There was something else built into Excalibur.
Aspasia’s Shadow had his guardian link with the Master Guardian and then routed his inquiry to the guardian on Mars and sensors built into the base there, which were oriented toward Earth. Aspasia’s Shadow could “see” the surface of Earth and a small red dot. He increased the image, zeroing in on it until he recognized the location.
Aspasia’s Shadow stepped back from the guardian computer, cutting the connection. He had a long journey ahead.
QIAN-LING, CHINA
Ts’ang Chieh, once known to the outside world as adviser to the Great Emperor ShiHuangdi, ruler of China and all the known world, came out of the deep sleep with more vigor than Aspasia’s Shadow. He had been born of a slave girl in the royal court and been taught to obey without question his entire life. So great was his obsession with duty to ShiHuangdi that he had been brought into the elite inner circle of those who knew the true nature of the First Emperor. For ShiHuangdi was not a human, but rather Artad, consolidating his power in this part of the world so he could rest in peace as the Atlantis Truce wore on.
Ts’ang Chieh was delayed slightly after getting out of the tube by the necessary ritual of donning the full regalia of his office as the voice of the Emperor. Once all the accouterments were in place he paused and turned toward a shimmering black wall that bisected the large chamber in which his deep sleep tube was located. He bowed toward the wall, for he knew on the other side of the power field lay Artad and the rest of the Airlia, who were in the deep sleep.
Ts’ang Chieh then left the chamber and went to where Artad’s guardian computer was located. He immediately noticed the same thing that Aspasia’s Shadow had—that the computer was active. Placing both hands on the shimmering, golden surface, Ts’ang Chieh accessed the alien device.
Excalibur was unsheathed.
Ts’ang Chieh crossed the chamber to another control panel. He passed his hands over it and a series of hexagonals were backlit with High Runes written on them. Ts’ang Chieh tapped out a sequence on the hexagonals. A holographic image of Earth appeared in the air above the control panel. A small red dot flashed on the screen.
Ts’ang Chieh sighed. He had received a report from one of the Ones Who Wait that Excalibur, along with the Grail, had been removed from Giza long ago. The Human-Airlia clones that Artad had left on the planet’s surface to look after his interests had tried to keep track of both artifacts just as Aspasia’s Shadow had. And had lost track of both for a while, until they learned by torturing a Watcher that both were located at Watcher headquarters in Avalon, where the glowing red dot indicated Excalibur was still situated.
Ts’ang Chieh pondered this for a while.
He was not concerned about the Watchers. Foolish humans meddling in things beyond their comprehension. But he knew that Aspasia’s Shadow would now also know the location of the key—something that heretofore had escaped him.
Action had to be taken.
Ts’ang Chieh briefly contemplated waking Artad, but decided he could handle this matter. He left the guardian chamber and went to another room inside the huge mountain lair. In the room was a deep sleep tube and inside of it a human body—a spectacular specimen, over six and a half feet tall with thick black hair. The red eyes, though, were nothuman, but Airlia, a defect that Artad had been working on but not quite fixed. They were vacant, showing no sign of intelligence. The body was that of a prototype warrior that Artad had been tinkering with on the voyage to the Sol System.
Ts’ang Chieh sat down at the command console and brought up Artad’s personality. He had been prepared for something like this by Artad himself, so he was able to run through the procedure quickly. Part, but not all, of Artad’s personality and knowledge base was transmitted by the computer to the body in the tube.
As the body stirred in the tube and became aware, Ts’ang Chieh turned to another console and tapped out a message.
THE TWIN SISTERS MOUNTAINS, AFRICA
The mountains were called the Twin Sisters by the people in the area around the two peaks because at a certain angle they resembled each other almost perfectly in form. They could be seen from far away, because they rose almost six thousand meters into the air, the highest peaks on the continent. They were over sixty kilometers apart and dominated the land all around. One of the peaks had a smaller peak attached to it by an eleven-kilometer ridge. However it was the other peak toward which Ts’ang Chieh has sent his message.
In a cavern hollowed out deep inside the peak, three creatures were alerted by their guardian computer that the key to the Master Guardian had been unsheathed. Unlike Ts’ang Chieh and Aspasia’s Shadow they took no immediate action and instead waited for further instruction. They were, after all, the Ones Who Wait. Technically that meant they were waiting for Artad to return and take his rightful place ascommander of this outpost, but in the meanwhile they were to do his bidding.
They were Airlia-Human clones. Outwardly they were mostly human, the most noticeable alien influence being their catlike red eyes, just like the creature Ts’ang Chieh was bringing to life in Qian-Ling. The leader of the three was female and named Lexina. Flanking her were Elek and Coridan.
They read the message from Ts’ang Chieh. There was no need for them to send an acknowledgment that they would comply—they had no choice. They had been programmed to obey.
AVALON
Merlin stood on top of the tor with the sword in his hands, turning it to and fro, letting the sun reflect off the metal of the blade. He had no clue as to the sequence of events he had just initiated. Indeed, he had not thought his actions through any further than removing the sword from the cavern.
But he did know two things—the right man with this sword could accomplish wonderful things. He was not to be that man. But, according to what he had read, that man would come soon.
STONEHENGE
Gwalcmai cursed as he put his feet onto the cold floor plating. “What now?” he demanded of Donnchadh, who was already in the copilot’s seat, checking the computer.
“Someone has unsheathed the key to the Master Guardian,” Donnchadh said.
“Someone took it from Avalon?”
“No,” Donnchadh said, reading the intercepted message traffic between the guardian computers. “It’s still at Avalon.”
“Damn Watchers,” Gwalcmai muttered as he reached for his garments and weapons.
Donnchadh ran her fingers over the hexagonals and frowned. “Someone in Qian-Ling has contacted the Ones Who Wait.”
“And?” Gwalcmai asked as he strapped his sword belt on.
“The message says: The dragon comes.”
Gwalcmai paused. “That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“I have a bad feeling we’re going to find out very soon,” Donnchadh said as she got up from the chair and headed for her own gear.
QIAN-LING
He was Artad’s Shadow, but not as complete a Shadow of his master as Aspasia’s Shadow was of his. From the Ones Who Wait, Ts’ang Chieh had some information about the land called England, where the Watchers were headquartered. Using what he knew, he had fashioned a persona for the creature that kept within the template of Artad, yet was adapted for the land to which he would be traveling.
“Arthur,” Ts’ang Chieh said.
The creature turned to look at him with bloodred cat eyes. “Yes?”
Ts’ang Chieh held up two pieces of glittering blue. “You must use these.”
Arthur remained still as Ts’ang Chieh placed the Airlia version of contact lenses over his eyes. When he was done, Arthur’s eyes appeared human, although they were a remarkably deep blue.
“Come with me,” Ts’ang Chieh said.
Arthur followed him without a word. They went past the room where the guardian computer rested and entered a massive open space. Large metal struts swept overhead, supporting the rock ceiling. The floor was filled with numerou
s containers of various sizes. Ts’ang Chieh led Arthur up to one of them and he tapped on the small panel on the front. With a hiss, the end began to slowly fold down.
Nestled inside the container was a glittering, metal dragon. Ten meters long, by five wide, it had short, stubby wings and a long, arced neck leading up to a facsimile of a serpent’s face, including a jawful of black teeth. Dark red unblinking eyes completed the fearful visage.
“This is Chi Yu,” Ts’ang Chieh said.
Arthur turned to Ts’ang Chieh in confusion.
“This is how you will get to England,” Ts’ang Chieh continued. “In the belly of the beast, so to speak.” He smiled, remembering. “It is what ShiHuangdi used to defeat his enemies a long time ago. You will use it to defeat our enemies now.”
MOUNT SINIA
Aspasia’s Shadow had gathered his fifty best Guides to provide him an escort for his journey to England and to form the core of a fighting force if it came to that. He had made the journey to England a long time ago and knew the difficulties involved in covering such a distance given the primitive state of technology and transportation capabilities of Earth. He’d considered taking the bouncer he had secreted in Mount Sinai but decided against it. It was for emergency use only and this was not yet an emergency.
As dawn came to the desert, the small caravan started out from the base of Mount Sinai, heading to the north and west, toward Alexandria, where they would find passage on a ship across the Mediterranean.
STONEHENGE
As Donnchadh stepped out of the stone doorway into the midst of the complex known as Stonehenge, she immediately knew she was in trouble. It was night, but the area was lit by the flame of hundreds of torches and several surrounding bonfires. The stones were surrounded by a circle of people garbed in robes, chanting, which came to a stuttering halt as the apparition of Donnchadh and Gwalcmai coming out of the rock itself became noticed.
“Not good,” Gwalcmai muttered, his hand drifting to the pommel of his sword.
Donnchadh ignored him. She lifted both hands, arms spread wide, and cried out in her own tongue. “I know you cannot understand what I’m saying. Which is why I’m using this language.”
Gwalcmai glanced at her as if she’d lost her mind.
“Just follow my lead,” she shouted, the message obviously for the only person who could understand her. “We have to make them believe we’re part of whatever it is they’re worshipping here.”
It didn’t work exactly the way Donnchadh planned. A woman screamed and panic spread through the crowd. Those closest to the stones turned and pressed up against the people behind them. Within two minutes, there wasn’t a person within two hundred meters of the stones and the circle was growing wider by the second.
“That went well,” Gwalcmai noted.
“We gave them something to talk about,” Donnchadh said as she shouldered her pack. “Let’s go.”
AVALON
Merlin looked across the water to the tor that had been his home for his entire adult life.
A thick fog covered the water and hid the island’s base, giving the appearance that it was floating in air. Excalibur was wrapped in a blanket and tucked inside his cloak, tight against his body.
He was not content to wait for whoever was to wield the sword to come to him. There had been too much sitting around and waiting over the centuries. He had no idea where to go, but he had an overwhelming sense that anything would be better than doing nothing.
Merlin looked away from the island. He could go in any direction. He knew that there were pockets of Saxon invaders to the east and south. And to the north were the fierce barbarians who painted their faces blue and were known to kill all interlopers.
West.
Merlin had heard of a king named Uther who ruled in Cornwall. Apparently a powerful man who had banded together several neighboring kingdoms into a loose confederation that was able to hold the Saxons and other invaders at bay. Such a man could use the sword.
Merlin also carried the Grail in a pack slung over one shoulder. He did not plan to give it away. From the records he knew it was even more important than the sword. Whatever lay ahead, he planned to be the only one who knew its location.
XVI
A.D. 521: ENGLAND
Arthur spent two days at high altitude in Chi Yu, studying the data that the craft’s sensors picked up from the large island and interrogating a half dozen unfortunate prisoners he had scooped up in the night. It was a land mired in dissension and distrust, as evidenced by the continual skirmishes among petty lords and the successes of small knots of invaders in coastal areas, holding their own against the locals, keeping a foreign footprint on the land.
According to the sensors, Excalibur had been reshielded and was in the west of the land in the largest, and best organized, fiefdom—Cornwall. The region’s leader resided in a castle on a high rocky outcropping along a rough coast. That was the place where Arthur decided to make his entrance.
Just as the sun was setting over the ocean to the west, Arthur brought Chi Yu down out of the clouds and landed with a burst of flame from the craft’s snout on the cliff just to the south of Tintagel, Uther’s castle.
AVALON
Donnchadh leafed through the documents lying on the wooden table deep inside the tor. She’d read them all on previous visits and it didn’t take her long to see a patternto those chosen. She looked up as Gwalcmai entered the chamber.
“The sword and Grail are gone,” he confirmed.
Donnchadh tapped the documents. “The Watcher has been reading of both.” She picked up one particular piece that had the prophecy of a king written on it. She shook her head. “There is so much gibberish mixed in among the reports. Fiction some of the Wedjat made up.”
“It is amazing the Watchers have lasted this long,” Gwalcmai said. “What do we do now?”
“We find the sword and the Grail.”
“The others will be coming—or be sending someone.”
Donnchadh nodded. “They’ll want to restore the truce.”
“Why won’t one side want to end it?” Gwalcmai argued. “Grab the key and the Grail and be done with it?”
“Because both sides have made mistakes,” Donnchadh said. “Aspasia by being out of contact for so long, then Artad for acting so precipitously when he came here. They need a lot more time to get this planet back on track. And—”
“And?” Gwalcmai prompted.
“And I think both are afraid of the Swarm. I think they secretly want to keep hidden for a long time and stay out of that war.”
“And what do we want?” Gwalcmai asked.
“To cause them as much trouble as we can. And then go back to the truce because we need to fear the Swarm also.”
“I do not think it will be as easy as that,” Gwalcmai said.
“Of course not,” Donnchadh agreed. “But I’m trying to be positive.”
THE MEDITERRANEAN
Aspasia’s Shadow was already finding things not so easy. Along with his Guides, he’d taken passage on a trading ship out of Alexandria. Less than two days into the journey the ship had been accosted by pirates. They’d beaten off the attack, but it had cost Aspasia’s Shadow two of his Guides. Four days later a storm forced them to put to shore and kept them there for almost a week.
When they finally put to sea once more, Aspasia’s Shadow stood in the bow of the boat, letting the salty air blow across his face. His left hand absentmindedly played with the ka that hung around his neck. It was going to take a long time to reach England. He had known that when he left Mount Sinai.
Not for the first time or the last time, Aspasia’s Shadow cursed the Watchers. But underneath that anger, coiled and bitter, so still he was almost unaware of it, was his resentment toward his maker and his awareness that he was just a tool.
Aspasia’s Shadow removed the ka from the chain and dangled it over the deep, dark water. Even as he did so, he knew it was a futile gesture. If he did not return within
a specified amount of time, the machine in Mount Sinai would automatically regenerate another Shadow based on the last memories he had loaded into it. While this body and mind would die, he would be brought back to life once more.
Someday, Aspasia’s Shadow mused as he put the ka back around his neck, someday he would be free. Perhaps in the coming events he might find a key to escaping from the unique and horrible prison he was in.
TINTAGEL
From the highest tower of the stone castle, Arthur dispassionately stared at King Uther, but the look was not returned for the simple reason that carrion-birds had plucked the eyes out of the severed head the previous week. Uther was merely a head impaled on a pole set on the outer wall of Tintagel Castle and Arthur had been king for two weeks.
After landing Chi Yu, Arthur had exited the flying machine, garbed in gleaming armor and carrying a sword, not quite as nice as Excalibur but of Airlia make and far beyond anything Uther’s age of humans could produce. However, Arthur would not depend on force of arms to take control. Fear worked much better. He’d known that the dragon had been seen from the castle walls and he’d let the humans stew on the strange apparition for the entire night.
The next morning he’d approached the castle, with Chi Yu, controls set on automatic, hovering above and behind him. It had been a most impressive spectacle and when he’d called out for the castle gates to be opened, the guards had quickly complied.
It had taken Uther a week to build up the courage to challenge Arthur and the battle had lasted less than two seconds before the king’s head was severed from his body. Arthur had become king. He’d dispatched Chi Yu on autopilot to a hiding place on a desolate island off the coast that he’d discovered during his reconnaissance.
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