Kinder des Schicksals 4 (Xeelee 9): Resplendent

tiredness, as I was crushed with
disappointment at the failure of the hunt, surrounded by alien
madness.
    Then he struck.
    The length of bone came looming out of the dark, without warning,
straight at my head.
     
    I ducked. The bone clattered against the wall. ’L’Eesh, you
bastard - ’
    ’It’s just business, little Raida.’
    My heart hammered. I backed away until my spine was pressed
against the rough wall. ’You’ve found something you want. The
vacuum-energy weapons. Is that it?’
    ’Not what we came for, but I’ll turn a profit, if I can manage to
get off this moon.’
    ’It’s not as if you need to do this, to rob me,’ I said
bitterly.
    He nodded. ’True. You actually have the stronger motive here.
Which is why I have to destroy you.’ He spoke patiently, as if
instructing a child. He raised the bone, its bulging end thick,
hefting it like a club, and he moved towards me, his movements oily,
powerful.
    I felt weak before his calm assurance. He was better than me, and
always would be; the logic of the situation was that I should just
submit.
    In desperation I jumped onto the lift palette - it was like
standing on a bobbing raft - and stamped on the button. I rose
immediately, passing beyond the reach of his swinging club. I had
been too fast, faster than his reactions. The advantage of youth.
    But L’Eesh easily prised another palette out of the wall and
followed me up into the darkness.
    My palette accelerated, bumping against walls that were as rough
as sandpaper. L’Eesh’s green glow followed me, bioluminescent signals
flickering.
    Thus our ascension, two dead people racing into the sky.
     
    On an interplanetary scale the tunnel arched, but from my petty
human point of view it rose straight up. All I could see was a splash
of bio light on the crude brickwork around me, sliding past, blurred
by my speed.
    L’Eesh tried to defeat me with words.
    ’Imagine, Raida,’ he said softly. ’They must have come here from
across the moon, carrying their mud bricks, a global pilgrimage that
must have lasted generations. What a vision! They sacrificed
everything - abandoned their farms, trashed their biosphere down to
the slime on the rocks… And you know what? The two populations must
have worked together to build their bridge, so they could continue
their war. I mean, you couldn’t build it just from one end or the
other, could you? They cooperated so they could get at each other and
carry on fighting. In the end, the war became the most important
thing in their universe. More important than life, the continuation
of the species.’
    ’Insane,’ I whispered.
    ’Ah, but once we built vast structures, waged terrible wars, all
in the names of gods we have long forgotten. And are we so different
now? What of our magnificent Galaxy-spanning Expansion? Isn’t that a
grandiose folly built around an idea, a mad vision of cosmic destiny?
Who do you think we more resemble - this moon’s warmongers or its
peacemakers?’
    I was exhausted. I clung to my scrap of ancient technology as it
careened up into the dark.
    That sleek voice whispered in my ear, on and on. ’You can never
live up to Hily’s memory, little Raida. You do see that, don’t you?
You needn’t feel you have failed. For you could never have
succeeded… I saw your mother die.’
    ’Shut up, L’Eesh.’
    ’I was at her side - ’
    ’Shut up.’
    He fell silent, waiting.
    I knew he was manipulating me, but I couldn’t help but ask. ’Tell
me.’
    ’She was shot in the back.’
    ’Who? ’
    ’It doesn’t matter. She was killed for her catch, her trophies.
Her death wasn’t dishonourable. She must even have expected it. We
are a nation of thieves, you see, we hunters. You shouldn’t feel
bitter.’
    ’I don’t feel anything.’
    ’Of course not.’
    His brooding glow was edging closer.
    I closed my eyes. What would Hily have said? Use your head. There
is always an option.
    I took my hand off the button. The palette rocked to a halt. ’Get
it over,’ I panted.
    Now he had nothing to say; his words had fulfilled their purpose.
He closed, that eerie green glow sliding over the crude
brickwork.
    And I jammed my hand back on the button. My palette lumbered into
motion. I watched the exhaust gather into a thick crimson mist below
me.
    L’Eesh hurtled up into the mist, crouching on his palette - which
abruptly cracked apart and crumbled. Stranded in the air, he arced a
little higher, and then began to fall amid the