by Douglas Hill
But beyond that horror, there was a different movement. The giant golden body of The One was clambering slowly to its feet. The grey face was now a mask of red, from Keill's ferocious kick. But the metal body was intact.
Bellowing with the wordless fury of a monster run amok, The One charged.
And Keill sprang, his own battle fury rising to a crescendo, to meet the charge head-on.
He slid easily below the huge, clutching hands. He swayed away from the battering impact of the mighty body. But as he evaded, he also gripped, and held, and pivoted.
The One's charge provided the momentum, and Keill provided the strength and leverage. He came smoothly up from his crouch – and The One came up with him.
For a fragmentary second, like the isolated single frame of a film that freezes an action for the blink of an eye, the golden giant hung suspended in the air, supported by the steely rigidity of Keill's extended arms.
And then the throw was completed, and The One flew in a smooth arc through the air – hurtling out through the open panel in the wall, into the blazing, luminous embrace of Arachnis.
When Keill reached the window, a second later, he saw the huge body lying on the bulging upper surface of the monster. The arms and legs were struggling weakly, as the furious energies that bathed Arachnis bit deep into the golden armour.
In another instant the metal began to melt and run. Keill saw the central seam of the armour gape open – and inside, he glimpsed the deformed limbs of The One's true body, writhing in agony. Then they were gone, and only crisped and blackened fragments remained.
And almost at once the whole ghastly sight ceased to exist, as the energies of Arachnis reached the power source within the golden armour, and what was left of The One vanished in an eruption of light and flame and vaporised metal.
PART FOUR
AFTERMATH
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Below the sculptured sweep of a broad patio, shaped from glistening translucent stone, the ocean extended to the distant haze of the horizon – a calm, turquoise ocean, the precise mirror image of the calm, turquoise sky of the planet Arkadie. The patio was bathed in the sun's warmth, the unique spicy fragrance of the ocean, and the unbroken silent tranquillity for which Arkadie was famous over half the galaxy.
Keill Randor lay at the patio's edge, on a body-contoured recliner, letting the sun put the finishing touches on the task of healing his injuries. High above the patio, Glr soared in leisurely circles, relishing the gentle currents of air beneath her wide wings.
But part of her attention was focused, worriedly, on Keill. During the weeks of their stay on Arkadie he had been growing more and more silent, withdrawn. Glr was increasingly disturbed by his seeming inability to wrench himself out of a gloom that she did not fully understand.
At the moment, her telepathic perception told her, he was once again reliving those last climactic moments on the asteroid...
---
He drew back from the volcanic blast of energy that signalled the death of The One. Around him, the bodies of the Twenty-four had stilled – some dead, the rest with minds shattered beyond repair. As he moved to the door of the chamber, sparing them only a glance, weariness and pain nearly made him stagger. But even so he did not make his way directly to his ship.
Instead he went again into the bowels of the asteroid, to the life-support area. There he found tools, and worked for several moments among the complex machinery. Only then did he retrace his steps towards his ship.
Entering, he brushed aside Glr's mixture of concern over his wounds and delight at his victory, and went to kneel by an improvised sleep-pad that she had placed behind the slingseats, for old Talis.
There was no pale cord now around the white head – and though the aged face bore deeper lines, etched by the agonising removal of the Arachnis link, Talis's eyes were open. And they were focused on Keill.
'Thank... you...' The whisper was barely audible.
Keill nodded, and clasped the thin old shoulder. 'Will he live?' he asked Glr silently.
With my help,she assured him. Which you need as well.
'Shortly?Keill said. 'When the job is done.'
He sank into his slingseat, reaching for the controls. Thunder erupted from the retros, and the ship's hull creaked ominously as Keill poured on power. But the sealing substance, gripping the ship within the gap in the asteroid's skin, gave way first. And the ship blasted out of the gap, arrowing away into space.
Glr had only begun to ask her question when Keill gestured to the rear viewscreens, the only screens still operating. 'Watch,' he said aloud. 'I rigged a feedback loop in the power energiser...'
No further explanation was needed.
In the screens the asteroid seemed to tremble. Orange flame gouted from the gap where Keill's ship had been.
And then the entire substance of the asteroid was swallowed up in a gigantic, convulsive detonation. It filled the screens like a mini-nova – and the shock wave swept the ship even farther away, in a titanic blast of force.
When the aftershocks died away, the screens were nearly empty. Even the cluster of space rubble that had been trailing the asteroid had been scattered over millions of kilometres by the blast. And the asteroid itself, with all its contents – including the Arachnis monster – had been wholly destroyed, disintegrated, in that final cataclysm. Only a ghostly cloud of space dust now drifted, silent, amid the emptiness.
And then at last Keill closed his eyes, and let his body sag into the slingseat...
---
Afterwards Glr had been very busy. Much of the time she was reaching into the mind of old Talis, as she had done with Keill, sending her soothing, healing telepathic presence to repair the damage done by the breaking of the Arachnis link. At the same time, outwardly, she was using all the resources of the ship's medikit on Keill's injuries, especially the terrible charred gouge in his left shoulder.
And meanwhile she had set the ship's computer guidance and sent it into Overlight, towards a planet that Keill had once told her of. Arkadie, planet of the endless summer, where the environment and the people created a haven of peace and tranquillity that was deemed priceless by its galactic visitors.
There time and proper medical care had completed the healing that Glr had begun. Talis himself recovered enough to use his own supreme medical knowledge to patch Keill's arm wound, grafting muscle fibre and skin, so that the arm would be restored as good as new. And since then the three of them had simply enjoyed Arkadie – the rest, the peace, the ease of undemanding days.
Except... there was the darkness within Keill, growing more worrisome for Glr as each balmy day progressed.
Now, from her soaring height, she saw Talis striding on to the patio towards Keill. She curved her wings and swooped down, settling on the patio's balustrade as Talis came up.
'I have good news,' the old man was saying. 'It may even brighten your mood.'
I trust something will, Glr said tartly. Because of their proximity, she could project into both minds at once.
Keill glanced at her with a crooked smile. 'Am I being as glum as all that?'
The stones of this patio, Glr replied, have been brighter company.
Talis smiled, then turned his amiable gaze on Keill. 'If you could tell us what is troubling you, we might be able to help.'
'If I knew,' Keill said with a shrug, 'I'd help myself.'
'Perhaps it is nothing,' Talis said thoughtfully.
Keill and Glr both looked at him, surprised and puzzled.
'I mean it literally. Perhaps the trouble is that there is no trouble.'
Keill shook his head tiredly. 'I don't understand that.'
'It seems obvious,' Talis said. 'Since the death of your world you have lived with danger. You have searched the galaxy for the murderer of the Legions. You have fought terrible battles. And finally you have confronted the Warlord and his minions, and destroyed them. Now it is over. You have nothing left to search for, nothing to fight.'
'You may be right.' Keill's voice was low and bleak. 'I've been thinking about Moros lately –
more than for a long time. And I've been feeling a little... lost.'
'Vengeance is very single-minded,' Talis said gravely. 'It can spur a man to great deeds – but when it is done, it leaves an emptiness behind, a vacuum.'
'That's me,' Keill said.
'Just so,' Talis went on. 'You are a warrior, and you have won your war. Now you feel you have no purpose – and you cannot even go home, for you have no home. Nowhere to go, nothing to do.'
And so,Glr put in acidly, you sink so far into depression and self-pity that even I cannot drag you out.
Keill swung round sharply – but the glare in his eyes died away, replaced by a rueful smile.
'All right, I suppose I deserve that. But now you've identified the disease, what's the cure?'
Keill, there is an entire galaxy out there, filled with peculiar and fascinating things. We can go and look at them!
Again Keill shook his head. 'I've had enough planet-hopping for a while. Anyway, I can't just go wandering. I have to pay my way. But the only way I know is the Legion way – and I've had enough fighting, too, to last me a while.'
'But that is my good news!' Talis interrupted. 'You know that I have been in touch with the other Overseers. And we have been making certain... inquiries.' A smile lit up the wrinkled face. 'Keill, there were many sizeable fees still owed to the Legions, for their services, when Moros was destroyed. We have traced them, and I am arranging to collect them – for you, the sole surviving legionary. You will be a very wealthy young man.'
Keill stared at him for a long moment. 'I... I don't know what to say...'
While you grope through the mud in your head for words of gratitude,Glr said, I have an idea for you. Her round eyes gleamed. If you have had enough of this galaxy, we can leave it. We can go to mine, and meet my people, the Ehrlil. You will find the experience improving.
Keill turned his dazed stare towards her. 'What are you talking about? You know I'd never make it.'
Talis nodded in agreement, well aware that the empty grey void of Overlight had a dire effect on the human mind, over a long period of time. And the incalculable distance between galaxies required a ship to be in Overlight for months. Even a legionary's disciplined mind would crumple, during such a voyage.
Glr sighed. I know how weak humans are. But remember that I have grown very familiar with what passes for your mind, Keill. I could place you in a temporary coma, and you would sleep peacefully between the galaxies.
Keill's eyes widened. 'Suspended animation? You could do that?'
Easily. I might even manage Talis as well, if he would join us.
Talis raised a long hand with a laugh. 'I am too old, and have been hidden away for too long. I wish nothing more than to go back to a normal life, in this galaxy.'
But Keill scarcely heard him. He was sitting up, gazing unseeing into the distance, excitement flooding through him. If the barrier of distance could be lifted... The thought of it! Another galaxy...
meeting the Ehrlil... seeing alien worlds that no human eye had ever rested on before...
And while we are there,Glr broke in, I could ask my people to design a ship – suitable for both of us. With an Ehrlil drive that can cross between galaxies in weeks, not months. Her wings flared excitedly. Think of that, Keill – other galaxies, a whole universe of wonders and adventures!
Keill seemed stunned. Slowly he turned to Talis, who smiled and nodded with encouragement.
Then he looked back at Glr – and a wide grin spread across his face.
'That's it,' he said at last. 'That's what we'll do. We'll go and look at the universe!'
