Hellfire (THEIRS NOT TO REASON WHY) (49 page)

Before he could react to the abrupt change in mental landscapes, she hauled him toward the end of the galaxy.

The mirror-like surface roiled and swirled with indignation. (
You presume much!
)

She didn’t prevaricate. (
I have just been proved to be the Prophet of a Thousand Years, as foretold to these people for millennia by the Abomination, and have been proved so in front of high-ranked leaders of the Sh’nai faith. As soon as they spread word of this—and it
will
spread—the majority of the V’Dan Empire shall become faction to me. I offer you a chance to shift your position slightly, so that your actions will be fortified and your efforts will not be washed away in the flood of my own.

(
I also offer you this chance to see
what
my goal is, so you may understand just how strongly it aligns with your own,
) Ia stated.

Stopping by the bank of her carefully tended channel, she displayed the disparity of this future point in time. The lush growth of the prairie’s past, the barren emptiness of the deserted future, and the one crack in the wall of the coming fate that led to a garden of renewed possibilities.

(
Examine it quickly. I dare not let our hands linger for long, lest someone notice it on the security cameras and wonder why I’m taking so long to introduce myself to you. That would be counterproductive to your cover…and I would not like to make the same stupid mistake I made when I exposed Miklinn.
)

The sphere spun and bobbed, probing at the visage of Time, tasting the waters. He finally pulled back. (
…Yes, that was
particularly stupid of you. Move us back to our entry point and show me this proof that says to the V’Dan you’re the Prophet.
)

Doing as he bid, Ia did not take offense. She had been stupid that day and was strong enough to acknowledge it. Kierfando was one of the oldest Meddlers in local space. He was also one of the most flexible and forgiving for his kind. The youngest ones were arrogant, the middling ones inflexibly prejudiced, and the oldest ones set in their ways, but not him. That was why he still held such a potent position in their Game, poised at a major interstellar crossroads.

She gave him time to examine the recent scene in her own past, then pulled his bubble out of the waters again. (
Have you seen enough?
)

(
For now? Yes. When we part company, shake hands with me again. I wish to examine the Great Demand you will supposedly make of us.
)

Withdrawing their minds back into their bodies, Ia released his fingers. Only a few seconds had passed, physically. (
Provided you agree to be neutral to me at the very least when we part company, then we have a deal. You will get nothing if you choose to counterfaction me to any degree.
)

He snorted and sucked on his sugarstick. (
You learn quickly. You also have sparks the size of this station, thinking you can make demands on a fullblood.
)

(
My “sparks” are bigger than this entire star system,
) she bragged, smiling slightly. The boast earned her a mental chuckle. (
Thank you for being more flexible than most of your kind,
) she told Kierfando. (
If I’d tried to make that joke with one of the others, they’d have smacked me for hubris rather than seeing it for what it is.
)

(
“Humor is a waste of energy,”
) he quoted, sucking on the sugarstick again. (
That line of thought is a bunch of matter-loaded recharge, if you ask me.
)

“You know, those things aren’t entirely healthy for your teeth,” Ia offered out loud. “Or your pancreas.”

“Been suckin’ on ’em longer than you’ve been alive, meioa-e,” Kier grunted back. “I’ve earned my vices. Haven’t you, yet?”

“Hm. Vices…I don’t think I have any, unless you count a slavish devotion to my military duties,” she admitted.

He eyed her and pulled a fresh, plexi-wrapped stick out of his shirt pocket. “You need this more than I do if all you do is march around and shoot at people.”

She accepted it with a dip of her head. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me. Shut up and suck up,” he ordered her.

“Sir, yes, sir,” she quipped, earning her a second mental chuckle in reply.

Unwrapping the stick, she tucked the end between her lips and sucked. The flavor was fruity, something V’Dan local and not anything she had tasted before. If it had been the real fruit, it would have been filled with histaminic triggers, but like every other Human in the known galaxy, Ia had been inoculated at birth with the
jungen
virus to counteract such things. As it was, the flavor was an exotic touch. Some of her home colony’s orchards had been planted with seeds from V’Dan, but nothing like this.

She sucked again, enjoying the treat. (
Tasty. Thank you.
)

(
My favorite. I’ll offer you a provisional faction, Prophet—and yes, I acknowledge you as such. Neutral-assured until you manifest, then I’ll faction you,
) he clarified. (
If I faction you openly before you prove yourself a player, not a pawn, that could weaken my own plays considerably. If you don’t make the change…as you fleshies say, no sweat off my back.
)

(
That’s acceptable. Provisional faction, neutral until manifestation,
) Ia confirmed.

“Well. Time for me to go, girl. Got supper waiting for me, and nobody making it but me,” he added out loud. (
Tonight’s menu calls for a gentle bath of ultraviolet light for about an hour, followed by soaking in a static generation wheel. Come back sometime, child, after you make the change, and I’ll treat you to a nice “home-cooked” meal.
)

She chuckled. “My cooking is barely tolerable. I had to barter for a whole ship of soldiers under my command to do it for me.” She held out her hand again. “Nice to meet you, Kier. Thank you for the view, the stick, and the hospitality.”

“Not a problem,” he said, clasping hands with her. (
Now show your desperate, Game-based request to me.
)

Once more, Time ran faster on the plains than out in reality. Ia swayed them both forward—not nearly as far as the first trip—and dipped him into one of the defining moments of her sought-after future. It took him a few seconds in the streams
to grasp the implications of her demand. When he did…he recoiled, the surface of his energy-sphere turning dark with shock. Ia eased him up onto the bank and offered him a packet of psychic energy. He did not refuse, proof of his agitation.

(
You see why I cannot do this without your people’s help,
) she murmured as he recovered, his surface gradually growing mirror-bright again. (
My Right of Simmerings ends in less than a month. I need your people to acknowledge I am a player in the Game, not a pawn, because I need everyone to faction with and aid me at
that
point in time.
)

(
Half child, you
do
have sparks the size of this star system…but I can also see why it
would
be necessary, and why you will need our aid,
) he agreed. The sphere swirled, focusing on her. (
We’re the only ones who can escape being harmed by that thing…and I can also see why you’d allow it to be unleashed on your enemy. Those suckered fiends would counterfaction you and your pawns hard down through Time, unless you let that happen to them. But
this,
child, is going to
shova v’shakk
the Game plays out of several of us. Not me personally, but some of the others, oh yes. You will make counterfaction enemies with this.
)

(
I’m prepared to offer my temporal assistance to reestablish them in other positions. Better to start again and rebuild with my help than to lose everything, after all…and if I don’t get your people’s help, a very large number of you will lose everything in the short term…and all of you in the long term.
)

(
I hope they agree because if they refuse, the Game ends, according to what you have foreseen,
) he agreed. (
I’m not the best at future-skimming, but I can See enough to know that you See true—I like the visualizations you used, by the way.
)

(
Thanks. Any help you can offer me, neutral though we may be, I’d appreciate,
) she told him. Then pulled them out of the timestreams, adding, (
Parting hands, now.
)

(
What sort of help?
) he asked her, releasing her fingers. Again, only a couple heartbeats had passed in reality.

(
Names of the Feyori I could contact between now and my manifestation. It’s not always easy to see your kind, particularly when they want to keep their presence and influences hidden. A name would help me locate them faster,
) Ia said.

Hands on knees, he grunted and rocked himself forward, pushing upright. “Enjoy the view, meioa.”

“And you.” She watched him walk away, wondering if he would even acknowledge her question.

He did, several seconds after she turned her attention back to the half-silvered view.

(
Telu’oc. Na-Ganj. Kropecz. Belini. Gallown.
) Each name came with a subpulse associating its owner with a particular territory, and a warning. (
No guarantees they will accept, half-breed. But they are the five most likely to at least stop and listen.
)

(
Thank you. There will be a very tasty coronal ejection in fourteen days. Safest place for you to feed will be just ahead of the leading edge of the largest gas giant’s L4. It’ll be a fast solar wind, and the L4 will have an ion storm that forms when it interacts with the gas giant’s magnetosphere—I’ll leave you to do the math of when and where the best point in time will be for you to snack,
) she added, as he strolled out of view. (
Since only you know whether it’ll be worth taking a personal day to fly out there in a leisurely, unnoticed way, or just wait until your shift ends and risk zipping off in a visible form, the day the flare reaches that section of space.
)

(
Thank you. I believe that’ll make a nice payment for the sugarstick,
) he told her.

(
I know. That’s why I offered it.
)

He chuckled at the edges of her mind. (
Polite child. You just might survive the Game…Have a good night.
)

Ia stayed where she was for a few more minutes, then rose from the low bench and started the trek back to the section bearing the
Hellfire
’s gantry. Since she no longer had to pretend to type on a portable workstation, she pulled her datapad from her trouser pocket and began composing prophecies electrokinetically while she walked.

Part of her mind went to the list of names he had given her. Making a side note of them, she saved it to the pad. Belini, she already knew. Telu’oc wasn’t one she had considered before, but he was more likely than Kropecz to cooperate. Na-Ganj was in minor counterfaction to Belini through one of his other factioners, which meant bringing him to her side would be delicate diplomatically. Gallown could go either way.

She had to be back on board her ship within two more hours, before the news was leaked that the Prophet had finally been revealed and confirmed to the Sh’nai priesthood. When that
little religion-based bombshell hit the local Nets, fanatic followers would begin searching for clues to the Prophet’s identity.

The Emperor might even be moved to demand that Ia present herself formally for recognition if things got out of control. She would have to call upon him before that happened. That was, if he didn’t call on
her
first; the chance for that stood at around seventy-three percent, which meant there was still a lot for her to do to ensure it happened.

She didn’t hurry back to the
Hellfire
, though; there was just enough time to do a little shopping, first. Her civilian clothes were getting old, and something new to wear in her rare, civvies-clad moments wouldn’t hurt the future.

APRIL 22, 2496 T.S.

Once again, she was escorted into the conference room hosted by the
Tatth-Niel
’s Department of the Imperial Army. This time, Ia did not come in uniform. She had found a shop selling dresses not too different from Earth-style cheongsams, but slit front and back to midthigh in petal-like panels as well as down the sides, and layered with more petals underneath.

Using the textile manufactory controls, she had loosened the fit of the long sleeves, adding buttons from elbow to wrist down each side so that she could hide her officer’s ident. The fabric was a plain, deep red, embroidered here and there with golden feathers, and it came with a matching, turban-like cap that covered her distinctive hair.

In short, it made her look like a woman, a civilian instead of a no-nonsense soldier. The color was also one associated with the Imperial Court, and her Asiatic tan was just golden enough to blend in with the average V’Dan tint. Nobody had looked twice at her on her way here.

The man waiting for her in the conference room was not a nobody, however. His Eternal Majesty, Emperor Ki’en-qua Nomin’ien V’Dania, Blade of Heavenly Justice, Shield of the Thirty-Seven Worlds—if one counted all the way down to the smallest, jointly founded domeworld colony—and One Hundred Sixty-Seventh Sovereign of V’Dan, definitely looked twice at her.

He glanced her way, then turned and stared as she was brought into the room by Leftenant P’kethra and the Grand General. His Majesty then frowned softly as she was introduced simply as Terran Space Force Ship’s Captain Ia, and quirked one brow upward. Handsome and just bordering on middle age, he wore the monarch’s version of the Imperial Army Dress Reds, decorated with what looked like his own half glittery of a few brooches, ribbons, and swags of whatever cultural significance applied. She hadn’t bothered to check in the timestreams since they weren’t important.

“Ship’s Captain Ia?” he repeated, staring at her.

Taking that as permission to speak, Ia bowed politely, formally. “In disguise, Your Eternity. Rumors already churn on the V’Dan Nets, and I would not have them connect a certain white-haired military savior of the Gatsugi’s opening battle with a certain white-haired soldier striding about the station. Not to mention your own appearance aboard the freeport is being kept discreet, is it not?”