Gabi saw what she was looking at and her smile widened. ‘That’s our set,” she explained. “’AG’ for ‘Alfonza Guzamma’ and ‘14’ for the ‘14th Fleet’. You know about them, right?”
Reesy certainly did. Admiral Guzamma was a hero of the Revolution and the gallant 14th fleet had gained legendary status by standing up to the Sisterhood invaders. These women had bravely proclaimed themselves to be true patriots, marking their very bodies with the forbidden symbols of freedom. They were the revolutionaries that she had hoped to contact! A surge of envy coursed through her, and more than anything, she wanted to ask them to accept her, and to allow her to wear her own marks of honor.
But she hesitated. Being new, she didn’t know much about prison, but she did understand that things like this were a life and death matter to the inmates.
Gabi knew exactly what she was thinking. “You prove yourself and someone will sponsor you, chica,” she told her. “Then you can wear them. First though, you have to work out.”
Silviya and Alba solemnly added their agreement, and then, making certain that none of the guards were watching, they flashed a hand sign at her; the forefinger of their left hands and the four of their right.
This was part of the lesson, Reesy realized, and also a test of her loyalty. Gang symbolism of any kind was expressly forbidden, and although in actual practice, the tattoos were ignored, hand signs were considered to be too provocative for the prison administration to overlook. Riots had started up over them, and anyone caught ‘flashing’ could face charges, and receive added time onto their sentence. She had learned that much during her initial orientation lecture. She made a point of not reacting to the display with anything more than a subtle nod.
Across the yard, the Dann women, who had also seen the signs, kept their own response just as subdued. When she looked their way, the biggest one, the one who had beaten her, was looking right at her. And she displayed a hand sign of her own, but it wasn’t gang related.
It was the first time in her life that Reesy really felt the symbolism behind an extended middle finger on a deep, personal level. The Dann woman meant it. She really meant it.
Reesy’s next test, and a far more important one, came a few days later. Everyone in her set was out in the Rec Yard, and a few of the other women whom she had come to know as Loyalistas, were playing Hoopball. No warning came about what was going to happen next.
One moment, the women were playing. An instant later, the one carrying the ball, spun, and sent it crashing into the head of the nearest Dann. It hit her hard enough to knock her off her bench, but she recovered right away and lunged at the Loyalista player.
In seconds, the Hoopball court was filled with fighters from both sides, trading blows. Whistles sounded, and when the guards ran up to the tangle, most of the combatants retreated.
One of them was Gabi, who quickly stuffed something under the bench before she took her place next to Reesy. It was a quick movement, but Reesy still managed to catch a glimpse of the item; a plastic toothbrush, with its handle melted down and formed into a sharp point. There was blood on it.
By this stage, the guards were starting to clear the yard, and everyone was being goaded over to the nearest walls, to be lined up and searched. Out in the center of the Rec yard, the Dann woman was lying on the asphalt, clutching at her ribcage with bloody fingers.
Reesy didn’t have to be told by anyone to forget what she had seen stuffed under the bench. Or why the Dann woman had been attacked. It was all quite simple; they were getting even--and striking a blow at the Sisterhood sympathizers.
It wasn’t anything worth losing any sleep over…
…Time passed. Days turned into weeks, then months, and finally a year. Another year followed this, and through it all, Reesy changed.
So did her society. Neither transformation was for the better…
CHAPTER 1
Residence of Lady Ananzi, Great Nightlands Waste, Morpheus System, Thalestris Elant, United Sisterhood of Suns, 1048.05|27|07:09:31
Goddess, Maya thought. Not again. She was dreaming. This time, she was standing before a solitary Drow’voi. He was senior to the others in some way that she couldn’t fathom, and what he was saying to her, or trying to say, was vitally important.
The trouble was that she couldn’t understand a single word of it. The creature was attempting to communicate with her using a mixture of pure sound and mental imagery, but none of it possessed any human analog and its content was too complex for her mind to grasp.
Her lack of comprehension only seemed to frustrate the alien, and it redoubled its efforts to penetrate her consciousness, filling her brain with a dizzying flood of gibberish and disjointed visions.
“Stop it,” she yelled. “I don’t understand you. Slow down, you big overgrown slug!”
Her outcry just exacerbated the situation; the creature screeched right back, and then sent even more information to her.
She would have punched it in the nose, had she had any idea where that orifice was actually located. As it was, she wasn’t even certain that the thing had a nose to attack.
This left her with only one option; stopping her ears and closing her eyes. Naturally, this was useless.
Thoroughly ensnared by her dream, Maya tossed fitfully, and cried out. Her distress attracted Lady Ananzi’s attention.
The Nyxian walked into the girl’s bedroom, and stood over her, reading her. The visions that were tormenting Maya came into Lady Ananzi’s mind and she watched them play themselves out. The very first time that she had encountered Maya’s strange dealings with the Drow’voi, she had been absolutely certain that someone had implanted them in her subconscious as a lure, but eventually, she had come to accept the impossible.
For some reason known only to itself, the Galaxy Mind had chosen the girl for its purposes. Of all the women in the Sisterhood, she couldn’t have picked a less likely candidate, and for the thousandth time Lady Ananzi wondered if the selection had been the product of some logic beyond human understanding, or an equally inscrutable sense of humor.
Or even a combination of the two. Whatever the case was, Maya had been chosen, and Lady Ananzi felt sorry for her. It was not a role that she would have wanted for herself, or anyone.
The young woman’s dream ended a few seconds later, and she began to settle back into something that resembled normal slumber. Stepping away from the bed, Ananzi left her alone to get what rest she could, and went back out into the hall.
There had been much in this particular dream that Ananzi knew she had missed, but she was clear on one point; in the months since Maya had first come to Nyx, her visions were becoming stronger, and more insistent.
Time is running short, she thought, for all of us.
With a ragged sigh, she realized that dawn was coming, and as much as she wanted to slip off to her own bed and sleep, there were things that she needed to attend to. Her own dreams, whatever they proved to be, would have to wait.
***
Sunset found Maya in the kitchen, deep in her studies. Sarah had given her some new Agency material to go through, and she was slogging through it. It seemed that the further she progressed in her training as an agent, the drier and more complex the material seemed to become. Today’s offering was one of the most desiccated pieces yet; “Interstellar Politics and Its Effect on National Policy”.
Youch! she thought with a grimace, turning the next page with her mind and trying her best not to yawn.
When Sarah entered the room, she looked over her shoulder at her and stifled the urge to greet her with an insult. In their time together, she had discovered that Lady Ananzi was not Sarah, and did not tolerate dissent or disrespect of any kind. The very last thing that she needed was any complaint by Sarah reaching the old woman’s ears.
“We have guests coming,” Sarah informed her, “and Lady Ananzi wishes to speak with me in private before they arrive. You are to remain in the house. You are not to go outside for any reason until we
return.”
Maya merely inclined her head in assent and then returned to her reading. Her silence annoyed the woman, just as she had intended, but it didn’t give her any cause to censure her—or to involve Lady Ananzi. Instead, Sarah’s face only tightened in disapproval, and she left her to her studies.
***
Lady Ananzi was waiting for Sarah at her workplace. The melding tools were shut down, and the Nyxian sat on the simple bench that she used for her infrequent rest breaks. As Sarah approached, she patted the empty space next to her.
“I have something that you need to listen to,” Ananzi told her. “A poem that you must hear.”
“Yes, Elleshaari,” Sarah answered, taking her place.
”I have slept in the arms of the twilight,” Ananzi began. “I have dreamt my way into the darkest night.” It was an old and obscure Nyxian poem.
Listening, Sarah’s eyelids fluttered, and closed.
Ananzi went on. “Far fared I ‘till the moons rose high--to greet me in a new night’s dawning. I arise, I wake—I greet the shadows promise, a child of the night, my path made plain for me by the moon’s clear light.”
For a long moment, Sarah remained motionless. Then her eyes reopened, and her expression softened. All of the harshness that was normally resident in her features was gone, making her seem as if she were another person altogether. Had she been there to witness it, Maya would have had trouble recognizing her.
“How long has it been, Elleshaari?” she asked.
“More than a year, Sharrisaal,” Ananzi replied, placing a gentle hand on her protégé’s shoulder.
“A year,” Sarah said pensively. She looked up into Ananzi’s eyes. “Why am I awake now? Is it time?”
“No,” her teacher answered. “Not yet, but very soon, my dearest. We are meeting tonight for the last time before everything will be set in motion. I wanted you to be here with us. You have the right, and I want you to remember this event when it is finally safe to do so.”
“Yes, Elleshaari,” Sarah responded. Then her expression became troubled. “Did I do terrible things while I was sleeping, Mistress? Did I kill again?”
Lady Ananzi stroked her cheek tenderly. “Do not torment yourself with such thoughts, Sharrisaal. You only did what I needed you to do. The Goddess will not judge you for your actions. If she seeks to cast blame on anyone, it will be I that she condemns. I am certain of that.”
Sarah nodded sadly, and then at a gesture from Ananzi, she rose, and followed her out across the desert to the meeting place.
***
Several minutes later, Maya’s studies were interrupted by a low rumble. It increased in volume until the entire house began to shake. As she looked up, the noise resolved itself into something that she was finally able to recognize.
It was an engine. The engine of a starship, and a large one at that. By the sound alone, she could tell that it was not a Sisterhood vessel, or at least not any type that she was familiar with. An alien ship? she wondered.
The sound became a deafening roar, and one of the cups on a nearby shelf fell off, and smashed on the floor. Even so, Maya resisted the urge to exit the house to catch a glimpse of the ship. Instead, she remained where she was and tried her best to endure the racket.
At last, unable to stand the suspense any longer, she went to the window and risked a peek outside. While Sarah had warned her against leaving the house, she hadn’t prohibited her from looking. Not as Maya had interpreted the order at least.
By now, the source of the disturbance was just passing behind one of the nearby hills, but she still saw enough to confirm her suspicions. By its sleek lines alone, the vessel was clearly not from any shipyard in her star nation, and its markings utterly confounded her. They were not in Standard or anything else that she could read.
Thanks to the glare cast by its engines, she was also able to make out the forms of Lady Ananzi and Sarah. They were walking together towards the hill, and whatever was landing behind it.
Deas dam va! Maya thought in exasperation. This is the first exciting thing to happen in this goddess-blasted desert in the last six months and I’m being left out. It just wasn’t fair!
Her sense of injustice only increased when a moment later, another ship, this time obviously from the Sisterhood, approached from the southeast and joined the other one behind the hill. To add to her suspense, a third vessel made its appearance immediately after this, and Maya identified it even before she saw it.
Its engines possessed a tiny additional whine that only her ears, trained from years of working as a sailor, and then as an engineer’s mate, would have ever detected. It was a minuscule distortion that made it stand out anywhere; the byproduct of all the unique modifications that had been done to its drive to make the ship what it was.
It was the sound of the C-JUDI-GO with her in-system plasma engines engaged and throttled low for landing. Seeing her stubby little shape come into view was almost unnecessary, although Maya still watched her drop behind the rise.
Whatever was happening out there involved Bel Lissa, and Zara, and whoever else they had gotten to replace her as the Engineer’s Mate. Which meant, that as frustrated as she presently was, there was a good chance that she would eventually learn something about the meeting. Her crewmates were far more lenient than Ananzi and Sarah, and certainly more garrulous.
With great reluctance, she turned away from the window and returned to her study material. She still kept half an ear open however. It was highly unlikely, but there was always the off chance that the wind, or some other natural force, would bring her a snatch or two of something interesting from over the hill.
***
Bel Lissa and Zara were the first to come out of their vessel, with Skylaar and another figure only a step behind them. Seeing this person, Sarah did something that Maya would never have imagined. She smiled at them with genuine warmth, and received the same in return.
Another visitor joined them after this. She had come in the second Sisterhood ship, and unlike the others, she was alone. The air around her shimmered from the effect of an energy field, making her features hard to determine, and masking any accent in her voice. Her disguise was augmented by the hood that she had drawn up over her head.
Sarah didn’t mind these extreme measures, and neither did her companions. They all understood the hazards of their association, and given the position that this woman enjoyed among their enemies, any of them would have taken the same precautions.
As the mysterious woman took her place, a final guest joined the assembly, this time from the Seevaan vessel. Although she wore no jewels, or any other markings to identify her, Sarah knew exactly who the insectoid was, and she made a point of bringing her hands together and bowing respectfully. The Senior Handmaiden of the Seevaan Empress Herself deserved such courtesies.
Lady Ananzi followed suit, although with a slightly shallower bow, indicating a much higher status than Sarah possessed, and a greater familiarity with the visitor.
Sarah wasn’t surprised by this either. Her teacher had many friends in many places, not the least of which was this being, and her exalted Mistress, who had even gone so far as to refer to the Nyxian woman as her ‘sister’. In private, of course.
“Our escort ship is ensuring that our solitude will be preserved,” the Seevaan began. “For the moment at least, we should be free of any eavesdropping from space.”
“That is good,” Ananzi returned in pincerspeak. “You are gracious to have come here on such short notice, and all the more so for lending your protection to our discussion.”
“It is the least that my Celestial Majesty could do for you, Lady,” the Handmaiden answered. “When I departed her noble presence, she bid me to tell you that she will help as much as she can, but that this matter prevents her from interceding openly. She leaves this business entirely to you and the capable members of Phantasma”
Despite the gravity of their situation, Sarah had to smile at this moniker. Among the
mselves, their little group had no official name, but the Seevaans being sticklers for formalities, still insisted on referring to them by the designation that their enemies had awarded them. Perhaps we are like phantoms, she mused. Unseen, unknown, and guarding the Sisterhood from dangers in the shadows.
“I fully understand,” Ananzi said. “I also acknowledge the conditions which constrain Her Majesty. As I have already promised her, this is a matter that we will handle ourselves. You may assure her that she will not be troubled about it unless it becomes absolutely mandatory to do so. Her name will not even be whispered after this night.”
The Seevaan bowed deeply in gratitude, and Ananzi turned and addressed the hooded woman. “I must apologize to you, but some of us could not be here tonight to hear your report in person. Rest assured however, that I will relay it to them as soon as possible. Will you share the latest developments with us, please?”
“It would be my pleasure, “the figure responded. “And no apologies are needed. I understand that our friends have duties elsewhere, and if you would, please extend my best wishes to them. Their work will be some of the hardest.”
Deactivating the field around herself, she lowered her hood at last. She did so with the fluid grace of someone raised in a refined and cultured environment, and also as what she was, a seasoned swordswoman, whose skill was easily on par with Skylaar taur Minna herself.
Sarah listened intently as she made her report, overcome with admiration. The woman was gambling everything to help them, when she could have done just the opposite and been assured of power and wealth beyond imagining.
And for what? Nothing better than the promise of seeing justice done, and the very real possibility of finding her own death instead. It was a privilege to be part of an organization that counted her as one of its members, Sarah decided. Compared to that, the year that she had lost suddenly seemed like a very reasonable sacrifice.
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