The Immortal War Read online

  Of course, the other consideration was the alien’s quest for immortality. He had the mutants—including Lila, the Apex Being. His first priority would be to preserve his life through her assimilation. After that, he could take his time assimilating the galaxy. If they were lucky, Kracion would come ill-prepared for a long-and-drawn out fight, just enough to get him to the Aris station. After all, it was less than two weeks ago that the alien even learned there was a way back to the Milky Way. Could he have had time to assemble and equip a fleet, basically from scratch? And the Klin, for their part, would be even less-prepared. With Kracion’s help, they had dominated the lost universe and their new galaxy, with very little resistance that would require the fighting of wars. And war was an acquired skill, which required constant practice to get it right.

  Adam relaxed, letting the logic of the situation sink in. Perhaps Kracion wasn’t the danger to the galaxy he imagined. Even so, he was a threat to Adam’s daughter, as well as his quasi-friend Panur.

  A pang of regret twisted his stomach. If he and the team were successful, then Kracion could be trapped in the lost universe for a very long time, if not for good. That would also leave Lila and Panur there as well. Arieel had agonized over that fact, debating quite vocally with herself and him. Yet she was pragmatic, as was he. Although they may not see their daughter again in their lifetimes, it was a good bet Kracion wouldn’t harm the mutants. They were his ticket to immortality. And he needed to reach the artificial world of the Aris to make that happen.

  Unless he was able to figure out a way to do it in the other universe.

  That was another worry for Adam. Kracion was a genius; eventually he would find a way. So it was to their advantage if Kracion entered the Milky Way sooner, rather than later. That way they could confront him while he was still mortal. It would also give him a chance to rescue Lila.

  Adam fell back against the boulder, looking off in the opposite direction of the facility. Copernicus noticed.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, just fighting some internal conflicts. You know, it’s really hard deciding what to do.”

  “Bullshit,” Coop snapped. “We need to stop Kracion from coming over. I know you’re concerned about Lila, but we have an entire galaxy to consider.”

  “Don’t you think I know that?” Adam barked back.

  “Then act like it, Captain Cain. Do your fucking job.”

  Adam stared into the dark abyss that was Coop’s faceplate. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll do what’s necessary.”

  “Then get your ass back up here. We need to move closer, see if there are any other entrances to the control building. I only know of the one.”

  Adam stood up and leaned on the rock, raising his binoculars, rededicated to the effort. “There has to be a freight entrance. They didn’t bring all the equipment in through the front door.”

  “Good thinking,” Coop said. “That’s more like it. It has to be around the back. Let’s go.”

  7

  Gendius Valin was terrified. Although she was Leadin of the Newfound Galaxy, ruling over eight billion Klin, in addition to the populations of four hundred other worlds, the thin, alien creature before her left her trembling with fear.

  Her experience with the god-being Kracion only went back five days—from the time she ordered his unexpected resurrection from the sacred preservation crypt. It had been a terrible risk, knowing she would suffer his wrath should the purpose not be warranted. Although she’d been subsequently rewarded for her insight and decisiveness, her fear of the temperamental Aris could not be understated. She’d already witnessed the slaying of six of her associates, each for simply not responding to his demands in a timely manner. These had been high-ranking Klin, yet Kracion did not hesitate. He cast powerful streams of white energy from his hands, cooking the tender insides of each of his victims, resulting in excruciatingly painful deaths. Gendius feared she could be next if the god-being was displeased.

  Kracion absorbed pure energy to survive, and yet was able to channel some of that power externally, as a weapon. He also controlled a small army of floating metallic orbs that did his silent bidding. They fed him energy, provided information when needed and even spied on the efforts of the Klin in fulfilling his directives. They could teleport short distances, which made no part of the starship they were aboard off limits to either the orbs or Kracion’s unquenchable desire for control.

  “We will move to the surface, to the alpha generator room,” Kracion announced impatiently. “Set up a survival habitat and bring your most-skilled electrical technicians; they will be needed to carry out my orders. You will be in charge of the repair effort.”

  Gendius and Kracion were aboard the largest of the Klin starships, one which the Aris had commandeered as his flagship. It was the first to be equipped with the new weapons systems Kracion had invented, miraculously created and installed by his magical orbs. Now the crew was busy learning how to operate the new systems, the mechanism by which she was told the Klin and their Olypon allies would conquer the birth galaxy. Kracion had another twenty ships in this initial fleet, similarly equipped and with crews undergoing the same rigorous training.

  Gendius questioned how twenty-one ships could conquer a galaxy, but she kept her doubts to herself. She had to trust in the wisdom of the Aris. She had to be accommodating and compliant. She had to survive.

  * * *

  The tiny fleet had journeyed to the site of the ancient dimensional transport portal in pursuit of the escaping aliens. There she and Kracion found the control building damaged beyond repair and the towers out of alignment. At that time, Kracion did not seem concerned. He had the fleet wait in the space above the moon, counting down the time when the portal would open from the other side—the birth-galaxy side.

  But that time never came.

  It was at that point Kracion became angry, ordering her and a portion of her crew to the surface of the moon. She did not know the purpose; the facility was in near-total ruin, and she gathered from the god-being’s reactions, his path to the birth galaxy had been shut down from the other side, infuriating him even more than when the aliens escaped his captivity. Was he intending to rebuild the ancient complex? If so, that would take considerable time, time which Gendius feared she would not survive.

  And that was why Gendius Valin was terrified.

  * * *

  In the shuttle, the Leadin attempted to extract more information from the god-being.

  “If you propose to repair the facility, it will involve a considerable reeducation of the technicians.”

  “Worry not for the repairs; I will instruct your workers. Yet the towers must be realigned. Prepare shuttles to pull them apart. I only need two of them working.”

  Gendius did not pursue the questioning. She accepted the fact that Kracion knew the technology as no one else. If the god-being wasn’t concerned with the destruction of the control building, then neither was she.

  Four thousand years before, at the time of the Silence, Kracion had ordered the facility shut down and abandoned, forbidding any Klin from attempting to reconnect with the birth galaxy. This directive was in the archives and had never been violated. But now the ancient facility was consuming nearly all of Kracion’s attention. The remainder was focused on the two aliens he held in a blue interphase field, powerless and impotent…yet still a threat.

  Kracion never went anywhere without the aliens; even when not in his presence, he kept constant watch on them. This caused Gendius more concern. Kracion was terrified of the creatures. How could the god-being be afraid of anyone or anything?

  Creatures he called the mutants were with him now, standing silently off to a side of the shuttle, still encased in the shimmering blue light. They neither slept nor ate, not even taking in the raw energy such as Kracion. They simply stared, watching everything taking place around them. At times, their dark eyes would lock on Gendius, making her even more uncomfortable. She had always enjoyed the trappings of power a
nd position. But not so any longer. She was outclassed by a number of strange beings capable of miraculous feats. Her life had been turned inside out, to where the unimaginable was now commonplace. All she could do now was react to the moment, hoping to survive until the next.

  * * *

  Kracion was rumored to be three billion years old, a member of a race of beings who created the Klin, along with countless others. His civilization was a million years old at the time they began the organic seeding process, and it was because of him—and him alone—that the Klin came to be in the Newfound, having survived to this point.

  Of course, that was long before Valin’s time, four thousand years ago when the Klin were just stretching their legs in the arena of the birth galaxy. And then came the Silence, when all contact with their homeworld and birth galaxy was lost. The Klin in the Newfound—Gendius’ ancient ancestors—initially relied on Kracion’s active participation for their survival, and he did not disappoint. He gave them new technologies and innovations which allowed them not only to survive in this new environment, but to prosper and expand. As a result, the Klin had traveled to all reaches of the Newfound Galaxy, expanding to colony worlds while integrating others into their growing empire. There had not been a major war of conquest fought in over a thousand years, and the current empire of the Klin was a peaceful and beneficial environment for all inhabitants, be they Klin or alien.

  And then a few days ago, strangers from the birth galaxy appeared, and all of Klin civilization was turned upside down. The story they told was having a profound impact on the Newfound. It spoke of the destruction of their ancestral homeworld of Klinmon and the subsequent millennia-long ostracism of the Klin, along with four thousand years of death, ridicule and insult. With the small band of aliens came another, members of a race that worshipped Kracion and the Klin, and who verified the disturbing accounts. In the span of a few days, the anger and venom of the Klin was set loose. Word was spreading quickly, not only by organic means, but also through Kracion’s call for the assembly of a massive fleet, one to be used to enter the birth galaxy, seeking revenge for the travesty exacted upon the Klin.

  Gendius was in favor of such an effort. She was sickened by the stories and wanted to make the nameless aliens in the birth galaxy pay for what they had done to the Klin. What she resisted was the speed and apparent recklessness of the effort. Kracion was recalling nearly all Klin vessels to the planet Genzi, there to be fitted with revolutionary new weapons systems and crewed by hastily-trained military personnel. This war machine had to be built essentially from scratch, and Kracion was tolerating no delays.

  Out of a desperate need for understanding, Gendius accessed the confidential Leadin files, those dating back to even before the Silence. She sought the origin of Kracion and how he came to be among the Klin. What she discovered made her even more nervous, more terrified. It told her there was definitely something strange about the Kracion of today, compared to the Kracion of ancient times.

  * * *

  Kracion had appeared on Klinmon without warning, yet kept his presence known only to a handful of the most powerful Klin. He came offering gifts, revolutionary technologies that would transform the race and help expand the Klin’s fledgling stellar empire across the galaxy. He gave them the secret of faster-than-light travel, unlimited and affordable energy, advance weaponry; he even had dimensional portals built which opened up other universes to the Klin.

  The alien god-being was magnanimous, altruistic and asked nothing in return for these wonders.

  And then during one of his many visits to the Newfound galaxy, the Silence came. The records show how Kracion attempted to make contact again with the birth galaxy, traveling to other universes through the major portal array on the moon called Zanor. But his efforts were short lived. He always returned disappointed, and according to eyewitness reports, more irritated and violent. He built the eternity crypt and entered it, leaving instructions to only be revived in the most-dire of circumstances…or upon contact with the birth galaxy.

  Gendius had not been aware of the details of the instructions; it was not necessary for her to do her duties as Leadin. And since Kracion had not arisen in over a thousand years, most of the details of his directives had been forgotten. Deep down inside, most Klin assumed Kracion was dead within his crypt. Gendius felt the same…up until the moment she opened the chamber and the god-being emerged.

  Now she studied his actions, seeing an emotional side that was not referred to in the ancient reports. There appeared to be two versions of Kracion, the old and the new. She refused to speculate on which was the true god-being. She was afraid she would not welcome her conclusion.

  * * *

  Kracion was irritated that he had to wear an environment suit while traversing the short distance from the shuttle to the temporary shelter set up against generator building alpha. Once in the structure, he could move into and out of the building and the repair center with ease. Until then, all the suit did was remind him of his mortality.

  The mutants didn’t have such worry. Although both of them were infinitely younger than he, they didn’t fear a vacuum, nor radiation nor radical swings in temperature. They were immortal, possessing the one thing Kracion did not, yet his race had spent billions of years to develop.

  And now he was gazing upon the culmination of that impossibly long effort: The Apex Being. Yet even with that incredible achievement, Kracion was still frustrated. He could do nothing with the creature called Lila until he moved back to the main galaxy—the birth galaxy as the Klin called it.

  The mutants walked across the grey, powdery surface of the moon, not actually touching it as the interphase effect restricted contact with any material surface. They entered the airlock to the repair facility with Kracion, remaining silent and stoic. Their expressions seldom changed, although Kracion knew they could. Instead they were watching, studying…waiting.

  The entourage entered the environmental structure outside the generator facility. Gendius and the Klin continued into the other building, leaving Kracion and the mutants alone for the moment.

  “I take it you are set on creating a secondary control station within the generator building,” stated the tiny grey creature known as Panur. “I saw that was a possibility from the plans I studied.”

  “Very astute,” Kracion replied. He knew this particular mutant was rumored to be an expert at trans-dimensional technology. He had just confirmed the rumor.

  “I assume that is because my father destroyed the Olypon array as he successfully escaped your Klin sycophants,” Lila stated with a satisfied grin.

  See, the mutants can display emotion! Kracion thought.

  “That is of no consequence,” he said aloud. “The portal I will open will be linked to the birth galaxy by the residual effects. Although it will be only a temporary connection, it will be enough for me to move over. Once there, I will rebuild the alien array, as well as this one, and thereby create a permanent opening between the dimensions with which to move the bulk of my forces.”

  “Are you capable of that?” Panur asked. “I met Nunki, the leader of the Aris. He was the true genius of the race. I have noticed that you possess none of his maturity, reason and intellect. That is understandable; you are simply the janitor, tasked with maintaining what others have created.”

  Anger welled up in Kracion. He took a step toward the tiny alien, a surge of energy building in his body. Then he resisted.

  “I understand what you are doing,” he said. “You are attempting to provoke me, believing an energy blast would temporarily disable the interphase shield.”

  “And it will. I know your technology, both its strengths and weaknesses. I also understand your personal failings, of which there are many, primary among them your emotional instability,” Panur said. “Your manic behavior will be your downfall. I say this openly, knowing there is nothing you can do to overcome this deficiency.”

  “Yes! I have more emotion than the Privileged. Where they su
ppressed their inner feelings, I embrace them. I seek immortality, and what good is immortality without the ability to sense the wonder of it all. That is emotion. Emotion makes life worth living. You term this a deficiency, while I call it an asset.”

  “Then you better get to it,” Panur continued. “I see you are an older Aris, aged much more than Nunki, the result of your many awakenings while the others slept. Every minute you spend living a mortal life brings you closer to the death you fear so much.”

  “I do not fear it any longer, not with the two of you to provide me with what I seek.”

  “But what good is immortality if it occurs a day before your death? Immortality does not subtract years from your body. All it does is add time to your current condition. You will spend eternity on death’s doorstep. Hardly a prospect I would welcome.”

  “I still have many years before I reach that point.”

  “But do you?” Lila questioned. “Your race is capable of living thousands of years, yet only with enhancements provided by technology, technology found only within the Aris artificial world, and of which the Privileged created. I believe you are without the needed skills to sustain your life beyond simple hibernation.”

  “That is not so! I know how the machines work. I have maintained them.”

  “That is wrong,” Lila countered. “You supervised the biological experiments of Nunki and his kind. It was the robots and service modules on the Aris world that maintained the others. That was not your responsibility.” She hesitated a moment, watching the anger surge again in the thin, almost frail-looking alien. “I accept that you are extremely intelligent, on a comparative basis, with skills regarding elementary Aris technology, such as star-drives, energy production and TD transport. Yet compared to Nunki and the Privileged, you are but a child. That was why your kind was segregated. You are the failures of Aris civilization.”