Torian Reclamation 3: Test of Fortitude (41 page)

The far wall on the upper portion of the cavern was crumbling in one spot. Another explosion then rocked the base, blowing huge chunks of the cliff side away. The opening above grew instantly larger, and the flight deck was now exposed to direct sunlight. Sizable portions of rock and mountain crashed to the far side of the cavern, bringing down additional structures with it, and causing a ricochet of smaller rocks to shower upon everyone on the flight deck. Alan shielded his face with his hands.

When he looked up again, figures were descending through the new opening in the cliff. But they came down in an unpredictable fluttering motion. Lasers began firing from the descending figures.

“Torian ground forces!” Jumper shouted. “Invading the base!”

“Yes!” Alan pointed at one of them. “In float suits!”

More Torian soldiers floated in through the ceiling, more lasers fired, and now some lasers fired back at them. The Torian soldiers were difficult to hit, though, because of the swaying motion.

“Come on!” Jumper said. He pulled Kayla behind and pushed Alan in front of him. Alan stumbled but recovered, and ran in the direction Jumper pushed him. Ossurian deck hands scurried back and forth all around them. Flight crews frantically climbed into fighters. Lasers fired from the floating Torian soldiers across the flight deck. More fighters came to life, hovering their way up towards to the new hole above them or out the normal exit tunnel directly ahead.

“There’s one!” Jumper shouted. “To your right. Let’s take it!”

Alan saw the fighter Jumper was referring to. Some deck hands had just run away from it. The cockpit canopy was already open. Ossurian pilots were climbing into fighters all around it, but that one looked available. One of the other pilots saw the three Earthlings and waved them towards the craft. Alan recognized him—it was one who had been impressed with Jumper and Kayla’s scores in the simulator. He was probably looking forward to their help now.

The three of them made it into the cockpit of the enemy fighter and sealed the canopy. They finally had one all to themselves. No more Ilsted to have to deal with.

But they were now a Torian enemy, and Tora was launching a large-scale attack. They needed to get away, fast.

Jumper fired the hover engines and lifted them forward.

“Up and out?” Kayla asked.

“No!” Alan leaned forward from the rear seat. “The Torians blew that gap open and will be waiting for enemy fighters to come out of it. Take the standard exit tunnel. They might not have zeroed in on that yet.”

“Good thinking, Alan.” Jumper followed another fighter through the narrow tunnel ahead. It was nerve wracking, as the craft in front seemed to move too slowly. The sound of a fighter exploding on the fight deck behind urged them forward. Finally, the vessel in front cleared the opening and Jumper followed. He hit the thrusters and swerved right, away from the action. But when they had come up out of the canyon, Jumper turned the ship back towards the base.

“Honey, what are you doing?” Kayla said. “We need to get out of here!”

“Just want to see what’s happening. Look—Alan was right. Torian fighters are hovering outside the new opening picking off the fighters that come out of it. Way to go, boys.”

Kayla shot Alan an appreciative look before begging Jumper to get the extat away from the scene. But before Jumper complied, Alan saw something interesting up on the cliff side.

“A human!” Alan said. “There, above the opening. Another Earthling, directing the float suit soldiers.”

“That must be Major Perry,” Jumper said. “I really feel like we should stick around and help.”

“They’ll kill us, Jumper!” Kayla was becoming extremely agitated. “We’re the enemy! They have no way of knowing we’re in here!”

Jumper listened to the voice of reason—and domestic harmony—and turned the ship around. He took it down and across the local landscape, staying low. As he did, a squadron of Torian fighters could be seen coming in overhead from the left. Two of them broke off to chase another Ossurian fighter that was in the area. Jumper went right, hugging structure where he could.

“This area looks clear,” Kayla said. “We should be able to get out here. I’ll have the distortion drive ready. If it’s safe where we come out, stop us so I can plot a destination and engage.”

Jumper did as Kayla suggested. In another minute, they were out of the atmosphere and orbiting Sulien. Fighters of both types could be seen all around them in the distance, but the immediate area was relatively clear. Jumper slowed the ship to a drift and Kayla plotted an interstellar point to dag away to.

But the cockpit was suddenly bathed in orange light. It instantly became unbearably hot. A laser had connected on them, from what must have been just outside optimal firing range. Alan looked behind them.

“It’s The Measure!” he yelled. “That beam is coming from The Measure! Kayla, go!”

The stars before them suddenly stretched out. They escaped into bent space in the Ossurian fighter. None of them said anything for several minutes. Then, they came out of distortion drive. Nothing was around them.

“Where are we?” Alan asked.

“Nowhere,” Kayla answered as she adjusted her instruments. “A local void. We’re lucky that weapon from Trodenjo’s ship was fired from such a long distance. It still might have damaged some of our systems. I’m getting a failure reading on our communications equipment. Not sure how to fix that. But the distortion drive appears to be fine. I stopped us here so I could get our final destination correctly plotted.”

“Where’s that?”

Jumper cocked his head at Alan as Kayla responded.

“Home, of course.”

*

The landscape didn’t remind Brandon of anywhere. A beautiful orange dust covered the ground, but there were too many trees for it to be a desert. Delightful small birds and reptiles hopped about. This was a much different countryside than the area where Brandon last visited this planet thirty years ago.

Brandon waited for Arkan9 to come back with a rare contentedness. He didn’t even feel a need to draw close to the halcyon arc thirty meters behind him. No, his mere presence in this place was enough. It was more than just seeing Arkan9 again. At this moment, Brandon fully understood why the half-breeds were irresistibly drawn to relocate here. There was a peace about it that couldn’t be described.

Brandon saw the Ulorks he transported off in the distance talking with members of three or four different half-breed races, not all of which Brandon recognized. On top of the small bluff beyond them sat Brandon’s shuttle.

His crew was all in orbit above, resting and awaiting his return. They had all refused the invitation to come down with him, even Milon4. Brandon knew why. They were, simply, afraid of this place. Brandon wasn’t. But he felt he understood his crew’s fear. It wasn’t rational, but he could relate to it. So much of his own former life had been misdirected by unfounded fear. Not anymore. Not now.

Milura was not a place to be feared. The planet itself pulsated with a spiritual power of some kind. The more half-breeds that congregated here, the greater that force became. Brandon relished it. He also realized that was the factor which scared all the native races, though they couldn’t define exactly what they were afraid of. Whatever it was, they just wanted to ignore it and continue living in the comfort of familiarity—much in the same way they now ignored the half-breeds amongst them in their societies. Some races, such as the Dirgs, ventured to such irrational extremes that they insisted on denying the living evidence before them. So they could easily ignore whatever was happening here on this remote world.

Or could they? Brandon strongly felt that something critical to all intelligent life in the galaxy was taking place on this picturesque orange and brown land mass. Something that wouldn’t allow itself to be ignored forever. He didn’t know what it was, but the longer Arkan9 took to return the closer he felt he was on the verge of discovering it.

Arkan9 came back, glowing and smiling. The two of them had already sat, talked, eaten, and drank together for most of the day. Now it was nearing dusk. What a wonderful day. Not so much because of any particular spiritual enlightenment; that came purely from the setting itself. Arkan9 and Brandon had simply talked and joked the day away, as old friends are prone to do.

“We’re ready for you,” Arkan9 said.

Brandon stood and walked with Arkan9 around the back of the village and into the woods. It became darker, but the glow from Arkan9 helped illuminate the path. Brandon’s eyes soon adjusted. Ahead of them was a bright place—extremely bright. Brandon knew he was being led to it.

As they approached the grove of white light, their pace slowed. They would take two steps forward, the light would grow brighter, they would stop for a moment, the light would dim some, and then they would take two more steps and repeat. In this manner they drew close to the brightly-lit clearing. When they were just outside of it, however, Brandon went completely blind. He found he had to close his eyes and cover them with his hand. Arkan9 led him by the other hand and sat him down.

Brandon heard laughter. It wasn’t condescending. It was warm, welcoming, even loving. There were multiple voices in it.

Arkan9 spoke. “Our friend here says he has lost his fear of the unknown, his fear of death, and even his fear of things too great for him to grasp. See how he comes to you now without trepidation, while suspecting your true identity.”

One of the laughing voices then spoke. It was authoritative, yet friendly.

“What do you yet fear, Brandon Foss?”

Brandon took his hand away from his tightly-closed eyes, but had to quickly put it back before answering.

“For the safety and welfare of my family and friends, I suppose.”

“This is respectable,” the voice said. “Tell us, what can you do about that?”

Brandon took a moment to think. He considered giving an answer involving intelligent-sounding solutions: Diligence in one’s thoughts as well as actions, invoking wisdom, and seeking direction in the Erob law. But he felt his thoughts were being perceived without voicing them. Finally, he verbalized an unanticipated one-word response.

“Nothing.”

The voices resumed their beautiful, comfortable laughter. Brandon then felt Arkan9’s bony fingers grasp his right arm in two places. The grip was painful and penetrating. It shocked Brandon in such a way that his hand fell away from his eyes and they involuntarily opened. He expected to go permanently blind.

But he didn’t. All of a sudden he could see. The white light still enveloped them, but it no longer hurt his eyes. Arkan9 was beside him. Standing directly across from both of them were three humanoid figures. They were dark and surrounded by the brightest portion of the light source. Their features were not discernable. But they each had a head, torso, two arms and two legs.

Erobs. Brandon was sitting in the presence of Erobs. Three of them, here with him and Arkan9 in their own special ball of light. Brandon could see them. Heck, he was conversing with them. And he found that he was filled with all the knowledge and wisdom of the universe in a moment, a perfect pinnacle of condensed time. But the moment fled.

“What danger threatens your family and friends, Brandon?” the Erob on the left asked.

“Evil. It is evil that threatens them.”

“I see. What do you believe about evil?”

Brandon hesitated.

“I must believe evil will ultimately be defeated by the good in the universe.”

“Must believe?”

The fleeting moment of ultimate knowledge returned, flashing across Brandon’s mind for just a second. But it was there long enough for him to give the answer he sought.

“I
do
believe this. In fact, I believe evil ultimately serves good. In the end, all things will be proven as good and necessary, when the linear viewpoint fades and full wisdom is revealed.”

“Then what is left to fear?” the Erob in the middle asked.

“My own failure,” Brandon replied. “Though I feel I won’t fail. I fear nothing at this moment. I have full faith in the goodness and wisdom that flows from Erob, and in its preservation, restoration, and ultimate triumph. But I will shortly leave this dome of light to go back to my linear existence. Doubts and fears will creep back in. Perhaps I will even forget this encounter. And I might fail. My faith might fail. I might fail to protect my family. Some of my friends are fools—”

“You will not forget, and you won’t fail, Brandon Foss. It is no longer possible. But you will return to doubts, fears, and linear frustrations. This is physical life. That this brief struggle should test you has been judiciously ordained. Your foolish friends will answer for themselves, and, being as you have advised them with a pure heart, their fate is not on your account. Endure with understanding. Keep your faith in the wisdom we have provided you with. Never despair. Always muster the inner fortitude you are capable of. You have seen the truth. It is too great for your physical mind to capture, but you know it’s there. You can, therefore, trust your intuition—just as you always have—as long as you access it in purity of heart.”

Brandon smiled. There were a thousand questions he wanted to ask the Erobs, but right now he could only think of one.

“When will you return, and make your presence in the galaxy again known to all?”

“You already know when,” the one on the right answered.

Brandon chuckled to himself. It was true. He knew when. But he also knew he would not retain this knowledge after leaving the grove.

*

Mip7 was annoyed when the security guard detained him at the entrance to the REEP bunker. He was, after all, the governor of the space station. As such, he enjoyed full access to every part of it. This guy was obviously new, and taking Olut6’s orders a little too literally.

“All right Governor,” he finally said. “You’re clear.”

Mip7 pushed the flunky aside when he didn’t even apologize. Olut6 would certainly hear about this. Then again, the kid might be commended rather than reprimanded, knowing the High General—especially lately.