The Lodestone Trilogy (Limited Edition) (The Lodestone Series) (119 page)

“People, however, were starting to question the Captain’s way of doing things. For some, the desire to get home was proving greater than their desire for wealth. Others were becoming disturbed at the morality of what we were doing. As we gathered anthropological data and, more especially, as we began to have dealings with your people, it became clear that yours was a far richer and more sophisticated culture than the Captain led us to believe. Centuries earlier on my planet, my ancestors thoughtlessly destroyed so-called primitive societies of fellow humans for profit—the Maya, the Inca, the North American Indian. Now we have moved out into space; yet despite all of our accumulated knowledge, we sadly do not appear to have learned from our mistakes.”

Shann frowned. “I don’t understand. If so many of your people were opposed to what was happening, why was it that they allowed the Kelanni of my world to be oppressed by the Prophet for so long?”

“There is a twofold answer to that.” Lafontaine presented two bony fingers, ticking them off one by one. “The first has to do with...

‘spacer culture’, I suppose you would call it. Space is a dangerous place, made more so by the QDE drive that humans rely on. Emergencies can arise suddenly and unexpectedly. Orders have to be obeyed immediately and without question or lives may be lost. So a tradition has grown up among space-faring crews of total obedience to the captain. All crewmembers take an oath to that effect. To many, their oath is important as their life. They would sooner die than disobey their captain. Even if he has become a monster.”

“What about you?” Alondo asked.

The old hu-man smiled, and his face creased like pale leather. “I am not ‘crew’. I’m a scientist—an engineer. Unfortunately, almost all of those still loyal to Wang are crew. They are fanatically loyal to him. Don’t trust them.”

“You said there was another reason why your people did not try to stop the Prophet,” Lyall prompted.

“You’re right, I did... Ah, we are nearly there.” They had reached the edge of the sandstone platform.

The terrain fell away, revealing the sides of a steep gorge. Set into the reddish rock was a series of roughly hewn steps that led downwards until they rounded a bend in the valley wall and passed out of sight. Keris held out a restraining arm, holding the others back, and inspected the path before them. Satisfied for the moment, she drew her staff and started down the steps. “Follow me. Shann, take the rearguard.”

“Such precautions are unnecessary, I assure you,” Lafontaine called after her. “You are quite safe.” Keris ignored him and continued to descend. The elderly hu-man shrugged and followed after her.

As they rounded the bend, Keris saw that the steps led to a wide ledge, carved in sandstone, on which a wooden hut stood. The hut appeared totally incongruous, perched halfway up the side of the valley, and she could not imagine its purpose—unless this hu-man was a kind of hermit. That would certainly explain his odd behaviour.

As they approached the ledge, she heard a collective gasp from the others. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw that everyone was staring over the edge. She followed their gaze and could not suppress a sharp intake of breath. Taking up the entire floor of the canyon was a huge edifice, like nothing she had ever seen before.

Shaped like a triangular pyramid, its sides were constructed of six immense gold-coloured tubes, connecting gold spheres at each of its vertices. Lights shone from openings or windows in the globes. From each of the four vertices, four smaller tubes met at the centre of the open pyramid, where an azure sphere shimmered with latent energy. In beauty and grandeur it rivalled even the magnificent sights she had seen in her vision of ancient Kynedyr.

“What is it?” Alondo breathed.

Lafontaine grinned from ear to ear. “This is the Osiris. From the mythology of ancient Egypt on my world.” The others were staring at him blankly. “It’s a bit of a joke, really,” he continued. “According to the myth, Osiris was cut up into a zillion bits by his enemy Set, and his wife, Isis, then had to piece him back together. That’s a bit like what we’ve had to do with this ship.”

Alondo’s eyes were glued to the shining vision of blue and gold beneath them. “You’re saying it’s a ship of some kind?”

“It’s one of the three ships we arrived here on—the only one that wasn’t wrecked completely. It’s taken us sixteen years to get it fully operational again.”

“You mean... it’s ready to fly?” Alondo asked.

“Yes, only... ” As Lafontaine’s voice trailed off, the others tore their gaze away from the huge pyramid-shaped craft and looked straight at him. “... Only the Captain and his supporters don’t know that.”

Alondo’s face was eager. “Can we go down and take a look inside?”

“I’m sorry, no,” Lafontaine said.

“He doesn’t trust us,” Keris pointed out.

“No, no, that’s not it at all,” the bald hu-man protested. “Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to show the ship to you. It’s just that... ” He went to the edge and squatted down. The five Kelanni and one Chandara gathered around him. He pointed a thin digit at a small squat metal shape sitting next to the fantastic hu-man construction. “You see the smaller vessel? It’s the orbital shuttle that the Captain uses to travel to the other side of your world and to transport refined lodestone from there.”

“The Prophet? He’s down there on the ship?” Shann exclaimed.

“I don’t know. Possibly.” Lafontaine replied. “In any case, he has his informants. Most of them are known to us. So far, we’ve managed, with some difficulty, to keep your presence here a secret. The two avionic pilots you shot down are on an ‘extended mission’ as far as he is concerned—which I suppose is true in a grisly sort of way. Still, the sight of a group of Kelanni touring the ship could hardly fail to be noticed. It would get back to Wang, and he would be alerted to your presence on the island. The risk is far too great. I’m sorry.” Alondo looked like a child who had just had his favourite toy confiscated.

Keris’s voice was flat. “Then why are you showing us this?”

“Because I need your help,” Lafontaine said. “And you need mine.”

~

The odd-looking group distributed themselves about the one-room cabin. Keris seated herself on a bench that lined one wall, occupying the position closest to the door. Boxx came over and lay down at her feet.

The bald hu-man stood in the middle of the room and addressed the gathering. “I said that there was another reason why people here did not try to put a stop to what the Captain was doing. The lodestone that he secured from your side of the planet was originally supposed to be used to power the Osiris, using a new Diametric Drive. It was only after he had used the power of our technology to have himself declared as Prophet, that it became clear that he intended to use the stone to build the Accumulator Device—the weapon—instead.

“He ordered the engineers on the crew to start building it. I decided that the only thing to do was to try and repair at least one of the QDE units so that we would have a way off your planet. What developed over the next few years was an uneasy alliance between two groups—one determined to gain power over the lodestone at any cost, the other bent on trying to secure a way home.

“Several months ago, the ship became operational. We have managed to keep that fact a secret. However, we cannot lift off without Wang’s people discovering what we are up to. It takes a minimum of two hours to power up the Drive, and if we tried to leave, they would prevent it. What we need is to create some kind of emergency that would occupy Wang’s crew long enough for us to get the QDE drive operational and take off.”

Lyall closed his eyes and shook his head. “Let me get this straight. You want to strand your own people here on our world?”

“No, not at all. We will leave the smaller ship—the shuttle—here on the surface. When we are in orbit we will give them the option of joining us—minus their gammas, of course—or staying here. My guess is that they will come running with their tails between their legs.” Lafontaine viewed the Kelanni present and his eyes widened as he realised his faux pas, but no one seemed to care.

“I appreciate your telling us of your plans,” Lyall said, “but none of that helps us. Even if the Prophet decides to leave our world, there’d be nothing to stop him using the lodestone weapon to destroy us first.”

As the hu-man opened his mouth to reply, a loud rap sounded on the wooden door of the cabin. Keris sprang to her feet and her hand moved to her staff. Lafontaine glided across the floor with surprising speed, getting ahead of her. He placed his hand on the latch, but rather than open the door, he merely listened. There was silence, followed by a series of three more knocks. Lafontaine opened the door swiftly and a figure slipped in.

Keris had never seen a hu-man female before and she found it difficult to tear her eyes away. The woman was as short as Lafontaine but a lot younger. As she passed Keris, she smiled briefly beneath a mass of shoulder-length yellow hair.

Lafontaine returned to his position in the centre of the room; the blonde woman took up a position beside him. “There is someone who specifically wanted to meet you,” he said. “This is Susan Gilmer. She’s our resident spy within Wang’s ranks.”

<><><><><>

Chapter 11

The pale slate-eyed hu-man female eyed the gathering with the same intense curiosity with which they were observing her. “I have not encountered Kelanni since I was a little girl. You seemed... taller then.” She turned her attention to Boxx, who had resumed its place, lying at Keris’s feet. “Is this... a Chandara?”

Keris’s eyes narrowed. “Its name is Boxx.”

“Really?” Susan Gilmer gave a quirky smile. “I’ve never seen one before. I’ve heard some odd things about them, though. How come it’s travelling with you?”

Before Keris could prepare a defensive reply, Boxx raised its head. “I Travel With Keris. For All Kelanni.”

Susan’s eyes widened.
“It speaks.”
She turned to Lafontaine. “Is there a second species of intelligent life on this world?”

“Actually, the Chandara were the first,” Rael said.

“My Time Is Short,” Boxx added.

“What does it mean by that?” Susan asked.

“Nothing,” Keris replied quickly. “Nothing of importance.”

The blonde woman sighed. “I would love to know more. Sadly, there’s no time. The Captain has moved up the timetable. The first of the ADs—the Accumulator Devices—is to be shipped out tomorrow.”

Lafontaine blew through his teeth.

“What does that mean?” Lyall asked.

“It means that I was fortunate to find you when I did,” the old human replied.

“Why were you looking for us?” Alondo asked.

“Because I know why you are here and what you are planning to do.
The Captain has informants in Kieroth and elsewhere. Fortunately, they route their information through Susan, so Wang knows only what she reports to him. We knew that you left by ship several days ago and were on your way here.

“Yesterday, Susan told me that a pair of avionic pilots reported sighting a native sailing ship in Qiberon Bay. Then they vanished. It could only be you. So I secretly started scouring the island using watchers. Not long after, I ran across these young people.” He indicated Shann and Rael, who regarded each other self-consciously. “Then another watcher discovered Lyall here and Alondo.”

Susan Gilmer broke in: “Can I ask you something? Do you know of a human named McCann?”

Alarm bells jangled at the back of Keris’s mind. She spoke up before anyone else could respond. “Yes. We discovered that he was... monitoring us through the use of forbidden devices.”

“Do you know what happened to him?”

“We confronted him at the top of the Tower of Akalon. After our discussion, he left.”

“Where did he go?” Susan inquired.

“I cannot say for certain,” Keris answered.

“But he was alive when you saw him last?”

“Yes.” Keris met Shann’s steady gaze. The girl made no attempt to contradict her. Each of Keris’s statements was true, but carefully worded; a patchwork quilt of facts, stitched together with the golden thread of a lie.

Susan Gilmer had a faraway expression. “I see.”

Lafontaine addressed her. “McCann is crew. He’s loyal to the Captain.”

“I’m not so sure of that,” the hu-man woman said. “I’ve talked to him. Mac doesn’t like what he’s being asked to do. He wants out.”