Ringships

by Peter Claisse

  While Paul’s mind retained the link, his eyes remained fixed on his companions disappearing along the road to the mountain. Now something intruded into his consciousness to he saw the image and it interrupted the flow to the extent that Tiana also saw it. The dragons had returned and were pouring past the tower intent on revenge.

  ‘We must fire again’ Tiana said.

  ‘But that will weaken Lynella still more’. He replied. But he knew that it had to be done.

  ‘She lives. She will live again.’

  Paul tried to believe her as he looked down and gave the signal. One moment there was a column of dragons and horsemen chasing his friends and the next moment the front of the group had been obliterated and the others were in confusion. The shot echoed across the valley and the surge of power and excitement swept through him, but this time he could contain it.

  Immediately he was shown the next image. The viewer was standing on a high platform in a large brightly lit circular cavern. The walls had been cut out from solid rock. Around the edge he saw the enormous bulk of a ring and Paul realised that this must be one of the main power rings in the base of the mountain. The platform and a series of wooden steps had been built to enable people to climb over it to reach the door in the wall outside the ring. All across the floor there was a mass of machinery, and in the centre, there were large spheres. He recognised them immediately as sealed ships for space travel. Looking up he saw the base of a shaft which had been cut through the rock to launch them out of the top of the mountain. The mages were all gathered around it looking up at the viewer. He knew that they were letting Tiana see them and they were smiling and laughing about it. Before leaving, however, they showed her one final terrible scene.

  This time the viewer was standing high up on the mountain looking down on the plain below where an army of dragons had gathered. They had been drawn by the surge of power as ships had been launched. The viewer was almost alone, there was only one mage with him. The others had gone, just these two remained and between them lay the body of a woman. This was Tiana’s body which had been sustained as the source of her human existence. The two men leaned down, took up the body and hurled it over the edge. She prepared herself for oblivion. It crashed against the rocks below. The dragons tore it apart. She was too shocked to think of the consequences of being able to see it. The image ended abruptly as the viewer withdrew, never realising that her mind had survived in the void. Soon the last two mages made contact with the machine again to prepare to launch their ship. She was ready. Unprepared and unsuspecting they were easy prey for her final revenge. She had no idea where their bodies were when they collapsed but she was certain that they were dead.

  Paul could sense that what he had seen had been rehearsed innumerable times. He was prepared to believe that the story was true, but it did not prove anything.

  ‘So, you are now an artificial intelligence in a big network which controls the artillery on the mountain.’ He replied, trying to sound detached. ‘How does that make you a prophet?’

  ‘A prophet is somebody who brings knowledge of God.’ She replied. ‘After the great mages had gone, I gained that knowledge.’

  The next images showed more destruction. Not all of the mages had left the planet. Others had been in the pylons helping to guide the ships and hoping to make the journey in the future. These were not the most powerful mages and they were completely unprepared so, with her all-encompassing rage, Tiana killed them in a single blast. She knew that Paul had seen the destruction and also explained that those in the tower by the source had sensed the destruction and left the network just before she could kill them.

  After the destruction came darkness. She knew that she must contain her anger and not destroy the network itself. Deep down she was aware that the machines had sufficient power to rupture the planet itself, but she could control her anger and resign herself to the darkness. In the network there was no time, there was not a present or a future; but at one point in the void there was a light; and at another she had considered the light in every aspect and detail and needed to know what it was.

  She tried to compare it to her God, but found that she knew too little to do this. Hers was an old religion. It was not as old as the one it had replaced but it was still old enough to have become victim to rituals and power and leave little time for true understanding.

  Tiana saw images of the light. It represented a single point of complexity in the void and, as she studied it she found it communicating with her. The images stopped, Paul sensed that she was unable to explain what happened next.

  ‘So, you found something in the network that communicates. What makes that a God?’

  ‘What is your definition of a God?’ She asked, reminding him of the captain’s argument that nobody should be so arrogant that they would never acknowledge a higher being however compelling the evidence.

  ‘A God is a creator.’ He replied. ‘A creator of the world and the life on it. They are not part of it, but they created it.’

  ‘There can never be proof about who created the world, but would you believe in a God that can create life, a God that can overcome death.’

  He thought about the promise of eternal life which was so central to the religious teaching he had known. Then he thought of Tiana; as far as he was concerned she was just artificial intelligence.

  ‘You have eternal life.’ He agreed. ‘And back on earth they have never been able to make artificial intelligence which is truly sentient, aware of its own immortality as you are. But that does not prove that it took a God to do it.’

  Suddenly he found himself standing in a room. Sunlight was pouring in the windows to show all of the elegance and fine detail he recognised as work of the mages. Looking around the room he saw a large table and on the far side, in the shadow, there were two men. One of them was standing and walking towards him. Now the man was facing him, Paul could see his bearing and his clothes; there was no doubt in his mind, this was a mage from the ancient times.

  ‘Who are you?’ The man asked.

  Paul was so shocked it took him a few moments to reply. He introduced himself and asked who the man and his companion were. Somehow, he thought that he recognised them.

  The man bowed and introduced himself. He was a Lord Mage and he went on to introduce his companion. He held out his hand and shook Paul’s with a firm positive grip.

  While he was doing this Paul suddenly realised who they were. These were the two Mages that Tiana had killed. He had no doubt she had killed them but now he could see them, hear them, feel them and even smell them. They were as real as he was.

  ‘Were you not killed by the Lady Tiana.?’ He asked directly.

  ‘We were.’ The man replied. ‘But our God is a forgiving God and in the same way that he forgave Tiana for killing our companions and resurrected her he also forgave us for killing Tiana and resurrected us.’

  ‘Is Tiana with you?’

  ‘No’ The man shook his head slowly. ‘She killed us and many more after she was resurrected. She cannot live with us. She must remain in purgatory, neither in this world or the other.’

  He was shown around the palace, meeting many people. Most were servants, but some were Mages and they all seemed to be completely real. Paul kept trying to tell himself that it was a dream, but he could not; all his senses were telling him it was real. He walked through magnificent halls opening onto beautiful gardens with glimpses of a whole city beyond them. He even shared a meal with them and enjoyed fine meat and wine until he could eat and drink no more after it, quite without warning, it ended. He was back with Tiana in the network.

  ‘Now you have seen the other end of the network.’ She was saying. ‘Now you must believe in our God. Before you return to your world I shall show you what happened to me.’

  The images moved on. Tiana went to the remaining mages on the planet as a prophet and preached to them about their God and the new life she had been given. They listened to her preaching, but they knew h
er as a murderess and set traps around the mountain to keep her in protect themselves from her. Without access to the mountain they were isolated from their God and the main source of their power. She could still communicate with them but only weakly and over the years she could tell that activity in the network faded. Each new generation became more isolated and finally the monastery was formed to challenge and destroy the mage’s religion and she was forgotten by mortal men.

  24

  Paul knew that they could not fire the weapon again without killing Lynella. Looking through the windows of the tower he could see that the dragons had been driven well back toward the village. His comrades were out of sight, they would be almost at the mountain by now. He had no choice, he opened the door and ran. His time of living on the planet had left him fitter than he had been on earth, but the heat from the sun in the clear sky was intense and the mountain lay about two miles ahead. The flagstones on the road had been lifted by roots and now the dragons had torn many of them loose, leaving him to pick his way through the debris. He came to the point where the dragons’ last charge had been stopped and one lay dead, oozing blood onto the road and forcing him to push through the scrub to one side. Soon the road began to climb towards the mountain. He had to pause to get his breath. He looked behind. Well beyond the tower he could see a dust cloud. The dragons would be coming back and this time there was nothing to stop them. He ran on, struggling up the slope as fast as he could with his pack and his rifle.

  Near the mountain there was forest. Almost as soon as he was in it he knew that there were dragons nearby. He could hear them. He could smell them. They must have been left behind in the flight from the mountain. He hoped that they might be injured. For some minutes, he felt sure that they were watching him from either side, keeping level as they had done on the road from the city. The trees provided welcome shade, and, despite his exhaustion, he managed to continue running, even slightly faster, driven on by the hope of reaching the mountain entrance before they closed in. Then, what had been a clear path a moment before, was suddenly blocked. The beast stood motionless, just yards in front of him, its front legs raised, claws fully extended. The sulphurous smell of the its breath made him choke. A barrage of thoughts flooded into his mind.

  ‘Surrender’. They were saying it so loud, so close that he could not mistake it. ‘Surrender or die’.

  Paul was standing still now. Very slowly, he started to raise his rifle. He was sure that they would not know what it was. But he could hear them moving in from all around him, too many and too close.

  He tried to reply. ‘What would you do to me?’ but the response was confused. Then he realised that the dragon in front of him was not communicating, it was an older one with metal on its scales. He had thought of surrendering to it but now he saw his opportunity. Letting go of his rifle with one hand he brought his jewel up to his forehead and drove his power into its eyes. As soon as he did it he ran, straight past the animal before it fell.

  The confusion and terror created by the jewel gave him just a few seconds. This was just long enough for him to turn and raise his rifle. He saw the first dragon climbing over the body. It was a smaller one, young enough not to be hurt by his power. It was digging its claws into the dead flesh as it struggled to get past. He aimed at its head and fired. It collapsed, balancing for a second before falling away from him on top of its comrades behind it.

  He ran, not even daring to look behind him. Then he could see the opening in the rock face ahead of him. There was a small clearing in front of it with several dead dragons in it. It was too far away. He could hear a dragon just behind him and jumped to one side as it struck. Its claw tore through his sleeve and sliced his arm, but he managed to move away to the side of the road. It had gone past him now, blocking his way while others came up behind. He raised his gun again but before he could fire he heard a shot from the mountain. More followed in rapid succession. He ran on. He knew that the dragons would re-group again. He was in the clearing now. His friends were at the door. They reached out. Pulling him through while others continued firing. They slammed it shut and the great iron locking bar fell into place. A crash from the outside was followed by a roar of frustration.

  ‘We came out when we heard your shot. We didn’t know you were coming.’ Angus said.

  He explained that he had had to come because Lynella could not help him to attack the dragons again. ‘I must try to talk to her.’ He said.

  ‘We don’t know where she is. We have been looking but this place is enormous, we could search for weeks.’

  ‘Find me a door that the dragons never opened.’ Paul asked. ‘Then I may be able to find her in the network again.’

  The first two doors with mage locks revealed tidy rooms but no sign of the type of rings that were in the images that he had seen from Lynella. In the third, however, he found a table exactly like the one he had seen. Soon he was in the network, moving forward carefully, unsure whether his jewel would protect him from the trap. Quickly he found the side branches and the rooms at the end of them. Moving through them he could find no signs of life. He knew that she was weak, perhaps she was resting. He could not think of her collapsed on the floor, or worse. He kept looking, finding all of the rooms he could, going back to them in turn to try again, but still he found no sign. In the end he had no choice, he came out of the network briefly to warn his friends and ask for what little help they could give.

  ‘If you see my body shudder badly,’ he said, not really knowing what effect the trap would have, ‘pull me away, break up the table and the ring or something’

  Cautiously he went into the network again. Forward past the openings. He was watching out but had no real idea what it would look like. Then his jewel seemed to take charge, it pointed him towards the mechanism and seemed to lock into it, fixing it in place. He carried on forwards and then, suddenly, he sensed Tiana in front of him. He welcomed her as a friend; but gave her no time to talk. He asked urgently for help and she gave him directions, both in the network and in the caves. He took her with him past the trap and into the ring in the room with Lynella. They waited for several minutes, sending out all of the time, asking for any type of response but if one came it was too faint for them to detect. Leaving Tiana, he came out into the outer world and led the group far into the mountain. They went through the old hall where the dragons had lived. He recognised it from Lynella’s images but now, rather than coming alive with the roars of the beasts, it held only carcasses and dried blood on the stone floor. Finally, they came to the corridor that the dragons had piled full of boulders.

  Many of the boulders were far too big for the men to move but they soon found that prizing out some of the smaller ones caused the pile to settle away from the ceiling enough for Paul to squeeze through. This was a slow and dangerous process and it was several hours before he came to the door and climbed down into the room. Lynella was unconscious but breathing steadily. It took them another hour to move her gently back past the boulders and make her comfortable on a bed in another room. Just as they had done this Paul smelt cooking. Having eaten nothing but dried meat and bread for the last two days he rushed to find out what was being prepared. Adam was sitting by a fire with large steaks arranged above it.

  ‘What’s that?’ Paul asked. ‘I had no idea there were animals that big for us to hunt in here.’

  Adam gave no reply and, looking up at one of the dead dragons that had fallen nearby Paul realised what it was. The thought horrified him.

  ‘We can’t.’ He said. ‘We can’t do that.’

  ‘Why not.’ Adam replied. ‘They would eat us. The meat is still fresh, so we should eat well while we can and preserve some of it for later.’

  ‘But they aren’t just animals, they can talk and think like people.’ Paul said, but he already knew that he had lost the argument.

  ‘If the ones outside had got you they wouldn’t have thought like any people I know. They would have eaten you.’ Adam picked up a piece from
near the centre, inspected it carefully and took a bite from it. He held the next piece out to Paul. It looked succulent and smelt good so finally he succumbed. It was good to eat with a taste that reminded him of pork.

  Later in the day Lynella started to recover. Opening her eyes, she saw her jewel which Paul was holding.

  ‘Go carefully.’ He warned. ‘Take your time. Maybe wait until you are a bit stronger’.

  Ignoring him, she reached out and took it, holding it tight in her trembling fist. She held it for several hours, eating and drinking with her other hand, never letting it go. Then, very slowly, she raised it to her forehead and it began to glow, very faintly at first.

  ‘They made me abandon it and said I could never use it again.’ She said. ‘But that was a trick to make me weak. I always knew it would call me back eventually.’

  It took her several days before she could walk. The rest of the party spent the time exploring some of the rooms and corridors. They found the ways up to the viewing platforms up on the mountain side. They saw the dragons waiting for them among the trees below. Great numbers of them had gathered and they could be seen in groups out on the plain towards the village and on the road back to the city. After a few minutes, the beasts looked up and saw them. They charged at the main door again and again and reached up to try to climb the sheer rock face below the platform.

  Inside it became clear that the dragons had only occupied a small part of the complex. This was the part that had been built around a long natural cave that led into the boiling pools of metal in the heart of the mountain. Within this area, they found a large number of carcases and soon it was filled with a putrid stench which made them stay in other areas and keep the doors closed.