The Redemption

The Redemption.
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"This is the end of my dream," said King Janus, of the Sofars. He sat
on his black charger, and surveyed the fields before him. Tens of
thousands of crops lay smouldering in their hydroponic domes.
In the valley, countless thatched cottages were ablaze, having been
devastated by the slow, torturous fire. The pall of destruction hovered
in the sky, like a threatening raincloud. "This wind carries the
people`s sorrow," he said. "I swear, we will have our revenge" said the
king to his aides. "If need be, we shall ride to the death. But mark my
words, we shall have our revenge." The courtiers pledged themselves to
undertake the king`s will, and their pledge was binding.
King Janus was satisfied. "Let them know in Badlion, that our
liberation is at hand," he proclaimed, with steely resolve.
"My Lord," said the servant, Barzie "there may be a better way." The
courts eyes were focussed on the noble servant. For amongst the Sofars,
a servant was a highly distinguished member of society. "Tell me, of
this alternative," said Janus "so that I may judge it on it`s
merit."
Barzie pointed to the sky. "Out there, is our salvation. If we want to
defeat the Yanabocs, we will need to enlist the help of our
counterparts, the Earthlings."
Balachak, the Kings oldest son, dissented. "The Earthlings, are a
peace loving people. Why should they involve themselves in our affairs?
Earth is five hundred million light years from our galaxy..."
"My Lord," replied Barzie, "the Earthlings are from the same seed, as
we are. They will assist us, because, if we are defeated, the Yanabocs
will turn their attention to others. It is only a matter of time."
Again, Balachak objected. "But which of the Earthlings could defeat the
Yanabocs, in all their strength. The Earthlings, with all their
advanced technological weaponry, are no match for the Yanabocs," he
insisted.
"Have faith, my lord. There is a way. The Earthlings have a power,
they can barely comprehend. I propose to liberate their potential,"
said the noble servant. "I mean to succeed."
"The journey is hazardous" said the king. "You may not return
alive."
"If that is my destiny," said Barzie, "I shall not escape it." The king
stroked his beard, thoughtfully, before responding. "I shall see to it,
that you receive my finest spacecraft," said the king, magnaminously.
"And I want you to take the Tempus box. Do not open it, unless you find
yourself in mortal danger. So shall it be," he concluded.
Barzie donned his astro-suit and boarded the cigar-shaped spacecraft.
He eased back into the pilot seat, and activated the computer
navigator. "If I should fail in my mission, there won`t be a world to
come back to" he said numbly.
"Prepare for lift off" he instructed the interactive computer. On
board turbo boost, engaged," confirmed the computer. "We shall be
entering the Delius quadrant in ten minutes," continued the machine.
"Plot a course for the Sirus 9 wormhole," instructed Barzie,
impatiently. "Working" said the computer. "Approximate arrival time,
seven days," it reported.
Barzie thought about the wars on his home planet, and how, for too
many years, his people, the Sofars, had been locked in a deadly
struggle with the Yanabocs.
The latter, were a race of humanoids, who had no conception of
morality. Their whole raison d`etre, was to fight. There would be no
peace with the Yanabocs. Barzie glanced out of his cockpit window, and
watched as Theobald`s comet passed overhead. Momentarily, the comet,
slashed the deep, cold calm of space.
Barzie remembered the time when he told his opposite, Taja, that he
was going into the king`s service. She had become tearful, and pleaded
with him not to co-operate. "I don`t want to lose you," she had said.
"I love you." He knew she did, but he had tried to explain to her, that
if he did not enlist, he would be conscripted anyway."
"I know I am being selfish," she said "but I couldn`t bear to have to
read a letter from the king`s service, telling me that you died on
active service." There was a long silence before Barzie answered her.
"Do you want our children to be slaves? Shall they live under the rule
of barbarians, while we lie under the ground?...I think not." For once,
his beloved Taja, had no argument to refute him.
How ironic that he should be the one to receive a letter, telling him
that his opposite had been killed in a Yanaboc raid, on Sofar city.
Barzie, although sad, had used his grief time. He would not permit
himself to indulge in self-pity.
Suddenly, Barzie`s throat felt dry, and he helped himself to a cup of
Kasi. He sipped the warm, gelatinous liquid, slowly, but his enjoyment
of it was curtailed, when the space craft, shook, with great force.
Barzie checked his monitor, only to discover that the `Starglider` had
become embroiled in a solar storm. As if to underline the point, the
spacecraft, was jostled again.
Barzie`s cup of Kasi, leapt out of his hand, and landed on the floor.
"Emergency power supply engaged," reported the computer. "Breakaway
now" commanded Barzie. "Affirmative," confirmed the computer, and
within a matter of minutes, the `Starglider` had veered back onto it`s
original course.
Barzie discovered that there there had been damage to the
retro-booster. "I`m going to have to attempt a repair myself" he
recorded, on the Captain`s log. "I want a full status report" said
Barzie, to the computer. It did not respond. He reiterated his
question, but to no avail. Barzie checked his equipment, but could not
establish the cause of the malfunction. "There may be outside
interference with the main communication interface," he decided.
Barzie checked his outward viewer, and realised that two alien craft
were pursuing him. These were Yanaboc `Starfighters`. Barzie broke into
a sweat. He knew that he was finished.
Barzie`s orange skin was peeling, a sure sign that he was under
extreme pressure. He needed to think fast...The Yanaboc Starfighters
could not outrun his spacecraft ordinarily. However, Barzie`s
retro-boosters had been damaged, and it would take sometime, to effect
a repair. Time was one commodity he could not spare. The computer was
off line, and Barzie was having to utilise auxilliary power, to
maintain the Stargliders` life support system.
The Yanaboc star fighters were closing in. Shortly, they would
decimate his craft, with solar missiles. Barzie calculated that if he
could only reach the Sirus 9 wormhole, he could `jump` into Earth
space, in less than a minute.
The king had said, not to open the Tempus box unless he was in mortal
danger. Barzie considered that this was such a moment. Hesitantly,
Barzie picked up the triangular box. It was deceptively light, and made
of an alloy, Barzie did not recognise. He unfastened the spring, and
lifted the top off the box.
Inside the Tempus box, he discovered a miniature computer, about the
size of his hand. The machine activated itself, instantly. A Sofaran
voice introduced itself. "I am Tempus, series 5, computer. Identify
yourself."
It was an organic computer, capable of reproduction, and independent
thought, a life form in it`s own right. It had phenomenal computing
capacity, and was capable of manipulating the minds of those who used
it. Tempus would make a formidable enemy.
"My name is Barzie. I am on a mission to Earth," he said. "Input
data," said Tempus. Barzie fed the relevant data into Tempus. There was
a short delay, and Tempus sprang into action repairing the on-board
computer malfunction.
A Yanabok starfighter fired at the bow of Barzie`s craft. They scored
a direct hit, but Barzie`s craft, did not sustain damage. This was
Tempus`s doing, of that Barzie had no doubt. "Return fire" ordered
Barzie to the on-board computer. "Photons engaged and fired" reported
the computer. Barzie cheered as the Yanaboc starfighter, disintegrated
in a blinding flash.
Barzie was left with no option. He had to destroy the remaining
Yanabok vessel, before it joined in the attack on his craft. However,
the lethal Tempus machine had already sent out a photon torpedo,
independently. It had read Barzie`s mind. Again Barzie cheered as the
enemy craft was obliterated. But, he was also, a little afraid of
Tempus.
The Starglider leapt through the wormhole arriving at Earth space in
seconds. As always, Barzie watched with great fascination, as the
spacecraft travelled through the tunnel. Due to the intervention of
Tempus, the journey to Sirus 9 had been reduced to less than one day.
Barzie felt he was no longer in full command of his own ship. Tempus
now, controlled the Stargliders on-board computer.
The wormhole closed up as rapidly, as it had appeared. Whilst
Starglider journeyed silently through the Solar system, Tempus whizzed
mechanically, inputing data. Barzie could not hide his thoughts from
Tempus. "You do not trust me," it observed.
"How can I trust you when you control my On-board computer? Return the
Starglider to my command, and then you will earn my trust," said
Barzie, sceptically.
Tempus co-operated with his request, and restored command of the space
craft to Barzie, who although uncertain of Tempus`s motives, was
grateful nevertheless. However, Barzie realised that the organic
computer, with it`s almost limitless artificial intelligence, could
retake command of the Starglider, anytime it chose. Barzie decided that
he would see to it, that this never happened.
Uppermost in Barzie`s thoughts was the need to persuade the Earthlings
to join the war against the Yanaboks? How would he achieve this? Earth
had not been at war with any other species for six hundred years.
Although, Barzie was convinced that the aggressive instinct, had not
been entirely eradicated from human nature. Earth`s population, was no
longer solely concentrated on the mother planet. Humans had spread out
and built new worlds all throughout their galaxy. However, the
Earthlings had not discovered the Sofarian Star quadrant.
Had Earth been aware of the existence of a wormhole on the outer
perimeter of their own galaxy, it would only have been a matter of time
before Earthlings visited Esrak. As things stood, any Sofarian going to
Earth, had to disguise their appearance, with cosmetic lotions, in
order to avoid alerting Earth, to the existence of unidentified aliens
in their midst. But the time for first contact had arrived.
An ancient religious order, known as the Swue, had prevailed on Esrak
for Millenium. According to tradition, there once existed a benevolent
spirit called Zimboff, that had been driven out by the forces of
darkness. Tradition said that Zimboff had a brother on a distant world,
called Earth. Adherants of the Swue, believed that if this other great
spirit, called Manitou, could be awoken, then peace, would return to
Esrak. The Sofars had been plagued by wars ever since the demise of
Zimboff. But this was just a tradition, and few people other than the
Swue, took it seriously.
King Janus, in granting Barzie his request, was holding himself up to
ridicule. However, so desperate was the situation on the home planet,
that the king felt he had little to lose. The noble servant had pledged
himself to uphold the honour of Janus, and to protect the Sofars.
Barzie was a a man of his word. The Starglider, approached Earth`s
orbit. Barzie instructed the On-board computer to begin descent. The
spacecraft, entered the atmosphere swiftly, touching down on a
continent, once known as North America, and now more commonly referred
to as Freestate. The area in which the Starglider had landed, was a
deserted frozen wasteland in the far north of Freestate. Barzie had fed
carefully selected co-ordinates, into the On-board computer. Seemingly,
the computer had ignored Barzie`s instructions, or else, Tempus was up
to it`s old tricks again.
"I control your spacecraft now" said Tempus. It was defiant and this
peeved the noble servant. "What did you say?" protested Barzie. "I
intend to find Manitou, and integrate his power, into my terminal."
said Tempus, calculatingly. "I no longer need you. Sofarians are
expendable. However, I need you to call up the spirit. It will only
respond to a humanoid, and I have no choice, but to use you" it
said.
Barzie lunged at Tempus, but it moved too quickly for him. Barzie was
no match for an organic computer. "You will obey me," it said.
"Otherwise I will eliminate you." Barzie felt trapped, because he knew
full well that Tempus meant to kill him, and he was powerless to stop
it. But how, could Barzie defeat a stronger, and more intelligent
opponent than himself. Perhaps, there was a way.
Barzie put a telepathic shield on his mind, to prevent Tempus from
intruding into his mind, while he devised a plan. However, Barzie knew
that the shield could not hold for long. For what seemed an eternity,
Barzie called out to Manitou, desperately hoping that he could awaken
the spirit, but to no effect. And, then the unthinkable happened.
Tempus broke through the shield, and took control of Barzie`s mind. The
Sofarians were doomed.
Tempus was certain that he could overpower the great spirit, when it
revealed itself. Tempus would speak to Manitou, with Barzie`s voice,
and by stealth, integrate Manitou, into it`s system. Tempus had
calculated that there was a ninety-seven per cent probability, that
Manitou was merely a myth. However, if Manitou was proven to exist,
Tempus would vanquish him. The organic computer, surveyed it`s new
environment. A frozen wasteland of Tundra, and mountains. A godless
zone with no human inhabitants, home to Polar bears, Artic wolves, fox,
hare, and weasel.
In this savage environment, of snowstorm, and Permafrost, Tempus
hatched a plot to rule the Earth. His ambition did not stop with Earth,
but extended to the furthermost reaches of the known universe.
Tempus detected significant seismic activity, beneath the Permafrost.
This pleased Tempus because he realised that his anticipated
confrontation with Manitou, was imminent. Barzie was lying buried under
the snow, and was at the point of death. But Tempus had no intention of
allowing him to expire, not whilst he had a use for Barzie. Tempus
resuscitated the Sofarian, and prepared Barzie`s mind for the encounter
with Manitou.
The Earth trembled, and a great swelling wave of smoke poured from the
ground. The smoke billowed, and expanded to form clouds as large as
mountains. The permafrost cracked, and the Starglider rocked. "Who
disturbs my sleep?" said an angry booming voice. "I do" said Barzie. "I
speak for the Sofars...." The spirit looked down at Barzie, and
discharged a pentrating surge of light in his direction. "You speak the
truth" said Manitou. "I will protect you."
A brilliant, white light, enveloped Barzie and lifted him off the
ground. Tempus, involuntarily, released it`s grip on Barzie`s mind.
Then it delivered a volley of powerful sonic waves at the great spirit.
Manitou seemed to be weakened. The organic computer directed an even
more powerful sonic wave at Manitou. "No" cried Barzie. "You are our
last hope" he said to Manitou. "We need you to be strong."
This time, the great spirit absorbed Tempus`s sonic onslaught, and
redirected it, at Tempus. The organic computer, whirled violently in
disarray. In it`s confusion, Tempus malfunctioned, and as it did so,
the computers protective, synthetic skin, began to melt. There was a
wild explosion, as the organic computer disintegrated.
Manitou had been victorious. As the spirit, gently returned Barzie to
terra firma, he knew that the Sofars redemption was near. For Barzie,
was now certain, that the great spirit would accompany him on the long
journey back to his troubled world.

WRITTEN BY J. S. HERSCOVITCH
COPYRIGHT
17-9-01