Forty-two
Gorlon Hague could still dream, but his dream was a
pale shadow of its former magnificence in his unaugmented brain. His
forest had fallen to ruin beneath leaden skies, colorless, permeated with
an unpleasant odor, the smell of imminent death, or fear. If he didn't
die soon, he would go mad and become part of the gray dying. Together, he
and the dream would fade away into nothingness.
Somewhere in the midst of his dying, he caught sight
of movement, and it sparked terror because he knew it was an invasion from
outside of himself. He had hoped this would not happen. He feared he had
somehow reached Covonia, and the Ruling Council had established an
interface if for no other reason that to try him for his crimes and
torment him before inflicting a painful and lingering death.
A single human figure appeared in the distance,
strolling toward him through the desolation. When he saw that it moved
with the grace of a female, confused hope sprang alive in his heart.
"Shesel?"
When he saw that it was Myla, he cried out in terror
and turned and fled across the wilderness of his dream. It seemed that he
ran forever, although each time he glanced back, she had drawn closer,
still approaching at that same, casual pace. His flight across the
desolation became like movement through a viscous fluid. In the end, he
gave up, fell to the ground and tried to bury his face in stench of dead
hopes and dreams.
"I'm not here to hurt you," Myla said in an
exasperated tone of voice. "I just wanted to make sure you're still
okay."
Hague dared not respond. She was here to punish him,
and of all the terrors the universe could pit against a helpless human
soul, she was by far the worst.
Myla laughed at him, her interface so intensely
personal that she could read his thoughts. "No, I'm not here to punish
you. I have need of you."
Gorlon spoke without looking up at her. "Of what use
am I to you? No one but Shesel has ever shared my dreams and look what I
have done to her, how I have rewarded her for her loyalty and affection."
"What have you done to her, Gorlon?"
"I have failed her. I have betrayed her."
"You betrayed Dalikor. I know what they teach in the
schools about the Hive war. Is that information accurate?"
Gorlon thought it strange that she wanted nothing
more than to question him. So badly disarmed, he had no reason to deny
her. "What they teach children in school is what the
Alliance wants them to hear,” he said. “Khalin was a warrior. Mesina was
his sorceress. They are legends of human history and will always be.”
“Was Mesina his mate?”
“His mate. His universe. She was a biological
researcher specializing in the Mysaelia biochemistry she had recently
discovered and was being adapted for use in human avatars. The Hive
caught wind of the research. They had already turned rogue and knew the
Mysaelia discovery would eventually spell their destruction. They
attacked her. Most of Mesina's research group and her family died on
Katon. Two billion people died on Katon.”
"The schools taught that Dalikor was responsible for
the Hive War," Myla said.
"Dalikor hadn’t been created when it began. When it
began, the Hive did not target human populations. MI manufacturing sites
on both sides were autonomous and would have continued the war in that
fashion, blindly pitting machine against machine. Dalikor tipped the
balance of power. The Hive assumed Dalikor would reside among human
populations, being basically human. They struck at random in hopes of
killing him."
"Is that when you betrayed Khalin Nome and Mesina and
killed Dalikor?"
"Myla, it wasn't just me. Mesina was pregnant when
her world was destroyed. In her grief, she lost that child, and in his
anger, Khalin made good use of it."
“Dalikor was Khalin Nome’s son,” Myla said.
“Yes, his son, the same DNA
pattern. I was Nome's second in command even back then. We
were terrified of Dalikor. There were no controls in place. We feared he
shared his mother's anger and would sacrifice all of humanity to defeat
the Hive."
"Then I pose the same threat."
Gorlon's voice was a frightened whisper. "If only
you could see yourself from a human perspective. You have no idea of what
you have accomplished, and no one, not even you, has any idea of what you
will become as you mature."
"Why didn't you kill Khalin?"
Gorlon buried his face in the dirt in his misery.
"We needed Khalin to defend us against the Alliance we ourselves created.
Even the Alliance spared his life in fear of the Hive. I was assigned the
job to safeguard Khalin in case he was ever needed again to defend against
the Hive. As new generations
replaced the old, I thought the past had been forgotten."
"I'm Dalikor's replacement," Myla said.
"Yes."
"Gorlon, the Alliance is attacking Covonia right now
because of me."
Gorlon raised his head off the ground. "How do the
cities fare?"
"One committed itself to the void."
"Tasia. Laitin Doen, the fool."
"How long can they withstand an assault?"
Gorlon gave the question due consideration. "The
Alliance will not have brought weapon sufficient to destroy any of the
cities. They would not have anticipated our defiance and defensive
capabilities. The core worlds will have vessels with sufficient
firepower, if the Alliance dares leave them undefended."
Gorlon looked around at her, then shied from eye
contact. "You will defeat them, of course. You will become a goddess.
Human beings will become as insects to you..."
"Who am I, Gorlon? Who is Mothwing?"
The question threw him off guard. "I have no way of
knowing.”
"I cannot be Myla Rhodes. Was there ever a real Myla
Rhodes?"
"I cannot say for sure."
Myla sat at Gorlon's side, despondent. "Then I may never
know."
"You will know everything. What's to stop you?"
She looked up in surprise. "I can't stay to find
out."
Gorlon sat up slowly, drawing his human knees to his
chin and staring off into the gloom. His expression, though, had cleared
of panic,
his curiosity now piqued. "You have defeated the Hive. The Alliance cannot
stand against you. You will have many supporters among the colonies.”
"I have no desire to become a goddess."
Gorlon studied the face of a child, and the child
smiled sadly at his confusion. "If Dalikor was so much your superior, why did you
think you could understand his motivations? Human beings
have always made that same mistake, imagining what their gods think and
feel. No god has ever spoken for itself. It wouldn't have been able to
get in a word edgewise."
Gorlon's expression twisted into a grimace of
perplexity.
“I have to leave," Myla said. "The Hive has stated
they will no longer initiate hostilities against humanity if I leave. All you have
to contend with is the Alliance."
Gorlon couldn't believe what he was hearing. He
entertained for the first time the possibility that his conversation with
Myla was part of his intensifying madness. This was, after all, just a
wishful dream. Maybe none of it was happening for real.
"I'm sending you back with Boris to defend Covonia.”
Gorlon stared at her in horror.
"I will place you aboard one of my command modules.
You will be given an interface with Boris, and control of my armada. I
have also placed a mud dragon aboard your vessel. I want him returned to
a sink hole on Covonia. If anyone feels they have ever had reason to fear
me, I will give them that reason if anything bad happens to that pesky
little monster."
Gorlon climbed to his feet feeling increasingly
elated, but not entirely convinced it was anything but a sick delusion.
“You deserved the defeat you suffered, General. I'm
not a Nat and I never was, but I still think of myself as one, and I'm
aware of all of the crimes you have committed against me and my people.
I don't know your reasoning, but Covonia deserves the victory you can give it. Jeremy and that
nasty Alliance investigative agent, Lee Woken, found a back-end
communications channel to Bolphan that I've put to good use. I want you
to be your old cantankerous self when you engage the Alliance, so I got in
touch with an old friend of yours. She said she’d see to it that you have
all the motivation you need to do what has to be done."
"Shesel," he said breathlessly. He dared not hope. Even in his vague excuse for a
dream, his eyes were filled with tears.
But off to one side, his forest came back to
brilliant life. The lush ferns of a verdant tropical forest stood
silhouetted against a peach sunset. The skies filled with stars, and the
undergrowth came alive with the song of insects and stirrings of small
animals. And from a glow of lavender light, a second human figure
emerged, cried his name, and ran toward him trailing billowing gossamer
veils in her wake.
"I never liked you," Myla said from the depth of his
boundless joy, "but she seems to. Oh, and by the way, will you tell
Khalin Nome that I loved him? He was the only father I have ever known.”
Gorlon opened his mouth to thank her in some perverse
manner, but she was gone by then, and Shesel had thrown herself into his
arms.
