Guardian of Empire

by Kylie Chan

  ‘As you can smell, this one is unused. It is yours.’ He held it out to me and I took it.

  ‘Uh . . . where do I go to use it, and where do I empty it?’ I said.

  ‘We use them anywhere we have need, but I understand that humans are different. You require to do it where no-one else can see you, correct?’

  My face heated. I really didn’t want to be having this discussion. ‘Yes.’

  ‘Use it here, I will leave. Put it back on the shelf when you are done; that one is for you to use.’

  ‘What about emptying it?’ I said.

  ‘That will be handled.’

  ‘I will need to clean myself after using it.’

  ‘That will also be handled.’ He turned and left the room, and the nanos sealed the door behind him like black sand falling between two sheets of glass.

  ‘Whatever,’ I said under my breath, and set the bowl on the floor. I hadn’t been in a while and I was desperate. When I was done, I pulled my clothes back on and turned – to see that the bowl was empty. He was right; the nanos handled everything. They’d cleaned the bowl completely, and probably freshened me up as well.

  I put the bowl back on its shelf and made a mental note of its location – I wouldn’t be able to distinguish it by scent, the way they obviously did. ‘I’m done.’

  The door opened again.

  ‘Good,’ he said. ‘Follow me.’

  Oliver, the female and I followed him back out of the building. A cloud of nanos flew from one of the jewels on the side of the building and formed the black vehicle again. We boarded it, the sides rose to half its height, and it took off directly upwards. I planted my hand against the low wall, fighting the feeling of being flung into space.

  When we were higher than the tops of the towers, we moved forward towards a space elevator at the edge of the landing pad near the lake. The elevator was lit from below, showing that it was a hollow tube constructed of black shiny material in a complicated series of open hexagons – it was probably made of the nano material as well. The breeze whistled through the open vehicle as we surged towards the elevator above the dimly-lit streets.

  I ran through the protocol information as we moved, trying to find a way around the social niceties so that I could ask him about the elevator without causing insult. Asking questions and appearing impressed by their nanotechnology – even complimenting the cat leader on it – would be a social faux pas. The cats placed a great deal of emphasis on appearing cool and disinterested at all times, and excitement and curiosity were seen as weakness. This wasn’t their natural state – Oliver had been a bright, curious and inquisitive child but the social pressure to appear casually uncaring about everything had stunted his emotional growth before he came to me, and made his only strong emotion anger. He’d even used unpleasant sexual predatory behaviour as an outlet, when what he really needed was physical affection. It had taken me years to work him out of it with the help of human therapists and AI experts. A whole society like this had to be truly broken.

  The space elevator loomed over us and I decided to hell with it – I needed to know.

  ‘I’m curious about your nanotechnology,’ I said. ‘It’s very impressive; we have nothing like this in the Empire. How are you controlling them? It is you that controls them?’

  ‘It is me,’ he said with genuine pride, and I relaxed. Obviously stroking his ego would work. ‘The method I use to control them is not for sharing, but I am the only one in this entire region that can do it.’ He gestured towards the buildings. ‘All my nanos are black; the colour shows that I am the controller.’

  The entire city below us had black jewels on every building, except for a couple with a lighter shade of grey and one with a washed-out blue.

  ‘You control every nano in the city?’ I said with wonder.

  ‘Here we are,’ he said, and the vehicle dropped almost vertically towards the base. I clutched Oliver’s hand as we plummeted towards the planet and he held it. The floor didn’t move to surround him; obviously the cat leader didn’t object to Oliver assisting me this way.

  We landed at the base of the shining black network of hexagons that formed a tube twenty metres across that disappeared into the sky. A sphere rose through the tube like a liquid drop – forming from the sides as it went up. The cat leader walked towards the tube and an opening appeared to form a doorway. We went in, and the tube surrounded us. The nanos moved like liquid to form another sphere around us, and we shot into the air again.

  ‘Will I have a chance to talk to . . .’ I gestured towards Oliver, and his whiskers spread in interest. ‘I have cared for him for a long time, and I am very close to him. I’d like to spend some time with him.’

  ‘He does not speak,’ the cat leader said, a throaty growl. ‘He listens. He learns. He is here to take my place, not to make his own.’

  Oliver ducked his head and nodded. I wished I could send compassion to him – it must be so hard for him to be without a voice.

  As soon as we have our people back, I am getting you out of here, don’t worry, I said to him telepathically, and he didn’t respond. You do want to leave, don’t you? I asked, and he shot me a blast of pure desperation without showing any emotion at all on his face.

  The elevator stopped and opened onto a black platform spread before us, a circle of a hundred metres across, made from the same nano material. We were still within the atmosphere, but a shimmering grey dome over the platform suggested that the nanos were boosting the oxygen in the air. The sky beyond the dome showed the sun setting over the slight curve of the cat planet on the horizon.

  A group of twenty aliens stood on the other side of the platform, with cat warp ships floating in the sky just off the edge. There were four different species, and what appeared to be family groups – larger and smaller aliens together – in each species. One of the species had bowls placed around the perimeter of their group, releasing pale blue smoke. Another group were all decked in greenery and flowers, and a third group had brightly-coloured ribbons through their long fur . . . and when I saw them, I realised that not only were they a family of Eh-Ay-Oyau, but the central Eh-Ay was my foster child, Georgina. She was Oliver’s toy when I encountered them and killed Oliver’s mother, and she’d never forgiven me for taking away her ‘destiny’ to be paid handsomely to be a plaything for a cat. She was an adult now, and a smaller Eh-Ay stood next to her, decked out in light silky ribbons that floated in the breeze.

  I charged towards Georgina, horrified at what she was about to do.

  ‘Ee-yi-oh-ue,’ I shouted, using her own species name. ‘Please tell me you aren’t about to sell—’

  I was cut off by the nanos gathering like insects to block my mouth. I tore at them, but as I removed them they replaced themselves. It was like trying to remove an intelligent sticky liquid from my face. The nanos beneath my feet picked me up by grabbing the lower parts of my legs, moved me back behind the cat group, and held me fast. I was immobilised and unable to speak and the cat’s precision control of the nanos meant that I had no difficulty breathing despite the fact that I was effectively gagged.

  I watched in distress as each family group in turn honoured the child they were selling to the cats. Georgina hugged her daughter, and said, ‘We know it will be hard, but remember how many of your family are free. Ninety-three of us won’t have to die in the mines. You’re doing a great thing.’

  ‘Stay alive, dear one,’ another Eh-Ay said. ‘Reach adulthood and return to us, so that we can make the rest of your life as rich and comfortable as you deserve.’

  ‘I will do my best,’ the child said. ‘Honour me if I die for you.’

  ‘We will always speak your name, whether you live or die,’ Georgina said. She smiled. ‘You are wonderful, Uo, and I’m so glad to be your mother. You’ll be magnificent.’

  I wanted to shout at Georgina that this was wrong, but no words would come out. I could make random grunting noises, but the nanos grabbed my mouth from both the inside and
outside and clamped it shut – with the horrible liquid feeling of them climbing back up my throat if I swallowed any of them. I closed my eyes and fought the nausea from the sensation of them moving through me.

  This is wrong! I shouted telepathically at Georgina. If you return to the Dragon Empire, none of you need to work in the mine and your child will be safe!

  Georgina turned her back to me. ‘We are all dragonscales. Not a single pure-blood Eh-Ay remains. The dragons destroyed us, seeding themselves across our planet. We will never forgive them, and we will never return to the Empire.’ She glared at Oliver’s father. ‘Silence the human, she’s a telepath.’

  Oliver’s father waved one hand at me, and the nano liquid swelled to fill my throat. It choked me, and I struggled to breathe, my chest heaving against the blockage. I tore at my face as black spots appeared in front of my eyes.

  The nanos retreated and I hunched over my foot bindings and wheezed to get enough air in. It took a while before the black spots disappeared.

  The Eh-Ays had finished speaking to the child and had made an honour guard for her. Judging by her size, she couldn’t be more than three years old, and Eh-Ays weren’t mature until they were twelve. She walked beneath a tunnel of ribbons held by her family, then bowed deeply on her forelegs to the cat leader, who returned the gesture. He placed his hand on her head and guided her to a cat family that was waiting on the other side. He then raised his hand and a clump of nanos coalesced onto her back. She cowered under his hand as the ownership chip was implanted.

  The cat family that had bought Georgina’s daughter spread their arms, hands held low, towards the Eh-Ay family, and a bulge emerged from the surface of the platform. It flowed across the floor to Georgina’s family, and opened to reveal a large black box, at least a metre to a side. Georgina gestured, and a couple of the Eh-Ay took the box into the warp ship. She bowed on all four feet again, then they departed into the warp ship behind them.

  Oliver had stood silently with his ears flat against his head throughout the whole transaction, radiating overwhelming grief.

  The cat child lunged at the long-furred alien and proceeded to tear the ribbons from the child’s fur. It ripped clumps of fur out, and the Eh-Ay yelped with pain.

  ‘Why aren’t you running?’ the cat parent said to the Eh-Ay. ‘We bought you to run.’

  The Eh-Ay ran away from them, trailing the ribbons as she tore across the platform towards her family’s ship. The cat child followed her faster than she could move and caught her halfway across the platform. It tackled her and took her down, tearing at the ribbons, and kicking at her abdomen with its back claws – one of Oliver’s favourite play moves and devastatingly damaging when his claws were sharp.

  The Eh-Ay screamed as the cat held her with its claws and rabbit-kicked her as it chewed on her ear.

  The little cat’s parents strode over to them and knocked the little cat flat, then cuffed it repeatedly over the head.

  ‘You worthless female! Don’t kill your toy five minutes after we paid so much for it!’ the parent shouted, slapping the cat child. ‘It’s here for you to chase, not kill!’ The parent turned and kicked the Eh-Ay a couple of times for good measure. ‘I said run, not fall. You are worthless!’

  It dragged them both back to the rest of the family, leaving a trail of blood from the injured Eh-Ay. My foster daughter’s child.

  Oliver made a horrible noise of pain deep in his throat, and I turned to see that he was restrained as well – the nanos were wrapped around his legs and held him in place, and his lower face was covered. The female stood next to him with her head bowed and her hands hidden inside her robe’s sleeves, radiating deep humiliation.

  The cat family who’d bought Georgina’s child went to the space elevator, the bear-like alien still bleeding, and went down to the surface.

  Something happened to Oliver – I sensed his pain. He threw his head back and made an awful choking sound at the back of his throat. The nanos released his feet and he collapsed, falling backwards onto his butt and rubbing his ankles. His father had nearly crushed them. I wanted to run to him, but I was still gagged and restrained. Tears sprung from my eyes and the nanos collected them, running over my face in an awful liquid mass.

  Oliver’s father walked stiffly to stand where both of us could see him.

  ‘You shame me,’ he said to Oliver. He turned to me. ‘You shame yourself. Control yourself, Ambassador, and I will take you to see your people.’

  I raised my hands and furiously gesticulated at him as I tried to speak through the nanos.

  ‘I think it would be best if you remained silent,’ he said. ‘But I am willing to give you another chance. Are you able to control yourself? No more speaking – either verbal or telepathic?’

  I wanted to tear his throat out. Instead I nodded, and the nanos released my feet and face. I fell forward, then picked myself up and went to Oliver, but a wall of nanos sprung up so that I couldn’t see him.

  ‘Leave him,’ the cat leader said. ‘He also needs to learn restraint. If you can remain silent, I will take you to see your people now.’

  I just nodded.

  ‘Good,’ he said, and gestured towards the elevator.

  I threw a despairing look back towards Oliver as I followed his father away.

  *

  Back on the surface, the cat leader again summoned a black vehicle of nanobots and transported me for more than an hour across the dry terrain. The houses petered out, and the surrounding landscape was limited to smaller clay buildings and some larger, more utilitarian structures that looked like power plants or warehouses, made out of black metal and without any distinguishing features on the outside. Eventually they finished as well and we hit the edge of a black plain. The entire landscape was covered in the black nano material. These were the black blots visible from space – the cats’ solar collector – and the view from space didn’t do it justice. It stretched across the horizon, glossy and featureless.

  The vehicle lifted us, and we travelled over the solar collector for ten minutes. The heat rippled over the nano surface, making it appear that we were floating over a sea of stars from the reflected night sky. A group of lights appeared on the horizon, reflected in the heat haze. As we approached, I realised that it was the prisoner of war camp. The humans were being held in what was effectively a shed over the nano surface; it was two storeys high with a roof and no walls, and the thousand captives sat under the shelter in small groups.

  Someone shouted when they saw us, and they all moved to the end of the building as far away from us as they could. A smaller group formed and stood closer, waiting for us to arrive. I was relieved to see that they were standing as I’d been hoping that the cats hadn’t cut everyone’s legs off to stop them from running – then I saw that all their legs were black. They were standing on legs made of nanos.

  The cat leader stopped the vehicle, and we stepped out. The humans saw me and the mood quickly turned jubilant. They knew I was there to get them out.

  ‘Talk to them about their needs; I want them to stop complaining,’ the cat leader said. ‘I will return in an hour.’ He went back to his vehicle and drove away.

  I attempted to contact Masako. I have the location of the humans.

  She didn’t reply, so I kept up the transmission, hoping that she could fold into orbit long enough for me to tell her where they were.

  The captives mobbed me when I approached and all embraced me, patting me on the back and talking at once.

  ‘Jian.’ General Oshala, the most senior officer, had been a respected Indian academic before joining the battle against the cats. ‘It’s so damn good to see you! How long before you can get us out?’

  ‘I’m working on it,’ I said. If I’m distracted, it’s because I’m trying to contact them. We have someone standing by to fold you out.

  He looked down at his legs. ‘Mind what you say.’

  I nodded, understanding. The nanos were relaying everything we said back to
the cat.

  ‘We tried to escape, but we can’t . . .’ He took a deep breath, holding the distress down. ‘We can’t leave the roofed structure. Our legs only work inside it, and if we try to crawl further a wall grows out of the ground.’

  ‘Don’t apologise,’ I said. ‘I understand how the nano material works. I just hope you’re all safe and . . . not in too much distress.’

  ‘That was awful,’ one of the other officers said. He put his hand over his eyes and turned away. ‘My legs still hurt.’

  ‘We just need to get you home and fix you up,’ I said. ‘Remember, you have your soulstones back, so stay safe and concentrate on reattuning them.’

  ‘Where did they come from?’ Oshala said. ‘Are they the real thing?’ He touched the green stone in his forehead. ‘They attached themselves to our foreheads correctly, and they have the weird energy, but it seems . . . muted.’

  ‘I brought them myself, and we know the cats can’t duplicate them. If you think they’ve been tampered with, then we can replace them when you’re home.’

  ‘Probably my imagination,’ he said, dropping his hand. ‘Or something to do with this location.’

  ‘Are you comfortable? The cat leader said you were unhappy.’ I looked around. ‘No furniture, no beds, no nothing?’

  ‘They sleep during the day,’ Oshala said. ‘They’re nocturnal. During the day the floor makes us some sleeping pads. It’s not uncomfortable, the nanos cool the air under the roof so we’re not too hot. Oh god, Jian.’ He hugged me again, and a few of the humans voiced sympathy. ‘Thank you so much for coming.’

  ‘Are you here to take us home?’ one of the other humans said. ‘Please. Get us out of here! Do you know how my family is? What happened? The cat leader told us they had a great victory and killed many of us . . . Is this true?’

  A few people voiced agreement.

  ‘My wife was on one of the other ships!’ a man shouted. ‘We have two kids back on Earth.’