Episode One : Chapter Seven

This is the seventh chapter of the serial novel Pirayus. For the previous chapter, see Chapter Six or start at the beginning with Chapter One. If you really want to skip to reading just this chapter, review The Story So Far for a quick update and come back.

Lisette’s father stood and handed her the tablet screen so that she could see the news feed. It showed a video of police vehicles hovering around a house in the middle of a lake, interspersed with still images of a man, a woman, and their teenaged daughter. A synthesized computer voice read out descriptions of the events that had transpired.

“... the father refused to allow his daughter to return to the Cold Storage facility, blocking her transfer by jumping aboard the transport ship himself. The police are holding his child, Asandra, aged seventeen, in quarantine in their home. There remain many details that have yet to be released to the public. It is unknown whether the daughter has started showing symptoms, whether she is a danger to herself or others, and when or if Cold Storage will return with another transport. This last question is perhaps the most perplexing mystery.”

Lisette shut off the sound and set the device on the side table.

“So you know this guy?” she said.

“Yes.” said her father. “He came to the children’s hospital as an infant. Someone had found him floating in a basket in one of the canals, the one near that church you’ve been going to, in fact. He was suffering from hypothermia, but was enduring it so well that I thought he must’ve been a fabrile baby. I almost transferred him to one of their hospitals right away. Before doing so, however, I sequenced his DNA. It wasn’t very often that a fabrile came into my care.”

“Dad, they would’ve crucified you if they’d found out.”

“Well I don’t see the harm. How would they even know? The thing is, Aaron isn’t fabrile.”

“You can know that?”

“Sure. They have certain genetic markers that are the result of the modeling process. This baby boy had none of those. He was a natch, through and through. Like you and me. But he had some amazing attributes. His strength, he neural structure, his immune system… they could all pass as fabrile.”

“How can that possibly be?”

The old man shrugged. “Why not? You know the old saying, if you let a monkey hit random keys on a keyboard for enough time, eventually he’ll write Hamlet? There are billions of natches in the galaxy. Eventually, there had to come along one who by nothing but pure chance was as a good as any fabrile. That’s when I hit on a thought. This child’s life would be much better if he lived among people who were like him in every way except that they were made that way on purpose. So I transferred him to the fabrile hospital and they placed him with a family.”

“Wouldn’t they look for those same genetic markers?”

“Of course not. He clearly looked fabrile in every way. They had no reason to look for evidence that I’d stumbled across a natch that was as good as they believe they are.”

“But dad…”

A loop of music started up from an indiscriminate place in the room. The man turned back to the sofa where he’d been sitting before and sat down once more.

“Sadly, his adoptive parents died in a ridge space accident some years later.”

“Dad? You said something about this man changing the galaxy.”

The music persisted, growing louder and louder.

“I did. I have to take a call, Settie. Just a moment.”

The fireplace that had been in front of couch dissolved and a paper thin sheet of transparent material appeared in its place, suspended at about the old man’s eye height. A moment later, the transparency gave way to the image of another man, this one sitting in an office.

“Senator.” said Lisette’s father.

“Auris.”  said the man. “Who is that with you?”

“Ah, this is my daughter. Just a moment, Sir.” He stood up and came over to Lisette, saying, “Could you give us some privacy.”

“Senator?”

“Yes, Senator Herrodis. Of Kepler Lyra Prime.”

“Dad?”

“Lisette, I am very sorry but I require privacy.”

He shooed her out of the room and slid shut the big door that separated the parlor from the foyer. As he did so, he shut out the room’s tremendous warmth as well. The door was made of dark wood and carved with figures from Meropene mythology. It was very heavy and Lisette could hear nothing of the conversation through it. The only sound was the constant ticking of the rain as it continued its never ending assault on Pirayus. Lisette ascended the stairs and lied down in her bed.

At first she considered herself tired, but not sleepy, and had the thought that maybe all she needed to do was rest her eyes. Within minutes, however, sleep overtook her.

#

She awoke to her father’s gentle shaking. Lisette lifted her head and looked around. It was still dark out, though the rain has paused and a sliver of orange sunlight was beginning to peek through the fog over the city’s red roofs. Her father placed his hand on her cheek he he had when she was little, though now it was rougher and shook with muscles that were growing more unsteady with each passing year.

“Did you sleep in your clothes?” he said.

“I must’ve been more tired than I thought. You’re done talking to the Senator.”

“Yes. I’m due to meet him in an hour.”

Lisette shot up. “You’re going to Kepler Lyra Prime?”

“No, no. He’s on his way here. He wants to see my work.”

“Your work?”

“Yes, I wasn’t expecting him for some time, but he seems to think there’s more urgency. He’s already entered ridge space. I have to go up to the Ithaca transit station to meet him. Then we’ll go to the hospital.”

“What are you working on that gets you a visit from an Atropan senator? Or is that a secret?”

“Settie, there’s never been any secrets between us.” said Auris. “But the good senator doesn’t need to know that.”

“But you’ve kept this work of yours a secret.” said Lisette.

Her father gave her an acknowledging smile. “Yeah, you’ve got me there. There were just something I wasn’t ready to talk about. Is now a good time?”

“As good as any.”

“I’ve been working on a cure to this plague that’s been running around the fabriles.”

“The shuddering? The same thing that girl in the news had. Asandra.”

Auris nodded.

“Aren’t there fabrile doctors working on that?” said Lisette.

“Not really. I mean, yes, but they’re only pretending to work on it really. The thing is, I think they’d rather let the plague go on getting worse rather than find out an uncomfortable truth. Mainly, that the very process of genetic engineering may be causing this plague in the first place. That’s where it takes a natch doctor such as myself.”

“They won’t like that much either.”

“In fact, it’s illegal. The senator, however, is a rational man. He just wants to end the suffering and if that means working with a stupid natch Meropene such as myself then so be it. He’s protected me from discovery and given me access to resources I wouldn’t otherwise be able to get my hands on. If this works, things will change.”

“They certainly will.”

Auris put a hand on his daughter’s shoulder.

“For all of us.” he said. “Lisette, I know there are people among us who’d like to solve our problems with violence. I’m sure you know some of these people.”

“I’m sure I do.” she said, rubbing her belly.

“There are better ways, Settie.”

“I suppose if anyone can find a better way, it’s you. Some people just grow impatient.”

“Well, Senator Herrodis will be here within the hour. That ought to say something.” He stood. “Please, Settie, let’s try to path of moderation first. If I can prove that the disease comes from fabrile reproduction and that a dirty natch can save all their lives…”

“Maybe.” He smiled. “Then you have my permission to kill them all.”

He walked to the door.

“Dad?” said Lisette. “And what about Aaron? How will he change things?”

“I’m not sure yet. All I can say is that when I sequenced his genes all those years ago, I found out that he was more than an equal for any fabrile. There was something else about it him, something more extraordinary. Soon enough we might find out if I’m right - and exactly how I’m right.”

He started down the stairs.

“Have fun with your friend.” Lisette called after him.

She changed into more comfortable clothes and slept again.

#

Lisette dreamed that she woke up in her own bed, but to a great clamor of voices from outside and the smell of fire. She stood up and discovered that she was dressed in the sort of clothes she would’ve worn years ago, when she was barely out of her adolescence: a slate colored combat uniform on top of high laceless boots. Her hair was cut above her ears as it had been in those days. When she glanced in the mirror, she saw racoon rings painted around her eyes. The face beneath, however, still looked like its present age.

“Dad? Are you here?”

There was no answer. She rushed out of her room and stopped short. Their house stopped at the bottom of the stairs. It was now open to the streets, where she saw mobs running in the same direction, flares in hand. A young man in the crowd looked up at the stairs and saw her.

“Settie!” he said. “Settie, come on!”

“Luke?” she said.

“Settie, let’s go!”

She ran down to join him. Unlike her, he still looked like a kid, like the day she’d last seen him. Luke took her hand and gave it a little squeeze before leading her down the street. Lisette asked him what was going on.

“It’s the isolations again.” he said. “They’re closing us in.”

They turned into the square that abutted the canal and found it filled with angry people. A priest stood on the steps of the Meropene temple and shouted protests. Lisette and Luke pressed into the middle of the crowd. Luke wanted to pull her on, but Lisette had to stop. She grabbed her belly and fell to her knees.

“What is it?” said Luke. “Is the baby?”

“There baby’s gone.”

A look of panic entered the boy’s face. “What do you mean, gone? Lisette, what happened to him?”

He tried to lift her up by the shoulders. His mere touch eased the pain. She stood and pulled her hands away from her abdomen. She looked down and saw that she was pregnant again. Her lips quivered. There were too many feelings to know what to do. Should she be happy that Luke was back? That the baby was alive inside her again? Looking up at the crowd gathering as it had before, it was hard to hold onto any hope. Was she really getting a second chance, or just an opportunity to experience the worst day of her life all over again?

“Let’s go.” said Luke, and something about the way his eyes held hers made her feel better. “How can we raise a child in a world like this? We have to make it better.”

They arrived at the edge of the canal. A row of three-legged mech guards lined the other side. A human legionnaire stood at the bridge. Some people were trying to cross and he was warning them to stand back.

“I warned you.” he said, and pressed a control on his watch.

Two mechs fired shots from their bodies and destroyed the bridge, sending the people who were on it into the water. They tried to swim to the edge, but then the earth shook and the edges began to move. The canal widened and the speed with which its two sides retreated from each other accelerated. The narrow canal had become a channel.

“That’s why they built it this way.” said Lisette. “So they could separate us.”

She remembered the horror from the first time this happened, when she realized that the pleasant waterways she’d grown up with were actually meant to hold her in. The city was built on a collection of puzzle pieces that floated on a lagoon. When the Atropans sensed trouble, they could maroon the Meropene sectors in island ghettos.

“But why?” she said. “What have we done?”

Luke shook his head. “It’s what they think we will do. Their Sorter predicted a higher than normal probability of revolt. You see, it’s getting worse. We don’t even have to actually do anything anymore. The mere suspicion is enough.”

“They don’t see it that way.” said Lisette. “Their Sorter is often right.”

“Are actually defending them?”

“You were planning a riot, weren’t you?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Someone called Luke’s name and ran up to the pair. The other man handed his friend a small canister, slapped him on the shoulder, and ran off. When Lisette asked what it was, Luke explained that it was an incendiary device.

“It’s no nuclear armory.” he said. “But it might take out a mech or two.” He pointed it across the gulf. “Or maybe even in a legionnaire, if I can aim it right.”

“You’ve never killed anyone before, Luke.”

“And I’m not now. I mean, what the hell do you think an Atropan is?  How different are they from their mechs? They manufacture themselves in factories.Their whole religion is based on becoming more and more like machines. So you can’t blame me for dismantling them like a machine that’s malfunctioning.”

Luke pressed a few buttons on the canister and lifted it up. A mech on the other side lifted off the ground and came flying over the water. The boy let his weapon go and it flew from its hands. The mech started spinning to avoid it and the little missile spun along with it. The two swung round and round each other in a corkscrew pattern until the explosive hit home and the pair exploded far above the crowd. People cowered as bits of shrapnel scattered everywhere. Luke cheered, not noticing that another mech had followed the first.

Lisette shouted, but no sound came from her mouth. The second mech swooped down and extended eight metal arms from its thorax and wrapped them around the boy as though he were a bug it was about to eat for lunch. Lisette was still screaming, but still not making any noise. Now every other sound was dropping out. There was no jeering crowd, no sounds of burning and explosions in the distance. The world around grew darker and the enthusiastic gestures of the throng about her slowed so that they looked instead like reeds billowing to and fro in the breeze.

As the flying mech took Luke away, the pain returned to Lisette’s stomach. She rubbed it and didn’t feel the bump anymore. The palms of her hands felt warm and slick. She examined them and found them covered in blood. She was consumed with an emptiness that she had never felt before, not even the first time. Then she felt a heavy hand on her shoulder.

She turned he had and saw her father. Lisette stood. It was night time now. The crowd was gone, except for dead bodies bleeding into the grooves between the paving stones. Auris placed his hand on his daughter’s cheek and then turned and walked away without a word. She followed him and, without knowing how she got there, found herself in an underground cavern. She felt the weight of glasses on her face and saw bright light around the edges. Her eyes hurt. She was seated next to her father, who was helping her drink from a cup of warm liquid.

“My eyes hurt.” she said.

“I know.” said Auris. “That’s what the shaded glasses are for. You were injured by the blasts.”

She took another sip of the liquid, which was unlike anything she’d had before, but was soothing and gave her the sense of added energy.

“What is this?”

“I don’t know what it’s called. They made it.”

Across from them stood a row of figures dressed in hooded robes.The hoods were so deep that Lisette couldn’t see their faces and the robes so long she couldn’t see any limbs either. They might as well have been dressed mannequins.

“Who are they?”

“I think you know. They’re Meropenes.”

“We’re Meropenes.”

“The original Meropenes.” said the old man. “These are the creatures that we’ve been looking for, the race that built the lost city. The very foundation of all our beliefs, all our hopes for a future different than the one the Atropans have dreamed up for us.”

“I thought thought the ancients were all dead.”

“These are the last survivors. They’ve been in hiding all this time. Centuries ago, the galaxy was teaming with these creatures. At first, humans and Meropenes lived in an uneasy harmony. But humans turned on them and now this is what’s left.”

A chord of voices flowed from the small group. At first it was smooth, but then the different notes separated. A base line and a slow melody emerged. She had never heard music quite so calming. It was as though they were singing for her, just to reassure her that she was safe here.

“They’re singing!” she said.

“That’s how they communicate. Their language requires that they transfer every subtlety of meaning at once. The mere tone of voice isn’t enough.”

“What are they saying?”

“They want you to know that they are here to help you.”

“Can you tell them thank you?” said Lisette.

“They know.”  

The tone of their song changed. It took on a mournful timbre, mixed with a brighter shade that implied to Lisette a feeling of hope, however delicate.

“Really?” said Auris. “Yes, yes, let’s bring him.”

“What?” said his daughter. “Is it Luke?”

“No. I’m sorry. But it is good news, very good news. They’ve rescued your son.”

Lisette shook her head. “How can that be? My baby died.”

“No, he didn’t.”

“But I never even gave birth.”

“It doesn’t matter. These are the ancients, Lisette.”

She was afraid. There was no doubt this was good news. She had been given a second chance after all, even if she had to raise her child without its father. Even so, what would it mean to have a live baby now? She had once prepared herself to be a mother. When the child died, she grew used to the pain and it became a part of her. Though all of this had happened just moments before in the dream, her dream self still carried with it the weight of the years that had actually passed. Lisette felt older, more unsure about returning to that time in her life, no matter how happy it would’ve been had it gone right the first time around.

Lisette didn’t have time to consider. She heard an infant wailing and noticed a bassinet in front of her. She pulled back the blanket and revealed a red little face speckled by big tears. Whatever she had felt before didn’t matter. There was no past or future, only now. In this now, there was just one thing and that was her boy. She reached in and scooped him up, running her fingers through his modest patch of soft hair and bouncing him gently.

“It’s okay.” she cooed. “Shhh. There’s nothing to be afraid of. I’m here. Oh, my little one. Hey there. Hi!  It’s okay.”

She undid the buttons on her combat shirt and offered her breast to the infant. He suckled with a hearty appetite and though he was draining milk from her, Lisette felt fuller and fuller with every sip. This was the opposite of what she’d felt in the square, an utter reversal of the aching, empty pit that had grown so wide that it seemed as though it were larger than her, consuming her entire body rather than merely sitting in her stomach. Now she could hardly remember what that had felt like. This was more than a feeling of completeness, it was a feeling of being just one part of a more significant being that was itself only complete with the two of them together.

“That’s better.” she said. “Now everything will be fine.”

The robed figures were still there, standing just off to the side. Their voices departed from their perfect harmony and took on a more jumbled collection of tunes. Some sounded confused, some sad, and some even a little angry. Lisette immediately felt unsettled.

“What’s wrong?” she said.

Auris waved a hand. “They wonder why you say it’s going to be fine.”

“What does that mean?”

“Lisette, these creatures know only suffering. This is a universe where their friends betrayed them and everything they knew has been destroyed. Now they see how the Atropans treat us and wonder how you can feel so hopeful about raising a child in such an environment.”

“They have to understand something. They rescued my baby.”

“They understand how it feels to you. They don’t understand why.”

“It doesn’t matter.” she said. “For me, the how is the why.”

She looked up at the robes and the dark spaces beneath the hoods. She smiled. They returned with a soft, brassy tone that must have been the equivalent of “you’re welcome.” She bounced the child and glanced at her father. He smiled at her, but then the smile faded. The music from the ancients changed as well. Now they were more cacophonous than ever before. Lisette looked down and her face felt cold. The baby was no longer eating, it was still. He hadn’t fallen asleep. Rather, his eyes were open and unblinking. An arm that had been sticking out was still there, handing like the arm of a doll.

“No.” said Lisette. She started to breathe deep but unsteady breaths. “No, please…”

Again, her father touched her shoulder. “My child, it’s okay. Take this.”

She looked and saw that he was offered her a giant screw with big ears at one end, like the butterfly key that went went to the mechanical music box that he had once made for her.

“I don’t understand.” she said.

“You just have to wind him up.”

“Dad?”

“I think you’re well enough now to go without these…”

With his empty hand, he reached for her face and removed the glasses. Lisette squinted, expecting to feel the pain of piercing light. She felt fine, however. She looked her baby again. It was clear now that he wasn’t human. Without the lenses obscuring her vision, she could see the porcelain sheen of the face and seams that marked the different parts of the baby’s hand. She set it back in the bassinette and walked away.

“You tricked me.” she said. “That’s a horrible trick!”

“It’s no trick.” said Auris.

He walked up to the bassinette and reached in with the clock key. He turned it a few times and the plaintiff cries resumed.

“Make it stop!” said Lisette. “Stop that! Turn it off!”

“You don’t just turn living things off.”

“It’s not alive… Daddy, what are you trying to do?”

“Just look at him.” he said, taking her hand and guiding her back to the baby. “This is still your son. What does it matter if something is human or animal and or an ancient or a machine? We’re all just parts put together by some process, spinning away according to the laws of physics. What matters is that this child feels pain. He wants his mother. He doesn’t understand why you would abandon him.”

“My father would never say something like that.”

She pressed her palms against her face, as if this could hold back the tears.

“Are you sure?” said Auris. “Luke believed the Atropans were nothing but machines made of flesh, but you disagree. Is it so hard to believe this is a living thing made of machined parts? He doesn’t know what he is. He only knows that you’re his mother.”

The hooded ancients were singing a pleading song. It seems that even they had come around to believing it was best to comfort the child, no matter what dangers or doubts may lay outside that cavern. Their voices rose and rose, increasing in volume and enveloping Lisette. Her heart changed. Her father was right. She scooped up her son again and looked once more into his face and his eyes. No matter where he had come from, he looked at her as though she was the only one who could soothe him. There was only love, nothing else.

She held him. The song grew warm again.

Then the baby began to shake.

“What’s happening now?”

“Oh god.” said Auris.

“Daddy! What is going on?”

“It’s the plague of fabricated things. It’s the shuddering.”

“No.” said Lisette.

The baby vibrated in her arms. His teeth clattered together and his little hands wrapped around her fingers, as though this could steady his uncontrollable shaking.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” said his mother. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I should’ve never put you down. Is this my fault? Did I do this?”

There was no answer, either from her father or from the ancients.

“Baby, I’m sorry.” She sucked in snot that was flowing from her hose, but couldn’t hold back the burning water in her eyes. “I didn’t know. Honey, it doesn’t matter what you are. I love you because you’re my son. It doesn’t matter to me, okay? I will always love you, no matter what are or what you were or what you become. Just please stop shaking.”

The shaking didn’t cease. It became ever more violent.

“Can anyone make it stop?”

He started to feel warm in her embrace, then hot. The vibrations had become so aggressivet that it hurt her to hold him, but she held tight anyway. There was no way she was going to let him go.

“Please?” said Lisette. “Please?”

She looked around, but there was no one there. Her father was gone. The robed figures were gone. She was as alone as she’d ever been. Cracks began to appear in the infant’s face. The pieces rattled against each other and made more cracks, breaking the child into smaller and smaller pieces. Lisette cried out, but there were no more words. Unlike the before, when the sound had mercifully dropped out, the cavern echoed with the deafening sounds of her screams.

Her son’s shuddering only stopped when he had pulverized himself into dust that fell through her arms. She lifted her hand and saw the remaining ashes that stuck to her fingertips. She opened her mouth and hollered as though she could expel her whole body though that vacuum and turn herself inside out.  

#

When Lisette awoke, it was full morning. She was covered in sweat and hesitant to embrace the reality of all that was around her. The sights and sounds were muted compared to the dream, which should have been a release. However, there was a part of her that resisted embracing something that might turn out to be another trap. Then a sense of calm returned to her.

She dressed and went to the kitchen, which was a small room with a big window that looked out into the plaza that she could see below her bedroom window. She brewed herself a pot of coffee and opened the top of a bright red steel box by the sink. Inside there was a half-eaten pie in a glass dish. She scooped a slice onto a plate and closed the box once more. Pink fruits with glistening, gummy peels spilled out around the edges of the crust.

She took her breakfast through a door and sat at a small round table on the terrace. It was a nice morning. Though the dim sunlight and the dampness never quite allowed her city to be warm, there was at least no rain now and she could enjoy a bit of morning light. There were other out as well, taking full advantage of the hour. There was one such person who cut a figure that she recognized. He looked taller in the morning than he has the previous night, though dressed in the same straight coat and skill cap.

“Good morning.” said Lisette.

“May I sit?”

She nodded and he took the chair opposite her at the little table.

“I’m not sure I want to go through with this.” she said.

“And after I just convinced them they should take you on?”

“Well, maybe if they have their doubts I shouldn’t get involved again.”

The man cross his arms. “Whatever doubts they may have, they know that you have the ability to amplify their reach by a thousand. I know you’re a revolutionary, Lisette. I know that never died.”

“A fusion bomb isn’t for children. I don’t want to be a part of indiscriminate killing.”

“I get it.” he said. “Of course. Then here’s something you’ll be interested in knowing. We’re planning a strike today, a precise strike.”

“I’m listening.” said Lisette.

“Our sources have confirmed that Senator Herrodis from Kepler Lyra Prime is in ridge space on his way to Pirayus. As a powerful political figure on an Atropan planet that has a bad human right history when it comes to Meropenes, he is a very high value target.”

Lisette bit down the fear for her father. She needed to avoid telegraphing her emotions.

“I thought he was a moderate.” She said. “A reformer.”

“Do you really believe that? His top adviser is High Vates Martin Thomas, the number one advocate of Meropene genocide in the League. How does a man like that get appointed unless his boss has at least some sympathies with his views.” The thin man leaned forward. “Besides, the chances are very high that Martin Thomas is with him. Senators always travel with their entourage and Thomas is is closest advisor.”

“So you have an assination in mind? You’re going to attack his ship?”

“We can’t exactly insert a bomb into ridge space, can we?”

“On board the transit station?”

The thin man nodded. “They’re planting a bomb on Ithaca Station as we speak. Nothing like what you can make, but good enough.”

“No.” said Lisette. “Are you kidding me? A bomb on a transit station is your idea of a precise attack?”

“There will always be collateral damage. The Atropans attack entire cities.”

“Should we judge ourselves by their standards?”

She stood up, her food barely eaten.

“Where are you going?”

“I’ll find a different resistance cell to be a part of you. I don’t want to work with you.”

She went back inside and watched the window for the thin man to leave. Then she locked up the house and made her way to Ithaca Transit Station.