Aurora Saga 2 Immortality for Life (26 page)

The
Aurora’s
event horizon drives quietened, signalling they were now close to Trafth. Ships of all shapes and size were in orbit around the planet, some of which were at least five times the size of the
Aurora
. Some seemed to be deliberately keeping their distance, while others turned their weapons towards the approaching ship.

On the bridge of the
Aurora
, Zoren and Gulco eyes were fixed on the monitor.

‘Look at all those ships!’ Zoren remarked. ‘Where did they all come from?’

‘Yes, a welcoming party,’ Kalrea replied. ‘Some of them are trying to scan us.’

‘Can they do that?’ Zoren asked.

‘Don’t worry. I’m blocking all their attempts.’

‘Are my people on any of those ships, Kalrea?’ Zoren asked her.

‘No they’re not and so far the only computer I’ve come close enough to has no indication of where they might be. They may be on the surface of Trafth.’

‘Are you going to use the shuttle?’ Gulco asked, ‘Because it doesn’t look very safe out there.’

‘You’re right, it doesn’t,’ Kalrea replied. ‘No, I’m going to take the
Aurora
straight to the island.’

‘But that means we could be vulnerable to attack,’ Zoren said.

Gulco looked nervous and said, ‘Zoren’s right. There are a lot of heavily armed ships up here in orbit, so what happens if we have to fight our way out? What weapons does the
Aurora
have?’

‘Well, the
Aurora
was built as a science ship, so no weapons were needed.’

Gulco looked amazed. ‘We don’t have anything to defend ourselves?’ he said.

‘I didn’t say that. I do have weapons, but I will not use them.’

‘I don’t understand,’ Zoren said. ‘You said the outer event horizon drives had been converted into weapons. Surely we have to utilise them.’

‘I
won’t
use them!’ Kalrea sounded very assertive.

I haven’t heard Kalrea being this touchy in a long time.

‘Why not?’ Gulco questioned.

‘For the reason that they took the lives of over one thousand Uaths, that’s why!’ Kalrea seemed disturbed. She had the look of guilt on her face.

One thousand!
Zoren thought.
What kind of weapon could do that?

She continued, ‘Lex and I were defending the planet of Raspin from the Uaths. They had ten ships, all capable of great destruction had they been allowed to reach Raspin. Lex promised the Raskian people they would not reach their homeworld.’

Kalrea paused to sit on the console seat. She took a deep breath, before continuing.

‘We intercepted their ships. Lex tried to reason with them, but in the end I had no choice but to use them. It was the first time, and the last time.’

Kalrea’s eyes glazed over
.

‘I’ve never seen such destructive power. Nothing in the universe could survive them. Lex vowed never to use them again and I agreed.’

‘What are these weapons, Kalrea?’ Zoren said.

Kalrea didn’t answer his question, but said instead, ‘I remember hearing all those screams; all those people were helpless as their ships were consumed. There were women and children on those ships, Zoren, innocent women and children. I killed them, all of them. And why? Because people always want to fight each other, that’s why. When will it stop?’

I don’t know what to say,
Zoren thought and then said,

‘I… I’m sure you did the right thing, Kalrea.’

‘Did I? Well, now you know what I am and why I chose to stay on the second moon of Golm, where I was found by the people from the Polnozoo. I’m dangerous, Zoren. I leave death and destruction behind me, wherever I go.’

‘I think you’re a good person,’ Zoren said.

Kalrea shook her head. ‘Maybe experiencing death will help me understand what they went through.’

‘What are you saying?’ Zoren asked.

‘Well, you are leading me into a trap. They want me dead because they can see what I really am. They know I’ll never stop until I find your people. Whatever happens on the surface of Trafth, promise me you’ll not be afraid. This Lady Sathodee has to believe that you betrayed me.’

Zoren shook his head in acknowledgement. ‘I understand, Kalrea. What about Sabri, she promised me I’d see her.’

Kalrea got up and placed her hand on Zoren’s shoulder.

‘I doubt your wife will be there, but hopefully they’ll open up a communication link. I’ll track it to the source. Then we will get her and your people.’

The
Aurora
descended into the atmosphere of Trafth. The yellow oceans dominated the surface, with very little sign of any land. Kalrea headed for the island of Weigo.

‘Who would live down there?’ Zoren asked. ‘There’s hardly any land.’

‘No one lives here anymore, not since the ice caps melted. It’s now a holiday retreat for the rich. You can rent an island for any amount of time you want,’ Kalrea informed him.

Scanning island,
Kalrea thought.

One ship located, the De’fego, with thirty-four crew onboard.

Three buildings with one floor and six life signs, all Xangols.

The
Aurora
landed gracefully alongside the
De’fego
.

Searching for access points in range.

None detected.

Interesting! They’ve turned off all the computer systems on the island; the De’fego’s has also been powered down.

Kalrea turned to Zoren.

He seems very nervous,
she thought and then asked him, ‘Are you going to be all right?’

‘Yes, I’ll be fine. I’m just not looking forward to this.’

‘Well, neither am I,’ Kalrea replied.

Zoren seemed surprised.

‘Remember, you’ve betrayed me,’ Kalrea said. ‘So expect the unexpected.’

‘What do you mean?’

Do I tell him, I may have to try to kill him. No better not.

‘You’ll see.’

Zoren and Kalrea entered the Pojin lift.

Surface.

He’s a brave person. He has no idea what’s going to happen out there. They could try to kill him as well.

Outside, on the island, it was extremely warm and humid with only a slight breeze to give any rest-bite from the intensity of the star-light. Hifmo was already there waiting for them. He was wearing a cream combat jacket and trousers, and very visible under his arms were two railguns loosely held within purpose made holsters, which looked like they were deliberately on show to give Kalrea a message.

‘I see you’re still in one piece,’ Kalrea said and then added, ‘Pity!’

‘Yes, and it’s good to see you again too, Kalrea,’ he said, not looking at all pleased with Kalrea’s flippant comment.

‘I’m sure the pleasure’s all yours. It’s definitely not mine,’ Kalrea replied.

Hifmo seems very relaxed. Too relaxed! I don’t like this.

Activate defence shield.

She stopped and glanced around at her surroundings.

Light-blue sand blanketed the ground and there were many groups of tall blue trees, which were there to give some needed shade to visitors. Some of the trees were planted directly in the calm yellow water surrounding the island. Within a larger group of trees about one hundred metres away was a white crescent-shaped building, with two smaller out-buildings on either side.

‘Follow me,’ Hifmo said, while indicating with his hand towards the crescent-shaped building. ‘Lady Sathodee is looking forward to meeting you.’

I bet she is!

As they walked, Kalrea scanned the interior of the building.

I’m detecting four Xangols: one in the main room, two at the doorway, and another one in a room to the left. Interesting! What’s he doing in there with all that equipment? Lady Sathodee must be in the main room.

Zoren’s very quiet.

Hifmo led Kalrea and Zoren into the main room of the building where they were met by Lady Sathodee.

The room occupied the central section of the crescent building and had two curved walls, one in front and one in the back, and two straight side walls. It was very extravagant, with crystal pictures hanging from a high ceiling and a mirrored floor. Running down the entire surface of one of the two straight walls was a curtain of water, which flowed into a long plunge pool with luxurious padded mats floating on its surface. The opposite wall was fully covered by a holographic image of the exact same room, which made the room appear much larger. Set into an archway in the smaller curved wall, near to the door, was an ornate plasma-cooler that was giving out an electric blue glow, and created a cool and inviting atmosphere. There were three very welcoming sofas in the centre of the room and a large metal container, the size of a blanket chest, against the holographic wall. Fruit and drinks were available from trolleys scattered around the room. The longest wall was a tinted curved window that looked out onto an open beach, which had a number of small jet-subs lined up at the edge of the water.

‘So you must be Kalrea,’ Lady Sathodee said. ‘My-my, you are like me.’ She offered her hand to Kalrea, expecting her to shake it.

Don’t think so. I’m not lowering my defence shield to shake your hand.

‘Suit yourself,’ Lady Sathodee said.

Kalrea decided not to waste any time and, to get straight to the point, she said, ‘You wanted to speak to me and I’m here. So what do you want from me?’

‘Oh yes, thought you’d cut straight to the chase. I wanted to talk to you, yes that was it... to make a deal for the rest of the Agonians.’ She stared at Zoren and said, ‘But I’ve already done that, haven’t I?’

Kalrea glanced at Zoren, but was disappointed by the look on his face and thought,
Come on Zoren, look a bit more surprised
. She then said,

‘You know I won’t leave here until I find out where the Agonians are.’

Lady Sathodee threw her hands in the air and said,

‘Well you already know they’re not here, don’t you? But are you having trouble accessing our systems? Of course you are! We’ve decided to turn them all off and remove any record of where the Agonians are. Now isn’t that fortunate, otherwise you’d probably know where they are by now. Only Hifmo and I know of where they’re being kept.’

Is that so! She’s very self-confident. I wonder what she has that could possibly harm me.

‘Where’s my wife?’ Zoren said. ‘You promised me that if I brought Kalrea here, you’d let me see my wife.’

‘Zoren, what have you done? Why didn’t you tell me this?’ Kalrea said, to play along.

Lady Sathodee glanced at Zoren. ‘Your wife’s here. She’s over there by the wall,’ she said, pointing to the large metal container.

What?
Kalrea thought, and then quickly scanned the room.
There are no other life signs. Oh no!
She put her hand to her mouth in shock.
Please. No!

Kalrea watched Zoren approach the container.

He raised the lid and then, upon seeing his wife’s body lying motionless, cried out in desperation, ‘Sabri!’ before tossing the lid to one side.

Kalrea could see part of a red dress, the dress which Sabri was wearing when the Polnozoo had been attacked. She watched as Zoren lifted her head. She felt a deep anger inside and wanted so much to strike out at Lady Sathodee, but knew she could not harm her.

Zoren caressed Sabri’s head, then glaring at Lady Sathodee, said angrily, ‘She’s dead! You promised me! You said she was alive.’

Lady Sathodee looked unconcerned by his outburst. ‘All I promised you was that you’d see your wife. I’m afraid she was already dead before we met on the space station. Now I couldn’t tell you that, Zoren, you’d have never brought Kalrea here.’

Scans are indicating a device whose technology is unknown.

Pinpointing position.

Technology not of this galaxy.

Analysing signal. Analysing purpose.

Kalrea glanced to Zoren. She could feel his sadness deep inside her. She was about to go over to comfort him.

Technology identified. Qinant in origin.

Where did they get technology from my planet? The shuttle! It has to be from the crashed shuttle. What’s the purpose of this device?

Lady Sathodee turned to Kalrea. ‘You’ve cost me a lot Kalrea and some of my associates are dead because of you.’

She ambled over to Hifmo, who then handed her one of his railguns.

Device purpose identified. Power-field jamming device.

Severe risk detected. Assessing!

‘Zoren, get out of here now!’ Kalrea shouted to him. ‘It’s a trap!’

‘He knows that already,’ Lady Sathodee said with contempt.

Defence shield is being disrupted. It’s deactivating.

So that’s what she had. She’s used a Linh coupling from the shuttle to intercept the defence matrix. That’s a smart move. Do I disable the coupling, to allow me to activate the defence shield? No, I need to see what she does.

Lady Sathodee pointed the railgun at Kalrea and said, ‘Let’s see if that new toy of yours works, Hifmo.’

She pulled the trigger.

Kalrea felt like there was an explosion inside her chest. Her head was thrown forward as her torso moved physically backward, almost knocking her off her feet.

Pain! Severe pain!

Kalrea stared over to Zoren; his mouth was wide open.

She could feel a tingling sensation ripple through her body and then she lost all feelings in her legs. She peered down at a hole punched through her torso. A blue liquid exited the wound.

Power cell compromised.

Cooling system failure.

Motor drive failure.

Lady Sathodee fired a second shot and then a third shot at her. Kalrea slumped to the floor onto her knees.

Vision failure.

For a moment she lost all sense of where she was. She could feel a burning sensation within her chest. Then she collapsed to the floor. Blue liquid poured out from her wounds.

I can’t take any more of this. I… I feel…

Link with Aurora terminated.