Mane-of-Night And The Watcher From Beyond - Chapter 6

The purr of Skylance-X's engines starts to rise in pitch, and there is the briefest sensation of forward motion as the vessel accelerates to match, and exceed, the speed of the Giparrac ship. In under a minute, the somewhat crude form of the alien vessel comes into visual range - it's basically a round-ended cylinder, with several spheres and glowing cylinders at one end and a cluster of communications and sensor pylons at the other. Skylance-X is about half-again as long, and her vertical "wings" cause her to dwarf the Giparrac ship, but our approach goes unnoticed, our ship rendered invisible to the aliens' technology, and external view-ports being deemed an unnecessary expense by the Giparrac designers.

"Moving into position", reports Noyanda the flight officer - our "pilot". "Matching course and speed directly ahead of the other-worlders. Preparing to carry out final manoeuvre..."

Symmarae grasps the arm-rests of her commander's chair, and takes a deep breath before she responds; a single word - "Execute..."

Once again, there's that momentary sensation of movement, a combination of an upward tilt and a roll to the left. The Giparrac vessel swings into view from the bottom right corner of our view-screen, then comes up level at the exact centre of the viewer as Skylance-X completes the manoeuvre, effectively flying backwards ahead of the aliens - the Giparrac explorers are in for quite a surprise when we reveal ourselves...

"Prepare to disengage scanning countermeasures at my signal", says Symmarae, and it couldn't be more evident that the historical magnitude of what's about to happen is like a great weight on her shoulders. Right now, he has the future of her world in the palm of her hand, and she knows it - it's quite a humbling moment.

"Standing really, Commander", says Misol, his hand hovering, trembling, over one corner of his control console.

"May fate show us - and the Giparrac - mercy", sighs Symmarae. "Stand ready... and execute."

There is no immediate indication, onboard Skylance-X, that anything chances after Misol taps the relevant "button" on his touch-sensitive panel; no dimming of lights, no equipment falling silent - but the Giparrac are an entirely different matter. I don't need to reach out telepathically to sense panic erupting onboard their vessel like water bursting through a breached dam, and their ship slows abruptly to avoid what the aliens feel will be an imminent collision. Skylance-X allows the alien ship to withdraw a little, then once again matches speed, and gradually, the panic overwhelming the Giparrac subsides, cautious wonder taking its place.

"Let them make the first move", I advise Symmarae. "That will give them the feeling that they have at least an illusion of control over the situation. That way, we'll have a better chance of resolving this without killing them all."

"Agreed", says the Commander, "but I'll give them fifty paces to acknowledge us, no more. Every pace takes us closer to Objective: Black, and I don't want to be fighting in our target's lap."

Symmarae and her staff may not be a seasoned starship crew - I've skimmed through their mission reports - but the Commander's decision-making honestly can't be faulted. Sooner or later, the stand-off will either end, or be ended...

Deliverance is, however, soon in coming. "We have an incoming communications stream, sound and visual", reports Ghali. "The language is Giparrac - streaming it through our interpretation bank now, synchronising with our files. Commander, do you wish to receive?"

"Affirmative - but stand by one moment", Symmarae replies, grasping her arm-rests again. "Lady Mane-of-Night, your assistance would be much appreciated."

"As and when you need it", I tell her, and the Commander relaxes visibly, then gives the word. Here comes history...

"Open the channel, Ghali", she orders. "Let's talk some sense into these people."

The view-screen switches from the image of the Giparrac vessel to a dimly-lit interior - a cramped crew compartment with seats for three, two flanking a central position. The occupant of the centre seat rises, stepping forward, nervous, wide-eyed, and we get our first proper look at a Giparrac in the form nature intended; grey-tinged skin, pale blue eyes, the nose the lower end of a pronounced ridge staring above the eye-line, three horizontal bars of paint applied to that ridge - white, then yellow, then purplish-blue. Alien, yes, but not so unlike us that one does not sense a kindred, exploring spirit - if Talona was here, I'm sure she'd find it a whole lot harder to sentence these travellers to death.

"Who - who are you...?", gaps the Giparrac, masculine in voice and anatomy.

"I am Symmarae of Yafornis, commander of Skylance-X", our captain responds, a little hoarsely on account of her mouth having dried up in anxious anticipation. "Fellow explorers, we greet you in a spirit of peace and friendship."

Now all the Giparrac crew are looking at the screen, amazed - and not a little frightened. "I am U'Ramt, born of Kadan and Cheera in the city of Sopar, on the home-world of the Giparrac", answers the lead alien. "I wear the colours of command for the vessel Seeks-The-Answer... you... you speak Giparrac'aa - how is this so?"

A good question, I ask myself. The first real test of Symmarae's ability to spin a believable tale.

"Yours is not the first Giparrac space-craft we have encountered", she begins...

"...the Journeys-To-Truth?", exclaims U'Ramt. "You have found her?"

"We found a vessel very similar to yours, adrift, her crew... dead", replies Symmarae. "We accessed the ship's data-core, programmed our data-system to translate your language from that information. We were forced to destroy the craft, as it presented a hazard to space travel."

U'Ramt looks to the crew member on his right, a Giparrac female. She closes her eyes, and performs a curious gesture, placing her hand on her chest, with the two middle fingers extended. "You do not speak all the truth, Symmarae of Yafornis", declares the Giparrac commander. "Our Seer disputes what you have said..."

I haven't sensed any telepathic activity - even a surface scan that might have detected Symmarae's "stretching" of the truth, but that's not the only way to divine the truth. The girl could have magical skills, too subtle for my limited, but growing mystical talents to detect, or some kind of natural sensitivity to the psychic realm, and Symmarae's deviation from the facts wasn't that great...

***Tell them***, I advise our Commander. ***Give them the truth...***

"Forgive me, U'Ramt, but I was... unsure how prepared you might be for the hidden dangers of travel between the stars", Symmarae then answers. "A terrible thing happened to the crew of your other vessel. They were exposed to a power we do not yet understand, and they were... changed, transformed horribly. They were suffering, and we could not bring ourselves to leave them in pain. Our sciences had no cure for their condition..."

The Giparrac look stunned and horrified in equal measure, but they do not immediately voice any anger, or sorrow. They close their eyes, and sit in silence for ten seconds or so - and I notice that U'Ramt places a hand on the shoulder of the crew-man to his left. Is this the comradeship of space-farers, already blossoming even though the Giparrac are new to long-distance space-travel, or is it something more personal - a family matter? Maybe we will, after all, have a chance to find out.

"You have records of these events?", asks the Giparrac commander as his eyes open again. "We were sent to find out why communications with our fellow vessel were terminated unexpectedly."

"All the relevant data will be provided in a format compatible with your technology", replies Symmarae.

"We did not come in search of being like ourselves", says U'Ramt, "but we are glad we found beings as kind and understanding as yourselves. If anything is to be gained from this tragedy, it will be, I hope, the start of true friendship..."

Both crews relax. Peace appears to have broken out without a shot being fired, and to relieve some of the now hopefully unnecessary tension, I lean forward to smooth some irksome wrinkles from the glossy surface of my boots...

That quite harmless, unthreatening action unleashes chaos. By doing so, I move into the field of view of the command deck's video camera, through which the Giparrac see their opposite numbers on Skylance-X. The alien "Seer" catches sight of me first, and lets out a wail of terror - "N-no! The Shadow-Mother...!"

U'Ramt and the other crew-man glance over at their companion, utterly bewildered, then they look back at us, on their main screen. They're confused, but initially calm; they see me, but don't react unduly... until a strange, glazed expression comes over both of them, and U'Ramt severs the communications link.

Symmarae spins her chair round to face me. "What did you do?", she asks, anxiously.

"Nothing that should have offended anyone", I respond, surprised. "Not unless they have some completely unpredictable cultural taboos..."

"Check the Giparrac cultural database", orders the Commander. "Korthem, scan for any reference to 'The Shadow-Mother'. I want to know what we did wrong - if anything."

Korthem is a "mechano-telepath" - he can communicate directly with all manners of complex devices - and he retrieves the necessary information without touching the console in front of him. "This 'Shadow-Mother' sounds like some kind of malevolent supernatural being, but the Giparrac have nothing like that in their belief system; just manifestations of their wrong-doings that are supposed to haunt their sleep."

"The Giparrac are slowing", report Noyanda. "Do we match speed?"

"No, let them have some space", answers Symmarae, "but remain vigilant. They may panic..."

The most telling statement of all, however, comes from a quite composed Sygarem. "They - they were touched", he murmurs. "A presence... it cast a - a shadow over them..."

The Watcher knows we're here, us and the Giparrac...

"Reading something detaching from the alien ship", announces sensor officer Misol. "Picking up an energy pattern - high output! Could be an explosive device!"

"A secondary reactor", says Sygarem, as though in the midst of a dream. "They mean to destroy us."

"Maximum defence status!", cries out Symmarae. "All available power to the energy-wall! Noyanda, move us away...!"

Dominion Two would have shrugged off the explosion like it was the most gentle of rain-showers, but Skylance-X isn't my flag-ship. The Yafornian vessel shakes and rocks wildly, just like the set of some old vid-show, and the view of open space is bleached white by the flash, but we survive, essentially unscathed on the outside. Our hull and engines may be intact, but more delicate systems are a different matter - our sensors and targeting systems have been blinded, a temporary state of affairs that has given the Giparrac the opportunity to get past us.

"Get those scanners back on-line!", exclaims Symmarae. "We can't lose them!"

Korthem shifts over to the sensor operations position, nudging Misol out of the way. Employing his psychic affinity for technology, he tries to "talk sense" into the scanning matrix, and far quicker than anyone could press buttons and reconfigure settings by hand, he re-enables the sensors of Skylance-X, and not a moment too soon. "I have them!", he announces, moments later. "They're heading into the coherent darkness zone - we may not be able to see them, but their engines are producing a wake in the dark-matter, which we can follow even with limited sensors."

"Noyanda, put us on a pursuit and intercept course", orders Symmarae. "Misol, make ready all weapons. We know where they're headed, and what they're prepared to do to get there - now let's stop them."

The decision has been made, but I can't help feeling that it's the wrong one. We were making progress, making friends, the suddenly it all fell apart - too suddenly, and for no discernable reason. They were touched - a presence... it cast a shadow over them - that's what Sygarem said, and it has me thinking. Thinking that the unprotected minds of the Giparrac have maybe acted as a conduit for The Watcher - it saw me, through them, and the entity recognised the threat I represent. The alien might not be able to give the Giparrac orders, such as "come and release me", but it can clearly tap into and exploit primal fears and anxieties.

Without comment or ceremony, Skylance-X enters the seemingly limitless darkness, following the life-line of spatial turbulence left behind by the Seeks-The-Answer. The Giparrac remain only moments ahead of us, but moments may be all they'll need to unleash the nightmare lurking deep beneath the surface of the planetoid at the centre of the darkness. I'll try to save them, if I can, break the monster's hold over them before it's too late, but for the Giparrac, there is nothing more holy than answering the call of their space-dwelling deity...

...they may be prepared to die for this holy cause, and the only way to stop fanaticism like that may be to destroy them.

"The dark-matter field is thinning", reports Korthem. "Reading a region of normal space directly ahead, confirming a planet... and there's the Giparrac ship. They're on a direct approach vector, accelerating...!"

"Doesn't look like they're making for orbit, or a landing", adds Misol.

"I was afraid of that", I murmur. "They're willing to sacrifice themselves, in the name of their deity. What better way to ensure their passage to eternal bliss?"

"What remaining reactor capacity do they have?", enquires Symmarae.

"Their secondary power system is down, after ejecting the reactor module they blew up in our face", answers Misol. "Their main system has dual reactors, with a combined energetic capacity about twenty times that of the ejected reactor. They could easily wipe out a city with all that they have."

"Or crack open a small planet", I add, even though something inside me wants me to stay silent, as though not expressing that thought in words will somehow stop it from coming true. Will closing my eyes suddenly render any of this "null and void"? I very much doubt it - I wasn't there to witness the horrors visited upon the Journeys-To-Truth, but that still happened...

Something deep in the Mystalornan core of my being sounds an alarm, and my psychic defences go up at full strength. "We're too close", I warn the Skylance-X crew. "Sygarem, get ready - we may have to act in a hurry..."

I look over at my companion, and he gives the general impression of being paralysed with fear, finger-tips digging into the synthetic leather padding of the arms of his chair. That's not the truth, however - he's actually employing my teachings to do as I've done, trying to shield himself against The Watcher's presence, and for a novice, he's...

Suddenly, the Giparrac are talking to us again. It's U'Ramt, and he's far more afraid of what lies ahead than he ever was of me, or Skylance-X: "We... we're feeling something... something strange", he murmurs. "I'm - I'm not alone inside my own head - it must be the Shining Sky-Lord, trying to talk to us... but why am I afraid? I should be so... happy...?"

The eyes of the Giparrac commander suddenly bulge alarmingly - and then the yellow-tinged orbs pop out of their sockets with a sickening sound as spongy greyish matter bursts out from behind them. The alien's brains have expanded, swelling to such an extent that they escape from his skull by any route they can find.

Symmarae is speechless, so I speak for her. I swing my gaze round onto Misol, and give the order: "End this", I declare, coldly, the only comfort I gain from it being the knowledge that I'll spare the Giparrac any prolonged suffering, and hopefully prevent this happening to all other sentients in range of The Watcher's influence. "End it now..."

...to be continued...

Posted at 17:05 on 02.07.2009


~ o O o ~


Previously...
Mane-of-Night And The Watcher From Beyond - Chapter 6 - 02.07.2009
Mane-of-Night And The Watcher From Beyond - Chapter 5 - 30.06.2009
Mane-of-Night And The Watcher From Beyond - Chapter 4 - 28.06.2009
Mane-of-Night And The Watcher From Beyond - Chapter 3 - 25.06.2009
Mane-of-Night And The Watcher From Beyond - Chapter 2 - 23.06.2009