Quasar

by Philip R Benge

  “You have all served me well, you may go now, and take this one with you and punish her so, she is to clean all of your tents until they are as clean as my own tent. Now leave me for I must return to my thoughts.” The women quickly left the tent carrying the unconscious woman with them, once far enough away from their god they sighed with relief, for they were unhurt.

  Quasar though was deep in thought. Why had the missionaries from a far off alien world apparently fled at his approach, they could not be afraid of a myth, as that is all he would be to them? A story to scare the children, an old wives tale. No, someone somewhere knew about him, and of his power to make everyone obey his wishes. That was impossible though, ten thousand years and a civilisation long gone told him that it was impossible, but what other answer was there. Quasar decided to talk to the only educated people left on the planet, the priests of the ancient religion that were here in Tent City, a religion that was followed by the majority of the locals until they encountered Quasar. Once again, he used his mind to find the priests who lived in Tent City, and not wanting them to know that he was not the all-knowing god he entered their minds surreptitiously. He might have entered the priest`s mind surreptitiously, but as he delved deeper and deeper he became all the more angry at not finding anything there to help him in his quest. The first of the priests had long since fallen screaming to the floor as Quasar searched roughly through the priest`s mind. However, there was no indication that his coming had been anticipated by these barbaric people. He found nothing, for no one on the planet Remus knew anything about John Olsen. Quasar killed each of the priests after he had finished with him, punishment for worshipping another god rather than worshipping him. Quasar knew now that he would have to wait until one of the missionaries was brought before him to find out just why they had fled at his approach. A thought then occurred to Quasar, if these people came from the planet Earth, then surely they must have some way of communicating with their people back home, Quasar smiled and hurriedly left the tent and called for Mahan.

  “Take me to the tent of the missionaries; it may hold something of importance.” Quasar ordered and Mahan as ever obeyed his lord’s demands immediately.

  Once there, Quasar searched the missionaries sleeping quarters and their church, which is where he found the interstellar communication device. He quickly activated it, but on looking for the part that would allow him to speak to the galaxy, he found that it was gone. Quasar stood there for five minutes while he composed himself, finding the missionaries just became that more urgent.

  **********

  Olsen and the others had slept in late after talking well into the night and then into the early morning. No one wanted to reopen the previous day’s discussions and so it was almost lunch time before Olsen raised the subject again. However, after much unproductive discussion they still had not progressed, for what he was telling them was so fantastic. It was now that they heard at least four distinct groups of riders leaving Tent City. Wondering what all the excitement was about, Olsen led them out of the cave and up a narrow rocky incline that finally allowed them to see the city and the plains that encircled it. From all sides of the city they watched as groups of horsemen left and headed outwards towards the horizon. Olsen decided to look in on some of the minds of those closest to him, surreptitiously as Quasar had done with the women that day; he found to his surprise that the riders were all going out in search of the missionaries.

  “It appears that Quasar has ordered those riders to search for you three men.” Olsen said to the missionaries. “He is probably after your communications` device.” Olsen added a minute later after thinking the matter over.

  “How do we know they are looking for us, we only have your word for it?” Father Ricardo Amalekite said brusquely.

  “If you are so certain that I am a liar, or maybe you feel that I am just plain mad, then why don`t you trot along and wave to the searchers, prove that I am wrong. Better still go directly to Quasar, but be sure to take the device along with you, otherwise he will dig inside your brain to find out just where you left it. Olsen suggested angrily and turned away from the others to walk back down to the cave.

  No one offered to be the one to walk over to Tent City, maybe Olsen was slowly getting through to them, at least about the dangers of speaking with Quasar. They all took one last look at the encampment and then followed him back down to the cave.

  Listening to Olsen speak since they had woken up that morning, Alice found herself beginning to believe him, she was amazed, yes she believed in God, but to believe everything that John had told them, she was simply flabbergasted! It had been while Alice had been listening to Olsen struggling to find the correct words to use to convince everyone that he was not an imbecile that she had begun to see Olsen in a different light. Maybe he had been chosen by God to fight evil, evil that was just a few hundred yards away from her, and maybe she should come to his aid to convince the others to do likewise. When they were all together again within the chamber, Alice walked over to Olsen.

  “I do not think that you are a liar John, although I must admit that for a while I was concerned about your mental state. However, I now believe what you are telling us, and I for one will agree to assist you in any way that I can.” Alice said much to the surprise of the others.

  “My god woman, are you mad, or is it lust that you are feeling for our Herculean friend?” Father Ricardo Amalekite said sneering at Alice.

  Alice turned on the missionary and to everyone surprise she slapped him hard on the face.

  “Don’t you dare speak like that to me; if you can not keep a civil tongue in your mouth then I suggest you keep quiet. Be warned for the next time you dare to insult me I will hit you so hard that your teeth will come out.” Alice spoke to him in such a tone that Colt was amazed that the words had come from one he thought an innocent. Father Ricardo Amalekite quailed under her glare and hurriedly apologised for his words. Having gone through a rather messy divorce Alice was not about to let any man insult or hurt her ever again, not without quickly retaliating.

  “Well, John, you appear to have one supporter, and in answer to your challenge of a moment ago, no I would not like to meet up with Quasar and exchange pleasantries. As I suggested yesterday I will go along with you and let Quasar gather up enough rope to hang himself. So you now have two supporters, for I still can not explain what we saw in that bar in Tent City, or on the plain outside of the city when we saw an army defeated without so much as a shot fired.” Colt said offering Olsen a smile. His support was quickly echoed by Peter Rawlins and Dave Partridge.

  “I too decline to accept your challenge John, for the incident at the bar has also left me a little bewildered, so we three will also follow you, we shall all see where you and Quasar lead us.” Bishop Myers said also speaking for his two colleagues, for he was the Bishop of Remus.

  “Ten thousand years ago Quasar had no allies and he almost won his war against an empire. He controlled everyone by the sheer force of his mind, and according to the ancient records, he used the technology of that age to help him to keep control of his slaves over long distances. Today, the Alemanni tribe are fiercely loyal to him and they help to keep all the locals in line and obedient. This time he only has to think about how to make his small empire grow into a galactic one.” Olsen said glumly, “That and getting a hold of you three.” Olsen said to the missionaries and smiled. “Lucky aren`t you?”

  The search parties had been out for three hours without finding any sign of their quarry, all they came across was a few shepherds and three headman from the nearby tribes around Tent City who were walking towards Tent City in answer to Quasar`s summons.

  Chapter Six

  On the Run

  Matters were about to take a turn for the worse for Olsen though, for Father Ricardo Amalekite secretly disagreed with Bishop Myers` decision to give Olsen the time to prove his story, and he had stole away from the hideaway and walked across the desert towards Tent City. He wanted to show
how insane Olsen was, and this was the most direct way to do so. It was while he was entering the outer row of tents that he was spotted by Mahan, the headman of the Alemanni, who captured him, and he took great delight in taking the foolish priest before Quasar.

  “My lord see what I have found for you, he just wandered in off the desert, great is your almighty power over the lower orders, please I beg of you, accept this gift.” Mahan implored as he threw Father Ricardo Amalekite to the floor in front of Quasar and then knelt before his god.

  Father Ricardo Amalekite glared at Mahan and turned to complain to Quasar but he froze as he looked into the eyes of Quasar, which suddenly grew, very large and very red. Amalekite found that he could not tear his eyes away from those of Quasar, and fear began to trickle into his mind and work its way down into his stomach. Quasar smiled as he looked upon the missionary and then looking at Mahan, he beamed even more.

  “You have done well Mahan, I will reward you, go to the slave market this evening and find yourself a new concubine, it is my gift to you Mahan for bringing this prize to me.”

  The slave market was in the centre of Tent City and people were bought and sold there once a month, the slaves came from the poorest families who sold their sons and daughters in order to eke out a subsistence life amongst the more affluent people of Remus. Mahan smiled and bowed his thanks to his god who had showed just how much he valued him.

  Quasar now looked upon Father Ricardo Amalekite, who realised that he had perhaps made a very bad error in judgement when he saw the malignant evil gleam enter Quasar`s two large red eyes. He screamed out in fear, a sound silently echoed by all who were close enough to hear and who cringed at the sound, fearing that they might be the next to endure the wrath of their terrible god. Then the fear within Amalekite went away and Father Ricardo Amalekite told Quasar everything that he wanted to know.

  Quasar walked across to the far side of his large tent and poured himself a drink of the local alcoholic beverage, he then turned back to glare down at Amalekite, contempt the only emotion upon his face.

  “So you have seven friends, two more missionaries, the four ship wrecked space travellers who were responsible for freeing me from my tomb and a man from Rega, John Olsen, a distant relative of the brave captain perhaps?” Quasar said more to himself than to Amalekite. He now knew why the missionaries had gone from their church when he had gone looking for them, and he knew where the rest of the communications device was located.

  “Mahan, gather fifty warriors quickly, I have found the location of the other missing missionaries together with some of their new friends, quickly now before they attempt to evade us.” Quasar called out to the headman.

  **********

  “Joseph, have you seen Father Amalekite anywhere, he seems to have disappeared and I wanted to ask his advice on something?” Bishop Myers asked as he entered the cave looking around for other his colleague.

  “I have just seen one of the missionaries, and as you two are here I guess it must have been Father Amalekite, he was walking through the outer ring of tents over at the city.” Colt exclaimed breathlessly, for he had just run down from their viewing point, having just gone up there to mull over all that had been said since their arrival on Remus, and to try to understand all that he had seen.

  Olsen was sitting against the far wall thinking, when he heard Colt`s words he jumped to his feet.

  “We might only have ten minutes before Quasar knows our location, quickly pick up all the food and water and let`s get out of here.” Olsen ordered the others as he pulled a Phaser out of his jacket.

  “John, what are you going to do with your Phaser?” Myers said slightly stunned to see Olsen standing there with the Phaser in his hand, and he grew more alarmed as he watched Olsen target the communications device.

  A bolt of energy left the weapon, and whistling through the air it struck the device destroying it, this was followed by two similar bolts of energy leaving little evidence at all that the device had ever sat there.

  “Do not worry Bishop Myers, I have a similar device on my ship, when this is all over you can use it to contact home.” Olsen said grimly.

  “Why did you not use your weapon earlier against Quasar?” Bishop Myers asked in astonishment.

  “You saw how much a bullet in the chest phased him, well according to the ancient records a Phaser bolt is about as effective.” Olsen replied grimly as he walked over to a stack of cases that held his supplies. Picking up two cases of the supplies, he hurried off to the mouth of the cave.

  “Come my friends, I have a vehicle at the end of the ravine, unless of course you would prefer to stay here and greet Quasar.” Olsen said smiling at them all.

  The others decided that a meet and greet was not on so they in turn picked up two boxes of supplies each and followed after Olsen`s rapidly departing back. When they caught up with Olsen they found him loading his supplies into the rear of a battered old vehicle that looked to be a cross between a land rover and a hovercraft, it was another of the items that Olsen had purchased while on Earth. It was solar powered and was large enough to accommodate the seven of them comfortably.

  **********

  Quasar led twenty-five of his trusted Alemanni warriors out of one end of Tent City while Mahan led another twenty-five of his warriors out of the other end. Quasar was heading for the ground above the hidden cave while Mahan lead his men towards the same ravine that Colt and his friends had first walked along when Olsen had introduced himself.

  On arriving at his destination, Quasar leapt from his mount, and at the head of his trusted warriors rushed down the small track that only a short time earlier had been trodden by Colt as he strove to understand the mysteries associated with Quasar. Quasar stopped at the narrow cleft in the rock and smiled in anticipation of what was to come, he then moved forward and was soon standing within the large cavern, but to his ire he found it empty, and to add to his growing sense of injustice he found the broken remains of the other piece of the communications device. It was now that Mahan rushed in. Quasar spun around and took out his anger on his headman.

  “They are all gone Mahan.” He scolded. “And see here, the remains of the communication device that you knew I wanted. You found the missionary too late.” Quasar screamed in anger, he was almost hysterical, however, gods do not have such an emotion and he caught a hold of his anger just in time to pause and think.

  “They must have left at the same moment that you caught the other missionary, they can not be far away Mahan, send out search teams to the south and bring them to me, and before the day is out.” Quasar ordered angrily. “Do not fail me Mahan, not again.” Quasar threatened his headman whose face paled while fear bit into his stomach like the blade of his long and wicked looking knife.

  The warriors were once again split into two teams that initially moved along the ravine together as they looked for signs of their quarry, it was Mahan who found the strange tracks left by Olsen’s vehicle as it lifted off the ground and moved away along the ravine and out into the desert. Mahan did not know what had made the tracks but he knew it had taken their quarry away from them, for he also found several sets of footprints ending where the mysterious tracks began and ended after just ten feet, for they now travelled across hard rock that was all that was left of an ancient mountain.

  “It must be a vehicle belonging to the Regan, for only off-worlders have such miraculous transport.” Mahan said to the warrior in command of the second team. “You take your men towards the black mountain and I will head for Summer Lake, they will need water at some point and so will need to visit one of these two places. Spread your men out into a line with two hundred paces between each of you and look for more of these strange signs. Have outriders patrol the hills either side of you and find the off worlders. Ensure that none of your men loses sight of those either side of him, lest our quarry slip through our net. We will meet back at Tent City in two days, and may our god forgive us if we fail him.” Quasar said, his voice qu
avering ever so slightly as he said these final words, his words were echoed within the minds of those with him.

  The men then acknowledged his words and swore to bring their quarry before their great lord, and then the two teams parted.

  The line of his men searching for Olsen and the others stretched across the desert plain, Mahan knew that they might miss the tracks of their quarry but they had a much better chance of finding them this way, assuming that one of the two teams was heading in the correct direction. However, he thought that this was highly likely as water was a necessity in the desert.

  It was now that the three headmen from the nearest of the nomadic tribes arrived at Quasar’s tent and on entering, they fell to the floor in terror of their lives, for Quasar greeted them at his most terrible.

  On first seeing Quasar he appeared to tower above them, his head touching the top of the tent and upon his face a snarl that made the three men believe that they were about to be eaten by this ferocious god. Within minutes Quasar had entered into each of their minds and claimed them, they left his tent and took their small retinue to join the search for the missing missionaries. Although now, Quasar was merely out for revenge, revenge for destroying the device he had wanted so badly. Impatient to know how the search was going his mind travelled across the desert and soon found that of Mahan. He found out about the strange marks left by the vehicle and he instantly knew what had caused it, a hovercraft, for he had travelled around Purgatory in such a craft while building up his power base. A thought suddenly exploded inside of Quasar, the Regan, how had he travelled from Rega to Remus, surely he must have a spacecraft hidden somewhere? Quasar smiled and became all the more dangerous as his mind travelled across the desert once again. This time he recalled his other search teams, he had forgotten about them, but now he had then return to help in this new search. He ordered each team to spread out as the two teams under Mahan’s command had done, the area around Tent City would soon become a huge net that the Regan would be ensnared in whether he like it or not.