The Power of Gnaris (21 page)

“A contingent
of my elite forces must leave for Tel Aviv at first light tomorrow.
The forces will be under the command of General Evans, a very
experienced veteran of the recent wars; but you, Donahue, will lead
the mission.”

“Me, sir? But
I am just a Ranger.”

“You are
already familiar with the situation, Donahue, and know a little
about the Karavec. I trust you to lead this expedition. I will have
a Hercules ready for you in the morning. It has the capacity for
ninety fully-armed men, or sixty four paratroops. I propose that
the Karavec and an equal number of Ziemians will parachute and land
close to the outskirts of Jerusalem.”

“With respect,
Mr President, the Karavec are not trained. Nor am I.”

“We will put
you and the Karavec through a crash course in tandem parachuting.
It requires only a minimal amount of instruction.”

“I see, and
that will buy us valuable time by not having to land at Tel Aviv.
Yes, Mr. President, you are right.”

“I will
instruct General Evans to select twenty seven of his best
paratroopers for this mission. General Evans and the twenty seven
troops will match in number the combined numbers of the Karavec,
consisting of, Leila and the twenty six Karavec warriors, and then
there’s yourself. This should provide enough firepower to deal with
this Saviour and his supporters.”

“I can assure
you,” said Leila, “that the Karavec warriors could deal with this
on their own. Nonetheless, we are very grateful that you have made
your men available. Thank you, Mr. President.”

Chapter 18 –
The Saviour’s Demise

“
There are
those who aspire to joining the ranks of the gods. Such Karavec
believe that by drinking the blood of other Karavec, they will
assimilate their gnaris. Thus their own gnaris is enhanced, and
their power increased.”

 The Book of
Karavec (27, 77)

Throngs of
people moved closer to Barrow, Lolena, Elena and Forster.

“Saviour.
Praise the Saviour,” they shouted in English.

Ziemia’s
smaller moon was full, and cast an eerie light over the crowds.

Sensing
trouble, Moses melted into the crowd and disappeared.

Barrow called
his three companions close and spoke to them. He turned first to
Forster. “Do you recall the quotations from the Book of Karavec
written on the piece of paper dropped by the murderer?”

Forster
nodded.

“What
quotations?” Lolena asked.

“There were
three. The first said:
‘After the Karavec had been created and
had been living on their home planet for more than two hundred
millennia, there was a great famine in the land. Many Karavec died,
and others were only sustained by drinking the blood of Karavec
embryos.’
”

The crowd
became more agitated, and drew closer.

“What does the
quotation mean?” Lolena asked.

“This
quotation gave the Saviour the idea to drink the blood. He saw that
it had been done before, and believed he could use it for his own
benefit. But the second quotation is more of an eye opener.”

“What does it
say?”

“It says:
‘There are those who aspire to joining the ranks of the gods.
Such Karavec believe that by drinking the blood of other Karavec,
they will assimilate their gnaris. Thus their own gnaris is
enhanced, and their power increased.’
The Saviour clearly
believes that he can become a god if he drinks the blood. This is a
very evil thing. What the Saviour is proposing is a blasphemy, and
he will be severely punished by the gods.”

“Perhaps he
thinks that if he becomes equal with the gods, then they will have
no power over him.”

By now the
crowd had grown both in numbers and in volume of noise. Barrow and
the others felt hemmed in as people pushed and jostled to come
closer. The crowd’s cries of praise increased when they recognised
the Saviour amongst them.

“Maybe you’re
right, said Barrow, “but the third quotation, as recorded in the
Book of Karavec, came to me by way of a prophecy:
‘In the latter
days there will rise up on the planet Ziemia a great threat to the
Karavec people. Do not be complacent; the threat is real. However,
be encouraged; the gods will prevail and the threat will be
overcome.
’”

Lolena tossed
aside the headwear and the face mask that Moses had given her by
way of disguise.

“You surely
don’t believe that I am a threat?” she said. “It’s all lies. You …
Great Savant … you are the threat.”

Her actions
caught Barrow, Elena and Forster by surprise. Forster had no time
to draw his ray gun, and Barrow had removed his goggles so couldn’t
use the power of his gnaris against Lolena. Within seconds of
revealing her identity, throngs of people surrounded them,
worshipping and praising Lolena, and the other three had no way to
escape.

She reached
forward and snatched Barrow’s goggles from his belt. “You won’t
need these again,” she said.

“Take their
weapons,” she barked.

“You

you’re the Sav

” Forster stuttered.

“Seize them,”
she said in English, pointing to Barrow, Elena and Forster.

One man in the
crowd spoke out. “You have returned?” he said. “But where is your
spacecraft?” He sounded bewildered.

“It will be
arriving shortly, but this should be a sign to you that I do not
need a spacecraft to come to you. I have the power to walk on
water; I can also fly through the air.”

Some members
of the crowd whistled, followed by whoops of excitement and great
cheers from others.

“Take them to
the cells under the temple,” she ordered.

One woman
rushed up behind Lolena and grabbed hold of the hem of her robe.
“Will the ship be bringing more blood,” she drooled.

“Do not worry
my faithful servants. There will be plenty more Karavec blood, and
soon you will all be like me. You will be Karavec.”

Several men
from the crowd roughly grabbed hold of the three prisoners, and
shoved them towards the hill that led to the temple.

* * * * *

Owing to the
shorter range of the aircraft and the need to refuel, the flight
from Washington to Jerusalem took a different route from that of
the president’s jet a few days earlier. The plane landed on a
remote airfield near a town called St John’s on the northern tip of
a snow-covered island on the western edge of the great ocean, and
then again on a military airfield close to the city of London.

After a thirty
hour flight, just before dawn, the combined forces of Ziemian
soldiers and Karavec warriors jumped in tandem from the aircraft at
eight hundred metres. Each Ziemian wore a parachute, connected by a
safety harness to his Karavec counterpart, and General Evans jumped
with Donahue.

They landed
just outside the eastern wall of the city, removed and buried their
parachutes, and hastily regrouped to receive instructions from
General Evans.

“We must be
prepared for resistance,” the general said. “They probably expect
some sort of assault, but will not know when, so we still have the
advantage of surprise; added to which our Karavec friends have
superior fire power and the ability to see clearly in the
dark.”

The Roman
soldiers that guarded the gates to the city provided the first line
of resistance. Since this occupying force of Ancients were armed
with primitive weapons, it took Evans’ men just a few minutes to
mow down the Roman guards and the local forces that came to their
aid.

There was a
loud roar when they passed through the gate. Leila looked up and
pointed.

“Look,” she
said to Wardrow. “The
Gnaris Voyager.
It’s landing on the
other side of the city. Saivrow must have arrived.”

* * * * *

Early in the
morning on the day after Lolena had revealed herself to be the
Saviour, she visited the prisoners.

“So the Great
Savant of the Karavec is reduced to this,” she sneered. “I will be
the new Great Savant of the Karavec worlds; but not only that, I
will also rule here on Ziemia. I, blind Lolena, am the only one who
can exist without hindrance on both planets. I have no need of
eyes. I have my gnaris to lead me, and my loyal followers to
protect me.”

Barrow could
not contain his rage. “You will not succeed in this madness. The
prophecy says so.”

“I do not
believe in your prophecy. I am already the victor. Do you not see
how the people here worship and adore me? Soon I will have control
over the entire planet.”

“How did you
communicate with them? How did you learn their language and teach
them to understand English?”

“I had no
choice. I intercepted messages coming from the communication
satellites of this planet long before Forster even knew they
existed, and so I was obliged to learn the language. As Kowalski
told us, that was the only fault with KEO 3. It used the one
language. Although Prehistorics and some Ancients still have their
own Ziemian language, English is now the universal language on the
planet. I fooled you before by pretending that I couldn’t
understand English.”

She had just
finished speaking when a loud roar announced the landing of the
Gnaris Voyager
on the outskirts of the city.

“There’s my
new supply of blood,” she said, “and my ticket back to Hikon when I
have completed my work here. By the way, thank you for providing me
with the transport to get back here to Jerusalem when I couldn’t
return to our ship.”

A sudden
revelation came to Barrow. “So Sirrow is your accomplice. That
explains how he was able to commit his murderous acts on both Arion
and Hikon, and travelled freely between them.”

“What a wise
old Savant you are. What a shame that your wisdom will no longer be
needed. But it’s not Sirrow. It’s his co-pilot whose face you have
not yet seen. He is Joodrow, twin of Jethrow.”

“Watch them.
They will try any trick to fool you and try to escape,” she ordered
her disciples. “I’m going to greet my son.”

“Your son?
Joodrow is you son?”

“No, it is
Kuthrow. Kuthrow is my son.”

Barrow
couldn’t believe this latest revelation. “He is not your son.
Karavec do not have mothers. We grow from seeds in the
Embrycultural Centre, and never know the identities of the donors
of the seeds.”

“I know he is
my son; just as I know that Joodrow has an identical twin with whom
he was conjoined as an embryo. I have accessed the database that
records the origin of all Karavec embryos. Since I am both a lawyer
and a member of the Council, it was easy for me.”

“You are no
longer a member of the Council,” Barrow hissed. “You will soon no
longer be Karavec.”

* * * * *

After the
Gnaris Voyager
had landed and Lolena had greeted Joodrow and
Kuthrow, the sounds of gunfire alerted her and her supporters that
the siege on the western side of the city had begun. Most of her
Ziemian supporters carried primitive weapons such as spears and
arrows, but Joodrow equipped a few of them with the rifles that he
had bought from Jesse’s gang and brought with him from the other
side of the planet. But the Ziemians of Jerusalem had never before
seen or used such weapons, and their use of rifles proved largely
ineffective.

The diversity
of combatants, and the variety of weapons, meant that different
factions fought the battle on many levels.

Firstly, the
joint forces of Hikon warriors and the Ziemian army had to deal
with the ordinary people who supported Lolena. The people of
Jerusalem provided easy targets for the guns of General Evans’ men
and the ray guns of the Karavec. Pockets of them hid and caused
some resistance, preventing a swift end to the conflict. Added to
which, a large contingent remained holed up with Lolena, Joodrow
and Kuthrow inside the temple.

However,
Lolena, already a powerful member of the Council, also had the
goggles that belonged to the Great Savant himself, and she knew how
to use them. Using the power of the goggles, Lolena systematically
stunned and killed several members of the invading force. The sole
limitation to her power was that she could only deal with one
person at a time.

Joodrow’s
single ray gun proved no match for those of the thirty Karavec
warriors, so his contribution to the defence of the temple was
negligible. Effectively Lolena fought alone. However, she had the
power to pick off the invaders one by one, and soon she would kill
all of them.

* * * * *

Leila called
Wardrow for a quick meeting.

“The Great
Savant is a prisoner,” she said.

“How do you
know?”

“The Saviour
is using his goggles. They are the only ones that can wield such
power. This means Barrow is either a prisoner or he is dead.”

“How do you
know he is not dead?”

“The Great
Savant will die one day, as all Karavec must, but he cannot be
killed by another Karavec. The gods would not accept such a
sacrifice unless Barrow himself has turned against them. It is the
Karavec way. This could not have happened, so Lord Barrow must be a
prisoner.”

“What can we
do to help him?”

“I have an
idea,” she said.

“Yes?”

“The general’s
men and the Karavec warriors must play dead. Then the Saviour will
think he has the victory, and stop the fight.”