Confluence 2: Remanence

by Jennifer Foehner Wells

  “Quasador Dux Rageth Elia Hator,” Jane whispered without thinking, so entranced by the memory and the beauty of the painting that she forgot to remain on guard.

  Jaross took a step back from Jane, indicating surprise though her face remained impassive. “You knew her? Before the plague?”

  Jane dodged the question. She wasn’t sure if the Gis’dux would understand without a lengthy explanation. “She is why I’m here.”

  Jaross wouldn’t be misdirected. She was also very perceptive. Her voice was flat with certainty. “She was lost to the plague. You command her ship.”

  Jane expelled a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. “Yes.”

  Jaross moved to stand close to Jane again. “You must have come a great distance. Did you know the kuboderan as well? Do’Brai?” Jaross indicated the painting. All of her attention was focused on Jane.

  “I do know him. He lives. He has been renamed. He is called Ei’Brai, now.” Jane watched Jaross carefully. She felt like she was perched on a powder keg and didn’t know why.

  Jaross turned away from Jane to stare at the painting again. “He survived the plague,” she said. “His enclosure was unaffected? His own squillae untainted?”

  Jane looked at Jaross sharply. Ei’Brai had squillae too? That had never occurred to her. He’d never mentioned it. What purpose had they served? Jane widened her connection with him to send these thoughts and questions, but he didn’t respond. He was likely busy with something critical, or perhaps interacting with the other three humans. Still, it was unusual and it troubled her.

  Jane glanced up to see Jaross was waiting for her reply. “Oh…yes. It is sealed off, entirely self-contained. There is no exchange between the two environments. His enclosure is an island, isolated within the greater ship.”

  Jaross cocked her head. “Then there are likely others.”

  Jane nodded. “Yes. I suspect there are.”

  “A difficult fate.”

  Jane declined to comment. She had a lot to learn about life on Atielle and about Jaross. She already suspected that Jaross would be more sympathetic than Pledor had been, but she could not predict what that might mean to her mission yet.

  The sounds of a commotion echoed up the ramp behind them. Jaross turned and stepped back. Jane copied the movement, careful to keep adequate space between herself and Jaross. She hoped that it wasn’t Tinor getting into some kind of trouble. Jane had no idea how she would handle that situation if it arose. She was unsure of Sten’s expectations in regard to the child. Was Jane watching Tinor or was Tinor watching Jane?

  A deep voice boomed with excitement from behind them, but the cavernous nature of the compound obliterated the words and Jane couldn’t make them out. Footsteps thundered up the ramp. People were yelling for someone to halt.

  Jaross’s ears pulled back sharply and she took another step back. Jane followed suit. She began to feel alarmed. Whatever was happening, it was unusual even to Jaross. Jane glanced into the atrium. Those who had been seated now stood and everyone had stopped what they were doing to look their way.

  Jane turned back to the ramp in time to see a giant of a man burst around the curve into the open. He glanced around wildly, gray-white hair sticking out in frizzy tufts around his head. He stepped toward Jaross, extending a meaty hand almost questioningly, then he swung toward Jane and stopped in his tracks.

  He looked Jane up and down with wide eyes. His mouth worked, but no sound came forth. He took a step back, directly into the path of two of Hator’s people who’d been running up the ramp behind him. They collided, and the guards stumbled before grabbing ahold of him. He didn’t resist. He just stared mutely at Jane.

  “What is this?” Jaross demanded. “Who are you and why do you disturb the peace like this?”

  He never took his eyes off Jane. “You. It was you I felt. You…aren’t sectilian.”

  Jane glanced at Jaross. Jaross raised a brow.

  The man went on, seemingly unaware of the fact that his arms were held tight by the guards. “You’re an outsider. Yet you command a kuboderan. It is you, isn’t it? It has to be you. I felt you.”

  Jane frowned. She wasn’t sure what was going on.

  Jaross spoke. “This individual is the Quasador Dux Jane Augusta Holloway. I have only just made her acquaintance. May we have your name? Or shall we throw you back outside with the rest of the animals?”

  The man huffed and shook off the guards, who stepped back and watched him with narrowed eyes. The man drew himself up to his full height, which was impressive. He had to be at least seven feet tall, and he was not lithe like Jaross. He was burly and sinewy, built like an ox.

  “I am Ryliuk.”

  “Scaluuti, Ryliuk…?” There was a definite question left hanging at the end of her statement. When Ryliuk didn’t expand on his name, Jaross’s lips tightened.

  He ignored that and turned to Jane. “What ship do you command?” he asked.

  Jane’s gaze slid uneasily to Jaross, whose face was impassive now. “The Speroancora.”

  “Ah… That would be Do’Brai, would it not? He lives! I never met him.”

  “It’s Ei’Brai now, actually.”

  Ryliuk’s lips parted in a huge smile, revealing large, perfectly aligned teeth. “Even better! I pledge myself to you, Quasador Dux Jane Augusta Holloway, and to your gubernaviti, Ei’Brai. I humbly ask you for sanctuary. Can you find a place for me among your crew?”

  Jaross took a step back. “That’s treasonous. Your place is here, Ryliuk. Who are your people? Where are you from?”

  His smile fell. “My people are dead. My pledge has always been to the Kubodera, not the Sectilius. I am a mind master. Your rules do not apply to me, Gis’dux Jaross Rageth Hator.”

  Jaross’s gaze glittered. She turned away from Ryliuk dismissively to focus that hard countenance on Jane. “Do you accept the pledge of the mind master?”

  Jane swallowed. She was afraid of making a cultural blunder that could cost her dearly in the long run. She had not come here to make enemies. She would have to tread carefully. Jaross was already angry.

  Jane lifted her chin and was careful to focus her attention on Jaross only. “I do not know him. I will interview him and take your advice on the matter before I make my final decision. Is this acceptable?”

  Jaross’s gaze seemed to soften. “Indeed. I believe we were about to take refreshments?”

  Jane inclined her head in acknowledgement.

  Jaross whipped around briefly to say, “You may join us, Master Ryliuk.”

  Ryliuk’s head dipped. “Of course.”

  20

  Alan watched as another nepatrox gave up the chase. There was only one left following them now. He’d been mentally preparing himself for an epic battle with the monsters when they got out to pick up the first engine, but one by one over the last thirty minutes the nepatrox had peeled off and headed back into the hills.

  He would have liked to think that perhaps the nepatrox had grown tired of chasing them or that the terrain was unfavorable. Maybe they figured there was easier prey somewhere else. But Alan knew these creatures to be relentless and determined. He didn’t think they would give up so easily—and that made him nervous.

  The vehicle came to a stop. Before them was a wide, marshy area that gave way to a lake. The sun had come out for a brief visit. In fact it looked like it hadn’t even rained here recently.

  Alan sat up. The single nepatrox outside was gnashing its teeth and flapping its hinged mouth flaps. He tried not to watch. He was glad he couldn’t hear or smell it. He looked all around outside the vehicle but didn’t see the shuttle’s engine anywhere.

  The atellans seemed to be disagreeing about something. Alan looked at Ajaya. She held up a finger, listening intently.

  Finally Ajaya interrupted the atellans, asking a question in Mensententia.

  Ajaya frowned as the atellans explained something to her. They spoke so fast Alan only caught a few words out of every sent
ence or two—not enough to be sure what was going on. Then Ajaya leaned back in her seat, a look of disbelief on her face.

  Alan pressed her. “What’s going on?”

  Ajaya blinked. “I think they’re saying one of the engines has moved since we left the compound this morning.”

  Ron looked alarmed and began scanning the surrounding countryside.

  Alan felt his eyes bulge. “Moved? That kind of weight? What the…? How?”

  Ajaya shrugged. “They say they don’t know.”

  Ron said, “Another clan probably found it.”

  Alan nodded and clenched his fists, whispering a string of his favorite obscenities. Someone would have to have run across it, known what it was, and then come back for it with a winch. No way did they just pick up and carry off a shuttle engine. That thing was able to generate escape velocity. It was huge!

  Now all three of them were on the edges of their seats, hanging on every word the atellans uttered.

  “That’s not what they think happened,” Ajaya whispered. “They think an animal found it.”

  Alan peered out the window, but couldn’t see the last nepatrox anymore. What could be out there that even a nepatrox was afraid of? He wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

  The vehicle jerked forward again.

  “What kind of animal are they talking about?” Ron asked.

  “Good question. That can be hard to decipher. These young atellans have a penchant for abbreviations, acronyms, and the like. It makes it a bit difficult for me.” Ajaya grimaced.

  Ron rubbed his nose. “What? Like LOL? ROFL?”

  “Something like that.”

  Alan rolled his eyes.

  The all-terrain vehicle cut across the shallow lake and climbed up a steep incline on the other side. Here it was rockier. There were lots of tufts of spiky grasses sticking out from every crevice.

  When they reached a flat plateau at the top, the atellans stopped the vehicle again. They spoke in low voices and occasionally gestured toward the terrain before them in a vague fashion. Alan looked to Ajaya impatiently.

  Ajaya rose from her seat and moved to the front to look out the windshield. “Oh, my word,” she whispered.

  Alan followed. He only had to look for a second, and then he fell back into his seat, scrubbing his face with his hand. “Fuck a doodle do.”

  There was a wide, dusty plain below, ringed by low hills. In a few places there were muddy patches with a small amount of shallow standing water. Dozens of enormous beasts shuffled around the space.

  In the middle of that carnival of circus animals? An engine gleamed in the midday sunlight, with dirty deflated balloons from its descent draped on and around it.

  “Suesupus,” Ron said. “But that’s a domesticated animal. They’re like cows or horses, aren’t they?”

  Ajaya shook her head. “I could be wrong, but these look much larger to me.” She asked the atellans more questions. After a lot of back and forth, she sat down on the bench seat they shared with a heavy sigh. “They’re the wild cousins to the domestic suesupus. It’s the same species, but they are about as close to the suesupus we saw as wolves are to domesticated dogs. The atellans breed theirs to be smaller and more docile.”

  Ron asked, “What do they want to do now?”

  “They want to go back to the compound.”

  “That’s the plan for getting the engine back? Leave? After we came all this way? They don’t give a shit whether we can get back to our ship or not. They have no idea if Pledor will let us come out here again. And as hard as it was to get him to allow us this trip, I have my doubts.” Alan squeezed the back of his neck so hard it began to hurt. His voice was loud enough that the atellans turned to look at him curiously.

  Ajaya raised her eyebrows. “What do you propose we do, Alan?”

  “I don’t know. How hard can it be to spook them? Make them run off or something?”

  Ajaya relayed that. The two atellans looked very grave and started gesturing a lot. She translated their answer. “I think they’re saying the suesupus get very erratic when disturbed. Trampling is a very real possibility under those conditions.”

  Crushed under the foot of a beast the size of an elephant wasn’t his preferred way to go. “What about luring them away?” Alan said.

  Ron looked thoughtful. “A preferred food? A mating call? An infant distress call? That could be tricky, but it could work.”

  Another round of translation. Ajaya said, “Their preferred food is out of season. They don’t have any recordings of these calls you suggest in the vehicle, but there should be recordings like that in some archives back at the compound.”

  Alan leaned back thoughtfully and weighed the options. “Would they be aggressive toward a solitary man?” He waited patiently for the translations.

  Ajaya’s brows pulled tightly together. “They don’t know.”

  “Well, I give the sectilian education system an F in zoological studies.” Alan heaved a huge sigh, then leaned over to unlatch the door. It opened and a wave of heat hit him in the face. The air was heavy with humidity. He shed the jacket he was wearing, climbed out, then started down the hill. He was going to make something happen for a change.

  21

  Jaross guided them across the atrium, through another corridor carved from stone, and into a sparsely furnished room dominated by a simple green table and an assortment of chairs. The light here was all artificial and far dimmer than it had been in the atrium.

  Jane stood calmly to one side until she was sure what was expected of her, carefully watching for subtle body-language tells that might inform her where she would be expected to sit.

  She was momentarily confused when Jaross took a bowl and cup from a small side table and set them down, then turned away. Then Jane realized that Jaross was assigning seats by laying out places for them in a triangular pattern: Jane and Ryliuk on the one side with several feet of distance between them, Jaross alone on the other side, facing them. Jane stepped to her place and waited, keeping the others in sight directly or indirectly, until Jaross seated herself. It could be tricky to know who might be meant to defer to whom in situations like this.

  Once seated, Jane allowed herself to glance into the bowl. It contained food cubes, which surprised her. Jaross had a generator of some kind, at least for some functions, possibly only for guests. The cup was similar to those they used on the Speroancora, tall green plastic. The beverage inside was garnished with a shoot of a leafy herb.

  Jaross broke the silence without preamble. “You have come from Sten. Do you have a contract with him?”

  Jane inhaled sharply. “A contract? I’m not sure what you mean.”

  “You are using Sten’s animals. You arrived in his carriage and bring his child with you. He did not give you these things freely. Gis’dux Sten is shamefully uncooperative.”

  Now Jane understood. “We traded for the use of them. This compound was our original destination, but things didn’t go according to plan. Our landing was rough.” Jaross’s blunt opinion of Pledor was somewhat refreshing, though Jane knew to be careful not to imply that she approved or disapproved of either Pledor or Jaross’s assessment of him.

  “You intended to come here? For what purpose?”

  Because I had to. Jane wasn’t sure what to say. She didn’t know how to express the urge she’d been feeling. For the part of her that had freshly received Rageth’s memories, it was almost a nostalgia, a longing for a homecoming. She assumed the sensation would fade with time, but for now, she couldn’t visit the Sectilius system without stopping at the Hator compound any more than she could have visited Florida without stopping in to see her grandparents.

  Jane wished Ei’Brai weren’t so disconnected. He could help her navigate awkward situations like this one. She glanced at Ryliuk while she thought a moment.

  He nodded. “She has known your ancestor through the kuboderan. Part of the process of accepting command is knowing the predecessor. It is a way to honor the depa
rted, whether dead or retiring. The Qua’dux was drawn here.”

  “Oh?” Jaross seemed to be intrigued by this. She leaned forward. “How extraordinary. Ship culture must be so very different.”

  Ryliuk suddenly looked a bit sad. “It is indeed, Gis’dux.”

  Jane said, “We didn’t know if the Speroancora was an isolated target or if other ships or even Sectilius were affected. I wanted to bring news to Quasador Dux Rageth Elia Hator’s family about her final days. I wanted to tell you that she was respected by her crew and that she was relentless in fighting to save them.”

  Jaross looked thoughtful.

  Ryliuk said softly, “You can do more than tell, if you wish.”

  “What do you mean?” Jane asked. She felt a little spurt of fear.

  “I can connect you.”

  Jaross stood slowly. “I have heard of such things. But we haven’t had a mind master here for generations. They—you—are so rare.”

  “I have reluctantly been a farmer for these many years, marooned here without my preferred…company. I want to return to my old life. I will happily grant you this small thing if you will consent to it.”

  Jane realized he must be much older than he looked if he had been alive before the plague. It struck her that she didn’t know for certain what the sectilian lifespan was.

  She felt very uncomfortable. This life had been chosen for her by circumstance. She’d become accustomed to having Ei’Brai inside her head, to sharing a limited mental space with her crew, but she didn’t know what to expect from Ryliuk and that alarmed her. Would it be the same intimate kind of relationship that she had with Ei’Brai? Or would it be more like what she shared with Ron, Ajaya, and Alan, through him?

  Ei’Brai? Where are you?

  Jaross lifted her drink to her lips, sipped, then said, “My aptitude scores showed I would have likely followed in my ancestor’s footsteps had that been possible. I admit I am curious.”

  Ryliuk looked from one to the other. “Do I have your consent?”