Spirit of Empire 4: Sky Knights

by Lawrence White

  Otis padded down the ramp. The moment he came into the gleasons’ view, a high keening sounded from the spokesmen, followed moments later by the rest of the gleasons in the tree line. The three stepped farther from the ramp to allow marines to move out into position behind them and to their sides. Everyone’s visors were in position and providing a clear view of each gleason’s location. Galborae had no intention of any of them suffering the same fate he and Havlock had suffered during their long ago conversation with a gleason.

  The gleasons’ images before them vibrated almost as if they were shaking. A quick look to the clearing boundaries showed that all the gleasons were agitated. Otis had warned them that his presence might cause this.

  Galborae spoke again. “Hold, all of you. I see you. If you lose control, there will be no ecstasy.”

  His words had the opposite effect. The cloak suddenly dropped to the ground. In its place, a blaster appeared and began firing in their direction, though the gleason’s aim was not good. Several more blasters sounded from the tree lines, then all the gleasons, the three in front of them as well as the horde of gleasons in the tree line, rushed forward. Otis had the fastest reflexes, but he did not have a visor. Galborae, Atiana, and the marines did. Stunners fired and the three closest gleasons lost their ability to blend into their surroundings. Otis now had targets, as did everyone else, and the ships overhead dropped down, adding their guns to the barrage striking the gleasons.

  The three closest gleasons went down under a hail of blaster fire. Galborae and Atiana withdrew into the shuttle, and marines followed them in an orderly fashion, but Otis, to everyone’s amazement, held his ground, roaring and snarling at the attackers. In the process, he did not waste a single shot.

  Otis waited as long as he could, then he leaped back aboard, his eyes the bright amber of his attack mode and his fur practically smoldering with energy. Shuttles continued firing until every gleason in the field was dead except one, then Galborae dropped another cloak and issued the same instructions he had given on the two previous days. The shuttles withdrew.

  Galborae sat down against a bulkhead shaking from head to toe. Otis joined him, still smoldering.

  “We failed,” Galborae said. “I had hoped it would be done by now.”

  “We have not failed. If you’ve convinced me of nothing else, it’s that these gleasons learn from their mistakes. The blasters were clever and a surprise. Where did they get them?”

  “Off the bodies of our marines and traders, most likely. We keep a close tally, and the number of missing blasters is not great.”

  “So we try again tomorrow,” Atiana said.

  Galborae nodded wearily. “I suppose so. I’m open to new ideas. This isn’t working very well.”

  Otis considered for a time. “If you’re right that the gleasons learn, it still has a chance. Let’s give it one more go before changing tactics.”

  * * * * *

  Galborae’s fleet of shuttles repeated the process the following day. This time a lone gleason waited in the field, and there were no other gleasons nearby. He, Atiana, and Otis stepped to the ground as before and waited for the gleason to speak. It held, just apparently waiting.

  Galborae tired of the delay and spoke. “I come to offer you greater ecstasy.”

  The image of the gleason on his visor did not move. “I speak only with the warrior.”

  Otis stepped forward, his hackles raised but his eyes not yet flashing amber sparks. “You know me?”

  “I know your kind. Join me in ecstasy.”

  “No. Maybe another day. Today we talk. Your people need to hear my words. Can you speak for them?”

  “They hear.”

  “You have shared much ecstasy since coming to this world, but many have died without ecstasy. We will continue killing without ecstasy if we must. It’s time for you to leave this world.”

  “We will not go back. This is our home now.”

  “I will not take you home. I have a better place, a place with many warriors who also seek ecstasy. You will not only find ecstasy there, you will find challenge, more challenge than here. Your opponent is strong and smart.”

  “No. Come to me now, one on one.”

  “No. If you move, you will die without ecstasy. I have come only to talk. We might seek ecstasy another day, you and I, but if you wait, your ecstasy will be greater in the new place. I ask you and your brothers to consider my offer. I will return for your answer when you wave the cloak.”

  “How can I know you speak true?”

  “I speak on the honor of my ancestors who shared so much ecstasy with yours.”

  The gleason held still for a time, a long time, then suddenly the cloak moved. Everyone tensed, but the position of the image on their visors did not change. The gleason spoke again. “Failure to achieve ecstasy before dying is the worst possible fate. I have complied.”

  “You agree to leave here?”

  “I agree to go to a new place.”

  “And the rest of your brothers?”

  “They agree.”

  A gasp escaped from Atiana, but Otis did not acknowledge it. “If we do this, any who stay behind will die without ecstasy.”

  “Bring your ships.”

  “I will, but they come from far away. It will take many days. There are more of your brothers across the seas. Can you mind link with them? Have they heard my offer?”

  “No.”

  “How do we tell them?”

  “Just as you did here.”

  “Many died here without ecstasy. We do not like to waste lives, especially without sharing ecstasy. Will you tell these others if I take you to them?”

  There was a long pause, then the gleason spoke again. “I will go if you go.”

  “Not me. You know we cannot be together without sharing ecstasy. If you are dead, you cannot speak to your brothers.”

  “Ecstasy comes only after I have spoken to everyone.”

  “Not before?”

  “You speak of honor. On my honor I say I will try.”

  “When do we go?”

  “Now.”

  “We thought it would be better to wait until our ships come.”

  “Now.”

  “Wait.”

  Otis inched back toward Galborae, but he never turned his back on the gleason. “How do we do this?” he asked.

  “Well done, Sire. I’ll clear everyone from the lower deck. We’ll seal ourselves on the upper deck, then let the gleason in. It might damage the ship, but it’s a small price to pay if we make this work.”

  “Do it,” Otis said stiffly, still focused on the gleason. He said no more, but he knew what lay ahead for him: one of the major ordeals of his life, an ordeal for which there was no backup.

  Atiana and the marines moved into the shuttle and cleared all the weapons from the main deck, then made their way to the upper deck. Galborae waited for Otis to return to the ship, but still Otis did not move.

  “Upstairs and seal yourself in,” he ordered, brooking no argument. “Leave a visor for me.”

  Galborae stared at him, instantly understanding the plan and knowing it was the only way to do this. His arm itched to draw his sword, but he did as Otis instructed. When he reached the upper deck, he sealed the hatch, then personally inspected the rest of the hatches. Only then did he speak to Otis. “Okay, my friend.”

  Otis stared for one more brief moment at the image of the gleason. He knew that as soon as he spoke, his ordeal would begin. He had not forgotten the feeling of gleasons ripping into his body, nor had he forgotten the taste of their blood.

  He spoke. “Follow me. Keep your distance.”

  He backed up the ramp and into the ship, never letting the gleason out of sight. He picked up the visor and put it on, then backed all the way to the other end of the shuttle and waited for the gleason to enter. When it cleared the ramp, he called down the length of the shuttle, “Have you ever been in a ship?”

  “I came here in a ship. It was bad, v
ery bad.”

  “I believe you. I’m going to close the ramp. Stay where you are. We sealed this compartment off from the rest of the ship.”

  The gleason stood where it was, but the moment the ramp closed, its image disappeared from the display on Otis’ visor. Otis called upstairs. “I’ve lost the helmet display.”

  The pilot answered. “Our sensors look outside, not inside, Sire. I’m sorry I didn’t think of this sooner.”

  “So am I. Head for whatever continent you’ve chosen and get someone working on this. I’m blind.”

  He called to the gleason, as much to see if he could determine where the creature was as to converse with it. “When we take you to your new home, it will take many days.”

  “Longer than it took to come here?”

  “About the same.”

  “We do not like confinement. I do not like this.”

  “Nor do I. My men are going as fast as they can.”

  “Your men. Hmm. They are not like you. You prefer to act alone. So do we.”

  “You might want to reconsider that. Your opponent on this new world will challenge you as you’ve never before been challenged. He might even prove a more difficult adversary than my people did. You will achieve more ecstasy if you combine your efforts.”

  “We have learned to do so here. We don’t like it.”

  “I guess you know by now that the locals do not share in your desire for ecstasy. To them, your attacks just cause pain and death, and they did nothing to provoke you.”

  “Knowing that adds to the ecstasy. Why don’t you join me here, right now?”

  “No. We have an agreement. I hold you to that agreement.”

  “You hold me to nothing. I hold myself. I see you. I smell you. I hear you. This might not work.”

  Otis decided a change in subject might be in order. “How do we feed you when we take you to your new world? What do you eat?”

  “We eat our kills, but one kill feeds many. We do not require food very often. We brought our own food for the journey here. We will do so again.”

  “We can help.”

  “No.”

  Would you like to see your opponents on the new world?” Otis asked, deciding it was time to get off the subject of food.

  “Yes. If I see them, my brothers will see them.”

  Otis called back upstairs. “Can you send down a projector with a recording of the peicks and mulogs on Harac?”

  The pilot’s voice came back. “Yes, Sire. We’ll have to download the recording from your cruiser. It’s tailing us so it won’t be a problem. How do we get the projector down to you?”

  “Use the aft shaft. I’m alone back here, but don’t make a big fuss. You know what I mean.”

  “Aye, Sire.”

  “The cruiser has left orbit? It’s here?”

  “Sire, we have a lot of ships here. We also have a lot of frustration—everyone wants to help, but you’re completely on your own.”

  “I think I knew that. Galborae, do you have any advice for me or questions for the gleason? I’d like to keep it thinking about something other than its next meal.”

  “I do, Sire. How long can they wait for our ships to come? What happens between now and then? Do we keep the caravans going or are the gleasons willing to leave us alone? How do we get them into the transporters when they get here? He claims he does not need food, but there will be huge gatherings of gleasons while they wait to board ships. Can they bring enough? I’m thinking about the gleasons we captured. They refused to eat.”

  “Okay. I’ll work on it. How’s the projector coming? I’d like to wet his appetite before we make our first stop.”

  “Soon, Sire.”

  He called to the gleason—it was time to check its location again. “Do you understand the passage of time? Days, moons, light and dark?”

  “We know light and dark. We prefer the dark. We have yesterday, now, tomorrow, the next day, and more next days. We have birth cycles and life cycles of many days.”

  “It will be at least one birth cycle before my transport ships come, maybe more. Can you wait that long?”

  “Are you giving me a choice?”

  “No.”

  “Then we continue sharing ecstasy as we have been until then.”

  The projector came down and Otis set it up and turned it on. He had no idea if the gleason would understand what a recording was, but it seemed to get the message.

  “They have weapons,” it called to him.

  “Only a few, like you have a few here. Do you think them worthy opponents?”

  “Who can say until we taste their ecstasy?”

  The shuttle reached the next continent and the gleason began mind linking with others there. They traversed the continent for an hour, then the gleason called back to Otis. “They demand to see you.”

  “Then they will see me. Guide me to wherever they want to meet.”

  Otis relayed simple commands to the pilot, then the shuttle settled to a field swarming with gleasons. Otis informed his gleason that they had to clear the field before he would come out. When the gleasons retreated a reasonable distance, the ramp opened, the gleason stepped out onto the field, and its image kept moving away from the shuttle. Otis finally emerged amidst a suddenly great keening. He roared out his own challenge, but everyone held their positions. He snarled a few words to them, encouraging them to accept a new home, knowing his personal gleason would translate for everyone. Then he and the lone gleason returned to the shuttle.

  The process repeated itself three more times, an intensely long day for Otis. The crew never succeeded in getting his visor working within the confines of the shuttle, so he had to be alert every second of every minute of every hour.

  Otis was not a lot on imagination, but what imagination he had kept conjuring the gleason materializing beside him, it’s hot breath on him as it filleted his body. To make it worse, the gleason had no trouble seeing him—it knew precisely where he was at all times. He tried turning out the lights to even the score, but the gleason knew exactly what he was up to.

  “Ahh, darkness. We prefer darkness. Do you?”

  “No.”

  “I thought not. You can’t see me, but I see you. I smell you. I will taste you.”

  “Others of your kind have tasted me.”

  The cloak moved. “They have?”

  “Do you know why you came here?”

  “Yes. This world was payment for our services.”

  “But you paid the wrong side. They lost and are no more. I fought your brothers in a great battle.”

  “There was much ecstasy?”

  “For some there was none. For others, yes, but it would have been brief. All of them died. Every single one.”

  “Ecstasy is all that matters.”

  “I will never understand you.”

  “If you did, the ecstasy would be weak. It would be like sharing ecstasy with my brothers.”

  “The new world will be better. I hope you get to see it.”

  The gleason did not respond, and Otis asked another question. “Why do you seek the sword?”

  “The Sword? It’s here?” the gleason asked, its suddenly increased agitation clear to Otis.

  “You did not answer my question.”

  “It sings to us. It shines for us. Attaining ecstasy with the wielder of the sword is our greatest hope.”

  The gleason’s words shocked Otis. He said in amazement, “It’s just a sword.”

  “Just as you are the ancient enemy. Is it here?”

  “I won’t answer that. It doesn’t matter.”

  “I would taste the ecstasy of the one who wields the Sword.”

  “More than you want to share my ecstasy?”

  “More. Yes.”

  “You’ll have to wait, then.”

  After visiting the last continent, the shuttle headed back to its starting point. When it landed, Otis opened the ramp, the gleason exited the ship, and Otis followed, his visor working again the
moment he stepped outside.

  “We are done until the transports come. Then we will speak again,” he said to the gleason.

  “No. One of us will not be there. It doesn’t matter. Everyone knows and will be ready. Just bring your ships.”

  “Do not do this thing,” Otis called across the intervening 50 meters. “Save yourself for the new world.”

  The cloak dropped to the ground as the gleason rushed him. It zigged and zagged with amazing speed, but Otis was a Protector—his aim was true. His first shot stunned the creature. It’s race toward him faltered, but only for an instant. Otis flung his helmet and visor aside as it came on, leaping erratically to avoid most of his shots. He managed to take off an arm, then another, then one side of its face, but by then it was on him. He flung the blaster away and leapt to the side as the creature struck, clamping his teeth onto its shoulder. The two went down entangled, vicious teeth seeking better grips while arms and legs tore at each other.

  Otis could not wait—his soft underbelly lay exposed to those vicious claws. The gleason turned its head to look into his eyes, locking its one remaining eye on him in triumph, and that was all Otis needed. He clamped his teeth on its throat and ripped. The amber eye stayed locked on his until the light in it died.

  * * * * *

  Atiana, Havlock, and Galborae, were there two days later when Otis came out of the tank. Unlike humans, Great Cats did not transfer to a bed during recovery. They just washed off the tank nutrients in a shower, padded through the dryer, and went back to work. His wounds had been closed up surgically, and the tank had sped up the healing process. He would not run for a few more days, and he would step gingerly for the rest of this day, but Great Cats were always full of energy and did not sit still for long.

  When he padded through the door, Galborae bowed. So, too, did Atiana. Her hands found fur around his neck that did not look like it was attached to a wound, and she hugged him.

  He suffered her ministrations briefly, then shook her off. “Not many can say they’ve hugged a Protector,” he said gruffly.

  “Not many can say a Protector redeemed their world,” she countered.