Майкл Гир - Requiem for the Conqueror

"The Praetor kept her. Kept her until you gutted Pylos off Myklene. "

"And this Arta Fera? She's not Chrysla?" Staffa thundered.

"No!" Bruen pleaded. "She's a clone, Lord Commander. A clone provided by the Praetor!"

Staffa went white and loosened his hold on the old man's robe. "To assassinate me." He closed his eyes and walked wearily over to lean against the fireplace, propping himself on one arm. If looks were lethal, Skyla Lyma would have riven Bruen into slag.

Sinklar motioned to Mac, indicating the door, and said, "If you'll excuse us. I think-"

"Wait!" Staffa whirled, fingers curling. "Bruen, what about Sinklar's claim that he saw his parents in Rega?" "Tanya and Valient," Bruen said stoically. "Yes, they

were Seddi. Another of the machine's ideas. If Tybalt were removed before he could sire an heir, Rega's drive for Hegemony might be blunted. Oddly enough, a young security officer named Ily Takka broke the case, foiled the attempt, and we all know what happened after that. At the time it happened, they created a perfect excuse for Sinklar to be placed in Regan custody. Doing so kept him safe from discovery. "

"You know," Sinklar stated matter-of-factly, "I don't believe a word of this. I meant it when I said Mac and I are leaving. Now. Unless, of course, our safe passage was a sham as well."

"And if it was," Mac said coolly, "Shik is going to blow the hell out of this ship-outgunned or not. We'll die before we'll be prisoners." Mac stepped

up to Staffa, who stood like a statue, a lonely devastation on his face. "I took your word, based on what we shared down there in the dark. Are we free to leave?"

Staffa nodded his head and whispered, "Yes." Then he looked at Sinklar, reaching out with his hand. "I swear… you're my son. If I could run a serology, HLA, or DNA test, I could prove it."

"I think, Lord Commander, that I've had enough of this. Like I said, I don't know the game, but Mac and I are going to bow out. Good day, sir. Wing Commander, it was a pleasure to meet you."

Sink pivoted on his heel and walked to the hatch, palming it. It slid open easily and he and Mac practically sprinted out into the hall. Ark waited with crossed arms, and at sight of their faces led them wordlessly back to the transport tube.

What did it all mean? Sinklar's mind reeled in disbelief. Staffa kar Therma? His father? And Arta-a clone? He growled to himself and thrust it all from his mind. The Lord Commander had to be mentally disturbed. Brilliance and insanity were often linked.

They rode in silence. Only after they'd safely passed through the hatch into the Regan shuttle and the pressure door had slid shut did Mac speak. "Sink? What in Rotted pollution happened in there?"

Sinklar brooded for a moment as the shuttle pulled free of the grapples and powered up. "I'll be thrice-cursed if I know." He thumped his fist into the back of the seat ahead of him. "It's got to be more Seddi plotting. Some ploy to throw me off balance, maybe a psychological setup. The Seddi have an obsession with that."

"I got the feeling Staffa really believed what he was saying. "

"I thought he was crazy," Sinklar muttered, an unsettled feeling in his soul. "Keep in mind, this is the Star Butcher. That man-no matter what he seemed like on Targa-killed billions. Billions. And Bruen? Would you believe anything he said? The man's a monster, a vile monster."

Mac slapped his legs nervously. "It's crazy, all right, and I'm glad we're out of it, away free and clear. "

"We've got enough problems looming on Rega. Ily wants us to subdue the population. She thinks only the First Targan can do it. We've got another world to conquer-the final one."

"Yeah, right.

"You don't sound happy."

Mac raised an eyebrow. "What about Ily Takka, Sink? I don't trust her any more than I trust old Bruen back there." Sinklar grinned wryly. "Hey, don't worry about her. Just

who do you think's gonna win this war? Ily's a cobra, cold, heartless, and tricky." Sink settled back in the seat. "But I think I can handle her-as long as I keep the First Targan behind me. "

"And you will," Mac promised, a frown marring his expression. "You'll always have us-no matter what." Sink leaned back, trying to concentrate on Rega, on the

problems he and the First Targan would face there. Things would change-and he, Sinklar Fist, would make it so.

He couldn't shake the memory of Chrysla staring at him from the holo cube. Her amber eyes burned in the back of his mind-haunting, so curiously familiar.

Staffa stood before the curving transparency in the command observation blister and watched Gyton and her transports boosting for Rega. Behind the glare of the Regan drives, the stars glistened like sugar crystals on soot-black. In the distance, light-years away, the shimmer of the Forbidden Borders mocked. Staffa locked his knees, fingers laced behind his back, as his son disappeared once again from his life.

Rotted Gods, how did this happen? He didn't believe a word I said. But then, put yourself in his place. Would you have believed?

He knew Skyla's tread from years of experience. "Do you want to be alone?" she asked softly. "I've been alone all my life."

"I'll be in my quarters if you need me."

"Just because I've been alone all my life doesn't mean I like it. "

"We broke the code on that Regan transmission we intercepted. " She stopped

beside him. "Tybalt has been assassinated. Sinklar is declared a Lord and has been placed in command of the Regan military. That's why the Comm First looked so wretched. Ily has evidently taken over the government."

"More bad news," Staffa whispered, voice husky. "Ily had to take Tybalt out. I can see her hand in that. We could have talked sense to Tybalt. He would have listened." He breathed a heavy, "Damn!"

"And he has no heir," Skyla reminded. "The Seddi plan to prohibit a Regan heir worked, Staffa. After they repaired the damage done to their network by the brain-probing of Tanya and Valient Fist, they changed their tactics.

Staffa shot her a quick look.

Skyla nodded. "I've been spending a lot of time talking to Bruen. He's a broken man, and he talks freely. They got to Tybalt's wife, Mareeah. They used a tailored virus to introduce a task specific RNA which changes the progesterone levels. Her eggs could never implant."

"And now the Seddi reap the vortex."

She hesitantly reached for one of his hands and he drew her close as her arm went around his waist.

"I came looking for him," Staffa added, voice hollow, indicating the light from Gyton's thrust. "People who search must accept what they find."

"I imagine you'll have another chance to speak to him. it will work out, Staffa. God, why is it so hard to say these things?"

"Because words are limited things, wretchedly overused when the subject becomes emotional." He continued to stare at the pinpoint of light.

"If I could change it, Staffa-"

"We all have so much we would change. Life, God, or the universe, don't give us that option for the past-only the future We perceive through the quantum wave function."

He looked down at her as she stood beside him. Starlight glistened in her pale hair and softened her white armor as shadows shaped to the sensual curves of her body. She'd crossed space for him — and brought him salvation in so many ways.

"Tell me," Staffa asked. "Do clones have souls? Are they part of God?"

"Well… I…" She shrugged. "I had a brief discussion with Kaylla before I came down here. She told me what you talked about in that box on the way to Targa. About the quanta, observation, and knowledge. If awareness, observation, and creation are shared God conscience, yes, a clone would have a soul."

She gave him a wary glance as he ran a finger down the faint scar on her cheek.