“I came to introduce myself. I’m Allistor. You may have heard of me?” Allistor kept his empty hands up where they could clearly be seen.
The shotgun went from being held at hip level, to tight against the old man’s shoulder as he took better aim. “The asshole we keep seeing notices about.” It was a statement, not a question.
“Uh, yeah. That would be me. I can explain about those. Any chance you might lower that weapon so we can talk? What’s your name, by the way?”
“You can call me Jones. At least until I blow yer head off. This is my place, no matter what them damn messages keep sayin. Leave. Now.”
Allistor kept his hands up. “I officially grant my permission for mister Jones to occupy this property.” He watched as the old man’s eyes unfocused for a second.
“Well la dee da… you got rid of the whole trespassing nuisance. So what? Give me one reason I shouldn’t still blow your head off right here and now.”
Allistor was starting to lose patience with the cranky old fart. “Okay, first, it probably won’t kill me. Second, it’ll piss me off, and make us enemies, and I’d probably have to kill you. Which might anger whoever else is in there with you, and make them want to kill me…” He took a deep breath. “Look, I really do just want to be friends.”
“How do I know this ain’t just a trick to get me off yer land?”
Allistor lowered his hands. “Look, Jones. I already own this land, along with every national park in what used to be the United States. Do you know how much land that is? Millions of acres. I’m not here about land. I’m here because the System sent me a message that there were trespassers on this particular land… and that’s you. You are what I’m interested in. I mean, whatever humans I found here. I’m trying to keep as many of us survivors alive as possible. Help us all grow stronger. So I came here to see you. See what I can do to help you.”
Noting the man’s expression hadn’t grown any friendlier, he nodded toward the ship behind him. “If I wanted you gone, I could have just hovered over this place, blasted it into tiny bits, and gone on with my day, instead of walking over here and dealing with your cranky old ass face to face.”
Jones chuckled, lowering his weapon. “Good point, son.” He stepped forward a single step, clearing the doorway, and motioned for Allistor to approach. When Allistor got close enough, Jones extended a hand. “Sorry about that. It’s a rough world out here, and a body can’t be too careful.”
Allistor shook his hand, noting extensive callouses. “I hear you. And like I said, that’s why I’ve come. I’m forming a nation of survivors, and bringing in as many as possible. We’ve got safe places to live and work across the country, from coast to coast. The nearest is in what’s left of Manhattan.”
Jones had continued to scan their surroundings as Allistor spoke, clearly uncomfortable.
“Is there something in particular you’re worried about? Has something been attacking you?”
Jones nodded. “More than one thing. We’re kind of exposed out here. Those canid things roam up and down the beach, eating anything that washes up. There’s things out in the water, too. And last week I swear I saw a dragon fly overhead.”
“Would you feel better if we talked aboard my ship? Nothing’s going to attack it, except maybe that dragon. And it wouldn’t last long.”
Jones considered it for a moment. “Come inside. It’s safe enough in here.” He motioned for Allistor to step through ahead of him. Releasing his Barrier spell, Allistor did just that. When his eyes adjusted to the dimmer light inside the building, he saw two women, obviously a mother and daughter by how closely the younger resembled the elder. “My wife Carrie, and my daughter Kaitlyn.”
Both women smiled nervously at Allistor as he waved hello. Carrie motioned for him to take a seat in a wooden rocking chair near the sofa where they sat. “Please, have a seat. Welcome to our home.”
“Thank you.” Allistor sat, folding his hands in his lap as he looked around. The place looked old, like historic old, pretty much the way you’d expect the inside of a lighthouse to look. Everything was crafted of dark wood, oiled until it shone. The windows were round, like portholes, and set high on the walls. Allistor assumed that was in case of floods from heavy storms.
Jones quickly filled in his wife and daughter, and Allistor gave them his standard recruitment speech. When he was through, he offered, “You are all welcome to join us as citizens of Invictus and live in whichever location you like. Or you can remain here, with my permission.” He watched as the two ladies got the same notifications the old man had gotten a few minutes earlier, officially no longer trespassers.
Jones grunted. “This place has served us well enough since we got here. But I ain’t all that attached to it.” Both women nodded.
Curious, Allistor asked, “Yes, I noticed you are sort of recent arrivals here. Where were you before?”
Carrie answered, “Here and there. My husband is a sailor and fisherman. We’ve spent a good part of the last year on the water, moving from island to island, port to port. Only hitting dry land when we need supplies.”
Allistor didn’t remember seeing a boat when he was outside, but he figured it could have been docked somewhere on the leeward side of the island. “And… you always wanted to live in a lighthouse?” he nudged her, smiling as warmly as he could.
“Ha!” the old man thumped the arm of his chair. “You know the expression ‘any old port in a storm’? Well, we got run aground in a storm a few weeks back.”
Kaitlyn shook her head. “You know it wasn’t a sandbar, or a rock. It was one of those monsters.”
Jones looked at his daughter, shaking his head. Allistor, though, was nodding. “I’ve run across at least one of those things. Out on the west coast. It was called a Mosasaur, and it was bigger than the two hundred foot boat we used to catch it. I nearly shit myself when I saw it.” He bobbed his head slightly, looking at Carrie. “Excuse my French.”
The woman laughed, a light and pleasant sound. “I’m married to an old sailor, young man. Don’t mind your language around me.”
Jones was more serious. “You went out fishing for one of those things?”
Allistor grinned. “It was sort of self-defense. I created a Stronghold called Pelican Point out on an island just off the Santa Barbara coast. My guys… uh… liberated a small fleet of boats from the marina, and were taking them to the island to use for a fishing fleet. We planned to provide fresh fish for the rest of our people. Anyway, one of those sea monsters took out one of the smaller boats as they were making the trip to the island. We figured if we were going to operate any kind of fishing fleet, we needed to get rid of it.”
Seeing all three of them leaning forward with interest, he continued. “We had this big research vessel that was a trawler in a former life. Had a couple big cranes on it. So we went fishing. Used bait with explosive compound strapped to it.” Allistor didn’t know these folks well enough to explain that the bait was a goblin. “Caught a massive shark by accident. Thirty feet long. I thought that was scary enough. But the most experienced fisherman on the boat said we should leave it in the water, as bait. And a short while later this massive monster bit the shark in half. We set off the explosive, and boom! Sushi for everyone for like a week.”
Jones look at him, skepticism clear on his face. “I’m betting it wasn’t that simple.”
Allistor nodded. “Yeah, that was the short version. Let’s just say I needed clean shorts afterward, and it nearly broke our boat in half.”
“Well, our boat just got bumped by one of those things, and it did enough damage that we barely made it to shore before she sank.” Kaitlyn said. “I’d be fine with never going out into deep water again.”
The old man sat quietly for a moment, then asked, “And you say you’ve set up a fishing fleet out there?”
“Well… we have a bunch of boats. Lots of fishing poles, a few nets, and half a dozen guys who know how to drive a boat. I don’t know if it qualifies
as a fishing fleet. It’s also doubling as our navy, by the way.”
Jones looked at his wife, who nodded. “I think we’d like to join you, if you’ll have us. As long as we can go to… what did you call it? Pelican Point?”
Allistor warned them. “You need to know, there have been some big earthquakes out there. The Stronghold is high on a cliff, on pretty solid bedrock. But tsunamis are a very real threat. It might be safer to live somewhere else and commute to work each day through the teleport pads.”
Kaitlyn snorted. “Just casually throw it out there that you can ‘beam me up, Scotty’ all over the place. Do you have hearthstones, too? Like, just close your eyes and port to your home base?”
“Ah, a fellow gamer!” Allistor smiled at her. She was maybe a year or three older than him, and cute. Blonde hair bleached nearly white by the sun, and a deep tan.
Jones beamed at his daughter. “She sure is. She’s what kept us alive and safe in the early days.”
“Well, sorry to disappoint. No hearthstones. But we do have teleportation between most of our facilities that are Stronghold sized or larger. And, you know, spaceships.”
And just like that, Allistor had increased his population by three.
Chapter 15
Allistor and Amanda were both back in their private quarters in plenty of time for supper. They were nestled together on a sofa when Nigel announced that their meal was on its way up from the kitchen. Allistor looked at Amanda, one eyebrow raised. “The special?”
“You’ll see.” She gave him a small smile. “I knew Meg wouldn’t spill the beans.”
The elevator doors opened, and two of the kitchen staff wheeled out a cart, upon which sat several covered dishes and a pitcher, along with the usual cups, flatware, napkins, and plates. Without a word, they guided the cart over to the spot Amanda indicated, then retreated back into the elevator.
Amanda got to her feet, pulling Allistor with her, and walked over to the cart. “I asked Meg to make this particular meal for us once in a while, when we need to be reminded…” She looked expectantly at her prince.
Allistor, now more curious than ever, sniffed in the general direction of the cart. When his nose couldn’t identify anything in particular, he reached out and lifted one of the dish covers. His brow furrowed in confusion for a moment, surprised by what he saw. Reaching out, he poked at it with one finger, then lifted part of it.
“Is this… a peanut butter sandwich?”
Amanda beamed. “Peanut butter and orange marmalade, to be exact. The peanut butter is from a jar that Meg and I grabbed from that first convenience store we found after the void titan smashed the town. I stashed it away when you built the Warren, and food started coming in pretty regular. The marmalade is actually new, made from the oranges that Nancy’s been growing. But with all that we have now, this tower, the small army of hunters and farmers feeding everyone, even a luxury space yacht, I thought it might be good to have a little reminder of the days when we would have considered this sandwich a feast.”
Allistor set down the dish cover and hugged her close. “You are amazing.”
“Somebody has to keep you in line, prevent you from going full Fancypants.” She poked him in the ribs gently, then reached for another cover. “But wait… there’s more!” She lifted the cover, exposing a pair of Ho-Ho’s on a plate.
Allistor snorted. “I would have killed for those back then. Like, actually shot a guy in the face to get my mouth around that sweet chocolate goodness.”
“Right? I had such chocolate cravings in those early days. You don’t know this, but when we went out foraging, I took ridiculous risks when I thought there was a chance I’d find chocolate.”
Allistor reached for the last dish cover as he replied, “Me too. I think we all did. Except Dawn. She was fascinated with those pink snowball things.” He lifted the cover, and there sat a small package of teriyaki beef jerky. “Yessss!” he grabbed the package and, one arm still around Amanda, used his teeth to rip it open. He just stood there for a moment, inhaling the scent of year-old jerky wafting out of the bag.
“No hogging! Your better half wants some jerky!” Amanda’s hand brushed past his nose as she reached in and claimed the first piece.
“Fine, but I’m starting with a Ho-Ho! I’m the prince around here, I can eat dessert first if I want to!” he handed her the bag of jerky and snatched up the tubular snack cake, biting off half of it and moaning at the flavor.
The two of them carried the food and drink back to the sofa, and savored their simple meal, feeding each other messy bits of sandwich and pieces of jerky. Amanda caught Allistor eyeing her Ho-Ho several times, and moved the plate out of his reach.
They’d just finished eating and were settling back for some full-tummy sofa cuddling when Nigel’s voice came down from above. “Pardon me, sire, Lady Amanda. I have an urgent request to speak with you from Eric in Detroit.”
“Put him through.” Allistor sat forward, looking at the ceiling as if Nigel were up there somewhere. Amanda’s grip on his hand tightened.
“Allistor? We’ve got a… shit, I don’t know what it is. But I’m guessing it’s a problem. A big problem.” Eric was speaking quickly, breathing hard, clearly uneasy.
“What kind of problem? Are you under attack?” Allistor was on his feet now.
“Maybe? There’s this big ship… orb… ball. I don’t know what it is, exactly. Just came down out of the clouds and is hovering over Lake Huron.” He paused, and Allistor could hear him gulp.
Amanda looked confused. “Eric, you’re in Detroit, right? Lake Huron is north of you by several miles.”
“Roughly sixty miles.” Eric confirmed. “This thing is… big. Like, it should have its own gravity, big. Right now it’s just sitting in the sky, but it’s damned scary.”
“Nigel, please contact Harmon and patch him in to this conversation.” Allistor asked. They waited for a few seconds, then Harmon’s deep voice rang out in the room.
“Allistor? Is everything okay?”
“I don’t think so, Harmon. Eric, please repeat what you’ve just told us.”
When the man mentioned the size and shape of the vessel, Harmon growled what could only be orcanin curse words. When he was done, he added, “We need to get there now. You bring the Phoenix, I’ll get my ship. Tell Gralen and Gene we’re going to need Opportunity and the goblin ship Bellerophon, too. Quickly!”
Allistor and Amanda were moving toward the elevator. “Eric, hang tight. Keep an eye on that thing, and call back if there’s any change. Nigel, get Gene and Gralen onto their ships and on their way to join us. Tell them I need them right now. You can pass along what Eric has told us.”
Not sure what they were facing, Allistor added, “Nigel, give me loudspeaker, everywhere.” A moment later, as the elevator sped toward the ground floor, he broadcast. “Listen up everybody. We’ve had a sighting of a massive spherical ship hovering over Lake Huron in Michigan. We don’t know for sure that it’s hostile, but it seems likely. I need any raiders who are geared up and ready right this minute to join me on the Phoenix, or hop aboard the Opportunity or Bellerophon in the next five minutes. Volunteers only, this is not an order. We’re going to go look at this thing, and for all I know it’ll blast us out of the air.”
When the elevator doors opened, he already saw Bjurstrom, McCoy, Goodrich, Sam, Meg, the girls, and several others running toward the lobby doors. He and Amanda dashed to catch up with them, and others were filling in behind. More than fifty of the regular raiders sprinted the four blocks toward the Phoenix. They were quickly joined by a horde of orcanin warriors led by Harmon, the massive soldiers’ footsteps making broken glass rattle in nearby windows.
“What’s going on?” Allistor asked Harmon as they approached the garage.
“My guess is that it’s an Araneae ship. A harvester. They could not have purchased permission to harvest resources on such a scale this quickly, so they are probably poachers.”
Amanda aske
d “Araneae?”
Harmon looked over at her. “You would call them… giant spiders? Round bodies, eight legs, armored exoskeleton. Similar to the Octians whose brandy you tasted, but more civilized.”
“Oh, hell no!” Meg stopped running and was about to turn around when Sam scooped her into his arms and kept going. They were nearing the garage now. The elevator doors opened, but Harmon’s troops just kept charging up the ramp. The humans packed themselves into the elevators, Meg smacking Sam about the head and shoulders and cussing at him.
Harmon, following his troops up the ramp, shouted, “Talk more from the ships!”
Allistor and the raiders boarded Phoenix a minute later, most of them remaining in the cargo bay where Bjurstrom and the other airmen organized raid groups, as Allistor, Amanda, Ramon, Nancy, Meg, and Sam dashed up to the bridge.
“Taking off!” Kira’s voice echoed through the ship’s corridors as the Phoenix lifted off the ground. Stepping onto the bridge, Allistor could see on the viewscreen that Harmon’s ship was already airborne and heading off toward the northwest. Kira quickly followed his lead.
“Alpha, can you connect us to Harmon, please? And patch in Gralen and Gene, as well.”
“Of course, Prince Allistor. One moment.”
First Harmon’s face, then the others’ appeared on the center viewscreen. The remaining screens still showed the view outside as they followed Harmon toward Detroit. The moment Gralen’s face appeared and he saw the others, he said, “Sounds like the big bugs. You agree, Harmon?”
The orcanin nodded his head. “My scout ship will be there in a moment, and we’ll know for sure.”
Shadow Sun Progression: Shadow Sun Book Four Page 25