“I’ll allow you this argument, but do mind my mother’s words. Return to us.” He looked up and leveled the same intense stare at Ellie and Bethany. “All of you.”
“I’ll assemble your escort to be ready on the morrow,” Abi Conissall said, moving to stand from her chair and waving off the guard who rushed to her assistance. “This evening our finest quarters await. You will rest and be ready for your travels.”
Ellie wanted to protest that they needed to leave as soon as possible, but kept silent. She did not want to offend the Abi by refusing her hospitality. Nor did she wish to pull Mikk away from Vesparall without allowing them a private goodbye.
As she turned to follow the others out of the room, she felt a cool hand on her arm. Abi Conissall held her back, waiting until the others exited before pulling a small oval disk inlaid with a familiar diodal pattern from her robes.
“As you may have noticed, Merata City is a construct made possible thanks entirely to Eidyssic technology. There is a long history between our people, but I’m afraid it would take an entire night to tell the whole tale. However,” she tipped the disk into Ellie’s hand. “Contained within this device is a message that has been passed down from Abi to Abi, ever since Abinessyn, the founder of the Merata, was entrusted with it by her Eidyssic love. What is on here, I do not know. Our instructions have always been the same. When the Eidyn Master returns to Merata City, the Abi-Merata is to give them the disk. Twenty-eight generations have passed since the founding of our society. Yours, El’iadrylline, are the first Eidyssic hands to hold the disk since its creation. I suspect they will be the last.”
Elli slipped the disk into her pocket, both awed and a little frightened to discover what information it held.
“Thank you, Abi Conissall,” she said, bowing her head in respect before following the sound of footsteps in the stairwell.
Chapter 23
Ellie caught up to the others just as they were led into an expansive atrium. All around them, the sea teemed with life, some curious about the goings on beneath the domed enclosure, some who gave their presence no thought at all. While she didn’t fear the integrity of the glass, she was surprised by the sheer number of species she saw. It seemed as if the waters of Fhasmyr held at least three times the marine life as the oceans of Earth. Knowing that water made up the majority of the planet, it was no wonder all of Fhasmyr was considered dangerous.
“Your private chambers are through this door,” one of their guards said, noting a slim passage into a darkened hallway. Ellie poked her head inside and was relieved to see opaque walls visible in the guest bedrooms.
Certainly, rest was important, but time was not something they had in abundance. Once they were alone in the guest quarters, Ellie voiced her concerns to the rest of her party.
“Don’t let worry disturb your rest. In offering safe passage to the Hand of Maiden Islands, the Abi has cut our travel significantly. We’ll make in a day and a half what might have taken us up to three.”
“But it’s still going to be dangerous, isn’t it?”
“Of course, we’re still on Fhasmyr,” Mikk replied with a giggle. “But seriously, Ellie, that is all the more reason to take this opportunity for repose.”
“Fine, but I want to be out of here as soon as possible tomorrow morning.”
“We will,” Mikk assured with a more serious tone. “And I will send word now to make sure that our ship is ready for an early departure. Now please, relax.” With a smile and a playful tug on a stray lock of Ellie’s hair, Mikk slipped down the corridor. Ellie tried to pretend she didn’t notice her going to the same room as Vesparall.
She was grateful for the Merata’s help, but it wasn’t just their party she was worried for. Julian had sent a message not long before, requiring that she keep an open line of communication. She knew that the longer they dragged out the mission, the more likely he would be to defy the order to stay put. She wasn’t sure what she hated more, the fact that Julian felt it necessary to put his own life in danger to protect hers, or that she had the ability to command he do no such thing.
“Are you hungry?” Bethany asked, poking her head out from one of the rooms. “There’s a full kitchen in here and I ain’t looking forward to surviving off those anti-poop pills tomorrow.”
“I’m good,” Ellie replied with a repressed snort before slipping into an unoccupied bedroom. Carefully, she took the disk Conissall had given her and placed it on a table before climbing fully clothed into bed.
The walls were thankfully opaque, though an expansive window loomed across from where she lay, making Ellie feel as if she was the one on display as a large fish-like creature with a jaw three times the size of her head pressed itself up against the glass.
She sat up with a sigh and crossed the room, grateful the Merata had the foresight to include sliding panels to cover the windows to the sea. The murky green scenery, while gloomy, was a far cry better than the river of molten rock, but for Ellie, it served the same reminder that she was once again trapped beneath the surface of a planet.
She made to go back to bed, but her eyes fell again to the disk. The relic—a system of storage not used by her people for a good number of generations—intrigued her. Unlike the data storage of Earth’s brief electronic history, no outdated device would be required to view the message held within. Her curiosity burned, and yet, she still hesitated. She couldn’t explain why, but somehow, the gravity with which the Abi-Merata presented her the disk implied that what it contained was more than a simple history of the Eidyssic influence on the Merata City.
Curiosity won out over fear. She picked up the disk, finding it fit perfectly in her palm, diodes aligning automatically. Before her, the pale walls of the underwater bed chamber faded and she found herself looking into the cabin of an Eidyssic vehicle. Though an older model than the one she now commanded, she recognized the flagship of the true master. A moment later, an Eidyssic man walked into view and turned to face the optic.
Ellie gasped as he lifted his eyes to meet hers. In them, she saw the same ring of silver that now circled her irises. When he spoke, it was as if a heavy burden weighed down his words. The musical tone of the Eidyssic language seemed less so.
“Future Master, if you have received this missive from the leader of the Merata Nation, then I can only assume peace among the inhabitants of our galaxy has again been compromised. You will recognize my countenance as that of the true master and know that I speak from a place of personal experience. And yet, as you stand, you will know that history says nothing of the great battle in the time of Master Yellenoae.”
He then moved to the ship’s console and placed his hand upon the diodes. A three dimensional model of the system appeared.
“For countless ages, we children of Eidyn have sat immobile, observing from a distance the emergent civilization of the Ghowrn system. As we are scholars, this has pacified the needs of the many. But what we have left by the wayside still stirs in the roots of the few. We are also explorers. Wanderlust is in our blood. We, the true masters of the Kyroibi, are meant only to know and study the underlying root of our desires. If you are right now thinking that sounds tedious and without merit, you are not alone. Not a one of us has been strong enough to ignore the curiosity. All have stolen away in the dead of night to get a closer look at the primitives we vowed to protect from a distance. I am no exception.”
Well now, that’s curious, Ellie thought as she watched the ancient Eidyn Master’s hands form a graceful cup in which the model of Fhasmyr rested.
“Except what I have done is worse. There are accounts of those before me who made contact with the natives. On Helsyn there are ancient texts that speak of gods from the sky bearing gifts of technological advancement. But I am no god. I have meddled in affairs I had no right to meddle in.”
The star system model disappeared, replaced by a holographic image of a Fhasmyrric woman. Ellie recognized her as the woman in the portrait hanging in the Abi’s chamber.
“I had no plans to engage the natives of Fhasmyr when one night I slipped away. My only thought was to study the curious fauna of the southern jungles, but when I arrived, I was not alone. I found a young woman, set upon by a swarm of Bora. Worse, she wore tattered gossamer robes, which offered little protection from the harsh jungle. By our law, I should have stayed hidden and allowed the natural order to continue. I, however, found compassion to be a greater motivator than the rules of my society. Using as humane methods as possible, I rendered the Boras unconscious, finding the woman in the same state.”
Ellie flinched as she recalled everything the Kyroibi knew of Boras, grateful that Master Yellenoae defied the rules and saved her, yet angry and upset that such rules even existed.
“I saved her life,” he continued. “And in doing so, I learned much of Fhasmyrric culture that angered and disturbed me. Abinessyn was royalty, but treated as property. She had been promised to a neighboring king, one with a history of cruel treatment of his many wives. Rather than accept a life of tortured subservience, she ran, knowing full well that the only inevitable outcome was death in the wild.
“Needless to say, I was enraged. Even more so when I discovered women from this planet commonly chose a swift death in the jungle over unsavory marital arrangements. My first thought had been to take her away. For you see, in my meddling, I discovered the irrationalities of love. But to spirit away and leave others to befall the same fate was a selfish burden I did not wish to bear.
“Instead, my love and I formed a plan. We would create a safe haven for all who wished to escape the oppressive rule of Fhasmyrric law. Using materials I brought from T’al Eidyn whenever I could, we built Merata City deep beneath the Bald Headed Sea.”
This, Ellie wasn’t terribly surprised to learn, given the obvious Eidyssic influence of the city. What she did find odd was that they chose to hide, rather than fight the established status quo.
“I was a young man then. Full of plans and ideals, but I’d abandoned that which was my purpose in life. That is, until the two worlds collided. I could not escape my fate as true master and as such, my anger at the injustices I found, not just among the Fhasmyrric, but within all of the Ghowrn cultures, awoke in me the ancient need for order. Order I myself disrupted when I defied the law of my people and chose to follow my heart.”
Seems we do that a lot, Ellie quipped silently, though she was taken aback by the implications. Certainly, she shared Yellenoae’s indignation over the patriarchal attitude displayed by the early Fhasmyrric, but not enough to bring the wrath of an entire automaton army upon them. Either the Kyroibi had a hair trigger or there was something else at play.
“A sacrifice was made, long before you or I walked the stars,” he continued. “One among our ancestors gave to the future that which is now an integral part of your being as it was once mine. I can say no more, but I can say this much. Nothing in the future is ultimately decided by the past. The Eidyssic ideology, altruistic and well-intentioned though it may be, is flawed. Our ancestors tried to protect the universe and in doing so, created only the capability to destroy it. You carry the burden I once bore. You are told by those around you that what has begun cannot be stopped. I am here to tell you otherwise.”
He then powered up the ship. Ellie watched as he set a course for Ia’na Eidyn, curious, because within all that the Kyroibi made available to her, she could find no trace of this man other than his name in a long line of those who carried the knowledge before her.
“Master Yellenoae is no more. The Kyroibi has been placed with my successor and that which I have inadvertently begun will end with me. Listen to your heart, not to that which has been artificially implanted into your physical being. Our abstraction tells us more than we are comfortable listening to.”
And with that warning, the message abruptly ended. Ellie sat staring at the space where Master Yellenoae had been for several long minutes, contemplating what he’d said, but also what he had not. She pocketed the disc, making sure to place it in the innermost secure pocket of her vest. There was no time at the moment, but she was determined to find out more about the Eidyn Master and what he meant by his warning.
But first, they had a planet to liberate.
Though her mind raced with unanswered questions, she managed to fall asleep, grateful for the technology that allowed her to do so. When she awoke several hours later, it was with a clear mind and a rested body. After making sure everything she needed was on her person, Ellie slipped into the small kitchen and breakfasted on fruit and dried meats harvested from the waters around them.
Bethany arrived not long after, accompanied by the three guards from the night before. A light sheen of sweat peppered her brow and she wore a tank that showed off the muscles in her arms. Ellie noted with some trepidation the guards seemed similarly wiped and worried her brash friend had done or said something she shouldn’t have, but the smile on Bethany’s face put her thoughts at ease.
“I have found my people,” she said as she grabbed what looked like a purple apple. “You gotta see the workout facility they have here. Puts my local rat hole to shame.”
“Only you would think of doing a vigorous workout right before we head into the most dangerous wilderness we’ve ever seen.”
“With good reason,” Bethany shot back. “I wanna be prepared for anything.”
“To each their own,” Ellie replied, shaking her head. “Have you seen Mikk?”
“She’s saying her goodbyes.” Bethany wiggled her eyebrows. “Did you have any idea? Because I sure didn’t. It’s cute though. Makes it even harder for me to remember they’re middle age folks and not a couple of angst-ridden teenagers when they sneak off for a make out session.”
“Like you’re one to talk.” Ellie got up, giving Bethany a playful punch on the arm before heading out into the atrium to send a message to Vitokk informing him they would be heading out soon. She knew it would be a day before they reached the city, but she wanted to be prepared.
“Are we all ready?”
She turned to see Mikk, who was once again dressed in the flight uniform of a Paisreatta pilot, noting a slight flush in her cheeks and a matching shade on the face of Vesparall, who trailed her into the room.
“The sooner we leave, the sooner we can be done,” Ellie said, taking note that the three guards had changed from their workout clothes into the uniforms from the night before. “Are you to be our escorts?”
“We are, Lady El’iadrylline,” one replied.
“Just call me Ellie,” she said for what felt like the millionth time, hoping they’d follow her lead, but all three simply nodded, silently awaiting the order to move out while the awkward silence hung in the air. Seeing as they didn’t get the social cue, she asked, “What should I call you?”
“I’m Gil,” the lone speaker said and pointed to the others. “This is Bas and Hani. We have formal names, but like you, we prefer not to use titles.”
“Easier to pronounce, I’m sure,” Bethany quipped as they headed back to the hangar bay.
In addition to their ship, three smaller escort ships awaited them. As Mikk was finishing up the security diagnostic, a red light came on over the console. Ellie looked around in a panic, but no one else seemed worried.
“Standby for pressurization,” came Vesparall’s voice over the comm system. Before she could question what that meant, there was a loud whoosh and they were thrust upward. Ellie bit back a scream as water rushed in around them.
“Oops, probably should have waited until the walls came back,” Mikk said with a wholly inappropriate giggle.
“You think?” Ellie asked as she gripped her seat with white knuckles.
“We’ll be fine, the diagnostic says we’re airtight and ready for takeoff as soon as the hangar opens.”
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the murky water began to lighten as they were lifted toward the surface. Using the ship like a small boat, Mikk steered them out of the open water and into the
thick plant life of the lagoons, flanked by the smaller ships. She flipped open the comm link and all three Merata guards appeared on individual screens.
“Ready to launch,” she announced, receiving a nod of acknowledgement from each before submerging them back under the water’s surface.
“Here is the safest pulse point,” Bas noted, sending over the coordinates of a nearby open space. “We’ll be at the islands in no time.”
“Hang on, I’m sending a replication beam,” Hani replied. “Just because it looks clear doesn’t mean we won’t have a stray luk pulsing about.”
After what felt like several tense moments, Gil gave them the go ahead to pulse. Even though the view screen showed nothing but their projected path, Ellie closed her eyes, cursing Mikk for telling her about all of the horrific outcomes of pulsing on Fhasmyr. That they were attempting this underwater in the most populated sea she’d ever seen did not help matters.
“You can open your eyes now.”
Ellie did as she was told, sliding a dark look at Mikk for the taunting she heard in her voice.
“Not funny. Are we there yet?” she asked, but cut off as she noticed the view screen was back on and showing them daylight. At least they were back on the surface.
“Welcome to the Hand of Maiden Islands,” Mikk said with a grin. “We’ll have to debark while the ship adapts to the next leg of our journey.”
“That’s safe?” Bethany asked, echoing Ellie’s thoughts.
“It is now,” Gil said as the door opened and she stuck her head through. “Climb aboard a skimmer and I’ll escort you to the lagoon entry.”
Gil stepped aside and three small crafts came into view. Without hesitation, Mikk hopped aboard one and deftly pushed through the water foliage that tangled around them.
“Okay, and how exactly are the rest of us supposed to know what to do?”
“Sit down, take the handlebars, and use your feet,” Mikk explained. “Left to go, right to stop.”
The Princess Rebellion (The Kyroibi Trilogy Book 2) Page 21