I wanted to get up, but I could not feel my legs at all. “Weird, I can’t get up. Is something still pinning me down?” I saw tears in Wetmouth’s eyes. “No, Eric, that’s the poison of the Wurlag!”
With the weight of the animal gone, I could still prop myself up, and there I saw a beautiful sight! The massive warehouse doors exploded into atomic dust glittering in the air, and the Cerberus IXs marched out in perfect robotic movements. It was a display of Union military might; each of them exactly 350 centimeters tall with four Myomylar-Syntho muscled arms, nearly indestructible, with the firepower equivalent to an entire platoon of fully equipped Marines, the very pinnacle of Terran military engineering. The lead robot scanned the room and approached me.
With its deep modulated, voice the robot said, “ID verification scan complete. Highest command authority recognized. Your orders, sir?”
With a relieved grin, I said, “The base is infiltrated by criminals and foreign intruders. There is an alien ship with stolen Mil-Tech. Secure the base by all means necessary and prevent the ship from leaving.”
The robot said, “Command understood!”
The robot battalion activated their flying capability and swarmed like gigantic angry hornets in every direction.
The bearded pirate laughed. “You still lost. The Wurlag poison will destroy every neural path in your body, and there is nothing anyone can do in time. I do have the antidote on my ship. All you have to do is let me go, and it is yours!”
I still was able to shake my head. “Sorry, scum. I cannot be bought.”
He cursed and said, “You fool! I have an even bigger ship in orbit, and it will turn this place to slag!”
Har-Hi said, “You have no idea what Cerberus robots can do!”
Through a viewport, we saw Cerberus robots by the dozen fly upward into the gray sky.
From behind, I heard running boots, but by now, I could not even turn my head. Marines and finally Admiral Stahl came into my view.
Wetmouth cried, “He was stung by a Wurlag, sir!”
To hear real concern in the voice of the eternal soldier was not something I wanted to hear in my situation, but he said, “Oh shit! Get that man into stasis at once!”
I woke and found myself in a med station diagnostic bed and said more to myself than anyone else, “Why is it always me who loses consciousness around here?”
Wetmouth immediately came into view and with excitement in her voice, she said, “He is awake. Eric is awake!”
She simply hugged me, and I could feel her tender lips from behind her mask kissing me on the nose on the cheeks and then on my lips.
Then a warm deep voice said, “It pleases me greatly to see you are well!” Narth came into view.
Cirruit stood by the foot end and said, “No, you’re not the only one. I was the one hit by Tech Stop, remember?”
Now a med tech with an MD Snake on her collar scanned me. She was obviously pleased with the results and said, “Welcome to the land of the living, Ensign Olafson. You are now officially the first living being ever to survive a Wurlag sting, Congratulations.”
I sat up and said, “Can someone please tell me what a Wurlag is in the first place?”
Narth motioned to Wetmouth, and it seemed they came to a working agreement. She said, “It is a genetically altered life form that was originally stolen from Green Hell about two hundred years ago. It has been bred and changed so it can be held as an attack and guard animal. Its stingers are laced with one of the most complex biotoxins known.”
The Med Tech said, “You have amazing friends, Mr. Olafson. The Sojonit worked tirelessly for five days to develop an antidote, and this morning she succeeded. Then another Narth showed up, and all the neural damage caused by the poison was reverted in an eye blink.”
As I turned, I noticed another Narth, and he came closer to the bed. I immediately knew who he was, even though he looked exactly the same as all the Narth I had met before. He put his hand on my shoulder, and I could feel something like electricity pass through me, but it was not painful or unpleasant. On the contrary, it felt uplifting and energizing, and he said, “One could not let the one who shared the Hugavh pass into the beyond. One had to obtain the knowledge of your neural system before we could travel here and aide you in your recuperation. I am the One known as the Narth Supreme and you, Eric, are a child of Narth. Your well-being is important to Narth. I came as soon as I was able, but your friend Wetmouth was indeed able to synthesize the antidote. Her intellect is most noteworthy!”
I could not help but feel deeply in awe, and I felt my back crawl with goosebumps. Only once had I felt this way, only once, but I could not remember when or where. Something white and huge floated at the edge of my consciousness, and I simply could not concentrate enough to focus and assumed it was an aftereffect of my poisoning.
I said, “I am deeply honored by your presence, Narth Supreme. Can you make me hear Narth again?”
He kept his hand on my shoulder and slowly nodded. “Your will is the key, Child of Narth, and your will has done as you wished. One is pleased that Narth has such a friend as you. The concept of friendship has become clear to us through you, and in doing so opened the door to other concepts such as honor, love, and affection. All that is Narth is deeply thankful. Now one must return to Narth Prime. Narth Prime is your home as well and one day you shall come home and Narth will no longer be alien and strange to you.”
From one heartbeat to the next, the Narth Supreme was gone, but I was certain I could feel his touch a little longer.
I realized that no one around had noticed or heard what just happened, except of course for my friend. Once more, I could feel his thoughts and hear his words in my mind, and as far as it concerned me, the world was all right again. His voice and presence in me filled a void I knew was there since that time in the Crawler Cat.
He said, “Time, as you and I perceive it on this plane, has little meaning for the one who is the Narth Supreme.”
I answered him in the same way, “I am sure glad he fixed that psi shield of mine. I missed your presence in me.”
“He did not fix it, Eric; it was you who made your shield transparent to me.”
Wetmouth, not knowing I was talking to Narth, said, “A week, I slaved a week in the lab, and your Narth friend comes and fixes you in an eye-blink.” She took my hand in a shy gesture and added, “Not that I mind, I am so glad you are alive.”
I blinked and said, “A week? I was out an entire week?”
The Eternal Soldier approached my bed, and he said, “Nine days to be exact, son. That amazing Sojonit friend of yours has not slept the entire time.”
With him were the Fleet Admiral of the Fleet, McElligott, and a tall blonde with a truly angelic face, who I had not seen or met before.
I suddenly realized I was still an ensign, and there were two admirals in the room. My Academy training kicked in, and I jumped out of the bed and wanted to salute, realizing half out that I wasn’t wearing anything and went right back. “Sorry, sir. It appears I misplaced my uniform somewhere.” I blushed as I noticed the snickering of my friends and the smiles of the admirals.
Stahl looked over to McElligott and said, “I think we do not need to insist on formal greetings, not in a medical ward anyway.”
Once more turned to me, he said. “Even if you are technically fine and fit for duty, stay in bed a little while longer so we can fill you in.”
While I tugged the cover higher to make sure I was completely covered, I said, “Sir, that would be greatly appreciated. I had no time to check on the order chip Captain Harris had given me.”
Stahl simply acknowledged with a nod, and said, “We were pretty sure Cardwell was one of Dent’s planted agents, but we wanted to catch whoever was in contact with him as well. If we would have arrived with a big team or the Devi, we might have gotten Cardwell, but none of his contacts. So my esteemed colleague Admiral McElligott decided to send you, as the proverbial monkey wrench, so to speak, to R
ichter Station. We hoped you and your friends would hopefully discover whatever went on and report to us so we could move in. That was pretty much what was on the order chip by the way, and the Devi was never far away.”
I could not help being sarcastic, even in the presence of these two Immortals. “Great idea sending a bunch of expendable midshipmen, in a situation that cost ten officers their lives already. There are plenty more where they came from.”
Stahl eyed his old friend from the side. “I told you he was going to say something cynical.”
McElligott said to me, “You are officers, and you must realize that you will get orders that put you in dangerous situations, that is the path you have chosen. Now, I have not found it necessary to explain my reasons for an order in a very long time, but I will make an exception.”
He pulled up a chair, sat down, and arranged the folds of his kilt over his sturdy-looking knees, and fished for his pipe. His old grumpy-looking face changed into a grin. “You know this is the second time I am sitting in a hospital room before your bed, trying to explain something to you.”
He looked for something, and Har-Hi handed him his cigar lighter saying, “Sir, would you like to use mine?”
McElligott looked up to Har-Hi, took the lighter, and said, “Ah you are the Dai. Never thought you lads smoked or would be carrying a real old Dunhill lighter.”
Har-Hi raised one of his eyebrows and said, “Yes, sir, I am the Dai. It was an Ult who brought me to smoking cigars, and the lighter was a gift I received from Admiral Stahl, sir.”
McElligott started puffing his pipe and handed the lighter back. “You are the Dai I heard so much about. There is a certain Commander Cotton who sent me about 2000 requests for your transfer, recommending you to Fighter school. Seeing your name pass that much across my desk makes you in my eyes that Dai.” To Stahl, he complained, “Where did you get this bunch? Now I am explaining myself to another ensign, and he made me do it by just raising an eyebrow.”
Stahl crossed his arms behind his back. “If I knew the answer to that, I’d get me a bunch more.”
McElligott puffed once more and then said to me, “You and your friends are not the average cadets and midshipmen. I can’t say if it is a particularly good or bad thing, but you are on my radar, so to speak. Since you were instrumental in exposing a Thauran connection to the Worm and later helped to shut down Newport, I thought about you when the Richter 4 thing came over my desk again. Now, there is another reason you are here, but I will come to that later. For now, you have a day of R&R and then you will graduate and be assigned to your new postings.”
It turned out I was still on Richter base and not aboard the Devastator, but the giant ship had landed and occupied an entire landing field. On one of the other fields was the USS Shetland and, especially on the ground, where the eye had clear reference points, the difference of size was mind boggling. Seeing a 3500-meter Arsenal ship, the pinnacle of Union technology against that gigantic ship of alien origin made the Shetland look small and insignificant.
The base was now busy with shore leave personnel of the Devi and technicians still repairing the damage from our battle.
Har-Hi said, “We thought we’d celebrate your return to the land of the living with a dinner. Mao found some Tyranno Fin in the stasis freezer of the Hilton Hotel.”
Wetmouth said, “But until then, I am going to sleep. I am dead on my feet.”
I held her back and, while it was not really regulations, I hugged her and said, “Thank you.”
She returned the hug and once again, I could not help thinking how nice it felt to hold her.
Krabbel, of course, could not hold himself back and hugged us both. “It’s the second time I thought we lost you. If it happens a third time, I am going to get white leg hairs like an old spider. There is only so much a poor arachnoid can take, you know.”
Krabbel managed to convince Narth and Mao to go back to the amusement park for a few more rides. This time, I felt Narth and how much he enjoyed the company of my other friends and his growing affection for them.
Elfi, Shaka, and Hans insisted on preparing the dinner this time. I saw Har-Hi in a deep conversation with the Admiral of the Fleet and from the gestures, I knew he was talking about fighter craft.
The medical department of the base had the size of a major hospital. Exiting the Intensive Care Unit, I came out on a fourth tier walkway. Leaning against the railing, I had a great view of the main concourse below. Almost exactly across was the Fleet housing building, and I saw robots and technicians working on the damaged Ultronit security door.
To the left was the spaceport passenger facilities and right below me on ground level the entrance to the Spaceport Mall and Arthur’s Swine and Dine.
A group of officers and technicians stood by the tunnel entrance toward the technical area and the warehouses. Even from here, I could tell they discussed how the massive doors could have been cut open like this.
I planned to ask Wetmouth about her sword as soon as I had a chance. The only thing tougher than molecule compacted Ultronit was Neutronium, as far as I knew, and there were rumors that R&D experimented with Neutronium-based materials. But a sword made of Neutronium would weigh thousands of tons and no being could possibly wield it.
While I was leaning there and looking over the now busy concourse, I noticed men and women dispersed among the workers and fleet personnel, trying hard to look inconspicuous and natural. I was almost certain those were NAVINT spooks.
The tall blonde with the angelic face I had seen with McElligott and Stahl leaned next to me on the railing and, like me, looked over the lively scenery below. She then turned her head and looked at me, her face halfway obscured by her hair. “I have heard quite a bit about you, and I think it is time I introduce myself. I am Cherubim.”
She wore a black dress that ended a handwidth over her knees. It was belted at her hip with a broad shiny leather belt. It was a nice outfit, but not a uniform. At least none I recognized. I said to her, “Nice to meet you, ma’am. Since you heard lots about me and you have been present with the admirals you know who I am.”
A fine smile curled her lips. “Do I detect a slight edge in your voice? You know who I am then?”
I shrugged. “Since you were with the Immortals, I am sure you are a very important person, but I have not the slightest idea. There is no edge in my voice, ma’am. Just whenever someone tells me they know all about me, I end up in some kind of situation.”
She said, “I can understand that, and I think given your past track record you will sooner or later be in another situation. I am one of the two hundred Immortals selected by the Guardian to protect and guide Earth on its way.”
I turned to look at her fully and said, “Please don’t get this wrong, Ms. Cherubim, but somehow it seems I am attracting the attention of you Immortals more than anyone I know. This can’t be coincidence.”
She said, “Eric, there are centillions of beings in our Union and more in the galaxies around us. Some have lifespans of a few years, others live to see centuries. They all have a limited time, but there are those who do not age and have the potential to see the end of time. It is a very small society, if you will, and while we are not all friends, we tend to look out for each other.” She paused, looked away, and said, “Eric, you are most likely one of us.”
I felt dizzy as she said that and protested, “Ma’am, I am going to turn twenty-one; I am not an Immortal. My parents are Neo-Vikings and we age and die. You must have the wrong guy.” Even as I said that I wasn’t so sure myself. Could she be right? Even in our small society on Nilfeheim, I met two and was distantly related to one of them.
She left me time before she answered, “Narth Supreme calls you his Child, and the Narth have made you one of them. It might take centuries or millennia before you transform into a Narth, but you are on your way if you manage to stay alive, of course. None of the Immortals I know, not even the Narth, are truly invulnerable and can be killed, but time an
d age, I am certain, will have little meaning to you as it has to the rest of us.” She pointed toward the hospital. “You know why the pirates and even your friends paid no attention to you after you were jumped by the Wurlag?”
I shook my head.
She said, “Because they all thought you were dead. Not even a Perthanian would have lasted as long as you have. You are changing, slowly perhaps, but eventually you will be one of us.”
I tried to ignore what she said, tell myself that it was all wrong, but I knew she was right. “Immortals always have some sort of task or destiny, right? What is mine?”
Cherubim now smiled again. “Only the ones who were chosen by the Guardian received tasks and special gifts to perform them. Either you, the Narth, or your friends of the Coven have been chosen that way. Now we all have destinies, mortal or immortal, but I guess we all have a say in what way we go.”
I returned to lean on the railing and said, “So, if McElligott is the administrator and Admiral Stahl is the warrior, who are you?”
“I am the hunter.”
“What does that mean? I see where McElligott is called the Administrator because that is what he does, and everyone knows why Stahl is the warrior.”
“I find the trails of those who want to harm our Union, track them, and hunt them down. I don’t do it with fleets and soldiers, as the enemies I seek are often unreachable or too small and too slick to be fought with battleships and marines.”
“Then you should hunt the Purple Worm and, while you are at it, that crook calling himself the Red Dragon.”
“That is exactly why I am here on Richter Base, Eric.” She turned from the hand railing and slowly walked away. She waved her hand and said, “We will run into each other again, Eric.”
I watched her enter an IBT and disappear.
How long I remained standing there, I could not say, as too much went through my head. The worst part was that I knew there was something I should remember but I could not.
I was pulled out of all this by a warm presence that came into my mind, and Narth said to me telepathically, “One should not dwell on such matters. Even the admiral lives day by day and doesn’t think all too much about how many years or millennia he has lived or is still going to experience.”
Eric Olafson: Space Pirate Page 26