Authors: Peter Lok
He yelled right into her face. “Damn you, woman! What is the delay? You said we would be ready hours ago. I take a nap and I find out that nothing has happened?!”
Shani gathered herself. “The delays are necessary, Colonel. We already have valuable data, but we need to study it
more
before we run the CT
scan
. This is a very strange alien artifact we are studying. We have readings we don’t understand and there seem to be complex internal structures.”
“You said earlier that a CT
scan
would tell us much more about the internal composition of the artifact!”
the colonel
angrily pointed out.
“I know, but that may be hasty! We don’t know what
the scan
could do to it, especially as we already know it seems to absorb more energy than it radiates.”
“Enough! You will immediately begin preparations for the test!” Colonel Kybela grinned sadistically. “Do so or something could happen to someone you love.”
Shani shuddered at the thought. These were very bad men she had become involved with. She should have never trusted her colleague and taken the contract, no matter how much they were going to pay. Now her young son was in danger too. She never realized that these men would have him kidnapped and brought here.
“The Chinese will be here soon. Our leader needs more information to bargain with
them
. We could get a fortune for this artifact. Nothing else matters.” Kybela settled himself into a chair and sent one of the lab guards to bring him some refreshment. His presence would ensure the work was done.
***
“Lock helmets, visors down. Oxygen on.” Willie called out.
Eleven men and women complied, including Willie. The head up display
– or HUD –
on his own helmet visor showed that his systems were all green, especially the oxygen
. At their high altitude, the
air was very thin
, making the oxygen a necessity
.
He was at the back of the plane facing forward to the rest of the team. “Are we all good?”
Everyone said yes and raised a hand in confirmation.
The aircraft suddenly lurched down, rolling sideways at the same time, and the red interior lights flicked off. The ten special forces troopers of Alpha Team and Angie were lined up for the jump and found themselves grabbing for any support in the dark as they went tumbling to the side. Fortunately they were suited up and protected from minor scrapes and bumps. A moment later the aircraft leveled itself and lights came back on along with a blaring alarm.
“What the hell just happened?” Willie called up the pilots.
“Don’t know,
s
ir. Looked like an EMP from the direction of the laboratory. We lost systems temporarily but they’re okay now. Everything looks normal. No sign of radiation. Should we still jump?”
“
If it’s clear, then yes. We still got a job to do.”
“Roger that. Depressurize and drop the rear door,” ordered the pilot. The loadmaster depressurized the troop compartment and started the door opening to reveal the darkness beyond
. I
t was still an hour to sunrise.
“Everyone still okay here?” Willie then asked.
There was a resounding chorus of yeses. “Ready for jump then. Link suit navigation. Night vision on.”
The red light jump light switched to a green. “Go! Go! Go!” yelled the loadmaster.
The team
members
trotted forward and began leaping off the back ramp. Angie watched nine men and women jump in front of her through the greenish night vision display of her suit. She took a slightly nervous deep breath and also made the leap into dark void outside the aircraft. Behind her, Willie jumped last, making sure his charge was okay.
***
The darkness was broken
by
flashes from sparking electronics and cables that cast weird shadows in the smoky air. Shani coughed, the acrid smell of burning electronics filled the air in the analysis lab. Other than the sparks,
only
a faint amber glow from the alien artifact illuminated the burned out CT
scanner
in its chamber. Panicky yells from guards and scientists adde
d to the general pandemonium. T
he amber glow from the artifact dimmed more and more
as moments
passed
.
Shani had been monitoring the
CT
scan along with instrumentation about temperature, radiation emissions, and magnetism. In the middle of the
scan
she had realized that radiant energy levels were rising in the artifact. She had yelled at the technicians to stop the scan, but it was too late. There had been a brilliant flash of light, one that was even visible through the shielded windows of the scanner chamber. This was followed by the popping of electronics and lighting as they overloaded, then darkness. The world had seemed to tip or twist for a brief moment
-
she still felt slightly nauseated. She was at least reassured that the displays she had been watching had not showed any lethal radiation before everything failed.
The
battery-
powered emergency lights finally flickered then came on
, t
heir dim light barely illuminating the room. Scientists grabbed fire extinguishers and began putting out
a few
small fires that
had
started.
“What happened?” Colonel Kybera asked. The man was more stunned then angry.
“I think the artifact released a large electromagnetic pulse
- an
EMP,” Shani replied. “Thank
God
, there was no other radiation.”
Colonel Kybera barely took in her statement as the full extent of what happened sunk in. “You should have been more careful!”
he
yelled. “We could have been killed!”
“But…” Shani protested.
The big man slapped her across the face hard, stunning her with his ferocity. He was about
to
strike her again when he realized that he had learned something.
“Clean up this mess,” he ordered. Shani meekly nodded, still holding a hand
to
her stinging cheek. “Guards, secure the artifact in the vault. This proves that it is very powerful indeed. The President will be pleased.” With that he left the room with his bodyguards.
***
Grand Master Jk’shth, in her formal ceremonial draping, trod down the main way of the Congo Colony
with her retinue of priests, heading
towards the Central Dome. Very little traffic was on the street at this late hour. The high priestess had been roused
from her sleep
in the middle of the night by an urgent summons from the military leader of the colony.
The
se
cities on Earth were very different from the grand mounds of the home world. The cities were young
and followed the same urban patterns
, but they seemed so different at the same time.
To Jk’shth, t
hey
just
lacked
a certain
presence
from the home world,
and felt more like the environment of a colony ship. Perhaps it was the newness, or the air they were breathing, or the light from the sun of this new planet. The only place that really did remind the old Grand Master of home was the replica of the Great Shrine back in the Brazilian Colony, deep in the Amazon rain forest. She missed the shrine, but it was necessary to visit all of the colonies and keep up her people’s faith. The place for the Shre’lor in the Great Shrine was empty, but it would eventually be recovered. Jk’shth could sense that the mother egg still existed. It wasn’t just faith. She had communed deeply with it in her time and touched its presence with her mind.
Like others of her species, Jk’shth was
slightly larger than
a
human with a more slender build
reminiscent
of a newt or salamander.
She
moved along
on her four rear limbs,
walking
like a centaur, her two grasping limbs held in front of her. If she needed to Jk’shth could stand higher, rising on her rear limbs so her middle two limbs could be used for lifting and holding.
When she did this her
vestigial tail
came into play
as a counterweight.
Jk’shth’s
head resembled
that
of a frog
,
its
flattened snout
bearing
a single horizontal nasal slit. Two large round eyes faced forward
,
in front of
a
domed cranium
that contained a very intelligent brain.
Her large
mouth
contained
rows of small
,
sharp
carnivore
teeth.
Her smooth,
dark bluish
skin glistened with
moist
ure
,
drinking in the warm humidity of the African night
. Descended from an amphibious ancestor
,
her species
were at home in water or land, but did most of their daily living out of water.
Humans knew her kind as Blue Newts, but they called themselves the Sh’thimori or the People of the Water.
A small reception line awaited Jk’shth and her retinue on the steps of th
e Central Dome. A larger male
Sh’thimori
in a differently patterned leadership draping of the military caste stood in front.
His high-
pitched raspy
voice sounded out
. “Our apologies for interrupting your slumber. We welcome her Holiness, The Grand Master Jk’shth.”
Jk’shth stopped in front of the awaiting
leader
. “It is good to see you, again, Nest Leader Kr’shl. May the Shre’lor bring its blessing on your life and endeavors.”
“Always polite, wise Jk’shth,” Kr’shl rasped back with a hint of sarcasm. “The blessing is much appreciated.”
Jk’Shth would not be provoked. “We may oppose each other in the Grand Council of Leaders as to how we deal with humanity, but we remain united as a people, despite our different castes. All life is one under the Shre’lor.”
As if he had been waiting for this moment, Kr’shl
spoke
clearly. “I may have news about the Shre’lor.”
“What! Has it been found?” Jk’shth could not help but raise her hopes. She had still been a little sleepy, but no longer. Her middle limbs did a little nervous tremble that underscored her excitement.
“Not yet, but we may have a good chance of recovering it. As you know we have focused our efforts at recovery on this continent
where
much of the wreckage from the mothership fell.
W
e have not found it yet,
but
it is only a matter of time.” With a sneering shrill, he added, “
We
have even used these pathetic humans. They betray their own race for money.”
“Yes, yes,” Jk’shth prodded, ignoring the other
N
ewt’s attitude.
“We have detected a gravity wave consistent with
that
emitted by the Shre’lor. It only lasted a moment, but we have a general location. It is in human territory
,
in the region they refer to as Tanzania. The humans must be examining it, the foul desecrators.”
Jk’shth reacted quickly.
It
would be a grand day if the Shre’lor was retrieved. There would be great rejoicing. “We must try to retrieve it, but we do not want a new war with the humans. So many died in the last one
on both sides
.”