by Jason Kent
"I think we should keep this between you, me and the tree for now," Merrick said quietly with a nod toward Knowl.
Kate looked down at the seed in her arms. She knew Merrick was right. Knowl just gave Kate perhaps one of the most valuable gifts in the history of mankind. Until she knew exactly what she was supposed to do with it, it seemed prudent to keep the seed a secret. Kate slipped it into the satchel. Merrick buckled the flap and carefully handed the package to Kate.
"Best you hold this," Merrick suggested. He stood and helped Kate to her feet. He laid his hand against Knowl. Kate did the same.
"Thank you," Kate said before she reluctantly pulled her hand away. She grasped the bag tightly and turned away from Knowl.
'It is time...'
Kate nodded at the sound of Javin's voice in her head for the last time.
"Well?" Ross asked over his shoulder. He was watching the field for approaching guards.
"Knowl wishes to be destroyed," Kate announced. When the words came out, Kate felt as if it was someone else speaking. Even though they discussed this possibility, she was hoping there would be another way to keep the Tallinn's from abusing Knowl's power. With Knowl as an ally, the Tallinn's would soon crush Earth's defenses. Kate could not let this happen. Knowl did not wish this to happen. This was the only way.
"With what?" Andrea snorted. She spread her arms wide and faced the tree. "Got a nuke?"
"Space bombardment," Georges answered.
Everyone turned to look at the marine. Georges met each of their eyes in turn.
"I ordered it once we were out of the grotto."
Andrea pulled out a pistol and pointed it at Georges.
"You can't do that," Andrea snarled.
"I already did," Georges replied, unperturbed.
"Undo it, then!" Andrea shouted.
Georges stared at Andrea. "What did they promise you? Your old life back?"
A wicked smile curled up at the corners of Andrea's mouth.
Kate did not need Knowl's insight to realize Andrea was a plant. A way for the Watchers to have someone on the inside when the quest reached its ultimate goal. This also explained the Watcher she caught sight of in Bevin's villa.
"They're toying with you, sis," Dagger said.
"You brought this on me!" Andrea screamed as she pointed the gun at Dagger. "I was happy!"
"You were a slave!" Dagger hissed. She sighed and her grimace softened.
"Well," Andrea licked her lips, "some of us are okay with gilded cages, sis." She straightened her arms and steadied the gun so it was aimed between Dagger's eyes.
"Wait!" Kate stepped in front of Dagger. "Andrea, please don't do this. Earth needs..."
"Earth," Andrea snorted, "when's the last time they gave a tral for any of us? Where were they when the Tallinn came to Transom? What—"
Andrea's rant was cut off by the whoosh of a bolt sailing through the air. It clipped Andrea's gun with a clang.
"Tral!" Andrea doubled over and grabbed her bleeding hand. The gun sailed away and was lost in the grass.
"Sorry to interrupt," Garrett remarked. He stepped out from behind Knowl's trunk and raised his crossbow. "Seemed to be getting a little tense there."
Dagger rushed forward and knelt beside Andrea.
"What were you thinking?" Dagger asked, her tone unusually gentle.
Andrea looked up into Dagger's face.
"I just want to go home," Andrea cried softly.
Dagger opened her mouth to speak but no words came. Instead, she pulled her sister close, held her head against her and buried her face in her sister's hair.
"We've got company!" Ross called from around the far side of Knowl's trunk.
The others rushed to Ross' side. Halfway across the field, a group of twenty Watchers were approaching at a steady march.
"How long until Fleet is in position?" Georges asked Sparrow.
"Eleven minutes."
Dagger appeared beside Kate with Andrea hanging on her arm. She called over her shoulder, "Sprite-girl, how's the rest of the plan panning out?"
Kate wondered what the pilot was talking about. She turned to Dagger with a questioning look etched on her face.
Dagger laughed and pointed at Knowl. "Did you get whatever we came all this way for?"
Kate nodded. She clutched the bag with the seed.
"Good," Dagger snapped. "Time to go then. You didn't think I planned to die here with the big tree did you? It might have a death wish but I sure as tral don't."
"And...there's your answer," Sparrow announced.
Kate turned as the whine of a ship's engine grew then shattered the stillness of the field as a vessel sailed over the top of the open dome's edge. She never dreamed she would be so glad to see the rusted hull of the Blade.
"How?" Kate asked.
Sparrow gave her a grin and held up her hands. Her new implants glowed with a golden light under her skin. "Let's just say those reboot upgrades are coming in quite handy. Oh, and Dagger gave me the override codes for the remote landing system. Some ports require ships to turn over approach control to local admin as a safety measure. I was able to jack into the system from here and take control of the entire ship."
"Remind me to change those codes as soon as I'm back in my seat," Dagger grumbled, obviously unhappy with the link sprite's piloting of her starship.
Kate watched as Sparrow expertly brought the Blade down at the edge of Knowl's spreading branches.
"I kept the ship waiting in a nice mountain clearing about fifty kilometers from here," Sparrow proudly explained. "Far enough to hide from the local garrison. Close enough to call when we needed her."
"We needed her," Georges commented. "Everyone, head for the ship. Hopefully they won't fire at us with the tree at our backs"
"Don't count on it," Kate snorted and rubbed her bandaged arm.
As the quest hurried toward the Blade, Sparrow lowered the cargo ramp. Everyone skidded to a stop as a Watcher appeared on the ramp. The Watcher was a tall woman with long blond hair caught up in a tight pony tail and startling blue eyes glowing in the shadows of Blade's hold. She gazed silently at Kate.
"Not on my ship," Dagger spat. She pulled a throwing knife from her boot and hitched her arm back.
"Wait!" Kate dove sideways and grabbed Dagger's arm just in time. She held her hand up and frantically gestured at the others. "Don't!"
The visitor found every weapon aimed at her.
"Better settle this quick," Ross advised. "The rest of 'em will be here in a sec."
Kate inched forward. The Watcher simply observed her from the base of the ramp. Her sharp features gave away no hint of concern for the guns directed her way.
"What do you want from us?" Kate asked. She noted the clothes under the woman's white robe were light blue rather than the white on white outfit Javin wore. "Are you a Watcher?"
"I am called Tivon," the stranger replied.
Kate glanced back at the others before continuing.
"How—"
"There is little time," Tivon interrupted and gestured into Blade's hold. "You must come with us."
Kate was not sure how to respond.
"More like they need to come with us," Ross snorted. He faced the line of Tallinns approaching across the field. "Just tell me when..."
"Wait!" Kate exclaimed. She did not want Ross killing a bunch of unarmed Watchers before she knew what was going on. "I don't understand."
"To answer your earlier question," Tivon responded, "I am not a Watcher. I am an Archivist with a specialty in plant biology."
"There's a difference?" Garrett asked.
Tivon focused her gaze on Garrett and his crossbow then on Dagger and her knife.
"Is there a difference between you and the female pilot?"
"Well..." Garrett smirked. "Are we talking professionally or personal attributes?"
Dagger kicked Garrett in the shin.
Tivon did not wait for Garrett's reply. She addressed Kate again.
>
"You hold the future path where we must tread. You have been chosen to lead us. We are prepared to assist you in any way we can." Tivon gestured out into the field.
Kate turned. The other Watchers...no, Archivists, Kate corrected, stopped behind her team and spread out in semi-circle. They all carried knapsacks. Some carried large books clutched under their arms but there were no weapons in sight.
Kate faced Tivon again. Then turned to Dagger.
"Will the Blade hold us all?" Kate asked.
Dagger looked back at the line of Archivists before responding. She spit on the ground and cursed under her breath.
"Just. I hope one of them doesn't try to kill us on the way to orbit."
"That will not be a problem," Tivon promised, overhearing Dagger's comment.
"Well, good," Dagger laughed grimly. She pressed forward into her ship with Andrea still clinging to her. As she brushed past Tivon, Dagger grumbled, "Stupid tree."
Kate looked back at the other archivists. She recognized one of them.
"Tarun?"
The young Archivists stepped forward and dipped his head toward Kate.
"You knew this would happen?"
"Not exactly."
"What then?" Kate asked.
"Like you," Tarun replied, "we have all come to trust Knowl's revelations...even if they are sometimes incomplete at the time."
"We were told to be ready to go with one who would come," Tivon added and gestured at Kate and smiled. "And here you are."
Kate thought about this for a moment then nodded.
"Get aboard."
Tarun nodded to the others. They followed him up the ramp onto the Blade. Half of the Archivists were aboard before the shooting started.
"Mechs!" Ross shouted.
Kate whirled. Mechs and armored Tallinn shock troopers stepped out of the shadows of every tunnel leading onto the central field of the fortress.
"Time?" Georges asked, his teeth gritted as he took aim at one of the troopers
"One minute, thirty-four seconds," Sparrow replied.
Kate looked back at Knowl. The tree's branches swayed in the wind as if the ancient being did not have a care in the world. As if he did not have only minutes to live.
Jonte looked out over the waves of grass in the field to the ship which dared to land in the Inner Ward. The starship's arrival was yet another complete surprise to Jonte. Whatever the newcomers' connection was to Knowl, it must be destroyed. Nothing could be allowed to continue to interfere with his control of the revelations from the Tree of Knowledge. The Tallinns were destined to dominate the colonies and Earth. Knowl would play a key role in this destiny. All of this Jonte had foreseen.
A thread of doubt suddenly crept into Jonte's mind. Yes, it was he who had experienced the vision which drove the Tallinns from this humble world. He inspired the unstoppable fleets of ironclads and armies of mechanized troopers. Were not their victories over their enemies evidence the inspired vision was the path to glory? Through it all, Knowl proved key to these victories. But, if Knowl was capable and willing to hide facts from Jonte, could his vision of glorious conquest also be tainted? All these years, Jonte was sure his insight into the future had been a firm course predicted by Knowl. He clenched his fists and pounded the railing. Now, everything was in doubt.
Jonte raised his eyes to the field and Knowl's spreading boughs. At the edge of the great tree's branches, a line of Archivists were boarding the trespassing ship.
"Traitors," the Watcher snarled. He felt the heat rise in his cheeks. What did Knowl see in them? What had he revealed to them but hidden from Jonte? The question gnawed at him. His eyes bored into them and he breathed, "You have sealed your fate. There is no where you can hide."
Jonte turned to the Legion Captain standing at attention behind him.
"Advance. But," Jonte cautioned, "take care where your shots land, Captain. The future of Tallinn civilization rests with your choice of targets."
The Captain swallowed hard then saluted with a fist against his breastplate.
"As you command, Select." The Captain hurried from the room, shouting orders.
Jonte turned back to Knowl then closed his eyes. The wind brushed his face just as it hurried through the tree's numerous branches. The Watcher took a deep breath of the heady smell of flowers and damp soil. Once these interlopers were dealt with, peace would once again return to this place.
Jonte opened his eyes. He ignored the traitors trying in vain to escape in the derelict ship and focused on Knowl.
"And then you will be mine," Jonte snarled and smiled cruelly. "Completely and forever."
Kate dashed for the Blade. The seed nestled in her arms was all she could think about. In a matter of minutes, this entire fortress would be demolished. For Knowl to survive in any fashion, her very special package needed to survive.
The Tallinns opened fire just as Kate reached the Blade's cargo ramp. Several of the Archivist's went down. Kate threw herself to the ground and glanced back. The mechs and troopers were not yet within effective range, but the sheer volume of fire was enough to make itself felt.
"Move!" Kate shouted at the Archivists. They froze at the sound of their own soldiers firing upon them. Kate's order was enough to get them moving again. She picked herself up and hustled to the top of the ramp after them. She looked back long enough to see Merrick, Ross, Garrett, and Georges kneel around the base of the ramp and return fire.
Sparrow joined Kate in the cargo bay. She clutched a wounded archivist hanging on her shoulder. Kate helped her get the woman to a jump seat.
"Tell them to strap in!" Kate shouted at Sparrow. She indicated the other archivists now crowded aboard.
"Where?" Sparrow shouted.
"Anywhere!"
A massive explosion outside told Kate their time was up.
Jonte's smile slipped after the first explosion ripped open the green field on the far side of the clearing. He pounded his fist on the railing as the gout of rock and soil was joined by a second.
"No!"
Again, he failed to foresee this. Jonte turned his full attention upon Knowl. The realization of what happened came full force into his mind. It was not the archivists who betrayed him. Knowl was the source of his betrayal.
"Traitor!" Jonte shouted at the great tree. He raised his face to the ruin raining from the sky. "Traitor!"
An explosion erupted directly in front of his balcony. Jonte was thrown back into his meditation cell. He rolled over and choked on the dust roiling through the air. He gave one last look at the tree now just visible through the smoke and ash. Jonte pushed himself to his feet and stumbled for the door.
"Traitors," Jonte breathed. "All of them..."
Chapter 20
New Beginnings
"Merrick!" Kate shouted.
At the base of the ramp, Merrick took one last shot and dashed up the ramp. The others followed. The impacts out in the field were all the incentive any of them needed to get aboard the Blade.
"Get strapped in!" Merrick shouted in her ear. Already, the noise from the Blade's engines and the destruction raining down from space was nearly unbearable. Merrick turned and aimed his rifle out the cargo door. He fired and dropped a Tallinn trooper running full speed across the lush meadow, intent on reaching their ship while it was still grounded.
Kate rushed forward and found the only empty seats were in the cockpit. She dove into the seat behind Dagger. Garrett was a step behind her and he threw himself into the co-pilot seat.
"Go!" Georges shouted from the cockpit door. Sparrow was in the other seat so he dropped the jump seat stowed along the bridge bulkhead and shouldered his way into the harness.
Dagger needed no further direction. Outside the windshield, gouts of flame and debris erupted all around them.
Kate managed to click her harness in place just as Dagger hit the thrusters. She gasped as the Blade shot forward and clawed for altitude. Kate was glad for the seatbelt when the pilot banked hard and
aimed for a crumbling section of the dome. The maneuver put Knowl right outside Kate's window.
Time slowed to a crawl. Knowl stood tall, a serene sentinel amid the explosions destroying the fortress all around him. For a moment, Kate wondered if the Fleet people mistook Georges' request. Perhaps they were only going to hit the edge of the dome...
The first hit on Knowl caused Kate's breath to catch in her throat. The streak of fire split his high branches and kept going. Even in the Blade, Kate could hear the crack of Knowl's immense trunk. More shots hit home and suddenly Knowl was engulfed in flames.
"No!" Kate breathed. She was ashamed to be a part of the destruction of the ancient being. She clutched the seed to her chest and felt its warmth. As Knowl disappeared in a massive blossom of fire, Kate breathed, "I will serve you..." No matter how long it took or where the path led, she would bring the seed to a new home. Kate would ensure the descendants of Knowl would thrive under a new sky.
Then the Blade soared out of the dome and Knowl's destruction was behind her. Kate looked at the bundle in her hands and wondered. When Knowl had been hit earlier, she felt each shot as if it were her body under fire. She worried Knowl's destruction might have killed her and perhaps the Archivists.
Here...
Javin's voice again. Kate wondered if she would ever be free of the Watcher.
The seed.
Here with the seed, she and the others were safe. Knowl had released Kate and the rogue Archivists even as the seed claimed them. The realization her destiny laid in her lap did not keep the tears from rolling down Kate's face.
"Fleet's calling," Dagger announced.
The pilot's voice cut into Kate's grief. She looked up and watched as Dagger aimed the Blade at the same cleft in the crater rim where they crashed the Katrin a lifetime ago.
Georges thought hard for a moment. "Let me hear it."
Garrett patched the communications signal through to the cockpit speakers.
"...copy? This is Admiral Lowell, Stellar Union Fleet. Lieutenant Colonel Georges, do you copy? Tral, Georges, we managed to get though the Tallinn home guard and consider our mission complete. Can you confirm? Georges, are you there? This is Lowell broadcasting in the blind; Georges, if you can get to us, we can evac you from the system. But, we cannot hold this position and are heading to our jump point. Georges—"
