Obsidian Ressurection

by T J Bryan

  Silvi looked carefully at the vid screen and the departing warship. "Let's follow Captain."

  Captain Arast returned to her captain's seat. "Put us in the portal Mr. Paris. I am sure the H ships know we are here. There is no need for stealth at this moment. Let's follow them through."

  Chapter Sixty Two

  Himmer System - Mist - Year 3246. October 11 ET: 18.27

  After Farn had killed the apparent leader of the charioteers, the forces across the river scattered and turned away from the city of Alathon. The retreat was disorderly and chaotic. Farn concluded that the 'Horde', for that was the name she gave the army of charioteers, must have had a highly centralized command structure and she had just removed the head of that structure from its' body. Now the Horde simply lost cohesion and fell apart. Chariots and disorderly troops were moving about aimlessly but all in the direction away from Alathon.

  Farn considered her hasty action. Had she committed murder? Had she become a killer?

  As the Magistar of Alathon approached her Farn dismissed these doubts. There was simply not enough time for moral and ethical considerations at this moment. She had a war to stop.

  The Magistar was only a meter away from Farn when he again fell to his knees, genuflected, and uttered a prayer of some sort. Farn looked at the horsemen who had accompanied the Magistar from the city and they too were kneeling in prayer. Smoke still rose from the city but the intensity of the smoke and flames had died down. Farn assumed the populace was extinguishing the fires and restoring civil order.

  "Arise Magistar of Alathon." It was all Farn could think of to say. Moments later the Magistar rose. He was smiling, tears rolled down his cheeks and he was obviously very happy at his rescue from the Lord of the Skies.

  The Magistar invited Farn into the city, but Farn declined. After all Abel had insisted that Captains do not leave their ships. Instead she abandoned her plastic chair and sat upon the damp sand and invited the Magistar to do the same. Their conversation lasted well into the night. Farn had learned a great deal about Himmer and its' remaining civilization or lack thereof.

  The Magistar informed Farn that the Horde would return home to the high steppe lands to the west. The same lands she knew had been abandoned or destroyed. There they would hold a great Kurultai or meeting to select a new leader. However the Kurultai would not be held until the great families had decided amongst themselves which of their now headless leader's sons would succeed to rule. The Magistar told Farn there were many sons by many wives. Perhaps as many as forty sons and that until one rose above the others there could be no Kurultai. Farn had asked how the leading son would be chosen and the Magistar had laughed at the question. He responded that the last son left alive would be leader, and that no one son could claim rulership until every one of his brothers was dead. That was the Horde law. And that such a selection process, by murder and mayhem, might well take years. If civil war broke out amongst the Horde then it may well take a decade before the Horde reassembled itself and launched a new war of conquest and destruction upon the domains of Alathon.

  Farn had questioned the Magistar about their history, but he simply admitted that they had no history, and that their city and the lands to the east had been here on Himmer for centuries. But they did have myths and lore Farn asked? Farn asked about the myths. The Magistar said that his people were descended from starfolk, but in this day no one believed this to be true. The presence of the Horde had simply made myths irrelevant to the needs of survival. Common knowledge was that humans had always been on Himmer, and that in the universe Himmer must be the center of all things. But now, faced with a starship, all was about to change. Other myths included a great galactic destruction, and the fleeing of 'the people' from distant lands and settling on Himmer as a last refuge from daemons and devils of the skies were told to children by old women. Refugees thought Farn. Himmer sounded like a planet sought by humans fleeing from the Great War.

  Farn asked if there was some origin spot. Perhaps a landmark where their people worshiped the ancients from the stars. The Magistar replied affirmatively and that the location of what they called in their religion 'The Landing' was only a few kilometres away, but that it was forbidden for anyone to venture there. Farn asked why, and the Magistar replied that 'The Landing' was a sacred place and only the High Priests of Greestone were allowed there.

  Greestone asked Farn? Yes, replied the Magistar. Greestone, the ancient myths said was their homeland, but of course that was all just stories told by old folks to scare children into obedience. Greestone thought Farn, such an odd name and a bit familiar.

  Farn thought long and hard about what she could leave the city with to defend themselves against future aggression by the Horde. Such aggression the Magistar said was inevitable. It was only a matter of time. A year or two, perhaps a decade, but the Horde would return. The Horde had no options, for they did not cultivate the land or work the fields. They were only skilled at taking from others and killing. And when unified, and facing starvation, they would return.

  Farn continued to question the Magistar about origin myths. The Magistar seemed uncomfortable with her questions but he seemed to respond as best he could. He replied that the Holy Book of Greestone, which few bothered to read, said they had fled their world during a great famine and disturbance in the stars seeking a land of plenty. This land Himmer was their destination and the riverine valleys provided more than enough to sustain their people. When they arrived they found the remains of an ancient human culture, but the planet was uninhabited. What remained was crumbling walls and slumping agricultural terraces.

  Farn thought this was indeed a promised land. Except of course for the Horde. The Horde itself seemed to have arrived well after the Greestone refugees had begun to cultivate the rivers and valleys of Himmer. Farn asked one last question. From where did they come? Did the origin system have a name? The Magistar looked back at his fellows before replaying. "Yes, he said, we came from someplace called Eleos. But of course that is all a myth." Farn remembered that name Eleos, but why she could not remember. The name had a familiar sound, but she would need to follow that name later. Much later.

  Abel had forbidden supplying weapons to systems under any circumstances, and although the Mist had no ready supply of weapons, they did have nine plasma rifles and pistolas. But no, thought Farn, she could not leave them with even a few weapons. They might well use these few weapons against one another in internal disputes.

  After long consideration Farn decided upon a single gift. One they might well use to improve their colony or simply ignore. It was the gift of knowledge. It was a gift of a copy of the Encyclopaedia Gallectica. How they might use the incredible wealth of information was up to them.

  At midnight Mist lifted into the skies and assumed a high orbit. Farn had asked for a scan of the area called "The Landing," but other than scrub vegetation and a very flat area of the plains there was nothing to be seen.

  Farn sat in her captain's chair near exhaustion. "Mr. Schmidtt, plot us a course for Pope Leo XXI. I shall be in my quarters."

  ...

  Unknown System - Ragnarök - Year 3246. October 17 ET: 10:43

  After almost five days in the tunnel Ragnarök burst into yet another system. Upon the vid screen Silvi was almost blinded until the screen adjusted to the intense light of the system. Ragnarök had entered a system dominated not by suns and planets, but by gas and dust. The clouds were mostly hydrogen and brilliant flashes of electromagnetic storms dashed across the view screen, and while the gases and dust flowed through space, they seemed unable to coalesce and form suns and planets. This section of space was simply not dense enough to form solid objects.

  Captain Arast spoke, "Mr. Milford, can you identify where we are in space? This looks nothing like the edge of the spiral arm."

  Astrogator Niles Milford worked intensely at the astrogation station before he replied. "Well, we are nowhere near home. That's for sure. I don't want to speculate but I suspect we are
well into the Magellanic Stream. How we got this far and how we get home is beyond reason."

  "How far from home? How far from our edge of space?" asked Arast.

  Niles shook his head. "A long way away."

  "How far?" insisted Silvi.

  Niles turned and looked at Silvi. "So far," he replied, "that it makes no difference. We are no longer in our Galaxy at all. More than 100,000 light years."

  Captain Anna Arast interjected, "How is that possible?"

  Niles replied, "It's not possible. Portals don't jump galactic distances. But here we are. This makes no sense. None!"

  "Mr. Eldjárn, do you have a fix on H1 or H2?" asked Arast.

  "Yes captain, they are both about 50,000 kilometers ahead and moving toward a particularly dense portion of these clouds of gas and dust."

  "Is there something solid they are heading toward? Like a planet or perhaps a station?"

  Rozel Eldjárn replied, "They just jumped a portal again. Very near."

  Captain Arast called out, "Pilot Paris follow H1. I would hate to be stuck this far from home."

  Silvi sat in her jump seat behind the captain's chair and considered the recent past. H1 and H2 clearly had an established trade relationship with Hsi. They peacefully exchanged goods, and the fish warehouses, and the unopposed landing, all indicated continuing trade. If the H's could get to Hsi then clearly they could get back there again. And when they went back to Hsi, Silvi and Ragnarök would follow. Once again in Hsi they could find their way home. But out here in another galaxy they would be lost forever unless they continued to follow the H's.

  Moment later they entered the portal hot on the heels of H1 which had followed H2, the freighter, at a close interval. Seconds later they found themselves in the tunnel with no idea of how long they would remain there. Captain Arast called for half watches and decided they might well be in for a long wait.

  However much to the Captain's surprise after only half a day the entered a new system. "My systems scan says this is Happy Landing," called out Niles Milford with relief clearly visible in his face and tone. "Happy landing, well I'll be..."

  Rozel stopped speaking for a moment and then continued. "I have H1 and H2 on the plot, but I see another ship as well. The other ship I have tagged U1. It's on the far side of this system. But it is clearly a warship in stealth. I can't tell much from this distance. But it's a powerful warship at that."

  "What can you tell me about this system Mr. Milford?" asked the Captain.

  "Happy Landing. It is a G class sun with eight planets and two in the goldilocks zone. The EG says it was a major manufacturing center before the Great War specializing in engines of all kinds; fission, fusion, anti-matter and something called shell drives. The EG does not say they were destroyed in the Great War, but they hint strongly that both Unity and Greayson considered Happy Landing a real source of potential trouble."

  Arast asked, "Mr. Eldjárn can you scan those two planets?"

  "Aye, aye Sir." He replied. "We are a bit far out to see much, but H1 and H2 are headed toward the inner planet. As for that other distant warship, it is on the far side of the system and I cannot really get a fix on it. That ship is kind of lurking on the edges of this system, like it does not want to be seen. It's not too large but it's energy signature indicates it's a real threat to anyone who tangles with it. I'll know more as we close in on the inner planet. I have labeled the inner planet P1 on the vid screen. The outer planet P2."

  Captain Anna Arast stood for a moment wondering what to do next. She had followed H1 and H2 from Hsi out into a far away galaxy and back to Happy Landing. While the distance traveled had been immense, if not mind boggling, the tunnel time had been relatively short. Clearly H2 was on a trade route it must have traveled many times before and its' escort H1 was clearly needed given the attack at Old Stones. As for the distant warship positioned well into distance Anna and Silvi simply sat and wondered.

  Arast looked at Silvi for a moment and then spoke. "Mr. Eldjárn will you hail H1 and H2. Tell them we are the OCN on a police and patrol mission to keep the knot lines open. And we would appreciate a response."

  "Aye, aye Sir." responded Rozel.

  Silvi and Anna heard Rozel trying to contact H1 and H2 but with no response. Both ships were deadly quiet and Silvi began to wonder why such silence was necessary.

  "I have a response from P1. The inner planet." said Rozel. "It's a bit faint and in an odd dialect of Standard English but they are responding."

  "Put it on speaker Mr. Eldjárn."

  The speaker crackled and buzzed for a moment but then Silvi heard a faint voice. "Hallo strange ship. Hallo. Why do you enter? Hap Lands is no place for you. Go away. We not need you. Go away."

  Silvi thought that this welcome was becoming too common on their voyages. The first reaction to seeing an unexpected visitor to a system was for that system to tell the visitors to go away. As if that would actually make someone who had gone to all the trouble to travel to a distant location to actually comply. Such demands were nonsense Silvi thought.

  "Should I respond Captain?" asked Rozel of Arast.

  Captain Arast thought a moment. "No. No response at this time. Pilot Paris continue following H2 in toward the system. Not too fast. Let's not spook the planet. And Mr. Jónsson load all our tubes. Three quarters with 'K's and the rest with sand casters. I want to be prepared for anything. And Mr. Eldjárn tell me the moment that mystery ship on the edge of Happy Landing space moves a centimeter."

  "Aye, aye. Sir"

  Arast took the Ragnarök into high orbit above the inner planet. Below her an orbital station received H2 while H1the warship remained in high orbit roughly 80,000 kilometres ahead of Ragnarök.

  Rozel Eldjárn spoke with some excitement in his voice. "That mystery warship has moved. It's the Sigrún. She is hailing us now."

  Soon the Ragnarök crew heard the voice of Captain OM Marx. He was welcoming them to Happy Landing. Sigrún had entered Happy Landing space only two days before and had as usual lingered at the edge of the system until they understood activity within the system. As Sigrún was about to establish contract, or try to, with Happy Landing, H2 and H1 had arrived and Captain Marx decided to hold back a bit longer.

  Silvi, Arast, and OM spoke for some time about Happy Landing and the Ragnarök's encounter with H1 and H2 at Hsi as well as the fight at Old Stones. Captain Marx expressed interest and concern when Silvi described the short visit to the Mallegenic Stream and back to Happy Landing. On the distance scale the voyage from Hsi to Happy Landing had been mind boggling, but the actual time required to complete the journey was less than two weeks.

  Captain Marx had nothing to add about the Happy Landing system. He had only hidden out at the outer limits of the system and had not yet ventured toward either of the two habitable planets, but he had noticed the signature of the orbital station.

  Silvi ordered Captain Marx and the Sigrún to remain hidden while she tried to speak with the planet.

  Arast said, "Mr. Eldjárn give me a full scan and status on that orbital station please. And when finished please scan the inner planet and outer."

  While Rozel worked his station Silvi opened her inter-tab and read the brief entry for Happy Landing. The EG described the system as having two inhabited planets named Ameria and Ammon. Ameria was the inner planet and was described as an advanced manufacturing system dependent upon its' food source on the outer planet Ammon. The system was reported as having a population in excess of two billion and was dependent upon high tech manufactured goods for export to supplement its' food requirements. The planet had a specialty in manufacturing engines of all sorts from steam, to fission and fusion and something called a shell drive. Plastics, textiles, hand tools, and metallic building materials were its' other exports. Ameria had in the ancient geologic age a large sea, but most of the water on the planet was now locked up in its' frozen polar regions. Only large lakes loosely connected by rivers descending from numerous mountain ranges provided limi
ted access to water. Below the surface were plentiful resources of hydrocarbons useful in making plastics and fibers. Ammon, the primary food source for the system, had been a frigid planet that had been terraformed over 800 years ago and turned into a semi tropical land capable of significant food production. As Silvi finished reading Rozel spoke.

  "I have a two dozen energy signatures on Ameria. Some are fairly weak and look like rather old fission systems and several strong fusion system. As we passed over the darkened side of Ameria I saw very few lights which would be odd for a planet with a population of two billion. I suspect that the population is now significantly smaller than the EG states. As for the orbital station it appears to be of a very old design, one that originated in the Epigoni Republic more than a four thousand years ago. I'm surprised the thing is still a working orbital station given its' age. Of course Epigoni disappeared long before the Great War. Strangely the Epigoni simply disappeared. It's one of the great mysteries of the cosmos. But their orbital designs were sound and conservative. The station however does have a failing energy system. More fission engines on their last days I suspect. Good for perhaps another twenty years or so."

  "And the other planet? Ammon. The one that supplies food?" Silvi asked.

  "Ah, " replied Rozel. "Now that is regrettable. The entire planet is too hot to grow anything. Too hot, as in radioactive. It seems pocked by craters and glassy planes from some old nuclear attack. Odd that someone would bother with nukes when simple kinetic bombs would destroy any infrastructure but leave the planet viable. Someone wanted to kill the planet and make it useless to Happy Landing and I think they succeeded."

  Silvi thought for a moment. Cut off their food supply and they would be dependent on whoever killed off Ammon. Silvi surmised that someone had chosen an easy way to subjugate Happy Landing without destroying its' manufacturing base. Was that someone one of the participants in the Great War? Or someone else?