Chronicle of Ages

  The information Uriah sought was minimum level security and fully accessible to anybody within the city. The location map that showed the way to the lab displayed itself in brilliant colour on the invisible screen. This stood perpendicular in the middle of the round table that hosted the small PKA plate that drove the system — on this, Uriah’s hand was placed.

  ‘Excellent,’ commented Zerrah as he viewed the layout. ‘The lab is practically next door.’ He made a move in that direction.

  ‘Could we check for approaching craft within this star system from this terminal?’ Maelgwn delayed Uriah from rising.

  ‘Sure,’ he requested the information, whereupon data filled the screen. ‘Most of the craft are departing … hold on, there is one large craft headed towards Laarsa.’

  ‘Identification,’ Maelgwn prompted.

  ‘City central intelligence advises,’ Uriah looked to the Dragon, ‘it is Mazua.’

  ‘Oh dear.’ Maelgwn winced. ‘What if the Aten’s still towing the city, and we’re not picking her up because she’s cloaked.’

  ‘Maybe Inanna is running from the Mazua, believing that they are coming to accuse her of their Lord’s disappearance,’ Uriah suggested. ‘In which case, she may not have detected the Aten.’

  ‘Either way she’s got a target,’ Maelgwn frowned.

  ‘Good point,’ Uriah granted.

  Maelgwn’s mind was mulling over scenarios. ‘If there was an explosive device planted within the city limits, the security systems would have detected it and set of the alarms, am I right?’

  Uriah nodded and, following the Dragon’s train of thought, called up more information from the database. ‘Even if the alarm had been shut off, the system would still be registering the explosive device and,’ he shook his head as he looked from the screen to Maelgwn, ‘it isn’t.’

  ‘What about a natural anomaly, like a pending earthquake, asteroid, or meteor shower?’

  Uriah shrugged. ‘Same deal.’

  ‘She must have a weapon,’ Maelgwn concluded. ‘And if Inanna has a device capable of destroying this entire planet, it would finish off the Aten and the Mazua fairly efficiently. Can you contact the Mazua from here?’

  ‘I don’t see why not.’

  ‘Tell them —’

  ‘They are not going to listen to me,’ Uriah declined, already issuing the contact demand into the database via the palm of his right hand. In his left hand Uriah held a headset which he passed to the Dragon.

  ‘I’m getting something now,’ Uriah advised, switching on the optional speakers so he could listen in.

  ‘This is Dragon command to the Mazua. Are you receiving me, please respond.’ Maelgwn closed his eyes and prayed for a friendly voice.

  ‘Reading you loud and clear, Commander,’ Candace responded, with the sound of a rowdy cheering crowd behind her. ‘You had us real worried, I can tell you.’

  Maelgwn guessed the entire squad was present and he hated that he’d let them all down. ‘You have bigger concerns, I’m sorry to say,’ he began. ‘You must take your vessel back from whence it came. Inanna intends to destroy Laarsa. Please confirm.’

  ‘Dragon, you are to return to base without delay.’ Candace relayed the order. ‘Confirm.’

  ‘You can’t just leave us here,’ Uriah objected. ‘You’re the only hope we’ve got.’

  ‘Uriah, please,’ Maelgwn said aside to the lad, ‘there is no question of that … believe me,’ he mumbled to himself, trying to figure how best to explain his situation to mission control. ‘Negative that, Mazua. I am disarmed and disabled, conditions are unfavourable. Do not, I repeat, do not send reconnaissance. The city has been evacuated and Laarsa could blow at any moment. Inanna and Shamash have the merchandise, and are headed towards Gaia. They know about the Chosen. I expect that Inanna’s forces will be headed your way before long and advise that you withdraw without delay. Beat our foe to Gaia and head off this catastrophe. May the Goddess be with you all. Over and out.’ Maelgwn ripped off the headset and cast it on the table. ‘Terminate the transmission,’ he ordered and Uriah obliged.

  ‘No, Dragon —’

  ‘You do have a plan to get us off this rock, don’t you?’ Uriah found Maelgwn’s report to base a bit discouraging.

  ‘The universe will provide.’ Maelgwn forced a smile as he headed out of the security station to find the lab and Aquilla.

  Once they entered the adjoining laboratories it wasn’t hard to find Aquilla; they just followed the sound of the weeping woman. Her sorrowful sobs led to an observation room where Zerrah sat close up to the glass division, speaking quietly with his distraught sister who was locked in the laboratory beyond.

  ‘Oh no,’ Uriah uttered as he viewed the set-up, ‘it’s a bio containment lab.’

  ‘So?’ Maelgwn hauled Uriah back out into the corridor.

  ‘The Nefilim use them to contain potentially obnoxious life forms.’ Uriah’s knowledge flustered him. He didn’t want to convey the sad news.

  ‘And?’ Maelgwn shook him to hurry him along.

  ‘Once locked, to safeguard against escape, if the lab is in any way breached … she’ll be gassed.’

  Maelgwn’s grip on the lad loosened, as reality sank a dagger through his heart.

  ‘Any suggestions?’ Zerrah joined them in the corridor.

  ‘Uriah seems to be the expert.’ Maelgwn referred the captain to the lad, who slowly shook his head in response to the query.

  ‘Without the security code, there is nothing we can do,’ Uriah informed them regretfully.

  As Maelgwn entered the observation room to speak with Aquilla, she stood facing him in the middle of the window, both hands rested on her belly. ‘They killed my babe,’ she uttered, as her tears ran rivers down her cheeks. ‘Durak is dead, and now it is my turn.’

  ‘No, Aquilla, we’ll figure —’

  ‘There is no time,’ she wept, imploring him to listen. ‘I hid Gibal’s detection device in my quarters on the Mazua. You will find it in my pillow.’

  Aquilla managed a bleak smile as Maelgwn came up close to the window and placed his hands upon the glass. On the quiet, he was hoping to pass right through the barrier and spirit Aquilla away to safety. Tears of frustration built in his eyes as the glass remained firm at his fingertips. He thought about contacting the Mazua — all he needed was one member of his squad and he could get her out. But he’d already jeopardised the future of too many people on behalf of this woman. It wouldn’t be right to risk another life.

  ‘I feel this is what I deserve after how I deceived you.’ Aquilla seemed to want to reach out to him, but refrained. ‘Please believe, I didn’t want to do it, but I was already in so deep I —’

  ‘I allowed myself to be deceived,’ Maelgwn insisted, whereby Aquilla’s tears welled for a second time.

  ‘You are such a wonder, Maelgwn of Gwynedd.’ Her voice was hoarse with emotion. ‘You must survive … you must leave here … now.’ Aquilla gripped hold of a seat and swung it at the observation window.

  Although the blow didn’t come anywhere near to shattering the barrier, Maelgwn backed away. ‘No, Aquilla, don’t do it,’ he pleaded under his breath, knowing he was powerless to stop her as she had already made up her mind.

  The massive thud brought Zerrah and Uriah running.

  ‘What is she doing? She’ll never break the window.’ Zerrah watched in horror as his sister took another run at the transparent barrier with the chair. ‘All she’ll do is set off the security system.’

  This time the impact was sufficient to trip the lab defenses, and toxic gas began filling the containment area.

  Aquilla staggered up to the window, gasping and coughing as the billowing green substance crippled her. ‘Survive.’ She stared hard at Maelgwn as she slid down the window and onto the floor.

  Her life was over in an instant, and Maelgwn suppressed his tears as he observed her body still convulsing from the effects of the gas. This kind of abuse cannot, and will not, continue.
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  Suddenly the reason why he’d been sent on this mission became clear. The powers that be meant to fuel his desire for the greater quest at hand — the downfall of the Nefilim. Increasingly aware of this soul-quest, Maelgwn wondered if Marduk knew of it.

  ‘If anyone is of the mind to carry out Aquilla’s dying wish,’ Uriah dared to break the silence, ‘we’d better do something about it, yesterday.’

  Maelgwn emerged from his blind daze and nodded to agree.

  Zerrah was still staring at his departed sister. The hardened warrior had been reduced to tears by the event, but he endured his grief in complete silence.

  ‘Let’s move.’ Maelgwn walked to the door and Uriah followed, but Zerrah was clearly not going to budge. ‘Zerrah, we are already pushing our luck.’

  ‘Go without me,’ he snarled, his emotions bursting forth as he was forced to break his silence. ‘Damn it all! Just do as she said!’

  ‘I’m not moving until you do,’ Maelgwn stated, in no uncertain terms. ‘Please don’t make me shoot you.’

  ‘I’ll shoot you if you don’t get out of here!’ Zerrah raised his weapon and aimed it at the Dragon.

  ‘Go right ahead.’ Maelgwn seemed fairly complacent about the threat. ‘At least then you’ll be forced to carry me to a vehicle, and save me the trouble of hauling you.’

  ‘What is the point?’ Zerrah cried. ‘All my kin have been murdered! If I survive to have children, the same horrid life of abuse awaits them.’

  ‘No.’ Maelgwn stated. ‘Things are going to change.’

  ‘And how do you know?’ Zerrah scoffed, knowing nothing about Maelgwn’s background.

  ‘Dragon!’

  A faint cry was heard from another part of the building.

  ‘Commander!’

  Several voices were heard to call repeatedly.

  ‘He’s here,’ Uriah ran into the corridor to hail them, without care for who it was — any possible means of escape was good at this point.

  Maelgwn remained where he was, staring Zerrah out. He recognised one of the voices calling for him as belonging to Candace. As she was the Chosen female incarnation of Zerrah’s immortal self, he figured that perhaps she could get the young captain motivated about life.

  ‘We are both going to die.’ Zerrah was frustrated by Maelgwn’s persistence as the sound of several people running down the corridor towards them was heard.

  ‘Commander, praise the Goddess.’ Candace breathed a sigh of relief as she came through the door and saw him.

  As Cadwell entered, he placed a hand over the communicator on his chest to inform the other two members of the search party. ‘We’ve got him.’

  ‘I told you not to come.’ Maelgwn pretended to be annoyed with them.

  ‘A higher power overruled your command. We traced your transmission to the prison complex and began our search there,’ she concluded, knowing her commander was relieved beyond words to see them. ‘And you’re most welcome,’ Candace advised with a large smile.

  Maelgwn looked to Zerrah to find him wide-eyed and smitten by the sight of the Homo sapiens warrior woman. ‘Neither of us need die today, please come with us?’ he implored the captain, whereupon Candace turned her attention Zerrah’s way. Maelgwn could tell she was delighted to discover who he was, but she was also aware of the Delphinus male’s prevailing sorrow. She wandered over to the lab window and when she viewed who was laying dead within, Candace looked at Maelgwn with a look of deep sympathy upon her face.

  ‘I am sorry,’ she said, as her attention turned to Zerrah. ‘And I know this is a lot for me, a total stranger, to ask you to believe right now, but,’ she took hold of the Delphinus warrior’s hands, ‘there is someone back on the Aten that you have to meet.’

  The claim of the beautiful foreigner was so unexpected, that Zerrah’s curiosity began to weaken his prior resolve. He had never known her before this moment and yet, she was so familiar, like someone from a dream.

  ‘I’ll tell you what,’ Maelgwn spoke up as Zerrah appeared completely at a loss. ‘Go with Candace, and if she doesn’t make good her word, I’ll shoot you myself.’

  Zerrah seldom cracked a smile, and considering his circumstances he was as surprised as any by his reaction, but inside himself he knew that the brave thing to do was to survive the day.

  Candace, sensing Zerrah’s resolve, looked to Maelgwn and winked as she vanished with the man she held.

  As Talynn and Sybil made an appearance, an almighty tremor began to rock the city.

  ‘We’re out of here.’ Cadwell grabbed hold of Maelgwn and the two women linked hands with Uriah.

  ‘What’s happening?’ Uriah hollered as everything around him was engulfed by bright blue-white light.

  17

  Altered Impressions

  The rest of Dragon squad were manning a reconnaissance vessel that was stationed just beyond the shadow of Laarsa’s smallest moon. This craft had been launched as soon as the Aten had entered the Dinara system, to be used as a point of advance or retreat for the squad during their mission to recover their commander.

  Upon arriving on the flight deck of the medium-sized craft, Maelgwn witnessed the most extraordinary sight.

  Out through the front shield window, the surface of the planet was changing. Blizzards and storm activity ceased, as mile by mile the terrain of Laarsa changed from white to grey.

  ‘What is happening?’ Candace demanded an update from Cadwallon, who was still accessing Elima’s central database after tracing Maelgwn’s transmission.

  ‘That’s a damn fine question,’ Zerrah mumbled, still stunned by his unusual passage forth. ‘Who are you people?’

  ‘I feel sure that Uriah will fill you in.’ Maelgwn motioned the young captain to a seat out of the way.

  Uriah seemed rather high in the wake of his first experience of etheric teleportation. He just couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. ‘Glad to, Dragon.’ He sat down with Zerrah and Maelgwn moved to converse with his people.

  ‘What did Elima City Central register that tremor as?’ he questioned Cadwallon, most curious to learn what the technological readouts disclosed.

  ‘A sonic impact on the far side of the planet,’ Cadwallon advised.

  ‘And we felt it in Elima?’ Cadwell exhaled heavily and raised both brows. ‘That’s some explosion.’

  ‘But there isn’t anything on the far side of the planet?’ It didn’t make sense in Maelgwn’s opinion. ‘There is nothing that could have exploded. There is nothing worth firing at.’ It had him stumped. If you were going to fire at Laarsa, why not aim for the only city? ‘Where was Inanna’s ship placed in all of this?’ Maelgwn turned his attention to Rebecca who was in charge of the tracking systems.

  ‘Her ship docked with one of Shamash’s large deep-space voyagers, which disappeared from our monitors as soon as it activated its cloaking device. The vessel was headed towards the wormhole at the time it disappeared, shortly before you got here,’ Rebecca informed.

  ‘So, it’s doubtful the ship she was on was responsible for the blast,’ Maelgwn concluded.

  ‘According to our monitors, there were transports on that side of the planet at the time, but none of the vessels we were tracking discharged a weapon,’ Rebecca further advised.

  ‘Elima is now recording a massive seismic anomaly that is spreading itself, not just over the planet’s surface, but all the way through to the core of Laarsa.’ Cadwallon’s eyes scanned the information on the screen. ‘No.’ He decided the data was wrong. ‘The climate monitoring systems must have been damaged by the blast. These readouts can’t be right … not unless every particle on the planet is miraculously turning into stone.’ He forced a laugh, thinking the scenario preposterous.

  ‘And yet that’s exactly what appears to be happening,’ Maelgwn mumbled, noting the expanding grey cloak on the planet was about to engulf the city of Elima.

  On the invisible screen that arose from Cadwallon’s work-station the scrolling data from Elima froze u
p. Try as he did, Cadwallon could not restore contact with the city’s database. ‘The system’s dead.’

  ‘So it would appear.’ Maelgwn stared at the planet that was almost entirely grey.

  I have a very bad feeling about this. Sibyl, the seer of the squad, rose from her seat to urge them along. We should leave the monitors running and abandon ship, immediately!

  ‘Is the Aten still attached to the Mazua?’ Maelgwn asked Cadwell, as the rest of the squad readied themselves to depart.

  Cadwell shook his head. ‘Upon your advice Marduk is heading the Aten back to the Sirius system. We evacuated the Mazua and left it floating this side of the wormhole as a decoy.’

  ‘What about the projects in Gibal’s lab?’ There would be little point to restoring Gibal if everything he lived for had been destroyed.

  ‘It has all been transferred to the Aten.’ Cadwell set Maelgwn’s mind at rest.

  As everyone had gathered in the centre of the control deck to teleport themselves and the other survivors to the Aten, Maelgwn delayed Cadwell from joining them. ‘I need you to get me to the Mazua. We’ll see you back at the Aten,’ he advised Candace, who nodded confirmation.

  ‘Don’t be long,’ she urged, before vanishing with Uriah, Zerrah and the rest of the Dragon squad.

  All of the Chosen wore thought wave neutralisers to prevent any who had not been given clearance from learning their secrets. It also granted them privacy from each other, until the demi-gods all advanced to a level of awareness where they did not feel the need to shield their thoughts.

  Cadwell removed the thought wave neutraliser he wore, whereby Maelgwn gripped hold of Cadwell’s arm to relay the image of Aquilla’s quarters on the Mazua to him. ‘Got it?’ he queried his grandson, who smiled accordingly.

  ‘We’re there, Grandpa.’ Cadwell held the picture in his mind and willed himself to that place.

  The detection device was right where Aquilla had said it would be. Maelgwn was of the mind to use it and go straight after Gibal, but Cadwell declined to aid him with the task.