As you are probably aware, there has been a tragedy. Time for the Mourning.
If you missed a chapter or two or three, then you should head to the ever-updating index here.
Anyway, the chapter is after the jump.
Chapter 17
It wasn’t difficult for the starflyer to obtain clearance to Aldonavar. All they needed to do is say that they needed water. After a quick scan, they were instructed to go to some specific coordinates, and they would need permission for going underwater.
Gaius and James piloted the ship toward the coordinates they had been given, and found the large chunk of rock in the middle of a vast ocean. They dropped the landing gear and set the ship down on a uneven ground.
Lydia found the controls that lowered the ramp, and windy air entered the ship. It was almost as windy as Burice. They could hear the sound of the ever-changing ocean tide pounding against the rock.
Gaius powered the ship down. “James, grab his feet.”
Gaius and James lifted Hardy down the small ramp and onto the ground.
“The air might be good for him,” said Lydia.
Gaius didn’t want to say anything, but Gaius didn’t think the air was good for anyone. Aldonavar had a Terraformed atmosphere, and Terraformed air just tasted different. For Gaius, he always had to get used to Terraformed air before he could breathe normally again.
Lydia gestured to a section of rock that had been smoothed by erosion. When they laid Hardy there, a wave suddenly broke, splashing water over him.
Gaius had to yell in order for his friends to hear. “We should move him elsewhere.”
Hardy then held out his hand, signing for them to stop.
He could barely breathe, and speaking was obviously painful. All three of them were surprised that he had woke.
“He’s awake! I didn’t think he—I mean, maybe we should find him some better care,” said Lydia.
“Don’t . . . bother . . . “
Lydia’s hope rose and fell like the waves that crashed around her. She leaned on James.
Gaius knelt down beside Hardy.
“Hardy,” he said, “please listen carefully. There’s something I need to know. When you talked to those Christians on earth, you gave your life to God, right? Not the vague ‘voice of the people’ concept who the Theocrats claim to be God.”
Hardy nodded. And although he was in pain, he was smiling.
Gaius was also smiling in his tears. “I figured that you did. I just had to ask.”
Hardy slowly pointed to Gaius’ jacket. Gaius wasn’t certain what Hardy was referring to until he pulled out his Hardy’s Personal Wrist Computer. He suddenly remembered why he and Bunyan were in the starcruiser to begin with. It wasn’t to find a T-43 tracer, but Hardy’s PWC.
“Oh, Hardy, forgive me. I forgot to give this to you.”
“Put . . . it . . . on.”
“Hardy, if I do, it will detect that I’m not its proper user. It will give me a shock.”
Gaius felt stupid wasting time telling him what he already knew.
“Put…it…” Hardy coughed before he could finish his sentence, but he didn’t need to.
Gaius reluctantly slapped the PWC on his arm, and it instantly came on without the electronic shock. A hologram of a young lady was in the default screen. She looked below the age of twenty, with long brown hair and blue eyes. “Your daughter?”
“Niece…I’m…the…closest…thing…to–” Hardy’s coughing fit made him unable to finish his sentence once again.
He used all his strength. “Tell . . . Rainbow . . . the . . . gospel!”
“Rainbow?”
Hardy’s feeble hand pointed to the hologram. Gaius suddenly realized that the name of the Hardy’s neice.
“Hardy,” said Gaius, “I promise that we will find Rainbow, and share with her the gospel.”
“Not…just…her…tell . . . everyone.”
Gaius produced a disk from his pocket. “We will.”
Once Hardy saw the disk, he knew that his death was not in vain. Suddenly, Hardy’s face turned from agony to joy. His eyes were looking up, and it looked like he was gazing upon wonders beyond belief. All that the others saw was an alien sky.
“I see . . . the heavens . . . they’re opening.”
Lydia began to cry. James comforted her.
Gaius looked up at the sky, and saw the bright two suns of this world. The Binary stars shone very brightly, and Gaius wondered what sort of things Hardy was seeing dancing in between the radiance.
Gaius began to weep. “If He’s calling you, then you must go to Him.”
“I’m…so…scared.”
“You don’t need to be. All of your sins have been pardoned.”
“James, can you play that song?”
James still had his stringmat in his pocket. He pulled it out, unfolded it, and began to play notes that caused Gaius to think of Hardy’s soul, rising into God’s seat of judgment, and to be pardoned for his former life.
The song was one that Hardy had taken from the Theocrat files. It was a beautiful tune called “Amazing Grace.” James played it awkwardly, since he had just learned it a few hours ago. It was just one of many lost songs that had been found, thanks to Hardy and the brave sacrifice of many.
Halfway during the song, Hardy’s neck went limp, and all the life drained from his eyes. Gaius checked his pulse, but found nothing. Lydia began to weep, but it was silent.
Gaius turned to his followers and wiped back his tears. “I realize that while we are on the starcruiser, there was no time to mourn. Now is that time.”
He went over by the water and brought a stone with him. He laid it on top of Hardy.
“This stone is for Phillip, who led the school with courage.” He went back to water, and picked up another one.
James walked over to the water, retrieved a rock, and placed it on Hardy.
“This stone is for Bunyan, my brother, who helped lead me to Christ.”
Lydia walked to the water, and retrieved two stones. “This is for Debra and Caleb, my adoptive parents. You’ve been the best examples I know.”
One by one, they took out stones, and laid them on Hardy’s smiling form. As they laid them there, they would call the stone by the name of a loved one, and remember them. There were ninety names, and the project took over an hour. By the time the sun had set, Hardy’s body was barely discernable under the pile of stones.
In the end, they sat in silence. Gaius suddenly realized that James and Lydia were looking to him, for guidance. He felt rather put on the spot, and was wondering why they were looking at him like he was their leader. They did not decide it by election, and Phillip did not choose him to lead them. Rather than question it any more, he made a decision to simply accept this new role that the young couple had given him, if only for a while.
Gaius took up Hardy’s PWC and took his disk out of his pocket. He inserted it in the drive and looked over to James and Lydia.
“We have lost many today, my friends. But our native Burisian friends are still alive and well. However, we’re not as large as we once were. It is up to us to carry on the legacy. I also think we need to carry out Phillip’s orders. We will remain here for a week, and then head back to the school.”
“Are we going leave Hardy here?”
“We will come back for him when we can.”
“In the meantime, I think we should find the nearest port, and sell this ship. We should have enough money for a week’s stay, as well as transport to Burice. We’ll need to contact Fischer from a secure location, and tell him the news. After that, we should read up on the information that Hardy and all these others died to give us.”
James saw a light in the sky, one that was coming closer. Lydia saw it, and was filled with a feeling of dread. When Gaius looked at it, he recognized it immediately.
“That looks like a Martian Cargo Vessel. I don’t think it is armed.”
Engels looked at the patch of land and saw the starflyer, as well as three of his missing persons standing by a pile of stones. Hardy was absent, but he could easily be inside the starflyer. He hoped that the other three hadn’t dropped him off somewhere else. It might be difficult to extract that information from the others.
“See? The starflyer landed right there, just like their records said.”
“Benito, I honestly believe that there is nothing that you cannot do on a computer. So tell me, are you good at computer games?”
“Yeah, I guess so. Why are you asking now?”
Engels put the Cargo Vessel into auto-hover.
“Come on!”
“Why is it just hovering there?” James asked.
“Get to the starflyer.”
Gaius began to run. After a few seconds, the others followed.
The top of the Martian cargo vessel opened, and a warfighter came out.
“I don’t know if I can do this.” Benito sat in the gun turret, and saw that the controls were very simple.
Engels called from the pilot seat. “Just aim and shoot it. I’d do it myself, but I can’t let you pilot this thing.”
Benito turned on the targeting computer, and the screen showed a view of the island with the cross-hairs at the center. He turned the gun toward the left, and noticed three figures running to the starflyer. The crosshairs centered on the young man.
Benito turned the cannons back to the starflyer.
James yelled as he panted. “Gaius, even if we get the ship airborne, what do we do then?”
“Maybe we can take it underwater, and somehow evade him. The starflyer is a very fast ship.”
As they were meters away from the entrance ramp, mammoth laser bolts from the warfighter hit it from the opposite side. At first, it seemed like the starflyer’s armor could withstand the barrage, until the fuel cells ruptured. The ship exploded in dance of flame and light. The second explosion bounded it up in the air, and it fell off the island in a giant roll.
Gaius and his friends hit the ground. Flaming debris rained on them. A piece of shrapnel nearly missed James by centimeters. It stuck into the ground like a massive, burning blade.
“Oh, yes!”
“That was good shooting, Benito. I’ll bet no computer game ever gave you that feeling, did it?”
“Not on your life. Then again, this was the real thing.”
Engels turned on the loudspeaker. “YOUR SHIP IS USELESS. YOU HAVE NO PLACE TO GO. RAISE YOUR HANDS AND SURRENDER.”
All three of them got up and ran the other direction.
“Now what?”
“Head for the water.”
“Okay. Then what?”
“Then I’ll think of what to do next.”
“Hey, Engels, they’re headed for the water.”
“We can’t let them reach it.”
“Engels, I don’t think I can—”
“Relax, Benito, I don’t want to kill them. I just want to scare them a little. Actually, a lot. Here’s what we’ll do. Position your targeter thirty meters in front of them.”
As Gaius ran, he wondered if there was a greater chance of escape in the water. He knew that the soldier would simply blast the water if they dove in. He hoped that he and his friends would somehow be missed.
How long can we hold our breath?
Suddenly, large blasts tore into the ground, creating miniature explosions everywhere. Dust and rocks were heaved into the air and fell like rain. The trio dove to the ground and prayed that the mad gunner would stop before he switched to organic targets.
Minutes later, when the firing stopped and the dust cleared, they saw the intention of the gunner. He had carved out a perfect trench between the island of rock. Water was flowing within the groove, so what was once one small island, became two smaller islands.
“THE NEXT SHOTS ARE AIMED DIRECTLY AT YOU. PLEASE STAND UP, RAISE YOUR ARMS, AND DROP YOUR WEAPONS.”
Gaius realized that this was not the time to fight, even when he would lose. He stood up, and the others followed his lead. He then took off his PWC and threw it in the water.
“Gaius!”
“Don’t worry, James. The PWC is waterproof. The disk should be safe in there. We’ll come back for it later.”
Gaius wondered if there was a later.
Engels landed the warfighter on the bigger chunk of land. He opened the side-door, which slid away with a small whish. He saw the three of them and knew without a doubt that he had found what he was looking for. He aimed his Stunner/Launcher pistol directly at them, and was prepared to use either setting.
“Well,” said Engels, “unless you think God will part the water for you, then you are trapped.”
All three of them looked at each other. “How do you know that story?”
“Where is Hardy?”
“You’re too late for Hardy, he’s in heaven.”
Gaius pointed over to the grave site.
“Obviously ‘heaven’ must be a codeword for ‘dead’. This would explain some things. Benito!”
Benito exited off the ramp, awaiting the next thing he would do. “Yes?”
“Hold this.” Engels handed his SLP to Benito, who promptly stepped back.
“Whoa, Engels. I told you that I won’t–”
“It’s set to stun. Just aim and fire if they get out of line.”
“Is this how they trained you?”
Benito grabbed the gun, and almost dropped it.
“Careful,” Engels whispered, “it’s heavier than it looks. I need to investigate something down there.”
“Why couldn’t I do that?”
“Do you know what Hardy looks like?”
“Who?”
“My point exactly.”
As Engels walked toward Hardy’s body, he couldn’t help but laugh. Normally, he would never give a civilian a firearm, but he figured Benito couldn’t hurt anything. After all, if the three of them tried to swim, then even Benito’s misses would electrify the water enough to stun the victim. The only problem then would be fishing them out of the water before they drowned. Even then, they were expendable.
He felt that he had truly risen over his failure. Only one thing remained to be seen. Engels stooped down at the long pile of rocks and saw the body of someone underneath the stones. He then removed a few stones from the face and saw Hardy sleeping a dreamless sleep. Engels grin matched Hardy’s as he saw that his mission was accomplished.
As for Benito, he was enjoying his role as the victor also. He had not ceased talking tough as soon as Engels had handed him his pistol. “That’s right, keep your hands up. I don’t care if your arms are tired. Look at me, my arms aren’t getting tired.”
Benito lied, for his arms actually were getting tired by the gun’s weight. He then made a terrible mistake when he tried to adjust his grip on the pistol. He accidentally pulled the trigger, and a ball of lightning shot out from it. The shot was wasted, and passed meters away to right of James. However, the recoil knocked Benito to the ground. “Whoops. I mean, that was a warning shot!”
Engels walked up to Benito and grabbed the pistol before he could hurt anyone else. He then whacked him on the back of his head as he rose to his feet.
“That’s not how you do it. It’s like this.”
Engels shot Gaius, and electricity filled the old man’s body. He fell limp to the ground, totally stunned.
The woman and the younger man ran up to his fallen form. Engels shot the woman, and she fell.
The younger man ran toward the edge of the water. Engels shot him in the back. He fell face first, and fortunately never reached the water.
“See,” said Engels, “easy as one-two-three.”
Engels blew on the barrel of the pistol. It was a useless gesture, since electro-shock pistols did not smoke in any way.
“Help me get them on board, Private Benito.”
