Note: Holy—(knocked over by wave of enthusiasm for return to this fic) dang… Now the Saga is REALLY over and I can focus on the rewrite (which is easier) and finishing this fic. My thanks to my friend Invader Sideos for letting me take over the OC from his guest chapter, Dantie, as I started getting ideas how to work him in. Thanks again for all your patience as I get my act together and build up steam on this fic.
…
Red entered the interrogation room just as the guards hurriedly finished clamping the Krissirk onto the table. He walked up next to the table as the guards scooted past him and out the door, closing it behind them.
The room was small, but humming with electricity. The walls were covered with complex, flashing computer panels. Several dozen wires spilled out of the panels, hooking into the PAK of the unfortunate Irken who lay on his stomach, locked onto the table by his arms, legs, and neck. There was a small hole for his face to peer through to the floor, but he was unable to see Tallest Red.
"So. You're the Krissirk they captured." Red flicked on the datapad at the end of the table. Dantie was his name. The files noted him as a former Irken Information Network presenter, a lower level one who had begun the crazytalk about this Ayam, Elyon, whoever-it-was that was greater than the Tallests out of nowhere after one of the SIR unit's stops on an occupied planet. He'd been turned in by the rest of his team immediately, and had remained in solitary confinement since. He did not, Red noted, seem the worse for wear considering how long he'd been in solitary.
"Yes My Tallest." His voice was low, almost discouraged, but Red startled.
"How did you know it was me?" He demanded.
"Your voice, my Tallest, everyone recognizes you and Tallest Purple."
Red forced himself to relax. Of course this Irken had no higher intuition, he had to stop being paranoid. Just because he was seeing things didn't mean everyone had eyes in the back of their heads.
"Yes. Of course. Audio units intact." He coughed, moving over to one of the wall panels. He reached over to the wall panel, then halted a moment. How was he supposed to ask this Krissirk his question without seeming like he'd lost his wits completely?
It didn't matter. A few seconds of torture would warm the prisoner to answering his questions and buy him time to figure out how to phrase them. His claws tapped out a pattern on the panel.
The Krissirk's body spasmed, the computer convincing his senses through his PAK that there were a million tiny biting insects just under his skin. The Irken cried out, and Red smirked. This was no trained soldier, just a news reporter. Breaking him would be simple. He allowed the first simulation to run for thirty seconds before switching it off. The Irken's body slumped in relief.
"Your name is Dantie, is it?" Red made his voice gentler than usual. "Tell me, Dantie, who told you these lies you've been spreading? Who infected you?"
"I wasn't infected." He took a shaky breath. "My eyes were opened, and I saw—"
"What did you see?" Red rounded on him, his voice sharp.
"I saw the truth, that we were set here by something much greater than the Tallests! The Control Brains! The Empire even!"
Red forced his shoulders to relax. He had to stop jumping at fragments. "Interesting truth, sounds like treason to me." He tapped on the panel again, causing Dantie's right arm to feel as though it was being dissolved in water. He focused on the spiking readout and the shrieks behind him. He dialed it back again. "So tell me, along with this truth, what else do you see?"
There was silence for a bit, and Red allowed the traitor to regain his breath.
"What else, my Tallest?"
Red's antennae lifted, and he shifted direction. " 'My Tallest,' this is the second time you have called me this. I thought only this Ayam or Elyon was allowed to rule you."
"No, we are encouraged to obey and respect our Tallest excepting if their orders contradict Ayam, My Tallest. I swear I have always done so, only you say we cannot follow Ayam and not speak of him, and I cannot do this."
"Cannot, cannot. You speak as if you are physically unable to. I say if I cut out your tongue THEN you cannot speak of him. What do you think of that?"
"Then I will write about him." Dantie answered.
"And if I cut off your hands?" Red hastily added, anticipating, "And your feet, should you learn to write with those."
"Then I will transmit with my PAK."
"And if your PAK is erased?"
There was silence a moment. Then, "I will direct my last moments to Asking Ayam for My Tallests."
"Asking for us?" Red puzzled over the sentence.
"Asking. It is what we do when we speak to Ayam. We Ask him."
"And how do you know that he hears you?" Red demanded.
"He promises that he does in the Letters. And some can hear him too."
Red rounded on Dantie, gripping the back of his neck hard, his face grim. "Hear him? How do you hear what you can't even see?"
Dantie's vertebrate strained under Red's grip, and he gasped, "Some say… they have faint thoughts… thoughts they would never think themselves… Some see faint pictures… but it's always… dim… like looking… through a blindfold…"
Red jerked his hand away as if burned. The blindfold. He'd forgotten he was wearing it. Now would be the perfect time to take it off and see what this rebel was really made of. He reached up to touch the folds—
-and a thousand fears descended on him. He could almost feel them raking his skin, worming into his mind.
Why do you want to take it off?
It's not even there, you'll look ridiculous.
What if you see something horrible?
What if someone sees you reacting?
What if you can't put it back on later?
What if you go blind?
What if you die?
Each reason seemed more and more desperate than the last, but he found himself frozen in place, even as he strained to move his arms. The armor suddenly felt heavy, so very heavy, and the distance to his face was such a long ways away.
He blinked. No it wasn't, his hand was frozen an inch away from his face. As soon as the realization hit him, he gripped the blindfold and yanked it away from his face before anything else stopped him.
The room was not empty. One half of the room was crowded with all manner of creatures. Spiders with spikes jutting off their legs and fangs the size of daggers, snarling beasts with wings and tentacles, and great monsters with snaking necks and eyes of flame. All these and more crouched nearby him, many of them shouting, barking, whispering, and shrieking aloud the thoughts he had just been thinking.
They huddled near Red, pressed back away from the other half of the room, which was bathed in light. There on the table, facedown, an Irken warrior lay strapped in place. He was outfitted with the highest tech weaponry Irk had to offer, and Red could read great strength and training in the body. But where did the traitor go?
"My Tallest?" Dantie's voice came from the Irken warrior. "Did something happen?" His voice was guarded. "Are you going to turn on the machine again?"
Yes! The voices around Red hissed. The machine, turn it on all the way!
One of the snake-necked ones put its head under his arm, guiding it up toward the computer panel.
He yanked his arm back, horrified, backing away from them. "STOP THAT!" He roared. "I AM TALLEST HERE, NOT YOU! YOU DO NOT TELL ME WHAT TO DO!"
"I didn't do anything," Dantie sounded alarmed. "My Tallest?"
The beasts all eyed Red. The hooded figure stepped out from their midst, standing in front of the beasts. My Tallest, he said mildly, Surely you haven't chosen to keep this sight… and if you have, surely you haven't chosen the losing side.
"The losing side?" Red's breath came short and fast. "What are you talking about? I just want—"
You threw the chance for a normal reign aside. The figure oozed sincerity, extending a hand. It was a pale Irken hand. Come, My Tallest. You have chosen to see, but see what we can do for you. We will ensure your reign is long, secure, and untroubled by these Krissirks and their Letters. It will be a glorious thing, I will see to it myself.
Red stared at the hand. This too was another Irken who could not be seen? "Who are you?" He demanded.
The figure drew back its hood. An Irken face stared back at him, its eyes pitch black. They seemed to absorb all light around them as they stared intently at Red. The skin was pale, but not unpleasant to look at. The face was perfectly symmetrical, and Red could see great cunning and power in the way the Irken held himself.
Himself? Red peered at the Irken, disturbed to realize he could not tell the gender of the Irken. With some alarm, he realized this Irken was quite a bit taller than he—had he always been so tall? Would he threaten Red's rule?
As if in answer to his unspoken question, the Irken bent to a knee, bowing his head. My Tallest, his voice was soft, I am ever your servant. Come, I will show you many things and make you wise beyond the wildest dreams of any of your kind. Let us go now. He stretched out his hand to Red, once again.
As if in a dream, Red could see his own hand stretching out, reaching…
"I'm Dantie," a voice broke in, responding to Red's question. "And I serve Ayam."
The creatures recoiled, howling, and the Irken figure's form rippled.
Red jerked his hand back. Only the losing side called the winning side the losing side when attempting to persuade an ally. And if a mere sentence could shake these creatures, then theirs was the lesser power.
The Irken's eyes burned with cold hatred. My Tallest, he said, his voice still mild, You have made a terrible mistake, and your punishment will be most enjoyable to mete out.
….
Note: Analyzing a character based on one chapter written by Sideos, I've come to the conclusion Dantie's a bit of a blunt, brash, very expressive person. Makes sense if he's in lower-level news. So he's making me… cringe a little… whenever he opens his mouth, but I think that's the direction this character is going…
