Starfall: A Starstruck Novel

by Hiatt, Brenda

  I shook my head. “There aren’t any. Eric Eagan was the last, and he died right after showing me…how to do what I needed to do.”

  “Eric? In my time, he was by far the oldest of those with that knowledge. I did not expect him to outlive me—though apparently my demise was no more natural than that of your parents.” He was so much more like a real person than his image in the other Archive.

  His comment reminded me that at some point I’d need to sit down and add my own short history to the Archive. Not only would it be useful for later Sovereigns—still a weird thought—but it might help my grandfather, or any other Sovereigns I might consult, to advise me better going forward. I didn’t have time now, though.

  “So, the data chip?” I held one up.

  “Yes, of course. There is a slot halfway down the Scepter, between the two green stones. Insert it there and give the command to copy the most recent report. I’m sure I need not caution you not to leave the chip lying around. I recommend you erase it after you are finished.”

  Swapping out the stones again, I did as he told me, then swapped them back, my report now in digital form, in my pocket. “Oh, how do I use the data chip…downstairs?” I asked my grandfather.

  “With no Engineer to show you, all I can say is that it works much the same way, in reverse. Look to the lower left for the slot.”

  That was more detail than I’d expected him to give me, given his reticence about the Grentl. I hoped it would be enough.

  “Thank you…Grandfather.”

  He smiled down at me with an incredible illusion of genuine fondness. “You are most welcome, my dear. Good luck. Until we speak again.”

  I nodded, a lump in my throat, and deactivated the Archive.

  9

  Termination discharge

  Returning to the living room, I messaged Sean to join us so I could bring him and Molly up to speed at the same time. Less than a minute later he arrived, slightly breathless, while Molly was nearly bouncing with impatience to hear what I had to say.

  “Did you confront my dad after all?” Sean was clearly anxious. “Even after what I said? I heard your message telling him to meet you. He hasn’t been back to our apartment since.”

  “I did—and Devyn and Nels, too—but don’t worry. I took some precautions first that I hope will keep them from retaliating against Rigel or me.”

  His eyebrows went up. “Precautions?”

  “Turns out the Palace is equipped with some pretty cool security features only the Sovereign can use—which I did. Now none of them can leave or call out. Unfortunately, that probably means I’ll be seeing more of them until I can arrange to get myself on a ship to Earth.”

  “They’ll let you do that?” Molly looked totally boggled. “Did they say so?”

  “No, but they can’t really stop me. I did promise to name a Regent first, and to try and deal with the Grentl. Which I’d planned to do today anyway.”

  Determined to get that task out of the way as soon as possible, I headed toward my office and the secret elevator that would take me down to the room with their communication device.

  “What? Right now?” Clearly alarmed, Sean stepped in front of me. “Remember what that thing did to you last time?”

  As if I could forget. “It’s the only way to find out what their intentions really are—assuming they’ll tell me, which they might not.”

  “Can I come this time?” Molly surprised me by asking. “I haven’t seen it yet.”

  “Sure, we can all go.” Why now? But no matter what I learned from the Grentl this time, even if it was nothing at all, I’d find a way to spin it so I could get back to Earth—and Rigel—as soon as possible.

  I palmed open the hidden elevator and we all squeezed inside for the brief trip to the sub-basement. Molly, Sean and Cormac followed me through the warehouse-maze, where I used my palm again to make the wall disappear so we could go inside the secret room.

  “Whoa. Is that…it?” Molly asked, pointing at the Grentl device on the far side.

  I was heartened to see some of the sparkle back in her eyes as she took in her surroundings. Even if the Grentl didn’t answer, it was worth bringing her down here for the distraction it was giving her from her distress over her sister’s condition and her father’s perfidy.

  The communication device was still inert—as I’d expected, since the signal crystal in my office hadn’t turned blue. Now that I knew to look for it, I easily found the slot Leontine had described on the lower left-hand side of the cube.

  “You guys stay back, okay? Just in case.” I was thinking of what the device had done to Faxon and those early Linguists, back in Aerleas’s time. No point risking the others getting caught in any backlash if they decided to zap me for my effrontery.

  Figuring I should “wake up” the device before sending my report, I positioned myself in front of it and stretched out my hands, one over each of the two projections. Steeling myself, I took one breath, two breaths, then on three I grasped the prongs simultaneously, as Eric had shown me just two hours before he’d died.

  For maybe a dozen heartbeats, nothing happened. Then, slowly, the projections warmed in my hands. Once I was sure I was feeling more than just the heat of my own sweating palms, I reached out with my mind. Not with words, like I’d done last time, but more like the way I used to try to pick up Rigel’s thoughts when he was right at the limit of our telepathic ability. Searching. Listening, like Aerleas had said.

  At first all I received were vague impressions of space, with formless shapes moving around me. Then I caught snippets of incredibly complex thoughts flitting through that space. Suddenly the prongs sent a tingling series of impulses through me and I sensed a definite presence—like they’d suddenly noticed me trying to eavesdrop.

  I sharpened my focus, “listening” harder, trying to keep the information flowing my way so I could learn enough to make a guess at their intentions. But they were stronger than I was. Before I could even attempt to block them, they started sucking memories out of me again, picking up where they’d left off four days ago, when I’d suddenly let go of the device.

  Again I experienced Rigel’s terrible video message but this time, knowing it was fake, it didn’t have nearly the same impact on me. Instead of letting go, I hung on tighter as they replayed my shock at hearing I wasn’t expected to leave Mars, my excitement at “meeting” two of my ancestors, my learning the stunning truth about Rigel and, finally, today’s confrontation with Mr. O and the others.

  My turn, I decided, when the brief flood of images and emotions ceased. Reaching out with my mind again, just like I would with Rigel, I silently sent, You said you are coming. Here?

  “YES.”

  I sucked in a quick breath. An answer! Why? What are you coming to do?

  “TERMINATE EXPERIMENT.”

  My stomach clenched. Even though I didn’t know exactly what they meant, it didn’t sound good at all. Letting go of the left-hand prong, hoping that wouldn’t interrupt the connection, I fished the data chip out of my pocket, fumblingly inserted it into the slot, then grabbed the projection again. Did that come through? Is it what you wanted?

  Another agonizing wait, then: “REPORT RECEIVED.”

  I let out the breath I’d been holding, but I didn’t dare relax. Are you still coming? You won’t…terminate Nuath, will you?

  There was an even longer silence, during which I sensed several minds in conflict with each other, like they were arguing. By focusing harder, I was gradually able to discern actual thoughts, or, rather, images, though one overlapped another so quickly none of them made much sense. A weird ovoid object hovering in space. Hundreds of small, sparkling clouds moving together in a cluster. A collection of brightly colored marbles scattered across a swath of black velvet.

  Then, finally: “NOT NECESSARY.”

  I was almost afraid to believe it. So…you’re not coming here after all?

  Instead of an answer, the projections abruptly cooled in my h
ands, the signal that the Grentl had hung up. I tried again to stretch out with my mind, but now there was nothing to touch. It was like when the walls of my quarters on the Quintessence had blocked Rigel’s thoughts from me. Even so, I hung on for another few minutes.

  While I waited, I tried to decipher the jumble of images I’d received from the Grentl before their last reply. Again I saw that ovoid shape in space. A ship, maybe? I wasn’t sure. And those bright marbles…

  As I concentrated, the memory grew clearer. The black velvet I’d seen was the blackness of space, dotted with distant stars. And those marbles resolved into what were unmistakably planets. But which planets? Though my eyes were fixed unseeingly on the device I still grasped, in my mind I still saw those wheeling orbs of various sizes and colors. A blue one swam into focus and it was all I could do not to exclaim aloud.

  Surely, that marble in the center was Earth? Which would make that reddish one off to the left Mars, the brilliant white one on the other side Venus. I could even see—yes!—a tiny white sphere next to the larger blue one. Earth’s moon. But…I had no clue what it all meant.

  Finally I let go of the device, stepping away with a cautious sigh of relief. Whatever those images had been about, they’d definitely told me they weren’t planning to come here and destroy Nuath. Which meant I’d now done everything I could to keep the colony safe and could move on to what mattered most to me: getting back to Rigel.

  “Well?” Molly asked breathlessly when I turned. “What did they say? They must have said something, you looked so intense. Are they…really coming?”

  “No. After I sent my report on that data chip, they said it wasn’t necessary.”

  Sean let out a whoop, making me jump. “You did it! Again!” He was grinning ear to ear.

  Now Molly was grinning, too. “Dad and the others have to let you go back to Earth now. As soon as you name a Regent, anyway.”

  At that, Sean’s smile dimmed noticeably. “Right. What Molly said.” The sudden shift in his emotions from jubilant to jealous was impossible to ignore.

  “I’m sorry, Sean, but you know I have to try to fix what they did to Rigel.”

  “I know. And I’ll help any way I can, just like I promised. I owe you both that. It’s just… Never mind. C’mon, let’s get back upstairs and tell Dad and the others the good news.”

  * * *

  When we all got back upstairs I sent a quick message summoning Mr. O and the other two traitors back to Conference Room Three. I invited Sean and Molly to come along this time, so they could hear the whole story, too.

  All three men looked wary when they arrived.

  “May I ask what is this about, Excellency?” Devyn sounded far more respectful than before, just as Cormac predicted. Good. “Surely you don’t have news about the Grentl already?”

  “Actually, I do.” Though I was still royally pissed, I allowed myself a small smile. “I’ve just communicated with them again and it appears they don’t intend any harm to Nuath after all.”

  “Oh?” A skeptical eyebrow went up, though Devyn’s tone remained respectful. “On what do you base this, ah, encouraging news?”

  I sat down and gestured for the others to do the same. “In going through some secure entries in the Sovereigns’ private files, I discovered that the Grentl have been requesting reports every forty years or so. Since it had been longer than that since the last one, I hoped sending a new one might change their minds about coming here—and it seems to have worked.”

  “But…what exactly happened? Did you actually speak with them?” Mr. O asked eagerly. Along with curiosity, I sensed distress—distress I’d noticed the moment he arrived. Was it possible he was finally sorry now for what he’d done?

  Now wasn’t the time to ask. “After I’d put my report together, I went back to the device. It took the Grentl a minute to answer, then they pulled a little more out of me, bringing them up to the present. Finally, I was able to ask a question or two.”

  “And what did you ask?” Devyn demanded. “What did they say?” The respect wasn’t nearly as pronounced now. I shot him an irritated glance and had the satisfaction of seeing him straighten slightly.

  “I asked if they’re really coming here. They said yes. So I asked why—what they were coming to do. They said… ‘Terminate experiment.’”

  I heard Molly gasp from behind me and suddenly fear dominated all three men’s emotions.

  “Terminate… But you just said they weren’t going to— What experiment? Nuath?” Nels’s voice shook.

  “I assumed so. Anyway, that’s when I sent my report. After a couple of minutes, they said they’d received it, so I asked if they were still planning to come here, if they still planned to terminate us. And they said it was no longer necessary.”

  Devyn frowned. “Then Nuath is safe now? That report was all they wanted?”

  “I think so. I did ask, just to be sure, but they…” I hesitated, that jumble of impressions I’d sensed, or thought I sensed, teasing me again. “They, um, hung up,” I concluded. Until I figured out what all those images meant, better to stick to the facts.

  All three men sat back in obvious relief, any earlier skepticism gone.

  “This is excellent news,” Mr. O’Gara said. “We have cause to be grateful to you yet again, Excellency.”

  “Yeah, well, try not to show it the way you did before,” I couldn’t resist saying.

  Now there was no mistaking the guilt in both his expression and emotions. “Please believe I never intended to cause you so much distress, Excellency. Perhaps, had I realized—”

  “You realized. Or would have, if you’d been willing to.”

  He bowed his head, not even attempting a denial now.

  “It’s obviously too late now.” I was in no mood yet to be forgiving. “Anyway, while Nuath may be safe from the Grentl, it turns out we have another problem.”

  “Oh?” Mr. O’s head came up and new tension suddenly radiated from everyone in the room.

  “While I was putting that report together, I called up the history of energy use and power reserve levels, among other things, and discovered that Faxon used a crap-ton of power over the fifteen years he was in charge. Why our so-called acting Minister of Energy never noticed, I don’t know.” I flicked a glance at Nels, since he should have caught that, too, during his time as Interim Governor. “It looks like Nuath is going to run out of power a lot sooner than anyone thought.”

  Devyn leaned forward again, clearly concerned. “If that’s true… Can you perhaps send us the figures you’re talking about, Excellency? We should go over them, see if anything has been missed, brainstorm ideas.”

  “I can direct you to the pertinent databases. Most of them are accessible to anyone who bothers to look.”

  The more I thought about it, the more outrageous it seemed that no one else had noticed the problem long before this. While as Sovereign I had the advantage of pulling all of the colony databases together quickly and easily, surely Nuath’s various acting ministers should have checked the ones dealing with their own areas of influence?

  Mr. O’Gara was frowning thoughtfully. “Even without a Grentl threat, this news about the power reserves will likely make accelerated emigration advisable. Given that, it might be useful to speak with the acting Minister of Space Travel, so we’ll have his most current figures and projections to hand. I’ll arrange for a meeting first thing tomorrow. Ah, if that meets with your approval, Excellency?”

  “Yes, I think that would be very useful. Please message me with the time and place, once a meeting is set. I’ll let you know when I’ve resolved the matter of a Regent.”

  I rose and the others, caught off guard, had to scramble to their feet to bow before I left them again.

  Sean returned to my apartment for dinner, claiming that eating with his father would kill his appetite, he was still so upset at him. While I had a hard time believing much of anything could put a dent in Sean’s enormous appetite, I didn’t object.
Once dinner was over, though, I didn’t encourage him to hang around.

  “No, it’s not because I’m mad at you,” I said when he asked. “Though I still think you should have told me about that video a lot sooner. But now that I’ve kept my promise about the Grentl, I need to figure out who to name as Regent.”

  “Oh. Yeah. Guess I can’t be much help with that—though once you have some names, maybe I’ll know things about some of them and can help you narrow it down?” A question still lurked in his eyes, but I wasn’t ready to completely forgive him yet.

  “Sure, that would be great. Thanks. And if you really don’t want to go back to your dad’s apartment, you and Molly can always go do something else. I’ll just be watching a bunch of vids and taking notes until bedtime.”

  After a moment’s discussion, they decided to check out the Palace’s gym—something I ought to do myself, it had been so long since I’d gotten any real exercise. But I had every intention of being back on Earth practicing taekwondo again before I got too much more out of shape.

  Molly went to change and I headed to my office to start plowing through the three or four dozen videos sent to me by hopeful Regents.

  10

  Transfer capacity

  By the time I got too sleepy to continue, I hadn’t even made it through a quarter of the Regent applications. Only three had been from people I’d actually met—two members of the Echtran Council, still on Earth, and Phelan Monroe, who’d been on the Quintessence with us.

  Some of the videos lasted twenty minutes or more, with long, boring lists of accomplishments and lofty plans for Nuath. But even the more interesting ones only showed that the applicant was a decent speaker, not whether he or she was trustworthy. For all I knew, half of those impressive claims weren’t even true. This past week had severely eroded my confidence in the honesty—or competence—of Royals in general.