Chapter 5
Ageless, crystal blue eyes suddenly snapped open, as he began to inhale great gulps of cooled, fresh cavern air. Physically he felt fine it his mental health that told a different story. He had induced a trance, concentrating, willing, and directing all the mental energies he could summon from both the planet and himself. It was a difficult process, but he succeeded in his task. He shook his head rather erratically, scanning the crystalline room like a mad man trying to come to grasp with reality. Standing up, he half staggered, half walked towards the entrance, automatically shielding his eyes. Morning had long come to the planet, as the Blue, Metebenusian parent star was ascending in the west. Recovering some of his higher senses, he closed his eyes pooling his mental energies and directing into the planet to feel the potential energies that coursed richly throughout it.
Then he crashed into a barrier, adamantine as Siligtone, and resolute as any mind he had ever encountered. The energies shifted, searching for the originator, which wasn't difficult, considering the individual in question's mind was one of the most powerful he'd ever felt in a long time, emitting artron energy like a Quasar in a sea of dwarfs. For the briefest instance, their minds connected, and simultaneously felt another in proximity. He withdrew his mind, and looked back out into the landscape.
"He has come at last to Metebenus III." He spoke in a full whisper. "Soon my Lady, soon, you will have your revenge."
"Yes." A voice echoed behind him. He turned around to see a half-formed entity, her form traced beautifully by purplish energies that seemed to encircle her. "But the time is not right. Keep an eye on them Sennet." Her form shifted, beginning to fade from sight. "I will return my faithful Priest." her voice trailed off in an echo. "With old, old friends so long forgotten in the shadows of the past."
The bright gleam in his eyes widened the smile on his face into a fang-like grin. He turned around, filled with the euphoria and let out a maddening laughter that echoed throughout the valley in a foreboding wave that made the ether itself tremble with fear.
Facing one another, the two Time Lords paused a moment, looking around very silently. They felt a feeling, a presence that made itself known. The mind stayed only long enough to have its' artron signature partially traced nothing else. They could tell it was a powerful mind, but who the person was, was the mystery. They finished the telepathic contact, and Auden spoke first.
"Of all the insufferable things to happen," Auden spoke, breaking the already palpable, tense silence surrounding them. "The High Council couldn't trust me to do this to do this by myself and elected to send you to make sure I don't mess up. You could have been nice about it, and politely decline the offer!"
"For your information," She replied with almost an even tone as his. "I chose to come on my own volition! When the Lady President told me that you were the on investigating this disturbance, I thought I might be of some assistance to you." Her eyes narrowed as she continued telepathically. 'And, I wanted to catch up on old times, to see how you were.'
'You picked a time to do it.' He telepathically replied, and then sighed aloud. "What are we waiting for, let's be off."
As everyone began the lengthy journey towards the archeological, the Time Lord maneuvered over to Captain Fall.
"Captain, I was wondering, if you would dispatch a. runner to the site. There is something of mine at the site that I am almost positive has been. excavated."
He glanced slightly downward to the left of him where the dark-haired alien walked. A clear look of concern was hung heavily upon his countenance with undertones of. something else he couldn't place at the moment. It was as though he looked physically drained, almost weakened by some unknown force in the Universe. "Very well Auden, but I would like to know what this is all about."
"Fair enough." He trailed out with a dark frown.
"Ensign Blake."
"Yes sir." He said, walking up to the Captain.
"I. he has a job for you." He motioned towards Auden.
"Found at the site, is a ring." He began with a distant expression. "A perfect amalgam of the two strongest and purest elements in the galaxy, it is set on top with a cornflower blue sapphire. Encircling it is a series of characters known only to me. On side of the ring bears a circular, swirling pattern, the Omniscate; you will know it when you see it. The other is a flame pattern, embossed richly in Velidean Opal."
"Got it." He trailed off, processing the detailed information given to him. "What do you wasn't me to do when I find it."
"Tell them the owner has returned."
Back at the site, the archeological team was busy cataloging and packing their finds to be flown back to Earth for study. An eerie echo suddenly entering the camp, stopping all work as both students and Scientists hurried out of the tents to listen. It reverberated into a deep crescendo of laughter from someone who was unusually happy, or terribly psychotic. The laughter was then muffled as a new sound filling the air in a whirl of mechanical wheezing. The boundaries of time and space were folded back, to make way for a gray cabinet materializing before their eyes. The sound died down as the object achieved solidity, then vanished into the ether as quickly and it entered. The silence continued as the three scientists advanced slowly to the object, and then stopped as part of it opened.
"Hello," Said a young-looking woman in a simple, dark frock. "Are we late?"
"Long, long ago, before your race ever made its mark on your world, a highly advanced race of psionic engineers that called this planet home. They were telepaths, gifted with powerful telekinetic and precognitive skills. From their inborn talents came technology based on those powers. They had little need for need for 'natural,' and outside energy sources, using the powers of their minds, amplified by the natural crystals indigenous to this planet, amplifying their thoughts to achieve what tasks they needed. Their great ships were said to run in part on a gestalt of their mental energies. Later, they changed this concept. They re- engineered their drives, blending their great powers into their Defense and Offensive Technology. Then they began to create an empire, that eventually stretched the entirety of the Acteon Sector, thirty worlds in their grasp. At its height, it covered over seven percent of the Galaxy. Nevertheless, like all empire, theirs was doomed for destruction." His voice loomed into his ears with a deep, penetrating sadness. He glanced up toward the deep blue sky and continued. "Seeing the time had come, an ancient evil made her move, and the result ignited a bloody psionic war that eventually destroyed their race."
"But why?" He asked. "Why did she come?"
"Because this world holds a great power Captain Fall." He partially outstretched his hands, as though opening the world before them. "It is not a power that can be bought or sold, or contained and harnessed by some military force. It is a power that can only be controlled by those with the strength in will to do so." He gave a passive glance towards the Captain with narrowed eyes. His eyebrows tense slightly when he mentioned 'military force.' "Nor do I take, you are here on orders for a mere dig.
Captain Fall met the Time Lord's gaze with a feeling of surprise and apprehension. An unexpected question seemed to have come from the right person. He turned back to the trail, shaking his head.
"I'm sorry Auden, that's classified. What else happened?"
"Before the last great battle, a challenge was made, and she was defeated. For her crimes, a penance was exacted. Calling upon ancient powers thought long forgotten, the Challenger exiled her into the Timeless demesne of the Astral Vortex. However, by then, it was too late. The damage had been done, and the race was doomed to extinction." He looked up again. "However, if you want names, I'm afraid that's classified."
"Fair enough. So, how exactly did she return?"
"She generated a rip in the fabric of space/time to escape. The power used, transposed itself partly into real space, thereby generating the shock wave your ship felt. Very strong one too, from what my sensors could gather."
'And you did not tell the High council about this?' A voice asked in his mind. He looked back and caught sight of Rosalynd's disappointed expression directed upon him.
'It would not have made a difference. The High Council has its' own affairs to worry about. Besides, what are they going to do? Watch very sternly form behind the Transduction Barriers?'
Then she was brushed out of his wind like some sort of petty nuisance, but not before adding. 'Meet me in private, on the hill over looking the site. You'll know it when you see it.'
"I don't care who you are and what you're here to get," The angry voiced barked. "You're not touching that ring for any purpose!"
"I have my orders ma'am, now kindly step away so I can get on with them."
Not a woman to be outdone, Doctor Elliot discreetly tripped the Ensign as he walked over to the table. There was a hard 'thud' as the officer hit the ground, knees first. He let out a gasp of pain, and slowly rolled over, a little unsure as to which patella to clutch more. The good Doctor looked down at him, almost chuckling, and a little guilty about what she had done.
"Seems that everything topples eventually, even. people from the looks of it."
Doctor Elliot spun around. She could hear the voices of her other two colleagues outside, intermixed with new voices she'd never heard before. Presumably, they were from the Olympus here to collect what had been found so far. However, before her stood was someone completely different. He looked younger than she did, but there was something in his dark eyes, in his voice that made her feel diminutive, child-like, which unnerved her slightly. He nodded slightly to her and walked over to the table unabated. "I've come for what is mine."
She gulped. "Really? Then if it is yours, prove it?"
He turned and smiled, almost amused at her words. The little object was only a telekinetic nudge away, if it really came to that. He jumped onto table; eyes fixed on her, and began to give her the most detailed description anyone had ever given her of an object, especially of this size. He even told her of the metal's origins, and the precise ratio of materials used to create the amalgam that sat by her. Surprised and satisfied at the same time, she slowly turned towards the case, picked up the ring, and handed it to him.
"Thank you." He said very kindly, holding it for a moment, and slipping it into his pocket. "Now, if I'm not mistaken, I believe that Captain Fall is here to collect what you have catalogue." He walked out of the tent and vanished out of sight.
Ageless, crystal blue eyes suddenly snapped open, as he began to inhale great gulps of cooled, fresh cavern air. Physically he felt fine it his mental health that told a different story. He had induced a trance, concentrating, willing, and directing all the mental energies he could summon from both the planet and himself. It was a difficult process, but he succeeded in his task. He shook his head rather erratically, scanning the crystalline room like a mad man trying to come to grasp with reality. Standing up, he half staggered, half walked towards the entrance, automatically shielding his eyes. Morning had long come to the planet, as the Blue, Metebenusian parent star was ascending in the west. Recovering some of his higher senses, he closed his eyes pooling his mental energies and directing into the planet to feel the potential energies that coursed richly throughout it.
Then he crashed into a barrier, adamantine as Siligtone, and resolute as any mind he had ever encountered. The energies shifted, searching for the originator, which wasn't difficult, considering the individual in question's mind was one of the most powerful he'd ever felt in a long time, emitting artron energy like a Quasar in a sea of dwarfs. For the briefest instance, their minds connected, and simultaneously felt another in proximity. He withdrew his mind, and looked back out into the landscape.
"He has come at last to Metebenus III." He spoke in a full whisper. "Soon my Lady, soon, you will have your revenge."
"Yes." A voice echoed behind him. He turned around to see a half-formed entity, her form traced beautifully by purplish energies that seemed to encircle her. "But the time is not right. Keep an eye on them Sennet." Her form shifted, beginning to fade from sight. "I will return my faithful Priest." her voice trailed off in an echo. "With old, old friends so long forgotten in the shadows of the past."
The bright gleam in his eyes widened the smile on his face into a fang-like grin. He turned around, filled with the euphoria and let out a maddening laughter that echoed throughout the valley in a foreboding wave that made the ether itself tremble with fear.
Facing one another, the two Time Lords paused a moment, looking around very silently. They felt a feeling, a presence that made itself known. The mind stayed only long enough to have its' artron signature partially traced nothing else. They could tell it was a powerful mind, but who the person was, was the mystery. They finished the telepathic contact, and Auden spoke first.
"Of all the insufferable things to happen," Auden spoke, breaking the already palpable, tense silence surrounding them. "The High Council couldn't trust me to do this to do this by myself and elected to send you to make sure I don't mess up. You could have been nice about it, and politely decline the offer!"
"For your information," She replied with almost an even tone as his. "I chose to come on my own volition! When the Lady President told me that you were the on investigating this disturbance, I thought I might be of some assistance to you." Her eyes narrowed as she continued telepathically. 'And, I wanted to catch up on old times, to see how you were.'
'You picked a time to do it.' He telepathically replied, and then sighed aloud. "What are we waiting for, let's be off."
As everyone began the lengthy journey towards the archeological, the Time Lord maneuvered over to Captain Fall.
"Captain, I was wondering, if you would dispatch a. runner to the site. There is something of mine at the site that I am almost positive has been. excavated."
He glanced slightly downward to the left of him where the dark-haired alien walked. A clear look of concern was hung heavily upon his countenance with undertones of. something else he couldn't place at the moment. It was as though he looked physically drained, almost weakened by some unknown force in the Universe. "Very well Auden, but I would like to know what this is all about."
"Fair enough." He trailed out with a dark frown.
"Ensign Blake."
"Yes sir." He said, walking up to the Captain.
"I. he has a job for you." He motioned towards Auden.
"Found at the site, is a ring." He began with a distant expression. "A perfect amalgam of the two strongest and purest elements in the galaxy, it is set on top with a cornflower blue sapphire. Encircling it is a series of characters known only to me. On side of the ring bears a circular, swirling pattern, the Omniscate; you will know it when you see it. The other is a flame pattern, embossed richly in Velidean Opal."
"Got it." He trailed off, processing the detailed information given to him. "What do you wasn't me to do when I find it."
"Tell them the owner has returned."
Back at the site, the archeological team was busy cataloging and packing their finds to be flown back to Earth for study. An eerie echo suddenly entering the camp, stopping all work as both students and Scientists hurried out of the tents to listen. It reverberated into a deep crescendo of laughter from someone who was unusually happy, or terribly psychotic. The laughter was then muffled as a new sound filling the air in a whirl of mechanical wheezing. The boundaries of time and space were folded back, to make way for a gray cabinet materializing before their eyes. The sound died down as the object achieved solidity, then vanished into the ether as quickly and it entered. The silence continued as the three scientists advanced slowly to the object, and then stopped as part of it opened.
"Hello," Said a young-looking woman in a simple, dark frock. "Are we late?"
"Long, long ago, before your race ever made its mark on your world, a highly advanced race of psionic engineers that called this planet home. They were telepaths, gifted with powerful telekinetic and precognitive skills. From their inborn talents came technology based on those powers. They had little need for need for 'natural,' and outside energy sources, using the powers of their minds, amplified by the natural crystals indigenous to this planet, amplifying their thoughts to achieve what tasks they needed. Their great ships were said to run in part on a gestalt of their mental energies. Later, they changed this concept. They re- engineered their drives, blending their great powers into their Defense and Offensive Technology. Then they began to create an empire, that eventually stretched the entirety of the Acteon Sector, thirty worlds in their grasp. At its height, it covered over seven percent of the Galaxy. Nevertheless, like all empire, theirs was doomed for destruction." His voice loomed into his ears with a deep, penetrating sadness. He glanced up toward the deep blue sky and continued. "Seeing the time had come, an ancient evil made her move, and the result ignited a bloody psionic war that eventually destroyed their race."
"But why?" He asked. "Why did she come?"
"Because this world holds a great power Captain Fall." He partially outstretched his hands, as though opening the world before them. "It is not a power that can be bought or sold, or contained and harnessed by some military force. It is a power that can only be controlled by those with the strength in will to do so." He gave a passive glance towards the Captain with narrowed eyes. His eyebrows tense slightly when he mentioned 'military force.' "Nor do I take, you are here on orders for a mere dig.
Captain Fall met the Time Lord's gaze with a feeling of surprise and apprehension. An unexpected question seemed to have come from the right person. He turned back to the trail, shaking his head.
"I'm sorry Auden, that's classified. What else happened?"
"Before the last great battle, a challenge was made, and she was defeated. For her crimes, a penance was exacted. Calling upon ancient powers thought long forgotten, the Challenger exiled her into the Timeless demesne of the Astral Vortex. However, by then, it was too late. The damage had been done, and the race was doomed to extinction." He looked up again. "However, if you want names, I'm afraid that's classified."
"Fair enough. So, how exactly did she return?"
"She generated a rip in the fabric of space/time to escape. The power used, transposed itself partly into real space, thereby generating the shock wave your ship felt. Very strong one too, from what my sensors could gather."
'And you did not tell the High council about this?' A voice asked in his mind. He looked back and caught sight of Rosalynd's disappointed expression directed upon him.
'It would not have made a difference. The High Council has its' own affairs to worry about. Besides, what are they going to do? Watch very sternly form behind the Transduction Barriers?'
Then she was brushed out of his wind like some sort of petty nuisance, but not before adding. 'Meet me in private, on the hill over looking the site. You'll know it when you see it.'
"I don't care who you are and what you're here to get," The angry voiced barked. "You're not touching that ring for any purpose!"
"I have my orders ma'am, now kindly step away so I can get on with them."
Not a woman to be outdone, Doctor Elliot discreetly tripped the Ensign as he walked over to the table. There was a hard 'thud' as the officer hit the ground, knees first. He let out a gasp of pain, and slowly rolled over, a little unsure as to which patella to clutch more. The good Doctor looked down at him, almost chuckling, and a little guilty about what she had done.
"Seems that everything topples eventually, even. people from the looks of it."
Doctor Elliot spun around. She could hear the voices of her other two colleagues outside, intermixed with new voices she'd never heard before. Presumably, they were from the Olympus here to collect what had been found so far. However, before her stood was someone completely different. He looked younger than she did, but there was something in his dark eyes, in his voice that made her feel diminutive, child-like, which unnerved her slightly. He nodded slightly to her and walked over to the table unabated. "I've come for what is mine."
She gulped. "Really? Then if it is yours, prove it?"
He turned and smiled, almost amused at her words. The little object was only a telekinetic nudge away, if it really came to that. He jumped onto table; eyes fixed on her, and began to give her the most detailed description anyone had ever given her of an object, especially of this size. He even told her of the metal's origins, and the precise ratio of materials used to create the amalgam that sat by her. Surprised and satisfied at the same time, she slowly turned towards the case, picked up the ring, and handed it to him.
"Thank you." He said very kindly, holding it for a moment, and slipping it into his pocket. "Now, if I'm not mistaken, I believe that Captain Fall is here to collect what you have catalogue." He walked out of the tent and vanished out of sight.
