Resurrection (The Inherited War) (27 page)

“I figured as much.  Oh well, you did a fine job.  Now remember the rest of the plan.  Put us out as we get inside the closest ring of ships and stations.”  Thalo reminded the AI. 

“I know what to do,” it responded.  Snow snorted out a laugh at Thalo’s expense.

“Hey, listen here…” Thalo started to say but the AI interrupted him.

“Please be quiet.  There are many things I can run into out here and I have not had much time flying a ship.  I need to concentrate.”  Thalo held his tongue from that point on and let the ship do its job.  Seconds ticked by into minutes.  They waited in silence.  A nervous tension built in the room.  They all were wondering if this would actually work, or was Vinco really lying to them.

Thirty minutes had passed and they were still awake.  Forty.  Finally they passed an hour and they were still awake.

“Damn it,” Thalo muttered.  “Hey computer,” He shouted, “We have to be close.  What the hell are you doing?”

“Quiet!  Please!  This is most difficult.”  The AI responded.

Thalo sat up and yanked the IV needle out of his arm with a growl.  “This damn AI.”  He snarled under his breath.

“Wait, Thalo,” Sky said as she sat up as well, “what if we are close?  You have to hook back up.”

“Something is going on.  We should have passed the inner circle of ships by now.  I need to go see what the hell is going on.”  He started for the cockpit when they all felt and heard the transport land on its landing struts.  There was a slight jarring and clang of noise as the ship landed. 

“Please sit down Mister Thalo.” The AI sounded calm and relaxed compared to the short terse responses from a few minutes ago.

“What the hell have you done?  Where the hell are we?  Why the hell have we landed?”  Thalo shouted as he hustled to the cockpit.  He ran face first into the cockpit door that failed to open for him.  “And why the hell is the door locked?”

“I will ask you again to please sit down and relax Mr. Thalo.”  Nobody spoke or moved.  They all realized that with the cockpit sealed the AI had all the power in this situation.  Thalo swallowed his anger for the moment and stomped back to his bed and promptly sat down.

“There I am sitting.  Now what is going on?”

“Thank you.  Now as I was trying to explain to you earlier, when you were being so rude.  Your plan was unnecessary.  As soon as we entered this system, new information was available to me.  It is hard to explain.  The information has always been there but I was unable to access it until we actually arrived in this system.” 

“What information?”  Sky asked.

“Information on contacting the Kin.  I tried to tell you that your plan was unnecessary because of this new information.  You chose to ignore me so I handled it myself.  I have been in contact with the Kin on the planet since we arrived.  They opened the way for me and I flew us through the outer shell of the planet and we are now resting on the surface of the inner world.”

Jeth started to rumble out a deep booming laugh.  Sky and Snow quickly joined in.  Thalo was turning a lovely shade of red.  Vinco looked around in confusion.  “You're telling me you have been talking to the Kin since we arrived here?”  Snow asked around her laughter.

“Yes.”

“Good going, Thalo.  We could have seen the planet up close and seen the passage through.”

Thalo resigned himself to being the butt of the joke for a few more minutes before attempting to put a stop to it.  “Ok, I am sorry.  I should have given you more of a chance to speak.  I apologize.”

“Accepted,” was the response from the AI.  “We have landed and there is a welcoming party approaching the ship.  All they know is that this is a human built ship with a human created AI.  That was all they needed to allow us to land.  I have unlocked the doors and lowered the boarding ramp.  Weapons will not be necessary.”

Sky got up and began unhooking everyone from their IVs.  They all moved out together to the back of the ship and down the ramp.  They walked a few feet away from the end of the ship and stood shoulder to shoulder and stared in wonder at the world they had landed on.

Though from the outside the surface of the diamond cocoon was opaque, that was not the case from the inside.  The shell was, in fact, crystal clear from the inside.  The part of the planet they were on was facing away from the sun so the night sky sparkled crystal clear in the ceiling overhead.  They could see the myriad of space stations and ships as they orbited overhead.  The curvature of the outer shell had a slight magnification so everything appeared closer than it actually was.  It also bent the light from the systems sun and caused light to make its way all around the world.  It was a planet that was never truly dark.

The plane they had landed on was covered in lush, bright green ankle deep grass that had the softness and texture of the finest silk.  It stretched on for miles in every direction and rolled and waved with the hills of the plain.  A warm breeze caressed their uncovered faces and brought with it the scent of wild flowers that grew here and there amidst the grass.  They could see to their front, off in the distance, the sparkling lights of a city.  And a small group of figures walking towards them.  They waited in silence and wonder as the party of Kin came closer.

Snow reached out and grabbed her sister’s hand and gave it a squeeze.  They waited.  The Kin moved on foot at a steady walk.  As they got closer, they counted six Kin in the group.  It was a pleasant seeming place and one of the most beautiful any of them had ever been.  They all felt a sense of calm and contentment wash over them as the Kin drew closer.  This was a place that hadn’t seen violence since the upheavals that had created the shell now protecting the planet. 

To say they had fallen in love with this planet was an understatement.  They all knew why the ancient humans had sought to protect this world from outsiders.  The Kin walked up to the new arrivals and stopped a few feet away.  The Worlders and the Nixa were not prepared for what they saw.  Vinco was all too aware of what to expect, and the longing to return to this place burst from his heart and threatened to drive him to his knees.

The Kin defined beauty.  Not just physical beauty but the beauty in the perfect balance and motion.  They were more than graceful, they almost floated along.  There were six female Kin in the group that had come to meet them.  All were six feet tall and shapely.  They were very fair of skin and had long golden tresses that cascaded down their shoulders and to their waists.  Their faces were perfection incarnate.  Delicate features, shapely mouths and perfect symmetry made them the epitome of beauty. 

Their clothes shined brilliantly white, almost as if they had a light of their own.  Polished silver and gold cuffs adorned their wrists and upper arms.  It was as if they each had their own inner suns that shown from their souls and their bodies could not contain the light.  But the most striking thing about these Kin was the pure white downy wings that sprouted from their backs.  The tips barely brushed the ground as the stood there and the tops went up above their heads.  They could easily reach twelve feet in length from tip to tip when spread.

None of the newcomers could bring themselves to speak.  They were all, including Thalo, too amazed and mesmerized by the pure beauty facing them.

Finally, after the Kin had given them a few moments of awkward silence, the female in the middle of the group of Kin spoke.  Her voice was perfect in pitch and timbre and sounded like the perfect note.

“We welcome our ancient allies to our world.”  They bowed towards Thalo and Jeth.  She shifted her attention to Vinco.  “Though we told you never to return, you will not be punished, yet.  We shall hear your story first before we decide.”  Vinco gulped and tried to stammer out an apology but gave up trying to speak as a lost cause.

She shifted her attention to Sky and Snow.  “I don’t know why you have brought the traitor race to our world, but they shall not be permitted to leave your ship.  You will return to it now.”  To say Snow and Sky were stunned would be an understatement.  The harsh words spoken by the beautiful beings snapped Snow out of her daze.

“Traitors?  What are you talking about?  We are not traitors.”  Snow was angry and so was her sister.

“I’ll have you know that we have never betrayed anyone and have fought hard against the Esii,” Sky snapped in anger.  “Who are you to judge us?”  She started to walk forward to confront the Kin when Thalo was suddenly in front of her.  He placed both of his hands on her shoulders and stopped her from moving forward.

“Get out of my way,” She growled at Thalo, “this bitch has some explaining to do.”

“Stop, now!”  Thalo looked her in the eyes.  “Don’t push this.  I know what she is referring to and will explain it to you later.  Let me go with them and clear this up.  We are here to get help for Cole, not get into a pissing contest over something that happened twenty thousand years ago.”

That brought her up short.  She fought with herself for a moment before relenting.  “Fine, do what we came here to do.  We,” she indicated herself and Snow, “will wait on the ship.”

Thalo glanced at Jeth.  “Jeth will stay here as well.  Vinco and I will go with them.  I promise we will leave here with what we came for.”  Thalo turned and faced the Kin.  He heard his three companions turn and return to the ship.  He reached behind him and yanked Vinco forward to stand next to him.

“As you can see the Nixa will stay here.  We would be honored to return to your city and discuss what brought us here.”  Thalo’s voice was even and he tried not to let any emotion into it.

“Thank you for following our wishes.  Now please follow us to our home.”  She turned and held her arm up, pointing the way to the nearby city.  It looked to be only a few miles away.  Thalo bowed his head slightly and moved to walk by the Kin that had spoken to them.

As they started their short journey Thalo made to introduce himself.  He was abruptly cut off.

“Please hold all formalities until we meet with my people.  It would be an insult if I knew who you were before the rest of my people.  We get visitors so very rarely, but we have laws on how they are to be treated.”  Thalo assumed that this custom also barred her from giving him her name so he refrained from asking.

“As for you,” she shifted her attention to Vinco, “I assume you would like to meet your daughter while you are here?”

Of all the things that had happened to them in the last day that was probably the most shocking for Thalo.

“Ye...yes,” Vinco stammered out, “please may I.”

“It will be allowed, but after we meet.”

“Th...Thank you.”

“This is a lovely world you have here.”  Thalo said to avoid the awkward silence threatening to overcome the group.  “Is all of this natural or is it shaped?”

“Our world has been untouched since our makers lifted us up from our primitive forms.  They created this world to be our home.  What was once a lifeless rock was given life and meaning by our creators.  We were given life and meaning by our creators.”

“The Pures did all of this?”  Thalo asked, and the group of Kin came to a halt.

“You are new here so do not know our rules.  The first time you break one is in ignorance, the second will be considered to be on purpose.  Those who created us were the greatest beings of their time.  They were gods to us, are still gods to us.  They are more than any word or label can describe so are only ever called the creators.  Calling them by any other name is not allowed.”  The group started walking again.

“I apologize, but as you said I am only ignorant and meant no offense.”  They walked in silence for a few moments before Thalo spoke again.

“May I ask you a question?”

“Yes as long as it has nothing to do with why you are here or who we are.”  She responded.

“No, no nothing like that.  I was wondering if your wings were functional.  I mean, you walked out to meet us and are walking back with us.  I was just wondering if you can actually fly with them.”

The group of Kin laughed at his question and talked amongst themselves in their own language.  Thalo was quick to note that his translator software couldn’t translate what was said.  “Sorry, the others thought your question was not serious.  First let me ask you a question.  Do you know nothing of our species?”

“No, in fact.  We know very little, and until a few days ago, everyone thought you a myth or a legend.  It seems that your creators did a thorough job of hiding you from the galaxy in general.”

“That would explain much.  We walk in deference to you.”  She looked to one of her group and nodded her head.  The Kin at the end of the line of marchers suddenly sprinted ahead of the group. She ran at very fast pace and suddenly her wings shot open, and she leapt into the air.  With a few powerful beats of her wings she was airborne and flying through the sky.  She turned and flew back to the group.  She landed without a sound and took back her place in line.  That definitely answered Thalo’s question and he continued on in silence for the last two miles of the trek. 

Thalo was distracted by the short flight amongst other things and subsequently the city snuck up on him.  He glanced up just as they came close to the first buildings.  The city was built for these beings.  Beings that could fly.  There were no buildings under fifty or sixty feet in height.  They were graceful, spindly building that seemed to soar into the sky.  Flying buttresses and arches were the dominant features on the exteriors.  All the buildings appeared to be sheathed in gold, silver and platinum.  The city itself shown like the sun.  Each building reflected perfectly its surroundings.