David Farland - Beyond the Gate

“I had suspected that you would call me, Gallen,” the holoimage said, “and I will give you what little help I can. I need you to go to Tremonthin, a world like yours where mankind has rejected most technologies, with one exception: in the City of Life the Lords of Tremonthin have dedicated themselves to developing life-extending technologies. There they download memories into clones of those worthy for immortality. There, they fight disease and suffering. And for twenty millennia the world has had but one export-children who are engineered to live on worlds that other humans cannot inhabit, or who are engineered to fulfill roles that other humans cannot. Many of these altered people live on Tremonthin still, for the Lords of that world do not force their creations into exile but give them their choice of staying or leaving.

“My ancestors, the Tharrin, were created on Tremonthin eighteen thousand years ago to be judges and rulers of mankind, and for this reason Tremonthin was one of the first worlds that the dronon sought to conquer. It appears that they murdered all of the Tharrin there, but one survived with the help of technicians from the City of Life. And she has been hunted by a thing called the Inhuman.

“I have no information on the Inhuman. It seems to be a secret society, formed by the descendants of genetically upgraded people. We lost ansible contact with Tremonthin years ago, but rebels working on a ship that visited the City of Life in the past three months were able to smuggle out the small recording that I sent you, along with a request that the rebellion send a Lord Protector. They must have known that Veriasse and I were traveling between the world gates, for the message says that someone will meet you at the gate.

“Gallen, this will be no easy task. Those who are genetically upgraded and who choose to remain on Tremonthin are often banished from human lands, and in those lands the fiercest variations of mankind thrive.

“I would come with you if I could, Gallen,” Everynne said, and her voice caught a little as she said it. “Since I don’t know the dimensions of this problem, I fear the worst. Certainly, the rebels on Tremonthin were desperate, for they sent their plea knowing that the dronon would almost certainly discover the recording. Still, they hoped that one Lord Protector, alone, could handle their problems-as I also hope.

“Be strong, but be wise,” Everynne said. “Come back to us alive.” The message ended, and Gallen stood looking at the holograph thoughtfully.

“Well, we’d better get going,” Orick offered after a moment of silence, hoping to prod the others into immediate action. It would feel good to be back in Everynne’s service, to be doing something important.

“The mayor spoke with me earlier,” Gallen said. “He’d readied a flier. We can leave in the morning.”

“But folks are waiting for us!” Orick said.

“They’ve been waiting for months,” Gallen countered. “We’ll need our rest. They can wait one night longer.”

Thomas had been sitting quietly, watching the holograph, and he cleared his throat. He was waxing the tips of his moustache, twirling them thoughtfully. “Gallen, Orick, Maggie-you may do as you please. But I’ll be staying.”

“No you won’t,” Gallen said. “There are only four people on this planet who know where Maggie and I are going-and all of them are in this room. And sometime in the next few weeks, at least one dronon hive queen will come hunting for Maggie, and I’ll have to be at her side to protect her. I’d rather they didn’t find us, so I can’t leave any witnesses behind. So, you see, sir, that I can’t let you stay!”

Gallen’s jaw was set, his eyes stony. Orick knew that look. It was the same look that hill robbers always saw just before Gallen pulled his knives and gutted them.

“I’ll not have you talking down to me in that tone,” Thomas said. “I’ve got my own dreams in life, my own path to take, and I don’t fancy that running off with you will get me where I want to go. It appears to me that you three are just targets for trouble: you bring it down on yourselves wherever you go, and I’m not a fighting man. If I stay long in your presence, I’m sure to get killed.”

Thomas quit twirling his moustache and tentatively held his bandaged wrist, clenching and unclenching his fingers experimentally. “You’ll be under my protection,” Gallen said forcefully. “I’ve never lost someone who was under my protection.”

“Well, it’s mighty convenient that you weren’t hired by that fellow who is lying dead out in the hall, isn’t it?” Thomas grumbled. “We wouldn’t want to ruin your reputation.”

Gallen frowned at the haughty tone in Thomas’s voice.

Orick realized that this argument was beginning to escalate. As a bear studying for the priesthood, he felt it his duty to calm these folks.

He rose up on his hind feet, catching their attention. “I’m sure that Thomas is no coward, Gallen. After all, he’s smarted off to every mayor and usurer in Tihrglas for forty years. So, if he doesn’t want to come, he must have his reasons.”

“I know what he’s after-” Gallen said, “he’s after a comfortable retirement!”

“I’m sure you misjudge the man.…” Orick soothed, but Thomas began laughing, deep and hearty.

“Oh, Orick, Gallen has judged the man right! I’ve earned my rest. The food here is good, the people gracious.…”-he flexed his fingers experimentally-“for the most part. And, frankly, I’m a paying customer. I paid to come here-not to go to someplace worse off than Tihrglas!”

“Nevertheless, that’s where we’re going,” Gallen said, as if the discussion were final.

“Look,” Thomas said. “I’m an old man. You can’t be ordering me about!”

“You were quick to order me about when it suited your fancy!” Maggie countered.

Gallen was staring icily at Thomas, and he took the older man by the collar. “You’re coming with us,” Gallen said. “I’ll leave no witnesses behind-at least not live ones. This isn’t a game I’m playing, Thomas. If you stay here, you put us at risk, and I’ll not be looking over my shoulder because of you! Once this is all over, I’ll bring you back here, if you want, or send you to any other planet!”

Thomas fixed him with a gaze, and Thomas’s own face took on a closed look. Orick suddenly found that he didn’t trust the man. “So, the ferryman has taken my money, and now he plans to row the boat where he will! Well, it sounds to me as if you’re cheating me out of my life savings, Gallen. I commend you for that. I admire a man who is willing to take what he wants.” He sighed, and his gaze turned inward. “All right then, Gallen, I’ll come with you to your damned world-but it is a comfortable retirement I’m after. I’ll find me a nice inn and settle down for a bit, work on my music. When you’re done with your task, you can come back and bring me here, if I so desire. Agreed?”

Gallen nodded, and the two men shook hands. Thomas stood taller, stretched and yawned. “Very well, then. I suspect that tomorrow will be a long day. Wake me in the morning.” Orick sighed in relief, now that the matter was settled. Gallen, Maggie, and Thomas went to their rooms.

Sometime well before dawn, Maggie rushed back into Orick’s quarters, waking him. Orick had never seen her so mad; she had tears in her eyes.

“Orick, get up! We’ve got problems. We just got another message from Everynne. We’ve got to leave Tremonthin now! The dronon are here, and I just went to that lousy Thomas’s room. He left us a good-bye note, and ran sneaking off sometime in the night!”

“Oh, damn him!” Orick grumbled, realizing that Thomas had only made a pretense of being reasonable. She held a note in her hand, and Orick read it quickly.