The Red Orb of Pern
M.C. Gordon
Disclaimer is attached to the beginning of this series. This is fan fiction written for a friend who enjoys Anne McCaffrey's Pern as much as I do. Someone gracefully informed me today that while Ms. M. allows fan-fic, she does not allow the use of her established names for places and people. I was unaware of her restrictions and deeply apologize to the lady and Nifty for mentioning specific Weyrs and characters. I assume full responsibility and have altered this installment to eliminate those references. No insult or infringement was intended.
Chapter 37
"Which way should we go?" Julani asked as they entered the cavern.
"Well," M'chell replied, "I remember that we stayed to the left. If the other tunnels branch off like that one did we should probably go in two's down the other two."
"Raganth?" he asked, "can you and Ammorth listen for Andren and Julani?"
"We will listen if they think very hard," was the response.
"L'del and I will take the right tunnel," M'chell told his friends. "Andren, you and Julani follow the other one. If you find anything, concentrate on the dragons and they'll hear you and let us know where you are."
The two craftsmen didn't question M'chell's directions. If he said the dragons would hear them, then the dragons would. Nothing surprised them anymore.
They split into two groups and followed their assigned tunnels. M'chell and L'del hadn't gone very far when Raganth and Ammorth both passed on an urgent message from Andren.
"They say they found something."
The two dragon riders rushed back down the length of the tunnel and made a sharp right turn in the direction their friends had taken. Andren's face was pale as they entered the room they hadn't found years before.
"This is where it began, I'm sure of it," the Healer said. "Look."
They looked where he pointed. The sides of the room were littered with broken shells. Shelves were lined with containers which had been dissolving for centuries.
"Masterhealer Benaren needs to see this," Andren said, "but I think this must be where it started. Julani and I found footprints leading here."
"Raganth, would you be so kind as to contact Fith and have him tell the Masterhealer's brown fire lizard Sith that a dragon is going to meet him and convey him here?" M'chell asked his dragon. The dragons could convey messages far faster than drum messages could travel, and M'chell didn't want to raise either the curiosity or hopes of anyone who could clearly hear the drums.
"L'noth and Tarenth will bring the man," Raganth replied. "The Weyrleader wishes this to come to an end. I `told' you all the dragons wanted to help!"
M'chell couldn't help but chuckle at the gentle rebuke. "Thank L'noth and Masterhealer Benaren for me," he said.
They decided to go back to the room they had found years before while they waited for the Healer to arrive. Even with Tarenth going `between', it would still take a little time for it was night at Healer Hall and the Masterhealer would have to be wakened.
Chapter 38
"It's just like I remembered it," L'del remarked as the four young men entered their own secret room.
"Some of the instruments have deteriorated more," Julani said. "It's probably because we let light and air in when we opened the door the first time. And you were right, L'del," he added, turning to his friend of fifteen years. "Everything needed to stay right here. I've been a Harper long enough now to realize the value of these artifacts."
"I've seen this somewhere else," M'chell remarked as he crossed the room and looked at the bright red jewel he'd found years earlier.
Andren joined him. "It looks just like the one in the tapestry in the dining room at Harper Hall," he said. "I wonder if one of the craft masters would know if it's the same thing."
"If what's the same thing?" Masterhealer Benaren asked, entering the chamber.
"We're so glad you came," Andren said. "We think we might have found where the plague came from. But look at this," he added indicating the jewel. "Do you know what it is? It looks like the thing in the tapestry."
The Masterhealer picked it up and examined it closely. "I believe this was indeed the model for that object. It's a very odd shape. I've no idea of its purpose, though. Do you believe this is connected to our mysterious illness."
"No, Masterhealer," M'chell said. "We were just looking around in here while we waited for you and L'noth to arrive. Julani and Andren found another room, down a different tunnel. They think it's the room the boys entered."
"Then lead me to it," the healer said. "Any clue at all will help us in our battle."
They joined the Weyrleader at the door to the small cavern and started toward the other room when a fair of fire lizards appeared, chirping loudly at something that had begun to agitate them.
"What the...?" L'noth asked. "M'chell, will you see if you can calm them? We don't have time to put up with their nonsense."
"I'll ask Raganth to try," the golden rider agreed.
"But they don't always listen to him."
"They want you to see another room," the dragon replied. "Shall I tell them to go away?"
"Tell them we'll look at their room later."
Chapter 39
Andren and Julani led the way toward the room they had discovered, explaining that they had followed the boys' footprints, when the fire lizards again accosted them. M'chell put his hands up to protect his face for they were pulling at his hair and clothes.
"I think they very much want you to see their room," Raganth spoke in his mind. "They want you to know that they remember something in the room. Why can't I go inside with you?"
"You're too big," M'chell told him. "And how can they remember something in the cave? Were they here with Tomin and his friends?"
There was no time for Raganth to answer before the Weyrleader turned to M'chell and said, "Go with them and see what's got them so excited," L'noth told him. "If they were in here with the boys they might have seen something."
"I'll go with you," L'del offered. Half of the fire lizards instantly surrounded him and started pulling at his tunic.
"I've never seen fire lizards behave like this before," M'chell's voice echoed as he and L'del retreated down the tunnel, pulled along by the diminutive creatures."
They followed several twists and turns until L'del remarked to his love, "I hope they can get us back out of here. I'm all turned around and don't know where we are."
"They're certainly worked up over this room of theirs. Do you suppose they really know something, or is it just their curiosity?"
They were now deep into the cave, their footsteps echoing in the eerie silence. They reached out and clasped hands as they walked.
The fire lizards finally stopped pulling at them and disappeared `between'. They returned seconds later, fussing at the dragon riders. M'chell and L'del saw a door in front of them, located the latch, and pushed against it.
"It's either locked or stuck," M'chell said.
Three of the small creatures went `between' again and re-appeared with the red jewel in their claws. Dropping it into M'chell's hands, they flitted around the door.
"What?" he asked them aloud. "What does this have to do with the room?"
"They say it opens the door," Raganth told him.
M'chell looked at the jewel again. Now that he thought about it, it really did look like a key. He located the keyhole in the door and inserted one end of the jewel. And the door opened.
L'del held his glowbasket high and the two men looked at the contents of the room. The walls were lined with shelves filled with very ancient artifacts in extremely good condition. M'chell took one of them down and looked at it. It proclaimed in bold print Symptomology and Treatment of Poliomyletes'. The dragon rider put it down and took another labeled Diagnosing Radiation Poisoning'.
L'del put the glowbasket down and joined his partner. There were endless volumes of incomprehensible information: The Pharmacological Handbook', A Comprehensive History of the Eradication of Smallpox', `Tragedy or Triumph? Medical Experimentation'.
Chapter 40
"I still don't understand why L'del, Julani, Andren and I didn't get sick," M'chell said to the master healer several days later.
"There's been so much information to absorb that I'm not sure myself," the Masterhealer replied as he sipped his glass of fine white wine. "I believe that the jeweled key you found when you entered the cave as children might have something to do with it. It was mined on Pern so it contained certain native elements.
The contaminated containers in the room the other boys found had been leaking for centuries. I think their fumes infused the jewel with something that gave it some kind of protective properties. You were probably immunized by being exposed to it. I'm just relieved that the fire lizards led you to the room with the healer information. Healer Hall couldn't have worked out a way to save people from dying if they hadn't been so adamant."
The four young men were relaxing in the common room of Weyr with the masters of Healer and Harper Halls, their Weyrleaders, and many weyrfolk who were on the road to recovery. No Thread had fallen across Pern for three days. No more deaths had occurred since Benaren had issued his recommendation on treatment of the afflicted.
Lurah was recovering although it would be a while before she could take bubbly pies to her newest foster children. The role had become reversed and four eight-year old boys were bustling about her, determined to grant her every whim.
Davis, still very weak but also very determined, was sitting with his foster fathers. "I decided I want to be a healer AND a dragon rider," he announced.
"Really?" M'chell asked, running his hand across the stubble of read hair that was beginning to grow. "Think you can handle both?"
"I gotta," the boy replied. "I can be a healer for myself and a bronze rider for Tomin." His voice started to break as he thought of his twin. He was immediately caught in an embrace by M'chell and L'del.
"Hey! Gotta breathe here!" Davis exclaimed.
M'chell and L'del glanced at each other over Davis's head. They had been through so much and it had brought them closer than they could have imagined.
"If you're ready, Davis, I think we should be getting you to bed," M'chell said. "If you're going to achieve such high aspirations you need to sleep and continue to heal."
"Now?" the child asked.
"Now," L'del replied.
M'chell picked the boy up and L'del settled him across his back. The paralysis had begun to set in before the Masterhealer could find a way to halt the progress of the illness and it would be several seven-days before the boy would be able to walk on his own.
"He will Impress," the two dragon riders heard from Raganth and Ammorth.
The end.
I have started a sequel to this story but it will take a little time before I have it finished. It will not mention the established weyrs or holds of Pern.