by C. W Tickner
Damen twitched the controls and the shuttle bounced against the floor with a loud bang.
A red screen appeared in front of Harl displaying proximity warning and he reluctantly pressed the co-pilot’s acknowledge symbol.
‘It’s a bit sensitive,’ Damen said, pressing buttons to cancel the maintenance needed signs flashing on a screen just above the window.
Damen pulled back on the lever and the shuttle gave a lurch as it shot directly up from the ground.
‘Whoa!’ Harl said feeling his stomach coil up.
Damen spun the ship around to face the aqueduct and the three giant water wheels that fed the homes of Gorm appeared level to them.
Just as Damen was about to take them forward something whizzing towards them.
‘Wait,’ Harl said, watching as a figure, standing on a triangular flyer, came into view. Other flyers were zipping about beneath them but much closer to the ground only the original ones they had from Vorock could fly so high. Kane had been working for months on making his replicas work at altitude but had met failure so often that he’d run out of test subjects willing to fly them high.
Damen must have spotted her black cloak flapping behind.
‘Dana,’ he said.
A heartbeat later Dana came into view and as she reached the shuttle’s height, she leant back to slow the flyer strapped to her feet and waited forty metres away. She had taken to tying her hair back into a tight bun on top of her head and Harl guessed it was to stop it getting in her eyes when she was flying. It looked fearsome and accentuated the cold stare she gave them. The wind blew her cloak back, revealing the light patched armour beneath lined with copper plates and dozens of pockets and pouches.
Damen jolted the shuttle forward a fraction and her eyes widened as she tilted it backwards to open space between them. Her piercing blue eyes then narrowed and she lowered herself into a crouch and smiled maniacally.
‘What’s she doing?’ Harl asked.
Damen laughed, ‘I think she wants to test herself.’
‘How?’
Damen jolted the ship forward again and this time Dana didn’t flinch.
‘She’s mad,’ Harl said.
Damen said nothing but jammed the throttle forward, throwing the shuttle towards her. Harl’s stomach lurched as he was pressed back in his seat. He thought she was just going to dodge when they passed but instead she leant forward and zoomed towards them.
‘Bloody woman,’ Damen said, but clearly admiring the daring as they came close enough to make out the individual markings Dana had painted on her flyer.
Just before they hit her she tucked her legs in and spun to their right, barrel rolling out of the shuttle’s path.
Damen let out a whoop of excitement as they sped on over the aqueduct towards the centre of the island
They weaved between a vast wall of trees on the far side of the hill. The trunks were bigger than any other tree he had seen and far taller than any Aylen buildings. Like a giant pine tree of the Aylen world they towered straight up to touch the lower clouds. Some were so wide at their base that they could fit all of Gorm inside their ancient rings.
Kane had told him that the trees were some of the last on the planet and fiercely protected by the Compassionates.
‘How come Kane goes over the top?’ Harl asked as they followed a river that wound slowly at the base of the trees. ‘It may be dark but it’s beautiful.’
It was a twilight world of huge roots arching into the river and rays of sunshine spotlighting through the canopy and glinting on the surface of the water.
Something moved above them, small but fast, flitting from a branch before they passed in front of it.
‘What was that?’ Harl asked.
A loud thump echoed in the cockpit as something struck the shuttle.
Up ahead, a line of dots dropped from a branch above the river. The dots glided down before heading towards them.
It was a row of huge birds, guided by riders on their backs.
They fanned out in a line and dropped down to intercept the shuttle’s route.
Harl could see jagged boulders clutched in the bird’s talons.
‘Go up,’ he said.
Damen tilted the control stick back tipping the nose up to the branches above. The dark green canopy spread over them, with tiny specks of blue where the sky was visible behind.
The birds soared up to follow them in a curving spiral of feathers and falling rocks. The boulders smashed into the shuttle, rocking them from side to side. A loud bang clanged directly above the cockpit and half a dozen red warning lights popped up on the screen in front of Harl.
Damen fought for control as the wings wobbled under the barrage and Harl could feel the acceleration slow as the ship started to lose power.
The lights in the cockpit flickered and died then the screens turned black. There was a moment of silence as the engines on the shuttle cut out and, like a thrown stone, the ship slowed to a stop at the top of its arc and they began to fall backwards.
‘Do something!’ Harl cried, feeling himself pulled forward in his seat as the canopy through the window began to shrink and they dropped backwards. The birds flitted past the window as Damen frantically punched buttons.
‘Not working,’ Damen said, slamming his fist into the console.
Harl glanced at a tiny red light between his feet, wondering why he’d been crazy enough to get on board with Damen at the helm. He should have waited until morning to go to the Cathedral. The red lit button drew his eye, reminding him of the blood that would soon be squished out of him. A fuse reset button! He clenched his stomach to lean forward and jabbed a finger into the button. The consoles burst into life and the engines roared as Damen hit the Engine restart switch.
He leant back and laughed maniacally. ‘Guess that’s why Kane doesn’t go through the trees.’
Chapter 4
According to my inside man, once the ship is on its way, the remaining crew will put themselves into cryo. Then I will have my chance. This box is getting cramped.
As the sun touched the horizon they finally spotted where the forest thinned out. It spread around giant circles of ruined buildings, overrun by young saplings, Har metres tall.
Harl remembered Tess telling him how the Compassionates retreated their towns to let the forest spread further across the island. The once white walls were coated in broad leaved vines that trailed flowers up to cracked glass roofs that topped the wide stumpy cylinders. From this height it looked like someone had cut thin sections of crete pipe and tossed them like rings on to the ground. Soon the vines were no longer invading the walls and they could see better maintained houses with Aylen moving underneath the glass panes. Eventually there was hundreds of the circles, dotted over the plain and all surrounding a central dome structure that dwarfed the houses.
Known as the Cathedral, it was ten times the width of any other building. It was still a single story but instead of a flat sheet of glass over the top it was capped with an impressive glass dome, patterned with green leaves which nearly doubled its height. A rectangular entranceway jutted out from one side on to a perfect circular road that ringed the structure.
Aylen were walking around the building carrying supplies, or milling around in groups like any town meeting hall. Only when Damen took them down did the scale of everything become clear. They were like a flea soaring around the giants and only skilled flying prevented them crashing into any Aylen.
Below the ship was the human landing platform beside the main entrance and Damen circled down to land where a few humans were cruising in and out on flyers.
With the engines off, Damen swivelled in his chair and pressed the door release switch as he stood. The door mechanism buzzed and the gears ground together but the door stayed shut.
‘Damn rock-throwing, bird-loving, feather-flying-’ Damen launched a kick and the door sprung up on its hinges.
They stepped out on to the crete landing square. It was in the shadow
of the Cathedral beside the giant arch that was the public entrance. Deep green vines trailed up the pale stone around the archway, wafting a sweet smell down from bright red flowers that fanned out from the coiling stems.
Harl followed Damen around the corner of the arch and into long Aylen hallway lined with leaf-embossed pillars. They stayed to one side behind a glass wall that separated their walkway from the main Aylen corridor and prevented a stray foot accidentally squashing humans.
An Aylen was looming over a cliff sized desk at the end of the corridor and set to one side at its base was a human sized desk with a soft-featured woman standing behind it.
‘Hello Mr Eriksson,’ she said, giving him a beaming smile and swishing back her long dark hair as she noticed Damen. ‘The three heads are waiting for you. Please.’ She gestured to a raised platform just behind the desk.
The large square platform worked like the flyers. A series of caged fans on gyroscopes set at each corner and underneath. Around the outside of the platform, several stairs led up to a rail which prevented someone falling off. The top was divided into two sections; the back half was an open standing section and the front was a collection of ten arm chairs all facing one direction. In front of each was a pair of screens, set like a dashboard in a cockpit and built into the plush arms rests were blank screens and a dozen small buttons.
‘It will take you to them,’ she said as if Harl hadn’t used it a hundred times since they crash landed Orbital onto the island. ‘They are expecting you.’
‘Like always,’ Damen mumbled and took the stairs two at a time.
Harl stepped up, swung himself over the rail and sank into the central chair. The brown leather creaked as it moulded to his legs and back. For once it was him in the central control seat rather than Kane. The scientist had spent weeks building the platform before turning his attention to mass producing drone flyers for the population. Harl was sure the only reason was because those using the flyers could deliver his orders faster.
‘Well?’ Damen said, snapping Harl from his reverie.
Harl pressed the start up button. The fans whirred into life and the platform rose gently from the ground. He tapped the screen and selected a program that would take them automatically to where the three heads waited for them.
The Aylen behind the desk gave them a slow nod as they rose to the height of its head and the platform turned towards a vast double archway that led in to the glass domed room.
The room was like a second world. Somehow the curving of the domed roof was so far away that if it wasn’t for the distant white walls it could almost be mistaken for the atmosphere itself.
A ring of Aylen seats were equally space around the room, all facing three ornate chairs at the far end. Great vines trailed up pillars between the outer seats that seemed to prop the ceiling up. The floor was emerald green like a fat expanse of frozen mineral mixed with hues of white and flecks of gold. The only other things of interest in the room were the three Aylen seated on chairs at the far end. Like the chairs on the human-sized platform they had controls and screens built in to the arms but they were elaborately decorated with leaves and strange insignias.
The three Aylen were unlike any others they had met. The two males, Vax and Drake held the same beliefs as Compassionate leaders but both were so different in temperament. Drake was harsh and direct where Vax had been soft spoken and understanding.
When they got closer Harl could see the dual scars that formed a cross over Vax’s craggy features. Harl heard from those already on the island that it was from being tortured by another Aylen a long time ago.
Drake was younger, beady eyed and wore a small metallic blue cap on top of his head, though what significance it played, Harl had no idea.
But it was the female, Veel, that had shocked Harl the most when he’d first seen her. She was the same as the two males except for wider eyes and instead of the sallow grey skin, hers coursed with slow moving colour. Bright reds and yellows mingled with green, purple and streaks of pink, all slowly shifting from one to another. Her face was a picture of calmness.
‘Always find this intimidating,’ Damen mumbled.
Harl knew the screens in front of the Aylen would now be showing the platform enlarged enough for them to make out his and Damen’s expressions. He forced calm onto his features even though inside he felt like he was in front of a silent jury.
The platform slowed and like statues the Aylen waited patiently, only their eyes moved, flickering from the screen to the platform.
Drake, the younger Aylen on the far left broke the silence. ‘So Eriksson,’ the voice came from the speakers in the platform and as harsh syllables issued from the giants mouth. ‘You have finally decided to join us.’
Damen frowned but Harl spoke before the hunter could. ‘We were delayed, Drake the Subtle,’ he said, using the honorific given to the Aylen.
Drake nodded.
Vax, the middle and the most ancient looking of the three Aylen spoke. His jowls wobbled from side to side as the strong syllables were translated. ‘You’ve had word from Sky then, Harl?’
‘We did, Vax the Wise,’ Harl said. He had liked Vax since their first meeting nearly a year ago when the aged Aylen had welcomed them to the island. Drake had been more than displeased at the announcement of war that had accompanied them but Vax had stuck by his “it is the way it is” philosophy.
‘Sky’s people held us up,’ Harl said.
‘They were not friendly,’ the female Aylen said, her voice soft and smooth in the translator. It was not a question. From the first time he had met her, Harl had guessed she held some kind of power. Not quite reading minds but something close. It made Harl wary of her even though she had always been respectful.
‘Threw big bloody rocks at us,’ Damen said, indignant.
‘I shall speak to them about respecting others on this island,’ Veel said and turned to Drake before he spoke.
‘Sky sent word that there had been an invasion,’ Drake said. ‘In the old sewer system.’
Veel smiled as if she knew Drake had blown it out of proportion.
‘Less than a dozen of them,’ Damen said. ‘No problem for us but I must insist on my men in the city being able to carry guns now that the threat of war has come true.’
‘You brought war with you,’ Drake said.
‘It is not yet war, young Damen’ Vax said, ignoring Drake. ‘But I see your point and you may begin to carry arms.’
Veel stared hard at the Damen, ‘But you must resist the temptation to hunt.’
To Harl it sounded like she had been there on the hillside when the deer had sprung into view.
Damen bowed his head. ‘Of course.’
‘Tell us all that happened,’ Drake said, leaning in towards them.
Harl explained about the fight in the sewers.
‘And this traitor?’ Vax asked once Harl had finished.
‘Escaped back up to Gorm,’ Damen said. ‘Their leader got out as well, with whatever they received.’
‘Do you think this meeting is connected with Kane’s work on the reactor?’ Vax asked.
‘Of course it is,’ Drake said. ‘It was trouble from the start.’
‘A necessity,’ Veel said. ‘One that we must endure for long term survival.’
‘We have done perfectly well with our own power sources,’ Drake said. ‘We should shut it down and prevent any further attacks. We’re a peaceful island, we do not need the risks.’
Vax cleared his throat, causing a rumble to spread through Harl’s stomach. ‘We still have a better chance of winning this election with Kane’s new technology than ever before and that, Drake, is worth the risk.’
‘It is unproven,’ Drake said. ‘It will bring about change.’
‘Change is not a bad thing,’ Veel said.
Vax looked back to Harl and Damen. ‘What is Kane’s progress?’
‘He says it will be ready in a day or two,’ Harl said, remembering Kane’s boast when
he’d last caught a glimpse of the engineer. The man was in a constant state of movement, rushing to and from Orbital where the lab was located.
‘We will hold a feast to celebrate,’ Vax said. A huge smile spread across his face causing the scars to stretch. His look was that of an old man witnessing the play of a favourite child. ‘It will be held in Gorm whenever Kane is ready.’
‘I will not be attending,’ Drake said flatly. ‘Someone should stay here in case of problems.’
Vax frowned but Veel nodded as if it was a sensible choice.
Vax’s throat rumbled again as he re-cleared it. ‘The next matter to discuss is the upcoming all world meeting.’
Harl didn’t know what to say. He knew the meeting was held each year and they discussed policies and elections but it was something between the Aylen. Perhaps they had forgotten him and Damen were still here.
‘Will you come?’ Vax asked.
When Harl saw he was staring straight at him, he realised it was an invitation.
‘He believes it is the realm of Aylen,’ Veel said.
Harl nodded. How did she-
‘Then you will join us,’ Vax said. ‘To show humans can represent themselves and to remind the world that other creatures exist alongside us.’
A hundred different thoughts cascaded through Harl’s mind. He had wanted to show the Aylen that humans were more than pets but since they had arrived he had come to two conclusions. First, that the Aylen world was more complex and intricate than he’d ever imagined and secondly, he had enjoyed the last year of watching Elo grow up in safety. There had been no burden on him other than general running of the city. It had been pleasantly simple without conflict and tension.
‘I won’t be going,’ Harl found himself saying and surprise washed over him followed by a strange relief. It was wrapped in guilt but so thinly that he could dismiss it.
‘Huh?’ Damen said and turned to stare at him with his mouth open.
Someone else could go instead, Harl thought. He’d done more than enough just to get them here. The thought of so many Aylen in one place, it was scary.
‘Surely there is someone more willing to to attend,’ Harl said.