[scifan] plantation 06 - plantations origins

by Stella Samiotou Fitzsimons

His tone became harsh. “It’s not up for debate, Freya. I’m your superior.”

  “You’re pulling rank? Seriously?”

  “You were the reason I got elected to lead.” His voice softened again. “I don’t take that responsibility lightly. I’m duty bound to ensure our citizens are secure under my command. That includes you. Your safety is my sole priority.”

  “That’s bull,” she said. “A leader needs someone to watch their back. You are too valuable. That’s the most basic nation-building principle. I worry about the Merdigors, too, Eric. I don’t want them knocking on Earth’s door. But it would be reckless to use your energy reserves to enhance Zarok’s.”

  Eric sighed. “A little bit of trust would be nice right now.”

  “You might end up restoring their reserves at the expense of yours. There must be another way. These Lagerians, come on, man. If we have learned one thing, it’s you can’t trust them as far as you can throw them.”

  A mix of emotions twisted his face. “The Lagerians have no influence on me one way or the other, Freya. And, frankly, you being here is a distraction. I can’t focus when I’m worried about you.”

  “I don’t know what’s got into your head. Maybe it was that kiss, which went on too long by the way. I am not yours to worry about,” she said, getting tired of this one-way conversation.

  “Fine, but it’s not just your wellbeing that worries me. It’s your temper. One false move and an unholy scourge might grow teeth.”

  She placed her hands on his chest and resisted a violent impulse. “You know what? Forget it. Send me to Earth then. Problem solved.”

  He grabbed her hands. “Yes, problem solved. Thank you.” His eyes held no apology. She could see he was relieved to get rid of her.

  She fought the urge to slap him so hard it would hurt her hand.

  “Go to your chamber,” he urged her. “Stay put there. I’ll arrange for a shuttle to fly you to Spring Town.”

  “Are you daft?” she asked. “I was obviously not sincere. You were so quick to believe that. It’s like you’d push me out the window if you could and just jettison me into space. My god, Eric. I’m stunned.”

  “Yeah, I gave you the benefit of the doubt. I thought you had some sense in that head of yours. Think of Damian. What would he want you to do? I know what I’d want if I had a love like you.”

  “What is that?”

  He hesitated. “I’d want you in one piece. I’d want you in my arms.”

  Freya opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

  “Please, Freya, go to your room,” he repeated, suddenly spent. “Reserve your energy. It’s not bottomless. I’ll make sure you’re holding your son by nightfall.”

  He dissolved the shield, then touched her shoulder gently. She couldn’t help it. His affection touched a nerve. She was making things hard for him.

  She watched him walk away. All his power had returned, she knew it. He had reduced the Empress of shadows into a helpless harpy with barely any effort. He could handle the entire Aspis crew on his own, but he could also be distracted. She wanted to be there when that happened.

  But she missed Tobi. The thought of getting off this damned vessel and returning to her life was so inviting. She missed everything—Damian’s breath against her neck when she fell asleep, Tobi’s soft, fragrant skin after a bath, her daily banter with Finn, Pip’s boundless sense of wonder.

  She might have gone if Eric was being his usual self, but something was off. He seemed restless. He lacked focus, lingering too long in uncertainty. And most of all, he struggled to read Freya.

  She turned in a rush and walked right into Lada.

  “I’m so sorry,” Freya said. “Did I hurt you?”

  Lada shook her head. “I waited for the son of Nalok to take his leave.”

  If Freya never heard the phrase son of Nalok again, she’d be truly grateful.

  “Is everything, okay?” Freya said.

  “I know not of everything, but I wish to speak with you.” Lada’s eyes darted up and down the empty corridor. “That shield he made, can you make it, too?”

  Freya was intrigued. Lada wanted a private conversation.

  A thin, misty force shield rose from Freya’s palms. Once stabilized, it was almost invisible. “I can for a short time,” she told Lada.

  “You showed me kindness,” Lada said. “They have shown me cruelty.”

  “The Merdigors?”

  “The savage ones did not do this to me,” she said, touching her face. “My Grandfather joined the Lagerian fleet. Greed infected him. He brought shame to our name. The General Supreme made an example of my family. They punished us and broadcast that to all. My mother later took her life.”

  Freya cringed at the cruelty Lada had endured. “Why did you lie before?”

  Lada lowered her eyes. “Those were my instructions.”

  It all made sense now. Zarok had used Lada to extract sympathy for his war against the Merdigors.

  “I am sorry, friend,” Lada said.

  “You’ve done nothing wrong, Lada. You are innocent.” Freya wanted very much to hug Lada but feared it would cause embarrassment.

  Lada hesitated. “At the hall, after the ceremony, you tried to say that you have a child before the hybrid stopped you.”

  Freya felt a chill. If Lada had figured it out, so had Zarok.

  “I wanted a child of my own,” Lada said, as if talking to herself. “Three times I tried. Three good embryos. They died in the womb.” Lada’s voice broke. She mumbled something in her own language.

  Freya put her hand on Lada’s arm. “I have a little boy. His name is Tobi.”

  “It is not right,” Lada said. “They took you from your child. You miss him.”

  “Every second.”

  What she saw in Lada’s face was emotion. The tortured, disfigured Lagerian felt loss and sorrow. Her broken body had given her a whole heart.

  Lada plucked a black sensor out of her pocket. It was the size of a pearl with blue blinking lights circling it. She placed it in Freya’s hands. “It will guide you on Aspis,” she said. “Find your friend. He is in danger.”

  “Lada, what danger?”

  “Commander Supreme has many tricks. He has mastered nerve impulse fields. He can interfere with the mind of Nalok’s heir.”

  “I’m sure he can, but are you sure he is doing that now?”

  Lada grabbed Freya’s hand. “Yes, I am sure, because he has been injecting dark and sinister voices in his head for a long time. When your Eric finally claims the dark stone, the game will be over. The stone connects directly to the Commander Supreme’s mind. That connection is unbreakable.”

  “What stone?” Freya’s voice came out in strained fragments.

  “Find him,” Lada said, urgently. “The sensor will guide you.”

  Freya opened her hand to look at the sensor. Lada pressed the black pearl to activate a signal. “Follow the trail,” she said. “Trust the rest to fate.”

  CHAPTER 15

  ERIC

  The dark stone dazzled him, intense and awe-inspiring, like a tempest on the open sea. The electromagnetic beams cut across the glass pedestal, forming a colored spectrum of geometrical patterns that reflected off the crystal orb.

  The orange blaze glowing in his right hand leapt higher, growing unruly and potent, as it fizzled and spat. Eric shook his hand to shape the raging fireball, before letting it leap onto the force field protecting the stone.

  The blaze hit the electromagnetic field hard, blowing the magnifying projector behind it to smithereens. A warm glow filled the dark chamber. Eric regarded his hand where a weak flicker still smoldered on his skin.

  The voices in his head would not stop. The buzz in his ears intensified, a dissonant chorus of selfish cravings that pushed away any noble thoughts.

  If he took the stone, if he claimed it for himself as was his right, then no Lagerian lord could ever oppose him. He could free the galaxy from the menace of any imperialistic species,
restoring peace everywhere.

  Eric grinned at his own reflection in the crystal orb. He was no fool. He knew that something dark and sinister had stirred in him. The hunger for power tasted like blood and metal on his tongue. He knew it was wrong to draw darkness out to consume the light, but his cells yearned for it.

  Such a genetic compulsion once satisfied would allow no return. If he took the dark stone, he could not walk among the humans again. All his connections would be lost. All that he used to be, all those he cared for… gone.

  A new being would rise from the ashes. All death and devastation would be his to control and regulate. His power would be unrivaled; he would yield it with absolute precision. He would defend the weak, heal the wounded and vanquish all oppressors. The universe would unite under his rule.

  His throat tightened as he raised his hand. Inside the orb, he now saw the Armada village, those rocks behind his parents’ tent where he had many times sat to ponder the vast world. His father’s hand landed gently on his shoulder, he could feel it. And now his mother’s long hair tickled his nose as she bent to kiss him goodnight.

  Beyond the village, he saw a wild forest. Faith sat by the river, brushing her wet hair. She stopped to throw a pebble at him. “Why the long face?” she teased. “Help me get out of this dress.”

  He had never seen that pretty, lacy white dress before. She must have kept it stashed away in her trunk—maybe for her wedding day.

  Eric beamed at her, but as he reached out to unzip the dress, he saw red, a stain that grew rapidly until the whole dress was blood. Faith flashed her beautiful eyes at him. Hot tears ran down her face, leaving white streaks of salt on her cheeks. “Please, my love, don’t go,” she said. “I’m so cold here.”

  His mouth opened to scream but he had no voice. The dam that held back his repressed feelings cracked and broke loose. His desire to be free devoured him. He took a step, the last one that separated him from the stone.

  Whispers pierced Eric’s skull, vibrations of loss, echoes of pain.

  “Take it,” they chanted. “The stone is yours. You are the darkness. You are the light. You are to rule the day and the night.”

  Eric dropped to his knees, a sense of doom beating in his heart.

  “Embrace your destiny,” the voices demanded.

  He raised his gaze to the glass orb. His eyes narrowed. His temples pulsed as he stretched out his arm, reaching for the emblem of his eternal rule.

  Then he heard another voice. “Eric.” It was Freya’s voice.

  He froze. Could it be real? He turned slowly to face her, waiting for her to turn to blood or dissolve into vapor and ash.

  “Eric,” she said again in a whisper. “What’s happening to you?”

  An intense look of determination and greed burned in his eyes. “Leave me, Freya,” he growled. “This is mine alone. You are not safe.”

  “It’s not safe for you either,” she said. “Zarok wants your soul.”

  Eric sobered. Freya was real. His focus returned to the dark stone that had been promised him. “That such a small thing can hold the power of the universe,” he said as if to himself.

  “Don’t touch it,” Freya warned him. “It will erase you, Eric.”

  Eric had a small laugh, then guided his hand back to the stone.

  “Don’t do it,” Freya said. “He’s been lying to you. He’s in your head.”

  “I need to, Freya. I need to know what it can do.” He heard a sizzling sound behind him and spun around.

  Freya’s receptor shimmered in her right hand. “You can’t,” she said.

  “Put that down. Using your energy moves you a step closer to death.”

  Freya shrugged at him defiantly. “If I let you do this, we’ll both die. And the world we struggled to rebuild will die with us.”

  “This is my legacy,” Eric explained. “The stone feels me. I feel it.”

  “No, it’s not real.” The look on her face told him she was dead serious.

  “How did you find me?”

  “Come with me. We’ll talk.”

  Eric chuckled. She had this habit of treating him like a child. He knew that their friendship mattered to her, but not as much as her dogged sense of duty, the very thing he was now trying to embrace with the stone.

  She had made it her mission to convince him to fight for what was right, and now she was asking him to stop fighting.

  “Under my control the dark stone will help ensure peace among the highly intelligent species of the cosmos,” he explained.

  “Bullshit,” she said. “Is that what that mad alien asshole told you? He’s probably in your head now. C’mon, you’re making this too easy for him. You are his plan, Eric. Can’t you see that?”

  Eric’s hands glowed, an energy field forming on his fingertips. “Nalok wanted me to end all wars. That is why I was created.”

  Freya lowered her sensory receptor. “Nalok was no saint,” she said, circling around him to talk face to face. “He could be cruel and calculated, like all Lagerian rulers. His true motivations are unknown.”

  Eric kept his eyes on her sensory receptor.

  “I’m begging you, Eric. This is not you. You’re under his influence.”

  In her eyes, he saw fear. It was not fear of him. It was fear for him.

  “Freya,” he said. “I see your concern, but you have to trust me. I am beyond what you understand. I am beyond what they understand. Only I can fathom the possibilities. Mine is a lonely path, but it is still mine.”

  He snapped his fingers and the door swung open. He tossed a telekinetic force directly at her, and she was thrown right out the door.

  The receptor went flying as she caught the doorframe with both hands to hang on. She struggled against his force not to let go.

  Eric sighed as he turned off the field. She landed on her feet. He walked to her to usher her away in a more dignified manner. The receptor flew into Freya’s hand. She instantly created an enormous force to push him back.

  Eric raised his hand just in time to block it. “Freya,” he snapped. “Don’t mess with this. It’s a fight you can’t win.”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” she said, channeling her entire energy resources through the receptor. “Your delusions are clouding your head. You can’t stay in the moment. You’re living in a future that will never come.”

  Eric wanted to believe her, but the lure of the stone was too strong. His insides raced in a thousand directions. He had to finish this. Freya would forgive him once he proved he could control the power of the dark stone.

  He summoned his energy, letting all fields rise within him. His arms and hands vibrated wildly. It was as if the stone was somehow augmenting the ferocity of his potential.

  The energy flew from hand to hand creating a sizzling circuit. Freya gazed into his energy stream, transfixed. He started to smile, but then she unleashed a sudden pulsating green field that slipped past Eric and assaulted the orb directly.

  Eric conjured a huge electric wave to intercept. They fought like this, striking and shielding, both fighting to stand their ground.

  Through the mist of his own mind, Eric sensed she was losing too much energy too fast. She was dying a little with each blow.

  His energy vanished in a heartbeat. He stretched out his hand. “Freya, this is madness. You would not survive much longer.”

  She leapt to her feet to deliver a bolt of pure force to his chest. A hot bullet of pain ripped through Eric, wiping away the control he had over his own power. He fought to keep it from destroying everything. He managed to reduce it to a slim beam of white light as blood dripped out of his ears.

  Any other being would fall, but Eric climbed to his feet, adrenaline igniting his bloodstream like wildfire. His eyes flashed ire through welling blood. He shielded himself and stomped his right foot on the floor, sending a low-density force field across the room to knock Freya off her feet.

  “Stay down,” he said, clutching his chest where her force had hit him.r />
  She obliged, only to roll onto her stomach and send a sweeping force to grab him by the ankles and drop him onto his back.

  They were done, panting and gasping as they lay motionless.

  Freya put her hand on his shoulder. He felt the warmth of her touch travel down his arm and into his tender chest, assuaging the fear that their hearts might never recover from this clash of wills.

  He was the first to find words. “I can handle this, Freya.”

  She breathed hard, rolling onto her back. “No one can handle anything, not on their own. You should know that. It’s already messed up your head.”

  He made up his mind. “If you will not trust me, then I will trust you. Just, please, don’t blast me again.”

  Freya laughed. “You earned that blast.”

  “Okay,” he said, grinning. “But think of your health… and mine.”

  They both laughed, heartily.

  “Why are we laughing?” she said. “That was nuts.”

  “You’re nuts,” he said. “I could have killed you.”

  “You are literally the one who lost his mind.”

  “Agree to disagree,” he said.

  “What does that even mean?” Freya said, rising onto an elbow.

  “Not sure,” he said. “Biscuit says that a lot.”

  “He really does,” she confirmed. “I have to admit, I haven’t had this much fun since Kroll beat you to a pulp up in the mountains.”

  “Your beast is so tiresome,” he said. “Everything bad starts with him.”

  Freya said nothing. He sat up to glance at her. All mirth escaped her face.

  “We don’t know that Kroll betrayed you,” he said.

  Freya nodded. “Forget Kroll. Listen, Eric. Lada confided in me. Zarok uses the stone to control you. If you take it, it will consume your mind.”

  Eric kissed the sweaty hair above her ear. “I’m so sorry,” he said. “I should have listened. I’ve always trusted your instincts before.”

  She smiled, accepting his apology.

  Guilt replaced the pain in Eric’s chest. His apology was not for things already done. It was for the thing he was about to do.

  CHAPTER 16