Jason King: Agent to the Stars 1: The Enclaves of Sylox (46 page)

Chapter 23

T
he
FS-475
was soon flooded with a myriad of aliens, all filled with a determined purpose. They quickly placed Riyad and his pirates in one of the extra staterooms under guard, while sequestering Adam, Kaylor and Jym in Kaylor’s stateroom, also under guard. Other pilots were brought in, and they set the ship on a course for Melfora Lum, a trip they were told which would take about two days. After that, everyone settled into a tense routine. Food was brought and bathroom trips supervised. Adam and Riyad had no contact for the duration of the trip.

While in Kaylor’s stateroom, Adam was able to remove all of their ankle bombs, much to their immense relief, especially the aliens. But now the question became: What to do with the bombs? They had not seen the trigger device removed from Riyad, but that could have happened by now. If not, then the bombs could go off at any time Riyad felt doing so would be to his advantage. And if the device had been confiscated, could one of the Nimorians inadvertently trigger the detonations?

So during one of the bathroom runs, Adam hid the bombs in a towel and deposited them in a trash bin in the head. Then asking for permission to dump the trash, Jym jettisoned the bombs out into the vastness of space.

Immediately, there was a profound change in the mood of Adam’s two alien companions – at least up to the point when they remembered they were on the way to meet a Juirean Overlord … a being who would decide the ultimate fate of them all.

The moment soon came when everyone was summoned to the airlock off the ship’s cargo bay, and the four of them – Adam, Riyad, Kaylor and Jym – were transferred to a smaller shuttlecraft for the journey down to the surface of Melfora Lum. Riyad’s fellow pirates appeared to have disappeared somewhere along the journey to the planet….

Through the viewports, Adam could see a sprawling city sweep up from below, complete with skyscrapers, paved roads and abundant traffic.
Now this was more like it
, Adam thought. This was a lot different from the Old West version of an alien city he’d experienced with the Nimorian city of Gildemont.

They landed in a parade field next to a massive pyramid-shaped building that easily measured a mile on each side. It soared forty stories tall and glowed a golden yellow color as the bronze-glass walls reflected the light from the setting Melforean sun. The prisoners were herded into the building under no fewer than fourteen guards.

The large entourage entered an even larger elevator; Adam once again marveled at the familiarity of it all. It was just a normal-looking elevator, yet he imagined the mechanism for moving the car up and down was probably a lot more high-tech than just cables and pulleys. At least that’s what he hoped.

They entered an extremely large office, easily a hundred-feet-square, and lined with numerous full-size statues of exotic alien creatures, all garbed in bright uniforms and holding a variety of weapons. Oversized plants were scattered throughout the room, and the troop had to wind their way through some of them before coming upon a massive desk, apparently carved from a single stone crystal. The desk was smooth along the front and back sides, but each of the opposing sides featured ornate carvings depicting various animals, all with savage, threatening expressions. The scene was clearly designed to intimidate.

And behind the desk sat the Juirean Counselor Deslor Lin Jul. He wore a slightly amused expression as the four prisoners were placed in chairs before the desk. This time the guards remained in the room, their beady yellow eyes unblinking as they never took them off the prisoners. Adam could tell these guards were of a different caliber than the ones on Nimor.
These were real pros.

As he waited for the Counselor to begin speaking, Adam wondered when they would be meeting the Overlord. After all, Adam had already seen this movie….

Then the interview began.

The Juirean informed them that he was now aware of Riyad’s identity, and had also taken note that he was of the same race as Adam. This had piqued his curiosity.

“I see we now have two of you, one a pirate captain and the other proclaiming ignorance as to how he came to be aboard the derelict ship. Does that seem inconsistent to either of you?”

“Let’s cut the bullshit,” Adam said. “We all know it was a
Klin
ship I was on.”

The Juirean was sincerely taken aback. “So you know?” He seemed visibly upset. It was obvious this with information that was not for public consumption. Someone back on Nimor must have leaked the information, unless Adam knew more than he was letting on.

“And this makes it all the more unlikely that you are simply an innocent victim of an abduction, with no knowledge of how or why you came to be aboard a
Klin
spacecraft.”

He turned to address Riyad. “And you, of the same race, are a pirate leader and apparently quite adapt at our way of life. So which is it? Are you a primitive race, with no knowledge of the existence of The Expansion, or are you skilled warriors, as evidenced by your position with the pirates and your recent escape from the Nimorian jail?”

Neither Adam nor Riyad answered. Instead Riyad tilted his head toward Adam and said, “So this is a Juirean? I’m not impressed.”

“That’s just what I thought!” Adam replied emphatically.

The Juirean bristled. “Play your games as you wish, but I should tell you, we have recovered the Klin computer core.”

Both Riyad and Adam were shocked. Before being boarded, Riyad had hidden the core within Kaylor’s ship. They were hoping the Juireans still believed that the pirates had the core, and then when – not if – they could escape, they could recover the core and match it up with the systems aboard the Klin ship. In fact, Adam and Riyad were both quite ecstatic about getting both the core and the Klin ship back in close proximity to one another. But now….

“That’s right,” the Juirean said smugly, watching the expressions of the two Humans. “Your two captains were quite effective in convincing us that the pirates never did have the core in the first place. That only left the two of you,” he said, addressing Kaylor and Jym. “After that, we didn’t have too much difficulty finding the core aboard your ship during the trip to Melfora Lum.”

Damn it! Now the Juireans are going to learn the location of Earth,
Adam thought.
Where does that leave me now?

Almost on queue, the Juirean spoke, “All of you are to be transported to the Klin ship to meet the Overlord. He is quite anxious to meet the two of you,” he said addressing the two Humans. He turned to Kaylor and Jym. “As for the two of you, I have no idea what plans he has for you.”

Adam saw Kaylor turn even paler than normal – while Jym simply went ahead and fainted.

Chapter 24

T
wo hours later, Adam was handcuffed and walking across a narrow metal plank in the umbilical corridor connecting the Counselor’s private shuttle to the Klin starship. At the end of the plank, the group entered an airlock, and soon Adam found himself back in the same wide, curving corridor he had been in only six short days before.

Technicians had reestablished gravity, atmosphere and temperature within the ship, and even the air smelled like it had been disinfected, countering the stench of the dead bodies left by the pirates.

As he passed the wide window to the hiberpods room, he felt slightly nostalgic. He noticed that all the pods were all empty now, the dozens of dead Humans having been removed for disposal – or for who knew what else.

They soon passed the wide stairway leading to the command dome and kept going. The party continued along the corridor, until it intersected with another corridor that cut through the center of the ship under the command dome. There were numerous doors on either side of the corridor, and Adam reasoned this must have been the living quarters for the crew.

A wide door slid open to his right, and the guards hustled them through, following the Counselor in his flowing and colorful capes.

The room they entered was long and narrow, with a large viewport at the opposite end. There was a living area off to the left, complete with a bed and working desk, partitioned off with half walls from the rest of the room. Along each wall were displayed colorful and strangely brilliant pictures that appeared almost to be alive. They were advanced 3-D images or holograms of some kind, and depicted landscapes of rolling hills, towering mountains and tranquil, azure blue seas. One picture was of a large obelisk surrounded by manicured grounds. And within all the pictures were numerous beings – all the same tall silver creatures he’d seen when he’d first awakened on the ship. They were smiling and some were even holding children. Adam recognized the images immediately for what they were. These were scenes of home.

Adam noticed a figure standing near the photo of the obelisk, with his back to the group. A billowing crest of blue hair covered the head and cascaded down the back and over a long purple cape. Without turning, the Overlord spoke: “This is an image of the Eternity Monument on Klinmon. It was destroyed nearly four thousand years ago … but still they remember.”

The Overlord turned, and Adam was immediately struck by the impossibly deep blue color of his eyes. They were almost hypnotic. The Overlord’s face was similarly shaped as that of the Counselor’s, but it appeared to have fewer creases around the eyes.
A young Juirean?
Adam wasn’t sure, but thought it was a good bet.

The Counselor had taken a seat off to the right of the simple desk that was set near the rear viewport. He remained silent, as he waited for the Overlord to guide the conversation.

The Overlord swept his arm around the room. “This is all Klin. We are all standing in a memory, an ancient memory that has now been brought back to life.” The Juirean’s voice was almost singsong as he appeared enraptured by the moment. “This is living history. The Klin should not exist – but they
do
.”

He walked over to the group and stopped in front of Adam. “They not only exist, but they appear to be thriving.” The smell of the Juirean was of thick body odor, and his breath was a little sour. Adam did his best not to wince – at least not too much.

The Juirean continued. “I am Overlord Oplim Ra Unis and the four of you are all responsible, in one way or another, for this great moment in Juirean history. Because of your actions, I will be remembered forever in the chronicles of the Juirean people.”

He walked over to the desk and leaned against it, facing the group. From the tone of the conversation, Adam almost felt as if the Juirean wanted to thank them for what they’ve done. Was that even possible?

He continued: “But do you know how close I came to not making this moment a reality?” His voice lowered. “Just having the Klin ship, without knowing the location of the Klin hiding place, would have caused more problems than it solved. It would simply have confirmed that the Klin still exist, and that they have advanced technology developed over thousands of years, technology and capabilities completely hidden from The Expansion. The result would have been Klin sightings all across the galaxy, a mass hysteria that would have undermined the Members’ confidence in the Juirean Authority.”

Then he stared at Kaylor. “And
you –
you had the computer core from the beginning.”

Kaylor’s eyes grew wide with terror, as Jym tried to slip in behind him, hiding from the steely gaze of the Overlord.

At that moment, a communicator on the Counselor’s belt buzzed, distracting the Overlord momentarily. The Counselor quickly answered; he whispered into the device and then stood and moved next to the Overlord.

“My Lord, the technicians have tried all they can to decipher the information from within the core, but there is a compatibility issue. They believe the core must be linked to its original system.” There was a slight concern in his voice.

The Overlord firmed his jaw, and then instructed the Counselor to have the core transferred to the Klin ship immediately. He stood silently for a long moment, looking into the room without seeing. All the others stood silently, shifting nervously. The Overlord was used to doing things in his own time.

Finally, he took a deep breath and said, “Now you see why we have purged all evidence of the discovery of this ship. The only beings that know of the ship’s true identity are here in this room. Only
after
I have learned the location of the Klin hiding place, and purged The Expansion of their plague, will I let the rest of the galaxy know what I have done.”

After being confined to a small room near the Overlord’s chambers for an hour or so, the four prisoners were eventually herded up to the command dome where the Overlord and his Counselor were waiting. The core had arrived and technicians were preparing to install it back into its original slot within the equipment tower. Adam noticed Riyad separate himself from him and the two aliens, to stand closer to the Juireans. The rest of the room was crowded with guards and various service technicians.

The last time Adam was in this room was when Kaylor had shot him, and the wound on his chest – as well as the one on his head from the collision with the bulkhead – still had not healed completely. Adam noticed that Kaylor and Jym were becoming ever-more agitated, almost panicky. They had been petrified with fear for quite a while now, but this was something different.

The technicians lifted the core and struggled to line it up in the opening in the equipment tower. Then it slid in. Immediately, three steady orange lights above the core opening changed to yellow and began to flash in sequence.

Kaylor and Jym literally ran for the exit, but were quickly subdued by the guards. The twos Juireans didn’t notice the commotion; instead, they had turned their attention to the command consoles as a screen in front of them suddenly flashed to life. A technician sat down at the console and began to type on the keyboard before him. Data began to stream across the screen. The Juireans leaned in closer.

Adam was curious, too, but of course, he couldn’t read any of the data. What really piqued his interest, however, was how strangely Kaylor and Jym were acting….

“There!” the Overlord yelled, pointing his finger at the screen. “Stop,” he commanded to the technician. “Surrender your seat and leave the room.”

When the seat was empty, the Counselor slipped into it. Only the two Juireans could now see the screen. They began to read intently.

Kaylor grabbed Adam’s sleeve. “We have to leave!” he whispered to Adam.

“What? We can’t leave.”

“But we have to!”

Adam shrugged off Kaylor’s grasp and returned his attention to the Juireans. If they learned the location of Earth, they might reveal something Adam could use later – if there was to be a later. He couldn’t read the screen – even if he could see it – yet he could
listen
in on their conversation.

“Amazing.” the Counselor was saying.
“Annan.”

“Yes, but that is not what concerns me the most,” said the Overlord. “Look what it says about these
Humans
….”

Both the Juireans turned to look at Adam and Riyad, who in unison backed away quickly, trying to look as innocent as possible.
Did
the Juireans look … scared?
Adam thought. Then they turned back to the screen.

“There! That’s it—” the Overlord said.

A heartbeat later, Riyad shoved a shoulder into Adam’s chest, sending him crashing into Kaylor, Jym and the guards behind them and they all tumbled to the floor in a heap. Next, Riyad kicked the Counselor in the ribs, and grabbed the much-taller Overlord around the neck from behind, pulling him backwards.

Guards rushed into the room, weapons drawn, but Riyad swung the Overlord in front of him for cover and the guards hesitated. The pirate backed further into the room, almost disappearing from Adam’s view due to the curvature of the disk-shaped starship. Then with his free hand, Riyad reached down and flipped his belt buckle inside out, revealing the trigger device for the ankle bombs! He grinned at Adam – and then pushed a button on the device … at the same time he ducked around the equipment tower.

But nothing happened.

A few seconds later, Riyad peaked around the corner, with the Overlord still firmly in his grasp. Adam had regained his feet, and seeing Riyad’s dark eyes staring at him, he smiled at the pirate while pulling up his pant leg and revealing a bare ankle.

A look of exasperation came over Riyad’s face, but then a toothy smile stretched across his face. Riyad gave Adam a wink, and then moved back out of sight, dragging the Overlord with him.

Guards rushed past Adam, nearly knocking him over, and went to help the Counselor to his feet. Others headed after Riyad, who had exited the command room through a secondary doorway.

Adam felt a strong tug on his arm. “Come Adam, we
must
go –
now!”
Kaylor had an absolutely terrified look on his face.

Using the confusion left over from Riyad’s abduction of the Overlord, Adam sent an elbow into the jaw of the one remaining guard standing between them and the stairway out of the command room. He scooped up the guard’s weapon and the three of them bounded down the stairs and into the wide corridor. Three more guards ran past them and up the stairs, ignoring them completely. It seemed that rescuing the Overlord was of a greater priority than subduing the three of them.

And so they ran, back down the corridor, past the hiberpod room and into the umbilical tube. The hatch to the Counselor’s ship was still open and they shot through it, Adam leading the way. Finding no one aboard, they quickly located the pilothouse and Kaylor fell into the pilot’s seat a seat, punching buttons as he did so.

“What the hell’s going on?” Adam yelled, as Kaylor fingered a switch that closed the outer door to the ship. Next, Kaylor grabbed the control stick and sent the craft tearing away from the umbilical.

“The bomb!” Jym answered.

“What bomb?”

Kaylor cranked the stick to the left and Adam could see the large Klin ship began to shrink away quickly.