She sits, thinking for a very long time. Trying to understand how much her world has changed, how much she has changed. She feels odd sitting in their presence. Zaleria and Achi are so old, yet so similar to just ordinary people. Still, they are so far beyond what she is that she doesn't know how they can bridge that chasm. Yet, when she is with them, she can't describe the feeling. She feels at home; perhaps that is it.
Clive is watching her closely. “They're just people. They have better technology, and they've had many more experiences, but they are still just people. All of them, the galanen. But they don't know what it means to be human. You do, and so know things they do not. And when you share those things, they will listen to you and treat you with respect.”
She changes topics again. “You said it learned of me from a galan on Luna. What happened to that person?”
Zaleria’s face darkens as she lowers her voice, growing very somber. “She was discovered and cast out of the collective; banished. There is no greater punishment for such a crime, and it is exceedingly rare. She was taken to another galaxy and given a ship. Instead of looking for a way to atone for her offenses, she flew into the heart of a star and destroyed herself. She is no more.”
“That was too good for her.”
“Perhaps, perhaps not,” Achi comments quietly. “We both know what awaits her in the darkness beyond. I somehow doubt she will ever find her way out of it; she embraced it for thousands of years.”
“What do you mean by that?” she asks.
“Just that. We have both lingered in that place. I've been several times, yet I knew why I was there and not in the better place I later found. But when I'd end up there, I always knew it was just. I didn't deny to myself or the universe the evil I had committed. Similarly, you were able to face what you had done, after Zaleria's prompting. You didn't want to at first, but you knew deep inside what you'd done, and that it wasn't right. I know, because I was connected with her mind at the time. I don't believe Stelarosa, that was her name, will ever feel regret, even if her last strand of being is stripped away by what lurks in the deepest darkness and is dissipated for all eternity.”
Cheryn shudders involuntarily, remembering her sojourn in whatever that place is called. It then dawns on her; he always knew. Knew her regret, her shock at finding herself there. No wonder he could manipulate her so easily. But despite that, he never judged her for it; he'd been there too. She sits there, wondering again how he so easily slips into the darkest of her memories without judgment.
“The Being of Light told me something the first time I found myself before him and tried to hide in the dark, unable to face his perfection because of all that I'd done. [Is the light afraid of the darkness, or is the darkness afraid of the light?] Our Prey has embraced the darkness because it cannot know the light. We must embrace the light if we wish to destroy it.”
“Is Achi spouting philosophical nonsense again?” inquires an icy, crystalline voice. “He would be better off sticking with the strong, silent hero archetype, don't you think?”
Cheryn turns to regard the newcomer, a strikingly beautiful galan, petite but athletic, modest height, with blond hair and emerald green eyes, that turn to regard her with experience far, far beyond her apparent years. She shudders involuntarily.
“I am glad to see you are awake. How are you feeling?”
“It's difficult to describe. Physically, I'm okay I guess, but…” she trails off. “I feel dirty, stained from what that bitch did to me. Like no matter what I do, I will never be clean again.” She starts to return to those memories before shaking her head briefly to clear it. “I'm sorry. Who are you?”
“I apologize. My name is Beltare.”
“Oh, Achi has told me about you. You are in charge of this base?”
“That honor now falls to elder Jevelle, but I have led this cohort for the past 12,000 years. And if Achi explained that to you, I'm sure it was less than flattering; perhaps we should talk when you feel up to it. Compare notes on…what happened. And maybe some other matters,” she says, turning and raising a brow in Achi's direction.
Achi shrugs his shoulders. Cheryn looks at him, puzzled. “Our relationship is…complicated,” he murmurs.
“Indeed,” Beltare echoes, “But we can discuss that later. I am… sorry for what happened. For what it is worth, I think I know how you feel—tainted. A wise person once told me it is hard to be the focus of such evil and not feel that way. I want to make sure you recover as fully as you can. I know it will be difficult. You are free to stay here where it is safe as long as you like.”
“And if I wish to leave?”
Beltare seems a bit taken aback by this question and glances at Achi. “Just let me know where you'd rather be, and we'll take you there, within reason of course. I'm not sure we should take you much further away from Earth.”
“I would be happy to host her on Perxephsis, if she wishes. I think that would be okay with the gatekeepers,” Zaleria offers. “Although it is pretty austere at the moment.”
“I would seek council on that before facilitating, but I don't see a reason to object if that is what she wills. Just bear in mind our more experienced colleagues may know of some reason it would be unwise to move her beyond the solar system.”
“I'm sorry,” Cheryn confesses. “I have trust issues and just wanted to ensure this wasn't a gilded cage. I'd like to stay here for now, if that is okay. But I might like to see your home someday, Zaleria, if that is okay with everyone.”
Beltare nods her head, understanding. “You are free to go or stay. My only concern involves the gatekeepers, who are usually unwilling to let unevolved races travel; we've pushed our luck with some of you already.” She nods toward Achi and Clive. “So if I appear hesitant, that is why.”
Beltare catches Achi's eye and makes a slight beckoning movement with her head, so he walks over to see what she wants. “You are being awfully generous with your comments tonight,” he says quietly, “What are you after?”
“You. I need you. Come with me…”
Achi stares at her, trying to read her body language and not getting a signal. “Er, uh, what about Zaleria?”
“Didn't one of you tell me that when I speak to one, I speak to both of you? I'm trying to be efficient with our time,” she says with a sly smile, holding his eyes as she slowly turns and walks out of the room, pausing to let them follow.
Clive starts laughing. “Don't worry, I'll stay with Cheryn, but we'll catch up after.”
He feels Zaleria's presence as she moves up beside him. Did she just do that?
Achi smiles, Yes, and she did it very well.
Should I be bothered by how much that turned you on?
If you are, then you should take some time later to remind me why I chose you over all others…
Opportunist.
Achi shrugs his shoulders as they walk down a corridor to follow Beltare. “What's up?”
“We want to discuss our findings and next steps. We feel we've set the shell back with your impulsive but highly successful actions in LA. What opportunities may present themselves if we strike again quickly?”
Achi ponders her comments; they are multilayered. “You feel I was impulsive?”
“No, I think you were impulsive. Did you succeed because of skill or luck?”
He smiles. She is not acting emotionally, and she is of course, absolutely correct. “Mostly luck, with some skill. It didn't anticipate such an aggressive move. Its defenses were weak, and it didn't kill Cheryn when it could, tried to use her as a shield instead. In combat, luck often favors the bold. Unless you run into a well-executed ambush, in which case you usually wind up dead.”
Beltare stops to look at him. “That is pretty much my assessment too. You once told me I was too rule adherent. I now see a potential opportunity, but it also carries potential risk. So the question as I see it is, giv
en the shell's lack of a comms package and our blocking of communications out of the tower, can we risk sudden bold action again and trust our luck to hold out?”
Achi stares at her, trying to figure out what is causing this sudden change in her, but she is mastering her emotions too well. “To be honest, you usually don't know until it runs out. The best human book on the subject was called The Art of War, because it isn't a science. Sometimes agility is the best bet. Maintain the ability for rapid maneuver so you can break engagement if it gets too hot. Probe for weaknesses and use your superior resources to make a decisive strike when and where opportunity presents itself.”
“We think we may have such an opportunity,” she says, before moving down the corridor again.
After another 60 meters, they enter a small conference room, with chairs jutting from the floor in several places, facing each other. Traemuña and Toshi are already present, along with Trègar and Rialle. Achi pauses near a spot noted by his symbiots, calls a chair up from the floor, and seats himself. Zaleria does the same. Jevelle and Fandtha walk in from the other direction, followed by Cloufen and Zargus. Everyone is seated facing each other now.
Jevelle starts the meeting. “What have we learned?”
“We captured three humans who were acting as financiers,” Trègar recounts. “They are currently held in a semi-conscious state and being questioned. They appear to have mental blocks to questioning. They are not inoculated with any symbiots, so it is just a matter of time until we overcome their conditioning. The head Zaleria brought back is…interesting. We assumed it was some twisted form of Gravis. It is not. The DNA is not known to the collective, including a thorough search of sealed records made possible by Elder Toshi. It is closely related to humans and galanen, especially Gravis, but it appears to be something else, a hybrid. It was infested with symbiots of an unknown design, coded to its DNA.”
“So, it's not like me,” Achi says. “How modified was it, compared to a normal galan?”
“Based only on what we found in the head, and extrapolating,” Cloufen explains, “It appeared to have a similar number of symbiots, although they have different properties—a greater mechanical flexibility at the expense of reduced processing ability. It can augment and repair its body faster, but its symbiots would be less able to augment cognitive and sensing functions. Perhaps a different set of perceived priorities? We did not find a comms package, computing unit, or memory modules like most galan, but those may be located outside the head. It did have augmented hearing and vision unlike galanen, and its bones appeared to be much more durable. It would resist many human weapons without external shielding but has little protection against galanen weapons.“
“Obviously, the most interesting feature was its symbiots,” Zargus continues, “They were very different than standard galanen symbiots. They performed many of the same functions but were of a completely different design lineage. We do not have a record of anything like them. Ours appear to be more sophisticated, while these appear to be slightly more robust.”
“I've just come from studying them,” Fandtha explains, “And I, uh, do not believe they stem from any earlier, er, galanen design. I'm not sure about their provenance or what it could imply.”
“Fandtha, I assume we're looking all over for these things, just to make sure they haven't slipped past prior screenings?” Achi asks, concerned.
Fandtha looks at him slightly offended, “Well of course I am. We're coming up empty so far, but, uh, we'll continue to scrub.”
“So you’re telling me this thing was not a copy of Gravis' shell, but was another one of its offspring, like Cheryn, or Clive? But this one had novel symbiots in it? You think Gravis made these?” Zaleria asks, trying to get it straight in her head.
“Not quite, it is even stranger than that,” Cloufen continues. “The component of its DNA not related to Gravis is similar to both human and galanen DNA, but only distantly related. It appears to be something else, perhaps synthetic. We can't really tell; it is outside our experience.”
Fandtha, looking deep in thought, speaks up. “I, er, actually hope Gravis was the one who built these things, because if he didn't, it could represent an, uh, unknown and perhaps fallen branch of a growing family tree.”
Traemuña, who is looking rather sickened by the whole discussion, finally asks a question, “Were any of you able to extract any memories from its head? Find out anything about what it knew?”
“No,” Zargus replies. “That has proven difficult. Its symbiots destroyed a lot of its higher brain before we were able to neutralize them, and the few memories that remained didn't contain a lot of value—just random bits of data with no surrounding context. We were able to retrace its movements over the last several weeks, however. Let me share the details.” He provides them a mental map of its movements for the last several months—all they were able to extract. It spent a lot of its time in LA, and prior to that, it was in Seattle, Singapore, and for the first month of the record, in the Arabian Peninsula, a small area in the middle of the Rub' al-Khali.
“Of course, we've since explored this little area in great detail,” Rialle says. “Here's what we've found.” She shares a model of an underground facility, multiple layers deep, with several large rooms and what appear to be a couple entrances—one open and one hidden. The lowest level is fuzzy, uncertain.
“You have concerns, Achi?” Beltare states, looking at his unguarded expression. It's not really a question.
“Yes,” he says. “I'm concerned the next time we play poker, you're going to end up with all of my chips.” This causes everyone to laugh. “But to be serious, I don't know what to make of all of these facts, and some of the implications can profoundly change the nature of the conflict we are in. We don't know what kind of creature this thing is. Is she human, galan, or something unknown? Why was her memory effectively destroyed, except for this one tantalizing clue that goads us out into the middle of nowhere, into a facility that will greatly limit your mobility? It feels like a well-baited trap, perhaps a built-in ruse in case she was captured more or less intact.”
“Can we pass this opportunity up? This is the kind of place that would make a great base of operations, don't you think? Especially if the shell doesn't know we've discovered it.”
“Your arguments are well-reasoned and logical. My gut says it’s a trap.”
“You are not being consistent in your advice to me.” Beltare sighs, frustrated.
“I recognize that. I cannot tell you why I feel the way I do, but I have alarm bells going off in my head. There are too many unknowns. We thought we knew the true nature of our adversary, and we find we do not. What other surprises await? I can't predict,” Achi says.
“I counsel we investigate it,” Beltare pushes.
Achi blows air out between his lips. “I can't argue logically not to. If you do, have reserves standing by and a fallback plan to that. We've been lucky so far that we haven't taken causalities. I'm not sure how long that will hold out. Make sure fail-safes are in place. Talk with Cheryn if anyone wants to know what will happen to their unitary if captured.” He looks at Beltare, in all seriousness. “I'd be tempted to just make a large crater out of it, and then go in and pick through the rubble. I'm sure we've got some nice solid rocks between Mars and Jupiter that would do an excellent job of it.”
“That lacks any pretense of finesse,” Fandtha objects.
“Well, it is in the middle of nowhere. If I wanted to protect myself from such a threat from the galanen, I'd place my hideout in the middle of a population center. I think that is one of the things that bugs me about this…” he sighs. “But I may be over-thinking things.“
“What do the rest of you think?” Beltare asks.
“Achi speaks for me,” Zaleria says, “But you already knew that,” she smiles at her friend.
“Well, I'm ready to go. Just let me know,” Trègar says.
Rialle nods her assent. “My team stands ready.”
F
andtha shakes his head. “I'm not sure. I agree with Achi that, at the very least, we should be cautious.”
“I don't like it,” Traemuña says. “Something is really wrong here. I'm afraid we're missing something important.”
Toshi defers. “This is beyond my expertise. I have no concrete advice to give, other than be careful if you decide to go. I'm sorry.”
They all turn to Jevelle. She sits there frowning. “Well, we won't know unless we look. But as Achi says, we should do so carefully. And frankly, we might want to keep a big rock handy, just in case…“
“There are other alternatives to rocks, really,” Fandtha says, frustrated. He looks over at Achi. “If they want to pursue this, we should be prepared to, uh, as you say, back them up.” He looks back at Jevelle and Beltare. “Can you give me a couple hours to prepare?”
Achi feels Zaleria's concern, and he looks over at Traemuña, who is sitting there stoically. “We're with you, Fandtha.” He looks over at Jevelle with a grim smile. “As is often the case, expert advice is mixed, but now that the decision is made, we'll support it as best we can.” He turns to Trègar and Rialle. “Just give a holler if you need us, and we'll be there with the other squads.”
“I'll be joining them,” Beltare says. “I want to see this first hand.”
Traemuña stands and faces them. “I wish you luck. Please be cautious. I am still uneasy about this but defer to the group's decision. I will go and review all we've learned from the remains of the creature from LA and will let you know if I find anything alarming. I may also see if Cheryn would be interested in chatting with me.”
Through the Singularity Page 48
