Annals of the Keepers - Rage Read online

  A couple of other ones came from another direction.

  They were barking out orders in a strange dialect of grumbled words.

  Their bodies were massive, their arms the size of tree trunks, their heads were swept-back layered slabs of stone.

  Each joint looked as if they were built from smaller brown stones or blocks as a robot was built, joints standing out, rough, and oversized.

  They had engraved markings all over that etched their way through the stone slabs that covered them.

  Some of the rune etchings had green fluorescent lines, like body paintings that flashed along the various symbols.

  The green lines matched their bright green eyes that had an air of doom about them.

  Interesting brutes, no doubt. The muscle of this place is incredible, I thought.

  “Hey, Rels.”

  “What?”

  “I think we’re being sold.”

  “Sold?”

  “Yes. That’s what I said.”

  “I guess it’s better than being dead.”

  A strange soft voice spoke my language from behind us, “That may still happen.”

  I turned around to see a tall, lanky alien standing before our cage.

  The face seemed to be a mask made of a large piece of broken bark from a tree, greenish-gray in color. It was smooth all around, no rough edges.

  There were two small horizontal blue glowing slits for eyes and two vertical slits than ran down towards a squared chin that seemed to be the mouth. Only the eyes moved.

  The faceplate had different sized circles or markings on either sides of the cheek area that overlapped.

  Its neck was thin and grey in color, as were its limbs, which stuck out from a white robe that covered the upper torso and draped between the legs with the exposed hips and thighs covered in similar stoney or wooden shell.

  The shoulders were also encased in a similar pauldron of the same strange material. I’m not quite sure if all of this was some sort of armor or a part of the body itself.

  The lanky creature spoke again, “I’m Yren. I’ll be your interpreter.”

  “How do you know my language?” I asked.

  The being gestured to a device on the side of the cage. “This transmitter has been recording you as soon as you started speaking. I just listened and learned the linguistics of your speech.”

  “Just like that?”

  “Yes. I’m from a race of syntactical beings called Xty. We can decipherer languages with few spoken words. We also draw from the archives given by the Ancients for all the known races of the galaxy.”

  Ancients.

  “Hey, Rels. She may know about the Gashnee Ancients.”

  Before I could ask, Yren came close to the cage. “We don’t have much time. You must trust me.”

  “I’m in no position to do otherwise,” I said.

  The strange linguist looked around outside the cage. “We need to get you out of here.”

  “I couldn’t agree more.”

  “Don’t say anything to anyone who approaches you. Do not speak of the Gashnee or the Ancients. I’ll be back.”

  “Wait. What is this place?” I asked.

  “You’re in the city of Morikyn on the planet Tasashnee. You’re being sold into slavery.”

  “Oh, wonderful.”

  “I told you, Rels.”

  “Can your friend walk?” She gestured to Kayasa.

  I nudged the prone Vrae’s leg. No response. “She’s still out from the toxin.”

  Yren tilted her head. “She should be awake by now.”

  “Um…uh…well, she took a few more shots than we did and…”

  Mistuuk interrupted with his perfect timing as always. “Rels used her as a shield on our escape.”

  “We don’t need to go into the details right now, pudge,” I opened my eyes wide and stared him down, “Now do we?”

  “Get her up before my return,” the alien interpreter said as she departed from us and ventured across the dirt roadway towards the vender shops.

  I gestured to the pudgy Cuukzen to wake our Vrae assassin up. “Get Blink strapped to your back. We’ll worry about him later.”

  “Got it, Rels.”

  We had no choice but to trust this so-called master of language.

  I just hoped we could get to these Ancients and get the information we came for before this trip got any more interesting.

  This excursion has been anything but uninteresting. I have an arms-dealing, jojo fruit-loving Cuukzen I thought was a bounty hunter of information for a sidekick.

  How much more interesting could things get?

  I didn’t want to think about that too much.

  My reminiscent thoughts of jojo fruit were broken away by a loud slamming noise.

  The stone brutes were walking down the line of cages, banging on them with large clubs, waking all their prisoners.

  One grumbling giant came to our cage.

  It looked in.

  It grumbled something, pointing to the downed Vrae female.

  Bang!

  The club hit the side before the stone creature ventured back down the line.

  Another ratcheting noise sounded from under us.

  We were moving.

  A conveyer-type system moved the prison cages down to the other end of the row.

  I could see them being loaded on a strange looking vehicle.

  More stone creatures were at this loading dock watching the cages roll onto the back of this craft.

  This can’t be good.

  We were next-to-be loaded when the ratcheting stopped.

  With a jarring halt, our cage stopped right before the back of a loaded vehicle.

  One of the stone creatures threw up its arms and started yelling.

  Coming up some steps was Yren.

  She approached the brute and showed it some scrolls.

  They argued for a moment until the brute gestured to another one of its kind.

  This other stone monstrosity came over to our cage and picked it up like it was nothing, moving it to another vehicle in the middle of the dirt road.

  It placed the cage down and pushed it in next to a few others.

  The back ramp closed and our vehicle began to move.

  I could see Yren near the loading dock looking on.

  Dust flew into the air, thrown by the hover device the vehicle had beneath it.

  As the cloud of dirt cleared and the vehicle rose, I could see the city complex better.

  It reminded me of the Kaleelan peoples and their cities on the moons of Tranus or the Aztec structures of ancient Earth.

  In the far distance, I could make out a massive towering structure; a four-sided pyramid edifice.

  That place looks important.

  Is that where we’re headed? I wonder if that’s where these damned secretive Gashnee Ancients are.

  That answer came quick as the vehicle turned left and headed out an arched gateway and into the dense forest.

  I guess not.

  The sun had set over the triple canopy foliage which gave way to no light.

  I watched the last bit of sunlight from the stone city behind us vanish through the brush as we ventured further into the darkened forest.

  Mistuuk was still trying to wake up Kayasa. She took those squids like a trooper; although, she didn’t exactly have a say in the matter.

  Well, better her than me. Then again, maybe she was the lucky one, drugged and not knowing what was going on.

  Maybe I envied her a bit?

  Nah.

  So, we were off through an alien jungle; the three of us in a cage, four counting the bot, and not a plan to be had.

  Sounds about right.

  Where we were going was any guess, but our strange new host Yren knew.

  Data Cell 17

  Shawna was furious when she left the entrance to the underground complex at Cheyenne Mountain.

  She didn’t want any delays in her mission of rehabilitating the plan
et her ancestors were born on, and now this whole mess.

  Captain Ronclar knew the mission parameters.

  Why did he deviate from them?

  The director understood the requests by the Keeper Adytum for the artifacts that were stored there, but she had made it clear that these secondary objectives would be met the following year, not at the beginning of the Earthiest Precept hours after landing.

  Her irritation from the captain’s spontaneous adventure was interrupted by another, more fearful thought.

  She froze as she noticed a moving mass out of the corner of her eye.

  Shawna had stopped in the middle of the outside compound.

  She didn’t make a move.

  Rounding her left side, about three meters away from her and near one of the transport platforms, was a large gray form.

  A Bassor wolf stalked.

  Its head was down and its teeth were drawn.

  More movement.

  Shawna looked to her right and saw another wolf appear from behind some crates near a generator.

  As she surveyed her position, she picked out another, then another.

  Four Bassor wolves surrounded her now.

  She reached for her Lancer pistol at her side, but stopped short as it elicited a reaction from the canines.

  The huge animals growled, their teeth and gum lines exposed.

  Their gold eyes locked onto her every movement.

  She pulled her hand back away from her sidearm.

  The wolves had the upper hand.

  Maybe she could contact the security detail.

  She had to try.

  She raised her left arm to activate her wrist comms, but paused as this caused another growl from the wolves.

  Did they know somehow?

  Did the movement cause their reaction; instinct perhaps?

  She noticed they were circling her but not advancing.

  The wolves kept their three-meter distance as they paced around their target.

  If she was wondering why they were not attacking or getting closer, she found the reason as it entered from the front gate.

  Standing a few centimeters taller at the shoulder than the other four wolves, the larger black creature that now approached her was far more menacing.

  The alpha, she thought.

  He approached her.

  Her hand went back down to the pistol.

  The alpha male did not stop, but he did lower his head, his ears fell back, and he growled in the same manner as the others did with his teeth bared.

  Shawna removed her shaking hand from the Lancer’s grip.

  She clasped her hands together in front of her, not wanting to express any sense of aggression if that is what they were picking up. Her instincts screamed to either run or draw her sidearm.

  She didn’t know what she was going to do.

  Then, she realized…they were sizing her up. She didn’t know why because they had her cornered. She was no match for them, let alone a threat.

  Wait.

  A threat to the complex, she thought.

  Her dread now deepened and her shoulders trembled.

  That was their main priority engineered in their genes.

  Protect this facility as if it was their own.

  She was a threat to their den; their home.

  Shawna knew they would defend it at all costs.

  The alpha male approached to within a meter of the director.

  Shawna could hear her own heartbeat in her ears and feel her pulse in her neck.

  She couldn’t even swallow with the large dry lump in her throat.

  She shivered, but never took her eyes off the alpha male, careful not to look him in his own eyes, she kept him in her periphery.

  If they could smell fear, she thought, she was a trembling pile of it.

  The alpha male sniffed the air to his front.

  He was just out of arm’s reach.

  He sniffed again.

  Were they going to attack?

  She didn’t know.

  Her eyes widened when she saw the large black wolf suddenly tilt his head up and howl up into the air.

  She flinched back and almost screamed.

  Should she could grab her pistol and take a chance?

  Maybe, if she could fire in time, the blast would stun or scare them and she could make a run for the hover unit.

  Her fear froze any decision she would make.

  The alpha male finished, lowered his head back down to look at her, and seemed to nod to her as he turned and walked back out the main gate.

  The other wolves followed.

  Shawna exhaled.

  “Well, that was terrifying,” she said aloud, her hands still trembling.

  Making her own way out the gate, she was cautious with her movement.

  She could see the wolves enter the treeline of the forest on the east side of the complex wall.

  The alpha male was the last to enter, but stopped before going in.

  The massive animal looked back at Shawna, who was now near her hover unit, and made direct eye contact with her before it entered the forest and vanished among the foliage. Those golden eyes pierced hers even from this distance.

  Shawna’s breath caught as their eyes met before she activated the comms on her hover unit.

  “C-computer, did you relay the security message to the adjutant back at base?”

  [Unable to perform order, director. There is interference from the mountain complex. All transmissions are being blocked.]

  “Dammit.”

  The hover unit hummed to life and she lifted off, heading back to base camp and the Erudition ship landing site.

  “Computer, continue to relay message about the wolves to Captain Ronclar. He should be able to pick it up once he exits the tunnel.”

  [Understood, Director Bowlan]

  Her hover unit raced back over the treetops.

  ∞∞∞

  The director’s hover unit descended to the charging station next to the Erudition ship.

  Four security officers approached her as she landed and exited the vehicle.

  “Where is Natis?” Shawna asked.

  One of the officers responded to her question, “He’s returning from the southern station. There was an incident with some wolves.”

  “Wolves?”

  “Yes, ma’am. They looked to be Bassor wolves.”

  “I had a run-in with a few. We need to go back to Cheyenne Mountain and help Captain Ronclar. I wasn’t able to warn him about them.”

  As they discussed the situation, a hover unit flew in and landed.

  Stepping off the unit was the adjutant sergeant of the security forces.

  “The wolves mean us no harm, director,” he said.

  “I got that sense myself, sergeant.”

  “They haven’t seen a Human in almost three hundred years, but they won’t hurt us. There were three near the southern camp, but they left after they investigated the recent activity to their area.”

  “That’s good to know. I tried to communicate the wolf situation with Captain Ronclar who is at the Cheyenne Mountain Complex.”

  The sergeant’s expression changed to one of curiosity. “Why is the captain there?

  “Don’t ask. We just need to make sure that everyone is aware of the wolves and that no aggressive displays are shown in their presence. They may not attack, but that doesn’t mean we should give them any reasons to change their minds.”

  “I’ll pass the information along to everyone, director.”

  “Thank you.”

  The director left the security group and walked back up the ramp of the Erudition ship.

  She had enough time delay with the captain’s excursion and now needed to get back to her task at hand.

  Preparing the Earth for recolonization.

  Data Cell 18

  “Since we’re not going anywhere anytime soon, tell me more about being a black market arms dealer,” I asked my imprisoned companion.


  Our vehicle continued its unknown path through the dark, alien forest.

  “I already told you, Rels.”

  “That can’t be it. Why was she after you then?” I gestured to the unconscious Vrae.

  “I think she was after you, Rels”

  “No. No. No,” I said as I pointed at the pudgy Cuukzen. “She was after you. I just happened to be with you.”

  “How do you know, Rels?”

  I sighed and put my hands behind my head, “Basic reasoning. You see, back in the cave, didn’t she ask me if you had told me your real name? Referring to who you were?”

  The little guy just blinked at me with those sappy eyes. “I don’t know, Rels. She could be after us both; and, come to think about it, I don’t know much about you either.”

  I smiled at him. “That’s a fair question. What do you want to know?”

  “I noticed you use different words in your language from other Humans I’ve had contact with. The words…they seem out-of-place, Rels.”

  “How very perceptive of you, mister bounty hunter of the obvious. I like things from a simpler time in Human history, that’s all.”

  “You don’t fit in with your own species, Rels.”

  The pudgy Cuukzen just sat there looking at me with a thoughtful expression.

  “How so?” Now I was curious, and frustrated, with where he was going with this. But, he was saved by the Vrae.

  Our female guest started to stir and moan.

  She was waking up.

  “Good morning, sleeping beauty,” I greeted.

  Mistuuk gave me a confused look when I said the word beauty.

  “It’s a Human phrase, buddy, that’s all.”

  “I think we’ve been in this cage too long,” Mistuuk mused.

  “So now you’re a comedian, huh,” I grumbled.

  Our Vrae cellmate crawled to the corner of the cage. “Where are we, Human?” Kayasa asked, reaching for her sidearm.

  “We’re not in Vraeland anymore, Kayasa” Mistuuk chimed in.

  “Now that’s funny,” I chuckled before answering her, “We’re on some unknown planet, in some part of the northern quadrant of the galaxy, in some strange alien cage, being taken to market as slaves. The alien rock people took your weapon.”

  “You lie, Human.”