by P R Glazier
Chapter 35. Secrets of the Leviathan
Still obviously much excited about the discovery and successful flight of the Leviathan, JDC remained unperturbed by Amndo’s remarks. Instead he offered them a demonstration of the great machine. Nar’Allia marvelled at how much he knew, and had discovered in such a short period of time. JDC seemed already an expert, a credit to the intellectual capability of the Pnook, for after all this is exactly what his race was famous for, not necessarily the discovery and invention of new technology, but certainly an undeniable skill in learning and perfecting what was already there. Not great visionaries perhaps, but certainly adept at taking ideas and turning them into many practical and clever solutions. When asked, he just said that he had always had an aptitude with machines. He was the first to agree it was a racial skill of the Pnook, but he prided himself in being that much more skilled because of a lifetime of being alone and teaching himself. He said that he had found many strange and wonderful devices in his years traversing the Rust Desert and this first-hand experience had been the best teacher he could ever hope for.
Although she didn’t voice her thoughts, she couldn’t help wondering why the Pnook had designed and built such a machine in the first place.
JDC showed them around the various control panels within the control room or ‘bridge’ of the machine as he called it, likening the machine to a ship. He began by showing them the helm desk; he explained that all the controls were touch sensitive. He demonstrated by placing a finger on a complex circular device that seemed to be set just under the surface of the smooth glass panel that lay upon the desk. As he slowly moved his finger across the glass surface the outer edge of a ring of light seemed to follow his finger back and forth rotating around its centre point. He ‘turned’ the ring of light through ninety degrees by sliding his finger across the smooth surface and then tapped a button just below this ring. As the button was tapped the machine changed the direction it was facing horizontally through ninety degrees, as it did so another ring of light surrounding the one that JDC had slid his finger around moved with the machine until the two rings of light lay aligned once more exactly as they had first appeared.
JDC then said to Nar’Allia, “try moving us back again to our original heading.”
Nar’Allia hesitated then she placed her finger as JDC had done before and moved the inner ring back ninety degrees, she had noticed before that a graduated scale ran around the circumference of the rings, the scale was divided into regular segments and these were in turn subdivided into smaller marks. It was easy to return the pointer on the ring back to where she was sure she had seen it originally. Then hesitating over the button and looking toward JDC who nodded. She tapped the button as had JDC and the machine swung back, pointing roughly in the direction it had originally. JDC nodded with satisfaction then showed how sliding his finger around the far outer circle moved the machine immediately without having to push the button below. He swung his finger back and forth, the ring followed his every movement exactly and the machine jerked this way and that, back and forth as JDC slid his finger around on the glass surface. Nar’Allia had to stop him for she felt her stomach turn a little queasy at the movements. He laughed but stopped. He then demonstrated how the control desk could be ‘programmed’ for automatic flight, a pre-determined flight path could be set into the machine and after the engagement of the last button the machine would fly the pre-determined course obeying any amount or series of mid-course corrections programmed into it. There was also a ‘home’ button that when depressed would override everything and return the machine to its hanger under the rust desert, all without further manual intervention. He said that this home button could be programmed to function after a set period, hours, weeks, months, years, any period, he suspected that if something happened to the crew then the home button could be automatically set to return the machine as a sort of security measure.
JDC went on to explain the controls for changing height and speed, flight forward and reverse. The machine could even slide left or right whilst remaining pointing in the same direction and of course it would also manoeuvre in a combination of any of these moves. Before JDC could start any demonstration of such, Nar’Allia stressed that it was probably not a good idea to demonstrate this last fact if she were to keep her last meal in her stomach.
He showed them other control panels. One was for weapons control. Here he said was an array of devastating weapons. There were various weapons fitted into the Leviathan that could project rapid fire of projectiles of all sorts and many more powerful weapons that fired bolts of pure energy of a form he did not yet understand, the resulting devastating capability must be unbelievable.
Then walking over to another desk and pointing at another set of controls he explained that these were probably, but he stressed he had not had the chance to try them yet, the controls for the deployment of the metal soldiers, the Startmektoken, that were held in the belly of the great machine. Nar’Allia looked at these controls and could see where JDC got his suspicions, for there laid out in a form of coloured lights were clearly depicted the racks and individual sarcophaguses of the metal soldiers where they had entered the machine. All these controls were like the helm, activated by sliding a finger or sometimes the palm of a hand across or around illuminated portions beneath the smooth glass surface.
Eventually he sat back and said to Nar’Allia, “well milady, where would you like to do? Anywhere in the world, you choose!”
Nar’Allia was dumbfounded, where would she like to go? No thought had gone into their next destination; no plan had been made. She felt embarrassed at the surprise question. Her first thoughts were of home, but then she remembered that the whole reason of being here was to try to find her step mother. But where should they go next?
Jonas started to speak. “Mylady Nar’Allia may I make a suggestion?”
Nar’Allia nodded and smiled, she felt released for her current obligation.
“May I suggest we continue to travel west? There are a couple of reasons. Firstly, if your brethren the dark elves have stolen one of these machines, then I think it would be wise to hunt it down before they get the chance to use it. I fear that this machine is the only weapon strong enough to combat the other craft and from JDC has hinted at it would be prudent to try and remove any threat by the dark elves using such a machine. I suspect that they would have done one of two things to hide it. Either remain here in the Rust Desert somewhere or take it to the eastern side of our home continent of Dahl’Ambronis. I suspect that there are very few places now that the last Silo has been destroyed to hide such a thing in the desert, so that only leaves the eastern coast of Dahl’Ambronis, or one of the many islands that dot the Sea of Beadreas as a possible destination. I doubt they would have taken it further east over the great spine that divides the continent through fear of being seen by the greater density of population in that half of the continent. The second reason I have for going west is to visit the eastern side of Dahl’Ambronis. For if suggested by the old man in the Silo that the human population originated there, I would like to see for myself.”
Nar'Allia thought for a moment. She decided she could not come up with any other destination or any reason not to follow Jonas’s suggestion so she agreed. She was also a little pleased that the responsibility of choice of destination had been removed from her.
JDC smiled, he was glad to have the chance to do something with the leviathan, something other than just toy around with it. So he took the machine up to a great height vertically and then set a course that took them west out over the western coast and out across the Sea of Beadreas.
Just out from the coast he halted the machine. Then sliding his finger upon a long line of light that changed colour beneath his finger as it slid across the glass surface, Nar’Allia was amazed to see that the clear windows at the front of the machine seemed to grow in number until the whole front section of the machine in which they stood became clear glass, even the deck on which they
stood became transparent, but remained slightly tinted so that she could still see where she stood and not feel that she was standing in mid-air. They could see all around them side to side, above and below. Nar’Allia gasped and took hold of the top of the nearest desk as it appeared she could now look between her feet and see the blue ocean below her. Then JDC slid this control in the other direction and the windows that now surrounded them progressively turned opaque, as did the deck once more and eventually they were completely blind to the outside world. As this happened Nar’Allia noticed the lights for all the control desks dimmed slightly to a more pleasant brightness and several dim red lights glowed around the control room illuminating the whole area in an eerie red glow, but she had to admit, this was most restful on the eyes.
“I believe,” said JDC, “this mode is for battle, I think the material that the glass windows are comprised of can be changed somehow from being completely transparent to completely solid. I believe the material from which the front of the craft is made is a form of thickened armour covering of some sort. Maybe even a similar material to that which the rest of the craft is built.” He walked over to where a number of other screens on the navigation, weapons and helm control tables had flickered into life and now showed the view surrounding them that they would normally have seen through the windows with their own eyes. But these views had the added features of various graduated diagrams and rulers depicting the horizon, height and other useful information. “come, follow me, this is but a small start to the amazing secrets that the Leviathan holds.”
They left the control room or bridge via the same metal door in the rear of the room, it slid sideways as they approached and closed again behind them. They found themselves in the same corridor as before. This time JDC showed them various rooms off this corridor. He said that they were mainly offices, then past the last office room they came across cabins, each with a sleeping cot, a small table and a chair plus a couple of small cabinets for storage of personal effects. JDC offered one each to Nar’Allia, Amndo and Jonas for their personal use. There were only eight cabins in all and JDC said that there were no others elsewhere on the Leviathan, so it seemed the machine was only ever designed to house a maximum of eight crew members.
“Or perhaps one crew and seven passengers?” Remarked Nar’Allia. Anyway she took the opportunity to leave the belongings that she didn’t immediately need in the cabin that had just become allocated to her. It was a small room, the small cot on one side was more than big enough for her and she stowed her bag on a sort of shelving unit across the other side of the room. Then exiting and shutting the door behind her and waiting for both Amndo and Jonas to reappear from the cabins they had been assigned, they resumed their walk down the corridor.
At the far end the passage way was blocked by yet another door. JDC touched a button on the wall and the door slid to one side and he ushered them into a small room not unlike the cabins they had been given, but this room contained no cot or shelves within. All the walls were plain and empty of anything, except by the door through which they had entered, there beside the door was a little panel of buttons. JDC called the little room in which they now huddled an ‘elevator’ and after he had pressed one of the buttons on the small panel the door closed and Nar’Allia felt a strange movement even though she was standing perfectly still. JDC explained that this elevator could take them up or down inside the machine to access any of the twelve main decks that made up its interior, it was quicker to use the elevator than trying to negotiate the many spiral stairways.
The decks were numbered from one at the top of the machine down to twelve at the very bottom. Some of the chambers in the machine however traversed vertically across several decks they were so large, so getting around the inside of the Leviathan was a learning process in its own right. He had pushed a button that he indicated to be deck three, they had started at deck five she noticed, although she didn’t recognise the marks on the buttons that she guessed were an ancient form of written numbering, or perhaps they were Pnook, she could count down the buttons for presumably one was at the top. After a few seconds the sensation of movement stopped as suddenly as it had started. The door of the room opened once more and they exited onto the place called deck three, at least she assumed as much.
They turned left and walked down another corridor, eventually they came to a door. This door did not open automatically; JDC had to turn a spoked wheel mounted in the centre of the door several times activating several heavy looking bolts set into the edge of the door. Once all these bolts were free of the door frame he pushed and the heavy door swung outwards. Nar’Allia felt the inrush or warm, fragrant air, it smelled of salt, similar to the aroma she had experienced whilst crossing the Trad Ocean on the Ocean Belle. They all gasped at what was revealed. They found themselves walking out onto a wide, open area with a railing along its outer edge. Looking left and right Nar’Allia could see that this outside area ran pretty much the length of the machine. It was obviously set into the upper portion of the hull and they had not seen it from below for the curvature of the hull would have hidden it from view. She approached the railing and looking over the side could see the blue sea far below them. She also felt moisture there, but she could see that they were far above the waves; no sea spray could have reached them up here. She waved her hand around and noticed that a fine shiny wetness now lay across her extended arm and hand. She looked more closely and could just make out a very fine mist similar to the one they had experienced in the small chamber through which they had entered from the desert. It seemed to form an almost invisible misty curtain across the outer limit of the balcony on which they stood.
“It’s a precaution against the outside world,” said JDC, “a continual spray of chemical concoction to protect the crew of the Leviathan from the outer world through which they must have travelled. I haven’t found a way to turn it off yet.”
Nar’Allia began to feel a dread, this type of existence, having to rely upon artificially generated environments was not for her, she thought she would rather take the risk than be shut away from the world like these people obviously were. But even so a stiff breeze played with her hair blowing it across her face, she reached up to hold it out of her eyes, she could still smell the salt ocean and also detect the pleasant sweet smell on the air even through the protective mist, so at least the occupants of the Leviathan could experience the outside world, even if they couldn’t step right into it. JDC asked them to follow him, so they walked along the balcony deck as Nar’Allia thought of it. Every now and again there was a mechanical door set into the hull that no doubt led back into the machines interior. They were led through one of these and again were ushered into a lift. This time JDC pushed the button that indicated deck two.
After leaving the elevator the four of them found themselves in a vast open deck. But even with its openness it looked very claustrophobic, for the deck obviously ran from one side of the machine across to the other and almost from one end to the other, yet the ceiling only just cleared the tops of Jonas’s and Amndo’s heads. As they walked along the centre portion of this deck Nar’Allia had to resist the temptation to stoop, even though the top of her head was at least a quarter of a metre below the ceiling, the optical illusion set by the physical shape of this place gave such an impression of a much lower height than was actual. She glanced around and could see either side of them where many big machines set along both sides of the chamber, most of these machines comprised of a long, wide tube like device perhaps half a metre in diameter and several metres in length. The end of each tube faced the outside wall or hull of the machine but did not connect with it. Nar’Allia walked across to the hull to where one of these tubes could be found pointing towards; she noticed a circular disk on the hull right in front of the tube. Suddenly there was a buzzing noise and a red light started to flash. The circular disk slid to one side. Nar’Allia could see outside again through the circular aperture that was revealed in the hull of the Leviathan. She notice
d that the material from which the hull was formed must have been at least forty centimetres thick at this point. She stepped back as the great tubular machine at her side slid forward slowly until the end of the tube was now protruding through the hole in the hull.
JDC spoke from behind them, he was standing in front of a desk set in the centre of the chamber. “That is one of the powerful energy projectile weapons I was telling you about. They can either all be controlled from here, from these consoles set into the centre of the chamber, or from a central control desk in the control room, the one I showed you.” JDC flicked a switch and another circular door opened a few cannons down the row on the same side as the one that now protruded outside, but this cannon did not slide forward.
“A small demonstration is at hand I think?” suggested JDC. “please, if you will go and look out of the portal I have just opened, and witness the power unleashed by just one of these cannons.”
They walked over and looked out, they had a clear view upon the ocean scape below.
“OK prepare yourselves.” JDC was at one of the console desks he had eluded to earlier at the rear of the cannon that now projected outside further along the hull from where they stood, they could see it projected about a metre outside the hull of the machine. He had opened a small flap in the console and reaching in seemed to move some lever or switch, a low pulsating ‘thrumming’ sound could be heard. He said, “are you ready?”
They nodded in reply, he pulled sharply on something. Suddenly there was a loud humming noise that got louder and shriller. Then in less than a second there was a loud retort, a noise like a clap of thunder, the tube that projected from the hull shot backwards into the vessel a metre or so and a bright orange light shot from the mouth of the cannon at incredible speed and almost instantaneously stuck the surface of the ocean some kilometres distant. There was an explosion of water and steam that shot high into the air where the bolt of energy had struck. But no noise until probably three or four seconds later when the explosion could be heard. This suggested that the explosion was quite a distance from where they were.
Nar’Allia just knew that this explosion could have been devastating to anything else it had hit. She ducked back and walked over to the centre of the deck again. She looked up and down; there must have been at least thirty energy cannon on either side, from front to back on this deck. She shuddered at the power of such weaponry. She was amazed at the power that this machine must be capable of generating to support all of these cannons plus whatever else used power within the machine. She asked JDC about this.
“Ah Nar’Allia that is a good question. Down a few decks below and towards the rear of the machine there is an engineering chamber full of instruments and other machinery that is obviously designed to convert energy from one form to another. The basic process is arcane driven, similar, but obviously on a much smaller scale to the arcane core in the Silo. The machine creates its own unique gravitational bubble, the worlds gravitational pull has no effect upon it whatsoever rather the machines controls use the worlds gravitational grid as a sort of roadway along which it can traverse in any direction.
Curiously there is no off button however, rather the conversion of energy is adjusted all the time and is always of a sufficient level to satisfy the demands for energy placed by the Leviathan machine. It is truly a marvel of technological advancement a small insight into the capability of the people who designed and built these machines.”
After this JDC said that another gunnery deck such as this one was repeated below on deck seven. He indicated the control desk for the cannon he had just fired and explained. “I haven’t worked it all out yet, but I am pretty sure that you can target anywhere in the world from here with great accuracy simply by entering coordinates of latitude and longitude. The energy bolt fired from these cannons is not just a benign destructive projectile either, it can be guided and manoeuvred around obstacles, even be given a time in the future in which to detonate.
He then showed them a further weapons deck, deck eight, which had many ‘turrets’ facing outwards. Within each of these turrets were mounted four rapid firing projectile weapons, he said that these weapons could be manually fired or set to automatically engage with any external occurrence that may prove to be a threat to the machine. He opened the door at the rear of one turret and manoeuvring himself amongst the confined space he sat down in a metal chair and took hold of a sort of head covering with a flexible cable attached. This he placed upon his head. This helmet fitted snugly and completely covered his head and his eyes. From a little holder he took out a small tube that fitted snugly into his hand, he held his thumb over a small button in the top of the tube. He switched a main switch and the inside of the turret illuminated along with a control desk and a screen which showed the waves below them. He moved his head one way and the turret moved in the same direction, the view on the screen in front of him changed correspondingly, again he moved his head around this time more rapidly and further to each side. The view from the control screen changed as the turret moved around in a corresponding fashion seemingly following his gaze. He depressed the button that he held in his hand and a mechanical whine started, followed by a deafening rattling noise, Nar’Allia was forced to cover her ears, but kept her eyes on the control screen. Again the sea or that part of the sea showing in the screen, erupted into a gush of spray and steam, as JDC moved his head in a circular motion so the spouts of water and steam on the sea below also appeared in a similar circular motion. He took his finger off the button, the deafening rattling noise stopped and the water settled back down again, the mechanical whining noise slowed and stopped also after a delay of a few seconds. Nar’Allia took her hands from her ears, a metallic tinkling noise like a peal of tiny bells still sounded. Nar’Allia looked in the direction of the sound within the turret. Their disappearing down a chute were hundreds of small gold coloured tubes of metal. Eventually they stopped. JDC later explained these to be what he called spent cartridges. He explained that each cartridge held a chemical explosive that when ignited sent a small metal projectile firing from the cannon at great speed. Each barrel of the cannon was in fact made up of eight individual barrels that rotated at a thousand revolutions per minute, each fired a projectile, with all four barrels of eight firing at full speed, then the weapon actually fired thousands of projectiles per minute. What is really neat is that the projectiles are made from the dust of the desert sands, if we run out all I have to do is descend closer to the desert surface and deploy a special device that sucks up the sand and stores it in a special hopper. Once in the hopper the process of making the projectiles is automated. It works on an ‘on-demand’ type basis.
“Best not to be in the target area when all of these were firing eh?” Jonas remarked.
Again Nar’Allia marvelled at the power, if the sea below was switched with an army of soldiers then just one of these turrets firing its guns could decimate hundreds of them in seconds. She gasped at the concept. For she understood that such fire power could wipe out a whole army of soldiers in less time perhaps than it would have taken her to fire all the arrows in her quiver. She started to have grave misgivings about the sheer power that they had at their control here within this machine. Then again she thought that the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran more than likely had a similar weapon in their possession. “By the Maker, what will the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran do with the machine they most probably control?”
“You are right to ask Nar’Allia.” It was Amndo who spoke. “I now see the actual potential of the threat imposed by one of these Leviathan machines. I dread to think what the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran may do. But one thing is for sure, I suspect they will not hesitate to turn the power of this machine to their own ends and use its full force against all that oppose them. For with a machine such as this in the air and a ground force made up of the Startmektoken that the machine holds within its belly, there is none that could withstand such a force for long, of that I am sure.”
At this J
DC suggested that they go down and see the deck on which the Startmektoken were housed. These proved to be decks nine to twelve. Nar’Allia wonder just how many metal soldiers were housed on this machine, nothing could have prepared her for the truth. They came out on deck eleven and walking through an automated door. Immediately they entered a vast area through which an aerial catwalk passed. They walked out onto this catwalk which seemed to traverse the length of the machine. But they felt tiny in comparison to the vast area that they walked through. Below them and around them to both sides, sat rows upon rows of Startmektoken all housed snugly within their individual sarcophagi all slung upon great metal booms. Chains and pipes, tubes and wheels led in every direction it seemed.
About half way along the catwalk they entered a room about half the size of the main control room of the craft. This secondary control room also had many flat top desks with illuminated controls on every surface. Once inside Nar’Allia heard hissing noises, it sounded like air being purged from somewhere. The door through which they had entered was not like the other doors in the craft, it had a tight soft seal surrounding it that fitted snuggly into the frame. Once shut their voices sounded somewhat muffled, it was like they were now housed in their own tiny world within the room, completely shut off from the rest of the machine.
“From here,” said JDC, “deployment of the Startmektoken can be controlled. This desk controls some of the many exit ports through which the Startmektoken can be dropped to the ground below. He touched upon a certain area of the desk and a humming noise could be heard. Below them a vast door was opening slowly sliding up into the hull of the machine, the sea could be clearly seen through the opening. As the door was opening, the closest rack of Startmektoken swung out over the opening and dropped through the fully open door until it was clear of the hull. Amndo pointed out that he remembered back in the leviathan’s lair how the Startmektoken had been taken up into the belly of the machine in a similar way.
“I can now release the soldiers to what would be the ground below, all from this control room, once one set has been deployed then the next set in line will do the same. There are twenty such exit ways along the bottom portion of the hull. So twenty such racks can be deployed at a time, each rack can hold up to fifty individual soldiers and there are actually many racks in total, I haven’t yet counted them all.
“Well master Pnook, if I didn’t know better I would say that you had designed and built this machine yourself you know so much about it!” Remarked Jonas.
JDC bowed to the assembled companions with a smile on his face. “As I said before it is what I do best master Jonas, it is a skill I have always had. He pressed a button and the Startmektoken were taken back inside the machine and the door in the hull closed once more.
Just then they heard a blast somewhat similar to the energy cannon firing and the machine rocked a little, they looked form one to the other and JDC shouted, “quickly. To the bridge!”
They ran through the machine and travelled back up in the elevator, all the while more rocking could be felt, they knew it was the same thing as they first felt but no explosions could be heard this deep inside the vessel.
They came running into the control room. It was in complete darkness for a few seconds whilst the lights flickered on. They were plunged into the eerie red glow that JDC had explained meant the machine had set itself into a tactical/combat mode, many new lights and systems now showed within the bridge that they had not seen before. The machine had obviously set itself into a state of high alert.
JDC ran over to one of the control desks; numerous monitoring devices shone bright showing views in various directions around the vessel. One screen in particular caught his attention, Nar’Allia ran across to see what JDC was looking at.
JDC groaned and covered his eyes with one hand. “It’s my people, the Pnook. They are obviously on a routine patrol and must have seen or detected my demonstration of fire power earlier.”
They all looked over JDC’s shoulder, the screen showed several dots flying around outside the vessel, these were obviously flying machines but much, much smaller than the one they commanded. Nar’Allia thought of several flies buzzing about a rather large horse.
“I’ll soon show them,” said JDC. He strode purposefully over to the weapons control desk and started to work his fingers atop the glass surface.
“NO!” cried Nar’Allia, “we cannot fire upon them, not now, we do not need to make enemies of any peoples, it would be a disaster to do so.”
“Nar’Allia is right,” said Amndo. We dare not fire and harm the Pnook. To do so would put us in a deplorably disadvantaged political position in the future.
“But they started it, they fired upon us first!” Cried JDC.
“That may be,” said Jonas, “but look, how much damage are they actually inflicting upon us? I suspect that the hull of this vessel was built to withstand its own equivalent of weapons power concentrated upon it. The weapons the Pnook are currently firing at us seem far weaker. I would bet that they aren’t affecting us in the slightest, other than being a slight annoyance.”
“But why would they attack us anyway, we did not pose a threat to them surely?” Asked Nar’Allia.
“No milady, we did not intend to threaten anyone, we didn’t even know they were there. But equally they do not know what we represent either, from what we know perhaps they have already come across a machine such as this, that machine would not have been used so benignly I suspect? But sometimes a force when posed with an overwhelming opponent may attack anyway. The element of surprise can be of great advantage, especially to a smaller, less powerful force after all.
“Kind of attack first, ask questions later so to speak.” Said Jonas.
A few more minor tremors were felt as the vessel was again hit by whatever the Pnook were firing at them. “Well,” said JDC, If I am not to fire at them, then at least we should try to get away, before perhaps they decide to bring any more powerful weapons from somewhere, eh?”
It was agreed that they should leave this area. JDC set a course further out over the open sea. At first the Pnook flying machines kept pace with the Leviathan, but as JDC increased speed, the small dots trailed further and further behind until they found they had the skies to themselves once again.
JDC slowed the Leviathan once more but kept the course they were on. The vastness of the Sea of Beadreas could now be seen laying all around them from horizon to horizon in every direction. They flew on in this way for some hours, the Pnook flying machines did not catch up with them and they did not see them again. Now that the immediate threat was over, some debate followed concerning where they should go. Nar’Allia supposed that anywhere they went they may very well get a similar reception as to that exhibited by the Pnook.
“So where do we go then?” Asked Jonas. “This is a vast thing to hide. We can’t return to the Rust Desert for we would risk discovery again, we dare not go back there for the Pnook will now be alerted to our presence and no doubt on guard. Also the nomads experiences with one of the Leviathan machines has been less than favourable, we probably wouldn’t be able to land anywhere without being attacked by one or more of these threats. This machine is not going to be an easy thing to miss wherever we go. Someone somewhere is going to see us and want to ask questions.”
“Then as you so rightly pointed out earlier, we face the same problem as the dark brethren and their machine.” Mused Nar’Allia.
They continued onward travelling west across the Sea of Beadreas.
Nar’Allia spent some time in her quarters catching up on some lost sleep. JDC did much of the flying although he persuaded Amndo to oversee the navigation of the craft, whilst Jonas familiarised himself with the weapons systems on board, more out of relieving the boredom of the journey than any actual interest in the destructive capability of their vessel. However, he did become quite proficient at managing the different weapons and learning how they functioned. He discovered that many of the main weapons systems
could be placed in an automatic defensive mode meaning that they would remain dormant unless the vessel was attacked directly. Then the automatic feature would choose which weapons would be best to retaliate and use them to do just that, all without any operator intervention. Jonas repeatedly made the point of thanking the Maker this automatic function had not been in operation when the Pnook attacked them over the coast of the Rust Desert.