Siblings of Sol: Destruction of a Planet

Chapter 10

The dome shaped natural opening deep in the mountain behind the devotion room to the side of the Sphere Chamber, is deserted except for Kril. He has requested some private time, so he can contemplate the arrival of the Man and Woman through the Sphere. The timing of the visitors is not lost on him, as the fate of this part of the solar system could very well be decided within the next couple of cycles.

He lays back on the slightly reclined stone slab with his tail hanging between the two sloped open ledges that his legs rest on. The open pit of lava is no more than ten feet from his exposed middle section, and the heat is almost more than he can bear, but it fires his blood to flow vigorously throughout his body. He comes here often when situations arise that call for deep thought in order to solve them, demand it. The heat and the blood flow to his brain allows him to explore many avenues of an issue simultaneously, enabling him to arrive at a decision easier.

Today he is wondering about the Man that is now in Jarl's village. The Crawlers claim that he is from the planet Ter, which he still has trouble believing, but they have vast resources to draw on and are seldom wrong when they make a statement about anything. He gives in to the possibility of it being true. The problem is that at this point in Ter's evolution, the Moles are still in the trees, trying to hide from the marauding primitive Shrils, who are now working in groups to hunt for their food, developing communities of tall walls to protect themselves from the truly huge beasts that hunt them. They are starting down the road to higher intelligence and will eventually win out over the rest of the creatures, just as the Shrils did on Mur thousands of cycles ago.

He reaches over to the stone ledge beside him where a dish of finger food sits. He looks over the delicacy, which has been deep fried in a vat of honey made by the small collectors that move from flower to flower. He has nine, which is his allotment for this work period. He selects a stubby thicker one to eat first, crunching down slowly, savoring the taste of the crispy flesh and the splintering of the bone as he chews. He closes his eyes and lets the heat and the tasty morsel take him to that place in his mind where all the answers seem to come to him easily.

He works through the finger food, saving the best for last, which is the smallest of the nine, of which there is only one. He takes twice as long to chew the tiny snack, as he closes his eyes and all but falls asleep. The effect of the food and the heat makes his mind leap to possibilities, causing him to come to the unlikely conclusion that the Man from The Sphere must be from the future. A time when the moles have developed enough intelligence to operate it. The changes that the Crawlers talk about in the Man, is the point that has him concerned though. "What could have happened to cause these changes, and why does the Crawlers methods of control, not work on him?"

There is no other avenue for him to take. The only way he is going to get any answers to his questions, is to sit the man down and talk to him one on one. It is imperative that he find out the truth of what the future holds for them here on Mur, and their descendants on Ter.

Kril is nearing the end of his long-anticipated session in the lava room. It takes a very specific reason for him to request the whole room for a private session. He closes his eyes in annoyance when hears a slight noise as if someone was approaching through the twisting narrow corridor that leads to the hot chamber. Jard moves into the room and steps into his field of view, causing him to sigh deeply, because Jard would not be here unless it was something important that he knows he will not be able to get out of. "What is it that has made you interrupt my private time?"

Jard moves to stand directly in front of him, blocking the heat from the open lava pit. Kril wants to snap at him for blocking his enjoyment of the scorching heat but instead forces his mouth to stay closed almost grinding his teeth in the process. "Your presence is demanded on the balcony "Speaker", the Crawlers are asking for you. I walked as slowly as I dared to give you some extra time here in the Chamber, but they are quite insistent about talking to you immediately."

Kril sits up on the stone recliner. "OK, now move out of the way so I can stand up. My robe is on the hook over by the entrance, can you get it for me, please?"

Jard moves around to the back of the line of recliners evenly spaced around the open lava pit, to get his masters heavy robe, as Kril steps to the very edge of the pit, where the heat is so intense before it rises to the vent in the ceiling, that the scales of his skin start to redden. He can only stand the extra heat for a moment, before taking the robe offered by Jard which he hopes will hold in the heat as he pulls it tight in front of him going around his ample belly. He must step back quickly because the heat has been known to ignite the material of the robe. He turns briskly and walks to the entrance, not bothering to see if Jard follows or not.

As the Speaker for the Shril's, it is his job, and his alone to hear the requests of the Crawlers. He hurries along the corridors, holding the robe tight, reveling in the extra heat that he does not want to loss too quickly, because it will keep his mind working at peak capacity as he talks to the Crawler on his cold balcony.

He strides into his quarters and moves straight through to the thick doors that open onto the rounded balcony and the vines that grow up the side. He sticks his tongue out and tastes the air. "What can I do for you today? Has something happened that I need to know about?"

He moves his head from side to side, as he analyzes the air. "I agree with you. We need to get this intelligent Mole to answer some of our questions, but how are we to do that? He has already seen the processing chamber, and your techniques for controlling the Mole's does not seem to work on him."

He walks back and worth from one end of the small balcony to the other as he flicks his tongue out repeatedly. "I know. But how do we impress upon him that we are someone he can be honest with. What could we possibly do that would accomplish that?"

He walks to the other end of the stone floor to the railing and stops suddenly, as he spins his head around. "Send him to the Island. Did I understand you properly? You want me to send him to the Island. You do know that the young ones will compete for him because of his distinctiveness, it would be a major accomplishment to have the honor of eating such a rare Mole."

Kril looks down to the villages far below and the light they individually give off. "I know he has to be removed from the village in order to talk to him, and I can appreciate the need to maintain the rules of the villages, but how do I keep him from being eaten before I can bring him to the Fortress, for our little fire side chat."

He shakes his head. "I know the time is getting close, and we need all the answers we can get as to the aftermath of the strike, but what do we have to offer him in return for this information?"

Kril is forced to step back from the edge of the balcony, because the frigid air rushing up the cliff face is cooling him off too fast, even though his robe with the deep hood is thick and well insulated. He shivers slightly as his tongue feels the chilly air numbing the sensations slightly. "Oh, I see what you mean. It only makes sense that he would want to return through The Sphere to his time and place." He thinks about it some more and a smile comes over his scaly face and his sinister red eyes narrow to nothing more than a slit in his head. "He will probably want his female to accompany him, but she will still be in the village. I can use that fact to convince him to give us the information we need. I will set this all-in motion tomorrow. The Island is scheduled for the next period anyway, so it will fit right in with our plans."

Kril hurries back into his quarters and stands by the fire burning in the fireplace that Jard had made while he was on the balcony. Jard is standing by the door to the hallway outside, as Kril turns to him. "I suppose you heard all that?"

"Yes, and before you start telling me how wrong it is for someone to listen in on the Speakers conversation with the Crawlers, I must tell you that there is concern among the leading star gazers as to the final outcome of the strike."

Kril looks up from the fire to stare at the stone chimney where the plaque of the Speaker hangs. "I know what they are saying. I also agree with the Crawlers that the Man in the village below could very well hold the answers we need. But that knowledge will do us no good if we can't keep him from being eaten on the Island. If you have any pull with anybody, please impress upon them the importance of keeping the Man alive."

Jard nods his head before turning to leave. "Will do, but you do know that the majority of the Shril's want to go back to the old ways of hunting and taking the Moles as they once did."

"I know," is all Kril can get out, before the door closes behind Jard.