The Celestials

by Richard Wood

  When Nassel and Breen arrived back in Mohenjo-Daru and landed outside the Blue Rooms a crowd of servants, and soldiers came rushing towards the Lander.

  “What is all the commotion about, and where are Fantee and Glaina,” asked Breen.

  “I don’t like the look of this. Something has happened to stir up this display of panic,” replied Nassel.

  When they stepped out Hasit was the first to reach them.

  “Oh your highness's terrible news,” he managed to get out before he was drowned out in the ensuing hubbub as the rest of the servants and soldiers arrived all trying to talk at once. Holding up his hands, Breen shouted, “QUIET.” In the silence that followed, he addressed Hasit, “Tell me what has happened,” he commanded.

  “Your highness, your wives have been kidnapped and flown away by Ravana’s men.” Nassel's face betraying the shock that the news had caused asked, “How could this happen where were the guards.” “The guards were unconscious your highness,” Hasit replied.

  Breen again held up his hands, “start from the beginning and tell us exactly what has happened Hasit.”

  “Yes your highness,” replied Hasit “It started thus, your two flying machines had departed less than an hour. Their highnesses were having Tiffin on the upper balcony, and the guards were patrolling normally, when the great black flying machine landed. The door opened, but nobody got out. Their highnesses came down to find out what was happening. As they stepped outside Ravana's men rushed out from the flying machine and sprayed the guards and their highnesses with something that made them fall down unconscious. Before anyone could help them, they were carried inside the flying machine and it flew away to the Southeast,” explained Hasit, pointing in the direction the Zedds had taken.

  “The damn fish eyed murdering Zedds, if they have harmed the girls, I'll rip them apart with my bare hands,” Breen raged.

  “Has anyone informed the Emperor,” asked Nassel.

  “Yes your highness messengers were sent immediately, and Prime Minister Chakshu asked that you see him directly you arrive.”

  They left a guard on the Lander, with Hasit leading the way, they went to find Chakshu; he met them at the entrance to the palace.

  “It is terrible that these fiends have kidnapped your wives, and in broad daylight while under the truce, it is unheard of on his majesty's lands,” apologised Chakshu to them both.

  “That is not going to get them back Chakshu, what is the Emperor going to do about it,” asked Nassel.

  “Come with me, he has asked to see you directly you returned,” he said as he led them up to the throne room. When they were ushered into the Emperors presence, he stood on no ceremony but gestured for them to sit.

  “The abduction of your wives while under the truce in my palace ground is despicable, the perpetrators when apprehended will be put to death by impalement,” he banged his fist on the arm of his throne.

  “Your majesty do you have any means of finding out where our wives have been taken,” asked Breen.

  “I have sent runners out in all directions to all towns, villages and hamlets in the empire, and all surrounding kingdoms, eventually we will know where they are hiding, but I fear it may take many months. You might find them quicker using your flying machines,” the Emperor told them.

  “With your majesty's permission we will take our leave to begin searching immediately,” Breen replied.

  “Yes, yes my boy, take all the time you need to find your wife, if there is anything that is in my power to do to help you in your quest let Chakshu know, and I will see that it is done, may the god's aid you.”

  They both thanked the Emperor and left.

  “Well it looks like it's up to us to find them, it will take months as the Emperor said for his messengers to spread the word over the empire,” said Nassel.

  “Let’s head for Kodagu as fast as we can to let the others know what has happened, among us all we might be able to come up with a viable plan of action,” replied Breen.

  They boarded the Lander took off and streaked toward Kodagu, as fast as the Lander would take them. They covered the distance in just over an hour and a half, when they arrived in Kodagu; they landed inside the fort at the main door of the palace. The crew and the Pandava came pouring out to greet them. When they saw Breen and Nassel’s faces as they disembarked without Glaina and Fantee, they knew something terrible had happened.

  Ancore stepped forward, “Come into the lounge and then explain what has happened,” she linked her arms in both of theirs urging them into the lounge, when everyone was seated and Breen and Nassel served chai, the story burst from Breen.

  He recounted everything, to the horror of the crew, and the disbelief of the Pandava brothers.

  “But everyone was under a truce,” complained Arjuna.

  “A truce means nothing to those murdering Zedds,” retorted Rogan.

  “We need a plan to find Fantee and Glaina in the shortest possible time,” Ancore said, “Has anybody got a plan of action.”

  “I have thought of nothing else all the way here,” Nassel, informed them, “I want to go to check out Lanka Island. That's where they were before, when Ancore knocked out one of their ships, it's also where King Muktananda came from.”

  “That sounds like a sensible plan. I think both Landers should go to investigate its too dangerous for one Lander. They could be waiting to ambush us,” Ancore informed them.

  “If they are not there, we will need to do a grid search of the whole country, and I think we should contact Adeetoo and get the other Lander back here to help, as soon as we can contact him,” suggested Rogan.

  “Right we have a plan. It is going to be dark soon not the best time to search for Zedds, I suggest we try contacting Adeetoo tonight, will you do that Adeeone. I think the rest of us would benefit from having a hot meal and getting a good night’s sleep, so we are fresh to go at first light, are we all agreed,” asked Ancore.

  Everyone agreed it was the sensible course of action, and a curried speciality of the area is ordered. It turned out to be a dry curried pig.

  “That was really delicious,” murmured Breen, “I'm turning in. I can hardly keep my eyes open.”

  The next morning saw all of them crammed into the two Landers, Adeeone had not been able to contact Adeetoo, and so they would have to contact him at six pm on Monday as arranged. The Pandava had elected to accompany them; they flew in formation as fast as the Landers would travel toward the Southeast.

  After two hours flying, they could see the island of Lanka ahead through the haze. Climbing higher, they surveyed the whole island in one radar pass.

  “There is nothing moving down there,” announced Rogan, “I think it is safe to try a slow low level pass.”

  Diving they circled the central mountain checking the palace buildings where they had surprised the Zedd ship last time. Nothing, the buildings were destroyed; wisps of smoke could still be seen rising lazily into the morning air from the smouldering ruins. In case of some surprise attack, it was decided to send only one Lander down to investigate further. Nassel and Breen in Lander Two wanted to land and investigate so it was agreed Lander One would fly top cover while they were on the ground.

  They landed close to the largest ruin of what appeared to have once been the palace of King Muktananda. It was not until they had entered the building, whose walls were still hot and radiating considerable heat, that they found the first of the bodies. It looked as though they had been standing in a line when they died, there were seven all together. They continued searching but found nothing but charred bodies in various groupings all over the palace, but none of the bodies were Fantee’s or Glaina’s, They were looking for bodies with six fingers or six toes, but all the bodies were five fingered or five toed. They widened the search but when they had all gathered back at the Lander, it was the same story. None of the bodies was Fantee or Glaina.

  Contacting the other Lander from the ground Nassel repor
ted their findings; “we have found lots of charred dead bodies, but no sign of Glaina and Fantee.”

  Ancore replied, “I suggest you leave there now, and we will all fly to the nearest large village to check if they have any useful information, meantime Rogan is working out a grid search pattern to cover the most ground in the least possible time for our radar search.”

  They flew north until they reached a town where they landed in the main square. It took the Pandava only a short time to locate the headman who had already sent a party to the palace to find out what was happening there, as the fires had been seen during the night. From the headman, whose name was Chandrak, they found out that there were three black flying machines, but one had been killed by an enemy flying machine some time before. Chandrak had no love for the Danava, which was the Zedds name for themselves. They had descended on the town and taken away fifty young maidens supposedly on the orders of King Muktananda, but Chandrak knew King Muktananda very well, and it was not the sort of order that his King would ever contemplate. The leader of the Danava’s, Indrajit who dragged off the fifty young maidens was a vicious man who had threatened to kill half the population of the town if the maidens were not handed over within two hours.

  Arjuna told Chandrak, how one black flying ship had taken King Muktananda to the great tournament of Emperor Bharata, how Ravana and Indrajit had supposed to be the king's bodyguard but acted more like jailers than bodyguards. Then later when Rogan had won the tournament and the Kingdom of Kodagu, as there was not enough room in the flying machines two of the wives had been left behind. A flying machine with their husbands aboard had returned for them, only to find the black ship had broken the emperor’s truce, and Ravana’s men had abducted the two wives.

  We then began a search for the black flying machines we knew they had been here in Lanka as this was where King Muktananda was from, so we decided to search here first. We have found no sign of the missing wives, but what we have found is the palace burnt to the ground and scores of charred bodies scattered throughout the ruins. We think they were executed sometime last night then the palace and grounds set alight, when we arrived this morning, the walls were still very hot and odd fires here and there were still burning. We are sorry to bring you this grim news, but were wondering if anyone saw where the black ship went.

  “We saw the fires last night,” Chandrak replied, “I sent a party of men to find out what had happened, but it will take them several days to reach the palace. Several people reported seeing one of the black flying machines leaving the island and flying north last night.”

  “Thank you Chandrak,” Arjuna replied as he rose to leave, “I must tell the others this news.” The crew and the Pandava held a war council.

  “We have reports of one black ship seen heading north last night,” reported Arjuna.

  “It’s no use our rushing off North, they could have gone anywhere,” counselled Rogan, “our best action would be to instigate a grid search. It might take a bit longer but will be much more thorough if anything, moves below us while we search, we will know, as it will be noticed on radar. We can load up with food and drink and search night and day with radar; I estimate we should be able to cover the whole continent in three days.”

  Yudhishthira spoke up, “when we get to our Kingdom, we would like to disembark and check with our spy network. We could have some valuable information among the comings and goings of our enemies of the whereabouts of Fantee and Glaina.”

  “What a good Idea,” agreed Ancore, “let’s load supplies and get searching.”

  The crew and Pandava loaded food and water aboard, and the Landers took off heading for the mainland. Climbing to an altitude of forty thousand feet they flew onto their respective search grids producing a radar map of the ground below them, which was also analysed for any signs of black ships or unusual ground movements. After two days searching without any sign of Zedds, they arrived at Indraprastha and the Pandava palace, where they were introduced to Queen Kunti, mother of the five Pandava brothers and Draupadi, their wife, who was very beautiful, but was obviously still traumatized from her ordeal at the hands of the Kaurava. Before they left, the Pandava pressed them to return directly they had completed the grid search, they promised that if no sign were found they would return.

  They took off to continue the search; Adeeone had contacted Adeetoo, who was flying to join them from the land of the Pharaohs. As they would be finished on the grid search before he arrived, they had given him the co-ordinates of the Pandava palace and told him to wait there for them. Breen and Nassel were very despondent no trace of Zedds had been found, it was as if they had vanished from the face of the planet.

  Ancore called them from her Lander. “We have seen no trace of Zedds this can only mean two things, one, they are outside the search area, or two. They have gone into hiding knowing we are searching for them. I suggest we return to Indraprastha and consult with the Pandava they might have information from one of their spies that will help us if not we can decide what further we need to do in order to locate the whereabouts of Fantee and Glaina.”

  Breen replied for both himself and Nassel, “Yes we think that is a good idea, but if we have no news Nassel and myself wish to take a Lander each and climb to the upper atmosphere. We can stay up there weeks and cover almost a quarter of the planets, surface, they are bound to fly in that time, then we will have them pinpointed.”

  “Good idea Breen, I see no objections to your plan. Adeetoo should have arrived at the Pandava palace by now, we have completed the grid search let's return to the palace.”

  Both Landers turned, heading south towards Indraprastha. Ancore called up Breen and Nassel, “We still cannot take chances and leave all our Landers undefended. I suggest we send Adeetoo up to the upper atmosphere to keep radar watch while the other Landers are on the ground. Leaving Adeeone in one of the Landers on radio watch, we will not be surprised by Zedds and might even locate them if they try to fly while we are planning our next moves.”

  “Excellent Idea," Nassel called back.

  When they eventually landed, they put the plan into action Adeetoo could stay up there weeks if necessary, as he did not require food or water. They printed out the results of the grid search and took them into the palace with them, checking them to see if they had missed anything. When they were all fed, and served with chai, the crew and the Pandava began discussing what news had been gathered.

  Yudhishthira spoke first, “we have quizzed all our spies and sent word to others further out. One interesting piece of information has been relayed to us by one of our spies in the Kaurava palace. On the night, Fantee and Glaina were abducted a Zedd ship landed containing Ravana it left late that night destination unknown. Our spy has put out feelers but has only rumours to report. One rumour was they were bound for Lanka. Another was the Kingdom of Kosala both were to the south which was the direction the black ship had flown that night.”

  “Now we have Adeetoo back sitting on the edge of space up there. He can stay up there indefinitely looking down. No ship will be able to fly without our knowledge it is only a matter of time now before we learn where they are hiding,” said Ancore.

  Rogan spoke to the Pandava, “I have been analysing the results of our radar grid search, and although we didn’t find any signs of the Zedds we do have other disquieting information. It seems that several large armies are on the move in various parts of the country at least one very large force is converging on the Kaurava’s stronghold of Hastinapura. They have been travelling from the southern states, and at ten miles per day they should reach Hastinapura in the next ten days.”

  Yudhishthira replied, “Yes our spies have told us that a very large army is nearing Hastinapura, we believe this to be the army of King Musheer whose Kingdom is Kosala to the south and a staunch ally of the Kaurava.”

  “Do you have allies whose armies you can call on Yudhishthira?” asked Ancore.

  He nodded then replie
d, “We do have allies who have been true to us, also the emperor has looked with favour on our cause since the Kaurava has allied themselves with the Zedds, as we speak, he is building wheeled chariots to outfit an army that he assures us will be sent Southeast within two months. To the East, we have King Yalambar of the Kirati tribe from the Kathmandu valley of Nepal. His fighters are very brave warriors much feared by the surrounding Kingdoms; no one from around that area will side with the Kaurava for fear of angering King Yalambar. A few more kings sympathise with us and at a pinch would supply men and arms. The Emperor has also ordered the Harrapan city to assemble an army to be sent to assist us.”

  “It seems you have some valuable allies, please count us as willing allies, anyone who fights against Zedds are our friends and allies,” pledged Ancore on behalf of the rest of the crew who were all nodding agreement.

  “We now have to play a waiting game to see when and where the Zedds will reveal themselves. While waiting, it would be prudent to instruct your artisans on how to make wheeled chariots, also to give you the secrets of gunpowder, and simple rockets. Breen, Nassel you are the most qualified to teach the Pandava craftsmen and weapon makers these arts,” said Ancore, “we will teach Kalarippayat to The Pandava, army officers, and they can teach the men under them.”

  So it was that for the next two weeks they played a waiting game, teaching the Pandava army officers, tradesmen and armament makers new skills, news was coming in every day but nothing about Zedds it was, as if they had vanished from the face of the planet. Adeetoo sent a report every evening; it was mostly on the latest troop movements. Ancore and Rogan also taught Yudhishthira, Bhima, and Arjuna how to fly the Lander, they were quick learners and had a natural talent for automatically solving complex three-dimensional spatial problems in their heads and making it look easy.

  It was during the third week they located them. One of their ships flew low level to the Kaurava at Hastinapura after dark, and it stayed until just before dawn when it flew back to its secret base.

  “They must be aware that we now know where they are hiding. Their ship must have sensed the radar probe from our Lander so now they will be expecting us,” explained Ancore to the Pandava and the assembled crew.

  “Exactly where are they hiding,” asked Nassel.

  Ancore opened a radar map to show them, “here it’s about a thousand kilometres south of us in this fortress.”

  “It’s the Black fort of Daulatabad,” Exclaimed Arjuna, “I should have thought of it before, it belongs to the Kaurava, I am very sorry to tell you this Ancore, but this fort is impregnable.”

  “No fort is impregnable Arjuna,” exclaimed Ancore, “There is always a weakness somewhere.”

  “Then perhaps this is one fort that hasn’t any weaknesses, wait until you have seen it, it is perhaps the greatest natural fortress in the country. It rises vertically from a square basalt base three sides of which are sheer cliff faces. The fourth side is less steep, but what nature has left undone man has completed. Four semi-circular rings of ramparts built from jet-black granite with a moat, is the only way into the fortress. The final entrance is through a maze of low tunnels where a man has to bend double, all but one tunnel ending in a deep crevasse,” explained Arjuna.

  Breen was bursting and had to have his say, “If Glaina and Fantee are being held in this fortress, then we will find a way in. We could mount an airborne assault at night.”

  “We do not want to go rushing this and endanger the girl’s lives. First, we need intelligence, are both Zedd flying machines at this fortress or only one. Second, where are Fantee and Glaina held prisoner, and what is their routine?

  Third we need a Tri-Dee map of this fort, so we can try and work out a method of gaining entry that they haven’t considered and surprising them,” Ancore cautioned the rest of the crew.

  Breen and Nassel volunteered to fly both Landers to the Black fort and secure Tri-Dee pictures. Ancore had misgivings feeling they were too close to this and might make a rash decision, and then decided that if she could not trust them with this mission, she would be doing them an injustice after all Fantee and Glaina might be their bond mates but primarily they were officers in the united planets deep space survey corps.

  “Very well instruct Adeetoo to fly top cover for you, please try not to endanger the Landers we only have three against two Zedd ships we need to be able to maintain air superiority if we have to, good luck to you both.”

  Arjuna offered to show them the way, but they already had the co-ordinates of the black fort on their instrumentation and thought it safer if they did this mission alone.

  They took off in both Landers after a midday meal the Landers were stocked with supplies of food and water as routine, and as they disappeared south Ancore and Rogan’s hearts went with them, to take their minds off the two Landers, they immersed themselves in teaching the Pandava's army officers Kalarippayat.

  Late, that evening both Landers returned safely, bringing the Tri-Dee pictures of the black fort and the surrounding area. They all crowded around the table where the projector from one of the Landers had been set up, it projected a Tri-Dee image over the top of the long table, they were all seated around. The pictures were superb every aspect of the fort, and its surrounds could be seen in detail as the picture not only tracked around the fort but also over the top, parked in the forts main courtyard was one flying machine, of the other there was no sign. While the Tri-Dee pictures were being taken, a missile battery mounted on the uppermost keep had been firing missiles at the Landers. Each Lander defended the other, and all the missiles were knocked out before inflicting any damage.

  As they were leaving, Nassel fired his rail gun and took out the missile battery and part of the roof of the upper keep. “I just lost my rag with them,” he explained, “I only hope the girls were not underneath the missile battery.”

  Rogan quickly summarised the main points they were looking at. “Arjuna was right to say this is a mighty fortress, the three sides as we can see are sheer and at least two hundred metres high. I just do not see how we could scale them and surprise the Zedds, but they are likely to be the three sides that are guarded by the fewest defenders. The walls stretch for over five kilometres which if they tried to guard all of it would stretch the defenders very thinly. I, therefore, believe they will concentrate their guards around the black ship and the central towers where I believe the girls are probably held prisoner. That way they would utilise their numbers to their best advantage, the three sides whose walls are sheer cliffs will I believe be virtually undefended. Since you knocked out their missile battery, they will have many more sited with a massive increase in firepower, which I believe would rule out any approach by air. Assault from the fourth side is ruled out because most of the defences are on that side; this leaves us with the problem of somehow silently scaling one of the three sheer cliffs to gain entry. I just don’t see how it can be accomplished,” Rogan ruefully concluded.

  “Thank you Rogan that was a fine summing up of the problems facing us has anyone any ideas for silently scaling one of these cliff faces,” asked Ancore.

  Nassel was musing aloud, “It’s no good trying to drop a grappling line onto the wall from the air any Lander trying would be blown out of the air before it got anywhere near the wall. The same could be said about trying to fire a line with a grappling hook over the wall from the ground, we would need a rocket to get a line up that high which would alert the defenders with its noise,” Nassel dropped his head into his hands, “It’s impossible there is just no way up the cliffs,” he groaned.

  Breen looked around the table. I refuse to give up hope while Glaina remains in the hands of these Zedd swine, he told the Pandava and the rest of the crew around the table, “somehow there must be a way to assault this fortress,” he asserted.

  “History tells us this Fort has never been conquered,” said Arjuna, “but there is always a first time for everything we mustn’t give up hope, s
omewhere there must be warriors who have scaled such cliffs before, it’s just a matter of finding them,” he added.

  “Taskinti,” the name bursts out of Ancore and crashed among the assembly, “If anyone might know of anyone who could climb these cliffs he would, he has travelled extensively over this country and met many peoples on his travels. In addition, he has sworn a sacred oath that he will kill any Zedd he meets without mercy, because of the way, they slaughtered his innocent young wife and children in a fit of pique, trying to get even with us for eluding them. If we can find him, he might be able to help us.”

  Yudhishthira spoke to the assembly, “we will send out the word to all our spies that the whereabouts of the caravan leader Taskinti is of our utmost concern. He is well known by reputation as a very astute and safe leader who has never lost a caravan, if he is anywhere within a thousand kilometres we will know in a very short time through our spy network.” He assured the crew and the rest of his family.

  That was about all they could do for the present, and the meeting was just breaking up when Rogan addressed them all.

  “We also need to give some thought to our security here. The Lander Adeetoo is flying is unarmed, if we were attacked by the Zedds, he would not be able to defend us only raise the alarm providing someone is on listening watch in one of the Landers here. What I propose is finding some way to arm his Lander so that in the event of being attacked, he could give a good account of himself and defend our ships while they are on the ground. Has anyone any thoughts on the subject we can’t build more rail guns, but surely we could either come up with a laser weapon or some sort of missile?"

  Ancore spoke, “Sound thinking Rogan, we can’t leave anything to chance, I suggest we rotate Adeetoo and put Adeeone up on top cover watch in an armed Lander while we sort out arming the Lander of Adeetoo.”

  With the top cover in an armed Lander piloted by Adeeone underway, and Adeetoo returning in the unarmed Lander the meeting finally broke up. Breen and Nassel had decided to try to come up with a weapon for the third Lander. They were already designing a rocket system that could be carried into battle by a large wagon armed with many rocket tubes that could be fired and then reloaded while in the field.

  The weapon for the third Lander was a very powerful pulsed-laser it was fitted to the top of the Lander, which restricted its use to anything that could be seen from the top. If the target was below the Lander, the only way to fire the Laser was to roll the Lander upside down. This was a shortcoming when trying to fire at ground-based targets, but there was no way around it apart from fitting another laser underneath, this, they did not have enough parts to accomplish, so had to be content with what they had.

  Another week went by and still no word of the whereabouts of Taskinti, Breen and Nassel completed the design of the rocket wagon and handed the building of them to the Pandava artisans. Bhima and Arjuna were much taken with the rocket concept and had taken over from Breen and Nassel the overseeing of the work. Once the concept was explained to them, they had quickly grasped what was required and became thoroughly immersed in the project even to suggesting improvements. Such as being able, to aim the rockets to some extent by altering the elevation of the rocket tubes, they now had eighty degrees of adjustable elevation from almost horizontal to almost upright all operated by simple wooden gearing.

  The final weapon that Breen and Nassel had developed was a modulated sound weapon of immense power, at the right frequency it could tear living flesh apart, or at a lower frequency could cause the very earth to transform into a moving mass that was almost liquid swallowing up anything that tried to move on the face of it. Breen and Nassel had their misgivings about this weapon. It was a terrible weapon to let loose on anyone even the Danava. The only defence against it being another sound generator that could nullify the first generator. This was how, whoever fired the weapon would be protected. By a sound wave, the reverse of the prime wave, this would nullify the wave and make it harmless to anyone behind the sound generator when it fired.

  It was a squat ugly thing with its own generator built in to power it. It was fitted onto two wheels so that a team of horses could pull it. The business end of the weapon was a huge cone that projected like a giant gun barrel. There the likeness ended. This was no gun. This was a weapon of terrible power that once unleashed at the right frequency could wipe out armies, or cities, even mountains could be levelled, this weapon was not to be used unless the Zedds were winning the war. Two keys controlled the sound generator; both required turning simultaneously to arm it. Ancore had one key; Breen had the other, and both keys were worn around their respective necks.

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  Chapter Nine