Copyright 2024 -- Daemon D. Hart
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The Human Bearer
His heart was thumping wildly. He squeezed young Xeus against his chest, his soul breaking in two. A move towards the two fighting Xenos on the floor, and Xana spat at him, "Leave, Riordan. You can't do anything here anymore."
He moved backwards, his eyes still on the horriblee scene in front of him. Gamni was the stronger one and he was wrapping himself around Xana slowly, but obviously gaining the upper hand. Riordan blinked away the tears and dashed to the door. A wound the size of a planet opened inside him. He would never be whole again.
The door slid open in front of him before he could reach it, and Riordan stopped dead in his tracks. His eyes rose to take in the frightening sight, and his heart stopped. The other Xeno, of course. According to Lakni, there had to be at least another snakeman on Galatea. This one was big, bigger even than Marn Savier, and his hair was completely white. His face was hard, his features unyielding, his lips a thin straight line, and the pale green eyes burned in his skull. His torso was covered by a sleeveless black tunic with no adornments of any kind.
"No," Riordan whispered and took two steps back, squeezing the crying boy in his arms.
The strange eyes set on him, studying him with the curiosity someone would take in a bug seen for the first time. Riordan took a step to the side, looking for an opening to dash towards the door before the Xeno struck him down.
But the snakeman moved brusquely away from him with such incredible speed that the air dislodged by his terrible body cracked like a whip. Riordan turned to look, his feet glued to the floor. The newcomer rushed to the two enemies clutched around each other.
There was no time to lose. Gamni's acolyte, as this newcomer had to be, would kill Xana now, and Riordan couldn't watch. He couldn't let his son, their son, watch. He stumbled and almost fell as he rushed through the door. But he couldn't help himself. He looked one more time, and froze. Xana was lying on the floor, unmoving. And the newcomer had Gamni Gafilos hiked above his head, his muscular arms stretched taut.
Riordan couldn't understand what he was seeing. He just couldn't stop watching. By instinct alone, he pressed Xeus's head against his chest to keep him from looking.
The sounds coming off Gamni were making his hair stand on end, and it took him moments to understand. He couldn't recall ever hearing a Xeno in pain. The huge Xeno opened his arms wider, straining hard. Riordan took a step back, as a fountain of red errupted from the middle of the general's body and an inhuman cry pierced the air.
As if that had been nothing, the Xeno dropped Gamni's mangled body to the ground and then one of his arms - Riordan wasn't even sure whether he was hallucinating or not at this point - turned into a thick large blade. The thing descended upon the general, hacking him in two. Half snake, half human, now split forever.
Riordan couldn't help the wheezing his throat was making. Gamni's tail still moved. The large Xeno stumped on it, crushing it, and then he moved towards Xana.
"No, please," Riordan pleaded, although he couldn't hear his own voice.
The Xeno suddenly turned to look at him. He didn't say a thing, but he picked Xana from the floor as if he weighed nothing and threw him over his shoulder. Then, he began walking towards Riordan.
What are you?
The Xeno stopped in front of him. "You are saved, Earthian. I shall return you to Tu'lek."
The cavalry, then. Riordan trembled from head to toe. An ally? Could he really believe that? Had Kanto sent him?
"Give the Xenolite to me if you cannot carry him." The Xeno was holding out his arm, and Riordan swayed a little as little Xeus moved and wrapped around it, climbing on the stranger's shoulder as if he knew him.
Riordan pressed his hand to his side. The loss of blood was getting to him.
"I'm not sure I can make it," he said, feeling dizzy. "Will you save them? Take them to Tu'lek? Will Xana... live?"
It was too much to ask this strange Xeno to save him too.
"Yes. What is wrong with you?" The question was asked in a detached manner, the way a doctor would ask a patient while searching for the cause of his pain.
Riordan smiled wanly and showed his bloodied hand. The Xeno grabbed his wrist and pulled him close. And then, out of the blue, he leaned forward to kiss him.
No, not kiss him. Feed him seth. Riordan jolted under the power of the Xeno's special ingredient. The stranger's lips were cold and pulled away as if in disgust. But the seth was quickly working, as he could feel his body doing its thing, tightening skin, repairing wounds. When the contact between their mouths stopped, he felt as if he hadn't been wounded and bleeding to death until moments ago.
"Who are you?"
The Xeno examined him with what looked like contempt. "Xeus Lei, commander of Valedoria. And you, human?"
"Riordan... Lei," he whispered, "father."
The word had escaped his lips as he thought that the Xeno before him had to be Xana's father, but it had turned out horribly wrong. The strange pale eyes flashed with anger.
"You will have to walk," he said sternly and turned away.
"There are others," Riordan called from behind. "To be saved."
"My hands are full. And there is no time."
Riordan was already walking backwards. "I will go search for them."
Xeus Lei turned slightly and gave him a look of contempt. "I will not wait for you and risk being caught in Galatea's blast off."
Riordan nodded. "Thank you for everything. Please take care of them."
"Of course," Xeus Lei declared and turned again to walk away. From his shoulder, the young Xeus was staring at Riordan, his big eyes not understanding what they were seeing. He stretched one tiny hand towards him in a silent plea.
"He's called Xeus," he said out loud, tears pooling in his eyes.
No response followed and he hurried back through the hallway. According to his father in law -- could he even call the impressive alien that? -- there was no time to waste. Xana was safe in his father's arms, and the same went for the little one. And now, Riordan had a debt of honor to pay. He only hoped that Lakni, Blaise and Frontis were still alive and he could still do something for them. They could push their bodies through the empty space, as he had seen them do, so if there was a chance, as slim as it might be, for them to still be breathing, Riordan had to try. Because of their help, their sacrifice, his and Xana's boy was saved and now in the protective arms of his stern grandfather.
He rushed through the long hallway barely touching the ground. His lungs hurt only because of the strain he was putting on them. And all this time, the ship continued to vibrate and groan deep within its core.
The display in front of his eyes was horrendous when he reached the room. The three Xenos, however, were alive.
"Riordan," Lakni called meekly. "I'm afraid this ship is going to take off with us on board."
"And its systems are failing," Blaise added in a grim voice while pushing himself up to his full height. His entire torso was bloody and he wobbled.
"What's happening? Is your self-healing not working?" he asked as he hurried to help Frontis up, as well.
"Not as fast as we need it to," Lakni breathed out. "Those damn Xenos. They poisoned us."
Their enemies were nothing but a heap of bodies on the floor. Unlike the three Xenos, they were no longer breathing.
"Let's leave the ship," Riordan said hurriedly. "You will heal, I'm sure. And Tu'lek is not that far, right?"
Lakni began laughing. "You're one crazy human, Riordan. We can't reach Tu'lek. And no, not just the way we are. Even if we were at full health, we wouldn't be able to do that. We would eventually freeze to death out there while moving at a snail pace."
"I see you have enough energy to talk. Let's go." Seeing that Frontis and Blaise were in better shape than Lakni, he opted to help the other. "How about you only have to force yourself to reach a ship? One that's nearby?"
"What ship is nearby? There's no ship," Lakni protested.
"Xana came and fought the general."
"What?"
They were all following him, back the way they had come when infiltrating Galatea. Riordan needed his helmet back and a lot of hope for the best. The roaring of the ship seemingly ready to sprint was doing nothing for his nerves.
"Also, someone else came," he said hurriedly.
"Who?" Lakni asked.
"Xeus Lei, Xana's father. His ship must be close. Let's do it. I'm sure you can." There was no point to talk about Xana's ship. That must have been destroyed, according to the general. But Xeus Lei's ship had to be still around.
Now they were moving fast, no more questions asked. There was hope for them yet, even if they weren't fully recovered.
"Go, go, go," Frontis whispered at them as they lost their balance the moment the ship appeared to turn sideways.
Now it was Riordan's turn to be dragged along as he could no longer keep up with his Xeno friends. They moved brusquely and once they were inside the small room, Blaise took it upon himself to plant the helmet on Riordan's head.
"No time for the suits," Blaise warned them. Galatea shook all around them and the door blew off right in front of them, sucking them out.
Riordan felt his entire body being pricked by a thousand needles and then nothing. Lakni wrapped an arm around him, pulling him along like a kid grabbing his favorite toy. That move made Riordan turn and face the sight of Galatea's blast off.
He closed his eyes as the explosion emerging from the rear engines blinded him. He felt the wave of energy rushing through him, making him feel like his blood was boiling and his internal organs were bursting.
He was dying. He was sure of it. But the unbearable pain passed and he opened his eyes. Galatea was no longer there. Yet another ship was moving above, past them, completely oblivious to their stretched arms.
Xana was saved. Xeus was saved. None of this had been in vain, after all.
A beeping sound made him open his eyes. Then, he realized why it sounded so familiar. He tried to straighten up from his lying position but realized that he couldn't do it. Kyle's robotic arm pressed him gently down.
"There is hardly a bone in your body that is still in its rightful place, Master Rio. Please, don't strain yourself."
"M...not...dead," he barely managed a whisper.
"No, you are still alive."
"Xeno... others..." His jaw seemed loose, like it was barely keeping itself in place.
"Yes, they are all here. Please, allow me to administer you more seth."
Riordan closed his eyes. Even his eyelids hurt, but there was some relief as he sensed Kyle poking him in the arm. So, his bot came after him. His improvised escape pod must have served Xana to get to Galatea, too. That was one explanation. He felt a bit like laughing. He was alive. They were still alive. Only because he had chosen to befriend his bot and turn him into such a dependable ally.
That meant that there was a chance to see Xana and Xeus again. With that thought, he drifted off again.
When he woke up the second time, his body felt considerably better.
"What do you reckon, Kyle?" he asked, happy that his jaw felt, again, as if it belonged to him and not hanging on loose wires attached to his skull. "Are we fit for going to the dance this Saturday?"
"You still need more time to heal, Master Rio."
"I'm a lot better, thanks to you. How long have I been out?"
"20 hours and 12 minutes," Kyle's response came promptly.
He started with a jolt. Kyle's math was always precise. "How far are we still from Tu'lek?"
"We're almost there. I'm afraid, however, that to make it on time, I burned through one of the two engines. Soon, we will be dead in the water, as that phrase goes," Kyle replied.
"How are they?" Riordan pointed at the three Xenos on the floor that appeared to be unmoving.
"They entered a state of hibernation, you would call it, to ensure that the life support systems allow for as long a survival as possible."
"My survival, in particular?"
"Yes," Kyle replied, always lacking guile.
Riordan moved with difficulty and looked through a small porthole. Tu'lek was there, within their grasp. "Kyle," he said slowly, "what would you say that is?"
Something luminous was moving their way, but he couldn't tell what it was. He turned since the bot offered no reply. Kyle was already at the controls of the small escape pod. "I'm afraid Tu'lek just launched a missile at us."
"A what?!" Riordan stumbled backwards until his back hit the control desk at which Kyle was doing his thing.
"It might consider us a threat," Kyle explained. "I should--"
"Out of the way," Lakni said in a raspy voice and pushed Kyle from his commanding spot. "No way we've survived this far for our own to kill us."
The other two Xenos remained in the same position as before. Only Lakni was awake and his hands moved fast over the levers and buttons.
"Grab onto something," Lakni warned.
Kyle extended his robotic arm and caught Riordan right in time. Nonetheless, they tumbled as the ship rolled on one side. Riordan raised his head only to see the light from before passing by.
"What's going on?" Frontis asked in a sleepy voice.
"We need to board Tu'lek before it destroys us," Lakni said quickly. "We have just one chance, but I'm taking it."
The small ship appeared to stop for a moment and then lurched forward as if released from a spring.
"The second engine--" Kyle started.
"Shut the fuck up," Lakni stopped him.
The ship slowed down suddenly, but Tu'lek was now so close it covered the whole wall of glass separating them from the rest of the unforgiving space.
Lakni let out a noisy sigh of relief. "Now they can't shoot at us anymore. I'm just going to put us there," he said and pointed at a small protrusion in the smooth wall of Tu'lek. "Expect some welcoming party."
The other two Xenos moved quickly in front. "Protect Riordan," Lakni said curtly. "They think we're the enemy."
Riordan was now right behind him. It was a stupid thing as ask, given their circumstances, but he couldn't shut up. "What is Lewis teaching you? Talking like that to poor Kyle." His nerves were stretched so badly he giggled.
Lakni leaned back and winked at him, even though his handsome face was all cuts and bruises. "You have a problem with my language, you can stick it where the sun don't shine."
The escape pod trembled and groaned on all its hinges as it latched onto Tu'lek. Kyle tried to move first, but Frontis pushed him back. "Riordan cares about you. Let's not risk getting you damaged."
"Maybe we should walk out, with ours hands up," Riordan whispered.
He had no time to say anything else. A wave of Xeno alert signals, transmitted telepathically, made him grab his head and drop to his knees. Even Kyle let out a strangled beep. Somewhere in front, a wall was getting torn down.
"It's us," he heard Lakni talk, louder than he had ever heard a Xeno speak.
The escape pod crowded with lizard guards. Dimly, he registered as his vitals were checked. A sensation of dizziness washed through him, and he was, again, dragged away.
The lights above blinked at a steady pace. He knew he was been carried away, but he didn't know the destination. His mind was a mess. Memories rushed in like water bursting through a dam. Xana. Xeus. Being saved.
"Congratulations, Riordan."
He knew that voice. He only needed to place it and associate it with a face. It looked like he didn't have to, because right in front of his eyes, Marn's head emerged.
"It looks like you made it, after all. After having close to zero chances to survive. You've come to meet my expectations."
"Really? The fact that you guys started shooting at us really upped the ante, though."
Marn laughed and offered him a hand to help him to a sitting position. Riordan looked around. He was inside a med bay of sorts, not the usual Xeno quarters.
"What's going on?"
"We had to make sure you weren't contaminated. We applied the same procedure to all of you."
"Are we? Contaminated?"
"No. It's outstanding that you survived."
"We had luck on our side."
"And your bot. Kyle, is it?"
So strange to hear his bot's name on such illustrious lips.
"Xana?" he asked softly.
"Yes. He is alright," Marn said gently. He rested one hand on Riordan's shoulder. "And your son, as well."
tbc
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