The Power of Gnaris (20 page)

They received
some strange looks from the staff working there, but the
immigration officials had been forewarned of their arrival. They
had also heard many stories about the Saviour in Jerusalem, so had
an inkling of what a Karavec would look like.

“They have no
passports,” the aide explained to the immigration officials, “but
President Kowalski has allowed them to travel to Jerusalem. They
have come here to investigate the strange activities of the
Saviour. I have a letter endorsed with the president’s seal.”

They were
ushered through Immigration, and the aide hustled them outside the
terminal building and into a waiting jeep.

“Take them to
the outskirts of Jerusalem,” he told the jeep driver. “As near as
you can safely go.”

He turned to
Forster. “I will wait here at Tel Aviv on board the president’s jet
until you are ready to fly back to Washington. Moses will look
after you.”

A middle-aged
man with a light brown complexion and a bushy black beard, and
wearing a small skull cap covering the top part of his head,
welcomed them into the vehicle.

After they had
pulled away, he spoke to Lolena who sat next to him. “Do you speak
English?”

Forster
interrupted. “The lady does not speak the language, but I do, and
so does the other lady.”

Forster then
introduced himself and the three Karavec.

“How long will
the journey take?” he asked.

“An hour by
jeep, but once we leave the safety of the city of Tel Aviv and pass
through the eastern gate, we will have to take great care. The city
is surrounded by a fence that protects its citizens from the
inhospitable Prehistorics that still roam the countryside; and from
the Romans, of course. They cannot do us great harm unless we stop,
but they do possess weapons. The Ancients have spears and
slingshots and even catapults.”

“What are
catapults?” Forster asked.

“They are a
crude kind of weapon that uses the force of tension in elastic to
propel rocks at the enemy. They are quite effective, and could even
destroy this jeep, but are not really a threat to a fast moving
target; so, as long as we keep moving, we should be safe
enough.

After an hour
travelling across a flat area of terrain, they arrived at a hilly
region.

“We need to
abandon the jeep now,” Moses said, “and travel the rest of the way
by foot. It will take us another hour or so. The president’s aide
explained to me why you are here, and everyone in this area knows
about the Saviour; however, it would be best if you enter the city
in disguise. It will stir up too much trouble if there are suddenly
three more saviours!”

Moses opened
the back of the jeep, and pulled out four sets of clothing, each
consisting of a white cotton robe, belted at the waist, a white
cotton headwear kept in place with a headrope tied around the
forehead, a face mask, and sandals for the feet.

“Nobody will
recognise you in these clothes,” he said.

“What about
the goggles?” Elena asked. “Our two companions don’t need them, but
the Great Savant and I cannot tolerate the glare of the sun without
them. People will think them strange.”

“You’re right.
Is there no other way?”

“If we wait
for dusk, then we can remove the goggles. Our eyes don’t need any
protection at night, even from a full moon.”

“Then we will
wait for dusk. In the meantime, I suggest that you put the clothes
on in case anyone should pass by.”

“Thank you,
Moses,” said Barrow. Elena translated. “I have a gift for you.”

The Great
Savant removed a gold ring from his finger and handed it to
Moses.

“This ring is
engraved with my own seal. If anything should happen to my
companions and me, I want you to take this to President Kowalski’s
aide in Tel Aviv and tell him to ask the president to send a
message to my people on Hikon. Do you think you could do that?”

“You can rely
on me,” said Moses.

When the sun
sat low on the western horizon, Moses led the strange group through
the western gate and onto the streets of Jerusalem.

To their
right, Elena made out the silhouette of a grand building.

“That’s
Herod’s palace,” Moses said.

Elena
translated for the benefit of Barrow and Lolena while she continued
the dialogue with Moses. “Who is Herod?”

“He is the
king, but he has no real power. Jerusalem and this part of the
country are occupied by a foreign force called Romans. The Romans
have their own leader named Pilate who is the one who wields the
real power here in Jerusalem. Even Caiaphas, the High Priest has no
power except in matters of religion.”

“What religion
do these people follow?”

“We are Jews,
and believe in one God.”

“We have many
gods. Our gods reside in a galaxy light years away, the galaxy from
whence the Karavec came. The sole purpose of the Karavec is to
establish an empire in the Milky Way for the gods' arrival, and we
are waiting for the day when they come to claim the Milky Way. We
Karavec are always loyal to our gods and to their will, and their
authority cannot be questioned. We are taught that other religions
are an abhorrence to the gods, and should be quashed.”

“The authority
of our God was also not in question until the Saviour arrived.”

“Tell me more
about the Saviour. What does he do that makes the people listen,
yet goes against the will of your God.”

“The Saviour
has powers that cannot be explained by natural means. He can heal
the sick, and there are rumours that he can even walk on water.
Then there’s the blood, of course.”

“Tell me about
the blood.”

“The Saviour
is not always with us. He comes and goes. He tells his followers to
drink the blood as a way of remembering him.”

“But why
Karavec blood?”

“He says that
his own power is increased if he drinks the blood. He also says
that by drinking the blood of the Karavec, his followers will
become like him. They will become Karavec.”

There was a
sudden commotion as throngs of people moved closer.

“Saviour.
Praise the Saviour,” they shouted in English.

Chapter 17 – The
Rescue Mission

“
Even the
Karavec sometimes need the help of inferior species.”

 The Book of
Karavec (39, 97)

Donohue flew
the helicopter low over the trees and onto the rocky semi-arid area
where the
Gnaris Voyager
had landed.

“There’s no
sign of a spacecraft,” he said to the man sitting next to him.
“Barrow must have got the coordinates wrong.”

“Yes, we
should have spotted it by now,” said the other man.

They continued
flying around for several minutes.

“If we don’t
sight it soon, then we will have to return to Washington,” Donohue
said. “Otherwise we will run low on fuel.”

Another larger
helicopter carrying twenty five members of the president’s armed
guard had landed a short distance away waiting for orders from
Donahue.

“Maybe the
ship has taken off,” said the man.

“Then we’ll
return to Washington

” said Donahue.

“Wait,
look

down there near to that cluster of
rocks, someone is waving.”

Donahue’s
craft swooped low over the rocks.

“It looks like
a group of aliens. Yes, there’s a female and several Karavec
warriors. But how could the ship have left without them?”

“Let’s go down
and find out.”

As soon as the
helicopter had landed and the rotors had almost stopped, Donahue
jumped down and ambled towards Leila. The sight of the Karavec ray
guns trained on him made him nervous.

One of the
soldiers stepped forward. “Identify yourself,” he said in the
Karavec language.

‘I do not
understand.”

“Identify
yourself,” Leila repeated in English.

“I am Donahue.
I work for President Kowalski. Your leader, the Great Savant, has
sent me to help you. He has … sensed that you are in trouble.”

“How do we
know what you say is true? How can we trust you?”

Donahue
slipped the pendant out from under his shirt. There were gasps when
the Karavec soldiers recognised Barrow’s seal.

Wardrow
whispered to Leila. “Could he have stolen this pendant?” he
asked.

“No. The only
way this alien could have come into possession of the Great
Savant’s pendant is if Barrow himself had given it to him. This is
a sign that we can trust him.”

Leila turned
back to Donahue. “I am Leila,” she said, and this is Sergeant
Wardrow, now commander of the Karavec warriors. The remainder of
those you see are his men, loyal warriors of the Karavec. The Great
Savant’s seal on his pendant tells us that you speak true.”

“What’s
happened?” Donahue asked. “Where is your ship?”

“It’s Joodrow,
the co-pilot of the
Gnaris Voyager
. He must be the murderer
of the Karavec embryos. He has killed more Karavec, and taken our
commander prisoner on the ship. It blasted off yesterday evening,
leaving us stranded.”

Leila went on
to explain about the slain Karavec warriors and crew members.

Donahue handed
Leila the letter from the Great Savant.

“It’s for
Sirrow,” she told Wardrow. Sirrow is dead, so you read it.”

Wardrow began
to read:

Captain
Sirrow

I trust that
all is well with you, and may the gods bless you.

The man
carrying this letter works for President Kowalski, and can be
trusted. The pendant that he bears should be proof that what I say
is true. My gnaris detected that of Doctor Leila, and I sensed that
you are in trouble, but we cannot help you at this time. I am on my
way to the city of Jerusalem on the other side of the planet with
Elena, Lolena and Forster. Jerusalem is the Saviour’s headquarters.
If he is there, we will destroy him. You must contact Hikon and
warn Mallow that we believe that Saivrow is the one they call the
Saviour.

“Saivrow, the
government Chief Statistician?” Leila interrupted. The soldiers
within earshot mumbled amongst themselves.

“It must be,”
replied Wardrow before continuing to read:

He and an
accomplice are the ones responsible for the violation of the
Karavec embryos. Saivrow is also a member of the Council. That’s
why I believe he had the power to arrange the murders, and he is
now trying to win over the people of Ziemia by feeding them Karavec
blood, and performing miraculous acts.
If Saivrow is still
on Hikon, then he must be apprehended and prevented from leaving.
You can contact Mallow by using the frequency I have written at the
end of this letter. Then you must wait on the ship for our
return.

Barrow, Great
Savant of the Karavec.

“So Joodrow is
in league with Saivrow,” Leila said.

“It looks that
way. Joodrow must have gone back to Hikon to fetch Saivrow, and
more supplies of Karavec blood, no doubt.”

“What are we
going to do now? Barrow doesn’t know about Joodrow and what he has
done here. He doesn’t know that Joodrow stole the ship, and that we
are marooned here.”

She turned to
the Ranger. “Tell us what you know, Mr. Donahue.”

“Barrow
detected your cries for help,” said Donahue. “He is on the way to
Jerusalem with Elena, Lolena and Forster, so he asked the president
to send me here to find out what the problem was.”

“Jerusalem?”

“It’s the
headquarters of the Saviour. It’s a city on another continent.”

“How are they
getting there?”

“President
Kowalski arranged transport on his private jet.”

“What are we
going to do now? We are stranded here.”

“You must come
with me to Washington, and seek further help from the
president.”

“What about
the Karavec warriors?” Wardrow asked, and Leila translated. “They
can’t be left here. Are your flying machines big enough to
transport them all to Washington?”

“We have a
larger flying machine

we call these
machines helicopters. It is not far away, but carries our own
soldiers. It will come back for you. Please wait here. It will take
just a few hours.”

* * * * *

Several hours
later, two of the helicopters headed for Washington.

After they had
landed on the South Lawn, Donahue escorted Leila and Wardrow to the
president’s office. The president was busy poring over some
documents when his Chief of Staff knocked on the door.

“Excuse me,
Mr. President,” he said. “My brother has returned from the site of
the Karavec spacecraft. He has some urgent business he needs to
discuss with you. He has two of the Karavec with him.”

“Show them
in.”

John Donahue
briefed the president on everything he knew; then a long silence
ensued before the president spoke.

“This is a
very grave situation,” he said. “The Saviour, this Karavec called
Saivrow, seems to be very dangerous.”

“He is not the
equal of the Great Savant,” said Leila.

“Nevertheless,
I anticipate that Barrow may need some assistance. There are only
three of them and, despite his superior powers, the sheer numbers
of Ziemian people supporting the Saviour could put his mission in
jeopardy.”

Donahue’s brow
furrowed. “So what are you suggesting, Mr. President?”