by Timothy Zahn
“You are the Swarm,” Artanis countered. “Individual zerg do not matter to the Swarm. Only the end matters.”
“We have renounced that goal.”
“And what of your other goals?” Artanis persisted. “Once, you sought genetic perfection by infesting terrans and attempting the same with protoss. Were those to be a perfection of the zerg, or merely a destruction of protoss and terrans?”
“That was the past,” Zagara said firmly. “The Overmind is gone. The Queen of Blades is gone. I am the present. I am the future. My vision for the Swarm is as day is from night.”
“Why should we believe that you have changed your ways?” Artanis demanded.
“Because I will show you,” Zagara said. She was starting to sound angry, Valerian noted uneasily. “Come to Gystt and I will show you everything. Wonders that will benefit all of us, zerg and protoss and terran alike.”
“What sort of benefits are you talking about?” Valerian put in before Artanis could respond.
“Many protoss and terran planets were devastated by the war,” Zagara said. “In some places, food for the terran survivors is scarce, is it not?”
Valerian grimaced. It was hardly a secret, but he hadn’t expected the zerg to keep up on such things. “It is,” he confirmed.
“You see before you a possible solution,” Zagara said. “What the zerg have done on Gystt, we can do on your planets as well.” Her head turned slightly, presumably to the display showing Artanis’s face. “The protoss’ situation is different,” she continued. “But many of your planets were likewise devastated. We could help heal them.”
“We have seen what zerg do when they gain a foothold on other planets,” Artanis said. The hierarch’s skin was starting to mottle with emotion. “After the near-genocide of the protoss on Aiur, do you believe we would permit you to return under any pretext?”
“I deeply regret the destruction on your homeworld, Hierarch Artanis,” Zagara said. “But be assured the zerg would not need to come there or to any of your other planets. The necessary genetic work could be individualized here, and you could administer it yourselves.”
“But you first require us to come to your structure and meet with you,” Artanis said.
“I ask you to come meet with me,” Zagara said. “I lay no trap before you, Hierarch Artanis, or you, Emperor Valerian. The Swarm desires only to be left alone to live in peace.”
“Yes,” Valerian said. Catching Matt’s eye, he beckoned to the admiral. “A moment, Overqueen, if you please.”
Matt stepped to his side, gesturing to the comm officer to mute the microphone. “I don’t like it, Valerian,” the admiral said quietly, his voice pitched too low for anyone else on the bridge to hear.
“I’m not surprised,” Valerian murmured back. “Anything solid backing up that feeling?”
“Just a finely tuned gut that’s had a long and painful history with zerg,” Matt said. “The building looks secure enough, at least as far as we can tell from orbit. If there’s a double cross in the works, we can probably get you out in time.”
“And if not, assure mutual destruction?”
“Between us and the protoss, absolutely,” Matt said. “You really think she’s sincere?”
Valerian shrugged. “She certainly knows the right buttons to push. The big question is whether the food solution is an offer or just bait, and we won’t know which without going down for a closer look.”
Matt snorted. “Forgive my cynicism, but you’re not going to learn anything useful on an official guided tour.”
“Agreed,” Valerian said, giving him a tight smile. “But I’m not the one who’ll be looking. Unmute me, will you?”
“Okay,” Matt said, frowning as he gestured again to the comm officer. “Go ahead.”
Valerian turned back to the display. “Thank you, Overqueen, for your patience,” he said. “I would be honored to accept your invitation. With one stipulation: while we’re having our talks, I want to send a survey team to examine the new life and perhaps ascertain whether your techniques can be adapted to terran planets and crops.”
“I would welcome your survey team,” Zagara said without hesitation.
“And they would be allowed to go anywhere on the planet?”
“They may go where they will,” Zagara confirmed. “The Swarm has no evil intent, nor has it dark secrets.”
“Very well.” Valerian shifted his attention to the other comm display. “Hierarch Artanis, we would be most appreciative if you would join us.”
For a long moment Valerian was sure the protoss would refuse. Worse, that he might even order a preemptive attack. Then, slowly, the mottling faded from his skin and he inclined his head. “I will accompany you, Emperor Valerian,” he said, his voice back to its original flatness. “But I urge that neither of us travels alone. I do not believe it would be prudent.”
“No, it would not,” Valerian agreed softly, looking back at Zagara. “Not in the slightest.”
—
“There,” Dr. Erin Wyland said, pointing to her latest composite false-color map. “Do you see it now?”
She looked up at the man standing over her cramped shipboard workstation. But Colonel Cruikshank just shook his head. “Not really,” he said. “But I’ll take your word for it.”
Erin ground her teeth. She didn’t want him to take her word for it. This was science, and science wasn’t supposed to be run by popular vote. She had objective evidence, blast it, and she wanted him to see it.
She shifted her gaze to the woman standing on her other side. “Do you see it?” she asked.
“Of course,” Dr. Talise Cogan said calmly. “I saw it three iterations ago.” She gestured to Cruikshank. “But we’re scientists. He’s military. We see the universe. He just tries to blow it up.”
“Cute,” Cruikshank growled. “Try to remember that it’s because of the military that you get to do your science stuff instead of eating rats and hiding in zerg-infested rubble. So, fine, it’s there. What do you suggest we do about it?”
“Do about what?” a familiar voice said from behind Erin.
She spun around in her chair, her heart suddenly beating faster. Striding toward her from the hatchway was the Dominion fleet’s commander, Admiral Matt Horner—
And beside him, Emperor Valerian Mengsk himself. The man who’d started life as a scientist before rising to rule the entire Terran Dominion. More than that, the man who’d brought genuine ethics to government.
“Emperor Valerian,” Cruikshank said, stiffening to attention. “I believe you know Dr. Cogan?”
“I do,” Valerian confirmed, exchanging nods with the older xenobiologist. “And this is…?”
“Dr. Erin Wyland,” Cruikshank said. “She’s been analyzing the vegetation down there, and she may have found something interesting.” He gestured to Erin. “Doctor?”
Furiously, Erin tried to unfreeze her brain. Never in her strangest dreams had she envisioned herself speaking directly to the man who’d saved the Dominion, not just from the protoss and zerg but also from itself. “There appear to be three distinct focal points on the planet from which the rest of the vegetation radiates,” she began, trying not to stutter. “The points are—”
“What do you mean, radiates?” Admiral Horner interrupted. “How does plant life radiate?”
Erin floundered, forcing herself to take the necessary half second to get her brain back on track before speaking again. “I don’t know, sir,” she said. “But the pattern is there.” She pointed to the false-color map. “The points are here, and—”
“Wait,” Valerian ordered.
Erin froze, her stiffened forefinger hanging in midair halfway to the second radial point. The emperor moved closer to the workstation, his piercing gray eyes steady on the display. He was right behind Erin now, close enough that she could feel the heat radiating from his body. He reached out a finger, paused, and moved it to hover over the second point. “Here…” The finger drifted slowly a
cross the terrain. “And here?”
Erin felt a flood of relief. So it wasn’t just imagination. The emperor could see it, too. “Yes, Emperor Valerian,” she said. “Uh…a bit farther east on the third one, actually. But you do see it?”
“I do,” Valerian confirmed. “Interesting. Those are hills, right? Or mesas?”
“Probably low mesas, yes.”
“Any idea what’s there?”
“Not really, Emperor,” Erin said. “I don’t see anything noteworthy on the top surfaces. There’s a line of trees along one edge of each mesa, blocking the view, so it’s possible that what we see is just an overhang, with whatever’s of interest underneath it. But it could also be a vertical wall—I can’t tell from these pictures. I’m sorry.”
“No need to apologize,” Valerian said, his eyes still on the map. “Important discoveries always begin with small steps.” He turned to Admiral Horner. “And this small step has just given us our starting point. Admiral?”
“I agree, sir,” the admiral said. “Any preference as to which one?”
“We’ll leave that to Dr. Wyland,” Valerian said. “She can choose where she wants to start.”
“I suppose I’d—” Erin broke off as the full implications of that sentence belatedly penetrated. “Excuse me, Emperor? Where I want to start?”
“We’re sending a team down to study the vegetation and take some samples,” Valerian said. “I was planning to send Dr. Cogan with them, as our leading xenobiologist. But under the circumstances, I think you should go instead.” He raised his eyebrows. “Any objections, Dr. Cogan?”
“None at all, Emperor,” Dr. Cogan said without hesitation. “Dr. Wyland’s far better with alien vegetation than I am. Besides, I’m a bit too old for fieldwork.”
“You aren’t, really,” the emperor disagreed mildly. “But the rest of your logic is sound. Dr. Wyland, welcome to the survey team. Colonel, get her ready.”
“Yes, Emperor,” Cruikshank said.
“And good hunting, Doctor,” the emperor said, giving Erin the same kind of nod he’d given Dr. Cogan earlier. He then turned and left the compartment, Admiral Horner at his side.
“All right,” Cruikshank said briskly, giving Erin a speculative look. “Have you had any experience with powered combat suits?”
“Uh—” Erin floundered again. “I trained for a week with an SCV. They wanted all of us to be able to move heavy machinery—”
“A T-285?” Cruikshank cut her off.
“It, uh, I think it was a T-270. What did he mean, good hunting?”
“I’m sure he was speaking in a scientific sense,” Dr. Cogan said. But there was a tension around her eyes that sent a chill up Erin’s spine.
“Or in the military sense,” Cruikshank said flatly. “So, a T-270. More like a vehicle than powered armor, but it’s a start. All right, come with me—I’ll have one of our sergeants start checking you out on a CMC-400.”
Erin felt her eyes go wide. “A what?”
“You’re going down to the surface,” Cruikshank said with strained patience. “A surface covered in zerg. You want to walk to this magic radial point in your jumpsuit?”
“I heard that Zagara promised they wouldn’t bother the team,” Dr. Cogan put in.
“Yeah, she did,” Cruikshank agreed. “You want to count on a zerg promise?” He gestured to Erin. “That question’s to you, Doc. Unless you want to tell the emperor you’re backing out.”
Erin felt a stirring inside her. The last thing she would ever do was disappoint Emperor Valerian. “Fine,” she said tersely. “Let’s go get this CMC-whatever.”
For the past three hours the Hyperion had been the scene of quiet and controlled chaos. Tanya had kept mostly to the sidelines, but from her limited teep power and occasional snatches of overheard conversation as people hurried past, it had sounded like Emperor Valerian was going to the surface to meet with the zerg Overqueen, while a second team would be sent elsewhere on the planet to study the explosion of life that had inexplicably taken place down there.
Now, with Valerian talking to Ulavu bare meters away, all of that earlier speculation had been confirmed. The emperor was sending a team, and he was asking Ulavu to be a part of it.
It was strange and probably extremely dangerous. It also, Tanya had to admit, sounded interesting.
But whatever happened from now on, she wouldn’t be included. Thirty minutes ago, right in the middle of all the conversations and preparations, her clock had run out and she’d ceased to be part of the ghost program.
Or so she assumed. She obviously hadn’t shown up in Colonel Hartwell’s office for the formal procedure, but the datawork had presumably gone through as scheduled. Whether anyone aboard the Hyperion knew that, of course, was a different question.
But she knew. And suddenly, everything had changed.
Nearly her entire life had been spent in the ghost program. Certainly all of her life that she could clearly remember. The barracks, the people, the training, the life routine, even the low-level pain as comrades and acquaintances left for war—all of it was abruptly gone. She was a private citizen now, or at least she would be once she returned to Korhal and was sent on her way.
What did private citizens do? How did they live? Where did they live? In houses and apartments and lodges, of course, but how did someone find such places and arrange to move in? Where would she get food? How was it prepared? Where would she get the money to buy the food in the first place?
Where would she even find someone to answer all these questions?
She looked away from Ulavu and the emperor, gazing at all the other activity around her, a hollow feeling deep in her soul. It was as if she were standing on the street, watching a bus take off with everyone and everything she’d ever known aboard. All her life had been aimed toward the goal of serving the Dominion. Now that goal was suddenly gone.
I wanted this, she reminded herself firmly. I asked to leave the program.
The pep talk didn’t help. Or maybe she hadn’t really thought it all the way through.
I would be honored to join the survey team. She heard Ulavu’s thoughts as he communicated them to Valerian. The Terran Dominion has been kind and generous to me over these past years. I would welcome a chance to do something useful for its people.
“Thank you,” Valerian said, inclining his head. “Your insights into both protoss and zerg cultures and behavior have been most valuable to us. I’m sure they’ll prove equally useful here.”
Tanya nodded to herself. So Ulavu would indeed be going down to the planet. She’d figured that he would accept Valerian’s offer.
She just hoped he would be up to the challenge. As she’d often noted, Ulavu didn’t always work and play well with others.
I thank you in turn, Ulavu said. But this is a service far and above that of a simple scholar. He paused and half turned, looking sideways at Tanya. Perhaps it will also redeem my face among the leaders of my kind.
Tanya suppressed a grimace, on both the physical and the psionic levels. Challenges within challenges within challenges. She didn’t know why Hierarch Artanis had refused to take Ulavu back after the ghosts had found him wandering on that battlefield. As far as she had heard, no one knew. Certainly Ulavu himself never talked about it. But there was clearly some bad blood there.
Not that there weren’t also some bad feelings on the terran side of the aisle. Tanya had noticed that Colonel Cruikshank was making most of the arrangements for the two expeditions to the surface, yet Valerian had chosen to approach Ulavu personally instead of letting Cruikshank do it. The Dominion and the protoss might be noncombatants at the moment, but as she’d seen in Dante’s Circle, there was plenty of simmering resentment out there.
“We can hope that this will mend some fences,” Valerian agreed. “Thank you for your willingness.”
The honor is mine. For a moment the protoss’s thoughts faded from Tanya’s mind as Ulavu shifted his psionic communication to Valerian alone
. Tanya frowned, wondering what the protoss had to say that he didn’t want her hearing—
“I understand,” Valerian said, his eyes flicking to Tanya. “And there was no problem with your request that I bring Ms. Caulfield aboard. But as of a short time ago she ceased to be a member of the Dominion ghost program. I therefore can’t directly order her to do anything she doesn’t want to do.”
Tanya felt a sudden stirring in her stomach. So the emperor, at least, was aware of her new status. Did that mean everyone else was, too? Did all the people hurrying by think of her as little more than a deserter?
A second later the rest of Valerian’s words caught up with her. Your request that I bring Ms. Caulfield aboard…Can’t directly order her to do anything. Had Ulavu asked Emperor Valerian himself to bring her aboard the Hyperion?
And was he now also asking that she join the survey team?
Apparently, he was. “I’ve received a request and suggestion from Ulavu, Ms. Caulfield,” Valerian said. “He thinks your talents could be useful on this mission. Accordingly, he’s asked me to invite you onto the team.”
Tanya looked at Ulavu, noting the lack of any surprise that she had resigned from the program. How long had he known?
More important, why was he asking that she come along? Did he really think she would be useful?
Or was he simply trying to give her one last chance to do something for the Dominion so that she wouldn’t leave with the feeling that she’d totally wasted her life?
This is an important mission, Ulavu said into her hesitation. I believe you could be useful. Will you come with me?
Tanya sighed. With me. Not with us. An act of charity, all right.
Still, to finally get a chance to serve the Dominion and the ghost program…
She focused on Valerian, standing silent and strong and regal. Ulavu had asked that she be added to the team, not Valerian. In fact, it didn’t sound as if the emperor had even considered the possibility until the protoss had brought up the subject. Was that simply because Tanya was technically not under Dominion command anymore?
