Thirty-two
For as long as Gorlon could remember, he and Shesel
had never discussed business when they dreamed together. The fantasy
forest was a world apart from Covonia, and they had wanted it keep it that
way forever. If at all possible, they wanted to die together embracing in
the dream. Now, it had become a place of refuge from the real world in
more concrete ways. Nowhere else in Covonia would it be safe to talk.
Around them, the dream forest was dark and quiet. Shesel
walked at his side down a broad path through the trees, a place in the
mind built upon the memory of a world long ago destroyed by the Hive War.
"What's going to happen now?" Shesel said. "Why did Khalin do this to
us?"
Gorlon Hague had been wondering that himself. "I'm
tempted to ask. I can't take the risk. As things stand, I have only one
last chance of defeating Myla. It has to be done while the Alliance still
believes that the alien presence may be responsible."
She took his arm and turned him about to face her.
"What else can you possibly do?"
Gorlon gazed down at her longingly, fearing he would
contaminate the dream with a subject so distasteful. "The Hive barely
held its own against Jzon Dalikor. Myla has positioned herself well and
may be able to repel even an all-out attack. If that happens, the Hive
may calculate that Myla represents a new war initiative. If so, it will
remember the factor that won the last war."
"The loss of human life," Shesel said softly,
fearfully. "We gave up."
"Exactly. They may choose to ignore Myla altogether
and direct their attack at human populations in hopes that we will destroy
our own weapon of war as we did once before."
Shesel shook her head, haunted by the thought. "But
we have no control over the girl! We have no access to her at all!”
"I know. I have spoken with the Hive through Boris
and I tried to explain that the old strategies won’t work this time. I
don’t know how well they understand, but they’ve agreed to allow me to
personally direct their forces against Myla's position. They know I can
do so more efficiently than their own predictable programs of
self-defense. If I can defeat her, the Alliance need never know of our
involvement.”
"But if you fail?" Shesel said with a shocked
whisper.
"We all suffer the consequence if I fail. The only
way I can escape Bolphan and implement my plan is to do so unexpectedly
and without forewarning. I must do it now, within this very hour."
"Bolphan won't allow you to return even if you
succeed!”
"After having saved countless human lives? Shesel,
our secret will be safe with Bolphan. Basil and Khalin will do everything
necessary to keep me and knowledge of what I've done out of the hands of the Alliance."
Shesel clutched at him, fearing that Gorlon walked
too narrow a path between too many dangers. "I don't see how you expect
to live among those awful machines!"
"It would not be possible, not without an advocate."
Shesel fought her way through the puzzle. "Boris.
You're taking Boris with you. But how? The machine is keyed to Nome."
Gorlon chuckled grimly. "I will simply turn Boris
off and steal Nome’s property. It's not a capability Khalin thought to
specifically deny me. Like the Hive, we do not defend against treachery
from within. Once we rendezvous with the Hive, Boris will have no contact
with Nome. Removed from Khalin's presence, he will serve as my liaison to
the Hive as the best means of serving his master."
Shesel had no further argument to sway him. Gorlon
gathered her into his arms. "Covonia may believe I have committed
treason. Defend my position as best you can, without revealing Myla for
what she is. It's in the best interest of all of humanity that I do
this. I'm sorry to have to leave you behind to reap the scorn and the
anger I will have earned in the eyes of the ten cities and the Council."
"We are warriors, Gorlon. Younger generations have
forgotten the lessons of history. They do not know what's at stake."
"I'll return to you. We have no farewells to say to
one another at this time."
"I know you will fight with your last breath to
return to me," Shesel said. "Knowing that is the only consolation I
require for your leaving. I feel confident of your success as well. The
only important battle we will fight will be the battle for honor in the
eyes of Covonia. I will begin that phase of the battle alone."
Gorlon squeezed her arm and simply let the dream end.
Shesel lingered in the forest for a time. Of the two
conscious realities she inhabited, the dream was the most vivid and the
most real for her. When she withdrew into objective reality, she detached
her mechanical self from the wall and paced the room in the machine that
supported what little flesh and blood had survived the centuries. If it
hadn't been for Gorlon's disdain of avatar's, she would have worn one,
although she concurred with Gorlon's beliefs about the harm the use of
mechanical and biological prosthetics would inflict upon the course of
human history.
In the end, the manner of body she wore hardly
mattered. She and Gorlon were only a step or two behind Khalin in living
the last few decades of their enormous life spans. She had been whole and
young once, a long time ago. Her life had been an adventure beyond her
wildest expectations, and she had lived it at Gorlon's side. What more
could she ask of the universe?
She waited to hear the alarms Gorlon would trigger
departing from Bolphan. Khalin would want to speak with her first, and
she had many questions of her own to ask of Khalin’s treachery. The
Alliance agent Lee Wokan would follow shortly thereafter, but the Alliance
need not know about Myla, if it could be kept secret, although keeping her
secret would make it harder for her to convince the cities and the
Alliance that Gorlon had deserted Bolphan to battle a common enemy. They
would see his absence as defection.
The alarms finally sounded. Khalin curtly demanded
her attendance in his office. When she arrived, she expected a tantrum,
demands she would not be able to fulfill, and threats to be simply
endured. She had forgotten about the clone. She had assumed that Khalin
would be revolted by it and dispose of it. Instead, she found the
beautiful child standing attentively at his side, smiling politely as she
entered the chamber.
"Why?" Khalin said in a calm tone of voice.
"To help the Hive defeat Myla Rhodes before the
Dalikor avatar turns upon humanity," Shesel said. "We know what it is."
"He took Boris with him."
"He did."
"If he knew about Myla,"
Khalin said, why didn’t you say something
to me? Why assume Myla's destruction to be in our best interest without
consulting with me first?"
She shook her head. "That is a question for Gorlon
to answer."
"Then understand this for your own benefit, Dhemonis.
Myla's release into the wild, so to speak, was premature. Even so, she
may yet meet and perhaps even exceed my highest expectations. Gorlon may
not be able to defeat her. I could have warned him that his sacrifice
would be for nothing."
"You have gone mad, Khalin."
Khalin glared at her. "I have not betrayed my
friends and my allies. I have only fulfilled my promise to them."
"The promise almost destroyed us once.”
“Or did we simply loose our nerve?”
She refused to answer, because she truly did not
know, and Khalin studied her for a time. "Have you revealed Myla's
identity to the Ruling Council, the Alliance, or the Hive?"
"Gorlon hopes to destroy her before Covonia is put
under the guns of the Alliance fleet for your crime."
"Then Gorlon does not believe Myla can fulfill
Dalikor's original mission."
"The Hive will turn against humanity before that
happens."
Khalin remained motionless and silent for a time. "Dalikor
was assassinated because nobody could confirm his calculations that we
either defeat the Hive or face a slow and certain extinction. He wasn’t
assassinated because they doubted his calculations. They simply couldn’t
confirm them, nor could they face the price we had to pay. But they
still stand, and they are valid.”
Shesel closed her eyes and tried not to remember that
cost, the worlds destroyed, eighty-five percent of the human population.
“Shesel, Dalikor’s assassin was never identified. I
have never once questioned Gorlon's loyalty. I have never doubted his
integrity. But now I wonder. Did Gorlon kill Dalikor and my Mesina?
Did he betray all we fought for during the great Hive War?"
Shesel grew rigid with tension, knowing how swiftly
she would die if he ever suspected her own complicity in Dalikor's
assassination. They had not meant for Mesina to die. Gorlon had always
regretted the pain Khalin had endured all of these centuries. Perhaps he
even felt responsible to some small degree for the madness Khalin had
unleashed at this late hour of his life.
Khalin accepted her silence as a plea of guilt to his
question. "Myla will defeat the Hive," he said calmly and confidently,
"annihilate it entirely.
Myla will defeat Gorlon Hague and return to defend Covonia against the
Alliance. And when she has won her battles, she will come home where she
belongs, and humanity will hear no more of her."
Shesel lowered her head, unwilling to
question his
self-deception if it gave him comfort in his last hours.
Khalin was mad.
"I have no further need of your audience, Shesel."
Shesel returned to the security command station and
filled in for Gorlon's absence during the course of his shift. All eyes
were upon her when her back was turned, and the back channels overloaded
with gossip and rumors. Nobody said a word to her face.
Lee Woken made his expected appearance later in the
day. Shesel confessed Gorlon's guilt in initiating contact with the Hive
and his intent to lead Hive resources in battle against the alien
refugee. “Gorlon’s greatest fear is that the Hive will mistakenly hold
Covonia responsible for getting caught between overpowering forces. We
are confident the Alliance is not capable of making that error as well.”
"Amazing," the CI agent said. "I would not have
thought it possible for any human being to reach an understanding with the
Hive adequate to the task of cooperating militarily."
"He may have sacrificed his life in defense of
humanity," Shesel said, and she watched Lee Wokan for a reaction.
"We will see how events unfold." Lee Wokan paced
briefly, and looked about the security center. "Have you spoken with the
Overlord about the General Executor's defection as yet?"
"Khalin took it in stride," Shesel said. "He is old
and tired. He may be mad as well."
"I was pleased to hear of Myla Rhodes' rescue. It's
unfortunate she was injured so severely during the course of her escape
from Hive forces."
"Khalin is hoping she will recover in due course,"
Shesel said, knowing that Wokan had not as yet ordered a medical
examination and prognosis. "I thought she looked well."
"The Overlord is fond of the child."
"She is all that has survived of his long-standing
friendship with the Rhodes," Shesel said with a smile that was easily
configured on her prosthetic face. Gorlon had never bothered with
one. In reality, if the agent investigated
the deaths of prominent Naturalist activists on Covonia down through the
years, he would uncover the necessary evils Gorlon had committed for the
greater welfare of the Naturalist cause."
"Will you be receiving communications from the
Executor General, may I ask?" Lee Wokan asked of her.
"Unless he succeeds, and survives, and wishes to
return home, I will never hear from him again."
"The alien refugee, if that's is the cause of all the
excitement, has held the Hive at bay," Lee Wokan said. "It’s clear that
it could defeat the Alliance with equal ease. And we still have alien
forces standing off in the distance, apparently waiting for whatever they
consider to be the appropriate moment to strike. The Alliance would very
much like to share in as much intelligence that can be gathered about this
common foe of ours."
Shesel turned her back on the man to hide her growing
nervousness. "If Gorlon thinks the Alliance can play a role in its
defense, I am confident he will openly communications with your
forces. If you will allow him to do so."
"Then perhaps Gorlon Hague's sacrifice is in the
interest of all mankind after all," Lee said smoothly. "We certainly
wouldn't want the Hive thinking that the Dalikor technology has been
evoked for the second time in a millennia."
"God forbid," Shesel said with honest conviction.
"The consequences to Covonia would be devastating,"
Lee said, now watching her for a reaction.
Shesel took a deep breath. "We would be destroyed to
the last man, woman, and child.”
"Who in Covonia could have illegally hidden the
Dalikor technology from the eyes of the universe? Its destruction was
part of our agreement with the Hive when hostilities ceased."
"Nobody," Shesel said in a flat tone of voice.
"Overlord Khalin Nome, perhaps?"
"Nome is dying, and the Dalikor technology died with
Jzon Dalikor.”
"You know that for a fact?"
She turned and looked him in the eye. "I do," she
said, risking everything with her lie should Gorlon fail in his mission.
Lee had no way to detect a lie spoken by a largely
mechanical larynx. He gave a friendly nod of acknowledgment and then left
the chamber, chatting with his group of Alliance bodyguards as he vanished
down the corridor outside.
