SWNOVELS Chapter Third Chant
Enemy of my Enemy should beware
Imagine, what would happen if there is more than one of you?
What if, in a neighboring galaxy, there exists an individual so similar to yourself that it would be impossible for anyone to tell the difference?
What would happen if, at some point in their life, those two identical individuals meet?
What if they resemble each other not as much as they thought they should?
What would happen if, even though they looked and lived similarly, their characters were so different that their ideals would crush one another?
“Master, we’ve reached Tech-nom IV, and the leaders are ready to negotiate conditions of their surrender.”
“Magnificent.” A tall young man smiled in his commander chair. “We’re rolling boys. Send the troops to all big cities. When negotiations end, we’ll finally be able to reach the Milky Way.”
“Ye’sir!”
The tall commander stood up. He wore a long, crimson-black coat that reached to the floor. He slowly approached the teleporting circle and put on his half-faced mask and wide hood. He looked back at the window and glanced one last time at the metallic landscape of skyscrapers and traffic-jammed airways - highways made suspended in mid-air. While the ship passed the highest and the biggest building of the Capitol, the mysterious man snapped his fingers and was teleported to the roof of that building, where dozen of soldiers, the King of Tech-nom System and his advisers have been waiting for the man.
“Klaah hajkaal kulikkau.” King of Tech-nom spoke in an unknown dialect, and bowed before the approaching man. “Callyps kallak kalia kilka. Kolkkai hjallkaj jaklie uklila ieil ikii.”
“It’s good to see you in person too, King Kelliuk. And please, drop this dialect, I don’t particularly like it,” said the man.
“Lakkiul… I mean, of course, sir.”
“Please follow me, King, Sir,” said the short adviser standing behind the King.
As the mysterious man entered the huge building with the King and his men, hundreds of small ships separated from the gigantic ship above the city, and, with half the speed of light, flew in all directions across the planet. Cities purely made of metal, with only water below, reflected the sunlight from the nearby star, slightly blinding pilots of small transporting ships.
“So, King Kelliuk, what do you propose?” asked the masked, hooded man. He was so tall that he had to slouch to prevent his head from hitting the metal ceiling.
“Well…” The King wasn't sure how to respond.
He knew that he must surrender to prevent his planets from further destruction, even though there was no other race so advanced in technology as them.
“Let me, my lord.” The short, bald, and blue-skinned adviser showed up from nowhere. “Commander, sir, our nation is a very peaceful and loving race, devoted to technology and science development. We know how strong and fearless the Ta-imu race is, and we would appreciate cessation of assaults on our planets, thus giving away leadership of our System to you, sir. We don’t want any more blood to be shed, and more scientists to die without fulfilling their lifelong wish.”
“And what wish is that, Likuli?” asked the mysterious man as he entered the royal chamber after the King.
“To reach the unreachable and discover the undiscovered. That’s our race’s motto.”
“To reach the unreachable…” the masked man repeated as he sat on the King’s throne and took of his hood. “Yes. I’d like to hear more about that…”
A few minutes later, in every city on the planet, huge screens appeared high on the sky. There was the Commander of Ta-imu with his mask on sitting on the throne of King Kelliuk. On his feet were the King and his adviser bowing.
“Citizens!” emanated a loud voice from the screen. “Your King, Kelliuk Iklia, surrendered, and hereby I, Commander of Ta-imu, will be the government of this System. Do not be afraid though; your war has ended now. You are free to research however you want. I promise, nothing bad will happen to you as long as you become part of Ta-imu Gallaxian Empire. In every city on every planet, a branch of my army will be stationed to protect and serve. Live in peace, my dear scientists. Live in name of science… and Mine!”
Black troop soldiers jumped from the ships in every city of Tech-nom IV.
“Now, my friend,” the masked man said as he leaned over the bowing ex-king, “tell me: when will I reach the unreachable? Tell me about the Milky Way.”
(end of part 1)
part 2
“Hurry up, Meg. We’re not here sightseeing you know. If we don’t end it quick, we might not catch up to TherraN-1 before it reaches the Solar System East 23…”
“I know sir, just… It looks really weird. Empty rooms with only lights. A green light in the hangar but there was no one who opened it. An abandoned ship but with technology much more developed than ours…”
“I know it seems weird. That’s why we must find the bridge fast.” I looked at the floor plan on the wall. “And I think we’re getting close.”
Indeed we were. An emptied bridge with half of the equipment the crashed to the floor awaited us behind huge, halved wooden doors. We entered without a sound. The Omd brothers went to check the communication status and electricity supplies. Meg and I scouted the rest of the working machines.
“Wait.” Meg stopped me when I was about to turn one of monitors on.
“What now?”
“Mah, turn the lights out,” Meg commanded, but Mah looked at me before following the order.
“What is it? Have you noticed something?” I asked when the lights went off.
“Yes,” she answered peacefully. “Look.”
She was pointing her finger on the screen I was about to get running. There were weird symbols, different than any languages we've ever seen. The letters were written with some kind of fluorescence paint. Below there were six numbers.
11, 23, 254, 101, 5874, 7
“What are those sir?” Meh came closer leaving his brother next to light switch.
“I’m not sure but…”
They look somehow familiar. I touched the letters and numbers. Still sticky. It cannot be paint.
“Who painted it?”
“It’s not painted. It’s written.” I smelled the paint-like substance from my fingers. “It’s not paint. It’s blood.”
“And those numbers?”
“Meg, scan them for me. Meh, Mah, search for other messages. There must be more of them here.”
We searched the whole bridge but no other message was found. I sat on the floor and took out my bottle filled with water. While I was drinking, I looked up. What I saw shocked me. The whole ceiling was covered by words written with blood. Only few were readable. Milky, Way, and Callyps - whatever the latter means.
“Meg. Scan that too. Then let’s lighten this place a little.”
After the lights were back on, I switched on the messaged monitor but there was no data left - only ship plans and a few working monitoring cameras. On one of the screens something moved. Looked like a humanoid creature, only thinner.
“Isn’t that the hangar with our ship?”
“Looks like it, sir.”
“Meg, Mah, you two stay here.” I gave them earphones to keep in touch.
“Meh, we're going there to check out what, or who that is.”
“Yes sir.”
As we were heading downstairs in the elevator, Meg informed me of the position of the creature. When we reached our ship, the creature was still in the hangar.
“Meh, do exactly what I tell you. Otherwise it might get nasty.”
I gave instructions to Meh who instantaneously jumped on the ship and started mumbling some chants. I took the hood off, sat on the ground and closed my eyes. In this dark I wouldn't find a cholder – an elephant like animal from my home planet, Ellemia II – even if it'd stand before me.
“Oooi! Whoever you are, I’m unharmed!” I screamed with eyes closed.
After the echo silenced, I heard some motion below the engines. I pricked up my ears and waited for the creature to make a sound. After a few minutes of sitting on the ground without moving a muscle, the creature came closer from behind me. I whispered the lightning-eyes chant to see everything nearby clearly for a few seconds.
“Lightning Element. Chant #14. Thunder Vision.” I opened my eyes.
I saw everything in a yellow and light blue aura. The creature was right behind me. I turned around and grabbed it with one hand. It was just some kid. He must've lived on this ship alone for some time now. The second I grabbed him, I lost my vision, but I heard Meh jumping down from the ship and felt metal covering the boy and my hand.
“Great, you blocked me with him, Meh.”
“Sorry sir. I didn't mean to.” He released my hand from the metal coffin covering the boy.
“Meg, do you hear me? Is there any other movement seen on the screens except ourselves?”
”No sir, lights are on everywhere but in the hangar, and there is definitely no one else beside us here.”
“Copy. Come here with Mah and the scans of those weird writings. We’ll give them to Khail for translation.”
“Yes sir, we’ll be right there.”
“As for you, kid,” I said as I looked at the boy's head bound by metal. “Do you understand what I’m saying? Do you know my language? Say something.”
Meh released his mouth so he could be heard speaking aloud.
“Klakk iliulla. Liau lijk killij kolaku.”
“What? Sir, what is this dialect?”
“I don’t know, Meh… It’s very interesting though…”
Meg and Mah met us inside the Sniffer. All was set and we were ready to fly off. The problem was how to open the hangar. Meg went to ask the kid even though I said it’s pointless. When the kid saw her face he looked surprised, and started to cry, mumbling some word, "klaija”. Meg freaked out and stepped back. The kid stopped crying, smiled and closed his eyes. The green light shone from inside his metal coffin and the hangar opened. We flew out with more questions than when we entered.