Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 21:00:50 -0800 (PST)
From: Corrinne S <quasito_cat@yahoo.com>
Subject: The Red Orb of Pern - Part 12

The Red Orb of Pern

M.C. Gordon

Disclaimer is attached to the beginning of this
series.  This is fan fiction written for a friend who
enjoys Anne McCaffrey's Pern as much as I do.  Someone
gracefully informed me today that while Ms. M. allows
fan-fic, she does not allow the use of her established
names for places and people.  I was unaware of her
restrictions and deeply apologize to the lady and
Nifty for mentioning specific Weyrs and characters.  I
assume full responsibility and have altered this
installment to eliminate those references.  No insult
or infringement was intended.

Chapter 37

   "Which way should we go?" Julani asked as they
entered the cavern.

   "Well," M'chell replied, "I remember that we stayed
to the left.  If the other tunnels branch off like
that one did we should probably go in two's down the
other two."

   "Raganth?" he asked, "can you and Ammorth listen
for Andren and Julani?"

   "We will listen if they think very hard," was the
response.

   "L'del and I will take the right tunnel," M'chell
told his friends.  "Andren, you and Julani follow the
other one.  If you find anything, concentrate on the
dragons and they'll hear you and let us know where you
are."

   The two craftsmen didn't question M'chell's
directions.  If he said the dragons would hear them,
then the dragons would.  Nothing surprised them
anymore.

   They split into two groups and followed their
assigned tunnels.  M'chell and L'del hadn't gone very
far when Raganth and Ammorth both passed on an urgent
message from Andren.

   "They say they found something."

   The two dragon riders rushed back down the length
of the tunnel and made a sharp right turn in the
direction their friends had taken.  Andren's face was
pale as they entered the room they hadn't found years
before.

   "This is where it began, I'm sure of it," the
Healer said.  "Look."

   They looked where he pointed.  The sides of the
room were littered with broken shells.  Shelves were
lined with containers which had been dissolving for
centuries.

   "Masterhealer Benaren needs to see this," Andren
said, "but I think this must be where it started.
Julani and I found footprints leading here."

   "Raganth, would you be so kind as to contact Fith
and have him tell the Masterhealer's brown fire lizard
Sith that a dragon is going to meet him and convey him
here?" M'chell asked his dragon.  The dragons could
convey messages far faster than drum messages could
travel, and M'chell didn't want to raise either the
curiosity or hopes of anyone who could clearly hear
the drums.

   "L'noth and Tarenth will bring the man," Raganth
replied.  "The Weyrleader wishes this to come to an
end.  I `told' you all the dragons wanted to help!"

   M'chell couldn't help but chuckle at the gentle
rebuke.  "Thank L'noth and Masterhealer Benaren for
me," he said.

   They decided to go back to the room they had found
years before while they waited for the Healer to
arrive.  Even with Tarenth going `between', it would
still take a little time for it was night at Healer
Hall and the Masterhealer would have to be wakened.

Chapter 38

   "It's just like I remembered it," L'del remarked as
the four young men entered their own secret room.

   "Some of the instruments have deteriorated more,"
Julani said.  "It's probably because we let light and
air in when we opened the door the first time.  And
you were right, L'del," he added, turning to his
friend of fifteen years.  "Everything needed to stay
right here.  I've been a Harper long enough now to
realize the value of these artifacts."

   "I've seen this somewhere else," M'chell remarked
as he crossed the room and looked at the bright red
jewel he'd found years earlier.

   Andren joined him.  "It looks just like the one in
the tapestry in the dining room at Harper Hall," he
said.  "I wonder if one of the craft masters would
know if it's the same thing."

   "If what's the same thing?" Masterhealer Benaren
asked, entering the chamber.

   "We're so glad you came," Andren said.  "We think
we might have found where the plague came from.  But
look at this," he added indicating the jewel.  "Do you
know what it is?  It looks like the thing in the
tapestry."

   The Masterhealer picked it up and examined it
closely.  "I believe this was indeed the model for
that object.  It's a very odd shape.  I've no idea of
its purpose, though.  Do you believe this is connected
to our mysterious illness."

   "No, Masterhealer," M'chell said.  "We were just
looking around in here while we waited for you and
L'noth to arrive.  Julani and Andren found another
room, down a different tunnel.  They think it's the
room the boys entered."

   "Then lead me to it," the healer said.  "Any clue
at all will help us in our battle."

   They joined the Weyrleader at the door to the small
cavern and started toward the other room when a fair
of fire lizards appeared, chirping loudly at something
that had begun to agitate them.

   "What the...?"  L'noth asked.  "M'chell, will you
see if you can calm them?  We don't have time to put
up with their nonsense."

   "I'll ask Raganth to try," the golden rider agreed.
 "But they don't always listen to him."

   "They want you to see another room," the dragon
replied.  "Shall I tell them to go away?"

   "Tell them we'll look at their room later."

Chapter 39

   Andren and Julani led the way toward the room they
had discovered, explaining that they had followed the
boys' footprints, when the fire lizards again accosted
them.  M'chell put his hands up to protect his face
for they were pulling at his hair and clothes.

   "I think they very much want you to see their
room," Raganth spoke in his mind.  "They want you to
know that they remember something in the room.  Why
can't I go inside with you?"

   "You're too big," M'chell told him. "And how can
they remember something in the cave?  Were they here
with Tomin and his friends?"

   There was no time for Raganth to answer before the
Weyrleader turned to M'chell and said, "Go with them
and see what's got them so excited," L'noth told him.
"If they were in here with the boys they might have
seen something."

   "I'll go with you," L'del offered.  Half of the
fire lizards instantly surrounded him and started
pulling at his tunic.

   "I've never seen fire lizards behave like this
before," M'chell's voice echoed as he and L'del
retreated down the tunnel, pulled along by the
diminutive creatures."

   They followed several twists and turns until L'del
remarked to his love, "I hope they can get us back out
of here.  I'm all turned around and don't know where
we are."

   "They're certainly worked up over this room of
theirs.  Do you suppose they really know something, or
is it just their curiosity?"

   They were now deep into the cave, their footsteps
echoing in the eerie silence.  They reached out and
clasped hands as they walked.

   The fire lizards finally stopped pulling at them
and disappeared `between'.  They returned seconds
later, fussing at the dragon riders.  M'chell and
L'del saw a door in front of them, located the latch,
and pushed against it.

   "It's either locked or stuck," M'chell said.

   Three of the small creatures went `between' again
and re-appeared with the red jewel in their claws.
Dropping it into M'chell's hands, they flitted around
the door.

   "What?" he asked them aloud.  "What does this have
to do with the room?"

   "They say it opens the door," Raganth told him.

   M'chell looked at the jewel again.  Now that he
thought about it, it really did look like a key.  He
located the keyhole in the door and inserted one end
of the jewel.  And the door opened.

   L'del held his glowbasket high and the two men
looked at the contents of the room.  The walls were
lined with shelves filled with very ancient artifacts
in extremely good condition.  M'chell took one of them
down and looked at it.  It  proclaimed in bold print
`Symptomology and Treatment of Poliomyletes'.  The
dragon rider put it down and took another labeled
`Diagnosing Radiation Poisoning'.

L'del put the glowbasket down and joined his partner.
There were endless volumes of incomprehensible
information: `The Pharmacological Handbook', `A
Comprehensive History of the Eradication of Smallpox',
`Tragedy or Triumph? Medical Experimentation'.

Chapter 40

     "I still don't understand why L'del, Julani,
Andren and I didn't get sick," M'chell said to the
master healer several days later.

     "There's been so much information to absorb that
I'm not sure myself," the Masterhealer replied as he
sipped his glass of fine white wine.  "I believe that
the jeweled key you found when you entered the cave as
children might have something to do with it.  It was
mined on Pern so it contained certain native elements.
 The contaminated containers in the room the other
boys found had been leaking for centuries.  I think
their fumes infused the jewel with something that gave
it some kind of protective properties.  You were
probably immunized by being exposed to it.  I'm just
relieved that the fire lizards led you to the room
with the healer information.  Healer Hall couldn't
have worked out a way to save people from dying if
they hadn't been so adamant."

     The four young men were relaxing in the common
room of Weyr with the masters of Healer and Harper
Halls, their Weyrleaders, and many weyrfolk who were
on the road to recovery.  No Thread had fallen across
Pern for three days.  No more deaths had occurred
since Benaren had issued his recommendation on
treatment of the afflicted.

     Lurah was recovering although it would be a while
before she could take bubbly pies to her newest foster
children.  The role had become reversed and four
eight-year old boys were bustling about her,
determined to grant her every whim.

     Davis, still very weak but also very determined,
was sitting with his foster fathers.  "I decided I
want to be a healer AND a dragon rider," he announced.

     "Really?" M'chell asked, running his hand across
the stubble of read hair that was beginning to grow.
"Think you can handle both?"

     "I gotta," the boy replied.  "I can be a healer
for myself and a bronze rider for Tomin."  His voice
started to break as he thought of his twin.  He was
immediately caught in an embrace by M'chell and L'del.

     "Hey!  Gotta breathe here!" Davis exclaimed.

     M'chell and L'del glanced at each other over
Davis's head.  They had been through so much and it
had brought them closer than they could have imagined.

     "If you're ready, Davis, I think we should be
getting you to bed," M'chell said.  "If you're going
to achieve such high aspirations you need to sleep and
continue to heal."

     "Now?" the child asked.

     "Now," L'del replied.

     M'chell picked the boy up and L'del settled him
across his back.  The paralysis had begun to set in
before the Masterhealer could find a way to halt the
progress of the illness and it would be several
seven-days before the boy would be able to walk on his
own.

     "He will Impress," the two dragon riders heard
from Raganth and Ammorth.

The end.

I have started a sequel to this story but it will take
a little time before I have it finished.  It will not
mention the established weyrs or holds of Pern.