by Damon Alan
Alarin refilled her goblet from a decanter. “I can feel it too, and it's horrible, a living nightmare. It must be terrible for you.” After filling her cup, he filled one for himself before sitting down. “I think the gods believe we can handle these demons. A test? Maybe, but maybe not. I believe the demon is a door to another stepping stone in our lives. Does it feed on us? I hope not.”
Merik swallowed some wine, and looked at Alarin seeking his agreement. “Whether the gods are testing us, whether this demon is simply something we need to overcome... you agree with me that it must be destroyed?”
“I wouldn't think to question your wisdom. If you say we should destroy the demon, test or not, it's the wise choice.”
She lay back on her couch and sighed. “That's what I will advocate to the Council. That we grab this demon, pull it from the sky, and let it burn away like a burning soul.”
“How do you grab something that is immune to the gift?” Alarin asked.
“The demon has eight swords, you’ve seen them. We will find a way to pull the swords from it, hurt it as it has us, and force it to leave our world.”
“Do you think it might go away if you made amends to the gods? You have been blasphemous, and the gods have been patient with you.”
Merik exploded. “Who are you to tell me how to relate to the gods? Are you a Jalai cursed priest? Gods damn you Alarin, you will not suggest to me that you know better than I do.”
Alarin was silent, and that annoyed her.
I have something that will annoy him.
“More wine.” Merik held out her cup. “Something comes to my ears, and I need you to see to it. You're familiar with Kampana?”
Alarin answered her as he refilled her goblet. “Farming village, far east, near the Rolling Hills. Fertile ground, if memory serves. They serve us with foodstuffs, mainly, not with people or materials.”
“Correct. You are to go there, you leave tomorrow.”
Alarin coughed. “I wouldn't think of questioning you, Merik, but that's a trip of many weeks. The council will be over before I return and I—”
“You question me? I grow very impatient with your insolence,” she said in a low growl.
He looked at her, his eyes wide, then they dropped to the floor. “You're right. I need to know my place.”
“You are not a Council member as we are not yet married due to the machinations of your priests. As such, you are not needed at the Council, I am.”
Alarin’s voice was soft, uncertain. “Do I not need to learn how to handle these other ruling adepts?”
Merik felt her anger drain from her as quickly as it had come.
He asks out of fear, not insolence. He thinks I might replace him while he's gone… not what I want.
Merik drained her cup again. “I have heard rumor of a demon being seen near Kampana. I want you to investigate this for me.”
“If that’s how you wish it to be, it will be so,” he answered.
“Oh, Alarin, don't be tiresome. The Council adepts are crotchety over-pampered women and men. You shower them with gifts, give them hedonistic pleasures, and then ask them to consider why you've called the Council. The ones that appreciate such things as flesh and drugs... or food and wine... they'll not want to anger Zeffult. Many adepts and their favored citizens enjoy the fruits of our fine nation as imports to theirs. If you ever replace me because of my death, or if your damned priests ever complete their ceremonies and we serve together, you'll realize a Council is the easiest of your duties.”
“As you wish. I'd despise all of that flesh and wine anyway.”
Merik noticed sarcasm in Alarin's voice. “You are such a bold man. Honestly, I should erase you. But you have me at a disadvantage because I can’t imagine life without you. Go find out what the dirt grubbers in Kampana know, then return to me. A season from now you can resume your lessons and we'll see to our joining. If your priests aren't ready by then, I'll personally burn their temples down.”
Alarin sighed, as he always did when he realized she wouldn't budge.
“As you wish. I’ll learn what the villagers know of demons.”
Chapter 15 - A New Fight
07 ORS 15327
The smell of fresh organic soil filled the air, competing for Sarah's attention with the feel of moisture and the fragrant scents of plants. The AI builders worked wonders in a short time. She sat on a rock at the edge of a small lake of water, careful not to disturb the surface. In the low gravity of the asteroid it would slosh out of the pond easily. Small fish, no bigger than a few centimeters, swam by in a school. Despite the fragility of the system, she had to resist the urge to take off her boots and dip her toes.
Overhead a dome five hundred meters in diameter created enough enclosed space to grow food for a thousand people.
What she really wanted to do was look into the water and imagine she was home, on Korvand. That, of course, was impossible. Korvand was gone, and she didn’t have time for fantasy.
A table sat five meters away. The people sitting at it were the reason she was here. Sarah reluctantly stood up and walked over.
Eislen smiled at her as she sat down. He ate a plate of food as he spoke broken Standard with Seto and Vander.
Eislen's eyes were bright, and he carried an air of curiosity and attentiveness. He was clearly quite intelligent.
Sarah watched him as he in turn watched a crewman hang a series of grow lights over a square patch of fresh earth. He focused on the process.
“He’s only been allowed in here for a week, since the lake was made,” Vander explained. “I think he's fairly smitten by how we do business.”
The noises of construction filled the area. An AI walker clanked past them, carrying large cloth bags of genetically enhanced seeds. The dome consumed a significant chunk of the Ember facing surface area on the forty kilometer wide asteroid they'd diverted for the project. Large machinery sat idle outside the dome, waiting for transport to the next farm location. This asteroid would house a dozen, giving them extra growing capacity for their current crew numbers.
Eislen amused Sarah, but she completely understood his awe. She was impressed by what the Fyurigan engineers had accomplished here and she knew how the process worked.
“Eislen, how well do you speak Standard now?” Sarah asked.
“Well enough, I think. It is honored that you brought heavens to me.”
“It is an honor, or I am honored, and brought me to the heavens,” corrected Vander.
Eislen nodded vigorously. “I am honored. Yes.”
Seto laughed with delight.
“How well do you speak his language, corporal?” Sarah asked.
“He is very good,” Eislen said. “Very good.”
Vander nodded. “Not very good, but I have a working base. Give me six more months and I'll be as good as Eislen. They don't have words for as many things we do, so there is less for me to learn.”
Sarah smiled at Eislen. “I'm glad to see you're well. Do you know what happened to you?”
“I do. You sent your eshadni er... machine, to see what I was doing. Your machine... it didn't survive me shooting it with my bow. I am sorry for this. It died, and then it returned to demon fire, which hurt me. I almost died. You brought me to the heavens to make me better and save my life.” Eislen pulled his tunic down to show a ten centimeter scar on his chest. “You saved my life, so I must trust you.”
“I didn't save your life. My people did.” Sarah replied.
“They are your people, though. They do as you say?”
“I suppose they do,” she answered.
“So you are like a village elder, although not ugly or a man. Then your people, they saved my life. So I trust you.”
Sarah laughed, Eislen's way of looking at things was amusing. “Thank you. Why does that mean you must trust me?”
Eislen leaned in. “They call you Captin Dayson, can I call you Captin Dayson?”
“No, you can call me Sarah. I am not your Captai
n.”
“Sarah then. Sarah. Strange, but it's soft, like a woman's name should be. It's a good name. One name means we are friends, two means we know of each other. So we are friends.”
Sarah looked at Vander. “Does he always talk like this? He doesn't really seem to follow linear conversation very well.”
“What does this mean, linear?” Eislen asked.
Sarah and Vander ignored him, Vander answered Sarah. “It's how their social structure works. They don't engage those newly met directly, but circle around them until they determine their comfort zone with the new social interaction.”
“So he’s trying to decide where he stands in our pecking order?” Sarah asked.
“That’s right,” Vander assured her. “But he's not well socialized, even by the standards of his world. He's a goatherd.” Vander looked sideways at Eislen. “So he’s not very good at it.”
Eislen didn't seem to like that explanation. “What? No. We exchange truths a bit at a time. When we meet. Then you know who you are talking too. You become friends. It is how this thing is done.” Eislen shrugged his shoulders.
“How what thing is done?” Sarah asked.
“You saved me, brought me to the heaven to see the gods, and now you have a purpose for me. The gods have made this obvious. One does not work this hard to keep a man alive if he is not a friend or of use. So you must want me to be a friend, or you have a purpose for me.”
Religion… where is Harmeen when I need him?
Sarah looked Eislen in the eye. “Where I come from, all men would work to keep any man alive. It is what good people do for other people.”
“Life does not mean so much on Nula Armana,” Eislen said. “A man must have other worth. Be family, or a close friend.”
Sarah looked at Vander. “Nula Armana? Is that his village?”
“Their world, Captain. Life is hard for the average person, so the tendency is to help those who can and will help you when you need it. Ancient agrarian thought.”
Eislen coughed. “I can only sit and wonder what it is you want from me.”
Sarah smiled at the young man. “Well, Eislen, you're right that we do want something, but you don't have to give it to us to be our friend.”
“See? I know this is how life works,” Eislen said, grinning.
“We want to know about your people. We'd like to know how your politics work, who is in charge so we can talk to them about trading for fresh food or live animals.”
“The zhenghi, what Malco Vander says I am to call adepts, are in charge, of course. You are from heaven, you know this. They rule over men with the gift the gods gave to man.”
“The gift?”
“You test me, I see this. What I tried to show you before... when I almost hurt someone. I didn't know that was a weapon like my bow, but much tinier and with unseen arrows like a spirit. I mean no harm to anyone.”
Sarah couldn’t help but like the young man. He wore innocence like a fresh shirt. “We know, Eislen. Nobody blames you.”
“I'm glad to hear this.”
“I'd like to know more about this gift,” Sarah said.
“It's the power the gods gave to some few men, but not others. The story is that the gift is for wise people, people who will rule justly. I don't think...” Eislen paused and looked nervously at Sarah.
“You don't think what?”
“I don't think the adepts are just,” Eislen whispered.
“You don't need to fear what you say here. You're safe, and we only want to know the truth.” Sarah looked at the young man. He was nervous as if speaking in a forbidden way.
He is afraid of these… zhenghi.
“The adepts care about the adepts. That's it. They treat the people of the villages like owned slaves, although the priests say slavery is evil. They come, take what they need, and take the children they think will be gifted. If these children would have been wise, they aren't once they are taken. They become cruel, as almost all gifted are.”
Sarah was shocked. “What do you mean they take the children?”
“They take the children, I know not where, to become adepts. They never see their parents again.”
“And nobody but the adepts have any say in this?”
“It is as you say,” Eislen replied.
“So why aren't you an adept?” Sarah asked, attacking the hole in Eislen's story.
“My mother did not wish me to become an adept, so she saw me hidden away with a man from Kampana.”
“I see. Everyone can't do what you do then?”
“Of course not. Only those with the gift.”
Sarah pondered the implications. “So how corrupt are these adepts, and how dangerous can they be? You had trouble lifting my weapon from my holster.”
So a select few with telekinesis rule over everyone else...
Eislen's voice became very serious. “Don't be fooled, Sarah. I am a drop of water, an adept is an ocean. Since I was hidden away, I did not get the teachings I needed to be a stronger adept. Many are stronger than anyone knows, and they keep their full strength secret. Miker says each generation is stronger than the last.”
“What all can they do?”
“Burn, freeze, throw, kill, maim, bestow pain. There is more, but I don't know,” Eislen said, throwing up his hands.
“So you don't think the adepts would welcome us?”
“Only for what they can get from you. You have harnessed a demon that will protect you from them. I felt it trying to... what are the words... eat me at every moment.”
Sarah looked at Vander. “What's he talking about?”
“I think he's talking about our singularity, Captain. He calls it “the demon”, and is quite unhappy when he talks about it. He says it consumes his already weak grasp of whatever this gift is. He told me it was there when he woke up in the medbay, so I pulled video of him waking up. AI analysis of his eye movements and his emotional display of terror align precisely with the Stennis's singularity.”
“I see. That's some excellent investigative work, corporal, I'm impressed.” Sarah sat for a moment in silence, while Seto asked Eislen questions about how the villages communicated, what trade existed, and about the structure and name of his village.
“Kampana.” Sarah heard him repeat for Seto, but she was only partially listening.
The singularity weakens their powers. How does that process work? How is a singularity related to telekinesis?
Sarah interrupted a question from Seto. “Eislen, do you feel the adepts care about human life?”
“No.”
* * *
A marine ran up to the table, stopping the conversation. “Captain, Commander Gilbert is on the radio. He says it's urgent.”
Sarah stood. “Please excuse me, Eislen.”
Eislen nodded and returned to his conversation with the Seto and Vander.
Sarah walked to the shuttle port with the marine. “Did he say what he wanted?”
“He said the fleet was under fire, but that he had it under control.”
“What?” Sarah yelled, and broke into a run toward the shuttle.
Arriving, the pilot handed her a headset. “This is Dayson. What's going on?”
A long pause and static answered her. “This is Dayson. Commander Gilbert, report,” she yelled into the mic.
“Captain, this is Lieutenant Corriea. Commander Gilbert is busy at the moment organizing our retreat. We've lost the Amalli. We’re retreating from Refuge orbit.”
Sarah's stomach made an effort to twist out of her abdomen. “Corriea, say destination and status other ships.”
“No other damage, Captain. We haven't named it, but Ember’s innermost large moon is our destination.”
“Get my ships safe, Lieutenant. Once you're at the new location, I want a full report. I'm on my way.”
“Roger Captain. Corriea out.”
Sarah looked at the marine who brought her the message. “If anyone calls, you get me immediately.”
“Yes, sir,” the marine replied.
Sarah walked back to the farm dome alone. She paused to sit on a bench in a glass lined hallway between the shuttle port and the dome. She trusted Gilbert to save the fleet. He commanded very much like she did, and she needed to think.
Looking out over the lifeless rock outside, she cleared her mind. Outside AI earth movers were building radiation domes to protect the farm staff from solar flares.
I promised my crews safety.
She watched the work for a few minutes, organized her thoughts, and then returned to the table.
The conversation stopped as the she approached, and everyone but Eislen stood up. He watched the others stand, then joined them a few seconds later.
“Is everything okay, Captain?” Seto asked.
“No, it's not. We've lost a ship. It would appear we are at war. I don't have the details yet. Seto, return to the shuttle and get any new information to me immediately.”
“Yes sir.” Seto picked up her data pad and left.
“Eislen, I want you to tell me everything you know about the adepts, and just how powerful they are. No dodging the question, nothing held back. I ask because we are friends,” Sarah said.
She listened for several hours, as Eislen talked. Eislen told her about Miker, about the authoritarian cruelty of the adepts, what he knew about the political structure of his province, Zeffult. He told her about the rumors regarding the power of some of the greater adepts, but said rumors were like Yoro, not to be trusted.
Sarah and Seto left the dome. Sarah ordered the shuttle pilot to spare no fuel getting them to the fleet. She faced an unexpected enemy of unknown potential, and her duty was to keep her crew safe.
The bridge of the Stennis was where she did that best.
Chapter 16 - Captain's Personal Log
07 ORS 15327
AI 4Tyrell39 recording, Captain's personal log, Michael Stennis archive: Galactic Standard Date 23:38:71 Ors 07, 15327
