Starship Home

by Morphett, Tony

  ‘I know my place, master, I hear and obey,’ Zoe said, and hefted the basket and emptied the stinking contents over Harold’s head. Harold sat in silence for a moment, garbage cascading all over him, and then got on with what was doing before he was interrupted.

  ‘Thank you for your contribution, Zoe. Now Guinevere, what is Zyglan?’

  ‘It doth not occur upon this earth,’ Guinevere replied.

  Harold took a deep breath and in tones of utmost patience said, ‘Well if it doth not occur upon this earth how are we going to get you three pounds of it?’

  ‘Why,’ said Guinevere, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, ‘by journeying to Slarn Base 35.’

  Silence. Harold was picking garbage off himself. Zoe was guiltily helping. There did not seem to be a great deal to say. Finally, Zachary broke the silence. ‘Okay, I’ll be the idiot, Guinevere, could you just run that past us one more time?’

  A map suddenly appeared on the main screen. A little starship icon appeared on it. ‘We are here,’ Guinevere said, and then a village icon and a castle icon appeared, and the background suddenly became forest. A whole map of the surrounding district was being painted before their eyes. ‘Village, Don’s castle … and here …’ and another icon appeared, an icon in the form of a Slarn warrior, ‘be Slarn Base 35.’

  ‘Define Slarn Base?’

  Guinevere realized Harold was talking to her as if she was a computer, but with saintly forbearance decided to ignore the insult, realizing as she did that in Harold’s mind it was probably a compliment. ‘The Slarn make bases on all their worlds. This was dug three thousand years ago, and joined to others by lines of force within the Earth. In Slarnbase 35, two leagues from here, ye’ll find the Zyglan which my body needs. Take ye this map.’ And a map extruded from a slot in the main console. Meg reached over and took it before Harold could, and looked at it, Harold peering around her shoulder.

  Meg was exercising her own brand of saintly patience. ‘I don’t suppose there’s any point in asking why you didn’t tell us about these places before?’

  ‘Thou …’ Guinevere began, and then everyone else chimed in, ‘… did’st not ask!’

  ‘Hic!’ said the Wyzen.

  64: TO SLARN BASE 35

  Dawn found Zoe, Harold, Meg, Zachary and a Wyzen who was feeling rather sorry for herself all gathered on the Starship’s Bridge. The map of the district was on the main screen, and a large crystal, dull and lifeless, stood on the bench. Guinevere was giving them their final briefing before they set out on their quest for Zyglan. ‘The entrance may be hid,’ she was saying, ‘I know not how, but the finding crystal will come to life when you are close to.’ The map was suddenly replaced by an image of a Slarnstaff, and as it revolved, revealing its various controls, Guinevere gave them further instructions on their use. Some controls would displace earth, some emit tractor beams which could lift rock away, one produced a dazzling beam of light like a powerful torch. ‘All bases have supplies of Zyglan,’ she said, and then the display changed again to show what she explained was a basic Zyglan pack, a metal-caged white crystal shot with pulsing scarlet veins.

  ‘Three thousand years is a long time, Guinevere,’ Zachary said, ‘what if someone’s found it and looted it? Or built a supermarket on top of it or something?’

  ‘The structure is impenetrable,’ she answered, ‘and can be opened only by use of a word of power, which I shall now impart. The word is Ha-bra-ka-dah. Ye must all now say it,” and she made them repeat it again and again until they had it by heart. To Zachary’s ear it sounded very like abracadabra but he was trying not to think that in case he got confused.

  Fifteen minutes later, the main hatch of the Starship opened, and Zachary and Meg, followed by Zoe and Harold, moved out, crossed the clearing, and entered the forest, heading for the spot on the map where Slarnbase 35 ought to be. They all carried Slarnstaffs including Harold, who, not wanting to be criticised for mislaying his own during the melee with the Sullivans, had sneaked a new one from the rack. Through the forest they moved, slow and sure, making as little noise as possible, checking all directions as they went.

  Zachary was at point, map in one hand, finding crystal in the other, and his Slarnstaff slung, when suddenly the crystal began to pulse with a faint light. ‘We got something,’ he murmured to the others and then, as he moved on, the pulsing within the crystal became stronger or fainter as he got nearer or further away from his target, but finally they were all standing on a rock ledge and the crystal was ablaze with light. Slowly Zachary lowered the crystal to the rock ledge itself and the pulsing became even stronger! ‘We’ve got to be right on top of it,’ he said.

  ‘Even in three thousand years there’s no way this stone grew on top of it,’ Zoe said.

  ‘Stone doesn’t grow,’ Harold said, and before an argument could break out, Meg intervened by suggesting they split up, search the surrounding bush to see if there was a way in under the rock ledge, and then meet back on top in ten minutes.

  Harold slid down the smooth rock, landing feet-first in leaf litter, and began his search, creeping along with the rock face at his left hand. At first, there was nothing to be seen, and then he turned a corner and found himself looking into a gap, six feet wide. It was the mouth of a cave leading under the rock ledge! Harold hesitated. Every story he had ever heard of venomous snakes living in caves came back to him, and he nearly called out to alert the others to his find. But then he thought what if this is it? And what if I’m the one to find it? That’ll show Zoe and Rocky I’m no nerdywimpyboy, and he moved into the gap, activating the torch function on his Slarnstaff.

  But he had penetrated only ten yards inside, when he came face to face with disappointment in the form of a blank rock wall. He shone his torchbeam around, but there was no other exit. This was all there was. He slumped. He was not about to prove anything here. ‘So much for Ha-bra-ka-dah,’ he said out loud.

  And the wall before him silently opened to reveal a chamber beyond!

  As Harold moved forward, the Slarnstaff’s torchbeam illuminated more and more of the chamber and the first thing that he saw was a suit of Slarn armor! He froze, and felt his insides turning to water, until he realized that the armor was simply hanging from a hook driven into the stone of the wall. He moved toward it, touching its cold surface, and then saw, beyond it, more hooks, and more articles of clothing, some of which he had seen before. A cold shudder ran through him as he realized that what he was looking at was Marlowe’s array of costumes. Every instinct in him was screaming get out of here! Get out of here now! He turned to go, but found his way blocked by Marlowe himself who had come silently into the chamber behind him. He was wearing a loose jacket and trousers, and his long hair was clean and pulled back from his face, and because he was not wearing his dark glasses, the metal eye gleamed red in its socket. Fear drove Harold’s feet and he feinted left and then ran right, trying to get past Marlowe and through the doorway, but as he did so, the door slid shut.

  ‘Ha-bra-ka …’ he began to yell, but Marlowe’s hand covered his face, preventing the last of the password issuing from his throat. And then, around them, the Slarnbase began to come to life. Screens lit up, armored Slarn faces appeared, speaking Slarn battle language. Marlowe was transfixed. ‘They’re back!’ he cried. ‘My people. My father’s people. Have returned!’

  On the bridge of the starship, the screens were showing the same images and the speakers relayed the same Slarn battle language. The Wyzen leapt from her place on the console and activated a panel, which opened for her. She shot inside the space thus revealed, and then peered out again. Guinevere spoke. ‘Wyzen, they’re back. The Slarn are back. I’ll be gone for a moment, must warn the others.’ And then the lights on the bridge dimmed as Guinevere used all of her waning energy to transmit her image.

  On the rendezvous point above Marlowe’s cave, Zoe, Zachary and Meg had become anxious about Harold’s whereabouts and were calling out for him. ‘He can’t have jus
t disappeared in five minutes!’ said Zoe and then broke off as Guinevere’s image manifested before them. ‘Beware!’ she said, ‘the Slarn have returned. Beware …’ and then the image wavered and disappeared. ‘Great!’ said Zoe, ‘Slarn are back and Harold’s missing, probably collecting lion poo again. When we find him my revenge will be slow and merciless!’

  At the moment she was saying this, Harold would have preferred her slow and merciless revenge to what was currently happening to him. His face held in Marlowe’s steel grip, he was staring at the screens which showed Slarn warriors at the controls of their starships, a sight which terrified Harold and filled Marlowe with a terrible joy. ‘My people,’ he kept saying, ‘my father’s people!’

  Harold gestured at Marlowe, pointing to his own mouth, still covered by Marlowe’s hand. Marlowe took his hand away. ‘Be very careful what you say.’

  ‘With all due respect,’ Harold said, ‘the Slarn cannot, strictly speaking, be your father’s people.’

  Marlowe took a deep breath, as if to quell the anger rising in him at this little twerp’s arrogance. ‘Go on,’ he said, and his tone was so silky and so infused with threat that anybody but Harold would have ceased talking immediately.

  ‘The Slarn,’ Harold went on, ‘are alien beings, and their body chemistry would make it impossible for one of them to be your father.’

  Marlowe smiled, not a smile that any sane person would wish to have directed at them. ‘You have such wisdom, little one, that I have a question for you.’ He paused and Harold, pleased that after all this time there was someone who appreciated his wisdom, nodded and smiled. ‘Why,’ Marlowe continued, ‘should I not snap your neck like a dry stick?’

  ‘Because that would be wrong?’

  ‘Wrong?’

  ‘Against the law?’

  ‘Against whose laws?’ And then Marlowe’s attention was distracted by what was happening on the screens. One of them showed the Earth as seen from space, and then there was the blip of a Slarn starship coming in on an approach trajectory. It then disappeared over the horizon and another screen picked up the starship as it homed in on western Europe, and came to rest in that part of France called Brittany.

  ‘It’s landed in France,’ said Harold.

  Marlowe nodded. ‘The Slarn have an underground base in Brittany.’ Then he looked at Harold. ‘You knew the password. How? And if you try to say it I really will break your neck.’

  ‘Guinevere told us. She needs Zyglan and this is the only place she knew where we could find it.’

  ‘Zyglan.’

  ‘She’s programmed to self-destruct after 40 days in planetary gravity. She’s sick, she can’t lift off, and there’s only 24 days left.’

  Marlowe fell silent and his silence was more terrifying than his words. After a while, he looked at Harold. ‘Let’s deal.’

  65: THE DEVIL’S BARGAIN

  ‘Harold!’ Zachary yelled, but again there was no response. Where was he? And then his unspoken question was answered.

  ‘I’m down here!’

  Zoe, Zachary and Meg moved to the edge of the rock on which they were standing and looked down to find Harold and Marlowe looking up at them, Marlowe now in possession of Harold’s Slarnstaff. Zachary was as unimpressed as if Harold had brought a snake from his pocket. ‘Found a new playmate have you?’

  ‘I’ve found Slarnbase 35,’ Harold said, ‘and it turns out that Mr Marlowe lives there.’

  ‘And this means?’ Meg asked, hoping that it didn’t mean another offer of an arranged marriage for either her or Zoe.

  ‘It means,’ Marlowe said, ‘that you want Zyglan and I want certain things and the time has come to bargain.’

  Zachary wasn’t crazy about this. ‘Why should we trust you?’

  ‘Because first, it’s in your interests to, and second, because I have a hostage. So come down, step into my base and we can discuss things.’

  Zachary’s doubt was written on his face, and Meg intervened before he could express it. ‘Coming right down, Mr Marlowe,’ she said.

  Zachary leaned in and whispered to her. ‘This warlock or whatever the hell he is, he’s been trying to sell us out since before we even knew him, and now you’re going to trust him?’

  ‘No,’ Meg replied, ‘now I’m going to bargain with him.’

  ‘Move, Zachary,’ said Zoe, and her glare got Zachary’s feet moving. They climbed down the slope, and joined Harold and Marlowe. Marlowe led the way along the tunnel to the entrance to Slarnbase 35. Zachary fell into step with Meg and ‘We have three Slarnstaffs to his one,’ he whispered.

  Marlowe spoke without turning. ‘Zachary, if what you’re whispering back there is “we have three Slarnstaffs to his one” then understand that in any firefight the boy dies first.’

  Just my luck, Zachary thought, I have to get a warlock who’s also a mind reader.

  ‘Ha-bra-ka-dah!’ cried Marlowe, and the door at the end of the tunnel slid open, revealing the now brightly lit chamber within.

  They filed in after him, and for a moment all that Zoe, Zachary and Meg could do was look around. Parts of the base were familiar because they were produced by the same culture and technology which had produced the hard engineering and smooth design of the starship. But the parts which showed that the base was lived in, the clothes, the tools, the utensils, were literally from another, barbarian, world, the world of planet Earth 90 years post the Great Exit.

  ‘Nice,’ said Zachary, ‘love what you’ve done to it.’

  Marlowe looked at him with his one eye and his one glittering metal orb. ‘I have no sense of humor,’ he said. ‘My enemies have often remarked on this fact just before they died.’ He gestured at the screens. ‘The Slarn are back, which means your situation is not good. However, if we join forces, we may be able to make a deal with them.’

  ‘Join forces?’ Zoe was staring at him in amazement.

  ‘That’s what I’m offering. I provide the Zyglan to save the starship’s life … if I can join you.’

  Meg frowned. It was the last thing she expected. ‘Join us why?’

  ‘I’ve roamed the world for a lifetime, seeking knowledge. Now I want to know the worlds beyond. Possession of a starship may be the key to that.’

  Zoe snarled in rage. ‘No one possesses Guinevere! No one!’

  ‘I agree. I merely speak as the Slarn may see the situation.’

  ‘You’re the same guy who told the Don to sell us up the river!’

  ‘And I saved you and you,’ and he nodded at Zachary and Harold, ‘from the Looters. If you want the Zyglan you take me with it.’

  They looked at each other for a long moment and then Zoe said, ‘Without it, Guinevere’s going to die.’

  And that was the clincher. ‘You’ve got a deal,’ said Harold.

  Marlowe moved to a corner of the room where there was a stack of leather-bound journals. ‘Help me move these,’ he said to Harold. Harold walked over and started moving the journals, wincing as he first encountered the weight of them. ‘What are these?’

  ‘My father’s work. And mine.’

  ‘What sort of work?’

  ‘Knowledge of mankind. What happened since the Great Exit.’

  ‘So it’s history? Anthropology?’

  But Marlowe did not answer, and soon the journals were moved aside, revealing a door. Marlowe pressed a place on the wall and the door opened, revealing a shelved storeroom. Half the things in it were from the barbarian present: jars of preserved food, flitches of bacon, legs of ham hung up to dry. And then there were other things, things of Slarn manufacture, tools, spare parts and, standing on the floor in one corner, a Zyglan pack similar to the one Guinevere had shown them schematically before they set out: a metal cage containing a white crystal shot with pulsing scarlet veins. Harold sat on his heels, staring at it, and ‘That’s it!’ he cried.

  It was Marlowe who insisted on carrying the Zyglan crystal all the way back to the starship, as if he feared betrayal by them, but oth
er than that his manner seemed open, even interested. ‘You’re from the time of the Great Exit, aren’t you?’ he said, and although Zachary and Harold were in a mood to tell him nothing, Zoe saw no harm in it. ‘We were picked up with everyone else,’ she explained, ‘and Guinevere, the ship we were on, was damaged in space and we were left aboard her. We got back and we’ve been trying to mend her ever since. So no big mystery, no big deal. Now who are you?’

  ‘Me? I am Marlowe,’ he replied and lapsed back into silence. Zoe glared at him, like what do you do with this guy? and Harold wisely suppressed a snicker knowing that if he let it out he would pay for it in a hard coin.

  On reaching the clearing in front of the starship, Zachary left the others in hiding while he carefully approached. ‘Guinevere?’ At first there was no answer, and then he added, ‘the shaman’s come along with us. It was the price for getting the Zyglan.’ Another pause, and then the hatch opened, and he waved the others through.

  In the feeding area, Marlowe dropped the Zyglan, metal cage and all, into the pit. Mist rose, Guinevere gave a ladylike burp, and then the hatch closed on the pit again. Marlowe turned to the others and with a scarcely repressed excitement asked to be shown the bridge.

  When he saw it, he was appalled. First of all there was the sight of Maze playing ball with the Wyzen, and then there was the washing hanging everywhere, and then there was the garbage basket. This was nothing like the way he had always imagined the bridge of a starship of the Slarn Confederation! As he stood, glaring at the mess, Maze looked up from her game with the Wyzen and said, ‘Hello Uncle,’ and then batted the ball back to the Wyzen. Marlowe simply nodded in return and said, ‘Great-grand-niece.’

  ‘Welcome aboard,’ said Guinevere, ‘and I thank thee for the Zyglan. But if thou dost any ill to these my friends, I shall smite thee.’

  Zoe was still trying to get a handle on Maze calling Marlowe “uncle” and Marlowe calling Maze “great-grand-niece”. ‘You two are related?’ she said.