Chapter 405 (1/2)

The cryotube was cold beneath her hand. She knew it was more a psychological thing than actual cold, as the insulation was near perfect to keep the occupant frozen and in stasis to prevent further cellular and genetic deformation and degradation. The lights on the side burned steady, or blinked rhythmically, all with silent messages for those that could read them correctly. The cryotube was fixed to the floor of the shuttle with graviton clamps, far superior to any normal straps or clamps, but she had insisted on canvas straps with metal buckles just for her own state of mind.

She wanted the contents of the cryotube as safe as possible.

Nakteti stared out the armaglass window as her shuttle set down. She had expected a standard starport, complete with tarmac, control tower, maintenance and service bays, concourse, and parking lot. She honestly could not imagine anything else as the shuttle had transferred from the Sweet to orbit, then down into the atmosphere.

She was settling into a field. The grass was green and sparkling. On the far side of the field were cattle, all being hemmed back from the landing shuttle by beings on riding beasts. The shuttle was being guided in by a tall woman holding a crystal adorned staff into the air. To the side were drawn up beings in archaic armor of leather and bronze, with shoulder pauldrons of steel. Banners snapped and fluttered in the breeze.

The shuttle stabilized with a bump and the sound of the engines winding down.

We like to hear what's happening, floated up in Nakteti's mind as the engines going cold reminded her of a conversation she had with the occupant of the cryopod only a few weeks prior.

”I am unsure of this,” Nakteti's second cousin, Thepadi, said as she stood up.

”The universe is not as we were taught, as we thought,” Nakteti said, standing up slowly. She held her gripping stick in her left hands, her right catching hand still resting on the cryopod. ”The Lanaktallan, and by extension, we were unaware of other inhabitants that did not follow the dictates of their society.”

The door to the shuttle opened, exposing the ramp down.

Armored Terrans had moved into position on either side of the ramp and as the door opened they drew swords, extending them up and out at a 45 degree angle. The blades were inlaid and engraved, glittering with menace, all of them surrounded by a soft aura that Nakteti's brain insisted was magic even as her intellect knew it was simply high technology masquerading as magic.

But that technology might as well be magic to me, she admitted to herself.

The person standing at the end of the ramp, only a pace or two from the end, was a tall Terran female, brown scarred skin on display, her armor both protecting and emphasizing her attributes. She had a sword on her hip, her clothing was made of animal hide treated and worked and reinforced with metal. Her expression was severe, uncompromising, and for some reason reminded Nakteti of her own mother, Sangbre.

”I am still nervous,” Thepadi admitted.

”Then hold tight to your gripping stick, for I will not risk insult by delaying,” Nakteti said. She let her hand slide across the top of the cryopod as she walked toward the hatch. She knew the fierce looking Terran female could see her plainly, see her pause for just a moment with only her fingertips touching the end of the cryopod, before she moved to the hatch and moved down the ramp.

”HOO-KAR-AWK!” the soldiers at either side of the ramp suddenly roared out.

Nakteti barely managed to hold onto her skin at the loud roar. It was a promise of death, dismemberment, and of utter carnage. She tightened her grip on her gripping stick but did not miss a step as she walked down the ramp, staring at the large Terran female.

Thepadi screamed and fled back into the shuttle at the roar and the other crew members who had ridden down on the shuttle with her fled deeper into the shuttle.

When her feet touched the grass, which was inlaid with a swirling runic pattern from the grav-drive, the soldiers on either side of the ramp suddenly sheathed their swords, turned 180 degrees somehow just by twisting their feet, and marched away in perfect unison.

Nakteti no longer found such machine-like precision to be alarming.

”Mistress, or should I call you Matron, Nakteti,” the tall woman said.

”Mistress is fine. My mother holds the rank of Matron for my clan,” Nakteti said.

”Mistress Nakteti, welcome,” the woman said. ”King Nganto sends his regards and his fervent wishes for your safety and comfort.”

”Thank you, Lady Khoonkeenadee,” Nakteti said. She had looked up the name and found it stood for river of blood. The name referred to both her ascension to her throne and the sheer 'river' of offspring she had borne.

”Call me Keena,” the Terran woman said, smiling. ”Your accent changes the meaning of my name to be slightly insulting and we should not have that when we could be friends.”

”As you say, Lady Keena,” Nakteti said.

The woman looked past Nakteti, at the shuttle, her eyes narrowing slightly. ”My beloved brother. You have brought him?”

Nakteti nodded.

”Shall I have my servants recover him or will your servant bring him out?” Lady Keena asked.

Nakteti turned at the waist, turning all the way around, and looked behind her. ”Perhaps it would be better if your servants retrieved him. My kinfolk are huddled in the back.”

Lady Keena's smile got wider. ”We shall recover him and take him to my fortress-manor. There we shall decide what steps to take.”

Nakteti nodded slowly, looking around. The herd animals were staring at her with dull curiosity, the riders on the beasts paying more attention to the herd than her. The crops moved slowly in the breeze and clouds were in the sky.

It seemed almost insultingly banal.

Nakteti watched as a 'sorceress' used nanite graviton systems to lift the cryotube on a cloudy nimbus of light that trailed streams of brightly lit mist, chanting softly and holding tight to a staff. Six armored soldiers moved next to the cryotube, their backs straight and swords drawn.

For a moment Nakteti felt slightly off balance. She could see 'nanite exclusion' blinking in the upper right of her vision, put there by the datalink, but part of her brain screamed at her that she was witnessing magic, not technology.

The cryotube was loaded on a wooden cart, drawn by beasts, with the 'sorceress' sitting in the back with the cryotube and the soldiers marching on either side. The driver and his assistant were dressed in comfortable looking clothing made of woven plant fiber cloth, both with floppy hats.