by HD Smith
“Let’s assume Gen is right, and they never had the full recipe. They have it now, or believe they do, which means they won’t want to lose the CME.”
“The CME’s gone,” Gen said.
“True, but they don’t know that,” I said. “Also, for now, they’re a lesser concern. Proving Gen’s lineage must be our top priority.”
“How exactly are we going to prove that I’m a Zar princess?” Gen asked. “No one is going to believe the encrypted chip data. And if I was born just a few days before the Great Cataclysm, I doubt my name or birth was registered with the KW. To win patents from House Vance or House Strom, my claim will need to be ironclad.”
“I’ve got an idea,” I said, “but it’s a little crazy.”
Dexter chuckled. “Dude, those are the best kind of ideas.”
“What are you thinking?” Gen asked.
I smiled. “Just a little something I learned on a House genetics docuseries. House Zar had a unique genetic marker on all direct line first-born descendants. House Zar is the only House to never break their line of succession, which means every first born has the flag.”
“Is that why all Heads have the exact same characteristics?” Dexter asked. “Regardless of the genetics of the other parent, every Head has had Zar Pink hair and violet eyes with gold flecks.”
“Yes and no,” I said. “The marker causes the phenomenon, but it wasn’t until myst was present did their hair go pink. Before that it was a vibrant red.”
“How does that help us?” Gen asked.
“The line goes all the way back to before the dawn of exploration, which means we can find proof of your lineage on Old Earth.”
“Old Earth,” Gen said. “What the hell is on Old Earth that proves I’m next in line to House Zar?”
Dexter started laughing. “We’re going over to the OE to get a frozen head?”
“Not exactly,” I said. “Nothing that dramatic.”
“But you said—” Dexter whined.
I held up my hand. “If there actually were frozen heads at any Zar compound on Old Earth, it might be an option, but I was joking before. Cryogenics wasn’t all that popular in the twenty-second century.”
“So how will we prove it?” Dexter asked.
“There aren’t frozen heads, but as with all great Houses, there are protocols for how to handle emergencies. All Zar compounds on Old Earth were supposed to have first aid for the top five executives of House Zar and the Nyx Corp. Along with the general medical supplies needed to save a life, the kits would have included blood and genetic identification.”
Dexter raised his eyebrows. “Great. We’ve looked hundreds of times and found nothing. What’s different this time?”
“This time,” I said, turning to Susan9, “we have an advanced research specialist. Someone that can sift through our newly acquired OE data for candidates.”
Susan9 nodded. “I would enjoy that task, Liam.”
Gen raised her hand. “Is it safe to go to Old Earth?”
“We go there all the time,” Dexter said.
“Okay, but don’t they have renegades roaming the streets?” she asked.
“Yeah, but that’s what makes it fun,” Dexter said.
I could see that Gen was apprehensive at the prospect of exploring Old Earth. I’d offer to leave her here, but gaining access to a Zar compound on the planet might not be possible without a Zar descendent. I’d run into more than one security feature that wanted genetic proof I belonged there, and we didn’t have time to brute force our way through ancient security to gain access.
“I’ve traveled there many times,” I assured her. “We’ll take precautions.”
She nodded, but I could still see the concern in her eyes.
“For now,” I said, “let’s all get some rest. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.”
“What about Wyatt?” Gen asked.
“Unless he’s planning to blow a hole in the building,” Dexter said, “he can’t leave until I let him out. I’ve also got the jammers blocking his communication.”
“Dexter,” I said. “Is it possible he can blow a hole in my building?”
Dexter shrugged. “Anything’s possible, but how would he survive the blast?”
That was a good point.
“He’s got enough provisions in his apartment to survive a couple of days. I’m monitoring his mood. He’s sending my chat bot a lot of threats. We probably have about eight hours before he decides to get creative.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. Wyatt was a complication I didn’t need, but if Dexter said he was handled for now, I’d trust him.
Space travel to Old Earth wasn’t simple. I needed to be well rested so I could perform at the top of my game, or I’d wind up getting us both killed. We also couldn’t wait, because if we did nothing, Gen would become the most wanted person in the Known Worlds, and nothing would stop House Vance from eradicating her once they figured out who she was. They could send a blast notification to every Peacekeeper and security bot in the Known Worlds, and she’d be dead the minute she tried to leave the building. I wouldn’t let that happen.
“We’re safe to stay here tonight?” I confirmed with Dexter.
“Yeah, Wyatt won’t try anything until his patient is out of the med bay. He’s got a reputation to protect. I also assume that whoever he has in there will have people coming to collect him tomorrow around 10:00, which means you need to be off world before that happens.”
“Understood,” I said.
Gen’s eyebrows were drawn together. I had to reassure her.
“There’s time for us to rest,” I said. “We’ll leave before 09:00 just to be safe.”
She nodded, and I showed her to her room.
18
Ancient Antiquities, Tau, Wednesday, 07:00 LTZ
Gen
I didn’t sleep well in Liam’s spare room. Not because the accommodations weren’t adequate; with the exception of the Cortez Towers apartment, which I’d only had for one day, his apartment was the best place I’d ever slept.
My restless night had more to do with the complete clusterfuck I currently found myself in. I didn’t know what to do next. I was actively being pursued by my House because they wanted to control me. I understood their desire to prove Conor’s last patent wasn’t a failure, but I wasn’t willing to give up my life for that goal.
I didn’t know how to accept the new information about my birth. I’d always believed I was Wanderer-born, abandoned by my birth parents on Canis because they’d had no choice. But nothing about that story was real. I wasn’t born to a Wanderer couple on Canis. I was born a royal princess on Aratus eight days before the Great Cataclysm. My father, Rowan Zar, had been the Head of House Zar. My mother had been Queen Aurelia, a woman born of noble birth with direct ties to the famous Slip Stream inventor Tiberius Greyson.
I should have been cherished and loved and protected. Instead I was taken from my parents, manipulated to bind my abilities, and loaded with archives and data as if I were nothing more than a convenient storage device. It wasn’t fair, but the bigger question was why it had been allowed to happen.
I spent way too much time last night looking at pictures of the royal family. I could see elements of my features in both of my parents. I had my father’s striking pink hair, violet eyes, and narrow nose, and my mother’s distinctive gold flecks and elegant jaw line. My transformation from the curly brown-haired girl with freckly skin to what I was meant to be might seem dramatic to some, but my changes were mostly cosmetic. I still had the same face, though my complexion was smoother, with fewer freckles, and my hair was straighter and pink, but I’d always had the same nose, eyes, and mouth as I did now. The eyes were different, but I’d had a similar pattern to the gold flecks when they were hazel. There had been hints of the real me in the old Gen all along. This was just the first time I’d ever seen those characteristics staring back at me on someone else’s face.
Not that any of that mattered.
I was still alone in the world with no relations, hiding my appearance. Only now I needed to prove my real identity so that House Cortez couldn’t trap me in their care forever. I was nervous to go to Old Earth, but I trusted Liam. He had his own secrets that he didn’t want exposed, which meant he had no reason to sell me out to any House. If I told them who he was, he’d be in danger. We had a mutually assured destruction scenario, which put my mind at ease—somewhat.
I also found pictures of Ezra Zar, who I suspected was the culprit in my abduction, but then how did I wind up dumped on Canis? Had Ezra not made it off Aratus before it went dark? Or had he been double-crossed?
I ran a few searches for Old Earth-related information. I found several links for a Professor named Julian Tor-Vargas, but his research-based excursions held little actual information about traveling to Old Earth. An article from yesterday speculated that he’d recently found the pre-ancient painting known as the Mona Lisa, and collectors were already clamoring to know more. Nothing stood out as interesting, though something about his name sounded familiar.
I searched for House Zar, Nyx Corp, and general Aratus information as well. I found a few threads on the myth Dexter mentioned about the Last Princess of Zar. Over time it had somehow morphed into a fable about excesses of wealth not making anyone happy.
From personal experience, I could say the struggle of poverty wasn’t any better. Also, it was beyond ridiculous how someone had turned the expected birth of a future princess, which by all accounts had ended in tragedy when Aratus was destroyed, into a morality story about greed.
Then there were the Aratus Trusts. The wealth of Aratus citizens had been sold to corporations, then liquidated after the Foxtrot 14 disaster. I wasn’t sure how any of that could be undone if I were declared the rightful heir to House Zar and Nyx Corp. I suspected only assets directly tied to the corporation or the House would be considered, not property tied to random Aratus citizens.
I found stories on the stream about the possible survival of the planet, its demise because of an expected civil war, and theories that said the Great Cataclysm had never happened and Aratus had simply turned off their spacebridge.
Of course the only stories with any real validity were those about the Foxtrot 14 debacle. There were unbelievable theories about that too, but normal news sources had covered the launch of Foxtrot 14. It had been considered the best plan to confirm Aratus was in fact destroyed.
The mission ended after almost a decade with a destroyed spaceship and two hundred dead Gemini citizens. At least, that was the official story. There were entire sub-streams dedicated to debunking the myth that Foxtrot 14 had ever happened. There were pages upon pages linked to one crazy idea after another.
One theory tried to convince everyone that the story was made up. They claimed to have proof all 150 Foxtrot class ships built the year Foxtrot 14 was built could be accounted for. None were missing. And of the two hundred Gemini citizens that were supposed to be dead, they had pictures of fifty people who looked like those who’d been memorialized as the ones killed.
Also linked were scientific studies that tried to debunk the idea that a rider could be hurt operating a mech, with some stories claiming that mechs were AI and other stories where no one was riding anything.
It was a dizzying array of truths, half-truths, and lies.
And since there was a built-in fantasy story just for me, the Last Princess of Zar, there were hundreds of articles about what would happen if I reappeared. Just for the record, if I did try to declare my lineage, I’d be the four hundred and twelfth person to claim the title.
The last person to make the claim had been jailed for five years and fined twenty thousand credits, which was one of the reasons there had been no new claims recently. According to the court documents, a successful claimant would need to produce a viable genetic connection to House Zar.
Liam seemed sure I could produce proof with data from Old Earth. That was assuming I had the marker needed to prove I was next in line for the House Zar throne. If that didn’t work, I was sure I didn’t need to worry about prison. House Cortez, House Vance, or House Storm would take me in first. I just wouldn’t like the outcome in those scenarios. Prison might be better.
Once I had the genetic material to prove my lineage, I’d have to present it to a lab operated by the Worlds Legal Authority. Of course, if I could prove I was the missing heir of a dead planet, I’d immediately get all my rights restored. And depending on how the WLA decided to handle my case, I might impact about two billion people, including possibly bankrupting seven prominent families that had leveraged Nyx tech in the absence of any members of the Zar royal family.
Even if I didn’t try to claim my heritage, just the threat that I could was reason enough to hunt me down. Depending on who found me first, I could expect lifelong captivity or death. House Storm and House Vance would only want the data in my head. House Cortez would need me until their patent was secure, but after that, who knew?
Of course, the Houses weren’t my only problem. They had a reason to want me, and it had nothing to do with my connection to House Zar. The real unknowns, and the reason jail time and fines weren’t the only deterrent for coming forward to claim House Zar status, were the elites who could be financially impacted.
There were hundreds if not thousands of people who could be stripped of their livelihoods. And there were people on the Dark Stream who tracked any death connected to House Zar lineage. It was called the Zar Kill Board, and so far there were over two thousand names on it.
Two thousand girls.
But it wasn’t possible to do nothing. Even if House Vance and House Storm never found out about my abilities, House Cortez was spamming the news feeds to get me back. If they failed to find me before the patent ran out, I suspected they’d kill me out of spite. I didn’t want any of this, but how could I run from it? Too many people already knew of my existence.
Head of House Marissa Cortez was my biggest immediate problem. She wanted me because of the Live Ink study, but considering it was tied to Harko Royale, my fight wouldn’t be over once House Cortez lost the patent. There would be an investigation into the CME theft. It wouldn’t surprise me if Liam and Dexter deleted the footage from the K12 Lab server, but what if there was a back-up or a camera they didn’t know about?
And I couldn’t forget that Jameson Wyatt, the Underworld Doctor, knew of my existence and my ability to travel via personal wormhole. He had connections. He could figure out who I was and sell my info to the highest bidder.
My only option to remain free was to prove my identity, no matter the consequences. I couldn’t change who I was, and I wouldn’t go down without a fight.
19
Ancient Antiquities, Tau, Wednesday, 07:30 LTZ
Liam
I entered the kitchen and pressed the espresso button on my coffee machine. Susan9 immediately rounded the corner from the living room.
“Liam, you should assign me a room, where I can keep my things,” she said.
Pinching the bridge of my nose, wishing the coffee would brew faster, I said, “Do you have things?”
“The current list of my things is irrelevant,” she said.
I looked up, eyeing her. She raised her right eyebrow in a challenge. If I didn’t know she was an AI in a fake human suit, would I believe she was human?
“You can have the room beside Gen’s.”
“Excellent.”
Susan9 turned toward the bedrooms away from the kitchen.
I called after her. “Did you find us a Zar compound?”
“Of course,” she said, but didn’t elaborate.
The machine dinged. I threw back the espresso like a shot of whiskey, then grabbed a protein shake from the refrigerator and took a seat at the table.
Gen came out a few minutes later.
“Did you sleep well?” I asked.
“No. I got about two hours, then started searching the stream for random details about all my new friends. I
also looked up House Zar and found pictures of my parents.”
“Are you okay?”
“I’ll live.” She was quite for a minute, then said, “I finally have pictures of people who look like me, but they’re dead, and no matter what, I can’t go back to a quiet life. It isn’t that I want my old life; being at the bottom rung sucked. But I just wish I didn’t have to worry about people trying to kill me. You know?”
I nodded. “I’m probably one of the few people in the KW that completely understands what you’re going through. At least we’re getting ahead of the problem. We know House Cortez is looking for you. If the Harko Royale team is actively seeking to implement their original plan, and they figure out you exist, then they’ll come after you too, but for now I’d guess we’re safe from them. You’ve got all of House Zar’s tech, which more than one House would kill for, and you’ve built the world’s only MHC, but no one knows any of that yet.”
“We need to work on your cheering up skills,” she smiled. “I’m kidding. I spent a sleepless night thinking the same thoughts. And technically, Susan9 activated the process that constructed the MHC, but none of that would have been possible without the data in my head.” She glanced around. “Where is Susan9?”
“She asked for her own room. For her things. I gave her the room beside yours.”
“What things does she have?”
“Apparently the state of her things is none of my business,” I said.
Gen chuckled. “Is it wrong that I find that funny? I’m not naive enough to think she can walk around in public as if she were a real person, but part of her is a real person.”
“Yeah, the part that’s an assassin.”
“I believe her when she says she won’t hurt us. But that doesn’t mean she isn’t dangerous.”
I agreed. “She’s more than just dangerous. If her existence gets out, the authorities will put her down and anyone tied to her.”