Dreams among Stars (16 page)

I hurried into the bath and spat out some bile, thoroughly rinsed out my mouth, took a deep breath and then left the maintenance center with the whole troop flocking behind me.

By now several folks of the Flying Hustlers were busily hurrying around between the tents.

Before the central a large circle of seating accommodations had been set up, and with a good gap it was encircled with a cordon of stretched rope, to keep a seemingly larger number of expected spectators at distance.

It would be a public spectacle and not a closed conference, which was not really helping with my nervousness.

Some of the Flying Hustlers already were seated at their places, besides Maximus who sat absorbed in a peaceful discussion with Gurd, like there had never been any rivalry between them, there were another three chieftains and two elders present.

Gurd noticed me and my people coming out of the central and turned to Maximus pointed in my direction, whereupon Maximus signed me to join them.

As I took seat at Maximus side, Hask took position directly behind me and the troop Phoenix assembled behind the cordon near me. Gurd gave me a nod and commented our appearance with a short “Impressive!” to which Maximus smiled approvingly.

Behind the two elders there was a warrior placed each, so it appeared appropriate for Hask positioning himself behind my place.

Maximus pointed at the attending people one after the other and gave me a brief introduction about them.

To our left, not too far away sat Peter Amber the chieftain and Ingrid Bach the elder of the tribe Amber with each other, surrounded by followers that came to receive orders and then hurry quickly away.

Directly opposite on the other side of the circle sat the chieftains Hugo Mandible from the Ticks and Francois Chocke of the Choppers together and discussed animatedly.

After Gurd looked at Maximus questioningly he explained to me “Traditionally for this kind of meeting rival tribes are be placed oppositely to each other, so you can imagine that we don’t get along too well with the Ticks and Choppers. They will be joined by the Yellow Bellys, Rock Crushers, Fire Keepers and of course Schröder will join them too. Luckily we have more allies than enemies.” Just then a tall woman approached and looked at us coldly, while she took seat with her head held high at Hugos and Francois side. Sighing Maximus commented “Athena Schröder - she is the chieftain of the family Schröder, our most outspoken rivals.”

Not far to our right sat the last chieftain currently present and I recognized from his apparel that he had to be with the Moon Warriors, which Maximus confirmed when he introduced him as Emilio Savoy the chieftain of the Moon Warriors.

Deeply lost in talk two elders approached. Which greeted me friendly when they took seats beside me and Maximus introduced them as Felix de Val the elder of the Red Backs and Karla T’Chi the elder of the Silver Linings.

A larger group approached and took seats at Emilio Savoys side, it were 5 Flying Hustlers and Maximus introduced them as the council of the tribe Strength. Originally the tribe had been called Guardians of Strength, but since more of a century even themselves called their tribe just Strength.

Meanwhile so many people came in flocks, that Maximus gave up on introducing everyone. As he was greeting the new arrivals sometimes friendly and sometimes reservedly by waving, eye contact or just nodding, he explained to me that the to and fro running messengers were conveying news and delivering presents and even initiated agreements.

The image of the murderous barbarians, which had been forming in my mind through the depiction from the Open Eyes, proved to be completely wrong. Even as the crews descendants may had been unlearning about most of the technology, at least not all of the social achievements had been lost.

Felix unexpectedly addressed me “Don’t let yourself be fooled, at our hearts we all are warriors.” Giving his chest a pound with that, which had Karla giggling “You are only using your spear as cane these days.” Before Felix could give a riposte - his head dangerously turning red - Emilio Savoy rose up and caused a loud clatter with a ready shield and spear.

I noticed that he was the only one within the inner circle with shield and spear and that those were heavily decorated. Maximus whispered “He is the head for this gathering.” That was puzzling, as the Red Backs had been the ones that had “discovered” me, anyhow it probably was for some political reason.

“
Welcome!” Emilio greeted everyone “Flying Hustlers, this council is exceptional for many reasons. In particular I am happy about our tribes attending nearly altogether, only the Crystal Seekers, Gerblings and the family Zinc are missing.” At that Athena rose and exclaimed “The family Zinc has joined Schröder.” And took seat again. Without responding to that the Moon Warriors chieftain proceeded “I believe a gathering in such numbers is lying
more than a quarter century in the past and one reason is very obvious.” With that he pointed at the open entrance of the maintenance center to then swinging his arm pointing at me.
 

“
We have a very special guest. By now you all have heard of her. Yet the introduction I leave to Maximus.” With that Emilio took seat and Maximus rose “Greetings to everyone” to what he even included the opposite side of the circle with a distinct nodding “to our territory. As it is I am also not entitled to introduce our guest, this honor deservedly is with Gurd Fenman.” A whisper went through the crowd, prior to the beginning Gurds presence within the inner circle had cause many raised eyebrows.
 

Gurd rose and with a friendly gesture shook Maximus hand, before Maximus sat back down. “Tribes!” Gurd began “The great honor befits me to introduce to you our very special guest and friend. The reason for this is her first great merit upon our tribe - a merit which may echo on a much larger scale today, should we all find an agreement.” At that he had raised his view upwards, so not to look at anyone in the circle, which made it look like he was appealing to divine forces. Then he turned to me and I rose with my heart feeling like it was pounding a way out of my chest. “With great pleasure I am humbled to present you with the newly awoken maintenance technician Helen van Scharl.”

The following ruckus swept me off my feet, the whole inner circle including their followers rose and clapped. The fighters clattered their shields and spears and throughout the crowd loud hooting made its rounds.

I nodded and waved and felt electrified through and through.

The minutes of applause stretched like hours and only when Maximus and Athena moved like it had been formerly arranged towards the center of the circle it became somewhat quieter. Yet when the two in a notable political gesture hugged the racket became even more louder. I took this opportunity to seat myself and slowly the din died down.

Emilio and Peter of the opposite camps of the Moon Warriors and Ember joined Maximus and Athena and respectfully extended their hands to each other.

Then Maximus waved me to join them and to my abashment the four bowed to me with crossing their right arm before their chests and leaning forward with lowered heads.

They all shook my hand respectfully, then Athena impishly flashed her eyes at me and began a speech.

“
Recently many of you have already become acquainted
with Helen.” She held one of the Clarioncallers up. “Everyone here knows Schröders motto:
Death upon all Open Eyes!
Anyhow it does not end with:
at all costs
- and surely not if the price would entail death for all of us. Effective immediately the alliance of the bloody writing” at that she pointed to the direction of the circle where also the Ticks and Chompers were seated “will cease fighting against the Open Eyes. At least until we managed to save the ship.”
 

I noticed tears coming to my eyes and when I noticed Maximus grinning like a satisfied cat I couldn’t help myself and had to poke him. “You had planned all this!” I accused him, however he dismissed my accusation with “This actually was Athenas brainchild.” And I eyed the women in amazement and decided I absolutely had to get to know her better.

However the surprises were continuing.

From the edge of the crowd a murmur was rising and suddenly Marple which I had tilted up like a headband signaled a contact request from Rolf. Lowly his voice sounded “Surprise!” into my ear and a group of Open Eyes pushed through the baffled crowd, or rather a circle warriors of the Flying Hustlers was shoving, which were surrounding them and carefully watched the crowd.

The old Rab and two other tribe elders joined us in the center of the circle, while the remainder of the Open Eyes waited behind the cordon. After everyone was welcomed with a friendly handshake but no hugging, Gurd rose from his place at the circles side and proclaimed with unsurpassable pathos “And so Helen van Scharl has not only united us the Red Backs and us the Flying Hustlers in this week. On this historical day the people of the outer decks are again united as one tribe!” At these words everyone around me was raising their arms and I felt like the ground was falling away from me.

The resulting chaos surpassed the previous cheerings and it took at least half a hour until the fuss calmed down again. After 15 minutes we left the center to take seats again and the old Rab took a place at my side, which resulted in some moving of the circle.

When the crowd finally calmed Emilio announce “The inner circle will now withdraw for a closed session, but to honor this memorable day celebrations will commence, for great sacrifices will be made soon. Honor our tradition: first celebrate life, then celebrate battle and then celebrate death. Regard our guest with respect!”

And as we were leaving the inner circle it was already changed into a dance floor and at the edges tables were laden with specialties from the tribes.

My mind was still spinning, when I entered the large tent set up for the meeting and I noticed the much smaller circle of sitting cushions and the many edge regions for smaller groups.

Rolf and a small group of his troop stepped up to me and warmly Rolf embraced me, who I then introduced to the green-eyed flashing Kara. That the troop Alpha and Phoenix seated themselves together at the edge after that pleased me.

Together with many of the chieftains and elder I took a place on the seating cushions and used the opportunity to sit beside Athena. I had to shoo away the chieftain of the Yellow Bellies though, but he made room without complaints.

The events had to be digested, so we had some time before something like an agenda would be pursued again.

Athenas garment consisted of a decorated leather armor and I got to know her as a cold and very power-conscious woman. The family Schröder was more like a clan and they were joined with the Yellow Bellies, Rock Breakers and Ticks as the alliance of the bloody writing. The meaning of that denomination resulted from the name lists of the fallen warriors, which was recorded on the walls of a temple. Every name on that list, so the postulation was, should be reckoned up with a dead fighter from the Open Eyes and the longer the list became the louder the alliance demanded war.

After talking with her it was difficult for me to like Athena, as her longing for vengeance completely filled her up and she was absolutely sure to be in the right. However it was not difficult at all to respect her, as her alert mind and sure feeling for politics made her an important ally.

When she asked me somberly, how much time I estimated to remain for the necessary repairs I noticed a lot of ears following our discussion closely. “In all honesty, if the rift cannot be sealed and the structure of the inner braces has become too brittle, then it is already too late.” Quickly I added “But there is hope!” I looked around and many faces were turned to us. “There are many plans to be made, if we act together and fast at that, then we can make it.”

I did not have time to discuss the plans with anyone before, still now my ideas were just bubbling out.

To my surprise quite some chieftains and elders were coming forth with ideas for solutions and set up discussion groups at the edge areas, while I already told about the next plan on my mind.

The beginning was the requirement to recruit as many help as possible for maintenance work within a very short time, Followed by the requirement that a lot of people would be needed for outside missions. About the question how best to recruit inhabitants from the middle decks, Gurd and Athena along with three others formed a discussion group.

Mapping the damages was an important task, which was strongly interwoven with connecting the other maintenance centers.

I mentioned the necessary expedition to the airlock from my dream, as well as the clues from Bernhard I had to find.

It was immensely significant to have as much functioning fabbers as possible.

Also a way had to be found to retrieve as much raw material as possible from the vegetation and the broken machinery.

Albeit the primary issue - and I found myself in a small circle of remaining disputants - was obviously how to get to the maintenance center at the engine area as that was completely closed off by the Iron Warriors.

As we were debating, it was busy all around us. The members of troop Alpha and Phoenix had split among the discussion groups and were moving like particles from group to group, to then meet themselves again to confer.

I noticed that with delight,while our debate was moving into a very grim direction.

Maximus and Rab, together with Hugo, Francois and Karla remained with me. Soon it became manifest that the irrational hatred agains any technology, as well as the abnegation of the fact that we were aboard a spaceship left no leeway for convincing the Iron Warriors. The end results from the discussion group about recruiting middle deck people pushed us even further along the grim path. They joined us and advised that the middle deck would be quickly convinced by spreading Clarioncallers, especially as the villages were suffering greatly from the Iron Warriors oppression and the fire of resistance was still smoldering below the cloak of obedience. However the so won new allies would subsequently need to be protected. What we were planning was a war.