7) Becoming a Guardian, part 2
The tower was splashed in bright sunlight that fateful afternoon. I say fateful, because it was that afternoon, after listening to the Speaker, that I finally knew my path. I haven't wavered from that path since then, but enough of that, I first need to tell you of the Speaker.
Well, no, let me take this in order. First I went to the gunsmith. Banshee, what a name and what a character. I found out later that the banshee was a legend from ancient earth, a ghost with a terrifying voice and otherworldly power. Somehow the Hive Wizards come to mind when I think of them, but that is a tangent I will follow some other time. Banshee's voice grated like that of someone who had smoked cigarettes for thirty years. To me that seems funny more now than ever - Banshee is an Exo, and noone has smoked, really smoked, in a few hundred years. And of course, I shouldn't have any idea how a smoker's voice should sound, yet somehow, somehow, it was all too familiar. Memories, and memories within memories, perhaps they flow down genetically, or in the light that flows down from man to son, generation to generation, guardian to guardian. But here I am, going down another tangled road. Banshee was a man after my own heart. His love of the gun was as my own - each one was an extension of his being, no matter the differences between them, shotgun to rocket launcher, he handled them and operated them as though they were part of his very soul. He looked me over briefly, "I think you will need this." He handed me an ornate box about half a meter in length. On top of the box was an engraving - it was, I would learn later, the Greek letter Omega. "It is a painstakingly created replication of a very special gun - The Last Word." The hairs on my neck stood up and a chill ran from the crown of my head down to my heels. "Shotgun or Sniper rifle... you look like a long-range marksman - this is Stillpiercer, treat her well and you will find fame and break hearts. And a heavy weapon or two perhaps in case the need calls for it. An lmg for suppression and a no-named rocket-launcher."
"I'll call it Anonymous then." I really liked Banshee."How much do I owe you?"
"Let's just call these an investment for now. You haven't had a chance to win any bounties yet wolf-pup." Banshee's amusement was evident.
I bid farewell to Banshee and headed for the hangar.
"Maybe Holliday will have a warp-drive." Ghost twittered
"Perhaps."
The news was not so good.
"All I have is blown up drives, incomplete transmats, and schematics for ships you can't afford and I can't give you. I can patch your ship, though, and if you bring a drive I can mate it up for you and synch it. Ships computers are fickle things." Amanda was impressive in many ways.
And then I met the Speaker.
It was though I had stepped backward in time. Though the Speaker was there, in front of me, giving me words of encouragement and wisdom, I suddenly found myself a soldier listening to Alexander prepare me for the battle against the Persians. I was a commander among Julius Caesar's legions, I was a paratrooper of the 101'st at Bastogne.
"Humanity's survival, my young guardian, is our battle. We fight not only for freedom to live and love as we wish, but we fight for our very existence. A great darkness propels its terrible hordes and minions against us. Terror and horror assail mankind at every turn of the universe. But we have been given a weapon and we have been given hope. The Traveller came and awakened within each of us a light with his own. We have been given this light with a purpose - we have been created with a purpose. Whether the by the Traveller itself or by some Creator of all good things who sent him, we have been chosen to defend all that is good and right and holy in this universe. And we must fight. We must fight with all that we have, because we are able. It falls to us. If there is any hope for the children in the city beneath this tower, if there is any hope for the seedlings of Earth spread throughout the galaxy, it is the light that dwells in is and grows brighter as we use it to forge ourselves anew. So we must fight, and we must do it not only here on earth, but on every planet where darkness threatens to swallow those little candles scattered to the solar winds. So, guardian, go and be the tip of the spear. Fix your ship and leap into the abyss, and let your light shine before men."
These are the words I remember, he spoke more, and I listened as attentively as I could, but the fire that had been ignited in my soul had already placed thoughts and intents into motion and try as I might, I cannot recall the rest.
Ghost and I were going to war.
Well, no, let me take this in order. First I went to the gunsmith. Banshee, what a name and what a character. I found out later that the banshee was a legend from ancient earth, a ghost with a terrifying voice and otherworldly power. Somehow the Hive Wizards come to mind when I think of them, but that is a tangent I will follow some other time. Banshee's voice grated like that of someone who had smoked cigarettes for thirty years. To me that seems funny more now than ever - Banshee is an Exo, and noone has smoked, really smoked, in a few hundred years. And of course, I shouldn't have any idea how a smoker's voice should sound, yet somehow, somehow, it was all too familiar. Memories, and memories within memories, perhaps they flow down genetically, or in the light that flows down from man to son, generation to generation, guardian to guardian. But here I am, going down another tangled road. Banshee was a man after my own heart. His love of the gun was as my own - each one was an extension of his being, no matter the differences between them, shotgun to rocket launcher, he handled them and operated them as though they were part of his very soul. He looked me over briefly, "I think you will need this." He handed me an ornate box about half a meter in length. On top of the box was an engraving - it was, I would learn later, the Greek letter Omega. "It is a painstakingly created replication of a very special gun - The Last Word." The hairs on my neck stood up and a chill ran from the crown of my head down to my heels. "Shotgun or Sniper rifle... you look like a long-range marksman - this is Stillpiercer, treat her well and you will find fame and break hearts. And a heavy weapon or two perhaps in case the need calls for it. An lmg for suppression and a no-named rocket-launcher."
"I'll call it Anonymous then." I really liked Banshee."How much do I owe you?"
"Let's just call these an investment for now. You haven't had a chance to win any bounties yet wolf-pup." Banshee's amusement was evident.
I bid farewell to Banshee and headed for the hangar.
"Maybe Holliday will have a warp-drive." Ghost twittered
"Perhaps."
The news was not so good.
"All I have is blown up drives, incomplete transmats, and schematics for ships you can't afford and I can't give you. I can patch your ship, though, and if you bring a drive I can mate it up for you and synch it. Ships computers are fickle things." Amanda was impressive in many ways.
And then I met the Speaker.
It was though I had stepped backward in time. Though the Speaker was there, in front of me, giving me words of encouragement and wisdom, I suddenly found myself a soldier listening to Alexander prepare me for the battle against the Persians. I was a commander among Julius Caesar's legions, I was a paratrooper of the 101'st at Bastogne.
"Humanity's survival, my young guardian, is our battle. We fight not only for freedom to live and love as we wish, but we fight for our very existence. A great darkness propels its terrible hordes and minions against us. Terror and horror assail mankind at every turn of the universe. But we have been given a weapon and we have been given hope. The Traveller came and awakened within each of us a light with his own. We have been given this light with a purpose - we have been created with a purpose. Whether the by the Traveller itself or by some Creator of all good things who sent him, we have been chosen to defend all that is good and right and holy in this universe. And we must fight. We must fight with all that we have, because we are able. It falls to us. If there is any hope for the children in the city beneath this tower, if there is any hope for the seedlings of Earth spread throughout the galaxy, it is the light that dwells in is and grows brighter as we use it to forge ourselves anew. So we must fight, and we must do it not only here on earth, but on every planet where darkness threatens to swallow those little candles scattered to the solar winds. So, guardian, go and be the tip of the spear. Fix your ship and leap into the abyss, and let your light shine before men."
These are the words I remember, he spoke more, and I listened as attentively as I could, but the fire that had been ignited in my soul had already placed thoughts and intents into motion and try as I might, I cannot recall the rest.
Ghost and I were going to war.