by Dan Worth
‘Yes so did I as a matter of fact, but hear me out. The story centres around two brothers who were born to high ranking parents in a mythical ancient kingdom. Anyway, the two brothers were both very ambitious, and both went on to great things. One eventually became king, the other became chief of the army. But they remained bitter rivals, since you see they were both very different in character. The eldest, Jurinto, the King, was a patient and benevolent man. The second, Gorvig was a man of action, of deeds rather than words. Jurinto thought Gorvig to be a needlessly aggressive and rash Arkari, Gorvig thought Jurinto to be weak and indecisive. There was some truth in both their accusations.’
‘So what happened?’
‘Their feud went on for year after year, both privately and publicly they argued with one another, until one day it came to war. Gorvig proclaimed that his brother was foolish and unfit to rule and he called for his soldiers to fight alongside him to take power and save the kingdom from misrule. When only half of the army heeded his call the whole kingdom was plunged into war. The war lasted for many years and the paradise both sides had known was destroyed. Cities were sacked and burnt, crops were destroyed, people were turned out of their homes and acres of land were laid to waste.’
‘How did it all end?’
‘The story goes that Gorvig became disillusioned with the chaos he had brought. He made a fatal mistake in battle and was slain and the war was quickly won by Jurinto’s men. Jurinto then decreed that the traitors…’
‘Should be banished?’
‘Yes, exactly.’
‘Coincidence?’
‘Well I thought so too, you know the similarity of the two stories hadn’t escaped me before, until I saw Quickchild that is.’
‘Go on.’
‘Wait a second, you can read it for yourself.’
Rekkid rooted around in his rucksack, he produced a data pad and after searching for the item he wanted, handed it to Katherine. She read aloud:
‘And Jurinto then decreed that those who had betrayed his rule should be cast out of the kingdom into the lands of the dead, as punishment for the ruin they had brought. The traitors were rounded up like beasts and marched to the very gates of the dead lands that lay at the far edge of the world, placed there in ancient times by the Gods. Upon reaching the gates Jurinto’s men tried to reason with the three ancient spirits that guarded them from all mortals and they asked them if they would accept the traitorous legions.
The spirits inhabited the gates that had been forged by the Gods. They were the spirits of mortal beings, once great heroes, whom the Gods had bound within crystal spheres and charged with their task until the end of time. They would not allow such a thing. They would not shirk from their divinely appointed duties.
‘No living mortal thing may pass,’ they said, ‘for only the dead and the divine may walk beyond.’
It was then that Jurinto’s most cunning mage, Turnudan, used all his wiles to convince the spirits to let the condemned pass. The spirits agreed and it was so, whereupon Turnudan bound their forms with bonds of the strongest magic, sealing the traitors within the death plane where they remain to this day, living out their punishments.’
She finished the passage and handed the data pad back to Rekkid.
‘So, what convinced you?’
‘Quickchild could be one of those ‘spirits’ that are described in that tale. Essentially he’s the mind of living creature stored within an artificial matrix that forms the shape of a sphere. It’s the most incredible artefact I’ve ever seen Katherine.’
‘So you think this children’s tale actually has some truth in it?’
‘Some, yes. I always thought it was just an allegory about what happens to people who try to take things that aren’t rightfully theirs, a story to scare children. But the parallels are astonishing. I think the accounts of this war were never lost entirely, but that they were distorted over so much time until they’re only vaguely recognisable. Instead of a stellar empire you have a magic land, a mythical golden age of wonders. Instead of planets blasted you have cities sacked, instead of a portal constructed by unknown aliens you have the gates to the death lands. The people from the more primitive ages that followed the war would have no knowledge of space travel, so the story changed to fit around what they knew. Plus, now we have Quickchild as a possible item of physical evidence.’
‘I don’t know Rekkid; it all sounds a bit dubious.’
‘See, I told you you’d think I was losing my grip.’
‘Hmm.’
They gazed sullenly at the view for a few moments, before Katherine broke the silence.
‘Rekkid I found the part of the log that refers to this system. There was some odd footage taken from space, a... a blaze of light, I couldn’t quite make it out. It has something to do with what happened to the losing side in the civil war.’
‘Yes I found that too. Did it strike you as odd that out of all the systems in the galaxy we should end up here? Some coincidence... made me wonder if someone wants us to find something here.’
‘Rekkid, what the hell are we doing?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘How can we just carry on like this? How long before the authorities catch up with us?
‘Well what do you suggest we do?’
‘I don’t know. I wish I knew. I just feel so helpless, I don’t know about you but I’m bloody terrified.’
‘At least we know we’re being pursued, we have that advantage that the others didn’t. Besides, like Steven said, it would be difficult for anyone to get at us here. For now I suggest we just carry on as normal, for lack of a better idea.’ Rekkid picked up a smooth stone and toyed with it, idly.
‘Jesus Rekkid, they’re just a couple of kids.’
‘I know,’ said Rekkid and flung the stone angrily into the distance, it clattered off the rocks. Rekkid scowled.
The approaching crunch of footsteps on gravel signalled Steven’s return. He was hefting a string bag of assorted fruit over one shoulder and sweating profusely from the climb. He dumped the bag on the ground and gasped for breath in the thin air. Once he had composed himself he set about pulling the fruit from the bag.
‘These, are Dargoni sweet-bulbs and they should serve well enough for target practice; they won’t splatter straight away because of the tough skin, here catch!’ he threw one to Katherine who caught it deftly. The sweet-bulb resembled a melon in size and shape, but its skin was a leathery dark green colour and it gave off a sickly perfume.
‘We’ll set a few up on these rocks and then you two can take pot shots at them,’ he said, then set about standing the fruits on their ends in a line on the rocks.
‘Right, if we stand over here,’ he said and pointed at a spot on the ground some eight or so metres away. ‘That should be sufficient for target practice with pistols, come on.’
They followed him over to the indicated spot. Steven reached into his pack and produced a laser pistol. He instructed Katherine and Rekkid to take the ones he had given them from their bags.
‘Okay, this is the Martin Armsco AP23 Navy Issue Laser Pistol. Very easy to use, watch,’ he held the pistol up for them to see. ‘Power cell goes here in the base of the hand grip, just push it in till it clicks.’ He showed them, then handed them a long thin power cell each, Rekkid and Katherine followed his example.
‘A green light on the side here means the cell’s fully charged, it flashes when the power’s low and turns to red when it’s depleted. Okay now watch me, but don’t copy me just yet.’ Steven stood with his legs slightly apart and held the pistol out in front of him with both hands, pointing it at the line of targets they had set up. ‘The safety catch is by your thumb on the left hand side, just flick it off like so and then look along the barrel, aim and shoot.’ He did so.
The beam was invisible in the bright sunshine and clear air, but there was a sudden crack from the superheated air and a smouldering chunk flew off the top of one of the fruit and landed sizzling i
n the dirt.
‘See? Easy. There’s no real recoil and the beam is much more accurate than a projectile weapon. There’s a laser targeter too, here under the barrel. I can’t really show you it in this light, but you just press this stud here on the side, and where the red dot appears is where your shot will land, simple.’
‘What sort of range are we talking about Steven?’ said Rekkid.
‘The beam’s lethal up to about twenty metres, though it can cause serious injuries at up to fifty. The range is reduced by humid conditions since water droplets in the air scatter the beam, but realistically, you’d never use any sort of pistol at any great distance. Right, who’s ready to have a go? Katherine?’ He gave her and encouraging look.
‘All right, can’t say I’m happy about this but let’s get it over with.’
‘Well with luck this is the only time you’ll need to fire it. Okay stand here.’ Steven indicated a spot in front of him, Katherine reluctantly obeyed. ‘Right, stand with your legs slightly apart and hold the gun out in front of you with both hands like I did.’
She did so.
‘Good, now flick the safety off with your thumb, look along the barrel so the sights line up on one of those sweetbulbs, and now squeeze the trigger.’
Katherine obeyed, there was a sharp crack and the side of one of the fruits flew off. She was surprised by how easy it was, and a little unsettled. She flicked the safety back on.
‘Good, very good. That wasn’t so hard was it?’
‘Hmm. Would it do that to someone’s head if I shot them with it?’
‘Yes, that’s the idea. It is a gun after all.’
‘I’m not sure I really feel comfortable…’
Steven cut her off. ‘Katherine, listen to me. If you need to use this gun, then you’re in serious trouble. It’s you or them, do you understand that?’
‘I’m not sure. What sort of chance would I have if a bunch of secret service types turned up and tried to apprehend us? Wouldn’t we just get ourselves shot?’
‘It would make anyone think twice about trying to snatch you on the street for a start, however my main concern was that they might try and enlist local law enforcement to apprehend you, such as it is. They don’t have any firearms here so you’d be dealing with Dendratha using hand to hand weapons, clubs mainly. If you’re holding one of these and you look like you know what you’re doing it ought to hold them off, even if you’re bluffing and you really don’t want to shoot them. This pistol could be all that stands between you remaining free, or you ending up like the others. If you hesitate or you look uncertain then it won’t work, plus a few well placed warning shots might be a good idea. So drop the crap, this is for your own good.’
‘Steven…’
‘Look I don’t like carrying firearms, I’m not a gun nut, but whoever is after you means business and if they find you this is the best way of stopping them. Now try again and try to do it faster this time.’
‘Alright, I’m sorry. Okay I’ll have another go.’ She saw him relax a little.
‘Good.’
They practised all afternoon. Katherine became quite good shot, but she couldn’t overcome her distaste for using what was, essentially, a tool for killing people. Rekkid seemed to have few such qualms. He took to his pistol with a certain relish and by the time he had finished had reduced the line of fruits to a sticky mass of burnt pulp. She guessed he was working off some of his anger on the unfortunate sweetbulbs.
As the day wore on, Steven’s anger dissipated. He seemed genuinely relieved at her proficiency with the pistol. It dawned on Katherine that his anger came from his urge to protect them both and their frustration when she objected to his advice. She found that comforting.
Despite her unease at using the pistol Katherine resolved to keep it with her. Steven had a point, it could scare off assailants or even save her life if need be. She hoped the opportunity wouldn’t arise, but as they wandered back into the town to find somewhere to eat, the hard presence of the weapon resting in her bag was reassuring.
Later, in what was technically the evening Mean Time, Katherine sat on her bed with the thick curtains drawn and with her datapad on her knees, absorbed once more in the ancient log. They had eaten at a café in the town before returning to the House of Foreigners to get some rest before they continued their journey in a few hours. Katherine couldn’t resist the urge to catch up on her research.
25.15/01/6782
We are in convoy en route to meet whatever fate awaits us. There are seven vessels in all, and we are guarded by only four traitor corvettes. My crew and I have formulated a plan. We intend to make a break for freedom. If we can encourage the other ships to help us we can overwhelm our guards and escape. Navigator Andreka has spotted a number of systems containing habitable planets to the [lower south east] of the Empire that have not as yet been colonised by Arkari. We plan to flee to one of them and lay low for a while before returning home incognito and blend back into our civilisation, or what is left of it.
04.16/01/6782
Our plan has hit a snag: the other vessels will not join us. We communicated with them via encrypted methods over short range tight beam. They do not believe Urtiss’s story and are willing to remain in captivity, citing Imperial rules of war regarding prisoners. They are deluding themselves.
We attempted to broadcast the recording of the portal, but our captors detected our signals before we could complete the transfer. We shall have to attempt this alone. Koloris assures me that the Khostun should be able to handle the four corvettes as long as we have the element of surprise on our side. We shall see.
17.16/01/6782
We are free at last! We successfully disabled the engines of two of the corvettes and broke away from the convoy. One enemy ship pursued us, whilst the other remained to keep watch over its charges. With our engines at full power we outran her easily and then destroyed the ship within the Gurkun Nebula. The dense gases concealed the proximity mines we laid behind us until it was too late for our pursuers to change course. The ship’s reactor meltdown was spectacular and terrible to behold, and we greeted it with joyous celebration. We set course for the border.
34.21/01/6782
Our celebrations were premature. We were crossing the border when we were intercepted by another destroyer, the Jurminan. This vessel was of a new type of destroyer, like nothing we had encountered before, far faster and more heavily armed than ourselves. It knocked us out of our jump then ripped apart our drive and power-plant in seconds, leaving us dead in space. We successfully disabled its weapon systems with a lucky hit to its bridge section, forcing them to flee, but we are now drifting uncontrollably in deep space with only reserve power to keep us alive. Machine Adept Tingrato believes it may be possible to repair the damage and we can only hope his optimism is not misplaced.
06.22/01/6782
The ship is freezing. Tingrato believes he can jury rig a solution and restore both power and jump capability, but we need all the reserves in our batteries in order to kick start the reaction. We may only get one chance at this. Already the air is beginning to acquire a foul taste and we do not possess sufficient means to signal for help, nor would we receive it if anyone were to hear us.
04.23/01/6782
Tingrato must finish the work soon, else we shall die. Four of the crew have succumbed to the cold already. Several more will not last much longer. The ship is dark and chill, like a floating tomb. I should not wish to perish out here, alone in the endless dark, forgotten.
17.24/01/6782
We have stripped the ship of all unnecessary equipment. Tingrato believes the jump envelope will maintain its stability more easily if the drive does have to propel quite so much mass. We have emptied all cabins and spaces of anything that is not of essential value. A pity we cannot burn any of it on board ship. It is so cold. The ends of my fingers are blackening from the chill. Twelve more of my crew are dead.
03.25/01/6782
We have failed. Reac
tivation of the powerplant commenced as planned and then we reactivated the jump engines. Envelope stability lasted for [twenty minutes] before the reactor casing fractured. All in the engineering section were killed in an instant. The rear of the Khostun is an utter ruin, the artificial gravity has failed and we have no hope of rescue, save a chance encounter with another vessel. I have activated the distress beacons. Their batteries will last perhaps longer than we shall.
23.26/01/6782
No one comes. The cold is numbing. My crew are dying around me. There is nothing we can do. I think of my wife, and the tears freeze hard on my face.
04.27/01/6782
Those of us who are left have gathered in the bridge. We should be together when the end comes.
17.27/01/6782
There is just me now. All the others lie dead around me. There is no hope.
19.27/01/6782
Please, someone find us. I used think I did not fear death, I know that is not so. I am alone in the dark with my terror.
03/01/6782
[Unable to translate, date entered is unintelligible]
[Records end. No further entries found]
Katherine sat in silence, the datapad by her side. She felt genuine grief at Cortill’s death - something that surprised her since it did not come as a surprise. She had seen and touched his mummified remains and he had lived so long ago. She had read the last recorded words of a dying man, and the intimacy of that realisation touched her heart in a manner she had not expected. She tried to imagine what it must have been like, freezing and suffocated in the dark, tumbling end over end in a gigantic metal sarcophagus, and destined to do so for a thousand millennia more. The horror of what Cortill’s crew had endured and then succumbed to appalled her, despite the enormous gap of years.