The Emperor's Ride. Tom Ph.D. Anderson
used my body to kill it. As the ghoul fell down I regained control and walked around it. The men just stared at me. They must have lost all hope when the last of the Emperor's Guards had fallen just feet from their enclosure. I smiled at them.
“Could you gentlemen please open the gate?”
They didn't move.
“Please open the gate!”
They still didn't move. Two ghouls came around the corner, snorted, and charged. The men sprang into action. The gate opened, I was pulled in, and the gate closed just as the ghouls smashed into the bars.
I looked around. The six elderly men were the archaeologists. The last man, twice my age but half theirs, was the Emperor. I pointed to the audio sender that was hard wired to the surface. “Does this still work?” One of the elderly men said it did. I knew I had to be gentle. I know they have been under a great deal of strain. Still, they were alive and a great many other people were dead. If I didn't get the Emperor out of here, millions, perhaps billions more will die. I closed the link and talked into the sender. “I am here. The seven gentlemen appear to be undamaged. We are heading for the surface. Nesslun, Done!” I then picked up a large rock and smashed the box.
“Water bottles only. It’s a long walk home,” I told them.
All seven of them picked up their water bottles and strapped them on their belts. They then picked up satchels and papers and other personal belongings. The Emperor picked up a small, delicate piece of art. Its beauty touched me deeply. I could understand why the Emperor held it so carefully.
“Water bottles only gentleman,” I told them as I tried to catch the eye of each one.
They all put down their belongings, except for the Emperor who stared straight ahead still clutching his prize. I grabbed the piece away from the Emperor and hurled it to the floor smashing it into a million pieces. Anger flashed through the Emperor's eyes and he raised his hand to strike, then the Emperor to half the galaxy came back. “Was that really necessary?” the Emperor asked calmly.
I smiled. “Yes it was. You are going to need both hands for the trip back and I need your full attention.”
Smashing that object seemed to bring them all back. I tried to put more iron in my voice than I felt. “Now listen carefully, especially you your Majesty. You’re no Emperor of mine and down here I am in charge. I say move, you move! I say stand still, you stand still! Everyone else listen to me. If we don't get back nothing much changes in the galaxy. If the Emperor doesn't get back the Empire and Baronies will almost certainly go to war and there are no shortages of renegade fleets that will take advantage of the confusion. Whole worlds will be made lifeless, billions will die. The Emperor has to get out.
“I can't be everywhere at once. If I am killing a ghoul on one side of us and a ghoul charges at the other, I expect one of you to jump into the ghoul’s arms rather than let the ghoul harm the Emperor. If I find out that one of you let the Emperor get killed, what I will do to you will make what the ghoul would have done to you look like a lover's embrace.
“If I am fighting, stay out of harm's way, but stay close.” I handed each man two fist sized stones, one for each hand. “Use these if a ghoul gets too close. Throw a stone at the ghoul. You won't stop it, but you might slow it down long enough for me to get there. Do not throw a stone to help me! I don't need help with ghouls. Do not throw a stone at any ghoul that’s anywhere near me! I am much more worried about one of you cracking my head open with a rock than I am worried about any ghoul. Stay close. If I do go down, run like hell. You might make it. But remember, the Emperor must make it out and I might not be dead.”
We opened the gate and stepped out of the enclosure. Two ghouls charged us from out of a side corridor. The Ride took control and I became a powerless spectator in my own body. My body killed the ghouls and I was in control again. The men looked at me, then looked at the ghoul corpses, and then looked at me again. “Come on,” I said.
The men carefully stepped around the ghoul bodies. The ghouls didn't look dead. One of the archaeologists nudged a ghoul body with his shoe. He then gave it a good solid kick. Then he was kicking the ghoul with all his might. “Stop it,” I told him. “You are going to need all you're energy. It's a long walk home,” I said as I started off at a brisk pace.
When someone would lag behind, I would drop back and give them a sharp slap on the butt. It worked with horses; it seemed to work with eminent archaeologists as well. One time I felt the Emperor needed a swat also. Fortunately, he saw me coming and increased his pace. Yelling at an Emperor is one thing, spanking one quite another.
Killing the ghouls became routine, requiring only a few seconds per ghoul. Most of the ghouls were badly smashed up and they all were bleeding. The Emperor's guardsmen had not gone down easily. The floor was thick with blood, both human and ghoul. Someone was always falling and I would have to stop and help him to his feet again. We didn't have time for this. I wasn't worried about planetary collapse; the burst of radiation preceding it would kill us all.
The Emperor fell only once. I hoisted him up by his collar. The look he gave me did not bode well. I almost certainly would see the inside of the Emperor's dungeon. Oh well, at least it's bound to have less blood on the floor than down here. How much less I didn't care to speculate.
At one point one ghoul attacked from the front and at the same time one ghoul attacked from the rear. I was at the front and after my body killed that one I regained control. I ran to the rear as quickly as I could. The other ghoul was already tearing apart one of the archaeologists. I kicked the ghoul away, and when the ghoul came roaring back The Ride took control and my body killed the ghoul. The archaeologist was dead, no question. I pulled his neck tag,
“Let's go,” I told them.
They looked at the fallen man. He was sitting face down, his head between his legs.
“He's dead,” I told them.
The Emperor told one of the archaeologists to check him. “If he is still alive we will carry him.” The man moved forward and pulled the fallen archaeologist to a sitting straight position. The head fell back between the body’s shoulder blades, being held on only by the muscle and skin at the back of its neck. The men sprang back in horror.
At the top of my lungs I screamed, “I know dead! When I say something or someone is dead, they're dead! Now move it!”
The six of them started out with more speed than I thought they were still capable of.
The hours went by. The ghoul killing became easier the more exhausted I became, as though my conscious mind only got in the way. My body would kill one in front and they would wait for me to finish, then they would follow me around it. If one would attack from the back or the side, they would move a few feet away. Wait for me to kill it. Then we would all start out again.
We were about one hour from the opening when the ghouls stopped coming. I didn't know if I had killed them all or if they simply didn't want to hunt anymore because their larders were full. Finally we reached the entrance. There were lines of Imperial Troopers holding back a huge mob of event recorders. The Emperor and each of the archaeologists were surrounded by a group of men who helped them back into the transport.
I was only a few feet into the sunlight when a ghoul came hurtling out of the mine. I turned to meet it. One more to kill I thought. The creature was shot to pieces by the force rifles of the Imperial Troopers before it ever could have touched me.
A group of men surrounded me and helped me into the ship. I handed one of them the identification tag of the fallen archaeologist.
“He’s the real hero. He gave his life so the Emperor could get out,” I told them.
Inside I was sat on a table in a huge spotlessly white room. I could see the archaeologists being treated in various corners of the room. Even the Emperor was being cared for not too far from where I was sitting.
There was a clear wall separation between this room and the adjacent room. The adjacent room was filled with people staring