Sacrifice

Chapter Five

Gazing at her griforis companion, Judy felt a strange familiarity about this story.  “When you say body fluids, are you referring to blood, hemoglobin?” Judy asked, pointing to the veins showing in her wrists.

“Yes, are you familiar with this people?”

“Yes, on our world they are called vampires.  I had thought they were just fiction, made up by the vivid imaginations of writers.”

“No, Judy, apparently they visited your world.”  Her companion stopped and gazed meaningfully at her.  “Is that why your family left your world?”

“Oh, no, vampires aren’t that much of a threat on Earth.  In fact, I think most of the sightings or accounts of vampires are just someone’s overactive imagination.  Some of the vampire movies and shows I used to watch were pretty scary, but they weren’t real,” Judy explained.

“You are fortunate.  But there was still enough Vandir presence on Earth to leave an impression,” the griforis said.  “I am Miris, by the way.  I thought I had given you your name, but I must have forgotten.  I’m sorry.”

“No, you did, I was just so… so unhappy that I didn’t remember, Miris.  That is a horrible story.  So your people have been here for four hundred years?”

“Closer to three hundred, but yes, we have been here, safe.”

“But not safe enough to keep your people from dying out,” Judy replied softly.

“Yes, that is true.  Our scientists cannot determine why our birth rate has dropped so drastically in the past hundred years,” Miris said sadly.

“Living in caves all my life would make me not want to have children,” Judy said, looking up at the imposing stone ceiling.

“I don’t mind.  The caves are familiar to me,” Miris said before turning back to the computer.  “We must watch the recycler figures.  They wavered a bit while we were talking.” 

“Maybe they are familiar to you, Miris, but someday you must go topside and feel the sun on your face, smell the sweet scent of flowers in the springtime and the beauty of tree-covered mountains,” Judy told her before turning all of her attention back to the computer.  Miris gazed at her companion thoughtfully for a moment.  The two young women worked side by side until the work period ended.  When she reached her living quarters, Judy found Penny and Will. 

“Hi, Judy.  How was work today?” Will asked with a grin, wrinkling his nose.

“It was okay, although the smell leaves a great deal to be desired,” she answered, wondering what her brother had cooked up in his devious mind.  “I met a griforis named Miris.  She was nice.  Working with her made the time go by quickly.”

“After tomorrow’s work period, we’re going to get out of here and go home,” Will announced quietly.

“Will, are you crazy, making an announcement like that?  You already said they have listening devices in our rooms,” Judy admonished him. 

Will tossed a small computer chip to her.  His sister caught it and peered at it closely. “Not anymore, they don’t, although it took me a bit of time to work out a dummy visual for them to see when they check on us,” Will quipped. 

“Will, you continue to amaze me,” Judy told him with a grin.

“We’re leaving, Judy.  Will thinks he can turn off their computers so that we can escape from the caves,” Penny said brightly.  “We’ll get to go home.”  

“We’re going right after your next work period,” Will explained.  “We can’t go now, because they want us to begin training in just a little while, but tomorrow we won’t have to go to our workstations quite as early.  Hopefully, by the time they miss Penny and I, we’ll be out of here and back to the Jupiter II.”

“That’s great, Will.  If we can get out that way, it’ll keep Don and Dad from having to risk themselves dismantling all the booby traps the griforis have put into the access cave,” Judy mused.

“We have to go now.  We’ll see you tomorrow,” Will said as they left the room.  

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As the blue-white sky changed to reddish-gold, to mauve and finally a dark burgundy, John got ready to rendezvous with Dreel.  Don appeared puzzled at his choices of a staff and long knife.  “Dreel said that primitive weapons would work better.  Complex weaponry would be neutralized by the defenses in the cave,” John explained. 

“I don’t trust that alien, Professor,” Smith said.  “I don’t think you should go with him.”

“Well, I’ll tell you what, Smith,” John said with a slight smile.  “I will let the griforis know that you are willing to offer yourself in exchange for my children and then I won’t have to go with Dreel.”

“Oh, no, Professor.  I didn’t mean it that way.  I meant that you should be careful,” Smith stammered and retreated to the elevator.  

Maureen walked down the ramp with her husband and hugged him tightly.  “I love you.  Be careful and come back to me, my darling.”  She pulled his face close to hers and kissed him soundly. 

Reluctantly, he pulled back slightly and said, “I promise, Maureen, and I’ll have the children with me.”  With a slight smile, he hugged her until she gasped.  He felt none of the compulsion of the night before, and little of the self-pity.  The conviction that he had done the right thing, despite the consequences, was strong for the present.  “I have to go now.  Hopefully we’ll be back before morning,” he said releasing her.

“We’ll be waiting.  Take this, John.  You might need it,” she said, handing him a thermos.  He took it from her with a bemused look on his face, then turned toward the cave.  Coffee was the last thing he wanted right now, but he would not hurt her feelings again.  Walking swiftly, delighting in the cool evening air, he soon arrived at the entrance of the cave and waited for Dreel. 

Nervous, he paced awhile, then he unscrewed the lid of the thermos, sniffed the contents of the container and took a taste.  Surprised, John realized that Maureen knew and understood.  And apparently accepted it.  A great smile crossed his face as he slowly put the lid back on the thermos, laying it near the entrance of the cave.  He wasn’t hungry now, but figured he would be when they returned.  

Looking at the sky, he pondered.  Maureen knew what he’d done; she knew and still loved him.  She understood.  Her send-off and the thermos of blood at least showed her willingness to try and accept what he had become. He felt he was ready now.  Ready to rescue his children, ready to attempt normalcy and to learn to live with this mutation.  

“Well, John, are you ready?” Dreel asked as he and Arist approached.

“Yes, I am very ready,” John replied fervently.  “What’s the plan?  I’m know that although we’re impervious to many things, we can’t just go waltzing down this cave." 

“Go into the cave and invite us in.  I have studied the griforis defensive systems, and while most will be easy for us to pass through, there will be what you call ‘booby-traps.’  Most wounds are of no consequence to a Vandir, but you certainly want to be careful to avoid something that would incapacitate you, even temporarily.” 

“I can guess, Dreel,” he said with a wry smile as he started into the cave.  “Come on in, the darkness is fine.”  He felt a slight buzzing sensation, which he assumed was a forcefield.  There was none of the pain of his previous entrance into the cave.  Arist and Dreel joined him.  John noticed that his night vision was a bit sharper, but it was not good enough to preclude flashlights and he turned his on.  He held his staff in the other hand, sweeping it over the ground and then up and down.  A crackling on the end alerted them to an electrical field and they walked through unharmed, although John felt a peculiar tingling.  Stealthily, they continued and were startled when a door closed behind them.  A pale yellow gas poured into the cave, but although it stung his eyes, John felt no other discomfort.  They kept walking down the corridor.

They passed through various other forcefields.  “They really don’t want visitors, do they?” he asked dryly.  A sudden click, a whoosh and several projectiles whizzed through the air.  One of them skimmed across the top of his shoulder, throwing him slightly off balance.  Arist pulled a pointed rod from her leg.  He watched in amazement as the wound began closing up.  “How far do you think we have to go, Dreel?” John asked.  “Their aim might get better.”

“I think we are more than halfway there,” Dreel answered.  “And yes, you’re right.  We do need to be more careful.  We may be immortal, but, as you know, we aren’t invincible.”  Their descent became more methodical and careful, with each of them alternating as ‘front man,’ questing at close intervals for the triggering devices of the various booby traps.  Even though he was impatient, John decided it was a good thing they were taking it slowly.  Some of the traps almost seemed designed with Vandir in mind, deadly to the point of almost total incapacitation or even the permanency of a nur-Vandir demise.  There were points at which the trio was almost crawling in order to avoid projectiles that flew at them at about heart level.

The journey continued inexorably.  Finally when Dreel determined that they were near the end of the corridor, a rockslide trapped Arist.  As John was pulling the rocks off of her legs, she said, “It will take longer for these breaks to heal than you have time for.  Go on, I will come as soon as I can,” she said.  He nodded and continued behind Dreel.  There were no more traps and they soon came to a huge iron door.  John examined a mechanism on the wall.  Pulling a few small tools from his pocket, he opened the panel and looked inside.  “I think I can figure this out,” he said, taking out a tiny chip and examining it.  Soon he made a few changes and then watched in satisfaction as the door swooshed open. 

In front of them were his children.  There was a second of shock before they were all in his arms.  “John, I must say that your children are very resourceful.  My congratulations,” Dreel said, laughing, his voice filled with happiness at the reunion in front of him. 

“Dad, I just turned off the computer system controlling the cave defenses and we were working on the door,” Will said.   

“You did a good job, Will, but we need to totally disable it.  All they’d need to do is turn it back on before we reach the entrance…” He left the sentence unfinished as he walked over to the computer console.  Will joined him.  He brought up the schematic on the screen and they both studied it.  “Will, if we enter these figures here, we will create a replicating mole that will knock this system into next week,” he said, pointing to several numeric equations. 

“Sure looks like it to me, Dad,” Will said.  John typed in a string of commands, checked, and then entered them.  Several pages of computer commands flashed on the screen and then what appeared to be an illegal procedure notice blinked on and off.  Will typed in a few more commands and watched the defense indicators near the door.  They started blinking off one by one.

Grinning wolfishly, John shut down the monitor and turned to the others.  “Let’s go,” he said.  

“I hear someone coming, John,” Dreel said.   

“Judy, take Penny and Will to the door.  The system hasn’t finished shutting down, but as soon as I give you the word, get out of here.  Head straight up the corridor,” John commanded. 

“Yes, Daddy,” Judy said, her voice quavering slightly in her shock.  When Dad’s companion had smiled, she had known he was a Vandir.  She had known and then had immediately wondered about her father.  How could he have come down to the caves?  Were there Vandir hordes that Miris had talked about wanting to invade and conquer the griforis?  Had Dad contracted with the Vandir to rescue them?   

She watched her dad working side by side with Will, felt their anxiety to get the system shut down, saw the triumphant look on her dad’s face when they had succeeded.  His face was mirrored on the computer screen as he grinned, his enlarged canine teeth very evident.  Dad is a Vandir, a vampire!  How could he have done such a thing?  She remembered Miris’ retelling of the horrendous depravities of the conquerors.  No, no, not Daddy.  He wouldn’t do such things.  He couldn’t, could he? 

Judy stood transfixed as a clangorous alarm alerted their captors to their escape and she watched in horror as a group of armed griforis converged on their group.  She couldn’t take her eyes off of her father as he prepared to fight for them.  He cried out for them to run for the surface, but she was rooted, and apparently, so too, were Will and Penny. Neither of them moved; their eyes were transfixed, but their immobility was due to their concern.

Judy was also unable to stem the creeping horror at his change, revulsion she was feeling for what he had become.  Guilt swept through her as she tried to fight it but was unable to.  Judy looked at Penny and Will, and saw only concern on their faces for the danger Dad was in.  They hadn’t noticed, hadn’t figured out that there was something different in their father.

End Chapter 5