Invading hell the oculus.., p.12
Invading Hell (The Oculus Gate Book 2), page 12
Melinda chuckled in exactly the same cadence as before. “One question at a time, young man.”
“All right. How are you able to speak our language?”
“Oh, that?” Melinda waved a hand. “Learning your language wasn’t hard, but how we learned is not something that I am at liberty to tell you. I can tell you that Bazrah speaks your language quite well, too.” She patted his back. “Don’t you?”
He slid behind her, clutching her apron. “Not really.”
Melinda smiled. “He’s not used to being around strangers.”
Leo tapped a finger on his thigh, spelling words while he spoke. “My second question is, which world are you from?”
“This one,” Melinda said. “Viridi. The planet you’re standing on.”
Iona read the coded taps. I knew he was hiding something.
Leo nodded. “Okay. Are you and Bazrah the only non-giants here?”
She chuckled once more, again with an identical cadence. “You really are confused, aren’t you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, Bazrah is a giant, as you call their kind. He is smaller than they are because he is still a youngster, though he is taller than an Earthling would be at his level of physical maturity. Regarding myself, I am not a giant, and I am the only one of my kind.”
Iona held her helmet at her waist. “If Bazrah’s a giant, why isn’t he with the others?”
Melinda stared for another quiet moment before answering. “I don’t answer why questions, young lady. I am not a philosopher. But I can tell you that he is where he belongs. With me. This observatory is his home.”
Iona studied the pair. Something was way, way off. Why would Bazrah hide his ability to speak more than a few words of English? And if he was really a giant, what was he doing here? “If this is his home, it’s strange that we found him in the forest near the giants’ soup cauldron.”
Melinda cocked her head as if confused, but the pose seemed forced. “The soup cauldron?”
“They were making cabbage soup,” Leo said, gesturing with a thumb toward the forest. “The cauldron has a geothermal heating source.”
“Oh, yes. I know the place.” Melinda turned toward Bazrah. They spoke in the same language he had used earlier. When Bazrah finished with a nod, Melinda refocused on Leo and Iona. “He was scouting, trying to find his parents and sister. He was separated from them a while back. I have told him many times that they must be dead, but he insists that they’re alive. He is a tenacious boy. He will never give up looking for them.”
“How old is Bazrah?” Iona asked.
“In Viridi years, he is fifty-two.”
Leo whistled. “Fifty-two years old? He’s a middle-aged man!”
Bazrah puckered and blew a whistle that perfectly copied Leo’s.
Melinda patted Bazrah’s head. “Our years differ from yours. As you can see, he is very much a little boy. But he is a smart one. His intelligence surpasses that of most humans.”
“Why does he live …” Iona cleared her throat. “I mean, what brought him here to live with you?”
“Survival. The other giants would kill him.”
Iona drew her head back. “Kill him? Why?”
“I do not answer why questions.”
Iona resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Her brain begged to ask Melinda why she couldn’t answer why questions, but that would be pointless. “Melinda …” The second Iona uttered the name, something glinted in Melinda’s eyes, as if responding to the word.
“Yes?”
Iona stepped closer and studied her face. “Melinda …”
Her eyes glinted again.
“I am listening,” Melinda said. “Do you have a question?”
Iona took one more step and drew within reach. “What are you?”
“I am Melinda, Bazrah’s attendant.”
Iona gazed into Melinda’s steely eyes. She waved a hand and blocked some of the light. Melinda’s pupils expanded, making a slight click. “I mean, are you … a robot?”
“Not precisely.” Melinda met Iona’s stare. “The closest word in your language is android.”
“Android?” Iona stepped back. “Then you’re a machine. A machine with realistic skin.”
“Oh, I am much more than that.” Melinda patted her hips with her hands. “My body is mechanical, to be sure, but I also have an embedded artificial intelligence engine that mimics a human soul. I am able to make decisions based on ethics.”
Iona blinked. “What? How can a machine do that? Everything you say and do is programmed.”
Melinda chuckled yet again. Now it sounded more like clucking than a laugh. “I can’t describe the process to you, my dear. I am not the inventor.”
Leo tapped, She is annoying.
“Then who is?” Iona asked.
“Bazrah’s parents worked with a scientist they know. They created me to look after Bazrah in case something were to happen to them. His sister, Lacinda, is old enough to watch over him, but that would be quite a burden for a young person.”
Iona scrunched her brow. “Are his parents the only ones who can explain how you got an artificial soul?”
“I think that’s likely. They never mentioned others being involved in the process.”
“If they’re giants, and Bazrah’s a giant, then why would they create an android who’s human sized?”
“I don’t answer—”
“Why questions. Right.” Iona heaved a sigh. “Okay, maybe it would be easier if you just give us a history of what’s happened since you were created, then we’ll try to put the pieces together.”
She chuckled yet again. “Iona, I will be glad to tell you part of the story, but I’m sure you understand that I have security features. I can’t tell you everything I know. Some of it is secret.”
“I understand. But are you sure that what you can tell us will be true? I mean, is it possible that your memories have been altered?”
“If my memory has been altered, then I wouldn’t know that, would I?”
Melinda opened her mouth and poised her face as if ready to chuckle once more, but Leo leaped to her and covered her mouth. “If you laugh again, my head will explode.”
She spoke into his palm, her voice muffled. “Well, we wouldn’t want your head to explode, would we? I will refrain from laughing.”
Bazrah laughed out loud, then covered his own mouth.
“Good.” Leo lowered his hand. “I apologize for being so forceful.”
“No need to apologize. You have to protect yourself, though I have no data suggesting that a human’s head could explode from laughter. I will have to remember this new information.”
“Yes, well, regarding that—”
“Hush, Leo,” Iona said. “Let’s just listen to the story.”
Melinda waved a hand and turned toward the door. “Come with me. We have comfortable seats, and I’m sure I can find suitable snacks for humans.” As she walked away, her voice faded. “Bazrah likes batter-fried fish eyes. Do you enjoy those?”
Leo and Iona stared at each other, both cringing. Iona gestured toward the door, giving him a coy smile. “Your turn to go first.”
Chapter Twelve
Ben and Caligar stood facing north, each wearing skis and carrying a shoulder-strapped rifle. To their left, at the tower’s base, Winella began climbing the ladder, a computer pad attached to her belt. At the top, the light streams emanating from the antennas brightened the area, allowing a view into the icy terrain for at least a mile.
Wearing a parachute pack and holding his ski poles in one hand, Caligar stared at a computer pad in his other. A cord fastened the pad to his wrist. “According to these readings, the conduit’s draw is quite strong, and the data history shows a spike at the moment your friends disappeared.”
Ben leaned on his own ski poles and looked at the pad. “Strong enough to pull them through the Gate?”
“Yes, but I cannot tell if they survived. The power surge would have delivered a temporary shock, but I cannot judge its intensity.”
“Would the Gate have taken them to your world? To Viridi?”
“I don’t know. During the event, the conduit was forming and locking the two worlds in place. Whether or not they were in sync at the moment of the spike is impossible to determine.”
Ben gestured toward the pad. “But they’re in sync now.”
“Yes. The connection is complete. Soon, Winella will increase the tower network’s power to lift us and then regulate the pseudo-gravitational force to guide us to a safe landing in my world.”
Ben gazed at the glittering Oculus Gate, imagining a pair of humans flying through it. How could anyone survive such a trek? Yet, others made it through. Maybe there was still hope. “You said my friends were drawn through by a spike. That means the force decreased afterward. What do you think happened to them?”
“The force did decrease, but I cannot guess the speed they fell through our atmosphere, assuming they arrived there at all. The force’s residual pull would have slowed them somewhat, but if the pull dropped too quickly to its earlier level, they would have struck the ground at a lethal velocity.”
A new image crashed into Ben’s mind—Leo and Iona colliding with the ground. Their bodies smashed, their limbs shattered, and their necks cracked, then they lay impossibly contorted in dead silence. He sucked in a cold breath, his fists tightening. It couldn’t be true. They had to be all right … somehow. He shook his head, casting the image away. “But we don’t know that.”
Caligar exhaled in a long plume of white vapor. “No. We don’t. Hope remains.”
Ben relaxed his hands. “Back to the procedure. How would Winella know if a person in your world is falling too fast and figure out how much to adjust the reverse pull?”
Caligar showed Ben his pad’s screen. Several windows displayed ever-changing numerals. “Winella and I each have a computer. With the conduit in place, data can pass through. In fact, on Viridi I have a station from which I can send many different types of signals through the Gate. For our purposes, once we are falling in my world, I will transmit descent data to her from the pad, and she can make the necessary adjustments.”
“But you’re not certain it will work, are you? That’s why you brough a parachute.”
“Correct. And after we complete our journey, Winella would make an attempt to go through the Gate herself, and I would control the towers from my world.”
“What about the rest of your people? How will they return to your world?”
Caligar’s lips thinned, maybe from annoyance at the question. “Winella will leave instructions for them to gather within the Arctic Circle, and we will draw them to our world at an appointed time, though we will not be able to guide their fall to Viridi because at full power, the danger to Earth will be great. The entire operation must be quick and without adjustments.”
Ben touched Caligar’s backpack. “Do they have parachutes?”
“We have given them instructions on how to construct their own parachutes. Whether or not they follow those instructions, I cannot guess. Many are lazy. All are stupid.”
Ben cocked his head. “Why do you call the rest of your kind stupid? It’s obvious that you and Winella are highly intelligent.”
“I am thankful for your evaluation of our mental abilities, but the others are not our kind. They devolved into a different species, and I do not wish to explain how or why that happened.”
Ben waved a hand. “Okay. No problem.”
Caligar lifted his skis in turn, finally showing discomfort with the bitter cold. “In any case, the process will be quick in order to minimize earthquakes. When everyone has been transported, we will reduce the power. Then, if we find your friends and transport all of you back to your world, we will disable the conduit permanently.”
“And I can destroy the towers.”
“If you wish, but you still have to deal with the Refectors. The Oculus Gate is the only way to send them back to their source, and the towers are the only means to maintain the conduit.”
As cold seeped into his gloves, Ben flexed his fingers to keep the blood flowing. “And getting the Refectors to come to the Arctic Circle without letting them know why won’t be easy.”
“I am sure it will sound callous of me to say so, but that will be your concern, not mine. I had nothing to do with bringing them here, and I never wanted to come to your world in the first place.”
“Okay, I get that, but who made it all happen? Where did the Oculus Gate come from?”
Caligar turned his head and gazed northward. After a moment of silence, his reply came in a sigh, puffing out in a new plume of white vapor. “The queen of hell.”
“The queen of hell?” Ben’s own white vapor shot out like pressurized steam. “What are you talking about?”
Caligar shook his head. “I have already said too much. She might hear me.”
“Hear you? From hell?”
Caligar looked skyward. “She is powerful and has ways of communicating through the Oculus Gate. Whether or not she can hear me while I am on Earth, I do not know, but I wish to avoid any further risk.”
“Does that mean you communicated with her on your planet? Why would you do that?”
Caligar’s huge eyes narrowed. “I am not in league with her, if that is your concern. Far from it. She is my sworn enemy. And I have nothing more to say on this matter. Kindly refrain from asking further questions about it.”
Ben stared. Questions pummeled his brain, too many to process, but one pushed to the forefront. Was this queen of hell the great evil that Commander Barks had theorized in his farewell message? If Caligar suspected that she was responsible for the Oculus Gate, maybe so. But a queen who reigned over a place of condemnation seemed more like superstition than reality
Caligar looked at the tower. “Winella is in place and has signaled her readiness.”
“Good.” Ben planted his ski poles firmly in the snow and fastened his rifle strap to his belt in case it slipped off his shoulder. After testing the rifle’s scope light, he looked at Caligar. “And I’m also ready.”
“I assume you will not change your mind about accompanying me. The danger level is unknown, but I suspect that it is quite high.”
Ben stared straight ahead. “No offense, but I’m sure I have more passion to find my friends than you do.”
“No offense taken. I understand your passion, but passion will not help if our drawing mechanism fails after we pass through the Oculus Gate. Therefore, remember to stay close so that you can hold to me if necessary. Mine is the only parachute besides the one I left for Winella. She was making another but did not have time to finish it.”
“Understood. Let’s go.” Ben shoved off into the dim, icy flatlands.
The sound of Caligar’s skis swished to the rear. When he caught up and glided to Ben’s left, Ben scanned the area. To the north, the landscape turned darker. Soon it would be impossible to see any tracks in the snow. “Caligar, if any of the Refector-possessed humans are still around, I assume they will be sucked into the Gate with us, right?”
“You are right, but I think none remain in the area. The devolved giants were instructed to hunt for any stray humans and herd them south.”
“But isn’t it possible they missed some?”
“Possible, but not likely. The humans leave prints, and they are slow, especially in such cold weather. They are easy to track, even by fools.”
“True, but do your people have any incentive to be thorough? Why chase a wayward human deep into this wasteland?”
Caligar pushed hard with his poles and accelerated, forcing Ben to do the same to keep up. After a moment of silence, Caligar sighed. “They are incentivized.”
“How?”
“By their appetites.”
Ben’s stomach churned. “They would hunt the humans for food?”
“Yes, and they would have eaten you had I not been the one who caught you.”
“Eating humans is part of their devolution?”
“I have nothing more to say about that.” Caligar turned and skied backwards as he gazed at the tower. “We are approaching the liftoff zone.”
Ben turned as well. At the tower, the streams of light pulsed between brighter and dimmer as they circumvented the Arctic Circle.
“We will soon be lifted,” Caligar said. “The farther north we go, the greater the pull will be.”
“Will snow and ice come with us?”
“Perhaps some. Most is frozen to the surfaces, while we are not.” Caligar halted. “Let us station ourselves here.”
Ben slid to a stop at his side. “Any particular reason?”
Caligar fastened his rifle strap to a loop on his parachute pack. “I want to remain as close as possible to where your friends left Earth. Perhaps we will arrive on my world in the vicinity they entered.”
“Agreed.” Ben planted his poles in the snow. “While we’re waiting, I’m going to try to contact my base commander again.” He touched his earbud, making sure it was turned on. “Kat, can you hear me?”
Only random static replied.
“Kat, in case you can hear me, I’ll add to what I told you before. I’m with Caligar, and I am going to try to go with him to his world through the Oculus Gate. That’s where we think Iona and Leo are. When I return, I’ll give you a report as soon as I can. Also, if you contact Jack and Trudy, tell them to stand down on destroying the Russian tower. I haven’t been able to get a hold of them myself, but it’s critically important that they stand down for now.” A cold shiver ran along his spine, probably a sudden realization of the coming danger. “And if I don’t come back …” He swallowed hard and glanced at Caligar, who quickly turned his head. “Kat,” Ben continued, “just know that I love you. With all my heart. Somehow I’ll find my way back to your arms. Or I’ll die trying.”
After letting out a long sigh, Ben propped himself with the ski poles. “I’m ready.”
As they waited, the tower’s luminous triads grew brighter and brighter. The pulses quickened. The surrounding light grew. Tremors shook the ground, rising into Ben’s legs. “A quake’s starting.”
