one of you. If men like Magellan continue to control our country, then it won’t be long before this all happens again.” Lorenzo squeezed his medallion and felt the unnatural warmth of the metal against his skin. “The wars in the New World almost destroyed Espana. We lost so much. Men, ships, wealth. God only knows how Magellan found the money to build that monstrosity of his.”
“Just be grateful he didn’t think to armor it against super-heated meteorites.” Taziri smiled. “You know, we’ll need to come up with a name for this new metal of yours. Perhaps espanium? Or maybe lorenzium?”
He laughed. “Dear God, I hope not. I’m sure the scientists will come up with something a little less ghastly.”
“What about aetherium?”
Lorenzo nodded. “Why not? That sounds genuine enough, and it won’t bring any of your tourists to my house for autographs.” He turned his medallion over to look at the discolored patch along the bottom edge. “There’s a legend about something like this. In ancient times there was a magical metal called orichalcum, a reddish gold more precious than any gem. I wonder if this is what they were talking about?”
“Could be.”
“You know, the city of Tartessos is built on the ruins of another, older city. The old city of Atlantia was destroyed so long ago that no one remembers why. There are a dozen different stories about earthquakes and tidal waves and fires.” He held up the medallion to the light. “You don’t suppose the entire city was destroyed by a lump of aetherium, do you?”
“Entirely possible. A magic metal that falls from the sky? I’ll bet every place in the world has a myth or legend about this stuff.”
“You’re probably right.” Lorenzo’s smile faded into a frown. “You’re right. If this aetherium has been falling from the sky all over the world as far as the Incan Empire, then there should be stories about it. It should be known. It should even be common. But it isn’t. It’s a myth, barely even a memory. Why is that? Does it all end up lost or destroyed like the skyfire stone? I mean, where has all the aetherium gone?”
Taziri raised an eyebrow. “I think that’s a question for another day. Get some rest. I’ll be back in a little while and we’ll write a little note to your wife. A friend of mine volunteered to fly up to Madrid to deliver your mail for you.”
“You have another plane?”
“No, just a good old-fashioned airship.” Taziri smiled.
“That sounds lovely. Thank you. And can you do me a favor?”
“Name it.”
“Go give that daughter of yours a hug from me. And tell her I’m sorry I kept her mother away for so long.”
Epilogue: Taziri
“What?” the Marshal General muttered to the colonel next to her. “No, we’re not going to wait for her again. I want to get out of here on time for once. Are you ready? Fine. Let’s just start.” She cleared her throat and projected her voice across the room. “I hereby call to order this hearing to review the events of investigation 1875-F-08. Captain Taziri Ohana?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Taziri nodded from her seat. On her left, Kenan sat with his hands folded in his lap and a dark frown troubling his face. On her right, Major Isoke Geroubi sat rifling through her papers, reading them carefully with her one good eye, the one that had survived the fire. Someone had said once that the scar would look dangerous and sexy, but Taziri couldn’t quite see the allure of her friend’s eye patch. “I’ve reviewed the case files to date.”
“Yes. I have here your request for certain information regarding Major Zidane. You understand of course that I cannot release that information to you in writing, but I can provide you with some answers here today, behind closed doors.” The general leaned back in her seat and poked one of the stems of her gold-rimmed glasses into the corner of her mouth. “Let’s just walk through the events of last month and try to fill in the gaps as we go. Now, we know that Lieutenant Agyeman was flying the Halcyon when you arrived over Valencia. You then took the controls when you sighted the Espani warship, Arkangel. This panel agrees with your decision to inspect the ship and to report it to us on your return to Tingis. Were you still in control of the aircraft when it was fired upon, captain?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“But you were unable to avoid the ship’s fire. You then succeeded in landing safely away from Valencia, disabling the aircraft against capture, and leading your passengers to a safe location with a Mister Lorenzo Quesada.”
“ Don Lorenzo, general.”
“Mm hm. You did this over the objections of Major Zidane. Also a good decision on your part. However, it’s at this point that the story falls apart for us, captain. While the major and Lieutenant Agyeman proceeded south to alert us to the danger of the warship, you led your passengers several hundred miles farther north to assist Mister Quesada in his search for a religious artifact. Is that correct?”
Taziri took a slow breath to collect her thoughts. “Yes, ma’am. Major Zidane, Don Lorenzo, and I were in agreement that the Espani military would pursue us with the intent to arrest, interrogate, and possibly execute us as spies. With no other assets or options, I agreed to accompany Don Lorenzo to Zaragoza where we hoped the remote location would prevent our capture. It was certainly not an ideal course of action, but at the time it did seem safest for our passengers.” She frowned. I hate talking like that. I sound like a damn machine.
“And you were pursued by an agent of the Espani military, so it would seem your concerns were justified. But you then left Zaragoza, with your passengers, and spent several days climbing through the Pyrenees Mountains where two of your passengers, a Mister Dante Aligeri and a Miss Shahera Zahd, were killed by the military agent.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“And that occurred while you and Mister Quesada were, quote, fighting a pair of giant hairy ape-men, unquote.”
Taziri nodded.
“And then you pursued the military agent back to Valencia where you recovered the Halcyon with the assistance of Mister Quesada’s wife, while Mister Quesada recovered his religious artifact from the agent.”
“I thought it was my duty to ensure that the military did not acquire the artifact, which appeared to have military applications.”
“And that was your professional assessment of the object, as an engineer?”
“It was.”
Major Geroubi looked up. “From the evidence collected, I agree with the captain’s assessment about the object. The so-called skyfire stone.”
The general squinted up at them and glanced back down at her papers. “At any rate, you then proceeded south to Tingis. The events that followed in the Strait are not in dispute, there being hundreds of eyewitness accounts on file. Now, regarding Major Zidane. Lieutenant Agyeman?”
Kenan cleared his throat. “Yes, ma’am?”
“When you discovered the Arkangel near Gibraltar, the major swam to the ship by himself to attempt to disable the vessel, according to your report. This panel is well aware of the major’s service record and we have no difficulty believing that the major would attempt such a thing, regardless of the possibility of success.”
Kenan smirked and shook his head.
“You also stated that you disabled several navigational buoys around Gibraltar in the hopes that the Arkangel might be damaged by running aground.”
“That’s right. I mean yes, ma’am.”
“And the next morning, the Arkangel proceeded south from Gibraltar toward the Mazigh coast at flank speed, crashing through several commercial fishing vessels and freighters before being destroyed by Mister Quesada’s so- called artifact. We’ve had several officers from the Arkangel testify that Major Zidane did indeed board the warship
