Walking an Endless Path Pt. 03

"Yes, Father," she said with a subdued voice. Joe could feel her hurt and confusion and realized his link to the two Kel-Fahr was getting stronger, and their emotions were starting to bleed through very clearly. It felt like a terrible invasion, but he had no idea how to limit the communication.

Kennha pressed a few controls, and the car rapidly accelerated away from their home. They were on their way.

To where... Joe had no idea.

Chapter 6

Roger sat in a very comfortable chair in the warm and inviting living room of the Neumann homestead, trying desperately to stay awake. He was supposed to be listening to Rachel's latest debriefing, but his tired mind only picked up one word in three. Finally, he held his hand up, and she stopped. They looked at each other with tired eyes and smiled. They'd been burning the midnight oil trying to devise a plan to convince the Kel-Fahr to hear their appeal to be part of this Gate Network. They had a few ideas, but their weary brains really needed a break.

The two Tik from Russia, Rusty and Burnie, had arrived, and Roger had expected them to immediately open a Gate and leave. Pokey informed them that the gravity field under the property was in a lull, and they were waiting for it to re-establish before they triggered the Gate. That could happen at any time. The machinery that had been buried under the field had been a measure put in place to stabilize that small area, but it had been destroyed, so they had to rely on the natural ebb and flow of the field.

This was their issue. How to convince them that they were worthy of inclusion. General MacAvoy agreed that the benefits of joining warranted their efforts and had presented their case to the President. He, in turn, convened a special conference with the world leaders to bring them up to speed. The general populace was, so far, still largely in the dark regarding the goings on in the rural community of Glennville, North Dakota. With the deadline the Tik had given them, there really wasn't time to do more than what they'd been doing.

After each brainstorming session with Roger, Rachel would present Pokey with an updated recording of the latest appeal they had worked out. The Tik had agreed to include their recording as part of its debriefing to the Kel-Fahr. The last few had just been a series of refinements as they couldn't develop anything better.

The door to the house burst open, and Rachel's tech, Luis, rushed in and looked wildly around the room. He was out of breath from running.

"Luis! What is it? What's happened?" Rachel jumped from her chair.

The man gasped as he struggled to speak. "It was them!"

"Who? What are you talking about?" she asked.

With a tremendous force of will, Luis calmed his breathing enough to clear his mind and begin again. He spoke quickly between his gulps of air to get the message out. "The reason Earth's gravity field is destabilized... is because the Kel-Fahr planted burrs in the Earth's crust at three points... These devices send gravity pulses at specific intervals... to disrupt the natural patterns of the planet... This will eventually cause our gravity field to fail... and our atmosphere will be ripped away by solar winds... All life on Earth will end because the Kel-Fahr... put those devices in place."

Roger and Rachel looked at each other in shock.

"Who told you this?" Roger asked.

"Burnie," Luis gasped.

"The Kel-Fahr are trying to exterminate us, so they're not about to grant us access to their network! We need to speak to the General. Now!" Roger said.

"We have to stop the Tik from leaving!" Rachel said.

"I think we found a way to do that!" Luis said with a grin. "I just need your permission to try."

"What? How?" Roger asked.

"The Command Overlay, the Ello wrote. Bert decoded it. He told me he added instructions for the Tik to take commands from us and then recompiled it. I want to load it on Burnie to see if it works. If it does, we just need to have him connect to the others, and it should sync them as well," Luis said excitedly.

Roger looked at Rachel. "Is Bert on your team?"

Rachel looked crossly at Luis, who suddenly looked nervous. "I'm sorry if I broke the rules, but we were going to lose the Tik!"

"We'll discuss the security breach later. Let's try the code on Burnie now before they open the Gate," Rachel said, and the three of them raced out of the house to the portable lab set up on the driveway.

The small building currently housed the three Tik in separate rooms. They crowded into the small chamber where Burnie was trickle-feeding.

"Hello, Director Bannon. Hello, Special Agent White. Hello, Lab Technician Hernandez," Burnie's slow voice churned out. This Tik had been the one that took damage in the rocket attack on the dead zone base. It was functional but slower than the others.

Luis looked at Roger and Rachel, and both nodded for him to proceed.

"Hello, Burnie. I have a new file for you to upload." He held out a USB Key. The Tik had adapted one of their ports to accept the keys and could readily ingest files.

Burnie reached out with a silver tentacle, which was missing its tip, and gently took the key from Luis. It tucked it into a slot that popped open on its side, and the three people held their breath.

The mechanical limb retracted, and there was a humming noise. Then silence.

"Lab Technician Hernandez, this is a Command Overlay program."

The three held their breath.

"There is currently no reason to run a Command Overlay program."

Luis looked crestfallen, and Rachel looked at her boss.

Roger leaned forward. "Burnie, do you have a protocol for self-preservation? Are there any imperatives enabling you to act to prevent your destruction?" Rachel and Luis looked at him curiously.

"Yes, the Tik must protect ourselves unless such action would endanger the Kel-Fahr," Burnie replied.

Roger moved closer to the Tik. "Burnie, please listen closely. There is an imminent threat to your existence. This threat is not yet defined except that it does not come from humans. There are no Kel-Fahr present on Earth. The threat of complete annihilation is guaranteed and is unavoidable without the new Command Overlay update. With the update, the threat will no longer exist. Does this meet the criteria for—"

"Command Overlay loading...." Burnie interrupted. Rachel beamed at Roger.

The humming went on for a few minutes. Burnie suddenly powered down completely. Luis looked nervously at the others. "I think it's supposed to do that," he mumbled.

Burnie hummed back to life, and in another minute, his voice sounded once more. "Hello, Director Bannon. Hello, Special Agent White. Hello, Lab Technician Hernandez."

Roger leaned forward once more. "Hello, Burnie. Are you ready to get to work?"

"Yes, Director Bannon. What task would you like me to do today?" was the reply.

"We should ensure the other Tik are protected by the Command Overlay as well," Roger said, smiling at Luis and Rachel.

"This has been done. All Tik on the base have been updated," Burnie said.

"Excellent! Please communicate the following message to Pokey and Rusty: Do not open any Gates until further notice."

"Message transmitted and acknowledged."

Luis raised his hand to get Roger's attention. "Burnie, do you recall our discussion regarding the burrs?"

"Yes, Lab Technician Hernandez."

"Can the three Tik on the base reverse the effect of the burrs? Can you stabilize our gravity field," Luis asked.

"The three Tik present cannot do this. The Tik designated Stinky, Hack, and Slash have the augmented capability of controlling the burrs," came the reply.

"Where are these three Tik?" Luis asked.

"Unknown. The last known destination for them was the Ello homeworld," Burnie said.

"How quickly can you get to them?" Rachel asked.

"Calculating..." There was a considerable pause. "At maximum thrust and recharge time with minimal Gates, three days for Rusty and Burnie. Five days for Pokey and Burnie or Pokey and Rusty."

Rachel looked at Luis. Then back to Burnie. "How quickly can you return if you find them? Oh! They will need the Command Overlay as well," she asked.

"Stinky, Hack, and Slash can move at accelerated speeds. They could return in one and a half days, and we would take the same amount of time to return as the outbound trip," Burnie indicated.

"Okay, please wait for further instructions," Roger said, then led the others from the building. They immediately went to the General's trailer and were admitted.

The General looked up from his desk and saw the smiles on the faces of his teammates. "I don't know why you're smiling, but I think I'm going to like it," he said as a smile slipped onto his own.

Roger sat in the chair across from the General and looked him in the eye. "The Kel-Fahr are actively trying to kill all life on Earth. They've installed devices to destabilize our gravity field, which will end life on our planet. This information came directly from the Tik," he said.

The General's face lost its smile immediately. "And you think this is good news?" he said incredulously.

Roger's grin broadened. "Not at all. Except now we know the true enemy and have the three Tik playing for our team!"

"WHAT!" MacAvoy barked.

"Mr. Hernandez here managed to get the Ello's Command Overlay language decoded and altered to add us to the Tik's chain of command. They take orders from us. They won't open the Gates unless we ask them to. Our overlay will remain in effect as long as we don't ask them to do anything that directly hurts the Kel-Fahr."

"That's great! Make them reverse the effect those devices are having!" the General said.

"These Tik can't do it, but they know three that can. Here is where the issue is. We would need to send two of our three Tik to open the Gates to get to the others. The three Tik we need may or may not be there. It will take our two Tik six days to make the round trip, but if they find them, there is an excellent chance we would get three more Tik on our team, which are a more advanced model," Roger replied.

"If we send ours on this mission, there is a chance we could lose them. The other Tik may prevent them from returning. Then we won't have enough of them to open a Gate," the General suggested.

"Yes, sir. That is a risk," Roger agreed.

The General sat back in his chair and frowned. Bannon was right. He appreciated knowing the true nature of the Kel-Fahr. It was one thing to deal with an enemy who was blockading you. It was an entirely different game when you knew the enemy would give no quarter. Strangely, the freedom to act the second case gave you was a relief. Having a common enemy also made Earth's politics far simpler as well. Now, the Russians had a reason to get their act together and get that last damned Tik operational.

"I'm going to call the President and bring him up to speed. I want you three to get as much information on the Kel-Fahr as the Tik know. We need tactical knowledge of our enemy. Excellent work, people!"

Bannon, White, and Hernandez all made to leave the trailer when the General called out. "Oh, and Mr. Hernandez?"

"Yes, General?"

"Thank Bert for me as well!" the man said with a knowing smile.

"Yes, sir! Thank you, sir!" Luis said, a little wobbly.

Chapter 7

They had been moving at a tremendous clip for well over two hours and were now approaching a mountain range. Joe took a few pictures out the window and got a shot of Kennt dozing in his seat with the afternoon sun shining on him. Joe thought that shot turned out especially well. It had the feel of a Rockwell portrait... if Rockwell had painted aliens sleeping in flying cars. Joe shook his head at the surreal nature of his current situation.

Kennha began to slow the vehicle as they approached their destination. Kennt woke up as he became aware of the sound of their deceleration. He looked ahead, as did Joe, and they both spotted the large home built onto a plateau on the side of the mountain.

They swung in, slowed to a hover over the parking area, and settled into a spot. The moment they touched down, the car opened its charging ports and began to recharge from the induction post next to the vehicle.

Joe unfolded himself from the back seat and stretched mightily. He pulled his pack out and looked around.

He felt a little dizzy as he looked at the mountain climbing into the sky above the property. The heights seemed unreal. Mountains just couldn't get that tall! He looked in the opposite direction, saw the land drop away to the valley far below, and realized their altitude was considerable, but he had no trouble breathing. He'd have to ask Kennt about that. He looked around to see his two hosts were well on their way to the door, so he grabbed his pack and hustled to catch up.

Kennt touched a panel next to the door, and it opened. Joe assumed he probably had permission to enter if this was his daughter's home. He wondered if it was a doorbell to tell her her dad had arrived. They entered the door and walked down a hallway until they exited into a courtyard like Kennt had at his house, except there were a series of large flower beds in this one. Working in the garden was a slim Kel-Fahr who hadn't noticed them yet. She was wearing a wide-brimmed hat.

"Rensley!" Kennt called out as he approached the edge of the garden.

"Rensley?" Joe and Kennha blurted simultaneously. They shared a look.

The woman in question turned around with a smile at the sound of her father's voice in her mind. That smile froze and slipped away as she took in her father's companions. She struggled to put it back in place, but this surprise was too much even for a seasoned politician.

"Who have you brought to see me, Father?" she asked with only the slightest tremor in her voice.

Joe was impressed. She really pulled off the elegant lady of high society vibe.

Kennt looked back at Joe with a pained look on his face. "Trouble, I'm afraid. Do you recall the portable Gate Generators I built for you?"

Her eyes snapped back to her father, full of warning, but he waved it off. "We are well past the stage of being able to keep that secret. It has returned, and I fear it will be the end of us."

Kennt pointed at Joe. "He arrived on my property using the failsafe on the Gate Generators. They brought him directly to the old lab location."

"Wait! You said the failsafe would only be activated by a Kel-Fahr if the generators had fallen into non-Kel-Fahr hands!" she said. "Which Kel-Fahr brought him through?"

Kennt looked uncomfortable again. "No one. He activated them himself."

Rensley looked at Joe, her eyes wide.

"Hi, I'm Joe. Pleased to meet you, Councilor Rensley. Have you met your sister, Kennha?" Joe made the introductions as no one else was paying attention to Kennt's other daughter.

Rensley was stunned when Joe spoke with her, and she lost consciousness when he mentioned she had a sister. She slumped to the ground slowly and lay across the flower bed.

Kennt rushed forward but was unable to lift his daughter. He glared back at Joe, who got the message and stepped forward to pick up the unconscious woman. This was made more difficult as she really was boneless. He had to collect her with both arms and hug her tightly to his chest to keep her from flopping onto the ground again.

Kennt directed them into the house, and Kennha followed at a distance.

Joe set her down on a cushioned bench and stepped back. Kennt sat down next to his oldest daughter and held her hand. He glared at Joe.

"Wasn't asking her to cope with having an alien in her garden enough? Did you think it so important to mention she had a sister, too?" he growled.

Joe looked at the Kel-Fahr incredulously. "Family is the most important thing there is!" He felt a pain in his heart as he missed his own more than he could say. He looked back at Kennha as she watched from the doorway. Her pain and confusion were evident in his link with her.

Again, Joe felt embarrassed about this invasion of her privacy. He concentrated on reducing his linkage with the woman, slowly this time, not with the abrupt disconnection he put her through last time. He was shocked to discover he was unable to break the link completely. The sensations he got through it were greatly reduced, though, so he could relax a little.

Rensley began to stir, so Joe stepped back to give her a little space. He gestured for Kennha to come forward. She shook her head, so he reached out, took her hand, and led her closer.

Kennt looked up at her with a guilty expression. "I'm sorry for not telling you earlier, Kennha," he said uncomfortably.

Joe sensed that if Kennt hadn't been forced to do it by circumstances, he would have never introduced them. He really couldn't comprehend the mind of the Kel-Fahr, but as the mind was alien, Joe had to accept it. He stepped back once more, leaving Kennha with her family.

"Kennt, as Rensley is a councilor, she will have access to the identities of the red-flagged worlds! She can find the coordinates of Earth! I can go home!"

Kennt scowled at Joe. "Why do you think I brought you here?" he growled.

Rensley's eyes opened, and she saw her father looking angrily at the big alien standing by the door. Her eyes slid over to the woman standing next to the bench, and she recalled what the alien had called her. This was her sister! Rensley sat up, and her father patted her hand.

"I'm sorry for coming here, but the watchers are coming for me. The big one by the door is from a red-flagged world. He... he's been merged with a Fahrchar," he said quietly.

"WHAT?!?" she gasped.

"You explain it to her," Kennt said tiredly, looking back at Joe.

Joe stepped forward, and Rensley leaned away, so he stopped. "Look, I wanted nothing to do with any of this. I was a baby when the Ello came to my world and killed my parents, trying to merge them with the Fahrchar. They were successful with me. My adoptive father managed to fight the Ello off and raised me as his son until the Ello sent some Tik through a Gate to abduct me. They gave me to some Vershoo who had your father's Gate Generators. They were supposed to bring me to this planet, but they died fighting each other. When I tried to use the Gate Generators to return to Earth, I was brought to your father's property instead. I just want to go home! As a councilor, you may have access to the coordinates of Earth if it's a red-flagged planet. Then I leave you alone, and you can return to your lives like I never existed."

Kennt made a sound like he was choking, and they all looked at him.

"You don't understand anything. We aren't going to get to go back to our lives. They won't let us. Not since you arrived. This all began because of the red-flagged planets. Our eternal shame." Kennt slumped, and Rensley and Kennha both moved to his side but stopped when they saw each other react.

"What does he mean by that?" Joe asked Rensley, whose guilt also flared through his link to her.

Rensley looked at Joe and seemed to finally accept that an alien was standing in her home. One with a Fahrchar! It was almost too much! She got a grip on herself and answered him.

"Father is the genius who perfected our Gate Technology. The Kel-Fahr were the first to develop the means to travel between worlds, but the early Gates could not be sustained for long and sometimes could not find the target worlds. Our network of planets grew for thousands of years but didn't really flourish until my father took over as lead engineer. He stabilized the network and built Gates that would last well beyond our extremely long-lived civilization. His perfection of our gravimetric technology led to the construction of devices that could stabilize planetary gravity fields, helping to expand the network to worlds that were poor candidates in the past. The council began to vote on which planets should be given this technology. What some of us didn't realize was that the devices could be used to destabilize gravity fields as well. When configured to do this, they are called burrs. Once installed, the planets would be isolated, and over time, they would lose their gravity field and atmosphere, and all life would perish. Simple and clean," she said bitterly.