Written by Eric Fischer
Edited by Champ11 US Army ROTC

***** ***** ***** ***** CHAPTER NINE***** ***** ***** *****


In Darnethlils clan home, Adric rubbed his head as he finished another lesson for the day. He had so far spent the morning going over the finer points of Trathalan protocol and etiquette. There were so many rules. Rules for how to greet someone, rules for how close you could be, rules for what tone to speak under what circumstances. It seemed all aspects of Trathalan society were governed by untold years of strict social interactions.

All of this was gradually leading up to the time when Darnethlil had said he would be introduced to his council. Those few he felt he could trust to both see Adric and not fear him. That was easy enough for him. As they day neared Adric became petrified with making a good impression on the others. As well as wondering exactly what this meeting was about. Darnethlil had been increasingly secretive about the whole thing, and unlike the Trathalan, Adric had no means of simply reading his mind. Something that was always done with unnerving ease to the human

As the days went by, Adric began to grow more accustomed to his surroundings, alien they may be. Though he still thought of Earth from time to time, he had slowly adapted to his new alien home. That is if you could get used to the interplanetary war going on and the army of ruthless soldiers bent on the conquest of the planet he currently inhabited. He had also begun to more and more assimilate Trathalan written as well. Sometimes he couldn’t even remember reading something, but suddenly felt he understood something from one of Darnethlils books.

The slightly uneasy feeling that something was happening in his brain had become a bit more worrying, though he assumed if there was anything wrong, Darnethlil surely would have noticed.

Adric mulled over these thoughts late one night as he studied the confusing script of Trathalan writing; he had been trying to learn the vertically written language for quite some time, hoping to be able to read some of the hundreds of mysterious books Darnethlil kept inside his home. Yet as was often the case, the more he tried to learn the intricate writing, the more it simply made his eyes hurt.
Looking up from his work he casually glanced outside the window, hoping to see Darnethlil returning from his outing. His travels had grown more and more as the day of the much talked about council grew closer. As he peered out into the bright blue night sky, he did indeed see Darnethlil approaching from across the grassy hills. However, to Adrics surprise, there were several other individuals with him. Almost a dozen winged dragonish aliens walked along side Darnethlil.

“For the love of Pete, He is going to do it tonight, he could have at least told me ahead of time!” Adric looked at himself, then to the closet, he had been working on something, he wasn’t sure if it was genius or perhaps something he would never forgive himself for, but he decided it was worth a shot, if he Was going to meet others, he was going to do his damnedest to talk with them on equal footing.

Outside Darnethlil had stopped those assembled and prepared them. He was far from oblivious to Adrics feelings on this subject and tried to inform those around him on the delicate nature of his stay. Though, this was easier said then done.
“I do not understand your motives Darnethlil, nor do I comprehend as to why you wish to house an insignificant offworlder in the hollowed home of our Clan Leader.” Spoke one of the older Trathalans, his wings shaking.
“Hold your tongue Toranth!” Darnethlil snapped back, gesturing broadly with his wings. “Les you forgot that the Clan Home is mine! Additional, do not speak such slurs in his presence! He is no offworlder, or I am not of Trathala. Judge for yourself he belongs not to the races of the Empire nor those in the Alliance, he is all together unique. And the fact that he arrived through a Crossgate, an event I swear by as Clan Leader, makes him honored as well.” There was a deep silence as the others were a bit nodded to themselves. None dared dispute him again, nor the apparent origins of the alien,

“Very well Darnethlil, we shall meet this, what was word? ‘Human’ you have, and judge for ourselves.”
“I am glad you have come to your senses Toranth, lest we forgot the true intentions of this gathering tonight.” The others flicked their wings in a sign of slight laughter as they heart fully agreed. “Within a fore night, we shall liberate our Capital, Toric will be ours again!”
Adric shuddered as he suddenly heard a chores of hideous screeching from outside. He covered his ears as he tried to reassure himself that this was their version of laughing. All too soon it stopped, as they continued on to the house. He could hear them almost at the door now. He gathered up his courage as the door began to open. He had the translator affixed to his head, he had calmed himself as best as he could, and his ‘experiment’ was already in place.

So it was that as Darnethlil opened the door, ready to introduce the first of his friends to the Alien guest, he looked upon Adric wearing bits of wood and canvas, tied together with string and some hinges he had noticed missing a few days ago. Adric for his part pulled a string which made the makeshift “wings” open up in as much of a gesture of greetings as possible…

Greetings friend of beast dragon Darenthlil, I Adric of world dirt He blinked and tried to correct World Gaea, I welcome you ” Darnethlil looked down, the Trathalan next to him, Toranth, seemed genuinely impressed at the effort as he spoke aloud.

“You say he is from another world, but it seems you have taught him well, look, he has grown wings already, you are truly gifted.” Toranth spoke, giving a hissing chuckle as Darnethlil looked at Adric, not sure weather to be annoyed or impressed.

After the initial meeting, Darnethlil slowly introduced the others. One by one they were brought inside to meet the Human, easing the shock to both him. And those Darnethlil had brought. As Adric bowed and greeted each in traditional Trathalan fashion, tugging strings and flexing his artificial wings here and there, he couldn’t help but still feel uneasy. As the last and smallest of them greeted him, Adric was mulling over exactly what the meeting was about.

”Relax young Adric of Gaea, you worry about all matter of situations, regardless of weather they might concern you. Darenethlil was right you are a most suspicious creature. ” Looking up he was surprised to see a broad smile on the face of the small Trathalan. Or at least as much of a ‘smile’ as could be made on the Trathalans face.
“ I felt this would make you feel better then our hideous screeching as you so eloquently put. I am Mekal, and I hope that someday you may go to your home.” Adric looked at the young Trathalan, he realized he was not wearing one of the jeweled ‘translators’ everyone else seemed to need in order to speak to him. Even Darnethlil used one when he wished to speak to Adric, he found it rather unsettling. As though reading his thoughts word for word, the young Trathalan turned
“[/I] You are right Adric, it would be rude to speak to you different from the others, Perhaps I should have one of the ‘translators’ as well’ [/I]” he spoke to Adric as, before he could really respond, he felt the ring around his head yanked away.
“ Do not worry Adric, you need not concern yourself with the matters at hand, I am sure it would prove quite Boring to you ” he said, turning quickly and heading inside.

Adric watched dumbfounded as his only link to communicating to the others was so causally taken form him.
“Hey, HEY! Give me that back!” he said, about to give chase when the main hall doors where closed and locked. He fumed on the other side. Only able to hear screeches and shrieks from deep inside, not able to make heads or tales of the language without the translator. He turned, upset, a bit embarrassed and humiliated, all he could think of was telling Darnethlil as he sat down by the closed door.

Mekal, still easily in touch with Adric’s mind did his best to contain a snicker before continuing on to the council hall. He didn’t wish to upset the off-worlder, but he felt it was for the best; some things should not be discussed in front of aliens, regardless of how well they seemed to behave.
Entering into the long wooden hall, Mekal was glad he had been invited to this meeting. Though in active member in the resistance, he had never been to the elaborate Council Hall before within Darnethlils home. Though relatively new, less then eighty turns old, it was one of the few that had survived the invasion. Most of the Clan Homes had been destroyed or burned in an attempt to break the spirit of the Clans. Walking past the hundreds of thin banners, each representing a year of the Clans existence, Mekal finally took a seat toward the middle of the heavy Paragon Wood table, an heirloom from when the Lonti Clan was first founded. Rising from his seat, Darnethlil greeted Mekal as all were finally seated.

”I am glad you finally have joined us young one, I have been wondering where you were Mekal,”
“ Contemplating your guest Neth, his is quite amusing ” Mekal commented, flicking his wings in a brief laugh. Those assembled did likewise, much relaxed after meeting Darnethlil’s guest.

”He is quite an interesting creature, I can only imagine what his race must be like” An elder, ‘Solanth’ spoke from the end of the table
”Yes indeed Darnethlil, you seemed to have trained him quite nicely for an off-worlder, much more respectful and reasonable then so many other aliens we seem to have come across, I would hazard it shall not belong before you can collar the creature as your own personal pet ” Toranth spoke now, ending with a rather over the top shaking of his wings in laughter. Darnethlil glared at him for a moment.
“[/I] I have trained him to respect us Toranth, it is only fare we should respect him as well. I will vouch that he should never need a collar.”[/I] He spoke his face serious as he leaned back.
[/I]”But enough of this, all know why we are here, and we know the pearl of our journey, but I am sure that we shall prevail.”[/I] Darnethlil began as he roused the spirits of those in the Clan Hall. Outside the hall Adric tried to listen as best he could without a translator. It gulled him that he was robed of any sense of what was being said inside, he kept trying to broadcast his thoughts to Darnethlil, hoping he would hear him, but it seemed they were all much to busy to pick up on anything he broadcast. He looked to the clock on the wall and sighed; it was several hours later before he eventually fell asleep.

Early the next day, shortly before dawn, a large Trathalan shaking him from where he lay on the floor roused him. He looked up to sharp squawks and barks, and then pointed to his forehead. The Trathalan looked at him oddly before turning around. A moment later he returned with a ring and handed it. Adric quickly put it on and huffed.
“ All night I hear loud loud noises, but not understand any words, what has been spoken all night?” He said, probably a bit more loudly then he should have.

The Trathalan looked at him, composed himself and patted Adrics head.

“ I am sorry you could not hear, but perhaps it is for the best, our Leader has finished and wishes to see you. ” he spoke, heading down the long corridor that lead to the meeting hall. Adric followed quickly behind, remembering to put on his faux-wings; sure he would need them as he finally came to the hall. He could swear there where perhaps twice as many Trathalans as had first arrived last evening. The grand meeting hall was full of shrieking and clattering Tarhatalans, wings flared and waving everywhere. More then that they seemed ‘dressed up’ many with elaborate headpieces and coats. The noise was deafening, both to his ears and his head as so many voices and minds spoke together. He suddenly found himself wishing he hadn’t had the translator on after all.

Eventually in the middle of it all he found Darnethlil and quickly went to him.

“Welcome Adric, at last you awaken, it is good I see you now”” Adric looked up,
“Is it possible that someone explain what is occurring?”[I] He asked, sounding both tired from the long night, and slightly exasperated. Darnethlil ‘smiled’ which mostly meant he gave his wing a soft curve as he looked down at Adric.
[I]”I apologize for Mekal taking away your communication, he tends to be a bit, forward, but I did not wish you to know our plans till we had fully committed ourselves to them young Adric. The time has come for us to be bold, we have gathered ever Clan member who wishes to, fight, for us. Together we shall make our way to Toric, our ‘capital’ as you would call it. There we shall spread among the people, spread our message and have them join with us. When the whole of Toric is with us, united, moving as one, we can act upon our invaders at last! We shall drive them out and send a message to their leaders! Adric this will be a wonderful day to remember!” Darnethlil spoke to him, his wings climbing higher and higher as he echoed with a grand voice inside Adrics mind.

Adric looked up, his mouth agape. A torrent of questions and suddenly revelations churned in his head, already Darnethlil looked down at him curious, able to feel heavy weaves of emotion welling up, unable to make head or tails of them. Adric felt his hands clenching, his face twitched a bit as he tried to respond. His mind never gave him a real chance on the matter, which is when he simply shouted.

“You really don’t the first thing about Warfare! You’re going to march into a city with Soldiers, with [I] Guns and expect to drive them out, with what? Kind words? Have you ever even fired one of those guns you capture so often? They KILL you! Quickly! You are all stuck in the Dark ages here and probably don’t even have proper Gun powder!” He fumed as he spoke, his head feeling on fire, as he made verbal the feelings he had kept in for so long, and then in the midst of the growing rage between him and Darnethlil, he felt a tingle in the back of his head.
“That’s what got your Father killed after all! A single soldier pulled his gun and shot him in the head! You watched it!”

As soon as he had finished, he clamped his hand over his mouth and winced. He hadn’t even tried thinking it, he’d just shouted, and the eyes of every single Trathalan in the great hall was upon him. Not all he been listening, few had bothered trying to catch the meaning of the spoken words, at first. It wasn’t hard however to catch emotion, anger, disapproval, and deep, deep contempt for them.

Darnethlil glared down at him now, gripping his shoulders tightly, claws slightly digging into his flesh slightly.

“ You continue to think of us as Primitives young Adric, I think it is time you know the Truth of us” Adrics’ face burned from embarrassment, he regretted the words as soon as he spoke them but knew he could do nothing to take them back. Darnethlil pulled him out of the room, moving quickly down the corridors back up to rooms above. He made his way to his room, pushing Adric inside and closing the door.

Adric looked up, frightened of the Trathaln for the first time since he had arrived here. He’d seen what he could do to the ‘dummies’ down bellow; it made his blood ran cold.

Darnethlil sighed himself, he didn’t want to face Adric, not just yet, he had let his words cut too deeply into his heart, let his anger flare up far too quickly. He began to chant softly, meditating, clearing himself of anger, as he did not wish to confront Adric till he was in a more civilized state.

Adric watched him for a moment wondering exactly what was going to happen next. He found himself wondering, yes, he had snapped at Darnethlil, and not exactly behaved way. But he felt his point was valid. As far as he could tell Darnethlils people had never entered the industrial era. No machines, no electricity, no signs of manufactured goods, and certainly no weapons…

“ You think I can not hear you, you continue to insult my people, now sit, it is time you learned!” he heard the words come to his mind. Adric did his best to glare back at Darnethlil, annoyed that he always seemed to be reading his thoughts weather he liked it or not. Adric did his best to try and counter the large Trathalan,

“ I not know of you history, do not anger with me. Additional please keep absent from self Mind!” he said back, once more annoyed at how the translator always made his words sound like baby talk. Darnethlil regarded him he sighed, calmed himself, recited a pray and calmed himself as he retrieved a locked wooden box from the hidden space beneath the floor.
”You are correct Adric of Gaea, I should respect your privacy more, we are so used to being open in our minds and thoughts, and I do not always understand what it is to not be in another’s mind. ” Adric simply glared at him, trying his best to be intimidating to the tall deadly taloned and fanged Trathalan. Darnethlil ‘smiled’ with his wings and chuckled once more as he sat before Adric.

“ Adric, how old do you think my people are? How long do you think we have been making cities and living together in society?” Adric stopped, he paused, trying to remember his own history, he thought of the first basic civilizations some 4000years BC, then another 2000years beyond that. Adric tried his best to form his response, numbers didn’t always translate well, but he managed a:
“ 5000, 5500 rotations?” he hesitated, thinking, if he WAS right, and Darnrthlils people had not entered the industrial age, they were at least 300 or 400 years behind him.

“ Ah, how simple it is, to judge from what you see, and do not know. My young Adric, new worlder, by your years and method of counting, as I perceive it from your mind, my people have held society for almost 8000 of your years. This ‘industry’ you think so highly of, we met it expanded it and moved beyond it. Yes, young Adric, our people have learned of electricity, we mastered the forces of the atomic, and we danced among the stars. Thousands of years ago now we did all this. ’ Adric blinked dumbfounded, it wasn’t that he didn’t believe Darnethlil, he had no reason not too. He simply wasn’t sure what to think of it.

”How this happened? Where did civilization go? You had large cities but no more, even star vessels, all gone?” Darnethlil looked down, he opened the wooden box at last, pulling out something that seemed like a television or monitor. It looked decidedly advanced and Darnethlil spoke softly as he seemed to turn it on.

“ This, I built with my father, each Clan Leader builds one, to pass on the knowledge of those that came before. Now you know will know what became of us. ” Adric watched as the screen came to life. It was an image of Trathala, from space, one of the Tajlan Satellites? No, the world was at night, but covered in lights. Long bands of lights arched to immense blooms, cities, huge cities seemed to encrust the world. If this was Trathala, how long ago could it have been, and what could have happened.

He continued to watch the recording as, as if in answer to his question, he suddenly saw an immense bloom of light on part of the planet. The image flickered for a moment with static as another immense bloom of light erupted. Adric watched as all the lights near by went out. The screen flickered again. More blooms of light, he counted ten now, fifteen, twenty and thirty. They began to happen more and more quickly as Adric began to realize what he was watching. His mouth hung open in horror as the image grew with increasing static. Darnethlil simply watched, no expression on his face as the recording continued. Virtually no part of the world had not been hit by what Adric now knew to be Atomic weapons, no light remained on the surface as the image finally blurred and went over to nothing but empty static.

“ How, great time, from, when planet, died ” he said, his words ‘stuttering’ as he tried to speak to Darnethlil, his heart pounding as he tried to fathom just how many people he had watched die. Darnethlil sighed softly he tilted his wings back, showing concern and empathy toward the Human as he spoke gently.

“ Almost 6800 journeys around our sun have passed since that day. Our world had grown large and strong, we did dance among the stars, but our planet knew no peace, it consumed itself in bitter anger and petty war. It came a time when all of the nations unleashed their fury, and what you saw came to be. You see us as primitives because that is what we choose to be. Our cities have decayed and gone back to the dirt. Our past and our machines have been left to pass away. We gave ourselves over to Crie, we prayed, we gave up all violence and hostility, and we learned to live more simply. ”

Adric listened, still stunned, trying to take in the enormity of what Darnethlil was saying. Questions flew into his mind however, a dozen different thoughts flew form him as he tried to understand.

”How can there be no evidence? How can you people abandon all advancement? How do you know to make this electronic picture?” Darnethlil looked at him as he listened. As always he took his time trying to discern the meaning behind Adrics words, but guessed at them well enough. He actually smirked a little now, relieving some of the tension in the room.

”You think we have fully given up all that we know? We live as we do because we have no wish for the path that first, no one has machines of war, we do not have nations any more, nor cities where people grow crowded and upset, bitter with life. But, young Adric that does not mean we simply abandoned all that we have learned. We live simply, but we did not give up all things. Across this world are houses of knowledge from the old world. The Medicine I use on you and others is more powerful then anything I would imagine your own world has yet created. Machines we can produce if we wish, engines fuelled both by electricity and Atomic we know of. Adric looked up, suddenly thinking,

“ If this truth, then what of weapons? Machines? I know you do not fight to kill, but if freedom is wanted, pistol weapon must be better then knife and sword”” Darnethlil stood up, as if suddenly disgusted. Adric could see it in his eyes, the very notion of making pure weapons of war, even to defeat the Empire, disturbed him deeply.

“We will not sully ourselves with such things, when we go to march on Toric, we shall cause the masses to rise up, a wave of our people shall meet with them and win. They have ‘guns’ yes, we have our minds, you still do not know the full extent of what we can do without weapons as you know them. And for that I forgive you your brash views, but know this we shall go, and we shall triumph.”

Adric looked up, that steely determined look in Darnethlils eye telling him everything he needed to know. He watched Darnethlil bow to him and leave to join the others. Inside Adric’s heart raced. In an instant his whole perception of them seemed challenged, but his thoughts on what Darnethlil intended to do had not.