Across a Sea of Stars

by Michael E. Gonzales

  "Cris," Tattie said, "now you are being rude. Speaking in a language I don't understand."

  Cris had to listen intently to Tattie before his mind and tongue shifted gears again.

  Unsate lifted upward again, altered her course slightly, and started to thunder through the air, coming just short of breaking the sound barrier at 1,224 km/h.

  As they approached the mountains, the location of the pass became obvious. It appeared as if a giant had used a massive axe to hack a crevasse into the saddle between the two peaks.

  Capek slowed only a little. The wall of the mountain range seemed to rush toward them with alarming rapidity. Cris and Tattie braced against their chairs involuntarily.

  Only a kilometer away, small bright balls of light raced at them. Capek avoided them handily, almost effortlessly with minor movements of the ship.

  "Cris, we are being engaged from our direct front."

  "I see that! You're doing just fine!" Cris shouted through clenched teeth.

  At what seemed like the last second, Capek turned the ship onto the perpendicular and then zipped between the narrow walls of the pass. From above, enemy soldiers tried to fire down on them, but their shots fell short and exploded against the canyon wall.

  Left, right, faster and faster, Capek navigated the slim shard of air without so much as scratching the paint.

  The agents of Sorgina Bruckna communicated to their comrades farther down the pass. They changed their tactic. Rather that shoot directly at the Unsate, they fired into the canyon walls in front of it.

  Capek saw the many balls of light exploding into the stone walls ahead of them, and watched as tons of rock and soil leapt out directly into their path. Instantly he pulled Unsate straight up and out of the path of the falling debris. Above the canyon walls, she was now exposed to enemy observation from all sides. This brought a barrage of hostile fire that followed them as they arched through the air. Faster than the biological eye could follow, Capek flung the ship up and over the avalanche then ducked back in between the stone jaws of the pass.

  The steep, narrow walls of the canyon would soon end and they would leave the comparative safety of the stone defile, allowing their enemies a clear and unobstructed shot at them.

  "Rearward view, please," Capek asked nonchalantly, and Tattie put the view on the holographic monitor.

  The Unsate burst out of the crack in the cliff face like a bullet fired from the barrel of a gun. Instantly, Capek increased their speed; the G-forces pushed them back hard into their seats. Simultaneously, Capek began evasive maneuvering.

  Out the view port, the white balls flew past, impacting the ground and blossomed into orange and black explosions.

  A second later, the explosions ceased. "We are out of their range now," Capek said. "Are you both all right?"

  Tattie and Cris both let out a long breath.

  "That was some nice flying, Capek," Cris said.

  "Thank you, sir."

  "Are you okay, Tattie?" Cris asked.

  "I am, but I can still feel my heart beating very hard, even in my throat."

  "Yeah, the pucker factor was mighty high."

  "I'm sorry Cris, I did not understand that," Tattie said.

  "Never mind." Cris turned his attention to Capek. "Okay—let my stomach catch up with me, then let's figure out where Emer Alda is from here."

  "Cris, I am already on the heading for Emer Alda."

  "Good man—er—video caner."

  "It is pronounced vid-e-kan-ica," Tattie corrected him.

  Less than a minute later, the ship began to vibrate violently. Several red lights appeared on the control panel and several alarms began to sound.

  "What is it?" Cris shouted.

  "We are experiencing rippling oscillations to damaged control surfaces, and cascading failures of the power system. In short, I think I pushed her harder than her damaged state would allow."

  "I take it we're coming down?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "Can you set us down in one piece?"

  "I will endeavor to do exactly that. Please ensure your seat restraints are secure."

  Cris unbuckled himself from his seat and rushed to Tattie to check her seatbelts. As he grabbed the buckle, Tattie grabbed his hand again. He looked directly into her large green eyes, her pupils were open rather large, fear perhaps. "Thank you, Cris—I—I—"

  "You what?" Cris asked.

  Before Tattie could respond, Capek announced, "Ten seconds."

  Cris returned to his seat and adjusted his own seat and chest harness.

  Ahead, they could see a wilderness of trees and lakes, rocks and hills. Off to their right, Cris noticed a demolished city.

  Capek maneuvered the Unsate to avoid the trees. He skirted a hill as the ship rapidly lost altitude. Rounding the hill, they saw before them a large lake.

  "Capek, set her down—"

  "In the lake, I understand. We will have little time before the ship fills with water, so the instant we stop, secure all your equipment."

  "Little time, I thought you said there was just some hull punctures?"

  "The forward landing gear cover is gone, this will allow water rapid access into the ship... I realize our approach speed is too great, I will attempt to set the Unsate down on the very edge of the lake; skimming its surface to slow, I will need the lake’s full length in order to stop."

  The ship's stern lightly touched the water, nevertheless; it caused the nose to slam down into the lake. The collision was horrific. Water shot over the top of the Unsate, forcing her underwater. When she stopped her forward momentum, she was almost nine meters beneath the surface of the lake.

  The lights failed, and the only illumination was the sunlight filtering through the murky, green water. Cris could feel the ship rising and, as it did, the light became brighter.

  The water cleared the view port as the ship came to the surface. Her stern, being heavier due to the power plant, remained submerged.

  Cris unbuckled and sprang to his feet. He grabbed his gear and handed Tattie's to her as she ran up to him.

  Water came rushing into the control room from the passenger and cargo compartments. Cris called out, "Capek, how do we get out of here?"

  Capek slid down the canted floor to a stern bulkhead. He opened a small panel on the wall and from inside, he pulled a handle straight down. Above their heads, they heard a sound like a muffled explosion, and in front of them a door panel opened. Through it, Cris could see stairs leading up toward a bright light.

  They all dashed up the stairs. Cris exited a rectangular opening and found himself standing on top of the Unsate. A thin wisp of smoke was drifting from a square aperture in the hull, and a brilliant white rope led from it out into the lake. The other end was attached to an inflated raft—more of a large, inflated boat. Atop it, a strobe light was pulsing.

  Cris wasted no time. He sprinted toward the white rope and started pulling the life raft toward the edge of the Unsate.

  "Capek!" he shouted as he pulled. "Where did this raft come from?"

  "The Unsate knew she had come down in the water."

  "Bless her heart." Cris leaped into the raft. "Capek, how do I shut that thing off?" He cried, indicating the flashing light.

  "I don't think you can, Cris."

  Cris then produced his 9 mm pistol, and, with one carefully aimed shot, destroyed the strobe.

  "Capek," Cris called out, "is there a transponder—an emergency communications beckon?"

  "It is apparently not working, as I'm not receiving any signal from the barko." Just as Tattie climbed aboard the boat, the Unsate listed hard toward the boat and Capek fell into the lake.

  "Capek!" Tattie cried.

  The robot sank like a boulder. Cris released the line and rowed the boat away from the wreck of the Unsate. She suddenly tilted nose up and slid beneath the surface of the lake, whose waters boiled at the spot where the craft sank.

  Tattie sat down hard at Cris's feet in the several centimeters o
f water on the bottom of the boat, her mouth open and tears in her eyes. She turned, grabbed Cris's right calf, and sobbed remorselessly.

  An odd feeling came over Cris—very much akin to that feeling he had the day Danny…but he hardly knew Capek. Besides, Capek was a robot, though he was a very likable robot.

  Cris rowed on in silence for several more minutes. The only sounds were the oars in the water, the lapping of the lake against the bow of the boat, and the sound of Tattie crying. Her emotions were, indeed, no different than that of Earth females. She cared about everyone, even the robot. Everyone—yeah, she cared for him, too.

  She’d volunteered to accompany him on this dangerous trip with no promise of any reward…and there was this business about her helping with his dreams if he would achieve something he had never achieved before. Like getting picked for the Mars mission? Tattie said he would know it when it came…if it came. What the hell did that mean? Why was this girl so cryptic?

  He looked down at her, hugging his leg as if they were old and intimate friends. Very strange. One minute I'm a gimba, the next she's— She was comforting him in his sleep, keeping him warm, and pouring her tears out to him. He was very confused, to say the least.

  "Throw me the rope and I'll pull you the rest of the way." It was Capek's voice. Cris and Tattie jumped and looked toward the shore. There stood Capek, his legs covered in mud.

  "Danny!" Cris shouted. "I mean—Capek."

  "Capek, you're alive!" Tattie shouted, glancing quickly at Cris.

  "My status as a living entity has yet to be codified into law, madam."

  "We thought you were killed when you fell," Tattie wiped her eyes.

  "As I informed Cris, I am completely submersible up to fifty atmospheres. However, I have not been tested at that pressure since manufacture."

  "We are pleased—very pleased—to have you back," Tattie informed him.

  "Yeah, Capek, nice to see you're all right," Cris agreed.

  "Thank you both. I suggest we continue our progress toward Emer Alda. No doubt the Sorgina Bruckna will have her soldiers pursue us."

  "Oh, yes," said Tattie, still wiping her eyes, "and they move very quickly, never pausing to rest."

  "Madam, a direct course to our objective will take us through the ruins of Galdo Heirya. Shall I set a course to avoid it?"

  "Galdo Heirya?" Cris inquired.

  "It was once a vast and beautiful city. We stand even now where individual dwellings once stood that surrounded the city center. Here, families lived and raised their young. There were schools and temples, in the center of the city was a magnificent university. There were museums, theaters, arenas, and the seat of government for a nation of eighty million souls."

  "Don't tell me—Caval Du Mal?"

  "Oh, no. This evil fell a thousand rotations before his birth. It was the event that heralded the arrival of the Sorgina to our world. Here, they conjured up lightning and wind spouts. It is said that they caused fire to rain from the sky and the dead to rise and attack the living. In their wake, they left destruction and pestilence. Here, also, was their grip on the people broken when seven hundred rotations later my ancestor, Geldnar Bogle, in the year of the red moons, slew the Sorgina of Darlok in the center of these ruins near the temple of the Father's Son.

  "On that day, the remainder of the Sorgina clan fled our world and troubled the people no more. Then Caval Du Mal forged an alliance with Bruckna, who had slept in the caves of Darlok. Today, she grows in power and seeks her revenge.

  "No one has ever returned to Galdo Heirya. It is haunted by the ghosts of those whose lives remain unfinished."

  "If no one comes here, how do you know it's haunted?" Cris asked.

  "Cris, you need not run into a burning house to know it is on fire."

  "Every so often you say the most cryptic things for a woman who prides herself on the proper use of a precise language."

  "We are going to enter Galdo Heirya, I fear you will soon fully comprehend my statement."

  "What have we to fear from ghosts?"

  "They only have the weapons you bring with you. You must control your mind and your emotions inside the city."

  ○O○

  Cris and Tattie walked side-by-side, following Capek, as they approached the ruined and crumbling walls of the ancient citadel.

  The city obviously had once been very beautiful indeed, the rival of Rome, Athens, Alexandria, or even Tenochtitlan. The white stones that once layered the façade of the buildings still lay where they fell. The city had boasted wide boulevards that were now filled with rubble. Among the ruins, skeletons were visible; many, many skeletons, all crumbling slowly to dust.

  On their left, an immense, domed building cast a huge shadow. Its base was decorated with thousands of fluted columns. The dome itself had once been painted blue, but the color was nearly gone now. A large hole in the dome had turned the building into a huge roost for various bird-like creatures.

  Farther on was a pyramid, only a third the size of the great pyramid of Cheops in Egypt. This pyramid had a wide set of steps ascending to its flat top where sat a temple. It was a sort of a hybrid between an Egyptian and a Mayan pyramid.

  In between the major structures were a plethora of various buildings, some with multiple floors. In the streets could been seen the artifacts of this lost culture, things that had spilled out of the shops and lay unmolested for all these years. Here, were items of jewelry. There, urns and cutlery. Coins seem to litter the streets. Some appeared to be gold as they were still bright, just covered with dirt and dust. Some were black with tarnish; perhaps they were silver.

  No one touched anything out of respect for the dead, whose presence could be felt even by those without superstition. It was like walking through a graveyard, where the dead remain unburied.

  Chapter 17

  Bewitched

  Tattie observed Cris's face as he looked about at what was once a truly magnificent citadel. Absolute amazement was upon his face, and no sign of either fear or trepidation in his eyes.

  Cris may have been looking with wonder at the ruined city, but Tattie was watching out for other things. She recognized several buildings from the old stories, the Great Hall of the Law and the Temple of the Prophets. They turned a corner and advanced down the old Avenue of the Gallant. On both sides stood huge statues that bore the likeness of heroes whose names and deeds were now lost to this age.

  As they walked, their foot falls echoed from the empty, silent, dark buildings. Still, no one spoke, for the sound of their voices among these walls would seem a sacrilege.

  Tattie and Capek heard it first. The sound of isolated conversations, close enough to hear the voices echo about, but no so close as to be intelligible.

  Tattie rushed up to Cris, grabbed his left arm, and whispered into his ear, "Can you hear that?"

  "Hear what?"

  "Madam, I hear, but cannot comprehend the words," Capek said.

  "They're coming!" Tattie gasped.

  "What? Who?" Cris asked.

  "Cris, I am going to close my ears, the membrane I told you about. I suggest you plug your ears, don't listen."

  "Don't listen to what—" Cris jerked his head to look behind him. He now heard the voices, as well.

  Tattie closed her ears but a mumbling still seeped through. She grabbed Cris by the hand and shouted, "Run!"

  The three of them sprinted down the boulevard, Tattie running as fast as Cris could run.

  Capek, it seemed, was as fast as Tattie, and not knowing Cris was not, he shot several meters away before he realized he had left Cris and Tattie behind. He stopped and waited.

  The boulevard emptied into a huge square, three sides of which were occupied with temples several meters tall. On the end that closed off the plaza stood a huge building with a single spire that rose seventy meters into the air. This, Tattie recognized as the temple of the Father's Son. Directly in front of it was a charred, blackened crater, the exact spot where Geldnar slew the Sorgina of
Darlok.

  A numbing silence befell them now. Tattie opened her ears only to find the world still and devoid of any noise.

  All stood mystified, looking about for some explanation. Then, with a cry of pain, Cris bent double, grabbing at his ears.

  "Cris, get up!" Tattie shouted at him.

  He fell onto the street and curled up into the fetal position, his eyes tightly closed. "Danny! No! Don't—"

  Tattie recognized that he was in the grip of the phantoms of Galdo Heirya.

  She looked to the skies and shouted, "Please! We are enemies of Bruckna the Sorgina!"

  With this revelation, Cris relaxed, and seemed to sleep.

  Just as Tattie bent over Cris, the wind blew hard down the street, bringing with it all manner of dust and debris. Capek placed himself before Tattie as a windbreak. With her eyes closed, she shouted at Capek, "We must grab him and get to shelter!"

  The wind stopped as quickly as it had started, and its howling was replaced with a new sound, the sound of many people screaming. With the wind gone, Tattie opened her eyes to see a great black cloud boiling down the boulevard on the other side of the plaza like a volcanic pyroclastic flow. She closed her eyes again, dropped to the ground, and covered Cris with her body.

  When the boiling black wall struck, she felt no impact; rather, she felt only a bitter cold fall over her. She opened one eye a fraction to discover she had been immersed in almost total darkness. Even her marvelous eyes proved of little use.

  A high pitched, angry female voice filled the frigid air all around her, both close and far. "How touching. Tattie Bogle and her pet from Earth."

  "And you are Bruckna."

  "I am Bruckna the Sorgina of Mord Telent. I come with a warning for you and your synthetic friend. Leave the Earth pilot…he is marked by Caval Du Mal for death—and he will have him."

  "Why do you not just take him now? You have us. Something stops you."

  "Do not toy with me, gimba. I would enjoy few things more than to roast the female descendant of the Bogle who killed the Sorgina of Darlok!"

  "You have no power here! If you had, Capek and I would be destroyed, and you would be away with Cris."