My Machine of Death Story: Montagfire's Sword

MONTAGFIRE’S SWORD

By

Mark Lee Pearson

They found the machine lodged in the throat of a forty-foot sperm whale.

Bear, the ship’s puller, drew his porpoise-like arm out of the oversized whale’s throat and held it up for the crew to see. It was spherical in shape and about the size of a bowling ball. Visible through the translucent gold surface, the inner workings were a mesh of cogs and wheels driven by a labyrinth of micro-tubes and wires. The shell was knurled around the circumference and studded with a spectrum of jewels and lights. It hummed and blinked, and the strange script engraved on the outer surface read like a message from a distant galaxy.

“I knew it,” said Saline, the ship’s whale-screamer. “It’s a tracking device. They’re coming for us. We’ll have to dump it and get the hell out of here.”

“Cool it, Saline,” said Tracker Dick, snatching the strange spherical object from Bear.

“Be careful with that,” said Bear.

“This ain’t no tracking device,” said Tracker Dick, holding it up to the light. “It’s got no eleven-dimension loop. It appears to be a kind of sextant.”

“Pass it here,” said Saline. “Let me see.”

“I don’t like it,” said Bear. “It reminds me of that old story in the old Nihongi. The one in which the gods sent a giant whale across the galaxy to communicate the end of the multiverse.”

Tracker Dick laughed. “Telling us we’ll all be swallowed up like old Jonas, eh?” He tossed the machine to Saline. “Tell us what it really is, Saline.”

Saline attempted to catch it, but he misjudged, fumbled, and let it land on the deck with a thump.

Helius Cope, the sharpest harpooner in the multiverse, stepped forward and made a grab for it, but Saline snatched it back and edged away fiddling with the machine.

“Hey, I think it opens,” he said. He gripped it on the outer knurled edge and twisted it with both hands.

“Easy—” said Bear.

       There was a click. Saline let out a yelp and the machine slipped from his fingers. It landed on the deck again with another thump. “It bit me,” he said, holding up his hand. A bead of blood oozed from the tip of his index finger. “The pollacking thing bit me.”

       Helius Cope snorted a laugh. “Imbecile,” he said.

       “It’s making a funny noise,” said Tracker Dick. The crew eyed the ball with suspicion as it whirred and clicked and hissed on the deck at their feet.

       “It’s a bomb!” said Saline. “Throw it overboard!”

       “Hold on,” said Bear. “There’s something coming out of it.” He knelt over the machine and with a careful paw and plucked the little white card from a slot in the top.

       “What is it?” said Dick.

       “I don’t know,” said Bear. He squinted at the black ideogram scrawled on the white card. “There’s some kind of script written on it.”

       “Let me see.”

As Tracker Dick swiped the card from Bear’s padded fingers a shadow fell across the deck and the crew looked up from their huddle.

Captain Jack Montagfire, the half-breed whale-catcher with shaven head, sea green jimbei, vicious Japanese sword skills, and whiskey for blood stood on the deck of the whaling ship before them.

Cope’s mouth fell open. “Montagfire!”

“You’re back,” said Bear, concealing the machine in his massive paws.

“Yes,” said Montagfire. “I’m back.” He examined the sperm whale. “That’s a good catch.”

“Good?” said Helius Cope. “It’s the largest sperm I’ve ever pinned. Might be the largest in the multiverse.”

“I doubt it,” said Montagfire. He unsheathed his sword. It was an ancient katana forged from twenty-fifth century tamahagane, with the blade finely polished to a mirror finish and a handle molded to his grip. Holding the sword in both hands he wedged the blade between the whale’s lips and pried open its mouth to reveal a thousand razor edged teeth and a throat wide enough to allow a giant squid—or even a man—to pass easily into the whale’s alimentary canal. “But it is a fine ontodoceti,” he said, inspecting the teeth.

He let the enormous jaw drop and prodded the whale’s flank with his titanium finger. “It will make a satisfactory feast at the Emperor’s End of the Century Banquet.”

“Satisfactory?” said Cope. “A whale this size will feed the entire population of Edo and bring is the accolade and currency we rightfully deserve.”

“The accolade and currency I rightful deserve,” Montagfire corrected.

Tracker Dick made to slip the card into his jimbei pocket out of sight.

“What’s that?” said Montagfire, spinning around.

“None of your—”

Montagfire flicked the card from Dick’s hand with his sword and caught it between his fingers. “Where did you get it?”

Tracker Dick looked at Cope, who in turn looked at Bear.

Bear unfurled his fingers to reveal the golden machine. “It came out of this, he said. “It was in the whale.”

Montagfire studied the card.

“Can you read it?” said Bear.

“It’s the language of the ancient Ainu.”

“What does it say?” said Saline.

       “I can’t be sure.” Montagfire peered at the script. “But…” he hesitated.

       “What is it?” said Bear.

       “You see this character, here?” The five whalers gathered around him and he traced the ideogram with his titanium finger. “The bar across the top represents a coffin lid and this line here signifies a body. And this…”

       “What?” said Saline.

       “I don’t know for sure,” said Montagfire, but I think it is the mark of death.”

       “Whose death?” said Saline.

       Bear and Cope and Tracker Dick all turned to look at Saline, who was still nursing his bleeding finger. Saline looked at their pale faces and then at his own finger. “You have got to be kidding?” he said.

       And then he fainted.

       The ocean was vast, but even more so since the great whale extinction. But for any whaler with a Kaku device, a vortex driver, and a whale-screamer it was still possible to call the whales out through the loops in the multiverse. And a-flying they would come, in the belief that the scream was a distress call from a fellow mammalian.

       But it was a perilous business to sail a whaling ship without a screamer.

“You know I should execute you all, don’t you?” said Montagfire, tapping the handle of his sword with his titanium finger.

“For leaving you behind?” said Bear.

Montagfire gave Bear a coarse smile. “For that, yes. And also for being invalid,” he said.

“Invalid?” said Cope with clear disdain.

“Under the Emperor’s Law of Invalidity. What good is a screamer in a state of apoplexy? What good is a whaling ship that can’t catch whales?”

“We can catch a lot of whales,” said Tracker Dick, holding up the Kaku device.

“Colossal whales,” said Cope. “The spermy proves that.”

“It proves nothing,” said Montagfire.

“You’ll face execution, too,” said Tracker. “This is your ship.”

“I’ll get an Imperial Pardon if I turn you in.”

“You wouldn’t turn us in,” said Bear. “Not when Recalibration is still an option. We can get Saline’s DNA recalibrated. He’ll be back in that screamer’s seat and making us—you—a lot of currency.”

“And the accolades,” said Dick. “Think of the accolades.”

Montagfire grinned. “You are a smart crew,” he said. “I knew that when I picked you. But, before Recalibration is possible we have to find out what effect that machine has had on Saline.”

“What do you suggest?” said Cope.

“I know an old Ainu master who lives on the Floating City of Sapporo in the North Pacific Territory. He should be able to translate the script. We’ll be able to get Recalibration for Saline there too. It is only three days away, and only a short detour on our way back to the Floating City of Edo to deliver the sperm whale in time for the Emperor’s End of the Century Banquet.”

“You want me to take care of the machine in the meantime?” said Tracker Dick. “I can take it apart and analyze it to figure out what it’s for. I might even be able to discover the meaning of what was written on that card.”

“It’ll come back with all the jewels missing if you take it,” said Cope. “I was the one who harpooned the whale. I ought to look after the machine.”

Montagfire tapped his titanium finger on the table and the squabbling stopped.

“I will look after the machine,” he said. “It will prevent any more accidents.”

Cope and Dick contested, but Bear intervened. “He’s right,” he said. “And besides, if the ideogram does signify death, we don’t want anyone else pricking their finger like Princess Saline.”

Cope and Dick laughed and so it was decided that Montagfire would take care of the machine. He stored it safely under the bunk where he slept and the Spectrum Samurai set sail for Sapporo.

       Three days later Montagfire sailed the whaler into the dock of the Floating City of Sapporo. The entire city glimmered in the afternoon sunlight, reflecting off the ocean in a spectacular display of light. Bear was excited about the stop off. He had always wanted to visit the ice caverns, which the ancient Ainu race had supposedly chiseled out beneath the city to honor the gods of the underworld. Montagfire said there would be no time for sightseeing. They were on a tight schedule, and anyway the ice caverns were a myth that had been created for the purpose of attracting tourists.

Bear and Tracker Dick carried a gibbering, drooling Saline down to the dock. Helius Cope hailed an ice car and they loaded him into the trunk. Montagfire kept the machine concealed in a secret pocket on the inside of his jimbei. He slipped the card with the peculiar lettering into his pocket and directed the ice car driver to an address on the outskirts of the city.

       “This place is amazing,” said Dick, gawping up at the towering buildings. “I’ve never seen anything so dazzling.”

       “It’s the ice,” said Cope.

       “How do they keep it from melting?”

       “There is a generator buried in the underside of the float. The current of the ocean powers it. The Sapporo governors insist it operates all year round because it is tradition to do so.”

       “How do you know so much about it?” said Bear.

       Cope handed a tourist brochure from the back of the ice cab and winked.

       The Ainu master’s residence was a large ornate igloo surrounded by a wall of tropical ferns. They paid the driver of the ice car and traipsed up the snowy approach, with Bear humping Saline over his shoulder.

“I feel as if we’re being watched,” said Cope.”

“Surveillance system,” said Montagfire. He pointed up to a free-floating spherical camera, which appeared to have its lens focused on them. “The Ainu master is not a trusting fellow.”

Tracker Dick pulled a fern from its stem and sniffed it. There was a low growl. Startled, he looked up to see a pair of red eyes staring at him from the shadows. He swallowed hard, turned, and ran to catch the others.

“The Ainu master is not to be trusted,” said Montagfire as they arrived at the door. “Tell him nothing of our business. Do not mention the whale and especially do not under any circumstances mention the machine. All we want is for him to decipher the script. Then we are out. Got it?”

Bear, Cope and Dick nodded. Saline remained in his state of stupefaction.

“And get rid of that fern,” said Montagfire, snatching it from Dick and throwing it into the snow. Don’t touch anything. And don’t forget to be on your guard at all times.”

The heavy ice door creaked open letting the five of them enter the great ice chamber, where the Ainu master greeted them. His head was shaven and he was dressed in a grey hunting gown embroidered with white red-eyed wolves. His sleeves were tied back and the garment was wrapped tight around his body with a charcoal obi. On his feet he wore the wooden geta of his class.

“Montagfire, old friend. It is a pleasure to see you again after all these years.”

Montagfire bowed in formal exchange and replied, “The pleasure is all mine.”

“Nobody gets a visit from Montagfire unless he wants something.” He looked the crew up and down, with a particular interest in Saline. “What is it I can do for you?”

“You know me too well,” said Montagfire. “I am here on a scholarly matter.”

The Ainu master led them into a chamber deeper in the ice building. Bear laid Saline on a low futon provided by a servant and they knelt around a low ice table, drank tea from the green leaf, and passed ceremonial swords. When the formalities were over, Montagfire passed the card to the Ainu master.

The Ainu master took the card and studied the script in silence for a long minute, his long grey fingers following the lines of the ideogram.

“From whom did you acquire this?”

       “Can you read it?” said Montagfire.

       “No. Unfortunately I can’t. It is not a script I am familiar with.”

“Do you know anyone who might be able to decipher it?”

“It might take a day or two.”

“A day or two is not what we have,” said Montagfire. “It was kind of you to treat us with such hospitality but I am afraid I must make haste. The ocean calls.”

As Montagfire stood to leave, his jimbei swung open and the Ainu master caught sight of the machine.

“Wait!” he said. “At least spend the night in Sapporo. We have a lot to catch up on. I am especially interested in what you might have brought with you to trade.”

“I have nothing to trade,” said Montagfire closing his jimbei.

“Everyone has something to trade.”

A strained silence fell in the ice room. The Ainu master and Montagfire locked eyes. Tracker Dick and Cope exchanged glances. Bear straightened his back.

Then in one swift movement Montagfire reached across the table for his sword. The Ainu master was quicker and in an instant Montagfire found himself looking at a distorted reflection of himself in the mirrored blade of his own sword.

Saline yelped from somewhere on the other side of consciousness. Bear stood up warily, not taking his eye off the Ainu master. His fingers curled and his forearms pulsed.

“Tell your friends to leave.”

Montagfire spoke through his teeth, “Take Saline and get out of here.”

“I’m not leaving you, Cap—”

“I said get out of here.”

“Come on, Bear,” said Dick. “Do as he says.”

       Bear lifted Saline off the futon and left the hall closely followed by Cope and Dick. The Ainu master and Montagfire stood facing each other, their eyes still locked.

       “Where did you get it?”

       “Where did I get what?”

       “Don’t fool with me, Montagfire. I know what you are capable of. I just want to know how you got your hands on that machine you are trying to hide under your jimbei.”

       “I found it.”

       “Tell me what it is first.”

       “I can’t believe a man of your cunning doesn’t know what he has got his hands on. Give it to me.”

       “Tell me what it is.”

       “If you don’t already know, you don’t deserve to,” said the Ainu master. Montagfire flinched. The Ainu master flicked the edge of the sword and drew a thin line of blood across Montagfire’s throat.

       Montagfire grimaced.

“Well,” said the Ainu master.

“All right. You can have it.”

       “Slowly. That’s it. Put it on the table.”

       “Take the sword from my throat and I shall.”

       The Ainu master did as requested freeing Montagfire to place the machine on the low ice table.

       No sooner had Montagfire stepped away from the table than the Ainu master scooped it up in his free hand and began fiddling with the knurl.

       Montagfire leaned forward. “I wouldn’t—”

       “Shut up. Ouch!” The Ainu master dropped the machine and it landed on the ice floor with a crack. He stood one hand sword drawn looking at his thumb, which was oozing a little blood. The machine was whirring and within seconds Montagfire saw a little white card emerge from the slot.

       “Show me that card,” demanded the Ainu master.

       Montagfire carefully bent down to pick it up.

       “Give it to me. Don’t look at it.”

       Montagfire passed him the card, his eye trained on the tip of the sword. The Ainu master snatched the card and studied it. His face paled and he looked up at Montagfire with disbelief.

       “How—?”

       Montagfire emerged from the ornate igloo, clutching his sword in one hand and the machine in the other. He ran at break neck speed back down the approach. A chilling cacophony of howls came from behind him.

       “Quick!” he yelled as he passed Cope, Dick, and Bear, who had Saline slung over his shoulder. “Back to the whaler.”

       Tracker Dick ran into the street into the path of an ice car. The car screeched to a halt and the driver yelled at him to get out of the way. Cope opened the car door and slid in next to a young woman with a child just as a pack of white red-eyed wolves emerged from behind the tropical fern wall.

       “Out!” snarled Cope.

       The young woman didn’t move. She glared at Cope and held her baby tight.

       Tracker Dick opened the other door and got in beside her.

”Don’t mind my friend,” he said. “Never did like women.”

Montagfire opened the driver’s door and threw the driver into the path of the wolves buying enough time for Bear to throw Saline into the trunk and squeeze into the passenger seat. Montagfire hit the accelerator and the ice car swerved up the street with a dozen wolves in pursuit.

       Back on the ship Bear noticed Montagfire was bleeding. He passed him a handkerchief.

       “What happened back there?”

       “I’m not quite sure,” said Montagfire. “The Ainu master knew what the machine was, but he wouldn’t tell me. He pricked his finger on the machine just like Saline, and then he went white and looked at me with fear in his tiny little eyes and started gibbering on that he didn’t understand how it could be. I took the opportunity to overpower him. Now he’s not much use for anything but food for his wolves.”

       “What was written on the card?” said Cope.

       Montagfire reached into his pocket and plucked out the little white card. He offered it to Cope.

       It was written in a script he could wholly understand. Helius Cope grinned a broad grin and passed it to Tracker Dick. Dick smiled and flipped it across to Bear. Soon the crew was drinking merry Porter on the deck while Saline lay in a bunk in the cabin below still reeling in the anguish of despair knowing that whoever or whatever was going to kill him was written on that little white card, but also knowing that no matter how hard he tried he would never be able to read it.

       “I want to test it on myself,” said Cope. “I want to find out who or what is going to kill me.”

       “I can’t allow that,” said Montagfire.

       “Why not? You can’t stop me from finding out who my killer is.”

       “I can. What if you are to die by the hand of one of my crew? It would cause mayhem.”

“I’d take that chance to know.”

“Maybe you would, Cope,” said Montagfire. “But, what if my name were on one of those cards?”

Cope looked askance at Montagfire. “There would be mutiny,” he said.

“Exactly. Now let’s get this ship moving. We have a whale to deliver to the Emperor’s End of the Century Banquet. And then there are more whales to catch. And our one and only whale-screamer is in a state of psychopathic inertia. We have to get him recalibrated if we want to meet that quota.”

       Cope slunk away with a suspicious thought preying on his mind. How many more cards had “Montagfire’s Sword” written on them. Or “Bear’s Knuckles”. Or “Tracker Dick’s Swipe”. Or even “Saline’s Whine”. He wondered if there were any little white cards out there with his name on it.

       Bear was standing on the gunwale looking at the stars when Tracker Dick came to him.

       “I think we should get that machine off Montagfire.”

       “What for?”

       “Cope is going nuts. He is paranoid that one of us is going to kill him. We need to get our blood tested. We have to find out if we are safe. What if Montagfire is going to kill us all? Don’t you think we have a right to know?”

       “I don’t think anyone has a right to know,” said Bear. He looked up at the stars. “It is all mapped out up there,” he said. “It is all written in another language far beyond our comprehension. It is the business of the gods. Not ours. I think that it is fortunate that Saline’s card was unintelligible to him. For there is an ancient Ainu proverb that says once you have heard from the Speaker of Death you take one step closer to your own death.”

       Tracker Dick laughed. “That is ridiculous. Do you honestly think this machine is a Speaker of Death?”

       “I am almost certain.”

       “Then surely it can help you avoid it.”

       “Not in ancient Ainu law. The Ainu master knew. A man in possession of the knowledge of his own fate is driven by an unusual force towards that fate. Once the Speaker of Death made his prediction, the Ainu master found himself impaled upon Montagfire’s sword. It was like he found a shortcut to the end of the maze or a wormhole to another universe. It is not always that immediate, but it is always inevitable.”

Tracker Dick thought about that for a long time. Then he said, “Do you think Montagfire has tested himself?”

“If you were keeping the Speaker of Death in your cabin would you not ask it the only question it can answer?”

Two days later they docked at Toki Port on the Floating City of Sado. There was a DNA Recalibration Point on the dock and Montagfire, sure to keep the machine tucked up carefully inside the secret pocket of his jimbei, ordered Bear to go with him to get Saline’s DNA recalibrated.

Tracker Dick and Helius Cope were slouched over a table in the galley drinking Porter.

“Maybe DNA Recalibration will change Saline’s death,” said Cope.

“Bear says death is an eternally fixed point in the universe, impossible to move, impossible to change,” said Tracker Dick.

“Immutable,” pronounced Cope. He took a swig of Porter and looked thoughtfully at Tracker Dick.

“Right.”

“Do you want to find out how you are going to die?” said Cope. There was not a hint of irony in his eye.

Tracker Dick shrugged. “Sure, I do, but Montagfire won’t allow us to—” He paused and looked at Cope, who was now grinning from ear to ear.

“What are you two planning?” said Tracker Dick.

“Planning?” said Cope. “It’s already been decided.” He pointed skyward. “And there isn’t a damn thing you, or I, or Captain Jack Montagfire can do about it.”

Saline returned. It was as if the events of the previous week had never happened. Bear had left the ship with a gibbering wreck slumped over his shoulder and returned with a whale-screamer itching to get back to work at his side.

They headed south. Tracker Dick claimed he had spotted a large pod of belugas on the Kaku device. He’d found a weak point in the fabric of space-time, which would allow the vortex driver to open a wormhole big enough to let the entire pod through. That was enough to capture Montagfire’s interest and persuade him to take a short detour on the way to Edo. A pod that size would feed the entire population of the capital for a month. He would get the Emperor’s accolade for sure.

That night in Tracker Dick’s cabin, Cope told Saline that Montagfire was planning to use the machine on him again.

       “There is no way I am touching that thing,” said Saline. “It knocked my whole universe out of sync last time.”

       Tracker Dick leaned forward conspiratorially and said in a whisper, “He’s going to make you, Saline. His life depends on it.”

Saline’s eyes widened and he shook his head. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Why do you think he really got you recalibrated?”

“Montagfire told me he recalibrated me because I’m the best there is.”

Dick threw a glance at Cope and they both roared with laughter. When they finally settled down Cope took a chug from his Porter then leaned forward and spoke to Saline through his teeth.

       “Any fish hole can scream a whale,” he said. “He could easily have thrown you to the Ainu master’s red-eyed wolves in Sapporo or tipped you overboard and picked up another screamer in Sado.”

“But he didn’t,” said Tracker Dick.

“He wanted to see if he can change his fate,” said Cope.

“But, now he knows he can’t do that,” said Tracker Dick. “Not even the Ainu master could change the prediction of the Speaker of Death.”

       “Now, it is too much of a risk for him to take his eyes off you,” said Cope.

       “What do you mean?” whined Saline.

       “You haven’t figured it out yet?” said Tracker Dick.

“Figured what out?”

“Your name is on Montagfire’s card,” hissed Helius Cope.

Saline’s eyes widened with fear. “I-I-I…”

“You are the one who is going to kill Montagfire.”

Saline drew back shaking his head. “No. No. That can’t be. Have you seen it? Have you actually seen the card?” His eyes hopped from face to face across the table as Tracker Dick, and Helius Cope nodded in unison.

       “How on earth am I going to kill Montag—?”

“What are you afraid of, Saline?” A cool voice spoke from behind them. Saline, Dick, and Cope turned to see Montagfire standing in the cabin doorway. Bear was behind him, his forearms pulsing and his fingers flexing.

Cope kicked back his chair and it fell to the floor. “I’m right, aren’t I, Montagfire?”

“You’ve got it all wrong, Cope,” said Montagfire, drawing his sword.”

Helius Cope swaggered up to Montagfire until their faces were inches apart. “You think I’m afraid of that sword? I am afraid of nothing, Montagfire. I figured it out. You can kill me, go ahead. But you know as well as I do. Killing me will send you hurtling towards your own death, because I am the only one standing between you and Saline now. Isn’t that right?”

A flame flickered in Montagfire’s eyes. He sheathed his sword and reached into his jimbei for the machine.

“Go on,” he said, offering it to Cope. “Do it.” Then looking at Saline. “See who is lying.”

Cope made a grab for the machine, but before he could lay his hands on it Bear surged forward, pushed Montagfire aside, and wrestled it from his hand.

“Bear! What the—What are you doing?”

Bear, holding the machine in his great paw of a hand, snarled at Cope. “No one should hear the Speaker of Death,” he said. And then he was gone.

“Bear!” yelled Montagfire racing after him. “Come back!” He flew up the steps and through the galley towards the main deck. Behind him raced Helius Cope, Tracker Dick, and Saline in that order.

Bear was standing at the mouth of the great sperm whale when they finally caught up with him. He held the Speaker of Death in one hand, and with the other he eased the mouth of the whale open. Its razor sharp teeth glittered in the sunlight, and a foul stench wafted across the deck. Bear rolled his shoulder and drew his other arm back preparing to launch the Speaker of Death back down that broad passage into the belly of the whale from whence it came.

Montagfire drew his sword. “Stop, I say, or I will smite you down.”

Bear turned his bulky head on his muscular neck to look back at Montagfire. “No you won’t,” he said.

In the next instant Bear followed through, hurling the Speaker of Death back down the throat of the whale like a bowling ball down an alley. With outlandish momentum Montagfire lunged forward. Bear stepped aside and the crew watched in horror as Captain Montagfire went hurtling headlong into the mouth, down the throat, and into the belly of the whale after the Speaker of Death.

Bear slammed the mouth of the whale shut and wiped his hands clean on his jimbei. Cope’s mouth widened into a grin, Tracker Dick clapped his hands in the air and danced in a circle whooping and hollering, and Saline just stood in a state of incredulity as Bear set about preparing the winch.

“Don’t just stand there, Saline,” said Cope. Get yourself ready for the scream of the century.”

Within minutes Saline was back in the screamer’s seat on the bow of the ship. Helius Cope fired up the Vortex Driver. Bear used his powerful arms to winch the whale up into position and they all stood on deck and waited for Tracker Dick and his Kaku device to spot a handy glitch in the fabric of space-time.

“Nine, seven, eleven…” yelled Dick.

“Now!” yelled Cope.

The vortex driver forced open the wormhole and Saline screamed into it with all the energy he could muster.

Bear let go of the winch handle, releasing the sperm whale from the beamer. The massive cetacean hung in stasis above them on the rim of the wormhole.

“It’s not responding,” said Helius Cope.

“Scream harder, Saline,” yelled Tracker Dick. “Give it all you’ve got.”

Saline opened his mouth wider. The scream intensified in pitch forcing his epiglottis to thrash in his throat like a mad rattlesnake.

The whale stirred. Its tail flicked. Then a fountain of spray shot through the blowhole. It arched its back and in one sleek dive, the largest sperm whale ever to have existed in their universe chased the sonic scream back through the wormhole and disappeared into the labyrinthine loops of the multiverse, with Montagfire, his sword, and the Speaker of Death lodged in its throat.

Four days later the Spectrum Samurai approached the Kyuushu Cluster with Helius Cope at the helm. The crew was making preparations to haul in a massive pod of beluga from across the multiverse. Beluga was a rare delicacy throughout the Floating Cities of Japan and if they were successful, they would present it to the Emperor for the End of the Century Banquet. It would also mean they could avoid execution under the Emperor’s Invalidity Law. They might even pick up an accolade or two in Montagfire’s place.

Bear stood with his thick arms folded on the gunwale looking up at the night sky when Saline appeared behind him. The porpoise, the narwhal, and the giant turtle glimmered above them and they stood there in silent contemplation of the ancient constellations for a long while before either of them spoke.

“I’ve been working on my scream,” said Saline. “We should be able to bag the entire pod.”

Bear turned to Saline and smiled. “There is a chill in the air,” he said. “The season is changing.”

“He’s coming back, isn’t he?”

“Montagfire always comes back,” said Bear. “That is Montagfire. You can’t get rid of him that easily.”

“That was what I was afraid of,” said Saline.

Bear placed his great paw on Saline’s shoulder, making him shudder under the weight.

“And what about the machine?” said Saline, looking up into Bear’s large black onyx eyes. “What about the Speaker of Death?”

“I’m sure that is the last we’ll see of it,” said Bear. Then he turned inward for a moment and his eyes clouded over. “Unless…”

“Unless?”

Bear put his hand on Saline’s shoulder, and gently shook his head. “Unless I am wrong,” he said. “Unless we are all wrong.”

###