John Brosnan - The Sky Lords

Her father looked closely at her. “You’re tired,” he told her in a gently accusing tone. “Aren’t you sleeping properly?”

“I’ve been on wall duty. It’s always hard to relax afterwards. And there’s the meeting tonight. …”

For a few moments her father looked uncharacteristically troubled. Then he smiled reassuringly and said, “I’m sure everything will turn out for the best. Melissa and her supporters will win the day, you’ll see.”

Jan nodded. She wanted to tell him of Melissa’s threat to have them both commit suicide if she lost the vote but decided against it. He wouldn’t know how to handle such information. “Yes, I suppose so. But what then?” Jan ran her hand along the metal tube. “You really think these are going to work?”

Again he looked momentarily worried. Then he said firmly, “I have every faith in Melissa. She knows what she’s doing. If she said we can destroy the Sky Lord then we will. And don’t forget, we have the Mother God on our side. She will deliver us.”

“Of course she will,” said Jan, but without conviction. She knew the thought was blasphemous but she couldn’t help wondering why the Mother God had waited so long to deliver Minerva from the reign of the Sky Lord. It had lasted over three hundred years now.

Her father put his hand on her shoulder. “Poor Jan. You’re so young yet you act as if you carry the cares of the whole world on your back.”

She managed to give him what she hoped looked like a brave smile. Poor father, she told him silently. I may be only eighteen and you are over eighty but you are the child. And you always will be. She envied him the security of his trusting naivety and wished she’d been born a man.

Jan told her father she had to return home and prepare for the meeting. He embraced her again and repeated his belief that everything was going to be all right.

Outside it was getting dark. As she hurried homewards she couldn’t help glancing up at the night sky, expecting to see the stars blotted out by the bulk of the Sky Lord, who had somehow learned of their planned rebellion and arrived ahead of schedule to punish them.

Out in the blight lands something screamed. Whether from pain or rage she couldn’t tell.

The fungus that was slowly killing Headwoman Avedon was deceptively pretty. It was a bright red growth that covered the left side of her face like peach fuzz. Jan couldn’t help staring at it as Avedon, the oldest of the Headwomen and therefore leader of the Council, was summarizing Melissa’s plan and the opposition faction’s case against it. Jan forced herself to look away and transferred her gaze to the spectators’ gallery that encircled the Council chamber. She spotted Simon in the Men’s section. He was staring down at her with his usual puppy-like grin fixed on his face. She sighed inwardly.

Avedon completed her summing up and handed the Speaker’s baton to Headwoman Anna, who was Melissa’s chief opponent. Jan’s stomach gave a queasy flutter as Anna began to speak. If she managed to persuade the Council to overthrow Melissa’s plan Jan didn’t want to think of the consequences, yet at the same time she shared Headwoman Anna’s misgivings about the proposed action against the Sky Lord.

But Jan’s immediate survival was her main concern. Incredible as it seemed in the familiar surroundings of the Council chamber with its ancient murals on the walls, she knew that her mother was serious about them killing themselves that night if she lost. Jan thought about trying to drive the point of the sword, that now hung by her side, into her chest … No, she could never do it. It would be impossible! And when she refused what would Melissa do? Surely her mother wouldn’t kill her? It was unthinkable! But these were not normal times. Anything was possible. …

She suppressed a shudder and tried to concentrate on Anna’s words. Anna was standing in the centre of the circular floor of the chamber and pointing an accusing finger at Melissa, who glared back at her with grim eyes. “… And I say again that Headwoman Melissa’s plan will bring about the destruction of Minerva!” Anna was saying in ringing tones. “It is foolhardy in the extreme to think we can bring down a Sky Lord, or even drive him away. If it was possible it would have been done before by either our foremothers or by some other community. No, the Sky Lords have ruled the world for nearly three and a half centuries and it’s going to take more than Headwoman Melissa’s fireworks to alter that fact. I say we should scrap her plan immediately, halt the preparations and destroy the rockets before it’s too late!”

There was a murmur of approval from both the inner circle of seats where the Headwomen sat and from the outer circles where their daughters sat. Melissa’s expression grew more grim and for a second she locked eyes with Jan, who was sitting almost opposite her. Jan found herself looking into the eyes of a stranger. Her mother had vanished and in her place was someone else. Someone frightening.

Melissa raised her arm and was granted permission to speak by Avedon. She stood up and said, “We have no alternative but to follow my plan. Otherwise we will all die of starvation during the coming winter. You all know that if we meet the Sky Lord’s customary quota of tribute all our grain bins will be empty. As for the so-called invincibility of the Sky Lords, that is a myth . We all know that some fifty or sixty years ago a Sky Lord crashed during a storm in the north lands. It was struck by lightning. Well, we will strike Lord Pangloth with our own lightning!”

This brought Melissa her own murmur of approval and Jan saw several heads nodding in agreement throughout the chamber. But Anna waved the Speaker’s baton, which gave her the right to interject whenever she wanted. “We don’t know for sure that ever happened. It was just a rumour spread by travellers. But even if it did happen it was through the grace of the Mother God, who used her natural forces to destroy the Sky Lord. How can you know that your rockets will do Lord Pangloth any harm?”

Melissa turned to Avedon. “Permission for Sister Helen to address the chamber?”

Avedon nodded and Melissa then gestured to Helen, who was sitting in the front row of the gallery. Helen rose, looking uncomfortable. Small, though not as short as Jan, and wiry, she was in charge of the foundry and had been instrumental in making Melissa’s plan reality. She knew much arcane lore, including, it was suspected, too much about the forbidden and evil sciences of Man. As a result she was not popular, but this never seemed to bother her.

“Tell the Council again what I have tried to tell them on past occasions,” commanded Melissa. “Perhaps hearing it from you, the expert, will finally convince the doubters amongst us.”

Helen swallowed nervously and, in a thin voice, said, “The Sky Lords are kept aloft, as you know, by gases which are lighter than air. There are two such gases—hydrogen and helium. Once the Sky Lords were filled entirely with helium because it is safest. It is an inert gas whereas hydrogen is flammable. Over the years the Sky Lords have lost much of their helium, through natural leakage, accidents and so on, and haven’t been able to replace it. They’ve been forced to use hydrogen as a substitute in many of their gas cells. Hydrogen, unlike helium, can be manufactured relatively easily by means of a process called ‘electrolysis’ which is—”

Melissa cut her short with a wave of her hand. “Never mind the details,” she said. “What we want to know is whether the Sky Lords contain a great deal of the dangerous gas.”

Helen’s face went bright red. “Uh, yes, Headwoman Melissa, I would say that all the Sky Lords now contain much more hydrogen than helium.”