Lokians 1: Beyond the End of the World (13 page)

“
Who cares about any of this? There’s
crazy, bug aliens need an ass whippin’; that’s what I’m
about….”

****

Day and the captain joined the ambassador on
the bridge, where she had fun learning how to pilot the Explorer.
O’Hara, on the other hand, had no time for fun. He was overly
preoccupied with being in charge of such a delicate mission. The
agents’ presence didn’t make matters any better. Franklin and Adams
were already on the bridge when he arrived. Looking at them from
across the sea foam, colored carpet, he found them as alien as
Thewls.

“
Are we to stay aboard this vessel once
we dock?” he asked Weh.

“
You are not confined to this vessel.
When we dock, you may explore the Carrier as you please, though,
there will be some areas off limits, but I’m sure you can
appreciate the situation,” the ambassador replied.

“
Of course, Sir. What about
quarters?”

“
Each Explorer has an extensive
quarters deck, as you’ve seen. If you would like to take quarters
upon the Carrier, I’m sure it can be arranged. You must be so eager
to learn of our ways.”

“
Yes,” he chuckled, rubbing the back of
his head. “At any rate, I was wondering how the Carrier’s different
from the Explorer.”

“
It is a bit different; mainly sickbay,
the defense systems, and of course the coalescence drive.
Structurally, it is a sphere; it is not designed to land on
planets, but to roam through space. It also harbors schools for
children, training facilities for adults, and complex, recreational
areas for friendly competition and various, other releases. We will
dock soon enough, and then you can explore to your heart’s content.
For now, I suggest you and your crew simply make yourselves
comfortable,” the ambassador stated.

With that, the captain decided to try
relaxing. After just hours aboard the Explorer, the crew felt an
imperative need to sit with their own kind and met up in the mess
hall, where they exchanged information. During their conversations,
the ship’s intercom announced that docking procedures were
underway.

The docking system employed was more an
absorption than a docking. Two of the elevators, which ran through
every level of the small ship, were designed to reach the first
floor of the Carrier’s interior. Panels the size of Human cities
were positioned along the bottom of the vessel, and when they
fanned away, special precautions were required to maintain pressure
throughout the other decks.

Up to four Explorers fit within the Carrier
and connected to internal elevators. Once pressure was stabilized,
Thewls were free walk around the docking zone or use two of the
elevators to reach all the Carrier’s main decks. It was then
revealed that Carriers and Explorers were the main portion of the
Thewlian fleet. Other ships were either mining vessels or fighters
and composed a much smaller portion. The mining vessels were used
to extract and move resources, either from one ship to another or
from one asteroid to a colony or other ship.

The fighter vessels were of two types. Type A
vessels were small one and two man ships used in dog fights, either
space side or planet side. Normally, either one Thewl flew one ship
and manned everything on his own or two Thewls manned a slightly
larger Type A, in which one man piloted, and one man worked guns.
Type B ships were twice the size of As, and required a crew of six,
one pilot, four gunmen, and one man to reload. Those vessels had
four guns and a small, Helium-4 cannon. The cannon was fired by the
pilot, but required a second man to reload.

Explorers occasionally doubled as drop ships
as well. Their ability to fly into a planet side, war zone, pop off
some rounds, drop off a platoon, and fly to safety was quite
effective. Otherwise, they were used in the traditional way of
reconnaissance and survey missions.

Chapter Seven

The Explorer finalized the docking procedure
after which Ambassador Weh made contact with Admiral Yew, who was
in charge of the Carrier. The ambassador sought collaboration with
the Thewlian leader before finalizing travel plans to the Sol
system. Many more references to that elusive planet had been found
in the Human history archives. Most recently, it had popped up at
the start of the 21st century during which it was referred to as
Nibiru
.

Several conspiracies of the past insinuated
that the planet came close enough to Earth for a species of aliens
to venture forth by conventional means, thus advancing the
Earthlings by providing information, technology, or in some cases,
actually taking Humans back to Nibiru. Both the admiral and the
ambassador believed it was in fact the perfect place to begin
searching for the travelers.

Everyone had gathered on the Carrier’s
bridge. The room was enormous. While the Humans marveled at its
structure, Thewlian leaders conversed. Nandesrikahl tried to listen
as he enjoyed hearing a new language, but the other Humans, with
the exception of the agents, ambled about the brightly lit room.
Most of the ground was covered in sea foam green carpeting
complementing the silvery walls and information consoles. There
were over fifty Thewls pouring over computers, screens, and other,
strange devices.

Fitzpatrick elbowed the captain and pointed
with her face. “The Admiral?”

“
You can always spot superiors, huh,”
O’Hara whispered back.

Admiral Yew was a distinguished Thewl, not as
large as some of the others, but stocky. His battle attire was a
red and black armored suit comprised of flexible plating. Chrome
filigree graced the collar and chest. After his conversation, Yew
approached a spherical console and mashed a few keys with his
massive fingers.

Having engaged the coalescence systems, the
Carrier emitted a frequency, forcing two wavelengths of reality
together, resulting in a space-time bend. Apart from the
coalescence drive, Carriers also boasted a unique, energy
rendering, visual apparatus used to calculate and navigate proper
coordinates as well as time matrices pertinent to coalescence.
Energy signatures were mathematically calculated then coordinates
were derived from equations and subsequently plotted by a
navigational expert, an old Thewl named At-Emon. Captain O’Hara’s
crew listened attentively as he spoke.

“
Can you dumb it down a little?” Day
asked when he went off on a tangent about realities.

“
One can liken coalescence to travel
around a mountain. From the base of the mountain one can’t see the
other side, nor what lies beyond, but if a point at the base of the
mountain, which extended infinitely upon a vertical axis, were
adjoined to a similar point on the exact opposite side then pulled
directly to the first point, thus effectively erasing the mountain
from view, one not only sees what lies beyond the mountain, but
also move on a forward trajectory, completely bypassing the
obstacle.

“
One must also implement a time
variation equation. An energy signature verifies that our maneuver
doesn’t hinder the normal flow of time between those two points.
This is most easily done when two wavelengths are very close to
each other in a natural state. I have picked a perfect time and
place for Admiral Yew. The best route includes three such jumps in
order to capitalize on several frequencies and minimize any
disturbance created by forcing smaller portions of space together
rather than implementing one big jump,” At-Emon
elucidated.

Day was stunned. Such travel utilized by
Humans meant reaching the farthest ends of the galaxy in little
time. It took roughly seventeen minutes to travel from the area
just outside the Gemini system to a second area in space. Eleven
minutes later, the Carrier pinched another portion of space-time,
reaching a third location. Six minutes after that, the final
location, an area roughly eighty, thousand miles away from Pluto,
showed on the monitor covering the bridge’s far wall.

In just over a half an hour, the Carrier
covered a distance well beyond the
Phoenix’s
capabilities.
Right after their arrival, Thewls scanned the solar system.
Findings revealed a G-class star surrounded by large and small
planets. There was an asteroid belt—the Kuiper belt to which Nandy
had referred—located in an area required by the Titius-Bode law, an
equation, which mandated where planets had to exist.

While At-Emon vocalized the readings,
Nandesrikahl decided to school the rest of the crew on astronomic
facts, saying, “See that? It’s Neptune. Its strange orbit is an
indicator of the stress caused by another planetary body, and there
it is…I knew we’d find this planet,” Nandesrikahl grinned.

At-Emon turned to the crew to speak. “We have
located your Nibiru.”

“
I can’t believe that all this time
there was another planet no one knew for certain existed. I wonder
why it was kept a secret,” Nandesrikahl asked.

They all looked at the planet in question, a
bluish rock with gaseous light wafting off in a red and orange haze
shaped like wings. “Probably, someone upstairs knows something
we’re not supposed to know,” Swain ventured.

“
Upstairs,” Imes asked.

“
He doesn’t mean God, dumbass,” Becker
snapped. “He means a government crony.”

Swain and Imes shrugged to each other. O’Hara
cocked an eyebrow, and as he thought about his friend’s
proposition, he slowly turned his gaze to the agents. Adams and
Franklin made brief eye contact.
These guys know something.
Neither one of them had said two words since they boarded the
Carrier.

“
There are reasons,” Adams said,
cryptically.

“
Protocol,” Franklin added with a nod.
“The Bureau has known a few things for certain for a long time, but
gentlemen, you must understand….”

Some Thewls looked the agents over. They
whispered in hushed, gurgling tones. Adams made a gesture of
acquiescence.

“
There is so much more to the universe,
and all of it threatens Earth.”

“
We can tell them now,” Franklin
remarked. Adams didn’t mind, but both Humans and Thewls were
curious and huddled around. “In all likelihood, a race of
intelligent beings did arrive on Earth during the time of the
Sumerians.”

Adams immediately picked up where Franklin
left off, saying, “They may have made contact before and after that
period. Whoever these people were...” Adams paused, leading the
crew believe Franklin was speaking next.

Neither agent said a word. They just stared
blankly. O’Hara leaned in and raised his eyebrows expectantly while
Swain wrung his hands.

“
What man?” Martinez yelled.

“
They don’t exist anymore,” Adams
smiled.

Everyone was quiet. Ambassador Weh grew
concerned, denoted by the pallor draining from his visage. He was
nearly gray.

“
What do you two know about the
travelers,” he asked.

“
Not much, I’m afraid” Franklin
answered.

“
This planet, it’s actually called
Marduk
, and it does come by Earth every thirty six hundred
years,” Adams continued.

“
The last time it came by, we waited
for our friends. They never came, though. Until recently, we didn’t
have the ability to attempt communication,” Franklin
said.

“
Well, that’s not entirely accurate,”
Adams corrected. “We made an attempt to communicate about fifty
years ago and found nothing.”

“
I didn’t mean
we
personally,”
Franklin condescended. Adams gave him a look insinuating it was a
useless addition. “Right, there was some, static, energy
frequency—a lingering residue of energy—if you will,” Franklin
explained.

“
Yes, something one might expect to
find following an exodus. We tried to pick up the trail, but it
vanishes two, thousand miles outside the planet’s atmosphere. We’re
really baffled at this point,” Adams finished

“
Ambassador…speaking of energy trails.
I’m picking up heat signatures,” a female Thewl stated.

“
What do we have?” O’Hara
asked.

“
Not sure. Looks like they’re about two
hours old and dissipating. About a hundred, Sir,” the Thewl
replied.

“
Are they inbound or outbound,” Admiral
Yew inquired.

“
Inbound, Sir,” she replied as her hue
shifted to a bright orange.

“
Sounds like we got a welcoming
committee,” O’Hara breathed. “Can you follow their trail to where
they might have landed?”

“
Yes, but after that, I can’t see to
where they traveled. I’m picking up some massive cooling on the
surface, so they must have emitted a coolant to cover their tracks
as soon as they landed.”

The Thewls all behaved apprehensively. Not
only were subtle changes occurring in their complexions—turning
grayish, or orange, some went almost black—but their speech
inflections intensified, they fidgeted like Humans, and kept
looking around the bridge. O’Hara and his crew felt the tension,
the confusion.

The ambassador broke the silence, “We have
reason to believe the Lokians may have arrived. I can’t imagine
what they’re searching for, but we must see they don’t find
it.”

The female Thewl said there were buildings
beneath the surface. “I’m reading more, energy signatures, too.
There’s power down there; likely, the Lokians are harvesting new
tech as we speak.”

“
Power down there?” Swain echoed. “This
is crazy.”