"2565-79" - 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 Thirty Six "You shouldn't be asking this of her yet," Sharon said to me as she helped Darlanis climb inside Black Lady the next morning. The expression on her lovely bruised face proof of the pain she still felt as she settled herself in the seat next to me. What she had gone through there at the hands of Princess Tara and her pirates well displayed there upon that magnificent body by the brevity of her attire, the Empress once again wearing that golden costume she had worn the day that she had been captured just over a week ago. It was only five days since her operation. In my own era she would still have been in a hospital bed, but the med- ical technology of the Lorr is far beyond anything I knew back in my own time. That amazing "glue" that is used now having healing powers almost undreamed of by the finest surgeons of the 20th Century. Darlanis' own swift recovery having amazed her surgeon. "There are lives at stake," Darlanis answered for me. She is truly "She-Ra". A woman with ideals, dreams, a personal code of morality that is almost beyond understanding. We had found her clothing, her golden armor, her amazing bow, everything there aboard the Ronda only a few feet away from where she laid chained to the deck. Perhaps Princess Tara had kept such as a personal trophy of some sort. In any case we had all of Darlanis' things. "I love you," Sharon said, kissing her cheek. Gayle stand- ing there on the dock, frowning to herself. I knew her feelings about Sharon. The fears she felt that she might be replaced in my own affections by my 20th Century stepdaughter. There was a touch of hostility between the two lovely teenage Princesses. I had discussed the matter with Darlanis only this morning while we had a lousy breakfast. Our regular cook off sick, his replace- ment being totally and completely worthless. None of us knew of course that she was actually an agent of the evil Princess Tara! "Like to come, Gayle?" I asked. Gayle shook her head. I fear that my first flight with Black Lady had left the impression in everyone's mind that "going up" with me was about in the same category as such things as going fishing for Squalas in a canoe! "I'm not as brave as Darlanis," Gayle smiled back. Darlanis didn't look too delighted about the idea either, no doubt wonder- ing if I had only rescued her from the pirates and Princess Tara to get her killed in an airplane crash! "Let Sharon go instead." "No," Darlanis answered, settling that issue right now. Even An'na had turned me down after that first flight. Saying I was no doubt a good pilot, but she'd prefer a safer type of air- craft to ride in. Preferably one shaped like a three hundred foot cylinder and built with good old reliable Lorr technology as updated by the lovely women of Mars! An'na had told me that she planned to return to Mars on the Starfire when it returned. She had told Darlanis that she would visit her from time to time, but that she had her own life to lead and that she would never make a good daughter now that she had experienced the life that she had. Darlanis had taken it without showing much emotion, but I have no doubt that she was still "hurt" there inside by An'na's words. Aurora would remain on the Earth, but as the ambassador to Tre- landar, which I think really didn't "delight" Darlanis that much! I suspected too that Raspa had told Aurora to keep an eye on me. "Here's your orange juice," Sharon said to me. I had gotten a supply of fresh oranges and had some squeezed for the juice. I enjoy fresh orange juice, but it is not usually available here in Trelandar except by trade with fabled Talon, which lies in the same area where in the 20th Century such things were once grown. "It doesn't appear all that difficult to fly this," Darlanis observed watching my hands on the controls as we lifted off in a rooster tailed spray of water. The Pacific was calm enough that I could make my take off from the cove rather than over land as before. I had not bothered to refuel as I had enough to reach Trella with ample to spare, the plane having a range of well over five hundred miles even on only one wing tank. I mention these facts now at this time only because of what happened later on. "It's not really that hard," I smiled, seeing those lovely azure eyes glowing into mine like those of a little child with a new toy. I love Darlanis very much. She is to me what Janet Rogers was back in the 20th Century in a way, but yet different. "Could you show me how?" she asked, a hint of a pleading note in her voice. As the plane has dual controls, it was an easy matter to let her take the wheel, make a few easy turns and climbs. Let her get the feel of the Beechcraft while I explained to her something of the principles involved in flying an airplane like mine. Darlanis having a surprising "talent" that amazed me. She seemed to have a "head" for flying that utterly surprised me! "Want some orange juice?" I asked, pouring myself a big cup of it from the bottle I had brought with me. Darlanis now flying the plane with a gleeful delight like a child with some new toy. Darlanis shaking her head in the negative as I took a big swal- low, noticing that it didn't taste as good as I had first hoped. There was an odd flavor to it that I couldn't place, but yet felt I should know. I suspected that someone had squeezed the oranges too hard and had gotten some of the flavor of the rind into it. "This is fun!" Darlanis laughed as I explained the meaning of some of the instruments to her. The Empress forgetting for the moment the pain, discomfort she still had in her abdomen where I had removed her uterus only five days ago. The incision was concealed by her brief skirt, being quite low on her abdomen, just above where her strap ordinarily covered her. I had checked it that morning. Her recovery amazed me, but she was "young", in excellent health, and possesses a "vitality" that I can only envy! She is in every way a truly wonderful woman I love dearly! "Watch your airspeed or you'll stall out and go into a spin," I warned her. Darlanis wanted to try that, but I had no desire to demonstrate a spin, being terrified of them myself with good reason. Its a good way to "buy the farm" if you "goof up"! "I'd like to know what to do though if it happens," Darlanis smiled back. I promised that I would show her sometime later on. Secretly hoping that she'd forget about it, as it is not some- thing I like to do, as I have a terrifying fear that I won't be able to "recover" in time and I actually will crash the plane! I am a good pilot, but I am also usually a "careful" one too, I might add here. Of course the reader may disagree with me here, considering how I managed to arrive here in this era with Sharon by flying into a "Gateway", but that was something that I've nev- er been able to figure out just why I did what I did back then! "That's odd," I muttered a while later, feeling a growing numbness in my fingers and toes. Darlanis at the moment playing with the plane's throttle, pushing it in and out, varying the en- gine speed. Noticing that we either climbed or descended depend- ing upon how it was set. We were perhaps thirty miles or so out from Trella. Just about where we had earlier fought the pirates. "Something wrong?" she asked, regarding me as she sat there beside me with her hands on the wheel, flying the plane with a skill that amazed me for this being only her first "flying les- son". The numbness rapidly growing in my hands and feet, my feet now almost without any feeling in them. They felt heavy, lumpy. There was no doubt in my mind that the orange juice had been poi- soned! And by one of Princess Tara's agents, I had no doubt!!! "We'd better get down," I said to the golden haired Queen, taking the controls. I prayed that I would live long enough to get us down. Darlanis could taxi on the ocean to Trella even if I died from whatever poison had been placed in the orange juice! "There is something wrong with you!" Darlanis observed as I started to take the plane down toward the ocean below. I could no longer use my feet at all, and my hands were growing more numb by the second. It was almost as if I had been given a dose of LORR VENOM! I could feel the paralysis effect starting already! "I've been poisoned," I spoke, terror filling my thoughts, my tongue already heavy, slurring my speech. "It was the orange juice." I could hardly fly now. "That damn Tara!" The plane started to drop off on one wing, swing around as I fought to re- tain control just long enough to get us down. I had no doubt that Princess Tara had been the one behind all this now! I was losing control! We were going to go spin out and crash into the sea! Darlanis forced the wheel around and brought the nose up level as the gently rolling sea below came racing up to meet us! "I'll fly," Darlanis said in reassuring tones, pushing me back against my seat, taking control. Swinging the plane back on its original course to Trella. Pushing the throttle all the way in. There was a determined set to her lips. I had no doubt that she would avenge me if she survived the crash landing she was certain to end up making somewhere in Trella's harbor! "There are Physicians in Trella," she assured me. "I won't let you die." I could see tears glistening in her eyes. I never knew she thought that way about me. I was completely helpless now. I suspected that the "poison" was the anesthetic used by the Lorr, a modified version of their own venom. We had a supply of it there on my estate from what had been left over after my use of it on the Janis. I had no idea whether or not the amount I had ingested would be fatal or not. Lorr venom is tricky stuff to handle. Too much and the patient stops breathing, the heart stops beating. I thought what it would feel like to die up here! Helplessly paralyzed, unable to speak, to breathe, to move as my heart finally stopped for lack of oxygen. It is somewhat like the effects of curare once used by the natives of South America. "It's Lorr venom," I tried to tell Darlanis, but I could no longer talk clearly, my words only so slurred even I could hardly understand them. I wanted to tell Darlanis what she would have to do to land the plane. To come down in a long slow descent and fly the plane right down to the water. For a totally inexperi- enced pilot like her it would be far too dangerous for her to even attempt any other sort of a landing! I was now starting to have difficulty breathing. I gasped out the word "oxygen", but I feared it was so slurred that Darlanis would never understand me! "I read a book on this one time when I was a girl," Darlanis said to me. I knew such things had been found. That did explain why she was able to fly to the degree that she was. Not that it would do either of us any good, as it is one thing to fly a plane and another to make a safe landing. Especially with a Beechcraft Bonanza, which is not an "easy" airplane to fly like a "hi-wing". She was now fishing around under my seat, where I had once kept a tank of oxygen and a mask for flights above fifteen thousand feet. I had mentioned such to her earlier, when I had been show- ing her the plane. I had no idea how much remained in the tank. Darlanis fitting the mask over my face with surprising compe- tence, and opening the valve to the cylinder she placed in my lap. The blessed oxygen flowing into my gasping weakening lungs! "Trella," Darlanis said to me, touching my numbed hand. She could have held a red hot poker to it and I would have felt not a thing. I was totally paralyzed now, unable to speak. It took all I had just to breathe those tiny shallow gasping breaths that I was taking. My mind filled with terror at the sight of my rap- idly approaching death. Even if Darlanis landed us safely, there was still the danger that I would die from the effects of the poison there in Trella. I recalled what I had learned about the stuff on Mars. I was starting to hallucinate now, everything starting to spin around although Darlanis seemed to be flying the plane steady. I saw my vision of her changing, saw SHE sitting there instead in Her beautiful white gown. Mused to myself that perhaps some Priestess of Lys had once seen HER and that was why they wore the same long white gowns themselves. Lorr venom ef- fects the mind. I have no reason to believe that their own medi- cal version of it wouldn't do the same if you got too much of it! I saw the harbor grow rapidly larger below us, saw that the plane was descending, although not in the easy glide I would have used, Darlanis coming in at a power setting I would have never used! "TOO FAST! SLOW DOWN!" I tried to tell her, but only low gasps escaped from my lips. The airspeed indicator read a full two hundred knots! (About two hundred and thirty miles per hour) I saw the harbor come racing up to meet us, then Darlanis drew the nose up and cut the engine to an idle! The airspeed now falling rapidly as the plane leveled off a hundred feet over the water. I could see the ships in the harbor, and prayed that we would not collide with one, for I had my doubts that Darlanis was capable of easing the plane around one without letting it fall off on one wing and crashing! And killing us both! I should have insisted on Sharon coming along. She knew how to fly. Not all that well, but at least she knew how to make a safe landing! 2565 A.D.! A TALE OF ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN By Jerome B. Bigge Book Two Chapter Thirty Six "You shouldn't be asking this of her yet," Sharon said to me as she helped Darlanis climb inside Black Lady the next morning. The expression on her lovely bruised face proof of the pain she still felt as she settled herself in the seat next to me. What she had gone through there at the hands of Princess Tara and her pirates well displayed there upon that magnificent body by the brevity of her attire, the Empress once again wearing that golden costume she had worn the day that she had been captured just over a week ago. It was only five days since her operation. In my own era she would still have been in a hospital bed, but the med- ical technology of the Lorr is far beyond anything I knew back in my own time. That amazing "glue" that is used now having healing powers almost undreamed of by the finest surgeons of the 20th Century. Darlanis' own swift recovery having amazed her surgeon. "There are lives at stake," Darlanis answered for me. She is truly "She-Ra". A woman with ideals, dreams, a personal code of morality that is almost beyond understanding. We had found her clothing, her golden armor, her amazing bow, everything there aboard the Ronda only a few feet away from where she laid chained to the deck. Perhaps Princess Tara had kept such as a personal trophy of some sort. In any case we had all of Darlanis' things. "I love you," Sharon said, kissing her cheek. Gayle stand- ing there on the dock, frowning to herself. I knew her feelings about Sharon. The fears she felt that she might be replaced in my own affections by my 20th Century stepdaughter. There was a touch of hostility between the two lovely teenage Princesses. I had discussed the matter with Darlanis only this morning while we had a lousy breakfast. Our regular cook off sick, his replace- ment being totally and completely worthless. None of us knew of course that she was actually an agent of the evil Princess Tara! "Like to come, Gayle?" I asked. Gayle shook her head. I fear that my first flight with Black Lady had left the impression in everyone's mind that "going up" with me was about in the same category as such things as going fishing for Squalas in a canoe! "I'm not as brave as Darlanis," Gayle smiled back. Darlanis didn't look too delighted about the idea either, no doubt wonder- ing if I had only rescued her from the pirates and Princess Tara to get her killed in an airplane crash! "Let Sharon go instead." "No," Darlanis answered, settling that issue right now. Even An'na had turned me down after that first flight. Saying I was no doubt a good pilot, but she'd prefer a safer type of air- craft to ride in. Preferably one shaped like a three hundred foot cylinder and built with good old reliable Lorr technology as updated by the lovely women of Mars! An'na had told me that she planned to return to Mars on the Starfire when it returned. She had told Darlanis that she would visit her from time to time, but that she had her own life to lead and that she would never make a good daughter now that she had experienced the life that she had. Darlanis had taken it without showing much emotion, but I have no doubt that she was still "hurt" there inside by An'na's words. Aurora would remain on the Earth, but as the ambassador to Tre- landar, which I think really didn't "delight" Darlanis that much! I suspected too that Raspa had told Aurora to keep an eye on me. "Here's your orange juice," Sharon said to me. I had gotten a supply of fresh oranges and had some squeezed for the juice. I enjoy fresh orange juice, but it is not usually available here in Trelandar except by trade with fabled Talon, which lies in the same area where in the 20th Century such things were once grown. "It doesn't appear all that difficult to fly this," Darlanis observed watching my hands on the controls as we lifted off in a rooster tailed spray of water. The Pacific was calm enough that I could make my take off from the cove rather than over land as before. I had not bothered to refuel as I had enough to reach Trella with ample to spare, the plane having a range of well over five hundred miles even on only one wing tank. I mention these facts now at this time only because of what happened later on. "It's not really that hard," I smiled, seeing those lovely azure eyes glowing into mine like those of a little child with a new toy. I love Darlanis very much. She is to me what Janet Rogers was back in the 20th Century in a way, but yet different. "Could you show me how?" she asked, a hint of a pleading note in her voice. As the plane has dual controls, it was an easy matter to let her take the wheel, make a few easy turns and climbs. Let her get the feel of the Beechcraft while I explained to her something of the principles involved in flying an airplane like mine. Darlanis having a surprising "talent" that amazed me. She seemed to have a "head" for flying that utterly surprised me! "Want some orange juice?" I asked, pouring myself a big cup of it from the bottle I had brought with me. Darlanis now flying the plane with a gleeful delight like a child with some new toy. Darlanis shaking her head in the negative as I took a big swal- low, noticing that it didn't taste as good as I had first hoped. There was an odd flavor to it that I couldn't place, but yet felt I should know. I suspected that someone had squeezed the oranges too hard and had gotten some of the flavor of the rind into it. "This is fun!" Darlanis laughed as I explained the meaning of some of the instruments to her. The Empress forgetting for the moment the pain, discomfort she still had in her abdomen where I had removed her uterus only five days ago. The incision was concealed by her brief skirt, being quite low on her abdomen, just above where her strap ordinarily covered her. I had checked it that morning. Her recovery amazed me, but she was "young", in excellent health, and possesses a "vitality" that I can only envy! She is in every way a truly wonderful woman I love dearly! "Watch your airspeed or you'll stall out and go into a spin," I warned her. Darlanis wanted to try that, but I had no desire to demonstrate a spin, being terrified of them myself with good reason. Its a good way to "buy the farm" if you "goof up"! "I'd like to know what to do though if it happens," Darlanis smiled back. I promised that I would show her sometime later on. Secretly hoping that she'd forget about it, as it is not some- thing I like to do, as I have a terrifying fear that I won't be able to "recover" in time and I actually will crash the plane! I am a good pilot, but I am also usually a "careful" one too, I might add here. Of course the reader may disagree with me here, considering how I managed to arrive here in this era with Sharon by flying into a "Gateway", but that was something that I've nev- er been able to figure out just why I did what I did back then! "That's odd," I muttered a while later, feeling a growing numbness in my fingers and toes. Darlanis at the moment playing with the plane's throttle, pushing it in and out, varying the en- gine speed. Noticing that we either climbed or descended depend- ing upon how it was set. We were perhaps thirty miles or so out from Trella. Just about where we had earlier fought the pirates. "Something wrong?" she asked, regarding me as she sat there beside me with her hands on the wheel, flying the plane with a skill that amazed me for this being only her first "flying les- son". The numbness rapidly growing in my hands and feet, my feet now almost without any feeling in them. They felt heavy, lumpy. There was no doubt in my mind that the orange juice had been poi- soned! And by one of Princess Tara's agents, I had no doubt!!! "We'd better get down," I said to the golden haired Queen, taking the controls. I prayed that I would live long enough to get us down. Darlanis could taxi on the ocean to Trella even if I died from whatever poison had been placed in the orange juice! "There is something wrong with you!" Darlanis observed as I started to take the plane down toward the ocean below. I could no longer use my feet at all, and my hands were growing more numb by the second. It was almost as if I had been given a dose of LORR VENOM! I could feel the paralysis effect starting already! "I've been poisoned," I spoke, terror filling my thoughts, my tongue already heavy, slurring my speech. "It was the orange juice." I could hardly fly now. "That damn Tara!" The plane started to drop off on one wing, swing around as I fought to re- tain control just long enough to get us down. I had no doubt that Princess Tara had been the one behind all this now! I was losing control! We were going to go spin out and crash into the sea! Darlanis forced the wheel around and brought the nose up level as the gently rolling sea below came racing up to meet us! "I'll fly," Darlanis said in reassuring tones, pushing me back against my seat, taking control. Swinging the plane back on its original course to Trella. Pushing the throttle all the way in. There was a determined set to her lips. I had no doubt that she would avenge me if she survived the crash landing she was certain to end up making somewhere in Trella's harbor! "There are Physicians in Trella," she assured me. "I won't let you die." I could see tears glistening in her eyes. I never knew she thought that way about me. I was completely helpless now. I suspected that the "poison" was the anesthetic used by the Lorr, a modified version of their own venom. We had a supply of it there on my estate from what had been left over after my use of it on the Janis. I had no idea whether or not the amount I had ingested would be fatal or not. Lorr venom is tricky stuff to handle. Too much and the patient stops breathing, the heart stops beating. I thought what it would feel like to die up here! Helplessly paralyzed, unable to speak, to breathe, to move as my heart finally stopped for lack of oxygen. It is somewhat like the effects of curare once used by the natives of South America. "It's Lorr venom," I tried to tell Darlanis, but I could no longer talk clearly, my words only so slurred even I could hardly understand them. I wanted to tell Darlanis what she would have to do to land the plane. To come down in a long slow descent and fly the plane right down to the water. For a totally inexperi- enced pilot like her it would be far too dangerous for her to even attempt any other sort of a landing! I was now starting to have difficulty breathing. I gasped out the word "oxygen", but I feared it was so slurred that Darlanis would never understand me! "I read a book on this one time when I was a girl," Darlanis said to me. I knew such things had been found. That did explain why she was able to fly to the degree that she was. Not that it would do either of us any good, as it is one thing to fly a plane and another to make a safe landing. Especially with a Beechcraft Bonanza, which is not an "easy" airplane to fly like a "hi-wing". She was now fishing around under my seat, where I had once kept a tank of oxygen and a mask for flights above fifteen thousand feet. I had mentioned such to her earlier, when I had been show- ing her the plane. I had no idea how much remained in the tank. Darlanis fitting the mask over my face with surprising compe- tence, and opening the valve to the cylinder she placed in my lap. The blessed oxygen flowing into my gasping weakening lungs! "Trella," Darlanis said to me, touching my numbed hand. She could have held a red hot poker to it and I would have felt not a thing. I was totally paralyzed now, unable to speak. It took all I had just to breathe those tiny shallow gasping breaths that I was taking. My mind filled with terror at the sight of my rap- idly approaching death. Even if Darlanis landed us safely, there was still the danger that I would die from the effects of the poison there in Trella. I recalled what I had learned about the stuff on Mars. I was starting to hallucinate now, everything starting to spin around although Darlanis seemed to be flying the plane steady. I saw my vision of her changing, saw SHE sitting there instead in Her beautiful white gown. Mused to myself that perhaps some Priestess of Lys had once seen HER and that was why they wore the same long white gowns themselves. Lorr venom ef- fects the mind. I have no reason to believe that their own medi- cal version of it wouldn't do the same if you got too much of it! I saw the harbor grow rapidly larger below us, saw that the plane was descending, although not in the easy glide I would have used, Darlanis coming in at a power setting I would have never used! "TOO FAST! SLOW DOWN!" I tried to tell her, but only low gasps escaped from my lips. The airspeed indicator read a full two hundred knots! (About two hundred and thirty miles per hour) I saw the harbor come racing up to meet us, then Darlanis drew the nose up and cut the engine to an idle! The airspeed now falling rapidly as the plane leveled off a hundred feet over the water. I could see the ships in the harbor, and prayed that we would not collide with one, for I had my doubts that Darlanis was capable of easing the plane around one without letting it fall off on one wing and crashing! And killing us both! I should have insisted on Sharon coming along. She knew how to fly. Not all that well, but at least she knew how to make a safe landing! |
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