Guardian of Empire

by Kylie Chan

  I turned and faced the flat ribbon of ice in front of me. It hung suspended from slender ice pillars from the ceiling of the cavern, something only possible in the low gravity of Aerna. The ceiling was transparent, pale blue ice that let in enough sunlight that I could see the first few hundred metres of the path before it disappeared into the expansive space. I blew on my hands to warm them, pulled my gloves on, and readied myself.

  Akiko wasn’t at this stage yet; she was still skating the ribbons with energy barriers on the sides.

  ‘Come on, Jian, you can do it,’ she said from the other side of the platform. It was twenty metres wide and the flat ice ribbon passed through the middle, coming in steeply from the more difficult parts of the run.

  A few Aernians were on a platform ten metres above us, supervising the gap between skaters. ‘Three minutes,’ one of them shouted.

  A marine creature in a full enviro-suit skated down the ribbon and through the platform on its skate-equipped fins. It emitted a high-pitched whistle as it passed us.

  ‘Go, Bubbles!’ I shouted as it went through. It was so fast that it was gone in a flash of bright pink bioluminescence visible through the transparent suit.

  ‘Show me how it’s done, Jian,’ Akiko said. I glanced over at her and she smiled, the dimples appearing on her cheeks. She was so gorgeous, so courageous, incredibly educated and successful, and I once again couldn’t believe my luck to have her in my life. She saw my face. ‘We can celebrate when you succeed. For now, concentrate.’

  I turned back to the ribbon. She was right.

  ‘Clear to go, follow me,’ Rhythm-of-Slaps said, and launched itself onto the ice ribbon, flapping its wings to propel itself across the sheet. The ice was only a couple of metres wide, and after weeks of practice with Akiko I was finally skating it without Marque’s energy barriers on either side.

  I pushed myself off and slid down the ribbon as it descended towards the cavern floor. I couldn’t see the spectators, but ribbon-skating wasn’t much of a spectator sport anyway; it was a jump-in-and-give-it-a-try sport. I hit the first turn; the ice wasn’t terribly sloping there, and I had to work hard to stay on the ribbon and make the turn. I made it successfully and skated up a small rise and then around the next turn, following Rhythm’s graceful lead.

  My breath fogged in front of me as I rounded the turn. Shafts of light from holes in the cavern ceiling made the ice glow, and I felt that I was sliding through a blue-white fairyland. I went down for a hundred metres of exhilarating freefall, then hit the hardest turn. The ribbons were a natural formation, not artificial, and the path narrowed precipitously and did a sharp left turn twenty metres from the wall of the cavern.

  I dug the edge of my skates into the ice, pulled a massive amount of traction, and didn’t make it. I slid off the edge of the ice ribbon and hurtled in low-gravity slow motion towards the wall of the cavern. The floor was so far down that it wasn’t visible. Marque gathered me up and carried me back to the starting platform for another try.

  ‘I notified Rhythm-of-Slaps,’ Marque said. ‘It’ll be here shortly.’

  ‘Thanks,’ I said.

  ‘You did great!’ Aki shouted. She came to me and hugged me, jumping to reach my height. ‘Just a little too fast on that corner, but I’m sure you’ll have it next time!’

  ‘Thanks, love,’ I said. I bent to kiss her quickly. ‘Your turn next.’

  ‘I have a message from the Empress for you, Jian,’ Marque said. ‘I thought it best to wait until you’re free to pass it through.’

  ‘Tell her to piss off,’ I said, and the ice rays around me sniggered by slapping their wings on the ice.

  ‘You are amazingly rude to her,’ Aki said. She shoved me with her shoulder. ‘I love it.’

  ‘It’s now a full Earth year since you rescued the hostage humans,’ Marque said in the Empress’ voice. ‘You said to wait a year and then ask you. So, are you willing to be the captain of my guard now?’

  ‘Graf is doing the job and it’s doing well,’ I said. ‘You don’t need me.’

  ‘Graf sucks,’ the Empress said, and the ray slaps went louder and faster behind me. ‘And the usual thing is happening when you have a bad team leader: people are resigning. I’ve lost twenty members in the last six of your months. They said they’d come back if you became captain.’

  ‘Go away,’ I said. ‘I’ve met someone and I’m having a great time ribbon-skating. End transmission.’

  Rhythm-of-Slaps skated down the ribbon to join us on the platform. ‘Marque, quickly,’ it said.

  ‘I’m here,’ Marque said.

  ‘What are the current odds? I want to put another couple of hundredths on “No”.’

  ‘Current odds are fourteen to one against Jian being Captain of the Guard in the next five Earth years,’ Marque said. ‘Odds are shorter for a longer time frame, and I won’t take bets past ten years.’

  ‘Put another three hundredths of a scale on her not being captain,’ Rhythm-of-Slaps said.

  ‘You and everybody else,’ Marque said. ‘Odds just went in to ten to one.’

  ‘Put a full scale on me becoming captain in the next year,’ I said, grinning with mischief at Rhythm-of-Slaps. ‘And tell everyone I did it.’

  ‘Wait, what? A whole scale?’ Aki said. ‘We talked about this, what are you doing?’

  I’m just yanking his fins, I said, and she scowled. She didn’t believe me.

  ‘Whoa, odds on her not being captain just went out to thirty-three to one,’ Marque said.

  ‘You’re not serious,’ Rhythm-of-Slaps said. ‘I have a lot of scales on this!’

  ‘No, I’m not serious. But when you win you’ll win a lot more,’ I said.

  ‘But you’ll lose!’ Rhythm-of-Slaps said. ‘A whole scale?’

  I shrugged. ‘The Empress gives me a scale every few months when she asks me to be captain. This is a much better use for them than just destroying them.’

  ‘You destroy Empress’ scales?’ Rhythm-of-Slaps and Aki said in unison.

  I chuckled. ‘I might as well; they’re in storage in my apartment.’

  ‘Two more to pass through, then it’s your turn, Princess Akiko,’ Rhythm-of-Slaps said. ‘How do the Earth authorities feel about you turning down this prestigious position, Miss Jian?’

  I scowled. ‘The Ambassador and the Empress are both pestering me to captain the guard.’

  ‘So prestigious,’ Rhythm-of-Slaps cooed.

  ‘Jian was on call to defend the Empire for more than ten Earth years,’ Aki said. ‘She deserves some well-earned rest and recreation.’

  Aki’s supervisor slid down from the viewing platform. ‘Princess Akiko, be ready, please. Your window is after the next skater.’

  ‘Please, just Akiko without the Princess bullshit,’ she said.

  An enormous tentacled mollusc with a black conical shell skated through, squealing like a child. Its aura of pure joy lifted my own emotions.

  Akiko grinned and readied herself. ‘Energy barriers on, please, Marque.’

  ‘You’re nearly ready to try with them off,’ Rhythm-of-Slaps said. ‘Beat Jian to a clear circuit without them.’

  ‘It’s not a competition,’ Aki said. ‘And I’m quite enjoying doing it without the stress of staying on.’

  ‘Go, Akiko,’ her supervisor said, and slid down the ribbon.

  Aki flashed me a grin and took off after it, her small round frame moving gracefully over the ice.

  ‘My mother is pestering me to have a child with Akiko, as well,’ I said, watching her with delight as she joyfully slid over the ribbons and through the drifting sunshine.

  ‘Oh, that’s wonderful!’ Rhythm-of-Slaps said.

  ‘Both of us are having far too much fun to worry about having kids right now,’ I said. ‘I just want to enjoy life, like she said.’

  ‘You deserve it. Five more through, and then it’s your turn.’

  A legless reptile, like a snake except shorter and rounder, slid past on its belly,
hissing like a steam engine.

  ‘I’m going to do it this time,’ I said, and stretched.

  *

  Oliver, David and Runa joined me and Aki on Sillon to try fluorocarbon diving. The tutor was offshore, too big to come close, and she guided us with a human-shaped hologram. Marque passed the breathers around, and we studied them carefully. Each one was a mouthpiece attached to a horizontal tube that held the liquid circulators.

  ‘While I’m teaching you, I’ll call the liquid water because it’s easier for you,’ Basks-in-Sunshine’s holographic surrogate said. ‘It’s slightly less dense than water, so be ready to float more than you’re accustomed to. Don’t worry about changes in the breather’s sound; it will manage your oxygen level and adjust the circulation accordingly.’

  I checked the breather; it had a switch on the side to turn it on.

  ‘It will feel like you’re drowning,’ Basks said. ‘You’ll find your serious survival reflexes get hit every time your lungs fill with the liquid. It takes a while to get used to it, but no rush. So: time to check your breathers. Turn them on.’

  The air filled with the gentle hum of the rotators.

  ‘Step carefully, and follow me,’ Basks said, leading us down the ramp into the fluorocarbon sea. She turned and walked backwards, watching us as we descended the ramp. ‘When you’re up to your shoulders, stop.’

  We did as we were told, standing along the ramp.

  ‘Okay, your buoyancy looks neutral. If you have issues, raise your hand and Marque will lift you out of the water to reset your buoyancy. Ready?’

  We all nodded. I wasn’t worried at the idea of filling my lungs with the liquid; I’d died too many times already for death to be a concern. I just didn’t want to embarrass myself by panicking when it happened.

  ‘Right,’ Basks said. ‘Step down the ramp until the breather is under water. You may find it easier to deal with the feeling of drowning if your head is entirely under water, but this next part is all you. Ready to drown?’

  We nodded again and sidled down the ramp until the breathers hit the water. My breather’s noise changed from a hum to a vibration as it submerged, and the liquid gushed down my throat. My throat closed up, my lungs filled with liquid, and I panicked at the drowning feeling. I charged up the ramp to wrench out the breather and cough up the transparent fluid. When I could breathe again, I straightened to find everybody else next to me doing exactly the same thing.

  Runa didn’t need a breather, and she floated patiently in the liquid, waiting for Oliver to gain the skill.

  I heard hissing and looked up. Oliver’s wife, who still hadn’t shared her name with us, had declined to join us but was watching from a viewing platform near the ramp. She covered her mouth and turned away.

  Oliver studied her. ‘That is the best noise I’ve heard in a while.’

  ‘It’s a big breakthrough,’ I said. ‘Let’s leave her to think about it without any pressure. Marque, if her body language shows that she’s relaxing and enjoying herself, ask her gently again if she’d like to join us.’

  ‘I will,’ Marque said.

  David coughed again and wiped his mouth. ‘How the hell do you do that?’ he said. ‘That’s awful!’

  ‘It’s just practice,’ Basks said. ‘You’ll be floating around by the end of the day.’

  ‘I’ll be doing it before David,’ Oliver said. He fitted his breather back in and strode with determination down the ramp again.

  ‘Take it slowly, don’t rush or you’ll hurt yourself,’ I said. ‘This isn’t a race.’

  ‘Don’t be silly, Mum, we’re brothers,’ David said. ‘It’s always a race.’ He fitted his own breather and followed Oliver. He stopped and removed his breather halfway down the ramp. ‘And your fur looks ridiculous when it’s wet, big brother.’

  Oliver pulled his breather out. ‘Less ridiculous than your naked hairlessness, simian boy,’ he said, then turned and went into the liquid.

  Oliver’s wife hissed again and nobody paid any attention to her, but we all shared a smile. The Oliver-and-David show was always entertaining.

  I honestly thought Oliver had it, but he charged back up, ripped out the breather, and coughed the liquid up.

  ‘I can do it,’ David said, strode into the liquid, and failed as well.

  ‘This is going to take time,’ I said, and added sternly, ‘and it is not a race.’

  Oliver’s wife cackled with laughter on the platform above us. David hesitated, thinking, then glanced at me, turned, and went up the ramp to the platform that she was sitting on. He sat next to her and leaned in to speak to her, and I couldn’t hear what he said. Her body language seemed receptive; she didn’t move away from him, and she appeared to be listening carefully to him. She answered him, speaking softly, and I felt a bolt of pride and happiness.

  ‘Leave them to it, Mum,’ Oliver said. He lowered his voice. ‘I think they really like each other, but neither of them has said anything about it.’

  ‘Another local is here,’ Runa said from where she floated at the end of the ramp. Her voice went higher in pitch. ‘Goodness! I’d heard that they’re big . . . but . . .’

  ‘This is a small one,’ Marque said.

  We removed our breathers and made sounds of wonder as a massive bulk edged its way towards us. One of the liquid-breathing locals had come to visit in her own body, without a surrogate. She was transparent blue-green, almost see-through, and fifty metres across, with two-metre-long fins all around her circular edge. She dwarfed us, lying in the water just deep enough to avoid being beached.

  ‘Hello, Deep-Dives,’ Basks said. ‘This is my third-level reproductive partner, Deep-Dives-Through-Undersea-Caves. She wants to join us when you have the skill.’

  Marque translated for her. ‘You people are so slow! Hurry up, I want to give you a ride – the red eggs are hatching and the sea is full of them. They glow! Come on, get those breathers going so I can show you.’

  ‘Oh we need to go see that,’ Basks said. ‘It’s glorious.’ Her body further out in the water made a sound of pleasure that was a bass rumble so loud that I felt it through my chest. ‘And delicious.’

  ‘Deal,’ Oliver said. He put his breather back in and went into the water.

  ‘How long will the reds be spawning?’ I asked Deep-Dives.

  ‘They just started, so really you guys have ages, I’m just being impatient,’ she said. ‘I have to be too careful not to knock you over this close to shore, so I’ll move away a bit.’

  ‘Do you want a surrogate to talk to them?’ Marque said.

  ‘No, no need, Basks is better at training than I am. I’ll wait for you in deeper water.’ She blinked at us with six crystalline eyes set over the top of her dome-shaped body. ‘I want to show you all the pretty things! Hurry them up, Basks-in-Sunshine.’

  ‘We want to see them,’ I said, and walked down the ramp again. ‘Aki, you are amazing.’ Aki was floating in the liquid, breathing it like a pro and blinking in the sunshine. She said something unintelligible in the breather, then switched to throat-speak through the attached microphone. ‘Come on, Jian, it’s all right once your lungs are full. It’s just the transition that’s awful.’

  Twenty minutes later, everybody else had it and was floating at the end of the ramp. David and the female cat had left to talk in privacy and I hadn’t even seen them go. I couldn’t work the breather; I couldn’t master the feeling of panic and still hadn’t managed to control it.

  ‘It’s because she’s fought for her life too many times,’ Marque said. ‘It’s a survival reflex.’

  ‘You guys go with Basks and Deep-Dives,’ I said, disappointed.

  ‘Deep-Dives can take them, I’ll stay here and help,’ Basks said. ‘I’ve never failed a tourist, and I don’t want a war hero to be my first.’

  ‘Are you sure?’ Oliver said.

  ‘She’ll catch up,’ Basks said. ‘We will do it!’

  ‘Catch up soon, Jian,’ Akiko said, and the rest of
the group swam out to Deep-Dives. She opened her purple sphincter-shaped mouth, and they went inside so that she could carry them into deeper water.

  ‘Now that they’re gone, we have an option that may work for you,’ Basks said. ‘It’s not pretty to watch, but I think you can handle it.’

  ‘You’re going to hold me under water and stop me from running out?’ I said.

  ‘Precisely.’

  ‘That’s what I was planning to ask you. You can do that?’

  ‘Only with your permission. You won’t be harmed, but it may be very stressful for you.’

  ‘How do you hold me?’

  ‘Marque will do it with an energy barrier.’

  I put my breather in and spoke through the throat mic. ‘Go right ahead.’

  ‘Confirm your permission,’ Marque said.

  ‘I confirm. If I die I absolve you of responsibility.’

  ‘You don’t need to say that; you won’t die,’ Marque said. ‘Okay, walk down the ramp. I won’t warn you, it will be sudden. It might be a good idea to close your eyes and try to relax into it. Ready?’

  I nodded and walked deeper into the liquid. I’d been at it long enough now that the feeling of panic began to overwhelm me even before the breather hit the surface.

  Marque grabbed me with an energy field, pushed me down the ramp, and held me down. Even though I was expecting it, the liquid poured down my throat and filled my lungs. I was dying. I couldn’t breathe. I struggled to get enough air in, and it didn’t happen. My intelligence took a back seat to the wild animal panic of the certainty that I was dying, and I thrashed and screamed. Marque held the breather in my mouth and spoke softly in my ear.

  ‘Relax. You’re fine,’ it said. ‘You aren’t drowning. Breathe. Breathe.’

  I panted against the breather, and my awareness slowly returned to me. I opened my eyes. Breathing the liquid was more difficult than air, but that was because I was trying too hard. I didn’t need to breathe, the mechanism did it for me.

  I closed my eyes, made an effort to relax, and stopped trying to breathe altogether. My body would still breathe by reflex, and the effort of breathing the liquid would make my chest muscles hurt after a while, but as long as I stayed in control I would be all right. The breather circulated the liquid through me, and I became aware of a floral taste to it – like Earth roses.