by Damon Alan
That was true. Admiral Dayson wasn’t that sort of person, he didn’t think. But would she go that far to get another colony started out of the Hive’s reach? He wasn’t sure. Was Alarin capable of that? Peter didn’t know him as well, but he didn’t seem like that type either.
But it sure looked like someone pulled some strings, ones that involved dangerous timing, now that Eris put it all together.
“Where is Eislen being held now?” Peter asked.
“I don’t know,” she replied. “I thought you knew.”
Why don’t I know?
“Let’s think about it,” Eris said. “Sleep on it, maybe we’ll have clarity in the morning.”
“Yeah,” Peter said, lost in thought.
Sleep was a long time coming.
Chapter 39 - Confrontation
40 Jand 15330
It took some doing, but Sarah finally corralled Alarin alone. As they met in the hallway of the Fleet Admin Building, she pushed him hard into the door of a briefing room.
“We need to talk,” she said, gruffly.
She opened the door and gestured inside. The look of confusion on his face was a bit unexpected. It surprised her that he wasn’t reading her mind, after all, she’d just assaulted him in a sense.
“Okay, Sarah. We can talk,” he said as he entered the room.
The lights popped on as the sensors detected motion.
“Sit down,” she said, gesturing toward a chair. “I needed to talk to you without Emille.” She realized he was probably never actually without Emille, but this was as close as it would get.
“What about?”
“You set up Eislen, you used my forces to remove him by conning me as to your intentions.”
“What are you talking about?” Alarin asked. “You didn’t have to send your air machines.”
“You know very well what I am talking about. You requested that I send my forces to defend your country. You told me where Eislen was. This whole resettlement idea is your idea, and you have made every effort to make me think it was mine,” Sarah growled. Even she could detect the anger in her voice.
The problem wasn’t his agenda, the problem was that he hid it from her and tried to manipulate her.
“Why is this a problem?” he asked. “Everyone wins. At least a small part of humanity will move beyond the reach of your Hive. That is what you wanted.”
“They’re not my Hive. I didn’t make them,” she said. “You could have contacted us sooner, couldn’t you? Then Kampana would be intact, We could have destroyed the Himalland invaders on the road.”
He sighed, then Sarah noticed a look of surrender on his face.
“Eislen’s a problem, Sarah. I can’t tolerate his failure to uphold his end of our bargain if I want to keep Zeffult together. Had he his way, eventually there’d be two nations where before there was one.”
“So you burned him out of his village once again by deceiving me?”
“I didn’t deceive you. You willingly loaned me your forces to attack my enemies. I only selected the time. And I was right, without Kampana holding him here, he’s far more likely to agree to your desire to get some of our people to a safer location.”
“And Emille wanting him moved to an entirely different galaxy?” Sarah asked.
“That has nothing to with this,” Alarin said. “I had no idea she was rolling that around in her head. But Emille is certainly part of why things went this way.”
“What do you mean?”
“Emille’s more Merik than she’s me, although she’s not insane. But in her eyes, Eislen is a threat to her relationship with me, because in her eyes his behavior weakens me.”
“I suppose,” Sarah responded. “What keeps her from ending him?”
“Ethics. She has those,” Alarin replied. “She’s a good person. But she sees the world as very black and white. She doesn’t understand why I don’t, and why I feel like I have a responsibility to Eislen.”
“I get that. It’s my fault he’s even involved in any of this.”
“Maybe, or maybe there’s more at work here than you’d consider believing,” he countered.
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, that’s it. The will of the gods.”
“None of that matters,” he said, changing the subject. “We’re all getting what we want. I want Eislen to live and be happy. Emille wants him as far away as possible and to no longer be a thorn in Zeffult’s side. Or Antecar’s side.”
“Is Edolhirr involved in this?” Sarah asked.
“Who do you think had his scouts look for Eislen in the refugees as they headed north? And opened his borders to them?”
“And to think I liked that old man,” Sarah said. “Devious old coot, just like you’re going to be someday.”
“You get what you want too,” Alarin argued. “And so does Eislen. He will be able to keep his people away from modern corrupting society, and they’ll be able to observe the old ways.”
Sarah sat down. She stared at him long enough he was uncomfortable with it. Which meant he wasn’t reading her mind.
“You’re right. But next time, you tell me everything. If those invading adepts had killed any of my people, this would be an entirely different conversation.”
“I will do things differently in the future,” Alarin promised. “At least when you and your people are concerned.”
“I’m not asking to run your country, or suggesting I am in any way in authority over you,” she said, getting his point. “But you involved my people.”
“You have made that point,” he said, “and you have my apologies. I can’t do any more than that.”
“Yes, you can. We can talk to Eislen, but you will arrange with Edolhirr to get the refugees to the Kampana fields. My people will pick them up there. You tell that old man that I expect them to be housed, fed, and treated like honored guests until they’re in my hands.”
To her surprise, none of that fazed him. “I agree. And he will agree, he’s a humane person. I will ask him to do as you wish. Why the Kampana area?”
“My pilots know that spot. We will pick up the refugees, give them something to dull their senses a bit, and then take them to Gaia,” she answered. “Eislen will have to be there to keep them calm at the start of the process, and so they’ll trust us.”
“Then we better work on getting him on our side,” Alarin said.
Sarah stood, and when he did too, she hugged him. “I need to be able to trust you. We are friends, you call me by one name as I do you. Friends don’t do business like you just did.”
His face turned red. For the first time, she must have really struck him in a vulnerable spot. “You are right, Sarah. Would you like me to call you by your full name once more?”
She clasped his shoulder and shook her head. “No, you nut. I would never give up my friendship with you. Calling me by two names is the last thing I want.”
His smile told her that any wounds were healed. Their friendship was stronger for wear as a result.
Chapter 40 - A Blindside Option
Eislen paced in the small set of rooms that he was told wasn’t his jail. After leaving Kampana, he was brought to the newcomer settlement. It was interesting, he’d not seen it before. Truth of it was it reminded him of their ships.
Lifeless, yet living. It was hard to express. They removed nature, yet incorporated it into their town on their terms. When they did that, it wasn’t natural anymore.
He based that opinion on what he could see out of his windows, anyway, or from the deck that was too high to escape from.
He told himself he would be patient. And he would be. Even if he left this strange housing, he’d be stuck on the island this place was on. It’s not like he could fly one of their shuttles back to Kampana.
On the way to this place he’d asked that fellow named Hamden to recover his wife and Elvanik from the refugees if possible. He’d need their counsel. Hamden said he’d mention it to Sarah Dayson.
Yesterday they told
him that Salla and Elvanik had been located, and were being taken back to Kampana to see the damage, then they’d be brought here. That made sense, his captors would know that if they didn’t see the destruction, they couldn’t give him good advice.
Whatever it was they wanted, nobody was spilling the beans to him. Even with the weak ability he’d gained to read their emotions, it was nearly impossible to do so. When he did get a glimpse, it wasn’t reassuring.
Pity. Or disregard.
The last one angered him, but now was not the time to engage that problem in the only manner he knew how. There was still time to wait and see what Sarah wanted. He also had to remember that the two people most important to him were now in the hands of his potential foes.
A buzzing sound came from the door, something he’d not heard before. He walked over to check it out. There was a small panel on the wall next to the door, it had an image on it. A moving image, like the movies Peter Corriea had shown him so long ago.
Sarah Dayson. Peter Corriea. Alarin. Emille, the arrogant tart from Antecar. What was she doing here?
He stood and stared at the door, waiting for them to open it.
It buzzed again.
“Let us in, Eislen,” a muffled voice called out. In the newcomer language. It was Peter Corriea.
“It’s your door,” Eislen answered.
The figures on the screen gestured at each other for a few seconds, then the doorknob turned as the door opened.
“Are you being difficult on purpose?” Alarin asked him.
“Are you?” Eislen countered. “I am the prisoner here, you and I had an agreement.”
“One you did not keep,” Alarin responded. “You failed to defend the borders.”
“This is true,” Eislen responded. He wasn’t about to lie about it or argue.
“Let me see him!” he heard someone screech from down the hall.
Salla.
She burst through the open door, pushing Alarin and Emille aside as if they were nothing. That made Eislen smile. She slammed into him, knocking him back as she wrapped her arms around him, then kissed him madly.
“You should do that every time you see me,” Emille said to Alarin.
“Funny, I was thinking the same thing about you,” he responded.
Some inner dam in Eislen’s soul broke. Even as Salla squeezed him, he spoke to his former Master. “I am sorry how things have evolved. But I would change nothing, because what has been is what had to be.”
“Agreed,” Alarin replied. He gestured toward the sitting area that Eislen was all too familiar with. “Can we all sit down?”
“Let’s,” Sarah Dayson said in her way, pushing past the reunited couple and moving toward a seat.
They milled into the area Peter Corriea called the living room, and sat.
“Where’s Elvanik?” Eislen asked.
Salla growled. “The fool loves it here. I don’t think he’s quit eating their food since we arrived. Last I saw he was down on the beach stuffing his face with sweet cakes.”
The newcomers laughed at that.
“It’s true,” Peter Corriea confirmed.
Eislen didn’t laugh, he wanted to get this over with. He was at a disadvantage, and now, with Alarin here, his only potential weapon was rendered useless. If he had to defend himself, the Master Adept would overwhelm and destroy him in an instant. “Sarah Dayson, you brought me here for a reason.”
“It’s Sarah, Eislen. Believe it or not, I am your friend.”
He looked at her skeptically. “That is possible. It is also possible you are not.”
She got a look on her face not entirely different than Miker used to get back in the village before the newcomers came when Eislen annoyed him. It was oddly satisfying to see it.
“Whatever you think, I am here to offer you everything you have said you want,” she responded.
“Such as?”
“An entire world to yourself. A place where you can live by the rules your people have embraced. A place so far away that nobody will bother you, and Alarin will never have power over you again.”
“But you will?”
“Only in the sense that we will seed this world for you. At least one of my people will need to be there to oversee that. But it will be up to you to build it to your vision,” she said.
He felt her honesty. Her guard was down, and he was getting the same vestiges of emotion that he used to get from Peter back on Halvi.
He’d just thought of Peter with one name. Maybe he did trust these people.
Peter tried to reassure him. “Someone will oversee the design, planting, and preliminary development of your new home, Eislen. If you’d like, you can be there to give approval when we do find it.”
“I wouldn’t know what I was looking at. What you’re telling me is the new world would be a completely different place, nowhere close to Nula Armana.”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Peter confirmed.
Eislen looked at his old master, and tried to read him. Alarin’s face was blank, he got nothing from it. There wasn’t a chance he’d penetrate Alarin’s mind unless given approval. So he stuck to words. “And you’d let us go? No anger, no vengeance?”
“I’d never hold anyone here that wanted to leave,” Alarin said. “You have to tell your people what’s involved, get them to cooperate. That’s the only rule.”
Eislen wished it was that easy. “I’m not sure they’re educated enough about these things to know what a good decision is.”
“Then we’ll see how they feel about following you as their leader,” Alarin replied. “If you’ve been good to them, they will trust you.”
A momentary twinge of emotion escaped Alarin and Eislen sensed it. Regret. “You wonder where you failed me, don’t you?” Eislen asked him.
“I do.”
“You failed nothing,” Eislen said. It felt like a peace offering. “We come from places too different to ever mix. You want to be a man of the old ways, but you don’t know them. You go to the temple because it’s your duty, but you don’t learn the words other than to repeat them.”
Alarin didn’t respond. Eislen was pretty sure his old master was holding his new acolyte back judging by the look on her face.
So he continued.
“I don’t know your world. One where you’re never hungry. Never cold. Never tired from furrowing dirt for all the hours of daylight. Almost everyone I know can’t even imagine that sort of freedom. Freedom from toil, from servitude.”
“You’re right,” Alarin replied. “But we do the best we can with what we’re given.”
“He risked his life to bring friendship between us and the newcomers,” Emille spat out.
The look Alarin gave her silenced her next statement before it could begin.
Sarah and Peter watched, seemingly mesmerized. He wondered if this sort of exchange was common among the newcomers, or if they simply got along most of the time. The crater of Zeffult’s capital was evidence that even they had internal conflict.
“I didn’t say he wasn’t a good man,” Eislen said to Emille. “Only that he is a privileged one.”
Alarin could hold her back no more.
“You’re a fool. I am the one who will take you to this new world, heathen. I am the one with the power to see your people to a safety the rest of us may never know again,” she spat out at him. “You know why?”
He cocked his head slightly, waiting for her answer.
Her eyes narrowed and she shook her head slightly in dismissal. “Because Alarin spends too much time concerned about you, you ungrateful idiot. He spends time feeling responsible for you, time that I will want for our children.” She rose from her seat and pointed at Salla. “Ask her, she will understand exactly how I feel about that. She is carrying your child. Who is gifted, by the way.”
Emille stormed toward the door, opened it, and used the gift to slam it behind her. Dust fell from the ceiling.
“This is going well,” Sara
h Dayson said.
“I’ll leave the rest of you to conclude this business,” Alarin said, standing up to follow Emille. He looked at Eislen and extended his hand. “It might be best if you listened with an open mind.”
Eislen shook his former master’s hand, and Alarin left. He had the uneasy feeling that he’d never see Alarin again. That should please him. But it didn’t.
“Eislen, we should go to the new world the newcomers offer us,” Salla said, staring at the closed front door. “We are not safe here anymore.”
She was right. The agreement between him and Alarin no longer existed, mainly because Eislen had failed on his part. The Eastlands belonged to Zeffult, not Kampana. If the Himalland experience had taught him anything, it was that the small fish are eaten. And nothing but waste remained when the big fish was done.
Eislen looked at Sarah Dayson and Peter. “We accept. What do we have to do, and how do my people get to this new world?”
They laid out the plan for him.
It was both terrifying and exciting, if he was honest with himself. A new world, and they’d never be threatened by the corruption of the ruling class adepts again.
Chapter 41 - Admiral’s Personal Log
AI Lucy82A recording, Admiral's personal log, personal archive: Galactic Standard Date 21:07:13 40 JAND 15330
Personal log entry #1412, Admiral Sarah Dayson, origin Korvand, Pallus Sector.
Current Location: Jerna City, New Korvand, Refuge, Oasis System
Eislen has accepted the offer. I swear, dealing with these adepts is like herding cats. As much as they like to brag about their unification at the end of Merik’s life, they’re not unified at all.
I’ve ordered the surface shuttle fleet to take supplies to Kampana. If Edolhirr falls short, which I don’t expect to happen, the Seventh Fleet will house, feed, and sustain the refugees during the process of getting them to Gaia. I’m grateful the colony ship agreed to house the refugees, be teleported to Andromeda by Emille, and then stay to oversee the health of the new colony once it’s viable.
That process might take a few centuries in itself.
