‘I... don’t know, ma’am.’ The Moi officer sounded both puzzled and strangely embarrassed. ‘I was told to call you.’
Kambisha was wide-awake now. ‘Who told you?’
‘A voice. A very powerful voice. I am not religious, but...’ The confusion in her thoughts was clear.
A god? Kambisha thought. Beside her, Ram had come up on his elbows, watching her as she went out of bed.
‘Start at the beginning, Captain. Where are you?’
Mhann’s mind stiffened into official patterns. ‘I am at Rhutarq 5, ma’am. My assigned destination is the BrainLabs complex. The planet is a desert world with a few small seas and sparse vegetation. BrainLabs is a sizable dome, with many three and four-story buildings, heavily protected and very modern. I found a ship had crashed against its dome. A large vessel, possibly one of the newly launched superdreadnoughts. The dome is still intact; the ship lies on her side, damage unknown. Neither ship nor complex answered my call.’ She paused for a moment, as if to gather courage.
‘A clear picture,’ Kambisha said encouraging. ‘Then what happened?’
‘Ma’am... Then the voice came. It was a woman; truly overwhelming. She told me to leave and to get the one in charge. Someone... someone with more intelligence than a gnat.’
‘Ha!’ Kambisha said. ‘That sounds divine. Don’t take it personal, Captain. Are you at the planet right now?’
‘Yes, ma’am.’
‘Stay there; I’ll be with you as soon as possible. Out.’ She went to the wardrobe and got a fresh uniform.
‘We’re going somewhere?’ Ram said, getting up.
‘Eh?’ Kambisha had been thinking of the voice. ‘Yes. It sounds like another deity appeared.’ She sat down to pull on her boots. ‘Gunild, tell Unnaerd we have a mission.’
‘Yes, ma’am. That corvette captain went against all regulations, going directly to you.’
‘I’m not sure I blame her, considering it was a divine command.’ Kambisha checked her belt and arms, and waited for Ram to finish. Then they hurried to the flagship.
Rhutarq 5 was a reddish-brown ball of sand and rock, almost free of clouds.
‘It doesn’t look very hospitable,’ Kambisha said. ‘Is it inhabitable?’
‘According to the files, it is,’ Emma Lin-Gor said. ‘The air is breathable, the temperature is in the forties standard, there is very little wind, and there is ample water, even if it is locked up in the earth. It could be made available for colonization, but the Moi weren’t interested in planets. They were building Realmfleet and concentrated on bases and outposts.’
‘Is there a reason to colonize it?’ Techneer Donoan said, staring at the planet. ‘Any interesting natural resources?’
‘Gemstones,’ Emma said. ‘Spices and a type of edible lichen that is said to be a delicacy. There may be more, for the survey was very cursory.’
‘There is the corvette,’ Captain Unnaerd said, concentrating on the job at hand.
‘I see him,’ Kambisha said. Ni-M 498 was a glittering speck as they approached.
‘Captain Mhann?’ Unnaerd said. ‘Anything to report?’
‘No, sir. All is quiet below.’
A screen lighted up. ‘I’ve got the base on visual,’ Emma said.
‘Stay where you are, Ni-M 498, I’m going to investigate,’ Kambisha said.
Slowly, Lin-Gor sank to right over the wreck and the base.
Kambisha half expected a voice addressing her, but nothing happened. The base was motionless and so was the crashed ship.
She sighed. Now that she was here, she’d better check out the situation. ‘We’ll have a look at the ship’s insides first. How’s the weather, Emma?’
‘Forty-two standard; warm but doable, ma’am.’
‘We won’t need our shields then. Open the airlock, will you?’
Moments later she and Ram’s squad dropped out. Doable, yes; like plunging into a bread oven. There was a strange, pungent smell in the air she failed to recognize. Would that be the spice Emma mentioned?
‘She’s darned big,’ one of the Marines said.
Kambisha agreed; from close up, the crashed ship was enormous; easily three times the size of her own Lin-Gor.
‘There’s an open door near the tail,’ Ram said.
Kambisha had seen it and steered her broom inside. The corridor was like any other ship, only here the wainscoting was blue instead of red. She hovered over the sidewall, and Ram joined her.
‘No sign of life,’ she said. ‘There’s a lot of sand, but not nearly as much as one would expect after a thousand years.’
‘I believe the planet’s atmosphere is very quiet,’ Healer Thon said. ‘That means there’s not much wind.’
‘The layout is the same as with the smaller ships,’ Techneer Donoan said. ‘To the Moi, bigger clearly means just that. No changes in design.’
‘It does make training easier,’ Ram said. ‘Would another shape matter in space?’
‘No idea,’ Donoan said. ‘All my training is Moi-style.’
With the ship resting on its side, the door to the brain room was underfoot. Kambisha hung sideways from her broom and tested the handle. The door opened easily and as a dark pit, the side corridor gaped beneath her.
‘Wait here.’ She descended slowly, with the light from her belt showing her surroundings in harsh detail.
The brain room was at the bottom, with the door standing open. She drifted inside, to the brain’s console. It, too, lay on its side, but for the brain that shouldn’t matter.
Kambisha quickly checked the dials. ‘I’m at the brain,’ she told Ram. ‘There is power a-plenty. I’m starting the wake-up sequence now.’ She went through the ritual, feeling the ship slowly come to live around her. When all was done, she steered her broom back into the corridor.
‘Hello, the ship. I don’t even know your number. Report, will you?’
‘We’re down,’ a female voice said laconically. ‘I’m sorry, my Admiral; we fell. I... Curse it! We crashed! What happened? I... Oh gods of space...’
‘I can explain, but first give me your number, please,’ Kambisha said.
‘Z-Tu 1, Rear admiral Borunn’s flagship. I... but who are you?’
‘High Admiral Kambisha, Realmfleet.’
‘Got that. I have her code,’ Emma said quickly.. ‘Nolaur 9-5.’
Kambisha went on without pause. ‘Change of Overall Command, Z-Tu 1.’ She gave the details. ‘Report, please.’
‘I am confused,’ the ship said. ‘We were on our maiden trip, I newly commissioned and my admiral just promoted to flag rank. We were to pick up a shipment of new brains here and bring them back to Moigar. After that, we would get our definite posting. Then that cursed quake, and... A thousand years gone? A moment, please.’
Kambisha waited patiently.
‘Yes, thank you, General Cruishand,’ the ship said. ‘High Admiral, ma’am? I checked with NavBase. A fine pickle, this. You have replaced the Moi? My admiral will not like that.’
Kambisha stiffened. He’s alive? Her heart hammered loudly, and she felt her stomach contract. A real admiral, not an upstart one like her! How the heck could she ever bluff a Moi admiral into accepting her leadership?
‘Your admiral survives?’ she said, feigning nonchalance.
‘My whole crew is in stasis,’ the ship said. ‘Because we were new, we were prepared for anything.’
‘Don’t wake them just yet,’ Kambisha said. ‘How is your status?’
‘I don’t find any major damages. I am lifting, lifting.’
‘Mind my men in the corridor,’ Kambisha said. Around her, the ship slowly turned upright.
‘I took the liberty to warn them, ma’am. We are back up where we were. BrainLabs still doesn’t answer.’
‘I’m going over there now,’ Kambisha said. ‘Inform my flagship, please. Maintain present station and leave your crew where they are. What is your name?’
‘Yes, ma’am. I am Dorra.’
> ‘Please to meet you, Dorra. Would you open the airlock for us?’
‘We’re in the air, ma’am.’
‘I know; my staff and I will fly down.’
‘But you have no wings. Your pardon; of course, ma’am.’
Kambisha laughed. ‘Innovative technology—we’re riding broomsticks.’
‘Truly? A remarkable novelty, ma’am.’
They flew through the airlock toward the dome. When they were near, Kambisha ported them all inside and they landed.
‘Anyone here?’ she called.
Here, too, only silence answered.
Still no goddess. She shrugged. ‘Let us see to the other brain. The place seems deserted, so you guys stay outside until I’m finished.’
She hurried into the so familiar hall, opened the hatch and went down into the cellar. It was quite cool down here, and all looked clean. Like Z-Tu, the brain was peacefully asleep, and woke just as easily.
‘Good grief,’ she said. ‘I fell asleep? I... Z-Tu? What? Old Cruishand confirmed it? Good-terrible-grief! All my poor brains! I must check... Phew, the whole brain storage is in stasis. Bless the system, for once it worked! I... Beg your pardon, ma’am. You are the new top dog? I mean... the high admiral?’
‘I am,’ Kambisha said, and she spoke her command code.
‘Yes, well, I’m at your service, of course. I... My crew. How many... Darn! I’m missing a few. They knew they had to wear their belts. We’re a restricted operation, ma’am. Stringent security measures; their belts carried an identifier. But some thought themselves too good for it. They’re dead and gone. Most of my people are still here, though. They are so difficult to replace, ma’am.’
‘Brain doctors?’
‘Designers, we call them. Yes, they are quite rare as specialists. I will wake them.’
‘Wai...’
‘MORTAL!’ At last a mighty voice interrupted them. ‘YOU WILL COME TO MY ABODE.’
The room shimmered and changed into an endless library, with packed bookcases stretching out in all directions. A gray-haired woman in a nondescript robe sat at a table, reading a shining tome.
‘I AM THARA,’ she said loudly, as if she was heard of hearing.
‘Dear goddess, there is no need to shout,’ Kambisha said.
The divine blinked. ‘Shout? Oh. I am unused talking to mortals. It this better?’
‘Much better, thank you. Divine Thara, goddess of...’
‘Wisdom, child. That what most men sorely lack. Knowledge they have, but wisdom? Pah!’
Kambisha was almost sure this was a sneer to the address of Divine Lumentis, the Firstworld God of Knowledge, but she didn’t say anything.
‘I saw you at work,’ the goddess went on. ‘Neatly done, waking those two brains. I believe you are making a habit of it? Well, there is one brain around who will very much resent you. I don’t usually invite males, but let’s get him over, shall we?’
Kambisha stiffened as a spasm of fear shot through her. She wanted to shout No! but her upbringing held her back. She balled her fists.
The table with the goddess receded, and outside of a lighted circle around her, all else disappeared into a misty distance. Across from her was a door, a plain spaceship door. Loud footsteps approached, shaking the very floor, and the door crashed open. A thickset, powerful man in a Moi admiral’s uniform strode in. The five stripes on his uniform shone and writhed like snakes, and the many ribbons on his broad chest danced as he marched toward her.
‘You!’ he said furiously, lowering his square-jawed face at her and waving big, hairy hands under her nose. ‘Upstart girl! Coming up out of that barbarian planet like a sneak thief creeping into another’s house! You call yourself an admiral? You’re nothing, a lowly tech! What have you got to say for yourself?’
‘I,’ she began, but he interrupted her immediately.
‘Rubbish! You’re a child, playing at being grown-up. A thieving wretch, stealing what belongs to the Moi! But your tricks end here, child! You are now up against me, Admiral Borunn of Realmfleet. Hand over your codes and submit to arrest.’
Kambisha saw his eyes. They were empty, like a doll’s eyes. Suddenly he wasn’t dangerous or threatening, and she laughed at his bluster.
‘Don’t be silly! With my flagship overhead and your own Z-Tu under my command? Who are you to demand anything? Let me tell you this, Admiral Borunn. I cannot judge your people’s deeds prior to the mana quake, but what they did after that, was a disgrace.
‘The quake knocked out most of the Realm. Your heritor died or disappeared. What happened? You let the Cra take over. You let the Cra command you to return to Moigar, to desert your Realm, to betray your subjects and friends and to slink away like Dreghs. You ought to be ashamed, Admiral Borunn.
‘Now it is our turn. We came out of Firstworld, started resurrecting your bases and ships, saving the lives of your people and rebuilding what you had discarded, and you have the gall to demand me to hand it back? No, sir, Admiral Borunn. If you want to aid us in restoring the Realm, we may have a job for you. But it will be on our terms. You lost the right to dictate them.’
The admiral sputtered in rage and lifted a small object at her. A gun? A paralyzer? She wasn’t about to wait and find out. With a wave of her hand, she sent him a fist of air that slammed him into a bookcase.
‘Divine Thara,’ Kambisha said icily. ‘If you want me to display wisdom, keep this fool away from me, lest my temper and your library suffer unnecessary damage.’
‘So fiery,’ the goddess said. ‘This one is an insufferable fool. He should be, for I took him from your own uncertainties. Still, you handled it well enough; you could not have won with arguments, and you didn’t try to kill him. I am content.’
The admiral disappeared, and the books he had scattered in his fall returned to their places.
‘He wasn’t real?’ Kambisha said. She felt her hands shake, but it was from anger, not fear.
‘Of course not; he was a figment of your imagination. He was your fear of being overruled by one higher than you. You faced him, and now your fear is gone.’
Kambisha realized it was true. Her trepidation at the thought of a Moi admiral had gone. He would follow her or she’d kick him out, just like anyone else.
The goddess nodded. ‘Just so. Now, my command for you. This library around us is real. Not in these endless multitudes, but it is large enough.
‘Gathering the books has been the work of a hundred generations, and the last heritor had undertaken to transfer all its content to one enormous company of brains, volunteer librarians who want to make a single repository of wisdom from which all other brains can get answers. The quake, a word bitter on my tongue, disrupted their work.
‘You must restart the process. A word of warning, though. The base protecting the library has become a den of these despicable mockeries called Dreghs.’
She closed the book on the table. ‘You will find the admiral in the ship more amenable to your suggestions. He is both young and a confirmed Realm man.’
‘I will do your will, great goddess,’ Kambisha said. ‘Such a library would be a mighty fount of wisdom and knowledge both, I deem.’
‘That,’ the goddess said sternly, ‘is a debatable point.’ She held up her hand and a single, unreadable letter drifted down onto her palm. ‘Give this to the one with the unwritten mind. It will help stop the clamoring of his arrival and leave me in peace.’
Before she got the chance to ask anything, Kambisha found herself back in the large hall.
‘High Admiral,’ Dorra Z-Tu said urgently. ‘The crew awoke! There was no malfunction, but still they woke up!’
The goddess is forcing my hand! Kambisha thought, irritated. ‘It wasn’t your fault. How many men are there?’
‘One hundred sixty-nine.’
‘Send them all down,’ Kambisha said. ‘Ram? To me, will you? All is well, but I need moral back-up.’
‘That’s a new one,’ he said and there was a hint of e
lation in his voice. ‘Where did you go?’
‘There was some divine interference,’ Kambisha said. ‘I’ll explain later, but all happened at the same time. BrainLabs? Will you call all your people up here now, not drifting in over the next hour? And what’s your name?’
‘My proper name? Senior Lead Designer Laiisse. I, too, was a brain doctor once. They are on their way, ma’am.’
‘Who is senior?’
‘In lieu of our absent Director that is Chief Lead Designer Iollant; a tall man in glasses.’
‘I’ll find him.’
Then the flagship crew appeared, round-backed and bewildered, with a broad-shouldered officer in a Moi rear admiral’s uniform. As he saw her, he hurriedly came over.
‘You are the new high admiral? Honored to meet you. I’m Borunn, Realmfleet.’
For a second she stared. He wasn’t like the earlier Borunn at all. He was younger, looked pleasant in his bewilderment, more like a well-born Vanhaari.
She nodded. ‘I’m High Admiral Kambisha, Realmfleet. A moment more; I am waiting for the BrainLabs people to arrive.’
She saw a tall, thin man in glasses came in and she called him over. ‘You are Designer Iollant? I will explain in more detail in a minute, but I’ll give you two the bare bones first. The mana quake destroyed the Moi; the Realm went into lockdown and stayed that way for a thousand years.’
She saw the admiral’s face was very composed.
‘Dorra told me. I… will not give in to the shock,’ he said with barely a tremor in his voice. ‘All was wiped out?’
‘Not all, but much,’ Kambisha said. ‘My men and I are from Firstworld. We see it as our task to revive the Realm. We offer every one of you their old job back, we pay good wages and we promise to rebuild everything and make the Realm into an independent power, of which Moi and Firstworld can be a part, but not the other way round.’
‘I am Realmfleet,’ Borunn said. ‘And so are my men. I applaud your sentiment.’ He looked at her, not in enmity, but considering. ‘Yet you are very young. What capabilities do you possess that makes you the one to lead instead of I?’
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