Harry's Sacrifice (20 page)

“Is that what you want?” Cormac asked. “To seize power?”

“It’s not so much what I
want
as what I believe must be done,” Hara answered slowly, clearly thinking through his words as he spoke them. “I do not see an easier way to put this planet back to rights quickly. I will seek to lead only for as long as necessary, then cede power back to the Council when humans and Alvians live as equals.”

“A lofty goal,” Cormac said, eyeing Hara with both respect and suspicion. “I hope you can manage it.”

“We must. There is no other choice,” Hara said quietly. Everyone reflected on that statement a moment before Hara put his hands on the table, clearing the hologram. “The time for waiting is over. Now is the moment for action.”

“Finally,” Percival added with a touch of eager humor.

The two ancients stood and the rest followed suit. “We will handle the flight. I would like you to leave the pod first, once we arrive, and smooth the way. I want to take them by surprise, but I don’t want to be shot as I exit the craft.” Hara laughed at the image his words provoked and clapped Harry on the back as they left the galley. “You have not seen the bridge yet. I invite you all to come watch from there as we make our getaway.”

Hara led them all through a portal they had not been able to pass through before. The door had been securely locked until Hara pressed his palm to a control and the portal snicked open.

And then they were inside the heart of the vehicle. The bridge, from where all activity on the pod was controlled. There were several seats. This was one of the larger pods of the main exploration ship that had originally brought Hara and his team to Earth.

“I’ll take the command chair and Percival will man the nav station, but you three are welcome to take what positions you desire,” Hara invited.

Harry looked over the other positions and made for the com center. So did Cormac, which made for a little jockeying for first position, but they settled on sharing while Ro sat at one of the sensor arrays, already checking readings. She was so quietly competent that Harry paused a moment to just watch her.

Cormac nudged Harry’s elbow out of the way so he could bring up an outside view of the top of the pod and the dark sky beyond the hole in the ice. Harry got his mind back on track to the matter at hand. He knew Cormac was checking to make sure his orders had been followed and his men were clear of the area. He was a good leader who cared for the wellbeing of his men, which counted in his favor in Harry’s mind.

“The way is clear, Hara,” Cormac reported, strict military precision coming naturally to him now that he was in what had to be a familiar situation.

“Starting main engines,” Hara replied, punching in orders on the big console in front of him. He had the command position, which meant he could control almost everything if he wished.

“Main engines operating at standard levels,” Percival reported. “Clear for lift off.”

“Let’s get this show on the road,” Hara whispered almost to himself as he input the commands that set the pod into motion.

Once more, Harry marveled at the fact that these two ancient Alvians had been monitoring humanity for so long and had been able to absorb so much of the language over their years in stasis. How the two had remained sane through such a long captivity, Harry had no idea.

“Activity at my base camp,” Cormac reported. “No doubt they have noticed the engine startup.”

“What will they do?” Harry asked, concerned.

“Investigate,” Cormac answered. “Can we get out of here before they are within the perimeter of danger?” he asked Hara quickly.

“No. You can communicate with them if I turn off the interference field,” Hara admitted. “Perhaps you can tell them you are the one starting the engines. Tell them you are going to take the pod out and return to the city. That way, air defenses will be aware of our path and think it is you, Cormac.”

“A good plan. I will try to be convincing. Lower the interference field. I will initiate communication.”

The plan worked, though Cormac’s men wanted him to set the pod down outside their camp. He was able to convince his second in command that the pod was so old, he was not sure he’d be able to start it up again if he set it down.

With Liam 24’s endorsement, Cormac declared his intention to try to make for the Northern City. Liam 24 promised to report the flight to the appropriate authorities and clear the way. A few moments later, an escort of small ships flanked the pod, ushering it into the city after a relatively short half-hour flight.

The pod was part of a space exploration vessel that had been capable of traveling at speeds faster than light. Making a quick hop from the North Pole to the middle of what had been North America was relatively easy by comparison.

Cormac maintained communication with the honor guard of ships around them and pretended to be in control of the pod. He claimed Harry and Roshin were helping him fly the vehicle and reported them to be in good health after the days of confinement inside the pod.

When the time came to make for a particular landing strip, Cormac was surprised when the honor guard directed him to land at the exact platform Hara had chosen. Apparently, the Council wanted to control this piece of ancient technology from the moment it landed.

“This is working out even better than I had expected,” Hara commented as Cormac closed the com so nobody outside the pod would hear the five of them talking on the bridge.

“The Council can’t resist your technology,” Roshin said, surprising Cormac with her observation. She was so quiet sometimes he didn’t realize she observed all and made astute conclusions from what she saw. “I have been sitting in Council meetings for a while now and they are hard pressed to make any new advancement in technological fields. They have been discussing it as a real and difficult problem. The lack of innovation has been noted, but they don’t yet realize why it has happened,” she went on. “This pod would represent an opportunity to reverse-engineer cutting-edge tech from ancient Alvia and would probably keep our civilization going for a while longer without making any new innovations of our own.”

Silence reigned for a moment as everyone realized once again how far the Alvian race had fallen in the years since tinkering with their genetic code had begun in earnest. Hara maneuvered the craft, flying it over the city as the modern military ships escorted them. A fitting honor guard, Cormac thought, though they knew it not.

“Most of the city is getting a nice view of our arrival,” Percival observed, breaking the silence. “The Council will not be able to keep this discovery quiet.”

“They will likely try to minimize it if they wish to remain in power,” Harry warned. “They won’t easily relinquish control to you.”

Cormac didn’t have the intimate knowledge of either this city or the Council that Harry, and especially Roshin, did. Cormac’s normal work schedule kept him out in the field much of the time and his residence was split between a small berth in the barracks here in the Northern City and a larger space set aside for him in his assigned sector, which was to the south of the city.

“You expect treachery? I didn’t think modern Alvians were truly capable of it,” Hara asked, his eyes narrowed. “Roshin, what is your take?”

“Modern Alvians are very capable of treachery but lack the motivations of centuries past. Therefore, it is less common, but even without emotion, people still like to get their way and make their own lives more comfortable—even at the expense of others. That has not gone away, even if things like glee over victory and satisfaction for rising above enemies has.” She had apparently given deep thought to this topic and Cormac listened to her analysis with interest. “Having observed the Council firsthand, I can surmise that about half the Councilors will welcome your presence. A few will openly oppose and might even wish to do you harm. The remaining will wait to see which way the wind blows before committing. You will find no help from them until you are seen to be the victor.”

Hara was silent a moment, appearing to think deeply about Roshin’s words.

“We will have to be on our guard,” Percival finally spoke up, drawing attention. “But that is nothing new for us. We’ve been in worse situations, haven’t we?” Percival looked at Hara and the ancient ones shared a smile that grew into laughter. Cormac would love to hear some of their tales of ancient times, but that was for another day. They first had to get through the ordeal of revelation ahead.

All this time, they had been drawing closer to the Council landing area. Hara put the pod down with a light touch and began shutting down the engines and other systems. Cormac noticed he locked almost every system. Should he and Percival somehow fall, it would be very hard for modern Alvians to get into the systems—if it could be done at all.

“Cormac,” Hara requested his attention as everyone began to stand and make for the exit. “I want you to go down the ramp first. Then Harry and Roshin. Percy and I will make our entrance last.”

“A good plan that is both theatrical and cautious,” Cormac observed, offering a grin that was returned in full measure. As time went on, Cormac was learning how to deal with emotion better and found amusement one of the most joyful and easier emotions to deal with. He found he liked to laugh—especially at a shared joke that made him feel companionship with others.

They all went to the exit and Percival activated the ramp that would allow them to exit. Cormac was positioned in front of the portal and he could see members of the Council and their guards already forming a welcoming party near the edge of the landing platform.

“They are gathering,” he reported back to the others. Hara and Percival were staying out of sight for now, sticking close to walls on either side of the portal.

“Every member of the Council has come to see the pod,” Roshin observed. “Most of their staff members too. And Councilor Markus has activated floating recorders. At least five of them that seem to be recording from every angle.”

“If they give us problems, we can leak some of those images,” Percival thought out loud. Cormac had been thinking the same thing, planning for all contingencies—including the likelihood that Hara and Percival would be arrested and sequestered immediately upon discovery.

“I will tune in to the feed and send copies of all the recordings to my personal storage,” Roshin replied, already tapping on her data pad. It hadn’t been useful until Hara had disengaged the dampening field, but since then it had regained all its former functionality and Cormac knew Roshin had been recording everything for posterity.

“The ramp is fully extended,” Harry reported. “The Council is moving cautiously closer. I think it’s show time.”

Cormac had only heard that expression a few times before, but he knew what it meant. It was time to start the action. Taking a deep breath, Cormac was careful to maintain an emotionless expression. Nobody could know he’d taken the drug. Not yet. He started down the ramp, trying to cultivate the attitude that would have been so natural to him only a few days ago.

A lot had happened to him in a short time. His life had changed forever in what seemed to be the blink of an eye. And now it was time to meet his destiny.

What came next unfolded just as Hara and Percival had hoped. Cormac reached the bottom of the ramp first, followed closely by Harry and Roshin. A few of the councilors met them and began to speak, but Cormac forestalled their questions by holding up one hand. Harry admired the way he handled them with silent authority.

“Councilors, I have much to report, but first, I think you need to see exactly what we discovered when Harry led us into this ship.”

Eyes turned to Harry, standing behind Cormac, and he in turn deliberately swiveled his body so that he faced the top of the ramp. He moved to one side so the councilors’ view from the ground would be unobstructed.

Hara appeared, pausing at the top of the ramp when a hush fell over the milling crowd.

“Councilors, I present to you, my ancestor, Hara Prime, and his companion, Percival Prime,” Harry announced theatrically.

The councilors blinked. Repeatedly. As if they couldn’t process the idea that two of the ancient Alvian exploration party had survived all these years.

And then they began to kneel. One first, then by twos and threes, the Alvians gathered all around the ancient ship, lowered to one knee in the ultimate sign of respect. It was a gesture that hadn’t been made in recent memory but was preserved in the legends of old. Legends of the time from which the two men at the top of the ramp had come.

Chapter Eleven

Floating recorders were switched from simply recording to outright broadcasting. Every Alvian with a datapad or screen on the planet was being fed the live action as Hara and Percival descended the ramp. Ronin Prime, hidden just behind the door to the landing area, smiled as he confirmed his operatives had done their jobs.

He tucked his own datapad back into his robes. As he did so, he unfastened the closures that held his nondescript outer robe in place to reveal the much more formal garments hidden beneath. Today was a day for revelation…and revolution.

Ronin Prime stepped through the doorway to the landing platform. There was a hush over the entire area and everyone was kneeling before the five gathered on the ramp. Everyone but Ronin.

He strode forward, picking his way lightly—and without obvious difficulty—through the kneeling throng. He knew the transmitting bots recorded his every move. There were more than enough dispersed throughout the area to capture this historic moment from every angle. It was time the Alvian population learned of the secrets the Council had been keeping from them.

Ronin strode up to the trio who stood on the ground at the base of the ramp.

“Harry, son of Justin O’Hara and Mara 12, you have done both your people proud this day. Thank you for unlocking the ship and freeing your ancestor.” Ronin was aware of the Councilors shifting behind him. One or two of them might try to object, but they seemed too dumbstruck to speak, which was to Ronin’s advantage.