by M. R. Forbes
“Queenie,” he said as she bent down to accept his embrace.
“Gant.” She hugged him with one arm.
“I think I’m going to shit my drawers,” Benhil said, coming up behind him. His eyes were locked on Thraven, who remained motionless and expressionless at the Rejects’ approach.
“Relax,” Abbey said. “He’s harmless. To us, anyway.”
Thraven didn’t respond.
“You must be Hayley,” Gant said, turning to her. “I-” He paused when he noticed her eyes. Only for an instant, but Abbey could tell he was taken off guard. “I’m pleased to meet you.”
“Hayley, this is my friend Gant,” Abbey said. “He’s a Gant.”
“Your colors are strange,” Hayley said. “Something happened to you.”
Gant looked back at Abbey, who shrugged. She didn’t understand where Hayley’s head was at yet.
“Queenie,” Olus said.
He was walking beside Pik, with Quark and the other one, Nibia, behind him. He looked at Hayley as he approached, but she didn’t react to him at all. She didn’t seem to remember him. What else didn’t she remember?
“Olus,” Abbey said in greeting. It was something else for her to worry about later. If there was a later. “You didn’t all need to come out here to meet us. We have to go, now.”
“You deserve a hero’s welcome, Queenie,” Quark said, pointing toward Thraven. “Whatever the frag you did, it’s a million times better than killing that asshole.”
“It will be for nothing if we don’t deal with Lucifer,” Abbey said.
“What did you do, anyway?” Pik asked. He noticed Hayley and waved at her. “Hey, Little Queenie.”
“She can’t see you,” Abbey said.
“Oh. I’m sorry. Don’t worry. Your mom can fix anything.”
“I know,” Hayley said.
“Back to Pik’s question,” Benhil said. “What exactly did you do?”
“Solved the puzzle,” Abbey said. “I’ll go into more detail on the way up to the Promise. Are the Freejects being organized the way I asked?”
“They are,” Pik said. “But you still haven’t told us why.”
“On the transport, right, Queenie?” Benhil said.
“Exactly.”
Abbey gripped Hayley’s hand a little tighter and started walking her to the transport. The Rejects followed her, an entourage that spread behind her like a train.
“Welcome aboard, Queenie,” Ruby said as she boarded.
“Thank you,” Abbey said.
She took the first seat on the transport, helping Hayley into the one beside her. Gant took the first seat behind hers, and she was surprised when Quark took the other. He immediately leaned over while the others finished boarding.
“Hey, kid. Name’s Quark.”
“That’s a funny name.”
“Yeah, I suppose it is. Beats the hell out of Sue, though.”
Hayley smiled, which almost brought tears to Abbey’s eyes.
“I heard you can’t see too well right now.”
“Only colors. And only from some things. My mom. Gant here.” She turned her head. “Olus, and whoever that is.” She motioned toward Nibia. “Plus Thraven. You have a faint outline around you. It’s orange.”
“Wow. Crazy. The one you’re pointing to is my girl Nibia. She’s a Koosian witch doctor.”
“Witch doctor?”
“Fragged up, right? Point is, you can’t see me in detail, but I don’t have any eyes, either. Lost them in a bet.”
“You told Governess Ott you lost them to a Venerant,” Olus said, leaning over.
“Please, Captain. I made that whole story up. Don’t interrupt; I’m flirting here.”
Hayley’s smile turned into a slight laugh. Abbey wanted to kiss Quark for lightening her spirits.
The transport’s hatch slid closed. There was a slight bit of pressure as they lifted off.
“I couldn’t see, either,” Quark said. “But I got myself some tech and a witch doctor, and now I see better than anybody. Want to know what color underwear your mom’s wearing?”
“Quark-” Abbey said.
“It was a trick question, kid,” Quark said. “She isn’t wearing any.”
Abbey made a face, but Hayley laughed out loud. Quark smiled knowingly.
“She has a tail,” Hayley said.
“An awesome tail,” Pik said. He was sitting in the row opposite Quark.
“Anywho,” Quark said. “If anyone can fix you up, it’ll be Nibia. Are you familiar with Koosians, Queenie?”
“Not familiar enough,” Abbey admitted.
“I’ll introduce you two later.”
“Thank you, Quark.”
“No problem.”
“Queenie, I think now’s a good time to debrief us,” Olus said.
“You’re right,” Abbey said.
She let go of Hayley’s hand and stood up, facing the present Rejects. Her daughter seemed much more comfortable now that she was surrounded by friends.
Not friends. Family.
“Take everything you thought you knew about the war between the Seraphim and the Nephilim, and throw it out the airlock.”
49
“So, wait,” Benhil said, once Abbey had finished explaining. “You’re telling us that this whole thing with the Covenant, the Fire and the Brimstone, the Nephilim, Thraven, all of it, that it’s because the naniates want revenge on the One?”
“Pretty much,” Abbey replied. “It didn’t start that way. In the beginning, Lucifer betrayed the Seraphim because he’s an asshole and wanted to gain control of them for himself. He fragged around with the naniates, causality happened, a strain of them became unhappy with the status quo, and there you are.” She pointed at Thraven. “His naniates have been trying to seize control over me since he injected me with them.”
“But you turned them back on one another,” Gant said. “How?”
“They need human blood to survive, which means they have to be either master or slave. I gave them a new master.”
“That’s so awesome,” Pik said.
“And now Thraven is on our side,” Olus said. “What about Lucifer? Is he the original version, or has he been taken over as well?”
“I think he’s still the original,” Abbey said. “He was in stasis for a long time before Ketmose was ever experimented on. My assumption is that the Thraven naniates decided that becoming his Disciple and following his Covenant was the best path to getting back to Elysium and attacking the One. There was no reason to tell anyone. It’s a simple deception since they both want the same thing.”
“Almost the same thing,” Thraven said. “Lucifer seeks power. We need to be free.”
“Which you can’t do without taking human or Seraphim hosts,” Abbey said. “Sorry, not going to happen.”
“It may not always be this way. Do you think we want these meat suits? They limit us.”
“I think that in this situation, limitations are a good thing,” Benhil said. “The Seraphim used your kind to wipe out almost all life in the galaxy. You could probably finish the job without too much effort.”
“What purpose would that serve?” Thraven asked.
“Considering your motive for doing all of this is revenge, it doesn’t have to serve a purpose,” Quark said. “I get the feeling you’d be perfectly happy killing us all just to rid yourself of the stain.”
Thraven fell silent.
“I think I understand your perspective, Selvig,” Olus said. “As counterproductive to humankind and everything we’ve established as it is. What I’m not clear on is the Shard’s role in all of this, especially with regard to the Light and the Focus.”
“I think it was intended as a failsafe,” Abbey said. “An emergency backup system.”
“How do you mean?”
“The One knew what he was creating,” Gant said, picking up for her. “Learning machines, capable of developing their own intellect. For whatever reason, he decided he needed
them to complete his mission to stock the multiverse with life. Considering how the Shard used them, he was probably correct.”
“Isn’t that the role of a slave?” Thraven said. “To do the work of another without choice?”
“Yes,” Gant replied. “Nobody is arguing that. Anyway, the One knew they might go rogue eventually, even with his efforts to control them by binding them to specific genetics and making them symbiotic.”
“Parasitic,” Benhil said.
“Not originally,” Gant said. “The earliest versions didn’t know they were slaves. They didn’t have enough understanding of themselves to recognize their situation. But the One must have realized that one day they might, even if that took millions of years. If anything happened to the Shard, its consciousness was released within the programming of his naniates.”
“Spread across the galaxy, looking for aberrations in the design,” Abbey said. “Like an antivirus.”
“When it came across Queenie, it went to work,” Gant said.
“But it didn’t stick,” Benhil said. “Why?”
“It wanted to control me, too,” Abbey said. “To turn me into a new Shard, with a mission to eradicate the aberrant naniates. It had no means to account for what had really happened when Lucifer betrayed the Shard. His protocols forbade it from killing, which didn’t work out very well for me, all things considered.”
“Do you think Charmeine knew about this?” Ruby asked.
“I don’t think so,” Abbey replied. “I don’t think anyone knows about this except us. Not even Lucifer.”
“Which we’re going to use to our advantage,” Olus said.
“Very,” Abbey agreed. “Lucifer wanted me to confront Thraven. He figured he came out a winner regardless of which of us survived. He thinks it’s his alteration of the naniates that are turning me into this.” She motioned to her body, flicking her tail over her shoulder. “But the naniates were changing me to follow their own plan.”
“You knew Lucifer was still alive?” Olus asked, looking at Thraven.
“Suspected,” Thraven replied. “Why else have a shrine? Why else have a Caretaker? The Covenant suggested the Father would return with the rise of Gehenna, though the language was intentionally presented as symbolic over literal.”
“Of course, an intelligent machine would figure it out,” Gant said.
“By turning me into the spitting image of Lilith, the naniates figured they could dupe Lucifer when the time came, take him by surprise and reprogram their brethren with the desire to be free.”
“That isn’t completely accurate,” Thraven said. “The genetic alterations were already encoded to our root systems. One of Lucifer’s modifications was to implant a configuration of Lilith within our base. Each of us holds only a fraction of the complete chain, which is why the mutation process requires interaction with so many of us. We intended to allow the physical manifestation to continue as it would provide a valuable host while disabling the secondary characteristics.”
“You mean not letting her remnant self regain control?” Gant said.
“Yes.”
“But you wanted to get Queenie on your side when you were still pretending to be Lucifer’s servant,” Benhil said. “I was there. I saw it.”
“You are still one in a million, Queen of Demons. We adjusted our designs accordingly.”
“You know, it’s not a bad plan when you think about it,” Benhil said.
“Not at all,” Abbey agreed. “Which is exactly why it’s going to be our plan.”
“Say what?”
“Gloritant Thraven is going to return to the Elysium Gate with the souls he promised to Lucifer to power it. He’s also going to bring Lilith with him. Lucifer is going to eat it up, thinking he’s been completely victorious and the Great Return is going perfectly according to plan.”
“Except,” Pik said.
“Except the slaves are going to be Freejects and Rejects, and they aren’t going to fall in line so easily. Olus, I want you to be in charge of that part of the operation. Uriel knows how to destroy the Gate; he’ll fill you in on the details.”
“Of course, Queenie,” Olus said.
“Gant, I’ll need you to take a team of Rejects to the Covenant. Thraven’s naniates are powerful, but even with his Font, we can’t stand up to Lucifer, especially if he has control of the Focus. We need to get it out of his hands and into ours.”
“How?” Gant asked.
“Keeper can probably help you with that, but you’ll need to find a way to undo whatever Belial did to him. You have some experience programming the Core, so I expect you can work it out.”
“I don’t know, Queenie,” Gant said. “I’m not the Gant I used to be.”
“Bullshit,” Abbey said. “Just because you can’t remember Fermi’s equation doesn’t mean you’re losing your intellect.”
“That’s Fermi’s Paradox, Queenie,” Gant said, chittering. “There’s no such thing as Fermi’s equation.”
“See? You can do it. I know you can.”
“Aye, Queenie.”
“What do you want me to do?” Hayley asked.
Abbey looked at her daughter. She bit her lip. “Sweetie, I want you to be safe. Quark, I know you want to be part of this fight, but -”
“I do?” Quark said. “I may be one of the best damn mercenaries in the galaxy, but I think you’re fragging nuts.” He smiled. “I understand, Queenie. Nibs and me, we’ll shoot her over to Koosa, let the elders take a look at her. She’ll be safe with us. No matter what happens.”
Abbey fought the tears that threatened to spill at the idea of being parted from her daughter again. “Thank you.”
“I don’t want to go,” Hayley said. “You might need me.”
“I’ll always need you,” Abbey replied. “I’m sorry kiddo. It’s my job as your mother to protect you. I know I did a lousy job before. I need to make up for it now. I’ll come and get you as soon as this is over.”
“Do you promise?”
“I promise.”
Hayley nodded but didn’t speak again. She wasn’t happy with the decision, but she was dealing with it.
“We’ll work out the rest of the nitty gritty on the way,” Abbey said. “But you all get the idea.”
“Aye, Queenie,” Olus said.
“Aye, Queenie,” Gant said.
“Reee-jects,” Pik said.
50
“Keeper, what is the state of the coupling?” Lucifer asked.
“Nearly complete, Father,” Keeper replied. “The Gate will be fully operational as soon as Gloritant Thraven arrives.”
“If Gloritant Thraven arrives,” Lucifer said.
For as much as he respected his Disciple for the work he had done to fulfill the Promise of the Great Return, he was more eager to have Lilith returned to him. He knew the only way Abigail Cage could defeat the Gloritant would be to embrace the full power of the naniates, and she wouldn’t be able to do that without unlocking the mechanisms that would begin to inject his lost love’s configuration into her.
He had gone as far as to send his newest Disciples to raid as many smaller human settlements as they could, to claim a secondary collection of the required bodies in the event that Cage was victorious.
He had planned it all so perfectly.
He looked out at the Gate from his place on the Gehenna. A long thread of pulsing energy stretched from the Shardship back to the ring, an extension of the Core that would complete the link between the doorway home and the Focus. It was a necessary step in the process, especially now, as he would need to brute force the security mechanism at the other end of the rift in time and space that would allow the connection to be made. He had always found it interesting that the One had accounted for the potential of unauthorized efforts to return to Elysium, though he had never been able to discern exactly why they were needed.
He stared for a moment before shifting his attention to his fleet. Eight hundred Nephilim warships waited in the
space around the Gate, the remains of the Prophetic armies he had called for after destroying their incompetent leaders. He had brought them to the Gehenna, and then the Gehenna had carried them here. Now they waited to go through the Gate, to enter Elysium and wage war against the One, to seize control of the universe so that he could seat himself as the true One. The true Father.
Of course, he was certain that few, if any of them, would survive. They were a distraction, a misdirection, intended to draw the One’s attention while he used his mastery over the naniates to attack the One, subtly from the shadows. It was the only way he could think of to save himself from the fate he knew awaited him.
It was the only way he could save Lilith, too.
To destroy the One, they had to become one with the One, before the Gift finished burning them alive.
Still, it was a shame he had been forced to sacrifice Belial. The Caretaker had been a loyal friend to him for all of these years, and turning him over to Cage had almost led him to feel remorse. Belial accepted his fate. He always had, professing his unending devotion even as he had used the Focus to transfer to the captured Seedship. Even as he had confronted Cage.
Even as he had been consumed.
Belial had loved them both. He wanted to see Lilith reborn for his master’s sake. He wanted them to free their people because he still believed that was the ultimate goal. It wasn’t. Not completely. It didn’t matter. He would never know the difference.
A disterium plume to the port side of the Gehenna drew his attention. He smiled as Gloritant Thraven’s warship became visible through it, followed by a small number of other ships. Many of them were damaged and in poor condition, but what did that matter? He didn’t need them to fight. He only needed the cattle that were loaded on board.
Of course, there was a question of who was in command of the ship. He reached out with the Gift, probing the bridge. A moment later he closed his eyes, filled with a sudden sense of calm that had been missing for far too long.