Masters of the Arches Ch. 22

As soon as Vincent saw the shape of the arch with its familiar platform in front of it, his blood went cold in his veins. He experienced a scary feeling deep inside. For a reason that he couldn't explain, he knew that they were soon going to learn much more about Valdo, the supposed crazy brother of Brumelle. Of course he already knew that Brumelle was only a futuristic computer program that was able to create a lifelike holographic representation of a beautiful woman that used to live eons ago on this world. But he had very little information about Valdo and he couldn't really predict who or what he could be.

The vast room in which they were led was sumptuously decorated with a multitude of statues and paintings on its walls - paintings that had certainly not been created by the people that were holding them prisoner. The floor seemed to be made of a hard synthetic material with intricate patterns. It was immaculately clean. Both, the wall to his left and the one to his right had a soft whitish glow that gave the room an exotic appearance. Both walls were also lined with life-size statues of men.

With the artificial light seeming to come from the ceiling as well as from the walls, all parts of the large room were illuminated with the same intensity and no shadow was visible anywhere. As they were slowly brought closer to the arch, he paid more attention to the facial features of each statue, he realized that they represented the same man - the same man, but in different poses. As they walked deeper into the large room it occurred to him that all the statues were either plated with gold or made of solid gold.

The trio of prisoners was brought toward the very middle of the room and they were made to stop there. Half of the crowd - mostly men, but there were a few women also - that had captured them had now scattered in such a way so as to form three concentric circles around the trio. The rest remained in a tight formation of three half-circles that blocked the large exit at the back of the room.

Soon, a man who had his face painted with intricate designs and his body covered with a black and white pelt, came forward from the front of the room. As he approached he broke each circle with his passage as he slowly walked toward the spot where Vincent and his two women were. Once there, he stood quietly in front of the three captives. All of a sudden all the chattering stopped completely in the enormous room. For long seconds the man stood there looking at each of the prisoners one after the other. After what seemed to Vincent to be long minutes, he began to talk in the universal language of the planet. He proceeded to explain what was to become of them.

"You have been brought here by order of Valdo. He has been searching for you for a long time now and he has given orders that you be sent to him at once. You will remove all the garments from your body so that you will appear naked before Valdo."

Even though Vincent was half expecting this, upon hearing the name of Valdo he experienced goose bumps at the back of his neck. He became very nervous in anticipation of what was going to happen to them.

If what this man was saying was true, then it meant that this whole island was under the control of Valdo. This probably explained why the island did not appear on his map. It had intentionally been omitted by the maker of the map to keep unwanted visitors away from the island.

As soon as they were completely naked, - even Vincent's boots had to be removed - the man who Vincent supposed was the highest authority on the island continued to speak slowly while he now looked mostly at Vincent.

"You will soon be standing in front of Valdo and whether you live or die will depend on him. Do you have anything to say before you meet the one that protects and guides us all?"

"Do we have to meet him? Suppose we are not interested in talking to him? Do we have any choice in the matter?"

"No. Valdo will decide what will become of you all. His decision is the law. Now come."

Of course Vincent knew that he and his two women had no choice since there was absolutely no way for them to escape from this room. Besides, in the back of his mind Vincent was eager to meet at last the one that he had been sent to destroy. He was now well aware also that soon all three of them would either be dead or Valdo would no longer be a menace to this world. The latter was far less probable of course.

On a signal from their leader, the first circle of men lowered their spears and pointed them toward the prisoners. They began to close in on their prisoners and the two outer circles opened until the trio was forced to walk toward the low platform in front of the arch near the other end of the enormous room.

They were then pressed even more until they were right in front of the platform, the now tight crowd of men extended their spears forward to force the trio to step onto the disk of the arch. Vincent could tell that none of the warriors wanted to get too close to the arch. That was why they held their spears at arm's length thus keeping their bodies as far away as possible from the arch.

"Very well," said Vincent to the two women, "let us step together onto the disc. That way we will be sure to be transported all at the same time."

Saying this he took one hand of each woman and they stepped onto the disc at the same time.

By now they were familiar with the sensation of dizziness that always seemed to accompany the use of the arch. What did surprise them a few seconds later when they arrived at their destination, was to find themselves in a room with transparent walls. They could see water everywhere they looked on the other sides of the walls.

They were now standing on the floor of a circular room surrounded by a circular wall of transparent plastic or glass. Over their heads was a huge transparent dome. They could see bright lights that illuminated the water around the dome, but they couldn't see any sunlight coming from the surface of the water. Vincent soon deduced that they were at the bottom of a very large mass of water. Large fish and other creatures could be seen on the other side of the circular room. Judging by the way that they remained near the transparent wall and nudged at the glass-like surface it was evident that these creatures could see them also.

Before they had time to study their surroundings much longer, a trap opened in the floor and a stairway appeared leading down. A voice that seemed to come out of nowhere then told them to go down the stairs and walk to the very end of the corridor. Once there they would get further instructions.

"I don't like this at all," said Nika.

"Well we have very little choice about accepting or refusing to obey. Either we do as we are told or we stay here until we die of thirst or hunger. So we may as well go and see where this will take us."

Vincent was the first to proceed down the stairs. The staircase took them to a level that was at least fifty feet lower and they found themselves in a wide corridor that seemed to stretch to infinity.

For the next ten minutes they moved ahead without seeing a single door. As they walked, their naked feet made practically no noise on the synthetic material of the floor and no one felt an urge to say anything.

Eventually, they saw the end of the corridor ahead of them. From the distance they couldn't see the door, but as they approached the wall-like end of the corridor the whole section was suddenly raised and the same voice told them to continue.

The room that they entered was luxurious and spacious, with thick carpet and rich furniture. Large paintings depicted exotic sceneries of strange landscapes while others showed futuristic cities. Even the style and exotic colors of the furniture was strange to Vincent. Both Verla and Nika were in awe, their mouths half open as their eyes registered the splendors before them.

"You may sit." Said the same voice.

The voice again seemed to come out of nowhere in particular but it could be heard perfectly - just as if the speaker was standing next to them.

Vincent went to sit in the middle of a long, deep red, velvet-like sofa while the girls sat on each side of him. Still there was plenty of room left on both sides of the long sofa.

A funny thought suddenly came to Vincent. He was thinking how strange they must look now. They were all naked, sitting on this much larger than average size sofa in this lavishly furnish room. It occurred to Vincent that they must look like three children waiting to be punished as they sat there. He didn't like this image that they were projecting but of course it had probably been planned that way and there was nothing he could do about it.

Then, before he had time to process more thoughts, a tall handsome man of about twenty was standing before them. One second there was no one where he stood and the next second he was standing there. He had brown, shoulder length hair and an extremely handsome face. He was dressed in a knee length beige robe with a wide belt around the waist. His robe was opened deeply at the neck and he had on brown boots that went to mid-calf. The boots looked extremely flexible. Around his neck, and reaching over both shoulders, was a wide necklace decorated with a multitude of shining stones.

He looked at each of them for a few seconds. Then his eyes went to rest on Vincent - just as the leader of the natives of the island had done a short while before.

--I am Valdo.--

Vincent felt very small and powerless sitting there naked in front of this powerful man. For a while he couldn't speak. However, after telling himself that he was probably dealing with a hologram of Valdo, as had been the case with Brumelle, he managed to lose some of the intimidation that he had felt earlier. The thought that this man had died a long time ago and that he was only seeing a representation of him now, made him feel more relax.

"We were forced to come here," said Vincent as he stood up.

--Yes I know, I am the one that gave the order that you were to be brought here. But I also comanded that none of you should be harmed. - -

"That is not good enough for me. We are not here of our own free will."

--It had to be this way. First, listen to what I have to say. Then you can leave anytime you want after that.--

Vincent had the impression of dealing with someone that was used to giving orders and he knew that it would be against their best interests if he were to get arrogant with Valdo. He had the feeling that Valdo would not hesitate at all to kill them if he couldn't use them. He therefore walked back to the sofa and sat back between his two women.

"Very well, say what you have to say and we will listen to you."

--First of all I must tell you that I know about your encounter with Brumelle.--

Had someone hit Vincent in the face he would not have been more surprised. Verla and Nika also were stunned as they looked at one another. Shock was very evident on their faces.

"Yes I suppose you do have spies everywhere and they did report our meeting with your sister. "

--My sister! Is that what she told you? I was born two hundred years before her but we do have the same father. If that makes her my sister then she is.--

"Where I come from that would make her your half sister - but this is not the cause of the friction between her and you. The divergence between you two goes much deeper than that I think."

--I don't know what she told you, but before you pass judgment on me you must hear what I have to say first.--

For a few seconds Vincent thought that he could detect anger in Valdo's reaction. Probably no one had talked to him in such a way for a very long time. This made Vincent believe that Valdo must really need his help desperately to tolerate this lack of respect.

--She probably explained to you how our people evolved and proceeded to expand out of our own solar system - then finally out to the stars. With the aid of the Simultravel we did get to occupy thousands of planets and our living conditions did improve greatly. Then with the discovery of the Rad virus we were able to eradicate all diseases and furthermore there was now no limit to the longevity of our citizens.

But the Simultravel and the Rad virus were also the cause of our downfall. You see by the time that both of these discoveries were made, the population was polarized into two different ways of thinking. On one side were those that thought like Brumelle. They were in favor of destroying all intelligent life whenever a habitable planet was discovered so as to make room for our own people. On the other side, there were those that thought like myself and were in favor of leaving these alien intelligent beings to develop at their own rate and not bother them.--

At that point Valdo paused to let what he had said sink in. Vincent was afraid to show his surprise, since Brumelle had said the exact opposite of what Valdo was now telling him. He decided that he shouldn't mention it, and remained silent. After all, it might become useful later and he could use this to his advantage. It also indicated that Valdo had no knowledge whatsoever of what had been said between Brumelle and him.

--As you must have figure out by now, when you are looking at me you see a hologram of what I used to look like a very long time ago. You see, my body has been dead for a long time now but all that I was - my soul if you want to call it that, as well as my personality - was saved. I was transferred into this matrix as electric pulses. I am as much alive now as I was when my body held my brain.--

Again there was a long pause, and this time Valdo looked at Verla and at Nika for long seconds. At that point Vincent realized that this hologram in front of him called Valdo was not too well informed. His spies had probably not reported to him that Verla and Nika were from this world and not from Vincent's world. They knew nothing about computers and matrix storage and they could certainly not comprehend what a hologram was. So why did he bother to pause and try to figure out if they understood what he was saying. There was very little chance that the women would understand anything about his tale. Perhaps he was under the impression that Vincent had taught them all about computers and electronic devices in the short time he had been with them?

On the other hand, Vincent had no way to know what Valdo was thinking exactly - or what his intentions were. He was very curious to learn what he would say or do with them now that they were under his control.

"What do you want with us? " asked Vincent.

--I need your help. I want you to help me to get rid of Brumelle. Her idea of destroying all alien intelligent life everywhere is dangerous for everyone, as a matter of fact it is her aim also to get rid of most human life-form of this world, keeping only those that will be useful to her. I know that you have had a talk with her but I don't know what she told you exactly. You must realize that when she was alive she was a liar and a cheat. I am aware that she wants to destroy me so that she may take control of what is left of this world as well as the other accessible worlds that our ancestors were able to explore and populate. Her aim is to destroy all intelligent life-form except for those that will serve her purpose.--

Vincent had heard that story before. He had heard Brumelle say almost exactly the same thing about Valdo so he was now very reluctant to believe what he was being told. In the back of his mind he didn't know which of the two to believe. Whereas Brumelle had been more convincing, Valdo was more to the point and direct about it. But both of them were probably lying and both wanted to take control over the other.

"But how can we help you? Why can't you just settle the matter yourself with her?"

--Soon after my personality and brain were transferred into the matrix, the technological advances of this world as well as that of all the other worlds that we were in contact with, stopped completely. Then in a very short time after that, all that had been learned up to that point was lost. All of that happened because of the never-ending wars. I can control my environment in here but outside of this prison-like place I am not in control. You see, all those that take care of me have very little knowledge of technology and there is no hope in the near future that this will change. This is where I need your help. You do come from a technologically advanced world so you can be very useful to me.--

"Useful to you by doing what?"

--I want you to destroy Brumelle before she gets full control of the whole planet. If you do help me I will make you a god on this planet.--

Although Valdo didn't say it, Vincent had a feeling that if he were to refuse to help him, the three of them would probably be killed. Before meeting Valdo he had doubts about Brumelle but now he certainly did not believe Valdo either. At that very moment he realized that this world and all the others that communicated with this one by means of the arches would be much better off if both Brumelle and Valdo were not around. He therefore made up his mind to play it safe and pretend that he was willing to help. After all, he had nothing to lose by telling Valdo that.

"I wish I could help you but as you see I have no way of being much help to you. I could go back to my world and get people to help you."

--Definitely not. First of all, if you want to help me you will tell me the exact location of the arch by which you came into this world. Then I will explain to you what you must do to destroy Brumelle.--

There was no way that Vincent was going to reveal the location of the arch to this machine, since it was his gateway to Earth. However, he had to pretend to be willing to help. He knew that if he told Valdo an imaginary location for the arch, it would take him a long time to check if the information was true or not. That would buy him some time.

"You mean that you will send me back to face Brumelle single-handed and once face to face with her I am to try to destroy her? But she has many gadgets and servants to defend her and she is well hidden deep in the mountain. She will never let me near her again if she knows that I have been in touch with you. Besides, how could I destroy her with my bare hands?"

--For one thing you will not go back to her alone. You will be accompanied by a few of my men to help you. While the two women that accompanied you remain here, you and my men will be sent by means of an arch that will take you to a secret location near the mountain where she is hiding. Then with the help of a neutron electromagnetic pulse device that I will give you, you can eliminate her - provided that you can get close enough to her matrix and place the device there. This device will generate no heat but it will produce an extremely intense electromagnetic pulse that will burn out all electric and electronic circuits within a range of two miles of the detonation. Thus it will deactivate her permanently.--

After a while Valdo went on to describe how his race progressed and travelled from their mother planet to the conquest of other solar systems. Later he described the discovery of the Simultravel as well as the Rad virus. It was pretty much as Brumelle had told Vincent except for the fact that in his story Valdo painted Brumelle as the villain.

For long seconds Vincent didn't dare speak as Valdo made accusations against his sister. He was accusing her of doing the same things that she was accusing him of doing. Two advanced computers were waging war against each other and in the process they could easily destroy this world as well as Earth - not to mention the hundreds of other worlds.

"I must think about what you just said. Can you give me a little time so that I can discuss this matter with my two women?"