Chains of Destruction

by Selina Rosen

  Janad thought about it for a minute then shook her head.

  "No, you're wrong."

  "Don't you understand, Janad? There are no such thing as gods," Topaz said.

  "But the people, my people, believe in these gods, and therefore they have power. That power makes them gods," Janad concluded with finality.

  "Well, I'll be damned," Topaz said appreciatively. "That's pretty sophisticated reasoning for someone who's supposed to be a primitive."

  "You have powers, and therefore you must be gods," Janad said on a final note.

  Topaz sighed. "I take back what I said."

  * * *

  Levits had taken Poley's place on the bridge, and Poley was trying to figure out how to turn off the force field around the gold when Topaz walked back in.

  "You all right?" RJ asked, hardly looking up from where she was looking over Poley's shoulder.

  "Fine as a fiddle," Topaz said. "I'm afraid your caviler attitude about my injuries upset Janad. But now that she sees what I already knew – that I am a god – she has gone back to the mess hall to eat. She's a very good eater that girl."

  "So, you're a god?" RJ asked with a smile.

  "Actually she thinks we're all gods. I think we'll be hard pressed to prove otherwise to her," Topaz said. "I rather like the girl; she grows on you after awhile."

  "He'd like anyone who thought he was a god," RJ said to her brother.

  Poley smiled and nodded absently and added, "I have the force field off."

  "Well, duh!" RJ said. She could feel the slight electric charge in the air when it had been on. The absence of that charge was obvious to her.

  Poley put his ear to the safe and started to turn the tumbler.

  "Funny," Topaz said. "All this high-tech shit, and it all comes down to a simple combination lock. The same kind we had on our school lockers when I was a boy."

  In a matter of minutes Poley turned the handle and opened the door.

  "Holy shit!" Topaz exclaimed.

  "I guess the price of slaves has gotten really high," RJ said. "There's got to be . . ."

  "One thousand, five hundred sixty-three pounds," Poley said.

  Topaz shook his head in disbelief. "That's worth . . ."

  "Seventy-five million, four hundred and eighty thousand credits," Poley said. "Too bad it's radioactive."

  "Radioactive!" Topaz and RJ screamed in unison. RJ ran over, slammed the door closed and locked it.

  "That would mean this fucking gold is from the planet Stashes. They found a vein of gold there right on top of a shit load of plutonium," RJ said thoughtfully.

  "The safe is lead-lined that's why no radiation leak showed on any systems check," Poley said.

  "Freaking Reliance," RJ hissed. "Are there no depths to which they won't sink? They're trading soldiers for radioactive gold and cheap textiles."

  "And think about this," Topaz said. "What do primitives do with gold?"

  "They wear it," RJ answered, eyes widening as the realization struck her.

  Topaz nodded.

  "We've got to stop them," RJ said with conviction.

  * * *

  It took them several hours to fish all their things from the river in the dark. Their reed boat was in tattered ruins and beyond repair.

  We could build another boat, Haldeed signed, then hung some more of their wet things on a bush to dry.

  "No, I think it's a sign that we should walk inland," Taleed said.

  A sign from the gods? Haldeed signed not without a healthy helping of sarcasm.

  "Gods!" Taleed made a hissing noise as he picked up a rock with his toes and slung it into the water. "I do not believe my father is a god, Haldeed. I know for a certainty that I am not. Nor do I believe that whatever the priests hide in their caves is a god. If there were true gods, they would not show themselves, but would stay out of sight. They would make the world work, not order men to be maimed or wars to be fought. If they chose to meddle in men's lives, why would they not make things perfect? Why would they keep our planet barren, order us to have as many children as we can, and then order up wars? I say that if there are gods, then they care not for man one way or the other. I certainly don't believe that the priests speak their will. I'll tell you better than that – I do not believe that my father believes it – or even that the priests do."

  Careful do not anger the gods, Taleed, Haldeed warned.

  "We have already angered my father, Haldeed. False gods have no power," Taleed declared.

  We were nearly drowned in the river, Haldeed reminded him.

  "No god made a waterfall appear on the river. It has always been there. How can our failure to pay attention be considered godly power manifesting itself? Furthermore we didn't drown," Taleed said.

  I almost did, and your power saved me, Haldeed said signing in an excited way.

  "Don't be ridiculous, Haldeed." Taleed said. "I simply used my head. I sucked air into my lungs, and then I breathed it into yours."

  You truly don't believe in the gods? Haldeed asked.

  "I very truly don't," Taleed answered.

  Their things hadn't quite dried when it started to rain. Taleed saw the look Haldeed gave him and frowned hard. "This is not punishment from the gods, Haldeed. It's just a little rain. Surely a god would be more creative than this. Getting wet is less like a punishment and more of an annoyance"

  If you say so, Haldeed said and continued to pack their wet gear into their backpacks.

  They walked down the river till they found a well-used path. This they knew would lead them to a village. But they wouldn't stop there, oh no. If the royal guards came down the river looking for them, they would of course look in the town closest to the river. So they would continue to travel inland. They knew the further they got away from the river the better off they would be. The rain was coming down hard, and the river would come over its banks soon. In fact, it wasn't rare to look up after a storm up stream and see a wall of water coming at you. That's the way it was here – weeks, sometimes even months, without rain – and then torrential downpours that could last just as long.

  They walked a little faster as the sound of the river got louder. It was still dark, so they walked around the back side of the village and continued on up the road before walking into the thick underbrush and making camp. They were soaked. Their tent and their bedrolls were soaked. What little food they had left was wet. It was raining too hard and it was too dark to look for more. Cold and wet and hungry, they crawled into their tent and tried to sleep.

  It rained all through the daylight hours. Haldeed got out and foraged for food in the down pour, giving up any notion that the rain would slow up soon. No way of making a fire and all he found was some carotte root. It came up easy, and he simply left it hanging in a small bush until the rain had washed it clean. It didn't take long.

  Haldeed held the root for Taleed to eat. Taleed chewed the horrible tasting root and made a decision. "OK, Haldeed. I've had it. Ours is neither a moderate nor a very forgiving world, and neither you nor I have ever been taught how to survive in it. I say we get up this very minute and walk up the road. At the very next village we come to we will find lodging, buy ourselves a good hot meal, take a good hot bath and sleep in a warm dry bed." Before he had finished speaking Haldeed had dropped the root and started packing.

  It was the middle of the night when they came to the small village of Are'ne. The inn, however, took them in at once. They had a backpack full of bercer-roc and that bought hospitality even when someone might not feel like giving it. The huge rock tub in their room was filled with hot running water fed by reed pipes from the temple. They bathed together, each one relishing in the warmth of the water and the feeling of being really clean for the first time in days. Two bowls of steaming legume soup were brought to them and they practically inhaled them. Then feeling warmed inside and out, and dry for the first time in two days they crawled into bed and went to sleep.

  * * *

  Levits felt like h
e was the one who needed to be heavily sedated. He was circling one of the six moons of the planet trying to find a safe place to land, when there really weren't any. Finally he found a suitable crater and started to descend towards it, trying to ignore RJ and Topaz's constant chatter.

  "So, riddle me this. It's a huge planet, and they are living on a very small part of it – no way are they crowded. So, why have they picked the most inhospitable place on the planet to inhabit?" Topaz asked.

  "The oceans, while teaming with life, are constantly in turmoil spawning literally hundreds of hurricanes and causing erratic weather patterns across the planet's surface. Then there are the several thousand active volcanoes which dot the planet's surface. Topographically it may appear that they have picked the most inhospitable region, but, in truth, they have probably populated the only truly habitable spot available," RJ answered.

  "Would you both shut up!" When there was silence Levites took a deep breath. "I just don't know . . ."

  "You're doing fine," RJ said. "It's easy."

  "If it's so easy then you do it," he snapped back. He drew a deep cleansing breath. They didn't understand what they were asking him to do. As he had explained to them this ship hadn't been meant to actually land. It was meant to go from one space station to another and be tethered up. The troops would be off loaded onto the station then sent into smaller, faster ships to do battle either in the air or on a planet's surface. It was a pack animal, and as such it was never meant to do such delicate maneuvers as landing on a specific crater of a specific moon. He wouldn't have felt so bad landing on a planet. In a ship like this the crew could easily survive a minor crash. That is, on an inhabited planet with things like food and air. Not so crashing on a freaking moon made of rock with no breathable atmosphere. Here anything less than a perfect landing could mean disaster – even death. The only plus was that there was less gravity.

  He slowed the ship still more and lowered it slowly down onto the surface of the moon without so much as a bad shake. Once he had successfully settled the ship on its landing gear he set the stabilizers, retracted the gear and anchored the ship. Only when he had checked all his readouts and knew for certain he had executed a safe landing and secure anchorage did he start to breathe again.

  "See? I knew you could do it," RJ said smugly.

  Levits turned on her, madder than hell. "You know what, RJ? Everything is not some big freaking joke. Do you have any idea how much I hate being responsible for all of you?" He unbuckled himself, jumped up and stormed off the bridge.

  "Wow! Who shit in his cereal?" RJ asked of no one in particular.

  "I think you did," Topaz told RJ in a scolding tone. "You might try being a little more sympathetic. You know that was damn hard to do, and you know he was worried about doing it."

  RJ shrugged; she supposed she could be more sympathetic. After all she knew he wasn't thrilled about being in space, and she knew how he felt about being in a position of authority, still . . . "He's got to get over it sometime."

  "Physician, heal thyself," Topaz mumbled.

  RJ pretended not to know what he meant and ignored him. She checked to make sure that all communication links with the Reliance were completely closed and that the ship's cloaking device had been activated. Now they would just have to hope that the Reliance wouldn't do a thorough reconnaissance of the planet's moons when looking for their missing ship.

  Working in their favor was a strange planetary phenomenon. Beta 4 periodically radiated anomalous but powerful magnetic pulses. These pulses affected the planet and space immediately surrounding the planet, causing transmissions and other signals to either bounce or fluctuate erratically. Communication and locating devices were functional but not reliably so. Scans might indicate objects where there was nothing, and it was just as likely that things that were there might not show up. If the Reliance wanted to find the ship, they would have to send out a manned reconnaissance vessel to actually look for it. Not only was that improbable without some indication of an explosion, but it was a big moon, and after all, the ship was cloaked. It would be difficult if not impossible for the Reliance to find them in this particular location.

  Everyone but David had been on the bridge strapped in just in case there were any problems. David had been strapped to his bed. RJ unbuckled her own belt and stood up. She stretched as if she had just woken up from a nap. "I'm going to go un-strap David."

  She left the bridge and started down the hall for David's room. When she walked in the door she took a double take. The straps were broken, the IV was dripping on the floor, and David was gone.

  "Oh shit!" she trumpeted, and within seconds the others were at her side.

  Topaz looked in the room and visibly shrank. "Oops," he said.

  "Oops!" RJ slapped a hand to her forehead. "Freaking oops! He had advanced space sickness, you forgot to sedate him, and you're saying oops!"

  "Sorry?" Topaz added with a shrug.

  "Great!" Levits looked at RJ. "What now, Great Leader?"

  RJ temporarily forgot about the task at hand. "Why are you so pissy with me lately? If you didn't want to go this badly, you should have stayed on earth. I told you I didn't want you here . . ."

  "And I told you why that wasn't an option, but you weren't listening. You never listen to anyone unless they're saying what you want to hear!" Levits screamed back. "We all had to come because – like it or not – you need us. You couldn't do it on your own. You'd screw it up, and we'd have the Reliance breathing down our throats again."

  RJ shoved him, and he hit the wall.

  "You know what you are? You're a freaking bully!" Levits pushed away from the wall and got right in her face. "Pushing everyone around. Knowing they can't push back."

  RJ looked like she was close to shoving him through a wall. The truth really did hurt, and as a general rule if you hurt RJ, she hurt you.

  "Wow!" Topaz screamed holding up his hands. "If you two could just put this pissing contest on hold, one of our crew is wandering around the ship in a psychotic daze."

  RJ took a deep breath and glared at Levits who glared right back. "All right." RJ said taking a deep breath. "Topaz, you and Poley and the girl . . ."

  "I have a name," Janad protested.

  RJ gritted her teeth. "You guys go that way. Levits and I will go this way."

  Topaz gave her a strange look, which she ignored. She was not going to try to explain the logic behind this division. It should be obvious.

  Just then a crashing and banging began in the direction of the mess hall, so the splitting up became irrelevant and they all ran to the mess hall instead. They followed a trail of David's torn clothing down the hallway. When they reached the room they found David standing buck naked in the middle of one of the tables with a stack of pans in his hands. When he saw them he started laughing, and then he started hurling pans at them. One of his arms hung funny. No doubt it had been pulled out of socket when he'd broken his restraints.

  "Ow! That's got tah hurt," Levits said making a face as he looked at the arm. He jumped out of the way of a flying pot just in the nick of time.

  "Go away! All of you go away! You're trying to kill me!" he screamed. Drool ran down his face and dripped off his chin. "Doesn't matter. We're all going to die anyway, but I'm going to kill all of you first. Take this and this." He started throwing pans again. When he ran out of pans he squatted and literally shit in the middle of the table.

  "God!" Levits said pulling a face. "So much for worrying about an impaction."

  Then David reached down and grabbed the fresh turd.

  "Oh no!" RJ yelled as she realized what he was about to do. She ran forward and jumped through the air grabbing him. They both landed on the floor, but unfortunately, that just seemed to help David to sling crap all over all of them and the room.

  "Shit!" Levits screamed, unable to do anything but stand with his hands out looking down at himself.

  "Precisely," Poley agreed.

  Topaz ran up and gave the
squirming man a shot with the pocket medic. RJ got off of David only when he was still. She put her foot on his shoulder, grabbed his filthy hand and pulled his arm back into socket. She looked down at her shirt and chain, which were covered in shit, and then turned to glare at Topaz.

  "Sorry," Topaz said again. "Guess this gives an all new meaning to 'mess hall'."