by Paul Lucas
"And when my clone learns how to access the crystal, she becomes the primary system and I become the back-up."
"That is logical. But our allies tell me to say that they will still honor their agreements with you, as you would still have value as an emergency redundancy."
"Nice to know they are so pragmatic."
"You bargained and maneuvered for advantage. Why should they not do the same?"
We stopped by the first biological augmentation tank which contained my genetic duplicate. Despite knowing what to expect, I still gasped as I saw its contents. It was me. Well, not exactly. She was younger, still adolescent, unblemished by age or the many trials that I had gone through in the past few years. Her wings were plain and untattooed, her legs were thick-furred and missing the scars of my various injuries, her ears were still smooth and crisp-edged.
I sighed, surprised to find myself a bit jealous. I did not envy her life, but her young, fresh body was a flight in a different wind.
I looked up and almost despite myself my eyes slid to the two biotanks closest to hers. The only other two that were active.
The two that contained my family.
I approached the first one slowly, blinking in disbelief at the face that slowly wove into view through the translucent lid. Lerner. Again, a younger copy in the prime of physical health as my clone had been. This Lerner lacked many of the telling signs of experience and age. No scars, no receding hairline, no laugh lines around his eyes as the husband I knew had. Yet it was undeniably him.
I reached out toward him, to be stopped by the tank's transparent lid. I ran my fingertips along the glassy surface, tracing the outline of his features.
Beyond him I inspected the next biopod. Sunset, as I remembered him, as he should have been. A small, vulnerable newborn. My arms ached to hold him, to feel his tiny weight against my fur.
I bit my lip to stop its trembling.
I somehow kept most of my anxiety out of my voice as I turned toward the Cephalopod. "How do I know the Others will not turn them into monsters this time as well?"
The octopoid creature turned an eye toward his instruments. "Our allies instruct me to say that they have no need for such tactics here."
"But that does not mean that they will not hold onto that option if necessary." I turned angry. "We know that they used mutant nanites to change Sunset back at the Tower. I want to make sure that the Others are not using them here."
Again, the Cephalopod was quiet for a number of heartbeats. "Our allies instruct me to say that the mainstream Nanotech Matrix cannot be trusted. They say that there are many horrors hidden within it that your people--or even mine--have not guessed at yet. Thus do they choose to work through nanotech machines of their own design."
I blinked at him. That certainly was not an answer I was expecting. But in a way, I guess I could understand it. When I first learned of the nature of magic, I, too, was terrified of what it could potentially do. "Still, I would rather have my family not be jeopardized like my son was back at the Tower."
"Our allies instruct me to remind you once again that they have no need for such tactics here. The nanites need to stay in place for the time being to complete the resuscitation process. However, once decanted the alternate nanites within them will eventually be overwhelmed and replaced by the mainstream nanites within a few weeks, from natural food and water consumption and respiration."
I nodded absently. That did make sense. "Alright. I suppose now the big question is when will you be able to bring them out of the augmentation tanks?"
"Our allies instruct me to tell you that first they want to wait and make sure that you will fulfill your end of the bargain, and will serve our needs in good faith. Plus they also have much re-engineering to do on the genetic duplicates, to reconstruct their psychological and memory pathways into simulacra of what you remember of them. That will take at minimum fourteen days for the offspring and one hundred twenty one days for the adult."
"But what about their souls?"
"Our allies instruct me to tell you that your genetic exchange partner and your chimera offspring will be as you remember them."
"But..."
"Our allies instruct me to tell you that that is all they wish to discuss on this matter at this time."
I frowned, knowing from past experience that further questioning of the Others would be useless.
* * *
When I was returned to my room, I received quite a surprise: a large spider web in the corner. My escorts paid it little notice, only saying that the chambers needed to be sprayed for vermin again.
What they didn't notice was the highly stylized letters at the bottom, written in Borelean script. They would be near-unrecognizable to the Llexans, seeming a random part of the web pattern, but I recognized them almost immediately.
UNDER BED, they said.
As soon as the door was shut and I was alone, I scrambled to my knees and felt around frantically. I found webbed to the underside a piece of folded paper. I quickly tore it free and read it.
FINALLY GOT HERE, it read in Borelean script. ALREADY CONTACTED LOUIS, GATHERING INFO. LOCATED CAPTURED EQUIPMENT, ATTEMPTING TO GAIN ACCESS. WILL CONTACT YOU SOON. --D'ARTAGNAN
I laughed softly to myself before I tore the paper up into small bits and dumped it into the almost-full chamber pot. Not only was our small group of travelers united again, but now we had a hidden ally.
Now how to take full advantage of him?
SIXTY-ONE
As much history is made in bedrooms as in battlefields.
--Horton Guissepe Tomoe, Sex And Cosmology, Greater Laran Press, Borelea, 547
* * *
Another surprise waited for me on my bed a few weeks later when I returned from having my now-customary evening meal with Councileader Kalen. My visitor spoke up just as the guards shut the door closed behind me. “Having a pleasant time manipulating our leader, Searcher Gossamyr?”
“Skel!”
“Councilmember Skel to you, outlander,” she purred. “I do not forget your honorific. Do not forget mine.”
My tool-fingers clutched at air as I wondered just how hot a Fire Spirit I would have to summon to melt that smug smile off her face. “What do you want, Councilmember?”
“To talk, without prying ears listening. The guards outside the door are loyal to me, and with no small difficulty I’ve managed to get a few of our Matrix Users to disable our Sponsors’ listening devices with a few well-placed nanoswarms.”
“Are you not afraid that will raise the Cephalopods’ suspicions, having all their spying devices disabled?”
“I have made sure that they suspect the human Mage, as the listening devices have also been disabled in his cell and the female human’s. They may punish him, perhaps put him on drugs again. It is of little matter. You are the one I need to talk to.”
“So you will just allow my friend to suffer to play your little games of intrigue?”
“These are not games!” she growled.
“What is it you are after, Skel? Do you want Kalen’s position of Councileader?”
She barked a short, derisive laugh. “From the first moment I saw you, Searcher Gossamyr, I considered you foolish. And you prove it again just now. Do you really have no idea the reality of our situation in Llexa? No, I do not want to be Councileader. My game, as you call it, plays for much larger stakes.”
“Such as what?”
“Such as freeing my people from the thrall of alien monsters. Many of us are well aware of how our space-borne ‘sponsors’ treat us, of all they hold back from us, of how they all but control us with whispered threats and shouted promises. We have traded slavery under the Autocrat for a much worse kind of servitude, and we will never be free of it unless we act swiftly and decisively. And here the idiot gods of luck have delivered you, the perfect tool I need to do just that.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “The crystal.”
“Of course. With you in control of that crystal we
can seize many of their machines, make them work for us. Machines we can use to drive those tentacled devils back into the realm of the Shards and off our world permanently.”
I looked her over suspiciously. Was she truly serious? Or was this a ploy to ferret out my true intentions in handling the crystal? Could I trust her either way? “Does Kalen know what...”
“Kalen is as big a fool as you are!” She spat. “Bigger, actually, as all he has done lately is moon over you. He thinks, has always thought, that we can work with the space scavengers on even terms, that they will eventually treat us as equals. Even now, he continues to delude himself that they are doing the best they can by us. The only good you have done since being captured is helping him cultivate some serious doubts about our sponsors’ sincerity. I am sure if you were to finally bed him you would be able to convince him of anything, as taken as he is by you.”
A hairy black shape skittered up the wall behind her. D’Artagnan! I managed to hide my surprise by pretending Skel’s talk of Kalen’s feelings were a revelation to me, slipping into a contemplative silence. A moment later I saw a similar shape moving under the bed, another of his element-bodies. The one above her positioned itself in the corner, an advantageous perch that could be used to leap on Skel if need be. The element body made a show of cleaning its fangs with its forelegs for emphasis. My friend was letting me know that he could take out the Councilmember at any moment, if the need arose. A bite from a single tarantula would be painful but not fatal, but if he managed to swarm her...
I suppressed a shudder.
“You are one to talk, Councilmember,” I said, pretending we were still alone. “I notice you wasted little time in sharing your sleeping mat with Cloud. You are manipulating him in ways I would never dream of doing with Kalen.”
She pursed her lips, tugging her ears back. “At first, that was true. I had thought that he would be knowledgeable about human technology and tactics. He was headstrong, and very male, and thus very easy to manipulate. I was badly disappointed to learn that of you four he was the most ignorant of human technology. If it had been just that, I would have dropped him after a few nights. But he proved to be a surprisingly satisfying lover. He is strong and relentless but surprisingly gentle. He has suffered many years of continuous sexual frustration that I am pleased to have him vent on me.” She rewarded me with a deep frown. “You were a fool to chose a human over him.”
“I would have been a fool not to.”
“This Lerner of yours must have made the Shards themselves dance, from the way you talk of him.”
“He was my Mate, not that you would understand such things.”
“I was deeply in love, too, once. But that was a long time ago.” Her lips pursed as her mind raced deep into her past. She shook her head. “Eh, this is not what I came to discuss with you! Will you help us against the space scavengers or not?”
“How can I trust you?”
“You cannot, I suppose, but consider this: I know you are a Matrix user, and that your group of refugees consisted of five, not four.” I saw the spider on the wall tense, but for the moment it held back. “The fifth one is still free, somewhere. Cloud will not tell me if he is human or Myotan, but he must be Myotan, or else he would have been spotted by now. He must have taken refuge with some group of sympathetic peasants or another. I could have told that information to Kalen or the other Councilmembers or even to our Sponsors, but I have not.”
“Cloud told you?” That arrogant, self-absorbed hunter!
“Do not be too hard on him. Yes, he took a chance telling me your secrets. But it can work to our advantage. We can pool our resources. Your people have the crystal, powerful spells, technical knowledge, a hidden partisan somewhere. I have a coalition of sympathizers I have been building for years, political connections, and resources of an entire province. Together I think the balance can be tipped against the aliens. The only question is you, Searcher. You must know their promise of bringing back your family is hollow. Even if the Cephalopods were capable of it, which I seriously doubt, they would not see it through. It is their way to promise and promise but never fulfill their word.”
I scowled. “Give me a heartbeat to think.”
It was entirely possible she was telling the truth. If this was a ruse on the part of the Cephalopods, it seemed an unlikely one. Skel, for all her other failings, did not seem to me to be one who would gladly suffer being another’s tool. I wanted to believe her, to tell her, yes, I would join her against the Cephalopods. But two things held me back.
One was Kalen. Where did he fit into all of this, and if I did join Skel, how would it affect him? Not well, I imagined. I did not want him hurt.
The other consideration was the promise of the Others for my family. How far could I really trust them to keep their promise? Unlike Skel, I did believe they could bring back Lerner and Sunset, at least in some form. But would it truly be them, if and when the Others worked their magic, or would they only be hollow simulacra? There would be no way to know until they actually did it.
But if there was even a slim chance--
“No,” I told Skel. “I cannot. My Mate and my child--”
The Councilmember was on her feet, her voice rising dangerously high. “They do not compare to the entirety of my people! You foolish, selfish outlander, what do you know of a life of slavery?”
A growl exploded in my throat. “And what do you know of killing your own son! Of having your Mate bleed out his life out in your arms! Of being forever cut off from your home!” The echo of my wings snapping boomed loudly off the small room’s walls. “Do not whine to me about what a difficult life you have had!”
We stared hellfire at each other for many heartbeats. Finally, she looked away. “So you will not help us, then.”
“Not directly. I wish I could, but I cannot. If my Mate and child can live again, I will do whatever I can to make that happen.” I sucked my lip, thinking for a moment. “But perhaps I can supply you with an advantage that cannot be directly linked to me.”
She eyed me suspiciously. “What would that be?”
“Tell your guards to take a walk. I can only tell you this in strictest confidence.”
“You cannot be serious.”
“You asked me to trust you. Now you tell me you cannot trust me?”
She set her lips in a grim line, brooding it over. It was not an easy decision for her. Pride and suspicion warred with need and practicality. Eventually, however, she spoke to the door. “Bkor, Tek, take a walk. A long one.”
One of the guards responded with a similarly hushed voice. “Councilmember, are you sure?”
“Mostly,” she said, with more hesitation in her voice than I expected. “Yes. Go. I will be fine. Searcher Gossamyr and I have much to discuss.”
The other guard spoke. “But--”
“Go!” Skel commanded. After a few heartbeats of careful listening, we heard their footsteps fade off down the corridor. Skel turned to me, expectant.
I sighed. I was taking a bit of a gamble, and I wish I had time to ask permission with the others for it first. But if Skel was telling the truth, my companions would understand. “Councilmember, what I am about to show you will probably upset you greatly. But, please, I assure you you will not be harmed, so try not to cry out.”
She crinkled her muzzle. “Cry out at what?”
“D’Artagnan, please show yourself.”
The spiders in the corner and under the cot both turned and looked at me with all their multitude of eyes. Are you sure? they were silently asking. I considered it slightly ironic that I had now spent so much time with the Swarm that I could actually read much of its bodies’ language. “Come on out. All of you, if you’re here.”
Sure enough, the rest of the Swarm quickly crawled out from under the bed. They waited until they were all assembled before emerging from the shadows.
Skel saw a carpet of black tarantulas trundle across the floor. All of her fur, from her ears to the tip
s of her toes, starched straight out as she let out a strangled squeak and leaped back onto the bed like a cat fleeing from spilled water. “S-searchers and saints!” she gurgled as the one on the ceiling glided past her muzzle on a strand of webbing. She scrabbled as far back as she could, trying to blend bodily with the wall.
I would be lying if I said I did not find her terror satisfying. For the first time since I had known her, her smugness had completely evaporated. “Councilmember Skel, I would like you to meet D’Artagnan. D’Artagnan, Councilmember Skel.”
“Charmed,” all the spiders said in unison. “I am very pleased to meet you, Councilmember Skel.” D’Artagnan pronounced all his ‘s’ sounds as a sibilant hiss, the kind he used when he really wanted to disturb people. Apparently I was not the only one enjoying this.
“What are they?” Skel squeaked. “Is this a spell?”
I shook my head. “No. This is the fifth member of our party. He is a Spider Swarm.” I quickly explained to her his nature. “He is also our technical expert. If you want help in matching the Cephalopods’ technology, he is the one you must talk to.”
Slowly her look of horror melted away, replaced with calculating intensity. It was not what Skel had come to me for, but I could tell it was a satisfying replacement.
SIXTY-TWO
Months passed in a blur, and before I knew it I found myself dressing for an acceptance celebration, officially welcoming Cloud, Amethyst, Louis, and myself into the community of Llexa as "persons of importance", which was a roundabout way of saying we were minor nobility.
The Llexans' manner of formal dress was strange to me: an off-the shoulder white shawl replete with calligraphy of quotes from their scholars; white leggings that melded into moccasins; a copious amount of gold and bronze jewelry. I had spent three hours immediately before getting dressed having servants dye my fur black in intricate geometric patterns.