by CW Tickner
‘The First Book was wide-spread with many copies. Half of the book was societal, the rest gave detailed use of metal working, smithing and steam power. These simple techniques allowed us to prosper without becoming savages again. They taught the basic skills needed for a life using science. The second was rarer than the first. It introduced electricity and how to combine of all the basic science from the First Book. It taught us how to build and repair all the equipment that our forefathers brought here, appliances, communications, even the weapons. The Second Book was the basis of our education for hundreds if not thousands of years. It is how we’ve maintained all the old equipment over the years and how we’re able to keep Delta running. We have two or three original copies of the second book left over from the hiver attacks through the years and we guard these deep within the metal caves.’
He took a swig from a cup of liquor on the table as everyone waited, patient but eager.
‘We’ve learnt everything from the first two books, but so many of the needed materials are unavailable that we can only use a fraction of that knowledge. The texts are studied only by the Enlightened and their descendants.’
Kane lowered his bruised head into his hands and was silent for a moment. When he looked back up, his eyes showed the glimmer of tears.
‘Enlightened seems a misnomer now. What have we done for the people of Delta in recent years? The Enlightened have kept knowledge hidden away. Those of us trying to unite the factions are little better than the others. The histories hint that time and again mankind turned on itself and we fell into the same trap. The knowledge in the three books should have been free to all, not stashed away and hidden in the offices of the Council.’
‘What about this Third Book?’ Sonora asked.
Kane smiled. ‘It is the missing link between us and our history. Let me explain. The Third Book’s purpose is the same as the second. It’s full of technologies and the details of how to use and repair them. In short, it’s an encyclopedia of technology and advanced electronics.’
‘Why is that so important?’ Damen asked. ‘We have everything we need.’
Kane was silent for a moment, as if collecting his thoughts.
‘The Second Book told us about old technology. Most importantly it told us about the habitation modules left by the first settlers. These were lived in by our ancestors and, at some point, they were brought inside to hide them from the Aylen’s discovery. Many of the rooms, like the one you stayed in, are modules that fitted together to make larger spaces to live and work in. They’re in poor repair. Some have been scrapped, but others are still serviceable. The second book was vital in understanding all of this.’
‘The Third Book is similar in nature, but it takes it a step beyond by detailing the ships that we arrived in.’
‘Ships?’ asked Harl.
‘Yes,’ Kane said. ‘We had two originally, but over the generations we used one to repair the other.’
‘But what are ships?’ Sonora asked.
Kane raised his hands in apology.
‘Forgive me. It’s so easy to forget that you don’t know any of this. Simply put, we are not natives of this planet.’ Seeing their blank looks, he laughed. ‘Let me see… At one time you thought that the tanks formed your whole world. You believed that you were natives of that land, correct? Then you discovered that there was a world beyond that. This world.’ He stretched his arms wide to indicate the space around him. ‘But we do not belong here either. We come from above, from the sky and the space beyond it. We travelled here in great ships, like carts built to transport people across the sky. This planet is like one of the tanks. We are from a different one and the ships allow travel between them. We have long hoped to use the ship to get back to our origin. The Third Book contained all the details of the ships, how to repair them, how to fly them. It even traced some of the history of our journey here. Using those details we managed to salvage parts from one ship and use them to repair the other. We had nearly completed the repairs when the hivers attacked fifty years ago. The population split and the Third Book disappeared. Without it, the repairs ground to a halt. We just didn’t have the knowledge to complete them without referring back to it.’
‘You have hidden this knowledge from us,’ Damen said, his fist crashing onto the table.
‘True,’ Kane said, hanging his head for a moment. ‘It is just the way it has been since the split of our people. It was not my decision. The Passives knew about all this before abandoning the city. It was they who chose to forget.’
Damen grunted but let Kane continue.
‘When the hivers attacked and the population split, the Third Book mysteriously disappeared and any work on the ship was halted. We know there is one key element left for us to be able to use the ship, something to do with the engines, but without the book it’s impossible to complete the work. ’
‘The engines?’ Harl asked, stumped by the word.
‘They make it move upwards.’ It was Gorman who spoke and as one they all looked at him.
‘You know of this, grandpa?’ Sonora asked.
‘Yes my dear. My father worked on the ship, as did his father before him. Even back then it was in a poor state of repair. Much progress must have been made since then to be this far along.’
‘That is true,’ said Kane, a note of awe in his voice at finding this out, ‘but without the Third Book it has been a guessing game. Although we’re sure we have the right of it so far. You had the book all along?’
‘Yes,’ Gorman said, as though it was obvious. ‘My father passed it on to me before he died. I’ve had it ever since, locked inside a box in a box.’ He laughed sourly at his own joke. ‘You say the Enlightened leaders have it now?’
Kane gripped the mug in front of him so tight his fingers turned white.
‘Unfortunately so,’ he said.
‘And this ship?’ Sonora asked. ‘Where is it?’
‘It’s deep inside the caves in a hanger beyond the council chamber,’ Kane said. ‘The hanger doors open out into the plain beyond the mountain, but they can only be opened up from inside. The ship’s still under construction so it’s all a moot point, really; we don’t even know whether the doors will open after all these years.’
Yara came in carrying plates of heaped meats and bread. Uman helped her to serve and silence fell as they became absorbed in the meal and their thoughts.
Damen was the first to break the silence. He paused with a fork of food halfway to his mouth and pointed his knife at Gorman.
‘How did you end up in the Aylen’s lair, old man? It’s the one part of this mess that I can’t figure out.’
‘Only the one?’ Kane muttered.
Laughter rippled around the table.
Gorman smiled, but then pushed his plate away as his face grew cold.
‘When the hivers attacked us in the great battle,’ he said, his blank eyes closed in recall, ‘they drove a small group of us into a cave, separating us from the fighting at Delta. My whole family and about twenty other people huddled inside as the monsters fought to gain entrance, but being only a child I was unable to help. Men were dying at the cave opening, one by one, as they tried to protect us. Though we had good weapons, the enemy were too many in number and swarmed into the narrow opening. My father was defending the entrance when he was struck a hard blow and forced back into the cave. Others took up his place while my mother crawled over to tend to him. As he lay on the floor, blood flowing from a head wound, he bade me to bring his satchel over.
‘When I handed him the heavy bag, he told me to take it and that I was now the man of the family. As he died, a hiver broke through the battle-weary men at the entrance and I stumbled backwards as it came at me. I tripped and fell. Thankfully a man skewered the beast before it tore into me, but he left the beast pinning me to the floor and it hid me from view. More foul monsters swarmed into the cave, slaughtering everyone in the cramped confines.’ He stopped for a moment before continuing, as if gathering hi
mself. ‘I struggled free a long time later when the screams had faded. Picking up my father’s satchel, sword and pistol, I had to roll my mother and sister’s bodies from the pile blocking the entrance before I could get free.
‘I assumed that the main plague of hivers must have made it to Delta, so I didn’t return. Carrying the bag with the book inside, I headed in the opposite direction. For two turns I wandered without food and water until I collapsed. I don’t know how long I lay on the ground plagued by horrible visions, but, eventually, an immense shadow fell over me. In a daze I realised it was an Aylen. The next thing I remember I was inside one of those bloody tanks. It took me weeks to realise I had not imagined the Aylen and all that led up to it. I wanted to, believe me. I tried to forget and sometimes I wish I had...’ He trailed off.
‘I’m so sorry, Grandpa. I didn’t know,’ Sonora said, tears appearing in her eyes.
‘Don’t worry, my girl. I made it through.’
‘How did you get out?’ Harl asked, refilling his bowl. He wanted to reach over and take Sonora’s hand but Gorman, sensing her sadness, put his hand on her arm.
‘Well,’ Gorman said, ‘after you left, I dealt with those foolish friends of Felmar. I then made my way slowly to the house and used some of the old metal containers to forge a container big enough for me to fit inside.’
He pulled out his flask to take a swig, but stopped midway and placed it back inside his robe.
‘At the time I was sure that the cube would be emptied by the Aylen. The disease had swept through the town killing everyone. What else could they do but empty the tank and start again? When I heard it coming, I padded the inside of the box and crawled inside. It seemed like an age before anything happened, but when the giant came, I held on as its voice boomed over the land. I could not be sure of surviving what was to come, but I wasn’t ready to give in. When it clawed out everything inside the tank I was bumped around, but I eventually felt a sense of weightlessness followed by a series of rolls and a final bang. I must have blacked out for a long time. I opened the container and crawled my way out. I lay there for a long time basking in the sun.’ The last word was said with relish. ‘I was lucky not to have been buried, but that is the way of things.’
‘Fascinating,’ Kane said.
Uman stepped closer to Gorman and placed a hand on his shoulder.
‘I was sent to look into the ruins by Damen,’ Uman said, ‘and to my surprise I see an old, blind man lying face up on the ground, with a box next to him, half buried in soil.’ He smiled at the strangeness of the sight. ‘At first I thought him a dead man, like the rest, then I saw the old man twitch and I assumed he had crawled out of the box. I did what I could to help and we talked for a while. When he said his name was Gorman, I realised he was the same Gorman that Harl and Sonora had spoken of, the one who gave them the weapons. When I told him I had met you both he was jubilant. Then I explained that you were to be imprisoned.’
‘Hearing that you were alive was all that I had hoped for,’ Gorman said as he reached over and squeezed Sonora’s hand, ‘but I feared for you immediately. The book. I knew it would be of importance, but I had no idea that it would put you in so much danger. I asked all I could about the current state of Delta and, when Uman here had told me, I knew we would have to act quickly. I am glad we came when we did.’
‘Me too,’ Harl said, thinking of the guard at the gate and his narrow escape from decapitation. ‘But what now?’
‘Time to fight, I think,’ Gorman said.
‘Most of the population are on our side,’ Kane said. ‘They will act if we ask them to, but how far they will go, I cannot say. I have few friends among them, but most saw what the council condemned you to when they were at the gates.’
‘So, it’s a rebellion then,’ Sonora said with a laugh, and Harl couldn’t tell if she was being sarcastic or not.
‘You’re missing one thing from this rebellion,’ Gorman said.
‘What’s that?’ Damen asked, scratching his beard.
‘A leader. Every uprising always needs a leader.’
‘Alright,’ Kane said, ‘who?’
They all looked at him.
‘Oh, no,’ he said, throwing his hands up. ‘I may be on the council, but I’m no leader. Anyway, if it came to it, many Passives would baulk at the idea for that exact reason.’
‘He’s right,’ Damen said. He spun a knife on the table for a moment, flicking it round and round between his hands, frowning. ‘Delta is split down the middle. Neither side trusts the other. How many Passives would follow an Enlightened after what they have put us through? But the reverse is also true. How many Enlightened would be willing to obey the orders of a Passive?’ He laid his palms flat on the table and watched the knife spin to stop. It pointed away from him, at Harl. Damen raised his eyes. His frown deepened.
‘What?’ Harl asked.
‘Deltans do not trust each other. So we need someone else, someone they know, someone like you.’
‘Me?’ Harl sputtered. He raised his hands in objection. ‘I’m no leader.’
‘And yet you led us in our rescue of Kane,’ Damen said. ‘You’re a man I’d willingly follow, as would all around this table.’
Kane laughed. ‘It seems that chance has chosen correctly.’
‘I agree,’ Uman said, slamming his fist down on the table. He punched Harl on the shoulder. ‘He will be strong.’
‘Then it’s settled,’ Gorman said. ‘Harl will lead and, in time, learn all we can teach him.’
Damen pushed his chair back and stood. He looked at them all in turn. ‘Our path is set. Get what rest you can. I will gather the men.’ He walked to the door and paused to look back at them, fire in his eyes. ‘Tomorrow we hunt.’
Chapter 42
They give birth to live young and do not lay eggs as I had imagined.
When dawn arrived the next day, a tension hung in the air. The sun crept above the horizon and cast its light on the entrance to the caves, but instead of the usual cloak of darkness from the overhanging rock, the fragile light threw ominous shadows against the cliff from the crowd of people waiting outside. The noise from the crowd bounced off the nearby brick buildings and reverberated around the square as if its echoes had somehow become imprisoned there.
The low rumble of voices faded out as Harl, Damen, Kane and Uman walked through the crowd. Faces looked at them from all sides as a path was cleared to the base of the weathered stone steps.
Harl looked up at the giant iron doors set back from the stairs. Rust had bled down them in places and there was a grim strength to them. It was the final barrier to the cave complex where the Enlightened had barricaded themselves.
They strode to the top of the steps and Harl turned to face the crowd. Hundreds of faces stared silently up at him in expectation. He swallowed, feeling his throat become suddenly dry.
‘My name is Harl Eriksson. I have come from inside the Aylen’s lair.’ The words came out in a rush. He clenched his fists, annoyed with himself for being so nervous, then took a few deep breaths.
Slow and steady, he thought. Calm.
‘It’s a place where humans are kept as slaves for another race’s amusement. I do not know your ways, nor do I know your technology, or you, the people. But I do know your struggles, your division and your hopes. I have lived under oppressive rulers all my life, so I can feel your pain. In time we will help free those I’ve left behind so humanity can come together again. But today we must throw aside three oppressions: the division of Delta, the gates before you, and the men who have ruled your lives. Arm yourselves and look to your leaders.’
He glanced at Damen smiling eagerly up at him, and then at Kane, who was standing there with a nervous grin on his face while scribbling notes in a small book.
‘The time for peace is over. Raise your swords. Raise your shields. Free Delta!’
Harl thrust his sword in the air and the crowd roared and cheered.
He stepped down and moved in
to the throng of expectant faces. Some people slapped him on the back as he passed, but the majority were still either cheering or embracing their friends and neighbours.
Damen and Uman joined Harl as he moved up to the group of men who had been chosen as the main fighting force. Partially-armoured men, women and boys stood up proudly as he approached, and he spoke to many of them as he passed, asking if they were ready, while Damen checked straps on armour, gave nods of approval, or stopped to tighten a loose cord.
Swords that had been kept above a fireplace for years or tucked away in a corner to gather dust appeared in hands, rusted and dull. Some men carried farm implements or hunting bows, while others waited for Uman as he moved down the line to hand out spears to any without a blade. When everyone was armed they headed back to the top of the steps.
Kane was rooting around in a control box next to the iron doors. He was engrossed in the tangle of wires, muttering to himself as he yanked them out and rearranged them.
He turned to Harl. ‘The people at the front will need to crouch down when the gate is opened. There’s a defence machine inside that will fire a wave of arrows when the gate is swung open, assuming those inside have enabled it.’
‘Alright,’ Harl said, steeling himself. He placed his hand on Damen’s arm. ‘Spread the word.’
Damen nodded and hurried away. He spoke to the host in a hushed tone, giving orders to those who he considered his lieutenants until the host were crouched down to await the attack. Damen was back in a moment and he raised his hand to signal they were ready.
Kane cried in triumph as a series of loud clicks came from inside the gates and they swung open.
A sudden whooshing sound came from behind the gates and a volley of arrows flew out. They sailed over the heads of the crouched warriors and clattered to the ground behind. No one was hit.
‘Rise!’ Damen shouted, waving his sword high above him.