The Sinners of Erspia

Once in his ship, he uncoupled it from the projector station. With a low whine the manoeuvring engine carried it through the darkness. Switching an external screen to infrared, he spotted the cleft in the canopy where he had planned to land. Softly, the cargo ship settled through the gargantuan trees and on to a moss-like surface.

Donning infrared goggles, he left the ship and set off. It was not long before he found the stream that led to the prisoner compound. In less than half an hour, he had arrived.

Cautiously he surveyed the enclosure through his goggles. Raucous snoring came from the cages.

Incredibly, there were no guards at all. The domed clearing was empty of fairies. Presumably they relied on the strength of the cages to hold their captives.

Using a small flashlight, he sidled up to the nearest cage wherein slept the gnome he had talked with earlier. He directed the beam into the cage.

The creature was lying down, but was not asleep. The gnome had been waiting for him. Bulging eyes stared back over a rounded shoulder.

Laedo had a cutting tool in his pocket. Stealthily the gnome climbed to his feet and watched as the vibrating blade sliced easily through the thick timbers of the prisoner cage.

"Fairies could not do that," he whispered hoarsely, as if in appreciation.

"Do not wake the others," Laedo whispered back.

The bars fell away. The gnome stepped through and stood on the moss, looking about him and snuffing the air.

“Free,” he whispered. "Free."

He looked again at Laedo. The ferocity in his eyes made Laedo wonder if he meant to kill his rescuer and free his own comrades. Laedo's hand went to the butt of his gun. But the gnome did not move.

Laedo gestured. “Follow me."

He kept the gnome in sight as they left the clearing and made their way along the bank of the stream by the dim flashlight. When they came to his cargo vessel he widening the flashlight beam and let the gnome see the humped shape. The gnome was clearly astonished. He stepped forward and ran his hand over the skin of the hull.

“How do you make such a big shape?” he said in his rasping voice.

“It would take a long time to explain. As I told you, I come from a world which is neither yours nor the fairies. A world a long, long way from here. I have no interest in your world, or in the fairies’ world. I simply aim to return home."

The gnome took this in without comment, but with no sign of puzzlement. It was as if he digested the information and simply accepted it.

Laedo gestured the gnome to follow and mounted the steps to the port, opening it. With an air of mystification his new companion entered the cargo ship and padded down the short passage to the main cabin.

Arms akimbo, the gnome stood in the middle of the room, mouth open as he looked about him, eyes narrowed in concentration.

“You live here?"

“This is not a house,” Laedo informed him. “It is a vehicle for travelling from place to place."

For the first time he inspected the single body-garment the gnome wore. It clung to his torso from shoulders to groin, and appeared to be made of greenish-coloured woven metal. Perhaps chain mail for protection against arrows, he thought.

He pointed to a couch. “Sit there. We're going up into the sky, to your own world."

He heard a gasp from the gnome as he switched on the external screen and the dark forest was revealed, dimly illumined by the ship's lights. The huge boles slid by as he lifted off using the manoeuvring engine.

Then they were in the open air, stars shining through the ring-like gap between the two world-hemispheres.

At first the manoeuvring engine met little difficulty in raising the ship against Erspia's low gravity. Then, about a quarter of the way across the gap, the gravity field suddenly intensified. This answered another of Laedo's questions. The fairies had told him they were unable to fly to the upper world, even had they wanted to. He had assumed they did not have the stamina for such a long climb, but now he saw there was a different cause. The planetoid had two gravity levels. Up to a certain height gravity was slight, enabling the fairies to fly. Beyond that, a stronger field took hold, confining them to their world. It would also, he reflected, hem in the atmosphere—as well as prevent the fairies from launching themselves into space.

The engine groaned, but was able to cope with the increased gradient, just as it had on Erspias 1 and 2.

Then, as it passed the midpoint, the ship suddenly appeared to be descending. Laedo flipped the vessel over so as to gain his bearings, bringing the other landscape below him.

He started nervously as the gnome left the couch and came to stand close by him. But the creature appeared to be offering no threat. He stared out of the screen at his homeland, glancing at the controls as Laedo manipulated them.

“What is your name?” Laedo asked, attempting a friendly tone.

“I am called Ruzzok."

“I am Laedo."