Sunlord

by Ronan Frost

Ashian overpowered the urge to bolt, his muscles still tense despite his efforts to calm them. It just seemed to go against all his instincts to sit and watch the Sunlord's shadow grow larger, but deep down in a part of his mind submerged by panic he knew the wisdom of Capac's words. They had to stay hidden.

  The Sunlord mechanic swaggered down the steel stairs, com-link in one hand and the other hand brushing along the browned railing at his side. Seeing that his initial call had no worked he tried again.

  "Lights!"

  At last the voice activated circuits responded and the lights about the circumference of the bowl flickered on. The natives fell back as the lights snapped on overhead, flinching from the unexpected blow. It was like going from midnight to midday in one millisecond. Seconds later they recovered and, noticing they were in the open, half-rolled half-scrambled into the cover of a faint shadow nearby.

  The Sunlord flicked on his com-link and raised it.

  "Crewman 15721-8 reporting," he snapped, his eyes wandering over the twisted remains of the catwalk that lay on the smooth surface below. He wore a full body helicasuit, an air mask attached to his face incase the damage had caused an atmospheric leak. The mask gave his voice a nasal quality and his face a sleeker, more wolverine look.

  The com-link buzzed with a little static before clearing. "Control...what's your status down there?"

  The Sunlord mechanic recognised the voice on the other end, and his tone became a little more relaxed. "Looks like vent 311 took most of the blast," he said. "Looking at it, I'd say very little damage to the vent itself but a few walkways have come down. I'll need a couple of droids to fix it up."

  Ashian sat stone still, amazed that the Sunlord had not seen them. The towering figure seemed so close, especially in the light. He heard the Sunlord speaking in harsh guttural tones, the meaning lost on his ears. He watched in silence as the mechanic continued to speak, now moving out towards the centre of the bowl. Unfortunately their hiding place was directly in his path.

  Capac touched Ashian lightly on the shoulder, drawing his attention, then pointed to the nearby duct. It was close by, and would not take much effort to reach. Ashian understood immediately by the stealthy chopping motions the hunter made that he intended to reach its cover as soon as possible. Already the Sunlord was too close in the clinically bright light, and it would be only seconds before he stumbled onto them. Ashian followed Capac as he scrambled from cover to cover, back bent and head held low, knowing that keeping sight of his companion was his lifeline. Ashian found himself overwhelmingly glad for the eloprin hunter's presence for without him he surely would have perished. It had been Capac's coolness in the panic of the moment had saved both their hides.

  Darting between the wreckage of the catwalk they at last reached the edge of the cavernous room and neared one of the small holes of the secondary ducts. Moving silently and with haste Capac was already in by the time Ashian made it to the shelter. The currach did not pause as he pulled himself up and into the pipe, a wind blowing at his back that blew his thick curls of hair in his eyes as he slid down the polished sides on his belly. He noted the lights surrounding he pipe dulled with every passing second as he descended lower and lower into darkness. Half a minute later they stopped. There was enough room to sit upright in this section of the pipe and when Ashian arrived Capac was sitting on his haunches and looking back up the way they had come. Faint light spilled from above - a light lacking in warmth and intensity like that of the moon.

  "I think we made it."

  Ashian heaved a sigh, his voice high and shaking. "That was close. I swear we could have rapped that Sunlord on the shin."

  Capac shrugged away the tension. The nearness of the encounter did not seem to bother him. He simply rested his back against the cold shiny surface of the pipe and pulled his long hunting knife from his belt. "He wasn't looking for us," he said, absently flicking his finger along the blade, testing its edge.

  "You're right. We were lucky." Ashian felt weak and laughed tiredly. The countless number of close calls had rocketed his heart too may times; another straw would break the camel's back. He still couldn't believe what he was doing - the city seemed so far away, as if he was dead and disjoint from reality.

  "Capac," he groaned. "I've got to rest for a moment. I'm dead on my feet."

  The other wiped the sweat from his eyes and nodded. "Just for a minute, until we get our breath back," he conceded.

  Ashian smiled ruefully. He lay his head back and closed his insectile eyes for a moment, feeling the tension and tightness he held in his limbs drain away like viscus sap. He was sudden aware of a gnawing hunger, his stomach clenched like an empty fist.

  "I don't suppose you've got any food?"

  Capac laughed. "I wish. I was just thinking...the last time something passed my lips was, let's see, about two days ago."

  "You're right," agreed Ashian with mild surprise. "Shaun may in serious trouble - he has a much larger frame than us and I noticed he ate a lot more."

  Capac shrugged noncommittally. "All I can say is that I'll be glad when I'm back in the forest and breathing proper air. I remember the time when I was with Huso stalking a herd of drosks..."

  Ashian found his neck lolling limping as an incredible sense of rest settled in. He heard Capac's voice as a distant droning growing fainter with every passing second. He pressed his hands up against his temples, as if to squeeze his mind back into alertness, but it seemed like the entire world was shrinking away from his eyes like a fabric being sucked into a whirlpool.

  Ashian panicked briefly as he felt his mind muffled and a dreadful slumber settle over his body. This could only be death, he thought madly.

  Then a figure appeared in his mind, no more than a bluish haze floating in blackness. He recoiled immediately as a thought that was not his own entered his mind. It sounded like the running of a water over exposed rocks gurgling irregularly and without pattern.

  He saw colours swirling and mixing like a chemical cocktail, gasses boiling up through the concoction in his mind and nauseating him with their odour. A face pulled itself away from the smudge of blurring colour as if were rising through a veil, and he knew in an instant that it was Myshia.

  Ashian called her name, his words seemingly futile as if a rag had been jammed down his throat. He just couldn't seem to be able to make a noise, and there was that terrible, frightening ringing noise in the background...

  A thin line billowing gently like a spider's thread streaked towards him, and he grasped at it desperately, feeling the sticky line cling to his forearms. He felt a movement in that line, as if someone far down the other end were pulling at it. He felt his mind wrap around the thread, becoming as one with it, and as he did so felt the touch of another mind.

  Ashian, are you there?

  The words were like a whisper caught in a gale, swept aside and blurred of meaning, but if he concentrated he could pick the meaning. He inexplicably knew the thread was the contact Myshia shared with him through the ether, a strange, unexplainable linking of their minds. He did not know why she had chosen him over Capac but a deep, unexplored part of his mind informed him the reason was intangible and unfathomable.

  His mind whirling with new emotions, Ashian concentrated his attention back on the thread.

  I can hear you, Myshia.

  There was only the shrieking noise in the background to greet his question, a world of dazzling images and a feeling of intense and utter aloneness. He had passed beyond life, and was standing on the brink, looking down into the world of spirits. Looking at the motionless thread hanging limply like a rope spanning a great distance he had a wild irrational thought that Myshia may have been killed. What if she had? What would he do? His urgency of thought must have evoked her response, for her voice came clearer now.

  I am with Shaun. Where are you?

  He tried to convey his recent experiences, feeding the memories like telephone books down a conveyor belt. He tried to picture the bottom of the vent they had
fallen down, and the small tunnel they had now climbed into, but was annoyed at the haziness of the image. He remembered only vague outlines and colours - a frustratingly little amount.

  But the bundles of emotions seemingly served their purpose, for a moment later Ashian received a picture of Myshia's environment. He knew they were far above...somehow just feeling the distance intuitively, like being in a dark room and by standing still and listening to get a feel for the surrounding space.

  Further messages followed along the tightrope that linked their minds. Ashian caught the pieces of thought as if they were papers whipping in the wind, stashing them close to his mind. Very gradually the thoughts stopped and he felt Myshia's mind withdrawing. He felt immense disappointment and loss, as if part of his brain had been sliced away. Her withdrawal left a hollow space, a void swirling with black insubstantial liquid.

  He opened his eyes and was confronted with Capac's visage. Ashian breathed out pent up breath with a ragged heave, still holding his fingers to his head as if suffering from an intense headache.

  "It's Myshia," he explained feebly. "She was...talking."

  Capac nodded uncertainly, his brows were furrowed.

  "She is with Shaun," Ashian continued. The currach blinked a few times and shook his head as sudden memory returned. His voice held an element of uncertainty, a slight tremor in the tone betraying his true emotions behind the facade of boldness. He drew a deep breath, and said;

  "They are going to warn the Federation. She said Shaun was going to try and communicate with his leaders, and seek their help."

  Capac was almost speechless. "She told you this? Her powers are great if she can see your mind from such a distance."

  Ashian nodded weakly, continuing with his bizarre tale. "When she was talking to me, I sensed a horrible shrieking, and just before I left her I just knew...I can't explain it, but I felt a distant pain and knew my people are dying."

  "Your people?"

  Capac was startled when Ashian looked up sharply, his eyes ablaze. "The city, the ones under the care of the Church. Time is short."

  "Hang on a minute." Capac shook his head and waved his hands, gesturing for time out. "Why didn't I hear Myshia like you did?"

  Ashian briefly considered the intangible link that joined his mind with Myshia's. For a split second the image of a winged man flying down from a stormy, clouded night sky came to his mind - a figure that bore down and lifted a grieving woman to safety. And as they flew a wail grew in the cold air...

  The currach shook himself free of the alien picture. "I can't explain it, but you've got to believe me!" His words held an element of desperation. He knew not where these strange images came from, and what they meant, but they filled his soul with foreboding. "I just know that the blood of our people spills on the soil, as if an entire city is falling. I also feel, somehow through Myshia, a uprising of currach are gathering for revenge. If we do not complete our mission quickly the souls of many will forfeit."

  " You said Shaun has plans of his own, right? So we'll finish our mission alone. It's just you and me."

  "You mean, disable Avatar by ourselves?"

  "That was the original plan," shrugged Capac.

  Ashian drew in a slow breath. "Alright, we go it alone. So what's the plan?"

  * * *

  Shaun cast the small laser pistol down at his feet in disgust. The weapon skidded across the polished floor and into the shadows.

  "Damn useless Hartrias crap!" he cursed, pacing angrily. The charge on the laser had run out, leaving the weapon practically useless without a recharger. The laser was designed for personal use as a sidearm used only for close range and individual targets. Shaun had been using it like a battle cannon to mow down their pursuers; it had not taken the punishment. Myshia did not hear Shaun's wave of abuse. She sat cross-legged with her head in her hands and green eyes glowing compulsively. She sat on the rounded slope of the edge of a duct, breathing the heavy smell of grease and feeling the rumble of machinery through the fabric of her furs. She breathed heavily, as if inducing herself into a kind of trance.

  The tube they were now in was open enough to allow Shaun to stand upright, the walls far enough apart for him to stretch his aching legs and back. He cocked an ear and heard the faint sounds of metal upon metal as the droids closed. He had managed to keep them at bay using the now depleted laser and by keeping moving, but all of a sudden Myshia had demanded a stop.

  "Are you sure this is necessary?" blurted Shaun, suddenly impatient.

  Myshia stirred herself, and Shaun's impatience was forgotten immediately as her confused, bewildered eyes fixed upon his own.

  "I feel them," was all she could mutter.

  "Feel who?"

  "I sense Ashian's mind. He is with Capac."

  Shaun dropped to his knees and looked her in the eye.

  "Then they survived the fall? Thank God!" Shaun's brow creased. "Where are they?"

  Myshia was silent for a moment before replying. "Far away. His mind seems very distant, but I cannot say exactly how far. All I can get is a vague picture..." Her voice trailed off as a thought grew in her mind.

  Shaun was surprised when Myshia grabbed his wrist firmly and placed it to her forehead. He complied a trifle uncertainly, moving closer to the native as she drew him in. He watched with his breath held as she bowed her forehead into his palm.

  Shaun reeled as an image appeared in his mind. It felt as if he had been suddenly transported to another place and was looking upon his surroundings through another's eyes. It took him a moment to realise the green hues and cat-like sharpness of the image must only be through a currach's eyes.

  As abruptly as it had come the picture disappeared, to be replaced by reality that seemed drab in contrast. An instinctive feeling in the pit of his stomach told him Ashian and Capac were a considerable distance away. In their flight, he and Myshia must have put at least four sectors between them and the other pair.

  "Telepathy...?" Shaun pulled away his hand as if it had been burnt. "Heavy shit."

  "I can talk only to Ashian. He is asking you what we should do."

  Shaun's mind meshed into gear. He stood abruptly and paced a short distance back the way they had come.

  "We have to keep moving away," he mused. "From that...picture...you gave me Ashian and Capac are back this way." He stopped, hands upon his hips, in the direction from which the robotic clanking emerged from. It was louder now and individual ringing footsteps could be distinguished. "We're not going back that way, so we're moving on."

  "To where?"

  "The communications lab," returned Shaun with firmness. His mind was finally set - he had weighed the options and had made his decision. Now all he had to do was play it out.

  "I've got to get a message to the Federation," he continued. "If this is truly the Critical Point as that smug-arse Hartrias officer was blabbing about then the Federation is quite literally screwed." As he vocalised the thoughts the pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place. "That would explain that torpedo hit. The Urisa waged a battle against a Federation ship, but only took one blow. Yes, this must be the Critical Point, and the Federation battlecruisers are falling from jumpspace like lambs to the slaughter."

  "So you're going to warn them?" asked Myshia.

  "Exactly. If I can dispatch a pod message through the jumptunnel relaying the coordinates of the Critical Point to the Federation, they would be able to amass here in force. The only way to get that message out is to use their comm-lab."

  Myshia was confused. "But our mission was to disable Avatar. We came to destroy the ship that wiped out our village, and I'm not going to forgot my promise to the Elder."

  Shaun paced back again. "That'll do no good, another ship will be along before you know it and you will have gained nothing! We've got to get the Federation."

  Myshia was still unsettled. "But what about Capac and Ashian?"

  "They'll just have to look after themselves for the moment. We have an important task
in front of us - a task that will decide the future of the Federation."

  Myshia climbed to her feet. "Do you think Ashian and Capac can stay alive?"

  Shaun had taken Myshia by the shoulder and was gently heading her down the duct. "Hey, who was it that warned you it was a dangerous and suicidal to set foot in here in the first place? But seriously, I think if they keep their heads low they'll make it. Don't get me wrong," he added hastily, "I'm not forsaking them - I don't want them to die."

  Shaun's mind was already working overtime, already putting the pieces of a plan together. He would have to warn the Federation before any more ships were destroyed, and that meant getting past the security net the Hartrias had put on the jumptunnels. Now - if he could just remember - where the hell was the comm-lab? During his three year imprisonment he had stolen and analysed a schematic plan of the Urisa and it was now just a matter of remembering where everything was. He racked his mind, surprised at just how much he remembered. He had drilled the diagram into his memory before his escape, and now sections were falling out from the dark recesses in his brain. He recalled there was narrow duct leading lengthwise close by...if he could reach that one...

  Myshia had to run to catch up with Shaun. They kept a brisk pace, a fast walk bordering on a run, travelling down the curved sections of the duct.

  She noticed he had barely took notice of her, he was so immersed in thought. She cast a look over her shoulder in the shadows they had left behind. All of a sudden she knew the droids were close and their brief stop had allowed their pursuers to close the gap.

  And they were without a weapon.

  Myshia closed her eyes, drew in a breath, and braced herself. Even though the relentlessness of their flight was tiring her muscles, especially in the heavy artificial gravity of the Urisa, she pushed onwards.

  * * *

  A cold wind exhaled from the trapdoor as Shaun pulled it back from its rubber sealing. He shielded his eyes as the white light spilled in from the opening, waiting a moment for his vision to adjust, blinking and squinting in his haste.