“Sir!” Merlin shouted and took two long-legged steps to Constans’s side. “Do not go. It is not written.”
Vortigern took Constans’s arm and pulled him away from the raving D.R.U.I.D. “Let me tell you something about these D.R.U.I.Ds, Constans.” He reached in his pocket and pulled out a little white cylinder about two inches long and one inch wide. One end had a silver button and the other looked like mirror or glass. “They have an off switch.”
“No!” Merlin shouted just as Vortigern’s hand bearing the cylinder came down onto the side of the D.R.U.I.D’s neck. For a horrible moment, Merlin buckled and gasped before he crumpled soundlessly to the floor.
“Androids from another planet. Perhaps part creature, part machine, part human. We may never know. Droid Ramification Unit-Something, I don’t recall,” Vortigern said to the horror-struck audience before him. “Perhaps your father left you a memo somewhere in this ship. Sadly, these only work once.” He tossed the white cylinder aside. “And they are so hard to come by.”
Lot ran and retrieved the discarded cylinder to examine it closely. Morgause stepped to his side, watching Vortigern closely.
Galois shook his head. “You’re strange, sir,” he addressed Vortigern. “Perhaps it’d be best if you made your key and left.”
Igrain moved to the fallen Merlin and laid him out on his back. She frowned and examined him, but could find nothing machine or android about him that might be malfunctioning. “I think that would be best,” she agreed.
“Of course.” Vortigern and Constans left the bridge.
“Alright!” Galois cried. He hauled Uther up by the arm to the chair and set him down in it. “You’re commander now. Come on, tell me to do something in a big, commander kind of voice.”
Uther felt himself blush as Igrain smiled at her husband’s fun. “I’m not. Constans is. He’ll be right back.”
Igrain brushed her daughter’s hair with her hand as she walked past her and Lot. “Perhaps when we reach Camelot, Constans will give you some land. I can see you being a lord over a new city.”
“Is the city built?” Morgause asked in her sweet ignorance.
“Yes,” Lot sighed as he went back to staring out the window as though inspecting Camelot for blemishes. “Androids have been building it all these years to ensure when we arrive, all is well and prepared. I like the look of Lothian though.”
“We don’t know if the moon is inhabitable,” Galois said to his soon to be son-in-law. “We’ll find out soon enough though. I like the moon. Would you like me to fetch you that moon, my love?”
Igrain giggled and flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Only the best for me?”
“Of course!”
Uther rolled his eyes as his friends engaged in passionate, loud kissing. To his right lay Merlin, still unconscious. He stood up and walked to the D.R.U.I.D, crouching by him. He had perfect skin like no other human Uther had ever seen. No marks, pores, wrinkles. Where were creatures like Merlin and Mab from? He knew they were alien lifeforms, but Vortigern had said they were androids. Androids were not allowed on ships. And the aliens were not trusted usually. Only on great missions when their knowledge of the stars was needed were they allowed on ships and in close proximity to humans. He reached down and touched the little sting marks on his neck from the cylinder. His skin turned clammy at the spot.
Galois and Igrain were laughing loudly and Morgause squealed with delight at something when the D.R.U.I.D suddenly shot up right, gasping for air. His hands reached up and seized Uther’s uniform lapels. Liquid streamed from his eyes like tears.
“It’s happened! Uther, your brother is dead,” Merlin cried.
In a rushing of stamping boots, Igrain and Galois leapt to the com-unit and called over it for Constans.
“How do you know?” Uther demanded, fear gripping his heart. “How?”
Merlin grasped the station’s surface and steadied himself. “Mab. I have seen it through her eyes. She has come to ensure that what is written does not come to pass.”
“Stop saying that,” Uther commanded. “What is it, Galois?” he demanded of his friend. Cold sweat already trickled down his back. He didn’t want to be in charge. He didn’t want to order people around. He wasn’t smart enough. He didn’t have the experience. All that belonged to Constans.
“I can’t raise him on any of the units.” Slight panic strained Galois’s usually collected voice.
“Nor on the screens, sir,” Igrain called over. She whimpered as her fingers flew across the vision board, checking every camera in the ship. “I can’t find him!”
“Constans!” Uther screamed over the all-ship speakers. “Constans, where are you?”
Uther could hardly hear over his own heartbeat. His brother’s voice did not answer. Nothing. “What can you see, D.R.U.I.D?” he yelled to Merlin in a strangled cry. “Can you see her now?”
Merlin’s blue eyes were twitching back and forth as though watching an invisible screen. “I see nothing. She’s—”
“Gone!” said a familiar voice accompanied now by Vortigern’s face on the head screen. “Poor D.R.U.I.D’s circuits must be fried,” he chortled. “Look in the cryochamber, little Uther. There you will find your brother and your entire crew. At least you can still save the crew before they die. Life support is inactive right now.”
“I’ve got it!” Igrain yelled as she leapt up and dashed out of the bridge door before Uther could order her to the cryochamber to save the crew. Thousands of souls were in danger, suffocating at this very moment. He blessed Igrain and her immediate response.
“Most of them should be alright,” Vortigern smiled. “But not Constans. He was going to be a great leader, right, Mab? Ah, Uther, these D.R.U.I.Ds have their uses. Why we shunned such a wonderful race is beyond me. But I really don’t want to stay and chat with the new boy-king. Camelot awaits.” He grinned manically and shut off the transmission.
“What does he want?” Lot asked in disgust, clenching his fists. “If I had my sword…”
“Look,” Galois brought up the outer ship view. The twin starship pulled ahead of them. Vortigern would reach Camelot first.
“You cannot allow him to take the planet,” Merlin said. “My people are there. He may enslave them.”
Uther turned his red-rimmed eyes on the D.R.U.I.D. “So, you are an android? You lied to me all these years?”
Merlin shook his head; he didn’t understand. “There is more to it than that, Uther. I am not just android. I am a living thing. Our race has been feared and persecuted for centuries. But this is not the time for religious or political discussion. Your people and mind are in grave danger!”
“Wish we had time to discuss alien religions,” Galois piped up. “But we have to stop Vortigern!”
“Sir?” came Irgrain’s broken voice over the com-unit. “I’ve found commander Constans.” She gasped and choked on a sob. “I’m so sorry, Uther.”
Uther felt his fingers dig into the soft flesh of the chair he sat in. The commander’s chair. The tears fell down his toned cheeks, but he didn’t care. Let them see him weep. Constans was supposed to the perfect leader. He always tempered justice with mercy. He was wise and fair. He was quiet and thought things through. Those were all things Uther had always left up to his brother. If Constans was all those things, then that left Uther free to be the bad brother. The rascal of the two.
“Sir!” Lot cried from his left. He had taken up the defense station and had his hands on the weapon’s controls. “The other ship is preparing to fire. Orders?”
Uther froze. He didn’t know what to order. Igrain had jumped into action, sparing him the duty. He wanted to say blast him out of the sky. He wanted Vortigern beyond dead. He wanted his body incinerated into oblivion. Lot called to him again, but Uther couldn’t answer again. His muscled arms just flexed in fear.
“Arm the missiles,” Galois said at last. “Find him and give him one ping to let him know we’re serious.”
“Astral s
onar launched,” Morgause said from her station. Astral sonar provided a far better reading of the environment than the overhead view screen.
“Fire a warning laser. Just a small one,” Galois said. “Igrain, how’s the crew?” he asked over the com-unit.
“They’ll be fine,” she said. “I’m coming up. How’s Uther?”
Galois looked over his shoulder at his petrified friend. “He’ll be fine.”
“Firing!” Lot screamed in the ways of a primal warrior.
2
The Descent
Uther was forced to command the ship now they had entered combat. Galois hit the emergency call to arms and had released hundreds of the sleeping crew. Within twenty minutes, all stations were armed and the ship’s shields were raised. The steadiness shivered as they neared the planet and small rockets and lasers from Vortigern’s ship rocked the bridge.
“Evasive action, Galois,” Uther ordered. He snapped the head-glass onto his face, a metal headband with a screen display over the eyes, and scanned the area around the ship with his keen eyes.
“This ship isn’t meant to run like this,” Galois grunted from his navigation station.
The ground bucked and several people were knocked off their feet. Igrain fell from where she had been looking out the space-scope and landed right at Uther’s feet. He leapt up to help her, but she popped up before he could. She met his eyes in the flashing lights of alert and gave him a trusting smile.
“You can handle this,” she whispered.
“I’ve charted a landing course,” Morgause called from behind where her fingers were flying over the keys manipulating the space maps. “We can speed jump into the atmosphere and land then.”
“Speed jumping will put us into the planet too fast,” Lot argued from where he swiveled around with a head-screen over his eyes as well. He enjoyed space combat like no other in his year at the academy. “We’d crash!”
Morgause ignored him and turned to Uther. He sat upright in the chair, his hands clenching into the soft leather. He didn’t know what to do. The ship shook again and Irgrain called something out about weak shields. A red light flashed behind while an alarm sounded under his feet in engineering. He had to make a decision.
“We need to detach,” Lot said sternly from his station. “We simply don’t have the power to keep the entire planet-ship in combat. Detach, raise shields, and get to Camelot.”
“Sir?” Igrain called again. “Shields are weakening and our crystalic power is dwindling dangerously. Like Lot said, we’re not made for this kind of maneuvering. Sir!”
The ship twitched again and breaking metal screamed, followed by a loud hissing sound. Uther stood petrified.
“Morgause, jump us around the planet,” Galois yelled from the front near the large view screen. “Lot, make sure that Vortigern doesn’t fire any form of photon or astral rocket. Igrain, chart us a descent based on the planet’s weather. Find us some clouds and a lot of water.”
Immediately, everyone buzzed to work. Uther felt his stomach loosen and his heart sink. He hadn’t known what to do. Constans would have known. He would never let things get this bad. Their father would be disappointed in Uther. He could almost feel his chiding eyes staring down at him.
“Detaching now,” Lot confirmed. A jolt rocked them and all sectors on the ship’s map showed up in green. Everyone had evacuated, ready to leave 90% of their home behind. It turned into a devastating maneuver. The chances of retrieving what they lost dropped rapidly.
“Merlin, what do I do?” Uther whispered. The D.R.U.I.D stood next to him, but did not speak for a moment.
“There are others like me on the planet. Find them and they will defend us against Vortigern,” he said.
Uther looked up, confused and a little concerned. “We’re to eradicate the D.R.U.I.Ds once we arrive,” he said. “It is my father’s instructions. I was hesitant at first, but now I know you’re an android…”
“We are not!” Merlin said, uncrossing his arms. “There is more to us than that. Though the working droids on Camelot are not the same as me, they are my kin by blood. I cannot let you destroy them all.” He relaxed a little. “You will be ruler of this new planet. Can you not find ways of having humans and this alien race live in peace? We are flesh and blood like you. We have insides like you save for what was made by human hands.”
Now Uther grew even more confused. “I thought you were all machine.”
Merlin shook his head and fixed his ghostly blue eyes on the view screen. “We are part machine, part being.”
“Ready to enter atmosphere!” Morgause yelled to her father.
“Jump!” Galois ordered. “Everyone, hold on!”
With a sudden burst, the ship thrust forward at near light speed. Those who were not sitting were flattened to the floor with screams and muffled crunches. The pressure made everyone’s ears pop and stomachs flop. The feeling vanished in an instant. Suddenly half a dozen little space pirate ships identified by their solar sails sped before them. They headed to the moon Lothian. Behind them, visible like snowflakes, were the remnants of their life. Just like that, everything they knew was gone.
“Most likely trying to escape us,” Igrain said sympathetically as the ship sped toward the new planet. “And the battle we’ve brought them already.”
“Shall I dispatch them?” Lot said with a smile.
“No,” Galois said. “Let them be. We cannot even prosecute them until we set up our settlement. Until then, it is not our moon.”
“We’ve lost Vortigern,” Lot informed them, his finger still poised over the trigger.
The shields were just enough to make it through the atmosphere safely. But like Galois had said, they were still traveling too fast despite the shortness of the jump. The earth zoomed closer, faster than they could react.
“Engage the rocket brakes!” Uther screamed. He suddenly felt braver now they were out of the great, black vacuum of space.
“Bank to the right,” Merlin added.
“We don’t have enough power,” Morgause answered in fear as the ground rose up to meet them. Any minute, a great impact would shatter the ship.
“Do as he says!” Uther barked.
The great ship flipped to the right and a huge, blue lake suddenly appeared in their line of sight.
“Prepare life rafts!” Galois yelled as he pulled his wife away from the front of the ship and the rest of the crew fled to the back of the bridge and ducked down, holding on for life. “Civilians check!”
“Secured,” Igrain screamed as she clung to her husband.
With another, more striking jolt, the view screen flickered, erupted into static, then went totally black along with all the lights and alarms that had been screaming seconds before. Below, four thousand souls screamed in unison.
But the impact and rushing water never came. The metal screamed, bending and breaking as the ship slowed down and then ultimately floated over the silent lake. The ships halted as if a soft, invisible force caught them lightly, holding them safe. The view screen blipped back to life and all the crew gaped at what they saw.
The ship must have been pointing down at the lake as though it were going to dive right in, but now hovered perfectly suspended in mid fall. The force holding the ship came from a giant, humanoid mecha robot before them, its arms outstretched to catch the ship should it fall. The mecha must have been fifteen meters tall and looked to weigh about twenty tons with the armor and weaponry equipped to it. It had a face and where the eyes would have been were mirror glass where no doubt a pilot sat in control.
Everyone breathed hard and stared at the beautiful blue and white robot that had saved them.
“Sir, a transmission from the mecha,” Igrain said from her station, her voice still shaky.
Uther waved it through and a lovely, deep, female voice spoke.
“Constantine IV, I presume,” it said. “I am Vivian, the D.R.U.I.D who oversaw the building of your new and great city. I have been resting th
ese past years in my laboratory but as you can see, we have been flooded out.”
“Scan the lake,” Uther commanded Galois who immediately obeyed.
“There is a huge reactor and facility underwater,” he answered. “Looks like it got flooded out decades ago. She’s been sleeping in some sort of android rest, I assume.”
“Vivian,” Uther said into his communication unite. “I am Uther, son of Constantine IV, my father died on the journey here. I must ask you, who is your allegiance to?”
After a pause, she replied, “With the head of this great steal dragon that I have just saved. If you are Constantine’s son, you are our ruler and this city I have built for you.”
“I am the head of this dragon,” Uther sighed. “Thank you, Vivian. Please aid us in our descent and speak to Merlin. He is our D.R.U.I.D on bored and can explain everything.”
“He already has,” Vivian said. They could hear a small smile on her face. “As has my sister Mab. I am with you, Pendragon.”
Uther visibly relaxed. “Take us down,” he said.
The ship lowered down onto firm land and the crew prepared to disembark. Igrain kissed Galois fiercely on the mouth and sighed, hugging him tightly. She had been holding up all the tension since they had entered the atmosphere.
“You did well, my love. Only you could have saved us.” She closed her eyes to thank her gods she and her family were safe. Next to her, Morgause kissed Lot in a similar fashion and he wrapped her up in his arms. They began to laugh and smile, recounting the dangerous journey that had just moments ago made them all fear for their lives. Uther watched from a distance.
“I have made arrangements for Constans’s death ceremony,” Merlin said softly behind Uther. “Vivian has everything in your city managed. Your people are welcome to begin moving in. Do not worry about that. The D.R.U.I.Ds and the crew will get most things settled.”
A New Home: A Sci-Fi Arthurian Retelling (The Camelot Project Book 1) Page 3
