Bandits (31 page)

Daniel wouldn’t let her budge him.
I can lose a pinky finger and still live.
He pushed past her.

He took a deep breath and slid his finger into the tran
s
parent wall of light. “Ugh,” he grunted out his pain. Half the pinky was in. Unable to take the burning, cutting pain any longer, he snatched his finger back out.

“No, no – we can’t do this!” She pulled at his arm.

Daniel let out a deep breath while he shook his finger. He took his other hand and held the base of his burnt finger as he inspected the damage. It was blistered and throbbing with small cuts scatter
ed along its length. “Y
ou’re not going to do it. I am. Stay back!”  He pushed her away
.

She stumbled back and fell to the floor.
“No!” Jade scrambled to get up to stop him.

Without a backwards glance at Jade, Daniel ran forward into the wall of light. Cutting, burning, piercing pain from the laser of light engulfed his body as he ran through the transpa
r
ent wall of color. He didn’t let himself stop, but kept running forward to the altar. Steam rose from his burnt, battered body. Air seemed to cut at his head, which now felt like it was bald and smoking in some spots. His steps slowed from the o
n
slaught of pain that wracked through his body. Burning as if he’d been dropped within a blazing fire, his body felt like one weeping inferno. Sheer will pushed him forward
, his heart thundering in his chest
. The pain was too intense for Daniel to cry out. His throat, tongue, eyes, and his entire body were thro
b
bing and on fire from a burning so intense it caused tears to run unchecked down his face.

Reaching out, he fell onto the altar of light. He held onto the base and struggled through his pain to reach up and touch the treasure circling on top.

His hand grasped the moving circle of light. It felt squishy but firm beneath his fingertips. He squeezed and it squished coolly be
neath is fingers. Cool, healing, soothing chills
slid down his body from fingers to toes the moment he squeezed it. He felt refreshed and renewed. Then he reached out and grabbed the treasure with both hands.

Light burst forth from it. Colors of red, gold, blue, and green thundered forth. Beams of lights hit Faulk and Nickel directly. Their entire bodies lit up, and they awoke. The invis
i
ble force that held them up slowly lowered them to the floor. Daniel turned as a last bolt of light went behind him. He turned, follo
w
ing the light that shot into the transparent wall behind them. His heart
cinched
when he saw Jade unconscious, stea
m
ing and burned on the floor.

Daniel dropped the treasure, and it thrust forward into his stomach to disappear within. He hesitated, looking down at his glowing torso and hands, and then he ran to Jade. He roared at the sight of her, pain of loss stabbed his heart. She was still unco
n
scious, so he picked her up in his arms. Her face was covered with tears, opened burns, and cuts. Parts of her scalp showed through the patches where her hair had been burnt off. His heart broke, and he kissed her
, pulling her close
.

“Is she gonna to be okay?” Faulk placed a hand on her singed hair.

Daniel looked up, surprised he didn’t hear Faulk or Nickel behind him.

“She’ll be alright. I just know it.”  Nickel reached out to smooth Jade’s hair from her face.

Daniel couldn’t speak. His heart ached with hope that Jade would be fine. He turned, and walked toward the altar.

Before their eyes the three aliens they met before a
p
peared. The alien in the middle was the largest, the only one that spoke to them before.

It looked at Daniel, the light moving in its body slowed down while he stared. “You have passed,” it said. “You all have earned the ability to protect the pakeet and reverse its effects on the world from which you came.”

“Is she going to be alright?” Daniel asked, his stare never leaving the being in front of him.

“She will be. She’s earned the right to be one with you all.” It pointed at Daniel, and moved its hand like it was su
m
moning something forward.

Daniel felt a
scorching
, cutting pain within his chest – like something was cut from out of his heart.

He roared as
the pain caus
ed
light to form behind his eyes. Fighting it, he stood and tightened his hold on Jade. He watched a small diamond-shaped piece of light come out of his chest. It floated briefly, and then thrust into Jade’s chest. I
n
stantly, her body healed. Hair grew, skin cleared, and her complexion dar
k
ened as she moaned softly.

With a deep gulp of air, Jade awoke. “What?
Umm?
” She squirmed and fought as she came out of her deep sleep.

Daniel released her and then helped her stand.

“She’s now one with you all, another protector of the treasure. From here on both of your family lines will have the chance to earn the right to protect the
pakeet
.” It turned its gaze from Jade to look at Daniel.

“What do we do now?  How do we stop it?” Daniel asked, stepping forward.

“The power to stop it resides within you now. All of you have a piece of it. You can never leave the pakeet. We made a mistake before, assuming one of your kind is not capable of protecting this artifact alone. It should have never been sep
a
rated from its protector. We decided to help you. Each of you holds the power to control the use of the pakeet, but to do so, you must all want it to do the same thing. It has to be the desire of all of your hearts. But you, Daniel, are the final word. You will have the power to override all of them. We see now that you will choose the right path.”

“You mean you put something in us? What does it do?” Daniel asked.

“Its power within you will evolve with you over time. It will use you to replenish worlds or destroy them in order to replenish them again. It is a counterpart to the pakeet on your planet, and will be absorbed to be one with the pakeet now within you when you return.”

“What is the pakeet exactly?” Daniel asked.

The colors within the being started to speed up. It looked gravely at Daniel. “It’s a blessing for some, a curse for others. If you demand the pakeet to stop destruction, it will. The purpose of the pakeet is to save worlds.”  It looked at each one of them in turn as it spoke. “If a world’s resources to feed its people become endangered, the pakeet can revive that world. If a world is ove
r
taken by a parasite that could destroy its people and destroy a galaxy with an incurable disease, the pakeet has the ability to destroy that world and all those affected – in order to save the survival of others in the galaxy.”

“How much time do we have to stop what’s already been done?” Faulk asked and stepped up next to Daniel.

Its gaze turned to Faulk. “Not much. Regrettably, there is a point where your abilities can’t stop the inevitable.”

“Is our ship ready? Can you beam us or teleport us or  – whatever it is you do back to our world?” Faulk asked.

“Yes. That I will do,” it replied.

Faulk, Nickel
,
Jade disappeared in a flurry of explosive lights.

Daniel looked around and realized he was alone except for the beings in front of him. He stood straighter and leveled his gaze upon the alien in front of him.

“You look like him,” it said, giving Daniel the once-over from head to toe.

“Excuse me?” Daniel asked, raising an eyebrow.

“The only other of your kind worthy of our prize. He was strong, albeit misguided. His heart was true, – loyal, and powe
r
ful. Because of him, we chose you and your genetic line to protect this powerful artifact of our people.”

Daniel stepped forward and crossed his arms. “Are you saying you chose my father, chose me? To protect this thing, to give life to worlds?”

“Yes. Your father, told us he wanted it because he wanted to change his destiny from thief to – hero. We only wanted him. He said we couldn’t have him if we didn’t take all of you. He wanted to change his destiny – and yours through him. We granted him that, for it was the only way he would take the treasure offered. He insisted it was all of you or not
h
ing.”

“You mean, he did your challenge, won it, and – then r
e
fused the treasure?” Daniel asked, confused.

“Yes. The only way he would take it, was for us to agree that if anything happened to him, you and your brother would become its chosen protectors. He assured us you both are worthy – trained for it, which you have now proven yourselves to be. He wanted his genetic line to be the keepers of the pakeet. He told us we couldn’t choose anyone else unless we gave his boys and their bloodline a chance to protect it first.”

Daniel felt as if a knife had cut out his heart, tears dripped quietly from his eyes. Guilt filled him when he realized that his father was not the idiot and failure he’d thought him to be. His father was trying to change his life, and had fought to stop living as a thief and a killer so he could change their entire family’s destiny. His dad had wanted to make up for his own sordid past by giving them a more meaningful future.
Oh Dad, I’m so, so sorry. Please forgive me! I didn’t understand, or know your sacr
i
fice. I loved you, always. I was just, just wrong. I’ll do this, and…and make you proud.
Daniel’s grief and guilt brought him to his knees. He tried to hold back his sobs but couldn’t as they came out in staggered gulps. His hands covered his face and then pushed back into his hair.

“I hope you realize he was more of a hero than you o
f
fered him credit for, changing from what he’d become, was the biggest test of all. He did it, and he served us well - very well.”

With that, Daniel felt tingling, darkness, weightless and then light.

Daniel shook his head and opened his eyes to find hi
m
self on the floor of the control room of the ship.

“You okay? I didn’t peg you for the crying type.” Faulk laughed. “About time you joined us. Thought I’d have to save the planet and claim the girl without you.”

“Shut up. Man, I won’t ever get used to that.” Daniel hopped up and wiped his damp face. He shook his head and recovered from his grief, his heart filled with renewed purpose. He smiled a genuine smile for the first time
in
a long time.

“Hopefully we won’t have to. I think that’ll be the last time we see those guys for a while... that is, if we do our job right,” Faulk said with a grin.

“You want to do this?  Protect this thing? Save worlds? Stay with…us?” Daniel stared pensively at Faulk.

“Hell yeah!  It’s better than I’d dream
ed, definitely better than
flight school. Diplomat my ass! I’m gonna save worlds. First stop, Merwin.” Faulk came over and slapped Daniel on the arm.

“Better than you dreamed?” Daniel lifted an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest.

Faulk looked at his feet, and then swallowed. Looking Daniel in the eye he said, “I got a confession to make. I came to – uh, well. Hell, I came to join up with you to help you see there was another way to live. That you didn’t have to be a Zukar to have a thrill, you know? I wanted you to see we could re-map our, I mean your future into whatever we wanted. It didn’t have to be based on the way we were raised.”

“Humph, admirable.” Daniel said with a scowl, and then he broke out in a grin.

“What? What’s up?” Faulk asked.

“They told me something about my father… the reason he’d changed –really changed, and ditched his duties as a Zukar.” Daniel dragged a hand through his long hair.

Nickel and Jade walked into the room just then. Nickel touched his brother’s arm and said, “He did it for us, so we could become more than a Zukar. He said he wanted us to be world changers, Daniel. He told me that every night, and he cried hoping you’d see it and change too.”

Daniel rubbed the top of Nickel’s head. “Nickel. I’m so
r
ry. I shouldn’t have talked so bad about him to you. I didn’t know – I was just…I was stupid.” Daniel bent down and hugged him, the heaviness of guilt tightening his chest.

“Yeah, you were, but that’s allowed. Dad said kids make dumb mistakes. He did, but he said – adults fix them. Is that what you are now Daniel? An adult?” Nickel said before he punched Daniel in the stomach and laughed.

“I guess I am,” he replied. He lifted Nickel up and threw him in the air. Catching him, he tossed Nickel to Faulk, who caught him.

“Gotcha shrimp. It’s about time his cranky ass grew up.” Faulk laughed out when he caught Nickel and tickled him.

“Okay, enough of this male bonding. Are we almost there?” Jade
face beamed in acceptance
.