Earthman Jack vs. The Ghost Planet (61 page)

Jack shifted on the windowsill a tad uncomfortably.  He
licked his lips as if to get them ready to form words he didn’t quite know how
to speak.

“I saw my dad,” he said softly.

“Your dad?” asked Anna.

“I know, right?” said Jack.  “I don’t know if it was a
figment of my imagination… like some strange electrically induced hallucination
that just showed me the thing I wanted to see the most… but if that were the
case, why wouldn’t it have been my mom?  I hadn’t seen my dad in forever – didn’t
even remember what he looked like anymore.  Except it felt real.  HE felt
real.  As real as you and I are right now.”

“What did he say?” asked Anna.

“A bunch of stupid stuff,” muttered Jack.  “He was being all
cryptic and not making any sense.  Didn’t even bother to mention he was my dad
until I was being sucked away by a weird vortex thingy.”

Anna looked at Jack quizzically.

“Yeah,” Jack responded.  “I don’t know how else to explain
it.”

“I’ve navigated a lot of Ancient technology, Jack,” said
Anna.  “But I’ve never encountered another person while doing so.  Or a weird
vortex thingy for that matter.  Of course, I’ve never broken open a Great Seal
either.  But my guess is whatever you were exposed to, on some level, you know
how to access it.”

“That’s kinda what he said,” replied Jack.  “Like, my brain
downloaded everything that was in the Great Seal and is hiding it all somewhere
‘cause if I remembered it my head would explode or something.”

Anna laughed.

“What?  What’d I say?” asked Jack.  “Does my head blowing up
amuse you?”

“No, not at all, it’s just… the brain’s not a computer,
Jack,” said Anna.  “It can’t
download
stuff.”

Jack blinked, confused.  “But then… how do I know all these
weird things?  Like, how can I understand these alien languages and speak
them?”

“I actually have a theory about that,” said Anna.  “For
whatever reason, I think the Ancients wanted your people to find this ship. 
And when they did, they wanted your people to be ready to meet with the other
races of the galaxy.  So the access orb was meant to prepare whatever Earthman
touched it for venturing out into the universe.”

“So you’re saying that access orb thing taught me every
language in the universe?”

“It didn’t teach you, it opened your mind to them.”

“What’s the difference?”

“The Ancients had a different way of sharing knowledge than
most of us do, Jack,” explained Anna.  “They believed that all knowledge
already exists, and that our minds don’t learn things, so much as we open them
to what’s already there.  Do you remember the words you spoke that opened the temple
that housed this ship?”

“Kinda hard to forget them,” said Jack.  “Eldil Meldilorn.”

Anna nodded.  “That’s the Ancient language of Old Solar.  It
was the mantra of the Ancients, and the code by which Paragons live.  It’s also
the philosophy around which the entire Regalus Empire is based.  It means ‘free
your mind.’  When you free your mind and allow yourself to shed its
constraints, you can tap into any knowledge in the universe.  Anything you want
to know, you realize you already know.  You just needed to open your mind to
it.”

“So, the access orb helped to open my mind to all the
languages of the universe?”

“Probably to all the languages that ever existed and ever
will exist, which is highly unusual, since freeing one’s mind typically can’t
be assisted by machines.  I’m guessing that because your species evolved under
the influence of Ancient technology at the core of your planet, you have some
type of pre-disposition to be affected by it.  That would allow your mind to be
opened more easily than other species.  Couple that with the fact that you’re
young and your brain is still forming… that would make you the perfect test
subject.”

“Whoa.  So I’m like… special, right?  Ancient technology can
give my brain super powers?”

“I’m saying your entire race was special,” smiled Anna. 
“There’s no telling what the people of Earth would have been capable of, if
this is true.”

Jack was quiet for a moment.  “But, why does it only work
sometimes and not others?” Jack asked.  “After I broke open the Great Seal, I
could do some kick-butt stuff.  But now, it doesn’t seem to be working.”

“Freeing one’s mind is a complicated thing,” said Anna. 
“I’ve been in training to do it almost all my life, and I still don’t fully
understand it.  Shepherd was one of the most talented Paragons I’d ever met,
and even he would struggle with it.  We all put limitations on our minds
without even knowing it.  We can spend all our efforts to open our minds, and
then fall back into bad habits that close them off again.  Maybe in your case,
you were able to open your mind when you needed to, and after the need passed,
your brain allowed it’s former limitations to settle in.”

Jack frowned.  “So no superpowers anymore, huh?”

Anna shrugged.  “Well, you did it once.  Maybe you can do it
again?”

“Yeah, if I figure out how to open my stupid mind.”

“Well, from what I know, the first step is always the
hardest,” said Anna.  “But after you’ve been exposed to knowledge once, it’s
easier to access it.  Whatever you were exposed to when the Great Seal fell,
that’s knowledge you are now aware of, even if you’re not conscious of it. 
Which means that with the right training and discipline, maybe you can access
it again.”

“Training and discipline, eh?” smiled Jack.  “You realize
this is me we’re talking about, right?”

Anna giggled.  “I wouldn’t sell yourself short, Earthman.  I
think you’ve proven beyond any doubt that you are, in fact, pretty awesome.”

Jack’s chest puffed up slightly at Anna’s compliment, and he
flashed a smug smile.  “You forgot incredibly good looking, brave, smart, and
most of all – modest.”

Anna couldn’t help but laugh and nod good-naturedly in
agreement.  “You are all that and more, yes,” she said.  “When we get back to Omnicron
Prime, you will be a fine addition to my service.”

At that, Anna noticed Jack’s smile fade slightly.  “That
is,” she quickly added, “if you still plan on entering into it.”

Jack was quiet for a moment before speaking.  “After Earth
was destroyed, Shepherd told me that if I were going to survive, I‘d have to
find a cause to devote my life to.  He told me it would give my existence meaning,
because a cause can’t be destroyed, it can’t be corrupted, and it will live on
far beyond me, even if I were to die.  A cause could be a testament to my
people, my planet, and myself.  Something that will carry on in their honor,
forever.”

“That sounds like Shepherd,” said Anna sadly.

Jack looked at her and smiled.  “I had decided to make my
cause the same as his.  It was going to be you, Anna.”

“Going to be?” asked Anna.  “Not any more?”

Jack shook his head.  “Don’t get me wrong.  I’ll be there for
you no matter what.  But…”

Anna raised an eyebrow.  “What?” she asked.

Jack looked at Anna dead on, more confidently than he ever
had before.

“I’m going to save Earth,” said Jack, “And every other
planet the Deathlords have destroyed.  And bring back everyone they’ve ever
killed.”

Anna looked at Jack, the conviction in his voice ringing in
her ears.  He sounded so sure, but as much as she wanted to believe him, as
desperately as she wanted his words to be true, she just couldn’t bring herself
to accept them.

“Is… is that even possible?” she asked.

“Anything’s possible,” responded Jack.  “Right?”

“But to bring back the dead?  To restore all that’s been
destroyed?  How do you do it?”

“No idea,” said Jack.  “But I know it
can
be done.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life.”

Anna nodded. 
Shepherd
, she thought.  If what Jack
was saying were true, he could be brought back.  Her mother and father could be
brought back.  Her brothers, too.  Everyone who had lost their lives, both on
Earth and Regalus Prime.  It was almost too good to be true.  Never in history
had there been any record of bringing back the dead.  But then again, she’d
seen a lot of things lately that had no precedence in history.  Could this be
true?  And if so, how?

“The Great Seal,” said Anna, the wheels in her brain turning. 
“Professor Green said… it contained the knowledge of how to manifest life.”

Jack nodded.  “Knowledge we freed.  Knowledge that can now
be discovered.”

“Knowledge that could allow us to somehow… recreate what’s
been lost?”

Jack shrugged.  “Recreation, time travel, quantum
manifestation, cloning, mad science, mad libs, a partridge in a pear tree –
you’re asking the wrong guy.  I have no idea how it’s possible.  But I know
what we need to do it.”

“You do?”

Jack nodded.  He leaned toward her, and Anna inched closer
to him, her growing excitement visible.

“You know that Ancient weapon you were searching for?  The
one that could defeat the Deathlords once and for all?”

Anna’s eyes sparkled as a glimmer of hope shot into them. 
She nodded. 

“That’s what we’ll need.”

“Do you know where to find it?” Anna asked.

“Not yet,” said Jack.  “But I know where to start looking.”

“Where?”

Jack leaned back and put his arms casually behind his head.

“Ever hear of a place called Khoruhar?”

Anna’s mind raced to find an answer.  “No,” she said.

“That’s where it is,” said Jack.  “And when we get back to
your planet, that’s what I’m going to start searching for.  We’re going to find
this weapon of the Ancients, and when we do, we’re going to save our planets,
our friends, our families, and kick the Deathlords’ sorry butts back to hell
where they belong.”

“This is your new cause?”

“Yep.”

“And you really think you can do it?”

Jack leaned in and looked Anna in the eyes.  His gaze was
confident and steady, and somewhere in the back of her mind, he reminded her of
Shepherd.  When he spoke, deep inside Anna’s heart, all doubt disappeared.

“Count on it,” he said.

A heavy blue light, with nothing but
pitch black outside its harsh circle, shone down from above and encircled Zarrod
like a noose ready to constrict.

Stripped of his armor, his body
seemed long and gangly.  It was a new body, not nearly as strong and opulent as
his former one.  No doubt this, too, would be part of his punishment, relegated
to a weaker form… should he survive his current circumstance.

In the darkness, high above him on ornate thrones, sat three
robed and hooded figures.  The avatars of his masters – each with a face of
smooth stone with three holes, two for eyes, one for a mouth – were illuminated
by a light signaling that the avatars where being used by his Lords.  They
gazed down upon him in harsh judgment.  The one on the left was possessed by a
sickly green light.  The one to the right, a deep blood red.  And the one in
the middle glimmered with a harsh purple.

Zarrod’s entire body ached under their gaze.  He had one
knee on the ground, the other up to his chest with his hands rested atop it. 
His head was bowed low.  He dared not look upon the face of his masters, or even
their avatars, at a moment like this.

He had been summoned almost immediately upon his
resurrection, where he then learned the extent of his defeat.  Zarrod’s first
reaction was disbelief, for the sheer scale of the failure was unlike anything
he could have possibly imagined.  To think that it was not only he who had been
destroyed, but also all who followed him – by a single, solitary Earthman.

His Lords spoke, their voices booming, washing over Zarrod
like a fowl wind that caused him to cringe under its might.  Their words stung
his ears like they were filled with vicious insects, and he felt shame assault
every fiber of his being as they talked.

“Zarrod,” they said.  “You have disappointed us.”

Zarrod felt a stinging sensation in his chest.  To fail his
Lords was the greatest horror any Deathlord could comprehend.

“Our entire Planetkiller fleet destroyed.  The Invincible
Armada lost.  All our plans are now in disarray.”

“Your failure is unforgivable.”

“Yes, my Lords,” said Zarrod.  “You have every right to
destroy me for my failure, and I will accept your ultimate judgment.  I simply
ask you grant me one final plea.”

The three robed figures sitting above gazed down on him for
a moment, weighing his words.

“Proceed,” they responded.

“You have a new enemy, my Lords.  One none could have foreseen. 
He is the reason our fleet was destroyed.  He is the reason we lost our
armada.  He is the one who defeated me.”

“You speak of this…
Earthman
?”

“Yes,” said Zarrod.  “Somehow he was able to gain knowledge
of Servuchur.”

“Impossible.”

“It is true, my Lords.  He used it on me himself.”

“How can this be?”

“I do not know, my Lords.  But I know this Earthman.  I made
the mistake of underestimating him and paid for it dearly.  Should you choose
to have another of your servants deal with him, they may suffer the same fate.”

“What are you suggesting?”

“Grant me your permission to pursue him.  I will be patient,
methodical.  I will learn of our enemy, discover how he came to possess your
sacred knowledge, and when the time is right, I will strike him down.”

“And why should we let one such as you, who has already
failed us, have such an important task?”

“Because I am familiar with him.  I have spoken to him. 
Gotten insight into how he acts and thinks.  But most of all, I have the
motivation to succeed – more motivation than any other to whom you could grant
such a task.  Not only for your glory, my Lords.  Not just for the sake of my
life.  But for the thing which you, above all, hold most holy and righteous –
revenge.”

Silence greeted Zarrod’s plea.  For a moment, he was afraid
his Lords would reject his request.  But then, they spoke.

“You shall be stripped of all rank and position.  You are no
longer a Deathlord Supreme, and you will not be granted full mastery of Servuchur
as you were before.”

“Your new task shall be to hunt down this Earthman and to kill
him once you learn how he came to possess our sacred knowledge.”

“And after you have achieved your revenge and eliminated
this threat, you shall be culled for your failure.”

Zarrod felt an odd sensation run up his back.  It was a
cold, tingling chill.  He knew he was to be punished, and the thought of getting
his revenge should have been enough to satiate him.  The punishment his masters
were handing down was deserved – he had indeed failed them.  It had always been
enough for him to do as they wished, and he had experienced no greater
satisfaction than carrying out their will, even if that will was that he should
ultimately be destroyed.

But something was different now.  Ever since his experience
with the Great Seal, something had changed.  He didn’t know what it was, or
even how to describe it, but it was there, like a gnat buzzing around his head
too small to see or to catch.

Memories of his time on the Ghost Planet flashed into his
mind.  He remembered the feeling of the energy from the Great Seal tearing
through him.  The visions he experienced had been overwhelming and terrifying,
even to him – so much so that he had felt relegated to a single essence of
darkness.  It was as though his mind and soul were so lacking compared to the
majesty of what was before him, that he existed in a state of complete
emptiness.

The memories were hazy and jumbled, but the feelings were
not.  He could remember the sheer terror he had felt – an emotion he had never
experienced before at such a level.  In his panic he had done something…
wrapped himself around something… it was a message of some type, a message the
Ancient heretics had meant to be discovered.

Zarrod could not remember what it was, though.  It had gone
somewhere, and taken him with it.  During that time, he had almost lost
himself, and only after he had begun to strike out and fight it, had he
returned to his body.  But he had taken something back with him, something that
was not meant for a Deathlord to possess.

Whatever had changed him raged within him now.  It coursed
through his body, growing more acute with each passing second.  It tingled in
the back of his very essence, refusing to go away – violating every thought and
feeling he’d ever had.

In that moment, when his sentence was handed down, he…
felt
something.  Something he had never experienced when it came to his masters…

Resentment.

Zarrod knew what it meant to be culled.  To have his essence
ripped from him.  To have his consciousness obliterated.  It should not have
scared him.  He was their faithful servant, with the only goal of his existence
being to serve them.  In his mind, he knew that he should be grateful they were
allowing him one final task before receiving his punishment.  But at his core,
he felt completely different.

In his gut, he did not want to be culled.  And that meant
something unprecedented – that meant he actually wanted to defy his masters.

At that moment, Zarrod, the culler of worlds, master of
darkness, and bane to all that was living, finally understood what it was like
to
want
to live.

“I thank you for your wise judgment, my Lords,” said Zarrod,
careful to conceal his true feelings.  “I swear to you, your will shall be
done.”

“See that it is,” his masters said.  “You will not be given
another chance.”

“Now go forth, and serve your masters,” they said in
unison.  “Serve the Lords of the Void.”

With that, the glow left his masters’ avatars, their smooth
stone heads slumping down now that they had been released.  The light from
above faded, and Zarrod found himself back in the Central Temple of Akkadia,
the most holy location for Deathlords, for this was where they communed with
their Lords.  His ship had had its own temple where his masters had left their
orders infused into an avatar, which then had instructed him when he was a Supreme. 
But that paled in comparison to where he was now.

Zarrod got to his feet, his body stiff and awkward.  His
mind raced as he tried to understand the emotions he was feeling.  They were
new, yet familiar, as though he’d experienced them before, a lifetime ago.  Did
he really want to defy his masters?  Could he?

Yes
, he thought. 
Yes, I do.  And yes, I can
.

It was then he realized that he had indeed been a slave. 
All that time serving his Lords, he had never truly had a choice.  His actions
had never actually been his own.  He had been an extension of their will, programmed
to behave in a way his masters had dictated - never questioning, always serving. 
He had no real sense of self, just like every other Deathlord.  His species had
been designed to feel joy at death and destruction; to take satisfaction in
nothing but serving their masters;  to blindly follow orders and do what they
were told, without exception.  They were nothing more than mere robots.

But all that had changed.  The Great Seal had done something
to him.  It had given him something he’d never known he was lacking – free will
– the ability to think for himself and to do what he wanted, not just what he
was commanded.

Zarrod realized that had been what he’d felt since he was
resurrected.  Independence.  The feeling of freedom was strange and foreign to
him, yet liberating at the same time.  It was like he’d taken his first step
into a new world, unshackled from the chains of servitude that had kept him imprisoned
for so long.

In that instant, Zarrod couldn’t help but laugh.  He was no
longer a Deathlord Supreme; this was true.  But he had been transformed into
something far more powerful.  Something not even his masters could anticipate –
a Deathlord who could think for himself and could do as he wished beyond the
influence of his Lords – a Deathlord with his own consciousness.

A Deathlord with the potential to free his mind.

And what could a Deathlord with a free mind accomplish? 
Could he get his revenge?  Could he kill every one of his enemies?  Could he
rise up and even overthrow his own gods?

All that and more
, thought Zarrod as the genesis of a
plan began to form in his mind.  And at its center was the Earthman.  For some
reason, he was the key to what had transformed Zarrod.  Yes, he would kill him,
and yes, he’d make the child suffer before he did.  But not right away.  Zarrod
would need to take his time, to play along with his “masters” so that they
would not notice what he was up to.

In the meantime, though, he’d have to focus on something
else… something that had been rattling around in his brain like a caged animal
desperate to break free… something that had been in his mind ever since the
Great Seal had shattered.  He did not know what it meant, what it was, or why
it was so important.  But he knew he had to find it, and quickly, because it
was the key to his ultimate revenge.  And all he had to go on was a single,
solitary word…

Khoruhar.