Chapter Eleven
Abalim studied the hologram. Looked like the Lumarians created this machine to produce some type of biosphere for them to live in eons ago. Only now the technology to maintain it was long gone. All that was left were legends and traditions spoken by this image without knowing the full truth.
“Are you telling us your power source is in danger of being depleted without this crystal?”
The male widened his arms as if to include the massive machine behind him. “Yes, yes! We have been waiting for far too long for you to come and provide us with the Lumicor we so desperately need.”
Lisa crossed her arms. “If you need this Lumicor so much—” She thrust her forefinger at the prone Lumarians in their pods against the cave wall. “—why are you killing your people?”
The wispy form of the elder wrung his hands. “What choice do we have? When the caretakers stopped coming to see to our needs, we had the elderly brought here. We asked each one of them to provide us with the crystal, but none knew what we were talking about!” He hung his head. “We admit it got to the point we scared them so much we had no choice but to put them to sleep the minute they arrived. It is to our great sorrow that their life force has kept us going. Even as we speak, that is becoming useless. Especially since they cannot give us enough energy to grow more crystals.” His bright eyes filled as large rolls of clear liquid that rolled down his sunken cheeks. “Our only solace has been the hope that our caretakers didn’t abandon us and would return to correct that which went wrong.”
Abalim narrowed his eyes at the image. Since it wasn’t an organic being, he couldn’t psychically connect with it. Good thing he had his AI companion to help. He glanced at the bot resting on his shoulder. “JR15? Do you think you can interface with the machine and see what you can learn about this crystal and where it needs to go?”
“Yes, of course, Mister Abalim, sir. I have already made a tentative connection. I’ll be right back. I shouldn’t be long.” JR15’s iridescent wings came out, and he fluttered back to the huge contraption.
“You will allow my small bot to examine where your power source is needed.” Abalim stated to the machine. “In the meantime, display an example of what this crystal looks like.”
The image bobbed his head. “Of course, caretaker.” He held out his hand. On it, an oval-shaped clear iridescent crystal appeared, about the size of his fist. Abalim stepped closer to take a better look. If he wasn’t mistaken, inside the rainbow of colors was the silhouette of a massive tree. Like the one that brought them here.
“Oh, wow. That’s gorgeous!” Lisa exclaimed. She reached out as if to touch it, but pulled back with her fingers curling into a fist. “It kind of looks like the pendant Nyvira used to send us here.”
Abalim nodded. “Yes, but that crystal was clear and didn’t have this image in it.” He pointed to the rotating crystal floating in Echovara’s palm.
The hologram of the Lumarians’ god frowned. “No, no, that won’t do. It has to be exactly like this one! The etching of the tree tells us the crystal is at its full maturity.”
“Well, all you gotta do is tell us where to get one, and we’ll bring it back to you. Just point the way!” Lisa threw her hands in the air.
The hologram of the elderly Lumarian straightened and closed his fist, cutting off the spinning gem. “That is the responsibility of the caretakers, not us. You people had one directive, and you have failed at that small task.” He pointed to the prone Lumarians in the stasis pod. “And that is the result of your incompetence.”
“Damn, harsh much?” Lisa groused under her breath.
JR15 flew back and landed on Abalim’s shoulder. “Mister Abalim, sir?” The bot’s tiny voice spoke softly. “After analyzing the power input valve on the machine, I may have detected where we can find the power source the hologram describes.”
Abalim raised an eyebrow as he glanced at the small bot who looked back with his round head tilted. “Really? Is it near?”
JR15 stood and rubbed his back legs together.
That seemed to be a sign he was nervous about what he said next.
“I can sense the same energy signal through that stasis pod.” He pointed a tiny foreleg at the empty coffin-shaped mirror next to Maelani.
“It’s in there?” Lisa’s mouth fell open.
“No, Miss Lisa, ma’am.” JR15 shook his green and silver head. “It is in the room behind it.”
“That is not allowed!” The image of the Lumarian male grew. “It is forbidden to access the chamber of the gods!” His voice thundered, causing the ground to shake and loose dirt and rocks to fall from the ceiling.
No time to waste. “Hang on, JR15!” Abalim grabbed Lisa’s hand and raced to the empty pod. “Come on, let’s go.”
“HALT! You are not allowed!” The booming hologram expanded until his face filled the room. “You must not go into the banned zone!”
The room shook, causing more debris to fall from the ceiling. Rocks the size of fists rained down.
Putting his free hand up, Abalim created a bubble of protection around them.
“Abominations! How dare you invade this sacred temple!” If a computer-generated hologram could go completely insane with rage, this one did. His incalculable anger shone through with his spitting mouth and bared teeth that matched his flaring nostrils. That and his high-pitched scream said it all.
Somehow, when Abalim created the protective bubble around them, it interrupted the hologram of them being Lumarians. Now their true selves were exposed for all to see. And neither of them had a chance to look anything like the fluid forms of a Lumarian.
While the pod had only been a couple of feet away, it took forever to get there. Maintaining the protective dome, Abalim searched the enclosed mirror-pod for a way to open it. He ran his fingers across the top and the sides. “Are you sure this is where we have to go?” Peering into the clear top, all he saw was the bed where a body would lie. “I don’t see anything…”
JR15 flew off his shoulder and landed on the top right corner of the case. A slim rod from the back of his neck slid out and plunged into the pod. With a click, the clear top rolled back and at the same time, the bedding swung away and exposed an opening.
“I WILL STOP YOU!”
Abalim gaped over his shoulder. The hologram turned into a widened mouth, exposing double rows of sharp fangs with lines of black blood dripping down to the tips. The raining dirt and rocks above them increased with each shake of the ground.
“Quick, go in!” Abalim didn’t wait for Lisa to take the initiative. He shoved her inside as JR15 zoomed in right behind her. He made it through before the bedding door slammed close. Grabbing Lisa into a tight hug, he squeezed his eyes shut and struggled to catch his breath. “Are you okay? I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
She gripped his shirt with clenched fists. “No, no. I-I’m fine.” Her voice was muffled, since her face was mashed against his chest.
She pulled back, and he opened his eyes.
Her clear-blue orbs searched his face. “Are you okay?”
He brushed his hand over the side of her head, smoothing her flyaway blonde hair away from her face. “I’m good.” He took in a deep breath and watched JR15 hovering over his face. “You okay, my friend?”
JR15 wobbled up and down in flight. “Yes, Mister Abalim, sir. If it’s all right with you, I’m going back to my place on your shoulder.”
Abalim smiled at the bot. “Of course.” JR15 zipped to land on his shoulder before scuttling to the nape of his neck.
“Where are we?” Lisa asked.
Good question. Keeping his arms around her, he turned them so they could see where they ended up.
Lisa took a step back and put a hand over her heart to settle the vertigo making her dizzy. Before her was an endless, dimly lit corridor made of some kind of metal. Illuminating the hallway, an embedded light of rich deep red gave it an eerie vibe. If she didn’t know better, she’d swear she was in a large submarine during a red alert.
“Where is that signal for the crystal, JR15?” Abalim’s voice was calm and smooth.
She gripped his forearm, desperate to feel his firm muscles under her fingers.
“This way, Mister Abalim sir.” The bot scuttled from his hiding place and stopped at the edge of Abalim’s shoulder. He spread his iridescent wings and buzzed ahead of them. He only went a short distance before he stopped in front of a closed metal windowless door. “The Lumicor signal is inside there.”
The door looked impenetrable. No doorknob, no latch, or anything that could be used to open it.
“How are we going to get in?” Lisa asked as she ran her hand over the surface. Maybe she’d find something by touch. Like a way out of this creepy place.
“JR15?” Abalim addressed the hovering bot. “Any ideas?”
The little guy’s head bobbed. “I can try to infiltrate the system…”
The bot was interrupted by the door sliding up.
“… or we can just go in.”
Keeping her grip on Abalim’s solid arm, Lisa peeked inside. The small space had hardly enough room for the still figure on a metal slab. She narrowed her eyes. Was that the crystal man Rerqel showed them before? The last time she saw him, he was out of control and screaming death threats at them. Now he laid on the table with eyes closed. Relaxed in a way that only someone in a deep sleep could be.
“Is that the, what did you call him? A crystal something?” She let go of Abalim’s arm and ventured in. She checked around, but no one else was in the bare room.
“He is called a Krystalii.” Abalim’s forehead crinkled between his dark brows. “I wonder how he got here.” His full mouth thinned as he went still and his eyes unfocused.
“We brought him here while your worked through your trial.”
Lisa jumped when Rerqel the Xeltrian appeared at the head of the table where the Krystalii lay. “Holy crap!” She exclaimed with a hand at her throat. Her heart beat a mile a minute. “Warn a person next time.”
“We have determined that this creature is your key to solving the Lumarian dilemma.” The willowy alien raised his forefinger to point at the prone emerald crystal form of the Krystalii. “End his life by taking his heart That’s a perfect replacement crystal needed to save the Lumarians.”
“What? Are you telling us we’ve got to kill him?” Lisa gasped.
Rerqel opened his arms as if to encompass the room. “We are not telling you to do anything. What you decide to do is up to you.” He disappeared.
“I can’t believe he’d even suggested such a thing!” Lisa crossed her arms and tapped her foot. “We can’t go around killing one person to save another.” She glanced at Abalim. “Right?”
When he didn’t answer, she turned and studied him. Dang, the guy looked like he was zoned out. She tapped a finger on her bottom lip. Maybe she should try to peek into him mentally and see what he was doing. Lisa calmed her mind. It shouldn’t be too hard to psychically connect with him. With a tentative touch, she slid in.
The dimly lit underground chamber was bathed in an eerie green glow as Lisa stood in front of Abalim.
She blinked. What… were they saying? She glanced around and became transfixed at the Krystalii, the enigmatic alien creature lying on a thick rock slab.
The crystalline body pulsed with an otherworldly light, casting intricate patterns of shimmering reflections on the smooth metal walls. When did it start doing that?
Lisa clutched her fists, her heart pounding as she glared at Abalim. “You can’t seriously be considering doing what that crazy Rerqel suggested, can you? How is killing this guy going to help the Lumarians?
Abalim’s dark eyes locked onto the Krystalii. His mouth tightened. “The Lumarians are on the brink of extinction. If we don’t do something to help them, their entire civilization will be wiped out. How can we stand by and let that happen when there’s a way to save them?”
Lisa took in a deep breath to stop from saying something she’d regret. “Are you telling me you think we should kill him? Then what? Hack him up and rip his heart out?”
Abalim’s brow furrowed, his voice tense. “Don’t you see, Lisa? This Krystalii came here to take over our galaxy.” He shuddered. “I know what it’s like to live under the rule of a dictatorial regime. And I swore if I could stop it, I’d never let that happen to anyone else.” He widened his stance with crossed arms. “You don’t have to do anything.” His full lips tightened. “I’ll take care of it.”
Lisa ground her back teeth. How could he stand there and callously say he’d end the life of a sentient being? She had to sniffle back the unexpected tears. He wasn’t listening to anything she said. How could he not take her opinion to heart? “Listen, Abalim.” She placed her hand on his hard-as-steel forearm, fighting to keep the touch light and not shake some sense into him like she dying to do. “We’ve got to think of something else. I’m sure we can find another Lumicor crystal somewhere.” She snapped her fingers. “How ‘bout asking Saphira and her crew? They’ve been around the galaxy a time or two. They might know where we can find one.”
Abalim took a step back, away from her hold. “Lisa, I wish we could, but we don’t have time for that.” He waved a hand around the small room. “Even if we could find a way back to The Galactic Serpent, we don’t have enough time to leave Qorath and search for one. Didn’t you see how fast Aroonshire is fading? Not only that, Maelani and Dravik are dying as we speak. Their life force is being sucked out of them, and I doubt they’ll last much longer. He tilted his chin high. “I’m telling you, if we don’t act now, it’ll be too late.”
Lisa put more distance between them. “So, that’s it? You’re not willing to try to find another solution? You’ll just go around killing someone ’cause you think you have the right to?”
Abalim stood straight. “I’m not a murderer,” he insisted. “But this creature came here planning on killing everyone in our galaxy. And to do that, he wants to take every human woman hostage and turn them into incubators for their young. That something you want them to do? Are you willing to let these things torture and kill other woman when you have a chance to stop it here and now?” He stomped to her and grabbed her upper arms with a tight grip. “Lisa, it’s about doing what’s right. Not only for us, but think about the innocents throughout the galaxy that will suffer if we don’t act now. It’s our moral duty to try.”
Lisa shook her head, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. “Nothing is ever that black and white. Once we go down that slippery slope, we’ll end up just as bad as those we fight against. There’s got to be another way to do both.”
She wiped a tear leaking out of her eye. She knew what it was like to be the one “sacrificed” for the good of others. When her parents died, her aunt and uncle couldn’t take on her younger brother and her, so they put her in the foster system. She went willingly, thinking it would help her brother so he wouldn’t be torn from their family. And she’d naively thought her family would visit her occasionally to check up on her. But she never saw them again. Which was hard on a ten-year-old. Shoving her deep-seated emotions down the dark well in her mind, she blinked to clear her eyesight and rubbed her sweaty palms down her thighs. “Please tell me that how I feel about this counts for something.”
Abalim recoiled as if she’d slapped him. “Of course, how you feel means everything. But this isn’t about choosing between you and the Lumarians. It’s about trying to save those we can.”
Lisa’s voice cracked, her righteous anger turning into despair. “It’s hard to believe we can’t find a way to work on this together, Abalim. I thought we had something special, something that transcended time and space. But now, you’re willing to throw it all away, believing that stupid Xeltrian. How do you know if we can even trust what he’s telling us?”
Abalim gathered her close, his indrawn breath shaky. “Lisa, I’m not throwing anything away. I’m trying to do something meaningful, something that would make a difference in the universe. I thought you, of all people, would understand that.”
Lisa breathed in his spicy scent, leaning against his firm pecs. “I don’t know, Abalim. Maybe I’m just an oblivious idiot who thinks someone like you would want to build a life with someone like me.”
Abalim slid a palm down at the back of her head, his voice pleading. “Don’t talk like that, Lisa. You and I share something I never thought I’d find to fill my empty life. Please understand, I can’t turn my back on the Lumarians. I would’ve given anything for someone to step in for me and my brothers when we were slaves. The only thing we were good for back then were experiments and death. So if there’s a chance I can help save these people from the same kind of fate, I’m going to do everything in my power to do so.”
Steeling herself, Lisa pushed away to face him. Her heart filled with a mixture of love and heartbreak. “And I can’t stand by and watch you commit murder.” She gave him a tentative smile and rubbed the soft fabric covering the hills and valleys of his muscular chest. “I’d like to think of you as my hero, Abalim. But I can’t support you taking this irreversible path.”
Her words hung heavily in the chamber. The echo created a palpable tension between them. She gripped his forearms and searched the depth of his dark eyes. While his expression softened, his conviction was clear to see.
In the background, the prone Krystalii shimmered, casting a haunting glow as she and Abalim stood at a painful crossroads. The weight of their impossible division slid an impenetrable wedge between them.
Abalim jerked when a painful pinch pierced his neck. “Ow!” he exclaimed, slapping his hand over the offended area.
“So sorry, Mister Abalim, sir.” The tinny voice of JR15 stated. “But you’ve been in a trance for quite a while now. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
He blinked and took in his surroundings. He and Lisa were still in the cave with the prone Krystalii on the rock slab. Lisa was immobile in his arms while the Xeltrian Rerqel stood at the head of the table with his hands clasped in front of him.
Ablalim narrowed his eyes. He knew a Dreamwalk when he experienced one. “Why did you do that?” He directed the question to the willowy alien. Obviously, the alien hadn’t gone anywhere.
“We wanted to see how you and your female experienced life-altering decisions.” His shoulders twisted back-and-forth.
Abalim got the impression it was the alien’s way of shrugging.
“We find it interesting that while you two disagree on this key issue, you were both open to listening to each other. Even if you hadn’t reached a unified decision.”
Lisa struggled in his arms.
He loosened his hold.
She spun around and faced their sanctimonious jailer. “You’re right. We don’t agree.” She gripped the forearm he had wrapped around her shoulders. “The only thing we decided was we both want the impossible. A way to save the Lumarians without killing somebody to do it.”
“If I may interrupt—” A broken cough came from the figure on the table. “—I believe I have a solution that might solve everything.” The Krystalii coughed again, louder and deeper this time. He put his hand up to cover his mouth, but puffs of pulverized crystals spewed between his fingers. He coughed again.
Abalim pulled Lisa closer. With a tight grip, he tamped down the panic closing his throat and glared at the prone creature on the stone table. He didn’t trust the calm demeanor from someone who’d been frantic the last time he’d seen them. Peering closer, his eyes widened. Were the crystals on his body deteriorating? Parts of him appeared to be broken and cracked, ready to fall off.
“What’s wrong with you?” Lisa whispered. She moved as if to get closer, but Abalim held her back.
Remember, he has strong psychic abilities, he whispered in her mind. You don’t know if he’s sending us an illusion or not. Don’t let him touch you. It could be a ruse so he could grab you and disappear.
“I will not harm your female,” the Krystalii stated with a grimace. “My mission to obtain the Xeltrians as an ally is over before it began.” Another deep cough. “I miscalculated, and my time in this dimension has run out. With my last remaining life force, my only wish is to help you thwart the Krystalii horde.”
Abalim sent out a whisper of a psychic tendril to the alien. Not enough to draw attention, but enough to get a hint of his sincerity. He latched onto the outskirts of the alien’s consciousness and wormed his way inside. There, a hint that the underlying part of his brain had once been locked down by some outside force.
In an instant, Abalim saw into the heart of the Krystalii. He’d lived his life held in hard captivity by their leader, who kept a solid block on the part of his brain that housed free will. Coerced into serving his master for thousands of millennia, this creature was forced to be a part of a regime that eliminated thousands of species. But deep inside, the creature before him suffered with each atrocity he involuntarily committed.
“What’s your name?” Abalim asked the crystal figure in a gentle tone.
The Krystalii’s sunken green eyes fixated on him. “I am called Aollu.”
“What is wrong with you, Aollu?” Lisa asked, her tone equally soft.
Aollu glanced at her before fixating back on Abalim. “I believe there is something about this dimension that accelerates our life cycles. Even though I am relatively young for my species, I now am in the throes of advanced age. It is now my appointed time to return to the dust of my creation.” He coughed into his hand. Not only did streams of crystallized dust whiff around, but now chunks of clear glass spewed out of his mouth.
Wheezing in a shallow breath, he never took his eyes off Abalim. “There is no need for you to hide your presence in my mind. The block put on me at creation has finally disintegrated.” Another cough, this one dryer than the one before. “For the first time in my life, I am in control of my decisions.” The smile crossing the dull emerald skin around his mouth cracked. A piece of his bottom lip broke off. “By my own free will, I wish to do something my lord and master would never have allowed me to do before.” His eyes were steady but unfocused for a moment.
Abalim experienced the creature’s dimming memories full of regret.
Aollu had led a lonely and isolated life, even with his consciousness buried deep within the hive mind of the Krystalii nation.
“I have shared with the Xeltrians a way to help halt the Krystalii invasion. And now, I would deem it an honor to give you a small part of myself to aid the Lumarians.” A small solid, iridescent glass teardrop rolled out of the inner corner of his right eye. “I know doing this small thing won’t erase the deaths I caused to millions of sentient beings. But with my last breath, I hope to redeem my soul with the Omnipatron by doing this. I freely give you a part of myself that will allow the Lumarians to live.”
He covered his chest with one of his hands. With a grimace, he let go a stuttered breath and pulled his hand away. He opened his clenched fist and raised it. In the center was a ragged emerald oval the size of a large man”s palm. “Take it. Give this to the Lumarian Echovara. It will restore it to its former glory.” He raised it higher. “I guarantee this will give them life for several millennia as well as provide them with the ability to grow life-crystals for the future when this one fades.”
Abalim plucked the emerald from the Krystalii’s corroding palm.
Lisa leaned over his hand and examined the stone with him. It was a beautiful gem with ribbons of various shades of green and black swirling within it.
“I swear a star is growing inside it,” Lisa stated with reverence in her tone. She caressed the top with a forefinger. “I can’t believe how gorgeous it is.”
“Thank you, citizens.” Aollu’s voice came out raspy and harsh. “Saving the Lumarians will give me a divine purpose. I leave you now, to join the Omnipatron’s everlasting source.” The dim light in his emerald eyes faded as his final word quivered in the air. With a last rattled breath, his body disintegrated into a fine green powder.