Beer? No such thing. A deadly weapons system! Or if not a weapon itself, a system capable of directing and controlling weapons. Ben has told me that in Earth's past the vampires had a saying, that: "Longevity is synon— er, synonymous, yes? — with anon— er, anonym— er…"'
'Anonymity/ said Jake, and knew it for a certainty, without knowing how he knew.
'Yes!' Lardis nodded his grizzled, bandaged head. 'And in E-Branch they have another saying: that secrecy is synonymous — hah! — with survival. Pretty much the same, wouldn't you say?'
'Pretty much,' said Jake. 'But vampires are one thing and I'm another. And frankly, I've had it with all the secrecy. If I'm so important to the Branch, why can't I be told about it?'
'At first it was because you might be less — or other — than you seemed,' Lardis told him. 'Now it's because you might be more. And also because you mightn't like what you are — if you are. Confusing? Well, not only for you, believe me! Anyway, regardless of what Liz says, it's not my job to tell you about you but about me and mine and the way things were, and the way they could be again by now, on Sunside/Starside.'
Around the camp, goodbyes were being said, hands shaken, the Australian contingent making ready to move out. Soon there would be just the Ops truck, with its array of worldwide communications devices, one jetcopter, and another on its way back from Carnarvon. The two choppers were transport for Branch personnel and SAS commanders; the Ops truck would stay until they were airborne, when it too would move out. In their next location, Trask's team of espers and support staff would be on their own until their Aussie back-up teams caught up with them. Thus these farewells were temporary; the same parties would soon be meeting up again, next time on the far side of the continent.
This was something that puzzled Jake. 'How come we don't move as a complete unit? Trask has all the contacts; why can't he order up one of those big military transport choppers? Better still, why doesn't he just call on ahead and arrange for a new righting force to be waiting for us?'
'He could probably do any or all of those things/ Lardis answered, 'but how would it look if we all arrived together at our next camp? Wouldn't you consider that indis — er, indisc — er, indiscreet, Jake? Remember, it's no easy thing for a man or men to hide their intentions from the Wamphyri. Any event unusual enough to arouse the interest of ordinary citizens is bound to arouse theirs, too.'
'Like a sudden influx of specialist troops?' said Jake. 'Indeed,' said Lardis, with a nod. 'And as for starting out fresh with a brand new platoon of soldiers… but doesn't that go against the very first rule? The fewer people who know about us—' 'The longer we survive/ said Jake.
'Hah!'said Lardis. 'Finally we make progress. And the problem with Mrs Miller becomes that much clearer, too.'
The first vehicles were pulling out now, and the Old Lidesci grunted his approval. 'This I like/ he said. 'It's what the Traveller is all about: constant movement between one place and the next. On Sunside, we Szgany became Travellers to stay ahead of the Wamphyri; we rarely stood still for very long in any one place. But here? Here we are the hunters. We move to track them down, and then we kill the bastards! Oh, yes, I like it a lot.'' He smacked his lips.
The pair had arrived at the place of last night's campfire. The back-burner, stoves and oven were gone, but a steaming pot of coffee and a few paper cups had been left beside the trench. And as these very different men from entirely different worlds sat down on the last of the folding chairs, Jake said, 'Lardis, why don't you tell me about Sunside/Starside? I mean, all about Sunside/Starside, or as much as I can take in. For since that's where all this seems to have started, maybe it's my best starting place, too/
And Lardis said, 'As you will. But I may as well tell you now, it still won't answer your one big question/
'I had a feeling it wouldn't/ Jake grunted. 'But tell me anyway/
And in a low growly voice, in words that strove valiantly to accommodate Jake's language — and when they failed reverted to Lardis's native Szgany, which the listener took in as best he could — the Old Lidesci complied…
'As its name suggests, though in more senses than one, Sunside/ Starside is a divided world. On Sunside, a slow and benevolent sun spins out days to more than four times the length of Earth days. But it sits low in the sky and casts long shadows — the shadows of the barrier mountains — on Starside. And the gloom and the long nights of Starside must have been the greatest of aids in the evol — er, the evolution, yes, of the Wamphyri.
'We don't know how it started; it happened in a time lost to memory except in myths and legends, campfire stories carried down — and altered, of course — by word of mouth. But before the Wamphyri there was something of a young civilization, in a world much like this world, with oceans and mountains, islands and continents, and even seasons. And its peoples were setting out to explore it, just as your first sailors explored yours.
'Then, an accident. Not of Man but of Nature. A white sun fell from the sky. Ben Trask will tell you it was some kind of "singularity"… but that is science, of which I know very little. Anyway, it bounced over the world like a flat stone skipping on water. In one place where it bounced, the impact caused its outer shell to break in pieces which fell to earth in such numbers they couldn't be counted. According to Nathan Keogh — called Kiklu upon a time — the land there became hot; chemicals in the soil gathered into pools; acids ate the white sun's metal skin into rust. Thus a "Great Red Waste" came into being, which today lies east of the barrier mountains.
'But the core of the white sun made a final leap. Shrinking, it sped west and slightly north; and such was its lure or fascination — its incredible "gravity?" — that even as it fell to earth it drew up from the earth those mountains that formed the barrier range.
'I've probably made light of this; it should be said that the entire planet was in shock, convulsion. Lightnings crashed, the earth shook and broke open, and oceans stood on end, hurling themselves upon the land. From a benign world, the planet was changed to a nightmare. Entire races were wiped out, vanishing forever in the tumult of earth and fire, wind and water. It can't be known for a fact, but Trask's science has created a model for such a disaster which calculates that ninety-five out of every hundred human beings on my homeworld were killed in that historic upheaval! The seasons were no more; even our world's orbit around its sun was changed, again by the "gravity" of the white sun, which had not destroyed itself but come to rest in a crater on Starside. The barrier mountains reared where none had reared before, and north of the mountains grim and pitiless lands of ice shone dark blue under writhing auroras. It was as if a hell had descended from the sky, and the Szgany — those of my race who remained — were its denizens.
'But they weren't its only denizens… 'At first, there were no Wamphyri. But there were always other peoples. The Szgany had avoided other races; they deemed them strange and called them un-men. Among these others, survivors of a northern clan of troglodytes now settled in caverns in the lee of Starside. Un-men from warmer southern climes, secretive desert folk known as the Thyre, became inhabitants of the burning regions south of Sunside's fertile green belt. It is even said that a race of cannibals — necromancers who tortured and ate the dead — existed and perhaps still exist in a remote far eastern country beyond the Great Red Waste, the mountains, and all other places known to the Szgany. Of these latter: I have never seen one, and do not wish to.