by M E Wise
She gaped her mouth. “Did you just tell a joke? The ever stoic leader and savior of tomorrow?” She mocked me incessantly.
“Dr. Drakos. I am needed on the bridge.” I said putting an end to the despondent conversation.
“Please call me Diana!” She half smiled.
“Good evening Diana. We will have plenty of time to converse on Mor’h.” I made my leave quickly.
I began ascending the path toward the primary elevator neglecting to use the escalator path. The physical walking was a relief. I know my avoiding the doctor is probably rude and inconsiderate given the nature of our search for her but my roots can’t take the poison. I laugh out loud to myself for thinking in metaphors like the Mor’h. She had better be worth all of this. Now I feel guilty for letting her get under my skin. I stand still in front of the elevator for a moment. If I go back she will only continue to berate me until I react how she wants. It’s so obvious.
The elevator doors slid open and her wife Laine and their adopted son Troy are staring right at me. “Sir.” Troy froze and stared much longer than necessary. I nodded at them, “Diana is in the crow’s nest.” I directed them down the path and to the controls on the escalator path. “Um Sir?” Laine stopped me from entering the elevator. She was a short pear shaped woman with wild black hair. “You see, you almost died saving our lives; we can’t possibly repay that.” She always seemed nervous.
“The good doctor can possibly remedy a horrible wrong done onto a great many people. That is enough.” I stepped into the elevator.
She stopped the doors. “I really hope that is true. I still don’t see why your people can’t solve it.” She looked paralyzed blurting that out. “I’m sorry, I just mean…” Troy stepped forward to help, “Laine is just saying we hope we can help you solve what has proven difficult to do.” She held her breath. “For all their sakes. Faith too!” She smiled crookedly and waited for some forgiving response.
“Everyone finds purpose if they look for it.” I gently moved her hand from the door and she trembled. The doors closed.
With a clear head, telling links gave the elevator commands. In moments like these the elevator sat waiting for a spoken command similar to artificial links in vacuum suits for linkless people. “Lab.” I said half-heartedly. Wan Sah nodded as Lo’Mor’h do when I left the lift. For once it felt completely normal to share the company of the aliens. “Any conditions, injuries or surprises in are guest’s physicals?” I asked Wan Sah. She politely linked and fed me her understandings on the matter. “So, they are in good health regardless of the state of their surroundings they were in.” I acknowledged her findings. As crude and rude as Dr. Drakos could be they were survivors.
“Even the Halfer female.” Wan Sah added and nodded.
“How are you Wan Sah?” I asked suddenly feeling the urge to have a meaningful moment with someone. She looked very puzzled. “I long for a sunny garden.” She answered blankly. “Me too Wan Sah. Me too.” We stood quiet for a moment.
“It’s a matter of perspective really.” Came a woman’s voice from a patient cove. “How one feels.” She continued. Wan Sah fixed her gaze on the cove behind me. I turned to follow the voice. “When I was a little girl I would pretend that one day someone like me would come down out of the sky and take me to others…” she lifted her hand to her face, “others like me. We would all be the same but different. Now I’m sick to my stomach that instead of being part of something normal, everyone wants to change me into something more like them.”
“Faith? It was Faith correct.” She glanced from under her hood with no response. “Faith it is then.” I moved close but not too close to avoid her being defensive. “You have met Wan Sah. She is Lo’Mor’h.” Wan Sah glowed at the introduction. “You have met me under some very difficult circumstances. I am Reign.” I greeted her more appropriately. “And what are you then?” She asked curtly. I get the feeling she didn’t want to be terse but it came out that way. “We are not sure really!” I smiled largely. “I am somewhat like you, only different. You are somewhat like me.”
She kept the light from revealing her face. “We are taking you to a place where difference is as commonplace as anywhere in the galaxy. No one wants to change you into some copy of someone else. You didn’t choose your makeup any more than I did. The difference is, as far as I know, mine won’t kill me.” I moved into the direct light. “Your eyes are a lot like mine!” She seemed intrigued. I reached for her hands and she reached slowly for mine too.
Faith had four fingers on each hand counting her thumbs. They were elongated but normal. She gingerly traced my hands. I could see her eyes slightly enlarged but not grossly abnormal for a human. Her pale skin contrasted shoulder length silken strands of black hair. “You will soon find that your own uniqueness is only ornamental. We wear these robes of flesh and difference but we are not only that.” I made eye contact with her. “I know you are not a child or even immature; what I say may not be the wisest or even the most profound but I share this truth with you.”
“Do I have to stay here in the lab? I have spent way too much time in labs.” She asked nicely.
“No. This is a precautionary measure. Phase jumping can have adverse effects on Halfer,” I paused to rephrase, “people of plural biology’s conditions. We just need you here when we jump for Wan Sah to monitor you.” This seemed to relieve a great deal of her anxious demeanor. “Would you like to see the ship?” I asked reaching for a hand. Her eyes beamed and she took my hand. “Where first?” I asked. “Anywhere!” She replied smiling. Her thin lips pursed after.
“We will be back shortly, Wan Sah.” Wan Sah swayed in approval. We visited each level multiple times and Faith asked rapid questions. I know I missed an answer for at least fifty or so blurred queries lost in precession. She shied away from Brigs greatly. The SPEAR attack had left a very sour impression to that meeting. Hermes annoyed her as much as anyone else. She laughed hard at many of Ben’s corny jokes. Rasha made an exerted effort to entice her with promises of fireside dancing and joyous dining at Little Tengoku. She shared holo pictures and short video of time spent there. They avoided deeper talk of being reborn though. The concept had the most silent of reactions in Faith.
“I think we can jump now!” She joked as we rode the elevator for the fifteenth time. I had delayed the jump by an hour to continue our tour. “Thank you.” She said almost inaudibly. I made sure to smile and give her some idea I heard her.
“And here we are at the lab!” I paused. “Or for our purposes Chateau Faith!” The correction brought with it a rare, sincere smile.
“Faith.” Came the overbearing retort of the doctor.
“Time to go.” Faith rolled her eyes and entered the lab rushing passed Dr. Drakos. “I hope we haven’t been filling our time with empty rhetoric and sweet nothings!” Balked Dr. Drakos. I stared into her long and judging face. Having not known the Doctor long but experiencing her myself as inconsiderate and rude made this situation worse. The crew had similar encounters with her. She questioned Ben and Rasha’s new forms, revealing she was opposed to such special treatment. Referring to the material we used as a vegetable cocktail. She had a slew of unkind things to say to Brigs, that were almost understandable, minus a tirade on firing squads. Hermes use was laughable to her, such automation was lazy. She wanted to trade physicals with Wan Sah, for science. One of us needed to understand where the boundaries lie and I felt I should accommodate this.
“Can we speak for a moment?” I asked her not allowing for rejection. She came into the corridor. She began to speak but I completely ignored her words. The link was sharp but bearable. I touched her mind as she wilted slightly. Ben’s death filled the sharing. Scenes of Green Acres before and after flashed quickly. I knew I was sure to spoil this sharing with unwanted feelings of pain and suffering but I wasn’t of the mindset to spare her anything. As brief as the link was she reeled back into the wall behind her.
“I do not make a habit of forcing my perspectiv
es onto the unwilling but I am not some simpleton or lab-rat that will tolerate your toying any longer.” She looked completely fragile. I suspected in some masochistic way she respected me more. I felt it in the link. “Ten minutes to jump!” I called into the COM, and walked away.
Was it right? Such a question seemed vaguely like myself arguing with the Mor’h about privacy. Human and Mor’h alike gauge and measure our words. It’s decent to do so. With the sharing the Mor’h express a great control in not invading minds absent such gifts. The spoken word though invades our ears and assaults our perceptions with direct insults. The good Doctor now knows that for every snobbish display there is someone restraining against their better judgment to spare themselves and her the argument. I get the sense from her own spoiled sharing that she doesn’t care either way.
Reign Eternal Chapter 6
Unending Division
“So you just mind raped one of the leading biologist and geneticist of our time!” Dae shouted loudly across our room in the Cresche. “What effect did you think it would have? All of our effort to hide the elephant in the room as it rears its head? You just trample that willy-nilly!” She was so angry she couldn’t look at me. “What elephant?” I asked facing the night outside. “That! That elephant!” She bellowed. “The alien in the room that doesn’t recognize common phrases!” She stopped suddenly, realizing she had gone way too far. So had I.
“I’m sorry.” She took a deep breath. “I didn’t mean to say that.” She walked over and wrapped her arms around my waist. Our reflections were something out of a folk tale. “She is completely dumbfounded by you. All of this is something from her wildest dreams.” Dae whispered in my ear. “I had thought her narcissistic traits would somehow relish sharing the mind of a living experiment.” I jested. Dae shook her head. “It did! That’s beside the point. You are going to drive me mad All of this, both of you. I need one normal thing-that is you!” She turned and walked toward our common area. I honestly hadn’t realized Dae had such a strongly contentious relationship with Dr. Diana Drakos. Even if it was one of mutual disdain and respect.
“This came while you were gone.” She held a Mor’h holo tablet. “Have you viewed it? Or read it?” She shook her head no. “But not for a lack of trying!” She hid her grin poorly. “Turn it over.” On the back was a painted symbol, a Q with a dot in the center of it. “Q’ua Z.” I said with my head down. “I thought it was a strange symbol for power. Like this!” Dae pointed to the power switch on her tablet. “Someone is delving into symbolism.” Dae quipped.
“Where would we be without it?” I directed her attention to the Tri-Utopia emblem.
“So the Kog are now making mail runs?” Dae sat with her hands on her knees. The Kog made our lives restless. The Keepers of the Garden; although they held no authority over any garden on Mor’h, have yet to make any violent threats or even cause any real sanction. They do however keep the Council on edge, resembling too much an old history that their dwindling numbers would probably want to forget all-together. I’ve mulled over many restless nights, the glue that would attach Qz to such a group. I guess his behaviors have been the proof all along. I was just too naïve to see them.
I ran my hands over the device, taking my time with powering it up. This felt wrong. I have never hesitated reacting to the Mor’h before. Something has changed or resigned their history to pour forth again; leaving me to focus on what I’ve done to cause it. The screen lit up blue and emitted a powerful and painful sentinel tone! I dropped the device on the floor and fought its effects like a sudden burst of light attacking a cave dwellers eyes.
“Reign!” Dae cried out and kicked the tablet further away and helped me steady myself.
“You have received notice of our intentions.” Q’ua Z’s voice filled the room. His sharing also bled into the telling. I could sense his steeled convictions as I reached for the tablet. Qz’s image was on the video, a red Q with a dot at center was asymmetrically finger painted on his face. “You reside on our soil. You taint our season and the seasons before. It is our seed that lives on in the Cradle of Time! You are no Keeper of the Cresche.” His voice was well-trained for this video. “We will meet to discuss your roots and their removal. Ignoring our request will result in a bitter harvest; mind to body, Mor’h to human, Mor’h to abominations.” The image dimmed and the message ended but the sharing did not.
“They plan to kill me.” I felt it strongly from a separate link in the feed. “Kae’Lo has deeply rooted himself in Q’ua Z. I know how many they have and what their intentions are!” I confessed in shock as Dae sat completely stunned. “They know I have seen the message, I felt it as the image played. Tomorrow they will meet me on the perimeter knowing they can’t pass the drones and it is there Kae’Lo plans to kill me.” Dae remained still. “I am going to contact S’lei and Gi’Ger. This ends tomorrow.”
No Man’s Land was painfully bright between myself and the approaching bell craft. Brigs watched on angrily behind me from his glass watch tower. Dae stood close to him, I could sense her near him. The rest of the colony remained deeper inside the Cresche’s holds. They had strict orders not to interfere. I could only sense two Lo’Mor’h in the bell craft. Q’ua Z and Kae’Lo were the loan occupants proceeding with their dirty deed.
I walked slowly toward the craft as it landed, keeping a very keen sense of my surroundings. Dust stirred and made visibility difficult and I shielded my eyes from it. This desert held many surprises which made this encounter even more treacherous given the stakes. The desert life though paid us no mind. The crunch of the sand and remains of the Sori who had been culled here an era before were not lost in each deafening step. The rear hatch on the opal craft opened slowly and hid the occupants leaving the vessel.
“I want to hear your words!” I challenged across the burning sand. “Tell me in my tongue what you intend to do.” Q’ua Z and Kae’Lo both wore similar dress, none common to the Lo’Mor’h from my experience. They looked like modified vacuum suits but deep red with yellow trim. Q’ua Z and Kae’Lo both carried the Q mark on their faces. They approached silently and barely shifted the sand beneath them.
“You have felt our demands.” Kae’Lo said in his obnoxious voice. “There is nothing to discuss.”
Q’ua Z moved a distance to separate himself from Kae’Lo. They were making themselves two distinct targets. “Does this polluted root spoil your garden?” I mocked Kae’Lo to Qz. He kept that simple and fixed stare he always had. Kae’Lo had a stunner on his wrist. They had come prepared for their unspoken assassination. “Why, Qz? Why after all this time, mentoring me and shadowing me like a brother do you cast such an ugly stain on our garden?” I felt the need to confront whatever was left of my old friend.
“Our garden grows thin.” Q’ua Z spoke and Kae’Lo shifted his look to him. This answer wasn’t planned. “My caste had one purpose. Keep the Garden.” His voice trembled with dissonance. “We kept the garden until the garden no longer fed our roots.” Kae’Lo was fully concerned with Q’ua Z now. They linked and I could feel it, quick and sensitive. Q’ua Z continued. “We looked to different gardens then. Gardens throughout the heavens.” He stared passed me blankly.
“Our studies became twisted in their growth. Halfers.” He moved his hands in a half circle to signal beyond me. “It was you! You were the Lo’Mor’h on Luna. You took me at birth!” I said somberly. Q’ua Z then met my gaze. “Our seasons no longer waited for nature. The seasons of humankind also lived without cycle.” He seemed confused for a moment. “We do cycle! Plenty died and still suffer!” I yelled across the sand and my voice echoed. The two Lo’Mor’h in front of me seemed to shrink.
“You are here for our season!” Interrupted Kae’Lo. “You were a Keeper’s solution! The Keepers of this Garden must rein in this wild weed. We have grown in garden and in resolve.” His use of homonym was intended.
“Your seasons are shrinking and you exaggerate your
numbers. Kae’Lo you spoiled the sharing! It was you whose weak link revealed your plans. Your members leave your Order daily without action! They fear me and maybe they should.” I put anger into the link!
I felt Kae’Lo try to slip coldly into my mind and to his surprise I stunned Q’ua Z instead, leaving him a heap on the sand. Kae’Lo could not lift his arm to stun me, the repressed link had affected him too greatly. I did however let him experience my sharing. He stood small and ineffectual. “Your season is over.” He knew I was going to kill him and that Ben had sabotaged his clonal twin. His material was no longer viable for Lo’Mor’h. He also knew that Gi’Ger, Master of the Rootworks would not aid him. I raised Brigs’ sidearm. “I am nature correcting itself.” A single shot rang out across No Man’s Land.
A new season has begun on Mor’h. The Tri-Utopia will call this place home; not by force but by being heir apparent and none would claim it from us, Mor’h or any other creature who tried. I glanced at Q’ua Z lying motionless on the desert floor and then to Kae’Lo bleeding grey and purple fluids onto the remains of the Sori mixed sand; this moment was over. I looked above as S’lei’s diplomatic opal craft was descending onto the macabre scene. There was no friendly link announcing her arrival. I knew why she was here and every Mor’h on the planet as well.
