The Human Chronicles Saga : Boxset #2 (The Human Chronicles Saga Boxsets) Page 8

  Adam looked over to see Sherri smiling. Noticing him looking at her, she said, “She. Kroekus keeps referring to The Speaker as she.”

  “That is correct, Sherri,” Kroekus continued. “The Speaker is always female and always the direct descendant of the founder of their religion, a female named Lorilie Bol. This unique bloodline appears to possess supernatural powers, and as they will profess, only The Speakers can manifest the energy of their gods.”

  “And you believe this?” Adam said, sounding skeptical. “You of all people have been around the galaxy to know that there are no truly supernatural powers – at least none that I have seen.”

  “I cannot say I believe in her powers completely, but even your own race has had supernatural abilities associated with it.”

  “And they’re wrong. You know as well as I that our so-called supernatural powers are just the product of evolution.”

  “And so maybe evolution has played a part in turning this Lorilie Bol into a being with truly supernatural powers, powers which she has passed on to her offspring?”

  “I’m not buying it,” Adam said, still not convinced.

  “As I said, I do not truly believe in The Speaker’s abilities myself, but I have seen the vids. The displays are quite impressive – and would be frightening to non-believers and believers alike.”

  “Maybe I’m just more of the skeptic, but I’ll believe it when I see it. It has to be some kind of trick.”

  “That may be so, but the Formilian’s believe and that is all that matters to me.”

  It was Sherri’s turn to question Kroekus. “So why do these others hate the Formilians so much, as well as fear this Speaker person?”

  Kroekus smiled back at Sherri. “They hate her because she is female, and they fear her because of her powers.”

  “Does that make any sense?”

  “It does when you consider the makeup of Omphly society. Omphly is another word for Brotherhood, so a literal translation is the Brotherhood Federation. Females in this society are of the lowest class, used only for procreation and as servants to the males. So the idea of a female serving as the supreme leader of a race of beings – or the leader of anything for that matter – is an affront to the beliefs of the Omphly. And they have spread this odd way of thinking to many surrounding worlds, building not only on the fact that a female would be a leader, but that she would also be able to conjure up powers from the darkest depths of nature. To the followers of the Omphly, The Speaker is a demon, a devil deserving of the utmost vile and disgust. Their hatred for her has been festering for a very long time, and yet they also believe in her abilities, so their hatred is multiplied by the fact that the Brotherhood would have such fear for a female.”

  “Yeah, kind of a double whammy,” Adam said, looking at Sherri. The expression that crossed Kroekus’ face revealed his lack of understanding for the colloquialism.

  “So what has brought all this to head so you now believe a war is coming?” Adam asked.

  “It seems that The Speaker of the Formilians, the supreme leader of their religion, the person they refer to as the Giver of Life and Light and their living God, has been abducted.”

  “How the hell did that happen?”

  “As would be expected of the Formilians, the entire event was captured on a security video. I will play it for you now….”

  The screen immediately changed to show a columned room much like that of a Roman villa, dimly lit and with a large, extremely ornate bed to one side. There was a figure asleep in the bed, a slight figure covered by silken sheets and displaying a massive cascade of jet black hair against the white of the sheets.

  Suddenly, two shrouded-in-black figures moved into the room. The figure in the bed – presumably the Speaker – sat up as alarms began to sound. One of the shrouded figures lifted a long, thin tube to his mouth and blew. A dart impacted the neck of the Speaker, who fell back, unconscious. The two kidnappers moved to the bed and pulled back the sheets, revealing the naked form underneath.

  At that point, Adam audibly inhaled. “Wholly shit, is that the Speaker?”

  “Yes it is,” Kroekus’ voice answered from behind the video.

  The reason Adam had way he did was because the creature they called the Speaker was indeed female – and in every sense of the word. In fact, she almost appeared to a caricature of what the perfect female would look like: ample firm breasts, an impossibly thin waist above perfectly round hips, and the shapely legs of a gymnast. Her skin was completely unblemished and with the tone of sun-kissed bronze.

  And then there was the face. It was as angelic a face as could be envisioned by a Renaissance master painter, with a demure chin, ample red lips, smallish nose and a set of almond-shaped eyes – now closed – that appeared to be slightly larger than those of a Human female.

  Except for the fact that this creature had legs, she was a pornographer’s erotic vision of Ariel, The Little Mermaid, brought to life.

  In all the time Adam had spent in space, this was actually the first alien he’d ever seen that was … well, hot! For Adam, this mission suddenly took on a whole new level of interest.

  Adam looked over to see Sherri glowering at him. He raised his eyebrows and displayed a wicked, lustful grin.

  “For Christ’s sake, Adam, she’s an alien! Your parts don’t match up.”

  “On the contrary,” Kroekus interrupted, “Humans and Formilians are very similar anatomically. It’s doubtful whether a union of your two races could produce non-sterile offspring however the act of mating should be very compatible.”

  “Ow, that’s disgusting!” Sherri cried out. “You can say the same thing about a sheep – and this would be bordering on bestiality.”

  Adam continued to smile. “But just think: a union between our two races could produce a super-being, one with our strength and her powers of the mind. It could also unify our two peoples, guaranteeing a lasting peace for generations to come,” he chanted, as if reciting the line from a classic Shakespearean play.

  “I’ve heard enough of this nonsense,” Sherri said, rising up from her chair. “Go rescue your fairy princess, Adam, but I’m not going to help. Instead, I’m going to Belson with Riyad. You’re on your own, Casanova!” Sherri stalked out of the room, her jaw set, eyes narrowed.

  The image on the screen had been frozen while Adam and Sherri had their discussion. Now half of it was replaced with an image of Kroekus – which when placed next to the static, high-definition image of the completely naked Formilian, caused Adam to wince like he was wearing a razor-wire thong.

  Kroekus was looking at him with a curious look on his face. “She’ll get over it,” Adam said to the bulky alien.

  Kroekus nodded. “It is similar with Sileans; our females are of a jealous and emotional sort. It is amusing; however the way you Humans intentionally try to evoke these reactions. It appears almost as a game you both play.”

  “It’s just an affirmation of her feelings for me, my friend; if she didn’t care, she wouldn’t be so upset.”

  “A test! I can see that; however it seems to be a rather cruel way of going about it. But if it is your way, then so be it. Humans can be so very complex at times. Now back to business.”

  “Of course,” Adam said. Kroekus let the video run, showing the two assailants lift the unconscious Formilian from the bed and hurry off with her before guards appeared. “Was that a blow-dart they used?” Adam asked.

  “Yes, it appears to be a non-electrical device that rendered the Speaker unconscious. The use of any MK weapon or other electronic device would have been useless around her. The abductors knew in advance what they had to do to take her.”

  “Was this an inside job, or the Omphly?”

  “Inside job?”

  “Sorry. Could some Formilians have helped kidnap her, or do you believe it was the Omphly?”

  “I assume kidnap means to abduct, and I must say there is no evidence that any Formilians assisted.”

  “So it was t
he Omphly?”

  “That I also doubt,” Kroekus said.

  “Why?”

  “It would be too obvious and the consequences too severe. Besides, the Omphly have an irrational fear of the Speaker.”

  “Could they have hired outsiders to do the job?”

  “That is a possibility, but we will not know until we learn more. I do suspect that other forces are responsible.”

  “Well, just to satisfy my own devious mind, who would benefit from a war between the Coalition and the Federation?”

  “No one that I can tell, at least not on the surface, but there may be forces within each government who would seek a change in leadership. Or it could be the criminal element, which as you say, is becoming bolder and better organized.” Kroekus stretched out a wide grin, as the comment harkened back to his own days as one of the greatest criminal masterminds in the galaxy. “Profit can always be found within conflict, at least for some parties.”

  “Then you suspect a possible ransom demand might be made at some point?”

  “That is a real possibility, and the Formilians will pay whatever price is necessary for the return of the Speaker unharmed. In addition, if it had been the Omphly behind the attack, then they would have summarily executed the Speaker rather than abduct her.”

  Adam let out a grunt. “That makes sense. But the nagging question I have is that if this Speaker-person is so powerful and blessed with supernatural powers, how was it that she ever allowed herself to be taken in the first place? This just makes me question her powers even more.”

  “I know you are skeptical – as am I – but let us do our best not to express these doubts with the Formilians. They can be very sensitive about their religious beliefs.” Kroekus hesitated before continuing, yet when he did, Adam had to force himself from laughing out loud. “Adam Cain, your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to find the Formilian Speaker and affect a rescue if she is still alive.”

  This message will self-destruct in five seconds…. Of course Kroekus never muttered the words. Still, Adam was hoping.

  “Sure, I’ll give it a go,” he said. “And by the way, does this Speaker have a real name she goes by?”

  “Yes she does – it is Arieel.”

  No shit? Adam thought. Now this is getting creepy.

  “But Adam, you must hurry,” Kroekus said with tension in his voice. “If the Speaker is not found and returned to the Temple of the Order on Formil within the next nineteen days, then all will be lost. There will be war, a war which could bring about the downfall of the New Expansion.”

  “Why nineteen days?”

  “Because after that time, a self-destruct device will be activated within the body of Arieel Bol, and with her passing, the Omphly will have no reason to hold back. The Formilians will either defend themselves against such an attack, or they will strike first, targeting those they see as the most logical perpetrators of this crime.”

  “There’s a bomb in her body!” Adam said, incredulously. “In what kind of bizarro world does that make sense? So they’d rather blow her up rather than have her held as a hostage?”

  Kroekus shook his head, which sent a tsunami of fat around his massive neck. “You do indeed have a strange way of terming things, Adam Cain. But it reality it makes perfect sense. Whether biological – or as you suspect, artificial means – the Speaker of Formil does have powers, and the secret of how she does it would be of considerable value, as well as threaten the basis for their entire religion should the knowledge be revealed.”

  “So they’ll blow her up rather than risk having the secret revealed? That just confirms my belief that it’s all a show.”

  “Be that as it may, the Speaker is extremely important, not only to the Formilians, but also to the Expansion. Go to Formil, Adam Cain, find the Speaker and return her to the Temple – before she blows up, as you put it.”

  Adam accepted the assignment, with conflicting emotions, and then cut the link with Kroekus. On one side, he couldn’t get the image of the naked Formilian out of his mind, but on the other was the fact that Sherri was really mad at him. She had to know he was just teasing her – didn’t she? Yet her reaction seemed to fit in well with the almost continuous bad mood she seemed to be in recently. Something was bothering her, and he knew he would have to get to the bottom of it – when he returned from Formil.

  Let her go off to Belson and meet with Kaylor and Jym. The two aliens liked and respected her, and maybe playing a role in helping resolve the conflict between the Belsonians and the Expansion would make her feel better, more important. That was the hope, at least.

  But now Adam had to concentrate on his current assignment, which seemed daunting on all levels. Nineteen days was not much time to travel all the way to Formil, investigate the kidnapping and then track down the perpetrators – if the Speaker was even still alive.

  If ever there was a Mission Impossible, this one would definitely be in the running.

  Later that afternoon Adam went looking for Sherri, but she wasn’t in her apartment. He finally located her in the hangar aboard the Pegasus with Riyad and Lee.

  “So, have you downloaded the video of the alien slut to your personal computer yet,” she asked him while helping to load supplies onboard the ship. She and Riyad had no idea how long they’d be gone to Belson, so they were preparing for the long haul.

  “Why are you being like this? Is it just because I called you out for letting Lee ride President Ka’lo?”

  Lee and Riyad stopped what they were doing to listen to her response. Growing self-conscience, she grabbed Adam by the arm and pulled him into a side compartment. When they were alone, she turned to face him, her eyes glassy, bottom lip trembling.

  “You’re such an asshole!” she yelled at him. “This whole thing is out of whack and all you can do is play games with me, or yell at me in front of the others.”

  “What’s out of whack? And I didn’t yell at you; I just reminded you that you’re in charge when I’m gone. And I don’t care if the president is okay with us riding him like a god-damn donkey or not. It’s not the right thing to do.”

  “The guy gets off on it! We enjoy it and so does he, so where’s the harm? And since when do you care a flying-f about aliens anyway – unless they look like some freaking porn star?”

  “You know I was just screwing with you. Why are you so emotional all of a sudden? You used to be one of the toughest people I’ve ever met.”

  “Well maybe I don’t want to be one of the toughest people you’ve ever met anymore. Maybe I don’t want to be a damn vigilante. And just maybe I’m tired of being the only woman out here.”

  “Is that the problem?”

  “You don’t understand how hard it is always trying to keep up with you and your macho buddies, and especially now that Mark and Jamal have joined the team, it’s all testosterone twenty-four-seven. You’re in your element, with all your male friends around. But you know how hard it is trying to fart and spit like the rest of you? Sometimes I’d just like to be pampered, treated with respect – treated like a lady! What the hell’s wrong with that?”

  Adam was stunned into silence. When he had first met Sherri, she had just assassinated a former patron of his, the Castorian crime lord Seton Amick, and if he had been anything other than a fellow Human, she would have killed, too. She was tough and pragmatic, a survivor in her own right.

  Through all their time together – in space and back on Earth – they’d been intimate on numerous occasions. He certainly did consider her in that way, and not just as one of the boys. She had to know that, didn’t she?

  “Sherri, if I remember it has always been you who have shut us down. I’ve tried several times to have a more long-term relationship with you, but you always seemed to enjoy being the only woman aboard a ship full of men. I didn’t hear you complaining then.”

  She turned away from him and wiped the tears from her eyes. “Times change, you jerk. People grow up.”

  “What ar
e you saying; do you want something more now, between the two of us?”

  “Hell no! I mean I don’t know. I’m just so damn lonely, and every time you head out on a mission I know you may not come back. That doesn’t leave a lot to build a relationship on. And what if something did happen to you? I’m not interested in anyone else on the team, so that leaves any potential replacements twenty-thousand freaking light years away. Talk about being isolated and alone!”

  “Do you want to go home?”

  “It may come to that.”

  “It’s not the same back there, you know?”

  “Yeah, but at least there would more people there – real people, and not these almost-people we seem to spend most of our time killing. Even if I did join one of the crews looking for other races in the Arm, I’d be with more of our own people – and closer to home.”

  “Well shit, Sherri, thanks for laying all this on me right after I get back from one mission and fixing to head out on another. What do you want me to say?”

  “You can start by telling me how much you don’t want me to go!”

  “You already know that.”

  “Do I? You’ve never said it before.”

  “Do I have to?”

  “Yes, you stupid, stupid man, haven’t you ever seen a sappy chick-flick before? We want to hear the words now and then.”

  “All right … I don’t want you to leave. It just wouldn’t be the same around here without you.”

  “That’s the best you can do … that I’ll be missed?”

  “Sherri, I care for you more than any other woman I know—”

  “You don’t know any other women – at least not Human women – so that’s not saying much.”