Inherited War 3: Retaliation (8 page)

“Does it surprise you that I have been here before? Many times, in fact,” the kin said.

“Yes, frankly it does. The ancients hid this world for a reason—to keep the other species from finding it. I would think part of that would entail keeping everyone away,” she answered back.

“The plan that the ancients laid out those many thousands of years ago is deeper than you could ever imagine.  Even those of us included in its planning knew only small parts of it. The Creator who designed and implemented the plan was far more wise and more knowledgeable than we will ever know. He made plans within plans. He planned for everything,” The last was said with a deep reverence.

“Like your friends Thalo and Jeth and their people, we too were given a task to complete. Probably the most important of all the preparations to be made.” He lapsed into silence as if waiting for the obvious question to be asked.

Sky took the bait. “What task was that?”

“Make them a warrior species. Prepare them for the fight they would enter in the future. Make them what the ancients could never have truly been. Killers, ravagers, destroyers of worlds; all the things needed to reclaim the galaxy.” After a small moment of silence and after he was sure his words had sunk in, he told his peoples tale.

“Our task wasn’t one that could be accomplished in the beginning. The humans of this world were primitive, by any standards. They were few in number and spread around the entirety of the globe. No language, civilization, or anything recognizable as higher organization. They were so spread out that they rarely even encountered each other. This was a race of beings that had almost stopped evolving. Hundreds of thousands of years, and they were barely further along than when they first stood upright. I do not say this to belittle them; I just want to make it clear to you what the Creators faced. Myself and ninety-nine of my brethren were chosen to see that our duty to the Creators was fulfilled. We traveled to this planet and observed its people. We watched as the viruses engineered by the Creators spread around the world and began to effect its inhabitants. Language was the first major change to take place. Tribes all around the world began to organize sounds into words and assign meaning. Tribes began to be drawn to certain areas on the planet where they met one another and build the first rudimentary towns. Once we saw them begin to come together, we decided to act.” The world slowly turned underneath them and the landmasses slowly disappeared, being replaced by the vast Atlantic Ocean. In a few hours, they would be over the Americas, Cole’s birthplace.

“We discussed at some length the many and varied ways to make these beings violent and war-like. As we talked, we watched our charges. They were incredibly docile and not prone to violence, but were incredibly crafty when it came to hunting animals both great and small. We were perplexed for the longest time then one of the females that had accompanied us, Ariel, found the solution we sought. She recalled that on one of her many travels with a Creator, they had found a planet inhabited by beings that were in a continual state of war. It seemed that there were two factions on the planet. Both believed in some great deity that controlled their lives and dictated how they behaved. Both groups believed theirs was the correct faith and the other was wrong. They had battled over the rift in doctrine for hundreds of years and would continue to do so until one or the other was destroyed or converted. I believe they finally succeeded in annihilating themselves and completely destroying their own world. But it gave us the idea we chose to use.” Sky looked horrified at what the Kin was saying. She knew where he was going but was too dumbstruck to interrupt.

“We divided the tribes of men between us and created myths to guide them. We created gods, demons, spirits and cannon. We couldn’t all appear to the humans as we were, so some of my people took other space faring races to Earth and used them as intermediaries.  Throughout the Americas, aliens who looked like native animals were used to instruct the populace. Hence, the many religions based on the worship of animal gods in the tribes that did not survive. I, myself, created the Hebrew people and also had a hand in creating and shaping their bible. I was an angel of God and his messenger. We all told them the same thing; they worshiped the one true od. All others were false. We helped guide and shape them in the way of war. The more one tribe achieved victory, the more they were perceived as being favored of their God. As some tribes were eliminated from the world, my brethren who lost their people joined those who still had followers. We all worked together and made sure the strongest survived. Eventually I even split the people I had formed. In a rare occurrence, a man was born with very advanced DNA, more advanced than even Cole. It was a one in a trillion occurrence and never should have happened. He was able to perform feats that no man should and he gave the credit to his God, his father, as he called him. I split those Kin working with me and ended the man’s interference with my people. But he created a new tribe, one that would eventually be the strongest in the world and come to control much of it. It was about this time we felt that we had achieved our desired goal. We left some hints and writings to be found later that would further advance our goals and then we departed. If left to their own devices the religion of the man who created Christianity would have eventually dominated the world at almost the precise time the humans would have discovered how to travel out of their solar system.” Sky was appalled, outraged, and speechless.

“Do you know how much death and destruction you caused?” she finally managed to sputter out. “Millions have died on this planet in one holy war or another. Human sacrifices by the untold millions to gods that never existed—unnecessary sacrifice and suffering. It is horrible.”

“But necessary, none the less. Look at those who are left. Without being born and bred to fight, would a meager ten thousand of any space faring race be ready to fight as the humans are preparing to do? Captured, imprisoned, and finally finding out their whole world has been destroyed hasn’t broken them. I would wager it is making them stronger. They chomp at the bit to fight, to take revenge on those who wronged them. On those who kill and imprison them. One thousand males, that’s all that is left of nearly three billion. Almost ninety percent want to join Cole and fight. Ten thousand women who face raising multiple children alone while their fathers are off fighting and dying. These are a people tested in the fire; they have not been found wanting.” Gavreal’s scathing reproach cooled Sky’s temper.

“Doing what we did brought about Cole. Do you really think the billions of humans who died before Cole was born truly matter? They were doomed to death the moment they were born, and all of them would have died regardless if it was war or old age. They were a means to an end, and Cole was that end. Probably the most important end in the history of this galaxy. Do not mourn for life that was doomed from the beginning. Do not hate us that did the Creators bidding. Hate the beings that forced their hands, the beings that nearly wiped out the Creators as a race. Love what is left, fight for that spark of humanity left in the galaxy. Humans are quite possibly the most ingenious race in the entire known galaxy. They accomplish much in their short life spans. Think now what they can do with hundreds or thousands of years.” Sky did just that. Gavreal had given her much to think on and answered many questions. Questions she wondered about. The east coast of North America was just coming into view underneath her.

“This,” he spread his arms out to indicate the clouds all around, “was my favorite place to sit and watch the people I helped mold. It always made for a grand entrance, to come boiling out of the clouds with the light from my clothing shining like the sun.” He had a slight smile on his face as he remembered the feeling of control he felt and the awe from the humans he spoke with.

“Now onto the real reason we came here. We must prepare you to enter Cole’s mind and fight whatever it is that is controlling his actions.” In a blink, they were off the clouds and standing on firm ground. They were facing each other about three feet apart and in the middle of a great grassy plain. It was warm, and felt like the spring to Sky. Gavreal had an intense look on his face.

“The most powerful weapon you will posses in another’s mind is distraction. If you can keep Cole’s mind distracted, you have won the first battle. You know him best, what distracts him the most?” Gavreal asked.

Sky stifled a small laugh. Gavreal gave her a questioning look.

“Breasts, he can’t keep his mind off them sometimes. Mine, I mean. It seems a similar preoccupation with most human males. Not with mine for most men, but in general.” Sky had a slight twinkle in her eye as she spoke.

“Good, then I suggest you play up to that. Your body here is what you make of it. Change it to suit your purpose,” Gavreal said.

Sky thought for a moment and closed her eyes to concentrate. Slowly her chest grew bigger, not enormous but bigger and rounder. She narrowed her waist and widened her hips slightly to make her body shape symmetrical.

“There, how is that?” she asked.

“If you don’t know I cannot answer. Your form is not attractive to me in any shape, I prefer my kind.”

“Fine,” she spat out too quickly, “this is fine.”

“Good, now we begin.” He suddenly spread his wings wide. The quick movement startled Sky and she took an involuntary step backwards. “It works both ways; the one who you will be contending with will also be looking to distract you. I do not know what you will face once you enter Cole’s mind but the other will seek to distract and control you.  Cole’s mind is a dark place right now, that much I saw when I tried to link to him in the hanger. Whatever is inside him is slowly twisting and corrupting him. What is hidden is what you will be fighting, and you must remain in control of yourself at all times. I believe that there is enough of Cole left free that his mind will subconsciously try to protect you—use this to your advantage. Take risks and leaps of faith, but you must never physically hurt or destroy anything in his mind, except when you find the other.”

“I understand, I think,” she replied.

“Then let us begin. We start first with control and shaping techniques.” For the next several hours, Gavreal instructed Sky on the things she needed to know to wage an effective war on the unknown entity in Cole’s mind. Finally, after showing her how to break her connection with his mind, Sky felt her own mind drawing her back in. She opened her eyes to the black room on the base. She was still in the globe of water with Gavreal, and he still had his hands on her face and right breast. Slowly he released her.

“You have done well,” he said. “Tomorrow we will attempt it without the water. Each day we will remove a step in the calming process until you can link to me without touching me. You will need to be far from Cole when we attempt to enter his mind, and it will be easier if you can accomplish that before he arrives. For now, return to your home, rest, and eat. Tomorrow will be longer.” He exited the globe and pulled Sky after him. Giving her a gentle shove, he sent her flying to the door and followed with his wings beating softly.

Thalo watched from the observer’s gallery as the Nixa Administrators slowly filled the empty seats of the great meeting hall. One by one, they arrived and moved to their traditional seats. The last to arrive, of course, Thalo thought bitterly, was Fire. The Colonial Administrator was at the top of a very long list of people Thalo would love to kill but unfortunately was untouchable, for the time being.

Jeth was absent, having joined Snow and her mother on a family vacation property in the mountains. Things had gotten messy the last day since their arrival. Word had leaked that there was a Nixa selling fellow Nixa to the Esii and had actually worked along with them in the war. Uriel had been out doing whatever the hell it was he did and had, according to him, found a nest of Nixa that had been taken over by Esii agents. The local Nixa authorities had arrived in time to see Uriel take the head off the last remaining Nixa in a group of about twenty. He had been covered head to toe in Nixa blood and had a huge smile plastered on his face. The local Nixa police force backed off at that point and called for support.

Uriel hadn’t gone willingly with the Nixa who had come to arrest him. In fact, he hadn’t gone at all. He refused to acknowledge any authority and walked off. The Nixa had followed him and finally attempted to put him down with tranquilizers. He killed those Nixa too. He was loose somewhere on the planet and had thousands of military, police, and other government agencies out looking for him. So far, he hadn’t killed anyone else but it had only been a day. Thalo had grossly underestimated how much Uriel hated the Nixa for their twin betrayals.

The sudden banging of a gavel snapped Thalo’s mind back to the present. Everyone rose to their feet as the Prime entered the front of the room and took the podium. As he came to a halt in front of the microphone, the room full of nervous Nixa took their seats.

“I apologize for breaking protocol,” he began his speech, “but I find it necessary to cut to the heart of the matter. First of all to answer the one question I know will come up, yes we are doing all we can to find the Kin responsible and capture him. Secondly, we must officially open and investigation regarding the rumors spreading through our populace.” That was as far as he got before a shouted voice interrupted.