by Eden Wolfe
"No, I don't think so. If he'd died, they wouldn't have been ashamed to say it. That would have played into the bigger narrative very well. And we both know he shouldn't have died naturally."
The boy had the code of Kings past running through him. He wouldn't have degraded like the others.
Irene's mind circled around and around on it. More than a year had gone by since the boy had vanished, and it hadn't been the will of the Guard. Only the Guard was sanctioned to see people disappeared.
Someone took the boy. Or else someone killed him.
It ran shivers down Irene's spine. If someone killed the boy, then they had wrongly assessed the values of those living in the Dark Counties. And Irene hated to be wrong.
Now they'd have to see another boy born, somewhere, as the Directive demanded the King's line continue. They had to study his behavior, read his nature.
And make sure that men like him never ruled again.
The Queen stood. "So you're concerned still about the boy disappearance. Riots in the Dark Counties. What else?"
"What else what?"
The Queen raised her chin, "You haven't mentioned Gana. Given all the change underway there, I am surprised you wouldn't bring the subject to me."
"It'll be a complicated period. But Gana has lived through worse. Transition of leadership is not the greatest cause for alarm. Not to them."
"You might be out of touch."
Irene grimaced. "Out of touch? With my people? No."
"Then why was your double in the crowd today?"
"Leadon? She was here?" Irene couldn't hide her surprise. That made no sense. Leadon would be the last one Batrasa would send to Geb. From the beginning, Batrasa didn't trust Leadon for the mere fact of her birth as a genetic duplicate. Never mind that Irene and Batrasa had their own - complicated - relationship. Ever since Batrasa had called her a watered-down sellout for having taken up the role at the fortress, Irene didn't much care to interact with her.
"So Leadon didn't come to see you." The Queen's eyes were evaluating her, Irene could feel it.
"Of course not, I would have told you."
"And you didn't see her."
"Had I seen her, I would have sought her out for an explanation. And then, again, I would have told you."
"Seems there’s much you would have told me."
Irene didn't know how to respond. Five years she'd been in this Queen's charge and she still didn't know how to read her.
When Maeva had been Queen, they'd been more like sisters, even if Maeva had been given to moments of authoritarian rule. Still, they'd always had a rich relationship.
But this Queen was not her sister. This Queen was her master.
Queen Ariane inhaled deeply through her nose and squinted her eyes at Irene.
"You'll go to Gana. On your way, you'll prepare ideas for cleaning up Cork Town. That commune has caused nothing but trouble while sucking away at resources. The Guard must be a combination of subtle and strict. I'm tired of shoddy implementation. On your return, I'll hear your ideas and we will make an appropriate plan. Assuming you have heeded my instructions." Ariane walked to Irene. While she did not reach Irene's height, Irene could tell that the Queen was more assured than she could ever be. Her whole life, Irene had believed she was the one with nothing to lose. But looking at Ariane, her own resolve shrunk.
Irene had never considered herself a citizen of Lower Earth. Gana was her land. But under Maeva's reign, she had changed. The lava amulet hanging around her neck had at first felt like a noose. Now she felt vulnerable without it, though she only removed it to sleep.
Which made this Queen's approach all the more difficult to swallow.
"Before I go, I want to be sure I've understood these instructions for Cork Town. What is it exactly you want done with these people?"
"Cull the population."
"Ariane - "
A voice came from the other side of the door as it creaked open a sliver.
"Enter."
Maeva stepped into the room, spine tall, but Irene saw the circles under her eyes.
"What is it, Mother? I'm preparing the Commandante for a mission."
"A mission. What mission is this?"
"The Cork Town culling."
"I see." Maeva turned to leave and stopped. "I thought you'd abandoned the idea. I thought we'd discussed it - "
"Circumstances have changed. Resources are being depleted. And we're propping up a population who never should have been born in the first place. Under your reign." Neither Maeva nor Ariane moved. Irene looked between the two of them. Such perfection, the people had been promised. Perfect Queens, naturally-born Queens. The DNA of the ages.
How little the people saw.
"Irene," the Queen looked to her, not dismissing Maeva away, "You'll start with any men who meet the selection criteria. There's already enough suspicion for their removal without much concern. Then the opies. Those women have been the bane of our society for a generation now. Haven't they, Mother?"
"Indeed."
"And why is it that we still face their destructive ways today? How is it that you couldn't erase this stain on our society?"
"Addiction is powerful, especially among those who've been cast - "
"Enough. Irene, the opies are next, particularly the dealers. Make it clear why. The good people of Geb will be glad to see them go."
"Yes, Queen."
"Then those who are already in advanced stages of degradation."
"Sorry?"
"That's right. Their deaths are imminent. We will save them from the pain, the humiliation. We will provide them with a dignified departure."
"You want me to round up the ill like cattle, and then slaughter them like dogs?"
"Your imagination is full with righteousness. Cast yourself in my role for a moment." Queen Ariane came nose to nose with Irene, leaning forward so her lips grazed Irene's ear. The hot breath ran a shiver down Irene's body. Her skin stood on edge. "We do not have enough to sustain everyone. The viruses in the fields are out of control. There will be death; it is inevitable. Do you kill the healthy women who have built our society from the ground up? Or do you escort the dying through a sacred rite to the afterlife? Cork Town bleeds our resources and in return for what? Drug-infused transgression? Backroom men who plot against those who try to keep them alive? They take and take, and we have little left to give. Their selfishness is insufferable. You will bring balance again; it is no more philosophical or political than that. Cork Town is where we must start."
The Queen stepped away, her breath stroking Irene's face as she passed.
Irene looked to Maeva who stood by the door, giving nothing away with her eyes. But Irene had known Maeva for thirty years.
She would not take the execution of Cork Town lightly.
"Off you go to Gana. Sort your people out. We'll discuss this when you return. You're both dismissed."
Maeva stepped forward, "Ariane - "
"I said, dismissed."
Maeva and Irene locked eyes and walked out in silence together.
They reached the east wing of the fortress before either of them dared to speak. Maeva opened her lips, though no sound came out.
"Maeva - "
"We cannot speak of it."
"But we - "
"Not a word. Too many ears. Hers especially. Go to Gana, Irene. Go with my blessing."
"Maeva - "
"Go."
Maeva turned and walked back towards the center of the fortress, but Irene saw the hunch in her back. From Maeva to Ariane, the contrasts were stark. The former Queen who only ever stood tall now lived in the shadow of her perfected genetic self. Irene felt the dread of all she was coming against, but she pushed it away.
She had to prepare for the trip to her homeland.
4
Maeva
Maeva opened her eyes with the sound of the flute on the screen. Sleep. She had been sleeping again. She still wasn’t accustomed to the sensation of awakening having lost hou
rs where she could not recount all that had taken place. The dislocation, the shock of awakening. The gasp for air as she moved from one world of night to the next of day.
I will never get used to this. Not before I die. Since when did I have to sleep?
She rubbed her temples as the voices rumbled warning within her. They had become agitated of late, especially on her awakening in the morning. It was as if they too knew that she was going through a most unnatural transition. Sleep wasn’t meant for their blood, the blood of Queens, and their ever-present voices in her veins. Sleep and unconsciousness were foreign. It had been designed out of their genetic code generations earlier. A simple way to readjust for the dangers of the modern world. Maeva used to close her eyes and await sunrise, her body and mind regenerating while alert.
Now she slept.
She walked to the window of the Queen Mother room. Another thing she wouldn’t get used to. She missed her quarters. The Queen's quarters. Missed the sunlight that rose from behind Central Tower. She was too low in the fortress now to see it before it was high in the sky. How she'd loved to walk in the morning in cold crisp darkness, the air brushing her skin with the nip of autumn and how she'd sat at that desk, that beautiful desk from the first settlers of Geb. How she'd pored over those files. The green files. The delivered files. The files which spoke of the future of Lower Earth.
The Ariane files.
Four files on her desk. Weekly they had arrived. How she'd obsessed over them, the decision looming, four files for four future queens, each with her perfect code, advanced code. Only their circumstances divided them. Each one extreme. Each one intended to bring the true next Queen into the light. And it was Maeva who'd had the duty to make the selection. The culling.
Apt that Ariane should call this Cork Town business a culling. She knows too well what goes with the word.
A cough rose from deep within her. She hurtled forward, the force of it knocking the wind out of her. She rested against the wall and coughed into her arms hoping the waiting women wouldn’t hear. She hated their doting as if she was an ancient relic that might break.
When she regained her breath she stood straight and closed her eyes. There was a sensation on her arm. She looked down at it.
Blood.
She walked briskly to the washroom and rinsed it off. She didn't dare to use a towel lest the cleaning woman should see and report it. There was no room for weakness in Maeva. Not with her Daughter Queen tracking her every move. Queen Ariane thought her spies were shrewd, but no woman in Lower Earth could track Maeva without her knowing.
In some ways, Queen Ariane is still a child. A powerful, dangerous child.
A child, now twenty-three, now holding Lower Earth under her scepter. A Queen with no patience for substandard. No curiosity for the improbable. No love for the underdog.
Maeva wasn’t sure she had love in her at all.
Certainly, the new Queen had passion, righteousness, even benevolence.
But love?
She hadn’t demanded that Lucius code it in. He asked and she'd refused. She had been demanding indeed, but it was the needs of the times that had been foremost in her mind. That had been an era of intense fear, the threat of war was on their horizon, just off their shores – so it had seemed.
So it had seemed, and yet, never come to be.
And now this Cork Town culling? Culling. She might as well call it by its true name. A massacre. An organized and Royally-sanctioned massacre.
Hadn’t Maeva demanded that the residents of Cork Town be secluded for their own safety? Hadn’t that been her goal at the time? Hadn’t the crime and accusations reached such a height that separation was the best option for everyone?
Maeva wasn’t sure anymore.
My memory is tainted with the colors I’ve painted on them. How can I trust my memories when I was so diligent to remember them in my favor?
A knock on the door yanked her out of her thoughts.
"What?”
The door opened, revealing Maeva nude in the middle of the room.
“I’m sorry, your highness,” the woman cast her eyes to the floor. “The Queen seeks your company.”
“I find that hard to believe.” Ariane might have been seeking her, but certainly not for her company.
“Madame, I promise, she’s sent for you.”
Maeva wafted her hand. “Yes, yes. I’ll come. First, I’ll dress. Wouldn’t you agree?”
“Yes, madam. My apologies.”
“Off with you, then.”
The woman nodded, not lifting her eyes from the ground and backed out of the room.
This blasted tiny room. It suited Lucius better.
Maeva looked at herself in the full-length mirror. Her skin had only just begun to hang a little heavier on her. For her sixty-seven years, she remained in the condition of a forty-year-old normal design. Perhaps she was even younger if her physical training were tested.
But there were circles under her eyes. Hard-won circles, which Maeva read as the past five years of her life taking vengeance.
So many companions lost. Do I even have the right to call them that? I dare not call them friends. Much less the concept of family. But indeed, they all took a part of me with them to death. A part of me is dead already.
She inhaled at her reflection, her ribs extending, each bone catching the light. She swallowed hard at the sight, which reminded her of a prisoner’s emaciated corpse and not a Queen’s temple.
From across the fortress, the voice of Queen Ariane struck her; she still was not used to it after five years of commands. The voice of her Queen Daughter spoke in tones only she could hear.
"Come, Mother."
Calling, commanding, though the voice didn't speak above a whisper.
Maeva used to speak like that with Aria, across the Ganese fields. She didn't have to come any closer than that, and Aria would hear her coming. They spoke across the distance, their ears able to hear for a three-mile radius.
“Come now, Mother. Don’t make me wait.”
Queen Ariane had those same abilities, but there was never any conversation. Maeva was to wait until she was called. The communication was only ever to be one-way.
Maeva cast a disgusted look to herself and dressed faster than she cared to, all to meet the demands of the daughter she had selected herself for the throne.
“You take your time, don’t you, Mother.”
“I was not yet dressed.”
“You were sleeping again.”
“It is part of my evolution.”
Ariane turned away from her, “An unfortunate part indeed. Your degradation will likely accelerate soon.”
“Why would you say that?” It was the first time Ariane had brought up the subject of Maeva’s degradation, a subject for which Maeva had been preparing for some time. But it caught her off-guard. There was no reason for that to be of concern, not with everything else happening in Lower Earth right now.
Ariane’s eyes softened. “I’ve upset you.”
“Not upset, no.”
“What then?”
“Surprised me.”
Ariane smiled, “I always thought it was impossible to surprise you. Growing up with the carers, it seemed you always knew before I did. Anticipated my move before I’d decided to make it.”
“You were young. You were predictable.”
“And now?”
Maeva chose her words carefully. “Now you are burdened with the future of our nation. You must run the scenarios and probabilities at a rate greater than I ever could have. It was what I designed you for – “
“You take the credit for my abilities?”
“Only for the genes that allow you to do as you do.”
“And the rest?”
“There’s a reason why I chose you, Ariane. Why you are now Queen, and not the others. If I cannot have faith in that decision, which was my decision alone, then I cannot have faith in my own existence. That decision will be the hallmark of my li
fe.”
“That decision, you call it.”
“What do you call it?”
Ariane pursed her lips, her eyes looked into the rafters.
"I call it as you called it."
Maeva felt her heartbeat increase.
Ariane’s eyes settled on Maeva. “The culling. You culled us, didn’t you, Mother.”
“If you ask closed-ended questions, I’ll give you no satisfaction of a response.”
Ariane walked toward the window. “You may wield what little power you have left. I already know the answer.” Ariane touched the window with her fingertips. The heat of them made four fogged discs on the glass. “Have I lived up to your expectations, Mother?”
“You’ve exceeded them, Daughter.”
Ariane looked back to Maeva, her head cocked to one side. “I can’t be sure if you’re sincere or cynical. But I suppose it doesn’t make a difference anyway.”
Maeva inhaled deeply. She listened carefully, the voices inside her whispered sounds, questions, signals of belief. “What is happening, Ariane? We have more walls between us now than five years ago when the worst of it took place. We were there together, you recall. We lived through your trials into coronation together. Why do we now have this distance between us?”
Ariane looked through Maeva, to somewhere far beyond the fortress walls. She stayed there for a long time. Maeva waited. Ariane was on a journey. Maeva knew the voices were alive in her, more than any of the other daughters, possibly more than Maeva herself. She’d witnessed their carnage in the middle of dark nights when Ariane ran to the forest and on to Rainfields. Rainfields called them all back eventually. Meanwhile, the people slept, all unaware of their Queen’s great flaw.
Maeva knew it too well.
It was the curse of an incubation birth; Maeva had known it would be when she first told Lucius the plan. He’d known the consequences too, but he didn’t dare cross her then. He’d seen how far gone she was. And it had been his fault. He knew it. He knew it was his fault, and he knew he had to do the incubation birth, and he knew the child would be as affected by the voices or more. Such were the gambles they’d both made.
Those stakes played out in front of Maeva’s eyes as she watched Ariane’s eyes twitch with it. Reflections of the Queens past, all that was coded into her.
