Michael Hudson - Thieves of Light

"That thing's alive?" Bhodi Li said.

From Parcival, seated behind, came a harsh whisper: "Don't interrupt."

"— chose to spread its essence throughout creation. Order ended, and time began."

The ball of swirling light suddenly exploded, sending rocket like streamers out in every direction, filling all three windows with color. "Where the energy of Photon touched the new creation, stars and planets formed," Li-hon continued as the streamers of color evolved into a more familiar-looking starscape full of flaming suns and slow-spinning worlds. "In time, Photon light brought forth Photon life. Born from Photon, we held within us the truth of Photon, and so brought the light to other worlds."

The center window showed a pulsing many-faceted crystal resting on a black pedestal on the surface of a barren world. A Qeth warrior, perhaps Li-hon himself, fired a laser into the heart of the crystal, and it exploded into a furious mass of colored light reminiscent of the destruction of the primordial Photon energy ball. The streaming colored light transformed the barren world into a verdant paradise.

"But there was darkness in the new creation as well, and in time the darkness, too, gave birth to life," Li-hon continued. On the center screen, the new world of life faded and was replaced by a succession of shocking images of horrifying aliens-a four-armed monster with a deeply furrowed skull, a snarling beast with huge jaws and spiked tail, a brutish creature with a triangular head and great bulging compound eyes.

Bhodi Li swallowed hard. If they're the enemy, you can take me home now -

"The forces of darkness have united under the Warlord of Arr, and begun the battle that will decide the destiny of the universe. It is a battle for control of the remnants of Photon energy, and for the Photon crystals that bring light and life to empty worlds. Whoever radiates the crystal first aligns that world with light or darkness for the next hundred cycles. Should the forces of evil bring a crystal to one of the Alliance worlds-to my Bree-nech or your Earth or any world dear to life-it would mean the destruction of all."

On the left screen, an image of a great space station appeared against a backdrop of stars, its shape suggestive of a metallic flower perched at the top of its stalk. On the right screen, a radically different structure appeared against a black void, its shape like an A-bomb cloud frozen a moment after detonation, its surface battered and scarred like the moon. Tiny ships scurried from both bases to engage each other above the worlds displayed on the center screen.

"If the Alliance loses this conflict, it will be the end of light and life everywhere in the Universe," Li-hon said solemnly. "Do you understand now, Bhodi Li? We are Photon's warriors. We are the Guardians of the Light. We cannot let the darkness grow."

All three screens faded to black, and the bridge lights returned to their normal intensity. Bhodi Li stayed seated, his arms crossed over his chest, his gaze cast downward at the deck. How stupid does he think I am? he thought angrily. Balls of light deciding to explode-magic crystals that turn deserts into Eden — creatures of darkness — it's a fairy tale. It's a crock.

"Do you understand, Bhodi Li?" Li-hon repeated. Looking up, he saw an expectant gaze on the lizard's face. Parcival had circled around to stand beside his sergeant; curiously, his expression was harder to read.

"I thought you were going to be straight with me," Bhodi Li said, standing.

Suddenly wide-eyed, Parcival stepped back, taking himself beyond Li-hon's peripheral vision, and started frantically shaking his head.

"Every word I spoke was the truth," Li-hon said stiffly.

"Get real! You can't expect me to swallow-" Belatedly, Bhodi Li took note of Parcival's agitation. The youth now had one hand clapped over his mouth and was making cutting motions across his throat with the other.

What! Bhodi Li demanded silently with his eyes. What am I doing wrong? Then he remembered Parcival's earlier warning about offending a Photon Warrior and decided to swallow his objections for the moment. "You can't expect me to adjust right away to such a revelation," Bhodi Li said. "I need some time to absorb this."

Parcival closed his eyes and sighed in relief.

But Li-hon did not seem willing to be put off. "The truth was already within you," he said. "All you need do is learn its name to be empowered by it."

It was Parcival who came to his rescue. "I'll help him, Li-hon. Don't be impatient. It's difficult for us-you've seen it before. We don't hear with the heart. So it takes longer for us to find the light."

"I know," Li-hon said ominously. "I remember. Some never do."

Parcival left Li-hon's side and crossed the room, herding Bhodi Li ahead of him toward the doorway. "Bhodi will," he insisted. "The light shines."

"The light shines," echoed Li-hon. "I will be patient, Parcival-for a while."

"What was that all about?" Bhodi Li demanded as Parcival bundled him along the corridor.

"Let it ride until we get downstairs," was the terse answer. Then Parcival changed gears and said in a more friendly tone, "I hope you don't have any exotic tastes in food, by the way. The ground team prepares a food pickup anytime a ship calls at Earth, but the selection's limited, and most everything is frozen. Except the peanut butter."

By the end of that exposition, they had both reached the bottom of the climbway. "I suppose that means it's going to be a while until my next pizza."

"Until your next good one, anyway."

"If it gets to be more than a week, even a cardboard-crusted imitation-cheese-food special will start looking good," Bhodi Li said. "Do I get an answer to my question now?"

"Let's go sit a minute in my quarters," the youth said with a jerk of his head.

Parcival's berth was a case study in how much could be packed into one of the tiny rooms, especially if the occupant happened to be only four feet tall and sixty-five pounds. The right-hand wall was broken up by six fold-out storealls, each the size of the one Parcival had opened in Bhodi Li's room. Above the storealls hung several soft-sided pouches bulging with their burdens. The cot was folded down, and the space beneath it was filled with large silver-metal chests. A baseball bat was propped in one corner, a well-used glove dangling from the grip.

Bhodi settled on the cot while Parcival climbed atop one of the storealls and rummaged in the pouch above it. He came back with a matchbox-sized black box that he stood on end beside him. A small yellow light on top of the gadget began to wink on and off.

"It's a sound mask. Li-hon wouldn't spy on us, but I want to make sure he doesn't hear any of this by accident," Parcival explained.

"I don't understand."

"That's obvious. I can hardly believe it, but you're even dumber than you look. Haven't you got sense enough not to stand in somebody else's church and make fun of the liturgy?" Parcival scolded.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about what you were about to say to the Sarge a few minutes ago."

"You heard the line he was giving me. Don't tell me you believe him."

Parcival sighed and pulled his legs up into a yoga lotus cross as though settling in for a while. "You were in school twice as long as I was, and you still didn't learn anything."

A hot flush crept up the back of Bhodi's neck. "Hey, I've had about enough of your smart talk. Maybe you are some kind of born genius, but that doesn't make it okay to dump on people that aren't."

Parcival stared, then hung his head. "You're right," he said simply. "I get impatient with people who are slow on the uptake. I always have. I'll try to watch it."

"Okay," Bhodi said, taken aback by the youth's contriteness. He noticed that his own fists were clenched and unclenched them, wondering in passing if Parcival had backed off to avoid having to fight him-and if there was anything to his boasting, having to hurt him. "So let's try it again."