The Hand of Grethia: A Space Opera

by Guy Antibes

  “How long before we get there?” the princess asked.

  “Computer...ETA at Gyron III?,” Jan said.

  “Six days, seven hours,” the computer replied.

  “Take us to Gyron III.” Jan commanded. “Merinnia, you have more studying to do before we land. I’ll work up some basic background that we can use.” They both laughed a little and got down to their studies.

  ~

  “Let’s go over this again,” Jan said.

  “My name is Merinnia Obsomil. I am from the planet Gyron III: Angronian Sector. I am an orphan. You met me there when your spaceship broke down. We found the portal in some ruins a few days away from my house. You will take the portal off-world and me with you. You are going to find out how it works and market the portals. I will be your assistant.

  “We will take pictures of the planet and record our ‘find’. Also we will have pictures of the home of my foster parents. They both died when the house burned down. We lived in a very rural part of the planet. It was so rural, that my birth was not entered on the planet’s infonet. It is a common situation on Gyron III. I will have found you and cared for you, because you became ill walking out of the wilderness from where your ship landed.”

  We might have to bribe a port official to put a phony entry in the log stating you landed 11 standard months ago. It is the same time you landed on Grethia. Is that all correct?” Merinnia said wearily.

  “Excellent. For my part, I will re-establish my identity in case someone has filed to declare me legally dead, which is likely since it only makes sense that whoever sabotaged my ship will think that their work really did kill me.” Jan shook his head with a grim look on his face. “I am getting angrier with whoever sabotaged my ship. I have two missions, Merinnia. The portal business and finding whoever wanted me dead and how they did it. I don’t know what I’ll do when I find out, but I’ll think up something appropriate. If they went after me once, they’ll come after me again. Are you up to all of this intrigue?”

  Merinnia threw back her head and laughed. “After what we just went through on Grethia? You have to remember I am the princess of a barbarian king. I was brought up on palace intrigue.”

  Turning back to Jan she said seriously, “I’m sorry,” she said to a still concerned Jan. “Our time on Gyron III will cover the fact that I am not very sophisticated in your universe. You’ve had teach me many things in the last few weeks: how to dress, how to make up my face, how to do my hair, how to talk properly, but I still think I can teach you a few more things about intrigue and revenge. I’m committed to helping my father, Diltrant and Grethia. I know you’re committed too. But, you don’t know how exhilarating all of this is.” She stood and twirled around in the cabin.

  “Here I can do what I want, when I want, how I want. I can study and learn and, yes, work like a man. I can’t do that on Grethia. Not yet. I can see what you were talking about when you said we couldn’t assimilate all of the technology and cultural changes at once. But I get excited when I am here with you in all of this” she spread her arms wide taking in the ship.

  “All right,” Jan relented trying to smile himself. “You do realize that all of this subterfuge is very necessary. We can be taken advantage of very quickly if we are not careful.”

  Merinnia nodded and smiled again. She left the control room and went to her cabin. Jan looked after her as she departed.A very chaste relationship, this,he thought.I have kissed her a few times, but more like a brother or a close friend after showing how well she’s done learning about Gyron III. I sure would like to be closer to her, but we can’t... I can’t. I have too much to lose. Patience, Jan. He went back to the controls and made sure he was on course for Gyron III.

  ~

  From orbit, Gyron III looked like an idyllic earth-type planet. It was slightly larger, but less dense. The planet developed a profusion of flora, but what fauna had developed were relatively small and did not particularly bother the humans. The first explorers decried the lack of mineral concentrations. Later, colonists discovered a remarkable homogenization of minerals throughout the planet and that found that it had promoted the stunning diversity in the plant life. The settlers introduced earth-type seeds, which adapted well to the world. Not having a great deal of strategic importance, the planet was a backwater to the great cycles of empire.

  Off of the well-traveled space lanes enough not to be suitable for a command post or even a logistics center, Gyron III had never lost contact with the rest of humanity. Although scholars always claimed that the ancient finds were exhausted, people kept showing up with something from time to time. However, nothing of significance had been found for three hundred years or so and the little archaeology school and field study center that had been Gyron III’s center of higher learning had been shut down a century ago.

  There were spaceports, on each of the three main continents. The worldwide administration function was mostly a statutory bureaucracy for recording land purchases and maintaining the agrarian transportation system. The culture produced citizens who didn’t want to be a part of an administration. That meant a small police force and no armed forces to speak of. The empire had a small consulate at Reaga, the largest city on Gyron III and the nominal seat of its worldwide bureaucracy. Regional governments held sway for only a few hundred miles out from each spaceport.

  Far, far away from these cities and from the few huge farms that exported specialty crops off-world, were the myriad of small farmers. With the soil’s fertility ever-present, there was no such thing as subsistence farming. The settlers had brought domesticated animals, which also thrived with them. A single farmer could easily raise sufficient crops on his own to feed his family and provide enough extra to sell. In these smaller enclaves, the people were, according to the computer records, independent, very peaceful and hardworking. So little administration was needed.

  People were born, lived and died having a good life, yet absolutely no one outside of their local friends knew that they existed.

  There was disease on the planet. Occasionally, a virulent strain of some virus or bacteria would cause havoc for a period then the outbreak would settle down and disappear.

  Jan remained in stationary orbit over an extraordinary lush looking area in the planet’s designated southern hemisphere. The only satellites circling the planet were weather-related. The planet had no defenses to speak of.

  “I can see the area we will come out of.” Jan said as he showed Merinnia pictures taken by the reconnaissance camera underneath the ship. “See this area, the little valley. It has been farmed in years past, but hasn’t been used for some time. You can see the vegetation growing in the old furrow lines. There, above the valley and underneath those trees...see the farmhouse? We’ll set down in that same meadow above the valley.” Jan looked over at Merinnia, the glow from the screen illuminating her face. Jan could see the light in her eyes, her head held up to the screen in anticipation.

  “I can see it. It will be the home I have in my story. Can you let me see the house more closely? I want to think about it as we descend. You know, get in the mood. It’ll be like acting, won’t it? I was never allowed to act,” she said with a sigh. “It’s not something princesses do. I’m so excited to do lots of things princesses don’t do.” She clasped her hands and shook them at the ceiling. “Oh, thank you, father!” Merinnia said to the air above the screen.

  Jan smiled at her excitement and brought the house up on his big holoscreen. Definitely abandoned and definitely remote. No roads led away from it. Vegetation nibbled around the edges of a large pad that Jan would use to land on.

  Jan checked the atmosphere when they touched down and heard the report on the computer. Not only did Jan have to worry about hostile organisms to his system, but Merinnia did not have the benefit of his extensive immunization therapy.

  “You need to spend some time in the autodoc, Merinnia. I was taught never to trust to chance when it comes to immunizations. That’s why we had the computer t
est the atmosphere rather than relying on the data alone.” Jan said as he opened the cover to the medical marvel. She gave him a nervous smile and let him help her lay down inside. He closed the door and set the machine. The autodoc sedated Merinnia and began its work. Jan read the screen and wondered what he was going to do for the three hours it would take for Merinnia to be diagnosed and then immunized against most of Gyron III’s diseases.

  Three hours and fifteen minutes later, he opened the autodoc and gently nudged Merinnia awake. He lifted the drowsy woman out of the machine and took her to her cabin, laying her limp, but stirring body on her bed. He had to admit he enjoyed touching her, but felt the constant pressure to restrain his feelings.

  “I’ll be back. My treatment shouldn’t take as long. I have been to lots of planets.”

  “Did you have to spend three hours in there when you came to Grethia?” she said dreamily.

  “Not very long at all. Grethia is an extremely clean planet. I guess nuclear holocausts help keep the pests down. It looks like Gyron III will take a little more getting used to. The autodoc estimates I’ll be in the chamber for about an hour and a half. That fertility breeds a lot of germs.” Jan smiled. “You lay there for a while and I’ll be back. Then we can both explore your new roots.” He patted her gently on the hand and left the room.

  Ninety-two minutes later, Jan arose from the autodoc, a little woozy himself, and went to the open door of Merinnia’s cabin. There she lay, quite asleep. Sleep seemed like a good idea to Jan, so he went into his own stateroom and closed his eyes.

  What seemed to be a second later, Merinnia was pinching his arm off. “Wake up! Wake up! Let’s go!” Merinnia was incredibly excited. She had changed into one of his jumpsuits. She had to roll up the legs and arms and looked rather fetching.

  Jan washed his face to clear away the remaining cobwebs and went to the main cabin. “Into the air lock. We don’t need to any preparation. We’ll just go out and look around.”

  She laughed and put her arm around his and dragged him to the outside lock. “I’m ready to explore.” Her interest and excitement easily overcame her frustration with her traveling companion.

  They stepped out into a brilliant afternoon looking down into a valley bordered by steep hills except where they stood. Jan immediately thought of his first landing in the high valley on Grethia. The foliage was different, but the alien feeling was the same.

  A full circle?he thought.No. This is the beginning of something new.

  They walked over to the farmhouse. Vines had started to cover up windows and the doorway on the darker side of the house. Jan walked up to a bright red door. The plastic had not deteriorated at all. In fact, overgrown plants and the thin layer of dirt on the siding of the house made it look deserted. The construction of the house was fully synthetic. It was a typical prefabricated dwelling for a remote farmer and the structure had retained its integrity.

  Looking at the door latch, he realized there was no lock on the door. He entered the house and noticed a rotten smell. The plants covering the windows left enough light in to explore the place. The furniture was very utilitarian but something disturbed Jan. This house reminded him of something, somewhere.

  Merinnia walked through a doorway and screamed. Jan ran into the room. Lying on a bed were the remains of two individuals. From the hair remaining on the scalps, one was a man and the other a woman. From the condition of the place, they had been dead a long, long time. Merinnia turned away from the scene once Jan walked into the room and figured out that the house reminded him of the desolate remains on the dead Grethian continent.

  “I’m sorry, Jan. I wasn’t prepared to see them just lying there. I thought this was abandoned.” Merinnia explained.

  “It is, by those living, I guess.” Jan replied, looking around the room. “I’ll bury these folks and then we can try and find out who they are... or were.”

  They both left the bedroom and began looking around the outside of the house. Merinnia definitely did not want to return inside while the two bodies remained.

  “Look, Merinnia.” Jan called out. “Here is their transportation.” Merinnia came over to Jan who was in a barnlike structure across a field from the house.

  The sunlight was beginning to wane. Dust motes caught the light as it streamed through the door and the windows. One vehicle, dust-covered like everything else at the farm, reposed in unused silence. It was an all-purpose vehicle. Jan thought back to the Grethian Hall vehicles, seeing the similarities. This was both an above-air vehicle and a land vehicle. Tracks were on each side, yet Jan could see standard repulsor units around the vehicle. In another corner of the barn, the implements lay; a disc for plowing furrows, some kind of harvesting attachment Jan couldn’t figure out, a hole digger and a blade with a bucket attached for dirt work. They were all arranged so that the vehicle could be driven right up to each implement and attached.

  Jan opened the plastic bubble of the cab and climbed in. The sun continued to descend, but Jan was determined to put the house occupants at rest for the night. He turned the machine on. The power levels showed empty. Jan went to the ship and got some power cells that should have worked. With a few modifications, he inserted the batteries and powered up, rewarded by the machine humming into life once again. Jan had no idea how they had power out here—something that would have to wait until morning.

  He looked over at Merinnia. “Do you want to go back to the ship? I can do what needs to be done by myself.”

  “No. I will help you. It’s the least I can do. I’m sorry I was so overcome in the house. I won’t apologize for my shock, but I must be tougher. It reminded me of our experience in the far land.”

  “That was my first impression, too.” He maneuvered the machine to the blade attachment. He was able to marry them up automatically. As he lifted the blade up and turned around, Merinnia had opened up both doors of the barn to let him out.

  Jan looked around when he had gotten out and saw a little glade where a good resting place would be. He hovered the machine to the spot he wanted to stop and let it down to use the tracks. After taking some time to find the right controls, (most of them had icons on them, making his puzzle easy) the tracks began to move and Jan was digging out a burial plot. The night was beginning to descend and he switched on lights. As he turned, he found a set of three markers close to his digging. He stopped his task and got out of the machine to investigate.

  There in a row lay three plastic slabs. Carved out of each were names and dates. The couple in the house must have seen their children die in front of their eyes. In less than a week, all of their children had died. The dates showed that the deaths occurred about twelve years ago.

  Merinnia came up to Jan and looked silently at the graves. She took Jan’s hand and held it as she looked at the markers. Tears came unbidden to her eyes as she read the dates, the ages and the markers. A whole family wiped out by some disease they had no ability to fight. And when they all caught it, they could do nothing if their only transportation had run out of power.

  Jan put his arm around her shoulders and let her look at the plot for a while. “We need to get the family together, Merinnia.”

  Merinnia nodded and sighed. Then wiping away her tears, she nodded her head. She looked him in the eyes. Jan could see the pain still in them. She turned and went back into the barn with a hand-held light from the ship.

  Jan went back and filled in his first hole and started on another closer to the children. When he was finished. He drove back to the barn. Outside, a crate had been dragged outside. Merinnia was tacking some cloth taken from a bolt she had found stored in the barn. She had found a hammer and some small nails by the workbench inside. Some packing material had been placed to line the bottom. Jan could see her tear-soaked face glisten in the artificial light.

  Without a sound, Jan left her to her work. He found a narrow screen frame hanging on the wall and went into the house. He wrapped the pair up as best he could in their rotted sheets and
slid the frame underneath the bodies.

  Jan winced as he could hear the bones coming apart as he moved them, but he continued. Then he went outside to fetch Merinnia. Silently they lifted the frame and carried it out to the barn. The frame was small enough to fit inside the crate. They lowered the remains down and both jumped into the machine. Jan extended the blade and pushed it underneath the crate, then lifted it up. They drove in silence to the gravesite. Jan lowered the crate into the hole.

  Both got out of the machine and, in the light from the headlights, bowed their heads. Jan kneeled down and picked up a handful of dirt and tossed it over the crate. “Now they are united with their children, someplace, I hope.”

  “May whatever gods they worshipped embrace them in their life to come.” She bent over and grabbed a handful of soil and threw that in.

  “I’m sure, Merinnia, their god embraced them long ago.”

  Jan got into the machine alone and pushed the dirt back over the crate. Then he smoothed the dirt around the plot. “Let’s go back to the ship.” He opened the door for Merinnia.

  She entered the main cabin and hugged herself tightly. A grim, sad look came over her face. “I’ll feel better in the morning.” she said, her voice breaking as she went directly to her cabin and shut the door.