"2565-71" - 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 Twenty Eight As a teenager I was tall and lanky, with a figure best de- scribed as boyish. The other girls used to tease me with a lit- tle ditty that went: "What is tall and lean? What no boy wants? Lorraine Duclare!" This went on until the day I lost my temper and bloodied a few noses. After that I had a bit more "respect"! As for boys, I tended to end up with those "losers" no other girl wanted to go out with. It being generally acknowledged by the young men of my class that if you went out with Lorraine, you were getting pretty hard up for any feminine companionship! You can guess how I felt about myself back then. Like I wanted to go dig a hole somewhere and then fill it in after myself! I suspect that is why I tend to be the way that I am. Distrustful, always wondering if people are associating with me because they want to "get" something out of me, etc. That someone might love me for myself without any hope of getting anything in return was simply something I believed to be impossible. The only exceptions to my experience having been Sharon and Janet Rogers. Sharon loving me just for myself and Janet because of my intelligence and my abil- ity to "see" solutions to human problems that no one else could. It would be quite possible for me to prove to you that I am what I am solely because of the way I look. You could say with a considerable amount of truth that Queen Lorraine is what she is because of what happened to her as a teenage girl. Those amazing abilities of mine with a sword are certainly due to my attempt to be "better" at something than anyone else. In the 20th Century a woman was judged almost solely on her looks, but fortunately here in the 26th Century women are also judged by what they are able to do. That is why I would never want to go back to my own time. Here I have love and the respect of others. Friends who value my opinions, what I think. I am respected, not just because I am now the Queen of Trelandar, but because of the person that I am. "How?" I breathed out, just standing there looking in awe at Black Lady, seeing An'na smile as she stood leaning against a piling with a delightful smile on her lovely face. Her eyes con- cealed by the dark glasses that those of Mars often wear here on Earth. Sa-she-ra and Lady Tirana regarding the airplane with the same amount of awe that a person of the 20th Century would have regarded a "flying saucer" had one landed right there in front of them! Darlanis' lovely daughter smiling with delight, telling me that she had finally persuaded Raspa to allow her and some other "Martians" to repair and fix up the damaged airplane for me after its passage through the "Gateway" that had brought Sharon and me to this era. I could tell, however, that mingled with her pleas- ure was an underlying sorrow that was tearing at her heart. I had no doubt that An'na had finally come to the decision to tell her mother that she did actually live, but now on another world, one that was only a glowing dot of light there in the night sky! And now that she had, her mother was dead, killed by the pirates! "I had to make a few `improvements' here and there," An'na informed me with a smile, the technology of the 20th Century to her probably being quite like that of the Seventeenth would be to me. She had wisely not let on who she actually was, perhaps aware that her mother's good name was not very popular just then! An'na making these comments as I stood on a float and peered in- side the interior, seeing that there had been "changes" made to the instrument panel, and also the installation of something like a television or computer monitor screen there in the center be- tween the seats. This being, An'na told me, a device that would allow me to know at all times exactly where I was over the Earth! "This is how you came here?" Jon asked, regarding me with a bit of awe. I suppose he never really "believed" that I was from another time. That I came from a society far in advance of his! "Like to go for a ride?" I asked, opening the door, standing there on the float. I wanted so much to get in, take off, to fly again. To leave the world and all its troubles there below me!!! "Up there?" he asked, regarding me with the sort of awe that one might have regarded a woman from another planet. An'na and I sharing much in common, as she was from Mars and I was from six centuries in the past. The crew of the Janis, my own people, all gathered around, crowding the dock, staring, muttering quietly to themselves. I don't think any of them really had "believed" un- til now that their "Queen Lorraine" was actually from 1988 A.D.! "I'll show you how to fly," I teased him. "It's much better than sailing around in ships." Jon glanced at the Janis, at the "familiar", and then at Black Lady floating there. I could see the thoughts there reflected in his face. Awe mixed with a bit of terror! His wife had suddenly become an awesome "witch" able to even fly through the air in a strange machine from another time! Trelandar had a Queen who could fly in a metal bird! Who like the fabled Queen of Talon was a mistress of the air itself! "Perhaps later on," Jon answered. I suspected he meant to say something like "when I'm old and gray, ready to meet Lys", but didn't dare for fear of losing "face" before everyone there. "There are legends among my people of such machines," Sa-she-ra spoke up. "There is even a place where some remain." I suspect that the Nevadas found a military base missed by the Lorr in The War of 2047. If they weren't so "hostile" a people towards us, I'd like to make an expedition there, the place being from what I have been able to determine, in an area of the former United States that was once used by the Air Forces of the World Federation. Of course the aircraft would be useless now even if intact, and the manufacture of the liquid hydrogen fuel would be far beyond my own capabilities even as the Queen of Trelandar. I have also plans of visiting Talon, seeing the great Tarls for my- self. I will of course fly there in Black Lady. I am just light enough that a Tarl could carry me for short distances, I believe, although it would not be able to launch itself off the ground on the level carrying a weight as heavy as me from what I have been told by those knowledgeable about such things. Most Tarl "girls" being small, usually in their teens, and weighing about a hundred pounds or so. The women of the royal family of Talon being all women of small statue, such as Sela Dai, who is only 5'3", 110#. I slipped my arm around An'na as we walked back to my house, the lovely blonde obviously having a degree of difficulty walking due to the differences in gravity between Earth and Mars. While An'na is more capable of withstanding Earth's gravity than most of the women of Mars, she does find it uncomfortable, as her body is adjusted to a gravitional pull only 38 percent that of Earth. I had noticed "such" the first time I had seen her, but had not paid it much attention then, as Raspa's appearance was enough to make you forget about just about anything else! I am used to the Lorr now, and the sight of one doesn't make me "cringe", but they do terrify most people, perhaps of the "power" that they possess. "I didn't see a Lorr disc land," I told An'na, although it was quite possible that one had during the time I had been on the Janis explaining to its crew who I was and who they now served. "I flew Black Lady here," An'na smiled. "It wasn't hard." "Did you ever fly an airplane before?" I asked, amazed. An'na is somewhat more intelligent than her mother, perhaps hav- ing an I.Q. as high as mine if not higher, but still, to fly an airplane and land it without any previous instruction seemed to me just simply impossible! Something that no one, not even An'na would be able to do! Of course An'na flew the Starfire, but that operated on an entirely different principle than did my airplane! On the other hand, her own mother did something even more amazing as you will see further on when she actually managed to fly Black Lady and make takeoffs and landings with just one flying lesson! "I used a computer to stimulate flying an airplane and prac- ticed with that," An'na smiled back. I wondered if she felt the same towards me as I sometimes feel towards my own friends here in the 26th Century. She came from a civilization as advanced over that of the 20th Century as the 20th Century was over that of the 26th! A civilization where anti-matter was used as a pow- er source, where anti-gravity was a common means of flight, and where one relied upon that technology for nearly everything else! "I came here to see my mother, and now I learn that she is dead," An'na said to me, sitting there on my bed as I changed into something more "suitable" than a long black silk gown. The crown of the Queen of Trelandar carefully put away for safekeep- ing. I could see the moisture in An'na's eyes, but she was of a stoic culture where one made few close friends and emotion was looked down upon. Yvette dressing me, her dark eyes glistening. "I plan to avenge her death," I answered, Yvette buckling my harness around my waist. An'na had given me a present. A weapon that had once been but a fantasy device in a science fiction movie back in the 20th Century. I had not believed that even the technology of the Lorr permitted such a thing to actually exist! I drew the weapon from its sheath, the device resembling in some ways a common two D cell flashlight of the 20th Century. It had taken the best scientists on Mars to build it. It was in its way the ultimate close quarters weapon. Nothing could stand against it. It operated upon scientific principles only dreamed of in the 20th Century. It was a "FORCE-SABER"! It generated a beam of pure force a meter in length. Edgewise it had "no width", and could cut through anything without any resistance. I had found that it would when held "flatwise" serve as a defense against a sword or club or anything else, the beam being about two inches wide. The softly glowing beam was truly out of "STAR WARS"! (A science-fiction movie of the 20th Century) I clicked it on, stood there with it glowing in my hand. It would serve me well, I thought, when we went up against the pirates. An'na had a blaster pistol. A weapon that fired explosive bullets that had the force of 20mm cannon shells. Yvette shrank back in terror, going to her knees. She saw the look in my face. Men would die. Darlanis, whose hair had been the color of gold, would be avenged as would another who had once been a beloved of two tall rulers. "I'm going to fly to Trella," I told Jon as he came in to check up on me. I could hear the sounds of merriment through the open windows. The men and women of the Janis were enjoying them- selves. I wore a black tunic, hose, boots. The "weapon" now once again there at my hip that he had seen glowing in my hand only a moment ago. I think suddenly he realized just how "alien" I was. That I was not the woman that he had married, but some- thing different, something perhaps not "really" of his "world"! "I'm going to go with you," Jon said, touching my neck chain with a fingertip. I knew how the thought of flying terrified him as it would have many a brave warrior of this era. "You are my wife. My Queen. You wear my neck chain about your throat." My arms went around his neck. My mouth sought his. An'na and the provocative Yvette there watching, thinking what thoughts that they would. He had told his men not to drink too much. That they might soon be going into battle. To rid Trelandar of the pirates that plagued it. We had not mentioned the name of Darla- nis, only that of my beloved Sharon. It was really for her that we would fight now. My heart was dark with hatred that burned deep. It would take many lives to avenge those I had once loved! 2565 A.D.! A TALE OF ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN By Jerome B. Bigge Book Two Chapter Twenty Eight As a teenager I was tall and lanky, with a figure best de- scribed as boyish. The other girls used to tease me with a lit- tle ditty that went: "What is tall and lean? What no boy wants? Lorraine Duclare!" This went on until the day I lost my temper and bloodied a few noses. After that I had a bit more "respect"! As for boys, I tended to end up with those "losers" no other girl wanted to go out with. It being generally acknowledged by the young men of my class that if you went out with Lorraine, you were getting pretty hard up for any feminine companionship! You can guess how I felt about myself back then. Like I wanted to go dig a hole somewhere and then fill it in after myself! I suspect that is why I tend to be the way that I am. Distrustful, always wondering if people are associating with me because they want to "get" something out of me, etc. That someone might love me for myself without any hope of getting anything in return was simply something I believed to be impossible. The only exceptions to my experience having been Sharon and Janet Rogers. Sharon loving me just for myself and Janet because of my intelligence and my abil- ity to "see" solutions to human problems that no one else could. It would be quite possible for me to prove to you that I am what I am solely because of the way I look. You could say with a considerable amount of truth that Queen Lorraine is what she is because of what happened to her as a teenage girl. Those amazing abilities of mine with a sword are certainly due to my attempt to be "better" at something than anyone else. In the 20th Century a woman was judged almost solely on her looks, but fortunately here in the 26th Century women are also judged by what they are able to do. That is why I would never want to go back to my own time. Here I have love and the respect of others. Friends who value my opinions, what I think. I am respected, not just because I am now the Queen of Trelandar, but because of the person that I am. "How?" I breathed out, just standing there looking in awe at Black Lady, seeing An'na smile as she stood leaning against a piling with a delightful smile on her lovely face. Her eyes con- cealed by the dark glasses that those of Mars often wear here on Earth. Sa-she-ra and Lady Tirana regarding the airplane with the same amount of awe that a person of the 20th Century would have regarded a "flying saucer" had one landed right there in front of them! Darlanis' lovely daughter smiling with delight, telling me that she had finally persuaded Raspa to allow her and some other "Martians" to repair and fix up the damaged airplane for me after its passage through the "Gateway" that had brought Sharon and me to this era. I could tell, however, that mingled with her pleas- ure was an underlying sorrow that was tearing at her heart. I had no doubt that An'na had finally come to the decision to tell her mother that she did actually live, but now on another world, one that was only a glowing dot of light there in the night sky! And now that she had, her mother was dead, killed by the pirates! "I had to make a few `improvements' here and there," An'na informed me with a smile, the technology of the 20th Century to her probably being quite like that of the Seventeenth would be to me. She had wisely not let on who she actually was, perhaps aware that her mother's good name was not very popular just then! An'na making these comments as I stood on a float and peered in- side the interior, seeing that there had been "changes" made to the instrument panel, and also the installation of something like a television or computer monitor screen there in the center be- tween the seats. This being, An'na told me, a device that would allow me to know at all times exactly where I was over the Earth! "This is how you came here?" Jon asked, regarding me with a bit of awe. I suppose he never really "believed" that I was from another time. That I came from a society far in advance of his! "Like to go for a ride?" I asked, opening the door, standing there on the float. I wanted so much to get in, take off, to fly again. To leave the world and all its troubles there below me!!! "Up there?" he asked, regarding me with the sort of awe that one might have regarded a woman from another planet. An'na and I sharing much in common, as she was from Mars and I was from six centuries in the past. The crew of the Janis, my own people, all gathered around, crowding the dock, staring, muttering quietly to themselves. I don't think any of them really had "believed" un- til now that their "Queen Lorraine" was actually from 1988 A.D.! "I'll show you how to fly," I teased him. "It's much better than sailing around in ships." Jon glanced at the Janis, at the "familiar", and then at Black Lady floating there. I could see the thoughts there reflected in his face. Awe mixed with a bit of terror! His wife had suddenly become an awesome "witch" able to even fly through the air in a strange machine from another time! Trelandar had a Queen who could fly in a metal bird! Who like the fabled Queen of Talon was a mistress of the air itself! "Perhaps later on," Jon answered. I suspected he meant to say something like "when I'm old and gray, ready to meet Lys", but didn't dare for fear of losing "face" before everyone there. "There are legends among my people of such machines," Sa-she-ra spoke up. "There is even a place where some remain." I suspect that the Nevadas found a military base missed by the Lorr in The War of 2047. If they weren't so "hostile" a people towards us, I'd like to make an expedition there, the place being from what I have been able to determine, in an area of the former United States that was once used by the Air Forces of the World Federation. Of course the aircraft would be useless now even if intact, and the manufacture of the liquid hydrogen fuel would be far beyond my own capabilities even as the Queen of Trelandar. I have also plans of visiting Talon, seeing the great Tarls for my- self. I will of course fly there in Black Lady. I am just light enough that a Tarl could carry me for short distances, I believe, although it would not be able to launch itself off the ground on the level carrying a weight as heavy as me from what I have been told by those knowledgeable about such things. Most Tarl "girls" being small, usually in their teens, and weighing about a hundred pounds or so. The women of the royal family of Talon being all women of small statue, such as Sela Dai, who is only 5'3", 110#. I slipped my arm around An'na as we walked back to my house, the lovely blonde obviously having a degree of difficulty walking due to the differences in gravity between Earth and Mars. While An'na is more capable of withstanding Earth's gravity than most of the women of Mars, she does find it uncomfortable, as her body is adjusted to a gravitional pull only 38 percent that of Earth. I had noticed "such" the first time I had seen her, but had not paid it much attention then, as Raspa's appearance was enough to make you forget about just about anything else! I am used to the Lorr now, and the sight of one doesn't make me "cringe", but they do terrify most people, perhaps of the "power" that they possess. "I didn't see a Lorr disc land," I told An'na, although it was quite possible that one had during the time I had been on the Janis explaining to its crew who I was and who they now served. "I flew Black Lady here," An'na smiled. "It wasn't hard." "Did you ever fly an airplane before?" I asked, amazed. An'na is somewhat more intelligent than her mother, perhaps hav- ing an I.Q. as high as mine if not higher, but still, to fly an airplane and land it without any previous instruction seemed to me just simply impossible! Something that no one, not even An'na would be able to do! Of course An'na flew the Starfire, but that operated on an entirely different principle than did my airplane! On the other hand, her own mother did something even more amazing as you will see further on when she actually managed to fly Black Lady and make takeoffs and landings with just one flying lesson! "I used a computer to stimulate flying an airplane and prac- ticed with that," An'na smiled back. I wondered if she felt the same towards me as I sometimes feel towards my own friends here in the 26th Century. She came from a civilization as advanced over that of the 20th Century as the 20th Century was over that of the 26th! A civilization where anti-matter was used as a pow- er source, where anti-gravity was a common means of flight, and where one relied upon that technology for nearly everything else! "I came here to see my mother, and now I learn that she is dead," An'na said to me, sitting there on my bed as I changed into something more "suitable" than a long black silk gown. The crown of the Queen of Trelandar carefully put away for safekeep- ing. I could see the moisture in An'na's eyes, but she was of a stoic culture where one made few close friends and emotion was looked down upon. Yvette dressing me, her dark eyes glistening. "I plan to avenge her death," I answered, Yvette buckling my harness around my waist. An'na had given me a present. A weapon that had once been but a fantasy device in a science fiction movie back in the 20th Century. I had not believed that even the technology of the Lorr permitted such a thing to actually exist! I drew the weapon from its sheath, the device resembling in some ways a common two D cell flashlight of the 20th Century. It had taken the best scientists on Mars to build it. It was in its way the ultimate close quarters weapon. Nothing could stand against it. It operated upon scientific principles only dreamed of in the 20th Century. It was a "FORCE-SABER"! It generated a beam of pure force a meter in length. Edgewise it had "no width", and could cut through anything without any resistance. I had found that it would when held "flatwise" serve as a defense against a sword or club or anything else, the beam being about two inches wide. The softly glowing beam was truly out of "STAR WARS"! (A science-fiction movie of the 20th Century) I clicked it on, stood there with it glowing in my hand. It would serve me well, I thought, when we went up against the pirates. An'na had a blaster pistol. A weapon that fired explosive bullets that had the force of 20mm cannon shells. Yvette shrank back in terror, going to her knees. She saw the look in my face. Men would die. Darlanis, whose hair had been the color of gold, would be avenged as would another who had once been a beloved of two tall rulers. "I'm going to fly to Trella," I told Jon as he came in to check up on me. I could hear the sounds of merriment through the open windows. The men and women of the Janis were enjoying them- selves. I wore a black tunic, hose, boots. The "weapon" now once again there at my hip that he had seen glowing in my hand only a moment ago. I think suddenly he realized just how "alien" I was. That I was not the woman that he had married, but some- thing different, something perhaps not "really" of his "world"! "I'm going to go with you," Jon said, touching my neck chain with a fingertip. I knew how the thought of flying terrified him as it would have many a brave warrior of this era. "You are my wife. My Queen. You wear my neck chain about your throat." My arms went around his neck. My mouth sought his. An'na and the provocative Yvette there watching, thinking what thoughts that they would. He had told his men not to drink too much. That they might soon be going into battle. To rid Trelandar of the pirates that plagued it. We had not mentioned the name of Darla- nis, only that of my beloved Sharon. It was really for her that we would fight now. My heart was dark with hatred that burned deep. It would take many lives to avenge those I had once loved! |
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