Zero-Point

by T J Trapp

  Alec continued to force dark energy into the rod and Erin continued to thrash and moan loudly through the night. Near morning, Alec felt a familiar mental tentacle. The tentacle latched onto him and anchored itself to him. The mental tentacle grew stronger and stronger until he could feel the familiarity of its owner.

  The sun had risen above the courtyard wall before Alec finally was comfortable enough to release the dark energy flow to Erin and let her sleep naturally.

  A service drone startled him. “Your morning meal, Master, is ready. I have brought it here since you did not appear without.” Alec ate a small portion, then dropped onto the bed in total exhaustion.

  ✽✽✽

  Late in the day, he awoke to a stirring; Erin was pacing about the chamber. She looked at Alec as he raised up on one arm.

  “I was lost in the haze of memories,” Erin said, coming to sit beside him on the bed. “I didn’t know who was me and who was a memory. What was now, and what was … then. Only the help that you provided allowed me to anchor myself. Without that sense of you, my Great Wizard, I would still be wallowing in memories.” She sighed. “I have a rich past that I never knew, but now it is no longer trying to swallow me.”

  Alec pointed at the rod around Erin’s neck. The rod was still glowing gently.

  “Be careful with that rod. Your memories, and your ancestors’ memories, are all contained within it.”

  Erin raised the rod by its chain and stared at it closely. “I want to know more about my past,” she said thoughtfully. “About my time as a Dragon Mother. A Dragon Queen. I sense that there is much more to that than merely ordering a dragon around. I briefly sensed something about a great battle, but it was too much to see; too much to bear.”

  “When you have time to explore your memories,” Alec answered, “you can do it, but Suva says that you should explore your memories one at a time. She says you are suffering from memory overload. Don’t remove the rod from your neck until you have sorted your memories, because some of the ones you need may be in the rod and not your head. And one more thing,” Alec said, stroking her shoulder. “Don’t let anyone else touch the rod if you are not wearing it. It could be dangerous for them.”

  18 – Freeing the Riders

  Erin rode to the Drone Domestication Facility on her chair, accompanied by her ‘clutchman,’ Alec, walking behind. It is time to free my riders. The Disca gathering was a distraction that slowed me down – we lost two days, and I clouded my mind. I need to free my riders before they are tormented any longer.

  Hang in there, Alec answered. We’ll get them.

  The experience over the previous two days with ancestral memories had left her tired and mentally exhausted. She wobbled slightly as she stepped from her chair when they reached the facility. The Drone Master sensed her arrival and met her as she entered the training area.

  “Greetings. What brings you back to my Domestication Facility?”

  “I have talked with Mother Suva. I return to collect the drones that I identified a few days ago.”

  The training master sensed the truth of everything that Erin had said. “Certainly. For Mother Suva. How many do you need?”

  “I need about a hundred new drones, those having particular characteristics that are of interest to us.”

  The Drone Master threw up her hands impatiently. “Does Mother Suva think she is the only mother here? I know her project is important, but other mothers also have important needs!”

  “We need a hundred,” Erin replied evenly.

  “Hmmpf. I don’t have that many to spare without making other needs run short. Many mothers are already unhappy that we are not providing enough new service drones.”

  “Mother Suva does not need service drones for her project,” Erin said.

  “The Disca approved twenty drones for her experiments. She has taken three already. She can have the other seventeen today. That is all I can spare. Beyond those, she will have to wait for the next cull or get the Disca to agree that other needs are not as important as her needs. After the snows come and go, we will cross the mountains and do another cull in the river valley. That area is still ripe for harvest.”

  “I will speak to Mother Suva later today. I am disappointed that you do not have sufficient drones for my project. But we will take the ones you have available today. That will have to do since you have failed to meet our needs.”

  “Certainly, take the ones that you want.” The Drone Master was unperturbed by the insult. “You can assure Mother Suva that she may have first pick of as many more as the Disca allows her to have. After the next cull group comes in, that is.” She gestured towards the building near the facility entrance. “You may come with me to wait while your clutchman picks the seventeen for you.”

  “I thank you for your hospitality, but my clutchman does not know the special characteristics. He is, after all, merely a clutchman!” Erin rolled her eyes and avoided looking at Alec.

  The Drone Master chuckled knowingly. “Indeed!” She motioned for her clutchman and two training drones. “Accompany the mother and her clutchman, and provide them with what they need,” she instructed the man.

  “Show us the ones you want and we will extract them,” replied the Drone Master’s clutchman to Alec.

  I will signal to you which ones are our riders, and you can direct the clutchman to ‘extract’ them, Erin thought to Alec. I will know our riders.

  They walked up and down the rows of pens, as Erin had done a few days earlier, peering closely at the culled drones. Occasionally, Erin stopped and pointed at a penned drone, and Alec directed the training drones to release that captive from its pen.

  We’re culling the cull, Alec thought to Erin.

  Be quiet, and stay on task like a good clutchman, she thought back.

  Each time Alec identified a captive rider, the training drone issued a command in Dronish and the kneeling drone moved forward and knelt in front of its pen. One by one Erin continued to select drones, mostly male, some female, until twenty-three drones were kneeling in front of their pens.

  Is that all of our riders? thought Alec to Erin.

  Yes, that seems to be all who are here, she thought back. I guess a few have perished along the way, or during the training.

  The training drone issued a second command and the kneeling drones stood and quietly formed a line. The other training drone extracted a leather strap of a suitable length from a tangle of straps hanging from a peg and rolled it out on the ground. The selected drones arranged themselves alongside the strapline and picked it up; each drone wrapped the strap around one hand and stood waiting. The drones never looked up, or at Erin, but stayed still in their appointed position, heads down, eyes directed to the ground.

  The Drone Master appeared. “Mother, they have selected twenty-three drones,” her clutchman announced.

  “Twenty-three! I said you could have seventeen!”

  “Mother Suva will not be pleased with this turn of events,” Erin chided. “I told you we came here today for a hundred … animals. You said you could not meet her needs. Now, surely, you are not going to argue about merely a few more, when you are already shy by eighty of the number we need.”

  “I will provide exactly the number of drones that the Disca approved. No more! Everyone wants more drones than I have. If I allow even one mother even one more drone, then I have to allow everyone one more. And then everyone who is short of drones will be angry because I gave their drones away. They will whine to the Disca about my poor management of the new drone crop!” the Drone Master retorted.

  “I told you we needed drones with certain special characteristics, and you have these today that meet our requirements. The next cull might not have any that meet our requirements.”

  “What are the special characteristics you desire?” the Drone Master said, peering at the twenty-three drones. “Perhaps at the next cull we could search …”

  “No! Mother Suva would not want me to divulge the reason I selecte
d these drones!” Erin interrupted. “Why would you deny me these?”

  The Drone Master crossed her arms and glared at Erin. “I take my instructions from the Disca, not Mother Suva! You may have the exact number and not one more! Seventeen, not twenty-three! Take that number or none. If you want more, then tell Suva to go to the Disca and make her case.”

  Erin crossed her arms and glared back. After a moment she snorted. “All right. We will take seventeen.”

  Erin looked disgusted as she walked back down the line and pointed at the six riders to be returned to the drone pens. When the strap line had been reduced to seventeen, the Drone Master sniffed. “All right,” she said triumphantly. She looked at her clutchman. “Let them have the strapline. Take the others back to their pens.” She turned on her heel and retreated into her building.

  The clutchman nodded, then approached Erin. She motioned for him to speak.

  “Mother, where do you want them delivered – to Mother Suva’s residence?” he asked.

  “Why would Mother Suva want them at her residence?” Erin asked haughtily. “My ‘clutchman’ will take them from here to … to the ‘special facility.’”

  Alec stood at the head of the strapline and, remembering his own turn on a strapline, issued a simple command in Dronish. The entire line started to follow Alec as he left the facility and headed back towards the residence.

  Take them to the equipment storehouse behind the residence, Erin directed him. It should be large enough to house them – just barely.

  Erin watched for a second and then turned away. She summoned her sedan carriers and her drones came running. She stepped into the chair and rode back to the residence.

  ✽✽✽

  Erin and Alec looked at the collection of almost-drones kneeling before them on the floor of the storehouse. Each was lined up correctly in the drone position, trying to respond perfectly in the presence of a mother. Erin did not say a word until she had walked up and down the line, sensing the thoughts of her riders. Then she pointed at one of them – Reuben. The man stood and came before her, head down, in the position of a serving drone.

  “Do you have the key?” Erin asked Alec. He nodded. “Remove his band,” she directed. Alec reached for the drone collar and unlocked it. The collar popped off and fell to the floor with a ringing noise. The drone stood absolutely still. Nothing in its training covered this situation.

  “Look at me,” she said in the Theland tongue. The drone reluctantly looked up at Erin’s face. “Do you recognize me?”

  “Yes, Mother. I recognize you,” he answered in Dronish.

  “Reuben. Reuben! Listen to me! You are a rider, not a drone. It is time for you to realize that I am here to free you.”

  The man’s facial expression flickered briefly and then returned to utterly blank. “Whatever Mother desires. I will serve the Mother.”

  “Reuben! This is not some test to see how well you are trained! We are going to escape! Get out of here and go home! Don’t you want to do that? We have a plan, but I need your help. Can you do it?”

  “Yes, Princess. I mean, Mother.” The drone cringed slightly and waited to see if it would be punished for this transgression, but it wasn’t.

  “Good. That is what I need. I need you to help me. Now we need to take the neckbands off the others and plan for our escape.”

  “Yes, Mother. I will do what you desire.”

  “Quit talking in that awful Dronish and start speaking our language.”

  “Yes, Mother,” Reuben said, in Thelandish.

  “Good, now help me remove a band.”

  “Yes, Mother,” Reuben said in Dronish; then corrected himself. “Yes, Princess,” he said in Thelandish.

  “That is better. Now look at me.”

  Reuben had a very hard time looking Erin in the eye.

  “Look at me!”

  Reuben tried to look at Erin’s face, but as soon as his eyes met hers, he dropped down to his knees to punish himself; but no pain came. After a few seconds he stood up again and with trepidation looked Erin in the eye. He started to speak but the words came out in Dronish. He stopped himself and haltingly changed languages.

  “I am sorry, Princess. It is hard to not obey the training. Even without the band, I feel that I must follow my training.”

  “I know,” Erin said softly. “I know.”

  Erin handed Reuben the key to the neckbands. “Now I need you to help me by taking these neckbands off of the other riders.” Reuben slowly took the key and started to remove the bands – hesitantly, at first, but more efficiently as he worked down the line of kneeling riders.

  ✽✽✽

  The next morning Erin and Alec started the process of teaching the recovered riders that they were not drones. They continued into the evening before they were satisfied that they were making a little progress in reversing the drone training.

  At the end of the evening, Erin gathered her riders and spoke to them. “We have freed you from the drone slavery of the elves. All of you will feel the effects of the elf slave training for some time. Remember, however – you are my riders. Theland riders! Be proud of it! Do not be ashamed if you have a lingering desire to serve the elves. The band does that to all of us. Fight the desire, and you will return to being one of our free people. You will not be punished without the band. Be proud that you have been to the heart of the danger and prevailed.

  “You riders are the remainder of our contingent who so bravely engaged with the dragon, and then the elves, before we were captured. I am fortunate to have found you, my brave riders, and we will need to fight as one to free ourselves from the elf lands and return to our home – return to Freeland City!

  “However, besides you seventeen, there are still others who deserve to go with us. There are still six more of our riders. In addition, there are the villagers from Pome, and probably citizens of other villages in Theland who were ensnared in the elves’ cull. I want to free all of our people of Theland. In addition, there are other people, probably from Gott, who were collected and enslaved along with you in the Drone Domestication Facility. I want to free all of them as part of our escape.”

  “Even the people from Gott? They have not always been our friend,” one of the riders said.

  “Yes, Jung, even them,” Erin said gently. “I would not want to leave them here to languish as drones or be fed to the dragon.” She lifted her head and raised her voice, trying as much as she could to look and sound like the Princess they all knew and served. “Consort Alec and I have devised a plan to get out of here. He will explain it to you.”

  Alec stood before the riders. “We are situated in the heart of the elf lands. Unfortunately, we cannot make a dash for it and fight our way back to Theland.” Several of the riders started to object. Good – they are returning to normal. He raised his hand to quiet them. “It is true that we have superior fighting skills, but we do not have good weapons to overcome the greater numbers and treachery of the elves. Instead of brute force, we are going to use the elf system to our advantage and act from within it – as if we are a part of it.”

  “How will we do that?” asked Reuben, feeling bold. As soon as he spoke, he glanced around nervously to see if he would be reprimanded.

  “We are going to have to ‘pretend,’” Alec said. “Remember, male elves serve the mothers as clutchmen. They each wear an elf ring and have certain powers and abilities like the women do. Four of you are going to act like clutchmen – four, because I have four spare rings. Those four will wear clutchmen clothes. The rest of you are going to pretend you are trained drones. You will be wearing fake neckbands but will need to act like drones. I am sure you will remember your recent drone training and know how to act.

  “First, we will go to the Domestication Facility and free the drones in the pens. All of them. That will require us to overpower any clutchmen or mothers who may be present; we can expect that the Drone Master and her clutch will be there, but I don’t know whether any others might be p
resent. Then we will take all of the freed drones and put them on straplines. That will be almost three hundred people. You riders, pretending you are training drones, will lead the straplines as if you are taking these drones outside the walls of the city to work in the elves’ fields. The four of you who are pretending to be clutchmen will escort the straplines as you go to the fields.

  “If you can recall, when you were brought here to New Haven, long before you reached the city walls, beyond the croplands, there is an obscuring field. You may have suffered nauseating illusions as you crossed. It is very difficult to traverse. In fact, I don’t know how we can get across it unless the field is deactivated – that is, unless the energy source to the zone is turned off. Princess Erin and I will go to the place where the elves control that area, and turn it off.” Alec stopped – the riders were looking at him quizzically.

  You have confused them as well as me, oh Great Wizard. You are speaking in wizard talk again. Alec stopped and thought for a few seconds.

  “Let me try again. Think of the obscuring field as being like a raging stream. While the stream surges, we cannot cross. We must do something to let us cross – something that is like diverting the stream away from its streambed. Once the stream is diverted, we will all be able to cross.”

  Now some of the riders nodded with a glimmer of understanding. Alec continued, “Once the obscuring field is deactivated – once the ‘stream’ is diverted – after we have finished our task, the Princess and I will leave the city and catch up with you. The four of you who are dressed as ‘clutchmen’ will serve as our lead riders and will have the responsibility of directing you out of the elf lands.