Box Set #4: Sisterhood's End: [The 3 book 4th adventure of Egg and the Hameggattic Sisterhood]

by Robert Iannone

  “But . . .”

  “NO BUTS. My guess is that if you two had more time, you would have perfected that thingy you were building. Stuff happens. And it’s not always our fault.”

  “Fate?”

  “Maybe. Or luck. Or bad luck. The only thing that’s important is that your mom realized the evil that she accidently helped create and she did everything in her power to fix it. That’s totally awesome. You’re awesome. And now you have a second chance to make it right. Let’s do this thing for your mom. Let’s show the big cheese that she can’t mess with the us.”

  “Thank you. I’ve heard similar arguments from the others, including poor Tee’ka here. I don’t want to offend any of them but . . . but I needed to hear it from you.”

  “Why me?”

  “Because you are Egg of Earth . . . and the one and only leader of the Hameggattic Sisterhood. You are the stuff of legends. Don’t (she held up a hand) . . . I know you hate to hear these kinds of accolades but in this case, just . . . just shut up and listen. You would never lie to me or to anyone for that matter. To know that you feel as you just stated helps me enormously. I have suffered from loneliness and guilt for four very long years. Now, you’ve made me a sister, showing me love and support where I only showed you hatred and jealously. And, with your help and Tee’s, I have a chance to avenge my mom. I can never repay my gratitude. I am a member of the Hameggattic Sisterhood . . . and I am unimaginably proud to call you sister.

  Quite a speech leaving no eye dry. Egg hugged the other two. “I only ask for one thing in return,” she said to Serenity.

  “Of course. Anything.”

  “No more speeches about me. I’m just not that special.”

  Serenity glanced at Tee’ka and they both laughed. “As you command,” the girl managed to sputter.

  “So, do you have a plan?”

  “Freeing you.”

  “That’s it?”

  “Yes.”

  “You’re joking, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Oh my gosh, just tell me.”

  “Actually, Tee’ka and I were still working on a couple of issues. First, there are her five spaceships filled with soldiers. Even if we disrupt Violetta’s information stream, they can do a lot of damage and we would have no way of stopping them without an ugly battle. And, second, we need to know how she accesses the technology.”

  “I think I can help with that.”

  “With which one?”

  “Both.”

  “Really? Do tell.”

  “I noticed a couple of things that, to be honest, I would never have done in the past. It’s like my brain is just beginning to wake up.”

  “Don’t be too surprised. Think about K’ssss and her near miraculous transformation.”

  “Good point. Anyway, every time Violetta commented on something I said or showed me the image of her world and the Myst Tree . . . she touched a gold collar on her dress.”

  “Really. Very, very good.” In all the confusion in Aeri’elle’s office, Ezra had forgotten to mention this important piece of data.

  “Egg, what of the soldiers? I, for one, would have an ethical problem with fighting a war. Non-violence was a fundamental part of my programming.”

  “A gift from my mother,” added Serenity.

  “I don’t think we have to fight them.”

  “Why?”

  “They flickered. At least the one who was my jailer did.”

  “Flickered . . . how very interesting. And it makes a lot of sense.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “She’s totally paranoid. Having armed soldiers around her, even one’s she might have handpicked, would leave her vulnerable to a coup. Much safer to have computer-generated artificial intelligences man your ships and fill the ranks of your army.”

  “The soldiers . . . they are, in essence, the same as the hostess corps on Laff’Alott?”

  “Yes, Tee’ka. That’s probably why she allowed my mother to create them in the first place. It was never to make the amusement world more enjoyable. How devious she is.”

  “So, I’m guessing we don’t have to fight a war?”

  “No, Egg. No war. And with a little luck, no more Empress.”

  *****

  Q’umulus

  “I will see them now,” ordered the Empress.

  The large, ornate doors opened and in came Spirit, K’ssss, Soo, Bl’azzz, BreeZee and a stretcher carrying the body of the Serenity avatar. They made their way to the throne – none of them bowing in any pretend show of respect.

  “Sylvia, Princess . . . please join your sisters.” The two girls did as they were told.

  To the Sentinels carrying the stretcher, she commanded, “Put her down and remove the sheet.” The crowd murmured at the sight of what they assumed must be a fallen sister . . . even if it was one they had never met.

  “How did she die?”

  BreeZee stepped forward . . .

  “She told us of injuries she had suffered four years ago. We could do nothing for her.”

  “I see. Spirit, step forward.”

  The girl did as she was asked.

  “You are a thought weaver and a telepath, are you not?”

  “You know perfectly well who and what I am,” she replied defiantly.

  “You are also a healer. Curious that you were unable to help this one,” and she pointed at the avatar.

  “There are limits to what I can do.”

  Meggy violated protocol and added, “Your Highness, may I remind you that is the reason I accepted your invitation to Peekaboo Prime. Your doctors were able to repair my damaged face . . . something my dear sister was unable to do.”

  Ignoring the Princess as if she never spoke, Violetta asked, “The ship is yours, is it not?”

  “Yes.”

  “What was your destination?”

  “To my home world.”

  “Unlikely. The serpent . . . that fat one . . . does she not have a husband on Zynn-Zaz’zia? Is she not mothering a brood of semi-sentient serpents?”

  K’ssss came forward and the Sentinels tensed.

  The Empress was still uncomfortable around non-humanoid species. “My name is K’ssss and you are correct on both counts.”

  “And yet you were about to leave. I find that rather curious.”

  “I left with the approval of my husband. My sisters needed me. There is nothing curious in that.”

  “Do not argue with me . . . it is insulting and a punishable offense. That goes for all of you.” The threat was delivered in her soft, melodic voice without any emotion . . . but there was no mistaking her meaning. She waited for an apology but none was forthcoming. “Step back,” and K’ssss backed away.

  The Empress stood and approached the stretcher. She leaned over to take a closer look at the Serenity avatar. As she did, she touched her gold collar. Satisfied, she turned around and instructed the Sentinels, “Dispose of the body.”

  Rose was outraged. She didn’t know the poor girl but everyone deserved a respectful funeral. “Violetta, that is a violation of our customs. This person deserves a proper burial.”

  “Calm yourself, Rose’Alynnia. That was not the body of Serenity. It was an avatar.” That statement caused the sisters to steal a glance at one another. For the Queen, it invited a question.

  “What is an avatar?”

  “Serenity is quite capable of creating a living organism in any shape she so chooses and programmed with artificial intelligence.”

  “Truly amazing.”

  BreeZee thought she had to say something so the sisters would not be implicated in the charade. “I can’t believe it. We were fooled all this time . . . how embarrassing.”

  “I think not.”

  “Sorry?”

  “This avatar was infused with Serenity’s DNA. But, she must have been in a hurry and her work was a bit shoddy. Her deception was easily detected.”

  It was the Queen who asked, “What is your point, your Hi
ghness?”

  “Serenity was on board their ship. When my fleet approached, we can assume that she hurriedly created this avatar to deceive me. With such a time constraint, the avatar was not up to her usually high standards. Isn’t that correct?” she asked BreeZee.

  “Absolutely not. We were deceived.”

  “Do the rest of you agree?”

  The other sisters said yes.

  “Lying to the Empress is treason . . . and you are all so charged. Furthermore, I hereby decree that the Hameggattic Sisterhood is now and forever disbanded. All members, active or retired, will be tried for crimes against the state. All who are found guilty will be subject to a lifetime of indenture to the crown.”

  Rose turned on Violetta with fire in her eyes. “How dare you? Aerianna is not a member of the Starlight Alliance and you have no jurisdiction here. Your behavior is an insult to every citizen of this world. You have our permission to leave.”

  Violetta turned to the Queen with absolutely no show of emotion.

  “My dear Rose . . . I had hoped you would have seen the value in my friendship and thereby avoid any unpleasantness. Sadly, I was not up to the task of convincing you.” She paused, touched her collar then added, “Perhaps this might help persuade you . . .”

  Into the large room, ten armed soldiers materialized. A heartbeat later another ten, then another ten until the room was crowded with maybe five hundred of them. Aeriannians were horrified . . . and terrified. They had never seen armed soldiers before (if you don’t count the ceremonial lances carried by the Imperial Sentinels).

  “This is an outrage.”

  “Please have your Sentinels drop those toy lances. We would not want anyone to be harmed.”

  Obviously, there was no choice and Rose nodded to the Sentinel commander. The two dozen men in his command lowered their lances to the ground.

  “Now, Rose . . . you will sign the treaty. If you do, you may continue to rule this world but under the laws of the Starlight Alliance. Furthermore, to show my appreciation, I will commute the sentence of the Sisters – including your daughter – to house arrest. They may go anywhere they so choose as long as they wear a tracking device that I will provide. However, Spirit and the real Serenity when I do find her will come with me. The ban on the Sisterhood, unfortunately, must stay. Oh, and one last item . . . I will require Egg’s flying suit.”

  “And if I refuse?”

  “Rose’Alynnia . . . you simply cannot refuse. That would displease me to no end. Besides, you have no army to fight mine. And we both know that the Myst Tree at Sighing Whorl will not take direct action in the affairs of Aerianna. With the Sisterhood disbanded, you simply have no choice.”

  Rose could try and stall for time . . . but to what end? The longer she waited the greater the chance the Empress would do something nasty to make her point. She took a deep breath, looked out at her fellow citizens in the audience and said, “I am sorry.” To the Empress she said, “I will sign the treaty.”

  “Of course you will,” and Violetta touched her collar. An electronic pad of some sort materialized in her hand and she gave it to Rose. “Quickly my dear, I grow impatient.”

  Rose signed the document, which then dematerialized. “It is now a matter of public record on every world in the Starlight Alliance. Congratulations . . . Aerianna is a permanent member. Now . . . and forever.”

  While this was going on, the sisters in attendance were holding each other’s hand for morale support. But it didn’t help very much.

  Bree whispered to Spirit, “We’ll find a way to rescue you, don’t worry.”

  “Don’t you dare put yourself at risk to save me. Promise me.”

  “Sorry, I can’t.”

  *****

  On the Shadow

  “Aeri’elle, can you hear me?”

  “Loud and clear.”

  “Find Dazzle and tell her we’re coming to the rescue . . . we just need a little more time.”

  “Egg, it’s too late. I just got the word.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The Empress forced the Queen to sign the treaty. She also disbanded the Sisterhood, she’s taking Spirit and Serenity – assuming she can capture her – to Peekaboo, and she wants your flying suit.”

  “Yeah . . . none of that’s going to happen.”

  “The Treaty was signed. It’s now a matter of public record.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means that the Queen can’t back out of the Alliance. This is a disaster for Aerianna.”

  “Aeri’elle, this is Serenity.”

  “Hi, Serenity.”

  “It won’t be a disaster.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Trust me.”

  “I always trust my sisters.”

  “Can you get Sassi and go join the others?”

  “Sure. Why?”

  “I think we should all be together. But do it quickly.”

  ******

  Aeri’elle found Sassi and they made it to the Throne Room in less than twenty minutes. There was a party of sorts going on . . . one of Violetta’s traditions after forcing a new world into the Alliance. She thought it made her look civilized. However, absolutely no one, except she, was having a good time.

  The Sentinels at the door announced the arrival of the two Sisters. “Your Highness, Your Majesty, the Hamegg . . .,” but stopped when he realized his mistake. “Sassi and Aeri’elle, friends of the Court.”

  “Ah, two more former sisters. Please, come join the celebration.”

  The girls walked up to Throne . . . and defiantly bowed to the Queen. Violetta chose not to notice. They backed away and joined their friends.

  “Hi, Sassi.”

  “Hi, Syl. What a sad occasion.”

  “Hey, girlfriend . . . we have a saying on Earth. It’s not over till it’s over.”

  The green-skinned young woman looked around. “Interesting . . . no Egg. I do hope she’s not up to any mischief.”

  “Egg? Silly, she would never, ever cause any trouble.”

  “We are talking about the same person, aren’t we?” teased Sassi.

  “Let’s hope so.”

  And right on cue, the lights dimmed causing the Empress and her soldiers to start to panic. Then a ball of swirly light materialized in front of the throne. Violetta’s hand went directly to her gold collar in anticipation of something bad.

  But her look of concern change to one of satisfaction as Serenity and Egg walked out of the light . . . though she had no idea how Egg manage to free herself from her custody. No matter, she was here and she would not escape again.

  “How very kind of you to join us,” said the big cheese.

  Chapter 10 – Unjust Reward

  “Your Majesty, I am Serenity,” the girl said to Rose.

  The Queen should not have responded since Violetta had not given her permission to acknowledge the newcomer. But, at the moment, she was feeling a lot more like Dazzle than at any time in the past four or five years.

  “Welcome to Aerianna, Serenity. I have heard whispers that you are now a Hameggattic Sister. Congratulations on such an honor.”

  That statement was just a little too much for Violetta to ignore. “It is with great sadness, Serenity, that I must inform you that the Sisterhood has been forever disbanded. A pity you will not have time to enjoy the honor.”

  The girl finally turned towards the Empress and took the better part of a half a minute to study her – a gross transgression to a royal person. “My mother once loved you as a sister.”

  “Your mother once tried to betray me.”

  “She loved you even after it became obvious that your stated purpose of forming an alliance of planets dedicated to the advancement of science was a bald faced lie.”

  “Tread carefully, young lady. My kind and generous disposition is not without limits.”

  “She tried to reason with you . . . to appeal to your better nature. But after a while, she had to admit t
o herself that it was non-existent. You were a ruthless, self-absorbed megalomaniac bent on conquest.”

  “Your mother was a foolish idealist without any understanding of politics or the machinations of worlds. For all of her brilliance, she was a fool. And in the end, her foolishness killed her and maimed her beloved daughter.”

  “No. You killed her. By betraying her trust, twisting the wondrous scientific discoveries to evil – you forced her to act. She died trying to right the wrong she inadvertently caused. That . . . would be you.”

  “Enough of this childish banter. For high treason and crimes against this Empress and the Starlight Alliance, I condemn you to a lifetime of servitude to me. You will spend the rest of your life working on whatever scientific theories, concepts and principles as piques my interest. Guards, take this person to my ship.”

  Serenity tapped the control panel on her wheelchair and every soldier simply fell to the ground. The artificial intelligence that controlled these avatars had been cut-off. Everyone in the hall let out an involuntary gasp.

  “I think not,” said Serenity.

  The Empress reacted . . . but not the way Egg and her sister expected. She laughed.

  “Very well done. Foolish – like your mother; but clever.” She touched her collar and the soldiers became reanimated and stood up.

  “Oops,” whispered Egg.

  “At least you did not make the same mistake as your mother. My connection to all the science the Alliance has created is both my strength and my weakness. Did you really think I would not take great pains to insure that no one could interfere with that link? How incredibly stupid your mother was . . . attacking the problem at the wrong end.”

  Serenity surprised Violetta when she asked a question that seemed to have nothing to do with the matter at hand. “Did you know that I stole one of your Hostesses from Laff’Alott? She now occupies an avatar I created and gave to her. She is also a Hameggattic Sister.”