Chapter 20

 

Master Cogwalker sat behind the desk in his office on the space station.  His chair was swiveled so that his back was to the desk and he faced a wide window in the outer wall of the room.  Below him was the azure wonder of the planet Allistor and the humans called Earth.  Puffy white clouds drifted lazily across vast oceans and land masses alike.  To the south a spiral storm system spun westward from one continent toward another.  It was beautiful. 

Cogwalker had only spent a short time on the planet, but he found he quite liked the environment.  It had a much lower gravity than his own homeworld, making him feel like he could leap over buildings without much effort.  They had set the gravity here in the station to match the planet’s, but everything here was tight spaces and long corridors, no wide open spaces for leaping, except maybe the upper habitat.

Still, he had no time for such boyish foolishness.  His clan’s honor, his own personal honor, had been badly damaged by the attacks here on the station.  He needed to get to the bottom of several questions, and do it soon.

His dwarves had captured and detained all the remaining griblins within minutes of the explosions.  Their gear had been searched, and two more explosives found.  Each griblin had been questioned extensively, and each had cooperated fully.  They too seemed to want to find out what happened.  The two who had been carrying unexploded bombs had no idea how or when the explosives had been implanted in their gear.  The clan leadership had sent in a full investigative team, including several interrogators, explosive experts, and a mentalist.  The mentalist, better than any lie detector, could read the thoughts of its targets, even force them to reveal memories.  If the target resisted, the process could become quite painful.

None of the griblins had resisted.  They had cooperated fully and without hesitation.

There had been a very limited number of clan members on the station in the days prior to Emperor Allistor’s visit.  An additional one hundred or so had been aboard during the station’s transport to the planet.  They had all departed with the tug ships a week earlier.  Cogwalker himself had reviewed the crew arrival and departure logs, as well as security feeds, confirming the departure of all clan and crew. 

Except one.

A single dwarf, a clansman and fellow engineer, had accompanied the station on its trip to Earth, but had not departed with the rest of the delivery crew as scheduled.  Nor had he been detected anywhere in the station in all the days since.  He hadn’t accessed any doors, trams, or elevators, or appeared in any surveillance feeds.  He had not used his ration card to obtain any meals, or sent or received any communications off-station.   None of the other clansmen, including the griblins whose gear had been tampered with, remember seeing the dwarf anywhere on the station at any time. 

On a hunch, and because he was frankly out of leads and ideas, Cogwalker had requested the clan send a team of snorgs and their handlers.   A snorg was a six-legged creature that vaguely resembled a canid in body structure.  Its body was short and stocky, heavily muscled like the dwarves that raised them on their home planet.  Where it differed most from canids was its head.  The creatures had three eyes that could see in several light spectrums and detect heat signatures.  In addition, their snouts were three times as long and wide as a standard canid.  Giving them olfactory sensing abilities beyond the capabilities of any tech Cogwalker had ever seen. 

His engineers had used what tech they had access to.  Sensors that could vacuum up discarded skin cells and other biomatter and analyze them at a molecular level.  But the station was large, and the process slow.  Especially since they had no idea where to search, other than the locations of the explosions.  The nature of which tended to destroy biological trace evidence.

A team of six snorgs, on the other hand, could cover the entire station in a day or two.  And more importantly, they were the one creature in the Collective that would not be fooled by the beings that Cogwalker now suspected of the sabotage.

Snorgs were trained to track changelings. 

It was the only explanation that made any sense to Cogwalker.  His theory was that the creature had replaced the missing dwarf sometime during the station’s transit to earth.  Taking the dwarf engineer’s form, it would have had free access to every part of the station in the two solar days between the delivery and the tug ships’ departures.  Plenty of time to plant the explosives they found, and possibly many more that they hadn’t.

When a changeling adopted a form, in this case a dwarf, its DNA when scanned would read as dwarf DNA.  The creature in effect became a dwarf in appearance as well as chemical composition.  It would be impossible for standard medical and security scanners to detect a difference.  Which was why the creatures were so effective as smugglers, spies, and assassins. 

But snorgs, with their incredible sense of smell and larger than normal canid brains, were able to detect the scent of a certain waste product produced by the changelings when they morphed.  The Stardrifter clan had discovered this when a captured changeling had killed its guards and assumed one of their forms to escape, only to be foiled by a pack of snorgs kept in the prison compound grounds.  That changeling, which had only been previously charged with smuggling, was quickly convicted of murder.  Never ones to waste valuable resources, it was sentenced to a lifetime of assisting its captors in training more snorgs to detect and track its kind.  The clan earned a great deal of wealth by selling the services of those snorgs as security or investigative teams across the Collective.  Faction heads and Emperors wanting to prevent changeling assassins from accessing their homes paid well for snorg patrols and guards at access points. 

The teams had arrived the day before, and Cogwalker had just received confirmation.  Three of the six teams had detected signs of a changeling on board.  They were now tracking its scent through the station, accompanied by well-armed guards, both dwarven and griblin.  The griblins had begged to be included, wanting revenge for the deaths of their brethren, and a chance to restore their reputations within the clan. 

Already they found that the changeling had visited several key locations within vital engineering and life support sections, and three bombs had been located and disarmed.  From what the handlers could tell, the changeling was no longer on the station.  The scents had all been old, based on the level of interest expressed by the snorgs.  They got much more excited over fresh scents. 

This was the dilemma that Cogwalker now faced.   The ships that arrived with the investigative teams had been sealed the moment the teams departed onto the station.  Snorgs were stationed at each ship’s access to prevent the changeling from sneaking aboard the ships.  All of the station’s escape pods and service pods – little one-man utility vessels used for external repairs in the vacuum of space – were still docked in their stations.  No other ships had docked with the station… except Allistor’s.  

He found himself hoping that one of the griblins that had exploded was the changeling in disguise.  But that hope was faint, and not at all likely.  Which meant, if the snorgs did not locate the changeling in the next several hours as they finished their sweeps of the station, it must have boarded Allistor’s ship. 

And Cogwalker would have to be the one to tell Allistor that a changeling assassin who had targeted him, killed his intended bride, and might still be planning to kill him, had probably hitched a ride down to the planet on the Phoenix .

*****

 

Allistor escorted Sirina, Agni, and Fayed on a brief tour of the Invictus Tower before taking them through the teleport again to Ramon’s Citadel.  They were instantly greeted by Max, who seemed to take a special liking to Agni.  The elder gentleman obviously returned the affection, actually taking some time to roll around in the grass and wrestle with the dog.  He smiled sheepishly and shrugged when he got to his feet. 

“I had a dog much like Max as a boy.  He brings back fond memories.”

Chloe joined them soon after, bowing and politely greeting the newcomers before leading them to Ramon and Nancy.   Allistor made quick introductions before nudging Sirina forward slightly.

“Sirina here has been working as a harvester.  Helping to strip newly felled lumber of branches so that the wood could be processed for use in their toilet paper plant .” He winked at Ramon as he emphasized the words.  “Also, don’t call her a lumberjack.  It’s a silly word.” Both Ramon and Nancy laughed. 

“Oh, you have to let me go back there with you and take Meg.  I want to see her face.” Nancy chuckled. 

Ramon saw the confused expressions on their visitors’ faces.  “Meg is one of our original family and our head chef.  She was with us from day one, and was constantly reminding us to scavenge toilet paper wherever we went.  When we were running low, if you came back without a roll or two, she might refuse to feed you.  It became sort of a thing.”

“Ah, I see.” Agni smiled, getting the joke.  “Yes, we had similar issues before we got the factory up and running.”

Sirina added, “We never consider the little luxuries in life until they are taken from us.”

Allistor nodded, a long list of pre-apocalypse items running through his head that he’d love to have back.  Top among them being chocolate, hot pockets, the internet, and a wireless network.

“Anyway…” he smiled at Sirina.  “She has expressed an interest in gardening, and I thought maybe you could coach her on related classes, crafting, et cetera.”  He motioned toward Nancy and added, “Nancy is a druid class.  She’s our very best healer, as well as the one who organizes all of our crops.  Both food crops and herbs for seasoning and potion ingredients.  Nancy and George, who we just recently lost, are the ones who fed all our people through the winter.  Plus, she can teach you a spell that I think you’ll find very useful, regardless of whether you go back to being a lumber- ehh, a harvester, or not.” 

Nancy rolled her eyes at him, gently shouldering him aside as she gathered up Sirina and led her out the door.  “Let me show you my greenhouse…”  Her voice faded as the two women, plus Chloe, rounded a corner. 

Ramon took up the mantle of host.  “I don’t suppose either of you have an interest in inscription or related work?” He motioned for them to follow him into the library.  Both men’s eyes widened at the sight of the bustling facility.  The walls were lined with books, with scrolls stuffed in between them here and there.  Tables were covered in paper, inkwells, and other implements as dozens of people worked at inscribing magic spells onto special paper. 

As they gawked, Ramon produced several scrolls from his ring.  “I’m guessing Allistor hasn’t given you any of these, yet.  All of our people receive several basic spells at a minimum.  Stuff to help keep you alive.  Here are scrolls for Restore , a healing spell.  Light , which creates a small light globe that hovers near you, and Flame Shot , which should be self-explanatory.  Go ahead and use them now.  Then we can discuss your stats and what class build you’re leaning toward, and maybe get you a few additional scrolls.”  He looked at Allistor, who nodded in confirmation.  He also took a third set to give to Sirina when he saw her again. 

“These are basic scrolls, which can be made by pretty much any low level Inscriptionist class.”  He spoke while the two men tentatively opened a scroll each and learned the spells.  When they’d burned through all three, he smiled and reached into his ring, producing two scrolls and another item, tossing them onto a table.   “Please, take a seat.” He motioned for them to sit, then sat across from them.  With a motion of his hand, the third item he’d dropped on the table came to life.  It hopped up and stood upright on two legs, looking much like a foot-tall gingerbread man.  “I’ve raised my Inscriptionist class level high enough that I was able to specialize as a Paper Sorcerer .  Which allows me to do things like this.” He stared at the little paper man, who stepped forward and bent down, grabbing a scroll in each hand.  It then walked across the table and presented Agni and Fayed with a scroll each. 

“This one is called Mind Spike .  Again, pretty self-explanatory.  It causes a great deal of brain pain, and makes a good spell interrupter.  Pretty much anyone with an Intelligence stat above ten can use it.” Ramon explained as his little paper golem returned across the table.  When he reached Ramon, the little guy did a dance, twirling on one foot, waving its arms, and finishing with a hip thrust that made the paper crinkle. 

“Ha!” Fayed was enchanted by the little dude.  “That’s quite interesting. May I?” He held out a hand, and Ramon obliged by sending the golem running back across the table.  Allistor watched, expecting it to jump into Fayed’s open hand, but instead it ran around to the side and hugged his thumb with both arms.  To his credit, the surprised man didn’t yank his hand back.

“I think he likes you.” Ramon chuckled.  A moment later the golem hopped onto the open palm and struck a hero pose as Fayed raised his hand closer to his face to get a better look.

“Wonderful!  It actually seems to be alive.”

“It’s not, at least, not yet.” Ramon shook his head.  The little golem took a seat and leaned back, lounging in Fayed’s palm.  “I’m not high enough level yet to give the golems any true sentience.  Right now they obey my commands in real time, or they can follow a set of clear and simple instructions.  Like ‘go pick that up and drop it in the trash can’ or ‘go find Nancy and bring her back’.  That last one did not go well, by the way.” He looked at Allistor.  “These things already creep her out, and the one I sent with those instructions tried to physically drag her back here.”

“Hahaha!” Allistor thumped the table.  “Did she say bad words?”

Ramon hung his head in mock sorrow.  “So many bad words.  Chloe learned a few new ones, even.” He winked at Fayed.  “I had Max taste all my food for a week, in case it was poisoned.”

The conversation turned to classes and spells.  Agni had chosen an Administrator class, and as Allistor had suspected, focused most of his attribute points on Intelligence and Will Power.   They gave him several more scrolls, including Mend, Vortex and Restraint .  Fayed on the other hand had a very balanced build, with a slight emphasis on Strength and Constitution , but nearly equal points in Stamina , Agility , and Intelligence .  He was given Erupt and Restraint, not having quite enough points in Intelligence to learn Vortex .   He hadn’t chosen a class, which surprised Allistor until he remembered something he’d heard. 

“Did Rajesh also forbid you from selecting a class?”

“He did.” Fayed nodded.  “I think he was afraid that if I had additional class spells I might feel I was powerful enough to overthrow him.”  The man paused.  “Two months ago I would never have considered it.  But some of his actions lately made it… difficult to remain loyal.”

“Well, what have you been leaning toward as far as a class?”  Allistor tried his best to ignore the flash of anger and move on. 

“Actually, your own class, as you described it, seems useful.  Both offensive and defensive magic.  And that lightning storm you called was impressive.”

“Ooooh, big fancy storm spell, flashy lightning.” Ramon mocked Allistor with a grin, and his golem gave Allistor a deep, mocking bow.

Allistor ignored him.  “It has been very helpful in keeping me alive, and protecting my people as well.   Master Daigath is our Battlemage trainer.  If you’d like to speak to him, I’ll introduce you.  But don’t decide on that class yet.  Spend some time talking to the other fighter classes among our people, and the class trainers.  You might find one you like better.  I wasn’t kidding when I said picking a class is the most important decision you’ll make.”

*****

 

Outside in the gardens, Nancy was walking Sirina through the process of converting ingredients into potions.  They stood side by side in front of a workbench as Sirina took her first shot at grinding herbs with a mortar and pestle.

“May I ask you something… personal?” Sirina’s voice was barely above a whisper.

“Certainly.  Ask away.” Nancy smiled, dropping a few bits of a healing herb into the ceramic bowl.

“Emperor Allistor.  Is he really as kind and gentle as he seems?  Or is it an act he puts on for the peasants.  His subjects, I mean.”

Nancy wiped her hands on her apron and then put her hands over top of Sirina’s, adjusting her grinding technique slightly.  “Slower, and less pressure.  There you go.”  She let go and smiled.  “Allistor is exactly who he appears to be.  I knew his mother.  She was always talking about him as a child.  When the apocalypse happened, despite being so young and having just lost his entire family, he stepped up and used his knowledge to save us all.  He kept us alive and safe until we had the chance to improve ourselves and understand how this new world works.  He honestly would give his own life without a second thought to save any one of us.  And what he wants most is for all of us humans to thrive.”  She paused to inspect the contents of the bowl, then motioned for Sirina to empty them into a glass beaker. 

“All the kindness he’s shown you and your people today?  Did he mentioned that the woman he loved was just killed a few days ago?”

Sirina’s lips tightened and her eyes widened as she shook her head.  “Oh, no.  I’m so sorry. No, he didn’t mention it.”

Nancy nodded, pouring a clear liquid into the beaker atop the crushed herbs.  “He wouldn’t.  He loved Amanda, and we had all been preparing for the wedding.  She was killed in an attack on our new space station the other day.  Right after that, during her memorial service Allistor had to confront two ancient beings who are basically gods as far as power goes.  You’ve heard of Loki and Baldur?”

“I have read the myths about them, yes.”

“Well, they’re apparently real beings.  A race of aliens who visited Earth long ago, so powerful that the humans back then called them gods and based whole religions on them.  They’re also the ones who caused our apocalypse and killed most of the human race.  Anyway, Allistor faced them down and found a way to trick them into granting most of us citizens enough experience to get a bunch of levels.  And he has to face them again in a few days.  Oh, and in between he spent several days up on the wall of Invictus City fighting about a million zombies.”

“He mentioned the zombies.  Right before he called down a storm that was quite frightening.”

“Heh.  He does like to show off that spell.” Nancy smiled at her. 

Sirina was quiet as she watched Nancy place the beaker over a flame.  Eventually, she spoke.  “He has been so kind to me, my family, and all of the people in our Stronghold.  He gave up some of his personal experience in order to raise us all up to level ten.  Thousands of us.”

Now it was Nancy’s turn to be surprised.  She hadn’t known that was possible.  Still, it was exactly the kind of thing Allistor would find a way to do.  She stood quietly next to the woman as they both watched the liquid mixture heat up. 

“I think I would like to become a healer, like you.” Sirina finally said.  “And I would enjoy this Alchemy that you’ve demonstrated here.  Allistor constructed a pool with a glass enclosure inside our Stronghold.  There is a little space around the pool where I could grow some herbs…”

Nancy shook her head.  “Oh, no.  If you’re going to become an Alchemist, we’ll build you a proper greenhouse.  You said there are a few thousand people in your Stronghold?”

“Yes, though I don’t know how many of them will stay.  Living under Rajesh has left a bad taste in our mouths, and many may not wish to trade one ruler for another, despite Allistor’s good intentions.”

“Don’t worry.  Of all the many tens of thousands of people Allistor has given that same choice to, only a handful have declined his offer.  Like you’re doing now, they’ll meet people and ask questions, learn about how things work.  Most of them will stay.  Which means you’ll have a lot of mouths to feed.   We’ll take some seedlings along, some apple and orange trees.  And we’ll plant some corn fields too.  And I’ll build you a greenhouse large enough to grow vegetables and useful herbs inside where they’ll be protected from birds and bugs.”

She paused when she saw tears running down Sirina’s cheeks.  Putting one arm around her, she gave the woman a squeeze.  “I know, it’s a lot to take in.  But you’re going to be one of us now, and we look out for our own.  Our job is helping you grow as quickly as possible, so that you can in turn help others, and so on.  We’re going to get the human race back on its feet.  Only this time, we’re all going to be superhuman.   Stronger, smarter, generally just more badass!”

Sirina laughed, wiping her cheeks.  “You’re so wonderful.  I’m happy to have met you.  Thank you so much, for all of this.”

Nancy pulled the beaker off the flame and poured its contents into another receptacle.  From there they watched it pass through several tubes and other glass containers, until it finally dropped into a vial held in a round stand filled with empty vials.  The liquid had changed color from a sickly green to a vibrant red during the distilling process.  When the vial was full, she deftly rotated the stand so that the still-dripping liquid began to fill another.  By the time they were done, six vials were filled with the red liquid.

“There, now!  You’ve just made healing potions.” She placed stoppers in each vial, then handed them to Sirina.  “Each one will restore approximately five thousand health points instantly, and an additional five thousand over thirty seconds.”

Sirina’s eyes unfocused as she received notifications.  A moment later her smile stretched from ear to ear.  “I’ve just learned the profession of Alchemy!  And it says I’m already level two, since I’ve been instructed by a master.”

“One of the perks of making several thousand vials of potions over the last year or so.  You’ll find your skills level up faster if you also grow and harvest your own ingredients.”

“Thank you again!” Sirina moved as if to hug Nancy, but nearly dropped the vials she still held in her hands.  Looking down at her outfit, she realized she had no pockets and just shrugged, holding the vials in both hands as she beamed at Nancy. 

Nancy smacked her forehead.  “I’m guessing you don’t have a storage ring, right?  It sounds like that guy who was running your Stronghold didn’t do much to help you out.  Come with me.”  She took the vials and stored them in her own ring before grabbing Sirina’s hand and pulling her out of the garden.  “Nigel, tell our illustrious Emperor that I’m taking Sirina to use the kiosk, and that he’s a slacker.  He needs to buy about two thousand more storage rings.  And I’m headed to the new Stronghold to spend a whole lot of his build points.”

Allistor was still in the library with Ramon, Agni, and Fayed.  They were just getting up to retrieve Sirina and head back to Invictus Tower when Nigel relayed Nancy’s message. 

Ramon guffawed, halfheartedly covering his mouth as he laughed.  “You know she’s gonna do it, too.  She’ll build like a ten story greenhouse, a couple orchards, maybe an alchemy lab if that’s the direction Sirina chooses to go.  Actually, she’ll probably build it no matter what, and talk someone else into being an Alchemist if Sirina isn’t interested.”

Not in the least upset, Allistor still forced a grimace onto his face.  “Yeah.  When are you gonna learn to control your woman, Ramon?”

“Ha!  Not in this lifetime, my friend.  It’s the other way around on this island.  She’s the boss, I’m just the scroll monkey she enjoys cuddling with from time to time.”

Agni smiled at the two of them.  “You are a wise man, Ramon.  I predict you’ll lead a happy life.”

*****

 

The following morning Allistor, Helen, Nancy, William and the girls insisted that Meg and Sam accompany them to the new Stronghold to hear what the majority of the locals had decided.  They gave the excuse of wanting to organize a proper kitchen for them, and provide a welcome feast. 

Meg leapt to the task with her usual enthusiasm, making comments that Allistor was slacking if there were only two thousand new mouths to feed instead of five or ten thousand.  She packed a storage ring full of food and recruited half a dozen kitchen staff to assist her, and they were off. 

The moment they arrived, Helen led the group toward the factory building.  “I think the main building might be the best place to set up the kitchen.  I didn’t look before, but I think that’s where it is now.  Though I’m sure you’ll want to expand it…”

Allistor opened the door for them and allowed Helen to lead the group inside.  Everyone who was in the know had expectant smiles on their faces.  They quickly stepped down a short hallway and through a set of swinging double doors into a wide open space.

Rather than the kitchen, Meg found herself on a factory floor.  Everywhere she looked there were pallets of toilet paper stacked six feet high.  

“Ta-daaaa!” Helen threw her arms wide as she turned around to face Meg.  “Welcome to your happy place, Megster!   Allistor went n got you a toilet paper factory!”

“It’s about damn time!” Meg fake-grumped, turning to glare at Allistor as Sam roared with laughter.  “Smartest thing you ever did, boy!” She turned and hustled over to the nearest pallet, arms wide as she hugged one corner of the toilet paper towers that were taller than her, her eyes closed and a beatific smile on her face.  A moment later she stepped back and held up one hand. 

“Think I can fit this whole pallet in my ring?”