by Peter Kenson
The quarry dropped away and they were looking down on the tops of the rocky hills. Off to one side was a stand of pine trees, the tops of which were soon below them as well. In the distance they could hear the roar of the River Savage as it rushed through the gorge before opening into the Neverwinter valley. And then, on the far side of the hills, the rooftops of Marmoros came into view.
There were squeals of delight as each of them excitedly tried to point out landmarks to the others. Then the conversation gradually died away as the view of the valley opened up beyond the city. They could see the river clearly now, racing down the side of the valley. Despite the early hour, people and horses were out working in the fields, looking no bigger than tiny ants. The hills surrounding the valley were visible as well, although partially covered with wisps of vapour from the hot springs.
“I never realised it looked like this,” Jeren said with his arm around Rachel’s waist. “It looks so small from up here. I suppose your kingdom is going to be much bigger.”
“Well technically, my kingdom is the whole planet of Ystradis,” she admitted. “But as I’ve never seen it, I don’t know how it compares to the beauty of Marmoros. Or even what’s left of it after the Belsian war,” she added sadly.
They were looking out again at the broadening vista of the lands around the Neverwinter valley, when the bosun tapped David on the shoulder. “Pilot says this is as high as we can safely go. We have to seal the hatch now.”
David nodded and ushered the little group through the inner airlock and into the main compartment. The Cleopatra’s jolly boat was primarily designed for carrying supplies but there were bucket seats along each side of the cargo bay for occasional passengers. At one end there was a screen mounted on the bulkhead which separated them from the cockpit. This was initially displaying the view from the landing cameras beneath the shuttle but the picture rapidly became too blurred to distinguish much detail as the craft gained altitude.
The image changed to show the view from the forward navigation screens and Marisse’s voice came over the intercom.
“We’re clear of the atmosphere now but I have no rear mounted cameras so I’m going to flip the shuttle for a couple of minutes to show you where we’ve come from.”
The scene swung slowly around until the view of the planet filled the screen. It was the same as the view that Suzanne had showed them the day before but very much closer. They could see the coastline now and David pointed out the huge bay leading to the city of Kell and the mouth of the River Savage. Then they traced the path of the river up past High Falls to the Neverwinter valley.
Jeren slumped back in his seat. “That is the extent of Marmoros? I knew it was smaller than any of the three dukedoms but even they look tiny. And you rule an entire planet?” he said, looking at Rachel.
“Well, what’s left of it, anyway,” she replied. “But Ambassador Mahagama says that Ystradis is totally under Belsian control now. Millions of my people were killed during the invasion and many of the others fled rather than live in servitude. I believe there are only some small farming communities and groups of resistance fighters remaining on the planet. At the moment I think my kingdom is a good deal smaller than Marmoros.”
The view of the planet started to drift off the edge of the screen as Marisse turned the shuttle again. The screen now was filled with a million tiny points of light.
“All of these are stars?” Falaise exclaimed. “There are so many. Why can we not see all of these at night?”
“The planet’s atmosphere, the air that you breathe, obscures some of them,” David replied. “Only the brightest of the stars can be seen from the ground.”
“And our sun, our star as you call it. Can we see that from here?”
“No, that is off to one side and would damage your eyes if you tried to look directly at it. But see here,” David pointed to one dot in the centre of the screen. “That is the big constructor ship that we saw yesterday. We are still too far away to make out the other ships yet.
“There is one more thing that I want to demonstrate to you before we reach the ships. Rachel, how are you feeling now? Do you still feel sick at all?”
“No, I’m fine now. The morning sickness doesn’t last long.”
“Good, then everybody hold tight to one of the cargo straps, please. Ensign Marisse,” he called over the intercom, “please switch off the gravity control in the cargo bay.”
There was a silence at the other end and then the grizzled head of the bosun appeared in the cockpit hatch. “Are you sure about this, my lord?”
David nodded. “They have to learn, bosun. But it would probably be helpful if you came back here to lend a hand.”
The bosun’s head disappeared for a second and then he eased himself through the hatchway. Even without the bulky space armour, the bosun was a big man and looked reassuringly stable as he positioned himself in the centre of the cargo bay. “Okay,” he called back through the hatch.
Marisse spoke over the intercom. “Gravity going off in three… two… one… Off.”
The cargo bay was filled with expressions of surprise as weight disappeared. Jeren, Rachel and Falaise instinctively tightened their hold on the straps but the movement of their arms caused their legs to float free.
The bosun extended one meaty hand to both Rachel and Jeren and gently brought them back into an upright position. “There you go, miss, young sir. Nothing to be alarmed about.”
David put an arm around Falaise and pulled her down so that her feet were touching the deck, and pushed the button on the intercom. “Thank you, pilot. I think that’s enough excitement for now.”
David and the bosun held the others steady as Marisse switched the gravity back on.
“What just happened to us?” Jeren demanded once they were all safely back in their seats.
“You remember yesterday, you asked Suzanne why you didn’t fall off the surface of the planet and she said ‘Gravity’. Well gravity is like an invisible force that pulls you down towards the ground. It’s what gives you weight; makes you feel heavy. You can jump up off the ground but gravity always pulls you back down. Now gravity is stronger, the closer you are to the ground. The further away from the ground that you get, the less gravity is able to pull you back down. Theoretically if you were strong enough to jump a really long way off the ground, gravity would not be able to pull you down again. That is what happened when the shuttle took off from the quarry. We used an awful lot of ‘strength’ to get really, really high and now gravity cannot pull us back down to the planet.
“Out here in space, there is no gravity. Nothing has any weight. You float, like when you’re swimming in a river. But gravity is useful to us in many ways. Our brain uses gravity to tell us which way is up. And if you put something down on a table, it’s useful if it stays there instead of floating away. So all spaceships create their own artificial gravity that mimics what you feel on the surface of the planet. And that’s what I asked the pilot to switch off for a minute.”
“It felt very strange,” Rachel said. “It also felt as though it could be quite fun but I’m glad you switched it back on when you did. My stomach was starting to rebel.”
“I’m sorry, Rachel. I wouldn’t normally have done that to an expectant mother but you have an awful lot to learn and a very short time in which to do it.”
“Coming up on the Cleopatra,” Marisse reported. “It’s on screen now.”
All attention switched back to the display on the bulkhead. The big constructor ship was off to one side now as the Cleopatra started to fill the centre of the screen. The jolly boat had its own docking bay on the side of the corvette and Marisse skilfully steered through the open doors before the automatics took over to complete the docking manoeuvre. They had to wait for a minute as the outer doors closed and the docking bay re-pressurised before the lights turned green and the airlock cycled open.
The Cleopatra was a short, stubby little ship, built a
bout 50 years previously, primarily for escort duties. She carried a complement of 8 officers and 67 men and, as with all warships of her class, space was at a premium. Marisse led the way through an apparent maze of passageways and stairwells to a door which opened into the captain’s ready room. Inside, Mikael was waiting with Tony and Suzanne as the newcomers squeezed into the tiny space.
“Welcome aboard the Cleopatra,” Mikael began the introductions. “Your Majesties, Lady Falaise, Lord David, it is an honour to have you aboard and I apologise for the cramped surroundings. My name is Lt. Cmdr. Mikael Boronin and I am the captain of the Cleopatra. This is Surgeon Commander Anton Barasny and this is our communications specialist, Suzanne Versteppen. I believe you have already met Suzanne… in a way.”
“Thank you, Captain,” Jeren replied. “I must confess I am struggling to understand everything that Lord David has said and shown me over the last couple of days but I would very much like the opportunity to look round your magnificent ship, if I may.”
“Magnificent!” Mikael laughed. “That’s hardly the word I’d use to describe the Cleo but I am very proud of her and I would be honoured to show you round.”
“It’s very nice to meet you in person, Suzanne,” Falaise added. “Rather than a disembodied voice speaking inside my head.”
“And how are you feeling, my dear?” Anton said, taking one of Rachel’s hands in his own. “I understand that the evil Lord Held switched the gravity system off on your way up.”
“Oh, I don’t think he’s that evil,” she smiled. “Besides, I’d already been sick once this morning.”
“That’s absolutely no excuse whatsoever,” he scolded, switching his attention to David. “You know that the Cleopatra isn’t exactly equipped for this type of examination?”
“Neither is any other medical facility within 100 light years, doctor. You have two things that I need; access to medical research if required and most importantly of all, discretion.”
“Hmph. Well I suppose we’d better make a start. Would one of you two ladies like to accompany us down to the sickbay?”
“I will,” Falaise said quickly, putting an arm around Rachel’s shoulder and getting a grateful smile in response.
“Well then, your Majesty,” Mikael said to Jeren. “Shall we start our tour on the bridge?”
“Bridge?”
“It’s an old-fashioned name for the main control room of a ship,” David explained. “I believe it derives from a type of ocean going ship where the captain had to be higher than the deck in order to see what was going on. That doesn’t apply in this type of ship, of course, but the name has stuck.”
There was a second door from the ready room that opened directly onto the rear of the bridge and Mikael led the way through.
“Captain on the bridge,” the shout went up and the central command chair swivelled round to face them. An officer with lieutenant’s bars on his shoulder stood up and came over.
“Your Majesty,” Mikael said, “allow me to present Lieutenant Frank Bennetton, my Executive Officer. Number One, this is His Majesty King Jeren of the Lyenar and you probably remember Lord Held.”
“Welcome aboard, your Majesty. Welcome back, my lord. Do you want to take the conn, sir?”
“No, you carry on, Number One. I’m going to show our visitors around.”
“Very good, sir. There is one thing though. The new monitoring station isn’t completely finished yet but they’ve obviously got some of their equipment installed and operational. They’re demanding to know who came aboard on the shuttle.”
Mikael looked at David and raised his eyebrows.
“Tell them it’s the Ystradian ambassadors,” David said. “Tell them they’ve come to discuss the details of the departure but don’t mention anybody else.”
“Make it so, Number One. And you can tell them as well, that this is the last time we will respond to a demand for information.”
Mikael led the way round the bridge, pointing out the different control stations as they passed and ended the tour at the Stellar Display Tank. “This is the Tank,” he explained. “It takes information from many different sources and displays it here so that we can see what is going on around us.”
Mikael adjusted the controls and the view in the tank expanded to centre on a cluster of green flashing dots. “This is where we are at the moment. I’ve zoomed in really close to show you the Cleopatra and the other ships immediately around us. This is the Cleo,” he pointed to one of the dots. “Here we have the ambassadors’ ship, Lord David’s personal ship and the big construction vessel.”
“What is that yellow dot next to the constructor?” Jeren asked.
“That is the monitoring station that is being built. It’s yellow rather than green because it’s a fixed station that cannot move on its own. Now if we zoom out a bit…”
Mikael touched the controls and a large white dot came into view with two smaller dots alongside it. “This is your planet with your two moons. They display as white because they are naturally occurring objects. And… this is your star.”
“Does it have a name?” Jeren demanded.
“No, not yet,” David replied. “Your people will give it a local name when they fully join the empire but until then it is known simply by its entry in the star catalogue. Benden 943b.”
“I see. Captain, what is the range of this device?”
“We are receiving information from all over the empire, your Majesty. If there is a navigational beacon collecting the data, we can display it here.”
“Can you show me Ystradis?”
Mikael looked at David, who nodded.
“Certainly.” Mikael tapped a code in and the scene changed to show a pattern of eight steady white dots and a number of flashing orange ones.
“This is a more complex planetary system, Jeren,” David explained. “There is the central star and it has seven planets, two of which are inhabited. Ystradis is a very similar planet to your own but the next planet, a little further from the sun, is Belsia which has a much harsher environment. I believe the difference in the planetary environments was a major factor in the war between the Belsi and the Ystrad.”
“You mean the Belsi were jealous of the Ystrad planet and so they invaded?”
“Essentially, yes. The Belsi had tried to invade twice before and the Ystrad had fought them off using a variety of mind control techniques that set one group of invaders against another. This time the Belsi either developed or bought on the black market, some collars similar to the amulet that you are wearing but with the opposite effect. Instead of amplifying telepathic thoughts, these collars blocked them completely. It made their soldiers immune to any form of mind control.
“The Belsi are a fierce and warlike race, a product of their harsh environment. The Ystrad, on the other hand, are a peaceful people who didn’t even maintain a standing army. When the Belsi invaded for the third time with their soldiers protected from telepathic control, they took the Ystrad completely by surprise and it was a slaughter. As Rachel said, millions of Ystrad died in that attack. The final battle centred on the royal palace which was totally destroyed and Rachel barely escaped with her life.”
“I suppose I ought to be grateful to them in a way,” Jeren said. “I mean I hate them for what they did and I hate them even more for trying to kill Rachel now. But if they hadn’t invaded, I would never have met Rachel. Never even known of her existence.”
“That is certainly a positive thought but you understand why Rachel must go back to help her people.”
“I understand. I just wish I could go with her. But at least I’ve seen where she’s going. What are all the orange dots that we can see?”
“Ships, your Majesty,” Mikael replied. “If the tank can identify them as friendly, it displays them in green and hostile ships are red. All other ships are displayed in orange until we have reason to change their classification.”
“What sort of ships ar
e they? Can you tell?”
“We can get some information from the way the dots flash.” Mikael touched the controls and zoomed in a bit. “There appear to be a couple of freighters in transit and a fleet of at least six warships orbiting Belsia itself.”
“Warships! Like this one? Why aren’t they red?”
“Some of them are a little larger than the Cleopatra, I think. But the empire is not at war with the Belsi, your Majesty and so they’re shown as neutral, even though they’re warships.”
“But will they try to prevent Rachel from reaching Ystradis?”
“They would probably try,” David intervened. “Which is why Rachel isn’t going directly to Ystradis. Mikael, can you show us the space around Rebus please.”
Mikael entered another code and the display changed again.
“You know, or at least you’ve been told, how the Lyenar scattered after they were forced to leave Marmoros. Well the Ystrad scattered in the same way after the Belsi invasion. And just as your people did, they gradually found other groups of survivors and joined together for self-protection.
“The star you can see in the tank there is called Rebus and the planet is Sorinto. Rebus is a weak star and doesn’t emit much heat or light. The native inhabitants of Sorinto have adjusted to that but people like you and I could not survive for long on the surface of the planet. But we can live there under enormous domes which protect us from the atmosphere and which we can heat artificially.
“The government of Sorinto allowed the Ystrad to build one of these domes and settle there. Gradually the colony expanded and now they have a second dome which I believe they use mostly for farming. It is the largest colony of Ystrad anywhere and that is where the ambassadors will be taking Rachel when they leave here.”
“There are no Belsi there?”
“No, none. And the Sorintos are a peace loving people. Rachel will be quite safe there.”
They turned as a door slid open at the rear of the bridge and Rachel and Falaise walked in, with Tony trailing behind. The smiles on their faces told the others all they needed to know. Jeren put his arm around Rachel’s waist and gave her a kiss.
