by Travis Perry
“I see it,” Grandmaster Justin said. “I’m tired. We can camp here.” The ornithopter dipped; the wings slowed. “Hold on!”
Brother Lucas grabbed a rope and uttered a prayer. They landed with a jolt. The craft bounced and shuddered along the rough terrain before finally coming to a stop.
“Now if I can only make this thing land like a bird,” Grandmaster Justin said with a sigh. “That’s my next project.” He dropped a rope ladder over the side of the basket. “We need to pitch the tent before frost falls.”
“Don’t you mean tents?” Brother Lucas asked. “My Vespers—”
“Tent, Brother,” Grandmaster Justin replied impatiently. “I’m sure the Seeker will join you in your nightly prayers.” He pointed out the provisions to unload and they had their camp ready before sunset. A small fire crackled near the tent with fuel from a few prickly scrub trees. The temperature dropped quickly.
“We traveled a good distance today,” Brother Lucas said, hoping for civil conversation.
“On the wings of a snow white dove,” the Seeker sang with a little snicker.
Grandmaster Justin stirred a simmering pot of lentils hanging above the coals. “Over 500 kims by my estimate.”
Brother Lucas sat in awe. “A true miracle to fly over 50 kims an hour.”
Grandmaster Justin slapped his leg. “Hardly a miracle.” He scooped lentils into bowls and handed one to the Seeker. “The maps become more unreliable this far out. We need you to get us to Eden. You won’t fail us?”
“On my honor, I will lead us,” the Seeker muttered through a mouthful of lentils. “They guided me for nearly a cycle before I laid eyes on the holy site and beheld all the holy relics.”
Brother Lucas took his bowl. “They?”
The Seeker glanced up at the shimmering star field. “The holy angels.”
The bowl nearly slipped from Brother Lucas’s hand. Grandmaster Justin turned his head and coughed away a snicker. “Thank you for not shaking my confidence in you, my friend. If the angels guided you, I’m sure they’ll guide us now.”
The Seeker scraped the bottom of his bowl into his mouth. “Of course.” A little spittle mixed with his words. He stood. “It’s time for my vespers.”
“What do you make of that?” Brother Lucas asked after the Seeker ducked through the tent flap.
“What, don’t you believe in angels, Brother Lucas?”
“Of course I do,” Brother Lucas snapped back. “It’s just…just…” What was he trying to say? “The man is mad.”
“Mad or no, he seems to know the area well. Whether from Eden or some other place, he did bring back a few ancient devices.” Grandmaster Justin snickered softly. “Holy relics, indeed!”
“Why do you hate people of faith so much?”
The Grandmaster chewed on a forkful of lentils. “I don’t hate the people. It’s your misguided notions that I can do without.”
Brother Lucas gestured at the night sky. “But there is so much beauty and complexity in the universe. It couldn’t have happened by chance. There’s so much mystery.”
“Everything is knowable,” Grandmaster Justin said. “It may take a long time, but in the end, it is possible.” He pointed at the double star above the horizon. “We came from there, Terra and Luna. Our ancestors, with their technology and knowledge.”
“I am aware,” Brother Lucas whispered.
“And where do you think our dragons came from? God? Humans created them hundreds of cycles ago.” He pointed at the ornithopter. “I created that.”
Brother Lucas stared at bright Terra. “Reason says that it’s impossible for something to come into existence from nothing, Grandmaster. If you believe the universe had a beginning, what caused it? Where is your evidence that God doesn’t exist?”
Grandmaster Justin slapped his knee and snorted. “Ah, the Sanctus Ordo trained you well. When you were a student of mine, Lucas, I hoped you would follow a career in the ciencias. Lynette’s future was set by being the Lord Governor’s daughter. But you, Lucas, you are intelligent and full of curiosity, you would have found a home in the Order of NASA.”
Brother Lucas imagined the old classroom, his times studying with Lady Lynette. She was always the intelligent one, not him. He forced his mind back to the present. “There’s room for both science and faith in the search for truth, Grandmaster.” He stood and stretched. “It’s been a long day and another follows. Goodnight.”
“Sleep well, Brother Lucas.”
Brother Lucas heard the Seeker’s soft chant-like prayer as he neared the tent. “Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. Create in me a clean heart—”
The Seeker fell silent when Brother Lucas entered the tent. “Sleep well,” Brother Lucas said as he slipped underneath the heavy wool blanket.
“Goodnight,” the Seeker replied. Then he whispered something that Brother Lucas couldn’t have heard correctly: “Get thee behind me, Satan.”
• • •
Morning frost still covered the ground when they broke camp. The Seeker helped cheerfully, but Brother Lucas kept a wary eye on him as they packed the gear. The dread that he felt from last night was still fresh in his mind. Should he say anything?
Grandmaster Justin began clearing a path in front of the ornithopter. “Level takeoff will require more time and energy, but it’s doable.” Soon he had the ornithopter’s long wings flapping in a beautiful rhythm, pulling the bouncing craft along the ground and eventually into the sky.
While the Grandmaster and the Seeker busied themselves with navigating and logging their progress, boredom eventually replaced excitement for Brother Lucas. He felt like another piece of dead weight being hauled across the wilderness. He stared at the ornithopter’s graceful shadow skimming over the rocky ground.
That night he purposely retired last. Thankfully, the Seeker snored softly as he slipped into the tent and beneath his heavy covers.
The third morning, they continued to fly over an endless parched land of rock and scrub brush struggling to survive. Civilization became a distant memory. Near midday, they approached the jagged northern rim of a massive crater the Grandmaster called Eddie Crater. It took nearly two hours to fly around. Brother Lucas stared in awe at the towering rim wall and wondered at the size of the rock that fell from the sky.
Grandmaster Justin tossed his map to his feet. “We just fell off the edge of the map.”
“Very soon. You’ll see,” the Seeker said with the absolute confidence Brother Lucas had come to expect. The madman never wavered in his directions.
Even with the failure of the map, the Grandmaster used a wondrous device he called a sextant to measure their location. He continued to update his log with every kim traveled.
The next day, the Seeker clapped and pointed at something glinting in the distance. He tried jumping to his feet.
“Sit!” Grandmaster Justin hissed. “Or we’ll crash before we get there.”
The glint turned out to be a battered dome of twisted metal and shattered glass three times larger than Paradisus. Several long concrete buildings peeked from the sand around the dome. Dust devils stung Brother Lucas’s eyes, and he felt his heart thumping as the ornithopter landed.
The Seeker squealed like a child. “I told you I’d guide you here. No faith, yet here we are at holy Eden.”
“Hmm. We’ll see,” Grandmaster Justin muttered. He dropped the rope ladder and hopped to the ground. Brother Lucas followed.
They seemed to stand on the shore of a vast sea where sand replaced water and dunes the waves. “Come see.” The Seeker kicked up sand as he ran toward a long building of cracked concrete and gaping holes. “Come see”
Brother Lucas followed, but his mind was on the remains of the glass dome. A chill pricked his skin as wind whistled through its bent trusses and broken glass. He wanted to see where the ancients lived and ate, where they slept and raised their families.
He felt a hand on his shoulder. “There will
be time to explore that later,” the Grandmaster said with a nod toward the dome. “We have more pressing needs.”
Brother Lucas held his breath as they squeezed past a battered metal hatch leading into the nearest concrete building. Fingers of sunlight revealed tall rows of metal shelving, most still upright, many still holding boxes, crates, and sacks.
Their footfalls echoed in the ancient space. A wheeled machine with a strange fork protruding from the front waited for a hand to activate it. How many hundreds of cycles had it waited? The Seeker continuously mouthed silent words, whether prayers or the raving of a lunatic, it was impossible to judge.
The Grandmaster walked a dust-filled aisle. “We’ve lost so much,” he said reverentially. “So much.”
“Don’t touch the holy relics!” the Seeker hissed, jerking the Grandmaster’s arm.
The Grandmaster shrugged off the hand. “There is nothing holy here.” He put the small device he was holding back in its place. “Only things to study, things that will help our people.”
Brother Lucas thought there might be a fight, but the Seeker silently let the Grandmaster pass down the aisle. After they had explored the entire storeroom, the Grandmaster scratched his beard. “I must bring a team back here to study and catalog everything.” He nodded to himself. “But to the task at hand, there isn’t any silver iodide in this building for Lady Lynette’s cloud seeding. Maybe we’ll have better luck in the next storeroom.”
They did—hundreds of fifty-kilo bags with Silver Iodide and AgI stamped on each. “Looks like Lady Lynette’s faith has paid off,” the Grandmaster said.
A weight lifted from Brother Lucas. “And my faith as well.” He felt almost giddy. Praise You for granting favor to our quest, Lord Jesu.
“This is good news, is it not?” the Seeker said. “Never doubt my word.” He lifted his eyes and hands. “I never doubted the voices directing my steps. I only obeyed.”
A sickening twinge hit Brother Lucas’s stomach at the mention of the voices again, but the Grandmaster didn’t seem disturbed. He headed down the aisle and returned pushing a large dolly, wheels screeching. “We can’t take more than three bags. That is more than enough to test Lady Lynette’s theory. We’ll return later for more.”
Brother Lucas ran his hand over one of the strange smooth bags. “This is seed for clouds?”
“When added to clouds, the silver iodide draws moisture and creates ice crystals,” the Grandmaster replied. “In time the ice grows and falls as rain.” He grabbed a bag. “Help me out, lads.”
“What are you doing?” the Seeker demanded.
Brother Lucas helped the Grandmaster toss a bag on the dolly. “We’re hauling silver iodide back to Paradisus,” Grandmaster Justin grunted.
“You can’t!” the Seeker yelled.
“Of course we can,” Brother Lucas said. The sick feeling in his stomach grew.
“God won’t allow you to take the holy relics!”
“We didn’t come all this way to go back empty-handed,” Grandmaster Justin said. He nodded at Brother Lucas and they tossed another bag on the dolly.
“Don’t touch the Lord’s holy things!” the Seeker hissed. He lunged, slashing down with his hand. Something glinted across Grandmaster Justin’s stomach as the two tumbled to the floor.
The Grandmaster cried out. Instinctively Brother Lucas grabbed a metal rod from a shelf and swung. He swung again, his chest heaving. He heard a dull crack, blood splattering everywhere, as the rod struck the Seeker’s head.
The Seeker collapsed to the floor. Brother Lucas dropped to his knees, nearly blinded with fear and anger. “Dead?” Grandmaster Justin muttered. He propped himself against shelving with a groan.
Brother Lucas searched the Seeker’s neck for a pulse with his own bloody fingers. The Seeker’s eyes didn’t blink; his chest didn’t rise. Near his hand lay a long glass shard covered in blood.
“Is he?” the Grandmaster repeated.
“Yes, he’s dead.” By my own hand, Lord Jesu help me!
“He caught an old man unaware,” the Grandmaster muttered. “I was a fool to trust him.” He coughed. “This frees up space for more bags.”
Brother Lucas scrambled to the Grandmaster. “We need to care for you first.”
Red drenched the Grandmaster’s shirt. Brother Lucas desperately looked around. He needed something to stop the flow, but what could there be in that ancient filthy place?
“Calm down,” the Grandmaster said. “We have bandages and salves in the ornithopter. Think, Lucas. You know where they are.”
“I can’t leave you.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” The Grandmaster chuckled softly before twisting in a fit of coughs. “Go.”
Brother Lucas ran. Lord Jesu, we’re hundreds of kims from civilization. I need You! He imagined the ancient ghosts of the first colonists watching him as he found the medical satchel and ran back to the storehouse.
“Good, you didn’t get lost,” Grandmaster Justin said with a smirk.
“Hush, you tough old dragon. This may hurt.”
“I’m sure it will.”
Brother Lucas carefully unclasped the Grandmaster’s riding cloak and pulled up his shirt, revealing a deep red gash from rib to stomach. “This doesn’t look too bad.” He prayed his face didn’t betray the lie.
“Thank you for your prognosis, doctor. You’re a terrible liar.”
Grandmaster Justin winced as Brother Lucas poured the saline solution over the wound and wrapped a long bandage around his abdomen. “I don’t know how you’re going to fly the ornithopter like this.”
“I’m not. You are,” the Grandmaster said. “Now help me to the aircraft.”
For Brother Lucas this was no time to argue. They struggled to their feet, deep red already coloring the Grandmaster’s bandage. His legs buckled, but Brother Lucas held him tight.
Shuffling out of the storehouse was hard, but trudging through the sand and climbing onto the ornithopter proved worse. The Grandmaster was determined, but his strength was slipping.
Brother Lucas tried sliding him onto the seat. “No, you must fly the craft, Lucas,” the Grandmaster muttered.
“I can’t,” Brother Lucas stammered. “Either you fly your invention or we die hundreds of kims from home.”
“Then we die here and Lynette doesn’t receive her silver iodide. The people of Paradisus are depending on you as much as I am. Go retrieve the silver iodide. We’re wasting time.”
Thoughts battled within Brother Lucas’s mind. He didn’t want to leave the Grandmaster, but he had to do something. The Grandmaster groaned in pain as Brother Lucas carefully moved him against the supplies in the rear of the ornithopter’s basket.
He dropped from the basket and ran through the deep sand to the storeroom. He couldn’t help but stop and look at the Seeker’s lifeless body. He was once a Brother of the Shield, a true servant of the Lord. Can You absolve the actions of a madman, my Lord? Can you absolve me for taking a life?
He wasted precious time. Somehow he carried two bags to the ornithopter. The Grandmaster instructed him where to store them to balance the load. In the end, five bags were loaded.
“Good, lad. Quickly, we must fly,” the Grandmaster said.
Brother Lucas couldn’t imagine how he looked as he slid into the seat and placed his feet on the pedals.
“You’re nervous, Lucas, but it’s simply a matter of applying pressure to the cylinders,” the Grandmaster said from behind him. “The harder you pump, more power is applied to the wings. You control direction of flight by the rudder control lever before you and the amount of force applied to one wing versus the other. It is quite simple.”
“Quite simple,” Brother Lucas repeated sarcastically.
“I’ve known you since you were a child, Lucas. You can do this.”
“Then convince me.” Brother Lucas pushed against the pedals, surprised how easily they moved. The wings pushed down. He released the pedals and the wings snapped up.
>
“As you pump, energy is also built up on the flywheels. Pushing the small lever next to the rudder control engages the flywheels to provide power to the wings so you can rest.”
“Ingenious.”
“Sing my praises later. Let’s head home,” the Grandmaster said before coughing seized him.
Brother Lucas grabbed the rudder control lever with hands still covered in blood. He pumped the cylinders and watched the fluid motion of the wings. He pumped harder, trying to establish a rhythm. The wings beat faster, harder, and the machine lurched forward. I’m doing this. I’m controlling the ornithopter!
“Pump harder,” the Grandmaster yelled. “Build up your speed.”
Brother Lucas pumped harder and faster. The craft shook and bounced as the ground rolled past. Then the craft lifted, carried on beautiful synchronized wings. Cool wind brushed his face. His skin tingled with excitement.
“You’re doing well, Lucas,” Grandmaster Justin said above the wind. “Pull the rudder control to the left.”
Brother Lucas tugged gently on the rudder control lever. The craft banked smoothly and the shattered dome of Eden came into view. Would they ever return or would the ancient base become legend again? He didn’t have time to think about it. He pushed hard against the pedals and looked west toward the rounded caldera of Albor Tholus.
They flew a maybe a dozen meters above the ground. With each gentle tug of the rudder control and subtle adjustments to the force he applied to the wings, Brother Lucas grew more confident.
Grandmaster Justin managed to prop himself up so he could watch the passing landmarks. Referring to his notes, he helped keep them on course. He was tiring more with each hour and the pain seemed to grow worse. Lord Jesu, give him strength. I won’t make it home without him.
The sun dipped close to the horizon. Brother Lucas didn’t want to stop but he knew he had to. Grandmaster Justin hadn’t spoken for awhile. His bandages needed checking and they both needed food.
“Master?” Brother Lucas called.
The wind gave the only reply.
Brother Lucas held the rudder control with two sweaty hands. He eased up on the pedals. The wings slowed and the ornithopter dipped. Rocks littered the ground but he had nowhere else to land. Dear Lord, help me! They hit the ground with a jarring thump, much harder than he had hoped. They clattered and bounced along until finally rolling to a stop.
