Denise smiled happily and let Enzo usher her out. I felt myself blushing for her sake. If she were still in her right mind she would be humiliated by her actions.
I quickly pulled my chin up higher when I saw Prime Minister Oshiro and Captain Rothsam entering the room. My spine stiffened.
The Emperor turned his gaze to me, as he leaned over the back of the chair, both hands gripping the thickly upholstered back.
“So, you return Vera, and you have succeeded in the mission I gave you…to some degree. I sent you to bring back your cousin, and you have brought me…what?” The word was left hanging in the air.
I felt the need to clear my throat, but resisted.
“I’ve brought you Denise Matsumoto, your Imperial Majesty,” I said, my back stiff.
“Damaged and completely useless to me,” he said. “Does her doctor expect any kind of recovery?”
I shrugged. “Perhaps, on New Greenland in the hands of professionals…” I began.
“Enough!” Nigel shouted, his voice bouncing off the bulkheads around us. “I wouldn’t exactly count that as a success. Tell me, who are these others you have chosen to bring with you?”
It hadn’t been my choice. It had been his. I let him tell it how he wanted. Beside him, Prime Minister Oshiro was smiling like a cat who hadn’t just eaten the canary, but the canary’s entire family. I could tell who had engineered this little moment.
I spared a brief glance for Ian and Eads. Eads looked spring-fresh, staring at the Emperor as if he was weighing him in the scales, and Ian’s jaw was clenched. No wonder. It must look like I had trapped him, bringing him into this, but that wasn’t true
“This is Ian Mc Isaac,” I said, trying to rectify the situation, “Planetary Overseer of Capricornia.” I saw Eads smirk when his son was named with his title. “Capricornia has sworn allegiance to the Blackwatch Empire and has promised to be her vassal.”
“And this is your tribute to me?” Nigel asked in a low, dangerous voice.
“It’s been one hundred years since we’ve had a vassal planet join our Empire,” I reminded him.
“Yes, and why do you think I would want the trouble of a new planet, now?” Nigel asked me.
I gaped. I had never considered that there could be a downside to this. I thought he would be pleased, proud even. I remembered Roman’s words about a different situation, not too different from this one, it seemed, ‘On another world they would have given you a medal.’
“I thought it would be a great honor, your Imperial Majesty,” I managed.
“Hmmm,” Nigel said, and it came out almost like a snort. “And this other piece of refuse?”
“Eads Mc Isaac, Planetary Overseer,” Eads said, in a cold, dead voice.
“Well there can’t be two Planetary Overseers,” Nigel said with a raised eyebrow. He cocked his head in a question.
“Don’t play games with me,” Eads said, in the same hollow voice, “You know exactly who I am and why I am here.”
For a moment, despite all that he had done to me, I admired Eads’ courage.
Nigel seemed to only be annoyed by it.
“I know everything,” he confirmed. “Your execution is scheduled for twenty-four hours from now. Until then you will be in the brig. Since you can’t show even a hair of respect for your betters, this is the last time you will see me.”
He motioned a hand, and Eads’ guard began to move him towards the door. I felt Ian shift at my side, his gaze following his father, but I snatched at his arm, squeezing it hard in my grip. Anything he did now could only make things worse. When Eads was gone, he stood staring forward at the Emperor, refusing to even look at me.
“So that leaves only the two of you, and what will I do with you?” Nigel said, a small smile playing at his lips.
“Cousin,” I said, “Can I provide a formal introduction for your vassal? I’m sure you are eager to welcome him into our Empire.”
I knew I was pushing my luck, but I could hardly believe that he was treating Ian with such indignity. It was not the Matsumoto way. Nigel should know that.
“Cousin?” he asked in a low voice, moving two steps closer to us. His guards shifted subtly along with him. “Cousin? Do you think that you have the right to address me that way again?”
One of my hands was twisting the fabric of my shirt and the other rose unconsciously to smooth my hair. This was not going the way I had expected.
“You are a problem that I thought I had a neat solution for, Vera Matsumoto, but now I discover that you have made me even bigger problems.” He ticked them off on his fingers as he continued, “I had a flighty cousin in need of a little seasoning, or failing that, needing to go away. You return her to me in even worse shape.” Tick. “I had a neighboring planet on the verge of self-destruction giving me an excellent excuse to conquer her outright and resettle her how I pleased. You’ve given that planet full vassal rights.” Tick. “On top of that you’ve left me with a sociopath to dispose of.” Tick. “His son to deal with.” Tick. “A troublesome bodyguard who failed to die when he should have.” Tick. “And after all that I still have to get rid of you. You are very bad at dying, Vera. I hope that next time you’ll be better at it.”
All the blood drained out my face, and my knees began to feel like they couldn’t hold me anymore.
“The Blackwatch Empire isn’t the Pollyanna place you seem to think it is, Vera, and if you value your continued existence you will find a way to fit into the new Empire in a way that makes me less inclined to see you dead. Do you understand?” Nigel asked.
I nodded, my mouth still open in shock.
“Until that time,” Nigel continued, “You’ll go and help Captain Vincent and his crew establish a colony on Planet 70010563 in the Syver system. It’s too far away for you to cause much trouble, and if I don’t have to look at you, maybe I can forget how furious I am with you. Captain Rothsam will escort you to the colony ship immediately following this meeting.”
I nodded, my mouth dry. Immediately following this meeting? I scanned the room in concern. Did he mean, without Roman? I cleared my throat and Nigel glared at me as if daring me to speak.
“My guardian?” I asked, breathlessly.
“Take him,” Nigel gestured to Ian, “I wouldn’t send a professional to die with you and I’m at a loss as to what else to do with him. A Planetary Overseer is the last thing I need around here while I fix this mess of a planet. Even an ex-Overseer.”
“But-” Ian started to protest, and was cut off when one of Nigel’s guards hit him. I saw Rothsam smirk and I suddenly knew exactly what the escort to the colony ship was going to be like. Ian lapsed into silence.
“Roman Aldrin,” I said, defiantly. It was a demand, not a request.
“I think he’ll make a decent marine. That was what he was before he was chosen as a guardian, yes?” Nigel said, and the smile he gave me would have looked at home on a python.
“No!” I shouted, ignoring the guard that seized my arm.
“It’s that or shoving him out an airlock, and I thought you would be too fond of him by now to want that,” Nigel said, as I kicked and struggled against the guard. “All that violence is very un-Matsumoto of you, Vera,” he said, crossing the rest of the way to me and holding my chin in two of his fingers. “You may have forgotten every other rule, but there is one rule that you can’t afford to ignore: ‘Obey the Emperor as if he were your own conscience’. If you forget that one there will be nothing I can do for you.” He released my chin. “Enjoy your life as a colonist. It’s an exciting time to be a Blackwatch citizen, and colonists are so busy. I’m sure you’ll never have the time or the means to return to New Greenland. But don’t worry.” He winked here. “I won’t hold it against you if I never see you again.”
With that parting shot he strode out of the room.
“No!” I screamed at his back, kicking at the guard and flailing in every direction.
“Bring her!” Captain Rothsam ordered, ushering bo
th Ian and I under heavy guard back down to the shuttle bay.
Roman! Roman! I screamed through the channel, hoping he had regained consciousness, and could hear me say goodbye.
I fought the entire way to the shuttle bay, and into the shuttle, until they threw Ian and me into seats and strapped us in place, our arms secured to the seat arms. Ian still hadn’t looked at me, which was quite a feat, since I had been in his line of vision several times.
Roman! I screamed as the shuttle launched.
Roman! I screamed as we docked to a small, fast ship, and we were ushered into secured quarters and locked inside.
Roman! I screamed as I pounded against the locked door of my quarters and heard the engines firing up.
Roman! I screamed when the Captain announced we were leaving Capricornian space and preparing to jump to the Syver System.
Vera? I heard so faintly that I could barely make it out.
Communication link lost, my implant chirped.
The Splitting
Sarah K. L. Wilson
THE SPLITTING: 1
“Things are getting really bad over here!”
The voice crept up in register as it reached the end of the sentence. A medical saw buzzed in the background and a loud banging and thumping sporadically drowned out everything else.
“Put pressure on it, and I’ll get there as soon as I can!” That voice was baritone.
My eyes flicked open. I hoped it wasn’t me they were talking about – or Roman.
Roman?
All at once, I remembered that our connection was lost. Now that the Empire had declared us mortal enemies, I’d probably never hear my bodyguard’s thoughts again. A horrible sick feeling filled my stomach.
I still had my implant. They couldn’t remove it without rendering me catatonic. Otherwise, they would have stripped me of that little gem in a second.
It wasn’t me they were talking about, thank God. It was a ruined man held down on a metal table. His leg was mostly severed and spurting blood. A wild-eyed woman held a cloth pad to the wound, applying pressure.
“I can’t stop the bleeding. He needs you, right now!” she yelled.
She grabbed for more cloth pads, but her movements were uncontrolled. They spilled out over the table and were quickly soaked crimson.
“Keep pressure on it.” The baritone sounded distracted, but authoritative.
I tried to turn my head to find him in the room, but my head wouldn’t move. My last clear memory was of being dragged away from Roman with the Emperor’s sentence still ringing in my ears. Where was I? I couldn’t quite remember.
“He’s going to bleed out!”
She wasn’t lying. The man looked half dead already, his thrashing had stopped and only one finger was still spasming. I tried to help, but my body was immobilized by something.
“For the love of God, help him!” the woman said, her body rigid.
“I can’t!” the baritone snapped, “I have four others in critical condition. I have to follow triage protocol.”
Where was I? Why couldn’t I move? Was I dying, too? I tried to call out for help, but it came out as a faint moan.
What time is it? I asked my implant.
The time is 06:45 planetary time.
The woman was shoving soaked pads into a garbage receptacle. She rubbed her drawn face with the back of her forearm and then locked her eyes on mine.
“Another one’s waking up.”
“Reinforcements,” the doctor muttered. “How far along is she?”
“Just starting to wake up.”
“Press her button.”
She stripped a set of latex gloves off, pulled wisps of blonde hair off her forehead and then fiddled with something at my knee level. She left smears of blood behind her. She couldn’t have been proper medical personnel. They’re trained better than that.
With the press of the button a female voice spoke with the calm of a recording. The message was eerie against the activity of the room.
“Welcome to the planet of Baldric, Planet 70010563 of the Syver System. We are so pleased to have you, colonist. You may be experiencing temporary short term memory loss. This is normal, and you should not worry. Your memory will return as you wake up.”
The bulkhead across from me crumpled inward with a boom. We must have been in the medical bay of a starship.
“They’re at the doors!” the woman yelled – somewhat redundantly. “Where’s Captain Vincent?”
“Busy. Hit all their buttons. We need them lively.”
“You may also be experiencing temporary muscle stiffness. This is also normal. Try not to panic. You are safe and in a controlled medical environment. Our colonists are important to us.”
“Oh my God, have you seen the monitor? They’ve got us surrounded!”
“What about Sergeant Cross and the security team outside our door?”
“Dead.”
“So’s this one. Take him. I’m moving on.”
“Forget them! We need to get out of here.”
“I’m a doctor, Charlene.”
“Your doctors are nearby and will soon aid you in your recovery from cryogenic sleep. Don’t worry, you are their top priority. Your muscle stiffness and fatigue will soon fade and you will begin to be able to move. Please remain calm and avoid stress or worry. You need time to transition slowly to your new home.”
“How long until we can get them out of those medical cocoons?” Charlene asked.
“Who knows. Some will be able to move sooner than others. You can’t rush the process. Damn.”
“Another one?”
The doctor didn’t bother answering.
“As we have said, you are a valuable colonist. The planet Baldric is a challenging environment, but you will ease slowly into your new role here. You have been selected for the role of…” another voice, more harsh and bored than the first, cut into the recording “…Native Relations…” the voice cut back out and the canned script resumed. “Don’t worry, you will be fully briefed on your duties before you are asked to fulfill them. Now, let’s go over some basics.”
Bypass recording and download essential information, I ordered my implant. I was sick of the smug voice already.
Accessing system. Downloading…
I had a hidden computer in my brain that no one knew about. It was convenient that it had access to all of my enemy’s computer systems, but not surprising. My enemy was the Empire where I once was considered royalty.
I didn’t remember anything of my journey here – yet – but I did remember one thing. I didn’t want to be a Matsumoto anymore. I would no longer fight for their approval. From this moment on, I was an implacable enemy of the Empire of Blackwatch. They just didn’t know it yet.
With a ear-splitting screech the bulkhead tore right across, a green fungus bubbled through the gash.
“We can’t stay here! Look at the monitor. There are thousands of them! They’ll tear us to pieces!” Charlene yelled.
At least she worked while she panicked. She flew from one corpse - or almost corpse - to another, following prompts from their med patches.
“Calm down. Don’t do anything rash! We have to wait for these other colonists to wake up. We need the reinforcements.”
“Where’s Captain Vincent?”
“He’s coming. Now, shut up.” The doctor sounded like he wouldn’t mind a hull breach if it would get rid of Charlene.
My finger begin to twitch, finally responding to my wishes. Soon I’d be able to move again.
THE SPLITTING: 2
Download complete, my implant chirped.
Priority information?
Arrival at Planet 70010563 occurred at 5:47, local planetary time. The ship is disabled and crashed at the current location. Current location is 90 km south of colony outpost. Crew survival percentage 95%. Current surviving crew is 35. Captain Vincent remains alive.
The crashing outside the room grew louder. I struggled to free my hands. What would I do
if I was still inside this pod when the door finally opened?
“There. He’s stable. Put him on an e-stretcher.”
“Why not in a pod?”
“Who do you expect will be carrying a 1000 kilo pod?”
You are a Native Relations Facilitator. Your role includes interfacing with local society…
It looked like that might happen soon. Two more huge crashes left dents in the wall.
…gathering intelligence on Native weaponry and technology…
A blast rocked the room, and I watched a hatch crumple in a scream of twisting metal. They had access to something deadly. It didn’t take much intelligence to see that.
…and facilitation of peaceful relations between the human colonists and the Native inhabitants.
Nice. So I had already failed at my brand new job and I wasn’t even out of my cryopod.
Interface with cryosleep pod and activate any stimulant injection available, I ordered.
Stimulant injection this soon after reactivation is against protocol.
Override protocols.
Override successful.
A needle injected something in my upper arm. My heart began to race.
The crumpled door in my view burst open with a hellish scream. Humans in black marine skinsuits with insignia blazoned on their chests poured into the room, weapons at the ready.
“Doc, we’ve got two more for you,” a marine said.
“Charlene, run the triage unit over them and I’ll get to them as soon as I can,” the doctor said. “Where’s Captain Vincent?”
“Right behind us.”
Planetary environment? I queried.
Planet 70010563 atmosphere is primarily an oxygen- nitrogen mix. The oxygen content is higher than Earth normal. Humans breathing Baldric atmosphere risk oxygen toxicity if exposed for prolonged periods. Plant life is edible, but contains heavy metals and lacks appropriate amino acids. Studies continue on the effects of ingesting large quantities. Colonists are advised to remain on e-rations until the studies are complete.
The Matsumoto Trilogy: Omnibus Edition Page 25