The Breadth of Creation

by C. S. Johnson

  “Which we can use to make the world a better place.”

  “By destroying it first?” Emery shook her head. “With all the Old Republic’s wars, they’ve already managed to send the world into some kind of shock, I’m sure. We can’t do that and expect to have a world left when we’re done. If we survive.”

  “We don’t have to destroy the whole world to make it a better place,” he told her.

  “I love you, Exton. You are my brother, and I will stand with you as long as I can. But I can’t stand for this.” Emery gazed up at him with their mother’s blue-green eyes. “I’m going to have a baby in another eight months. I don’t want a world at war.”

  “It already is at war. And we can win it.”

  “If we step up our attacks, according to you.” Emery sighed. “I can’t believe Merra’s arguments are working.”

  “She has some good points.”

  “Some good points does not mean she has it all right, and that’s enough ambiguity to send people chasing pipe dreams.”

  The door opened, making the two of them jump. Moona skirted off Emery’s lap and headed to greet the newcomer, as Emery and Exton recovered at the same time.

  Both of them sent narrowed gazes at Tyler Caldwell as he walked into the room and scooped up the cat.

  Tyler grimaced at the sight of his wife and brother-in-law. “I see I’m interrupting,” he said. “Maybe I should just go back out ... ?” He made his way back to the door.

  “Wait,” Emery and Exton both called.

  Tyler groaned. “I don’t want to have to take sides,” he insisted.

  “Exton wants to attack the URS.”

  “Again?” Tyler looked over at him and grinned. “What did you have in mind this time, Captain?”

  “Tyler!” Emery admonished.

  “What?” Tyler frowned. “We usually go along with his ideas when it comes to this sort of stuff. I’ve been waiting for this since Aerie was taken.”

  Exton felt all the warmth in his body leave him at the reminder.

  “Maybe you should just go,” Emery muttered, “if you’re going to take his side.”

  “Come on, don’t be like that,” Tyler came around the desk and gave her an affectionate kiss on the forehead.

  “Merra’s trying to get Exton to agree to join with her and take the war to the URS,” Emery said, ignoring Tyler’s plea.

  “Merra said we can win.” Exton paused, before he added, “We can stop them. If we do that, maybe we can even get Aerie back.” Seeing the quiet tenderness in Tyler’s eyes as he gazed down at Emery, Exton decided not to mention the other reason he was convinced it was time to act; he made a mental note to bring it up later.

  “It wouldn’t be the first time a man went to war for a woman he loved,” Tyler said, only to have Emery glare at him again, while Exton frowned.

  “I’m not going to war just for her.”

  “But you do admit this is, at least in part, to get Aerie?” Emery jumped up, nearly knocking into Tyler as he stood over her. “Come on, Exton. Tyler and I have a better plan for getting her back.”

  “If she comes here, St. Cloud was adamant about destroying Petra.” Exton shook his head. “I can’t just take her back. We’ll need to have enough of threat to keep him at bay. And I can’t just wait around until St. Cloud decides to threaten Petra with something else.”

  Tyler rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “That’s true,” he said. “St. Cloud is second in command now. He can order things to be done at any time. To be honest, I’m surprised we haven’t been attacked here yet. Since he got Aerie back, what’s keeping him from breaking his word?”

  “Honor.” A new voice spoke up from the doorway.

  They all turned to see Exton and Emery’s aunt. Her arms were folded defiantly against her chest, while her close-cropped hair was ruffled, as if she’d just come down out of a flight check.

  Which, Exton thought, was probably what had happened. Aunt Patty loved tinkering with the ships in the hangar when she had the chance, the very opposite of her sister in skills and interest. Emery and Exton’s mother, Evelyn, was always more likely to be found in the fields or working in her private gardens.

  “St. Cloud was always one to take his word seriously,” Patty said. “That’s part of the reason Osgood made him his right-hand man. If he makes a promise, there’s little that will stand in the way of him fulfilling it.”

  “Talk to Merra about that,” Exton grumbled. “He married someone else after her ‘death,’ didn’t he?”

  “She’s dead by the States’ registers,” Patty replied. “You know the URS has a strong position on how to run units and their households. His second wife is little more than his employee.”

  “Especially since St. Cloud has four charges,” Tyler put in. “That’s the highest amount of charges a unit can have. In that big of a unit, there would have to be more than one unit overseer.”

  Back when he had known General St. Cloud as one of his instructors, Exton had barely realized he had a unit. Other than Merra, St. Cloud had never mentioned his charges. After St. Cloud had killed Exton’s father and delivered the Paradise, Perdition’s former title, to the URS and their space program, Exton had set out to destroy him.

  But it had never crossed his mind to examine the St. Cloud family. That was a mistake that caught up with him when Aerie had managed to get herself tangled up in the Memory Tree.

  A mistake that turned out to be a miracle, Exton thought ruefully.

  Still, he turned his attention to the St. Cloud unit as soon as he’d been able to sit up in the hospital bed in the back of Merra’s shuttle. He knew now that Aerie had a sister, Serena, who worked in military medical services, and two twin brothers, who were fighter pilots in their last year of schooling. Merra had “died” close to the time he had taken off in the Perdition, which might have explained why he didn’t know much about her, or Aerie’s stepmother, Phoebe.

  “I’m not worried about St. Cloud’s unit. I’m more worried about how Merra’s talking Exton into blowing up the URS than about the drama surrounding the St. Cloud unit right now,” Emery snapped, bringing Exton’s attention back to the problems at hand.

  Patty raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Well, it would be about time we started fighting more,” she said.

  “Aunt Patty!” Emery looked at her incredulously. “Are you saying we should attack the URS, too?”

  “I know you don’t like the thought of it, Emery,” Patty said. “But the URS has been asking for it for a long time. The Ecclesia have tried staying, and tried running away. This is the last place on Earth they can run to. And others are starting to wake up and see it. Between that and Exton’s smaller attacks, and the other camps of resistance starting to rise up, we’re headed for a confrontation whether we like it or not.”

  “That’s no reason to throw the first punch.”

  “It’s better to throw the punch if it’s going to knock them out,” Exton said. “Can’t we agree on that much, Em?”

  Emery sighed.

  Moona meowed, as if she was in agreement with Emery’s thoughts on the matter.

  “The alternative is not going to get us anywhere,” Tyler said. “We can wait forever, but you know they’re not going to give up their power. They’ll be coming for us anyway, considering how many refugees and dissenters we’ve taken in lately.”

  “And in the meantime, people suffer,” Patty said. “I can’t tell you how many of the people here are good folks who got tangled up in the wrong situation. They wanted to be free. That’s why they’re here, and that’s why they will want to help, too.”

  “But this works,” Emery said. “Your leadership and the board of directors are all good at establishing accountability and keeping it.”

  “Yes,” Patty agreed. “We have an advantage in that, and that will hold when we go into battle. We have been here long enough, and we’ve taken in enough people, that we know how to govern effectively, even if we have to ruffle a few feath
ers every now and then.”

  “Merra said that the URS government is tightening controls and regulations,” Exton said. “All the power is concentrated to an inner circle.”

  Patty nodded. “That’ll happen after too many calls for censorship,” she said. “Too many people have said the wrong things for them to get very far up the power chain.”

  “So we only need to take out the inner circle, and then subdue the remaining powers,” Exton said. “We don’t need to burn everything to the ground—just everything that stands in the way of building a better nation.”

  “We can strengthen the good in the meantime,” Tyler added. “Several I know of have already started stepping up to work in different organizations, so they can be ready to help when the time is right, including my sister and our parents.”

  Exton turned to Emery. “See, Em? We don’t need to destroy the URS to win. They’ve been destroying themselves for some time now. All we have to do is take out a few of their bigger support beams, and then have a system in place to keep all of the good from falling.”

  Emery sighed. “I’m not sure that’s what Merra wants.”

  “I know you don’t like her much,” Tyler said.

  “Who here really does?” Emery wrinkled her nose. “She walks around like she’s in charge here, even ordering some of our workers around.”

  “Moving in on your turf, is she?” Exton couldn’t help but grin.

  Emery shot him a hard look. “It’s true I don’t like her,” she admitted, “but I’m more upset at what she’s doing to you, Exton. I know you want Aerie back, and she’s using that to get what she wants.”

  “Aerie’s gone for now,” Exton said quietly. “I told you, St. Cloud injected her with Memory Serum. She’s not going to remember me. Or any of us. Any plan we have to get her back will have to come after we free the rest of the world.”

  “So all you really want is revenge,” Emery said.

  “Revenge is all I have, as usual,” Exton shot back. “It’s fitting.”

  “Personal revenge is one thing,” Emery said. “Going to war in revenge is thoughtless and reckless, especially when we are called to protect.”

  “The Perdition has been a shield, a refuge for many,” Patty said. “Petra was started because of this. But if we want to make the world a better place, it is time to be a sword. How many more people will the URS put through their labor programs, valuing them only as workers? How many more will be like this Aerie, that suffer for their dissent?”

  Emery said nothing, while Exton clenched his fists.

  “You know, Aerie might be able to break through it yet,” Tyler said softly. “It’s not a high chance, but it’s still there. And you’ve got to believe it’s possible.”

  Exton shook his head. “The stats you’re thinking of are for the Reeducation Program in the URS,” he said. “This is different.”

  “Surely not much different though,” Patty said. “The URS is not terribly creative. There’s no need to have variety when variety can easily become competition.”

  “We’re all very aware of how the URS views competition,” Exton murmured.

  Emery reached out and took his hand. “Exton ... ”

  He pulled back from her grasp, reaching down to pet Moona again. He was grateful for the cat, and the distraction she provided. “If we’re going to try to fight them,” he said, changing the subject, “I’ll need to talk to Dennis and Don about this. I’ll need to make it clear the Ecclesia does not need to join me in our offensives.”

  Emery sighed. “I guess I’m overruled in this,” she said. “If this is what you really want.”

  “Even if you weren’t overruled by us, you would be by the URS itself,” Patty said. “Less than two months ago, Kamalo came here, right out of New Hope’s Comms Sec department. He knows they’ve been ramping up their comm tech, likely for war.”

  Exton paused. Aerie was supposed to work in the Comms Sec, he recalled. Are they putting her in danger now?

  Emery sniffed.

  “This isn’t what I would choose if there were better options,” Exton told her. “But it’s the only way to protect what we have, while bringing a new vision to the people—a world where freedom will be respected, and the responsibilities with it will be understood and supported.”

  “I’ll still want to help you, too.”

  “I’ll need people to analyze the incoming intelligence,” Exton told her. “I’ll have you help with that. Sorting through information should be easy enough for you and the baby.”

  “Don’t use my baby as an excuse to shuffle me to the sidelines,” Emery said.

  “I’m not doing that at all,” he insisted. “That will keep you in the central hub of everything. You’ll be in constant communication and you’ll be able to protect and inform us.”

  Emery sighed. “Sorry. I should’ve known better than to think you would be able to get rid of me.”

  “After all these years, it’s still an impossible feat, I assure you.” He came over beside her and gave her a hug.

  “Go on,” Emery said, shooing him away. “Go start getting everyone ready. If we’re going to take the war to the URS, let’s make sure it’s a good one.”

  “A real knockout,” Patty said with a smirk. “As always, you have my support, Exton. I’ll see to strengthening up our defenses. If the Perdition can help cover us, we should be able to hold off any retaliatory attack from St. Cloud.”

  “And I’ll help, too,” Tyler offered. “This is a moral issue. Good people have to stand up and do something. War is messy, but if we can strategize and pool our resources, we can mess up only what needs messed up.”

  “And in the meantime, we can work to get Aerie back,” Emery said, her optimism returning briefly. “No matter what you’ve told yourself, Exton, I know you believe there’s hope.”

  “Mew.”

  Humbled, Exton felt a rush of pride and love as he looked at the people (and the cat) beside him. He had been in many places alone, but he knew that he’d never really been alone. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” Emery replied. “Now, seriously, go. We’ll need to finalize our plans before we actually do something.”

  Exton nodded and hurried out. While he was not happy about the risk involved for others, there was a surge of satisfaction inside of him at the thought of beating the URS, and St. Cloud, at their own game.

  Exton slowed his steps as he glanced out the window. In the pool of moonlight across the nearby water, he saw the reflection of the Memory Tree. He remembered how it felt, pressing his fingers against its brittle bark as he silently vowed to let it live and flourish as his heart never would.

  He had no peace earlier, and now he only had it at the prospect of ridding the world of the rest of its peace.

  Aerie had called him a monster when she first met him. Maybe she was right all along.

  ♦5♦

  Aerie looked out at the night sky projections from the top of her unit housing. She was still huddled up in the jacket she’d been given at the hospital. It was the only comfort she had that night.

  She saw the projection of the moon on the underground sky of New Hope and instantly bristled.

  That’s not what the moon looks like.

  The memories inside of her from before her injury pounded themselves into her mind’s eye, even as the pain accompanied it. There was a picture of the moon, so bright and full of light, with its pockmarked face calling out in perpetual delight.

  Or maybe agony, now that she thought of it.

  Another memory came to the surface; this one was easier to recall. It was from several weeks ago, not long after the mid-quarter break.

  The moon was there, in her mind, only much smaller, though somehow brighter. She was watching it from the top of her tree, the Memory Tree, after she’d sneaked away from one of her class trips to journey to the city’s surface.

  “Moona,” she murmured, and she suddenly wondered what had become of her kitten. Wa
s she still up there, curling up in the branches of the Memory Tree?

  She sighed as the pain in her head once more increased, and the hole in her heart seemed more pronounced than ever.

  “Hey.”

  Aerie glanced over to see Brock come up onto the roof beside her. “Hey,” she murmured. She was not up for another attempt at conversation. All throughout dinner, it had been hard enough to smile through all the snips and jokes at her expense from her siblings, and Serena’s relentless flirting with Brock was no better.

  Even when the General came and stepped in, Aerie somehow felt more awful. Claire’s earlier comments about people needing to protect her stirred continuously inside her mind.

  “Are you okay?” Brock asked. “I was just talking to the General, and I noticed you were gone. He said you might be out here.”

  “I’m okay,” Aerie said. She shrugged her shoulders. “Just another headache.”

  “Oh.” He scooted closer to her. “I’m sorry.”

  Aerie was surprised. “No one in the URS apologizes.”

  He grinned. “Well, sometimes you have to,” he said. “It’s just not generally a good thing. In this case, though, I am genuinely sorry you’re not feeling well.”

  “Thanks.” Aerie patted his hand.

  “Are you cold?” Brock asked. He put his arm around her shoulders. “Here, let me help you warm up.”

  “No,” Aerie said, drawing back from him.

  “What’s wrong? Are you afraid of me?” Brock asked. His tone was hard, and Aerie knew he was struggling not to let his emotions get the better of him.

  “No,” Aerie replied. “I’m not.”

  “Then what’s wrong?” he asked. “Before we graduated, you were always willing to talk to me. Ever since I got accepted into the military and you didn’t, I feel like there’s this barrier between us. I mean, I know you’re probably jealous, but I still want you to come with me to the Military Academy Ball.”

  “I’m not afraid of you,” Aerie grumbled. “I’m angry at you.”

  “What?” He was clearly upset. “Why are you mad at me? I haven’t done anything wrong. It’s not my fault that I got into the military and you didn’t. I told you that it would’ve been better if you’d just followed instructions and did the report you were assigned.”