Hope

by John Stevenson

Harriet’s memory had come to Nicholas abruptly while he was eating, and once in his mind, it suppressed his mood, and he finished the meal in silence.

  While they ate Isla had not spoken, but as he placed the serving plate into a sonic cleaner, she began again. “The meal was to your satisfaction?”

  “Yes: it could be that centuries may have even improved the cheese/” He tried to be witty, and to put Harriet out of his mind. “Isla… I have been here before haven’t I?”

  “No,” interrupted Reigel. “You were aboard the Warrior.”

  “There are many machines that can fly?”

  Reigel nodded.

  “I… I was in the susp… in a deep sleep, there?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why are they different?”

  “Like wagons they are used for different purposes.”

  “And these are called Basilisk?”

  “There is only the one Basilisk, but one could be enough.”

  Nicholas didn’t think it was.

  Isla spoke. “My creator placed in my memory an ancient fable that tells of a creature which had been hatched by a toad, from the egg of an old cock; and before whose breath every living thing withered and died. A creature whose eye so bewitched one to ruin, that only the bravest could confront it, but there was another reason. It was never fully explained to me, but my maker said that I would be a puzzle and remain hidden till the time was right, and that she had created me for someone who would need me when the prophecy was to be fulfilled.”

  “The Legend…”

  “Maybe that person is you; Nicholas?”

  “Me?”

  “If the prophecy is to be believed, then the time is right?”

  “Then there must be a mistake; I understand nothing… I cannot imagine why anyone would create such a thing for me?”

  “Prophecies are not created, they grow from seeds. So no, the prophecy was not the original intention: I was to fight, and win, but situation’s change. She alone knew of the prophecy and that there could come a time when someone would use me for the purpose I was created.”

  “And you think that time is now?”

  “The commander does, but only time itself will tell if he is correct.”

  “Thank you for your vote of confidence Isla,” Reigel muttered.

  There was a slight silence that Nicholas filled. “Is that why you are female Isla?”

  “Please clarify Nicholas?”

  “You have a female voice because you creator was female?”

  “The commander will tell you that I have no gender other than that you would want me to be, and that it suits calm command to have a passive voice?”

  Nicholas remembered the harsh tones in the bowels of the Drakken. “Then you should be aboard the Drakken?”

  “I understand its command processor is gendered aggressive?”

  “It is: we have conversed; kind of.”

  “Then maybe it suits them better to carry out their commands in a charged atmosphere; but Nicholas, the commander has informed me that time is short. If you would move to the front cabin we should continue our familiarization tour.”

  Nicholas had almost forgotten that within several hours he would be facing the Marshal. The thought both depressed and frightened him. Here he was free and safe. “Yes.” He said hesitantly as he looked at Reigel. “Though maybe we should leave: I would like to speak with Simeon before…”

  “Leave?” Reigel replied puzzled. “We can’t, this is the most important part of the instruction.”

  “Instruction?” Nicholas looked at him.

  “I cant fly Basilisk after all I have said about not being involved in shaping the planets future?”

  Nicholas was almost speechless at the suggestion. “You expect... me to… I …I wouldn’t know where to begin?”

  “That’s precisely why you need to be instructed.”

  Nicholas was stunned. “But I can’t fly... this. I can’t fly anything.”

  “And it’s impossible for me to,” countered Reigel. “Haven’t I made it clear that I’ve already broken too many rules? If I were to pilot a warship on the surface, and take up battle with a ship of another council member, I wouldn’t just be banished to the edge of the Galaxy; it would be the edge of the universe. No. It’s impossible… and unnecessary, Isla has accepted you as her commander.”

  “My maker created me for the one who would come Nicholas,” agreed Isla. “I believe you are that one.”

  “I wouldn’t know where to start?”

  “That is why you have to listen and learn,” said Reigel. “The details of flight are Isla’s forte, so how Basilisk goes up or down does not overly concern you. All you have to do is request Isla to carry out a maneuver, and Basilisk will perform as you ask. But Isla cannot act offensively on behalf of the rebellion, so if you do not sit in the command chair; then the rebellion is truly lost, and your friends will all die.”

  Nicholas remembered the keep, and the deadline. “There is a chance?”

  Reigel nodded. “Enough of one to try."

  “Then try I must.” Nicholas pushed his fear and doubt aside and went forward to the very front of the craft. There were four seats, in two rows, each with a bank of instruments before it.

  Reigel indicated one at the front for Nicholas, and sat in the other himself.

  Nicholas looked at the instruments; he was filled with incomprehension. “Tell me what I must do?”

  “Observation mode, please Isla,” said Reigel.

  The walls to the front and sides, top and bottom disappeared giving the impression that the front half of the craft was not there.

  Nicholas’s jaw slackened again. “I have seen this magic before on the Drakken,” he gasped.

  Reigel smiled. “Basilisk is made of a photocromatic-polyceramic: which in one sense means that all the walls are transparent. The colour you saw on the outside is just a manipulation of the reflected light; the light particles that your eyes respond to. It can become any colour, or even be rendered invisible to the eye, as you see.”

  “Commander would you relinquish control?”

  “I relinquish primary command Isla.”

  “Nicholas you accept primary command?”

  He looked at Reigel and saw his slight nod. “Yes.”

  “Then I am ready to scan commander?”

  Reigel indicated the armrests. “Put your hands over the flight controls Nicholas.”

  Nicholas looked vaguely around for anything matching the description until Reigel reached over, and taking his wrist placed his palms over a raised dome, one on front of each arm rest. Nicholas opened his hands and spread his fingers over the smooth convex surfaces. There was a warm tingling feel that soon faded.

  “Analyzing,” said Isla, then a moment later. “You have primary control Nicholas.” Suddenly the craft began to jerk and swing about the room.

  “I think you should dampen the sensitivity for a while Isla,” said Reigel anxiously.

  The movements eased, but the craft was still moving edgily

  “Nicholas,” said Reigel “Slide your right hand over the dome in the direction you need to go, but take care not to press down, or lift your hand; those movements will take us down or up.” Reigel gave him several minutes to get a feel for the operation and then he spoke again. “It’s time we had more space. If you would open the doors please Isla.”

  “Commander if you will permit me to point out that in the human time frame I have waited an exceedingly long time for this moment.” There was a rattle of ancient machinery that reminded Nicholas of the portcullis, but this time doors before them rolled upwards.

  “Gravitation Drive. Minimum power,” said Reigel.

  “Gravitation Drive… Minimum power.” Repeated Nicholas.

  There was an almost imperceptible whine. “Activated commander.”

  “Outside audio off.”

  “Outside audio off.”

  The noises stopped, but the doors continued to
roll upward. “Right Nicholas,” Reigel looked anxious. “Keep your hands flat and just slide them forward very… Slowly.”

  They crept forward, but it felt to Nicholas more as if the outside walls rolled past them. He dared not look at Reigel, but as they moved along a narrow tunnel he tried to act calm and began a conversation “There were no wheels: what is moving us?”

  Reigel seemed more concerned with Basilisk’s position in the tunnel than Nicholas, and replied without looking at him. “We are using the same forces that make something slip from your fingers, and fall to the ground.”

  Nicholas smiled, trying to indicate that he understood, but he had far too much on his mind to make sense of anything else.

  Reigel either didn’t notice or think about Nicholas understanding, and spoke robotically “Once outside the atmosphere we will lock on to the energy of space itself.”

  “The atmosphere… outside, you mean up above?”

  “Nicholas there are untold wonders up there.”

  “You mean the stars?”

  “And far more; what you observe is the merest fraction of what is there. Much, much more remains hidden to your eyes; but not to gravity.”

  Ahead Nicholas saw the green glow again. He glanced at Reigel for reassurance.

  “Just keep going,” was all he said as Nicholas instinctively braced himself for the impact. There was none as Basilisk sliced through the wall as if it didn’t exist. Suddenly they were out into the main tunnel that he remembered.

  Reigel’s had was on top of Nicholas’s. “Slide the hand over this way,” as Basilisk turned to follow the tunnel.

  Nicholas glanced back as Basilisk settled on a course that took them right down the center of the tunnel. There was no trace of an entrance from where they had emerged.

  They continued talking