Jack Ryder and the Temples of Neptune
This was the first Strange Worlds story about Jack Ryder. It was improvised on March 23rd, 2013.
Episode Summary
A pair of elders of Pano receive news from Corporal Kern that the majority of their fleet of flying whale ships have been annihilated by barbarians. All three kneel and pray to the gods of Shano to protect them.
Jack Ryder is visited by a friend, whose young daughter is infatuated with the Mariner. Ryder is flattered, but explains that as he is much older than her, he must seek an older bride...after he’s had many more adventures, of course. The skies darken as storm clouds roll in, as they witness a flying whale struck by a mysterious bolt of lightning. Regarding this as an ill omen, Ryder leaves to visit the Oracle.
General Kai, the leader of the barbarians, congratulates his army on the slaughter of the whales and prepares to strike against Pano. Kai then consults with his seer, Kala, about his future. She reads in her scrying pool that Jack Ryder could defeat him, but Kai declares that he is weak because he is an outsider. Kala calls on Kai and his armies to eliminate Ryder.
Ryder visits the Oracle atop a high mountain with news of the fallen whale. She tells him of the barbarian Kai and warns that Kala will be able to read the plans in his mind, and so gifts him with a cloud over his mind that will obscure his thoughts.
Kai confers with his wife Cecile, the Whale Mistress, and commands her to summon Zenato, the strongest, fastest, and most amazing whale in all of Shano...and to gift it (and herself) to Jack Ryder, to play upon his pride and draw him into their trap.
Ryder and Kern sail forth, hunting razor back eels along the way, as Kai’s vast armies approach. Kern doubts even Ryder’s strength and might can withstand the armies, but Ryder assures him that they have justice on their side.
Spotting Ryder and Kern’s vessel approaching, Kai commands his fleet to launch their harpoons. Kern raises a telekinetic shield, with Ryder adding his own psychic strength to reinforce it. They leap forward and board Kai’s ship. Kai punches Kern, but is attacked by Ryder in retaliation. Kai attempts to make peace, declaring that they are not so different and offering Ryder his cloak. Ryder refuses. Insulted, Kai draws his sword. Kern insists on facing the challenge, but is felled by the barbarian’s blade. Ryder knocks Kai back with his harpoon and challenges the horde of soldiers to attack him at once. They pile on, but are quickly dispatched. Ryder throws his harpoon at Kai, but a soldier leaps in the way, sacrificing his life for his General. Ryder tells Kai to leave Pano and the rest of Shano alone. Kai confronts Ryder with all he left behind on his home planet of Earth and offers an alliance to rule all of Shano. Cecile rides Zenato alongside the ship, Kai offering both to the hero before departing. Ryder gathers Kern’s mortally wounded body and boards the great whale.
The seer Kala is revealed to be the Shanovian goddess Lilana who confers with her fellow god Kolun that they have grown tired of the silly games of mortals, and plot to rid their world of them and surround themselves with the creatures of the ocean alone. Kolun hesitates, though, viewing Jack Ryder’s plight to save his friend Kern. Lilana offers to preserve them and keep them as their playthings. The gods release a bubble to encase the whale and its passengers.
Ryder pleads with Cecile to help him save Kern. She removes one of Zenato’s teeth and begins chanting an incantation before plunging the tooth into Kern’s chest, healing his wounds and restoring him. He awakens, startled. Ryder recognizes the dialect of the incantation and realizes Kai and his wife must be working for someone or something even older and more powerful. Cecile admits they are in the service of Lilana. They peer outside the bubble and see that all time has frozen except for them. The goddess’ haunting song resonates throughout the world as she begins cleansing it of all humanoid life. Ryder and Kern throw themselves against the bubble, shattering it, restarting time...and sending them falling into the ocean below! The goddess bellows as her spell is temporarily halted.
A fisherman finds Jack Ryder attached to a strange sea creature and brings him home after seeing him fall from the sky. His daughter Bethel recognizes Ryder and wakes him. A legion of tiny sea snakes slither across the floor, which Ryder interprets as a sign the goddess is near. He asks Bethel where the nearest temple is, and she tells him...back in Pano!
General Kai confronts the gods at the Temple of Pano, accusing them of not living up to their word of helping him defeat Jack Ryder. For his insolence, Lilana tortures and blinds him. Jack Ryder enters the Temple, accusing the goddess of turning Kai into the Blind Whale of prophecy. Kai shouts that he is no whale, but a warrior and the rightful heir of Pano. Lilana summons an army of sea creatures which surround and attack Ryder, but he throws them off and kills them all. Kai requests he be given the gods’ power once more to defeat Ryder, but Kolun declares that his mental powers will turn the Earthman into his puppet. As he tries to seize Ryder’s mind, though, he encounters the Oracle’s brain cloud and is caught off guard as Ryder knocks him unconscious. He then easily defeats the blind and injured Kai before confronting Lilana and telling her to leave Shano. She refuses, claiming it to be her world. Kern appears, having fought his way back. Lilana then summons the Great Squid from the ancient depths of Shano. Ryder knows her life is tied to the Squid’s, and dives into it with Kern, battling its many tentacles to finally disembowel it, killing Lilana and breaking her power.
His sight restored and life saved, Kai offers fealty to Jack Ryder, and gives him Cecile and command of his armies. Ryder thanks him, but returns his wife as believes his heart will soon belong to another with the help of Kern. Kai then gives him a conch that will summon his armies as Cecile summons a fleet of whales and the newly allied warriors declare in one voice, “FOR SHANO!”
