Dominion (4 page)

Four

He opened his eyes to discover a bluish laser beam slicing through the curtains and marking out a bright river of light across the middle of the bed.  He breathed in a floral scent, quickly noticing the brown head of long hair near his lips.  They had shared the bed, both respecting each other’s space.  The chill of the night must have brought her into his arms where she still lay sleeping at the moment.

He
cautiously rolled onto his back and slowly slid his other arm from beneath her.  He now recalled a long night of fitful dreams, most of them portraying the Shomani as frightening monsters – the kind of monsters that spent their evenings inside dark closets and beneath the beds of little children.  At one point in the night, he awoke with a scream as Orlo leapt upon him and bit into his neck like a vampire.

That was the moment Kashuba had found her way into his arms, he recalled.  Actually, it was the other way around at the t
ime.  She held him, soothing him like a little child.  Oddly enough, he had accepted her reassuring whispers, somehow believing in his moment of weakness that she could protect him from any and all demons - real or imagined. 

He turned to her and realized she was awake now, watching him in the bluish glow of the morning sun.  He smiled at her, earning
a smile in return.

“I lived all my life on a world with an average size yellow star.
  The light we got from it was basically white.  At least that’s how I saw it,” he said, “It could turn the sky orange or red at times near sunset or sunrise, but otherwise our sky was blue much like yours.  But never did the star have the ability to cast such pretty blues into a dark room like your star is doing right now.”

She smiled and drew the blanket up further.  The room was definitely chilly.

“You’re like a child the way you look at our moon, our sun, and just the world around you.  It’s nice to see someone so enthralled by what we take for granted,” she said, “I’ve only known this sun, so I see nothing really special about the colors it casts.”

“Well, trust me. 
The hues of your world are beautiful,” he said.

“I’m glad you approve,” she chuckled, “How would you like for me to take you the long way around to the Science Lab so we could pass through the arboretum?”

He sat up and stretched, noting suddenly that there were two piles of clothing laid out across the chest in the corner.  He turned to her, recalling that she was in bed before him.

“Where did the clothing come from?” he asked, nodding to the wooden chest.

She sat up, holding the blanket tightly to her body.  He noted suddenly that she was not wearing any clothes.  Modesty or the chill caused her to draw the blanket around her bottom half, but she seemed to lack any concern about covering the rest.  It took some effort to draw his eyes back to the clothing.

“The Demigods provide you with everything while you are a guest.  Sometimes they even have servants come in and clean at night,” she said.

“But what if we had been… you know… what if we were
busy
last night?” he asked.

She grinned and turned to him.

“So, you changed your mind about sholiska?” she asked with a flirtatious smirk.

“No!  Please don’t keep tempting me as you do,” he pleaded, “
You are so attractive to me, but I really don’t want to mess up anything.”

“Okay then,” she continued to smile, but still didn’t seem
very concerned with physical modesty, “Well, the servants would be polite and they never interrupt whatever is going on.  It’s improper to watch those who are enjoying each other.”

He shook his head, refusing to continue his argument.  Their concern with privacy and modesty apparently were very different from his and it wouldn’t change no matter what he argued.  At least he knew now that the home was not necessarily private and secure.  If the
Shomani had wanted to kill him last night like he’d dreamed, they certainly could have.

. . . .

He followed her out of their home and allowed her to lead the way in the opposite direction of the village he passed through yesterday.  The blue sun was low in the sky, chasing away very little of the evening chill.  Thankfully, the clothing they offered him was comfortable and sufficient to ward off the cold.

They passed a few
Shomani who paid them little regard as they pursued their own morning destinations.  At one point, Kashuba pointed out a large body of water peeking out along the horizon.  She called it the Western Sea. 

“What is the difference between
the Shomani and Demigods?” he asked.

“Well, all Demigods are
Shomani, but not all Shomani are Demigods,” she replied, “The Demigods have proven themselves in intelligence, strength, and overall supremacy to the rest of those in the world.  They are worthy of respect as I’ve explained before.”

“Do you worship these Demigods?” he asked.

She seemed to ponder his question for a few seconds.  He was startled just then by a sudden roar of thunder.  He looked up in time to witness a small silver aircraft passing by overhead.  It was the first of any technological vehicle he’d seen or heard since he woke up the previous day.  The low-flying craft moved much too quickly for him to identify its comparable class, but just from the few seconds he could see it, it reminded him of a helicopter without the rotors.

“In some ways, I guess
you could say that the Demigods are worshipped,” she replied, pointing then toward a forest in the distance, “Over there is where I will be able to show you some of our beautiful fauna, foliage, and maybe even a few of our native creatures.”

He glanced around, searching for any other vehicles that would prove this wasn’t just an ancient village
.  The small homes and the cobblestone roads painted a portrait straight from Victorian England, yet the low-flying chopper was something seemingly more advanced than the aircraft of Earth. 

He sudden
ly caught sight of another peculiarity.  Approaching rapidly from behind was yet another example of something that didn’t belong in a space faring civilization.  Two giant creatures, reptilian in nature, were charging toward them, dragging some form of chariot behind them.

Hawke
took hold of Kashuba’s hand and drew her to the side of the road with him, fearful that the human holding onto the reigns didn’t see them.  The beasts, snorting and gasping, came to an abrupt halt directly beside Hawke.

“Quick, get in the back, spaceman,” the charioteer hollered, “We don’t have much time.”

His attention was drawn instantly from the scaly green “horses” to the bearded man holding the reigns.  He held up a rifle in a manner that simply suggested “we’re armed”.

“Now, spaceman!
  I’m not willing to die for you!” he shouted, “Get in before the Shomani get here and take you back!”

The door to the chariot opened and two
large men leapt out.  One rushed toward Hawke as though to tackle him, but only took hold of his forearm and gestured anxiously toward the open chariot.  Kashuba responded in defiance by holding tightly to Hawke’s other arm and tugging him.

“Get away from us, you savages!” Kashuba s
narled.

“We have your ship, spacem
an.  If you wish to live, you’ll come with us,” the muscular man attached to his forearm stated, “The girl here is a servant of the Shomani and will do whatever it takes to keep you here under lock and key.  You are standing in the village where you will surely die as a mindless slave yourself.”

“Get
. In. Now!” the driver hollered, “They will be here any second!”

“You have my ship?”
Hawke finally found the ability to speak, “The ship I arrived in?”

“Yes, now can we please discuss this while we stretch the distance between us and these murderers?” the muscular man insisted, this time tugging him forcefully toward the chariot.

“No, Hawke!  We stay here!  This is my home!” she cried, fighting against the others.

Shouting erupted in the distan
ce.  Hawke turned to see several Shomani rushing toward them.  The last thing he heard was the voice of the driver saying something that sounded a little like “Do it.”  After that, everything went black.

Five

Hawke
awoke suddenly to the sound of violent explosions mixed with a cacophony of angry shouts.  He was seated on a hardwood floor, propped against a wooden washtub.  Another explosion shook the floorboards beneath him, causing ripples in the water of the washtub.  He noticed suddenly that his right arm was in the tub.  He started to draw his hand out of the water.

“I wouldn’t, spaceboy,” a deep voice startled him.

He noticed a man entering the small room with some metal objects in his hands.  Hawke suddenly heard what sounded like rapid gunfire coming from the room directly above him.

“What’s going on?  Where am I?”
Hawke asked, wondering what the man intended to do with the unusual tools he dropped near the washtub.

“Your shiny little piece of jewelry is hot enough to burn straight through your bony wrist,” he said, “I’m here to remove that thing before it boils yet another tub of water.”

He turned his attention suddenly to the hand he had resting in the washtub.  The gold bracelet was doing exactly as Kashuba said it would.  The man grinned at him, revealing a mouthful of rotten yellow teeth.  He held up a tool that looked like a hybrid of bolt cutters and toothy pliers.

“
Is the water getting warm yet?” he asked with a cruel smile.

“Actually, yes,”
Hawke said, “Would you mind cutting the bracelet off before it boils?”

“Gotcha,” he agreed, lowering the tool into the water.

“Where are we and why does my head hurt?” Hawke asked.

The man focused on getting the teeth of the tool around the edge of the bracelet. 
Hawke looked around the room, trying to figure out where he was.  The walls, floor, and ceiling were all formed of dark wood beams.  One of the three walls was braced every meter or so with thick six-by-six beams of wood.  The ceiling had a center support beam of six-by-six giving off the image that Hawke was currently inside a sturdy log cabin or an ancient wooden frigate from the early American wars.

Another explosion shook the room, causing the man to drop his tool in the water. 
Hawke couldn’t tell if the bracelet was heating up or if it was just his imagination. 

“Hurry up,”
Hawke insisted, “What are all those explosions?”

“Six-inch shells,” the man replied, recovering his tool and quickly attempting to regain purchase on the bracelet, “
Our
shells, of course.  The Shomani are not going to accept that we recovered both you
and
your ship, but not to worry.  We came prepared for that.”

“Is this a ship?  An ocean vessel?”
Hawke asked.

“Indeed,” he replied, growling as he squeezed the handle of the tool, “One of the best in the Cheronook fleet.”

Suddenly the bracelet snapped.  Hawke felt a little sting as a sharp edge of the broken bracelet nicked his wrist.  Hawke lifted his hand from the water and twisted the warm mangled bracelet off.

“Thanks for the help, bud,”
Hawke said, tossing the piece of metal into the tub of water and rising up from the floor.

He suddenly
felt uneasy as he looked around.  He stumbled forward, but the man caught him to keep him from falling.

“You’d better
find a way to get your sea legs quick, spaceboy,” he said, “We’ve got quite a trip ahead of us.”

“Sea legs,”
Hawke repeated, “Yeah, I guess I should have seen that one coming.”

The man retrieved his tools and departed the room as quickly as he had arrived.  He offered no advice or instruction for
Hawke and the open door suggested that he was no prisoner of those who had kidnapped him and Kashuba. 

He turned quickly; inspecting the room for any sign that Kashuba had been in there with him.  There was nothing beyond what he’d seen earlier.  He rushed out into the corridor and hollered Kashuba’s name.  A
sweaty man rushed past him, nearly knocking Hawke to the floor.

“Why don’t you make yourself useful and see if the gunners need any help?” the man snapped at him, rushing up the stairwell at the end of the hall.

“Gunners?” he muttered.

Another explosion rumbled from above. 

“Kashuba!” he shouted, heading toward the stairwell.

He
looked up the stairs and immediately verified that they led to the sunlit world outside.  He quickly rose from the bowels of the ship to discover a busy world that he most certainly did not fit into.  He found himself standing near the stern of a massive 19
th
century schooner decked out in full sails.  That alone would have been enough to give him a moment of pause, but then he saw the three giant cannons.

The cannons were definitely not like those found on 19
th
century ships but rather they resembled the howitzers of the mid 20
th
century.  The cannon to his right was being loaded from the rear with something that resembled a giant bullet still attached to its shell.  It took two burly men to load the cannon and only one to fire it.  The explosion was deafening.

He looked off
to the right side of the ship to see what they were firing at just in time to see the bow of a more modern ship exploding.  The other ship, now sinking in the distance looked very similar to a modern day destroyer or frigate.  He was impressed to see an older wooden ship holding her own against a modern navy vessel.

The sound of rapid gunfire erupted from the other side of the ship.  He turned to see a man on the deck above him operating what appeared to be an ordinary Gatling gun mounted on a standing tripod.  Curiosity got the best of
Hawke and brought him over to that side of the ship.  There, he witnessed the bullets ripping into the side of a low flying aircraft.  The aircraft pulled up quickly and veered away from the ship.  The machine gunner kept firing, though it appeared the aircraft was already out of range.

A cannon blast erupted from the front of the ship, but
Hawke couldn’t see anything from his position behind the superstructure.  He turned his attention back to the three cannons.  One was faced directly aft, and the other two were pointed port and starboard.  He imagined there was probably the same formation at the bow.  The cannon operators now seemed to be waiting patiently at their posts with loaded weapons. 

He saw no other ships on the horizon and the aircraft that had made a pass earlier didn’t appear to be circling around for another pass.  That was the moment he saw two enormous zeppelins flying almost directly overhead.  Their size made the Goodyear blimp look like a child’s toy.  If he had to make an estimate, he’d guess these were at least three times the size of Goodyear’s airships.
  He feared that their enormity would permit the existence of heavy weapons aimed down at them, but it didn’t appear that they were shooting anything at all.

He wondered for a moment if they were filled with hydrogen and if so, why wasn’t the machine gunner shooting at them.  Hydrogen was extremely flammable.

“Escorts,” a voice interrupted his thoughts.

He lowered his gaze to see the chariot driver from earlier. 
Hawke’s hand subconsciously rose up to the aching lump on the side of his head.

“Sorry about the hit
on the head, my friend,” he said, “I thought you’d be much more excited about the rescue attempt than you were.  Since you apparently weren’t thinking clearly, we had to take it to the next level.  You
do
realize we saved your life, right?”

“I don’t realize a
nything.  I have no idea who the good guys or the bad guys are.  As a matter of fact, the Shomani haven’t harmed me in any way, yet the Cheronook have,” he said, rubbing the knot on his head.

“Really?  Would you
like to take another look at those burns on your wrist?” he asked.

Hawke
stopped rubbing his head and glanced quickly at the red marks where the bracelet once rested.  He nodded in quiet resignation, then pointed up at the zeppelins overhead.

“You said the zeppelins are escorts?  Cheronook escorts?”
Hawke asked.

“Yes, the airships have a better view of what is up ahead and behind us and can alert us so we
will be prepared.  Once we are far enough from Shomani lands, the airships will return home,” he said, extending a hand to Hawke, “I am Night Rain, the Associate Governor of the Frozen North.”

He took the proffered hand and
shook it, “I am Meriwether Hawke; inventor, engineer, and reluctant astronaut.  I prefer to be called Hawke.”

“
Hawke,” he repeated, “I like it.  Now that it seems we have escaped the Shomani, how about we go inside and I welcome you more properly with an explanation of recent events?”

“Before I go anywhere, I have to ask.  Did you harm Kashuba and is she here on the ship?” he asked, “I’m talking about the woman who was with me when you knocked me out.”

“She’s aboard and she’s rather alert and,” he paused, searching his words carefully, “Well, let’s just say that she’s quite a ferocious prisoner at the moment.  She would have been killed as an accessory had we left her behind and we didn’t really know your relationship with her, so we brought her along.”

“Prisoner?”
he gasped.

“It was necessary.  She’s been fighting us the whole time,” he replied, “Perhaps you can calm her down and let her know that the Cheronook are not the enemy.”

“Can I see her right away?” he asked, “I’m not in a relationship with her, but I do feel more or less responsible for her care.”

“Come,” he said, motioning to the door.