Guardian of Empire

by Kylie Chan

  ‘No,’ he said. ‘Miko has basic four-dimensional vision, and there are cables inside the door that lead elsewhere. The structure itself is solid metal. They open it manually somewhere else.’

  ‘Not surprising. Any bugs, Miko?’

  ‘No, Captain. The walls . . . bulkheads . . . are all solid metal as well. No cameras, microphones or nanos, just smooth unbroken metal and a manually-operated door.’

  ‘Nothing for us to break into and use against them,’ Haruka said.

  Miko lowered her voice. ‘It’s strange not having Marque’s reassuring presence.’

  ‘I feel that way too.’ I downed the water, handed the cup back to Miko, and slid off the bed onto my feet. I straightened my uniform and started to pace. ‘They have our ship as well as all of us. And our soulstones – if they work out how to reverse-engineer the soulstone technology, it will be a catastrophe. They’ll send unlimited numbers of walkers through the teleporters and we’ll be attacked everywhere.’ I thumped my forehead. ‘What the hell did they hit us with?’

  The door slid open and I turned. The cat that had killed Oliver’s father was standing in the doorway. It grinned to reveal long canines. ‘Good. You’re awake. About time.’

  My immediate reaction was to grab anything nearby that could be used as a weapon. I cast around the contents of the cabin and found nothing useful. I took a step towards him, then stopped. Attacking him while they held my soulstone would just get me killed for no benefit. He had a small laser gun in one hand and – what the hell – a writhing, suckered tentacle in the other. I wanted to kill him so much it hurt, and I shook with restraint.

  ‘Steady, Jian,’ Haruka said.

  I nodded to acknowledge him. ‘This is Ambassador Haruka of New Nippon. I am Captain Jian Choumali of the Imperial—’

  ‘Dragon whatever whatever Empire, I know who you are,’ the cat said. ‘I am Senator Sishisti of the Cat Republic.’

  ‘You killed my son’s father.’

  ‘You remember! Well done. That one was deeply rooted in the past. After I killed him, we made some serious changes to the way we do things.’ He bowed stiffly to me. ‘Many of those changes are a result of your own wise influence. The messages we received from your cat son’s wife inspired us to begin a new era of freedom and equality.’ His eyes gleamed with menace. ‘Aishisistra no longer applies in the Cat Republic, and our women are free to pursue their own lives without being reproductive slaves – as you are to the dragons.’

  ‘Well that’s a positive sign, even though we’re not reproductive slaves,’ Haruka said. ‘Let’s try to salvage lasting peace between our people . . .’

  ‘You will remain silent,’ the cat snapped at Haruka. He turned back to me and waved at the bed. ‘You are famous for resisting the dragons’ sexual advances, so I assume you have stronger willpower than average. Let’s do this.’

  I looked at the bed, then at him.

  ‘Sit and talk,’ he said, exasperated. ‘Unlike you, we are selective about our mating partners. Our President is on her way, so let’s start negotiations, shall we? Can Admiral Blake sign an agreement on behalf of Earth, or do we need to go higher?’

  Haruka stood and straightened his kimono, then pulled his hair back and roughly braided it to reveal the green scales at his temples. ‘We will never surrender.’

  ‘You sit down and shut up,’ the cat said. He turned back to me. ‘Join the Republic. Free yourselves from the reproductive tyranny of the dragons. We will give you democracy, freedom, all of the things you don’t have while these disgusting mind-manipulating reptiles control you. Cast them off and rule yourselves – democratically choose your leaders instead of subjecting yourselves to control by the dragons. We’ll keep Haruka and Masako as honoured ambassadors and send the rest of you home to Earth with a division of cats to oversee the transition to Republic membership. If the Admiral signs the treaty, all hostilities will cease.’

  ‘No,’ I said.

  Haruka glared at him. ‘You entice species with these promises of democracy, but every civilisation that has joined your “republic” ends up with cats ruling them.’

  ‘Many species need a supervised transition to full democracy,’ the cat said. ‘Our facilitators ensure that barbaric feudal societies like yours make the transition successfully.’

  ‘We will not agree to be conquered by you; we will all die first,’ Haruka said.

  ‘That’s the dragons controlling you, Prince Haruka,’ the cat said. He turned to me. ‘They’re controlling your mind! Join us, and all humanity will be free of the dragons’ domination and will rule yourselves. You won’t have to be their breeding stock any more.’

  ‘You have no idea how the Empire works,’ I said. ‘It is a democracy. The Empress only rules the dragons. Everybody else chooses their own representatives in our Parliament.’

  ‘She has power of veto,’ the cat said. ‘They control your minds.’

  ‘No, they don’t!’ I said, exasperated. ‘We love being in the Empire, and every human, dragonscales and dragon would die before we submit to your corrupt rule.’

  ‘It’s not corrupt,’ he said, protesting. ‘It’s just . . . practical.’

  ‘Our answer is no,’ Haruka said. ‘Go back to your President and pass the message on that all of us will die first.’

  ‘I’m not asking you,’ the cat said. ‘I’m asking the human. You’re already contaminated. You need to be purged.’

  ‘I agree with him,’ I said.

  ‘You’ll think differently after we’ve removed the dragons from Earth and freed you from their mind control,’ the cat said.

  ‘We will fight to the death for the Empire,’ I said. ‘You’re wasting your time.’

  ‘Really?’ the cat said, then raised the writhing blue tentacle to his mouth, and bit down hard on it. The scream that filled my head seemed to come from inside it as much as outside, and I blacked out.

  *

  I fell into a chair and jerked awake. I sat up and looked around; I was in a shuttle with Senator Sishisti next to me.

  ‘Analgesic, Captain?’ he offered, gesturing towards the comms panel. ‘Water? You’ve been out for a long time.’

  I saw a soulstone that looked like my own on the panel and reached to grab it, but he took my hand first and held it away. ‘Steady, now. You can have that after you’ve agreed to my offer.’

  I took the water and had a long drink instead, then peered through the small window in front of us, searching for the cat cruiser, but I didn’t see it. The Silver Lotus was visible in the distance, on the other side of the planetoid where we were supposed to hold the talks.

  ‘Where are we?’ I said. ‘What happened? How did you do that?’

  He raised his other hand, holding the writhing tentacle. ‘Effective, eh? Does it sound like a scream when I bite down on it?’

  ‘It’s that thing? The sound . . .’ I shook my head.

  ‘We thought they were just delicious food. Imagine our delight when we discovered that they did this to you. Wonderful.’ He turned his seat to face me, his green eyes luminous in the reflected lights of the comms. ‘We’re . . .’ He hesitated. ‘Computer. How many kilometres is three hundred eshata?’

  ‘Two hundred and fifty thousand kilometres,’ the computer said.

  ‘That far away from the—’ he growled the name of the cruiser. ‘Are you outside the dragon’s control? If you’re still controlled by Masako, tell me and we’ll move further away.’

  ‘Princess Masako does not control me,’ I said with fierce dignity. ‘No dragon controls me. I serve the Empire of my own free will.’

  He bared his teeth at me. ‘Are you really that stupid?’ He turned back to the panel. ‘No, you’re still controlled. Let’s go another hundred thousand clicks away and see if that works.’

  He didn’t speak to me as he pushed the little ship into warp, and we travelled for twenty minutes. When he wound down the warp drive, we were closer to the Silver Lotus, the gigantic ship shining i
n the light of the black hole. He turned to me again. ‘Now, I want to talk to you about your role after Earth is welcomed into the Republic. You are the only human, as far as we know, who has been able to resist a dragon’s advances. We need someone strong-willed and intelligent like yourself to lead your people. Your adopted son is one of us, so you understand our ways. How do you feel about becoming leader of all Earth? President of humanity? If you can bring your people into the Republic, we will make it very profitable for you. And your family.’

  ‘Profitable?’ I said, feigning interest.

  ‘You would have complete control over all Earth’s finances. Humans are the most powerful chemical weapon in the civilised galaxies, and we will compensate you handsomely if you agree to join us. You, personally, will become wealthier than you can possibly imagine. All of Earth will be yours.’

  ‘But the Dragon Empire already gives me everything I need,’ I said, leading him on.

  ‘Do you have raw, unrestrained power over any other citizen? The power of life and death? The power to break those you hate, and raise those you love? That sort of power is intoxicating.’

  I opened my mouth to agree with him to keep him talking and gave up. I felt slightly nauseous. ‘I have no desire to control anyone like that.’

  A voice appeared from the console. ‘We are ready, sir.’

  ‘Fire,’ the Senator said.

  ‘What?’ I said, and was silenced. A beam of light hit the Silver Lotus and it dissolved, melting into huge droplets that spun away into space and froze. Some of them hit the surface of the planetoid below it.

  ‘My offer is vastly preferable to doing this to Earth,’ he said. ‘I’ll take you back to our flagship and house you separately from Haruka and Miko so you can think about it. Our President will be here soon, and she can confirm this exceptional offer.’

  A little version of me inside my head started screaming and running from side to side in a tiny cell. ‘I’d prefer to remain with Miko and Haruka. I need Miko, she’s my servant too. Putting me in solitary confinement will damage my mental health.’ I tried to keep the desperation from my voice. ‘Please don’t put me alone. Being on that warp ship by myself for a long time was . . . traumatic.’

  ‘I see. I will put you back with them, don’t worry.’ I tried to control my relieved reaction but he saw it. ‘Are you in a relationship with Haruka? People in the Empire seem to have no concept of chastity, modesty or virtue.’

  I smiled at the irony. ‘Masako and Haruka are married, in a monogamous relationship. Extremely chaste and modest.’

  ‘Maybe there is hope for the Empire after all,’ he said. ‘Once we have humanity in the Republic, we will be able to negotiate from a position of extreme power and bring some temperance to the debauchery of the Empire.’ He nodded. ‘I’ll take you back, and let you stay with Haruka and Miko. We know that the little yellow ones are worthless. The dragons are too soft, allowing these deformities to live. The President will be here soon, and you can talk to her about the opportunity we’re offering you.’

  ‘Is Masako all right?’ I said as he turned the little ship and pushed it back into warp.

  He glanced at me. ‘As long as you and I are talking, she is. If you agree to join us and free yourself from her mind control, you can do whatever you like with her.’ He smiled at the stars. ‘Take revenge for years of servitude.’

  I wiped my eyes. ‘Just send her home, and I’ll talk.’

  ‘I think holding the Empress’ favourite daughter is an advantage that we really don’t want to throw away.’

  *

  Miko and Haruka were waiting quietly for me in the cell when I returned.

  ‘Are you all right? You look like you were tortured,’ Haruka said.

  ‘They blew up the Silver Lotus.’

  ‘Seeing the empty ship destroyed traumatised you that much?’ Haruka said.

  I wiped my hands over my face and my voice shook. ‘He threatened to put me in solitary. I have . . . issues with that.’

  ‘I understand,’ he said, sounding more compassionate than I’d ever heard him. ‘Did he tell you where Masako is?’

  ‘They’re keeping her sedated as a hostage. He referred to her as “The Empress’ favourite daughter”.’

  ‘That’s surprisingly accurate; Masako is Mother’s chosen heir. So what do they want?’ Miko said, and Haruka glanced at her, obviously surprised at her forwardness. She bobbed her head. ‘Sorry.’

  ‘No. You have a brain, add it to the equation, help us out,’ he said. ‘I’ve been impressed by your analysis of the situation while Jian was gone.’ He turned to me. ‘She suggested that they want to bring humanity into the Republic so they can use you as a superweapon.’

  ‘That’s the gist of it.’ I scowled. ‘They offered to make me Queen of Earth with the power of life or death over every human, as if that is something I’d want.’

  ‘They’re power-hungry narcissists,’ Miko said. ‘They think everybody else is too.’

  ‘We need to get out of here,’ I said. ‘We need to wake Masako up, and—’

  Hello, are you new?

  I jumped and raised my hand. The mind that contacted was deeply intelligent and full of wonder. ‘Someone just contacted me telepathically. Not one of ours, and not a cat.’

  ‘Who?’ Miko said, and Haruka hushed her.

  Hello, I’m a prisoner here. Are you a prisoner as well? I replied.

  I suppose we are; we thought we were guests but they won’t take us home. They’re keeping us in a tank and taking one of our group out now and then, and not returning them. I hope they’re freeing them. Some of us think they may be harming our friends and families because we’re hearing them scream . . . but they have no reason to harm us? We don’t understand. Are they taking your friends and family as well?

  The mind was childlike in its naiveté, and of a type I’d never encountered before.

  What do your kind look like? I asked it.

  We look like this. It sent me an image of an underwater . . . it was a bright blue octopus, or as near to one as parallel evolution would generate. It appeared to have more tentacles than an Earth one, and its size was difficult to gauge.

  We look like this, I said. There are two types of us, dragons . . . I sent it an image of Masako. And humans. I sent it an image of myself. We also have a dragon/human hybrid with us.

  The octopus was incredulous. Is it possible to have children together when you are so dissimilar?

  It’s something that only dragons can do, I said. It’s complicated. We can explain after we free ourselves from the cats.

  Is that the creatures that are holding us? Cats?

  We call them cats. They have no name for themselves. Do you require water to live? Can you leave the tank?

  Some of us left the tank to go exploring. There was no water within travel distance so they returned. We have creatures on our world who breathe air, but have never encountered this degree of intelligence in other life. We are excited to meet you! Wait until we tell the people back home!

  I snapped back and turned to Haruka who was waiting impatiently.

  ‘What did you find?’

  ‘I found . . . I found a new intelligent species. Octopuses . . . Octopi? The cats are keeping them in a tank and I think they’re using them as a fresh food source.’ Realisation hit me. ‘They’re the thing that disables us. They’re ripping the arms off these poor people and biting on them to make them scream.’

  ‘They’re using an intelligent species as a weapon?’ Miko said, incredulous.

  ‘They’re using them as food,’ I said.

  ‘Can you talk to them?’ Haruka said. ‘How different are their minds?’

  ‘Not that different – they communicate with ideas just as dragons do.’

  Miko raised her head. ‘We’re dropping out of warp. Another ship has approached, and they’re leaving warp together – I think they’re going to dock and transfer us off.’ She studied me with her huge golden eyes. ‘C
aptain, goldenscales have the ability to build a mental image of nearby space, and when we’re out of warp I can gate—’

  ‘Gather the information, but don’t even think about gating,’ I said. ‘Masako’s still alive out there somewhere, and we will find her.’

  Admiral, I said to Blake. We’re dropping out of warp. Talk to your people. Someone must have long-distance telepathic ability. We need to contact home.

  On it, Twofeathers said.

  The door slid open to reveal two cats.

  I sighed. ‘And here’s the stick.’ I lowered my head and wiped my eyes. ‘Either solitary and torture for me, or they’ll threaten someone’s life to make me comply.’ I touched Miko’s shoulder; she was unresponsive, her eyes blank as she gathered the information. I nodded to Haruka. ‘I hope you find Masako and make it out, Haruka. If there’s no other option – talk to Miko. She has skills that aren’t widely known.’

  ‘Don’t give them anything,’ he said, his voice fierce.

  I turned to face the two cat guards who levelled weapons at me. ‘Don’t worry, I won’t.’

  They led me along a hallway with a textured carpet floor and travel platforms along the walls. They walked slowly, probably expecting me to be clumsy and slow-moving – and compared to them I was. We went along a curving corridor that had many doors leading out from it, and in a short time were at the command centre for the ship. It was massive; twenty metres to a side and soaring high above me, with platforms all the way up the wall, and the usual minimal visuals of the outside. They’d obviously put us in senior officers’ quarters if we were so close to the bridge.

  A female cat with a similar build and colouring to Senator Sishisti was standing next to him and waiting for me. There was a strong family resemblance between them.

  He nodded to me. ‘You are honoured. This is President Mesher of the Cat Republic, our first female President.’ He lowered his voice. ‘She isn’t as patient as me, Jian. I suggest you do as she asks.’