Authors: George Sirois
Excelsior (9 page)
His forehead crinkling with rage, Nick swung his fist forward. Matthew closed his eyes, ready to take the beating for his friend while wondering what possessed him to even attempt to be a hero.
Suddenly, Matthew's left arm shot up as though he were a life-sized marionette puppet, blocking Nick's punch. His eyes snapped open and looked straight ahead at the wrestling captain who couldn't land his knockout punch. Nick shook his head in confusion and motioned for Kelly to join him. "Come on," he said. "I don't know what the hell his problem is."
As Kelly and Nick suddenly turned and walked away, Matthew looked around and saw all the students watching him talking amongst themselves in amazement. Several of them took a moment to pat Matthew on the shoulder as they walked away to go about their business, and Thomas continued trembling in wonder. "Wow" was all he could manage to say.
Matthew looked beyond Thomas and saw Katherine leaning against the doorway to the cafeteria, her arms folded across her chest and a smile across her face.
"It looks like there is more of Excelsior inside you than you thought."
CHAPTER 5
“I need... to... see Acerus!”
Niterra barely managed to gasp out her words between her violent tremors. Her left shoulder filled the cave with the stench of scorched flesh, and strands of her blond hair stuck to her face. Elder Quinterus saw where tears had washed streaks through the dirt on her dry cheeks.
“What happened?”
Niterra struggled to catch her breath. “I need. To see. Acerus. Now.” She collapsed to her knees.
Quinterus ignored her impertinence and gently helped her back to her feet. Her body went taut when he accidentally jostled her shoulder, but she managed to stand. “Come, Niterra,” he said as he led her into the cave.
Denarian men and women acknowledged Quinterus with a polite nod as they passed, soft murmurs of concern following the muscular Elder and Niterra as they increased their pace. One man, with a heavyset physique and tight, curly hair, gasped when he saw the young female and followed them.
“What happened?” he demanded, not caring if his voice had a disrespectful tone.
The young woman briefly grabbed the man’s hand and gave it a weak squeeze but she never stopped moving. “I'll be fine, Zorribis. Don't worry about me. We have to see Acerus right away.”
“Didn't I tell you that something like this would happen if they caught you spying? Why did you have to do this?”
Niterra clenched her teeth in pain and kept walking. Glancing over her wounded shoulder she saw Zorribis stop, his usually handsome mahogany skin an ashy gray.
Elder Quinterus guided Niterra down a tight passageway cut into the rock and past two towering armed Denarians. They found Acerus sitting on a simple handmade chair facing the empty sheath that once held the sword of Excelsior. Hunched forward, his dark eyes remained fixed on the sheath.
Elder Quinterus had no time to genuflect before the High Elder. “Acerus, Niterra has returned with some urgent news.”
Acerus blinked and then turned toward Quinterus and Niterra. His contemplative look quickly became one of concern. “My dear child, what has happened?” The High Elder stood and helped Quinterus lower her into his chair. Acerus tenderly examined her wound. “This is not a weapon burn or a chemical burn,” he mused, picking away some of the scorched material sticking to her flesh. In spite of his delicate touch, the girl shook.
“Father Acerus,” Niterra began. Her voice was a hoarse squeak.
“It seems like such a short time ago that you came here with the Denarians freed by Semminex. Such strength you showed, even then.”
“High Elder – please!” Niterra cut him off. She had no time to waste by fondly looking back on old memories.
“What is it my dear? What did you see?”
Niterra took a deep breath and forced it out. “Nocterar.”
Acerus' eyes widened and he took a step back. “No!”
Shaking, Niterra managed a nod then collapsed.
Quinterus caught her from falling out of her chair and repositioned her so she could rest. Despite her body's exhaustion, she could still hear the two Elders speaking. “By the father of Valertus!”
“How could this happen?" Acerus asked. "Excelsior crushed him under a pile of rock. He could not have possibly survived that!”
“I am afraid we will have to believe he has survived, High Elder. This child was willing to risk her life to bring us this news.”
“Bring her to the healers immediately,” Acerus instructed. She could feel two guards helping her limp body out of the chair.
“Father Acerus, there must have been a reason Nocterar was given leadership of the Krunation Empire," Quinterus said. "It's possible that they knew he could survive his battles with Excelsior.”
“Do you know what this means? Danaak returning to life on Earth and Nocterar suddenly revived here?”
As the Denarian guards assisted Niterra, she opened her eyes and saw the High Elder instructing those around him. “Quinterus, wake the other Elders and tell your men to head to the Leap of Faith. We must contact Klierra immediately and tell her we need Excelsior
NOW
.”
* * *
Wilitar's heavy breathing threatened to cut through the silence as he nervously wiped the sweat from his brow. He looked up at the stars and took a deep breath of the cold night air of Denab IV. In the distance, two Krunation soldiers stood on opposite sides of the entrance to a large gray chamber. The youthful Denarian felt his heart racing as he looked ahead at the other four members of his team.
Radifen crouched beside Zorribis, who was holding a rifle in his hand and peering through a nightvision scope. “Do you see them?” he whispered. Zorribis nodded in response, a tight grip on his weapon.
Grannik stayed behind the rest of the group, his knees on the ground to appear as out-of-sight as possible, but positioned so that he could leap into action as quickly as possible. If he were standing up straight, the top of Wilitar's head would have only come up to just above his stomach.
Beside him crouched Karini, a young Denarian with unkempt blonde hair. His eyes darted back and forth between the two Denarians in front of them and Wilitar beside him.
Wilitar felt Karini’s reassuring hand on his shoulder as he whispered, “Shut your eyes and do the Elders’ breathing technique. You'll feel better.” The smallest of the five nodded in response. He shut his eyes and focused on his breathing, relaxing his heart rate and let go of the memory of being dragged by one foot back to his cell by Krunation guards, two ribs fractured and one ear ripped half off his skull from a vicious beating. Inhale. Exhale.
“Good,” said Radifen. “Keep breathing.” The recommended mental exercise did its job and for a moment, his anxiety gave way to excitement. He sat a very short distance away from the great Leap of Faith inter-planetary doorway and Acerus hand-picked him to operate the controls. He opened his eyes and allowed himself a soft smile as the Leap of Faith chamber beckoned.
“Do you have them ready?” Zorribis asked Radifen. Radifen reached into his holster and pulled out a small double-barreled pistol. He grabbed two small darts from his pocket and loaded them into each barrel.
“Ready,” Radifen whispered back.
“Then switch.” Zorribis and Radifen quickly swapped scope and pistol.
“Kid, are you sure you know what you're doing with that?” Radifen asked. “We only have one shot for each of them.”
“Just tell me when,” Zorribis grunted.
Wilitar bit his lip as Radifen peered through the night-vision scope, waiting until the two guards had their backs to each other.
“Now!” Radifen’s order cut the stillness.
Zorribis squeezed the trigger and fired the first dart. It hit the guard perfectly, right in the neck, and he dropped like a stone.
“Little bit to the right,” Radifen whispered urgently as the second guard turned sharply toward his fallen partner and pressed a device on his shoulder. Zorribis moved to the right and quickly fired.
The dart struck the second guard on his arm. He fired off one quick shot of his rifle, took a stumbling step and dropped.
Zorribis turned and looked at Radifen. “Don't call me kid.”
Karini tapped Wilitar on his shoulder. “They're down. We have to move now. You all right?”
Wilitar nodded, reluctant to leave his becalmed state.
The five Denarians made their way up the chamber toward the Leap of Faith. Karini shifted his heavy pack and asked, "Why didn't we just shoot these bastards? They haven't exactly been all that kind to us.”
Radifen looked over his shoulder at Karini as he answered. “We can’t afford to leave dead bodies behind. Don't worry. With the drug we put in the dart, they won't remember a thing about tonight and they’ll be out long enough to make sure that Wilitar can escape safely.”
Wilitar's heart rate increased all over again at Radifen's reminder that he would be responsible for getting back to the caverns alone.
“How long is long enough?” Grannik asked as they reached the entrance.
“Not long,” Radifen replied. “We have to move fast.”
The Denarians made their way past the unconscious guards and into the Leap of Faith chamber. As Zorribis passed the second guard, he noticed a blinking light on the device attached to his shoulder. “What's that?”
Radifen gave Zorribis a little shove. “Just keep moving.” He picked up his pace, passed the younger Denarian and pressed a large metal square to open the door. The door slid up with a loud whoosh that made them jump. Memories of similar doors on their prison cells made all of the men uneasy, none more than Wilitar who dug his hands under the straps of his pack so the others wouldn’t see them shaking. They stepped inside.
As sensors lit the chamber, the Denarians stood rooted in place and gazed on the Leap of Faith Inter-Planetary Doorway for the first time. A gleaming rectangular silver doorway stretched three stories up. It was wide enough to comfortably fit all five of them abreast and was framed in huge, flowing pipes embedded with flashing and blinking lights. Sleek metallic panels stood inches away from the wall. A matching silver panel covered the doorway as it lay dormant.
Karini looked over at his friend. Wilitar’s mouth turned in a half-smile, his dark eyes feasted on the massive object before them.
“Now that… is… beautiful.”
Zorribis dropped his pack on the floor. “You have a job to do, right?” he snapped at Wilitar.
Wilitar looked at him, then back to the Leap of Faith before walking over to a console. He examined the display before him then started tapping the console in various spots. A powerful light emitted from the panel, a blank white canvas waiting to be filled with the right coordinates.
“Ready?” Wilitar asked his comrades.
“Are you ready?” Grannik responded. “Do you have the collector?”
“Got it.” Wilitar reached into his pocket and pulled out a black rectangle that was three inches long, two inches wide and two inches thick. He plugged it into the main computer and pressed a series of buttons, rerouting data from the main computer to the collector. “Okay, we're ready,” he announced.
“Do you know how to operate this?” Karini asked.
“Of course. And Elder Acerus made sure to give me the exact coordinates.” As they waited, Wilitar placed his hand over the sphere and felt it begin to vibrate, feeding coordinates into the computer. The metallic cover over the doorway began to project a gorgeous view of Sol
III
, the third planet in the solar system of an average yellow sun in the Milky Way galaxy.
“Pretty planet,” Wilitar observed. “Not as pretty as Denab IV, but it definitely has potential.”
“Can you do this?” Radifen asked, his silver hair falling over his eyes as he studied Wilitar’s face.
“I'll be fine,” Wilitar answered, still awed by the technology in front of him. “You have your equipment?”
Radifen gestured to Karini, who handed Radifen his pack. “Be careful with your cargo, Karini. That’s the only one of its kind. Get in position, men.” He then flashed a grin to Wilitar and gave the next order. “Activate the gateway.”
Wilitar brushed his hand quickly across a glowing panel and the gateway opened, generating a vacuum while maintaining the same image of Earth.
“Stay out of trouble, Wilitar,” shot Karini over his shoulder as he jumped. The first three Denarians' bodies instantly transformed into glowing balls of energy that shot across the fabric of space. Radifen braced himself to jump after them, but stopped and walked toward Wilitar. He reached into his holster and pulled out a gray and black laser pistol.
“Hold out your hand,” the senior Denarian instructed. Wilitar nodded and held out his right hand. Radifen placed the pistol in the young man's open hand as the vacuum caused his silver mane to dance around his shoulders.
“During the first battle led by Semminex as Excelsior, he grabbed this pistol out of the hands of a Krunation soldier stupid enough to try and use it on us. If you see any of them, see how many you can kill with it.” Wilitar stared speechlessly at the gun in his hand as Radifen gave him a quick embrace before turning back toward the Leap of Faith. He ran three steps, then jumped. He sped toward Earth as a bright ball of energy.