Union of Souls (Gigaparsec Book 3)

by Scott Rhine

  The judge noted her reluctance to speak. “No one here will harm you. We’ve just agreed that children are not for eating.” Taking the wand back from Reuben, she turned the podium transparent. “Tell us how you came here.”

  “Big teeth catch babies. Put us in boxes. Every time they hungry, Goat let us free in forest. Big teeth chase and eat. I am clever girl.” Jeeves extended arm in Reuben’s direction. “Oo-bin save me in bag. My brothers and sisters all die. Sing sad songs in the forest many nights. Max help me hide till big teeth are all gone. Bring Mommy to meet me.” She pointed again.

  The judge interrupted. “Let the record indicate that she is indicating Sage Shiraz Ellison of the Magi delegation, winner of several humanitarian commendations from Goats, Bats, Magi, and my own daughter, Beloved Sanderjee. The Max mentioned is Doctor Max Ellison, recipient of the Union military’s highest honor, the Order of the Dolphin. Please continue.”

  “Mommy taught me to read letters and make house with blocks. I play hide and seek, and sing with the Bat people—Deke, Doc-er Lisheen. Then nice lady Goat Blythe make best friends. She offer to take me to my family where I was baby. Mean big teeth eat her for helping me.”

  Reuben cleared his throat. “My consort, a Dolittle, was murdered by Blue Claws in New Hawaii. She had promised to devote her life to assisting these creatures.”

  Unable to deny the facts, the head Saurian argued, “This is a trick. The Black Ram trained this parrot to fool us to get revenge.”

  The judge said, “Ambassador Columbassarack, you may ask a question to prove your claim.”

  The Saurian twitched his tail. “What will you do if we decide your people are not sentient?”

  The mimic refused to answer.

  Roz cleared her throat. “Could you rephrase, sir? She’s only four. Please call her by name.”

  “Jeeves, what will you do if we all say you’re really meat?”

  “Eat all family?”

  “Yes.”

  “Don’t want to live in world alone. Too many sad. Too many nice people die to save me. I sing last song before I join the many ghosts in forest and the Voice of the Void.”

  Bat Ambassador Salimdagen asked, “You know about the Voice?”

  “We do not sing alone in dark places. Others hold our hands.”

  The old Bat blinked. “I support this creature’s bid for protosentience and move to place its planet into protective status while we investigate.”

  “Seconded,” said Roz. “All in favor, raise your hand?”

  Jeeves put up both furry arms. Gradually, every member of the Sentience Committee agreed.

  The Turtle judge took back control of the meeting. “Pursuant to this motion, Saurians are to issue broadcasts requiring the immediate return of all captive Mimics to their planet of birth.”

  The head Saurian cleared his throat. “Judge, due to the Convocation quarantine, we are unable to comply at this time.”

  “Use an ansible. I’m sure the Bankers will even wave the fee.”

  “Um … we have a few dozen of these creatures in our food stores on the island. We can’t return them until this session’s issues are resolved.”

  When the Convocation was completed, though, Jeeves would be torn away from her adopted family. In fact, the entire crew would be scattered to the corners of the galaxy. In his moment of greatest professional triumph, grief crept from the shadows to enfold Reuben.

  The Turtle tapped her large back flipper on the wood of the stage, indicating her thinning patience. “Free them now, and allow them to roam the unused dome. I’m certain Mrs. Ellison and the plethora of Goat Gentles can care for them in the interim.” The judge’s ruling virtually guaranteed Goat mentorship of the race. Menelaus, who stood behind Kesh and the Saurian delegates, pumped his fist in victory.

  The Saurian ambassador made an egg shape in front of his chest. “We are one.”

  Roz whispered in Jeeves’s ear, “You did it! Such a smart girl.”

  “I sing happy song?”

  “Yes.”

  Jeeves broke out into I’m a Little Teapot.

  Judge Jeeconus overrode the microphone. “Normally the floor would be passed back to Reuben Black Ram, but I don’t think the Union could withstand another five minutes of his speeches. We have more than enough work to occupy us from his first address. You may proceed to your individual committee meetings.”

  When the crowds dissipated, the giant Turtle turned to Rueben. “You spoke of so much evil that you witnessed in your journey. What was the most inspiring?”

  His first thought was Roz’s intentional kindness toward Max’s son. “A Magi female who showed love to a Human child when she had every reason to fear. She made me ashamed of every time I’ve ever shown hate.”

  “There is hope for you yet, trickster,” the Turtle said.

  Chapter 36 – The Xerxes Conspiracy

  The other Goats proclaimed that Reuben had given the best introductory speech of any Convocation. “You’re biased, but thank you.” For the rest of that day, he could do no wrong. All the other delegates wanted to congratulate him or send him gifts. Unfortunately, the manic high wore off about dinner time when Goats began asking him to solve every stupid and trivial problem imaginable. Welcome to the rest of your life. Still, he dreaded the quiet times where he might discover what the last link with the mass-mind cost him. His mood swung toward depression.

  Haggling over trivial details of the committee resolutions would take months. The exact wording of the legal documents and composition of the investigative team could take years to hammer out. Reuben already detested this bureaucratic quagmire, but by the second day, statesmen from other delegations were requesting his opinion to settle impasses. The cute, young ewe bringing the coffee that morning happened to be a pre-law student awaiting a recommendation to a good graduate school. When a delegate stumped him on an ethical dilemma, Reuben dodged it by saying, “That question’s so easy, my page could answer it.”

  Under the table, he removed his glove and touched the back of the ewe’s knee. She started to object to the sexual harassment but bit her lip as the effect of the IQ boost hit her. He had to lower her, whimpering, into a chair. “Poor thing is nervous in front of a crowd. Just tell the people what you think, Diedre.”

  Dazed and stammering, she addressed the dilemma remarkably. For the rest of that session, he fetched food trays while she argued how many Magi could dance on the head of a pin.

  When Fiona heard about the intimate mental contact, she decided she would personally select an elite corps of assistants to accompany the Black Ram. Each would receive a boost only once a week, to prevent them from getting too familiar with Reuben or addicted to the procedure. The ground rules forbade him from using his abilities in public or being alone with any of the assistants. None of the girls would be allowed to discuss the secret. As far as the politicians and audience were concerned, his coterie of hand-picked, wicked-smart beauties were wizards at their chosen fields. People began referring to them as Uncle Vanya’s coven, and they would be able to name their own price as consultants after the Convocation concluded.

  There were other things Reuben needed to do in order to address the Banker problem, but first he wanted to secure the plan for new colonies. Once that was inevitable, he reveled in his new role for a time, trying to forget the cost. For the first time, he didn’t need to pass a test or have someone hunting him. He wouldn’t call what he had happiness, but the lull induced the same mild euphoria as the sudden lack of a migraine. Part of him hoped he would find another Black Ram to take the next step or make the next sacrifice.

  Eleven weeks later, at the end of another glacial but successful day, an obviously pregnant Fiona took Reuben aside in their bedroom. She smiled. “You have a male heir.” This was the result she had been hoping for.

  He hugged her, basking in her happiness. “That’s great. We still have a week left until anyone’s allowed to leave. The delegates don’t need me as much now. We can take of
f the rest of the Convocation and spend it together.”

  “MI-23 has ordered me to the pre-natal wing immediately for round-the-clock observation.”

  “Now?”

  “I waited as long as regulations allowed for the gender test.”

  “I can put them off a little longer. I’m the damn Black Ram.”

  She shook her head. “You may control a lot of things, but the future of the species always comes first. They don’t want any drinking or rough play to endanger the heir.” When he didn’t respond, Fiona kissed him on the cheek. “I’ll always remember you, but you never cared for me as much as you did Blythe.”

  “How can you say that?”

  She couldn’t meet his eyes. “You called out to her every time you touched the mass-mind, and several times in your sleep. This morning, you called me by her name.”

  He couldn’t deny the accusation. “Wh-what am I going to do without you?”

  “Put in your favorite songs until the mood passes. Any one of your coven members would agree to take my place.”

  Reuben tried to object, but an MI-23 officer entered a moment later to escort Fiona from the premises. Completely alone for the first time in three years, his depression threatened to drag him under. Therefore, he decided to take Fifi’s parting advice and put a cube marked ‘favorites’ into his media player.

  He didn’t recognize the first song … or the tenth. After an hour of confusion, he realized that music had been expunged from his memory. He couldn’t even remember how to write the notes or program the synthesizer. His greatest joy outside of work was gone, as well as the third woman he thought would be with him for a lifetime. This was the price to save his people from their own mistakes.

  The empty place inside kept growing.

  In the absence of all this, he didn’t know who he was anymore. He wanted to die, but he possessed no weapons. Max once told him the only moral way to commit suicide would be to starve himself to death. Therefore, Reuben discretely ate nothing for the remaining week. Without Fifi in charge of the household, nobody kept a regular schedule. The deception was easy.

  On the eve of closing ceremonies, the coven wanted to throw a party to cheer him up and express their gratitude. He had made their careers. As low as he felt, Reuben didn’t turn down the liquor. Without food in his stomach, the alcohol went straight to his head. For a single night, he forgot to hate himself.

  He woke completely naked, sore, and surrounded by a sleeping heap of six coven members in various stages of undress.

  Through his headache, he recalled a ribald party game which had led to sex with his assistants. I’m a cliché, the archetypical Black Ram, and the thing I always hated. The old Reuben was gone. Long live the Black Ram.

  Desperate to salvage some part of himself, he grabbed his scattered clothes and snuck out of the room. He crept to the Mimic dome by the weak, early morning light. He had saved these creatures. Perhaps seeing them would cheer him and convince him not to open a vein.

  Because he wasn’t a Gentle or a doctor, the guards wouldn’t allow him entry to the play area. They would, however, allow him to watch the security monitors to confirm the thirty-seven liberated creatures were well treated. As the world’s medical expert on Mimics, Max had modified infant formula to feed the youngest Mimics, so they wouldn’t develop skeletal defects. As a null, he could also move freely among the herd without frightening them.

  Jeeves was clearly teaching the others to find hidden fruit and play games.

  Roz sat in the observation booth with its one-way mirror. She wore a new headband with a rectangular, green gem at her forehead, which appeared to be some sort of badge of rank. On the security monitor, she hugged herself in distress.

  Dashing to help, Reuben knocked on her door. “Hey. What’s wrong? Is saying good-bye harder than you thought?”

  “I have nothing left. Echo is fading away.”

  “You have Max,” Reuben insisted.

  “He’s spent most of his time the past few months watching his son, Hunter, grow. I don’t interfere because the boy needs a null role model.”

  “I’m sure the Trout has been lobbying hard to give Hunter a younger sibling.”

  Roz made a face like someone had ripped a kidney from her without anesthesia.

  Reuben backpedaled. “He wouldn’t do that. I know for a fact that he never sees her alone. Even though he’s a null and can’t bond, he loves you, and he’ll stay true.”

  “Right. You can’t bond, and you stayed true to Ivy all this time.”

  Bad example. Reuben recalled an offer Ivy had once made on behalf of the Llewellyn. “You can teach together at Anodyne University. Max is the expert of xenobiology, and everyone will want to take your spaceship-design course.”

  “The Magi and Bankers won’t allow that. They can’t risk me revealing secrets to the younger races even by accident.”

  “You could work in a Magi lab and make existing drives more fuel efficient with your harmonic-stabilizer thing.”

  Roz shook her head. “The Magi expect me to travel their worlds explaining the breakthrough equations to their scientists. The sage academy thinks I’m some sort of herald of a new era. This gem they gave me was supposed to be a lifetime-achievement award for some sort of religious figure.”

  “We all know you’re special. All the races think you’re much more approachable than the other Magi.”

  “The Magi don’t like me much. I stepped on a lot of academic toes when I revised the … subspace equations.”

  “From what I’ve seen, they hang on your every word, even at dinners.”

  “Oh, that. I perfected a novel form of shorthand to describe subbasement matrices, and they need explanations to clarify the notes from my presentation.”

  Rueben waved a hand. “Who doesn’t invent a whole new branch of mathematics that shakes an elder race to its core? I’ll bet that took you a whole year.”

  “Eventually they’re going to find out I’m just a brain-mute grease monkey with a funny way of looking at things, and then I’ll lose the little I have left.” Her confidence was eroding by the minute. She needed the support of Echo and Max to build her up again. The triad had been apart too long.

  “I’ll make this right,” Reuben swore. He knew of only one mission vital enough to drag Max away and induce Echo to remain alive. However, revealing the secret would dishonor Reuben’s entire family line. His name would become a synonym for disgrace. No one would sleep with him again. The odds of success were microscopic. On the flip side, millions of sentients would die if he did nothing, including his people and friends at the Niisham prison colony.

  Reuben recalled the bravery Roz showed facing the Trout when he screwed up his courage to act. “Is the sphere ready for action?”

  “Solemnity has been repaired, fueled, and granted priority clearance to return to Magi space for her final voyage. Why?”

  “By this afternoon, Max will be begging you to fly off with him and Echo again on another adventure.”

  Roz shook her head. “I accomplished everything I ever wanted. What could be left?”

  “More goals. Bigger ones.” He ran from the room to the Turtle dome.

  At the heavily guarded door, Reuben said, “I need to speak to the Judge Jeeconus.”

  The gruff Saurian in charge said, “She addresses the assembly in two hours. What could possibly persuade her to preempt her preparations?”

  “Tell her I need to confess a crime and unburden my soul.” Turtles ate that kind of thing up.

  “About?”

  “My involvement in the death of a Phib who was traveling to Sanderjee with a message of peace.”

  The Saurian touched his earpiece. “She will hear your confession in her chambers immediately.”

  Armed guards accompanied Reuben into the lavish Turtle enclave. In the parlor, the rhythmic music of waves played that reminded him of the seashore, including the scuttle of crabs and the call of birds.

  Soon, the rough-ski
nned judge towered over Reuben, gazing deep into his eyes. Her heavy breathing emanated anger, and she could smash him like a bug. Even the burnished dark red of her hide seemed menacing. “Explain.”

  Reuben had to do this to clear his conscience and bring his team back together. The very real possibility of death no longer frightened him, but shame made it impossible for him to meet her eyes. “The former Phib governor of Winedark traveled with us on the journey to Eden to see your daughter. My heart was full of hatred, so I drugged and interrogated him.”

  “You did this before you gained the protection of your office?”

  “Yes. Lunar Intelligence has already used my crime to force Max into several uncomfortable positions. When Troutwine heard what I discovered, she killed the Phib and blackmailed me into silence.”

  “What did you learn?”

  “First that the Phibs are willing to trade a great deal of military information for your consideration to divide their race in two. Not all of them should be classified as non-sentient. I’m told the Phib Culler faction has a genetic defect which makes them susceptible to—”

  “I have heard this fairy tale. What was the offer?”

  Reuben swallowed hard. “He wanted to tell you about the Glory Point initiative. The Saurians, Phibs, Goats, and the Humans want it to succeed. If we permit the conspiracy to unfold, planets full of Union citizens will die. I can no longer remain silent.”

  “The Black Rams have earned our gifts with your honesty.”

  “No. My lineage is corrupt, hedonistic, and murderous. Worse, Xerxes was mistaken.”

  The Turtle cocked her head. “Is this going to be like your opening speech?”

  “Bigger.”

  The Turtle seated herself. “I am braced.”

  “Okay. We’ve hated the Bankers for centuries. Xerxes finally decided they needed to be dealt with. His animosity eventually led to his death at their hands, but during the decades between, he conspired like none before him. He hired the Phibs to capture Nivaar.”

  The judge turned off the ambient music. “Say again?”