Using my staining, Vairocina located where I was in the building and directed me to the far side of the complex. I figured a good conversation with Queykay might reveal a few of his suspects, or at least get him thinking in another direction.
“I believe these are his quarters,” Vairocina stated, and I stopped in front of a set of double brass doors stamped with the Orbis emblem.
I knocked. No one answered.
“Is he here?” I asked.
“It is impossible for me to know,” she replied.
Looking for an access point into the central computer, I spotted the entry pad to the left of the doors. When I pushed inside, I found Vairocina waiting for me.
“He is a Trading Council member,” she reminded me. “I don’t want to see you get in any trouble.”
“Something’s not right about this guy. If I’m going to go away, I need to be certain he won’t hurt my friends. I just want to talk to him.”
“What if this is not his room? What if he is not even here?”
“Then it won’t hurt to look around a little.”
Vairocina paused before she stepped aside. “Thanks,” I whispered, and then I unlocked the door and slipped out of the central computer and into Queykay’s room.
I was glad that he was gone. It would be easier to snoop around to find some answers than actually trying to get it out of him myself. I crept down the entry to his quarters, staying close to the cold walls. The only light seemed to emanate from plants spilling out of tall vases that were set back in the walls. It reminded me of an underwater cave.
At the end of the main hall, I spotted an open door. Warm light spilled into the hallway and mixed with the cool green light from the hall plants. I stopped just outside the door and peeked around the corner.
What I saw caught my breath. Queykay was naked, lying on a stone slab, his robe on the floor beside him. His porcelain skin was covered with hundreds of little wriggling wormlike creatures that seemed to swell in unison as they nurtured themselves off Queykay’s body. I stared in horror when one of the parasites, no more than six centimeters long, pulled away from Queykay. The moist sucking sound made me choke as the creature turned in my direction. Its beady red eyes lit on fire when they caught mine. Then it opened its bloody mouth and screamed.
I ran.
I did not leave my room the next cycle. I had no intention of bumping into Queykay and his brood. I had wanted to see Max, but everything I needed to say was now bottlenecked by the enormous amount of information that had been dumped on me. The missing files I had read before falling asleep only thickened the logjam with more of Quirin’s reports.
The history of our parents, whom we thought had died on the Renaissance, had been manufactured and placed within Mother purely for Ketheria’s and my benefit. The depth of their elaborate ruse was actually inspiring, as Quirin and the Trust had created backup contingencies for every possible scenario. What they never anticipated, however, was two hundred of us arriving on the Rings of Orbis. Their intentions had been to destroy all the embryos and blame it, along with the death of the adults, on the failed cryogenics. Madame Lee’s attack now looked like a convenient coincidence, but her actions must have been the catalyst for Quirin to abort his mission.
Coming to grips with the fact that there never were any human adults aboard the Renaissance was like cutting the tether that secured me to the ship. I grew up thinking my parents had chosen to come to the Rings of Orbis to begin a new life. I had openly adopted that dream for Ketheria and myself, but now . . . all of that was a mirage. The dreams, the hopes, and even the girl I loved weren’t ever meant to be. She wasn’t meant to exist, according to the plan set forth by the DOL and the Trust. But why? So they could rig the outcome of their fate with the Knull? That’s what it seemed like to me. And what was the Knull, anyway?
The craziest part of all was that I was going to accept this new reality and become a Space Jumper, the Tonat, or whatever they wanted me to be, so I could protect my sister. I was also forcing them to release my lifelong enemy — who apparently was my half brother. Argh! How in the universe could I explain any of this to Max? It didn’t even make sense to me.
I let another cycle slip past. I stopped in on Ketheria while they were changing the sensor bandages. Whoever had attacked her had done a nasty job on her shoulder. The medical AI was attempting to fabricate new bone tissue before tackling her muscles. I couldn’t stomach anymore. I left Nugget with Ketheria and returned to my room to find Theodore waiting.
“You’re coming next cycle, right?” he asked.
“Sure,” I told him. “When?”
“Third spoke. I don’t know the location yet. It’s kept secret until the very last moment.”
“Are you sure this is safe, Theodore?”
He looked at me and chuckled. “Since when did you get concerned about safe?”
“How does this group feel about Ketheria? You know, about OIO and all of the stuff that’s going on.”
“There are a lot of believers. Most agree that Ketheria’s awakening is a sign — a sign that it’s time to act. I think most of them would follow Ketheria to the corners of the universe.”
“And you?”
“What do you mean? I know Ketheria’s your sister, but she’s every bit a sister to me as well. We are a family.”
“In more ways than one,” I muttered.
“What?”
“Nothing,” I said. “Do you ever wonder why Ketheria and I are the only siblings from the Renaissance?
“What are you getting at, JT?”
“Think about it — all those kids and only one pair of siblings. Seems odd to me, don’t you think?”
“More odd than you being a softwire and Ketheria being the Scion?”
“Good point.”
“What’s wrong, JT?”
I wanted to tell Theodore everything I had found out. I wanted to share it with someone. I needed to. I couldn’t keep all of this inside me. But how could I tell Theodore he was a mistake? Just one of a thousand embryos brought along for the ride — just in case?”
“My dad is alive,” I told him.
“What?” Theodore jumped off my sleeper.
“I met him after Ketheria was attacked. He’s the reason why Ketheria and I are the way we are. He’s not human. Well, not completely. He was a Space Jumper, just like they said. He messed around with our genetics. The Keepers wanted us this way.”
“That explains a lot.”
“Does it?” I asked him.
“Well, first off, it explains your softwire abilities and Ketheria’s awakening. No one else on the ship has the powers you guys have. That I always found strange. It was only natural you were siblings. If your evolution had been affected somehow by space travel, why wouldn’t it have happened to some others?”
“You sound envious.”
“Why wouldn’t I be? I would kill to have some of what you have. Why was it that only you two got to race down the evolutionary highway at the speed of light?”
“We aren’t the only ones.”
“What do you mean? Who else? There’s another softwire?”
“Switzer.”
“No!”
“And we share the same genetic code from Quirin, my father.”
“You and Switzer are brothers?”
“Kind of, but not really. We both received genetic anomalies from Quirin, so in some sense we are connected genetically. Ketheria and I are actually from the same human female egg.”
“So you and Ketheria are twins?” Theodore slumped onto my sleeper, the weight of the information visible in his posture.
“Just imagine how I feel,” I said. Theodore’s blank stare told me he was trying to digest everything.
“And now Switzer is locked up.”
“Because of this, the way I see it.”
“Doesn’t seem fair, does it?” he remarked.
“I feel the same way,” I whispered.
“What are you going to do?”
“I’ve already done it. I’ve agreed to become a Space Jumper if they let me take Switzer. He doesn’t deserve to be where he is. It’s not his fault.”
“JT!”
“I know.”
“Max is not going to like this.”
“You can’t tell her. I want to tell her.”
“When? You’ve been avoiding her like a case of space scratch. Everyone sees it. She’s crazy about you, you know.”
“Does she say that?”
“Everyone knows.”
“I’ll tell her at your meeting tomorrow. It’s right before I leave. I think it will be easier that way.”
“For who?”
I glared at Theodore, but he was right. It wouldn’t be easier for Max. I’d been sitting with it for cycles, and now I was just going to dump it on her at the last minute. Now I felt twice as bad.
“You’re not helping any,” I said.
“She deserves to know,” he said as he headed for the door.
“I can’t.”
“But you should.”
When Theodore opened the door, a messenger-bot entered with a screen scroll.
“I didn’t think knudniks could get those,” Theodore said.
“I think my cycles as a knudnik are numbered,” I mumbled.
“Fortunately, mine are, too,” he said, and left me alone.
I pushed into the screen scroll thinking it was from Theylor. The scroll read:
Human: Turnbull, J.
An escort will arrive on the next cycle during the third spoke to retrieve you. Your training will begin the moment your escort arrives. You are prohibited from bringing any possessions.
THE TRUST
The third spoke! It figured. Well, they would have to find me, because I was going to that meeting with Theodore.
At the start of the next spoke, I went to say good-bye to Ketheria. I didn’t know how long I would be gone, but I assumed it would be a short trip. How else was I supposed to protect her? I figured the Trust would make me uplink a few codecs, give me a belt, and then ship me back here before anyone knew I was gone.
The two Space Jumpers standing outside Ketheria’s room only glanced at me as I slipped past them. I found my sister sitting up. She was alone and sipping from a small ceramic bowl.
“You look better,” I told her.
“I don’t feel it yet,” she groaned. “Who would want to do this to me?”
“I’m afraid more people than you realize.”
Ketheria gestured for me to sit on her sleeper, and I did.
“We need to talk before you go,” she said.
“About?”
“The Nagools have a ritual they call awakening a self. It is a fourteen-step spiritual journey that allows the individual to discover some part of him or herself, usually an important part on their path to enlightenment. Even I’m experiencing these steps on my path to truly becoming the Scion.”
“Theylor told me about that, but why fourteen?”
“Fourteen nodes in and around your body . . . fourteen levels to the labyrinth . . . fourteen keys to enlightenment. Fourteen is an important number. But that’s not why I bring it up. Sometimes it can take an entire lifetime to awaken a single self. Sometimes it never happens. Space Jumpers use the same technique to awaken the selves that exist within them. Above all else, they believe in courage, self-discipline, and integrity.”
“So? Those are good traits, aren’t they?”
“Yes, but they don’t let you wait a lifetime to awaken that self. This is one aspect of their training I do not agree with. They use force to awaken those parts within you whether you’re ready or not.”
“How do they do that?”
“I don’t know exactly. I can’t get anyone to tell me, but I wanted to warn you. I know you can be a little . . . stubborn sometimes, but that won’t work with the Trust. You need to open your mind and allow them to do their work. Otherwise, I’m worried that the training will be a horrible experience for you.”
My sister’s eyes ballooned with tears ready to pop. I loved her for that. “I can take care of myself,” I whispered. “They’re just going to zap me with a couple of codecs and then I’ll be back. Don’t worry. Everything will be all right.”
“I know,” she said, and tried to smile, “but this is different. Please listen to me and try to understand. Don’t fight them. Let it happen. It will be good for you, for me, for us.”
I held Ketheria’s hand in mine. “I promise,” I told her. “I know it seemed I was resisting before, but I will make this work. Besides, the training will help me to protect you so that nothing like this will ever happen to you again.”
“Good. Now, I also want you to think of something else to say to Max. What you’re going to say won’t work with her. In fact, it will probably make matters worse. Try something different. Tell her how much you feel for her, and blame this on me. She can’t stay mad at me.”
“Out of my head, little sister!”
Ketheria laughed and swiped at a wayward tear that trickled onto her cheek. “All right. But really, think of something else to say to Max. I’ll be fine. They’ll let you come back and see me, I’m sure. You’re not in prison.”
I got up and walked to the door. Before I left, I turned to Ketheria and asked, “Hey, with all your power to read minds and whatever other miraculous things you can do now, did you see who tried to kill you?”
Ketheria shook her head. “I was too busy soaking up all the love coming toward me. That’s why I need a Space Jumper, big brother. Finding the bad guys is your job.”
Ketheria’s eyes were welling up again. She looked past me, as if trying to fight back the tears. She stood up, and I moved toward her. “Ketheria . . .”
She shook her head and pointed toward the door. I turned to find Nugget standing there.
“You’re so handsome!” Ketheria gushed.
Nugget stood at attention while holding his chin up like some dignitary. His big clumsy feet poked out from an absurd-looking military uniform with mismatched epaulettes and a crude set of medals pinned to his chest. I leaned in and noticed that the medals were made from pieces of plastic and crystal rocks stitched or pinned to his jacket.
I tried not to laugh. “What’s going on?”
“Nugget is on a mission,” Ketheria said, and moved next to him. Nugget stood a little taller. “I have made him a mediator on his home planet. It’s one of his fourteen keys.” Ketheria rubbed his chin, and I remembered the first time she did that back on Orbis 1, when she was the only one who could control him. “Nugget is going to return to Krig and help reunite the Choi and the Choival. Nugget will do so with the blessing of the Scion. He will be an extremely important person on his planet. They will write songs about Nugget some cycle.”
Ketheria couldn’t stop the tears now. Nugget practically fell on her and threw his arms around her waist.
“It’s all right,” she cooed. “I will miss you so much, you can’t even imagine.”
What was she doing? I wanted to step in. I wanted to say something. The race wars on Krig were legendary. Nugget didn’t stand a chance. This was a death sentence for him.
“No, it’s not,” Ketheria said, reading my mind. “Nugget is going to do great things. If he has any trouble, he knows that I will be in his heart. All he has to do is reach out to the Source, and I will be there for him.”
“I don’t know about this, Ketheria,” I said.
“Of course, it will be difficult, but I know Nugget can do it.”
“I am not afraid,” he declared.
“But —”
“Walk us out, will you, JT?”
Nugget spun on his heels and marched through the door.
“Why him, Ketheria?”
“Why not him? You’re judging him on his size.”
“I’m judging him on more than that. You’ve seen what the Choival did to the Choi. Look at Weegin’s wings.”
“Trust me, JT. I have a knack for these thing
s now. Nugget will perform magnificently in his new role, and he will bring peace to his planet like they have never experienced.”
“You can see the future now?” I asked, almost mocking her.
“No, but I can see into Nugget’s Source, and he is the only one capable of performing this task, just as you are the only one capable of being the Tonat. It’s your judgment of his ability that clogs his nodes and weakens him. So many creatures in this universe are repressed by the thoughts and discriminations of others. You need to stop that, JT. You must stop that now.”
Ketheria reached for my hand and then smiled, taking the edge off her demand. I obliged, and we followed Nugget past the Space Jumpers and out into the open hall. Ketheria stopped short and glanced down the hall to her right. I could hear some sort of commotion coming toward us, as if someone was being dragged down the corridor. The sound was quickly succeeded by the spectacle of four faceless guards dragging the kid whose name I could never remember over the stone floor. Queykay marched behind them as Max and Grace hurried to keep next to him.
“Max!” I cried, and rushed toward her.
The four guards stepped between us and took an aggressive position between me and the kid. Their long chrome chest plates extended and then locked together to form a barrier.
“What are you doing?” I yelled.
“Leave it alone, JT,” Max called out.
“He is my prisoner,” Queykay responded as he stopped in front of the wall of guards.
“What did he do?” I asked
“Darja didn’t do anything!” Grace said, and kicked one of the guards with her boot. The guard only glanced over his shoulder at her.
Queykay threw back his crimson robe and reached behind the guards as if digging into a shipping crate. He surfaced with his rigid white fingers ensnared in Max’s hair and dragged her to the front.
“Maybe I should arrest everyone to prove my point,” he said with a snarl.
“Don’t you touch her!” I yelled.
“I can do whatever I want. I am a Trading Council member. You are nothing.”
Queykay’s brood scrambled down his arm and reached for Max’s hair as well. They were getting bigger now, more than ten centimeters long. Queykay barked something at them, and they scurried back into his robe. Max’s toes clicked on the floor as he lifted her higher off the ground.
The Softwire: Awakening on Orbis 4 Page 12
