Starfall: A Starstruck Novel (11 page)

 
“This is absurd, Excellency,” Devyn immediately protested. “You can’t possibly mean to keep us all prisoner here. And how will a proper government be restored if you abandon Nuath with no alternate leadership in place?”

“Not to mention the issue of the Grentl,” Nels added, looking positively scared now. “Remember, they said they’re coming and we still don’t know when, or what they plan to do when they get here, or…or anything. And you’re the only one who can find that out or maybe stop them, like you did before. Please! You can’t just—”

“Calm down, Nels,” Devyn advised him. “Of course she can’t. Excellency, I find it hard to believe that you would abandon your own people to possible anarchy and the threat of annihilation by the Grentl, simply to rejoin your boyfriend. Surely the Sovereign line is made of sterner stuff than that?”

Oh, he was good, all right! No wonder he’d come so close to being elected leader of Nuath. And, unfortunately, he made a valid point. One I’d managed to ignore in my desperation to get to Rigel at all costs.

“The Sovereign line does not ignore its obligations, nor does it practice deceit. While I made a promise to Rigel that I intend to keep, I am also fully aware of my duty to the people of Nuath. I will of course do what I can to deal with the Grentl before I leave, though I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to deter them. I will also appoint a Regent, though obviously it won’t be any of you. My Regent needs to be someone I can trust.”

At that, both Devyn and Mr. O winced. About time.
 

“Excellency, not even the Sovereign has the authority to imprison anyone without due process.” Mr. O was clearly striving for a reasonable tone, but I could hear the strain in his voice. “I understand that you’re upset right now, but—”

“Due process?” I echoed. “Like the due process you gave Rigel?”

He swallowed visibly.
 

“Sure, I could follow Nuathan law to the letter for a situation like this.” Luckily, I’d memorized every single statute last year. “That would mean a public trial for all three of you, to include media representatives. Do you really want to explain what you did, and why, to everyone on Mars? I thought the whole point was to keep them from finding out about the Grentl.”

Their expressions showed they hadn’t had time to think of that particular ramification. I smiled—a real smile this time.

“Consider yourselves my guests. No one will think it strange that the Sovereign wants her most important advisors close by during this ‘difficult time of rebuilding our government, our infrastructure, and our very society.’” I quoted the same words Devyn had used at the beginning of his campaign against me. “Nels, Devyn, someone from the Palace housekeeping staff will be here shortly to show you to your new quarters. Now, gentlemen, if you will excuse me?”
 

I inclined my head regally and swept out of the room.

*
   
*
   
*

Not until I was in the thankfully deserted hallway did I let out a sigh of relief. While that confrontation had been immensely rewarding, it had also gotten dicey there at the end, forcing me to make promises I didn’t want to make. As the tension seeped out of me, I felt wrung out.

“What do you think, Cormac?” I asked my Bodyguard as we headed back to the Royal wing. Behind me, I heard raised voices as the three men argued among themselves, probably pointing fingers. “Did I go too far?”
 

“On the contrary, Excellency.” I was startled by the deep respect in Cormac’s voice. “For several moments there, I could have sworn it was Sovereign Leontine himself in that room instead of his granddaughter. You handled them just as a ruler should. Though they may not say so, I guarantee they all respect you far more than they did before, and deservedly so.”

Gratified and incredibly touched, I glanced back at him with a misty smile. “Thank you Cormac. That means more to me than you know, given your long association with my father and grandfather. Please don’t think the reason I want Rigel back is because I’m not happy having you as my Bodyguard.”

“I quite understand that, Excellency.” His words were accompanied by a rare smile of his own.

Back in my apartment, I headed straight for my bedroom, again assuring Molly I’d explain later. The sooner I fulfilled the two promises I’d made to those three traitors, the sooner I could join Rigel on Earth. Retrieving my Scepter from the closet, I activated the Grentl Archive.

Using the colony databases my grandfather Leontine had shown me from the main Archive, and with this version’s help, I put together a detailed report for the Grentl. He again advised against including any mention of Earth, though I was pretty sure that cat was already out of the bag. Surely, that was more Faxon’s fault than mine? I hoped. It would be beyond awful if almost the first thing I’d done as Sovereign was precipitate a Grentl attack.

“Power reserves have fallen dramatically since my last report,” Leontine commented, displaying the two figures side by side. “Far more than between that report and the previous one, thirty-four years earlier.”

He was right. I pulled up that number for all the previous reports and saw that while power had slowly but steadily declined over time, maybe since the very start of the colony, the drop was far greater over the past forty-six years.
 

Curious, I searched a few other databases and discovered that the precipitous drain had occurred during Faxon’s tenure. Not only had he or his people introduced inefficiencies into all sorts of systems, from transportation to agriculture, but whatever secret military stuff he was doing—those particular files were missing—had also used an enormous amount of power.
 

To my inexperienced eye, it looked like Nuath’s century or so of continued existence might now have been cut to barely half that. Assuming, of course, that the Grentl didn’t plan to wipe us out even sooner.

Finalizing the report took nearly two hours. It would have gone faster if I hadn’t had to keep switching out the Archives. The version of Leontine in the main Archive was the most helpful by far, but he had to keep censoring himself to avoid any direct mention of the Grentl.

“I guess I understand the security reasons behind this,” I said when it happened for the fourth time, “but it seems kind of silly. I mean, nobody but a Sovereign can access either Archive, right?”

“Not as far as we know,” he agreed. “But there is always a risk of…hacking, I believe is the modern English word? It seemed a sensible precaution when my mother set up the system.”

“I suppose,” I said, thinking of Faxon. “Anyway, can you show me how to store my report on a data chip? And how to make it work once I, um, get where I need to go?” I didn’t use the G word, since it made this version of Leontine clam up.

“There should be empty data chips in the small drawer to the right of your vidscreen.” There were. “This process is quite simple. As for the other, can you not ask one of the Engineers to accompany you?”

I shook my head. “There aren’t any. Eric Eagan was the last, and he died right after showing me…how to do what I needed to do.”

“Eric? In my time, he was by far the oldest of those with that knowledge. I did not expect him to outlive me—though apparently my demise was no more natural than that of your parents.” He was
so
much more like a real person than his image in the other Archive.

His comment reminded me that at some point I’d need to sit down and add my own short history to the Archive. Not only would it be useful for later Sovereigns—still a weird thought—but it might help my grandfather, or any other Sovereigns I might consult, to advise me better going forward. I didn’t have time now, though.

“So, the data chip?” I held one up.
 

“Yes, of course. There is a slot halfway down the Scepter, between the two green stones. Insert it there and give the command to copy the most recent report. I’m sure I need not caution you not to leave the chip lying around. I recommend you erase it after you are finished.”

Swapping out the stones again, I did as he told me, then swapped them back, my report now in digital form, in my pocket. “Oh, how do I use the data chip…downstairs?” I asked my grandfather.

“With no Engineer to show you, all I can say is that it works much the same way, in reverse. Look to the lower left for the slot.”

That was more detail than I’d expected him to give me, given his reticence about the Grentl. I hoped it would be enough.

“Thank you…Grandfather.”

He smiled down at me with an incredible illusion of genuine fondness. “You are most welcome, my dear. Good luck. Until we speak again.”

I nodded, a lump in my throat, and deactivated the Archive.

Returning to the living room, I messaged Sean to join us so I could bring him and Molly up to speed at the same time. Less than a minute later he arrived, slightly breathless, while Molly was nearly bouncing with impatience to hear what I had to say.
 

“Did you confront my dad after all?” Sean was clearly anxious. “Even after what I said? I heard your message telling him to meet you. He hasn’t been back to our apartment since.”
 

“I did—and Devyn and Nels, too—but don’t worry. I took some precautions first that I hope will keep them from retaliating against Rigel or me.”
 

His eyebrows went up. “Precautions?”

“Turns out the Palace is equipped with some pretty cool security features only the Sovereign can use—which I did. Now none of them can leave or call out. Unfortunately, that probably means I’ll be seeing more of them until I can arrange to get myself on a ship to Earth.”

“They’ll let you do that?” Molly looked totally boggled. “Did they say so?”

“No, but they can’t really stop me. I did promise to name a Regent first, and to try and deal with the Grentl. Which I’d planned to do today anyway.”
 

Determined to get that task out of the way as soon as possible, I headed toward my office and the secret elevator that would take me down to the room with their communication device.

“What? Right now?” Clearly alarmed, Sean stepped in front of me. “Remember what that thing did to you last time?”

As if I could forget. “It’s the only way to find out what their intentions really are—assuming they’ll tell me, which they might not.”

“Can I come this time?” Molly surprised me by asking. “I haven’t seen it yet.”

“Sure, we can all go.” Why now? But no matter what I learned from the Grentl this time, even if it was nothing at all, I’d find a way to spin it so I could get back to Earth—and Rigel—as soon as possible.

I palmed open the hidden elevator and we all squeezed inside for the brief trip to the sub-basement. Molly, Sean and Cormac followed me through the warehouse-maze, where I used my palm again to make the wall disappear so we could go inside the secret room.

“Whoa. Is that…it?” Molly asked, pointing at the Grentl device on the far side.
 

I was heartened to see some of the sparkle back in her eyes as she took in her surroundings. Even if the Grentl didn’t answer, it was worth bringing her down here for the distraction it was giving her from her distress over her sister’s condition and her father’s perfidy.
 

The communication device was still inert—as I’d expected, since the signal crystal in my office hadn’t turned blue. Now that I knew to look for it, I easily found the slot Leontine had described on the lower left-hand side of the cube.
 

“You guys stay back, okay? Just in case.” I was thinking of what the device had done to Faxon and those early Linguists, back in Aerleas’s time. No point risking the others getting caught in any backlash if they decided to zap me for my effrontery.

Figuring I should “wake up” the device before sending my report, I positioned myself in front of it and stretched out my hands, one over each of the two projections. Steeling myself, I took one breath, two breaths, then on three I grasped the prongs simultaneously, as Eric had shown me just two hours before he’d died.
 

For maybe a dozen heartbeats, nothing happened. Then, slowly, the projections warmed in my hands. Once I was sure I was feeling more than just the heat of my own sweating palms, I reached out with my mind. Not with words, like I’d done last time, but more like the way I used to try to pick up Rigel’s thoughts when he was right at the limit of our telepathic ability. Searching. Listening, like Aerleas had said.
 

At first all I received were vague impressions of space, with formless shapes moving around me. Then I caught snippets of incredibly complex thoughts flitting through that space. Suddenly the prongs sent a tingling series of impulses through me and I sensed a definite presence—like they’d suddenly noticed me trying to eavesdrop.

I sharpened my focus, “listening” harder, trying to keep the information flowing my way so I could learn enough to make a guess at their intentions. But they were stronger than I was. Before I could even attempt to block them, they started sucking memories out of me again, picking up where they’d left off four days ago, when I’d suddenly let go of the device.
 

Again I experienced Rigel’s terrible video message but this time, knowing it was fake, it didn’t have nearly the same impact on me. Instead of letting go, I hung on tighter as they replayed my shock at hearing I wasn’t expected to leave Mars, my excitement at “meeting” two of my ancestors, my learning the stunning truth about Rigel and, finally, today’s confrontation with Mr. O and the others.

My turn, I decided, when the brief flood of images and emotions ceased. Reaching out with my mind again, just like I would with Rigel, I silently sent,
You said you are coming. Here?

“
YES.”

I sucked in a quick breath. An answer!
Why? What are you coming to do?

“TERMINATE EXPERIMENT.”

My stomach clenched. Even though I didn’t know exactly what they meant, it didn’t sound good at all. Letting go of the left-hand prong, hoping that wouldn’t interrupt the connection,
I fished the data chip out of my pocket, fumblingly inserted it into the slot, then grabbed the projection again.
Did that come through? Is it what you wanted?