Tatum's War

MeerRhonda unceremoniously dumped him on his bed. Tatum landed with a thud and moaned.

“Thank you? I think.” Tatum gingerly rolled his head around in a circle then winced three quarters of the way though. He rubbed his neck as his head throbbed. “What did the message say?”

“That you are an idiot. Who is uncultured, reckless, and a huge pain in my ass.” She folded her arms a crossed her chest.

“So, all my good qualities.” He smiled. “You know, species are going to talk if you keep saying nice things to me. Seriously, what was my get out of jail free card?”

“That the Two,” the reverence in her voice was unmistakable, as she continued. “Believe that you are important. Once underway, you will have an audience with them.”

Tatum looked surprised.

“And if you have any respect for me, you will stay put until I come back for you in a few hours.” With that last statement, MeerRhonda left.

Tatum was a little taken back by the comment. Respect never seemed to be a thing she cared whether he had for her or not. He just imagined she liked beating him up and seeing him suffer. But to actually believe in those punishing session that some kind of respect for him had developed, appeared to have happened. Tatum felt a small desire to respect her request and stay in his room. He laid down and propped his head up with the cushion they called a pillow. Tatum slowly closed his eyes, and wondered when the respect he felt for MeerRhonda had developed. He didn’t respect many, but she had earned it. Tatum smiled. Must have been the way she never truly looked down on him, despite her verbal abuse, during their training sessions.

Tatum woke from a troubled sleep to the sound of someone pounding on the door.

“What!” He yelled.

The pounding continued. Groggily, he rolled out of his bed, barely registering the pink flamingo in the corner of his room, or the sparkling globe hanging from the ceiling casting bright galaxies on the walls in a continued revolving pattern. He grabbed the knob of the door that slid to the right and opened the door. Dr. Trindle stood there in a pink bikini with her stethoscope in one hand and a blue bottle in the other. Taken aback, Tatum retreated backwards as she advanced on him. Suddenly, he tripped on a root of a tree and fell back into a meadow. The sky above was a brilliant red, with high green clouds drifting slowly by. Dr. Trindle crawled on top of him, her bikini top slowly falling away; her face slowly changing into MeerRhonda’s as she firmly planted a kiss upon his lips.

“Tatum!” A voice yelled.

He awoke with his pillow pressed firmly to his face, and quite aroused. Embarrassed, Tatum swung his feet off the bed and placed the pillow over his lap, and stared into the amused eyes of Iyara. Dr. Trindle appeared quite interested in looking at his lower half.

Tatum’s face turned red. “Hello?”

“When you didn’t answer the buzzer, we become concerned. So we over rode the security lock and came in. It appears you were preoccupied.” Iyara’s lustful stare made him blush.

“I’m fine.” Tatum wished his excitement would go away.

“What was in your pants?” Dr. Trindle asked.

Tatum’s eyes widened even more in embarrassment.

“I’ll let you know later, Dr. Trindle. Earther anatomy.” Iyara winked at him.

“Can you leave now, since you know I’m okay? I have to wait for MeerRhonda to come and get me.” He pressed the pillow more firmly against his crotch.

Iyara pouted. “What for? I’m hungry, so let’s go get something to eat.”

“No. I have to wait here.” He said firmly.

Iyara sat down next to him and pushed her chest into his shoulder, which didn’t help his condition any. “Please.”

Tatum took a deep breath to calm himself down. “No. I’ll eat with you later. Okay.”

Iyara huffed, brushed his shoulder with her chest as she stood, and sighed. “Fine. Let’s go.” She exited the room with Dr. Trindle. The door whooshed shut and Tatum felt relief.

“Oh, god.” Tatum undressed and went to take a long sonic shower.

Tatum didn’t feel he was in the sonic shower for very long before the buzzer on the door sounded. Tatum sighed, toweled himself off, dressed and slowly walked over to the door. Fearing that it was Iyara again, Tatum waited until MeerRhonda’s angry voice called him from the other side. Relief washed over him as he happily opened the door and ushered her inside.

“Hurry!” He quickly scanned outside the door and didn’t see anyone. Tatum shut the door.

“Problem?” She said unamused at his abruptness of grabbing her.

“Iyara and Dr. Trindle were here earlier.” He explained.

MeerRhonda’s eyes narrowed. “Why!?”

Seeing the danger in her eyes, Tatum quickly explained what happened minus the embarrassing parts. MeerRhonda quickly gained control and her normally bored expression at Iyara’s antics passed, but Tatum could see lingering lines of annoyance.

“Thank you for not leaving your quarters. I know it must have been very hard for you to resist Buccaneer Iyara’s charms.” She moved to the side.

Tatum noticed the tight lipped utterance of ‘charms’ and would have normally chided her about it, but chose to let it pass. “You asked.”

Her eyes softened a little, before returning to their normal coldness. “Follow.”

“As you wish.” Tatum fell instep behind her.

Stepping out into the corridor, Tatum was struck by the lack of interesting detail. Shiny bulkheads, with cables and pipes running the length of the hallway were the only decorations. Sharp angles, highly visible signage, no debris, and crewmembers snapping crisp salutes to each other was the norm. The lack of any interesting details or decoration was evident all over the ship as he was led to his final destination. No individualism was evident at all. As he thought back to the space station, he realized it was the same. Despite all the new an interesting things he had seen, decorations or creativity were never displayed on the ship. His quarter’s even lack it. He wondered if it were true for the others.

“MeerRhonda?”

“Yes?”

“Do you have anything in your quarters from your home world?” He asked.

MeerRhonda stopped so suddenly that he barely manage to avoid running into the back of her.

“Why would you ask that?” She turned her head to the side to stare at him.

“I was just noticing the lack of anything interesting in the corridors we have pass through.”

“This is a ship of war. Did you want dancing girls on the walls?” She glared at him.

Tatum returned her stare. “No, but the lack of any individualism seems pretty apparent. There isn’t anything in my quarters that suggest that it would be a comfortable place to live for any length of time. That’s why I asked you. I didn’t see your quarters on the station.”

“I have what I have.” She huffed. “This isn’t a luxury liner. I don’t know what your warships are like back on Earth, but efficiency is paramount. You can’t have distractions while you are at war. This isn’t the Draco Conclave.” She spat out.

Taken a little surprised at the venomous utterance of the Draco Conclave, he decided to let it drop. “Okay. I was just trying to understand more. No need to get yourself riled up.”

MeerRhonda’s features softened. “I … I’m sorry. I forget that you do not know the history of the war. The Two will explain more. Just understand that the Conclave breeds confusion. They do not believe in order and wish to return the universe to a time of disorder, where everything will burn. We are trying to stop that.”

Tatum nodded. “No, I get that part. But I am unclear how individualism is disorder.”

MeerRhonda sighed. “I am not articulate in your language to explain it to you. Ask the Two.” She turned and continued down the corridor.

Tatum followed behind her along the corridors, which were long straight lines that matched the contour of the ship he remembered seeing from the observation deck. For such a large ship, he wondered why there weren’t elevators or moving walkways to get from one side to another. As they turned one corner, they stopped at a set of double doors. He began to get a knot in his stomach before the doors opened. He felt very nervous, and was unsure why. For some reason he felt as he did whenever he went to the front office at school. It wasn’t that he was in trouble, but the fact he was going to see someone in charge made him uneasy. The doors opened and the back of the turbo lift wall greeted him. Relief settled on his face as he filed in behind MeerRhonda.

The turbo lift started with a small shutter before the hum continued. MeerRhonda didn’t give a destination, nor did he see any buttons. Just the hum of the lift was the only indication that they were moving.

“Where we going?” Tatum asked.

“To the see the Two.” She said. “I told you that.”

“Does this elevator go to some other part of the ship or what?”

“The speed lift is the only way to reach the very top decks.” She answered. “Then we will enter the Sanctum of the Two.”

“How do you get from one side of the ship to the other? Run?” He laughed.

“Each deck has a zero tube.” She explained. “Much more efficient way of moving quickly and getting equipment from one side to the other.”

“Zero tube?” He asked confused.

“The Zero tube is a no gravity zone that runs the length of the ship. Even if gravity control is lost, crewmembers can still move freely from one section to another without the obstacles of doors or stairwells.”

He smiled. “Nice! Are there vertical tubes as well?”

She nodded, which was a quick shake of her head. “Yes.”

“So, why are we on an elevator going up?” Tatum asked.

MeerRhonda turned her head around to look at him. “There is only one access to the Sanctum deck.”

“What if they need to get out? Won’t they be trapped if the elevator stops working?” Tatum recalled every warning he had read about elevators. And that was the number one, it doesn’t work without power.

“No need to worry. The Sanctum is also a shuttle.” She assured him.

The hum of the turbo lift stopped, and Tatum lost his balance and fell into MeerRhonda. The faintest fragrance drifted by his nose as he apologized to her. It was a pleasant smell, one he couldn’t remember smelling before.

“Are you wearing perfume?” He smelt his hands. The fragrance lingered on them.

MeerRhonda’s body grew ridged as she stood there.

Tatum continued to smell his hand, “Are you okay?”

“Is it a bad smell?” She quietly asked.

Tatum shook his head, which she couldn’t see. “No. I just don’t remember smelling anything on you, except my own blood and sweat.” He chuckled.

Her shoulders relaxed, but her voice was soft. “No.” She moved forward into the corridor.

Stepping out of the elevator was like stepping into a monastery. Taken aback by the complete difference in the ambiance of the Sanctum, Tatum let his eyes wonder about the hall. If individualism was absent before it was in full bloom here. Large tapestries adorned the corridor depicting scenes ranging from large lush meadows to stars that were in their last instance of life. Torches lit the walls and heat radiated from them, but no smoke could be seen. He was completely baffled by the difference. He felt he was entering a completely different era of time.

“MeerR….”

With eyes full of devotion and expressed reverence, MeerRhonda turned and put a finger to his lips indicating that speaking would be a grievous breach of protocol. Tatum nodded his head at her silent request and contented himself with studying the extraordinary beautiful scenery before him on the tapestries. He had never been emotionally moved by nature before, and he certainly hadn’t ever been moved by a painting. But as he continued to absorb the minutiae of each tapestry, comprehension of the skill the painter exhibited in providing clear and vivid details and the enduring care to each individual plant and animal made him wonder if a human or alien hand could craft something this wondrous. He moved silently, albeit slowly, behind MeerRhonda until the tapestries began to change from their incredible scenery to ones that had fantastic creatures, armies, and death. He stopped. MeerRhonda continued on silently before him, but Tatum stepped back and tried to see each of the tapestries down the hall. Unlike the previous ones, these tapestries appeared to have a story to tell. He wasn’t sure why he thought this, but he could only feel that something was trying to be conveyed to the spectator.

The first tapestry in the story showed a castle far on top of a hill. Seven colored spires shone brightly against the beautiful blue sky. A magnificent yellow sun lent its brilliance to the deep colors of the surrounding forest. A dark brown dirt road moved along the bottom from the left until it T’d letting the traveler move towards the top and the castle or continuing along the bottom until it exited to the right. Standing at the T in the road was a little girl. Her face was turned away from the observer, and she appeared to be looking up at the castle. Do to her height and stature, Tatum figured she looked to be around eleven or twelve years in age, though it was a guess at best. She had on a dirty dress with many stains, her dull black hair was disheveled and ratty, and she had no shoes on. The little girl had her right hand wrapped around the tail of the whitest wolf Tatum had ever seen. Looking at the white fur was like looking at a snow field on the brightest day and having the light reflected back at you. The wolf was at least a full half a body taller than the girl and its head was easily two. Its massive head was looking down the road to the right giving a perfect profile of the beast and providing the observer a clear view of the single stunningly blue eye which it watched the road with.

Tatum thought the white wolf appeared very familiar. Its body and head reminded him of the way Shadow would sometimes stand in the yard at Mr. Chance’s house. But in this case it wasn’t the stance of a predator but of a protector. And for some reason Tatum felt that the little girl needed her protector.

Tatum smirked. He knew now that his conclusion about Shadow wasn’t a fair assessment and understood that Shadow was a protector too. But under the circumstance, he knew Mr. Chance would have said the same thing. Tatum moved to his left to look at the next tapestry.

A magnificent city dominated this tapestry. Wondrous details were given to the shops, peoples, creatures, streets, and everything else that could be seen. Tatum couldn’t imagine how the complex details could be shown in anything other than a photograph. There were wisps of hair floating in the breeze of shoppers, wrinkles in the clothing where they must have been sitting at some time, joyous merriment in the eyes of children as they playfully ran among the street vendors and parents, cracks in door frames, and dust being kicked up by the numerous carts and horses. It appeared like a still frame from a movie. Tatum leaned in closer and then fell back. He shook his head. He couldn’t understand but he had the sudden feeling that if he had leaned any closer, he would have fallen into the scene and fallen to his doom. Pulling himself together, he started to move onto the next one until he spied an odd spot in the tapestry. In the upper left corner, in what appeared to be an open market filled with numerus people, an unusually large area was absent of people. In the middle of the void, a young girl in a smoky gray robe and cloak stood next to the same white wolf as in the previous tapestry. The girl’s face, clearly seen, showed strikingly deep blue eyes, an upturned smirk of a smile, and an overall face that would eventually lead to the features of a model. Next to the girl was another teenage girl with hair as white as pristine snow and a face as black as the void of space. He couldn’t discern any facial features on the girl’s face, but somehow she appeared anxious about the crowd. Next to her and clearly providing protection for the faceless girl was a young boy dressed like a medieval scout. He had a small pack on his back, a sword at his side, and a very serious expression on his face. Unlike before, the gray robed girl appeared full of confidence and the wolf was more of a companion than a protector. Tatum leaned in ever so slightly and saw that three deep gray stripes, one along each bang, and one running down the middle of her head, radiated with color. He moved to the next.

If the previous two tapestries were the picturesque depiction of tranquility, then this one was the picturesque example of violence. Two great armies were in the middle of a bloody battle that included the grotesque illustration of how gruesome war must have been when it was wielded with sharp and blunt handed weapons. Tatum never got squeamish during horror movies that included bloody decapitations, hanging body parts, and heads exploding, which were some of the best special effects and CGI could offer. But these scenes made him swallow a few times uncomfortably at the realism.

The army to his right filled its side with different color robed mages casting sparkling colored spells that filled the right side of the tapestries with spectacular hues, which glistened off the men dressed in silver armor adorned with a multi antlered stag crest on their chests. Majestic dragons flew overhead spewing deep reddish flames, brilliantly blue lightning, and sickly green gases upon the army to the left. In contrast, the army to the left was filled with multi colored robed wizards that cast dull spells of lightning, flame looking arrows and dullish orbs. But unlike the wondrous dragons of the right side, hideous creatures of unimaginable grotesqueness, lumbered along crushing the army of men dressed in silver armor, while dull colored spells felled the colored robed mages.

In the middle of the battle the girl from the other two tapestries, now clearly a young woman of sixteen to eighteen years of age was surrounded by four dragons; one of fire, one of earth, one of water and one made from the very essence of a cloud. Dark grey/black lightning leaped from her hand decimating scores of grotesque creatures while her dragons unleashed devastating attacks on the multi colored robed wizards. The white wolf, just to the side of her, had the girl with the white hair riding on its back. Her young protector, a different young man than from the previous tapestry, cut down anything that appeared to get close to them. The sword in his hand had a bright red jewel just above the sword’s hand guard, which glowed as bright as a giant red sun. Blood, like a raging river, ran along the blade towards the jeweled sun fueling its power. On the left side of the tapestry, at the very back edge, in the middle, was a man in a black cape. His face was handsome, jovial and appeared to be enjoying the mayhem playing out on the battlefield before him. Tatum also got the impression that he didn’t care whether he won or lost, which was in stark contrast to the creature standing next to him. Straight out of the bible, the Lucifer looking creature had hate blazing in his eyes. His arm was outstretched directing the army from the left, and the godly presence surrounding him was overpowering. So much so, that Tatum felt as if his thoughts were slowly being consumed by the creature’s presence. Darkness began narrowing his eyesight down to a single point that featured only the creature until a gray light intruded from the edges of his vision, fighting back the darkness. The escalation of the gray robed girl’s own presence, which easily overpowered the presence of the creature enabled him to focus his attention back to the overall presentation of the tapestry. Blinking his eyes to ride them of the vision, Tatum stepped back.

This tapestry sent shivers down his spine. Before he moved on and as if the painter didn’t want you to leave without noticing two last vital details, Tatum eyes were drawn to two changes he hadn’t noticed before; the gray robed girl’s face with its disturbing eyes: one angry red and one wintry blue. And the crueler twisted features of the creature’s face.

Tatum quickly moved on feeling he had had his fill of the army tapestry and felt relief and confusion by the simplicity of the next tapestry. A lone figure stood in a canvas of black. The figure was dressed in a dark gray robe. Their head downcast, and a black void was set inside the hood giving no indication of the face within. Their hands were clasped in front of them, and the toes of their slippers just poked out from under their robe. Tatum wanted to look back at the other tapestries to see if this was the same figure, but he had a sudden feeling that if he did, he would lose himself within their scenes.

A single light, which couldn’t be discerned illuminated the blackness just enough to show this simple figure. Despite its simplicity, Tatum was enthralled with the lack of detail. But that wasn’t quite right either. Even though his eyes were telling him that there was nothing to see in the blackness of the background in the tapestry, his mind screamed of the vibrant details that were just beyond the veil of darkness. He squinted and tried to make his eyes focus on what was being concealed and despite the slight glimpses of what he thought were color, he couldn’t be sure if it wasn’t his own mind playing tricks on him.

“Be careful in what you are looking for, Tatum.” A woman’s soft voice spoke to his left.

He pulled his eyes from the tapestry and blinked them a few times. He turned to look at the source of the voice, but the sudden brightness of the torches on the walls made him cover his eyes. Like walking from a dark room into a room full of sunlight, his vision slowly revealed someone standing next to MeerRhonda. MeerRhonda towered over this person whose features were lost to the only shadow that seem to be present in the fully lit hallway.

“What’s behind the darkness?” Tatum unconsciously whispered.

“Only she knows.” The figure said before turning and disappearing around the corner.

Intrigued, Tatum continued to blink his eyes back to normality as he walked over to MeerRhonda. She looked down at him and the serenity in her eyes brought a tranquility to the troubling images of the tapestries. She motioned with her arm to follow the corridor as he came to the corner. The corridor continued; MeerRhonda walked silently behind him like a ghost ushering him to a sacred place. One more turn to his right later and he stood before a dark, oak wooden door. Again, he was struck by how out of place the door was compared to the rest of the ship.

The door was beautiful. Deep dark veins of browns flowed through the six vertical boards like blood through an arm. The grains of each plank were maliciously matched so the door had no distractions other than the hues of color, and the intricate metal work of the door lock, hinges and ornate knocker. Like the medieval castles of old, and from every movie that he had seen, the lock appeared to be beaten into shape from one piece of metal. A large key hole dominated the center of the lock and just like the movies, one could look through it into the next room. The hinges were fashioned to appear as claws grabbing the door, like some creature was trying to rip the door away from the wall. The ornate knocker was fashion in the likeness of a lion’s head with a round metal ring in its mouth. Even Tatum was moved by the artistry of the door. He knew if he looked behind him, MeerRhonda would be in full out zealot mode.

Tatum reached behind and found MeerRhonda’s hand. It was soft and warm.

“How do I go in?” He asked.

MeerRhonda squeezed his hand and then let it go. “Knock.”

Tatum heard her footsteps retreat down the hallway, but he didn’t look. Instead he reached out and lifted the heavy ring and let it drop. He half expected it to squeak on the way up and sound sharply when it hit the door. But just like everything else in the hallway, the ring gently landed on the door, like it too didn’t want to disturb the tranquility of the area. After a moment, the wooden door slowly opened revealing an area beyond the keyhole that it had only hinted at. Tatum slowly walked in and found sitting around a campfire in the middle of the room were the two people from the second tapestry.

“Hello Tatum.” The dark elf woman smiled. “Please join us.”

“Yes. We have much to discuss.” Her young protector from the second tapestry said.