She tossed the pillow aside. The interruption was for the best, as the only progress she was making was in driving herself mad.
Come on in. I’m in the bedroom.
A few seconds later Perrin bounced through the open bedroom door and collapsed on the bed beside her. “What are we doing?”
“Nothing useful, that’s for certain.”
“I see.” Perrin’s gaze bore into the side of her head. “You look funny with the glow.”
“You get used to it after a while.”
“Maybe you do.”
Surprised at the challenge in Perrin’s voice, Nika raised up on one elbow. “You’re mad at me. Because I kept this body instead of the original one?”
Perrin twirled a strand of strawberry-blond hair around a finger. “I’m not mad at you. I’m….” She sat up and stuffed the pillow Nika had been commiserating with into her lap. “Okay. Here’s the thing, since I have learned my lesson about keeping secrets from friends.” She sucked in a deep breath, and her chest puffed out. “I feel like I don’t know who you are any longer. Now, I realize it’s just me and my own insecurities and selfishness—”
“It’s not just you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m honestly not sure I know who I am any longer, either. Diplomat, rebel, politician, leader, fighter—it’s exhausting trying to be all of them at once. I can never get a handle on which one the moment requires, and half the time I find myself fighting when I should be leading or mouthing off diplomatic platitudes when I should be fighting. I split myself into 8,000 shards to infiltrate the Rasu platform and…Perrin, I died 8,000 times. I experienced every death, and they haunt my nightmares still. Then I split myself in two and lived that reality for days, and it was too surreal. As if in being both, I was neither.”
Nika stretched her arms up into the air above her and wiggled her fingers around. “I told Dashiel I kept this body because kyoseil is ‘the answer.’ The answer to our greatest questions, including how to defeat the Rasu. But the kyoseil won’t talk to me. It simply floats around, happily connecting us all but not explaining how. Why. So…never mind who I am. What am I even doing?”
“Have you talked to Dashiel about this?”
She shook her head. “Dashiel loves me so much. He doesn’t want to see the flaws…and I kind of don’t want him to see them.”
“You know that isn’t how relationships work, right?”
“Yes, I know.”
“I doubt he’ll mind. You should have a little more faith in him.” Perrin sighed with overdramatic flair. “Can I say, this is the most you you’ve been in weeks! I don’t have the answers to your questions, but hearing you share your struggles, seeing your frustration…gods, am I a horrible person for wanting you to be fallible?”
“Ha! Being fallible is the literal least of my problems, believe me.” Spilling her guts about her deepest fears in a deluge was terrible manners, but it was already making her feel so much better. She sat up and took Perrin’s hands in hers. “I’m sorry. I haven’t been here. And when I’ve been here physically, I haven’t really been present. I am, once again, a bad friend.”
Perrin made a face and let her gaze rove around the bedroom. “Hmm…maybe a smidgen. But you’re trying to save the universe.”
“What’s the point of saving it if I lose everything that matters in the process? Thank you for reminding me why I’m doing all of this.”
PART II
UNTETHERED
12
* * *
HIRLAS
Naraida/Volucri Homeworld
Pegasus Dwarf Galaxy
Eren Savitas swung idly in the hammock as a setting sun filtered through the ubiquitous tree limbs to cast intricate patterns on the elevated porch. He listened to the evening chirps and songs of the local wildlife, letting their melodies lull him into a peaceful trance.
He was getting used to just being. He spent hours wandering through the weald below, where he only rarely encountered another resident other than the critters, and spent longer hours lying in the hammock or on the bed, staring up at the nothingness beyond the ceiling. He raged and cried and hit things, mostly the broad tree trunk supporting the house. He made tea, but nothing stronger, and occasionally remembered to eat.
Every time he believed he would drown forever beneath an avalanche of despair, this place—their home—brought him back from the brink. It breathed life with every rustle of a breeze, and on the breeze swirled the memory of Cosime’s life. It saved him, again and again.
He wasn’t checking his messages, as he remained unwilling to allow the outside world to intrude on his retreat. Admittedly, though, he was beginning to sense he’d be ready to take a peek at them in a few days. Whispers of curiosity about the ongoing intrigue out there in the cosmos had started breaking through the fog to poke him at unexpected moments. He needed to thank Drae for saving his life with more than a note; he needed to apologize to Felzeor more fulsomely, and apologize to Caleb and Alex at all.
But first, he needed to make dinner. Everything he cooked up lately tasted bland, as devoid of flavor as the world in her absence, but he’d picked some juicy horenau on this morning’s wanderings, and he found he was actually looking forward to spicing up his dinner—
A premature shadow darkened the amber light on the porch, and he leapt out of the hammock, instantly on guard.
“Calm yourself, Eren. It is only I.”
At the sight of the vaguely anatype-shaped Yinhe shadow wavering nearby, he sighed and sank onto the edge of the hammock. “Miaon? I haven’t seen you for several years now. How have you been?”
“I have been as I always am.”
“Jolly good, then. You might not have noticed, but I’ve got a whole solitude thing going on right now. What brings you here?”
“I bring tidings and news. The man you knew as Danilo Nisi has returned.”
“He’s alive? Stubborn bastard. I’m glad to hear it.” He eased the rest of the way back down until he was once again stretched out on the length of the hammock. “But I don’t see how his return really affects me. He was my boss, not my friend, and the anarch rebellion is long over.”
“He intends to quell the recent unrest among the Anaden elassons and unite all Anadens beneath a new banner.”
“A Concord-friendly banner?”
“That is his intent, yes.”
Eren shifted his hips to send the hammock swaying gently. “Well…good. Someone definitely needs to stop those gormless elassons from bollocksing-up the one positive thing that’s happened to this corner of the cosmos in several epochs. But I still don’t see what this has to do with me.”
“Were you so inclined, you could assist him in this endeavor. I believe he would welcome your help.”
Eren covered his face with his hands and groaned into them. “Miaon, I can’t. I don’t know if you realize or not—you probably don’t, given your shocking tone-deafness to silly things like emotions—but I’m in mourning here.”
“You cannot grieve her forever.”
“Maybe not, but I’ve barely gotten started good.”
“Eren, a new mission can give you purpose, if only you will allow it to do so.”
“I swear, if you say ‘help him, and watch the universe turn your way,’ I will throttle your shadow. Not sure how, but I’ll find a way.”
“I was not wrong then, was I?”
He thought back to the night in a rundown hostel when he’d struggled over whether to help his new friends Caleb, Alex, Valkyrie and Mesme in their insane mission. Miaon had convinced him that night, and though Eren hadn’t realized it at the time, everything about his life had changed as a result.
“Not for a while, no. You weren’t. But I…” he climbed off the hammock and went to the corner of the porch to consider the meadow far below “…I’m not ready. Not ready to be out in the world, talking to people and doing things and acting like everything is somehow okay, when it’s fucking not.”
<
br /> “Perhaps the only way to become ready is to do it.”
He’d shoot Miaon a withering glare, but there wasn’t enough of the alien to properly focus on. “Stop trying to manipulate me to your own ends, you selfish prick.”
“If Corradeo fails in his mission, it could mean the downfall of Concord, and ultimately the fall of all to the Rasu.”
Eren frowned. “If who fails? The Praesidis Primor is fourteen years dead, and I thought we were talking about Sator Nisi.”
The shadow rippled in an agitated zig-zag pattern. “You do not know, then? He never told you?”
“Told me what?”
13
* * *
EPITHERO
Kyvern Dynasty Homeworld
Milky Way Galaxy
Ferdinand elasson-Kyvern sputtered indignantly from his spot on one of the many couches littering the ‘gathering room’ at the former Kyvern Primor’s estate. “Let me see if I understand this correctly. You were the leader of the terrorist group who made our lives miserable for millennia and ultimately murdered our Primors?”
“But he’s also the man who defeated the Dzhvar and ushered in the glory days of the Anaden Empire.”
Corradeo Praesidis dipped his chin respectfully in Casmir elasson-Machim’s direction, even as he held up a hand to stave off further argument. “Thank you for the support, Casmir, but I need to be able to defend myself. Yes, Ferdinand, I led the anarchs. I authorized the elimination of the Primors. I ordered the assassination of my own son, and don’t think that decision doesn’t haunt me to this day.
“But he had stolen the power he wielded. And not solely him—all the Primors stole their power. They stole it from you, their supposedly beloved elassons; they stole it from the Anaden people. They took away your free will with their genetic manipulation and in its place imposed their own will upon you through the integrals. The Primors had to be deposed, and they were never going to give up their stolen power. Their deaths were the only way for trillions of Anadens to be free.”
“It was a bad call. You weakened us at the precise moment when we needed to be strong. You cleared the path for the Humans to barge in and take control and lord their rule over us.”
“The Humans don’t rule you, Ferdinand. They were ruling alongside you, until you threw a narcissistic conniption fit and stormed off the stage.”
“How dare you—”
Corradeo stood, brushing Ferdinand’s protestations off with a dismissive wave. “If ever there was a species that should be our allies and comrades, it is Humanity. They are us, and we are them. Our histories differ, but we are all born of the same DNA. In the midst of this vast, endless universe, filled with the strange and the wondrous and the terrifying, they are our kin, and we must embrace them. We must stand beside them, not as rulers or ruled, but as compatriots.”
“But they—”
“I wasn’t finished. You’re also wrong about something else. Fourteen years ago was not when we needed to be strong. Today, now, this moment is when we need to be strong. I have seen what the Rasu intend for all of us, and it will take every Anaden, every Human, every Novoloume, every Katasketousya, every Asterion, every member of every civilized species standing together to prevent us from falling to their tidal wave of violence and death.”
Ferdinand groaned. “Not the Rasu again. I am so damn sick of hearing about this mysterious boogeyman who’s going to kill us all. I won’t let Concord’s fear-mongering alter our course.”
“Believe what you want, but you no longer control our course. If you ever did.”
This brought Ferdinand to his feet as well. “I will never stand alongside those who mean to subvert our rightful authority, and I will certainly never stand with the Asterion traitors.”
“Don’t you think it’s past time to retire that grudge?”
“Why? They rejected the rule of law to hook themselves up to synthetics, then took up arms against their own government. I don’t recall there ever being a statute of limitations on treason.”
Corradeo leveled a steely glare on Ferdinand. “Were you present when those events transpired? I don’t believe you were, but I was. The truth is, the Asterions did not start the SAI Rebellion—we did. The Asterions did not fire the first shot—I did. And I was wrong to do so. The Asterions of today are no threat to us, but they can be a powerful ally.”
“It sounds to me as if that makes them a powerful threat. You want everyone to be an ally, but chaining ourselves to allies such as these only makes us weak.”
Enough. Corradeo had abided the man’s arguments for the sake of seeking some manner of harmony, but he was beginning to get a clearer understanding of what had happened here to send everything flying off the tracks. Ferdinand was a petulant, spoiled elasson, and it was going to take more than a reasoned argument to change him.
“That is a lie, and you are a pathetic excuse for a diplomat for believing it.”
Ferdinand fumed, his fists clenching at his sides while his gaze ricocheted around the room in search of support. In addition to Ferdinand and Casmir, a smattering of other elassons lounged about, for now content to watch the show without scuffing their shoes.
Finally Ferdinand threw his hands in the air. “Why hasn’t Torval arrived yet? He was instructed to report here as soon as he left the regenesis lab on Machimis.”
Blank stares greeted his inquiry. Corradeo kept his expression neutral, but it was a good question. Torval’s misdeeds in the last few months made Ferdinand’s antics look like a child’s pouty tantrum.
“Does no one know where he is?”
Casmir shrugged in Ferdinand’s general direction. “Maybe he’s not inclined to take orders from you.”
“Casmir, your popcorn commentary grows tiresome. I should have you returned to your room under armed guard.”
Corradeo’s head whipped toward Ferdinand, his glare laden with warning. “Casmir is no longer your prisoner.”
“This is my home, and I control who comes and goes from it.”
“No, this was Jakar Kyvern’s home, and you are nothing but an interloper.” Corradeo glanced toward the windows, lest he visibly enjoy Ferdinand’s wilting in response too much. He was trying quite hard to refrain from sowing more discord, but it was proving to be a far greater challenge than he’d expected. “You raise a good point, however. We need a new home. A new center of government, of Anaden leadership. A place that can act as a beacon of peace and hope for the Anaden people.”
“Well, you blew up Solum, so it’s off the table.”
Corradeo barely managed to keep from flinching. He’d believed fourteen years of wandering the stars had healed the wound, only to return and discover the mere mention of it cut as deeply as ever. “The diati blew up Solum, and my heart remains broken because of it. In any event, our new capital should not reside on any Dynasty homeworld, but instead someplace every Anaden will feel welcome. But I get ahead of myself. There are, I’m afraid, more urgent matters than a change of address to wrangle first.” He pivoted to Casmir. “If you don’t mind, please check into Torval’s status and location. I do need to speak with him.”
Casmir stood, adopting a military stance and stopping just short of a salute. “Yes, sir. I’ll find out where he’s run off to immediately.”
Eren strolled behind his armed escort through the corridors of the Kyvern Primor’s residence with deliberate indifference. He’d dug up some proper clothes for the occasion—deep umber corium pants and a silk creme shirt—and bound his hair back at the neck. Oh, and showered and washed his face. By his recent standards, he was ready for a formal dance ball.
Miaon’s unexpected revelation had genned up enough interest for him to leave Hirlas and drop in on the circus currently engulfing Epithero, but he’d packed only an overnight bag. He didn’t intend on staying. The bustling crowds at two spaceports had grated on his nerves like a file dragged across concrete, and he already longed to flee to the peaceful sanctum of his secluded treehouse. But now that h
e was here, he might as well find out how far into the muck this little elasson conclave had descended.
After several hallways and lifts were traversed, they reached a closed door. His escort bid him to wait there and disappeared inside. Muffled voices echoed through the door, and the man quickly returned and motioned him forward. “You can go in now.”
“Thanks, mate.” Eren stepped inside what appeared to be a residential suite. It was empty save for one man, who sat studying a stack of materials at a desk. Eren closed the door behind him and propped casually against the wall. “You look rather different. And also disturbingly familiar.”
Danilo Nisi—Corradeo Praesidis, apparently—waved away a screen above the desk, smiled and came over to shake his hand. “Eren, it is good to see you. Miaon filled you in, then?”
He pushed off the wall to wander aimlessly around the suite. “All that time, we had The Big Man Himself leading us, and we never knew. It’s a bit disconcerting, you wearing the face of the person we spent so much time trying to kill.”
“It was my face and my name he stole. I have the right to reclaim them.”
“Oh, for certain. I don’t begrudge you it. I’m just saying it’s a mite cocked-up.”
“Fair enough.” Corradeo paused. “I was very sorry to hear about Ms. Rhomyhn. I didn’t know her personally, but all her actions and Xanne’s reports over the years indicated she was a wonderful person. Talented and kind.”
“Kind?” Eren laughed a touch too bitterly. “Well, kind to me at least. Not so much to our enemies. Anyway, what are your plans here?”
“My plans are to wake our people from their long slumber. To unite them under a better, freer form of leadership and help guide them to the heights they are capable of reaching. To rejoin Concord and prepare to face the Rasu together with our allies. Will you help me?”
“Excuse me?”
“Why are you here, if not to join me in this fight, as you did in the last one?”
Echo Rift Page 10