“Do not play games with me. What did you do to the Kyroibi? I can sense it’s damaged!”
“I’ve not sensed the Kyroibi since you brought me here. All I feel is static.” Ellie frowned, suddenly remembering the events leading up to the Kyroibi’s awakening. “It’s you. You’re creating the same interference that my mother did when she attempted to take the Kyroibi from me.”
“Your mother? Isaverlline tried to take control of the Kyroibi?”
“Her exposure, much like Svoryk’s, made her vulnerable, but whatever she did, it caused the same buzzing.”
Andryvessa’s scowl intensified and she let loose a string of what could only be curses Ellie had yet to encounter, but understood the gist of.
“Your mother hasn’t the sense or initiative. No, this is your father’s doing. He was the one who thought himself clever by hiding the knowledge of our people within your pattern. That he would layer measures against me is not a leap in logic.”
“Father! Wait, he can help you.” Some of the heaviness in Ellie’s heart lifted. “After all, he transcended death and his body is immune.”
“Your father is dead,” Andryvessa hissed.
“Yes and no,” Ellie argued. “We can do what he did. Set a course for Ia’na Eidyn. We can get you a body. I’ll even… give you exactly what you want. The Kyroibi. It will be yours.”
“Funny,” Andryvessa drawled with a sinister chuckle that conveyed no amusement. The melodic dissonance common to all Eidyssic voices was beginning to sound more and more like shards of broken glass. “It’s always those in no position to bargain who will say just about anything to save themselves. I’ll not waste another moment listening to your pleas. I’ve suffered for too long.”
She lurched forward on stiff, clumsy legs and Ellie was horrified to see it was the crystallization that hampered her movements. The disease was spreading rapidly, stiffening her body. She wasn’t lying, she was quickly running out of time. Despite the fact that the woman was trying to take over her own body, Ellie felt bad. Not bad enough to give up her life, but enough to continue bargaining.
“I’m serious,” she ground out between gritted teeth. The buzzing in her head had become unbearable as she reached into her jacket pocket, extracting the small sphere her father had given her. It still pulsed with a faint, cool light, but as she held it aloft, Andryvessa let out a shriek, as if burned. “We can get you one of these.”
“Where did you get that?” she spat, shrinking away from the stone’s light, which only seemed to intensify at the sound of her voice.
“My father,” Ellie said, holding the stone with reverence. “Inside houses his…” she paused, unsure exactly what it was the stone housed. “Well, it’s him, nevertheless. His body is destroyed, but he lives on because of this.”
“You foolish child! Do you even know what that is?”
“Not exactly,” Ellie said with a shrug. “I assumed you might. Do you not recognize your son, El’iadryov? My god, what is happening?”
It almost seemed as if the crystals were growing more rapidly now. Andryvessa’s cruel expression twisted into one of torment.
“Destroy that thing,” she gasped. “Destroy it now or I’ll destroy you.”
“I’ll not destroy all that’s left of my father,” Ellie protested, though the way her head was bursting, she had to wonder if she would be destroyed first.
“Stay back.”
“Back? But I’m…” Ellie’s protest died as she looked down and noted she was standing. She didn’t even remember getting to her feet, yet her legs were acting of their own accord, bringing her closer to Andryvessa, who fell to the ground with a sickening groan. The sphere in her hand grew warmer the closer she got to the woman.
Ellie gasped in horror as she watched the crystal growths protrude from her grandmother’s body. “What… what is happening?”
“You’re a fool,” Andryvessa croaked. The crystals growing from her neck pushed up on her jaw, making her words hard to distinguish. “This… is not...”
There was one last burst of grey light and Ellie was knocked back off her feet. She let out a shout as her head hit the ground with a disturbing crack, but instead of pain, Ellie felt relief. The buzzing was gone. In its place, the comforting thrum of the Kyroibi resumed, returning with it her connection to the ship.
She sat up, her eyes falling to the lifeless body before her. Despite the fact that the woman had tried to kill her in a bid for power, Ellie couldn’t help but feel sad and even a bit remorseful for what had to have been a painful death. The spires of crystal had all but rendered the body indistinguishable as a person. Seeing now the ravaging effects of the disease made her understand better her father’s decision to spare his family from witnessing his degeneration.
Though understanding did not make it any easier to accept or reconcile what had happened. For that matter, Ellie wasn’t entirely sure exactly what happened, but she was positive the small stone she held clutched in her hand was directly responsible. As improbable as it was, it seemed her father’s essence understood who the true enemy was and had somehow performed a final act of revenge.
“Wish I knew what you did, Dad,” she muttered, slipping the sphere back into her pocket as she dragged herself back up to the console. There would be time for explanations later. First, she had a rescue to make.
Chapter 25
Ellie was grateful for her ship’s intelligence. The vessel had quietly removed Andryvessa’s body to the same climate controlled room that held Svoryk’s lifeless form. Knowing she was alone in space with two dead bodies was chilling enough without having the horrific reminder sharing the bridge.
She reached out and searched with the Kyroibi for her loved ones. Though faint, she felt both her mother and Richard. Alive, thankfully, but for how long, she didn’t know. Julian’s signature was even fainter yet, which brought an overwhelming sense of dread. If the ship succumbed to the degeneration as quickly as Andryvessa had, there was little hope unless Commander Vonsse was able to jam pack an entire starship’s worth of crew into his tiny craft.
She set a course for where the damaged ship drifted and willed her own vessel to move as fast as it could go. They hadn’t gotten far, at least. Andryvessa just took them out of Paisreatta space, but as the green line on her star map shrank to nothing, Ellie’s heart sank. Outside her view screen, where Svoryk’s ship had been, lay an empty expanse.
And yet, they were alive. That she could still sense the signatures was the only thing keeping Ellie from an all-out panic attack. Where they’d gone was a mystery, but a mystery quickly solved as an incoming transmission lit up the console. Ellie’s view switched from the emptiness of space to Commander Vonsse’s profile. With a nod to someone she could not see, he turned to the optical and gave her a wide smile.
“Eidyn Master, it brings me joy to see you safely with us again.”
“Thank you, Commander, but the ship…” she began, but Commander Vonsse cut her off by raising a hand.
“Everyone aboard the Emperor’s starship is safe and quarantined as needed. It was easier and much quicker to call in one of our freighters to bring the vessel back to our outpost than to attempt an evacuation. I am sending coordinates with your father.”
“My father?”
El’iadryov moved into the optical’s range.
“The grounding stone you carry,” he said with a smile. “Place it in the indention on the console.”
Ellie looked down and noticed a small impression on the console that hadn’t been there before. She reached into her pocket and noticed the sphere was still warm. Curious, she placed the smooth stone into the well. Almost immediately, a second chair sprang up and her father appeared sitting at her side.
“I probably should be shocked, shouldn’t I?” she quipped with a smile to hide the fact that she had indeed startled.
“Perhaps,” her father said with a small chuckle. “I am most relieved to see you.”
“Are you really here?�
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“Formless, yes, but my consciousness is split, which is how I am able to carry sensitive information. The ship’s hard light technology is allowing me to communicate with you while outside my artificial body.” He placed his hand on the console and the star map before them began to shift. “Vonsse would not allow us to transmit the coordinates of the SiFa outpost knowing there was a chance rival mining factions might intercept. Especially not when he saw the value of the damage.”
“Value?” Ellie asked with a frown. Svoryk’s ship was useless enough with the retrofittings, but after the infection, it was completely unsalvageable.
“The silicate crystals that destroyed the ship are rare in this part of the galaxy, but quite valuable for use in transport and communication technologies. The ships remains will be put to good use.”
“Doesn’t that freak you out a bit?” Ellie stared at her father, slightly unnerved by the casual way he spoke of using the same crystal structures that destroyed his life.
“Why should it? Do Earthlings not use carbon as the basis of most of their necessities including the food they eat? That we are silicon-carbon hybrids changes nothing.”
“Never mind. I just thought…” she trailed off, suddenly uncomfortable. “Were you here then? You know… Could you sense what was happening while your… while the…”
“I was conscious of the events that transpired, yes,” he said with a nod, but Ellie noted the grim set of his mouth. “That I was seen as nothing more than an obstacle in the way of her ascent to power was a painful revelation, but not an entirely surprising reveal.”
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “I know, that is, I understand. I mean, Mom wasn’t even in control of her emotions and it was terrifying. What Andryvessa did was unforgivable.”
“There’s no need for embarrassment, Ellie,” her father assured. “What she became, I cannot fully blame her for, but neither can I call her my mother, as she had become something else entirely. Though I am most grateful that the measures I put in place to keep both you and the Kyroibi safe held. Had she managed to occupy your form and gain control of the Kyroibi, I doubt very much there would have been anything we could have done to stop her.”
“So is that what that was?” Ellie asked. “That buzzing that made my head feel like it was going to explode?”
“I’m sorry,” he apologized with a concerned smile. “Given the uncertainty of success and knowing I could not be there throughout, I created an extra measure of protection. Should someone try to extract the Kyroibi from you without your consent, the resulting data dump would repel their efforts.”
“Well, I appreciate your looking out for both me and the Kyroibi, but perhaps if I’m to keep this thing we can explore backup measures that don’t feel like a swarm of locusts eating my brain?”
“I believe you will not suffer such a fate again, though I will be happy to consult the archives for a viable alternative, but first…” He placed a palm against the console once again. “We’re here. Even though Vonsse knows the ship, I have a code I am required to transmit, just in case,” he explained with a smile.
“I’m just kind of in awe. I didn’t realize hard light could transmit. Then again, I also don’t understand how you can be in two places at once, so there’s that.”
El’iadryov laughed. “Understandable. I am merely a copy of my pattern. Once we rendezvous with the station, I’ll return the stone to my person and assimilate this experience back into the pattern. The truth is, I’m a bit excited. I’ve never done this, but I’ve heard varied accounts of the experience. I’m curious to know what it will be like having two separate yet simultaneous memories of the same time span.”
“Okay, that’s not weird or anything,” Ellie muttered, but turned her attention to the station they were closing in on. She could now feel the strong signatures of both her mother and Richard, but Julian’s was fainter than before. “Did… did something happen to Julian?”
Her father’s smile faded. “I’m sorry, Ellie.”
“Sorry?” Her stomach churned over the word.
“He was the one who saved everyone,” El’iadryov explained. “When Andryvessa knocked you out, she overrode the safety protocols and uncoupled the ships without properly engaging the airlock. She meant, of course, to kill everyone aboard the damaged ship, but Julian was able to close the airlock. Unfortunately, he was on the wrong side.”
“But that wouldn’t kill him,” Ellie protested.
“Not immediately, no. But not even our artificial structures can withstand the bombardments of space for long.”
“Then we need to go now. We need to find him.” Ellie’s voice was tinged with panic.
“El’iadrylline, he was ejected as soon as he closed the lock. There’s no way we’ll be able to locate him even with a trajectory map.”
“That’s not true. I can sense him.”
El’iadryov looked at his daughter in surprise. “You can?”
“But of course. Why is that so strange?” Ellie asked, trying and failing to act casually.
“Ellie, Julian is an artificial construct.”
“Yes, but he’s not just any construct, is he?” she asked, turning the conversation in a way to deflect attention off her obvious feelings and more to the practical. “I mean, he’s basically the commander of our army isn’t he? And…” she let out a sigh, cringing as her emotions got the better of her. “He’s vowed himself as some sort of protector. I… I guess that gave us some sort of bond…”
“Well then,” her father said as he revised their course and sent a message to the station to stand by. “Lead the way.”
Ellie closed her eyes and reached out, locking on the faint signature. Her mind drew the map and her diodes transmitted it to the ship.
“Here,” she said, opening her eyes wide as a tug suddenly pulled at her heart.
“I see him,” her father said in a hushed tone, bringing up a visual.
“Bring him in,” she managed to choke as she turned toward the screen. A blue pod, roughly the size of a human curled into a fetal position, floated in front of the ship. Ellie watched as her father guided the ship’s maintenance arm toward the pod and only relaxed once it was securely inside and linked to the ship’s medical diagnostic system. From somewhere inside, a single diode pulsed only once. It was a simple message, brief and cryptic, but it was the lifeline Ellie needed to go on.
It took all of her willpower to stay seated, but she knew there was nothing she could do that the ship couldn’t do better. Instead, she watched with her father as the ship was pulled into an enclosed docking bay of the alien space station, where a ragtag group of unlikely revolutionaries waited on the other side of the pressurized airlock to greet them.
“So uh, did you and Mom have a chance to talk?” she asked, seeing her mother standing with both her living and dead husbands. Admittedly, it was unnerving to see her father out there as well as next to her.
“I did. And I explained that none of what happened is her fault, but I suspect she feels responsible.”
“Yeah, I’ve got to remember that too,” Ellie said with a grimace at the way she’d treated her mother.
The console flashed, indicating that the hangar’s environment was now safe. The ship’s walls came back into view and Ellie realized that for the first time, she hadn’t been affected by the ship’s invisibility. Granted, she had a lot on her mind as she stood up.
“Julian?”
“Leave him here,” her father replied. “The ship will be better equipped to diagnose and repair his injuries than a pirate space station.”
“What about…” she trailed off, nodding her head toward the chamber where the two dead bodies remained.
“Leave them as well. We’ll have someone take care of them once we return to the Ghowrn system.”
Ellie nodded, her father’s words sinking in. In truth, she hadn’t even considered the possibility of staying away from Earth any longer than necessary. In her mind, she’d assu
med they would drop off Svoryk, make a statement as to what he did, and hopefully return in time to actually find an organic chemistry tutor before the semester began. It was pretty clear now she was involved with something much bigger than she could have fathomed prior to her visit to Ia’na Eidyn.
As they stepped out of the ship, Ellie found herself suddenly alone. She looked around in confusion for a moment before catching her father’s eye on the other side of the transparent partition. Moments later, the light above flashed green and the door opened. Ellie found herself swarmed by family and friends, all of whom it seemed wanted to hug her at once.
“I guess there’s a lot to discuss, huh?” she asked over her mother’s shoulder, catching the eye of the commander who stood off to the side with her father.
“Indeed. It’s true then? Svoryk is dead?”
“Along with the woman who was controlling him.” Ellie swallowed nervously. She wasn’t looking forward to explaining any of what happened.
“The death of the Emperor will certainly have consequences,” El’iadryov noted. “I am certain the Eidyn governance will be grateful to finally receive an explanation for my final machinations, but I suspect Alliance Leadership may not be as easily placated.”
“Indeed,” Vonsse agreed. “Even as we fight a common foe, our distrust of our allies remains that which will keep us from ever truly attaining victory. We must work to mend our differences and strengthen our allegiances.” He cast a nervous glance at Vito. “From our governance down to our familial differences.”
Vito narrowed his eyes at the commander before breaking into a wide grin and slapping him on the back. “You already know I’m far too curious to know how my stick in the mud brother ended up paling around with the Paisreatta to hold any kind of grudge.”
“I was acting on orders from the royal family,” Vonsse replied with a haughty tone. “Unlike someone who thought it would be fun to steal a star craft and play pirate.”
“You two are brothers?” Ellie’s jaw dropped to the floor.
“He’s just mad because I’m the handsome one.” Vito gave a wink before turning a serious expression to Vonsse. “I’m guessing you being out here has something to do with rumors I heard about the lost royals?”
A Space Girl from Earth (The Kyroibi Trilogy Book 1) Page 24