Tales of Nightwatch, First Book
Chapter I
The moisture condensed on the ceiling, here and there forming into droplets large enough to fall down. In the dim, red light, I could see them landing heavily on Goker's concentrated face. "What's wrong with it?" I asked. Through clenched teeth he replied: "The cryptation key was set to update too late, darnit." The radio felt heavy in my weary arms as I stood there holding it for Goker, but we all knew what would happen if we lost communications for too long. Mahud and Fredelios probably had no idea of the current issue though, Mahud sleeping in the driver seat and Fredelios scanning the night for dangers through our tank's top cupola.
"HQ, this is the Night Watch. Communication check, over," Goker spoke to the radio. Some seconds of looming silence, apart from the generator noises, went by. "This is HQ, you are loud, but unclear, over," the radio fizzled back. "Same message in return. Otherwise nothing to report. End. Inox, you can put the radio back now, well done." I placed the behemoth device back in its bracket and shared some of my precious water with Goker. We sat in our seats for a while and gave our eyes some rest. Just when I was about to fall asleep, Goker told me to wake Mahud and tell him it was time to get rolling again. Oh well. I crawled through the oily passage to the driver compartment and knocked on Mahud's helmet. He didn't need to be told what to do, and I didn't really bother to tell him either. I found my way back to my seat and he started up the engine. Goker had taken the position at the cupola and sent Fred back to his seat by the gun. The brakes were undone and the combustion of diesel propelled our tank forward.
"What's that thing on the road ahead?" Mahud asked on the internal communication system. Fredelios leaned over to take a look through the night optics. "Uhm, it looks like some sort of roadblock. Want me to blast it, Goker?" I did a quick scan of the ammunition racks, confirming that the right shells were in the right place. Nobody dared mess with my system, ever. This I did in the split second it took Goker to figure out his response...
Chapter II
"Destroy it! Roadblocks don't belong on roads, I tell you," Goker told Fredelios. By the time he finished talking, I was loading an explosive shell into the gun. Stepping aside, I gave the signal to Fredelios, and he sent high velocity destruction into the roadblock. Our tank leapt forward and swept aside the remainders. Victory! Goker reported the incident to the HQ and our patrol continued. It was a night of little activity; few wanderers were seen, and none bothered to approach us. After a couple hours, we stopped for routine maintenance. Fredelios hopped up in the cupola to keep an overwatch, Mahud and I tightened the bolts on the tracks, and Goker wrote in the journal.
The tracks were at first visible only by the dim, red light of my headlamp, but at some point I suddenly realized there was another light source around. I tilted my head upwards and was overcome with awe. The dark clouds had given way, and celestial curtains of green light ranged across the sky. The northern lights; the Aurora. I almost jumped up on the tank and opened the hatch and said with excitement in my voice: "Goker, the sign is here!" Without a word, he pushed me aside to see for himself. Fredelios and Mahud too, were looking at the vast, playful bands in the sky. Goker was the first to speak: "Skip the maintenance. This is what we have been waiting for, men of the Night Watch. We can all now see that the Aurora originates in the west. Mahud, take us to America!"
Not only had we found the great sign, we were also allowed to skip maintenance. Overall a pretty good shift. Fredelios and I opened a hatch to get a better view. Above us the aurora danced parallell with our direction, on our sides awestruck nocturnals had crept out of their hiding places to gaze at the sight in the sky. Ahead laid the bridge to America, a construction of gold, marble, and freedom. This bridge however, was a drawbridge, and it was lifted. How would we cross to America now? As our tank slowed down to a halt, a familiar figure emerged from the shadows. Through the internal communication system, I heard Goker draw his breath...
Chapter III
Mr. NomNom adjusted the visor of his cap and displayed a haughty grin. "I have been expecting you, Goker of the Night Watch. I take it you would like to cross over to America?" "That's, right," Goker replied. "Aha, just as I expected!" Mr. NomNom cried out. "But no man crosses to America without paying a price, and in particular not you, Goker of the Night Watch. On several occasions I would already be master of Reveran were it not for the diligence of you and your Night Watch." "And what a place Reveran would be under your rule. My actions were necessary and just. Now, name your price." Mahud, Fredelios and I had been holding our breaths for a while. Above us the aurora still painted the night sky and cast an eerie light on the scene. Had we focused on it, we would have seen the glimmers of America on the far side of the bridge. Mr. NomNom finally spoke: "A chair made of mahogany. Give me this and the passage will be opened." "Very well," Goker said in return, and we withdrew a short distance to discuss the matter.
A chair of mahogany? Where in all the worlds would we get that? Fredelios humbly suggested they might have some in Zendar, but this was abruptly rejected by Mahud: "Pfft, there is not a splinter of mahogany in Zendar, nor in any of the other lands bordering Reveran. Pizzaland is the closest place we can find it on short notice." Goker scratched his head, then nodded. "To make it to Pizzaland and then to America before night turns to day is no trivial matter. Inox, how much time do we have?" I looked at the stars and did some rough calculations. "About five hours, I recon," I said, "so we have to take the shortcut if we are to make it." A few seconds of silence followed. We all knew what taking the shortcut meant, but none of us were eager to speak about it. "The shortcut it is then," Goker decided. "You get two minutes to prepare."
Two minutes later we were rolling southward. From then on, I probably scanned the ammunition racks every minute or so, and Fredelios' eyes were never far from the optics. While driving on any sort of surface was not particularily comfortable in our tank, the shortcut felt more like a rollercoaster than anything at the speed we rolled; good thing our helmets had thick padding. Not much was said on the internal communication system.
