Spirit of Empire 4: Sky Knights (34 page)

Captain Turmae stood outside the gates all by himself. When
Resolve’s
ramp lowered, he sighed and started walking. A smile lit his face when Atiana emerged, but he stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of the dragon that clambered down the ramp behind her. She smiled at his discomfiture and raised a hand up to touch Stven’s scales. The marines even stopped their patrolling to stare. Rress were not exactly commonplace anywhere in the Empire, and to be in the presence of a Knight was a truly rare thing.

Atiana took Turmae’s arm and walked with him through the gates, stopping before a crowd that had moved back at the sight of Stven. “Come!” she shouted. “Meet this wonderful creature of legend. He can only stay for a little while, but he would walk among you if you’ll have him.”

Hawke and Kori stayed with Stven as translators, as much in awe of the dragon as were the townspeople. From time to time great gouts of flame spewed from his mouth, but always high above the heads of the delighted people. Meanwhile, Atiana went into the castle with Turmae while Havlock and Galborae boarded a shuttle that was just settling to the ground. They stepped aboard for a meeting with Major Lebac, a meeting that ended with Havlock bringing all of his senior staff to
Resolve.
None of his men had ever met a Knight, and he was not about to let them miss the opportunity.

Atiana’s private meeting with Turmae was not what he anticipated. “General,” she said, “the healing process we each went through aboard the transporter taught the sky knights something about us. About you and me specifically. I think you know what I’m talking about.”

He stepped away from her with narrowed eyes. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Your Majesty.”

“I think you do, Father.”

Her words caused him to falter, something she’d rarely seen. “You know?” he breathed.

“I know.”

“You’re mistaken.”

“They tell me there’s no mistake. Your blood and mine are the same. When were you going to tell me?”

“Never. You’re a queen with every breath you breath. Your mother would be so proud of you.”

“And my father?”

“You’re the best gift any father could ask for. There hasn’t been a day gone by that I haven’t stood in awe of you.”

“So it’s true?”

He stepped up to her and reached out a hand to her cheek, a hand hardened by the sword. “Yes, it’s true. The king never knew, but your mother and I did.”

“How . . .?”

“She and I loved each other even as children. I prayed that the illness that took her would take me instead, but it was not to be. Without a mother, you needed a father. The King was not so inclined, and that was all the excuse I needed.”

She reached a hand out to his cheek. “I’ve always thought of you as a father. I wish I’d known.”

“And now you do. It must remain a secret, Daughter.”

She nodded. “But not between us.” She put her arms around him in a tight embrace. When she looked up at him, for the first time ever she saw tears falling from his eyes. “You’ve been the best father a daughter could want,” she said. “Not only that, your lessons have kept me alive. You’ve walked a hard road as Captain of the Guard and now General.”

“Since my healing aboard the transporter I feel young again.”

“I’m glad. What lies before you will require all the energy you have.”

“What does my queen need of me?”

“I’m not certain. I’m going away for a while. I need you to represent me while I’m gone.”

“I can do that. Your province knows of the great battle we won. Their general is well known and admired.”

“It might get harder. When I return, I might need a king.”

“Who? The Sky Lord? You’re dreaming.”

“No, you. But it’s because of him.”

His lips formed into a grim smile. “You set your sights too high. Besides, queens rarely marry for love.”

“It’s more complicated than that, Father. I might not have time to be queen.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I’m not sure I do either, but if things go the way I hope they go, I’ll be traveling a lot. You saw our world from the ship. I can’t stay here in our little province if I’m needed elsewhere, and I think our world needs me.”

“You’ve been two steps ahead of me ever since your childhood, but I’m not certain the province will answer to me without you standing beside me.”

“I’m not going to leave, and my future duties might be more fruitful if I retain the title of queen, but if I’m to help the Sky Lord carry his message to our whole world, I might have to give up my allegiance to just one part of it. I can’t see that far ahead, not yet, but it’s a possibility. In the meantime, you’re going to be my connection to the rest of our province. More, you’re going to help me carry a message beyond our borders.”

“You want to expand our borders?”

“No, I want to erase them. I hope to gather as many kingdoms together as I can, kingdoms that share in my vision of Tranxte as a united world.”

“I can’t share that image with you, Daughter. It’s too big.”

“But you’ll help me work toward it?”

“Such a thing will not come about during our lifetimes.”

“If my plan works, our people will see you not only as a great general but as a great leader, particularly if it’s you who erases borders.”

“No. It’s you they’ll see. I’ll make certain of it,
”
he said.

“Actually, I hope you don’t. I have my sights set elsewhere.”

“How is that possible?”

A wise smile came to her face. “I think you know.”

“Daughter, let’s cross these bridges when we come to them.”

Daughter.
She smiled at the warm feeling the title gave her. “Just so long as you know what we’re working toward.”

She visited each of her kingdoms,
Resolve
carrying her, Turmae, Havlock, Galborae and Milae, the Teacher, the Healer, and last but not least, the great dragon.

Resolve
left Tranxte behind on a quick journey to Aldebaran I. On the way, stories passed back and forth, with the Protectors sharing their experiences and Havlock’s group sharing theirs. He sensed their incredulity at certain parts of the telling, so he changed tactics.

“Our shuttles record everything. I brought some representative recordings with me for General Stymes and his men to review. They’re brutal, but they’re accurate.”

He showed snippets from the first caravan as he and his men stumbled through various tactics to learn what worked best, then he jumped ahead to his first meeting with Queen Atiana on the road outside her city. The massed gleason attack against Tricor that came later stunned these expert warriors, and when Galborae jumped up on the wall with his shimmering sword, even the Great Cats watched spellbound as he raced along the wall killing gleasons. When King Tennisol and his knights joined him up on the wall, Washburn and his Terran Protectors jumped up, cheering and punching the air. Later, when marines joined him in his fighting retreat into the watch tower, everyone came to their feet, spellbound.

One of the shuttles, attracted by Galborae’s shimmering sword, recorded the last fighting as he went down beneath a pile of dead gleasons outside the main door to the keep. Queen Atiana entered the picture and took Galborae into her arms, then the recording ended.

An awesome silence descended on the room as explosions from massed blaster fire suddenly ended. Everyone’s eyes, of course, went to Galborae. He was on his feet along with them, just as amazed as they were at what he had done. His gaze went around the room, almost in embarrassment, then he shrugged.

“That’s it? A shrug?” Washburn asked incredulously. “I want to see it.”

The Great Cat Borg spoke up as well. “I had no idea I was allowing such a dangerous weapon onto the ship.”

Galborae shrugged again. He drew the sword from its scabbard in one smooth flow, the shimmer drawing all eyes as it cleared the scabbard. “Stand back!” he said sternly as Protectors moved closer.

Havlock came to his rescue. “He’s right. The sword is the only one in existence that I know of, and for good reason. It was patterned after a tool our miners use. The edges are only one atom thick. We can’t see it, but they also vibrate, so it essentially cuts through anything. It’s can be as dangerous to us as it is to Galborae’s enemies. We coded it to his life force in case it fell into the wrong hands, so it will not work for anyone else.”

Borg sauntered forward and sat at attention before Galborae. “The Leaf People chose well when they named you Speaker. Your people are lucky to have you. I’m glad I can call you friend, not enemy.”

Galborae stared at him for a moment, then let his gaze move around the room, taking everyone in. “I might be Speaker,” he said, “but I challenge you to find me a single person in this room who hasn’t laid everything on the line. We might have different enemies, but we’re all brothers in arms.”

The light in his sword died as he replaced it in its scabbard.

* * * * *

Two days after leaving Tranxte, George asked a question. “Governor, would now be a good time to introduce Queen Atiana to the net?”

Havlock lifted his eyes to the ceiling and stared off into space for a while. When he responded, he did so with uncertainty even though she sat right beside him. “Actually, she’s experienced the dream already, but we’ve thrown an awful lot at her these past months. I don’t want to overwhelm her.”

“Understood. I met Sir Galborae in his dream when he first came aboard, so I have a sense of what she’s going through. She’s certain to have a lot of unanswered questions.”

“I’m sure she does. We need to take it one step at a time.”

“I’ve done it before successfully.”

“With people from emerging worlds?”

“Yes. Your First Knight was one of them. He became my captain and pilot for a year.”

Atiana stood up to face Havlock with her fists on her hips and a determined look in her eyes. She did not have to say anything.

Havlock saw the look and winced. “Sorry, My Lady. I haven’t forgotten you’re here. I think George is talking about something beyond your wildest imagination, far beyond what you experienced in your dream.”

“My imagination can be pretty wild. It learned to accept Sky Lords, gleasons, blasters, stunners, space ships, and aliens. There’s room for more.”

“It’s one thing to use a blaster. It’s something else entirely to know how one works.”

“Your Majesty,” George said, “we’re taking you to another world. Would you find it helpful to understand the full meaning of what that means?”

She stood up. “I take it it’s not a world like Tranxte?”

“In some ways all worlds are alike. Aldebaran once resembled Tranxte, but over many, many generations it has changed and bears little resemblance to what it once was.”

Atiana cast a strange look toward Havlock. “You don’t want me learning what Tranxte might become?”

“On the contrary. I just don’t want you to be overwhelmed.”

“Won’t you be with me?”

“Hmm. George?”

“Why not?”

Havlock went into the net first, dragging Hawke with him. When Atiana entered, they were waiting in a virtual copy of
Resolve’s
lounge. She looked around, recognizing the dream state. She approached Havlock and took his hand, but since it was a virtual hand created by a computer who could not exactly feel, the hand did not have the same warm consistency she preferred.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“I am.”

“Are you ready to meet George?”

“I’ve been ready to meet him since I first boarded the ship.”

George came strolling into the lounge dressed in a long, gilded, and hooded robe with billowing sleeves. He stepped up to Atiana and reached out, taking one of her hands in both of his. “Welcome to my world, Your Majesty.”

She peered into his hood looking for a face. “Can it just be Atiana?” she asked.

“It can. I like names. My name was given to me by a man from an emerging world.”

“Can I see your face?”

“No. You’ve entered a new world here. In a way you’re actually inside me, a part of me. I have no face, Atiana. That doesn’t make me less real, it just makes me different from you. I am as alien to you as is Stven.”

She put her other hand around the hands that enclosed her own. “How old are you, George?”

“By your standards I’m ancient, though I had a rebirth just a few years ago. I got an advanced education while I was at it.”

“It was you who discovered my world and the gleasons?”

“No. It was Lady Krys. I just brought her here.”

“Just.”

“Yes. I'm going to show you what that word means. Are you ready?”

The walls began thinning, though they did not disappear completely. She pulled her hands from George and reached out to Havlock and Hawke who each took a hand.

Havlock said, “I promise you there's no danger here.”

“Right. It’s just a dream.”

“Sort of,” Havlock agreed. “But never forget, this is as real as your world on Tranxte. Someday your people will fully understand what’s going on here. Their children's children might play in places like this, and they'll play without fear.”

“Well, I can’t be less than a child, can I? Get on with it, George.”

Her castle solidified outside the faint outlines of the room which began rising. Soon, the city and surrounding countryside came into view. The sensation was similar to what she had experienced in a shuttle.

“This part I get,” she said.

The room continued rising higher and higher until they were in orbit, something she had also experienced on a number of occasions. But this time she continued out past the transport ship.

“I’ve been on that ship,” she told George.

“We’re going farther this time, all the way to one of your moons,” he replied.

“Oh, please be careful. I like them, but they’re so small.”

“I’ll be careful.”

She had turned to look back at the transporter, so Hawke, still holding one of her hands, turned her to face the moon. In short order that moon filled her view. George let it slide off to the side as he brought them into orbit about the moon, then he brought the room down until it rested on the dusty surface. She could see to the horizon, though the horizon seemed closer to her than the horizon on Tranxte. Then she gasped. A blue and brown and white moon came into view above the horizon, and she knew without him telling her that it was her home.

She stared at that world as it rose higher into the sky, thinking deeply. “We’ve come a long way. Galborae would say we’ve come far. Is this a light-year?”

“No,” George said. “Not even close.”

She pulled her hands free and turned to face them, Havlock and Hawke dressed in their hard-to-look-at uniforms and George in his hooded robe. “I take it we’re going farther?”

“If you’re ready,” George answered.

“I . . . don’t know. I don’t really understand what we just did.” She waved a hand in the air. “Oh, I know we’ve come a long way, but where are we? Why aren’t we falling back? And I’ve wondered since the first time Gar brought me to this place: why aren’t the people on the bottom of my world falling off?”

“The answer lies beyond your present understanding of science,” George said.

Havlock winced, but Hawke did not. With only a moment’s hesitation, he asked her a simple question. “Have you ever flown upside down on your sauron?”

“No! I’d fall off.”

“Has your sauron ever gotten carried away on one of those beautiful days when everything is so fresh? Has it ever taken you through a loop?” He motioned a vertical circle in the air.

“Well . . . yes. Only once. I forbade her to do it ever again.”

“But you didn’t fall off.”

“No.”

“The sauron knew you wouldn’t. I’m sure it’s a sense they’re born with, knowing such things. You didn’t fall off because she kept you on the inside of her circle. In fact, you were probably pressed harder into your saddle.”

“Actually, I was, so hard that I couldn’t sit up. I never fell off, even when we were upside down.”

“Had you been sitting on the outside of the circle, you’d have fallen off. In space, everything moves in circles. Atiana, this moon is flying in a circle around Tranxte, and Tranxte holds it with invisible lines similar to the invisible lines that held you on your sauron. Tranxte itself flies in a circle around your sun. That sun holds Tranxte to itself with the same invisible lines, but Tranxte is not the only world your sun holds with invisible lines. George?”

They left the surface of the moon and sped farther out into space. George brought six other planets and the sun into view, very large, colorful planets about the size of the moon. Nothing in the display was, as yet, to scale. He brought all the worlds close enough that she could almost reach out and touch them.

“They’re beautiful. These worlds are like Tranxte?”

“No,” George told her. “Not at all. Some are much larger than Tranxte, and two of them are smaller. The world closest to your sun is so hot that the ground is always melted. The ones farther out do not get enough heat from the sun so they are always frozen. Nothing lives on any of them.”

George removed the planets from her view and reverted the display to the real scale, then headed away from the moon and Tranxte at high speed. Soon all she saw was darkness. When George turned her to look back at Tranxte, she could not find it so he outlined it with a faint circle. Within that circle a small white light shone like a star, and nearby two other lights shone, but these lights were so tiny they were barely visible.

“Those lights are Tranxte and your moons,” George said. “Keep looking.”

The room was still moving. Suddenly a huge world flashed by, then receded, a world that was just a bright gray, glowing sphere. She thought it resembled one of the worlds George had shown her earlier. In seemingly no time at all, it became a tiny light and another world flashed by, this one covered in striated clouds. George stopped, the enormous planet hanging just out of reach and filling her view. George turned her until the world was off her left shoulder and darkness lay ahead. She stared and stared but saw nothing meaningful until George created a circle around a star and informed her that the star was her sun. She could not see the other planets.

Since they were in the net, George knew what she was thinking. He outlined each of those planets, though she still could not see them.

“This is far,” she said.

“It’s so far it’s impossible to describe with terms in use on Tranxte.” George started the room moving again, but this time he climbed high above the plane of the ecliptic so they could look down on all the planets. He increased the size of each planet until they were easy to see, then he placed faint circles of light within the picture, one for each planet’s orbit. When he started the planets moving along those orbits, she suddenly understood the order.