Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

Laurants woke up slowly, vaguely aware of an ache in his left shoulder. He sat up gradually, his entire body feeling stiff. Moving his limbs experimentally, Laurants could see that nothing was broken. Turning his focus to the scenery around him, Laurants gasped in shock at what he saw.

He was in a room of silver metal walls, thick blue carpet, and a comfortable burgandy mattress. Stepping over to one wall, Laurants touched the cool metal surface only to reel back in surprise as the wall suddenly turned transparent, revealing a wondrous sight. Buildings of almost any size and shape, from traditional rectangular shapes to swirling conical figures, rose high into the air, their surfaces dark against the yellow-gray sky. There were lights on all over the huge city that sprawled for as far as Laurants could see, yet there appeared no vehicle or pedestrian traffic.

Where the hell am I? Laurants wondered. There had been no cities on the surface of the planet, certainly nothing of this size could go unnoticed. The last thing he could remember was jumping from a cliff towards a mountain on the other side of the gap, but instead of his claws tearing into solid rock, they had caught nothing but air. He could remember landing in darkness on something very hard, but he blacked out before he could try to find a light to see where he was. Could I have died in that fall? Could this be the afterlife? Laurants wondered.

A gravelly voice suddenly spoke from behind Laurants in a language that Laurants quickly recognized from his youth as Latin. It took Laurants a moment to roughly translate what he had heard as, “You are not dead.” Turning around slowly, Laurants faced whomever had spoken.

Standing in the doorway was a tall being, at least seven feet tall, most closely resembling a cat in its appearance. It had a slightly oblong face covered in short white fur to its large green eyes, with dark brown fur above the eyes that were crowned by two small, pointed ears. Twin white mustaches drooped from a small snout, while white hair dangled from the back of the being’s head to its waist.

Fumbling in his pocket for a compad, Laurants activated the translator on the machine so that he could communicate with the creature before him. “Who are you?” Laurants asked.

The feline being raised a white-furred, four-fingered hand, tapping its chest with a short claw. “I am Lothgamm, I did not intend to intrude upon your inner thoughts.”

Looking about him, Laurants asked, “There was another like me, where is she?”

“She is in the next room, I am afraid she has not yet recovered from her injuries. It should not be much longer before she is completely healed.”

Studying the being calling itself Lothgamm, Laurants could not tell if there was any sort of weapon hidden under the dark blue robes it was wearing. He decided that the best thing would be to find out more information before attempting any kind of escape. “Where am I?”

“You are in the city of Telle, it is the last great city of Rygan.”

“I don’t understand. Our ship didn’t detect any cities in any of our scans. How can a city this large be on the surface and not be detected?”

Lothgamm made a sort of stuttering hiss that Laurants realized was a chuckle. “This city was not detected because it is not on the surface.”

“What? If it’s not on the surface, how can there be that sky…”

Lothgamm waved a hand, cutting Laurants off. “The sky is merely an illusion, designed to keep inhabitants from feeling too claustrophobic. We are actually buried under one hundred feet of rock.”

“That’s amazing,” Laurants stammered. “How many people live in this city?”

“One.”

“One? But you just said…”

“At one time over three million Rygans lived in Telle, but now I am the last. I am, in fact, the last on all of Rygan.”

“Rygan? Is that what this planet is called?”

“Yes,” Lothgamm replied simply.

“The language you’re using, is that the native Rygan language?”

“No, of course not. It is the predominant language of your people when Rygan observers last visited your world two millennia ago. I trust that this information is now out-of-date?”

Two thousand years ago? Laurants thought back to his history lessons. That would place it at the height of the Roman Empire. Of course, he thought, Latin was the language spoken by the Romans. “That’s right, but if you don’t know my language, then how could know what I was thinking before you came into the room?”

“I did not know the words, but I could feel the emotions. Emotions frequently speak louder than words.”

“So how did you…”

“Enough, I sense that your comrade is awakening. I will explain everything to both of you.” Waving towards Laurants, Lothgamm continued, “Follow me.” Part of one wall opened, Laurants following Lothgamm down a short hall to a room identical to the one he had found himself in. Shaw was lying on a mattress, slowly sitting up. She jumped to her feet when she saw Lothgamm come through the door.

Seeing Laurants, Shaw seemed relieved and asked, “Jack, what’s going on?”

***

S’Revlar dangled from a cable, slowly making his way down the mountainside. He reached out with a guantleted hand, touching the rocky exterior of the mountain to make certain that it was, in fact, a solid slope. The S’Parnian scout had gone down about a hundred feet, yet so far he had seen no way for his quarry to have disappeared. There were no markings on any rocks to indicate where the aliens might have struck, nor were there any caves, cracks, or crevices that might have hidden them from view. In short, the aliens had simply vanished into thin air.

S’Revlar continued doggedly down the slope, knowing that he had to at least be able to explain how these two aliens had escaped. He could not return to the ship without an explanation, or he would be disgraced, reassigned to some lesser duties until the collection vessel returned to S’Parni, where S’Revlar would be dishonorably discharged, no bio-energy pension to provide for his family. He could not let that happen, so he would have to find the two fugitive aliens, no matter the cost.

Stopping at what he thought was the location where the aliens had vanished, S’Revlar closely studied the sensor readings of the area. There was nothing unusual, the same density of rock and snow existed at this point as on most of the slope. Putting a hand against the surface of the rock, S’Revlar pushed, but nothing happened. Cursing to himself, S’Revlar continued down another hundred feet, but still was unable to locate anything. He finally stopped when the cable ran out, then began the slow climb back up the slope. As he slowly eased up the rope, he knew there was only one more option left available to him, but it was potentially very dangerous.

S’Revlar carried with him a pair of powerful explosives that could easily tear open a hole in the mountainside to determine if there were any kind of openings or secret pathways that would have allowed the aliens to create the illusion of disappearing from sight. While carving a large hole in the side of the mountain, the explosion could easily cause an avalanche above or cause parts of the mountain above to collapse. He and his scouts could be killed while the chance of success, according to his sensor readings, was remote.

Thinking about it for a minute, S’Revlar came to a decision. No matter what the risk was, he had a duty to do everything possible to locate the two aliens, a duty that could not be cast aside because of the risk involved. Looking across the gap to the other side, S’Revlar knew that the best chance for survival would be to have his troops cross the chasm and wait on the other side. There was a good chance that the explosion would create an avalanche or collapse on the other mountain as well, but it was a smaller chance, especially for an expert like S’Revlar who knew where to place the explosives to lessen the impact.

Climbing back up to where his scouts waited, S’Revlar outlined his plan. As expected, he received no objections. Setting the cable to allow his troops to cross, S’Revlar began to set the timer for the explosives. He allowed at least five minutes for himself to swing across the gulf and find cover before the two bombs went off. Once all of his scouts were across, S’Revlar lowered himself to a point just below where the aliens had vanished. He used a small cutting tool to make a hole to place the two explosives, then armed the weapons. He climbed up to the top, readying himself to swing across the chasm. Rocking back and forth, S’Revlar built up speed, then pushed himself away from the mountainside as hard as he could. He swung through the air, waiting until the apex of his swing to release himself from the rope and fly towards the cliff. S’Revlar smashed into the hard-packed snow of the cliff, quickly rolling to his feet. He scampered up the snowy ground, heading for the cluster of boulders where he and his troops had camped the previous night. Tucking himself between the boulders, S’Revlar was glad to see that all of his troops had followed his orders and were safely shielded by the rocks.

With thirty seconds to spare, S’Revlar thought back to what he had saw and tried to think of any explanation for the disappearance of the two aliens. Replaying the scene again and again in his mind, he could come up with no answer, so he knew that the explosion would have to show him something he had missed, something that had been hidden to him. I may be old, but no so old as to have lost my mind, he thought, waiting for the sound of the blast.

***

Arsa Veranda was trapped in limbo, feeling her mind slip away moment by moment. She could see images flash past her, images that she knew were memories of her own life, but they went by too quickly for her to latch on to any. She reached out, willing her hands to catch something, anything and hold on to it. Finally, her hand seemed to touch something, seemed to glow for a moment, then the images swirling around her coalesced into one scene.

It was, Veranda realized, a very familiar scene. Around her were plain oak-paneled walls with stained glass windows containing various Christian designs. A small altar made of dark wood was just ahead of her, an old priest suddenly beckoning to her from the altar. Looking down, Veranda remembered the wedding dress she was wearing, she could remember trying it on and trying to keep Ted from seeing her in the gown. She turned her gaze from the dress to the pews behind her, all were crammed with people: her adopted parents, friends from the Academy, even a few of her friends from her brief stay at Oxford University.

The priest at the altar beckoned to her once again, this time she slowly stepped forward until she had climbed to the step just below the altar. Her husband was waiting at the altar and took her hand. The wedding ceremony went off without a hitch, the priest ending the ceremony by saying, “Having dedicated yourselves to each other you are now ready to begin your new life together. Ted, you may now kiss Arsa to seal your love for each other forever.”

Veranda turned to kiss Ted, but everything around her was turning black, slowly fading from her sight. “No!” She screamed, trying to reach out to grasp Ted, but his arm turned to vapor, followed by the rest of his body. Veranda was left alone in the dark, the wedding dress turning to ragged shreds, until it too had faded to nothingness.

Lost in the darkness once again, Veranda could suddenly feel another presence, another mind crying out against the lonely void that it was trapped in. Veranda reached out, trying to touch this other being, hoping that maybe it could explain what was happening to her. She could feel her consciousness brush against the alien presence, then her entire body was wracked with spasms. She fell to her knees, wanting to scream, but unable to make any sounds. She could only watch in horror as her entire body began to change.

Her flesh slowly began to turn from its natural dark brown color to a dark green, the texture turning from smooth to dry and scaly. Her hands swelled in size, her middle finger disappearing, then black claws burst from the ends of her fingers. Similar claws came out of her large, webbed toes, then Veranda was doubled over in pain once again while a long tail snaked out from just above her rear end and a thin, smooth shell formed on her back. What is happening? She wondered. I can’t be one of them! I’m not an alien!

Veranda could see more images flying past her, only these images were strange, as though they were the memories of someone else. She reached out experimentally with a long, clawed finger, her entire hand glowing for a brief moment, then she found herself in a strange place that she could not quite remember.

She felt something touch her on the hard shell of her back, looking up she could see an alien warrior towering over her. The huge alien was clad in blue armor, some kind of sword at its side and fire in its orange eyes. “You! Rise to take the sacrifice!” The alien warrior growled.

“Me?” Veranda asked helplessly, feeling unsure of what to do.

The alien yanked her to her feet, growling, “Yes, you fool. When you woke today you were nothing more than a sniveling, cowardly worm, but today on the field of battle you became a warrior. You slew your first enemy, now, to show the war gods that you have dedicated your life to them, you must sacrifice your foe.” The warrior gestured towards a large gray creature lying on a brown boulder. The alien warrior handed her a short knife made entirely of some kind of crystal. Veranda took the knife’s cool hilt in her hand, unsteadily holding it over the corpse lying on the boulder.

Veranda nervously looked around her, seeing thousands of alien soldiers standing in a circle around her. Their faces were obscured by the dark purple sky, but Veranda could feel their eyes on her. Letting out a hiss, Veranda plunged the knife quickly into the midsection of the creature, watching as olive blood oozed from the wound. For a moment Veranda froze in hesitation, feeling the eyes of those around her prodding her to continue with the ritual. Veranda slowly began to slice up the creature’s chest, stopping as she reached the thing’s neck. Feeling cold, Veranda handed the knife back to the alien warrior.

The alien warrior proudly tapped her on the shoulders. “Today, Foot Soldier S’Amleng, you have become a S’Parnian warrior. The bio-energy of this beast will be used to feed your brethren on S’Parni. Countless lives have been saved by your heroic actions, proving you worthy of the gods’ love.” The alien warrior nodded solemnly to Veranda, she nodded back before stumbling away from the disemboweled corpse. Looking up at the dark purple sky, Veranda could see dark blue clouds spinning, some merging into the forms of her husband and friends from the Alliance military. Veranda fell to her knees into some kind of gooey substance that was neither liquid nor solid. She could see a reflection in the surface of the gel, the reflection of a dark green alien, olive blood splattered about its naked body. Veranda reached out towards the reflection, a clawed finger plunging into the finger of the alien reflection.

“No, I am not one of you!” Veranda screamed at the sky, smashing her fists into the reflection to obliterate it. The pieces of the reflection slowly merged together until it was whole once more. “What is happening to me?” Veranda whimpered, collapsing into the gooey substance, her world going dark.

***

Crouching in the dense weeds, Davis watched as another alien transport replaced one that had just taken off. Using his binoculars to get a better look, he could see red-clad aliens boarding one set of transports while another set of shuttles unloaded mustard-clad aliens. The mustard-armored aliens fanned out over the marsh, stopping at each corpse then moving to the next one. He was too far away to see exactly what the aliens were doing to the dead bodies, and there was no way for Davis to get a closer look without emerging from his hiding place.

He felt something nudge him, and turned to see Thornton motioning to him impatiently. “Shouldn’t we be going before they catch us here?” She growled.

“Just a minute, I’m trying to see if I can find out what they’re doing.”

“They’re probably making sure that everyone is dead.”

“Maybe, they’ve already hauled off the wounded, why would they send a whole other crew for the dead?”

“It’s probably some ritual or custom,” Thornton replied testily. “We need to be moving into deeper cover before it gets light out.”

“We still have a couple of hours.”

“A couple of hours we could be using to put some distance between us and the aliens while they’re still cleaning up.”

Davis sighed, “All right, there probably isn’t much more to see anyway. Just keep down and try not to make any loud noises.”

Thornton nodded, getting down on all fours and moving cautiously into the weeds at the shore of the marsh. Davis followed behind her, ignoring the aches in his body from the battle, aches that he was only now beginning to feel and that would probably be much worse in a few hours. Thornton signaled for Davis to stop and pointed to a clump of brown weeds to her right that seemed to be moving. Davis nodded to her, pulling the pistol Thornton had given him from his belt just as a large, dark object shot out from the weeds.

Before Davis could let go with a shot, the object was past him, rolling to a stop in the mud. Davis cautiously crawled over to where the object lay, and it was obvious as he approached that it was an unclothed alien with its head buried in the mud. The alien was still alive, twitching and making odd moaning sounds that were muffled by the ground.

“Is it still alive?” Thornton asked as she came up to Davis’s side.

“Appears to be. I don’t know if it’s wounded or not.”

“It doesn’t seem like it has any equipment with it, so let’s just get out of here before it can report us to its superiors.”

Davis nodded, turning to go when the alien suddenly rolled over, wiping the mud from its face. Raising his weapon, Davis decided that he would have to risk a shot, but the alien made no aggressive moves. It seemed to be staring past Davis as though he was not even there, then its orange reptilian eyes suddenly became brown mammalian eyes, like those of a human. “Help me,” the alien whispered in English. Its clawed arms reached forward, trying to latch onto Davis, but he pulled away. Tears formed in the alien’s brown eyes as it sagged towards the ground. “What is happening to me?” It whimpered before its entire body went limp.

The marsh was silent for a moment, then Davis heard the sound of a weapon powering. He turned his head to see Thornton pointing his pistol at the alien’s head, her finger on the trigger. Davis batted the gun away from Thornton’s hand just as the weapon fired, the shot harmlessly singeing some weeds. “You idiot!” Davis cursed, motioning towards the bay. “You’ve probably alerted them to our presence!”

“This thing is one of them!” Thornton shouted. “It’s most likely killed some of our friends, why should we let it live?”

“Didn’t you see what happened?” Davis shot back. “This alien can speak English, we have to find out why, then maybe then we can get some useful information from it.”

Thornton’s cheeks were flushed red with anger, but she nodded slowly. “All right, maybe it can be of some use, but if it tries anything, I’ll put a shot right in its brain.”

“No, you won’t,” Davis said with authority, taking the pistol from the mud. Davis pulled the alien from the mud, grunting in pain as he slung one of its arms around his shoulders. “Take the other side,” he said through gritted teeth. The alien’s weight sent stabs of agony through Davis, his injured shoulder throbbing from the effort.

Thornton put the alien’s right arm over her shoulder, Davis’s pain relenting a little. It took a few minutes to wrestle the alien through the mud, but once they got on more solid ground, it was easier to drag the alien between them. “I’m sorry about giving away our position,” Thornton muttered just loud enough for Davis to hear.

“It’s all right, no harm done.”

Thornton was quiet for a moment, then asked, “What do you suppose happened to this one?”

Davis shook his head. “I have no idea.”

***

S’Olonny stormed into S’Tallen’s lab, nearly sending the scientist tumbling from his chair at the sudden disturbance. “What are you doing here? There is very sensitive equipment…” S’Tallen began, but S’Olonny cut him off with a wave of his hand.

“I assume that you have found some way to communicate with these creatures, correct?”

“I have a basic grasp of their language, yes.”

“Excellent. You will translate for me so that I can interrogate the prisoners.”

“I am afraid I cannot leave the lab, I have very important experiments that require my attention.”

“I require your attention now, your experiments can wait,” S’Olonny gestured to the S’Zai at his hip before S’Tallen could protest. S’Tallen followed S’Olonny from the lab, trying to keep his anger from showing. His experiment was in the first stage of transformation, there were numerous things that could wrong, terminating his experiment before it could be completed. In spite of that, though, it was not worth his life. He could always obtain another specimen, but if he was killed, then all of his work would be finished, S’Olonny would see to that.

“I did not think it was your way to take prisoners,” S’Tallen said.

“No, but from the lack of other life on this world and their small number, there must be more of these creatures in this or another system. We may be able to locate other habitable worlds for collection.”

“They may not want to tell you where to go to exterminate their race,” S’Tallen pointed out sarcastically.

S’Olonny turned angrily on the scientist, “I will deal with that, you simply translate what I am saying.” S’Olonny punched the button to open the door to a small, dark room that was not familiar to S’Tallen. In the center of the room was a human, held to a metal chair by magnetic restraints. At the approach of the two S’Parnians, the human came to consciousness.

Rosaro opened her eyes slowly, the entire world made of blurs spinning about her. Gradually, things began to come into focus, millions of lights forming one point of light, highlighting the two aliens standing before her. One of the aliens was the one who had knocked her out during the battle in the swamps, while the other, who was at least a foot and a half shorter, she did not recognize. The larger alien grabbed Rosaro’s chin, forcing her head upright. He growled something in his own language, his eyes boring into Rosaro’s.

The smaller alien looked down at something that was vaguely similar to a compad, then spoke in English. “Captain S’Olonny thought you were a great warrior when you defeated his initial attack, but since your defeat in the swamplands he has decided that you are a puny creature, below his contempt.”

Rosaro was unfazed by the comment, staring into S’Olonny’s reptilian eyes to show him that she was not afraid. S’Olonny spoke again, finally letting go of Rosaro’s chin. “Despite being such a weak thing, he will let you live if you tell him where he might find more of your kind,” S’Tallen interpreted.

“Tell him that there are no more of my kind,” Rosaro replied. S’Tallen translated and for a moment there was an eerie silence. The calm was shattered by one of S’Olonny’s huge hands slapping Rosaro across the face, his claws tearing deep gashes in her left cheek. S’Olonny roared something, pacing angrily while he waited for S’Tallen to translate.

“He warns you not to play games with him. He knows that there were too few of you and not enough life on the planet to be an entire civilization. Tell him where your home planet is and he will spare you.”

Looking at S’Olonny, Rosaro knew that there was no sense hiding the reason the Explorer and Pioneer were in the system, and perhaps she could use it to fool the alien captain. “The mission of our two ships was to colonize the planet below. Our home planet was devastated by numerous natural disasters and wars, so we are here to create a new home. By now my home planet could be a barren wasteland.”

There was another pause while S’Olonny took in what S’Tallen translated, then S’Olonny hit Rosaro across the face again, this time his claws cutting almost to her cheekbone. Rosaro managed to hold in the scream she wanted to let out, but a look of agony was evident on her face. She could tell that S’Olonny was amused, while the other alien looked sick.

“He knows that if your world were really in such a condition there would have been more of your people here,” S’Tallen translated, then spoke without prompting. “Tell him what he wants or he will not stop until you and all of your people on this ship are dead.”

“I will not betray my planet, no matter what the price is!” Rosaro shouted, bracing herself for another slap across the face.

Instead, S’Olonny seemed calm, talking quickly to S’Tallen. The smaller alien finally translated, his voice flat. “S’Olonny believes that he may have misjudged you. If you will not tell him what he wants to know by force, then perhaps you can be made to talk by other means. Captain S’Olonny challenges you to honorable single combat to decide the matter. If he wins the duel, then you will give him the information he has requested. If you win the contest, then he will allow you and all those in his custody to go free.”

“I can’t gamble with the lives of my entire race,” Rosaro replied angrily.

S’Tallen did not translate Rosaro’s response, speaking to her directly instead. “If you do not accept his challenge, then he will find you dishonorable and kill all the others of your kind that are currently being held. S’Olonny will give you into my custody to torture the information from you,” the alien scientist stopped, seeming almost to smile. “I will find out what he wants to know, but I am afraid you will not survive long afterwards.”

Rosaro thought about it for a few moments, knowing that the duel was the only chance she had to save her troops and the remaining crew of the Explorer. Even if she lost the duel there was still no way that she would give the location of Earth to S’Olonny, she would make him kill her. Taking a deep breath, she nodded to S’Olonny. “Tell him that I accept.”

“Very well then. The duel will take place tomorrow, so that you may have some time to recuperate from your injuries.” Once S’Tallen had translated, both aliens turned and left the room, leaving Rosaro still strapped tightly into the chair. Closing her eyes, and feeling lightheaded from blood loss, Rosaro soon fell into a fitful sleep.

***

S’Revlar heard the sound of the explosives, but felt barely a tremor at his position. Stepping out of his hiding place, the S’Parnian scout could see that the powerful blast had barely made a dent in the mountain. No! S’Revlar thought angrily. It is not possible for the mountain to fully absorb the blast! By all of his calculations, a sizable hole should have been opened in the mountainside, but there was nothing more than a few small fissures just below the blast point.

Scanning the side of the mountain, S’Revlar stopped, trying to contain the joy he felt. The cracks in the side of the rock, while not big enough to fit through, did provide S’Revlar with an explanation for how his quarry had vanished, and why the bombs had not made the impact they should have. Through the fissures, S’Revlar could detect faint traces of energy, the kind of energy that most closely resembled the type used to make holoprojections. It was obvious now that what had appeared to be a mountain, with the texture and density to mimic solid rock, was actually an illusion that the enemy had used to cover their escape. Now that he knew what the illusion was, he knew how to defeat it.

Motioning to another of his scouts, he launched a cable into the side of the mountain, swinging across the chasm with ease. The cable was attached to the imaginary mountain, which would make what S’Revlar was about to do dangerous, but it was an acceptable risk to find out where his prey had fled to. He took a flat, black disc from the left hip of his armor, placing the disc against the rock. A light on the disc flashed green, an eight-foot section of the mountain suddenly vanishing to reveal a dark cavern.

The display in S’Revlar’s helmet brought up an infrared image of the cavern, a red blob of warmth just behind the wall ahead of the S’Parnian scout. Touching the wall, S’Revlar found it to be hard and damp like an ordinary rock. Using another of the disc-like devices, S’Revlar determined that this wall was actually made of stone. Studying the density of the material, S’Revlar located his cutting torch and called for the other scouts to join him. Even with all five torches, it would be several hours before he could cut a big enough hole through the rock to fit through. Activating his torch, S’Revlar quietly set to the grueling task, knowing that soon he would flush his quarry from whatever warren they had taken refuge in. You may have fooled me for a short time, but it only delayed the inevitable, now I will find you.

***

Lothgamm paced around the room nervously for a long minute, his hands clasped behind his back. Finally, he turned to face Laurants and Shaw. “My people long ago met the enemy you now face. It was over one thousand years ago that a Rygan exploration vessel discovered a planet nearly two-thirds covered by swamps. The dominant species below, reptilian creatures who called themselves S’Parnians, seemed to lack any kind of sophisticated technology, yet there was a source of energy on the surface more advanced than anything ever produced by Rygan scientists. It was some a great sphere, some kind of an energy matrix of unlimited power. It was clear that the S’Parnians did not have the skill or resources to produce such technology, nor was there any sign of who might have constructed such a remarkable object. Our scientists observed the planet for nearly a year, then finally returned to Rygan to continue their study of the energy matrix.”

Lothgamm paused for a moment, his moustaches twitching in agitation. “As I have explained, Rygans have telepathic abilities, sometimes this allows us to get a glimpse of the future. One of the scientists who returned from the S’Parnian planet claimed to have a disturbing vision. She said that she saw the end of Rygan: our great fleets destroyed, our cities reduced to dust, our colonies ravaged, our people dying by the millions. No one believed her, no one believed that our great civilization would ever end.” Lothgamm shook his head, “Sadly, everything she said came to pass.”

“For thousands of years Rygans explored the universe, seeking only knowledge. Our ships would observe planets from orbit, learning as much as possible, then move on. The knowledge we gained was passed on telepathically from one Rygan to an appointed heir at the time of death, so that everything we knew was carried on from one generation to the next. In time, we settled some uninhabited worlds to use as outposts to further our exploration. Our society flourished, prosperity touching every Rygan citizen.”

“Over four centuries after discovering the S’Parnian planet, the end of my people began. By this time there was a growing faction of Rygans, seeking to increase their wealth, who believed that the time for exploration was over, that we should begin campaigns of conquest against the inhabited worlds we had observed. This faction was relatively small, not possessing the military strength to oppose the remainder of the Rygan fleets. However, they did have enough forces under their command to raid a helpless world.”

“Unbeknownst to the Rygan parliament, a fleet of ships was dispatched to the primitive world of S’Parni. The rebel faction believed that they could find some way to use the power of the energy matrix on the planet to fuel their campaign for empire and to create weapons of mass destruction.”

“A Rygan scout vessel, its captain sensing that something was afoot in the area, encountered the rogue fleet nearly halfway to S’Parni and alerted our military commanders. A small force of Rygan ships, those closest to S’Parni, was assembled and sent to delay the rebels long enough for reinforcements to arrive. It was the first time in nearly ten thousand years that Rygans would raise arms against each other.” Lothgamm paused, but Shaw and Laurants were too mesmerized by his story to speak.

“The two fleets met over S’Parni, an intense battle raging for days. Finally, the rebels gained the upper hand, decimating those defending the freedom of the S’Parnians below. The rebels closed on the last ship, its captain making a fateful decision. Knowing that reinforcements would not arrive in time, the captain decided that the only way to end the conflict was to destroy the matrix below. The Rygan ship fired on the surface, destroying the matrix, which set off a cataclysm on the surface below. The rebels destroyed the last ship opposing them, then fled, but the damage had been done.”

“Instead of burning out, the flame of rebellion grew, enveloping the whole of Rygan civilization. For the next two centuries, Rygan worlds were ravaged, many razed to the last living being, others left without vital supplies, so that they faded slowly from existence. Enemies of the Rygan people, seeing an opportunity, grabbed dozens of colonies, the Rygan military too divided to strike back at the aggressors. The war that had until then stayed distant from Rygan itself, finally swept across the planet, wiping all life from the surface.”

Lothgamm stopped, a sort of sob escaping his throat. “I was young when the great cities of Rygan were destroyed. I was serving aboard the last warship of the Rygan fleet, the thousands of others had been eliminated after the centuries of warfare. All of us aboard the ship knew our civilization was doomed, the last outposts beset by disease and famine. We took aboard a few survivors, those that we able to take without risking the spread of various plagues, but there were no females capable of reproduction and few healthy children. Nevertheless, our ship returned to Rygan, to the wasteland that had once been our home.”

“We found no habitable cities on the surface, but a scouting party determined that the great underground city of Telle was still standing, though not even it had been spared from the effects of the war. The aquifers feeding the city’s rivers, lake, and waterfall had dried up, but with nowhere else to go, our ship put down and we began the process of rebuilding.”

“We found a handful of survivors clinging to life, they were able to tell us what had happened to the planet, how weapons of unimaginable destruction had been turned against our own people. Nothing was to grow again on Rygan for over a century, then the plantlife began to slowly rebuild, but nothing could save the Rygan people. For whatever reason, whether it was some kind of radiation or germ from the surface, or just Fate, the children that grew in the city were not able to reproduce. Those scientists that remained tried to find some way to breed more Rygans, but there was no hope. Slowly, over the last two centuries, those that repopulated the city died out.”

“I have spent the last thirty years here alone, waiting for the end. Now that you have arrived, I know that the end of my race is here.”

“What do you mean? We aren’t going to hurt you,” Laurants said.

“No, but the S’Parnians have come here at last, to the source of their troubles, although they do not know it. Their fate has led them here, where at last they will have their vengeance on the Rygan people for what we did to them. It is a price that will be paid in blood, my blood, but it will not stop their lust for carnage.”

“We can help you defend this city, perhaps we can even get you off of this planet…” Shaw began, but Lothgamm cut her off.

“You do not understand, our story has been written by the hand of fate before we are even born. Before the Rygans, S’Parnians, or your people were alive they were already dead. Nothing can change that.” Lothgamm stopped, his mouth curling into a smile reminiscent of the Cheshire Cat. “While my people may be dead, our knowledge will carry on for eons after my body goes cold. Our wisdom will be preserved to serve those that we have observed, who are now rising from the cradles of their home worlds to explore the vast universe for themselves.”

Shaw wanted Lothgamm to explain his last point, but he silenced her with a wave of his hand, his pointed ears seeming to stiffen. Lothgamm closed his eyes, his nose twitching. “Yes, they are coming,” Lothgamm said at last.

“Who?” Laurants asked.

“The S’Parnians sent to find you, they will be here in a few hours. We cannot let them report the location of this city to their superiors or all will be lost.” Lothgamm reached into his robes, pulling out a slim pistol. “We must prepare to meet our destiny.”