Resurrection (The Inherited War) (19 page)

“To those of you who chose to save yourselves and your families, be welcome to your new home.  The journey from here to there will be arduous and take many days.  We shall supply for all of your needs on that journey, we ask that you leave all of your belongings behind.”  A quiet murmur ran through the crowd.   “Begin your decent.  The front ranks of Esii took their first steps into the tunnel and their new lives.”

“Could you see the speaker?”  Cole asked Jarrod.

“No.  The Esii whose memory this is must have been too far from the speaker.”  Cole looked around himself as Jarrod answered.  He noticed that they were standing amidst a group of robed Esii.  Everyone in the crowd was moving except for the robed ones.  One of the robed Esii near Cole turned and slid the hood off of his head.  His voice rang out in Cole’s mind.

“It is time for a decision brothers and sisters.  Our order was formed nearly three thousand years ago for three reasons.  To enhance our minds, to remember our history, and to teach our people.  We have loyally followed those tenants for generations.  We, the Pyndingum, are our peoples past and future.  Once our people descend into the bowels of our planet, they will be forever lost to those who stay on the surface.  Some few of us need to go with them and insure they never forget their past.  Those who do not believe our world will end may stay here on the surface.  Choose and stay, or leave now.  I have decided to remain on the surface, my brother,” he pointed at Cole, “will be the leader of the order underground.  Split yourselves between us.  Those who will stay with me, those who will go with him.”  There was a moment of hesitation before the robed Pyndingum split nearly in half into two groups.  “Our fates are sealed, go with grace my brethren and keep the flame of knowledge burning in the dark.”

The group that had surrounded Cole joined the throng of Esii moving into the tunnel, Cole moved with them hoping to get a glimpse of the beings responsible for this mass exodus. The group of Pyndingum was slowly forced to the middle of the herd and Cole didn’t get the chance to see who the outsiders were.  Cole stepped back out of the memory and sagged to his knees.

“That takes a lot out of me.”

“Rest, we have all the time in the universe.”  Jarrod looked anxious.

“It’s hard to believe.”  Cole whispered.

“What?” Jarrod queried.

“That the asshole that just spent the last few weeks torturing me started out as a sect of monks perusing knowledge and enlightenment.  How far they have fallen since those times.  I wonder how it all changed.”  Cole reached out and started to leaf through the pictures.

“Find out.  I am sure that memory is in there somewhere.  Life must have been harsh for those who left the surface.  The Pyndingum could have been corrupted very easily under the right conditions.”

“It was their choice,” Cole said aloud but very quietly.

“What was their choice?”  Jarrod responded absently.

“They chose to follow those aliens into the bowels of their planet.  They chose to become their pawns against us.  They lacked the means to save themselves, the Esii should have gone extinct a long time ago.”  Jarrod had no response to his words, he felt the same way.  Cole began to sort through the pictures again. He spent a long time going through them.  He saw the Esii make the long journey to their new home deep within the planet.  He saw them arrive at their new home and begin the struggle to adapt and conform to their new lives.  He finally found the memory he had been searching for.  The memory of the Pyndingmums first encounter with the alien race.  Cole expanded it and stepped inside.

He let the memory run.  The thousand or so Pyndingum who had made the journey to the new home, had been tirelessly working to carve out a new home.  Literally, they had spent the last months digging and chipping away at the wall of one of the caves in an attempt to make themselves a home.  Though they had not yet met their benefactors, the Pyndingum had been impressed by their commitment to their wards.  They had provided food, water, and the basics of life while the Esii built a new home.  They had provided advanced tools to aid in the work and had already had a plan in place for carving out that new home.  Cole watched as the Pyndingum worked.  There was a noise behind him, and he turned around.  One of the Aliens was here, at least Cole assumed it was one of the aliens.  When Cole looked at the figure outlined in the recently added doorway, he couldn’t focus on the being.  His eyes kept sliding off of the being and when he did get them back under his control he couldn’t focus on the form.  The being appeared to shudder in and out of reality.  Nothing Cole did could make the image firm in his mind.

“I would request a moment of your time.”  The voice came from the being in the door.

“I would be honored.”  Cole watched as the Esii lay down his pick and bowed slightly to the newcomer.  He watched as the Esii moved away from the work area and towards the blur in the doorway.  The blur and the Esii moved away from the other workers and into a vacant area of the Pyndingmums new home.

“I have watched you and your brethren since our arrival on your world.”  It was the voice of the blur Cole was hearing.  “We are highly impressed at your astounding mental abilities.  Never before have we met a race that can communicate with their minds, or store and pass along information like you can.  I would show you something if I might.”  The Esii nodded his willingness to continue.

Cole followed them as they walked for hours.  They passed through the now inhabited sections of the cavern into the deep unexplored areas of the cavern system.  Finally they came to a stop at a blank wall.  The Esii had filled the time with comments and observations to questions the Alien had been asking.

“There is one other thing about your race that is unique in the galaxy.  Were you aware that your people take in significantly less food, water and oxygen than other comparable species in the galaxy?”  The Alien blur asked.

“No, of course not.  How could we possibly know that?”

“Yes, I forget myself.  How could you know that?  Would you be shocked if I told you we had been to your planet before?”

The Esii looked to the blur and shook his head no.  “I am not surprised by much these days.”

“Then allow me to teach the teacher for a moment.  A long time ago, so far in the past that the amount of years has no meaning, a race of beings was drawn to this world.  They were drawn by that which gives you sustenance and expands your mental ability.  They found that on this world was a source of power unique in the galaxy, in any galaxy.  This font of power they had discovered altered them in subtle ways.  They found that when they had been on the planet for a significant amount of time they needed less food, water, and air to live.  They felt the limits of their minds expanding and they found the source of this power.  Deep in the core of this planet lives a singular entity.  Its mass is so huge it has its tentacles spread to every part of the planet.  It is this being that radiates the power those ancient beings longed for.  Upon discovering this entity the ancient beings formulated a plan to speed the dispersal of this power throughout the planet.  Their goal was to shatter the bonds of mortality and expand their consciousness beyond the physical.  Some of their number disagreed and a division rent the people on this planet.  Due to unforeseen circumstance in the rest of the galaxy, those that came here had been forgotten.  It wasn’t until recently that mentions of them were unearthed in a destroyed planet.  Those records reminded us of our friends that had come here so long ago.  We arrived here and found you, the descendants of those people.”  Cole couldn’t tell what expression the Alien had due to his inability to see it but he had a feeling it was gauging the Esii for any kind of recognition of the story.  Seeing no flicker of recognition the Alien continued.

“Instead we found a message left in space for anyone who came here.  It seems war broke out between the two factions and those who didn’t want to release the full power of the entity won.  They threw off the trappings of technology and forced themselves to revert to barbarism.  They turned into your people.  They chose the long slow route to release instead of the quicker way of their former brethren.  You and your order are all that is left of those great beings.  I have brought you here to show you the only way for your people to survive down here while those above are wiped out by your expanding sun.  There is not, nor ever will be enough food, water or air for your people to live for long.  We have supplemented your supplies as best as we can, but more needs to be done.  That’s why I brought you here and am showing you this.”  He reached out and placed a blurry hand on the blank wall.

The wall responded to its touch and obediently swung open to reveal a room.  The room was perfectly round and had a pedestal in the middle.  The pedestal was covered with thick dust.  The alien and Esii walked into the room.  “This is the control for the machine your ancestors made.  The machine that would release the full power of this planet.  Power enough to sustain your people indefinitely.   You just need to turn it on.  Once on, it will do that which it was designed for, transport the energy from the entity to the caverns where you live.  As long as you remain close to the well you will not need to eat or breathe and your water intake will go down sharply.”  The being stopped talking and silence filled the ancient control room.  “We offer one other gift, if you choose to take it.”

“Please, go on.”  The Pyndingum said.

“We know the reason your order has stopped progressing in its knowledge and control.  We can help you break that barrier and realize your full potential.”

The Pyndingum hesitated for a moment before walking up to the pedestal.  He looked at the myriad of indentations and bumps on the face of the device.  “How do I start it?”  For the Pyndingum the choice was easy.  They could not teach their people if they were dead.

“Simply place your hand on it and think ‘begin.’”

“And the other.  When could we learn this new technique for expanding our minds?” 

“As soon as possible.”

The Pyndingum placed his hand on the pedestal and closed his eyes.  A deep reverberation hummed to life.  The sound of machinery in the next room could be heard as the machine started up.  The Pyndingum suddenly felt the power of the entity course through its body.  Hunger and thirst both disappeared from his body and his mind cleared to a quality it had never experienced before.

“I would like to begin now if possible.”  The Esii turned to the blurred form.

“Certainly.”

Cole saw the first steps of a doomed race and he felt pity for what they would become.  He watched as the Alien slowly transformed the Pyndingum from the scholarly monks they had started out as to the masochistic torturers that had abused Cole for weeks.

Cole stopped the memory.  “The machine is the key.  If I can get to it I can force the Esii to let me leave.”

“No, you are right about the machine being the key but not to escape.  Destroy the machine and you destroy the Esii.  They have too long depended on the energy of the planet to live.  They only use sentient life force when they are away from the planet.  We had observed that Esii ships rotated fairly regularly off the front lines during the war.  Until now I didn’t know why.  You have the answer to the question.  How do I defeat my enemy?”  Jarrod looked at Cole.

“Yes.  I will give them the death they were cheated out of so long ago.”  Cole turned to face Jarrod.  “Does this mean you haven’t given up on me anymore?  Can I get my knowledge and memories back now?”

“I never gave up on you, I tried to protect you.  If you didn’t have the information, you couldn’t tell them, no matter what they did to you.”

“Can I go then?  Will I survive waking up?”

“Yes.  You have the knowledge under control.  You can access it at any time and you can store it away as well.”

“Good, wake me up then.”  Cole closed his eyes.

“No need, another is taking care of that.”  Jarrod responded.

~

Cole felt a hard blunt object slam into his chest.  He coughed and choked out the last of his air.  His vision swam and his ears were ringing.  His head felt like an overripe melon about to explode.  The fist slammed into his chest again and he heard a voice over the ringing.

“Breathe, damn you.”  Wham!  Cole got hit again.  Slowly his vision cleared as he watched Split slam his closed fist into his chest again.  He tried to yell at the Worlder to stop it but he had no air in his lungs.  He sucked in a full breath and doubled up in a fit of coughing.  He weakly raised his arm and fended off the next blow from Splits fist.

“Stop,” he coughed and wheezed, “hitting me.”

Split finally noticed that his patient was back from the dead.  Cole saw Split eyeing him.  Cole looked back.  Split gave him one more good solid smack on the chest just to make sure.

“Damn it, stop that I'm alive.”  Cole croaked out over a dry tongue and chapped lips.  “Leave me alone for a minute.”  Cole slowly, with help from Split, sat up off the floor.  His head decided to fully split open and he was instantly nauseous from the pain.  “Oh God, I shouldn’t have done that.”  He clutched his head in his hands.

“We don’t mean to be presumptuous or rude to the newly risen, but, it won’t be long till someone comes to check on the mission Esii.”  Split pointed to the headless corpse off to the side.  “If you can move, we need to go.”

Cole took a few deep breaths and nodded his head.  “Help me up.”  He regretted it almost as soon as he said it because when Split helped him to his feet his stomach rebelled.  Cole spent a few moments suffering the worst dry heaves he had ever had.  The room was spinning and he felt like he was about to die.