"2565-49" - читать интересную книгу автора (Warlady 1 - 2565 Ad Book 2)2565 A.D.! A TALE OF ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN By Jerome B. Bigge Book Two Chapter Six "We are always delighted to have a `Lady' of your caliber visiting us," the Headmistress of the Warrioress Academy smiled as she got up and walked from behind her desk to greet me, taking my hand in hers. Her use of the word "caliber" making me smile just a bit beneath my veil. There are differences in the lan- guage, words that have changed over the centuries. She was, like me, wearing the black of the Warrioress. Tunic and hose instead of the silken dress that I wore. The eagles of a Colonel of War- rioresses gleaming there on her broad shoulders. Darlanis had spoken highly of her. Her name was Hara Eslund. Once, many cen- turies ago, her distant ancestors had traveled in the holds of slave ships from distant Africa to some southern state of the USA. Now Africa was but another legendary land favored by cer- tain fiction novelists. A place that I am quite sure is not really all that different from anywhere else save for some of its animal life. They have elephants, we have the "Garth", which is a dinosaur-like creature perhaps caused by radiation or more likely as I have speculated recently in my other writings, the consequence of 21st Century experimental genetic technology.* * It appears likely to me here that the unicorn is another animal that was produced by such means. While the unicorn has been widely known in mythology as a fantastic creature that usually only virgins can ride, the actual animal here in the 26th Century is so much like a horse that I have no doubt of its true origins. "I have a stepdaughter who will be coming to you in another couple years," I smiled in reply. "I thought it might be a good idea to see just what you do here." A platoon of young women in black tunics and hose out there parading in the heat of the sun reminding me of another time now six centuries in the past when I had served in the Army as a medical officer. Basic training has never changed over all the centuries. They still have drill in- structors. They still do close order drill. I wondered if the young women out there sweating in the hot August sun knew that doubtlessly Roman legionnaires under the reign of Julius Caesar had probably undergone pretty much the very same basic training. "And you want to see what she will face?" Hara smiled. I liked her. She looked "capable", "competent". Hara was a big broad shouldered woman who looked the part of being a Warrioress. She was said to be a "Princess of Swords". She had once fenced against Darlanis twenty some years ago there in the arena. Lost to her by a small margin. Now she was a Headmistress of the War- rioress Academy and Darlanis was the Empress of California. "I'm interested in seeing what she will learn. Whether or not it will be relevant to what she needs to know both as a mem- ber of the Warrioress caste and as Imperial Princess," I smiled. The office was well furnished, but in a masculine taste. Shields and pikes hung on the walls. There was the head of a Tigon glar- ing down at us. It had been but days ago that I had faced such a creature with nothing but my keen blade between it and me! That story was already spreading over my domain. That Lady Lorraine had actually faced a Tigon with a sword and survived doing it! I saw the monster head of a Garth on another wall. They stand ten feet tall and remind me a great deal of drawings of Tyrannous Rex that I saw back in the 20th Century. I wondered what sort of a weapon Hara had used to kill such a creature? A crew served bal- listae? Sanda had told me that her husband once killed one, but that it took spears to do it, along with a dozen arrows that did nothing more but seem to irritate the horrid reptilian monster! "It can be done with a heavy spear if you are brave and quick on your feet," Hara smiled, seeing my glance. I recalled that African natives sometimes killed elephants with spears. I supposed it could be done. I am brave, but not quite that brave! I nodded, having considerably more respect for Col. Hara Eslund! "You do it more than `once'?" I smiled. She smiled back. I had suspected that it had been more of an "accident" than any- thing else. No sane person hunts Garths except from a tree. It is possible to kill one with a heavy crossbow using steel bolts. "This is one of our classrooms," Hara said to me, opening the door. I knew that it took more than just skill with weapons to be a Warrioress. There are many skills that come into play. I do not pretend to be an expert of them all. There are a good number of Warrioresses who are better archers than me. Better at tracking, woodcraft. Better shots with a crossbow. Able to toss a spear and hit something with it. But none better with a sword. The young women were studying military tactics. Not those of the 20th Century or such, but those of the Romans, the Greeks. It makes no sense to consider "air cover" when you don't have any aircraft. There is no "artillery" but for catapults and ballis- tae. The longest ranged weapons are steam catapults used for the defense of harbors and some other fixed installations. They have a range of about six to seven hundred yards and hurl twenty to thirty pound rocks. Tending them is dangerous as there is always the danger of sudden boiler explosions scalding everyone nearby! I saw a lovely garden of feminine faces glance up at me, the instructor nodding to her superior officer. Thought of the waste of these young lives on a senseless, futile and winless conflict. Saw in my mind's eye these lovely young women lying dead, cross- bow bolts jutting from their bodies. Never again to know love, or the caress of a lover. Others would spend the rest of their lives as collared slave girls, forced to serve their master's own sexual pleasures. They perhaps would be the "lucky ones" in this senseless and futile war. I thought of Raspa and the Starfire. Perhaps if Arsana and Sarn were melted down into molten puddles of bubbling lava by its energy beams then peace might just come! "I wonder if the day will ever come that we will stop learn- ing `war' any more and decide to live in peace with ourselves," I spoke to Hara as she closed the door behind herself. The hallway dimly lit by niches set in the vault of the ceiling overhead. I felt muchly depressed by the thought of all these young lives now being thrown away upon the altar of Mars for Darlanis' vanities! Why did we fight when we already knew the stupidities of warfare! "`If you wish peace, prepare for war'," Hara smiled back. It was the motto there over the entrance to the Academy. The motto sounded familiar to me, but I could not quite place the ex- act era. It sounded like something some 20th Century general had dreamed up. Actually it dates back to the time of the Romans. I suppose there really isn't anything that "new" when it comes to such things. The only real difference between us and the Romans is that we now use women in combat whereas they didn't. Whether or not that is really an "improvement" is something I'll leave to others to decide. It doesn't really alter warfare that much so far as I've been able to determine except that the "enemy" might be blonde and beautiful. (And just as deadly as any man too!) "Are you in favor of the war?" I asked, catching up with her as she walked down the hallway to another classroom. She was my height, but probably outweighed me by thirty pounds or so. Hara Eslund was built like a brick. Square, muscular, and very solid! "I am not in favor of surrender to pirates and outlaws," she answered in level tones. "I am not in favor of having our young women ending up as collared slave girls in Dularn." Darlanis had said somewhat the same, although in somewhat milder terms to me. "Is there a Warrioress Academy in Dularn?" I asked her as she paused and nodded before another classroom door. "Would not the Headmistress of that say the same about us?" I knew that Queen Tulis had issued privateering commissions to pirates and cutthroats as well as to more "honest" privateer captains. Ex- cept for Jon Richards and the Janis, everyone else operating off the coasts of the two warring countries was for the most part much more interested in making a profit off the war than actually doing anything to end it! I wonder how many "wars" in Mankind's history have dragged on and on year after year because it was "profitable" to fight such wars! I have often wondered about Vi- etnam. Why we went into there. Lost so many lives for nothing. "We have a mandatory course taught by an `advocate' of the `other side'," Hara smiled. "It teaches our cadets that things are not often what they first appear to be. Perhaps you would like to sit in on it. We may fight with crossbows and swords in- stead of atomic bombs and poison gas as your people did, but that does not mean that we are not uncivilized," Hara smiled, pushing open the door. I nodded, well aware of having been "hoist by my own petard"! Obviously Hara Eslund was not a "muscle-bound sword swinger" as some people tend to think of our two military castes. I hunched down in the seat at the back of the room and lis- tened to the woman speaking there in front of the class. She was a brunette, no doubt of Dularnian ancestry. Tall, rather attrac- tive. The cadets, about thirty of them in their black tunics and hose, shifting in their seats as they listened to her. Perhaps hearing things they didn't like to hear. They were learning that there were two sides to every question. That there are few real- ly "cut and dried" answers in life. That the "other side" just might be "right" and your side "wrong". They were being told that "aggression" and "defense" are merely terms people use. That not all "aggression" is done by military means. The thirty young lovelies there were getting a good dose of "reality" shoved right down their throats. I don't think they liked it too much! "May I add a few comments?" I ventured, standing up. I had been introduced by Hara. They all knew that I was Lorraine Duv- al, the "warrior woman" from the 20th Century. That I was now the Lady Lorraine who owned the territory all around the Academy. "I'm sure they'll be worth hearing," the teacher smiled, nodding to chocolate skinned Hara as she stood there at my side. Propping my hip on the edge of the desk (how little class- rooms have changed since I was a girl) I said, "What you have been told is the truth. There is truth and justice on both sides of this war. Many of the Dularnians your caste sisters now are fighting are merely only people wishing to be left alone. I know you have been told that our "cause" is just, and that is, I be- lieve, true, but that does not alter the realities of things. Or does it alter the fact that Humanity has fought wars since the dawn of history without ever accomplishing very much too of any- thing." Pausing for breath, I then added, "Here in this room is the first time I have seen any proof that there may someday be an end to the ceaseless warfare that has plagued Mankind since the dawn of recorded history. Here in this room I have listened to something I would never have believed possible. I want you all to understand that while evil men and women exist, and lurk no doubt just off our shores, the `other side' is composed of men and women just like yourselves, not devils with horns and tails." "I never thought of you as being anything more than just some `sword-swinging superwoman'," Hara smiled as she poured me a glass of wine that evening. I had been mobbed by the cadets, all of whom wanted to ask me questions about my philosophy of life. Of the fact that I had been instrumental in establishing the World Federation of the 21st Century. That short-lived "Utopia" that Janet Rogers attempted to impose upon the human race and failed to make permanent thanks to the "military minds" who could think of nothing but "destruction" when they first saw the Lorr. On the other hand had the Lorr respected us "more" I don't think there would have been a War between us. Many Lorr look upon us as people back in my time looked upon those of a different color. "I had an `experience' on Mars that has changed much of my own thinking," I answered, taking the glass from her. I would stay the night, talk to the cadets, explain to them that life was not simple. That good and evil were not what they always seemed. "There is `something' in us that makes us what we are," Hara answered, sitting down in the easy chair across from me. "We have a history of violence. Of fighting, of warfare that goes back beyond the dawn of history. Man fought before he could even write. Perhaps even before he could speak as we do now." I had the feeling that she was probably right. We are a violent race. The Lorr have records of battles between Neanderthal tribes too. "I think that is why we explore and take risks like we do," I answered, sipping at the wine. "The Lorr are a stagnant race despite their awesome technology. They care little but for the `practical' and the `useful'. That is why most of their advances in technology have come from their human servants," I told Hara. "Who are all women, judging from what I have heard," she smiled back. I remembered An'na. The Starfire. Her dreams of exploring the solar system. Perhaps someday setting out for the stars in a better, faster ship yet. Perhaps it would yet happen. "They don't make war upon each other either," I pointed out. "Would you want to `live' in such a society?" Hara asked. There was no answer that I could give her then, nor is there now. The women of Mars are in some ways much like children. There is friendship, affection, but no true "love" as we know it. Most of them are lesbians. I wondered if Aurora, An'na had their lovers? I fought down the thought that they might be each other's lovers! "I am, I fear, not the sort of a woman for that kind of a life," I smiled back. Hara nodded, her dark eyes meeting mine. I have written what I have not just to express my own views, but to ask the reader to think a bit. We of the human race are violent. We do make war upon each other either as individuals or as societies. We probably have done so since the days of Homo Erectus. Young boys in the 20th Century played with cap-guns. Those of the 26th play with bows and arrows, swords, etc. Most scientific advances have been made by men, not women, who by their natures tend to be less violent. The Lorr, a peaceful race, are also scientifically stagnant. Their only great period of scientific advancement occurred when they had to flee their own world. Perhaps there is something to all this. I invite you to think about these things! Perhaps if we want the stars we had better be prepared to pay the human "costs" of getting out there! 2565 A.D.! A TALE OF ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN By Jerome B. Bigge Book Two Chapter Six "We are always delighted to have a `Lady' of your caliber visiting us," the Headmistress of the Warrioress Academy smiled as she got up and walked from behind her desk to greet me, taking my hand in hers. Her use of the word "caliber" making me smile just a bit beneath my veil. There are differences in the lan- guage, words that have changed over the centuries. She was, like me, wearing the black of the Warrioress. Tunic and hose instead of the silken dress that I wore. The eagles of a Colonel of War- rioresses gleaming there on her broad shoulders. Darlanis had spoken highly of her. Her name was Hara Eslund. Once, many cen- turies ago, her distant ancestors had traveled in the holds of slave ships from distant Africa to some southern state of the USA. Now Africa was but another legendary land favored by cer- tain fiction novelists. A place that I am quite sure is not really all that different from anywhere else save for some of its animal life. They have elephants, we have the "Garth", which is a dinosaur-like creature perhaps caused by radiation or more likely as I have speculated recently in my other writings, the consequence of 21st Century experimental genetic technology.* * It appears likely to me here that the unicorn is another animal that was produced by such means. While the unicorn has been widely known in mythology as a fantastic creature that usually only virgins can ride, the actual animal here in the 26th Century is so much like a horse that I have no doubt of its true origins. "I have a stepdaughter who will be coming to you in another couple years," I smiled in reply. "I thought it might be a good idea to see just what you do here." A platoon of young women in black tunics and hose out there parading in the heat of the sun reminding me of another time now six centuries in the past when I had served in the Army as a medical officer. Basic training has never changed over all the centuries. They still have drill in- structors. They still do close order drill. I wondered if the young women out there sweating in the hot August sun knew that doubtlessly Roman legionnaires under the reign of Julius Caesar had probably undergone pretty much the very same basic training. "And you want to see what she will face?" Hara smiled. I liked her. She looked "capable", "competent". Hara was a big broad shouldered woman who looked the part of being a Warrioress. She was said to be a "Princess of Swords". She had once fenced against Darlanis twenty some years ago there in the arena. Lost to her by a small margin. Now she was a Headmistress of the War- rioress Academy and Darlanis was the Empress of California. "I'm interested in seeing what she will learn. Whether or not it will be relevant to what she needs to know both as a mem- ber of the Warrioress caste and as Imperial Princess," I smiled. The office was well furnished, but in a masculine taste. Shields and pikes hung on the walls. There was the head of a Tigon glar- ing down at us. It had been but days ago that I had faced such a creature with nothing but my keen blade between it and me! That story was already spreading over my domain. That Lady Lorraine had actually faced a Tigon with a sword and survived doing it! I saw the monster head of a Garth on another wall. They stand ten feet tall and remind me a great deal of drawings of Tyrannous Rex that I saw back in the 20th Century. I wondered what sort of a weapon Hara had used to kill such a creature? A crew served bal- listae? Sanda had told me that her husband once killed one, but that it took spears to do it, along with a dozen arrows that did nothing more but seem to irritate the horrid reptilian monster! "It can be done with a heavy spear if you are brave and quick on your feet," Hara smiled, seeing my glance. I recalled that African natives sometimes killed elephants with spears. I supposed it could be done. I am brave, but not quite that brave! I nodded, having considerably more respect for Col. Hara Eslund! "You do it more than `once'?" I smiled. She smiled back. I had suspected that it had been more of an "accident" than any- thing else. No sane person hunts Garths except from a tree. It is possible to kill one with a heavy crossbow using steel bolts. "This is one of our classrooms," Hara said to me, opening the door. I knew that it took more than just skill with weapons to be a Warrioress. There are many skills that come into play. I do not pretend to be an expert of them all. There are a good number of Warrioresses who are better archers than me. Better at tracking, woodcraft. Better shots with a crossbow. Able to toss a spear and hit something with it. But none better with a sword. The young women were studying military tactics. Not those of the 20th Century or such, but those of the Romans, the Greeks. It makes no sense to consider "air cover" when you don't have any aircraft. There is no "artillery" but for catapults and ballis- tae. The longest ranged weapons are steam catapults used for the defense of harbors and some other fixed installations. They have a range of about six to seven hundred yards and hurl twenty to thirty pound rocks. Tending them is dangerous as there is always the danger of sudden boiler explosions scalding everyone nearby! I saw a lovely garden of feminine faces glance up at me, the instructor nodding to her superior officer. Thought of the waste of these young lives on a senseless, futile and winless conflict. Saw in my mind's eye these lovely young women lying dead, cross- bow bolts jutting from their bodies. Never again to know love, or the caress of a lover. Others would spend the rest of their lives as collared slave girls, forced to serve their master's own sexual pleasures. They perhaps would be the "lucky ones" in this senseless and futile war. I thought of Raspa and the Starfire. Perhaps if Arsana and Sarn were melted down into molten puddles of bubbling lava by its energy beams then peace might just come! "I wonder if the day will ever come that we will stop learn- ing `war' any more and decide to live in peace with ourselves," I spoke to Hara as she closed the door behind herself. The hallway dimly lit by niches set in the vault of the ceiling overhead. I felt muchly depressed by the thought of all these young lives now being thrown away upon the altar of Mars for Darlanis' vanities! Why did we fight when we already knew the stupidities of warfare! "`If you wish peace, prepare for war'," Hara smiled back. It was the motto there over the entrance to the Academy. The motto sounded familiar to me, but I could not quite place the ex- act era. It sounded like something some 20th Century general had dreamed up. Actually it dates back to the time of the Romans. I suppose there really isn't anything that "new" when it comes to such things. The only real difference between us and the Romans is that we now use women in combat whereas they didn't. Whether or not that is really an "improvement" is something I'll leave to others to decide. It doesn't really alter warfare that much so far as I've been able to determine except that the "enemy" might be blonde and beautiful. (And just as deadly as any man too!) "Are you in favor of the war?" I asked, catching up with her as she walked down the hallway to another classroom. She was my height, but probably outweighed me by thirty pounds or so. Hara Eslund was built like a brick. Square, muscular, and very solid! "I am not in favor of surrender to pirates and outlaws," she answered in level tones. "I am not in favor of having our young women ending up as collared slave girls in Dularn." Darlanis had said somewhat the same, although in somewhat milder terms to me. "Is there a Warrioress Academy in Dularn?" I asked her as she paused and nodded before another classroom door. "Would not the Headmistress of that say the same about us?" I knew that Queen Tulis had issued privateering commissions to pirates and cutthroats as well as to more "honest" privateer captains. Ex- cept for Jon Richards and the Janis, everyone else operating off the coasts of the two warring countries was for the most part much more interested in making a profit off the war than actually doing anything to end it! I wonder how many "wars" in Mankind's history have dragged on and on year after year because it was "profitable" to fight such wars! I have often wondered about Vi- etnam. Why we went into there. Lost so many lives for nothing. "We have a mandatory course taught by an `advocate' of the `other side'," Hara smiled. "It teaches our cadets that things are not often what they first appear to be. Perhaps you would like to sit in on it. We may fight with crossbows and swords in- stead of atomic bombs and poison gas as your people did, but that does not mean that we are not uncivilized," Hara smiled, pushing open the door. I nodded, well aware of having been "hoist by my own petard"! Obviously Hara Eslund was not a "muscle-bound sword swinger" as some people tend to think of our two military castes. I hunched down in the seat at the back of the room and lis- tened to the woman speaking there in front of the class. She was a brunette, no doubt of Dularnian ancestry. Tall, rather attrac- tive. The cadets, about thirty of them in their black tunics and hose, shifting in their seats as they listened to her. Perhaps hearing things they didn't like to hear. They were learning that there were two sides to every question. That there are few real- ly "cut and dried" answers in life. That the "other side" just might be "right" and your side "wrong". They were being told that "aggression" and "defense" are merely terms people use. That not all "aggression" is done by military means. The thirty young lovelies there were getting a good dose of "reality" shoved right down their throats. I don't think they liked it too much! "May I add a few comments?" I ventured, standing up. I had been introduced by Hara. They all knew that I was Lorraine Duv- al, the "warrior woman" from the 20th Century. That I was now the Lady Lorraine who owned the territory all around the Academy. "I'm sure they'll be worth hearing," the teacher smiled, nodding to chocolate skinned Hara as she stood there at my side. Propping my hip on the edge of the desk (how little class- rooms have changed since I was a girl) I said, "What you have been told is the truth. There is truth and justice on both sides of this war. Many of the Dularnians your caste sisters now are fighting are merely only people wishing to be left alone. I know you have been told that our "cause" is just, and that is, I be- lieve, true, but that does not alter the realities of things. Or does it alter the fact that Humanity has fought wars since the dawn of history without ever accomplishing very much too of any- thing." Pausing for breath, I then added, "Here in this room is the first time I have seen any proof that there may someday be an end to the ceaseless warfare that has plagued Mankind since the dawn of recorded history. Here in this room I have listened to something I would never have believed possible. I want you all to understand that while evil men and women exist, and lurk no doubt just off our shores, the `other side' is composed of men and women just like yourselves, not devils with horns and tails." "I never thought of you as being anything more than just some `sword-swinging superwoman'," Hara smiled as she poured me a glass of wine that evening. I had been mobbed by the cadets, all of whom wanted to ask me questions about my philosophy of life. Of the fact that I had been instrumental in establishing the World Federation of the 21st Century. That short-lived "Utopia" that Janet Rogers attempted to impose upon the human race and failed to make permanent thanks to the "military minds" who could think of nothing but "destruction" when they first saw the Lorr. On the other hand had the Lorr respected us "more" I don't think there would have been a War between us. Many Lorr look upon us as people back in my time looked upon those of a different color. "I had an `experience' on Mars that has changed much of my own thinking," I answered, taking the glass from her. I would stay the night, talk to the cadets, explain to them that life was not simple. That good and evil were not what they always seemed. "There is `something' in us that makes us what we are," Hara answered, sitting down in the easy chair across from me. "We have a history of violence. Of fighting, of warfare that goes back beyond the dawn of history. Man fought before he could even write. Perhaps even before he could speak as we do now." I had the feeling that she was probably right. We are a violent race. The Lorr have records of battles between Neanderthal tribes too. "I think that is why we explore and take risks like we do," I answered, sipping at the wine. "The Lorr are a stagnant race despite their awesome technology. They care little but for the `practical' and the `useful'. That is why most of their advances in technology have come from their human servants," I told Hara. "Who are all women, judging from what I have heard," she smiled back. I remembered An'na. The Starfire. Her dreams of exploring the solar system. Perhaps someday setting out for the stars in a better, faster ship yet. Perhaps it would yet happen. "They don't make war upon each other either," I pointed out. "Would you want to `live' in such a society?" Hara asked. There was no answer that I could give her then, nor is there now. The women of Mars are in some ways much like children. There is friendship, affection, but no true "love" as we know it. Most of them are lesbians. I wondered if Aurora, An'na had their lovers? I fought down the thought that they might be each other's lovers! "I am, I fear, not the sort of a woman for that kind of a life," I smiled back. Hara nodded, her dark eyes meeting mine. I have written what I have not just to express my own views, but to ask the reader to think a bit. We of the human race are violent. We do make war upon each other either as individuals or as societies. We probably have done so since the days of Homo Erectus. Young boys in the 20th Century played with cap-guns. Those of the 26th play with bows and arrows, swords, etc. Most scientific advances have been made by men, not women, who by their natures tend to be less violent. The Lorr, a peaceful race, are also scientifically stagnant. Their only great period of scientific advancement occurred when they had to flee their own world. Perhaps there is something to all this. I invite you to think about these things! Perhaps if we want the stars we had better be prepared to pay the human "costs" of getting out there! |
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