"I don't get it," Orick bawled. "Why don't we see the gate from this side? Why did we get dumped in the water?"
"You don't see a gate from this side," Veriasse explained, "because the gate doesn't have two sides. Each gate on a planet is like a bow, shooting you toward a single destination, and you are the arrow. You simply land where you are pointed, within reason. An intelligence is built into each gate, and that intelligence continually tracks the destination planet. There is a beacon buried beneath us that tells the gate how deep the soil is, so you don't land in a bed of rock. When this gate was built, this spot was on land, but now the oceans have risen. Still, I've been through this gate before—this spot is only underwater during high tides. We can make it to shore easily enough." Veriasse made as if to depart.
"Wait!" Gallen said, looking first to Veriasse, then to Everynne. Gallen still had not sheathed his sword; it dripped blood into the clear, warm water. "Neither of you are going anywhere until I get some answers."
"What?" Veriasse said. "You wear the mantle of a Lord Protector for two days and think you can beat me in combat?"
Gallen stuck his sword into the sand under the water, swiftly pulled his incendiary rifle, aimed it at Veriasse. "I've known you less than a week, but I have heard two very different stories about your plans. First, you said you planned to start a war to win back your realm. But a minute ago, you said you plan to destroy nearly a hundred worlds. I may be a Backward, but I've learned a few things in the past week. If that Terror breaks, it will destroy this planet. You are jeopardizing every world you set foot on. No one has that right! You've been traveling between the Maze of Worlds, and by your own admission you have sabotaged world upon world. Though you may be a Tharrin, Everynne, I have yet to see evidence of the compassion that you claim as your birthright."
Maggie and Orick kept still, not daring to interrupt. Veriasse held back. Everynne watched Gallen and licked her lips.
"You are right, of course," she said. "I'm not what I seem. On Fale, they so wanted a new incarnation of their great judge that they were willing to believe I was her without any evidence. But I am not so certain that I am my mother's daughter."
"Don't say that!" Veriasse interrupted. He said to Gallen, "How dare you! How dare you set yourself up to judge her, you miserable little piece of filth!"
"And how dare you create a god to judge me without my consent!" Gallen shouted. "I'll not aid you further. In fact, I'll kill you both dead right now, unless I get some answers!"
"Don't, Gallen—" Orick growled.
"If he must know the truth," Everynne said to Veriasse, "I prefer to answer his questions." She held her head high, gazed evenly into Gallen's eyes. He could detect no fear in her, no deceit.
"You're right about me. I don't feel that I deserve to be the Lord Judge of your world or any other. I haven't earned that right, and I doubt I'm worthy of it. Certainly, I'm not sure that my people would approve of me. The Tharrin do not just insert a Lord Judge as a ruler. They breed and train and test tens of thousands of candidates for every position that is filled—and I fear that if they knew me, they would be horrified by me. Yes, I carry a device in my pocket that could destroy this world! Yes, I've let hundreds of people throw their lives away so that I can win back my mother's place. I—I don't even want the position! Maggie-" She looked at the girl. "You told me the other day about how you hated working in your little inn, scrubbing dirt from the floors, washing, feeling like a slave. Yet can you imagine being asked to clean the filth from ten thousand worlds? Can you imagine being the sole arbiter in a hundred thousand disputes per day, sentencing thousands to die every hour? I—I cannot imagine any post that would make me feel more corrupt!"
Tears filled her eyes, and Everynne began coughing, heaving in great sobs. She fell to her knees in the water, folding her arms over her stomach. "Did you see how many died for me today? When I look at the things I've done . . ."
"Shhh . . ." Veriasse said, sloshing through the water to comfort her. "No matter, no matter. You must only take the post for awhile-long enough for the Tharrin to send a replacement."
Gallen studied them. It was said that the Tharrin were bred for compassion. He could now see how Everynne suffered. She carried weapons to destroy a world, yet those weapons tore at the very fabric of her sanity, and as he watched her sobbing, saw her self-loathing, part of him realized that if he were to be judged by a god, she was the one he wanted.
Veriasse held Everynne, but he stared up at Gallen with angry, brooding eyes.
"What are your plans?" Gallen asked, "I want every detail." "We are going to make war with the dronon," Veriasse answered. "The Terrors are set on their most heavily occupied worlds. We will only detonatethem if we are forced to."
"Father, don't!" Everynne said. "No more lies! They've earned the right to learn the truth."
"You can't—" Veriasse urged, but Everynne said, "Veriasse and I are going to Dronon, to battle the Lords of the Swarm in single, unarmed combat. If Veriasse can defeat them, then by dronon law we will become their lords, and I can order the dronon to retreat from human territory. It's the only way to save our worlds. It is what my mother wanted. Everything we've done—the Terrors, the talk of war, all have been a ruse."
Gallen considered—his mantle carried a great deal of battle information, and he recalled the dreams it had been sending. Veriasse had made detailed studies of how to fight the dronon in unarmed combat, and Gallen pondered upon the possibility. Nature had gifted the dronon vanquishers with armor. They were larger, stronger, and more mobile than a human, and had an array of weapons that was frightening. A human could hardly hope to win against one in unarmed combat.
"Why not a full-scale war?" Gallen asked. "You could win a war like the one you described on Fale. Destroy Dronon and the occupied worlds. A few fleets could then clean up the mess."
"We could win a war temporarily," Veriasse said, "but we would weaken this entire arm of the galaxy.The dronon despise weakness. They try to root it out, destroy it. We would open ourselves to certain attack by other swarms. In time, we would lose. The only way to defeat them with any hope of retaining our territories for an extended period is to beat them decisively while retaining a strong navy. This means that we cannot risk destroying our old guardians, the ones you call "ogres." Each guardian takes orders through the omni-mind. We have to win Everynne's omni-mind back and regain control of our navies. We must make the dronon fear our species more than they already do."
"What do you mean, fear us more than they do? I have seen no evidence that they fear us."
"The dronon rule by a rigid hierarchy," Veriasse said. "When a Golden Queen takes over as Lord of the Swarm, then the lords of her defeated enemy do obeisance, accepting her as their rightful leader. But it has been six years now since the dronon conquered us, and few of our lords have subjugated themselves to dronon authority. Instead, our resistance fights the dronon continually, while our lords publicly apologize to the dronon for the 'madmen' in our midst who have not yet accepted their queen. But the dronon are not stupid—they see the pattern. Although it goes against their very nature to destroy all members of a defeated hive, they have resorted to xenocide on dozens of our defeated worlds. They fear that, as a species, we are insane."
"Why do you keep your plan a secret, then?" Gallen said. "If you plan to challenge the Lords of the Swarm in combat, why not be more forthright?"
"Some factions would try to stop me," Everynne said. "The aberlains, for instance, hope to reap great profits under the Dronon Empire, and theywould sabotage our efforts. But there is a more compelling reason to keep this a secret: by dronon law, those who do battle against the Lords of the Swarm must earn 'Charn' -the right to pass through hive territories—by battling each lesser queen and her escorts."
"We've had to pass through fourteen occupied worlds so far," Veriasse said. "If we had kept dronon law, I would have had to fight the ruling Lord Escort on each planet. You are wearing my mantle, Gallen. You know how
difficult it will be for a mere human to win against dronon vanquishers in unarmed combat. I can't risk fighting many Lord Escorts. In any given battle, if I lost, then the Lord Escort would try to mar Everynne by wounding her. If Everynne is wounded, she would forfeit her eligibility to succeed the Golden Queen."
"What do you mean?" Maggie asked.
"Among the dronon, the Golden Queens must be unblemished," Veriasse answered. "And though some humans have been integrated in dronon society for sixty years, we are not even sure that the dronons will accept a human as Lord of the Swarms. But if they will even consider her as a contender, Everynne can have no visible defects, no scars. I hope the dronon will accept Everynne as an example of one of our own Golden Queens—one who is flawless. One born to rule. For her entire life, we have managed to keep Everynne from ever taking an injury that would leave a scar. That is why I work so hard to keep her from jeopardizing herself."
"I have one question more," Gallen said. "You carry a Terror. If you plan only single combat, why do you need such a device?"
"In case we lose totally," Veriasse said. "Everynne and I are going to the planet Dronon itself. If they reject our suit for the right to engage in ritual combat, they may try to kill us outright. Under such conditions, we have no choice but to begin the fruitless war that we have tried so hard to avoid. We hope that the very presence of the Terror will force the queen's hand, so that she will have to let us challenge. But, if necessary, Everynne's mantle will detonate the Terror. When dies, the dronon will lose contact with the omni-mind. Their automated defenses will close down, and our freedom fighters will attack."
Gallen did not need to ask what would happen next. His mantle whispered the answers. If Dronon was destroyed, forty percent of the hives would die with it. Lesser queens might take over their own realms on distant worlds, but a long and bitter civil war would begin as hives battled to determine who would become the new Lords of the Swarm. Other dronon swarms around the galaxy would be tempted to invade during that time. Even if new lords were found, the inexperienced leaders would be weak. Leadership might turn over several times within the first few months. During such turmoil, the humans would be given time to win back lost territories, gain a stronger foothold. But as Veriasse had said before, it would pose a terrible risk in the long term.
"There is one scenario that you have not described," Gallen said, "and I am afraid it is the most likely. What if the dronon let you battle for succession and you lose?"
"Then we will at least have established a precedent that would give humans the right to battle for succession," Veriasse answered. "I have provided key people on several worlds with tissue samples from Everynne. Thousands of clones could be made. In time, one of her escorts could win the battle."
"Would you then detonate the Terror on Dronon?"
Everynne shook her head. "We couldn't. Our best hope for success in this contest is to fight the dronon within the bounds of their laws. My mother and the Tharrin considered this course of action for many years. This is the best way to win back our worlds. Otherwise, billions of innocent people will die on both sides of the battle. Surely you see that this is how it must be?"
"But if you don't win," Maggie said, "you will be subjecting your people to years of domination by the dronon. You can't let that happen. The aberlains are making such far-reaching changes that in another generation, our children will no longer be human. You can't let that happen!" Maggie's eyes went wide. Though she had appeared calm over the past two days, Gallen could see how her experience on Fale had devastated her.
Veriasse sighed, and Everynne tried to comfort her. "It will be a sad day, even if we win," Everynne admitted. "Under Tharrin law, we also permitted upgrades on humans-but only within the limits agreed upon by their parents. We wanted all people to be decent and free, and earn the right to immortality. Sometimes we allowed upgrades of whole civilizations so that a people might become better adapted to their own world. But these sad creatures the dronon are forming—my heart bleeds for them. I fear that there will be little place for them in our society. We will give them the opportunity to go to Dronon, if they so desire, carve a niche among the hives. Those who choose to remain with us may have their children reverse-engineered. And I promise you, the aberlains will be punished."
Gallen could see that Everynne was not gambling with the future of her people. She would either win and live, or she would die and give her people new hope in the process. In either case, Gallen suddenly yearned to go to Dronon to see what would happen—even if it meant dying in the nanotech fire of a world-burning Terror.
Gallen thrust his incendiary rifle into its sheath, pulled his sword from the sand, and began to dry the dripping blade by whipping it over his head in complex patterns.
"Veriasse," Maggie said, "I have been wondering. Even in my short time working for the aberlains, I concluded that your guardians could have been engineered better. They could be more heavily armored, could be virtually invincible. Since they were Lady Semarritte's only police force, I find it odd that they are this weak. Orick killed one with his teeth."
"Lady Semarritte did not rule with an iron hand," Veriasse said. "The Tharrin rule by the will of the people. Yes, the guardians are imperfect. Part of their weakness stems from the fact that they are based upon models that are very old. But we have always known that someday, someone like the dronon could gain control of an omni-mind. Since guardian officers wear Guides and receive orders directly from the omni-mind, any usurper who controls the omni-mind also controls fleets and armies with billions of warriors spread out across ten thousand worlds. Isn't it a comfort to know that a human has some hope of beating them?"
Gallen thrust the blade into his sheath. "Let's go," he said as he turned and began walking toward the distant shore.
They chugged through the warm water for the next three hours with only one brief rest. The sea had little salt in it and remained marvelously clear. By picking a trail through shallows, they spent most of their time in water that didn't reach their hips, though they could often look out into deeper pools. In places, rock formations thrust up to create submerged islands. Here, fish swarmed in great silver schools that darted out to the depths and then raced back to the shelter of the rocks. Twice they saw great beasts swimming in the depths, chasing fish. Veriasse warned Gallen to watch for the creatures. "Puas, they are called," he said. "They feed on fish and anything else they can swallow."
At last they reached dry land—a beach that extended for miles. The beach was home to sand flies and some soft creature that reminded Gallen of a pine cone with eight legs. Small reddish black spiders fearlessly scuttled about carrying small rocks. If anyone got too close to the spider, it would toss a stone, flipping it over its back with its hind legs. They were fearless spiders, lords of the sand. Gallen saw no birds.
A stiff gale blew from the sea; soon it began driving water over the beach. At last they reached a stony ridge—a metallic green expanse of sculpted limestone like a chimney, flat on top. The ground here was rocky, thick with tide pools.
Gallen and Orick climbed one steeple of pale limestone, looked southeast. In the distance they saw a city built on stilts, but just below them a group of four children were hunting in the tide pools. The children had red skin and were so long of leg that they looked like cranes as they waded through the pools. They had tied colorful rags into their hair, and they wore bright tunics.
With them was a beast, striped with gold and brown scales. It had large carnivorous teeth and used its tail to balance on its strong back legs. Its front legs were small and heavily clawed. Gallen recognized the creature as a dinosaur, some type of raptor. On its back was an ornate leather saddle. Gallen watched the children and their dinosaur hunt. The beast would run through tidal pools, splashing, using a bony crest near its nose to push over heavy rocks. The children would then leap in with capture sticks and scoop up large, yellow lobsters. Some of these they put in a sack, others they fed to their pet.
At l
ast a small child noticed Gallen's shadow on the ground and looked up. She smiled and waved, pointed at Gallen. The other children glanced at him, then returned to hunting lobsters.
Gallen and Orick climbed back down, and the group made their way around the ridge. The children were just fishing their bag of lobsters from the water. An older boy, perhaps ten, greeted them and asked their destination. Veriasse said that they were heading to the city, and the children seemed happy to see visitors.
The two smallest children were eager to announce the strangers. The children mounted the dinosaur and headed toward the city in the distance, letting the dinosaur run in a long, loping gait. Soon they had nearly raced out of sight. The city, six miles distant, rose from the ground like some vast collection of mushrooms.
Gallen and the others walked through a maze of stony tide pools as an afternoon thunderstorm brewed, until they reached the city. They climbed a wide, winding stairway, like the stem of a mushroom.
When they reached the top, the terrain was uneven, like rolling hills. Small clusters of cement domes made up the homes. No glass was in the windows, no doors in the doorways. Apparently the temperatures here remained warm all year, and no annoying insects flew about. Each doorway led out to a wide parapet where people sat and cooked at communal fires and listened to music. Atop the dome houses were lush gardens.
Everynne removed her mask and pulled back the hood that veiled her face, walking into the city undisguised. The people came out on their verandas to cheer her entrance to the city with loud whistles. Gallen looked at Veriasse, wondering why Everynne was so bold here, and Veriasse explained. "Here on Cyannesse, the dronon are but a distant threat. We are over forty thousand light-years from the world of Fale, well behind our battle lines with the Dronon Empire. Their warships will not reach here for many years. Still, the people here have heard of our long war, and they know Everynne for what she is."
The Golden Queen - Book 1 of the Golden Queen Series Page 20