The Dawn of Day - 4. Chapter 4 - The Dawn of Day

Nahusha was sitting in the commander’s chair. He looked at the screen that showed the alien ship in the spaceport. It was a primitive ship, by far not matching their own ship that sat on the ground in the jungle, concealed by the leaves of huge trees.

The Aryaka ship suffered a malfunction, a failure with the warp drive. Everything else was intact, computer, hardware, shields, reconnaissance and weapon systems, and the hibernation chambers of course.

The Aryaka ship was equipped with a conventional chemical drive that usually served as an auxiliary drive. The ship didn’t need a runway for ascent to orbit. The ship’s lasers would burn the trees away and the ship would then take off from the ground and rise vertically into the air. The chemical fuel was limited, however. How far would they get with a ship in emergency mode? Certainly not to the Aryaka space station that was located close to the galactic center.

They were nearly 25,000 light years away from the space hub in an outbound region of the galaxy, on a rotten planet in a spiral arm. The squad had thrown them out on the planet and had left them an Aryaka battleship Class 1 Dragon without a gravitational drive. This was actually the worst about the situation.

The Aryaka had retreated to the cold sleep chambers. They could spend a long time in hibernation, decades and even centuries. It was in their genes. They were a reptilian species.

The alarm had woken them from their sleep. The computer had raised the temperature in the hibernation chambers when the ship’s sensors detected the alien ship descending into the atmosphere and landing in the ancient spaceport. Nahusha leaned back in his chair and wiped his smooth and scaly forehead. The alien ship was primitive. It looked like an antique, but the ship’s signature had revealed that the otherwise simple ship was equipped with a gravitational drive. It was simply perfect.

Vasuki returned. He flung himself in a chair and took off his helmet. “They saw me,” he said. “They should find the way here. Did you watch them on the screen? A species adapted to gravity. Two legs, two arms, head on top. They’re from a rocky planet for sure. Where did they come from? There was no advanced civilization registered in the central database in this sector of space at the time they brought us here.”

“I’m sure they’re from a planet in a neighboring system,” Nahusha said. “They built a ship with a gravitational drive. It’s a crude drive, but we can implement it into our ship and then we’ll leave this god-damned planet. We’ll fly to a better place in space.”

“Did they leave their ship?” Vasuki asked.

“No, they’re still on the ship,” Shesha replied.

“They’re warm-blooded creatures for sure,” Vasuki said with a shrug. “Hiding, huddling together until they have figured out a plan. Wait and see what happens. I’m sure they’ll soon leave their ship to investigate. It will be easy to capture their ship.”

Vasuki half-closed his almond eyes and sat motionless in his chair. He jerked his head when Shesha spoke up.

“They sent up a reconnaissance drone,” Shesha said. “I managed to hack into it. We now have a connection from our computer to theirs through the drone. The Dragon computer is pulling data from their computer. It should be done before they even begin to bother about the possibility.”

“What can you say already?” Nahusha asked.

“A simple ship. Simple construction of hardware and software, but everything works fine. You can’t get far with the simple ship, but you can certainly do a short interstellar trip. The shields are weak and don’t guarantee the ship can hold a tight gravitational beam in vortex situations, clashing of a gravitational wave and such, but that’s not a problem at all. We only want their gravitational drive. Implementation of their drive into the Dragon should pose no problem, although we must bridge the drive to our computer with a virtual copy of their engine system. I’m confident everything will work out and we’ll soon leave the planet,” Shesha said.

Nahusha licked his lips with his slightly split tongue.

“I am a dragon
Majestic and glorious
Oblivious to the world below”

He recited a verse from the Serpent Songs. Then he rose to his feet.

“Day of the Dragon,” he said.

“The Rainbow Serpent darts beyond the clouds
The serpent speaks the echo of the deep
Golden scales are lighting ancient skies
A crown of gold is dancing in the sky
Sacred passage of the Dragon”

Vasuki and Shesha bowed their heads respectfully.

Vaajat looked into the eyes of the stranger. They were blue and looked warmly at him. The man talked to him in an unknown language. Vaajat didn’t understand the words, but the tone of his voice was soothing him. He gave up his resistance and started to sob. The man placed a hand on his cheek. Vaajat stared back at him. Eric took a plastic bottle from a pocket and removed the cap. He held the bottle to Vaajat’s mouth. Vaajat sniffed and recognized the smell of water. He took a sip and then emptied the bottle.

Eric connected to Dave.

“Listen,” he said. “We can’t leave him here. He suffered a laceration. I think he’s from one of the villages in the north. He won’t make it back there on his own. I’ll send Brandon to get the ground car. You’ll stay on the ship. Lock it. Full alert mode. We’ll be back as soon as we can. We’ll stay connected with the ship.”

Vaajat started to sweat. His head hurt terribly.

“He needs antibiotics,” Brandon said when he returned with the ground car.

“I hesitate to give him one of our pills. They could have serious side effects. We’ll better get him to his people,” Eric said.

He turned away and helped Vaajat up. Brandon opened the door of the car and they helped Vaajat on the back seat. Vaajat stared out of the window, feverish and scared.

“He came in contact with Earth’s microbes. We don’t know how it will affect him,” Brandon said, pulling pills from a pocket. “Take one,” he said. “We’ve come in contact with their microbes, too. Those pills were made for the case.”

“Getting out without helmets. We acted like idiots,” Eric said.

“True. Too late anyway,” Brandon replied. He nodded at the car. “Let’s get him back. He needs proper treatment.”

The men climbed into the car. Eric steered it. The car crossed the sand dam at the side of the runway effortlessly.

“I saw a path farther up,” Brandon said. “I suppose he came from there.”

The car crossed the rocky plain and drove along the path through the sand field. Brandon stopped the car and pointed at a metal pole with a sign. The men climbed out. Vaajat watched them with feverish eyes.

“I would say it means ‘access denied’. Too bad we can’t talk with him,” Eric said with a nod at the car.

“Let’s move on,” Eric said. “Let’s send up a drone. It can fly ahead and scan the way.”

“Good idea,” Brandon replied. He opened a hatch of the car, took out a small device and activated it.

A minute later, the drone was up and flew to the north. The road got better. Grass fields and trees now seamed the way. The drone sent images to a screen in the car. The fields were empty and the path was deserted. A few animals scurried about, but the men didn’t have an eye for them. They reached a crossroad finally. One path led north and a smaller path led west.

“Straight on, I’d say,” Brandon said.

Vaajat protested when the car moved on. He pointed wildly to the west.

“This way,” Eric said. “Do we have images of the area?”

“Yes,” Brandon said and switched on a screen. He pulled up the images they had taken during the flight. “That’s the best image we have, but the drone will soon send better ones.”

They looked at the image. The main path led to a village farther north. It was far away, perhaps a three hours drive. The path to the west ended at the edge of the image.

“Does he really want to go there?” Brandon asked doubtfully.

“I guess so,” Eric said, turning his head to Vaajat. The young man leaned forward and gazed at the screens.

“Sit back,” Eric said, making a gesture.

Vaajat stared but then leaned back.

“All right then,” Eric said, turning the car and reprogramming the drone.

They stopped twenty minutes later. The drone hat sent images of buildings.

“What’s this?” Eric asked. “A large compound, definitely not a village.”

“A castle, a fortress,” Eric wondered. “A churchyard, a cloister maybe.” He pointed at the image. “There. People.”

Vaajat leaned forward and stared at the image. This was the monastery seen from above. It was a map like the ones the priests used in classes, although the priests’ maps were drawn with ink while the men’s map looked far more real.

“That’s the monastery of the Order of the Light,” Vaajat said excitedly. “I must speak to Ainesh at once. He’s the High Priest, supreme to all others. I must tell him that everything he said is totally real, except perhaps that I don’t find you’re evil lords. Despite the fire in the sky.”

Vaajat leaned back. Eric and Brandon exchanged a look.

“This was a long talk. The first words he said to us. Too bad, we don’t understand him,” Brandon said.

“I think he recognized the facility,” Eric said. “We must proceed with caution.”

Brandon nodded. He steered the car from the path and behind thick bushes. Vaajat protested and tried in vain to get out of the car. Tears welled up in his eyes, but then he leaned back and fell silent. His head hurt so badly and now it hurt even more.

“We could just let him go. They won’t believe what he says. He’s totally feverish, hallucinating. We’ll be long back at the ship before anybody goes looking for us, if at all,” Eric said.

It was too late, however. An elder man came through the bushes, lifted his robe, but immediately dropped it at the sight of the vehicle. His eyes and mouth opened wide, his face paled, and he looked as if he had seen a great horror. But then he got a grip on himself. He hit a flat hand three times against his forehead and three times against his chest, and then he raised his hands up in the air and his eyes to the sky. He started a wailing song.

Vaajat leaned forward. He recognized the song and the voice.

“Bright star, would I be steadfast as thou art
Thy black is fairest in my judgment’s place
Thou art the fairest and most precious jewel

Too soon returned to Sin!
Where flowers and weeds at will may grow
For dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines
Look thou no further, but affix thine eye
The world keep watching with eternal lids apart

Too soon returned to Sin!
Too soon returned to Sin!
Too soon returned to Sin!”

The man fell to his knees and placed his forehead on the ground.

“Brother Kheti, Brother Kheti,” Vaajat cried repeatedly. He hit his fists against the window pane.

“The man can’t hear him,” Brandon said. “The outbound channel’s closed.”

“He recognized the man,” Eric said. “This means we’re in the right place.”

A minute went by.

“Let him out,” Brandon said. “They’ll either run and we’ll leave, or they’ll come here and we’ll make contact. Let it happen. I have no better idea.”

“All right then,” Eric replied. He reached out and pressed a button.

The rear door opened. Vaajat stared, turned his head to the men in the front and then jumped out of the car. He hastened to the elder man on his knees, shouting excitedly.

Brother Kheti raised his head, cautiously. He jumped to his feet when he recognized Vaajat and began scolding the young novice who had run from the monastery while the others had been working hard. Brother Kheti fell silent when he glimpsed the car once more. He made a step back and stared at Vaajat in horror. Vaajat talked to him incessantly. Brother Kheti seemed not to listen until he spotted Vaajat’s blood-smeared forehead. He stepped closer and spoke a few words. Vaajat stopped talking. Brother Kheti examined the injury, then pulled a small vessel from a pocket of his robe and poured a liquid on Vaajat’s forehead.

“Oh my god. What did he do?” Eric said, startled.

“He may know a remedy that works better than our antibiotics,” Eric said, shrugging. “Hell, what do we know?”

Brother Kheti listened attentively now. Every so often, he glanced at the car, each time hitting his hand three times against his forehead. Curiosity, however, finally got the better of him and he slowly followed Vaajat to the car. Brother Kheti stopped at some distance while Vaajat pressed his face against a side window.

Brandon pressed a button. The front doors of the car slid open and Brandon and Eric got off the car. They looked at the native who looked astonishingly like an old monk on Earth, perhaps of Tibetan origin.

Vaajat talked again to the elder man. The monk silenced him with a wave of his hand. He stepped forward, clearly fighting his urge to run and stopped in front of Eric and Brandon. He gazed at the men. Long minutes went by. The men didn’t move while Brother Kheti’s piercing eyes studied their faces. Suddenly, Kheti reached out and touched Eric’s face and then the sleeves of his suit. Finally, he made a step back and wiped sweat from his forehead. He talked to Vaajat, poured more liquid on the young man’s forehead, and then turned back to Brandon and Eric, talking rapidly and waving his arms. Vaajat pointed at the monastery walls.

“I think they want us to come,” Eric said. He made a few steps in the direction.

Kheti nodded repeatedly with a broad smile. He pulled a small fruit from a pocket and handed it to Eric, all the while pointing at his mouth with the other hand. Eric took a bite since it seemed the proper thing to do. The fruit tasted of melon. Vaajat dragged on Brother Kheti’s hand. The natives moved towards the monastery walls.

Brandon locked the car and activated a self-defense mechanism. Anybody who touched the car would sense a tingle that was strong enough to scare away any curious monk. Brandon took a gadget from his belt, entered a code and ordered the drone back to the car. Eric connected to the ship and Dave answered at once. Eric reported the events and sent Dave the coordinates of the monastery. He told him he would contact him every full hour. Dave confirmed. They ended their talk and Eric turned back to the others.

The natives were standing by the gate. They were watching the men. Brother Kheti mustered Eric suspiciously but then opened the wings of the gate. Eric and Brandon exchanged a look and then approached the gate.

They entered the monastery compound.