The Keys to the Far Castle - 1. Chapter 1

The binary stars above Moresby’s Planet brightly glared down on the scrub land west of Water Station 37G3. The search party was four days out of Village 31K2.6. They were afoot because the natural sandstone bridges across Langley’s Chasm weren’t wide enough for personal terrestrial transport units, wheeled or living. The widest bridges were, in fact, barely wide enough for a person to walk across. Most weren’t even that wide. At least they had been charted, and the party had the latest maps of the chasm, but that didn’t guarantee all of the bridges were still intact. The old-timers who first colonized the planet told stories about the chasm being alive and frequently flexing its geophysical muscles, knocking down the widest and stoutest bridges in the process. Of course, who was foolish enough to believe old-timers’ stories? Certainly none of the twenty-eight members of the search party tracking a group of runaway teens.

A full day and a half ahead, the young runaways were resting around a spring shaded by huge rocks that had fallen from the cliffs above. Edgar Christiansson and his mirror image twin Chad were the leaders of the other nineteen runaways simply because they were the oldest. Though, their real reason for running was because they held the Keys to the Far Castle, a mythical structure, somewhere beyond the Great Western Sea, that legend said within the castle there was the means to disable all DNA/RNA chains in the Terran Delta 97 Iota 3 genome construct. If either Edgar or Chad were able to reach the Far Castle and the legend was true, at a minimum, three hundred forty-three billion Terrans on Moresby’s Planet and all the Terran colonies within seven hundred fifty thousand light-years might blink out of existence. Who could fathom the loss of that many people and what it would do to Terran survival in Andromeda galaxy, which was tenuous at best due to the military activities of the Phthalianic Empire?

“Edgar! Langley’s Chasm is right around that big rock,” Helen Davidsdottir panted as she pointed toward a huge red and yellow striped rock as big as a grain silo. “But there isn’t a bridge there. It’s all shadowy down in the chasm because the suns are setting behind the canyon walls. Maybe we should wait until morning.”

“No, we can’t wait,” Edgar said. “We’ll have to find a bridge across or a series of bridges tonight or the catch team will overtake us and you know what that means. Chad, I need you.”

“What is it, brother?” Chad said as he came out of the crowd of runaways.

“Helen says there isn’t a bridge connected with this trail. We’ll have to split up. You take half up canyon, and I’ll take the other half down canyon. Whichever of us finds a way across will have to go to the other group and show them the way. Okay?”

“No problem, we can get it done. Did you feel that?”

“It was just a little tremblor. The chasm is on our side. We have to believe that.”

“Always the optimist. Okay, guys, we need to split up. Half will go with me and the others with Edgar. Come on, we haven’t got all day. We know there’s a catch team out looking for us, and I’m sure none of you want to die so early in your young lives.”

“Maybe we should wait here and give ourselves up,” Steven Jacobsson said. “I’m sure they’ll take us back. It’ll be hard going the first few years, but once they know we won’t run again, I’m sure they’ll ease up on us.”

“Okay, all those who want to stay with Steven and hope you don’t get turned into a cloud of free molecules by the catch team, sort yourselves out,” Edgar said. “The others can follow either me or Chad. Come on, we’ve got to get out of here.”

Two girls and a boy went over and stood by Steven. They were the youngest of the bunch, always complaining that the pace was too fast, there weren’t enough rest stops, and there wasn’t enough food to go around. Edgar wanted to feel sorry for them, but their hearts weren’t in the run from the beginning and now was probably a good time to leave them. Possibly they’d be questioned before being atomized, but he was almost positive they’d be hit with long-range beams and die before they suspected the team was nearby. You just never knew who was running the show on a search party, or who was selected to lead the catch team. There were members of Village 31K2.6 who had a nasty habit of not setting their weapons to stun and returning empty-handed, saying the weapons they took must have been defective.

As they came up to the edge of the chasm, Edgar and Chad looked down into the dark depths below. Even at high noon, the deepest parts were always in a shadowy gloom. Luckily, there was a fairly decent trail along the edge both up canyon and down, though everyone would have to be extra careful not to get too near the drop-off in case a tremblor came along and they forgot to fall toward the slope. It was said that a fall from the edge lasted a long, long time before you hit bottom.

The brothers shook hands and walked away with their groups of followers. After about two klicks, Edgar saw a bridge extending out from the wall on his side of the chasm, but it ended at a rock pillar. From what he could see, there didn’t seem to be another bridge going further.

“On ancient Terra, in the land of the Navaho, there was a sandstone arch called Rainbow Bridge,” Helen said. “Supposedly, it was the longest arch in the known world. I think it fell in 3205 or, possibly, it was blown up by those enviro-radicals active back then.”

“3205? Where’d you dig that up?” Edgar asked.

“Oh, I had some free time built up and was able to spend it in the general knowledge databases. If you know how to work the cross-referencing system, you’d be totally shocked at what’s still being kept in memory. Are you really going to kill everyone?”

“No.”

“But you have the Keys to the Far Castle.”

“I’m surprised at your answer.”

“Why?”

“You’re the general knowledge database expert here. Do you know where the Far Castle is?”

“On the other side of the Great Western Sea, everyone knows that. What’s that?”

“What’s what?”

“It sounds like singing.”

“Terrrraaaaansssss, come toooo meeee.”

“Oh, it’s only the wind,” Edgar said.

“Terrrraaaaansssss, Iiiiii caaaan heeeelp youuuu.”

“That isn’t the wind,” Helen said. “That’s Langley.”

“She’s been dead for ages.”

“Terrrraaaaansssss, come toooo meeee. Terrrraaaaansssss, Iiiiii aaammm your saaaalvaaaatiooon.”

“That sounds like it’s coming up out of the chasm,” someone back in the line said.

“It’s the ghost of Langley,” someone else said.

“Okay, people, we have a bridge to find,” Edgar said.

“Oh, damn, there aren’t any stars in the sky,” Helen said. “Why does it have to be tonight?”

“There’s light coming up out of the chasm,” someone said.

“Terrrraaaaansssss, come toooo meeee. Terrrraaaaansssss, Iiiiii aaammm your oooonleee hoooope. Terrrraaaaansssss, Terrrraaaaansssss, Terrrraaaaansssss ….”

“Look over that way, there’s a bridge,” Helen pointed. “Look it goes all the way across.”

“I need a volunteer or two to go up canyon and find Chad’s group,” Edgar said.

“Hey! Edgar!” Chad called out.

“How’d you get over there?” Edgar yelled.

“There was a bridge not more than a half a klick from where we split up.”

Edgar’s group reached the bridge as the greenish-blue light grew out of the chasm and filled the whole canyon. Their path was wide, ensuring that everyone was able to get across to Chad’s group. Edgar was last, to be certain everyone reached the other side. At the very moment he stepped on the far side, the ground began to quiver, and everyone pressed themselves against the wall of the canyon. The bridge behind Edgar gave out a shearing crack as pieces of rock separated and fell into the depths of the chasm. Huge boulders were falling off the cliffs all around the runaways, but for some unknown reason none came near. Then it was all over.

“Edgar, what do you think?” Chad asked.

“I think Langley lives, and she just did us a big favor. Come on, we need to find a trail out of here.”

# # # #

“What the hell are you doing here?” Lilith Christiansdottir said. She was the leader of the search party that was supporting the catch team. She was picked for the job by the village elders because Edgar and Chad were her younger brothers, and she’d only be allowed to live if she brought Edgar back to pay for his taking all those youngsters with him.

“It was a dead end,” Ranger Fredicksson said. He was the scout for the catch team and operator of the trail finder unit (TFU) that had Edgar’s DNA/RNA signature in its memory. Unfortunately, Edgar’s mirror-image twin, Chad, was also with the runaways and was leaving the same DNA/RNA scent trail.

“What do you mean?”

“The trail led right up to a fifty-meter drop-off. The damned TFU would’ve gone over if I hadn’t yanked the lead.”

“But where are the runaways?”

“Damned if I know. The only way I’ll be able to pick up their trail is to do circles around this point.”

“Do you think it could’ve been that quake?”

“Damned if I know. That’s a question for Harriet, she’s our senior science officer.”

“Well, go get yourself some food.”

“I already ate.”

“What?”

“I found a big green-tongued lizard.”

“Aren’t those poisonous?”

“Not the tails, if you know how to bleed them.”

# # # #

The runaways walked south along the western edge of Langley’s Chasm for over two hours not seeing a single bridge leading to the other side. Some were feeling as if they’d already beaten any catch team sent from the village. Edgar knew it was too early to feel confident they could slow up the pace. There was the forest to get through. Although most of the planet had been terraformed, the forest between the chasm and the causeway was still filled with native flora and fauna. The flora was fairly innocuous, except for poisonous berries, flowers, leaves, roots, stalks, and then there were the flesh-eating plants. Sundews and flytraps on Terra ate small insects, but here they could capture and slowly dissolve a full-grown Terran. They had evolved to catch the lizards on Moresby’s Planet, which weren’t exactly lizards. They were closer to small dinosaurs. There were herbivores and carnivores. The herbivores weren’t that much of a danger to people, except if you got too close to a nest of eggs or young, in which case you were in danger of being trampled. The carnivores were smaller, but to people were more dangerous because they usually roamed in packs. Luckily, Chad broke into the village armory and ensured each of the runaways had a small hand-held beam pistol that could easily kill any lizard. Plus, he stole enough extra ammo packs for each of the pistols.

“Edgar, there’s a coulee up ahead,” Helen said as she walked out of the gloom. “Michael scoped it out. He said he thinks it goes all the way up to the forest. David said there’s a small, narrow bridge across the chasm about three klicks beyond the coulee, but he wasn’t certain it goes all the way across.”

“We’ll have to assume the catch team will find that, so we’d better go up the coulee,” Edgar said. “I hope the suns come up before we reach the forest. I hate these dark nights, even if there’s this weird light. I know it’s not going to be in the forest, and we’ll have to be on guard against the predators.”

For some inexplicable reason, on some nights the moons and stars above Moresby’s Planet were covered by something in the upper atmosphere. The problem was compounded by the fact that whatever was occurring covered the whole of the planet. Satellites in orbit and star cruisers coming in for landing couldn’t see the planet. It was as if a black shroud was drawn over the whole of the surface, preventing all forms of electromagnetic radiation going in or out. That was the primary reason there were satellites orbiting the planet, so that incoming transports could enter a high orbit until the suns rose over the planet. The only saving grace was a preternatural phosphorescence that would emanate from certain places on the planet, such as Langley’s Chasm.

Since the path along the edge of the chasm was so narrow, and there were still aftershocks from the previous big quake, the runaways had to go slow along the edge of the chasm. Helen and her point team went a bit faster to scope out the path ahead. Although Michael had gone quite a way up the dry gulley, there was always the chance it might turn out to not sufficiently penetrate the high canyon walls. The last thing the runaways needed was getting up a box canyon and having the catch team find a way across the chasm.

Helen and David finally reached the entrance to the coulee and turned to follow it toward the distant high cliffs. After half a klick, they came to a brooklet disappearing into the dry, sandy bottom of the gully. As they continued along the path, the stream slowly increased in volume until it was a good-sized creek. Then they came to sundews that Michael had burnt with his beam pistol. Unfortunately, he had only burnt off the heads of the plants, and they lay scattered on the ground with some showing signs of trying to regenerate roots. Plus, the empty stalks were in the process of growing new heads.

“Sometimes it amazes me how stupid Michael can be,” David said as he turned the beam intensity knob on his pistol to high. Helen was already turning the sundew remnants into clouds of free molecules, which helped David because he didn’t have to use too much ammo to eradicate the plants Helen hadn’t taken care of. They finally finished erasing the grove and resumed their march up the narrowing coulee.

Not unexpectedly, they came to a spine running down from the cliffs above that blocked their way and forced them to wade the stream. The wall on the other side came down into the stream and made them stay in the stream as they worked their way around the spine. The depth of the water quickly increased in the narrow passage until they were waist deep in the cold, rushing water. It was only luck that once around the spine the water shallowed, and the coulee widened to the point where there was a dry path on either side of the creek.

Ahead, they saw palm trees along the top of the cliffs, but there was no sign of Michael. Helen was almost certain he would be waiting for them somewhere before they reached the forest proper. At least he made it through the sundews, but what was ahead that he might not notice until it was too late? That wasn’t a talent you normally wanted in a person on point, but he was her brother, and she felt it her duty to at least try to get him away from the village.

Their parents had been killed in the boundary dispute with Village 31J2.3. The boundary was in the middle of Lake Arthur. Four villages shared the lake through a mutually negotiated agreement, but a new leader emerged in Village 31J2.3 and she, Alice Ezekielsdottir, decided to claim the whole lake with the boundary lines meeting along the shore. Armed conflict between villages hadn’t occurred for over three hundred years, but that didn’t mean a thing to Alice. When the spring salmon season came, all the villages came out with their gill nets. Unfortunately, the people of the other villages didn’t expect the boats from Village 31J2.3 to be armed with heavy-duty beam weapons. All the fishers from the other villages died when their boats were turned into clouds of free molecules. Fortunately, for those killed, there were sufficient witnesses, and the Moresby Collective Association authorities came down very heavily on Alice and her followers. Murder was a capital crime punishable by death or exile, which some might consider worse than death. The official report stated that Alice was executed and all her followers, plus most of the citizens of Village 31J2.3, were exiled to mining planets back in the Milky Way galaxy. The territory of the village was divided among the neighboring villages. The remaining villagers were exiled to the mining colony on the second moon for terms ranging from twenty to forty-five years. All the children under three were sent to orphanages on the three nearest planets. Those under twelve were sent to reeducation centers, where they would live until deemed safe to be housed in the youth work camps. Those who couldn’t be reeducated were sent to juvenile penal facilities, where they would stay until reaching adulthood, when they would be sent to mining colonies on moons and asteroid clusters in the home system. Children over twelve were sent to youth penal facilities until reaching adulthood, when they were transferred to mining colonies. Per regulations, all the land of Village 31J2.3 lay fallow for five years.

“Helen, look, it’s Michael,” David called out.

“Oh my god, beam him away,” Helen cried as she looked at her brother in the jaws of three flytraps. One had his head, another had his left leg, and the last had his right arm. He must have been caught recently because he was still struggling to free himself, which wasn’t going to happen because once a flytrap closes its jaws, they won’t reopen until what they locked onto has been completely digested.

David turned the knob on his beam pistol to full effect. He aimed at the flytrap holding Michael’s head and pulled the trigger. The flytrap turned into a cloud of molecules, and Michael’s body went limp. He continued firing until all traces of Michael and the three flytraps wafted away on the breeze. If the Collective authorities ever investigated this, the death would be seen as a mercy killing because a flytrap’s digestive juices take a long time to dissolve Terran flesh and bone. That is if they ever came in contact with those bureaucrats any time in the future. If everybody was able to get across the Great Western Sea, they would be free for the rest of their lives. Well, that was the best story because hardly any runaways made it to the eastern shore of the sea and were able to hire a boat to take them to the western shore. Of course, no one ever came back because that was a sure death sentence.

“Are you okay?” David asked.

“No, but what can I do about it?” Helen said. “We’d better beam the rest of the flytraps around here, especially those young ones. They could be full grown by the time the others catch up to us.”

“I can take care of this, if you want to go pray for Michael.”

“Yes, I guess I’d better do that.”

Helen waded across the creek and found a level place a couple of meters up the slope of the coulee. She gathered fifteen—Michael’s age—hand-sized stones and built a cairn, placing a light-colored stone on top. She bowed her head, clapped her hands three times, extended her fingers, put her hands together, and held them against her forehead while she bowed. Of course, there wasn’t a god to receive her prayers. Religion was something that died out on Terra eons ago when the Great Exodus began. Yet, it was proper to remember the deceased, especially those who came to their deaths unexpectedly, such as what happened to Michael. She remembered all the good things about her brother and promised herself to tell Paul that Michael was ambushed by a big lizard that was in the process of eating him when they arrived. That was a much easier death rather than saying he wasn’t paying attention to where he was walking and stumbled into a grove of flytraps. She told herself to tell David the story, so that he wouldn’t contradict her and make everyone think less of Michael. She straightened up, opened her eyes, and said, “Michael, I hope wherever your spirit goes you’ll find happiness.”

“Well?” David asked as Helen walked across the creek.

“He was ambushed by a lizard, it was eating him when we got here,” Helen said.

“One of those horse-sized lizards? The blue ones with the big, bright yellow eyes? The ones that run faster than a man?”

“Yes, one of those.”

“Okay, I’ll remember to do that. I saw you put up a cairn.”

“Yes, I had to at least do that. It’s more than what was given to our parents.”

“Yeah, that was totally uncalled for. To not do anything in remembrance was so wrong. Most people just don’t act human anymore. It’s as if those genome modification projects took empathy out of our psyches. Some of the people in the village were no better than the androids. Do you think we should go?”

“Yes, yes, we’ve got a job to do.”

Helen looked up at Michael’s cairn for a moment and then had to hurry to catch up to David. After about five klicks, they came to a large spring that was the source of the creek. There were sundews and flytraps all around the spring. Helen and David fired their beam pistols eradicating all traces of the wicked plants. Then they aimed at the ground, effectively sterilizing it to prevent any plants from growing here for a long time.

“Wow, I guess this is as far as we can go,” David said as he put his pistol in the holster.

“No, look closer,” Helen said. “See the columns? It’s basalt. If you follow the steps, it’ll turn into a staircase all the way to the top.”

“Damn, look up there. Isn’t that a red and green lizard?”

“Well, that answers that question. We’re waiting here for the others. We’re going to need as much firepower as we can get. Those lizards travel in packs.”

# # # #

“You’re back,” Lilith said.

“Yeah, didn’t find a trace of them,” Ranger said. “That means this trail is the one they were on when the quake occurred. We’re going to need mountaineering gear to get down the cliff, or it’s a three-day hike south to Mount Ararat, and I hope to god it’s not in eruption mode. If there’s lava, we’ll have to go around whichever side is safe, but you have to realize even that is no guarantee we’ll safely get to the chasm.”

“What you’re saying is we send someone back to get the mountaineering team, which is going to take at a minimum six days until we can move forward in the direction the runaways went. Our other option is going to Mount Ararat and getting around it to the southern end of the chasm without getting killed by a pyroclastic flow. How many days, if we go that way?”

“As I said, three to get there, at least two to get around it, and then, if we’re lucky, another, oh, let’s say two days at the most to get to the southern end of the chasm.”

“That’s seven days. Everyone! Can I have your attention? I need two fast runners to go back to the village and get the mountaineering team. If you can get there in under three days, you have my permission to stay at the village. Who are my volunteers?”

“I’ll go,” Oscar Reginaldsson said.

“You’re not going,” Robert Davidsson said. “You’re on the catch team, and you’re staying here.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Who else wants to give it their best effort?” Lilith asked. “Come on, people, we have a mission to accomplish here.”

“Lilith, I think we should go south to Mount Ararat,” Robert said. “We’ve wasted two days waiting here for Ranger to find a scent trail. We need to get to the chasm and get across. Then me and the catch team can head straight for Renegade Bay. With luck we’ll get there before the runaways.”

“Fine, we’ll go to Mount Ararat,” Lilith said. “Okay, everybody, break camp, we’re leaving in thirty minutes.”

# # # #

The runaways had been walking at a quick pace up the coulee for about an hour when Chad ran up to Edgar and said, “I took care of that bridge. Nobody’s coming that way.”

“Good work,” Edgar said. “Damn, look at all those baby sundews. How are they growing here?”

“Maybe Helen’s team took out big ones.”

“Well, yeah, but they didn’t sterilize the soil. You think we should?”

“And do the catch team a favor? I thought you were smarter than that.”

“Sorry, I wasn’t thinking of who’s following us.”

“Is that water good?”

“Abner! Give Chad your canteen.”

“So it was a good thing I didn’t dip my hand in it for a quick slurp?”

“It’s got seeds from flycatchers in it. You know what they do to someone’s stomach.”

“Hey, thanks Abner.”

“No problem. I’m sure we’ll stop somewhere up ahead to refill our canteens. Right, Edgar?”

“That’s my plan.”

They hurried on up the creek. When they came to the spine and found out how deep the water was, they took extra care getting the shorter kids to shallow water. Once they came to the point with trails on both sides, they split up again with Edgar having one group and Chad the other. Edgar stopped when he saw the congealed, sterilized soil.

“Hey! There’s a cairn up on that slope,” someone yelled. “I wonder who died?”

“At least one of Helen’s team,” Edgar said.

“I bet it was Michael. He’s an airhead.”

“He is not,” Paul Danielsson said.

“Now, now, lover boy, maybe it wasn’t him.”

“I wonder what got him,” someone said.

“Probably a lizard.”

“Yeah, one of those big blues. You can’t run from those.”

“Well, whatever and whoever it was, they sterilized the ground,” Edgar said. “Come on, let’s see if we can catch up to Helen.”

It didn’t take the runaways long to get to the spring where Helen and David were waiting. A headless red and green lizard was lying on the ground at the foot of the cliff. Edgar looked up and saw three other lizards looking down from the top. They seemed to look at each other and then disappeared. Edgar knew they were still up there waiting for whoever figured out how to climb the cliff.

“I guess we have to go back,” Edgar said.

“No, that’s basalt. See the columns?” Helen said. “From what I can see there are at least four different ways up to the top.”

“Show me.”

“Over there on our left, see that low column?”

“Yes, oh, I see, you just take the next low one and, yes, it goes right to the top. Okay, then which one next?”

“Two short columns this way.”

“Okay, yes, I see it. No, wait, it runs into the other path.”

“Go back three columns and then go to the right.”

“Oh, yes, I see it, now. Oh, it’s just you and David.”

“Yes, one of those blue lizards was eating Michael. David beamed everything away. I put up the cairn.”

“You usually don’t see blue ones this far south.”

“It was a blue lizard.”

“Okay, have it your way. Is everybody rested?”

“There’s something wrong with Paul,” Chad said. “What happened to him? Anybody see?”

“He got down on his hands and knees and drank from the spring.”

“Paul, can you hear me?” Edgar asked.

“My stomach … seeds … in the … water … oh, god.”

“What was around the spring when you arrived?” Edgar asked.

“Sundews and flytraps,” Helen said. “You know he’s going to die, and it won’t be good.”

“Paul, that water had flytrap seeds in it,” Edgar said.

“I know … I saw them … beam me … please,” Paul said and closed his eyes.

Helen took her pistol out, aimed at Paul’s head, and pulled the trigger. The high-powered, wide beam evaporated his head, and then she moved the beam down the length of his body. The other runaways began collecting rocks to build a cairn. They put it where his head had been, and Helen said the prayer of sorrow. Then Edgar prayed that the spirits of Michael and Paul would find peace in the realm of forever.

“Okay, guys, I want those who know how their beam pistols work to lead us up the basalt columns,” Edgar said. “And remember, there are lizards up there waiting for you. More than likely, they’re going to try coming down at you. That means using a high-powered, full-effect beam to get as much of the lizard as you can, so those below you don’t get knocked off the columns by falling lizard pieces. Okay, let’s start climbing.”

Edgar was correct in supposing the lizards would try coming down the steps, but every one that tried ended up being dispersed in a cloud of molecules, while bits of limbs and tails fell down on those climbing up. Luckily, none of the runaways were knocked off the steps, and all made it to the top where they were in for a surprise. There had been a fire, a very big fire, that had burnt the forest. There wasn’t a tree standing as far as they looked in every direction. For whatever reason, only the palms along the edge of the cliff remained standing, though most of them had singe marks on their trunks and quite a few fronds had been burnt.

“Where’s the causeway from here?” Helen asked.

“Somewhere that way, if it actually exists,” Edgar said, pointing toward the west. “We have to remember no one’s been here and lived to tell about it. We’re going on speculation from ages-old terraforming charts. A lot of things could’ve changed between when the planet was discovered and now.”

“You’re saying there might not be a causeway.”

“Or Felker’s Bogland, Renegade Bay, or the Far Castle. We’re in the realm of legend. It’s almost mythic. The only thing we know for certain is that out there somewhere is the Great Western Sea. Supposedly, across it there is a land where people live free of the Moresby Collective Association, but that’s only a rumor.”

“We could go back,” someone said. “We have weapons. We could lead a revolution and end everything that the Collective has done to the people on this planet. We could do that.”

“And die in the process,” someone said.

“We’d die free.”

“We’re free now, and we’re doing everything we can to stop the catch team. I say we should go on to whatever is ahead. It has to be better than what is behind us.”

“Okay, everyone, we have two proposals, go back or keep going forward,” Edgar said. “You can discuss the options among yourselves. All those who want to go back might as well start climbing back down the basalt columns. All those who want to continue in our search for freedom come over here by me.”

Helen, David, and Chad walked over to where Edgar was standing. They watched the rest of the runaways sort themselves out into two groups. There were only five walking back toward the basalt columns.

“I’m surprised Charles Michaelsson is going with that bunch,” David said. “I honestly thought he wanted to go across the sea with the rest of us.”

“At this point, everyone has to decide whether to go forward or to go back to whatever they can make of themselves,” Helen said. “If they succeed in ending the Collective’s stranglehold on the settled portion of the planet, well, I wish them luck. That’s all I can do.”

“Other than Charles, they’re all the youngest of us, and counting those four earlier ones, we’re down to twelve,” Edgar said. “I wish they had stayed because this is where all the lizards have free rein, and we could’ve used the extra firepower. Oh, well, there’s nothing we can do other than continue on. Everyone! Prepare to leave.”

As the runaways walked through the ankle-deep soot, they kept an eye out for lizards, but the only ones they saw were carcasses being scavenged by the planet’s version of carrion birds. The biggest of those birds were no larger than the common crow back on Terra, while the smallest were the size of finches. Where they came from and where they went when the teens approached was anybody’s guess, but all of them waited until the last moment and then flew up en masse in a noisy flutter of wings. They sorted themselves out into flocks that sailed away until you couldn’t see them. Once the teens came to the rotting remains of a blue lizard that was being picked clean by a flock of bald falcons, which resembled Terran bald eagles, but were no larger than a kestrel. The birds watched the teens, but didn’t fly away. Nobody thought of bothering the birds because they were known to attack a Terran at the slightest afront, and they always attacked in sizeable flocks that could strip the flesh off a grown man’s bones in less than thirty minutes.

Everyone was surprised when they came to the end of the burnt forest before nightfall. They stood on the shore of a wide, shallow bay. They could see the far shore at least twenty klicks away. The tide had been out, but they could see it coming in from the south. The flow was moving at a fast walking pace.

“We’d better go north to see if the channel narrows any,” Edgar said.

“It’s getting dark, we should make camp soon,” Chad said.

“Yeah, but I don’t want to have to wade through that water. We don’t know what’s in it.”

“Sea lizards and sharks would be my guess,” Helen said.

“That’s why I want to see if the bay narrows,” Edgar said. “But we’ll stop walking before the suns go down in case there are lizards about.”

They walked along the beach for about an hour, but the tide outpaced them, and they had to move up into the loose sand to stay out of the water. That slowed them considerably. Luckily, there were no lizards about or, at least, they didn’t see any lizards. Of course, that didn’t mean there weren’t any about, and everyone was on full alert at the possibility of an ambush from any direction, including out of the bay. The primary lizard predator in the oceans of the planet were similar to Terran crocodilians, but considerably smaller with the males rarely exceeding three meters. They were known to hunt in packs, which made them extremely dangerous to anyone in or near water more than a meter deep.

The camp was made on a low barren mesa of eroded basalt. There was a small spring on the east side that had pure water, but it was treated anyway because it was always possible fresh water on the planet had microbes that could kill. Pickets were set out and shifts were set so that everyone could get a good rest before morning. Dinner was protein biscuits, vitamin tablets, and water.

# # # #

“What’s that down on the horizon?” Lilith asked. “Is it smoke?”

“Damned if I know,” Robert said.

“Could it be Mount Ararat?”

“No, we’re still at least 160 klicks away.”

“Then what is it? It’s practically across the whole horizon.”

“Brush fire?”

“Okay, is it coming toward us?”

“Hey, Harriet, can you determine if that smoke is coming this way?”

“Gerald, will you please use the range finder on that smoke cloud on the horizon?”

“Sure thing, Doc.”

The junior science officer took the tripod out of its carrier and set it up. Then he opened the instrument case, took out the range finder and comparison view measurement device, put them together, and mounted the assembly on the tripod. He looked through the lens, snapped a picture, waited three minutes, and took another picture. Then he turned the assembly to the left fifteen degrees and repeated the process. Then he turned the assembly another fifteen degrees and took another set of photos. He looked at the screen and said, “Dr. Milesdottir, I couldn’t see the fire, but that smoke is coming toward us at nineteen klicks an hour, and the leading edge is nine klicks away.”

“Lilith—” Harriet started.

“I heard. Okay guys, pack up. I don’t like running in the dark, but I hate the idea of being caught in a brush fire,” Lilith said.

“This isn’t going to get us to Mount Ararat,” Robert said.

“You want to go to Mount Ararat?” Lilith asked. “Then you’re free to walk toward the fire.”

“Maybe it’s not burning where there isn’t any smoke.”

“Then I suggest you walk that way.”

“Then I guess we’ll meet up at Renegade Bay.”

“Robert, don’t kill Edgar. You can waste all the rest, but don’t kill Edgar.”

“What about Chad?”

“I don’t give a damn about Chad, but don’t kill Edgar. I swear, if you do that, I’ll kill you.”

“The Collective will have something to say about that.”

“Not if none of your team returns to the village.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“You want to try me?”

“No. Edgar will live to suffer another day. Come on, guys, we’re going to Renegade Bay.”

With that, the catch team walked toward where there wasn’t any smoke, and the rest of the party turned and began a fast walk away from the smoke.

# # # #

The first sun rose above the horizon, warming the runaways as they worked to break camp. Although the far shore was closer, Edgar didn’t feel it was close enough to risk walking across the tideflats. There was always a chance of quicksand, and that was just another risk he didn’t want to take. So the plan was to continue the walk to the north to see if this bay came to an end. Maybe they would come to the causeway and from there find the trail through Felker’s Bogland.

After a breakfast of protein biscuits, vitamin tablets, and water, they set off up the beach between the bay and the burnt forest. There was a light breeze out of the south that somewhat helped cool them from the glare of the two suns. It was always extra hot when both suns were in the sky at the same time, such as now. They wouldn’t eclipse for another eighteen years, but that always left the larger sun in the sky. Even when the smaller sun eclipsed the larger one, the bulk of the larger was still there, keeping the temperature on the planet nice and toasty.

Normally, Edgar would have Helen and David scouting ahead, but due to the loss of those kids who didn’t want to continue the escape, they had to stay with the group to ensure there would be enough firepower if any lizards showed. After a little over three hours, Edgar saw a dark line on the horizon going from their side of the bay to the other side. It was either the causeway or trees in an unburnt forest. That meant they would have to be doubly careful of lizard attacks. As they neared the dark line it didn’t get very much taller, but it was getting taller. That seemed to rule out it being the causeway or a forest, but Edgar couldn’t think what it might be.

Finally, at a couple klicks away, Edgar saw a line of black pilings going from where the forest was across the bay to a bluff on the other side. To Edgar, pilings meant civilization, and civilization meant people, and people could mean trouble, especially if those people were members of the Collective. If the Collective was way out here, they would surely be arrested and sent back to the village where most would die horrible deaths that only Terrans could devise. The closer they came, the quieter the runaways became. Fear was electric. It ran between the kids as each thought of all the horrible things they left, and all tried not thinking of Collective police waiting for them behind those pilings.

They stopped a hundred meters from the pilings. Edgar saw they started at the edge of the soot, and the pilings there showed signs of being scorched from the forest fire. Then he saw a convex curve in the pilings as they crossed the bay, whose waters lapped against them out in the deepest part. There was only one thing to do. He had to walk up and look around the end to see what awaited them.

“Helen, David, I want you to come with me in case there’s a lizard behind that end piling,” Edgar said.

“I wouldn’t mind a lizard,” David said.

“Yeah, a lizard would be much better than a Collective police officer,” Helen said.

They didn’t walk fast toward the last piling. When they came to it, Edgar hesitated before going up to it to see what was there. He took out his beam pistol, turned the knob to full, released the safety, and walked up to the piling. He stepped around it and saw another row of pilings disappearing in the distance, but about half a klick down he could almost see something that might be a ladder. There were no lizards, just soot from the fire and a line of bald falcons along the top of the pilings. They all seemed to look down at him, and then flew off across the burnt forest.

“Come on, guys, we’ve got a little walk before we find out what this is all about,” Edgar said.

The runaways were unnaturally quiet as they walked along the pilings that had been scorched by the fire. They reached the ladder in no time at all. It was definitely old, yet it was made of a cupronickel alloy and appeared as if it was recently installed.

“Well, I guess I’d better go up and see what’s on the other side,” Edgar said.

“No, I’ll go,” David said as he grasped a rung at arm’s length and started climbing. He was almost to the top when he took out his pistol. Then he slowly climbed to the top. He slowly stood up and said, “Oh, my god, you won’t believe what’s up here.”

When David disappeared over the top, Edgar began climbing as quick as he could. About three-quarters up, he stopped and looked down to see if anyone was following him. He felt dizzy and turned his head to stare at the ladder. He had completely forgotten he was afraid of heights. He remembered growing up in the village and being called a sissy because he wouldn’t climb trees, ladders, or the rope in gym at school. He had to endure years of ridicule because he couldn’t go up and then look around at how high he was from everybody on the ground.

“You alright?” Helen asked below him.

“Forgot I was acrophobic,” Edgar said.

“Can you go up or do you want me to climb over you?”

“No, I’ll go.”

As he stared at the ladder in front of him, Edgar slowly brought one foot up to the next rung, moved a hand up to a rung, and moved the next foot. It was slow going, but at least he was climbing. He didn’t know what was going to happen when he got to the top and would have to climb up onto the pilings, maybe David would be there to help him. It took a while, but he finally came to the highest rungs and was surprised at what was on the other side of the pilings. It was obvious there had been a farming community there at one time, but that was long in the past. All the buildings were in ruins; the fruit trees were barely alive and covered with lichen and moss, and, although the fields were overgrown with weeds, you could still see definite fence lines.

“What do you think?” David asked a few feet away.

“I don’t know what to say, but could you come here and help me?” Edgar said.

“Oh, sorry, uh, having a bit of trouble with your fear of heights?”

“Yeah, just come here and help me,” Edgar said, frustrated at his inability to do anything involving ladders.

“Okay, now, climb up as far as you can. That’s it. It’s okay if you close your eyes.”

“Come on, just get this over. I’m not a child. What are you doing? Why are you holding my arms?”

“I’m going to pull you up. If you want, you can climb up the ladder with your feet or just let them dangle.”

“If you’ll hold me steady, I’ll try to climb with my feet.”

“It’s certainly a good thing you don’t weigh a lot. That’s it. Come on, one more step. Now, step forward. That’s it, you’re on top of the piling. Bring your other foot up. Come on, one more step.”

“Shit! That was too much. I’m sorry, but, fuck!”

In no time at all, the rest of the runaways were up the ladder and wandering around the old farmstead. Those who knew the history of Moresby’s Planet recognized the place as one of the earliest attempts at collective agriculture. Unfortunately, this was too close to the forest and the indigenous lizards; hence the pilings and eventually abandonment of the farm itself. There was talk of settling down here, but most recognized the risk of being too close to Collective Association lands. Plus, no one was medically trained, though most had a rudimentary knowledge of first aid.

“Can I have everyone’s attention,” Edgar called out. “I suspect some of you are thinking this might be a good place to stop, but I must remind you there is a catch team out looking for us, and you know what they’ll do if they find us here. It’ll mean certain death to most of us, either here or back at the village. Our only choice is to continue on to see if there are boats to take us across the sea.”

Everyone sorted themselves out and followed Edgar across the farm to the distant hills. They came to a small sluggish river that came down a valley between two hills and flowed out toward the bay. Surprisingly, there was signs of an old railroad going up the valley. Edgar turned to see if it went toward the farm, but it seemed to stay along the lower slopes of the hills going north toward whatever was or had been in that direction. Since he wasn’t interested in going that way, he started following the tracks up the valley. There were trees up on the hills, but down in the valley it was mostly native grasses, willows, and various low shrubs. After a little over two klicks, they came to the first sign of animal life. It was an animal trail coming down the hill, crossing the tracks, and continuing toward the river. There were fresh droppings along the trail, which appeared to have come from some kind of herbivore.

“This certainly doesn’t look like bogland to me,” Helen said.

“No, but we didn’t go across a causeway either,” Edgar said. “I suppose we should continue following these tracks. They have to go somewhere.”

“Hopefully, not to an encampment of Collective Police.”

“No, Collective lands are far away from here. I think these tracks either go through these hills to whatever population center is or was at the other end, or they possibly go to some sort of mineral deposit.”

“You hope.”

“Yes, I hope.”

So they continued on following the tracks, which turned into a side valley and seemed to have a slight slope to them. They came to a bridge that curved across the valley and headed back toward the main valley. They continued to gain elevation, and when they came out into the main valley there was a high dam across the valley. There were power lines coming up from the base of the dam and heading up the valley. In the distance they could see a range of snowy mountains.

“Where are we?” Helen asked.

“Moresby’s Planet, I think,” Edgar said. “Other than the glaciated volcanoes down near Mount Ararat, I didn’t think there were any other mountains like that on this planet.”

“Could they have been left off the maps and erased from the history lessons?”

“That’s possible if the Collective didn’t want people to know about them.”

“You know, there’s some lights on that dam. Lights mean people.”

“Or they’re being maintained by androids.”

“Either case could be dangerous.”

“So we either walk by or go down and see who’s operating the power station.”

“If we go down and whoever or whatever is there is Collective, it’ll turn into a fight and that could lead to police action.”

“Well, I’m going down to see who’s home,” Edgar said.

There was a small tunnel that the tracks went through, and when they came out the other end, there was a road crossing the tracks. It was made of concrete, and the cracks in it had been tarred. This was a sure sign that they had come to some sort of civilized area of the planet.

“You guys can wait here if you want,” Edgar said. “I’m going down to the dam.”

“I’ll go with you,” David said.

There was a metallic humming sound, and by the increase in volume they could tell it was coming toward them. Most of the runaways hurried back into the tunnel, leaving Edgar, David, Helen, and Chad to face whatever was coming to meet them. After a couple of minutes, they saw an open-seated, wheeled vehicle coming up the hill from the dam. There were two men in the front seats; neither was wearing a police uniform. The vehicle came up to them and stopped.

“Well, hello, strangers,” the man who hadn’t been driving said. “I’m Joseph and this is Spencer. By the look of you, you’re runaways from one of the Collective villages to the east, right?”

“Yes,” Edgar said. “You work for the Collective?”

“No, there’s no Collective this side of Langley’s Chasm. We were sent out here to meet you. Would either of you happen to be Edgar or Chad Christiansson?”

“Yes, I’m Edgar and this is Chad.”

“I told you it was them,” Spencer said. “We’ve been watching you two from the other side of the chasm. Of course, we didn’t know if you were the Christianssons, but the powers that be from the Far Castle will be very interested to know that you’ve made it safely to Phthalianic territory.”

“You’re with the Phthalianic Empire?” Edgar asked. “I thought we were at war with them?”

“Yes, we were at war with them, but you see they won, and now most of Moresby’s Planet is within the Empire.”

“I thought most of the planet belonged to the Collective.”

“No, the Collective occupies one side of a very small continent.”

“But—”

“It’s understandable that you’re confused,” Joseph said. “Ah, your transport is coming.”

There was a roaring sound in the distance that was getting louder. In the distance, three twin-rotor helicopters, two large transport models and a smaller one, came over the dam, circled overhead, and went back to the dam, where they landed.

“If you’d gather your people, you can go up the road and it will take you to the top of the dam,” Joseph said. “Social Services representatives will assist your people with acclimatizing into normal society, but you two, Edgar and Chad, we’ll take you to the speedier transport for your ride to the Far Castle.”

“I’m having trouble believing this,” Edgar said. “There was the chasm, the earthquake, the weird light, but then there wasn’t a forest, a causeway, nothing after the chasm that was in the histories.”

“Yes, well, you see, adjustments to databases had to be made over time so that the Collective would believe certain things until we were in a position to remove them.”

“The catch team that certainly was following us, what’s going to happen to them? They have weapons that are designed to easily kill many people from a distance.”

“Yes, the people who were chasing you. They certainly were a determined bunch. Supposedly, your sister, Lilith, was leading them, but the catch team split off from the main group and attempted to outrun a brush fire. Regrettably, they didn’t. As for the main group, they will be dealt with before they’re able to return to their village.”

“Lilith was leading the group chasing us?” Chad asked.

“Yes, according to intercepts of communications before the group was put together, Collective authorities decided it would be best for Lilith to lead the group because if they failed, they could blame that on her, thus enabling her official demise.”

“That certainly sounds like the Collective,” Edgar said. “So what’s to become of us?”

“I really don’t know because, you see, you and your brother do have the Keys to the Far Castle, and now that the Phthalianic Empire is running the show here and on most other Terran colonized planets, you will probably be asked to relinquish those items.”

“But they’re part of our DNA/RNA sequences,” Chad said.

“Yes, but you have to realize that the Phthalians have more advanced physiological systems than Terrans have ever thought of devising. I don’t think you will die, as such, but there will probably be some degree of debilitation.”

“Joseph Conrad Laurentsson, you will cease your blathering,” a loud voice from somewhere said. “Edgar David Christiansson and Chad Henry Christiansson prepare for transfer to the Far Castle.”

With that, an aura surrounded Edgar and Chad. It became brighter and brighter until it was impossible to see anything. There was a very loud snap. The light disappeared and the brothers were gone.

# # # #

The brothers found themselves in what could be described as a prison cell complete with a combination metal sink and toilet, two beds attached to one wall one bed above the other, a light source in the ceiling, two metal chairs on either side of a small table, but there were no bars. In fact, the cell didn’t appear to have any sort of door. The walls, floor, and ceiling were painted light green and exactly four and a half meters square. They were, in a sense, inside a cube. Also, they were quite naked.

“What is this? Where are we?” Edgar yelled. “I demand to know what this is.”

“Quiet, Terran, or should we say, human, Homo sapiens, or probably more to your liking, Homo sapiens sapiens, which we believe your species came up with all on its own, much to the eventual detriment to most other species on your sick planet formerly called Earth.”

“Why are we here?”

“Quite simple, Edgar David Christiansson, you and your twin hold in your genetic makeup an error created by your species’ dream of creating the perfect human. It used to be called eugenics, but that was a disgraced word, so your physiology and gene scientists came up with a more palatable phrase—genome engineering. What helped was their method of mixing humans with good genomes with other humans with equally good genomes, thereby eventually eliminating all genetic failures or those humans deemed inferior. Surprisingly, it worked quite well for a time. Unfortunately, the human genetic molecule is subject to mutations, which in some cases create better humans, but sometimes it goes the other way. You two are the culmination of a mutation that was inadvertently allowed to continue ad infinitum. You two are, in a sense, the fathers of a whole new breed of humans. Your tissue samples are, at this very moment, supplying genetic material to thousands of genome production facilities throughout the known Terran cosmos.”

“So what happens to us?”

“Nothing, you’ve done all the damage to future generations of humans that is within your capabilities.”

“What do you mean by damage? I thought you said we’re the fathers of a whole new breed of humans.”

“Exactly, my dear boy, but I did not say a better breed of humans. Your mutual genomes are flawed, majorly flawed. Within five generations, humans will cease to be the dominant species in their area of the cosmos. Terrans are going to die of the simplest infections. Viruses, bacteria, and all other microbes of innumerable species are going to flourish inside the human body because of its weakened immune systems. The common cold will become a killer disease, wiping out the populations of planets in every galaxy you’ve colonized.”

“But what happens to me and Chad?”

“Nothing, you’re free to return to your compatriots to live out your lives on your planet.”

With that, the cell where Edgar and Chad stood was filled with a bright light, there was a loud snap, and they found themselves in a room that resembled their bedroom back in the village. Edgar went to the window, pulled back the curtain, and looked down on a broad plaza filled with people walking this way and that. There were tall buildings all around them and as far as the could see. It was a city quite unlike any city within the Collectives’ agriculture-dominated territory.

“Edgar, you need to look at this,” Chad said from the terminal on the desk.

“What is it?”

“On the screen here, it says we’re expected at three o’clock this afternoon in the assembly hall on the ground floor of this building.”

“Why?”

“I guess we’re to be given mates. From what this says, all the runaways are going to be given mates.”

“But Terrans no longer produce young by sexual intercourse.”

“Actually, we’re still capable of doing that. It was the genome engineers that said we couldn’t do it the natural way.”

“So someone has paired us up with a female who will, willingly or unwillingly, be our mates for life?”

“Not exactly, I guess the choice is ours, but we have to make a choice unless we prefer to lead celibate lives, in which case we’ll be given vasectomies and sent to live in male only villages.”

“Who dreamed up this idea?”

“I believe it was the Phthalians.”

“Well, we certainly know how welcoming they are. I suppose we should put some clothes on and go mingle. This certainly hasn’t turned out the way I thought it was going to.”

“At least we’re free of the Collective.”

The brothers dressed and went down to the assembly hall. The first thing they noticed was the youngest members of the runaway group weren’t there. Then they noticed there were others their age who weren’t in the group. It seemed to be a social affair with music, food, and beverages. They mingled, ate, drank, danced, and generally enjoyed themselves for the first time in their lives. Edgar met a young woman, Valery something, originally from a town across the Great Western Sea, who was the granddaughter of a young man who ran away from Village 31K2.6 decades ago. It turned out she lived in the same building with a friend from work. In fact, most of the residents of the building were single and living with friends from work. The other residents were recently married couples or older couples without children because families were not allowed in the building. If you got married and had a baby, you were required to move to a different building or to a smaller city or town where work would be provided along with childcare and school facilities for the youngsters.

Edgar and Valery inevitably became a couple and dated frequently. Then Edgar was offered an administrative position at an aquafarming community on Graham’s Island in the Great Western Sea. When he told Valery about the offer and where it was, she was ecstatic because it was a two hour ferry ride from her hometown. She said if they got married before he accepted the job offer, the authorities would find her a job there, too.

“Do you think we could really make it?” Edgar asked.

“Are you afraid of the Phthalians stopping you because of your gene problem?” Valery asked.

“Of course, there is that, but they surely know we’ve been dating for months. They haven’t said anything, yet.”

“Don’t you love me?”

“Well, yes, I do, and I would very much like you to be my wife and the mother of our children.”

“Then why don’t we go down to the marriage office right now. You know the Phthalians are going to be notified of our request.”

They did that, and their request for a quick marriage was approved, though Edgar did have to go in for a consultation at the local Phthalian Social Services office. They were somewhat reluctant that he would be physically away from their direct control, so he agreed to have a small monitoring station installed at his new residence. As long as he remained out of contact with anyone associated with the Collective, his new life as husband, father, and dutiful member of the new Phthalian controlled Terran society would be as normal as anyone else on Moresby’s Planet. As he thought about his new life, he realized that he’d actually succeeded in his escape from the Collective and would live a long and fruitful life across the Great Western Sea.

The End