Onyx Javelin

by Steve Wheeler

  'You!' she said tersely. 'Yes, you, live thing not! You know that you are not welcome inside the school, thing. I presume that you are made and owned by the Spitz family, as you have their look about you. Out, go on, out, out, out, now! Shoo! Before I take a broom to you.'

  Harold was completely taken aback by the woman's hostility, but after looking at Rebecca and noting her fear of the woman, and not wanting to make matters worse, he nodded at the woman, apologised and extended his hand to shake hers. She just looked at it in obvious disgust. Harold quickly looked across at Rebecca's bag and lasered deployment instructions to the clusters of tiny nanote insects, nodded goodbye to Rebecca, then beat a hasty retreat from the unpleasant woman who had now started to advance upon him.

  He walked out through the corridors and past students and teachers, most of whom smiled or greeted him, and left the building. Affected by the woman's attitude and so feeling a little out of sorts, he had to spend a few moments calming down before he slowly walked across the road. As he approached near an ornamental tree, he carefully focused on a seemingly insignificant large stone and flashed a tight laser signal across to it. Seconds later, three of the flying rats that he had captured, caged and then pushed down an abandoned burrow, nights before, erupted out of the ground and raced to get to the shelter of the trees.

  One burst into flight as Harold himself took off, extending his claws from his hands and feet and effortlessly slashing it from the air. The other two raced up the trunk and into the thick foliage just as he had planned. He dived into the thick leaves after them, then created a great commotion as if in a fight. He dropped another carcass out of the tree, then settled down to wait for a few more minutes. In his mind, he unlocked a panel in the flank of one of his legs and opened the containment. He carefully took out the little electronics package and adhered it to the tree bark over a nice thick branch and activated it. He read the tiny signal as it gave off his own bio-signal, then switched his one off and powered up the superb adaptive camouflage system which covered him; his creator Marko and other members of the Basalt crew had spent a long time developing it for him.

  With great care and deliberation he made his way to the ground and crept across the 200 metres to the tree he had selected as being a good observation post for the classrooms that Rebecca and Jenna were in, plus the outside areas of the schools. Spending two hours creeping across and up the tree seemed extremely tedious, but he knew that the Administration and the Games Board would be watching the area carefully. When he was being prepared for this mission, Basalt's Al, Patrick, had confided that Harold himself would be just as big a target for them as the girls. Also, knowing that Tengu was possibly on the way here meant it was sensible to make a serious effort.

  Eventually arriving on the wide sturdy branch, he continued to watch as the village's other ACEs seemed to be planning something of their own as well. Harold was intrigued that the two panthers of the Dine family -who he knew well because the Dines were the Spitz family's best friends - appeared to be playing the same game as he was, but from what he could tell they were using highly sophisticated electronic body doubles: he could see them lying under a tree, by the school, but had also sensed them going past him as he had crept along. The pug, Reg, and two of his ruffian mates, a German shepherd called Zittau and a huge black Labrador called Sailor, wandered down the footpath as ifthey owned everything around them, then lay down under another tree and appeared to go to sleep.

  Harold sighted his eyes to where he had hidden the transponder days earlier, high in the tree above his decoy, which was receiving information directly from the classrooms. Using as tight a laser beam as he could create, he opened a link to the transponder, checking that his micro-spies were still in existence. He sighed when he discovered that over sixty per cent had succumbed to the countermeasures that the Administration, and probably the Games Board, had deployed in the rooms.

  He listened for a few seconds to a young teacher giving her lesson to the class. She had piqued his interest shortly after he and the Basalt crew had arrived in the village; he had noticed her discreetly watching Marko when they had all been in the marketplace one morning. Harold had seen, from his own hidden vantage point, that she had appeared to have tears welling up in her eyes when Marko walked past. Harold considered approaching her and asking why, but then thought that, as Marko was very famous, perhaps it was simply an infatuation.

  Harold opened another link that tapped into public overview channels from the orbitals high overhead, and passively watched as vehicles rolled out of the Games Board dirigible. The antigravity ground vehicles, with large single drive wheels at their rear, moved along the road, climbing towards the village through the tall, black foliage of the enhanced fennel plants. The fennel was one of the ingredients in the local licorice, which was considered a luxury Spherewide.

  Games Board

  Human Settlement on Storfisk

  The three elegant gold and black vehicles swung into the vehicle park in front of the school just as the senior staff, the local heads of the Administration and members of the Parent Board of Governors assembled at the entrance way to greet them. Harold watched as the director, a smallish man dressed in the latest contemporary clothes, together with a tall woman who he identified as the Games Board system recruiter, climbed out of the first vehicle, along with a male monitor who slid from the rear of the vehicle on his antigravity unit. The four new child recruits, dressed in Games Board livery, got out of the second vehicle in an excited state, guided by a youngish-looking woman and a female monitor.

  Some minutes later, Harold cringed a little when the long sinuous figure of the wingless dragon Tengu emerged from the vehicle, stretched, yawned and, looking thoroughly bored, glanced around, staring at the dogs for long seconds before slowly licking his lips. Then he walked on all fours to be beside the director. Once beside the man he stood up so as to be a full metre taller, nodding to the assembled people when he was introduced. No-one emerged from the third vehicle, so Harold assumed that a security detail would be inside.

  As they were escorted in through the gates, the director spent a few moments looking at, and appeared to Harold to be enthusing about, the carved trees. As he turned, Harold was able to lipread the director's instructions to the monitors to take images of them for the files, something which appeared to irritate Tengu as he flicked his tail in disrespect at a carving of a long lizard-like creature. Harold could not work out what was said, but judging from the body language of the locals, they did not appreciate it. They all walked into the school to appear some minutes later inside Rebecca's class.

  Harold immersed himself in the datastream coming from his nanote spies. The recruiter, upon entering the classroom, had fixed a smile upon her face and looked carefully at each of the children. The recruits followed her in and were directed by her to sit on seats at the front of the room, facing their ex classmates. Seeing Rebecca, she casually walked over to the seated child, bending down and introducing herself as Svenna. She looked very closely at the carving around Rebecca's neck. She spoke very quickly in a language that Harold understood as high-caste Games Board executive, but he doubted any local understood a single word. Games Board personnel, like any wealthy individual, had augments which controlled their voice boxes. Harold knew this meant such people could think and mentally speak in their native language and, when it came to vocalising, it could come out as any language they wished.

  'Monitors, this is the younger Spitz child. Is the carving she is wearing of any interest or threat to us?'

  Seconds later, the male monitor slid up beside Rebecca, smiled and nodded at her before replying in the same language. 'I perceive only inert, aquatic origin ivory, high-quality aquamarines, emeralds and fibre optics throughout the body of the carving. I suggest that it is of excellent quality and carved by a sentient, not by a machine.'

  The recruiter switched to the local language. 'That is an exquisitely carved piece, Rebecca. Should you ever consider selling it, pleas
e make contact as I shall give you a very generous price.'

  Rebecca summoned all her self-assurance, which was wavering, and said, 'Thank you, Recruiter Svenna. 'It was a gift, but if I ever want to sell it I shall send you a note.'

  The recruiter smiled down at the girl, turned on her heel and walked to the front of the class.

  Once everyone was seated, the young teacher introduced each of the visitors to the class, then walked to the window bench seat and, after looking directly at where Harold was sitting, turned and sat down. Harold continued to listen to the interactions in the class, noting that as the minutes passed fewer and fewer of his nanotes were responding.

  The director stood to speak. 'Hello, children. My thanks to your teacher, Claire, for introducing us. As you know, I am Director Francis John. I am here today to answer any of your questions, as it is unusual for us, the Games Board, to recruit so many from one class in one year. We are growing rapidly and so, to be able to bring to you the programs you enjoy, we need more help.'

  He looked around at the sombre faces of the children. 'OK. For you to best understand what we are doing, I need you to ask your questions. Just put up your hand and ask at any time. Is that a good thing?'

  The children nodded at him.

  'Right. You know that we make all the programs that are transported by the Haulers to the places they visit throughout the Sphere. We can't transmit the programs because it would take many many years, in some cases up to fifty years, for a transmission to get across the Sphere and that would be no fun at all, would it?'

  Again, heads nodded.

  'And, as you also probably know, we are here to help the Gjomvik Corporations and anyone else, ifthey are about to fight over a resource that a number of them may want. They come to us and if we like them we will buy the rights to the fight and then supply the best people to both sides. We then choose the most interesting places and the right machines and weapons for them to fight with. And we all really like the sounds of those old -in some cases, ancient -war machines, don't we? Then we put our monitors with the fighters, so they can make the programs for us.'

  Heads nodded and the children smiled. One of the girls put up her hand.

  'Yes, you have a question for me?'

  One of Rebecca's best friends, Mary, said, 'So why do the monitors have to be changed so much? Can't ordinary people do the same job?'

  'Yes, ordinary people could do the job and a long time ago they did, but we have advanced since then. We ask our people to go into very dangerous places and put themselves at risk in order for you to see the action up close. The Games Board agreed that it is much better to give them good tools and protection, so we supply the best equipment and training for them to film all the action, make it into a finished program and bring it to us. Do any of you know why the Games Board came into being?'

  Most of the children put up their hands. The director pointed to one boy.

  'Yes, young man, what do you know?'

  'It's because once there was a very bad war and billions of people died and whole planets were wrecked forever and we really don't want that to happen any more. Now people sell you the wars so you can make them small and good for us to watch.'

  The director smiled. 'I could not have said it better myself, well done!'

  He looked around the smiling faces, wondering who else outside the room was watching and listening to what he was saying. Both monitors had reported to him that nanotes were still being found and destroyed by their own countermeasures, but it would take hours to be certain that they had all been destroyed.

  He continued: 'And you also know that those people who fight the battles for us to watch and decide who is the better group to win, don't really die! Isn't that a great thing. They have Soul Savers and just go into a tank and remake themselves, with even more money paid to them if their death was heroic. Oh, and think of those really good series of programs we make for you about the frigate, Basalt, and its great crew. They were here a few weeks ago, weren't they, for a visit. I really like them and I know that you do too! And Sergeant Major Marko Spitz was born and raised here and his niece Rebecca is in this class. Let's hear it for Rebecca!'

  Led by the director everyone, except Tengu who looked at her and stifled a yawn, burst into applause, while the embarrassed Rebecca fervently wished that the floor would melt under her so she could disappear.

  After the clapping died down, the smallest boy in the class who the smiling recruiter had looked at earlier and obviously pitied because his family could not afford better gene splices for him, raised his hand slowly.

  The director smiled and asked him what his query was. The boy pointed at the figure of Tengu, who was leaning against the doorjamb slowly picking his sharp teeth with a needlelike probe, which had been extended from a fingertip.

  In a small quavering voice the boy said, 'Is he, is he ... is he with you?'

  The director looked across at Tengu and smiled a tight little smile back at the boy. 'Yes, Tengu is with me. He is an advisor and is really not as fierce a dragon as he looks. He was with the famous leader of one of the Gjomvik Corporation mercenary groups, Baron Willie der Boltz. I employed Tengu some months ago when he returned from a long journey. Does he frighten you?'

  Most of the class nodded.

  'Ah, I see,' said the director, then continued directing his comment at Tengu, who was looking indolently at him. 'Perhaps, Tengu, you would like to go and expedite that little matter we discussed earlier?'

  The three-and-a-half-metre-long, powerfully built ACE did not say a word, just pushed his way out through the door and walked away.

  The director, who was inwardly seething at Tengu's behaviour, did not let it show and turned smiling to the class to say, 'Now, children. Who can tell me about the Haulers?'

  The director selected another boy from the class full of raised arms.

  'The Haulers are the huge ships that take everything, and other ships and people, from all the worlds in the Sphere. They also map and guard the Lagrange navigation points everywhere.'

  The director nodded, smiled and thanked the boy, before adding, 'Yes, and as we all know the Haulers only take a cargo, even if it is an Administration battleship, between worlds if they believe that it is the right thing to do. They are not like your local Police and none of us have any power over them, so we always try to be friends with the Haulers' Collective, don't we?'

  Everyone nodded again.

  'OK, so who can tell me what the Administration does and how we work together? Yes, you, young lady. What can you tell us, please?'

  The one girl in the class who was Rebecca's academic rival, her friend Rosa, spoke. 'Well, as everyone knows, the Administration does a lot of stuff that allows us to have good lives. They take the taxes and look after everything to take care of people, but it's different here because the home trees get everything for us that we need to live, so our families don't pay as much tax like on other worlds that don't have trees like ours. But they do look after the roads and the airport and the schools and the military and all that other stuff that the grown-ups like.'

  The director had winced ever so slightly at the mention of taxes, but smiled brightly as Rosa sat, and thanked her.

  'Yes, and they also keep everyone safe so that we can all enjoy long lives. They coordinate shipping with the Haulers, arrange for the Gjomvik Corporations to export their technologies to everyone and, most importantly, they watch out for any dangerous native or engineered species, or any privateers who want to steal from us which is why you have a local Administration-supported militia.'

  He looked around the sombre faces, knowing that they were really not that interested, but pressed on regardless.

  'We of the Games Board also work closely with the Administration right across the worlds and outposts of humankind to help make sure that the right information and the correct messages get from the Administration to the people. Oh, and of course they also look after the great wilderness areas and reserves which are sa
fe places for all of those animals and plants which were destroyed when Old Earth was devastated by the great solar flare.'

  Harold

  Human Settlement on Storfisk

  High in the tree, Harold was growing agitated, not knowing where Tengu was. He heard the tiniest of sounds behind him and spun his head around to find himself looking into the eyes of the large, deep grey cat, Bing. Before he had time to react, the cat spoke very softly to him.

  'Don't be afraid, Harold. It took all our resources and considerable effort to locate you. I am here to help as Tengu is our enemy too. We know where he is and have broken his camouflage code with the help of a few planetary Als. I can give it to you now if you want?'

  Harold looked at the cat for a long second before answering. 'So I suspect that you can see me as well, Bing. And you are no longer acting like the semi-intelligent cat you portray when at home? Who gave you those codes?'

  'Fritz Vinken from Basalt. He also said to tell you this, Harold.