Guilt in Innocece

by Keith R. A. DeCandido

  The kiss they shared made the touch on her leg feel inconsequential. Their tongues danced around each other, and their lips came hungrily together, and she wrapped her arms around him and suddenly there was nothing but him.

  It was the most blissful feeling Folami had ever experienced.

  The kiss went on forever. It ended too soon.

  Adejola got to his feet. "I need to use the commode." Somehow, Folami's silk robe had come undone and lay open. Adejola stared appreciatively at her body before dashing toward the door. He turned around, and held up both hands. "Please don't go anywhere."

  "I won't," she whispered.

  He smiled. "Good."

  The door shut behind him, and Folami slipped out of the robe. She left her underclothes on for the moment, thinking that Adejola might enjoy the act of undressing her himself. She almost wished she had worn more clothes—but all she had was her armor, and that was hardly appropriate.

  Folami's heart was pounding hard against her rib cage. She couldn't believe she was doing this, but she also wanted it desperately. Her emotions were churning in her gut and she needed some kind of release.

  She tried to force herself to calm down, using the breathing techniques Hembadoon had taught her. It wouldn't do to be too eager, after all.

  But she was having trouble breathing.

  The room started to swim about and blur. What's going on?

  She tried to get to her feet, but her legs were like rubber, and she collapsed to the deck.

  "Ad—Adejola?"

  Her voice was a cracked whisper. She tried to raise her arm, but couldn't.

  Then darkness took her.

  NINE

  Olokun Station

  Oranmiyan called a meeting of all the surviving Nide in the wardroom.

  He was, to say the least, extremely angry.

  Abeje had gone in with him, asking what was wrong, but Oranmiyan wouldn't say anything about that, so she tried a different tack.

  "That was Folami you saw on Oshun, wasn't it?"

  At that, Oranmiyan softened. "Yeah. When you disappeared, they assigned an Orisha to investigate. When the refinery blew up, they sent her."

  She chuckled. "It's like a reunion. We have to get her to join up, too, Oranmiyan! It'll be like old times."

  Oranmiyan shook his head. "She didn't sound all that interested."

  "Maybe I can talk to her."

  They arrived at the wardroom. "Maybe."

  As soon as they entered, Oranmiyan's stone face came back.

  Abeje sat in one of the chairs around a big wooden table. Oranmiyan started pacing in a circle around the table. Suddenly, she was glad she couldn't read him—she doubted that his mind was a pleasant place to look into right now.

  "You mind telling me what that was about on Oshun, people?"

  Akanke bristled—Abeje could feel it as if it was she herself feeling the emotion—and said, "We were doing what you told us to do, Oranmiyan! Stop the Ori-Inu, wipe Ojiji, get out." She gestured with her left arm, her damaged right immobilized in a cast.

  "There was nothing about killing flatbrains in there."

  Sere laughed. "You're fogging us, right, Oranmiyan? Who gives a damn about flatbrains? They're just in the way."

  Oranmiyan pointed at Sere. "That is not what we're about."

  Abeje didn't like the way this was going. "Aren't civilian casualties a necessary evil?"

  Glaring at her, Oranmiyan said, "Yeah, sometimes you get collateral damage, but that's not what I'm talking about."

  He activated the holograph, which revealed a feed from a traffic monitor. It showed Akanke entering the restaurant where the Ori-Inu she was assigned to were both eating.

  Abeje watched as they fought—and as the Nide lashed out at the civilians who were panicking and running away from them. They were all lying dead on the floor moments later.

  Fighting down nausea, Abeje continued to observe as Oranmiyan switched the image, this to a security monitor in the refinery that was somehow still working. Foluke killed everyone she encountered.

  Ayoola and Bolade were equally disgusted with what was happening—but Akanke and Sere were confused as to what the problem was.

  Akanke was the one who expressed it. "That's standard mission procedure!"

  "No it isn't!" Ayoola said. "We don't just kill whoever we feel like killing."

  "Why not?" Sere asked. "We're Nide. We're better than everyone, that's what you kept telling us, Oranmiyan. And we're better than those flatbrains on Oshun!"

  "That isn't what I've been telling you," Oranmiyan said.

  Sere snorted. "That's what the real boss told us. You're just his cavalry chief, and you gotta do what he says, and so do we."

  Abeje frowned. Now that Sere was saying that, she knew that there was in fact someone over Oranmiyan, and she got a clear image of him. She supposed she shouldn't have been surprised, but why had nobody mentioned that before?

  "That's right!" Akanke yelled. "And I'm not gonna just sit here and get yelled at by some cavalry chief who don't know nothing about nothing!"

  Akanke started to storm out of the lecture hall.

  Then she stopped, and started screaming, Oranmiyan having seized her mind. "You ain't leavin' yet, Akanke."

  Whirling around, Akanke grimaced and Oranmiyan suddenly stumbled back.

  Sere put a hand on Akanke's shoulder and said, "Hey, Akanke, calm down, before you—"

  Akanke grabbed Sere's jaw with her left hand and yanked it sharply to the right, snapping his neck with a crack that echoed throughout the lecture hall. He fell to the ground, dead, even as Ayoola ran over to her. Akanke gave her a kick to the stomach.

  Getting to her feet, Abeje cried, "Akanke, what're you doing?"

  "Don't even think about it, buruku!" Akanke yelled, and suddenly Abeje's brain was on fire. Screaming, she fell to her knees, gripping the sides of her head, wishing the pain away, screaming and screaming...

  The report of a weapon deafened Abeje, but it also made the pain go away.

  Stumbling to her feet, Abeje saw Ayoola doubled over and choking, Sere and Akanke both dead on the floor, the latter with a smoking hole in her chest.

  In the center of the room stood Oranmiyan with his Ayoka still aimed at where Akanke had been standing.

  Aside from Ayoola's coughing, nobody made a sound.

  Eventually, Oranmiyan broke the silence. "Everyone out."

  "Oranmiyan," Abeje started.

  NOW! He projected that into everyone's mind so loud that Abeje instantly felt as if she had a migraine.

  As she exited the lecture hall, she looked down at Akanke's body. She had always been so calm and reserved. Shango-oti turned her into this.

  She was starting to wonder if Oranmiyan's sales pitch had left out a few important details.

  Briefly, she turned to look back at him, but he was even more stone-faced than usual.

  Maybe we'll be able to talk later.

  As she left, she heard a voice sound over the speaker. "Vessel on approach. It's L'owuro."

  Abeje frowned. Wasn't that the cavalry ship Folami had been assigned to that was in orbit of Oshun?

  TEN

  L'owuro

  You're standing in the middle of the Circle with Hembadoon. The Orisha only summons trainees to this place in the middle of the forest outside the training facility to discuss matters of great import. Usually the Orisha dispenses wisdom, but today he is informing you that it is time for the final test. What some call the graduation exercise, Hembadoon called the final exam, and others called achieving the greatness they deserve. You are happier than you've ever been. Abeje is also thrilled, throwing a party in your honor that night with the other trainees. At last, the final exam!

  One mission to perform, after which you will become Ori-Inu.

  (The Eso raises its claw.)

  You've never met Oba Isembi before. Growing up on Yemoja, you had been fed endless propaganda about what a monster Isembi is, but the Oba is actually a v
ery pleasant, older man with a thick beard, white hair tied back in a ponytail, and a strong bearing. He tells you that your mission is unique, one only you can perform because of your special knowledge of Olorun's inner sanctum in the heart of Nupe on Yemoja.

  Your final mission to perform, after which you will become Ori-Inu.

  (The Eso's claw starts to come down.)

  Your insertion onto Yemoja goes smoothly, with the help of Hembadoon. The Orisha insists on providing support on his vessel, Ebun, for which you are grateful. You've been training with Hembadoon, and he knows how you fight, how you move. You work your way through Olorun's edifice, the huge building where you spent so much time, avoiding the very security systems you helped create. At one point, you pass by the records room, and you find yourself unable to resist looking up your own records, wondering what the Oyo Empire's files had to say about you.

  After which you will finish your final mission, and become Ori-Inu.

  (The Eso claw comes straight for your head.)

  You find a file that includes a listing from your parents that makes no sense. The name of your mother is the woman who raised you, but the father is "Prisoner 92." A further check shows that Prisoner 92 was a man from the Olodumare Hegemony—one of the people on whose ancestors the Hegemony did genetic experiments in the hopes of breeding telepathy in their descendents. Olorun had captured him and injected his seed into your mother, giving the Oyo Empire their first-ever telepath.

  You are suddenly much more motivated to finish your final mission, after which you will become Ori-Inu.

  (The Eso claw bears down on you.)

  You confront Olorun. Now you know why your parents gave you up so easily, why Olorun knew who you were, knew what you were capable of. Abandoning all pretense of stealth, you mindblast everyone in the sanctum—everyone except Olorun. You save him for last. You want to look in his eyes when you kill him.

  After which, you will become Ori-Inu.

  (You telekinetically thrust the Eso claw aside.)

  But he laughs at you. He tells you that you're a stupid little girl and that you'll never harm him. Sure enough, you cannot mindblast him. "I am the ruler of the greatest empire in the history of humanity," he says. "Do you truly think I would create a weapon that I could not defend myself against?" He has a psi-screen greater than that of the Hegemony, even, and you cannot affect his mind.

  You won't complete your mission, and you won't become Ori-Inu.

  (You lock eyes with the Eso and mindblast him.)

  Olorun continues to laugh. He laughs at your frustration, he laughs at your uselessness. "You are my weapon, little girl. No one else's. Through you, I will make the Hegemony fall and I will rule over all!" He laughs some more, and you cannot stand it.

  You reach out with your telekinesis, shattering the alleged god's sanctum into billions of shards of metal and adobe.

  The shrapnel rips through Olorun's all-too-human body, tearing it to pieces.

  But you don't stop there.

  Your mind reaches out further and further. You destroy Nupe, leveling the houses, offices, and especially the soccer stadium. You sink the continent on which it stands. You shatter Yemoja's crust, the mantle, the very heart of the world, snapping it in twain.

  You have completed your mission, and you will die an Ori-Inu.

  (But as it falls to the ground, it isn't one of the Oyo's genetically engineered killing machines.)

  But you don't die. You've destroyed an entire world, physically changed the very face of the system forevermore, handed the greatest victory in the history of the Hegemony to Isembi—but somehow, after it's over, you wake up in a hospital on Ife. The finest doctors in the Hegemony have worked for more than a week to save you. Oba Isembi himself has commanded it, and he even visits you, calling you the greatest hero in Olodumare history.

  Your mission is done, and you are Ori-Inu.

  (It's Abeje. You've killed her.)

  Eventually you learn that Hembadoon rescued you, steering Ebun through the collapsing planet, fighting fluctuating gravity, dodging rock and earth and fire, and somehow pulling you out of the wreckage that you created. The ship itself was nearly destroyed, and had been found by a Cavalry patrol that was investigating the destruction of Yemoja.

  Once you have recovered, you are mindwiped as promised. Now you are truly Ori-Inu.

  (She stares up at you with her dead eyes wondering why you, her closest friend, betrayed her.)

  Your exploits as Ori-Inu soon become legendary. You accomplish every mission you're sent on without injury or difficulty. Your strength, your courage, your stamina, and your tenth-level mental abilities all combine to make you virtually unstoppable. Against any and all enemies of the Hegemony, you're unable to be defeated.

  Especially against the Oyo. Isembi never passes up an opportunity to allow you to once again take your revenge on the Oyo by sending you to find the Eso and to assassinate their spies. Even though, since being mindwiped, you don't truly appreciate it.

  (Another Eso comes up behind you.)

  You walk the corridors of L'owuro. Recent events have you frightened, and you're not sure who to turn to. Cavalry Chief Adejola has been friendly to you, treating you like a person instead of an Ori-Inu. It's a novel experience, and since exposure to Shango-oti has made you start to remember life before being an Ori-Inu—life when you really were a person—maybe the one who's treated you like a person can help. So you approach Adejola's door, hoping to find release and comfort.

  (He raises his claw.)

  (You do nothing.)

  (The claw comes right for your chest.)

  (The claw is about to rip into your chest...)

  Folami woke up screaming, the images fading from her mind.

  The memories, though, remained this time. Much as she wished they didn't.

  "Good, you're awake," came a dry voice from nearby.

  Looking around, Folami saw that she was on a metal bunk. After a second, she realized that it was the brig of L'owuro, a room she'd only seen from the outside before. It was a featureless metal room, with the bunk and a commode on one wall, electrified bars on the opposite wall, and nothing on the other two walls, which were only two meters long.

  Facing her was another cell, in which sat Orisha Hembadoon. It was he who'd spoken.

  Looking down, Folami saw that she was still wearing the open bathrobe and underclothing she'd had on in Adejola's cabin. Hastily closing and tying the robe, she sat up and looked at Hembadoon. He was, surprisingly, still wearing his robes, though she noticed that there was some kind of device attached to his left temple.

  "You saved me."

  Hembadoon blinked. "I'm sorry?"

  "It's taken a while for the Shango-oti to fully remove all the mindwipes. I still couldn't remember what my final exam was."

  "And now you do?" Hembadoon winced and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Folami. Even if mindwiping hadn't been standard operating procedure, I would've insisted upon it for you after that. Nobody should have to remember doing what you did."

  Folami found that she had nothing to say to that, so she tried to shove the memories into the back of her mind.

  Conveniently, their current predicament made that easier than it might have been under other circumstances. Hembadoon himself had trained her to compartmentalize her thoughts in order to focus on the mission, and right now the mission had gone very much sideways.

  "How'd we wind up here?"

  "Your guess is as good as mine. I was in my cabin writing my report for Isembi when I fell asleep. I figure it was gas." He tapped the device on his temple. "Whoever it was knows what they're doing. They knew they couldn't get the robes off me, but this thing blocks my ability to interface with it. Right now, it's just an unflattering white drape."

  Folami couldn't read Hembadoon's mind, of course, nor anything else. The cells in the brig were all equipped with psi-screens as a standard feature.

  "Way I figure it," Hembadoon was saying, "someone boarded th
e ship, took over the flight deck, and used the intruder alert systems to gas us."

  "But why us? We're the only ones in the brig."

  Hembadoon shrugged. "Could be we're the only survivors. Unlike the cavalry, you and I are actually valuable hostages."

  Folami didn't even dignify that with a response. Orisha and Ori-Inu were expendable, as any idiot who tried to kidnap one realized in fairly short order.

  "Of course, they may not want us as hostages, but to question us."

  That deserved even less of a response. Folami doubted the interrogation technique existed that could pry information out of a tenth-level.

  "There's another possibility," she said quietly. "The Nide."

  "What, the hyped-up Ori-Inu?" Hembadoon asked.

  Folami nodded. "Oranmiyan tried to recruit me on Oshun. And they're all Ori-Inu who were taken. Maybe they want me."

  "Doesn't explain why they kept me alive. Or why they'd use the intruder systems. Folks like that can just barrel their way in. Taking over the flight deck, gassing people—that's a military strategy, not an Ori-Inu strategy."

  As Hembadoon said that last sentence, the door to the brig opened to reveal Adejola and War Chief Tobi. The fact that they were unharmed and walking freely about the ship meant that there was a fourth possibility, one that Folami didn't like in the least.

  "Good job there, Orisha," Tobi said with a grin. "I'm starting to understand why Isembi thinks so highly of you."

  Adejola looked at Folami. "I'm sorry, Folami, truly."

  "If you'd just stayed in your damned quarters," Tobi said to Folami, "everything would've been fine." Then he turned his glare onto Adejola. "Instead, you had to choose tonight to get some company."

  Hembadoon sat up straighter at that for some reason.

  Folami, however, was more concerned with what this was all about. She had considered and rejected the notion of Tobi betraying her and Hembadoon because she had never, in all the time she'd been on L'owuro, sensed any kind of ill intentions along these lines from Tobi. A treason of this magnitude couldn't simply be hid, not by a flatbrain.