The Radiant War

Chapter 33a

     The man continued to stand there as the troop approached. He appeared to be alone. The ground was almost perfectly flat here and covered with yellow grass and low, scrubby plants, apparently leaving nowhere for other people to hide, but the Brigadier hard been ambushed once by men hiding in holes in the ground and wasn't about to make the same mistake again. He ordered the procession to come to a halt, therefore, while he, Shanks and Pettiwell went on to meet the man alone. If it did turn out to be an ambush, their escort would be outside the trap and could come to their rescue.

     “I think you should remain behind as well,” he said to the Kelvon diplomat. “Emperor Tyron will be most displeased if anything happens to you.”

     “But you're taking him?” asked Pettiwell, indicating the scientist.

     “He doesn’t seem to be affected by the arc oscillator,” said Shanks, his forehead creased with worry. “If they've already found a way to defeat the device, I may see some clue as to how they’re doing it.”

     “Well, If he can brave the danger, then so can I. Lead on, Brigadier.”

     The Brigadier nodded his lack of concern and geed his horse onto a slow forward walk, the other two men following him.

     The man waiting for them had a bushy black beard and was dressed in the white clothes of those taken to be adopted. He had bright white skin, he thought, but as they got closer he saw that he'd been wrong. His skin was glowing. Not brightly enough to be easily visible from a distance in the bright daylight, but evident as they closed to within a couple of dozen paces from him.

     He continued to simply stand there as they approached, squinting as he regarded them impassively, as if he was there for some important purpose and the three men approaching him were a distraction that he would rather not have had to bother with. He didn’t appear to be armed, and there didn't seem to be anywhere in his clothing where he could hide a weapon, but the Brigadier’s hand went to the hilt of his pistol nonetheless. If the man ahead was advanced enough in his adoption, he could curse him and Patterwell back to their animal forms with a simple touch.

     When only a dozen feet separated them the man finally held up a hand in a stop gesture and the Brigadier reined in his horse, his hand still on his pistol. “Please, go no further,” he said in the deep voice of a man who had once been in the habit of drinking a lot of cheap alcohol. “My masters can already sense that infernal machine or yours. It is causing disquiet in the city.”

     “Good!” shouted Shanks. “How disquieting will they find it when we drive it all the way to the front gates of their city? I've seen what it does to them! We'll drive them out of the city, and all their other cities as well! We'll chase them to the ends of the...”

     The Brigadier reached out and gently touched his arm. “Let's hear what the man has to say,” he said.

     “My masters wish to negotiate,” the bearded man said. “Their plan to bring peace and security to mankind...”

     “The same peace and security you gave to the Hetin folk!” interrupted the scientist. “They had a mighty civilisation and your masters destroyed it!”

    “Mister Shanks,” said the Brigadier calmly. “If you cannot remain in control of yourself I shall insist that you return to the column.” He gave the man a sharp look and Shanks nodded reluctantly. The Brigadier kept his eye on him for a moment longer, though. He understood the man's need to make his feelings known, but had he betrayed himself in the process?

     He had, it seems, because the bearded man was looking at him thoughtfully. “The fate of the Hetin civilisation wouldn’t mean so much to you unless you were one of them,” he said. “My masters told us that one of you was helping build the transmitter. Have you come to take revenge on them on behalf of your entire race?”