by Reiter
“Why did you release him, Attendant?” the Elder, Jonv’Gian Fahdrin, spoke as he slowly approached. He was the oldest of their kind, the only one of their number that was older than the Adjudicator, and therefore he rarely moved quickly.
“My Master, please believe that I did no such thing,” Raijh answered as he knelt in front of the icon. “I was duped… by a series of illusions. When I tried to have the subject terminated, he must have mapped my thought waves, copying my key to the control systems within the Overseer.”
Grand Gamesmaster Fahdrin’s eyes registered his fear as he gasped, taking a step back from one of his most promising endeavors. His hand trembled as it started to point at Raijh.
“Yes, what he said is quite true,” Freund said as he appeared several feet behind the kneeling Gamesman.
“Damn you!” Raijh screamed, summoning his crystalline weapon and turning, locking his intent on the neck of the entity called Freund. He had been embarrassed – like a fledgling – by some blind husk of a psychic. The glass blade crackled with incredible amounts of energy as it sang its way… to the hand of the Adjudicator, where it was stopped cold. Not even a blemish was made to the palm of the defending hand.
“You are askew, Gamesman,” the Adjudicator proclaimed, slowly turning his head to look into the eyes of Jonv’Gian. The stare was brief as the Grand Gamesmaster turned to adjourn himself from the proceedings. As his eyes moved away from the Gamesman, so the others all turned their backs to him. They would not argue on his behalf, but they would also not bear witness to what was about to happen.
“Take his station,” Jonv’Gian ordered as he walked away. “Take his power. This indignity must be rectified. The symmetry must be maintained!”
Raijh took in a breath to speak. A pulse of light left the hand of the Adjudicator and traveled through the crystalline pole-arm. Raijh was thrust into immediate stasis as the gigantic judge turned to face him. Splaying his fingers wide, the Adjudicator’s hand nearly swallowed Raijh’s head as the stasis field was removed.
“You are permitted to keep your memories, and the knowledge you have acquired,” the large figure spoke. “But you will no longer be permitted to express the Energies as you have come to know them. You are dismissed from the Game, and you are exiled from your world and all things of our people.” A thrust of the hand sent Raijh to the floor as energy trailed from his body. Freund could see the blocks that were being placed inside Raijh’s mind as well as the crystal working its way into his spine from the back. He could see it functioned much in the same fashion as the holding prism that was currently keeping his nameless guest as a helpless prisoner.
“Your family–”
“Hold!” Freund yelled. “While the crimes of this one are great, they are his own, and I challenge the resolve that his family must also be punished for an act they had no hand in engaging.”
“As you were the intended victim of the crime, you have grounds from which to speak,” the Adjudicator stated. “But he is askew. We of the Mensori can take no risk that his perspective is shared throughout his immediate bloodline.”
“While I cannot imagine a more inane argument for such a sweeping punishment, we’ll take your perspective and work from there,” Freund said as he approached. “Greesdev–”
“Call me by my title, if you please, Rendell,” the large Mensori requested.
“I meant no offense, old friend.”
“And none was taken, good friend… and mentor! Proceed.”
“Adjudicator, you have access to the records of your kind, yes?”
“You mean our kind, Rendell? Yes, I do.”
“Our kind indeed,” Freund thought. “That is a matter for another debate.
“Good then,” Freund said, taking a cleansing breath. “Adjudicator, please list for me the transgressions of Raijh’s line before this infraction.”
“There are none.”
“And those visited upon the family name by his mate or his progeny?”
“There are none,” the Adjudicator repeated.
“And how many generations of T’Cossticott are there after Raijh?” Freund asked.
“Five,” the Adjudicator replied, still thinking about what it felt like to be called by his pre-form name. It had been some time since the last occasion when his mentor and friend had called to him; Greesdev could not claim it to be a fond reflection. “Your point is recognized, though surveillance of the entire family line will be initiated.”
“Is that necessary?” Freund asked.
“The potential for retaliation cannot be overlooked or dismissed,” the Adjudicator stated, looking intently at Freund who had yet to lose his smile. The shoulders of the gigantic Mensori relaxed for a moment. He took in a deep breath and quickly returned to his station. “However, in further deliberation, perhaps our former relationship has caused me to lose focus. While retaliation is a possibility, you maintained yourself against one of the most gifted of the bloodline with little stress. Surveillance will be limited to your dwelling, Rendell.”
“Freund, if you please, Adjudicator.”
“Freund,” he replied, fading and taking Raijh with him.
For a moment, there was nothing but the wind stirred by the Adjudicator’s departure. But that was only for a moment. The nostrils of the blind entity flared and he turned to face her.
She fought against the urge to turn and run, but asked herself where she could go that he could not follow, if not arrive at her destination before she could. She put her hand to her white-blonde hair to make sure she was presentable, but he could no longer see her. Her teal eyes took in his form and he had not changed save to lose some of the roundness of his body, replaced by eager and able muscle. She smiled at his physique, losing the countenance as she gazed upon his face. What might have seemed to be an easy-going persona to so many did not hide the tortured soul underneath. She knew his pain, and carried a measure of it with her, though she had lost the memory of just how much pain there was until this very moment.
“I did not–” Unearii started to speak.
“I never suspected,” Freund quickly spoke over her, calming her fears once more. Silence fell in quickly behind his words and the blind one knew Unearii was unable to speak. “You know, it is all too simple a matter to investigate Isse and see the one who was the inspiration for her grace and form.”
“How is she?” Unearii asked. Freund did not speak as his left hand slowly came away from his side toward her. Tears fell from her eyes as she rushed to take hold of it. Her hands clenched air as Freund pulled his hand back. He then lunged forward and took hold of the woman’s arms, pulling her into an embrace. As soon as his arms wrapped around her shoulders, Unearii wept openly, grasping at Freund’s robes.
“She is well, Unearii. She is quite well. Loving and strong… she is with husband and son now.
“There, there,” he said softly, putting his hand to the back of her head. “Did you think I would hate you?”
“You have every right,” she cried.
“Then I have every right to love you as well,” Freund replied. She buried her face into his shoulder and tried to hold him closer. “Forgive me for my failure to despise you, Unearii.
“We waged war on the ‘impossible’, the five of us,” Freund smiled as he whispered. “We dared the heavens to deny us and when they tried and failed, we saw only greater opportunity. And we took it!” he said, squeezing her shoulders as he spoke. “And look at what we have become.”
“It has been forgotten that you are considered Mensori,” Unearii said as she stepped back from Freund. Without error, he wiped her face clean of tears.
“Not by all,” Freund countered. “Greesdev remembers me.”
“Three of the Furious Five,” Unearii joked.
“No, surely not furious,” Freund chuckled.
“Not within our ranks, no,” she replied.
“You feel well, Unearii,” Freund stated. “Are you happy?”
“More than I thou
ght I could be,” she answered. “I have found so much here, as we always thought we would.”
“Do not speak of it,” Freund warned. “The symmetry must be maintained.” Unearii shuddered, surprised by the tone and wording her first true love had delivered. Her eyes squinted for a moment before she could feel another presence, lingering in-between her thoughts.
“Yes, Contessa,” Jonv’Gian said as he approached. “I am still here. Odd how Rendell has blinded himself yet he is the only one of you who truly sees all that he can.”
“Master, it is good to see– er, uh, I mean how good it is to be in your presence once again,” Freund said while bowing.
“The pleasure does seem to be all yours, Rendell,” the elder Gamesman spoke. “For the moment… for the moment. You have managed to get our Champion removed from the contest, and now it is between the remaining three as to who shall win the prize. I expect the Adjudicator will resolve the rules of the contest shortly, and then the game can proceed. I wish you well… for now.” Jonv’Gian started to turn when Freund blurred across the floor taking a very quick and harsh grip of the elder’s wrist.
Unearii gasped. “I forgot he could move like that,” she thought.
“I know what you’ve done, you relic!” Freund said softly, but there was no mistaking his anger.
“Rendell, don’t!”
“Stay out of this, Contessa!” Jonv’Gian ordered. Freund squeezed again and twisted the arm. The old man winced, bending at the knees. Already his personal defense fields had been overrun. Just how powerful had Rendell Avery Harrison V become?! A third squeeze and Jonv’Gian moaned in pain.
“This is the second time I’ve had to come between you and your arrogance! The Mensori hold no sway over the universe of my birth! Do you understand me?
“Say you understand me!!” Freund demanded as small spheres of energy shone where his eyes should have been. They were teal in color, a sign of vitaception!
“Note how the Adjudicator does not appear to defend you,” Freund projected. “I have spied your agent, old man! It too believed me blind, and took the bait of my woman after I had made rapport with her. The moment it invaded her body, I invaded its feed of power! Now that I have seen your hand in its creation, I will tell you this: your agent is now a kept pet that I believe I will keep a little longer, and when I secure the knowledge connecting you to the anti-life, I will return. I will announce your indignity and I will remedy your existence!” With a powerful roar of rage and unbelievable power, Freund was away from the chamber as the ship the Mensori had brought to the universe started its return voyage. Jonv’Gian fell to the floor, his arm broken and the bone partially crushed. It would take some time to restore, as he was using the utmost of his talent to keep the pain from his mind. Unearii touched his shoulder as she walked to return to her universe… her estate… her husband and her life. She provided a secondary path for the pain and smiled as the Gamesmaster collapsed to the floor in agony.
“Bring me home, husband,” she whispered and she could instantly feel his presence. She was embraced by it, warmed by it, and she was eager to return.
“How is Rendell?” he quickly asked.
“Your brother is quite well, Gradarr,” she replied. “He is well... loving and strong, and he wishes you happiness.”
“He does?”
“He embraced me, Grad. After all we have been and done, he holds no anger in his heart for either of us. Bring me home, husband!” Light enveloped the woman’s walking form as she looked back on the Master of Games. Rendell, who now called himself by what had once been the name of the family cat, had seen to Jonv’Gian’s best student and then to Jonv’Gian, once again calling himself the protector of the universe which was their point of origin. How broken the pain-struck man now appeared to her, and now she knew to what heights he hated how mere humans had become Mensori.
“Mark my words, Master of Games… if that man has anything to do with it, there are more humans coming. What will become of your symmetry then?”
It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life. Where you stumble, there lies your treasure.
Joseph Campbell
(Rims Time: XII-4202.01)
Smoke filled the room and kept the lighting from being too bright. It was unlikely the proprietor was disagreeable to the smoke, with the way the music machine hardly fell quiet for too long, and the manner in which patrons passed credits. The kitchen was still open, which was not customary, but again it was not something that aggravated the owner.
Daggers & Darts was being played in one corner, and it looked as if Llaz had finally mastered the rules of how the game was played. The concept was not difficult to grasp, but the young man had not been allowed to focus on learning the game. He had been asked to dance to every other song selected from one of the few machines any of the Xara-Mansura crew had seen in the region. Olkin had grabbed Annsura by the hand and decided to take a moonlit stroll. The new hopefuls and newly freed people were enjoying the generosity of the First Mate who had hired the entire kitchen staff to work a double shift. When the owner found that included regular prices, he was all too happy to oblige. Music and mirth passed freely on the ground floor, with only Mel and Silnee deciding to keep themselves removed from the festivities. Silnee was trying not to be disgusted by every invitation Llaz received while Mel kept an ear and eye out for any commotion coming from the room upstairs. Each member of the crew had been given their time to go upstairs and speak with the Captain and Z. Each member had returned with smiles on their faces, more than ready to return to the activities of the lower floor.
“Are you sure this is going to work?” Jocasta asked as she stood with her fists on her hips.
“The only thing certain in life is death, Captain,” Dungias replied as he set up another pair of wires. The drones had ferried quite a bit of machinery from the Kulri-Kraythe, and Dungias had made the most of their respite from traveling and activities. “And more importantly… you do not really care.”
“Actually, given where you’re working… yeah, you could say I have some measure of concern.”
“Duly noted,” Dungias returned.
“Walk me through this one,” Jocasta said as she lifted her arms to give her Chief Engineer access to her weapons belt. “Start with my ship!”
“Satithe reported three battle cruisers moving into the sector,” Dungias started again.
“Three Dirk Battle Cruisers to be specific,” Jocasta added. “Those are Brigade men! Chock full of anti-tech spells and crap!”
Dungias continued as if he had not heard his Captain speak. “Satithe maintained the stealth field at the necessary power levels…”
“The ‘draining and cannot be maintained for too long’ power levels,” Jocasta added.
“And since we are south of Gulmurr’s equator, she moved the Xara-Mansura to the southern pole of the planet just inside this planet’s ionosphere.”
“Where she has to use even more power!”
“Where she found that with all of the majikul manipulations of the planet and its weather patterns, a very powerful storm system is perpetually held there,” Dungias noted. “She is absorbing the power of that storm system… enough to sustain the stealth fields and the ship’s position. Batteries are at maximum and she reports that what little damage is being done to the hull of the ship will remain within the negligible category for the next two to four days. After that, some scoring to the hull may be made.” Dungias continued his work as Jocasta looked down at him.
“Is big Daddy Z proud of his little girl?” she cooed.
“I…” Dungias looked up at Jocasta and allowed himself an expression of truth. “I find myself more than proud of what she has become. I know how young she is, and how new everything must be for her. I can only take a small measure of credit. She has blossomed into something most unexpected and altogether wonderful. Yes, I am very proud of her.”
“You got to watch those little ones, Z,” Jocasta
smiled. “Before you know it, they can steal your heart and leave you dazed, confused… and proud.”
“Aye, Captain,” Dungias agreed. “They can at that.” He knew Jocasta deserved the truth, and one day he would give it to her, but this was not the day. This place was not suitable for such a revelation. “There, I have finished all that I needed to do.”
“And just what did you do?” she asked as she adjusted her belt to her waist.
“The drones were good enough to bring reloads for your pockets,” Dungias said before he was hugged tightly about the neck. “And I added two pockets to the belt matrix.”
“How the hell did you do that?!” Jocasta countered, letting him go and stepping back. “You were with us the entire time… but Satithe and the robots weren’t… and it has been a few days, hasn’t it?”
“That is the good news,” Dungias reported. “The bad news is that our raw materials stores have reached a critically low position. What we have left may need to be applied to ship repairs. I have shut down all fabrications at this time.
“But let us get to your two new pockets,” Dungias said. “The first holds grenades and bombs. I have taken the liberty of emptying your coat pockets and placing your grenades into a dimensional pocket. The grenades have three power settings of fragmentary, incendiary, and gravitational – with the default being fragmentary – and an adjustable timer where the default is set for five seconds. Your pocket holds ten grenades.
“The bombs, of which you have three, should be considered high yield explosives. These are not the sort of devices that can be thrown in combat.”
“Why not?”
“Because, Captain, your throwing range is less than the blast radius of the device.” Jocasta’s eyes flared in the realization of the fact. “Each device has a gravity lock feature on the housing and can be detonated by either the timer or by your personal system.”
“Uh… Z… I uh...”
“I gave grenades to everyone, three being the default amount, though I gave five to Cutter and Llaz, and ten to Tank; however, the bombs I reserved for Nulaki, yourself and me,” Dungias explained. Jocasta breathed a sigh of relief.
