by Paul Kater
movement stopped and he exited the tube. "Holy Bejeebus," he commented.
"I thought so too, the first time Moro pulled me from the tube," Rebel grinned. "We're at the main flight deck here. Only Moro, Xander and I come here. And you now, of course. The rest of the crew is scared of the place."
"Scared? What's here to be scared of?" William asked in wonder.
"Nothing, but we don't want folks snooping around and touching things they ought not, so I planted some 'memories' in their heads. Nothing bad, just adequate."
The wizard frowned at the tactics Rebel and Moro employed and the ethics behind those, but the woman in leather did not give him time to let his thoughts roam. She walked to a wall that suddenly contained a door. She opened it and invited William in.
"Holy Bejeebus."
The steering hut, as Rebel had called it, looked like a smoky bar. Maurizio was dressed in white pants and a yellow shirt that was mostly unbuttoned. He hung over a pool table that was in the middle of the bar and his face showed extreme concentration to lay down a good shot. Several men sat and hung around the pool table and the bar on the far left. Smoke hung in the air, although William did not smell it. Several ladies, probably of negotiable affection, were sitting at the bar also, sipping too brightly coloured drinks. One of them, in a very skimpy dress, stood near a large Wurlitzer jukebox. She clearly tried to evoke some music from the thing.
"Who are these people? And where are we?"
Rebel laughed. "Moro has his hang-out show on again. These people are holograms, as are most of the objects in this thing. Just the table is real. And we are."
A clank and a curse told everyone that Maurizio had messed up the shot. He threw the pool queue on the table and turned to the visitors. "Ah, welcome. Good to see you, William. How do you like it here?" He waved his hand generously along the bar, his eyes lingering with the holographic ladies for quite a while. With a sigh he looked at William again. "The real steering hut looks so... boring," he said by way of an apology, as one of the holographic pool players stood shouting at him, threatening to hit him with a queue.
"It is... different." That was the best thing William came up with.
As the suddenly silently shouting pool player swung a queue through the captain, Maurizio moved a few of the balls on the table and suddenly the scenery changed. The bar and the ladies changed into a large array of what probably were computers, complete with blinking lights. The posters that had shown movie ads of Humphrey Bogart and Marlene Dietrich now were huge displays that showed scribbles William could not make sense of. And the table was now a dull grey desk with a kind of computer terminal totally unfit for human manipulation.
"See what I mean?"
William saw. The bar, he agreed, was better.
Maurizio and Rebel showed him the bits of the room they had figured out so far, which was scarily little. William had the feeling that the Mimosa had a mind of its own and went where it pleased, and the people on the ship were just on it for the ride.
Quite soon they were in the lounge again, where they had had their first proper talk. When Hilda was still there, William thought wryly. Whatever the two tried, they did not succeed in cheering him up. Even the drinks that changed colour faster than a chameleon didn't make him feel better.
"Sorry for being a grouch," the wizard said as he got up. "I am not in the mood to be cheerful."
Maurizio, wearing his black pants, red coat and eye patch again, nodded. "I understand. Rebel might also. We are doing what we can, William."
William nodded. "I'm going back to the deck." As he went there, the two cats followed him like small shadows, and just as silent. Out on the deck he summoned his broom and as he got on it, the two cats shared the spot on the bristle. He flew to the bow, where the large crystal was. The thing sparkled in the fireworks of stars they passed.
He sat down on the black floor, the two cats sitting and looking at him. "So what do you think, guys, can this wizard make the ship go any faster? Is that a good thing to try even, I am not sure if anyone has a clue whether we're going in the right direction or not?"
Obsidian and Grimalkin looked at each other for a moment, then looked up at William again. "Meowww," they voiced their shared opinion. Two heads were scratched.
William got up and popped up his wand. Obsi and Grim slipped away in the many moving shadows. "Let's speed this stuff up some," the wizard mumbled. Behind him, three sailors slowly came closer as they were curious what this strangely dressed man was doing there so close to the crystal.
The wizard reached inside himself, summoning all the magic he could call upon. A sphere of power appeared around the speeding sailing ship, and once he had that established he gave the bubble a push into the direction they were going. Gone were his doubts about this being possible. The only thing that counted was his witch, and he was going to get to her one way or the other, even when the other still had to be thought up.
As the wizard pushed the bubble with the ship ahead, something peculiar happened to the light of the stars. Instead of the sparkles there now only were tiny pinpricks here and there. As a result the entire ship was covered in darkness except for where the Mimosa lit its own lights. William punched holes in the fabric of space and made the Mimosa fall through them, willing it to the location of the pyramid.
Magic thundered in William's ears and he felt he was reaching the end of his reserves fast. He pushed until he could take no more. One last shove and the Mimosa popped out of a hole. The sphere around the ship fell apart and Maurizio and Rebel appeared close to where the wizard stood, demanding to know what had happened.
Obsi and Grim came back to the wizard and demanded to be picked up. As William did so, he discovered a chicken feather between Obsi's teeth.
Some of the sailors shouted and pointed. They didn't have to. Everyone saw what they were heading towards: a large grey planet, with at least a dozen gigantic pyramids hovering high over its surface.
"Holy Bejeebus."
13. The grey planet
"Technology will become the pillar of the Lycadean society. It will help to raise the people to a great height, but there will be substantial damage to the world. A damage that cannot be undone by the Lycadeans, despite their high level of evolution. The world will suffer, and the people will suffer with their world. Only at the highest suffering, a woman will come to save the Lycadeans and their world. This woman will be a witch who is not a witch. "
Hilda stared at the spot where the image of Garubine, the reading man, had been. "Crappedy crap. I would almost think that's about me, if I wasn't sure I've never been here before."
Davdruw smiled. "Garubine spoke of you, Grimhilda. You are the witch who is not a witch."
"And what gave you that idea?" Hilda said as she got up. She knew he was right but she did not want to admit that without a fight.
"You were there are the right time," was the simple and unfightable response. "Have you eaten enough, Grimhilda the witch?"
"Yes, I have, but what's that have to do with all this?"
"We have arrived," Davdruw said as he rose from his cushion.
"Arrived where?" Hilda took a few pieces of fruit from a porcelain platter and followed Davdruw, who now kept a more moderate pace.
"At Lycadea of course," the man said, "that is why you are here." He stood still in a large open area of the hall and did something with his sleeve again. Hilda suspected that most of the man's clothing was filled with strange things. Before she could place a remark, a magnificent sphere appeared in front of them. It seemed to consist of nothing but white and yellow light.
"Haven't got the trick down for silver and gold, have you?" the witch said as she scratched her nose.
Davdruw looked caught, which was very odd for such a large and stately figure. "I am sure that this will be satisfactory, Grimhilda the witch."
"Just call me Hilda, will you? I am not one for long titles, and I know I'm a witch. I'll call you Dave for that."
Davdruw sleeved again and par
t of the sphere split open. Inside it Hilda saw a few chairs, one giant one and a normal sized version. "If you would please be so kind to step inside, Grimhilda," the spiritual leader said.
"No Dave for you then," said Hilda as she walked into the sphere. Inside it was very comfortable. The chair felt soft, there was tea and fruit juice on the table and from the inside out the sphere was fully transparent.
Davdruw came in also and sat down on a chair fit for his size. "We will go to the surface of the planet now," he announced.
"More sleeve-stuff?" Hilda inquired.
"Sleeve-stuff?" Davdruw seemed taken by surprise.
"Yeah, the way you fumble with your sleeve all the time when you do your magic. Let me tell you that a wand is much more convenient. And it looks better too."
Davdruw looked at his sleeve for a moment, the first frown slipping over his brow. It was there only for a moment, but Hilda saw it. "I will now bring us down to the surface," the man said. Some sleeve-action made the sphere close itself. Then the floor vanished from underneath them, and with a heartfelt 'suck an elf!' the sphere dropped downwards.
-=-=-
"What are we going to do?" one of the sailors aboard the Mimosa asked. The ship had slowed down and come to a full stop on a respectable distance from the insanely large floating pyramids.
"Nothing, for now," Maurizio said. "We don't know what they're upto."
"Should we load the canons, just in case?"
"No Cannons,"
