The Return Of The Muse

Last week in one of my posts I noted how the ancient Romans who were living on Mars around 1100 AD were able to stave of an alien invasion. The Romans properly used the ether streams surrounding Mars to their advantage, shielding their fleet of wooden ships where the Klaron energy weapons could not harm them. One might ask then, if the Romans were able to defeat the Klarons, why weren’t the Persians. There are two answers to this question: luck and the element of surprise.

            The element of surprise was a big one. Before that fateful day in 1099 AD, the Persians, nor any other humans had ever heard of the Klarons. Human contact with extra-terrestials had happened before, but it was very limited. Then, on one fateful day in April, the Persian colonies on Jupiter’s moon got a big surprise: 2 thousand cruisers and two mother ships descended suddenly out of warp. The Klarons had been traveling near light speed for 96 years to get to our solar system, and they were here at last.

            The Persians, naturally, had an existing ring of ships in the ether orbits defending their moons. The only problem, was, they were prepared for an attack by other sailing ships (such as their enemies the Romans) through the slipstreams, not through open space. As such, the Persian catapults and other artillery were not used to shooting at invaders flying between the slipstreams. That is why when the Klarons first descended on Ganeymede, all the Persian fleet could do was sit back and watch helplessly.

            At first the fleet tried to run, but within days Europa and Callisto also fell quickly. All that remained now was IO, and there really weren’t that many Persians living there. It was barely habitable (the only native food was mushrooms), and there were small Mayan and Phoenician colonies there.  So they realized that it was all over. When the Klarons offered them peace, they immediately agreed.

Click here to continue reading the Space Crusaders with Chapter Seven

(5 million miles from Jupiter. October 1, 1099 A.D.)

            A small Persian skirmishing vessel sailed down an ether stream on a secret scouting mission. It was all alone a long way from Jupiter. It had a small crew of twenty-five men and a compliment of three small ballistae and a tiny catapult. There were only five archers on board.

            “I think someone’s approaching!” said a sailor in a squeaky voice.

            “Nonsense!” replied his partner. “These skies have always been friendly ever since the Klarons came. There’s no one out there!”

            But he was wrong. A large man of war was chasing them through the stream at dangerously high speeds. There was no way of escape short of risking destruction on the outer rim of the stream.

            The order was given to fight. The ship slowed down suddenly so that the attacker would be close. That was the only way their artillery would even reach the enemy ship. But it made no difference. The Pirate ship over-ran them easily and took them all prisoner with very few casualties. Once the vessel was secure Pirate Jim himself stepped aboard. They could smell him coming a hundred feet away.

            “Which one is the captain?” growled the feisty space-brigand. “I want to interrogate him.”

            Two of his men emerged from the cabin, leading the prisoner. They had him bound around the trunk at least ten times with the strongest rope they had.

            “Who in the universe are you?” asked Pirate Jim, sliding his sword over the captured captain’s face. “You’d better tell me right away.”

            The captain didn’t seem a bit scared. “Don’t you mean what in the universe?” he laughed menacingly. “You couldn’t comprehend it if I told you!”

            Pirate Jim knew he was probably right. The prisoner wasn’t human. He had green skin, red eyes, and two nostril holes where his nose should have been. He was the first Klaron that pirate Jim had ever seen. And he was commanding a Persian ship.

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(Orbiting a moon of Jupiter. September 13, 1099 A.D.)

            The king of Persia paced the deck of his wooden spaceship fidgeting with the gold pieces on his fingers. There were multiple rubies in his rings and on his diadem in addition to the scarlet tinted sapphires sewn into the seam of his royal garments. He preferred to wear red jewels because they gave off a subtle light in the glow of the planet Jupiter.

            “My Lord!” said the king’s chancellor who was standing motionless beside him.  “You must make a decision. The Alien ambassador has indicated that his people will not be kept waiting.”

            “I know,” the king blurted out. He closed his eyes as the events of the last 48 hours returned to him. Two days ago his fleet had been scattered all around Jupiter and its moons on lookout as always for a possible surprise attack by the Romans or Chinese. Suddenly without warning, hundreds of extraterrestrial cruisers and two motherships had rocketed out of warp and bypassed the ships in the ether streams. Their technologically sophisticated weapons had been unable to penetrate the protective barriers of the orbit streams, but they had still managed to land on the three largest moons of Jupiter and held all the people captive. The king and part of his fleet had fled to Io, a desolate world that was home to a few thousand of his subjects and a couple primitive Mayan tribes. But the aliens had found him there and asked him to surrender or face the destruction of his cities.

            “If I may,” said the chancellor, “I think the decision is an easy one. You must agree to their wishes. They promise not only to protect your people, but they will help us invade Mars. It is the first time in centuries we will be able to defeat the Romans on their own turf.”

            “I know!” said the king again, “but it will be their planet to dominate, not ours. Besides, I’m worried about Earth. The people there do not know how to fight against a threat like this. They have no concept of space travel.”

            “That’s not your concern,” said the chancellor. “Besides, we’re not even sure that they know about Earth. You must surrender.”

            “Yes,” said the king angrily. “That’s exactly what I was planning to do all along.”

Click here to read Chapter 6

If we want to discover more about how our ancient ancestors (Romans, Persians, etc…) moved to  outerspace, we must first understand something about the configuration of the SkyPaths. These “ether streams,” which we read about in the SkyPath Epic, were probably a particle vortex which transported oxygen and breathable atmosphere too and from the other planets and moons. In those days every planet was habitable. The outershell of the ether streams had ionized magnets which caused their contents to flow very quickly in both directions. The North pole side could swiftly transport a ship away from the sun, while the south pole side would send you sliding toward it.

            One thing to note about the ether streams is that their configuration was very fluid.  The planets were constantly shifting their positions relative to each other, so likewise the ether streams had to change as well. Unlike previously thought, no two planets could have been directly linked by one stream.  If this was the case the ether streams would end up getting wrapped around the sun.

            Instead, every planet had an ether stream that followed it’s orbit around the sun. These streams connected directly to the Orbit Streams around the planets themselves, which in turn had ether portals leading down to their surfaces.  Likewise, there were numerous cross channels leading from each planetary orbital to the next. Therefore navigating these streams was more like finding your way across a spiders web then starting out on a simple highway.  The ancients must have found a way to navigate the streams and responded to their fluid nature. Some of the problems associated with traveling the ether streams are illustrated in the following excerpt from the SkyPath Scrolls:

Sailing through the heavens was obviously not easy. Especially for people completely unfamiliar with space-age physics. But some how they did it, adapting their methods of sea travel for space travel. My guess is they found someway to steer by the stars. This would have actually been easier in space, where they don’t have to worry about the rotation of the Earth.

            There is still a lot I don’t know about them, or how they did what they did. If you have any suggestions, just let me know.

Click here to continue reading the Space Crusaders at chapter 5

(British Isles, Earth, July 23, 1096 AD)

Dawn was beginning to break over the lowlands, but the Dragon’s Tongue pub was still open in southern Shropshire. Drunk foresters were littered over a mess of tables and chairs with limbs strewn whatever direction pleased them. The owner’s muscular servant was making rounds to see which ones were still conscious. He was careful to extract the night’s “rent” from the purses of those who had fallen asleep. He paused for a moment to glance at the party of armed men coming at the door

            “Open in the name of the law!” A large posse of sheriff’s deputies pounded on the doorframe and shook the building’s shutters.

            “We’re looking for a big, dumb Scotsman,” said the officer, after the bartender had let him in. “Here’s a picture of ‘im.”

            He held up a crude, two dimensional drawing of what could have been a scarecrow with a couple pumpkins under his coat sleeves.

            “He’s that one over there,” muttered the fat beer man, pointing a stale smelling finger at a giant oaf perched over a chair. ‘E calls himself Simon.”

            “That’s the one!” said the Sheriff. “Now tie him up.”

            The deputies rushed around the vagrant and tried to lift him from his chair, but they could hardly move him despite his being unconscious. He came to suddenly and started thrashing like a bear.

            “My names’ not Simon!” he bellowed loudly. “I didn’t do it.”

            “And I say you are!” said the Sheriff. Six deputies wrestled the giant to the ground and began wrapping rope around his wrists.

            “Lay off him!” yelled a powerful stranger emerging from the shadows on the other side of the room. The newcomer spoke with the voice of authority. He carried a large glittering shield with the holy cross on it.

            “His name’s Alfred, he’s one of my men!” shouted the crusader, flanked by three more muscular knights. “My name is Travers. I’m the captain of this lot. He just signed on for three years’ duty.”   

            “When?” scoffed the Sheriff. “Two days ago?”

            “Two months ago,” sneered Travers. “See from these papers.”

            The deputy snapped up the parchment and squinted at it a foot away from his face. He read the paper slowly and then frowned.

            “He’s telling the truth,” the man conceded. “This writing says he signed on May 13^th.”

            “Alright, you can have your man,” said the disappointed sheriff. “Only keep him out of trouble this time.”

            The deputies let go of their victim and unfurled the rope. “Alfred” rubbed his wrists angrily and glowered as they left. He glanced quickly over to the knight after the posse had left and nodded thankfully.”

            “God bless you stranger,” he gasped. “I’d better get going now. How’d you come to have that piece of paper handy?”

            “You’re not going anywhere,” said Travers. “Your name is Alfred and you’re enrolled for three years’ duty!”

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(Orbiting Jupiter. September 12, 1099 A.D.)

            The space pirate Jim watched the scene unfolding in front of him. From his hiding place in the shadow of an asteroid he could see everything in detail. Seven large galleys cruised casually within the orbit stream at 12,000 knots. They were Persian warships on a routine surveillance mission around the system’s largest planet. Their long silver banners streamed from the masts in the usual display of haughtiness and splendor. It was no one’s secret that they considered themselves the greatest empire in the solar system. 

            “Right where they should be!” muttered the ruthless buccaneer. He aimed his telescope again and perched his boot on a low piece of railing. A sword hung from the dirty sash that was tied in knots around his sagging beer-belly. He knew it would be two more days until the next patrol. That meant whatever came through the stream in the meantime would be easy prey.

            “Captain what’s that?” A wooden-legged pirate grabbed at his telescope and pointed twenty degrees off the stern.

            “What’s what?”

            “There!” replied the crewman.

            There were several bright flashes of light followed by loud popping sounds. A large vortex opened up sucking the darkness into it, illuminating their entire surroundings. The human pirates gasped in disbelief as large, sophisticated battle cruisers rocketed out on powerful warp engines. This was the first time they had ever heard sound waves travel through space.

            “What the heck are those ships?” asked the crewman in disbelief. “Why aren’t they made of wood?”

            “Those,” muttered their wise leader “Are extra terrestrials. For those of you who don’t know what that means, I’ll put it in plain Greek: It means our reign of terror is over!”

Click here to read Chapter 4

Most of you are probably familiar with the European crusades in the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries. During those days the Byzantine empire was slowly losing it’s war against the Turks, so it solicited help from western European nations to fight against the turks and retake the holy land. Sometimes this alliance backfired: on one occasion the European guests got angry and sacked Constantinople.

The same relationship occurred in the SkyPath crusades.  The Byzantine empire, unlike other European nations, was much older and was actually a remnant of the ancient Roman empire. They were still in contact with their Roman Brethren who had sailed to Mars.  In order to stay in touch with the outerspace human empires, the Byzantines kept regular outposts on the moon, which they traveled to in sailing ships on the slipstreams.

Once the Turks started putting more pressure on the Byzantines, however, it became harder for them to man the lunar outposts. They simply lacked the manpower. That is why from 1050-1400 several European nations agreed to send small convoys of knights to the moon to serve as Earth diplomats. Finally, in 1402 AD these last outposts were abandoned because of the pending crisis on Earth. In 1453 AD the Turks finally wiped out the Byzantines, and all communication with the outerspace colonies was lost forever.

Please continue reading Space Crusaders at chapter 3

(British Isles, Earth. July 21st, 1096 A.D.)

The hot sun beat down on a traveler wending his way along the dusty highway. It was summertime in England, and that meant all the fat friars who had holed up for winter inside warm abbey walls were crawling all over the countryside on various picnic-style pilgrimages eating the common-folk out of house and home. There was one particular friar fatter than most perched on the back of a borrowed donkey munching on meat and cheese donated by an unhappily generous farmer.

            “God bless him!” mumbled the cleric. “What a man won’t do to save his soul.”

            Suddenly the bushes parted and an angry looking Scotsman leaped out bearing a cudgel. He was sturdier than an oak tree, with arms and hands so strong they could have tied the friar’s mule in a pretzel from tail to ear.

            “What do you want?” squealed the frightened man, holding his cross out in front of himself.

            “Whatever you got,” said the Scotsman. He grabbed the mule by the reigns and pulled it over to the side of the road. The stubborn beast shot up its hind legs sending its clumsy occupant hurtling towards the ground. Then the Scotsman knocked him out and took everything he had.

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Those were the days when boys were men 900 years ago. It was an age of sadness and hardship mixed with growing potential for the future. Many things had been lost in the wars that had plagued all mankind, but much more had been saved for those who knew where to look.

            Far away on the other planets ancient empires still thrived. These were the descendants of all the great ones on the world whose achievements were still spoken of by Earth children everywhere. The boys and girls had been told by their parents that these legends had passed into nothingness long ago, shrouded eternally in the languishing stories of antiquity.

            But those who traveled the skypaths knew better.

            On the other spheres, the children of the ancient ones still flourished. Mars had been the first world to be inhabited. Ancient Hittites sailed there on the ether streams eager to hunt the wild mastodon herds. They were followed by the Romans who covered their planet and took it away from them. Likewise the Assyrians and the Babylonians conquered much of Venus. The Persians were still living on the moons of Jupiter, and the ancient Chinese dwelt on a satellite of Saturn. The Egyptians built great pyramids on Mercury, but only during the night-time. During the daytime they migrated around the globe.

            All these nations still existed, and all of them hated each other.

            Those were the days when boys were men.

            Those were the days of pending doom.

Click here to read chapter 2 

Meanwhile the fleet of ships draws near the tail of a large comet. As they get closer, the leaders hold a council to decide whether or not to stop and let the comet pass. They are unable to reach an agreement, and a fight breaks out between Chinese Chen and Caesar Mark. The fight quickly spreads until virtually everybody present is covered in bruises. Finally, Princess Shelah enters the room and yells at them. After she leaves the men organize themselves and start discussing the immediate problem again.

The SkyPath Crusade

A Science Fiction Epic Poem

Copyright © 2007 by Daniel Schilling

All Rights Reserved

Chapter Fifteen

Click here for the rest of the SkyPath epic poem

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