by M E Wise
“May I help you?” Came a strong echoing voice. He hunched greatly for a Tah’l, like a withering limb. His deeply colored robes were aged but still stately. His ornamental crest thin and jutting with a stark twist left. The horn of prickly thorn from his long chin also grew hard left. I would say he sat in a spot that caused his vegetation to grow toward the light but I had never seen the Mor’h have such a reaction. “Are you Mie’Scher?” I asked sternly.
“He is!” Said Dae approaching quickly. “Mie’Scher you are a sight for sore eyes!”
“Are you well Dae?” He asked, “You look haggard.” I was shocked at his rudeness.
“Oh, you flatterer.” Dae jibed. “He isn’t one for trivial politeness. Are we?” Dae minced words.
I felt a strong link form. It was forceful and methodical. Dae also reached for her temples and massaged at her eyes. “Get what you need and stop.” I charged the link and spoke aloud. The Tah’l backed out of the link slowly.
“We spend our lives becoming,” Mie’Scher spoke loudly, “Only to die and find out what we are.” He raised an eyebrow revealing more of his oversized eye. He scratched his nose. “And that is?” Dae asked. “We don’t have time for riddles sir?” The large folded form stood from his seat and wasn’t as imposing as some Tah’l for his hunch impeded his height but his dark personality made up for it. “We find out we are materials from everywhere. Parts of this and parts of that. You’re in need of material.”
“As you are aware this is a sensitive subject.” I warned as my patience waned. “Have you anything to do with the Cradle and its recent activities I will…” the link stunned me for a moment. Mie’Scher flashed his daily routine and subsequent trips from the Mor’h city proper. He woke clones on arrival from the Cresche but had never set foot in the Cradle. It was sacred to him and others. “Your charge is unnecessary.” He broke the link after his sharing.
“We Tah’l molt, rejuvenate and prosper. The Lo’Mor’h degrade and decay. They must have material available of their make. Their materials are much like all materials.” He stopped speaking and went back to his seated position. “But that still doesn’t answer anything!” I pitched my voice frustrated. He glanced hard, “You have been answered.” I stepped forward readying myself against a forced link.
“Stop Reign.” Dae grabbed my arm. “I know what he means.” She looked grim. “I know exactly what he means.”
Rasha wasted away in the gestation tank. Two days she had fought against the throws of death but death took her in the night. Her mother Ahleea remained by her side the entire time. Ben was not angry or bitter. We had found a solution to the problem at hand but the trade was something that must remain secret to our covenant, at least for a time. We had the material for her rebirth, it had already been gifted.
Ben and I rounded the walkways of the Cradle and finally found our deposit of materials. “I never thought F’on would be so important.” Ben said about the clonal form in the tank ahead of us. Squiggy had died for a reason now. His material as Mie’Scher so grossly and clinically described was no longer needed. We only need to sequence it for Rashana; as her mother Ahleea named her. I had garnered both her and S’lei’s permissions to conduct this trial and see if we could repeat the method that some hidden benefactor used to bring Ben back to us. I took the vial of blood and placed it into a small matching slot. The device hummed and a reading came across the monitor on the tank.
“I guess that is all we do.” I said backing away. The liquid inside filled with tiny bubbles and the fleshy shape that had already began becoming humanoid trembled and set inert again. “Dae said this could take some time.” I patted Ben on the back. “They can’t know Ben.” I said dictatorially. He looked back as if to question me. “Don’t challenge me on this. I won’t stand for it. We are not the Mor’h and Halfers will not understand the trade made here today. Murders could happen, things can go very badly!”
“Like it did for you. Like it did for me!” Ben barked. “Like it did for any Halfer born deformed because the Mor’h played mad scientist in our human clay!” He laughed. “Forgive me if I don’t care. I understand though.” Ben was cold. I was giving him a life for a life. Even if it was unclaimed.
“We have a people to attend to in the meantime.” I said.
“You lead. I follow.” Ben spat spitefully.
Two long weeks went by and after meeting with many Tah’l, I had an uneasy agreement to use what most of us called No Man’s Land for expansion. No Man’s Land was the dead sands between the Livewell Sea and the Cresche. If there was an equatorial line around Mor’h, the Mor’h proper would be just north of that line and the Cresche south of that line. Mor’h was not as large as Earth in the global standard. Its position in the system though was the same key to life as Earth’s. The whole of Mor’h was an eighth smaller. I hope one day to further explore this world and unravel more of our past. The same could be said of the Sol System if our future’s would see fit to have it.
I was arriving on our makeshift terminal via a Bell craft accompanied by Hermes. Dae had remained at the Cresche for further monitoring of Rasha’s transition if there was to be one. I have begun losing faith in all of it. How can we simply join in the same activities as the Mor’h and maintain any moral high ground? Keeping the entire affair secret was also weighing heavily on myself and Dae. We both lay awake at night and barely find moments to lose ourselves in each other like we had before. Everything has become so complicated.
Many Halfer and Lo’Mor’h meet my landing, as had become the norm. I deeply miss the days where I could abandon all worry and run in the fields of my youth. I politely move through the group and toward the lower elevator. I greet Taiyou as I approach. “Good day!” I reach to take his hand. He bows his head per Japanese custom. “Busy, busy!” He says with an energy similar to Ben’s. “Where are we on supplies and recovering materials?” I ask as we move together.
“Everything is steady. We have temporary domiciles for everyone now.” He pointed to rows of rounded literal domes across the landing. “We have storage in the Hermes77. And we are also using the Hermes77 for water rationing and scheduled hygiene!” He pinned his nose humorously. “People were getting ripe down here!” We reached the elevator landing. “Very good!” I congratulated him. “Oh! Oh.” He continued. “I found a great tofu recipe that we can make from a plant here. Good protein!” He made a fist and smiled. “That’s fantastic Taiyou. I chose well.” I referred to appointing him as my liaison for the refugees now becoming citizens. He gave a big thumbs-up as I climbed up in the elevator.
I arrived at the lab and immediately swept Dae in for a huge kiss. We both sighed in the embrace. “There’s news.” She said cautiously. “Some activity was driving the monitors crazy today and I made many trips to the Cradle to confirm there was data being exchanged to the tank where Rasha was being stored and the clonal tank below.” We had long since removed her body under cover of night using a bell craft. We took Ahleea, Ben and Taiyou to the Garden of Night for the same service we gave Ben.
“And?” I questioned. “And we are waiting.” She directed my gaze to Ahleea and Ben across the lab. She sighed heavily. “I know we are doing the right thing but it doesn’t feel like the right thing.” She stated quietly. “Every day they wait…” Dae’s statement was interrupted by a jarring noise coming from the tank Rasha was held in but now absent. The floor inside the tank opened wide and fluid rushed in quickly. Gauges on the monitor rose and fell, then balanced. Ben and Ahleea stood holding each other.
Dae made her way quickly to the machine! I dredged behind watching carefully. The monitor formed a humanoid avatar on the screen. The fluid rippled and flushed this time bringing with it Rasha’s new body! The bottom of the tank again sealed. The avatar transitioned through colors and tubes linked into and from the clone’s body as it reconnected to the tanks monitoring system. We all waited on edge.
“Everything appears nor
mal!” Dae said astonished. “It’s her but like Ben, no extra Mor’h handiwork.” Dae looked up from her monitor and to Ben and Ahleea who were joyously moving around. “It’s Rashana my daughter!” Ahleea cried happily and she hugged Ben. “Thank you!” She said to him. “Praise you Angel-man!” She turned to me and called. “Thank you so much!” She praised Dae. Ben looked sheepishly around the room as if to reconcile his brashness of late with the reality of what has been done here.
“We still have to release her from the tank and the rest is up to her.” Dae said approaching the happy pair. Dae looked quite comfortable for such a completely unusual event. She is such a gift to us. Dae cycles through some settings and the machine begins subsequently going through the motions of releasing Rasha into the world. Unlike the last time the chamber reclines to a laying position. Dae acknowledges this new change with a grin. “Missed a step last time!” She smiled.
“She is perfect!” Ahleea cried. “She has been made new!” She grabbed Ben tight. “Look at her!”
Like many moments of our history together, the bittersweet note of loss is followed by the joy of some new union. I can’t help but think about what Lo’Mor’h never woke again so Ben could stand here today. I can see the same discerning taint in his face too. Dae brings some towels and a wrap for Rasha if she wakes. The tanks lid retracts and we all hold our breaths.
A finger wriggles on her right hand. She quivers for a moment and her legs move to warm each other. She turns to her side and purges fluid from her lungs. Her caramel skin pimples with the cool air. Dae moves to cover her with the clothes she has available. Rasha’s eyes open and blink rapidly. She moves her mouth but her raspy push of air has no words in it. “Daughter?” Ahleea moves in slowly. She touches Rasha’s skin gently like a mother to a baby. “Rashana!” She again tries to get a response.
Rasha slowly reaches for her like waking from a deep medicated sleep. “Momma.” Rasha says with a wheezing noise. “Yes baby! Momma’s here!” Ahleea sobbed and stooped to her daughter’s side. Ben followed closely. “Thank you.” He said to Dae standing nearby. He looked my way and just stared. Rasha sat up unsure of her surroundings!
“Where am I?” She cried out. “What am I doing here?” She was obviously panicking!
“I’m a doctor. And you are experiencing something very real and very strange!” Dae tried to calm her. Rasha scrambled from the table and slipped hard to the floor. She stood wobbly. “You must keep calm Rashana!” Consoled her mother. “What have you done?” Rasha screamed. She ran to the window that surrounded parts of the lab. She saw the alien landscape outside and fell to her knees. She was crying so hard she was nearly hyperventilating. Then she caught her reflection. She reached to it and her own face at the same time and shook bellowing in tears.
“Momma tell me this is Heaven!” She reached back without looking. “Momma I know I was dead! I know it!”
Ben and Ahleea approached her slowly. Rasha looked up in the reflection and saw Ben as she was; no longer a Halfer. “Ben?” She questioned with a pained expression. “Your face, my face!” A heavy accent poured forth. She writhed on the floor crying loudly. Dae looked to me like we should be doing something. I then decided to link with her.
I felt her mind confused and pained. She first panicked but then I sent her calming emotions. Her sobbing slowed to whimpers and her motions were calming. I shared with her our world, the brief end to hers and what I knew of her being found in a probe ship. She relaxed and understood. I felt her torn between her beliefs and this new reality. Who she was had been completely redefined. She would need time, a lot of time.
Sovereign Chapter 11
No Man’s Land
“It’s a miracle!” Came a loud cry from the crowd below. We had kept Rasha in the lab for nearly three weeks and knew eventually she would have to rejoin the population. I know all too well what total isolation can do to a developing psyche much less a redefining one.
Rasha’s eyes squinted hard in the light. She held her mother’s hand and Ben also assisted her. She had been very quiet through the weeks, it was a growing concern for Dae and I. Ahleea told many jubilant stories of Rashana dancing and singing at all times. Apparently she was a jovial human being. Had it not been for the Halfer traits she would have been a performer or entertainer. Now or at least for the time being Rasha was reserved and constantly unsure.
Dae and I followed closely behind. The crowd below began to swarm. “Look at her face!” Cried one person. “She has been reborn! How is this possible?” Cheered and jeered another. Rasha wanted a hooded robe which we gladly provided; some comfort left from life as a Halfer. Once she settled into the reality that she was among people she knew, she lowered her hood and moved ahead of us. People kept their distance. The Lo’Mor’h nearby paused and watched. The two Tah’l delegates turned away! Either something was out of place or they were not willing to witness the situation at hand. It was odd.
“It’s a miracle,” again cried a woman in the group. The younger Halfer’s were the most curious. They marveled at Rasha’s new beauty and as they should, harbored a sparkle of hope that they too could be cured. “This is not magic!” I asserted. “Rasha is here through a very complicated process.” Dae looked to me and trusted my lead. We had discussed what level of disclosure we could possibly make. Ben stood empty and unassuming. Ahleea hung on my words like the crowd ahead.
“This process is not guaranteed and very limited in use.” I paused to feel out their reactions. Giving hope is terrible enough but to fill a people with false hope and then prove their inhibitions correct is worse. “How limited?” came an accusatory voice from the crowd. “I see two right now that survived the process!”
“Life trades with life. The cost is very great and cannot be repeated without further investigation. Through scientific research we may…” my speech was cut short. “My husband!” Cried a woman in the crowd. “He was killed today by a monstrous creature-can he be saved?” She pleaded. I looked to Taiyou for an answer to this. Paps made his way to me and whispered. “A man ventured out today, who knows why and was killed by a beast there! We recovered his body just moments before this-” he motioned to Rasha.
“Take me to your husband and I will mourn him with you but he cannot be resurrected.” It was all I could say in this instance. “Rasha and Ben have both known your pain. I too, know what it is like to walk between worlds and suffer this life’s losses. I would suffer your anger and your grief if I could give you all a new life. But I can’t. We can’t.” The words lumped up greatly in my throat.
The younger Halfer’s still held that glean of wonder. They saw a future in Rasha’s transformation. They touched her face and Rasha smiled at them. I could see the light in her returning, that want to live again. The crowd dispersed with surprisingly less anger than I had expected. Life as Halfer’s and amongst them had hardened their hope. They had resolve. I turned to see Dae nod in my direction. “They trust you Reign. The believe in you.” She said proudly. “As I do.” She turned and made her way toward the elevator. Beyond her I saw Mie’Scher near the stairs. He loomed like a gargoyle and then retreated into the stair case.
I walked forward to the grieving widow. “Take me to your husband.” She gripped my tunic and cried as we made our way through the crowd. So many were lost in the Guard’s attack on Green Acres. These people have known such sorrow. Yet they still thrive even in this alien world; with great help but at their own expense. That must change.
We all sat happily around a bonfire. Rashana sang old songs from Barbados, where her and her mother were originally from. Ahleea hummed and clapped. The few children and younger Halfers dance around with Rasha in bouncing steps. It was good to hear a celebration! And it was right to do so, we had begun clearing and leveling the desert of shell, sand and bone for domiciles and amenities. Hermes was greatly effective in planning this. Sal Mor’h, who before becoming a fifth of the collective was a renowned architect in his long expired
life. The Cresche stood as one of his noted accomplishments. He knew how to use and shape the materials available like no Mor’h before.
“Reign. Again your attention wanes.” Sounded the gravelly mechanical voice or Hermes. The Sal character strongly evident. “This is becoming a strain on my resources.”
“I’m sorry Hermes!” I laughed. “I am just enjoying the festivities. I’m paying attention.”
He whisked his hands quickly over a large holo we were using as a tabletop. The plans were so accurate and detailed. “Our biggest efforts should focus on the eradication of the vermin infesting the area. Weeded Sori.” He chimed. “Weeded Sori?” I took offense. “These creatures may only be protecting an environment we are encroaching on. Why not extend this wall further and give the people more space? Or even keep this space and build into the plateau nearby?”
Hermes was completely still. Moments like these went on forever it felt. He whirled through different programs and was in direct interface with the holo table. This is usually when I would go back to watching people enjoy themselves, even if I couldn’t be part. The Cresche was built on a rise in the desert just before a plateau. These plateaus lead to a mountainous range. Beyond that was what seemed like ancient forests and valleys to the west and a small ocean to the east. If we built out there it would be very difficult to do and take much longer than some of these individuals would live to see. These two thoughts I suggested seemed like the most expedient.
