Shadow Seed 1: The Misbegotten

by Richard M. Heredia

  What a brat, he thought as he forced his eyes to move from her sumptuous figure to the tall, voluptuous women standing next to her. The projections made them seem close, but they weren’t. They were hundreds of thousands of miles apart. Katie was on Luna Prime, their sprawling headquarters upon the Moon, while Ramona was within an undisclosed orbital station five hundred miles above Earth. Not even Estefan was privy to her exact location; another protocol in place to protect the integrity of the Synod.

  She was wearing black heels over thigh-high nylons - the thick sort, looking more like socks – and a matching micro-mini skirt and loose fitting blouse. She wore it with the neck hanging over her shoulders, draped down her back, so the unbutton front of it made a perfect “V”, exposing her ample cleavage. The skin there appeared spongy and drew his eyes before he could stop himself. She had cut her hair Cleopatra-style a few months back, her dark brown, wavy locks had been replaced by obsidian glass, framing her broad face at ninety degree angles precisely where her eyebrows ended. Her digital lipstick, mascara, and eye shadow matched her hair. She looked like deadly viper hiding behind the veneer of an Emo-girl. Her appearance didn’t quite match the intensity in her blue-grey eyes. They were the only color about her, all else was black and white.

  Even though, she was five hundred miles above him, Estefan could feel her trying to read his thoughts, his scalp tingled with the tell-tale signs she was using her Mutation to garner information from him. Ramona was an Old-Timer like the rest of them, but she was also a Sniffer, a Human Celeste capable of discerning another Celeste’s Mutation through thought, which was most likely due to the fact she was also the most powerful Empathist the Keeper had ever seen. With her mind, she could unearth, read, and sometimes even manipulate ones’ emotions. By combining it with her Sniffer ability, she could come very close to reading minds, especially if the subject were willing.

  At this time, though, Estefan was not, and that seemed to bother her. She hated it when he withheld information from her.

  Welcome to the club, my sweet Mona. No one gets to know the whole truth this time, he thought as he nodded at her and let his eyes flick to the small diminutive woman projected to her left.

  The tiny woman was very far away from them currently, having been “exiled” to Dark-side Mercury 7, a secure facility the Synod had built in a stationary orbit above the planet Mercury. The highly shielded base was forever moving in counterpoint with the rotation of that mostly metallic sphere, so it stayed in constant shadow, protected from the devastating Solar Winds of the Sun.

  Her name was Tirza. She stood there in what appeared to be a bathrobe and slippers, her hair bundled in a huge towel, towering above her, made so, because she was so small. For as long as he had known her, Tirza had been one of the shortest women he’d come to know. She was dwarf-like in stature and being a Human celeste hadn’t changed any of that. She was a mere four foot nine, even in the half-inch slippers she was wearing. She had an oval face with smooth cheeks, a tiny angled nose and a squared, but delicate-boned chin. Above those features, set close together, were large, ovoid eyes – dark brown – below thick, eyebrows, colored the same.

  She smiled warmly at Estefan, flashing her fingers with lightning speed. Being as old as they were, their mastery of sign-language was complete, so much so they’d altered the delivery and structure of the signs over the years; thus, they’d practically invented a whole new method of communication only they could comprehend. And, those they cared to teach as well, but they were in very short supply.

  “Our daughter is well,” she had signed.

  Estefan’s face softened at the thought of the precocious, eight-year-old daughter he shared with the miniature woman before him. Patricia was the youngest of his offspring borne to him of the Aegis Synod itself. He had younger children, but they had come from other women and, therefore, had lesser status. Only those carried by the women before would be fit to rule beside them. All the others were well cared for and were never left wanting. They would always have a place within the Keeper’s vast holdings, but they would never be a part of the inner circle – never.

  Leda, the woman next to Tirza, had seen others’ fingers flash and understood the message. She turned toward the smaller woman, her hands moving with alacrity. “Does she like Dark-side?” she wondered with her fingers.

  Tirza’s smile drooped. “She misses her brothers and sisters…”

  Leda’s expression mimicked the other woman’s. “This will all be over soon, and then we can all be together again,” she signed, trying to lighten the others’ mood.

  Estefan let his eyes wonder over Leda’s three dimensional figure, ignoring the conversation between the two. She was bathed in bright, artificial light, a sort not typically seen this late in the twenty-fourth century. It had been in abundance in the twenty-second, though, when exploration of the Solar System had matured enough that serious colonization began in earnest. This light alone told the Keeper exactly where Leda was – Mars. It had been one of the first planets extensively explored and settled; some of its earliest communities had bi-centennial ceremonies more than fifty years ago. So, it wasn’t all that difficult to deduce where one might find ago-old technology in quantity. Though he didn’t know exactly where she’d been hidden, he knew it was within the Martian permafrost, probably somewhere deep.

  Leda was wearing insulated blue-jeans and a sleek, lapis luzi dyed parka, complete with a matching beanie and scarf, and a pair of sturdy looking boots upon her feet. Even then, she made it look sexy, though Estefan couldn’t make out a single aspect of her body. He could imagine her firm, perky breasts and small, well-formed butt under the layers of clothing she wore, but that wasn’t what made her so appealing. It was her carriage. It was the way she held her chin when she turned to regard someone, the gesture of her hand, the splay of her wrist, the swivel of her hips when she changed position, the sway of her shoulders. She was pure elegance to him and, to this day, he was amazed by the fact she was in love with the likes of him. She always made him feel like a clod whenever she was near him, clumsy and retarded juxtaposed against her grace and porcelain features.

  You should’ve been a Queen, my dear Leda… a pale skinned monarch with the features of a raven, so complex and cold, and yet so passionate and loyal underneath. You have always been an enigma to me…

  He realized, in that moment, she was looking back at him once again. There was a searching expression on her face as though she knew he was thinking of her, but wasn’t quite certain she wanted to know precisely what those thoughts entailed. He half-smiled lamely, feeling his earlier thoughts of inadequacy come to life. Then, he smiled broadly when she began to frown. She thinks I am poking fun at her. He put his fingers to his lips and blew her an imaginary kiss, which made her freeze in place; look at him more directly with one eye than the other.

  “I will tell you later,” he signed and she nodded briskly, a silent gesture telling him he had better.

  The woman to Leda’s left waved at him then, catching his attention. Her exuberance and vivacity undiminished through the years, though so many very bad things had happened. It seemed to him, her indomitable spirit was impervious to crushing, because she had the uncanny ability to bounce back from tragedy faster than any of them. She was always the first to explain the good and forget the bad. She was first to encourage and mollify uncertainty with her light tones and infectious smiles. She was the beacon they followed through the darkness, the glue of positivity keeping their unit strong, resolute in the face of adversity.

  Her name was Sandy. She was of medium height with the strong arms and legs of an athlete, full breasts and broad hips, though none of that was in evidence now. She wore a low-level environment suit, complete with a transparent Diatainium helmet, gloves and rigid boots. Estefan could see the mid-length locks of her translucent russet-colored hair about her aquiline face and v-shaped chin through the head covering. Her thin lips were made moreso by her grin. Her small nose bunched at its’ brid
ge as her light brown eyes sparkled with mirth.

  She was far away too, recalled Estefan, his mood gloomier, because of the distance between them.

  Though she had been sent away in secret, due to the delicacy of his meeting with Dr. Ahmed, there was another purpose to her journey, at the same time. She had been sent to DeepCore Alpha, the ice-mining facility the Synod had helped fund on Neptune’s massive moon – Triton.

  It had been speculated, as far back as the twentieth century, that somewhere deep within the frozen ice sheets covering Neptune’s companion was a small layer of liquid water, provided the rocky core of the moon was warm. After years of digging through the super-dense ice, the DeepCore team was approaching what they hoped was the discovery of that very water line. If it proved fruitful and they found the existence of life, it could mean profits in the trillions for Estefan and his partners.

  Sandy had been sent to represent his interests there, to let the consortium that had built the DeepCore facility know, the Aegis Synod was watching… The fact Sandy had been sent with a security detail consisting of three Phalanx Class Cruisers and seven Agave Class Frigates helped stress their point all the more emphatically.

  Sometimes carrying a big stick is all it takes…

  His fingers moved and Sandy’s smile faltered as she read the import of what he was telling her with them. “How are things…?” he had signed.

  Her fingers told a succinct message in reply, “Very promising and under control.”

  He nodded his understanding when the seventh woman standing before him spoke.

  “When are you going to tell us what happened? We heard about the chase on the highways of Angel Free Town and all of us are worried sick!” she demanded, her fists clenched at her sides, both of her knees locked.

  I was worried too, my dear.

  She was the tallest of the group, who looked eye to eye with the Keeper himself when barefoot. When she wore her customary five inch heels, she towered over all of them. She had dark smoldering eyes, long eyebrows stretching near the edge of her face. Her hair was dyed red and came to her shoulders before ending with a bob. Her thin lips were pulled taunt as she glared at him, accentuated by a dimple on her right cheek. She was lanky with long arms and even longer, shapely legs to match with a tiny waist and narrow hips. She wore a custom, skin-tight leather jumpsuit, dark red, almost the color of dried blood, with a strip of black running down each side. She wore heeled boots completing the outfit and would’ve looked like some biker chick of an age passed, except for thick mechanics’ belt she had slung around her waist and the pair high-powered eco-Halogen lights perched upon each shoulder. She had already turned them off.

  “How’s Saturn treating you, Ruby?” he answered, using misdirection instead of answering her question directly.

  She glowered. “That’s not an adequate reply, Estefan…” She left the threat unsaid.

  “We have seemed to have come to an impasse,” announced Flavia, cutting through the conversation.

  Everyone’s attention focused on the deadly vixen beside him.

  Flavia motioned with her hand. “You should all find something to sit on, because this may take a while…,” she trailed off as they all moved to sit.

  Mena merely sat of the floor of whatever chamber she was within.

  Then, Flavia began to detail everything that had happened since their arrival upon Earth until they’d sent out the message for this meeting, including her and Estefan’s polarized views on the matter. After fifteen minutes of explanation, the Keeper’s one-time step-sister posed the three-fold question.

  “What should the Aegis Synod do about Milandry tech being used against us, what should we do regarding the Shadow Spark and what should been done with this Destro-Mancer the good doctor seems to be so afraid of?”

  Ramona had been the first to answer, adding a fourth dimension to the issue. “Do you think it’s real, the whole thing, I mean?”

  Estefan shrugged.

  “It seems real,” replied Flavia. “The attack against us make it moreso.”

  “How do we know this isn’t some ploy to get Estefan out in the open?” countered Ramona.

  Estefan laughed to himself. No one ever said Ramona was stupid.

  “He seems to think that’s exactly what it is,” retorted Flavia, gesturing to the Keeper sitting beside her.

  “But even if there’s a shred of truth to it all, the very idea of something as powerful as the Shadow Spark alone would force our rivals to go after it. In fact, just about every organization I can think of, would go after it – the other members of the Board, local governments, the Agencies, even legitimate businessmen would all want a piece of it. That’s not mentioning all the undesirables on the other side of the tracks. Pirates, raiders, Mercs, smugglers, buccaneers and Trû-Knights are all going to want a piece of the action. It won’t be long before the Clans and the Brotherhood, and the Yaku Alliance will be rampaging across the Solar System, looking for their share as well. Everyone will be going after it. It won’t stay secret for long. Your little escapade on the streets of Free Town is proof enough already.

  “So, in a sense, the prudent thing to do is get the jump on everyone and see if this lead bears any fruit,” finished Leda, picking at her nails as she went along.

  Katie grunted. “It would have to be under the strictest of security and the Synod in its entirety will accompany the Keeper wherever he goes. Over that, I will have no argument.” She might be small for a woman, but once she put her foot down, very few had the strength, or the will, to budge it.

  Estefan sighed, knowing full well she wouldn’t back down this time. She would do whatever it took to be by his side. That was one of the reasons he couldn’t mitigate the reward over the risk. All the money in the world wasn’t worth shit to him, if one of his wives were hurt or killed. He would never risk them.

  “If it is a lie, then it’ll be one helluva shit storm,” commented Ruby. Some of her earlier frustration had quelled with Flavia’s exhaustive explanation of what had occurred since her and Estefan had left the Moon.

  “If it’s the truth, it’ll be an ever bigger shit storm,” added Mena, always one to cut through the bullshit. “Either way, we have to find out the validity of this Shadow Spark claim. There seems to be no way around it.”

  “And if it is true, we’re the only ones that can adequately safeguard it from this Destro-Mancer character,” pointed Flavia, stating some of the same opinion she had voiced to Estefan an hour earlier.

  “This is assuming the Celeste exists at all,” piped in Estefan for the first time, leaning his chin against the palm of his right hand, his elbow upon the hand rest of his chair.

  “What makes you think he doesn’t?” asked Ramona, uncrossing her legs and then re-crossing them in the opposite manner, her hands resting upon the upper thigh.

  Estefan shrugged. “I don’t know one way or the other, but I will not assume he does just because it fits nicely into the overall story. What if the good doctor and the Muslim people he represents have another reason for wanting the Shadow Spark off their planet?”

  “Like what?” wondered Tirza, her tiny brow furling at the growing complexity of the problem before them.

  Estefan stood suddenly, making his chair squeal in agony. He paused to adjust the Grav-sensors on his suit, nullifying some more of his tremendous weight. Then, peered back at the group, “There are so many answers to a question of that nature, we could be here all day, spinning our wheels, and still not figure out what we should do.” He paused to hold up his hand when a few of them began to speak at the same time. “The question that must be addressed is not one of specifics regarding this detail or that. The real question is a much bigger one and it’s infinitely simpler. I will not sit here all day arguing, because its’ answer is a merely a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’.”

  They were silent, waiting what he was going to say next.

  “This is what made Flavia and I argue a while ago, and it is why we called you
all here, even though it was tactically dangerous to do so.” He added the past part to warn them. They were entering dangerous times. “There is something going on out there in the Sixteen Worlds, something big, of that there can be no denying.

  “How do I know this?” he asked rhetorically, clasping his hands behind his back as he began to pace. No one answered. “I know this because of what happened out on the streets of Angel Free Town. Someone not only had the audacity to make a run for me in my own city. They fired upon me, using the most advanced tech of one of our rivals. I don’t like the way that fact feels inside, the more I think about it. Somebody had to be very desperate or extremely stupid to pull such a stunt, knowing how difficult I am to kill. They even brought a Fermonist with them, which tells me their plight may be even worse than I’ve just mentioned.

  “So,” he went on, “we know something is going on, we just aren’t certain of the details, but that’s not the crux of the question we must ask ourselves. The question is, should we even care?”

  There were a few gasps about. Tirza stood, her hand over her mouth, her eyes bugging out with astonishment.

  Estefan forged on. “Why should we?” he repeated again. “What has anyone ever done for us? When was the last time someone, anyone, has done anything for us?”

  “But, Effy, that sounds so callous, so cold,” answered Sandy. “We are no longer that Synod – the one that went to war and slaughtered thousands, enslaved even more. We aren’t them anymore.”

  “Of course, we aren’t, Sandy, and, to me, that seems reason enough. Why help now?” he said. “Why, because now there is a possibility countless lives could be at stake? Is this what draws such concern from you now?” He stepped around his chair, closer to their projections. “There are always countless lives at stake, always. It has always been the way of the Human Race and it’s the same with the Combined Race now. Nothing has changed. We haven’t reached some plateau of benevolence and suddenly all is well across the Solar System. Sure, we have great technology, wondrous computer swarms and biological advances making the medicine we had as children look like voodoo. But, it hasn’t changed the fact of what we are inside. We’re still poisoned, we still bear the mark of sin or evil or whatever the fuck you want to call it! It changes nothing! So, I ask, why should I risk any of you for the good of any of them out there! FUCK THEM!!!”