The Significant

by Kyra Anderson

  Kailynn reached up and her fingers brushed over the Elite’s cheek.

  “How would this affect you?” she whispered. Isa blinked at the younger woman, confused. “Remus said that you would die if you tried to shut down Venus.”

  Isa sighed heavily, leaning into Kailynn’s hand.

  “One of the procedures I went through when I became Golden Elite was to implant a failsafe into my body,” she explained. “If Venus’ codes start deteriorating, then the processor inside me will download all the codes into yet another backup, killing me in the process and uploading her to the nearest processor.”

  “How in hell does that work?” Kailynn gasped, her eyes incredulous.

  “No one but Venus knows for sure,” Isa admitted. “Dr. Busen is trying to figure it out. I’ve given him as much information as I have. Hopefully, he can figure it out.”

  Kailynn’s eyes averted, her hand dropping to take Isa’s, lacing their fingers together.

  “If we defeat Gihron,” she started. “Sorry, when we defeat Gihron,” she corrected herself, “if we beat them and then shut down Venus, won’t they just attack again once the planet is shut down?”

  “No, not if I have anything to say about it,” Isa said, shaking her head.

  “How can you be sure, though?”

  “When we defeat them, which we are getting closer to accomplishing, we will discuss a peace treaty. One of my terms will be that Gihron, and Gihron’s allies that assisted in this war, will be prohibited from attacking Tiao for the duration of fifty years. If they do attack, the entire Alliance will meet them full-force. Sixty-seven planets against the Ninth Circle is no contest.”

  “You think they will honor it?” Kailynn asked hesitantly.

  “Probably,” Isa said. “Of course, nothing is certain.”

  Isa was getting tired of the follow-the-finger-without-moving-her-head routine. However, she obeyed Dr. Busen and continued to follow his finger as he moved it around in her field of vision.

  “Thankfully, things seem to be holding up,” he said, lowering his hand and reaching forward, feeling along her jaw once more. “I replaced the worst of the deterioration, but we will need to completely reconstruct everything within a year.”

  “Can we do that in increments?” Isa asked hopefully.

  “I think so,” the doctor said with a nod, dropping his hands and walking over to a cabinet, opening and pulling out a few monitors. They were in his office, which afforded them more privacy and more tests at Dr. Busen’s disposal. “But your headaches have been bad?”

  “Some days it’s hard to keep my eyes open,” Isa said, turning her head as Dr. Busen glanced in her ear. “The light is too much.”

  “Are you sleeping?”

  “Not really.”

  “Eating?”

  “Not much.”

  “And you wonder why you’re getting headaches?” Dr. Busen chuckled brokenly. He backed away and picked up another monitor with a needle on it. He removed the cap and pushed up Isa’s sleeve, rubbing down her elbow before inserting the needle and touching a few buttons on the screen.

  “How is the research on the virus?” Isa asked, trying to strike up conversation, uncomfortable with the extent of the testing.

  “Not well, unfortunately,” Dr. Busen admitted, his tone distracted as he looked over the screen. “The virus is resistant to everything we put against it. It’s now being classified as a super-virus. We’re doing everything we can.”

  “And the girl? From Trid?”

  Dr. Busen sighed, clicking a few buttons before turning his eyes to Isa.

  “She’s not doing well,” he admitted. “The virus is taking hold. The most I can do is try to keep her comfortable.”

  Isa dropped her gaze to the ground, the words causing a pain in her chest.

  Dr. Busen removed the needle from her arm and walked to his desk, grabbing her patient folder and leaning against his desk, scribbling notes.

  “Isa, do you think these headaches are at all related to Kailynn going into hiding?”

  Isa hesitated, looking at Dr. Busen suspiciously.

  “How do you know about that?”

  Dr. Busen chuckled lightly, glancing up from his file. “Paul told me.”

  Isa sighed, though she was smiling. “I thought doctors weren’t supposed to discuss their patients.”

  “You are correct,” Dr. Busen said, closing the file and placing it on the desk, walking to Isa and gently taking her head, tilting it up as he looked at her eyes once more. “However, you are not the typical patient.” He pulled down her bottom eyelids and studied her eyes briefly before walking back to the cabinet, pulling out yet another examination tool. “You are the leader of the planet. It is critical that your doctors communicate with one another.”

  Isa chuckled brokenly as Dr. Busen wrapped the reader around her arm and pressed several buttons on the small screen.

  “I must be such a headache for you two,” she teased. “What do you do? Meet up every night and go over all my medical problems?”

  Dr. Busen laughed. “Difficult not to when we live together.”

  It took Isa a few moments to process the words.

  “You two live together?”

  Dr. Busen nodded, pressing another button and watching the numbers on the screen. When he noticed the silence, he glanced up at Isa briefly.

  “What?”

  “You two…”

  “Are together? Yes.”

  Isa’s eyes remained wide and unblinking. Dr. Busen smiled.

  “You didn’t know?”

  “No,” Isa said, shaking her head. “I had no idea.”

  The Elite Specialist chuckled, removing the reader from her arm and setting it next to her, picking up his file again to enter his notes.

  “We met when your personal care team was being assigned,” he said. “I thought he was an arrogant asshole and we were in a very intense rivalry for several months when it came to your care. After your first assassination attempt, we had a very intense disagreement about who was responsible for your primary care that ended…in an unexpected way. We’ve been together ever since.”

  Isa smiled.

  “Sounds intense,” she teased. “How could you think he was an arrogant asshole?” she asked. “He’s one of the kindest people I know.”

  “He is very kind. He’s also very confident,” Dr. Busen said. “Far more than I ever was. And, he’s nearly ten years younger than me. It came off as arrogance, not confidence. In any case, I know better now.” He sighed and leaned against the desk. “He said that you were reverting back to your behaviors when Colonel Amori was here.”

  Isa dropped her gaze.

  “He said that you subconsciously want to make yourself weaker,” he continued, “because that’s how you felt when he was around you. You felt weak and powerless, so you made sure you were weak.” He walked forward, sitting in front of Isa. “I wish I could take away everything he did to you,” he said quietly, “but I can’t. All I can do is try to keep you from getting that bad again.” He hesitated. “I can only assume that you’re not eating or sleeping because of Gihron, or Kailynn, or some combination of the two. And I am worried that it’s going to get out of hand very quickly.”

  Isa sighed heavily.

  “Now that we’re doing better in the war, we’re not far from a victory over Gihron. I’m starting to realize that that will force me to meet at the negotiation table with Gihron’s leaders.”

  “You mean General Decius.”

  Isa nodded slowly.

  “I’ve only spoken with him twice, both over six years ago,” Isa said. “But he was Colonel Amori’s brother. What if he…”

  “You know, if he tries anything like what Colonel Amori did, you can tell us. You can find a way to tell us,” he said strongly when Isa started shaking her head.

  “No,” she said. “If he threatens Kailynn, I won’t dare do anything that could risk her life.”

  “That was exactly how Colonel
Amori blackmailed you,” Dr. Busen said. “You know, now, what these people are capable of, and you can guard against it.”

  “No, I can’t,” Isa said, shaking her head. “I proved that I cannot. If he’s just like his brother…”

  “Isa,” Dr. Busen said, taking her hands in his and looking at her seriously, “you did what you had to do.”

  Isa looked away, sighing heavily.

  “I cannot risk that again.”

  “What do you want to do, then?”

  “I want to have a way to shut down Venus,” she said seriously.

  “I’m doing all that I can,” Dr. Busen said. “There is a lot of information missing. I’ve looked through all the Syndicate files—”

  “No, you haven’t,” Isa said, shaking her head. “Several files that were highly guarded were seized from Maki’s residence when he was killed.” She took her hands from Dr. Busen’s grasp and pulled the collar of her uniform down. “He did a lot of research on her evolution and the biometrics. He was running tests on whether my heart would stop if he tried several different means of destroying her codes.” She reached under the collar of her uniform and to her breast. “Unfortunately, he did not know much medicine, nor did he have time to complete his tests before he was killed.”

  She extracted her hand from her bra, holding a very small, portable drive. She held it between them.

  “He gave me this the night he died,” she said. “This is all of the research that he knew would be dangerous if it was seized by the wrong person. I do not have a computer that works away from Venus’ systems anymore. You do.”

  She extended the chip to him and he stared at it before chuckling and taking it.

  “That’s a safe place for it,” he teased.

  Isa smiled.

  “I’ve kept it on my person,” she explained. “I had to be sure it was safe.”

  “How was Maki running tests on whether your heart would stop?” Dr. Busen asked, looking at the drive once more.

  “He was using my previous NCB chair,” she explained. “It used to be linked to my body. It knew my biometric rhythms from Opium mode.”

  “Where is the NCB chair now?”

  “Safely stored in his bunker. Chronus made sure that the area was secure when the Officials seized everything in his home. Chronus and the others are working on getting the NCB chair to a different location so as not to raise suspicion.”

  “Have him come see me,” Dr. Busen said. “I know all calls are being traced and recorded now, so I’ll see him face-to-face. We’ll figure out a location to move it and I’ll run tests. I can handle the medical side if the other Elites can handle the programming side.”

  “And you’ll find a way to shut her down and keep me alive?”

  “Yes,” Dr. Busen said, nodding. “We will find a way.”

  “Just promise me something.”

  “What?”

  “If her system gets weaponized again,” she started slowly, “don’t worry about saving me. I would rather die than witness that again.”

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  One more month passed and Kailynn was convinced that the world was falling apart. Part of the support for Gihron from the Ninth Circle planets was withdrawn. While everyone was sure that meant there would be a victory for Tiao, it was not easily won. The Gihoric army gave their all in fighting Isa’s military. Since there were so many robotic troops in the war, Gihron has no qualms about programming their ships and troops to crash onto the surface of the planet, taking out several large buildings in the process.

  When they began attacking the surface of Tiao, the Alliance planets quickly sent aid to Tiao, shocked at the brazen attacks.

  Surrounded by the Alliance ships and facing the guns from Tiao, Gihron seemed trapped.

  Kailynn was glued to the sofa in the safe house every day. She slept on the couch, ignoring the bedroom entirely, sleeping between news broadcasts. Her two-minute conversations with everyone in close confidence with the Golden Elite were not nearly enough to stay as informed as she wanted, which left her edgy and worried.

  For one week, she could not reach anyone. She got through to Rayal for ten seconds, just long enough for him to tell her that things were in a crucial stage with the war and that he would call her as soon as he had more information.

  But Rayal never called her back.

  Instead, Isa appeared at the safe house one day.

  “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” Kailynn gasped, kissing the Elite as she walked into the safe house.

  “I sneaked out of the capital,” Isa chuckled, leaning down and kissing Kailynn again. “I got a later start than I wanted,” she started, walking further into the safe house, taking Kailynn’s hand and leading her to the sofa once more. “There will be a special broadcast today. Come, sit down.”

  “Special broadcast?” Kailynn repeated.

  “Concerning the war.”

  “Did we win?”

  Isa used the remote to click on the television and then took Kailynn’s hand, pulling her down to the couch as she nodded with a smile.

  Kailynn gasped and quickly joined Isa on the couch, though she ignored the discussions about the upcoming message from the Syndicate. She grabbed Isa’s collar and pulled her close, kissing her passionately. She pushed the Elite back to lie on the couch, kissing her tenderly as the Elite held her close.

  When the announcer turned the broadcast over to the Syndicate Building, Remus’ face appeared on the screen.

  “Good afternoon, Tiao,” he started. “I am broadcasting to the planet to announce that Gihron has conditionally surrendered to Tiao.”

  Kailynn felt relieved to hear the words, her body relaxing as she rested over Isa, her eyes closing briefly at the announcement.

  “We will be meeting Gihron at the negotiating table to discuss the terms of this surrender,” Remus continued. “As always, the terms of this surrender will be made with the well-being of both Tiao and Gihron in mind. These terms will be announced upon agreement.”

  Remus continued to thank the people who fought for Tiao, as well as the allies that sent aid. While he was talking, Kailynn turned to Isa.

  “What terms do they have for surrender? He said it was conditional.”

  Isa hesitated before speaking.

  “All the terms are negotiable, as always.”

  “What terms?”

  “They want us to stop the production of Elites and turn the government over to humans,” Isa said quietly.

  “Are you going to do that?” Kailynn asked, not sure how she felt about the demand. The Golden Elite sighed heavily.

  “I have not yet decided,” she admitted. “But I am considering it.”

  “You are?” Kailynn gasped, shocked.

  “The life of an Elite is no type of life,” Isa murmured. “And I don’t want to put another being through what I went through when I was inaugurated. I don’t want another Elite beaten to death because of rebellion. I don’t want another Elite to be tortured and tested to prove that they’re created properly. It’s cruelty at its darkest.”

  Kailynn pressed her hand to Isa’s face.

  “What would happen if you stopped Elite production?”

  “Hard to say,” she admitted. “But I would not completely turn over everything to humans immediately. I would have to create a plan for slow integration to be sure that everything continued running smoothly. However…”

  “What?”

  “Well, there might be another power shift soon, anyway,” Isa said slowly, smiling thinly at Kailynn. The younger woman’s eyes went wide once more. “To be honest, Kailynn, with the war over, and being in the negotiation stage now, it’s very likely that Venus will focus entirely on bringing me to heel.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “This is going to be a very delicate balancing act,” Isa said. “I’ve also declared war on Venus. She is still heavily-infected, much to the Syndicate’s annoyance, since so many things have to be manually comp
uted now. And I plan to make some changes.” She took a deep breath and her arms tightened around Kailynn. “Venus is going to do everything in her power to keep me from upsetting the system.”

  “How can she do that?” Kailynn pressed. “You already have her infected.”

  “She’ll probably try to take me down physically,” Isa said. “She’ll start attacking with force again. And for all of Dr. Busen’s efforts, she has found occasion to work around his work and put me down for a few days.” Isa closed her eyes. “I am hoping that you’ll support me through this time. It’s going to be a very difficult time for all of us. I’m going to need to carefully wrap up everything with Gihron and then I’m going to turn my attention to taking down Venus.”

  “…you’re really going to do it?” Kailynn breathed.

  “Yes.” Isa nodded. “It has been too long as it is. It should have been done long ago.”

  Kailynn stared at Isa, feeling awed anew by her strength and determination. She could hardly remember the time when she blindly hated the Golden Elite and the Syndicate. As she stayed draped over the Elite, looking into her powerful eyes and feeling the words stirring excitement in her belly, she felt as though she had the most powerful being in existence under her, and the thought excited her.

  “Why are you staring at me like that?” Isa asked with a small smile.

  “I’m just…” Kailynn shook her head, smiling. “You really are amazing, Isa.”

  Isa tenderly kissed Kailynn, smiling against the younger woman’s lips.

  “This brings me to my second announcement,” Remus started. Kailynn turned to the screen, confused. Isa took a deep breath, preparing herself. She knew, even before the words were spoken, what would happen.

  “This war has been very taxing on our planet, on our resources, and on our economy,” Remus said. “Due to these difficulties, Golden Elite Isa and the Syndicate have agreed that we must provide every opportunity for our planet to build stronger than before. In order to do so, we need a stronger foundation on which to build. For that reason, we are offering citizenship to all Trids that wish to work with our military building operations and our reparations committee on repairing the damage from the war with Gihron.”