by Mitch Benn
3.4
- So what do you suggest, Deceiver?
Even as the Gfjk-Hhh had swept out in fury at Lbbp’s suggestion that he might not be the real thing (despite moments earlier acknowledging that he wasn’t), Lbbp had known he’d be back soon enough.
And though the Gfjk’s displeasure was obvious (Lbbp noticed that his pitiful rations had shrunk even further) Lbbp knew that his curiosity, his fascination at the possibility that he might, in fact, BE the person he’d been claiming to be, would overrule his anger. He’d be back, and he’d want to talk.
And here he was.
- Well, Luminescence, began Lbbp, using the ‘proper’ form of address for the first time, what you need is . . . some sort of quest, a challenge, a mission, if you will. Some way to carve your OWN place in history. You don’t want to end up as nothing more than a footnote, an appendix to the accounts of the deeds of your former self.
The Gfjk smiled. - You forget, Deceiver. I know your ways. I see through your tricks. You’re trying to get me to leave, aren’t you? To set out on some foolish adventure, abandoning my people, my homeland . . . Perhaps you think you might undo all I’ve done while I’m away, is that the idea?
Lbbp pulled as innocent a face as he could manage. - Not at all, Luminescence. I’m just talking about the scale, the SIZE of the task you need to undertake. It wouldn’t have to involve going on a journey – who knows, the thing you seek could be right here, right at home. It only matters that it’s something BIG, something heroic, something WORTHY of the Gfjk-Hhh. You’ll work it out, Luminescence. Of course you will. I have . . . faith in you.
Lbbp watched a rapturous haze fall across the Gfjk’s eyes and laughed inwardly. Yes, he thought. That’s it. You’re starting to dream. Dream big, as big as you can.
Because unlike you, thought Lbbp, I actually paid attention at the Lyceum. I read about the rise and fall of tyrants and emperors, on this world and others. And every time one falls, it’s because the same thing happens.
He starts to believe his own legend, believe he’s invincible, that there’s nothing he can’t do, no one who can stop him. So one day he pushes his luck just that little bit too far. He invades a country that he can’t possibly hold, he extends the bounds of his empire further than he can maintain, he starves and humiliates his people while believing his own lie that they love him, and ends up looking on in astonishment as they storm his palace and burn it to the ground.
The Gfjk rose and turned to go. - We will speak further on this, Deceiver.
Lbbp watched him leave. Off you go and dream some more, he thought. You’re going to – what was the Rrth expression? That was it – bite off more than you can chew. Because I’m going to feed it to you.
3.5
- If it weren’t for the fact that we’re probably all going to be dead soon anyway, I’d say my parents were going to kill me, complained Pktk.
They had stolen through the quiet streets of Lsh-Lff before dawn, the two young Fnrrns and two young humans, and now passed through the broken coastward gates. Looking behind them, they saw the highly convincing – and disturbing – sight of the burned-out, ruined city.
- Where are your parents, anyway? asked Terra.
- Back there in Lsh-Lff, muttered Pktk.
- They came with you? said Terra, surprised. Fthfth grinned at this.
- You don’t think Pktk’s parents would let a little thing like exile in the face of tyranny and insurrection make them let him out of their sight, do you? Pktk glowered at her, but Terra smiled. She’d known Pktk’s parents well. War hero he might be, but Pktk would always be their baby.
- Mine are okay, so far . . . probably, Fthfth went on. They’ve got a little house in the forest in Mntp. No one knows where it is but them. They’re hiding out there . . . I think. Fthfth’s smile faded.
Billy interrupted the conversation. - Erm . . . it’s not there, guys.
Strannit Zek’s dinghy, the luxurious well-appointed landing craft in which they’d escaped from Hrrng, and which they’d left parked outside the gates, was nowhere to be seen.
- Invisibility shield? asked Pktk.
Terra frowned. - Well, it has one, but it wasn’t switched on when we left it here. She produced her comm from her rucksack and waved it towards where the dinghy wasn’t. No, she said, it’s gone.
- They’ll have moved it inside, said Billy. Look closely and you can see the tracks in the grass. They’ve pulled it through the gates. I suppose if you want everyone to think that there’s no one alive in the city, having a spaceship parked right outside the gates is a bit of a giveaway. They’ve hidden it.
- So now what? asked Terra, exhausted and discouraged.
- Come with me. Pktk smiled. He marched off towards the shore.
Billy looked around him as they went. Were it not for the purple hues of the grass, just visible in the moonlight, and the fact that this moonlight came from three moons (the other three being below the horizon), he might have been on Earth, taking a stroll by the seaside. Suddenly, the very similarity of the landscape to a typical Earth vista made him feel even further from home. He put the thought from his mind and marched on, onto the dunes of the beach itself.
- Careful, said Pktk, you’re walking right towards—
Billy’s nose impacted hard against something cold, solid and quite invisible. He fell to the sand.
- —it, said Pktk.
Billy clutched his aching proboscis. - Typical, he said, his eyes streaming, I’m the one who walks into it and I’m one of only two of us who’ve got noses. What is it, anyway?
- Just a moment. Pktk smiled, feeling along the invisible surface. He found a gap in the shape, and vanished inside. I’m actually getting used to seeing people do that, thought Billy.
There was a crackle of energy, and the shape appeared in front of them. Terra gasped in horror.
It was a giant blue sphere. A G’grk battle sphere. She’d ridden in one before, a captive, being taken to what she’d feared would be – what, by any logic, should have been – certain death. She’d seen hundreds of similar spheres laying waste to her home city, hovering above the skyline, belching grav-rockets and pulse-cannon bursts, raining death. She shuddered violently.
Pktk’s head emerged from the hatch. - Our own G’grk battle sphere! Isn’t it brilliant?
- NOT the word I would have used, said Terra, beginning to recover a little. The very sight of Pktk emerging from the sphere, rather than ranks of armoured G’grk drones, immediately made it far less threatening a presence.
- I found it a couple of cycles ago, said Pktk happily. It must have been left behind during the retreat. It’s still powered up and everything. The controls are so simple – well, they were designed for G’grk to use.
Terra frowned. That sort of cheap disrespect for the G’grk was supposed to have ended with the peace treaty. It angered her to hear Pktk throwing it into conversation like that. She resolved to have words with him in due course but not right now. - Can you fly it? she asked instead.
- Oh yes, easily, said Pktk airily. Come on in!
They clambered through the hatch, first Terra, then Fthfth and finally Billy. Billy looked sadly at the sphere’s interior. Strannit’s dinghy had been full of padded, upholstered seats. This sphere didn’t seem to have anything to sit on at all. Even the pilot was meant to take a standing position at the controls, as Pktk now did.
- Invisibility shield back on! reminded Fthfth. We can’t let them see us coming. Pktk looked at the battle-sphere console and tried to remember the intitialisation sequence. Simple though the controls were, he always found it hard to concentrate this early in the morning. If only he’d been able to make himself some FaZoon soup, he thought sadly. You just couldn’t get the ingredients in Lsh-Lff . . .
Pktk jabbed at the controls in what he thought was the right order; to his relief, the grav
ity engines started to grind away noisily and the sphere juddered into the air . . .
They might not see us coming, thought Terra, but they’ll probably hear us. She looked at Billy. He was sat cross-legged on the floor, and seemed to be chuckling quietly at some private joke. ‘What’s so funny?’ she asked him.
Billy looked up, smiling. ‘I’m just thinking about my mum,’ he said. ‘Her big worry since I became a teenager is that I’ll start hanging out with the bad lads from off the estate and go round nicking cars all night. Always on about it, she is. “You come straight home from the pictures, our Billy; I don’t want you hanging out with the bad lads and going round nicking cars.” She was so pleased when she found out my best friend was a girl, she was like, “Well, she’s got daft hair, but at least it’ll mean he’s not off nicking cars with the bad lads off the estate.”’ Billy laughed out loud.
‘What?’ persisted Terra. Billy, hardly able to talk through his laughter, grinned at her.
‘In the past few days hanging out with you, I’ve nicked three spaceships and a battle sphere.’
And Terra laughed with him.
3.6
Colonel Hardison had his eyes on Professor Steinberg’s holographic star-chart and his Pktk-adapted field radio in his hand. I know some extremely clever people, he thought to himself. He spoke into the radio, in English.
‘It hasn’t changed course, Preceptor. Still headed this way. Professor Steinberg says – what? Oh, for—! Professor Steinberg says HELLO. There, I said it, happy now? He also says it’s definitely being guided, it’s not drifting. And according to his projections, it’ll pass right by us – inside the orbit of the six moons – in another two days’ time.’
Preceptor Shm’s voice came through the radio; Professor Steinberg’s cube, sitting on the desk in front of Hardison, translated as Shm spoke.
- It all fits with the legends. The Black Planet was said to pass close to inhabited worlds, there would be some sort of transfer of matter or energy and the inhabited world would be left scoured and lifeless.
Hardison nodded grimly, then remembered that Shm couldn’t see him, and replied, ‘I know. I’ve told Grand Marshal Zst’kh. I’ve never seen him so happy.’
- Happy? said Shm, then, thoughtfully, Yes, I suppose he must be. Do you have any idea what he has in mind?
Hardison glanced around the command centre. The Grand Marshal himself was elsewhere (working on who-knew-what), but a few drone officers were milling around. He lifted the radio close to his face and went on in a lowered voice, ‘Not so far. He’s just told me the matter’s in hand. I think he reckons this is his chance to fulfil his destiny or something.’
Preceptor Shm’s sigh was audible over the radio. - You know, I do wish people would stop worrying about their ‘destinies’ for a while and just get on with living in the present . . . Well, see what you can find out. There’s not much I can do about anything from here, I’m afraid. Oh, that reminds me. I don’t suppose you’ve heard from the Ymn girl again, have you?
‘Terra?’ asked Colonel Hardison. ‘No, why?’
Another audible sigh from Preceptor Shm. - She and her little band of friends have gone missing. I’ve a horrible feeling I know where they’ve gone. Everyone here is more than a little concerned, as you can imagine. In particular I’m getting all sorts of complaints from young Pktk’s parents.
Hardison smiled. He’d met Pktk’s parents. Shm went on:
- If you hear from her, tell her . . .
A pause.
‘Tell her what?’
- Tell her to be careful, that’s all.
‘I will,’ said Colonel Hardison, and put the radio down on the desk.
‘What was that all about?’ asked Professor Steinberg, looking up from his calculations.
‘Terra and her pals are missing. Think she’s gonna try to liberate Mlml on her own,’ said Hardison, with a knowing smile.
‘Best news I’ve heard all day.’ Steinberg smiled. ‘If anyone can do it, she can.’ He looked up at his star-chart and his face fell. The Black Planet was now clearly visible, a circle of pure darkness. ‘I wish I knew what Zst’kh was cooking up,’ he muttered.
‘Me too,’ said Hardison.
3.7
Terra shrugged. - I did warn you, she said.
Fthfth was gazing round the Preceptorate in utter despair. Terra had never seen her so distressed. Looking at Fthfth’s face, she wouldn’t have been surprised if her Fnrrn friend had spontaneously evolved tear ducts just in order to have tears in her eyes.
- But . . . Fthfth began, but who would DO this? Why? What’s the point?
They stood in front of the pile of smashed interfaces. Pktk put an arm round Fthfth’s shoulders, and said thoughtfully:
- All dictators need to control access to information. First thing you do when you take over. Also, if you’re basing your claim to power on some sort of supernatural authority, a prophecy or divine commandment or something, you need to clamp down on anything which might be able to disprove your claim. Close down the libraries, round up the scientists . . .
- Burn the books, muttered Billy.
- Books? asked Pktk.
- Never mind, said Billy.
They’d landed the sphere, still cloaked in invisibility, next to the statue that wasn’t of Tnk any more. Terra had forced herself not to look up at the statue’s face; to see that grinning idiot’s visage where Tnk’s noble expression belonged would have so consumed her with indignation that she wouldn’t have been able to think about anything else. She needed her wits about her now.
Foolishly, they’d left the two white New Believer robes aboard Strannit Zek’s dinghy; they were lost somewhere inside Lsh-Lff now, along with the dinghy itself. Terra and Billy felt horribly exposed – the only Ymns in Hrrng – but fortunately the Preceptorate was every bit as deserted as they’d left it.
Fthfth took a moment to collect herself, then stood up very straight and announced in a clear voice, - Right! I need to access the Extrapolator. What’s the best way of doing it?
Pktk thought. - Well, in every instance I’ve ever heard of when the Extrapolator actually responded to someone, they were standing in the main council chamber. So that seems like a good place to start.
- Well, off we go, then! said Fthfth, striding off towards the quartz dome. She’d gone a few steps before she realised that Terra and Billy hadn’t moved at all. She looked back and saw Terra, standing stock-still and ashen-faced, a worried-looking Billy by her side. Fthfth was about to ask what the matter was, when it dawned on her.
- Oh, Terra, she said, I’m so sorry. I forgot . . . You don’t have to.
- What’s the matter? Billy’s question was directed more at Fthfth than at Terra, but it was Pktk who answered him.
- The last time Terra was in the council chamber, it . . . it wasn’t . . .
Terra looked up at Billy, tearful and trembling. Billy didn’t know what they were referring to specifically, but he got the idea. Something terrible had happened to Terra in that place. Fthfth took both of Terra’s hands and looked her in the eyes.
- Terra, don’t think of that day. Think of the first day we saw the inside of the dome. Our first day at the Lyceum . . . Remember Preceptor’s Shm’s speech? You nearly dozed off, remember? I definitely heard you snoring.
Terra laughed in spite of herself, a smile breaking through her fear.
- Well, Preceptor Shm’s bored another two classes half-asleep since then in that dome, and it’s all thanks to you, said Fthfth, grasping Terra’s hands tightly. Terra, that dome isn’t the place where you nearly died, it’s the place where you saved us all.
Terra grimaced a smile and sniffed. Fthfth was the kind of friend you only found once in a galaxy, she thought to herself.
Fthfth grinned. - Now let’s get in there, ’cos it’s MY turn to save everybody, she
said. She turned and marched off towards the dome. Terra took Billy’s hand and set off after her.
3.8
This is actually pretty good fun, thought Colonel Hardison. Maybe I should apply for some black ops assignments if I ever get home.
Nah, he reminded himself, you’ve always been a full uniform stand up and salute kind of guy. Not the sneaking around type.
Still, he thought to himself, looks like you might be pretty good at sneaking around anyhow.
He’d made it unnoticed out of the command centre barracks in the dead of night. He’d waited for the Grand Marshal to emerge from his private quarters, accompanied by his personal bodyguards, and followed him to the barn-sized building which stood at the far end of the complex. He’d remained outside, unseen, for at least an hour, while Zst’kh did . . . whatever he was doing in there.
Hardison watched from the shadows as, Zst’kh and his guards emerged, marching back towards the Grand Marshal’s quarters, but he did not follow them. He wasn’t interested in the Grand Marshal’s movements. He was intensely interested in seeing what was inside that barn-sized building.
A single G’grk drone stood guard in front of the building’s entrance. Hardison looked around on the ground for something heavy. Finding a rock about the size of his fist, he picked it up and, thoughts of high school baseball flashing through his mind, hurled it into the darkness. It landed with a clattering noise about fifty yards away. The drone, hearing it, ran off to investigate.
I canNOT believe he fell for that, thought Hardison. Hasn’t he seen ANY old prisoner-of-war movies?
No, of course he hasn’t, Hardison told himself, as he tried the door. Finding it unlocked, he slid it open, slipped inside and closed it firmly but silently behind him.
The interior of the building was in darkness. Hardison took a moment while his eyes adjusted.
