In the Shadow of Mountains: The Lost Girls

Chapter Five

  A History of Evil and Death

  “My people were called the Tun-Sho-Lok. They were a peaceful race who had long overcome war and strife. They had conquered the heavens and had travelled to the stars. They visited many worlds. But they were always inquisitive for more knowledge, and their search took them to the Keruh homeworld.

  “The Keruh were the exact opposite to the Tun-Sho-Lok. They were warlike, primitive, and barbaric. They sought only to conquer and increase their empire. War was inevitable.

  “Inter-stellar war is not for the faint-hearted. The Tun-Sho-Lok were unprepared and ill-equipped. And only two other races they had visited came to their aid. The death toll was tremendous. One by one, the worlds of the Tun-Sho-Lok and their allies were lost to the Keruh Host. The Tun-Sho-Lok were a beautiful and elegant race. The Keruh killed them easily. They took no prisoners, murdering whole populations. The war was soon lost. Invasion of the Tun-Sho-Lok homeworld was unavoidable.

  “The Tun-Sho-Lok had many sciences and skills. One of them was in bioengineering. They devised a clone comprised of the genetic material of their two allies, one that was able to manipulate the genes of alien DNA in its own body, so that it could reproduce itself forever by hunting out and acquiring the males of other races. And they combined its DNA with micro-biotic technology, providing the clone with the ability to manipulate its own molecular structure at will. They programmed it with basic instincts, genetically storing those instincts in the neural pathways of its brain at birth. And the most powerful instinct was the instinct to kill. It was the clone’s only true purpose in life. The Tun-Sho-Lok gave their creation the name Androktones, and they mass-produced them in vast numbers even after their world had fallen and the Keruh were nearing victory.

  “The Androktones did not stop the extinction of the Tun-Sho-Lok; they came too late for that. But they gave the Keruh a surprise they had not expected. The Keruh were vicious and barbaric. But they still pursued war for gain. For them it was about food and resources, things that were long drained on their own world. They fought to survive, to grow stronger and to go on. The Androktones were without this weakness. They had no other purpose or need other than to kill. This was the only reason for their existence. They had no remorse, no fear of death, and no care for their own lives. They strived only to kill, and they soon overcame the massed armies of the Keruh on the ground, slaughtering them and devouring them.

  “Too late the Keruh realised that the Tun-Sho-Lok had left behind a powerful revenge. The Androktones were relentless. They were like a plague of insects, killing without mercy and without thought. They pursued the Keruh back to their homeworld, and they soon followed the Tun-Sho-Lok into extinction. But the killing didn’t stop.

  “In their hurry, or by design, the Tun-Sho-Lok had programmed the Androktones to kill everything that didn’t match their own genetic code. But the Tun-Sho-Lok and their allies were now extinct, and there was no other life form that shared their exact genetic code other than the Androktones themselves. That meant that none were to be spared.

  “With the combined technology of both the Tun-Sho-Lok and their allies and the Keruh at their control, the Androktones swept through the galaxy destroying all in their path. Even other life forms not involved in the previous war were destroyed whenever they were found. Only those races whose DNA was compatible were spared. Small numbers of each race were kept alive on isolated planets as breeding stock. All others were annihilated. As the Androktones empire increased, so did the technology at their command, and soon they became invincible. No race, no empire could stand before them, all were consumed. In time, only the life forms that were similar to the Tun-Sho-Lok were left alive, all others were extinguished. The galaxy was almost empty. Then came disaster.

  “One of the races kept alive were the Navak, those who gave us the name the Gest Hroya. They hated us with the same ferocity and passion as we hated them. But their genetic structure was so compatible with our own, that their hatred of us was ignored. Although defeated and enslaved, the Navak were still very clever and resourceful. They secretly devised a weapon that neutralized the ability of the Androktones to manipulate their molecular structure. Overnight, the balance of power swung away from the Androktones. It started as an uprising on one distant planet, and then it was a revolution, and finally, all out war.

  “The Navak banded together the surviving humanoids and led them against the Androktones. Without the ability to alter their molecular structure, the Androktones were almost powerless on the ground. They were killed in the thousands. Only in space was the war more equal. Massed fleets tore each other to shreds in a war of survival. Smashed wrecks and burning hulks filled stellar systems and spiralled into stars.

  “The Navak re-took their own homeworld and built vast planet destroying ships. One by one the Great Ships reduced to ashes the worlds that the Androktones still inhabited. What little that had survived from the original wars now succumbed to this new one. Everywhere there was death and fire. But the Androktones were not yet beaten. From the heart of their lost empire, they called out to their sisters, still pursuing war and other races on the far periphery of the galaxy. Soon vast fleets, far superior in number and power to those left smashed and reduced at the centre, were returning in great numbers. This would be the moment of truth. This was Year Zero. The Battle of the Black Cross Nebula.

  “Fate and nature are things humans discuss. The game of chance is also familiar to you. The Gest Hroya thought nothing of these things. But it was fate, nature, and the law of averages that finally destroyed us.

  “In order to reproduce, we must seek out the males of races whose genetic code is compatible to that of our own, to that of the Tun-Sho-Lok. But even then, we manipulate the DNA we receive during copulation and keep only what we need, discarding the rest. To do this successfully and repeatedly, we are allowed a certain amount of tolerance in the outcome of the manipulation. But if this limit of tolerance is exceeded in any way, then the results of the manipulation are discarded. For generations this process had been successful, but now nature and the law of averages caught us out.

  “When the Androktones returning from the periphery made contact with those at the centre, it was to find that their DNA no longer matched. Generation after generation of tiny imperfections, unnoticed because of the differences in time and the distances across space, were suddenly plain and obvious. The Androktones on the outside of the empire, who had bred with new races found only on the periphery of the galaxy, differed with those at the centre, those at the inside of the empire, who had continued to breed from captive populations. The result was instant hatred. The Gest Hroya called it the Inside, Outside War. The Navak called it deliverance.

  “Millions of Androktones perished at the Battle of the Black Cross Nebula, even before the humanoids entered the fray. Androktone ships blasted and rammed one another, flying passed Navak ships to do so. Soon, the space around the nebula was so thick with the drifting wrecks of dying ships that others could hardly fit through, and collided with them. Great fragments of ships would cartwheel through the gas of the nebula, shedding more fiery fragments on the way, until finally they collided with other ships, and erupted like tiny stars. Everywhere was smashed and twisted metal, and inside them, the dead and dying.

  “When it was over, there was almost nothing left. Isolated Androktone ships that were damaged were picked off by the humanoids, and those that made planet-fall were hunted out and exterminated using the Navak planet destroying ships. But the Navak themselves did not escape the doom and destruction. Two of the planet destroying ships had been captured by the Androktones during the Battle of the Black Cross Nebula. Now the last of the surviving Androktones used them against the Navak’s homeworld, destroying it forever. The Navak chased them in their anger. The chase took them across half the galaxy. World after world was destroyed, ship after ship lost in the pursuit, until finally, all ended here, at Ellerkan.

  “Ellerkan had been colonise
d by a race of humans many years before. Outsider Androktones, pursuing war and conquest on the periphery, had attacked them and enslaved them. They were still here when one of the planet destroying ships carrying the Insider Androktones arrived and attacked them. It bombarded the planet, destroying the city of Ellerkan along with many others. But no sooner had the ship landed, and the war between the Androktones recommenced, when the Navak arrived in pursuit.

  “The Navak came in the last of the great planet destroying ships. The two Great Ships fired at one another, one from space, and the other from the ground. The engagement between them was short, but such was their power, that both were soon lost. The Navak left their doomed ship, their army making planet-fall not far from here in the forest, and the war was continued in earnest.

  “Although their numbers were few, the Navak had brought their weapon with them, the one that negated the Androktones power. Without our power we were defeated. But no one could leave this world. All the ships were lost, and none came close by. The galaxy was now a very empty place.

  “The surviving Navak learned to live here, on Ellerkan. They interbred with the humans who were already here, and lived peacefully. But they never forgot their hatred of us, and for generations they hunted down and killed those of us who had survived.

  “All this is in the distant past. You remember little of what really happened. Only recent history, combined and intermixed with fragments of the truth are remembered. There were many battles between your people and mine. Like the one you described with King Ru-Pert, and later with King Steff-An. But the exact nature of the battles are now blurred and mixed with legend. The castle you speak of marks the resting place of the Althon Gerail, the Great Ship stolen from the Navak, a ship once capable of destroying whole planets. At one time, to possess it was to escape. But the Navak knew this, and forever kept us at bay. The castle was the last of many fortifications built to guard and keep it from us. Now the ship lies broken and buried beneath the hill upon which the castle stands. It is crushed by the weight of the earth, and its secrets and its importance have waned. We failed to enter the ship when it still could have helped us, and now the passing of time has overtaken us. We are defeated, and the Navak have triumphed.

  “I believe that on this planet live the last of the Gest Hroya. That no Androktones exist anywhere else in the galaxy except for here, on Ellerkan, trapped with our ancient enemies. We hate you with a passion, and do our utmost to destroy you, but our numbers are now too few, and we live only to be hunted like animals by those who have forgotten the real reason why they hate us. But we have not forgotten. I have not forgotten.

  “I took part in the Battle of the Black Cross Nebula. I watched the disaster unfold and spat hatred and maser blasts at the Outsiders even as they did the same to me. Later I boarded and fought my way onto the bridge of the Althon Gerail, bathed in the blood of those I killed on the way. And later still I saw the destruction of the Navak homeworld. I watched as it burned, and its seas boiled. And afterwards I travelled here, to Ellerkan, and watched as the ship rained death down on to your great city. I have fought in the ruins of that city, killing all who I could find. Men, women, children. And I fought for the possession of the broken ship many times. And still later, I fought against the armies of King Ru-Pert, and King Steff-An. Now I live alone in the forest and the wilderness. If I meet a human, I kill them. And if I meet another Androktone, it is often an Outsider whom I must fight and also kill. For this reason, I live in isolation, avoiding all who pass near. I am tired, bitter, and old. And now I have come to you, and you have a choice that must be made.”

  Soo-Kai had continued to stare into the fire as she had told her story. Now she turned and stared directly into Rolf’s eyes, seeing no hatred or fear there, but only sadness and horror. Rolf had sat transfixed by what she had told him, the tears still running un-wiped down his face. He had no words to say, and even if he had, his emotion would have overcome him. But Soo-Kai was not finished yet. She spoke relentlessly, her eyes remaining fixed on his.

  “Know this, Rolf Le-Pine: I am an Androktone, a clone of the Tun-Sho-Lok, known to the Navak as the Gest Hroya, and to you as a Destroyer. The meanings are the same: I live only to kill and to procreate. You, Rolf, are the descendant of the Navak. Your blood may be mixed, but to me, you are a Navak, and I detest your very being, your very existence. To look at you is to cause me pain. If you hadn’t answered my questions correctly, I would have killed you without thought or hesitation. You are my enemy, Rolf, as I am yours. But because you have approached me correctly, because you didn’t kill me when you could, and because you have cared for me and tended for me when I was vulnerable, and given me sustenance when I was weak, you have initiated a bond between us. It is a bond that is as old as my race. It is necessary for reproduction and is controlled by instincts as powerful as those that make me kill. And because of this the hatred I feel for you has left me.

  “Your approach to this bond may have been accidental, but your intentions have always been clear. From the moment you whispered in my ear I could taste the desire in your body. I will not harm you, Rolf Le-Pine. Instead I will do your bidding. I will stay with you, and care for you. I will even fight and die for you. I will follow no other purpose in life other than to serve you and please you. In return I will expect no less from you. But the bond is not yet fixed between us.

  “To complete the bond there is one last task you must complete. You must copulate with me. But you must do it with desire, and willingly. If you do not, if I taste any hesitation or deception, then we must part and never meet again. Because if we do, I will kill you as if I had never known you.

  “But only you can make the decision. You have initiated this bond, not I. As you approached me, I was content for my life to end. But you saved my life, even at risk to your own, and now you must decide. I will wait until the sun has gone down. But when darkness falls, I must know your answer.”

  Now he knows.

  His body rhythms are in turmoil. He will deny you.

  He is shocked. He will accept me.