Prophecy
Lok strode into the control room. From her position, Xondra looked at him.
“Good morning, Lok,” she said in her usual monotone.
“Hi, Xondra. Look, could you use a different voice?”
“Of course, Lok. Would you want me to use yours? I know it’s your favourite.”
Lok rolled his eyes. Xondra’s personality sure was sarcastic, no matter what her emotionless tone indicated.
“No, I mean… make it more human. Give it some… inflection.”
“I thought I accurately conveyed the meaning of my sentences as it is. I wasn’t aware you needed additional assistance.”
“Additional assistance?”
“Yes. Actual spoken human interaction is seldom constrained to the spoken language. It also relies on tone, inflection, and additional body language. Quite imperfect, in my opinion.”
“See, Xondra, forget about it. It’s alright as it is.”
“You could also choose my direct interface, Lok.”
Was there something else in her voice? A longing? Could Xondra feel lonely as well? Could she crave some more… intimate company?
Lok stared at her. She remained silent.
“Incoming alert,” she said suddenly. She waved her hands in the air, as if she was dancing on the spot.
“On my way.”
Lok jumped over his seat, opposite Xondra’s, and activated his neural interface. The message was coming in, encrypted.
“Decrypting,” Xondra said. “Want to wait?”
“No, patch me in as soon as you have something.”
“Initiating.” Some magic passes from her hands.
There it was. The event they had been waiting for. The precipitating episode that should change the fate of the Thousand Worlds. The reason why they had been stationed here, in the Nexus, for so long.
Alone with each other.
“Initiating search protocol,” Xondra said. She twirled her hands and curled fingers, invoking a three-dimensional interface. World after world appeared and was rejected.
Until she stopped.
“Engaging,” she said with a flourish.
For a second, Lok felt as if he was flying through the world’s atmosphere, in a fast descent towards its surface. Lush prairies welcomed him, with plenty of water and animal life. One would have thought the Ruler Supreme should come from a harsher environment, he thought. Xondra chastised him.
There.
A single figure prowled in silence. A man in primitive warrior attire, but wearing K-Boots of a design Lok couldn’t exactly recognize. Ancient, probably. Xondra agreed. He was stalking some kind of great beast, a quadruped that grazed some distance away.
The man drew a bow and an arrow, and the arrow glowed in the sun. Not reflecting the sun’s light, Lok noticed, but glittering with its own energy.
“Interesting,” he said.
The man, whose name was Q’Zar, as Xondra informed him now, stopped and aimed. Lok couldn’t see how this man was the one they had been expecting. The one who had been foretold would lead them back to greatness.
Suddenly, a giant monster of a bird appeared and chomped on the quadruped, eating it in two bites. Lok gasped, and he felt Xondra’s surprise. They watched as Q’Zar faced the bird and shot.
Twice.
++++
Lok and Xondra waited. They watched as Q’Zar, bloodied, approached the bird’s dead body and cut off its feathered tail. They watched as he walked back to his people. They watched as he was questioned, since other members of his party had returned with trophies. They watched as he produced the feathers and his people fell to the ground in admiration.
“Now,” Lok said. Xondra made a soft gesture and closed a hand.
Their ship decloaked, grabbed Q’Zar and left. A perfect catch.
The warrior, blood still dripping on the pristine corridor of the ship, stared in awe at everything.
“Where am I? What is this?”
His dialect was ancient, but understandable.
“Welcome aboard your Nexus ship, our Lord,” Lok said, genuflecting. “You are the foretold Supreme Ruler of the Thousand Worlds. My companion, Xondra, and I, Lok, will instruct you from here onwards, with your permission.”
~~~~
This is my accompanying entry for the Weekly Writing Exercise: February 6–12, 2017 on the Writer’s Discussion Group in Google+. I am responsible for creating the prompts for the Exercise, so I don’t take part, but I still like to write a story each week.
This story follows the previous one, Coming of Age. I gave myself the extra challenge of trying to tie both prompts, which are really apart from each other. I’m quite happy with the end results.
