Resurrection (The Inherited War) (22 page)

“Why the hell did you wait so damn long to come for me then?”  Cole was sputtering, he was so mad.  “Christ, do you know what I have gone through for the past couple of weeks?”  Cole was fuming mad.

“We understand your anger,” Split was calm and apparently been expecting this question.  He kept his tone even and calm.  “We had no choice.  We couldn’t risk freeing you on the ship because there was nowhere for us to go.  We cannot fly Esii ships.  We stayed with you and have been preparing as best we could to aid in your escape.”  Split held out his arms and pointed to all the weapons and armor.  “It was time consuming and slow going to amass the equipment we will need to survive.  We had to map the local area and secure the items we decided we needed to affect an escape.  We also could not free you from the liquid metal that held you fast.  For us to act to early would have doomed us from the start.  We knew you would survive long enough for us to prepare.”

“Can I ask a question?”  Anastacia asked.

Split nodded at her.  She glanced at Cole before beginning and seeing he was calming down and pondering Splits words.  “Why do you refer to yourself as ‘we’ I only see one of you and for another thing, what are you?”

Split and Cole laughed a little at that.  “If I may?”  Cole asked Split.

“You begin, we will finish.”

Cole looked at Anastacia.  “Split is what’s known as a Twin Worlder.  His people have been our allies for thousands of years.  There are two planets in his system that are habitable but they are on opposite sides of their sun.  Our ancestors found them and introduced them to their neighbors.  They also discovered that they are two sides to the same coin as the saying goes.  When they find their opposite selves on the other planet they go through a bonding ritual that bonds them together for life.”  Cole was about to continue when Split interrupted.

“It is falsely believed that my bond mate has died and left us unstable.  That is not true but it is what we have led our people to believe for a long, long time.  This is something even Cole does not know yet but he should.”  Split caught Cole’s eyes.  “I believe you know one who calls himself Jarrod?”  Cole was rocked back at the mention of that name.  He felt a part of his mind that had been locked and barred to him suddenly open.  All the information he had learned since he had his ancient DNA unlocked flooded back into his mind.

“How, how could you know that?”  He asked incredulously. “No one could know that, I couldn’t tell anyone about my dreams of Jarrod.”

“We know of Jarrod because we knew Jarrod.  We were made by Jarrod.”  Cole was stunned silent by that claim.  “For twenty thousand standard years we have roamed the galaxy waiting for humanities return.  Waiting for you, Cole.  When humanity lost the Purge war we were a part of Jarrod’s plan for humanities return.  We joined permanently with our bondmate.  More fully than any had bonded before.  Two became one and we became quasi-immortal.  We don’t age, get sick or die of natural causes.  We can be killed but it is extremely difficult.  We volunteered for this duty and have never regretted it.  Jarrod foresaw, we believe, what has happened here.  He knew that we would be needed here to help you escape this planet.  Our unique ability to more fully hide ourselves and make other see what we want has served us well here.  Only a Worlder who has lived as long as us could have accomplished what we have done here.  Our abilities, refined over the millennia, have kept us alive and hidden from even the ones who tortured you.”

Cole was dumbfounded.  He could hardly believe what he was hearing.  “So is this normal for you people or are you special?”  Anastacia asked Split.

“We are one of a kind.  None like us have existed before and we will be the last.  We have kept ourselves busy by checking on and maintaining the sites set up by Jarrod and his people.”

“What, you know where the other sites are?”  Cole blurted out.

“Yes, we know the locations of them all.  We periodically check on them every few decades or so.  That will be a matter to discuss later, if we get off this planet.  What you don’t know, you can’t tell.”

“Can you unlock any more of the information inside my head?” 

“Yes, but again it will be better to wait until we are far from here.”

Anastacia looked at Cole and Split and let out a great sigh.  “So can someone tell me what exactly is going on here?  Why I am here with you two, and why did these aliens take me from Earth?  What does any of this have to do with me, and will we ever get home?”

Cole had been ignoring the repeated messages from his nanites for too long.  They were intruding on his thoughts.  “Split, can you get her caught up please?  I need to lie down before I fall down.  How long will we be safe here?”

“For as long as needed.  Anyone who comes down the hall will only see what we want them to see, an unfinished wall.”

“Good, give me a few hours of sleep before you wake me.  We will make a plan and figure out what to do next.”

“We shall do as you ask, but it should be you who tells her about her home.”

“Yes, I suppose so.”  Cole shifted his attention to the Russian.  “I am sorry Anastacia, but the Esii, these beings that are-were, holding us prisoner have destroyed Earth.  There is no going home for us.  We are the last two of our kind.”  He watched her face as she took in the news.  Finally, the strain of everything broke through her iron will and she broke down.  Cole went to comfort her, but she shrugged him off and ran to the far corner to be alone.  Cole looked on her with sadness. He remembered what it had been like when he had seen the remains of his world.

“Wake me in a few hours.”  She would need to deal with this on her own, just like he had at first.  Cole bunched up a blanket to use as a pillow and covered himself with another as he lay down on a cot.  Exhaustion claimed him as he set his head on his makeshift pillow and he passed out blissfully into oblivion.

~

Cole clawed his way to
wakefulness; he had been more tired than he thought.  As he regained consciousness he heard voices.  He blinked the sleep from his eyes and again silently thanked Split for getting him out of that torture chamber.  It was nice to wake up peacefully and sore because of an uncomfortable bed, not because he had been subjected to unspeakable pain.  Split and Anastacia were on the other side of the room from Cole, behind some crates.  Cole listened as Split finished talking.

“We lured the Esii and their fleet to the Nixa homeworld.  With the aid of the Nixa Home Fleet we destroyed the Esii battle fleet and Cole rammed his ship into the Sun Eater, ending that threat forever.  He got captured and we followed him, ending up here and you know the rest.”  There was silence for a few moments.

“It is my fault then, if I had died or fought harder he never would have been betrayed and captured.  How can he look at me knowing that this face was the one that betrayed him?”  Her voice was quiet but Cole heard everything she said.

“Because,” he said loudly, “it wasn’t you and I know that.”  Cole got up and walked around the pile of neatly stacked crates.  “Sorry to eavesdrop, but I don’t want to ever hear you say that again.  It wasn’t your fault.  Period.   End of story.”

“We agree, your people had no contact with other races.  You could not have known the Esii would take over your body.  The fault does not lie with you, it lies with the Esii.”

“Settled?” He looked at Anastacia.  After a few seconds of thought she nodded her head in acceptance.  “Good, now onto our present situation.  Where in the hell did you get all this stuff?”

“We have had some free time on our hands.  We know that the only trade the Esii deal in is stolen merchandise.  They raid others shipping lanes and take merchant ships.  They confiscate the goods and trade the stolen items for slaves on Pitt.  We found a storage facility close to our current location.  Lucky for us it housed military gear that the Esii were keeping for their own use.  Weapons, armor, explosives and rations.  We spent some time transferring some of it to our hideout.  We also mapped out the local area and found something else that may help us.”  Split pulled out a small holo projector and turned it on.  A holographic map slowly appeared projected above Split’s hand. 

Split was apparently modest, the map had to cover dozens of miles of tunnels and rooms.  Split let them look at it for a few moments before he continued.  “This is our current location,” a bright red dot appeared in a room on the map, “this is where you were being held.”  Another dot bloomed into life on the map.  “This area is sparsely populated because it is considered off limits to all but the Pyndingum and their servants and prisoners.  We checked while you were asleep and found the body of the one we killed still in the torture room.  We believe that our escape is still unreported, how long that will last is another matter.”  Split showed them some more of the map he had explored and pointed out some of the main features of the tunnel system.  “Here is, what we believe, our best chance to free ourselves from this world.  We never could get into the room but we saw into a few times.  It houses the food for the Pyndingum and their servants.  We estimate that there are at least one-hundred sentients in the room.  If we can make our way to them and free them, they may fight with us.”

Cole spent a few more minutes looking the map over.  “It is a long way from here to there.  We can’t make it there undetected.  I see at least six choke points between us and them that the Esii could easily bottle us up in.”  Cole pointed at a portion of the map that was empty.  The area seemed to encompass multiple levels and block off certain hallways.  “What is that area there?”

“Unknown, we never got close enough to penetrate the area.  It was heavily guarded at all times and access was restricted to only a few individuals at a time.” 

“What about here,” Cole pointed to another section, a section that appeared to only have one way in or out.

“That is a very interesting place.  We never could find out what it was for, but there is a machine down there that the Esii take most seriously.  The Pyndingum themselves guard the machine.  There were no markings of any kind on it and we never had the chance to figure out its purpose.”

Cole felt cold all over.  Chills ran down his spine.  “I know what it’s for.”  He began to tell them about what had happened when the last Pyndingum had died.

“He downloaded himself into to you?”  Amazement dripped from her voice.  “Is that even possible for one person to hold one hundred thousand years of history in their brains?”

“Our brains are far more advanced than we ever expected.  I believe the only reason I survived the process was because I had help, and my brain had previously been forced to evolve.   I haven’t spent much time yet sorting through the memories but I did see the first time the Esii were shown the machine.  They need that machine to live.  Sentient life energy just supplements them, that machine draws up the energy from the life form that inhabits the core of the planet.  If that machine stopped working and could be permanently shut down, well let’s just say the Esii would be hard pressed to survive.  We need to go there, and go there soon.”  Cole stood and grabbed a duffle bag.  Split reached out and grabbed Cole’s wrist and drug him to a halt.

“Wait, look.”  Cole turned to look at the holo projector.  Tiny dots started to appear in random areas between them and the entrance to the machine.  The machine room itself looked to have about fifty dots in it.

“What’s that mean?”  Cole asked as the dots kept popping up.  In all told Cole counted nearly one hundred dots between them and the machine.

“Guards, well-armed and well armored.  Behind fortified positions and willing to give their lives to stop anyone who isn’t supposed to be there.  We cannot do it alone, we need the freed prisoners to aid in that assault.”  Split released Cole’s wrist.  Cole glared at Split for a moment before parking his butt back on the chair.

“Sorry, your right.  Anxious for revenge I guess.  So, let’s up load some bags with gear and head out to free some people.  You need a suit.”  The last was directed at Anastacia.

“Why the suit?”  She asked in return.

“The suits are multipurpose.  They are armor, insulation, and can keep you alive in a vacuum.  They will provide indefinite fresh air and can recycle solid and liquid waste to extended life when food and water are not in abundance.  It sounds gross, I know, but it will keep you alive for a few days after your food and water run out.  As long as you can move the suit regenerates its power.  The helmet has varied vision functions from IR, heat and light gatherers, to a very good HUD.  It keeps track of how much ammo you have and covers basic first aid.  It will protect you from small arms fire and concussions but it can get overwhelmed and fail under massed fire.  The one you will have will be significantly weaker than mine and Splits.  Ours are more advanced from the human fleet while these are the standard issue ones.”  Cole paused and thought for a moment.  “I think that’s it,” he looked to Split, “did I miss anything?”

“No that covers it.”  Split stood up and went to the wall, he looked through the suits he had hanging on the wall and grabbed one that looked close to Anastacias size.  “Remove your clothes and put this on.”  He tossed the suit onto her lap.  “Do you have any weapons training or combat experience?”

She stared the Worlder down.  “I am a graduate from Russian Military Academy, top of my class.  I qualified expert in all weapons of the Russian armed forces and American.  I flew combat missions during the, well let’s just say that I can’t say where I flew.  Yes, to answer your questions.”   She stood up and went behind the crates to change.  Cole got up himself and moved to the weapons racks with Split.