Warrior Chronicles 5: Warrior's Curse Read online

  Cort notified Siella and his team as he and Bane followed Llina to a long shed that reminded him of a twentieth-century boxcar. From the outside, it looked abandoned and decrepit. But as Cort followed the woman inside he saw that it was clean and modern. There was a ten-meter long train car inside that appeared to be magnetically levitating on a square, metal rail that curved down into a tunnel leading into the planet. Llina and Bane were able to enter the car easily, but at three meters tall in his CONDOR, Cort had to kneel and almost crawl into the car. He stayed in a kneeling position as Llina walked to a large bellows at one end of the car.

  “We are about to descend. It will be smooth until the end of the journey, then we will feel the fall briefly as the car stops. Your animal may be disturbed.” She was disconnecting a tether as she spoke.

  Cort ordered Bane to lay down next to him and put his gauntlet on the wolf’s nape. “We’re ready.”

  Llina pumped the bellows and car moved forward a few meters before dropping into the chasm like a roller coaster.

  Seven

  It took nine minutes for the car to come to a complete stop. Cort’s telemetry indicated they had traveled nearly two hundred kilometers, and descended over three kilometers. Llina left the car first, followed by Bane in his FALCON-c. Looking down at the wolf, Cort realized the active camouflage on Bane’s suit was making him appear as a spectre. He turned Bane’s suit off remotely, making the wolf’s body completely visible. Then Cort climbed out of the car and stood.

  Five people were waiting near the car. Three were male, two were female, and all appeared to be older than Llina. Even their body hair was slightly grayed. Through the open walls of the depot structure he was in, Cort could see a great city stretched before him. The walls and ceilings seemed to glow with some sort of phosphorescence, casting an almost ethereal aura of green onto his surroundings.

  He did a quick tachyon scan and within a kilometer of him, there were over ten thousand people. The city went on for over three kilometers. From the scan, Cort could see the city was shaped like a funnel, growing narrower the deeper it went. That depth appeared to be another kilometer below him.

  “I am Ares. I am going into the black star to rescue my people who have been taken by it. I need the use of your planet to stage my mission. We will help you harvest in exchange for the use of your planet.”

  A female stepped forward. “I am Ttanda. We cannot support your species in addition to our own. Nor can we protect you from the black star.”

  Cort thought about everything he had seen so far. Gods how I wish I had a physicist with me right now.

  “I can help you. You could live on the surface again. I have no need of your food. In fact, I can bring you more food. I only want to use the surface of the planet for a base. We can work with your people, or we can remain completely apart from you. That is your choice. I just need to be able to build a temporary base here. This is the nearest planet to the black star, and the only one that is convenient for us.”

  “You can protect our surface? How can you do this?”

  “I can extend the magnetic field you hide behind. I can surround your planet with it. We can deploy generators around the planet that will generate a field powerful enough to stop the method used to take our people. I assume that’s what was happening to your people as well.”

  “It is.”

  Cort looked at the group of people around him. So far, Bane was completely at ease. Cort looked at the reading from Bane’s armor. He’s as calm as if we were at home in bed. He trusts them completely. “If I can rescue your people as well, I will.”

  A male stepped forward. “Ares, I am Rravi. We have lost many, but still we cannot support those who are left. If you were to bring our missing back, many would starve.”

  “That’s your choice. But we can help feed your people. And if I can give you back your surface, how many more could you feed?”

  “Many,” Llina conceded.

  “How will you get your people back?” Rravi asked.

  “I will take them back.” Cort remembered the language computers trouble with words related to fighting. I really need Bazal. “I will struggle with those who took my people.”

  Ttanda looked around at her companions. “We do not understand.”

  Cort struggled with words. If they didn’t have words that meant fight, how could he explain it to them?

  “Why do you wear clothes?”

  The people around him were confused, but Llina spoke. “To protect our skin.”

  “I protect my people.”

  “How can you protect those that are already gone?”

  You’re on dangerous ground, Cort. If they don’t fight, they might not approve of fighting. Dammit! I need Bazal.

  Bazal thought, I am here, Cortland. I will be in orbit in less than an hour. Please wait for me.

  Thank the Gods! I can’t do much without you. I need you to translate.

  Bazal replied, You don’t believe in gods, Cortland. Unless you will finally admit that you really are the god of war.

  Just get down here, dammit.

  Cortland, please wait for me. It would be best for you to go back to your ship and wait until I arrive.

  I’m already in their city underground.

  Stop. Please stop, my friend. There is much more to this than you are aware of. You must wait for me.

  Something was troubling Bazal. Cort had never joined with the telepath this way. What? What am I missing? Am I in danger? Cort began to cycle up his weapons. Why isn’t Bane bothered if I’m in danger?

  You must wait for me, Cortland. You are not in danger, but there is more at play than you realize. Wait for me. And remain in your armor.

  Cort spoke to his hosts. “Our language has words that are not in your language. But I have a friend who can speak directly to your minds. He will be here in one hour. Can you wait for him to continue this conversation?”

  The people in front of him looked at each other. Ttanda said, “That would be fine. Would you like to see our city while we wait for your ally?”

  Okay, I’m going to take a tour of their underground city until you arrive.

  Cortland, please do not enter their temple until I am there.

  What the hell is going on, Bazal?

  If you have ever trusted me, do so now, my friend. The federation as it exists is at stake. Do not ask me more. Please trust me. You must. For all our lives. For all our species. Do not enter their temple, and do not remove your armor while you are there.

  --

  Cort had to admit the city was magnificent. The species, which he learned was called the Threm, built down instead of up. They had built conventionally until abductions began. The Threm had accepted the kidnappings for centuries until a group of miners was inexplicably spared. It took nearly thirty years for them to figure out that the planet itself was their only refuge. Their scientists realized the planet’s magnetic field protected their species from being abducted. Since they couldn’t increase its power, they dug down to it, and built beneath the shelter of the field.

  Cort asked Ttanda, “How do you know when it is safe to go above?”

  “We don’t, Ares. We simply limit our time above the magnetic field. Especially when the surface above us is directed at the black star. We have not lost people in over three hundred years, so our population is recovering.”

  “How many have you lost?”

  “Billions. Perhaps five billion.”

  Cort looked to see that the translators were working properly. “I’m sorry, Ttanda.”

  “How many of yours have been lost?”

  Something about the way Ttanda phrased the question bothered Cort. Too many. But not for the reason you think, Ttanda. “We have lost thousands.”

  “Do you believe you can save those you have lost?”

  “I don’t know. But we have to try. Have you tried?”

  “We haven’t. We cannot.”

  “Why can’t you try?”

  “How
did you travel here, Ares?”

  “In a ship. A spaceship.”

  “A spaceship,” Ttanda repeated. “When we began disappearing, we had just discovered steam power. By the time we discovered how to protect ourselves, we were more concerned with digging than we were with anything to do with space. We still write of space, of the surface even, but living there is the stuff of tales for us. Not a reality.”

  “You have made advancements though. Your trains for instance. How do they work?”

  “The gravity trains? They fall. It’s a controlled fall, but really there is nothing more to it than falling.”

  “How do you get them back to the surface then?”

  “An electric motor. They are charged by the fall.”

  “So the trip up takes a lot longer than the trip down?”

  “Yes. We use geothermal energy and magnetics for our other power needs.”

  Kim would love this system for her sanctuary planets. We already have the tech. Hell. We have better tech. It’s just a matter of building down instead of up. “Had you achieved flight before you came underground?”

  “Not the way you have, I would guess. We had magnetic gliders. We still have the technology, but it is of no use to us.”

  “Ttanda, I can change that. We are very advanced. I can protect your planet. I can prevent any more abductions.”

  “He who is God will protect us. We wait for his arrival as it was foretold. But Ares, if you can stop the abductions, why do you need to struggle with the black star? Why not protect your planet and carry on?”

  “Because our people are still alive. At least some of them are. I intend to save them from whatever…”

  Cortland, I am here.

  “Just a moment, Ttanda. My friend has arrived.” Bazal, they call me Ares.

  I know.

  So you’ve been following our talks. What is it with them? Something is odd. Bane doesn’t even acknowledge them.

  It is because they are peaceful, Cortland.

  They are peaceful?

  They do not fight, Cortland. Compared to them, I am, well, you. They do not have conflict in their society.

  Wait. They don’t fight, or they can’t fight?

  I do not believe they understand the concept. Certainly it is beyond their recorded history if they have ever been violent. There has only been one being in their history who has ever made war.

  Okay. Damn. I don’t even know how to work with that. They use gravity trains to travel below the surface. I think the drop might cause problems for your tank. We’ll meet you on the surface.

  No. I must come to you.

  Cort turned back to Ttanda.“Can we go back to the gravity train to meet him? And because of his environment, the train should be slowed if possible.”

  Ttanda looked at a nearby structure Cort didn’t recognize. It was a tall and wide obelisk, and Cort thought it was in a slightly different position than when he first arrived. “Yes. We have enough time before we face the black star again. Then I will take you to our temple.”

  Wait for me, Cortland.

  What the hell is going on?

  Wait for me.

  “My friend is not like us. He is in a tank. And his appearance is very different. His kind live in water,” Cort explained to Ttanda.

  She looked confused. “How did you become friends with an aquatic species?”

  Cort smiled behind his visor as he thought of all the species he had met and become allies with. Before it occurred to him that Bazal would know his answer, he said, “Bazal and I balance each other. We met and soon realized that we were more with each other than we were without each other. He isn’t just a friend. He is special to me.”

  She thinks I am your mate.

  Oh shit. “Bazal is like family to me. I hold him in high regard.” Godsdammit, Bazal.

  I hold you in high regard as well, Cortland.

  Then tell me what is going on!

  --

  After Bazal met the Threm, he was able to help Cort understand the species more completely. The most unique thing about them, their complete ignorance of violence, was both blessing and curse. They had never experienced war or murder, or even anger so far as Bazal could sense. But their technology was greatly retarded because they had no reason to rush the growth of their society or their science until the abductions began. Being content to exist simply, they progressed slowly.

  The group was approaching the obelisk and Ttanda stopped them. “We must wait here for those who worship.”

  “Those who worship?”.

  “The keepers of time.”

  Three of the Threm walked out of the base of the obelisk and approached Cort’s group. They were fully clothed in plain black robes and wore small, u-shaped crowns. Cort’s immediate thought was of horseshoe magnets. That would make sense, I suppose.

  They lack fear, Cortland.

  What? That explains why they trust me so completely. Why the wolves aren’t bothered by them at all. Why they don’t fight. They just accept what is.

  Yes, that is an apt way to describe them. They accept what is.

  They are innocent.

  They are. That means if we use this planet, you are responsible for them. They have found a way, within their evolution. Our presence interrupts that way. It will have far reaching effects for their species.

  I had wanted to take Ttanda to the Kalashnikov so she could see space. I’m not sure that is a good idea though.

  The Threm Cort took to be priests were silent as they bowed to him and then motioned for Cort and Bazal to follow them. Ttanda stayed behind.

  It is not. We must discuss how best to protect them from friend or foe and then decide how best to utilize the planet without harming their society. And how best to protect ours.

  Bazal, I’m growing impatient with your riddles.

  The time is near for you to understand. We are approaching your answers now.

  Two of the priests opened the doors to the obelisk and the third led Cort, Bane, and Bazal into their holiest place.

  After stepping into a lift large enough for twenty CONDORs, Cort looked at Bazal, who moved his tank into the car as well. He suddenly realized this was the first time he didn’t have to crouch when he walked through a door on this planet.

  The leader of the priests finally spoke. “I am Wwayle, High Priest of the War God. Welcome to your temple, Most High.”

  “Thank you, Wwayle.” Cort turned to Bazal. What?

  Prepare yourself, Cortland. You are to meet a god this day. And he is you.

  Oh shit. What’s going on?

  You are a god to them. They have worshipped you since before you left your time on Earth.

  Cort was lost. Since before I left my own time?

  Yes, Cortland.

  When this is over, you are going to explain this to me.

  I’m sorry, but I cannot. It will create paradox.

  “War God, will you show me your countenance?”

  It is safe to do so, Cortland. Take off your helmet.

  Cort looked at a corner of his HUD, then commanded the CONDOR to release the helmet. He reached up, turned it counterclockwise and showed Wwayle his face. The lift continued down into the bowels of city as the three Threm priests immediately knelt in front of him. Cort didn’t recognize the language of the lift controls, but his HUD showed the computer was learning it. Wwayle asked, “Have you brought protection, as you foretold so long ago, War? Are you here to finally restore us?”

  Cort thought carefully about Wwayle’s words. He could sense that Bazal had pulled back. I have to do this on my own. Paradox? Well, technically… “Yes. I am here to protect you. The Threm will once again be able to walk under your sun.”

  “Thank you, War God. Will you sate our hunger as well?”

  Hunger? Oh the food. Cort modified his orders to Siella and said, “I will.”

  Wwayle stood. “You are truly a god, the one true God among our stars.”

  Cort started to protest but
suddenly Bazal was back in his head. Cortland, do not dispute his claim. You must not.

  Gods damn you, octopus! You had better start explaining, right fucking now.

  It is one of my greatest sorrows that I cannot. If I betray the trust you placed in me, at least two universes will be forever changed. Please accept my oath that you yourself commanded this.