Sarah Zettel - Reclamation

The main screen lit up with the preliminary information. First there was a shell, primarily constructed of crystallized carbon, but there were several trace elements. It had a micro-level capillary construction. Capillaries? In a doped-up diamond? Inside, primarily liquid…then how had it not evaporated over time…proteins, ribonucleic acids, electrochemical traces, and a filament structure…

Iyal blinked up at Aria and down at the screen again. The stone was a hollow, porous, enriched diamond filled with a miniature nervous system and a whole stew of unidentified virus chains.

And I’d bet my marriage contract that each one of them has binders that match that host of extra receptors Aria’s carrying around inside her…but no… the scan only identifies ten variable strings and Aria has twenty-two unused receptors…

She’s not a tool then, she’s a system component. And this thing still can’t be an artificial intelligence, but it might just be a real one. Iyal wished there was a spare chair for her to collapse into.

“Where did this come from, Aria?”

Aria shrugged. “I was told that the Nameless Powers left them to my family in case they needed to send another servant to the Realm. This might be true, but I don’t know what it means.”

Iyal lifted the stone out of the scanner and turned it over in her fingers. This thing should be in the splicing room getting peeled apart a micron at a time. They should know exactly what was in there, how it was built, and what made it possible. Total, context specific, recall in a sphere the size of a small peach. Who’d need computers anymore? She could buy Kethran the leadership of the Quarter Galaxy with this thing and the woman it belonged with.

“You’ve been very calm about finding out you’re not what you thought you were.”

“I haven’t found out anything like that,” said Aria coolly. “The Teachers say I came into being when the Nameless spoke the word that is my name. My mother said I was split from the same word that made the stones. You say I came into being when somebody strung together some proteins in a laboratory. It doesn’t matter. I am still myself. My name is still mine. Only the Nameless can take that away.” She held out her hand. Iyal decided to take the hint and she handed Aria the stone.

“Are there…many people like you in the…Realm?”

“I don’t know.” Aria replaced the stone in the pouch and drew its strings tight. “I do know there aren’t many arias, stones, I mean, left.”

“How do you know that?”

Aria’s mouth quirked up into a tight smile. “About ten generations ago, the Teachers declared them sacred to the Nameless and stole them. The ones that exist are mainly in the Temple vaults. I heard one very highborn Teacher say he’d only ever seen one set. So there cannot be that many.”

Iyal’s mouth was dry. There didn’t have to be that many. The Vitae were trying to lay claim to the world where they existed. What if the Vitae got their hands on even one more person like her? Or a single stone like the one she carried in her pouch? They’d jump so far ahead of the rest of the Quarter Galaxy in technological development, the labs would look like entrail knitters by comparison. There would be no catching them. No countering them in anything. They could have whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted it.

“Aria,” Iyal said. “Do you know what world it is the Vitae are laying claim to?”

“No,” Aria shook her head. “They’ve only given an astronomical notation. I haven’t got a context for it.”

“Aria, it’s the Realm. Your home.”

Slowly, Aria’s hand crept to her mouth. She pressed her palm hard against her lips, as if to stifle a scream, and her eyes squeezed shut. Iyal shifted her weight, uncertain of what to do, but in the next moment, Aria’s hand dropped back to the pouch of stones. She whispered something in her own language and swallowed hard.

“Got to find Eric Born,” she said, at last. “Got to warn him. Got to get back. Warn my family. Warn…warn everybody.” The fear that widened her eyes could not have been faked. “The Teachers and the Nobles are bad enough, but those Skymen? We’d never get away. How can the Nameless permit this?” She spit the question.

How can you still believe in the Nameless Powers, whatever they are? Iyal wondered. Then she thought about the stones. Then again, maybe I should start believing in them.

“We need to get you off the planet, fast. We’ve got eleven hours before the Director comes looking for you. Maybe the Unifiers…”

“No,” said Aria flatly. “They started the war in the Realm. They’re too much like the Vitae. I’ve been listening to their blather. They talk about conquest in terms of contracts and agreements. I must leave Kethran, yes, but I must do it free and clear. I must get back to the Realm, with Eric Born. Then, then I will figure out what to do next.” She smiled. “I have plenty to work with.” She laid her hand over her pouch.

“What you’ll need is credit.” Iyal forced her mind back to the practical. “Don’t want to risk a transfer to you. The Vitae have got to be watching me.” She glanced reflexively toward the door. “Eleven hours…I can get the Diet hopping, create a distraction while you get out of here…I might get arrested, too, and they’ll freeze my account…do you think you can get back to Perivar’s on your own?”

Aria nodded. “I know I can, but he told me not to return…”

Iyal waved her words away impatiently. “When you get there, tell him I said he’d better help you out or he’ll be answering to me. Tell him to give you a loan. Whatever you need. I’ll pay it back. Or Killian will.”

“I’ll tell him.” Aria got to her feet. “Thank you, Iyal. I’ll remember your name.” She spoke so seriously that Iyal could only assume it was a blessing or a compliment.

“I’ll get you back to your room so you can pack…”

“Pack what?” Aria spread her hands. “I’ve got clothes and shoes and my stones, and I need to hurry. The public transport runs all night, doesn’t it? Is there anyone to prevent me from walking out of the door?”

“No one. Zur-Kohlbyr will be holed up in his office for at least another hour, plotting.” Iyal undid the door’s lock.

Aria marched out without looking back. Iyal just watched her. When the door closed again, Iyal turned up the power on the old table’s comm board and sent a call out toward Killian’s ship on the Lous Division Lake, on the other side of the world.

He was sleep-tousled and bleary-eyed when he appeared on the screen, but he woke up fast as he saw it was her. His eyes went round as he read the grim expression on her face.

“Iyal, love, what’s happened?”

“Killian…I…I’m about to find where I left my voice.”

“Oh-ho?” he breathed.

“How do you feel about emigrating again?”

He paused for a bare second. “I hear the northern continent of Fresh Dawn has a very unfussy border policy. They need hands and heads.”

Iyal’s heart swelled. “Love you.”

“Love you.” His smile was warm as sunshine and almost succeeded in banishing the chill in her soul. “I’ll go hand in my leave request now. If there’s a shuttle in port, I can be back by ten in the morning and we’ll pack, all right?”

“All right.”

They said good-bye and cut the signal and Iyal was alone again with her four walls and the silence of an empty room.

“Enjoy it while you can, Zur-Iyal,” she muttered as she placed a request for a line to the Diet. “Enjoy it while you can.”

Paral wished the Witness would stop looking at him. Even though his gaze was fastened on the monitors and comm boards in front of him, he knew she had her attention fastened on him. He could feel it like a cobweb that had laid itself over his entire body.