The Fleet Book 2: Counter Attack (32 page)

The Highest Caste repeated this reverence as they waited for the Visitors to enter the Central Temple.

Those priests who were entitled to enter the Central Temple arranged themselves in proper order, each beginning to recite their Endless Prayers. The Visitors regarded them in silence which surely revealed again their divinity, for all others would speak their prayers in so holy a place.

“Better go in, Commander,” suggested Spandril.

“I guess,” he agreed, and moved forward.

The others came after Him, attending Him. The Highest Caste let the proper seven steps separate them from the Visitors before following them within the largest building in the city.

“Where do we sit?” asked Varnig as he looked about the place.

“There are pillows there in the side . . . galleries, I guess they are,” said Spandril. “Do you think we could—”

Admih clapped his hands; the priests went for the large pillows and pulled them into the center of the temple so that the Visitors would be able to see the enormous statue of Durga and show Her the courtesy of Gods for one another. “If it is Your wish, it is our honor to obey.” He waited while the priest served the Visitors as they were entitled to do.

Gazili came to the side of Admih. “I think I would sacrifice one of my children if I could be permitted to serve a God as they are doing.”

“This God has not asked it of you,” said Admih, sharing Gazili’s zeal. “If I had more than one child, I would wish to do the same.”

“Who among us would not?” asked Kazei as he fingered the medallion he wore. “There can be no greater attainment than to serve the Gods.”

“Even Vizna, though He is not allied to Durga,” sighed Muthali.

“All Gods are allied to Durga,” they were reminded by the priest of Yeimei. “She is the All-Mother; all things are Hers, even Janja and Vizna.”

The others made gestures of agreement as they watched the Visitors fold onto the pillows.

“We are eager to hear what you will say,” said the High Priest of Durga. “Your wisdom will sustain and inspire us.”

Commander Horder looked uneasily at the High Priest of Durga and then at his own men. “We want . . . we want to tell you what has happened between us and the Khalia.”

Again the name that caught the attention of all the Highest Caste, who moved nearer in order to listen to what the spirit-box told them. Telo, so young and fragile, was the only one who did not press forward, for he needed the support of a pillar to keep from collapsing.

“You spoke of a battle,” said the: High Priest of Durga, daring to speak out while within his own temple.

“Yes. One of our . . . our bases was destroyed by the Khalia. It was the first major act of aggression on their part.” Commander Horder looked at the men of Kel. “You understand that we regarded them as nothing more dangerous than pirates before that happened.”

“There was great destruction?” asked the High Priest of Durga.

“Yes,” Horder said grimly. “Castleton’s . . . slaughter.” He looked down, His eyes lowered.

“Ah,” said the High Priest of Durga as he nodded toward Her statue. “We must learn more of what these Khalia did.”

Horder took a deep breath. “Let’s just say that they’re crazy in battle. They are as maddened as beasts. They kill for the joy of it, and for the love of battle.” It was not easy to keep His voice even. “The loss of life was very high.”

“Where was this place, the . . . base you speak of,” asked the High Priest of Durga.

“It was . . . ” He stopped and looked at Spandril, “How would you explain it?”

Spandril was willing to attempt a description. “From here you would say it was in the sky, a great distance away, farther than any of you could travel on foot, in a dozen lifetimes.” He saw Horder signal him to go on. “There were thousands of people there, some of the finest men in the Fleet, and they were wiped out by the Khalia.”

“A fine sacrifice,” said the High Priest of Durga.

“If losing so many good men can be called fine,” said Commander Horder with bitterness.

‘’’They were honored, these men?” asked the Scribe of Ajna, though it was improper for him to speak in this temple.

Commander Horder looked baffled. “Of course. All of them are heroes.”

“Indeed,” said Derir, his old eyes shining. “The death of heroes.”

“It was that,” said Commander Horder. “And it’s why we’re making the effort to locate as many of the old Earth colonies as we can, so that we can protect you, and enlist your aid in fighting the Khalia,” He had said these words before, but always to colonies that had remained in some kind of contact with Earth. These isolated colonists were unknown to him, and he did not know how to proceed with them.

“How could such as we fight Khalians?” asked Admih as the Commander stared at him in appeal.

“He’s got a point,” muttered Varnig.

Commander Horder paid no attention to this. “We need every kind of help. Those Khalia are determined to wreck everything we’ve tried to build up. They’re out to destroy us and all we’ve accomplished.” He looked around the temple. “I can understand why you might doubt what I’m saying. You’ve been isolated for so long, it’s pretty hard to grasp all the changes that have taken place since you were sent out from Earth, but—”

“We came from Janja,” the High Priest corrected him politely.

“Yes. From Janja,” said Commander Horder impatiently. “Whatever you call it, we all started out there.”

“Commander,” Spandril said quietly, “it might be better to take a couple of the officials back to the ships and show them the tapes we have. That might make it clearer.”

Both Ecrilla and Varnig started to object, but Commander Horder interrupted them: “You’ve got a point. I don’t know what’s getting through to them now. And I want to get out of this place. That statue gives me the wobbles.”

“He trembles in the presences of Durga,” said Derir to Bezin with some satisfaction. “Make note of that.”

“This avatar comes from One other than Durga in any of Her faces,” Bezin agreed.

Commander Horder looked directly at Admih. “We have . . . records of what happened in the battle. We’ll show you. You’ll have a chance to see what they do.”

“See the battle?” asked Admih, since the High Priest of Durga did not speak. “How can you do this?”

“We have records,” muttered Horder.

“Sacred books,” said the High Priest of Durga with satisfaction.

“Not quite,” Varnig corrected, feeling more uncomfortable than ever in the presence of the Highest Caste, “There are ways . . . we can show you part of what happened.”

“Such is your power?” asked the Scribe of Ajna, astonished at his own bravery.

“Something like that,” replied Commander Horder as He stood a little straighter. “I think we can accommodate ten of you. If you’ll select ten, we’ll take you back to the ship and let you see what we’ve got.”

The priests immediately fell to debating among themselves, but the Highest Caste had no such trouble. “Derir is the oldest; he will come with me,” announced Admih. “And Kazei and Gazili and the Scribe.”

The priests eventually agreed that the High Priest of Durga, the High Priest of Yeimei, the High Priest of Zivi, and the High Priest of Vizna would see these Sacred Books and report to all what they contained.

Once outside the walls of Kel, Commander Horder had Ecrilla and Varnig flank the company of Highest Caste and High Priests. He gave a signal and the doors were opened for Him, and all passed into the great chariot, the celestial ship which had carried Commander Horder to Durga.

Never before had anyone of Durga seen such a thing as the ship that rode the Celestial River. In the Sacred Books there were descriptions of such things, but the chariots of the air were a thing of the distant past, and the ships of the Celestial River were more remote than that. It was with awe that the Highest Caste and the High Priests stepped aboard the ship and saw its wonders.

“There’s not much room,” Commander Horder explained, “The
Determined
is our base ship, and she’s . . . a very long way off.” He motioned toward the ceiling. “We’re one of nine scouting parties in this sector.”

“Yes,” said Admih, knowing that the significance of the God’s words would be apparent shortly. “Nine scouts. There are nine avatars, then.”

“Avatar—what?” said Varnig.

“Don’t get into that now,” Spandril told the others. “It’s the translator, probably. You know what it does.” He had moved into a bend of the room to give more space to the Highest Caste and High Priests of Durga.

“We’ll tell you what’s going on, all through the tapes, and we’ll answer your questions at the end, if you don’t mind,” said Commander Horder as He addressed the others. “Most of the tapes are records, but we’ve had to fill in with a reconstruction here and there.”

“That’s one way to look at it,” said Ecrilla softly to Varnig. “Wholesale propaganda’s what it is.”

“Shut up, Ecrilla,” replied Varnig.

The ship was filled with marvels, and though not ornamented in the way we of Durga expect of a God, none within the ship were disappointed, for there were jewels and sculpture everywhere, and many glowing mysteries that caught the attention of the Scribe of Ajna more than the others. He contended later that most of the jewels were not that, but gauges and instruments, such as are described in the Sacred Maintenance Manuals. He was certain that the faint, whispered voices were from the ship itself and not from the spirits that protected and surrounded it. Only a few in the mining city of Djanrez followed him in this madness, but the Castes there are always extreme in their Views.

“There’s not much room, but if you can find a place to sit, we’ll put the pictures on the library screen there,” said Commander Horder, gesturing toward a high, blank wall.

Obediently all the Highest Caste and High Priests did as the God told them.

Lights in the room faded—the God and His attendants were not dismayed, and so the Highest Caste and High Priests of Kel were not dismayed, either—and the wall started to glow softly, and was then replaced with the bright path of the Celestial River.

“You’ve got to understand that we of the Fleet did not appreciate the danger the Khalia represented at first, since they were acting more like pirates.”

On the screen another celestial ship similar to the one they now occupied, though no bigger than a fist, started across the screen, moving among the endless lights that are the beacons of the Celestial River. It was without shape or substance, this ship, and all who saw it knew that it was a vision given by the God.

“The Khalia live to fight. They’re ruthless and vicious and completely dedicated to war.” Commander Horder spoke in a tone of voice that was flattened by ritual; He had spoken these words before in the same way, and therefore all the Highest Caste and High Priests of Kel strove to remember the words so that they might be able to participate in the ritual later in their own temples.

Two more celestial ships, different from the one already manifested in the vision, darted out of the darkness in pursuit of the first ship. Sparks of light erupted about the celestial ships, showing the potency of the Gods they carried.

“We regarded them as pirates, at first,” Commander Horder continued, the ritual observed by His attendants.

In the vision, the first celestial ship was bright with the fires of transformation. For an instant it hung between the other two celestial ships, and then it winked out, entering the Higher Realms.

“The Khalia kept their raids small and fast, selecting small outposts and other isolated ships to attack.”

A strange celestial city appeared now in the vision, a great palace with enormous walls and great power that turned in the mind of the God Horder, for it shifted and rotated in the vision, revealing more of its wonders.

“This space station had more than two thousand people on it, and five ships of the line,” said Commander Horder with more emotion than he had shown at first. “The Khalia attacked it, coming in forty ships of their own with the greatest firepower we had ever seen from them. The battle lasted for almost five hours, and only eighty-six of our people got away. The space station was a total loss, and four of the ships.”

The story unfolded in the vision as the city was surrounded by the strange ships, each of them casting out balls of light that struck at the vast flanks of the celestial city, occasionally breaching them. This time the tiniest attendants of Gods could be seen, not one of them larger than a finger, all working to keep the celestial city from falling to the small celestial ships of those Commander Horder had called the Khalia.

“Where is this place?” asked the Scribe of Ajna, completely fascinated by the vision the God was offering us.

“It’s . . . a very long way from here,” said Commander Horder after a hesitation. “And this took place many months ago.”

“A memory of a battle,” said the Scribe of Ajna, and was so much moved that he looked directly at the High Priest of Vizna. “We know of great battles among the Gods that took place long ago. It is in our Sacred Books which crossed the Celestial Rivet from Janja with us. This is the
Beved Hajit.”

All those of the Highest Caste and the High Priests who were in the celestial ship with the God Horder and the Scribe of Ajna were seized by the same inspiration. The God Horder was recalling the battles of the
Beved Hajit,
so that we would be shown what avatar was with us, and to what purpose. We have often seen that the ways of the Gods are not easily known by men. Now that so much was known to us, we were eager to discover what would be offered to us, the children of those Gods Who continued Their battles.

“The
Beved Hajit,
“ repeated Commander Horder, His voice changing since He was not repeating His ritual.

“The Holy Book,” said the Scribe of Ajna, still held in his inspiration. “The great battles.”

“Oh. Yes.” He cleared his throat and looked at Spandril. “I’d go along with it, sir. If they want to be religious about this, let them.”

Commander Horder nodded; the vision, which had remained unchanging, now once again moved. “Uh . . . after the space station, we of the Fleet took more precautions. Nothing too extreme. We didn’t want to alarm people. We also built up our ships in those quadrants where the Khalia had been strongest.”