The Battle for the Ringed Planet (14 page)

“Tell me more about the voices, Siiri.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Who are they?” they began to work down the tunnel slowly.

Siiri paused, and was careful with her words, “They never say who they are, but sometimes they tell me their names.”

“Are they from this city, echoes of the dead or something? I’ve heard of that happening in space, or maybe they’re just old voyager stories.”

“There are only two, most of the time; one of them is nice to me, her name is Kayla. But the other one, Sarloth, is very impatient and demanding.”

“Who warned you about the armoured vehicles?”

“Kayla, always Kayla. She said to stay with you, that you would never harm me like Lexor or Brant.”

“She did? I wonder how she knows? And what does Sarloth say?”

“He wants me to kill Father Jarlan for sending me to the city. He was the one who was with me when we went to see him.”

“So how many of them are there?”

“I don’t know …” she looked away pained.

Tenderly placing his hand on her shoulder, “It’s all right, we’ll figure it out.”

“We’re going there? To the Outlawed Lands?”

“Do you want to know?”

“Yes, I want them gone.”

“All right, let’s move.”

Then she quickly reached in her back pack, “Do you want something to eat?”

“Sure, what have you got? I’m not hungry enough for rations yet.”

“Strawberry tarts? A little stale.” she held out a small round bun with strawberries embedded in the dough.

After chewing and swallowing one, he nodded, “They’re delicious.”

“While you were getting inebriated I made them myself.”

“You are a good cook and a farmer’s daughter, perfect for my planet.” he grinned.

“Brant said I’d be a good farmer’s wife, stay at home, cook his meals, and wait for him in the bedroom.”

“Somehow I doubt you’d be that kind of wife. But that’s not how it is where I’m from. Everyone usually has a second job besides farming. My mother worked in a biochemical lab for a while and dad worked with heavy machinery.” then he checked his rifle, “Anyway, you’re a good back up, and that’s what counts right now. I’m glad I let you have the pistol.”

“You had no choice, I wasn’t going to give it back …” Suddenly she looked away and sighed, rubbing her temple.

“Siiri?”

Without turning back she spoke softly, “Kayla doesn’t want us to go the Outlawed Lands.”

“Why?”

“She says we won’t like it.”

“She knows we’ll find out about her.” he betrayed a hint of anger.

But then Siiri turned to Torian, her eyes glowing, “Sarloth says there are 20 large star ships and 11 belonging to your fleet, he knows all the locations, around the moons and planets and that’s more important than going to the Outlawed Lands.”

“He knows the coordinates of the Imperium cruisers?”

Siiri nodded.

“Tell me! I’ll make contact! We’ll go to the surface!”

“He says we must promise not to go to the Outlawed Lands.”

Torian stared at Siiri, her glowing eyes still unnerved him, “He’s lying.”

Then she turned away and gritted her teeth, “No!”

“Siiri?”

“Go away!” she shouted, “Get out of my head!” she grasped her temple and squeezed her eyes shut. Torian and stepped up beside her and held her shoulders gently. She heaved her chest and let out a long sigh, “Kayla sent him away.”

“How could he know the coordinates of the Imperium cruisers?”

“I don’t know. But they know stuff in the stars. Kayla told me about you before you landed, not to give up when they banished me.”

“Well, then we’re really going to find out what’s going on.”

The tall chocolate haired young man started up abruptly down the tunnel with a quick determined pace and Siiri jogged to catch up.

Turning back he fumed, “If they know all those coordinates, how do we know they’re not feeding our positions to the enemy?”

“They need to get inside someone’s head.”

“What if there is someone with your ability in the enemy ranks?”

“They have to be from this planet.”

“Are there others besides the people from Grondalle here?”

“There are rumors about the Lost Ones, other survivors that are wild, in the Outlawed Lands. …”

“Are they possessed? And can the voices give them coordinates?”

“I don’t know.”

“My fleet could be in peril!”

“Don’t be mad, Torian, Kayla is sorry.”

Torian stopped, and turned to Siiri, “She’s sorry? Who the Hell is she?”

In a low quiet voice Siiri whispered, “She says she cares for me, and will do anything to protect me. If I want to go to the Outlawed Lands, she won’t protest anymore.”

Frowning, Torian nodded, “Well then good, tell her to stay out of this. If she really cared for you she would have left you alone in the first place. And if she knows the coordinates of the enemy fleet, give them to me!”

Siiri’s eyes glowed golden yellow, brighter than before, “I hate it when you do that.” Torian seethed.

“I don’t do it.” her voice trailed.

Collecting himself, “I’m sorry, Siiri.”

“When do you want the coordinates?”

Unbelieving he stared at the girl “Really?” Torian started pulling up screens on his Con, “Ok.”

In a distant monotone voice Siiri began to recite numbers, moons, and planets where enemy space ships were located. Torian inputted the data and saved it on his Con.

“They’re not going to believe this. Even our best long range scanners can’t get that detailed.”

The blonde girl looked away as Torian tried to think, “We’ll go up the entrance back where they cast you out.”

Turning around the he started to back track, but Siiri just stood facing away.

“Siiri?” he stopped and slowly walked back.

Her shoulders shook as Torian came up behind her, reaching for her, but she turned away. The girl was sobbing, tears flowing and she covered her face with her hands.

“What’s the matter?”

Wiping away her tears she cried, “Is that why you want to take me to your fleet? So you can use me to fight your war?”

 “There are hundreds lives at stake.”

“And you’re going to kill hundreds more. You’re going to lock me in a room and make me tell you numbers. You only want to help me if I can give you information to help your war.”

“Siiri… no.” he reached out his arms again and she buried her face into his shoulder and cried.

“I don’t want them anymore. I want to be free!”

“We’ll go to the Outlawed Lands, we’ll find out.”

“Do you promise? Torian?”

“I promise, Siiri, we’ll get you cured.”

She sobbed for a few minutes and then stood back, clearing her face of the streaks of tears, “And I smell bad again because I wet my pants.”

“And I haven’t showered and smell like a brewery, come on.”

“What are we going to do?”

“It’s better for your people if my fleet secures orbit and that means blasting away the Imperium cruisers.”

“Ok.” she sniffed.

“We have to get the surface to make contact. And then we’ll come back down.”

“Let’s get it down, then.”

But then he turned to her again put his arms around the teary blue eyed girl leaning his forehead against hers whispering, “It’s going to be all right. I hate this war. All I want to do is go home and when we get you fixed up you’ll see things out there that will make you forget all this.”

“I hope so, I’m so scared.”

Gently he took her hand, “Come on.”

“Torian?”

“Yes, Siiri?”

“You’re the only one I’ve ever told that the voices have names.”

He nodded, “I’m glad you did, it helps me understand a little bit better, I think.” Through the tunnel they ran and jogged back to the stairs that led up to the glass municipal building with four pointy towers. Siiri stood back for a moment.

Squeezing her hand, he reassured her, “It’s all right.”

Responding with a weak smile she nodded and they both ascended the stairs. Like the last door at the school it was steel and reinforced with a bar across to block entrance from the outside.

Sadly Siiri stood back as Torian shot out the lock mechanism with burning plasma bolts from the assault rifle, “I remember the click when they clamped down the bar.”

As he pulled the door open he held out his hand, “It’s different now.”

Stepping out into the daylight Torian almost tripped over the femur of a broken up skeleton. In fact the area around the doorway was littered with human remains and skulls. Torian grimaced when he thought of the terror Siiri must have felt to be cast out with all the other dead. The memories were making her shake and she gripped his hand.

Then Torian noticed one of the skulls and bent over to pick it up.

“Torian!” she whispered, unnerved.

“You said the animals got them or they killed themselves?”

Studying the cranium he noted that the top, the parietal, was removed completely, and that fractured fragments along frontal and occipital lobes bent outward, opposite a crushing wound. Carefully placing the skull down, he glanced around and then strode over to another one with similar characteristics. Then he gasped when he saw another similar skull, but the size of a child.

“Siiri, what happened to these people? Sure, some of these people died from carnivores … but not all. And children?”

Sighing and with a shaky voice, “Father Jarlan says no one wants to see us executed in front of our family and friends, so they bring us here. I heard they give you a drug so that you die painlessly and quick, but Lexor didn’t give me one. And then …” she swallowed and peered with frightened blue eyes at Torian, “it can get so bad, with so many voices, that your skull explodes. Father Jarlan said it was merciful to send us here so no one panics.”

“Have you come that close?”

“Kayla promised she wouldn’t let it happen …”

The tall brown haired young man suddenly heard a familiar alert in his ear piece from his Con, “We have company.” he studied the instrument.

“Wolves?” Siiri reached for her pistol.

Torian hefted the assault rifle and brought up a holo on the Con attached to the rifle, “A dozen wolves, I have them all targeted.”

They both heard growling and in the bushes a few of meters away there was movement. Then a pack of large rough looking grey wolves and a few large dogs, shepherds and thickly furred collies, menacingly circled the side entrance to the municipal building.

“I supposed they remember the easy prey here.” he commented.

“Torian, if you’re going to do something … do it soon!”

A large wolf, the pack leader lunged and Torian fired! The assault rifle vibrated with loud clicking and humming as twelve plasma bolts, a red tracer every fifth, almost simultaneously, struck every animal in the critical region of their chests, killing them instantly with large burning baseball sized holes. They continued to burn after death.

“That’s the power of a plasma rifle.”

“I hate wolves. They came really quick this time.”

“Yeah, probably displaced by the troops landing on the outskirts,” Torian slung the rifle, “let’s find an open spot.”

Through the narrow spaces between buildings filled with overgrown vegetation and trees they found a small court yard with a round fountain. A statue of a half naked winged woman held a jug that presumably poured out water at one time. Both Torian and Siiri sat on the edge and she stared at an old toppled over abandoned three wheeled baby carriage with a child’s doll lying nearby. Torian fiddled with his Con frowning and then finally sighing.

“Signal is blocked. Rebels are running interference; we’ll have to see if the Hawkeye is still intact, the comms array is more powerful.”

“I wonder what really happened to them?” she continued to stare at the carriage.

“I thought you said it was the Sky Demons.”

“I don’t know if I believe that anymore.”

“Did you ever ask Kayla?”

“She won’t say.”

Torian started in the direction of the Hawkeye and Siiri slowly followed. Through the decrepit buildings and twisted gnarled vegetation they made their way to the open court area where the Hawkeye had crushed the play structure and sat on a small angle, the ground still scorched from the shields. It was fully intact, unnoticed by the invading off-worlders.

“It seems so long ago.” Siiri whispered.

He paused and then grinned, “You know Siiri, it’s like I’ve known you for a very long time.” She smiled at him as he pulled down the hatch underneath.

Inside she sat on Chang’s bunk while the vessel hummed to life after Torian flicked on a few switches and his fingers danced across flat panels.

“Will they detect the power?” Siiri asked worried.

“I’m going to be brief and upload the data. See if there is anything here you want to take. There’s water.”

“How about this ship off the planet?”

“Oh yeah …” he touched a few buttons on a flat panel, then sighed, “…nope, still no thrusters. But the comms work, looks like I can get through.”

“Hurry.” Siiri refilled her water bottle and began to root around in compartments, and when she got to his she reached inside “What’s this?” The girl held up a hockey puck.

“My lucky hockey puck. It says MVP. I guess I forgot it.”

The blonde haired young woman looked it over, “You didn’t tell me you played hockey.”

“Well, after you told me about Brant, I didn’t think it was a good idea.”

“Maybe we can go skating some time.”

 The corners of his mouth curved upwards as he replied, “That would be fun …hold on … this Hawkeye 206 from the C.S.S Callisto to the 4
^th
fleet, requesting communications.” they both listened and got static and Torian repeated the communication.

Finally after two more tries he got a response in a heavy Welsh accent, “Hawkeye 206, this is the C.S.S Camulos actual, what is your locstat?”

“Roger, Camulus, uploading my coordinates.” there was a long pause and Torian started to worry.

“Hawkeye 206, are these coordinates in Kaarina?”

“Roger, Camulus, I have important information on enemy fleet positions, uploading data.”