"We'll need to get him to a doctor right away. The tumors won't be aggravated anymore, but apparently they won't disappear either. I'm not sure how we're going to find a human doctor, but I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."
"I would offer the skills of our people, but we do not understand your physiology," Selendis said. "Yet.. .perhaps we may be of some help regardless. The tumors were created by exposure to protoss mental energy, which—"
She froze. Her head whipped around. Before Rosemary could blink, Selendis had clenched her fists and summoned two brightly glowing blades from the bracers that encircled her wrists. Razturul emulated her, his blade glowing a bright green rather than a cool blue. Mohandar and Vartanil, too, had tensed, all four protoss staring down the corridor.
"What the hell's going on?" cried Rosemary. They had returned her weapons to her, and now she reached for the rifle she carried strapped to her back.
"The Alys'aril is under attack," said Selendis.
CHAPTER 19
AS IF IT WERE FATE, ALTHOUGH ZERATUL WAS not certain he believed in such a fixed concept, the planet that Jacob had named "Pegasus" was located in the same sector as Ehlna. He realized that the dark templar had even visited the planet briefly in ages past, assessing and then dismissing it as of no real importance. Ah, if those earlier explorers of this world had only known.
Moving swiftly into orbit in the Void Seeker, Zeratul was glad of the closeness of his destination. Experienced as he was, he knew both the necessity of careful consideration and swift, decisive action. What burned inside him was neither. It was a strange sensation of urgency, almost anxiety, that sang in his blood now. Was it simply that finally, after too long spent brooding in isolation, he was again engaged in action? Perhaps.
Perhaps not.
Surely some of this sensation was due to the fact that Zamara had clung so tenaciously to life, of a sort; what she had to impart was vital indeed. Combined with what Zeratul already knew, it was logical to fear and to wish to do something, anything, quickly. But he wondered if it was more than that.
He took the ship through the atmosphere, his fingers moving lightly over the crystal that carried his mental instructions to the
vessel. A holographic image of Pegasus's surface appeared. It was exactly as it had appeared in Zamara and Jake's mind. There was the enormous rock formation, looking like a hooved beast with wings. And there—
The xel'naga temple. Zeratul forced himself to remain calm as he looked at it. He felt privileged in this moment, to behold such a thing. Luminous, glowing green, this was a wild temple, not a planned, structured, organized one such as the one on Shakuras. And yet Zeratul realized, temple indeed it was. Something marvelous and sacred and wonderful was to be found here.
He gazed at it a moment longer, drinking in the sight as he might absorb nutrients from the cosmos, and feeling as nourished by the act. Then he mentally directed the ship to move closer. He would land and approach on foot. Answers were here, he knew it in his bones. He would—
A bright white zigzag suddenly danced across the top of the temple, and with a thought Zeratul swerved away from it. What wasgoing on? From a distance he watched unblinking as the crack spread across the surface, which was glowing even brighter than it had before. Zeratul suddenly recalled Zamara sharing the story of her death with him and Jacob. She had crashed her vessel into such a temple—but one that was a dull green-brown, not this radiant, vibrant green. Zamara had known by the color that—
The energy creature. These temples were eggs—chrysalises. And Zeratul had arrived just in time to bear witness to the hatching of the being housed within. Perhaps that was what he had sensed—the urgency, the need to arrive soon before it was too late.
He watched, enraptured, as the surface of the temple-chrysalis seemed to bow, straining against the white zigzag crack. Suddenly, it shattered, and Zeratul stared at something that was as far beyond his ken as his people must have been to the humans upon first contact.
Beautiful. It was exquisitely, radiantly, gloriously beautiful. It burst through its shell as if propelled, this white, glowing entity of pure light and energy. It should have appeared hideous, displaying as it did tentacles, odd feathery wings, and enormous eyes that shone with a light so bright that Zeratul was forced to turn his head and close his own. But it was not hideous. It hovered over its discarded shell that even now was starting to dim and turn greenish brown, dancing in the air for a moment. Turning back to look at it through slitted eyes, Zeratul's spirit soared. It was powerful; it was potentially lethal, and if it turned its terrible, wonderful attention upon him and destroyed him now, he would die in happiness.
But the energy being, so new and fresh, had no concern for Zeratul. It hovered for a moment longer, then shot upward as if propelled, moving with a clear sense of purpose. For a precious second Zeratul was too startled to do anything, but he recovered swiftly and began to follow it.
Home.
More than something so simple, this moon was the site where Ulrezaj had first embraced his destiny. But like all things that birth one's fate, this world had a hold upon him, and he had returned many times ere now.
The unique manifestation of energies that had enabled Ulrezaj to begin his transformation, his becoming, had also necessitated that hereturn here when he was depleted. And so he had done over the last four years, a silent shadow slipping unnoticed into the deep waters of Ehlna's ocean, settling downward until the surface light faded to darkness, only to find brightness again in the illumination of a cluster of glowing crystals.
She was here already, the clever prey he hunted: somehow she had learned of Ehlna, of the Alys'aril, of the memories that could be housed here by means of research, skill, and intellect rather than a
disturbing accident of birth. How Zamara had learned of the site he neither knew nor cared. In the end, it did not matter. The freakish preserver and the uncountable memories not her own would die, and the secret would be safe.
If he could have closed his eyes in pleasure, he would have, at the sweet sensation of gathering strength and restoring himself. He would not be able to fully regain the energy that he had expended in the recent battle; he lacked the time. His enemies were right behind him. Ulrezaj knew well that it was not for him that the zerg had come, but for the same prey he himself sought. He could afford to linger only the barest amount of time, so that he could fight and destroy both Zamara and the zerg. Once that sweet goal had been achieved, then he could rest and enjoy the healing and peace a full restoration would bring.
But ah, it was good, to begin to shed the weakness as he had shed his physical form. He would enjoy this.
Thoughts were exchanged between the protoss so swiftly that Rosemary didn't even have time to process them on a conscious level, but she got the gist of it. The Alys'aril was pretty much defenseless, at least to her and Selendis's way of thinking. There was an energy shield that could be erected to protect the building and its precious contents from the devastation of weather or other environmental dangers, and in a pinch—which gosh, Rosemary supposed this was—the alysaar could augment the shield with their own mental abilities. Thoughts on how this would be accomplished were flying, and Rosemary winced from the speed and intensity of them.
"Who's attacking? What's going on?" Rosemary demanded, trying to get at something she could understand.
Selendis favored her with a quick glance. "Zerg." Rosemary swore. "Same crew we fought on Aiur?" "It appears to be, yes." "Can't you call for help through the Khala?"