HUMANITY: A Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Novel (9 page)

“I’d like to try...”

Grim huffed. “You’d need a teacher. Not many people would waste their time trying to teach a human how to harness their life energy, given the likelihood–”

“I’ll try to teach him,” Vishi interrupted. Grim narrowed his eyes and stared at the miholo woman. “I’m not a fighter, but I can teach some of the basics when I’m not busy with healings.” Vishi looked towards Grim, hoping to receive a nod of his approval.

“Very well… I see no harm in giving him a chance.” He turned his attention back to Mich. “Don’t be disappointed if you fail, human.”

“
L
ook
, I gave you everything already.” Carl’s voice was shaky and erratic as he spoke to the hologram on the counter in his room, across the hall and identical to Mich’s. “I told you where he was staying and even helped that Keeper fellow get inside of the room. You said you needed to take care of some things. You never said you were going to
kill
him. I can’t help you with anything else.”

“Relax, Carl,” Kryle Yago said calmly. “You’re already considered an accomplice if anyone finds out that you were involved. Do you want to be an accomplice?”

Carl grabbed his hair and gritted his teeth. “No, I don’t want anything to do with it… with this.”

“How many thousands of credits have I funneled your way?”

“Yes, many, but that was just for spying on the humans. Not for killing people.”

“Would you like to go work the mines with the other humans?”

“Noooo, of course not,” Carl whined.

“Then listen to me, damnit!” Kryle snapped. Carl straightened his shoulders and stared straight ahead. “The main threat is gone, but the rebellion still exists. I want you to infiltrate the rebellion and report back anything that you find out.”

“Oh gosh…” Carl said. “I don’t want to cause any more trouble.”

“Stop your whining. If you don’t do as I say, I’ll personally make sure that the Queen finds out about your involvement, and all of your assets will be frozen. Are we clear?”

“Yes…” Carl sighed.

“Good. I’ll make sure you’re rewarded well for your efforts. You’ll have more than enough to move to another planet if you please.”

Carl nodded, and the hologram disappeared.

He sat back in his chair and let out a sigh, but before he could relax his door swung open. Candy was standing there with an angry glare in her eyes, a personal guard standing right behind her.

“Really Carl?” Candy asked. “You would betray the Queen
and
your own people?”

Carl swallowed hard. “W… w… what? You heard everything?”

“Of course I heard everything. The person who kidnapped Mich entered from the top of the building without damaging the locked door. Someone from the inside had to let him in. I wish I could apologize for bugging your room, but it looks like I made the right choice.”

“Oh… Candy… I’m sorry,” Carl pleaded. “I didn’t mean anything by it. Lord Yago is a member of the Council, and he gave me a direct order.”

“The Queen ordered us to watch over the human. You went against the Queen’s direct order. And you also know that Kryle has been dismissed from the Council, so now you’re working for a criminal!”

Carl pushed his chair back as far as he could and put his hands in the air. “I’m sorry Candy. I didn’t mean to really. If we were paid a little bit more–”

“Oh, cut the bullshit, Carl. You sound pathetic. But I’ll do my best to make sure that you don’t get the maximum sentence. Come along with me now.” Candy and the guard began stepping forward to apprehend Carl.

Carl shook his hands in defense. “Oh c’mon, Candy. We don’t have to do it like this, right?” As Candy continued to step forward, the shaky smile suddenly disappeared from Carl’s face, and in a quick flash, he pulled a laser pistol from his inside jacket pocket and shot both the guard and Candy before they even saw it happening. The two instantly collapsed dead to the floor.

Carl placed his pistol back in his jacket and then grabbed at his hair as he began talking to himself. “Oh, Candy. Why?!” He looked down at the bodies and clenched his teeth as he pulled his hair harder. “Why did you have to do this? Now what am I going to do? I have two dead bodies. Not one, but two dead bodies!”

He collapsed to his knees and struck his hand out at Candy’s corpse. “Stupid girl. I didn’t want to kill anybody. I don’t want to kill.”

Carl stood back up and rushed over towards the small, globular object on his counter and pressed a few buttons. Kryle Yago’s image in front of him.

“Yes, Carl? Do you need further clarification?”

“They’re dead…” Carl’s voice rattled.

“Who’s dead?”

“Candy… errm… Misharishindaril and a guard. They found out that I was working with you, and I shot them dead.” Carl was panting with fear.

Kryle Yago stood silent for a moment before speaking. “Who else knows about this?”

“I don’t know. I think no one.”

“Good. Let’s hope that’s the case. Perhaps this is actually a good opportunity for us both.”

“Good!? Now I have two dead bodies in my room. I have no idea what to do.”

“Listen close me to, Carl. I want you to follow my instructions exactly. Do you understand?”

“Yes…” Carl said quickly. “I understand.”

“The first thing I need you to do is shoot yourself.”

“
F
ocus
on the fire that’s burning inside of you, the invisible power that allows you to see and think and move. Can you hear the children playing in the distance?”

Mich was sitting outside of his hut with his legs crossed in a meditation pose and his eyes closed. Vishi was pacing in front of him, carrying a pail of water.

“Yes, I hear the children,” Mich said.

“Stop hearing the children. The children are not a threat to you. There are no threats upon you now, so you should hear nothing.”

Mich concentrated on his breathing and pictured a black void in an attempt to block out all non-threating activity that was around him. He was to only focus on his own life force, and send all of his surplus energy down his arms and into his hands.

An image of Lena’s voluptuous body appeared, and he scolded himself. Then an image of Tristyn appeared and he scolded himself again. Vishi made an appearance, comforting him and easing his pain. It was frustratingly hard to focus with women on his brain.

He cleared his mind and tried again.

Slowly, reality began to shift for him. It was the first time he had felt anything change in the whole week that he had been trying to channel his energy. In front of his eyes flashed a slight color, twirling and making itself available for access. Mich reached out with his mind and grabbed the color, holding it and molding it in his invisible hands.

“Do you hear the children around you?” Vishi asked again.

Mich did not reply.

“Mich, can you hear me?”

Mich didn’t reply again, and with that she launched the pail of water at his face.

Mich immediately was shocked out of his meditative state and began wiping water off of his face. “Why’d you do that? I think I was actually getting somewhere.”

“Good,” Vishi said. “But the water is not a threat. Why do you care about the water being splashed on you?”

“I don’t know. Because it’s cold and uncomfortable.”

“Did it hurt you?”

“No, it didn’t hurt me.”

“Then you know it’s not a threat, so let it go. Let yourself go. Eventually, you will reach a point where you can focus your energy and still hear everything around you, even more clearly than you would normally, but first you must learn to control your energy. You cannot do that if you let your emotions get in the way.”

“I don’t know if I’ll ever get this. You’re telling me you want to throw a bucket of cold water in my face, and I’m supposed to just sit there?”

“Not just sit there. You should be focusing on your task at hand, not worried about a bit of harmless water.” Vishi smiled and placed a hand on Mich’s shoulder. “You’ll get the hang of it.”

“I’m beginning to doubt it. But… I did see something this time. A color. I think it was red, or maybe it was orange, or maybe blue. A color that was indescribable.”

“That’s your life force, Mich… or at least a part of it. When you first learn to control your energy, it starts out as a small flame, but those who have mastered the art can control a large portion of their fire.”

“Like you and Lupshed have mastered it, huh?”

Vishi giggled. “No… Not even close. Lupshed has only been able to control a portion of his life force for a couple of years now, and I’ve maybe mastered 10% of my available energy. Most never make it as far as me. Even Keepers rarely make it beyond half of their full potential. Everyone is subject to their emotions.”

“I don’t understand why emotions play a role in this.”

Vishi smiled. “Have you ever loved someone, Mich?”

Mich scanned his memory and felt a pang of pain in his heart. He couldn’t think of a single person he had ever truly loved. Perhaps he loved his mother at one point, but that was so long ago that he couldn’t remember. “No, I’m not sure if I have.”

Vishi threw him a questioning, non-believing glance. “Well that’s strange. Perhaps you are destined to control your energy then.” She laughed sarcastically and then added, “How about hate? Have you ever hated someone?”

Tony immediately crossed his mind.

“Yes, I have hated someone.”

“And when you thought about how much you hated that person, were you able to focus on anything else?”

“No…”

“Hate, Love, Lust, Fear, Anger… Emotions make us focus all our power on whatever feelings are driving us, and without the ability to separate your emotions from your energies, all of your energy will consumed by your emotions. This is why you must learn to separate your emotions from your inner life force.”

“Easier said than done,” Mich asserted. “Not thinking… or not feeling… It’s like not living it all.”

“When you understand it, you will be living more fully than you ever have.”

Mich watched as Vishi walked back over to her original position and couldn’t help but admire her beauty. When he first saw the green-skinned miholos, he couldn’t help but think of how strange it was, but after living with them for some time, he often felt strange when he’d see his own white skin reflected back at him in the nearby pond. Vishi was one of the more attractive of the moholos, a fit and strong woman, but she was also very kind and inspirational. He couldn’t help but think of how lucky he was to have her as a teacher.

Still, he wondered if he would ever manage his life energy.

He thought back to Tristyn as he had every day since he had been in the village. Something about her beckoned him, and he wondered if he was wasting his time fooling around with so-called life energies and should just return back to the city. He wondered about Carl and Candy, and had no idea what was going on back at his home.

Emotion was getting in his way…

“Close your eyes Mich. Let’s get back to work,” Vishi said. “The fire inside of you is yours and no one else’s. Capture that amazing flame, and do not be distracted. Do with it as you wish.”

Mich closed his eyes and again tried to focus on the void. He quickly pushed aside thoughts about Tristyn and the rebellion and everything else that he had recently experienced. The sounds and smells and feelings that surrounded hum faded off into the distance.

The color appeared much quicker this time around.

“
I
don’t trust him
!” Tristyn protested. “I can’t believe you’re letting him down here.”

“He’s one of us,” Walter said. “He’s human. The reason us humans are in this predicament is because we didn’t trust each other to begin with.”

“This is different. He’s been working for the Candy and the Queen. He’s exactly the type of person we can’t have here.”

“I made a mistake,” Carl said with a grin, holding his bandaged shoulder. “After they shot me and tried to force me into the mines, I realized what a mistake I had made by working for them. I just wanted to have a better life is all.”

Walter sighed. “To be honest with you, I don’t trust you either. But you are a human, and I wouldn’t feel right if I just kicked you out when you’re wounded and seeking help.”

“Thank you,” Carl said. “I promise you won’t regret this.”

“And the fact that they’re actually
forcing
people to work the mines? That’s unheard of,” Walter added.

“After the human from E-17 was killed, they said that they had no use for me. I had failed to protect him, so they wanted to punish me.”

“Punishment without trial,” Walter said as he crinkled his brow and shook his head. “This is the reason why we fight.”

Tristyn crossed her arms, but didn’t protest any further. The mention of Mich made her stomach turn. She had spent a very small amount of time with the man, but had started to grow fond of him right away. He was a nice guy, and couldn’t deny that she was attracted to him. He had a different perspective than the other people she had met.

His death was a tragedy.

“Let me fight with you,” Carl said. “Even if we die, death is better than this kind of life.”

“You’ll die for freedom?” Walter asked.

Carl nodded.

“Alright then. Don’t make me regret this choice, sir. I’ll have Tristyn or Earl show you around and get you setup.”

Tristyn threw Carl and menacing glance.

“Perhaps, the person named Earl would be a better match. I tend to work well with other men.”

“So be it. Tristyn, fetch Earl and let him know that we have a new recruit.”

Carl gave Tristyn a huge, plastic smile as she turned and exited the door.

“
A
message from Rashada
, my lady.” A thin-framed, female alor with a messenger bag draped around her shoulder knelt in front of the Queen’s throne. “Hand delivery was requested.”

Tamor stepped forward and picked up a small circular recorder out of the alor’s hand and then returned to the Queen’s side.

“Well, let’s see it,” she instructed.

Tamor pressed the top of the device, and a hologram of an alor, the head of police on Rashada, appeared in front of them and immediately began to speak. “My Queen, it would appear that Misharishindaril, along with a personal guard has been murdered by the rebellion.” The hologram phased out and phased into another image of a small apartment with the words “FREEDOM” written in blood on the wall. The message shifted back to the image of the police head. “It seems that it was a highly-targeted hit. Her assistance, the human named Carl, has also been taken hostage.”

Queen Vashalla was shocked as Candy had been a good friend of hers for many years, but she tried to maintain the composure required of royalty.

The message continued, “We don’t know what sort of message they are trying to send or if this is the beginning of a greater attack, but it’s taken us all by surprise. I did not send this message to the Council due to the recent political conflict and dismissal of Kryle Yago. My apologies if I’ve overstepped my bounds, but we’re holding steady until we receive a directive.”

“They took Carl hostage, because he’s a human…” Tamor said. “They’re probably torturing him as we speak due to his direct connection with other species.”

“Not so fast,” the Queen said. “We do not know if this was done by the rebellion or not. All signs are pointing toward a terrorist act, but this could just as well be a setup. A word written in blood on the wall does not signal the perpetrator. “

“My Queen,” Tamor appealed. “If you do not take action, there will be much stirring in the Council. With or without the Kryle Yago, the Council would be making swift moves at this point to suppress the human rebellion. Murdering the ambassador… Who else would want the ambassador of Rashada murdered other than the humans?”

Queen Vashalla tilted her head down, once again remembering her friend. The thought that she was dead flooded her heart with painful emotions. “Perhaps you’re right,” the Queen said. “I’d hate to think that Lord Yago was right about the humans, and my neglect is the cause of Misharishindaril’s death, but nonetheless, it would be irresponsible for me to not take action.”

“What will you have me do, my Queen?”

“Send a small but adequate military force. We’ll occupy Rashad and slowly flush out the rebellion… Destroy their base if necessary. Don’t allow their power to escalate any more, and don’t give any Council members a reason to follow in Kryle Yago’s footsteps. I don’t want to see anything that resembles another
Cleanse
.”

“You’ve made the right choice, my Queen,” Tamor said before he turned and headed back towards the war room. He was just as tired as anyone of hearing about the human’s evil deeds.