The Bright Black Sea (115 page)

Glen Colin shrugged, glanced around to see that we
were alone, and said quietly to us, 'It may be that he thought that
when he said the people were primitive, he said it all. The Pela
may be paradise, especially if you're a prince in the royal house
of Cimmadar, but like yonder serpent, the Pela has fangs. You need
be pretty quick on your feet, and on the trigger, to die of old
age. Luck helps too.

'Ah, but those are only the known dangers,' he
sighed, and speaking softer, 'The ol'Pela is too vast to know what
it holds. We don't worry about the peoples we know, the other
civilizations and the nomadic hordes – their weapons are primitive
by Neb standards – and can be dealt with. It's what we don't know
that makes us a mite nervous – and what we don't know encompasses
nearly everything, even after tens of thousands of years.'

'Like what?'

'There are legends, you see, of civilizations that
are as advanced – or more so – than ours. If they be far enough
away, we'd never hear of them, so we can't rule them out. The
islanders spin yarns of the Dragon Lords – gods, semi-gods or some
advanced civilizations, who knows? They're said to possess great
power and travel in vast ships throughout the Pela. They're claimed
to be the true masters of the Pela, and they ain't human but some
sort of super-dragons. Far-fetched, but you can't rule anything out
in the old Pela. Truth is that many Pelians believe your
run-of-the-mill dragon, like the one we just passed, are
intelligent as well. I wouldn't swear to that, but it ain't all
that outlandish. There are said to be people who can talk to
dragons – and they'll listen...'

I considered that for a while, as I nudged the
Raven
this way and that, avoiding the vine covered boulders
that littered our passage between the large islands.

'Still, Cimmadar is the only civilization that trades
with the rest of the Neb, and Vinden said the ships he's built are
the most powerful in the Pela,' I said.

'That we know of,' he laughed. 'But what if the
Dragon Lords, or some other civilization is just as secretive as we
are? We can't be sure no one else has access to the Neb, can
we?

'But is that likely?'

Glen Colin shrugged. 'There are plenty of legends in
the Neb about the Tenth Star and though none of them are accurate,
where there's smoke, there's fire. Truth is, we don't know. Even
with our contact with the Neb, Cimmadar technology is hardly up to
Unity, or even drift standards, so there's plenty of reasons for
Cimmadar to be a hermit kingdom.'

We considered that for a while in silence.

'Hard to imagine anyone finding this,' said
Vikei.

'Aye. But people are curious, and if they happened
upon it, it would incite curiosity, in some, anyway. Who did find
it, and when it was found, is lost to legends. Neb, even
civilizations that have no contact with the Neb, or with Cimmadar,
have legends of originating from beyond the Pela. Of course many of
those societies may've been started by freebooters from early
Cimmadar, so many of those stories may lead back to Cimmadar, but
many a night in a pub is passed trying to unravel the mysteries of
the Pela. It'll take many more before we catch even a glimpse of
the heart of the mystery.'

'So where do you fit into this enigma? How did you
get tied in with Vinden – or come to be a three hundred year old
chief engineer?' I asked.

'Three hundred years old, my arse,' said Vikei
rolling her eyes. 'Why he'll have trouble remembering today,
tomorrow.'

'Look up my Guild records, mate. I'll give you the
list of names I've sailed under, and you'll see I'm not lying. Of
course, I've spent a century and a half asleep in sleeper-pods
laying low, so I don't know how you want to count my years. From my
birth, or my subjective experiences.'

'Leaving that aside, how'd you get to be both a guide
in the Pela and a chief engineer aboard tramp ships? The two don't
seem to mix.'

'Well, you see, Clan Colin is one of the clans with
the talent. We've served the Cloud Throne as guides for time
immortal. Sadly, as you can see, my talents in the family's legacy
are rather limited. In fact, they missed it altogether when it came
time to test me. I was considered a null, one without the talent,
so I wasn't able to join the Royal Guides. But Clan Colin has
privileges in court, so I was offered an appointment as an
apprentice engineer aboard one of the rocket fliers that ply
between Cimmadar and its space station in the shell-reef. When I
was senior enough, I earned a berth on one of the outbound trading
ships that conducted our modest trade with the greater Nebula.

'It was only after taking this position that I found
that I had the talent after all, but it needed whiskey to run on.
By , however, it was too late – even dangerous – to point this out,
so I kept my talent my secret. I rather doubt the Royals would care
for an inebriate guide, in any event.

'Anyway, I'm a curious fellow, and being carefree as
well, back in my youth, I found myself wanting to see more of the
Neb than a brief call on the odd trading station and drift world.
So I jumped ship and set off on my own. Which, of course, landed me
on Cimmadar's wanted list. You can imagine how wound up they get
when somebody in the know wanders off. I had to keep moving and
every so often, lay low in some Guild sleeper-pod warehouse when
the chase got too hot. Which is how I've put 300 years between my
birth and now.'

'How'd Vinden ever find out about your talent?' I
asked.

'Well, you see, Cap'n, I was never without friends in
Cimmadar. It's not like I betrayed our great secret – even drunk. I
kept my wits about me, drunk or sober. I was considered more or
less harmless, little more than a bad example. So, when I had a
mind to, I could turn up homesick and humble, groveling to be
forgiven. I was Clan Colin, after all. And they didn't know of my
talent, or they would've never let me roam again. And since some of
the young royals were as carefree and curious as I was – I got
along with them just fine. Too well, I suppose since once they got
wind of my talent in drink, they used it. Oh, they'd get me out of
trouble, sure enough, and back, as cap'n, mind you, of an outbound
spaceship. But there was a price to be paid. I'd have a list of
trinkets to bring back. By the container load towards the end
there. They had pull...'

'You were a smuggler!' exclaimed Vikei.

Glen Colin grinned, 'Well, when members of the Royal
family ask you to bring a container or two of requested items, I'm
not sure I'd exactly call that smuggling.'

'Wasn't that dangerous?' I asked. 'I assume the fact
that they had you doing it, meant it wasn't officially
sanctioned.'

'Well, maybe. Who knows what lifts with the Royals?
They're mostly above the rules. Still, it worked both ways. I
may've brought the goods in, but they ended up with'em. We'd be
both in the same black hole if blast came to thrust. Still, they
were mostly a good sort, and it made my extended stays in the Neb
all the more smooth sailing when I came back, treasures in
tow.'

'And Vinden was one of your customers.'

He grinned wider. 'I don't tell tales out of school,
Cap'n. Let's just say I've known one Prince Imvoy, who you know as
Vinden, for a long, long time, long before all the trouble began. I
suppose I picked the wrong side, and ended up back in the Neb,
running Vinden's first buckets of bolts and the '
Lark
between the Pela and the drift all the while trying to dodge the
packs of murderous pirates and assassins the Empress hired to track
us down. Eventually Vinden tossed in his hand and knowing I was his
star-in-hand, stashed me in cold storage for the day when he'd need
my talents to find home again.'

'Why did he need the
Starry Shore
if he had
you?

'He didn't. I can find my way to the Tenth Star. It's
just that it would've taken many more years, and would've needed a
wide awake crew to man the ship all those years. What he really
needs me for is to find Redoubt Island, the space station and
finally Cimmadar itself.'

'And why don't you just use radio beacons to find
your way about?'

'Well, between the atmosphere and all the islands
floating about, radio waves don't travel all that far. You could
set up strings of relay stations, and many civilizations are
advanced enough to do that. But if you recall our talk back on
Ravin, I mentioned that anyone can follow a radio beacon, including
your enemies. Since Cimmadar has its guide clans, and doesn't need
radio beacons, why run the risk? There are, for example great
nomadic fleets of barbarians a'roaming the Pela, looting and
killing as they go, some numbering in the millions. So it's not
wise to advertise your position because they can follow the
beacons. We've had to fight them – and other empires as well –
dozens of times in our long history, and it's been touch and go at
times, so these days we're strictly a hermit empire, radio silent,
and elusive. Rumored, but never found.

'The other thing you need to realize, is that the
islands are constantly churning. Great rivers of air shuffle the
islands, large and small hither and yon. An island a ten
round-cycle journey away, may, over time, become a hundred
round-cycle journey, or a thousand. And these great currents change
course or disappear as well, so no island stays in the same
relative position, making beacons and charts useful only for a
limited time. And there are only two fixed positions in the Pela –
inwards and outwards, and once you get off the chart, there's
nothing to set your course against, save a string of islands
passed, that are often tumbling and turning so they won't look the
same coming back a month later. So you see how handy it is to have
a person onboard who can lead you to where your going just by
sensing where it is. There's no way Prince Imvoy could find Redoubt
Island, or the space station, or Cimmadar without me, so you can
see why ol'Glen Colin is so valuable. He could spend his lifetime
searching and never finding it. Oh, I'm a jewel in Prince Imvoy's
crown.'

'I wouldn't call you a jewel,' said Vinden grimly, as
we all turned to see him climbing up from the access well. 'A
pimple on my arse, would be more accurate.'

'I serve as a pimple, if you wish, m'lord,' said Glen
Colin with a grin, undaunted.

01

Redoubt Island looked just like any other of the
thousands of floating islands we had slipped by. It was shaped like
a slightly bent finger, roughly six kilometers long by two in
diameter. There were mossy meadows, sharp miniature mountains of
lichen covered rocks, and forests of tall, fern-topped trees draped
with colorful mats of flowering vines. A great flight of
multi-colored birds, and other flying creatures was stirred up by
the arrival of the
Raven
. There was, however, no sign of the
base. Glen Colin directed Molaye to bring the ship to a halt close
alongside a vine matted facet at the tip of the island.

'We're home,' he said with a sigh, as we came to a
dead stop, ten meters above, below, or alongside, a flat wall of
vines – it was simply a matter of how you choose to look at it.
There's no up or down in this sea of floating islands.

'Shore party to the airlock,' ordered an eager
Vinden, adding with grin to Min. 'Finally!'

We – everyone but Molaye, Sar and Dici, who had the
watch – gathered on the platform before the engine room air lock
dressed in work clothes, jackets and gloves. Min and Vinden slipped
through the pack to the airlock and turned to address us.

'Vikei and Tor will stand guard, one on each side of
the ship,' said Vinden. 'Dragons have very sharp eyes and can be
quite cunning. They'll circle around and come at you from just over
the tree tops, so you'll have no more than a second to respond, or
be carried off for dinner. If you see anything in the sky other
than a local bird, give a yell. None are showing on radar at the
moment and I've impressed upon Molaye the need to constantly
monitor the radar and to warn us if she sees anything suspicious,
but with the island blocking half the sky, we'll need to be rely on
our own eyes as well,' said Vinden briskly. All of Vinden's
henchmen were carrying heavy duty pirate pieces that looked capable
of taking out small boats. 'And just to make that clear – everyone
needs to keep an eye on the sky. Don't rely on the lookouts. This
must become second nature if you hope to live long in the Pela.

'Our first order of business is to anchor the
Raven
to the island. We'll use the ship's crane and some of
the cables we used to secure the
Indomitable
to tie us up to
a couple of the larger vines.

'Our base is hidden behind the curtain of vines. If
everything is in order, as I expect it will be, we'll find three
hundred good and loyal men and women in sleeper-pods who've been
awaiting our return. Once we've revived them, we'll get the base up
and running, clear the cavern entrance, unload the
Raven
and
send it back for the second load.,' he said in an eager rush.
'Unless you have any questions, let's get going. I've been waiting
eighty years for this day, and every minute wasted is painful to
me.'

I guess we didn't care to hurt Vinden, since we kept
our many questions to ourselves. And well, we were probably just as
eager to get out and under way as Vinden.

He cranked open the outer hatch and we followed him
out into the cool, fragrant air of the Pela. Stepping out onto the
hull, held by our magnetic boots, we spread out, took some deep
breaths of fragrant, flower-scented air and took in the boundless
archipelago about us. I could see half a dozen other islands
floating in the sky, fading into the bright haze to become vague,
distant shadows in the pale blue-green sky. The vine covered cliff
hid half the horizonless sky. In space you took such oddness as a
matter of course but here, standing in a milky white light that
cast only the vaguest shadows, it was unlike anything I'd ever
experienced. The fresh, fragrant breeze was laced with the scent of
strange plants and flowers and was alive with the shrill cries and
calls of the birds – well, flying creatures, anyway – that darted
about us. What was missing was that sense of order you have on a
planet or moon – of up and down, right and wrong. It wasn't right
to have a massive mat of vines hanging overhead and a sky at our
feet, so I quickly walked around the hull to the upper surface of
the
Rift Raven
where the
Indomitable
rose over the
open cargo hatch doors, putting the island alongside, and the sky
above (and below, if you looked that way) which felt a little more
right
.