Eric Olafson Neo Viking Vol 1 Chapter 3 Union school
- 3 years ago
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They had shown me to a small cave in the big caverns wall. Inside, behind a curtain was a real bed and I slept deep and dreamless. This time I did not wake on my own but was called out while I still felt tired. The perpetual small fusion sun made any guess what time it was completely impossible, at least to me. The woman stood just outside the curtain and she was dressed very much like I expected a woman warrior to look. Hard leather armor molded to accommodate her female shape. Underneath a short white tunic that revealed much of her shapely legs. Her curly hair pulled to the back and tamed into a pony tail with a leather strap adorned with feathery things to the side. She held two long spears.” Good Morning Eric!” She handed me one and said. “The spear is one of human kind’s oldest weapons. In our old languages man with a Ger became to be known as German and the word describing an entire culture.”
The spear had a wooden shaft and was set on the top with a pointed double edged tip of metal. I wanted to impress her and said after I had bowed. “Odin’s spear is named Gungir and it is infallible and its tip cannot be broken. The Elders of the Circle and the clan Chiefs swear on Gungir the most sacred oaths!” I then hastily added.” Your Ladyship.”
She did nod with a knowledgeable smile.” My name is Siegfrida and you may call me by my name.”
She turned the spear and drew a simple arrow in the dirt.” This is the Tir rune in the writing of the old Vikings on Earth and it t has the meaning of war, victory, law and cosmic order and is associated with the ancient Germanic and Aryan sky god Tir. This rune also resembles Irmunsul the world tree.”
I followed her to a different cave and she explained that these chambers once were formed by hot magma bubbles and flows while the Volcano was more active.
She was a patient but demanding teacher and the fact that she was a woman somehow spurned the male warrior ego that was part of perhaps every Neo Vikings personality. I think I would not have tried as hard if she was a male instructor. For the next 3 weeks I hurled spears, fought with shield, spear, ax and sword until I could no longer feel my arms. Unlike our fight instructor at school, she was not cruel and inflicted injury and mars on purpose but I still thought there was not a spot left on my body without a bruise. Her training was much more akin to the mysterious man who had saved me from falling.
When we did fight with swords she did notice.”It seems your are not a novice when it comes to the sword. Eric, someone taught you well already.”
Every night I was allowed to the baths and the warm water was a better remedy to my aching muscles than anything else I could imagine.
But training with her was also a wonderful time. She was full of stories and wisdom about our culture and the gods. When she told a story about the Gods and then explained the meaning of the story and the symbolism and why that story was told. I had not really thought about father. I felt somehow accepted. There was no one making fun of me or teasing me, no one told me what a looser or how unwanted I was. No one was beating or kicking me and I did not have to be afraid of noises or heavy footsteps that would announce the appearance of father.
I did not see the Old Man during that time.
How many days I had been here I could not really say, I did not keep track of time, but it felt early in the day when she put the training weapons back in their racks and said. “I have to tend to a sick friend and won’t be back till tomorrow evening, but that means you have four extra hours to pass today, so I would like you to do a chore for us. Everyone around here does them, so don’t feel I am punishing you.”
“I don’t mind doing chores and I am not afraid of work, I do them since I can remember.”
“Great, do go to the baths and mop the tiles in both areas and the change rooms. You find the cleaning tools and supplies in a storage corner in the change area. No one will be there at this time so please do the women’s side too.”
“No problem, I can do that.”
“You should have plenty of time to enjoy a long bath as well.” I heard her say. I stopped and faced her again. She smiled and added.” The Ancient one will fill in for me tomorrow I am sure you can find your way to the baths and then to dinner yourself by now.”
She left and I did make my way towards the baths. In that corridor that linked the baths to the Big Cavern were other passage ways branching off to the left and right, About halfway to the Baths was the Elevator that would lead up to First Guardians Study. The light came from old Lumi Plates, not all of them working anymore. It was a small miracle in my eyes they lasted that long, they came so I had learned from the Settler arks. I understood that they had some sort of ingenious way of turning radioactive radiation from a small piece of plutonium into the spectrum of visible light.
Some of the corridors that branched off were completely dark and I wondered where these corridors ended up. The inside of this old volcano was occupied by a secretive group for almost 3000 years now and their numbers were slowly but steadily declining. Despite their effort to keep themselves alive and to replace those who died, the Old man had told me that there were now less than two hundred and they started out with about eight hundred. I did the math in my head and felt they did not really have any immediate problem of disappearing, if they declined in numbers at the same rate as they did till now, they still had 2000 years before the last one was gone.
It was easy to think in terms of someone being over a thousand years old and accept the fact that my female teacher really was that old, since I could not really fathom what it meant. There was simply no reference I could apply to really understand, but whenever I was thinking about it, I felt a little uneasy and shivered and wondered if a being that could look back on a thousand years of life experience really was still human.
From Union Class I knew there were member species that looked upon very long life spans. Of course I heard about the Stories of the two hundred human immortals who were guiding human kind since the beginning and like most I believed them to be legends and myths at least until know. Mr. Walters said that medicine could easily extend the life of most any carbon based life form including humans. Brains could be implanted in Robot and Android bodies and eliminate most biological limitations and brain pattern activity could be imprinted on a Computronic. Ever since the Insane Robot Coup attempt of 2412, uploading and individuals personality and brain into a Computronic was prohibited. All manufactured robots and Androids were by law determined to be things and had to be base programmed and imprinted with the Robotic Laws. I heard of the X101’s a member species of sentient machines but they did not provide other species with their own robot bodies.
In that lesson Mr. Walters said that the average lifespan for humans was 250 years. Even though longer life was medically possible he said that most minds simply got tired and a strong longing to die developed and the suicide rate among those reaching the bicentennial age increased drastically with each passing year. It was not against the law to extend life beyond the age of 250 but as Mr. Walters said no one really wanted too.
While I was pondering the long life span of the Keepers I had reached the baths and decided to use that extra time not just to bathe but to swim, the pool basin was certainly big enough for that, but I would do my chore first. By know I knew there were two bath areas one for men and one for women. They looked identical except the tiles on the male side were blue and the tiles in the women’s bath were red. In between them was an area with showers and toilets and places were you could dress and undress. It all had been built to accommodate the population of Hasvik that never used it. Of course the Keepers had kept it in good repair all that time. As she said the place was deserted and no one was there.
I could not find any mop or bucket or anything else on the men’s side so I knocked at the separating swing door then opened it and said aloud.” Anyone here?”
My voice slightly echoed and appeared louder than intended but no one answered, there was only the drip of water. So I went in and sure enough there was a corner with buckets, mops and the wonderful smelling lemon stuff they made themselves to clean pretty much everything. So I mopped the women’s bath area and there around the corner in the dressing area on the bench lay that leather breast harness molded to Siegfrida’s body. Not far from it, on a peg a blue dress and white apron. A small shelf next to it held artful little glass bottles, decorated ceramic tubs and jars.
This was not mother’s boudoir and not her dress. There was no reason for me to wear it and yet felt the urge to do just that. If I would wear that breast harness underneath it would give the dress even the right shape.
I pushed the mob and shook my head. “It was wrong what I did in mother’s boudoir even though it made me feel close to her. I was a Neo Viking and I needed to become strong and big. A warrior would not wear women’s garments.
Thor did it.
But he didn’t like it and did it only once out of necessity. So why did I feel strangely excited every time I mopped past that dress?
I forced myself to think about something else and left doing the other side of the baths, but when I was done. I knew it was still early and I had time. I wished someone would come, Women perhaps using the baths but it remained eerie silent. I had to return the cleaning supplies.
I almost could hear my own argument, on the one hand I tried to ignore my feelings as I knew they were wrong, but then what would it hurt? No one would ever know, just to see how it looks.
I undid my braids.
The chest piece fit real nice and as I slipped into the dress it really did what I hoped it would and along with the white apron looking into a mirror I really looked like a girl now, even the shape was no perfect.
I felt free for some reason and while something in me warned me that inner voice felt silent and somehow it felt so right.
As I turned a little to see me myself from the side I noticed Siegfrida standing there, her arms crossed. Seeing her hit me like lightning and I wished the ground would open to swallow me. I started shaking and the sensation of utmost shame came over me.
She looked around and then nodded.” I see you did a good job cleaning.”
I tried to say something, but my throat was constricted and even if I knew what to say I would have not been able to utter a single word.
“I had a chance in plans and came to fetch you for dinner. Ulrike made dumplings today.”
Then she came closer and said.” The ancient suspected this and that is why he asked me to leave those things here.”
I shivered and could not bring my shaking hands and knees under control. I finally managed to say.” He knew?”
She smiled and nodded.”He is very old and has seen it all. Human nature holds no mysteries to him.”
The old man’s voice spoke and he had appeared behind me next to the mirror. “I visited your burg to learn more about you and when I heard your Midril speak about that servants had seen the ghost of the fair lady in the windows of the First ladies old rooms, I asked Sigfrida to do this little test.”
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(List of Characters) Eric Olafson – A teenage Neo Viking leaves his home world for the first time. To travel and eventually to join the Union Navy Elena Olafson – technically a cousin to Eric, but since she was adopted by Eric’s father, she is now known as his sister. Isegrim Olafson – The current clan chief of the Olafson clan, and Eric’s father Lothar Olafson – Eric’s half brother The Ancient – aka Elkhart the Keeper. An old man claiming to have forgotten to die. Officially he is the...
The Devastator had excellent recreational facilities and offered something for almost any taste, but the most liked recreation area was called The Village. It was a small down town area complete with shops, cafés, micro breweries, night-clubs, restaurants, Virtu-show halls and theatres. The sky appeared real with moving clouds and a warm yellow sun. It would even rain or snow once in a while. The Village centered on a park with grass, trees, flower patches and narrow duro-crete walking paths....
I was still as tired as a Tyranno during Longnight when the lights came on and a voice barked via the PA system: “0400 hours Cadets rise and shine. 0430 is Breakfast. At 0500 you will receive your first class in the Elbhard Auditorium.” And we found ourselves in said Auditorium at that time an hour later. Clean, fed and still tired. Again I tried to find a place in the back, so I could perhaps close my eyes for few moments. The Pan Saran Officer was already there. “Good Morning Class.” We...
The Hyperion approached Arsenal IV just as Captain Zezz said with only eight hours to spare before I had to report for my third year posting. The extended time of my stay aboard the battle ship appeared to have gone by even faster. The Klack XO touched my face with his antennae. “You have been outstanding at the OPS station. I have seen many others struggle with that position.” “Thank you Sir. Your guidance and the tutor ship of the other bridge officers was the real reason I managed.” To...
The Attack came totally unexpected. The scanner operator of the American Dream was watching GalNews about the space battle between Dai, Nogoll and Union forces like everyone else on the bridge and thus missed the fast approaching contact. I was still sitting in the Command chair, while the main viewer showed high definition recordings of the space battle of Union Fleet against the Dai and the Nogoll. Titanic fists shock the yacht so violently that Calia Lethra, Alex and everyone else...
The Space bus came out of FTL and approached the blue and white sapphire sphere that was Nilfeheim. I had 6 month before I had to return to the Academy. This was my home world and I was longing to take a long deep dive and feel the fresh cold water all around me, it was of course still Longnight. That I had left Nilfeheim just a little over a year ago was something I could hardly believe. So much has happened since then; it felt I had been gone for much longer. “I wonder how Nilfeheim is...
The commander stood at the window of his spacious office overlooking the lake and jungle with his hands clasped behind his back watching a group of cadets struggling with a heavy wooden log. They had to carry it over an obstacle course and only by working together could this task be achieved. This ancient time tested exercise promoted team work, group coordination and leadership. This exercise had been used by Navy trainers even before the Galactic Ascent on good old Earth. Of course it...
“Have we been hailed?” Harris shook his head.”No not yet, but the sphere is transmitting genuine Union Transponder Codes.” The screen changed and a hooded Narth became visible. The Comm. Officer looked at his console and shrugged. The Narth spoke. “This is the USS Narth. “There was a pause and the Narth moved his shrouded head as if he was looking at someone then he nodded and said.” One hopes to be forgiven, by the one who has command. One was uncertain of the correct address. It is the...
When I came around, I was still lying under that purple thing. The armed and fully armor suited men were close now holding their weapons ready pointing them at my friends. The bearded dark skinned man wearing a battle suit of unknown origin argued with Cardwell. “I want you to open those Translocator storages now. We do not have much time.” Cardwell barked back and pointed at me. “I told you that two command codes are needed to open them, the only one able doing that was killed by your...
Swybar lounged in the comfortable chair behind the conference table aboard the Red Dragon. Soon the requested supplies would arrive and make him a very dangerous man. The table was laid out with a light dinner. Both of his associates had joined him and both of them had been very respectful and lauded his genius. Swybar loved it when others realized just how smart and resourceful he was. Even the disguised Kermac treated him like an equal, as it was proper. He was no fool however and knew...
The orange haired woman took the mirror thing from her face as I left the Admirals office and she leaned forward over her desk. “There is a washroom right over there.” I gave her a thankful smile. After I had freshened up I asked her.” How did you know I needed to go?” She smiled.” I am Cheeka and I come from Phantas. “She said that as if it would explain everything. Her purple eyes sparkled amused and she added. “Phantas is an old Terran Colony, much like Nilfeheim and we all have Psionic...
Green Eden appeared to be a beautiful green, white and blue sphere. From space it looked as inviting as any garden world. The transport descended through moderate clouds and approached a heavy forested land mass. We landed on a simple dirt field that had been cleared in the jungle. At the edge of the dirt field I saw a collection of primitive looking buildings made of wood. There were no machines, no robots, no ships or vehicles and no one waiting for us. Someone from the flight deck...
According to the time displayed on my PDD it was aready 10 am. The large view ports displayed a sunny serene mountain scene with a large lake dark gree forests and snow covered peakes. Dawn was sitting at the dresser and brushing her hair. I watched her doing it. I had made love to a woman for the first time in my life and it was a wonderful, glorious feeling and she was gentle and without many words had showed me what I had to do. For the first time in my life I did no longer feel like a...
I woke from a dreamless sleep and I was glad of that, the most recent events were not the stuff that made pleasant dreams. I rubbed my eyes, the sleep inducer of my seat had been turned off and that meant we were close to the next destination. After arriving on Palomino, a pleasant garden world. I stayed in a hotel for a week, and did some thankfully uneventful sight seeing to pass the time. Seven days ago, I had boarded a space bus and after a short layover at Corri-Door (This time I...