Epic of Aravinda 1: The Truth Beyond the Sky (12 page)

“We are most pleased, and we are confident that our thoughts will resonate in even deeper ways with you in the future. On behalf of the Visionaries, I am pleased to announce that you may stay as long as you wish. It is always a pleasure to host those of a Confederation world. However, if you wish to leave the quarantined area, you must contact me first. Attempting to leave the quarantined area without permission could result in damage to yourself and your crew. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” Oonak said. “We understand.”

“Excellent. You may record as much data as you desire, but please do not eat any of the land animals or any prowlers. You may also use the guest rooms as your own and eat any of the food contained within this guest house. Which reminds me, would you like some quarava nectar? Rest assured that there is no danger to you. The Hall of Detection also allows us to determine which foods you will be able to absorb.”

“I would be honored,” Oonak said.

“Furthermore, we are pleased to say that, despite the genetic differences between each of you, the food we have provided here will be suitable for all three of you. And you two? Would either of you like some?” Vivienne turned to them.

“Sure,” Asha and Zahn said at almost the same time.

Vivienne poured each of them a glass of thick purple liquid. It smelled sweet and tasted delicious.

“Which rooms may we use?” Oonak said.

“All of them, if you wish. All of the guest rooms have now been unlocked.”

As they continued to speak, Zahn leaned over to Asha.

“I guess we know what was behind those locked doors now,” he whispered.

“Yeah,” she whispered back, “but I can’t help but wonder why Oonak didn’t tell them why we’re really here.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, he told them we needed safe harbor, but didn’t we really come here for information?”

“That’s true. I’ll ask him later.”

“Don’t!” Asha said in a tone that was almost too loud to be a whisper. “I want to ask him. I’m good at reading people, Zahn, and I want to feel his reaction when the question is asked.”

“Okay,” Zahn whispered.

“Vivienne,” Oonak continued. “I have just one more question. Do you know anything about the galaxy’s ancient gate network? Anything at all?”

For a few seconds, Vivienne was motionless. If Zahn had just walked into the room at that moment, he might have thought she were a statue poised at the head of the table. But the illusion was shattered when Vivienne tilted her head to one side and then back again.

“We are unable to provide any information on a gate network,” she said and got up from the table.

Oonak narrowed his gaze.

“Why are you unable?” he said.

Vivienne hesitated. “I am not able to say.”

Asha and Zahn both turned to look at Vivienne when she said this. Her voice had become monotone, as if something was wrong, and for the first time Zahn noticed that Vivienne’s eyes were golden in a way that made him feel uneasy.

“Vivienne,” Oonak continued. “It is crucial that you tell me all that you know of the gate network. Lives are in the balance.”

“We are unable to provide information on the gate network.”

“Interesting. So you admit that the gate network exists?”

“I’m sorry. I cannot confirm or deny the existence of a gate network. Would you like some more nectar?”

Vivienne reached for a jar of the sweet smelling drink.

“Vivienne, I have information urgent to the safety of the galaxy. I must reach the Confederation Council as soon as possible. As your superiors may have already detected, my ship is without timespace capability, so the gates are my only means of accomplishing this mission. Even if Aarava may not be a member of the Confederation yet, we share a common goal. Unless we work together, the Vakragha Legion will continue to spread like a plague throughout our galaxy. Is that the future that the Visionaries of Aarava want? Would you rather face them alone?”

Vivienne’s eyes widened, and Asha froze in utter surprise. Even the music around them came to an abrupt stop. Few ever dared utter the true name of the Undying Vandals, and it seemed no one here was prepared to hear it.

“If you truly do keep harmony among the people,” Oonak continued. “You will tell me what you know. Please.”

A silence fell upon the room.

“You are persistent, and on the surface of this planet persistence is rare.”

“So, can you tell us anything?” Zahn said.

“No,” Vivienne said. “But, we have decided to tell you who may be able to help you, although we make no promises.”

“Who?” Asha said.

“You should inquire of Vayuna.”

“Who is Vayuna?” Oonak said.

“Vayuna is the Great Savant. She can tell you truths that resonate with the deepest reaches of your soul.” Vivienne paused. “But only to those who are truly worthy.”

“Then please, take us to her.”

Zahn smiled. Perhaps it would work out, after all.

“That is quite impossible. Sadly, Vayuna is not here.”

Zahn’s smile disappeared.

“Where is she, if we may ask?” Oonak said, his face still somehow radiating a calm confidence that impressed Zahn.

“She is in the Great South. She will return in two days. If you still wish to speak to her then, summon me with the console on the far wall, and I will take you to her.”

“Thank you, Vivienne, and please thank the Visionaries on my behalf, as well.”

“You already have, Oonak of the Confederation. They see and hear everything that I see and hear, and now, I must leave you. Please enjoy your day.”

Vivienne stood up, bowed, and walked toward the door.

“Wait!” Zahn said. “What are
prowlers
?”

Now nearly at the door, Vivienne turned around.

“Surely, you have seen them already. They wander the air, though they usually stay close to the ground. Although they may seem friendly, they can be quite dangerous. Exercise caution when they are near.”

“Oh, do you mean—”

“I must go now. Goodbye.”

As Vivienne disappeared down the long hallway, Zahn noticed that the two children that had been creating the music had also disappeared.

Asha stood up.

“Where are you going?” Zahn said.

“Well, if we’re going to be here for two days, I want to see our accommodations, and I’d like to find some
good
food.”

“Mind if I come along?”

“Not at all. What about you, Oonak?”

“Thanks Asha,” Oonak said. “But I shall use this opportunity to meditate in solitude. I am weary from piloting the ship through such intense encounters, and I require rebalancing.”

“Understandable. See you later!”

“Be safe and do not go beyond the beach. Remember, we are only staying here for as long as it takes to learn what we can about the gate network. No longer.”

Zahn walked toward the door. “We got it, Oon. No worries.”

Yet if Zahn knew what was ahead, he would have worried a great deal.

CHAPTER
19

PRISON OR PARADISE

The first door that Asha tried swung open easily, revealing a spacious guest room containing a large circular bed, several containers along the wall, and a tall, white cylindrical device embedded in the far wall that reached from floor to ceiling. Ahead of them, a large window spanned most of the room, allowing in an abundance of light and a view of the beach below.

“What a strange place,” Zahn said. “Stunning, but strange.”

The ground beneath them rumbled for a moment.

“What was that?” Asha said.

Zahn walked up to the window and looked down.

“Hmm, maybe it was a small quake?”

Asha sat down at the edge of the round bed. “Strange bed.” She bounced up and down on it a little. “Do you have a room like this back on Avani?”

“No, not quite. Actually, I don’t even have a bed!”

“What? Even the outpost has bunks. Where do you sleep?”

“I sleep on a hammock. It’s better than a bed when you live in a warm climate.” His gaze drifted upward, toward the ocean.

“It must be magnificent where you live,” Asha said. “Open valleys, oceans… are there mountain peaks?”

“Yeah! Ones that stretch up to the clouds.” Zahn raised his hand above his head, and then sighed. “You know, I wish you could see the view from up on Zikhara Peak, up above the sapphire forests. On some nights, you can even see neighboring islands along the horizon. It’s incredible.”

“I’d love to see that.”

Asha looked into his eyes. She had a spark in her eyes now. He’d seen that look before, and he knew what it meant.

He looked away and reflected on his own feelings.

Back on Outpost 33, even her appearance had stunned him, but Zahn knew that appearances were fleeting. He knew that it took far more than that for him to be truly attracted to someone. Yet now their connection had gone deeper, and he had to admit that he was impressed by her mind and humbled by her presence.

But is this the right time for romance? What if she’s just getting swept up in the adventure of it all? I can’t do this right now. After all, she’s technically an extraterrestrial! Still, Oonak said we’re all just people, and I’ve never met anyone I’ve enjoyed talking to this much, either. Maybe once the situation with the Confederation is settled…

Zahn had to admit that he hadn’t known her for that long at all, and tried to let the thoughts go. Now just didn’t feel right.

He looked up and noticed that she was watching the ocean.

“Sapphire forests, mountain peaks… and hammocks,” she said. “What a place. The closest I have to compare to is a ship we worked on a few years ago. All of the passenger cabins had hammocks because the ship was too small to hold bunks.”

“Really? Sounds like a really small ship.”

“Oh, you have no idea. They were trying to fit something like three dozen passengers, and the ship wasn’t that much bigger than Navika.”

“That’s crazy. Why were they trying to fit so many people?”

“It was a smuggler’s ship. Apparently, they even smuggled people sometimes.”

Asha stood up. “How about we find that food Vivienne was talking about? I’m getting hungry. You in?”

Zahn turned to her, the hint of a smile on his lips.

“I’m in.”

One by one, they opened the large containers along the wall of the bedroom, but found most of them empty. The ones that weren’t empty contained strange clothes, some of which were similar to Vivienne’s robe. They also examined the huge cylindrical shape embedded in the far wall, and soon realized that it was a shower. By pressing a pad beside it, the cylinder rotated open, revealing a bright interior that was lit by a skylight above. Along a shelf were colorful cubes that Zahn assumed were various kinds of soap.

Unable to find any food, they opened up the next door in the hall, revealing an identical room. And just as Asha was about to open a third door, Zahn remembered something.

“Wait a minute, if you were designing a guest house, wouldn’t you put the food near where it was going to be eaten?”

“Depends on the culture, I suppose.”

“Well, remember those round canisters along the wall in the meeting room? We should check there—I’ll race you!”

Even though Zahn had a head start on Asha, she caught up to him, yelling “Not so fast, hammock man!” as they blazed into the meeting room with a speed that startled Oonak out of his meditation as he sat on the floor near the far wall.

“What are you two doing? Is something wrong?” Oonak said as they both touched a large, black canister at the same time.

Zahn took a second to catch his breath. “No. Just a little game, and I think we just found what we were looking for.”

“Sorry if we disturbed your meditation, Oon,” Asha said. “Completely slipped our minds.”

“Oh,” Zahn said. “That’s right. Sorry, Oon.”

“Be mindful of your actions, especially on foreign worlds. One misstep could result in an unfortunate delay, and I know that isn’t what either of you want. I can slip back into a meditative state, but please try to be quiet.”

“We will.”

“Sorry.”

As Oonak closed his eyes once more, their gaze returned to the large, black canister.

“I was here first,” Zahn whispered.

“No, I’m pretty sure I touched it first.”

“No way,” Zahn said a bit louder. “I distinctly remember my hand touching the canister before—”

“Zahn,” Oonak interrupted. “You both touched it at the same instant. Now please remain calm as I finish rebalancing, and do not eat too much. Moderation is the key to long life, and I would like to cook a midday meal for all three of us later.”

“Sorry!” they both whispered at the same time. “Okay.”

Carefully, they both opened the canister. As they pried it open, it hissed quietly as if they’d broken an airtight seal. Once they had removed the lid, they were stunned at what they saw.

Meticulously arranged into equal sections were hundreds of small packets of food. All of it was frozen, but all of it looked colorful and delicious.

“How do you think Oonak knew there was food here?”

“Maybe it’s obvious from his point of view,” Asha said quietly.

“Right. So how do we heat the food up?”

“The lid we just pulled off. Take a look at its underside.”

Now that it was upside down, Zahn noticed that in the center of the lid was a wide circular depression with glowing controls beside it. As quietly as he could, he set it on the table.

“A heating element?”

“Looks like.”

Zahn pulled out a chair and, after playing around with it for a few minutes, figured out how to activate the heat and change the temperature of the surface of the depression. As he did this, Asha picked a packet of food that looked familiar and poured it out.

“This should be enough for a snack.”

They cooked as quietly as they could, but when it was ready, Zahn realized that they didn’t have any eating utensils at all.

“Here,” Asha said, handing him a fork and bowl.

“Where’d you find those?”

“In the canister, of course. Couldn’t find any plates, though. I guess the Aaravans always eat from bowls.”

“That’s true,” Zahn said. “They do seem to like bowls.”

When they had finished their snack, they each decided to use the luxuriously large showers that the Aaravans had provided. When he thought about it, he felt a sense of strange satisfaction that he was actually going to have a chance to use the towel he had brought. Whenever he travelled, he made sure to bring his towel. In fact, he felt that a trip wasn’t truly complete until he had used it. But as he was rummaging through the clothes in the guest room containers, he came upon a drawer full of towels that he hadn’t noticed before. Even so, he decided to use his own towel. After all, it reminded him of home.

When Zahn emerged from the shower some time later, he felt as though he had been reborn. He wasn’t sure if it was something in the soap or something in the water, but his skin felt crisp and smooth, and his mind felt revitalized.

After toweling off and putting on a silky blue Aaravan robe he found, he walked back into the meeting room to see if Oonak was still there. He was, and in the midst of cooking a huge amount of food in the same way Zahn and Asha had earlier.

“How was your meditation?” Zahn said.

“Very good. And how was your shower?”

“Wonderful. I’m starting to wonder what their soap is made out of actually. Whatever it is, I think I’m taking a few cubes with me. Have you seen Asha?”

“Yes, she said she would be out here in a few minutes. Please sit. The meal is nearly ready.”

When Asha came in, Zahn was surprised to see that her hair was no longer up in a bun as it had been before. Now it flowed down her head and over her shoulders. She was wearing a golden Aaravan robe, and Zahn thought she looked mesmerizing, though he would never admit it. At least, not yet.

“It smells wonderful, Oon!” Asha walked over to the table. “I can’t wait to try some.”

“Indeed, you are both in luck,” Oonak said. “I recognize some of these ingredients. They’re actually quite similar to some plants from my own world.

“Where
are
you from, Oonak?” Zahn said.

“That is not important. What is important is our continued progress in our mission. Here, have some.” Oonak filled a bowl with some reddish soup and handed it to Zahn.

“Thanks, Oon. It really does smell good.”

As Zahn stirred the soup with his spoon, he noticed there were lots of different pieces of different plants floating in the red broth. It looked bizarre, but also appetizing.

“And for you.” Oonak did the same for Asha.

“Thank you!”

Oonak sat down next to Zahn and served himself last.

“Oonak, do you think we could explore the area after our meal? How safe do you think it is out there?” Zahn said.

“Navika indicated that this area was empty of any large predators or settlements of any kind besides these guest houses, so exploration is permissible. Indeed, we ought to become familiar with the area if we’re going to be here for a few days.”

“We should stargaze tonight, too!” Asha said between sips. “I bet we could see all kinds of weird constellations that you can’t see from the outpost.”

“A good plan. So it shall be then.”

After the meal, they followed the curving path down from the outcrop to the beach once more.

“It looks like the tide is rising.” Oonak’s eyes studied the water. “If it rises too much, it could block the path up to the guest house.”

“Any idea when the tide will reach its peak?” Zahn said.

Oonak tapped his wristband and blinked his eyes.

“The tide here is difficult to predict because Aarava has many moons. Navika indicates that the tides rise and fall in uneven intervals here. We would be wise to keep this in mind.”

“How is Navika doing, anyway?” Asha said.

“Doing? He is nominal and monitoring the surrounding area. Actually, since our encounter with Vivienne, he has detected some faint energy anomalies nearby.”

“Where are they originating from?” Asha said. “Are they that way, down the beach? Because I keep getting this feeling that we need to head down the beach, as if something is calling out.”

“As a matter of fact,” Oonak said as he touched his wristband once more, “one of the signatures that Navika detected is down this way, although it appears scattered in Navika’s scans, as if it were within a scrambling field.”

Zahn was beginning to feel sleepy from the big meal they had just eaten, but he realized that if he passed up the opportunity to explore now, he might regret it later.

“Then it’s settled,” Zahn said. “Let’s go investigate it. Lead the way, Oonak.”

“I shall. However, I should remind you that I am unarmed. As I said back at the outpost, my sidearm was damaged beyond repair when I crashed on Avani. So, considering the situation, I advise that we keep these on hand. We want everyone to be in one piece when we leave this rock.”

Out of a pocket in his uniform, Oonak pulled out three tiny black plates and handed one to each of them.

“Ideally,” he said. “We won’t have to use these personal cloaking chips, but we must be cautious. Would you like to demonstrate, Asha? Your father made them after all.”

“Sure, Oonak. Thanks.”

Asha took a minute to show them how to activate the field by pressing a bump on one side of the tiny plate. When Zahn pressed the bump, he vanished completely. Then, Asha told him to touch an indentation on the other side, and he reappeared once more.

Now feeling prepared, Oonak led the way, and they headed down the dark grey beach. To their left side, the beach quickly became jungle, and Zahn’s eye couldn’t help but be drawn back toward the emerald leaves. Before today, he had never imagined that entire jungles could be radiant shades of green, but this reality was now staring him in the face, impossible to ignore.

They walked for some time, and eventually they came upon a place where the coast made a sharp curve to the left. When they turned the corner, they were confronted with an unusual sight.

Towering out of the beach sand were about a dozen crystalline spires that rose far above their heads. They reminded Zahn of trees except that they had no branches and formed a bowl-like shape at the top. In a few areas, the spires had a webbing that appeared to be climbable, and a calm, low hum radiated out from them. The frequency was so low that Zahn felt it in his chest.

Atop the center spire, hovering in midair above its bowl, was a large, amber crystal with eight identical sides. It reminded Zahn of two pyramids combined, and it seemed familiar to him, though he wasn’t sure why. Then the name for it popped into his mind: octahedron.

“How are they just floating up there?” Zahn said.

Oonak pulled out his scanner.

“It’s fantastic.” Asha gasped. “Zahn, what if it’s the Tulari? That webbing looks easy to climb. If I could just get up there and have a closer look…”

“Asha, I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

“You worry too much, Zahn!” Asha approached the nearest spire. “This webbing is here for a reason. For all we know, these are for us to use.”