She smiled serenely at him. “Our daughter made a good choice. She can rest in peace now.”
The smile Valerian gave her was shaky with emotion, and he felt heat rise in his cheeks. Laureline smiled too, catching him blushing. He took a deep breath and knew the empress was right. As he exhaled, he felt a tingling along his entire body and a gentle but excited trembling in the pit of his stomach. No fear, only peace. And then the blue wave rippled through, around, and from him, momentarily coloring his vision the same exquisite hue as the new world’s sky.
All that was Lïho-Minaa slipped away, like a leaf borne on the last of autumn’s wind. She was gone, and Valerian knew she was, indeed, at peace.
But there was an emptiness he had not known he possessed until a Pearl’s spirit had filled it, and he felt oddly bereft.
“We must leave now,” said the emperor. Valerian nodded, and the empress squeezed his hands one final time, then released them, stepping back to stand beside her husband. “May you and your people live in peace, wherever you may venture in space and time.”
Tsûuri’s voice came, quick and sharp, disrupting the calm atmosphere. “Father, there are hundreds of soldiers surrounding the ship. They’ve placed explosives on our walls!”
“We will be gone in a minute,” his father reassured him.
But Valerian and Laureline were not reassured at all. They knew exactly what Tsûuri’s words meant. “If the troops are in position,” Valerian said quickly, “you don’t have a minute. You have no means of communication with the outside world?”
“We do, but we have been jamming signals,” Tsûuri said. “If we stop that, we are defenseless.”
“If you don’t allow me to communicate with them, you will be defenseless forever!” Valerian said. He looked around desperately, and his gaze fell on the Destiny capsule lying on the soft sand. It was old, but it would do.
“Just one call,” he said.
The emperor searched his eyes, then nodded. To his son, he said, “They have proven worthy of our trust. Disarm the signal.”
The wall abruptly stopped moving.
Captain Kris glanced at the dozens of mines that had been affixed to the wall a few moments earlier. He had contacted General Okto-Bar and informed him that the explosives would be detonated on the general’s command.
Now he stared at the suddenly still wall, then his gaze flickered around at the hundreds of troops lying in wait behind him.
“Unit in position,” he reported to Okto-Bar. “But the wall has stopped moving. Something’s going on.”
Okto-Bar’s sigh was audible over the radio. “Our countdown is at six minutes and counting. Maintain your position. We’re trying to analyze what’s happening.”
All at once, the K-TRONs snapped to attention, their rifles clattering in their metallic hands as they took aim at a handful of the mysterious aliens who had abruptly materialized in front of them, calmly regarding the robots, the soldiers, and Kris himself.
“K-TRON warriors at attention. Contact with the enemy. It’s the same creatures who kidnapped the commander.”
“Are they showing signs of hostility?” Okto-Bar demanded.
“Not really,” Kris had to admit, adding, “Not so far.”
Help us. You have what we need.
The dying alien’s words had haunted Okto-Bar since he first heard them uttered. He couldn’t shake them, and now, here the beings were again.
“General?” said Neza, breaking into Okto-Bar’s thoughts. “I can’t believe this but—we’re picking up a radio signal.” He looked over at the general, his eyes wide. “From the 2005 Destiny module.”
“What?” Okto-Bar was incredulous.
“It—sir, it sounds like Major Valerian!” the soldier said.
Okto-Bar couldn’t believe his ears. “Patch him through.”
The seconds seemed to last forever, and then:
“Hello?”
It was, indeed, Valerian’s voice. Okto-Bar let out a short bark of astonishment. “Major?”
“Yes, sir!” The voice was full of relief. “Major Valerian and Sergeant Laureline here! We’re alive and on the inside, on the other side of the wall. Call off the assault immediately!”
“Major,” Okto-Bar said, hating every word, “I’d like to believe it’s you, but I can’t read your DNA code, and you know the procedure. I need proof that this is not a hoax, and that—”
“This is no time for dumbass procedures!”
Neza and Okto-Bar exchanged glances. The voice certainly sounded like Sergeant Laureline. “We’re in here, dammit! With a whole species you already wiped out once! The Pearls from planet Mül. So tell your men to back off before you commit a second genocide!”
Okto-Bar was reeling. He was a calm, thoughtful man, and procedure had always served him well his entire career. Now, he was unsure as to what to do.
“That’s definitely her temper,” Neza observed.
Okto-Bar had to agree. “But…” he stammered, slightly dazed at the potential upending of so much he had believed to be true, “planet Mül was uninhabited!”
“You know that’s not true!” Valerian shouted. “Commander Filitt was there. He gave the orders. And he organized this whole operation to eliminate the survivors, the living proof of his mistake. Stop the procedure!”
Neza stepped close to his commanding officer. Softly, so that he would not be overheard, he murmured, “Maybe that would explain why the commander was interrogating that creature.”
It all came together in dreadful, heartbreaking sense that even now Okto-Bar wished he could deny.
He stopped the countdown at three minutes, fourteen seconds.
“Countdown paused.”
Laureline and Valerian both blew out sighs of relief at the general’s words. “Is the commander with you?” he continued.
Laureline and Valerian shared a glance, then, as one, got up, hauled the groggy commander to his feet, and threw him into a seat in the capsule. His head lolled and he resumed snoring.
With perhaps a bit more enjoyment than he ought to have felt, Valerian slapped Filitt’s slack face.
“Come on!” Valerian said, loudly and cheerfully. “Wakey wakey! There’s a call for you.”
“Commander?” came Okto-Bar’s voice. “Do you read me?”
Still no response.
Laureline slapped the commander harder than Valerian had. Now he did lurch awake, muttering, “Ouch!”
“Come on, my friend,” Valerian said. “It’s time to confess.”
Filitt blinked dazedly. He frowned as he looked around, clearly puzzled that he didn’t see the general. Hesitantly, he said in a slightly slurred voice, “Hel… lo?”
“Commander Filitt, this is General Okto-Bar. Do you read me? We can’t get a DNA code on you, but we do have a voice wave match.”
The commander sat up, wincing. His eyes became focused and his voice was clear as he responded. “I read you. What’s going on?”
“We are ready to activate the explosive device in accordance with the orders you gave,” came Okto-Bar’s voice. “Do you confirm these orders, or do you have anything to tell me that will enable me to suspend the assault?”
The commander didn’t answer at once. Valerian and Laureline tensed. He looked at them in turn, then, whatever sedative the Pearls had used on him now fully out of his system, straightened in his seat.
“I’m a soldier,” he said, his voice quiet, calm, and intense. “A soldier will always choose death over humiliation. Annihilate them all!”