Deus: The Eurynome Code, Book Six

by Gorman, K.

  Karin examined the refrigerator’s dark metallic front surface for a few seconds before experimentally tapping a spot on the side.

  The door faded from view like a morning fog.

  “Holy shit,” she said.

  “Yeah, it’s impressive,” Soo-jin said. “Judge me however you want, but I’ve started a list of home decor that I want in my future fantasy apartment.”

  “I thought you wanted your own ship?”

  “Yeah, but everyone’s gotta have a base somewhere, right?”

  Karin snorted. “I dunno, I’m currently finding ship living pretty damn fine.”

  “Yeah, well, not all of us can become a Centauri Grand Regent overnight.”

  She decided to skip the potential chicken. It had been a week since Leisler had died, and she wasn’t sure if they’d cleaned the fridge yet. Instead, she opted for an orange and a sealed packet that had a picture of a rice ball on it.

  She tapped the button again to melt the door of the fridge back into place, found a plate in the second cupboard, cracked open the package to reveal a surprisingly-intact onigiri triangle, and hunted for the communications device in her pocket.

  She pressed the button on the end, and Tillerman answered. “Yes?”

  “It’s me,” she said. “You needed to speak with me?”

  “Yes. You’ve had several calls. Fallon is getting touchy.”

  “Ah, well. If they call back, tell them that their rep is next in line for my attention. Is Tylanus still in Med?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. I’ll be down to see him. And Tillerman?”

  “Yes, Regent?”

  “Let’s find a room to have that chat, and let’s do it soon.”

  “Yes, Regent.”

  She ended the call, put the device down, stared at her plate, and let out a breath.

  Then, she began to stuff the onigiri triangle into her mouth as quickly as she could, washing it down with a water packet she grabbed on the counter.

  “No rest for the wicked?” Soo-jin quirked a brow.

  She made an unladylike noise around her full mouth, stuffed the last bite in, and walked back toward the door. Her normal slip-on shoes sat near the door.

  “You guys want to stay here or come with?” she asked. “I’m going to talk with Tylanus.”

  “Come with, obviously.” Soo-jin bustled over. “It’s not every fucking day that I get to check out the insides of a Centauri ship. By the way, are we still friends?”

  “What?”

  “Just checking in on how psychotic you are today.”

  “Oh, very psychotic.” Karin frowned. “But we’re still friends.”

  “Fabulous. Because I’ll definitely be using the ‘my best friend is your Grand Regent’ card to get them to tell me all their nerdy engineering secrets.”

  She grunted. “We’re headed to the Med bay. I’m not sure how many engineers we’ll be finding.”

  “Perhaps Shinji and I will be playing that card, so to speak, given our interests and expertise,” Takahashi suggested.

  “I brought my Trojan F-Class E-Emitter. Technically, I can do work here.”

  Ah, yes, the electroshocking metal ball he’d used to stalk her with. She had been wondering what excuse he’d come up with to find himself on the Artemide. She’d guessed that it was mostly as a tag-along to learn more about the Centauri’s advancement in cybernetics―which she approved of, given that he could then apply the knowledge to Tia’s cybernetically-spliced brain should he need to―but she supposed that an additional weapon didn’t hurt.

  It did have superhuman tracking abilities. She still wasn’t sure how it had managed to follow her as much as it had. He’d said something about scent and biometrics, but she couldn’t wrap her head around it.

  Plus, if it had been scent, then it definitely would have followed her a bit more…directly. Instead, it had taken a circuitous route, somehow managing to know where she was or where she was heading, only following directly once it had caught a direct line of sight on her.

  At the side, Bella raised her hand. “I know I’m just a tag along, but I would really appreciate it.”

  She beamed a hopeful smile in Karin’s direction.

  “Sure. All right,” she said, slipping her shoes on and brushing the remains of rice off her mouth. “Let’s see how swanky the Centauri make their Med bay.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Karin gawked. She couldn’t help herself. The second she stepped into the Med ward, her jaw slid open, and she couldn’t stop staring.

  The Centauri Med ward was, it turned out, pretty fucking swanky.

  It looked like one of those utopic visions of medicine. Twenty pre-built medical terminals, complete with monitoring holos, a bed, medical supplies, and what looked like a potential privacy screen, lined the left-hand wall, each looking like they belonged in the fifth millennium rather than the third, and the walls, cabinetry, desks, and holos all had the same gleaming, glowing white look she’d seen in commercials for aestheticians, all colored in the white and gold that matched the Artemide’s halls and bridge.

  The Menassi emblem with the eagle was stamped onto the far wall, this time accompanied with an oath below that she couldn’t read.

  There’s that language barrier again, she thought.

  Well, they’re definitely speaking something with Italian roots, Tia replied. I can tell that much.

  Yes, she’d already recognized it as a patois. She resisted the urge to point out that she had technically spent more of her life closer to Italy than Tia had. As far as she knew, the doctor’s travels were largely confined to the Americas with only a few spots of travel in Europe.

  But, inside, she felt Tia’s mood simmer. As if she’d caught the rebuke, even though it had been left unthought.

  That worried her, a little. Tia hadn’t been able to catch thoughts like that before.

  Granted, she had just blown her mind up with her power. Perhaps she wasn’t thinking as subtly as she’d thought she was.

  She spotted Tylanus in the far pod, with four Centauri medical personnel in attendance.

  His head swiveled her way as she approached, his black eyes locking on hers immediately.

  She felt it hit. As their eyes locked, it was as though a magnet slid into place in the back of her mind.

  And by the scrutiny of his expression, he felt it, too.

  Interesting. Must be a Creation deity thing.

  The technician next to him said something, and he replied, his voice too low to make out. As she and the crew of the Nemina approached, the surrounding technicians gave a small bow and took a step away. Only one man remained next to Tylanus. By the glances the rest of the Med team gave him, she gathered he was the team lead.

  She inclined her head.

  “Good afternoon, Doctor.” Though it was now late evening in Brazil, the standard Centauri clocks marked their cycle as around 15:00, Sol Standard. “Did you have any trouble?”

  She arched her eyebrows, looking pointedly at the rest of the team.

  He set her a polite smile. “No trouble, Regent. Just eager volunteers.”

  “They’ve never met someone from Earth before,” Tylanus explained, the amusement plain in his face and tone.

  To the side, a few members of the team looked away, their faces reddening.

  Right. They were interested because he was an Earther. His completely pitch-black eyes and otherworldly powers were inconsequential.

  Well, guess they’ll now have a few ‘Earthers’ to look over, if we’re going to be hanging around.

  She gave them a thin smile, then turned back to Tylanus. “How are you?”

  A shrug rolled off his shoulders. “I’ve been worse.”

  “But you’ve been better, too.”

  She knew because she’d seen it. Just over a week ago, then they’d last had that strange, shared-dream thing that they did, he’d seemed better. Much better. Now, his body had a strained look to it, and his skin had los
t some of its richness. He appeared older, too, with the beginnings of wrinkles around his eyes and mouth, as if they were closer to her own age rather than the twenty or so he should be.

  Yes, there’s definitely an age difference from your last memory of him, Tia said.

  He’s likely been spending time in one of his mother’s time-sped dimensions again.

  Sasha could control the time in her pocket dimensions, so she could make it as fast or slow as she wanted.

  She stepped closer, sliding her arms into a crossed position on her chest. “Let’s talk about what happened earlier. Was that Sasha?”

  The muscles in his cheek rippled, and his neck tightened. “Yes. She’s enacting her plan.”

  “Even though you’re not there to help her?” She slid a hand free and gestured. “I thought she needed your body?”

  That phrasing earned her a few looks from the Med staff. At least, it was easy to pick out those who were decently fluent in System.

  “She is Chaos. She can manipulate dimensions how she pleases, for the most part. And I have already given her access to Tartarus. She’s built her new world there, and is ready to integrate.” He nodded to her. “How about you? You’ve clearly changed. Is it what you alluded to last time?”

  The last time they’d spoken, she’d told him that she’d been working on something, but she hadn’t specified what that ‘something’ was. There’d been too much of a risk that Sasha would find out about it, and she couldn’t risk the doctor planning a possible defense against Eurynome.

  With that, it was best to keep the surprise.

  Now, things had changed.

  “I found the former head geneticist and first human trial for the Project, uploaded her into my head, and completed quaternary phase of her Program. I am Eurynome now.”

  He narrowed his eyes, and his mouth opened. She felt a shift in the air, as if he were checking on something.

  “No, you are something else,” he said.

  “Yes, well, maybe we got a bit creative with the programming―sue us. What I really am is tired of your mother’s shit. I need to know where she is and what she’s doing. And if you have an idea on how to stop her, I would love to hear it.”

  “Would cutting her head off work?” Nomiki suggested.

  Tylanus flinched. Karin skewered a glared in her sister’s direction.

  “What?” Nomiki said. “It’s what we’re all thinking. Just two hours ago, you had zero qualms about killing thousands of people for being in the wrong ship at the wrong time, and you’ve been a pretty cold-hearted bitch about it.”

  “I also wasn’t speaking to any of those people’s sons.”

  She shook her head―whatever had Nomiki in a tiff, it was not her problem. She could deal with it, or she could leave, and if she continued to be pissy, Karin would present her with the second choice.

  “Okay, so―” Soo-jin stepped forward. “Sasha’s got access to Tartarus, and she’s…taking you apart in order to build the new universe?”

  “Yes,” he said.

  “What?” Beside the bed, the Centauri doctor started, confusion coming across his face as he glanced back over to Tylanus. “Taking you apart?”

  Karin let out a sigh.

  Gods, this was so fucked up. They were genetically engineered people, not gods and goddesses. Gods and goddesses weren’t supposed to exist, not really, and certainly not in the literal, tangible way that the Eurynome Project had made them.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “This must be confusing, especially to someone who lives in a scientific world. He and I―” She gestured to herself and Tylanus, “―we’re genetically engineered to be able to manipulate quantum fields. The people who made us had an obsession for mythological figures and decided to recreate gods and goddesses from their favorite pantheons, and now one of us―his mother―is making the world end.”

  “It’s not her fault,” Tylanus said. “Something broke her programming. She’s…not who she used to be. Something’s changed.”

  “Regardless of how it happened, we have to stop it. Or else all of us, and everyone we know, will be very dead.” She waved her arms. “The entirety of human civilization, gone in an instant. Now―that thing from before. Was that her doing a Shift Event?”

  “Yes,” he said. “She tried to take Renee.”

  One of Nova’s moons. It would have been outside of the defenses that Nova had put up against her Shift Event powers, but eventually, even those would be overwhelmed by her Chaos powers.

  Unless Karin could stop her.

  As the Program that Sasha’s Chaos was built on, she should be able to.

  You are able to. My programming will trump Sasha’s anytime. It already did.

  She curled her lip. Gods, they’d wasted so much time on those combat missions.

  But they were here now, and that’s what mattered.

  It was time to end this.

  “Where is she?” she asked. “Where can I find her?”

  “In Tartarus,” he said. “That’s where she’s building the new world. She’s planning to be its base.”

  “And the new universe her hive mind?” Karin shook her head, the knowledge gained from Tia answering questions even as her mind was asking them.

  Without the other Programs, it wouldn’t work. The world would be empty, with just her. A lonely, wandering, despairing death.

  What if she replicated the other Programs? she asked Tia. Remember the new Eurynome subjects we found on Chamak?

  Tia hadn’t been there, but she’d remember it the same way Karin remembered her new knowledge of genetics.

  Yes, that’s possible. She had them all from the same pantheon, too.

  Yeah, her pantheon. She turned her attention outward, focusing on Tylanus. “Has she been growing a new set of Eurynome kids?”

  He nodded. “Yes. Only a handful, just the ones we could salvage from the facility on Chamak before you ran us out. They are ten years old now.”

  That coincided with her guess as to his new age.

  “Only a handful?” Nomiki questioned. “What about the rest?”

  Tylanus frowned.

  “She already has them. She took them two hours ago, when I had my episode.”

  The pit dropped out of Karin’s stomach, and a jolt of electricity flashed through her skin.

  It had already started.

  We need to move.

  She turned on her heel, already bringing the communications device from her pocket.

  “Tillerman, do you have that room ready? It’s time for our chat.”

  * * *

  They met in a small conference room on the same level as the bridge and her quarters. Quiet, elegant, with Artemide’s signature white and gold design worked into impressive detail and the Menassi Tri-Quad eagle on the back wall, and with a table clearly meant for a larger gathering.

  She and Tillerman sat across from each other and hammered out the broad details of the Eurynome Code, her genetic engineering, the Shadows, the situation with Fallon and the Alliance, the basic stats of her new fleet and its capabilities, what was expected of her as its leader, and any threats that may come when those that dissented against her decided that assassination was too risky.

  There were, after all, many ways to kill a person, and she had to sleep some time.

  At one point, Tillerman stopped her, called an aide into the room, and had him record the basic situation with the Eurynome Code, the Shadows, and the basis of her power. He would then send a message fleet-wide, which would sate some of the worry and curiosity in her fleet.

  It would also tell them that they, the Menassi Tri-Quad, were about to embark on a new mission to save the universe and stop the Shadow attack.

  It sounded hokey when they drafted it, but Tillerman gave her questioning expression a subtle head-shake and kept directing the aide.

  “And what were those other monsters you told me about? The things made of shadows with the blades?”

  “I’ve been thinkin
g of them as ‘Sentinels.’ They struck me as more intelligent, and definitely more goal-oriented when it comes to Sasha.” The creatures, which she had encountered on Nova during the Shift Events, were a lot harder to kill than Shadows. Blasters didn’t hurt them, not really, and even her light powers had a hard time bringing them down. “Tylanus said that his mother made them, so it makes sense that they would be loyal to her.”

  “She didn’t make the Shadows?” Tillerman asked.

  “No. According to them, they’ve been here all along. She can control them, but I don’t know how deep that control goes. They seem to be waking up more, if you know what I mean?”

  “Sentience?”

  “Maybe. I think they were sentient, but now, they are more self-aware, and aware of what they’re interacting with. When was the last time you had a Shadow attack you?”

  “It’s been a while,” Tillerman admitted. “And what about that dream? With the ruins we found at the other compound?”

  Ah, yes. That reminded her. She’d have to send a team to Macedonia to make sure Fallon wasn’t letting Seirlin put their grubby little child-torturing hands over their old compound.

  Gods, and what about that other Cradle?

  Yet another thing to check in with.

  You need a secretary, Tia thought dryly.

  Indeed. I can’t keep asking Tillerman to fulfill that role, though she’s doing a marvelous job as an assistant manager.

  I dare you to call her that to her face.

  She gave herself a shake and stood. “I need to speak to Kalinsky and Reeve. It’s time to get Earth and Fallon back in the loop.”

  “What about that gentleman you left in your quarters?”

  “Baik?” She frowned. He’d stayed behind to make some calls. “Yes. Let’s get him on the bridge. And Tillerman?”

  The commander’s eyes took on a suspicious narrowness. “Yes, Regent?”

  “Whatever I’m paying you, it needs to be more.”

  “Yes, it does.” She stood up. “Don’t worry, I already have several pay requests in your queue, and you better accept them. I need to keep my wife happy on Jezebel.”