Sacrifice

Chapter Fourteen

John watched the stake falling toward his body with horrified deliberation, but a sharp cry echoed in the chamber, interrupting its journey.  The griforis with the stake suddenly fell across him face forward, the slender weapon clattering to the floor.  There was enough of a return of energy that John was able to shove the alien away.  Will stood over him with a weapon in his hands and a fierce gleam in his eyes.

“You okay, Dad?” he asked.

Nodding, John slowly rose to his feet.  As Will stood resolute, the pistol in his hands, John scanned the room.  He saw instantly that they were at an impasse; neither side had an advantage.  The only movement was from the leader, who was scuffling with another griforis for a weapon.  Then the professor saw a different motion, the muzzle of a pistol being brought up, aimed at his son.  As soon as he detected that movement, John jerked Will behind him.  The flash of a pistol’s discharge was followed immediately by a force slamming against his shoulder.

There was a numbness along his left side, but John ignored it, focusing on the powerful rage building up, a rage against these aliens who had twice threatened his son.  Two steps took him to the shooter, where he jerked the pistol away and then held it to the griforis’ head.  John also felt a desperate hunger induced not only by the energy-sapping device that had so weakened him, but by the rage he felt coursing through his body.  He noticed the closeness of the griforis’ neck and the pulsing of the alien’s veins.  Shocked at his blatant desire, he also saw his prisoner’s anger change to fear, and his own rage died.  Noise behind him caused John to turn quickly, his pistol ready.  He found himself facing more armed men.

Quickly, Will joined him.  “What do we do now, Dad?” he asked softly.

John gazed at the Leader, who was back on his feet, a weapon in his hand, but not pointed at either one of them.  “The next move is yours, Leader.  I came down here in good faith, but we were betrayed and almost killed.”

Turning to the guards, Leader barked out several commands.   His subordinates looked at him in disbelief.  “Put away your weapons, as I command,” he repeated.  Then he turned back to John.  “Professor, those who would have sabotaged this meeting have been subdued.  You are safe now, and, despite your acquired Vandir immortality, you need to have your wound cared for.”

“Please do not feel offended if I am skeptical about our safety,” John said, his gaze never wavering from the Leader’s face.  He knew the laser shot had burned him; the numbness along his left side persisted, even though the initial quick burst of pain had disappeared.   At this point, he had no intention of letting any of the griforis come near enough to him or Will to gain any advantage.

The guards slowly holstered their weapons.  “Even though it is hard for me to deal with any Vandir, including you, my aims were always honorable.  I had no intention of greeting you in any way other than the manner I told you I would.”  He motioned with his hand to a side corridor.  “Please, let us go talk where we can be more comfortable.”

John looked down at the pistol in his hand.  He wished at the present moment that he could just take Will and go home, but his purpose still held him in this place.  “Very well, but I will keep the pistol.”  The Leader nodded and led the way down a corridor.

With the crisis momentarily over, John experienced extreme lethargy.  He felt Will’s arm around his waist and was grateful for even the small amount of support his son was able to give him.  As they walked into a spacious and comfortable looking conference room, John chuckled softly.  “I’m the one who’s supposed to be immortal, and you end up saving me.”  He paused.  “Thank you, Will.  That was an incredibly brave thing you did back there.”

Will said nothing, he just held his dad a bit tighter and helped him into a well-padded chair.  At a hand signal from the leader, another griforis brought an armful of first aid supplies and set them down on the table in front of John.  With Will watching intently, the alien carefully removed John’s shirt and examined the wounded shoulder. 

Will grimaced at the sight of charred clothing and burnt flesh.  “Does it hurt, Dad?” he asked, gulping audibly. 

“Not really,” came the answer.

“It is healing,” the griforis doctor commented.  “Not as rapidly as I would expect…”

“Professor Robinson, what is your purpose in coming down here again, other than to tell us that the Vandir threat against our civilization is over?” Leader asked.

John blinked and gathered his sluggish thoughts.  “I have no hidden agenda, if that’s what you’re getting at.  Most of the Vandir-ent, the evil Vandir, are under tight restrictions, and the nur-Vandir have no desires on your people.”  John paused a moment to let that small revelation sink in.

“I had suspected there were two groups of Vandir,” Leader murmured.  “What is to protect us from Vandir-ent if we discontinue our defenses or leave the cave?  What is there to keep a genocide like the one that happened over three hundred years ago from happening again?”

John was taken aback by the leader’s astuteness and willingness to come up with the variant possibilities, alongside the bitter recollection of past atrocities.  “Don’t you realize what you have here?  The device that was used against me!  It’s all I can do now to stay awake to talk to you.  It sapped everything out of me.”  With this opening, he went on to explain the safeguards Dreel’s people and his allies had instituted to prevent future depredations by Vandir-ent.  While he was speaking, the griforis’ doctor finished tending to him and helped him put on a clean shirt.  It was a bit tight through the chest and shoulders, but the fabric was nevertheless soft and comfortable against his skin.  He leaned back against the contours of the cushioned chair.

“I can only imagine that a device such as ours would make the Vandir nervous,” Leader commented, a wry smile on his thin lips. 

“I can’t speak for nur-Vandir leadership.  I can only speak for myself.  I believe that this will be hailed as a breakthrough in the war against Vandir-ent incursions.  Of course, in the hands of unrestrained bigoted zealots, it could be devastating.”  The last was a pointed reference to the greeting that had met him and Will as they entered the griforis’ cave system.

Leader made no comments and John could read almost nothing into the griforis facial expressions.  However, the professor couldn’t help but think that devastation of the Vandir race wasn’t a totally unwelcome thought to the humanoid across the table from him.  The bitterness that had been harbored for centuries was hard to erase in just a few short weeks.   “The griforis would be no better than the Vandir who overran your world if you sought to annihilate their race.”  John’s comment was met by a shocked silence, the griforis jerking back in astonishment and indignation.

“You have no idea what it was like on my world!” Leader hissed, his anger palpable.

“No, but I’m familiar with my own.  I repeat; wholesale slaughter of the Vandir people would bring your people down to the same level.  It would make griforis into killers every bit as depraved as the Vandir-ent who invaded your world.”  There was another long pause, this one rife with tension.  “Your race is dying, Leader.  You cannot stay down in the caves much longer.  Do you want the Vandir-ent to have won in the long run?”

There was an extremely long pause.  “What would you suggest, Vandir,” Leader said finally, his eyes still flashing, but without the fire of before. 

John saw a slight amount of curiosity, even hope of a solution.  He decided to try to push for an advantage.  “You call me Vandir.  I am not totally Vandir, nor am I totally human anymore.  I am only someone who is concerned.  Perhaps you should open up a dialogue with nur-Vandir representatives.  Have other humanoid members of the planetary coalition with the Vandir.  You have an entire continent to develop and live on.  You have the Lorent, who could be your allies, even partners in your return to normalcy.  And why not even look at the possibility of return to your home world, if that is a desire.”

“We could never go home,” Leader said evenly, a slight touch of despair coming through in his voice.

“I can never go home, Leader,” John responded softly.  “But, if I did my research thoroughly, your home is open to you.”

The griforis leader stood, up, pulling his shroud further over his head.  John began to stand up as well, wondering if the discussion was over and afraid that he had misread the signals he had received from the alien.  Instead, the leader motioned for him to sit back down.  “I must think about your words.  Wait here.  By the way, my leadership designation, as well as my name, is Mirlos.”  He smiled slightly before turning away.  “It would appear you are right, our device is quite effective.  You do look weary.  Rest while I am gone.”  

John nodded.  “Yes, I am very tired.  Thank you.”

When the griforis had left, John closed his eyes and lay back in the chair, letting the padding mold itself to the contours of his body.  He opened them when a griforis entered the room and set a tray of refreshments on the table for Will.  Closing his eyes again, he let sleep envelope him.  There were no dreams, just total relaxation and peace.

A tapping on his arm brought John into full, if not reluctant wakefulness, seemingly only moments after he had drifted to sleep.  Mirlos sat across from once more, his gaze imperturbable.  “John Robinson, even though I was still somewhat skeptical, I did check with the Lorent and they found you to be right about our home world.  You have given me much to think about, and there is a possibility of a dialogue with this coalition.”

“I don’t think you’ll regret doing so, Mirlos,” John said, standing.  Will stood next to him.  “I make your people nervous and it is time for me to return to my family.”

“I will escort you to the outer chambers, Professor Robinson,” Mirlos said.  As they were leaving the conference room, the griforis leader saw something out of the corner of his eye.  Looking back, he saw the two laser pistols lying on the table.

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The walk up the corridor seemed interminable, even more difficult than it had been before.  John felt the weakness deepening, his hunger intensifying.  He clung to the cave wall with one hand to aid his ascent; his other was on Will’s shoulder. 

Will kept looking sideways at him, his gaze one of concern.  “Maybe we’d better stop and rest, Dad.”

“A little further, son.  The exit has to be just a little further.”  John just wanted to be out of the cave.  He wanted Will out of the reach of the mercurial factions of the griforis.  Mirlos he trusted, others, he didn’t.

They walked a little further.  Finally John stopped, his legs refusing to cooperate.  “Will, go on ahead.  Wait for me at the entrance.  I’ll be along in a while.”

“No, sir, I’m staying with you.”

“Will, this cave can’t hurt me.  It can you.  Go on.  I’ll be fine.”

Still the boy hesitated. 

“Do as I say, son!”

“Yessir,” Will said meekly.  He continued to look back as he left his father.  Finally a curve in the corridor hid his father from his view. 

John murmured a curse against the griforis’ device that had sucked so much energy from his body.  Then he began chuckling, soft laughter that grew as cold irony made its way into his consciousness.  He was supposed to be strong, practically invulnerable, immortal, and here he was, clinging to a cave wall, feeling weaker and more vulnerable than he had ever felt in his life.  Still chuckling, he continued slowly, haltingly up the incline, looking down, making sure of the placement of his feet. 

Suddenly, he felt a strong arm around his shoulders, a familiar voice in his ear.  “John, sit down, rest,” Don said soothingly, as he eased his friend to the floor of the cave. 

Maureen’s face seemed to materialize in front of him as well.  “Maureen?  Don?  How?  Did Will tell you?” he asked, his thoughts confused.

“No, the leader of the griforis called and told us you might need help getting home,” Maureen explained.  “He said something about a device depleting your energy.”

“Mirlos called?”

“Yes, he did.  You must have said something that really impressed him,” Don answered, holding a thermos to John’s lips.  John grabbed it and consumed the contents avidly.  Energy began flowing into his body with each beat of his heart and he relaxed against the chill wall for a moment before getting to his feet.

“You going to be okay?” Don asked, amazement clearly evident in his voice.

“Yes.”

“Damn, that stuff works fast.”

Maureen put her arm around his waist, holding him tight, and he gratefully accepted her comfort, even though he didn’t need her support.   He bent down and kissed her soundly.

“Let’s get out of here,” he murmured.  Steadily they made their way to the Jupiter II. 

“Hate to tell you this, John, but it’s daylight on the surface,” Don said.

“I don’t care.  The Jupiter II isn’t that far from the entrance, and I want to go home.”

End Chapter 14