Simia

by Paris Singer

  “Traitor?” Alana cried in anger. “To you? You murdered my family. You destroyed my world.”

  Perusak tittered to himself. “Yes, the days of conquer as general I enjoyed. Tell me, did they scream as they died?”

  With a look of unbridled rage, Alana made a choking sound, as if she restrained herself from speaking. In a flash she pressed the button on her gauntlet and released her light-chain. No sooner had she done so than from entrances beside columns, and from somewhere on the upper platform where the throne stood there appeared a multitude of Morex guards. Unlike the others, these where white with yellow moss spread around them in various places. They held silver weapons that resembled rifles of great proportions.

  Perusak waved his finger from side to side as he grinned. “And as for you,” he said, turning to face me. “You allowed yourself to be led and manipulated by this odious traitor and turned your back on your home.”

  Anger rose inside me. “That ship was never my home,” I said through gritted teeth. “Simia is my home. You used us to try to destroy my race. You make me sick.”

  Perusak’s eye twitched as the guards cocked their weapons. “Such belligerence, even as death promises to take you. A Morex heart beats inside you after all.”

  I stood in silence for a moment, wondering if I’d heard him right. “What did you say?”

  Perusak chuckled, narrowing his eyes. “Seems the traitor kept this information from you, yes? The blood of the Morex does indeed flow inside your veins, yes?”

  “You’re lying,” I cried. “My parents were Simian.”

  Perusak sat back on his throne and frowned. “Your mother, yes. But your father, not.”

  It felt as though all blood rushed down from my head, making it spin. “What’s he talking about?” I said, turning to face Alana. She remained silent, gazing at Perusak with clear hatred. “He’s lying. He’s lying, isn’t he?” Finally Alana returned my gaze, her expression changing to one of sadness and regret. “He’s lying. Tell me he’s lying.”

  Her gaze dropped to the floor in front of her. “It’s true.”

  Like the flick of a switch, my mind went blank and everything around me became a blurry tunnel. My ears rang. Then, like a massive, sudden wave, an onslaught of questions came rushing all around, filling every silent corner of my mind. How could this be? Why was this happening? Could it really be true? I grasped my head to regain control of my thoughts. I felt dizzy. “It’s not possible,” I breathed. “I won’t believe it.”

  “Your belief is not relevant in what is fact, yes?” said Perusak in a sneering tone.

  “No, I won’t believe it. I won’t believe you.”

  Perusak banged the bottom of his staff on the floor, the sound of which resounded all around the throne room. He leaned forward, keeping his narrowed eyes on me. “Your father,” he began, “once ruled our race.” Perusak paused and watched me, as if waiting for a reaction. I closed my eyes. I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction to see the turmoil I was in. The greater part of me didn’t want to listen to what he was saying. But there was a smaller part that did. As much as it disturbed me to hear, I guess I realized I needed to know what the truth of my existence was.

  “He led the Morex to many systems, many planets. On his command, we razed countless lands, eradicated many peoples, yes? I was his general. I had first hand in leading our soldiers to victory. It was I who increased our power, our wealth, our great name of Morex. It was I who killed him.”

  Almost against my will my eyes opened, and I stared at Perusak with a hatred I didn’t understand.

  “Yes,” he grinned, “I killed him. The great Ravár fell to his knees before me. Your father, he was a disgrace.”

  “That’s enough,” cried Alana.

  Perusak’s eyes shot to Alana, and he frowned, as if he’d forgotten she was there. “Ah, yes. The traitor; the slave. You would do well to spend the last moments of your existence in silence, lest your death be expedited, yes?”

  Alana bared her teeth in anger. “All you are is a usurper. A coward.”

  Perusak raised his index finger, and from somewhere to the left of the throne room there came a sound like the crack of electricity. Alana screamed and fell to the floor grasping her leg in clear agony. I turned and saw a charred, smoking hole in her thigh. I raised my gauntlet up to my chest and released the light-chain from within.

  “If you move, I will kill her now,” sneered Perusak.

  My heart pumped hot blood through my veins. I wanted to hurt them all. I wanted them to suffer like they were making Alana suffer. It was only through sheer will alone that my legs stood firmly planted as my whole body trembled in anger.

  Perusak chuckled. “You will listen, yes?”

  Overwhelmed by frustration, I knew he had me. The guards were too far away for me to reach them all before they could attack Alana. I couldn’t risk it. I put my light-chain away.

  “Good,” said Perusak, leaning back into the throne. “You will listen; you will understand. Two thousand years. That is when we the Morex were exiled from our planet; the planet now known as ‘Simia’. Our race was much larger then, simpler, fiercer, born of fire. We thirst for battle. We warred, conquered, ruled over each other. For strength. For power. So great were our battles we split the land in three. Then, these… creatures. A sneaky, inferior race on our ancestral planet. Scavengers. They built deep in forests. Bred and increased their numbers. Somehow, these scavengers discovered a material only found deep underground. A material that could power machines, be used as weapons. This came to the attention of my great ancestors. They saw these scavengers build with their new technologies. It was an affront to their might, to their power. When the scavengers refused to relinquish the material they had found, which by rights belonged to my ancestors, and be subservient to the Morex, a war began. These vile creatures used their weapons, with no code of war. They killed all but a few of my valiant race. In their arrogant masses the scavengers approached them, demanded an agreement that land would be theirs, that the Morex would fight no longer.” Perusak spat on the floor. “My great ancestors refused; they would fight until the end. Our final victory was stolen from us. With their technologies, the scavengers trapped them, and in a ship sent them to a faraway empty planet, where they would remain for two thousand years. Scavengers. Thieves. They expected that we stay, perish, fade away in time. We learned, we adapted. Our bodies changed, diminished, but our wills, our strength, grew far beyond that of my ancestors. In time we developed technologies, space travel, weapons. We built an empire, feared by all who speak our name. And now, we have returned to our ancestral planet Mi’ar to reclaim it.”

  “Why are you telling me all this?” I cried.

  “You will know your history.”

  “That’s not my history. I’m a Simian. I don’t care if my father was Morex like you say. Your warmongering race has nothing to do with me.”

  Perusak grinned and chuckled to himself as his eyes narrowed. “Yes, yes,” he continued as if he hadn’t heard what I’d said. “Your disgraceful father. Your disgusting mother.”

  Once again, my blood boiled, and it was all I could do to keep myself from rushing to where he sat and attack him. I looked over at Alana, who still grasped her leg. Her expression was one of sorrow.

  “Your father,” persisted Perusak, “was ruthless. He commanded entire species and races wiped from existence with me to execute his will. He gave the Morex pride once more. Until we returned here, to Mi’ar. He did not want the scavenger Simians destroyed. He did not want them to suffer for what they had done. No. He wanted peace; peaceful coexistence on the planet they took from us.” Perusak’s fist closed and trembled. “He arranged for peace talks with the leader, the queen of the scavengers.” He leaned toward me and grimaced. “Your mother. This was unthinkable. Peace with our inferiors? Disgusting. As the general, I attended the first meeting. Every one of the scavengers stunk of weakness. Then, I saw. The looks. The queen, in all her repulsive opulen
ce somehow charmed Ravár. I had him followed when the moons illuminated the darkened land. It was as I had feared. Ravár had visited her in secret. It was crushing.” Perusak paused for a moment and watched me. “Take off that thing on your arm, yes?”

  Perplexed, I stared back at him. “What thing?”

  “Take off the thing that releases the beam of light.”

  “The Sphere gauntlet? Why?”

  Perusak raised two of his fingers, and all at once every single guard pointed their weapons at me. “Take it off:”

  Begrudgingly I did as he asked. As I did, his eyes narrowed, and he grimaced. “Yes. That is the ring I saw in the meeting with those councilmen. It is the one the scavenger queen gave to Ravár.”

  I looked at my hand. It was the ring I’d taken from the shopkeeper’s shop. I didn’t understand. How could that be the same ring Perusak was talking about?

  “Why do you have it?” he asked in a grave tone.

  “I found it.”

  “Liar. Who gave it to you?”

  “I told you. I found it somewhere.”

  Perusak extended his hand toward me. “Give it to me.”

  How could that be the ring that had belonged to my parents? How was that possible? It was just something I’d picked up at random from the shopkeeper’s shop. It made no sense. Whether it was my parent’s ring or not I knew one thing: I was not about to let Perusak have it. I put my gauntlet back on. “No.”

  Perusak lowered his hand and smirked.

  “I had guards seize Ravár when he returned and exposed his betrayal to our people. As is the way, I challenged. I ran him through, and his disgrace fell with him at my feet. Under our laws, I became the new ruler supreme, and commanded an immediate attack on the scavengers. We killed many before with their technologies they repelled us, but not before we took their disgusting queen.”

  “I don’t want to hear any more,” I cried. I hadn’t cared about who my father had been, but a surge of anger had risen inside me when Perusak had recounted the events that had led to his death. I wasn’t sure how much longer I’d be able to restrain myself from attacking. With every fiber of my being I tried to stay as calm as possible, for Alana. She needed medical attention. If Perusak continued to ramble, there was a chance Iris and the marauders would find us. Then we’d turn the tables. Patience. Patience, I repeated in my mind.

  Perusak grinned, likely delighted at the pain he was causing. “I will not waste my breath speaking about that filthy scavenger,” he spat.

  Patience. Patience. Patience. “What do you want from me?”

  Perusak sat up, and his gaze became expressionless. “I have not killed you because you have Morex blood in your veins, yes? So, you live.”

  “So what do you want?”

  “You will serve under me. You have skills I desire. Skills that will help advance the great Morex race. Renounce the scavengers. Show me how to beat them, and you will be rewarded, yes?”

  Patience. “Where’s One?”

  Perusak cocked his head slightly. “One?” he repeated before grinning once again. “Your brother, yes? He is here.”

  “Let him go.”

  Perusak guffawed in his seat for a moment, then leaned forward, almost out of his seat. “Let him go? You are as simple as your mother, and as naïve as your father.” He narrowed his eyes and curved one side of his stony mouth into a smile. “Reveal yourself.”

  CHAPTER SIXTY NINE

  Silently, a cloaked figure came into view from the area behind Perusak’s throne. Their face hidden in shadow, I recognized it as the same that had accompanied Perusak on Simia, the same whose face I’d seen while they boarded the Morex ship in the hangar. With both hands the figure pushed back their hood.

  “One,” I breathed, taking two steps toward him, but stopping when the guards raised their weapons in warning. My brother stood motionless, gazing at me with clear indifference. Something wasn’t right.

  “What’s happened to your face?” I asked. “What have they done to you?” Part of the left side of One’s face was discolored. It appeared to be the same gray tone as the Morex’s stony skins. My brother continued to watch me in silence.

  Perusak chuckled. “Your sibling is experiencing changes. Show him.”

  Without a word, One pulled back his cloak. What appeared to be black bandages or wrappings covered his body. As if reacting to the shocked expression I undoubtedly had on my face, Perusak said, “An interesting procedure, yes? We are targeting his scavenger genes and eliminating them. Soon he will be Morex only, and will boast the strength that comes with it, yes?”

  His steely gaze still fixed on me, One’s left eye glowed yellow. It looked like that of a Morex.

  “One,” I said, “come with me. Let’s get out of here. We’ll find a way to reverse what they’ve done to you.”

  Perusak erupted in a high-pitched laughter.

  “Leave?” said One. "Why would I leave?”

  “They’re messing with your head,” I said. “Come with me; it’ll be okay.”

  “Seven…” said Alana in a strained voice.

  “Just walk toward me,” I persisted.

  “Seven… Stop.”

  “Just walk toward me.”

  “Seven—”

  “He’s okay,” I snapped at Alana. “He just needs to come with us. One…” I stretched my hand toward him. “Come on.”

  “I’m not going anywhere with you,” he said, his expressionless face somehow becoming even colder.

  “One…”

  “He saved me,” said One, nodding to Perusak. “He’s taken care of me. Told me who I really am. He’s making me stronger. I want nothing to do with those filthy scavengers.”

  I thought back to the kindly Morigala and Tanhers who had helped us when we’d first crashed on Simia. “Simians are not what he’s told you they are,” I said. “They’re a peaceful race. I’ll show you.”

  Perusak laughed again and leaned toward me. “Is that what you think? Allow Perusak to enlighten you then, yes? Those councilmen, those representatives of all that scavenger race, they were ready to sell it all off for a high price.”

  “That’s a lie,” I cried out of principle. I wasn’t about to believe such a thing, especially coming from the leader of the Morex.

  “Oh? Perusak was requested in a second meeting with the head male scavenger. The great councilmen wanted currency. Wanted to sell all the planet’s prized silvanium. Rightly belonging to the Morex. The male scavenger requested also for the councilmen to escape unharmed. Greedy scavengers, yes? Cowardly. So, Perusak killed him, and will find the silvanium, too, after every scavenger is dead.”

  “I won’t let you.”

  Perusak grinned. “You are Morex. Join Perusak and become strong. Use your the knowledge for battle strategy. Help Perusak destroy the scavengers, like your sibling has tried. Work together and bring the Morex victory.”

  My heart sank. Alana had been right about One. “You… helped them?” One watched me in silence, as Perusak said, “Your sibling has been invaluable to Perusak. His strategies have helped destroy many scavengers. Perusak is glad he did not kill him in youth. And now, you will help, too, yes?”

  I looked over at Alana. Her face showed such sorrow and pain. She gazed at me, but said nothing. The decision was mine, alone. I smiled at her. Alana smiled sadly and nodded. I looked back up at Perusak. “I’m not a murderous, savage Morex, and I’ll never join you.”

  Perusak’s eyes narrowed, and he scowled. “Join Perusak, or be killed.”

  I assumed I would die in that room, but I would take the Morex leader with me. I got into a battle stance. Perusak stood up. “You are as pathetic as your mother, and you will die, just like your father.” With unprecedented speed, Perusak grasped staff with both hands, and turned it so the tip faced straight at me. Before I’d had time to react, something grabbed my arms, and obstructed my view, just as I heard the resounding sound of a shot fired.

  CHAPTER SEVENTY

&nb
sp; She moved away, her grasp weakening. “We’re even,” she smiled, and closed her eyes.

  “Alana?”

  Her knees buckled, but I caught her before she fell. I laid her down on my lap. “Alana?” Wisps of white smoke rose from behind her back. “Alana? Alana? Please say something. Please… Please say something.” She opened her eyes, frowned and winced. “You’re going to be fine,” I said. “Iris will be here soon, and we’ll take you—”

  She reached out her hand and touched my face. “I’m glad you survived,” she smiled. She exhaled and closed her eyes again as her arm fell limp on the floor.

  “Alana… Alana.” I shook her. “Wake up. Alana, wake up. Wake up.” My voice broke. “Alana, please… Please don’t… Please…” I rocked her in my arms as I held her tight.

  “Good riddance, yes? She was nothing more than a traitor.”

  A flash of fury broke through the blinding sorrow. I placed Alana carefully down, wiped the flow of tears from my face and stood up. My body shook with grief, with hatred.

  “Perusak wanted to kill her slowly. It is regrettable that—”

  “Shut up. I’m going to shut your ugly mouth once and for all.”

  Perusak grinned and his eyes narrowed. He was enjoying himself. He handed his staff over to One, and said, “Perusak will kill you with his bare hands. I will show you the strength of real Morex, yes? You are defective—weak. And you will die here.”

  Just as Perusak walked down the steps, there was a small explosion somewhere behind me. All the guards shot in that direction. Leaping and slashing, Many’s clones erupted inside the throne room like a tornado.

  “Grafärk,” cried Perusak in clear frustration. Despite the commotion, he turned and our eyes locked. My heart beat wildly. I wanted to kill him. I dashed forward, releasing the light-chain, ready to attack. Blinded by fury, I charged at him, swinging the light-chain around and down where Perusak stood. He hopped backward, avoiding the crashing steel ball. Swifter than I could have expected, he threw a fast punch aimed at my head. I moved it just in time, but his large stony fist still connected with my shoulder. The enormous force sent me spiraling back in the air, and I crashed back down on the floor at the foot of the steps. I winced and clutched my shoulder. It was dislocated. I looked up in time to see Perusak in the air above me. He landed his foot square in the center of my shinbone, snapping it in half. I screamed in agony as white hot pain shot up my leg. My opponent grinned as he stood over me and extended his hand. “Give Perusak the ring.”