Plait the Prison Planet
Issue #7
by Tom Zjaba

Chapter Seven
No Turning Back

    The men return to Putnar's fortress to discuss further plans. Now that Putnar has proven that he has a working teleporter, it is time to get the plan on disabling the main fortress underway. They enter Putnar's dining room, for lack of a better title. It is the room where the Grey Ranger first met Putnar. The Grey Ranger, Tredd and Putnar sit down for a meal and to discuss their plans. The Regael stands behind Putnar. He does not choose to eat with them. Regael prefer their meals live and usually feast on other insectoids. Most people are disgusted when they see them kill and devour their prey. This has forced them to eat in solitude. As the Colonants bring food to the table, Putnar grabs a handful of some kind of fruit and begins eating. He looks over at them and says "Help yourself. There is plenty for everyone." As they reluctantly dig into the growing piles of food that continues to grow as the Colonants keep bringing it out, Putnar speaks up. "Now that I proved to you that I have a working teleporter, are you with us?" The Grey Ranger looks up at him and says "Yes, we are with you." Putnar smiles and says "Great, I didn't want to kill you." He then breaks out laughing. Tredd laughs as well, but it is a worried laugh. The Grey Ranger just looks at him, showing no emotion. This causes him to stop laughing. "I forgot, your race doesn't have a sense of human." The Grey Ranger then asks "So what is the plan on what is our role?" Putnar takes a big bite out of a Rooter leg. His mouth is full of cooked meat as he begins talking "Once you figure out how to control machines, then we will head to the fortress and you will control the robots and allow us to pass. Once we are inside the fortress, I will send the Burning Colonants to destroy the distruptor field. Then we will head back to the teleporter and teleport to one of the ships that circle the planet and either take control of it or try to get to one of the escape pods and fly off." The Grey Ranger continues looking at him as he says "Not the best thought out plan." The smile leaves Putnar's face as he says "Do you have a better plan?" The Grey Ranger continues to look at him. "I would need to think about it. But we will need allot of men if we are to take out one of their destroyer ships that orbit the planet." Putnar laughs and says "We will have the element of surprise on our side. The last thing they will expect is for us to teleport onto one of their ships. If we hit them fast, we should be able to disable them. I know it is a big risk and there are allot of things that can go wrong, but it beats dying on this planet." The Grey Ranger nods in agreement. While he feels it is a suicide mission, he would rather go out fighting than to be killed on this planet. And when word of their betrayal gets back to his old boss, there won't be a safe place on this planet.

    Azrael looks up and down the pass. This is the same place the last ambush took place and he fully expects to be ambushed again. Only this time, he does not have the Grey Ranger. He has been able to hold off ambushes before the Grey Ranger ever came to this planet. But it doesn't make it any less dangerous. He looks around the cliffs for any sign of movement. Everything looks clear. He breathes a sigh of relief and sends the caravan forward. The snorts start making noise as they do not want to continue. They are quite content to sit still. But Azrael knows he has a deadline and wants to get back as soon as possible. He knows there is something not right about at scroll he received. The seal looked legit, but he cannot figure out how it arrived before him. And he has specific orders to bring the Grey Ranger back. But who is he to argue. He will discuss it with his boss and let him decide what to do.

    Once they are completely in the pass, Azrael sees something move. He cannot see what it is, but he can see dozens of things moving in the cliffs. He pulls out his home made binoculars and looks around. He definitely sees movement among the cliffs. He then scans the other side and also sees lots of movement. There is definitely activity in the cliffs and that is not a good sign. He curses that he is driving a snort as they are slow beasts. He turns back to the first set of cliffs and looks. He can now see what is moving around the cliffs. They are Colonants and there are hundreds of them. They are no longer staying hidden. They are on the move and they are rushing down the cliffs. He quickly turns back to the other side to see they are now coming down on that side as well. "Damn, this is a set-up." he says as he pulls out a weapon. "Men, prepare to fight." he yells out. He knows it is a losing cause, but he has to try and escape. He readies himself as the hundreds of Colonants head down towards the caravan.

    The battle is over quickly. The Colonants greatly outnumber the caravan and it isn't long before they are all wiped out. The only survivors of the ambush are the snorts. The Colonants set them free. But all the men are killed and Azrael's head is removed and taken as a trophy. All the supplies are also taken as the Colonants want no trace of the caravan left. Within a few hours, there is no sign of any battle. With everything taken care of, the Colonants head back to Putnar. While this won't stop his old boss from looking for the lost caravan, it will delay the time it takes him to react. And that time may be enough for him to get off this planet.

    The next day, Colonants are sent to wake up the Grey Ranger and Tredd. They find the Grey Ranger in meditation and Tredd is fast asleep. With the safe surroundings, he is sleeping better than he has in years. They come into the room and are stopped by the Grey Ranger. "What do you want?" he asks the insectoids. They understand him but he does not understand them. They just gesture for him to follow. He walks over and wakes up Tredd, who is not happy to be pulled from his deep sleep. "We are being summoned." he says to the barely awake Tredd. "I knew the sleep had to end." he says as he wipes the sleep from his eyes. He slowly pulls himself from the bed and yawns as he slowly stands up. When he looks over and sees the Colonants waiting for him, he speeds up a bit. "Don't want to keep our new boss waiting." he says as he quickly dresses.

    The Colonants take the Grey Ranger and Tredd back to the dining room. As they enter the large room, they notice that Putnar is not alone. He is sitting next to a man with a very large head. His head is very long and thin. His eyes are quite large and he has a peaceful look to him. He wears long robes, much like the Regaels, but he is no insect. The Grey Ranger is impressed by the sheer size of his head. As Putnar sees them enter the room, Putnar stands up and says "Come in, I have someone that I want you to meet." The Grey Ranger is unsure what to make of the man, but he has put his full faith in Putnar and he must trust him. "I want you to meet Zolnar. He is a psychic from the planet Redale." The man puts his hand out for the Grey Ranger to shake. At first he is weary of shaking hands with a stranger, but as he looks at Putnar, he can see that he is urging him to do it. The Grey Ranger shakes his hand as Zolnar looks deep into his eyes. "Yours is a race that I have not seen before." he says as he looks at him. The Grey Ranger responds "I have not dealt with a psychic before." The man smiles and says "Then we are even." As they let go of each other's hands, Putnar speaks up "I brought him here to help you learn how to use your powers." The Grey Ranger looks back at Zolnar and asks "Do you know how to control machines?" Zolnar laughs and says "No, I don't have that power." After hearing this, the Grey Ranger looks back at Putnar and asks "Then how is he going to teach me?" Zolnar quickly speaks up "I may not know how to control machines, but I know how to help you figure out how to do it. My psychic ability is being able to explore a person's mind and find answers, no matter how well hidden they are." The Grey Ranger is skeptical of this, but he agrees to try it. He knows that he is the difference on whether or not they can leave this planet.

    The room is very dark room and very small. There is a bed against a wall, where the Grey Ranger is laying down. He looks up at the ceiling while candles flicker around him. At the side of the bed are Zolnar and Putnar. Zolnar is right next to the Grey Ranger and Putnar is back a few feet. "Now just relax. This will not hurt at all, but it may get a bit uncomfortable." The Grey Ranger looks at him and then returns to staring at the ceiling. Zolnar rubs some oil on his hands as he begins to chant. The translation chip in the Grey Ranger's head does not recognize the chanting, so it is either a language that is unknown to the Federation of Planets or it is gibberish. He keeps the chanting up as he takes his oiled hands and places one on each side of the Grey Ranger's head. He moves his hands in a circular motion, with slow and gentle strokes. After a minute, he stops his hands, but leaves them resting on the sides of the Grey Ranger's head. "I will now begin exploring your mind." He moves over onto the bed and moves his head until it is only inches away from the Grey Ranger's head. When their faces are facing each other, he closes his eyes.

    As Zolnar concentrates on the Grey Ranger, he makes a mental connection. With the connection made, he begins probing his mind. He begins going deeper and deeper into the memories of the Grey Ranger. He sees a memory where the Grey Ranger is moving his way through a dark temple. He looks very tired and shows signs of a struggle as his clothes have rips and there are nicks on his skin. He moves through a thin corridor towards a light in the distance. As he reaches the light, he sees a book sitting on an altar. The book sits on a what looks like a pair of skeleton hands that cradle the book. The room appears empty, save for four stone statues that sit in each corner of the room. The Grey Ranger looks at each one. They are all statues of soldiers with large swords and armor. Around the altar is a circle made up of symbols. There are four different symbols that keep repeating over and over. The Grey Ranger pulls out his war hammer, which he brought just for this room. He was warned that the room was guarded by four of the warrior kings of old. As he steps into the room, quickly looks back and forth, making sure none of the statues come to life. As he steps into the circle that surrounds the altar, the statues begin to move. He knows there is no turning back now. As the statues start moving, they shake off the dust from sitting still for ages. Taking advantage of the moment, the Grey Ranger rushes over to the statue that is closest to the door and strikes with his war hammer. He hits it hard on the arm, cracking the stone arm and knocking it off. The arm and the sword it was holding, both crash to the floor and break into smaller pieces. The statue, which looks like an angry man with a long beard and a headdress that resembles a large snake, raises his other arm and swings at the Grey Ranger. He easily moves out of harm's way. He then takes the war hammer and strikes the statue in its legs, breaking off one of its legs. The statue falls to the ground and breaks apart.

    While this is happening, the other three statues move towards the Grey Ranger. They slowly lift their arms that are holding their weapon and come towards him. He rushes towards the next statue and before it can bring down its arm, runs into it, driving his shoulder into the statue and pushing it back, until it hits the wall with a loud crash. The impact sends cracks through the statue and it begins to fall apart. As it falls to the ground, the Grey Ranger picks up its stone shield. He turns to see one of the other statues getting ready to strike him with a large, stone axe. He grabs the shield and tosses it at the statue, hitting it right in the head and knocking its head clear off. As the head falls to the ground, the statue takes another step forward and then just falls over. The last statue begins moving towards him, oblivious to the fact that his three comrades are all destroyed. He continues to move towards the Grey Ranger, one step at a time. The Grey Ranger lifts his war hammer above his head and runs towards the statue, swinging down hard at the statue. The statue lifts up its stone shield and stops the hammer from causing harm. The shield cracks in two from the impact and the statue discards it. It then swings it stone mace at the Grey Ranger, who uses his great strength to catch it and stop its impact. The statue is surprised by this as it does not expect anyone to be able to catch and stop a mace. The Grey Ranger then pulls the mace from its hand, ripping its hand off as it hold on tight. He then takes the mace with the hand hanging from it and bashes the statue's head in. He hits it over and over until the head just breaks apart.

    With the statues out of the way, he heads over to the altar and grabs the book. But the hands do not let go of the book as the hold onto it. The Grey Ranger then looks down at the book and is amazed that the very actions he just did are in the book. He then looks at the book and sees that it has written in light pencil, the actions of what is to happen. As he looks at the back pages, he sees that in ink are what has already happened. He has heard of the Chronicles of Infinity, but did not know what it was. But as he watches the words about the battle he just fought go from pencil to ink, he realizes that the book foretells the future. Once the future becomes reality, then it is set in ink that cannot be erased. Realizing how powerful and dangerous this book can be in the wrong hands, he decides to destroy it. He reaches into his pack and pulls out a flask of oil. He pours it over the book and the altar. He then takes out some tinder and starts the book on fire. As it burns, the flame grows bigger and brighter. Realizing that things may get dangerous, he turns and runs out of the temple.

    Once outside the temple, he sees a flame shoot out of the top of the temple. It is bright blue in color and soon it consumes the entire temple. The whole temple goes up in flames and soon it collapses. Zolnar is surprised by this and realizes what put the Grey Ranger on this planet. But this is not the memory he looks for, so he goes deeper in his mind for an earlier memory. He comes across one that is from much earlier. As he views the memory, he sees the Grey Ranger as a young boy. He is wearing a long robe with a hood over his head. He is sitting in a wagon with an older man. They are riding down a dirt road. The cart is being pulled by two large elk like animals. They have large set of antlers on their heads and short brown fur. But they have a wide brush like tail, similar to a horse. They also long beards like a goat that hang from their faces. The wagon is heading towards a town full of people. As the wagon pulls into the town, it slows down. People slowly move out of the way of the wagon. The people look up at the two of them and whisper as they stare. The Grey Ranger knows they are staring at his glowing eyes. He also knows they are staring at his father, a Ranger Elite. While the Ranger Elite are the guardians of the realm, they are also feared. Very little is known about them and most of what is spoken is exaggerations. While they are trained to be the best fighters, they are not cold blooded killers they are made out to be. They follow the orders of the Emperor and sometimes they are forced to do things they do not agree with. For this, they are feared and in some areas, loathed. But they are rarely bothered for fear of being killed. As the wagon pulls in front of a mercantile, it stops. The Ranger Elite climbs from the wagon and looks back at the Grey Ranger and gives him a stern stare that tells him to remain in the wagon and not move.

    As the young Grey Ranger sits at the wagon, he hears the sound of laughter. He hears some boys and girls looking at him and laughing. He continues to stare forward, not moving to see where they are. "Why don't you come down and play?" a voice says from his right. He tries to ignore the voice, knowing his orders are to not move. "Hey, I'm talking to you. Come down and play with us." the voice asks. Still he does not move. He then feels the wagon move a bit as the boys climb up. He can tell there is more than one kid on the wagon. He feels a hand on his shoulder, shaking it gently. "Can you hear? Hello!" There is a pause as the kid waits for an answer. He then gets in front of the Grey Ranger and waves his hand in front of his face. "Hello kid." he says. Then he stops as he notices his eyes. "What are you?" he screams as he pulls the hood. Beneath the hood, he sees the bald, grey head and the large glowing red eyes. He screams as he steps back., frightened by the strange look of the kid in front of him. All the other kids also scream out. "You're a freak." the kid says as he points at the Grey Ranger. He then climbs down from the wagon and grabs a rock. He throws it at the Grey Ranger, hitting him in the side of the head. While the rock hurts, he does not flinch, nor does he show any sign of pain. "Get out of our town, you freak." the kid says as he picks up another rock. He goes to throw it, when he feels something stop him. He turns around and sees the Ranger Elite looking right at him. Their eyes meet and the steely glance of the Ranger Elite is enough for the boy to drop the rock. Once he lets go of the rock, the Ranger Elite lets go of his hand. The boy runs off screaming as do the rest of the kids. With them gone, the Ranger Elite puts his supplies into the back of the wagon and climbs up next to the Grey Ranger. He pulls the Grey Ranger's hood back up on his head, covering him back up. He then gives him a look of approval.

    Zolnar then goes much deeper into his mind. He reaches back to his earliest memories and comes across what he is looking for. The memory is of the Grey Ranger's father who is talking to him. "Son, as my father did and my father before him, I am sending you to a new planet. You will learn from its people and when the time is right, you will learn of your destiny. We are travelers of the stars. We call no planet home, but we are at home in the great cosmos. We live a life of solitude, only coming together to exchange information and to bring on the next generation of star travelers. I am now giving you the gift of controlling machines. It will allow you to travel the cosmos with any machine you choose. The knowledge of this will sit in your mind until it is time for you to use it. I hope you find peace on the planet we are sending you. Good life and good knowledge." Zolnar smiles as he now has the memory. He brings it out and makes the Grey Ranger's mind aware of it.

    As the mental connection ends, Zolnar moves away and smiles. He looks at Putnar and says "I found it!" The Grey Ranger slowly comes to and as he sits up he looks around. While he was aware of it, he was helpless to keep Zolnar from probing his mind. He then looks at Putnar and says "I know how to control machinery. We are leaving this planet." Putnar claps loudly and says "Great!"

Plait the Prison Planet 2007 © Tom Zjaba

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