Sally Ann Melia
Sally Ann Melia, SF&F
Thanks for your feedback last week, I have completed this rewrite, and I am now working though the longer text.
The earlier versions were listed under the heading Guy Erma and the Son of Empire.
Chapter 1 Introducing Karl Valvanchi
Karl sent in the missile droids first, but they confirmed what Karl already knew: the cave was empty. The droids counted twenty folded bunks, and as the SDLA slept in shifts, that meant forty men. A large unit to be this close to the centre, Karl thought and a first cold finger of fear touched the nape of his neck. Where were they now? And who was in command?
“Send in the cyborg,” said Karl, “slowly.”
Janice had been a nurse. Her human body had been resuscitated with a robotic core and brain at her family’s request, so she might live on as a cyborg. However, she belonged to the Zaracan military and right now Karl needed her to do a job he would never have given to a human. The cave would be protected. He directed her by the shortest route towards the back packs and watched impatiently as she dug into their possessions. The fear was still there, like an itch he could not scratch, but he had to be sure. Then he saw it, she was pulling out a silver-coated medallion moulded to resemble a geodesic dome bearing an inscription. The screen translated:
Loyal to Empire . Fearing only God
“Dome Elite,” Karl whispered with a sigh. The fear had grown, now it felt like a hand on his neck. Yet this was an irrational fear. Even reinforced with the Elite, the SDLA were not a threat, or were they? Would they attack the centre? Surely not, they did not have the weapons, and forty was never enough men. So what were they doing here? Karl heard a noise and looked up. Another backpack fell forward, its contents rolling across the floor. This triggered the snake. A coiled machine gun droid, it spiralled upwards behind Janice.
“Snake,” Karl shouted the alarm. The cyborg dropped to her belly, above and behind her the machine unleashed a circle of fire, starting high and spinning low. Its long body was a chain of bullets. She rolled fast across the floor, the bullets flying overhead. Silence. It was all over, only the snake head remained.
“Fifteen, fourteen,” Karl counted down the seconds and watched, “Thirteen, twelve, eleven…”
The snakehead span towards Janice. She rose to her toes like an athlete all set to race when an enormous explosion blasted her to the floor.
“Damn them,” Karl cursed, “a five second fuse. Why did they set a five second fuse? Damn them.” As an after-thought he added: “I’m going in.”
“No Karl,” the voice from Control sounded far away.
“It’s alright. I’m suiting up.”
Setting all other considerations aside, Karl landed his shuttle, and headed out towards the cave. Pulling down his visor, he looked for the imprints of the cyborg’s feet, and matching his footsteps to hers, he ran to the spot where the she lay. Around him, the missile droids spun fast, continuously checking, nothing moved. It felt good to be active, Karl swiftly bent to pick up the head. The blood had jellified on contact with the air. He scooped it into the neck cavity. Both head and blood would be recalibrated and reused. This was valuable work. He dragged the torso towards him, and put it under his arm, one of the legs dragged across the floor, the other rolled away.
“Don’t worry about the legs, Karl.” Control reminded him. Karl nodded. Janet’s hand was on top of the backpacks. He pulled the medallion from her pinched fingers and pushed it in his pocket. She was wearing family rings. With a sigh, he hooked the hand into his belt by the thumb. For her family, he thought, then touched the floor:
“This matting has a lead filament, that’s why the droids did not sense the snake.”
If the matting could conceal one snake, Karl started to sweat …
“Karl, you’ve done enough, just get out now.”
Outside Karl examined the craft parked alongside his shuttle.
“I want to destroy their transport. They are fully fueled and ready to go anywhere, even the space platform.”
“Karl, those are United Races registered craft. You can’t destroy them, you know that.”
“OK, but are you ready for an attack?”
“Relax Karl, you know we are ready.”
Even as Karl listened, his communicator lit up, a second call.
“Mezzatorra to Control. We are under attack. Large attack at least forty assailants. They came over the south perimeter. Please assist.”
Mezzatorra? The hand of fear was cold at his throat now, and his breathing had become shallow. What did they want with Mezzatorra? He spoke quickly:
“Karl Valvanchi here. Have you locked down?”
“Yes, lock down was successful. All personnel are secure.” The voice was Sonia’s, a recently arrived twenty-year-old assistant for the R&D team. Karl also knew why it was Sonia. The manager at Mezzatorra was sending him a subliminal message. Look, we’re not worried; the most junior member of staff is reporting the attack. So why was Karl so scared? And scared of what? As with all their bases small and large, Mezzatorra had a large comfortable secure vault. Lock down had been successful, that meant all of the staff were safely in this secure citadel, most likely the most difficult choice they faced was whether to have breakfast or simply go get some more sleep in the vault bunk room.
Sonia was still talking, laughing as she did.
What was so funny, wondered Karl?
“Most of us were still in bed, so it’s a bit like a pyjama party here.”
Karl nodded bleakly; at length he forced himself to reply.
“I won’t switch the camera on, but you’re all OK?”
“May I submit the formal lock down report?” she asked.
“Go ahead.” Karl listened to the formalities and tried to regulate his breathing. The SDLA were not a risk, even reinforced by the Dome Elite, what was the worse they could do? And this was good training for Sonia, he thought, as he placed the cyborg’s body parts in a padded crate. She has such a sweet husky voice. Sonia reputedly already had two lovers. This was not uncommon on an exploration base with such a skewed male – female ratio, but in Sonia’s case there had been gossip. Her chosen lovers had been identical twins; also she was herself so beautiful. Karl smiled as he remembered her soft curls. He had almost thought, no he was too old for her, or if not too old certainly too… he sought for the word, too jaded perhaps. Anyhow Jake and John were a better choice.
“Did you say there was only one pallet in the yard?”
The detail brought him up short, the fear returned once more, as he listened for her reply.
“Yes, that’s right. That’s what is so unusual; the SDLA would not normally bother for one pallet of Monazite.”
“Look I’m not far off. I’ll buzz them. If they’re not gone already, that should scare them off.”
“Oh great, thanks Karl. Why don’t you stop for breakfast? Jake’s planning to cook his speciality lizards.”
“Hum… Jake’s speciality lizards… What was that?”
“Oh. Look. I better check. See you Karl.”
Chapter 2 Welcome to the Dome
With a whispered prayer, Guy Erma kissed his Dome medallion and slid it inside his shirt. He stepped up to the edge of the mat. In truth, he knew he did not need God’s help today. No all he needed to win this fight, was to be ruthless, and to be quick. The gong had rung. To delay now was to be disqualified. Guy gripped the short fighting blades and somersaulted forward. He landed within reach of his opponent.
He twisted into a spinning high kick that caught and cut the other’s shoulder pad. He found his feet while the other was still unbalanced, then crouched and sliced his other leg in a circle just off the floor. In so doing, he swept his opponent’s feet from under him. The other boy fell. Guy was quick to leap up and on top of him, riding astride his adversary’s chest with two blades pressed to his neck.
“Do you yield?” Guy roared into his face
“I yield… I yield…” The other was so fearful he almost wept, and to see this sent a thrill through Guy stronger than any other emotion. His heart beat fast, as he rose panting, exhilarated and joyful: ‘He had won!’
No one watching, why would they? Across the vast competition space there were over two dozen blades mats, almost all played host to a fighting duo. As always his gaze was drawn to where the gym opened onto the vast panes and verticals of the Dome. The light was bright, yet dark geometric shadows fell across the space. Guy loved this gym felt he always fought better here, in the light and shadows of the Dome.
In the light and the shadows of the Dome, so help me God. It was a prayer of the Dome Elite. One day I will say those words, thought Guy, and wear that uniform.
Now that's a real prayer. He sighed. So help me god.
