The Scalian Legacy
Chapter Thirty Seven

Jack had been tossed around quite a bit. He could only hope it meant the alliance forces had been successful. Regardless, he had done all he could for the mission. Now, he just wanted to try to stay alive as long as possible. Maybe he could make it to where the Scalians kept their prisoners. But, the Scalian guards just outside the door were likely seconds away from pretty much ending his life. He looked at the FPE gun, but he was no match for trained warriors with this little gun. Then, he remembered the bombs. They weren’t very powerful, but what if he threw both of them just outside the door? Maybe he could escape to a safer place.

Jack took the small half-sphere explosives out of his pocket. He slid open the lid and set the timer for one second. Then, he opened the door and threw the two bombs out just a moment before they were going to blow. Jack heard a loud explosion as he turned away from the door. He was bracing for someone to come in and shoot him, but no one came. He turned slowly and looked outside. Ten Scalians were lying on the ground unconscious. It worked! Jack could now look for his brother and Marcelo.

As Jack walked towards the door, a laser from outside hit him in the leg. Jack jumped back inside the room and to the side of the door as two more blasts just missed him. Meanwhile, he had a fairly large gash in his right thigh that seared with pain. He glanced to see who was firing, but he couldn’t see any one, and no one was charging in, either. He couldn’t see where the shots were coming from, but he prepared his FPE gun nonetheless. If someone came in, he’d at least try to take down a Scalian or two before finally succumbing to this enemy.

Just then a Scalian appeared through the door. Jack fired at him as quickly as he could, but the Scalian seemed ready for the attempt as he moved out of the way and the shot missed. The Scalian then shot and hit Jack’s arm, knocking Jack’s FPE gun out of his hand. Now, Jack’s forearm burned with intense pain as well. That was useless, Jack thought to himself.

Jack expected the Scalian to finish him off, but he didn’t. He just stared at Jack, who was noticeably suffering and incapacitated by the large gashes on both his right thigh and right forearm. The Scalian was dressed in a green robe and was holding a rather sturdy-looking rifle that apparently shot lasers instead of bullets. He was massive at nearly eight feet tall, very broad and quite hairy. His face was wide and he snarled at Jack showing his rather nasty and sharp teeth.

The Scalian then took out a small device from a pocket on the side of his robe. He then spoke in that rough language that Jack remembered hearing when he first saw Scalians while perched on the leg of the ship that visited Earth. As he concluded, a computer voice began emitting English from the small device the Scalian had taken out. “You have caused a lot of trouble for me, little human.”

I caused troubled? Jack thought to himself. These things are trying to end the human race and I caused trouble? Jack remained silent not understanding why this Scalian wasn’t killing him.

“Before I end you,” the Scalian said through his interpretation device “I wanted to ask you a question.”

“I don’t appear to be going anywhere.” Jack answered with scorn and then heard Scalian words emitted from the interpretation device.

“Why do you and your other friends look so different from the other humans?” the Scalian asked.

“What?” Jack was confused. “You don’t know? I guess they didn’t tell most Scalians.”

“I’m not most Scalians!” He snarled. “I am the captain of this ship!”

Suddenly Jack remembered he had seen a Scalian with a green robe when he saw Marcelo and his brother taken off the ship that had visited old Earth. “You were there, weren’t you? You were on old Earth!”

“Old Earth?” Rauug looked confused. “I lead the team that picked up your other odd-looking friends, yes. But, why did you call it old Earth?”

All of a sudden, Jack realized the Scalians had not shared the details of Project Redemption with their own people; not even those participating in the mission itself. “Because that’s why I look different. You picked up my friends and me from Earth as it was three thousand years ago. My type of human species no longer exists. We died out hundreds of years ago. That’s why you’ve not seen anyone like me before.”

Rauug’s shock was evident even to Jack. Jack could almost see the Scalian putting things together in his head. “Yes,” Rauug began. “That makes sense! There was no need to prepare for a counterattack, because they weren’t expecting one. There was no need to focus on anything other than this project, because if it was successful then nothing else would matter. It didn’t matter how many Scalians died because all would change when this was done.”

“Yes,” Jack replied solemnly. He could see the Scalian seemed impressed by the plan and not exactly horrified at the specter of being a party to the genocide of an entire species. “If you succeed, then humanity will cease to exist about three thousand years ago and thus everything changes immediately to some new reality, and no one will remember any of this.”

“Brilliant.” Rauug was indeed in awe of the plan. His faith in Nagaran had proved correct. They had been provided Scalians with graces beyond even Rauug’s expectations. He glowed with pride, but something still bothered him. “I just don’t understand why they wouldn’t share this plan with more Scalians. While it is certainly risky, I think all Scalians would support this plan. We would do anything to support the cause of Nagaran. This would have avoided a great deal of rebellion.”

“That’s it!” Jack yelled out loud. Rauug readied to finish him off. Jack then waved his hands to let Rauug know he wasn’t threatening him, although Jack couldn’t see how he could, even if he were to try. “I know why they haven’t shared this with you.”

“Why?”

“Because then you would eventually realize the truth about Nagaran.”

“What truth?” Rauug said.

“That it wasn’t your god that visited Scalia three thousand years ago with advanced technologies to share and a new edict to eradicate other species. It was just a Scalian from the future, manipulating your entire species.”

Rauug was about to dismiss the accusation, but then began to piece things together in his mind. Just as his sister had said, the old teachings never even mentioned other species and focused only on respect for others and strength of will—the core tenets of the Nagaran faith. Why did Nagaran suddenly focus on treating other species differently instead of his core teachings when he visited? Were they being fooled as his sister had said? Rauug fought back the doubts. How could he question Nagaran like this? It couldn’t be.

“Think about it,” Jack persisted. “The timeline matches up. The wormhole goes back to the same time that Nagaran appeared. That can’t be a coincidence. Why else would they keep this from you? In fact, if they kept it from you, they probably know that this is all a lie and have known for quite some time. I wonder if it’s been passed down through the centuries. They could even have manipulated situations to reinforce the teachings!”

Rauug could feel the internal struggle building within him. He thought through all he knew about history and tried to use reason as his sister implored of him. Could the facts he had founded his entire belief on have been manipulated for centuries by his leaders? Had all of this suffering been simply for their own power and greed? No, it couldn’t be!

Jack sensed that Rauug was having difficulty accepting what had to be a major shift in his reality. Jack was about to speak again, when his dream about playing chess with a hideous creature suddenly came to mind….The horse! He suddenly recognized the horse. It was a Scalian! It was as if his subconscious already knew that the only way to survive was with the help of the Scalians, themselves.

“I can’t imagine how all of this sounds to you,” Jack said with renewed intensity. “But, if you don’t do something, then all of this will be forgotten soon and your people will continue to go against Nagaran’s true will. Think about it. If Nagaran is some kind of all-powerful being, why would he have hatred towards all other sentient species? Your morals are not so much different from those of other species, and yet Nagaran hates us all? What if Nagaran was disgusted with all of this and is trying to set things straight? Perhaps this is why I was allowed to miraculously end up here in time to talk to you.”

“Or perhaps it’s just a test of my faith.”

Rauug tried to control his emotions and organize his thoughts as he tried to cope with the possibility that he had been led astray his whole life. If this was all true, then some Scalian, perhaps even the emperor or Tarza himself, had used Nagaran to create an empire to dominate the galaxy! They had forced billions of Scalians to fight for a fake cause, simply to acquire more power for themselves. This would indeed be a complete abomination of Nagaran’s will. Even more, Rauug himself was about to lay down his life for these devilishly altered beliefs.

Rauug was still struggling with himself when Scalian guards from the level above lowered themselves into the room through the missing walls. They noticed Jack lying hurt on the floor and their captain pointing a weapon in his direction. Rauug raised his arm towards them to indicate that they hold their fire.

“Please.” Jack pleaded to Rauug one last time. “Don’t end yet another species for no reason.”

Rauug turned off the interpretation device as he had heard enough.

“Take him to the brig,” Rauug ordered in his Scalian language as he pointed at Jack, “and get some medical attention down here for these.” Rauug pointed at the unconscious Scalians just outside the door.

He then turned and left.

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