Titan Encounter (22 page)

These are our
worlds. We are strong.  We are legion.
A single thought came from the
voices,
Choose
a world. Worship us. Obey.

“These are my
worlds.”
Enki
turned and walked toward the display.
“My power grows stronger every day.” Turning toward Justin he declared, “
Choose what you desire and I
will give it to you in return for your obedience and worship.”

Justin slumped. He
was hungry and desperate for water and his friend was dead.  Silently he
cursed the monster before him.

“Look at the worlds
that could be yours. Which of these do you choose?” 

Justin looked at
Enki
as an epiphany burst upon his mind.
What was that
question again?

The old man stared
at him.

Justin smiled.
You can’t hear my thoughts!

A thousand voices
demanded,
Answer us, human.

“My patience is not
endless. What is your answer?”
Enki
demanded. 

Justin realized that
while the audible voice came from
Enki
, he was merely
a human puppet. The thoughts came from dark presence that he both felt and
heard. However, neither the spirits nor the old wretch everyone called
Nephilim
could hear his thoughts.

Enki
continued to speak,
but Justin focused on the dark minds that floated about the room like ghosts.
I
hear them, but I don’t believe in ghosts.

The
Nephilim
stepped closer. “If you will not agree to my
terms, I can take your life just as I did your friend’s but,” the old man smiled,
“I can take more than that from you.”

The presence that
had swirled around
Enki
passed effortlessly through
the restraining field. Justin jumped to his feet as it enveloped him. He
couldn’t see it, but he felt like he was standing in a crowd. Many minds
surrounded him. The demonic presence reached out and violated his every sense.
Retched, rank and putrid it crawled into every pore of his body. Cold sweat
covered him. No light illuminated the dark minds digging into his being. The
bitter ache seeping into his bones reminded him of frigid Lepanto. His heart
raced. The smell of death and decay permeated the air. He gagged. He tasted the
rot as it leeched into his body.

I don’t believe in
ghosts, but I do believe in evil.
As the malevolent
presence burned into him he shouted, “God help me!”

The rancid spirits
hurdled back.

As the world
collapsed into darkness, Justin fell to the floor.  When he awoke,
sometime later, evil swirled around and over, but did not touch him.

Enki
stepped
closer.  “Do you really believe in a god? Do you think he watches over you
now?”

Justin ignored the
questions. Through cracked lips he asked, “Why do you care?”

He does not know the
prophecy! He is a fool. How can he be so ignorant? His friends have abandoned
him. He is ours to destroy. Kill him!

“Fool! Are you so
ignorant?” An ancient twisted face leapt from the darkness and stopped
just short of his own
. “How can you not know your own
words?”

“What words?”

“The
words of the prophecy.”
Enki
walked along the edge of
the restraining field. “Your friends and your god have abandoned you. Obey me
and you shall have more than you ever dreamed.”

Justin scowled at
the ugly creature that stood before him. He now held a fledgling belief in the
God of the Titans.  He didn’t know what he believed about demons, but he
knew evil when he saw it and he rejected it now and forever. “No.
Never.”

“So be it.”

Justin fell through
the floor into darkness.

He landed on the
metal floor with a bone-crushing thud and screamed in agony.  His vision
was blurred, but even in the darkness, he saw his abnormally twisted leg and
the bone sticking out from it. Crying in pain, he pulled the useless leg from
beneath him and tore the pant leg to fashion a makeshift tourniquet. The leg
throbbed with each beat of his heart as it swelled to an abnormal size. He
rested his head against the cold metal wall and tried not to look at the
growing puddles of blood from a half dozen wounds of various magnitudes to his
legs, chest and head.

Meager light entered
the cell through a slit in the door. Justin couldn’t see much, but what he
could see was cold, gray, metal. Inches from him stood a simple bench and table
fashioned from the same material as the walls and floor. If he had hit them on
the way down he might be already dead.  He was certain Jon had fallen into
a similar dark dungeon.

His blood ran to a
drain at the center of the cell.  He tried to ignore the message of doom
that it foreshadowed. He didn’t regret crashing Surfeit into the sensor array.
Naomi, Mara,
Becca
and thousands of others were safe
because of it.
Do you agree Jon? Did we do the right thing?

There is no greater
love…

Jon!
 

…
than to lay down one's life
for a friend.

His mind reached
out, but no answer came back. He shook his head. The mind that touched him was
not Jon’s. Perhaps it was just shock playing tricks on him. 

As the minutes
passed he slid from a sitting position into a less painful resting position on
the floor. He felt little pain and knew that he was slipping deeper into shock.
A weak smile spread across his face as Naomi and Mara came to mind. Weariness
engulfed him and he closed his eyes.

Moments later,
someone reached out and touched his thoughts. Perhaps it was a fellow prisoner,
the one he sensed minutes ago.
Who are you, friend?
 

Without a word, the
unseen intellect washed over him, soothing him.

Justin pulled
himself up and tightened the tourniquet. Mustering his mental faculties, he
reached out to his unseen friend.
Thank you.

Immediately Justin
glimpsed a vast intelligence. He recalled stories of how several Titans had
touched divinity. Justin’s mind was like a raindrop rolling toward a vast sea.
His thoughts focused on the intelligence just beyond his grasp. Desperately he
wanted to be with it. He shifted his weight and pain shot through his leg, into
his torso, like electric current.  

Tears rolled down
his face.
Are you really there? I don’t want to die alone.

Before I formed you
in your mother’s womb, I knew you, and before you were born I set you apart.

Am I in shock or…can
you be real?
He
looked at the blood soaked band around his torn and twisted leg and the growing
red pool.
I’m dying.

All flesh will die,
but your time is not today.
A tiny spark floated above his feet. It grew
stronger and brighter until the darkness of the cell had succumbed to the
light. The luminous orb grew until Justin could feel its warmth on his skin and
squinted, then closed his eyes.
Who are you?

“I am the comforter.
You must leave this place.”

He laughed. “I would
if I could.”

A deep rumble grew
within the ship, silencing his sarcastic laugh. As it grew, the vessel
shuddered and quaked until the heavy metal door to his cell sprang open.

Justin shot to his
feet and stepped forward. Only then did he realize what he had done. Was it all
a dream, the Comforter, the light? He touched the still-torn and blood-soaked
pant leg. He took a step and then another without pain.
I’m healed.

There was no time to
sort it out. He released the tourniquet and ran from the cell.

Justin looked to his
left, a dead end, and then right.  The door at the end of the passageway
was ajar.  Another boom rocked the ship and the next cell creaked
open.  Fearing what he might see inside, he looked. “Jon?” His friend lay
motionless on the floor.  Pushing the door wide open, he entered the cell
and pressed two fingers to Jon’s neck. No pulse came back from the cool body.
He cradled the head of his friend in his lap and with misty eyes bid him
farewell.

Stepping into the
passage he asked, “Why God? Why did I live and he die?” A thought came to mind
as he ran down the passage.
Jon and I planned on dying when we rammed this
ship. We both should be dead.

From deep within
came a calm assurance and a message more profound than words.
I spared both
your lives for a purpose.

But, Jon is dead?

His purpose is
complete. He showed you the way.

Way? Way of what?

Trust me.

Justin reached the
door as the guard attempted to lock it. Using his mind, he flung it wide open.

The man’s pistol
slid along the floor to the far side of the room. He stumbled as Justin’s
psychic fingers clasped tightly around his throat.

Dragging the guard
along with his mind, Justin entered the room and noticed five doors. “Which way
leads out of here?” He loosened the mental grip on the man’s throat. “I only
want my freedom. I won’t hurt you.”

The guard stammered,
but the answer screamed from his mind.

Justin heard cries
from the other cells. Had he been so consumed by his own problems that he
hadn’t heard their pleas
or
were they only now calling
to him?

“Help me!”
 “Free me!” “Unlock the doors!”

It would at least
create a distraction. Perhaps a few of them would find a way off the ship, and
to freedom.

“Please, help
us!” 

Maybe they could
help each other.

“Justin, is that
you?”

Justin turned at the
sound of a familiar voice.

“
Ferren
?”

The pirate smiled
through the small window in the door. “Hello, old friend.”

Justin turned back
to the guard and was about to ask him how to open every cell, but that one.

“I forgive you for
trying to kill me.”

Justin laughed.

“Release me and
we’ll call it even.”

He shook his head in
disbelief.

“I know a way to get
off this ship.”

Justin knew the pompous
pirate was playing him, but what if he did know a way off the ship? 
I
could read his mind?  No,
Ferren
will fight it
and it would take too much time. 
Out of the darkness of the cell he
could just discern the eyes of the pirate. 
He must want off this ship
as much as I do.
Turning to the guard Justin said, “Release the captives.”

Still terrified, the
man fumbled with the lever for a moment before he pulled it back. 

Cell
doors from all four-prison passageways clanged open.
  The central
room filled with former captives. 

One woman leapt at
the guard, knocking him to the ground.  Screaming accusations of abuse and
torture she clawed and punched his face. Another woman fumbled with the pistol.
Unable to get it to fire, she used it like a hammer on his face and skull.

Justin stepped
forward to intervene, as others leapt upon the guard and beat him to a bloody
pulp.

Standing beside
Justin,
Ferren
smiled through yellow teeth.
“Spunky girls.”

Justin stared at
him, then back at the motionless guard.

Ferren
checked for a pulse
and then shook his head. “Better do this while he’s still-warm.” The pirate
grabbed the lifeless guard’s wrist and dragged him to a rack containing two
rifles.  Placing the thumb on the biometric lock, he released the weapons. 
He kept one for himself and gave the other to Justin.    

 “Let’s get out
of here, old friend.”

“We’re not friends.”

The pirate laughed
as Justin headed for the door. 

Ferren
and the others
caught up with him in the passageway.  

The pirate tilted
his head left.
“This way.”
Approaching a dogged-down
hatch he said, “I think the ship has gone to battle stations.” Pointing to the
levers holding the door tight he said, “We’re going to have to open every one.”

As Justin helped
open it he asked, “Why did they lock you in a cell?”

“It’s your
fault.  The buyers from Bristol turned out to be agents of Earth
Empire.  They wanted me to return with Naomi and they wanted information
on anyone who might have assisted her.”
Ferren
gave
Justin a frustrated glance.  “It turned out you were assisting her, you
were a Titan, and both of you fled together. They made it quite clear that I
must return quickly with both of you.”