Space Knights: The Arrival

of the sleep chamber with Chorus’s help. He stood very shakily on the ground and looked around at the lush fields and the rather ugly gash in the ground that the chamber had made as it came down to land. He took more deep breaths of fresh air, feeling more and more awake and energized with every breath. Gradually he steadied himself and stood at his full height of five foot, eleven inches.
Finally the questions that he really wanted to know came out again. “What happened to the ship? Where is my family?”
“It seems that a Boulthorian ship, they’re from a rather nasty planet just a few light-years from here, attacked a couple of your Earth ships. The ship you were on was probably one of them. The news said that they destroyed both of them. There were some survivors from one of the ships. They must have landed in these small escape craft like that one,” he said indicating the chamber Trance had just climbed out of. He looked at Trance and continued, “I think that there is some kind of register of people that are missing from the ships, just in case there are any more survivors. If I remember right there haven’t been any more. I guess you’d be the first since they all landed.”
Trance took a moment to process what he had just heard. Fear grabbed his heart as he thought about his family. Obviously his family had been on one of the ships that had been attacked. Questions buzzed in his head. What had happened to cause the attack? Surely the ships couldn’t be seen as a threat of any kind. How many survivors were there? Is it possible that his family had survived? If so, where were they? Would they be looking for him? What if they had not survived? What would he do then? The questions zapped energy from him and he looked to sit down a moment.
“Here let me help you,” said Chorus kindly as he saw Trance sway and look for a place to sit. Chorus guided him to a nearby stump and helped him sit. Then inspiration hit him. “How about you come with me to my house? You can stay there until we find out if your family made it and where they are. It’s been all over our news about those Earth ships. Some of your leaders have been assisting the king, and many of your people have been blending in.” Chorus glanced at his chron and suddenly remembered breakfast. Maxine would be waiting for him by now. Then it hit him as he looked at Trance bent over as he sat on the stump. You fool, he thought, that boy is probably starving just sitting here talking to you. Look at him he’s so weak, he can’t stand for very long. “You’re probably hungry,” Chorus offered cordially. “Why don’t you come with me back to the house? You can stay with my family until we find yours.”
“Alright,” said Trance glancing up. Up to this moment he was just lost in thought thinking about his family. Now that it had been brought up, yes he did feel hungry, very hungry. Without thinking he reached down and touched his stomach as it started to rumble. Suddenly he looked and gasped. He had just noticed the robot horse standing a few feet away. “Wow! You have robot animals?”
“Oh, we’ve had robot horses and other robot animals for work and transportation for centuries. Maybe our technology is a bit different from yours,” responded Chorus as he walked up to the robot horse and patted it. “Our transportation is mainly by robot horses or oxen. There are even some good robot mules. You can either ride them or hook them up to pull a carriage, chariot, wagon or coach. This is my plow horse, that’s what I was doin’ before I caught sight of that thing,” he said, pointing at the chamber again.
He continued, “Our military has some really sleek horses and some that are winged for flight. Well, enough of that, I’m hungry and you’re right starved. Come on, we’ll ride to the house and we can continue talking,” Chorus helped Trance stand again and brought him to the horse. Chorus mounted first and then helped Trance climb on behind him. He took the controls and started the horse. In moments the two were on their way to the house.
Chorus continued to discuss the various robot animals, most for civilian use, and some that he knew the military used. Trance’s mind whirred as he heard of robot unicorns, various types of riding horses, and some that he imagined were like Clydesdales that worked together in teams to pull the largest wagons and coaches. “Not to mention,” Chorus added, “they even make oxen and mule teams. Off over there you can see the tracks for the mule train. It comes past about four times a week,” he said pointing to the south. “Oh, I don’t think we use them, but there have been rumors that the Boulthorians have robot dragons. I hope I never see one of them.”
The idea of dragons struck Trance rather curiously. If they have robot horses and dragons, “What is your military like, what do they use?” he finally asked.
“Our military isn’t very interesting. It hasn’t changed much for eons. Our main military is made up of knights of various degrees. And there are the local sheriff departments that provide local security.”
Trance looked at Chorus, surprised, and tried to comprehend. This planet had robot animals for transportation, yet had knights for its military. There had been knights on Earth in the past, approximately five to seven hundred years before Trance had been born. He had studied that part of history quite well for years. It was his favorite subject. He would have loved to be a knight. Trance asked, trying to understand, “You mean with swords, shields, spears, bows and arrows?”
Chorus replied, just as surprised that Trance knew