“My father chose the town over you?” Zanth’s voice contained his disbelief.
“I never gave him a choice. Either choice would have hurt him. I thought to save him suffering, but Ute told me how that turned out. I am so sorry.”
Marin’s eyes rose to the sky. “It was because of you that my father could not love us?”
“He loved you; he could not play house with your mom. You have this idealized version of your mother, but she never stood up to him. She sacrificed you, chasing something she could never get. She knew he loved me, and she wanted him anyway. Your mother could not accept that. She never loved you. She used you against your father.”
“Lies!” Zanth got up in her face.
Selmay shoved him back. “Ask Ute; ask him. He will tell you the truth.”
“I will. Lara will be avenged.” Zanth swung his arm around and pointed at all of us.
Prog spoke, unnoticed until now. “Avenging your prior lover is more important to you than the safety of your people? Than my safety? A question: If she were still here, would we be together?”
“Do not make this about you, Prog. If she were here we would all be together.”
Prog folded his arms, and his gorgeous wings fanned out. With a quick spring, he was flying about us.
Zanth looked at me helplessly.
Ha. “Don’t look at me. You kind of stuck your foot in it there, lover boy.”
“Prog. Come down here. We are heading inside once we figure out this door.” He trailed him in the air with his eyes.
While Prog had been talking, Selmay walked into the building. With a whistle, she pointed upward. The disks were gone. “I deactivated the shields. Come in.”
I approached slowly, watching the space where the disks had been. Nothing happened and the others filed in behind me.
Selmay waved her hand to the desk in front of the door. Werner immediately moved to the computers and started to take apart the system to get at its innards. “I am not as good as Dela at programming, but I can restore the connection so Dela can access the data from our lab.”
“The rest of us need to split up and explore the building.”
Selmay interrupted. “I do not think that would be a good idea. A few here and one party. As far as we know, the doors are only keyed to me. Texxak knew me as Xade's, but he left before Xade formed the Remains. The doors might not open for you. Safer to stay together.”
“Agreed, let’s go as a group,” Zanth said, his hand on my shoulder this time. “Prog and I will stay here with Werner.”
Prog waved his hand. “Hana and I can handle Werner, you go with the others.”
Zanth started say something, but a look from Prog shut him up.
Marin agreed. “Better to have me and you escorting the women. If anything happened to Finn, I will need help carrying him. We also need to be quick. I want to know if Finn is here. If not, we need to be heading back.”
A smiled crossed my face as I watched Marin step up and give orders. It came so natural to him.
Selmay snapped her fingers in front of my face. “Moonie. Wake up. Are you ready to go?”
I waved her fingers away and glanced around to see the rest of the group looking at me. “Yes, I am ready.” No need for them to get so grumpy.
Zanth gave me a side hug. “I am not sure how much I trust Selmay. Be careful.”
“I am not sure how far I trust anyone but you.”
Zanth butted his head against mine. “Sister.”
My eyes watered. “Brother.”
Selmay made a gagging noise. “You all are quite sentimental.” She pointed specifically at the door. “We must go.”
Zanth took a step back. I waved at Prog, and Werner barely lifted his head from the controls for a goodbye before we were off down and around the corridor.
The hallways here were far smaller and darker and seemed to get narrower as we traveled inward. No translucent stone—a brownish-black brick, like the mountain. No pictures and few lights. It reminded me of an olden-day castle. I let my hand trail along the wall, my fingers slipping along the rough surface, fine powder dripping down onto the ground.
Selmay slapped my hand. “Stop that.”
“Why?”
“This is barka stone. They mix the quarum in the natural rock of the valley. The surface is sharp and can make you bleed. That triggers sensors and they will be able to track us that way. That is why the hallways are so narrow, so you can’t lean against it without leaving a trace. This is a forward fighting facility.”
“Why is it not quarum?”
“This is better for battle. It is less transparent. You cannot see your enemies’ movements. The quarum is good for research and the ships, but this is their building material.”
“I didn't know that.”
“You never knew anything but the labs. This is what the E'mani are.”
“I do not like that we must travel one by one,” Marin muttered from behind us.
Zanth nodded and reached out to touch the wall.
Selmay growled and slapped his hand away. “I told you not to touch. I will go first; you do not seem to grasp the dangers in this building. Marin, you come last. Beta after me then Zanth.”
“Why was it so open prior, and now it is closed off?” Zanth asked.
“They are picking people off. If a force comes to fight, they can get in as a group, but then have to eventually travel one by one. Easier to kill people that way and block the entrance. This is what all the warriors’ buildings werelike along the front line where the battles were, back during the war. This is what I think of when I think E'mani, not Xade's labs. I have seen corridors like this soaked in Fost blood.”
Zanth snorted. “That is a cheerful thought.”
I grinned at him and followed Selmay; no more talk. Generally, I was not one to get claustrophobic, but the wall here—rough, dark, and given what I now knew, soaked in blood— gave me the heebie-jeebies. I hunched over to keep my shoulders from sliding along the walls. Marin and Zanth were having more difficulty behind me. We ended up nearly on our knees near the end of the corridor. One door and the room opened up into a stadium of lights and sounds.
After the darkness of the corridor, it took me a second to get my bearings. The tunnels opened in a large cavern, quarum this time, smooth with red lights. And the walls were moving, closing in between us.
“No.” I slapped my hand on the wall too late.
Everyone was gone.
Chapter Eleven
I reached out for Selmay's back. She'd continued forward toward the middle of the room and twisted back just as the brick sealed between us. I heard the shudder of it close behind me, leaving me in a little box, and I was not alone.
A red-haired giant stood before me. Pale skin and blue, blue eyes, almost like mine. A chill spread down my spine.
“Who are you?” Please don't be who I think you are.
The giant smiled, his arms crossed. “I am Texxak.”
Damn it. The other Progenitor we’d read about. He seemed way too calm and happy. This huge grin wreathed his face. What the hell was his problem?
I brandished my knife and retreated so I could feel my back press against the cool crystal. No need to worry about sensors now, the enemy was upon me. The smooth surface on my back grounded me and gave me a foothold if I needed to push off quickly.
Texxak held out his hands. “No need to fear me, Elizabeth. I am here to present you with an opportunity.”
“Why do you talk like me?” His accent was distinctly Southern and dreadfully out of place in a land of echoes. The lack seemed almost dull. I'd gotten so used to it, even with Dela and the Remains talking almost normally. His drawl was out of place. Jarring. Upsetting to me in some way. It reminded me of my father, though his was always faint unless he was angry, then the rolling r's came out.
“I have studied you for a long time.”
“Why?”
He strolled toward me, his hands back at his sides. “Yo
u are of interest to me.”
“Oh really, why?” I circled to the left, away. Just away.
“Why not?”
“I thought Xade was the one behind our time here.”
“Oh, Xade has his own purpose which just happened to coincide with mine.” He ended on those words, but I hated the look in his eyes. I panned the room, looking for an escape route. One section of the wall thrummed a dull green rhythm nearby. I reached out a hand to touch.
“Stop.”
Texxak moved faster than I gave him credit for. His hand encircled my wrist, and he pulled me backward. “The walls will hurt you. I have an enclosure around us so we may talk privately. Some of the dangers here have become apparent to me. Xade has started a war that I do not wish him to win.”
I twisted my arm, trying to get it out of his grasp. Bruises already formed and faded on my wrist. “You don't want him to beat us?”
“Oh, I want him to beat the Fost, yes, but not you.” He tapped my nose and stalked me around the room. “You're special.”
“Again, why?”
“Soon enough you will know. For now, I left some clues here to draw you close. Your friend seems to feel he knows the computers better than any of us, but he has never met Ariana. My little friend is quite good. And as I said, I have an opportunity for you.”
“And what may that be?”
“Give up and come with me, willingly, and I will take no action against the Fost. We will leave this place, end this war. We have other facilities on nearby planets. We do not need Industry anymore except for the mines. To Xade, there was sentimental value.” He shrugged. “But to the rest of us, it is just an aspect of our past. The Fost can have it. I only want you.”
“And yet again I ask, why me?”
Texxak looked over his shoulder. The walls moved and another figure came forward. Dark hair in a buzz cut, lean in blue jeans and classic white t-shirt, older, worn, and blue eyes, again matching my own. Though these eyes were my father’s. Zachary Camden. Here.
My knees went weak. I slid down the wall and held my blade out in front of me. “What the fuck is going on?”
Texxak stepped back in our little box to put his hand on Zachary's shoulder. “This is a bit of a family reunion. Zach and I have been close for years, but I never wanted him to have children. Then he had you. You were so very perfect. Your DNA is a perfect mix of Fost, E'mani, and human.”
“Fost?”
“Yes. We planted some Fost there on Earth. Your mother, Mary, was one of them. Quite a woman, your mother. She fought tooth and nail for you. It was her power that kept us from taking you far sooner. Do you remember being sick when you were little?”
Vaguely, I remember board games with my mother and blank white walls. “Yes.”
“That was your tricksy mother. She poisoned you with something. Xade wasn’t there, we had no cure, so we left you under her care. Her resistance is what ultimately led me to taking Zachary away from her.”
What? “My mother did not poison me. She wouldn’t.” My eyes drifted to Zachary. My father remained silent throughout all of Texxak's speech. I’d never seen him hold his tongue like that. “Nothing to say, Daddy Dearest?”
“Beta, you don't know everything that is going on here, the things I have done to protect you and your mother. Texxak will keep you safe.”
“What about Mom? Did he keep her safe? What about my brothers and sisters? Are they safe?”
Zach waved his hand dismissively. “There was only you, us. I have done everything I could to keep our family safe.”
Whatever. “Sure you did. Mom's dead.”
“Your mother is not dead. She is just indisposed.”
“What do you mean?”
Zachary leaned down and put a hand on my shoulder. “I will explain later. Focus on what Texxak is offering you, safety from Xade.”
I slapped his hand off and scuttled to another corner. “What about the Fost? What about everyone? The world doesn't revolve around your own desires. Do you know what the E'mani have done? What they plan to do?”
Zachary pivoted to face me. “Yes, even more so than you. They are going to cure disease, end aging, and create a utopia for all races.”
“Races they control, they approve of.”
“Utopia. And we will get to be there. Don't you see?”
“Oh, I see.” I was so glad that his approval no longer mattered to me. For as long as I could remember, I never measured up in his eyes. Today, I was proud of that fact.
“Why don't the both of you go to hell?”
Texxak sighed. He gripped Zach’s t-shirt and tugged him back. “I don't think you realize what is at stake. Not just for you. I have troops all around your little camp there in Center. As soon as I arrived back on planet after you hit Xade with the disease, I scouted and found you. I also broke out the little friend you were looking for. Xade and Selmay's grandchild. Finn. As long as I had Finn, Xade stayed in line. Same with Selmay. She always was his weakness. Why, the boy even has a fondness for you. But alas, Xade got Finn back. We are having a bit of a dispute about that now.
“You all put up a good fight. It was interesting to test out my fighters. But now the time for games has come to an end. I want you and the other Remains as you call yourselves to surrender and come to this facility. I will be taking over your care. Xade will resume his prior studies on this planet but away from the Fost. We will allow the Fost their precious Industry. The Cairns are more interesting to us now with their quarum. And those mountains with the ferrin, was it? Quite nice. We shall have to explore there soon.” Texxak nodded at my father. Zachary, for his part, remained still, with his head down.
Those two didn't look as tight as Texxak appeared to want it to be.
“Hmm, let me think.” I tapped my finger to my nose. “No.”
“Are you going to answer for everyone? I think you need to talk over this opportunity with them, and let them make their own choice. You could get Finn back, Selmay safe, and the Fost safe. As Remains, you would never have a normal life here. You know too much technology. They would never truly accept you. Yes, during the war you are helpful. But what about after? The Fost abhor technology.”
My skin crawled at his comments. I noticed it myself when I was making the medicines back in Groos. The suspicion, the distrust. But surely not now, not after all that has happened. A wiggle of unease remained. “The answer will be the same.”
“You may be surprised.” Texxak studied the ground then looked up at me again. “Give them our proposition. Let them know there is a chance at peace. They will jump at it. You'll see. Then be ready for me to pick you up.”
Zachary moved in front of Texxak and put his hands on my shoulders. “Beta, honey, this is important. For everyone’s sake, don't fight. Give up.” His eyes burned as he looked at me, shaking my shoulders even more.
His words were the exact opposite of everything he’d ever told me when I grew up, the opposite of what he taught me. Crying was a weakness. Never give up. Fight. Control. Win. Where was this coming from?
“Tell me, Dad, did you tell that to Mom? Before you left us? She never did let me see the letter you wrote.”
Texxak laughed. “Mary is just fine, Beta. A bit upset at me, but fine. As for your brothers and sisters. There weren't any. Your father made that up. He wasn’t quite clear explaining that earlier.”
I reeled backward. “Why?”
“Mary would never have given up Zachary unless there was a reason. Your parents do truly love each other. All that self-sacrifice and love. So sad.”
Zachary spit out, “It is not sad. It is perfect.”
“Son, I told you emotion is irrelevant.”
“There is no life without feeling,” I said.
Texxak’s threw his head back with a laugh. “What a stupid concept.”
“It is not stupid,” I said. “Without emotions people are nothing. Life is nothing. There is no beauty in life without it. I love my husband.”
And that was the first time since the bands came off that I called him husband. I may have had my doubts, but this family quarrel seemed to be helping me get through my issues, at least.
Texxak roared. “I think Xade had hopes for otherwise. It is why he got rid of your baby.”
“What?”
“He wanted you with his own spawn, with Finn.”
“The baby was Finn's.”
Texxak covered his mouth. “Really? That is perfect. He killed his own grandchild. Oh, the guilt that will cause will be delicious. I can't wait to negotiate again.”
“Why are you negotiating?”
“He wants us to leave him to his devices here, but from what I have seen, he’s gone a bit, um, how would a human put it? Nutso, maybe? And he took you. You were never to be harmed. I agreed to the harvest of Earth but never to you. It took us this long to catch up to Xade. I had some other matters to take care of first; it delayed us somewhat. Your father here was quite worried about you.”
“That would be a first.”
“Beta.” Zack said sharply.
Well, it would be. I crossed my arms.
“Not all the E’mani are your enemies, Beta, I assure you of that. We only sought to expand our boundaries. Our mistake was leaving Xade behind. He did join us occasionally, but mainly stayed here. I did not realize the effect he was having on the land. This is our home. I would not have allowed this damage, I assure you.”
“It is the Fosts’ world, and we will fight you for it.”
“You are not going to be able to take this area, Beta, I promise you that. There are things here you have not fought before. These are not clones like Xade makes, these are fighters. Trained since birth for one purpose, killing. The battle would be over very quickly.”
I held up the ferrin-imbued blade. “Our magic is strong.”
“The magic was never strong enough before, and the Fost were better trained in it, prior. What makes you think they have a chance now? No, the Fost will lose in any pitched battle with us. I know it. They know it.” Texxak took a step back so he was against the wall. “Give them our proposition. I will see you back here in two weeks. Then be ready to go with me.” He pressed his palm to the green glowing area. And like that, the conversation was over.
Distant Memory: She remembered everything (Solum Series Book 3) Page 7
