As her processors began to shut down, she felt the wall move slightly under her head. It wasn’t much. A regular human wouldn’t have been able to distinguish the soft vibration of the structure. It was as if a trillion, minuscule, molecular hearts were thrumming within the wall. Suddenly, what Nial had said came back to her. The building was alive. She didn’t speak the language he had used to open the wall before, but she didn’t have to. The soundbite was stored in her memory. Before she fell unconscious with her shipmates, Cherish managed to replay the audio from earlier. As she fell to the hard, barren soil, Cherish felt the wall react to the soft sounds of words that mimicked the wind blowing through the leaves. Before the base could answer her by opening, she joined Jiyeon and Arden in the darkness of hypoxia.
Ten
Cierra woke up strapped to a table. Her head ached, and she felt sick to her stomach. The guard’s uniform attire she had been wearing was replaced with a thin paper gown. Leather straps secured her wrists and ankles. The air smelled sharp. She looked around the room. A bright light overhead made her squint.
A voice from behind her head startled her. “Hello, there. You’re lucky you’ve already had children. That’ll make it easier on you, since your body will already know what to expect.”
“What? How could you know that? What do you mean it will know what to expect?” Cierra tried to crane her neck to see the woman behind her.
A woman wearing a stark, white apron moved to where Cierra could see her better. “I examined you while you were unconscious. I have to make sure that you are healthy enough to carry a baby.”
Cierra snarled at the woman. “I’m not going to be carrying anyone’s child!”
The woman pulled a syringe with a long, thick needle out of a rack. She pushed the blue liquid to the tip of the needle. “You’ll learn not to resist in time. It may take some getting used to.”
Eyes open in terror, Cierra couldn’t stop staring at the needle. “What is that stuff?”
“This?” The woman pressed her fingers into a square hole that was cut into Cierra’s gown over her lower abdomen. “This will help increase your chance of fertility and impregnation.”
Cierra fought to get free from her bonds, but she was strapped too tightly. “Don’t you dare come near me with that stuff!”
The woman called to someone else that Cierra hadn’t noticed before. “Hans, come hold her down. I don’t want to perforate her intestines just because she won’t hold still.”
A male Josti stepped forward from the shadows. He had a long scar down one cheek. It looked like someone had dug their fingernails into his face. He made quick work of using his four arms to hold Cierra down tighter. “How’s that?”
The doctor pressed Cierra’s stomach with her fingertips again. “That should do it.” She lowered the syringe down towards Cierra’s stomach, but instead of piercing her skin, the needle bent upwards, as if it couldn’t breach an invisible barrier around her abdomen.
Hans blinked a few times. He squinted at the warped medical instrument. “What happened to it?”
Dr. Brax tried to put him at ease. “It was just a faulty needle. These things happen. Run down to the medical supply bay and get me some new ones, will you?” The truth was, she didn’t know why the needle bent, but if she panicked, her staff would panic, too.
Once he was gone, Cierra locked eyes with the doctor. “Why are you doing this? You’re a woman. Why would you force other women to carry the emperor’s children, against their will?”
Dr. Brax looked into Cierra’s eyes. “The emperor has my husband working on new technology, and he’s supposed to be trying to find new applications for dark matter. I’m forced to help with this, or the emperor will kill my husband. Unfortunately, my Leon is in the same situation that I’m in. He helps in the lab of a far-off armory, because if he doesn’t, he knows I’ll be the one to suffer for it.”
The name tugged at Cierra’s memory. Her eyes lit up with recognition, and then sadness. The woman wasn’t an imperial sympathizer. She was a hostage being forced to do the emperor’s bidding in exchange for keeping her husband out of harm’s way. Cierra pictured his face in her mind’s eye. She saw him in the cavern near the lake. The soldiers had killed him when they had come looking to stop Theo, Jaedo, and herself. In her memories, she watched Makram kick Leon’s slumped body off of the ledge, and into the water below. “I met your husband.”
The doctor’s demeanor was instantly cold and harsh. “That’s a terrible thing to say to someone in my position. There’s no way you could have met him.”
Cierra tried to lean up, as far as her restraints would allow. She spoke in hushed tones, and hoped that no one else would hear them. “My friends and I broke into the armory to steal some weapons for the rebellion. We ended up falling down a shaft in the center of the base, and we ran to the laboratory to try and escape the imperial soldiers. Leon was in there, when we got there.”
Dr. Brax’s eyes were wide. Her face was pale, worried what Cierra would tell her next. “What happened? Did you kill him?”
“No.” Cierra shook her head. She knew well the fear she saw in the other woman’s eyes.
The doctor’s eyes were already filling with tears. Her heart knew, even before Cierra said it. Still, she needed to hear the words. “What happened? Just tell me. I won’t believe it if you don’t say it. You have to say it.”
Cierra softened her voice as much as she could. Even though she was about to deliver terrible news, she wanted to try to soften the blow as much as she could. “The imperial soldiers killed him. I know he cared for you very much. If they had only been threatening his life, I think he would have stopped helping them long ago. He put himself in great danger because he wanted to keep you safe.”
Hans returned with the needle that Dr. Brax had asked for. Cierra quickly laid back down on the cold table. The Josti held out the new syringe to the doctor. “They assured me this one is sturdy. It shouldn’t break or bend this time.”
Dr. Brax took the instrument form him. Cierra watched her face, as the woman standing over her came to grips with what Cierra had just told her. Cierra prayed that now that Dr. Brax knew her husband was dead, she wouldn’t feel the need to stay loyal to the emperor. Leon had died at the hands of the people who were supposed to keep him alive. As long she did what she was told, he was supposed to be okay. They didn’t hold up their end of the bargain, so why should she keep hers?
While Cierra was hoping that the doctor would change her mind about helping the emperor, a hologram appeared near the wall opposite from Dr. Brax. It was a little girl, playing with some toys in a room, by herself. An imperial soldier walked into the room, and stood behind the girl. He stared right into the camera that was capturing the image, as if waiting for something.
Cierra looked from the hologram to the doctor. “Who is that?”
Dr. Brax averted her eyes. “That’s my daughter. You see, they didn’t just take my husband. They took my daughter, too.” The imperials still had leverage on her. Cierra watched as the other woman’s eyes hardened with determination. She readied the new syringe. “I have to do this. The emperor will be here soon.”
Eleven
Theo screamed in pain. Pollus pulled the orb of dark matter away from his face. He frowned a little. “It seems your healing is slowing down some. I can’t have you dying now. I’ve only just begun. Pollus stepped over to a button on the wall, and pressed it. “Tort?”
“Yes, your majesty?” The sound of Tort’s voice brought out a bitter taste in what was left of Theo’s mouth.
“Bring in an IV, will you? Our guest needs a little help.”
“Yes, your majesty.” In a few minutes, Tort walked into the lab. A bag was cradled in the crook of her arm. She took Theo’s hand, and skillfully slid a needle into his vein.
Once the IV drip started to flow into his body, Theo started to heal faster. The healing helped to dull the pain. A shuddering relief flooded through him. He felt his head swim with
a jolt of elation. Breathing was getting easier. He felt his jaw lock back into place. Theo closed his eyes, trying to savor the small respite from the torture.
Pollus smiled, as if he were seeing previously unknown possibilities. “Imagine what harnessing a gift like that would mean. A man could live forever. He could go into battle unafraid of the consequences. Imagine an army enhanced with the ability to heal. How did you get such a gift?”
Theo wanted to refuse to answer him, to mouth off sarcastically, but he found himself unable to do so. Instead, he heard the truth spill from his lips. “Batumah blessed me with it.”
Pollus furrowed his brow, and turned to Tort. “I thought you said the extra serum would make him tell the truth. Isn’t that what you promised me?”
She nodded thoughtfully. “All the trials supported that claim. You should have heard the things the others admitted to. It’s possible that he genuinely believes that a god gifted him this trait. The other option, of course, would be to accept that Batumah actually exists.”
The emperor scoffed. “If Batumah was real, don’t you think he would have stepped in and stopped his monasteries from being destroyed? More likely, he’s just deluded. The monks probably did something to him.” He handed Tort a piece of Theo’s cheek that had fallen off earlier in the torture session. “Run some tests on this. See if you can find some variation in his DNA.”
Tort pulled a sample bag out of her pocket and let the emperor drop it inside. “My pleasure.” She turned and walked out of the room.
Pollus leaned in closer to Theo. “Now, why don’t you tell me who you work for?”
Theo kept his eyes locked on the man who had been torturing him. “I don’t work for anyone.”
Pollus. “Who do you serve?”
“I serve the galaxy.”
The emperor rolled his eyes. “One of those men who think they are supposed to save the world, huh? I was like you once, when I was younger. Who ordered the attack on the monasteries? Was the Carbonari making a powerplay?”
Theo’s face stayed serious. He was helpless against the serum in the IV. “I’m not supposed to save the world. I’m supposed to save every world. Karl ordered the attack on the monasteries. The Carbonari were going to attack the monasteries, but never got the chance.”
Pollus’s face lost all joviality. “Prince Karl ordered the attack? Why would he do that?”
The urge to answer was too much. The words spilled out, even before Theo realized what he was saying. “Karl and Makram are trying to start a civil war to instigate a coup.”
“A coup? They think they can overthrow me? I made them! I brought them into this world, and I can certainly take them out. What else are they planning?”
Theo was starting to get tired of being pumped for information. He wasn’t sure how the situation would play out if the interrogation continued. Would Pollus kill him after he found all he wanted to know? Would he be locked in a lab while Tort tried to discover the science behind his gift? “They’re arming their men with Relissarium technology. They’re turning the outer rim fleets against you to add to their fire power. After the coup, it will be brother against brother until one of them rises to take the throne.”
Pollus walked to the intercom button again. He pressed it, and issued an order through bared teeth. “Get Prince Karl here, now.”
Theo watched as the man in front of him devolved from an emperor into a viciously irate father. Years of paranoia over one of his sons trying to take the throne from him surfaced. His eyes darted back and forth quickly. Theo could tell he was working out the best way to extract vengeance on his older son.
Footsteps echoed down the hall. Pollus stood up straighter, composing himself. Theo turned his head to see Karl standing in the doorway. A woman stood beside him. Theo’s heart lodged in his throat, as he saw her pregnant belly: Mari.
Her eyes were frozen on Theo for a moment. Then she looked away, ashamed. Her arms crossed across her stomach, trying to hide her condition, but there was no use. Mari felt Theo’s eyes on her, and she wished more than anything that he would look away, or that Karl had never brought her there.
Pollus reached out his hand, and pulled Mari closer to him. “My dear, this is not a safe place for someone in your condition. Seeing all this violence is not good for you. Your distress might harm the baby.” He placed his hand on her stomach, and locked eyes with Theo. “Didn’t I tell you that you and I had enjoyed some of the same delights?”
The serum was still pumping through Theo’s body. His voice came out husky and rough. “Yes.”
The emperor brushed some of Mari’s hair away from her face. “An excellent specimen of a Relissarian female. Her hips were already broadened by previous childbirths. I suppose I have you to think for that. You were a farmer, weren’t you, Theo? Perhaps a farming metaphor would be suiting. It appears you tilled the earth, so that I could plow it and plant my seed.”
Karl seemed uneasy. Theo noticed a vein in his neck was pulsating. “You called for me, father?”
Sneering, Pollus turned on him. “Don’t ask a question that you already know the answer to. If I did not send for you, you wouldn’t be here.”
Prince Karl bowed his head. “My apologies. Would you like me to help you with torturing the prisoner?”
“No.” The emperor judged his son carefully. “Actually, I’m glad you brought Mari along. I think she can help me with something.”
Her eyes flitted up to the emperor’s face. She looked like a frightened bunny. “Me, your majesty? How could I possibly be of service to you here?” Theo strained against his restraints as he watched the exchange. He wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but he knew that whatever it was, it wouldn’t be good.
Pollus stroked her cheek with his gloved hand. “Mari, do you know that when a man becomes emperor, he has the power to choose his name? Some keep the names they were born with. Others choose their own names, in the attempt to set themselves apart from their past. Do you know which of those I chose?”
Mari hesitated. Her mouth was dry from nerves. “N-no, your majesty.”
The emperor continued his story. “I chose to pick a new name. A name that would let me leave behind the gutter I was born into. Pollus is a variation of the name of a star from far away called Polaris. Polaris is a star that would help travelers to always find their way. That was the kind of man I wanted to be. I wanted to be an emperor that people could always look to for guidance. However, sometimes the past won’t stay in the past. Whispers of my old name floated around, and brought up stories of the beggar, the son of a tramp, the gutter snipe that lived off rotting scraps. As long as my old name existed, it didn’t matter that I had led a war and saved so many from chaos of the regime before me. I tried to snuff it out, but somehow it lived on. I even heard it in the harem many years ago. Do you know who was calling me by my peasant name?”
“N-no.” Mari was trembling now. Theo thought he saw Karl stiffen.
Pollus continued to stroke Mari’s hair, as he turned to Karl. “Karl remembers, don’t you, boy? It was your mother who was still telling the old stories about me. She was determined to make people remember where I had come from, to sully the new legacy I was creating for myself. Do you remember what happened?”
Karl clenched his jaw. “You killed her.”
Pollus tutted at his son. “You make it sound so unfair. She’d been warned several times, but still chose to keep running her mouth. Now, imagine my surprise when Esme told me that she heard my old name used again in the harem not so long ago. It came from Mari’s room, but you already know that, don’t you? You see, you were the only son of mine that your mother bore. I tried not to let your mother’s stupidity ruin you, but it seems that it wormed its way in anyway. Even as a child, you only called me Aphilranius to my face once. It took weeks for your eye socket to mend correctly after I slapped you down. Do you know why I’m bringing all of this up?”
Karl’s hands were balled into fists at his side. “Father, if
I have offended you in any—”
“Silence!” Pollus lifted his hand with the tongs still grasped in them a little higher in the air. The flippancy with which he moved the dark matter put Theo on edge. “You were in Mari’s room that night. It was around the time of your conception, wasn’t it, dear?” Pollus moved the tongs closer to Mari’s throat. Her eyes widened in terror. Pollus kept his gaze trained on his son. “Do you think I am an idiot, that I don’t know the bastard in her belly is yours?” Theo’s eyes shifted to Karl. Mari was carrying Karl’s baby instead of the emperor’s?
Karl pleaded with his father. “Please, whatever you need me to do, I’ll do it. Just don’t hurt her, at least not until she has the baby. The child is mine. He is of royal blood.”
“He?” The emperor cocked an eyebrow. “So, you’ve already taken her to the midwife to judge the sex of the baby.”
Karl bowed deeply to his father, and placed his hand over his heart. “Whatever you ask of me, I will do it. Just let my child live.”
Pollus studied his son for a moment. “I need answers. Who is behind the rebellion?”
Karl shook his head. “The Yasta are building an—”
Pollus touched the dark matter to the soft skin on Mari’s neck. She screamed and stepped back, looking wide eyed at the tongs. “Tell me the truth, boy!”
Karl’s lips twitched. “That bag the whelp is hooked up to has truth serum in it, doesn’t it? Ask him! He knows!”
Pollus turned on Theo. “Are the Yasta building up a rebellion against me?”
Theo looked at the wound on Mari’s neck. If she came closer, he might be able to heal her. He wasn’t even focused on his answer when his lips formed the word. “Yes.”
The Relissarium Wars Omnibus Page 58