Legacy of Shadow

by Gallant, Craig;

  That shocked her. Taurani’s intelligence network in Penumbra was excellent. How could he not know that Virri was dead?

  She shook her head, looking from one corner of the chamber to the other for rescue. The menials continued to prepare the room, ignoring the brewing confrontation. And aside from the crawling peasants, the hall was empty.

  Looking down at the stern Kerie, Iphini cleared her throat. “There was an accident. Uduta Virri is dead, Ambassador.”

  The silver orbs narrowed. “Dead.” His voice had dropped down to a low mutter as the grey flesh around his eyes tightened with suspicion. “What kind of accident?”

  Iphini cast about again, but the room remained stubbornly empty; no one would be coming to save her. “He was visiting a feral planet. There was an altercation with the locals.” She looked away; lying was not among her strengths, she knew. “He died during the incident.”

  “And what of Angara Ksaka? Does she not draw a handsome salary from your treasury to keep just such things from happening?” His lipless mouth was rigid, and yet seemed to clearly indicate a sneer.

  “Ambassador, if you would like to take up questions of security with the new administrator, I can make an appointment for you at a later date.” She did not know where the courage was coming from. She was quaking on the inside, but had had enough of Taurani. Standing up to him was the only way she might get him to leave.

  But he stopped her with one raised hand. “I could not possibly convey to you how little I care for your new administrator, or how he, she, or it came to power. What I truly want to know, Deputy, is what truth is there behind the rumors?” The eyes flared. “Has a Human been brought to Penumbra?”

  Iphini swallowed. She had no faith in Angara’s plan, nor in the creatures she had brought into the city. She had a healthy, rational fear and distrust of Humans, more perhaps than most. Her homeworld, Iwa’Ban, had been nearly destroyed by a feral Human incursion when she was very young. She had grown up amidst the devastation wrought by creatures just like those that now breathed Penumbran air. She would not defend them.

  And yet she knew that the Galactic Council wanted nothing more than the complete capitulation and annexation of Penumbra, or its destruction if that proved easier. The grey creature before her would be the instrument of that destruction, if he could.

  The Iwa’Bantu were generally a quiet and reserved people, but at that moment all she wanted to do was scream.

  “All will be revealed when—”

  “No!” Taurani swept a hand down sharply. “You have no idea what your little cabal has done, Bha! The Galactic Council will not stand for a Human taking the reins of power in Penumbra! Do you understand how thin the thread is from which you all hang? The Council’s tolerance is not infinite, and it has been stretched to the breaking point. No clever blanket of threadbare old treaties will save you when they hear that you have allowed a Human to rise to power here.” He stepped closer, craning his neck to look up at her. “And it will not be the Council crowing for your blood, you little porcelain fool. Not a sentient being in the galaxy will countenance a Human ruling Penumbra. They will be begging the Council to destroy you!”

  She wanted to cringe back behind the podium, but forced herself to stillness. She could not argue with a single word, and she hated him for that.

  “You should know, better than any other in this city, the kind of madness being courted here, Bha.” Now his voice was almost reasonable, fanning her anger with condescension. “No being wants a return to the chaos you are courting.” He stepped back, his hands returning to the deep sleeves. “It won’t be tolerated, and I think you know that.”

  She tried to conjure up some response, but the words stuck in her throat. She saw the shattered remains of the cities of Iwa’Ban in her mind: the devastated landscapes. She blinked at him, silent.

  “I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure?” The tone of voice was strong and even, but something about it tightened the flesh of her back. Her narrowing eyes twitched to the open door.

  Marcus Wells stood there, wearing a version of the standard administrator’s uniform tailored to his Human frame. His facial hair had been neatly trimmed, the hair on his head smoothed back, and his dark eyes glittered as he looked around the chamber.

  A confusing rush of feelings filled Iphini’s chest. Presented with such a target, there was almost no way Taurani was going to continue his assault on her. On the other hand, she would never feel comfortable in the same room as a Human, no matter how large the room or the circumstances of his appearance.

  She saw that the workers in the hall had all ceased their work, standing still, seeming to stare anywhere but at the Human in their midst. Of course, none of them had ever seen a Human before. She saw fear in many of their faces, but curiosity and fascination as well. She was not alone as she struggled with the emotions crashing through her mind.

  There was no denying, however, the effect the pale Human’s appearance had on Ambassador Taurani.

  The ambassador whirled, his robes swirling, to confront the newcomer. The immobile face jerked back in surprise as he regarded the being standing before him, the familiar black and white uniform registering immediately. A diplomat of Taurani’s experience would have no problem interpreting the Human’s facial expression. Marcus Wells looked supremely unimpressed.

  The Human strode down the wide steps into the bowl of the chamber, his empty hand outstretched in a common welcoming gesture from Earth. Taurani watched the approach, waving his huge Ntja guards back, but made no move to meet the Human. When he was standing directly in front of the Ambassador, the Kerie regarded the hand with a slight curl of his lipless mouth and an expressive tilt of his smooth head.

  The Human allowed his hand to hang there for only a moment before he smoothly withdrew it with a little smile of his own. He swept past the Ambassador, looking up at Iphini with a nod she barely managed to return. Then he spun on one heel and rested up against the edge of the dais with every sign of comfortable ownership.

  “It was hard as hell getting any of the shuttles to bring me without an escort, let me tell you.” He smiled in a way that was clearly intended to disarm, but had quite the opposite effect on Iphini and the Ambassador. “You must be Khuboda Taurani.” His tone was dismissive, and she almost smiled as she watched its impact on the representative of the Galactic Council. The Human could be almost amusing when he was aiming that sharp wit at someone else. “Come for the big speech? You’re a little early.”

  Taurani regarded the shorter man with empty, glittering eyes that could mean nothing to a Human fresh from Earth. Iphini, however, could see the dangerous hatred rising there.

  “And you must be the Human that features so prominently in the gossip running rampant throughout the city.” Taurani took a step back and folded his hands into his sleeves once again. His eyes flashed as they surveyed the Human. “Not quite so terrifying as one might have imagined.”

  Marcus Wells was facing away from her now, but she could hear the smile in his voice. “Oh, I try to keep that side hidden for first impressions. Wouldn’t want to scare away the locals quite yet, would we, Khuboda?”

  It was a terrible breach of etiquette, but Iphini again felt her reserve toward the Human thawing just a little.

  The patch of flesh at the center of Taurani’s face twitched. She imagined that if he had had a more Humanoid facial structure, he might have sniffed.

  “I look forward to watching you work.” The ambassador turned away, then stopped and looked over his shoulder. “Your designation is Marcus Wells, I believe?”

  “That’s my name.” Again, she could hear the smile. It must have grated on the diplomat’s nerves, judging from how he stiffened.

  Taurani grudged him a nod. “Yes, I eagerly look forward to seeing how you fare, Human.” He raised one elegant hand. “Be careful, however. Apparently, your new position carries greater risks than any of us had anticipated.”

  He stared pointedly toward Iphini in
a gesture she could not understand, and then turned away, stalking up the stairs and out the door, the lanky Eru and the towering Ntja swept up in his wake.

  As the door boomed closed, the Human turned to smile up at her. There was a tightness in the corners of his eyes, however, that seemed to belay the confidence of the expression.

  “Is there somewhere nearby we could wait until the meeting?”

  She had the thought that he might be more distressed by his run-in with Taurani than he had appeared.

  She gave him a quick nod and descended from the dais by a short set of steps on the side. She gave a quick series of instructions to the small Kot’i female in charge of the menials and gestured for Marcus Wells to follow her through a small door in the rear of the chamber.

  He followed very closely behind her. She was not surprised to find that, despite the minor warming she had experienced, his proximity set the flesh between her shoulder blades crawling once more.

  *****

  Marcus’s heart was beating thunderously in his chest. The tall alien with the glittering metal eyes had clearly not been a fan. He had always hated bullies, and he had recognized the type as soon as he’d seen the way the ambassador had been speaking to Iphini Bha; the fragile little thing had obviously been terrified. Although, with her wide, liquid eyes it was often hard to tell. She almost always looked either frightened or surprised.

  He had not spoken with any other aliens since the unfortunate incident at the door of the administrator’s office three days ago. It had actually been more than three days ago, according to his watch. But there had been three quiet, dark sleep cycles on the station, and he had gathered that the day measured by the inhabitants of Penumbra was longer than the standard twenty-four hours he was used to by almost two full hours.

  They had brought him to a lavish set of rooms that would have been suitable for a king. Justin had stayed with him for a while, but he had his own quarters, apparently almost as opulent, and had gone to them not long after. He hadn’t seen his friend since; one reason he felt so isolated.

  He had spent much of that first day discovering the ins and outs of his living space. The furniture was of a more permanent nature, rather than the extruded seats, beds, and whatnot aboard Angara’s ship. It had taken him over an hour, in what he finally identified as the bathroom, to coax actual water into the cleaning stall. Apparently, the galactics, coming in such a wild variety of shapes and sizes and values of cleanliness, were accustomed to using something called, as far as the little creatures in his head could tell him, an ablution field. The tingling field passed over his body and eradicated dirt, sweat, and microbes. It did the job, he had to admit, but nothing could compare to the pure animal pleasure of a shower with water.

  His food and drink was made to order, but communicating his tastes to those in charge of their preparation was not easy. He had taken to eating a great deal of breads and well-done meats. His greatest frustration on that front, however, had been the complete inability of the Red Tower kitchens to recreate anything remotely resembling his one vice and mainstay: Mountain Dew.

  Once he had exhausted the excitement of discovering the various mundane aspects of his rooms, he had settled down in the cool, dark workspace they had provided him and began to learn how to access information from the city’s records. He had begun by looking through anything he could find with Uduta Virri’s name attached. The tentacled creep hadn’t done much, as far as he had been able to find. Marcus had some ideas, but he knew he needed to learn a lot more about how the city ran before he tried to implement anything. If Angara would even let him.

  A great deal of his time had been spent trying to learn as much about his new home as he could. He studied the mosaic of alliances and agreements that made up the social contracts of Penumbra, the various corporate relationships, the manufacturing and service industries, and even a few research groups, where he could make any sense at all out of their work. He couldn’t even begin to make sense of most of the research. What the hell was ‘time dilation’? What would a ‘singularity dampener’ do? There was so much to learn, and the relationships and alliances were so labyrinthine, that he could barely wrap his mind around the basics.

  He had eventually turned his attention to the puzzle of Humanity and their place in this wider galaxy. He had found plenty of information on the feral splinter fleets Angara and Iphini Bha had mentioned. But other than a persistent, vague current of hatred and fear running throughout every type of record he could access, from historical accounts to current reports, there were no actual mentions of the Humans of Earth, or indeed any Humans beyond the feral nomads.

  It had almost driven him mad, and had been the final impetus needed to drive him from his quarters and to wandering the zig-zagging halls of the Red Tower. He had braved the averted glances and muttered commentary until Angara had found him and ushered him back to his rooms.

  Angara had visited him every day after that, instructing him in his duties and telling him about life in Penumbra. Every attempt to brace her on the subject of Humans had been met with stubborn silence, but otherwise she had been quite accommodating. She had coached him on what was to be expected at today’s ceremony, and how to behave around the suspicious denizens of this wider galaxy. She had provided him with several sets of the uniform he now wore as well as other, more comfortable clothing that had been placed in the storage areas of his suite. His trouble there was that he didn’t understand yet if those were casual day outfits, lounging clothes, or what he was supposed to sleep in.

  But the enforced solitude had gotten to him, and he had eventually rebelled again, leaving his quarters early to make his way to the Central Council Chamber; to stretch his legs as much as to scout out the venue for his first public speech.

  One of the few people Angara had warned him about was the Council’s representative to the city of Penumbra, Khuboda Taurani. So he had recognized the tall, grey figure pestering Iphini Bha as soon as he came into the hall. He knew the ambassador was an enemy to what he was slowly coming to think of as ‘his side’, insofar as he had a side in a galaxy as hostile to him as this appeared to be. Watching the way Taurani had been treating Iphini, he had decided a little of his frustration could be vented in that direction.

  It had not seemed to put much of a dent in Taurani’s confidence, however.

  “That guy’s a prick, eh?” He tried to say it with a smile, but he knew it was more of a scowl. Iphini Bha had led him to a small room behind the main chamber, clearly intended as a preparation area.

  There were several comfortable-looking chairs of various shapes and sizes, and a circular niche in one long wall with a couple of softly-glowing colored dots on the wall beside it. Everything looked much less squat and utilitarian than what he had come to expect in the Red Tower, and the light had a soft, golden quality that set it apart from the light provided in his new home.

  “Ambassador Taurani is an important, powerful entity. Even here, in Penumbra, he has a great deal of force at his disposal, and can call upon a great deal more if provoked.” She was not looking at him, but had relaxed enough to settle onto one of the big seats. It shifted beneath her to accommodate the particulars of her size and shape, but she remained balanced on the edge, her back straight.

  He wandered to the wall niche. A soft glow grew within the recess, but it did not resolve itself into any sort of clear image. He moved to wave his hand within the light, but nothing happened.

  “You need to indicate what you wish to see.” Iphini’s voice was still distant, but at least she was paying attention.

  “I’d like to know what’s happening out there.” He pointed to the wall separating them from the hall. “People should be showing up soon, right? It would be nice to see what we had waiting for us.”

  Iphini Bha nodded and looked at the wall opposite. It disappeared.

  Marcus stumbled away from the opening, his mouth falling open. Before he could fall, he steadied himself against one of the room’s chairs
and looked more carefully at the chamber outside.

  If he focused, he could just make out the details of the wall that had disappeared. Ripples in the scene beyond indicated corners, the doorframe through which they had entered this smaller chamber, and the door itself. Somehow, all of these things were still there, they had just become transparent.

  He straightened, smiling at the invisible wall in admiration. If this room was, indeed, meant for people preparing to address the hall beyond, this was a great way for them to gauge their audience. He turned back to Bha.

  “That’s pretty impressive.” He nodded to the bustling activity outside. “Someone thought of everything, I guess.”

  She frowned, still not looking at him. “Hardly everything.” She slumped back down into the seat, not so much relaxing as giving in to an exhaustion that was plain even on her marbled, exotic face. From a pocket she pulled out her fancy pen, but did not seem to have the strength to fiddle with it, as she usually did when she was nervous.

  Marcus found himself feeling guilty for making Iphini Bha’s life more difficult. He moved away from her and toward the transparent wall, folding his arms over his chest. The workers had left, and a small but steady flow of creatures was replacing them. He recognized several types from the docking port, and was curious to note how many Humanoids there were in the growing crowd. None of them had his coloration, to be sure, but the differences seemed, for the most part, entirely superficial.

  He saw a small delegation of small, orange-skinned men and women with short-cropped black hair. Another group came in; with pale white skin and flowing, glossy white hair that reminded him of Angara Ksaka’s. If it had not been for their flashing dark eyes, he might have taken them for albinos from Earth. In the midst of this group was a tall being of far more alien appearance. Its face was like a mottled brown flesh mask stretched over a long skull with a broad plate covering the lower face. High cheekbones underscored the deep pits that housed yellow eyes glowing with reflected light.