The Wreck of the Aetherwing

James Dewitt

    I stood waiting with the others in the echoing halls of the great Docking Bay on the 765th Level. Formost among us was Ybramm, Master Aerarch. He stood with his massive forearms folded, and a dour expression on his face. He cultivated a neat beard about the fringe of his jaw, but was otherwise as bald as a polished geode. Near him stood a tall lady. Kerruwen she was called, and she wore the trappings of the Watch. Her Rank Badges showed that she was Mistress of those Watchmen who warded the Docking Bay. Her beauty was as great as her temper was legended to be when she was not implicitly obeyed. Neither of these august personages deigned to acknowledge my presence, Monstruwacan though I be.

        My belongings were neatly piled behind me: various instruments of my Order, devices to record findings and sightings, my Armor and armor-suit in its case, and my Diskos. I looked at that dreadful weapon and gave a slight shudder. I was Prepared, and I was going Out. In a Sky-Ship. This had been one of my dearest wishes since boyhood, and now, at the age of twenty-seven, it was to be fulfilled. I would be a crewman not merely on a Sky-Ship, but upon the most renowned of the fleet, the Aetherwing.

        My musings were interrupted by the monstrous blare of the Home-Call. Kerruwen stood at the control podium and held her alabaster finger down on the Call button. Her exquisite visage was marked by a look of supreme annoyance.

        Glancing through the great port window, my breath caught at sight of the object of Kerruwen’s anger. The Aetherwing hovered aloft just beyond the Air-Clog.  Despite repeated attempts at contact, it had refused to initiate docking procedures, and hung motionless silhouetted against our dull, dying, red sun.

        “Ybramm! Master Aerarch.” Kerruwen addressed the stony and impassive form of the Guild Master of the Sky-Kings. “What have I done to be cursed with this? Your man there is as much a brute as any Giant of the Kilns! His disrespect for port protocol  is beyond any words!”

        Ybramm answered her without turning. His voice had the quality of stones being turned in the polishing engines of the Geologists. “Jette is the finest of all in my care. His methods are admittedly unorthodox, and yet he has accomplished more in our cause than any of the others. Need I remind you of the rare plants he procured from the Valley of the Hounds? Plants that our Doctors and Herbalists used to devise wondrous medicines? And what of his rescue of the survey group that was beset by the Silent Ones themselves? Cultivate patience, Mistress.”

         Kerruwen’s obsidian eyes blazed, and her hair seemed to flow about her like the wreath of some battle-goddess stooping upon her prey. Her mouth opened, no doubt in preparation of delivery of a scathing retort when the air itself throbbed about us with the beating of the Master-Word, sent from the brain elements of all hands of the great ship.

        Kerruwen’s mouth snapped shut, and she worked the controls that opened the great bay. I noticed a small smile on the lips of Aerarch Ybramm. The great doors slid open, and the Aetherwing glided home.

        The Aetherwing! She was huge, the largest type of all the Flying-Ships. Her hull was crafted of the wondrous metal of the Redoubt, but constant infusions of the Current that powered her gave the metal a liquid, gleaming quality. In shape, she was oblong, with many great windows for viewing the Land and skies. Her great search-lamps were now hooded, and her armaments withdrawn. On her topmost prow stood a gleaming effigy: a glorious figure of female perfection, hands in her streaming hair and robes billowing behind as if in a great wind. Every ship ever piloted by this Aerarch, Jette, Darling of the hour-slips, had borne her on the prow. When asked why, he was said to merely smile enigmatically and say “My friend. Look at Her. How, I ask, could it be otherwise?”

        My nervousness increased. I was about to meet Jette. He was without doubt the most popular Hero of our day. I knew every story of his exploits, and Monstruwacan though I be, and due respect of my own, I was yet young, and almost giddy at the prospect of meeting this mighty man.

        The Ship settled into its cradle. The doors opened, and the crew disembarked. Down the ramp strode Jette himself.  He was tall, and great of chest and shoulder. His hair was long,  thick and flowed pale down his back. His armor showed signs of battle, and his Aerarch’s Lenses were pushed back above his forehead. He wore a band of blue about his brow, and his smile was dazzling.

    “My friends! My Crew! Home again are we, back in the loving embrace of Mother Redoubt! Give thanks, my dear friends!” His voice was clear and ringing.

        He strode first to Master Ybramm, and clasped a hand to his heart. “Master Aerarch: good it is to stand upon my two feet in your presence again. I have missives from our distant kin in the Far Pyramid.” He turned to the tight-lipped Kerruwen. “ Dear Lady, I thank you for receiving my ship into your care. Any journey, no matter how peril fraught, is worth all the dangers of gathering Dusk merely to see your lovely smile at my safe return.” Jette concluded his greeting with a deep and ostentatious bow.

        Kerruwen’s eyes glittered dangerously. “Tell me, Jette, why I was made then to wait three hours for you to finally deign to enter my Docks?"

        Jette’s face clouded by a momentary grief. “ Our journey was not wholly without incident, Mistress Kerruwen. As you no doubt already know, we were alerted by the Monstruwacans of strange phenomena concerning the Towers to our southwest. It would appear great forces are at work there. By some artifice, the Towers have been built upon. Great walls are now in place, spanning the spaces between the Towers. Moreover, the Pit of Red Smoke has issued forth such a cloud that nothing of this could be seen from the Tower of Observation. Our instruments showed no apparent danger, nor did the Night-Hearing. Monstruwacan Teslarchus relayed this to his brethren here, and it was decided that we investigate this new structure.”

        As he spoke, I noted two crewmen bearing a bier down the ramp. I approached Jette, as did Master Ybramm.

        “ We sent down a Glider. As we approached, dark shapes leapt from the battlements of the newly fortified Towers, and were among us. My men fought valiantly, and we cleared them from our craft after a mighty battle. Four of mine were…taken. Their cries were hideous to hear, and I fear that they have been bereft of their Spirits. Teslarchus cried out, and I saw one of these abominations had extended an arm into his breast. His Spirit, at least, I preserved. We are now without a Monstruwacan, and I have lost a dear and brave friend. The Monstruwacans must be told; Teslarchus deserves much honor as he is consigned to the Current.”

        Clearing my throat, I spoke up. “ Aerarch, I am sent from the Tower of Observation with the following message: ‘Hail, and well met, Aerarch Jette of the Aetherwing. We are aware of the fall of our noble and well-loved Brother, Teslarchus. Our thanks to you for bearing his body Home. I, Master Monstruwacan Tiberuus, send you this selected Brother to join your crew. Armitari is yet young, but his Spirit be bright, and his knowledge of our Order’s skill is not lacking. May he serve you and your crew as loyally and well as he ever has his own Order.’ “

        Jette glanced at me, as if just noting my presence. “Ho! A young Monstruwacan! I am gladdened to know that the tradition between our great Orders shall continue!” Striding forward, Jette gripped my hand and forearm in an iron clasp. “ You are called Armitari, my new advisor?”

        “Sir, I am Monstruwacan Armitari. I am Prepared. I shall journey the winds of Twilight with you.”

        “Bravely said, friend Armitari. There is something you must see.”  He took me to the bier, and gently pulled back the cloak obscuring my fellow Monstruwacan’s face. Seeing it, I gasped. The head and shoulders of my fellow were cloven and burnt.

        “Teslarchus was a true friend and brave ally in peace and battle. His straits at the end were such that he could not bite the Capsule. In mercy, in friendship, my Diskos ransomed his Spirit. Know this, young Armitari: For you, I would do the same. That is my troth. And I am in hope that for me you would do likewise, if a situation ever warranted it. This is the way of things. Now, load your gear upon the craft. You will find Teslarchus’ chambers readily enough.”

        I turned to gather my things. As I began loading my equipment aboard the mighty craft, Jette called up to me.

    “Monstruwacan Armitari! Hail, and well-met. Welcome to the Aetherwing!”

                                      ****************

        Despite Aerarch Jette’s flamboyant welcome, we were not to depart for a full five days. Much has to be done to prepare a Sky-ship for a sojourn in the Land, for no Aerarch, even one of skill as renowned as Jette, could vouchsafe what might befall to delay a return Home.

        In the days before we were to soar Out into the dim skies of the Valley, I acquainted myself with the ways of the wondrous ship. I was shown the Observation deck, the Command deck, the sleeping quarters, the Bombardier stations, and so much more that my head spun with the surfeit of new learning. Most importantly, I met many of the Aerarch crewmen and the Watch assigned to the ship. Despite my youth and inexperience, these brave men of the ship welcomed me as a new brother.

        Jette himself was seen little during these days. I was taken under the wing of his Second, the seasoned Aerarch Lido. During our tour of the ship, which Lido knew as he knew the grip of his Diskos, I was shown the proud vessel’s radiant heart. “This, lad, is what allows us to rule the skies. This is what makes us Aerarch.” the inveterate Lido proudly told me as he revealed to me the Current-chamber.

        Like a great gleaming orb it was: fashioned of that wondrous metal orichalcum. Within the orb’s confines was stored a vast amount of the Current itself. As I looked in awe, Lido showed me the various instruments used to measure the amount of Current and its rate of expenditure.

        I was also selected to assist Lido in delivering the crew’s Diskoi to Kerruwen for transport to the nearest Charge Master. That fierce Lady paid no heed to me; fortunately she seemed to be fond of Lido, far fonder of he than she was of Jette himself.

        It was from conversations between the twain that I learned the reason for Jette’s tardiness in docking.

        “Founder’s Bones, Lido, I do think that man seizes any opportunity to irk me. I know he sees women as mere playthings, and the idea of obeying me chafes him. Even now I can see his mocking smile in my inner eye.”

        “No, Lady. I think perhaps you do not know him as well as you think. Jette is what he is. He knows the necessity of law and rule. Even so, his Spirit is like one of the great birds from the Days of Light. He must do as he will do. He means no disrespect, even and especially to you. He himself has said that it is a shame you, being a woman, are obliged to never leave the Redoubt. He also says that in battle, you would be the match of any three men.”

        Lido’s smile faded a bit. “What kept us from your docks this time was great care and concern. The foe we faced from the Towers was unlike any we have seen. A Night-Hound is a terror indeed, but has naught of subtlety about it. It courses and kills, until it is killed itself. The Kiln-Giants can be cunning, but they cannot hide in our midst. This foe could, and did.

    “Mistress, they were pan-morphic. It seemed that they were made of countless motes of darkness that flowed and took on myriad shapes. And some of them took on the form of men. It was a harrowing time aboard the ‘Wing until we could scour every room with the Current, and account for the ability of every man to speak the Master-Word. Jette would not allow neither return to nor converse with  Mother Redoubt until he ascertained that no contagion would be carried in by his Ship or crew.”

        Kerruwen looked troubled. “ Perhaps I spoke in haste. I often do. A Watchman is required to make swift decisions, and to act upon them.” She sighed. “Lido, I fear for the Ships. Three there are that are overdue: the Empyrean, Awakening Light, and Hydrogyrum’s Pinions. We have had no sendings from them. Zephyrus’ Dancer and Stormhound at least wait in the safety of the Docks. The Montruwacans cannot find the others, not even with all the Spyglasses in their workshop of the telescopes. They tell us of great Forces abroad in the Land--perhaps these Modified Towers are some new manifestation of Inimicae. Even the skills of one such as Jette may not be enough to safeguard another return for the ‘Wing…Lido, I do fear that very soon the bold Aerarchs and their Sky-Ships will no longer grace our skies.”

                                           *************

        The days passed, and time came to depart. I stood next to Aerarch Lido, at the forefront of the crew of the Aetherwing. All preparations were done, and every man stood ready for flight. Aerarch Jette faced Master Ybramm and Watch Mistress Kerruwen.

        The Ritual of Departure had begun.

        Ybramm spoke: “Aerarch Jette, in the name of our Order, I charge you with the care of these men. You will do all in your power to preserve their Spirits. You will seek knowledge, that the race of Man shall be enriched. If battle finds you, you will give the powers and intelligences of Darkness reason to hesitate ere they deign assault another man. So you are charged by the sons and daughters of Mother Redoubt.”

    Jette replied, “ As instrument of Humanity and Mother Redoubt, this charge I readily accept.”

    Kerruwen stepped forward. She wore the full regalia of her office, and in her gloved hands held a ribbon of finest silk-moth lace. Jette bowed his head, and she tied the ribbon around his hair, gathering it into a queue. She intoned the ritual words: “ Wind in your hair of a thousand laces, Sky-King. May luck in battle be yours, and safe return Home at journey’s end. You are bid by the daughters and sons of Mother Redoubt to return to us.”

    Raising his head, Jette responded. “ If this thing can be done, it shall be so. I carry the dear memory of the noble scions of Mother Redoubt with me into the Dark.”

    Ybramm, Kerruwen, and all the Watch present saluted us with their Diskoi, and we of the Aetherwing returned the salute.  The ceremony thus ended, we boarded the great Ship.

        With a mounting, vibratory hum, the Aetherwing lifted from its cradle. The great doors of the Bay slid open before us, and the Home-Call howled defiance into the Twilight as the mighty Ship glided smoothly from the Redoubt. We passed the Electric Circle and the Air-clog, and were now truly in the Vast Land of Dusk.

    From my station on the command deck, I wondered if my fellow Montruwacans watched on their instruments. I wondered if the felt envy, or relief that they were not chosen on my place. In days past, I myself loved little more than to watch the departure and return of the Great Ships. To see their huge silvery forms gliding regally through the gloaming skies was a sight to thrill all but the most banal and prosaic of minds.

    In form, the Great Ships were shaped like a Trilobite. A Trilobite of gleaming metal, all graceful lines and scalloped armor plate. Lido himself informed me that the inventor of the Ships  admired the simple functionality of the creatures (which were kept as pets in aquaria by many in the Redoubt) and merely adapted the armored head, scalloped body, and tapered bifurcate tail to his own vision. The command deck, where I currently sat, was located in the blunt head of the craft.

        I knew of the lesser controls that maneuvered the ‘Wing in and out of port, and which were used for routine navigation of the craft. Lido had told me that more precise controls existed, and were used by the Prime Aerarch in situations of danger or battle.

        For the moment, Lido was piloting the ‘Wing, by means of a system of levers on an upright cylinder. Jette stood at his ease nearby.  There were many great view ports in the craft, and ere long I saw the red glow of the Giant Kilns.

        Jette addressed all present. “ My friends, we have a mission of great import. We are to attempt to locate those brethren of ours that are overdue. It may be that they are Lost. It may be that they are beleaguered. Whatever the case, we shall strive our utmost to give succor. Or, perhaps we shall be required to exact vengeance for the fallen. This is our task. I expect every man to strive as never before towards the completion of this task.’

        He turned to me. “Come now, my new advisor, let us go to the foremost observation deck, that we may become better acquainted.” He led me down a tunnel, and we emerged into a small platform within a transparent blister of heavy glass  at the lower prow of the craft. The room was constructed such that a man could look any which way about, and see the Land to every horizon. I saw places that hitherto I had espied only from afar on the spyglasses of the Tower of Observation. Jagged lines of mountains, the place of the Blue Lights, the Quiet City, and the dread House of Silence itself, with its monstrous Door agape.

    “What think you, Armitari?”

    “Jette, I am staggered. We of my order, even knowing the threats of the Land, still hunger for knowledge. I was fortunate to be present when the Masters and Eugenicists dissected the slain Night-hound you brought back last year. Touching something that had come from the Land…it was fascinating. Did you know that at one time Montruwacans went abroad with great armed parties? We braved the Land, and learned much. Now, the Ruling Council forbids such forays, and our studies are carried out from afar, or vicariously through efforts by such as you and those others who go Out and return.  It surprises me that any are allowed out in these days of fear.

    “Young Monstuwacan, have you read much in the Libraries concerning the Days of Light? Or the time of the Road-Makers? Man was fearless in those days. We ruled all of the Earth, and even spanned the Heavens themselves in Ships far greater than this one. To other stars, even, if the tales be true.”

    “That was when there were still stars to see, Jette. Things are different now…things have gone so very wrong in this universe. The stars are no more.” I gestured at the dull, bloated Sun. “ It is written that it was once a great golden lamp. Look at it now, a diseased blight in the sky that casts only the most fitful and cheerless of light. The sun is a corpse, rotting for all to see. Better it was not visible at all, than to see this grim mockery of what once was.”

    “Armitari, that may be true. Nonetheless, we are men! And some men remember what it means to be a man. The thirst for knowledge. To find out what lay beyond the next hill. I am not one of those Reborn we hear of, that I say such things. I merely know that being caged is not the way of man. I intend to sail the winds until the day I am returned to the Current. Were it possible, I would take this ship beyond the Walls of the World, and behold Old Earth, if anything be left to see of it.” Jette sighed, and nodded toward the Quiet City.

    “Who built it, do you think? I have flown nigh, but something about it causes the Current to falter and the instrumentation to go awry.”

    I affected my most sagacious and inscrutable smile. “ We Monstruwacans, shut away though we be, know many things. Several of those Monstruwacan expeditions I mentioned visited the Quiet City. It is empty. The lights we see are apparently imperishable, and powered by other than the Current. Our findings were that the vanished race that built that place were not human. Nor were they miscegenies such as the Giants. We surmise that those who built it warred upon the inhabitants of the Vale of Shadow. There were signs of great battle, and the release of incalculable energies. The effigies we found indicated that the inhabitants were in form like great beetles, and our empathic readings told us that their minds had come from some other era in time. When faced with Great Forces from the Shadowed Valley, and assault from the House of Silence, they used their arts to project their minds elsewhere and elsewhen. “

    “By the Current, man! Never have I heard that tale!”

    “It is not exactly the sort of thing the Montruwacans tell on the hour-slips. Even you, Jette the Renowned, might be surprised at the secrets we Scholars keep.”

    Jette glanced at me in open-mouthed surprise, then let out a great laugh.  “ My young friend! I have decided that I do like you, very much! Come, such a tale deserves a drink. I keep a well-stocked store of potables: the best the vintners and brewers of the Underground Fields have to offer!” With a bone-jarring clap to my back, he led me to the galley.

                                             ***************

        We traversed the Land for days, flying low and using the great searchlights at times to probe the terrain. For though the waning sun shed fitful light, it was ever a wan and feeble illumination that little aided one’s sight. The Aerarchs schooled me in the use of the Ship’s scanners, and the aural receivers. I was told that any Ship in distress could activate a beacon that would lead aid to the site. The beacon was perceptible audibly through the listening instruments, and also could be detected as an intermittent pulse of Earth-Current.

        It was as we reached a region of bubbling, steaming mud (which Lido informed me was near the Lesser Redoubt) that the sensors detected a beacon-call.

        Lido leapt to his feet. “Jette, the beacon bears the signature of the Empyrean! Range-finders indicate thirty-seven point ought-nine miles.”

        Jette seized the voice relay. “ Aerarchs! Watchmen! The Empyrean is nigh, and in need! All hands, prepare yourselves!”

        Donning his Lenses, Jette strode to the Greater Helm. He stood upon a metal disk, and placed fine mesh gloves upon his hands. He then removed twin rods of crystal from sockets to either side of the disk. Each rod was four feet long, and was laced with intricately wrought platinum circuitry. As  he grasped these rods with his gloves, the crystal seemed to come alive with the fire of the Current. Now the ship had become a living extension of his body. His Lenses allowed him to see anything the ship’s sensors saw, and by manipulating the Crystal Control Rods he was capable of maneuvering the Aetherwing with a preternatural speed and accuracy that could not be matched with the standard controls. Even the slightest motion of the Rods was instantly translated into action by our craft. The Aetherwing had become very nearly a living thing, with Jette as it’s mind.

        I felt the ship increase in speed, much faster than we had traveled at any time before. The hum of the Earth-Current could be felt resonating throughout the vessel and our very bodies. In a matter of minutes, a chilling scene came into view.

        The Empyrean was aground, and embattled. Several rents were apparent in the ship’s armor, and many of the windows were shattered.  Crawling upon the hull were myriads of misshapen figures. In appearance, they varied greatly, though all were more or less shaped like twisted mockeries of men. Aberrations all, some appeared to have more than two arms; some sprouted insectile appendages in place of more anthropomorphic limbs; and some seemed to favor tentacular growths in place of more developed limbs. Thankfully, the worst details were concealed under long voluminous cloaks of filthy, stiff and unidentifiable fabric.

        That they were some tribe of Ab-Humans was clear enough, yet never before had any of those misbegotten ones dared assail one of the Great Ships: such a thing was unthinkable. Ab-men normally fled before the coming of the Aerarchs, and hid themselves in superstitious dread. Yet these dared attack the proud Empyrean with a courage totally unprecedented to all our records.

        The besieged ship was foundered upon its side on a mesa of granite that reared up from the boiling mud. Its lights shone fitfully, indicating that little Current remained to the vessel. As we came soaring down the winds, we observed the Ab-Human warriors assailing the metal of the hull with scythe-like weapons, and tearing the platesl with little effort. Here and there, a lightning-like flash would be seen from one of the rents, and a monster would fall back, twitching and dismembered. The crew of the Empyrean were yet defending their ship.

        Jette barked, “ Armitari! Use the Night-Speech! Exhort our brothers to take heart!”

        I reached out to the stricken ship with my brain-elements, but immediately sensed something strange and awful: the ether was seething with the power of an alien mind. An impression came to me of a monstrous sentience standing some way away from the ship. From its mind surged forth strange equations and formulae beyond my understanding, that seemed to be working to bind the Empyrean to the ground with massive gravitational pull, and at the same time to have a damping power on the Current itself.

        Quickly I manned a  view-scanner and located a large and as yet unengaged group of these twisted men a short distance from the battle. There, in their midst, stood the alien thaumaturge. That It was no Ab-Man  was clear: It looked to be akin to the Kiln-Giants. A Giant, yet even more horrific than any other member of that cursed race. Alterations to this Giant’s physiology were evident. What should have been great, jointed arms were  modified into a twin clusters of undulating tendrils. The huge twisted face had no eyes in the gaping sockets. Instead, an unwholesome emerald light shone forth, and glistening, dark mucus dribbled from the glowing sockets in copious amounts.

        “Aerarch! These marauders have a warlord: a being with the power to warp gravity itself! We must strike, lest the ‘Wing share the fate of her sister!”

        With his Lenses, Jette scanned  toward the site I indicated. A snarl on his lips, he roared “ Prepare pyro-bombardment! On my mark, release!” The Aetherwing swiftly approached the place where the Giant Warlord wove his strange equations. “Burn them!” commanded Jette.

        From the Bombardier ports, numerous gleaming canisters were jettisoned into the midst of the nightmarish horde. Where they impacted the ground, massive conflagrations erupted, hurling back the red-tinged Dusk of the Land with fires of blue and violet. Preternaturally hardy and tough of hide though they were, the monsters died in droves: for the Chemists of the Redoubt were expert at crafting more than the wondrous Water-powder. Their retorts and crucibles rendered elemental compounds and reagents near as fell in battle as the Current itself. The mineral fires and thunderous explosions were of such ferocity that the very rock was splintered. In my mind, I heard the death cry of the Giant Thaumaturge, and the cessation of that aberrant adept’s inimical formulae.

        Lido reached for the controls of the Current-caster Aerials. Swiftly, he performed several actions, extending these weapons. From the sides of our craft, four long antennae sprouted and crackled to life. Terrible, many-forked lightnings born of the Current darted forth, and with ruthless accuracy smote ruin upon almost all the remaining marauders that were not immediately nigh the Empyrean. From the great windows, all aboard the ‘Wing witnessed the charred fragments and blasted remains, testament to Aerarch Lido’s deadly skill.

        The greater portion of the terrible army was accounted for, yet many still attacked the Empyrean. Jette caused the ‘Wing to hover in place, and replaced the crystal control rods in their sheaths.

        “We have no safe way to smite the enemy upon the Empyrean from afar. Prepare the Watch, and board the Gliders. We may yet preserve the lives of our fellows. Lido, remain aboard and assume command. Monstruwacan, I shall need you and your Night-Hearing to accompany me.”

        Armor donned and Diskoi in hand, Jette and I raced to the Glider bay.  The Great Ships each carried two Gliders, which were sled-like machines capable of transporting a hundred armored men. Each Glider was now manned with fifty of the ‘Wing’s two hundred Watch in addition to Jette, two Aerarchs who would pilot the craft, and myself. The hangar doors opened, and the Gliders sailed down, making a landing a short distance from the embattled Empyrean.

        By our sensor’s count, forty-three of the Ab-Men warriors remained. The war-trained men of the Watch leapt from our Gliders no sooner than they touched the ground, and sprinted into battle. Jette instructed me to remain with him, at the rear. He with his Lenses and I with the Night-Hearing would monitor the fray. Never had I witnessed such carnage: the Watch fell upon the foe with a will, and attempted to fight the monsters in groups of two or three men to one adversary. The Diskoi roared with the Current’s fury, and the ichor of the foe glittered with the weapons’ reflected light as it sprayed into the gloom.

        These Ab-Humans were a terrible enemy. With their multiform appendages and great strength returned our attack with alacrity. The strange scything weapons they bore sheared through armor with ease, and from the hidden depths of the deep hoods frightful wounds were bestowed from hidden maws, felling many men of the Watch. The monsters moved with an eerie speed our men could scarcely match, and seemed capable to continue fighting even after losing limbs.

        With a great bound, one warrior alighted before us, seizing a Watchman up in the massive tentacle that it wore in place of a left arm. With a sickening ease, it crushed and tore asunder the screaming man. Discarding the grisly remnants, its reared up to its full height, a towering eight feet. Despite my fear and revulsion, part of my mind remained an analytical Monstruwacan savant. I observed that the creature’s hide gleamed dully with a metallic sheen. Did these beings ingest metal, and process it to fortify their natural weaponry, as did scorpions and their ilk?  Or had they somehow been altered to this new and formidable state?

        The Ab-man cocked it’s unseen head in an insect-like fashion, gleaming eyes locking upon me from the depths of it‘s cowl. As it surged forward, my Diskos-training flooded back to my mind and arms. I brought the weapon up in a hissing arc, and cut a great wound in my attacker’s hide. It reared back, and the tentacle-limb smote me to the ground. I strove to regain my feet, and the silent horror was upon me. Agony wracked my senses as the creature’s more human arm swung a scythe that stabbed through my leg armor, and piercing my thigh, held me transfixed me to the ground.

        With a mighty battle cry, Jette was there. His Diskos extended to its fullest length, he drove the marauder back with great strokes of the roaring weapon. His passion seemed to fuel the Spirit of the Diskos to an even greater wrath: the spinning blade shone like stories say the Olden Sun once did. The howling weapon cast lightnings all about, and Jette slew the warrior with many swift blows that left the monster a twitching ruin.

        “I think I am not yet ready to be deprived of another Monstruwacan. Are you able to stand?”

        I staggered bleeding to my feet, leaning on the haft of my weapon. Jette charged forward, and I watched in amazement as he slew two more of the creatures with an almost inhuman skill and speed. Of a sudden, a great shout filled the air: the crewmen of the Empyrean sallied forth, and joined with the Watch of the Aetherwing, dispatching the last of the enemy.

        Of the Hundred Watch that battled with us, eighty-seven remained.  Some eight more were wounded so sorely that they were moments from death. Jette strode grimly toward the Empyrean. Already, the survivors were emerging: my count was a score and three.

        Jette approached the most senior Aerarch of the stricken craft that he saw. I stood near, the adrenaline slowly leaving my system, and listened to the tale of the Empyrean.

        “Jette, there are not thanks enough for our redemption. At the request of the Council of the Lesser Pyramid, Aerarch Gart took our ship to investigate disturbances sensed in this region by their Montruwacans.  The armored Crawlers of our kin have been vanishing for some days now, and Gart was resolved to discover why. We came upon a small group of these Ab-men dismantling the remnants of one of the lost vehicles, and attempted to exterminate them. As you see, we were less than successful. A great host of the monsters came upon us unawares: they had concealed themselves beneath the boiling mud. The Empyrean began to lose power, and fell like a stone to the earth. Gart is now slain, and I am senior among those that remain.”

    Jette replied “Neither you nor the worthy Gart could have known the unprecedented powers wielded by these horrors. I liked not the look of that Thing which commanded these beasts…Get the Empyrean aloft, and make for the Lesser Redoubt for repairs. We still seek Hydrogyrum’s Pinion and Awakening Light: they remain missing.”

    We lingered only long enough to gather our dead to the Empyrean’s hold, and to ensure it was capable of flight. As it limped from view, we prepared to continue our search. Despite our victory, the mood of the crew was grim.   It was as Kerruwen had said: the Land had grown dangerous indeed.

                                      *****************

    We traveled back towards the Great Redoubt by a somewhat circuitous route, in an attempt to locate the still missing ships. Several days passed with no incident, and no luck in our task. Jette, in particular, seemed pensive at the recent developments.

    I was studying the corpse of one of the Ab-Human specimens in the ship’s hold in an attempt to unlock the mysteries of their fearsome and untoward alterations, when I sensed the Master-Word throbbing about me. With the Night-Speech, I uttered the Word in response, and asked into the ether “Who speaks in the Twilight?”

    I was answered at once. “Armitari: I, Master Monstuwacan Tiberuus speak. Inform Aerarch Jette that our lost ships are found, but only the Awakening Light has returned safely. Make haste to the Towers. The new structure woven about them grows larger, and has captured the ship Hydrogyrum’s Pinions.  These Towers have become a dire threat to us all. The Powers within broadcast evil dreams not even the Air-clog is proof against. The children and the sensitives scream in their sleep. Worse yet, it burrows into the earth, and threatens the flow of the Current. Action must be taken lest the Current be lost.”

    I reeled under the import of Tiberuus’ command. His words were followed by all the information my Order had gathered concerning the Towers. Dashing from the Hold, I found Jette on the Command Deck. Immediately, I relayed the need of our Home, and the perils described by my Master.

    Jette listened, and commanded the ‘Wing to set course to the Towers. “ My heart warned me that this new blight was to be a terrible threat. I know not what may be done to stem such a danger, but our task is clear. We shall do all in our power to end this threat.”

    Shaking his head, Lido asked “ How is it even conceivable that the Earth-Current may be assailed? Such a thing is beyond my ken.”

    I answered “ My Order has learned somewhat of the Towers’ function. It would seem now to be an almost living structure. By assimilating matter and the Current, in the manner of the Pneumavores and Greater Inimicae, it is able to build itself to greater proportions. It will be larger now than it was when last you fought there--and, it extends itself subterrenely, as well. Feelers like great roots burrow ever downward, seeking the flow of the Current. Not only can It assimilate inanimate matter, but living beings, as well. Before the Hydrogyrum’s Pinions was undone, Aerarch Elik reported seeing throngs of curiously altered Ab-humans and other beasts lurking about the Towers. We must combat this menace, ere disaster befalls.”

                        ***************************

        The Aetherwing traveled with great speed to the place of the Towers. I saw the Redoubt from a distance as we passed along our way, and felt a pang for the comforts of Home.  Turning from the sight of Home, I beheld the what should have been the three Towers looming on the horizon beyond the Deep Valley and the Pit of Red Smoke.

        They had grown immense, too large to be concealed entirely by gargantuan fume that billowed from the Pit and served to camouflage the Towers from the telescopes of the my Order. As Jette had said, the three ancient structures had changed.  That portion visible above the enshrouding smoke bore witness to his account Vast walls now spanned the spaces between the spires of the old Towers, forming a great edifice triangular in shape. More could not be seen within the crimson shroud.

        The great search lamps were brought to bear, and Jette cautiously piloted the ‘Wing into the cloud. As we drew nearer, more and horrible details of the structure became apparent.

    Great root-like tendrils grew from its base into the earth. The upper edge of the new fortifications  were adorned with monstrous spires like claws or teeth. Our scanners made evident that the entire structure was slowly undulating, as if it were indeed a living thing. In its entirety, it was black as pitch, with ghastly green lights shining from certain points. And then we discovered the fate of Hydrogyrum’s Pinions.

        The lost Ship was embedded lengthwise into the substance of the Towers’ walls. Huge runners of the black matter had coiled about the hull, and no lights were seen from the shattered windows.

        Jette halted the ‘Wing. “Armitari, in this I defer to you. What action do we take, Monstruwacan?” 

       I did not answer immediately. I felt the nightmare broadcast described to me by Master Tiberuus: my skin crawled, and my entrails ached with numinous dread and loathing. As I prepared to describe these sensations, Lido swore in surprise.

        “Observe! Something emerges from the wall of that damned place!”

    Lido adjusted the scanners, and indeed, a figure had stepped out of the wall, though no aperture was seen. A figure wearing the armor of a Master Aerarch.

    Jette swore softly. “ Founder’s Bones! It is Master Elik, of Hydrogyrum’s Pinions.”

    Perhaps it had been once the man Jette knew. Now, as the scanners revealed, Elik was quite changed. His armor was a dully gleaming black, and appeared to actually be amalgamated into his anatomy. His eyes were gaping sockets filled with an emerald effulgence. What once were hands trailed off into whipping, sinuous tendrils.

        Jette’s knuckles whitened as he clenched his hands into fists. “Abomination! A man so brave, to be defiled in this manner!”

    A crackle of static came over the ship’s communicator. A voice spoke--a mockery of the human voice.

    “Jette. Come to me. Come and speak.”

    The voice was resonant and metallic. Perhaps the engines of the Towers could not properly reproduce human vocal chords.

    I hurled the Master-Word at the mockery, and as expected, received no reply.  The entity moved ever closer to where we hovered, its movements flowing and swift.

    Jette closed his eyes, and gave a command. “I shall go down to the Observation Deck, and speak with this Obscenity. Lido, deploy the Current Caster Aerials. At your discretion, hurl the lightnings. Also, at the most minute sign that our power is being drained, take the Ship as far away as it may go, at great speed.”

    Lido was aghast. “ Aerarch--Jette--This course is madness! That is not Elik! He has been Eaten. Do not waste your life and Spirit for the memory of a fallen comrade.”

    I added “ If you do this, Jette, you defy the Laws set down by my Order. ‘Converse not with Those of the Dark.’ Surely you know this? Surely you know that this Thing will slay you if it can?”

    Jette stood, and opened his eyes. “ It shall not. From some height, I shall be safe enough. Call it madness if you will. I shall go. I shall make our foes know that they may slay us, they may besiege us, but they may not quench the Spirit of Humanity. We shall see what our foes have to say, and then we will do whatever must be done to silence this menace.” He turned and strode from the bridge.

    I followed after. I found him nearing the Forward Observation Deck, armed and armored.

    “ I shall accompany you. Give me but a moment to gird for battle.”

    He looked at me appraisingly. “Why?"

    I gazed upon this brave man. Scarcely could I believe I was contemplating this mad action. Had I never met Jette, this would surely be inconceivable. Knowing him, though, had changed me in some fundemental way. I knew now why he was beloved and respected by all.

    “If this Thing actually will speak, perhaps I can probe it for some weakness. We know not how to combat the Towers as yet. It is too large for our explosives, and the Current-casters have not enough power to smite it down for the same reason.” I smiled wanly. “In any case, I am the Monstruwacan here. Perhaps something can be learned from this Thing’s discourse. And, I have found the post of Field Monstruwacan to be quite stimulating. Who knows if ever another chance such as this will come my way?”

    Jette smiled grimly and nodded approval. “Come then.”

    We entered the Observation Deck, and Lido piloted us nigh to the place where the thing once-Elik awaited. The Aetherwing slowly descended, until it hovered barely thirty yards above and ten before the Towers’ emissary. Diskoi at ready, Jette caused a port to open in the glass, allowing us access to a small catwalk that surrounded the Deck.

    In a ringing, clarion voice, Jette addressed his former colleague. “Speak, Slayer. What would you with me?

    Some spasm, perhaps approximating a smile, twisted further the distorted features of the Elik-thing. It spoke in its rasping metallic tones.

    “Aahhh, Aerarch Jette. This one, Elik, his memories of you were correct. You are considered a brave man. Come and listen, brave man.”

    Jette asked in response “Who--no, what are you? That you are Inimicae is obvious. I ask again, what do want with me?”

    “From the minds of the Elik-being and his companions that We have Eaten, We have learned the value of knowledge and of sharing knowledge. You are before Us now that certain things may be told you, and your listening fellows in yon frail machine.”

    As the atrocity spoke, the myriad tendrils that now sprouted from what had once been hands elongated, lifting the puppet-thing up to a point where its feet were several yards above the ground. Jette and I tensed for flight back to the safety of the Ship. In my mind, the Night-hearing conveyed horrific things, concepts behind the horror’s words.

    “We will devour this sphere clean of that spark your kind call the Current.  We derive sustenance from your Current, as well as from that which you call Pneuma. We are older than the construct your folk call Time, and cannot be comprehended by motes such as you. Our essence has swept the entirety of this Cosmos--only here and a handful of other worlds does the vital spark you require and We devour still exist.  Go back to your little ship, Jette of the Aerarchs. Return to your Redoubt and share this surety of your race’s iminent extermination. Go. Now. Heed Our words: the guarantee of Those who truly rule existence. There will be no future for you and your ilk.”

    But it was neither fear nor despair these words instilled in my comrade. Jette tensed with a rage that would not long be contained. My brain-elements almost screamed with the passions of righteous hatred, defiance, and loathing that boiled within that mighty man’s frame like a maelstrom. Seized by a sudden inspiration, I reached out with my mind to his and channeled all these, shaping them into a mental dart which I released with a defiantly hurled expression of the Master-Word. The effect was immediate and awesome.

    The Thing once Elik let loose a cacophonous bellow of pain and disbelief. The tendrils supporting it elongated, causing it to approach dangerously near our post, arms whipping sinuously toward us with dire intent.

    Ere they reached us, a terrific crackle and overwhelming scent of ozone filled the air: hurled with unerring accuracy, a Lido’s bolt smote the nightmare creature full in the chest. It staggered back, and fell to the stony ground. As it writhed in torment, the semi-human masque it wore fell away. A monstrous mass of leprous tentacles burst forth, flailing about in all directions. Jette seized my arm and we retreated to the interior of the Deck, sealing the port behind us.

    No sooner were we inside than Lido struck again. The Current-Caster Aerials blazed to life, and bolt upon bolt of lightning smote down upon the growing menace with terrible fury, and that which had in life been Aerarch Elik was a reduced to smoldering ruin.

    Back in the Aetherwing, we made for the bridge. Lido embraced both Jette and me in a spine-crushing embrace.

    “What do we do now, Jette?” Lido hurriedly asked.

    I spoke as rapidly as possible. “ I succeeded in my aim. I was able to glean more than that Thing spoke. They are Eaters, as if there was ever any doubt: Horrors that have crawled from beyond the very Rim of the Universe itself. If left unchecked, They will do precisely what was threatened: consume this world like some malevolent planetary cancer. We must act with haste.”

    As I finished gasping out these words, warning klaxons screamed to life. The Towers were making reply to our assault upon its herald.

    Lido and Jette assumed their stations. The viewers showed a terrible scene: dark shapes like shadowy air-foils emerged in great numbers from the substance of the Towers. These sendings pulsed through the sky, rapidly approaching our Ship.

    A seasoned Aerarch such as Lido needed not await any command. With a grim face, he seized the controls of the Current-Caster. “They crave the Current? Then I shall give it to them, though perhaps they shall not find the  taste to their liking!” In the skies surrounding the ‘Wing, the Aerials crackled with power. The Current-generated lightnings filled the sky, blasting the shadowy manta-like shapes to tatters.

    Jette had resumed his place at the Greater Helm. Lenses down, gauntlets on, and control rods in hand, he expertly guided the gleaming Sky-Ship through the mass of attackers, and up, high above the Towers. As we attained a greater altitude, those few Tower-spawn that survived Lido’s lightning assault fell away, apparently incapable of matching the altitudes attainable to the great Ship.

    Jette brought the ‘Wing to a halt far above the dark edifice. From above, we could see that the roof of the structure had a massive aperture. Surrounded as it was by the fang-like machicolations it looked like nothing more than a huge, toothed maw.

    “My friends” Jette began “we are outmatched. As we already know, our weapons, though mighty, cannot overcome such a massive construct. And there is no aid we can receive from Home. More Ships would merely mean more chances for the Towers to capture our people. The Current-Cannon are similarly useless. At such a distance, the power required for the Matross to strike would drain the Current to perilously low levels, and still not be assured of penetrating the stark walls. Nevertheless, I shall fulfill my oath. I shall smite yon fortress asunder. Hear my final command, then: All of you, old friends and comrades, take the Gliders. Return to Mother Redoubt. I, and I alone, shall meet my end here today.”

    Lido grasped Jette by his shoulders. “What are you saying, Jette?

    In the grip of sudden inspiration, I spoke. “He intends to do just as you said not moments ago, Lido. He will give them a taste of the Current that will not be to their liking.”

    Jette laughed grimly. “ Our young Monstruwacan is perceptive. You shall all depart, and then I shall fly the Aetherwing straight down yon Towers’ waiting maw. And then…then, I shall use my control rods and will the Current-chamber to open, spilling forth all the Current within in one mighty conflagration.”

    Murmurs of dismay arose from the gathered crew. 
   
    “This is the only way, my loyal friends. Go to the Gliders, and make for Home with all haste. Lido, you have been the truest of comrades any man could wish for. Armitari, glad I am to have known you. Tell old Tiberuus that you made a fine Field Monstruwacan. Go, and may Mother Redoubt receive you well.”

    The crew began to make their way to the Gliders. Lido and I were last to leave. Just before we left the Command Deck, Jette pushed his Lenses up, and appraised us both with a gleam in his eye and a roguish smile on his lips.
   
    “My friends: farewell. And one final thing: make sure the statue they’ll make of me does justice!”

**********************

    The Gliders sped silently through the gloaming. Lido was in speaking with Watch-Captain Kerruwen, warning her of our hasty return, and informing her of Jette’s decision. Standing by Lido, I heard her reply, and like to imagine that Jette heard her, as well.

    “Wind in your hair of a Thousand Laces, Sky-King.”

    The gathered crew gazed back to see the Aetherwing’s final flight. Her hull shone with the Current, as she began the downward plunge. Shadowy shapes from the Towers arose in fearsome assault, but such was the Ship’s velocity they were no hindrance. Jette was one with his beloved Ship, and together they had become a fearsome Nemesis to Those of the Outer Dark. We watched as the mighty Trilobite shape passed from view.

    Immediately thereafter, blazing white light erupted from the Tower-made fortress. In my mind I felt two things. One was a terrible pressure, as the foul sentience of the Towers was consumed or exorcised by the purifying eruption of the Earth-Current.

    The other was Jette’s triumphal, exultant cry of victory.