Free Trader Complete Omnibus

by Craig Martelle

  ‘What’s a stage?’ the Tortoid asked.

  “That’s where the actors are during a play.” Thinking better of it, he added, “According to the plan, you will defang the Seeders?”

  ‘Ah yes. Wait here.’ With his strange swimming motion, he moved forward toward the Seeders. He drifted at various heights as he passed, doing his best to look like a target. They watched as leaves over the pods slowly parted, exposing dart-like seeds. Turning carefully and keeping the heavy part of his boxy shell toward them, he drifted back in front of the pods. The first one erupted in a puff of dust, the seeds bouncing harmlessly from Aadi’s shell. He floated back and forth in front of the other two Seeders until they shot their seeds at him.

  ‘Master Skirill. If you would be so kind as to use those incredible eyes of yours to see if the pods have any seeds remaining, I would greatly appreciate it.’

  The Hawkoid jumped from his perch and glided over the lake, looking beneath the large purple flowers. One. Two. Three. No seeds left in any of the pods.

  Braden headed toward the lake after getting the all-clear from his companions. He kneeled down, watching the water carefully and checking the water beast at the center, while getting his mind tickled by the Mirror Beast. He scooped a small handful of water, smelling it before letting it wash over his tongue. It was sweet and clean. He would wait and give it time. He didn’t expect there would be any poison as life seemed plentiful.

  He looked toward the creature standing among the Seeders. It stood an arm-span high and the same wide, rounded on the top, square at the bottom. The sun reflected from its shiny surface. It was called a Mirror Beast, which Braden had assumed was based on its ability to reflect attacks. He hadn’t expected its surface to be that of a mirror.

  He walked to the side opposite the sun, watching the Seeders carefully. He couldn’t imagine a fate worse than having a plant grow inside him.

  From the back side of the Mirror Beast, he could see a seam. Was that a rivet? The Beast was built of metal. He assumed by man. In the past couple moons, he had seen more curiosities than in all his previous life. Maybe the Mirror Beast was underneath and the metal was only a shell to protect it. Braden leaned down, trying to look underneath it. He saw wheels and a base plate. If there was a living creature, it was sealed inside. He got close enough to reach out. As he approached the surface, something invisible pushed back against him. The harder he pushed his hand toward the surface, the harder it pushed back.

  ‘Force is the enemy of wisdom, my friend,’ Master Aadi said quietly.

  Braden closed his eyes and calmed himself. He focused on the muscles in his arm, relaxing them until his hand dropped of its own volition. It fell onto the surface of the Mirror Beast. He let his hand drag across the hot metal.

  “Is anyone in there?” he asked to no one in particular, lifting his hand away from the creature’s surface. He felt a much stronger tickling in his mind.

  ‘The creature is attempting to talk with it,’ G-War told him.

  “How can I make contact? I don’t know what to do,” Braden responded aloud. Then he changed to his thought voice.

  ‘Good morning, kind sir! I am Free Trader Braden…’ When his standard greeting was complete, he waited for something from the beast. The tickling became more intense. He focused on it, wrapping his mind around it. He saw something that looked like leaves blowing in the wind. They assembled themselves in order. It was letters and numbers, like the words in one long sentence from a book’s page.

  ‘X 7 W K K L Y 8 V 4 W N J E T 4 P X 1 9 5 7 …’

  ‘I don’t know what you’re trying to tell me.’ Braden continued trying to talk with the Mirror Beast, but he only received strings of numbers and letters. At least he knew how to write, but that didn’t seem to help him here. His head started to hurt as the stream grew more insistent. Braden staggered away, breaking the link. His head instantly felt better.

  ‘I must not be smart enough to figure out what it’s saying,’ he told his companions over their mindlink. ‘I don’t think it’s a creature at all. Odd, but I think it’s a machine. A thinking machine!’

  They committed to trying to communicate with the Mirror Beast again, but later. They had horses who would appreciate fresh water. Skirill landed on the beach and waded into the water after letting everyone know that he could see all the way to the bottom of the lake. There were no creatures in it. The water was pure and clean. He ducked his head under, then did it again and again, shaking off the water after each dip.

  “Where were you when the cold-water croc was trying to make me his dinner?” Braden asked from his knees as he plunged his face deep into the coolish water of the desert oasis lake.

  ‘I was contemplating the remainder of my life as a Bear’s meal,’ Skirill responded with a mental smile. Braden agreed. That deserved a smile.

  Braden watched G-War wade into the water, sitting down so that it covered his leg where the Crawler’s poisoned fang had grazed him. Cleaning out the wound would help, followed by another application of numbweed. The ‘cat would be fine and he now had a scar to show that he was mortal. Braden wondered, after seeing so many death-defying feats from his furry friend.

  Master Aadi floated gracefully above them all, watching and enjoying the cool of the oasis. He contemplated a long nap in the shade of a short tree. He watched Braden head out to bring the horses and the cart to the shore of the lake. With that, he nodded off. The horses drank heartily and grazed on the oasis grasses. Braden hobbled them to keep them away from the Gila Monster. Having just fed, she would probably leave them alone. He would remain aware, with Master Aadi’s help.

  Braden pulled his trusty telescope out, wrapping the hard hide around the special glass. He looked at the so-called water beast at the center of the lake. It was a man-made pipe from which the water gushed. He had never heard of such a use of the precious steel. He looked at his long knife. There was no reason why steel couldn’t be shaped to carry water. He shared this revelation with his friends.

  With numbweed freshly applied to G-War’s wound, he assumed the watch while the others fell into a restful, deep sleep.

  41 – It Sucks

  After resting most of the daylight, Braden and the others decided to explore the oasis. Not knowing what to expect, Braden slung his Rico Bow and carried his long knife in his hand. G-War was already walking without a limp. Skirill made many low passes over the trees, showing them more of the same throughout the oasis.

  Master Aadi seemed perfectly content floating waist high above the ground and swimming along peacefully. Braden chose a path that took them from the lake straight to the edge of the desert. They turned and tracked along just inside the oasis. They made one trip around the oasis, then moved closer to the lake and circled again. Braden was surprised the remains of the Crawler they had killed were nowhere to be found.

  “Be aware! We’re not alone!” The ‘cat harrumphed and the Tortoid bobbed his head as the Hawkoid did. In the real world, one was either a hunter or prey. G-War strolled to the side and sat down next to a mark on the ground. Braden looked closer and guessed those were Gila Monster tracks. Tiskanay had gone for a walk.

  ‘Is she a threat?’ Braden asked himself.

  ‘No,’ G-War’s thought voice came through without any judgment. ‘She has fed better this turn than in many cycles. There is nothing to fear from her. Show her the respect of her station as Master Aadi has advised and we will be forever welcome.’

  Turning to Aadi, Braden asked, “Why am I so ready to look for danger, so ready to fight?”

  ‘Being ready for war is not the same as making war, or liking it, young human. Make war as a last resort.’

  “Thanks, Master Aadi. Aren’t there supposed to be some flesh eating beetles around here some?”

  ‘Over the cycles, Tiskanay has eaten them all.’

  “Like you said, Master Aadi. Tasty as long as they aren’t eating you.” Braden put his long knife into his belt and spent the rest of the exploratio
n enjoying the strange trees. There were nuts the size of his head that grew near their leafy tops. He smashed one against a rock to find that it had a sweet pulp inside. He ate his fill. It was like nothing he’d ever tasted before.

  They found a bush bearing a red fruit that Skirill found particularly tasty. The juice ran down his beak and over his white chest feathers. When Braden tried to wipe away the juice, he couldn’t. It was sticky and hardened quickly. “Damn! You’re a mess.” The Hawkoid stared at Braden, unblinking, until Braden felt uncomfortable. “But you are still one scary Hawkoid! Creatures large and small flee before you!”

  Finally, Skirill blinked and bobbed his head. He didn’t try to fly to the lake, but ran as a bird runs, across the beach and into the water. ‘Something doesn’t feel right,’ Skirill told them over the mindlink.

  “I’ll be right there, Ess.” Braden ran the short distance to the lake. He jumped in the water and helped the Hawkoid ashore. The juices on the Hawkoid’s chest had hardened. “Well, now. What are we going to do about this? Any suggestions? Anyone?”

  ‘Did you have any problem when you ate some of the fruit?’ Aadi asked Braden.

  “No. It was pretty good, but I feel fine. How about you, Skirill?”

  ‘Fine. My chest hurts because my feathers can’t breathe.’

  ‘Your mouth juices will soften the fruit and help you remove it from Master Skirill’s feathers.’

  “What? You want me to spit on Skirill?”

  ‘No. You must suck on the hardened juice until it softens. Then I expect it can be removed without harming our friend.’

  “You cannot be serious,” Braden said in disbelief.

  ‘Our friend is in pain. Get to it,’ Master Aadi said with finality. He turned and swam toward the shade of a tree with oversized leaves. G-War moved to a position on top of a fallen log and sat, watching.

  Braden sat down in front of the Hawkoid and leaned toward him. Skirill moved closer, and Braden took in a mouthful of juice-hardened feathers. It was sweet, like a candy, and it softened quickly. When he could feel it loosen, he let go and worked the softened juice with his fingers. A few heartbeats after that, a mouth-sized gob of the juice came free.

  Braden took a deep drink from the lake, then started on a new spot.

  The ‘cat opened the mindlink just so Braden could hear him giggling. Skirill tried to step in and let Braden know that he was already feeling better and looked forward to being done with the whole affair.

  Using his thought voice, since his mouth was most ingloriously occupied, Braden said, ‘Why don’t you come over here and help?’

  ‘It has gifts besides its thumbs. No one sucks like it does.’ The ‘cat seemed to be taking great delight in the entire situation.

  ‘Ass,’ Braden thought while continuing to work on Skirill’s chest feathers.

  ‘Sometimes he is such an ass,’ Skirill added. ‘Maybe we could make a pillow from his stuffed hide. It would be so comfortable. We could pet it and snuggle with it.’

  ‘Please excuse me,’ the Tortoid interrupted. ‘I have never seen such friends. There is nothing you won’t do for each other. And there seems to be no limit to what you’ll do to each other. I have so much to learn from you. If you would be so kind, I would like to accompany you wherever you go from here.’

  ‘See, G! That’s how you talk to people.’

  ‘I also have to admit, from my humble Tortoid point of view, you really do suck well.’

  ‘By all that’s holy! Will it never end?’ Braden started to laugh, but choked on a mouth full of feathers.

  ‘Right there! Yes, right there. That feels so good,’ the Hawkoid purred.

  42 – The Lake

  The red fruits and the large brown nuts were rather good and supplemented their meat supply nicely. After the unfortunate incident with Skirill’s feathers, Braden cut the fruit into bite size chunks for them all to enjoy. Everyone except G-War, who was already getting tired of his smoked meat diet. He wanted something fresh.

  Which meant they needed to leave the oasis.

  For Braden, the goal had always been to find Old Tech. He’d found it, but it wasn’t what he expected. He thought it would be salvage--find it on the ground and pick it up. The oasis changed how he thought about it. He knew the oasis was a product of still functioning Old Tech. Who else besides the ancients could have built the lake? Who built the Mirror Beast? He wanted to study these more and he needed help.

  ‘Master Aadi, can you swim to the bottom of the lake and tell me what you see?’

  ‘I most certainly cannot, young human,’ Master Aadi responded.

  “Wait. You’re a turtle and turtles swim,” Braden said aloud.

  ‘I most certainly am not a turtle, and Tortoids do not swim.’ To emphasize his point, Aadi floated higher and waved his thick legs about. Although he used them to swim through the air, Braden realized that was part of his ability to float and not anything to do with swimming.

  “Sorry, my friend. I think I can do it, but if you would all be so kind as to make sure that nothing eats me, I would appreciate it.” Braden waved at Skirill and G-War.

  ‘I’m not going in the water,’ G-War said simply, with a look of complete indifference on his ‘cat face.

  ‘I’m afraid I can’t do more than skim the surface,’ Skirill told the group over their mindlink.

  “Fine. I see how you are. If I don’t make it back, have fun trying to hook up the horses,” Braden said, staving off further conversation with a dismissive wave of his hand. He stripped naked and waded into the soothing, cool water. As he got deeper, the sand changed to something smooth, like a processed metal.

  He dipped under the water to get a closer look, but he was buoyant. He had to kick his legs out of the water to hold his head close to the bottom. It looked like glass with a regular pattern underneath. This was undoubtedly Old Tech, but what did it do?

  Much of it was covered with sand. Standing upright, he slowly dragged his feet toward the shore. He wanted to expose as much of the bottom as possible, without clouding the water. He moved deliberately around the lake. One pass, two passes, three passes as he got closer to the shore. G-War lost interest three passes ago and was taking a nap. Both Skirill and Aadi looked on stoically. Then again, Braden believed each of them could sleep with their eyes open.

  Without seeing it happen, he realized that the fountain had gained in strength. It was now throwing water a full arm-span above the lake, where before it was only a hand-span. The level of the lake rose slightly, climbing up the shore into the long-dry sand.

  “Master Aadi. Have you ever seen anything like that?”

  The Tortoid shook himself, then bobbed his head in thought before finally answering. ‘As trees can block the wind and rocks can block a stream, maybe the sand blocks the spring?’

  “You have a point, Master Aadi, although I can’t see how clearing sand from a smooth bottom has opened anything up. But it must have.” Braden looked over the lake for a couple heartbeats, then waded back in until he could no longer keep his head out of the water. With a deep breath, he submerged and dove for the bottom.

  Once there, he swam with broad strokes toward the middle of the lake. He wasn’t sure what to expect, but his expectations were more than what he found. At the middle of the lake, the pipe simply disappeared below the strange bottom material. Small vents surrounded it. And that was it. When he put his hand by the vents, he could feel water flow into them, as if draining from the lake.

  He put his hand on the pipe. It was smooth and cool. It vibrated slightly as the water raced skyward. He planted his feet on the bottom and pushed toward the surface. He broke the water beneath the fountain and took a deep breath as the arc of fresh water splashed into the lake around him.

  He looked closely at the fountain’s mouth. The end of the pipe had been shaped to spray the water in a pattern. If the artisans and smiths back in Warren Deep got together to build something like this, how great would the world be? A never-e
nding supply of water. Who wouldn’t benefit from such a thing?

  He couldn’t see how it all worked, only that it did. After appreciating the quality of the metalwork for a while longer, he slowly swam back to shore.

  43 – Development Unit

  Once ashore and dried off, Braden decided to take a closer look at the Mirror Beast. Just like he knew the fountain at the middle of the oasis was Old Tech, he knew the Mirror Beast was a most complex example of Old Tech. In fact, it was different from the Old Tech that existed anywhere in Warren Deep.

  If he could only talk to it, maybe it could tell him what it was.

  He slowed as he got closer to the thing, opening his mind to the tickling of the Beast.

  ‘84js9r9sy6432nbwevs002…’ The sound of its thought voice was loud in his head. He didn’t know what the letters and numbers meant. He pinched his eyes shut and held his hands over his ears, trying to soften the litany of letters and numbers that bore down on him.

  ‘Listen to me. Answer my questions. What are you?’ Braden tried to think of what an even more basic question would be. If he was asked that same question, he knew that he wouldn’t be able to easily answer it. He tried something different.

  ‘Where are you from?’ His answer was the endless stream, delivered in a monotone. He continued to move forward, stumbling as his foot caught under the roots of a nearby bush. ‘Crap! My boot,’ he thought before he could stop himself.

  The numbers and letters stopped and a clear voice emerged. ‘Does the user request a reboot?’

  Braden didn’t know what that meant, so he asked. ‘What’s a reboot?’

  ‘Does the user request a reboot?’ it asked without hesitation.

  ‘Careful, young master,’ Aadi’s voice cautioned.

  Not knowing what else to do, but wanting something besides the current stalemate, he took the only course of action he thought available. ‘Yes,’ he said.