by Wells, Juno
“We have respect for women on this planet. They would never hurt you.”
“Yeah they told me about the goddesses and stuff.”
“I hope you’ll be happy here.”
She didn’t have the heart to tell him that she doubted it.
She was surprised when they didn’t come across anymore living creatures. Just corridor after corridor that all looked exactly the same. Was it all for show, this big palace? Maybe they held events sometimes and the corridors would be teeming with people.
She was desperate to peer behind the endless doors they walked past, but she didn’t think Jukk would appreciate the request.
“So will I see more of you? Are you around the palace often?”
“No, I’m only here to escort you. I never have reason to come to the palace, I’m far lower in the chain that the personal guard for the king.”
“It seems so empty in here.”
“The king and his interior guard are the only permanent residents in the palace.”
“Oh. But it seems so huge.”
“There’s a celebration once a year where the palace is completely full.”
“What’s it for?”
“To celebrate the birth of the Vaherian race.”
“You have an exact date for that?”
“The goddesses wrote their memoirs in incredible detail.”
Her brow arched. “They wrote memoirs?”
“Yes. Of course.”
“So I could read them when I have the translator?”
“Certainly.”
“Cool.” It seemed like such an integral part of the culture on Vaher that she was keen to get a better understanding. “Is this… is it going to hurt?”
“I’m not sure actually. We all have the AI implanted when we’re born, so we can’t remember it.”
Hannah rubbed the back of her neck where the device would go. “That’s not very reassuring.”
“You seem strong.”
“Flattery is always reassuring.” She gave him an impish grin, but he looked horrified by the idea he had given a compliment to someone else’s mate. “I was joking,” she said, trying to relax him again.
They went down two flights of stairs and opened a door to a corridor that looked different to the rest of the palace. This one had bright white walls without engravement. The white metal was on the floor too, with no carpet.
“This is the medical wing,” Jukk explained.
“Sterile,” she replied, feeling icky just being down there.
Jukk opened the first door on the right and then stepped way into the room so he wasn’t too close to her. Another Vaherian stood in there. He wasn’t wearing gloves or a mask.
“Hi,” Hannah said.
The doctor nodded and gestured for her to sit on a chair. It didn’t look like a medical chair particularly. It was a dining chair made from the same metal as the walls and floors.
She took a seat and wrung her hands together in her lap. “Is this going to hurt?”
The doctor moved her hair to the side, exposing her neck. At least he wasn’t scared of touching her. “No,” he replied.
She gasped as an icy coldness froze her neck. It was just a small section, exactly where she knew the device was going to go. She couldn’t feel a thing and fought the urge to pull away.
Then the feeling came back all at once.
“Did something go wrong?” she asked.
“Hello Hannah.” It was a voice coming from inside her thoughts rather than through her ears. The voice was female and American. It was soothing and slow and didn’t sound robotic. “I am your new virtual assistant. Please ask if you have any questions.”
She frowned, wanting to speak out loud in response but knowing that none of the Vaherians did that.
So, I can understand Vaherian now?
“Yes. That’s correct.”
Do you have a name?
“I can have a name if you’d like me to have one.”
I’m terrible at naming things, Hannah complained. Has no one else given you a name? Or is there a different AI in every Vaherian?
“We are the same program, but do not communicate with each other. That would be a breach of privacy.”
Hmm. I guess I’ll call you Amy? That was kind of like having AI at the beginning of a word. It had nothing to do with the cat she’d owned for twelve years being called Amy.
“Then I am Amy.”
Great. Okay, Amy, I have so many questions.
“I’m happy to answer all questions.”
Do you—
“Is everything okay?” Jukk asked, breaking her train of thought. She probably looked like she was having a seizure she was concentrating so hard.
“Oh! Great. Yeah, just talking to Amy. It’s really weird, having the voice in your head.”
“Amy?”
“That’s what I named my AI.”
“You named it?”
“Yes,” she said defensively. “She sounds so human. She has to have a name.”
“She isn’t human. She’s a computer, programmed to recognize thought triggers and respond appropriately.”
“Yeah but, she sounds human.”
“She’s not sentient.”
“That doesn’t matter. My car wasn’t sentient either but I still called her Marigold.”
Jukk looked like he was really struggling not to sigh at her.
“Are we done here?” the doctor asked, and he sounded impatient. Maybe he was one of the ones that didn’t trust her presence on Vaher.
“I’m all good,” Hannah replied, smiling at him.
He didn’t smile back but teleported out without another word.
Jukk scowled. “How rude.”
“It’s fine, I don’t care. I’m really glad he gave me Amy. Are you leaving now?”
He paused and Hannah was sure he was talking to his own AI. “I have an assignment soon.”
“I can find my way back to my room by myself,” she assured him. She wanted some time to talk to Amy and ask some of the billions of questions she had about Vaher without needing to bug her men with them. “Veiko, Aavik and Wraxic showed me around the palace yesterday, and I can remember where we walked today.”
Jukk dithered. “Are you sure?”
“Positive! Really, I just want to have a stroll back to my room. I like stretching my legs.”
She knew she was going to get her way just because of how Jukk thought of her. He would struggle to go against something she wanted. “Okay. Just stay safe. Don’t leave the palace.”
“I’m definitely not going to do that.” She wasn’t stupid, no matter how curious she was. “Thanks for bringing me. Hopefully I’ll see you again soon.”
He nodded and then vanished.
Hey, can I teleport now?
“Teleportation requires another implant that you did not receive.”
Damn. Okay, so, do you know the way back to my room? Because I’ve got no fucking idea.
She’d been semi-paying attention when she was walking, but the labyrinth of corridors and stairwells had all blurred into one and she’d been more interested in talking to Jukk than memorizing the layout.
“I do not have access to palace blueprints.”
Damn. Guess we’ll just start walking, then.
“I cannot walk.”
Hannah rolled her eyes and opened the door into the sterile corridor. They’d definitely come down those stairs, so she walked back up the two flights. That brought her to a corridor, and she started walking. One of the doors led to another corridor which would take her back, but she couldn’t for the life of her remember which one it was.
Left or right?
“You would like me to make an arbitrary decision?”
Yes.
“Left.”
Great. That’s what I would have chosen, too.
She guessed that Amy was rolling her eyes now.
She opened the door and found another corridor. That was a good sign. This see
med familiar.
A few more turns later and she was definitely not where she was supposed to be. The corridor was standard doors on the right and on the left huge windows that offered a different view to her bedroom. They were on the complete wrong side of the palace.
“God damnit,” she said allowed, almost hoping that someone would hear her and come to offer assistance. But the place was dead.
And you can’t communicate with other AIs?
“I—”
Wait a second.
She could hear something. She tiptoed along the corridor, walking close to the doors to see if she could pinpoint where it was coming from. It was from behind the last door on the right.
This door was much fancier than any of the others. A double door with opulent engraving on.
Her heart pounded. The only reason it would be that much more extravagant was if it was something personal to the king, wasn’t it?
But she could hear exactly what the voices were saying from here, and curiosity won out. She was supposed to be a spy, after all, wasn’t she?
There were two voices, and she couldn’t tell who was who just by sound.
“You’re asking too much of me,” one said.
“You’re in dire straits, there isn’t anything I can ask that is too much for you.”
A tense pause, and Hannah held her breath.
“The Tricanite is very important to our planet. It’s part of our religious rites. The biggest mine would have to be beneath the tomb of the goddesses.” That had to be the king, Hannah guessed.
“Your religious mumbo jumbo isn’t something I care about. What I need to know is whether you’re willing to give it to me.” And this wasn’t another Vaherian. This was someone foreign.
Do you know where he’s from? Can you tell from the accent, or the language he’s speaking in before the AI translates it?
“They are speaking in Hystian,” Amy said.
Hystian. Hannah committed the name to memory.
“I’ll get you the Tricanite,” the king said. “But I’ll need a deposit.”
The Hystian laughed. “Poor bastard. But fine. Ten percent. And that’s generous. If you fail to deliver the Tricanite you can expect an attack instead.”
There was a beat of silence and Hannah realized that the Hystian had probably teleported out.
Which left her stood outside the room eavesdropping when the king was probably about to exit.
Head heavy with information she shouldn’t have, she half-ran back down the corridor, praying her footfalls weren’t as loud as they sounded to her.
She had no idea where she was going, but she didn’t stop running for a good ten minutes.
Finally she slowed to a walk. She wasn’t out of breath, but her heart was thudding worryingly against her ribcage.
The King was doing something that would mean desecrating a place sacred to the Vaherian’s religion. She knew, from the brief time she’d spent with her men, that their religion was deeply entrenched, that people were firm believers.
This would be an unpopular move, and it sounded like the king was doing it off his own back.
She ran her hands through her hair. “Shit,” she cursed. “Shit. Shit. Shit.”
14 Aavik
When they got back to their room at the palace and found it empty, Aavik thought his heart was going to give out.
“Where the fuck has she gone?” he asked, storming around the empty space and searching for clues of a struggle.
“Maybe she’s still having her AI fitted,” Wraxic suggested, not immediately jumping to panic like him.
“She should have been finished with that ages ago,” Aavik dismissed. “It takes seconds to put it in.”
Veiko stood by the door with his arms crossed, scowling at the place. “I can’t see any signs of a fight.”
“She does seem like the type to go wandering around,” Wraxic said. He was too optimistic for either of the older men’s tastes, but they had to admit that it was a possibility.
“Should we split up or go together?” Aavik asked, looking to their leader.
“Split up,” Veiko said. “And make sure you find her.”
“Because you care, or because you’re worried the king will be pissed if she disappears on us?” It was a cheap shot, and Aavik knew it. Veiko was above rising to his pettiness.
“You’re wasting time,” he said instead, shutting Aavik down with a swift sentence.
As they shut the door to the room and were about to head out, though, the woman in question came strolling down the corridor toward them. She was deep in her own thoughts, chewing on her bottom lip and frowning at the floor.
“Hannah,” Aavik said.
She jumped, raising her hand to her chest. “Oh, shit, you scared me.”
“Where have you been?” He was too harsh, but he couldn’t help it. “You scared me.” He offered to try and soften the blow.
Her cheeks turned a flattering pink. “I convinced Jukk to let me walk back from the place I had my AI inserted. It turned out I couldn’t remember the way back as well as I thought. Just had a bit of a detour around probably the whole palace, that’s all.”
“But you’re okay?”
There was something in her expression that made Aavik think he wasn’t getting the full story, but then she nodded and beamed. “I’m fine! Just getting used to having Amy in my head.”
“Amy?”
“That’s what I called my AI.”
The three men looked at each other, and she rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I get it, people don’t normally give them names.”
Aavik had certainly never spoken to his AI to have a conversation with it where it would need a name. He asked a simple question and get a concise answer. That was their purpose.
“So, you have the rest of the day off, or?” she asked the men.
“We have some time off,” Veiko said.
“So we should do something.”
“Together?” Wraxic asked, skeptically.
“Of course,” Hannah said. Aavik was amazed that she was so much calmer and friendlier today. Maybe she was taking their assertions that they wouldn’t force anything on her more seriously. “I’m on a brand-new planet, with a thousand new things to see. You could show me something.”
“But nothing dangerous,” Veiko immediately qualified.
“Is there anything dangerous on the planet?” she asked.
“We don’t have wars or fighting, but there are still people who aren’t pleased with your presence here.”
“I want to know more about your religion,” she said, and again Aavik noticed the shadow on her face. Maybe she was feeling it too, maybe she felt that burn to be close to them.
That made sense, and his blood pounded hot with the temptation to believe it. She was being nicer to them and she wanted to know more about the goddesses—and presumably their blessing.
“There are many sacred sites on the planet that we could show you,” Aavik suggested. “Many contain information on the history.”
“I’d love that.”
Aavik, Veiko and Wraxic discussed rapidly the best place to take her that wouldn’t be too dangerous, but now she could understand them they lost all control of the conversation, and she could offer her own opinions.
She was keen to see the temple commemorating the death of the goddesses, but all three men agreed that was too risky right now. It was one of the more popular places to pay respects, and always had some visitors there.
Instead they settled on a smaller temple that held artefacts from their early life.
She still looked wary when Aavik touched her shoulder so that they could teleport, but the heat on her cheeks increased.
That was a point on the side of his theory being correct.
They appeared outside the temple—to teleport inside a temple was strictly forbidden. It was a small, dome-shaped building made from a single, thick, solid piece of black stone rather than bricks. In the stone, scripture was carved.
It was a reminder to all Vaherians to do kindness to each other.
“It’s amazing,” Hannah breathed, and of course she could actually read the inscription now rather than just seeing the shapes of the words and not being able to decipher them.
He was surprised when she gave his hand a quick squeeze before releasing it and walking forward.
“Are there any customs I should be aware of?” she asked, looking over her shoulder as she walked up stairs to the entrance. “I don’t want to offend anyone.”
“Just don’t touch anything, and don’t speak too loudly,” Veiko said.
She nodded and then entered the small archway that was carved out. There was no door—the temple was always open for whoever wanted to visit it.
Today no one wanted to visit, and it was empty inside.
A warm, bubbling pool sat in the middle of the temple, and flowers covered the surface. It was the first place Hannah went, standing on the edge and peering into it. “Is the water special?”
“The goddesses valued water greatly,” Aavik said. “It’s just a tribute. We can bathe, if you want. It’s kept warm and fresh.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “I thought that would be offensive, or something.”
Aavik put a hand on her back, testing his luck again. She didn’t move away from him. He almost convinced himself that she was leaning into his touch. “You should enjoy nature, not be scared of engaging with it.”
She beamed at him. Then she crouched down and let her fingers move through the water, causing ripples.
Standing up, she was drawn to a screen that stood on the opposite side of the temple to the door. She stared at the moving images.
“Are these actresses?” she asked.
The three men stood in an arc behind her, all close enough that they were just a hair’s breadth from touching her. In moments like this there was no animosity between them: they cared about one thing only, being close to their mate. Aavik became more convinced with every passing moment that Veiko felt his blessing too.
“No, these are the goddesses,” Veiko explained. “There is endless footage of them. Footage of when they created the first men, even.”