Journey

By Doug Plamping

Book 3 in the Council of Three series starts during Amy, Paul and Frank’s battle to leave Earth. With military and government cooperation it should have been easy, but no one counted on the criminals attacking the military base that now surrounds the pillar. Overwhelmed, the soldiers defending the base have to rely on Amy’s powers to shield them.
They now travel with two protectors who ensure that they are all well-armed and supplied. They are going to need every bullet they can carry. With them is a baby alien spider that has her own agenda and secrets. Others are watching them; a wolf-like policewoman, and an angel, but angels are a race other aliens despise.
They discover that another Earth human is loose in the galaxy and following them. They capture him, only to release him after obtaining the location of a newly discovered pillar on Earth and the promise of his group’s cooperation.
As they travel they become aware that they have been named ‘the three’, which seems to be part of some prophesy. The One Who Tests provides a sign, something humans on other planets are calling a miracle. It seems that God has a special role for Amy, as a healer. Why, when, how or where, Amy doesn’t know.
They start to question the old priest’s motives as the route he gave ‘the three’ leads them into dangerous places and situations again and again, seemingly always arriving during a crisis. Are they being set up? They are concerned that they may not survive to reach the old priest’s home planet. Turning back is an option they don’t want to think about.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Doug Plamping
• Release date: Aug 5, 2011
• ISBN: 9780987735911

Doug Plamping

Doug Plamping has recently taken his writing hobby to the new level of published author. Step on the Sun is his first book, with a number of books in the Council of Three series being prepared for publication. Doug has been a science fiction and fantasy fan since he was a boy growing up in the United Kingdom. A Canadian for 40 years, he enjoys rural living north of Calgary, Alberta, and spending time with family and friends.

Book preview

Chapter 1 – The Tank

Amy peeked over the stone blocks to look at the tank approaching them. The tank’s gun was turning and lowering to fire at them. The tank, and the troops behind it, wanted to capture the pillar behind her. The base defenders were doing what they could, but they had no weapons that could kill a tank. Amy had offered to use her powers to disable the tank. Now she just had to do it without getting them all killed.

The assault on the base was by The Organization, ruthless criminals that wanted to use the pillar to send modern military forces out into a galaxy that was mostly back to the age of swords and shields.

One of the powers shown to Amy by Staff, an alien who spoke to her through the walking stick she held, was to reduce the mass of an object, making it weightless. Amy was certain that the ‘mass minimum’ command would disable the tank, but she’d never done anything that big before. With the tank disabled, the base defenders had a good chance at repelling the attack.

Amy had both hands around the symbols on Staff. Daughter had told her that she had to have a view of the complete tank. Trying to send a visual picture of the tank to Staff, Amy commanded, Mass minimum.

Colonel Richards grunted, and then said urgently, Nothing happened Amy. It didn’t work. You closed your eyes. Colonel Dan Richards was next to her, and on each side of them was the Colonel’s support team, Sergeants Tony Kowalski and Anne Berkton.

Did I? Amy looked between two stone blocks that were remnants of the building that used to enclose the pillar. Careful to keep her eyes on the tank, Amy focused on sending what she was seeing to Staff, and keeping her eyes open. The gun on the tank stopped turning and was being raised to point directly at them; it had to be now.

Mass minimum.

There was a sudden creaking as the suspension of the tank expanded pushing it off the ground. Amy heard Anne whisper, Who’d a thought! The tank engine stalled and it was quiet, no one was firing. The tank drifted upwards and the breeze took it towards the beach. It started to tumble slowly, the setting sun reflected off the tank as it drifted above the palm trees on the beach.

Amy, the Colonel whispered, the tank could drift up to where planes fly. Can you bring it back down?

Of course! Duh! Amy turned to the Colonel, I don’t want to drop it on anyone. Let me know when it’s past the beach and over the ocean. Amy waited, keeping her head down.

Tony whispered to Anne, When she said she’d ‘float it away on the breeze’ I thought she was touched! Look at that thing fly! The base was quiet as both sides watched the unreal sight of a tank floating away in the air. One of the crew scrambled out of the tank, but as soon as he let go of the tank his weight returned. He fell, screaming, until he impacted on the beach.

Simon, a Master Wayfarer from the planet Quenlac Three, had shown Amy, Paul and Frank how to use the pillar behind her. Paul and Frank were waiting, lying down next to the pillar, with Daughter of the Clan Adv’fr’gaite, an intelligent alien spider. Their two protectors, Special Agent Amanda Andrews with the Secret Service, here with the approval of the President, and Sammy Johnson, ex-military and now private security, hired by her Dad to protect them were behind Amy ready to get her to the pillar.

Now, whispered the Colonel.

Amy brought her head up to get a good view of the tank. Holding Staff at the carvings, and making sure she kept her eyes open, she commanded, Mass normal.

"Good. Practice." Staff told her. Staff only communicated in two word sentences. They didn’t know why. It made getting information from Staff difficult.

The tank fell, taking only seconds to hit the surf beyond the beach. It seemed like it happened in slow motion. A horrendous sound of crushed metal was replaced by a deafening roar as the tank blew apart in a huge fireball and spray of water. Amy instinctively ducked down behind the stone blocks. The explosion shocked soldiers on both sides back into action; the fighting restarted.

That did it Amy, said a smiling Colonel Richards. They’re retreating. We can take care of them now. You’d better get out of here, and lock that pillar in case we do lose the base. Keep your head down; no sense in getting shot now!

Amy started to crawl back, with Amanda and Sammy crawling on each side of her. Daughter was back to the pillar. Behind them the Colonel and the two Sergeants opened fire on the attackers they could see. The Colonel called out, Remember Amy, you three have to save the Earth!

That’s great, Amy thought, still crawling. No pressure! She heard Sammy mumble, And what are we? Chopped liver!

Once they were across the outer circle that marked where the black dome would go, Paul, kneeling, used his walking stick to tap the sequence 1-1-8, cutting off any answer to the Colonel and putting them in darkness. The black dome was a hemisphere shaped shield, 25 feet wide and 12 feet high, that covered the pillar. Paul was using a walking stick, same as Frank’s, with eight gold beads sealed in eight separate holes. Eight golds was the standard metal code allowing individuals in the galaxy to use public pillars and archways.

Paul switched on a flashlight.

Well done Amy, Sammy said as he helped her put her backpack on. The defenders have a chance now!

Yes, very cool! added Paul.

Daughter of the Clan Adv’fr’gaite, a member of the spider kind, with her short staff held by her claws, moved onto the pillar, a yellow stone in the center of a tile mosaic of a blue sky and radiating sun rays. Amy Elizabeth La Reine, Paul Augustine Fortezza, Frank Bristol Wiseman, please observe. Colonel Daniel Richards was right, we cannot allow these criminals to use the pillar. There could be another assault on the base. I will tap the sequence 1-7-7 that allows a Wayfarer to lock a pillar. After that sequence I will tap a code sequence of eight numbers twice; this sequence has to be used to unlock the pillar. Amy Elizabeth La Reine what code sequence do you wish to use?

Amy thought for a second, 1-5-5-5-1-2-1-2, it’s a sequence all of us from North America can easily remember. She asked, Daughter, you’re a Wayfarer?

That is true, Amy Elizabeth La Reine, as are you. Daughter started to tap in the code sequences.

Simon had made them Apprentice Wayfarers, Daughter was saying that they were already Wayfarers, and Staff had told her that she was a Councilor? What did that all mean?

Daughter finished tapping. Amy Elizabeth La Reine, please enter the sequence Simon gave you for the Tower Planet. Daughter had told them it was more accurate than Tower World.

Amy shook her head. I’d better not; after the interrogation drugs The Organization used on me I’m not certain that I remember it correctly. Frank, you do it.

Frank stepped on the pillar and started tapping the transit sequence 5-2-1-7/2-1-7/1/3-5-2-2/1-1-7-3.

Amanda quietly said to Sammy, Goodbye Earth.

Amy felt that this was the time to say something. Her voice showed her relief that they had escaped unharmed, All we have to do is, counting on her fingers, return Staff and the journals to Quenlac Three, save the Earth, save the Isolated Planets, and save the galaxy! Then she added quietly, with a smile, One small step for human kind!

Frank, tapping the last number in the sequence, had the final word, Cool, eh!

Chapter 2 – Tower Planet

Amy felt the normal chill of transit, but then something she’d never felt before. She was heavy! Amy’s knees buckled. She grabbed Paul, and used Staff to keep upright. It was hard to breathe, the air felt thick as it went in and out of her lungs. Paul was having trouble too; he threw the bundle of staffs he was carrying out towards the grass. They both watched the bundle slam to the floor at their feet, rolling only a few feet.

Paul grunted, It’s the gravity; it’s a lot more than ours.

Move onto the grass and take off your packs, Frank told them. Put them down gently. Don’t drop anything as it’ll smash. Daughter moved out of the way; the extra gravity didn’t seem to bother her.

They were in the open on the center pillar of three pillars. A low grass berm surrounded them, with the tower they were to climb in the distance. The berm formed a circle around each of the outer pillars creating a figure eight, with their center pillar intercepting the outer berms with a tighter radius berm. Amy didn’t lift her boots, frightened she’d fall over, instead sliding her feet across the mosaic that was similar to the one in Mexico, until she reached the grass. Paul helped Amy to take off her backpack and put it on the ground very gently, and Amy then helped Paul. Frank, Amanda and Sammy were helping each other. There was a lot of grunting!

Frank pulled out something the size of his cellphone from his backpack. Flipping open a cover, he carefully put it and his pocket digital camera on the ground. They were all watching. Frank announced, This is a digital scale. It allows me to measure gravity. My camera weighs 5 ounces on Earth; here it weighs 10.6 ounces which means that gravity is 2.1g, or 2.1 times Earth. If you weighed 160 pounds on Earth you weigh 336 pounds here. We’ll have to be careful; it’ll be easy to break bones here.

Amy looked at the tower; it was slender, like a hypodermic needle pointing into the sky. Amanda was using her rifle, and having a hard time holding it steady in the higher gravity. It says that the tower is 9,000 meters away; that’s almost 6 miles. We’re not going to be able to haul all this gear that far and back. Not in this gravity!

Frank requested, Amanda, give me our distance to the bottom of the tower, and the top of the tower.

Sure, why?

The difference lets me figure out how high the tower is. It’ll be good to know as we’re going to have to climb it!

While Amanda and Frank calculated the height of the tower, Amy used Paul’s binoculars to examine the planet from the top of the berm. Around them was an undulating prairie of green and brown grass. There was a narrow trail through the grass leading towards the tower. It was cool here and the air was dry, but it didn’t smell of grass, just dust. There was very little wind, just enough to ripple the grass. The sky was overcast with continuous cloud cover at a high elevation, a long way above the tower. The only variation in the cloud was a brighter area, the sun, about 30º above the horizon. That meant it was either early morning or almost night.

The tower poked out of the prairie, grey and shiny, but not metallic, more like polished stone. Amy could see openings or windows all the way up the tower. At the top was a wider platform with some square shapes on it.

The grass was uneven under her feet, as if the grass grew in separated tufts. It wasn’t anything like walking in a park.

Daughter was next to her on the berm. Daughter, do you know who built this tower?

Amy Elizabeth La Reine, the tower was built by the Ship Guild for a kind that once lived on this planet. Whether the kind still exists is unknown to the spider kind. No spider has been to this planet since the ancient memories. I will not say more; the One Who Tests purpose will not be served. When you examine the top of the tower you can reach your own conclusions.

Amy was ‘almost’ getting used to this routine, where Daughter avoided giving them any answer that might even smell of guidance. How do we tackle this? Can we leave the gear here?

We can’t afford to lose any of the gear, said Sammy. Someone will have to guard it.

Paul was using the binoculars. He pointed to the right of the trail. There’s a slight rise over there. No one will see our gear if we put it behind the rise. If whoever guards it lies down, no one should see them either. So, who’s staying?

Daughter offered, "The three and their protectors need to go. Daughter of the Clan Adv’fr’gaite will guard."

Sammy answered, Good! Amy, you’d better fit the radio on Daughter.

Me! she thought.

What Colonel Richards had sent was a radio with large buttons and a bunch of different length straps. Sammy said it was an underwater radio set. Amy had laid the straps out on the grass and was looking at Daughter to see how she could attach it.

Daughter of the Clan Adv’fr’gaite, there are three options here. You can carry the radio to use it, but that would reduce your mobility, and your ability to fight.

Amy Elizabeth La Reine, that is not desirable. What are the other options?

We can attach it to the strap of the case you carry but that puts it away from your mouth, and to hear it the volume would be higher; it might give away your position.

Amy Elizabeth La Reine, that is not desirable either.

Then the last option is to use the straps to hold it close to your head. If we fastened it around the top of two of your…legs, I think it would work.

Daughter was silent for a while. Amy, then let us try the straps, but they must be on in a way that does not hinder my movement.

OK, thought Amy, now I have to just do it! Amy picked up two short straps and a longer strap. Daughter, I think the radio should go underneath your head; that way if you disguise yourself the radio will be hidden.

That is wise, said Daughter, and waited.

Amy took a deep breath, fighting her instincts about spiders, thinking, this is a friend, friend, friend! Amy reached over and looped a short strap over the first leg on Daughter’s left side; it held near the top of the leg without restricting the joint. Amy attached a short strap in the same place on the right side. She slid the longer strap through two attachment loops on the radio, tied it to the loop on one leg, then went around to tie it to the other loop. It worked but the radio didn’t seem to want to stay in position. It looks like I’ll have to go under the hood.

Under the hood? asked Daughter.

Oh! Sorry! Didn’t realize I said that out loud, Amy answered. It’s an Earth expression. I think I can get this to fit properly if I go underneath you. Can you hold your body up higher?

Yes, Daughter answered and lifted her body about two feet off the grass.

Amy lay down on her back with her head towards Daughter. She used her feet to push herself under Daughter. First push and she was under the two palp, pads Daughter would use to hold her prey. Another push, she was only under the fangs and the mouth. The grass was slippery and the higher gravity resisted her sliding on the grass. Her roommate at Duke University, Sally Samuel, had told her that the fangs were filled with venom. She could see the glistening of liquid on the end of the fangs. The mouth was flaps of skin and shell, which would form a tube through which Daughter would suck out the digested body fluid of her victim. Daughter was looking at her with the bottom two eyes, while the other six looked elsewhere. Amy was starting to perspire, her heart was thumping, and she had to focus on not panting. Another push and her head was at the radio. Daughter, this isn’t going to work as the radio is on top of a ridge in your skin. I’m going to move one strap to your second leg on one side, then the radio should sit there without moving.

Amy adjusted the straps and found that she had to tie the long strap to the radio, so it wouldn’t slide around. OK, Daughter. Move around and see if the radio stays in place.

Daughter leapt off her and suddenly she was looking at the sky. She could sense that Daughter was moving around, but she was busy getting her breathing back to normal. Amy took a quick wipe at the sweat on her forehead.

Sammy showed Daughter, while Amy recovered, how to use the radio.

After they’d hidden their gear behind the rise in the grass, they headed off, anxious to see this impossibly slender tower. Frank had worked out that the tower was 1,900 meters, or about 1.2 miles high. Amy had climbed the CN tower in Toronto during a charity event, and at 550 meters, they used meters in Canada, it was the tallest free-standing structure in North America. She’d done the 1,776 steps in 20 minutes, which had put her in the middle of the pack. This tower was six times higher, and with twice the gravity. It would take a lot longer.

The sun, a brighter area in the high clouds was getting lower in the sky. They were carrying only water, food, flashlights, rope, first aid kit, space-blankets and sleeping bags. In addition, Amy carried Staff, Amanda and Sammy carried their sidearms and radio headsets, and Frank was carrying his camcorder and camera. Once they were on the trail through the grass, they couldn’t see any sign of their gear or Daughter.

The effort of walking, and breathing in the double gravity left them traveling in silence. Sammy had one quiet comment as they walked, Amy, putting the radio on Daughter; that took nerve!

Amy used Staff to keep her balance as she was still a little shaky from the drugs and torture used on her by The Organization. The staff given to her by Simon seemed to be a mechanism that allowed her to talk to an alien called Staff or We. She wasn’t sure. The staff also allowed her to use powers that it had shown her. The staff looked heavy, but wasn’t, it was five feet long and went from about three quarters of an inch wide to maybe an inch and a half wide at the other end. The staff was dark brown, polished without being shiny, and it looked like wood, but wasn’t, not even a diamond would scratch it. Carvings covered the staff from top to bottom except for a band of Master Wayfarer symbols around the center. To use her powers she had to be touching those symbols.

They’d walked for an hour when they entered an area of grass that was shorter. It was cut in a strip about six feet wide that went towards each horizon with slight curves but no sharp turns. The grass was cut evenly across the center, but the edge was ragged.

Frank was examining the cut grass. It’s chewed. What eats a strip of grass six feet wide? No one had an answer. Frank took some photos, which was redundant to say as he took photos of everything.

Sammy asked, Amy, why are you keeping Daughter with us? She as good as condemned Earth’s seven billion people to death! Everyone waited for the answer. Daughter of the Clan Adv’fr’gaite had announced, when the US government had tried to imprison Amy, Paul and Frank that, "I declare this planet infected. It will be examined, cured, or cleansed."

Amy was ready for this question. Daughter has a staff like this one. She is a Wayfarer, or a higher status. I think that she’s not the only one who could make this declaration, so it’s an advantage to keep her close to us. There’s a saying, ‘Keep your friends close, and…

Sammy finished it, …your enemies even closer!

After another couple of hours of walking, the tower was a lot closer, perhaps a mile away. They were all tired, really tired; the double gravity drained their energy. Amy tried to count the floors as she walked, but kept losing count. She had to concentrate on placing her feet carefully on the trail. She had tripped once and it was like falling off the top of a stepladder; she was lucky she hadn’t broken anything. Her hand seemed to block about ten openings, and the tower was 20 hands high, so about 200 stories plus whatever’s on top. Distracted, she stumbled on the grass, catching her footing with a jerk. Amy told herself, Concentrate on your footing idiot, or you’re going to get hurt.

* * *

Captain Mendes was sitting behind a folding table checking through inventory reports when he saw the Director approaching his tent. Karl Johann Gesasin, was the World Security Director for The Organization, and the most ruthless man that the Captain had ever met. He checked his watch; the Director was right on time. The deadline for the reinforcements from Mexico had just expired.

He stood respectfully, and with a gesture offered the other camp chair to the Director, who took it without comment. If he was expected to start, then he’d better. Director, as you are aware, the deadline has expired without our reinforcements arriving. Therefore, I suggest that we immediately move our base to ensure that any forces from Earth can’t find us. The Director just nodded and waited for him to continue.

He did so, pointing to summary reports on an easel. These are the reports from the scouts using the sequences we knew, or the sequences we have obtained. Neither of them referred to the questioning, torture, and execution of the travelers and merchants; it wasn’t relevant. Eta Leporus is the best for a temporary base. The locals call it Applegrove Four. There’s is no direct link to Earth, and the city we’ve chosen is deserted, with the rest of the planet sparsely settled, too few for the slavers to bother with. The population is mostly fruit farmers, as the name suggests,. Our route goes through three Stations, Tolgenroad, Jesfar, and Wolfroad. We already control those Stations. The city buildings at our destination are adequate for our use, and the cobblestones will hide the movement of our heavy equipment. With your permission we’ll start the transfer immediately. He waited for the Director to respond.

The Director looked him in the eyes. I’m glad to see you’re on the ball, Captain Mendes. It wasn’t a compliment; it was a warning. Proceed as outlined. Is there anything else, Captain?

Yes, Director, there is one thing. In the transfer process our units will be temporarily divided. It’s important that a senior member of The Organization be with the units. I will be staying here and coming with the last unit. I request that you transfer with the second unit going out. Is that acceptable?

The Director stood up. Good thinking Captain. I’ll be ready. Notify me when the second unit is ready to go. With that, the Director left the tent. Captain Mendes could tell from his stride that the Director was pleased to have a role in the transfer. It didn’t hurt to stroke the egos of these executives.

* * *

It took another 20 minutes to reach the base of the tower; they were now walking very slowly. Paul was there first, feeling the surface of the wall. Guys, it looks like stone, but there are no joints. This corner is square, not worn like it should be if this is thousands of years old. Paul disappeared around the corner.

Frank had his camera, asking, Amy, go stand next to the wall; I can use you to scale the size of this thing.

Amy was irritated, no please or thank you, but she knew he didn’t mean anything by it. Amy went to the side of the tower and started to feel the texture of the wall, as Paul had. The wall looked like stone, like one of the granite buildings at the university, but there was no texture at all, it was just smooth like glass.

Frank had finished without telling her, so she backed up from the wall to take a second look at the opening. It was maybe three times her height from the ground, too high for them to get into. Now what do we do? They hadn’t seen a tree, and they hadn’t brought a ladder.

Paul shouted from the corner, There’s a doorway on this side too, low enough to get into. They all followed him around the corner. The opening was about 4 feet high and Paul was using his flashlight to look inside. There was a ramp of dirt and grass going in through the opening. They could get in here but they would have to be careful in this gravity.

Frank called from the next corner, The next opening is at ground level, and it’ll be safer this way. They all followed him around the corner.

The opening was about 5 feet wide and twice as high. Dust and dirt covered the floor. Sammy put his hand on Frank’s shoulder just as he was going to step in. Frank, I’ll check it first. Just because we haven’t seen any dangerous animals doesn’t mean there aren’t any. Sammy stepped in carefully looking around. After examining the floor, Sammy waved them in. There’s been no one here; no tracks.

Frank was bending over carefully. Yeah, and no insects either, none in the grass or on the floor. We haven’t seen any flying bugs either; weird. There may be no life here other than the grass and whatever eats the grass.

Amanda added, Or those lost aliens Daughter mentioned.

There was a flat area inside the opening with a ramp going up to Amy’s right, and a ramp down to her left. Straight in front of her was a huge round column. Amy could see the opening up the ramp on her right and see light from the partially filled opening down to her left. The inside wall was square, like the tower, and the wall was about 30 inches thick. The ramps filled all of the area from the cylinder to the walls which had the same finish as the outside, looking like granite, but no texture at all, again as smooth as glass. Amy noticed that the floor looked rough, and carefully bending down to feel it, found that there were little bumps all over the floor. There was no pattern, but it was hard to find a smooth space of more than a finger width. At least they wouldn’t slip on the ramps.

Sammy was shining a flashlight down the tower ramp. Paul and I will check what’s down here; I just like to know what’s in our rear. Sammy called back, While we’re gone, work out how long it will take us to go up to the top of the tower.

Frank called back, Will do! Frank turned to Amy, Pace off one side of the outside of the tower. We’ll measure the inside.

Amy nodded, whispered ‘please’ to herself, and moved back outside. She looked around the horizon; nothing. Going to the corner, she looked towards where the pillars should be, but saw only grass waving in the breeze. It was about 80 feet from corner to corner. Amy returned inside to find Frank drawing a sketch on a sheet of paper. Frank added Amy’s dimension to the sketch. Looking up he said, The ramp has a slope of about 1 in 6, steep in this gravity, and it’s about 180 feet for one revolution. In this gravity it will take us about twice the time it should, that’s two minutes, times the number of rotations.

Amy added, Using my hand to block out so many openings, I estimated that there’s 200 floors.

Frank nodded. That matches the height from the range finder. So, that’s 400 minutes. Wow! Six hours and 40 minutes to climb the tower.

Don’t forget rest breaks. Add 10 minutes each hour, and we’ll slow down as we get tired, Amanda added.

Amy figured that out. It’ll take us eight hours, which means that we will be partway up the tower when it gets dark. Amy could hear Paul and Sammy coming back up the ramp. Did you find anything?

Sammy gave Paul a nod, indicating he should answer. It’s all the same as this. You go down four rotations and then you run into ground water. There’s soil at each of the openings but you can get by. At the water’s edge, we found sandal tracks, very old, so we think that someone used it for a water source. We also found partly burnt grass stems all the way down, so they likely used grass torches to light their way. What have you figured out about the tower?

Frank showed them his sketch, and the calculations. The distance along the ramp will be about 20 kilometers, and in this gravity it’ll take us eight hours.

Paul quietly said, That’s gonna hurt.

Amy smiled. For an Italian his English was really good. Which reminded her, We all should speak Galactic now so Sammy and Amanda can practice.

Sammy said in Galactic, If we start now then we’re going to have to sleep on the ramp twice. If we leave in the morning, we just have to sleep on the ramp once. We’re all tired, and not used to this gravity. Better to sleep first and then climb tomorrow. We need no sentry rotation this time as Daughter will warn us if someone arrives on the pillar. We’ll cut grass to make a soft mattress to sleep on, and we’ll have to make it thick for this gravity.

They made soup inside the tower, avoiding the risk of a grass fire, and checked in with Daughter. It took the last of their energy to cut the amazing amount of grass needed to make a mattress big enough for all of five them. They slept side by side in silver space-blankets wrapped around sleeping bags.

Chapter 3 – Tower

Decades earlier on Quenlac Three, a young man stood waiting outside his Master’s office. The young man was nervously adjusting his Wayfarer robes as he looked out of the window, across the jungle, to the city on the opposite hill.

Wayfarer Arkturus of Bayside City, come in; it is good to see you, said Master Watersmeet as he passed the young man in the corridor. Conversation in the galaxy was formal with full names and complements exchanged at the beginning of conversations. Have you had that vision again?

Yes I have, Master Wayfarer Watersmeet of Northcity. It is a pleasure to talk to you, Arkturus still wasn’t sure that he should be bothering a Master of the Wayfarers Guild with this dream.

Master Watersmeet saw his problem. Don’t worry so much young Wayfarer. We Masters are here to help, and you were told to come back if the vision occurred again. I would be upset if you had not. Was it the same vision as the previous times?

Yes, Master, it was, but I remembered more of the vision this time.

Good. Sit down. Tell me where you were, and what you were doing, when you had the vision. And tell me what you remember this time.

Arkturus sat down at the worktable. "It was last evening. I had