Eric Olafson, Neo Viking Vol. 01

Still on the floor I kicked upward as hard as I could and hit him right there at the exposed crotch. "You are no master. You are a man servant, not even fit to hold a weapon. Not man enough to be a Warrior. You are no lord!"

I jumped up and smacked him as hard as I could with my fist under the chin, but that new body of mine as agile as it seemed it somehow did not react as I wanted. The punch had no energy and he brushed it aside. Utter rage and madness now in his face as he hit me hard with his closed hand sending me back to the ground and then he bent over grabbed my arms. As much as I struggled, he was stronger! He drooled from his mouth and gargled." I will rape you, then poke you with hot irons and make you beg and scream for death! I will do it right before your friends so they know who the Master is." He stank! He stank worse than the smell of the tannery. He rammed his knee in my stomach, robbing my breath and make me keel over, but his hands pinned me hard against the floor and he kicked my legs apart!

It was then when everything went completley dark again and I screamed on the top of my lungs.

The next thing I remembered was me coming around in the old wizards chair and I saw was the Old Man looking at me from the screen of the GalNet Portal. "Are you still offering to go to Hell and for an Eternity for your revenge?"

I sat up and touched myself, I was myself again. The chance was so sudden again I felt dizzy and I was certain I still could feel Harkun's foul breath. I was glad I was awake; I never wanted to have a dream like this again.

He shook his head."This was not a dream. This was real life. Low men are working in these inhuman slave-like conditions, forbidden to send their kids to school. Working in places and under the heel of cruel masters that are beyond inhumane."

He used a public GalNet terminal at the spaceport and I recognized the Gray Line Robot in the background. "I showed you this to make you see why a smart girl like Gretel would do anything to escape such conditions. Remember that when the day comes and you realize the extent of her crimes. Everything even her story has more than one side."

"What is it you want me to do? Do you want me to start a revolution?"

"No of course not! I told you revolutions fail and even if not they are usually bloody and merely shift the base of power. I wanted to make you see that everything has a beginning and a reason. I am off now, the Elders and clan leaders have gladly accepted my offer to go to Pluribus. Remember to send Sif to me!"

"I will try!"

"She will listen to you when the time comes, trust me on that."

"What about me now?"

"You go to school of course; you are welcome to stay at my burg. If you want to make yourself useful gather the plunder and get rid of it."

Thank you old man!"

"Oh and do watch the news today." I could hear the final boarding call and he said."I am off now!"

"Take care out there and be safe."

He was about to follow the small throng of other passengers and turn off the terminal. But then said. "I expect you to show me your ship one day!"

"What ship?"

"Still the same! You don't think! You want to be a Star ship Captain. What good is one without the Star ship?"

He terminated the call before I could answer. I switched to Nilfeheim Radio. Lars Igvarhein stood by the passenger terminal of the space port and the visuals showed the space bus behind him. "After over a year our planet is once more represented by no other than the Eldest himself. In a decision that stunned everyone, Egill Skallagrímsson the ancient hermit, the Holy One himself has boarded the space bus behind me and will leave Nilfeheim for the first time in his long life. His decision most likely an inspiration by the Gods himself was hailed by the Circle of Elders and the council of clan leaders as an omen. So a strong and wise hand might be at the helm of our society's ship!"

The space bus now hovered, retracted its landing gear and climbed into the sky.

This was just great! The old man left me behind! With a lot of questions, more confused about what I was supposed to do, than when I came here. Before I met him things were clearer.

The experience I had as a Loki was still deep and fresh. I shuddered and felt sick to the stomach to think that something like this really happened! Why would they use such primitive, disgusting ways to tan leather? Even if it really had to be done that way with feces, urine and animal brains would it not be possible to do it with machines? Was this all a dream, an illusion conjured up by the Old man or was it real? Would I not have felt differently being a woman? I certainly felt angry and disgusted beyond words for what Hogun did and I remembered how vulnerable, how helpless and how exposed I felt as he knelt over me.

I had to find an answer if this was real!

The Industrial Recycler Unit was able to produce a simple but power full hand light. Armed with the light in the left and my right hand on Mördaren I descended the stairs again. Somehow I wished I had a blaster or a gun and not just a sword. But if there was something else down there able to grant abilities like the Old man had, then any man made weapon would be useless. Also what would happen if I was transferred again and it was real and the Old man was not there to send me back?

I wasn't going very fast and I wondered if it was such a good idea to come down here again, but then I needed to find out what was down here!

Most likely nothing and it was all an illusion.

I had reached the part where the stairs turned to natural rock and it was around here the Old guy turned out the light.

But I descended further after while I was certain I arrived at water level or even below. The walls were moist now and water dripped. The stairs worn out where the water ran in little trickles carving into the rock

I heard water lapping against a wall and then the stairs ended and I stood in a natural cave much like a natural Sub Pen. Water lapping against a natural quay, the grotto was lit by a greenish blue light that came from a light source somewhere under the water. I estimated the entire cavern to be big enough for at least 20 hunting subs and I wondered why the old man didn't use this cave to keep his old sub. Suddenly I felt a presence and there in the shimmering water huge shape came from below. It was so big it had to be the Submarine of the Old man. Regular hunting subs were much shorter, the hair on my neck and back stood up. I had seen him leave and he had left me with the access codes to the boat. Did someone else have the codes? Was it someone who wanted to rob the place? I needed a place to hide and see who was coming. The shape came up and broke the surface and as I recognized what it was, I didn't need a sword. I needed to get me a slayer! That was no boat, but a Tyranno fin, almost white in color and it had to be at least an Eight Three!

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Chapter 22: TYR

I turned to run up the stairs and was already inside the staircase entrance. I was certain the big fish had no problem snatching a little human from the narrow ledge. There had to be a Harpoon in the place somewhere!

"You won't find harpoons or Slayers in old Egill's home, Eric." A thundering voice said!

I felt like hit by lightning and could barely find the courage to turn. It could not be! The fish did not speak!

"There is no one else here, Eric!"

I did turn, not even knowing holding Mördaren before me. The huge back of the fish and the sharp fin was above the water and so was most of his head. The immense fish had his head turned so it could look at me and right behind it the yellowish skin for the mark. It must be another illusion, perhaps a clever holo projection. Even though my mind raced to find thousand logical and illogical answers, I knew the fish was real and that this was no hologram and no illusion.

"Egill once was a very formidable Tyranno Hunter and he slew more the old fashioned way than most do with those Hunting Subs, but we sort of got used to each other and Harpoons were no longer necessary!"

The fish's maw did not move as it spoke. I simply stood there not knowing what to say and how to react, this Tyranno Fin was sentient!

"No Eric my mouth does not move when I speak. I have no vocal cords and yes I am sentient."

My mind raced and I wondered how to start a conversation with a talking fish that quite possibly was a God.

"Let us forget labels like fish, god and simply accept the fact that I am. I am not the greatest conversationalist but I learned humans often start by saying: Hello, Hi and go from there."

"I expected anything but a talking Tyranno Fin down here. I am still coping with what I am seeing."

"You saw Tyrannos before; you even slew two of us."

"I never thought of Tyrannos as sentient beings."

They are not Eric. I am the only one. Although I believe that in a few millennia my species might develop sentience, but since we lack all the other necessities to start a civilization it might not happen."

"If you are sentient, even just one then this planet is yours and we are invaders. You could ask for Union Membership and have us all resettled."

The fish moved ever so slightly but still caused massive waves in the basin. "You are starting to think like a Union Citizen and not like a Neo Viking, but I do not want the Humans to leave this world. It became your home as much as it is mine."

"You want us to stop hunting your species, then?"

"If I was against that I could have stopped that long ago, by exactly doing what you suggested. As long as a few families hunt with and cull a few hundred every year, it will make no difference. There are many more Tyrannos than humans. I would oppose industrial hunting, but Egill is taking steps that this won't happen."

I was amazed at myself standing there talking to a fish who didn't like the label fish, but I could not completely shed my nervousness or suppress my fear. Egill spoke about a god that was alive before the original Vikings on Earth thought about the Gods, if this fish was that old...

"I have no recollection how old I am. Time was a concept foreign to me until I met Egill and my species takes long and very deep sleeps in the folds of the below. "Would you want to see the folds? I can show you places on the bottoms of our oceans no Nilfeheim human has ever seen."

The very idea to be in the water with ... it, made me tremble, but I was equally certain I would not standing there if it wanted me dead.

"Sure I guess there would be no better guide than a Tyranno, but I probably could not keep up with you or dive as deep."

"I am aware of your limitations when it comes to my environment. Yet I know you love being under water and dive, more than most even among genetic enhanced divers."

"I do." Then I said." How do I call you? Fish is out; God wasn't to your liking either."

"I never needed a name or label to identify myself, but Egill had the same request and he calls me Tyr."

"My brother, well my half brother's name is Tyr as well. You never talked to others, outside of Egill I mean?"

"Every so often he brings down a pupil of his he thinks is worthy of meeting me, all in all there were eight. Only two survived the meeting however."

There was an unspoken warning there and I wondered what criteria Tyr used to decide who lived and who did not.

He answered my thoughts. "Ignorance, arrogance, self importance and cowardly behavior are among these criteria Eric and most of all dishonesty. One of your uncles was down here and he did not listen or see anything other than a white Tyranno he wanted to slay. He did try to kill me and frankly I value my own existence more."

"I can understand that. I was just wondering since you offered me to bathe with you and then mention six who never went back from that bathing trip."

"I never offered anyone to swim with me, not even Egill, but there is something I want to show you."

Whatever it was Tyr wanted to show me, I felt it was important and so I said. "Alright how we are going to do this?"

"You simply come into the water and if you dare hold on to my dorsal fin."

"Wait here, Tyr. I am going to get myself some fins and a wet suit. There is one in the boat!"

You can swim to the boat from here. It is much faster than running all these stairs back up, but then you are too afraid to share the water with me."

I stripped to my pants and placed the sword on the small pile and said. "There goes nothing. I never thought I willingly pose as Tyranno Bait." Then I jumped into the water.

Tyr moved and its enormous body created a powerful torrent sucking me helplessly close to his immense opening maw, instead of struggling. I streamlined my body, opened my gills, expelled as much air as I could out of my lungs and closed my mouth, so I shot forward. Tyr could have gulped me up; I was in size to it as newly hatched Silver Flicker fish. Newly hatch soup was a well liked menu item in Hogun's in and I could easily fit two or three of them on a spoon, the maw passed and so did the huge eye and then I heard his voice." You are different from the others. You were afraid, very much so and yet you jumped into my domain. Instead of trying to get away you went towards me."

I almost opened my mouth to answer; only to realize that would have drowned me and I tried to formulate an answer thinking instead." Never say Dare or you are afraid to a Neo Viking then, big Fish! That makes us think less and act more more stupid, and to be frank I am scared as a Nubhir Puppy"

"You have a sense of humor much like Egill has. I like that."

The basin was much deeper than I thought and I saw the entrance of an underwater tunnel most likely connecting this grotto with the open ocean. The water was surprisingly warm and the light had no particular source but was like an aura emitting from Tyr. His grayish skin above water now looked white as snow under water.

Tyr turned to face the tunnel and again his body created currents that tossed me around without control, but since I no longer really feared the Tyranno, he seemed to have enormous Psionic talents and it would not matter if I was in the water or on land if Tyr wanted to harm me, so I enjoyed the wild ride." The Old man has a sense of humor? You could have fooled me!"

"Oh, but he does and you and him are not so different, but that is no surprise as he is your kin!"

Tyr went for the tunnel so just like a kisser fish I grabbed hold of one of his side fins as the dorsal fin was out of reach. Tyr moved to fast for me already. "I guess all humans on this world are somewhat related, especially since we didn't have a very big gene pool to begin with."

"Egill is a great grandfather of yours and you can follow his line clear to your mother. The only other person who ever swam with me."

We were in no time through a dark tunnel and the water became notably colder and Tyr slowed down. Did Tyr not say I was the first one? I was thinking to myself.

"Get on top of me now and behind my first dorsal fin. That is a better spot and I can swim faster without you being washed away by the streaming water."

I swam along and I realized just how big Tyr was as it took effort and some time to reach that fin. Tyrannos had between six and twelve dorsal fins on top behind their heads. Starting small and getting bigger. The first fin was Tyr's shortest but still at least two meters tall I sat behind it and held fast to it.

"I told you that you are the first I offered to swim with me. Your mother didn't need an invitation. She simply jumped in." Tyr's mental voice almost sounded embarrassed but had a warm note to it." She thought I was cute!"

Of all possible words I knew to describe Tyr, I would have never even considered the word cute. An almost 100 meter long white Tyranno Fin that could tear apart a hunting sub with ease was anything but cute!

"Exactly!"

"My mother saw you?"

"Yes she was with Egill for a while as the 0ld man tried to teach her brother, with little success I might add. She kept my existence a secret and told no one and she never was afraid of me not even from the first moment."

I felt pride as he talked about my mother that way."Are we not stopping by the boat?"

"No need, we go so deep, no wet suit would do you any good."

"I am pretty sure I can trust you and all, but you do know that I can't go much deeper than 450 meters."

"I told you I am aware of human limitations and yours as well. We are way past that mark already. I do swim a tad faster than you, and I learned what meters and measure scales are. I would guess we are well past six hundred meters now."

"Psionics eh?"

"That is what you call it. The Saresii are more specific and call it a Para-dim level induced, contour hugging psi force field. I simply think you safe, more or less."

"You know a lot about the Union and such."

"I like to listen in to the minds of kids and teachers when they are in school you know and when you get one of these Neural Uploads. I simply partake as well. Over time I got somewhat of an understanding what is going on out there and I like the ideas and principals of that society."

"Maybe you should apply for citizen ship after all."

"That has still time, but you are still planning to become a Star ship Captain?"

"Yes. I am not sure if I ever make it but I will try." There was no light coming from the surface and I could not see anything anymore.

"Close your eyes, it is easier for me to show you what I see you when you don't strain your visual, there aren't many photons left down here."

I closed my eyes and I somehow felt his thoughts like an invisible hand brushing over my forehead and suddenly I knew there was a rock shark no less than 400 meters away, chasing after a panicked snapper fish. I could feel and sense every flick of its tail I knew how big it was and then I "saw" the fish and the entire surroundings before my inner eyes but in a totally different way. There were no colors, not even black or white. I could sense the ocean floor far beneath, every ridge and rock and every fish and thing around us. I opened my eyes out of pure reflex to see a rock shark that came to close and everything vanished and it was dark again.

"Keep them closed! Your mind is not trained to process visual input and the input of the electro sense and sonar organ we Tyrannos use, I was relaying to your mind."

I closed them again."This is fantastic!" The Rock shark was gone, but I sensed and smelled the blood and part of a shark tailfin behind us. Tyr had not even slowed down to devour a 12 meter rock shark!

"It is foolish even for a dimwitted triangle snout to swim so close before me. Besides I do like the taste."

"Me too! Rock shark steaks are one of my favorites!"

I was discussing sea food choices with a Tyranno, riding it and after it killed a Rock shark like nothing. I remembered my fight with the two Sharks near the school rock and my fight with tbe Tyrannos I realized just how lucky I was.

"Yes you were, but not entirely. You are a natural hunter and fighter. I respect you very much for triumphing over two of us. I know it takes courage to go against a lifeform so much bigger and stronger and even your slayer harpoons are by no means an equalizer."

"The light I saw back then, it was you. Wasn't it?"

"Yes Eric, I was watching you."

We reached the bottom of an underwater mountain and could sense dozens of Tyrannos of all sizes all around us and the water becoming warmer again.

"This is a sleep mountain. It is a Volcano and warms the water even during the long Cold and it has many caves and one Cave in particular I want you to see."

Tyr entered a side vent of the volcano and the water was even warmer. Through a labyrinth of underwater tunnels and channels we surfaced in another grotto and there on a small island of this underwater lake was something like a space ship! It clearly had been there for a long time as stalagmites had grown over and covered most of it, formed by dripping water from long stalactites containing calcite and lime above it. Ever since I had left the recruiting office, I had learned everything I could find on space ships and not just Union Ships, but from what I could see this was of no known configuration.