Space Chronicles: The Last Human War (17 page)

A small group of men waited at the entrance to the Cave of The Wall. Two people and a large hicay approached.

“Thank you for your hospitality, Ammul.” Benjamin greeted the junior scout with the traditional grasp.

He introduced the young scout and a startled Kelly to Dr. Hadje. She trusted Benjamin, but was frightened to be so close to a Tanarac. Ignoring the blue-skinned scientist’s greeting, she slipped defensively behind Ammul.

“How are you old girl?” Benjamin grabbed the hicay by its ears and affectionately pressed his forehead between its eyes.
Kerl-Ga let out a friendly rumble from deep in her chest.

“She
was my companion when I was young,” he said to Kelly and Dr. Hadje. “I entrusted her to Shilgar and Ammul when this old body could no longer handle the rigors of the jungle. She’s accounted for more runners than any other hicay in our scout corps. It was Kerl-Ga and her cubs that saved Kelly from the wild hicay.”

There was great pride in Benjamin’s voice.
Everyone could tell he missed the exciting days of his youth.

“Ammul, would you and
your companion like to join us?”

The young man eagerly accepted Benjamin’s invitation, and without further delay, the group entered the dark tunnel.
Kerl-Ga hesitated at the entrance.

“She never did like the smell of kip dung.” Benjamin laughed and stepped back to the cave entrance where he made several hand gestures to
her.

The old hicay snorted harshly and brushed past him with a noticeable attitude in her stride.

“I guess she’s going to grace us with her company.” Benjamin slapped her on the rump as she passed, and the old beast snarled in mock anger.

The trek down the sloping tunnel went fast this time. About half way into the trip, Kelly sensed danger. This was not like any sensory perception she ever had before. With Simon, she could hear his thoughts, but this was different, emotion in
its purest form.

The travelers rounded a familiar bend in the
tunnel when Kerl-Ga stopped abruptly. Kelly’s sensation of danger heightened.

In the distance, a faint sound like dry leaves rustling in the wind
grew louder. Hair stood out on the hicay’s neck. Suddenly, a great swarm of kips engulfed the travelers. Kerl-Ga reared up and swatted at the frenetic little beasts that vanished as quickly as they arrived.

Kelly’s perception of danger subsided with the departure of the kip flock.

“Thank goodness we didn’t lose anyone!” Benjamin spoke with exaggerated concern, while everyone laughed at the amusing notion of a bunch of slug eaters being dangerous.

The travelers resumed their journey
and soon arrived at The Wall. It was dark and did not respond to their presence as it usually did. Benjamin went so far as to touch the wall for the first time in his life. It felt strange. He always thought it would be cold to the touch but it was quite warm and felt moist, although there was no dampness on his hand when he removed it.

“We’re an hour early. I guess we’ll have to wait.”

The human leader set his lantern on the floor of the cave and found a small indentation in the side wall on which to sit.

Kelly paced while attempting to open a psychic link with
her lifelong friend. Exhaustion finally forced her to settle down on a chair-sized stalagmite near the back of the cave.

Minutes seemed like hours as Benjamin told Dr. Hadje the story of The Wall and its
real contribution to their free human colony. Shilgar added tales about rescuing runners after The Wall alerted them. Not all runners were fortunate enough to be found alive. During one such story, both senior scouts remarked about how close Kelly’s own rescue had come to being another dead-runner statistic.

Kerl-Ga
raised her head in alarm and stared at the dark surface across from her. Kelly felt a surge of extreme fear as The Wall began to glow.

E
lders stood and waited for the familiar voice.

“Benjamin
, Kelly, I can see you.” It was Simon’s voice. “I’ll be right out.”

Kelly’s
alarm sensation grew almost to panic, such that she could barely catch her breath.

The big hicay
leaped away from the talking wall and postured aggressively in the exit to the cavern. In that instant, Kelly realized it was hicay emotions she sensed.

The powerful surge of telepathic panic from
the frightened hicay made Kelly dizzy. She stumbled against the nearby cave wall, trying to steady herself. Despite closing her eyes in an attempt to stop the vertigo, she clearly saw Simon in her mind as he emerged from The Wall.

The vision followed him as he stepped on the ground in front of The Wall and strode
across to Kelly. She felt his strength as he took her in his arms and lifted her into an embrace, yet she saw this scene from some other place in the cave.

Kelly forced her eyes open and the mind-image of her and Simon vanished. She glanced over
his shoulder at Kerl-Ga. The glowing eyes of the old hicay stared back. Her visions had been seen through the eyes of a hicay.

Kerl-Ga
’s fear changed into a plea. Was the hicay trying to communicate with her?

She
attempted to calm Kerl-Ga by projecting thoughts of reassurance directly at the creature. The sense of danger in Kelly’s mind subsided, but the big animal continued staring into her eyes.

“I have so much to tell you
. . . all of you.” Simon could barely contain his excitement.

Kelly studied his face. Something was different. Her lifelong companion possessed a new strength. She always suspected a dormant force, a powerful energy, lurking in some obscure part of his mind, but now that power raged on the surface, barely under his control.

“Benjamin, I have instructions for you from Dr. Boroski. Heptari ships are coming, and he has a plan to escape. The doctor has been monitoring Tanarac, and I’m being trained to—”

“Simon, slow down,
” Benjamin said, feeling the urgency but unable to make sense of the young man’s excited ramblings. “Who is Dr. Boroski?”

“
He’s the voice of The Wall. He’s been talking with you all these years. He started the first human community, well actually, it was him and Johan Frumm.”

“I’d like to meet this Dr. Boroski. Can you arrange it?”

“He’s a hologram. The real man died a long time ago. He was the last of all the scientists. He sent me back here with instructions for the Elders.”

Simon suddenly stepped back when he spotted the alien standing partially obscured behind
the human leader.

“What’s
HE doing here?” Simon said and pointed an accusing finger.

“It’s okay,
young man. Dr. Hadje is our friend. He’s trying to help us free our people. Doctor, I’d like to introduce you to Simon.”

“Hello
. I am not here to harm you. You can trust me.” The doctor stepped out from behind Benjamin and extended his hand in friendship.

Simon looked apprehensively at Kelly
, and she nodded her tentative approval. The former boom operator cautiously took the Tanarac’s four-fingered hand into his own. The scientist’s double-opposing fingers felt odd. As a young man, he marveled at the advantages of Tanarac physiology. Two sets of opposable fingers allowed greater dexterity than in human hands, but he always took some measure of pride in the far greater grasping power of his hands.

The small group headed for the surface in silence. Simon refused to
relate his experiences inside the human space ship with a Tanarac present. As they exited from the cave, he noticed the lack of people.

“Where is everyone?”

The senior Elder gave a quick summary of events during his absence. He explained the plan to move a third of the free humans into captivity while the rest hid in deep caves. “We’ve sent the rest into deep-hides while we see if the Tanaracs will agree to allow human freedom.”

“You can’t do that!” Simon shouted in disbelief. “We can save all our people. They don’t have to go back to
quarries or caves. We can leave this place forever.”

Benjamin appreciated the young man’s wishful thinking, but explained that Johan Frumm foresaw this plan of action, and there were simply no better alternatives. “Besides, we don’t have the means to leave
the planet, and we can’t remain in hiding forever. The best chance for human survival is to develop our relationship with Tanarac.”

“No
. We do have another choice. The Wall. It’s a space ship . . . a human spaceship!” Simon blurted out his secret, disregarding the nearby Tanarac scientist. “It’s been here since the end of the Human War. It’ll take us away from here as soon as we’re ready.”

Shilgar grabbed Simon by the shoulders.

“A space ship? Are you saying we could have left Tanarac at any time?”

“No
t exactly. They’ve been waiting for a pilot. The ship can’t operate without a human interface. The crew of the ship died a long time ago, and Dr. Boroski, he’s a hologram, he—”

Benjamin interrupted the young man when it became obvious he had a great deal of information to share
and that it may have a bearing on their current plans.

“Shilgar, call the E
lders to the meeting hall.”

The young boom operator
could hold back no longer.

“Kelly, you
should see this ship. It’s huge.”

He
rambled on incessantly about his experiences on board the vessel while the group made their way to the meeting room. Benjamin pulled out a chair at the head of the conference table and motioned for Simon to sit. As the room filled with Elders, the Tanarac scientists listened from the doorway.

Benjamin began the meeting.

“Young man, tell us everything you learned while inside The Wall. Take as much time as you need.” He cautioned his fellow Elders, “Please do not interrupt him. Save your questions until he is done. Okay, son, start at the beginning.”

Simon took a deep breath and began by sharing his apprehension at being drawn into The Wall. He described the interior of the ship as best he could, struggling for words
to adequately convey the magnitude inside the spaceship. Minutes passed into hours until Simon reached the end of his story.

Dr. Hadje could barely believe the things he had heard. Elders began firing questions at Simon
, but Benjamin gestured for quiet.

“Give
him a few minutes. I think I speak for everyone when I thank you for your detailed report, young man. We will take a brief recess. Please prepare your questions for when we return. Simon, please come with me.”

Elders gathered in small groups excitedly discussing how to handle the opportunities presented by this new information. Some argued that the process of evolving relationships with the Tanaracs should be the highest priority while others lobbied to recall the groups that were now in transit. For the
first time in their lives, they had an option promising real freedom.

Benjamin
led Simon down a hallway with the Tanarac scientists following. They entered a small room where Kelly waited alone. As Dr. Hadje entered, Simon again displayed his distrust.

“
You don’t have to fear Dr. Hadje. He truly is our friend,” Benjamin confronted the young man’s attitude before asking Kelly to join them. The group weaved down several more corridors and into a chamber with an old conference table at the far end.

“Hello again,” Shilgar
said, standing alone at the far end of the room. “I have a gift for Simon and Kelly from Dr. Hadje.”

The scout
motioned to the Tanarac scientist who then walked across the room and opened a door near the far corner. “Won’t you please join us?”

A young human stepped cautiously through the doorway.

“Adam!” Kelly instantly recognized their lifelong companion and ran across the room to throw her arms around him. Simon was not so fast to believe the impossible.

“
Is that you?” he asked.

“Hey guys,
I thought you both got ate by hicays,” Adam said. “Taskers told me you were both dead. They were gonna stick me on a stinking new plow team. Man, I’m glad to see you.”

Simon’s hesitation vanished. He wrapped his arms around both Kelly and Adam.

Dr. Hadje approached the trio and risked familiarity by placing his hand on Simon’s shoulder as he talked.

“
Your friend gave us quite a scare. Fortunately, the supervising Tasker wasted no time getting Adam to a full-care medical facility. We were able to close his wounds and restore cardiac function before any permanent damage to his central nervous system. There’s not much we can do about the scars but at least he’s going to be fine.”

Adam’s new free-human clothing fit looser than Tasker garb.
Three dark red scars ran from the side of his neck around to his back where they vanished under his new shirt.