Song of the Benjai - Chapter 1 (Sci-Fi / Fantasy / Romance)

rp.keller · Just Reading Through Joined: 07 May 2008 Posts: 7

Song of the Benjai

BY Ramsey Keller ©2007 - All rights reserved

CHAPTER 1

The bed seemed to be vibrating slightly. Now it was shaking. Zeidra slowly opened her eyes, not sure if she was dreaming . . . Maybe an earthquake . . . nothing rattling . . . my god! .... Eyes . . . big black, "bug" eyes . . . no! NO! ...

"Don't touch me . . . NO! Don't touch me!!" Zeidra was screaming; it was inaudible...where was her voice?

The room was dark -- very dark . . . but they were there . . . in the shadows . . . barely visible . . . except for those gleaming black eyes. One was standing over the bed, staring at her, reaching out a claw-shaped hand toward her.

Then she realized that there was another one at the foot of the bed, holding a strange metallic instrument. Some unseen force elevated her legs. Her gown was up around her neck.

"NOooooooo!!!" She screamed silently.

Regaining her muscle control, she leaped from her bed, knocking the creature to one side as she literally flew across the room and out the opened door. Adrenaline was surging through her veins.

Where are the guards? . . . not one to be seen! . . . what time is it? The lights? No lights!! . . . Good Lord! What about the generators! Her mind was racing.

Zeidra ran through the blackness like a scared rabbit unexpectedly flushed from its hiding place. She ran aimlessly, first one way and then the other. Where are the people? . . . maybe they're all dead!!

She burst into the guards' command building. In the darkness, she could see the faint outlines of bodies lying on the floor in various positions, scattered about as if they had been carelessly thrown there, cast like dice on a black velvet slab. It was as still as death. What's that pounding? A heartbeat . . . HER heartbeat!

They're coming . . . Oh NO! . . . Here they come . . . no one here to help! Their shadows . . . insect like shadows . . . moving across the courtyard . . . must be six -- maybe seven . . . moving steadily . . . not quickly . . . just steadily. Oh god! . . . . This HAS to be a dream! A nightmare!!! They're coming this way . . . they instinctively know . . . can't hide . . . nowhere to run!

Zeidra hurriedly picked her way across the room in the dark, falling clumsily over the heaps of bodies strewn about the floor.

Upon reaching the door on the other side of the room, she literally fell out and onto the walkway, on the opposite end of the building. Picking herself up off the ground, she looked up, coming face to face with a grotesque gray entity.

Suddenly there was a sound like thunder, and instantly, a large human figure was standing behind the Alicupion; he appeared from virtually nowhere. He was just there -- dressed in black from head to toe. He wore a covering over his face, and he was holding a strange silver box above the head of the creature standing between them.

Time seemed to be suspended.

The box began to vibrate. The Alicupion turned back to see what was there, and in a brilliant flash of light, the creature vanished.

Just as instantly as the stranger in black had appeared, he disappeared. Zeidra stood there dazed, unable to comprehend what was happening.

On the other side of the building, there was another thunderous sound and huge flashes of light illuminated the sky. Zeidra saw a large Alicupion craft rising into the air, then it disintegrate overhead. Suddenly, all was mysteriously quiet.

Just then, she heard a hum and a lurch; the generators kicked on, and there was light.

She turned to look through the glass door into the command building, and she saw, to her amazement, the guards; they began drunkenly staggering to their feet -- one by one.

"Zeidra . . . Zeidra!" A voice from the other side of the building was calling her.

She looked around dazedly, still unable to find her voice. Then she saw him. He was running toward her. It was Niporo, her trusted friend and cabinet minister.

She was relieved to see him, and when he reached her, she collapsed into his arms like a rag doll.

"My god, Zeidra," he gasped hoarsely, "did they hurt you?"

"I....I don't . . . I don't think so," she replied weakly.

Niporo looked down at Zeidra's bare feet. They were stained with blood. He reached down and raised her gown slightly. The inner sides of her legs were also bloody. He didn't say a word; he swiftly scooped her up into his massive arms and headed for the royal chambers. Zeidra lost consciousness.

"Get the physicians and send them to Princess Zeidra’s chambers!" He yelled, barking the orders at the guard he saw running across the courtyard.

Niporo carried Zeidra's limp body into her chambers. He stopped short at the bed. It was saturated with blood.

Three of the temple physicians burst into the bedroom with several assistants. Quickly they stripped the blood-soaked linen from the bed, replacing it with fresh sheets.

Niporo gently laid Zeidra onto the bed. No one spoke. All who were present knew the implications of what had taken place here, tonight.

Niporo left the room as the Temple doctors began the examination.

It was morning. The Temple cabinet was in emergency session. The vote was unanimous . . . the Galactic Council of Deis was contacted . . . a security force had already been deployed. A Deis fleet was in the vicinity, and the Galactic Council was changing the orders and the course to facilitate the Ulonican request for aid to the House of Benjion.

The incident last night had been a close call, but had been routed just in time. No permanent damage was done to Princess Zeidra, but all were sure that there would be other attempts.

"This is it, men," said Meno, the head navigational officer of the Deis fleet. "Notify the others. We'll dock here." Meno was thumping his finger on the highlighted area of the star map; it was displayed on a screen, which was built into the control panel in front of him. "What's your reading, Jason?"

"Looks like you hit the spot dead on, according to my coordinates," Jason answered, manipulating various dials on the command console spread out before him and punching the information into the computer. "…..Perfect reading, Meno. You couldn't have come any closer without an over-shoot!" Jason said, commending his friend.

"So . . . get them into formation and let's lock 'em up," Meno ordered, switching off the screen. He left the command room.

"What's with him?" the radio operator asked, looking toward Jason.

"He's not very happy about this assignment," Jason said, "he's tangled with Alicupions before, but those Drothuarians bring back bad memories for him. I understand he lost thirty ships out of thirty-five last time he was commissioned to stand against those devils. Blames himself, I guess."

"That’s too bad." The officer shook his head. "But then, he didn’t have us backing him up that time." He sounded confident.

"No . . . and he didn't have the Master Kyate fighting alongside him, then; this time he'll definitely have the advantage -- and so will we!" Jason motioned for Tyrone to go ahead with the transmission.

The order to dock was given. Twenty-seven silver disks of various sizes silently drifted into position for the docking procedure; like graceful ballerinas moving in slow motion on a vast black stage, the ships glided into a circular formation. The cargo bays were opened and a telescoping duct like device extended from three sides of each craft. Robotically controlled, the connection was completed; each craft was securely joined with the others; they now became one circular solar station, rotating in place, holding the position, waiting.

Hours passed. The command ship, located at the hub of the ring, was the center of activity. After the long flight from the star system Xanthia, in the far north regions of the galaxy NT4, most of the crewmembers on the other ships, in the outer ring, had welcomed a chance to relax. It had taken four months to reach this rendezvous point, and the scheduled arrival time for the Master Kyate was still twelve hours away. The flight course had taken the ships through some hostile regions. The tension during the flight had taken its toll on the men. They had lost three craft to opposition forces, suffered numerous mechanical failures, and had trouble locating some of the unmanned supply modules. The wait was a necessary respite.

Suddenly all the alarms were going off. The microwave emulator was flashing red and orange points all over the screen.

The crew responded quickly, taking up their defensive positions throughout the modular station. Meno was back at his command post in an instant.

"Tyrone, have the others get the shields up!" Meno ordered, frantically assessing all the data now tracking across his screen in endless rows of marching glyphs. "Good Lord!" Meno shouted, "There's a whole squadron of Drothuarian destroyers moving at warp, and into our southeast quadrant! Tell 'em to deploy a tactical nine maneuver! NOW MAN! Get on that horn!"

While Tyrone was issuing the orders to the other modules, Jason was busy throwing switches and feeding data back into the central processing unit. There was a frenzy of activity on each of the individual ships.

Although not yet in visual range, the Drothuarians were bearing down on the Deis position at an incredible speed. Meno was not yet sure whether the oncoming enemy vessels had detected his fleet.

In moments, the circular unit of connected Deis modules began spinning at a rate of five hundred RPM's. Turning onto its rim, it appeared to roll out across the void like a giant wheel detached from a vehicle while traveling at great speed. It turned and veered and rose, then plummeted. Just as the fleet moved into view on the edge of the blackness, the electromagnetic shields were switched on; the Deis unit vanished from sight. Was it too late?

Besides bending the available waves of light around the craft, and creating the illusion of invisibility, the betatron motion would also refract microwaves around the hulk, impeding detection by radar.

Breaking formation, the Drothuarians fanned out into a semicircle as they closed in. It was at once obvious to Meno that they had detected something before the Deis shields were employed.

"Those devils know there's something out here," Meno said, checking his readout, and taking a visual survey. "…Looks like they’ve decided to sweep. Cut the thrust and let's just sit here . . . see what happens." He rotated the command dome to get a better look.

Tyrone issued the communication to the other modules while Jason was busy at the thrust controls.

"Get the antigravity vacuum weapons ready, just in case," Meno said. Then, pausing thoughtfully and wiping the droplets of perspiration from his brow, he continued, "Tell you what . . . let’s see if those Drothuarians would go for a ghost. -- Jason, set up a hologram of an Alicupion scout ship . . . maybe they’ll feel better if they can shoot at something!" He laughed; it was a strained, nervous laugh.

Jason immediately pulled a lifelike image of the Alicupion craft up on his screen, and initiated the hologram systems that would project the illusion of that specific craft onto the ethers just beyond the sweeping Drothuarian gunners. The other officers took their stations and began arming the antigravity weapons. Tyrone continued relaying data to the other Deis ships. The hologram setup was complete.

"Begin count down!" Meno ordered.

Jason held his breath as he engaged the projection device. Aiming the device far beyond the Drothuarians and then bringing the hologram in from the north, the illusion darted into Drothuarian range, stopped, turned, and then sped off to the west.

"….Just a high-tech video game!" Jason shouted, as he controlled the apparrition. "Hope those damned Drothuarians take the bait!"

"Get it out there further!" Meno yelled. "If they get much closer, they'll get a fix on it!"

"They're taking it by god!" Jason said sucking in his breath.

"Engage the thrusts, let's move it!" Meno called out his orders, hoping they could get back to their original position before the Drothuarians realized they'd been had. "Jason, wait 'till we're about twenty degrees east, then if you see 'em fire on you, give 'em one hell of an explosion . . . make 'em think they got you . . . make it good . . . you better damned well make it good!"

The Drothuarians were seriously pursuing the image of the Alicupion scout vessel. There were fifteen destroyers darting through the empty space, closing in on the specter. Suddenly, one of the fifteen, veered off to the east in the direction of the Deis wheel. The navigator of the craft had no way of knowing the location of the Deis ships.

"What's he doing?!" Meno yelled, "Roll, dammit, roll!"

"I can't see him, sir!" the pilot screamed back.

"They're firing!" Jason shouted.

"Who's firing?! . . . .Get this thing into a roll! Where’s that damned Drothuarian ship? .........Engage the pulsators!"

"They're firing at the hologram!" Jason yelled, desperately keying in the data that would cause the image to appear to explode.

Everything seemed to explode at once. The darkness exploded into a shower of brilliant flares, as Jason manipulated the demise of the Alicupion ghost ship; the Deis Wheel lurched to one side as the craft, careening out of control, disintegrated on impact when it hit the pulsator shields, which were set up around the invisible Deis orb.

The jolt was so violent, that the men were thrown to the floor, the systems were short-circuited, and the communications were disabled throughout the modular craft. The electromagnetic shields were about to break down.

Meno scrambled to his feet. Looking out over the darkness, he saw that the Drothuarian fleet was apparently satisfied with its kill, and was proceeding, once again in formation, toward the west. As the enemy faded into the darkness, the electromagnetic generators sputtered and died. The Deis ships immediately became visible.

Meno collapsed into his chair in relief. He exhaled a long deep sigh.
“Let’s get on with the damage control, men,” he said.

Jason laid his head down into his arms on the console. “Too close”, he kept whispering, over and over in a low shaking voice.

Everyone aboard looked at one another in disbelief as they picked themselves up from wherever they had landed, when the Drothuarian craft collided with their own.

The Deis orb crippled back to the rendezvous point and settled into a stable rotation while the crews began damage assessments and repairs.

Efficiently organized, the technicians soon had all systems up and on line. Once again, the members of the Deis fleet resumed an uneasy wait. The Master Kyate and the Deis Warrior Monks were due to arrive at any time, now.

Kyate, Master of the Deis Warriors, and spiritual teacher in his own right, had been deployed by the Galactic Council of Deis to command the Deis fleet and protect the Province of Ulonica, on the planet Earth, from the Alicupions and the Drothuarians; both groups battling for control of the planet.

The Sacred Tribe of Benjion ruled the Province of Ulonica, and the population was made up of highly advanced humans due to the education and spiritual traditions carried on by the Benjai. Of the original Benjai race, only one pure strain had survived over the millennia.

A distant ancestor of the Benjai, the Drothuarians had broken away from the Galactic Council of Deis to pursue their own power struggle with the Críonnachtian Order. Both groups, at one time, had worked together, co-creating the life on Earth and enhancing the physical and intellectual characteristics of the Earth-beings by using their own genetic material.

It had been an ongoing struggle between the Críonnachtian Order, the Drothuarians, and the humans, as to which race would rule upon Earth. With the withdrawal of the Críonnachtians, the power struggle had changed to a power conflict between master and servant . . . until the appearance of the Alicupions, that is.

28 Chapters, 326 pages, 93,000 words

Ramsey Keller: rp.keller@yahoo.com

rp.keller · Just Reading Through Joined: 07 May 2008 Posts: 7

[]

It’s all about the God Gene -- the origin and essence of The Human Spirit, and the three-way battle to defend it, control it, or steal it..

Power struggles in the universe are not always about domination, occupation, and the acquisition of resources. The essence of spirit and the advantage of having a soul are always at the crux of what we call alien abductions. The God Gene remains the coveted objective for numerous entities throughout the cosmos.

The Princess Zeidra, Priestess of Ulonica and sovereign of Earth finds herself in a destructive relationship with the cunning Niporo; a Drothuarian who infiltrates the Ulonican government and wins the confidence of the princess. While the grotesque, gray Alicupions attack from without – endeavoring to obtain the God Gene, the Drothuarians are working from within to overtake control of Earth, enslave the inhabitants, and subdue the power of the Benjai. Zeidra becomes Niporo’s only weakness when he unintentionally falls in love with the princess.

The Deis Master, Kyate, a Críonnachtian Prince and formidable Warrior Monk, is dispatched along with his fleet to protect the Province of Ulonica and the Benjai Princess from the Alicupion threat and the Drothuarian covert operations. In order to maintain his mystical powers, Kyate takes an oath of celibacy, which results in the most difficult battle of his life; it is the battle with his own will. Like his nemesis Niporo, Kyate also succumbs to his unholy attraction to the Princess Zeidra.

During a fierce three-way battle involving the Drothuarians, the Alicupions, and the Deis command, Niporo abducts the Princess Zeidra, taking her onboard a Drothuarian craft headed for another star system. Niporo is now considered a traitor to the Drothuarian objective for not turning the Benjai over to them; he’s become fugitive. To make matters worse, he is relentlessly pursed from galaxy to galaxy by the Master Kyate, who’s mission to protect the Benjai has become a personal and emotional crusade.

Overcoming war, deceit, inappropriate sex, lost mystical powers, misery, remorse, and guilt, Kyate eventually retrieves his Benjai Princess; and finds love, forgiveness, and eternal contentment.

By Ramsey Keller © 2007 All rights reserved

rp.Keller@yahoo.com

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