The shuttle, a miniature duplicate of the larger teardrop Vaughn had traveled in before, with a four-passenger capacity, smoothly rose from the medical facility’s rooftop auxiliary pad on her maneuvering thrusters. As soon as she was ten metres clear, the shuttle’s omni-field powered up and took over from the thrusters, orienting the streamlined silver drop towards the city in the distance and sending her speeding away in absolute silence.
Behind the shuttle’s controls, a modified concave panel complete with holographic interfaces, displays and control pads, Ixim finished inputting the shuttle’s destination and turned his attention to keeping the shuttle in the air. Speed, omni-field strength and vector were all at his fingertips and, with a deftness that surpassed most Sidhe, he unerringly flew towards Ven Cor’brin.
In the left-hand, copilot’s seat, Vaughn stared out the wrap-around cockpit window, her mind mulling over a number of things, including what she had learned about the being seated beside her. What sort of creature, in possession of extraspacial powers so great, they could warp reality itself, needed to live in a nest? Of course intellectually she knew he could be using an anachronism, an ancient term to describe a more modern object.
But, in reviewing how Ixim had said it, with its emphasis and near reverence, Vaughn was forced to come to the conclusion that such a place truly existed. It shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise. The world she now found herself in was significantly different than the one she was born into. With the technology and alien power that existed here, just about anything was possible, including the existence of drax nests. She could only hope the nest wasn’t too far outside of her ability to understand!
Silently the shuttle passed out of the Silver Mountains, its jagged, granite peaks fading into the gentler vales and ridges of the K’nor Vorn. These were the foothills that spread from the rocky feet of the mountains and into the Cor’Asel’s relatively thin protrusion between the mountains and Ven Cor’brin. Here, at the interface between rock and tree, the hills tumbled into a green river, the trees dense and thick enough to hide even the most stubborn of rocky outcroppings beneath its canopy, the forest unrelenting until it reached the outskirts of the venerable Sidhe city.
“Update current traffic flow and density patterns.” Ixim suddenly requested, his voice close and loud in the cockpit’s confines, enough to startle Vaughn out of her momentary reverie.
Responding to his voice command, the shuttle’s dedicated AI quickly established a link with the city’s traffic network and created a continually updated, real-time database of traffic as it poured in and out of the city. A primary city on Galus, Ven Cor’brin was a hub for trade and transport. That meant her skies were almost continually filled with an unending stream of transports, shuttles and flitters, a type of personal aircraft. To venture into such chaos without proper information was to invite certain disaster.
“Link to intra-city traffic control established, Var Ixim.” A soft female voice reported from the console.
“Very good. Three dimensional map of the city core, if you please, with traffic corridors marked by speed and direction.”
A holographic globe spun into being between the two seats, half a metre in diameter and glowing a soft blue. Inside, between the ghostly outlines of impossible skyscrapers, traffic patterns were traces of brilliant blue, purple, yellow and red, each sending its tendrils reaching out over the core like a gigantic spider web. Into this particular web they would fly, hopefully without becoming entangled.
Nodding as he made note of the traffic flow, Ixim’s fingers danced across the control pad. A heartbeat later the small shuttle banked to the left and Vaughn watched as the city’s outskirts flitted by beneath them, nearly a full kilometre down. But the gap rapidly narrowed when the shuttle began to smoothly lose altitude in the middle of its bank.
The rapidity of the descent swiftly caught the notice of not only Vaughn.
“Shuttle 56-A, you’re descending too quickly.” A brisk female voice announced from the console’s speakers. “If you continue your current flight path, you run the risk of intersecting the Pithorn Corridor in less than three cintor. I advise an immediate course correction.”
“Warning noted, Traffic Control.” Ixim returned, making no move to adjust the shuttle’s downward motion.
The console fell silent for a moment. Then a second voice began to speak from the com link.
“Shuttle 56-A, this is Krosus. Change your course immediately.” A hard male voice commanded.
Ixim looked over at Vaughn, who was watching the drax intently.
“The city Thota.” He said sotto voce. Then, slightly louder: “I acknowledge your warning, Krosus. Thank you for your concern.”
“Var Ixim?” Krosus immediately asked, his voice changing radically with the recognition of the shuttle’s pilot. “Why didn’t you say so, katega? I’m clearing you a path to the Delphine Sector.”
“Thank you, Krosus.” Ixim replied with a slight smile before deactivating the com link with a fingertip.
Vaughn frowned.
“Katega?” She carefully repeated the alien word. “That doesn’t sound like Sidhe.”
“Because it’s not, colonel.” Ixim glanced over at her. “It’s a term from Ursko, the Drax language. It means ‘comrade’ or ‘friend’.” He returned his gaze to the console and the unfolding city vista beyond. “While the Sidhe and other species in the Pax have little regard for my people, we have, at least, the respect of the artificial intelligences the Pax uses to maintain and operate their empire.”
Vaughn fell silent once again to mull over what Ixim had said. The Pax and its many species and races presented her with layer after layer of complexity that nearly boggled the mind. This newest permutation, the Pax AI’s respecting the Drax in direct opposition to how the Sidhe view them, was just another item to add to a long list of puzzlements. Taking her silence as understanding, Ixim nodded and returned his attention fully to his piloting and the shuttle continued its downward journey into the heart of the massive Sidhe city.
Closer now, it was easier to see the heavy streams of traffic pouring in and out of the city, shifting rivers of metal and plastic in unending procession in their faithful following of invisible pathways around the impossible buildings of the core. Vaughn found her eyes begin drawn to the shifting streamers, kept smoothly moving by the city’s traffic control AI, the computer that first challenged the shuttle’s change in course. Then the buildings themselves, with their impossible angles and exotic materials were flowing by as Ixim cut in between two of the larger skyscrapers.
Before the floor solidified into its inert silver form, Vaughn thought she spotted some sort of landing pad beneath them, already crowded with a number of personal flyers and shuttles where it was sandwiched between a chorus of buildings. Then her view was blocked and the shuttle was slowing as Ixim triggered the landing sequence.
A couple stepping from their own shuttle glanced up as the silver teardrop dropped from the sky, enveloped in the shifting bubble of an omni-field, maneuvering thrusters glowing. They then moved out of the way as the teardrop’s belly shifted and extended a quartet of spidery landing legs. Omni-field angled, it slid towards the final open spot in the parking area and finished its descent, slowing to a few hand spans per second before finally easing to the porous surface of the lot. An artificial material spun to have the appearance of natural rock, the lot’s surface was also constructed to minimize environmental impact by allowing rain and snow melt to pour through and into a filtered runoff system, maintaining water quality.
The teardrop’s door appeared in the malleable hull a moment after it touched down and dropped out of the way, becoming a brief staircase leading to the ground. The dark space left behind by the door’s motion was quickly filled by a satisfied Ixim and an anxious Vaughn.
“Welcome to the Delphine Sector, colonel.” Ixim said with a smile, eyes scanning the vista unfolding beyond the door’s threshold.
For her part, Vaughn was stunned into silence by what her eyes now drank in. Impressive from the sky, the skyscrapers of the city core were no less than mountains at whose feet she now stood. But even more amazing than the buildings was what thronged around them. Sandwiched as it was between the buildings, the place where Ixim set their shuttle down opened into a broad avenue that run further into the core, through what appeared to be an open market of some sort. Having visited a number of cities on Earth and Icarus Prime, she had been to several markets; places where locals gathered to socialize as much as they came to shop.
None of those places, however, could even compare to what she now found herself gazing upon, beginning with the very avenue they would shortly be walking. At first solid-looking, it now shifted uneasily beneath her gaze, appearing one moment like the plasticrete used in human construction and in the next as translucent glass, shimmering as it let her see through to the next level.
“The, the ground, . . .” She began uncertainly. Ixim grinned.
“Deceiving, isn’t it. It’s made with a polarized plastic that allows natural sunlight to filter through to each layer beneath, all the way into the subterranean levels at the bottom of the complex. If you catch it just right with your eyes, it looks like you’re walking on air, a thoroughly enjoyable sensation.”
Vaughn glanced at the drax, eyes wide. Walking on air? Ixim, however, wasn’t going to let Vaughn’s perceptions slow them down.
“Come.” He said, taking her by the elbow and leading her down the short staircase. “You think that is amazing, wait until you step along the promenade!”
The drax, of course, proved as good as his word. Quickly leaving the parking area, Vaughn and Ixim were swallowed into the market place that sprang up at the mouth of the avenue and embraced into a world of wonder.
It began with the trees. Great plants easily two metres in diameter and over fifty tall, the trees formed a living forest in the heart of a city, often growing through two or three layers of street in their climb for the sky. In doing so they vied for space with open-air restaurants, booths filled with goods for sale and low, sprawling buildings from which soft, alien music flowed. With her senses under assault by the exotic scents, eye-bending sights and quiet voices blending with the music, Vaughn had to be dragged down the avenue by a laughing Ixim, so astonished her will failed to make her feet move.
All around them thronged Sidhe of all sorts, mostly Juresil or Halinor, with only the rare Teserin making an appearance, moving in groups, couples or by themselves as they walked unhurriedly through the market. They were dressed in clothing as varied as the world they lived in, ranging from soft, flowing robes in earthen tones, to tunic and breeches tucked into leather calf boots in shades of metal and rock, woven shopping bags or plastic baskets in hand. A number walked with children, laughing, giggling offspring that eased Vaughn’s mind with a semblance of normalcy, reminding her of things she knew.
But children were nearly the last things that appeared to her in some form of recognizable reality. Her eyes fell on what appeared to be motes of dancing light, moving in and out of the branches of a massive tree that, for lack of a better description, appeared to be an oak tree just as Ixim suddenly turned to his right and down a side street.
“What are those?” She managed to gasp before the tree and its motes of light disappeared behind a corner.
“Ishurin.” Ixim replied over his shoulder as he led the way down the side road, easily as broad as the one filled with the market and Sidhe behind them. This one, however, was somewhat more sedate, with only half the number of people, fewer stalls and more businesses, both small and corporate, if the holographic signs floating above the doors meant anything.
“Or, at least that’s what my people call them. Amusing at best, annoying for the most part.” Ixim finished his explanation a heartbeat later.
They turned another corner and another in quick succession before the two comrades stepped into a lush park, verdant and expansive, the trees low and overhanging and the air thick with the smells of blossoming flowers. And, as they continued along a winding pathway, Vaughn could hear the babble of running water nearby, a brook that had been channeled through the park to give it a more natural feel. That, and the singing birds in the densely growing trees along with the small animals she spotted now and then amongst the underbrush lent a very natural feel to the park, almost as if the city had sprung up around a corner of untouched nature.
Only after passing through the park in its entirely, a good half hour’s walk, did they come to an imposing building perched on its far edge: a dark and foreboding monolith of sharp angles and shadow, unlike most of the other buildings they had walked by. It also looked old, built with massive stone blocks that appeared to be cut and fitted by hand.
As they approached the entrance, an old style arch way filled with massive iron-wrought portals, Vaughn almost couldn’t help the chill that trickled down her spine. She glanced over at Ixim, to see if the drax was feeling anything similar.
But, as her eyes fell on him, she was astounded to find an almost serene expression on the handsome alien’s face, his eyes wide as they drank in the sight of the approaching building. If there was an explanation for the look, both of the drax and the building, it wasn’t forthcoming. Instead, they continued on without pause, the great doors creaking open at a wave of Ixim’s hand to let them pass through unchallenged or molested.
Inside Vaughn was dismayed to find a courtyard just as dark and angular as the building exterior. In its very center, however, lending life and motion to the shadows was a beautiful fountain, splashing several streamers of dancing water into a hexagonal pool of inlaid tile, each dark green ceramic piece cut in the same shape as the pool. Around the pool, standing on the very edge of the tiles’ reach were manicured shrubbery and bestiary, testifying to a careful and devoted gardener at work. And as they stepped by, heading towards a secondary set of doors heading into the building’s center, Vaughn saw fish darting nimbly through the pool’s crystal clear water.
That sent a wave of comfort through the wiry soldier. If life could exist in this dark place, as simple as it was, then perhaps it wasn’t as foreboding as she originally thought. She took another quick look around at the courtyard with its weathered gray walls and indirect lighting and barely repressed the urge to shiver. Of course, time would be the only true test of this place’s intent!
Again the doors in front of him swung creakily open at a wave of Ixim’s hand and the two of them passed unimpeded into the chamber that lay beyond, accessible through a broad, medium-length corridor. Lit by, of all things, flickering torches of smokeless flame, set into ornate sconces of intricately carved stone.
Then they were passing into the inner chamber and Vaughn felt a second rush of astonishment at what she found there, great enough to make her forget what she had seen coming in. It was a expansive place, this second room, several stories in height to a roof pierced by a great skylight, colored by panes of tinted glass in fanciful shapes and hues. It was also hexagonal, as was the fountain, and was nearly a hundred metres across, its only furniture massive rectangular blocks of stone easily ten metres long, two wide and one high apiece. In the center several were stacked together to form an awkward looking pyramid, the stone weathered and dark, as if seared by fire.
The walls too were dark and weathered, worn smooth by the action of some agent over an extended period of time. The chamber’s only light spilled in from the skylight, casting deep shadows in the handful of doorways that opened from the great space.
More astounding than the size, however, and its raw, burnt feel was what filled the flagstone floor of the great chamber. They were Sidhe, or drax dressed as Sidhe, a good two hundred of them or more, in all three Sidhe racial types, talking in groups in low conversation or more strenuous debate. And they were moving, pacing with nervous energy from one place to another, or walking across the top of one of the great blocks as they engaged in conversation with each other. Some looked up as they entered and nodded in greeting to Ixim, who immediately returned the gesture.
“Ah.” The powerful drax sighed with something very close to relief. “It is so good to be back in a nest!” He looked over at Vaughn. “Welcome, colonel, to one of the oldest drax nests in all the Pax.”
Before either of them could speak further, however, there was a low rumble from one of the openings in the far wall, powerful enough to make Vaughn’s bones vibrate. Instantly Ixim pointed them in that direction and they began to swiftly walk through the crowd.
“Where are we going now?” She rasped, not sure she liked them walking towards something that could make such a sound.
Ixim looked over his shoulder.
“There’s somebody who wants to meet you, colonel. Somebody very powerful in our world.” He returned his gaze to the opening, rapidly approaching thanks to their long strides.
“Someone I didn’t expect to travel such a long distance to be here. But he’s here and he wants to meet you.”
Mystified, Vaughn fell silent for the remainder of the short walk, keeping her senses attuned. And was thusly prepared to sense the wave of tingling warmth that washed over her the moment they stepped across the threshold between the great central chamber and the corridor they had moved into.
It was like the tingling she felt when Ixim summoned extraspacial energy in the archive, but much, much more powerful. Powerful enough to wrest a gasp from her lips. In front of her, Ixim chuckled softly.
“An understandable exclamation.” He rasped. “Considering the power of the being you’re about to meet.” Then they were through the corridor and into yet another chamber, not nearly as massive as the one they just left.
But, as Vaughn staggered to a halt, mouth open and eyes wide with astonishment, the creature she found curled in the chamber’s center would’ve made even that vast place feel small if he were lying in it. Hearing their entrance, he turned with a rasp of scute on scale and stared at them through orbs as large as her head, slit and glowing from fires within, smoke trickling from his great nostrils.
“Welcome.” He rumbled in passable english, the force of his speech nearly enough to knock Vaughn from her feet. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Colonel Vaughn!”
Vaughn took a half step back before looking hard at Ixim.
“He’s a, . . he’s a dragon, Ixim.” She rasped.
One complete with membrane-covered wings, steely talons and a sinuous, scale-covered body straight out of medieval European history books, along with what looked like a smile of pleasure splitting his reptilian lips and unsheathing brilliant white fangs, each as long as Vaughn’s arm.
“Is that your name for us?” Ixim smiled. “Yes, colonel, he is a dragon, just as we all are!”