11th July 2012
06:15 GMT
You think you're over your vertigo, then you see a giant miles deep hole in the ground heading towards the planet's core.
The last time I saw one of these, we were all moving so fast that I didn't really think about it. And I was flying, which meant that my environmental shield made me feel like I was standing on solid ground the entire time. And the hole wasn't
that big: it was one of several that got used for raw material transportation as much as anything.
This is one of the holes they launch star ships through.
And it's…
Bigger.
The area around it is fairly clean, but my armour's sensors pick up the force of the winds created by the imbalance in pressure between Inner Qward and Outer Qward. Naturally there are no guard rails, though there are lights to let the people in the surrounding area know when a ship's en route.
I can see the other side, but between here and there the ground just
vanishes.
Kalmin doesn't look all that impressed, barely giving the area a once-over before stepping off the edge and accelerating downwards. He's still standing with his feet pointing at the distant ground, so it's a little like he's riding an invisible elevator.
I can't see the
bottom.
Heh.
I step off and plummet after him.
And decide not to ask if Kalmin wants to play twenty questions.
"What is your relationship to Weaponer Lysis?
"
"I was her tutor and overseer. Qwardian society can be chauvinistic. It's one of our vices. She had trouble getting a placement after completing her initial training. My foolish contemporaries turned her down. Their loss was my gain."
Or to quote Terry Pratchett, one of the vices he
thinks of as vices. The rest are just job skills.
"Was she involved in the power ring project?
"
"Yes. Jordan actually met her, briefly, just before he destroyed the Anti-Green Lantern Central Power Battery."
Might be worth recruiting her, then. Of course, if she was trained by Kalmin and shares his devotion to destruction… Then perhaps not.
"Does she share your loyalty to the Anti-Monitor?
"
"She… Didn't. She was more interested in creating weapons than in their purpose. But she was talented and devoted to her work. I had every hope that she would eventually come to see things my way, but I was removed from office before I could accomplish that."
"Kalmin, I realise that you're extremely faithful in your beliefs, but… Roughly how widespread is your viewpoint, to the best of your knowledge?
"
"Why are you asking me?"
"It occurs to me that Varnathon didn't come out of nowhere. Even if trading qwa matter is outside of the
Overton window for most Weaponers-.
"
"You think we've gone
soft."
"I think that you would be unwise to assume that a majority of Weaponers are as devoted as
you are. Or that those who are prepared to oppose Varnathon are doing it for the same reason that
you are.
"
He doesn't respond.
"You just said that you didn't think your own acolyte was quite there. The Anti-Monitor has been gone for some time. How many senior Weaponers do you
know keep the faith, rather than just paying it lip service or ignoring it in favour of personal power?
"
"You wish me to believe that Varnathon and people like him are in the majority?"
"I haven't done any
polling, but no one's killed him
yet, have they? Despite him not killing you?
"
"You may be right. When I think on my time as High Weaponlord, I realise that I didn't address my people's spiritual needs at all. I only gave direction to their intellects. I had… Thought that was enough. But now… I realise that you may be correct."
"Does that change what we're here to do?
"
"No. It just makes me aware of my own failing. I would
like to put all of the fault on Varnathon, but if we've been heading this way for a while and I was simply
blind to it… I am…
Ashamed."
"What exactly are the duties of the High Weaponlord?
"
"To oversee the designing of new destructive technologies to serve the Anti-Monitor's armies. But the whole
point is to serve the Anti-Monitor. That's what makes us q'ardajin. Without that, we're… Just like everyone
else. I might as well join the
Psions!"
"I'm afraid that you missed the boat on that one.
"
"The Apokoliptians, then. I joined you because I wanted to get out of my
funk before moving on to work that would actually advance the Anti-Monitor's goals. And now I find that I was never as faithful as I convinced myself that I was."
"I
could be wrong.
"
"No, it makes too much sense.
Aaaah, how far we've fallen."
I look at the screen relaying what the upward-facing sensors can see. I'd say a couple of miles at this point, the Qwardian day shining down at the upper end of the tunnel is reduced to a distant point of light.
"How do you want me to behave?
"
"Remain silent when we are in company. Attack only at my order. That's
important. I fully expect to have to prove that I haven't lost my killer instinct. Having a robot fight for me might be acceptable in some circumstances, but this is a matter of spiritual importance."
"And what happens if Sinestro's down there?
"
"No."
"It's not like Varnathon has a problem with him, is it? If anything, Sinestro represents both an excellent sales opportunity and advertisement. As long as he pays in cash rather than future favours. And it would let him portray himself as doing something that you started.
"
"If Sinestro is down there, then I will
kill him myself before dealing with Varnathon and his lies. You need not concern yourself with
that."
"Oh? I thought that having.. Thunderers and people like that use your weapons was a perfectly normal thing for Weaponers to do?
"
"I'm not under any great moral imperative to kill Sinestro myself.
I just want to do it for my personal pleasure."
The image of the hole below us begins to resolve in the dim colours of the Qwardian interior for a few seconds before we both drop out. Kalmin begins slowing his descent at one, while I
allow myself to continue to fall.
Two, one…
I hit the ground, my kinetic barrier flaring to life and absorbing all of the force of my impact.
"Weaponer. You lead, I follow.
"
Will he appear to pop up out of the hole upside down?
