“Oh my,” was all she managed to get out.
Shaw took Gareth’s hand. “We all thought you were dead…” she glanced to Mairi, “you both were dead.”
“The rumors of our deaths were greatly exaggerated.” Gareth chuckled.
“The raiders?” Shaw’s eyes were intent.
“Perhaps a half dozen boatloads escaped back to the Brivrelsea gateway with a few hundred raiders. The rest are dead.” The tone in his voice effectively ended conversation about the subject. He shook his head to clear the disturbing thoughts, and hugged Shaw warmly. “I’m so sorry about Chiu. I’m sorry that I wasn’t here to keep her safe and…” There was a rumble of thunder that shook the house, although outside the weather was clear.
“We spoke about that once, my Gareth.” Athena’s voice said clearly from the ceiling. “I will not have you taking the blame for something that was clearly beyond your ability to change. Have I made myself clear?”
Gareth couldn’t help but laugh. “I understand, Athena. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” The voice purred, and was gone.
Shaw gave him a curious look. “She does keep a close eye on you.”
“You have no idea.” Gareth chuckled.
“And I’m sorry for you, Gareth.” Shaw continued. “You lost Lyndra and now Chiu. I have been with Kiang for so long I can’t imagine life without a partner.”
“You think I’m alone?” Gareth raised an eyebrow. “I’ve had a partner sitting on my shoulder every minute I’ve been on Eldenworld and beyond. She sees what I see and hears what I hear. At first it was a little disconcerting, but she is exquisitely courteous.” He gave Shaw a crooked smile. “I do miss the physical closeness though, and the smell. Chiu and Lyndra both had a distinctive… fragrance.”
“You’re not telling me anything that is a great surprise, Gareth.” Shaw murmured. “Each of my family have a unique scent, as do you and Mairi. I could tell you apart in a dark room by scent alone.” Her look turned quizzical. “What will you do now, Prince Gareth and Princess Mairi?”
Gareth looked at his daughter, who was just getting back to her feet. “I need to speak with Ell at The Yeugate. If the evacuation is finished, I need to wrap things up on Terra. I understand that Thomas is settling in at the new University here.” Shaw nodded. “Good. Iona and Shyrrik should already be aboard the starships. It might be a little lonely for them right now, but…”
“What do you mean, lonely?” Shaw snapped in a surprised voice. “Didn’t you know that your crew volunteered to the man to remain aboard the USS Maine?” Something seemed to be catching in Gareth’s throat, and all he could do was to shake his head. “There were enough volunteers waiting in the Yeugate to man several starships in fact.” Shaw smiled. “Young Ensign Mei Yong is acting XO while Kiang and I are away.” Her eyes were sparkling. “What are your orders, Captain?” Gareth found that he couldn’t speak, and stood there helplessly, his brain and his heart in confusion. Shaw put her arm about his shoulder. “At the very least you will stay for dinner tonight, before we leave.”
“You’re coming with me?” He stuttered.
“Us.” Mairi injected, with an acid little smile.
Gareth rolled his eyes. “Us?”
Shaw smiled. “Of course, we’re going. Prince Shen, and Princess Qingzhao will find administering Puborg relatively easy compared to Oseothan.” She let out a low laugh. “Roving marine patrols on the Decade Worlds was one of your better ideas, and even when they’re not physically present, thanks to the gateway, they are never more than a few minutes away. Local constables handle the small problems, which are thankfully few.” She looped her arm through his. “Again, thanks to you, funding for the police force is no problem. The dwarves actually thought a fifteen percent tithe quite reasonable, considering the world they just inherited. Come with me,” She murmured, a wicked glint in her eyes, “and we’ll see if we can surprise Kiang.”
~~~
Just as it had on the day he first set foot on Puborg, golden morning sunlight streamed through tall trees while thick green vines festooned with thousands of trumpet shaped blue flowers hung from the gateway and lower branches of the trees. The very air seemed golden and pleasant, and the sunlight was warm on his cheek. He took a deep breath of the sweet, jasmine-like scent, and turned to his daughter who was striding along beside him. “It was like this the first day I came here.” She turned, raising a single eyebrow that was so like Chiu it caught at his heart. Gareth chuckled. “No sooner had I opened my EVA suit than Athena informed me that I was infected with what had been, up to that point in time, a universally fatal disease.” He took another deep inhalation of the fragrant, death-filled air. “I feel much better this time.” He gave Mairi a wink. “By the way—happy birthday. I hope that we didn’t embarrass you too much last night, but a young woman only turns eighteen years old once, and it’s a special occasion.”
She reached out and took her father’s hand. “I just wish mother had been there to join in.” She whispered in a wistful voice. “Thank you, Father.” She looked up as they stepped through the gateway together.
The sun seemed redder than normal, as it dipped behind snowcapped western mountains, and the air had a biting chill. In the middle of the long meadow that sat before the gateway Gareth saw a modest herd of deer. “Hello Ell.” He said to the air.
“It is very good to see you up and around, Gareth.”
“How are things going?” He asked, looking around the landscape that, except for the parked shuttle, was devoid of any signs of people. The massive structure of the Yeugate felt… empty. The formerly transparent wall of the Departure Lounge was covered in steel plate. Even the birds seemed strangely silent.
“Very well, Gareth.” Ell’s voice was no more than a soft susurration in the light breeze. “For the most part the people are all gone.”
Gareth was glaring at the deer. “Aren’t the deer afraid of the local wolves?”
Ell’s laugh was a sparkling tinkle of sound. “The wolves are all gone, Gareth, as are most of the other animals. The deer I left there strictly for show, and those are only holograms. The real deer and flocks of birds passed through the gateway an hour ago.”
“That’s nice, but what about the people?”
“Sensors indicate that there are a few dozen left in Oseothan, and perhaps a few thousand left on the entire world. Those are the holdouts. Several raider ships are headed to Puasheehchester as we speak, with the intention of seizing the gateway. To ease your worries, all exterior entrances have been sealed.”
Gareth glanced over his shoulder towards the small control console that stood beside the great arching gateway. “They will probably smash the console.” He said in a flat tone.
“I think not.” Ell volunteered. Soundlessly the outside control console sank into the metal base, and silent steel doors closed over it.
Gareth sighed. “That’s it then.” He said, as the chill wind bit at his face. “I’m condemning the balance of the human race to a slow horrible death.”
A hand touched his shoulder. “They knew about the gateways, Gareth.” Athena purred very close to his ear. “And you gave them every chance, and if the truth be known, you were more tolerant than I would have been. It is time to go.”
Gareth blinked as he remembered something. “What ever became of the Eye of Zuebrihn, and that massive brain?”
Athena’s shoulders seemed to sag. “After you evacuated the goblins, the raiders and the guildsmen stormed Zuebrihn and destroyed the eye. The Eye was the very last of the even semi-sentient artificial intelligences on the planet.”
As the sun dipped behind the western mountains, shadows seemed to stretch toward them like long dark fingers. Gareth shivered. “I suppose it is time to go.” He looked up at the shining gateway. “Execute plan Exodus, Ell.”
A small basketball sized silver sphere rose from where the pedestal had disappeared and hovered for a moment as the metal doors slid closed below it. “A
ll power systems are now shutting down, and the gateway is inoperative. The Yeugate is locked and sealed. In two hundred years, when the radiation has fallen to survivable levels, we can restart the Yeugate, if you would like, and begin reseeding Terra. It should be warmer by then.”
Gareth felt a lump in his throat as Mairi took his arm. “Shaw and Kiang are waiting for us in the shuttle. It’s time to go, Father.”
He took a deep breath and wondered if the air on any other world would smell so sweet. “Power up the shuttle Ell, and take us to the USS Maine.”
“Aye, aye Captain.” Ell murmured, before speeding off toward the small shuttle. Athena touched his arm softly, and vanished.
Sitting in the pilot’s seat, Gareth watched Terra fall away below them with mixed emotions, but it was with growing excitement that he watched the small fleet of ships before them grow larger. Parked serenely in a High Earth Orbit someone, probably Shyrrik he guessed, had decided to move them somewhat closer. Now the ships hung before the shuttle like a school of silver fish, shining in the sun.
“I thought that the ships absorbed all light.” He growled, glaring at the silver swept-back wings of the USS Maine. Seen like this, he had to admit, it was a truly beautiful ship.
“The engineered photochromic qualities of the hulls can be adjusted to either totally absorb radiation, reflect it, or any point in between.” Ell responded mildly. “Shyrrik was remiss in her teaching if she failed to mention that.”
Gareth turned to Mairi with a sour smile. “It is going to be a long trip.” He grumbled. Despite being an advanced eighteen years old, Mairi giggled.
He was somewhat surprised to see another shuttle parked in the frigate’s hangar bay when they slid through the magnetic containment door and into the hangar proper. The rear ramp thudded open and Gareth stopped at the bottom of the ramp to stare at the double rows of crew lining his path. Facing him was a serious faced Ensign Mei Yong. Gareth felt his knees tremble for a moment. He looked at the young woman just as seriously. “Permission to come aboard, Ensign?”
She snapped him a salute. “Permission granted, Captain.”
Gareth returned the salute just as sharply. “Thank you, Ensign.” His booted foot hit the hangar deck to the skirl of a bosun’s whistle, and Gareth couldn’t help but wince.
“The Captain is now aboard.” Mei announced firmly.
Gareth turned and faced the bow, where he knew a flag rested on the ship’s bow, and saluted. He frowned as he glanced down at his worn but serviceable outdoor clothes. You could have warned me. He shot to his daughter mind-to-mind.
At his side Mairi just smiled. Remember the unexpected birthday party? Consider this payback and anyway, it was more fun this way.
EPILOGUE
The walls of the building were five full stories tall, with the windows and doors facing inward to wide tiled verandas that led to sweeping graceful stairways. Gareth sat on a shaded fifth floor loggia looking down into the dappled courtyard of the Caravanserai of the Seven Sisters. Half again as big as the original Inn near Phila in the Realm of the Shattered Plains, which had been sizeable to begin with, this new building had several amazing additions. Two full hectares of solar panels provided lights, heat and the most amazing thing of all… running hot water in every suite. Hummingbirds chased sparrows around boxes filled to overflowing with flowers, all in a riot of color. A fountain stood at the center of the caravanserai’s spacious courtyard, water chuckling melodiously. Gareth sipped his sweet wine, his feet propped up on the railing, and watched his daughter in the courtyard below, sitting shoulder to shoulder with the tall Ahmed Hafeez, the owner’s son and now manager of the Inn. Injured in the gateway battles, his father Munsif had expressed no desire to step back into the business when his injuries had healed. He smiled as he watched his daughter, and thought that at well over nineteen years old, it probably wouldn’t be long before Mairi started a family of her own. His smile widened. Twenty-year-old Ahmed would make a more than adequate son-in-law.
“After two years on Gocaea, Mairi has turned into a wise and beautiful young lady.” Athena murmured at his side as she lay a warm hand on his shoulder. Like him, she was looking down into the courtyard.
“My thoughts exactly.” Gareth smiled. He hadn’t heard her arrive, hadn’t seen or heard from her at all in several months in fact, but he’d felt her arrival all the same.
Athena turned a serious face in his direction. “Gareth, it’s time to go.”
“I knew in my heart that one day it would come to this.” He replied, rising to his feet, his voice bitter.
She raised an eyebrow. “Why so glum? Don’t you want to be my partner? I’ve given you enough hints.”
“Partner?” He stammered, knowing that she could feel his confusion.
“Partner.” She said firmly. “Or perhaps you would prefer to say full time companion, or spouse, or significant other.”
“I thought that you were just going to send me back to Twenty-first Century Earth.” He confessed in a shaking voice.
“And leave you standing on the beach in Mexico, right where I found you?” She responded; her voice as dry as the sands in the Gocaen deserts.
“Something like that, or just get rid of me like a tool that has served its purpose.”
Her hand touched his cheek. “I don’t think so. Saving the residents of Eldenworld was simply a test, a very small task that occupied the barest flicker of time.”
“So, that’s why…?”
“That’s why I made the changes I did to you. If we’re to be partners we must have somewhat similar abilities.” She gave him a thoughtful little smile. “I’ll continue to make changes… as time goes by.”
“But you said to me that you had your eye on Mairi.” He glanced down at his daughter, who was now sitting hand-in-hand with Ahmed.
Athena followed his eye. “I do; however, I think that we should give her a few decades to enjoy her life before we put her to work.” A smile tugged at the corner of Athena’s lips as she watched him catch the word ‘we.’ “Thanks to you we now have ten more worlds to oversee, with the possibility of many more.” She tried to make her visage look stern, but couldn’t restrain the playful gleam in her violet eyes.
With Athena at his side Gareth stepped to the railing and looked down on his daughter. Mairi looked up at the sight of them at the balustrade, grinned and waved a greeting. Gareth raised a hand in what was both a benediction, and a farewell. Mairi’s hand froze, and her smile crumbled. It’s not goodbye, my beloved daughter, he said in her mind, but simply ‘until we meet again.’ Gareth wondered how long it would take Mairi to remember that she had the ability to visit them whenever she wished. Chuckling, he and Athena turned, stepped, and were gone.
END
The Decade Worlds Page 26