Shadow Over Avalon

by C. N Lesley

  “I want her to live. I’ll not leave her side, if that is necessary to save her.” Arthur suddenly lost his fear of the killer cyborg. She had so little humanity he wanted to help her regain a life before she was taken.

  “Decide what it is you wish to preserve, if it should be salvaged, before you commit to a dubious cause that may cost the lives of those deserving compassion.” The cave-dweller’s eyes took on a look of profound sadness seeming to stretch back countless eons into time immeasurable. “Now learn a real lesson of authority. Those who would lead must accept losses for the greater gain. No individual, however important, is irreplaceable.”

  “It hurts.”

  “Each death cuts to the bone. I can still remember the first sacrifice I made. Knowing he would die in agony, I still sent a man to his doom. An entire community survived in consequence, but it didn’t alter my guilt, nor ever has. Some can accept this burden. Others bow under the weight. This is the measure of one who would lead.” The cave-sitter lowered his head. His fire flared until it colored everything red, then yellow to white.

  *

  Arthur woke disturbed. He had his wish. His instructor provided answers outside Arthur’s imagination, proving insanity wasn’t an issue. Knowing the surface had become lifeless agreed with Ector’s line of reasoning. Arthur recognized the cave sitter as reticent in the extreme. He was being forced to think for himself, whether he wanted to or not. Insanity would have provided a feasible explanation.

  Two nights of dreamless sleep followed. Arthur used the renewal of strength to form his own pocket of memory block. He had it in place when he next accessed the Archive.

  Chapter 23

  Earth Date 3875

  As Copper had made a point of ignoring her since he regained consciousness, Shadow spied on him through a console vid eye, while Ector tried to reason with him. Even though she told Ector to stay out of this argument, there he was, interfering. Damn him.

  “What difference does it make now you know she’s part mechanism? I’m cyborg, yet you still talk to me.” Ector had Copper cornered in the Outcast’s sleeping unit and paced the floor.

  “It’s different. You’re a Shade.”

  “Shadow is and has always been a hybrid between our races. Why is my implant right and hers unacceptable?”

  “She wasn’t a Shade when I first saw her. You took her.” Copper turned his back to stare blindly at a holo projection of wind ruffling through long grass; someone had tried to make his quarters more like his natural environment.

  “Face it, man, you saw her as human despite the differences already present.” Ector avoided a low table as he continued to pace in the small dwelling unit. “I didn’t know she had our blood at first. We nearly lost her due to our ignorance, and don’t imagine she would’ve lasted more than a few days on the surface, even if she hadn’t run into the saurian. Her emergent telepathy, with an active band, would have drawn Nestines to her like flies to a corpse. They isolated her from all protection, set her adrift with imperfect memory—a sitting target no one could protest or care about.”

  “If that’s true, why didn’t they kill her at birth as they do all other mutations?” Copper whirled around to stare down his antagonist.

  “Some of us, the extremely gifted, don’t manifest ability until after puberty. The first sexual experience seems to be the key factor.” Ector grinned at Copper’s pained expression. “So someone else beat us both through the gate we covet. What of it? She accepts us as companions, albeit reluctantly. Beyond that, you’re as out of depth as I am. If Shadow wanted sex, both of us would be fighting over position.” Ector looked away for a moment. “There was a time she started to show emotion, like life returning to the dead. Then something unforgivable happened, and she became as she is now. I was interested in the emergent woman. That time has gone. I regard her as a friend, which is all she will permit.” Ector sighed, his shoulders slumping in defeat. He started for the door.

  Shadow wanted a word in private with him. How dare he discuss her like a sex object? She watched to see which direction he’d take, damn him to the deeps.

  “Wait. What did Shades do to her that made the woman die inside? She is a sister. I expected the revolting consequences of her altered state with despair. This hasn’t happened. Why not?”

  “The damage the Nestines caused is identical to Helga’s. I can only propose Submariner blood, and one other factor, as to why,” Ector said, turning again to the argument.

  Prickles ran up Shadow’s spine. She wanted to shout to Ector, wrench him from that room. He couldn’t – wouldn’t betray her. She faced the screen.

  “What other factor?” Copper demanded.

  “You will do some very fast talking on my behalf if she’s watching this interview, as I suspect.” Ector swallowed, looking toward the view screen, his guilt visible in the set of his expression. “I don’t want to lose her friendship, but if it’s the price of alliance, I hope she will understand. She must have conceived days before exile and we didn’t detect it on retrieval. I ordered her saved because I discovered her telepathic talent. She wasn’t pleased when we found out about the child, and I had to tell her.” He shuddered in remembrance. “She was being trained as an operative. No one suspected she had our gills until she had a reaction, when they started to function without natural ports. The child had to be removed before treatment began.”

  “She was bearing Dragon’s child?” Copper sat down on his bed, cradling his head in his hands. “There wasn’t any memory of him until I released it. Why would losing a burden upset her? Many women miscarry or abort.”

  “We have devices for gestating an early child outside the womb. The child survived.”

  “Shadow knew? Didn’t she want it to live?”

  “Remember our warning about seers? They caught me as an adolescent. I spent three miserable years enduring their attempts to mold me in their image. Shadow is too powerful for them. That child, unprotected while we worried over her, represented easy pickings. He vanished from our care before we knew the nature of the threat. She found him with her mind. They bonded. She gave him every protection against them she had at her disposal, and then . . . he shut her out.”

  “An unborn infant? I’m expected to believe this gibberish?”

  “It happened despite your skepticism. The child wouldn’t have attracted seer’s interest without possessing exceptional gifts. He was aware even at that early stage in gestation. Retrieval was unfeasible, we would’ve gotten a dead embryo back, unrelated to Shadow. We were and are obliged to wait. Eventually, they won’t be able to hide him, if he still lives. Shadow retreated from grief at that time. She wanted her child.”

  “Why didn’t you force the issue?” Copper looked up with a challenging expression. “That child belongs to its father. She would know that.”

  “Cut off a fingernail to fall into a container with another thousand such parings. Could you identify your own offering by sight once the mixture is stirred?”

  “But a child?”

  “A collection of cells, altering daily—too small to scan for identity without risking damage. I could’ve forced entry into Sanctuary. I didn’t because I knew how futile such a gesture was, given that we didn’t know the father. How would we know if seers managed to create siblings for Shadow? Her father is an unknown Submariner, and yet I’ll bet they know who he is. She did what was necessary. That child will never bend to their wishes.”

  “I didn’t know. She never said.”

  “Shadow doesn’t discuss Boy. Not ever. The hurt goes too deep. Tell me again how inhuman a cyborg is, and I’ll ram your teeth down your throat!” His mouth set in a thin line of fury, Ector marched out without a backward glance.

  Shadow blanked off the screen, shaking. He told. How could he? The service shaft signaled its need to be emptied of edibles, which she ignored. A console direct interface snaked up to her head despite her having no port to give linkage. It battered against her cheeks until she grabbed the umb
ilicus, furious at the intrusion. The Archive seeped into her mind, impervious to her instant attempt to block it.

  He needed to know, Shadow.

  “No, he didn’t. A cruel and unnecessary act.”

  Copper couldn’t see the individual past the implants. Now he understands humanity exists beyond alteration. You were willing to die for this alliance. Why complain at a lesser sacrifice?

  “Death is an end. This must be endured.”

  Are you so certain of this fact? Outline experiences of death.

  “Point conceded. So what?”

  Copper is part of my plan. He is currently trying to disassemble the console in his unit in an attempt to escape. I estimate his survival prospects at zero, should he manage to remove the top panel.

  “He can sense danger.”

  From inanimate objects? The tone sounded smug.

  Fear lent wings to her feet. She flew down those corridors separating her from Copper. He was just about to lift the panel when she burst in.

  “Don’t!”

  “So Ector was right,” he said, moving away from the console. He sank into an easy chair to watch while Shadow repaired the result of his interference.

  “Why?” she asked.

  “It brought you running, and we need an understanding.”

  “Was there some small detail Ector missed?” Shadow asked, snidely enough to bring the Outcast to his feet.

  “Errors in judgment occurred on both sides. Now that the air is cleared, we should begin afresh as comrades,” Copper said in as near an apology as Shadow had ever heard from him. He got up, moving over to face her. “I am making that an order.”

  “I am under Ector’s orders,” Shadow began, startled when Copper grabbed her arm to force her banded wrist into full view.

  “As long as you wear this judgment, you are mine—my subject, my sister, part of my army. Haven is our place of freedom, not Avalon. Only Haven is safe for the likes of us.”

  “Avalon is, too.” She pried his fingers from her wrist.

  “Really? Seers stole your son. Seers would take me if I ventured out. Shades have no more freedom than fort dwellers. This society is as rotten as the one that discarded us, so what are we going to do about it?”

  “Avalon fights Harvesters.” Shadow eased away to read his expression. His face wore a controlled, lazy anger.

  “We’ll fight with them for as long as it suits us. Should the common enemy be defeated, we’ll see. I’ll not replace one set of masters for another.” He pulled her to him and put a finger to her lips. “Oh, I know Ector and his like don’t intend dominion. Is that true of seers? Can our fey brothers avoid their slimy clutches in the aftermath?”

  Not possible, since seers had their own concerns. Trusting them was the same as walking into a blanket bog during fall, blindly trusting vortai weren’t particularly hungry that day.

  “See?” he insisted. “I’ll fight this war because it serves Brethren. I’ll make alliance for the duration, but I want the right to live as I see fit afterward. Are you with me, or still perched on that branch wondering which way to jump?”

  “No seers on land. I’ll side with your camp.”

  “That’s my Queen speaking. Now we can start afresh. No more hiding or pretending between us, agreed?”

  “Agreed.”

  “Say why you withheld truth?” he said.

  “I wear the band, yet I am not as you. I scan thoughts, though I possess no Shade scales. I have an arm that is not. What is my place? To whom do I belong? There is only one like me in all creation: my lost son. What is wrong with wanting to be accepted as normal, knowing disclosure will result in rejection?”

  “What’s wrong? I have never fainted in my life before. That is what was wrong. Yes, I had a problem accepting and forgiving. Shadow, you are mine. I staked the first claim in Menhill, and you wear the mark of Brethren on the inside. Shades will never fight to the death as we do, since they have much to lose. Brethren have nothing, even if we win. Will forts ever accept us back into the fold? No. We have only this moment to savor. Our past and future have no meaning. This is why you wear the mantle of full sister.”

  “Truly?” Shadow wasn’t quite ready to believe his assurance until he embraced her, holding her to him as he had once before, with kindness.

  “Now tell me what I can reasonably demand in barter from these people.”

  Chapter 24

  Earth Date 3892

  The chronometer on the console said one hour had gone while he lived Shadow’s reality. For a moment he contemplated continuing. Backing away hurt as much as a kick in the guts, but he kept thinking about Shadow’s lost son.

  How could seers keep such an individual secret? The boy had to stand out from the rest of the Submariners by simple virtue of the pink skin of his parentage. Was there some part of Sanctuary that housed a lonely prisoner? Could the boy be dead? Arthur wanted answers. He sent a mental command to resume playback.

  *

  Earth Date 3874

  After a charged policy meeting, Ector cornered Copper on the way back to his room. Although Shadow had excused herself from attending to check on Helga, the extent of her switch to Copper’s side created big problems.

  Ector faced down the Outcast, ready to fight. “Well, barbarian, how did you manage to turn a logical, functioning member of Elite Corps against us?”

  “Opened her eyes to who she is. I provided insight, nothing more. Shadow made her own decisions.”

  “Insights to poison her mind against us.” Ector’s hands itched to hold a weapon, or to close around Copper’s arrogant neck.

  “I gave her an opportunity to compare. Was that so wrong? She has the right to judge those with whom she has contact, even me.”

  Ector pulled up short. Some of his anger died as he regarded the man before him. An incredible possibility occurred to him. “I thought Brethren were all assassins, incapable of gentle feelings. If you allowed Shadow to judge you . . . How many others have such courage of perception?”

  “All of us, to a greater or lesser degree. So what?” Copper’s face wore skepticism and surprise. He crushed a roach underfoot as if to hide this sudden lapse.

  Ector reached out to grip Copper’s shoulder. “There is in you a precise, cutting logic. Forget Shadow for a minute, this is important. How many other Brethren are capable of reasoned decisions for the greater good? Think, man.”

  “Everyone. We function as individuals, or a collective.” Copper turned to leave in the direction of his room. “How could it be otherwise with such as us?”

  “I don’t believe anyone has bothered to show you the ‘marvels’, as Shadow would say, of Avalon from a high perspective. Would you like a look?” Ector offered a lie couched in the form of a peace overture, a fact he thought Copper recognized, but did the Outcast appreciate the ruse to get them out from surveillance?

  Copper’s face settled in lines of polite interest. “That would be interesting.” He made all the appropriate comments on the way up to the roof, an awed spectator to the wonders of technology beyond his comprehension. Once there, Ector ignored the view, cutting straight to the point.

  “Could any Brethren act in your place?”

  Copper sat down, selecting the duct of an air purifier for a backrest. “Our leader comes from among fey brothers.” He focused on the plasglass dome dividing Avalon from the sea.

  “Who decides policy?” Ector squatted in front of him.

  “Me, with input from all concerned. I can’t lead without general support.” Copper dragged his eyes from the blue light to regard Ector.

  “What happens to dissenters?”

  “Their opinions are carefully weighed in council.” Copper’s brows snapped together. “Each objection is thoroughly investigated before any policy becomes general. Sometimes the concerns of an individual are more important, based on personal experience in the area in question.”

  “You command a force comprised of freethinkers able to rise above mundane
orders to function as independent warriors.” Astounded by the implications, Ector sat down on an air intake pipe near Copper. “Each fighting unit can work alone or in unison with his fellows. That doesn’t happen in the surface armies. They’re mindless weapons directed at a perceived aggressor. If I had a group of freethinkers on the loose, I would try to ensure there was no way they could link up. I would want to isolate this dangerous force from my easy targets so that they would be permanently separated. Given mind control, this wouldn’t be a problem. I could arrange for each potentially dangerous individual to perpetrate some crime, putting him or her outside the considerations of my easy targets. The plan would be so sublime that I wouldn’t have to worry about detection from my victims, or their families. My main threat would be minus fangs and claws, any objectors silenced by due process of law. Am I hitting the target?”

  “Harvesters.” Copper’s face now held the stillness of purpose that Ector recognized as killing mode.

  “Precisely. Shadow told me about your re-banding.” He had to get through to this warrior before rage destroyed the opportunity. “Just out of curiosity, what sort of a fort king would you have made?”

  “About average, I suppose, unless . . . no, I would have challenged them in some way, or made life difficult for their priests.” Copper looked shaken by the revelation forced on him.

  “I’d be interested to learn how many other Brethren were in a position for direct confrontation before their status change.” The implications staggered Ector. Submit to herd mentality or suffer extinction.

  “The results will come your way.” The Outcast looked at Sanctuary’s twin towers, standing darkened as a reminder to all those condemned to the perpetual daytime of Avalon.

  “Shadow will be our link on this subject.” Ector followed his view, pushing down a shudder of distaste at memories of years in that place. “She has the strength to hide her data from general circulation. It will not help our cause for these facts to become known.”