Angel Kent
28-05-2004, 02:55
thump
Lineworker Second Class Martin Greene's head jerked up to see only the same old view. On the top floor of the tremendous Kentine factory caverns, grass and sunlight were bare yards away, but the knowledge of that only worsened the heat, the odor, and the noise of a production line.
"Hey! Schmidt!" Greene looked up from the telephone on the line and yelled to his supervisor. Apart from Henry Schmidt, the cave was empty of life.
"What now?" called back the Lineworker First Class.
"Did you 'ear that?"
"What?"
"The thump! It sounded like it came from above!"
"If it did, then it's just the Family 'avin fun! Don't worry 'bout nothin'!"
A broadsword, flame-colored runes simpering over its surface, dropped through the rock like it wasn't there, only the hilt presumably stopping it.
Schmidt called out, "Whatever you do, don't touch it!"
"What?"
"Don't touch..."
Greene's hand started to burn around the neat slice the sword had made from between his small and ring fingers to his wrist.
"I told 'im..."
~
"Nice move, cousin." Tiberius Ironstar jerked his sword from the ground. "Bet you can't do it again," he said, his pointed ears rising as he grinned a very open grin. He lunged with his unnamed sword at Pharazon.
Raz grinned back, showing a full set of gleaming white teeth, but this grin did not show friendliness - rather, it was an expression implying that any suffrance shown was temporary. "Bet I can." He moved his own sword in a complicated maneuvre. A mirror-like sheet of energy flowed from his body into Ti's. His cousin flew across the field and hit the same place again. Tiberius was aware this time, though, and caught the sword before it could do much damage.
"That was interesting, Raz. Try this." He touched the flat of his blade to his forehead. The runes seemed to calm, then flow like water, then leap at Pharazon. A flaming burst the size of a dinner-plate knocked Raz to the ground.
"You got that from the White Books, didn't you?"
Ti nodded. "You got yours from the Black, didn't you?"
Raz's nod was interrupted by a female voice. "Having fun with forbidden knowledge, are you?" Arwen Ironstar, all of ten years old, rode sidesaddle on a tremendous gray stallion. The horse's feet had been padded, or maybe enchanted, to stop noise.
The boys spoke at once, with Tiberius' calm manner stopping Pharazon's blustering response. "We're seventeen now," said Ti, "and the Librarian let us use those."
"Did Grandfather?"
Both boys looked down. "No," said Raz.
"Well, then you shouldn't use it," said little Arwen. "I shan't tell Grandfather - this time."
The cousins looked at each other with the helpless stares of those blackmailed.
~
"They may need it, they may not, but the Librarian sees fit to give them that knowledge, and that seems final to me," Mazer Ironstar, the oldest of three brothers, said, standing in front of the plasma screen in the Jaundice council room. "I say let them learn. It's not like they'll turn it on us."
"Mazer, I'm not so sure this is a good idea. You do have some good points, though, so I will wait to see what Azrael decides." Octavian, the middle son, shook his head. "Going away from neutrality in any way has historically been a bad idea."
On the screen, Atanamir's son Pharazon showed Arwen how to amplify her voice using only a blade of grass and the circle formed by her thumb and forefinger. Sound was unavailable, but the image showed grass quivering as the orphan girl spoke too loudly. The sons winced, but didn't attempt to block the sound.
"For now, let's not do anything. Besides, gray is Imperial." Mazer smiled.
"Fine. Let the record show I was cautious. Next... Screen! Show us Kurushio Prime."
Mazer frowned at the odd name. "Kurush... Blacktide, Japanese I think. Some new world? I didn't think we had any worlds named like that..."
Octavian smiled. "We didn't. The Empire didn't. And the Empire didn't even know about these worlds."
The screen showed what were definately Imperial defense platforms around a jungle planet. "This world once belonged to what calls itself the Star Empire of Thunderstraat. The Empire seized it without warning last month, along with a disputed world called Dodge's Planet from the United Planetstates of New Jupiter and an unknown charted as Piliminius."
Mazer looked at his brother deploringly. "New Jupiter is a minor world about z-ten from Negev, and I don't think even the old Greeks had a piliminius. What is it?"
"You know how the Empire has the ability to break into other levels of reality?"
"Yeah. So do we, and ten times better. Sanctus Rio and all that. What are you getting at?"
"They've found a... place. A new place. Very, very big."
"So what are we doing about it?"
Octavian grinned, an open grin like those of his son. "Why, we're following the noble Emperor to this world," he said. "Do you want this?"
"If it steals the Smyrnorran's glory? I want this very much."
Lineworker Second Class Martin Greene's head jerked up to see only the same old view. On the top floor of the tremendous Kentine factory caverns, grass and sunlight were bare yards away, but the knowledge of that only worsened the heat, the odor, and the noise of a production line.
"Hey! Schmidt!" Greene looked up from the telephone on the line and yelled to his supervisor. Apart from Henry Schmidt, the cave was empty of life.
"What now?" called back the Lineworker First Class.
"Did you 'ear that?"
"What?"
"The thump! It sounded like it came from above!"
"If it did, then it's just the Family 'avin fun! Don't worry 'bout nothin'!"
A broadsword, flame-colored runes simpering over its surface, dropped through the rock like it wasn't there, only the hilt presumably stopping it.
Schmidt called out, "Whatever you do, don't touch it!"
"What?"
"Don't touch..."
Greene's hand started to burn around the neat slice the sword had made from between his small and ring fingers to his wrist.
"I told 'im..."
~
"Nice move, cousin." Tiberius Ironstar jerked his sword from the ground. "Bet you can't do it again," he said, his pointed ears rising as he grinned a very open grin. He lunged with his unnamed sword at Pharazon.
Raz grinned back, showing a full set of gleaming white teeth, but this grin did not show friendliness - rather, it was an expression implying that any suffrance shown was temporary. "Bet I can." He moved his own sword in a complicated maneuvre. A mirror-like sheet of energy flowed from his body into Ti's. His cousin flew across the field and hit the same place again. Tiberius was aware this time, though, and caught the sword before it could do much damage.
"That was interesting, Raz. Try this." He touched the flat of his blade to his forehead. The runes seemed to calm, then flow like water, then leap at Pharazon. A flaming burst the size of a dinner-plate knocked Raz to the ground.
"You got that from the White Books, didn't you?"
Ti nodded. "You got yours from the Black, didn't you?"
Raz's nod was interrupted by a female voice. "Having fun with forbidden knowledge, are you?" Arwen Ironstar, all of ten years old, rode sidesaddle on a tremendous gray stallion. The horse's feet had been padded, or maybe enchanted, to stop noise.
The boys spoke at once, with Tiberius' calm manner stopping Pharazon's blustering response. "We're seventeen now," said Ti, "and the Librarian let us use those."
"Did Grandfather?"
Both boys looked down. "No," said Raz.
"Well, then you shouldn't use it," said little Arwen. "I shan't tell Grandfather - this time."
The cousins looked at each other with the helpless stares of those blackmailed.
~
"They may need it, they may not, but the Librarian sees fit to give them that knowledge, and that seems final to me," Mazer Ironstar, the oldest of three brothers, said, standing in front of the plasma screen in the Jaundice council room. "I say let them learn. It's not like they'll turn it on us."
"Mazer, I'm not so sure this is a good idea. You do have some good points, though, so I will wait to see what Azrael decides." Octavian, the middle son, shook his head. "Going away from neutrality in any way has historically been a bad idea."
On the screen, Atanamir's son Pharazon showed Arwen how to amplify her voice using only a blade of grass and the circle formed by her thumb and forefinger. Sound was unavailable, but the image showed grass quivering as the orphan girl spoke too loudly. The sons winced, but didn't attempt to block the sound.
"For now, let's not do anything. Besides, gray is Imperial." Mazer smiled.
"Fine. Let the record show I was cautious. Next... Screen! Show us Kurushio Prime."
Mazer frowned at the odd name. "Kurush... Blacktide, Japanese I think. Some new world? I didn't think we had any worlds named like that..."
Octavian smiled. "We didn't. The Empire didn't. And the Empire didn't even know about these worlds."
The screen showed what were definately Imperial defense platforms around a jungle planet. "This world once belonged to what calls itself the Star Empire of Thunderstraat. The Empire seized it without warning last month, along with a disputed world called Dodge's Planet from the United Planetstates of New Jupiter and an unknown charted as Piliminius."
Mazer looked at his brother deploringly. "New Jupiter is a minor world about z-ten from Negev, and I don't think even the old Greeks had a piliminius. What is it?"
"You know how the Empire has the ability to break into other levels of reality?"
"Yeah. So do we, and ten times better. Sanctus Rio and all that. What are you getting at?"
"They've found a... place. A new place. Very, very big."
"So what are we doing about it?"
Octavian grinned, an open grin like those of his son. "Why, we're following the noble Emperor to this world," he said. "Do you want this?"
"If it steals the Smyrnorran's glory? I want this very much."