by Scott Wale
“The punishment doesn’t concern me”, Fenrit responded. “If it had, I never would have reached the decision to begin this journey.”
“Then what does bother you?” Alejade candidly asked.
“You don’t see it, do you?” Fenrit answered with a question of his own.
“I’m afraid not”, Alejade responded waiting for her brother to further his explanation.
“I’m afraid for our people”, Fenrit started. “I did what I could to remove the greatest external threat facing our people. Fortunately, with the help of Tradok and Nevit we removed that threat, but the greater menace still exists. It’s internal and it can’t be physically defeated, which is the arena I’d prefer, because that’s where I excel. This is a political game and beyond my capabilities. The power is shifting within the group of elders. Arkiva is growing old while Virra is too young and still learning to play the political game herself.”
Fenrit began to massage the premalier’s emblem on his bicep while he contemplated his future as a premalier. He had fought the physical battle and now it was the duty of another to finish the mental one.
“Halden has nefarious intentions”, Alejade said trying to complete Fenrit’s thought.
Alejade’s mind drifted back to her encounter with the Maker. The Maker had instructed her to share her experience around bonding with creatures. The Maker had said this would expand the minds of others and ultimately set them on the path of bonding. Alejade herself had work to do within their own people to help them regain their focus. Maybe this was also the path to resolving what troubled Fenrit.
“That is what I believe”, Fenrit said. “I imagine he’d love nothing more than to crucify a premalier and now I’ve given him that opportunity.”
“Majority will still prevail”, Alejade consoled her brother. “Arkiva and Virra know you have a pure heart.”
“As I said, I’m willing to accept my punishment”, Fenrit concluded. “I just hope our effort wasn’t for nothing.”
“You gave Tradok a chance to make amends for his biggest regret, so I wouldn’t say it was all for nothing”, Nevit said.
“You should come with us”, Fenrit said returning the attention back to Nevit.
“Our people would welcome you, especially after we relate to them our journey”, Alejade agreed while using hand signals to translate for Jandra’s benefit.
Jandra replied with a number of unique noises that Nevit had not heard before.
“Yes, we’ve created a bond that can never be broken”, Alejade translated.
Nevit’s eyes turned blue at the kind words. He had lost his last family, but it appeared he was being given the opportunity to start a new one.
Alejade closed in on the funeral pyre and then kneeled before it. She began to scoop away some of the ashes pulling them away from the flames to allow them to cool.
“I realize this is not his body, but it’s the best we can do”, Alejade began. “Our journey home will take us near the Trados River and I believe the least we can do is return these ashes to the river.”
“I think he would have approved of that”, Nevit said as he stared into the flickering flames and reminisced about the time he had spent with Tradok.
Epilogue
The Pescalian specialist reviewed the client’s profile on her dataport. Everything appeared in order and the lengthy process could begin once she received the client’s consent. The consultation sometimes proved difficult with new clients, because one inadequate answer and the whole business arrangement could fall apart. Her scales tingled as they often did when shifting color tones. The biological adaptation was a response to changes in body chemistry. If one was observing at the right time they could witness the change as it occurred one scale at a time that, when synchronized, appeared as a splashing wave.
The specialist headed down the laboratory halls and towards the lobby where clients were seated. The proprietary nature of the business perpetuated strict guidelines around what non-employees could witness. This also added a further layer of complication when it came time for consultation. The overall nature of the business was known, but the exact scientific process was still left a mystery. There had already been theft attempts on not only safeguarded assets, but the intellectual property that existed behind those assets. Everyone liked to think that residents of VaSaige were above such lawlessness, but skepticism had paid off.
“Mr. Tradok”, the Pescalian called out to a room with a half dozen clients.
“Yes”, the client responded standing up out of his chair.
“If you’ll come with me, we can go over the rest of the process and what you can expect”, the Pescalian said gesturing her client in to a closed room that offered privacy away from the client waiting area.
“It looks like we have everything we need from you”, the Pescalian said while closing the door to the secluded room.
“I’ll admit this is well out of my expertise, however, I understand enough to know what you need”, the client responded while taking a seat.
“You needn’t worry, we have several professionals that will be working on your case”, the Pescalian said assuredly.
“I appreciate your willingness to go into detail, but all I need is for you to answer a couple of questions and then I can be on my way”, the client proposed.
“Whatever you would prefer, Mr. Tradok”, the Pescalian answered caught off guard by the incurious attitude.
“How long will the process take?” the client asked.
“To get the specimen back to its approximate age it will take about eight to ten years”, the specialist began. “The time frame is more concise, because we can apply a compound in the beginning that will speed up aging and development. Unfortunately, technology has not advanced to the point where we can slow that down, so the specimen would have to ingest a pharmaceutical that we can supply to negate the effects of the development advancing compound. The charge for the pharmaceutical has already been included in the estimate we provided to you.”
“Will I be contacted when we get closer to the point when the specimen will be transferred into my care?” the client inquired.
“Yes, as we near the desired state of maturity we will reach out to you to finalize the details around the final transfer”, the specialist answered.
“Perfect”, the client responded.
“Any other questions?” the specialist asked.
“The memory transfer”, the client began. “I know it’s the biggest risk of this whole process, but what is your confidence it can be achieved?”
“Our engineers have analyzed the device you initially provided and we believe we can graft it on to the specimen at the appropriate stage of development”, the specialist explained. “It’s our understanding that at this point it would be open to any ‘implanted’ memories if that’s your request.”
“The device was a prototype I received, but I’ve seen one successfully implanted”, the client replied. “I’m most concerned about the device successfully working with the memory transfer.”
“If it works as our engineers have theorized, then the specimen will contain both its own memories plus those that have been implanted”, the specialist reassured her client. “This may cause some confusion in the specimen that hopefully can be reasonably explained away. Of course, we’ll need some actual memories to implant.”
“Yes, and I have the necessary file here”, the client said pulling a dataport from his pocket.
“You can securely transfer the file to me and then we’ll upload it later in the development process when we’re confident that everything is progressing as planned”, the specialist said.
“Is there anything else you need from me?” the client asked.
“It wouldn’t hurt if you could verify the sample one last time”, the specialist requested.
“Not a problem”, the client pleasantly agreed.
A panel on the wall behind the client began to slide open. The client stood up and walked ov
er to the emerging window. He peered through the window into the adjacent room where the sample was being kept. There, on a pedestal, sat a tail of a Sauronoid that appeared to have been well preserved.
“That’s the one”, the client said as his eyes turned from black to blue.
