by Turner, Ben
The crowd split to the two sides of the hall. Ambrosia rode the beast through the center of the crowd, breaking through the wall around the doorway.
Vivian looked out at the immense hole that the basilisk had made as it barged through and out at the two basilisks.
They were charging towards each other. Dave was sitting on the head of his basilisk just in the same position Ambrosia was. The two snakes circled one another on the bridges above the forest floor.
Ambrosia struck first, her snake lunging towards Dave's perch.
Dave maneuvered his snake and dodged out of the way. A moment later, his snake head-butted the underside of Ambrosia's.
Ambrosia’s snake stumbled backwards, towards the edge of the bridge, but managed to retain its balance. It coiled up and sprung at Dave, putting all its power into a single blow.
Dave raised his basilisk's head, using its jaw as the shield. Ambrosia's snake slammed into it, sending Dave reeling backwards, barely holding onto the grips that seemed to be built into the snake's head.
Vivian got the sense Ambrosia had done this before. She seemed too comfortable, confident and smooth in her movements of the snake for this to be her first ride. Dave's movements, by comparison, were jerky and uneven.
Vivian and Ellen peaked around the hole in the wall of the Hall of the Mother Tree, watching the fight.
Hazel stood at the back of the hall, leaning casually against the wall and picking at her nails as though there was no doubt who would win the fight.
As Vivian made this observation, Ambrosia’s snake slammed into Dave's. The momentum from the hit sent the snake flipping backwards over the railing and Dave along with it.
Vivian watched, unable to do anything but stare, as Dave and his snake he had tamed fell over the edge of the bridge and down towards the forest floor.
The scream that came from Dave as he fell to his death was the scream of a madman.
Chapter 34
"Have you learned your lesson, or do we need to throw you back in prison?"
Vivian looked up from her food. She was sitting at her long table in the Great Hall. The snake had returned to its spot on the wall over the head table, motionless once again.
Hazel was standing over them. The rest of the locals around them tried to pretend they weren't watching and eavesdropping.
Ellen, sitting next to her, put a hand on Vivian's knee to reassure her. Vivian shook off the hand and looked up at Hazel.
"What lesson?" she said.
"Dave was never to be trusted," said Hazel. "You saw how he was at the end. He got a taste of power and it changed who he was. Dave was dangerous. He always was."
"That wasn't Dave," said Vivian.
She noticed that a few ears perked up around them.
"The Dave I knew would never have done that," she continued. "He was a man who knew what he stood for. If not for Seed trying to take control of him, something he fought until the last second, he would never have become that person. He was a good man, and he deserves to be remembered as such."
Hazel smiled condescendingly.
"That isn't how he'll be remembered," said Hazel. "He was a murderer and a traitor, a man who tried to take over a peaceful city with no regards for anyone’s safety. I'll make sure that's how he is remembered."
Hazel rested a hand on Vivian's shoulder. Vivian shook it off and focused on eating. When she looked up, Hazel had returned to the high table and was talking with another of the members of the high council.
There were so many questions Vivian still had, but she didn't know if she could ever compete with Seed and its' absolute control.
She hadn't seen Ambrosia since Dave had fallen off the edge. She had ridden the snake back into the great hall, gotten it onto the wall then walked through a cheering crowd. No one had seen her since.
She thought of her father, Gavin, and Dave.
It seemed to be a common strand in Vivian's life. The people who tried to help and protect her ended up dead.
"Ellen," said Vivian. "Can I ask you a question?"
Ellen looked up from her food, and nodded, raising an eyebrow under her goggles.
"Who were you before you came here?"
Ellen frowned. "What do you mean?"
Vivian looked at the other people in the Great Hall, but no one seemed to be paying them any attention.
"I never asked," said Vivian, "and you never told me. You always said you came here voluntarily, that you just wanted to join up with the society of Trella because you loved everything about it. But you never told me what you were leaving. What was your life like before?"
Ellen sighed. "I suppose you deserve to know. I know pretty much everything about you. I'm sorry I didn't tell I was working for Hazel. It was dangerous, and I didn't want to get you involved. It was because I love you."
Vivian nodded. "I love you too."
Ellen looked down. "My mother and father were explorers," she said. "They ventured to the farthest reaches of the galaxy looking for new planets that could be terraformed. The amount of humans in the galaxy is exploding, Vivian. I'm older than you, so I was about sixteen when I joined them and began travelling the galaxy. Usually, they would find an uninhabited planet and land on the surface. They would quickly lean it wasn't inhabitable. If an explorer finds a single habitable planet, they gain the rights to that planet and can sell it to governments for outrageous sums, enough to live off for the rest of your life."
"What does this have to do with Trella?"
"We found an oddly shaped planet. It was too ovular," said Ellen. "This was Trella, although we didn't know it at the time. It was covered in vegetation and plants. We figured there must be life. We were greeted by Ambrosia, and what happened next changed my life."
"What happened?" said Vivian.
"They abandoned me here," said Ellen, wiping away tears from her eyes. "Before Ambrosia or I had a chance to say anything they sprinted back to the ship and took off."
Vivian stared at her, wide-eyed. "They left you?"
Ellen nodded. "I've been waiting for six years for them to come back. I still remember what home smelled like."
"Why did you never tell me this?" said Vivian. "You didn't chose to come here?"
"No," said Ellen. "But I choose to stay here. Ambrosia took me to Hazel, and they set me up with a life and a purpose. I fit in here better than I ever had with my parents."
Vivian patted Ellen's shoulder to reassure her.
"Do you understand?" said Ellen, turning and looking into Vivian's eyes. "Do you understand why we need to stay?"
"I don't know what you're saying," said Vivian.
"The universe is cruel and uncaring," said Ellen. "Do you know how many people are alive in the universe? Something like eight hundred billion. In that sea of noise, how can anyone matter at all? How can anything you do have any meaning? Here, we matter and have purpose. There are people who depend on us. That is what life is really about. It is about purpose and feeling important. It's about the people around us."
Vivian smiled. "I'll think about it, okay?"
"All right," said Ellen, clearly disappointed. "I can work with that. I'll see you at home."
Ellen gathered up her food and walked away, leaving Vivian alone.
She looked around at the kind faces and expressions of the people around her, wondering what would happen to them if the black solar panel from which Seed drew its power were to be destroyed. These people had evolved under Seed's protection.
She sighed and stood. She was about to leave the hall when she had an idea. She turned and walked through the Great Gall until she came to stand in front of the Great Table. All the eyes in the hall turned to look at her.
She walked up to Hazel and motioned for her to come closer so only she could hear what Vivian was saying. Her guards stepped closer, apparently viewing Vivian as a threat, but Hazel waved them away. She leaned close to Vivian.
As Vivian spoke, Hazel nodded along.
To say that Vi
vian was shocked when Hazel accepted her offer would be an extreme understatement.
Chapter 35
"There," said one of the guards, pointing out into the forest.
Vivian walked with him, pulling her jacket around her. She looked up at the bridges several hundred meters up and tried to imagine what it would be like to fall from that distance. Perhaps, in his insanity, Dave hadn't even noticed he was falling to his death.
She looked for the Basilisk, but didn't see it anywhere. Maybe Seed had taken control of it and brought it back somewhere. Maybe it had been eaten by the ground, unlike Dave.
She looked at Dave's body. It was a bloody, disgusting mess. His arms and legs bent the wrong ways and his head had been crushed where his head had hit a rock. At least his body was intact.
Vivian sighed and looked back at the guards who accompanied her. They wore Hazel's insignia. Their presence had been Vivian's idea, and part of the reason Hazel had agreed.
She wondered why Seed hadn't swallowed up the body.
The guards handed her a shovel and the three of them dug a grave beside Dave's body. The guard’s movements were mechanical and emotionless.
Vivian didn't blame them. To them, Dave was nothing more than a war monger who had torn apart their society. He deserved to die.
They had never known the side of him Vivian had.
When the grave was deep enough, they rolled what remained of Dave's body into the grave.
In silence, they filled in the grave, covering the mutilated and disfigured body. Once they were finished, Vivian turned to the two guards.
"Do you mind if I have a few minutes alone?" she said. "I'm like to say some things."
"We shouldn't leave you here alone," said one guard. "Hazel wouldn't like that."
"Keep me in sight," she said. "I don't want you hearing what I am going to say."
The guard looked at his partner and shrugged.
They both retreated until they were almost out of sight. If Vivian tried to run, they were skilled enough to take her down easily.
Vivian crouched down. "I'm sorry, Dave," she said. "I tried to save you. You deserve better."
Someone else was standing beside the grave. She didn't look up.
"I won't give up," she continued. The notebook Dave had been carrying was tucked down the back of Vivian's pants. She'd read it in its entirety. She knew Seed had been designed for long term military intervention. It would be sent onto a planet and give them endless resources and joy, but only until the people who had sent it decided it wasn't needed anymore. With the flick of a switch, they could destroy all the resources the planet had, plunging the planet into chaos.
Seed seemed to have been forgotten. It had hitchhiked along with some explorer that had come here, but now it was reaching the end of its lifecycle. The downfall would be swift and dangerous. All the trees and plants would die and the sun would beat down on the locals, scorching them until they died of their burns. Vivian needed to convince the locals of this inevitability.
She needed to convince them that their God was a man-made entity with no emotion or feeling, only a purpose. She needed to convince them that the being who had given them all the lush forest around them was nothing more than a parasite.
"I'll finish this," she said to Dave's grave.
She looked up at her father, standing beside the grave. He smiled at her.
She looked back at the guards. They hadn't reacted. They couldn't see her father.
"That was a very nice speech," said her father.
"Thanks," she said. "There's still more to do. Everyone here is going to die if I don't save them."
Her father nodded. "The notes Dave found."
"How do you know that?"
He shrugged. "Seed knows everything. I am part of Seed."
She nodded. "How do I win? How I beat an omnipotent being?"
"Figure out where the rules don’t apply. Find the loophole."
Vivian frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"Think about the rules of this place," he said. "What is the exception?"
Vivian thought for a few moments. "You're talking about Ambrosia?"
Her father nodded subtly.
"Does she know how to free me of the roots in a way that doesn't drive me to insanity?" Vivian paused, a thought suddenly occurring to her. "She has a way to contact the outside world! How else would she be able to draw families to Trella with the promise of work?"
"Now you're onto something," said her father as he began to fade. "Looks like I need to get going."
Vivian smiled as he faded out of existence. She turned towards the two guards, walking towards her.
"That's enough," said one of them.
She nodded and glanced back at where her father had been. There was nothing but a faint breeze that ran over the ground where he had been standing, but even that might have been her imagination.
Chapter 36
There was no timetable in the explorer's notes in terms of when exactly the planet would start collapsing, only that it was soon and inevitable. Vivian took that to mean that it wouldn't happen in the immediate future. For the next few weeks, she maintained her deal with Hazel. She was the model citizen, only doing what she was told, working in the clinic, attending events, and promoting the Council of the Mother Tree whenever she could.
She was amazed no one noticed the root that attached to her ankle, but whenever she looked back, it slipped into the ground like a ghost. Most of the citizens didn't have them, although all the members of the Council did. There were random members of the public she who had them.
Hazel seemed pleased she was following the rules and Ellen was more receptive than ever. Vivian had decided not to tell Ellen anything until she had to.
It wasn't until a month later, after she'd gained the trust of the people around her and the guards had stopped watching her suspiciously whenever she went, that she snuck out in the dead of night.
Ellen was snoring soundly after a night of partying and heavy drinking during which Vivian had been the medic on duty.
She dressed and snuck out onto the bridges. She closed the door softly behind her. She whispered an apology to Ellen for lying, but she was certain Ellen would understand.
She snuck along the bridges until she came to the bridge where she had spoken to Cornelius and learned that he had loved Ambrosia.
Somehow, she felt like Cornelius was just as much a victim as she was.
It took her three hours to retrace the route she'd followed on that night as she fled from Ambrosia's quarters, but she made it to the door below the canopy of the treetops.
She stepped up to the door and removed her goggles.
She knocked on the door a few times, and listened as someone inside stood and walked to the door.
Ambrosia opened the door. She smiled when she saw Vivian.
"Vivian," she said, "I was wondering when you would return. Take a seat."
Vivian stepped inside. Ambrosia already had two chairs set up beside her bed, as though she had been expecting company.
Ambrosia took a seat as Vivian did the same.
They stared at one another for a long time. Finally, Vivian said, "Can Seed hear what I'm thinking?"
Ambrosia cocked her head to one side. "Why would you want to know that?"
"Because I like my privacy," said Vivian.
"Seed can feel your emotions, but it can't hear your thoughts. It also knows where you are at all times."
"Why do you allow this?" said Vivian. "Don't you believe people should be free to live their own lives without being watched all the time?"
"No," said Ambrosia flatly. "I've lived a long time, Vivian. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that people need structure and preplanned lives. Most people aren't like us, Vivian. Most people can't think for themselves. They aren't willing to make the decisions that need to be made. Seed is not trying to control us. We can mediate ourselves, as Hazel and I have been doing for decades. Seed can warn u
s about gatherings of unsavory individuals and about dangers from the world around us. Isn't that a good thing? Other planets are embroiled in wars over who created the heavens or who should be taxed. We have a peace that other planets and societies would be envious of." She paused. "Has Ellen told you the truth about how she came to be here?"
Vivian nodded.
"Ellen is the perfect example," continued Ambrosia. "She came from a world where the only things people cared about were money and prestige. Her parents chose money and prestige over their own child. Ellen has seen a darkness of humanity you were never exposed. When you speak of freedom and equality, you talk about theories you’ve read about in books. You're listening to the ramblings of idealists. This is what the world is. This is what keeps the peace."
Vivian shook her head. "You're right," she said, "My experiences are limited."
Ambrosia nodded.
"However," continued Vivian, "you're killing people and subjecting them to a life that they never chose. We can't escape, and the people can't make their own choices. Just because something works doesn't mean that it’s the best option. Shouldn't people have the option to experiment? Maybe they'll surprise you and find a better way to live."
"That isn't a risk I'm willing to take," said Ambrosia, "and you shouldn't either. What if they make a terrible decision? What if they make everything worse?"
Vivian sighed. "They should have the right to make that decision and deal with the consequences. That isn't why I came. I promised Hazel I would toe the line, and I intend to keep my promises."
Ambrosia cocked her head to one side and smiled in a grandmotherly sort of way.
"I want to know what happened to my mother," said Vivian, avoiding Ambrosia’s eyes. "I know you have a way of communicating with the outside world. If you let me know that, then I'll be the most loyal subject of Trella you've ever seen."
Ambrosia nodded. "Come with me."
She stood and walked to the door. Vivian followed. They walked up a staircase. Ambrosia grabbed the handle on a trap door.