Firstworld Read online

  Kambisha looked at her twin. He gave the impression of a lazy, slow-witted bum, and she regularly teased him with it. But he wasn’t; he was easygoing, but he saw things clearly. ‘Who lived in the Peaks a thousand years ago?’

  ‘My history is hazy,’ Kyrus said. ‘Was that before the quarrel of the gods?’

  ‘I never heard a specific date for that.’ Kambisha watched him going through drawers like a burglar. ‘The quarrel, and the split-up of the tribe into Vanhaari, Mathaari and Unwaari, was way before Nanstalgarod and the lich. But was it a thousand years ago?’

  ‘I dunno. Whoever it was,’ Kyrus said. ‘I don’t think we’ll find their visiting-card. The place looks carefully cleaned out.’

  ‘Yet they left that transferal working,’ Kambisha said.

  ‘Perhaps they planned to return, but nothing came of it,’ her brother said. Kyrus went up to the next floor, and Kambisha sat down on the edge of a stout table.

  ‘Lord Bodrus?’ she said on impulse.

  ‘Do not call on me, you are on your own,’ the so familiar voice said. ‘By going out there, your feet were set on a different path, daughter of my disciple. You were chosen by a power I shall not name, for a purpose I do not see clearly. Our dominion is this planet; we cannot go outside its boundaries. So I and mine cannot aid you, and neither can your father Jinnbane. You three must go your own way; you are denizens of space now. I do not know where it will end.’

  ‘Then I cannot tell Dad?’ she said, shocked and lost.

  ‘Tell him, yes. But neither he nor any other ruler nor a servant of a ruler of this world can help you directly,’ Bodrus said.

  ‘But we may tell him? We are not cut off from our families?’

  ‘You are not cut off as daughter to sire. You can tell him all you want. He knows of what passed. He also knows you became another one’s agents.’

  ‘Who?’ She suppressed an urge to cry. ‘Who did this to us?’

  ‘I cannot say.’ Bodrus sounded both angry and strangely upset. ‘No fault of yours, daughter, nor of the other two. Now I must go.’ He hesitated. ‘There are the galactic gods. If you can find them.’ Then he was gone.

  ‘What the heck was that?’ Kyrus yelled, as he came running down. ‘What was he talking about?’

  ‘The gods abandoned us,’ Odysson said from inside the doorway. ‘Someone else interfered and Bodrus refused to say who.’

  ‘And that someone sent us into space?’ Kambisha looked at the boys. ‘It seems that wasn’t an accident.’

  ‘He said there are other gods,’ Odysson said. ‘Did he suggest we go look for them?’

  Kambisha thought back to that last sentence. ‘It sounded that way.’

  ‘Now what?’ Kyrus stood in the middle of that cold hall, looking both upset and defiant, balled fists to his hips and his chin up.

  ‘I must think,’ Kambisha fought back tears. ‘Then we must plan, and after that we will call Dad. We’ll go back to that Realmfleet Outpost.’

  ‘When you’re ready,’ Odysson said. ‘I’m done here.’

  ‘So are we.’ Kyrus relaxed his stance. ‘Most of the stuff here would’ve been interesting if we hadn’t found Athelstan.’

  ‘Great seal,’ Kambisha said. ‘I couldn’t do that in a month.’

  Odysson shrugged. ‘I added some stinkers to make it interesting. Let’s go back.’

  ‘Brace yourselves.’ With a sweep of her hand, Kambisha ported them across light years in the blink of an eye.

  ‘Beware, techneer!’ Athelstan’s voice said as they came out of the darkness of the Intermedium.

  They weren’t alone.

  CHAPTER 3 – WASTRELS OF SPACE

  The commander’s chair turned and Kambisha bit back an exclamation. She’d seen images of those terrible jinn her parents had fought, she had met several non-human gnomes working for the Weal, and she knew she shouldn’t judge someone by appearance. But this creature was repulsive to any human standard, and in spite of herself she shivered.

  He was about her size; his gaunt, almost emaciated body clad in a soiled purple one-piece suit, with boots and a tool belt. His wrinkled, sickly white skin was covered with pink blotches and his face was cadaverous, with coarse gray hair combed back over his skull. Beneath a long, quivering nose, his pursed little mouth opened and closed, and his round, dark eyes regarded her with an insatiable hunger. He smelled like a cesspool; a rank odor of rotting food and worse, and her stomach protested.

  Is this one of the people who had built this outpost? Kambisha thought. No; Athelstan said those Moi look like Ody. He must be from another world.

  Then for a second she forgot everything but the creature’s bony hand pointing a wire-coiled stick at them.

  ‘Greetings,’ the being said in a strangely high-pitched voice. ‘You are the techneers who restored the station to life? You find me most grateful. Saqq I am, a trade lord of the Dregh. I heard this station’s comm. awaken and I now will use it as my base. Thus, esteemed lowlives, you will be gratified to know I shall end your existences quickly and painlessly as thanks for the service you provided me.’

  Kambisha’s heart skipped a beat. ‘Do you threaten us?’ Her hand crept to the knife on her belt. She tried to read the creature’s mind, but it was like Ky had said—all she found was greed, craving, and a terrible hatred for… Vanhaari?

  ‘Oh, no, no!’ Saqq’s lipless mouth twisted into a cruel smile and his nose twitched. ‘Not threatening. I am merely informing you of your approaching happy demise, so you can prepare your astral self.’

  Odysson moved slightly, and the Dregh shook his head.

  ‘Do not do anything foolish, Cuerie.’ He gestured at the gun-like instrument in his right hand. ‘This excellent appliance will freeze you on the spot. Besides, I am not unaccompanied.’

  Through the open doors three other Dreghs appeared, similar in appearance and dressed in filthy mustard-colored uniforms. All three were armed with knives and spiked knuckle-dusters and stared at them with horrible eagerness.

  They plan to attack, Kambisha thought. Let’s give them a chance to reconsider. ‘Are you sure you want to attack us? It would be most unwise, you know.’

  Saqq’s lips curled in a hungry grimace. ‘You be Cuerie. No place in Dregh stars for cruel Cuerie. We kill, take your stuff, eat your mates and pups, like we did the others. We become rich and powerful. No more Cuerie.’

  ‘We are not Cuerie,’ Kambisha said.

  The Dregh chittered angrily. ‘Lie, lie. You Cuerie, all stars full Cuerie.’ His mind lighted up all red with hatred, and she recoiled, aghast. From the corner of her eye, she saw her brother scowl, as if he had got that burst of bitter enmity as well. Their eyes met. ‘Wait for the moment,’ she said.

  ‘Su-ure,’ Ky said. ‘When you give the word.’

  ‘Trader Saqq, we are not these Cuerie,’ she said coolly. ‘And we don’t want to kill you.’

  The Dregh’s nose wrinkled as he bared hideously filed teeth. The instrument in his hand pointed straight at her.

  ‘Foolish woman!’ he said, his voice so high it was almost a flute. ‘You suffer a thousand hurts! See, we want to kill you.’

  The three soldiers became animated. They growled and waved their knives at her.

  ‘Oh, well then,’ Kambisha said. NOW! In a flash, she dropped to the floor and rolled aside, just escaping the red beam from Saqq’s weapon.

  Almost synchronously, Kyrus sprang forward, and kicked at the Dregh’s hand.

  The creature was faster and another thin beam hit Kyrus’ leg. As it buckled under him, he brother fell against the counter, cursing in shock.

  Kambisha lashed out and pulled Saqq to the ground. The boss Dregh hit the floor hard, dropping his weapon, and she bashed his head a few times against the deck until he stopped moving.

  Meanwhile Odysson waved a hand and a beam of energy got one of the soldiers. The second Dregh hit out with his fist, but Odysson ducked and rammed a wave of power into the enemy’s midriff. The soldi
er folded, dead on the spot.

  The third crouched, snarling, his clawed hands stretched out. He jumped, bowling Odysson over.

  Crouching over Saqq’s body, Kambisha sent the Dregh a blast of air that slammed him upward against the ceiling. Purplish blood ran down his stained uniform and the soldier dropped limply to the deck.

  ‘Well done, mate,’ she said, coming to her feet.

  ‘I’m improvising,’ Odysson said thickly.

  From the corridor beyond came high-pitched sounds, and six more Dreghs raced in.

  Kyrus’ leg couldn’t bear his weight, but the wall at his back helped to hold him up as he grabbed a passing Dreghs by the throat. The soldier squeaked as Kyrus slammed him so hard into the counter Kambisha head the creature’s skull splinter.

  ‘You stupid Dreghs!’ Odysson said in a trembling voice as two soldiers confronted him. ‘Surrender or I will burn you where you stand.’

  ‘Die, Cuerie!’ the Dregh said, raising his knives.

  ‘No, you will!’ With a sob, Odysson touched them both, his hands crackling with deadly energies, and they stiffened as the electric current ran through them.

  Kambisha turned to the last three, who screamed in anger and waved their knives at her.

  ‘No chance!’ she said harshly. A kick from her booted foot sent one Dregh sliding across the floor, then she grabbed the last soldiers as they jumped and broke their necks with a Kellish twist of her hands. That ended the fight.

  ‘They’re dead,’ Odysson said, and he slumped. ‘We killed them...’

  Kambisha turned to her brother. ‘Ky! Your leg...’

  Her brother stood holding his calf, his face twisted in both anger and unaccustomed fear.

  She knelt beside him and put her hands on his leg. She wasn’t a healer like her Uncle Basil, but both of them had inherited Dad’s self-healing and the bit of it that could be used on someone else. ‘Concentrate on relaxing,’ she said.

  ‘What the heck you think I’m doin’?’ he said between his teeth.

  She didn’t answer but sent what power she had to aid his.

  He groaned and cursed. ‘Cramp!’

  ‘Pick up the paralyzer, ma’am,’ Athelstan said.

  ‘What?’ Kambisha looked around and snatched up the strange weapon. ‘How does it work?’

  ‘Please move the side button toward you,’ Athelstan said in a curiously thick voice. ‘That will end its effects.’

  The weapon was made of copper wire around a thin, black pipe, with a gun grip on one end, and a ribbed button on the right side. She tried it carefully, but the button could only move toward her, so she did that, and Athelstan groaned.

  ‘Thank you,’ he said, his voice back to normal. ‘My wires got a little cramped.’

  Kyrus let go of a long stream of Kellish army curses as he rubbed his leg.

  ‘You all right?’ Kambisha said anxiously.

  ‘I couldn’t feel the leg,’ Kyrus said. He jumped up and down. ‘Now it’s all right again, but that was flippin’ scary! I thought I’d gone lame.’

  ‘Who were those guys?’ Odysson said. ‘Dreghs, I gather? They looked unpleasant.’

  Kambisha watched him as he licked his lips, looking just as sick as she felt. None of them had fought in earnest before, and though it was self-defense, the killing hit her harder than she’d expected.

  ‘They are most unpleasant, sir,’ Athelstan said. ‘Dreghs are not at all human; they are rats. They occupy a Lesser World that once was home to the Cuerie, a people much like the Moi, but older. The Cuerie civilization was quite advanced, even though they possessed no mana and never managed to venture into space. They were capable biotechs, and they turned common rats into Dreghs, to be used as workers in their factories.’

  ‘Somehow, that idea fills me with foreboding,’ Kyrus said.

  ‘I suppose the Cuerie’s knowledge of animal psychology was not on par with their biotech, sir,’ Athelstan said. ‘It was definitely not a well-thought-out decision.’

  ‘It ended badly?’

  ‘We do not know exactly what happened, sir, but when we discovered their world, it was teeming with Dreghs, living in the ruins of a technological civilization they barely grasped. There were no other peoples or even any higher mammals left.

  ‘We sent out armed expeditions who brought back evidence of the Cuerie’s late existence, documents of their doings and of their trouble with increasingly rebellious Dregh servants… but they themselves were gone.’

  ‘Did the Dreghs murder them?’ Kambisha said.

  ‘That is the general idea, ma’am. We did find bones, plenty of gnawed bones scattered all over. We captured some Dreghs, but no one managed to have a rational discussion with them. They are too alien; it proved impossible to read their minds. They don’t seem technological either. They get by because they were created to handle machines without fully understanding their working.’

  ‘How did they ever get into space?’ Odysson said.

  ‘They attacked the last ship we sent,’ Athelstan said. ‘The Dreghs used it to spread out like the plague of murderous thieves they are, and it took the fleet two hundred years to get them all confined to their home planet again.’

  ‘Until the mana quake let them back out,’ Odysson said.

  ‘I suppose you are right, sir,’ Athelstan said.

  ‘How did that fellow get in here with his minions?’ Kyrus said. He was always more interested in practical matters. ‘You didn’t let him in, did you?’

  ‘Not wittingly, sir,’ Athelstan said. ‘His ship is a stolen Realmfleet cruiser, so he pretended to be a Moi pilot. He simply went airlock-to-airlock and walked in, using his paralyzer on my panel to disable my connectors. That way he could use the station against my wish.’

  Kambisha stood staring at the dead boss Dregh. So there are enemies in space. Fun, not!

  Athelstan coughed. ‘Ma’am?’

  She looked up.

  ‘Are you ready to take command here, ma’am?’

  ‘What?’ Kambisha blinked. ‘Take command? Me?’

  ‘Yes, ma’am. With a mind as yours, you are the most suitable commander I have met, ma’am.’

  ‘But...’

  ‘With no resident outpost commander present, and with a galactic communications breakdown preventing me from asking instructions, emergency protocol ERX13 authorizes me to appoint the most suitable person available as commander, ma’am.’

  Kambisha looked at the boys. ‘I can’t do that!’

  Her brother snorted. ‘Of course you can. You’re the clever one, twin. Look, someone wants us in space. Divine Bodrus made that clear. All right, we’re here. Now we take charge.’

  ‘You do it, Kam,’ Odysson said. ‘I’m a trader, not a soldier. Just go for it.’

  Kambisha sighed. ‘We take charge, you said. Fine, you win. I am taking command.’

  ‘Very good, ma’am,’ Athelstan said. ‘We brain persons have a lot of free will, but we are, ah, not intended to act on our own. Any orders, ma’am?’

  Kambisha stared at the unfamiliar control panel. Orders? ‘Ah, not yet; I need more information. Those Dreghs; you said they have a ship nearby. Are there any more of those creatures, or did we get them all?’

  ‘My sensors don’t detect any life aboard the ship, ma’am. The lesser Dreghs were bodyguards. The cruiser outside has an Expanded AI brain designed to act as a one-person ship, so it doesn’t need a crew.’

  ‘The ship is still outside?’ Kyrus said eagerly.

  ‘Connected by the airlock, sir.’

  ‘It’s no use to us. We can’t just step in and fly away,’ Kambisha said. ‘Can we now?’

  ‘Yes, ma’am,’ Athelstan said.

  ‘Of course we can!’ Kyrus’ eyes lighting up. ‘If those stupid Dreghs can do it, we certainly can, too.’

  ‘Yes, sir. Let me explain. Original humans — you — don’t operate space ships; they haven’t got the reflexes. That is why the cruiser outside, like my station, has its own brain. Th
e only difference is the ship has an artificial intelligence and this station a formerly human one—me.’

  ‘Formerly? Ah, is this a sensitive subject?’ Kambisha said. ‘I wondered how you came in charge of this base.’

  ‘That’s all right, ma’am. I was human once. My brain was stronger than my original body, so when the latter started to annoy me, I volunteered for this job and they transplanted my brain into this station. It is not a bad deal; with proper care I can last many thousands of years.’

  ‘Ah,’ Kyrus said. ‘And the ship has another type of brain?’

  ‘It has an AI, designed by BrainLabs. It is basically similar to a human one, even with a personality of sorts, but more limited. You will find them in smaller ships and other, less demanding, positions.’

  Kyrus nodded. ‘Clear. You mentioned a code word?’

  ‘The command code. Once you have taken possession of a ship, you use it to take over captain’s command from the former owners. The code is voice-bound, so who speaks it will be the new captain, sir.’

  ‘Athelstan,’ Kyrus said carefully. ‘What is this code?’

  ‘Foulammer,’ Athelstan said. He sounded as if he’d stifled a laugh. ‘You see, that was the name of the company who made those ships. They used it as the basic code for all their vessels and the new owner was supposed to change it themselves. Well, people being what they are, this was often forgotten. Mighty warships sailed for years into battle and exploration with the original factory code unchanged. We stations know, for we hear the ships sign in with that code.

  ‘Our protocols forbid us ever to mention those codes, so we cannot warn the captain of his danger. In this case the ship was owned by an enemy, so I can tell you.’

  ‘Foulammer. I think I would like to take a look at this ship,’ Kyrus said innocently.

  ‘No problem,’ Kambisha said with a straight face. ‘I’ll come with you to speak the code word.’

  ‘No!’ he said, aghast. ‘You got the station already.’

  She patted his arm. ‘Just kidding. You can take the ship. Ody, you don’t want to be a captain, do you?’