Deathstalker

could live with that.

Sometime later, the jungle fell suddenly away before them, to reveal a large clearing with a huge stone castle in its center. Owen raised an arm to protect his eyes from the direct glare of the sun. The heat was almost blistering away from the protection of the jungle canopy, but he held his ground. He'd come a long way to be here, and besides, it felt good not to have to worry about which direction an attack might come from next. The creatures of the jungle were always there, close at hand, watching and following. Owen's back ached from the constant tension and anticipation of an attack. He lowered his sword and leaned on it gratefully as he studied the castle in the clearing.

It was a huge structure, rising up high enough to hide the jungle behind it, and composed of uncomfortably large blocks of dull gray stone. There were tall thin towers with pointed roofs and crenellated battlements. There was no sign of any activity, or any light at any of the small slit windows, and the single great door was closed. And on top of all that, the whole castle seemed slightly out of focus, seen through the faint shimmer of the force shield that surrounded it. For a long time nobody said anything. Owen looked up at the sky. The sun was bloodred and sinking down toward the tops of the trees. Not long now till night, and whatever new creatures prowled in it.

'So that's the Last Standing of your ancestor, Owen,' said Hazel. 'I'm impressed. How the hell did he manage to build something like that on a planet like this?'

'It wasn't exactly what I was expecting,' Owen admitted. 'He must have had help of some kind.'

'Right,' said Random. 'In case you hadn't noticed, the boundaries of this clearing are extremely distinct. Which suggests it was probably cut using energy weapons. Still doesn't explain where he found all that stone, though.'

'Must have a quarry somewhere,' said Owen.

'Then who worked in it?'

They stared at the castle in silence for a while.

'The force shield's another complication I wasn't expecting,' said Owen. 'The only way to lower a shield like that is from the inside, and we've no guarantee there's any living soul left in there. Since the shield's still up, I think we can safely assume there's some degree of automation. Computers running things on a low priority basis.'

'Must have an amazing power source in there,' said Hazel, 'to be still running things after all these years.'

'Unless somebody else got here first,' said Ruby.

They all considered that.

'The beasts of the jungle acted like they'd encountered energy weapons before,' said Moon. 'And they stopped bothering us the closer we got to the castle and the clearing. If the Empire got here first…'

'Then we're in real trouble,' said Random.

'Nothing could beat my ship here,' said Owen.

'Only one way to find out,' said Ruby, and she stepped out into the clearing, gun in one hand, sword in the other. Two bright glows appeared in windows on either side of the great door. Hazel threw herself at Ruby and knocked her to the ground, and two disrupter beams flashed through the air where she'd been standing and incinerated the trees behind her. They burned fiercely for a moment, and then the flames died down and flickered out. The charred wood smoked gently.

'Tough trees,' said Moon.

'Like everything else on this planet,' said Owen. 'You girls all right?'

'We are not girls,' said Hazel.

'That's for sure,' said Random.

Hazel dragged Ruby back into the shelter of the trees and helped her to her feet. Ruby didn't even nod her thanks, her cold eyes fixed on the castle. The two glows on either side of the door were still there. Ruby raised her gun and then lowered it again.

'Top of the line force shield,' said Owen. 'Lets energy beams out without having to drop the field first. Must use a hell of a lot of power to cover something that large. Certainly we haven't got any weapon that'll bother it.'

'I think we can safely assume that whoever's in there, they're not feeling friendly,' said Hazel, brushing grass and insects from her clothes.

'I don't know,' said Random. 'Those had the feel of warning shots. A computerized defense system would have tracked you no matter how fast you moved and kept on firing till it was sure its target had been eliminated.'

'So what do we do next?' said Hazel. 'Apart from suicide tactics.' She glared at Ruby, who was still ignoring her.

'Communicate,' said Moon. 'People or machines, they might respond to contact.'

'It might also give them something to aim their guns at,' said Hazel.

'She has a point,' said Random.

'We can't just stand around here,' said Owen. 'In case you've forgotten, we've nowhere else to go, except the castle. Either we find a way in, or we live in the jungle. Which doesn't exactly appeal to me. I'm going to go out there unarmed and talk to them. If those are my ancestor's computers, they might react to me. I am a Deathstalker, after all.'

'You go right ahead,' said Hazel. 'Personally, I'm going to find something large to hide behind.'

Owen smiled and couldn't he]p noticing she didn't make a move as he stepped cautiously out into the clearing. He put away his gun and his sword, and held up his hands to show they were empty. He cleared his throat carefully. He didn't want to be misunderstood.

'I am Owen, first of Clan Deathstalker. I come to you in need and danger and call upon you for sanctuary. I bear my Family's ring.'

He held the hand forward, so that the castle sensors could get a clear look at it. Sweat was running down his face again, and it wasn't from the blazing heat of the open clearing. A light appeared in another window, and he had to fight not to flinch. And then all the lights went out, and the force shield snapped off just in front of the door, leaving a clear tunnel open in the shield. Owen blinked and looked back at the others.

'I think that's an invitation. Let's move it, before they change their minds. And people, put away your weapons.'

The rest of the party emerged cautiously from the edge of the jungle and took in the break in the force shield as they reluctantly sheathed their weapons.

'That is not possible,' said Random. 'You can't just lower part of a force shield like that. The field would collapse.'

'Impossible or not, it's there,' said Hazel. 'May I suggest we use it before it disappears and leaves us stranded here?'

'Of course,' said Owen. 'After you.'

'It's your Family and your castle,' Hazel said firmly. 'After you.'

Owen smiled briefly and walked out into the clearing. He could feel the presence of the force field on either side of him, so close he could have reached out his arms and touched it. Little runs of static moved in his clothes and sparked in his hair. He took a deep breath and kept walking. He could hear the others moving close behind him, but he didn't turn to look. It might make him appear nervous, and he had a feeling this would be a bad time to appear to be weak. The castle grew bigger the closer he got to it, until it was looming over him like a mountain. The sheer scale of the place, and the massive size of the stone blocks, made his head ache. He couldn't imagine the army of people and technology it must have taken to build the Last Standing, starting from scratch on a new planet. There were still no lights at any of the windows, no sign of life. He still had the feeling he was being watched. He finally came to a halt before the only door and stared at it thoughtfully: ten feet tall, six feet wide, solid wood studded with some kind of crimson metal, like drops of blood. A disrupter would probably tear right through it, but it looked like it would stop anything else. The others crowded in around him.

'What do we do now?' said Ruby.

'Knock,' said Random. 'Very politely.'

'We may have to,' said Owen. 'There's no handle, or any sensor I can see.'

'Probably doesn't get many visitors out here,' said Random.

'I don't want to worry anyone,' said Hazel quietly, 'but the force field has reestablished itself behind us. We're