The Colony Ship Eschaton: The entire ten book series, page 60
“So we get the talking machine to take us to Tropical, then we cut through that log barricade they have, and we get some answers. One way or the other, we will dispense justice. But just you and I my friend.” Levi grabbed Gideon by the shoulder and stared into his eyes.
“Yes, we are in this together. And this time, we risk only ourselves.” Gideon threw his arms around Levi and hugged him tightly. With a hearty clasp on the back they departed their cabin and marched to the Center and into the portal room.
Tobias and Hannah were on guard duty. They were standing in the portal room. The room had had some work done on it, as there were cleaned off areas where Josiah and Lorna had been working to set up the locks for the hatches. A lot of materials and other things were piled on the wooden work bench Brink had set up which was against one wall.
“Hail, Tobias and Hannah!” Levi said as he entered the portal room.
Tobias and Hannah returned the greetings.
“How goes the work on the seals?” Gideon asked. “Josiah and Lorna are not here?”
“They have departed for a meal, and will be back. Josiah says tomorrow he will begin to fit the locks,” Hannah replied.
“Has the talking machine said anything? Or anything come here?” Gideon pressed.
“No.”
“Good. Then I must ask you both to leave for a few minutes, and then come back. Gideon and I will stand guard while you are gone,” Levi commanded, the words felt dirty in his mouth as deception was not to his liking.
“But our watch is not yet finished?” Hannah asked. She was new to being a legionnaire, but she was well regarded. Her bright eyes were full of trust.
Levi looked at her and then looked at Tobias. He could not lie to them. Swallowing hard, he said, “Gideon and I are going to that Tropical world, and I do not want you to be in trouble if we do not return. This is something that we must do.”
“Yes, only Levi and I are going. We owe it to Deborah to find out the threat, and get some answers.” Gideon stood proudly and without reservation.
“Let me go with you!” Hannah said just moments before Tobias said a similar thing.
“No. You must stay here on guard. You also must inform the Rectora of our actions should we not return. And under no circumstance are you to follow us. If we cannot return under our own power, consider us lost,” Gideon said with finality. “And this is a request, not an order. Please give us until the end of your watch before telling anyone else what we have done. Please give us this chance to avenge Deborah and find out what threat those in Tropical pose to us.”
Tobias looked at Hannah and they both nodded. Nothing needed to be said. The honor among the legionnaires was high, and Levi and Gideon had earned this in the minds of Tobias and Hannah.
Levi and Gideon clasped the shoulder of each of the guards as they walked toward the portals.
“Theta Four machine?” Levi asked.
A grey colored rectangle appeared on the wall near the portals. “Yes, I am here. Do you require transportation?” said the mechanical voice of the AI.
“Yes, please take us to the place called Tropical,” Levi said.
“As you desire. You are aware that on previous transports to that location, civil unrest was reported. Security has been notified, but no travel bulletins or advisories have been issued. Please enter the transport vehicle when you are ready.”
The portal door opened, and Levi and Gideon stepped inside. They had traveled in this manner before, so they were expecting the rows of seats facing each other. But each time they had made one of these journeys the vehicle they were inside was slightly different. This one was brightly lit and the seats were clean and in nice repair. There was a fresh smell, and the display screen at the front was lit with green and red symbols. While both Gideon and Levi could read, they did not understand any of the displays. They sat on opposite sides of the vehicle. The door closed and a gentle motion was felt as it moved away from Habitat One: Coastal Plains. Neither man spoke as they traveled. Each was remembering previous times in a vehicle like this.
After a long silence, Theta Four spoke. “Arrival in Habitat Five: Tropical in three minutes.”
Gideon and Levi both drew their permalloy swords. They both missed the side arm weapons that had been lost on previous missions, but they were each still skilled in use of the sword. They knew it was possible that an ambush would happen when the door opened. The vehicle came to a gentle stop, and then backed up. There were some clanging noises as the vehicle docked with the habitat.
“We have arrived at your destination. Please allow door to open fully before departing,” Theta Four stated.
The door was only partially open when Levi jumped through, sword point ahead. Gideon was right behind him. The sky tube in Tropical was brighter than in their world, and it took a moment for their eyes to adjust to the glare. The nearly white sands also were bright in the light from the sky tube.
“Be gone!” a man’s voice yelled from ahead of them. “Go away!”
Levi looked up and saw that the stockade of logs was still there. It was made of logs driven straight down into the sand and it curved in a large arc from one side of the portal door wrapping around to the other. The half circle of sand was all that was in front of him leading up to the stockade. He could see a few trees far behind the stockade, but not much else. There was no writing on the logs this time, and they seemed to have been scrubbed to a smoother finish.
The door closed behind them, but Levi and Gideon stayed close to the wall, the edge of the world, and looked about. There was sand, light, and the stockade, not much else to see.
“Come out here!” Levi called.
“I said go away! Haro knows why you are here, and we do not want anything to do with it!”
A few rocks landed in the sand a distance away from where Levi and Gideon stood.
“We want answers! Why did you mutilate our friend’s body?” Levi yelled. “Just answer that! Why?”
There was no response. Gideon and Levi started to creep along the edge of the world. They kept their backs against that smooth permalloy that extended up into the sky, and made their way toward one end of the stockade. Levi had pulled out the v-saw and was intending on cutting a way through the stockade. As they got close to that end, a rain of rocks, roughly fist sized, started to drop around them. They backed up until they were out of range of the rocks.
“Why are you here?” a different voice called from behind the stockade. This was a deeper male voice, and seemed a bit more hysterical.
Gideon looked up and pointed. There was a man’s head peeking over the stockade, at the point furthest away from where they stood. “We want answers. We are here to learn why you sent the body to us!” Gideon yelled out. The man behind the logs was hard to see, but he was there.
“Who are you?” the man yelled. “I think I know you, but where is your legionnaire armor? Why are there only two of you? Have you just come to kill more of us? Why are you here?”
Several more rocks landed in the sand a few paces away from the portal door. None came close to Levi and Gideon.
“Levi, that sounds like Brodie, the bandit,” Gideon whispered to his friend. “He was in Gath and was leader of the group we banished here.”
“You mean the same one Jamie and Michael said was the son of Sinclair?” Levi asked. The anger he had had burning was now being replaced by some uncertainty. He was not sure why, but something in Brodie’s voice, the near panic perhaps, did not seem right.
“Why did you cut up Deborah’s body and send it to us?” Gideon called out. “That is you, is it not, Brodie?”
“So that is you Gideon. Is that Levi with you? Just the two of you? Not so brave now without all your legionnaires, huh? You say you want answers. I too want answers, and my people will bash in your murderous heads with rocks if you come any closer. We have been expecting your invasion. Is this some kind of a trick?” Brodie asked. His voice was cracking and strained.
“Brodie, we sent all your people here, and did not kill them. You were banished because you were criminals!” Levi yelled back.
“Your kind killed my mother! And then sent her here in broken pieces. I should come down and kill you both!” Brodie yelled back. “Just go away!”
“Levi, the man is crazed. I do not think we can even reach the logs to try to cut through,” Gideon said quietly. “Just like last time, they will smash rocks down on us. We have no chance to cut in.”
“But Gideon, did you hear what he said? He said something about a body coming here? Coming here?” Levi whispered again. Then he turned back toward the stockade and yelled a reply “Brodie, did you cut up Deborah and send her body to us?”
“This is a trick!” Brodie yelled. “How dare you accuse us of what you did? How can you with your legionnaire honor kill an old woman and cut up her body? Did that make you feel powerful???”
“Brodie, one of our legionnaires, Deborah died here, and her body was sent to us, cut into pieces,” Gideon yelled.
“You are a liar! You tried to invade us, and we defended our home. Then you went away, and sent my mother’s body here!” Brodie replied.
“Brodie, Haro knows about these. Just ignore them, and leave it all to Haro," said the first man they had heard. His head appeared at a different place above the stockade.
“Shut up, Jack!” Brodie yelled at the other man. “I know these two, and I used to believe they had a code of honor. They are the ones who sent my people here.”
“Brodie, we heard your mother had died,” Gideon yelled back. He avoided saying how she had died. “But no one cut up Sinclair’s body and sent it here.”
“Liar! You are a worthless liar! Her body came through that same door you came through. Her body was dumped in the sand right where you are standing. Some machine rolled in and dropped the bag with all the body parts. Then it left. That was from you!” Brodie was in tears of rage and sorrow.
“Brodie, I know nothing about what you are saying. I heard of your mother’s death. But no legionnaire would desecrate a body like that. Our friend Deborah, who was killed here, her body was cut up and sent to us through these machines,” Gideon replied.
“The rolling machines took away the bodies of our people you killed, and that legionnaire who died. We did nothing with any of those bodies. You know that! You know! Those machines took them away. And now I am supposed to believe some nonsense story from you?” Brodie was still quite emotional, but not as near hysterical.
“Gideon, this is not right. He seems crazed, but I am not sure what to believe.....” Levi whispered. “Maybe we should go home.”
“Brodie, I give you my word of honor as a legionnaire, we did not send your mother’s body here. We would never desecrate a body. But I am telling you, Deborah’s body was sent to us in pieces,” Gideon yelled back. “Did you do that?”
“What are you babbling about? Your legionnaire honor is bison droppings! You killed my mother!" Brodie screamed. “Then you sent her here in pieces! I will kill you if you don’t leave now!"
“Brodie, no one sent you mother’s body here....I did not, nor did any legionnaire,” Gideon yelled in return. “But Deborah’s body was defiled. What do you know of that?"
“Are you stupid? I told you, the rolling machines took those bodies away! Now leave here and never return. We want no more of your Dome 17!” Brodie yelled. His anger was rising again.
“What do you mean Dome 17?” Gideon called back. Something in what Brodie had just said was haunting him.
“My mother had 'Dome 17' cut into her chest. You know that! No more! You horrible liars go away or I will kill you all. Go away!” Brodie screamed with all his might.
A large number of rocks came hurling over the stockade. They fell into the sand.
“Come up to the wall you cowards! Come up and face me. I will teach you to kill an old woman! Come out here!” Brodie was hysterically screaming.
More rocks landed in the sand, but Levi and Gideon stayed out of range.
“Gideon, we need to leave,” Levi said. “This is not what I expected. We must hunt for answers somewhere else.”
“Yes, we must return and tell Regina, Jamie and Michael.” Gideon was very troubled.
“Theta Four machine. Take us back,” Levi stated.
The wall near the portal door lit a grey color and Theta Four replied, “As you desire. Please enter the transport when the door is completely open. Security has been notified of the ongoing civil unrest at this terminal.”
14 Trip to the healer
John and Michael were hurting pretty badly by the time they reached Antioch. Abigail had joined them at the fish farm, and she insisted on holding up John as he walked along. His arm and hand were very swollen, and his head was throbbing.
Michael did not say much, but his hand was causing him great pain. He held it up to his opposite shoulder to keep the swelling down, but that was only partially effective. The dirty bandage was soaked with blood. He did manage to get his backpack on, stubbornly refusing Jamie’s offer to carry both packs. He had a huge number of questions, but remained silent as he concentrated on observing things around them in case of another attack.
Jamie was still seething in anger about Shammai, and was also worried about Michael and John. As they approached Antioch, some RCs were playing in the fields just outside of the town. The boys Jacob and Joel saw Michael and Jamie from a distance and ran as fast as they could to meet them.
“What has happened?” Jacob asked as he reached them first, his younger brother only a few steps behind. “You are hurt!” Both boys had blond hair which was a bit shaggy, and were wearing the woolen clothing their mother Lottie made. Some of the other kids had followed behind them. They crowded around Michael and John.
“Boys, we were attacked. Please run and tell Hulda the healer, and Willie. Ask Willie to bring his medical kit to Hulda’s cabin,” Jamie said.
Jacob was staring at John’s arm which was strapped to his side. He remembered what it was like to get injured. He only needed a moment to realize that Jamie had given him an important job.
“Jamie, Lindsey is a faster runner than me, can she do it? Willie is up with the traders. I will run to Hulda’s. Maybe Joel could go tell the legionnaires?” Jacob said quickly.
Lindsey stepped forward. She was a bit older than Jacob’s age, and was taller and thinner. Her dark brown hair and large brown eyes matched in color. She said to Jamie, “To go fast you go alone, to go far you go together.” It was a common saying in Antioch.
“Yes, that’s fine. Good idea. Lindsey, you run and find Willie and tell him what happened. Tell him we need the med kit,” Jamie said and the girl Lindsey, took off running hard, her dark brown ponytail flying out behind her. Jacob and Joel ran off as well. The other children offered to carry the backpacks, or asked how else they could help.
Tamar watched in amazement as Jamie issued commands, and the young boys obeyed. She was even more astonished that the boys spoke to Jamie the way they did. They obviously respected her. No boy in Media would ever admit a girl was better at anything, and girls and boys were playing together. She was shocked to see that the girl Lindsey was wearing pants and not some kind of skirt or dress. And they entrusted her with what was obviously an important task. Her clothing was certainly female in appearance, and fit her well, but would not be acceptable according to what was required in Media. The other RCs were also wearing clothing which did not distinguish so much which gender they were. Some of the girls had bonnets, but not all. Some of the boys had knit caps, but so did some of the girls. And they were all talking and asking questions of Michael, Jamie, John, and Abigail. They seemed to treat each other with respect and honor. That was unheard of in Media.
Tamar’s mind was racing. Why had not the men issued the orders? Certainly they were wounded, but that seemed even more reason for them to be barking commands like the men in Media. Yet, they had trusted Jamie and Abigail. And none of them had even asked her anything. They were injured and hurt. All because of a total stranger, yet they demanded no answers. ‘So these are the heretics?’ They did dress differently, and the women did issue commands. But they did not look evil and wicked like Tamar expected. She had been told, on the few occasions that anyone would mention the heretics of Antioch, that they were all lost and damned.
Tamar was even more puzzled when she learned that Hulda the healer was a woman. Hulda met them as they walked up to her cabin. Her toned dark skin shone with health and vigor. The boy Jacob was there. He was only a bit younger than Tamar, but he seemed more innocent and more trusting.
“Bring John in, and have him sit down. Michael you take a seat on the cot as well,” Hulda ordered. The men obeyed.
“So John, did a big fish fight back this time?” Hulda laughed at her own joke, but her eyes were deeply serious as she assessed his wounds.
