by M. R. Forbes
And she wanted Ruby back.
The Faust closed on the Brimstone, reaching the docking clamps on the top side without incident. Bastion brought them into position, locking the smaller ship to the larger while Abbey headed down the ladder to the exit.
“Imp, keep the engines warm, just in case. Gant, Cherub, you’re with me. Pudding, is Uriel awake yet?”
“Not yet, Queenie.”
“Roger.”
“Can I come, Queenie?” Pik asked. “I want to help Ruby.”
Abbey considered. “Okay, Okay. You’re with me, too.”
“Thanks, Queenie!”
They gathered beside the hatch until Bastion signaled that docking was complete. It didn’t escape Abbey’s notice that her Rejects were all wearing lightsuits instead of standard utilities. They weren’t obviously armed, but none of them needed to be obvious about it.
“We’ve got your back, Queenie,” Gant said. “Whatever happens.”
“Thank you,” Abbey replied. “Imp, open her up.”
“Aye, Queenie.”
The hatch hissed as the pressure equalized and then it slid aside, revealing a secondary airlock and ladder down into the Brimstone. Abbey could see a few pairs of boots from her position. Soldiers in battlesuits. Great.
“I’ll take point,” she said, descending the ladder. The soldiers came into view as she neared the floor. Eight of them, all armed and ready for trouble.
“Some greeting,” Abbey said to them. “Does Sylvan intend to arrest us?”
“Ma’am,” the lead soldier said. “Our orders are to escort you to the General’s suite, and your companions to a holding area for their protection.”
Abbey laughed. “Their protection or yours?”
“We don’t want any trouble, ma’am.”
“If you try to stop my companions from joining me, you’re going to get it. I know you’re following orders, but I’m not in the mood for this bullshit.”
The soldiers trained their rifles on her. She was feeling much stronger again, though it had taken nearly half of the ship’s rations to bring her back up to par. Even so, she wasn’t ready to play that card. Not yet. She had another scare tactic in mind.
“Void, why don’t you join me, too?” Abbey said.
“On my way, Queenie,” Trin replied.
“I think you should point those somewhere else, soldier,” Abbey said to the lead guard.
The other Rejects came down one by one behind her. She could sense the change in the soldiers’ confidence as they did, especially when Trinity started descending into the Brimstone.
“What the hell is that?” she heard one of them whisper.
“Get your squad out of my way, soldier,” Abbey said.
The soldier was hesitant for a moment. Then he motioned for the others to lower their weapons. “I don’t want to fight an ally,” he said. “There’s enough of that happening already.”
“Well said,” Abbey replied.
“We’re going to escort you.”
“Fine with me.”
Abbey started walking ahead of the soldiers. The Rejects trailed behind her, moving past them as well. The guards leveled their rifles at their backs, which was fine with Abbey. If they even tried to shoot, they would be dead before they had a chance to figure out what had gone wrong.
There were other crew members in the corridors leading to the General’s quarters, and they moved aside as Abbey and the others approached, watching them pass with a mix of fear and awe. Abbey didn’t pay much attention to them, keeping her head straight and her eyes forward, maintaining the composure of a Queen.
The whole entourage came to a stop outside of Sylvan Kett’s private suite, the same rooms that Abbey had taken during her short stay on the starship. The lead guard cut in front of her then, blocking her entry.
“Let me announce you,” he said, practically begging.
“Fine,” Abbey replied, putting a hand impatiently on her hip.
The soldier opened the door and entered, the hatch closing behind him. Abbey counted to ten. When the door didn’t open again, she reached out with the Gift, pulling it aside and walking through, cutting the guard off mid-sentence.
“You took too long,” she said, her eyes flicking forward to the desk.
Kett was sitting behind it, his expression both angry and slightly amused. She noticed immediately that Ruby was standing next to him. Except she didn’t look like Ruby anymore. Not exactly. The synthetic skin was the same. The facial structure, the build. But the clothes had been exchanged for a seraphsuit, and the hair had been cut and altered.
What the hell?
She looked just like Charmeine.
28
“What the frag did you do to her?” Abbey asked.
“Of all the things to lead with, that’s your primary concern?” Sylvan replied. “Need I remind you that she was a synth? A pleasure bot, no less?”
“Need I remind you that she was part of my crew, whether you like it or not?” Abbey moved past the guard. “Go wait outside.”
The guard looked at Kett, who nodded. He retreated from the room, closing the hatch behind him and leaving them alone.
“He’s gonna get it,” Abbey could hear Pik say as the door sealed.
Kett stood up. “Abigail, if you give me a chance I-”
Abbey flicked her hand out, the Gift pushing him back against the wall and holding him there. “You went to Kell to help my Rejects, not to imprison them, you son of a bitch.”
She stormed toward him. He didn’t put up a fight. In fact, he was smiling. That only made her angrier.
“Why are you smiling?”
“I knew you would be angry. I’m glad to see I was right.”
“I don’t get you,” Abbey said, reaching him and putting her face near his. He was taller than her, even after her Gift-fueled growth spurt that had gained her a handful of centimeters. She wanted to drag him to his knees to bring him down to size, but she didn’t.
“Give me two minutes, and I can explain.”
Abbey released him. He shook his limbs out and then circled past her to Ruby.
“You’ve been part of this for months, Abigail,” he said. “We’ve been doing this for years.”
“We?” Abbey replied.
Ruby smiled. “I’m sorry, Abbey,” she said.
Only her voice had been changed. Re-synthesized or something. She even sounded like Charmeine now.
“I know Ruby was important to you, but this is more important than her. More important than all of us.”
“What did you do to her?” Abbey repeated.
“Seraphim technology,” Sylvan said. “A Configurator. The brain of the target is mapped and digitized, including all of the memories stored within. I’ve always kept a copy of my Charmeine in the case of an emergency. I was hoping never to need to use it.”
“You mean you made a copy of her consciousness?”
“Yes,” Charmeine said. “It was done before I met you, but Sylvan told me everything that transpired. I’m happy you’re here.”
Abbey stared at her. “You can’t make a duplicate of a living thing. Maybe you can digitize the brain. You can’t copy a soul.”
“What is a soul, Abigail?” Charmeine said. “We’re all a collection of atoms. DNA. Break it down further, and we’re masses of positive and negative. Ones and zeroes. Anything can be copied once you understand the base. But that isn’t the point or the purpose.”
Abbey shook her head. “Let’s back up a step.” She looked at Kett. “I stayed behind on Azure to save your life, and to keep Thraven from finding out where the Shardship is hiding. Charmeine. The real Charmeine died to save me from Thraven. Meanwhile, you went to Kell, and when the battle was over, you seized control of my fleet.”
“I didn’t seize it,” Sylvan said. “I thought we had an understanding that I was second in command under you?”
“I never said that.”
“The majority of the fleet is composed of
my resources. My soldiers. My ships. I thought there was an implicit chain of command. Besides, who would you have preferred take charge? Your Gant?”
Abbey’s anger flared. “He’s not my Gant. He’s his own individual. And yes, he’s perfectly capable of managing this fleet.”
“Maybe your Rejects would follow him, but my people wouldn’t. People, Abigail. It’s an important distinction. I told you on Azure that humankind is the chosen race, the species made in the image of the One and closely enough related to the Seraphim to reproduce with them. They would never allow a Gant to lead them. You’re smart enough to know that.”
“You split them up so they couldn’t cause trouble. Then you imprisoned them when they didn’t agree with whatever it is you’re doing. Oh yeah, nothing. You’ve been hiding out here while the galaxy has been falling to shit. Your daughter abandoned you because she knew you were making the wrong move.”
Kett’s eyes narrowed at the last part. “Did you look out of the viewport on your way in?” he asked.
“Yes. Why?”
“Did you bother to count the number of ships?”
“Your fleet has grown. I noticed.”
“And yet you claim I’ve been doing nothing.”
“Thraven took the Milnet offline. He created a civil war across the Republic with one move.”
“Which is precisely why we were assembling this army in the first place. We knew this would happen one way or another. I appreciate and respect your loyalty to your friends, but don’t let it cloud your tactical mind. Gant thought I was sitting here bemoaning the loss of my wife. That was true to an extent, but not to the extent he believed. Why would I, when I had a copy of her? It took me a few days to update the routines to integrate with newer synth technology, but I always knew I could bring her back. We could get out there. We could take on Thraven and his forces. Maybe we could win a few fights. But then what? We’d lose one ship after another, slow attrition until there was nothing left.”
“You can’t win this fight with brute force, Abbey,” Charmeine said.
“I know,” Abbey replied. “That’s part of why I’m here.”
“And it’s why I am here,” Charmeine replied.
“Not because of love,” Sylvan said. “Even if I wish that were the case. I did what I had to do to your Rejects to keep them from fragging everything up. I had a feeling they would take the High Noon and go to rescue you before they acted on Captain Mann’s intel. How did that turn out, anyway?”
“The Elysium Gate is complete,” Abbey said. “We were too late. Thraven made an appearance and nearly killed me while he was destroying the evidence.”
“It’s finished?” Charmeine said, surprised.
“Yes. It’s also been moved from its original location. I don’t know where.”
“Damn it,” Sylvan said. “We can’t let him use the gate.”
“I know,” Abbey agreed. “It wasn’t a total waste. We ran into someone you might know.” She looked at Charmeine. “He said his name is Uriel.”
If Charmeine was surprised, she didn’t show it. Or maybe it was because she was in Ruby’s body? Either way, her expression was flat.
“You don’t need him,” she said. “He’s a traitor. Useless.”
“I’ll be the judge of that,” Abbey replied. “Since you’re here, and alive as it were, I need information.”
“What kind of information?”
“Azure. The Seraphim fortress beneath the crater. The experiments. The pool with the crystals inside.”
Charmeine stared at her in silence.
“What? You aren’t going to tell me? I know you know. I know you were there. I didn’t find it by accident, did I?”
“I didn’t know you were there,” she said. “This configuration predates those events. Why would I send you down there?”
“Because I saw the Light of the Shard.”
“You did? And you went to the pool?”
“You led me to the pool.”
“Did it activate?”
“Yes.”
She leaned forward, looking at Abbey more closely. “Another remains, then. Another Shard. They aren’t all gone.”
“You knew?” Abbey said, her words coming out as a growl.
“Knew what?” Kett said. “Charlie, what are you two talking about.”
Abbey laughed. “And you didn’t tell your husband?”
“Tell me what?”
“This isn’t an isolated incident. The Seraphim follow the Shard to another universe, and then they turn on him. Sooner or later, they betray him.”
“It isn’t the same everywhere,” Charmeine said. “And it doesn’t matter here. Not in the way that you think. They can’t reach this universe from theirs, not without going through Elysium. If the One had fallen, they would already be here.”
“But for every Shard that’s killed, that’s one more potential assault on the One.”
“Yes. Elysium Gates are not easy to construct. They are even more difficult to power. Even with the Gate finished here, Thraven will need more Blood from the Shard than he can possibly obtain. There isn’t enough remaining.”
“What if he could make more?”
“He can’t. The Focus has the only untainted Blood that remains. That’s why he wants it.”
Abbey felt a chill wash over her. “You’re wrong on two counts. One, the Blood in the Focus isn’t untainted. Whatever the frag you and your fellow scientists were trying to do, the spoil made it back to the source. But then, you already know that, don’t you? The Blood kills humans as much as it does pure Seraphim, even though it shouldn’t. So that means he can use tainted Blood, as long as it’s still compatible. Two, there is untainted Blood, and you know where that is too because you set me up to get it.”
Charmeine looked at her. Then she smiled. Then she started laughing.
“Charlie?” Sylvan said.
“Perfect. This is too perfect. Syl, this is better than we were hoping for. Forget simply killing Thraven. Everything is falling more perfectly into place than we could have imagined. He purified you, didn’t he? He made you his progeny.”
“Perfect?” Abbey said. “None of this would be necessary if you hadn’t messed with the naniates in the first place. You tried to turn the peaceful technology of the Shard into a weapon, and not only did you kill massive numbers of your own kind, but you also failed to match what Lucifer produced. You pretty much screwed up this universe for everything living in it.”
“We did what we thought we had to do to stop the Nephilim from destroying this universe. If we hadn’t altered the naniates, they would have taken over thousands of years ago, and you wouldn’t be here now. The subjects knew the risks.”
“Did their families? Did they know you were going to create naniates that would go out of control and begin seizing them as carriers? It wasn’t just Azure, was it? Jubilation. Deminoss. How many others?”
Charmeine’s expression shifted. Her hands clenched at her sides. “You weren’t there, Abbey. You don’t know anything about it.”
“But I’m learning. The Shard wanted me to learn. He wanted me to see. To understand that you are to blame for this as much as the Nephilim. To know that he’s ashamed of you.”
The last sentence stole all of Charmeine’s anger. She slouched in sudden defeat, and though her synthetic replacement body was incapable of crying, she looked as though she should be.
“The Nephilim would have destroyed us if we did nothing. The Focus would have never been enough.”
“You’ve forgotten the Covenant,” Abbey said, remembering what the other Shard had told her. “All of you. You said the words. You told them to Jequn so she could tell them to me. But you didn’t believe in them.”
“What do you mean?”
“The One’s Covenant was to protect the Seraphim. Did you think because the Shard was dead that the One would abandon you? You survived for millennia without bringing yourselves to their level.”
“We use
d the Focus to destroy most of the life in the galaxy. We couldn’t use it again, and we knew the Nephilim would return. What other choice did we have?”
“To prepare with your strengths, not try to duplicate theirs.”
“It’s funny you should say that. What does the Republic do? What do the Outworlds do? You race one another to be the strongest. To have the best weapons. To protect your kind, as we sought to protect ours.”
Abbey paused. She had a point. War was war.
“Where do we go from here?” General Kett asked, looking at them both. “What’s done is done and can’t be changed. All of it. What Charlie did years ago. What I did days ago. The past is past.”
He had a point, too.
“I need Ruby back,” Abbey said. “My daughter is in trouble, and I need to reach Captain Mann. He’s the only one who might be able to help her.”
“I’m sorry, Abbey. Ruby was wiped.”
“And you didn’t save a copy of her?”
“I did,” Sylvan admitted. “But there’s only one compatible synth in the fleet.”
“Meaning we can’t have Ruby and Charmeine at the same time?”
“Yes.”
“Hold that thought, then. I need more information first.”
“What kind of information?”
“The Keeper of the Covenant.”
“Who told you about that?”
“The Shard. I need to find him. If anyone knows where he is, it’s one of you.”
“We can’t tell you,” Sylvan said without hesitation.
“Can’t or won’t?” Abbey replied.
“I’m sorry, Abigail. It’s too dangerous for you to know. If Thraven finds out, it will be worse than having him get his hands on the Focus.”
“Why?”
“The Covenant is the Truth. Lucifer took it and twisted it, and you saw what happened as a result. If Thraven got the Covenant, he could turn the others against us. The Gant, the Trover, the Atmo. Not individuals, but all of them.”