by Amy DuBoff
“Whoa—” Her jaw slack, she reached inside with one hand.
Raena removed a small box twice the size of her fist. It was crafted from white metal and ruby accents formed a delicate flower on the top.
Stars! Could this really be it? Cris rushed to her and she handed him the box.
Cris inspected the object. A compact biometric scanner was inlaid on top of the front latch, likely as a genetic key. “I think this is all you, Ryan.” He handed the box over.
Ryan took it and placed his index finger on the scanner. The lid popped open.
Inside, a crystalline data archive was stored with a battery pack.
Cris’ breath caught. “I can’t believe it.”
Raena shook her head with wonder. “If they hadn’t put the batteries in there…”
“And that the charge held,” Cris added. “A few more years and we’d never have found it.”
“Can this be linked to a handheld?” Ryan asked, examining the drive.
“I think so.” Cris gingerly took the box from him. “Let’s find a table.”
They exited to the hall and set up at a small dining table in an adjacent lounge. Cris scanned through the sync options on his handheld and tweaked the settings until he found the right frequency to connect with the archive.
He activated the holographic projector on his device and they waited for the data to load.
The projection morphed into a prompt for a security key.
“Bomax. Any idea what it may be?” Cris asked.
Ryan thought for a moment. “The flower motif is everywhere. What’s the species called?”
Cris shrugged. “I have no idea. I’d never seen it before.”
Raena stepped away from the table toward a landscape painting depicting the flowers. She positioned her handheld over part of the image. “CACI, what type of flower is this?” she asked the device.
“Stellam matutinam,” the digital assistant on her handheld replied, “a coastal flower native to regions in the northern hemisphere on Tararia. Commonly known as morningstar.”
Raena shrugged. “It’s as good a guess as any.”
“Worth a shot.” Cris entered “morningstar” into the prompt field.
A second later, the projection morphed again. Rows upon rows of files appeared—images, videos, text records. As Cris scanned through the folder names and dates, he realized the entire history of the Bakzen and the Priesthood’s interventions in the Taran population was laid out before him.
Raena stared at the projection. “What is all of this?”
“Stars!” Cris breathed. “That’s what they were up to.”
Ryan examined the file list. “The Dainetris Dynasty was gathering evidence against the Priesthood?”
“And a lot of it,” Cris replied. “No wonder the Priesthood took them out so fast. Based on some of these file dates, it looks like one of your ancestors must have come across some overlooked records that survived the purge a thousand years ago. When the Priesthood discovered that they had this information and were planning a disclosure…”
Ryan’s face drained. “So, the Dynasty fell because they were trying to set things right.”
All the more reason to honor their legacy. A slow smile spread across Cris’ face. “Their sacrifices won’t be in vain. This is everything we need.”
CHAPTER 11
“I can’t believe it was there the whole time,” Wil addressed his father on the viewscreen.
“Clearly the Priesthood didn’t think so, either,” Cris agreed. “But we have it now.”
I wish I didn’t know these things, but that’s why we need to make things right. Wil nodded slowly and took a deep breath. “What’s our next move?”
“I need to get all of the High Dynasties on board. With this and the other information we’ve gathered over the years, a unanimous vote is within our grasp.”
It had taken two full days for Wil to sort through the information from the crystalline archive, but it was time well spent. Unfortunately, the story he’d teased out so far was grimmer than he could have ever anticipated.
The records traced back more than twelve hundred years, to before the Aesir split from the Priesthood and Tarans were set on their current path. The snippets of videos he’d watched in order to catalogue the data depicted a high-functioning society where telekinesis and telepathy were integrated into everyday life. Teenagers played games involving object levitation, couples shared private conversations in each other’s minds even when in the middle of a crowd, and the power distance between the social strata was much lower.
Despite the apparent utopia, though, a sect within the populace feared stagnation. Tarans were expanding to new worlds, but there had been no major technology advances in centuries and the physical form of Tarans themselves hadn’t progressed in a meaningful way in millennia.
In accordance with their doctrine, the Priesthood embarked on a mission to achieve enlightenment. A collection of news articles spoke of ascending to the next state of being by unlocking hidden genetic potential—Wil knew from his conversation decades before with Banks that it must have been the start of the experimentation that led to the disaster of the Generation Cycle.
The Aesir must have left quietly, as there was no official mention of the Priesthood splitting. However, the dates—from what Wil could tell—matched up such that thirty years after the Aesir’s departure, there was the first mention of the Bakzen.
Early video and images of the Bakzen showed they bore little resemblance to the hardened soldiers Wil encountered during the war. These people were nearly indistinguishable from their fellow Tarans, a combination of the most desirable traits with above-average height and enhanced muscle tone. The main distinguishing feature was their sorrel eyes, which glowed as a telling sign of their telekinetic abilities.
Such abilities were where they departed from their fellow Tarans.
Though telekinesis and telepathy were the norm, the strength of those abilities was limited. From what Wil could tell, an average citizen was somewhere around a low-level Trion Agent in their potential. Like with any attribute, the abilities followed a bell curve, with some individuals possessing great potential on par with senior Primus Agents, and others having such weak abilities that rustling a pile of fallen leaves would be a challenge.
The Bakzen were different. Every one of them had four times the aptitude of the most gifted individuals, and they could do anything with those abilities. Many Bakzen were trained as healers to manipulate energy flows within the injured or sick to aid recovery in ways no machine could achieve. Others assisted in labor, moving heavy objects with precision far more economically than would have been possible with heavy construction equipment. And others became soldiers, trained in weaponized telekinesis and advanced telepathic techniques that could quell civil conflicts before a situation could escalate.
For a decade, everyone was at peace. Then, voices of dissent entered the media.
First came the objections to the Bakzen’s abilities—speculation about how they could be a danger. The Bakzen replied only with shows of peace, assisting in civil service while refusing any form of compensation. They lived simply in shared housing with only the most basic amenities, grouped by their specialization. With their numbers in mere thousands, most didn’t view them as a threat. Those with concerns, however, would not be silenced.
One of the news outlets that had been on the skeptical front since the Bakzen first became public made an offhand comment in an opinion piece about bringing the rest of the Taran population up to the Bakzen’s level. Other sources ran with the story, and the pivotal moment seemed to have come in a follow-up interview with a representative from the Priesthood. The reporter asked if it was possible to enhance the abilities of Tarans, and the Priesthood confirmed it could be done.
What the Priesthood didn’t say was that those experimentations had been underway since before the Bakzen ever became public knowledge.
The confirmation that the
form of Tarans themselves could be changed was met with polarized reactions. Some demanded to be given immediate access to the gene therapies, while others were horrified by the idea.
News coverage only told one side of the story, though. The data archive held one critical piece of information that was more powerful than all the other anecdotal evidence. It contained a detailed accounting of how and where a genetic therapy had been disseminated to the entire Taran population and known worlds—even those no longer recognized as part of the empire—through food, water, and medicine. Self-replicating and transferrable, the nanotech behind the therapy had worked its way to every living and future person within a matter of a decade.
By the time anyone learned of the Bakzen, that process of dissemination was already complete.
The population was unaware of this intervention, of course. But the Priesthood was crafty—they knew some people would begin exhibiting stronger abilities as a result of the genetic therapy, so they instituted public screenings to identify candidates to receive trial treatments. Whenever someone was found to be on the cusp of new abilities emerging, they would be “selected” for the trial and issued a treatment that was nothing more than a placebo.
This continued for five generations, until the first ability losses emerged as a result of the Generation Cycle. It was only then that the Priesthood realized their mistake, and so the cover-up began.
Everything Wil had learned from Banks lined up with the events that followed—the public disavowal of telekinetic abilities, the Bakzen being ostracized and ultimately forced out, and the new laws banning cloning of sentient beings.
Along with those policy changes had come a radical shift in Taran culture. Technology, language, etiquette—everything had pivoted to favor modes of communication that diminished telekinesis and telepathy rather than having them at the center of the civilization. The Priesthood had to ensure that there were no remaining cultural artifacts of the Bakzen or the abilities the other citizens had lost.
That fate of the Bakzen was much more poignant now that Wil understood that context and had seen footage of them living in peace among his people. They had been kind-hearted and eager to be accepted. Tarans had driven them away and forced them to become the hardened killers he’d faced in the war. The wish for peace the former Bakzen general, Carzen, had expressed had been the one lingering remnant from that shared past.
Now, though, the Bakzen and their culture that could have been was gone. But there was still a chance for overdue justice.
The duplicate of the data archive now in Wil’s possession was the collection of everything the Priesthood had sought to destroy—everything that pointed to their selfish interests and disregard for the autonomy of Taran citizens. No one would be able to look at that evidence and still trust the Priesthood as the supposed moral compass for the civilization.
Wil returned his thoughts to the present and the task at hand. “With this information, a unanimous vote to unseat the Priesthood is the only possible outcome,” Wil said to his father. “I know you’ll be able to get Ryan and Raena positioned how they’ll need to be.”
Cris nodded. “I don’t have any concerns about their political aptitudes. But about Raena…”
Has he figured out just how strong she really is? Wil’s chest tightened. “What about her?”
“While we were in the Underground, she did some things.”
Wil braced himself.
“One of the columns collapsed, and she caught it.”
“What? You didn’t say anything about a collapse before!” Wil exclaimed. “You all could have been killed!”
“We got kind of backed into a corner. I didn’t realize how unstable things were until we only had one way forward.”
Wil glared at him. “I didn’t think I’d have to worry about their safety with you.”
Cris slumped. “They would have just gone without me. The important thing is everyone’s fine.”
Arguing won’t change anything. Wil took a calming breath. “All right, so what about it?”
“The columns are huge. Well within the capabilities of a Primus Agent, but for her to be so young and the reaction time—it surprised me.”
Wil nodded. “She’s quite advanced.”
“And her aptitude for astral projection…”
“Yeah, the first time I took her out, I was shocked.”
Cris evaluated him over the viewscreen. “Is that why you didn’t resist when she asked to leave the TSS?”
There were so many things Wil wanted to say regarding his hopes and fears for his daughter, but he didn’t know if this was the right time to reveal his suspicions about what the coming years would bring. “It made the most political sense.”
His father wasn’t convinced, shaking his head. “There’s more to it than that. I haven’t forgotten her score when you tested her a year ago.”
I don’t want to lie to him. If I can’t be honest with him, then no one. “You’re still the only person who knows about that, and I continue to think it’s best that it stays that way.”
“Kalin is going to figure it out pretty fast once he starts training with Raena and Ryan,” Cris pointed out.
“If he has suspicions, he’ll keep it to himself. It’s one of the reasons I selected him over some of the other volunteers.”
“And what about when Raena figures it out for herself?”
“You don’t think she already knows?” Wil countered. “When we went to visit with the Aesir, I think that confirmed anything that hadn’t already been said aloud.”
“My biggest concern is that she thinks she’s invincible,” Cris said.
“She’ll grow out of that with a little more time. That’s why I’ve been much more careful with Jason.”
“Any new assessment of if he’s as gifted as her?”
Wil shook his head. “Still unclear, but I do think he’ll at least be on par with me. I’ve… put some plans in place.”
“What sort of plans?” his father asked.
“To launch a secret training program in weaponized telekinesis.”
Cris released a long breath. “I didn’t think we were back to that.”
“We both know the Priesthood won’t go quietly, regardless of the political case against them. We need to be ready,” Wil insisted.
“I don’t disagree. I just wish there was another way.”
“They made this a contest of physical might, and I’ll do everything it takes to win.”
His father nodded. “You’re right. The time for peace isn’t quite here yet.”
“But soon.”
Cris smiled. “Yes, very soon.”
* * *
Raena took in the morning view of Lake Tiadon from her terrace, reveling in the warm rays of the sun on her back. During her year in TSS Headquarters, she’d missed being out in the fresh air.
“Beautiful morning,” Ryan commented from the doorway.
She looked over her shoulder and smiled at him. “There hasn’t been a cloudy day since we got here. This weather control thing is pretty handy.”
“Nighttime rain when it’s needed and perfect temperatures, I can’t complain.” Ryan smiled back. He approached her and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind; the privacy of a terrace was one of the few outdoor places where they could risk such a clear demonstration of their relationship.
Raena leaned back against him. “It’s still hard to believe that taking care of all this will be our responsibility one day.”
“I know. But seeing the Dainetris estate—tangible proof of what the Priesthood did—it’s made me all the more committed. I still have no idea how to be a dynastic leader, but I want to learn.”
“Me too.” She spun around to face him. “For what it’s worth, I think you already do know how to be a good leader. You’re selfless and kind. Those are the traits you can’t readily teach.”
“I think there’s a little more to it than that.”
“You’ll do great,” she
assured him. “And besides, we’re in it together.”
He gazed into her eyes and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “How did I get so lucky to have you as a partner?”
“I was just wondering the same thing.” She paused. “Too sappy?”
“Not for me.” Ryan drew her to him for a kiss.
Raena savored the contact, thankful to be close to her favorite person.
When their lips finally parted, she placed her head on his chest. “We might feel unprepared, but like it or not, we’re about to help lead a revolution.”
“Yeah, that makes me feel way better.”
She smiled up at him. “Oh, come on. You have to admit, that’s a pretty cool claim to be able to make.”
“All right, maybe a little,” he conceded with a grin.
“Speaking of which, we should probably get ready to sit in on that SiNavTech board meeting. We’ve gots learnin’s to do.”
Ryan chuckled. “I dare you to talk like that in front of the board.”
“You jest, but now I’ll have to.”
He shook his head. “I still can’t always tell when you’re joking.”
“Good, that’ll keep things interesting.” She gave him another quick kiss. “Now come on—we have some conspiring to do.”
* * *
Keeping his extracurricular training a secret was going to be a challenge, but Jason was prepared to do whatever was necessary in the years ahead.
He snuck into the elevator down to Level 11 using the special credentials his father had given him for their covert training. Select members of the Primus Elites would be gathered into their own training groups eventually, but Jason’s private practice sessions would be different.
Without having Raena and Ryan around, it’d become even clearer to Jason just how advanced his skills already were relative to the other trainees. The activities in group training felt like childish exercises and he craved more. That wasn’t to say his fellow trainees weren’t talented in their own right and the activities weren’t beneficial, he was just beyond them. He would always be beyond them.