THE GALAXYMBION ODYSSEY

Weethis hung delicately from his stone-place on the Great Cave ceiling, humming eerily to himself. All around him he sensed the pale blue glows of Brethren, hanging from their own rocky perches in darkness, each one busy solving its own weave in the tapestry, spinning its own strands of melodic thought. Darkness everywhere in a special cave, and silence except for the light-sounds of his people glowing and singing with ideas. Weethis loved this fabric – the Web of Kalmek.

Soon sunrise would end the sleep-solving, flooding their Great Cave with warm, bright ultra-violet sunlight perfection; the enticing flavour of food-energy. The think-sleeping Brethren rejoiced at this time, just as they did at sunset. Outside in the glory of a new, fierce star they could breakfast on fresh UV energy and tackle much greater, more complex issues in The Web. For now, Weethis worked faithfully at his task, blazing equations and concepts through his mind-body. A new set of complications were impacting The Web; an ancient tangle erupting recently into full-scale disturbances. Weethis had sleep-solved this eruption for several days and had already discovered the cure. Today he knew, however, that the problem was approaching tangibly – soon it would be upon the Brethren. Puzzles could be comforting to glowsnakes; the rejuvenation and re-stocking of intellectual faculties. Always there, like the steady drip-drip of underground cave waters, they were liquid trees reverberating against cold stone as if felled by some unseen woodsman. This puzzle was different. And sinister.

As darkness began to fade, Weethis saw that part of the solution would also visit his world this rev, pursuing the problem; he could see some names – Imari – a drifting spirit caught in a pink candy floss cloud with one other called Mirek. Those clouds whispered, chanted, and billowed around their world like scarlet-pink foam – two spirits carrying a message of danger. Soon the cause of that danger would be here, and those chasing that cause, even two of the cloud-beings themselves; strange these cloud beings knew nothing of their own cloud-spirits. And then there was one named Rilmuta, yet to be born, though Weethis understood its name in the language of its people: child-of-fair-places. And he understood how important the Rilmuta entity could also be in disentangling Kalmek’s Web. The Mirek will soon dream with us, the glow-snake thought to itself.

Lekra, for want of a better name, saw the cave up ahead; it would do. A place to ambush her Kolda-rian pursuers, and hopefully kill them all. Maybe if she was lucky she could even steal their Aldebaran. She knew about their decoys and their pretended defeat. She knew about the stinger tag that sabotaged her knifestar. In her rage she had killed her five Glane accomplices Harsig, Chorm, Gengorth, Dorthral and Shelkag for their incompetence in neither blocking the tag nor repairing its effects, thus allowing it to further cripple her knifestar. What a prize her pursuers’ Aldebaran would make back home on Gelaymer. She could be the first Espionage Assassin to capture and return home with some accursed Galaxymbion technology. Imagine what her people could do with that machine; the advances in travel, weaponry, what it could tell them about seemingly invincible Galaxymbion defence systems, Galaxymbion energy sources, and that wretched ‘shell-matrix’ treatment that made everything of theirs almost indestructible. She would become the greatest assassin and warrior in Glane history. With these delusional thoughts coursing through her mind she took up a vantage point near the cave entrance.

Hiding herself amongst large boulders she set up her compact foldaway plasma crossbow, primed the explosive darts and yearned for the opportunity to kill those Kolda-rians. Yes, she would be honoured amongst her kind for her work today. Her palm-tracker showed six pursuers; not too bad odds, and she had no desire to leave survivors. Setting her darts to maximum yield she pointed the crossbow and waited for the Kolda-rians to present themselves as targets; during her three clandestine orbits on Octaladon she had endured their culture too much – handed down second-hand by their Octaladonian followers. What was it they always said during any crisis? ‘Stormy waters are powerful, cliff-rocks even stronger. Yet above both the sky lives longer’. Damn Kolda-ra and the Galaxymbion philosophy. Ah, they appear. She thought of her own poetry; Just a little closer to Syhe and All of you will die.

Five moons had buried themselves beneath the horizon, whilst a brilliant blue type ‘A’ sun floated upwards from its nocturnal hiding place. Ultra-violet shards pierced the cave entrance, forming huge shadows against its far walls. Coarse vegetation bathed in the intensifying light; strange, bulbous tubers specifically evolved to filter out dangerous UV rays. Little survived outside in the arid plains and deserts of Kytonia Prime, though Lekra enjoyed its similarity to Gelaymer. Plants on both worlds had thick oily-white flesh containing heavy, resinous syrups that were extremely water-retentive, and they had micro-pores that were semi-permeable to absorb moisture overnight and prevent its loss during the day. There was a sort of yellow rock vine nearby, and blue-green rubber-moss almost everywhere.

The air roared viciously on this fascinating world, teaching plants to grow short with vast root complexes for anchors. Rocks were orange-grey in hue, or greenish-gold, and dyed even stranger colours by mauve, cloudless skies. Not enough moisture for many cloud formations, so the rocks bled fruity gum resins that prevented cracking, a unique feature that caused its previous visitors to conclude that the rocks may have been extrusions of living entities, though no conclusive scientific evidence existed for that hypothesis. Kytonia was a largely unexplored wilderness without regular visitors; a few decades ago a Kolda-rian science vessel had entered orbit and sent probes to analyse the geology and flora; when the probes returned their data it was deemed safe for people to explore the biosphere wearing UV protective suits. Until today no ‘unprotected’ beings had trodden this world’s parched soil.

Lekra earnestly took aim as the Kolda-rians began climbing sandy moss-covered blue ground leading to the caves. Several plasma fusion beams exploded amongst the Aldebaran crew, scattering them and shattering rock. Burnt moss flew in various directions. Their uniform protective shields held, and Lekra knew that she would need to use poison-tipped hand weapons to take them down. She was about to retrieve her magazine of darts when she became aware of movement just behind her.

Weethis was alert; the one who hides at the Great Cave’s entrance was the threat and had already hurt several young rock-dwellers and rubber-moss colonies. That was unforgivable and could not be tolerated. Joined by The Brethren he tried to take control of the Lekra’s mind even though her aggression was painful to his kind. Instead, several of The Brethren wrapped themselves around her leather clad limbs, discharging mild electricity across her skin. She would not expectorate any further evils today.

Detaching themselves from this abomination, the five Brethren who had immobilised her took up a hovering position nearby. Even separated from her they could feel the sickening flavour of her mind, whilst she writhed about pathetically on the soft ground, unable to coordinate her muscles or nerves. Weethis and seven other Brethren floated out across the air in front of the caves. He could sense no severe pain amongst the Kolda-rians except for the individual named Mirek Taro, who appeared to have a badly injured leg, and that one’s consort Imari. Her pain was of emotional concern for the Mirek individual. However, there was about both Taros some strange anachronism that the Brethren found to be purposeful and instructive, especially in relation to The New Puzzle. He waited for these Kolda-rians to collect themselves after their ambush; the Mirek was treating his wound, but his thoughts were clear. He knew the Brethren. He had visited them before.

Imari finished checking her own field kit and touched her husband gently on his right shoulder. “Your wound troubles you, yet its damage is not extensive. Perhaps I should scan your leg again?”

“Not the wound and not the leg, though it does hurt. We are being watched. Have you not noticed their thoughts?”

“Whose thoughts, my love? Are we not alone on this world, except for the fugitive assassin and her associates?”

“There are others, over there near the caves where Lekra went. I sense them; hundreds of powerful minds linked together in a vast network.”

“I sense nothing and see nothing. There is too much dust in the air around us, and this world is recorded as uninhabited except by simple plant life. Perhaps I should scan your head for injury?”

“Very funny. I am going over to the caves.”

“Only if I deem it safe”, I stated sufficiently loudly that my team could all hear. “Nobody goes anywhere if they can be another target. Can you walk, Mirek?”

“Yes, Captain Lantt.”

“Fine. Garin, help our young pilot. We’ll head for those rocks to our left and make our way to the caves via the long route.”

“Captain, The Brethren have neutralised Lekra. There is no danger.”

“Apologies, Captain, my husband appears to have received a head injury, though the scanner shows nothing.”

“Knock it off, Imari. It is safe to continue to those caves in the open. Look, you can see The Brethren now; those slim blue glows hovering in mid-air, approaching us.”

I squinted where Mirek pointed, in the direction of that cave entrance, though the powerful UV sunrise made it difficult to see anything. “What are you sensing, Mirek? I can see nothing, even with the UV filter of my suit shield.”

“They are broadcasting, Captain. Strongly, too. Perhaps I am the only one that can ‘hear’ them. You could scan in that direction.”

Intrigued by my pilot’s claim I lifted my scanner and saw only stray UV signatures. “Whatever you sense, my friend, our sensors don’t…………………….” My crew heard it also, for they too focused in the direction of the caves. Ghostlike chords, melodic apparitions rippling through space and time, sending shivers up our spines even in the searing Kytonian heat. It was not only a beautiful, ethereal fugue that stopped us in our tracks; the dust cleared now and we could all see the luminous serpentine beings floating towards us. The sound ceased abruptly as these surreal creatures held motionless near us, yet a comfortable distance away. There were about thirty apparitions before us, all quite eyeless - though it felt as if they were staring.

“You are of the Alarni’i” a disembodied voice resonated from one – possibly all – of those eerie, hovering phantoms.

“Who asks?” I ventured.

A single blue glow floated forward until just an arm’s length away. I could not say if it was looking at me, for its head was featureless, however it could certainly sense and interact with its environment. “I am Weethis; we are The Brethren. You are Emrikan Lantt of Kolda-ra. We meet you with interest; it is new for us, though your kind have been here before. Why do you tread upon our world?”

“We tracked an assassin here following an attack against our world and a visitor. Do you know the whereabouts of that assassin?”

“You refer to the Glane; a vile life. It is incapacitated near our Great cave’s entrance. Follow us and you will see. Now Weethis has questions for you. Why do you tread on our soil?” The serpentine turned and floated slowly back to their Great cave, my crew following carefully at a slight distance.

“I already answered that, Weethis; an assassin called Lekra tried to murder an Ambassador on a diplomatic mission to our world. We followed her here to your planet to intercept her, however we apologise for the intrusion. Why do you think she is a Glane?”

“Know, not think. She is of that cursed world, altered biochemically to appear Octaladonian. Her thoughts are foul, her mind poison and her deeds matching; The Brethren knows of the incidents surrounding her.”

“Glanes do not yet possess advanced technology to alter their own biochemistry; I do not understand how she could appear Octaladonian sufficiently well to fool our Sensormesh systems. You seem to know rather a lot about this, Weethis. Are you able to leave Kytonia and visit us, and if so why have you not introduced yourselves previously?”

“Glanes will possess such technology, in a future almost five hundred more of your orbits ahead. Whilst The Brethren can go anywhere, we do not need to in order for learning; our minds touch the Web of Kalmek through which all knowledge is possible. And you bring knowledge of your world here each time you visit. Your thoughts are quite transparent to us.”

“Each time? This is only the second time that Kolda-rians have been to Kytonia and when we first came we did not find – YOU. Your words puzzle me, Weethis of The Brethren. You know that Lekra is of Glane, not Octaladon, and of the future not the present. How can this be?”

We stopped at the Great cave entrance. Sure enough, Lekra was rather weakly squirming in the sand, encased in some form of crackling blue energy lattice.

“Weethis sees all; what is true is spoken. Here is your assassin, incapacitated as we said. She is Syhe Alderhin of Glane; four hundred and ninety-five Kolda-rian orbits from now her species will know how to adjust their internal chemistry to appear as others. They will turn this to their advantage and distribute spies and assassins amongst those worlds you call emergent; there they will wreak havoc and put in place the seeds to destroy your Galaxymbion across time and space.”

“They will be able to travel backward in time? How can this be possible for such a primitive species? Can you help us locate other assassins before they can cause any harm?”

“We will not tinker with temporal warfare, Emrikan Lantt. Already, The Puzzle is; it must be sealed, not worsened. You bring a part of that solution; the colleagues you call Mirek and Imari Taro. And knowledge of one other we seek – also of your Cloud Nivas – Rilmuta Skane.”

“What do you know of Rilmuta Skane, Weethis? We have visited you only twice and Rilmuta Skane does not exist.”

“We know Mirek Taro and Rilmuta Skane well, from many visits throughout all time. They have and will appear to us in our sleeping as clouds, talking to us. Long conversations, for a time they are almost part of the Web of Kalmek, and then they return to Kolda-ra because they deplete. Do you not travel as Suntears, even though you are also of the Alarni’i?”

“That is only a legend among my people”, I responded. “It is more than twenty millennia old and known from historic mythology. How do you experience Nivas from Alarni’i fable?”

“We experience most things that are held within other’s thoughts, one who stands here innocently. The Mirek and the Rilmuta will often journey here in the form of cloud-beings. Nivas, as you term them. Their thoughts are clear and so is their existence, even though The Rilmuta cloud is born of your world’s future and its past. It means only as much as these words mean and is difficult to explain such concepts within the restrictions of any language. We could transfer thoughts and ideas direct as is the way amongst ourselves. You may find it easier to understand how history and future intersect with the present.”

Garin, driven by special scientific enthusiasm, spoke up before I could say anything to Weethis. “I volunteer for such thought transference. I have a higher than average psi-rating so it should be easier.”

“Yet it was Mirek who first noted The Brethren’s presence. Kolda-rians can telepathise, Weethis, but I need to know that what you propose is safe. Have you ever communicated directly with a Kolda-rian before?”

“As stated, with your Mirek and Rilmuta. There is no harm to your kind in this process. We see everything in mathematical progressions and we speak accordingly, through the Web of Kalmek. Our view of the universe is one of total precision, the build-up of equationary sequences.”

“You said that Mirek and Rilmuta visit you as Suntears – as Nivas. Such phenomena are non-corporeal. There may be less risk in telepathy with non-corporeal Nivas. I must be certain that Garin, or any other of my crew, will be safe. How do I know that you – The Brethren – can properly control this interaction?”

“Your doubts are understandable, Captain Lantt. Perhaps a demonstration; the creature that called itself Lekra when posing as an Octaladonian is, as we told you, a Glane called Syhe Alderhin. Her biochemical alterations can be reversed; I will show you.”

A look of panic glazed over the eyes of the still-writhing assassin, and she started a sequence of shrill screams even before anything had happened to her. My look of concern was answered instantly, not by a disembodied sound from Weethis, but by a direct thought transference. ‘She is not in real pain, though she may feel considerable discomfort soon. We will do our best to return her physiology quickly and without suffering.’ I wondered if we really needed this demonstration by Weethis, since he could obviously send direct thoughts to me without it causing me any harm.

Syhe Alderhin / Lekra, once encased in blue paralysing lightning, now disappeared in a cloud of blue light amid hideous snarls, then it was over in a moment and there in front of us was very definitely a Glane female. The hatred in her red eyes seemed to have doubled during her transformation. She spat black acid at the nearest Brethren and missed thankfully; rock sizzled where her phlegm struck. “What have you done to me? I cannot return to Octaladon now, you disgusting blue worms. Blood in streams our sabres search, driven into our enemies, our hearts hard as tungsten plunge our souls against our foes, and all of you shall perish before us.” The assassin, whilst still encased in blue lightning, seemed able to manoeuvre a bit more in her true form. She edged forward clumsily, clambering over stones already baking hot from Kytonia’s unrelenting sun.

“Charming creature,” Weethis observed, and if he had a face it would have been smiling ironically also. “So, Emrikan, you see how she really is, and we have made it impossible for her future species to disguise her again. The Brethren is pleased that you will remove her from our world. Now, is the Mirek ready for direct communication? No disrespect to you, one called Garin.”

Garin shrugged an okay so I looked at Mirek and he nodded his consent, then stepped forward with difficulty. Weethis floated to him to begin direct thought-conversation, so another glow-snake took its place at my side. “I am Xexan” it announced in disembodied voice. “Do you mind if I and Heshee talk to you? We have not spoken to outsiders before.”

“Fine. I would tell you my name though you probably know it already. You all read minds, I presume?”

“We all know as each other in the Web of Kalmek; so Weethis knows, so I know and so Heshee knows, so Weethis knows. There is no dark corner in The Brethren, therefore we will ask first before trespassing. Do you like our world, Kolda-rian?”

“Yes, though its atmosphere is a little harsh and we need field suits with protective shields. My name is Emrikan Lantt. Are The Brethren the only animal life on Kytonia?”

From both glowsnakes I noticed a strong sensation of amusement, their way of laughing. “Do you not see the others? The rubber-moss has consciousness, as do these mind-stones; we are not truly animals. Kytonia has a unique habitat in its sun’s care and we are thirdlife – temporal ergoforms. The body is unimportant for us; it is chosen to gather ultraviolet food more easily.”

Behind us Syhe Alderhin was reaching down to her boots with great difficulty in her lightning prison; unnoticed she managed to retrieve a device. On pressing a button, it emitted a brief green pulse and the lightning collapsed. She made a lunge for the nearest Kolda-rian, Mirek, and managed to get her hands around his throat; thorns on her black skin dug into Mirek’s neck and he fell to the ground. Weethis and two other glowsnakes immediately fired blue lightning at her, yet she would not release her victim. It was impossible for me to get a clear shot at her without hitting my pilot. Waon, a particularly large glow-snake, glided forward and wrapped himself around Syhe Alderhin’s neck, squeezing her throat as she squeezed Mirek’s. She stumbled backward, releasing our pilot, striking her head on a rock as she fell. Waon uncurled and floated away from her, apparently injured, whilst Mirek gasped in agony.

“The acidic poison in her blood will kill them both,” Imari said to Weethis. “We don’t have enough antidote to halt this quickly.” Weethis and nine other glowsnakes huddled together in mid-air, apparently in urgent conference, at this announcement.

“It is true,” he replied. “We can save them though; please stand aside.” More and more glowsnakes glided out of the caves, surrounding Waon and Mirek. We did not fully understand what was happening; faith and the sincere reassurances of the glowsnakes made us feel that they would rescue and preserve the life of our young pilot. Imari could only watch on in anguish for her husband’s fate.