The Hand of Grethia: A Space Opera

by Guy Antibes

  “That is where the portal must be. At least that’s what I’m going to call it. I don’t know what the Grethians call the machine, but that can send people from one place to another. From wherever they came, I’m sure they were on a similar circle and that mechanism sent them to this one. We don’t have anything like that, although it has long been a dream, to move instantaneously from point to point.”

  Jan got an idea. Why not jump through the portal? Obviously the machines did not come down the stairs. They could take one of the machines, but how long and how fast would one of those vehicles go? Jan couldn’t guess, but they would do it.

  “I think the way out of this place is the same those priests used to get in here,” Jan said. “That means the way back to Diltrant leads through Actobal. We’ll have to steal the Hand of Grethia again to get back inside this hall. Something I am not unwilling to do under the right circumstances. That is, King Obsomil, if that course of action is something you are willing to help with. I would imagine that your disappearance is causing some disorder already in Diltrant. The sooner you get back, the sooner you can end it.”

  The king agreed that they would try to take a machine with them. Jan started the smaller machine that had the blade. It was reasonably protected from the rear and the blade would be useful in breaking down doors or whatever to assist their escape. “Your Highness, we have no idea where the portal is on the other side. We may have to jump from the machine and head wherever on foot.”

  “We will face what we face and fight who we fight and we will make it back to my kingdom with Pola and Ichar’s head on pikes!” Jan took that as a yes.

  Jan checked the charge on the machine. It was either at 3/4 or 1/4. Jan couldn’t immediately divine from the gauge, but he hoped it was three quarters. He asked Obsomil to stand back as he raised the machine on its field. It was something similar to the parallel grav fields on aircars back on Impollon with archaic controls, thought Jan.

  He started the machine up and let it hover a foot off of the ground. Obsomil jumped back. The movement frightened him for a moment and the king retreated behind another machine while he watched Jan maneuver it up over the other machines and set it down on the circle by the console.

  Jan tried a few controls. One made the machine emit a low-pitched hum that was caused by the energizing of the blade edge. It glowed with a faint orange light. Jan didn’t want to waste the battery cell and powered it down.

  Obsomil’s eyes assumed normal size after what he saw. “If I didn’t believe in magic, I would have sworn you enchanted that hulk of metal. What was that sound and that glow?”

  “Like I said earlier, I think the machine could be used for clearing debris, like a low field ion disruptor, or it could be something as simple as a heater system for removing ice from roadways. Sort of like my blaster on low power. I don’t think we need to worry about that. We don’t want to use it right now because it might waste power when we most need it.” Jan said as he jumped from the machine and went to the console.

  “I think he manipulated this control.” Jan looked down at a control panel at the front of the podium, and then he noticed a door below the control panel. He opened it and was surprised to find a portable viewer that would read data tabs. He removed it and found that it still operated. Then he took the tabs stacked alongside the viewer with him and stashed them with their other supplies on the machine.

  “This is a great treasure and it shouldn’t be hoarded by that fanatical priesthood. The people should be able to use these implements. Ichar ignores the truth of what the Hand really symbolizes. I think it symbolizes friendship and help, not mysticism and dogma.” Obsomil said. “The Actobal priests looked like they had gone to the afterlife when they touched the machines. It is like lying with a woman for them.”

  He stood up on the machine and waved his arm around the room. “The machines are for men and women to use to better their lives. I must know more. Let’s move forward Jan. Let’s go forward on a great adventure to bring this world out of the rut it’s been in.” Obsomil’s speech had ended, but the fire in his eyes still burned. The man didn’t lack vision.

  Jan placed his hand on the controls and took a deep breath. A million reasons why this wouldn’t work flashed into his mind, but the resolve to move ahead crystallized in him. He might lack Obosomil’s animal energy, but Jan felt he never lacked for courage.

  “I will only feel comfortable when I am again out in the open. To feel the wind and see the sun. Let us go and meet our destiny!” Obsomil pulled his head back, raised his sword and laughed.

  “Before we go let’s put on cloaks the guards wore. It may be a good thing not to be recognized,” said Jan cautiously.

  “Oh, good idea. Jan, you have unusual presence of mind for a person of your age.”

  So much for coming to Diltrant with his little sideshow of technology and with faint thoughts of ruling the planet, Jan thought. There was more to leadership than knowing how to pull the trigger of a blaster or to pilot a space ship.This is no game, he reminded himself, as dismounted and got cloaks for both of them.

  Jan set the controls at the console, ran back the machine, turned it on and could feel anxiety rise within him as the power for the transfer built.

  The king merely nodded and put his cowl up. Jan could see Obosomil’s lips compress and his hands tighten on the hilt of the sword sticking out from underneath his cape. Jan felt a little better to see a touch of fear, or at least anxiety in the king’s eyes as a whine from somewhere began down low and began to rise in tone.

  ~~~

  Chapter 11

  The air became charged, but this time, Jan was ready to move the machine as soon as he got his bearings upon appearing in Actobal. He was prepared to go up and hunched down to protect his head from a potentially low ceiling and suggested that Obsomil do the same.

  The air shimmered. The room changed colors. Suddenly, they were on the ground floor of a large building. Tall doors were visibly open but there were dark blue curtains surrounding the portal plate of their destination. The light from outside bounced off of a paneled ceiling fifteen meters above him and into the area of the circle where the machine appeared. Jan could see two priests dart into the enclosed space. Jan kicked in the drive and raised the machine up five meters and looked again. It looked like they were in a huge room of some kind of temple. That made sense, now he had to get them out of there.

  Below them a maze of curtains went out from the portal. Large doors four or five meters high stood open at the front of the building above the draped partitions as the machine swiveled up in the air and slid out above the drapery maze, through the large doorway over the heads of astonished priests, and into daylight.

  Jan swiveled his head to get some bearings. They were hovering ten meters above the pavement of a very large market square as the steps dropped away from the temple. People ran away from the machine like birds taking off from a lake when disturbed. Ripples of humanity made its way from the Grethian Temple as people began to flee.

  The largest two avenues led in opposite directions. Jan raced to the closest one and looking down saw a building that must be a palace. Not ready for that yet, he thought, as he turned the machine around and headed out in the other direction.

  Jan began to accelerate out into the square still flying above the heads of the people below who ran from underneath the machine as others ran into the square to see the commotion. Guards were trying to get in, but the exits were clogging. The first missile, an arrow, clanked off the underside of the machine.

  “Hold tight, king, we’re going up.” Jan grabbed the altitude lever and the machine rose fifty more meters when Jan jabbed at the throttle. He drove the machine over the rooftops, and then over the city wall. In moments, the city lay behind them.

  After a few minutes, Jan realized he had no idea where he was going. He let the machine settle down to the ground in the midst of a stretch of woods bordering a large pond. The road from Actobal entered the woods a f
ew kilometers away.

  “I’m glad Actobal doesn’t have real tall buildings. I think we left at the maximum height for this machine.” Jan said.

  “I thought I was knew what I was expecting, but we flew like a bird!” Obsomil sat with eyes wide open. “Can all of those machines do that?”

  “Probably, we didn’t really fly very high, maybe fifty meters. You really fly when you can go up much higher. Where are the mountains? The city is that way.” Jan pointed to the south.

  Obsomil looked around. “Diltrant is that way,” pointing to the southwest. “We will wait here until nightfall and then resume our journey. We caused enough stir as it was. How many people did we kill flying out of the city? By the way, what is a meter?“

  “None killed that I noticed.” Jan looked at Obsomil expectantly. Jan hoped there wasn’t anyone in the circle when they appeared. “A meter is this long,” Jan spread his hands out. “It’s a standard measure of length.”

  “We would call that a pace.” Obsomil played with his beard for a second. “No casualties will make it easier to go back and talk to King Mulloy.”

  “But,” said Jan, “We need to get back to Diltrant. What about Ichar?”

  “We have a world to change, Jan.” Obsomil looked out at the pond. “Actobal will be part of the new order. King Mulloy rules the plains from Actobal and as long as I am here, we should talk to him. Perhaps we can create an alliance that will strike fear in the Alchantians. Diltrantian ships could blockade Port Alchant. I just have to figure out what to do with the Murgrontians, since I’ve never trusted them. Although our powered ships can run rings around their vaunted Shark Ships, the Murgrontian Navy is still far larger than mine.

  “Actobal has never had a navy. It’s rather hard to when you have no ports, you know.” Obsomil said drily. “Port Alchant is a different story. The priests have never been aligned with any powers. It’s been better for trade. I cannot keep from wanting to level that temple. But if we are going to unite the world, I will have to become as much of a politician as a king. That means making Port Alchant into a greater city than it is already.”

  You can read those little blocks, so I am insisting that you help me in all of this. Together, the world will be molded by our hands, rejecting this religious mumbo jumbo that has kept us restrained for eons. We must be courageous and resourceful. Are you with me?”

  Obsomil reminded Jan of his father, but the elemental feel of Obsomil, the emotional charge Obsomil created, was much stronger and, Jan had to admit, seemingly without the guile of Artis Smith.

  “I suppose I’m with you, if I want to be or not.” He produced a half-grin to Obsomil.

  Obsomil looked appraisingly at Jan. “That’s not much of a pledge, Jan. We will leave tonight. Get some sleep.”

  Obsomil went to the machine and picked up the remaining cloaks and flung a few to Jan. He walked into the woods a few meters and lay down to sleep.

  Jan couldn’t sleep. He went to the machine and made it float a few feet off of the ground. Obsomil rose up, a tense look came over his face. Jan moved the machine a bit further into the woods more protected from prying eyes. Obsomil lay back down again. Jan retrieved his viewer and began to concentrate on the data tabs.

  The night began to fall. Obsomil rose and went to Jan who had nearly fallen asleep on the seat, the viewer lying on his lap. He shook the young man’s shoulders. “Time to leave”

  Jan started and looked up. He shook his head and looked up at Obsomil feeling his hand still shaking his shoulder. “Sorry, I just about fell asleep. But I can understand the gist of the tabs. They’re instructions on how to use the machines. This one is the introduction.” Jan showed a data tab to Obsomil. “These machines have been left as a legacy. Men from the stars settled this planet long, long ago. Those people, your ancestors, had a thriving civilization. A man by the name of Helix Browngoat designed these machines long, long ago. There are other machines at other locations.”

  “Any mention of their location?” Obsomil said.

  “No, but as I understood the tab, they were designed to be a legacy.”

  “Hmmm,” Obsomil said, stroking his beard. “Anything else I should know?”

  “It speaks of the Hand of Grethia. There was a society called the Order of Grethia. The Hand was their symbol. It was a symbol of peace and promise.”

  “Hmpf. The only promise they made was to keep the rest of us in the dark.” Obsomil threw the cloaks he used for sleeping in the back of the machine.

  “The planet was attacked from within by another society. Since Revant was some kind of a nature preserve, very few people were lived here. The Halls were placed over here as museums. Evidently, the other society succeeded too well. Their weapons ruined the big continent and pushed your ancestors way back on the civilization track. I would imagine those left alive over here weren’t in much shape to carry on life as your forefathers knew it. They had to recreate everything that was lost. That’s it. There is no more. One of the other data tabs had instructions on how to use the portals.”

  “Are there no weapon caches? Your gun… I want many like it. Alchant and Murgrontia cannot stand under such weapons.”

  “I think the Grethians weren’t interested in weapons or dominance. The tone of the tabs isn’t military. I’d be surprised if there are any weapons caches.”

  Obsomil shook his head with a bit of frustration. “ Time to depart for Actobal.”

  “Do you remember anything about the lay of the land and the organization of the town? Wouldn’t it be better if we had some kind of strategy before we actually went into the town? I wouldn’t want to just fly in and say, ‘Here we are!’ We still have angry priests to contend with.” Jan said.

  “Just what did you do… out there?” Obsomil said.

  “I was what could be called a strategic planner, a, uh, scholarly job. You see, when new worlds are discovered like Grethia, trading companies can get licenses for them. I worked for a company planning what they were supposed to do to with a newly re-discovered world.”

  “How did you find Grethia?

  “I’ve already told you the story. My ship was sabotaged by those who wanted me out of the way, so I came here by pure chance. Right now, those things are behind me. Maybe there is some use for me once we have gotten things under control.”

  Obsomil nodded. The two went off into the darkness. There was nothing on the plain higher than their thirty-meter altitude. A dull glow lit their faces as the instrumentation cast back its information. “Power was three quarters empty when we left Diltrant,” Jan said. “It already has declined to twenty percent. We can’t take this to Diltrant. It just won’t make it.”

  Jan slowed their progress. The men looked out across a moonlit landscape. Grethia was blessed with two moons and luckily one was out in full.

  “Look, there,” Obsomil pointed to a small cluster of buildings. “It looks like an abandoned farmhouse with good-sized out buildings off of the main road just a bit for privacy, but close. That line of trees and brush also hides it from the road. A perfect place.”

  The pair descended and wandered around the deserted farm. Jan mentioned they could hide the machine in the doorless barn. Obsomil continued to poke around as Jan went to work. Jan scooped out an area in the barn about two meters deep using the machine. Jan pushed the dirt out of the barn and into the yard, spreading it as he went. He parked the machine in its hole. He found mounds of moldy straw stored in the dilapidated building. Although it had deteriorated somewhat, Jan used that to cover the machine. He stood back and looked at the lump of straw in the barn. Any casual look would have revealed nothing of the technological treasure hidden beneath.

  “It appears we are not the only ones to think this a perfect place. There is something odd, here.” Obsomil said. “Horses have recently been kept in that low stable. There are none there now, but they left some pretty fresh droppings. Let’s sleep in the workroom next door. Someone has placed relatively fresh hay in there.” The two
men entered the stable. Obsomil pointed out his findings. After a quick inspection of the tackroom, the two continued their rest.

  ~~~

  Chapter 12

  Jan awakened to a prickling of his scalp. He knew where he had felt this feeling before. Obsomil’s eyes were already open, looking into the stable. The king raised his finger to his lips. The men got to their feet. Jan moved their gear out of sight and spread the hay a bit to hide the fact they were just sleeping there.

  Suddenly, something bathed the stable in a faint light. Voices could now be heard. Three figures materialized into the stable. Two men were on horseback and one stood, holding the reins. The two on horseback were dressed in silvery-gray. The standing figure was a Grethian priest.

  “It is settled then,” the priest said to the mounted men. “You will ride to Actobal and offer a treaty aligning Mulloy to the Murgrontian Empire. If Mulloy disagrees, we will offer the Diltrantian Treasury. Habamil will last just long enough until your army invades.”

  The others grunted their agreement.

  “Our plotters in King Mulloy’s palace will be ready to control Actobal with or without the King’s cooperation. We will then have slaves and food enough to unify the world. All for the Glory of Grethia!” The priest closed his fist. “When you finish with Mulloy, return to Port Alchant by adjusting the control on the gate to match the mark on that wall”

  The men looked at a dark slash on the wall where the priest pointed. The two men began to cover the portal from the debris in the room.

  A portable portal! Jan thought, while Ichar opened the doors from the stable and led the men out. What other secrets were kept on this planet?

  The priest returned and set the controls on the plate as he had instructed the men to do and vanished after the energy buildup peaked.