Space Knights: The Arrival by Gregory Samuelson (buy e reader .TXT) 📕

were custom-built and much larger and more powerful than the horse on the Markem’s farm. They were sleeker than the ordinary horses ridden to town by the regular citizens and much more armored. He also heard that they had a hidden weapon system that could be used by the riding knight or run automatically by the horse’s computer to defend itself on a battlefield. Even as well armed and armored as the knights and pawns were, they told him that it was still extremely dangerous.

Another amazing thing that he noticed was to see farmers dressed in faded and frayed leather or canvas pants and cotton or wool work shirts walking around town among the business people in their fine linen clothing and the knights and pawns in armor. It was so different to see the unusual combination of people in town acting just as normal as could be. In a large way Trance thought he had just entered a vast Renaissance festival. Adding to the mix of people’s fashion, the ladies leaned toward a combination of bohemian and Renaissance with a touch of gothic. He noticed that butterfly sleeves and split sleeves were the rage. For boys and men the fashion was more basic, t-shirts and canvas pants in blue and brown tones. The wealthy and affluent wore more elaborate garb. The colors ranged from basic to bright and colorful to dark muted tones.

It also took a little time for him to get used to all of the robot animals that were used for transportation. Individuals usually rode a variety of robot horses, from swift ponies to more powerful stallions. Families were often seen coming out of carts or carriages pulled by robot horses or mules. Trance even saw a few sleek and swift-looking two-person chariots, as well as the occasional more luxurious coach. Some of these pulled vehicles were like those he remembered out of the past, while others were more like automobiles being pulled either by a single robot animal or a team of them. All seemed to have a pneumatic tire on a spoked wheel and modern suspension. It was all so fascinating how everything seemed to fit and work together. Soon it was normal to him as well. He only wished his family were with him.

He knew that Chorus had sent a letter to the government committee taking care of the people of Earth. Unknown to Trance, Chorus had unintentionally misspelled his name and reported that the ship Trance was from was the Spartan XV, due to the letters he could make out on Trance’s deep sleep chamber. In their talks Trance was having fun and was too distracted to think to correct Chorus the night he wrote the letter and mailed it.

When he was back at the farm, Trance started to read the books that the Markems had and the ones he’d bought in town. He also worked with Martin and the girls to learn more and more about Althora and the kingdoms on the planet. He learned more about the nearby planets and their kingdoms. He wanted to get himself ready to go to school. He wanted to go so badly. He really wanted to take the knight classes and start learning how to be a knight. But he couldn’t predict where he’d go to school and how well he’d do in the knight class.

Chapter 6

A Time for Action

It happened near the end of summer. Trance had been having one of the best summers he’d ever had. The summer just seemed to go on and on. Trance had learned about the Althorian calendar and that the seasons were longer than those he was used to.

The Markems had checked into getting Trance a new birthday. By the Althorian calendar he would turn eighteen on the fourteenth of Nothemtree, the third month in Auburn. Trance and Martin had become such good friends that they went everywhere together. Martin took Trance all over town, showing him the Game House, a neat looking arcade that had some very interesting games. Most of the games were similar to those that Trance had played in his past. There were race games where you controlled racing robot horses, or horse drawn carriages that sped along various racecourses and terrain at great speeds that rivaled the racecars of the past. There were also sport games of various sorts that Martin explained to Trance, telling him about all of the major sports on Althora and their rules.

The pair had great fun checking out the games and playing for hours. Trance found other amazing games to try out. There were flying games where you controlled flying robot horses; jet powered giant robot birds, or robot dragons. Trance was fascinated by these games.

Some games were war games. There were the expected ground fighting knight games, but there were also games featuring the knights as air defenders. Trance had learned from Martin about the knights that were in the air defense. The air defenders were divided into five basic categories: the knights that rode the winged horses, the knights that flew the sleek predatory bird fighters, the knights that flew the large bird bombers, the knights that flew dragons, and finally the knights that flew in the planetary ships. The games featuring these knights and their flying creatures and ships were interesting and fun.

There were also shooting games of hunting or battling armies with electronic bows and crossbows. However, one game really got Trance’s interest. It was a virtual game where the player had to put on virtual reality goggles and use a plastic sword hooked to the game computer that allowed the player to fight in virtual combat. Trance quickly found that the game was tremendously exhilarating. By this time Trance had become the best player of this game in town.

Besides going to town and playing at the Game House, Martin and his father took Trance on a few hunting trips. Chorus had explained about hunting on Althora and in their kingdom.