by F. E. Arliss
She’d been betrayed repeatedly now. Twice by men she believed to have had good relationships with, and twice by her own governments. Once into global war caused by greed and power struggles, and then next by a new government terrified into conduct unbecoming by fear of the unknown. She might as well get on with it and not start feeling sorry for herself. She needed to start owning her own future.
Escorted by her two mites, Jullian swept through the nest on the way to her meeting with General Monsav. While apprehensive about the nest’s expectations of her, she sensed no disrespect or manipulation. She was surrounded by only honor and respect. That was a first in a long, long time.
General Monsav rose at her entrance to the meeting room, which had a slightly moist aura, as did the rest of the ship. Jullian supposed that was normal if you considered you were inside a living entity. Amazing! Truly amazing! For the first time in a long while, Jullian felt delighted to be alive. The universe truly was an incredible place!
As though he could feel her happiness, General Monsav gave her a delighted grin, showing broken, yellow, jagged teeth. She smiled back at him and felt a warm rush of satisfaction at his obvious joy in her good spirits. It was good to be wanted.
The following few hours were some of the most intense of her life to this point. Reaching out to him with her mind’s energy, Jullian probed, with his permission, his thoughts. General Monsav was a brilliant tactician and strove to both retain her as a queen for his nest and to help her meet her own goals.
The conversation included the history of General Monsav’s nest. It was a sad one, in a way, but taken in another light, could be a tale of extreme resilience and bravery. When she projected that to him, he was delighted she felt that and they bonded even more firmly. He had felt no condescension from her for their plight either. He was honored.
General Monsav’s nest were known as the Khyberians. Their nest had developed on the fringes of Idolum space in a system sparse with resources and barren of most mammalian species. In order to survive they’d been forced to adapt to extreme conditions and find mammalian hosts in inhospitable environments, often by taming wild creatures enough to touch. An amazing accomplishment.
They wore the skins of their hosts not as a show that they had killed them, but that the hosts had sustained them for their full life-spans. Hence the slightly scarred and maimed appearances of the skins. They’d come from the dead only after old age had taken them. They’d given decades of service and feedings and the Idolum wore their skin in honor of that. Jullian loved that. It was so, so right! They didn’t kill mammals in their prime, they honored them in death. Wonderful! Jullian felt a flicker of hope spark to life. This was honor in action. It had been a long time since she’d seen it displayed.
The General, upon learning of her background as a Mongolian and learning of her heritage, felt strongly that she was even more the perfect queenly fit for the Khyberian nest. The only barriers they had yet to cross were the ones Jullian put before him.
First of which, was that she wasn’t ready to be a queen. Jullian felt herself unprepared and uninformed about the nature of the Idolum empire. The General, while unhappy about his, eventually agreed. The second, was that she needed some time to sort out what she felt about these last few months.
This left them at a standstill, until after a few minutes of pacing brought the General back to her with a rush of exhilaration! What followed was a sort of test/brainstorm/madcap scheme. Jullian loved it. Monsav was definitely the General for her. They thought alike. Grinning at each other like mad scientists, they burst towards the bridge to set the plan into motion.
It seemed that General Monsav had quite a knowledge of General Shale and his manipulations. It had been rumored that the death of his first queen, Queen Altum Vis, had not been due to old-age. Queens didn’t just die. They had to be ‘sent’ as Monsav put it. There had been some suspicion that she’d been poisoned, but nothing could be proved.
Shale had made certain of that. He marooned her body aboard her small personal cruiser, then ejected it into the great spinning mass of junk that was known as the ‘knotted abyss’ in the Idolum language. It was a vast spinning vortex of ruined ships and other space trash. Queen Altum Vis’ ship, the Talio, had been observed deep in the interior of the abyss by passing ships.
No one had ever been able to enter its ravenous mouth in order to scavenge or salvage the ships lost there. It was too erratic in its movements and seemed to have no pattern. Scientists had studied it and still they were no closer to understanding the movements of the ‘graveyard’ than they had been before. No one entering it had ever returned. Occasionally, the spinning mass showed known ships still whole, but powerless to escape.
In a way, Jullian was honored by General Monsav’s complete trust and the certainty of his plan. In another, she was petrified. Monsav’s premise was that since Jullian could manipulate and ‘see’ energy, she would be able to ‘read’ the swirling ball of energy that was the ‘abyss’. In being able to do so, she would be able to take a small shuttle and follow the energy patterns of the vortex until she found Queen Altum Vis’ cruiser. It was a daring and madcap plan. Jullian felt she had nothing to lose and, perhaps, everything to gain.
To General Monsav, this was a way to find the truth of the death of Queen Altum Vis, the single greatest queen the Idolum empire had ever produced. In finding out about her death, he would bring greater esteem to his own, often ridiculed, nest. Jullian assured him that he did not need further esteem. This nest’s way of proceeding was to honor the hosts, and that was the ‘best’ and truly ‘right’ way. He beamed with delight at her certainty. His complete trust in the fact that her special queen’s ability would allow her to do this, both floored and warmed her.
Three days later, after many jumps and a long warp-drive run, they arrived on the edge of the ‘knotted abyss’. It was indeed, vast, and terrifying. Jullian watched it for a while and then asked for some quiet time alone with the view screen. Filing from the bridge, the crew bowed to her, and Captain Monsav smiled warmly, showing his yellow, jagged teeth in far more certainty than she felt she deserved.
Allowing herself to settle into his command chair, she slowly quieted her mind and spirit. Anchoring herself to both the ship and the large moon behind them, (she figured it didn’t hurt to take precautions against being drawn in accidentally!) Jullian began to explore the energy patterns in the vortex.
Several hours later, she tabbed open the door to the bridge and was met with the anxious countenance of General Monsav. Meeting his eyes, she simply nodded. Monsav whooped and then danced a little jig before her eyes. It was so out of character for the usually taciturn Monsav that she burst out laughing. He joined in. His garbled, cackling laugh music to her ears.
It didn’t take long for them to provision a small shuttle for her. She was to be accompanied by her two mites, whom she’d named Dent and Axel. At first glance all mites looked the same. When she got used to them, she realized that Dent had a small cleft in his skull where he’d been hit by the tusk of a Khyberian walrouth, an animal she guessed was much like a walrus from Earth. Axel had a long piece of rounded metal affixed to the front of his chest armour. It was a repair that held the two pieces together, having been broken once in a fight with Dreasing bandits. It looked a lot like an old-fashioned wagon axle she’d seen in a museum of natural history once at the Smithsonian. And so her two mites acquired names.
After a few hours sleep, a meditation, and prayer to the universal one, Jullian was ready. Stepping into the small organic shuttle, followed by Dent and Axel, Jullian looked back at General Monsav. “Thank you General,” Jullian said gravely, locking her eyes onto the massive form of her biggest supporter. “I will contact you when I’m able.”
The General bowed to her, and thumped an arm across his chest in salute. “My Queen!” The landing bay echoed with the sounds of chest thumping and the cheer “My Queen!” rang out from every Idolum in the bay.
A lump of anxi
ety gathered in Jullian’s throat. Nodding to him with what she hoped was a regal goodbye, Jullian thumped her own fist onto her chest, and tabbed the pad to close the shuttle doors. It was a final act, one way or the other. She either died, or came out the other end a queen. It was up to her now. Sliding behind the controls of the small shuttle she nodded at Dent to punch them out of the airlock. Seconds later they were at the maw of the vortex. Jullian took the controls from Dent and let them be swallowed by the seething, roiling energy before them.
Chapter Ten
Sanctuary
The grating hiss of the docking collar locking into place, brought Jullian back to the present. She didn’t know how long it had been since they’d entered the ‘knotted abyss’, but she did know that it had been a long time since she had a drink of water. Later, she would find that it had only taken her three days to navigate the abyss to the place where she finally spotted and then circumvented the thousands of swirling pieces of debris and pieces of ships, many of which had been torn apart by the seething energies of the vortex, to the belly of the late Queen’s cruiser.
The cruiser was intact and looked none the worse for wear. Dent had managed to snag the bottom side of the cruiser with their own docking mechanism and finally, with the added strength of Axel, to align the two ships airlocks. It was the hiss of connection that had brought her out of her slump of relief. They were connected!
Nodding to Dent to open the hatches, Jullian waited anxiously. She didn’t know what to expect and the grueling past few days had left her with few reserves of mental strength. That was now her greatest weakness...her inability to withstand stress. Many would say later how much she’d already endured and how that stress had had no effect on her. That was patently not true. It was just that she let no one but Dent and Axel see the true toll that her actions took. Now, she was tired and desperately needed to rest.
As the airlock doors swished open, a gust of grassy smelling air vented into Jullian’s face. Well that was good, at least it smelled right! Dent’s head disappeared into the upper ship, then his entire body. Axel’s head went through the hole and swiveled to follow Dent’s movements. It looked good, came the thought into Jullian’s mind.
Motioning Axel to hoist her up, Jullian grasped Dent’s lowered arms and was swung aboard the Talio, the name that had been recorded in General Monsav’s history for Queen Altum Vis’ ship. She was now standing in the most venerated ship in all of Idolum history. The ship of their greatest queen and greatest tragedy.
If Monsav was correct, Vis’ death had been murder and a tremendous loss for the Idolum empire. After her death, there had been many fights amongst the remaining nests. Her death had divided the race.
Jullian turned full-circle taking in her surroundings. The ship’s docking tube led into a small but heavily armoured loading bay. There was a strange looking console set into the floor several meters in front of what looked to be the door. She approached it, and coached by Dent, managed to place her hands upon the right controls to open the door. It took them several hours to explore the Talio. Each time they opened a door it led them further into a strange and marvelous world.
As General Monsav had said, the Talio was heavily armoured and heavily armed. Dent showed her bay after bay of warheads, munitions and other weapons, some of mass destructive capabilities. It was mind boggling. If Queen Altum Vis’ death had been murder, why hadn’t they taken these armaments? The answer was clear...it wouldn’t seem like a natural death if for some reason the ship was ever found. The weapons had been left simply to reinforce the story of death by old age.
There were also several bays of captive mammals in a sort of hibernation-like statis. They’d also found a pod of crew members in stasis -- engineers and warriors, according to Dent, from the writings on their pods. If needed the mammals could be brought out of stasis to feed the crew.
That wouldn’t be necessary while Jullian was around. Already, her mere presence had brightened the lights and sent the whole ship humming with life. It was a very sensitive ship, she could tell that already. As she walked from hall to hall, room to room, it brightened or darkened depending on her distance from things. It was like motion detection, but was instead, energy detection.
They found the Queen’s quarters. It had been an almost reverential experience. There was a large shelf-like bed covered in a strange moss-like growth that was very soft to the touch. ‘Nesting material’ is what she translated from Dent’s descriptive thought.
There was also a chamber in which a three-meter wide by four-meter long pool resided. The pool itself was filled with a glowing green slime, in which floated a number of clots of what looked like mold. Jullian felt the pool best be given a wide berth. Dent’s thought was that it was the former Queen’s spirit bath. Unsure what that was, she didn’t linger.
The final room in the Queen’s quarters was a sort of sitting room with a lot of little energized cubbies around the walls. Each cubby held some sort of interesting artifact. Sets of clothing in one space was almost like a walk-in closet. Other, smaller cubbies held jewels, weapons with carved handles, and several strange looking devices that Dent didn’t really understand enough to translate.
The bed looked good though. Jullian was exhausted. She needed water and sleep. She’d long since realized that she didn’t really need to eat actual food. She was now channeling sustenance from her surroundings. So far, water was still the thing she couldn’t sufficiently create. It was ironic when you thought about it. The very first space exploration mission from Earth had come up with a way to synthesize water from the space they traveled through, but Jullian still couldn’t do it.
Axel appeared with what looked like a large flask of water. The slimy look of the organic bag that held it looked unappealing, but practicality overwhelmed her squeamishness and she drank the whole thing. Sitting gingerly on the side of the ‘nesting material,’ Jullian was surprised at how comfortable it was beneath her. It gave to her form, then fitted itself around her. The relief of having it encircle her was the last thought in her head.
Jullian slept the sleep of the dead. Later she would think ironically that that had literally been the truth. She was dead to the human world, and Altum Vis was dead to the Idolum race.
The next few weeks were spent learning the ship. Dent and Axel helped her, though some things were beyond their understanding as well. She made no effort those first weeks to do anything with the movement of the ship. Between them they studied all the systems, but touched nothing. There was no hurry. Jullian hadn’t had time to process all the things that had happened in the last few months, but now she did. And it hit hard.
Earth was gone. All her friends were dead. Her parents had left her behind. Her lover had used her for his own elevation. She’d been used and betrayed by her country and her species. She’d been betrayed by the only person besides Kapong that she’d had any sort of trusting relationship with. The person she’d saved had wanted to sell her! The implications for the far reaching pervasiveness of greed, power, and personal gain went beyond species and into the simple realm of ‘sentient’ beings. It was devastating.
Once the full extent of the changes to her life hit her, Jullian spent several weeks simply sleeping. Sleep was an escape. After a few weeks, she was able to meditate as well, and slowly regained strength. Dent and Axel fussed over her. Showing her things meant to cheer her from their explorations of the ship and bringing her small treats she might like.
They discovered her love of perfume when one of the cubbies in the Queens quarters fritzed out, and one of the intricately jeweled vials was discovered to contain perfumed oil.
The closet was the one place not protected by an energy field and once they’d discovered her preference for pants over skirts, Dent ransacked it on the hunt for leggings of any kind. Strangely, Queen Altum Vis and Jullian had been almost exactly the same size. It comforted Jullian for some reason. Pulling on a pair of close fitting black leggings and a fitted velvet-like tee-shirt get-up
, Jullian decided to start getting her shit together. She’d had a chance to process and had come up with a theory.
Basically, sentients kinda sucked. It was like those oldie films where alien species said that humans weren’t advanced enough to be allowed warp drive and stuff like that. Basically, sentients of all types fell in that category as far as she could tell. From now on, trust no one.
Dent and Axel were the exception. From the description General Monsav had given her, the ‘mites’ were programmed on her and could not be re-written. They served only her. Queens, he’d informed her, needed non-corruptible security. Well, that was for certain, she had thought with a derisive snort.
Heading for the bridge, Jullian instructed Dent to find her a way to communicate with the ship. She needed to learn as much as she could about the Idolum, their history, laws, cultural norms and everything else she could get her hands on.
At this Dent shook his head violently and the thought, ‘not hands’, popped into her mind. Dent tapped his head then motioned for her to follow him. What he led her to looked like a cross between a dentist’s chair and medieval torture device covered in slime. It sat to one side of the bridge and once he’d gently shoved her into it, he lowered the bizarre bird-cage like helmet over her head. Immediately she gasped and tried to lift the helmet. Dent’s hands soothed her arms, asking her to desist. Slowly she let the helmet activate. It was like sticking your head into a fast running river. It seemed hard to breathe, and her first instinct was to hold her breath. Dent flicked her nose with the end of one hardened claw through the bars of the cage, causing her to gasp in a breath of air. Jullian started to laugh. “I got you, breathe!” she stated, continuing to gasp for air. Dent nodded enthusiastically.