Shroud of Doom

by William Manchee

  Chapter 5

  The Eighth World War

   

  When Councilman Garciah got home it was late and he was exhausted. He hadn’t ate so his wife, Petrina, warmed up some pribbett with ocles for him and then sat and kept him company as he ate. A pribbett was a large bird native to Lower Azallo that was quite tasty and so popular that pribbett ranching had sprung up in almost every province. Ocles were a white vegetable that was very nutritious and a staple on Tarizon. While he was eating he filled her in on the tragic events of the day. When he was done eating they retired to the study where his two young children were playing. When they saw him they jumped up excitedly and rushed over.

  “Papa. You’re home,” Eroh, his eight-cycle-old son said. “Just in time to tell us a story before bed.”

  “Your father is too tired to be telling you stories,” Petrina scolded.

  “But Papa we’ve been waiting all day to see you,” Ellah, his eleven-cycle-old daughter complained. “We’ve missed you.”

  Petrina gave her daughter a scathing look but it didn’t faze her. “Please! One story. Tell us about Grandpa’s escape to Earth.”

  “Yes!” Eroh agreed. “Tell us about Earth.”

  Rammel sighed. “But, I’ve told you that story a hundred times.”

  “I don’t care,” Ellah replied. “I love that story.”

  Rammel rolled his eyes and then smiled. “Okay, but I’m going to give you the short version. It’s nearly time for you to go to bed.”

  Eroh and Ellah clapped their hands approvingly and then sat at their father’s feet to listen.

  Petrina took a deep breath and walked over to the relaxation chair across from them and sat. There was a swishing sound as the fabric formed around her body and began to massage her. She sighed in delight. Rammel smiled at her.

  “Alright,” Rammel said. “Nearly a hundred cycles ago the Eighth World War broke out. It started as a dispute between Synclare and Soni over a thin corridor of land between Soni and Tuht called the Tazi Strip. For over a hundred cycles the Tazi Strip had provided Synclaire unrestricted access to the Straits of Tributon. It was needed so Synclaire could maintain its own merchant fleet and navy. Without it Synclaire would be forced to pay high tariffs to Merria and Soni and lose its competitive advantage over the rest of the nations of Turvin.

  It all came to a head when a military dictator, Rhust Gorda, seized power in Soni. He’d been backed by wealthy industrialist who supported the restoration of the Tazi Strip to Soni, so one of Gorda’s first actions when he took control of the government was to launch a surprise attack on Synclaire’s navy and send troops in to the strip and seize Synclaire’s merchant fleet.

  “Of course, Synclaire couldn’t allow this, so they mobilized and declared war against Soni. Tuht, Rour and Merria joined in on Soni’s side hoping to divide up the country between themselves. Tributon, however, being a strong trading partner of Synclaire joined the war on their side. After that the war spread everywhere.

  “Unfortunately by this time most nations had nuclear weapons and weren’t afraid to use them. It was total insanity. Before long every major city in Lemaine Shane, Azallo and Turvin had sustained at least one nuclear attack. Millions died of radiation poisoning, cities lay in ruins, most of Tarizon’s beautiful forests had burned, and once rich farmlands were laid barren. Soon there was nothing but chaos and anarchy on Tarizon. Tarizon had become barely habitable.

  “In anticipation of the war a group of twenty wealthy merchants had bought a spaceship and outfitted it in case of this type of emergency. Your grandfather was one of them. They put themselves in indefinite hibernation and set their ships on auto pilot to orbit Tarizon. The ships’ computers were programed to monitor Tarizon’s atmosphere and when it was again habitable, it would wake its passengers who then could return to the surface of the planet. The big advantage of going into hibernation was that a person didn’t age much.”

  “When the computers finally woke up the passengers fifty-one cycles later your grandfather was seventy-seven cycles old but looked to be in his twenties. Soon after he returned he was mated with your grandmother who was twenty-eight and a cycle later I was born.”

  Eroh and Ellah laughed in delight.

  “The end. Now it’s time for you two to go to bed.”

  The children stood up with big smiles on their faces. They hugged Rammel and then followed their mother out of the room. When they were gone Rammel leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. He wondered how he was going to prevent the General Assembly from acting foolishly and trying to exact some kind of punishment against the rhutz. He was worried about Romas too. He was afraid Rupra Bruda might hurt Romas if he found out he’d talked. He felt a little guilty going to him and forcing him to betray a friend, but he had to know the truth. He didn’t want to protect the Rhutz if they didn’t deserve it. Depression swept over him like a hot summer wind. He loosened his collar and twisted in his chair trying to get comfortable.

  Petrina walked in and immediately felt his distress. They weren’t telepathic but they knew each other well enough to know when the other was in pain.

  “Don’t worry,” Rammel. “It will all work out. I know you’ll figure a way to make the assemblymen listen to reason.”

  Rammel opened his eyes and sat up. “Listen to reason? I wish it were that simple. They respond to emotion or self-interest more readily than reason. My only hope is that I can make them understand how costly a war with the Rhutz will be. If I can get them to understand that, then maybe they’ll be reasonable.”

  “Well, if anyone can do it. You can,” Petrina assured him.

  “Thank you for your words of encouragement, my dearest, but I fear I have run out of miracles. Only God and Sandee can save us now.”

   

   

  Rupra Bruda was upset that his friend Romas hadn’t attended his father’s funeral. It was very unusual because they always went everywhere together. He didn’t know what to make of it. Surely Romas couldn’t have had anything more important to do. Was he so shaken and distraught that he couldn’t deal with a funeral? No. He didn’t think that was it. Romas was a tough kid. That’s why Rupra liked him so much. They had made plans to join the TGA when they were old enough and to go into politics once their tour of duty was over. Where are you my friend? A horrible thought came to Bruda. Have the enforcers got to you? Did they force you to betray me? Bruda groaned at the thought, but knew that was a distinct possibility. Romas wasn’t as good a liar as he.

  He knew if the inquisitors had questioned Romas and found any discrepancy in their stories he might have taken him to headquarters and forced him to take truth serum. That would be a disaster. He went over to where his grandfather was talking to some mourners.

  “Grandfather?”

  Cornelius turned quickly, annoyed by the interruption. “Yes, Rupra. What do you want? Can’t you see I’m busy.”

  “Yes. Sorry, grandfather, but I have a matter of great urgency to discuss with you.”

  Cornelius sighed and smiled at the mourners. “Sorry for the interruption, but you know children, everything is an emergency. Thank you for coming.” He turned to Rupra. “What is it?”

  “Romas is missing. I’m afraid the public enforcers might have taken him to headquarters.”

  “So what? They’ll let him go once they are through questioning him.”

  “Maybe. Maybe not.”

  Cornelius frowned. “What are you talking about?”

  “I wasn’t entirely truthful to the PE?”

  “Oh, God save us. What lie die you tell them?”

  “I may have accidentally killed a rhutz before they attacked us.”

  “What?”

  “There was a rhutz stalking the range deer and I didn’t see him. There was a tremor about the time I pulled the trigger and I hit the rhutz by mistake.”

  “Why didn’t you just say that in the first place?” Cornelius asked angrily?”

  “Because I didn
’t come up with that story quickly enough?”

  Cornelius closed his eyes and took a deep breath trying to contain his anger. “So, what really happened? No more lies.”

  “Remember the stories you used to tell us about rhutz hunting when you were a teenager? Your father owned a ranch and the rhutz would kill his livestock, so you and your father would go hunting for rhutz.”

  Cornelius moaned. “Yes, but it was nearly impossible to get close enough to kill them. Usually we were just trying to drive them off our land. They were trespassers.”

  “Well, dad gave me this new rifle to try out and it had much longer range than anything I’d ever seen. I wondered if I could actually kill a rhutz with it. It turns out I can.”

  “Didn’t you consider what would happen if you killed a rhutz?”

  “Yes, I thought we’d get on our jet cycles and easily outrun the rest of the rhutz. I didn’t expect Callas to be such a dirkbird.”

  “Did you tell your father this?”

  “No. I just thought the hunting party would kill all the rhutz easily and that would be the end of it.”

  Cornelius shook his head and began to pace. “Now what are we going to do? The General Assembly is going to meet tomorrow to decide whether or not to kill the two packs of rhutz. Many think if such an order is issued it will mean general war with the Rhutz. Do you know how many people could die because of you!”

  Mourners looked up when they heard Cornelius yelling at Rupra. He took Rupra by the arm and escorted him several strides away. “You need to find your friend and see what he’s told the PE. If he has confessed then you may have to go with your accident story. I’ll back you up and if you apologize and show remorse, the public enforcers may not present your case for prosecution. It will hurt me politically to have such an idiot for a grandson, but I’ll survive. If the inquisitors haven’t talked to your friend, then we will stick with your story. If it wasn’t for your father’s death, I would have been thrilled to have an excuse to kill a rhutz. If every last one of them were dead, Tarizon would be a better place.”

  Rupra smiled. “So, let’s hope Romas hasn’t betrayed me?”

  “Yes, pray that is the case,” Cornelius said.

  “Who’s sponsoring the bill tomorrow,” Rupra asked.

  “Assemblyman Sealey.”

  Rupra nodded. “He’s a good man.”

   “Yes, he is. Now locate your friend quickly and let me know what you find out.”

  Rupra nodded and went off looking for Romas’ parents whom he’d seen earlier. They were at the bar drinking and talking to some other mourners. He went over to them.

  “Hello, Mistress Lantra . . . Mister Lantra. Thank you for coming. Where’s Romas?”

  Mistress Lantra gave Rupra a guilty look and then turned away. “Ah. He hasn’t taken this whole affair very well, I’m afraid,” Mr. Lantra said. “Callas’ death really shook him up. He’s gone away for a while.

  “Where is he? I’d like to talk to him. Maybe talking with someone, particularly a friend, might help.”

  Mistress Lantra smiled faintly. “You are very kind, Rupra, but Romas just needs some time alone to reflect on things.”

  Rupra knew they were lying and suspected now more than ever that Romas had betrayed him. At an early age Rupra learned that he had strong telepathic abilities. This was common in the Bruda family, but Rupra’s gift was stronger than his parents and even his grandfather’s. The Bruda family was proud of this ability and considered it a gift from God, and a sign that they were destined to do God’s work. This was one reason Rupra didn’t feel badly about many of the strange things he did like killing animals with his invisible arm, as he liked to call it. He killed the rhutz, however, out of hatred—a hatred passed on by his grandfather, to his father, and then to him. He figured since God had placed him in the Bruda family and given him so much wealth, power and extraordinary abilities, that whatever he did was God’s will. So, he decided to use his telepathic ability to find out where Romas was hiding. After all, God would want him to escape any repercussions from the Flat Meadow Massacre.

  He smiled back at Mistress Lantra and peered deep into her eyes. A flood of her thoughts rushed into his mind. In just a few tiks he knew the answer to his question. Romas was with his grandmother in Ce Lat. With the purpose of his conversation achieve he nodded and took his leave. As he walked away he wondered what he should do about Romas. If he hadn’t talked to the PE, everything might be okay, but he knew he must have talked to someone or he wouldn’t have slithered away and hid. He sighed. Rupra knew what he had to do. Romas had betrayed him and could never be trusted again. There was no choice in the matter—he must die!

  Rupra went home and waited until everyone was asleep. Then he climbed out of his bedroom window and went to the roadway where he’d left his jet cycle earlier. He didn’t want to start it near the house where it might be heard. It was a two hour drive to Ce Lat so he had plenty of time to go there, take care of Romas, and return before daybreak. After programming in Romas’ grandmother’s address, he got on and took off. There was no traffic so he rode fast anxious to put this threat behind him.

  On the way he wondered what he could do to the rhutz to make them pay for killing his father. The hatred he’d had for them had turned to rage. He’d underestimated their abilities, obviously, and would have to be more careful the next time he confronted them or he might end up like his father. But, he knew some day he’d get his revenge. He’d just have to wait for the right opportunity.

  When he arrived at his destination he hid his bike and surveyed the two story whitewood structure. Ce Lat was surrounded by forests of tall whitewood trees which were strong and durable, so most of the local housing was built from it. He’d have to find Romas’ room and gain entry without waking anyone up. Opening his mind he searched for Romas’ thoughts. It wasn’t hard to find them as they were filled with fear and trepidation. He walked until he found the spot where the thoughts were the strongest and then deduced the room Romas must be occupying. A drain pipe running vertically up to the roof made the climb to Romas’ window quite easy. The window was latched from the inside, so Rupra used his invisible hand to turn the latch and pull the window up slowly.

  Once inside he wondered if he should wake Romas and question him, but after careful thought he decided that was too risky. He couldn’t be linked in any way to the murder, so he simply reached into Romas’ mind and searched his memories. It didn’t take him long to find out what he was looking for. It was the skutz Garciah who had forced him to talk. Anger welled in Rupra. Rammel Garciah had always been a troublemaker, but his father and grandfather had never done anything about it. It’s time Garciah pays.

  Knowing now that Romas had betrayed him, Rupra focused his invisible hand on Romas’ lungs and squeezed them with all the force he could muster. Romas squirmed and jerked around trying to breathe, then fell limp. Rupra relaxed and smiled at his handy work. There would be no evidence left behind for the inquisitors to find since he’d worn gloves, hat and mask when he climbed to the roof and entered the house. Leaving as stealthily as he’d come, he rode back to Vaceen and was in his bed when the maid came in to wake him.