The Third Ring - Tamsin of Sky Village

"Sandoval pushed my hand away and opened his pants. I pulled them off and satisfied my curiosity. He was a lot bigger than I remembered—thick and heavy even when he was soft, but I didn't let him stay soft.

"I coaxed Sandoval with my hands, my lips, and my tongue. My sandals slipped off and fell to the floor when I climbed over his lap. He groaned and caught his breath while I took him inside me. I took all of him I could, and I teetered on that edge between pain and pleasure.

"He pulled my tunic over my head and dropped it to the floor, so I writhed naked on his chest. He held me with his big hands and laughed in my ear. 'You're so excited,' he said, and I was. I could hardly breathe.

"I buried my face on his chest and gripped his sides. I wanted to give him pleasure, but maybe I only amused him. He gripped my hair to pull my head back. He turned my face to watch me pant and said, 'There's no reason to be quiet here. I want to hear you scream my name.'

"He lifted me with his hands under my thighs and carried me to his bed. He laid me down, and I cradled him between my legs while he leaned over me. His breath on my face was hot and damp while he took me again. His skin grew slick with sweat, and his animal noises rasped in my ear. He got what he wanted, Doctor. I screamed his name. I screamed his name."

"Sandoval fell away when he was empty, and I got what I wanted. He spread out on the bed to let his body cool and sighed my name in the dark. I laid my leg over his hips, pushed my arm around his chest, and whispered in his ear, 'You're no ghost. How do you survive?'

"He said, 'β-TA isn't hard to find. It's wherever there are stupid people. All I have to do is take it. Now I have more than I need.'

"Doctor, I don't know how many people Sandoval killed, but I knew I was in bed with a murderer. The thought made me shudder. I still had a question I needed him to answer, so I swallowed and asked, 'Do you still hate Sky Village, now that you've seen it again?'

"His body went tense and he turned on me. 'They gave me a death sentence,' he said, 'And they're going to pay for it.'

"I needed to keep Sandoval from thinking more, so I squeezed close to him and reached down between us. It didn't take me long to coax him up again, but I don't really know if he was excited by me or by thoughts of what he would do to the village.

"Sandoval rode me down into his bed and laughed with his lips close by my ear. He said, 'After I'm done tomorrow there won't be a village. I'm going to watch those little people die—every one of them. He shoved my legs apart, and when I lifted them around him he said, 'I found a thruster in salvage at Planetary Station. I gave it a different trigger and adapted a power pack to fuel it. Now it's a particle cannon. It's long, and it's strong, and it's just for Sky Village.'

"There was nothing in Sandoval's voice that made me doubt him. I asked, 'So you have two cannons now?' He pushed himself up to look at me, and the shadows hid his expression. I wanted to ask where he kept his cannon, but he put a huge hand on my throat. I thought he'd kill me if I asked, so instead I said, 'You have one for Sky Village, and you have one between my legs—for me, I hope.'

"He laughed without saying more, and the pain when he forced himself into me made me catch my breath. Maybe I should be ashamed of the way that pain turned to pleasure, Doctor. Maybe I should be ashamed of the way he pulled my trigger, but I'm not.

"Sandoval fell asleep after he was done with me, so I slipped off his bed. I sat naked on the floor and wondered what to do. The rings shined through the window over his bed, and Urta's shadow crossing them told me I didn't have more time to decide.

"I climbed to my knees and watched Sandoval's throat; even relaxed in sleep the muscles and tendons in his neck stood out in the light and shadows. I used a sharp kitchen knife to fix dinner. The same knife might cut him to the carotid, but I couldn't do it. I couldn't kill him like that unless I had no other way to protect the village, and as long as I was alive I could find another way.

"I crept through his house to search for his particle cannon, so that maybe I could disable it. I never found it, but I found my tunic and my sandals by the table where they fell to the floor. The door Sandoval opened still stood open, and I closed it behind me when I left.

"I took Sandoval's rider. Riders, you know, have a recall mechanism. I had to leave without waking Sandoval, and to be off it again before he called it back.

"The rings guided me south to Lake Pass where the transports cross the mountains. It was cold, and the eastern sky was just turning light when I reached Lake Station. I signaled for the next transport to stop then went back to disable the rider. I knelt and opened the maintenance panel, but the rider powered up and knocked me down when it took off. Sandoval got his rider back."

Tamsin went back to warn Sky Village, but she went back to a quiet village with no police or military and no industry but her transport shop. What could she do but shoulder the burden herself? That is what she did.

One of Tamsin's students waited by her shoulder when Tamsin's story paused. She said, "Sir, they're all set." Tamsin excused herself, and turned away to talk with her student.

Doctor thought she might have another answer. She sat back from the table for the first time since Tamsin started her story and motioned to Ham. She said, "Get Lieutenant Garner on the air, and let me talk to him. It's urgent." She watched Tamsin and her student pour over a map, and she watched Tamsin send the students away with the plates on a floating pallet behind them.

Ham leaned over Doctor's shoulder to place a viewer on the table, and Lieutenant Garner's image appeared over it. He snapped a salute and said, "Doctor, I hope your day is..."

But Doctor had no time for formalities. She cut him off. "Thank you Lieutenant," she said. "I have Oren and Ham with me, but I need a squadron of your men in Sky Village now."

Doctor repeated Tamsin's story, or at least as much as the lieutenant needed, and said, "We don't know when Sandoval will be here, but if your men don't get here first they may be here just to bury the dead."

Tamsin tossed her modesty and her tunic aside while Doctor talked with Garner, and when Doctor was done Tamsin was climbing into a tight-fitting yellow suit. "How will your traps work?" Doctor asked.

"If they work." Tamsin said. "My students are burying them in spots I picked out, and each will be flagged to show where it is." She pointed to a controller on her belt. "We'll try to lure him over one, and then I'll trigger them with this. We didn't have time to get them triggered individually, so they'll all go at once. If it works, Sandoval will be crushed by his own weight. If it doesn't work, then hope the Guard gets here soon.

"There will be consequences," Tamsin said. "I can't really think about it now, but there have to be consequences. While everything above the plates will be suddenly heavy, everything under the plates—the rock—will suddenly be light."

Doctor was skeptical of Tamsin's plan. She asked. "How are you going to lure him to a trap?"

Tamsin's quiet answer came slowly. "Doctor, I'm the bait. After last night, I'm sure he'll want to see me burn."

Tamsin gestured at her suit and said, "This is a field suit. It's made to let us work in the strong fields around a transport while we test it. The suit should protect me for a while, but it's industrial equipment, not military equipment. It won't take a lot of hits before it weakens, issues a warning, and expects me to leave the work site. There won't be any backing out today."

Doctor was stunned. "We all have an interest in Sandoval now," she said. "It isn't just your fight. At least a dozen of us died because someone stole their antidote. I don't know if Sandoval did it all, but he stole enough to have a surplus. Tamsin, I can answer your question about what Sandoval did to himself. The physical changes you described didn't come from Urta's toxins. They're from a chronic overdose of β-TA."

Tamsin touched Doctor's arm and said, "It's my fight first," she said. "If Sandoval succeeds at what he wants to do, then the people I love will die today. This is my life, not yours. There's a transport leaving in twenty minutes. You should be on it."

Doctor startled when an alarm sounded behind her, and Tamsin stepped past her to the transport monitor panel. She pounded her fist on the console and said, "He took the transport line down! The break is about five kilometers up-river." Tamsin glanced at Doctor then to Oren and Ham. "There won't be a transport. Your only job now is to keep her safe as long as you can."

Tamsin stepped past Doctor again, threw the door open, and sunlight spilled into the shop. Michael stepped through the glare and said, "There was a flash up-river, and a rider is coming from that direction."

"Keep your men at the station until we know where he lands, then go to him," Tamsin said.

Tamsin stepped past Michael toward Market Square. Doctor jogged to catch up, and Oren and Ham followed. "You've set up a defense?" Doctor asked.

"No," Tamsin answered. "An evacuation plan. I met with Bea and the rest of the Council as soon as I could get them together this morning. I wanted the village to be empty when Sandoval got here, but I couldn't tell them enough about when or where, so an evacuation plan was all they agreed to.

"Each of the clan leaders will have women to gather the villagers and push them to any possible escape route. Bea gave me Michael, and he organized the young men into a rear guard. Maybe they can slow Sandoval down."

From behind her, Doctor heard Oren say, "Your volunteers are on suicide missions. You're putting them in Sandoval's way."

Tamsin didn't slow or turn her head when she answered. "They know that," she said. "Maybe we're all on suicide missions."

They found Market Square empty. "It seemed like a likely place for Sandoval to start," Tamsin said. "Shutting down the market was one of the few things the council agreed to."

She turned on Doctor and said, "You aren't one to get out of harms way are you?" She didn't wait for an answer. "I'm on the command channel with Bea and Michael. Listen if you need to know what's going on, but you have to stay back."

Doctor was still tuning to the command channel when explosions rocked the edge of the village. There was a short delay before Michael's voice came through. "He blasted the trails," Michael said. "There were rock falls, and now maybe no way down."

Sandoval's rider screamed overhead, and Doctor spun around to watch. He was a hulking figure in armor, and his black robe flapped around him. His cannon was clamped to the side of the rider, and his back was hunched under a power pack.

Sandoval disappeared over the houses, and Bea's voice came through as soon as the sound of his rider faded. "He stopped at the end of Hunter's Row." she said.

Women and children erupted from doorways along the streets and alleys. They buffeted Doctor and Tamsin while they rushed through Market Square, and toward the cliffs at the edge of town. Tamsin turned up Hunter's Row, and men jumped from roof top to roof top above the crowd with whatever weapons they had, and they raced toward Sandoval.

Tamsin stopped, turned on the guards, and talked over Doctor's head. "She can't follow me," she said. "If she has to watch, then get her on a roof and pull her back when you need to."

Even Doctor had to accept Tamsin's command. Ham and Oren followed her to a stone wall, and then helped her climb to the roof. From there they watched Tamsin in her yellow field suit walk alone up Hunter's Row while the villagers streamed past her, and at the edge of the village Sandoval lifted his cannon and balanced it on his shoulder.

Doctor didn't see a muzzle flash or hear a discharge. She saw the cannon's barrel recoil into it's housing. The stone houses on one side of Hunter's Row erupted into flying rubble, and flames followed the shock wave deep into the neighborhood behind them. The first men to reach the end of Hunter's Row disappeared in the explosion, and flames engulfed the women who searched the houses.

Pulses from small-arms fire hit Sandoval from the other side of the street and tore through his black robe. He stepped back and shouldered his cannon again, and again the closest houses blew into fragments and the fiery shock wave crushed the homes behind them.

"Here," Tamsin said through the command channel, and Doctor turned to watch. She stopped by a small red flag in the middle of Hunter's Row. "This is the trap. This is where I have to bring him." First Bea then Michael acknowledged her, and Tamsin stepped past the trap and down the empty street toward Sandoval.

Doctor slapped Ham's shoulder to get his attention and pointed to the sidearm holstered on his thigh. "How close does he have to be for you to use those?" she asked.

"Within range of his shock wave," Oren answered.

Doctor saw Sandoval react when Tamsin caught his attention. He squared up to face her and brought his cannon to bear. Tamsin said, "Welcome to Sky Village, Sandoval. I hoped you'd oversleep and change your mind."

Sandoval's voice came through Tamsin's microphone. "Bitch!" he said. "I should have broken your neck last night." The cannon recoiled again and flames enveloped Tamsin, but the force of the blast passed and traveled down the street behind her. The flames around Tamsin rose into the air and left her standing in the street.

A hail of fire from the village men—even stones launched with slings—hit Sandoval again. It ripped his robe away and slowed his pace. Tamsin stepped back once, then again until she stood over her trap. Doctor could hear her prayers. She muttered, "Please, give them time. Give them time to get away."

Tamsin yelled to Sandoval, "We all have our regrets. I wish now that I'd made myself slash your throat while you slept. Somehow I thought it might not come to this."

"Never doubt me," Sandoval said. "See where it got you?" He walked with his eyes fixed on Tamsin, and lifted his cannon again—at closer range this time—and Doctor could hear Tamsin grind her teeth. The blast enveloped her and the flames swirled around her. She staggered back under the impact, and the red warning flag over the trap flared and was gone.

Doctor looked back at Market square where people still struggled to escape, and to the edge of town where villagers stood trapped by the cliff. She grabbed at Ham's gun, but he pushed her hand away. "It's now or never," Doctor said. "What good are we here?"

Ham glanced at Oren. They nodded and moved together. They leaped from one roof to the other to get within range, then crouched there while Doctor scrambled to catch up.

A warning beep came through the command channel, and a voice said, "Exit your work site now." Tamsin's shield had weakened. Tamsin straightened herself and backed up again, step by step.

"You're getting weaker, aren't you?" Sandoval said, but Tamsin didn't answer. He followed her as she backed up, and he shouldered his cannon again.

Doctor heard Tamsin mutter through the command channel, "I might take one more hit, but it can't be a direct one."

"Take his powerpack," Ham said. "I'll take his face."

Oren fired first. The impact was heavier than the colonists weapons and Sandoval turned to protect the power pack. Ham's shot hit its mark and blinded him for an instant. It was enough for Tamsin to dive behind a broken wall. Sandoval followed her with the cannon and fired without knowing exactly where she was. The already-ruined house exploded. Doctor heard Tamsin's suit through the command channel say, "Shield down," but Tamsin was quick to follow, "I'm alright."

Ham and Oren hit Sandoval again. He staggered away from Tamsin's trap and turned his cannon toward them. Through the smoke and the flames, Doctor saw Sandoval's cannon come to bear, and she heard Tamsin say, "Michael, my shield is gone. Don't shoot."

Tamsin jumped from the ruins and charged at Sandoval. She was inside the length of his cannon barrel before he could turn on her. He grabbed at her with his free hand, and she spun away. When he lurched after her, Tamsin triggered her trap.

The trap spawned a downdraft of hot, heavy air that hit the ground behind Sandoval; he'd lurched past the trap. The dust that whipped into the air almost clouded Doctor's view. The ground under them heaved and rose. Already-crumbling walls around them fell into the street.

Tamsin drove her shoulder into Sandoval's chest. She fell back as the ground heaved again, and he staggered onto the trap. Tamsin turned away to shield her eyes from the hot wind and the sand, so she heard, but couldn't see, Sandoval's armor split and his body buckle. He bellowed in pain, and even from where Doctor watched, she thought she heard his legs snap, his pelvis split, and his spine collapse.

The wind stopped as quickly as it started, and Sky Village settled down twenty meters higher than it had been. The traps had run their course. Beatrice and Michael left Doctor's ears ringing with their celebration, but Tamsin's only reaction was to fall back in the rubble and stare at the sky. Hours of work without sleep, powered by little more than adrenaline, left her numb.

Michael vaulted a wall and was the first to reach Tamsin. She smiled when his grimy face appeared over her and touched his cheek with a trembling hand. "I think it worked," she said.

* * * *

The stories from Sky Village spread across Urta like shock waves. Colonists came from First Village and from Far Village—they came from all over Urta. The Heroes gathered, and together with the villagers they rebuilt Sky Village on its new, towering height.

I walked the streets of Sky Village and stood on the great rock slab they laid to mark the spot of Tamsin's victory. The stones themselves, even now, seem to whisper Tamsin's story.

But an end comes to all Heroes. Tamsin saw it when her students began teaching her classes. The decision to end her life belonged to no-one but Tamsin. Michael held her while Doctor fulfilled her final wish, and he wept as she laid her head on his should and fell asleep for the last time.

Bonfires burned in every village on Urta the night that Tamsin died. They burned, not to mourn Tamsin's passing, but to celebrate the too-short life of the yellow woman.

* * * *

Author's note: Tamsin's character was inspired by Yellow Woman, the legendary woman of the Native American Keres people, and some aspects of the story are based on Keres communities and culture.