by Scott Rhine
Nobody is using my developments to oppress their population. “That does it. We’re dragging him all the way to hell,” Roz said grimly.
“No, we’re giving him an opportunity to become a hero to several thousand unfortunates. None of them are going to know how to repair that reactor or the fabricators.”
Roz looked shocked. “I thought we were hauling tech to the farmers.”
“No, honey. That tech is going to stay at the prison to keep people alive and improve the quality of that life—something we tried to do for Yenang before he turned on us. He was living on the street subsisting on garbage when we met him. If he does his job, Niisham will be a step up.”
Chapter 32 – Cathedral
Each time her mother spoke glowingly about some wedding detail, Roz remembered the man frozen in their ship’s dungeon. The inequity left a black stain on what should have been the happiest month of her life. Alyssa made matching, white dresses for Roz and Echo, although Echo’s was flat in the chest. With no uterus, her breasts were illusionary. Echo offered very little other biological clarification, promising that all would be revealed on their wedding night.
Great, she could be a sea cucumber with tentacles. I might be marrying something out of a horror movie. Somehow Max wasn’t concerned by this prospect.
Whenever Roz asked for any preferences, Echo deferred with, “I had a wedding of my own already. This one is yours.” She did, however, provide a library reference for text of the Magi marriage ceremony, as reported by an Anodyne diplomat.
Max was even less helpful. Over breakfast, he said, “Just tell me when to show up and where to sign, and my part’s done.”
Herb gave him a fist bump and a laugh. Her stepfather had agreed to provide the reception.
“Not helpful,” Roz said. “Come on, you have to have an opinion about something.”
Alyssa cleared her throat. “He probably doesn’t want you coming to bed in your long underwear and wool socks.”
Roz blushed. “Moth-er!”
“I … might be able to pick a few interesting … selections in that area,” Max offered. Her embarrassment shifted to a warm glow as his eyes caressed her.
“Max is in charge of the trousseau,” Alyssa decreed.
****
Once Sphere of Influence emerged again into normal space, Roz was too busy piloting to worry. She lived on the bridge, sleeping on a cot in the corner even when someone else stood watch. As the ship flew toward Veerkat, she could see the giant space-array telescope known as “the Ear” trailing just behind the planet to minimize the amount of space dust. This Bat engineering feat had tracked Phib fleets from several hundred parsecs away.
Deke appeared on the bridge one day, wearing a special tabard over his flight suit. “Thank you for taking my shifts while I prepare. This is a once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage.”
“Not a problem. You did the same for me on zero notice.” Roz pointed to the screen. “I’m still in awe of this construct.”
“The space station has a crew of over a thousand people dedicated to maintaining the Ear.”
“Wow. I hear the dark-matter research data has been phenomenal.”
“Kesh isn’t impressed. He’s upset Veerkat station won’t let us use their ansible because telescope research results take priority. He worries about another late loan payment.” Deke’s voice cracked a little.
Tearing her gaze away from the screen, Roz noted that Deke’s fur wasn’t as shiny as normal. Maybe he needed the rest. “Are you feeling okay?”
“I’m … fasting for two weeks to purge my soul of impurities.”
“Is that necessary to visit the cathedral?” Roz worried because she had just eaten a large breakfast.
“No. The nuns and I are each putting forward a special request to his holiness.”
“I can’t think of anything important enough to go without eating that long. Skipping meat has been hard enough on me.” Roz didn’t want to repel Echo during the wedding ceremony.
“That’s an acceptable form of purification as well. One nun is asking for the listener to personally give all the Bats aboard last rites. Another is praying for an extra pair of hands to minister to the sick. The listener can’t technically order anyone to join us, but he can offer a special pardon as incentive.”
“What’s your pilgrimage wish?” Roz asked.
“I ask that you keep this information to yourself.”
“My honor as a partner.”
“Special dispensation in choosing the mother of my heir. When people are diagnosed as carriers for genetic anomalies, breeding rights are revoked. However, when the father doesn’t share the recessive trait, exceptions can be made.”
Roz raised an eyebrow. “Anybody I know? Like a pediatrician with a nerve disorder?”
Deke glanced down. “You must think I conjugate with every female I meet. This is different.”
“I get it. Lisheen would make the best mother I can imagine. The child will be nimble and smart, a perfectly engineered pilot.”
The Bat copilot smiled. “She is so giving. She deserves someone to give back to her before her end.”
“Amen, and good luck with the listener.” The idea that someone else had to approve who people were allowed to love rubbed Roz the wrong way. “Could I fill out a petition, too? We want someone high in the church to perform our wedding ceremony with Echo, to help keep her alive until she reaches her home world.”
“His holiness will do so gladly.”
“How do you know?” Roz asked, barely containing her excitement.
“We owe a great debt to our uplifters. They ask favors so rarely that we bend heaven and earth when they do make a request. As someone outside the aristocracy or church, you need a sponsor to gain access, but I shall escort you to the audience hall myself.”
Roz kissed him on the forehead. “May you have all the happiness you deserve. The universe owes you a little of that by now.”
****
The stone cathedral reminded Roz of holos she had seen of enormous Earth churches. However, the base shape was a parabolic bowl instead of a cross. The arches around the perimeter resembled trees, with dome supports like interwoven branches. Eyes fixed on the ceiling, she tripped on the soft, gray carpeting, and Deke caught her elbow.
“Sorry, I was too busy gawking,” Roz said. “Why do those shapes look familiar?”
“Hyperbolic cosine, to enhance the propagation of sound,” Deke replied, eager to lecture about his favorite church.
“Shh,” warned the brown-robed monk escorting them.
“My bad,” she mouthed. The orbiting telescope might be cutting-edge technology, but the planet’s surface was practically stone and bone. Everything seemed to be done by hand to increase the time for spiritual reflection. Pilgrims worked to earn their supper and penance.
The listener sat on a throne at the focal point of the cathedral in a golden robe that had a train longer than Roz’s wedding dress. Red-garbed guards faced the four winds. The procession halted eight paces from his feet and knelt. As her head lifted, Roz recognized the Bat on the throne. “Lord Aviar?” Heroically, she managed to dampen the curses that attempted to follow that observation. A church didn’t seem like the appropriate venue.
The listener cocked his ears, attentive now instead of pompous and bored. “You’ve met my brother?”
“He gave me a humanitarian commendation.” We won’t mention inciting revolution.
“Well-deserved, from what I hear. Be honest, what did you think of him?”
“Uh … Other than handsome and cultured? He feels wronged but still serves the crown to the best of his abilities, your holiness.”
“Hmm. Exile agrees with him then. I risked my own position interceding on his behalf. But what can I do? He’s family.”
“My own mother has been in prison, Your Holiness.”
“Then you understand,” the listener said, climbing down from his throne to take Roz’s hand. “Let’s step into my office a
nd talk.”
Nervous, Roz fumbled protocol. “But sire, the others had their petitions first.”
The listener rolled his eyes. Pointing to the nuns first, he decreed, “Yes, yes, and no.” Deke’s face fell. Roz could tell he was crushed. No explanation was offered. The listener left Deke kneeling as he escorted Roz toward the back of the church. “Tell me more about the wedding. I have a copy of the text you sent, but I don’t understand. Is this for strictly legal reasons?”
“No, sir. Both Max and I are slowly psi-bonding with the surviving Magi. She—or it, I suppose—possesses both a flesh body and the form of the ship. The doctor tends to one body, while I tend to the other. Echo has healed each of us from mental scars and helps us to reach our potential. I’m now a member of the Magi academy of sages. We want to marry her, so we can join each other and save her life.”
“My purity priests tell me you have a powerful aura but can’t place the talent. Could you enlighten me?”
By then they had reached the door to a private chamber. The mahogany door had been polished until it gleamed. Roz glanced meaningfully at the guards in red.
“Forgive me. Sometimes I forget they’re even there,” the listener said, inviting her into the room.
When they were alone, Roz risked a little truth. “My link to the Collective Unconscious was severed as a child. Echo has repaired it, but only for our personal link.”
“Astounding.”
The listener offered her wine, which she declined in a way that sounded pious. “After fasting, I’m not sure what the effect would be.”
“Of course. Virtue must be its own reward. Unfortunately, I have a long and boring schedule ahead of me and need to be fortified.” Lord Aviar’s brother poured a generous helping into a golden goblet with scrollwork that matched his robes. “Everybody wants something from me.”
“About that?”
He waved a hand. “Of course. Can we record the ceremony here? The equipment is already in place, and the royals would be eager to see a Magi event of any kind.”
“Maybe I wasn’t clear. Echo is too damaged to leave her hospital room. We’d need you to come into our ship.”
“So I’d be the only one to see your inner sanctum?”
“Yes, sir.”
The listener took a sip and grinned wolfishly. He looked amazingly like Aviar at that moment. “I imagine that would make me a lock for head hierarch in another few years. I’ll do it.”
Roz bowed. “You have our deepest gratitude.”
“Could you designate me a friend of the Magi?”
She blinked. “I’ll have to ask our triad mate. Who did you have in mind for the last caregiver for the mission to aid the children?”
“Huh? Oh, that. Horcrasmus. You’ll need a food administrator.”
Disappointed, she asked, “If you don’t mind, sir, what did he do wrong? I don’t want a killer around my mates.”
“Oh, nothing of the sort. Let’s say the monk didn’t show enough deference and piety. Under no circumstances should he be allowed to speak to anyone until your jump to Niisham.”
Someone has secrets to hide. “Of course, Your Holiness. We’ll need a writ with your signature, though, for him to pass the garrison at Niishamboor.”
“Consider it done, good lady.” He closed his eyes and drained the goblet. “Ah. I would warn you about one delicate matter, though.”
“About the monk?”
“No. Concerning the last Phib starship that entered the prison system before the official outbreak of the war. According to our intelligence, they loaded up with radioactive materials but never arrived back at Niishamboor. Neither did they emerge on the other side in Magi space.”
Roz frowned. “Did their solar sail rip, or did they vanish like the Mayflower?” The infamous Human asteroid ship had also disappeared with a full load of uranium and other transmetals.
“There’s a slight chance the Phibs decided to run the mines instead,” the listener admitted. “To them, the war wouldn’t be over.”
“Sentient-eating monsters might be enslaving your people for profit, and you’re doing nothing to stop it?”
The listener looked offended. “We can’t trust the Blue Claws to act against their former allies. I don’t think I should condemn several ships full of my own men in order to save those traitors. We want that place to be the worst hell imaginable. In fact, we tell each new inmate our theories just before the jump. It induces an appropriately repentant attitude.”
Roz had wanted to reopen Deke’s petition, but the listener was such a colossal jerk that such a request might do more harm than good. Worse, he might cancel the wedding. Clamping down on her disgust, Roz said, “Very good, sir. When shall I tell my mates to expect you?”
Aviar’s twin considered for a moment. “Two days hence, just before the evening meal.”
Chapter 33 – Celebration
Because of Echo’s aversion to crowds, only the minister could join Max and Roz in the mirrored chamber. The crew and members of the holy entourage listened from the birch-forest biozone, wearing their Sunday best. Roz felt confined by the cloud of white fabric and just a little panicked. She couldn’t run or weld in the high-heeled shoes, but Max’s eyes kept drifting from her ankles to her calves. Every time he did so, Echo seemed to weave a little, forcing him to steady her. The Magi still looked like a clone of Max’s favorite actress. Only stroking the returned dolphin pin on her chest kept Roz calm during the wait for the minister.
As his first order of business, the listener shook each of their hands, asking, “Do you join this union of your own free will?”
Roz glanced at Max and blurted, “Yes.”
As the listener clasped Echo’s hand, she blurred a bit. Roz thought the listener was going to faint. I wonder what image she pulled out of his past. He must have really wronged some woman. The moment passed, and the clergyman decided to perform the ceremony from near the elevator. Unfortunately, he elected to perform the marriage rite in the Magi language, which neither Human spoke. From the way Echo kept wincing, it didn’t appear that the listener knew the tongue either.
Regardless, they all followed Echo’s lead for hand gestures and the use of binding ribbons. When asked for a response, the Humans replied in Banker so everyone could understand. Max glanced at Roz as he whispered the word “forever,” and she shivered.
After the final words, Max switched off the video camera and offered the minister a gold cube for his services.
“Now for the reception,” Roz said, smiling brightly.
Echo replied, “First, the union.”
Shocked, Roz said, “But the honeymoon isn’t scheduled until after Niishamboor.”
“My strength has been severely taxed. I must do this soon.” Echo pointed to the lift, telling the listener, “The rest is between mates.” A large, round bed rose from the floor.
As soon as the stranger departed, Echo dropped her illusion. Her clothing remained the same, but her arms became paler. Her true eyes were silver-gray and larger, with dark circles under them. Her hair was spun white. She could have been a Human raised in space. “You’re beautiful,” Roz murmured. “But how is this going to work? There are three of us, and—”
Echo’s long fingers jabbed into the base of Roz’s neck.
The new bride gasped as the Magi’s mind entered hers. Instead of a hand slipping inside, she felt like a surgical glove someone was inflating. “Slowly. Too much.” Dizzy, Roz almost fainted back onto the cushion of the bed. Echo crouched behind her, cradling her head in her lap. Together, the linked women spoke in unison. “Now you must join us, Max.”
“I-I can’t just tug off her clothes and have at it,” Max replied.
“We only ask a kiss.”
Roz remembered several torrid kisses from their courtship and held her arms open in anticipation. She wanted their first married embrace to be memorable. As he pressed in, he warmed to the goal as well. Then Echo placed her free hand on his neck.
He groaned in pleasure.
Echo whispered, “We are one—in mind.”
The base of her skull tingled.
“In heart.” The light touch moved to the back of each chest. Roz thought her heart was going to explode.
“And in the sexual.” Echo’s fingers dropped to the base of their spines. “May we always be holy to one another.”
Roz went blind from the wave of pure pleasure.
When she could see again, Max had tears in his eyes. She stroked his hair. Her own voice raw, she asked, “What was that?”
“A foretaste,” Echo said. She gestured weakly toward her medical chamber. She clearly needed rest.
Roz couldn’t move from the bed, but Max managed to swing Echo into his arms alone. “You’re barely fifty kilos. You have to eat more, Echo.”
After he had deposited Echo in her chamber, he collapsed beside Roz on the bed. She whimpered, “My face is numb. How did she do that?”
“Those with out-of-body talent can project energy into the nervous system of others at close range. Direct stimulation of the nerves through psi-bolts can trigger a sex response.”
Her whole body was humming, overloaded. “Hold me.”
He did.
“I can’t move my toes. Is that normal?” she asked.
“Let me examine you.” He slid her dress off over her head to reveal a lacy body stocking. After several tests, he whispered, “No nerve damage. Maybe you just need something to stimulate your circulation.” Then he massaged her feet awake.
Roz felt undeniably adored as he restored her calves. By the time her hips could move, she decided to try the old-fashioned method of consummating the marriage.
****
Dazed, the couple staggered into the party in the birch forest an hour late. The guests cheered and joked. The crew and aid workers mingled around the linen-covered picnic tables, snacking on nuts and candy hearts. Pastel streamers hung from the tree branches.
Ivy teased, “Someone looks mussed.”
Roz barely noticed. “The second time wasn’t my fault. Anyway, Echo doesn’t exactly have a brush.”