Slow Burn Dark

by A. B. Keuser

He stepped in front of Putty, blocking his way down the street, and pulled the pad from Putty’s hands.

  His brow creased and he watched Putty like he was a child who’d just shattered something precious on the sidewalk.

  “Or are you in a mood because Flynn finally beat your high score on Mega Mash 42?” Chad managed to herd Putty into Susans with a simple shoulder gesture.

  “Refuti’s looking into me and I want to know why.”

  “Well, your brother did kill one of their workers…” Chad scowled at Flynn and jerked his head toward the bar. “And it’s not like looking up Flynn is safe. Or easy.”

  “Tell me something I don’t know.” Putty rolled his eyes.

  “It sounds like it’s a week for difficult tech hacks.”

  Chadrick froze, and looked up. “What does that mean?”

  “Someone hacked one of Nika’s slags.”

  All discussion stopped and they looked at him like he’d just told them he wanted to drink sand.

  “What do you mean… hacked?” Susan’s hand hovered over the stacked glasses in the sanitizer.

  “Somebody took control of it, walked it around a bit. Then the server protocols rebooted and they were kicked out.”

  “That bastard.” She slammed the glass in her hand down, ignoring it when it shattered, and left.

  Unlike with Putty, Flynn had to run after her.

  He lost sight of her when she kicked in the side door of Nika’s building.

  By the time he reached the doorway, dirty, ornate metal disks that had clattered to the floor, rolled away in lopsided circles.

  Hurrying through the first floor of the cluttered building, dodging the upended trash, he ran up the rickety steps at the back.

  Flynn broke into the cluttered office as Susan grabbed the scrapper by the lapels of his work shirt and dragged him from his seat.

  “You told us they were completely offline, you bastard.”

  Nika didn’t pretend to misunderstand. “They are. There’s no connection to the Colarium. They don’t transmit!”

  “Then how did someone hack one.”

  “They didn’t!”

  “Are you calling Monroe a liar?”

  “No!”

  “Why don’t you put him down? It'll be easier for him to talk when you aren’t compressing his windpipe.”

  Twenty-Eight - Kathrynn

  The folder on Creighton had been startled to see her, but she’d accepted the request for the ride without a blink. Kathrynn had a feeling that was yet another thing for which she owed thanks to Mother Mihm.

  The tithe collection was easy enough to reroute, and when they arrived, no one batted an eye. No one seemed to even notice that she wasn’t wearing the robes.

  She went first to the temple.

  Folding, for all that it was the greatest method of travel known to humanity, always left her skin with that feel of slime and slither.

  Another time—it felt like ages ago—she would have had Pasmin to look forward to. The idea that the next fold could bring the refuge with the woman who never flinched away from her pushed her through that sickly feeling..

  Her heart ached at the memory of those who had reacted poorly to the truth of what she was.

  But myth had its purpose.

  Legend its necessities. And her plan required sacrifices were made.

  And she would make them where she was able.

  Where she was not….

  Watching her brother sit in the quiet of the temple—knowing he hadn’t come to pray—Kathrynn slipped from the shadows and moved to join him.

  The seat was cushioned, the colors Serbal had divided her five disciplines into were side by side, three groupings of threads that then braided into each other. The symbolism was common enough.

  Her brother didn’t acknowledge her.

  He probably thought she was some well-meaning sister looking to counsel him and planned to ignore her until she went away.

  If he’d looked at her, he’d have known better. Disregard had never been an effective tactic with her.

  She leaned against him, smiling a little too widely when he flinched away. “Blessings of the Mother.”

  Finally looking at her, Flynn matched that smile and she forced herself to not look at his neck.

  “The Great Mother hasn’t blessed me lately. I’m starting to wonder if she even exists.”

  Rolling her eyes, Kathrynn sat back in the pew.

  “The Great Mother is many things to many people. None of them are wrong.” She smiled, looking up at the three star depiction of the mother, sister and daughter hanging from the high vault of the ceiling. “The Great Mother is everything. The Great Mother is the universe itself.

  “And if that is a goddess to you, then the Great Mother is a goddess. If that is a figment of others’ imaginations…. The Great Mother is this also.” She shrugged and took a deep, clean breath. “The Great Mother lives in all of us. She’s what some call a conscience. She is what others call poor impulse control. The Great Mother is all and will be all. For better, or for worse.”

  “And in the Great mother, we are all one.” Flynn said.

  Of course he remembered the rest of the litany.

  “Through her we are brothers and sisters in a universal communion that surpasses all mortal bonds.”

  He smiled, as if it was a joke. “And your sisters? What do they think the great mother has planned for us all?”

  “I haven’t asked. That’s the trick you know. Don’t ask any questions and you won’t be forced to answer any either. They don’t know who I am—not really—or why I’m here.” Kathrynn matched his smile as she settled in next to him, kicking an ankle over her knee. “My name tends to scare them.”

  “Serbal’s right hand and Archimedes closest friend are both intimidating positions.”

  Letting her smile turn rueful, she nodded in agreement.

  Someday she’d let him in on the secret of what she really was. Someday, when she was certain he wouldn’t tell Putty. When she was certain he could forgive her for the fact Archie knew and he didn’t.

  They’d been best friends as children, but even twins grew apart eventually. And Archie had filled a gap that was left behind as that happened. She thought that friendship would stand the test of time.

  She’d been wrong.

  “Did you come to hunt me down, or is there another reason you’re here?”

  “Oh, you know, taking a grand tour of the galaxy.”

  “A grand tour that happened to include this backwater?”

  “The sisters take their tithe in UPD-5 and someone has to collect it.” She smiled and knocked his shoulder. “I heard rumors you were here… thought I’d stop by and see if they were true.”

  “What kind of rumors?”

  “Not the kind spread between people.”

  That was the closest she’d come to telling him what she’d become. He didn’t want details about the sisterhood. And she didn’t blame him for thinking it was a load of bullshit.

  “It wouldn’t have anything to do with Archie’s interest in the planet, would it?”

  “I think we both know that his interests and mine are no longer aligned.”

  He deflated a little, mouth twisting, brows pinched. “What went wrong, Kat?”

  “Only the Great Mother knows for certain.”

  An alarm went off on his wrist and he silenced it. “I have to go. Will I see you again before your ship departs?”

  “Maybe. We’ll see what the Great Mother has in store.”

  She watched him leave, half wishing she could follow—could work beside him to solve this problem like they had for years. But their paths had diverged, and with only a few of these crosses in their immediate future, the temptation to forsake the Great Mother’s call was strong, but life was about sacrifice in the service of others.

  As soon as the door had shut behind him, Kathrynn turned to where the temple mother prayed at the head of the sanctuary.

  The
steps of the altar—one of the more ostentatious variations she’d seen in her tenure despite the otherwise austere surrounds—were wide and shallow.

  She knelt beside the woman there. Robes fading down to purple, the woman’s shoulders were bowed, her words a whispered hush.

  “Great Mother guide us,” Kathrynn said, her words quiet, but loud enough she knew the other woman’s prayers would be interrupted. “In this world of the misguided and misjudged. Let us be a beacon of understanding. Let us be scions of hope.”

  “Let us be examples of love… and justice.” Mother Lizell swallowed, eyes narrowing as she searched Kathrynn’s face. “We weren’t informed of your arrival. Is this an… inspection?”

  “Nothing of the sort. I was in the neighborhood and saw myself here.”

  Unlike Flynn the woman to her left knew exactly what she meant by that

  “There’s nothing amiss, I take it.”

  “Not within the temple. But the Great Mother has compelled me to visit, and so, here I am.”

  “As always, we and whatever we have are at your disposal.”

  Now that the woman knew she was here, Kathrynn could move about the planet with almost total impunity.

  They gave her a room, though she doubted she’d use it for more than showers.

  She changed. Plain clothes and refreshed contacts were all she needed for her evening’s exploration.

  Kathrynn didn’t dislike temples on worlds like this one. They were necessary. And that necessity was great enough, it erased all of the other negatives.

  What she didn’t enjoy, was the general lack of understanding that came from the followers in places like this.

  There were those in every part of the galaxy who leaned a little more toward the mysticism than others. The percentages simply skewed stronger on worlds like this. Worlds where the roughness of living made the Great Mother’s potential for instant reward appealing.

  Those were the sort of people who—if they found out what she was—would react in extremes.

  She’d met a man who believed she could see any future she wanted and the steps to make it so.

  She’d met a woman who believed sleeping with her would transfer her “powers”—a theory she’d only learned when said woman stormed out her… not even bothering to fully clothe herself again.

  But worst, she’d met too many who’d taken her position as that of a physical manifestation of the Great Mother. They saw her… gifts, not as a sign that the Great Mother had bigger plans for her, but as one that demanded she be worshiped.

  And she had no desire—or ability, for that matter—to be a messiah.

  On Ludo, those impulses were tempered by Serbal’s presence. The woman held far more mysticism simply by dint of her species. And Kathrynn was ashamed to say that she was glad of Serbal’s presence for the distractions it provided.

  Sukiaki was a different planet. Steeped in a strange mixture of science and superstition, the following was near fifty percent of the population, but with only a single temple, that percentage seemed much larger.

  Even the temple felt…off. She left as soon as she’d stowed her bag.

  Heading directly north. She wanted to walk until she’d left the city and see what the spires looked like without the interference of man.

  “Sister!” From her left, a child called out, their boots scuffing up dirt as they ran.

  They skidded to halt, staring at her with wide eyes. “You’re a Monroe, aren’t you?”

  She didn’t know how the kid had guessed she was a sister. That sort of observational skill was equal parts impressive and dangerous. “Can you keep that a secret?”

  They nodded, a bit too vigorously. “I can. Unless one of them decides to torture it out of me, I won’t say a word. I’m Seamus, Seamus Saugas.”

  “Good to meet you. Now, what can I and the Great Mother do for you, Seamus?”

  “Um… I was hoping you might have seen my dog, Missy?” He squinted toward the horizon.

  She could have told them where to look and move on, but the set of their mouth made her smile.

  The clouds were fast moving over head, a bilious green passing in front of the slowly appearing moons, but she saw Mischief clearly. “I think I know where to look.”

  The dog had gotten himself trapped in a mine lift that was no longer being used for the day. How he’d managed it, she couldn’t guess, but he was where the Great Mother had shown him to be.

  Seamus was delighted, and when they prompted the dog to head home, they grabbed her hand and dragged her right after the racing collie.

  The kid’s house was on one of the outer edges of the town. Large enough to be comfortable, it wasn’t ostentatious. Seamus bowled through the door, shouting for their mother.

  A mother who was not what Kathrynn expected.

  “Hello,” she said, taking the woman in.

  Dirt made faint lines on her face, and her fingertips were stained red from working in the rocky soil.

  “Mom, this is…” Seamus looked up, startled, as though they’d only just realized they hadn’t gotten her name.

  “Kathrynn,” she said as Seamus let go of her hand.

  “She helped me find Missy.”

  “How very nice of her. Now you’re late for dinner.” She turned them toward the door and feigned swatting them on the behind. “Go wash up.”

  “I’m Drea.” She started to hold out her dirt creased hand, and then looked at it, almost confused before shaking her head with a gentle laugh.

  “You might want to take your own advanced,” Kathrynn said, still studying her face. “Though there is something beautiful in the way your work has painted you.”

  She couldn’t see if the woman blushed in the dim light, but eyes averted and chin dipped.

  Looking at her hands, Drea nodded, “Perhaps you’re right.”

  Kathrynn followed her into her kitchen Not because she’d been invited, but because the impulse—the one she’d come to realize was the Great Mother guiding her directly—pushed her to do so.

  Drea didn’t object.

  She stopped at the kitchen sink and scrubbed at her fingers.

  It was a task Kathrynn had enacted many times before, herself.

  Drea’s hands would never be normal again either. She’d spent too much time around UPD-5.

  “What brings you to Sukiyaki? I don’t think you’re our newest sister.”

  “No, I’ve never been good at leading a congregation.”

  Drea looked her over too, wiping off her hands. “Do your brothers know you’re here?”

  “The one that needs to does.”

  “So why aren’t you with him? Why let my kid bring you home to me?”

  “The Great Mother works in mysterious ways.” Kathrynn took the cloth from her hands, wetting it. She pressed it against Drea’s cheek and began to wash away the dirt.

  “She does tend to deliver us exactly what we’ve been hoping for, doesn't she?”

  Kathrynn smiled, “I like to think she rewards the patient.”

  Drea was beautiful. Clear eyes and full lips.

  The tiny part of her that had always been exactly like Putty pushed her to do whatever she needed to convince Drea to slip away with her. But leaving the house was not what the Great Mother wanted.

  And Kathrynn would never place her own wants over those needs. But still…. “Have you ever been replenished?”

  Drea shook her head, the wisps of hair that had fallen from the long tail she’d pulled it up into brushed against her face.

  Seamus yelled from the other room, but Kathrynn didn’t hear their words. She was too busy, studying Drea’s eyes, the curve of her lips.

  “If you wish, I can come back… another time.”

  Drea shook her head, and Kathrynn dropped hers in acquiescence as she stepped back. “I understand.”

  “No.” Drea caught her hand. “Stay.”

  Meeting her eyes, Kathrynn watched for any sign she felt coerced—too many had been
influenced by simple fear of her.

  “What I mean is, would you join us?” Drea dropped her hand. “There’d be no need to return later.”

  “I would love to. Thank you.”

  *

  Kathrynn sat in the mezzanine the next morning, relishing the blessed silence after morning worship. Her body still vibrated from the activities of the evening, and questions from the resident sisters would diminish that remaining euphoria.

  It had been years since she’d performed a replenishment and she didn’t question why the Great Mother had compelled her to do so now.

  Everything had its purpose.

  A scuffle below forced her to sit forward, to turn terse sounds into harsh words.

  “If you don’t stop, they will find you out.”

  “Not me,” a man said. “And certainly not you.”

  Kathrynn leaned forward. The upper lights had been switched off after the service and in the shadows, they couldn’t see her. But the open door cast the day’s light over them.

  Mother Lizell and Giuseppe Refuti glared at each other in the aisle.

  “The Great Mother wants to save this planet.” Giuseppe raised his hand, as though to brush her hair from her face.

  But she pulled away.

  “Why can’t you see that?”

  “She may want to do a great many things, but she has not guided me to do anything more than I already have.”

  Kathrynn watched them walk the rest of the way up the room. Watched in irritation as Giusepe disrespected the Great Mother’s altar.

  Whatever he was up to… it was not going to end well. And if it was related to Archie’s plan…. Slipping down the stairs and out a side door, she pulled handfuls of dust and ground it into her pants, the sleeve of her shirt. Brushed the soft substance over a cheek.

  She didn’t need to look any more out of place than she already would.

  It took twenty minutes to get to the mine and locate Drea. But once she was there, she breathed a little easier.

  She waited in a patch of shadow, close enough Drea would notice her, far enough away she wouldn’t be able to hear if Drea’s employee lied to her.

  When the man walked away, scowling, Drea saw her and glanced at the empty space around her before motioning her toward the office.

  Slipping through the door, Drea quickly closed behind them, Kathrynn said, “I need your help.”