The Wizard from Earth

by S. J. Ryan

  "Their scents are faint, but they are here in number. Ten . . . perhaps twenty."

  Herman was below the horizon, so Matt summoned a recent archived sky view. “I don't see any ships . . . . “

  Andra was watching him stare sideways at the ground. Prin leaned over to her and stage-whispered, “Isn't it obvious? He scryes upon the reflections in the morning dew.”

  “We are wasting time!” Landar growled. “We needn't puzzle whether there are Romans here now when they'll be here soon enough. Let's return to the boats while we have the opportunity.”

  “If the Romans are about already,” Archimedes replied, “our best escape is by air, even if it is only to float away on an unpowered balloon.”

  Carrot drew her dagger. "While you work, I will entertain the soldiers."

  Before Matt could respond, she vanished into the jungle.

  Geth nudged him. “You can't stop her when she gains the notion she's protecting others.”

  “But her alone against twenty soldiers!” Matt said. “Even she can't handle that!”

  “She's not taking them on all at once in combat. She'll strike fast and retreat into the cover of brush, again and again. I've seen her do so to a whole cohort for half a day. And the quicker you have the ship fixed, the less time she'll have to spend in risking her life while delaying them.”

  Matt snapped out of his anxiety-freeze and followed the scientists along the trail. They reached the slope of the volcano, but instead of a climb to the rim, they came to a tunnel that bore through to the interior. The interior of the extinct (or perhaps only dormant) volcano was populated by palm trees, buildings, and a hangar. Within the hangar was the airship.

  Back in the twenty-second century, Matt had seen bigger. Overall, in size and design it would have fit comfortably among the models built during the early twentieth century on Earth. Yet somehow the looming presence still managed to impress. Unlike an interstellar launch system, its size was on a scale that could be grasped by human eyes.

  Matt walked around its perimeter, conducting a rapid inspection. The bags were under-pressurized, the gondola was intact. The mysterious bio-engineered fabric gave it a silver sheen.

  He nearly bumped into Geth, who was wandering in the opposite direction, mouth open and head tilted far back. “It must be a hundred meters in length!”

  "Just a big bag of gas," Archimedes replied. "We ride in the cabin below. As you see, it is quite cozy."

  The starboard engine housing was raised. A table had been placed beneath it and was strewn with pistons and other components.

  “Engine problems?” Matt asked.

  “That's why I said it's in no condition,” Prin said. “Even if we knew the problems, it would take days to reassemble.”

  Matt flipped through the engineering drawings on the table. Ivan scanned the components and provided Matt with an AR overlay for the engine.

  Matt examined a piston. "This head diameter is out tolerance."

  Andra squinted. "It looks fine."

  "It's a tenth of a millimeter below spec."

  Landar snapped, "Assuming you're not making that up, nothing can be done. We have no replacement part and while we can cut metal, we cannot add it."

  "For a small amount like this, I can," Matt said. "Do you have any scrap metal the same as this?"

  "We have a cracked piston," Andra said. "Will that do?"

  Landar scowled while Matt transferred metal, atom by atom, from the broken piston onto the head of the other. When it was fattened to tolerance, he set the piston aside and inspected the gaskets. "These need to be replaced."

  Prin put on his glasses. "Why?"

  Matt split open a gasket, revealing a hidden network of hairline cracks.

  “How did you know?” Prin asked.

  Archimedes intervened, “Anything else?”

  Matt peered within the housing. "This hose. That valve."

  Prin scurried off to the inventory room. Matt reassembled the engine as Ivan suspended a computer-generated arrow over each component and tool as it was required.

  Behind his back, he heard Andra whisper, “He works so quickly and confidently! You did not tell us the half of his abilities.”

  “All the advice I sent you these past weeks has been from him,” Archimedes replied.

  “And that girl – can she really hold off twenty soldiers?”

  “She didn't seem overly concerned with the task, did she?”

  “I would not expect a formidable warrior to be a girl or to be named 'Carrot.'”

  "A nickname. She says because she's slender as a carrot."

  "Perhaps she meant when younger."

  "Yes, not that she's now – "

  "No, no, but she is rather well-muscled."

  "I hadn't noticed."

  "You, Archie? Not observe every detail of a pretty girl? The world really is coming to an end."

  Matt continued putting the engine back together. Archimedes and Andra connected hoses and pressurized the balloon cells. Prin pumped barrels labeled 'PREMIUM RUM, PROPERTY NAVY OF ROME' into the fuel tanks. Geth stood watch at the tunnel.

  "Hermanrise," Ivan announced.

  Matt examined the shore of the island in pop-up view.

  “Zoom on the lagoon on the other side of the island,” he said. “Ah. Ha.”

  A large tree had spread a massive overhang of branches over a finger of the shallows. At maximum magnification, it was just possible to see beneath the lines of a boat at anchor. The vessel was large enough to accommodate Carrot's twenty.

  Matt consulted the sky view archives. “No wonder we didn't spot their approach. They've been here for days, probably waiting to capture the airship once it was completed. That means Valarion already knew about the airship. I'd like to know how.”

  “Matt, per your requested scans, I have been unable to locate Carrot in sky view. However, Roman naval vessels are approaching.” Ivan zoomed out current sky view. At least nine ships – Matt stopped counting – converged from different compass points.

  Matt put aside the tools and went outside the hangar. He caught Geth's attention and shouted, “Can you barricade the tunnel? I mean, leave a gap for Carrot, of course!"

  "Of course!" Geth hurried off.

  With redoubled speed, Matt continued to re-install parts and tighten bolts. Herman irritatingly set. Too soon, Geth sprinted from the tunnel.

  "Romans – triremes – here!"

  Matt finished the last bolt and closed the housing. The entire hangar shook with a boom. Following Prin and Andra outside, he saw the mouth of the access tunnel filled with flaming barrels of naval rum. Archimedes was striding toward them.

  “Now Carrot can't get through!” Matt growled.

  “I waited until the Romans were at the other end,” Archimedes replied. “Regardless, the fuel will quickly burn itself out. We must leave in haste.”

  Geth patted Matt. “We must have the ship ready. I am sure she will return in time.”

  Matt didn't see the logic, but he joined the others at the hangar. The ship was secured to a carriage which rode on rails, and when tow ropes were pulled, the ship readily rolled into the open. Prin and Andra released cables so that only two remained to hold the ship to earth. Archimedes climbed into the gondola. While he worked the controls, wiggling rudders and ailerons, Geth waved confirmation that the play was proper.

  Landar boarded and scowled. Already forming suspicions, Matt followed quickly behind. He waited until Prin and Andra were aboard to watch Archimedes' back, and went out the rear door to pace the catwalk and adjust valves.

  Geth yanked on the starboard propeller. The engine coughed, huffed black smoke, and spun the prop into a blur. Geth went to the port side, repeated the routine, and hopped aboard. Matt sealed the door and said, “Now we wait.”

  Archimedes throttled back to as low as possible. Scarcely a minute passed and he said, “We have run out of time.”

  He gestured to the tunnel mouth. The fire had burned out and so
ldiers were sprinting through in double-file. While Matt and Geth looked on, Archimedes rested his hand on the mooring release levers.

  Just then, Matt heard, "Matt! Do you hear me!"

  The voice was inside his head. “Carrot, where are you?”

  Archimedes, Geth, and the others were looking at him because he was speaking out loud. He looked through the windows around the floor but didn't see her.

  "I'm above you, on the rim of the volcano, in front of the bow of the ship!"

  Matt pulled the release levers. The cables snapped loose and the airship gracefully ascended. Geth's expression flashed from surprise to rage to confusion. Matt pointed ahead and upward. Carrot was waving.

  “I'll get a rope!” Geth exclaimed and hurried to the rear of the gondola.

  Under Ivan's direction, Matt took the controls from Archimedes and hovered the ship, and a moment later Carrot was aboard and smiling at Matt.

  Before either could say anything, Geth embraced her. “It is not easy being your father!”

  Eyes alight, Carrot squirmed through the crowded compartment to the front and joined Matt. She gazed raptly at the jungle rolling below.

  “We are truly flying!” she exclaimed.

  Matt nudged the twin throttles forward. With a slight jolt, the engines purred and throbbed.

  The triremes that had reached the main lagoon swiveled their crossbow mounts and fired. A volley of two-meter-long arrows leaped but arced well short.

  Carrot continued, "We're invulnerable! See, Father, isn't this craft everything they said?”

  Matt headed west over open sea. During the next hours, he brief Geth on the piloting of the airship. They practiced turns, how to slow and speed, how to ascend and descend. Geth was an excellent student and his movements were smooth. Matt soon turned over operational command.

  Carrot beamed at her father. “Did you ever think you would captain a ship that flies?”

  “Last week,” Geth replied, “I wondered if I would ever again walk without chains.”

  A moment later, he frowned at the waves below. “We seem to be descending on our own.”

  “That happens,” Matt said. “Downdrafts, variations in barometric pressure and temperature.”

  “Shall I release . . . what was it called . . . ballast?”

  “We're okay at this altitude, but you're in command right now, you decide.”

  “I want us higher.” Geth flipped a switch. An electrical signal opened a solenoid valve. Behind the gondola, vents sprayed a miniature rainstorm. Slowly they gained altitude.

  A moment later, Carrot's smile faded. “We are descending again.”

  Matt opened a side window and bounced Ivan's low-power laser off the waves. He frowned at the rate-of-descent calculation.

  “We may have a balloon leak.”

  “Could an arrow have reached us and made a hole?” Geth asked.

  “I didn't see an arrow come close enough,” Archimedes said.

  Prin was listening and said, “I did feel a bump a moment ago. Perhaps it was a seam that burst. We have a patch kit, but we'll have to locate the leak first.”

  “I can go topside and look,” Carrot said.

  “I'll take the bottom,” Archimedes said. “Matt, you inspect the interior.”

  “All of you hurry,” Geth said. He had his eyes on gauges and waves. “I will run out of ballast in a few minutes and then we will descend for good.”

  “Idle the ship,” Archimedes said, “then we'll go do our inspection.”

  Geth was left at the wheel while Andra and Prin broke out the patch kit and Matt, Archimedes, and Carrot headed for their chosen destinations. Matt reached the mid-stanchion and climbed after Carrot. Carrot continued up the ladder to the top of the gas bag and Matt stayed in the interior and walked fore and aft along the catwalk between the gas-bag cells while Ivan scanned for leaks.

  They found none. When they were finished, though, Matt looked at the cells and frowned. “Something is wrong about this. The bag is compartmentalized so that a single leak wouldn't cause the ship to continuously lose altitude. But multiple leaks, even seam ruptures, are unlikely.”

  “Do you suspect sabotage?” Ivan asked.

  Matt realized Landar was unsupervised.

  “Hypermode warm-up!”

  Matt hurriedly climbed down to the gondola-level catwalk. He looked forward and saw a clear path to the gondola. He went around the backside of the stanchion and saw at the end of the catwalk, Archimedes and Landar.

  Landar was standing and Archimedes was prone. Landar was holding a dripping knife. Archimedes' robe was moist with a long red gash.

  Matt ran up and Landar turned.

  “He was never a real Roman!” Landar shouted above the wind. “Rome was good to him, yet he betrayed her!”

  “He was trying to bring peace!” Matt shouted, barely able to contain his rage.

  "Is that what you think? Look behind me!"

  Behind Landar were the incendiary bomb racks. Every rack had a barrel. Matt realized that while he had been working on the engine, Archimedes must have loaded the bombs.

  Rent with indecision, Matt said, “Well, maybe he – “

  “Don't prevaricate, barbarian! See where we're headed – west to Rome! He has enough bombs to set half the city ablaze! And he brought three barbarians to help commit the atrocity!”

  "Carrot wouldn't – " Matt paused. Where was Carrot?

  Matt took a step. Landar leveled his knife. Archimedes lay still and bleeding.

  “Matt, I have scanned the body of Archimedes and do not register respiration or pulse. His mean body temperature is – “

  “We have to get to him. Is hypermode ready?”

  “In one minute, Matt.”

  Matt looked down at Archimedes. Then he yelled and lunged at Landar. Landar was quick and scraped Matt's side, but then Matt was on top of him. Landar was strong despite his age, and as Matt would learn later, an ex-legionnaire with combat experience. It was two hands pushing against two hands pressing a blade closer and closer to Matt's throat.

  Suddenly, Landar screamed and released the knife. He backed away and stared at his hands. “I can't move my fingers! What did you do?”

  With Landar unable to block, Matt reached out and touched the side of Landar's neck. Ivan's tentacles again penetrated Landar's skin and this time wrapped around his spinal cord. Landar's eyes closed and his body went limp and sank to the platform.

  “Hypermode is available,” Ivan said.

  Matt crawled over to the inert form of Archimedes and Ivan again bridged from skin to skin.

  "I cannot help him," Ivan said.

  "What do you mean? He's still breathing, and you brought me back practically from the dead!"

  "That is because I am wholly merged with all of your bodily systems."

  "Then get inside him."

  Ivan paused. "Please clarify your request."

  "You heard me. Leave me, get inside him. Now!"

  "Detaching systems," Ivan said. "I will transfer via your hand to his neck. When transfer is complete, I will signal."

  Matt felt a mild shock and removed his hand. He rested Archimedes on the catwalk and wobbled erect. He lost balance and grabbed the rail. The metal felt like ice and stung. The world was spinning and he was sniffling. His stomach heaved. The breeze that he had barely noticed was an icy blast. The noise of the engines was deafening.

  Then he noticed his side was still bleeding.

  “Ivan?”

  No answer. He looked around. Everything was an astigmatic blur.

  Archimedes wasn't moving. Matt knew it would take a few minutes for Ivan to accomplish anything. All he could do then was wait.

  Curious, he pried the knife out of Landar's hands. This must have been what he used to punch holes in the balloon, he thought. He blinked as he remembered: Landar had been inside the gondola when they had started losing altitude. Was Landar the culprit after all?

  Matt tightly clutched the knife and st
abbed the blade into the balloon fabric. Or tried to. The fabric was as tough as the sample he'd been shown back at the workshop and wouldn't yield. He realized that to puncture even once would take a strength that was superhuman . . . .

  Without thinking further, Matt raced to the stanchion, ignored his vertigo and climbed the ladder through the mid-section to the top of the balloon.

  There was a third catwalk on top. Three-quarters of the way from nose to tail, it was occupied by Carrot and a human-sized creature with scales and claws and bat wings. The creature turned and smiled. Inoldia's features were barely distinguishable amid the fur, feathers, and fangs.

  Carrot was on her hands and knees, covered with bloody gashes. Matt saw the splattered blood across the surface of the balloon and realized that while he had been below, a horrific battle had been going on above.

  “Ivan, hyper – “ Then he remembered. He shouted aloud, “Get away from her!”

  “Stay out of this, vermin,” Inoldia shouted.

  Before she could turn to Carrot, Matt climbed to the catwalk and grabbed the rail. He marched toward Inoldia. Carrot shouted something that he couldn't hear above the wind without Ivan's help. And he didn't have Ivan's help.

  “I don't have time for this,” Inoldia said.

  She tilted her palm and a dart burst toward Matt, hitting him squarely on the jumpsuit. He felt the impact but there was no shock. Inoldia, however, flinched and scowled.

  “I see,” she said. “Your suit has a magical counter-spell!”

  It was electrically grounded, but Matt decided not to explain. He pulled out the dart and threw it over the side. He raised the knife and stared into her eyes.

  “Matt!” Carrot cried. “No – get away!”

  “Oh, no chance of that!” Inoldia cried with glee. She streaked across the length of separation between her and Matt in an instant and clutched his throat and lifted him from the platform. Matt choked and grabbed her arms to pull himself high enough to breath – barely – while his feet dangled half a meter off the platform.

  “What shall I do with you, little man?” She turned to Carrot and broke into a wide smile of sharp teeth. “Would you give me more of a challenge, girl, if I were to torment your pet?”

  Inoldia drew her talon across Matt's cheek, leaving a deep rut. Matt fought the urge to make a noise. Carrot wobbled erect, holding the same sword she'd fought the Emperor with. But she only took two steps and collapsed.