Waking Olympus (The Singers of the Dark Book 1) (38 page)

Gently. "Tei, she's dead. That's enough."

"She killed my family, my friends, my city. I want the bitch dead, I want to make sure. I wish she was still alive so I could kill her again. Do you know how much misery she's caused?"

He answered simply, "Yes."

He held her in his arms as she started to cry, then sob. She was exhausted, and that finally won out over the grief. She still cried quietly, soon he could feel her regular relaxed breathing while his throbbing, aching chest reminded him he was injured.

The harm done here would not be fixed in a year or even a generation. It would have its echoes for centuries. Somehow he and those who came after had to tame these demons of the spirit if they were to have a chance. He didn't know if he was equipped for such a struggle, who indeed ever was?

He looked back, over his shoulder, at the fires. The largest were too big to fight, the heat too intense, they would have to burn themselves out. Soldiers were fighting a few fires with bucket brigades in areas where they could preserve something.

There were still questions. He wondered if Zeus had assisted him in Sydney, Unit 35 seemed more friendly than should have been expected. The pain in his chest was easing, which made him wonder what else was added with the neural link? Even the visions he had of other beings, were those random or selected, there seemed to be a common theme. There would always be an endless cascade of questions, that is the nature of the search. He looked down at Tei, she had passed out, he knew at last that he would never find his family, but perhaps he could make a new one.

The two of them would never be parted again. As soon as people got on their feet he wanted to just take her and go exploring. Explore the Xanadu Valley and its wonders, prevent it being plundered or desecrated. Then he remembered John and Eirik, a short trip in the
Hope
. Maybe not, Unit 35 would probably target it, it couldn't hurt it but … then he unlocked the neural link for a moment, he knew the command codes for the battle unit now, it would not attack. So they could go soon and pick them up, including Unit 35. And later he would return, not just the two of them. He could lead an expedition, but first he would have to influence events to get that done. A deep sadness stared to creep over him, perhaps magnified because of his suppression of the grief of the battle. There was no way back, no way to the simple, wondrous exploration of nature and the world for its own sake. Together they would have to build a new world, not like the old one. As Zeus had pointed out, that had been said so often before but Mikel knew that he had the means and power to make it reality. Then of course there was the fact that this was not even their world. That was a harsh truth, this could never be home. One day they must leave here and find a world to make their own. But that could wait.

He thought about what he had done to win this. How many had he killed? Would he ever be able to sleep soundly again? He knew it was necessary but that didn't seem to make the pain go away, he kept thinking of the man who so carefully rescued the flying fish.

"I'm just torturing myself. This is the world as it is, I just have to make the best of it."

After such sacrifice and bloodshed he now had a new duty, not to the Center, not to Tanten, and not to Zeus or the
Raymond Tans
. He didn't care if it was guilt he only knew he had a world to rebuild. Not just rebuild but remake and return to the stars. There were other human worlds out there; Earth, Term, Fortress, Mars, and others. If there were survivors then they would be liberated from ignorance. He could feel the zeal rising … and rejected it, that was the old trap. Humanity deserved better. They would go as a helping hand and light of knowledge, not as a ‘liberator’.

He looked up, habitually looking for the Constant Star. It was not in the
correct
position. It had moved, it was also brighter, closer, coming to meet him, its long vigil finally completed. Even the stars proclaimed that a new age had begun. But he was a child of the old, perhaps he would fade into the past or rise to something more? Time would tell, as they say, yet so much of that future would be made from his decisions.

The future is always surprising, never what is expected, even when correctly predicted. His new age would be greater than he imagined, rapidly leaving him behind, and yet somehow truly reflecting his dreams. Being left behind would become the greatest boon of all. Then, the three of them; ship, wizard, trader would be free at last to explore and become themselves. They would explore not just a world but a galaxy, and not alone.

APPENDIX

Mellis System

Star Name: Mellis

Nexus Catalog Number: EN-A5-837219

Star Class: G3V : yellow main sequence dwarf star. 3.4 billion years old.

Luminosity: 1.1 Solar Luminosity

Distance from Sol (at 3000 CE): 23,150 ly spinward

Planets

Gaps in expected sequence of planets, probably due to massive planetary engineering.

Sipri (dwarf planet at 0.3AU), Cohen (0.3 Earth masses at 0.55 AU), Neti (1.013 AU), Pan (jovian, 10.3 AU), Perseus (jovian, 23.8 AU), dwarf planets beyond 35 AU.

It is likely that the present orbits are not stable over a period of a billion standard years.

Debris from past orbital platforms, millions of years old — some badly fused debris of unknown origin. Also remains of possible Dawn ships in the Trojan points of Pan.

Planet Neti

Name: Neti, minor god of the Sumerian pantheon who was the Gatekeeper to the Underworld. Pronounced: neh-tee (modern), nay-tee (Ancient Nexus).

Discovered: 2242 CE

Distance from Mellis: 1.013 AU (Astronomical Units)

Diameter: 0.9 of Earth

Gravity: 0.91g

Axial Tilt: 12.3 degrees

Average Temp: 16.5 C

Length of Day: 25.2 Earth hours (almost unused, used by Traders, some scholarly works). The day is defined as 24 hours, each with 63 minutes, and each minute having 60 seconds (but not standard seconds).
 

Atmosphere: composition close to Earth normal, sea level average pressure is slightly less than Earth, 980 hPa.

Note: The thinner atmosphere contributes to a higher UV flux.

Satellites:
 

Tanis, a small moon located at 143,100 km, it is 840 km in diameter.
 

Lind Calendar

Neti year is 372.21 Earth days = 354.486 Neti days

Neti day is 25.20 Earth hours long but it is mapped into 24 local hours.

Generally on habitable worlds minutes are the same length (there are some notable exceptions), but the number of minutes in an hour varies from world to world.

On Neti each hour has 63 minutes so that the day has 24 Neti hours. Seconds vary slightly from standard. Standard seconds are Earth seconds.

Year of 12 months alternating in length between 30 days and 29 days. The month at the end of the year has a leap day every second year (year number divisible by 2) except every 72nd year there is no leap day. There is also no leap year if the year is divisible by 4000 but that is considered an academic issue. Note: year 0 is not counted in the computation of leap years.

Months are numbered. 1 to 12, they are named (in order):
 

Spring: Greening, Regin, Ufemi
 

Summer: May, June, Wilt,
 

Autumn: Kenshar, Cholos, Fall,
 

Winter: Sigrin, Frost, Herras,
 

Summer max: Wilt, Winter max: Frost, Spring: Greening, Autumn: Fall

Dates:

Based on the founding of the Center at Lind, since Lind publishes the Lind Calendar and makes timekeeping devices. The Traders have their own reckoning which they dislike sharing or explaining.

By Lind, Mikel's journey starts. Day 5 Regin
 
635

By the Trader calendar: it is Day 214, 3049 CE

Tei is 20: birth year 615

Mikel has just turned 19:
 
birth year 616

Years are measured in Neti years calibrated to star positions relative to Thaytan (Raytans). One Neti year is almost exactly 372.21 Earth days.

Years since founding of the Center: 635 Neti years

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Rachel Yard for proofreading. To members of the The Brisbane Writer’s Group for patiently listening to my endless ramblings, especially Lee Finn and Cheryl Sullivan.

The covers of the Kindle and paperback versions are by Bespoke Book Covers at www.bespokebookcovers.com.

A Final Note

If you enjoyed this book you can leave a review at Amazon. Or you can send me a ‘hello’ at [email protected] The next book in the series should be out by mid-2016. Book three is in the planning stages.