Elysium Shining

by Terri Kraemer

  “What call?” said Zoey.

  “My father.”

  “That makes sense. Do you need to be alone, or what?”

  “I’ll feel better if you sit by me.”

  Zoey nodded to her and found the light knob on the lip of the wall between the living room and the hallway. The knob was similar to circular switches Zoey had seen on Earth for raising and lowering light settings, but the dial was moved by sticking her finger inside of a dip in the surface and then forcing the round plating either direction. She raised the lights around the room so that she and Tong-Chang could be seen by the person they were about to call, since the morning sun had not yet crested behind the taller buildings to the east where the majority of windows were facing.

  Meanwhile, Tong-Chang navigated the options on the monitor from the remote access on her digital pad. Zoey sat next to her, doing her best to finish eating her bowl of cereal before the signal went out across several relay satellites to reach a moon in the neighboring system; the moon being four light-years away.

  The video came on with a person standing in a room with a heavy saturation of sunlight coming in from one side.

  “You have reached High House Leezu,” said the person that answered.

  “Hello, little brother. This is Tong-Chang, the second. Is Father available?”

  They waited for a response. With their advanced tools and satellites, Zoey had been told some time ago that there was a delay between Elysium IX and Ginserei Prime, and that it could take up to forty-five seconds for a message to be received this way, or over the phone. Seconds indeed passed, and the Ginserei on the screen gaped for a moment, placing a single hand on his mouth, before there was finally a nod.

  “Yes, right away,” he said. “I will send you through to his room.”

  “Thank you,” said Tong-Chang, but then she winced and whispered, “Damn it, habitual manners. My brother won’t hear that by the time it gets to him.”

  It was eleven seconds to a light-year for these signals to travel, compared to the eight minutes and seventeen seconds, on average, that the nearest sun’s light took to reach Elysium IX. Zoey couldn’t begin to understand how the Hoshi-Lacartan Alliance managed to beat the speed of light, especially not when she had woken up minutes ago and was a few bites from finishing her cereal.

  The feed moved to another room in which an older Ginserei man lay in a bed that had been elevated on the back end. He looked upon the screen with reserved, but apparent, judgment. Zoey might have slurped her milk before the man smiled.

  “Father, hello,” said Tong-Chang.

  He turned an eye at Zoey, and then back to Tong-Chang before saying, “I have long awaited the day that I would see my second daughter’s face again. Would that the circumstances were better. Are you well, Tong-Chang?”

  “I can hardly say, anymore. Shungdi found me last night. She said that you are dying. Father, is it true?”

  “Unfortunately it is so. I see that the stars beyond our mortal coil have granted me time to look upon you at least once more before I go.”

  “You were a terrible father.”

  “You may be right. Being any sort of father to a dozen children is difficult on its own. Running our lands and assets made it near impossible without becoming an ass. I can hardly apologize for the time that I never gave, but I had hoped that the businesses I acquired and aided served your needs better than I had in the time that you lived here with us. I had hoped that you could understand my intentions, and one day forgive me for my shortcomings.”

  “Our own laws and taboos are unjust.”

  “Laws can be rewritten. You should know this better than anyone if you’ve been taking your studies seriously.”

  “Yes, but how long can any change take for our people? It took many centuries of recorded history for us to allow young girls to be treated for their first tangouchu, and even then only most of our nations agreed to do this. When I had left Ginserei Prime at least one nation held to its old practices. It also took us until a century after the Hoshi-Lacartan Alliance formed to let our commoners intermingle with other races or enjoy same-sex relationships.”

  “I’m well aware. Some will argue that our culture as a people is dying as a result of these changes. My lifelong friend, the emperor, agrees with me that our culture was in need of new life. These changes you mention served to show the flaws and weakness in our old ways. High House Leezu will need a strong leader soon who can ensure that the right changes transpire through our codes of law and identity. Will that be you?”

  Tong-Chang looked at Zoey, and they grabbed one another’s hand. Tong-Chang squeezed tight. She said, “Father, this is Zoi’ne Thalassas. She is my girlfriend. If no one will accept that, then I will be unable to lead. They won’t listen, and I will not stand the lot of them. I won’t even consider talking to such outdated fools.”

  “That is precisely the sort of attitude and spirit we need to rule our family. You will not be alone. You will have their ears in a bind as long as you remember that. So, young woman, you have won my daughter’s heart, have you?

  “It would appear so, sir,” said Zoey.

  The head of the Leezu household hummed for a moment. “I do believe I see your shining spirit. We now edge on darker times with all that has been happening of late. Be the beacon that she needs right now and you will have my blessing.”

  “That’s incredibly foreboding, sir, but I think I can handle that. And why are you laughing?”

  Tong-Chang had been chortling as silently as she could get away with. She said, “If at any time I can’t see you in the dark, then I can trust that you’ll talk in your sleep so I can find you.”

  “I do not.”

  “Yeah, you do.”

  “Ladies,” said her father, “the two of you are a welcome sight for wary eyes, but I must rest. The laeknar still believes he can beat this illness of mine in time.”

  “Hopefully he would be right. Hopefully, he’s not the same laeknar who told my sister a falsehood about the tangouchu.”

  “Falsehood? I should ask of this the next time we speak. Carry on, my daughter. May the lady of the plum orchard continue to guide you.”

  “You as well, Father.”

  The two of them each pressed their hands together underneath their chins and bowed their heads. Then the monitor went black. Tong-Chang held the pose for a while, her eyes closed. Zoey wrapped her own arms around her, unsure if this was what Tong-Chang needed.

  * * *

  Dereksoo was a frozen wasteland around its surface, with constant blizzards in the warmer regions under natural circumstances. There were small caves in the icy rock formations that contained gases far too cold for any living person to touch for long. The Hulda’fi had proper gear available for entering this climate for short lengths of time without issue, but those gases were dangerous against the jackets and other garments.

  In one rock formation ninety minutes’ walk from the hidden dome that some of the Hulda’fi were blessed to call home, there were no less than five such caverns. One of these was safer than the rest. This hid away another entrance to somewhere important to them as a family, and as a rebellion.

  Soror Valide entered the facility through a series of doors meant, first, to stay the elements outside, and then to provide some minor security from the Hoshi-Lacartan Alliance. It was one last precaution in case they found the place.

  Chemists and technicians among their number worked to make the drug that smelled of hibiscus and seaweed. Lady Tunderek smoked this on the regular, while her children were allowed to partake in it whenever they went on the offensive.

  This was also where Soror Valide and her kindred at the manor went when any of them needed to see a laeknar. Twice she’d had to come here before, feeling ill for days afterward before she was released back to their home base. Twice had she borne puncture scars in her lower abdomen. No, she was not here to go through that again. Still, it was a laeknar who approached her this time, even though Soror Valide
had come here a few times in the past two weeks to help the workers in any capacity that she was able. The laeknar must not have known this yet, she figured.

  The laeknar stood half a head shorter than Soror Valide did, and she looked forty revolutions younger now than she did the last time that Soror Valide had seen her. The transformative procedure had served the woman well. She recognized an opportunity to ask, sardonically, if the woman was experiencing any of the known side effects, but such sarcasm was never her style.

  On the other hand, she could hardly remember how or when she became spiteful towards her brothers and sisters.

  “Welcome, sister,” said the laeknar. “I was not expecting to see anyone today. Ah, wait, you’re the helper, aren’t you?”

  “I am,” Soror Valide said. “Anything to keep my mind busy that helps our cause is anything worth doing.”

  “That is noble of you. Let me ask them where they need you today.”

  As the laeknar left to confer with a few of the chemists and technicians, Soror Valide observed around the main room of the facility. Above the conveyor belts and machines sat cameras in the ceiling and guards pacing the upper walkway. She counted on all of them seeing her during her visits. She was going to prove to the Lord and Lady of the manor that she was their bad girl; good when she needed to be for their sake.

  “Soror Valide,” said the laeknar. She beckoned with her left hand. Her pinky was there now, as opposed to the previous times that Soror Valide had seen her.

  “Where do you need me?” she asked the laeknar.

  “We lost our lone human sister in Natt Halvaegs. Luckily, the work she had left to do for this facility was minimal and out of the way of everyone else who’s hard at work. Well, I say minimal, but we are nearing the end of our work.”

  “So this should be quick then.”

  “It might be. Have you never worked as a dishwasher before?”

  “I can’t say I have. I know that wasn’t what she did, though. She did something with the bookkeeping we have and making sure everyone on Dereskoo is accounted for with their meals and hygiene.”

  “Yes, that’s exactly right. She left some books unstamped, but there will be more when the big mission comes. I can’t wait to shape the whole galaxy to our whims and desires. This will surely please the Lady Tunderek!”

  “We’ve all waited long, I agree. For our Hallowed Lady.”

  “For our Hallowed Lady.”

  Once they reached the back office of the facility the laeknar left Soror Valide to review the books. This was an easy task compared to investigating the records locked within the manor while no one else was watching. It didn’t take long for her to find or understand the designated pattern used for the spreadsheets and forms.

  She stamped a few papers and put one book in the tray for outgoing deliveries. The Hulda’fi never stored anything on a digital device because that was easier to track than records kept in local spaces on hardcopy. With the outgoing books stacking in the outgoing tray, Soror Valide found herself realizing exactly what went in or out of the vicinity of this planet.

  Soror Valide had suspected most of these things, of course. She had done a level of extensive research before coming here to find work to do. But now? Now she knew the fuller extent of the food, water, medicine, and other materials that came and went in such places as this facility, the dome, and the numerous craft that watched the planet.

  Synthesis of food or supplies wasn’t done on Dereskoo, though falsified records told anyone watching that the heat signature from this spot came from these necessities being made a safe distance from the manor. This much she knew. She was also aware of the weekly sleigh rides between the facility and the manor, as well as the shipping route between the planet’s surface and Elysium IX. The latest delivery happened yesterday.

  With the records she had seen in the manner, and the work she did on other days around this subterranean building, Soror Valide guessed how much of that was being sent here until now. Now she had the precise numbers at her fingertips.

  During the last couple weeks, she had also learned more than she wanted about the truth behind Lady Tunderek’s favorite drug, or the substance that her children were allowed to partake in on certain missions. She learned what had happened to many unborn children belonging to would-be mothers across the known galaxy. What she did not figure out, however, was where these children came from since there was no record of there being a mission to steal from expecting mothers. It couldn’t have been her sisters, either, since an operation of this volume counted on more sexual activity than the Hulda’fi had outside of their own. Every brother initiated had been ordered to have his tubes tied, if not removed, by penalty of death if they did not comply.

  Even Lord Tunderek had his tied, they were told.

  Then there was the cryogenic case that the Kroke Team had brought back to the Lady on Dereskoo. It contained two packets of genesis nectar, something that was not supposed to exist anymore except in an inaccurate, low-grade, synthesized form. This facility was making it in abundance, and then using much of it to make the drugs that the Lady and all combatant teams used. When she had learned about it, the revelation made Soror Valide sick to her stomach. But she trusted Lady Tunderek. She could not let this go, despite trying to regain favor.

  If they love me again, if I’m useful, then they can’t discard me, right?

  One of the chemists that had been handling a test tube of fluid screamed out and combusted suddenly. The alarms sounded while the chemist flailed her arms and tried to scramble to safety, severe panic bursting from her lungs.

  The fire extinguishing system sent in a set of drones that sprayed within a radius around the chemist and her work station. The flame retardant entered the sample that she had been working on, and it caused another reaction when a loud bang shook the facility. More screams followed.

  Yesterday a shipment had come to the planet. Yesterday, Soror Valide had taken on a covert task of her own to replace several items aboard the sleigh, and make sure that it could be traced back to another one of her sisters, if anyone at all.

  Today she was fleeing the scene as a would-be victim. She aided the sisters that she could and guided them out of the building, everyone grabbing their cold weather gear on the way out. It would be a while before the accident was investigated. If Soror Valide was lucky, she would be chosen for the task, and then she could make herself appear to the Lord and Lady as more reliable.

  She rode with the laeknar and one surviving technician back to the manor using one of their electric sleighs. It was faster than walking back, for sure, but Soror Valide was happy deep down. She had done something no one else would. She had done something that felt right while proving herself to the Tundereks.

  Lady Tunderek greeted them in the garden, her pace quickened. She proceeded to ask what had happened. The shock and horror on her face was so delightful to Soror Valide. It should have hurt more, but it brought joy that she had not felt in ages; joy that she had to hide until after the Hallowed Lady stumbled away.

  Then her husband arrived and frowned. His stare scrutinized the three Hulda’fi who had returned thus far. “What has happened, daughter?” he said to Soror Valide.

  “I don’t know for certain, Hallowed Lord,” Soror Valide said. “I would be more than happy to investigate for you.”

  “Another time. We have plenty of everything that we need for the coming days. We will take priority for the days ahead.”

  “Days, sir? That hardly seems like enough.”

  “Your scientist friends downstairs are confident that they have figured out what they need. You should gather your things, Soror Valide.”

  “You mean—?”

  “It’s time to put our greatest undertaking into action. It’s time that your brothers and sisters stepped into the shadows and prepare to strike. You, your team, and seven other teams, have been assigned to Trullwick on Elysium IX.”

  Suddenly the bliss she felt resembled two ships collid
ing into one another. There had to be more that she could do; there had to be. But what?

  * * *

  Dasos left the embassy when the sun had been up for over an hour. Light shone behind him after he had turned right from the front gate. He needed to review his notes and check a paper for class one last time before heading back to the university to take a midterm exam. He had three hours to work with.

  He traveled west and south past a few street intersections until he reached the boulevard where the nearest trolley station was. Further to the south was Arcadia, still brimming with more memories than he could count.

  Immediately to his other side was a woman staring right at him. She wore a long, white coat coming down to her knees, the breeze blowing the fabric softly. A matching hat and a pair of sunglasses adorned her head, but Dasos recognized her.