Tomm had overseen the last-minute preparations for the spaceship's departure, including drawing down the battered gravity shield. But as the priest now related to Hunter, the upcoming launch would not be any simple thing. If the fuel got too cold, it wouldn't ignite and would ruin much of the ship's internal piping. If the fuel became too warm, due to attempts to keep it from freezing, it could blow up and take most of the ice fort with it. In other words, once the old bird's fuel tanks were full, it had to leave right away.
The fueling cycle was just about complete, Tomm reported. The top of the huge chamber had already been cut away, and the snow was falling in through the big hole. The chamber was getting cold and losing its rickety life-system integrity very quickly.
The ship had to go now.
Klaaz knew this.
He wrapped his arm around Pater Tomm and said, "Please my brother, come with us. You and Mr. Hawk would be like kings when we reach our new world. I mean no offense, but once we are settled, there will be two thousand very grateful beauties who will want…"
Tomm's face turned red on cue. "They'll need only one king, my friend," he said, tactfully interrupting the old soldier. "And Hawk and I have very pressing business elsewhere."
Klaaz finally accepted this. "But perhaps you will visit our world someday soon, when your business is complete?"
Tomm shook hands with him. "You have my word."
"Very well," Klaaz said with a clap of his hands. "Suffice to say, you have both helped us immensely. And as you can see, I will be departing soon. So please, if I can't convince you to come with us, at least tell me why you came here in the first place."
Hunter and Tomm just looked at each other. Their quest had nearly been forgotten in all the excitement.
"It's a simple thing, really," the priest replied to Klaaz.
The old soldier winked slyly. "I like simple," he said.
Tomm lowered his voice. "We want to get to the Home Planets. Do you know anyone who might know where they are?"
Klaaz laughed. He thought it was a joke. But as soon as he realized that Tomm and Hunter were serious, the grin disappeared.
"There are many people in this part of the Five-Arm who would blow a hole in you for asking that question," he said darkly. "Indeed, many believe those two words can bring the worst kind of luck, should they hear them spring from another's lips."
"As a priest, I am immune to such superstitions," Tomm finally replied.
Klaaz thought about this, then his smile returned. "I forgot that you possess supernatural powers, Father."
He tightened their little circle. "But if you really want an answer to your question," he said in an excited whisper, "you must find a man named Zarex Red. Ever hear of him?"
Tomm and Hunter shook their heads no.
"He's an interesting sort," Klaaz said. "A bit of a rogue. An arms merchant of great wealth and expertise. But a grand explorer as well. It has been said that Zarex Red has been to more uncharted places on the Five-Arm than anyone else."
"Where can he be found?" Hunter asked.
"Well, that's the question, my friend," Klaaz replied. "For Zarex has also probably made more enemies on the Five-Arm than anyone else — even me. So he keeps his movements very secret. However, the last I heard, he was hiding out on a place called Bazooms. Like I said, he's made his share of enemies along the way of his travels. But the bad guys who have been seeking him lately are a very relentless sort: brutal, intelligent, well-equipped."
Tomm looked at the old soldier strangely.
"There are not many bad guys out there fitting such a description," the priest said.
"Only one that I know of, old friend," Klaaz said soberly.
"The Bad Moon Knights? Really?"
Klaaz nodded. "I heard Zarex was running guns to some of their enemies, and well, I guess they figured it was wiser to get rid of him than battling those he'd armed."
Hunter asked, "Who are the Bad Moon Knights?"
"No one really knows," Klaaz told him. "They are very mysterious sorts. Been around for a number of centuries now. They seem to be content these days with taking over key parts of the Five-Arm, most of them closer to the Ball, and doing so whether the people on those planets have ever been contacted or not. But the BMK are also most brutal in their methods. Besides launching huge campaigns, usually against very weakened and unsuspecting targets, they have a penchant for carrying out personal vendettas. Once they conquer a region of space, they immediately hunt down the teachers, the heroes, the poets — and yes, even explorers and the like. Along those lines, they've been trying to find my friend Zarex for years. But only a few of us know where he is."
"Will he mind us coming to look for him?" Hunter asked.
"He won't mind if he knows I sent you," Klaaz replied. "I used to be one of his best customers."
He smiled again, and the teeth didn't seem as cracked this time.
"Though the sight of a priest coming toward him might scare him more than a fleet of Bad Moon Knights," he said.
Pater Tomm bowed again.
"It will not be the first time I've instilled such fear," he said with a straight face.
The old rocket ship lifted off five minutes later.
It left slowly, with a huge ball of fire and smoke. The noise from the takeoff was deafening — so much so that the inner walls of the ice fort began to shake and crumble. The scaffold tower, which was essential to the rocket's liftoff, was blasted away in this sudden storm of flame. On the ground where the rocket ship had once stood, a deep pool of quickly melting ice was forming.
Hunter and Tomm were already airborne. They followed the rocket ship up, escorting it through the lower stratosphere, all the while keeping an eye on both of the battered siege armies. They could see activity at both devastated army camps, but there was no hostile fire. The ship left unmolested. The space scum had had enough.
They accompanied the rocket into orbit, Hunter maintaining parallel formation as it finally reached escape velocity and popped into space. He waited while the rocket oriented itself, and then, with the blink of their navigation lights, it streaked off toward its new home, a world some fifty light-years away.
"They are in the good hands of the Great Klaaz," Pater Tomm said, watching the ancient vessel disappear into the stars. "And will remain as such—"
"Bingo that," Hunter replied.
5
It was raining again.
This seemed to happen way too much over Chesterwest, the small patch of inhabited forest just a few miles up the river from Big Bright City, the capital of Imperial Earth.
Though the climate engineers claimed they controlled the weather over this part of the world — indeed, they supposedly controlled the weather all around the planet — it never seemed to work out that way. Especially over Chesterwest. Why? No one was sure. One theory, and it was an old one, had to do with the forest itself. It was (hick with extremely rare pine trees. No one knew if they grew better with more water or less, so the climate engineers opted for the former. And that's why it was always raining up here. Or so they said.
The enclave was reserved for dwellings of the most fortunate of the Very Fortunates, those people who weren't quite part of the extended Imperial Family but were damn close. Mostly, these people were rabid social climbers who had made the grade somehow. But there were a few legitimate human beings, including some military heroes, sprinkled among the population here as well.
There was a series of narrow dirt roads coursing through the forest at Chesterwest, mazelike paths that kept repeating back on themselves in intricate patterns. Few people who lived outside the enclave knew the secret of the roads, a design that ensured even further privacy for the privileged residents. On one of the more serpentine paths, there was a house built just a stone's throw from the top of a cliff, which looked out on the river below. The house was a modest affair, almost rustic when compared to some of the other homes in the area. With an overgrown garden out back and a tangle of wisteria covering the front, the ten-room dwelling was almost completely hidden from view.