"Dylan, I am receiving an incoming message from Beka," Andromeda announced.
"Lets hear it," replied Dylan.
"Hey," the image of Andromeda's First Officer spoke. "Just thought you might want to know that the supply run was a success and I will be at the rendezvous point in approximately two hours."
"That is great Beka," Dylan said. "We will see you soon."
Breaking the transmission, Beka sighed and rose from the pilot's chair. She took a moment to stretch the kinks out of her tired muscles before turning to get a drink from the dining area.
"I will be so glad to get home," she thought to herself. She paused for a moment and wondered, "Since when did I start thinking of the Andromeda as home?"
Her thoughts of home were cut short as a warning bell sounded.
"Aw crap," she said aloud,"Now what?" She returned to the pilot's chair and quickly checked the readouts. According to the computer there was nothing wrong with the Maru.
"What the Hell is going on?" she screamed.
Despite her best efforts the Maru was spiraling out of control. She quickly found a small planet that would support life and headed toward it. With any luck she could set down and figure out hat was going on with her ship.
Entering the atmosphere of the planet Beka tried her best to make a controlled landing. She had a few brief glimpses of a beautiful green meadow and a clear blue lake before the image of tall trees blocked her view of all else. Despite her best efforts the Maru hit the ground hard. As the Maru came to a stop, a piece of falling debris hit Beka across the side of her head, knocking her unconscious.
****
"Where the Hell is she?" Dylan asked. "She was due here over two hours ago."
"We are doing everything possible to find her Dylan," replied Rommie.
"Then start doing the impossible," he yelled.
"Dylan," Trance spoke up timidly. "Yelling at Rommie is not going to help. You need to remain calm."
"I am perfectly calm, Trance, and just for the record yelling is helping."
"OK," she said turning to her console. "I am sorry."
"No Trance," he sighed. "I am sorry for yelling at you and Rommie. I just don't see how she just disappeared. It isn't possible that she just got lost. Something has happened. Something bad."
Dylan continued to pace the extent of command. The others kept quiet and tried their best to stay out of his way, as he seemed oblivious to anything in his path.
****
An hour later:
"Dylan, I have detected faint electrical surges from a small planet along Beka's flight path." Andromeda announced. "What type of surges?" Dylan asked.
"Unknown for now but I am working on it. It is possible they are natural to the planet. It is also possible they are man-made but of a technology unknown to me." Rommie replied. "Either way they are capable of disrupting the operations of a ship the size of the Maru if it came too close to them when they were at their peak."
"Has Harper seen the readings? Dylan questioned.
"He is checking them now."
"Let me know as soon as you know what they are. In the mean time set course for that planet."
"Aye Captain," came the ship's reply.
****
Beka came awake slowly. At first all that she was aware of was intense pain. Slowly opening her eyes, she expected to see the ruins of her ship. Instead she found herself looking up at the darkening night sky. She was suddenly aware of the fact that she was being carried on a stretcher of some kind and that she was not alone.
****
She counted four of them. They were all male and dressed very primitively. Unsure if she was among friends or enemies Beka chose to feign sleep until she could figure out where they were taking her.
She had been awake for about an hour before they approached a village. There were large fields with crops. Livestock roamed the fields at will. About three dozen small cottages lined the single road that ran through the village. Several people came out of the cottages and joined the procession. As the men reached the center of the village square Beka noticed the silhouettes of several large buildings off in the distance. They appeared to be part of a city of quite a large size.
The men placed her down on the ground, jarring her bruised body. She groaned slightly at the impact raising her hand to press against the gash on her forehead.
"So much for pretending to still be unconsciousx" she thought.
An elderly woman approached Beka and knelt beside her. Reaching out her hand she gently turned Beka's head so that she could examine the cut. She motioned to a young boy who quickly came forward carrying a bag and a basin. The woman took a wet cloth from the basin and began washing the wound on Beka's head. She took some herbs from her bag and applied them to the cut. She then expertly bandaged the wound.
Not knowing if she would be understood since not one person had uttered a word the entire time, Beka spoke anyway.
"Thank you for helping me," she told the old woman.
"You are quite welcome." the woman replied.
"You can talk," Beka was stunned by this turn of events.
"Yes," replied the woman, "As a matter of fact most of the villagers say I should learn to hush up occasionally." A chorus of nervous laughter followed this statement.
"I am sorry. It is just that I have heard no one speak since I woke up and I was a little shocked that I could understand you" Beka said with a smile.
"It would have been considered inappropriate for any of us to speak before you spoke to us."
"Why?" Beka asked.
"It is not right for lowly villagers to speak before the Sky Goddess gives permission," the woman stated.
"The Sky What?" Beka choked out.
****
Part 4
****
Dylan made his way down the corridors of his ship. He turned the corner to Harper's workshop only to run head-on into the very person he was looking for.
"Sorry Boss," Harper said, picking himself up off the floor. "I was just on my way to command to find you."
"What did you find out?" Dylan asked.
"Well first of all let me just say that this was not easy. There was no information at all in any of the regular databanks pertaining to energy surges of this kind. As a matter of fact if I wasn't such a freaking genius I doubt I would have been able to find anything at all. But then, of course, since I am a genius..."
"Enough Harper," Dylan interrupted. "You can pat yourself on the back later. Tell me what you found."
Harper just grinned at Dylan. "Well like I said there was nothing in the regular databanks so I started researching the archives. I found information about an ancient civilization called the Palorians. They were an old race that disappeared, oh, a couple of millennium ago. It was rumored that they had a type of technology that could force ships down to their home world where the crew was then taken prisoner and made to work as slaves for the royalty of Paloria. Although no one was ever able to find this technology or even prove that it existed. The Palorians always claimed that the ships simply crashed and that since they had no space travel of their own they would put the survivors to work to earn their keep. The other races finally got tired of having their ships and people stolen so they banded together to put a stop to the Palorians. However -- and believe me this is a big however -- according to the archives, when the war party arrived they found nobody home. The entire planet was deserted. It was as if the planet had never been inhabited. The buildings were there. The roads were there. Even the freaking livestock was there. But there were no Palorians anywhere to found. Rumors of the Palorians continued to show up from time to time for almost a thousand years. They were said to settle a planet, use its resources until they ran out or until their neighbors got fed up with them then they simply disappeared."
"I remember hearing of this race. When I was small we would tell stories of them to scare one another. Most people called them ' The Ghost Race'. Some even alluded to them having the powers of the Devine." Dylan said. "But there was never any substantiated evidence of their existence."
"Yeah well that ain't the strangest part of it." Harper replied. "According to Rommie's analysis that energy surge that she recorded simply doesn't exist."
"What do you mean doesn't exist?"
"I mean it is not made up of any known type of energy source. It is not naturally occurring, doesn't come from any recorded type of gas or electricity or element or anything. It shouldn't exist."
****
"The Sky What?" Beka repeated a little calmer this time.
"Sky Goddess," the old woman said. "That is what you are, is it not?"
"Well that depends on if your behavior toward me is going to change if I say no." Beka muttered. Louder she said, "We don't use that term for ourselves. Please just call me Beka. I really appreciate your help but I need to get back to my ship."
Seeing the confused look her statement caused she tried again. "My ship. It was that big, um, flying box I, uh, arrived in."
One of the men that had carried her to the village stepped forward, bowed, and spoke hesitantly, "Your ship was badly damaged. I do not think it will fly without much work."
"Just great, the story of my life." Beka said.
"Do not worry, Goddess Beka," said the medicine woman. "We will escort you to the palace in the morning after you have rested. Our God Tourk will be able to help you. He is very wise. I am Neffa, by the way, and it will be my great pleasure to offer you a place to sleep for the remainder of the night."
"Thank you Neffa. I think lying down would be a good idea right now," replied Beka. "And perhaps something to drink. Something very, very strong."
****
Part 5
****
Dylan and Harper arrived in command just as Andromeda finished explaining the Palorians to Trance, Rev and Tyr. Trance seemed particularly agitated with the information. As soon as she saw Dylan she started talking quickly.
"Dylan, I really can't tell you why or how I know or anything like that but you have to believe me when I tell you it is very, very important that we find Beka and get as far away from that planet as quickly as possible. If she stays there something very bad will happen to her."
"Trance, calm down, please. I have no intention of leaving Beka there a second longer than necessary but if you know something about the people of that planet you need to tell me."
"I don't know anything about the people, Dylan. But I do know that Beka shouldn't be there."
"Why do I feel like there is more to it than that?" he asked.
"I have no idea what you mean," Trance said. She didn't look at Dylan as she said this.
Before he could reply Rommie stepped forward. "Dylan we are within range of the planet. I am scanning for any signs of the Maru or Beka now."
"Great. Let me know as soon as you find her. And bring the planet up on visual."
All heads turned to get a look at the planet. It was relatively small. They could make out several large land masses as well as what appeared to be two large oceans. There appeared to be absolutely nothing out of the ordinary about it.
"Ship," questioned Tyr, "do you have any recorded information on this planet?"
"According to my databanks it is unnamed. Records show it as being uninhabited. Yet my scans show a population of at least two hundred humanoids. I am also picking up Beka's personal signal. She is alive."
"Thank the Devine," remarked Rev.
"I second that," Dylan said. "Andromeda can you raise the Maru?"
"Negative." The ship replied. "I get no response from the Maru. Also Beka's signal is coming from quite a distance from the ship."
"And what of the energy surge you detected earlier?" asked Tyr.
"I am no longer detecting it." Andromeda's avatar replied. "It was very faint when I first detected it, though I believe that at the time the Maru passed by it was at its highest peak. The most unusual thing is I cannot pinpoint where it came from. It is now as if it never occurred."
"Any luck finding out what it was?" asked Harper.
"No," was the only answer she could offer him.
****
Beka followed Neffa into one of the small cottages. While very small and primitive it was clean and smell faintly of herbs and flowers.
"You may take the bed in the corner." Neffa said.
"But isn't that your bed?" Beka asked. "I do not want to inconvenience you."
"It is fine Goddess Beka. I will take the bed in the loft. It was my daughter's before she married. I do not think you should climb the ladder in your condition. And do not worry, I will be quite comfortable.
"Thank you then."
Neffa poured something into a cup. She then added a small amount of powder to the cup. "Here, my Goddess. You should drink this."
"What is it?" Beka asked taking the cup from Neffa cautiously as if it might bite.
"It is simply wine, with a bit of allorian root to help relieve the headache I know you must have."
"Alright," Beka thought, "Might as well. I can't feel any worse."
After drinking the wine, which did help her headache almost immediately, Beka changed into a nightdress that Neffa lent her. She was sleeping as soon as her head touched the pillow. Neffa stood watching her sleep for a moment before making her way to the loft. As Neffa climbed into bed she murmured softly, "My God Tourk will be pleased with her, I am sure."
****
****