The Decade Worlds

by Patrick McClafferty

  The shuttle was climbing steeply. “Targeting systems locked.” The explosion to their port side was deafening, and Gareth was slammed against the seat restraints. He bit back a scream of pain.

  “Well, fire dammit!” Gareth felt the small shuttle tremble, and in the rear screens the city of Iyreeqeka exploded.

  Chapter 6

  REMORSE AND RETRIBUTION

  It’s all the fault of the chickadee. Gareth thought to himself as he opened his eyes. The sweet cool air held the faint scent of pine trees and fresh rain. The small black and white bird was sitting on a twig outside his window, singing as if its heart would break… or it was hungry. He smiled at the bird, and then the smile faded as he began to wonder just where the hell he was. He didn’t remember much after the horrible mess in Iyreeqeka. He certainly didn’t remember coming here, wherever here was. Holding up his left hand, he studied it carefully. The last time he’d seen it, the hand was hanging by a scrap of flesh that connected it to what remained of his forearm. The tourniquet he’d tied above his elbow had kept him from bleeding out but that was all. He took a deep breath and raised an eyebrow. His ribs seemed to have been reconnected to his ribcage, and the damage to his torn lung repaired. It didn’t take much of an intuitive leap to see Athena’s hand behind his miraculous recovery. He shut his eyes as a wave of memories swirled around him. It was too bad Athena’s miraculous powers couldn’t bring Lyndra back. He felt a deep wrench in his heart. “Oh god, Lyndra!!” He murmured, feeling tears trickle down his cheeks. The blond woman had saved him there at the end, buying him time to get himself and the injured Corporal Mei Yong aboard the shuttle. She had bought the time with her life. Scheiße! Scheiße! Scheiße! He cursed to himself, at himself. His stupid little expedition had gotten three people killed. The sound of a footstep made him open his eyes and turn his head.

  Athena, wearing jeans and a flannel shirt with her hair tied back, gave him a long cool look. “Have you finished flogging yourself for something that was beyond your control, or shall I step out for a few more days.”

  He couldn’t help but chuckle. “Nice bedside manner, Athena. Thanks for patching me up again. Pretty soon there’s not going to be anything of the original me left.”

  A smile touched her lips. “Oh, there’s plenty of the original you left; there’s fifteen or twenty percent, at least.”

  “I got Lyndra killed.” He said bluntly. “Along with Privates Kutlugh and Chapar. They trusted me, dammit!”

  Athena crossed her arms. “You’re wrong. Lyndra GAVE her life to save yours, and young Mei Yong. There is a difference, and don’t demean what she or the marines did. The privates fought at your side and took the same risks as you.” Her face was serious as she studied him. “As far as I know you are the only person in recorded history who has ever fought their way free of Lothar.”

  “I’m so glad.” Gareth rumbled.

  “Actually, you should be frightened. Lothar has a sample of your blood now, and he will track you down. When Shyrrik left Iyreeqeka she came directly to The Yeugate, more or less. All Lothar has to do is follow in the same direction. He will reach The Yeugate in two or three months. You had better think about what you are going to do then.”

  “I need a bigger gun.” Gareth grumbled. “If I shoot his head off it may slow him down, somewhat.”

  “You could shoot him all to pieces, and still he would regenerate, although it might take him a year.”

  Gareth sighed. “If I can’t kill him, then I’d better just do my job, hadn’t I?” He grinned. “What happens if he can’t find me?”

  “He will kill those he can find.”

  “That’s what I figured.” Gareth said, after a long pause. “Where am I, anyway?”

  Athena looked out the window, to where the chickadee was now preening, and smiled. “I have a small place in the Rocky Mountains. I come here sometimes to ski in the winter.”

  “Did you know that things were going to be this… difficult when we started?”

  “No.” A bitter little smile crossed Athena’s face, and she sat on the edge of his bed. “I get flashes sometimes. I knew that things might get difficult in Iyreeqeka, and that is the reason I arranged certain occurrences so that Lyndra would go and not Chiu.” Her look was level. “You couldn’t have taken Chiu’s loss, and I’m sorry but I need you. I will do whatever I can to hold you together, and patch you up and give you whatever chances I can to succeed.”

  Gareth smiled. “Like feeding me soup when I’m sick?”

  Athena’s violet eyed gaze seemed to see not only beneath his bedclothes, but beneath his skin to his very heart. “I would do that for you even if you weren’t sick.”

  Gareth felt his cheeks warm. “How long have I been here?”

  “A month, more or less, subjectively. Objectively, I pulled you out of the hospital in the middle of the night the day after you arrived. In this case—yesterday.”

  He frowned. “Talking about arrival. When we left Iyreeqeka it felt like we were hit by a missile, but that’s impossible. What the hell happened?”

  Her tone was flat. “You were hit by a missile.”

  Gareth’s frown deepened. “But, that Lothar thing didn’t have weapons, only claws. I looked!”

  “You need to realize two things about Lothar. It can create its own weapons, from swords to missiles, but it enjoys killing with its hands, or claws I should say. It wanted to capture your shuttle, but when it saw the shuttle evading its trap it tried to destroy you. Your shuttle was a combat shuttle, and can take a little rough usage. Shyrrik got you home on a single engine. You certainly set the fox among the chickens, however. Shyrrik flew the shuttle over Puasheehchester, and then Molva on her way to The Yeugate, trailing smoke the whole way. When people found out that your shuttle had been shot, the citizens of Oseothan have been traveling to The Yeugate in droves. Chiu’s parents, along with your small guide Kuan Yang have already received their immunization and will be departing as soon as they are fit; perhaps three or four more days.”

  “I suppose I should get up and see them off then.” Gareth started to get up, and then looked under the sheets. “As soon as I can get some clothes.”

  The hospital wing had only one other patient. Gareth looked down on the young Corporal with more than a little sympathy. Having a compound fracture of her arm was bad enough, but to have her leg filleted from hip to knee meant months of painful recovery. His face took on a thoughtful look, and he placed a gentle hand on the bandages encasing her damaged leg. So Athena, what do I have to do to heal her?

  Just let the energy flow out of you, and into her. It’s as simple as that. Gareth concentrated for a moment, and felt a warm rush of energy pass into the injured young woman.

  What now?

  Athena laughed. That’s it. Grinning, Gareth turned and headed for the door.

  Chui and Mairi looked up from their dinner, and Gareth’s plan for a calm reunion went right out the window. Mairi shrieked, and suddenly the two women were in his arms. Chiu was the first to ask a coherent question.

  “What the hell are you doing here? I thought you were injured.”

  He grinned. “I was. Since I arrived yesterday, I’ve spent a month in a private hospital having a new arm installed, a few broken ribs reconnected, and a lung repaired. Other than that, it was a walk in the park.” His face fell. “Lyndra and two other marines didn’t have it as easy.”

  Chiu seemed to shrink in his arms. “I felt her die, Gareth.”

  “She saved my life, Chiu. Mine and Mei Yong. She gave me the time to drag the Corporal into the shuttle and take off. Lothar caught her and killed her before we reached them. Damn he’s fast. He tried to lure us down to get our shuttle, and when we didn’t fall for the ruse, he did his best to shoot us down. The shuttle is tough, though, and Shyrrik got us home.” He looked up at the ceiling. “Ell, there is one more thing. The enemy that killed three of my party and tried to down the shuttle is named Lothar. You may have heard of him. Under no circ
umstances is he to get a shuttle. Get the shuttle into the corvette or the frigate or the destroyer within the next couple of days, repair it there, and keep it there. Reprogram the transportation pods to respond to authorized personnel only. Keep all exterior doors to The Yeugate closed, locked, and double check the security on all entries.”

  The voice from the ceiling sounded shaken. “We all saw the replay. You act as if this Lothar is still alive.”

  Gareth looked at Chiu, and sighed. “Lothar the golem is a self-regenerating, virtually immortal assassin, and I am his next target.”

  “Go through a gateway.” Mairi said immediately. “He’ll never find you on another world.”

  He gave his daughter a sad look. “You’re right. He would never find me, and he would begin killing everyone else, and he wouldn’t stop until every single creature on this world was dead.”

  “Ohhhhh, that Lothar.” Ell said in a very small voice from the ceiling. “What will you do?”

  “My job for as long as I can do it.” He let out a deprecating little laugh. “Maybe something will come up and I can throw a wrench in Lothar’s gears. Now tell me what else is new.”

  “Thomas has the Shsa-Tirion gateway operational and the Brivrelsea Gateway is almost ready to power up.”

  Gareth raised his eyebrows. “Brivrelsea is almost ready to go, you say? That would be very good indeed. We could pull in the folks from Luxoroth and Pellonon without having to ship them all over the world first.” He laughed aloud. “That’s so good in fact that I think I’ll take a run down there tomorrow.” He smiled at Chiu. “I plan on seeing your parents right now. Athena said that they and our small friend Kuan Yang are scheduled for the first departure to Puborg.”

  “Couldn’t we just lure that Lothar character into Puborg and let the planet take care of him?” Mairi asked in an excited voice.

  Gareth gave her a level look. “I shot this thing’s arm off at the shoulder. Not only did it not slow the creature down, it caught up with Lyndra, in her wolf form, and killed her with one hand. Then, still with one hand, it almost shot down my shuttle. I don’t think a little sickness is going to slow it down. What will slow it down is if you are on one side of the gateway while it is on the other.” He looked up into the air. “Did you catch that Ell? Make damned sure that creature is locked out of the gates.” An idea tickled the back of his mind, but Gareth couldn’t put his finger on it at the moment. Out of habit he ordered a meal but when it finally arrived sat staring at it with no appetite. “There is so much to do and so many places to go I just don’t have the time… and here I sit on my ass.”

  Chiu reached over and took his hand. “There is more than one transportation pod. What can I do?”

  Gareth smiled. “Remember my friend Munsif Hafeez at the Inn of the Seven Sisters, outside of Phila in the Realm of the Shattered Plains?”

  Chiu smiled. “I remember that his son Ahmed had a huge case of hero worship for you.”

  Gareth rolled his eyes. “That’s the place. Munsif has met you and will know you. Go there, sit down with Munsif and explain the situation. Tell him that I have utmost confidence in him, and I am putting him in charge of evacuating all the good people to Gocaea. Tell him to remember the people at the headwaters of the Phila River.”

  Chiu gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. “I can do that.” She said softly. “And I remember that family of witches you are thinking about.”

  “I will contact Thomas and have him set things up for Gocaea.” Ell announced, adding her two cents. “We will need to dedicate a transport pod to shuttling people and equipment from the gateway to the northern greenzone, until we can get a new gateway online.”

  Gareth nodded, picking at his cold stew without enthusiasm. “That sounds good.”

  “How about me?” Mairi asked softly. “What can I do?”

  Gareth set his fork down with some relief. “You will come with me.” He conceded with some reservation as he remembered his last trip with Lyndra. “There is a certain Sergeant Major I know who has been itching for travel. I’ll take the two of you and two or three more marines.” He glanced up at the ceiling. “Ell, we will need better weapons. The carbines the marines use are good against rabbits, but they just made sparkles on Lothar’s armor. I want something so powerful that when I flip the switch to full power the result is in the megaton range. If it doesn’t kill Lothar I want it to blow him into the next realm.”

  “Ahhh.” The voice out of the ceiling hesitated. “I don’t find any…”

  Gareth growled. “Try looking in the restricted access files… equipment that was probably banned by the Peace First Party.”

  “There it is.” Ell’s voice exclaimed. “How did you know about it?”

  “It’s only logical. Admirals had their battleships and cruisers in space. The Generals in charge of ground troops must have had their own big guns and secret projects.”

  “I was reviewing the list of ships on Mars that Shyrrikk told me of. It seems that there are a full dozen Elvira class transports loaded to the gills with ground assault vehicles and weapons. That is where the Generals hid their weapons.” Ell was silent for some time. “There is enough firepower hidden on Mars to for you to conquer the Galaxy, if you had galactic ambitions.”

  “All I want is one powerful hand weapon for each of the marines.” Gareth said with a sigh. “Now that everybody knows about the hidden fleet, I’ll probably have to move it to a more secure location.”

  “Why don’t you just destroy it all?” Chiu asked, a frown creasing her forehead.

  “Because, someday, I might need it. Space is very big and filled with dangers out there in the black. I will never again find myself fighting a vastly superior enemy while I am armed with a pop-gun.”

  “You’re just angry about losing Lyndra.” Chiu retorted.

  “Damned Skippy I’m mad,” Gareth growled. “If it hadn’t been for the high-tech Colt, we all would have been killed, and Lothar would be flying around the planet, killing people off at his leisure. He’s bright and he’s deadly. Eventually he would have found the museum ships in orbit, and after he killed everyone on Earth he would have headed out into the galaxy to wreak more havoc.”

  Chiu was staring at him, her face pale. “I thought I knew you once, but now I’m not so sure. What are you?” She asked in a small voice.

  Mairi lifted her chin and looked Chiu in the eye. “He’s my father.” She said in a steady voice, as she slid her chair fractionally closer to Gareth.

  Gareth took a deep breath. “Why don’t we all go see your folks, Chiu? I want to say goodbye before they head out.”

  She sniffed, wiping her eyes with her napkin. “Okay.” She murmured, getting to her feet.

  Shaw opened the door to the transient apartment the two senators were living in. Her classically beautiful face was wan and drawn, and she looked as if she’d been sick.

  “Hello Shaw.” Gareth said, kissing her cheek. She felt feverish. “You look terrible.”

  Shaw laughed as Chiu hugged her warmly. “You’re always the flatterer.” She murmured, smiling. “Actually, Kiang and I are feeling much better today. Yesterday we only left the bed to go to the bathroom.” She gave Gareth a sharp look. “I’ve been told that your version of this illness was somewhat worse.” Gareth shrugged the comment off.

  “Athena had to restart his heart twice.” Mairi inserted helpfully. When Gareth shot her a quick glare, she gave him an impish grin.

  “You’ve been arguing again.” Shaw commented dryly, looking at her daughter’s tight jaws.

  “Gareth thinks that we should keep the banned weapons of the ancients. I think they should all be destroyed. If the weapons are available someone is going to find them and use them. It’s inevitable.” There was anger in her voice.

  “Nobody will find them if only Athena and I know where they are.” Gareth replied calmly, shooting Shaw a wink.

  Her jaw sagged. “You plan to park them in a pocket universe, accessible only by you a
nd Athena.”

  He grinned. “Something like that. I only have the most rudimentary theory of how that works, so it will be up to Athena to change the idea into reality.”

  Shaw turned to her daughter. “Don’t worry about the weapons. Nobody will ever find them.” Her look turned sober. “What was that thing you fought? We all saw the recordings.” She tactfully didn’t mention the deaths of Lyndra or the soldiers.

  “Have you ever heard of Lothar?” Gareth asked. Shaw’s face turned pasty white.

  “Lothar???” She gasped, echoed by Kiang from the other room. “Lothar is only a fairy tale used to scare bad children to bed. Go to sleep or Lothar will get you.”

  “Yeah, well Lothar nearly got me.”

  “Is he as bad as they say?” Kiang asked, coming out of the bedroom as he slipped on a worn bathrobe. He looked like a hollow-eyed plague survivor.

  “If they say that Lothar is a self-regenerating, immortal, golem assassin capable of growing his own weapons and enjoying his work… the answer is yes. He, by himself, killed every last man, woman, child, dog, cat and goldfish in the city of Iyreeqeka.”

  Kiang and Shaw stared at him in something like horror. “There were eight thousand people in that city.’ Kiang moaned in something like pain.

  “What will you do?” Shaw finally asked.

  “My job.” Gareth replied, smiling. “And when I have time, I will kill Lothar.”

  The pair of Senators stood speechless which, Gareth thought, was quite an accomplishment for them. “I understand that the two of you will be among the first to settle Puborg.” He observed, tactfully changing the subject.

  Kiang blinked. “Three dozen of us will be going in, in the first wave. We have several replicators along with our pioneering gear, so we should be all set. The big replicator,” Kiang began with some pride in his voice. “can turn out three thousand linear meters of lumber a day. We should have housing for a thousand constructed in a month. Then we can begin to build greenhouses and clear farmland.”