by Eden Wolfe
“Come.”
Irene left the waiting-woman hyperventilating against the wall and strode into the Queen’s quarters, Priyantha right behind her, though Irene motioned for her to wait on the other side of the door.
Irene opened the door and stepped in.
“You’re not alone.” Ariane stood in the center of the room, her arms relaxed at her sides. No sign of the panic Irene had heard in her just those moments before.
She’s collected herself. Like a switch, she turns it on and off.
“I have brought one of the Ganese with me. To testify to what I have learned.”
“You need a testimony?”
“For assurance.”
“I know what this news must be. Who is it then?” Ariane’s eyes hadn’t moved. Her face was blank, no muscle betrayed anything that must have been rushing inside her. “Who is coming to attack?”
“No attack, they come with an offering.”
“Who brings an offering, and in exchange for what?”
“It’s the Sisters.”
Ariane’s cheek flinched. “Of course it is.”
“They are peaceful.”
“What do you know? You’ve never heard them the way I have.”
“They seek your guidance and good will, and therefore come in numbers to implore.”
“In numbers? How many?”
“I don’t know the details of their gift yet, but I’ve been told it is of value to you.”
“My patience is very, very thin, Irene. How many?”
“I’ve been told a thousand.”
Ariane’s eyes widened, and her lips moved in small waves, appearing to whisper words but no sound came. The whites of her eyes gleamed as her lips continued, unstopping in their silent language.
A minute felt like an hour when at last the Queen’s lips shut, first tense. Then relaxing. Resting, back to a frown. Her eyes narrowed as she spoke.
There, she flips the switch again.
“Enter, the other one. Come in. Do not stand outside my door in threat but let me see your face.”
Priya stepped in, shoulders back, but Irene could see a note of deference on her face.
The Queen walked to Priya, circling her, seemingly evaluating her, as though she were a horse. “Tall, strong, typical Ganese. I see nothing special in this woman you’ve chosen to accompany you.”
“She will be the Keeper of the Chief.”
Ariane’s face changed at the sound of those words, a small smile across her lips. “Keeper of the Chief, I see.”
Priya cast a look at Irene, which she knew was meant to chastise, but Irene just gave a little shrug. With Ariane, she had to find what worked.
“And what might the Keeper of the Chief be wanting from the fortress, eh?” Ariane pushed up against Priya’s shoulder, speaking in hushed tones aimed at Priya’s ear, even though Ariane was a full head smaller than her.
“I come to testify, nothing more,” Priya’s eyes stayed fixed forward.
“She speaks,” Ariane taunted.
Irene felt a burning inside her. The situation could not improve, but only fall apart the longer they stayed in the Queen’s quarters. “I will go prepare the Guard, my Queen. I have already given them an alert to prepare.”
Irene turned and nodded at Priya to join her.
But Ariane shouted, “You ride a very thin line, Irene! Sometimes I think you are the most loyal of loyal and then other times I wonder if there is no greater betrayer than she who is closest to me.”
Irene made every effort not to react. She had to remain stoic, let the Queen’s words roll off her. There was no point in trying to defend herself; it would only make her look guilty.
“I have demanded that the guards assemble, I will have them prepare. We will ensure that there is no act taken by the Sisters of which we are not aware. We will watch them at every turn; we will follow them. Every step they take in Geb will be documented.”
“I would expect no less from you,” Ariane lifted her chin. “And then what do you do when you see the Sisters are in fact scheming, right here within our borders, even right here under our noses.” Ariane’s eyes widened, “That they dare not just to affront, but are set to enact their bloody riot right before us. Irene! How can you be so naïve with all that you have seen over the years? How is it that this falls to me and not my great Commandante to foresee?”
Ariane turned and marched to the window, her back to Irene and Priya. Irene tried to focus on her strategy, but the Queen’s next move was too hard to decipher.
Ariane spun back around.
“What’s your name, Keeper of the Chief?”
“Priyantha.”
“And what have you to say about this, Priyantha, when you hear this news of the Sisters? They, who, by the way, continue to blame the Ganese for everything that has happened within their borders. What do you, as a natural Ganese yourself, have to say to this preposterous story that the Sisters come in peace?” Ariane snapped to Irene, “The Sisters don’t know peace, Irene. They never have. They were born out of treachery. They live in treachery and they’ve been waiting for the day when they can act it out to finally take over leadership that Sahna always thought had been theirs to assume. Sahna may be gone, but her spirit sings rebellion in the ears of every Sister. It lives on in them.” She turned back, slowly, to Priyantha. “Speak, Keeper of the Chief. What is your assessment?”
Priya looked at the Queen and didn’t speak. Irene began to worry she wasn’t going to say anything at all. But Priya then took in a deep breath and spoke slowly.
“Given their abilities and degree of desperation with the illness among them, I would expect that they are already passing through the Gana checkpoint, having taken the main route and not the more challenging unbeaten roads through the Mass or the Leesides.” She paused, but Ariane nodded to her in seeming encouragement to continue. “I would guess that some have even made it further already, approaching the capital now.” Priya turned to look Ariane in the eyes. “I would change my approach from one of prevention to one of reaction.”
“I see. So you think they can’t be stopped,” the Queen strolled almost playfully, as if taunting. “You think nothing can be done to stop them from coming.”
Priya nodded.
“Tell me, Keeper,” Ariane continued. “If it were the Ganese in my position, would you not take up arms? Don’t you come from a stock of warriors? Isn’t this your blood’s very calling, to cut off the enemy before she even arrives? Don’t your blessed ancestors have anything to say about this”
Priya’s head was tilted away, watching the Queen out of the side of her eye. “Many things would be different if this act were against the Ganese, but it’s not. And to react now in the method of the Ganese ancestors would be flawed and would fail.”
“Your words are wise as you are young.”
Priya was years older than Ariane. Irene heard the sound of air coming out of Priya’s mouth was a laugh, but she did not dare draw attention to it.
Ariane hesitated for a moment and Irene was certain she had heard the condescension in the simple exhale that Priya had dared to make. Irene’s heart quickened. She watched the vein in Ariane’s neck pulsing, the speed of it intensifying. It lifted from her skin like a snake wrapping from her breast to the nape of her neck. Irene found herself calming her own heartbeat.
For she knew, if the Queen heard what was happening inside her, it would not bode well for any of them.
Ariane walked slowly, inhumanly slow, toward Irene. She leaned in, her cheek brushing against the hairs of Irene’s face, and Irene felt a shiver down her spine. The Queen’s breath felt like boiling water cascading from her ear to her neck.
“Remember your loyalties, Irene. I know all that you are capable of. I know you. I remember that whip in your hand and how it crashed down, tearing open the skin on Lucius’ spine. I watched you maim him. I watched you kill him.”
Ariane stepped back.
“The memory of Lucius in
the square below is not dead. It remains alive in the minds of every woman who witnessed it and every woman who heard the story. Every man fears his own destiny, either that which comes from his own biology or that which shall be reaped from my own hand. I will not suffer weakness.”
She paused for a moment, a small smile forming across her lips.
“And now you will do the same to Daphna.”
“My Queen, my Queen,” Irene didn’t know what she wanted to say but no other words would come out of her mouth. “Just consider a moment, my Queen.”
“Don’t ‘my Queen’ me.” She lowered her voice to a whisper, “I have given you a command.”
Irene’s mind rushed at miles a minute seeking out the words that would calm the Queen while giving her security in Irene’s approach.
“I understand your fear, Ariane.”
“I have no fear, I am addressing my fear. My fear is not the issue here.”
“Yes, understood. I hear your concern. Your concern about the Sisters. It’s real. It’s viable. You are right to want to take serious action and swiftly.”
The Queen cocked her head.
“But, my Queen, I see other unforeseen consequences from this act. Not the same as Lucius. Lucius was a loner. Lucius hid in the back alleys of Cork Town. There were so few who had any loyalty to him, and those who did were those who also would have wanted to betray you.”
“But?”
“But Daphna is different. Yes, she comes from the Sisters. That alone is more than sufficient to incite your...” She stopped herself from saying fury. “We know the stock from which the Sisters come. We know the doctrine that has been spread through them since Sahna left your mother.”
“Since Sahna betrayed my mother...”
“Yes, since she betrayed her. But the Sisters are yet a force. And there are many in the outer counties who look to them for guidance. Many of those communities are reliant upon them even for addressing their most basic needs. They have been picking up the slack of Central Tower for years. They have been dealing with the low-level crop killers that we never wanted Central Tower to have to manage. The Sisters serve a purpose.
“If we cut them down at the root, that burden falls on Geb. And worse than that, Daphna’s disappearance is not one that will be taken lightly. We may not like it, but the Sisters have allies, some of whom may be more loyal to Daphna than they are to you.” Irene steeled herself. “So let me do my job. Let me manage this influx of Sisters. The guard can handle them. They will be tracked with every step, every breath, every little urination will be tracked to the last drop.”
Ariane rolled her eyes, “Must you use such base language?”
I’ve got her now.
“My Queen, this is why you have put me in this position. This is why you need a Ganese as your Commandante.” Irene looked over to Priya and back to the Queen. “I will send Priya back to pass the message that we await the Sisters and welcome - ”
“Welcome?”
“And we welcome their arrival in the city. They likely won’t believe it anyway. But optics are important. Let everyone know that you are aware of the Sisters, and that you open your arms to all in Lower Earth. And then, should they step wrongly, every act shall be punished according to its worth.”
Irene clasped her hands in front of her trying to look relaxed, trying to look confident.
Ariane’s eyes darted left and right. Her lips again formed words without sound and then little by little her head began to nod.
“I see you still serve a purpose in the fortress as my aide, Irene. Your counsel is accepted. Prepare the Guard. As for you,” she turned to Priya, “I expect that you will fulfill this duty with great reverence and you will not stray in the least from the message with which you have been charged. Am I clear?”
Priya looked at Irene.
Do as she says, Priya. Just do exactly as she says.
Priya looked back to the Queen. “Of course,” she bowed her head, “Your Majesty.”
“You have made an impression, Priyantha of the Ganese. I trust you won’t let me down.” Ariane gave a quick and insincere smile and then looked to Irene. “Surely you must get to this right away. You are dismissed.”
Irene bowed her head deeply, turned, and walked out with Priya close behind, praying that her steps did not betray her desire to escape the room as quickly as possible.
The waiting-woman still sat on the floor, her knees pulled up and her back against the wall. Her head was lowered but Irene could see her shoulders lifting and falling with her breath.
Irene walked on without a word. There was too much to prepare.
16
Uma
Uma walked through the main square. She had to divorce her legs from her mind so that she didn’t break into a full run toward the Tower. She had to look calm, cool, collected.
Even if her brain was an explosion of fireworks.
A state of emergency? We’ve never had a state of emergency. The Queen says enact the state of emergency, but settlers, tell me, what do we do for a state of emergency?
Her heels clacked against the cobblestone. She had to have the answer in the next hundred feet. All of Central Tower would be looking to her to lead them through what was sure to be a time of great tumult. A state of emergency though? There was no precedent for this.
You’re the Great Geneticist now, Uma. Figure this out. You were put in this position because you develop winning strategies. Do it now! Win or lose...
Her heart slowed and her eyes widened as an image came clearer into her mind.
Strategy. Yes, a strategy like we do for any other program. First step? Establish a goal. What’s the goal of a state of emergency for Central Tower?
Preservation.
Plans started to form in her mind, and by the time she reached the revolving door of Central Tower, her first acts were clear.
“Hello, Ms. Uma.”
“Gillard, lock down the supplementary servers. Logistics has to redefine priorities for management of intelligence.”
“Of course. Ms. Uma, what’s going on?” Gillard stepped out from behind the desk.
Uma paused for a moment, but Gillard was a good choice for the situation. While the Gillard line wouldn’t have ideas on how to protect the Tower, she was the right one to implement. No one dared say no to a Gillard.
“We’re entering a state of emergency. Gillard, you are on point for security. Ingress and egress stop now. Only allow entry for Level 4 personnel not already in the building. No one else leaves. Not until I hold an assembly at fourteen hundred hours, understood?”
“Yes, Ma’am. I will prepare the other guards immediately.”
“Only the Central Tower guards are to be engaged at this stage, all others have been recalled by the Commandante.”
“Recalled? Even from the outer counties?”
“Focus, Gillard.”
“Understood, Ma’am! I will have security under control.”
“Good, I have to turn my attention to the stocks and documentation. Advise me of any concerning behavior or attempted trespassers. Other than that, leave me alone.”
“Understood.”
She walked to the elevator just as one arrived. “Wait for the next one,” she held her hand up to the three women who’d been waiting.
The doors closed and Uma let her eyes close with them.
Last moments of peace.
She relished it, floating up in the elevator up past the fifth floor up past the tenth floor. The gentle pressure, the lifting. It almost felt like she could go up like this forever. Straight up and out the Tower, into the sky, into the clouds arriving in the heavens and arriving among the settlers.
Oh, Settlers, let me make you proud.
With her eyes closed, the clouds stretched out before her, a blue sky with sunshine that didn’t scald but that warmed from the inside out. Her heart lifted; her resolve hardened. And the elevator slowed at the nineteenth floor.
The doors hadn’t fully
opened before Uma cracked into action.
“Where’s Carole?” she called out across the floor. “I need Carole now. Where is she?”
Carole popped her head out of her office across the floor. “I’m right here. Where I always am.”
“Watch your tone,” Uma pointed at her. “We have no time for your sarcasm today.” She looked out across the floor of her most trusted aides and administrative staff. “We are moving into a state of emergency. Carole, in my office, now. Everyone else, heads down. All files backed up and saved. Everything duplicated and locked away in the main server room. I want to see it double-locked and I want everything in before fourteen hundred hours.”
“Ma’am, that’s not possible by fourteen hundred.”
“Prioritize. Triage,” Uma rubbed her forehead trying to calm herself, but her voice exploded. “Do you not understand what I’m saying? We are in a state of emergency! Stop looking at me like crows about to be shot from the sky. Get to it and get to it now. Carole, what are you doing still standing there? In my office.”
Uma flung open the door to her office, her force overcoming its usual stick. Carole entered behind her and pushed it mostly shut.
“Uma, what is happening? A state of emergency? What does that even mean?”
“What does that mean? Really, Carole, you can’t use your powers of deduction to figure out what we’re going through here? The Sisters are coming and I’ll be damned, but I believe they’re coming right here. They’re coming straight for us. This isn’t about the Queen, it isn’t about politics. This is about science. I’m certain it all has to do with that illness they’re facing and now they’re bringing it here. Bringing it to the capital.”
“Wait, Uma, slow down. The Sisters are coming? Coming here? Who?”
“Daphna, of course, with a thousand of them. Or thousands of them. I don’t know, and we’re not going to know until they get here. What we know is that they are coming.”
Carole stood nodding and chewing on her bottom lip. “Give me just a minute. Let me think for just a minute.”
Uma sighed. No one ever seemed to move as fast as she did. Everything always fell on her shoulders. Roman, inept. She’d had to step in and take it over. Lucius, his betrayal. Again, the responsibility falling on her shoulders to revive the Willing Woman program. Everything always came back to her.
