 "Wings
of the Spirit"
(Excerpt: 2,159 of 11,436 words)
by David M. Fitzpatrick
Will Duncan woke suddenly,
immediately aware that he hadn’t dreamed of Kathleen and Katy. He’d
had no nightmares about their terrible deaths since his
life-changing trip to Vazhgar, but he’d always still dreamed of
them—pleasant dreams of cherished memories. But now there had been
no dreams, and he felt terribly wrong—as if he were immersed in a
cold, vast ocean of guilt.
He realized Tass Keaverly was
standing there. Her beautiful face, framed by a lot of artificial
white hair, stared down at him. Silver eyes gleamed in the dim light
of the barracks bay. He tried to blink himself awake.
“Good morning,” she said, waving a
blue-skinned hand. She wore a golden-red jumpsuit and yellow
knee-high boots—typical utilitarian attire for her.
Duncan propped himself up on his
elbows. His feelings weighed on him like a chain of asteroids
heading for a gas giant. He tried to keep his emotions from showing,
but Tass didn’t miss much.
“Something’s wrong,” she said. “Are
the nightmares back?”
She’d been annoyingly observant
since the night they’d met in a seedy bar on Tarquin, back when he’d
still been a cop in charge of a whole galactic sector. It frustrated
him, but at the same time there was something comforting about it.
“No,” he said. “Just no dreams of Kathleen and Katy at all. It’s a
little unsettling.”
She pursed her lips. “Duncan, you
learned to let go of that pain back on Vazhgar, and you’ve had good
dreams for three months. Don’t downplay your successes just because
you didn’t dream about them.”
He didn’t want to discuss it just
then. “Is there a reason you woke me?”
“Yes. We’re in orbit around Jox, so
get moving. We have a delivery to make.”
* * *
Jox filled the port third of the
control bay window, a brilliant world of swirling pinks and purples
over the greens of island continents. “Before we land,” Tass said
from the pilot’s seat, “there’s something we have to discuss about
this shipment.”
“A little late for that, isn’t it?”
he said from the co-pilot’s, looking suspiciously at her. “You’d
better not tell me we’re hauling contraband.”
“Not at all,” she said firmly. “The
cargo we picked up on Reeshu is a collection of ancient literature,
just like I told you. The Jukian Overlord who bought them is a
collector with arguably the largest library in the galaxy.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“The problem is the planet Jox,”
she said as she programmed the nav computer. “There’s a lot about it
you won’t like.”
“Jox is a popular tourist planet
within our space, but it isn’t a member world,” Duncan said,
recalling what he knew from his days in law enforcement as a sector
chief. “It’s ruled by nineteen authoritarian, continental
Overlords.”
“But there are things you don’t
know,” she said, “and I don’t need you getting revolutionary and
trying to save the world.”
He grimaced. “Give me some credit.”
“I am—I think it’s admirable that
you’d want to save a world.” She finished with the computer and
turned to him. “Jox is a slave planet, Duncan.”
He chuckled. “No, it’s an
indentured servitude world. Servants work hard, but the payoff
following contract fulfillment is substantial. And although not a
member of the United Worlds, we have treaties with the Jukians. Jox
is spacelocked, so if our citzens are treated poorly, Jox is cut off
from everything.”
“What about non-citizens?” Tass
said. “There are a thousand non-member planets allowed into our
space. Non-citizens are at the mercy of the Jukians, and the UW can
do nothing about it. The indentured servitude program was formed to
satisfy the UW, but the Jukes have enslaved their own people for
thousands of years. I’ve heard nasty rumors of slave abuse all over
Jox.”
“Rumors,” he echoed, shaking his
head with a grin. “Someone once said a cruel story runs on wheels,
and every hand oils the wheels as they run.”
* * *
Tass brought the ship down over a
sparkling ocean reflecting a lilac sky and an orange sun. The
coastline of a continent loomed before them, the towering spires of
a city spiking up like brass needles. Domes speckled distant hills
like gleaming dewdrops in the morning. Tass turned control over to
the Jukian satellite air traffic system and the ship banked around
the city and streamed inland. At low altitude, it flew through a
golden mountain range, over a deep gray valley, across shining
lavender lakes.
Tass related some trivia about the
Overlords. Millennia ago, nations warred until single leaders
controlled entire island continents. Because the oceans teemed with
carnivorous sea creatures larger than Earth’s blue whales, the
Jukians were never much for seafaring; by the time technology
advanced to the point where sea travel was feasible, nineteen
Overlords had absolute power over their continents. Warring amongst
the Overlords resulted in gargantuan fortresses in the geographic
centers of the continents. Today, the Overlords enjoyed a
comfortable alliance in the wake of runaway interplanetary tourism.
Tass and Duncan crossed a vast
purple sea, and a massive amber mountain range rose up ahead through
scintillating mists. Peaks towered above others, and the revamped
military transport ship banked and angled, under satellite control,
to speed between them. Duncan felt helpless, as if they were riding
a mad elephant through a minefield.
When they broke through the peaks,
a huge mountain was before them. It was wide and high, and when the
ship abruptly climbed and leveled off, Duncan saw the top was a
massive plateau. Flat and sprawling, it was topped with a city
bigger than the coastal metropolis.
“This is the Overlord’s complex,”
Tass said, as if reading his mind. “It covers the whole top of this
mountain—”
Suddenly, a much smaller craft
burst through a cloud bank just ahead, two other small ships hot on
its heels. The pursuers displayed alien markings, but they looked
like law enforcement to Will. The ship they were chasing was
dangerously close but its angle was steep, and it climbed fast.
“Looks like someone’s running from
the law,” Duncan said.
Without warning, the pursuers
erupted with forward cannons. Bolts flew like missiles and impacted
the fleeing craft, and there was a tremendous explosion. Trailing a
plume of black smoke, the burning craft tumbled in the air and its
climb suddenly became a dive—right toward Tass and Will.
“No way!” Tass exclaimed, and
yarded on her control yoke. The pursuing ships banked sharply away
as Tass worked to move her ship out of the damaged vessel’s path.
She almost made it. The burning
craft streaked past them to starboard and out of view, but suddenly
the ship rocked violently from a broadside collision. Tass hauled
hard on the yoke and Duncan hit the computers as the ship skewed
sideways and nosed down.
“We’ve lost the starboard stabilizer,” Duncan reported.
Tass regained control, but the ship
shuddered menacingly as it flew. “Get on the comm,” she said. “Tell
them we’re damaged and we’re bringing her in manually.”
* * *
An escort craft responded and
guided them to a landing platform in the sprawling city. They were
greeted with a crew of maintenance humanoids on the platform as they
headed down the lowered ramp.
“Welcome, welcome,” said a
strange-looking transparent humanoid. He stood five feet tall,
wide-hipped and squat, his body like clear gelatin. He wore
clothing, but where his skin was visible, translucent organs could
be seen working. “I am Portmaster Joragg. I am instructioned to
offer apologetics for damage you have incurs.” His use of the
universal neolingo was stilted, but easily understood.
Duncan and Tass made it down the
ramp and Tass hurried around to look at the starboard hull. She
sucked in her breath when she saw the damage on the huge craft. The
entire length of the ship, and most of its depth, was scorched
black. There was virtually nothing left of the destroyed stabilizer.
Much of the hull was caved in, the metal rippled from heat and
impact, and an ugly gash ran half the length of the ship, exposing
its interior. It was completely unspaceworthy.
“This can’t be happening,” she
said, her voice quavering. “Not my ship.”
“We have excellent repairing
facilities,” Joragg said, smiling with glassy teeth beneath oddly
pellucid eyes. “No worries.”
“That’s easy for you to say,” Tass
said, her voice on the edge of throwing a tantrum. Her brow furrowed
tightly over gleaming eyes. “You’re not the one with a damaged ship.
This ship is my life.”
“Take it easy,” Duncan said gently,
resting a hand on her shoulder.
She whirled on him. “I can’t take
it easy!” In lower tones, she said, “I just want off this planet as
soon as possible. I don’t want to be here any longer than we need to
be.”
The scream of an approaching craft
broke their conversation, and they turned to the platform beyond her
ship, watching as one of the two law enforcement craft that had shot
down the fleeing craft eased into the bay and settled down on a
waning antigrav field.
“There’s the idiot responsible for ruining my ship,” she said
through clenched teeth.
“Keep it calm,” Duncan said. “I think they’re the law.”
“They are Overlord’s police force,”
Joragg said as the ship thumped down on its landing struts and a
door hissed open. They watched a black-suited humanoid, standing
eight feet tall and easily pushing four hundred pounds of solid
muscle, clamber down the ramp created by the door. He headed off the
platform and straight for them.
“Your identification does indicate
you be here on official business,” the humanoid said from behind a
black-visored helmet, his command of the universal neolingo not much
better than Joragg’s—but an oddly different dialect. His voice was
deep and menacing, and he was big. A holstered pulse handgun was at
his side.
“Delivering a load of goods to the
Overlord himself,” Tass said icily. “You want to tell me what the
idea is, shooting down someone right in front of my ship?”
“It be an accident,” he said
evenly.
“Accident, my synthetic gluteus,”
she said haughtily, pointing at the damage. “It looks like an
on-purpose to me. You fired on that ship when it wasn’t remotely
safe to do so, and look at the damage to my ship because of it! The
Overlord’s cargo could have been destroyed—not to mention we could
have been killed!”
Duncan tried not to visibly wince,
but rested his hand back on her shoulder and gave it a light squeeze
to calm her.
Joragg quickly said, “Officer,
these off-worlders don’t understanding.”
“No,” he said. “I do suppose they
do not understand. We do not see your vessel until we do fire our
cannons. We do apologize for the damage.”
“You want to tell me why it was so
important to blow that guy up that you risked my ship and our
lives?” she said, slightly calmer but still furious.
Duncan couldn’t see his face and
gauge emotion, but the officer was silent for many long seconds.
Then he stepped forward, towering over her, and leaned down. She
backed off a bit.
“That be none of your concern,” he
said firmly. “The… lawbreaker… who do attempt to escape do suffer
immediate action. We do mean no harm to you.”
“I’m sure it’s all right,” Duncan
said. “My friend here is just upset—her ship means a lot to her, you
know.”
“I do understand,” he said,
straightening up and backing off a step. “I do receive orders from
Central Command. The Overlord do request your presence, so he do
apologize personally.” To Joragg: “Do take these visitors to the
palace.”
While the officer returned to his
ship and Joragg hurriedly ran around trying to arrange that, Duncan
said to Tass, “You think losing your mind like that will make this
easier?”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I calmed
down.”
“Rather suddenly, in fact. Why the
abrupt change in behavior?”
“Did you hear what he said? The
lawbreaker who attempted to escape? Who do you think he’s talking
about?”
“Don’t start on the slave thing
again.”
“Who else would have to escape?
Indentured servants wouldn’t have to. They just break their
contracts and leave without getting paid.” She sighed. “Look, I just
don’t want to be stuck here any longer than we have to be. I wasn’t
kidding about the slave issue, and if that lawbreaker was a slave,
wouldn’t it figure we ended up in the middle of it. I just don’t
want to get tangled up in anything.”
“I’m sure it will be fine,” he said.
“It will be fine when we get off
this rock,” she said firmly. “They take their affairs very
seriously, and they don’t want off-worlders getting in the way.
We’re lucky we made it out alive, and we’ll be luckier still if we
can get out of here before this gets any worse.”
* *
* * * * * *
*
Of course, it gets a lot worse.
So far, this is a difficult
story for me to excerpt fairly. At this point, while many things
have been set up, nothing has really happened. But Will Duncan is
about to meet someone who will change his life—and certainly change
everything about his and Tass' visit to Jox.
However, since "Wings of the
Spirit" is appearing in two parts over two issues of Amazing
Journeys, I can't go much further than this without giving away
the entire Part One. After Part One has been published for a month
or so, I'll add to this excerpt, up to and including some of Part
Two.
To read the whole story, visit
www.JourneyBooksPublishing.com and order Amazing
Journeys Issues #11 and #12. |
This appeared in the
final two issues of Amazing Journeys magazine (#11 and #12, in 2006) as a two-part tale. "Wings" is
my first-ever "sequel story," revisiting characters who first appeared in 