The Archer's Paradox - The Travis Fletcher Chronicles (18 page)

“The words.” she hissed at him, nodding at the expectant faces around the table.

He dragged his attention away from the spectacle in front of him and wracked his brains for inspiration.
What to say? Say the wrong thing and you get a bullet, energy pulse or whatever, in the chest. No pressure then.
He took a deep breath. “I drink this toast to the memory of my family and friends, but also to the future, new friends and new adventures.” he raised his glass round the table, to the void outside and then drained the contents with a flourish, much to the amusement of everyone. He gestured that everyone should follow his actions. Self-consciously they raised their glasses and tentatively sipped the contents before following Travis’ example and bursting out laughing. He quickly
refilled the empty vessels and raised his glass again, waiting for quiet. “Your turn.” he said to Niji No Tori with a wink.

“What do I say?” she said, flushing heavily.

“Just think of something or someone you’ve missed while you’ve been away.” he prompted.

The girl thought a moment and took a deep breath, all eyes on her. “I look forward to seeing my brother and sister.” she nodded. “It has been a long time and I have much to tell them.”

“To your family!” Travis toasted, then added, “To everyone’s family.” And drained his glass again.

“To family!” Everyone affirmed.

Glasses were refilled, but Travis wanted to getter a closer look at where he had come to, so he slipped away with his glass and headed towards a gap in the crowds who were staring at the view outside. Behind him he could hear Xnuk Ek’’s friends making up new toasts. They had got the hang of it pretty quickly. He idly wondered if alcohol was allowed or even available on this planet they were going to. He managed to find a spot that was sparsely populated and stood in wonder. The window, the description hardly did it justice, ran the full width and height of the room, without break or frame and with no reflections, marks or imperfections. He put out a tentative hand and touched the transparent surface. It was smooth, unsurprisingly, but more like silk than the solid feel of glass, and it felt slightly spongy. He pressed harder and the surface seemed to push back and became more solid. He searched the vista looking for a planet but was unsuccessful. He felt a presence at his elbow. Niji No Tori stood there with her glass in one hand and a bottle in the other.

“It’s incredible, but, where’s your planet?”

Niji No Tori summoned a small table on which to park the bottle and her glass. “There is Xi Scorpii C,” she pointed to the sun, “and there is A and B.” she pointed to two points of lights, brighter than the rest. “D and E cannot be seen from here and we are still too far out to see Otoch.” she explained.

“I thought…”

“Watch.” the girl smiled. She was enjoying herself being the teacher rather than the student for once.

“Woah!” Travis exclaimed as the stars suddenly changed from points to streaks of light that emanated from a point of origin somewhere in front of the ship. It was hypnotic, like driving through a multi-coloured snowstorm at night, and Travis was caught in its spell. Heedless of the stares and comments from everyone around him, he stepped forward, spread his arms and legs and pressed his face against the screen. It was like falling down a bottomless mineshaft; both exhilarating and frightening at the same time. After a while he felt a tug on his sleeve. Niji No Tori regarded him with a concerned look on her face.

“Sorry,” he apologised, “it’s so …….” There were so many adjectives all vying for attention that words failed him and he stumbled into silence.

“It is beautiful” the girl acknowledged.

“More Champagne?” he asked, breaking the spell and refilling their glasses.

They drank more Champagne and chatted while Travis’ eyes flicked between his escort and the vista outside. Niji No Tori tried, as best she could, to answer his questions and explain why they had to exit hyperspace so far from Otoch and what the Compression Drive was, but as she explained, she was training to be
Ts’ats’aak
, not an astrophysicist or an engineer. Travis did his best to grasp such alien concepts and had to concede that he was no engineer either; he had enough problems remembering where to put oil in his Beemer, let alone understanding the physics of interstellar travel.

Several hours later, as suddenly as it started, the Compression Drive shut down and there it was: Travis Fletcher’s first glimpse of an alien world. The next hour was taken up by the great ship manoeuvring closer and entering orbit, but Travis was so fascinated by the whole procedure the time flew past, although he was more than a little disappointed by the brown, dead world in front of them. He was expecting something out of a science-fiction film with spaceships zipping about, massive space stations and a world teeming with life. He could see mountains, land formations and a single pale moon, but he could see no seas, no cloud formations and no signs of life. However, he kept his feelings hidden as much as he could as he could feel waves of unbridled emotion washing over him from everyone around him.

“Otoch.” Niji No Tori whispered, who had not left his side the whole time. “Look.” he followed her outstretched finger and there, just north of the equator, he could see something glinting amongst the browns and dull reds. “The City.” she said, her voice tinged with awe.

“I see it.” he acknowledged. It must be huge to be able to see it from here, he thought. As he watched, the planet slipped above and to port as the massive ship manoeuvred into its parking orbit. Its attitude made Travis feel queasy with vertigo as he now felt he was hanging upside down, even though his body told him he was the right way up.

He sensed movement around him as people started to move away from the spectacle outside.

“What now?” he asked.

“I must take you back to your cabin before Hoochik ‘Áak discovers you are missing.” Niji No Tori replied, a little reluctantly. They tore themselves away and Niji No Tori led the way back to Travis’ quarters. When they reached his door, she looked at him and said, “I hope that we are able to meet again.”

“Thank you,” he replied, “you have been a star.” he leaned forward and kissed her tenderly on the cheek.

She reached up and brushed her cheek with her fingers where Travis’ lips had touched and flushed heavily. “Now you have to wait for Hoochik ‘Áak.” she turned and left before he saw the tears forming in her eyes.

As soon as he entered his cabin he noticed that the space he had always assumed to be a window was now clear. Maybe all windows on the ship opened at the same time as the big one in viewing area, he mused to himself. He could not see the planet from here, as the ship had taken up orbit with its port side facing the planet and his cabin was on the starboard. But he could see the moon, high and to the right of his vantage point. It was paler and more yellow than Earth’s moon and, although he was no astronomer, the shapes that its features and craters made bore no resemblance to that familiar sight on Earth. Every so often he saw a silver streak pass his field of vision. At first he thought they were shooting stars,
but that was ridiculous,
he reasoned, as they were too regular and all on the same trajectory. After a few minutes his eyes had become accustomed and he could make out the sleek lines of smaller craft heading to the planet’s surface. He counted one every few seconds and he could now see more craft, further out and arcing lazily round in the opposite direction. Obviously the ship was too massive to enter the atmosphere and could not carry enough transports to accommodate the whole crew in one go, so unloading must be a major undertaking.

He heard a faint hiss break the silence as the door opened. He turned to see Wingu Kanzu framed in the entrance with a slightly irritated look on his face.

“I am pleased that Niji No Tori managed to get you back before you were missed or I may have had to have her disciplined. What is it about you that causes people to forget years of training and start acting irresponsibly?” he finished rhetorically.

“That girl is the only person on this whole damn ship that has shown me any real respect or friendship since I woke up.” Travis retorted. His first instinct was to protect his friend and there was something about this guy that Travis did not like. He could not quite put his finger on it because, like his recent dream, as soon as he thought he had an answer, it slipped away, like a wet, greasy bar of soap.

“It was not her place …..” Wingu Kanzu began before Travis cut him off.

“Then whose place is it?” That was it! Travis decided. He was just so slippery and sleazy, just like an estate agent or a politician. He knew that there was something about Wingu Kanzu that rubbed him up the wrong way and he still had most of a bottle of Champagne coursing through his bloodstream. “Shnukekk treated me like a mentally deficient child, then used me to justify her own ends and shot me, that new bloke treats me like a dangerous prisoner and you,” he stabbed an accusatory finger, “you’re supposed to be the boss, the nowchill………”

“
Nohchil.
” Wingu Kanzu corrected him.

“Yeah, whatever.” Travis waved his arms dismissively. He was not about to be diverted. “But not once have you been to see me and explained what I am supposed to be doing and why.”

“All will become clear soon.” Wingu Kanzu replied patronisingly, as if placating a child having a temper tantrum which wound Travis up even more.

“Ahhh fuck it!” he spat back. “You sound just like Shnukekk! When is soon?”

“Now,” he answered, “if you are ready.”

That stopped Travis in his tracks. “Eh?” was all he could say.

“The Council is waiting to see you and all will be explained. Come, our shuttle is waiting.” he bowed and waved towards the corridor, smiling with all the sincerity of a game show host.

Travis, at a loss for words for once, took a last glance round the rooms that had been his home/prison cell for the past few weeks and followed Wingu Kanzu out of the door.

The corridors to the rear of the vessel and the hangars were bustling with more people and a wider array of uniform colours than Travis had seen on any of his other sorties from his cabin, but he still felt out of place in his ‘custard yellow’, as he had dubbed his colour. He craned his neck in every direction looking for a familiar face; the young nurse, the doctor or any of Xnuk Ek’’s friends, or even Xnuk Ek’ herself would have been welcome. Although many of the crew stopped and stared as he passed, he could see no flicker of recognition in any of their faces. They went about their tasks with quiet efficiency, with hardly a word or command being passed between them, which Travis found unnatural and eerie. On Earth there would have been the clatter of machinery, the crash of crates and containers, the natural shouts, curses and banter between crewmates as they went about their tasks.

The hangar was the same size and proportions as the Gaming Centre Xnuk Ek’ had taken him to, but where there had been observation platforms there were suspended bays for shuttles. Automated loaders were servicing
some craft, skimming and weaving intricate patterns over the floor, whereas others had orderly queues of crew filing silently in. Once loaded, the shuttle was lowered to the departure deck where it would shoot off through the open maw at the front of the hangar. Craft constantly entered from the rear and were lifted into position by the floating grapples as if they were toys, where they disgorged their passengers or were set upon by the automated loaders. Again, the lack of sound offended Travis’ senses; there was no roar of engines, just a waft of air as they passed.

They had entered the hangar on the ground floor, rather than a loading bay, and Wingu Kanzu led him to a ship that was tucked away and smaller than the rest, maybe large enough for half a dozen passengers. The pilot was already there when they arrived, running through a checklist, Travis surmised, as he did not acknowledge their arrival. Wingu Kanzu indicated that he should sit and he took a seat across the aisle. As he sat, the seat changed shape and moulded itself to his body. Startled, Travis leapt to his feet with a cry. Wingu Kanzu gave him an irritated look and motioned him to sit. Travis bore the uncomfortable feeling that the seat was swallowing him with a tight lipped smile but noted that, when it had settled down, it was uncannily comfortable. Out of habit, he started fiddling with the buttons and controls he found on the armrest and was surprised when part of the fuselage disappeared. He put his hand out to assure himself it was still there and experimented some more until he could control the window. He heard his escort grunting impatiently.

“This is my first alien planet.” Travis shot back. “There is no way I am missing a second.” Wingu Kanzu grunted again. “This might be like catching a bus for you, but Sci-Fi geeks on Earth have wet dreams over this sort of thing.” he was sure even Xnuk Ek’ would understand his wonderment, but it did not seem to register with Wingu Kanzu. Just then, the area where the door was sealed up, leaving no evidence it was ever there, and the hangar outside began to move and rotate. They were off, and not even a ‘here are the emergency exits’ speech. Travis’ heart jumped into his mouth. This was it! He braced himself for sudden acceleration but the bustle of the hangar blurred as the craft shot forward with only a hint of inertia, and within moments they had been spat out into the void.

Travis only had seconds to see his home for the past few weeks from the outside before the shuttle peeled off and he could see their destination growing larger in the pilot’s window. What he saw was an incredibly sleek craft with a mirror finish that reflected back the surrounding void which made it difficult to focus on. He managed to glimpse the nacelles that seemed to have grown from the main body of the ship, like four limbs, deducing that the top one was the gaming centre, assuming he had ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ correct. Like the internal design, the ship had no sharp angles or corners and looked, to Travis’ eyes, to be more like a living organism than a machine. He also saw the viewing area cutting a gash across the front of the craft. He remembered fondly drinking Champagne with Niji No Tori; he was missing her company already.

As they passed into the atmosphere the light changed progressively from black to indigo then blue. Travis could see the sun high in the sky; much larger than Earth’s sun and a paler yellow colour, like the moon. It did not occur to him the moon was reflecting the sun’s light. The yellow glow gave the planet a strange, sombre feel and enhanced the ruddy brown of the landscape which looked more like the artists’ impressions of Mars than a world inhabited by an advanced race of aliens.
Humans! Not Aliens!
He corrected himself. The craft levelled off and slowed considerably; he could make out features that looked like valleys or lakes, but there was no water in evidence and the surrounding mountains looked stunted somehow, as if they had had their peaks chopped off. Occasionally they would pass over an area that looked more regular, as if it had been cleared in preparation for building something. He even thought he could see the occasional remnants of a road but there were no buildings and no vegetation. He cast his mind back to the dream that Xnuk Ek’ had given him.

What was it she said? “Look at what we have done to ourselves.” he could hear her words as if she was sat next to him, whispering in his ear. “Are we worth saving?” she had said.

Typical cryptic crap
. Travis thought, but this looked too much like his dream to ignore. He decided to put himself on guard and checked his mind shield. It looked in place, but he knew it could be breached quite easily; at least he would know an intrusion was taking place, not that he could do anything about it, but if these people were so hung up on honour then they should not even be trying. Still, he trusted this Wingu Kanzu as far as he could throw him. He wished Niji No Tori were here, he missed her already, or the doctor, or even Xnuk Ek’, no, maybe not that psycho bitch. He glanced over at his escort, but he was showing no sign that he had ‘heard’ Travis’ thoughts.

After a while Travis was getting bored with the mundane and repetitive landscape passing below him. Maybe this was his first alien world but it was turning into a complete anti-climax. He felt Wingu Kanzu tap him on the shoulder.
He turned and his escort indicated that he should look over the pilot’s shoulder. Travis stood and moved forward. This was more like it! On the horizon he could see an immense dome rising out of the dust and rocks. As they streaked closer it grew higher and wider until it stretched almost as far as he could see in both directions. Even from this distance he could see buildings behind the screen. Again, he was reminded of his dream when he saw Xnuk Ek’ walking towards him from a glittering jewel on the horizon. He also remembered the conversation he had had with Niji No Tori that the survivors of The Fall all lived in one city while they tried to repair their worlds.

“The City.” Wingu Kanzu explained. “This is your new home.”

Home,
Travis thought,
that’s a laugh.
Aloud he said, “How many people?”

“About a hundred million.”

“That’s one hell of a city.” Travis gasped.

“Yes, it is.” Wingu Kanzu allowed a small smile to crack his stoic features for a moment.

As Travis watched, the shuttle slowed and spiralled down towards an area outside the city that had been flattened, but there was still no sign of life. As he watched, the ground opened and a craft, larger than theirs, lifted into position and sped off into the sky, presumably to rendezvous with the ship in orbit above them. They touched down and immediately the ground disappeared as they were lowered underground. Below the surface dozens of craft of varying sizes were being serviced by automated machines and technicians. It was like the hangar of an immense aircraft carrier Travis thought, but the roof was high enough for large craft to fly over those on the ground.

He felt a slight bump as the lift stopped. Travis’ view slid sideways and backwards as the shuttle was manoeuvred into its parking position. Wingu Kanzu stood and passed a few words with the pilot that Travis could not hear. An area of fuselage melted and he indicated that Travis should join him at the entrance. His eyebrows were drawn together and his high forehead was creased with lines of concern, Travis noted. Something the pilot had said had worried him. The air and ground was filled with machines of all sizes, all silently and efficiently going about their business, some zipping in and out while huge loaders drifted lazily above carrying cargo, parts and even whole shuttles. This was more like it! He thought to himself. He sniffed the air; much the same as the ship, and he had got used to the slightly heavier gravity.

He could see people boarding shuttles similar to the one they had arrived on, with larger craft being loaded with crates and machinery. As each one became ready it was lifted to the surface, presumably to rendezvous with the ship in orbit, although it did strike Travis as odd that there seemed to be more equipment and as many people being despatched as were arriving. Maybe a new crew for a new mission, he deduced to himself, although there did seem to be an odd sense of urgency in the air, not the normal calm he had become used to.

There were no steps to the ground but Travis had seen this before so he was not surprised when his guide stepped into mid-air. Maybe not surprised, but still unnerved, so he closed his eyes and followed, determined not to give the arrogant twat an opportunity to admonish him. A transport was waiting for them below the fuselage. About the size of a large saloon, open topped with three pairs of seats. He took a seat in the front next to his escort who was busy entering information into the holographic displays. There was no steering wheel or other controls that Travis could identify for the driver to control the vehicle with.