Then Kaldarren remembered the mind-scream. They were stillhere.
Jase.Kaldarren’s eyes jerked to an opening diagonally across the main burial chamber. In there.
He felt them before he saw them or knew what they were: a strange, insistent tugging at the back of his mind, like fingers scrambling around the seam of a door, searching for a way to pry into his mind. Their touch was cold, malevolent. Kaldarren shivered. Evil.
And for a split second, Kaldarren felt fear. But he had to stay calm. More than that: He knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that if he was going to get Jase out, he’d have to open his mind and let these things inside, so he understood what he was dealing with and how to fight them—but not just yet.
Oh, Rachel.Kaldarren thought her name as if it was a type of prayer. He wasn’t sure why he thought of Garrett just then, but perhaps it was because of the darkness of the things skittering around the edges of his mind. Their evil filled him with fear and such foreboding…Kaldarren closed his eyes, as if doing so would block out his fear. Oh, there were so many things he’d never told her, and other things he wished he’d left unsaid. How they’d hurt one another, and now it was too late to tell her how sorry he was. Good-bye, Rachel.
And then, before he could change his mind, Kaldarren hurried into the next room.
The room was small and close, suffused with a silver glow that reminded Kaldarren of light globes, though none were visible. He saw Pahl, standing beside a pile of dark rubble. The boy’s back was to him, and as Kaldarren stepped forward, the boy pivoted on his heel until Kaldarren saw the ice-blue eyes, the silver mask.
“Pahl,” Kaldarren said, his heart sinking. “Pahl, where…?”
“Dad!” Jase’s voice, on the edge of hysteria, and then in the next instant, Jase had darted from a far corner and launched himself into Kaldarren’s arms. “Dad, Dad!”
“Jase.” Kaldarren’s throat constricted with emotion as he hugged his son tight against his chest. Then he gripped his son by his shoulders. “Jase, what’s wrong with Pahl?”
“They’re here,” whispered Jase. His lips trembled, and Kaldarren saw that the boy’s skin was so pale it was almost translucent. “They’re here, Dad, they’re here, don’t you see them? They’re all around, and now they’ve got Pahl. Only It’s not Pahl, It only looks like Pahl, but It’s not Pahl.”
“How?”
“He…Pahl picked up this mask. He picked it up and he put it on. I couldn’t stop him! And then they were everywhere, coming out the walls, can’t you see them, can’t you…”
“Jase.”Kaldarren’s fingers dug into Jase’s shoulders, and he held his son at arm’s length. He would’ve touched the boy’s mind, but he was still wary of dropping his guard. Can’t let them in all at once, or I’m lost. I need to be the one to control the contact, not the other way around.Instead, Kaldarren searched the boy’s face and saw his terror. “Who are they?”
And then Kaldarren felt a stab of fear. “Did they…?”
“No, they didn’t hurt me. They didn’t get inside. They tried. But I’m not right, I can’t…I don’t think they can get inside me. I don’t understand it all, only I know they took Pahl and they wanted to take me, but they can’t. But, Dad, they’re here,”Jase looked behind Kaldarren, eyes darting from side to side, “they’re all around. Can’t you see them? Can’t you see?”
No, he couldn’t see. Kaldarren kept his mind closed. He wouldn’t let them in, not yet. But the air was thick and he feltthose icy fingers again, tapping at the opaqueness of his mind, like leafless branches tapping at windowpanes on a winter’s day.
But his tricorder saw them. Kaldarren scanned the data. Highly cohesive fields of psionic energy held together the way that high-energy particles were contained in a magnetic field. Energy that had form but was not matter: there, and not there, as if they—whoever they were—trembled on the threshold between dimensions. Had they been there all along? If so, why hadn’t he sensed them? They flitted about the periphery of his mind now.Why not earlier? All the hours he’d spent searching in vain for beings that now his tricorder registered as a matter of routine.
Or maybe it was something the boys had done. That mask, for instance. Kaldarren studied Pahl’s face, the mask. An image flashed in his brain: that small, chipped stone figure he’d found a few days ago. It had a mask. Come to think of it, the mask Pahl wore was very similar to ones he’d heard about but never seen. An obscure Cardassian religion, one that the government didn’t endorse but which survived in small pockets here and there. What was it? Kaldarren searched his memory. Yes, the Oralian Way, that was it. If he remembered rightly, certain Oralians used what they called a recitation mask as part of their religious ritual. They claimed that the mask was a conduit, connecting them to a higher spiritual power. The Oralians who wore the mask did not claim that they spoke the words of a god. Rather, the mask served to augment powers they already had.
And now Pahl wore a mask, and Kaldarren knew, unequivocally, that the boy had somehow opened the door through which a being that was pure thought had managed to slip, invading the boy’s mind. What if this was the original mask upon which the Oralian recitation mask was based? The mask could be a device attuned to the psionic signature of a certain select few.
Kaldarren looked down at his son. “I can’t see them, Jase. I can’t…let myself just yet. No time to explain, Jase. But tell me: What do they look like?”
“Animals.” Jase licked his lips. “Like from those old stories you showed me. Egypt, Greece, early Betazoid mythology.”
“Like the statues in the other room?” said Kaldarren. “The murals?”
“Yes, but there are also people, and they look like…” Jase’s eyes slid to a spot behind Kaldarren.
Turning, Kaldarren spied the corpse of the boy. He studied the dead boy’s facial features. Even with decay and mummification, Kaldarren could see that the boy had raised periorbital ridges. Pre-Cardassian?
“Dad,” said Jase, “you have to help Pahl.”
“I don’t think I can, son.”
“But we can’t leave him here. How do you know? You haven’t even tried!”
Kaldarren licked his lips. “Jase, I’m a telepath, but there are limits. I couldn’t find this place, remember? You and Pahl did. Whoever’s there, in Pahl, allowed the two of you in, not me.”
“But you’re here now. They’rehere. They let you come, and you found me because I knew you would, because I need you. Dad, you have to try!”
“Son, there’s nothing…” He stopped when he saw Jase’s face change. “Son…”
“You’re afraid,” said Jase. His voice was hard-edged, bitter. “That’s what it is. You’re afraid to try. Mom would be afraid, but she’dtry.”
Kaldarren felt a lump swell and lodge in his throat. He wasafraid. Maybe that’s why he’d not been able to find the portal (is this a portal?)and why he couldn’t see what his son said was there. He was afraid, as he’d always been afraid. Rachel had been the stronger one. That’s why he’d been attracted to her. The only risk Kaldarren had ever taken in his entire life was to marry Rachel Garrett. In the end, he’d let her walk out of his life; he’d lost her without a fight.