by Matt Snee
He understood. He did not care what he would have to pay. He would save Plerrxx no matter what. “I agree to whatever you demand.”
The matriarch laughed. “So be it.” She turned to the teen, Tess. “This will be your responsibility.”
The girl nodded, serious. “I understand, mother.”
“But -” Captain interrupted - “She is just a girl!”
The matriarch laughed again, her eyes on the girl. “Yes, that she is. For now, forever, who knows? But she will help you. And you will help her.” She turned to Captain. “And that is the queen's judgment.”
8. Rescues
“Revolution implies an antagonist.”
–Mmrowwrian Poetic Theory
The Delphiniums got to Jennifer before she left the mansion. A maid passed by her in the hall.
“Miss?”
“Yes?”
“Would you like a ride home?”
“Yes, I would.” Jennifer answered, wondering quickly if the maid could tell she had been crying.
“Just head toward the exit, straight down from here. I'll arrange for a car to be waiting for you.”
“Thank you, you are most kind,” Jennifer told the maid.
Jenn continued through the mansion until she came to the garage. She was still quite distraught and hoped she show signs of it.
As promised, an idling car was waiting there for her floating placidly on its pink light-cloud.
“Where would you like to go, miss?” The driver, a woman with sharp black hair and amber skin, asks.
“The spaceport please,” Jennifer told her.
“Uh-huh, right away, miss.” The driver started the car and they departed heading toward the airlock where they would submerge in water.
Jennifer leaned back and scanned through the possibilities in her mind, trying to consider her problems unemotionally and constructively like her dad would have done.
Jon Jason is my enemy now, she thought. What do I do about that? God, I hope Lewis is all right. How are we ever going to enter the Death Dream? And what about Plerrxx? Is he still alive?
What am I going to do? She thought. There must be another way. There has to be another way.
The car passed through the airlock and entered the water. Bubbles and fish floated past the car windows. Jennifer could hear the sound of the water outside the car; the pressure of it against the car doors made a humming sound. Normally she would feel claustrophobic, but after the ride with Jon Jason she was too fatigued with fear to be scared again.
The driver turned on the radio. It squealed with static.
“Driver, could you turn off the radio? I have a headache.” Jennifer was in no mood.
“Actually, it jams their receivers,” the driver said, turning it up louder.
“What?”
“The Dunleavy surveillance machinery—it's everywhere. It's here in this car, but we have configured the radio to disrupt their signal.”
“Who are you?” Jennifer asked. She became tense.
“My name is Courage,” said the driver, turning. Her skin changed from amber to bright purple. “I'm a Delphinium. Might I suggest a different destination, Jennifer Pichon?”
* * *
It was a quick trip to the Concatenation's holdings. Captain did not speak much with the two Delphiniums or the girl Tess, until they arrived.
“If I know the Concatenation,” said Tess, “they will be guarding their trash with nearly as much attention to detail as they guard their treasure, out of spite.” She handed a chrome device to Captain. “Be prepared for combat.”
“What's this?” he asked.
“A plasma whip. It has two modes - automatic and manual. In automatic, it will deflect bullets. I suggest you use that mode for now.”
“Deflect bullets?”
“Trust me,” said Tess. “It's better than being shot by them.”
Captain took the weapon and clutched it in his hand. “We're here?”
“We're here. Look!”
Outside they were at the rear of what looked like a giant black saucer of a ship. It wasn't completely round, more dodecahedral with the illusion of curves. It was gigantic, about the size of an Earthling football stadium.
“What are we going to do?”
“Well,” said Tess, “we're disrupting their sensors right now, but that won't last. Pretty soon they'll figure out we're out by their trash heap. So let's go, Captain! We must hurry.”
They pushed open their doors and crept into the complex.
“Anything from your friend?” Tess asked.
“He's been silent for a while.”
“Well, I hope they haven't incinerated him, or this is going to be a lot tougher than we thought. Try to reach out to him again.”
“Okay,” said Captain. He reached out with his mind: “Plerrxx?”
No words came to his mind, instead he felt a sudden heat radiating along his skin, which he knew was a telepathic communication - it was cold out here.
“He must be near the incinerator!” Captain said. “Quickly!”
“It's over this way,” said Tess.
They rushed through giant storage containers and other derelict-looking features of the trash heap.
“I can smell it,” said one of the Delphiniums.
Captain could too, all of the sudden. He called out to Plerrxx again in his mind.
This time he received a response: “Help…no time…”
Suddenly, the alarms went off.
* * *
Sirens and searchlights erupted around them. The Concatenation knew they were here.
“I see it now!” exclaimed Tess, pointing at the glow of a heat. “Over there!”
They rushed through the trash towards the incinerator.
“CEASE IN YOUR MOVEMENTS!” a commanding, electronically amplified voice shouted. They turned and saw three Concatenation troops on the walls above them.
“Kill them!” Tess instructed the Delphiniums.
Bullets rang out as the long purple tendrils of the plasma whips tore through the air, wrapping around the troops and ripping them to pieces. More troops appeared, brandishing guns and firing as soon as they saw the intruders.
Captain's plasma whip spat hot purple, deflecting and destroying a couple incoming bursts of bullets. He was flabbergasted, but continued moving towards the incinerator.
“Where?” he called out in his mind. “Where are you? Plerrxx?”
“…beneath…” came Plerrxx's weak mind-voice.
Captain saw bunches of trash lying on a slow-moving conveyor belt headed to the incinerator's flames. He rushed towards it, and started digging through the refuse, looking for his friend. More bullets exploded around him and the Delphiniums fought the Concatenation.
“Where???”
“…close…” The voice was losing volume.
Captain dug frantically. Finally, he came upon the Mmrowwr's body, lying akimbo. Captain shook his friend aggressively, trying to wake him.
“His body's dead!” cried Tess. “His mind floats near! Get him to the car, now!”
Using every ounce of strength, Captain lifted the Mmrowwr's inert form over his shoulder struggling back towards the car.
The sirens screamed louder and the searchlights seemed brighter than ever. The explosive sound of Concatenation's bullets and the plasma whips detonating them echoed all around. Sparks flew through the air above their heads.
“We retreat!” Tess yelled at the Delphiniums. She was surprisingly commanding for a young teenage girl.
They all fell back to the car. Once there, Captain opened the door and pushed Plerrxx' body in before following. He pressed against his friend. Tess jumped into the driver's seat as the two Delphiniums also got in. In a flash of a moment, they were speeding away.
“Will they follow?” Captain asked.
“They can try!” She laughed.
Captain hugged Plerxx close to him as he heard the Mmrowwr's voice in his head:
“…than
k you… friend…”
* * *
It was a long ride from the Dunleavy mansion to the Delphinium territory. Jennifer, tired and nervous, squeezed her fists to keep her head together as the minutes grew into an hour.
Finally, having travelled both underwater and underground, the car reached the surface. The driver maneuvered the vehicle down the barren streets until they came to Old Town, the original location of the Ganymede colony. Here the buildings were rusted and decaying—the price of using iron. It was like glancing back a hundred and fifty years ago.
Surprisingly, the entire area was inhabited. People walked up and down the streets. Stores and other businesses were conducting trade. Bright green flags were pinned from the windows of the buildings, and blue tapestries hung from the roofs.
Cars and traffic slowed to accommodate the people. Had Jennifer been here before? No. This was Delphinium territory, dangerous for a Dunleavy or their charges. When she'd been a kid these streets had supposedly been wild with crime. Her father had told her it was all an illusion, that there was a secret war going on between the Delphiniums and the Dunleavys that had lasted for millennia. Everybody knew about but nobody spoke of it.
The Old City looked safe, inviting, lively. The people looked optimistic, the businesses—none of which were sanctioned by the Dunleavy corporation—looked busy, and the streets were bustling with cars and hovering bicycles. Even Jupiter, which hung lazily in the sky, seemed calm and almost sublime. Spots of snow fluttered through the air and dripped down the windows of the car.
Finally, they came to the Delphinium complex. It was a fenced-off block of buildings taller than the rest and well-protected by various automatic defense systems, such as missile launchers and gauss cannons; both of which you could see jutting proudly from the tops of the roofs. Here women in ceremonial armor patrolled the streets while men in monkish hoods walked amongst the children racing all about.
How can they be so brazen? Jennifer wondered. Does Jon Jason's power wane so?
The central tower of the complex was new; however, and it was round, rather than cubic, constructed out of highly vibrated plasma sheets. It was nondescript except for the ring of windows circling its top level. A large stone carving of a derelict bearded male with piercing eyes sat watch.
“Here we are, miss,” said Courage, pulling over in front of the gate to the complex.
“Thank you. Take care.” Jennifer got out of the car.
“I'll see you soon, miss.” The car continued on its way.
The cold breeze hits Jenn. She flinched. It had been warm in the car. She could hear Jupiter pulsing above her, louder than the people and the traffic. It was like a deranged heartbeat. The cold sunk into her bones.
She headed to the gate.
“Right this way,” said the female guard, carrying a menacing-looking ionic scattergun. The gates buzzed open and Jennifer walked into the center of all things Delphinium. The men wore robes, and the women in a variety of dress. As they crossed paths with Jennifer, the girls lowered their chins and smiled shyly at her, bowing their heads in respect. Jennifer forced herself to smile back and nodded her head in reply. They know me—how?
Jenn came to an abrupt halt. Right in the middle of the courtyard, where there was no avoiding it - another clone warp, obviously invisible to the Delphiniums. Like the scene on the moon, it was Jennifer's father alone. He walked up to the tower door, glanced around him furtively, and entered.
Was it a meeting of the minds? Or of the bodies? Jennifer swallowed dryly and tried not to think about it, but unwillingly her eyes searched those of her father—encased in the time loop of the clone warp—looking for some clue.
There was nothing.
* * *
“Come with me, miss,” one of the Delphiniums came up to her from behind and spoke—a tall, black woman in her late twenties with short brown hair and a pregnant belly. The Delphinium was dressed in a silken dress and wore a red feather across her cheek.
“I am called Passion.”
Jennifer followed her into the tower, bypassing laser turrets and smart mines and passing through the large door into the central corridor.
This hall had a high, forty-foot ceiling that led to most other parts of the building. At the back a stone staircase and gigantic wooden abstractions that were both pleasing and confusing to the eye stood. The buzz of people echoed throughout. The place was filled with bodies and movement.
“This way,” Passion directed her.
They went up the central staircase to the second floor. The staircase was impressive, with Delphiniums hurrying up and down the stairs around them. Once they reached the second floor the pace slowed down and there was less congress. The Delphinium led Jennifer into a long hall formed out of composite plasma sheets with doors running up and down it. She could hear men speaking, instructing—this was clearly where they taught the children!
The Delphinium opened the door to one of the rooms and they looked inside, finding a blue-and-green robed male scribe speaking to a dozen blue-and-green clad children.
“And how many months are in the human year?”
One of the children spoke quickly, “Twelve, sir. One for every lunation, mirroring the menstrual cycle of the female.”
“Except for…?” the teacher asked.
“Every third year,” said another student. “This is when there are thirteen, and traditionally when a new king was selected.”
“Good. Why does male-dominated society pervert the year into a constant twelve months?”
“To break society's sync with the Night-Mother and the Earth's seas, so that feminine energy is diminished,” answered another student.
“And who is responsible for this, hmmm?” The teacher stroked his beard and peered at the children.
“The Shadows,” answered a fourth child.
“And who are the Shadows?” The teacher walked slowly among the desks.
“They were angels that were punished by God.”
“Why?”
“No one knows.”
Passion quietly closed the door to the classroom. “I was instructed to demonstrate to you our education facilities.”
“It's amazing,” Jennifer said. “The Dunleavys always suppressed this stuff—no different than the Shadows.”
“We're doing things differently here,” the Delphinium said.
They climbed the stairs until they reached the top of the building, which was quiet. There were a set of double-doors which Passion opened with a loud “thunk!” Inside was a meeting hall, filled with all sorts of Delphiniums conversing. At Jennifer's arrival, they all went silent.
A middle-aged woman who Jennifer quickly surmised was the matriarch spoke, “Ms. Pichon. We are pleased you could join us.” She said formally.
“What do you want with me?” Jennifer asked, wasting no time. “And where is Captain?”
“He is off on a rescue mission for your Mmrowwr friend,” said the matriarch.
“Plerrxx is alive?” Jenn gasped.
“Apparently,” the matriarch smiled. “But we have business, you see?”
“Is that so?”
“You need to penetrate the Death Dream, do you not?”
“Yes,” answered Jennifer.
“And Jon Jason will not help you.”
“No, he won't. He doesn't understand.”
“But we Delphiniums…we understand,” mused the matriarch.
“Do you?” Jennifer was cautious. “Who are you?”
“I am Simone,” the woman said, beaming in greeting. “I speak for the Delphiniums… for now.”
“What do the Delphiniums have to say?” Jennifer asked.
“They say they want to help you and your friends. They understand the threat of the No-Shape, and will assist your journey into the Death Dream… for a price.”
“What price?” Jennifer wondered.
“Jupiter,” Simone announced. “We want Jupiter.”
“You want to supplant the Dunle
avys.”
“Yes.”
“Why do you need my help?” Jennifer asked cautiously.
“We seek… the understanding and sympathy of the other planets. Especially of Saturn.”
“You want recognition and legitimacy once you rule,” said Jennifer. “What do I have to do with that?”
“I think you forget your stature, Princess of the Malhotra. Saturn, from what I understand, belongs to you.”
“That's not true,” said Jennifer.
“Perhaps you don't want it to be, but it is,” said Simone.
“My uncle rules Saturn,” correct Jennifer.
“For now…” Simone replied.
“You have plans within plans,” Jennifer frowned.
“The Delphiniums have many concerns.”
“And desires, I see.”
“That may be so. We will facilitate change, but we are only its instrument.”
Jennifer sighed. “I don't see that I have much of a choice, but I still don't understand what you want from me.”
“It isn't much,” said Simone. “A word or two. An agreement. We will see you into the Death Dream, into Jupiter, for what you seek - I promise.”
Jennifer glanced at the other Delphiniums, who all stood staring and smiling at her, and just like that -
The battle for Jupiter began.
9.
When Jennifer was told of Captain's return she feared the worst. When she descended through the building and caught sight of his face, she saw a glimmer of hope. The Delphiniums had told her that Plerrxx had indeed been killed despite Captain reporting hearing the Mmrowwr's mind-voice in his head.
She did not know a lot about the Mmrowwr race, but she did know that life was possible without a body.
Jennifer and Captain awkwardly embraced in greeting. Being so far apart unsettled them both. She had not been clear with Captain about Jon Jason and the Dunleavy family, nor her own standing in the Solar System. She told herself that from now one, she would do better to keep him informed.
“Plerrxx is alive!” Captain exclaimed to her, as their embrace faded. “I can hear him – but he is weak, very weak.”