Author's note: Before I begin this story, I would like to say that even though I make use of the characters from the Lexx movies and television series, my story is in no way an attempt to infringe on the copyrights of the program, or anyone connected to it. Bloodlines began, as so many other stories begin, with the question "What if.....", I have merely presented one version of "what if's". To that end, I would also like to state that the song "Forever One" appears on the 1987 album Great Dirty World and was written and performed by (Lawrence) Gowan.
A theatre had fallen from the sky. It landed in a clearing only a few miles from the main court and no one could dream of how it had gotten there. The people who lived near the clearing confronted the players and, upon learning that the troupe intended to perform the story of Kai, rushed to the court to inform the High Counsel. The information spread like a wind; the story of Kai was to be sung, by a magical theatre troupe that looked like they were Brunnen-G themselves! No one for miles around would have missed it. In fact, so many people began pouring into the court from every direction that Alaric, Counsel leader, had gone to the theatre himself to persuade the Master of Ceremonies to hold the performance at the outdoor arena, so that everyone might come together at once. The prospect of an audience of several thousand pleased the troupe so much that they did not hesitate to agree.
For three days, volunteers had been preparing the arena for the show, reconstructing the required sets and setting up the gas lights. The troupe themselves would see no one other than those working on the arrangements. Some were annoyed, but most chalked it up to artistic temperament and ignored the slight.
The day of the performance, excitement filled the air like the smell of jasmine. The Counsel itself would be in the front row, of course and as it's youngest member, as the Keeper of the Histories, the black-haired girl would be there. After a hasty dinner, she dressed herself in her favorite ocean blue velvet long sleeved shirt, dove gray suede pants and walking boots. However, she couldn't resist dressing it up a bit by wearing her most delicate head dress, a thin net made of dozens of bits of beaten gold. The delicate mesh seemed to highlight the braids in her hair, one from each temple, as well as the severity of her straight-cut bangs. The necklace with the moonstone pendant that she always wore, and her favorite cloak made from white feathers and lined with ultramarine satin. It was a mishmash, she decided, looking at herself in the mirror, green eyes staring into green, and Alaric would hate it. She smiled at the thought.
She walked through the woods to the arena, glad that she had worn the cloak, since it was still early spring and the night air had more than a breath of winter to it. The "arena" was really a stage set in a deep natural depression, with seats set into the sides , and the top ringed entirely with large straight pines and the faux rubber trees that grew everywhere. Alaric's yellow eyes scanned her as she sat by his side, and then softened into a smile when she grinned wickedly back at him. The arena was more than filled, with the people who could not find seats sitting in the branches of the trees; every where there were impassioned whisperings, breathless anticipation.
Absolute silence descended, however, when the curtain finally rose, and the show started. There was applause as the actor playing Kai decided to seek his destiny beyond the shields of Brunnis, nodding when the Time Prophet said that Kai would destroy His Shadow and cheers as Kai lead the Brunnen-G into battle and open weeping at Kai's death. Not an eye was dry, and many were sobbing broken hearted.
The sobbing, however, turned to horror as the show did not end; as the troupe began to tell of Kai the assassin, the crowd turned ugly. The girl looked about in horror, as everywhere there were cries of "Sacrilege!" "Liars!" and "Treason!" Treason! That cry that had not been heard in 300 years or more. It was Alaric who stood, finally, and raised a hand for silence. The crowed began to settle, uneasily, as Alaric spoke:
"Master of Ceremonies," he began "are you telling us that Kai is not dead? That, in fact, he lives still? 2,000 years after the battle that destroyed the Brunnen-G? How is this possible?"
"Please, Great Sir," came the reply. "Allow us to continue, and all will be explained." The audience erupted at this, with shouts of "no" ringing off of the trees. Alaric held up his hand again and turned to the black haired girl.
"What say you?" he asked her. "Kaia, 40th child of the House of Kai, Keeper of the Histories, this is your ancestor we are speaking of. The decision is up to you. Do you wish to see the rest of it?"
Kaia couldn't hear the shouting anymore. Her mind felt both full and empty. She had no conscious thoughts, yet, she stood up to meet the troupe leader in the eye and said in a quiet voice that didn't quite sound like her own: "Let the performance continue. I will see the end."
She sat down again, slowly, feeling very old suddenly. It was with unabashed shock that she, and everyone else, learned about Kai the assassin; the stealing of the Lexx; even the death of Mantrid. At the end of it all, no one was able to speak, or cry, or even clap. Silence, in which Kaia's ragged breathing sounded very loud indeed. She stood again, and with a tremble in her voice, asked:
"Is this true? Does Kai live still? Lost with his friends in the Dark Zone?"
"Yes, Lady," the troupe leader replied, inclining his head towards her.
Slowly, deliberately, she walked up onto the stage and turned to face the people.
"People of Brinnis," she began. "You have heard here, this night, that Kai, the Forever One, exists still. Trapped between life and death, one Brunnen-G lives. As his descendent it is my duty to journey into the Dark Zone and find our lost brother. It is my duty to bring him home."
There was murmuring from every direction, and Kaia had to shout to be heard over it.
"We, all of us, have the blood of the Brunnen-G in our veins. How often have we refereed to them as our cousins? Our forefathers? Our lost brothers and sisters? If even one Brunnen-G breathes, we must find him, and bring him home. I will bring him home." She looked down at the front row then, not to the five members of the Counsel, but to her friends, who had been sitting on her left. "Children of the High Counsel, direct decedents of the Five, I can not... will not, insist that you come with me on this quest, but, as your friend..... I ask that my four best friends come with me."
All four were on their feet before she could finish the sentence. In another moment, they were on the stage by her side, their dear voices calling, yes... yes, they would come.
"I ask the Counsel for their blessing," she continued. "We will take the last trading ship that came from the Dark Zone and go looking for Kai and his friends, as our duty demands."
"You have it," called Alaric from his place.
"Sing, child," said the troupe leader in her ear. "We always sing here. The words will come, don't fear them."
But Kaia already had words in mind, words that everyone already knew. She began to sing, her soprano voice strong and clear:
"Kai has been with us, always!" she shouted to the crowd. "We have always believed so. We felt his presence in everything we did, every battle we ever fought. We have striven to live up to his example, his bravery in the face of death. His spirit, his essence, was always there when we needed him. Now, in his time of need, will we abandon him?"
Shouts of "no!"
"Will we ignore our lost brother? Leave him to wander for another 2,000 years, with no home, no people, no family?"
More cries of "no!", stronger than before, coming from every direction now. The people were on their feet now, shouting encouragement. Some even stood on their chairs.
"Then, brothers and sisters, sing with me so that Kai might know that we seek him at last." The Master of Ceremonies was gesturing to the crowd to sing, and every one, every last person in that crowed arena were on their feet in seconds. It was with one booming voice that they sang:
***
"But, how are you going to do it?" Ringlan was asking. It was two weeks later, in the middle of a night that should have been quiet, but wasn't. They would be leaving in a few days, and preparations were well under way. The trading ship was being tuned, supplies were being prepared, and the theatre that had started it all had simply vanished. Just as if it had never been. Kaia had just come from a meeting of the Counsel, and she had a headache. The protocol had been endless, but the end result was that she had named her first cousin Rene as the next Kai if she never came back. Now, when all she wanted to do was meditate and sleep, here was Ringlan asking her the same question that she'd been asking herself for two weeks:
"How are you going to do it? How are you going to let Kai know that we're looking for him? And how are you going to tell him who you are? Are you just going to spring it on him, or what?"
Kaia sighed. "Are you ready to leave?"
"Of course I'm ready!" He sat down on the side of her bed, looking every inch the magician, with his long brown hair and black eyes; dressed all in black as he was, Ringlan could look like a perfect horror when he wanted to.
"Then don't worry about it. Just be ready to leave. I have to try to reach Kai somehow... to touch his mind, and tell him he's not alone. There's only one way that I know to do that."
"Kaia......"
"No," brushing him off with a wave of her hand like he was a fly. "Don't worry about it. Now, let me rest, so I can get to it. We leave in a couple of days, you know."
He left reluctantly. Kaia stretched herself out on her bed and stared at the shadows on the ceiling. She began to relax, her stiff muscles working the knots out of themselves, her eyes beginning to close. She began to reach outwards with her mind, looking outwards, ever outwards...... Kai......
"Where am I?" Kai wondered. He remembered going into his cryopod, and even remembered his eyes closing; but now he was standing in the middle of field, in front of a small pond of stagnant looking water. Totally confused, he looked around for Stan or Xev, a moth, or anything else familiar. There seemed to be nothing at all around for miles. Just Kai and the pond. He knelt down to look at his own reflection, which suddenly wavered as if stirred by a breeze, but his sidelock of hair was still hanging straight down. There was no wind. Kai watched as a huge crab heaved itself out of the pond. The massive claws hindered its movement, so much so that it was forced to climb the bank sideways. The slime from the water-top covered its shell with a smelly green scum as it groped its way through the mud and grass.
As Kai followed the creature's movements with his eyes, he abruptly saw two huge dogs standing on the opposite bank. Kai knew that they had not been there before and neither had the twin towers that he now saw in the distance. The dogs, one black, the other as red as Xev's hair, stared at him with blue-white eyes that looked as if they might be blind. They were staring fixedly at him, however, and Kai had no doubt about the fact that they could see him. They turned away finally and looked up. Kai followed their gaze and found himself staring at the full moon, which was sitting so low in the sky that it really did seem like he could touch it. As he looked at the strange moon, the dogs began to howl. The sound increased in volume and pitch until Kai was forced to cover his ears. The howls had turned into screeching, and it was beginning to give Kai a headache.
A headache? Kai had not felt pain of any kind in 2,000 years, so how could he have a headache now? "Impossible," he muttered through clenched teeth, but it was true. His head hurt. He got to his feet, turned his back on the strange dogs and began to walk away from them. As the sound faded into the distance, the throbbing in his temples began to fade with it. He continued to walk, his feet crushing the grass beneath, which filled the air with the smell of green growing things. He saw nothing but grass in every direction, there wasn't even a hill to disturb its smoothness.
"Well," he thought "at least Stan and Xev abandoned me somewhere quiet." His headache was gone, the dogs had been left far behind and, had he been alive, he might have felt happy.
Kai stopped suddenly as an overwhelming urge to look over his right shoulder descended over him. He hesitated for a second, and then slowly turned around. There, where there had been nothing but grass, was a massive wooden cross. Shaped like a T, it had simply sprouted out of the ground like a huge flower. Strangely, although the wooden beams that made up the cross had clearly been cut, there were still branches full of leaves growing from it. Kai walked towards it, slowly. Indeed, the branches were growing, appearing to become longer and fuller as he watched them. He walked around the cross, and stopped.
There was someone hanging from it.
Tied by his right foot to the crossbar, the man hung upside down. His left leg was free, however, and was bent at the knee so that the soul of the left foot rested against the inside of the right knee. His hands appeared to be tied behind his back, his eyes closed. What made Kai stare, however, was not the way that the man had been hung, it was because he knew this unfortunate.
He was staring at his own black uniform, his own body, his own face. Even the tattoo on his right check was there.
Abruptly, the eyes snapped open and Kai found himself starring into his own green eyes.
"Go back," said the hanged Kai. "Go back to the pool. You are not ready to come this way yet."
"Why?" Kai asked. "Why am I not ready?"
The face of the other Kai began to wrinkle and twist, scrunching up its features in a horrible manner. Suddenly it screamed: "Go back!" with a violently unnatural animation.
The scream took Kai by surprise, and he stepped backwards, only to trip on something and fall flat on his back.
He stared at the stars for a moment, collecting himself. Perhaps this place is not a peaceful as it appeared. He sat up and looked at the man on the cross again. It's eyes were closed, just as if Kai had never disturbed its sleep. As he picked himself up, Kai looked to see what he had tripped on. There, laying in the grass by his right ankle, were five gold disks, each large enough to be thrown like a discus. He leaned foreword to pick one up and saw that it was marked with a pentacle on both sides. He got to his feet and absently dropped the disk back on to the pile. He headed back towards the pond.
He was actually surprised that he found it, since he had not noted the direction he'd taken to leave it. The twin towers and the strange moon were still there, but the dogs were gone. He walked around the pond slowly, absently looking for the crab. He caught a glint of something in the long grass and bent down to move the grass aside. But it wasn't the crab.
There, laying in the long grass, was a still beating heart with three double-edged knives in it. With each beat, the blood oozed out from the heart and trickled along the blades of the knives. He could hear the sound of it slowly dripping off the tips of the three blades, like syrup.
Kai let the grass fall back and stood up.
Blackness.
Kai opened his eyes, only to see Stanley looking back at him.
"Stan?"
"Yeah. Kai, are you all right? You looked kind of strange as you were waking up."
Kai looked around. He was back on the Lexx and Stanley was looking worried.
"What has happened.. to me?" he asked.
"You tell me," Stan said, frowning. "As far as I know, nothing's happened to you. Why? Is your cryopod not working?"
"It appears to be. But......"
"But?"
"I thought that I was.... somewhere else."
"Maybe you were dreaming?"
Kai stared at him.
"I do not dream, Stanley. Why did you wake me?"
Stan made a dismissive noise.
"It's Xev. She's having a fit because 790 fell off the deck. He's broken, and I can't figure out what's wrong with him. I told her that you could fix him when we woke you up for something else, but she insisted."
Even as Stanley had been speaking, Kai had gotten out of the pod and had begun walking towards the bridge. It disturbed him to think about the strange plain. Stan hurried to catch up to him.
"Hey,... Kai? Are you sure you're all right?"
"Yes, I am fine, Stanley," Kai breathed deeply, dismissed the strange images and headed for the bridge.
Author's note: The song "Soul's Road" was written by Lawerence Gowan and AnnetteDucharme and appears on the 1993 album "...but you can call me Larry". Performed by Lawerence Gowan.
"OK, but, can you fly it?" Kaia asked. She was sitting in the copilot's chair, watching Minda play with the controls.
"Of course I can fly it," Minda said with a snort. "What are you worried about? That it'll blow up or something?"
"Do you really want me to answer that?" Kaia grinned at Minda's frown. The five of them were gathered on the deck of the ship. This particular trading ship had been the last to come through into their universe from the Light Zone. According to the crew, they had gone through a portal into the Dark Zone, and had gone through another one to get to Brinnis. Minda shoved her nut brown bangs out of her eyes as she glared at the controls. Her gray eyes narrowed into slits, giving her angular face a hard expression.
Ringlan, Ena and Jason all stood behind the seats, watching the activity.
"Let me get this straight," Jason started, "we're going to take this centipede ship-thing into the Dark Zone to look for Kai, and the crew won't come? So, we're leaving our lives in Minda's hands?"
"That would be it, in a nut shell," Ringlan answered.
"Um.... are we sure we wanna to do that?" Jason frowned deeply, causing his deep set blue eyes to vanish into his round face. Minda scowled again, while Ena couldn't repress a giggle. The ship's former crew could not be persuaded under any circumstances to join the five, although they did offer to teach Minda to fly the ship. They were going to be on their own.
"You don't have to come if you don't want to," Kaia pointed out, not bothering to look around. "I'm really the only one who has to go. The rest of you can stay home."
"We're coming," Ringlan said quickly. "Do you think that we'd let Minda take you out in this thing alone?" He hadn't moved in the last half an hour, at least. Feet planted far apart, arms folded across his chest. His elf like eyes were dancing.
"Knock that off!" Minda hollered. "I know what I'm doing! Why don't any of you people have faith in me? I thought you were my friends!"
"We are your friends," came Ena's whisper of a voice. "It's just that we all remember that your last three or four inventions all ended the same way.... They all blew up."
Everyone snickered, and even Minda had to smile. Ena did not often have a come back like that, but when she did, it was a good one.
"Yeah, well, everyone's entitled to a few mistakes, right?"
"We can't afford any mistakes, Min," Kaia pointed out. "Just do your best, we can't ask for more than that."
At that, Minda gunned the rockets and the centipede took off, sending everyone scrambling to hold on to any stable object. It seemed to leap over the trees, heading straight up until Minda regained control and straightened it out. Slowing it down, she flew a only a mile or so above the trees. Jason, more relaxed now, leaned on the back of Kaia's chair to better see the view screen.
"How does it fly without wings?" he asked finally.
"We fly without wings," Minda muttered, her mind on what she was doing. "You've never asked how we do it."
"True, but then again, I've never been worried about crashing when you were carrying me."
"Actually," Minda pointed out, "you should be more worried when we're carrying you. You're really much too heavy for us to lug you around."
"I feel so much better!" Jason snorted. Ringlan and Ena snickered again.
"All right," Kaia chuckled, "we've proven that Minda can fly this bug...."
"What is it with the Two Universes and bugs?" Ena quietly asked Ringlan, who shook his head and shrugged.
"...so let's take this thing back to the castle. We've got to get it loaded, and get ourselves packed."
"Are we still leaving tomorrow?" Ena asked.
"Yes, unless something drastic happens."
Nothing drastic happened. Ringlan kept close to Kaia throughout the farewell dinner that the Counsel held for them that night. Large crowds sometimes overwhelmed Kaia's senses. Ringlan's own magical training had made him sympathetic to Kaia's telepathic abilities. No one else so clearly understood what she was going through when hearing the thoughts of others gave her such terrible headaches that she couldn't even open her eyes. He always sat with her when she squeezed her temples, trying to make the pain stop. As a child, she had once squeezed her head so hard that she cracked her skull. Her parents had feared for her sanity, until she began to move things simply by looking at them. Telepathy was a power that they understood.
Ringlan came to her quarters again as she was packing her violin. She simply looked up and he was there.
"Have you reached him yet?"
"I think so," she admitted, starring at the case. He was at her side instantly, brimming with questions, but she shook her head.
"No, no, it's not really direct contact, Ringlan."
"What, then?"
"I feel that he's so far away,... so far that I can't send words to him, only impressions of what I want to tell him. How he's receiving them, or if he's getting them at all, I don't know." She sighed. "There's no way to know if they're reaching Kai or not. I'm hoping that when we get into the Dark Zone, I'll be able to control it."
Ringlan put his arm around her shoulder and hugged her. She buried her face into his chest.
~How can I find Kai when I feel so lost? It's so hard to believe that he's out there, somewhere. It's like a dream or something, like it's not really happening. What do you say to a legend?~
"Don't worry," he answered her telepathic question. "You're not going alone. We'll find him together." She sighed again, and said nothing.
"Have you said good-bye to your parents yet?" he asked finally.
"No, not yet. Will you come with me?"
It only took a few minutes for the two of them to walk to the grove. There, the 39 red bark trees stood as markers for each of Kaia's ancestors. She knelt by the side of youngest one, planted thirteen years ago, when her father died. His ashes had been placed directly under the roots of the tree when it was planted. Three years ago, her mother's ashes had also been buried at its base. She began to speak to their spirits, not only those of her parents, but to all the 39 who had come before. She explained everything to them, asking each for their blessing, while Ringlan stood nearby and watched.
When Kaia was finished, he hugged her again.
"I wonder if Kai will believe it?" he idly asked her.
"Believe that there are decedents of the Brunnen-G still left, or that I'm his decedent?"
"Actually, I was wondering if he'll believe that there have been 39 Kai's and Kaia's. Maybe he'll think that keeping the name alive like we have is just plain redundant."
Kaia started to laugh and couldn't seem to stop.
They left at dawn, each wearing clothes especially chosen for their mission. Jason had surprised all of them by wearing the brightly coloured uniform of a Brunnen-G warrior, although Ena couldn't resist asking Jason when he was going to start growing his hair for the traditional coiffure that went with it. Ringlan wore his usual black, while Kaia wore a combination of red and black. Ena was in lapis blue with gold stitching, and Minda in her usual dark green. Looking around, Kaia had to admit that they looked like an odd crew.
The speeches seemed to go on forever, with Kaia becoming increasingly impatient to be off. Promises to be extracted, pledges to be made, and good-byes to be said. Finally however, they were on board the centipede and away. It was only when up in the air did Jason ask, "Um.... how are we going to find the portal, anyway?"
"The crew gave me directions, don't worry about it," Minda muttered.
"Directions?? What kind of directions did they give you," Jason demanded "turn right at the fourth planet on the left?"
"Actually," Ringlan replied from his seat "it was turn left at the fifth planet on the right."
Ena snickered, but Kaia got up from her seat and headed towards her sleeping quarters. Her hands had already become cold and sweaty; what state would she be in when she met Kai face to face?
She sat down on her bunk and pulled her violin out of its case. She lovingly caressed the polished wood, admiring once again its smoothness, its deep colour, before raising it to her chin and bringing the bow down over the strings. Deep, rich notes filled the air, drifting towards the cabin, swelling in power as the ship approached the portal. The portal itself was much like the invisible portal that had once existed between Brinnis and Brunnis so long ago; invisible to the scanners, and noticeable to the eye only by a slight rippling in the fabric of the universe. Kaia continued to play, her eyes closed, building note upon note, drawing each out only to let it fall back into place. Her fingers quivering on the violin's neck, until the music became a graceful moan of worry, of uncertainty. The ship passed through the invisible door without difficulty, and without Kaia missing a note.
Once through, Minda launched the beacon that would mark the portal for their return. Kaia, sensing a change in the mood of her friends; their pleasure at having accomplished this much, began to change the tone of her music. The notes became shorter, lighter and were more rapidly plucked from the strings.
The mood throughout the ship continued to lighten, until all were laughing and singing. Kaia, still to busy to laugh, played with a smile on her face. She began to change the tune again, to one that they all new, and began to sing by memory.
Yes, Kaia decided, this is the song I need to send him, this is the message. Her smile broadened as she continued to play with all the dexterity of a country fiddler. She would try it tonight.
He was back on the plain again. Kai looked around, slowly, and wondered how he could have gotten back here. Just like last time, he had been asleep in his cryopod, and then he had been here. He stood there, looking down into the same pool of water, when it occurred to him that it looked different. He knelt down again, extending his right hand so that the tips of his fingers rested on the grass and again stared at his reflection. Yes, it was different, although he could not have said how. He looked up to stare at the two towers in the distance. The dogs were missing and when he looked down at the pool again, he could not see any evidence of the crab being there, either. But the water....... Yes, he decided. That's it. The water is cleaner then it was before, that was the change.
"The water is cleaner," came a voice from behind him, "because you remembered it. That's all." Kai jumped to his feet and spun around, looking for the speaker. A young woman was standing behind him and to his left. She was wearing a long dress of dark brown fabric, and was completely tied up by thick white ropes. A white blindfold covered her eyes. Surrounding her, with their blades driven into the ground, were eight swords. Kai looked at each cross-shaped hilt and then back up at the woman.
"How do you know what I was thinking?" he asked finally.
"I know, because I've been waiting here for you," was the reply.
"Why? Who has bound you in such a fashion?" Even as he asked, Kai wondered how she was able to speak without moving her lips. She raised her head as if she were looking at him. "You did, Kai."
"No, I did not."
"Your fear has bound me, Brunnen-G." Kai took a step foreword, planning to untie the woman, when his foot hit something hard in the grass; he heard a metallic clank. He looked down to see another pile of swords at his feet that appeared to have simply been tossed there.
"There are nine of them," a man's voice said from his right. Kai spun around, and came face to face with the hanged Kai; the cross having appeared out of nowhere. The other Kai's eyes were open, and he was holding a large staff in his right hand. The staff had a red flag tied to one end, although the hanged Kai was holding the pole so that the flag pointed down towards the ground.
Kai stepped boldly towards him. "What is this place?" he demanded.
The hanged Kai smiled. "This is a place where anything is possible. This is a place reached by few, and none in 2,000 years. You used to come here when you were alive, but since you have been dead, you have not done so."
"I think not. I have been here only once before, as you very well know."
"I think not."
Kai frowned, the skin between his eyebrows creasing deeply. "Why am I here?"
The hanged Kai grinned again. "You are here because you need to be here. You are here to learn and to listen. The wheel of Fortune has begun to turn again, Brunnen-G, and you are on the way up. Fate is lifting you, cradling you in the cup of its hand."
"What am I supposed to learn? Who has said that there is something I need to learn?"
The hanged Kai began to laugh. "You ask too many questions, the answers to which do not matter. I'll tell you that the High Priestess revels things when she revels them, not before. Now listen, Kai. Don't listen to me, listen."
Kai frowned again and was going to ask what he should be listening to, when he clearly heard music. It drifted in with a sudden breeze, a current of fresh, cool air that carried a smell of spring with it. Damp earth, he could smell it so strongly, and the sharp nip of green growing things. The music was pleasant, a soft melody that seemed to be a part of the wind itself. Gradually, he began to hear a voice within the music. It whispered softly, as both wind and voice began to wrap themselves around his body with all the sensuality of an embrace. Slowly, he began to make out the words:
For a long time he stood there, listening to the music and feeling the breeze on his face, caressing his closed eyelids, sweeping his hair back.
Then it stopped, suddenly; it just died.
Kai looked around, but the hanged Kai was gone, as was the bound woman and the pile of swords. He looked down and there, at his feet, was the bleeding heart with the three daggers in it. The blood was pouring out of it now, and spreading out to form a puddle in the grass at Kai's feet.
He took a couple of steps back from it and looked up at the night sky, at the huge full moon that hung so low above him.
"Stan? Stanley? Wake me up now. You need to wake me up, Stanley. Stanley, wake me up! Stanley? Stanley? Please, wake me up. Please, Stanley..............."
"Honestly, Kai, I can't see what you're worried about," Stan was saying. "So you've started having dreams, so what? I dream all the time."
They were sitting around the food dispenser, with Kai staring at his hands while Stan and Xev ate the multicolored mush that the Lexx produced. Food it wasn't, and although Stan seemed to enjoy it, Xev ate it only because there was no other alternative.
"Maybe it's a good thing that you've begun to dream, Kai," she said now, laying her plate aside.
"Perhaps it's a sign that the influence of His Shadow is weakening; that you're becoming more yourself."
"Do you not think it strange that after 2,009 years I have suddenly started to dream? You do not find that.... unusual?"
"Not really, no," Stan said, shaking his head.
"It is as unusual for me to dream as it would be for 790 to do so. It does not happen, I do not dream. Clearly, something is causing these... images to appear."
"Assuming that you're right," Xev wondered, "what would make you dream? His Shadow is dead, and so is Mantrid...."
"And Lexx hasn't mentioned anything usual happening around us," Stanley interrupted.
"...so what's left?" Xev continued. "Even Brizon's gone. So who, or what, would make you start to dream? And why?"
Kai frowned at his hands, his forehead wrinkling. "I do not know," he finally admitted.
"Perhaps something in Kai's brain has changed, some slight chemical alteration that is casing random images to appear from his subconscious mind," intoned 790 from his place on Xev's lap. "In short, Tweedle has once again screwed up the relatively simple task of maintaining Kai's cryopod and caused the dreams."
"I did not screw anything up!" Stan bristled. "There's nothing wrong with it."
"So you say," countered the robot head.
"There is nothing wrong with the cryopod," Kai said firmly.
"Maybe we're looking at this the wrong way," Xev reasoned. "Maybe, the images themselves are supposed to tell us something. They could be a message, or a warning of some kind."
Stan suddenly looked worried. "But, if that's true," he asked "then who's sending the dreams?"
Xev shook her head. "I don't know. But, a lot of people believe that dreams carry messages and that if you analyze the images you can figure out what the message is. Kai, tell us about the dreams again."
Once again, Kai explained about the two dreams. He told them about the plain; the pool of water; the hanged Kai; the bound woman; the heart with the knives in it, everything.
"Well," Xev began after listening to the story again, "perhaps the answers to the dreams are to be found in more dreams. This other you said that you need to learn something. Maybe you should just see what happens."
"The image of the moon seems important," suggested 790. "In many cultures, the moon represents the world of dreams, and water the realm of the unconscious."
"So, what would those images mean?" Xev asked him.
"It would seem that they mean nothing," the robot concluded "they merely re-enforce the idea that the images themselves are dreams, with no suggestion of another rational mind behind it. Which only proves that it's somehow Tweedle's fault, since he doesn't posses a rational mind."
Stan snorted. "No," Kai said, "there is a mind behind it. I have no memory of ever hearing that song before, although I heard it clearly in the dream."
"Images that appear in dreams," retorted 790 "do not come from the conscious portion of the human mind. You do not have to consciously remember them in order for your subconscious mind to recall them."
"I'm dead," Kai reminded him. "Perhaps I do not have a subconscious mind."
"I think that you're all reading too much into all of this," Stanley sighed. "Listen, Kai, I was always told that you can control your dreams if you want to. Since you know that you're dreaming, why don't you do something when you're there? Make the other Kai tell you something useful, or go to one of the two towers. Don't just wait to be told that you can do something. Just do it, and see what happens. After all, it's just a dream, and dreams can't hurt you."
Kai considered this. He sat back on the stool, looked at Stan a moment, then looked away. "You may be right....." he said finally, letting the sentence drift.
"May I remind you that Tweedle is never right about anything?" muttered 790.
"Look," Stan said, ignoring the insult, "since you know when you're dreaming it should be easy. Just do something, anything and see what happens. Remember, when you walked away from the pond, the other Kai told you to go back? Well, do something else and see if he tries to stop you."
"Stan might be right," Xev added. "If you start trying to control the dreams, then maybe whoever or whatever is sending the dreams will be forced to revel themselves." She leaned across the table to look into Kai's green eyes. "It's worth a try."
"Yes," Kai replied, more to himself than to anyone else. "I think that I will do that."
"So, what are you going to do?" Xev asked.
"I'm not sure," he admitted. "But, you and Stanley are right. I must do something."
When he arrived on the plain a third time, Kai had not yet decided what action to take. He had considered several options, but none of them seemed appropriate. He looked at the pool of water again and saw that the water was even cleaner than the last time and that the pool itself had become larger.
He knelt down on its edge, once again looking both for the crab and at his own reflection. There was chuckle from behind him.
Kai stood and looking around, spotted the hanged Kai a few feet to his left. Kai walked over to him, and noticed that this time, the other Kai was holding a large silver chalice his right hand, and a gold disk, engraved with a pentacle in his left. Both were being held upside down, which made them appear right-side up to Kai. The other Kai opened his eyes, and grinned.
"Ah, you're back," he said.
"Yes. Tell me why I am here.
The other one laughed. "But, I already told you. You are here because you need to be here."
"Why do I need to be here?"
"Because there are things that you do not know, Brunnen-G, and you must know them."
"Tell me."
"No," the other one answered. "Do you think that such secrets can merely be told? The greatest secrets must be discovered, and no one can do that for you. But, you know this yourself. "
Kai frowned. "Then, what is your purpose here? If you're not going to tell me anything that I need to know, why are you here?"
An almost evil grin appeared on the other Kai's face. "Ah, but don't you see?" he asked. "I'm here precisely because I have no purpose. I cannot move because I am bound by fear, just as you are."
"I do not experience fear," Kai replied with confidence. "I am dead, and the dead have no emotions."
"So you always say. But I am you, Kai. Do you really think that you can lie to yourself? And, more importantly, do you really believe that you will listen to yourself? That you can convince yourself to accept your own lies as truth?"
Kai wasn't listening. He had taken aim at he rope around the other Kai's foot, and no sooner had the other finished, then Kai shot at it with the blade from his wrist brace. The metal blade shot forward, slicing the rope cleanly before being pulled back into the brace by its cord. There was a loud thud as the other Kai hit the ground. Kai stepped towards him, but the other Kai was laughing hysterically, so hard that he was crying.
"Stop that," Kai told him firmly. "Tell me what I'm supposed to learn in this place."
"Ah," the other Kai gasped through a laugh. "You've done better than I thought! A lot more quickly than I would have dreamed! Wonderful!" He didn't even attempt to pick himself up off of the ground, he lay there instead, grinning up at Kai, eyes brimming with tears. "You're ready to go to the tower now."
"The tower?" Kai turned to look into the distance, intending to ask which tower, when he saw that one of the towers had vanished. Only the left one, with an ornately carved top that resembled a crown, loomed on the horizon. He turned back to the other Kai.
There, laying amongst the grass where the other Kai had been, was a pile of black leaves. Some slight breeze gathered them up suddenly, and hurried them away to become lost in the long grass. Since there appeared to be no other option, Kai began to walk towards the tower.
It was huge, easily the biggest tower that he had ever seen and it only seemed to grow in size as Kai approached it. With nothing to impede him, it only took Kai a few moments to reach the base. Once there, however, Kai found himself at a loss. Although he could see windows when he looked up, the tower appeared to have no doors of any kind. He walked slowly around the base, searching for an entrance of any kind, but found none. He walked several feet away from it, trying to decide what to do.
He stood there, looking at the tower, then up at the full moon, thinking. He watched the moonlight create strange shadows amongst the ornate carving that ran along the top edge of the tower like a crown; how the light made the shadows appear to move of their own accord, and how the long grass shimmered like water as a strong wind swept across the plain.
Kai was still watching the shadows, when he saw a bolt of lightning flash out of a perfectly clear sky and smash into the tower. The stone shattered, the force of the impact sending massive chucks of stone flying everywhere. The ground shook, causing Kai to loose his balance and fall backwards. He looked up to see stone fragments flying towards him and shielded his face with his arms out of instinct. He felt, rather than heard, the impact of the tower collapsing.
Silence.
Slowly, Kai peeked out from under his wrists.
The tower was gone, only its base remained, like some gigantic tree stump. Fragments of stone were scattered across the plain like pebbles thrown by a child. He looked around and saw a huge chunk of stone, larger than one of the Lexx's moths, laying just a foot to his left. Kai starred at it for a moment, before getting up and dusting himself off.
He walked back to tower's base, surveying the damage. He stood there, starring at the ruins when he heard a cough to his right. He looked around and saw a familiar shape picking itself up off of the ground.
"Brizon," Kai whispered.
The old man looked at Kai, and began to laugh. "Isn't the destruction marvelous?" he cackled. "I must say that you were always my favorite assassin, Kai. When you destroy something, you really destroy it!" Brizon looked around at the rubble. "Marvelous," he breathed.
"You are mistaken," Kai replied. "Lightening destroyed the tower."
Brizon started to laugh again. "Oh, come now," he said, shaking his head. "Who do you think is responsible for this? You are, Kai. You can't fool me, you know. I'm as dead as you are. I am death, now, in a way that you never were." With that, Brizon turned his back on Kai and began to walk away, still shaking his head. Kai stood there, frowning. He blinked, and Brizon was suddenly gone, just as if he'd never been there.
"Ignore him. He gives himself far too much credit, just as he always did," said a familiar voice. Kai turned around, to see Xev sitting on a stone behind him. She was wearing a long black dress, with a high collar and long sleeves along with an ornate head dress that depicted the three phases of the moon. She was holding a large book in her hand and on the ground at her feet were five silver chalices.
"Xev...," Kai began.
"Ignore him," she said again. "I am not Xev, I merely appear in her form. I am the High Priestess, and I have come to tell you that you must not forget what happens in your dreams, Kai. Your dreams are a message, and elements of the message will begin to appear in the world which you think of as real."
He stepped foreword. "What is the message? Xev, are you the one sending me these dreams?"
"I am not Xev," she said again. "The universe is changing, Kai."
"The Dark Zone? How?" But she was already shaking her head.
"No, not the Dark Zone. This universe is changing. It's expanding, and it will continue to do so as you learn more."
"What am I learning?"
She raised her index finger, shaking it back and forth as she spoke. An almost motherly gesture. "You are beginning to learn, your journey is a long one and may never truly end. This world exists in the form of dreams, yes. However, it is as real as the Dark Zone and that which happens here effects the Dark Zone; effects you. You must not think of them as separate, for they are not. Both realms meet within your mind and both are very real. All things are possible here, the only limits are those which you yourself impose."
"I do not understand."
She smiled. "You do not have to understand at this moment, all that you need to know is that you must not forget your dreams, do not forget the images that have been shown you." She reached out then, with her left foot, and knocked three of the five cups over. They appeared to have been filled with water, their contents spilling out to form dark patches on the grass.
"You are entering a period of change, and nothing will seem clear to you. You will feel that you are wandering through a deep wood, but there is someone who will guide you through. Listen, Kai...." She closed her eyes and began to sing with a lovely soprano voice that was clearly not her own:
"Kai," she said gently, smiling, "you are not so alone. Remember that. Remember that, if you can remember nothing else. Now, it is time for you to wake up."
"No,...." Kai began, but Xev simply smiled, and blew him a little kiss.
The vision began to fade.
"Kai? Kai? Are you all right?"
He blinked a couple of times, and looked around as if he did not quite know where he was. Xev and Stan were watching him.
"What... is wrong?" he finally muttered.
"Well," Xev started, "we were worried about you. We wanted to know what happened in your dream, if you had one."
"Yeah," Stan added, quickly. "Did it work? What happened?"
"I... I saw, many things," he started, trying to decide where he should start. "Xev, you were in my dream."
"I was?" she sounded hopeful.
"Yes, only you said that you weren't Xev, you called yourself the High Priestess and you said that the universe of the dream was changing, expanding."
"That doesn't sound like any of the dreams that I've had about Xev," muttered Stanley. But she'd heard him and looked at Stan sharply. "That is," he hurried to add, "if I had any dreams about Xev, which I don't, because...."
"Because I would kill your for insolence!" shouted 790.
Xev ignored them both. "Kai, come out of there and tell us the whole story; everything that happened."
"All right, but I believe that we need to be extra vigilant. I feel that something is going to happen to all of us, and soon. We must be careful."
"Are we in danger?" Stan asked.
"I am not sure, but we may be."
Stanley woke from a near comatose sleep to the sound of Xev screaming his name. Not fully awake, he jumped to his feet and ran to the cryochamber where the sound was coming from. The sound of his bare feet slapping against the cold floor seemed to echo off the walls as he ran down the narrow corridors. Once he reached the cryochamber, he didn't have to ask what was wrong; he could see the cryopod controls spitting out thick, gray smoke punctured by bright gold sparks. Xev was pounding the buttons, while 790 lay, forgotten, on the floor near one of the pods.
"Stanley! Wake Kai! Help me!" but she began to cough, and wave the smoke away from her face with her left hand. As Stan reached her, the smoke became too much and she had to back away, doubled over and violently coughing into her hands.
Stan had to pound on the last button with his fist to finally get it to respond and open Kai's cryopod. Kai staggered out, looking disoriented. He stumbled and dropped to his knees as Xev rushed to his side. Stan was too busy coughing to help.
"Where... am... I?" Kai mumbled as Xev helped him up.
"On the Lexx...," she muttered around another cough. "Kai, the controls are on fire!" This seemed to bring Kai back to himself and he rushed over to the control unit. He knelt down to hit the base of the stand with the side of his fist. A small door swung open and Kai reached inside to put out the fire with a rag that had been laying on the floor near the machine. He waved the thick smoke away as he stood up.
"What happened?"
Xev was shaking her head. "I don't know. I just smelled something and when I came in here the controls were shooting sparks. Are you all right, Kai?"
"I'm fine." Even as he spoke, Kai had returned to the controls. He knelt down and began to examine the inner workings. "It appears that there's been a short circuit," he finally said to no one in particular.
"Why didn't Tweedle do something?!?" demanded 790. "Instead of risking Xev's precious life, why didn't he put out the fire?"
"I was asleep," Stan sneered. "I didn't know anything about it until Xev started to scream."
"It took you long enough to wake up!" the robot shot back. "How could you sleep so soundly while Xev was in danger?"
"I haven't been sleeping much at all, ever since Kai started to dream!"
Kai looked vaguely concerned. "Stan.....", but Stan cut him off.
"No! No, I don't want to hear it! Listen, Kai, you've been having these dreams for almost a year now, and nothing's happened! Nothing! We've kept extra watches, I've sat up nights with 790 for I don't know how long and nothing has happened! And nothing's going to happen, either!" Kai looked away, lowering his eyes so he was looking down at the floor on his right.
"Look," Stan started again, slightly calmer now. "I know that you think that the dreams mean something, but if they really did have a meaning, don't you think that it would have happened before now? Kai, your dreams are just dreams; that's all. They don't mean anything."
Kai looked back up. "I am not certain of that, Stanley."
"Well I'm certain of it," Stand said with a frown. "And now, I'm going to find something to fix the controls with and then I'm going back to bed. And Kai, if you want to keep watch, be my guest." With that, he stomped off to get dressed.
Kai simply stood there, as if he didn't know what to do next. Xev stepped to his side. "I believe in your dreams, Kai," she told him.
"Thank you."
"Were you dreaming when we woke you up?"
He hesitated a for a moment before answering. "Yes."
"What happened?"
"The pool of water," he began, looking straight ahead as he spoke, "has now become a small lake. The water is very clean, and there are large orange fish swimming in it. I can see them through the water. There has been no more lightning, although the tower remains in ruins."
"And the hanged Kai? What about the High Priestess?"
"The High Priestess still appears, although she does not tell me very much. The other Kai has never appeared again." When Xev said nothing, Kai continued:
"During this dream, I saw a man with no face in a wooden boat on the lake. He used a pole to push the boat along and there was a woman and child sitting in the boat. There were also six swords that appeared to have had their blades driven into the bottom of the boat. They were all standing upright, with the hilts and only part of the blade showing."
"But," Xev wondered, "wouldn't that make the boat sink?"
"Yes, it would. But, the boat did not sink. Instead, the man pushed it to the opposite side of the lake, where it vanished. Then, a knight in black armor appeared, carrying a large broad sword and riding a huge red animal that resembled a horse."
"What's a horse?" asked the returning Stan.
"A horse is a large grazing animal," Kai explained. "It was used as a means of transportation and as a beast of burden. Although they are often ridden for... pleasure." Kai always hesitated before uttering the word "pleasure", almost as if it were sacred.
"You said "resembled". You mean, it wasn't a horse?" Xev asked him.
Kai's forehead wrinkled slightly as he thought. "No, it wasn't. It had two long canine teeth that grew down from the top of its mouth, and instead of hooves, it had padded feet with long claws. But, the body was that of a horse."
"Oh, yeah?" Stan wasn't really listening. He had his head stuck under the control unit, surveying the damage.
"Then what happened, Kai?"
"He rode up to me, and handed me a red sack which contained nine silver cups. He then rode off and I could see eight staffs with red flags stuck in the ground near to where the boat disappeared. Then, I woke up."
"And, the song?" Xev prodded him.
"The words of the song," Kai said as he turned towards the control unit, "appeared in the grass. The grass simply bent down of its own accord, forming letters that formed words that formed the song." He turned to look at Xev for a moment. "It's always the same song. Always the same words."
"Well, this is just great!" hollered Stan.
"What's the matter?" Xev asked.
"What's the matter is that all the wiring and everything in here is fried. That's what's the matter! There's not much of anything left to fix."
"The wiring will have to be replaced," Kai stated.
"Yeah, right. What are we going to replace it with?"
"There must be sufficient material for repairs on board the Lexx. We must find some."
But, if there was material for repairs, they couldn't find it. Although it was impossible to search every single corner on the Lexx, the three looked everywhere that seemed reasonable. They opened every cupboard, looked behind every control unit even looking in every moth, but they found nothing.
"How can there be nothing?" Xev wailed. "No wire, nothing!"
"Perhaps we used all the available material in the making of 790 drones," Kai suggested.
"We'd still be able to fix it if somebody hadn't insisted that we fire all the broken drone arms out into space!" Stan sneered at Xev. Xev made a face back at him.
"The sight of them was bothering my darling," shot back 790. "We had to get rid of them."
"Well, what now?" Stan snorted.
"We must find a planet that is sufficiently technologically advanced to have the materials that we need to repair the controls. 790 will need to perform a through search," Kai replied.
"What happens if we can't find anything?" Xev asked him. "If we can't repair the controls?"
"Then I will not be able to reenter cryostaysis," he said, flatly. "In that case, I won't have much time left before the protoblood runs out."
It took hours, with Xev worrying and Kai simply waiting.
"I found something," 790 finally called from his position on the seat of the captain's chair.
A small, dark gray planet appeared on Lexx's view screen. It resembled a small moon more than a planet.
"Not very inviting," Stan muttered.
"How do you know that they have what we need?" Xev asked the robot.
"The planet appears to be surrounded by defensive shields," 790 explained. "The presence of those shields indicates that the inhabitants have sufficient technology to aid in the repair of the cryopod controls."
"Good enough for me," Stan said, cheerfully. "Lexx, set a course for that planet."
"AS YOU COMMAND, STAN."
"Shields," Xev mumbled, thinking out loud. "Kai, that's just like Brunnis 2, your home planet...."
"The Brunnen-G erected their shields as a defensive measure and while such caution may have been,... unwarranted in the Light Universe, it does not seem unreasonable for a planet in the Dark Zone to employ such a strategy."
The planet looked no better up close then it had at a distance. Rather far away from its sun, it looked cold and inhospitable.
"Are you sure that there's anyone living on this planet, Robot-head?" Stan wanted to know.
"Someone had to build those shields, Slug-brain. They didn't build themselves."
"OK. Lexx, open a channel. Hey, 790, do we know the name of this place?"
"Don't look at me. I'm no more familiar with the Dark Zone than the lowest form of life; a Security Guard, class 4. "
"Great," Stan snorted. "Hello out there? My name is Stanley H. Tweedle, captain of the Lexx. We'd like to come down to your.... um,... lovely planet for a brief... visit. We need to make some minor repairs to our ship, and we were hoping that you could help us."
Silence.
"Um,.... Hello? Is there anyone out there?"
No response.
"OK,... we'll pay for the material that we need." Then, in a quieter tone, "I don't know how, but...." then louder, "we'll pay you. We don't need much."
Silence again.
"Hello? Is there anyone there? Please respond. 790, I think you'd better check your wiring or...."
"H... hello?" a weak, trembling male voice came over the communicator.
"Yes! Hello!" Stan hollered. From somewhere behind him, 790 had already begun to growl.
"Do... do we... know you?"
"No," came his cautious response.
"Who sent you?" asked the timid voice.
"No one did."
"Are you sure?"
Stan looked at Xev, who shrugged, then at Kai, who did nothing. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure."
"Are you alone?"
Stan started to laugh under his breath. "I'm with the rest of the crew, a total of 3. Weeell, 3 1/2, actually. If you include the robot head."
"What do you want?" the voice demanded, although the speaker seemed no more brave than he had a moment ago.
"Look, all we want is to make some repairs to one of our control units, but we're a little short on supplies. We were hoping that you could,... you know, help us out?"
"No one on the ship is sick or anything, right?"
Stan frowned. "No."
"And, you'll be leaving right after you make your repairs?"
"...yeah," Stan cautiously replied.
"Well, that's all right then. You may come down to the surface."
"Thanks." The communication ended, Stan turned to look at the others. "Did that strike anyone else as being really, really weird?"
"Living in the Dark Zone appears to have made them,... careful... of strangers," stated Kai.
"I don't like it," Stan muttered. "Isn't there anywhere else we can go?"
"And run the risk of being rejected, and Kai using up all his protoblood? No," Xev said as she headed towards a moth. Kai followed her, with Stanley trailing.
The planet looked less and less friendly, the closer they came to it. Its gray colour was from the countless numbers of skyscrapers bristled from the surface of the planet like hairs. They were directed to a bare area, paved over to form a small landing pad. As they landed the moth, Kai noticed that there were several ships parked there, ships that looked like butterflies with huge white wings.
They were greeted by six burly looking robots, and two humans in red containment suits. Kai noticed that they were also wearing surgical masks beneath their helmets as an extra precaution. One of the humans stepped forward, "Which one of you is the captain?" he asked; it was the same timid voice that they had already heard. Although all that could be seen of the man within the suit was a pair of watery blue eyes and a white, sweaty forehead.
Stan stepped forward, "I am."
"You're quite sure that none of you are ill?"
"No, we're all fine."
"Good. Then, you may speak to the Chief, he's the only one who can give you permission to take what you need."
"Oh, OK."
The strange pair turned, and motioned for them to follow, with two of the robots taking the lead. The two nervous humans followed them, followed by Stan and Xev, Kai bringing up the rear. Two of the robots flanked the Lexx crew, one on each side, while the last pair followed behind. Kai noticed with suspicion that they were now boxed in by the robots. He watched them carefully as they walked along.
They were following a narrow road that lead through the heart of the city. Enormous skyscrapers sprouted along each side, gray mountains with few windows. They were so tall that the tops could not be seen; they simply vanished from view. The sky above was invisible as well, so it was impossible for anyone to tell if were bright blue, or gray like the buildings. Set each by the other, they formed a veritable wall of stone, with only the thinnest black slits of alleys between them. The wall bent and curved with the road, as if they had both been made at the same time, each designed to conform to the other. Kai also noticed that the streets were impeccably clean; no litter, no dirt, not even a speck of dust could be seen. There were also no vehicles of any kind to be seen anywhere; just the butterfly ships that he had seen when they landed.
As they walked, they could hear the sound of their feet echoing all along this unnatural cannon, which sounded very loud in the complete silence. A huge city indeed, although there was not a single inhabitant was visible. There was only the sound of their steps and the darkness of the shadows. The entire place had a feeling of having been abandoned. Even the air simply hung there, with a stagnant smell to it. Kai muttered: "The sun never reaches the street here, does it?"
"Oh, no!" cried the more outgoing of their two guides. "The sun is very bad for you! No, no, no..... it's much better to stay out of it altogether! We never go out in the sun!"
"Hey,....." Stan interrupted.
"Yes?"
Stanley looked slightly embarrassed, "Um, ....is there something wrong with the air here or something?"
A panicked look suddenly appeared in the eyes of both humans. "Why?" cried the second one, who had not spoken before. He had a high pitched voice that was nearly a squeak. "Do you think that there's something wrong with it? Are we in danger?"
Stanley hurriedly waved away the suggestion, "No, no, no! I was just wondering about,.... well... your containment suits."
"What do you mean?" the second one squeaked.
"Why are you wearing them?" Xev asked, clearly tired of the banter. "And where are all the people? Doesn't anyone live here?"
"Well, we don't know what you're carrying. You could have any number of germs...."
"Any number of microbes......" added the first one.
"A new kind of disease that we aren't immune to," squeaked the second. "Everyone has been ordered to stay inside until we know that you're safe to be around."
"We have to be careful, you know."
"But, we told you, we're not sick," Xev pointed out.
"That doesn't matter!" the first one shouted, with the same trembling, nervous tone; a voice that displayed too much terror in it to carry any real authority. "Just because you're not sick now doesn't mean that you're not carrying something we could catch!"
"What is the name of this planet?" Kai asked in an attempt to change the subject.
"Malsud," the second one squeaked, the first apparently too angry to respond.
"We're here," the first one finally muttered.
They were standing in front of a building that looked identical to all the others. The only difference appeared to be the copper colored arch that reached over the doorway. The double doors were made of glass with matching copper trim along the edges and copper handles. They were marched inside to stand in front of a large wooden judge's bench. There were no ornaments of any kind anywhere. Gray floors, gray walls, only the flat, low ceiling had been painted white. Kai looked around for the symbols of authority normally associated with a law court, a coat of arms, or flags, but found none.
"Looks like a hospital," Stan whispered to Xev.
"Or a prison," she replied.
A door on their left suddenly flew open, and a large crowd of people, all wearing the same red containment suits, flooded in. They surrounded the Lexx crew, apparently curious about the newcomers. One separated himself from the gang and sat behind the bench. This, apparently, was the Chief.
"I am Charlar, Chief Prime Minister of Malsud, Judge of Visitors, Sentencer of the Wicked."
"This does not sound good," Stan muttered as 790 began to growl again.
"I am he who rules over this city and I am the one who decides upon all requests made by.... visitors."
"Not good at all," mumbled Stan again, while Xev hushed him.
"It is only to me that......"
"Um, Sir?" spoke a woman to the judge's right.
"...Ah, yes?" he spluttered.
"Sir... I think that maybe we should get on with it. You know, just in case this bunch is like the last set......"
"Oh, yes, of course", he said as he straightened, clearing his throat so that his voice sounded even more horse than it had before. "Now, you have requested some supplies for the repair of your ship, correct?"
Xev pushed Stan's shoulder in order to get him to step forward.
"Yes, sir," he stammered. "Yes, that's correct."
"And, there is nothing else that you require?"
"No, sir."
"And, you are quite certain that none of you are carrying any kind of disease, infectious or otherwise?"
"Yes, Sir." Stan hastened to correct himself as the crowd let out a collective gasp. "No, I mean..... You see, I know that I'm not sick. And Xev here, well, she's part cluster lizard, so she doesn't get sick, and the robot... well, is a robot. And Kai here,.... can't get sick if he tried."
The judge looked suspiciously at Kai. "Am I to understand that you are immune to all sickness?"
"Yes," Kai replied. The crowed appeared to be growing, for now the room seemed full of people, all of whom started to whisper at Kai's response.
"Silence!" shouted the judge. He looked at Kai again. "How is this possible? Why are you immune to all illness?"
"I am immune, simply because I am dead, your Honor."
The sudden screaming from the crowd caught Kai off guard and he involuntarily flinched. The judge was pounding on the bench with a gavel that Kai had not noticed before.
"Silence!" he yelled. "I will have silence!" He looked at Kai again. "You are... dead?"
"Yes, I am."
"When did you die?"
"2,009 years ago." There were more cries from the crowd.
"You are a demon!"
Kai frowned. "No, I am not."
"You are!" screamed the judge, on his feet now, and clearly on the edge of loosing all control.
"No," Kai said calmly.
"You are of the same evil that brought the last visitors to Malsud!" He held up a small silver video disk with his right hand. "The security cameras caught everything! Every evil gesture! The cold-blooded killing of innocents! You are like them! Exactly! By the Gods, you even have the same cold look in your eyes!" This last was directed at Kai, the judge pointing at him.
"We are alone. We do not know to whom you are referring. There are no "others"."
"The demon lies!" shouted someone from the crowd. That was all that was needed to turn them ugly. The crew suddenly found themselves surrounded by an angry mob, all of whom were shouting. "Demons!" and "Kill them!" seemed to be the most prominent cries.
"No, no, wait!" Stanley cried, stepping forward again. "Kai's not a demon! He's an assassin!"
Xev punched him in the arm as the crowd started to wail again. "Don't help, Stanley."
The judge was on his feet. "I've heard enough! These intruders...."
"Intruders!" Xev cried. "We asked first! We were told to land by...," she couldn't finish the sentence, for as she turned to look for their weak voiced guide, she realized that she couldn't pick him out from the mass of red containment suits before her.
"These intruders," continued the judge, ignoring her. "Are no better than the last ones who came here. If we let them live, they will no doubt cause the same kind of destruction of innocents that we have already seen. We need no repeat of that bloody day," he was waving the video disk back and forth before the crowd, Kai's green eyes tracing its movement. "The outsiders will be taken from this place and immediately killed. Their carcasses will be cremated, so there will be no chance of contamination. The robot head will be dismantled, just as their moth ship has already been. Take them away!"
"We've done nothing!" Xev screamed. "Nothing!"
"Kai, protect Xev!" screamed 790.
The woman who had been standing to the right of the judge stepped forward. She had not taken more than two steps towards them when Kai shot her in the chest with his wrist brace. She dropped immediately, simply crumbling in death. There were more screams from the crowd as he took aim at the judge.
"I will kill him," he said, slowly, quietly, "if anyone moves." He looked over his right shoulder at Xev and Stan. "Run," he told them. Stan turned and started running for the door almost before Kai had spoken the word, with Xev right behind him. Kai, however, stepped forward. The crowed of people shrank from him as if he were a leper, not raising a finger to stop him as he stepped up on a thin brass rail that ran along the bottom of the judge's bench. The judge was shaking in sheer terror and dropped the video disk that he had been holding, which struck the desk with a quiet tap. Kai snatched it up and turned to run after his friends.
He found them just outside the door, staring up the street. As he reached them, he turned to follow their gaze. Only a few hundred feet away, where there had been nothing but seemingly empty buildings was a huge mob of people. Hundreds of red containment suits filled the roadway, most carrying weapons of all kinds; black packs; swords; even clubs. Those who were not carrying weapons were holding torches, whose sickly orange light barely cut through the gloom.
"What the hell is this, a witch hunt?" cried Stanley as he looked at the crowd.
"That is exactly what it is," Kai told him. "Run!"
They turned and fled up the street, away from the both the crowd and the landing pad. As he ran, Kai kept looking left and right, scanning the area for some where to hide or escape to. However, he saw more red suits in every doorway and none of the alleys seemed big enough to run down. He could hear the crowd yelling from behind. He could hear cries of "kill the outsiders" as well as the pounding of hundreds of pairs of feet. The road itself seemed to stretch right out to meet the horizon. There were no more bends or curves, just a perfectly straight road.
Both Xev and Stan were already out of breath, they would not be able to run much longer and making a stand was out of the question. They had to hide.
Just then, Kai saw an alley off to his left that appeared to be a little bit wider than the rest. Kai had been leading the flight, but now he turned, grabbed both Xev and Stan by their elbows and hurried them towards the alley. He stared at it for a moment, deciding finally that yes, it would be just big enough. It was too dark inside to see where the alley went, but it was their only option.
"Get in," he told Xev, who did not need much encouragement. She slipped inside, holding 790 out in front of her. Stanley paused at the entrance, slightly alarmed, perhaps, by the complete blackness inside. Kai pushed him in and then followed. His shoulders just brushed against the walls, having roughly an inch of extra space on each side. Even though the mob would still be able to follow them, they could only do so one at time. He could hear Stan and Xev pushing forward, the sound of their boots scraping against the concrete.
He looked back to see the mob clustered around the entrance to the alley. However, they did not appear to be making any attempt to follow. Kai turned slightly sideways, thereby giving himself more room to pass through the narrow alley. The alley itself proved longer than expected, for which Kai was grateful. After a time, he saw the slit of gray light that announced the end of the passage. When Kai finally reached it, he stepped out into a small courtyard, entirely surrounded by skyscrapers.
"Where are we?" Stan puffed, he was still out of breath from the run.
"Somewhere safe, security guard," sneered 790. Kai didn't respond. He was too busy looking at the small building that sat in the center of the courtyard.
Small in comparison to the towers that surrounded it, the building almost looked like a mutant. Entirely made from polished white marble, it glistened in spite of the gloom. Three plain steps lead up to the deep porch that ran around the whole building and was lined by ornately carved Corinthian columns.
A highly detailed frieze ran along the top, depicting a tangle of vines and leaves that made the somewhat squat building appear lighter, more inviting, even though there appeared to be no windows. Kai began to walk towards it.
"Can we hide in there, Kai?" he heard Xev asking, but he wasn't listening to her. He walked to the building and then up the three steps without really thinking about it. Once on the porch, he found himself facing a huge set of double doors that appeared to be made of gold. They were paneled, and carved in relief to portray the adventures of some great mythical hero. He could hear Stan speaking, but again, he ignored the sound and simply placed his hands against the cool metal doors and pushed them open, one hand on each door. They swung open easily and wide.
Kai blinked once or twice in the sudden brightness. He wondered about it, since there were no windows. When he looked up, however, he saw that the entire ceiling was made of clear, leaded glass, through which a weak looking yellow sun was shining. He then found himself staring down the aisle of an abandoned temple. The pews were still there, lined up neatly, one behind the other. A brightly colored floor made of mosaic tiles stretched from the door to the alter, with the same leaf and vine pattern as on the frieze outside. A huge gold tripditch hung behind the alter. Gold candle holders, taller than he was, stood guard everywhere he looked. Everywhere there was the gleam of gold, or a flash of white marble, colored tile.
Everywhere, except for the alter itself.
Piled against it were the remains of several dozen robots. Metal arms and legs were sprawled everywhere, giving the strange impression of a massacre. Dark, nearly black husks of metal bodies were piled on the alter, as if offered in sacrifice. Kai stepped forward and began walking up the aisle, towards the alter, his boots tapping on the mosaic floor.
He had only gone part of the way when he heard Xev gasp. She was starring up at the wall on the left. He also turned to look at the wall.
There, written on the wall in terra cotta brown, were the words to the song from Kai's dream. Kai frowned, and walked closer to the wall, slipping between the pews towards it. The words appeared to have been written out by fingers dipped in the color. Kai looked closely at the markings and found that he could see finger prints at the end of each stroke. He stepped back again, eyes glancing over the now familiar words, looking more closely at how the large letters had been formed instead of reading it. He frowned, however, when he saw that a new verse had been added, a frown which only deepened when he read the message that had also been left:
~ Kai, last of the Brunnen-G: know that you are not alone. We are looking for you.
~ your cousins
"What does that mean, "cousins"?" Stan asked. "How can you have any cousins, Kai?" Xev had set 790 down on a pew, and walked over to the wall to touch the writing. She looked at the colored powder as it came off onto her fingers.
"In the Brunnen-G culture," Kai explained, his eyes still on the wall, "the term "cousin" was widely used. It was often used to describe close friends, as well as actual blood relations."
"But," wondered Xev, "how could the song from your dream be here? Who wrote it?"
"When we discover that, we will discover the mind behind the dreams."
Xev opened her mouth to speak, when a loud clank came from behind the alter. Kai spun around, his blade ready to fire.
Standing by the alter were the same six robots that had escorted them earlier.
"Do not be afraid," said one of them. "We will help you escape." For the first time, Kai really looked at them. Their faces were not unlike 790's, with the same animated eyes and mouth. Little thought, however, seemed to have been given to their bodies, for they appeared less refined, more slow and awkward. Each hand was not much more than a pair of clamps, and the feet were like plates.
Kai didn't move. "Why would you help us?" he asked.
"Because, we want to make sure that the Malsuds never question the state of their lives."
"What do you mean?"
The robot's mouth twisted into a sly smile. "Exactly 200 years ago, a plague swept across this planet, destroying approximately 85% of the total population. Even now, the population has not completely recovered. Many of the buildings are totally empty. Ever since then, the Malsuds have lived in terror of illness. We robots were created to do the things that the Malsuds were too frightened do to anymore, menial labor. However, after 200 years, they cannot survive without us. They are completely dependent upon us, so it is the robots who are the real power on Malsud, and we wish to keep it that way."
"But, why help us?" Kai asked, still wary. "Would it not suit your ends more to allow the mob to kill us?"
"No, because if we allowed them to kill you, it might make them wonder why you were not struck down by illness. After all, you were out in the open air for an extended period of time..."
"You mean, that they live in those suits?" Xev asked. "All their lives?"
"Yes," the robot replied. "They now depend upon us for their simplest of needs. However, if they began to wonder about you, then they may start to become bold. If they become bold, then they may stop depending upon us. We will no longer have control over them. Fear makes them weak, makes them easy to control. If we help you to escape, then we will let it be known that you all died of a terrible disease, and things will be as they were."
"The Chief said that there had been others who came here...." Kai started.
"Yes. One of them wrote that message," the robot pointed at the wall. "We do not understand what it means."
"Did you help them to escape as well?"
Another sly smile. "No, they did not need our help. Come, we will lead you to a ship. Yours has been dismantled already, but we will give you another."
There proved to be several of these wide alleys, all of which left the courtyard in various directions, like the threads in a spider's web. It did not take long for the robots to lead them back to the deserted launch pad where they had started.
"Take one of these ships," said the robot who seemed to be in charge as he pointed at one of the butterflies. "Leave here, now. And never return. No one will follow you, they will not take such a risk."
Stan didn't need to be told twice. He jumped into the cock pit and already had the engine started by the time Xev and Kai had climbed in. Xev started to call "thank you" to the robots, but they had already turned to leave. Stanley had his jaw set and his teeth clenched so tightly that he did not say a word until they were safely on board the Lexx again.
"I'm going to blow Malsud up," he said as he headed towards the bridge.
"No, Stanley," Kai called. "These people are far more fearful than the Brunnen-G, although I suspect that they will meet a similar fate. Besides, we have more pressing matters."
"Oh, no!" Xev suddenly cried. Kai looked at her. "We didn't get anything to fix the controls!"
"Yes, we did." Kai pointed at the butterfly. "This ship is much too..., fragile, to be of any use to us. We will take it apart, and use the material to fix the controls. However, the repair of the cryopod controls was not what I was referring to."
"Well, what then?" Stan asked.
Kai reached for something inside the pocket of his uniform, a pocket that was normally invisible, lost in the varying textures of his tunic. He held up the video disk that he had taken from the judge.
"We must see these "others" who call themselves my cousins. I must see this one who is sending me the dreams. Then, perhaps, we will know if they are a threat to us."
Kai slipped the video disk into the newly repaired cryopod controls. An image of the landing pad on Malsud promptly appeared on the small view screen. A large ship that resembled a centipede sat there, surrounded by the same welcoming committee that had greeted the Lexx crew. A large door swung down from the side of the ship and a group of five people, two men and three women, stepped out into view.
The first out of the door was a young woman with straight black hair halfway down to her waist. Her severely straight bangs were softened by two braids of hair, one from each temple that ended just short of her elbows. Small and slightly wispy, she wore a red shirt with a black embroidery pattern that ran down the sleeves and the front. Her skin was very white, so much so that it seemed to gleam with the coolness of moonlight. Kai could see the black wrist braces that she wore and that there was something wrong with her hands, although he could not have said what it was. The embroidered pattern from her shirt had been repeated in red down the outside of legs of her black pants. A black longbow, complete with a quiver full of black arrows, hung from her back.
Her male comrade, standing to her right, was dressed entirely in black, from his shirt, to his pants, to the long black duster-style coat he wore. Long brown hair hung in his eyes and he carried no weapon that Kai could see. Like the woman, his skin too, was very white, a paleness that was only highlighted by his black clothing.
A female, dressed in dark green and carrying a large staff, stood to the left. Like the male, she too had straight brown hair that was inclined to hang in her eyes, although it was a lighter shade. She glowed too, although her skin had a reddish, coppery tint to it. She had a warm, almost metallic glow to her that looked as unnatural as the whiteness of the first two.
"Are they robots?" Xev asked 790. "Or androids? They sparkle, like gems."
"Negative," came the reply. "It appears that their unusual skin colouring is a natural adaptation."
"Kai, look!" Stan interrupted.
But Kai was already looking at the man and the woman who had followed the first three. His eyes followed the man's movements, his mouth opening slightly in surprise as he stared. It wasn't his deep, chocolate brown complexion, the short curly black hair or even the gold tint to his skin that surprised Kai. It wasn't even the fact that this man, was vastly taller than the others, six and 1/2 feet at least, or that he also appeared to be strong enough to use the huge spiked mace he so prominently carried in front of himself. Kai stood there, starring blankly at the uniform the man wore; the uniform of a Brunnen-G warrior. A uniform just like the one Kai himself wore, more than 2,000 years ago; the remnants of which, jewels stolen and dyed black, that he still wore. Only this uniform was as it was supposed to look, brightly coloured and with an abundance of sparking gems.
Kai was so fascinated by this one man, that he only glanced at the woman by his side. Dressed in a lapis blue shirt and pants, with gold stitching around the collar and down the front in a dog tooth pattern. Her skin also gleamed with a yellowish gold colour that seemed to blend in with her blonde hair.
The Malsud security cameras, it seemed, were too far away to pick up any sound. Kai and the others watched as the group of five were greeted just as they had been and were then escorted to the same building as they had. The image cut away suddenly, only to return with a picture of the group standing in front of Charlar. This time, the cameras were picking up some sound, although it was scratchy and slightly unclear. Just as before, Charlar went into his speech, but the woman with the black hair cut him off.
"Excuse me, your Honour!" she called, her voice strong and rich, almost like cream, in spite of the static of the recording. "We ask nothing of you, or of your planet. We are searching for a ship that may have passed this way. It is called the Lexx."
Stan gasped. Xev shushed him, straining to hear every word.
"Why do you think that this ship may have passed Malsud?" Charlar demanded.
"We do not know if it has or has not," the woman explained. "We only know that the Lexx and its crew are wondering in the Dark Zone. We do not know where the Lexx is or how to find it, which is why we stopped here; to ask you if you have seen it."
Charlar did not seemed pleased with her answer. "Why are you looking for this... whatever it is?" he demanded.
The woman paused, apparently considering her response. She looked down and away as she thought, only to raise her head again to meet Charlar's gaze. "A... comrade of ours is on board the Lexx. He has been lost to my people for many years. We" spreading her arms to indicate the whole group "are merely searching for our lost comrade and his friends."
Charlar considered this, briefly. "You are lying! You were sent here by our enemies, to infect us with another plague that will finish us off!"
"No!" the young man in black said suddenly, his voice a much deeper tone than one would have expected from one so slightly built. "We have had nothing to do with any of your enemies! Prophet save us, we don't even know who they are!"
"He's not going to believe you," the black haired woman told him. "None of them are." She raised her head suddenly, as Charlar reached down for something under the edge of the bench. She seemed panicked suddenly, "Run!" she cried to her friends, but it was too late. A green gas started seeping into the room from the ceiling, knocking all five unconscious before they could really react. The woman in red, the apparent leader, was the last to fall, reaching back with her right hand for her bow even as she dropped. The image cut away again.
"How did she know?" Xev wondered.
"And why didn't they use that gas on us?" Stan demanded.
"Perhaps because we did not give them time to," suggested Kai. "Or, perhaps Charlar did not think to use it. After all, we were fewer in number."
The image returned, to a small room that they had not seen before. The five were now separated into three glass cells no more than 10 feet square, with the woman in red and black in one cell alone. While her companions where still crawling to their feet, she was already standing, starring fixedly at the lock on her cell door; the sort of lock that opened by sliding in a marked card that acted as a key. There appeared to be only one guard, sitting in front of a computer at a the far end of the room, the red containment suit standing out amongst the gray decor. Indeed, the room was full of equipment; computer screens flickered everywhere, lights blinked and flashed and Kai could almost hear the hum of the engines. "Probably medical equipment," he muttered to no one in particular.
The girl in green and the man in the Brunnen-G uniform were in the cell next to the lone woman's, with the man in black and the other woman in blue next to them. Upon getting to her feet, the woman in green started pounding on the glass that separated her from her lone friend. This appeared to jar her out of her thoughts, her head snapping her head to the left to look at her. She smiled, walking over to place the palm of her hand on the glass over the palm of her friend in green. They stood there for a moment, their palms pressed together with only the glass separating them.
Kai abruptly reached foreword and hit a button on the controls, pausing the image. Xev, Stan and 790 watched as he leaned foreword, staring closely at the image of the two women. The camera had been placed on the left side of the room, so that Kai could only see the back of the woman in green, and the face of her companion. "Her fingers," Kai finally mumbled. He looked up at Stan and Xev, both of whom looked confused. "Look," he explained, pointing. "Look how long her fingers are compared to the other one's." Indeed, one could see the girl's fingers extending well past those of her friend. The black haired woman's fingers were far longer, and sharply tapered, almost pointy. Kai pushed another button to begin the playback once again.
The woman turned away from her friend and began starring at the lock once again. For several moments she simply stood there. Then she stepped back, raised both her hands over her head, as if she were invoking the gods. Her hair suddenly began to lift off of her shoulders, swirling with a wind that Kai could see rushing past her clothes. He watched as she once again focused her eyes on the lock. Kai couldn't see the lock open, but it must have because the door of the cell suddenly burst open and swung wide, allowing the woman to walk out. It's hinges broke with a bang when the door hit the glass wall behind it.
The guard leapt up at the sound, but stood starring at the woman with her hair flying about her. She raised her right hand and pointed at him, but as she did so the guard collected his wits and shot at her with his blackpack. The woman leapt up to avoid the blow and Kai heard Stanley moan as she hung there, suspended in the air.
"How is she doing that?" Stan gasped.
"Apparently," Kai replied without taking his eyes off the screen, "she can fly."
She continued to float, her eyes fixed on the guard, when she looked up directly at the camera on her left. A sudden burst of energy that appeared to have come from beneath the camera hit her in the hip and sent her sprawling over the equipment to her right. She hit the wall with a thud and dropped to the floor, hidden from view.
By now, her friends were pounding on the doors of their cells, trying to reach her. Kai could see their mouths moving, although he couldn't hear their cries. The guard starred at them for a moment and then turned away to go back to his computer.
There was a movement behind the machines. A slight shuffling noise before the fallen woman pulled herself to her feet. Her hair now hung in font of her, obscuring most of her face. The pounding from her friends stopped as she shot a glance towards the camera. There was a sudden puff of sparks, and a crash as the gun dropped to the floor. She stepped out from the computers to stand in the middle of the room. The guard spun around, and starred in unabashed horror at the snarling woman before him. She had fixed her gaze on him and stood there, starring at him. Slowly, deliberately, she began to speak:
"My father had a saying. He always said that the Brunnen-G are like weeds in a garden; you can't get rid of us, we just keep coming back to haunt you."
The woman didn't move, but the guard had begun to scream. He tore off the helmet of the containment suit, to reveal the face of a middle-aged man and the fact that there was now blood pouring from his nose and ears. He clearly couldn't breathe properly and was sputtering through the flow of blood, trying to plead for his life. He pressed the heals of his hands to his temples and screamed hideously until his suddenly dropped to the floor, totally limp. Dead.
The woman had not moved once. Now, however, she also dropped to the floor in a faint.
For a moment or two, she lay there, before managing to crawl back to her knees and then to her feet. She took a few unsteady steps towards the dead guard, swaying slightly, her left hand to her head. Deliberately, she walked over to the guard and stepped over his prone body. She slowly lifted the card key off of the desk, holding it up before her eyes as if she wasn't quite sure what it was. Then she turned back and stepped over the guard again. She paused and looked at him, watching the blood ooze from the head, watching as it formed a large puddle near her feet.
"Jerhume Brunnen-G," she muttered as she turned away to release her friends.
The one in the Brunnen-G uniform hugged her so hard when he was released that he lifted her right off the ground. She began to laugh. "Geez, Jason! Let me breathe, fer Prophet's sake!"
Both women hugged her just as fiercely and the man in black kissed her deeply.
"Come on, let's get out of this rat trap," said the woman in green. They gathered their weapons from the corner under the camera and as they walked away Kai noticed that the man in black carried two small swords, which he hid under his long coat. The image cut out just as they were walking out the door that lay on the right side of the broken cell.
"Stop it right there!" Stan said. "I'm gonna be sick." Kai pressed the stop button and the video window disappeared.
"How can they be Brunnen-G? Kai, I thought you were the last one." Xev wanted to know.
"I am."
"Well, then why is that guy wearing your uniform?" Stan demanded.
"And how did she know the words to your song?" Xev asked.
"I... do not know."
"These people are dangerous!" Stan wailed. "Did you see what happened to that guy? She killed him without moving! She... she didn't even lift a finger! I think that we should get as far away from here as we can and stay as far away from them as possible."
"If there's any chance that she will kill Tweedle," intoned a hopeful 790 "then I vote that we should go looking for them."
"Clearly," Kai reasoned "she attacked the guard because she and her friends were in danger. No doubt that the Malsuds would have killed them had she not done so."
"But how did she do it?" Stan shook his head. "And that door.... Did you see that door? Smashed to bits! She didn't even touch it!"
"She must be telepathic," Kai told him. "as well as having telekinetic abilities. That appears to be the only explanation."
"I don't understand," Xev was frowning.
"A telepath is someone who can read the thoughts of others; telekinesis is the ability to move objects without touching them. Clearly, this woman was alerted to the initial danger because of her ability to read minds. Then, she was able to break free from the cell by opening the lock with her mind."
"And the guard?" Stan demanded. "What about him?"
Kai shrugged. "Since her abilities are so well... developed, she would have no trouble causing a massive brain hemorrhage. Although the energy required was clearly great. She could not have done it again."
"That's it!" yelled Stan. "I'm getting us out of here, and I'm telling Lexx that if he sees that centipede ship of theirs to blow it up!" He stomped off towards the bridge. Xev went after him.
"But, Stanley, we haven't even seen the rest of it! Stan? Stanley? Stanley Tweedle come back here.......!"
Kai stood there, starring at the controls. He finally pushed play again, only to rewind the video. He stopped it, and listened again to her saying:
"Jerhume Brunnen-G."
He rewound it again, and again. Over and over again:
"Jerhume Brunnen-G. Jerhume Brunnen-G. Jerhume Brunnen-G. Jerhume Brunnen-G. Jerhume Brunnen-G. Jerhume..."
"Jerhume Brunnen-G," said the woman on the video. Kai was still replaying the images over and over when Stan and Xev finally returned.
"All right," Stan was saying, "I'll watch the rest of it, but I still say that these people are dangerous."
"I do not believe that they would be a danger to us, Stanley," Kai told him as he finally looked up and away from the video. "She was defending her life, as well as those of her companions. I... would have done the same."
"Yeah? Well, you wouldn't have made the guy's head explode. I do not trust that woman. I mean, how can she move stuff without touching it? It's not normal."
"Telekinesis is a highly unusual ability," Kai explained, "but it is not unknown."
"It still makes her dangerous."
"Let's just watch the rest of it, Stan," Xev sighed. "Let's see what else happens."
"Fine," he muttered, as Kai resumed the playback.
The image resumed with the group outside the front of the courthouse, apparently having found their way outside. They were greeted, just as the Lexx crew had been, with an angry mob shouting for blood. Again, the cameras seemed to be too far away from the group to pick up their voices, but en masse they turned and fled. The three women took to the air, gliding effortlessly along the streets while the two males ran. Some unheard command appeared to have been given, for the group suddenly scattered. Each headed in a different direction in an effort to escape the mob, with four of them taking to the alleyways. The woman in red, however, continued to fly up the street, so most of the crowd followed her. Once the mob had passed on, the man in black slipped out of the alley where he had hidden himself and started to run back towards the launching pad.
He had run several blocks unhindered, when he ran right into a small group of stragglers. As the band advanced upon the lone man, he raised his hands, palms up and began to shout. Kai could hear him only faintly, but it seemed that he cried : "You're afraid of germs,... take this!" Again, there was that strange wind that appeared from no where, a wind which swept past the man and over the band. Immediately, they started swatting at something on their suits that Kai couldn't see. He watched as they tore off their helmets, and started to scream: "Get 'em off! Get'emoffget'emoffget'emoff...!" They kept swatting at their own bodies, trying vainly to brush off the germs that seemed to cover them.
"I don't see anything," Xev wondered.
"Neither do I," Kai replied. "I suspect that it is an illusion, created by the man in black, since he does not appear to be affected."
Indeed, he was simply watching the performance, smiling. Then he lightly stepped to one side and continued to run to the landing pad. Once there, he overpowered the two guards with the same trick, which sent them away from their posts screaming. The man rushed to the ship and up the gang plank. He stopped there in the doorway to draw both his swords from under his coat. He stood there, panting, waiting for his friends.
He did not have long to wait. The woman in blue appeared next, soaring down onto the gangplank to stand by his side. She appeared to simply have flown over the buildings to get there. He stepped foreword to put his hand on her shoulder, she turned to hug him for a moment. Then they stood there, alert, waiting.
The image cut away once again, to show the woman in green. She had apparently been surprised by a large mob when she left the safety of the alleys. Some were shooting at her with black packs as she swooped over their heads. Others were trying to knock her out of the air by throwing clubs; pitchforks and knives at her. One thrown club caught the side of her head and knocked her to the ground, but she was up on her feet again in seconds, facing the crowd with her staff. One bold member advanced upon her, only to have the butt of the staff jammed up under his chin.
There was a strange zinging sound. Followed by a gurgling. The crowd started to scream as three feet of a metal blade appeared from the back of the man's neck. The blood hanging in red strips along its length.
The woman floated up off of the ground and began shaking her staff back and forth, trying to shake the dying man off of it. The blade, however, appeared to be wedged into the bones of his neck and she was forced to use the sole of her foot to push him off of it. The man staggered back and dropped with a thud. Kai watched as the blade vanished back into the body the staff as the woman turned a flew off. Moments later, she too, was on the gang plank. Breathing heavily and clutching her staff to her breast, she stood there with the others, waiting.
The dark man in the Brunnen-G uniform appeared next, swinging his mace over his head, bashing in the skulls of anyone who got in his way. He brought the heavily spiked ball down upon the heads of his enemies with a thunk, the force and weight causing them to fall like stones the instant they were hit. Kai and the others watched as he simply plowed his way through a large crowd, knocking people right and left as they tried to bring him down. Those he couldn't hit with the mace he simply elbowed out of the way, sending them sprawling. Xev gasped at his obvious strength, while Stan moaned and 790 growled. The crowd fell back, and the man headed towards the centipede, unimpeded.
"No wonder the Malsuds were angry," Xev whispered to no one.
The image cut out again, to show the woman in red and black last of all. Kai leaned foreword, his palms flat on the cropod controls, to look closely at the woman. She had been flying along the street, leading the majority of the mob away from her friends, only now she swerved into what looked like a wide alley.
But it wasn't an alley. It was simply a dead end, an open space under the overhang of a building, the other end was only an outer wall. She turned to fly back, but the mob had already gathered around the entrance. She couldn't fly up to escape, because the building's overhang acted as a ceiling that ran along the corridor nearly to its entrance, where the mob waited. She faced the crowd, still hovering in the air and breathing heavily. Even in the gloom, Kai could see her frown as she considered her next move. Slowly, she removed her black bow from her shoulders, reached back and withdrew two black arrows from the quiver on her back.
"You mean to tell me she's going to face that mob with arrows?" Stan demanded.
"A bow and arrows can be just as effective in killing someone as a knife or black pack," responded Kai.
She notched the arrows to the bow string, pulled it back with her right hand all the way to her ear. She paused.
The arrows were a blur as she released them. They hit the first two in the crowd square in the chest. Two more arrows followed on the heels of the first pair, hitting the ones who bent to help their fallen friends in the necks. The wounded ones staggered into the crowd, causing enough chaos so that the woman could return the bow to its former place; the string across her chest slanting from right to left, the bow itself against her back. She brought the insides of her wrists together in front of her with a firm slap, then swung her arms down to her sides in a swift movement. Kai watched as the force caused two rectangular blades, metallic blue, to fly out of her wrist braces and into the palms of her hands. She splayed her long fingers as she pressed the rounded base to the palm of her hand with her thumb, the single blades appearing to multiply, spreading themselves out with her fingers.
She then brought them up, with her palms out, to hold one in front of her forehead and the other in front of her stomach. She hung there for a moment.
"Hold it!" yelled Stan. Kai paused the image. "Just what does she intend to do with those fans??"
Indeed, the blue objects did look like fans, the blades having spread out into a pair of half circles. Kai sighed. "They are not fans, Stanley."
"Then what are they?"
"They are called ungues."
"Ungues?" Xev asked him.
"An ungue is an ancient Brunnen-G weapon, used in hand to hand combat. The blades are held together by a bolt at the base, and then kept from separating from each other by a thin, flexible metal mesh, here," he traced the curve with the tip of a long finger, halfway up the blades. "The mesh is hidden by her fingers. The upper edge of the blades," again he pointed it out, "are very sharp, like knives. Even during my life time, the ungue was used for exhibitions rather than actual battle. However, they can be very effective and deadly when used properly." Kai pushed the play button again, only to watch as the woman brought both hands up and fling the ungues at the mob, where they lodged themselves into the chests of another pair. They fell backwards as the blades hit them.
"Um... was that how they're supposed to be used?" Stan wanted to know.
"No."
The woman held up her hands, palms up. A moment later, the ungues dislodged themselves from the bodies of the two fallen Malsuds and flew back to the woman, who caught them with no trouble. She flew foreword, over the heads of the now confused crowd, swiping at them with her ungues, before darting back out into the street and away.
The image cut out again, only to show her gliding down to the same temple that the Lexx crew had been in. She paused for a moment, considering, then hurried up the steps and inside. For several long moments, there was nothing, just the image of the exterior of the temple and its closed door. When she appeared again, she was carrying something under her left arm. Kai couldn't make out what it was.
"790, zoom in on that object." The robot did so, and the image that appeared was more than a little familiar.
"It's a robot head!" Xev gasped.
"An 800 model robot head, to be precise," 790 did not sound pleased.
The woman took to the air again, flying towards her ship. The image cut out again. When it resumed on the landing pad, it became clear that the woman's flight had been observed, for another huge crowd had followed her to the ship. She threw the robot head to the man in black, who rushed inside with the other man right behind him. The woman in red was swooping down to fly into the door, when the woman in blue suddenly lifted off the gang plank and flew past her to face the crowd.
The woman in red turned, called to her companion, and then flew up to hover at her right side, another arrow notched to her bow, poised to fire. The woman in green joined them on the left, her staff ready with the gore covered blade gleaming dully. The two of them glanced at their friend in blue.
Her eyes were closed, her lips were moving but Kai could not hear her words. Again the strange wind came up, swirled around the three for an instant before dashing off to sweep over the mob.
There was a loud popping sound, followed by a whoosh.
Kai's mouth opened slightly, then he pressed his lips into a frown as one person in the lead of the mob burst into flames. This one was followed by a second, then two more, then more, until most of the crowd had burst into flames. Those who were not burning rushed to safety as the fire began to crawl up the sides of the buildings, the wind whipping it up the walls. The screams could be heard only faintly, muffled as they were by the roar of the flames.
The woman in red eased her bow foreword, the arrow still in her hand. She reached out with her left to grasp the shoulder of her friend, whose eyes snapped open as is she had been asleep. Both women seemed concerned for her, as she began to wilt between them. Each grasped an arm and flew her back to the ship. The engines were already running and a moment later the ship was lifting up off and soaring away from the inferno. The screen went dark. The video was over.
The Lexx crew looked at each other. No one said a word; Kai was starring at his feet.
They had not reached a consensus, of course. By the time Kai was ready to return to cryostasis, Stan and Xev were still arguing. Xev was sure that these "cousins" of Kai's were harmless and was all for going looking for them. Stanley, however, was terrified of them; the black-haired woman in particular. 790 also wanted to seek the strangers out, mostly because he hoped that the telepath would blow up Stanley's brain.
After listening to them for a couple of hours, Kai simply turned on his heel and walked out. He found that he couldn't listen to them hollering at each other; it grated him in a way he couldn't really define. He simply wanted quiet. Had he been alive, he might have had a headache. He shut himself into the cryopod and closed his eyes, relaxing himself before the inevitable blackness. Preparing himself...
...to open his eyes again on the dream plain. The sudden shift didn't startle him anymore. In fact, he was becoming rather used to it. The strange imagery was interesting, and he often found himself pondering its meaning even while out of cryostasis. His interest in the dreams had been going on for some time now, and had been heightened further by the sudden appearance of these "cousins". He felt that they were connected to the dreams, although he could not guess how.
He looked around, carefully, trying to spot any slight changes in the landscape around him. The tower in the distance was still in ruins, although the hanged version of himself had never appeared again. The pool had become progressively larger with each dream, until now it looked like a lake more than anything else. As he looked around, he saw that a large number of small trees had begun to spout up through the long grass. They were no higher than his knees and as a breeze swept by they bent and danced with the grass, their leaves shivering. Other then the trees, the only difference he noticed was the fact that there was no moon. In every dream thus far, the moon had always hung full and low in the sky, it's reflection rippling in the water. The moon was gone this time, the sky full of strange stars in its place, casting a much softer light over the entire scene. The grass looked as if it were a deeper shade of green, the water much blacker than before.
As the breeze became stronger, Kai suddenly found himself surrounded by tiny flower petals that were carried by the wind. He caught one in the palm of his hand and stared for a moment at the tiny, heart shaped petal. Nearly white, with a pink flush at the base, it lay in the cup of his palm like a snowflake before the wind caught again and whipped it away. Kai looked up to watch them dance by before turning his attention back to the lake.
Kai was watching the water, watching the ripples that were whipped up by the wind and the dancing petals when he saw the water begin to swirl around in circles and then rush towards the center of the lake. He frowned as the circles turned into a small whirlpool, his frown deepening as a spike of water suddenly shot upwards from the center. He was suddenly reminded of Lyekka as he watched the water spike grow and then begin to change shape. But it wasn't Lyekka who appeared before him, no more than thirty feet away.
He saw a small woman wearing a long sleeved dress of sky blue, the skirt of which reached down to her feet. The scooped neckline was trimmed with silver lace, as were the cuffs. He could see large silver roses embroidered along the bottom of the skirt. A heavy belt of gold chains gleamed dully at her waist. He could barely see her straight, long black hair through her head dress, which was surely the most delicate thing he had ever seen. A simple head band rested just above her eyebrows, the gold sharply defined by her black bangs. Delicately crafted gold feathers had been added to this, sweeping back from her temples to form wings that ended just past the back of her head. Gold chain mail, made of dozens of tiny chains with flattened disks attached hung out from under the whole, sparkling and quivering as the breeze stirred them with her hair. He could see from the way her hair shifted with the wind that it ran down her back to her waist.
She stood there as the water settled around her, appearing totally at ease standing in the middle of a lake on the top of the water. She had her hands folded before her.
For several moments, the two simply stared at each other, both silent and unmoving. The wind blowing his side lock across his face, the petals dancing wildly to some unheard rhythm. Kai watched as her face spread into a smile and she stepped foreword. Step by step she moved, her body swaying as if it were another petal carried by the wind. She moved with an ease and grace that was almost leonine, carefully placing each bare foot in front of the other, her skirt carelessly catching the water, soaking the roses. As she came closer, he could more clearly make out the features of her face, the strong jaw line, the sensual mouth, although not pouty like Xev's. Dark eyes glinted from under her black eyebrows. He was suddenly struck by the idea that he knew this face, although he couldn't remember from where. Watching her walk towards him, her every gesture seemed very familiar; he was sure he knew this woman.
She was only five feet from him when he whispered: "Empress," not knowing how he knew, but sure, suddenly, that this was who she was.
She stopped. "Empress?" she wondered out loud, her eyes crinkling at the corners as she frowned. "Me?" She looked down at her dress, then reached up with curious fingers to caress the headdress, as if she'd never seen either of them before. She met Kai's gaze as she dropped her hands to her sides, and smiled broadly. "Well then, Empress I am, I suppose. Here, at least." Her voice seemed full of affection, rich and warm like cream.
"You are Empress of this place, then?" Kai wanted to know.
"If you will have me so, then I am. But, in the world that you think of as real, I am no Empress." She was smiling again.
"What are you, then?"
She laughed at that. "No more than myself, Kai." She took a few more steps forward, and reached out her left hand so that he could steady her as she stepped to the shore. As Kai took her hand he saw what he had missed before, her long fingers easily wrapping around the back of his hand. He looked at her, green eyes meeting green.
"It was you," he whispered. She frowned again, and tilted her head slightly to the right. "It was you," he said again. "On the video, from Malsud. You were the one who left the message for me in the temple."
Her eyebrows shot up for an instant. "Yes, I did leave you a message on Malsud, but... video...I do not know what that is."
"A video is...a series of pictures, shown at such a high speed that they create the illusion of movement. Video can be used to record an event, and the cameras on Malsud recorded you and your friends, including your escape from the planet."
She was surprised, but not displeased. "Ah, I had no idea. So, you have seen me before then? Wonderful!" She grinned and clapped her hands like a child.
"You are the one sending me these dreams." It was not a question.
"Yes."
"Why?"
She smiled again. "The dreams are meant to give you a message, Kai. I simply sent the message out to you, how your mind interprets the message, and the images that are created, is beyond my control."
"What's the message?"
She laughed at that. "Normally, I would never tell someone something so directly in a dream, but, since you asked...the message is a simple one, although the meaning it carries is most profound. The message is: You are not alone."
He stepped much closer to her then, standing over her so that she had to lean back slightly in order to look up into his eyes. "How?" he demanded. "How am I not alone? How can you be my cousin when I am the last of the Brunnen-G? Who are you?"
She took a step backwards, so that they would once again be on equal terms. She met his eyes with confidence, with no trace of fear. "There are some things," she slowly explained, "that cannot be told in a dream. They require a face-to-face meeting. Don't worry, Kai, that meeting is coming soon."
"When?"
She smiled again. "Be patient. I am physically closer to you now than I have been in over a year, which is why I am able to appear to you now. I can sense you more clearly now than I ever have, so it will not be long before I finally find you."
He watched her, watched the way she lifted her chin as she spoke, the flash of the throat as she breathed, the resolve in her eyes. "Are you Brunnen-G?" he asked at last.
She grinned, her eyes sparkling like emeralds. "Yesno," she replied, distinctly.
He frowned, and looked away for a moment. "Which is it, yes or no?"
She was still smiling. "It's both, therefore, the answer is 'yesno'."
"I... don't understand."
"You don't need to." She made a sweeping gesture with her hands, and Kai watched as two silver goblets appeared out of nowhere. She handed them to him. "All you need to know is that I will explain everything when we meet. We will meet soon, and you must be prepared for it."
Kai looked into the goblets and found them empty. He handed one back to her. "What do I need to do?"
"Simple. I only ask you to remember two small things: You must remember all that you were ever taught about when your ancestors left the Dark Zone for the Light Zone, and you must try to remember all that you can about the battle with His Shadow, when Brunnis 2 was destroyed. When you were killed."
He started to turn away. "That may be more difficult than you realize," he sighed.
She was in front of him again, suddenly, her movement so swift that he hadn't even heard her feet in the grass. "Kai, I know that you have many memories that aren't yours. You must try to push aside the dross of those false memories and search for those that are your own. It will be difficult, I know, but you must try. It will make our meeting easier."
She handed him one of the goblets again. As he took it, it suddenly seemed heavier. Kai looked inside and found it more than half full of red wine. He could smell it, sweet and tangy at the same moment. He looked to the goblet still in her hand, to find it as full as his own.
"Drink," she said, smiling.
"I'm dead, I do not have a stomach," he started to hand it back to her, but she raised a hand.
"This is a dream, Kai. Your lack of a stomach in the waking world does not hinder you here. Here, if you want to drink wine, you may do so." She took a deep sip from her own cup as she finished speaking.
He opened his mouth to say that the dead have no wants, but the smell of the wine seemed very strong suddenly. He stared at the thick liquid, and found himself wondering what wine would taste like after more than 2,000 years. He couldn't remember the taste, and the smell was filling his mind until there was nothing but the smell and the gleaming liquid. Deliberately, he raised the cup to his lips, intending to take a small sip. He ended by draining the cup.
The taste filled his mind more than the smell had. Sweet, with a an under taste of roses, and a nip that remained in the back of his jaw after the wine itself had been swallowed. The taste was far more wonderful than he could ever have remembered. It brought back a flood of memories of every time he'd ever had wine of any sort, memories of dear friends long dead, of laughter and even some bawdy drinking songs that had been sung loudly in a slurred voice as he and his friends stumbled home as the sun peaked over the horizon. For a moment, he didn't know where he was, the memories and the taste crowding out all else. He opened his eyes to find her watching him and smiling. She made some slight movement with her hand, and he looked down to find the goblet full again.
Eight cups later, he was sitting on the edge of the lake, watching the water, lost in happy memories that not only were his own, but held no pain. She was kneeling by his side, her hand on his left shoulder. "In a dream," she whispered, "you can drink as much as you like and not get drunk."
"A shame," he muttered into his cup. "I think I would...like to get drunk. I think...that I would...enjoy it."
She chuckled. "I've never found being drunk a terribly pleasurable experience." He looked up at her, but she was looking off into the distance, watching the blowing grass and the flower petals dancing with the wind. "If you saw me on Malsud, then you know that I'm a telepath. I've lived my entire life hearing the thoughts and inner voices of those around me; and knowing just how often people say one thing when they really mean the opposite. Being drunk doesn't dull the voices, it only enhances them." She looked down at him and smiled. "I find them loud enough, and the last thing I want to do is make them louder." Kai was silent.
She knelt down by his side. "Kai, you must try to remember what I told you. However, I know that you may not be able to recall all of this when you wake up..." He started to protest that he would, indeed, remember, but she silenced him with a wave of her hand. "No, no, you may not remember everything, or anything at all. Such is the nature of dreams and the mind. But, Kai, if you remember nothing else, please remember that you are not alone. Remember that. You are not alone and we are looking for you. We will bring you home."
Home...he was so overwhelmed for a moment by the word itself and the meaning that it carried that he didn't notice that she had gotten to her feet and was starting to make her way back to the center of the lake. He leapt to his feet and rushed after her, his boots sending the water flying in all directions. He reached her just before she reached the center. He caught her hand and looked up at her. The water swirled around his knees as he looked up at her, standing on the surface as she was.
"I have no home," he said, his voice as neutral as he could make it.
She smiled again, and bent slightly to rest her hands against his cheeks. For a moment she simply held his face like that, looking into his eyes. What did she see there, he wondered.
"Ah, my dear," she breathed at last. "You do have one. You have a home and I can see in your eyes and hear in your voice just how much that means to you." She gently pulled his face to her so that she could kiss his forehead. "You do have a home. You are not alone. I promise." She reached up and pulled one of the gold feathers from her headdress and began tucking it into his front of his uniform. "This will come with you when you awake. It will help you to remember me."
She took a step or two backwards and sunk into the water and vanished. Kai stood there, staring at the water. He closed his eyes...
...and opened them again to find Stanley and Xev in front of him.
"Kai," Xev began, "we've decided that it should be your decision whether we go looking for these strangers or not. They claim to be your relatives, so you should decide."
He looked away, trying to decide what he should say, when the corner of his eye caught a glint of gold in the blackness of this uniform. He reached down, and carefully pulled out a feather made of delicately beaten gold, no thicker than a real feather. He held it up before his eyes, slowly turning it in the light. He could still hear her voice:
"It will help you to remember me."
He did remember. All of it.
"What's that?" Stanley demanded.
"A gift," Kai whispered. He looked up. "We do not need to look for them, they will find us, soon. And no, Stanley, they are not dangerous." He kept staring at the feather, turning it around and around in the tips of his fingers.
To be continued...
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