Spirit of Empire 4: Sky Knights (61 page)

“In that case, I’m asking. Will you come back with me?”

“Of course I’ll come with you. What will I do?”

“What we end up doing is not always what we expect to be doing, but I desperately need someone to teach me. We brought another woman for that purpose, but I’m pretty sure she’s not going to have as much time as I’ll want. And it might not be just me. I’d like to include a few others if I can break them away from their homes and families. Part of the process we have in mind is to teach the teachers—teach local people from Tranxte who will then spread what they’ve learned to the rest of the planet.”

She stared into the distance for a time, then said, “I can’t really see past the gleasons leaving. We need people who can. You’ll be one of them if you decide to stay.”

Seeton arranged for transportation back to Tranxte, though Josh, Akurea, and the refugees from Harac stayed behind on Aldebaran I. Josh needed to recuperate, and he would do so with his family who had recently relocated from Earth to Aldebaran I. Akurea went out on another assignment. At Seeton’s request, Mayor Nbara, stayed to coordinate her peoples’ reintegration back into Empire life. She would have the option of joining Claire on Tranxte later.

Havlock, Atiana, Galborae, and Claire, along with the surviving marines, returned to Tranxte. Lebac stayed on Aldebaran I to oversee modifications of the ships that would carry gleasons from Tranxte. Despite the best efforts of healing tanks and Riders, Havlock and Claire still had months of recuperation ahead of them during which their physical activities would be limited.

Otis went with them—it was time to meet with a gleason.

* * * * *

A lone shuttle descended toward a clearing, it’s shields off and its gleason sensors working the way George had designed them to work. Within that clearing, the images of three gleasons appeared to be feasting on a kill. What that kill was, the people on the shuttle could not tell. Atiana, Galborae, and Otis, his hackles raised since the moment the gleasons came into view, watched as a marine crawled out onto the shuttle’s open ramp and dropped a red cloak near the gleasons.

Galborae’s voice sounded across the clearing, his message carefully constructed in the limited gleason language. “I return tomorrow. One of you will carry the cloak and speak. If you fail to come, many of you will die without ecstasy.”

The shuttle withdrew to a high altitude to observe. The three gleasons left their kill and split up, leaving the cloak behind in the clearing. When, by the following afternoon, no gleason had picked up the cloak, Galborae sighed.

“They’re not ready.”

“But they’ve surrounded the clearing,” Otis said. “Our sensors show them clearly. They’re hoping you return.”

“We won’t disappoint them,” Galborae said. “We’ll pick up the cloak as a signal to them for what follows. They hate dying without ecstasy.”

His voice carried across the clearing again. “I have returned. You failed to carry the cloak. For that, you will die without ecstasy.”

The shuttle settled to the ground, the ramp opened, and Galborae stepped to the ground. He drew his sword and held it high, it’s shimmering blade calling to the gleasons as it had in the past. He retrieved the cloak as a horde of gleasons raced toward him, their eerie cries filling the clearing, but he did not wait. He stepped back to the ramp and the shuttle lifted him safely away. Without warning, lasers and blasters reached down silently from invisible ships high in the sky, snuffing out one gleason after another. When only one gleason remained, he halted the killing. His shuttle returned to the clearing and dropped the cloak, then hovered over the clearing.

“Hear me,” he said, his voice projecting over the killing ground. “I return tomorrow. One of you will carry the cloak and speak. If you do not, I will kill again without ecstasy. Carry the cloak, and I promise you and your descendants more ecstasy than you have ever known.”

The shuttle returned to Havlock’s command ship where Havlock instructed General Stymes to put all his forces on alert. The one card the gleasons had not yet played was for all of them to attack cities at the same time. If that ever came about, civilization on Tranxte would probably be set back thousands of years. The gleasons would ultimately die, but a lot of them would enjoy ecstasy in the process.

Otis looked at him and growled, “You give them too much intelligence. Such an effort would require planning and someone in charge.”

“Do I? Would it?” Havlock replied. “It would for us, but we don’t communicate mind to mind. These creatures are savage, but they’re not stupid. If just one of them comes up with the concept of a massive uprising, it could spread like wildfire to all of them. We’ve worried about this since the very beginning. It’s why I’m using the caravans to entice them rather than just cruising around and killing every gleason in sight. We don’t know what number of deaths would trigger such a response, but we believe that killing very large numbers of gleasons without giving them the opportunity to experience ecstasy would push them over the brink. We don’t have enough resources to defend the whole planet from such an attack.”

Otis growled low in his throat and sauntered away, unhappy with the whole concept of allowing gleasons to live at all. Intellectually he knew the Queen’s decision to treat them as a non-emergent alien race was the right thing, but ancient instincts fought hard to be heard.

The next day the cloak remained where it had been dropped from the shuttle, but this time there were no gleasons in the area at all.

“Well,” Galborae said, “it looks like they don’t like the price paid by their dead brothers. That’s progress.” They found another group of gleasons and killed all of them but one, then dropped the cloak again.

When they returned the following day, everyone gasped. The images of three gleasons glowed in the middle of the field, and the cloak appeared to be floating. Many more gleason images showed in the tree lines surrounding the field.

Galborae looked at Otis and Atiana. “We’re on.”

A plan had already been set. Stymes, in a command ship high above, issued orders. Two shuttles escorted Galborae’s shuttle to the clearing while ten more shuttles hovered at a higher altitude but ready at a moment’s notice.

As they lined up behind the closed ramp, Galborae asked Otis, “Are you sure you don’t want some armor?”

“I do, but it’s important that the gleasons knows exactly who I am,” he growled. “Let’s get on with it.”

The shuttle came to a low hover over the clearing, and Galborae made another announcement in the gleason language. “Take the shiny piece from the cloak and put it on your ear. We will then be able to speak to each other.”

It took the gleasons a while to figure out what he meant, but one eventually complied. Galborae and Atiana stepped to the ground in plain sight of the gleasons.

Galborae called across the intervening 50 meters, “I bring an ancient enemy. You will want to seek ecstasy, but you must not. You must hold while we speak or we will kill you without ecstasy.”

Otis padded down the ramp. The moment he came into the gleasons
’
view, a high keening sounded from the spokesmen, followed moments later by the rest of the gleasons in the tree line. The three stepped farther from the ramp to allow marines to move out into position behind them and to their sides. Everyone’s visors were in position and providing a clear view of each gleason’s location. Galborae had no intention of any of them suffering the same fate he and Havlock had suffered during their long ago conversation with a gleason.

The gleasons
’
images before them vibrated almost as if they were shaking. A quick look to the clearing boundaries showed that all the gleasons were agitated. Otis had warned them that his presence might cause this.

Galborae spoke again. “Hold, all of you. I see you. If you lose control, there will be no ecstasy.”

His words had the opposite effect. The cloak suddenly dropped to the ground. In its place, a blaster appeared and began firing in their direction, though the gleason’s aim was not good. Several more blasters sounded from the tree lines, then all the gleasons, the three in front of them as well as the horde of gleasons in the tree line, rushed forward. Otis had the fastest reflexes, but he did not have a visor. Galborae, Atiana, and the marines did. Stunners fired and the three closest gleasons lost their ability to blend into their surroundings. Otis now had targets, as did everyone else, and the ships overhead dropped down, adding their guns to the barrage striking the gleasons.

The three closest gleasons went down under a hail of blaster fire. Galborae and Atiana withdrew into the shuttle, and marines followed them in an orderly fashion, but Otis, to everyone’s amazement, held his ground, roaring and snarling at the attackers. In the process, he did not waste a single shot.

Otis waited as long as he could, then he leaped back aboard, his eyes the bright amber of his attack mode and his fur practically smoldering with energy. Shuttles continued firing until every gleason in the field was dead except one, then Galborae dropped another cloak and issued the same instructions he had given on the two previous days. The shuttles withdrew.

Galborae sat down against a bulkhead shaking from head to toe. Otis joined him, still smoldering.

“We failed,” Galborae said. “I had hoped it would be done by now.”

“We have not failed. If you’ve convinced me of nothing else, it’s that these gleasons learn from their mistakes. The blasters were clever and a surprise. Where did they get them?”

“Off the bodies of our marines and traders, most likely. We keep a close tally, and the number of missing blasters is not great.”

“So we try again tomorrow,” Atiana said.

Galborae nodded wearily. “I suppose so. I’m open to new ideas. This isn’t working very well.”

Otis considered for a time. “If you’re right that the gleasons learn, it still has a chance. Let’s give it one more go before changing tactics.”

* * * * *

Galborae’s fleet of shuttles repeated the process the following day. This time a lone gleason waited in the field, and there were no other gleasons nearby. He, Atiana, and Otis stepped to the ground as before and waited for the gleason to speak. It held, just apparently waiting.

Galborae tired of the delay and spoke. “I come to offer you greater ecstasy.”

The image of the gleason on his visor did not move. “I speak only with the warrior.”

Otis stepped forward, his hackles raised but his eyes not yet flashing amber sparks. “You know me?”

“I know your kind. Join me in ecstasy.”

“No. Maybe another day. Today we talk. Your people need to hear my words. Can you speak for them?”

“They hear.”

“You have shared much ecstasy since coming to this world, but many have died without ecstasy. We will continue killing without ecstasy if we must. It’s time for you to leave this world.”

“We will not go back. This is our home now.”

“I will not take you home. I have a better place, a place with many warriors who also seek ecstasy. You will not only find ecstasy there, you will find challenge, more challenge than here. Your opponent is strong and smart.”

“No. Come to me now, one on one.”

“No. If you move, you will die without ecstasy. I have come only to talk. We might seek ecstasy another day, you and I, but if you wait, your ecstasy will be greater in the new place. I ask you and your brothers to consider my offer. I will return for your answer when you wave the cloak.”

“How can I know you speak true?”

“I speak on the honor of my ancestors who shared so much ecstasy with yours.”

The gleason held still for a time, a long time, then suddenly the cloak moved. Everyone tensed, but the position of the image on their visors did not change. The gleason spoke again. “Failure to achieve ecstasy before dying is the worst possible fate. I have complied.”

“You agree to leave here?”

“I agree to go to a new place.”

“And the rest of your brothers?”

“They agree.”

A gasp escaped from Atiana, but Otis did not acknowledge it. “If we do this, any who stay behind will die without ecstasy.”

“Bring your ships.”

“I will, but they come from far away. It will take many days. There are more of your brothers across the seas. Can you mind link with them? Have they heard my offer?”

“No.”

“How do we tell them?”

“Just as you did here.”

“Many died here without ecstasy. We do not like to waste lives, especially without sharing ecstasy. Will you tell these others if I take you to them?”

There was a long pause, then the gleason spoke again. “I will go if you go.”

“Not me. You know we cannot be together without sharing ecstasy. If you are dead, you cannot speak to your brothers.”

“Ecstasy comes only after I have spoken to everyone.”

“Not before?”

“You speak of honor. On my honor I say I will try.”

“When do we go?”

“Now.”

“We thought it would be better to wait until our ships come.”

“Now.”

“Wait.”

Otis inched back toward Galborae, but he never turned his back on the gleason. “How do we do this?
”
he asked.

“Well done, Sire. I’ll clear everyone from the lower deck. We’ll seal ourselves on the upper deck, then let the gleason in. It might damage the ship, but it’s a small price to pay if we make this work.”

“Do it,” Otis said stiffly, still focused on the gleason. He said no more, but he knew what lay ahead for him: one of the major ordeals of his life, an ordeal for which there was no backup.

Atiana and the marines moved into the shuttle and cleared all the weapons from the main deck, then made their way to the upper deck. Galborae waited for Otis to return to the ship, but still Otis did not move.