The Archer's Paradox - The Travis Fletcher Chronicles Read online

  “But what about…” he began.

  “I have been asked if you would consider returning to Otoch once all this unpleasantness has abated.” he stated with a deep bow, indicating that whatever Travis said would not be questioned. “We have waited two thousand years.” he replied evenly. “A year or so more would not make much difference to the outcome, and we know where to find you now.”

  “But why?”

  “Your safety on Otoch cannot be guaranteed, so it was decided that you should be taken to safety, and where would be more safe than your home?”

  “The Council?”

  “The Council has been compromised.” The Commander spat with sudden venom. “It is certain elements of The Council that have put you in this situation.”

  “Have we met?” Travis changed the subject suddenly. Something was pricking the back of his mind. He felt as if he should know the Commander but……

  “I am Pansā No Ashi, he introduced himself with another bow. You knew my son, Jagā No Ashi.”

  Travis jumped as he recognised the name of the young man who tried to protect him in his apartment. “He was…I…I’m sorry…He…” Travis stammered.

  Pansā No Ashi smiled kindly, in the way that only a grieving father can. “I know.” he said. Turning to Xnuk Ek’ he said, “I think the pilot is trying to catch your attention.”

  The pair looked towards the cockpit where Lak’in was peering expectantly from behind the pilot’s seat. Xnuk Ek’ made her excuses and joined her erstwhile lover on the small flight deck and Pansā No Ashi took his seat. “Tell me of your time with Jagā No Ashi.” he asked. “I wish to know of his last days.”

  Travis looked towards the flight deck where Xnuk Ek’ and Lak’in were deep in conversation with their eyes locked together. He looked back at Pansā No Ashi, took a deep breath and began.

  The Council Chamber was in uproar. Protocol had broken down and K'an Aayin was in the middle of insinuating Kiiro No Wani was guilty of the most heinous crimes against the Xi Scorpii people whilst being very careful not to directly question his honour. Kiiro No Wani had to admire the other’s linguistic dexterity as he trod a fine line. Travis Fletcher’s disappearance had been noticed quicker than he would have liked, so he immediately admitted to his part in the proceedings knowing that the interrogation The Council would put him through would subsequently delay the search for Travis Fletcher, giving him more chance to escape. He knew that the Council Leader’s tirade was a desperate smoke screen to cover his own fall from honour. Kiiro No Wani waited patiently for the furore to subside before countering. The longer Kiiro No Wani was allowed to continue, the better. Travis Fletcher must be off the planet by now, but preparing an Interstellar Explorer for departure did not happen instantaneously.

  “I deny none of what you have said,” he said finally to a shocked and hushed room, “but I take your words as mere statements of fact and not proof of loss of honour.” Murmurings broke out as each speaker conferred with the rest of his or her delegates. He held up a hand to indicate that he had not yet finished and waited for the hubbub to die down. “Yes, it is true that I orchestrated the release of Travis Fletcher and I did indeed arrange for him to flee Otoch. He is now on his way back to Sol 3.” His final words were drowned out as pandemonium broke out once more but Kiiro No Wani waited patiently. In his haste to accuse him, K'an Aayin had left himself wide open and it was time to strike back. Maybe if he could expose K'an Aayin’s treachery now, he could resolve the situation, bring The Children of Éðel to the table for a peaceful solution and recall Travis Fletcher before the Interstellar Explorer entered hyperspace. He took a deep breath, drew himself up to his full height and pointed an accusative finger directly at K'an Aayin. “But it is your honour that is forfeit, not mine.” he declared, with all the force of the Code of Honour behind him.

  Silence. The whole chamber froze in tableau. Not knowing how, or even if to react, they dared not move or breathe for fear of being swept up in the storm of emotions that crackled between the two antagonists, but it was done, and could not be undone. Never before in the history of the Council had such a blatant challenge been made to another member. The only thing that was certain now, Kiiro No Wani thought quietly to himself, was that one of them would be dead before this session was over. So be it.

  K'an Aayin’s complexion turned various shades of red and purple as fury, embarrassment and fear fought for the control of his face muscles as he tried to compose a retort. He had been caught completely off guard so Kiiro No Wani pressed home his advantage and launched into the story of how he had followed the Council Leader and eavesdropped on his meeting with the hidden infiltrator. K'an Aayin tried weakly to counter Kiiro No Wani’s onslaught by questioning the honour of spying on a fellow Council Member but he knew in his heart that he had lost.

  “Do you deny the charges against you?” Haḷadi Mosaḷe questioned him finally. “Do you deny that your actions lead to the deaths of other Xi Scorpii and that you went against this Council’s wishes to keep The Original safe?”

  “What is the death of one primitive, compared to the destruction of our whole civilisation?” K'an Aayin retorted, his head held high.

  “It was our contempt for others and the conviction of our own superiority that led to The Fall.” Njano Mamba countered quietly.

  “The Children of Éðel are still Xi Scorpii and we need to bring them back to us.” Kiiro No Wani added. “Without them, we are incomplete.” he indicated the empty table for the Xi Scorpii E delegation. “But neither can we allow them to tear open the old wounds that would only serve to complete what our ancestors started.” he looked around the chamber to see all the other delegates nodding silently in agreement, including the other four Xi Scorpii C representatives.

  K'an Aayin’s response was as immediate as it was unexpected. He leapt to his feet with energy balls cracking in both hands and aimed them at his accuser. It was not a serious attack, but as he knew he had lost all honour in the eyes of the Council, this was his only course of action. Before he had a chance to release them, he was struck by several balls from other members. His charred body collapsed backwards into his chair, as if he had just sat down heavily. Smoke curled from multiple wounds and black, dead eyes surveyed the room. The remaining Xi Scorpii C delegates recoiled in a mixture of shock, a survival reflex and to distance themselves from their dishonoured leader. As the Council looked on at the horror they had just wreaked, K'an Aayin’s final thought hung in the air between them like a portent of doom

  Time will vindicate me.

  Across the City, Áhýdende Snaca felt the traitor’s demise. He snorted derisively and turned to his communicator. He had taken the coward’s way out, so now, it was time to act.

  On The Beorn, Beadu Slecg looked round the bridge at his crew who looked at him expectantly, muscles tensed to react to his orders to prepare for war but he held his nerve. No need to go wading in for maximum bloodshed, no matter how much the crew or the military governors back on Níwlíc Éðel wished it. He wanted to give his new secret weapon a chance to bring the fleet to battle readiness, but slowly, as a diversionary tactic. He was sure that other spies floated out in the void, undetected. Keep the enemy focused on the fleet and maybe he could get them to urinate in their pants when they realised what a full battle fleet looked like in full flight. He smiled to himself as he gave his orders.

  On Interstellar Explorer One, Vita Nyundo received the information about K'an Aayin’s demise with sadness. About the same time he also had despatches coming in from the sentries secreted just outside Tocha’s debris field. He had already lost one ship and its crew, presumably destroyed, as they had heard nothing since the final message that they were surrounded by a dozen attack craft. He saw no reason to lose more when just as much data could be gathered at a safe distance - not that there was any such thing as a ‘safe distance’ in war. The fleet of Níwlíc Éðel was preparing to move. The sentries had picked up propulsion units being warmed up and armaments bei
ng tested; so many weapons, soon to be pointed at him. He felt sick as he looked at the volunteers around him, faces eager, but dread in their eyes, and the thousands more in the hangars and the newly finished weapon bays. Hardly a warrior among them, but all willing to stand against the storm for the sake of the Xi Scorpii. Four races that had once tried to annihilate each other, now standing together against a common enemy.

  At his word, two thousand sleek darts sped off into the void from the ship’s hangars in four directions skirting - he hoped - the extreme range of the opposing fleet’s sensors. They would need time to get into position and until they were ready he was alone; just one ship against more than one hundred. He was confident they had the advantage of superior technology, but would it be enough?

  A tiny silver speck in the void streaked between the red-brown of Otoch and the pale grey moon that orbited it. On board, Travis Fletcher was lost in his own thoughts. Pansā No Ashi had left him to converse with the rest of the crew, about fifty in total, who were to take him home. Xnuk Ek’ was still deep in conversation with Lak’in. Although she had never mentioned him since she ‘lost it’ on the way here, Travis got the impression that she had done something to him about the same time, judging by the vibe he had got from her when they boarded. Whatever it was, it was taking a long time to work out and it looked like Lak’in was being sympathetic. Maybe he should not be so hard on her. She did, after all, help him to get away, and the conversation they had in the desert showed a side of her that he would never have guessed existed. Maybe she would like to stay a while, when they got back to Earth. He would like to show her around properly, rather than as a scientist studying an insect colony. He smirked to himself as he pictured her in Earth clothes, sitting in a restaurant or in the pub. Dark glasses would be a must! Those eyes stand out, just a little. And what beautiful eyes they were, and her smile and…an image popped unbidden into his mind. Xnuk Ek’ looked up from her huddle with Lak’in having caught the edge of his thoughts and looked down out of the cockpit at him, a playful smile on her lips. He blushed, cursing himself.

  His thoughts returned to home; clouds, air you can breathe and sun you can stand in without being fried, beer, wine, good food, rain, drab buildings, drab existence, noise, pollution, small minded and self-serving dickheads trying to fleece you at every turn. He was starting to think like one of them! Did he really want to go home, if home it was. He had had a taste of what the wet dreams of sci-fi geeks were made of and he wanted to see more. Surely the whole universe was not out to kill him or cut him up, it just felt that way. He wanted to see other planets, ones that had not been torn apart by war. Maybe even…but it was too late, his destiny was not in his hands…again.

  Chapter 15

  Xnuk Ek’ left the cockpit and joined Travis back in the main cabin with a look a satisfaction on her face. Whatever they had been discussing, she was pleased at the outcome. Although her thoughts gave nothing away, her eyes had regained some of their original fire and her whole body seemed to glow. Lak’in was working at the controls and an air of expectation charged the passengers who strained to look out of the windows they had created. Travis cast left and right, not knowing where to look or what to look for. Out of the port window Otoch’s moon slid gracefully by. Their velocity had slowed dramatically but Travis had not noticed the deceleration. Xnuk Ek’ tapped Travis on the shoulder and pointed out of the starboard side of the craft with a long delicate finger, allowing Travis to get his first glimpse of his ride home. It looked familiar but also different. Surely this could not be the same ship he arrived on. It looked almost identical in design but he did not remember the low domes that broke the perfect lines along the spine and belly of the craft. As they arced round the aft, he noticed that two of the huge nacelles were missing; leaving only the stubby pylons that connected them to the main body of the ship and spoiling its perfect lines and curves. It looked to Travis like a thoroughbred racehorse with two of its legs amputated, it was still beautiful, but less that it should be. He guessed that it was the two that originally housed the games centres, as he remembered that the hangar decks were either side of the main fuselage and it was the top and bottom ones that were missing.

  As Lak’in lined the little craft up to the approaching maw on the port hangar, Travis idly wondered why the ship was in orbit round Otoch’s moon and not the planet itself. Maybe something to do with their stealthy exit, he reasoned with himself and put the thought to one side to watch Lak’in’s skilful manoeuvrings. The inside of the hangar looked different as well. It was uncharacteristically untidy and had an unfinished look about it; as if they had had the builders in and they had nipped out to the pub for lunch but never came back. Machinery and packing crates were strewn around randomly and Lak’in was steering a course around them. The platforms that lined the sides of the hangar looked smaller and more cramped. Each mezzanine now contained dozens of small crafts like the ones Travis had seen before they left, all lined up with their tails facing inwards. Travis quickly lost count but there must have been hundreds of them.

  A sudden jolt that threatened to throw him out of his seat jerked him violently out of his reverie. The piercing shriek of metal on metal tearing each other apart gave Travis a sickly feeling of déjà vu as the front of the ship yawed crazily upwards. Inside, the little ship’s artificial gravity was having a battle with itself as it tried to reconcile the gravity of the hangar outside with the ever changing attitude of the shuttle. The seats automatically adjusted themselves to lock the passengers in to stop them being flung around the cabin, but the resultant unnatural play forces made Travis feel queasy and he would have regurgitated his last meal except for the fact that it was now decorating the T-shirt he had left in Turix Dayak’’s car. The rear of the shuttle hit the deck of the hangar with a terrible screech of tearing metal and the rear quarter of the cabin started to buckle, crushing the rear passengers in their seats. The screams of the injured added to the cacophony of the on-going crash. Travis saw looks of shock and incomprehension on the faces around him, not least on Xnuk Ek’ sat next to him. Up in the little cockpit Lak’in wrestled uselessly with the controls as he tried to bring the stricken craft under control. There was another jolt that jarred every bone in Travis’ body as they hit the hangar floor and the undercarriage collapsed under the impact. They were now skidding round and moving forwards, but at least they were the right way up. Travis thought he glimpsed another ship behind them, also in the process of crashing as they spun round. Finally a third jolt and the little craft came to a halt.

  Lak’in and Pansā No Ashi jumped up to attend to the injured.

  “What happened?” Pansā No Ashi enquired of Lak’in as he worked his way to the rear where the worst cases were.

  “I do not know.” Lak’in replied, perplexed. “It felt as if we were struck from behind just after we entered the hangar, but I received no collision warnings or proximity alerts.” he added. He shook his head a moment as if to clear debris from his mind and he looked up with a look of authority and determination on his face.

  “I saw…” Travis started but his voice was lost in the din.

  “Emergency disembarkation!” Lak’in announced. “We can determine reasons later but we must get the injured to the White Room first.” His tone was suddenly authoritative and he had the attention of everyone in the cabin. He waved at the two crew closest to the door to get it open and ordered everyone else to prepare to exit the shuttle quickly and head for the hangar’s exits. A woman from Xi Scorpii B and a male from Xi Scorpii D wrestled with the door controls which seemed to have been damaged in the crash while the rest waited patiently.

  Finally the door opened and the pair stood framed against the hangar outside when a number of short, sharp reports split the silence, closely followed by two screams as they collapsed backwards with smouldering wounds in their chests, closely followed by screams of panic from some of the other passengers. Travis realised in horror that he had heard those sounds before. Without a moment�
�s hesitation Lak’in leapt forward to close the door again, along with all the window openings. He made it to the control just as three more reports cracked the air and he crashed lifelessly to the floor.

  “Lak’in!” Xnuk Ek’ screamed as she clambered over seats to get to her lover, but it was too late; pandemonium broke around Travis, whose tenuous grip on reality had finally slipped.

  He buried his head in his hands and wept. “No no no no no!” he repeated to himself. “Not again!” Above the din he could hear the distinct report of weapons’ fire and occasional screams of the injured and dying as the attackers randomly peppered the fuselage with fire. First there was his friend, the Commander’s son, there were the guards that were protecting the old doctor and now these poor souls that did nothing except try to take him home. It was more than Travis could bear.

  Belatedly, Pansā No Ashi ordered the survivors to lie on the floor to present a smaller target. Travis looked down the aisle to where Xnuk Ek’ was still forlornly holding the body of her dead lover, rocking him gently back and forth while looking as if she had nothing left to live for. Gathering the last remnants of his wits together, he operated the window controls to peel back a small opening; just enough to see out without revealing his presence. Outside he glimpsed about a dozen black uniformed men. They all had blond hair, blue eyes and were carrying the same type of guns that had killed Jagā No Ashi in his apartment. He stood up, surveyed the death and destruction around him and came to a decision. An unnatural calm descended over him and his brain pushed all the sounds around him into the background. His fear evaporated and was replaced with a feeling of relief and euphoria as he realised what he must do. He was already a dead man, he reasoned to himself. He had died back on Earth months ago, but he had been given the chance to see some amazing things and to meet some incredible people before his consciousness finally expired. Maybe it had all been a dream anyway and he was just hovering between life and death in his hospital bed and this was all just the random firings of his brain as it shut down. Well now it was time to end it all. A favourite song drifted through his mind, which seemed appropriate; he had always thought he would like played at his funeral.