The Index -|-

Viinox, Zara, Oiitr and Tiirw stood in the long corridor outside of the Hsstak’s command center. The last time she had been here, it had been bright and entirely laced with a multitude of aji strands. Now, it was devoid of all except a series of somewhat dim lights that produces enough illumination to prevent one from stumbling into the walls.

Viinox looked at Oiitr, and Zara could see that they communicated telepathically.

“Fill me in, Viinox. Where do we start the tour?”

“I must explain the purpose of the Hsstak and its layout,” said Viinox. “As I said before, the Hsstak is a Xih research vessel, and its purpose is to find and research indigenous life. There are six pens for research, and each of them are on the lowest level.”

Viinox pointed down the length of the corridor. “Along this hallway are research and control labs where the Xih would monitor and experiment on our test subjects.” It moved a few paces forward and then placed its narrow palm against a square indention. “While Hsstak recovers from the purge, the only way to access these rooms is through manual intervention.” It pressed on the indention and then rotated the panel. A thick crack appeared in the wall directly beside the indention.

Viinox pried the door open with its fingers and stepped inside.

Zara followed and looked around. It was dimly lit, and every wall was lined with oddly shaped devices with the upward light flow emitters that she had noticed before, but there was only one that was red. In the center, attached to the ceiling was a single, mesh sling.

“The other lab rooms are much the same as this,” said Viinox. “Unfortunately, without our core reset completed, we cannot use any of the equipment.” It paused and looked at Zara. “Should we continue to another space?”

“What are the labs used for?”

Oiitr spoke. “Monitoring and interacting with the subjects, collecting data, and making research notes.”

“Okay,” said Zara. “Let’s go visit one of the subjects.”

Oiitr tilted its chin downward slightly. “This is not recommended.”

Zara stepped out into the corridor and then turned to look at Oiitr. “Why not?”

Oiitr followed her and then replied. “Without our systems intact, we have very limited control over the subjects. All we have is the containment. Also, some of them exist in atmospheres that we cannot enter without injuring ourselves. We rely entirely on our research devices to monitor and bridge these divides between our species.”

Zara was intrigued by the thought that there might be subjects like her Mama and Da on the Hsstak, or even perhaps even some version of herself. [Despite the injustice of capturing people, taking them away from their homes, and whatnot… If I open a door and a supremely intelligent and strong caveman breaks out. They will believe that I am their captor… and they might attack me.]

The more she considered her options, the more she knew that she wanted all possible information before opening one of those doors. “I understand, and I agree that opening these holding spaces right now is probably not a good idea. How much time do we have until we can fully use the research systems?”

“A day or more.” Oiitr gestured toward the far side of the hall. “Shall we continue?”

Zara lost track of time as the tour continued. Oiitr and Viinox showed her almost every portion of the Hsstak, one chamber at a time. The hall outside of the command center only contained observation rooms for their captives, and she confirmed that they all appeared the same. The chambers that directly housed the captives were in the belly of the vessel, two levels below the command center. Between the two was a level that housed the Xi and Xih. The rooms were tiny, barely six paces wide and half that deep. Zara saw no personal effects, and she wondered if the whole race was outwardly bland.

The chambers in the level above the command center were different. They housed many of the ship’s systems, or at least that was what Tiirw said. Zara saw new device shapes, but none of them were infused with aji except one that had was warm to the touch. This one exuded a faint yellow aji and a matching dull sickly light.

“What is this?” she asked.

“This device manages Hsstak’s hoard of reserve power. It maintains all base-support and aji power systems.”

“Where does this power come from?

Tiirw paused as if to consider its response in light of the previous confusing discussion about froji basin and hu-triads. “Without delving into the highly technical-“

Oiitr interrupted. “Like any modern Xi vessel, the Hsstak’s hull is lined with Jirtal, which stores energy within itself and can be infinitely released and recharged. You may be familiar with Jirtal under another name: lak.”

Zara nodded thoughtfully. “An alternative energy source, and I see yellow aji there as well.”

“Tiirw spoke again quickly, as if to regain its position of expertise from Oiitr. “While, I cannot see the aji without a device, and though there are no colors associated with aji from the Xi point of view, I know of what you speak. This aji spectrum, as measured by our tools, has the weakest connection to the aji realm and most often acts as a bridge between aji-based systems and others.”

Zara yawned and asked again. “Is there a countdown to the restoration of aji? Something I can see?”

Tiirw tilted its chin downward slightly. “It is not predictable. We only estimate the recovery time from past experience. Their have been outliers, times when the core reset has completed in excessively short, or longer periods of time.”

Zara reached out tentatively toward the yellow aji before pausing.

[I remember the lak storage house that Da was kept in before Mama rescued him from Uuiit. This energy is not from the aji, but somehow, it interacts with it. It could kill me if I’m not careful.]

Gently, the probed the aji with the slightest touch. It was weak, and to her senses it felt as if it were coated with a sharp flavored tang. [Perhaps the tang is the mixing of the other energy source?]

She drew some of the yellow aji away and the device’s glow waned slightly before she returned the speck to the remaining clump.

Tiirw’s neck slits fluttered nervously. “I must caution you. If we lose this energy source, the Hsstak will never restore its aji, and we will surely die.”

She felt the yellow aji’s contours and texture and noted to herself that it seemed contained within a field of some sort that she could not measure or see with her senses.

Zara smiled. “I am cautious, and there will be times when I take risks. You will learn to trust me.”

[I wonder what other energy sources are available to the Xi?] She wracked her brain for examples that she could ask about before remembering one of her Da’s most common tools.

“My Mama and Da used a yellow substance that appeared as stone and obeyed their commands. I examined it, but there was no aji within it. What is this substance?”

Tiirw looked at Oiitr before responding. “Perhaps you speak of kerflk. This substance is primarily used on Hsstak to coat the inside of the containment pens. It provides the ability to quickly define the shape, structure, and boundaries of our pens.”

“How does it work?”

There was a long pause before Viinox spoke up. “The Xih created this substance in secret, and information about it is very limited. What we know is that it responds to any request to create a shape, it is loaded with sensors, fire kills it, and we believe that it is powered by energy from its environment.”

Tiirw lifted its chin. “Kerflk is unlike any substance I have seen, and it resists all analysis.”

Zara nodded thoughtfully. “Kerflk may be useful in the future. Two things I need while we wait for the core to recharge. I need my own chamber and I need a piece of kerflk.”

“Yes,” said Oiitr. “Perhaps the cleaners are finished with the lab, and you may inhabit that space.”

Zara blinked in surprise before shaking her head. “No. I was a prisoner there. I was tortured there. No.” She glared at Oiitr, but then realized that Xi emotions had to be highly suppressed, at the very least. “Maybe the Xi do not experience trauma the way my people do. Staying in the lab would be difficult for me at this time. I assume that Mangas had a chamber of its own. I will take its place.”

Oiitr tilted its chin downward instantly, and Zara’s face flushed. “Is there any Xih of higher position on Hsstak?”

Oiitr tipped its chin down again, and opened its mouth, but Zara cut off any statement. “I am in charge, and I will take any place on Hsstak that I choose. Do you understand?”

The three Xi looked at Zara, and she knew that they feared her. Just hours ago she had killed the rest of their crew, and their lives were in her hands. She had the upper hand and made a point not to threaten.

“Take me to my chamber.”

The Xi complied without question and soon Zara was in a large hexagonal pod that was located on the level above the command center and appeared to be the only living chamber on that level. One side of the room was lined with a plethora of odd-shaped devices, storage containers, and a wide, multi-colored sling. The other side of the room was empty, but the floor was decorated with a large triangle pattern.

The main triangle was a shimmery silver spanning at least two paces. On each of the corners, a much smaller gold wedge met the large point with its own. In the center, three triangles met in the center, each overlapping the other in red, gray, and yellow. It was almost intricate in a way that Zara had never noticed with the Xi.

Zara yawned and made a mental note to analyze the pattern and the yellow stone substance closer.

[But first… sleep.]

The Index -|-

It was dark as it often is at night, and a brisk, springtime breeze gently rustled the treetops in the valley. A half-moon rose slowly above the distant mountain range, its light softly illuminating the rugged land below and causing night birds to sing in delight.

Kpleeb sat on a high outcropping with his head in his hands. Beneath him, the stone’s weight on his rump felt like an anchor. He could feel the breeze ruffle and whip his long, shaggy mane. It was chilly, bordering on freezing, and he ignored the goosebumps raising on his uncovered arms.

[What I am doing here? I go through these motions day after day. We build defenses and weapons. For what? Not once have the Xi come back. The Ganix help me, but only because of my Thoka, the Pale One. How long will they follow now that she is gone?]

He sighed and started silently at his hairy feet.

[What is the point? My girl is gone. She may be dead like her ma, and I can’t even follow the killers. I am stuck here with my feet embedded in the stone while the Xi control the air and everything above. I am as useless as nipples on a pinecone.]

The wind whistled and picked up its pace, gusting in random, potent bursts until Kpleeb could no longer ignore the chill. He raised his head and watched the treetops moving below him. Past the trees in the distance, stood the Ganix village, a mere speck in the moonlight. Its stone wall had been rebuilt after the last Xi attack. That was when he had lost Zara. His heart heavy, he stood slowly and took the long, winding trail back toward the village.

At the village gate, he nodded at the watchman, and the Ganix warrior nodded back. Kpleeb turned to look back at the distant hillside from where he had come and saw a dark form emerge from the nearby shadows.

“You don’t need to follow me everywhere,” Kpleeb said.

Xir nodded in greeting. “I protect the builder.”

“Don’t call me that. There is nothing to protect me from. There is nothing dangerous here.”

“The Xi-” began Xir.

“The Xi have not returned!” interrupted Kpleeb, his voice rising. “Will they ever return? If they do, will they bring Zara back with them and just give her back?! Will I ever even see her again?” He threw up his hands. “No! Even if they come, and even if we kill them, this does not bring Zara back. We have no means of finding her. We are completely at a standstill here.”

Xir just looked at him.

Kpleeb turned and stalked back toward his hut. Within a few minutes, he washed his face in a shallow basin on a stand near the door and stretched out on his mat. With his hands clasped behind his head, he lay and stared at the underside of the roof.

The same breezes blew through the village, and the reeds on the roof above him rattled slightly in response. In the distance, a pack of coyotes yipped and howled together. Nature spoke in its own language that touched all ears the same, and to Kpleeb, it seemed like everything and everyone had a family except him.

He sighed deeply and broke down. Hot tears of bitterness welled up and then slid down toward the back of his head. He sobbed quietly as he remembered Zara’s face smiling up at him. His girl, the child he never expected to have. The wonderful child whom he loved. Thoka’s patient and reserved brilliance had turned into the same kind of motherhood.

[My dearest Thoka. What an epic mother!]

He did not even bother swiping the tears away as they continued to flow. He remembered his Mam, Pfftul, Ullipt, Wup, and even Kenthid the ever bossy. Everyone he knew and everyone he had loved was now gone.

[It is all so hopeless. These beings have taken me from my home. They’ve changed me and dropped me in some new place. They’ve killed my woman and stolen my daughter. I promised I would pay them back, kill them all… but they have so much power that I don’t have. I am utterly helpless.]

There, on Phaedro, in the valley nearest the canyon he lay surrounded by warriors, walls, and weaponry that would make any civilization reconsider an attack. He was without a doubt the most powerful caveman to ever have lived. Yet, Kpleeb did not even know if this place was where he had come from. He did not know if his daughter was alive or dead. He did not know if he had built an army only for it to sit wasting on the ground while the merciless and evil Xi rode the heavens unchallenged, able to strike when and where they chose without concern for their own safety.

If it was even possible, his heart sank lower until it stood at the black gate of death itself.

###

Xir, waiting silently in his own doorway, just across the path from Kpleeb’s hut, remembered as he always did. The path had long been laid bare before him. Even as a young Xinti cavechild he had been taught the prophesy. They had all been taught. The fact that it was coming to pass before his own eyes filled him with a mixture of joy and dread.

[The builder may question, but the Ganix will never lose faith in him.]

The Index -|-

Zara quickly sliced her bonds and clambered off the table. A smallish pile of silica dust with a subtle green tint lay where Mangas had stood only moments ago. She glanced toward the brown-robed Xi, and though its body was intact, it did not move.

Viinox had sunk to its knees and clutched its arm in what appeared to be a futile attempt to stem the blood flow. Gray blood oozed from between its fingers. Its face was still and emotionless, but Zara thought that its eyes carried a hint of suffering.

“Do you feel pain?” asked Zara quietly.

Its three-fingered hands clenched tighter. “I will become riaat soon.”

Zara noticed that Viinox avoided the question about pain, and she remembered what Mangas had told her. The silica dust, riaat, was the next stage of a Xi’s life, after their body was ended.

“If you promise to serve me, I will stop your bleeding.” She eyed Viinox and then – without waiting for a response – cloaked the end of its arm in a hot, yellow field of aji.

It must have immediately felt the change as its eyes widened slightly. “Why would you allow me to stay?”

“I need you to explain why I am here. I have many questions.” Zara shrugged.” Also, I will require your services. Trust me,” she smiled coldly, “your services will pay for what you’ve done to me and my family.”

There was only a short pause, before Viinox answered, and Zara could not know what bizarre thoughts must have ricocheted through its mind.

Vinnox lifted its chin. “I will stay and serve.”

“Great. Stay here for a moment.” Zara rose and walked toward the dark-robed Xi that had used the painy-brain staff on her. “Hello there. Are you becoming riaat soon?”

Its eyes twitched, and then its head jerked to bring her into better view. After a moment, its lips moved slightly as it spoke in a quiet silvery voice that was eerily similar to that of Mangas. “It was correct. You do not know what you are nor what the aji-ko has in store for you. I will watch you die”

“Who was correct?”

“Mangas the Overseer as you have called it.”

“Mangas the dead, you mean. Right? Mangas the pile of riaat.” Zara pointed toward the other side of the room. “Mangas the not-gonna-work-here-anymore anyway.”

The Xi was impassive and silent in the face of her taunts.

“Well, that’s fine. Just remember as you riaat yourself into a little pile that I will ruin your kind for what you have done.” Zara raised her index finger, and though only she could see it, a pencil-thick rod of green aji extended from her finger onto the Xi’s forehead. She smiled malevolently down at the Xi.

Viinox approached her from the left and stood near her side.

Zara twitched her finger in a swirly shape and poked downward. The brown-robed Xi shuddered, and its eyes rolled to the side. Its neck-slits fluttered erratically for a few moments and then stopped. Within a short time, a green-tinted pile of riaat shaped something like a bipedal being lay on the floor where its body had been.

Zara looked around the room. Of the seven Xi at her table plus the one that was robed in brown, only Viinox remained. She turned to Viinox. “How many Xi are left on the Hsstak?”

“Two. One was here and escaped when you attacked. The other is Oiitr.”

“Only two?”

Viinox lifted its chin. “Tiirw has certainly contacted the monocratic relay by now and will be informing the First Terminal of your escape.”

Zara nodded. “Take me to it, and bring Oiitr.”

Viinox approached the wall and a door sized hole silently appeared. A doorless corridor of sorts stretched ahead of the opening for at least 20 paces. Its ceiling was curved in a wave-form, having varying surfaces on all three dimensions. Viinox continued to the end of the corridor without stopping, and as it approached, a similar door-sized hole appeared.

Zara noticed that her perception of aji expanded significantly as soon we she stepped through the door. A colored web expanded in all directions, and there were other colors that she had never seen. When she reached the end of the corridor, Zara looked back in the direction they had come. The door at the other end was gone. [I’m definitely going to need a few of lessons here.]

Before Zara stepped through the opening, she brandished a shield of Qon and waited for some kind of attack. The room was only partially lit, and two Xi sat in slings near the far wall. The entire angular perimeter of the room was lined with red devices, some touching the next device and some separated by gaps. The flows of aji between the devices were so many that she had never imagined the scope of what she saw.

“I have informed First Terminal of the situation here,” said one of the Xi.

Zara wrapped both of the seated Xi in cords of aji instantly and approached. “Stop all communications outside this vessel immediately.” She would have done it herself, but she was unsure which of the flows she needed to cut or how much damage she might cause to the ship.

Oiitr spoke up. “There are no communications active this time.”

Zara looked at Viinox for confirmation.

“It speaks truth.”

Zara stared at each of the Xi deliberately for a handful of long moments. [Even Viinox could be only telling me what I want to hear. Can I really trust any of them? … Do I have a choice?]

“Viinox, sit” Zara motioned to one of the empty slings.

It did not hesitate.

“Viinox has agreed to stay and serve me. You may join us. If you betray me at any time, I will kill you. Make your choice.”

There was no response for many moments, and Zara knew they had to consider and debate. After what seemed like a reasonable time, she spoke again.

“I know you can speak telepathically. You may even believe that you can plot against me and win. You know that I am Ixant, and perhaps what I am capable of.”

“What happens if I do not choose to stay and serve?”

Zara looked at Oiitr with a surprise that quickly hardened into steel. “If you refuse, I will kill you now, and eject your riaat into the void.”

Eyes widened and neck-slits fluttered on each of the Xi, including Viinox.

You three are the only Xi left on the Hsstak, am I right?”

Viinox raised its chin and with its remaining arm gestured toward a data cloud hovering above a red box. The data had nine globs of light and three of those pulsed a deep orange.

“I will stay and serve,” said Tiirw with a slight raising of its chin.

“And you, Oiitr?”

“Yes, I agree to your terms,” Oiitr said.

Zara was unsure about Oiitr’s response, but she has no means of proving or disproving its loyalties. “Good. Now I need some information. First. will your First Terminal find us soon?”

Tiirw lifted its chin. “The Hsstak has a beacon. They will come for us, but it will take time.”

“Unless they can use another Xih craft like Hsstak,” said Viinox.

“Can we disable this beacon?” Zara understood the concept, but had no frame of reference for how it might work.

“I do not believe we can,” said Oiitr.

“You are Ixant. Perhaps you can disable it,” said Tiirw. “I will show you the schematic.”

Its arms twitched, and Zara remembered her bindings. She loosed them, and Tiirw reached for a nearby panel.

“Viinox, why did you help me kill Mangas?”

Viinox shifted in the sling and its eyes slid left to look at the other Xi. “Iqw Okrat, or Mangas as you call it, is the overseer on Hsstak.”

“Was,” said Zara. “Unless it can remain the overseer as a pile of riaat.”

Tiirw lowered its chin. “I believe you are the overseer of Hsstak now.”

“Mangas was a cruel and terrible Xih. We are among the most skilled scientists, and it treated us as slaves.”

“Why? What is the purpose?”

“Mangas is Xih. The purpose of Hsstak is to research indigenous life such as yourself.”

“You are all Xi. This does not explain why Mangas treats you terribly.”

Viinox tilted its head and then after a moment, it spoke again. “I understand. Mangas is Xih.” It accentuated the word with a subtle trailing hiss. “I- we are Xi. The Xih are different, surely you have noticed. They speak differently and they are taller among other traits. They are a culture in and of themselves. We are just Xi.”

Zara nodded and thought that she understood, at least a little.

“Overseer,” said Tiirw with a raised hand, “I can show you the beacon.”

“Show me.”

An incredibly complex exploded diagram appeared in the air before Zara. On the diagram, a small part pulsed. “Can you orient this so I can tell where I am in relation?”

“Yes.” The diagram spun and flickered as an outline of the room appeared.

Zara turned her head and looked at where the beacon should be. There were no aji flows in the diagram, but with her ability to see the invisible forces, she saw that three small, green flows ended where the beacon should be.

“I will disable the beacon.”

“Wait-!” Viinox spoke too late

Zara snipped the three green lines.