McSee heaved a huge big sigh and then pulled
from his tunic four metal stars. Two black and two silver; they glittered on
his palm. He said nothing, knowing they said more than he could.
‘They’re technology gismos!’ Saska gasped,
astonished.
‘Indeed,’ Rain said. ‘How did you come by
them?’
Glint started to laugh. ‘I don’t know, Taranis,’
he chortled. ‘I mean, sorcerers and necromancers, the Oracles and the
Medaillon, all crawling from the woodwork of a narrow, backward world…the Ruby,
I ask you! And now technology does the same! Hell, we should take pause and
rethink this whole thing.’
‘I suspect you’re right, Glint,’ Taranis remarked
and was entirely serious.
‘Explain!’ Rain barked out, ignoring both Glint’s
hilarity and Taranis’ speculation.
For an instant he wanted to quip something
about the shoe being on the other foot, but one look at Rain’s thunderous
expression and McSee was forced into silence. Was Rain angry at the presence of
technology, or was he angry that he had not known it existed in some form on
Valaris?
‘McSee, I’m warning you,’ Rain said. Llettynn
and Belun glanced significantly at each other.
‘Fine,’ the big man spat out. ‘Saska was right
when she said this is a post-technological world, and we all know it. History
tells of the technology that came with the starships and how it was allowed to
disintegrate …a bounteous world the settlers called it, and saw no need to
hasten the calamities they fled from, mostly caused by over-mechanization and
over-reliance on computers and gadgets.’ He jiggled the stars. ‘All was not
lost. These stars are harmless in this form, activating only when in motion.
Silver paralyses and black are…they are deadly. Innocuous, seemingly, but very
dangerous, no doubt another reason they were to vanish, forgotten. A brave new
world didn’t need these; humans were alone here and should be able to live in
harmony, right? But, again, let us go to history, for it tells how aggressive
we are, how we start wars over the tiniest infraction…so, thank God, there were
no weapons such as these. Yet they did come with the star ships and someone
sometime intended to use them somewhere. Thank God they were allowed to rust
away…only they did not. As with the Mantle, the Society is slightly more than
what it seems, Rain. There’s still technology on Valaris from settler times,
and some of it is highly advanced…well, by our standards anyway. Learning about
it, using it, improving and maintaining it, is another of the Society’s
duties.’ McSee sighed as he had at the start of his revelation, but his anger
had bled away during the relief of confession. ‘It is hidden and safe.’
‘Well,’ Belun remarked.
Gathering of Rain
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