BACK   

= FAR WARS =

a novel in the Empire of Time series

by John Argo

2.

This was the annual celebration of our desperate victory a decade earlier against an enemy so alien that hatred would be a kind word to describe their attitude toward humankind. Hatred would be an emotion, casually cited, but not really meaningful since the Kaarrk Swarm have no individuality—just numbers, and merciless hive-drive. They long only to kill and destroy. If they die in combat, their final and only emotion is rage that they will no longer be able to hate. You see the terror of our situation not long ago, and the miracle of our victory.

As we followed the MP across the high celebrity platform, we were surrounded by thousands of Corduwaine system and Tellerine world dignitaries and citizens. A man and woman alternated echoing commentaries in excited voices on loud-vox brayers, and occasional thumping of military music rose into the food-scented air. The atmosphere was by parts carnival, solemn, and get-together.

I was not born here, but I became a leading citizen. It would not be out of place for me to be summoned to see the Holy Mother in person. The timing was simply off, and I felt puzzled. But the Holy Mother says come, you go, no questions. Local dignitaries were supposed to meet with the spiritual and civil leader of humankind tomorrow in ceremonies in the city. The Popess had come in a convoy of warships to attend our celebration and honor the many who died defending humankind on the battlefield below, where the Kaarrk had launched the first of their savage surprise assaults—but we defeated them at such heart-wrenching cost.

I was once a young man from a simple place—a planet that hurtles around a yellow sun, much as folks say said old mythic Earth once did, if she ever really existed, and perhaps still does somewhere in fathomless space. Named Ranay by my parents, I was their first-born—smart, handsome, and ambitious. I was chosen by my deme, and my parents sent me to the fabulous university on Tulearth in the Corduwaine system, light years from home. The plan was for me to become a skilled starmansh, an officer, and a doctor among the stars, so I could return home and serve my people. As fate would have it, my future was written in a very different book. Nobody can go back and change time. I will tell you how those things came to be, and you must promise not to cry.

In a moment, I will tell you how I first met Zara Upholder of Tellerine in the Corduwaine system. First, I must describe how we live today, especially in that we will never forget. When I am done telling, this story will make sense.

We are at peace now, at a terrifying price of blood and death in years past. Sleeping amid the ages, across from me on this parade field, are the truncated and battered pyramid ruins of ghostly Fortress Mercury. They loom in a fog of distance and evening, under a sprinkling of fiery pinpricks in a cloud-feathered sky over the skyline of Corduwaine, capital city of Tellerine, chief residence of our House Upholder. Every year at this time, tears come to my eyes as I stand behind the high barriers with my wife and children, watching military priestesses and other officials below in their solemn independence parades. The ceremonies are staged on the battle-blasted glass of a lost bay—under the distant memorial of a far more ancient war. Fortress Mercury's massive walls are worn down by the winds and rains of thousands of years, and full of scars and holes of ancient wars long before our time or memory. Like the glassy plain of Lue, those walls signal to heaven and earth that it is ManTime, and we are still here. We prevailed, but at what cost.

TOP

Copyright © 2018 by Jean-Thomas Cullen, Clocktower Books. All Rights Reserved.