‘You aren’t going to be doing anything. You need to hand over your weapons, or I will order the guards to shoot you.’
That isn’t going to happen!’
‘What isn’t going to happen?’
‘I am not going to hand over any weapons and your guards are not going to shoot me.’
‘They will do, when I order it.’
‘They might try.’
‘I will shoot you’ he says bringing out his weapon and stepping forward in front of The Watcher.
‘I will go and talk to people who are willing to listen.’ The Watcher sidesteps the man and starts towards the door.
‘Stop!’ he shouts.
The Watcher does not stop, but carries on towards the door. He can hear some movement behind him. When he reaches the door, he stops and turns towards them. He sees eleven men all looking at their weapons. It is obvious that they have tried to shoot him. Their weapons have not worked. They are trying desperately to unjam them, because that is what they believe the problem to be. They are wrong of course. Their weapons have been disabled.
‘You will not move from there!’ The Watcher states firmly. The men try to move, but find they cannot move. They are literally stuck on the spot they are standing on. ‘Now I will ask you again. What is your name?’
‘I am Darvid!’
‘Well Darvid. I will send some good men to collect you. I will leave it up to them what they do with you. This planet is going to change. It will change for the better. It will be the place it was always intended to be. What you have to decide is, whether you want to be a part of that.’
At that he opens the door and makes his way through the building and out into the town. He makes straight for the communications building. He walks straight in and takes over the broadcast. He calls all of the people of Velchitta to come to the square. He tells them who he is and who will be there. He asks that they all come in peace. Aggression will not be tolerated and he tells them that all of their weapons have been disabled. Until such time as the people can prove that they are prepared to live in peace, then there will be no weapons. George has activated all this from the craft.
The Watcher gets him to land again and he walks with the others towards Darvid and the guards. He stops and touches each man in turn. When he has done so, they put their weapons on the ground and when George has walked off with the others, they follow. If they had looked back before they went thru the doors, they would have seen that their weapons were no longer there on the ground.
George walks with the others towards the square. There are people coming from all directions. There are guards, men, women and children, all walking together. They are talking too and they are all smiling. When they reach there, The Watcher comes to stand beside them. They have a short discussion, before he leaves, with The Wise Soul and Elkante, in the direction of the prison block. Less than fifteen minutes later they return, along with Valca, Neca, Balci and the soldiers that were locked up with them.
The Watcher takes to the stage. Beside him is George. To all intents and purposes he looks very similar to The Keeper. He is still the same old George though.
The Watcher addresses the people. He starts from the beginning, admitting there were mistakes in how Velchitta was allowed to run. He tells them that the current situation can no longer continue. It is not really what the people of Velchitta want, or need for that matter. The old system of government is officially disbanded. He puts forward that, in the interim, The Wise Soul will be their leader. He will have the assistance of Elkante and Draton. For the time being he will assist them, as will George, until such time as The Keeper returns. Valca will be in charge of the army, not that it will be needed any more. Their weapons will be able to be used, but only in the force for good. Is this what the people of Velchitta want?
Of course it is. Only by disturbing the Balance had the old system failed them all. From that point, people took advantage. There will always be someone out there to do that. But what the majority of people want is to be able to live their lives in harmony. This is what The Watcher is delivering to them today.
Chapter 51 Spirit/The Keeper
We look exactly the same. It is like I am looking in a mirror. I am looking at him, in the same way he is looking at me. There is not one thing that is not exactly the same. The Guiding Masters let out a small cough.
‘I think you two should concentrate on what needs to be done.’ GM6 says to them.
‘Is this your only craft?’ I ask Spirit.
‘Yes, this is the one that O gave for me to use.’
I walk over to it and have a look from the outside. Spirit opens it up and shows me the inside. It is very compact. It is that compact, that it is only big enough for one person. That is a shame because there are four of us.
‘Where is The Grand Master?’ Spirit asks.
‘I don’t know. He went away back to his craft, but when we got there we found his robot, but not him. There must be somewhere else that he can hide out.’
‘Did he not come back here to the base then?’
‘As far as I am aware, he has not returned. He could have I suppose, but we have only got to here. The robots appear to have had a tunnel they can use to get out of the base.’
‘We need to make sure he isn’t here. Then we can destroy the base and try to find him. He won’t have got far now. The Air Micro Compounder technology has been taken away from him, I believe. I will fly round the base and make sure that he is not out here somewhere, going to surprise us. I will destroy every robot I see and if I can find the entrance to this tunnel, I will destroy that too. We need to be sure that there is nothing left here that might spring up again when we leave.’
‘Talking of leaving, we were brought here by The Grand Master in his spacecraft. I assume that will have been downgraded by now too. It will take forever to get anywhere in that craft.’
‘I am sure O will take care of things’ GM7 says quietly.
Spirit gets in and lifts off. He circles round a couple of times, before disappearing at speed. He is back very soon. When he lands, he has some news for them. The spacecraft you came in is not there anymore. He must have taken it. I didn’t see it go, so it must have gone from the other side of the planet. Who knows how long he has as a start on us.’
‘It won’t count for anything’ GM6 says.
‘I hope not.’ Spirit replies. ‘I saw where the tunnel came out. I have made sure that there won’t be any more coming out that way. We need to make sure now that there aren’t any more in the base. You will never be sure just how he has programmed them.’
‘Can’t we just destroy the base?’ I ask, thinking that would be a safer option.
‘There is just the little matter of how you and those two are going to get back to where you need to be. If we destroy the base, then there will be nothing left to build a new craft from.’
‘That’s a good point. I hope they don’t think of that when we attack them.’
Spirit makes his way, in the craft, to near the entrance of the base. When the three of us arrive, he wastes no time in opening fire on the doors. They are gone in a flash, literally. The Guiding Masters follow us in. We do not really want the responsibility of having them with us to look after too, but they weren’t willing to stay outside with Spirit’s craft.
At the first corner, we are met with some resistance. They have cover, to shoot at us from, behind them. All we have is the corner. Oh and we also have Air Micro Compounder weapons, which are so much more effective than their weapons. We soon get the better of them, but we have more to contend with. I find it hard to believe, just how many androids he actually has here. What I didn’t know, was that they have been busy building more, the moment that Lupus was destroyed. What we need to do, is to find the place in here that is responsible for that. Spirit tells me that he has already been all over this place after he escaped. He found nowhere where this could be happening. Then he also says that he didn’t find any access to this tunnel wh
ere the androids were coming out of.
‘Maybe it isn’t a tunnel after all. Maybe it is the place where they are assembling the androids.’
It doesn’t take us long to search the rest of the base. We come across only another couple of robots. Spirit has dealt with most of them, the first time round. They don’t like it very much, but we leave the two Guiding Masters on guard at the base. They are covering the two entrances that are still usable. They are hiding in cover and have a weapon each. They say they will only use them to defend themselves. They won’t use them in anger against anything, not even to stop androids and robots from getting back into the base. That is about as much as we can expect, from their not wanting to get involved status. What we need to know is; if any come in or out of there. That will do it for us.
Spirit flies up, while I have to run across the ground. Spirit is my eyes in the sky, so I don’t have to be too worried about stumbling across any stray androids. We get to where the tunnel entrance was. There is no way we are going to get in that way. Spirit has done a good job of stopping the entrance being used.
‘Is there any way that our weapons can be used to make another way in?’ I ask, not really expecting to be taken seriously.
‘I think that the power of our weapons is only restricted by our minds and what we want to use it for.’
‘You’re kidding me’ I reply
‘I don’t know for sure, but that is what I am thinking.’
‘Let’s give it a try then’ I suggest.
‘I’ll go up and aim for that part, just beyond the entrance.’
‘We don’t know which way it goes once thru though, do we?’
‘That’s a good point, but we have to start somewhere. Stay back while I do it. Firstly I don’t know how the ground will react to this and secondly, if I do get the right places, there may well be androids waiting to get out of there.’
I retreat back a bit and take cover behind a small pile of rocks. Spirit takes his craft into the air and then turns it towards the spot we want to try to gain entry at. I see him fire and I see the ground move. Nothing comes out. Spirit comes lower and looks into the hole he has created. He then flies up again and fires at another spot. Again he comes down to inspect his work. Again he has to go up and try again. This time I know he has struck pay dirt, as an android appears a few seconds later. I am about to fire on it, when Spirit beats me to it. I guess he is in a better position to fire at it than I am. He is also trying to protect me, I think. I appreciate the gesture, but feel the need to do my bit too. Another android appears out of the hole in the ground. This one is dealt with just as quickly as the first one has been. Spirit circles round for a few minutes, but no more appear out of the hole. That could be either because there are no more ready to come thru, or it may be because they know they will be destroyed if they do. Either way, we are going to have to find out one way or the other.
Spirit lands close to my hiding place. We carefully make our way over to the edge of the hole he has made. We don’t have any cover, so we are really exposed. We also don’t know what we are going to be getting into, in a few seconds. I don’t have the chance to offer to go first. Spirit is straight in there and down the hole. It is a drop of about six feet from the bottom lip of the hole. Getting down to that point is quite precarious, but we make it unscathed. Spirit drops down into the passage below. He is fired on immediately. I can see that he is hit too. I don’t think about staying where I am. I drop thru, ready to fire as soon as I can see anything. There is light where I drop thru, but the rest of the passage is in darkness. I plunge to the ground, before I get hit too. Spirit had made the mistake of trying to stay on his feet and became a target. I drag Spirit back, from where we are exposed by the light coming thru the hole.
‘Think that you can see’ Spirit whispers to me. I do what he says and I can immediately see in the passage. I have instant night time vision. The android is waiting, about fifteen feet away. It is clear to me that he can’t see me now. He is never going to be able to. Just as I fire at him, he fires again wildly in our direction. He is aiming for the floor; either guessing that is where we are, or assuming that is where the hit Spirit is lying. Whatever the reasoning is, his shot makes contact with Spirit again. I can’t turn to see what damage has been done; as I need to be sure my shot has taken the android out. It has, but I still need to watch out for others.
‘Spirit’ I say in a quiet voice ‘where are you hit?’
I don’t receive a reply.
I risk a turn to see why that is. My heart fills up with sadness when I see that reason. The second shot from the android has hit him fair and square on the head. Spirit as I knew him briefly, is no more. I think I expected to see the inside of an android, but what I am looking at is severely damaged flesh. The Spirit I knew was made of human flesh and bones. I check his pulse, but obviously he has none. No one could have survived a direct hit like that. I don’t want to leave him here on his own like this, but I have a job to do. I check behind me, but the tunnel stops just a few yards further on that way, where Spirit had destroyed the tunnel entrance. I move forwards and after twenty yards I come across a doorway. The door opens when I touch it and I find that I am in the assembly room. There are two androids working away. They turn as I enter, but I have the measure of them. They are gone before they can react in any way. I check out the room and am just wondering what I should do with it, when an alarm rings out.
I just imagine I am hearing the words, or am I actually hearing them. I need to get out of here before the place goes up. It is about to self-destruct. I run back to where Spirit is. I can’t leave him here like this. I don’t know how I do it, but I lift him high above my head and thru the hole. I get him to rest, while I jump up and make it thru the hole myself. I then pull Spirit clear of the hole and run with him over my shoulder, as fast as I can away from the hole. I don’t make it that far. The ground trembles and then a huge explosion rips it to pieces. We are flung to the ground, but that is the extent it gets us. I let the ground settle, before lifting Spirit and carrying him, as respectfully as I can, back towards the base. When I get there, I see that the hill base has self-destructed too. The Guiding Masters are there to greet me. In fact, they walk towards me when they see me coming. I lay Spirit on the ground in front of me. I feel a tear come into my eyes. They both lay a hand on my shoulder. It does make me feel better and stronger.
‘Is his craft still ok?’
‘Yes, but I couldn’t bring him back in it. It is only big enough for one.’
‘You can leave him with us now. We will look after him and take him back to O.’
‘How will you get there?’
‘O will send a craft for us. You need to go now. You need to go to Velchitta. They are waiting there for you. You can use Spirit’s craft. You will be able to fly it too.’
I know what they are saying is right. I kneel down by Spirit and kiss him, on what is left of his face. I then stand up and turn away, to walk towards the craft that Spirit used; the one that will now be used by The Keeper.
Chapter 52 The Grand Master
The Grand Master keeps an eye on the screen in front of him. He is hoping that he has managed to get away from Boristal 7 without too much attention being drawn to him. He is annoyed that he has misjudged the entire situation, but he has to live with that now. He still finds it incredible that he has managed to get as far as he has. Surely the system should not have allowed him to do that, but it had. O appears to have made an error of judgement, in that everything was in place, but then it was all ineffective when it was challenged.
He had always known that his powers of being a Guiding Master would be taken away from him, when he ceased that role. What he hadn’t understood, was the level that would change everything for him. The knock-on effects have been huge. He expected to lose some of the powers he had in person. What he didn’t expect to lose, were the other things that have gone. The power of the engines and the weapons are the greatest loss. Without t
he Air Micro Compounder engines and weapons, his ability to dominate has been taken away completely. That brings travel and fighting force right down to a level playing field. In fact he thinks it might even be worse than that. He has the feeling that what he has now, is inferior to what is available in different parts of the universe. He briefly thinks about Grillech, Valpar and Posdon. If his powers have been reduced, then so will theirs have been too. In addition to the loss of the Air Micro Compounder technology, they will also, like he has, suffered a loss in the capabilities of the androids and the robots. Even at their best, they were never in the league of The Watcher, but then he has always been a one off. He knows that the opportunity he had on Earth, when he had kidnapped The Keeper, was down to a great slice of luck. He could never really have expected to have things go quite so easily for him there. That of course, was also the result of a misjudgment by The Watcher. It is highly unlikely that any such misjudgment will occur again.
He thinks it doubtful he will ever hear from the three of them again. Without the ability of the Air Micro Compounder engines, they will not be able to travel anything like as fast. Even with travel pods, they are unlikely to survive as mortals long enough to find each other again. He has lost his ability to see where they are in the universe. That is another loss he had not seen coming, with not being a Guiding Master. He hasn’t really realized that until right now, when he thought about the three of them. He had not been able to think where they are. He hadn’t been able to know instantly the name of the planet they are currently on. He can’t even trace the riches they have already forwarded to him. What will happen to them? They will probably end up just drifting endlessly through space, in a craft with a crew who are no longer alive. Or have they sent them with androids? Now that would be an interesting one. They will arrive sometime, but he will be long gone. What will happen when they arrive? There will be no one there to receive them. O will probably have that base covered. There is little doubt that he will resurface, in another form, in another place.
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