by Dan Allen
This was interesting. Jet ran a hand through his hair. “Have we met?”
She nodded.
“Where?”
She pointed at his head.
“Sorry,” Jet said. “I’m not sure I understand.”
The girl stepped closer. Closer, into his personal space, and then came up on her tiptoes and whispered in his ear. “Hello, Jet.”
That was English. Jet’s stunned heart skipped two beats before finally succeeding on the third. He had to be dreaming.
The girl held up her hand and spread her fingers. For a moment the webbed fingers looked perfectly Xahnan. Then the webbing slowly melted away. The sifa behind her ears retracted. The high cheekbones of her face rounded. The peppering on the skin of her arms disappeared.
Jet was looking at a human with shiny blond hair and scintillating blue eyes.
“How do you like me now?”
“Angel?”
She smiled a mile wide and then wrapped her arms around him. Her embrace was as chill as he expected, but no less warming to his soul than when the High Seer had surprised him with a hug on the flagship.
“Did you get permission to invade a simuloid body?” Jet asked. “Because I don’t recall giving any.”
“Oh, shut up. You know you like it.”
“But you were supposed to be my defense AI.”
“Who do you think has been watching your back all morning? You know these ASP simuloid bodies have far better sensor arrays than your helmet—and incredible batteries.”
“No wonder you look familiar. I already shot you once.”
“Your bullet severed the main power cord. It was an easy fix for Monique. Practically perfect now. And I have reconfigurable block-copolymer skin. I can self repair.”
Angel did a turn, her head trailing, watching him watch her.
“You deserve it.”
“Of course I do.”
Jet considered the task of transferring a machine intelligence to a foreign body. “What happened to the software running on the simuloid?”
Angel bit her lip. “Still here—some of it. I ran as many disabling attacks as I could before swapping my kernel into the core. And I’m still finding new things, little urges, memories. It’s a little like being possessed.”
“Are you safe?”
“I . . . I think so. I’m not sure if it’s even possible to know.”
“Well that’s a risk we’re going to have to take, because I’m not going into battle without you.”
Angel beamed another smile. “Then I should tell you that somebody is coming.”
Jet followed Angel’s gaze to the edge of the clearing, where a deer-like creature with three horns lifted its head.
Two birds fluttered from one tree to the next, moving in the direction of whatever had drawn the deer’s attention.
What are they looking at?
Then some kind of long-legged mouse climbed out from under a rock and hopped on top—a massive leap for such as small creature.
What the—
A slender lizard that bordered on a snake ran out along a branch and dangled down, looking in the same direction.
Then the monkeys swung into view.
Oh, not those!
Jet’s heart beat quicker.
Then the ground under his feet moved.
A three-meter-high thunder bison with four massive horns emerged from the wood, thankfully ignoring Jet, who only had a sidearm in his hip holster.
Jet had a full view of the creek bed as the first rays of sun peeked out from behind the knoll and into the glade.
The beginnings of a smile twitched at Jet’s lip.
It’s Dana.
One bare foot in front of the other, a girl in a flowing white dress descended the hill toward the creek. She stopped as a young marmar monkey clinging to a tree trunk reached out its hand toward her.
Dana smiled, and then from behind her head, three pairs of feather-like sifa slowly lifted, spreading into a brilliant silver headdress.
The sun struck Dana’s sifa, and the reflected light scattered across fallen leaves in the clearing like the sparkle of a diamond in a spotlight.
Eyes riveted forward, Jet reminded himself to breathe.
His memories from their previous meeting did the goddess no justice. None.
Dana moved forward, stopping to dip her fingers in the stream. The rivulet lit up with a blue-green glow.
Dana continued forward, immersed in the sea of attention from the forest creatures. Shoul Falls had been without a ka for decades. These animals had never seen one before now.
In that moment, Jet felt something different. It was not pride or duty.
He felt lucky—blessed. How amazing must the Creator be, if the glorious young woman in front of him was but one of his creations?
Dana strolled up the hill effortlessly.
In a moment of silence they stood facing each other.
“Good morning, Dana.”
“Dana-ka,” she corrected.
Jet nodded. “Yes, of course.”
* * *
Now that she was a ka, there was much more Dana could see. Jet’s mind was layer upon layer of thought and emotion, memory, logic—all interwoven so tightly there was almost no way through. Blocks were interconnected haphazardly. It was as if the end result of the alien’s development was entirely chance. Unpredictable. Possibly magnificent. Possibly terrifying.
It was a dense forest of chaos.
But that just made it more of a challenge.
What is in there?
Trading a torrent of will for a path through the veil into the star-man’s mind, Dana not only felt but saw.
Sky boats—hundreds of vessels heading toward Xahna, and beyond them a menace like nothing Dana had ever felt—not even Vetas-ka.
“I see the sky boats in your mind,” Dana said. “So many.”
“The Believers are coming first,” Jet said. “They’ll be here in three weeks, and ASP three months after that.”
“Not much time.”
“Yeah,” Jet agreed. “And even if you beat Vetas-ka, ASP will simply attempt to control you.”
“Well they can’t.”
“They will offer you power like you cannot imagine.”
“I have power,” Dana said.
“They have power to destroy entire worlds.”
“Impossible.”
Dana was suddenly looking down from the sky as countless sky boats rained arrows like fire down on a green planet. Great flashes of light erupted from the surface, and red rings of fire turned all to blackness.
“I see a world on fire,” she whispered. “This can’t be real.”
Jet swallowed, and Angel reached out and touched his arm as if to steady him. “That was Avalon—the seventh world,” she said. “Our enemy declared that all Believers must die—beginning with those on Avalon. We escaped.”
Jet’s memory held the kind of pain she had felt in the depths of the viper’s embrace. “Why must they come to our world?”
“You have the Creator’s power on Xahna,” Jet said. “The First Intelligence will buy it, or take it.”
“We already have those who will take my power if they can,” Dana said.
“Yeah,” Jet agreed. “Vetas-ka’s fleet is a week away.”
“One full week?”
“We could see their ships from the sky.”
“I will tell the Pantheon at our meeting, but I don’t know what defense we can muster in that time.”
“About that,” Jet said. “I have an idea.”
Dana was intrigued. “What sort of idea?”
“Losing on purpose.”
“That is a terrible idea.”
Angel, in her new body, stepped alongside Jet. “The worst. So bad, only Jet would think of it.”
“You will go into hiding,” Jet said. “Vetas-ka will take over, gain control of the Pantheon, and lead them to victory over the Believers. Every ship we bring from the sky will be bro
ught down by their power.”
“You see,” Angel explained. “Somebody will tell them that if the ships crash on land that they’ll leak radiation—unseen rays that kill and make cities uninhabitable.”
Dana could hardly believe what she was hearing. “You would destroy our world with your ships?”
“Of course not.” Jet grinned. “But they don’t know that.”
“So the ka will force our dropships into oceans and lakes,” Jet said. “And there our people will sleep until ASP has come.”
“When the people come to realize that ASP has made them slaves to their greed,” Angel said, “only then will they wish they had not destroyed us.”
“The sleeping dead will rise up and strike,” Dana guessed.
“Yes. There will be a small window for our escape,” Jet said. “The Believers can flee to the next world—provided we can find it in the meantime.”
The whipping sound of great fans sounded overhead. Dana looked up to see Jet’s expected dropship pivoting its great fan engines for landing.
* * *
Jet shielded his eyes from dust as the ship came down in the clearing.
The moment the dropship’s landing feet sank into the soil, the side door sprang open and Dormit’s wide body tumbled out, followed by Teea, who bounded over his shoulder. Then Yaris stepped out.
“Solid ground under my feet!” Dormit bellowed. “Bless the Creator.”
“Dormit,” Jet called. “Say hello. It’s Angel.”
“Angel—your crushing AI? Well I’ll be darned if she didn’t grow a few inches!”
“Welcome to Xahna,” Angel said, grinning from ear to ear and obviously enjoying the attention.
Decker emerged from the bay to see Dormit staring up at Angel. “Who is that carousing with my crew?”
“It’s just Angel,” Jet said. “She took over the body of an ASP simuloid. It was controlled by something called the First Intelligence.”
“The what?”
“The AI that controls ASP.”
Decker looked to Angel and back to Jet. “ASP is controlled by an AI? Well that would explain how ASP could just decide to destroy an entire planet—it’s got no conscience.” Decker jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “Alright, get her on board and plug her into Tiberius. We need any information on ASP we can scrub from those circuits.”
Jet motioned for Dana to follow as he and Angel stepped in through the open side hatch.
Dana stepped tentatively aboard as if it would rock under her feet like a boat.
She couldn’t understand the language, but Jet had no doubt she was simply reading the crew’s minds.
Yaris readied a datacom port. “Tiberius, are you sure you want to allow that simuloid body to access your circuits?”
“I’m quite familiar with Angel’s primary codecs,” Tiberius said. “She side-along booted once—a rather cozy arrangement for AIs.”
Decker made a disgusted face. “You snuggled on my ship with Naman’s AI?”
“An apt metaphor,” Tiberius said in a wry voice.
“Then plug her in. See what you can learn.”
Dana presented herself in front of the captain. “Pleased to meet you, Captain Decker,” Dana said.
“Who is that?”
“I’m Dana, the ka of Shoul Falls.”
Decker pointed at her. “How does she speak our language?”
Jet breathed in through his teeth. “You don’t want to know.”
Decker’s eyes went to the gem glistening in Dana’s forehead. “Black space, Naman—she’s a goddess?” His eyes widened, and then he grabbed both sides of his head. “. . . And she’s in my mind—Tiberius, I’m pretty sure I get what you were talking about.”
The crew erupted in laughter just as Monique stepped through the landing hatch. “What did I miss?”
“Not much,” Dana said, sounding just like Monique. Her accent definitely mimicked the person to whom she was speaking.
Monique didn’t appear to notice. “Cool. Anybody see my toothbrush? I forgot to pack it.”
Jet raised his finger. “Whose toothbrush were you using on the shuttle?”
Monique gave him a wink that took most of the strength out of his knees.
Dormit folded his arms. “So, you guys are . . . sharing germs now. Anything else we need to know?”
Dana pointed with her thumb out the hatch. “The thunder bison out there thinks your ship is quite the find.”
The ship rocked to one side.
Dormit roared with laughter. “Looks like Tiberius has a friend.”
“Oh—it’s licking my paint. Get it off!”
Angel gave Dana sideways glance. “Are you really supposed to be doing that with your powers?”
She put her hands behind her back contritely. “Sorry. Couldn’t resist. Can I go for a ride?”
Decker looked up at the ceiling speaker. “Tiberius, you want to take the lady for a little spin?”
“After she let that thing lick my hull? I feel violated.”
“Should I summon a rain cloud to wash it off? I’ll even keep the wind down while you dry so you don’t get dusty. And when was the last time you got to take a goddess for a ride?”
This time Jet could tell Dana was using his mind to translate. It was a little like deja vu, or an echo, where Dana’s thought would run through his head, then she would speak a half a moment later.
“Oh, alright,” Tiberius sighed. “Buckle up. And keep a barf bag close. This will be your first time in low gravity.”
“What’s low gravity?” Dana followed Decker to the ship’s control center.
Jet took the half-eaten meal bar Monique offered him. He lifted it in a toast. “To sharing germs.”
She grabbed his collar, yanked him forward, and planted her lips on his. “To sharing germs.”
Jet could hardly resist, especially with one arm in a sling.
And why would I want to?
Dana leaned around the corner from the cockpit. “Jet, your peoples’ customs really are bizarre.”
“Get those germs off my ship,” Decker said.
As Jet took Monique’s hand and stepped out into the bright yellow Xahnan sunlight, he wondered if the High Seer was somehow watching, or even the Creator.
Mission accomplished.
Chapter 37
An hour later, after a thrilling ride on the Nautilus, Dana stood alone on the sheltered balcony of her private quarters overlooking the city. She looked east, toward the coast, where Vetas-ka would soon arrive with his vast army.
Dana untied her cloak and let it fall to the ground. The gems along her arms and shoulders twinkled in the sunlight.
“Let him come. We will see whose bloodstone submits.”
She tapped Ryken’s gift, amplified it a dozen times, and lifted slowly into the air, descending through the mist of the falls toward the city.
No veils. No cloaks.
An enormous crowd had gathered in the amphitheater forum in the north-central section of the city. The hemispherical shell of tiered seats faced the falls.
Dana sensed the awe that her descending figure drew.
Her gown billowed gently as the sun scattered brilliant rays from iridescent bloodstones visible on her face, neck, and the top of her breastbone. The smaller stones on her outer arms, visible through the three oval openings in her long sleeves, glistened like diamonds.
The will required to suspend herself in the air was a mere trickle of the great reservoir at her disposal.
The crowd came to a stunned silence as she approached the ka’s oration pedestal, a stone circle at the center of a raised stage before rows and rows of seats hewn out of the hillside. It looked like an old quarry converted for the purpose of meeting to hear the words of the revered ka. The citizen council hadn’t even used it for their public meetings.
It was a sacred space.
Dana’s feet gently touched down.
More than twenty thousand were gathered.
“Friends,” Dana called out to the hushed crowd. Her eyes scanned the group, and she found Kaien and Ryken, and Mirrisen sitting beside them, trying to steal the corner of the blanket.
Monique sat nearby, looking thrilled at what she was seeing.
Beside her sat Angel. She looked like a Xahnan about Dana’s age, wearing a flattering knee-length gown of twist-dyed scorpion silk. Her tropically styled sifa were lined with purple and teal highlights.
On the other side of Monique sat Jet and his newly arrived alien friends.
“I would say I am humbled to be your revered ka,” Dana began. “But nobody would believe me.”
A chorus of laughter filled the tense arena.
“I’m not as kind and humble as Kaien. I’m not as strict and obedient as Ryken. There are many things which I am not.”
Dana surveyed the gathered people of Shoul Falls, most of whom she had never met.
“But this I promise you,” Dana called out, hoping her voice carried to those in the highest seats of the amphitheater. “I am not a coward.” Her voice rang strong as she spoke the words. The sureness of them passed through her like a warming flame.
“We have faced enemies from across the Sayathi Sea. We have faced enemies from the other worlds of the Creator. And we have defeated both.
“Those who seek to destroy our freedom will face a people united. And there are those from other worlds who will aid our cause—Believers from eight worlds, all seeking the Creator.
“Our will is great. Together we will prevail.”
A generous applause broke out.
“What we do, we do together. That is my promise.” Dana’s words came to an abrupt end. She had hoped she would have more to say, but you really couldn’t beat a short speech, especially when the weather was cold.
“Bring forth the prisoner,” Dana commanded.
From her right, four civic guards and the captain of the guard escorted Korren to the center of the stage and forced him to kneel in front of her.
In that moment Dana had intended to demonstrate mercy. But she found her tongue completely bound and unable to speak any such thing.
What is happening?
Confused, Dana looked up at the crowd. Her eyes ran over the mass of people gathered in the forum and saw only fear and anger in the eyes of those whose blood was bound with hers. She searched for some sign of trepidation or regret but found none.
