Children of the Aris: Set in The Human Chronicles Universe Read online

  Lila and Panur hung a few inches above the floor, held in place by the anchors. Panur was awake now—which was encouraging—although he didn’t look well. His eyes were vacant, and his normally grey skin was almost white. He barely acknowledged Adam’s presence.

  A small figure in a pressure suit stepped up to Adam. It was the Luz named Garus. Adam found it strange that the immortal creature would be in an environmental suit.

  “If you are wondering, I am alone; my companions are in the cargo freighter monitoring us. Should the explosives be employed, my frozen body will be recovered by my companions, and I will resume my normal life. You will not share the same fate.”

  “I told you, all I want are the mutants. You can have the damn disks.”

  Adam unhooked the satchel and handed it to the alien. Garus placed it on the floor before opening the flap and checking each box to make sure they contained disks.

  “Let’s get on with it!” Adam prodded.

  Garus looked up at him and frowned.

  “Such urgency. The mutant Panur’s condition must be more serious than previously related.” He glanced down in the satchel again before closing the flap and standing up. Satisfied, he set off for the airlock.

  “Wait, what about Lila and Panur?” Adam asked. “Aren’t you going to release them?”

  “They will be released once I am clear of the Dinis star system. When I am, the fields will go off, and the atmosphere in the dome will vent. Although the immortals will not die, their flesh will begin to freeze immediately. It is for that reason I now wear this suit. I prefer not to have my body freeze as I make my way to the dark matter starship.” He looked at Panur. “In addition, I suspect that with the emergency medical procedure you will undoubtedly perform on the mutant, you would prefer him to be thawed at the time. Although you and your offspring have been circumspect about his condition, I know this is not normal and that it is serious. From what I have learned of him, it would be a catastrophe for the scientific community if he were to expire. My colleagues and I have discussed at length whether the teleportation process did this to him. Knowing he was created in a foreign dimension, that was a possibility, even as your offspring did not suffer the same morbidity. Still, our discussions were inconclusive. Now I will leave. Be cognizant of the explosives, Adam Cain. Do nothing until I am clear.”

  “How will I know when you are?”

  “As I said, the fields will go off, and the atmosphere will be vented. Then it will be a race to get your vessels here in time to stave off most of the freezing. Now, I thank you for the return of the Formation to its rightful owners.”

  “What do you intend to do with it?”

  Garus stopped at the airlock, looking back at Adam. “We are going to change history, Adam Cain.”

  “What does that mean?”

  Garus didn’t respond. Instead, he entered the lock and was gone.

  Adam stepped up to the Lerpiniere field; Lila looked down at him, sadness in her eyes.

  “There was no other decision. Once we are freed, and Panur has recovered, we will begin the search for the Formation. As cryptic as the Luz stated purpose for the device might be, I suspect no good will come from it. Now, although your recovery vessels are not allowed to follow the Luz, there was nothing said about not placing them in position for a timely recovery. They can be stationed away from the asteroid until we are freed, making their arrival only minutes away. We must get Panur to Summer as soon as possible and with the least amount of exterior freezing. Garus was correct; he needs to be conscious for the meld to begin.”

  “So, how is he, really?”

  “He is in grave condition. The deterioration has accelerated even beyond the worst-case scenarios. If this transfer had taken place even a day later, I am afraid it would have been too late. He would have been too weak to assist with the extraction. And I can only do so much. Now, bring your ships near. We must be ready to act quickly and decisively when the time comes.”

  Adam coordinated with the ship carrying Summer, changing the recovery parameters to deal with a pair of near-frozen mutants. That wasn’t something he planned on having to do. Now he had a rapid response team in place for the moment the ship touched down on CD-126868.

  Fortunately, dark matter ships are the fastest in the galaxy, and Garus was able to get it away from the Dinis system in record time. Even so, no one dared track the ship's odd energy signature for fear the Luz would detect their efforts. An hour after leaving the planet, the vessel was a ghost, lost among the stars.

  The Lerpiniere field and quantum anchors dissolved simultaneously while a torrent of atmosphere gushed from the shelter. Everything happened within a second or two. Lila and Panur fell to the floor, caught off guard by their sudden release. Lila popped to her feet; Panur remained still on the floor.

  The ship carrying Summer was only ten thousand miles away. Now it sprinted toward CD-126868, landing fourteen minutes after activating its chemical engines in about the same spot as where the DM ship had once sat. The rapid response crew shot from the rear landing bay the moment it touched down, and using air jets in their suits, flew in the micro-gravity to the dome, arriving twenty-seconds after the ship touched down. Adam had the airlock open and waiting for them.

  Lila and Panur were already beginning to suffer the paralyzing effects of the near absolute-zero cold. Lila’s normally bronze skin was ashen, and Panur’s was now pure white. The team raced to them, spreading out a large plastic sheet before moving the mutants to the center. Then using sets of zippers, they began connecting sections until the pair was enclosed in a deflated plastic bag. A worker attached a flexible hose to an outlet, and the contents of a pressure tank began to fill the bubble. Other connections were made, and thin wires along the sphere's inner surface began to heat up. Within a minute, the ball was inflated, pressurized and heating the air.

  It took a few more minutes for Lila to recover enough to where her stiff limbs allowed her to stand. She effortlessly took Panur’s limp body in her arms.

  The crew then set to work cutting away a portion of the dome's exterior wall, a section large enough for the bubble to pass through; the airlock was too small. And then Lila began walking. The crew members accompanied the slowly rolling sphere, keeping it on the ground and on course for the starship. They steered it to the rear loading ramp and helped move it up the shallow grade. The moment everyone was inside, the door closed, and a welcoming atmosphere was pumped into the chamber.

  The ship lifted off even before the landing bay was pressurized, not wanting to stick around if the Luz decided to set off the explosives.

  The moment the light in the landing bay turned green, Adam had a knife out and was slashing at the thick plastic bubble, freeing his daughter. There was no time for greetings. Lila pressed through the opening and fast-walked her cargo from the bay to a room nearby set up as an operating suite. Soon, Panur was laid gently on a table, butting head-to-head with an unconscious Summer Rains. Adam gawked, seeing Summer’s shaved head. She was diminutive as it was. Without hair, she looked like a miniature figurine, a doll instead of a living being.

  Lila leaned over Panur’s white body. His eyes were closed, and his chest still. Adam knew that didn’t mean anything; he didn’t need to breathe to live.

  “Panur, wake up,” Lila spoke close to his ear. No response. “Panur, please. Awaken.”

  “What’s wrong?” Adam asked.

  “He is non-responsive.”

  Lila stripped away the top of Panur’s grey jumpsuit, exposing his featureless chest. Then she reached for a set of standard defibrillation paddles.

  “You’re kidding?” Adam said. “Will that help?”

  “Not in the way you infer. You recall, he feeds on pure energy. This is what he needs.”

  She cranked the dial to one side and waited for the charge signal.

  The zap was incredibly powerful, sounding like a small explosion. Panur’s body arched up and then fell again to the table. Without checking his
vitals, Lila charged the machine again and gave him another jolt.

  Panur lay still.

  Adam could see the panic in his daughter’s eyes. She looked around the room for something more powerful.

  “An energy weapon! Get one for me.”

  Sherri was in the room with them. She now stepped outside, remaining gone for much longer than expected, close to a full minute.

  She raced back into the room, looking frazzled before frantically handing an MK-17 to Lila. She looked at Adam. “There’s never a weapon around when you need one.”

  Adam shrugged.

  Lila dialed the weapon up to level-1, then placed the barrel directly against Panur’s chest. Adam had seen the mutant take dozens of energy bolts in the past. They didn’t hurt him; in fact, to the mutants, they were like crack to an addict. And with enough hits, his body would glow white-hot, keeping everyone away until he cooled down.

  Lila fired all five of the bolts into Panur before the battery pack ran dry. His torso was glowing, and from where he stood, Adam could feel the heat from the mutant’s body.

  “We need another one,” he said to Sherri, who turned away to leave the room again.

  “No, wait!” Lila cried out. “Although this has the potential of working, he cannot gain more heat. Summer’s body will not tolerate it. Her brain would be fried.”

  “Is he coming to?” Sherri asked.

  Lila shook her head. “He is close; I can sense his brainwaves. But he needs more … more.” She stopped at looked at Adam. “Static electricity! He can absorb static electricity without the heat accumulation. Father, I need you to produce a cluster, the biggest ball you have ever made.”

  “Will that work?”

  “There is a chance. As I said, I am linked with his mind. It is weak. It needs only a little more incentive. Please, do as I ask.”

  Adam concentrated, caught up in the fervor of the moment. Sparkling flashes of light appeared before him and continued to grow by the second.

  “More! We need more.”

  Adam’s Artificial Telepathy Device was designed by the mutants, superior to even those built by the Formilians. As such, he had magnitudes more power and could attract an even greater cluster of static electricity from the surrounding air than ever before. Unfortunately, as the ball grew, random bolts of static discharge began to lash out, striking the room's metal walls and connecting with the deck. Every hair on Adam’s body shot outward. Sherri tried to leave the room, but she was met with a brilliant flash of burning light when reaching out for the door handle. She flew through the air, landing on the deck before sliding into a wall. Her hair now splayed out in every direction, giving her the look of a mad witch on Halloween.

  “Are you okay?” Adam asked, temporarily distracted. The ball diminished slightly in intensity.

  “Uh-huh; I think so,” Sherri stammered. Her jaw hung slack, drool draining from the side of her mouth.

  “Father!”

  Adam was jolted back on mission. He concentrated again, building the ball back to its previous glory. And glorious it was. Easily three feet across, it was the largest static electricity ball he’d ever created and with the greatest density. He used more wide-spread clusters to compress air into near-solid objects, which he then used to float on, calling them his magic carpets. But this was different; all this energy was concentrated in one spot.

  And it was hot. Not as hot as level-1 flash bolts, but hot, nonetheless. Adam hoped Lila knew what she was doing. Frying Summer’s brain was not part of the bargain.

  “Now, father,” Lila yelled. “Deliver the charge!”

  Like a wizard in a fantasy story, Adam waved his hands from one side and then the other, manipulating the ball's movement, before finally directing it at Panur’s chest with all the flourish of a master magician. Typically, something this hot and this solid would blast away a target. But with Panur, the massive concentration of electricity was absorbed instantly into his body. His chest heaved up and began to glow white. Even so, the resident heat in the room dropped to a tolerable level.

  Panur had just absorbed an incredible amount of energy. The question now: Would it work?

  Panur moaned, and his eyes flickered open. Adam let out a sigh of relief and went to help a groggy Sherri Valentine to her feet. Her hair had settled down somewhat.

  Lila hovered over Panur, gently stroking his bald head.

  “You are safe. Can you proceed?”

  Panur focused on Lila, and a weak hand reached out toward her. She took it. Panur glanced up at the mirror on the ceiling, giving him a view of the operating arena. His and Summer’s heads were nearly touching.

  He nodded slightly.

  “Give me a moment. I must concentrate.” He closed his eyes again.

  The skin on Panur’s face began to vibrate, losing definition and firmness. It started to move in frenetic waves until the top of his bald head deformed, turning viscus and reaching out toward Summer’s.

  It was creepy and vaguely disgusting, but also necessary. This wasn’t like a Star Trek mind-meld. This melding involved flesh merging with flesh as only a shape-shifting immortal was capable of doing. As Panur had once explained, what made him immortal was the ability for his body to regenerate instantly, producing enough material to rebuild his entire body in a fraction of a second. Yet Panur could also control much of this regeneration, allowing him to form his body into just about any shape as long as the masses were compatible. He could stretch his limbs, absorb gunshot rounds and even mimic other people. He did just that once—becoming a whole second Adam Cain—in a gladiator match with a Nuorean from the Andromeda Galaxy, a battle Adam would have surely lost.

  Now the grey blob that was the top of Panur’s head enveloped Summer’s shaved scalp, covering a full third of it down to her eyebrows. And then the material began to be absorbed, not all of it, but most.

  The meld was underway.

  And that’s when Lila did something unexpected.

  She stepped forward and reached out her hands, placing them into the goo that was the part of Panur’s head now covering Summer’s. Her hands and wrists were soon covered in the same gelatinous grey matter, and her eyes began to roll back in her head.

  Was she becoming part of the mind-meld? A meld-a-trois, Adam wondered? It appeared so.

  “Lila, what—” Adam began.

  “Leave us!” she snapped. “Must concentrate. Take time. Go.”

  He didn’t have to be told twice. He took Sherri by the arm and guided her out of the room.

  No one had thought to use a camera or place the operating suite in a room with a window. Adam stood in the passageway, next to Sherri, Riyad and Monty Pitts, waiting in silence with no idea what was happening in the operating suite. From experience, this could take hours; it had when Panur removed the stray brain cells from Adam’s body, and that was for the relatively few cells Adam had inside him. Summer had a thousand times more. This could take … days.

  CHAPTER 5

  AND DAYS IT DID. Two, to be exact.

  But even after Lila emerged from the room to announce success, it was several hours more before Summer and Panur awoke from their respective comas.

  Summer had a flowery bandana wrapped around her bald head, looking stylish. But her eyes betrayed something else.

  The team was in a conference room aboard the Enforcer starship, heading back to Navarus. They would be arriving in an hour. Panur was present, but he didn’t look as stylish as Summer. He was wrapped in a blanket, still looking weak and frail. It would take time for his recovered brain cells to integrate fully with his body.

  Adam watched the grey mutant, ruminating about what a strange creature he was.

  After being abducted by the Klin, Adam spent many years in the galaxy without witnessing anything he could term supernatural. Sure, there were a lot of things he didn’t understand, but they didn’t rise to the level of being so mysterious as to be in a class of their own, something bordering on magic. That all changed when he
met Panur. Here was something that defied logic and warped the senses. First of all, Panur came from another dimension. By itself, that wasn’t supernatural; the multiverse had been theorized even with Earth’s primitive understanding of nature. But Panur found a way to travel between dimensions. He was also a construct—a mutant—a being created from another using a process that was nothing short of magic. But after Panur explained to Adam how each cell in his body was essentially a brain cell, that was when things got really weird. It also helped explain his genius. Even his big toe was working on a problem at the same time as was his brain. It was a joint effort involving his entire body.

  And now, Adam had even more crazy crap to add to his list of the unexplainable. The Luz, quantum prisons, the Formation. To Adam’s amoeba brain, each appeared to be more magic than science. It was easier for him to accept that conclusion rather than agonize over his inability to understand on that level; very few people could. However, three people who were capable of understanding on a higher level now sat at the table with Adam and the rest of the mortals. It was both a frustrating and humbling experience.

  “You guys have no idea how stupid I feel at the moment,” Summer Rains was saying. “It was like the blind suddenly given the miracle of sight, and then having it ripped away.”

  Adam nodded. “I experienced a little of that myself, but not to the same extent as you.”

  “Did it work?” Monty Pitts asked Panur. “Is she strong enough now to do that extraction thing?”

  Monty was concerned for his daughter; he’d been in agony for several years, ever since J’nae was introduced into Summer’s body.