The Kinship of Stars

by Julie Ishaya

  The face of his ancestor, Asmodéus II, stared back at him from within the cell as accompanying information released a cognate flow into him. The holo image of Asmodéus II spoke in ancient Nexian, all facial movements having a liquid quality. When the lips pursed to form some words, the image rippled like the surface of a still pond interrupted by the toss of a stone. The ripples worked across the face and into the hairline, disappearing into the crown mane which, at the time the image was recorded, had been dripping with jewels pinned to braided locks.

  Asmodéus listened, waiting through the introduction and wondering for a moment why the core system found this cell valid. The hypnotic effect of the face inspired him to touch it with his mind's hand, but he only made the image ripple again. Then the introduction moved into deeper realms, filled him with new knowledge and elevated him to call through the system to Adam somewhere far above in the palace.

  When the information flow finished, he recorded its location for easy recall, then he drew back to emerge from the core.

  Siri hated him. He was sure of it. Kieriell brooded on this for a long time while he lay belly down on the bunk. He finally rolled over when he heard the field deactivate with a sharp bzzzt!

  "Siri. . ." he said, hoping against hope that it was her and that she had not told her father anything about his plea for her help. Every stress-taut muscle pulled and he grunted when he found Rai Jinn waiting for him.

  Kieriell shaded his eyes and pulled one knee up, gracelessly leaving one leg down and strewn along the bunk side. Casually he folded his arm behind his head and looked hard at the kai's second. He was out of ideas and dead on caring what happened now.

  "My lord kai will have a final word with you in the laboratory."

  "Final word," Kieriell echoed, rolling up into a slouched sitting position and tilting his head so that dirty hair spilled over one shoulder. "What do you mean?"

  "This way," Rai Jinn replied, stepping aside.

  Moments later Kieriell was moving through the corridor, Rai Jinn once more at his side. As he had been warned moments ago, he was taken down to the laboratory again. When he hesitated on the landing at the bottom of the stairwell, Rai Jinn pushed past him with a rough knock to the shoulder and started for the door.

  "As I said, he only wants to talk."

  Kieriell forced himself to stay calm, holding back the shift and reserving his energies. The door opened and he entered as directed, finding the place almost barren, the consoles inactive, and the technicians retired. The only active screens were those monitoring the neural core.

  The neural flesh remained secured against the walls, although one area had been cleared back. The vines had parted and formed two twining columns to each side of a passage that had previously been hidden. Interesting, Kieriell thought, raising a brow. The vines kept this room isolated from others connected to it. There must be several other passages hidden under the neural flesh. The figure of the kai waited for him near the holo screen which had displayed the gene strand with the gridcode lacing the surface, but there was no holographic display now.

  The kai's back was to the entrance. The head of loose white hair hung low, while the shoulders were hitched back, donning a deep green cloak with shoulder accents that made the figure appear larger and more stout. The metallic hand raised from beneath the cloak and gave a simple gesture. Rai Jinn turned and departed. The door secured behind him.

  Kieriell frowned, thinking that he was alone with the kai, but as his gaze traveled back from the door he noticed four guards in the room. Each was stationed against the wall so that the neural flesh conformed around his armor, which had a dull, speckled hue that blended with the surface of the vines.

  Kieriell slowly closed the distance between himself and the kai. "What now?" he asked.

  "I was hoping you could tell me." The kai began to raise his head and turned just enough to cast an acidic gaze. "It's all deteriorated," the kai growled. "Everything. The samples deteriorated and left the isolated studies inconclusive. Tell me why this has happened."

  "But what about the holo model you built?" Kieriell asked.

  "Corrupted," the kai almost spat the word. "The data fragmented and now it won't project even a simple image. You know what this means." It was a statement, not a question.

  Kieriell did know—at least he could make a good guess. Suddenly he noticed that the air was more hot and humid than ever. He willed his eyes not to shift in reaction to the dread he felt.

  The kai said, "I understand why you fight me, but now—" His throat muscles tightened as though he had tripped on his own tongue. "Now I am asking for your help."

  Kieriell did not believe what he was hearing. He stood stunned, tiny twitches working beneath his skin, in various places under his eyes, up his arms, around his knees. "Gaad," he murmured, "that must have hurt to say."

  The kai did not seem to hear. He went on, too absorbed in himself and his project. "We had already come so close with the isolated gene, but our system could not maintain it. The gridcode proved too vast for the analysis."

  "So the system couldn't comprehend the infinity of it?" Kieriell asked weakly.

  "Right, but that doesn't explain why the samples we took from you broke down. They were kept under controlled conditions in the extended lab." The kai motioned toward the uncovered doors across the room. "They should have survived."

  "You have no idea what you're dealing with," Kieriell remarked softly. "You thought it would be so easy."

  "We have replicated genes before," the kai replied in a matter-of-fact tone. "Half of my race has survived through replication of healthy genes to enhance our survival."

  "But you're not trying to simply replicate genes. You're trying to escape your world." Kieriell wandered over to the inactive console. The projection lens in the top of the console looked like a piece of polished black obsidian with a subtle translucence. "What was that about asking for my help?"

  The kai closed his eyes, and his brows clenched in thought. He obviously choked on his pride. Exhaling, he opened his eyes and became steady again. "I am asking that you work with us on this. I ask that you willingly give us more samples to advance another set of experiments, and I ask that you tell me more for the progress log."

  Kieriell thought on it and for the moment did not answer.

  "Come." The kai beckoned him toward the doors flanked by the viney columns.

  Kieriell thought he had a right to object. "I'm not walking through there."

  "Nothing will happen to you," the kai insisted in a mock-soothing tone. "I just want to show you the rest of the facility."

  Kieriell took a few stiff steps. Once more, his weariness provoked the shift. Without his psionics, it was the only thing left to him. He allowed it to come up just under the surface, ready to call forth the very moment he needed it. He had declared that he had nothing left to lose, but the Shiv had everything to risk.

  Clearing the distance, he stepped between the columns following the kai and found a room alight with console activity. The walls were surprisingly white and sterile, the air almost clean and breathable. The polished black floor reflected objects like the surface of a calm pond. Only one wall at the rear of the enclosure had neural flesh on it, but when Kieriell looked up, he found more of the vines trailing across the ceiling.

  In the center space, a large glass tubular structure, shaped like a capsule, sat upon a base of tangled neural flesh, while tendrils of that on the ceiling curled down and added support to the ends. A top lid of clear, shining glass was open.

  There was no technician activity, and the cleaner air was a small relief to Kieriell. Three major console banks surrounded the tube. A solitary larger vessel of an elliptical shape sat against the wall.

  Kieriell wandered the course of the room freely, pausing with interest in the elliptical structure. He saw that the polished metallic surface had a series of lighted windows that looked inside at delicate shelves of glass tubes, dishes, and other containers. Most of the cont
ainers appeared to be filled with red and pink fluids or smudges of other substances. A white vapor whispered up from underneath the object along a vent slit. The vapor was odorless and felt cool and dry when he held his hand over it. He asked, "This is where you were keeping the samples?"

  "Yes."

  Kieriell happened to look back at the huge tube in the center room. On second observation, he thought it best described as a great glass sarcophagus. "And that?"

  "That is a converted decontamination chamber," the kai explained. "Once it was used to study diseased specimens. At one time the Shiv went through a series of great contagions, but now they have all been brought under control." The kai gestured upward as if to indicate the entire planet. "Now not even diseases have a chance to thrive here." He entered the perimeter of the tube and walked around it, running the slender fingers of his fleshen hand along its surface. "All we really need from you is a blood sample. As for Siri, I know that you have grown closer to her even in the short time that you have known her."

  Kieriell glared at this. "You still think I might impregnate her myself?"

  The kai shrugged, titling his head knowingly.

  "You just don't understand the risk," Kieriell said incredulously, "and no matter what, the Nexian gene will dominate. There will be no Shiv blood in the child, so what in the name of the grid is your point?" He threw out his arms and brought them down slapping against his hips in frustration.

  "That is for the experiment to prove," the kai argued. "There has never, in the history of our two races, been the chance of a Nexian-Shiv union."

  "And you, of course, would take the credit for instigating that union. How does Siri really feel about it?"

  "She is quite devoted to our people, and she would do anything for me." He circled the tube one more time and then moved out from behind the railing to stop and straighten as a muscle tick narrowed one eye in displeasure when he looked at Kieriell. "I know that you tried to tell her the truth, that I brought you here by force. You must have known I had her psionically monitored every time she went to speak with you. I admit, your charms worked wonders on her psyche, but she would never believe I could do what you claimed."

  "I thought you probably had her under watch."

  This seemed to amuse the kai. "A parent's right to assert authority."

  Kieriell, however, recalled Siri's comment that her father and Rai Jinn composed the Shiv government. She might be generally ignorant, but she could see some of the underlying problems responsible for the decline of her race.

  "She loves you," the kai said. "I had guessed she would before I ever brought you here. All of her life she has asked questions about Nexians, about your ways, about your looks and how you shift. I convinced her for a while that you were really a very ugly race."

  "Looked in any mirrors?" Kieriell said flatly, glancing away.

  The kai returned a bitter chuckle. "I admit, I admire your spirit. But back to the business at hand." He propped on one of the consoles and motioned for Kieriell to join him, but the Nexian held back. "Come now, haven't I made it clear that I will not harm you? I know I've left emotional scars—the shock of the slab and the samples we took from you. I understand that you were humiliated, prince, but we can come to an agreement."

  Kieriell dared a few steps closer. "I'm listening."

  "Must you resist so much when an entire race depends on your help? If you will agree to cooperate, I might give you the freedom to roam. I do not expect you to try to leave. The colonies are too complex for you to find your way up to the outer crust, and you cannot pilot our ships, not without a bionetic node implant."

  Kieriell crossed his arms, hiding the disappointment he felt at hearing this, but it only verified what he had suspected. He had one more line of possibility to explore. "All right, I have a counter offer for you. Allow me to negotiate with Nex on your behalf. Give me my freedom and I'll be sure my grandfather stays backed off, and yes, I'll even help you examine the gridcode. For Siri's sake if no one else's, don't throw away the chance for peace with Nex."

  The kai appeared to think about it. After a long silence, he gave a shrug. "We will see what profits from the information you share."

  "No, I want your word now," Kieriell insisted.

  "You are in no position to make counter offers. My terms stand. Will you work with us or not?"

  Kieriell walked away from the console, arguing with his pride, wondering where it would get him to refuse, and what would happen if he agreed. Either way, he would likely be a prisoner until he degenerated along with his despicable host and the rest of the race.

  Then there was the experiment itself. In the event that they could activate the gridcode in another body, then the kai and his selected others would have the power to teleport, to go anywhere they wanted in the universe. Granted, they would still have to adapt and build the skill, which would be no easy task, but the kai had proven he had the will, and that alone increased the risk. The rest of the Shiv, those sad figures Kieriell had seen roaming between their homes in the village, would likely get nothing from it.

  The outcome of his final decision could only mean more pain, more fear, but he accepted that. Slowly he drew up his lips to form the word as he breathed out in a controlled voice: "No."

  The kai looked down, something like regret settling over his face, etching lines around his mouth. "I am sorry that you feel that way," he replied. Then regret was quickly cast aside. "As you will. The alternative will only make the experiments easier for us, and I will make it as easy for you as possible."

  The guards from the next room filed through the doorway at the kai's silent command, and while Kieriell stood frozen with anticipation, three technicians arrived. One of them held up a device on his hand—an injection module with a needle, which Kieriell recognized as similar to the one which he had glimpsed on the chamberlain's hand in the green room. That seemed so long ago now, but that last image of the chamberlain's blank face came back to him.

  The technician examined the amount of fluid in the device's narrow, flexible tubes, and he jiggled it a little with his hand to make sure it was clear of air bubbles.

  Kieriell shot glances around the room, eyes pleading for an explanation.

  "You won't feel a thing," the kai said gently. "After they put you out, you'll be prepared for suspended animation.

  Kieriell stiffened and reached out to steady himself on the edge of the nearest console. "Suspended animation?"

  "In that state you will not need food," the kai explained. "Only a minimal amount of nutrients will be required for your bodily health stores. You will not be conscious to suffer fear as you did when you were first introduced to the slab, and you will be protected from the degenerative atmosphere of our world. We can continue to draw samples without you even knowing it." Then he held out a hand and gestured at the converted chamber.

  Kieriell saw that the clear vessel had begun to fill with a clouded, viscous fluid. Swirls of fleshy-pink colors marbleized with the whiter liquid, giving it the appearance of an amniotic substance.

  "You made your choice," the kai concluded.

  The technician came closer, and Kieriell felt paralyzed. One side of him rationalized that he should surrender, then he would rest, safe within himself, unknowing of the world around him, unknowing of the experiments continuing. He would observe the void continuously, and perhaps he would find the courage to leap straight into it and finally learn what lay out there beyond his current perception.

  The other side of him, the Nexian, decided otherwise.

  He closed his eyes, felt the technician lay one gentle hand against the side of his neck, sweep back his hair, and tilt his head sideways, but just as the cold tip of the needle touched his skin, his eyes snapped open again. The shift had never manifested so quickly in him; he felt the warm rush of pigment in his eyes, the tightening of his skin into patches of scales, the soreness in his nails as they thickened and sprouted. He propelled himself away from the needle's tip with a sw
ing of his arm, and his hand came up bearing talons sharper than he'd ever expressed before. The injection module flew across the room, taking shreds of gray flesh from the technician's hand with it. As the Shiv screamed over his torn fingers, Kieriell bolted past him and sprang up onto one of the consoles where he crouched and bared long canines at the guards and the other technicians.

  To the side of the console, the kai ejected the blade from his chrome wrist and stood on guard. "Kieriell, I suggest you cease this nonsense now before you hurt yourself."

  "No," Kieriell growled and lashed out with one leg in a circling horizontal kick that slammed into the kai's shoulder and sent him plummeting to the floor. How natural to fight with no weapons. He leapt for the guards as they began to manifest shadow blades from their gloved hands. The technicians, inexperienced in combat, scrambled aside, pressing their backs against the walls.

  Kieriell swiped at the nearest guard's face shield. The force sent the armored figure back into his companions, creating a confusion of shouts and the cracking of unfocused telekinetic energy as shadow blades emerged and warped the air, struck console tops and tendrils of neural flesh near the passage.

  One of the blades grazed Kieriell's arm with heat and he roared, slashing back at the guard who toppled over, a red spray erupting from the narrow space between his helmet and his neck guard. A gurgling scream followed Kieriell into the outer room, but before he got any further, the columns of neural flesh loosened and curled around him.

  In the extended lab, the kai stood, shaken and enraged, in time to watch the neural flesh attempt to stop the fleeing prisoner.

  Kieriell hooked his talons into the flesh, shouting as he tore one leg free. The foundation itself cried out. He felt the rumble of the fusion well far away, accompanied by a blood-freezing shriek from deep within the walls behind the neural flesh. So it felt pain, he realized, and he began to tear harder, releasing the oily substance of the balm. It oozed over his left arm, which he felt deaden just as he pulled free and staggered across the room. The remaining tattered vines strained out as far as they could for him, but they barely grasped his elbows or an ankle before he reached the door.