Galaxy's Edge Magazine: Issue 4: September 2013 (7 page)

A cough rattles in Isabella’s chest like dice in a cup. She hangs limp and cold from my front. “Isabella!” I yell. “Draven is coming for us! He’s seen the star!” I hold the glittering star high until its temporary flame dies.

The Worm rolls down the road. Its burning wind pushes Emily ahead of it.

Isabella forces a whisper out. “Lead it out of the city,” she says. “Get inside Emily and use another spell to make it chase her away.”

“No.” If she dies inside Emily, no one will ever know what happened. I promised her glory. She is my sister and she deserves glory.

Emily traces a wobbly path to above the tower, her underside brushing the platform, and then she lands. Her body is terribly burned, but her face shows no more animation than before.

She splits and Draven steps out. My heart leaps despite the circumstances. He clenches a scroll in his hands.

“I thought we had more time,” he says. He looks at Emily and touches the burning flesh on her hindquarters. Tears fill his eyes and he will not look at us as he holds the scroll in an outstretched hand.

Most of the scroll is covered in the runes in the language of spells, the Tongue. But some of it is common script.

Mary,
it says,
I have drained Susan too much to cast this. I know you won’t have drained Isabella. She is strong enough to bear the spell. We can rule the Parliament together.

Beneath is the spell. It is Emily’s work. If Isabella was strong and the King still alive, the spell would not kill her, but she will die for certain if I cast it now.

Draven bows his head. His twin does the same. And in the gesture, there is something familiar. “Emily?” I say, looking closely at Draven’s twin. I had assumed his twin was male, but the withered creature is female.

Draven shakes his head. “No, Susan.” I touch his twin on its jaw. Emily’s dead twin?

“I don’t understand.”

The Worm curls around the tower’s base. Draven grips the platform, his knuckles whitening. “Emily made me oathbound. Her carriage drove past and splattered me with mud. I called her a whore.”

He opens his eyes, staring down at the Worm as it curls up the stairs. It takes its time now, knowing its prey is trapped. “She made me oathbound to punish me and then when I was her slave, she fell in love with me.” He pauses to choke back a sob. “I told her I loved her too, but I lied,” he says. “When it came time to cast the final spell, she could not do it. I told her to ask the Traders to swap my suffering for the pain of her twin. All I had thought to do was end my own slavery.”

Isabella opens her eyes. Her face is suddenly strong. She has more life in her than I imagined, maybe enough to cast the inducement spell.

The Worm is at the top of the stairs. It is too large to fit, but it does. I can taste its despair, its need to destroy magic and its self-hatred for doing so.

“Cast the spell,” Isabella says, trying to scream her words. “Kill me! Kill me and save yourself!”

The Worm rears above us and it fills the sky. The scroll is unfurled in my hand. But I am no murderer. I am a liar and a hypocrite, but that is all. I throw the scroll toward the Worm. It catches fire before it hits.

I recite my schoolyard spell, the one that changes tastes. Isabella screams, but she lives. The Worm’s flavor intensifies and overwhelms me. And then the Worm and I are linked. We are twins. I taste it and it tastes me. It knows what I think and feel and say through tasting me and I understand it.

“You consume mages to make the new King,” I tell it, no words passing my lips. “If the New King is not born, the world will die. More than spells, he sustains life.” I taste it waiting, wary of what I have to say. “But you take no pleasure in murder. Your sorrows are heavy.” The taste of sadness and relief floods my mouth. It has spent eternity nursing its guilt, never sharing it. “Go to the Traders of Sorrows,” I tell it. “I will take on your grief and you will take on mine. Leave them all alive and I will be the Worm Nil.”

And it asks, “What grief will you have when your sister is still alive?”

“I love him. He is my true love. He is also Isabella’s true love. My grief is that I give her to him. I give them each other and that is my sorrow.”

The Worm Nil swallows me.

R

Isabella is un-twinned. I restore her to full health. I am the Worm Nil and the Worm Nil is me. We are one being, carrying the guilt of the other, and we are almost Gods.

Emily left Susan so drained that only a shell remains. There is nothing left to save, so I let her die and leave Draven un-twinned. I cannot restore Emily’s mind. There are some things beyond my powers. One day she may regain her sanity and then Draven’s guilt will be heavier.

I uncoil from the Tower. The Parliament’s mages have fled the city in their
oathbound
. Some are criminals and they should die. I am not a murderer, but I will be. I leave my sister behind, knowing I will never see her again and that is my sorrow, but I am the Worm Nil and I will bear my sorrows for eternity.

Original (First) Publication

Copyright © 2013 by Nick T. Chan

******************************************

SMALL PRESS

GIANT AUTHORS

WINNER OF THE
HUGO & NEBULA AWARDS

www.PhoenixPick.com

Superstar singer Janis Ian has been writing science fiction stories since 2001, and writing them impressively enough that she was chosen to be the Nebula Toastmaster in 2007. She has co-edited (with your magazine’s editor) the anthology
Stars,
30 science fiction stories by top writers in the field, each story based on or inspired by one of her songs.

She is the 2013 Grammy winner for Best Spoken Word Album.

CORRESPONDENCE WITH A BREEDER

by Janis Ian

1624.12 ABR, Mesklin

Dear Mister Mike Resnick————

Greetings from the future!?”

You may be appalled to learn that I am writing to you through judicious use of the MicroMac, a privilege rarely granted and more rarely accepted in my universe, and that we will be good friends soon*&!

My name is Torthan Volbiss, and as part of my Natural History science project I have elected to do research into the lives of great canine breeders of the 19
^th
century. I have selected you for my project!*&!

I am hoping we can communicate via satelnet

regarding this project, as I am pressed for sunturns

and must get this in quickly or my lectern will be degrading me.

Please advise as soon as possible:

1. How many canines have you bred in your past centurns

?%$

2. Of the ones you have bred, which is your best-beloved canine

@#?

3. Have you obtained superiority propogation certificates

from extra-Sol

and if so, which planet did you like best?)(

4. If not, why not?!*

5. Are you accepting applications for lecterns?.#

Sincerely&*(

Torthan Volbiss

***

1624.17 ABR, Walpurgis III

Dear Mr. Resnick:

Thank you for correcting my punctuation? I did not realize only one character was needed at the end of each sentence@ I will enterprise with more awareness in future# [That is a joke,
future
, do you acquire it”]

Not being a transtemporality

major, I cannot explain how the transmissions are effected. I only know that Woz Volbiss III, my great
³
-paternost

invented a new way to take advantage of the SLF

, and somehow we are able to scratch heads

this way*

Not many students are afforded the ability to use the MicroMac, and I must be brief or it will fire electrical charges into my system

+

I did not realize you are in the 21
^st
century* My how instants wing

is I believe the correct term from your era:

Yes, the word I meant was INTERN* Of course I could not fulfill the mission

in soft tissue

, but I could certainly handle your datamail

from here$ To be less-than-sharply-honed

it would also gain me extra scores, and as the Unicollege program is very competitive this would be of great aid to myself and my domestic unit

.

If you have only 60 years how have you managed to attain your Q-factorization

in the field% Also are you speaking from the side of your mouth

when you say travel to other planets is not possible for the ordinary man= Surely you are anything but ordinary, you are a breeder of some repute even in your era&

Thank you for your attenuation.

Genuinely,

Torthan Volbiss

***

1624.22 ABR, Herovit’s World

Dear Mike,

Thank you for tolerating my use of your first name! Also thank you for the language lesson, I will confine myself to ! ? and ..

Are you always so polite to your data-friends. I am impressed that you have answered all 16 of my packets within one sunturn

? You must have a great deal of time on your maniples

, my elucidator says you will be a wonderful mentor for this study. I agree, I can feel it in my skeletal structure

? It is very kind of you to answer my questions?

I am sorry to hear you are no longer breeding canines, although I agree that the invention of dentistry has probably made this unnecessary. My misunderstanding due to lingual problems, I am sure. Sometimes the convertor

does not decode to perfection.

I am sorry I do not share your tongue, but the MicroMac will have to do as yours is a dead tongue. Perhaps eventually we can share tongues and become closer.

What is your habitat

like, do you have wives! If so, where are they kept when their mouthpieces

are turned off. Do you regularly apneate

in a cama

or a Landsend

!

I must penitate

that this project did not seem like much fun when it was assigned to me, but I am beginning to enjoy it.

Your new friend,

Friendily,

Torthan V.

***

1624.29 ABR, Darkover

Hi! Mike! How! are! you!

This was a joke as I have been wrestling your era. You said to use only one punctuate! . or ? This was only one for each word.

Are you laughing now. I am?

It is hard to translate humor, for instance I did not understand that your earlier reference to canines and dentistry was a joke. I will endeavor to be more attentive in future/past/present.

It is also difficult for me to understand what you mean by many of your references, since I do not have the scaffolding

to compare. Perhaps you could hurl at me

a story to scan

! I promise to regard it with open eyes?

I am sorry for rushing but I am overdue at ergball

and must soar

.

Rapidly,

Torthan V.

***

1624.39 ABR, Rama III

Dear Mike,

Thank you for your many answers, and the lesson on punctuation. I have reported your educational efforts to my elucidator, who has invited you to give a sermon

here when science permits. This is a very great honor, I am pleased to present it to you!

I did not realize a sentient of your standing was permitted only one wife. Is this by custom or by chance? Also, what do you do when she is worn out? Are there many replacements available?

I am afraid I have not read any of your fiction, it is not encouraged in my family as we are reproduced for science. I am familiar with a writer of your era called Connie Willis, however, as we have elucidated

her works in our econosociobiology class. They are not fiction, is that correct!

ABR is standing in for

After Bush Resigning or After Bioengineering Replacement or something of the sort. I am not an ancient history major and do not know the answers to many of your questions, including also whether your fiction has survived and where the last Worldcon was. I do remember from early studying that the concept of World was outlawed after the inhabitation

of Hominid II and its subsequent stubborn insistence on taking over its galaxy.

Sincerely,

Torthan V.

***

1624.41 ABR, Trantor

Dear Mike,

I am sorry I cannot check the bookstores as we do not have any. Or libraries.

Perhaps I am vocalizing inadequately. Information is transferred directly from RNA before birth. Those who are unable to retain information are culled. That is why the MicroMac is so important! Much information was lost in the aevum

since your time, and you are helping to replace it in me! Because of you I am confident that my progeny will not be culled!

I anxiously await one of your chronicles, as I am also going through pubertization and hoping there will be some “pointers” in it because you seem to be very wise. Particularly in your commentary about wives and their replacements.

I anxiously await your box

Frankly,

Torthan V.

***

1624.48 ABR, Pern

Dear Mike,

I am having great enjoyment in slinging your story words at my allies

. I’ll be damned! that is correct yes?

Thank you for sending a most interesting chronicle, however you of all must know there are no elephants on Neptune. They were evacuated many universes ago.

I have gained credit nonetheless, as my former science elucidator was quite surprised that you are only a canine breeder who is a writer on the fringe

, yet you know things from studies he thought were done many-mega later. He asks how did you realize the psychic bond elephants have, are there elephant genetics in your background?

Are you by chance the pen-alias of Dr. Asimov, and involved in this research?

Also thank you for sending me the list of “awards” you have received, though I was not familiar with the word. In researching your communications stream I see it means you were given a pat on the head

for excellence. We do not have “awards” for excellence as it is assumed if you are not culled you will be excellent.

I am thinking of changing my majority field

to one which will help me understand you better. There is an ancient history course available on Asimov V which refers to the little-known genus called “science fiction”, the fiction of science. Since you are as you say a “science fiction writer”, this will enable us to tongue more efficiently. And as it will also work with my science course, I am moving there in 3 parsecs and will not be available for the duration. I would appreciate any chronicles you could send in the interim turns.

Yours in excitement,

Excitedly,

Torthan

***

1625.12 ABR, Asimov V

Dear Mike,

My new elucidator

of science fiction was quite engulfed that I am in correspondence with you! She says my enthusiasm rating is high enough to qualify for a complete major change! This would enable me to enter the higher academicia and perhaps even graduate at some point in future! Please send more “stories”,
The Return of Santiago
was very interesting even though there are no known planets of any description you use.

I am thinking of naming my initial progeny Peacemaker Angel One-Note MacDougal Volbiss in your honor. In fact, I am thinking of changing my majority report completely because of the effect you have had on me.

I am wondering if you have an opinion, should I become a breeder of canines or a science fiction writer? Both fields are, as you would say, broadly ajar

here.