A Star Wheeled Sky

by Brad R Torgersen

  “Good thing it wasn’t a rifle bullet,” Wyo said, then asked, “Is there any other way out of here?”

  “I think the ramp is it,” Axabrast said. “And we’re guarding it.”

  “I don’t understand,” Wyo admitted, still feeling like he’d had the wind knocked out of him. After a few moments, he got enough breath in his lungs to shout, “Zoam Kalbi! You bastard! You won’t get out of here alive!”

  “Wrong, Lieutenant Commander,” the small man’s voice said—though the echoes made it impossible to tell from which direction. If he had Lethiah, he was hiding her.

  “You murdered a prisoner of war,” Wyo shouted, “plus attempted murder on a First Family heir, and a DSOD officer! That’s a guaranteed death sentence from any court in Starstate Constellar, military or civilian!”

  “It’s simple, Antagean,” Kalbi said. “We’re surrounded by Starstate Nautilan’s forces. Both inside the pyramid, and also in orbit. You bet our lives on the idea that Lethiah could use one of the Keys in this hall to change the equation. She can’t do that because Nautilan has the only Key Lethiah knows how to use. Now I have Lethiah, and I am wagering I can use her to bargain with Nautilan for a settlement.”

  “A settlement?” Wyo said incredulously.

  “I’ve said it several times, Lieutenant Commander. We should have tried to work with Starstate Nautilan, not against them.”

  “But you’re a Constellar citizen!” Wyo yelled.

  “Allegiances to Starstates are meaningless, Antagean. You’d know that if you were in my line of work. One way or another, Starstate Nautilan is going to own it all—the entire Waywork. It’s just a matter of time. They already control this planet. You’re just too stubborn to admit it. I am taking my fate out of your hands, and getting myself a better deal.”

  “Nautilan won’t deal,” Wyo said. “No matter what leverage you think you’ve got.”

  “Lethiah is all the leverage I’ll need,” Kalbi said. “She’s able to communicate with these things. And this place. That makes her valuable. You need her, and Nautilan needs her. I gain nothing by working with you. I gain a great deal by working with Nautilan. You’ll be fortunate if they take you prisoner, Lieutenant Commander. I on the other hand, am now in a position to broker for myself a superior option.”

  “Lunatic,” Axabrast muttered.

  “Or too smart by half,” Wyo said coldly. “Where in the hell did he get a weapon? I never once saw him carrying.”

  “I only got a glimpse of it,” Axabrast replied. “Looked like a sleek semiauto, specifically designed for concealment.”

  Very far away, back down the ramp, the noise from the battle outside could still be heard.

  “Nautilan officer or sergeant!” Kalbi’s voice shouted in Mariclesh. “Can you hear me?”

  “Yes, I can hear you,” replied a woman’s voice, also in Mariclesh.

  “Your colonel said you were looking for the ‘one’ who could communicate with the Waymaker machines in this structure.”

  “We are,” replied the woman.

  “My name is Zoam Kalbi. You may or may not know who I am, depending on how much Starstate Nautilan monitors Constellar’s public media. I have what you want. I have the ‘one’ as the colonel called her. Are you in a position of authority to treat with me?”

  “I am Kosmarch Golsubril Vex of Starstate Nautilan. On this world, and also the planet Jaalit, my word is absolute.”

  “A kosmarch!” Kalbi said. “It surprises me that someone of your stature would risk coming to this place. But it doesn’t matter. Can you guarantee my safety?”

  “That greatly depends on whether or not I am able to communicate with my general officer in orbit. If he begins to suspect that the situation here on the ground has gotten out of control, he may follow my final directive, and take drastic action.”

  “Have you had any more luck with your wireless than Constellar?”

  There was a pause, then the kosmarch admitted, “No.”

  “Then I offer you the ‘one’ in exchange for full political immunity—for myself. I have no quarrel with Starstate Nautilan, and never did. As an informationalist, I have traveled all over Starstate Constellar, and many places beyond. I know what the future of the Waywork looks like. I intend to be on the right side of history.”

  “Kalbi, you idiot!” Wyo shouted in Mariclesh. “When you think you’ve got what you want, they will just shoot you and take Lethiah anyway!”

  “Not true,” Vex said. “I will honor our agreement. The woman, for full immunity. It is a reasonable arrangement.”

  “What about your general, Kosmarch?” Wyo said to Vex. “What does ‘drastic’ look like?”

  “Nuclear bombardment of the entire site,” she said.

  “What about the ark?” Wyo asked.

  “Human artifacts are not as valuable to me as this Waymaker facility.”

  “Even if the pyramid survives, there’s no guarantee that you will.”

  “This is true,” she said. “But your future is even less certain.”

  “We control the only way in or out of this hall,” Wyo said. “You can’t get outside.”

  “Soon, my men from the aerospace landing zone will gain the upper hand. Once their perimeter is resecured, they will enter the pyramid searching for me. You won’t have a chance against so many soldiers. Neither will your surviving Constellar troops outside. Not unless you surrender.”

  “Like I told the traitor Kalbi, I don’t believe you’ll keep any agreements which might be made. When you have the opportunity, you will simply kill us all, and take what you want. As Starstate Nautilan always does.”

  “Who are you?” Vex asked.

  “Lieutenant Commander Wyodreth Antagean, Constellar Deep Space Operations and Defense. Kosmarch, I know you don’t have any weapons. These machines—the Waymaker sentinels—took them from you. Kalbi has Lethiah, who can talk to the machines. But you have the Key that Lethiah needs. I can’t allow Lethiah, or this Waymaker installation, to fall into Starstate Nautilan’s hands. If I have to, I will kill every single person in this hall to prevent that from happening.”

  What are you doing? Garsina mouthed at Wyo, her teeth clenched in pain.

  Wyo held up a hand, begging off. Then looked at Axabrast, who seemed to get the hint.

  “Aye,” Elvin said loudly. “’Tis a good night for sheddin’ Nautie blood. And it would be a fine trophy, adding a kosmarch to my score.”

  “Nobody seems to be interested in what I have to say on the matter,” said a different female voice. Lethiah’s, using Mariclesh.

  “You are the person who can talk to the Waymaker machines?” Vex asked, from the other side of the hall.

  “I am,” Lethiah said.

  “Let me see you.”

  Kalbi slowly shuffled out from behind a column, with Lethiah by the arm. He appeared to have his pistol pointed into her ribs.

  The kosmarch also stepped out from behind the motionless sentinel she and her people had been clustered behind. She produced a small Key, which lay dormant in her hands.

  “There are a great many opportunities I could offer you,” the kosmarch said. “Service to Starstate Nautilan can come with many rewards.”

  Lethiah’s laughter was scornful.

  “Your enticements amuse me,” she said, “but as I’ve already explained to the lieutenant commander and Lady Oswight both, there is far more at stake now than the petty battles between your rival nations. The entire human race—what you know of it—is now in jeopardy. I don’t care about what you can offer me, Kosmarch. I’ve lived long enough to learn that material things and physical ease are empty things, when you’ve got nothing left to hope for. Ouch, quit that!”

  Kalbi had jabbed the barrel of his small pistol into Lethiah’s side.

  “Do we have a deal, Madam Kosmarch?” Kalbi said. “Immunity, for the woman?”

  “Consider it done,” Vex said.

  Wyo reflexively raised his weapon to his shoulder, and
sighted on the kosmarch. Who seemed to be ignoring him, except for the small flicking of her eyeballs as she switched her gaze from Lethiah, to Wyo—who still remained partially hidden by the wall of the ramp—then back to Lethiah.

  “Don’t,” Kalbi warned. “If the kosmarch gets shot, Lethiah dies too. I think I know enough about you, Lieutenant Commander, to be sure that you won’t risk this old woman’s life. Nor will you kill her outright, not even to keep Waymaker technology out of Nautilan hands. That’s just not the kind of man you are.”

  “Do you really want to test that?” Wyo said, rapidly switching his aim from the kosmarch to Kalbi instead. “How about I shoot you, before you can shoot her?”

  Kalbi tugged Lethiah in front of him, so that only his eyes and the top of his head were visible to one side, and the brandished pistol to the other. Wyo no longer had a clean shot.

  What could he do? More importantly, what should he do? He momentarily moved his head to look over his shoulder—at the Lady, and her majordomo. They both looked anxious.

  “It’s a sour pickle, lad,” Axabrast admitted with a whispering voice. “There may not be a right answer here.”

  Wyo snapped his head back to position on the rifle, his cheek pressed tightly to the stock, while his shooting eye peered through the small scope mounted to the rifle’s receiver. An illuminated target reticle surrounded Lethiah’s chest. When he switched his aim back to the kosmarch, the image through the scope blurred, then came back into focus with the reticle over the kosmarch.

  Back and forth. Back and forth.

  How ruthless did Wyo want to be? He could easily shoot the kosmarch, then shoot Kalbi after Kalbi had shot Lethiah. Or try to shoot at Kalbi, and probably hit Lethiah instead. Then shoot him after Lethiah had hit the ground. As long as Lethiah wasn’t able to use the Key in the kosmarch’s hands, the pyramid might remain an enigma for Starstate Nautilan. The colonel had said that a Nautilan Waypoint pilot was driven mad attempting to use the pyramid’s Keys. If even a Key-trained, Key-adept person couldn’t handle this technology, it might frustrate Nautilan to no end.

  But then, what about Lethiah’s warning? What if the pyramid—and everything in it—was the best chance the Waywork had for devising a defense against whatever it was Lethiah suspected might be destroying Waymaker Overspace? Possibly taking the worlds of the Waywork as well?

  “Outside,” Wyo finally commanded.

  “What?” Kalbi said.

  “Everyone is going outside, right now.”

  Wyo shifted his aim slightly, and pulled his trigger once. The bullet cracked out—incredibly loud—and caromed off the pillar Kalbi had been previously standing behind.

  Kalbi and Lethiah both flinched. As did the kosmarch. But Kalbi didn’t pull his trigger.

  “Do that again, Lieutenant Commander,” Kalbi warned, baring his teeth for the first time, and shoving his pistol against his hostage.

  “Do as he commands,” Vex said. “Our agreement is valid, Zoam Kalbi. But only as long as the woman remains alive.”

  “What’s the plan?” Axabrast hissed.

  “There is no plan,” Wyo hissed back. “I’ll think of one on the way down. Unless you think of one first, okay?”

  Wyo shifted his feet, and began to carefully walk—rifle aimed the entire time—around the hall, until Kalbi was between himself and the top of the ramp.

  “Mister Axabrast, Lady, would you both be so kind as to escort the kosmarch and her entourage?”

  The majordomo complied, keeping his sidearm aimed at the Nautilan group until they were between Elvin and the top of the ramp. Garsina carried her carbine one-handed, with the other hand still held over her wound. She was even less sure of herself—with the weapon—using one arm than she had been with two. But it did make for a sufficient incentive to get the Nautilan troops moving, with their kosmarch in the lead.

  Sudden movement among the Waymaker machines made Wyo stop cold. Garsina gasped, pointing back to the hall. Without taking his finger off the trigger, Wyo waited and listened as he heard the sounds of mechanisms whirring behind him.

  “What are they doing?” Kalbi asked Lethiah, still using her for a shield.

  “It’s difficult to say,” Lethiah said. “But if I had to guess, I’d say they intend to follow us.”

  “Why?” Kalbi asked.

  “I don’t know. Something has attracted their interest. It could be my presence. Or it could be the Key in Golsubril Vex’s hands. Or both? It’s not like you can stop them. Vex’s soldiers discovered that fact, firsthand.”

  “Will they attack?” Vex asked.

  “Why would they?” Lethiah replied. “For them, this is all just observation.”

  “Ignore it,” Wyo said. “Keep going.”

  The entire group—Vex and her men, followed by Kalbi with Lethiah, then followed by Axabrast, Lady Oswight, and Wyo—went down the ramp. As did the sentinels, who trailed quietly. Wyo chanced a look over his shoulder, and was shocked to see that the machines did not walk or roll. They floated. About half a meter off the floor. That whir he’d been hearing was apparently some form of repeller or gravity nullifier, which allowed the robots to move without touching the ground. Human engineers had been trying to invent something similar for the entirety of the Waywork’s existence. With no success.

  Near the bottom of the switchbacks, the sounds of combat outside grew louder.

  “I told Captain Fazal to retreat into the ruins,” Wyo said softly.

  “Something might have gone wrong,” Axabrast replied, also softly.

  “I told you,” Vex said loudly enough so that everyone could hear, “once my men on the outside have resecured the perimeter, they will be coming for you.”

  So, Vex understood native Constellar dialects, in addition to Mariclesh. Wyo made himself a mental note to not make any more sidebar comments.

  They walked, down, and around, then down, and around, until the ramp ended, and they were making the elbow to the main corridor once more. If Lethiah seemed frightened, she didn’t show it. The old woman had an uncanny ability to appear unfazed, even when the situation was dire. Or perhaps she really was unfazed? Wyo got a sense from her that everything which transpired—all the drama—wasn’t worth getting upset about. Either this was a kind of uniquely heightened perspective, afforded by extreme old age, or Lethiah had simply stopped giving a damn. He remembered her unhappy expression, when she’d talked about how the men of Earth—seeking immortality—should have been careful what they wished for.

  It suddenly occurred to Wyo that Lethiah had absolutely no fear of death. None whatsoever.

  When they got to the portico, Wyo ordered them out—the new morning sun having barely risen over the horizon.

  A quick glance told him that several of the sandbagged fighting positions on the aerospace landing zone’s perimeter had been destroyed, but there were still Nautilan troops roaming about, so Captain Fazal hadn’t been successful dislodging them; if that had even been Captain Fazal’s intent. Since the man had clearly not fallen back to the ruins, per earlier agreement with the lieutenant commander, he was either taking a new course of action based on his own initiative, or the Nauties had flanked Fazal’s men, and the captain was trying to avoid being exterminated down to the last man.

  Without wireless, there was simply no way to tell.

  Columns of black smoke were drifting up into the sky, both from the landing zone and from two places along the edge of the ruins—where Fazal’s men had hidden the night before, and from which they’d launched the first rocket attacks.

  There was no one—not Constellar, nor Nautilan—guarding the pyramid’s entrance.

  “Forward,” Wyo ordered. “Into the ruins.”

  “What exactly are we doing out here?” Vex asked.

  Wyo put a round into the dirt by her feet.

  “Don’t stop moving,” he commanded.

  Garsina’s face looked at him, confused. He shook his head once, and waved her off. He couldn’t tell her
what he had in mind, because the truth was, he honestly didn’t know. And when the Waymaker machines followed him out into the sunlight, he realized they were going to keep following him wherever Lethiah—or the Key, or both?—were taken. He just had to try to keep Kalbi from pulling that trigger, while also having Kosmarch Vex under his control. If Lethiah had been Kalbi’s bargaining chip, Vex was going to be Wyo’s. If it came down to having a discussion with Nautilan military leadership.

  A roar in the sky announced the arrival of the aerospace plane. It circled the pyramid once, then activated its vertical takeoff and landing nozzles, for a final approach to the Nautilan camp. Two streaks of white smoke speared out of the ruins—much farther away from Wyo’s position than Wyo was from the pyramid’s portico—and soared straight for the aerospace plane, which hovered perhaps fifty meters off the surface as the pilot attempted to gently set the craft down.

  Then, the pilot saw the threat. Or his systems did. The aerospace plane’s turbofans suddenly kicked in, and the craft started to move forward again. But the maneuver came several seconds too late. One of the guided rockets hit the left wing, while the other guided rocket hit the cockpit. Two explosions happened at once, and the aerospace plane tilted over, doing a crazy spiral on one set of nozzles only, until it had done four whole revolutions around the landing zone—jet wash throwing men around like rag dolls.

  Then, what was left of the damaged wing touched the ground. The aerospace plane rolled onto its back and smashed across the tops of several bivouacs.

  The explosion was tremendous. Hydrogen fuel tanks—meant for return to orbit—ruptured. The slush hydrogen, now exposed to sources of heat and oxygen, turned the entire camp into a gargantuan fireball that ballooned up into the sky. When the fireball had cleared, the entire camp was ablaze. Men. Bivouacs. Equipment. Weapons. Ammunition. Everything.

  Elvin Axabrast cut loose with a throaty cheer.

  “Your TGO has sealed our fate,” Vex said coolly.

  “What does that mean?” Kalbi demanded.

  “It means her people in orbit are probably watching, and they’re going to see that explosion, and assume the worst,” Wyo said. “Do I have it right, Kosmarch?”