Courage (32 page)

The dream had felt so real. The measure of his stride, the thrill of sneaking around in plain sight, the feel of holding his weapons over both Aigis. And the choking sensation the ghostly monster had inflicted upon him. Kabiroas shuddered. The dream filled him with a cold fear he couldn’t shake. He insisted to himself that it was just a dream brought upon by the anxiety of taking on the most infamous Aigis known to his people.

He released his death grip and fought back sleep, fearing another nightmare would take him, but either fatigue or his medical treatment pulled him back into unconsciousness.

Chapter 22

Donai sat before a computer in his dorm room, with Skitt, Jenna, and Arryk seated on either side. Maybe twenty minutes ago, Jenna had urged all them to watch the file with a woman named Kara in it, so they’d scrambled to Donai’s room and watched it together. Right after that, Jenna answered what questions she could, and pointed out details that weren’t obvious the first watch-through. Now they were all partaking in an urgent hunt for answers with Kennin as their info guide.

Skitt said, “What I really wanna know first is why that file was kept a secret.” He sat on Donai’s left, wearing a sports jersey, pajama pants, and sandals. “I mean, if I’d been the one who’d seen that on a security camera and stored it in a file, I’d have shared it, not just stored it. The world has a right to know.”

“Well, we don’t know the whole story,” Donai said. He wore a plain t-shirt and silky athletic pants. “Maybe there was a reason the doctors kept that information from everyone.”

“Like believability,” Arryk said. He sat to the right of Jenna, with Donai hovering over him. Both her and the Elf wore two-piece pajama outfits, but Jenna’s a tank top. “Me and my people never met a god back on Fullyk. Sure, we have our own collection of religions, but no solid proof of one god or another really existing. Just hunches, faiths, and beliefs. We’re happy though.”

“But what about Kara?” Skitt said. “You saw her, right?”

“Yeah.” His eyes narrowed a little. “I wanna know how that babe has prettier hair than mine!” He flipped his silvery hair.

Jenna laughed, then leaned against Arryk, who smiled at her and wrapped her in a hug.

“That’s not what I meant.”

Donai tapped into Kennin’s AI by tapping the air over his icon, which looked like an oak tree, a symbol of wisdom.

“I know,” Arryk said. “But I’m serious about what I said. I’m so jealous!”

“What I meant was that Kara implied that she was a goddess, and Aerigo reacted indifferently. Like he already knew. And from the sound of it, Baku and Nexus are two more gods. Kennin, do you know why the file with a woman named Kara was kept secret?”

Donai leaned back as Kennin brought up the global net. He didn’t have access to the hospital’s database from this computer. It was a security measure for the sake of patient confidentiality. However, Donai could call the archives and direct a curator to the information he sought after, if it existed. Kennin used a search engine and, in another window, brought up Donai’s employee email. “Sir, may I use your email to further my search? The internet yields no results with the name ‘Kara’ cross-referenced with your patient named Aerigo.”

“Of course,” Donai said.

The window with Donai’s email popped to the forefront. “Ah, I see the file in question, however the answer to your question lies in the first half of one of the files you watched earlier today. It’s the part I had you skip.”

“Do we need to watch it?” he asked with a grimace. He’d watched enough files for one day.

“No, sir. The first half is rather droll. I can dictate the answer to you.”

“Please do,” Skitt said earnestly.

“May I?” Kennin said. The AI was aware of all four medical staffers in the room, but since Donai was in charge of the computer, he was in charge of the AI.

“Please do,” Donai said.

“The answer is Aerigo. He was made aware of the videos and documentation pertaining to him and the two aliens that had visited him.”

“Who else visited him besides Kara?”

“Another Noma named Daio. He’s the one who helped the doctors with the admittance process. He came back forty years later. The file is in your email, as you requested earlier today, however there’s no advantageous medical information in it.”

“Okay, so why did Aerigo have the files kept secret?”

“For Kismet’s safety.”

Donai just stared at his inbox. And by the pregnant silence engulfing him, so did his coworkers.

“Is that my cue to elaborate?” Kennin said.

“Yeah.”

Metal flaps to the ceiling’s hologram system popped open. Kennin brought up stills of Aerigo and several doctors, the frames overlapping each other  so they could see only one full person at a time. Kennin reorganized and resized the images, laying them out like a handful of cards in grid formation. He highlighted Aerigo’s picture, a snapshot of him standing in a hallway, wearing the tunic shirt and heavy pants he’d arrived in over six hundred years ago, but looking much recuperated. “Aerigo believed that it would be dangerous to make it widely known to Kismet that he, a Noma--or Aigis--had been to our world, since we’re so broadly networked with other worlds.”

“So we’re safer in the dark?” Skitt said sourly. It was more a statement than a question.

“For now, perhaps,” Kennin said. “The file with the explanation is over six hundred years old. Things may have changed. And that you’ll have to ask Aerigo. He gave no timeframe as to how long until things would be safe. However, he did explain that the files may not have to be kept secret forever. He only said that word of him being on Kismet would undoubtedly reach other worlds. There was a fair chance, and may still be, that the wrong people would catch wind of his visit, then come wreak havoc on Kismet. As to who or what Aerigo feared harming Kismet, he gave the good doctor a vague answer, explaining that there are dangerous people out there that want him dead. Kismet is safer if we keep his stay a secret. They’d use Kismites as collateral to lure him where they wanted and force him into a deadly confrontation.”

Donai paled. “Fair enough.”

Jenna said, “Considering the state both Aigis arrived in, this gives me a sinking feeling that the need for secrecy is still in place.”

“I still want to ask,” Donai said. “Won’t hurt.” The other three chorused their agreement. “So that leaves us with... all the historical stuff we skimmed over earlier today.”

“Are you ready to peruse it, sir?”

“As we’ll ever be.”

The pictures of Aerigo and several other people were removed from the screen as Kennin brought up the search engine once more. Several overlapping windows popped up in rapid succession, and then Kennin reorganized them into a particular order. “First off, can any of you tell me what a Noma--or Aigis--is exactly?”

Donai looked at his coworkers. Each of them shared blank looks.

“I’m going to assume by all your expressions that none of you have a satisfactory answer. There are many speculations, however there is one rather decent answer, which was provided by Daio himself. The problem is, his answer was filed over a thousand years ago, and it never left this hospital, relatively speaking. It’s been squashed by the myths and legends that have preceded it as well, so it’s more or less forgotten.” Kennin brought up an archaic web page linked to Nostrum Hospital. The font was clunky and the page’s layout sloppy, and a strip of ads blinked away on the right-hand side. It looked like someone had slapped together the page while drunk. “I apologize for the lackluster aesthetics. This is from a catalogue of aliens Kismet has either built relations with or treated. Due to the almost nonexistent traffic of Aigis to and from Kismet, this page fell through the network cracks. Daio is in here under the term ‘No-Worlder.’ I didn’t find it before since I’d limited my search to ‘Aigis’ and ‘Noma.’ I found it when I looked up ‘glowing eyes’ earlier today. I point this out only to demonstrate how difficult it is to find the truth.”

“We’ve noticed,” Donai and Skitt said unhappily in unison. They looked at each other and popped suppressed smiles, then returned their attention to the screen.

“When Nostrum Hospital catalogued Daio’s visit, they labeled him as ‘No-Worlder’ since he’d insisted that people like him didn’t have a specific world they came from.”

“We catalogue every alien by world, instead of race,” Donai said. “Makes sense.”

Kennin scrolled down to a picture of Daio. He looked no more than twenty, and both his arms were bandaged and wrapped in slings, and more bandaging wrapped around both his shoulders and crossing over his collarbone. He wore the same annoyed look from the while when he’d been helping admit Aerigo into Nostrum six hundred years ago. “Daio explained that his kind are mortal beings that are slaves to the will of the respective god who made them. They have no set form, but they all have the same vast power, as you saw in one of the files you watched earlier.”

“We saw firsthand, too, Kennin,” Skitt said.

“Ah. Is everyone alright?”

“Yes,” Donai said. “No injuries or casualties; just a display of power that left us scratching our heads.”

“Good. Daio explained that the power Aigis possess has a specific purpose, but he refused to divulge what it was. He didn’t think the staffers interviewing him would believe him. Hopefully Aerigo or Rox will be willing to flesh out their description. It would be most advantageous. Right now, Daio’s description begs so many questions.”

Ones that would have to wait until Aerigo and Rox were well. “What are the myths and legends, and why did Daio’s description get thrown by the wayside?”

“History books,” Arryk said.

Donai looked at the Elf.

“Oh, you didn’t watch the file with the psychic?”

“With what time? Skitt and I watched a couple other files.”

“Oh. There’s was a part where the psychic mentioned that our history books lie about what happened between Kismet and Neo-Joso. You know how biased they can be, right? Always told from the winner’s side.”

Skitt said, “What? Neo-Joso came back and told us what to put down in history books? I don’t think so.” He gave Arryk an angry frown.

“No, no. I meant that for biases in general. Your history books made it perfectly clear that you were trounced. Neo-Joso left you all to your doom or whatever, when they deemed Kismet unfit for habitation, and they never came back. That sounds perfectly logical.”

“But if that’s not true,” Jenna said, “then what really happened?”

Kennin removed the catalogue page from the screen and brought up four others, dividing the screen into squares with them. “I’m afraid a solid answer isn’t online. All reputable ones I can find mesh with the apparent lies in your history books. I don’t know what to make of these non-reputable ones that diverge from history books.” He highlighted the upper left window. “This one says that beings wrapped in light and glowing eyes destroyed the invading Neo-Joso army and left no survivors.” He minimized that window and highlighted the upper right window. “This one says that glowing-eyed beings confronted the Neo-Josos and convinced them to leave Kismet in peace. It also says the Nomas are constantly watching over this world from the heavens.”

“Okay,” Donai said, “I’m beginning to see why alternate explanations never caught on.” Even with Aerigo and Rox in his care, the two Aigis didn’t come off as divine, or as beings that watched over worlds. They had arrived in bad shape and in dire need of help. They came off as too humanlike to exist so far removed from one world or another. Besides, there was no heaven, or something like it.

Kennin minimized the upper right window and highlighted the bottom left. “This one also mentions glowing-eyed beings who saved the world. The people who compiled this site believed that they’d return to save Kismet again one day.”

“Ironically, there’s a grain of truth to that,” Arryk said. “But it’s more like Aerigo saved us from putting ourselves in danger.”

“You are quite right,” Kennin said. He minimized the third window and centered the last one. “This one has the most bizarre explanation. It says that Neo-Joso was going to glass Kismet, but once people heard, a hundred Kismites developed glowing eyes and great power that wrapped them in light, and they devastated Neo-Joso’s space fleet and scared them off.” He minimized that window as well, revealing a great oak as the computer’s desktop background. “In all honesty, two thousand years may have buried the truth. We may never know what happened. I can only suggest seeking the truth offline. As expansive as the web database is, not all information has been transferred to the digital world.”

Skitt said, “I’m not going on a worldwide book hunt. That’s way too much work. We’ll never find what we’re looking for in our lifetimes.”

Donai bolted upright in his chair. “We don’t have to,” he said, almost in disbelief. He felt goosebumps pop up all over his arms and legs.

“What do you mean?”

Donai waved goodbye to the AI. “Kennin, thanks for your help. I need to make a phone call now.”

“You’re quite welcome. Goodbye, sir.”

The oak tree in the background shrunk into the bottom of the screen as if it was being shown in reverse time lapse photography. The above-head hologram winked out and all the flaps snapped back into the ceiling. With an upward wave of his hand, Donai brought up the menu screen. He selected the phone icon near the top. “Call Naomi Vernidelli.”

“Donai, what’s going on?” Jenna said.

“Hold on. I’ll explain in a moment.” Donai’s heart was pounding. With the way everything had unfolded just right over the last two thousand years, it couldn’t be mere coincidence...

The screen went black and a phone ring trilled softly from the speakers. After several rings, a crisp image filled up the blackness. Before him sat his wife Naomi, with her long, flowing black hair framing her face, and dark eyes staring hungrily at him. She wore a lacy, spaghetti strap tank that clung to her curves and pushed up her breasts so they looked ready to fall out. Donai stared. The points of her nipples were pressed against the silky fabric, and her bronzed skin could be seen through it.