Chapter 17

Sylvie blinked up at X, a bit taken aback by his reasoning for bringing her into the darkness of a creepy-ass cave. Asking ghosts if she was an enemy operative. Could things get any more ridiculous?

She'd been on edge since they'd driven through the aperture, afraid her own body would somehow betray her and cause the shield to fail and everyone in the crowded hub to drown.

If all the safeties had failed and the hub had flooded with water, she would have been the only one to die, scary enough. Now she was in an underwater cave that was intentionally haunted by the ghosts of dead regents.

For such a technologically advanced race, they seemed a bit prone to flights of fancy.

Still, the place creeped her out. So did the two guards who stood silently, looking off into the distance.

They don't like me. No one here does. If it weren't for X, I'd be so much medical waste right now.

Still, the crowds in the hub had been more reactive, drawing back, making faces. These two just stood there. Watching as if waiting for something to happen.

"What do we do next?" Best to get this test over with.

"We invoke the spirits and ask them for advice."

Invoke the spirits. Right.

"So do we ask for one particular regent? Like Supreme Regent Reginald the Righteous? Or Wendell the Very Wise?"

His expression said he didn't think she was funny.

"The regents will decide whether they speak. Requesting a specific one doesn't mean that regent will want to talk to you."

"With my luck, no one will want to talk to me."

"They'll talk to me."

Sylvie almost rolled her eyes at his arrogance, but something stopped her. They probably would want to talk to him. Was it still arrogance if he was right?

"So how do we invoke the spirits?"

X thrust his hand into the flames.

Sylvie screamed and turned her head as he spoke softly beside her.

"It's holographic. See?"

As she watched, the fire transformed, becoming a ring encircling a dark metallic surface. The surface split open, and a column of rock rose out of it. In the center of the column was half a cloudy sphere. The column stopped a few inches above X's palm.

Waves of light rippled over the surface of his skin, then expelled themselves from his hand, straight into the half sphere. Tiny lightning bolts struck out from the sphere, hitting the energy being put out by X. The energies entwined, then vanished.

Around her the cavern began to glow with lights of different colors. Light blue. Mauve pink. One would shine for a few moments and fade, only to be replaced by another somewhere else in the chamber.

"What's happening?" While the display was lovely, it had done little to lessen Sylvie's trepidation.

"The spirits are convening to decide who should speak for them."

Sylvie shivered, glancing over at him. X's face was expressionless, but his skin did have a faint reddish tint.

He's nervous too.

Sylvie moved closer to the regent. Just then a voice boomed, a pink light bursting over the chamber.

"Xiv! Look how you've grown!"

Sylvie's eyes shot to X. He had the strangest look on his face. A cross between annoyance and acceptance. He looked extremely tense.

"Hello, Mother."

Her jaw dropped.

"Mother?" she whispered. The woman whose clothing she was currently disgracing with her inelegant human form?

"Such a good boy, coming to visit your mother!"

"Yes, Mother," X said, exhaling heavily. "Unfortunately I don't have much time to visit. Zanthar is under a bit of a crisis."

"A crisis? I leave you to do one thing, and now there's a crisis?" The chamber dripped with his mother's disapproval.

"It's the Hareema, Mother. We believe they may have infiltrated Earth, and even now they could have an agent on our planet."

His mother's gasp echoed through the chamber.

"A Hareema agent on Zanthar?" She paused, her voice becoming stern. "If there's one, there's bound to be more."

"I'm keeping things under control but I need your advice. I need to know if you believe the Hareema are working with the Earthlings."

"And whether that Earthling female is an enemy spy?"

The severe tone of his mother's voice made Sylvie uneasy. Apparently, X's mom was a force to be reckoned with.

"Well, young lady, are you an enemy spy?"

Sylvie looked at X, bemused. "No, Your Honor."

"Good."

X sputtered. "That's all you're going to ask her?"

"That's all I need to know. Now stop wasting your time and get back to protecting the planet."

Sylvie noticed that X was smiling. "Understood, Regent."

His mother's happy laughter reverberated through the chamber.

Their relationship must have been special.

He misses her. And whatever remains of her misses him.

The pink light began to fade. The former regent, who just happened to be the current regent's mother, was departing.

Before the chamber went dark, a voice arose. "The alien can be trusted. Not all those close to you can."

Sylvie grabbed hold of X's arm. "That wasn't your mother."

"No, it wasn't." He frowned and eyed the two guards standing nearby. "You two, initiate an electrical exchange. Now."

The two guards said nothing but moved to comply. Light waves built in both, which were released in a bright flash when they clasped hands. X nodded, then motioned them all forward.

No one spoke as they left the cave. Perhaps the warning whispered by the ghostly voice had left them unsettled. They entered the craft and X submerged them.

Finally Sylvie couldn't take the silence any longer. "I guess I've passed both tests so far. What else have you got up your sleeve for me?"

"Up my sleeve?"

Sylvie rolled her eyes. "Never mind."

X was guiding them through a region of the sea that was darker than the rest. Only one lone light blinked in the distance. Another transport ship, far ahead of them?

"I can't believe you took me to meet your mother."

"Is it so odd?" he asked in a tone indicating that he knew it was odd.

"I don't see the point is all. How would a portion of your dead mother's preserved brain pattern know whether I was working for the enemy or not?"

"My mother's always been skilled at sizing people up. During her term as Supreme Regent, she became known as Kath'Thar the Observant." His eyes flashed over to hers. "I trust her opinion more than any others, living or dead."

"I don't mean to be rude, but your resting place of regents smacks of primitive spiritualism. You asking your dead mother about me, it's too much like Odysseus finding his own mother in the Underworld."

"Who's this Odysseus? A lover of yours?" His expression was neutral, but she saw spots of yellow appearing in his green skin.

"My point is, if your race is so advanced, why consult the equivalent of ancient oracles instead of basing all your decisions in scientific fact."

X took a breath. "My people have found one inescapable fact that serves to guide us: science can't explain everything."

Sylvie turned in her seat to face him, firing up her rebuttal, when out of the corner of her eye she noticed one of the guards rising from his seat. He held a braided portion, which had to have come from his uniform, taut in his hands.

"X, look out!" she yelled, but before the regent could defend himself, the guard had gotten the makeshift rope around his neck. The other guard stepped up beside his partner and worked on wrestling the regent's hands away from the rope around his throat.

Sylvie watched in horror as the guards dragged him out of his seat and onto the transport floor. Right now X was the only person on the planet who trusted her. She had to do something.

"Leave him alone!" she yelled, shoving against the guard who was trying to bind his hands with another length of braided seaweed.

The guard kicked her in the stomach and she tumbled backwards, her breath leaving her violently. X saw her fall and seemed to struggle harder, managing to get a couple fingers under the length of rope.

"Signal for help. On the console."

One of the guards punched him in the face hard. It jarred his hand loose, and his opponent went back to tightening the rope around his neck.

With both guards focused on the regent, she began crawling away from them toward the front console.

What sense did it make for the guards to turn on him now?

Sylvie stared at the many different buttons on the console, most of them in a language she had never encountered. A few of the buttons flickered as if trying to grab her attention.

How am I supposed to figure out how to send a message?

She turned back to ask for help, but as she watched, X's eyes drooped closed. He was losing consciousness.

Once they finish him, they'll come for you.

She was never going to figure out how to call for help in time. She would have to fight, but without a weapon she lacked any chance of winning against the large guards. Sylvie scanned the craft, looking for anything she might use. Nothing.

Dropping to her knees, she noticed a recessed panel under the console display. She stuck her hand in and pried the panel open. Sadly it wasn't a cache of powerful weapons. Wires and conduits ran back and forth, powering this and connecting that.

One of these wires might knock out the lights. Maybe I can find some means of hiding, or I can get the hatch open and swim out... or... or...

She had little faith in any of her options, but doing something was better than letting herself be taken. Maybe she would get lucky and just electrocute herself. She pulled on various wires, using all her weight to rip one out of the maze.

The first one she pulled out made red lights blaze along the hull. Nope. Let's try Door #2. Sylvie grabbed hold of the thickest cord she could find and yanked.

Nothing.

She pulled with everything she had and at last it burst loose. The red lights that had come on with the last wire started blinking. Nothing seemed affected.

The guards had succeeded in binding the unconscious regent and were now headed toward her. Panic rose in her stomach and threatened to shut down her ability to move fast. She lifted up a small prayer to anyone who might be listening and grabbed another random wire.

She tugged, and without a struggle it came loose, sending up a shower of sparks. A hand clutched her shoulder, and without thinking, she turned and stabbed the live wire into the guard who'd grabbed her.

The circuit closed and electricity rushed into the guard. There was a loud pop, then a long whine. Incredibly enough, the guard began to melt.

He flailed outward, grasping the corner of his companion's sarong. The second guard let out a low moan, and then he too was disintegrating before her eyes.

Sylvie held on tight to the wire as it pumped electricity into the pair. Suddenly they couldn't hold their shapes anymore, and within moments of one another, each transformed from Zantharian military guard to a block of cherry jelly.

Then the jelly turned brown, began to sizzle, and melted into a puddle on the floor. She couldn’t let go of the wire, fear forcing her to ensure that neither of the bastards were going to get up again. The ooze turned to ash and blew across the floor before her.

"Hareema," she whispered and dropped the wire, the lights blinking once before plunging her into darkness.