E:A Vol 1 Ch 4—May 2, 2115

“Thank you for coming, Doctor,” Harb said. “I know you must be very busy.”

“It’s not a problem,” Victoria said as she tended to Harb’s young daughter who had been feverish since breaking a leg two days earlier.

“Who set the bone?” she asked as she examined the leg.

“Healer Danai. Is something wrong with what she did?”

“No. She did a good job,” Victoria replied as her hand-held scanner checked the injury. “Clean break, good set. It should heal nicely. I’ll put one of our casts on to keep it more stable. No sign of infection on this leg. Gonna have to look around a bit more.” After further examination, Victoria found a small, nearly unnoticeable cut on her other leg that had gone untreated and had become infected. “Nothing serious,” she said, “I just need to clean it up and give you some medicine and everything will be fine.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” Harb replied.

Victoria finished up, put her things in her medical kit then into her backpack and began her walk to the bridge portal a half-mile away. When she was within a hundred yards of it, two jets buzzed overhead then circled to land. They were followed by two more. She immediately dove to the ground and began to crawl towards the edge of the woods. At the tree line she felt a boot make contact with her stomach and she heard an audible crunching noise. She hoped it was his foot, but she felt it in her ribs. Another kick flipped her onto her back. Gyhan again. She went to kick him as he reached for his gun, but to her surprise the man went flying through the air to her right.

“You do tend to keep appearing at the most inopportune times,” the deep, gravelly voice said.

“I have to warn the village,” she said struggling to her feet.

A strong hand reached out and lifted to her feet in one swift movement. Then his body jerked as bullets began to riddle his back. “Run,” he said, then turned to face the attackers.

Victoria ducked into the woods and watched as the Nix was able to catch the closest of the three Gyhan and use one hand to drain the human of his life in order to heal his own wounds. When she was sure the Gyhan were focused on the Nix she ran to the village, as best as she could, limping and holding her injured side. A few stragglers were still above ground, but were heading for their shelters where the others had already taken cover. “Everyone safe?” she asked, shooing the rest of them to get to their shelters. “It’s Gyhan, not Nix. Go!” After the last of them were safe inside their shelters, she caught her breath and headed back towards the bridge portal, this time more slowly.

The four jets were still there but this time there were five Nix, the one who had saved her plus four others. The Gyhan all appeared to be dead on the field. She went back to the tree line and skirted the Nix on her way to the portal. When she was close to the bridge, she hid herself behind a large tree to wait for the Nix to leave.

She heard the jets fire up, so she took a peek and watched them lift off.

“You should not breathe so hard when trying to hide,” the voice came from behind her. “My men could hear it.”

She turned and looked up at the towering figure. “Really?”

A hand was offered and despite the currently closed area in the palm that was deadly to her if opened, she took it and got to her feet.

“Are you unharmed, Dr. Victoria Carson?”

“Yes, well, I’ll have a few bruises in the morning, but I’m fine, thank you, again. And Victoria is fine. No need for formality.”

“You are welcome…Victoria.”

She reached over and put her fingers on his chest where blood remained from his bullet wounds. “Are you okay? Here, I can help,” she said reaching for her medical kit.

“The wounds are healed.”

“Really? You took quite a few bullets. Are you sure you’re okay?

“I am quite fine.”

“Amazing,” she said. “I’d love to learn more about how you are able to do this. The help it could be to so many people.”

“People who are trying to kill me.” He paused for a moment and looked around before returning his attention to Victoria. “Have your people stay away from Gahash. I believe that is where the Gyhan are going to attack next.”

“How are they getting your jets?”

There was a deep, frustrated, growling groan emitting from his throat. “That is still a mystery, Dr. Victoria Carson. One that I am not pleased to have remained so for this long. You should return to your expedition.”

“Can’t I at least get your name this time?” She frowned, “Please?”

“You may address me as Commander.”

“Commander? Your rank?”

“I am the Supreme Commander of the Raythian Spacefleet and Army. We are Rayth, not Nix as the humans have called us.”

“Wraith?” she asked, but he spelled it for her, knowing the English word. Though each race of people they’d met had their own dialect, she was surprised that all of them spoke English. Again, pointing to a theory that the ancient Mythicans may have originated from Earth. She held out her hand, “Pleased to meet you Supreme Commander. And thank you for saving my life. Again.”

The Commander shook her offered hand. “Not many are so willing to shake the hand of a Rayth,” he said after the shake. He held it up and allowed her to see, only briefly, the small area in the palm that would act like a suction cup when placed on a person to suck their energy out of them.

“If you wanted me dead, that would have happened months ago,” she said, having hoped she could study the hand in detail. “My people know of your kindness to me. Hopefully they won’t judge your people as harshly as they have since we arrived here.”

“We must feed. Just as you must. As I told you before, we have no choice.”

“If you’d work with us, we might find a way to change what you have to feed upon.”

“Some day.” The Commander took a step back. “I must return to my ship now, but I would like to discuss this further.”

“How can I contact you?”

“Goodbye Dr. Victoria Carson.” He touched an item on his wrist and the air shimmered around him as he disappeared.

Victoria went to the bridge portal, entered the code for Terra 2, and crossed from one world to another in two steps.

“You’re overdue, Dr. Carson,” Gen. Cavanaugh said as Victoria appeared on the Terra 2 side of the bridge in the control room from his office up the side steps to the right of the bridge.

“Gyhan again,” she replied. “I have more information.”

“Understood,” Vince said then turned to one of the crew manning the control room, “get the Alpha Team as well as Kaven. Conference room, twenty minutes.” He turned back to Victoria, “Should Dr. McKenna be present?”

“Yes, sir.”

Victoria went to her chambers to drop off her pack and take a quick shower before going to the conference room. When she returned, she told them everything.

“Well, now we know they can teleport and that explains why we didn’t find another jet when we encountered him on Elgolia,” John said. “This is turning more and more into Star Trek. Beam me up!”

“And Victoria’s friend is the Supreme Commander,” Chris nudged her, “Well, I guess if there’s a Nix…er…Rayth we can have on our side, might as well be at the top. Good job, Doc.”

“We can’t say he’s on our side,” John warned, immediately dropping the humorous thought of their expedition turning into more of a Star Trek episode. “He’s helped Dr. Carson, but I’m not so sure he’d help any of us.”

Becket noticed Victoria’s wince when Chris nudged her but didn’t say anything until they were out of the meeting. “We need to make a short trip to the infirmary. Did the Supreme Commander do this to you?” he asked, gently tapping her side.

“No. Gyhan did. And it’s nothing. I’ll just be sore tomorrow.”

“A quick scan isn’t going to hurt you,” he replied as they entered the infirmary. He pointed to the scanning bed, “You know what to do.”

She rolled her eyes and walked over to it. “I should just make this my bed, I’m on it enough these days.”

“More than anyone else here, but not as often as you think. Okay, lay back and take a quick nap.” Victoria rested back and Becket went to the control panel. “Be still.”

“So picky,” she said as she made sure she was in the correct position.

“May I ask you a personal question?” Becket said as he began the scan.

“Of course.”

“Are you enamored with this Nix?”

“Enamored? No. Intrigued, definitely. And it’s Rayth.”

“Looks like you have a broken rib, my dear. You’re moving again, hold still.”

“Do you really think I’m enamored with him? And it’s hard to hold still when you want me to talk.”

“Your hands are fidgeting. And perhaps enamored was the wrong word. But you have admitted that he’s always in your thoughts. Intrigue is one thing, but this is almost an obsession.”

“I feel safe when I see him.”

“You’ve only seen him three times.”

“Maybe it’s because he’s saved my life twice out of those three encounters.” She sighed, “Okay, I don’t know what I feel about him. So let’s make sure he’s not in my head…again. Maybe we’ve overlooked something and he’s trying to use me to get here to Terra 2.” Tears streamed out of her eyes, more from the pain of the broken rib than the fear rising within her. “I’m not sure I’m thinking clearly. I don’t obsess over things. I…if he is in my head, I could be a danger to this expedition and Vince would have to send me back to Earth and Jason would find me. I can’t deal with that, Becket. I can’t.”

“Don’t worry, love,” soothed Becket’s Scottish accent, “we’ll make sure there’s nothing wrong. Of course, that means more scans.” She nodded as he came over to help her sit up. “Let me bandage you up, keep that rib stable.”

Victoria wrapped her arms around his neck and suddenly began weeping uncontrollably. “What if is he in my head? How do we stop it? What’s he want from me? We have to stop him from getting in my head. I can’t go back to Earth.”

“Hey, hey, it’s all right. We haven’t found any signs of him tampering with your mind. And, as I’ve said before, that first encounter was pretty traumatic. This one was as well. I’m going to take you off active duty for a while. At least no more going off-world.”

She rested her head on his shoulder, still crying. “Am I that bad? Vince will think…”

“No. You’re just tired and stressed. Physically, you need to let this rib heal up properly. I also think you shouldn’t be going out alone any more, none of us should, really. If this Rayth can somehow track you, and if, and that’s a big if, he’s in your head and in some way using you, I don’t want you facing him alone.”

She nodded, finally quieting. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Now can I get those ribs wrapped?”

“Yes, doctor.”

May 23, 2115

“From what we’ve found, there’s a very complex computer virus that seems to be, for lack of a better term, learning and growing,” Chief Technology Engineer, Dr. Simon Harris, said in sunlit conference room that was becoming stifling hot due to the lack of air conditioning.

“How did this happen, Simon?” Vince Cavanaugh asked, frustrated.

“Looking into it, sir, nothing yet,” Simon answered. “I’ve got my entire team on it. We found the virus, we’re working on a solution. Thought that was the top priority. Finding out how it happened will probably be resolved after we fix the thing.”

“It’s been two weeks. I need the control room up and running, asap.” Vince replied as he slammed his fist on the conference table. “You’re supposed to be Earth’s best and you can’t catch a simple computer virus?”

“It’s no simple virus. I know we need things up and running. Gen. Cavanaugh, this is unlike anything I’ve ever seen, like you said, I’m the best and it took me five days to even find the problem. This isn’t going to be easy to get out of the system. I’m dealing with our own computer interface, which is in danger of becoming infected, as well as this Mythican system we’re tapped into, which none of us has really had time to translate properly nor learn how to use. It’s gonna take time.”

“Figure it out, then make sure it doesn’t happen again. Hagen, take your team to Elgolia, see if they have anything or anyone who can help.”

“I don’t think they’re that technologically advanced,” Chris said. “Their computers are, like Simon said after our first trip there, nothing more than glorified calculators. The Gyhan, perhaps, but we can’t even trust those we think we can trust.”

“What about the Rayth?” Victoria asked.

“I am not letting one of those things in this city,” Col. Hagen replied.

Vince held up his hand to quiet him. “Do you think you could contact that Supreme Commander?” he asked Victoria.

“Not directly,” Victoria said, “but maybe we can find a way to. We know he tracks the Gyhan rebels. We have a few ideas where they may hit next. I know our teams have been plotting movements and trying to find a pattern right?”

Vince turned back to John, “Hagen, make a best guess. Go in. Don’t engage the Gyhan until they get too close. I don’t want any town in danger from them, but the priority is to make contact with the Rayth Commander and keep Victoria safe.”

“I don’t like the idea of bringing him back here. This is a bad idea,” John reiterated.

“We can’t go much longer without getting things back online. And I don’t want to risk our own systems becoming infected and possibly being transferred to Earth’s systems when we bridge transmissions each week. Simon, get an isolated computer set up for the Rayth to use, if we are able to contact him, and if he or one of his people can help. I’ll see to getting guards set up. Victoria, you up to this?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Get it done, people. Dismissed.”

As they left the conference room, Becket pulled her aside, “You sure you’re up to this?”

“If the Rayth have the ability to help us get back online, we have to try. We’ve been lucky so far with no serious injuries coming into the infirmary. Two weeks without electricity is hard for the three hundred people on Terra 2.”

“I know, but Simon and his team will figure it out.”

“But when?” She squeezed his arm. “I’ll be fine. The team will be with me. Besides, it would be another opportunity to press him to work with us so we can find an alternative food supply for them.”

“I’m not sure we could convince him.”

“He’s said that feeding on humans wasn’t what he wanted—that this war wasn’t what he wanted. We need to convince him that we can work together to figure something out. Like Chris said, if we can get the Supreme Commander of the Raythian Army on our side, there’s no telling what we can accomplish. We could end this war.”

Becket ran his fingers through his hair as he sighed, “It’s a tall order, but you’re right, if we can do anything to stop this madness, we have to try.”

May 25, 2115

The Alpha Team and a dozen Marines crossed over the bridge portal and headed toward the village. “How long are we staying, sir?” one of the Marines asked.

“A day. I had Vince send teams to a few of the other sites we think they may hit. Much harder when you don’t know even a millionth of the planets and villages in the galaxy. Galaxy. Still hard to get my head around. Anyway, if Victoria’s Supreme Commander shows up somewhere else, we’ll bridge over,” John said.

“Don’t think that’s going to be necessary, sir,” Be’atta said. “I hear jets.”

Major Chapman grabbed Victoria’s arm, “Stay with me. Come on.”

She nodded and followed him to the trees. Chris made sure she was in a good hiding spot while he took up a covering position.

“Any sign of a Rayth mothership or something?” Hagen asked over their communications units: comlinks. All replies were negative.

“Sir, we’ve never seen or heard a larger ship when he’s shown up. Remember he can teleport,” Chris said.

“Acknowledged. Keep her safe.”

“Will do.”

“Gyhan in Rayth jets,” a Marine said. “Sir, do we take them out?”

“No. Don’t attack unless you have to and when you do, just wound them. If Rayth show up, I want them to feast on the Gyhan not us.”

There were a dozen jets in all, and as the Gyhan got out of them and started making their way to the village, John waited until they were dangerously close before he ordered his team to fire. The Gyhan began to fall to the ground from the bullet wounds to their legs. And after several minutes, there was still no sign of the Rayth.

“It’s because you guys are here,” Victoria said.

“He’ll come for his jets,” John replied over the comlink.

“Sir, pull the men back, let me go out there alone,” Victoria said.

“Not gonna happen, Doc.”

Chris turned just as the Supreme Commander appeared behind him. The sound of Chris’ gun coming up caught Victoria’s attention. She turned her head. “Commander,” she exclaimed, as he grabbed Chris’s neck with one quick move and placed a hand on his chest, ready to deplete him of his energy, his life force, “we need your help.”

Victoria stumbled to her feet, reaching out to the Supreme Commander.

“Please, no, don’t hurt him,” she said, “Commander, we need your help. Please, Chris is a friend of mine, don’t hurt him.”

The Commander let out something of a cross between a groan and a growl, but he released the major.

Victoria asked Chris to lower his weapon, “He’s not going to hurt me, and it sends a bad impression to hold a gun on him when we need his help.”

Chris did as she asked, then the Commander pulled Victoria into his arms and disappeared as the air around them seemed to bend and warp. Chris immediately reported to the team and was chiding himself for lowering his weapon.

***

Victoria looked around, “Where are we?” Then her eyes caught several Rayth looking at her. The Commander said something in his own language causing the men to go back to their stations while he grabbed Victoria by her upper arm, dragging her through the darkened hallway and into what appeared to be something like an office.

“Forgive me for being a bit rough. I needed my men to think you were a captive,” he said to her after the door closed. “What help do you need?”

“Our computer system has been infected by a virus.” She shook her head, unsure of whether or not he understood, “The system’s been infected by a program that…”

“I understand what you mean,” he said.

“Ah, well, we’ve uh, been out of commission for two weeks. No electricity, nothing. From what I understand, my people don’t know enough of the ancient Mythican language, if that’s what it is, we’re still learning…anyway, we haven’t translated enough of the language in order to fix the problem. I thought maybe you had someone who could help us. The Rayth are the only ones we know who have technology as advanced as ours, or more so, actually, and I thought you might know Mythican as well since you seem to know English rather fluently.”

“Your people do not trust me.”

“I trust you,” she replied, “and they trust me. Please, can you help us?”

“Perhaps. And if I do, what is in it for my people?”

“That would be up to General Cavanaugh to work out with you. He’s our expedition leader. But once we’re back online, Dr. McKenna and I can show you the work we’ve done in trying to find a way to restart your digestive system. And we’d really like to work with you to find an alternative food supply. We want to help stop this war between Rayth and humans. Seems to me the only reason you’re at war is because your digestive system doesn’t work. Me and Dr. McKenna both have backgrounds in areas that might help. We’ve got a good start. I…we don’t really have anything else to offer and…”

He cut her off with a wave of his hand. “Very well. I will send you back to the planet’s surface. Have your people return to your city so that my men can retrieve the jets. Once my men are safe, I will teleport down and you shall take me to your city.”

Victoria nodded, “Thank you.”

The Commander walked over to his desk and pulled a small object out of a drawer then handed it to her. “Keep this. It is a subspace tracking device. Should you need me in the future, just push the green button. I may not come immediately, or at all. But it will prevent you from putting yourself in harm’s way to contact me.”

Victoria gripped the item tightly as she disappeared from the Commander’s quarters.

Once she was back on the planet’s surface, her comlink began working again and she let the team know what had happened.

“I’m not leaving you here alone,” John replied.

“He doesn’t want any of you here when he comes back down,” Victoria said. “Sir, with all due respect, he could have taken off with me as a prisoner. I was on his ship, at least that’s where I think I was. I don’t think he’s going to do anything when you guys go back to Terra 2.”

John let out a groan but relented and sent his team back over the bridge. When the last of them was gone, Victoria saw a patch of air shimmer and bend. The Rayth warriors ignored her and went to the jets. “Shall we?” she heard the gravelly voice ask from behind her.

She turned and nodded and asked him to turn his back while she punched in the code. He did so. They walked across the bridge into the control room where only the sun from the adjacent areas and a few battery powered lights lit the room. The sound of a couple dozen guns moving into position filled their ears. Victoria was grabbed and pulled aside.

“Get the chains on him,” Col. Hagen ordered.

“No!” Victoria shouted, “Sir, he came here to help us.” The Commander’s silver eyes locked on Victoria, “I’m sorry,” she said, “I didn’t know.” Then the last chain was secured. The Rayth’s arms were chained to his waist so that his hands couldn’t reach the chests of the humans.

Victoria heard John giving orders to take him to a cell. His men obeyed and shoved the Supreme Commander the way they wanted him to go. Victoria turned but continued to glance down the hall where John and his men were pushing and shoving at the Commander. She turned back and found Vince, “You can’t do this to him. He came of his own free will. We need his help. You know we do.”

“I need answers that only he has. Those things are monsters and they kill humans, don’t forget that Dr. Carson,” Vince said.

“Sir, they’re not things. They’re not monsters. And they don’t kill humans because they want to.”

“Dr. Carson, with all due respect, that thing has probably been messing with your mind, and most likely planted this virus in our system. For all we know, he could already have his fleet on his way here to destroy this city.”

“Becket said that I wasn’t being influenced by anything telepathic. And why would he destroy this city when there are so many of us for him and his crew to feed on?” She grabbed his arm, “Vince, we’re explorers, not murderers. He’s here to help us. Let him prove to you that he’s not our enemy.”

“I’ve made my decision and that’s the end of this discussion.”

Victoria groaned as she headed to the infirmary to talk to Becket. “Did you know about this?” She asked as she entered, fury in her voice.

“Know about what?”

“They took him prisoner! He comes here to help us and they throw him into chains.”

“No, I didn’t know they were going to do that. Cavanaugh knows I would’ve probably told you.”

“Becket, you know that they don’t have to be an enemy. It’s not their fault that the only thing that sustains them is a human’s energy. By doing what Cavanaugh and Hagen want to do, we’re assuming that there are no other options.”

“This is the problem with a military operation,” Becket said looking into Victoria’s green eyes. “I’ll talk to Vince.”

“Thank you.”

“Until he comes around though, you might try to calm down the Commander. I’m sure he’s pretty steamed right now.”

Victoria made her way through the halls to the prison on what could be considered the basement of the tower. The walls, like the rest of the city, appeared to be made of glass, but it was much stronger and nearly impossible to break through with conventional weapons.

As she walked towards the largest holding area, she sighed. It was full of armed men. Once she passed through the outer door into what was a large room with a small cell in the middle, she again sighed at the number of armed men there.

“Fix the code!” Hagen was shouting. “Do it or die.”

“You intend to kill me anyway,” the Commander replied calmly.

“John, leave him alone.” Victoria said, trying to keep her rage out of her voice. “This wasn’t part of the deal.”

“He’s a Rayth! He’s killed my men!”

“And you’ve killed his,” she replied. “We need his help. And we certainly don’t need every soldier we have guarding this room. Or are you that afraid of him?”

John turned, eyes blazing. “Get out. I’m confining you to quarters.”

“Release him and maybe he’ll help us.”

“He’s going to help us one way or another.”

Victoria looked at the Rayth, standing stone still in the middle of the glass cage. His black jacket nearly touching the floor. His straggly white hair nearly gleaming in the blackness of the room and his silver eyes stayed locked on Colonel John Hagen.

“John, he could have killed Chris. Easily. He let him go. He could have taken me prisoner, but he didn’t. He means us no harm. Let him go.”

“No,” John replied as he turned to leave. He motioned to his soldiers, “No one lets him out without my permission. And you, Mr. Commander, fix the code and I might be inclined to give you a break. At the very least, I won’t have to convict your girlfriend here of treason.”

“What?” Victoria yelled.

After orders as to which soldiers were to stay, the room cleared out. Victoria walked up to the glass cell and put her hand up to the wall. “I’m so sorry. I honestly didn’t know. Dr. McKenna and I will do our best to get you released.”

The Commander didn’t reply, he stood there, unmoving.

Victoria sank to the floor and leaned against the wall. One hand reached into one of the ventilation holes that encircled the cell, one set was foot from the bottom and another a foot from the top. “Why do men have to be so stupid? This could have been a great step toward a dialogue between our people. I’m so sorry, Commander.” She waited for him to say something, anything, but after several silent hours, she fell asleep where she was. She didn’t wake up until morning when Becket came in.

“Hey there,” he said, gently nudging her, “you should go to your quarters, or go get something to eat.”

She looked at him, “What did Vince say?”

“No luck. I kept at him and John all night.” He helped her to her feet and as she looked in the cell, she realized that the Rayth hadn’t moved since the day before. He was still standing stone still in the middle of the room.

“Commander, you should try to rest,” she said pointing to the glass bed, “it’s got to be better than standing.”

“Let him wear himself out,” John said as he strode into the room. “Have you fixed our computer system yet?”

The Commander shifted his blazing gaze to the colonel and let out one of his guttural snarls.

“John, he’s not going to do it no matter how much you threaten him,” Becket said.

“I think both of you need to leave,” John replied. “Victoria, I restricted you to quarters.”

Victoria looked at the Commander, “I’ll be back. Is there anything at all you can eat to sustain you?”

“Give me John Hagen.”

Victoria shook her head, “I meant other than humans. Is there anything at all?”

For the first time since being in the cell, the Commander directed his gaze to Victoria, “There is not.”

“When will you need to feed?” Becket asked.

“It does not matter. John Hagen will not allow it. But he will not kill me until he is sure there is no other option to getting your computer systems back online.”

“Oh, don’t you worry, we’ll get it worked out whether you’re dead or alive. It might help us decide which of those states you’ll be in if you help us out,” John said.

“I was invited as a guest to fix your problem. You chose to take me prisoner. I have not done you or this city any harm in the year you have been here. Yes, John Hagen, I knew about your arrival the day you crossed the bridge. I have kept my men away. If I do not get word to them soon, they will come, and they will come full force. You see, I am the second most powerful man in the Rayth world. Make no mistake, your city will be destroyed if I am not released.”

“Don’t bluff a bluffer.”

“I do not bluff. And I have the resources to back my words.”

“We’ll get you released,” Victoria chimed in, “I’ll do all I can.”

“As will I,” replied Becket. “John, come with me, and leave him alone.”

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