Unholy Star, Beyond Faith

Pachy's gifts

[at the Aged Colony 2312 on the planet Skye twelve weeks earlier ] 

Tiger watched his old friend, Pachy disappear up into the starship that hovered like the darkest shadow over the tree colony of aged. He held the precious globe that the Learned had given him tightly under his robe and shuffled as fast as he could into the spartan wooden cabin closing the door behind him. He needed privacy now more than he had in the last three years at the colony, but the door had no lock.

He pulled out an old stool out from under a simple four-legged table, the surface of which was stained with age and pitted with a thousand knife marks gained during many years of service. Once seated, he fiddled around with the globe to find it's manual latch. He cursed when he discovered that he would need a pin to open it.

Slowly he placed the object down on the table, carefully, so the shiny metal sphere did not roll off, and moved to a small set of shelves to find a pin which he found in short order but dropped on the floor; he cursed as he lost the pin on the floorboards; cursed again when he found it but was unable to pick it up with his arthritic fingers; and cursed again when he finally was able to pick it up.

A visit to the colony from an off-world vehicle that was not an aged bus was a very rare event, and Tiger knew he didn't have much time before those crazy nature cultists would be up to interrogate him. But, like the aged, the druids didn't use technology either, so they would have to use their legs to visit his cabin, and walking took time.

In the soft light of the room, Tiger resumed his seat at the table and proceeded to open the globe. The lid of the object formed the top quarter of the sphere and popped open as he triggered the latch with the pin. He almost dropped the whole thing in surprise when he opened it; inside was a small phail, marked with the medical name of the machine salve that he was expecting, but the globe also held: a sealed transparent bag of what looked like oral tablets; a small tech device, a cube of some unknown purpose; and a note.

With hands shaking, he quickly opened the note.

Tiger. Our time is not done. Hold the cube behind your ear where your cortex controller has been deactivated. It will be reactivated. The tablets will extend your life and repair your physique, take one each day until finished. When they kick you out of the village, he will find you.

There was a knock at the door.

"Fuck off!" Tiger yelled back hoping that the visitor was one of his fellow aged. He quickly took out one of the tablets and swallowed it. He then screwed up the handwritten note into a tight ball and put it in his mouth to eat it also wishing that he still had the ability to produce saliva.

"Please watch your language Elder. We are from the Order. May we enter?"

"One minute please, I'm on the privy." That should give me a bit of time, he thought, and added: "almost done."

He held the pill packet open and added the small device that just fit in. Once sealed, he took the packet and pushed it painfully up his backside. Then he quickly opened the salve and placed a blob with his finger onto the sore at his crotch. I'm not shaking he noticed to himself, must be my training, still good after all these years.

Just as he applied the salve, the door swung open and two lightly dressed figures stepped in, one after the other. The druids all looked the same to Tiger, their homogeneous dress of leather vest over light tunic and skirt worn by both male and females overtook their individual looks. He noticed that they carried their deadly scythes -- something he had not seen in the village before. The weapons currently hung on their belts. Which was a good sign for Tiger as it indicated that they were curious, not alarmed.

"I'm afraid Tiger's been a bad boy." Everyone thought he was losing his mind, so acting mentally infirm would play to his advantage. He placed the ointment container on the table and pushed it away from him on the table, quickly so as if to remove himself from the evil.

Both the Druids were women, the taller of the two strode up to the table and retrieved the salve. "What's this?" she demanded.

"Worm juice," he replied, followed by, "Hmmm, you've got nice legs  sweetling, I'd really like to see where they take you." He licked his thin purple-blue lips.

She ignored his leer and passed the phial and globe to her partner to inspect. "It's mechanical chem tech." She asked,  "And, what did the Learned want with you. Panthera, is your name is it not?"

"Yes dear, he's my lover. He dropped in for a quickie." was all he said with a chuckle that led into a genuine fit of coughing.

Another old person had slinked into the room. She said with a frown, "Excuse me, O'Wise ones, but he is withholding information. This one might be a mean man, but he's not crazy."

Tiger gave the woman an angry frown who responded with a smug grin. Witch! He thought with venom.

"It doesn't matter in any event." said the first druid with a matter-of-fact tone, "You have violated the sacred laws of Skye. Here, the spirit of nature is protected by the contract between the Tuath Dé and man. Technology is forbidden and what you have done must be punished."

"To the ground?" Tiger asked soberly.

"Yes. To the ground."