Gift of the Gods - Chapter 4

 

 

" We as a tribunal, find you, Talbet Mathers, guilty of : treason, grand theft , and of murder." The man in a dark blue uniform spoke solemnly as he gazed down at the dark haired old man, handcuffs binding his wrists.
" You are to be ejected out into space for the crimes you have committed. Take the prisoner to the shuttle bay, where his punishment will be carried out." The even voiced man continued, as two guards came and took Mathers by each arm and began dragging him down a long corridor. Both guards were dressed in the same type of uniform as the man who had just condemned him, but of lower rank.

As Mathers and his two escorts reached the shuttle bay'sentrance, a man with dark brown hair stepped in front of him.The dark haired man seemed familiar somehow, then realization struck Mathers almost at the same time as the uniformed man drew his blaster from it's holster, Anderson...

" Nooooo..." Mathers cryed out as he became consciousonce more.He was still lying in his bed, in his bedroom at Firestorm Castle.

Sweating pouring down his face, the dark haired old man reached out with his left hand to flip on the lamp that was located next to his bed. After a moment or so of fumbling with the lamp's switch, the room was finally lit up with a soft yellow glow.

Lord Mathers' bedroom's walls were of wooden paneling, on the right side of his bed was a night table. On the left, an electric lamp. Directly in front of his bed, against awooden paneled wall, a oaken mirrored dresser.
Sitting up in his bed, the aged lord set his feet on the cold stone floor of his room. Made a quick glance around the room to make sure that no one was hiding in the shadows, then got to his feet.

Dressed only in his night clothes, Mathers padded his way across the room to his computer station. After sitting down in the chair in front of the terminal, he quickly keyed in his access code " Raven-Alpha-One."
The moment after he had entered his access code, " Good Morning Lord Mathers. Select which function you wish to use: 1) Bring up file 2) Video transmission..." appeared on the screen. Selecting video transmission, the dark haired lord hurriedly keyed in the access code to Enigma's onboard shuttle computer.

 

When Enigma's face finally appeared on Mathers' terminal, he let out a deep anxiety filled sigh.The white haired man on the other hand had an impatient hateful look on his countenance.

" What !" The white haired man screamed into his video-phone, enraged at being awaken in the middle of the night.

" Anderson's alive !" Mathers whispered back hoarsely, as he wiped a handkerchief across his sweat soaked forehead.

With a bewildered expression on his face, Enigma fell silent for a moment then said to the older man," That's not possible. Hawthorn ejected him out into space before we crashed here. No one could survive that, no one."

" He's alive I tell you, and he's coming after me." The older man continued, almost as if he hadn't heard a single word that Enigma had said.

Becoming agitated with his lord's annoying insistence that Anderson was alive, the white haired man terminated his satellite link-up with Mathers. Then he purposely went into the shuttle's cockpit and disconnected his long range communication system.

" The old man's nuts." Enigma muttered to himself as he gazed out of the shuttle's forward view screen." He really has lost it, Hawthorn wasn't kidding."

Lost in thought, the white haired man began tinkering with the idea of offing the old man and taking over. But, that was just too much wishful thinking on his part. He could never pull it off, too many body guards, too many security systems. Just wishful thinking, that's all. Just wishful thinking.

---

As the silver and black shuttle glided over a sea of dark green forests, the occupants inside were planning on just how they were going to hide their shuttle before going on to Babilon. The fabled city of the " Watchers'".

" There..." Marcus said to his friend as he pointed with his right index finger toward an opening in the in the foliage ahead of them, about a kilometer or so ahead.

" Are you sure we'll be able to fit her in there ?" David asked Hawthorn, unsure of just how they would be able to fit a shuttle in such a small clearing.

" Don't worry about it. I've squeezed her into smaller." The younger man replied rather casually, a little too casual for David to ponder about. That worried him.

In a moment or two they would be upon the clearing. Thrusting the throttles of the shuttle into a thirty degree down angle, Marcus aimed the shuttle's nose cone in the direction of the grassy clearing ahead of them.
Hearing the sound of the wind howling against the hull of the shuttle, the gray haired man fastened on his seat belt just in case Marcus accidentally crashed them into the clearing instead of landing them in it. At the last possible moment, Hawthorn fired the shuttle's retros to stabilize their landing, and after a moment of hovering just above the ground, the shuttle settled onto the dew dampened grass.

 

The sun was just setting as the shuttle's entry hatch opened, and it's boarding ramp extended itself onto the grass.
" Not a bad landing if I do say so myself." Marcus commented as he stepped out of the shuttle and strode down it's boarding ramp.

When David emerged from the shuttle, he quickly randown it's ramp and fell onto his knees. Then he bent his head down to kiss the solid earth, muttering a prayer the entire time. " Praise Centari for getting me safely here in that infernal contraption of his."

" The ride wasn't that bad, I'm not that bad a pilot." The brown haired man said to the older man as he stood watching the sun in it's few final moment before darkness fell.

" Marc, don't quit your day job." David chided his friend with an amused smile on his face." Well, we had better make camp. I'll go hunting this time, the last time I let you do the hunting for us, you came back with a half-incinerated deer."

" What ? Who says that I can't use my blaster for hunting ?" Hawthorn inquired quizzically.

" I say so, that's who. You just go collect some wood for the fire, I'll handle getting diner." David returned as he began lifting his long bow from out of the quiver of arrows strapped to his back. After taking a moment to string it, he waved good bye to his friend and strode off, into the darkened forest to the left of the shuttle.

At about the same time that Marcus a the fire going, David emerged from the darkened forest with a hare in each hand." I see that you've finally got that fire of yours started. What did you use, lamp oil ?" The older man jested as he stepped into the rosy light of the newly lit fire.

" No, this." The dark haired man replied patting his holstered pistol.
" Very funny !" David returned with a grin.