The others nodded and left, leaving Arthur alone with the flickering hologram of Caran Doc. “I suppose this is where you tell me to be careful?” Caran Doc began once the room was empty, his face stern and steadfast. “Remind me that we're only here because you saved us and that you can just as easily rescind our welcome?”
“What? No!” Arthur replied, appalled at the idea. “I'd never, is that what you think?”
Caran Doc paused, embarrassed at what he'd said. “I'm sorry, Arthur,” he said. “I don't know what to think. We've been on Earth for two days and already we're at loggerheads.”
“I never said it'd be easy,” Arthur replied with a smile, trying to lighten the mood.
“No, you didn't,” Caran Doc agreed.
“I appreciate your input,” Arthur continued. “You've been doing this for a lot longer than I have and I value what you can teach me. We're not always going to agree and that's okay. That's the whole point of this table, to give everyone a voice.”
Caran Doc nodded to himself. “I can see why these people follow you,” he said.
“Just as I can see why your people follow you,” Arthur replied. “You never need worry about your welcome. Earth is as much your home now as it is ours, and though we might fight from time to time, it'll always be in the best interests of the people who live here. All of them.”
“Then what did you wish to speak to me about in private?” Caran Doc asked, his tone once more friendly and relaxed.
“I wanted to ask if your technicians had made any more progress with Merlin's code,” Arthur replied.
“I see you haven't told the AI what they discovered?” Caran Doc asked.
“No,” Arthur told him. “It'd destroy him. It's just, when he mentioned Mordred from his past.”
“The past that isn't real?” Caran Doc added.
“Yes,” Arthur agreed reluctantly. “One more piece of the puzzle we're not seeing.”
“I'll check,” Caran Doc offered. “But last I heard, there wasn't any progress.”
“Thank you, Caran Doc,” Arthur said. “And if I might ask you one more thing?”
“Go on?” Caran Doc asked.
“Would you reconsider allowing Triltan to join us?” Arthur replied. “We work well together, and she was invaluable in the search for Silan Daltas. I assure you, she won't leave the Vanguard.”
“I'll think on it,” Caran Doc replied. “You'll have my answer within the hour.”
“I'll wait to hear from you before we depart,” Arthur said, turning towards the door as Caran Doc's hologram disappeared.
*****
As Arthur boarded the Vanguard, Gwen was making a show of checking the various readouts in the cockpit, trying to look busy. The ship was always kept ready to fly and there was nothing for her to be so focussed on, and Arthur felt her flinch when he rested his hand on her shoulder.
“Hey,” he said quietly. “How's it all looking?”
“Ready to go,” Gwen replied without turning to face him. “What did you want to speak to Caran Doc about?”
“I was just checking on the progress of the AI technicians,” Arthur said after checking Merlin wasn't around.
They remained in silence for a moment longer, Gwen fixing her gaze upon the small console in front of her. After being so comfortable with Arthur only an hour before she was annoyed with herself for struggling to be able to say what she wanted to. After a painful silence, she closed her eyes and blurted out, “Are you mad with me?”
“No, why?” Arthur asked, taking a step backwards. “I thought you were cross with me?”
Gwen turned to face him, looking up into his innocent blue eyes. “I disagreed with you,” she continued. “In the meeting. I'd understand if you didn't want me to come with you.”
Arthur laughed, making Gwen give him a stern look. “I've just had a similar conversation with Caran Doc,” he said, raising his hands in surrender when it looked as though Gwen was about to get angry. “I'm glad you disagreed with me. At least I know you won't just go along with me because we, well, you know, earlier.”
Gwen blushed at the memory. “Good,” she said at last, regaining her normal composure. “When it's just you and me, together, that's all I need to think about. When we're meeting with Merlin and the others, I need to be thinking about everyone.”
“Exactly,” Arthur replied. “Me too. Just because we don't always agree, it doesn't mean that I don't, well, you know what I'm try to say.”
“Do I?” Gwen asked suggestively. “What if I don't? Maybe you should just say it?”
Love was never something the slaves had thought about in the hive. Relations between slaves were strictly forbidden, and few of them lived more than a year or two unless working as a house slave for one of the important Mori. Arthur had been experiencing overwhelming feelings of affection and attraction towards Gwen, and missed her intensely even when they were only apart for a matter of minutes.
“You do know,” Arthur insisted, his cheeks flushing. “Please, Gwen.”
“Hmm?” Gwen persisted, smiling up at him.
“Okay,” Arthur whispered at last. “I love you. There, see? I love you. Happy now?”
“Very,” Gwen replied, her smile beaming as she pulled him down to kiss her. “I love you too.”
*****
Twenty minutes later, Triltan walked casually up the gangway to the Vanguard, a heavy bag in her left hand and a metallic box in her right. “Hello?” she called out as she reached the top. “It's me, Triltan?”
Arthur and Gwen stepped from the cockpit while Lance sprinted from his room, almost knocking her over as he charged towards the entrance to the ship. “You're here?” Lance said, smiling at her. “I thought, we didn't think-”
“Whatever Arthur said to my father changed his mind,” Triltan said.
“I told him how helpful you were in the search for Silan Daltas,” Arthur replied. “That's all.”
“Here, let me help,” Lance said, reaching forward and taking the bag from her. “The cabin is just like you left it, we haven't turned it back into a training room or anything.”
“Thank you,” Triltan replied. “Oh, and here.” She handed Arthur the metal box.
“What's in here?” Arthur asked.
“Some of Daltas' cooking,” Triltan said. “She checked with Miltren and it should be okay for you to eat. I couldn't face another long journey with just the food dispensers.”
Arthur and the others hadn't eaten anything that wasn't prepared by the food dispensers, the bland paste for the humans or gelatinous gloop for the Dorgans. It provided everything they needed nutritionally wise, but was as tasteless and unappetising as it sounded. The Mori had found a selection of grubs and insects to eat, but Arthur and the others had been reluctant to try them.
“Thanks,” Arthur said nervously. “I look forward to eating it later.”
“You won't regret it,” Triltan promised him.
Wile Arthur took the food into the galley, Lance carried Triltan's other bag and escorted her to her cabin. “I'm so glad your father allowed you to come,” he said, looking away from her as soon as the words left his lips. He was embarrassed that he'd been open with her but didn't understand why. Whenever he saw her, he felt his heart beat a little faster and his mood lifting. It was wonderful and terrifying in equal measure.
“Me too,” Triltan agreed. “I've read about the hive ship which attacked Teela all those years ago, but to see it for real? Remarkable!”
“Yes, for real,” Lance said, an annoyed tone creeping into his voice. His only experiences on the hive had been those of a slave; fear, hunger, desperation. Triltan seemed excited to be visiting somewhere that meant nothing to him but pain.
“I'm sorry,” Triltan stammered. “I didn't mean, not like that, but-”
“It's okay,” Lance said, forcing a smile as he looked down at her. “I'm sorry. We're going there to do what we can to help those aboard. I remember seeing it from the drop ship for the first ti
me, as we approached the mining asteroid. It's enormous, immense, why shouldn't you be a little excited to see it? The pain and suffering, it's behind me now. There's nothing more the hive or the Mori aboard it can do to me.”
Triltan smiled back at him, trying to recognise the expressions which crossed his face. The Teleri records had nothing on Dorgans as a species, and though she'd spent her free time reading all that she could about humans, Lance and his people were still a mystery to her. She was infinitely grateful for her capsule, which managed to not only translate the words but some of the tones and inflections too.
“That's true,” she said. “And after seeing you in action, anyone would be foolish to try.”
Lance's smile widened, growing more genuine. “Well, we're here,” he said as they arrived at the door to her cabin.
“Thank you for carrying my bag,” Triltan replied, taking it off him with a grunt of effort.
“I was happy to,” Lance continued, not moving, the silence between them growing a little uncomfortable.
“So, I'll see you in the cockpit shortly?” Triltan said, stepping through the open doorway.
“Oh, yes, you will,” Lance replied. “Shortly!”
Triltan closed the door to her cabin without another word, while Lance returned to the cockpit, a little extra spring in his step.
*****
Four days into the journey, Triltan was sitting on the cot in her room, reading through one of the many books on Earth history which Merlin had translated for her. She was having to use her fingers, scrolling through the pages with a touch of the screen, the computers on the Vanguard unable to interface easily with her capsule. She had found it quaint at first, like experiencing the distant past, but the novelty had quickly worn off. Everything she wanted to do seemed to take so long, and the buttons she thought would produce the desired outcome never seemed to work properly the first time.
“Triltan, are you awake?” Gwen asked from the cockpit.
“I am,” Triltan replied, communicating directly with Gwen through her capsule instead of the ship's communication system.
“I have your father on comms, he was hoping to speak to you?” Gwen continued. “Shall I put him through?”
“Please,” Triltan said, her mood lifting instantly.
Caran Doc's face appeared on the small screen in her hands, his smile matching hers. “Triltan,” he said. “How are you?”
“I'm well,” she replied. “And you? Daltas?”
“All good,” Caran Doc told her. “Daltas tells me you took some of her cooking with you?”
“There's very little left,” Triltan said with a smirk. “The others, they couldn't get enough once they'd tasted it. It's so much better than the food dispensers.”
“And how are they treating you?” Caran Doc continued.
“Okay,” Triltan said after a moment's hesitation. Caran Doc looked at her intently, waiting for her to elaborate.
“They're really nice,” Triltan continued. “Arthur and Gwen spend a lot of time in their room together, but Lance has been really friendly and Merlin has plenty of stories to tell. It's just, sometimes I want to be left alone and I feel like I can't. They've been so good to me, to all of us.”
Caran Doc leant back in his chair, his face taking on a sombre appearance. “I know how you feel,” he said. “Running the Ardent Dawn, the fleet, meeting with the Assembly, I don't feel like I've had any time to reflect on what happened.
“So many lives, our home, all gone forever. We barely had a moment to process all of that before another crisis needed our attention. I try to take a moment here and there, but it's never enough. I don't think it will never be enough.”
The Teleri didn't produce tears, but both Triltan and Caran Doc's eyes took on a milky appearance as their emotions overwhelmed them. “I don't want the people to think that we've forgotten,” Triltan said. “Or that we don't care.”
“They don't think that,” Caran Doc assured her. “Part of honouring the past is building something new, on Earth, with Arthur and the others. Teela may be gone, but while we're alive we carry a piece of it with us, everywhere we go. Camelot will be as much Teleri as human, or Dorgan for that matter. Wherever you look, you'll find gentle reminders of home.”
“Thank you,” Triltan said. “I hadn't thought of it like that.”
“Nothing will ever make up for what we lost,” Caran Doc continued. “But together we'll build a future just as bright as our past. Daltas and Miltren, they're working on something, something wonderful. It won't make up for what we lost, but it's a start.”
“Father?” Triltan asked with surprise.
“I'll tell you more when you get back,” Caran Doc insisted. “Arthur, Gwen, Lance. They're good people, I'm sure they'll understand if you want to spend some time alone. You didn't have to go with them?”
“It's better to be doing something,” Triltan said, as much to herself as her father. Whenever she had a quiet moment, her thoughts went back to the images of her shattered home world and feelings that went along with them. She wanted time to think, to reflect, but worried that having too much time might overwhelm her.
“Besides,” she continued. “They need me.”
“As do I,” Caran Doc told her. “Remember your promise; you don't leave the Vanguard under any circumstances.”
“Triltan?” Gwen said through her capsule. “I'm sorry to interrupt, but the engines have charged for the next jump.” The communications would be lost as the Vanguard jumped and Gwen hadn't wanted to worry either Triltan or Caran Doc if their screens suddenly went blank.
“It's okay,” Triltan replied. “I think we're about finished.”
“Be safe, my daughter,” Caran Doc said soothingly, leaning closer to the screen. “We'll speak again soon.”
“We will,” Triltan said with a smile.
As she shut down the screen and lay back on the cot, she thought about what her father had said. Camelot would be as much Teleri as human or Dorgan, and Silan Daltas was working on something wonderful. She liked that, and for the first time since she had seen the distressing images of her home world, she drifted into a restful sleep.
*****
The wormhole brought them to within one jump of the hive ship. Once the gravity engine had stopped spinning, Triltan pulled her console forwards and made contact with the Teleri probe. It had reached the hive ship eighteen hours before and had completed a detailed scan of its interior.
“Is the probe still transmitting?” Arthur asked.
“It is,” Triltan replied. “The hive hasn't attempted to destroy it.”
“Would their scanners be able to detect it?” Lance asked.
Triltan thought it over for a moment. “It's small,” she said, “but they should have detected the energy signature once it began to scan of the hive.”
“This whole scenario is making me nervous,” Merlin said. “I wish you'd taken Caran Doc up on his offer to bring the Ardent Dawn.”
“We have to defend Earth above all else,” Arthur protested.
“I know, I know,” Merlin agreed. “I just can't help but feel that there's something very wrong here.”
“What's the probe found?” Gwen asked, trying to ignore the same sense of dread which Merlin was describing.
Triltan transferred the readouts to the larger screen at the front of the cockpit. It depicted the hive in its entirety, with a focus of red on the lower levels. “The red areas are life signs,” she explained. “They all seem to be near the bottom of the hive.”
Lance stepped forwards and touched the image, zooming in. “They're all within the birthing chambers?,” he said. “Are you sure this is all of them?”
Triltan tapped further icons and focussed in on various other parts of the image. Everywhere she checked, there were no life signs except those already discovered. “That's all of them,” she said. “Approximately one million, one hundred and twenty-seven thousand individual signatures.”
“What happened t
o everyone else?” Gwen asked.
“Are they human or Dorgan?” Arthur asked.
Triltan paused for a moment before she spoke, looking up to meet Arthur's gaze. “Neither,” she said sadly. “They're all Mori.”
Arthur sat back down heavily. “We left hundreds of thousands of slaves behind when we escaped,” he said, speaking more to himself than the others. “Is this because of what we did?”
“No,” Gwen insisted. “We freed as many as we could. Whatever happened after that is on the Mori.”
“She's right,” Lance agreed. “Most of the slaves chose to stay behind. We did the best we could.”
Arthur wasn't convinced, but he turned to face the others, his face still full of grief. “There should be millions of Mori too,” he said.
“Tens of millions,” Merlin corrected. “Triltan, are you able to detect any remains?”
Triltan worked at her console, analysing various displays while the others waited for her to speak. It was only a matter of seconds, but to Arthur the time seemed to stretch out in front of him.
“There are a small number of dead within the birthing chambers,” she said at last. “I can't find any others, but look here.” The image moved to highlight various points on the surface of the hive ship. “It looks as though some of the external doors have been opened.”
“They were pulled out into space?” Lance asked. “What about the energy shield? That should have maintained the atmosphere.”
“The shield is active now,” Triltan replied. “Perhaps it wasn't when the doors were opened?”
“Which suggests it was deliberate,” Arthur said. “Someone opened the doors and disabled the shield, killing everyone aboard except those who made it to the birthing chambers. Why were they spared?”
“There's no way of knowing from here,” Merlin said.
“No,” Arthur agreed. He felt sick, his stomach in knots as he thought about all those he'd left behind and how they must have suffered at the hands of the Mori. Whatever he did, however hard he tried, someone else always seemed to suffer for his mistakes. First the slaves and then the Teleri, so many dead because he just wasn't fast enough.
X-Calibur: The Trial Page 3
