All The Frail Futures: A Science Fiction Box Set

by J Battle

  Then he heard the sound of raised voices outside his door. He carefully replaced the picture and took a second to appreciate its beauty. Then he grabbed his bag and rushed out to the back of his property, where he leaped through the window, dropping lightly into the well-tended gardens. Seconds later, he was astride the palace wall. When he looked back through his window, he could see the back of a large ape, already searching his rooms.

  It was with some regret that he dropped to the street below and began to make his way through the tangled streets of the town.

  If his plan was to be effective, he was going to need a little help, and he knew just where he find the little help he’d require. At this time of the day, Aldrich could always be found drinking his beloved ale in The Swinging Balls.

  BOOK 3: Of the Succ-y-Rist and the H’mlinquart

  Chapter 42

  After two full days of hunting and eating their fill in the rich sea off the coast of the volcanic island, the Succ-y-Rist were ready to move on. The sub-wives had all given birth and their ranks had swelled to over fifteen thousand. By the time they reached the other side of the sea, the young would be fully mature and ripe for battle.

  Pre-y-Nat judged that they should make the crossing within seven days. They would then require another two days of feeding and resting to prepare themselves for the coming conflict. She had no false conceptions of the difficulty of the task ahead. Their adversary would use the indigent sentient species ruthlessly, without any thought for their continued existence, as long as they contributed to victory. Pre couldn’t blame the wall for that; she would be doing very much the same with her own subs. But at least they would die for the sake of their own race.

  If she failed, she knew that it would not be the end, for her people at least. Although she might die, along with the other fifteen thousand, the war would continue. The sur-husband was already hard at work, with the sur-wives and sub-wives that had been left behind, making a new army. If she failed, at least she would have weakened the enemy forces, to allow those who followed her to prevail.

  So she called her forces to her, and trumpeted the challenge to them all. It was time to leave. With a heavy belly and a buoyant mind, she forged her way through the water, seeking glory or death, knowing that neither would change the final result; victory for her beloved people.

  **********

  When Aldrich had suggested a drink, Lus was in two minds. He wanted a drink, who wouldn’t want another taste of the apes’ glorious ale? But he didn’t want to waste any more time, and he wasn’t really sure how much he could trust the little ape.

  ‘Beschlick likes to take a walk in the palace gardens in the afternoon, to clear his mind, he always says. So we’ve got plenty of time, Sir.’

  ‘A drink or two won’t do any harm, while we wait,’ agreed Lus.

  So they entered Aldrich’s local bar and found it filled with apes, even this early in the day.

  ‘Why is it so busy?’ asked Lus, as he searched for a free table.

  ‘It’s always like this after the war, when we win.’ Aldrich glanced up at him to make sure that he hadn’t caused him to be angry. ‘They’re still spending their victory bonus. It won’t last much longer. In another week, this place will be back to normal.’

  Half way through their first drink, Lus put down his pot and studied his companion for a moment.

  ‘Why don’t you run away?’ he asked.

  ‘You’d only catch me again.’

  ‘But you are known here. Surely there are enough apes to spring to your aid?’

  ‘I’m well known, sir. But that doesn’t mean they’d help me. Not even against a cat, if you let me beg your pardon, sir. I’m Beschlick’s ape, everyone knows that. And he’s not well liked here, or anywhere, I don’t think.’

  ‘Still, I don’t understand why you don’t try.’

  ‘I’ll try to explain, sir, though I’m not sure I know myself. I use to be happy, sir. I had friends who’d stand me a drink if I was broke, people who’d laugh if I made a joke, who were actually pleased to see me when I walked in the bar.’

  He sighed and looked around the crowded room.

  ‘That was before I got tangled up with Beschlick. He’s made me do some nasty things, not just killing that cat. There were other things that I don’t want to talk about. I can’t say no to him, not after everything I’ve done. If I help you, I have a chance to put that behind me, if you don’t kill me as well.’

  ‘I won’t kill you,’ said Lus, surprised to find that he actually meant what he was saying, ‘he’s the one I want to kill, not you.’

  They were interrupted by a heavy hand on his neck. It held him in an iron grip, preventing him from turning to face his attacker.

  ‘Kill? Did I hear the word kill?’ He felt the spittle in the hiss, and was assailed by the fragrance of rotting vegetation. The hand pressed harder; it was all he could do not to let his head sink to the table.

  For a second, the hand relaxed its hold and he was about to spin and slash, when he felt Aldrich’s hand on his foreleg.

  ‘I’d better introduce you,’ the little ape sighed, ’this is Pan-Gus-Lus. You can call him Lus. He is my friend. Lus, this is my mother.’

  In one movement, Aldrich moved from his chair and his mother replaced him. Lus could detect no family resemblance at all. She was big and wide; covered in coarse red hair, with a broad, drooling mouth and tiny suspicious eyes.

  ‘I’m pleased to meet Aldrich’s mother,’ Lus tried, conversation-wise, ‘is his father likely to turn up as well?’

  ‘He’s more likely to grow a tail, turn into a mangy cat and lick his own arse.’

  ‘Mother! Why do you have to be so rude to my friends?’

  ‘If they choose you as a friend, they deserve no better. And since when has a member of my family been friends with the likes of him?’

  ‘Sometimes things just work out that way.’ Aldrich knew that his response was weak, but that was the effect his mother always had on him.

  ‘Is there money in it? Is that the explanation? At least you can get a round in, can’t you, moggy? Or is it true what they say about the tightness of a cat’s purse?’

  ‘Mother, do you have to do this?’ Aldrich couldn’t help the whine in his voice as he dragged another seat over and planted himself on it.

  ‘Yes, it seems I do. Your brain matches your stature, so someone has to look out for you. It’s a mother’s duty. So, cat, what do you want with my boy? You surely can’t be lusting after his bony body?’

  ‘The matter is entirely between the two of us,’ Lus tried to sound firm.

  ‘But there are three of us at this table.’

  Aldrich dug in his skirt pocket and pulled out a coin.

  ‘Why don’t you get yourself a drink, mother?’ he suggested.

  She held the coin between finger and thumb as if she was unsure of its provenance, then she looked at Lus, and then back at the coin. Her meaning was clear, so he matched the coin and watched as she lifted her heavy body from the chair and barged her way through the crowd.

  ‘So, that was your mother?’

  ‘We’re not close.’ To avoid further discussion, Aldrich drained his pot and burped.

  Just then there was an increase in noise from the area near the street door. Lus and Aldrich both looked up at the same time. They were more than a little surprised to find Beschlick pushing his way through the resistant crowd towards their table, carrying a long cloth bag.

  ‘Drinking with a cat, Aldrich? Very egalitarian of you, I must say.’ He pulled up a chair and joined them.

  ‘Get us a drink, will you, cat. There’s a good meower. Quickly now, I want to speak with your friend.’

  Lus could have ripped his throat out there and then, and he might even have made it out alive. But there was something about Beschlick’s demeanor that caused him to keep his claws to himself. When he’d first appeared, pushed and shoved by the crowd, he’d seemed lost for a short moment, until he spotted Aldric
h. Also, he wasn’t wearing any body paint. Perhaps a wait and see policy was the right choice; for the moment.

  When he got back to the table with the drinks, it was empty. The noise in the doorway told him exactly where they were. He grabbed his backpack from the floor and raced after them, allowing a low snarl to escape from his mouth, which went some way to encouraging the apes to step out of his way.

  It was a simple matter to follow them through the busy streets, hanging back a little so as not to be detected. Then, after a few minutes, they turned into a quiet residential street. He hovered on the corner, for a moment, his eyes flicking between his quarry and the rooftops, as he tried to decide which was the best choice.

  They stopped at a house a third of the way down the street, and knocked on the door. After a long wait without a response, Beschlick gave Aldrich his bag and pointed to the window. Thirty seconds of fiddling with the window lock allowed him inside. Another minute and he was back at the window again, without the bag.

  Lus backed around the corner as they walked towards him and hid down a narrow alley to wait for them to pass. When they’d gone, he rushed back into the quiet street and up to the house they’d visited. Aldrich’s actions had loosened the catch, so it didn’t take him long to open the window and glide inside himself.

  Though there was little light inside, his keen eyesight allowed him to see well enough to find the bag, hidden beneath a narrow bed. He took a moment to examine its contents; three bows and six arrows, and a diagram showing the Riven Rock, with markings that he guessed indicated the best vantage points for attack by arrow. He had no idea what was behind Beschlick’s scheme, but they might prove useful to him, so he transferred them to his backpack and slipped out of the window.

  As he strolled down the street he was quite pleased with how events had played out. With a bit of luck, he had ruined Beschlick’s plans, and he’d got himself some extra weapons.

  Chapter 43

  Milligan was crouched in the corner of the AEC, hidden from the door by the last row of seats. He’d been there for a while now and he was not planning on leaving any time soon. Though his knees were aching, and he’d lost all feeling in his toes, he was determined to stay where he was. With his head leaning against the back of the seat and his eyes tightly closed, he was finding a way to endure this.

  When he’d received the order to stay behind, he’d felt the blood rush to his head and had sat down to avoid collapsing. When the cats came in, he’d leapt from the seat and propped himself up against one wall. They took no notice of him as they examined every feature of the craft, talking in that strange, jerky cat language.

  When they’d left, one of them must have accidently triggered the door closing mechanism. As he’d watched the door close, the panic had gripped him by the throat, but he couldn’t bring himself to touch the switch, so he’d scurried to the back of the craft, and hid.

  **********

  ‘You can go,’ Pi said imperiously, indicating to the three cats that they were the subject of her instruction with a wave of her paw. They made no immediate move; still entranced.

  She placed a pale hand on Jones’s shoulder.

  ‘You also are not required, at this moment. Though your services will be needed at a later stage.’ He could have closed his eyes and just listened to the sweet voice for all eternity.

  ‘The rest of you, please come with me now. We have much to talk about, and little time remains.’

  She turned and walked towards the clickerclackers piled up and rattling at the edge of the bridge.

  ‘Shoo,’ she said, and flicked the fingers of her left hand at them. They responded manically, crawling on top of each other to get away from the middle of the bridge, allowing her space to pass. She stepped through the gap and walked casually across the pole to the street, where she turned to wait for the humans to follow her. Behind her, the yellow street was invisible beneath the mass of the clickerclackers, moving in waves back and forward across the street, agitated by her presence, but being careful to keep their distance.

  When the captain and three of the crew had braved the crossing, Pi called, with laughter in her voice, to Jones.

  ‘You should leave the bridge while there is a path, and before the water comes and the bridge flips.’

  Jones decided that she was probably right and left the bridge, closely followed by the cats.

  ‘How do we get off the street before the clickerclackers get hungry again, or before the water comes?’ he asked Pi.

  She glanced over his shoulder at a shuttered window.

  ‘I think you will find that that particular shutter has been incorrectly fitted. You can probably just push it in.’ Then she turned away from him and the world was suddenly a darker place.

  When she’d led the rest of the crew away, Jones started to work out how to get to the shutter, which was above his head from the street level.

  The problem was solved when Deylus leapt at the window and knocked the shutter open with his forepaws. The other two cats followed him through, and then he leant out of the window to help Jones climb up and in.

  ‘I need to see the Mayor,’ said Dutus. ‘You two better come with me, to confirm my story.’

  He turned to Jones and his nose twitched. ’I suppose we should bring you along as well, though I’m not sure what use you’ll be.’

  Jones got most of his meaning but he wasn’t offended. He was just pleased to have a thick stone wall between him and the clickerclackers. Together, they marched through a multitude of corridors, all appearing identical, although it was obvious that Dutus knew exactly where he was going.

  They soon arrived at the Mayor’s reception rooms. After some animated discussion and an hour's wait, they were allowed into the Mayor’s chambers.

  ‘You’re glorious Highness, I am the lowliest of subjects, the dullest of catkind, the humblest creature this side of the river,’ began Dutus, as he approached the Mayor’s desk.

  ‘Stop that now, before you bore me to tears,’ snapped the Mayor, as he lay stretched across the dark stone of the desk, ‘what do you want this time? And that’s a Jones, isn’t it?’

  ‘Please pardon us, your lordship, but we have urgent news. First, I would ask that you arrest Sorus, immediately.’

  ‘Immediately you say? I’m not sure I do much of anything immediately these days. Not like the old days, Dutus. Do you remember the old days? We were dangerous beasts in those days. Both the females and the apes quivered at our approach, obviously for different reasons.’

  ‘Your lordship, much as I would like to spend the night reminiscing with you, I’m afraid that there have been developments which you need to be made aware of, now.’

  ‘Why do I need to arrest Sorus? What’s he done now?’

  ‘Attempted murder, sir. Of your loyal servants; myself and Perdus and, what is your name?’ He waved in Deylus’s direction.

  ‘Deylus, sir, as I think you already know.’

  ‘And he tried to kill the naked apes.’

  ‘Where are the others?’

  ‘That is what I am about to tell you, my Lordship. They were led away from us by a seductress who had the power to bend their minds to her will, and even more important, the clickerclackers were fearful of her.’

  ‘How is that possible?’ asked Heraldus. ‘What does this mean? I've never heard anything like this.'

  He cast his eyes across the group before him.

  'You, Perdus, I hear you are regarded highly amongst the clergy. What do you think of this? There must be a religious explanation. Your Lord High Preacher has one for everything.'

  Perdus raised himself up onto his hind legs, his forelegs crossed in front of his chest.

  ‘My Lordship, it is my considered opinion that these events, along with the clean rain and the reduction in cloud cover, are of the utmost significance. It is too soon to be sure, and it is not yet my place to make a confirmed pronouncement, but I believe that the end days are truly approaching; that the time
is near when we will be guided along The Wall and into the embrace of the Twin Gods, may they bless the sky and the land.’

  ‘That really helps, Perdus,’ snapped Dutus.

  Chapter 44

  ‘So, Beschlick. You have some explaining to do.’ The king sat back on his throne, his fingers clasped across his regal belly.

  ‘Your Highness, it is a remarkable display of kindness on your part to allow me this opportunity to explain myself to you and the rest of the court.’

  ‘Go on then, ape.’

  Beschlick was wearing his most expensive skirt and his colouring was tasteful but understated.

  ‘Your Highness, I have done wrong, this I freely admit. I must say, however, that it was from an excess of devotion to my king and my people. When I saw him using the weapon, my immediate thought was that it would bring us an advantage in war. Along with my blocker, I felt that it would make us invincible. So I broke into his home and stole one of his bows and the arrow, and brought them to you. In your great wisdom, you pronounced these weapons unacceptable.’

  ‘That’s all you did? You didn’t use the bow against the cats at the Riven Rock?’

  ‘No, Highness. Of course not. It was after the war had finished that I stole them, so I would not have had the opportunity. And I would never have done such a thing in any case without strict instructions from my King. You must ask the person I stole the weapon from.’

  ‘And who was that?’

  ‘It pains me to say this, my King, but it was Elmdor Lizack.’ A hiss of excitement ran through the assembled courtiers. The king stroked his belly for a moment while he considered this development. He seemed to lose concentration slightly as he prodded the side of his stomach and watched its jellylike wobble.