The Power of Gnaris (8 page)

Barrow didn’t
say a word, but frantically turned the pages of the book to find
the second reference. Elena thought that she had never before seen
the Great Savant so flustered.

“Chapter 27,
verse 77 says: ‘There are those who aspire to joining the ranks of
the gods. Such Karavec believe that by drinking the blood of other
Karavec, they will assimilate their gnaris. Thus their own gnaris
is enhanced, and their power increased’.”

Barrow could
not contain his rage. “This is an act of blasphemy,” he said. “Any
Karavec who does this evil act will be condemned not only to die,
but to spend all eternity in the light.”

Elena
contemplated the consequences of the action, and sobbed. “It is
obscene,” she said. “Do you really believe that one of our own race
could contemplate such an evil act in the present day?”

Forster, on
the other hand, remained silent while pondering the implications of
the words from the book.

After a pause,
he asked, “What is the third reference?”

“That is
easy,” replied Barrow. “I know this reference well because it is I
who recorded it. It was given to me as a prophecy by the gods.
Chapter 89, verse 18 says: ‘In the latter days, there will rise up
on the planet Ziemia a great threat to the Karavec people. Do not
be complacent; the threat is real’.”

“Is that all?”
Forster asked.

“That is the
end of verse 18. But the perpetrator has either ignored or failed
to read verse 19.”

“What is the
message of verse 19?”

“It says,
‘However, be encouraged; the gods will prevail and the threat will
be overcome’.”

“What can it
mean?” asked Elena. “Ziemia is populated by humanoids that are
still living in the Stone Age. They have little knowledge, and
possess no weapon that could be a threat to the Karavec.”

“What you say
is true,” said Barrow. “But the prophecy cannot be wrong. The
creatures that inhabit Ziemia will be a threat; and the murder of
the embryos and stealing of the blood has something to do with
this.”

“We must
depart at once for Ziemia,” said Forster.

“First, I must
consult with the Council,” said Barrow.

Chapter 7 – The
Council

“
The
Council are my servants, and I am their servant; indeed I am one of
them. Together, we serve all the Karavec people.”

 The Book of
Karavec (36, 21)

Lolena hadn’t
been summoned to a meeting of the Council for over three hundred
years. During that time, she continued working as a lawyer in the
Hikon High Court, and no one knew her true identity. She had even
produced two genetic seeds that had been nurtured at the Regional
Embrycultural Centre on Hikon and grown into Karavec of high
standing in the community; but these offspring did not know their
origins, and they were like strangers to Lolena.

So that
morning, when she felt the call from Barrow requesting a meeting of
the secret group, she was taken by surprise. Barrow did not make
the call using a conventional means of communication, but he
conveyed the news to her through the channel of his gnaris to
hers.

Lolena
immediately cancelled all her appointments for the next week,
telling her assistant that she had urgent business to attend to in
another part of Hikon. Her assistant’s protests that she had a case
at the High Court that could not wait were met with a severe
reprimand. Such was the importance and urgency of her attendance at
the meeting of the Council.

From other
parts of Hikon, the three other members of the Council had also
received their calls.

The members of
the Council always left the day-to-day running of the Karavec
Empire to Barrow, and knew that he was more than capable of making
the right decisions and communicating with and serving the gods.
So, when he called a meeting, they knew that there must be
important matters to deal with, and decisions to be made. At the
behest of the gods, the Council members possessed the ultimate
power over the entire Karavec Empire. Barrow was one of them.

Barrow prepared to set
off for the meeting, but knew that he must depart from the palace
under the strictest secrecy. His guards, who remained constantly at
his side, or kept watch outside his room whenever he slept or knelt
alone in his chapel communicating with the gods, would be difficult
to deceive; so evading them would be a difficult task for him to
achieve. To give the guards the slip required some genius on the
part of the Great Savant. He dressed as a slave, and carried with
him a note signed by the Great Savant himself giving the slave
permission to leave the palace to visit the rich master who had
grown him in his own cradle, and who was now sick and ready to
die.

Barrow may have
deceived his guards, but he had not deceived Forster. Forster was
not only a detective, but also an expert in reading body language.
Over the few days since he had met the Great Savant, he had studied
his every body movement and every nuance of facial expression. He
had deduced that Barrow would need to discuss a matter of such
grave importance as the murders of the Karavec embryos with the
clandestine group, and also had the inkling that Barrow would make
his way to the meeting in disguise.

Forster and Elena
waited in the shadows outside the servants entrance to the palace
for Barrow to appear, knowing that he would be disguised and on his
way to the important meeting.

“There he is,” said
Forster, “masquerading as a slave. He’s carrying a bag. I wonder
what’s inside. Now, you must follow him, Elena.”

“Me? Why should I be
the one to follow him?”

“There are two
reasons. The first is that if I followed him, then I would be
conspicuous. I am an alien, and, remember that I have already had
one attempt on my life. On the other hand, no one will take heed of
a Karavec woman in the crowd. The second reason is that I have no
knowledge of your language, whereas you will better understand what
is said at the meeting.”

“I can’t do that. The
Council is a secret group. No Karavec outside the group knows their
identity, and no one has ever witnessed one of their meetings. What
if I am caught? I will be sacrificed.”

“You will not be
caught if you are careful. They will not be expecting anyone to spy
on their meeting, and Barrow doesn’t suspect that he is being
followed. You must trail him at a distance, never letting him out
of your sight; if he should stop and turn in your direction, then
you must quickly stop also and divert your attention to something

anything that catches your eye. He will
not notice you in the crowd unless you draw attention to
yourself.”

“Very well, I will do
it. But what is to be gained from spying on the Council?”

“One of the Karavec
has committed the abominable crime of killing the embryos and
stealing the blood. That person is also in league with the beings
on Ziemia. He or she must wield some power, and may be one of those
chosen by the Council to go to Ziemia, or even one of the Council
itself. We do not know who we can trust, and we will gain an
advantage if we know exactly what’s going on.”

“But . . .”

“Go now, Elena. Look,
the guard at the gate has already read the note Barrow carries, and
has let him through. Go quickly, before he is out of sight.”

Elena followed the
Great Savant through the streets of the capital. She kept a
respectable distance behind him, and mingled with the crowd. There
was little chance of anyone recognising her, or her intentions. On
one occasion Barrow slowed his pace and looked back over his
shoulder as if he suspected that someone might be following him.
Elena ducked behind a portly Karavec, then stopped and started
browsing through some clothes being sold by a street vendor, while
keeping one eye on Barrow. When the Great Savant continued on his
journey, Elena followed.

Barrow arrived
before the others at the venue. Over the centuries, the Council had
met before on a few occasions, and every member knew the meeting
place. They did not meet in the palace of the Great Savant, which
obviously posed a threat to their security and the secrecy of their
identities. Instead they met in an obscure building on the
outskirts of the Hikon capital, a disused building that had once
been a factory producing parts for the Karavec fleet of ferry
ships. Now derelict and overgrown with vegetation, the former
factory provided the perfect place for the clandestine meeting.

Lolena arrived
next, followed by Saivrow, Chief Statistician in the Statistics
Department of the Great Savant’s government, then Velena, an author
of many Karavec books, and finally Henrow, a university professor
of anatomy.

Together
Henrow, Saivrow, Barrow, Lolena and Velena made up the Council.

The group had
not met for three centuries, and in the intervening years they had
seldom interacted with each other as individuals either. They all
knew the unwritten rule of strictest confidentiality and anonymity.
If their paths crossed in carrying out the business of their
everyday lives, then they had trained themselves not to betray any
signs of recognition of each other.

Yet, despite
their efforts to maintain secrecy, it had been Barrow himself who
had compromised the anonymity of the group by allowing himself to
be followed. When the meeting was about to begin, Elena positioned
herself outside, and peered through a shattered window.

The room in
which the Council met was cold and bare, its walls unadorned with
any decoration, and it was furnished with just five chairs that
Barrow had managed to find by searching throughout the disused
factory. There were no communication devices that would normally be
part of a crucial meeting involving such significant dignitaries;
hardly the venue for a meeting of the most important leaders of the
Karavec Empire. But the need for secrecy was paramount, and they
dismissed all thoughts of discomfort from their minds.

Before they
began their discussion, the five leaders moved their chairs close
together to sit in a circle facing inwards. They joined hands and
began chanting, using an ancient language only known to a few of
those Karavec who had travelled together from the distant galaxy
that was their original home. Elena, who had some knowledge of the
ancient language from her studies, listened and managed to pick up
the thread of a familiar prayer.

“Oh, mighty
gods,” they chanted, “hear us from across the great darkness. You
dwell far away in another galaxy, which is our home. We are waiting
for the day you come to claim the Milky Way. Our main purpose, our
only purpose is to establish an empire in the Milky Way ready for
your arrival. Our loyal warriors and servants, each one of us, is
working towards a better future, for a place where the gods will
rule.”

“Guide us, oh
mighty gods,” said Barrow, “as we meet together for the first time
in many years; guide us while we discuss a crisis that threatens
our people and their very existence. Let us be unanimous in making
the right decision for the future of the race that you have
created.”

“Guide us
mighty gods,” they all intoned.

Then they
released their hands and relaxed, still sitting in a circle. The
others waited for Barrow to speak.

“Lords of the
Council,” he said using the common tongue of the Karavec, “you have
been summoned here to discuss matters of crucial importance for the
future of the Karavec race.”

“Lord Barrow,”
said Lolena, “we can dismiss the preliminaries. We know that this
must be important. Can you get to the point?”

Barrow
shrugged off the rebuke. “Very well,” he said. “The first matter
you are probably already aware of, since it is common knowledge.
Karavec embryos have been murdered both here and at the Regional
Embrycultural Centre on Arion.”

“Yes, we
know,” said Lolena. “That is a matter for the police and the alien
Forster who you have invited into our midst. He can handle it.”

“What you say
is true . . . to a point. If it was simply a case of murder, then
Forster, one of the most prominent detectives in the Milky Way,
could solve this case. But there have been further
developments.”

“Please cut to
the chase, Lord Barrow,” said Saivrow. “We are all busy
people.”

“The beings
that inhabit Ziemia have entered the technological age.”

Henrow gasped,
and Saivrow exclaimed, “What!”

“You must be
mistaken, Lord Barrow,” said Lolena. “The beings on Ziemia are
barely out of the Stone Age.”

“It’s
true.”

Velena spoke
for the first time. “Lord Barrow, how did this happen?”

“I don’t know
exactly, but it has some connection with the reason why Captain
Forster wishes to visit the planet. This is why I permitted him to
come to Hikon.”

“That explains
a lot,” said Velena. “And what has this to do with the
murders?”

“I believe the
murderer, who is a Karavec, is in league with the Ziemians. Along
with the knowledge they have gained to bring them into the
technological age, they have also acquired a taste for Karavec
blood. The reason for this, and how the two incidents are
connected, has yet to be determined.”

“Are the
Ziemians a threat to us?” asked Henrow. “Have they developed
weapons that they might use against us?”

“Again I am
not sure, but it seems very likely; and the fact that they have a
taste for our blood is an indication that their intentions are
hostile.”

Lolena, tall
and imperious, stood and appeared to look in the direction of
Elena, who ducked down to evade the lord’s gaze.

Lolena spoke
for everyone when she said, “A delegation must be sent to Ziemia
immediately to talk with these people and, if necessary . . . deal
with them. You, Lord Barrow, must be one member of the delegation,
and I assume that you will be taking Captain Forster with you.
Unless anyone else objects, I will also go with you. You will need
the shared gnaris of at least one other member of the Council, and
my knowledge of interplanetary law could be invaluable in bringing
the murderer and his Ziemian associates to justice. However, I will
go as a lawyer, not as a member of the Council. No one else in the
party must know my true identity.”