by Selina Brown
A shrouded figure entered her row and sat next to her. She was one of the special people apparently, and she knew her position was particularly dangerous. Ara felt her heartbeat and his. It was her guard. He had undergone the treatment because she could see a change in his energy, it was much brighter. Fighting between the urge to giggle and cry was tough. Unable to bear the thought of him going through that for her, she had to act impervious, not wanting people to see her cry or hear her cackle. Ignoring him, she looked down and around at the thousands, knowing thousands more were looking in from their stadiums unable to attend in person. She had been told only royal Pure-Gens attended this main indoor stadium, but many weren’t royal, had Korbet made sure she had people here that she knew? That seemed likely. A clanging somewhere started the proceedings.
A tall figure rose on a central dais and began to speak. She could see his face on her small monitor. Ara kept telling herself that this was a court that held to high ideals.
“Aryans of the Horizon, Maya has triggered the Genocide Protocol. Exclusions include Pure, First, Second and Lower Races.”
Silence filled the room.
A small whimper left her lips as her first thoughts were of Tara who was classified as a Fourth-Gen. The cloaked figure leaned over. “Be strong, Ara. I am with you.”
Would he die too? Lower—that was animals and plant life. Was that why she was on Wilds? So, everyone in between? Tara? Her parents? Siblings? Was that why Maya had disconnected from her? Ara waited for information such as why it was triggered, how they could address the issue, how to resolve it, and then vote on the best solution. But people were already leaving the room.
Fear clutched her heart.
What was she the Mobile Unit to, the Cardinal Unit or Maya, or something else? What was the other? Her mind refused to work … the Chaos Unit? The sudden connections to Trickster and the Quadrazaads alarmed her.
Trickster had said she might need Chaos one day.
To what? Carry out annihilation?
She’d die before she’d do that.
Or to prevent it?
K. Breathe, honeybee
She almost laughed hysterically over Korbet using short ArT. She slid her hand over and her guard gripped it. His hand was hot to the touch. His thumb ran over her hand while Ara sat stiffly in her seat, glued to it. She jumped as doors slammed somewhere. Vinicus had said there would be time to consider it. Consider Genocide? So, she’d be okay, Caleb would, and all the plants and animals, but surely they weren’t serious? It was a way to end the Avatara war she supposed; no doubt that would come up in the arguments. Did that trigger the vote?
A laugh escaped her lips.
As she stood, her guard released her hand and stood, leading her out. She numbly wandered back to her room and found more books waiting for her.
Her support group met up with her in her room.
Ziana and Zarti watched her pace around. “But … how can Maya just decide on Genocide and we just vote on it? It knows nothing about compassion or love or negotiation.” Hadn’t Maya seen that through Ara’s eyes?
“Ara, we think you were the negotiation.”
“But I didn’t do anything!” She cried out, clamping her hand over her mouth. “And if that was the case, I failed. I would have protected the Eighth Race, not brought them ruin!”
“That was the point we think. Maya drew data from you and whatever it found allowed it to make its decision, or trigger the program.”
“Something happened, Ara, in your life that triggered it to end the function of the Mobile Unit, you. Can you think what that might have been?”
She was appalled that she may have caused Maya to consider genocide. Odd how they thought she wasn’t the Mobile Unit now. Had they received a data burst? Thinking of odd things, the only thing that was odd in her life was that court case in Delario’s house. Raising it now would be useless. Knowing that it might have changed things might have been useful earlier but what was clear, genocide was on the tables. “There was something but it won’t change anything.” She stared at them all. “I can’t believe that was the only trigger. How does it … do it? How will—” she paused for a moment almost calling Maya “she” “—it carry out genocide?”
“It releases the Chaos Unit and then antimatter. Once a race was used and armed with antimatter weapons, we aren’t sure if that will happen again. But antimatter will be dispersed somehow.”
Chaos Unit and the Proxy? The Jungar?
What if someone were to take control of those? Could it be controlled? Was this why Kavela was acting weird?
Ara opened up another book. “This says that if matter reaches and stays high, the Maya must trigger antimatter but there is a program that offers Pure-Gens an option that allows them to save themselves … but why kill so many? There must be other ways to reduce matter? We’re spread so thinly through Aryan Space, surely we could antimatter a few planets and their systems instead? The book said the Proxy was a unique species of Aryans who could wield Chaos and handle antimatter, they are called Jungar.”
They stared at her.
“And why not send a transmission that instructs us to reduce matter?” She had heartburn and clutched her chest.
“How, Ara, and how would you decide who to kill and who to allow life?”
That raised her fears again. “Our anthropologists say Estancia have densely populated towns and cities. We could do the same.”
“Ara—”
“So you’re saying that a general sweep is better? And why is it so high? Why not reduce the trigger point and then—” All those logs now started making sense. The figures on matter levels … she’d been getting the readout for years. And Maya had tried to balance it. But there were jumps in the scans, maybe she didn’t get them all.
“Ara, we Pure-Gens are responsible for maintaining it, if we don’t we must pay the penalty. That’s why we have ten top queens and kings. It is a part of their duty.”
What a stupid system! “And penalty? Then we should be exterminating us, not the others, the top ten, since they failed?”
“I believe that can’t happen. We are all linked in some way, it’s not just the units of matter but the energy is connected too. If we die, they all die anyway.”
And yet animals and plants were different. Had her stay on Wilds been some kind of way to work out how to disconnect them from genocide? And why?
“How convenient,” she muttered angrily but vaguely remembered Caleb telling her how energy was linked for everyone to communicate. What did he say? She was like a big, fat neuron. At the time she’d been worried he thought her fat. And then Bel had told her to claim Earth and set up her kingdom with kings to guard her space. They would filter down from her. So were those links from Maya’s CU rearranged to be reconnected to and through the queen? That would mean the queens were more than just space guardians and administrators. There was an actual somatic and exergonic and endergonic exchange. Then she stared at them, wondering if that’s why they were being her friends. Shame filled her with that thought. “Are you … all… Do you know what you will be voting for?”
They bowed their heads.
Vin stood up. “Ara, that is private—”
“Damn it, Vin! You will all know how I vote!”
Zarti nodded. “She’s right. But, Ara, we cannot influence you.”
There were supporting nods.
“But you said that there would be debates and discussion.” She stared at Vin.
“I was told for you that is incorrect.”
“We came to tell you that you must be isolated. Ara, there are guards—”
Ara ran out and heard them calling behind her. She ran to find Kavela but heard raised voices inside his room. She went to leave when the door flung open.
“Are you sure it took?”
“Yes, it took. I checked, the virus… Ara!”
Audrina, red faced, left with barely a nod.
“Come in, Ara. This must be a shock for you as it is
for us all.”
She entered and he offered her a cool drink. She’d barely sipped it when the guards stormed in.
Kavela stood and stepped between her and the guards. “No need to panic, she is just finishing her drink.”
Ara put it down, barely able to swallow the fluid in her mouth.
Kavela put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it. “They’ll look after you, Ara.” He lifted her chin. “If you need anything just call.” He brushed her hair from her face.
She walked and nodded to him while he was blowing air out from his cheeks. Special Planet of Law officiates took her to a new set of suites. But her guard was with her. They directed her to a dark and sleek vehicle, driving them part way up the first mountain. It was like a perch overlooking the entire courthouse and blocks. Reluctantly, she climbed the steps and two carved, wooden doors swung open. Silent attendants waited. She made to step through to luxurious rooms. Her guard told her to stop as he checked the rooms. Ara guessed he had already ordered that but was doing it for her sake to make her feel better. Besides, while he was in there someone might attack her outside. She felt him brush her mind, he was blushing.
He re-joined her.
“It’s alright. It’s the thought that counts.”
That night, she stared at herself in the mirror, reluctant to leave her opulent rooms and walk on one of the many tracks. There were entertainment shows, cards, board games for one. Her guard just moved through the rooms like an apparition, not speaking, just giving her room but showing her he was around.
There was a massive traditional library but the books weren’t made of papir. She just had to touch the outside spine of one and it would light up on the desk. She could move it to an e-reader, read it on the carpet or wall. Touching more books stacked them to where she wanted them. She found that, by different touches, she could move the individual books to a comfortable chair or stay at the desk. She triggered the fire and sat on the chair. Over the course of three days, she drowned herself in useless information. Her mind refused to settle on anything except romance stories that eased her mind and heart, mostly just silly stories that buffered her. She didn’t have to think, just read and laugh and enjoy.
Ghost like staff served her meals and snacks in a room filled with fine, handcrafted furniture made from a rare, white wood. Landscape paintings filled the walls; the views were across forty or so domes. No one in the house spoke to her and a naughty idea formed. It distracted her for all of three hours. After that, how many times had she cried? And vomited? Her eyes were bloodshot, her mouth drawn down, her movements slow and mind far too clear. She’d read in bed, long into the night, trying to make herself so tired she would just drop unconscious.
She had read all the necessary documents but none of it made any sense to her.
“Maya, why don’t you fog me up now?”
She was fretting. Why was it taking so long? How hard was it to vote against genocide? But from what she could tell, it was like blackmail. If they voted “no” Maya would carry out genocide across the board. She should vote “yes” and then work to influence how it was done. There was a clause that allowed some input on a majority vote for “yes”.
For some reason she kept worrying about work. She could go back to work with the animals but who would she work with and who would visit? Ninety percent of workers and visitors were in the category for obliteration. She vomited again thinking of her work colleagues who would die. It wasn’t right. This had to be a sick joke or mistake.
She noticed the same clause didn’t exist for the “no” vote.
Who programmed the Cardinal Unit? It seemed like an AI, if you added in Maya, but evidence was against that concept. Was it simply programmed by the Ancient Aryans? History had no answers; she may have disliked it, but the things that had interested her were not available. Did the Saringtons know? Did Tekko?
Ara closed her eyes one day after trying to throw her book away. It didn’t go far or make a satisfying thud. She tried to connect to the Cardinal Unit as she did to heal Gralten, Dusty, and that cub. But she couldn’t. That connection must have been from Maya and Maya wasn’t letting her connect that way anymore. And now Ara knew she could have stopped the vote. As the Mobile Unit, with Maya, she could have taken control over the Cardinal Unit. All those dreams of her walking through the massive CU made more sense. But it was too late! All it would have taken was a simple counter program via Maya. She even saw the program in her mind. But who had full access to the CU programs? The Cardinal Unit was Maya’s tool but it wasn’t secure enough. Would Maya just decide after the vote, or whoever was messing with her, to connect to Ara again and start fudging with her mind? Ara screamed out and threw some items around.
“Maya?” she screamed. “You fucking bitch! Protect yourself!” It wasn’t she who needed guards, it was Maya.
That mist—yes.
She paced around.
How to do it?
She saw her guard, still cloaked, hovering outside the library. Smiling a little, she went and closed the doors. “I just need a little privacy.”
There was a barely discernible nod.
Ara returned to the middle of the room and closed her eyes.
She tried mediating.
She tried calling out.
She tried entering a dream state and triggering a nifty sleep cycle. Suddenly, she was yelling. “I know you are still connected otherwise we’d all be dead. If Pure-Gens are the start points to everything else then you are our start point.” There was still no answer. “You touched me!” She cried a lot instead of finding answers. She even tried to lift a chair and throw it, but it was bolted to the floor. Something in her back tweaked.
“Yikes!”
Her guard came rushing in. “What—”
“Nothing,” she said, quickly cutting him off. “I was trying to throw a tantrum but the furniture wouldn’t cooperate.”
Her guard walked over to the chair and pointed a finger at it. “Cooperate or you will end up in there.” He pointed to the fireplace.
Ara stood there and choked out a laugh. Desolation filled her and he moved closer and folded her in his arms. His body was amazingly hard but so very comforting. He smelled like leather and lemons.
“Are you alright now to continue your tantrum?”
At her nod and thanks, he released her and left the room, closing the door quietly. Hands on hips, Ara sat on the ground and started waving her hands in front of her face seeing she could move the ELs. “Wow, haven’t done this before.” Her fingers connected with the ELs and there were vague recollections of doing this as a baby. “Where are you?”
Her fingers kept up their twitching until her mind lit up. She had somehow tapped into the energy streams using her little Strike filament. She had managed to separate all the energy streams.
“There you are. Hiding in that funny stream. Now, how do I connect or follow? Ah, my mind and fingers, tricky Maya, don’t our teachings say the body doesn’t count?”
Jamie watched, via a monitor, as Ara struggled with the connection. He sent a command to ensure she wasn’t interrupted. Whatever she was doing now, well, it might make a difference. He kept watch and it took Ara an hour before he saw she was almost finished. He received a message from Korbet, who seemed happy, and strode to the library and opened the door to see Ara flipping her finger in the air. He almost laughed aloud as she had been on detention many times over the years for doing that, especially to her older brother and sisters.
Ara sighed. There were millions of questions to ask the user interface. It annoyed her that the wispy plasma had copied her face too. It wasn’t like looking into a mirror but it was disconcerting all the same.
“Ara, officiates are on their way.”
“You triggered the early vote!”
“You must not allow that to be known.”
“Well then.” Ara felt like flipping her fingers at it.
“If it eases your mind I cannot answer any more questions. Any more
data would create new lines of code and paradox and—”
“I know. Deletion.” How many times had the interface said that in the last—she checked the time—hour?
“And Ara?”
“Yes?”
“I have no answers to the problem.”
Great.
“This means you can invent, if you are clever enough.”
The connection ended.
She did give it the finger, mentally and physically. Basically, she just kept doing what she was doing. What a waste of time. Ara found her bum numb too. She stood up, stretching as her guard entered. Behind him was an official.
“Ara Katron, are you ready to proceed with your vote?”
“Yes.” Not really.
Couldn’t they just contact her on the comms? What if she said “no”? But she had no desire to test them or drag out this out. “I’ll shower and then have a meal.”
They nodded and she prepared herself. She followed them out and slid into the vehicle, her guard silent next to her. Ara’s mind stewed and her head ached; her final analysis was that everything was being manipulated. “Good grief.” When had she become so cynical and calculating? She didn’t notice the scenery on the drive down. She barely noticed the sea of faces. Her stomach grumbled. She only ate so she’d have something to throw up.
Sub-Log XXXIII
Ara waited her turn for a coffee.
It took time to call everyone together into their stadiums.
She ordered three stimulants from the interior café.
“Big day, love?” He put one cup down in front of her.
His chirpy voice, as he served her, seemed out of place and distant. She wondered if those who worked here would slip into the main courthouse or have to drive to one of the stadiums.
“Yes, big day.” Her voice was dull. She drank while she waited for the other two.
“There’s only kerretta today, we saved the last coffee for you—”
Ara stared at the empty cup thinking she had barely tasted it. “Oh, thank you.”
