Glory Point (Gigaparsec Book 4)
Page 22
“Eventually,” Kesh allowed.
“Nothing but shame and more prison await us there.”
“Maybe not.” Kesh nodded toward the Bat. “That determined gentle-being happens to be the head of security for a preserve outside Union jurisdiction. How would you fellows feel about becoming elite park rangers?”
“What would our responsibilities be?”
“Protecting a newly discovered intelligent race from your fellows until they can stand on their own.” Kesh explained the Catholic idea of penance that he’d learned from Roz.
“This is more than we could possibly hope for. We serve at your behest, o Kesh.”
Instead of rendezvousing directly with the automated rescue fleet, the extended team broke into a certain southern museum. They had a chat with Honey’s father and pocketed four Forerunner puzzles, one for each surviving team member.
Liberty met them on the roof of the museum.
A blink later, Kesh woke in the Adamantine nursery.
Max stood over his suspended animation cradle. “You made it.”
His scales were in dire need of polishing, and his mouth tasted like ash. “How long have I been in this thing?” His voice came out as a croak.
“Almost a year. We saved you for last because you don’t have that many years left, and we wanted you to be able to see your medals.”
“Bite me.”
“Seriously, we had a lot of funerals you couldn’t attend—all the Magi who had perished in the effort to save the Banker homeworld. Reuben appears on the stone marker as the final casualty, a friend of the Magi.”
“Explains why you’re all dressed up.” Kesh smiled, showing a few teeth had fallen out.
His friend didn’t smile back. “They’re letting us say good-bye, and we wanted to delay it as long as possible.”
He felt like the Human had hit him under the lung sac with a shock staff. “It wasn’t supposed to end like this. We’re adventurers.”
Max shrugged. “I’m a dad again. That’s enough adventure for me.”
“What’s her name?”
“I’m not allowed to give you details.”
“That hand of the uplifter can’t be seen. Are they going to change the calendar for her?”
“We’re beyond that. Roz can tell you more. She’s waiting in your old room.”
Weak and bleary-eyed, Kesh shuffled down the empty halls. All trace of their stay in the nursery had been wiped clean. When he opened the door, her beauty took him by surprise.
She looked paler and thinner as well. The green gem stolen by their captors had been replaced by a white one that glowed in the dark. Joy radiated from her brighter than the stone’s.
“Did you get a promotion?” asked Kesh.
“I’m sort of head of the Academy of Sages now.”
“Sounds like an opportunity for change.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” she said, distracted.
“What were the Enigmas we liberated?”
“Teaching aids for slow children.”
“Learn anything?”
“The universe is a cruel and wondrous place.”
Kesh snorted. “Amen. Tell me the wondrous parts.”
“The Bankers have agreed to free the Tellers with conditions.”
“You can never travel outside Magi space again?”
“Never travel period. Evidently, I’m dangerous.”
“Of course, you can’t reveal the secrets of the Enigma to the lesser races.”
“We’re allowed to leave a clue for the Turtles in case they need to get to Andromeda some day.”
“Another galaxy? You can jump that far in a starship?”
“No. The latest equations allow them to travel through resonance rings on a planet’s surface.”
“Them?”
“As you implied, the transport device was designed for those with a connection to the Collective. Nulls like me can’t reach the other side.”
“Other side?” He sounded like a tired echo.
“The Magi have found a way to cross over to the place where the Founders are waiting. More gates are built every day.”
“No scat?” he asked in English. “All of them?”
“It’s time to grow up. They call it ascending. A bit pompous if you ask me, but I’m probably bitter.”
“The entire academy is leaving?”
She gestured upward.
“The entire planet?” he guessed.
Roz pointed higher.
“The entire race?”
She smiled. “They’re leaving Max and me in charge of the infirm and Unfortunates who can’t follow. The exodus has been delayed while they transport the remnants to this planet.”
“If you can’t travel, how can you be a delegate to the Convocation.”
“They’ll have to come here if they want to meet with the caretakers.”
“Why would they do that?”
“I technically own all the Magi worlds, as soon as they’re empty. Queen of Nothing.”
This raised his frills, which were now tattered from malnutrition. “Own them all?”
She gave a Mona Lisa smile. “But I can never visit them again.”
“Again?”
She leaned against his ear hole and whispered. “They let me hide the extra Enigmas on our worlds on the way back.”
“That’s quite a scavenger hunt.”
“It can be more than that if you decide to stay.”
“What are you offering?”
“You can become a liaison between the Magi and the Saurians. Max will interface with the Turtles until they choose a permanent ambassador. I think we can persuade his friend Beloved Sanderjee.”
Commander Krannek and my young could travel with her. He shrugged, feigning disinterest. “A world with no meat? No offense, but why would I even consider that?”
“I have five hundred eleven more worlds than I need. You’re the one I trust most to sell or barter them for things we need.”
He laughed. “Need? What could you possibly need?”
“A way to guide our respective races to the next rung of the ladder, a truly enlightened civilization.”
Kesh placed his hands together in the shape of an egg. “The clutch is one, Enlightened. I’ll serve as long as this old body holds out.”
“I shall need you to be quite devious, old friend—for a good cause.”
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