Mimbres Read online

  Table of Contents

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  About the Author

  Mimbres

  Heroes of the League Book 9

  By Frank Carey

  Copyright

  Copyright © 2015 by Frank Carey

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  This story appeared previously in Smuggler Elf.

  League Tale #10

  Chapter One

  Aerith awakened to the sound of a metal bucket bouncing down the center of the crew's quarters. "Rise and shine, people! Daylight is officially burning!" a female voice announced.

  Opening one eye a crack, Aerith saw Merla, the Spindrift's first officer, standing at one end of the corridor which ran the length of the small room. Turning her head slightly, she saw Rock standing at the other end, he was holding a fifty-five gallon oil drum, ready to throw it down the length of the aisle if need be.

  "Hrmph," Aerith muttered as she got out of her bunk and walked to the aisle where she stood waiting for the rest of her group to get out of bed and join her.

  "Ah, Ms. Aymar. Good of you to join us. Have a good sleep?" Merla yelled.

  "Aye, mistress, a fine four hours it was, ma’am," Aerith answered while snapping to attention.

  "What the hell?" a voice said next to her. She looked over and saw Quincy roll out of bed, looking like something a wombat had dragged in. Aerith caught his eye and raised her eyebrows in warning, but it was too late.

  "You have a comment to make, Mr. Tolson?" Rock said. Quincy looked up only to find the giant cargo master standing less than an inch in front of him.

  "No sir, sorry sir," he said as he looked up at the creature towering over him. Truth be told, the only thing one could be sure of about Rock was his size: he was very, very, large.

  "Good to hear, Mr. Tolson, good to hear," Rock said as he silently returned to his position at the end of the aisle, palming the steel drum all the way.

  Finally, after much grumbling, the other five Merchant Space Marine cadets assembled in the aisle at the end of their bunks, snapping to attention.

  "Outstanding!" Merla said as she played with her sideburns—mutton chops would be a more accurate description. Like all females of her race, she sported a pair of sideboards Gen. Ambrose Burnside would be proud to wear. "Cadets, today is your lucky day!" she announced.

  "Shore leave, ma’am?" Quincy asked. Aerith cuffed him.

  "Thank you, Ms. Aymar. To answer your question, Mr. Tolson, no. No shore leave, but we have something far better: We have a paying job! Yes, you heard me right. Weeks ahead of schedule, you all get to participate in working for hire as part of the crew of the League Transport Vessel Spindrift. Aye, the halls should be full of singing as all merchant spacers know that a paying job is the pinnacle of our existence!"

  "Ma'am, what kind of job?" Aerith asked in an attempt at sounding excited.

  "I am glad you asked, Ms. Aymar. Out on the dock are twelve pallets of supplies bound for a research station a day's journey out from the Olympian home world. It is a simple pick-up and drop-off, so we'll be back in three days. Any other questions?"

  "What about the rest of the crew, ma’am," Quincy asked.

  "Another good question. My, we are in good form today," Merla said as she walked up to stand toe-to-toe with the young human. Quincy looked more terrified of her than he was of Rock. "We are going out with a skeleton crew of regulars so that you cadets get a taste of the spacer's life aboard ship. Any other questions, Mr. Tolson?"

  "God, no, ma’am. Thank you, ma’am, for this opportunity..." She stopped him with one raised index finger. "Rock will take you to the cargo bay where you will practice the fine art of loading and securing cargo. When Rock finishes with you, you'll head to your assignments in the rest of the ship. During the outbound and return legs, you will switch-off duties so you can become familiar with all aspects of the ship's operation. You all remember the story of the Teska Maru, do you not?"

  Who could forget the story of the Teska Maru, a cargo ship bound from Earth to a colony on the far side of Corrigan's expanse? When she went overdue, a massive search was launched to find her and her crew. Seventy-two ships ranging from one-person patrol craft to Protector-class war ships scoured the area around the Teska's route, but they found nothing. Then, three months later, the Teska limped in with only the assistant cook aboard.

  Half-crazed, he told of the ship encountering a proton mine which took out the crew with a gamma ray burst, sparing him only because he had been in the cold storage locker when it lit off. He emerged from the locker to find a dead crew and the ship wildly off-course. Only his cross-training and sheer chutzpah allowed him to get the bodies into stasis, repair the ship, and navigate back to League space.

  He never ventured into space again, opting instead to write his memoirs and spend his remaining days tending a memorial garden for his crewmates.

  "No, ma’am. Not forgotten," Aerith said while suppressing a shudder.

  "Very well. Dismissed.”

  Chapter Two

  His tail shifting about from the excitement of the moment, Dr. Thia watched through the cabin viewer as the cloaked freighter made its final approach to the ancient base inside the Babakin crater on Earth's single moon, Luna. It was disconcerting not to see even a landing strip, but the facilities were cloaked out of necessity. No one from Ventos Prime, Earth, or the League must find this place.

  "Prepare for landing," the pilot said over the intercom. The image on the viewer shifted to that of a landing field and airlock building as the freighter passed through the cloaking field. Moments later, the freighter's airlock was mated with the building. As personnel streamed in to unload supplies, a gray-haired elf stepped inside and looked around until he spied Thia.

  "Dr. Thia, my name is Mathias. I am so glad to finally meet you. I have been told that it was your work which made finding this base possible," the wizened elf said. Thia knew that Mathias wasn't his real name, only a pseudonym used to protect his real identity. The cult was nothing, if not careful.

  "Thank you, Mathias, though none of this could have come to being without your generous support."

  "I do what I can. Please, follow me. The others are waiting inside the base."

  Mathias led Thia through the hatch and down a flight of stairs which ended at a corridor. Thia took a deep breath while running his hand across a wall. "Incredible. No mustiness and no sign of dust. How old is this base?"

  "We estimate it predates Atlantis. The problem with getting an exact date is housekeeping. The robots are so efficient; we can't find anything to date. It could be a thousand years old or twelve thousand years old. We just can't be sure."

  "What about computer records?"

  "All of the station’s servers are under a lock which has proven to be unbreakable. We have an expert working on the problem as we speak," Mathias said as the two elves walked into control room of sorts. Thia saw technicians placing ins
trumentation in wall racks. Near the center of the room was a large, unoccupied, cryostasis unit. "Was that where they...

  "Stored Nochmar? We think so. Let me introduce you to our expert," Mathias said as they walked up to an elf typing away on a multiscreen portable terminal. Cables could be seen snaking out from the terminal, across the floor to a large hole in the wall. "Loki, I would like you to meet Dr. Thia. He will be taking over this operation once you get us into the databases."

  Loki, undoubtedly another pseudonym, stopped typing and turned to the two elves. "Hello," he said before returning to his work.

  Frowning, Thia was about to ask Mathias something when the old elf held up his hand. "This way, Doctor. Let me show you the rest of the facility."

  Once out of earshot of Loki, Thia stopped Mathias and asked, "He's a synth. Why are we using a non-corporeal, and why does he resemble our Queen Losira?"

  "None of that is your concern, Doctor. Your only concern is to track down where Nochmar or his remains ended up after this facility was abandoned. If all goes as planned, Nochmar will rise to rule once more."

  ###

  Weeks pass and Mathias and his crew depart, leaving Dr. Thia and his minions to find the location of Nochmar's remains. Within the first week, they had a breakthrough.

  "Sir, I think we've found something," Marcy, Thia's assistant, said from a console.

  "What is it?"

  "A log entry by the station chief detailing what they did with Nochmar."

  "Excellent, Marcy. Tell me more."

  "He mentions accessing another universe and building a prison there to hold the General and his clones."

  "Clones?"

  "Yes, sir. Clones. It seems that the ruling class wanted to create an army of Nochmars which would bend to the ruler's will while maintaining Nochmar's military prowess and famed longevity."

  "A prison where they can grow Nochmars. What an interesting thought. Marcy, you mentioned an alternate reality. How do we get there?"

  Marcy pulled up a set of ancient schematics and a picture of an immense stone ring.

  "Where is this device now?"

  "According to the log, the device was located on a planet the old regime called Portal. I have sent the coordinates to Jasper for translation into our standard coordinate system. He says it will take a couple of days before he has something usable."

  ###

  Two days later...

  "Jasper, are you sure of this?" Thia asked.

  "Yes, Doctor. We double-checked. The coordinates are of a planet called Mimbres, a small planet several days journey from Earth. I checked the League database and Mimbres is basically an uninhabited rock of little interest to anyone."

  "Have any archaeological expeditions visited Mimbres?"

  "Yes, a Tralaskan expedition in 2120."

  "Before Earth and Ventos joined the League," Thia said. "Did they find anything?"

  "They found the remains of a large stone ring. All the pieces were there, but the structure had collapsed. Since there was nothing else around and no one had yet heard of Ventos, they packed up the pieces and carted them back to Tralaska. While en route, they found a book inside one of the support stones."

  "Where are the book and the ring pieces?"

  "The book is currently in a museum collection on Ventos Prime along with several of the ring pieces. The others are scattered about the League, on loan to various museums and universities."

  "Marcy, convene a meeting of the staff, immediately," Thia ordered.

  "Yes, Doctor," she replied while activating her commlink.

  ###

  Thia looked around the conference room and saw anticipation on the faces of his people. Word of Marcy's discovery had already made its way through the staff.

  "As all of you have heard, we found the location of Nochmar's remains, possibly even his intact body. To get there requires we travel to another universe. I won't bore you with an explanation of the multiverse theory, but suffice it to say, the ancients found a way to create a bridge or tunnel between two universes. Our task is to find the pieces of this bridge and reassemble them in their original location on a planet called Mimbres.

  II have contacted our associates throughout the League and informed them of their new assignment: find the pieces and bring them to Mimbres. Once there, we will assemble this bridge and gain access to this alternate universe. We will then find the prison containing Nochmar's remains, retrieve them, then bring them back to this universe where they will be used to recreate Nochmar and restore him to his rightful place as ruler of the elven people."

  "Sir, what about the directors?"

  "We'll just keep this to ourselves until we have something more concrete," Thia said. He didn't tell anyone of his distrust for Loki and the other directors. He felt it best his people were kept out of that loop.

  Six months later, Thia stood at the base of a five hundred foot diameter stone ring, watching as the technicians finished connecting the structure to its original power supply buried deep in the planet underneath the ring. He thought about their abandoning the moon base, leaving none of the ancient computer files behind for the others to follow here.

  "Sir, we're ready," Marcy said.

  "Do it," Thia said, his tail moving back and forth like a string in a whirlwind.

  Marcy nodded to the lead engineer. He blew a warning horn before flicking a single switch on a transmitter, sending a coded sequence of radio pulses to receivers built into the ring. There was a flash of light and the ring was filled with a mirror.

  "Bridge established," the engineer called out.

  "Send in the probe," Thia ordered.

  An engineer standing next to a nearby table grabbed a joystick and pressed a switch on a control panel. A probesat lifted off the valley floor and flew directly into the mirror. Instead of disintegrating on impact, the probe passed through the mirror, but didn't appear on the other side of the ring.

  "Telemetry coming in. We have transfer. We are receiving the prison beacon," the pilot announced.

  "Very good. What does the tunnel look like on the other side? Do we have a physical structure?"

  Marcy walked over and handed Thia a datapad. On its screen was a metal ring with a mirror interior. Readouts showed it had the same dimensions as the stone ring they were standing next to. "Excellent. Attach two beacons and return to base," he ordered.

  "Yes, sir."

  "Marcy, have the captain prepare for departure."

  "Yes, sir," she replied as she activated her commlink.

  ###

  The freighter Wayfarer stood five clicks off the asteroid while the engineers aboard attempted to access the prison system using the ancient book as a guide. Finally, after a day of failure, they found the proper code sequence, which allowed the ship to dock.

  Thia stood in front of the airlock and waited as the captain finished the final steps in the docking sequence. Finally, with little fanfare, the process was completed and the captain signaled the all clear to proceed. Thia reached down, cycled the inner lock door open, and watched one of the crew walk in and check readings on the other side of the door. Satisfied, he opened the ship's outer door to reveal the prison's outer lock door. He looked up at Thia, who nodded.

  The crewman pressed a button in the center of the door and waited. The door opened to reveal an empty corridor. When the crewman entered the corridor, lights, heat, and ventilation came on as the prison sensed a living being entering.

  "Excellent. We'll stage here. Teams of two fan out and find Nochmar while the crew unloads. Once the crew is finished unloading, we'll head back for more supplies." Thia said as teams spread out through the awakening prison.

  Chapter Three

  "Bridge, this is Rock. Load is secure and passengers are waiting in the lounge. We are go for launch."

  "Bridge, this is engineering. All systems are nominal. We are go for launch."

  "Bridge, this is operations. All systems are nominal. We are go for launch."

 
; Kestra looked around the bridge. Satisfied, she initiated the launch. "Navigator, set course for Mimbres. Helm, up is go. Once we break orbit, proceed to Mimbres at standard FTL speed. Proceed with launch."

  "Aye, Captain," they said as the Spindrift lifted off and headed into space.

  Once they were on their way, Kestra got up and headed to the door. "Merla, take the Conn while I go to meet our passengers."

  "Yes, captain," Merla said as she took her place in the command chair.

  "Ms. Aymar, with me," Kestra said to Aerith who was shadowing the systems officer during the current shift.

  "Aye, Captain," she replied, handing her tablet to the SO.

  "So, Aerith, what do you think of the Spindrift?"

  "Ma'am, she's incredible. The computer systems are far beyond anything I saw at the academy. I wanted to thank you for the opportunity to work a real mission."

  "Don't thank me. You earned it. I've seen your file, and it's exemplary. I know it's none of my business, but how did your parent's take the news of you becoming an officer in the merchant marine?"

  "Mom was hoping I'd follow in her footsteps while dad... Dad is dad. He loves moving freight around the cosmos. I think I inherited that trait from him."

  "Good. We need people with passion for the work, and I think you have that passion. Tell me what you know about our fare?" the captain asked, referring to their passengers and cargo.

  "The passengers are members of a research team working a dig on Mimbres. We're carrying supplies and equipment for the team."

  "What about their research?"

  "Oddly, I can find no information about their work in any of the standard university databases. Either the data is filed under a secrecy clamp or they've never published their work in a peer-reviewed journal."

  "That is very odd," Kestra said as they reached the lounge. "Well, it’s none of our business. Ready?"

  "Yes, ma'am," Aerith said, straightening her tunic.

  Once inside they found their passengers eating hor d'oeuvres and sipping drinks with off-duty crew while Rock tended bar. The atmosphere was subdued, which suited Kestra. The captain had heard of similar functions getting wildly out of hand.