"CHAP-30" - читать интересную книгу автора (Jerome Bigge - Warlady 3 - The Queen Of Swords)THE QUEEN OF SWORDS! A TALE OF ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN By Jerome B. Bigge Chapter Thirty "Well, Arlena, how are things going here?" Aurora asked, wondering if there would ever be a "cure" for the headache that one suffered going from a higher atmospheric pressure to a lower one such as Luna and Mars had. The blonde smiling back in reply, well aware that Aurora was trying to make "small talk" just to keep their minds off what was "due" to happen in only a day now! Farside being the former Earth scientific base taken over by the Lorr after The War of 2047 had put an "end" to all such things. Out there on the airless surface of the Moon still stood the awe- some monuments to Man's best scientific endeavors centuries ago. "I'm as `nervous' as an `Earthwoman'," the Leaderess of Far- side answered, "Especially with that battle-disc here and those damm Lorr `poking' into everything," the woman answered in reply. The Valkyrie and its anti-matter power core were another cause of concern, especially considering the amount of anti-matter stored aboard the vessel. The ship being a new design, and in theory being capable of generating its own space-time warp and thus be- ing able to travel between the star systems at speeds far in ex- cess of that of light itself! That was assuming that the ship didn't just blow itself apart the first time such was attempted! "Just remember that whatever happens they are not to be al- lowed to communicate with Mars or Deimos," Aurora smiled in turn, seeing the look in the blonde's gray eyes. Many of the women of Mars were blondes, the Lorr preferring such for reasons that had perhaps little to do with anything really rational! In any case the "visual sense" of the Lorr was quite different than that of humans, the Lorr seeing things in quite another visual spectrum. "I could just have them killed," Arlena smiled back at Auro- ra. Such would make "sure" that the Lorr didn't give any warning when their "REVOLUTION" started as it was due to in another day. "I hope you didn't `mean' that," Aurora answered, a note of "warning" in her voice that such would not be "tolerated" by her! "They wouldn't be so `concerned' with our welfare if they were in our position," Arlena replied, meeting Aurora's hot gaze! It was well known among the Women that Lorr placed little value on human life. That to the Lorr they were just "useful animals". "After the `REVOLUTION' the Women can elect a new Leaderess if they want to, but until then my orders will be obeyed," Aurora answered in level tones. "And there will be no killing of Lorr." "I suppose you're right," Arlena admitted with a smile for Aurora, who she had to admire even if she didn't agree with her! "We are going to have share the same world with the Lorr," Aurora replied, "And I don't want to start out with their plot- ting revenge against us for murdering members of their own kind." "I'm glad that `you're' our Leaderess," Arlena smiled back. "The thousand meter telescope?" Aurora asked, changing the subject. That too being a new development. It was a type of telescope that used not "glass", but controlled curved force fields as a mirror! With such an awesome instrument it was pos- sible to photograph the nearer stars, and determine if they actu- ally possessed planets that might worth sending the Valkyrie to! "We are now getting `answers' to questions no one has yet thought to ask," Arlena smiled back. It was known that the near- est star did possess planets, although little was known about them either except that at least one of them might be inhabita- ble! The "size" of the Universe having been finally "found" by the scientists there at Farside. The "size" being much what had been expected, the age and the rate of expansion having been known even back in the 21st Century soon after Farside had been established during the time of Janet Rogers' World Federation! "We `need' a new world," Aurora replied. "For both us and the Lorr. One with a breathable atmosphere, tolerable climate." Mars was a hostile, dangerous world, and the Moon was worthless. Mars was still "short" of water, and the Moon had none at all! "We could `recolonize' the Earth," Arlena smiled back, a view of the planet suddenly appearing there between them by means of holographic projection as she touched a button on her desk. "Most of it is inhabited by savages and barbarians that we could easily `deal with' if `necessary'." Her words leaving no doubts. "And `repeat' all the `old mistakes'?" Aurora "challenged". "They are but a race of `barbarians'," Arlena then smiled. To her the inhabitants of the Earth were nothing but just that! "And are we `Women' any `better'?" Aurora then purred back. "Even they once believed we were `better'," the other woman smiled back. She was highly intelligent, the Leaderess of Luna. The Women being organized into their own political system ruled in turn by the Lorr. Such had been used on Earth in the past.... "The Lorr look upon us as we look upon them," Aurora said. She had "mind-linked" with Raspa enough times to know the "TRUTH" of what she spoke. Even Raspa, the finest of the Lorr, did not consider Women, any humans to be the true equals of her own race. ****************************************************************** I gasped in terror as the lizard I was riding slipped on the loose rock, slithering back a couple feet before it regained its footing and continued the climb. A climb, I mused to myself, any rational person would have assayed only with good climbing gear! Especially in the poor light of the moon there gleaming overhead! Above us the darker shadow of a cave into which our lizards slithered, the horror holding me thrusting down my head as we crouched beneath a low rough rocky ceiling. Then after several hundred yards we emerged out just above a forested valley there between the towering peaks. The sounds from the forest leaving no doubts in my mind as to the sort of "life" that it now held!!! ***************************************************************** "Greetings, Aurora!" the woman smiled, a Lorr standing on its six legs there beside her. Its great compound eyes glowing in the reddish light of the cavern a mile beneath the surface of Mars. The gravity, the air, all speaking of "home" to Aurora. She was a Martian, not a "woman of Earth" like her own Darlanis. "Hard to `believe', isn't it?" Aurora smiled, having been there on the Moon only a second before! Now she was a good hun- dred million miles from the Earth-Moon system, on Mars itself! "And perhaps someday we'll be able to go to even other worlds by this same way," the other woman smiled back at Aurora. Such was now quite "possible" with the completion of the starship Valkyrie, which was "capable" in theory of reaching anywhere in the Universe, the ship being capable in theory of "transmitting" itself by means of space-time warps anywhere into time or space! "And meet with other forms of life beside our own," the Lorr spoke, Aurora like all Servitors wearing one of the little radio receivers in her ear that converted their radio speech to sound. "Let us hope we have learned from our own history," Aurora replied, now thinking of what Arlena had said there on the Moon. Wondering if either Woman or Lorr really "understood" the issue! "When I am with you I have no `doubts', but yet I fear what could happen if your people refuse to `listen' to what you say," Aurora spoke, settling herself on a low cushion before the First Princess. A vivid vision going through her mind of what a bloody battle would be "like" between Women and the Lorr. Most Lorr were not "fighters" of course, only the Princesses and the Warri- oress caste being usually considered capable of combat, although even a Worker could defend herself if attacked, Aurora knew too. "My people, unlike yours, are not used to `disobeying' their government," Raspa replied in her toneless radio voice. "We are not a `violent' race like yours," the gigantic "ant" then added. A small glass globe now floating there in the air before Aurora. The Leaderess of the Women concentrating her gaze upon it as she held it in mid-air with only the strange powers of her own mind! Such was a power commonly believed to be possessed only by the Priestesses of Lys, whose own source of such power appeared to be related to technology once developed by the amazing Janet Rogers. "It was Dena's life or mine," Aurora said, thinking that Raspa was thinking of that. She had been badly "shaken" after- wards at the fact that she had "killed". No one knew of course save for Raspa of her own telekinetic powers. She had deflected the bullet meant for her to one side without even thinking. It was a "power" she possessed like Raspa's own strange ESP that even the First Princess of the Lorr didn't really "understand". A "power" developed by experiments with the electronic hypnosis devices of Janet Rogers left behind after The War of 2047. Sam- ples of such devices having been transported to Mars centuries ago by Servitors, several of which having made up Janet Rogers' own close circle of "advisors"! Janet Rogers having been herself a futile "last hope" of the Lorr that Man and the Lorr might be able to "co-exist" in the same solar system peacefully together! "This Princess Tara will bear close watching," Raspa spoke. "I think my daughter and Lorraine can `deal' with her," Au- rora answered in reply, catching the glass sphere in her hand. She had been tempted to shoot Tara, but something had "held" her back. She wondered if there was "anything" to what Lorraine had written about the matter. It was "possible". That SHE-IT-ALL had saved Raspa's life there on the surface was something that she accepted as the "truth", as unbelievable as it might seem to others. It had been after that event that Raspa had suggested to her that perhaps a major "change" in the "relationship" between the Lorr and the Women who "served" them might be now in order! ***************************************************************** "This is golden woman we found near Nevada camp," my captor told others of his kind, holding me by the arm. "She now slave." The other mutants huddled around a fire there in the mouth of a cave, the sounds coming out of the darkness around us enough to terrify anyone. The thick forest in the valley below like a jun- gle echoing with the sounds of horrible roars and cries. Dino- saurs are noisy things! ("Din-o-saurs!") Especially at night!!! "If she doesn't work hard enough we can eat her," another of the mutants suggested. They were all different in appearance. None would have been considered attractive by any human standard. Most were more of the "scaly" type like my original captors were. More terrifying in their way than the great reptiles below us!!! "Or feed her to one of the monsters," another now suggested. "We could use her as `bait', trap one," a female suggested. "Get much meat that way. And more than what meat is on her too." "Maybe the `silvery ones' would buy her from us," one spoke. As I was gagged, I didn't have any comments to make about this. "`Silvery ones' have weapons even monsters fear," one said. These references to "silvery ones" totally puzzling me. Even the Nevada legends hadn't mentioned anything about a race of "silvery people" living up here in the mountains. I wondered what sort of people they might be. Anything would be better than this was!!! "She tender, tasty," one, a female, observed, pinching me. Her words making me shudder with horror at the thought of such!!! Her eyes as they looked into mine were devoid of any human quali- ty. She was like a snake that had been "crossed" with a human!!! "Yes! Let's cook her! Eat her!" another echoed the first! "Food! Good Food!" another cried, drawing a gleaming knife! "Gut her! Cook her over fire!" another then cried, the group swarming forward, and roughly throwing me to the ground, a horrible monster bending down with the knife to slash my throat!! To "bleed" me out like one would a deer before then gutting me!!! ***************************************************************** Katt let the little flyer float up into the star sprinkled sky, Mars now no more than another star there in the sky above. The gleaming device on which she rode much like a flying "wet- bike" in a way. Around the woman towered the moonlit peaks of the mountains beneath which Leith hid from the outside world. A "city" now tens of thousands years old, built before "Man" even discovered the "New World", Leith having been "old" when the first Indians had crossed the Bering Strait into North America. Below her now Katt could see the fires of the mutants, those horrors that Aurora had refused to allow her to kill, saying that they too "deserved" to live. Creatures that descended down to the plains below to prey upon the Nevadas in their encampments. "Wonder `what' they got?" Katt mused, fearing that the crea- tures might have stolen a woman of the Nevadas. They ate human flesh when they could get it, another "thing" about them that she detested, the creatures in her opinion as richly deserving of to- tal "extermination" as any form of life that had ever existed! Katt could see the creatures gathered in a group, their at- tention on whatever laid there on the ground among them, none having yet spotted her or her flyer as she eased her craft down lower so that she might "see". Her hand going to the blaster pistol at her hip as she thought fondly of killing the "things"! Then suddenly she SAW what the creatures had! A BLONDE WOMAN!!! ***************************************************************** I kicked out, fighting for my life, the terror clutching like a icy hand at my heart, when suddenly there was a sharp re- port, one of the "horrors" falling bloody, blasted to the ground! More shots coming, the mutants fleeing in terror, falling, a small silvery craft descending from the star sprinkled sky above! The craft a Lorr "flyer", flown by a dark haired woman who was pumping explosive bullets into the creatures as fast as she could aim her weapon! The woman clad in red no doubt a Lorr Servitor!* * Many women of the Lorr wear silvery jumpsuits (my mother does), which is probably why the mutants referred to them as "silvery ones". That the creatures "knew" of Leith makes me "wonder" too! "Thank SHE-IT-ALL I was in `time'!" the woman cried, leaping from her craft, the few surviving mutants having sought the safe- ty of their cave, a dozen of the creatures now lying about dead! "SHE-IT-ALL" being the name they use for Lys, Lorraine's "SHE". I found myself quite in "agreement" with her just then too!!! I noted that the slide was locked back on her pistol, although just then it didn't mean anything to me, as such weapons are of course not something that I am "familiar" with. A Lorr blaster pistol holds twenty five rounds, and Katt had fired all twenty five too! I watched her glance at her pistol, then at the caves where yet more of the creatures lurked. She seemed "scared" of them! I saw one peek out at us as she then quickly freed my ankles, the woman not even taking the time to free my hands as she dragged me over to the flyer and practically flung me into the seat! The craft lifting slowly up into the sky, very obviously overloaded! ***************************************************************** Serak studied the trail before him, the mountains towering up into the sky, the Moon shining down there from the east behind him. There was no doubt "where" the trail led. He recalled the "tales" told around the campfires at night of "things" that lived up there in those mountains. The great reptile his Azure Eyes had killed with her wonderful marksmanship only further proof! ***************************************************************** "I didn't know there was a Lorr base around here," I said to the woman as she removed my gag and freed my hands, the flyer ob- viously overloaded the way that it flew so sluggishly, our com- bined weights almost being too much for its anti-gravity drive to handle. I had no "doubts" either that she had saved my life, wherever she had come from! A minute later and I'd been dead!!! I tried to avoid looking down, as floating a couple hundred feet above the ground on a device like a Lorr flyer was a bit "scary"! "This is Leith," she answered, "And I am Katt, its Leader- ess." She didn't say "Leaderess", but "Vosadrina", which is the word in their own language that stands for "First Woman". I men- tion this here as few people know that the "Women" (their name for themselves) do have their own language. A language my mother says is thousands of years old, and dates back even to the caves! "You are Aurora's 'friend'?" I asked, remembering. I did not know "what" to call her, and felt "friend" was probably best! The idea that my mother "made love" to another woman bothered me! "She is my `Companion'," Katt replied, a portion of the side of the mountain before us now opening, revealing a cavern inside. "You are very `fortunate'," Katt said to me as I washed my- self and did what I could to restore my appearance to "normal". Attire of the sort that Lorr Servitors wore had been "provided". Katt's dark eyes glowing up into mine as she sat there before me. "I agree with you that those `things' should be `exterminat- ed'," I smiled back, Katt having told me of Aurora's opposition to the killing of the mutants even if they were "dangerous" both to those of Leith and to the Nevadas who lived below the Sierras. Katt was obviously a quite "competent" woman, I noted to myself. There was also a subtle "tension" here in Leith that puzzled me. Those who were Katt's "associates" seeming quite "nervous" about something although I could see no reason for their nervousness.* * Those close to Aurora knew of course of what was being planned. None, I think, but Aurora and Raspa herself knew the full details as such. I am also informed by Aurora that there are "ways" that a person can "know" something, but be unable to "tell" what they know, even when the Lorr version of electronic hypnosis is used. Apparently the version of electronic hypnosis as developed by Ja- net Rogers was far "superior" to the version used by the Lorr!* * And that "perfected" by the Priestesses of Lys was better yet! "Darlanis!" Aurora gasped as she suddenly stepped into the room. Katt looking nervously up at her Companion, no doubt well aware of what Aurora's opinion had been earlier regarding the mu- tants! My mother flinging her arms around me, hugging me close! "Those `horrors' outside nearly killed me," I told her. I told her the "story" of what had happened. Of Katt rescuing me. Aurora agreed that it would be wise if the mutants were killed. "You must be very tired," Aurora said to me some time later, perhaps about dawn in the outside world. Those of Leith keep different hours than those of the outside world. In Leith there is no "day", no "night". I found myself in agreement with her. I let my mother "tuck me in for the night". We had spoken much. ***************************************************************** There below us a small figure toiled up the mountain. The figure of a man. A man of the Nevadas following a trail left by those who had passed this way the night before. "He loves you much," Aurora said to me as we stood there on the side of the mountain, the afternoon sun in our eyes, its warmth now pleasant. My mother was attired in her usual silver, her eyes shielded by dark glasses against the sun's glare. Her appearance that of an "alien" being not of this Earth. At her hip a blaster pistol. I called out to him. Called him by name. Only one man would have tried to follow me here into the mountains. A minute later my Prince held me in his arms, my own mouth wet upon his. "Darlanis!" Serak breathed. "My Darlanis, my `Azure Eyes'!" Aurora standing there, watching, sheathed in silver. A woman of a "world" not our own. As "alien" in her own way now as a Lorr! THE QUEEN OF SWORDS! A TALE OF ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN By Jerome B. Bigge Chapter Thirty "Well, Arlena, how are things going here?" Aurora asked, wondering if there would ever be a "cure" for the headache that one suffered going from a higher atmospheric pressure to a lower one such as Luna and Mars had. The blonde smiling back in reply, well aware that Aurora was trying to make "small talk" just to keep their minds off what was "due" to happen in only a day now! Farside being the former Earth scientific base taken over by the Lorr after The War of 2047 had put an "end" to all such things. Out there on the airless surface of the Moon still stood the awe- some monuments to Man's best scientific endeavors centuries ago. "I'm as `nervous' as an `Earthwoman'," the Leaderess of Far- side answered, "Especially with that battle-disc here and those damm Lorr `poking' into everything," the woman answered in reply. The Valkyrie and its anti-matter power core were another cause of concern, especially considering the amount of anti-matter stored aboard the vessel. The ship being a new design, and in theory being capable of generating its own space-time warp and thus be- ing able to travel between the star systems at speeds far in ex- cess of that of light itself! That was assuming that the ship didn't just blow itself apart the first time such was attempted! "Just remember that whatever happens they are not to be al- lowed to communicate with Mars or Deimos," Aurora smiled in turn, seeing the look in the blonde's gray eyes. Many of the women of Mars were blondes, the Lorr preferring such for reasons that had perhaps little to do with anything really rational! In any case the "visual sense" of the Lorr was quite different than that of humans, the Lorr seeing things in quite another visual spectrum. "I could just have them killed," Arlena smiled back at Auro- ra. Such would make "sure" that the Lorr didn't give any warning when their "REVOLUTION" started as it was due to in another day. "I hope you didn't `mean' that," Aurora answered, a note of "warning" in her voice that such would not be "tolerated" by her! "They wouldn't be so `concerned' with our welfare if they were in our position," Arlena replied, meeting Aurora's hot gaze! It was well known among the Women that Lorr placed little value on human life. That to the Lorr they were just "useful animals". "After the `REVOLUTION' the Women can elect a new Leaderess if they want to, but until then my orders will be obeyed," Aurora answered in level tones. "And there will be no killing of Lorr." "I suppose you're right," Arlena admitted with a smile for Aurora, who she had to admire even if she didn't agree with her! "We are going to have share the same world with the Lorr," Aurora replied, "And I don't want to start out with their plot- ting revenge against us for murdering members of their own kind." "I'm glad that `you're' our Leaderess," Arlena smiled back. "The thousand meter telescope?" Aurora asked, changing the subject. That too being a new development. It was a type of telescope that used not "glass", but controlled curved force fields as a mirror! With such an awesome instrument it was pos- sible to photograph the nearer stars, and determine if they actu- ally possessed planets that might worth sending the Valkyrie to! "We are now getting `answers' to questions no one has yet thought to ask," Arlena smiled back. It was known that the near- est star did possess planets, although little was known about them either except that at least one of them might be inhabita- ble! The "size" of the Universe having been finally "found" by the scientists there at Farside. The "size" being much what had been expected, the age and the rate of expansion having been known even back in the 21st Century soon after Farside had been established during the time of Janet Rogers' World Federation! "We `need' a new world," Aurora replied. "For both us and the Lorr. One with a breathable atmosphere, tolerable climate." Mars was a hostile, dangerous world, and the Moon was worthless. Mars was still "short" of water, and the Moon had none at all! "We could `recolonize' the Earth," Arlena smiled back, a view of the planet suddenly appearing there between them by means of holographic projection as she touched a button on her desk. "Most of it is inhabited by savages and barbarians that we could easily `deal with' if `necessary'." Her words leaving no doubts. "And `repeat' all the `old mistakes'?" Aurora "challenged". "They are but a race of `barbarians'," Arlena then smiled. To her the inhabitants of the Earth were nothing but just that! "And are we `Women' any `better'?" Aurora then purred back. "Even they once believed we were `better'," the other woman smiled back. She was highly intelligent, the Leaderess of Luna. The Women being organized into their own political system ruled in turn by the Lorr. Such had been used on Earth in the past.... "The Lorr look upon us as we look upon them," Aurora said. She had "mind-linked" with Raspa enough times to know the "TRUTH" of what she spoke. Even Raspa, the finest of the Lorr, did not consider Women, any humans to be the true equals of her own race. ****************************************************************** I gasped in terror as the lizard I was riding slipped on the loose rock, slithering back a couple feet before it regained its footing and continued the climb. A climb, I mused to myself, any rational person would have assayed only with good climbing gear! Especially in the poor light of the moon there gleaming overhead! Above us the darker shadow of a cave into which our lizards slithered, the horror holding me thrusting down my head as we crouched beneath a low rough rocky ceiling. Then after several hundred yards we emerged out just above a forested valley there between the towering peaks. The sounds from the forest leaving no doubts in my mind as to the sort of "life" that it now held!!! ***************************************************************** "Greetings, Aurora!" the woman smiled, a Lorr standing on its six legs there beside her. Its great compound eyes glowing in the reddish light of the cavern a mile beneath the surface of Mars. The gravity, the air, all speaking of "home" to Aurora. She was a Martian, not a "woman of Earth" like her own Darlanis. "Hard to `believe', isn't it?" Aurora smiled, having been there on the Moon only a second before! Now she was a good hun- dred million miles from the Earth-Moon system, on Mars itself! "And perhaps someday we'll be able to go to even other worlds by this same way," the other woman smiled back at Aurora. Such was now quite "possible" with the completion of the starship Valkyrie, which was "capable" in theory of reaching anywhere in the Universe, the ship being capable in theory of "transmitting" itself by means of space-time warps anywhere into time or space! "And meet with other forms of life beside our own," the Lorr spoke, Aurora like all Servitors wearing one of the little radio receivers in her ear that converted their radio speech to sound. "Let us hope we have learned from our own history," Aurora replied, now thinking of what Arlena had said there on the Moon. Wondering if either Woman or Lorr really "understood" the issue! "When I am with you I have no `doubts', but yet I fear what could happen if your people refuse to `listen' to what you say," Aurora spoke, settling herself on a low cushion before the First Princess. A vivid vision going through her mind of what a bloody battle would be "like" between Women and the Lorr. Most Lorr were not "fighters" of course, only the Princesses and the Warri- oress caste being usually considered capable of combat, although even a Worker could defend herself if attacked, Aurora knew too. "My people, unlike yours, are not used to `disobeying' their government," Raspa replied in her toneless radio voice. "We are not a `violent' race like yours," the gigantic "ant" then added. A small glass globe now floating there in the air before Aurora. The Leaderess of the Women concentrating her gaze upon it as she held it in mid-air with only the strange powers of her own mind! Such was a power commonly believed to be possessed only by the Priestesses of Lys, whose own source of such power appeared to be related to technology once developed by the amazing Janet Rogers. "It was Dena's life or mine," Aurora said, thinking that Raspa was thinking of that. She had been badly "shaken" after- wards at the fact that she had "killed". No one knew of course save for Raspa of her own telekinetic powers. She had deflected the bullet meant for her to one side without even thinking. It was a "power" she possessed like Raspa's own strange ESP that even the First Princess of the Lorr didn't really "understand". A "power" developed by experiments with the electronic hypnosis devices of Janet Rogers left behind after The War of 2047. Sam- ples of such devices having been transported to Mars centuries ago by Servitors, several of which having made up Janet Rogers' own close circle of "advisors"! Janet Rogers having been herself a futile "last hope" of the Lorr that Man and the Lorr might be able to "co-exist" in the same solar system peacefully together! "This Princess Tara will bear close watching," Raspa spoke. "I think my daughter and Lorraine can `deal' with her," Au- rora answered in reply, catching the glass sphere in her hand. She had been tempted to shoot Tara, but something had "held" her back. She wondered if there was "anything" to what Lorraine had written about the matter. It was "possible". That SHE-IT-ALL had saved Raspa's life there on the surface was something that she accepted as the "truth", as unbelievable as it might seem to others. It had been after that event that Raspa had suggested to her that perhaps a major "change" in the "relationship" between the Lorr and the Women who "served" them might be now in order! ***************************************************************** "This is golden woman we found near Nevada camp," my captor told others of his kind, holding me by the arm. "She now slave." The other mutants huddled around a fire there in the mouth of a cave, the sounds coming out of the darkness around us enough to terrify anyone. The thick forest in the valley below like a jun- gle echoing with the sounds of horrible roars and cries. Dino- saurs are noisy things! ("Din-o-saurs!") Especially at night!!! "If she doesn't work hard enough we can eat her," another of the mutants suggested. They were all different in appearance. None would have been considered attractive by any human standard. Most were more of the "scaly" type like my original captors were. More terrifying in their way than the great reptiles below us!!! "Or feed her to one of the monsters," another now suggested. "We could use her as `bait', trap one," a female suggested. "Get much meat that way. And more than what meat is on her too." "Maybe the `silvery ones' would buy her from us," one spoke. As I was gagged, I didn't have any comments to make about this. "`Silvery ones' have weapons even monsters fear," one said. These references to "silvery ones" totally puzzling me. Even the Nevada legends hadn't mentioned anything about a race of "silvery people" living up here in the mountains. I wondered what sort of people they might be. Anything would be better than this was!!! "She tender, tasty," one, a female, observed, pinching me. Her words making me shudder with horror at the thought of such!!! Her eyes as they looked into mine were devoid of any human quali- ty. She was like a snake that had been "crossed" with a human!!! "Yes! Let's cook her! Eat her!" another echoed the first! "Food! Good Food!" another cried, drawing a gleaming knife! "Gut her! Cook her over fire!" another then cried, the group swarming forward, and roughly throwing me to the ground, a horrible monster bending down with the knife to slash my throat!! To "bleed" me out like one would a deer before then gutting me!!! ***************************************************************** Katt let the little flyer float up into the star sprinkled sky, Mars now no more than another star there in the sky above. The gleaming device on which she rode much like a flying "wet- bike" in a way. Around the woman towered the moonlit peaks of the mountains beneath which Leith hid from the outside world. A "city" now tens of thousands years old, built before "Man" even discovered the "New World", Leith having been "old" when the first Indians had crossed the Bering Strait into North America. Below her now Katt could see the fires of the mutants, those horrors that Aurora had refused to allow her to kill, saying that they too "deserved" to live. Creatures that descended down to the plains below to prey upon the Nevadas in their encampments. "Wonder `what' they got?" Katt mused, fearing that the crea- tures might have stolen a woman of the Nevadas. They ate human flesh when they could get it, another "thing" about them that she detested, the creatures in her opinion as richly deserving of to- tal "extermination" as any form of life that had ever existed! Katt could see the creatures gathered in a group, their at- tention on whatever laid there on the ground among them, none having yet spotted her or her flyer as she eased her craft down lower so that she might "see". Her hand going to the blaster pistol at her hip as she thought fondly of killing the "things"! Then suddenly she SAW what the creatures had! A BLONDE WOMAN!!! ***************************************************************** I kicked out, fighting for my life, the terror clutching like a icy hand at my heart, when suddenly there was a sharp re- port, one of the "horrors" falling bloody, blasted to the ground! More shots coming, the mutants fleeing in terror, falling, a small silvery craft descending from the star sprinkled sky above! The craft a Lorr "flyer", flown by a dark haired woman who was pumping explosive bullets into the creatures as fast as she could aim her weapon! The woman clad in red no doubt a Lorr Servitor!* * Many women of the Lorr wear silvery jumpsuits (my mother does), which is probably why the mutants referred to them as "silvery ones". That the creatures "knew" of Leith makes me "wonder" too! "Thank SHE-IT-ALL I was in `time'!" the woman cried, leaping from her craft, the few surviving mutants having sought the safe- ty of their cave, a dozen of the creatures now lying about dead! "SHE-IT-ALL" being the name they use for Lys, Lorraine's "SHE". I found myself quite in "agreement" with her just then too!!! I noted that the slide was locked back on her pistol, although just then it didn't mean anything to me, as such weapons are of course not something that I am "familiar" with. A Lorr blaster pistol holds twenty five rounds, and Katt had fired all twenty five too! I watched her glance at her pistol, then at the caves where yet more of the creatures lurked. She seemed "scared" of them! I saw one peek out at us as she then quickly freed my ankles, the woman not even taking the time to free my hands as she dragged me over to the flyer and practically flung me into the seat! The craft lifting slowly up into the sky, very obviously overloaded! ***************************************************************** Serak studied the trail before him, the mountains towering up into the sky, the Moon shining down there from the east behind him. There was no doubt "where" the trail led. He recalled the "tales" told around the campfires at night of "things" that lived up there in those mountains. The great reptile his Azure Eyes had killed with her wonderful marksmanship only further proof! ***************************************************************** "I didn't know there was a Lorr base around here," I said to the woman as she removed my gag and freed my hands, the flyer ob- viously overloaded the way that it flew so sluggishly, our com- bined weights almost being too much for its anti-gravity drive to handle. I had no "doubts" either that she had saved my life, wherever she had come from! A minute later and I'd been dead!!! I tried to avoid looking down, as floating a couple hundred feet above the ground on a device like a Lorr flyer was a bit "scary"! "This is Leith," she answered, "And I am Katt, its Leader- ess." She didn't say "Leaderess", but "Vosadrina", which is the word in their own language that stands for "First Woman". I men- tion this here as few people know that the "Women" (their name for themselves) do have their own language. A language my mother says is thousands of years old, and dates back even to the caves! "You are Aurora's 'friend'?" I asked, remembering. I did not know "what" to call her, and felt "friend" was probably best! The idea that my mother "made love" to another woman bothered me! "She is my `Companion'," Katt replied, a portion of the side of the mountain before us now opening, revealing a cavern inside. "You are very `fortunate'," Katt said to me as I washed my- self and did what I could to restore my appearance to "normal". Attire of the sort that Lorr Servitors wore had been "provided". Katt's dark eyes glowing up into mine as she sat there before me. "I agree with you that those `things' should be `exterminat- ed'," I smiled back, Katt having told me of Aurora's opposition to the killing of the mutants even if they were "dangerous" both to those of Leith and to the Nevadas who lived below the Sierras. Katt was obviously a quite "competent" woman, I noted to myself. There was also a subtle "tension" here in Leith that puzzled me. Those who were Katt's "associates" seeming quite "nervous" about something although I could see no reason for their nervousness.* * Those close to Aurora knew of course of what was being planned. None, I think, but Aurora and Raspa herself knew the full details as such. I am also informed by Aurora that there are "ways" that a person can "know" something, but be unable to "tell" what they know, even when the Lorr version of electronic hypnosis is used. Apparently the version of electronic hypnosis as developed by Ja- net Rogers was far "superior" to the version used by the Lorr!* * And that "perfected" by the Priestesses of Lys was better yet! "Darlanis!" Aurora gasped as she suddenly stepped into the room. Katt looking nervously up at her Companion, no doubt well aware of what Aurora's opinion had been earlier regarding the mu- tants! My mother flinging her arms around me, hugging me close! "Those `horrors' outside nearly killed me," I told her. I told her the "story" of what had happened. Of Katt rescuing me. Aurora agreed that it would be wise if the mutants were killed. "You must be very tired," Aurora said to me some time later, perhaps about dawn in the outside world. Those of Leith keep different hours than those of the outside world. In Leith there is no "day", no "night". I found myself in agreement with her. I let my mother "tuck me in for the night". We had spoken much. ***************************************************************** There below us a small figure toiled up the mountain. The figure of a man. A man of the Nevadas following a trail left by those who had passed this way the night before. "He loves you much," Aurora said to me as we stood there on the side of the mountain, the afternoon sun in our eyes, its warmth now pleasant. My mother was attired in her usual silver, her eyes shielded by dark glasses against the sun's glare. Her appearance that of an "alien" being not of this Earth. At her hip a blaster pistol. I called out to him. Called him by name. Only one man would have tried to follow me here into the mountains. A minute later my Prince held me in his arms, my own mouth wet upon his. "Darlanis!" Serak breathed. "My Darlanis, my `Azure Eyes'!" Aurora standing there, watching, sheathed in silver. A woman of a "world" not our own. As "alien" in her own way now as a Lorr! |
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