Slave Empire - Prophecy (13 page)

Meanwhile, the
seduction of knowledge continued to enthral her and Rawn with its
bounty of discoveries waiting to be plumbed. Since they seemed to
have no other function than to wait for the prophecy to come true,
they studied alien cultures, languages, space flight, ships, and
technology.

When Rayne
glanced at the calendar again, nine Atlantean months had passed.
The summer warmth faded as the planet moved away from its sun on
its shallow elliptical orbit. The nights grew chilly, and they
spent many pleasant evenings in the heated pool. Tallyn invited his
friends over, and Rayne asked him to introduce her to more aliens.
He took them to a crowded bar hidden deep in the jungle, where they
met a bizarre collection of aliens.

Sseth, the
owner and bartender, was a burly reptilian with a huge, frog-like
mouth, four bright yellow eyes and a red-gold skin that gleamed
like wet silk. Rayne asked permission to feel it, to Sseth's
delight, and found it as rough as shark skin. Four sturdy legs
supported his three hundred kilos of muscular bulk. He also had two
pairs of arms, one pair long and delicate, with four-fingered
hands, the other short and powerful with stubby hands.

Sseth grinned
at Tallyn as he poured their drinks, lifting his lips to reveal
several rows of pointed teeth. It was the best he could do, since
his mouth was rigid. He and Tallyn were old friends, and he seemed
pleased to see the Atlantean commander again. The alien band was an
amazing collection of strange beings that seemed totally out of
place with the sweet music they made. The flute player must have
weighed several hundred kilos, and rested his huge tusks on the
floor to hold up his head while he played the flute with tiny
hands.

Rayne turned
her attention to Sseth when he said, "I hear you're building a
fancy ship, Tallyn."

"Your ears
been flapping again, Sseth?"

Sseth grinned
at what was clearly an old joke, since he had no visible ears. "I
hear a lot of things behind the bar, like, for instance, that she's
going into Quadrant Forty-Four."

"Who told you
that?"

Sseth
shrugged. "Don't remember. Alcohol loosens a lot of tongues. I just
flap my ears." He made a hissing, grating sound that passed for
laughter, Rayne assumed. "Besides, people have been wondering
what's in there for centuries."

Tallyn
frowned, finishing his drink, and Sseth poured him another.

"What do they
say is in there?" Rawn asked.

"It's just a
lot of tall tales," Tallyn said. "No one knows."

"Oh, yes, most
of them are," Sseth agreed. "Like beautiful space sirens luring men
to their deaths, and mysterious forces tearing ships apart." He
leant closer. "But the latest one is interesting. There's supposed
to be an ancient machine, left by some long-gone super race, which
still guards the quadrant."

Tallyn
snorted. "That's a load of rubbish. How can you repeat such
nonsense?"

Sseth wiped
the counter. "Some people believe it. They like to hear
stories."

"And tell even
bigger ones." He turned away.

"Could there
be any truth in it?" Rayne enquired.

"Nobody knows
what's in there. These are just stories that people with nothing
better to do make up."

"What harm can
it do?"

"Lots. Some
poor sod might believe it enough to go in there, thinking he can
make contact with this robot ship, or whatever it is, and live to
tell the tale. There are a lot of would-be heroes around."

"Is there a
fancy new ship that's going to explore the forty-fourth quadrant?"
she asked.

"That's
classified. Personally, I think it would be a waste of time going
in there. Ships cross it all the time. It's only explorer ships
that vanish. Whatever is in there doesn't want to be found, and
when it is, no one lives to tell the tale. Does it sound like a
good idea to go and look for it?" He sipped his drink. "Plenty of
probes have been sent in there, and none of them returned either.
It's a waste of money and men."

"Could it have
something to do with the prophecy?"

"If it does,
we'll find out when the time comes."

Rayne
shivered. "I'd rather stay away from Quadrant Forty-Four, and
whatever's in it."

Chapter Eight

Rayne glanced
up as Tallyn entered the sun-warmed morning room, casting her his
usual stilted smile. Returning it, she continued to eat her
breakfast, trying to ignore Rawn slurping his porridge. After four
years, they had settled into a comfortable routine in Tallyn's
house, although he remained distant. Still, he showed them great
kindness and consideration, and many of his friends had become
theirs.

Oddly, his
crew were not numbered amongst his friends, so she had not met any
of them. She and Rawn spoke fluent Atlantean now, and spent more
time on recreational activities, especially Rawn. He had several
friends and often went out, but she disliked the social circles.
All too often, her possible identity as the Golden Child either
intimidated or alienated potential friends and admirers.

Tallyn
interrupted her reverie. "I've spoken to the council, and they've
given me permission to take you back to Earth, to see it, if you
wish."

Rayne gaped at
him, her spoon poised before her mouth. "Why?"

"Well, when we
left, you said you wanted to see your world from space, and were
somewhat annoyed at the speed of our exit, if you remember. Until
now, the council forbade any trips into space by the two of you.
But the members have grown more lenient, especially since I
explained how much you've been studying it. Perhaps they
underestimated your intelligence, but now they've relented."

Rayne glanced
at her brother. "Has it changed a lot?"

"Our scouts
have reported its progress, which is as we predicted."

"And how are
things progressing?" Rawn glared at his porridge.

Tallyn
shrugged. "The cloud cover has increased, and the surface
temperature is now in the hundreds. Probes show that the seas have
dried up."

"Sounds
wonderfully depressing."

"I understand
if you decline, but I thought I'd make the offer."

"Big of you,"
Rawn said, putting down his spoon.

Rayne frowned
at her brother. "There's no need to be rude. Tallyn can't
understand how we feel. It's not his planet."

Tallyn shook
his head. "I do understand. That's why I think you should see it.
In the distant past, my people were forced to leave their home
world when the sun swallowed it. I've seen the holofilms of the
evacuation, and it's traumatic. But it's not something that should
be avoided. It's part of our history, and yours. The loss of a home
world is devastating for any race."

After a short,
tense silence, Rawn nodded. "Okay, we'll come."

"Good. We
leave tomorrow, early."

The following
morning, they travelled to the spaceport, no longer discomfited by
Tallyn's casual mode of navigating. Since learning to fly a
gravcar, they had discovered that having an accident was
impossible, since the car's tiny repellers also fended off any
obstacles. Even if the driver was incapacitated, the car would
merely descend, following the path of least resistance until it
reached the ground, whereupon it would transmit a distress signal.
No one was ever killed in a traffic accident, even drunk drivers,
of which there were a few, always got home safely if they
remembered to engage the autopilot.

They boarded a
shuttle and strapped themselves in beside Tallyn. The doors sealed
and it floated up, then switched to repellers at a safe height. It
ascended swiftly, the inertial compensators removing all sensation
of acceleration. The weaker anti-gravity was used first, because
otherwise the powerful repellers would punch holes in the ground
with their invisible 'foot'.

They left the
atmosphere, the pearly sphere of Atlan shrinking beneath them. The
massive spiral galaxy that lighted the night sky shone like diamond
dust strewn across black velvet, millions of suns so brilliant the
nights were always bright, even when none of the five moons were
visible.

Aboard the
Vengeance, it hardly seemed possible that four years had passed.
They disembarked in the same smooth room and followed Tallyn along
moss carpeted corridors to the lift, which shot up to the bridge.
Tallyn indicated that they should sit in two empty chairs, and
tense silence filled the gloomy room as the crew awaited their
orders. Tallyn faced his lieutenant as Marcon approached and
saluted.

"Everything
ready to go, Marcon?"

"Yes,
sir."

"Good, let's
get on with it then."

Breaking orbit
and entering the transfer Net were achieved with little fanfare. If
not for Marcon reeling off the list of procedures, and a brief
glimpse of Atlan's receding globe, Rayne would hardly have known
anything unusual had occurred. The screen went blank, and Tallyn
turned to her with a smile.

"It's so
mundane, isn't it? Space travel is almost boring."

She eyed him.
"You read my mind."

"Of course I
did. You still haven't learnt to guard your thoughts."

"That's rude,
and I wasn't trying to."

"When in the
company of so many, it would be wise."

She glanced
around the bridge. "They're all...?"

"Telepaths?
Yes." He looked at Marcon, who smiled. "Marcon finds your
disappointment most amusing."

"If you can
all read each other's minds, why do you bother talking?"

"We try to
guard our private thoughts, so speaking telepathically requires
just as much effort as talking. If we all left our minds open, our
most intimate thoughts would become public knowledge."

"I see." She
lowered her gaze, embarrassed. "Perhaps you should teach us how to
do it properly."

"Well, Rawn
doesn't really have to worry about it. His thoughts are pretty
murky, since his telepathy is so weak. He can hear the equivalent
of a mental shout, but he broadcasts almost nothing."

"Why didn't
Mindra teach me?"

Tallyn's
slight smile broadened. "Mindy's a busy little cat. She didn't have
time. She only agreed because of who you are - might be. She likes
dealing with VIPs. She did what I couldn't, but I can teach you the
rest."

Rayne nodded,
uncomfortable amongst so many people who could read her mind. On
Atlan, they had seldom ventured into crowds of strangers, except at
the bar, where the number of aliens made mind reading almost
impossible, she had discovered. The library was often pretty empty,
and the reading rooms had neural dampeners. Tallyn's friends had
all been polite and ignored her open mind, it appeared, and crowds
always made mind reading difficult. Although the crew were busy, it
seemed to her newly awakened awareness that they all listened to
her thoughts.

They went to a
recreation area, where they ordered drinks and sat around a table.
For the next five hours, Tallyn instructed her on the art of
shielding her thoughts, while Rawn listened and asked questions.
Tallyn rarely had so much time to devote to his guests, so he took
this opportunity to teach her. She was making progress when Tallyn
received a message from Marcon and took them back to the bridge.
They arrived as the main screen activated and a dull,
cloud-shrouded globe appeared on it. Rayne swallowed hard, a lump
blocking her throat.

"That's not
Earth."

"I'm afraid it
is," Tallyn murmured.

"It can't
be."

"It is."

She blinked
and looked at Rawn, whose expression was drawn, his eyes bright. "I
knew this was a bad idea."

Rayne forced
herself to look at the screen again as Tallyn moved away into the
gloom. It looked like a dirty Venus, perhaps after a violent dust
storm, if Venus had such things. The blanket of clouds swirled
various shades of brown and yellow into a soup of striated,
venomous colours. A glance would tell anyone this planet was
poisonous, and unfit to support life.

Yet this was
Mother Earth, the world that had once had an entire self-supporting
ecology matured over millions of years. The horror of it made her
want to turn away and remember the glowing blue jewel within a
fragile envelope of pure air, patterned with fleecy white clouds.
The reality was a lifeless, hostile lump of rock cloaked in a
poisonous atmosphere, a product of man's ingenuity. Its ugliness
made her want to know more.

She glanced at
Tallyn. "All I can see is clouds."

"We've
launched a probe. You'll be able to see the surface soon."

A few minutes
later, the screen's picture changed, and a wall of brownish mist
replaced Earth's dirty corpse.

"The probe is
descending through the clouds." He glanced at one of Marcon's
holographic displays. "The temperature is one hundred and thirty
degrees."

In the
Atlantean system for measuring temperature, zero was freezing point
and one hundred degrees was boiling point at sea level, which meant
Earth's atmosphere was akin to a furnace. The probe fell below the
clouds, and the screen showed an alien landscape of ravaged, barren
desert shrouded in a haze of dust. Huge chasms snaked across it,
vomiting lava in an endless bubbling ooze. The clouds reflected the
lurid glow, creating a garish scene.

Seas of
cooling lava filled valleys, and steam and smoke rose to thicken
the clouds. The probe followed the contours of a savage land,
finding a ruined city. A sprawling mass of twisted, rusting metal
came into view; the remains of the Eiffel Tower. A solitary, broken
statue raised an arm above the jumbled rocks like a drowning man
begging to be rescued from this eerie, desolate place.

"What happened
to the buildings?" Rayne asked in a horrified whisper.