Hunt for the Saiph (The Saiph Series Book 3) (22 page)

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Project Bright Star

TANIL - PLANET IV

STAR SYSTEM 84137 - 320 LIGHT YEARS FROM EARTH

The being that had come to be known throughout the Commonwealth as simply one of the Others stared blankly at the diminutive Garundan who sat on the opposite side of the metal table. Bolov wasn't fooled by the Other’s near comatose expression. He knew firsthand that, without the steel shackles securing the Other’s wrists and feet to the table and floor, the seemingly unresponsive Other would be over the table in a second, attempting to murder Bolov with his bare hands.

The last time Bolov attempted to interrogate a member of this race, no such restraints were in place. It was only Bolov's extensive experience in interrogating pathological murderers, a hangover from his previous job as a consultant psychiatrist for the Capital Police, that allowed him to see the warning signs. As it was, he barely avoided the fingernails trying to scratch his eyes out before vise-like fingers wrapped around his throat, squeezing with all their might as they tried to throttle the very life from him. His vision filled with black spots as his brain was starved of life-giving oxygen and the strength fled his muscles as he tried vainly to fend off his attacker. Then the interrogation room door burst open and guards with stun batons raised rushed to his aid and that was Bolov's last memory of the incident. He eventually regained consciousness in the compound’s medical center, his throat was wrapped in cool, pain-relieving healing gel. It took three days for the gel to do its work and allow Bolov to speak without pain again.

Hence the Other before him sat securely attached to the metal table and chair welded to the floor with additional fixture points for the Other’s leg restraints.

With a final glance at the PAD in front of him, Bolov began.

"Ak-an. I am Doctor Bolov and it is my greatest hope that you might be willing to aid me in my understanding of your people." If Ak-an was at all surprised Bolov knew his name, then outwardly he showed no reaction, he simply continued to stare off into space seemingly unaware of the doctor’s very presence. However, Bolov knew Ak-an's semi-comatose state was an act. The Garundan knew that Ak-an was fully aware of his surroundings.

"I wish to learn of the Ehita..."

With a speed that gave Bolov no time to react, Ak-an lunged forward, his teeth bared and eyes wide, coming to a stop only centimeters from the doctor as the sturdy chains reached their limit, Ak-an's muscles quivered as he struggled against them. "Only the Chosen People may speak of the Ehita! You are not worthy, heretic, and on the day of the Creator’s return you will feel his wrath while the Chosen People follow him to Aseena."

Recovering quickly, Bolov raised a hand to signal to the guards watching on the holo pickups that he did not require their intervention.
It appears speaking of the Ehita gets a bit of a violent reaction,
thought Bolov,
maybe I should change tactics
, "If we cannot speak on this subject, then perhaps you would be so kind as to tell me of the Creator and perhaps give me a greater understanding of his work."

At the mention of the Creator, Ak-an closed his eyes and dipped his head and his whole body seemed to relax, slowly he lowered himself back into his seat. For a few moments, Ak-an's lips moved without a sound coming from them before his eyes opened and his head once more rose. "In the end, the Creator will be victorious over the heretics and you will all perish in his name." Ak-an tried to raise his hands to the small amber jewel at the base of his skull but the restraints would not allow him. "Blessed be the Creator." Returning his arms to his sides, he took a breath. "I see no harm in telling you of the Creator."

"Thank you, Ak-an," said Bolov in his most conciliatory tone. This was the furthest he had gotten with any of the prisoners. By this time in interviews, the subject had been stunned by the guards and returned to the general population. Time to tread carefully. "Perhaps you could tell me how the Creator first came to your people?"

Ak-an's lips twisted as he tried to control his anger. "The Creator did not come to my people, heretic, he made us as he made all things... even you." A glob of spittle issued from the side of Ak-an’s mouth, as if he was tasting something which wanted to make him wretch.

Bolov took a moment to process what Ak-an had just said. "But Ak-an, we are of different worlds, which are separated by light years."

"Distance is of no significance to the Creator. The Creator breathed life into the universe and then visited Balach and the other worlds and blessed them with the gift of intelligence before returning to Aseena to sleep and wait until the fruit of his labors had grown and matured enough so that, one day, he could welcome them into Aseena and share its bountiful and never-ending beauty with him. But while he slept, the poison of heresy seeped into the minds of his creations. When the Creator awoke, he saw how the poison warped his creations and only on Balach did he find a small group, the Chosen People, who were still free of the poison. The Creator sent his angels to save the Chosen People in his mercy and to remind us of what awaited us, he transported the Chosen People to Aseena to stand before him."

"The Chosen People have met with the Creator?"

"Yes, heretic, we have. The Creator stood before us as we looked in awe upon the never-ending lush fields of Aseena, bathed in the faint red light of its star and it was there he proved to those who may still doubt his power that he was the Creator and master of all things."

Bolov was totally captivated by the story. "And how did he do this?"

A smile creased Ak-an's lips, the smile a parent would give a child who could not possibly understand what they were saying. "He extinguished the star and told the Chosen People we must follow the Ehita until the poison of heresy was cleansed from the universe. Only then would he allow the star to shine again and welcome us back into Aseena."

This information was gold dust. Never before had anyone gotten one of the Others to speak so freely about their origins.
I really hope the recorders are working
. "Please continue, Ak-an."

"The Creator led us to Durav, the planet from which we were to conduct the Ehita. He gave us the Coltus so that we may communicate with him and seek his guidance in the way of the Ehita. Finally, he blessed us with the symbol of the Chosen People, the Gift Stone. When the original Chosen People arrived on Durav, they found the Creator had already marked them as his people. It was the Coltus that instructed us in the use of the Gift Stones."

"The small gem at the back of your necks. This is the mark of the Creator?"

"Yes, Doctor. Every pregnant female visits the Atistes, the house of the Creator, where the Gift Stone is passed over them. Any child of the Chosen People who is born and does not bear the mark of the Creator, we know to be the spawn of evil poisoned by heresy and sent to lead the Chosen People away from the path of the Ehita and the Creator."

As Ak-an stopped speaking the silence in the room stretched on until Bolov asked the question he knew he had to, even though he dreaded the answer. "But Ak-an, there are no Gift Stones here on Tanil. What will happen to any child born without the mark of the Creator?"

Ak-an leaned forward again until the restraints held him in place and an evil, predatory smile spread across his face. "They, like you heretic, will die at the hands of the Chosen People."

Words failed Bolov as he stared back at the smiling Ak-an in utter horror. The regime within the camps was reasonably lax, the Garundans had thought it better if the Others were allowed to associate freely, live as family units. It was the Garundans hope that by allowing them to do so the Others would recognize that their captors actually bear them no ill will. But this, the deep loathing for all that was not of the Creator up to and including the murder of innocent new born children. Bolov knew what he must do. All new born children would have to be removed from their mothers for their own protection.

#

CARSON CITY - EARTH – SOL SYSTEM

The top floor office of Admiral Aleksandr Vadis, head of the Naval Intelligence Service, gave a commanding view of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. A truly breathtaking sight, but right now he and the other two occupants of his spacious office had eyes only for the three meter-wide holo cube currently filled with the interview of the Other called Ak-an.

The interview came to its conclusion a second time. It had been watched in its entirety twice without a single utterance from the group. The aging admiral rose out of his chair at the head of the small wooden conference table he retained for his more intimate meetings and padded across the deep-pile carpet to the small liquor cabinet, which some unseen aide had thoughtfully furbished with his favorite whiskey. He poured one for himself and his two guests without asking their permission. Making his way back to table, he placed a full glass down in front of each before retaking his seat.

He allowed himself an appreciative sniff before taking a sip with closed eyes, allowing the alcohol to slowly warm his throat and chest. With his eyes still closed, he addressed his guests. "Thoughts?"

Elizabeth Wilson raised her glass and indicated for the portly man opposite her to start the discussion. Brigadier General Earl Statham was one of many retired officers who had been subjected to recall under the Emergency Powers Act by the then-Admiral Olaf Helsett before his move to Secretary of Defense.

Statham had run Admiral Jing's intelligence shop in First Fleet, before Jing’s promotion to the Combined Joint Chiefs of Staff, and more recently Vadis had quietly moved Statham to head up the secretive Department of Special Projects. Not even Wilson was entirely sure what this particular department did, but she gathered its fingers were in an awful lot of pies and the aforementioned Brigadier Statham appeared to have a lot of pull. She was not at all surprised to see him at this classified meeting.

"I think this is yet another piece of the puzzle Aleksandr, and one which may at last give us a starting point."

Elizabeth tried to hide her surprise at a mere one-star brigadier calling a three-star admiral by his first name. Elizabeth, as a Rear Admiral (lower half), had a star of her own, but even though she knew and had worked closely with Vadis for nearly a decade, she didn’t dare call him by his given name without his permission and definitely not in the company of strangers. Even more surprising was the lack of reaction from Vadis, not even a raised eyebrow at what she saw as a major breach of etiquette.

In fact, his eyes were still closed as he replied, "So you think young Wilson may be on to something?"

"Yes, I do."

Now Elizabeth was completely confused. Since when did the admiral refer to her as
young
Wilson?

"You may be a jarhead, Earl, and much as I hate to admit it, I'm inclined to agree with you." This elicited a chuckle from the brigadier as he took another sip of his drink, mumbling something about squids, a rather derogatory term used by marines for navy personnel. Vadis opened his eyes and pointed a finger at Elizabeth, "What about you, Elizabeth? What’s your take on this Creator legend?"

Ignoring the friendly, she hoped, exchange of insults between her boss and Statham, she concentrated on giving her best analysis of the Ak-an video, "If, and it’s a big if, we are to believe even a part of what the prisoner told the good doctor, then it gives credence to the theory of the existence of another race. A race who saved a select few from the bio-weapon used on Balach, then transported them to Durav, where they used advanced AIs to educate them beyond their natural evolutionary level, to a point where they could travel amongst the stars and wipe out any other intelligent species they came across to clear the way for the return of what they believed to be their god.”

Elizabeth moved to take another drink from her glass but her hand paused mid-ascent, and she instead replaced the glass on the polished table. “Although this is the first I’ve heard of their transportation to the Creator's world of Aseena and their meeting with him. On the other hand, there are numerous examples in human history where various religious groups claim to have met their deities. This could all be just religious dogma." This time, Elizabeth managed a slug of smooth whiskey and as she put her glass back down she noted that Statham had a “cat who got the cream” look on his face.

With a resigned sigh, Admiral Vadis tilted his head back and closed his eyes again. "Go on, Earl. Make your pitch."

Elizabeth looked confusedly between Vadis and the still-grinning Statham.

"What would you say if I could supply you with a time machine which would allow you to go back in time and see whether this so-called Creator actually did make a star disappear like the legend says?"

Elizabeth stifled a laugh. "Then I would say you have invented a machine which science fiction writers have been waxing lyrical about for thousands of years and I would strongly suggest you get down to the patent office as soon as it opens tomorrow. You could make millions."

Vadis nearly choked on his whiskey as he tried unsuccessfully to swallow and laugh at the same time.

"Now I see where young Wilson gets his sense of sarcasm from," Statham said between chuckles of his own.

Ah, so it’s my nephew Terrance the marine was referring to
, thought Elizabeth. This raised another question.
What does he have to do with this?