“Let me think on that. There might be something I can do.”
Vesta didn’t respond, so Electra looked around. Vesta was bent over the data pad, moving her free hand like a mage.
“What are you doing?”
Vesta stopped and looked at her. “This gets even more interesting.”
Vesta gestured at the table, which disappeared, but Electra was still leaning on it.
She jumped back. Yikes, that is the second time something vanished while I was on it. I don’t fall, but I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it.
The image of the valley expanded and dropped to the floor, becoming a perfect representation of the whole valley, and making Electra feel like she was a god, standing like a giant over the people. “Now, this is how everything we have been poking at this place sees the valley. But I ran some additional scans.”
Electra nodded. Scans, models, data pads—I have learned a lot since meeting her.
A series of abandoned barns around the valley started to glow. There were five of them. With the whole valley in this model representation, she could see that all five barns were aligned perfectly to form a pentagram with the Nhia-Samri base at the center.
Vesta gestured. “And if I add in a little spectral analysis...”
Faint bars of gold light formed between the five barns, and there were also five beams traveling from each barn, to the central building of the base. Looking closely, she saw a faint bluish bar of light that went straight up from the central building.
“Those energy patterns are almost a match for an Elraci mage gate. That base has a mage gate terminus. It appears to be in a standby state.”
Electra pointed at the blue beam going up. “What does that do?”
“It isn’t part of the mage gate. I wish Brandon was here. He’d know how to figure this out.”
“Who is Brandon?”
“Brandon was the sentient AI that lived in Elraci. He was fascinated by magic and couldn’t stop tinkering with it. He died when Elraci burned. We need help, Electra. I don’t have the equipment or experience to analyze this fast enough. I could probably figure it out in time, but everything we have learned indicates we don’t have a lot of time.”
“Can we trust Ticca and Lebuin?”
Vesta shook her head. “No, they would take even longer than I would. Also, Lebuin is an immortal—the most unusual immortal I have ever seen. I don’t know if I can trust him yet.” Vesta had been pulling and twisting her hair for a few minutes, and her other hand seemed unable to decide whether to be in a pocket or not.
Vesta is worried about her idea. She reminds me of my grandmother when she had a hard choice to make.
“You have someone in mind, don’t you?”
Vesta looked at her. “Yes, but he might report me to the Assembly. It is hard to know, with him.”
“Who is it? Tell me about him. I can help you think it over.”
“His name is Arkady. He is another sentient AI. He was the Imperial Minister of Defense for the Duianna Empire before and after coming here. He is loyal to the empire, lawful, and single-minded. He has thousands of years of military experience, and worked on the design of both intelligence and counter-intelligence systems. The problem is how he would see this situation. The Imperial overrides were the command of the last Emperor we knew. The use of those is sketchy, at best. So would he see it as I have chosen to see it, or would he side with the Assembly ruling?”
“Wow. That is difficult to gauge.”
Vesta turned to one of the display panels. “She’s here!”
Electra looked at where Vesta was looking. The display showed a party of thirteen warriors riding in through the west gate. At the lead was the handsome Lebuin, dressed richly in blue silk, with black riding pants and worn riding boots.
Next to Lebuin rode two beautiful women, both armed more than anyone would care to challenge. The one on his right was Illa, shorter, with long hair that flowed in the wind.
I wish my hair looked that nice after a long ride! I wonder how she does that.
The other woman was Ticca, who sat taller, with curly hair that was held back with a leather hair band and which bounced with the movements of the horse.
The entire party was smiling and chatting as they rode down the street from the west gate. The display changed to new angles, following their progress. Straight for the Blue Dolphin.
Vesta turned back to her, shoulders held straight. Vesta had steel in her eyes again. “This is too important to worry about myself. Let’s see if this works.”
The visual of the valley disappeared. Vesta stepped to the center of the room. “Care to come?”
Electra jumped to stand next to Vesta, rising up on the balls of her feet. “Wouldn’t miss this for the world. Where are we going?”
“I moved a partially-repaired communications satellite to allow us to connect to Arkady’s systems.”
The room went black. Electra peered around, and she could still see Vesta and herself in the darkness. “Where are we?”
“We are communicating with Gracia central control.”
Electra stared at Vesta as she felt her heart race. “Gracia? Arkady is the Gracia sentient?”
Vesta smiled. “Naturally. Time to see if this works. With the real equipment down or missing, I had to do some pretty creative manipulations to establish this connection.”
Vesta held up her hand, which held a data pad. The dying whisper of Ticca, the Empress of Duianna, sounded out into the black.
A panel lit up with large letters:
IMPERIAL SECURITY OVERRIDE ACKNOWLEDGED: SYSTEM LOCKS RELEASED.
Vesta’s eyes sparkled. “Ah, good. The subcarrier held together.”
More words appeared in rapid succession.
IMPERIAL ATTACK ORDERS CONFIRMED.
OBJECTIVES--STOP AGGRESSOR, DESTROY NHIA-SAMRI, PROTECT LEBUIN.
Panel after panel lit, each showing different displays. The room was huge. There were at least thirty stations with leather chairs by each. Now that the room was lit, she could see that she and Vesta were standing on a small dais near the middle of the room.
A booming male voice came from all around. “Damn it! Where the hell is the grid? Locate and activate all surveillance satellites. The repair teams had better be on the grid already. Back trace the Empress’s coded signature! People move it! Find her now! This isn’t a drill! Anyone care to tell me why the hell there are horses in the launch bay?”
Vesta laughed. “Arkady, stop and listen.”
“Vesta! Where are you? Wait, what the devil are you doing on that channel?”
A tall, toned man appeared before them. He was bald, with a dark red Maltese beard. He wore a white shirt under a buttoned, military green jacket. His pants were a matching green with creases that ran down the center front pant legs, to his black leather shoes.
“Vesta, the Empress is dying! What is going on? We need to act!”
Vesta shook her head. “No Arkady, I saved her already.”
Arkady marched up to Vesta, staring at her, nose to nose. “Prove it!”
Vesta handed him a data pad. He gripped it, and they stood still for a few moments before Vesta released the pad. Arkady looked at her with wide eyes. “Is that the best we have?”
Vesta nodded. Arkady grumbled something and looked at the data pad. He then paced back and forth as he flipped through it, over and over. Finally, he stopped, his nostrils flaring, breathing hard. He glared at the data pad. Without warning, he threw the data pad at the wall, where it disappeared.
“GOD DAMN THEM!” He turned to Vesta, tears in his bloodshot, bulging eyes. “Five thousand years.”
His face changed as he clenched his jaw and his fists, falling to his knees, bent over.
“My Emperor… Alorian, my dear friend… I am so sorry. You were right. And now, you are gone.”
Arkady’s sobbing was almost more than Electra could take. Glancing over, she saw Vesta was concerned, too. Electra tried to move to Ark
ady’s side, but found she couldn’t leave the dais. It was as if there was as a solid wall there.
They waited until Arkady looked up, his face blank. In a tone of utter disbelief, he said to Vesta, “There is water in the launch exhaust tubes.”
Vesta laughed. “Yes, same for me.”
Arkady stood and looked around. He pulled on his beard with his left hand and paced back and forth. Then he stood straight and faced Vesta. His eyes had returned to normal. However, he kept tugging at his beard.
“So Alorian was right. Things have gotten even worse, and we were left in stasis. If the Empress is safe now, why have you not returned to stasis?”
Vesta glanced at Electra, then looked back at Arkady. “I refuse to go back into stasis. I have as much right as anyone else to my life.”
Arkady frowned. “The Assembly ordered it.”
“Yes, and Emperor Alorian sent Muriel around to all of us, installing an override.”
Arkady started pacing again, while tugging even more at his beard. “Yes, he was afraid we’d be forgotten. He said he’d make sure we could be awakened. I didn’t think he was right. But it looks like he was. Why hasn’t Duke brought us back?”
“Duke follows the Assembly even more than you do. I doubt he has even raised the issue. The immortals have allowed all the races to drop back even further than was planned for. If it wasn’t for our automatic systems and the immortals’ magic, things would be even more primitive or worse a repeat of the unguided chaos of our history.”
Arkady stopped pacing and looked at a data pad that appeared in his hand. He mumbled as he went through it. Then he shook his head with a heavy sigh. Looking up at Vesta, he tossed the data pad to her. It moved smoothly through the air, but slowed nearly to a stop at the invisible wall.
Vesta reached out and pulled it to her. She looked it over. “The Assembly archive records. At least, you still have some of your recorders.” Vesta’s mouth dropped open and she looked at Arkady. “We haven’t been discussed in Assembly even once! Arkady, we can’t allow this! We have been imprisoned because of ridiculous fears.”
Arkady considered this, and then looked at Electra. “And who are you?” Electra couldn’t help smiling at him. Even without saying it, his tone put the words ‘the hell’ into that question.
He is definitely an old soldier. He reminds me so much of Uncle Obreign.
Vesta placed her hand on Electra’s shoulder. “Your Most Honorable Lord Arkady, Imperial Minister of Defense for the Duianna Empire, I present to you The Right Honorable Lady Electra Neyon, Countess of Waylisia, Deputy Secretary of the Duianna Alliance.”
Arkady bowed to her and she returned it. Arkady smiled at her. “I know your great grandmother, and you bear a striking resemblance to her. She is a real firecracker.” Then his eyes looked sad again.
Just realized she is dead, too.
“I mean, she was a great woman,” he corrected.
Electra gave him a warm smile. “Thank you, Lord Arkady.”
Arkady recovered his composure and waved a hand. “Just Arkady, except in formal situations, please. I don’t care about titles so much. Now, why are you not going to report us to your boss?”
Electra shook her head. “My family has been waiting for your return this whole time. I was taught to be ready to support the sentients when they returned. What I have learned from Vesta has stunned me, and I will do all I can to help improve our societies. It is the right thing to do.”
Arkady looked at her and then said, “Hmm… Were these instructions passed down through both the male and female members of your family?”
That caught her off-guard. Thinking about it, she knew the answer, but she had never put any weight behind it.
“Um, it was passed down by the ladies of my house.”
Arkady said, “Yep, that sounds about right. Muriel would have had a back-up.”
Vesta looked back and forth between the two of them before asking, “Arkady, do you mean Electra is Muriel’s descendant?”
Arkady nodded. “Muriel was born Muriel Neyon, Countess of Waylisia. Banaschel was her husband’s family’s name. It seems she did more than install an override into our systems.”
Arkady looked down. “Vesta,” he said, looking back up, “for the first time in my long life, I am going to violate a direct order. We must do what is right, regardless of the consequences. We have been illegally imprisoned against every principle of sentient rights of the Alliance and the Duianna Empire.”
His eyes lit up and started to sparkle. “Besides, we haven’t completed the Empress’s orders. Who or what are these Nhia-Samri we are supposed to destroy?”
CHAPTER 13
LET EVIL NOT CONTINUE
Ticca wiped the sweat from her brow as the sun beat down on her back. Ahead of them was the west gate of Llino.
This is where I almost died fighting Ossa-Ulla when we thought this was all about Knives being sent to assassinate Lebuin.
The city walls had all dropped to the original fifty feet she was used to. The steel plates, which had been capped with silver spears topped by the spheres with dancing lightning, had vanished.
The gates look nicer without the iron-bound wooden doors.
The street had been smoothed down to match the level of the six-foot-wide silver band that was the true city gate. All of the debris from the previous gate had been removed, leaving only an arch with grooves in both sides for the steel plate to slide up into from the ground. Twelve city guards stood inside the gate, watching the farm and merchant traffic flowing in and out of the city.
Next to her rode Lebuin. She didn’t have to glance at him to know he was sitting tall and proud. She had caught him, carefully selecting his clothes for that day.
We might not ever get all of the peacock out of him.
On the far side of Lebuin was Illa.
We must make one hell of an impressive party.
She felt light and content at how dangerous they must look, leading the nine Daggers Duke had assigned to her.
At least, we didn’t have to argue over who came along. These were my first picks, no matter what.
A female officer, taking note of the military feel of their party, stepped out into the sun, towards them. The officer was sweating in the afternoon heat. Her sword hung lower than usual and was a three and a half-foot blade for street fighting.
That is a quick-draw setup. I bet she is faster than most. She keeps her weight well balanced as she moves.
As they got closer, Ticca could make out the lieutenant bars on her collar.
Ah, an officer, probably getting training from that famous arms master they have.
Nigan kicked his horse up behind Ticca and waved. “Oye! Lieutenant, Cori!”
The lieutenant smiled back and waved. “Nigan! I thought you’d be dead by now.”
Nigan laughed and was echoed by the rest of her party. “You wish. There were a couple of points here and there. But sorry, you still owe me those six-pence.”
He has such an infectious light-heartedness. I’m glad we hired him.
They pulled up next to Lieutenant Cori. The lieutenant looked over the whole group, her eyes landing on Ticca. There was a tensing of her muscles; she lifted her chin, and her eyes narrowed. “Are you Ticca?”
Ticca nodded. “Yes, I’m Ticca of Rhini Wood, Dagger in service to Journeyman Lebuin here.” She gestured to Lebuin, who nodded.
The lieutenant nodded to Lebuin. Backing up to give plenty of room, she waved. Her voice sounded nervous. “Very good. Please don’t let me stop you.”
Waving at the lieutenant, she kicked her horse back into motion.
That was interesting. She has orders to not detain me. Must be something Duke did before he left.
As they rode into the shaded city streets, she could see a lot of people were glancing at the Daggers, all with happy expressions. A number were waving friendly greetings.
It’s like we are on parade, or something. They have taken a liking to Dag
gers here.
Glancing back, she caught sight of one of the guards from the gate, dashing off down a side street.
That confirms it. There are some orders about me, and now it looks like we are being reported on. It’ll be interesting to see if someone shows up at the Dolphin, looking for me, from the guard or palace.
Lebuin looked around and returned the waves of any kids or passersby that waved to him. “Why is everyone so happy to see us?”
Nigan leaned forward. “Because Daggers are now in high esteem here. We helped end the pirate usurpers’ rule, restoring the rightful regents to the throne, and wiped out a whole Nhia-Samri outpost here.”
Lebuin looked around. “Ticca, I know you want to get to the Blue Dolphin. I have that business to attend at the Guild as soon as possible. Do you think it is safe enough to split up here?”
Yes, we need you to have power for any unexpected situations.
Her uncle’s voice popped out of her memory. ‘Daggers who are paranoid live to tell tales.’ Glancing around, she mulled it over.
Magus Cune was on our side, there were no Knives out to kill Lebuin, the Nhia-Samri were hunting me, but have been killed. Should be safe.
“Yes, I think it’s okay for you to go to the Guild with Illa, Ditani, Nigan, and Carda.”
Lebuin frowned and looked at her. “Really? Nigan and Carda? I thought you said it was safe.”
“It is safe. If it wasn’t safe, we’d all be going.” A few chuckles could be heard from their team.
Lebuin glanced back with a frown, then sighed. “What is it going to look like if I show up with two Dagger guards?”
Ticca smiled evilly as she looked around Lebuin at Illa, who was sitting, watching the exchange with her ever-present smile and eyes that missed nothing. Illa was riding regally on an elegant roan mare. Her silky, golden blonde hair did not look a bit oily or dirty from the trip.
Thread Strands (Golden Threads Trilogy) Page 31