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Deep in the jungles of Guatemala, at the mouth of a vast cavern adjacent to the massive ruins of an as-yet undiscovered Mayan pyramid, Ren'Ca stood watch over ground zero: the asteroid's impact point and the Great One's hidden resting place.
It had not been easy to find. Despite his Ca'Ra training, he had initially traversed the area several times without finding the pyramid or the cavern below it. Some sort of thought-warping psychic control was in effect that made approaching it virtually impossible, and the mental control required for him to finally reach the site required excruciating concentration.
Feelings of confusion, revision, and fear had coursed through his mind. He must leave this place, he was told over and over. Now that he had finally found the accursed place, he dared not leave it: he didn't know if he possessed the strength to return a second time.
On the other hand, he wasn't sure that he had the strength to stay, either. To help keep himself from being driven away he fastened himself securely with strong Plexi-steel cables to a huge tree that helped hide the cavern opening, but several times over the last day and night the cables had awoken him from a stupor when he was apparently in the midst of unconsciously walking away. He regained control of his actions just in time to prevent himself from breaking the cables and leaving.
Even worse than the constant, nauseating, chaotic, mind numbing commands to leave were the strange dreams of the Great One, which seemed to come every few hours at irregular intervals. At this range their power was beyond description. His was bombarded with a kaleidoscope of visual images, hate, fear, music, love, smells, joy, physical sensation, noise, despair, voices, and so on. It all had to be dealt with. Ren'Ca was exhausted from shielding his mind and fighting to control and shield his own thoughts. How long he could maintain this regimen, he wasn't sure.
At least he had evidently arrived before the human Bus did. But he was the last level of defense. Hopefully the Mother Ship would destroy the Bus, and do it soon, long before it approached him at ground zero, so that he could leave this terrible place before he went totally mad.
It was time to contact Dow again and ascertain progress. Communication with the Mother Ship was also designed to minimize Ren'Ca' s detectability by the Great One. He spoke very softly into a very low powered radio to the Warren ship via a relaying device ten kilometers from the cavern. The Warren ship relayed messages to and from the Mother Ship with higher-powered transmissions.
"This is Master Dow, Ca'Ra," answered Dow.
"What progress, Dow? Are there any signs of the Earth ship?”
Dow could sense urgency, pain, and exhaustion in the Ca'Ra's voice. He would have to be very careful with the inflections of his own voice when talking with Ren'Ca, but since it was a voice-only conversation, he allowed himself a wide smile. "No signs of the vehicle yet, but we are sure they are still in the area that we survey. It is only a matter of time. I am sure that we will stop them long before they reach you, Ren'Ca. But we do have a problem. Our measurements indicate that your ground-based jammer still isn't at full power. Can you check the equipment?"
"Not currently. You will maintain Mother Ship jamming until further notice."
"Of course. Is everything well with you?" asked Dow, with feigned concern.
"Things will only be 'well' when this business is concluded, Dow. Keep me informed. Good hunting.”
"Good hunting to you Ca'Ra," concluded Dow, ending the transmission.
Dow laughed long and hard. How good it was to hear the Ca'Ra in pain, and to deceive him. Throughout the ship, the crew sensed Dow's pleasure and confidence, and were re-assured. With the exception of Melberg. Melberg had seen Ren’Ca in action to many times to feel comfortable about crossing the mighty Ca’Ra.
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