Deathstalker 05 - Deathstalker Destiny

side. There was no telling whether he was seeing a near or a far future, and given how quickly his wounds healed these days, the scene shouldn't have disturbed him as much as it did. But there was something about the cold desperation in his future self's face that haunted him still. He had turned away and left the hall of mirrors, not wanting to see what else they might have shown him.
    "What happened to all the people Owen let aboard?" he said, keeping his voice carefully calm and casual. "Last I saw, the castle was crawling with historians
    of all ranks and distinctions."
    "We left them behind, on Golgotha," said Diana. "They didn't want to go, but I had to insist. They'd made themselves very useful, describing and cataloguing and sometimes even identifying the castle's contents. The Last Standing is a treasure trove of old-time tech and artifacts. The transfer portals alone could revolutionize on-planet travel. Though, it has to be said, some of the artifacts are rather disturbing. Did you ever come across the three stuffed human figures in their own display case?"
    "Ah yes," said Random, nodding slowly. "The Shadow Men. Legendary manhunters, in Giles's time. The Emperor sent them after the Deathstalker, when he went on the run. They finally caught up with Giles, and he killed them all, and had them stuffed and mounted as trophies. That really should have told us something about Giles's character."
    "Anyway, all the historians are gone now," said Diana, after a long pause had made it clear Random had said all he was going to say on the subject. "We're going to have to get really close to the Shub fleet for my plan to work, and force shields or no, we're undoubtedly going to take one hell of a lot of punishment. No place for civilians. Besides; the historians were outraged to a man that we were taking such a valuable artifact as the Last Standing into battle. One of them actually accused me of treason against human culture for even considering letting the castle be damaged. He had to be hauled away, spitting and cursing to the last. The fact that their homes and universities and indeed the entire planet of Golgotha might not be around much longer if we didn't use the castle to strike back at Shub didn't seem to have got through to them. Historians. They spend far too much time living in the past."
    "Owen was a historian," said Ruby suddenly, from the depths of her armchair. "He always said those who will not learn from the past are doomed to get their heads kicked in all over again."
    "Oh, you're back with us at last, are you?" said Random. "Had a nice sleep?"
    "I was merely resting my eyes," said Ruby, stretching slowly. "When do I get to kill somebody?"
    "Not too long now," said Diana Vertue. "The Shub fleet should be showing up on our long-range scanners anytime now."
    Ruby scowled. "Killing machines is no fun. Just target practice. But they'll do, till the real thing comes along."

    The huge Shub fleet approached Golgotha, homeworld of Humanity, with murder on its artificial minds. The rogue AIs of Shub had no interest in mercy or surrender. They were coming on a mission of genocide, the utter obliteration of the meat-based life that so offended them. They were in no hurry. They knew their prey had nowhere to go. Nowhere they could run that Shub couldn't hunt them down. They were Humanity's doom, and they would not, could not, be denied.
    Certainly not by the pitifully small array of human ships coming to meet them.
    Shub had thousands of vessels in its fleet; huge inhuman structures like nightmares cast in steel. Nothing lived on those awful metal craft; the rogue AIs ran them all directly, simultaneously, their will carried out where necessary by Furies and Ghost Warriors. And facing them, the last defenders of homeworld, seven Imperial ships, only one of them a starcruiser. The AIs would have laughed, if they had possessed such a human thing as humor. But perhaps not, because behind that small collection of human ships came a terrible phantom from the past, the last hope of Golgotha: the Last Standing of Clan
    Deathstalker. A stone castle with its own stardrive and force shields, and forgotten weapons of a far greater power than any current Imperial vessel could boast. The rogue AIs searched their records for tales of the lost powers of ancient Empire, and something very like fear moved slowly through their artificial thoughts.
    The Shub fleet sailed on toward Golgotha, and the castle and its attendants