“Now, you may talk to me, but I would prefer you call me by some other name. I know enough about stealth to know I should have a codename.”
“How about Rainbow?”
Vesta smiled. “I like that. Okay, if you touch the brooch and say, ‘Rainbow,’ I’ll know you are talking to me. If no one else is within hearing, I can talk back through it. You have twenty-four marks to think all this over. The stables are still clear, so you can leave the way you came, if you hurry.”
Nodding, she smiled. “I don’t think I need the day to think this over. I am excited already. But I will consider it.”
Vesta smiled. “There is a thing known as ‘buyer’s remorse.’ If you experience it, you’ll know.”
The door to the stairs slid open. Nodding to Vesta, she rushed up the stairs, to the top, where the doorway slid open to let her back out into the night air. As soon as she had stepped out, the doorway closed and the building slid down into the ground. A dozen beetles hummed and shook the dirt at the visible edges until there was no sign the building had been there. Then they flew off.
She started strolling around the stables, looking at the horses, before heading back to her apartment, her mind running over the magnitude of the evening.
- - -
Electra spent the day doing little other than thinking. She toured the city and a spent few marks sitting at a little tobac shop, drinking arit and enjoying some of the best tobac she had ever tasted. The arit was hot and sweet, and let her relax and watch the traffic rolling to and from the market. A lot of merchants from lands she knew passed with wagons of their stocks.
That room was interesting. Everything was clean, and I know that thing Vesta was wearing wasn’t just something she made up. Recalling the working clothing Vesta had worn was the most convincing argument to help her. The cloth looked comfortable, kind of pretty, but utilitarian. The dozens of pockets indicated the need for tools and notes. That suit spoke volumes about the society that would make such a thing.
All of the workmen that passed her wore far simpler working clothes, using shoulder pouches and belt pouches for pockets. The ability to make so many pockets in the clothes meant a lot of labor, or some form of industry to which a pocket is a trivial feat.
Most of the working class that moved by were dirty, and she had always wondered at that. The rich and nobility bathed almost daily and applied deodorant perfumes. In her home, there had been running water with both hot and cold available all day, every day. Many of the inns had indoor plumbing, but out in the country, such things were rare. She had looked into it once and found that no one knew how to build a new plumbing system. The ones in the city were tapped into with copper piping soldered together. As far as she could determine, there had never been a new plumbing system, which had seemed strange, but like most youth, she had forgotten about it as she grew.
By the end of the day, as she walked up the main road towards the palace, with the three guards tailing behind, she knew her answer had not changed, because Vesta was right. Society had not changed in a long time. The Gods were either keeping things at this level, or perhaps they didn’t know how to do what was needed. If I end up marrying Dohma, we have to bring him in on this. I know he’ll agree. Something about this seems made to order for a man like him.
A thirst for knowledge drove her, and she knew this was the same thirst that the Assembly and Gods were afraid of. But Vesta had answers and needed help. She had been asleep for over five thousand years. Even worse, Vesta didn’t understand how best to work in secret: back room meetings, side deals, quietly building support without your opposition finding out until it was too late.
Back in her room, she made sure everyone was gone. She stepped out onto the balcony and checked to be sure that the roof was too far away for any guard up there to overhear. Once she was sure she could not be overheard from the balcony, she touched the brooch. “Rainbow, I think it is safe.”
Some dragonflies floated up on the breeze, zigging back and forth as so many other insects she had seen do her whole life.
Vesta’s voice came from the brooch. “Hello, Electra. How was your day?”
“You’ve been watching. You know how it went.”
“True, but I don’t know how it went for you. How do you feel?”
“I’m in.”
“I won’t ask you if you’re sure. Is there any specific reason?”
She laughed. “I’m in because of that one-piece garment you wore last night.”
The silence went on for so long, Electra’s heart rate went up, worrying that she might have offended Vesta. “Hello, Rainbow, are you still there? Are you mad at me?”
“Sorry Electra. I’m trying to understand this. You’re willing to commit high treason because I wore a working jumpsuit?”
“Is that what you call it? What would you jump into with it?”
Vesta laughed. “You know, I have never wondered about that. But yes, it is called a working jumpsuit, and I wore it because… Well, I always have. It was kind of on me when I first woke up, and I later decided I liked it. Seriously, my jumpsuit was the deciding factor?”
“It had pockets. I liked that, and it says a lot about the society that could have such a form of dress.”
“You know, I thought I had heard it all, at one point or another. I am pleased to see I was wrong.”
Electra smiled. Now, we see if I can really do this. “I have one requirement. With careful vetting, and I mean really careful, you trust me if I want to bring others in on this.”
Vesta considered it before answering. “I’m already worried about having you involved. Not just because of the chance of discovery, but I am putting your life at risk. I don’t want to make life or death decisions again if I can prevent having to.”
“I understand. But I cannot remain alone forever. You will need others. Not many, but a few. Also, I am going to marry the chief regent of this land, and I will not hide this from him. I know him, and believe me, he will be on your side.”
The dragonflies continued to flit about for a while before Vesta answered. “All right, we’ll risk it.”
“Now, what?”
“Now, I ask you the questions I couldn’t ask yesterday. After that, you help me plan our next moves, partner. This will work better if I plug into you.”
That didn’t sound pleasant. Electra licked her dry lips. “What does that mean?”
“It means you go lie down. I’ll have some special equipment brought up which will let us speak mind to mind. It will be much faster than talking, and we can cover a lot of ground in a couple of marks. Don’t worry, it won’t hurt. If this bothers you, we can talk through it for now.”
“No, I trust you.” She got up and got ready for bed. When she climbed into her bed, there were three dragonflies parked around her bed in out-of-the-way spots. On her pillow was a small box which was connected by a silver string, to a silver band. Five beetles also sat on her headboard.
“Just lie down. That silver band should slip over your head. Lie back, get comfortable, and then the beetles will bring the neural bots over.”
“Okay, but you need to explain all this during this faster time.”
She did as instructed. The beetles tickled when they landed on the silver band, their wings fluffing her hair. She felt them moving back and forth. Then there was a bright light, and she was in the same room she had been the night before. But when she looked at her hand, she saw she was made of light, like Vesta had been.
“Welcome to the command center.”
“I’m still in bed?”
Vesta pointed at the walls, which were lit up with square boxes of light of various sizes. Some showed pictures of the city, others showed charts of numbers, and others had maps that were more detailed than she had ever seen before. Three of the pictures showed her body in the bed, from various angles. Next to these was another display with lines that moved up and down and had her name at the top, along with the word ‘vitals.’
“You brought my mind he
re?”
“Yes.”
“Is this how this place always looks to you? I only saw blank walls last night.”
“I had them turned off while you were here.”
Looking at the other pictures, she realized things were moving in them. “These aren’t paintings. They’re happening right now?”
Vesta waved her hand at the moving pictures. “I can record, or save, the images and sounds and then play them back again as often as I wish. Like a book, but with pictures.”
Electra practically danced around the room, looking at the different pictures. Vesta gave her time to explore, then brought her back on task. “Now, I have some data I need your help to understand.”
“What do you need?”
Vesta pointed at some pictures which changed to show a beautiful woman with dark olive skin and an athletic frame, lying in a cot. Her brown, curly hair tumbled down around her head. She was wounded. Next to her, in another cot, was a seasoned-looking Dagger who appeared to be at least four or five inches taller than the woman, heavily muscled, but with short, silvery hair. The Dagger was badly wounded, with a large, blood-soaked pad over his right shoulder. Also next to the woman was another man dressed finely with an athletic, if thin, build, and slightly taller than the woman. Opposite them both was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. The other woman had an hourglass figure shown off by her clothes, which also exposed her muscular arms. She had blonde hair that fell down over her shoulders. Every one of them was armed, as if for battle. The defining creature was the huge wolf that was sitting by the front of the tent they were in.
Vesta pointed. “The Empress has given some directives I must comply with. However, I do not understand it all, so I need your help in clarifying the current situation.”
Electra shook her head in disbelief. “Wait, the Empress? There is no Empress! The Imperial line was lost thousands of years ago.”
Vesta also shook her head. “There can be no mistake. Ticca is the ruling Empress of Duianna. If she wasn’t, I would not be awake, and we would not be having this conversation.”
Electra paced around because it made her feel better to be in motion. “How can she be the ruling Empress? There has been no installation or any other official recognition!”
Vesta shrugged. “That is easy to explain. All those items are protocol procedures for your society, established to provide structure for the needs of people. However, the hereditary line of Duianna was always self-guided. Her uncle, who was the Emperor, abdicated, naming his younger brother Emperor while he took the position of Imperial Guardian. He registered this in the systems. When his brother died, the Imperial line passed to Ticca. Her bio-signature and digital codes were registered in all Imperial systems over the following three days, due to the main communications grid being down. There is no other legal requirement for her to assume the throne.”
Some of that makes sense, because even the histories state that the Imperial artifacts recognized the new Emperor or Empress long before the coronations. That was how they sometimes settled who would ascend. Still, an Empress lives!
“So is she going to Gracia to be installed?”
“No. Based on this conversation, I gather everyone that knows of her existence desires to keep it a secret.”
This is going to get even more complicated. Apparently, we are not the only group of secret players in this game. It occurred to her that this ‘game’ was old indeed. “So what are the Imperial orders? And how did she give them to you if she doesn’t know you’re here?”
“The directives are simple. One, we needed to subdue an aggressor against her and her guards, which has already been accomplished. The second was to destroy someone or something called the Nhia-Samri. Finally, we are required to protect someone or something named Lebuin. I got these commands because she was dying on top of the same type of platform as you came in through last night, meaning she was close enough to an audio pickup for me to hear her commands. She used an unorthodox phrase which had been keyed into my systems by the last Emperor I knew, as an emergency way to break me free of the Assembly locks, if needed. So in short, she accidently called for help and gave enough details to cause me to be needed, and in a way that activated the late Emperor’s keys to break me free of my bonds.”
Electra began to see the complex puzzle, even though she didn’t understand all the terms. “So the last Emperor put in his own locks because he didn’t trust the Assembly would let you go later. You were only released now because Ticca called for help, which means that for your keys to continue to work, you must continue to serve her purposes?”
“Close. I am now free of all the constraints. I may choose my own path. However, I am loyal to the Duianna Empire and the peoples of these lands. Therefore, I’ll serve the Empress to the best of my ability, provided she doesn’t ask evil of me. I can say no if I choose to.”
“Okay, I got it. So who are all these people? I know who Duke is.”
Vesta pointed and different people glowed as she indicated them. I like these picture things. I wish I had these when I gave some presentations!
“This person is Lebuin, and according to the recording, which I’ll play for you in a minute so you can get the context, he is what you would call a God. This means we have to be careful in protecting him. If the immortals discover I am awake before I’m ready to defend myself, I’ll be locked back down. This,” indicating the super-attractive woman, “is Illa, Lebuin’s high priestess, and possibly his disciple.”
Indicating the wounded man, she continued, “I thought this was the Empress’s personal guard. But he is Duke’s primary commander, called Elades. He must be a skilled warrior, and Lebuin expressed more than a little concern for him, so I am glad I reattached his arm.”
The casual way Vesta said she performed that miracle alone made Electra’s throat close at the power of this creature posing as a woman before her. She shook her head. Reattached his arm! Vesta, you might not think of yourself as a God but you are darn close!
Vesta continued, undistracted, indicating the obvious Karakian. “This is Ditani. I haven’t determined his status yet. But I believe he is with the Empress’s group. The crux of this conversation is that the Empress and her warriors, with the immortal, Lebuin, will be coming here to what you call Llino, to retrieve something I haven’t identified yet. After that, they are going to investigate something called a Nhia-Samri power source, which I believe I have located. In the meantime, Duke is going to proceed to Gracia for an Assembly meeting about the coming war with the Nhia-Samri.”
“I got most of that. So what do you want to do first?”
“First, I will teach you enough of these systems so you can work and learn independently. I want you to watch all the data I have gathered from the Empress’s camp so far. Once you have seen and heard it all, you can explain to me their general situation. I need you to teach me what has happened in the last five thousand years. I need to know everything you know about what I understand is a group or nation called the Nhia-Samri. This will take some time, so we’ll need to work out how we can best work together without being detected. Then you and I can plan our next moves.”
CHAPTER 10
PEOPLE SEE WHAT THEY WANT
The room was lit by the glow of the words on the wall. The small chamber was spotless; no dust circled in the air and its three padded chairs sat before the glowing words, looking as new as the day they were made.
IMPERIAL SECURITY EMERGENCY ACKNOWLEDGED:
DESTROY AGRESSOR AND ASSIST GUARDS.
ATTACK ORDER CONFIRMED.
IMPERIAL ENFORCERS DISPATCHED.
MEDICAL AID INITIATED.
CONTACT WITH ENFORCERS LOST.
AGRESSOR CONFIRMED DESTROYED.
ORDERS?
Many smaller lights continued to blink as the map of the area showed one blinking purple dot. Next to the map, another section entitled “EMPRESS VITALS” in green letters continued to change, with sweeping numbers and multicolored lines
that moved up and down in even intervals.
The room brightened as a section of the right wall slid down into the floor, revealing a hallway and the huge frame of Duke. Duke stepped into the room and looked over the many displays.
“System, replay the Empress’s orders.”
A panel lit, showing a series of numbers that changed rapidly and a waving line pattern, as Ticca’s soft whisper filled the room. Her voice was faint and her words slurred together. She was obviously near death. “Damn it…stop him...protect...u...n….” The last part was so slurred as to be incomprehensible.
“Repeat last audio in a loop,” Duke ordered.
Ticca’s dying whisper played repeatedly as Duke sat listening to it. His brows were knit tight in concentration, his ears moving back and forth, as he tilted his head one way, then another.
“Hmm… Stop audio.” Duke sat and thought. Looking at the maps, he ordered, “Show me the third log audit on display six. Also, run a storage analysis of archive systems, and show all records on display seven, which have a molecular displacement over 0.2345 percent.”
Rows of data began streaming across one display while on the other, a record popped up every few seconds. One record caught Duke’s eye.
“Muriel Banaschel! What were you doing here? Hmm, I’d bet… System, display last direct activity of Muriel Banaschel at this terminal.”
A display lit, showing a handful of lines of data. Duke inspected it.
“Muriel, no way in hell did you come here to run a communications check. System, erase Imperial Security Emergency Protocol, and return all command functions to normal security protocols.”
A male voice answered, “Unable to comply. No such protocol.”
“Command system, override alpha, activate systems control maintenance, main display.”
“Override alpha requires security locks release.”
“Authorize security locks release on my authority. Passcode: ‘Damn it, Jim, I’m a jarhead, not an engineer.’”
“Override alpha confirmed. All security locks released.”
Thread Strands (Golden Threads Trilogy) Page 24