“This way.” We entered the caves and took the path down the tunnels Slate and I had walked a short few months ago. It was all familiar, but in the way a dream was familiar. I knew the path, but if you’d asked me which directions to go before heading in, I wouldn’t have known. My feet led us to the doorway where the Shandra stood. “Here we are.” I unslung the pack and headed for the middle of the room. The large gemstone in the center of the room began to shine; the hieroglyphs on the walls shone to life in their blue luminescence.
“It’s beautiful,” Mary said, spinning to catch all the different icons on the walls. “The spacing seems off. Are some missing?” she asked. I just shrugged and walked to the table.
My blood wasn’t singing or burning this time, and my body movements were of my own volition, so I hoped I could make the stone work. The room was bathed in blue light as I touched the table. I slid my tablet out of my pack and found the data from Sarlun. A series of icons appeared on my handheld screen, and I picked the one labeled for their world.
After finding the corresponding icon on the table, I took Mary’s shaky hand and tapped the icon, which glowed bright green. Instantly, we were covered in green light.
A flurry of deep squawks came at us as the light dimmed.
“Is this it?” Mary asked me quietly.
“Yes. Turn your translator on.” I used the pad on my sleeve to turn the recently upgraded translator on. We had earpieces in and small mics at our suits’ necks that would take our words and relay them aloud in the appropriate language. After a few more squawks came to us, the translator clicked, telling me it was ready.
“Greetings. We’re here to see the Gatekeeper,” I said in English, then heard the Shimmali language emanate from my suit.
The voice had been coming from a speaker, and after a few minutes of silence, the main far doors slid open. Something was running toward us. Mary looked ready to hold her rifle up, but I set a hand on her arm.
“Suma!” I called. The short, stout alien girl ran on thick legs, approaching quickly, then stopping suddenly as she saw Mary.
“Who’s this?” she asked, her black eyes staring at Mary.
“I’m Mary Lafontaine.”
“You look funny,” the small alien said.
“This is my mate. Mary’s a human female,” I said.
Mary just smiled at this.
“What are you doing here, Dean?” she asked, her snout lifting in the air.
The deep noises of Sarlun carried down the open room. “Dean Parker. To what do we owe the pleasure?”
“We need your help.”
Outside, music played in the garden, where amazing flowers and plants of all colors and sizes grew. Shimmal’s two stars burned at opposite ends of the sky, and I was sweating the instant we stepped from the cool building into the humid tropical outdoors.
The melody was soft and instrumental. Our races really weren’t that much different from each other. Other Shimmalians walked around, some wearing robes, others in uniforms. Some were in what I could only guess was loungewear, the equivalent of shorts and a tank top on Earth.
“You want to find the Bhlat homeworld? We don’t like to speak of them here. Though they are far away, the tales of their power have reached even our distant world.” Sarlun gestured with his four arms as he spoke.
“So you don’t know where they are?” I asked, feeling my hopes crumbling quickly.
“They are not on our Shandra table.”
“Does that mean they don’t have a portal?” If they didn’t have a portal, our plan was going to be almost impossible with the time crunch we were under.
“Not necessarily. The Shandra were created ages ago by the Theos, long before any races of beings lived on the worlds on which the portals existed.”
My fingers were going numb. Sweat beads ran down my back, and not just from the humidity. He was telling us a race of gods had created the portals before any of us existed. Was that possible? “How do you know this?”
“We’ve studied with dozens of other beings, compiling and contemplating religion, history, and science. This is the truth we have come to know.” Sarlun sounded sure of himself.
“Could there be worlds with portals that aren’t on the table?” Mary asked, and I chided myself for not thinking of it. It was nice to have her analytical mind around.
“Yes. We believe some have been shut off. Whether they were removed as a safety precaution, or for other reasons, stands to be seen. We believe the Deltra had something to do with it. They were always trying to get ahead of their time: a young race with highly skilled scientific minds. Last we heard, they were under the thumb of the Kraski, but if your tale is to be understood, they are gone now.”
Guilt at his casual discussion of our destruction of the Deltra aboard the Kraski mothership echoed through my body.
He continued. “If there was any hope of opening the hidden worlds from the Shandra, they would be the last resort now.” Sarlun’s black eyes stared hard into mine. He knew we’d killed the Kraski off, and most of the Deltra with them. I judged his people to be a peaceful one, but I wondered what he would do if his world was threatened. He seemed to have an understanding with me.
“The Deltra may not all be gone,” I said, watching his expression change and his snout twitch.
“Is that so?” he asked, his usual deep squawk now lighter, airier.
“Can you help me find a world on the table? I have the coordinates in here.” I pulled out my tablet with the location of the hideout planet Kareem was on.
“Come with me.”
An hour later, we were in Sarlun’s private office, which was substantially cooler than outside. Everything on this world was so cold and sterile on the surface; then you would see a splash of color and understand how much they appreciated the arts. Less is more might have been their mantra. His office was no exception: cool white walls, with one small bright piece of art in the center of each.
We stared at the star chart: a wonderful 3D hologram of the system in question appeared. The planet was highlighted, and the icon for its portal was showing on the wall screen.
“That’s it. We haven’t been there for over a century. Last time we arrived, there was nothing but flora and some wildlife. Dangerous creatures.” Suma sat beside her dad, staring up at him as he spoke.
“Dean, where’s Slate?” Suma asked, sipping green liquid from a glass.
“He’s in danger. That’s why we’re here. All of our people are in danger.” I hoped we’d find the answers we were looking for with Kareem.
“Dad, is there anything else we can do?” she asked.
“Where was their town?” Sarlun asked.
Mary took over and directed him to the spot where we’d landed and walked to their village.
“The Shandra is not close. We’ll supply you with a few things to assist you along the way.” Sarlun hit a comm-button and started squeaking out orders, turning off his translator. “The supplies will be ready. I have something else to share with you.” He reached down, pulling out four small devices, and handed them to Mary.
“What are these?” Mary asked, carefully looking at them.
“They will allow you to communicate instantly with anyone, no matter their distance in space,” Sarlun said.
“Thank you. These will come in handy.” Mary passed one over to me, and I noticed it looked much like a cell phone, but with a clear crystal casing.
“Thank Suma. She wanted to be able to reach you.”