining control of their minds he quickly clamped down on them and took control of their minds personally. Once again, they pointed their weapons at the leaders of the Regan Empire; once again, they were firmly under his control.
He did however let one of them stay free, this soldier had actually had the impertinence to cheer when first he had felt the strangle hold of Quasar slip from around his neck. In anger, Quasar had opened the gateway that allowed the memories of his past actions to flood into his mind. Pain and confusion began to appear on his face; he broke down completely and wept as he turned his weapon on himself, knowing that his weapon was useless against Quasar.
The grand council was beginning to realise that the final victory was theirs. As with all politicians they congratulated themselves, forgetting that for them the war was not over, for Quasar was still alive.
“You fools, I can blast my way out of this tomb that you have made for yourselves.” Quasar said gloating. The grand council stopped their celebrations and as one person turned to Amundsen to see if this was indeed possible.
He then ordered his troops to turn their Phasers upon the door that had him trapped within the chamber. Twenty beams of energy shot out to strike against the door, it should have been blasted into small pieces of stone, and instead it stood there unimpressed. Quasar turned to Admiral Amundsen stunned by what he saw.
“What magic is this Admiral, why are the Phasers proving so ineffectual against my prison door?” He demanded to know.
“This inner door is made entirely of the same metal that they constructed your space fleet out of, it will take more than your puny hand Phasers to cut through it. In addition, the entire walls on either side of the door have a four-inch lining of the same material attached to them to ensure that you cannot tunnel your way out. I am sorry Quasar, but we insist that you stay here and keep us company.” Amundsen replied triumphantly. “Your Phasers will run out of power long before you even scratch their surface. You are through killing our people, you foul monster, this chamber is your tomb.” Amundsen`s voice resounded loudly within the chamber causing one shaky stalactite to fall down with a crash when it hit the stone floor.
Olsen moved to stand beside Admiral Amundsen, and he spat at Quasar who stepped back in astonishment looked at the phlegm sliding down his immaculate jacket.
“Cut a tunnel through that wall there, it is only limestone.” Quasar screamed at his troops in anger while pointing to one of the sidewalls of the massive chamber. The troopers now turned their Phaser weapons onto the wall that Quasar had indicated, a wall that was ‘merely’ limestone.
“I will take great pleasure in seeing you die, Captain Olsen, as soon as my men are done I will tear your brain apart, so enjoy your last moments.” Quasar promised the young captain who just smiled at Quasar, would be emperor of the galaxy.
Dust soon filled the chamber, created by the energy bolts blasting away at the stonewalls of the vast chamber, the noise of the explosions mixing in with the whistling sound the energy bolts made as they destroyed the air they passed through, temporarily deafening everyone. However, the walls were thicker and tougher than Quasar had imagined, for the going was very slow. One other problem was that the Phasers were beginning to run out of charge, operated as they were in such a high-energy fashion.
A more pressing problem now presented itself to Quasar, the dust in the air contained a high percentage of Verginite, and so he was now beginning to lose control over his men, for it was interfering with his telepathic mind control of the Regans within the huge chamber. The troops were now coming out of their zombie state, first they stopped firing their weapons at the stone wall and then they turned the weapons on themselves, for death was preferable rather than the memories that now flooded into their minds. The troopers had not even thought of turning the weapons on Quasar, for they believed that he was impervious to them.
Admiral Amundsen and Captain Olsen were under no such delusion, believing that a concentrated burst of many Phaser weapons must affect him. With this in mind, they rushed to the fallen weapons but Quasar was too quick for them, for he too rushed forward through the falling Verginite dust. As they bent to pick the weapons up Quasar subjected them to a violent burst of mental energy from close range. The two officers staggered back in agony before falling to the ground unconscious. Quasar felt only contempt as he turned to look upon the pathetic individuals of the grand council, for the dust was slowly settling and his power to grind them done into the dust of the huge chamber was returning. He walked towards them sneering at the grovelling cowards that he saw cowering before him and now he used his awesome powers against them, he forced them all to their knees. President Thorson stood proudly to one side and Quasar now turned on him, seconds later Thorson fell to the ground screaming, moments later, and thankfully, he passed out.
With his enemies dealt with Quasar collected the fallen weapons, and using his own weapon he destroyed the others. When his enemies had all regained consciousness he now told them a truth that even Amundsen did not know, a truth that they would rather have never know and could never have imagined in a thousand years.
“You think to bottle up one as powerful as I am; you think that I will die, here in this limestone tomb that you have so kindly constructed for me?” Quasar looked at them in disgust, and fear returned to those entombed with him.
“I travelled across the space between this galaxy and my own; it took many of your lifetimes, but see. I am here. I might have to wait inside this tomb for a thousand years, but in time, I have an ally, do you? For it will be in ti
me that this cavern will tear itself apart to release me to take my revenge on whatever remains of the Regan Empire. As for you poor wretches, before you die, I will take great pleasure in putting your bodies through every kind of torture that my mind can devise; soon you will be begging me to release you to the mercies of death.”
Chapter Four
Time is on My Side
Ten thousand years passed by, and the civilisation that had been on Rega, passed into the nether world. Immediately after the victory over Quasar, the Regan Empire had disintegrated and it was no more. Now the separate worlds had to find their own way back to the civilisation that once had been theirs, many worlds had stagnated and then began to fall far beneath the magnificent civilisation that ruled before the time of Quasar. On some worlds civilisation disappeared completely and it had taken thousands of years to struggle back to a point that was even near to that of ancient times. The Regan Empire and its enemy became a legend, a myth, the sort that abound on all worlds. On Earth, it told tales about Atlantis, here on the planets Rega and Remus it told about a utopian society where everyone was happy, until they had upset their god who sent a demon to punish them.
Quasar’s spirit still lived on in the forgotten cavern that lay beneath a mountain, now named the black mountain of Quasar in memory of him as a much as referring to the predominate colour of the rocks. He had initially survived on a small amount of water that seeped into the cave, this and by eating the fungi that grew in the darkness of the damp cave, but his mortal host’s body had soon died with only this meagre source of protein. He had made a Mechanoid before his host’s death, out of parts of the command console and now he linked up with it. It provided him with enough nourishment to survive; even so, he went into an extended hibernation, for his powers grew steadily weaker as time passed him by. The Mechanoid was linked to the power that had fed the Regan command centre, this was enough to keep one such as Quasar alive, one who still pulsed with a manic evil, an evil that had been seen after his imprisonment, but never surpassed.