John Brosnan - The Sky Lords

Milo said, “You’re not interested in the origin of Minerva?”

“That’s not how Minerva began. You’re talking nonsense.”

“Talk of the Mother God setting up Minerva Herself isn’t nonsense as far as you’re concerned?” he asked, with amusement.

“No, of course it isn’t.”

“If that’s the case—that the Mother God established Minerva so women could be truly free—how do you explain this?” He gestured at their surroundings. “For hundreds of years Minerva, along with all the other ground communities throughout the world, has been under the thumb of the Sky Lords. That’s not what I call freedom. Your goddess seems to have short-changed you.”

“She’s not our goddess ,” protested Jan, annoyed. “She’s the one, true Mother God, creator of everything. And she didn’t give absolute freedom to Minerva—she left the Sky Lords as a symbol of Man’s evil so that we would never be complacent about its danger.”

“Some symbol,” murmured Milo. “It pulverized your town into the dirt yesterday.”

She winced. “You don’t have to remind me.”

“I’m sorry, but I’m just trying to make my point. Your Mother God seems to have gone to unnecessary extremes to make her point about Man’s evil. I presume not many of you survived.”

Jan bowed her head. “No,” she said in a subdued voice. “I’m the only one. The only woman, that is. There are four Minervan men on board as well. …” She covered her face with her hands and began to cry.

Milo waited patiently while she cried for a time, then said, “You don’t know for sure you’re the only female survivor from your town. The Sky Warriors aren’t infallible. They more than likely missed quite a few when they were searching the ruins.”

She took her hands away and stared at him. “You really think so?” she asked hopefully.

“I believe there’s a very good chance of it. And there’s something else for you to keep in mind—your Minerva wasn’t the only one of its kind.”

She stared at him in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“Didn’t you know? There’s more than one Minerva. I know of at least one other town almost the same size as yours which is within the jurisdiction of the Lord Pangloth . It’s also called Minerva and lies less than a quarter of a day’s flying time to the east of here. And I have heard there are other such Minervan communities.” He leaned back in his chair and smiled at her expression of astonishment. “So you see, you’re not as alone as you thought you were.”

The communal latrine was as bad as Milo had warned her it would be. A long, foul-smelling place with rows of dirty sinks, urinals and sit-down toilets in cubicles without doors. Fortunately, there was only one other person in there as she entered, a woman who was just leaving one of the cubicles. She gave Jan an unreadable look as she hurried past her.

When she had gone Jan stepped into a cubicle. She was nervous and hoped Milo would be as good as his word and stay by the entrance to the latrine. She’d told him she didn’t want any man to see her naked—which was true—but the other reason was that she intended to remove the incendiary bomb. She just couldn’t carry the thing inside her any longer. It had become much too uncomfortable.

She quickly climbed out of the one-piece baggy suit and, feeling exposed and vulnerable, extracted the bomb. Then, sitting on the bowl to evacuate her bowels, she unwrapped the cloth from the bomb and examined it. When it was inside her it had felt huge but now, resting in the palm of her hand, it seemed ridiculously small for the task it was supposed to achieve. She sighed and put it in one of her suit’s many pockets.

Despite her anxiety about her immediate fate on the Sky Lord she was feeling in better spirits now. The revelation from Milo about the other Minervas had changed everything. At first she couldn’t bring herself to believe him. It seemed impossible that no one in her Minerva knew about these other Minervan communities but Milo was convincing in his explanation. “I told you that originally Minerva covered a very large area. As the blight began spreading across the country the state of Minerva, like all the other states, became fragmented with the various parts becoming isolated from each other. As you Minervans didn’t believe in using such ‘evil’ devices as radios I imagine communication ceased between your different communities ages ago.”

The thought that somewhere there existed another Minerva, even though it was full of strangers, made all the difference. Somehow she would get there … some day. But first she had to perform the simple task of destroying the Lord Pangloth , not to mention trying to stay alive long enough to make the attempt.

Beside the toilet there was a worn looking lever protruding from the floor. When she was finished she pulled it, presuming it worked the flush. But there was no flush; instead there was a hiss of air from the bowl. The lever, she realized, operated some kind of air pump that sucked out the waste matter and no doubt ejected it from the Sky Lord to be deposited on the ground below.

She dressed hurriedly and emerged from the cubicle. The latrine was still empty. She went to one of the filthy sinks and turned on its tap. Only a trickle of brown water appeared. Milo had told her that water was scarce on the airship and strictly rationed. This water was for washing with only. She yearned to take another shower—as Tanith had warned her the white liquid had made her skin itch and feel uncomfortable—but had to be satisfied with just washing her hands and face.

As she headed back towards the latrine’s entrance she heard the sound of raised voices. In the passageway outside she found Milo facing three men. They looked angry but she noticed they kept their distance from him.

“… You heard Benny’s order, Milo!” one of them was saying. “The amazon was to go to Buncher. What are you doing with her?”

“I told you,” said Milo in his usual calm voice. “Buncher said I could have her. He changed his mind. I guess he’s scared of picking up an infection.”

“Balls!” cried another man. “You forced him to hand her over, admit it!”

“Why don’t you go ask Buncher if you don’t believe me?”

“We already have. He said the same as you.”

“Well, there’s no problem then.”

“Something’s wrong with him, Milo. He doesn’t look good. We reckon you hurt him.”

“Me? Hurt Buncher?” Milo laughed. “Nonsense.”

“We know how you operate, Milo. You’re going to have to give her back to him.”

Milo folded his arms. “No. She’s staying with me. And if anyone tries to take her from me I’m going to be very displeased. And we wouldn’t want that, would we, lads?”

Each of the three men was bigger than Milo but none of them made a move towards him. There was a long, tense silence then one of them said angrily, “Sooner or later we’re going to get you, Milo. Your luck can’t hold and you know it. And then she goes back to Buncher.” He pointed at Jan. “And when he’s finished with her the rest of us will have some fun with her. We’re not having an amazon around here who hasn’t been taught her place.”

“You can leave the lady’s education in my capable hands,” said Milo. “And now if this stimulating social exchange is over we’ll be on our way. Come on, Jan.”

For a few moments the three men didn’t move then, as one, they abruptly turned and left the short corridor. “They’re scared of you,” Jan told Milo quietly as they followed the three men back into the main room.

“They’re superstitious,” he said. “Just ignorant fools. Most of the slaves here were originally marauders. Having had enough of the struggle for life in the blight lands they signalled the Lord Pangloth that they wanted to come aboard, even though they knew it meant slavery.”