Twenty
For the first time in many decades, Gorlon and Shesel
stood face to face in their shared dream and did not touch one another.
"How do I find out for sure about Myla?" Gorlon
said. "Do I let Nome know of my suspicions?"
"Khalin may panic if he knows his secret is out,"
Shesel said. "Considering the magnitude of his crime."
Gorlon thought as well himself. "He knows the
consequences. Why did he do it?"
"He cherished the child," Shesel said. "Khalin
himself is dying, and death is simply not acceptable, not his own, and
certainly not the death of a child he loved."
"But if the child is dead," Gorlon reminded her,
“even Khalin would know that the Dalikor technology could only replace her
with little more than a superficial copy."
"He may not be thinking clearly."
Gorlon did not completely buy that argument. The
most powerful blow in Khalin's life had been Mesina's death. He had
survived that. Myla's death would not have tipped the scales.
"If Khalin will not confide in you," Shesel said, "we
must focus on the girl herself. She identifies with the life of an
ordinary twelve-year-old child. Until she fully adapts to new
circumstance, she's vulnerable."
Gorlon agreed wholeheartedly. "She has to be
destroyed before she's challenged and forced to tap her full potential.
She won't stay a child for long under these circumstances. Shesel,
please give me a moment. I must speak to Boris in private."
Shesel bowed her head and stepped away. Boris turned
the focus of his mind's eye to a void of white light and called for Boris.
"Executor General?"
"Boris, I want you to contact the Hive. Tell them
the girl may still be alive, but that I have decided that it is in our
best interest that she is destroyed as promptly as possible.
“We have one convenient means of accomplishing
this goal. The Hive is holding Jeremy Kael. Without his knowledge, embed
an explosive device somewhere within his physical body. A microscopic
bone implant is suggested with a yield sufficient to thoroughly gut the
interior of a small spacecraft. As soon as I know the location of the
girl, I will send Jeremy to her. I will give the command to destroy them
as soon as they are together."
"The Hive calculates insufficient reason to refuse
cooperation," Boris said. "They will do as you request."
Gorlon returned to Shesel in their twilight
wonderland. He reached for her, and she slipped into his arms, oblivious
now to the crisis that could destroy them all. From Shesel's perspective,
nothing worthwhile in their lives had survived the ravages of war and age
aside from a dream that could be best sustained and enjoyed by denying any
and all worlds lying beyond. If the dream died, Shesel would die with
it.
Gorlon clung to the real world a bit more
tenaciously, if only to ensure that the sensuous symphony of Shesel's
dream survived, night by night, just a little while longer.
