Chains of Destruction
Page 33
"No don't!" Yumby screamed. "Hey! It doesn't work."
"Yes, it does," RJ said. "It just doesn't work on you." She jumped through the air and landed a well-placed kick to the bridge of his nose.
As he rolled for cover behind the Captain's Chair, Levits pulled the laser from inside his coveralls and shot one of the guards who was standing at the door. RJ ran forward growling, grabbed the other guard by the arm holding his rifle and slammed him – rifle and all – into the wall. As he fell dead to the floor, RJ grabbed the front of her coveralls and ripped them off in one motion. She pulled her chain from her body, looked at Drex, checked his emotions, and then killed him by slapping the chain into his head.
She turned and looked at the others.
"Who else wants to die for the Reliance?" RJ asked quickly. The remaining members of the room were silent, and a quick scan told her that none of them were likely to become aggressive. "What? No takers?"
Bradley had pulled his weapon from where he'd hidden it in his toolbox, but he didn't get a chance to use it. He sort of wished she'd let him kill Yumby. It would have been the next best thing to killing Briggs.
RJ raised her wrist-com to her mouth again. "Stratton, come and take control of the bridge."
"I'm on my way," Stratton answered.
RJ looked at Levits and smiled. "So, are you staying here, or coming with me?"
"Why I'm coming with you, of course, dear," Levits said.
* * *
Without the GSH's to contend with, the rebels were able to take complete control of the station in less than six hours. They were now loading the last of the motionless GSH's into a convenient airlock.
"I still don't get it," Levits said. "How come it's effecting the GSH's and not us?"
"Because they're hearing is superior to that of normal humans. I simply moved the frequency to a level no human could detect. That's why I have to have a sonic disrupter," RJ answered.
"It looks like a simple set of radio headphones," Levits said.
"It is," RJ said with a smile.
"But GSH's have no emotions. They aren't afraid of anything," Levits said. "What could they be dreaming?"
"See, that was what I thought until something occurred to me. GSH's have been programmed to serve the Reliance; they have been programmed for loyalty to the Reliance. So they do have a fear. A fear of failing to please the Reliance, a fear of appearing to be less than devoted," RJ said.
They had loaded the last of the GSHs into the air lock. They closed it and walked away. Bradley opened the air lock and watched as the GSHs floated off into space. Soon their terror would end.
"We'll leave the weapon here," RJ said to Stratton. "Who knows? You just might need it again someday. The New Alliance will trade with the natives for the items they need. I trust the two of you to deal with them and with our people honestly."
"How will we get supplies from Earth here or from here to Earth?" Stratton asked.
"Do I have to figure everything out?" RJ asked with a smile. "I'm a woman, not a computer. I don't know . . . Commandeer the Kryptonite and use it to fly things back and forth. You're already connected to Mickey and to Marge. You set up a teleport station in New Freedom and you trade goods."
"How are we going to avoid being shot out of the sky by the Reliance?" Stratton asked.
"Get really good pilots," RJ looked at them and smiled. "Listen, you're smart people. You started this on your own. We couldn't have done any of this if you hadn't already had the ball rolling. I have faith in you. I'm sure you can figure something out. I have more important things to do. Aliens to see, planets to undo."
She started walking.
"Wait a minute, RJ," Stratton said following her. "We need help to set things up here."
"You need help, but you don't need our help," RJ said, she just kept walking. "As it is, the Reliance might decide to come and knock you out of the sky. I doubt it, though. Worthless planet only has a few things worth taking, and now has a violently aggressive native population that managed to blow up a fully loaded battle cruiser and has learned to hate them.
"Add to that a damaged station full of dissidents with no real place to go and with enough fire power to destroy several battle ships before they could take it out. Nah, I don't think they're likely to bother you. But me and my crew – we're trophies. If they could put our heads on plates, they could break the back of the New Alliance. Or at least they think they could. If we stayed here they'd send an armada out here and blast everything to pieces just to get at us. They wouldn't care about casualties; they wouldn't care about losses. So . . . when they figure out what's happened here, it will be better for you if we're not here."
"You can do this," Topaz added. They had reached the skiff that was their destination. Topaz hugged Stratton and then Bradley. He turned to Stratton. "I'm only sorry that we didn't have sex at least once."
She laughed. "Ah, me, too."
"Just get on the damned ship, ya old perve," Levits said giving him a playful shove. Levits got in and started suiting up.
RJ turned at the hatch, looked at them and smiled. "Good luck. I have to tell you – it isn't easy being a legend."
They watched in silence as the hatch closed.
"So, do you think we are legends now?" Bradley asked Stratton as they walked away from the hanger.
Stratton laughed. "To who? Do you really believe that in fifty years anyone is going to remember anything except that RJ, a seven hundred year old man, and a robot AI stepped in here and stomped the Reliance to pieces? You, me, Levits, David – even the Prince – we're all just people. We can't compete." She looked around her there didn't seem to be any part of the station that didn't at least look like a disaster area. "Come on, let's get to work. We have to figure this mess out."
Chapter Eighteen
David looked out the window of the throne room at the city below. He had been surprised at how fast the debris of the battle had been cleaned away. How quickly things had been returned to – if not normal – at least something cleaner and more organized.
He doubted that anything seemed at all normal to the people who lived here, and it was a sure bet things would never be the same again.
Janad walked up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist.
"They aren't coming back for me, you know," David said.
"Yes, I know," Janad answered. She had known that two weeks ago when a ship had come to get Jackson, and the pilot had been surprised to see David still here. He had offered to take David to the Station. David had insisted on waiting for RJ.
"I can't say that I am not happy that they didn't come for you," Janad said in a whisper.
"Why did she leave me, Janad? Why?" David asked, his torment apparent in the tone of his voice.
"Maybe because she knew how much you are needed here. How much help you can give Taleed, teaching him to be a good king. How much help you can be dealing with the New Alliance." Janad held him tighter. "Maybe she knew how much I wanted you here with me."
David took hold of her hands looking down at them. He didn't turn around; he didn't want her to see the tears in his eyes.
"I'm glad to be with you, too, Janad. I'm even glad to be here. I like it here; I like your people. This place could be home for me. More a home than Earth has become. Only . . . Why did she leave me? Why did she leave me without even saying good bye?"
"Because she knows you, David. She knows you could never say good-bye to her. No matter how much you might have wanted to stay here. You would not have been able to watch her go. She wanted you to be happy, and she wants to be happy, and I don't think either of you can do that if you're together. Yet neither of you can say good-bye. So she just left."
David smiled and looked up at the sky. "I will miss them."
"And they will miss you."
* * *
RJ lay in their bed on the ship, her head on Levits' chest. She couldn't sleep.
"You're thinking about him again aren't you?" Levits a
sked gently.
"I know it was the right thing to do. That doesn't make it easy," RJ said. "I'm wondering if he'll ever understand why I did it."
"I'm not sure I understand why you did it," Levits said running his hand over her hair.
"Truthfully, because I couldn't forgive him, Levits. I tried, but I just couldn't. I couldn't, and I know that he knew that I couldn't." She gently untangled herself from him, got up, walked to the porthole and looked out at the vastness of hyperspace. "He reminded me of my pain, and I was his constant reminder, too. Neither he nor I deserved to live in the hell we had created, and neither of us knew how to stop it. This was the only way."
Levits got up, bringing the blanket with him and walked over to her wrapping them both in it although he knew she wasn't cold. "He'll miss you."
She leaned her head back into his chest. "And I will miss him."
* * *
Taleed handed his hand written proclamation to the priest. It was sloppy and damn near unreadable, but the priest took it and smiled.
"I have written that letter in my own hand," Taleed said. "And it bears the seal of the King. That would be me. Let runners take the decree throughout the land. I have written all that has come to pass, what is to be done with the tainted gold, and how the Priests are to behave in their office. Knowledge will no longer be treated as an evil. The Great Books shall be copied, and everyone who desires may read them. No longer will the King force women to serve him to give him abundant children that the land cannot support.
"Birth control techniques will be taught to all the people, and it shall be seen as their civic duty that they do not bring children to the world that they cannot feed. We will tend to our land and make it prosper, so that together these two things will ensure that never again will one of our people have to make war against another. Our warriors will train, and we will remain strong, but we shall do so not to fight amongst ourselves but to stay ever ready to fight the evil of the Reliance. An evil that The Ancestor warned us about and that corrupt priests ignored for personal gain, almost causing the destruction of our world and our people."
He looked down at the priest and smiled. "There is more in the letter, but those are the high points."
"My Lord . . . What about the holy breeding program? What will become of us if we turn so completely from our old ways?"
"We shall evolve as we were meant to evolve," Taleed said with a laugh. "Now do as I have told you, or I will have your head cut off."
The priest jumped to his feet from where he had been kneeling. "I was just kidding," Taleed laughed out as the priest quickly departed. He looked at Haldeed and smiled. "I really was just kidding, Haldeed."
It wasn't very funny, Haldeed signed.
Jessit walked in, wearing the clothing of the High Priest.
"My King," he said scratching his head. "I was wondering."
"Yes, Jessit?" Taleed asked.
"What is our religion now? I mean . . . I understand why you want the priests to continue their duties. They must or the generators will die. I understand why you have left them as leaders of the community; there must be an order to things, but . . . What is it that we now believe? Who are our gods?"
"I don't know," Taleed said with a laugh. "Do we need any?"
"Oh, yes, I think we do. We need something that the people can believe in. Something safe, or they will make up something horrible," Jessit said.
"You're the High Priest. You make something up and tell me what you decide," Taleed said. "Now go away before I have your head cut off."
"What?" Jessit asked in shock.
Taleed laughed. "It's just a joke."
"Well, it isn't very funny," Jessit said leaving.
Haldeed gave Taleed an I told you so look, and the young King shrugged. He sat back in his throne, put his feet up, picked up a glass of wine and took a drink spilling half of it on his shirt. He didn't care. He could spill a gallon of wine at a time, and the little he got into his mouth would still taste sweeter if he held the glass in his own hand.
He smiled broadly at his friend. "Ah now, Haldeed, this is indeed a great adventure."
THE END
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Chains of Destruction
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen