String Theory_ Fusion (Book 2) - Kirsten Beyer [100]
“Of course not,” she hissed. “In the dark days that followed our discovery of this station I came to believe that perhaps the others were right and that Dagan was, at best, insane.”
“What is the purpose of the Key to Gremadia, and why did you leave it behind when you left the planet?” Chakotay asked.
“Dagan wrote of a conduit of light which the Key would unlock. This would mark the beginning of the final battle between the Blessed All-Knowing Light and the Others. Although we based our faith on Dagan’s visions, we were never naive enough to take every word he said in a literal sense. The Key was lost to my people hundreds of years ago. We assume that the light he spoke of was the light of truth. The Key had unlocked the true vision of our people and our destiny which should have been Gremadia. But we have failed our God. We did not find Gremadia.”
“Are you certain?” Chakotay asked gently.
“You know what became of my people,” Assylia said with barely concealed contempt. “If this place were the promised city, our All-Knowing Light would never have allowed any harm to come to us while we were here.”
Chakotay hesitated to reply. He had his own theories about Assylia’s All-Knowing Light and how the array might fit into their mythology, but he hesitated to provoke her further.
“I’m sorry for your suffering,” he said simply. “It is the most difficult thing imaginable to lose lives that have been entrusted to your care.”
“If that is true, why did you not heed my warning?”
“Our captain has disappeared. We believe she has been taken by a life-form which has a specific interest in this array and the Key. Unless we can determine what that interest is, we may never find her.”
“It is only a matter of time until the parasites find and attack you. Your captain would, no doubt, gladly sacrifice her own life for the safety of her people.”
“You are right,” Chakotay nodded. “But we will not abandon her without the certainty that she is beyond our help.”
“If she boarded the array, the parasites have undoubtedly found her already,” Assylia said. “For all you know this creature that took your captain might control the parasites. It might be in league with the presence that called your crewman here.”
“Several of our officers have boarded the array over the last two days. Only one, the first to arrive, has been infected by a parasite,” he replied. “I have seen one of the parasites myself. I do not doubt their hostility. But our officer who was attacked had psionic abilities, similar to those of your people. I believe this may have some significance. Otherwise it is inconceivable to me that all of the parasites we have detected have not already attacked this ship.”
Assylia considered his words. After a moment, she said, “What did the creature you saw look like?”
Chakotay struggled to find words Assylia could relate to. Hideous butterfly came to mind, but he didn’t know what the universal translator would make of that.
“The creature floated on several pairs of ragged wings. When it began to attack, a small set of pincers emerged from behind it. I hardly saw its face. I believe it was humanoid, but devoid of any compassion or beauty,” he finally finished.
“That was not a parasite,” Assylia replied flatly.
“Then what was it?” Chakotay asked.
“I do not know,” she replied honestly.
“What do the parasites look like?” Chakotay asked.
A series of clicks and pops accompanied Assylia’s next words. “They were small, wormlike… does that…?”
“Go on,” he urged.
“We found them in a large spherical sack, suspended within a biological preserve.”
Chakotay shivered as he remembered the huge room he had discovered and the torn sphere still suspended within it.
“Did you disturb the sack in any way?” he asked.
“Of course not,” she replied. “I was not present when the sack was discovered, but I was told that the moment the first hara approached, the sack began to glow and pulsate. The parasites emerged and flew toward my people. They were ingested before anyone knew what had happened. The first died within