Chapter 15 - The Face of the Enemy
Kryslie went to the High King’s suite, and sat herself on the carpeted floor of the main living area, next to Llaimos. She let him crawl into her lap. He sat quietly as if knowing she was thinking hard. She felt a gentle nudge of concern from Tymos, through the twin bond. He was across the room, staring out of the window of the suite.
“I have removed the hypnotic commands from Stenn, but I found something…” She allowed Tymos to review the things she had seen in Stenn’s mind, and her vision of the faint greenish glow.
“He was following Zacary’s suggestions, but I don’t think Zacary was really aware of what he was asking. I think, that we are missing something. I need to get close to Zacary.”
Kryslie saw Tymos suddenly get to his feet, and she saw through his eyes that Governor Reslic had entered the suite. He strode towards them, but spoke quietly. “Don’t get up, Kryslie.”
“Sir?” she queried.
“Do you have a report for me?” Jono Reslic asked, making himself comfortable in a chair he moved in front of her.
“Not a complete one, Sir,” she admitted. “I have just come from seeing Stenn, and I have removed all hypnotic commands from him.”
“Please put events in sequence,” Reslic requested, formally.
“Sir, it is clear to me that Zacary was able to place controls on Stenn, while he was unaware. He created a situation where your son reacted without looking for motives,” Kryslie began, and she reported and explained all that she knew. “I am sure that Zacary will not be able to affect him again, but there is something I saw that I do not understand. It feels wrong, and it is unlike anything I have heard of, and nothing comes to mind from the knowledge you, Father and Governor Xyron shared with us.”
Tymos spoke up, “The point of difference between Jonko and Stenn was the method used to get control of them. Jonko ingested a substance in a sweet, and it seems that Stenn received some substance through a hypospray.”
“I will have a search made for illicit drugs, in Zacary’s apartment,” Reslic promised.
“I agree that should be done, but could you wait until I have spoken to Zacary? I have the sense that we need to move carefully,” Kryslie revealed.
“Very well,” Reslic agreed. “What is it that you noticed?”
Kryslie explained about the faint green glow in Stenn’s energy aura. “It is like what I found in Sacul, some months ago, before we went on tour.”
“I checked Jonko,” Tymos told Reslic. “He does not have a corresponding effect.”
“My preference would be to keep Zacary in protective isolation,” Reslic told them. “Perhaps you will explain your reason for delaying any action against him?”
“It is still nebulous, but the things that Zacary was asking Stenn to do, involve places and concepts that I had not heard of until now,” Kryslie said, and she gave examples.
“Verbalise your thoughts,” Reslic suggested. “As they occur to you.”
“First, Zacary is behind the odd behaviours that were reported to you – like the children going into restricted places, but all those places are not secret. Zacary would have known of them. However, he sent Stenn to places I don’t think he could have known of – like the aircraft hangar cavern. Stenn did know of them, but he never spoke of it until Zacary questioned him. And that is where I think we are missing information.”
“Krys, they treated Zacary in case he had been conditioned, and we thought the commands might have been reinserted telepathically, probably by Kellex. He would be able to get into Zacary’s head and put questions there,” Tymos clarified.
“I thought of that. Zacary could have identified Stenn as the President’s son, and Kellex may have had him fishing for information but…I was thinking about some of the things Stenn found himself doing. I don’t think Zacary or Kellex would have thought of them. Kellex’s ideas seem to be tempered by Zacary’s skewed viewpoint.”
Reslic spoke thoughtfully, “You are implying that there are two minds controlling Zacary, in his dealings with others.”
Kryslie straightened, and Llaimos grabbed her harder to stop himself falling. “Yes – that could be.”
“And that energy glow, is related to that second mind,” Tymos proposed.
The image of the hooded and cloaked alien – ally to Kellex, returned to Kryslie’s mind.
“I need to see Zacary, soon, before that second mind becomes suspicious.” Kryslie gently loosened Llaimos’s grip, so she could stand up.
“I will have another talk with Xan,” Tymos proposed.
“I will find out where Zacary is at the moment and tighten the watch on him,” Reslic told them.
“And have a med team standing by,” Kryslie suggested.
“And my son?” Reslic asked, keeping his tone neutral.
“I’ll have a better idea of how to help him after seeing Zacary,” Kryslie assured him. “He will be safe where he is for now.”
Reslic accepted her statement. He rose and left the suite.
Llaimos grabbed Kryslie and grunted for her to lift him. She obeyed the request, and sensed that her brother was concerned for Stenn too.
“We will find a way to help him,” she promised. “He is our friend too, and I don’t think he deserves to be punished for something that he could not help.”
Llaimos went willingly to his nurse, who had hurried back from an errand when summoned. Tymos trotted out of the suite to find where his father was and arrange to see Xan. Kryslie went into a side room where her foster mother was resting and made her request.
“I need to look totally different,” she explained. “I have a task to do, but Tym and I want to keep people thinking we are still away.”
Tanya smiled with delight, at being asked for help by her very competent foster daughter.
“Easy! Come through to the bathroom.”
Tymoros had Xan brought to his public office, and invited him to sit in the visitors seat, while he took his own chair behind the table. Tymos perched himself half on the table, and pretended he didn’t notice his father’s frown at the casual attitude.
“We had a few more questions,” Tymos remarked. “In thinking how to help your world. Do your people have any really close allies? Ones that might be able to help your world as well.”
Xan turned his attention to Tymos and answered earnestly. “Our closest allies are the worlds we colonised, but they are not nearly as advanced as Aerdna.”
“How good are your scientists? Were they the ones who made that new green aura weapon?” Tymoros asked, to get Xan’s attention away from his son so Tymos could scan the young alien.
“No, that was something he bought from Ciriot traders. The other Warlords didn’t think much of it because it didn’t affect everyone, just some. Mainly some of Kellex’s senior officers.”
That fitted with the idea that Kellex knew some of his men had traces of Royal power.
“Couldn’t the Ciriot help your world?” he asked, changing the subject.
Xan’s face paled. “No…they are not allies. Just useful.”
“Why do they terrify you,” Tymos asked, having assured himself that Xan had none of the green energy glow.
“Many years ago, they attacked some of our ships and one of our colonies. We fought them off, but they were not defeated. We have a truce with them, and accept trade, but that is all.”
Into Tymos’s mind came the memory of a Tymorean ship meeting a Ciriot ship. It was little more than a space battle, an interrogation and a death. The Ciriot, taken prisoner, had a hooded cloak over full body armour and a basically humanoid shape. He glanced at his father, who merely said, “We know very little about them. They are space-roving nomads, pirates really, and are usually found in small groups. They are seldom seen in space patrolled by our fleet, and rarely approach planets where we have missionaries. If they have a home world, I have not heard of it.”
“So the Ciriot are not helping you to conquer us?” Tymos proposed.
Xan half stood to deny that possibility. “None of the Warlords would let Ciriot into their ranks. We…I mean…the Warlords want this planet so we can live here. The Ciriot would only want to loot its technology and pillage its people, kill anything that moves. That is what they began to do on Zekos, our scientific colony.”
“I agree they would not willingly let the aliens get a foothold here, but a truce between warlike races is a fragile thing – especially if they are technologically more advanced than you. Pirates will take advantage of a war torn planet and wait until your race subdued ours and when you are weakest, move in so you have to defend what you have won.” Kryslie suggested.
Xan realized the sick logic of that.
“Xan, could the Ciriot pass unnoticed amongst your people?” Tymos asked.
“No, they are obviously alien and are seldom seen out of their armour.” Xan answered with his eyes closed – he was trying to remember a fragment of conversation he had once heard about the Ciriot.
“I think I heard once about a breeding experiment between Ciriot and Aeronite. It was such an unpalatable idea that I dismissed it as rubbish.”
Tymos arranged for Xan to return to the Isolation Building, and he returned to the King’s suite, ready to support Kryslie when she examined Zacary.
Tymos was crouched down next to Llaimos, showing him how a three dimensional jigsaw fitted together, when he saw his brother look up and his eyes grow big and wide. He turned to see what had caused the reaction and understood immediately.
Kryslie had reappeared from the bathroom, now seeming to be a short black-haired serving woman. She even wore the grey-brown livery of the lowest strata of servants. Llaimos’s nurse gave a startled squawk, and might have challenged her, but a grinning Tanya followed her out.
Kryslie flicked a mental laugh at her brothers then asked, “Like it, little Bro?”
Llaimos giggled. The full effect was more than just the hair cut and colour change. Tania had used cosmetics very skilfully, to change the lines of Kryslie’s features. Now, she looked exotic even as she adopted the respectful eyes down glide of a lowly servant in the presence of those of higher rank.
She drew level with Llaimos and gave him a respectful bow.
Tymos stayed seated and told her, “Morov passed me the information that Zacary is in the eastern servant’s garden pretending to be asleep. He’s under a tree on the far side from the building.” Mentally, he added, “But his eyes keep flicking open every so often.” He had already told her of the result of his talk with Xan in a similar mental exchange whilst Tanya was doing her make-up magic.
Kryslie dropped her act, saying decisively, “Right!”
As she moved away from the others in the suite, she strengthened her mental shields. Then, even though her father frowned on transmitting into and out of his suite, she did so, arriving at the beam-in point in the servant’s quarters. From there, she walked outside.
The late afternoon sun slanted low over the palace roof, but the day was still bright and the evening meal would not be served for another hour. It was pleasant now that some of the day’s warmth had eased. The faint breeze still carried the fragrant scents of the blooming flowers and of recently cut grass.
Once outside, Kryslie wandered with apparent aimlessness, pretending to be a shy newcomer, still unsure of her place. She avoided groups of servants sitting in chairs or sprawled on the grass. When she glimpsed Zacary she chose to sit in a hanging two-person seat strung from the thick bough of one of a group of three leafy trees. From the seat, as she began to rock it in an idle fashion, she had a clear view of his part reclining form, although he was off to her side. He would have a clear view of her when he next took a peep around him. He would probably hear the slight squeaky groan as her seat moved.
Even though she was apparently looking up into the leafy canopy above, she was watching from the corner of her eyes. The noise had indeed alerted him. She saw his eyes flick open, and his body move slightly to give him a better view of the newcomer.
Reaching out a delicate mental probe, Kryslie listened to Zacary’s unshielded thoughts and hid a grim smile. He was thinking like a male who had just spotted an attractive female. This was the effect she had hoped for when she had asked Tanya for ways to catch his attention. Not that she wanted to seduce him, just to attract him to come to her. Her body language cues were subtle, like sitting alone on a two-person seat, appearing to be oblivious to him, glancing up wistfully as people walked by - he wasn’t to know she was subtly deflecting them from approaching her. Of course, being dressed as one of the lowest ranked servants put her into Zacary’s safe category. Cleaners, such as she was pretending to be, were not considered particularly intelligent since they had not graduated to the large lyceum for higher learning.
While Zacary was diverted by his fantasies, she probed a little deeper. He was trying to work up the courage to come and talk to her, wondering what she would be like to kiss, and whether this might be his chance to try for something more.
Kryslie considered ways to encourage him and decided jealousy would be the strongest motivation.
Mentally, she asked, “Tym? Can you get Morov to come and try to chat me up?” She felt her brother’s amusement through the twin bond.
At the same time, she glanced directly at Zacary, seemed to realise he was staring at her, and after a few seconds, looked away. In her side vision, she saw him sit up straighter, as if about to stand up and come over. She didn’t try to influence him, except by giving him another covert glance. Then he risked another probe of his mind. He was vacillating, half convinced her glances were invitations, and still smarting from the brush offs he had received from others like her.
Kryslie stopped her chair swinging when Morov boldly introduced himself and insinuated himself next to her. She leant away from him as if being distantly polite, since she didn’t want to discourage Zacary, but to make him want to score off Morov. When she judged Zacary had thought through his casual approach, she sent Morov off.
He wasn’t being inventive, but his mind seemed to think that coming by and casually offering her a peppermint was a brilliant approach, and not like any other he had previously used. That was when Kryslie became aware of the touch of another mind in Zacary’s, which was subtly reinforcing his thoughts. It was saying that the proposed approach was friendly and unthreatening.
As if arguing with himself, Zacary thought, “She is only a cleaner.” The next thought, from that other mind had a sly overtone, “Cleaners go everywhere, and no one notices them.”
So cleverly had that other mind merged its wishes into Zacary’s thoughts promoting its own desires by playing on those of the man it controlled.
In a shielded part of her mind, Kryslie identified that other mind. It was Kellex, the alien Warlord who had once captured her and Tymos, and who had before that, tried to influence her twin. The sense of his mind was unmistakable. Part of her mind posed the question of ‘how far had he moved his baseship when its original position had been compromised?’ Its current location was not her primary concern right then, but rather what it meant of Kellex’s mental range. Was he in his baseship, or closer?
When Zacary finally worked up the courage to approach her, Kryslie greeted him with a smile and did not object when he sat next to her. She did not think that Kellex could sense her thoughts through his pawn, but she played safe by keeping vapid female fantasies in the front of her mind, to hide the interest she was taking in Zacary’s. She could sense the excitement from Kellex as she gave her carefully contrived answers to Zacary’s questions. That she worked at night, cleaning rooms in the High King’s palace – not those of the High King himself, but of some lesser-ranked relatives.
The expected question was put to her. “Have you seen the Prince and Princess?”
She answered with an irritating giggle, “Oh no. They are off somewhere I heard. No one would tell me where.”
The giggle irritated the hovering mind so the listener retreated, and Zacary’s mind went blank, and he sat silently, as if oblivious to her company. She took the opportunity to adjust her eyes to examine his energy aura. In the same place where she had seen the faint energy glow on Stenn, she found a brighter glow on Zacary. When she felt him move slightly, she normalised her eyes.
A quick glance told her that Zacary was moving his hand to his pocket, but his mind was giving no indication of the action. Kryslie grabbed his wrist gently when she saw he had taken out a hypo sprayer. She did not intend to let that be fired at her. When he became aware of the resistance, his mind betrayed two conflicting emotions. A flash of shame and helplessness was quickly suppressed by a stronger mind determined to be obeyed. Zacary fought to raise his arm, as Kryslie sensed the new, malicious, avaricious, mind studying her face and in an unpleasant way, lusting for her. This was definitely not an Aeronite mind.
“Bro?” Kryslie sent a thought to her brother.
“Yes,” was Tymos’s cautious reply.
“Med team.”
The instant the two mid blue-garbed men appeared, and Zacary realised their purpose, Kryslie wrenched the hypo-sprayer from his hand. He began to stand, ready to protest, “There’s nothing wrong with me,” but he suddenly glanced at the object in Kryslie’s hand and turned pale. It was as if he had only just realised what he had been doing. He knew he would be in trouble for having it, knew he had used it before, and what it did. The dominant observer in his mind went quiescent, but did not vanish. It would be passively observing and hearing everything that Zacary saw and heard. Now, however, Zacary’s mind seemed blank, and he was confused by the activity around him.
The medics gave him no chance to struggle. They helped him from the seat and to his feet then told him gently, “We will take you to the infirmary and check you over.”
While Zacary was still too confused to react, Kryslie handed the hypo-sprayer to the nearest medic adding a quiet instruction, “Check that device, but be very careful.”
Kryslie waited until Zacary had gone, gave a glance around to see if the medics had been noticed, and when she sensed no interest, transmitted back to her father’s suite.
She chose to arrive in the room she used when staying there, and then flicked a thought at her twin.
“We are in father’s sanctum,” Tymos told her. “Only Aldiv, Tanya and Gisella are in the outer part of the suite. Come on in.”
In the small private inner room, Tymoros and Xyron were seated in comfortable padded leather chairs in a corner away from the desk. Tymos had just risen from a third when Kryslie materialised. He gestured for her to use it. Kryslie sank into it and leant back, giving her brother a mental flick of thanks. The two Governors studied her appearance without comment and waited for her to speak. She took the time to think over the recent events, to seek any nuances that her mind had noticed subconsciously. Then, considering her words, she met her father’s eyes, gave a glance at Xyron, and began speaking.
“Governor Reslic and Tymos were right,” Kryslie began. “We were missing something. Two different entities can overshadow Zacary’s mind. I am sure the main one is the Aeronite Warlord, Kellex. The mind is sly and suggestive - like the mind Tymos sensed in the caverns that time. It works by making Zacary think he is choosing to do things for his own reasons. It gets amusement out of manipulating him.”
“The other?” Xyron prompted.
“The other mind is much stronger and evil,” Kryslie shuddered recalling what she had sensed of that one. “I think that energy glow is what enables it to control Zacary, both his mind and some physical actions. While I was with him, he reached for that sprayer to use on me, but not a hint of that was in his mind – no awareness at all of what he was doing.”
Xyron’s communicator chimed, and he checked the message. “Alexon needed to sedate Zacary. He had a violent episode when he realised we had his sprayer and his drugged sweets.”
Tymos had sensed how the second mind had craved to control Kryslie. The idea made him shudder. He said urgently, “I don’t think that sprayer contains a drug, or if it does it causes the energy glow. I think you should destroy that sprayer and its contents immediately. I think it is far too dangerous to investigate. That green glow might be some kind of energy life form, or something else.”
With equal urgency, Kryslie added, “Make sure you keep Zacary in a well shielded room, so neither entity can touch his mind.”
As Xyron used his communicator to stress the suggestions to his brother, Tymoros saw his children catch each other’s glance, and even though he had often seen them do that, this was different. They stared at each other for almost a minute.
“Of course,” Kryslie murmured aloud, and she finally looked away from her brother. She shook her head slightly.
“What did you see?” Tymoros asked.
“What I said to Xan about the Ciriot,” Tymos answered, trying to verbalise the rapid sequence of scenes that had passed through his mind, during that vivid premonition. “We do not have only one enemy to fight, there are two. The Ciriot are here, and they are waiting.”
Tymoros tensed. “None of the Elders have foreseen their involvement. No sign at all even hints at their presence.”
Kryslie ignored that lack of confirmation. “That second mind, that energy glow – that has to be Ciriot. It was secretive…”
Tymos took over speaking, “The Elders have foreseen an enemy that wants to destroy our world. Because of that, you are doing everything you can to protect our people and the forests and undoing the Aeronite sabotage. That may not be enough. If the Aeronites want to live here, they would not want to create the devastation the Elders saw. Grow their weeds to create a food supply, yes. Hunt our wild creatures for food – that too. All of their seeming sabotage has a purpose and that is to make our world more receptive to their needs. They would not destroy it.”
“No,” Tymoros agreed thoughtfully.
“The Aeronites are pawns,” Kryslie announced. “If their world has become unstable, it was made that way to force them to come here - to make them desperate to destroy us. And in trying, they will be reduced in strength even as we are. Xan said that the Ciriot could not defeat the Aeronites in their encounter…”
She saw understanding in the expressions of both Governors.
“We do know that it is likely that Aerdna will break free of its orbit,” Xyron said, with profound sadness. “No one can calculate how soon, nor think of a way to prevent it. Your idea for creating self-contained underground vaults may be the only way the population will survive. Our scientists are working to combine the best ideas from the archives of thousands of worlds to ensure all environmental needs are addressed. There will be geothermal energy…” This was not the time to go into details. “The question is, will they realise that coming here is not the answer, and heed our suggestions.”
“Xan already listens,” Tymos knew. “There may be others, and we will ensure that the thinking Aeronites will have the information. We must give them time to prepare. There will be much work involved to create the refuge.”
“The Aeronites won’t wait much longer to act,” Kryslie realised. “We know Kellex fears us, and is desperate to locate us. If he has convinced the other Warlords of the danger we represent, they will attack as soon as they know where we are. However, we can’t assume that Kellex won’t be overruled. Either way, we cannot avoid this war. The Ciriot won’t show themselves until we are defeated, or they think we are. They are the ones that Tym and I must fight.”
She stopped talking, and once again, she and Tym stared at each other.
“Father, we need to talk to the Elders, and there is more that we need to tell you,” Kryslie finally admitted.
“First thing though,” Tymos broke in. “We need to deal with Zacary and Stenn – to remove that energy glow – so the Ciriot will not have any actual or potential spies in our midst.”
Tymoros nodded, but said, “And then what do you intend?”
“Later, Father. We will speak to everyone at once,” Tymos promised.
“You will find young Zacary in the observation cubicle of my laboratory,” Xyron told them.
Tymos dressed himself in an opaque, full body anti-contamination suit to hide his identity. Kryslie merely changed her grey brown livery for a set of mid blue healer’s livery. They both entered the observation cubicle and shared the memory of being here themselves when they were recovering from transition sickness, and needing to discover their increased strength. This time though, they sensed that the clear force wall was blocking all mental emanations from without the containment area. They could still talk mind to mind with each other, but that was all.
Aldon had left the laboratory when they arrived, and was now observing from a one-way observation window in a room above them.
Kryslie went to where Zacary was sleeping and observed him. His face looked peaceful. She gently touched his forehead and felt only the drug induced unconsciousness. He needed to wake for her to try to help him, so she sent some of her power into him to speed up his metabolism to overcome the drug.
“Wake up now, Zacary,” she insisted when she felt his mind beginning to stir.
His eyes flew open, and his mind revealed that he did not know where he was and that terrified him. Then he realised that he wasn’t tied down and jerked into a sitting position, swinging his legs off the side of the chest high bed. His eyes took in the pale blue isolation suit he was wearing and some memories returned. He swore a vile curse, thinking he was alone. Then he stated aloud, but to himself, “This isn’t the infirmary. This looks like some laboratory. What the hell is going on?”