A Fury Of Aces: Crystal Venom Part 22

Marko looked at the Avian. He then looked across at the rest of the group, shaking his head and wondering what manipulations the Administration were attempting this time. He stepped down off the wing 'I need to wake the ACEs,' Marko advised. 'Do you object, Ant?'

The tall Avian shook his head. 'No, of course not. We know of them from the Games Board programs that the Haulers bring to us.'

Marko was shocked. 's.h.i.t! So you are not cut off or a recent discovery?'

Ant c.o.c.ked his head, slightly intrigued by Marko's comment. 'No, Marko, why would you say that? Certainly there are factions among us who want to travel and see the other worlds of man, but we have been trading with the Haulers since the Avian sub-species of human were first created for this moon and the other environments like it.'

Marko frowned, feeling very annoyed. 'OK, so what we have been told is that you were created for the Infant conflict and carry highly contagious diseases as biological weapons.'

The Avian brought up his hands and looked at them. 'The Infant conflict is a source of continuing sadness to us, as a moon, one of the many habitable in that system, was colonised by the Avian humans hundreds of system years before that conflict. It always protested its non-involvement, but was destroyed anyway. Why would we wish to carry diseases to kill? We are human after all, Marko. You must know they would be lethal to us as well.'

Marko gently pulled Spike off the side of his helmet, located the tiny sequential switches and pushed them to start the little spider up, holding Spike in his hand as he then knelt beside Glint. Marko opened the panel in Glint's side and locked the breakers back in. The panel closed itself, Glint's fur rearranging itself to conceal the joints. Marko looked down at Glint's closed eyes, allowing himself to speed up, and as soon as Glint's eyes opened he used the crew comms to rapidly tell him what had been happening.

Spike woke up, flipped himself over and then scuttled up Marko's arm to sit on his shoulder. A very fast three-way conversation took place, with the Jim monitor again recording everything he could see around him. Glint and Spike agreed to gain as much information as possible about the sentients and their surroundings so that the information could be pa.s.sed to Stephine and Veg for their judgment.

'Ant, why are so many of the Avians wishing to leave?' Marko enquired.

The Avian shrugged. 'There is a new colony available to us further out towards the Crab Nebula. Sounds a very interesting place and so they want to go there, as this is not a big enough moon for our expanding population. Another reason is that none of us wish to become involved with the privateer corporation that set up a large base north of here over three system years ago. Before you ask the question I shall give you the answer: there are a great deal of marketable medications derived from the native biosphere here. They want it and we just want to live with it.'

The little boy was now hugging Glint with one arm and trying to get Spike off Marko's shoulder with the other and laughing all at the same time. Whenever the child bent his head, Marko could see the raised lumps over his shoulder blades and the fine feathers growing along his spine. He looked down and could see that the boy's shoes were also very wide for such a young person. He looked closely at the three humans in the group and could see subtle genetic engineering in their skins and hair, but no obvious Avian features.

'Come, Marko, it is time to introduce you to my family. You have met my youngest son, Tomas, and these are my wives, Christa, Jamie and Momo; my sons Dana and George; my other husband, Dane, and our daughters Jema, Henrieta and Teri. We are a relatively young family of only fifty standard years or more.'

Marko and Glint formally shook everyone's hands, while Spike grinned and nodded. Marko, his cybernetics back at full power, was able to image map each individual in terms of the genetic imprinting on the children, and was able to identify the mothers and the fathers with Ant being the dominant father. Marko smiled, seeing the similarities between his own family and those in front of him as an acknowledgment that multi-member adult family groups could be so much more supportive on every level than some of humankind's earlier style of family units, such as three or two parents and - for some hundreds of years - even single parents.

'A question that has been bothering me.' Marko said. 'Why did we not know much more about you all?'

Ant laughed. 'Simple! We can choose at any time of our lives to shed our Avian characteristics and walk among the rest of humanity as ordinary people. If we arrived on any of humanity's worlds looking like birds, imagine the racial tension that would ensue. Besides, the gravities generally are too severe and the atmospheres, in the main, too low in oxygen for our metabolisms; and the air is far too thin to allow us to fly well. No, not a lot of attraction for most of us there.'

Marko nodded, wondering what it would be like to fly unenc.u.mbered, as Ant continued. 'So, to answer your next as-yet-unasked question, it takes an adult two standard years to reabsorb their feathers and wings, then change their feet and grow a great deal of muscle to allow them to walk among the rest of humanity. Some take the opportunity to swap their s.e.x at the same time, if they feel inclined. Tried it once, may try it again sometime, although going from a p.e.n.i.s to a fat little c.l.i.toris, for me at least, took some getting used to!'

Marko bellowed with laughter, and everyone joined in, except Tomas, who was enthralled by Glint's ears and frill and was examining them closely. Glint was happy to let him, totally trusting of the small boy.

Marko walked across to the Chrysops, climbed up into the c.o.c.kpit and opened the locker with the fruit, food and drinks, which he loaded into a pack and took across to Ant. 'I know that it is very little, Ant, but I would like you to have this. I can easily survive three days waiting for a.s.sistance, and the fruit would have started to spoil by then, anyway.'

Ant took the proffered pack, nodded at Marko and smiled in grat.i.tude. 'So, fruit and foodstuffs from the famous Basalt. You will not be offended if we clone some of the fruit, will you?'

Marko grinned back at him. 'I am sure Stephine would be honoured for you to do so.'

Ant formally thanked him then gestured for Marko and others to follow, leading them a long way back into the mountain to a magnificent, huge, domed cathedral-sized room carved out of the mountain. Tens of thousands of different creatures of every size, shape, configuration and type were sculpted on the walls and on the dozens of huge arched pillars which lined the s.p.a.ce, everything lit from light sources they could not immediately see. Jim immediately flew up into the centre of it and slowly rotated, taking high-resolution images, while Marko and Glint walked around, looking at the walls in awe. Ant and one of his handsome standard human-looking wives, Momo, accompanied them until Marko suddenly halted, riveted to the spot. 'Not the best day to view the carvings, Marko and Glint. The heavy cloud cover has dulled things a little, reducing the mountain's translucence.'

Marko did not care because in front of him was a set of magnificent carvings stretching around and up a pillar depicting humankind, male and female, from the earliest hominids to all the extinct varieties. At the top was h.o.m.o sapiens sapiens and then all of the many varieties of humanity, naked and without representation of cranial or body hair, showing clearly every shape, with individual muscle groups and skin variation perfectly carved right down to the finest surface vein or folded skin crease. On the domed wall above the pillar most of the creatures of Old Earth were represented, all interwoven, in a great segment above the pillar edged with fine straight lines, reaching curving right to the centre of the dome high overhead.

Marko stood staring for some time, entranced to see tiny creatures and insects nestled between the larger carvings and wondering at the huge amount of time it would have taken to finish the millions of carvings, even if the artist and others had used machinery.

'Ant, have you any idea of how old these carvings are?' he finally asked.

'We believe they were done some twenty-nine thousand standard years ago.'

Marko walked to the next pillar, where he recognised the octopoids, in several distinct varieties, at the top of the pillar and above them most of the creatures of Old Earth repeated as per the previous coloum but this time including h.o.m.o Sapiens among the creatures. He mused to himself that another confirmation of the library data, which they had gained from the ancient alien artefact many years previously, was now in place.

Glint gently grasped Marko's right hand and pointed upwards. 'You see, Marko, the octopoids indeed originated on Old Earth as well as you lot. Interesting. It is my conjecture that each pillar represents the dominant species and above it the planet's biosphere. Our crew will be excited to see this.'

Marko looked at him. '"Interesting" is a bit of an understatement, Glint. And of course Fritz will only be interested if they had music.'

Marko and Glint walked on to the next pillar, then the next and so on. For the next two hours, they failed to recognise any other creature, and slowly walked back to where the larger family group of their hosts were seated in the centre of the room, patiently waiting for them.

'Ant, Momo. How big an area of the Universe do you think this represents?'

Momo shrugged. 'We're sorry, Marko, but of that we have no knowledge. Perhaps the Haulers would have better information. We do speculate about where other of these museums might be, and if we Avians, and the other derivatives of man, are represented in a more recent one maybe. We have not seen any of the creatures found on this moon carved into these walls.'

Marko gave a short swift nod and was about to reply, when Glint made a suggestion. 'Do it yourself, Momo: I'm sure that it can't be that difficult. The stone I have seen here is very stable with no cracks or fissures in it. And the mining and carving equipment that would be useful to you is not that difficult to obtain.'

She smiled. 'Perhaps you are right, sentient Glint. Perhaps that is indeed a good plan for some time in our future.'

Marko nodded in agreement. 'Are the Haulers aware of this place?' he asked.

'Yes, Marko,' Ant replied. 'They have all sent proxys down to study it, with some spending weeks going over every tiny detail. Surely they must have pa.s.sed the information on to the general population. Although come to think of it, we have never seen anything about it, even though whenever a Hauler uplifts their cargos of teas and herbs they leave us with many months of audiovisual shows to enjoy. This I shall have to ponder.'

Marko grimaced. 'Don't do anything about it, Ant. There are things happening in the background that we are only now becoming aware of. The Games Board and the Administration don't want the public knowing of this. Keep it to yourselves or I can see an iron meteorite suddenly obliterating this place and you with it.'

The family's adults all nodded sombrely.

'Yes, sadly, you may be right,' Momo said. 'But we wanted you in particular to see it, Marko. Come, you look tired. We have prepared quarters for you. At least you can rest out of your combat suit. Please, follow us.'

His head still racing with thoughts of the other dominant species he had seen, Marko followed Ant and the others out through another door and then up long, gently curving staircases carved from the flawless honey-coloured stone. There were dozens of archways, landings and doorways leading off the staircases. They finally found themselves in a small suite of rooms after pa.s.sing through a series of doors which had closed after them silently. From alcoves inside the final door, the Avians took compact units which looked as if they were made of polished deep red-coloured wood. The Avians placed the units on their shoulders and the units then conformed to each individual; tendrils grew from them, sliding up onto their faces and then into their nostrils.

Sounding slightly more nasal then previously, Ant turned to them to explain what was happening. 'This room and its ancillaries are oxygen-deficient for us, but will be good for you, Marko. We have prepared a late lunch and would like to join you, or would you prefer to dine alone?'

Marko smiled. 'My thanks. No, I would very much like to speak further with you all anyway and over lunch would be grand. There are a great many rooms here but I have only seen you people. Are there others?'

Ant looked at Marko with a bemused expression. 'Yes, of course, but we are among the senior families and it is our duty to place ourselves at possible risk from visitors. In your case, we do this very gladly and hope that the rest of your most esteemed crew will be able to visit as well. Your room, with ablutions, is through that door. The Jim monitor can stay here and interview us if it wishes?'

Marko continued looking around the room. 'Yeah. I know that the Games Board will be interested. Jim? Like the idea? Good. Thanks, I shall see you again shortly.'

Marko, with Glint at his heels, walked to the door of his room, which opened to reveal a bed, a panoramic window with views down the mountain towards the valley, and beside it an en suite. Marko lifted Spike off his shoulder and placed him on Glint's head. The spider immediately jacked himself into Glint as Marko sped himself up and linked to the ACE.

'Well? Tell me,' Marko demanded.

Glint shrugged as the message flashed across. 'No doubt your suit is giving you the same message, Marko. These people seem to be on the level. No pathogens that we know of, bacterial counts within normal boundaries, same with the virus numbers and type, as per everything we have seen so far on this planet. The air in here is just about perfect for you as well. The usual electronic signatures and we can't recognise any hostile viral software anywhere. I've seen some very sophisticated visual tracking and lots of hidden weapon systems, so we could have easily been knocked over at any time. They do strike me as almost monk-like in their demeanour and actually very kind. I have detected several attempts by their hardware to intercept our crew comms, so they know about it, but it's your call.'

Marko nodded, looking serious. 'Spike, do you still have comms with the Chrysops?'

The little spider gave a sharp nod. 'Yes. I think that they are tapping into the feeds but there is no attempt to block anything so far.'

Marko looked at his ACE friends. 'OK. Test the water, please, guys. I need to think.'

He looked out the ellipse-shaped window onto the valley floor, which was still being hit by occasional lightning bolts. The rain had eased off and the sun could be seen through the clouds of the mid-afternoon sky. He stared upwards, missing the counsel of his friends, and then almost without thinking brought up the suit controls in his head and told it to open the helmet. The visor slid up and he sniffed cautiously, detecting air that smelt as if it was from a high forest - it was quite delicious to his ancient human senses.

He allowed himself an optimistic smile as Glint flashed another message across. 'Water is perfect, Marko, so clean it is frightening. Spike is attaching himself to the shower head to test it for you, anyway. There is even soap ... as in a cake of soap. I tasted it, seems fine to me if you are into eating soap.'

Marko barked out a short laugh and patted Glint on his head. 'Ta. A shower sounds like a good idea.'

He instructed the suit to strip itself from his body and as the last of the shunts popped out, Marko walked into the shower. Glint had turned it on for him and Spike had taken up a position looking down from above. He luxuriated under it for a few minutes, then stepped out and took a long woven cloth towel from Glint.

'You have a problem,' Glint told him.

'What!'

The dragon smiled mischievously. 'No clothes to wear and it might be rude to walk out in the suit again.'

'b.u.g.g.e.r! Spare clothes are not the sort of thing you pack in a combat flier, eh? Go out and ask, will you, please? No, before you do that, how about you open that wardrobe?'

Glint looked and laughed and Flint joined in with a tiny chuckle. 'Yup! Like I thought, a monk's outfit. And sandals! Funny. And no underwear! Now that is even funnier. We can call you Friar Marko!'

Five.

As Marko towelled himself off, Glint walked in on his two rear legs carrying a burnt-orange-coloured soutane of a very fine weave. Marko shrugged and put it on, finding the cloth beautifully soft against his skin, and started b.u.t.toning it from the top with its stiff collar, eventually reaching the hem. Glint gave him a thumbs up as Spike climbed up to perch on his shoulder. Marko looked down at his cobalt-blue hand, which seemed totally out of keeping, but decided against altering its colour, and walked out into the main area. There were smiles and nods exchanged between the family members, and Tomas came across to lead him to his backless seat.

There was a sudden flurry of activity as no one had expected Glint to sit with them, let alone want to eat the same food, so another seat and setting was found. The ACE cheerfully announced that he would say grace, and that he wanted to sample everything as it all looked delicious.

Marko inwardly groaned, wondering what would come next as Glint spoke: 'We gather in this place of peace to eat this food lovingly prepared by our friends. We give thanks to one and all for this and for the pleasure of their company. Amen. Let's eat!'

Everyone smiled broadly, and Tomas patted Glint's head from his vantage point of a high chair. As they took what they wanted from the bowls, Glint would take a small mouthful then bounce an 'OK' laser message off whatever piece of crockery he could use straight into Marko's eyes. Marko judged the entire meal to be derived from vegetable ma.s.s with no animal protein used. Most of the tastes were familiar, although there were some exotic ones that he knew, recognising them as frighteningly expensive spices and he flashed a message to Glint querying a few of them. Glint answered that he was one hundred per cent certain they were grown locally.

It was the wine that startled him the most. He likened it to a semi-sweet rose, but with a complexity that he had never experienced before. His mind spent several minutes carefully working through the structures, but there were still fragments of the taste he could not fathom.

The remainder of the afternoon and evening were spent with the family, taking a tour of what Marko could only think of as a township living in and around a luminous mountain. Marko had discovered that the soutane was considerably higher tech than he previously thought. As they were about to leave his rooms, the cowl unfurled up over his head and a lower face mask sealed across his nose and mouth. He touched the mask and found that it was the same soft, finely woven cloth as the rest of the garment. He breathed normally, the oxygen levels in the air being adjusted for him by the cloth, and he altered his bioware back to normal. When he later commented on it, everyone just nodded and smiled.

The higher they went up through the galleries and promenades, and even larger cathedral-s.p.a.ces than the room he had previously seen - the stone carved into flowing shapes reaching up and down hundreds of metres - the more Marko sensed that the Avians were just the latest in a series of sentient occupants.

'Ant. This place? How many types of sentient beings do you think lived here before you?'

Ant looked at Marko for some time before answering. 'That is indeed a most interesting question, Marko. We do not really know much, apart from the fact that size-wise they were similar to us. Indeed, we sometimes wonder if there is something here that we have overlooked. Come a little further before we can show you a most interesting object.'

After climbing yet another set of stairs, regarding which Marko was starting to feel a little jaded, they entered a huge fan-shaped amphitheatre, at the end of which was a gigantic pipe organ.

Marko stood for a few moments, overwhelmed, even though his head had already been overwhelmed by the things he had seen and dealt with throughout the long day.

He shook his head in wonder. 'Well, that's something you do not see every day. One enormous kick-a.r.s.e organ. Does it work?'

Momo, who was standing beside Marko, replied, 'No one knows how to properly play it. Some of us have tried, with what can only be described as "mixed" outcomes. The various Haulers who have visited it have all said that they would send us instructions, but it would seem such is low on their priorities as none of them has delivered.'

Marko laughed and with a huge smile said, 'Fritz. Yeah, Fritz could play it, I know. Oh, that reminds me. I have a lot of Fritz's music with me. I know he'd want to share it with you. I can upload the files to you any time.'

The Avians all started talking at once in acceptance of the gift, so Marko had Glint send the files from the Chrysops to the Avian data stores. A few minutes later Christa quietly approached Marko. 'Marko, may we have a word with you in private?'

He turned to see the gently smiling faces of Christa and Jamie. He nodded. 'Yes, of course. Glint, take Spike and Jim and go have a look at the organ, please. See if it is in order, so Fritz can play it when the crew come down.'

Glint raised an eyebrow at him, before moving away. Jamie took Marko's hands in hers and looked into his eyes. 'Marko, you are a life-former and we have followed some of your creations with great pleasure over the years. We wonder if we can formally ask your permission to father some of our offspring. I know that it is a common custom among your large families to father bloodlines for other clans, and we ask if you would do us this great honour.'

Marko looked at the three women: two full-blood Avians and the other a standard human. He then looked around the great s.p.a.ce they stood in, knowing that it had been designed and made specifically for the organ and the music it could produce, then he thought of his children being a part of the place and also having the choice of actually flying themselves.

'It would be my honour,' he said. 'My thanks. Yes. So I presume you have a medical facility where I could donate sperm for the township's use?'

All three women smiled. 'We were thinking of keeping it a little more in the family, Marko. Our daughters, Jema and Henrieta, asked us to ask you if they can spend tonight with you? For this we are most grateful. We shall tell them to go ahead and ovulate.'

The next morning, a still tired Marko awoke to find the two young women had left, so he took a long shower before instructing the Tux suit to envelop him. He decided that Glint must have cleaned it as it seemed in better order than when he had left it in the wardrobe. His hand weapons fitted nicely in the bag which had contained the fruit, so he stowed them, and then went out into the common room to find it deserted. He found a note suggesting what he could have for breakfast and explaining that they would be back for morning tea.

He looked at and tasted the various cereals, dark heavy breads, spreads and juices before making himself a tasty breakfast. On a whim he opened a channel to the Chrysops, instructing it to power up its main communications systems, then sent Basalt a brief message saying that all was well. The data connection was poor, but he was able to upload a series of images directly from his cybernetics showing what he had seen and learnt. Minutes later the major tried to establish voice communications, but gave up as the two-way reception through the still scrambled magnetosphere was bad.

The data feeds took Marko by surprise; their implications were grim.

He linked the information into Spike's data feeds from the Chrysops and asked him, wherever he was, to feed them on to Glint. The message came back that they were in another part of the mountain, talking with a large group of children at a local school, and would be returning soon. Marko reviewed the information concerning events high above them and wondered what to do next. He finished his breakfast, concluding that nothing good would come of him telling his hosts, so put on a smile and waited for their return.

A message arrived from Glint. 'Marko, are we going to get off this moon any time soon? I really like it here, but it is even better on Basalt.'

'Yeah, I'm sure we will be OK, Glint. Stephine and Veg are back on board Basalt. Seems the whole trip to the other planets to check them out was bulls.h.i.t to get them out of the way while Rick , the b.a.s.t.a.r.d, did the deed. Yeah, will know more late tomorrow. They are keen to meet the Avians and see the carvings and the habitat. Did you see the bit about Fritz and the latest compositions?'

'Yes, Jim is expressing great interest in that. Shall I go prep the Chrysops?'

Marko shook his head. 'No, let's have a drink with our hosts and go look for the dirigible and the surviving Rick proxy after that. Looking at the information about the crash site, it is only thirty-five kilometres from here.'

Marko was enjoying another gla.s.s of juice when the family arrived, along with the Jim monitor, Spike riding on his carapace and Glint following. One by one the family members gleefully shook Marko by the hand and patted him on the back, telling him what a splendid sentient he was. Tomas gave the final confirmation: 'My da, he says you Uncle Marko now, Marko.'

Glint looked sideways at him, grinned, reached out and punched him on the shoulder. 'So you have been breeding again, Father. Biologically this time! Imagine the AV on this, hey, Jim. Another scoop for you!'

Marko groaned, then smiled, and was hugged by everybody. There were special hugs, long kisses and sensual suggestions from Henrieta and Jema that they would love to share his bed for as long as he stayed. The much younger Teri glowered jealously at her two older sisters.

The next morning, as they were flying down the long valley, Marko asked, 'What's our fuel status, Glint?'

'Down to fifty-five per cent. Plenty of water to be had though, so no real concerns. And looking at the maps we are only thirty kilometres from the monastery anyway. Only need two per cent of the fuel load, at the current speed, to get back there.'

Marko looked down at the steaming fungal forest below them and marvelled at the explosion of life that existed here.

Earlier in the day they had flown the Chrysops up to the wreck of the Games Board lander to recover the bodies of Sirius and Ivana. On the way there they saw one of the huge starfish-like creatures laboriously fighting its way up under the waterfall and moving towards the creek where the wreck was. Glint, who had asked why it would be doing so, had been told by the family that the creatures craved metal. They could taste it in the water and would go to any length to obtain it. Marko had done a little calculation that the ma.s.s of the lander would represent three per cent of the ma.s.s of the giant animal, and when he had pa.s.sed that fact to the Avians they had responded that it would make the creature extremely desirable for mating purposes. Marko shook his head in wonder and mused at the things creatures did to get laid!

The senior members of the habitat had asked Marko what he wanted done with the bodies of Ivana and Sirius. He requested a simple burial, or disposal in the communal gardens, but he was refused because that was not the local custom. They asked if the people concerned were of good character, which gave Marko and Glint pause until Marko decided that at the end they had been good people and that the crew had cared for them. The elders bowed formally to him, then to Glint, saying that they would take care of it.

They had helped Marko and Glint lift the bodies out of the lander and wrapped them in soft white cloth bags, face down, with arms extended as if in flight, and attached long ropes for lifting the bodies. One of the female elders had carefully exposed the faces of the women, cleaned them, then gently pried the eyelids open, sliding pearl-white pieces of stone under the eyelids so their eyes would stay open during their final flight. Five adult Avians lifted each body and other members of the village joined them as they flew high into the mountains towards a great vertical slab of black rock, on which could be seen many hundreds of cave entrances. The weather was calm, and high above them the cloud cover had shredded, allowing them to see the bulk of the ringed gas giant which Glint informed them was 1.3875 million kilometres away. Marko smiled, thinking that Glint just loved information of any kind.