The Vanity of Hope

by G W Langdon

  The hooked legs clamped on his arm.

  “It’s alive!”

  “BioMech. Deep breaths.”

  Two tentacles unwound from the side grooves and twisted into a tourniquet around the top of his arm.

  “It’ll be over before you know it,” Teripeli said as a purple tongue licked his skin.

  A light shone from its single eye onto the skin and a telescopic stinger fired into his artery. The tentacles retracted and blood flowed into the canister.

  He didn’t dare look away as the segments changed from black to red one by one towards the tail. It was hideous, yet fascinating. He’d assumed a noose to pump up the veins, sterilizer swabbed on his arm, a hypodermic needle placed precisely against his skin, a sharp prick as the needle went in and a tube to collect his blood. But this bioMech wonder was everything in one housing—body. The tail segment turned fully red and the stinger withdrew into its internal sheath.

  “That’s it,” Teripeli said, as the sticky tongue dabbed a drop of sealant over the puncture wound. He wriggled the canister free and the legs tucked up inside as it curled into a tight three-inch ball. He knocked on the shell and passed the canister to the knight. “It’s locked. Let’s hope the rest of the mission goes this smoothly.”

  Tom opened and closed his hands to loosen the tension. What had he asked Poor Ba’illi to do? Nobody on Earth, Gukre, or Heyre had ever more clearly understood his passion for learning than Ba’illi and he’d repaid that fellowship by putting him square in harm’s way. “You’re going along to make sure he’s alright?” he said to the knight.

  The knight curled his fist around the canister. “Only Ba’illi can make the journey.”

  #

  Ba’illi beat a hurried path across the gardens. He stopped at the overgrown tunnel entrance and cast a wary look back at the castle. Things didn’t add up. Even though the queen had given her word it would be a straight ‘in and out’, nothing was ever straightforward when it came to her and Reuzk. He deactivated the cloaking shield and adjusted the canister inside the zippered pocket and disappeared down the Pit tunnel.

  He entered the exit code at the other end of the Nago tunnel and popped the shielded porthole lid a fraction of an inch. He pushed the infrared periscope through the crack then slid the cover halfway open and climbed out. So far, so good. He locked the lid back in place and reactivated the cloaking shield to make it indistinguishable from the cobbled street.

  Intuition was a very small sector of his primary region, but something didn’t feel right. He shrugged and put the unease down to the severity of Queen Lillia’s manner. ‘Succeed at all costs,’ was her polite way of saying failure had dire consequences.

  He rechecked the queen’s hand-drawn street map of the early smuggling days before the Federation took an interest in the port. His instructions were to wait until Reuzk showed up, hand over the canister, and race back to the castle to prepare for imminent departure. He rechecked the tricky route to the rendezvous point and darted away.

  He leaned against the door and twisted the knob until the catch snipped out. A single, shaded lightSphere hung dimly from a cable at the bottom of the stairs. The claustrophobic dark reached out and he struggled against the fear of someone watching from the recesses. He selected high Flare and lifted the fireLight against the subterranean gloom at the bottom of the stairs. Reuzk might be down there, waiting for the canister.

  He slid his foot onto the stairs and eased down, keeping his back against the wall to avoid the chance a squeaky plank might give him away. He crossed the cramped lobby at the bottom and held the fireLight up to the small viewer in the door.

  Empty, he hoped.

  He snipped the door closed behind and sat on a chair in the corner. He paused the fireLight and set it between his feet and waited in the dark. Reuzk would be here any moment.

  “Strange to see you here,” a voice like his said, coming from the far corner.

  He jumped up. “Who… who said that?”

  A snigger from another part of the room. “You did. I am you.”

  Ba’illi tweaked the fireLight. “Show yourself.”

  “Do you really want to see? What if everything you thought was true was actually a lie?”

  “I’m getting used to that. Show me.”

  Another Ba’illi appeared dressed head to toe in a black so pure it subtracted from the room’s meager light.

  “How can I describe myself? I am you, except better. Top of the range, Ba’illi Black—a six point five.”

  “What are you saying? You can’t be me. I am me.”

  “You are Ba’illi Green—a six point three. A lower Level envoy reactivated to tutor the human. Personally, I think an Orange would’ve provided better service. Not sure why she chose you, but it’s not my role to care about such matters. I follow orders, like you do. I don’t ask questions; like you should.”

  “What are you doing here?”

  Ba’illi Black sighed. “She told me to wait for Jbir. Is that who you are here for?”

  “Yes… the same as you.”

  “You’re not very good at this game, are you? That’s understandable. You deal in right or wrong facts and lying doesn’t come naturally to you. However, lies are currency to me and spotting them is a useful skill for manipulating others when you know they’re hiding the truth, as you are now.”

  “Why are you really here?”

  “Like I said, I was told to wait and kill Jbir… actually, she told me to kill anyone who entered that doorway, especially if they were carrying a canister, as you have hidden under your jacket. Normally, you’d already be dead, but I was curious about meeting another me.”

  Ba’illi Black moved to block the door.

  “I don’t understand why she told you to kill me. I’ve always done what she asked.”

  “Not so. She gave me quite a list. Firstly, too cozy with the Federation. She mentioned General Reuzk.”

  “But she wanted that.”

  “Secondly, your handshake with Amie at yesterday’s meeting with Reuzk.”

  “It was to arrange this.”

  “Your gullibility introduced a virus inside Vera, which caused such a commotion Queen Lillia had to personally go inside to restore order. Thirdly, she feels a Ba’illi six point four would be better suited to the political duplicities Thomas will encounter on Abellia.”

  “But I’ve taught Thomas from first principles up—the proper way.”

  “I’m only doing what she’s asked. It’s time to face up to the new reality: superior technology has made you redundant. Hand it over.”

  “My orders are to only give it to General Reuzk,” Ba’illi said with the newfound courage of nothing left to lose.

  Ba’illi Black raised his gun. “Give it to me, or I’ll take it.” He grabbed the canister from Ba’illi’s feeble hand and stuffed it inside his suit and patted the slit close.

  Faint footsteps creaked down the stairs. Ba’illi Black cocked his head to one side and raised a finger to his pursed lips.

  Ba’illi searched for a way out. If he let Jbir come down there might be a way to escape in the confusion—a scuffle, or anything.

  Ba’illi Black motioned him to the far wall and hid beside the door.

  Jbir came inside, pistol first, wary.

  Ba’illi Black held his gun to Jbir’s head and clicked the door shut.

  “Drop it.”

  “You,” Jbir said. “I’m not ‘ready’ yet to make a deal.”

  The door upstairs exploded open.

  Ba’illi Black shot Jbir twice in the head and re-cloaked.

  Heavy boot steps crashed down the stairs.

  “Nothing personal,” Ba’illi Black said, aiming at Ba’illi’s head and squeezing the trigger.

  Ba’illi Black threw a poison bomb on the foyer rug then braced against the wall. The blast shook the entire building and plunged the corridor into a dust-choking darkness. He squeezed off a clip of Neonite slugs up the stairs for cover and ran for the e
nd of the corridor. He crashed through the doorway and set the escape route to auto-pilot. A long jump across the tracks, the third door on the right—lock behind, then up the stairs, outside, around the corner and take the external stairs to the roof, three roof tops and a twenty-foot drop to the escape taxi he’d hacked to hide it from the night Flies.

  He ditched the taxi after four blocks and uncloaked by the porthole. A shimmer passed in front of the streetlight as he slid the cover across. Too late, a vacuNet wrapped around him, squeezing his arms into his sides and trussing his legs together so hard he lost balance and fell sideways onto the cobblestones. A last-second twist saved his face from the cobblestones.

  “Ba’illi Black, we meet again.”

  He wriggled over and craned his neck. “General Reuzk. I never thought I’d see you again.”

  Reuzk scanned for booby traps and kicked him in the ribs. “It’s been a long time since the emperor’s dungeons, but some Colors you just never forget.”

  “How did you know? The safe house location was a secret.”

  “Never cross a double crosser. I only half-expected Ba’illi to go to the safe house we had agreed and when he didn’t show I knew she’d changed the game. Amie identified Jbir’s likeliest hideout from Tiekur’s old street maps. We have Ba’illi, the other one, to thank for that break. The old pirate drove a hard bargain, but fame is easily arranged—and erased.” Reuzk kicked his ribs again. “That’s for my friend.”

  “Jbir and your pet are dead because you were too slow.”

  “I had to wait for Jbir to show in case she’d left a surprise for me down there, the way she did at Kaleria—the way you did.” He kicked again. “The foot’s still tender, in case you were wondering why I’m going easy on you.” He knelt and yanked the canister free. “You weren’t thinking of leaving without giving me my present? Now, what am I going to do with you?”

  “Future sport?”

  Reuzk stomped on his hand. “You think I’m going to be sporting after what happened on Tilas? You’ll have a backup, so there’ll be plenty of time for sport.”

  Ba’illi Black slumped sideways. “Get on with it then.”

  Reuzk fired three shots into Ba’illi Black’s head and rolled him to the porthole.

  “Give him to me,” the knight said, uncloaking as he emerged from the shadows. “I know a place across the river where a feed of meat is always welcome.”

  “Old friend,” Reuzk said. “I was hoping we’d get the chance to say goodbye.”

  “I have come to say farewell,” the knight said.

  They thumped theirs chest with a closed fist above the heart in the way of the Panjali hill tribes.

  “If I do not return you must take my place as the custodian of Thomas, our future king.”

  “You fear trouble on the Space Palace, as well?”

  “My fate is sealed. I fear nothing,” the knight said. “I do not know what she has planned, but there is a dark evil in her heart and she lives for the double game. I kept close to Ba’illi tonight, but when he went inside the building I assumed he was meeting you to hand the canister over. He was a silly fool at times, but I couldn’t fault his loyalty.”

  “How did it come to this?” Reuzk asked. “We should be back on Tilas—you protecting the king and me fighting for just causes.”

  “If we’d stayed on Tilas then we would be long dead.”

  “Remember when we were young and the whole of the kingdom was before our feet? Warriors from the Karai and Lureu tribes.”

  “It serves no purpose to look back on our great age. What is before us now is our only chance to forge a better future.”

  “Maybe, but we must never forget the good in our lives. How else do we bear these alien times?”

  “Thank you for the Alice Holt orb. Until I saw Thomas Ryder in action, I didn’t think he could become a king, despite Queen Lillia’s assurances.”

  “If Lauzen is to be believed, Thomas Ryder is our savior.”

  The knight knelt and hooked a line around Ba'illi Black’s ankle. Reuzk lifted his foot off Ba’illi Black’s chest.

  “You must promise to protect Thomas Ryder,” the knight said. “He’s all we have left.”

  “I promise, but we’re not alone.”

  “I have enough deceits to last me a lifetime. Farewell, General Reuzk.”

  The knight turned away, recloaked, and headed towards the river’s edge, dragging Ba’illi Black him behind like a rag doll.

  “Goodbye, Oltren, Third Knight of the Realm.”

  Reuzk clenched his teeth to stop yelling out. There more to come, much more. You’re not the last. He watched Ba’illi Black ripple down the cobblestone ramp then turned and kicked the porthole cover closed.

  “Amie, how’s our patient?”

  “We can retrieve him, but I’m not sure how much use he’ll be.”

  “Feed our spies the storyline that nobody survived the safe house shootout.”

  Sirion touched down in the middle of the road.

  “Work back through the collaborators. We have to find the neurals. Jbir knew enough about her true plans for her to remove him—twice.”

  “I’ll do my best,” Amie said, “but we have only one day before she leaves the planet.”

  “She’s not out yet.”

  Chapter 35

  Tom sat in his reading chair and waited out his final hour on Heyre. He ran his fingers lightly back and forth along the Staff of Choen, selflessly given in love. How had his old, quiet life in Bentley come to this? The simple life in the monastery was a false hope that the new world might have enough in common with Earth to be psychologically bearable. All that changed when General Reuzk whisked him off to Heyre, only to be abducted at the port and incarcerated under the watchful eye of Queen Lillia. She was undoubtedly regal, but also carried an insufferable burden from a dark past and was the source of endless contradictions.

  The longevity virus gave him centuries of time to inquire into the nature of things. Whatever the delights and foibles of longevity, he had the chance to develop a personal philosophy on the meaning of Life and resolve the dilemma of how to be at peace. The journey to the Space Palace of Emperor Tilaxian would be full of surprises, and not of the good kind. He glanced over to the lightMatrix of Abellia, stationed in low orbit above Heyre and his chest tightened at the tragic fall of their once great civilization.

  He set the staff aside and picked up Prince Arulian’s sword. The knight, a reClone of the Third Knight of the Realm who’d fought at Orth alongside King Jialin, the last of the three Great Kings of Tilas, deliberately kept in the background. However, his history, talents, and virtues commanded him to come to the fore and play an active role in tutoring the ways of a great king. Queen Lillia decried the notion, but if the knight said they were going to war then they were. The knight hadn’t given him the prince’s shield and vest for nothing.

  General Reuzk’s feud with Queen Lillia showed no signs of abating and would continue until one of them came to their senses. It would be a moot point once Abellia left for the Space Palace, but neither of them was the type to let sleeping dogs lie. Upon her return, they would resume their struggle—with himself most likely somewhere in the middle. In his few dealings with the Federation, General Reuzk had proven honorable and trustworthy like the knight, which wasn’t surprising as they were both from the Panjali tribes.

  What had come over Ba’illi? He presented himself with the same aloof manner in the hallway this morning but was perkier than usual as though the excitement over the journey to the Space Palace had re-energized his mind with new possibilities of learning. And the new orange clothes instead of his usual greens?

  Doctor Teripeli had a dark heart. He could feel it in his manner and hear it in his voice whenever he talked about Nature as an impersonal commodity to reshape and redefine. His irrepressible belief in the truth of his convictions was that of a martyr to the cause. He talked the talk last night when taking blood, but there was timidity behind his
bold words. Unpalatable and dangerous as he was, he was less vain since the melatarin attack. Whatever truly happened in the Pit shook Teripeli to the core and had dimmed his faith in having mastery over Nature.

  Poor Choen. Dragged into this crazy world of hyper-technology, he remained steady and true. Choen was a touchstone to a sane world. If he was honest and not distracted by other demands, the teachings offered a clear, but difficult pathway to a lasting peace of mind. How could he possess the purity of spirit that went into making the staff? Choen was the rightful guardian of the staff and when he came home, he’d return it to the monastery.

  At least he’d found Sarra and there was the slim hope in the far-off future there could be a life worth living. She might not be fully whole, but death wasn’t the king on Heyre that it was on Earth.

  There was a knock on the side door.

  “Come in.”

  Choen shuffled in, stooped over and smaller since Silak had returned to Gukre. His face was painted in the traditional greens and blues of the Order of Rilla. It was for the best they were leaving Heyre and Choen could go back to his slower, truer, ways.

  Tom got up out of his chair and bowed. “I’ll get some refreshments.”

  “There’s no need. What I have to say won’t take long.” He placed his bag of possessions against the table and sat down. “You must have a lot on your mind, Thomas.”

  “Can you blame me?”

  “Your mind is busier than when you first came to me. You wanted a simpler life. Have you progressed? I think not.”

  Choen patiently observed the room. He fixed on the vase of red Pylxia flowers sitting on the side-table by the reading chair.

  “I have them to remind me of Heyre’s true nature,” Tom said. “Beautiful to look at, but dangerous for the unwary.”

  “Much like your spiceRolls,” Choen said. “A clear mind has no need for medication, or worse, pleasant addictions that distract you from the one true path to peace.”

  “I only take them to help me unwind from being trapped here.”

  “What will your excuse be on the royal cruiser? You will always be trapped until you face your fears and stare down your greatest enemy.”