AMP The Core (5 page)

For three hours, I tracked Grakus and herded the gellats in his direction. The guilt was beginning to build inside me, as the gellat with the head wound appeared to be doing poorly. When they had traveled through a narrow passage, I took the initiative to push several large boulders down into it, blocking their retreat through that route.

I then bounded off in search of Grakus, whom I had caught up to as he rejoined his hunting party of twelve.

I stood in full view on a high rock forty meters from his group. "Grakus!"

The other hunters turned and raised their spears. Grakus stepped through to the front of the group.

I continued, "Your gellats! They are just over this ridge! I believe the one with the head wound is in need of assistance. Tell me how I can help!"

The brown, scaly creatures turned to Grakus, and a heated discussion ensued. After several minutes of dialogue that I could not quite hear, Grakus silenced the others.

Grakus spoke. "You have harmed us enough, Don Grange! I do not know where you hail from, and we are not familiar with your people or with how you speak our language. We feel it best that you return to wherever you came from. We will take care of the gellats."

I sat down on the rock where I stood. "OK, I will go. But before I leave, can you direct me to where I might find food? I have not eaten recently, and I am unfamiliar with what can be had as food in this area."

Grakus turned back to the others for another discussion before turning back. "Don Grange, you will wait there until we have the gellats harnessed. We will then provide you with food, after which you will be on your way!"

I nodded as I held up my hand. "Agreed!"

The harnessing of the gellats took nearly an hour. After the initial displays of hostility, the once-fearsome beasts now seemed content at being led along by the large leather straps. I jumped down to the flat ground as Grakus and the others reached my position.

Grakus spoke as he handed me a leather bag. "You will find dried fish and berries from the fall harvest in the pouch. Leave it along this pathway, and I shall return to recover it another day."

I replied, "The gellat with the head wound—will it be OK?"

Grakus shook his head. "We will have much healing to do to bring her back; during that time, she will not provide milk for our people. You have placed us in a difficult situation, Don Grange. A harsh winter may be very hard on our people."

I placed the pouch over my shoulder. "Are there other gellats out there that I could help you round up? And what is the name of your people? I am Human."

Grakus looked back up the mountain trail. "We will have a hard spring, as those rocks in the passage will have to be moved before the gellats can return to their high grazing fields. Again, you have caused us harm, Don Grange. Please go."

I pointed back to the pass. "I can clear those rocks out of there. I will do that right now if you would like."

Grakus returned a skeptical stare. "You are but one being, Don Grange. How would you move such by yourself?"

I slowly raised my hand towards the pass. "Follow me and I will show you."

Grakus looked back at the other hunters as they led the gellats up the next hill. "Proceed, Don Grange, Human. Our people are the Meggaks. All of the peoples of Molov are Meggaks. Where do you Humans hail from, Don Grange?"

I replied, "Well, that is a big, long story that I will not be able to tell. Perhaps one day I will have the time. For now, let’s just say that we, I, come from a long way away."

Grakus followed me over the hill to the blocked passage. He stood in awe as I lifted the boulders I had pushed into the ravine one by one. In twenty minutes, I had completed the work that would have taken his village much of their spring.

Grakus looked up at the densely clouded sky. "A storm is coming, Don Grange. Do you have shelter?"

I patted the pouch on my side. "The only thing I currently have is this pouch. And it belongs to a Meggak."

Grakus looked back towards his village. "Come with me, Don Grange. I have a felius grubworm house that remains unused until spring. I can offer you that until this storm has passed. It is unheated, but it will protect you from the harsh snows that will be coming. When the storm has passed, you will be on your way."

I smiled as I replied, "Thank you for your kindness, Grakus. If there is any other way I can help, you only need to ask."

Grakus shook his head. "The other villagers would not agree with my decision here today, Don Grange. I will have to ask that you stay silent and out of sight of my people. Our children would be easily frightened by such a hideous creature as yourself."

I chuckled. "I can deal with that, Grakus. And thank you again for your kindness."

The grub house smelled exactly as it had sounded. Piles of gellat dung were distributed over a large pit, and felius larvae would be introduced as the weather outside warmed in the spring. The grubs would provide bait for fishing in the lake that sat on the edge of the Meggak village.

The snowstorm came in hard that evening and dumped two meters of snow on the ground before the light of the day began to show. Had I stayed out in the cold, I would have easily survived, but my progress forward would have been halted. The dried fish and berries that Grakus had provided had filled my belly; however, I would be in need of food every day should I want to survive the journey from Vireque to my Defiant fleet.

At his earliest opportunity, Grakus entered the grub house in the morning. "Don Grange, I see that you fared well during the storm. I am glad."

I replied, "Grakus, I have a long journey before me. I will be in need of food. Would you be able to tell me how to hunt or to fish for my daily needs? I journey to far lands, and I am unfamiliar with my surroundings."

Grakus looked intently at my helmet. "I have not seen headgear that was so smooth and polished. And the glass surface that you gaze through—how is it so clear?"

I smiled. "My people have the tools that allow us to build these suits. It is also what allowed me to lift those rocks yesterday when I cleared that pass. We have many such powerful things."

Grakus sat back on a bench as he continued to gaze. "We have seen another, similar to you, far to the west. My people call her the protector. She watches for those who fall from the sky."

I began to nod my head. "Wait! What? She? Are you saying you have seen a craft that came from the sky? And that it is to the west?"

Grakus replied, "I have not been, nor have I seen. I have only heard the stories of the protector of our world. If you wish to know more of her, our village elders would relay to you the same stories that I can tell."

I sat forward. "If there are no others in your village with knowledge of the protector, are there other villages that might know?"

Grakus nodded. "There is a larger village through the mountain pass and down in the valley, and then another beyond before the arid plains of Sarah are reached. The protector resides beyond the plains in the mountains of Sarah."

I held up my hand as if to ask a question. "Sarah? The protector’s name wouldn’t happen to be Sarah, would it?"

Grakus again nodded. "That would be the name of the protector."

I leaned back on the stack of flat stones that I had assembled to make a chair. "Huh, Sarah sounds very Human to me, and I am looking for a Human."

Grakus stood. "You! You are of the protector’s race! Are you the new protector?"

I again held up my hand. "No, I am not the protector. I seek answers, and I am now hoping that the protector can provide them."

Grakus again sat, this time with an anguished look on his face. "I have long wished to journey to see the protector. I would travel with you there, but the protector does not let anyone who is not Meggak near. Others have come before you. Each has been consumed in a death of fire."

Grakus continued, "The plains of Sarah are covered with debris from those who have fallen from the sky. Our own village was nearly burned to the ground by a large piece of such debris that fell some three hundred years ago. The remains of it now make up much of our tribal center where the elders meet."

I spoke. "Wait! You have alien debris here? Can I see it?"

Grakus shook his head. "The elders would not permit it. Others have tried to make use of the debris to bring harm to our people. It is forbidden to remove an artifact from where it first fell."

I stood and brushed the grub dung from my battle suit. "Are you still interested in taking that journey to the mountains of Sarah?"

Grakus again shook his head. "I have a family that I cannot leave, Don Grange. The winter is upon us, and our food supplies are already low."

I began to pace the floor. "You have a lake nearby, right? You gather fish from it during the summer?"

Grakus replied as he pointed to the large pit behind me, "The grub house provided for that during the summer. We do not have bait for the winter, and the lake itself is frozen over."

I turned for the door. "Well, Grakus, I wrecked your food supply for the winter, so how about I make up for that?"

As I stepped through the door, Grakus reached for my arm. "Don Grange, please do not go outside; others may see that I have given you shelter!"

I smiled. "Come down to the lake’s edge with me, Grakus. And bring a few of those fish baskets over there with you. We are going to see if we can up your food supply!"

Grakus pleaded for me to stop as I walked down the street in the middle of Vireque. The walk went without notice, as the heavy snows of the night before had kept the other villagers in their homes. When I reached the edge of the lake, I stepped out onto the snowbank that covered it. I swirled my arms and kicked my legs until I reached the ice beneath the freshly fallen snow. Grakus looked on in curiosity as he glanced back towards his village.

I spoke as I raised my fist in the air. "Let’s go fishing, shall we!"

I slammed my fist against the ice and was rewarded with a cracking sound. I smiled and then leaned in closer to beat the ice with everything I had. I pounded with my fists in a semicircle around my boots. When the ice began to weaken, I stood and jumped high in the air, pulling my legs in close. As I came close to the ice, I thrust my feet downwards with all the power my legs could bear. I was rewarded with a snap and a whoosh sound as I slid through to the freezing water underneath.

I stood under the ice on the lake bed, five meters below the surface. A quick scan revealed the lake to have ample fish for the Meggak village. I used my helmet HUD to reprogram the circuits where my arm pad had once lain. Power feeds were rerouted, with a high-voltage source exposed. With a wink of my right eye, a pulse hit the water where I stood.

I felt my suit harden as the voltage attempted to find a ground on my person. A second scan showed the results of the pulse, as hundreds of the native fish now floated nearby, stunned by my action. I swam in the cold water and began to expel the fish through the hole I had come through. When I felt that I had gathered a sufficient amount, I lunged upwards and sprang through the hole as a bewildered Grakus looked on.

Grakus spoke. "How? How is that possible, Don Grange?"

I smiled. "My suit is heavily insulated, and I was able to provide a mild static shock to stun the fish. Let’s use your baskets to gather them up, and I will help you carry them to the elders’ building. If it is decided that more is needed to atone for my mistakes, I will go back in and get more. All I ask in return is for sufficient food to take me to the larger village you spoke of."

I carried three large baskets of fish as Grakus carried another. As we approached the elders’ building, I took note of the dark green coating of Tantric on its outer shell. It was the remains of a space vessel that had no doubt been taken out by the protector. I smiled at the sight of an ion cannon that was in use to prop up an awning over the door.

The village elders were grateful, and another fishing expedition was soon put into action. I filled another seven large baskets before the elders felt my debt was paid in full. They would only pull the fish from the lake that they would need for the winter, as food was not a commodity that was traded with others. Besides, during the winter months, travel to other villages was too perilous a journey for the average Meggak. It would only be done in times of extreme need.

With my debt repaid, I was given rations for four days. The Meggak insisted that the journey took nine; I assured them that I could do it in three. After thanking Grakus for his kindness, I left the village of Vireque on my way to the larger village of Howhowis. The snowpack was dense, but my prosthetics and their built-in gravity assist made for an easy jaunt.

When I topped the final hill that looked down upon Howhowis, I could see that it was more of a town that a village. The buildings were constructed of a combination of stone and the debris from fallen ships. Activity filled the streets, even after the early winter storms. As I walked into town, the people stepped back in shock. Most had never seen an alien, let alone a Human—a Human that had an image that looked strikingly similar to the statues of the protector that dotted the town.

I stopped and looked at the first Meggak that did not turn and run. It was a young Meggak female. Her high, pointy ears made her appearance different from the males.

I spoke. "Can you point me to the town elders?"

The girl stood silently in her heavy fur clothing and then slowly pointed her finger. I nodded my head and continued in that direction. I glanced back as I walked to see what was most likely her mother, grabbing her by the arm and dragging her from the street.

When I reached the center of the village, the bridge of a ship lay flat on the ground, looking as though the ship itself had been buried beneath the earth. The deck windows sat looking out at the mountains beyond, and two Meggaks stood in them, staring down at me as I approached.

Before I reached the doors of the building, they were opened to welcome me in. The chief elder was seated in a large, ornate pilot’s chair as I entered.

The chief spoke. "Traveler, welcome to Howhowis! It has been a long time since we had a visitor! I am Pantor Grim, eldest of Howhowis and the surrounding villages!"

I replied, "I am Don Grange. I travel to the mountains of Sarah."

The elder held up his hand and shook a finger. "No, no, no. The mountains of Sarah accept no traveler. Many have tried; all have perished. The protector does not accept any but the Meggak. Others are not al—"

The elder dropped his hand. "Say, come closer, into the light."

I stepped forward until the elder could clearly see my face. With a wink, my face shield rose, exposing me to the atmosphere of Molov for the first time. The air was crisp and dry; it felt clean and had a freshness that the helmet environmental unit did not offer.

The elder slowly stood from his chair. "From the protector herself! You have the eyes of the protector! Have you come to take her place?"

I replied, "I have come to see the protector, but your question I cannot answer."

The chief elder attempted to order up a feast in my honor, to which I adamantly objected. I needed to continue my journey, and the pleasantries, while greatly appreciated, were not necessary. The chief elder seemed hurt, but not offended by my decline. I instead asked for food and direction for the next leg of my journey, a one-hundred-kilometer travel through the mountain pass and down onto the edge of the plains of Sarah.

The elder insisted on four guides to accompany me on my journey. I again respectfully declined, as they would only slow my progress. Rations for another nine-day journey were brought about and immediately culled down to four days.

Word spread quickly in Howhowis, and by the time I was ready to proceed on to Killami, there were a thousand Meggaks in the street. As I began to walk, they began to cheer. I could not help but smile and wave as I proceeded. As I neared the end of the main street, I felt that I owed them a show of what a Human was capable of. I sprang ten meters straight up into the air and then began to bound along at my twenty-meter-a-step pace. In only a handful of seconds, I was out of the town and well up the snow-covered trail towards the pass.

The journey to Killami would have been treacherous for any Meggak. The snow in the pass was deep, and footing was poor. The extreme cold of the high mountain would have been difficult for any traveler who was not in a climate-controlled suit. I was not slowed by the elements.

The trail out of the mountains looked over the broad plains of Sarah. I used the zoom built into my helmet to get a better idea of what made up the many scattered dark patches on the planet's surface. I was somewhat shocked to see the remains of what must have been thousands of ships, none of which was recognizable to the database in my helmet computer.

As I looked to my right and left, I took note of the debris scattered on the slopes of the mountains themselves. The number of ships that had fallen to the protector was immense. I looked up at the sky and wondered if the Bulgar fleet remained, waiting for an all-out assault on the planet itself.

I then had the realization that I had not thought to see if my helmet comm could pick up the Human signal. I stopped where I was and began to scan for the frequency that the signal had originally been broadcast on. I soon found that the signal continued as before.

"Are you out there?"

The signal origination point was across the plains in the mountains of Sarah, just as I had been told. The protector and the signal were one and the same. I stretched my imagination to its limits, but I could not come up with a plausible explanation as to how it had come to be there.

How was it possible for this hidden ship to do the damage that it did, without ever being seen? Why was it broadcasting a Human message? I shook off the questions and once again picked up my pace as I started into a sprint. The sun was beginning to set when I made it to the outskirts of Killami. Rather than getting the town in an uproar that night, I decided that it would be best if I waited until morning.

I found a large, flat rock that was sloped slightly down towards the plains. I lay back with my helmet propped up by a small rock. As the yellow sun dropped below the horizon, the surrounding stars shone nearly as brightly as they would if viewed from space. After watching a number of falling stars, many of which I guessed might be Bulgar in origin, I peacefully dozed off.