Pentavus
Chapter 9
Jordan emerged on the other side. Turning, he watched as Orthus, Marcus, Hallie and George ran through
Hallie looked fear-struck. "There's more coming! They're firing and—" a large fiery ball of energy appeared through the event horizon and barely missed Jordan's head. "Lower the shield!!!"
The liquid descended upon the gate. There were clangings and bashings upon it before the wormhole disengaged.
Jordan turned to Orthus. "Thank you for your help, friend. What is this device, anyway?"
Orthus turned toward him. "It sends a signal to the rotating disc and the ninth chevron, activating both. Pressing the dial button on the dialing device tells it to dial the home symbol. Thus, if you had pressed any other button, it would have dialed that single symbol and would have caused an error."
Orthus blinked in a friendly way. It was only now that Jordan noticed that his eyes were clouded over and white.
"Orthus," Jordan said on a hunch, "Are you blind?"
He smiled. "I have been these past twenty-five years. But I am not useless, nor am I fragile—for I possess a 'second sight', if you will. Thus, I can fight as well as any man alive. I request to join your Pentavus Team."
Jordan sighed. "I will take your request under consideration. In the meantime, perhaps, you might be kind enough to follow 8us to the conference room. You have told us of our enemies, but you have told us nothing of yourself. Or the Oratrion."
"I was once a member of the Pentavus team, Little Man," Orthus began, "In charge of determining weapons against the Hafters. I did my duty for many years. Then, quite by accident, I found it."
Jordan shifted. "Found what?"
"The Poison. First, know this...the group of Hafters who attacked Pentavus today were a special group known as the Methra. They are quite extraordinary creatures. Every single one of them shares all brain patterns with a main, central being—their king. They feel no pain except the King's, and cannot be killed whilst the king himself is alive.
"But I devised a poison. The Poison. It is powerful enough to send a Methra to near-death and knock him out of your way...and is also powerful enough to kill their king."
Orthus sighed. "However, The Poison was too powerful. It killed not only the victim, but the attacker as well. It was powerful enough to wipe out any species in the universe.
"But I did not know this. I naively fed the poison to a Methra we had captured. I killed everyone within the lab except myself an two technicians who escaped. I was brought to trial and banished—"
"—to P7X-BB3," Jordan finished.
"Yes."
"And what of the Oratrion?"
"The Oratrion was an oracle, Little Man. Sent from his own people, he—"
Jordan cleared his throat. "Skip all the shit, Orthus. You are the Oratrion. Tell us what we must do."
Orthus looked highly disgruntled at not being able to tell another story. "You must find the king. You must kill him and thus end the lives of every Methra in the entire universe. This will not only satisfy your vengeance for Mottè, but also weaken the forces of the Hafters. You must take some of The Poison and go to a planet whose address I know by heart, and use the poison on the king. You must do so soon, or they will know that survivors exist on Pentavus and come after you."
Jordan looked around at Pentavus-1.
"My son will accompany you to this place, Little Man. I have taught him much, and he will serve you well."
Jordan shifted and looked at Marcus, who seemed to be listening intently. "Very well. Then we should begin at once."
"Chevron Seven is located. Chevron Seven is locked."
The splash formed and the event horizon blew into view. The team had restocked and was ready to go. This Stargate, Orthus said, led to a planet so far from a sun that they lived deep in the planet's natural warmth, below the surface, for to step upon the surface was an instant, icy death.
Jordan took a deep breath and plunged through the wormhole's surface.