Now he was one of their top-rated scientists—like her mother. Daria was hoping to follow in their footsteps. If she could stop being late to her classes all the time ...
She closed her unit and paused as she caught Tamira staring at the images, too.
They were mesmerizing. As all good nightmares tended to be.
It was impossible to turn away, even when you tried.
Tamira jerked her chin at the human they showed transforming himself into the unerring image of a Materian, right down to the dual noble birthmarks Daria had been fortunate enough to inherit in perfect symmetry at the edges of her mouth. It was something all of her friends envied her for as it made her one of the most desirable to date and ultimately breed with.
“You think we’ll ever see a real human?”
Daria clutched at her designer bag that her father had brought to her all the way from their home world on his last trip there. “Hope not.”
Tamira arched her brow at that. “Why? Aren’t you curious about them?”
Not even a little.
“They’re disease-ridden, for one thing.”
Tamira laughed. “Oh please! How can you say that? We’re the ones who brought our illnesses to them. Besides, it was a simple cold that killed them off.”
“Exactly! Humans were so weak a species, the sniffles killed them all. How can you admire a race that can’t even survive a mere head cold?”
Tamira scoffed. “You are so cynical. No wonder they chose you for the Invarium committee.”
Lifting her chin proudly, Daria patted her badge that proclaimed her chairwoman of HELL—Human Extermination Licensing Leaders. It was now officially her job to help investigate and find any humans who might infiltrate their school or youth community and report them promptly to the authorities. She couldn’t wait to fulfill her obligations. “Yes, well, the humans are a threat we need to eradicate.”
“Why bother? You just said they were so weak as to be ridiculous.”
Daria growled in frustration of her friend’s continued churlishness. Sometimes she swore Tamira would argue with a sign post!
And not one possessed of artificial intelligence—one that was inanimate.
“That doesn’t mean they couldn’t mutate it into something worse. Like bird flu and wipe us out with it!” That was, after all, what her people had fought a civil war over when they’d first landed on this planet a hundred years ago.
Gah! How could any Materian have ever wanted to save a single human for anything? Never mind have actually killed their own in defense of one of those disgusting things?
That she’d never understand.
Rodents and humans. Same revolting thing. Parasites could do all kinds of damage to higher organisms like them.
Basic biology.
Besides, everything she’d read about their subspecies said humans were a barbaric lot who’d been on the brink of civil war with each other all the time back then. For every little imagined insult and slight. No culture. No higher tech. They’d never done anything particularly noteworthy as a race.
Mass extinction had been the greatest kindness for them. The humans should be grateful for eradication.
Not that it mattered. They were gone from existence and the Matens were in charge. This was their planet now, and it would remain so. It’d been theirs since the last of the major human cities had succumbed to the final wave of plagues, and the Matens had burned the last of the human bodies, and shed this beautiful planet of the humans’ feeble disease-ridden remnants.
All that was left now were bits and pieces that only the most daring Matens collected as curiosities.
“Hey Day!”
She paused as she heard Frayne’s deep voice calling out a greeting to them. Her heart quickened uncontrollably. It always did.
Tamira’s eyes darkened with jealousy an instant before she caught herself. As did most of the girls in the hallway. But then Daria was used to that. Erian Frayne was one of the most eligible boys in their city. The son of their territorial regent, he would one day rise to a seat of political power to rival or surpass his mother’s. And because Daria was a third cousin to their ruling family, he had his eye on her as a prospective spouse.
Daria liked to pretend he had other interests in her as well, but she wasn’t completely stupid. If she were someone else, he might still talk to her and date her from time to time.
However...
Her prestigious bloodline would guarantee him a number of extreme advantages.
He pressed his cheek to hers and took her bag. “Did you not get my message?”
“What message?”
He tsked as he tapped her wrist comm. “My maja’s been called out of town tonight.” He wagged his eyebrows at her. “Want to come over and study some basic biology? Up close and personal?”
She snorted at his less than subtle innuendo. “Nice. I’m surprised you didn’t announce it over the intercom.”
“Want me to? I will.”
“No, thank you. I don’t have anywhere to hide your body and prison doesn’t look good on my Post Prime applications.”
He laughed. “But it would give you a leg up for the military.”
“Possibly.” Daria sobered as she glanced over his shoulder and caught the peculiar expression on Xared’s face as he stared at her badge.
What a strange thing ...
“Something wrong?”
A full head taller than Frayne and even more ripped and better looking, there were a number of Matens who speculated that Xared was the more accomplished athlete, but because of Frayne’s social status, Xared pulled back in matches and let Frayne take the best shots to win. Some claimed he did the same on tests, too, making sure he always took second place to Frayne, in all things.
She wasn’t so sure about that, but right now there was something strange going on. She could feel on a cellular level. And since she’d known Xared since birth, they were more akin to family than friends—as were their mothers. In fact, he was the closest thing to a sibling she’d ever known.
“Hadn’t heard about your promotion. Savan!”
Yet the chilly undertone of his voice didn’t match his congratulations.
At all.
Something was bothering him, and she didn’t like to be the cause of his strife.
“Zhaza. I think.” Perhaps she shouldn’t be thanking him. “Although, I’m feeling a little frostbite.”
He blinked and offered up a half-hearted smile. “Sorry. I was hoping I’d get it. Last I heard it was mine, so I was a little shocked to see you with the badge.”
Oh, that explained it. And it made her feel even worse that she’d deprived him of anything. Unlike Frayne, she didn’t take joy in beating others out of their dreams. “I had no idea, Xed! I’m so sorry. If you want, I’ll decline it for you and you can take my place.”
He held his hand up. “It’s fine. Really. They obviously wanted you for it, and I am happy for you to have it. It just shocked me, but I’m over it now.” The warmth returned to his dark eyes. “Couldn’t imagine it going to a better, Maten. Peace to my sister.” He clutched his fist to his heart in a symbol of eternal kinship.
She duplicated the gesture. “Peace to my brother. Always. You know I love you.”
“Love you, too.” He clapped Frayne on his arm. “I’m headed on to class. Roundabout!”
“Roundabout!” they said in parting.
As they headed the opposite way, Frayne handed her a small silver charm. The unexpected gift delighted her. However, there was one tiny problem.
“Zhaza! But... what is it?”
“I found it in the bathroom. It’s a human symbol.”
Her stomach shrank as her happiness died instantly under an onslaught of horror. “What?!” Why in the name of the divine goddess would he give her such a thing?
Frayne jerked his chin in the direction Xed had gone. “Xed dropped it from his bag. I had to look it up to find out what it was.”
“And wha
t is it?”
“An ankie or something like that. The humans use it to identify each other and sympathizers to their cause. Just like they do those weird phrases from their books that we destroyed. You know, quoth the raven nevermore and hell hath no fury as a woman scorned.”
Suddenly, she felt sick with fear and dread. “What are saying?”
“That either Xed is a human being in disguise or he’s in league with their cause. It’s the only reason he’d have that. And whichever it is, you have to report him for having it. It’s your job now.”
She shook her head as true horror filled her. This couldn’t be happening. Not with Xed. There was no way he could be in league with the humans.
Frayne was wrong ... he had to be. “He’s like brother to me!”
“And you swore an oath for your office. Loyalty above everything. Even above blood.”
Daria wanted to weep at his dire tone and the cruel light in his dark eyes that said he was enjoying the thought of the authorities torturing and interrogating their friend.
One that was mirrored by Tamira’s.
How could they?
Worse was the unspoken threat that hovered in the air between them.
If she didn’t report Xed and see him arrested, the two of them would report them both.
And she would suffer the same fate.
Or worse.
So will my parents. More than that, she would shame the name Stazen forevermore. It might even become stricken from all their records. I can’t bring disgrace to our name. Her parents would never forgive her.
But how could she live with herself if she betrayed her best friend? Her brother?
Chapter 3
Daria? Are you all right?”
No. She was still in a fog as she staggered into her mother’s private sanctum and sat down, grateful that her mother was working at home today and not in her office downtown.
Over and over, she saw the way they’d burst into her final period at school and had taken down Xed.
Like some criminal.
No, worse than that.
Like a human.
The Dawners had come through the door en masse, weapons raised, and thrown her entire class into chaos as they forced them against the wall at blaster point. All of them had been treated like rabid animals the Dawners had feared would attack at any moment. They’d been forced to their knees, with their hands on their heads while everything they owned had been searched for human contraband.
Even her pockets had been searched.
One-by-one they’d been questioned.
Daria had just stood there while it happened. Traumatized. Guilt-ridden.
Horrified.
But the absolute worst had come when they’d thrown Xed down on the ground at her feet, checked his retinals against their records, and then asked her to verify that he was the one she’d reported.
His dark eyes had burned into hers with a hatred so profound that it seared her to her very Maten soul. He’d said nothing.
He didn’t have to. That look had said it all. How could you? We were family.
I will hate you forever.
More than that, his look had shriveled her like some kind of science fiction bio-ray to the size of a nanobot.
What was the term she’d once heard that humans use?
You suck, Daria?
She finally understood what that sentiment had meant. Never had she felt lower than when she’d nodded and handed over the charm that Frayne had given her. “It fell from his bag.”
They’d taken it and Xed, and in an instant the Dawners were gone. Gone as if Xed had never been a vital part of her existence.
Then her classmates had applauded.
Applauded and cheered. What sickened her most was the knowledge that just a few hours before that, she’d have done the same. Had it been anyone other than Xed, she’d have jeered at the capture, too.
But this was Tibor Xared.
Xed.
A boy she’d grown up with. They had played tag in his yard. He’d come to see her all the times she’d been sick as a girl, and had been confined to bed rest because of a rare illness that ran in her family.
When she’d been too afraid to start school because of her markings that made her “special” that she knew would make others resent her, he’d taken her hand and told her not to fret, that he would beat up anyone who said anything mean to her.
I’m here for you, Darus. Anytime. Anywhere.
All her life, she’d had Xed to depend on.
And she had betrayed him.
Like a human would do.
I’m no better than one of their lowly species.
She felt unclean and disgusting.
“Daria?”
She stared blankly at her mother, wishing herself anywhere else in the universe. “You haven’t heard?”
Her mother frowned. “Heard what?”
Their comm began a frantic buzzing, like a bumblebee seeking its hive. Daria knew that sound.
Xed’s mother, Tibor Cardea was calling hers. Calling to tell what had happened.
What she’d done to their family.
“I’ll be right back.”
She didn’t move as her mother answered it. And Daria knew the moment she’d been outted. There was no missing that sharp intake of breath that caused her own to stall in her throat. The startled gasp that made her stomach lurch.
How could her insides cramp so much, and hurt this badly?
“Is there anything I can ...” Her mother hung up and returned to the room to kneel in front of her.
By the grim expression on her face and the pallor on her cheeks, Daria knew there was no need to explain herself.
Her mother knew the horror.
Still, she couldn’t move. It was as if she were a bird on a branch, looking down at them. Seeing herself sitting here, detached and unable to feel anything. Her disgust at her own actions was just too great.
Was this shock?
She hoped so.
More than that, she hoped that whatever this cessation of emotion was, it stayed here. Because her worst fear was for this numbness to leave and for her real emotions to return.
When that happened, she had no doubt that she would start screaming and never stop.
“Daria?”
She blinked at her mother. “I am the lowliest life form in all the universe, Maja. I might as well be human, too.”
Where’s Daria?”
“Keep your voice down. She’s upstairs in her room.”
Daria sighed as she heard her parents through the thin, orange walls of her room that were decorated with moving posters of the bands she’d listened to with Xed. Tears of guilt and sorrow choked her as her parents continued speaking in that low, whispered tone. They always did that. Neither of them knew that whenever they were in the kitchen below her room, she could hear them plainly.
Didn’t matter if they whispered or not. Their voices came straight up the air duct, into her private space.
“Did she really do it?” Her father’s voice carried the same condemnation she felt.
“Yeah, she did.”
“Oh my God, Zarrah! How could she?”
“Shh, Zadriel. Don’t you dare make her feel any worse than she already does. She’s devastated!”
“She should be! More than that, she should be ashamed of what she’s done to that poor boy! Has she any idea what they’ll do to him and his family? Our friends?”
Her mother sighed. “She knows. But she had no choice. Frayne would have turned her in, too, had she not. She did what she did to save us.”
“I told her to stay away from the Erianes! You see what happens when you mix with their kind!”
Her mother let out a tired sigh. “Our kind. Their kind. I get so sick of that talk! Why must everything and everyone be split into sides? Haven’t we learned our lesson as to where that gets us? We should be pulling together. Not breaking apart.”
“Zar—”
“D
on’t, Zadriel. Just don’t. There’s nothing to be done for it now. Maybe Joey can—”
“Zzz!” Her father made a peculiar hissing noise. “Never say that. Not here and not now. Not ever. Forget what you’re thinking. And don’t you dare risk it. Not for anything!”
Daria scowled at her father’s untoward reaction to the unusual name, and wondered who Joey was. She’d never heard that name before.
Was it a male or female?
Were they family or friend?
“You’re right. Sorry. I wasn’t thinking. It’s been a frightening day and my head’s not in the right place.”
“I know, my love. This has us all rattled.”
As if they heard her father’s words, someone pounded on their kitchen door. Which they never did. The rapid fire knocking thundered through the house and left her heart racing and her body trembling. More than that, it left her parents silent.
That sudden silence was terrifying.
She sat up in bed and listened for any sign of life. What’s going on?
“Are you sure?” Her mother’s voice barely reached her eager ears.
No response whatsoever.
Not until she heard feet shuffling up the stairs, coming closer to her room.
“Daria?”
“Pala?” she gasped, thinking it was her father come to get her.
As she moved to unlock her door, it opened. Instead of her father, there was a man there covered from head to foot in a black uniform. She could see nothing of his features.
Gasping, she stepped back toward her dresser to look for a weapon.
“It’s all right, Daria.” Her father came in behind the man with two women who were also garbed completely in black. “They’re friends. And they’re—”
Someone shined lights into their front windows.
“Zadriel!”
The man in black cursed. “We’re too late. They’re here.”
Her father’s eyes widened. “Get Daria to safety. We’ll hold them off.”
Daria went weak at his words. “What?”
“Mia?” The man growled.
“On it.” The shorter woman grabbed Daria as she headed for her father.
One moment she was almost to him. In the next, everything went black.
Insurrection [Nevermore] Page 2
