They Cannot Scare Me with Their Empty Spaces

Short Story

I climbed higher, leaving that old cave, and the people's memories behind. At the top of the mountain, I felt like king of the world, with the hot wind blowing all around me. On the south facing slope, there was more variety. Cacti rose amongst the rocks like green fingers, tall green spikes. Could be that there was a source of water there, if the condenser stopped working.

From my vantage point high up, I saw the spiral towers and wheels of an abandoned mine, a field of solar mirrors that used to power the mine and an old scorpial fighting stadium. The Vilicus loved to fight scorpials. Of course, ten years' worth of wind and sun had battered the stadium, but the structure looked solid. The Vilicus knew how to build things to last. Or, at least they knew how to tell us Silicates how to build things to last.

The Vilicus loved to fight the scorpials at night. The arc lights would pump out UV light, and the beasts would be shining like Dylor pyramids even as they fought themselves to death. It must have been a spectacle and no mistake. 

When I took out my bi-nocs to get a closer look, I saw a scorpial lying in the middle of the arena. Scorpials are named for their resemblance to some alien creature. That must have been a fearsome world, to breed such beasts. It was five miens long, almost three times as long as I am tall. Ten legged, a pair of grasping claws and a trio of narrow segmented tails curled forward and tipped with venomous stingers. The mirror microbes in its skin were shining, blasting energy into its body.

When we got rid of the Vilicus, somehow the scorpials got free. Maybe it was in the confusion. Maybe a Vilicus trainer wanted to give the scorpials a chance of freedom. Or maybe one of the Vilicus set them free with malicious intent. But whatever the reason, pretty quickly the scorpials bred like crazy and set about eating everything in the desert. That made even more Silicates leave the desert and come to Horde City.

I was amazed to see it, lying there in the open. Thinking about it, a scorpial doesn't have much to fear as it was top predator in these desert lands. But that was because it didn't know that I was around. So silent I was, as I crept down the mountain. I walked right up to the stadium with ne'er a twitch from the scorpial. But then I made my entrance known. With the war cry I always made, that cry that seems to well up from so deep inside, from so very far away, I launched myself at the scorpial. The scorpial was too surprised to flee. Soon I took my first set of claws.

I rolled off the scorpial, covered in its iron-smelling blood. I washed myself down with sand while keeping an eye on the stadium doors in case the scorpial had any friends about. Scorpial are magnificent creatures. But the Vilicus had done them harm by breeding them to such gigantic size. The scorpials had eaten everything of a reasonable size in the Empty Land. Now they were reliant on their mirror microbes for food. It must be a hungry way to live.

Its mouth still twitching, its ten pairs of eyes glazing over in death, a host of flies already circled it. I butchered the beast, and laid out the meat on the stadium walls to dry. I took the venom from the stinger, which would be used to flavor wine.

I reached deep into the scorpials skull, cutting away the green brain-meat to find the head jewel. Which, when I'd cleaned it up a bit, turned out to be a gleaming green oval. The Vilicus used to prize these head jewels very highly, but now they belonged to the Silicates, to the Thoknar Protectorate.

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Sometimes I felt guilty that I was enjoying myself in the desert. I decided not to mention that to Sergeant because it would make him even more disappointed in me. I was beginning to realise that honesty is not always the best policy. I was having a lot of time to think, and to question things. It seemed to me that I ought to be more careful in my dealings with others when I got back to the city. And then things would go smoother for me, and I would be able to serve the protectorate better.