30
Admiral Sydney sat opposite his first officer at the dining table in his ship. The ship only had one dining table and it could seat all twenty crew, but they had returned late and dined alone. A map was displayed on the screen at the end of the room and they were using the console to identify what they could.
‘It’s just a complete mess.’ The Admiral observed. ‘We’ve got about five factions here, all fighting each other. It could take years to sort out.’
‘Two of them just joined together when the survivors from those castles just went into the monastery. If two could join perhaps the rest might see sense.’
‘You fancy yourself as an administrator of empire, don’t you? We have this ship that can destroy anything it likes so if we used it carefully we could impose a lasting peace.’
The officer didn’t reply. He was placing question marks by both the walled town and the village by the mountain. The idea of sorting it all out did rather appeal to him, but he knew that the Admiral was already very impatient to leave.
‘Do you think captain Turner is in one of them?’
‘He might be, but I think the battle that they just had was closer to the Atlanta.’ The officer moved the cursor across the map and wrote ‘tower (recently destroyed)’
The Admiral looked up from his meal. ‘If we found him and got a report from him we could at least have some sort of result. But that might take weeks.’
After they had looked at the map, the officer switched the screen to a picture of a dragon that they had taken during their latest landing. The beast was looking directly up at the camera and was showing anger or pain from the effect of the ship’s drives. The result was a terrifying display of teeth and claws.
The director watched as the instruments recorded the departure of the Unicorn. During her brief stay of just one week there had been many changes on his planet and none of them had been good. Before the ship had come, the idea of having to beg for permission to remain and finish loading a full cargo would have seemed absurd. Now he found himself having had to agree to keep all his men within the area of the source at all times and never go outside it for any reason. The groups outside had been told not to come in, but they had also been given hope and persuaded to stop fighting among themselves.
On the other hand, seeing the size of the ring in the wreckage of the hydrogen separation plant had scared him. When they had started to uncover it, he had assumed that the excavator would easily lift it out like the one that had come from the monastery. In the end three cranes had tried to lift it and failed so it had just been left in place for the new plant to be built around it. Construction work was already starting. They could not fly the Atlanta without hydrogen and their return home would be delayed until the new plant was built. With the orders from the Unicorn, and a bit of luck, Lynella and her friends would leave him alone to finish it and go away.
One thing he was sure of was that the Unicorn would not come back. Admiral Sydney had other places to go and would make absolutely sure that the story he told when he got back convinced everybody that the planet could look after itself for a few years. With even more luck, the next ship would not arrive until after the Atlanta had gone.
Captain Turner’s meeting with his old friend the admiral had been a great pleasure to both of them and he knew the outcome was right. When the Unicorn had finally found them camping in the foothills of the Eastern mountains they had been hungry and many of them had injuries from the destruction of the King Solomon. Realising that it was not another shuttle they had cautiously ventured out from their hiding places and, as soon as the two friends recognised each other, they knew they were safe. It had taken two days of intensive discussion and a journey to the city and the village by the mountain and several to the monastery for the senior officer to make his decision. The city was to be abandoned as soon as the harvest was completed. The people from the kingdoms must stay in the kingdoms and the deserters from the Atlanta could stay with them. None of them took up the offer to return to earth on the Unicorn because they were unsure what reception they would get.
31
Lynella was back home in the castle where she had been born and was slowly recovering. At first, everything seemed familiar. Most of the castle servants had returned and they had quickly cleared up the mess left by the Director’s men and were completing the last of the repairs and getting back into their old routine. There were some changes. Paul and several others from the Atlanta had moved in and were using their machines to help rebuild the village, but this did not trouble her. Her problems came when she felt strong enough to use her jewels again. Suddenly the castle was far more complicated than she had ever known it to be. When she walked along corridors in the old parts she could sense pathways running beneath and around her and finally, as her recovery progressed, she found the doors. She showed them to Paul.
He had walked past the plain looking walls many times, but when he was shown the place to look he could just sense them using his own jewel. ‘You never found them with your old jewel.’ He said, running his finger over the stone to try to feel some sign of the place where it would open. ‘They must be locks that were made later and only respond to the artificial stones.’
‘We should leave them alone.’ Lynella responded immediately. ‘The last people that had the power to open them used it to cause nothing but death and misery. Whatever is in there; we don’t need it.’
Paul said nothing, but he knew it would never happen. The temptation was there. They could open the door and use what lay behind it. To pretend that it was not there, and that they could live in peace without it, had been impossible before and would be impossible in the future.
That evening he discussed it with the others. They were sitting on one of the castle terraces looking out over the fields and across to the hills around the source. Their discussion was, as usual, about what the Director might be doing and whether he would attack them.
‘The Admiral told us to stay away from the city, the mountain and the pylons because he didn’t want us using the machines.’ Captain Turner said, looking at Paul. ‘If you go in and find similar machines right here you may be sticking to the orders he gave but not the intention of them. Keeping us clear of the dragons and the village by the mountain was not his main idea. It was the machines he wanted us kept away from.’
‘What if we just used them to see what is happening?’ Angus asked. ‘When you used the machine in the mountain it let you see all around. If you used this one it might let you see what they are doing at the source?’
‘If they are building bombs or making chemicals it will be in the workshops right inside the ship.’ The Captain replied. ‘No chance of finding anything out with a thing like a telescope. All we would see is whether or not he tidies up after the mining is finished’.
The discussion ended as a meal was served. The Unicorn had left them plenty of food to see them through to the next harvest. The evening was warm, and they enjoyed some wine which had been missed when the castle had been looted.
The harvest was approaching, and people had to be selected to return to the city to get what they could from the crops they had sown where they had cleared the fields. The Admiral’s decision had been quite clear. Despite the effort they had put in clearing it, no more crops were to be grown on the land. Nobody was allowed to use any of the machines and nobody could stay. Captain Turner insisted on going to make sure the orders were obeyed. He also wanted to watch over the small harvest from the area they had sown with seed from earth and to make sure that it was saved as seed-corn.
A ship had been found. The Cleopatra, A sister-ship to the King Solomon, had been used to transport ore from the Eastern mountains for smelting in the furnaces beside the monastery. With everybody in the monastery working on reconstructing the machine and lifting the existing rings back into place, no new ones were being cast so the ship was laying idle. Adam was the natural choice to sail it, particularly for the hazardous voyage down the r
iver and the even harder part of taking the ship back up afterwards. The only other people on the ship would be a small crew from Adam’s village who could sail the ship and then gather the harvest when they arrived. Captain Turner said he was pleased with this arrangement. He had grown to admire Adam and the way he did his work quietly and efficiently without complaining. Having little time for casual conversation or executive privileges he looked forward to a quiet and uneventful trip in which he would do his full share of the manual work.
The ship seemed pleasantly familiar when they arrived at the dock at Port Jerusalem. A neat line of empty carts was arranged along the stone quay and when the harbour master showed them on board they found the hold had been emptied and cleaned out.
‘You keep her in excellent order.’ Captain Turner remarked as they toured the deck.
‘We were told that you had an important mission.’ The harbour master replied. ‘But please take extra care to return it in good shape.’
On the far side of the harbour, there was a large slipway and they could see the first few ribs rising from a substantial keel for a new ship. ‘We went down the river to try to recover some timbers from the King Solomon but there was virtually nothing left. Even the ring was missing.’ He added.
They prepared to sail. The mooring ropes were slipped the harbour cutter towed them out into the channel. The crew started to climb up to set the sails and Captain Turner went to follow them.
‘No.’ Adam shouted.
Everybody stopped and looked round. ‘You stay and work on deck. You know how to sail space ships, not sailing ships.’
He quickly stood aside to let the next man past him and went forward to help stow the mooring lines.
Sailing in daylight, the river was marginally less treacherous. With a strong current flowing the shot past the ruins of the tower. Each time they turned a sharp bend the sails had to be completely re-set to catch all the wind and give them steerage way in the current. They scarcely noticed the charred timbers on the bank where the King Solomon had sunk as they struggled with hauling in the ropes.
Three hours later he was close to exhaustion when another command rang out. ‘Captain Turner to the after deck.’
He looked up surprised and then started across the deck. He had not realised how unfit he had been. Space travel was not good for a man of his age even with a gym for regular exercise. With the motion of the ship he only just managed to climb the steps to where Adam was standing. Determined to do what he could he finally stood up on the raised deck and asked: ‘What would you like me to do? I don’t think I could steer it.’
‘Sit down.’ Adam said simply, pointing to a raised hatch lid. ‘You have done enough.’
He thanked him sat down and watched the crew working below him and the river ahead. When he sat down he realised how exhausted he really was. The sweat was running into his eyes. When he wiped them clear he could see the sea through the trees. Soon the river widened out and they met the first of the waves. Around the final bend he saw beaches to either side, the waves breaking on the sand bar ahead of them and, out on the horizon, the island with the pylon standing in the centre of it with the ring at the top and a small circle of sky visible through it. The crew rushed to make final adjustments to the rigging and held onto the landlines.
They ran into the waves at full speed, each one bigger than the last. Soon they were breaking over the deck and the spray blew up, soaking him as he held on to the rim of the hatch with both hands. As the next one came he lowered his head to protect his face and then looked up to see the men below him who had taken the full force of it. He looked up further and saw the island. He thought he could see that the ring had turned, and he was now looking at the side of it. They were on the bar now and the waves were breaking over them. The next one caught him by surprise as he looked at the tower. With the salt stinging in his eyes he could see nothing for as the ship lurched and then finally drove free. When he looked up again the pylon seemed the same as it had before with the ring back where it had started.
‘Are you hurt?’ Adam was asking.
‘No.’ He replied and explained what he thought he had seen. He said that he had only seen it for a second and his eyes had not been clear, but Adam would take no chances. He put the helm hard across and they sailed west along the coast. They continued past Adam’s village so close that the crew could wave to their families who all rushed out in surprise. They had no time to stop; and continued until the island and its pylon were both well below the horizon before turning north out to sea.
‘We go carefully.’ Adam said. ‘It seems that we may have neighbours who can do more than we thought.’
Making good speed they saw the mountain in the afternoon of the following day. Soon the coast below it came into view and they lay at anchor for the night in a sheltered bay.
‘The dragons have never been known to swim.’ One of the crew remarked hopefully, but Adam still set a full watch prepared to make sail at the first sign of activity on the shore. In the morning they saw nothing specific, but all shared a feeling of being watched from the forest, so they set a course several miles offshore with the coast just a faint line in the distance. By mid-morning the walls of the city could be seen rising above everything around them. Soon they were approaching the harbour mouth. Taking no chances Adam dropped anchor and launched the ship’s boat. Using ropes tied to the remains of the masts of the sunken ships they carefully hauled the Cleopatra through gaps between them to avoid traps in the clear channel to the dockside.
They reached the quay near a warehouse which had collapsed, spreading rubble across the space in front of it. They could see nothing particular that had changed since they were last there but still approached each fallen stone carefully, checking all around it before moving past it. Once they had moored the ship, they set out into the city, working through all of the buildings that had been used while they lived there. Captain Turner checked the workshop in great detail. In their hurry to leave they had left some of his precious electronics in it together with the old machines. He switched on some of the sensors but found nothing. Finally, they went out into the fields, where the crops had grown up well and were ready for harvesting. In all of this they found nothing that showed any sign of interference. The gate into the forest was still securely closed and there were no dragons and no signs of traps. Standing on the top of the wall he could see the mountain. It always looked somewhat menacing, but there was no sign of any movement on it.
‘Perhaps I was just imaging it.’ He said as they gathered for their evening meal. ‘Perhaps I never saw it properly. I only had a few seconds before the wave hit us. Surely if anybody was working the old machines they would have done something here were there are so many of them.’
‘I don’t take you for a fool and I am sure that nobody else here does either.’ Adam replied. ‘We shall finish our work as quickly as we can, take no risks and leave here as soon as possible.’
The work in the fields was hard and the captain again realised that he would never have the stamina of the men from the planet. He tried using one of the long scythes they had brought with them, but was soon exhausted while the others around him steadily progressed across the field. They used a threshing machine that they had made at the castle and brought with them. None of the crew from the Atlanta had actually seen the machinery inside a combine harvester, so they had had to guess how much of it should work. When they started using it, he soon found that he was kept fully employed adjusting and repairing it. To do this he kept going back to the workshop to find bits of wood and metal that could be made into parts for it.
Each time he went into the workshop he looked at the mages’ machines to try to work out a bit more about what they were used for. They had already photographed them, but actually seeing them was far more helpful. Perhaps, he thought to himself, when more ships arrive, and this place becomes an organised colony I can come back here with some proper equipment and make sense of it all. But the admiral’
s orders were clear. For now, he could do nothing but look at it and he certainly could not take any of it back with him.
The harvest went well. With no way to dry the grain they had to rely on good weather because any dampness would have made it grow mould and rot rapidly in the hold of the ship. After succession of sunny days, they had almost completed harvesting the fields. The barns were full, and the threshing machine was working all day. The machine was working well enough, although he was sure that he could build a better one for future years. In the meanwhile, he was still kept busy with minor repairs. It was late afternoon of a long hot day when he went into the workshop and started work at one of the benches. When he stopped to look round to see where he had put his drill he thought he saw movement on the far side of the room. He went over to check and saw that one of the ancient machines was moving. A large ring was slowly rotating. He had noticed before that it was on a bearing and could spin quite feely with just a small push to start it, but he had never seen it move before. Thinking that it might have been started by a gust of wind or magnetism from his drill he decided to stop it and see if it would start again. When he placed his hand on it he felt it slow down at first and then it trembled slightly as if protesting, pushing forward in tiny pulses. A lifetime working with normal electrical machines made him instinctively try to stop it to make it safe. As he did so a sudden pulse of energy went through it giving him an electric shock and making the ring spin much faster than before.
He ran out to the fields to find Adam who, seeing the ring spinning even faster and now humming loudly, said ‘I thought you saw correctly the first time, we must finish our work and leave as quickly as possible. There is a mage at work and this place will not be safe for us to stay.’ Other men from the village made the sign of the circle with their hands to appease the old God. Working through the evening and on into the night they loaded the grain they had into the ship and as fast as they could, but they could see that things were happening around them. Machines were starting up, lights were going on and off, the city was coming to life around the workshop.
Ringships Page 37