Chapter 21
Implication
The little square-headed people.
Kelen remained numb as the realization that the remains of the people they’d found on Neverwylde belonged to a species known as Bollians. A species that, presumably, had managed to conquer time and space. She whirled around to stare at the others standing behind her.
“We’ve been blind all this time. We thought Five and his people were responsible for the teleportation slabs, but they weren’t. They created the glyphs and dug the tunnels. Hoov and its people migrated from the volcanic side of the planet to the ice side, but we’d assumed they’d done so via the panels because of their intelligence. We were wrong. It was the Bollians. The Bollians created all that technology.”
“But the Bollians were not native to Neverwylde,” Gaveer reminded them. “They had crashed there.”
“What is their home planet?” Jules sked.
Mellori held out his hands. “The stories say their home world was destroyed eons ago, but they managed to flee before that occurred. They’re nomads, roaming space.”
“So what you’re implying is the Seneecians are trying to keep these transport panels a secret from everyone else?” Fullgrath summarized.
“If they can transport living beings over vast distances, especially between planets, it would revolutionize everything,” Sandow explained. “Just imagine, sending an infinite number of troops to besiege a planet.”
“If the Seneecians were able to do that, think of what kind of dominance they could command,” Cooter added.
“There would still be the factor of landing planetside,” Massapa noted. “They would need to set up a landing platform on that world.”
Kyber looked at his crewmember. “True, unless a shuttle was outfitted with one of those panels. Send a handful of those specially-equipped shuttles all over the planet, and thousands upon thousands of troops could infiltrate that world.”
Baffrey cleared his throat. “I believe everyone here is overlooking the forest for the trees.” He started to say more when Dox broke in.
“Lots more there.”
Kelen and the others turned their attention to him. At the same time, the major snorted with laughter. “The isotope must have read my mind. You are focusing on those transport portals and completely forgetting about the fact that there could be a hell of a lot more on that world in the way of technology and who knows what else. We’re only scratching the paint off this ship. We have no idea what’s beneath.”
“Dox, what else did you see, if anything, that you might have recognized?” Kyber softly asked the young man.
Dox gave a little one-shoulder shrug. “Parts. Nothing whole. Nothing working. Needs repair. Needs repowering.”
“Yet you managed to take a piece of equipment from that stockpile and make a transmitter out of it,” Mellori pointed out. “Was that piece of equipment originally part of a communications console, Dox?”
“No. Part of a soynus booster.”
“A what? A soynus booster? What’s a soynus booster?” Mellori saw their confused expressions and shook his head. “I’m not familiar with the term.”
“Soynus,” Dox repeated. “Synecular Neural Schematics.”
Mellori instantly reacted. “Oh, sweet Jesus. Are you freaking kidding me?”
“What is he talking about, Lieutenant?” Pfeiffer demanded.
The engineer ran a visibly nervous hand over his face. “We’ve heard of Synecular Neural Schematics for several years. Always hush-hush, to the point where it’s pretty much brushed off as hearsay. Pure fiction.” He tapped Dox on the arm to get the young man’s attention again. “Dox, are you certain that box was intended to be a soynus booster?”
“Ninety-seven percent certain,” Dox replied with flat confidence.
“You still haven’t explained to me… Hold on.” Pfeiffer returned to his desk. “Computer!”
“Yes, Colonel. How can I help you?”
“Definition. Soynus booster. Synecular Neural Schematics.”
“A term used to describe a weapon where any living body can be used as a weapon. Generally considered to be imaginary or a construct of fiction, as no proof of such a weapon has been produced to confirm its existence.”
“Computer, what would the booster, if it existed, be able to do?”
“Such a booster could make all living tissue explode.”
Kelen stood there, as did everyone else, unable to comprehend such a weapon. It was Kyber who asked, “Colonel, ask the computer if the booster would have to be directed at a person for them to explode.”
“Computer, answer the previous question.”
“No. The person would only have to be within range of its signal to make it explode.”
“And what would be the range of this weapon?”
“Presumably, four hundred thousand kilometers.”
An icy chill went through her. Four hundred thousand kilometers? “That means a ship would only have to be in orbit around a planet in order to aim the booster at every living creature and wipe them out,” she whispered.
“Imagine a species with the capability of being able to transport themselves to a planet, and then wipe out the entire population with a minimum of energy,” Cooter muttered.
“And remember,” Mellori noted, “we’re only speaking of two pieces of technology. Two, where there could be hundreds more like it on Neverwylde.”
Her legs could no longer hold her up. Kelen dropped to the floor as her mind tried to imagine the implications of what they had just discovered. A few meters away, Mellori prodded Dox.
“Dox, could you tell if the booster had been used? Or had been damaged?”
“Used, no. Damaged, yes.”
“How was it damaged? Could you tell?”
Again, the one-shoulder shrug. “No longer worked, but still had boosting components, so took it. Adapted it.” It was probably the longest sentence Kelen had ever heard the little man say.
Another, stronger chill went through her, to where her body shuddered. If not for Dox’s incredible intelligence, they could have been using a previously fictitious weapon with disastrous results.
Colonel Pfeiffer sat in his chair. Kelen suspected he did so before his own legs went out from under him. After musing over these recent revelations, the man checked his monitor, then leaned back to address them.
“We have a couple of hours before the Kergocian ship arrives. I suggest we take a break.” He gave them all a stern eye. “I hope I don’t have to remind you that everything we’ve discussed and discovered today will not be taken outside of this office. You’re dismissed.”
They slowly filed out of the room, all except for Williamsburg and Baffrey, who remained inside with the colonel. As they headed for the elevators, Kyber took her hand.
“I am without words,” he admitted.
“I can relate.”
The elevator doors opened, and everyone got in except for Fullgrath, Sandow, and the two of them. Kyber leaned over. “We never got to finish our meal. Would you like to go back to the mess hall and have that dessert you wanted?”
Kelen nodded. “Sounds good.”
“I would also like some dessert,” he confessed.
They took the next car down to their level and exited. Fullgrath and Sandow promised to see them later and entered their rooms. Kyber continued down the hallway, but as soon as the others had gone into their apartments, and their doors had closed behind them, he turned around, guiding Kelen along with his hand to her back. She started to ask him if he’d changed his mind, when she realized where they were actually going and why.
She smiled, and was still smiling when he swept her into their room and into his arms for a passionate kiss.