"That’s very harsh," said Crystal evenly.
"Harsh?" asked Snark, his tail starting to flick at the ends.
"There is evil in the galaxy, but rarely do you find it described so intensely, as this about the Brotherhood."
"Actually, that was quite a mild description," stated Snark.
"Tell us more," offered Crystal neutrally.
Sissness jumped in, as she could see Snark was getting agitated.
"From my research, the Brotherhood is a religious sect, which recruits its members with promises it doesn’t necessarily keep. Once within the sect, members are recruited into criminal activities, such as narcotics smuggling, illegal gambling, money laundering, and prostitution. Some of their operatives are assassins and murderers. We have come up against several of these agents ourselves. They have no obvious military force, preferring to work through others, but they are generally being regarded in the sectors they operate in, as dangerous, and an overt threat to liberty and just society."
Snark lost his patience, and broke in.
"Once you join, you never leave. Those who try, die. Those who fail a task, die. Those who question, die."
There was a silence in the room.
The Mediators looked at each other, and Crystal nodded.
"A fine summation," she asserted.
Sissness looked pleased.
"We do see the Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation, have heard several things about them, and have examined evidence which suggests what you say is justified. We generally do not make assumptions from hearsay, as we prefer to make judgements based on evidence." She smiled again. "As you can imagine, we hear all sorts of negative accusations from each side of a conflict."
Snark was about to say something, and Anna jumped in.
"Yes, I can imagine," she said. "Brother Paulus is in this sector, and is the one who has hired the Valderians. Valderians boarded our ship, and tried to take it over. Paulus is part of the Inner Circle of the Brotherhood, and is quite powerful as a result."
"And believe me," added Snark, "you don't want to meet him!"
Anna shot Snark a look which said shut up.
"What would you like us to do?" asked Crystal.
"We know you are Mediators of conflicts in this sector," said Anna carefully. "We would like to know you are aware of what is happening, and perhaps if needed, arbitrate a solution. Also, we are prepared to give you information about the Brotherhood, so you are prepared when they come to this part of the sector."
Crystal and the other Mediators around the table nodded. Crystal rose to all feet, and addressed the table.
"We Mediators would like to discuss your proposal, and offer of information. While we do so, we would like to offer you access to the city. Neep will look after you."
They felt a bit like they’d just been dismissed, but Neep smiled, and led them to the door. When they were outside, Neep confided in them.
"This is the way of the Consulting Ones," he explained. "They need to make sure they are completely neutral, even though they can see each side of a story."
Sissness was curious about how the mediation worked.
"How do the Consulting Ones get involved in mediating between species?"
Neep was happy to help her understand.
"We are known for our abilities. And it’s not just mediating between species. We are called on to be counsellors, to help people work through their own problems, as well as mediation. Often it is small disagreements within one species as well as between different species. We have also helped prevent wars, but too often we come at the end of the process to help broker a peace. It is a sad time. We would much rather assist beings to see there is really no need for war."
Snark snorted.
"I wish you could tell the Brotherhood!" he scoffed.
Neep wasn’t fazed by Snark’s narkiness.
"The Brotherhood sounds as if it would not listen. That is part of the art, to convince parties there is a benefit to them to listen, and understand their adversary’s perspective." He smiled at Snark. "There are beings who desire conflict, and profit from it. It is difficult to help them to see a reasonable and mutually beneficial way forward."
"The Brotherhood is evil. Can evil beings be convinced to turn over a new leaf?" asked Snark.
"Evil is in itself, a concept we apply to things we can’t understand…"
"Evil is real," broke in Snark. "It works against the positive in all of us."
"It’s rare for beings to be purely evil, or good," suggested Neep, unfazed by Snark. "Some beings try to get a benefit at the expense of others, which is an imbalance in the universe, which then seeks balance."
"Dogs balls!"
"What Snark means," interjected Anna quickly, "is sometimes it's beings who delight in others’ pain and misery, and profit from it, behave evilly, and can’t be persuaded to do good."
"What Snark means," began Snark, but didn’t finish.
"We’re here!" announced Neep, seemingly not bothered by the exchange.
They'd descended in the lifts, walked out of the front door, and across a lawn roadway to a park on the other side. Neep and the team had been joined by the rest of Neep’s tell. One each of the tell paired up with one each of the team.
"Do you mind if we split you up and go in different directions?" asked Neep.
They barely had any time to reply, when they started taking various paths through the park.
While Anna was not happy about it, and would rather the team stayed together, she felt it would be impolite to say anything. Snark wasn’t given time to give his opinion, as a Mediator named Nessy, with appealing sky blue eyes, led him over to a fountain and garden area.
Anna was teamed up with Neep, and Jamie with an engaging extrovert named Peach, with peachy coloured eyes behind peach-coloured spectacles. Sissness was led to the waterside of a lake, and Brindle, disappointed it wasn’t Bren, went off with another of the tell, to look at some children playing on the large lawn.
Sissness was already in deep conversation, Anna could see, while she thought Brindle would give her guide a run for his money. She turned to Neep as they made their way over to what looked like a large greenhouse, but was really an aviary full of multi-coloured birds of every description. As they entered the aviary, she gasped as wings fluttered over her head, and a red and green parrot soared up into a tree.
Neep could see she'd wanted to say something, and looked at her directly.
"I can’t remember what it was now," said Anna, laughing softly as she spotted birds in the trees and bushes around them, and flying under the glass ceiling. "This is amazing!"
"Yes, I often come here, when I need to centre myself," said Neep in response.
"They are so…," she said, as a bird flew past her, its wings sweeping over her, "…perfect!" she finished.
"Alas, nothing in life is perfect," said Neep, almost subdued, and not like his bright presence before. He seemed to pull himself up, and smiled at Anna. "There is great beauty in the world, the galaxy, and the universe. But some beings don’t realise this, recognise it for its importance, and destroy it all too easily. We saw this at least early enough to preserve our world, its richness and diversity. We strive to show other beings moderation in all things to live sustainably."
Anna thought about the ark on Winter.
"Your quest," began Neep.
"Yes?" asked Anna.
"If you find the Stone, what will you do with it?"
Anna considered the question carefully. She'd not thought much beyond the struggle to find it.
"I want to protect it from those who seek to use it for harm."
"Do you think you will use it for good?"
"Of course," said Anna.
Neep was looking directly at her, having jumped up on to a high bench placed as a platform for viewing. Anna felt lost in the deep blackness of his eyes. They were almost like a mirror to her thoughts. She shook herself.
"Do you think you can always
use it for good?" asked Neep.
Anna thought about it. She recognised she didn’t always behave well, but for her own interests. Would her own interests be good? How could she be sure? What was good? What if she was forced to choose between two paths of good intentions? Or if there were only options which would do some harm?
She could see how Neep had led her to question her own nature. Power corrupted. Power could make ordinary people do extraordinary things, but also extraordinarily evil and malevolent things. Would she be able to manage the power the Stone represented? She had to trust in herself, and also trust in her friends. They would keep her grounded.
But another thought popped in. The question itself was designed to lead you in a particular direction. It presumed the Stone would be used. But why should it? Wasn’t the best person to safeguard its power be the one who didn’t want to wield it? Vasily had wanted to wield its full power, making him entirely the wrong person to have it. She'd seen him abuse its power when he did have it. What made her any different? She wanted to keep it from hurting anyone else. This didn’t imply using it at all.
Neep watched her emotions cross her face. It was good. She was thinking. He waited patiently for her.
"I don’t want to use it," she said eventually. "I want what I originally said. To protect it from being abused and hurting people."
He smiled at her, and she smiled back.
"Is this also what you do?" she asked Neep.
"What do you mean?"
"This asking difficult but meaningful questions, to get beings thinking about their positions."
Neep chirped his laugh.
"You’ve caught me out!"
"If the Stone must be used, I will do everything in my power to ensure its power is used to help beings, not harm them. But better if it never has to be used at all."
Anna thought for a moment.
"I'd love to be listening to the conversation Snark is having," she said, and laughed herself.
Sixty Four
They met back at the Central Policy Hub building, and were escorted up to the same conference room they'd been in before. The team looked particularly thoughtful as they took their seats, and their Mediator companions left. None of them seemed to want to meet the other’s eyes, except Jamie, who looked at Anna with confidence and love. Anna felt bolstered even as she’d started doubting.
Snark opened the proceedings almost before the Consultant tell had taken their seats.
"So what have you decided?"
He seemed his usual grumpy self. Anna wondered what he’d said to his Mediator.
"We’d like to suggest an exchange," began Crystal.
"About bloody time!" grumped Snark.
Crystal seemed to ignore this.
"We’d like to have as much information about the Brotherhood as possible. If you are correct, they are a threat to the stability and wellbeing of the sector." Crystal paused, and continued. "We don’t think there is any point in contacting this Brother Paulus to start a mediation process. We could try, but it is obvious he is fixed in his position."
"We told you that," commented Snark.
Crystal ignored him.
"We would like to send one of our Mediators with you. They are not to help you fight, of course, but an empath can help you to understand what is happening, not only about the Brotherhood and the Valderians, but also yourselves."
Snark looked sceptical at this, but didn’t say anything further. Crystal went on.
"You must realise, we ourselves do not take sides. However, we do have influence with the beings of this sector. The Valderians, I’m afraid, do not respond well to our overtures, however, we do persist where we can. But others will not be bystanders when they know we are sympathetic at least to your cause. We can send messages of support to the beings you call bears and beetles. We can also start to lobby some of the more powerful of the beings past the system of Scylla. They will not be at all pleased to know what is going on in their backyard, so to speak."
She paused.
"At the least, where we cannot provide military support, we can provide safe passage out of the sector, through lobbying a number of planets and beings within our bounds."
The team looked at each other. Anna answered for them.
"We're pleased to have your support. Sissness has a report about the Brotherhood, which we can make available to you."
"Thank you."
Crystal glanced at the others, and Neep stood up. "We have accommodations ready for you, for tonight, and we will talk more about practicalities tomorrow."
Everyone stood up, the Mediators smiling broadly, as the team made their way out.
They gathered together in one of the suites which had been made available to them.
"It’s all bollocks!" Snark said, with his usual grumpy emphasis.
The others waited for him to say more, but he seemed satisfied with this one outburst.
"They’re verra’ guid at what they do," said Jamie.
"What do you mean?" asked Brindle.
"Well, there I was, talking awa’ with this Mediator wi’ the funny eyes, and she more or less asks me if I know what I’m doing." He thought a bit about it, and then continued. "She almost didn’t ha’ to ask me, given she just looked a’ me with those big eyes." Sissness, Brindle, and Anna nodded. "Well, I just told her, I’d rather we had the Stone, than these Brotherhood nasties, and the galaxy could rely on us."
Sissness chimed in.
"I was asked what I would do once we'd found the Stone. I said I'd thought about it." Anna looked at her. Of course, Sissness would have, whereas she hadn’t really. "I said I trusted in my friends, and the powers in charge in our worlds. I knew this wouldn’t always be the case, and there would always need to be vigilance to protect the innocent from the powerful, and to make sure whatever power the Stone had, it should be used to protect rather than harm."
"I said more or less the same thing." Anna sighed. "I must admit, I haven’t thought much about what I’d do with the Stone, because I’ve been concentrating on just finding it." She paused, thinking about how it'd gone. "But a funny thing happened. The more I thought about how we'd use it for good, the more it felt right to try not to use it at all. And the more I think about it, the more this feels right to me. People who use power for what they think is good, so often end up causing more pain and suffering than had they done nothing. I mean, I know I’d use it to protect people, but it would have to need to be used, not me wanting to use it."
Sissness and Snark were sitting there with their mouths hanging open. Jamie was grinning. Anna blushed.
Brindle looked sheepish.
"I just said I was along for the ride," she said with a guilty expression. "I mean, I believe in the quest and all, and I know what we’re doing is for good." She tapered off rather lamely.
Snark sat, and humphed and grumphed.
"What did they ask you?" Anna was curious.
Snark looked up at them and grimaced.
"I’m not sure I helped our cause much. I said they were busybodies, didn’t I?"
"What did they say?" asked Sissness.
Snark looked as if he didn’t want to say what had really happened. Then he owned up.
"I said they could stop beating around the bush, and just get to the point. Did they want to help or didn’t they? The Mediator with me, just looked at me with those eyes, and I said, 'Bollocks! You’re either In or Out.' And I left her behind, and went and looked for fish in the lake."
Sissness, Anna, and Jamie laughed, and Brindle joined in.
"What’s the joke?" said Snark, narkily.
Sissness took pity on him.
"You’ve been the most honest of all of us. I think this was to test us out. These were the real conversations, not the one in the conference room. They wanted to know how genuine we were, and also what we would do once we had the Stone. In the end, they either have to trust us or not, and you told them to make up their own minds."
Snark snort
ed.
"Stupid mop tails! If they couldn’t see all that straight up, then they have a lot of work to do on themselves, not us!"
Jamie went over and sat next to Snark. He held his hand out, and they high fived.
"So," he said with conviction. "What’s next?"
"I don’t know about you," said Snark. "But I’m starved."
Sixty Five
Patters and Mouse welcomed them back to Seasprite, with news of Mouse’s success in enhancing the range of the translator units from the tablets. He also had a surprise.
"I’ve looked at the schematics for the interface with Seasprite. I know Jamie and Anna have direct linkages, but I’ve got a solution for how the rest of the crew can more easily interface with Seasprite, through their earbuds, and a wearable mic. While they’ll still need to use their tablets to interface seamlessly with systems, I’ve thought of a way to enhance this process through reducing the amount of interaction needed."
Snark in particular, was interested in these new developments. The others just wanted to get into their normal comfy beds, and have a long sleep.
Anna filled Patters and Mouse in on the events on the Mediators’ planet. From the agreement they had with Crystal’s tell, there had been some exchange of information, and planning for the future, especially coms arrangements, and introduction to their new resident empath.
"Resident empath?" squeaked Mouse.
They explained the agreement which had taken place.
"We’re all doomed," said Snark, in a gloomy voice, and they laughed.
"It doesn’t mean we’ll be constantly counselled," said Anna reassuringly.
"Don’t you believe it!" snarked Snark.
"They’re sending their colleague up by their own shuttle," said Jamie. "No doubt they ha’ te brief them at length first."
Jamie chuckled.
The shuttle docked with Seasprite, and the Mediator assigned to accompany them stepped through the airlock. The shuttle departed immediately. Anna and Patters were at the airlock to receive their new team member.
Destiny Stone (A.I. Destiny Book 4) Page 25