Abelardus stood slightly to the side of the group, his robe also open to display a similar tight vest and muscular torso. Was he the leader of the squad? He looked a little older than the others, in his thirties perhaps, instead of his twenties like the younger warriors.
Off to the side, Yumi stood with another Starseer, this one still wearing a hood.
“Have you come to deliver that artifact to its rightful home?” one of the young warriors asked, looking at Alejandro. Maybe they weren’t the mind readers the stories said they were. If he knew what was in Alejandro’s thoughts, he would know the answer.
The warrior frowned up and down Alejandro’s body—not impressed by the monk’s robe and pendant? The Starseers were reputed to be followers of the suns, like most in the system these days, but they had their own variation on the religion and might not be respectful of what Alejandro’s robe represented. Or maybe they could see into his mind and knew what Alisa suspected, that the robe was no more than a costume for him, a way to keep people from molesting him while he was on his quest. It hadn’t worked that well so far.
“I have come in the hope that your people can help me research it,” Alejandro said, measuring his words carefully. “My understanding is that it may lead to a useful tool that could help return the system to a time of peace.”
Abelardus snorted. “Perhaps in the way that the invention of the atomic bomb brought peace to Old Earth for a time.”
Alisa’s Old Earth history was rusty, and she did not quite understand the statement, but she did get the hint that her suspicions might have been correct, that Alejandro sought a weapon, something that could be used to his people’s advantage. She scowled at him, though neither he nor Leonidas was paying attention to her. Neither were the Starseers. Aside from the one who had addressed Alejandro, the warriors were all glaring blazer bolts at Leonidas. He hadn’t said a word yet, nor had he pointed a weapon at them, but tension seemed to crackle in the air between them.
Alisa hopped off the side of the ramp. She would help Leonidas if she could, but she didn’t want to be lumped in with Alejandro and his quest, especially if these people thought the orb should belong to them. Besides, she had a quest of her own. While the men glared at each other, she sidled over to Yumi, hoping that her Starseer might be someone with whom Alisa could start a dialogue.
“A tool is only as good or evil as the man who wields it,” Alejandro said before Alisa could speak.
“Says the man smithing a sword,” Abelardus responded.
“I do not seek to wield that sword myself, nor do I expect you to go out of your way to do me any favors. All I ask is to be allowed to use your library to do some research. I will gladly pay a fee or compensate you in a fair manner for the time you let me access it.”
“The answers you seek aren’t in the library. Others have sought them before.”
“I may have insights that they did not.”
The young warrior who had spoken before, a pale-skinned man with brown hair pulled back in a bun, stirred again and looked at Abelardus. “He doesn’t seriously think we’re going to let him keep the Toriphant, does he? How did he even get it? We’ve had an eye out for it for two hundred years.”
Alejandro shifted uneasily. Leonidas remained still, like a boulder unmoved by the power of the river flowing around it. Abelardus watched both men and did not respond to his colleague, not out loud.
Abruptly, the warrior strode forward, lifting a hand as if to grab Alejandro’s satchel. At the same time, he glared at Leonidas, twitching a finger in his direction. Alisa was not sure what he intended to happen, but Leonidas lunged forward so fast she barely registered it. One instant, he was standing at Alejandro’s side. The next, he had wrapped his gauntleted hand around the Starseer’s throat.
Abelardus took a step forward. He did not do anything else that Alisa could see, but both the Starseer and Leonidas were hurled from the ramp, flying ten feet in the air before landing.
The blow was probably meant to knock the men free of each other, but Leonidas kept hold of his captive, twisting in the air to land on his feet, his hand still wrapped around the Starseer’s throat, the other gripping his arm to hold him upright too. They came down in such a way that the Starseer’s body was between Leonidas and the other warriors, all of whom had also surged forward, lifting their staffs as if they meant to charge in and pummel him.
Alisa found her Etcher in her hand, but she did not aim it at anyone. She didn’t even remember grabbing it, but she kept it down, firmly reminding herself that this wasn’t her fight. Besides, what could she do that Leonidas could not? Further, the Starseer woman next to Yumi was looking at her and had probably noticed the gun in her hand.
“Erick,” Abelardus said with a sigh, “if you’re going to launch a mental attack on a cyborg, you have to be faster than that. Especially if you’re doing it with one who seems like he’s had experience fighting our people before.” Abelardus’s eyes narrowed as he frowned at Leonidas.
Leonidas stood frozen in his position, neither letting the Starseer go, nor applying pressure to hurt him. Alisa knew full well that he could have crushed the man’s throat.
The man with the hand around his throat rasped a, “Sorry. But if these arrogant bastards think they’re going to fly into our temple and make demands for help researching an artifact that their people stole from ours… that’s preposterous. I don’t care if that one is a monk with a leashed cyborg at his disposal.”
Behind him, Leonidas’s knees flexed, almost as if they were in danger of buckling from some attack. He grimaced in pain, the expression just visible through his faceplate. But instead of falling, it was the Starseer, Erick, who cried out, making a wheezing noise and reaching for his throat. Leonidas straightened and growled something in the man’s ear.
“Yumi,” Alisa whispered. “Is there any chance you have any influence here and can do something?”
Yumi glanced at the Starseer woman and shrugged. “I don’t have any influence, no.”
“Is this your mother?” Alisa looked at the woman. Maybe she had influence.
With her face hidden, who knew what she was thinking, but the woman twitched in surprise. Then she turned and walked away. Er, maybe Alisa should not have blurted that question. She stopped at a control panel on a wall next to double doors that led from the landing pad into the temple.
“She’s made it clear that while she doesn’t mind seeing me,” Yumi said quietly, her tone morose, “it was foolish of me to come here and that I won’t be welcomed. None of us will.”
“I’m getting that impression.” Alisa eyed the warriors, all still in fighting stances and facing Leonidas, but nobody advancing farther while he held their man.
“Usually, a Starseer can use a mental attack to force someone to leave them alone,” Yumi whispered, like a game commentator explaining a sport to a viewer who had never seen it played before. “They can even stop your heart or cause a blockage that leads to a heart attack. But cyborgs react so quickly that if they’re close, they can kill a Starseer before he’s able to put together a mental attack. Also, Starseers are still human, and if they’re nervous or feel threatened, they have trouble focusing enough to put together attacks and defenses. From afar, it’s different. If the cyborg is far enough away that there isn’t risk of reprisal, then he’s just like any other human facing a Starseer, as vulnerable as any other human.”
“So, Leonidas needs to be careful just walking around the temple here?” Alisa asked. “In case someone has a grudge?”
“Very careful.”
Assuming he got out of the next thirty seconds.
Chapter 6
Alisa walked slowly toward the Starseers, not knowing what she meant to do, only that someone had to break the stalemate before Leonidas ended up killing that man to protect himself. If that happened, she had no doubt that Alejandro wouldn’t get to do his research and she wouldn’t find out what had happened to her daughter. They would be lucky if they weren’t
all killed. Since the Starseers had no problem with crashing people’s ships, she doubted they worried overmuch about morality when it came to disposing of plain old humans.
“Hello, everyone,” she announced with a cheery wave. “I’m Captain Alisa Marchenko. These two are my passengers. I know they look thuggish, especially the cyborg there, but they’re both reasonable men. Nobody wants any trouble here, and I’m sure we can all agree that Leonidas is practicing excellent restraint by not harming his captive, given that he’s now been attacked twice. Or was it three times? My boring old non-cyborg and non-magical eyes have a hard time seeing what’s going on.”
Abelardus was the only one who glanced her way, and it was a brief glance. Leonidas happened to be facing her, and she thought his eyebrows twitched at the word thuggish, but his concentration remained focused on the squad of Starseers facing him.
“Is there perhaps someone in a position of authority that we could talk to?” Alisa pressed on. “I have a few questions I need to ask, and I’m also on the lookout for cargo to haul in case you want to ship anything to another planet, moon, or space station. Or perhaps you’re looking to have some cargo delivered? Do you ever have the urge for a hot cup of coffee? A delicious bar of chocolate? Perhaps some fresh fruit? I can’t imagine you can grow much at this latitude.”
“Is that woman trying to sell us something?” one of the warriors muttered.
Alisa beamed him a smile. “Just offering my services as a freighter captain. Given the unfriendliness of your mists out there, I don’t imagine you see freighters often.”
“Usually just smashed against the rocks,” another muttered.
Alisa was beginning to see why her ancestors had fought so hard to ensure the Starseers failed in their bid to rule the entire system.
“Stand down,” Abelardus told his warriors.
The staffs slowly lowered, but the icy glares remained locked on Leonidas. After a moment, he released his captive. Erick stumbled but quickly straightened and strode away, his chin up. He wore a sneer and did not acknowledge that the red marks on his neck must have hurt. Alisa wondered if Leonidas wore any similar bruises on his insides anywhere.
“We’ll go see Lady Naidoo,” Abelardus said. “Unless Lady Ji-yoon has something to say.”
The aloof woman Yumi had identified as her mother walked back over, finally pushing her hood back as she did so. She had long black hair with a few strands of gray in it and a round face physically similar to Yumi’s, though it shared little of Yumi’s curiosity or cheerfulness. Not that Yumi looked that cheerful now. She watched her mother’s approach with wariness.
“I do not,” Ji-yoon said, her dark gaze sweeping over Alisa and her crew, lingering on Alejandro’s satchel. Not surprisingly, Alejandro protected it with his arm.
The group of warriors turned toward the doorway Alisa had noticed earlier. They strode together in a line, apparently expecting their visitors to follow. Ji-yoon murmured something to Yumi, and they walked after the men. Alisa waited for Leonidas and fell in at his side, opposite of Alejandro. She was surprised none of the Starseers took up the rear so they could keep an eye on their visitors. If Alisa saw a spot in the temple that looked like it might house kidnapped children, she would veer off without hesitating.
Leonidas touched her back briefly as they headed for the door. Alisa looked up at him, not sure if it had been an accidental touch or if it was a sign that he appreciated that she had intervened. It wasn’t as if she had done much. He nodded down at her.
“The Starseers don’t seem to like cyborgs much,” she said, taking the nod as an invitation to chitchat. He probably had not meant it that way.
“No,” he agreed.
They entered a wide corridor not much warmer than the outdoor landing pad had been, perhaps because the walls were made from blocks of ice. Alisa supposed other building materials might be scarce up here.
“Is there anywhere you go where people adore cyborgs?” she asked, remembering how even the boys on Perun, a planet still ruled by the empire, had feared him. It was the one place where she had expected former cyborg soldiers to be welcomed, maybe even treated as heroes.
“Are you saying you don’t adore me?” Leonidas asked.
She gaped at him. “Was that a joke?”
“I suppose if you have to ask, it wasn’t a good one.”
“No, it’s not that. It’s just that your humor is so scarce.” Alisa had yet to see him laugh. She’d told him on Starfall Station that she hoped to make it happen someday. That had been before she watched one of his old comrades die in his arms. She was beginning to see why not much in his life amused him.
“Cyborg adoration is scarce, too,” he said. “In the empire, the subjects were glad you were there, fighting for them, and the same was true for other soldiers in the fleet. They were always bolstered to have a cyborg on their side. But when the fighting was over…” He seemed to shrug, but it was hard to tell under all the armor. “They didn’t know what to do with you. Or how to treat you.”
“Someday, you’ll have to tell me why you signed up for that.”
“Perhaps.”
They had passed a couple of intersections, and the Starseer procession took a turn at the next one, heading toward a set of wide stairs leading upward. They passed two older men in robes who nodded to their brethren, ignored Yumi, Alejandro, and Alisa, and faltered when they spotted Leonidas. They stopped to glare at him. He watched them warily as he continued walking, like a panther thinking that he might have to spring and attack to avoid the bullets from a hunter’s rifle. Abelardus looked over his shoulder at the men, shook his head, and continued on. The two older men glared a moment longer before continuing on their way.
“The Starseers seem even less likely to adore you than others,” Alisa observed, thinking of the video they had seen on the cybernetics station, where a Starseer had been releasing deadly Octavian bears into the labs, presumably to eat the researchers.
Alejandro, walking close enough to hear their conversation, grunted at this statement of the obvious. Alisa ignored him, though she thought it would have been fitting if Abelardus had used his mind powers to throw him from the Nomad’s ramp instead of Leonidas.
“They have a lot of reason to hate us. And to sabotage our livelihoods.” He gave her a sidelong look, perhaps also thinking of that video. “Cyborgs turned the tide in the Order Wars. It was after the government started creating them and molding them into soldiers that our ancestors were able to come out ahead in physical battles. That’s also where the assassination stories come in,” he added, giving her another long look as they started up the stairs. She remembered mentioning to him that she’d heard stories of cyborgs assassinating Alliance leaders during the war. “Cyborgs were sent in to kill Starseer leaders, often in their sleep. It was the only way to ensure they couldn’t use their mind powers. A Sergeant Callahan was reputed to have assassinated everyone in a temple with a knife in one night, almost a hundred people. In their sleep, Starseers are as human and vulnerable as the next person.”
“Good to know,” Alisa said, though inside, she found the casual way he spoke of such events chilling. She knew from personal experience that Leonidas was an honorable man, and she could not imagine him accepting such an assignment, but he was also practical and did not shy away from being blunt about the realities of war.
“They committed atrocities of their own,” Leonidas continued. “Putting aside the fact that they thought they were superior to all other humans and were trying to take over the entire system, they captured some cyborgs and kept them in a lab. They experimented on them, refining their methods for fighting—and killing—us. There are stories that they used to bring in their children, Starseers in training, and teach them to torture their prisoners with their minds.”
Alisa swallowed. Nobody was at war now, and the Starseers had not even been major players in the battle between the empire and the Alliance, so she hoped such practices were not needed, but she shudd
ered to think of her daughter being trained to be such a person, to have such skills.
“But that was all centuries ago,” she said as the procession crossed a landing and approached huge double doors that stood open to a cavernous room with holodisplays in the air and flat-screen monitors on the walls. “Nobody who was alive during the Order Wars is alive now.”
“Old grudges die hard,” Leonidas said. “And there have been incidents since then.” He let his hand rest on his grenade launcher.
Nobody had yet tried to take his weapons from him, nor had anyone searched Alisa or Yumi. Perhaps because the man who had attempted to poke into Alejandro’s bag had received a hand around his throat. Or maybe the Starseers did not see Alisa and her crew as serious threats, grenade launchers included.
“Are you thinking of the Starseer who was responsible for killing that research scientist?” Alisa asked quietly.
“Among other things.”
The procession stopped, and Alisa let the conversation drop. With all of the displays and monitors showing news feeds from all around Arkadius, maybe all around the system, it took her a moment to realize they had walked into what might be the equivalent of a castle’s throne room. A wide, blue carpet runner stretched across a floor made of ice blocks—the blocks were textured so as not to be slippery—and it ended at a raised dais. There were three stout ice chairs there, each with a blue cushion on the seat, perhaps to keep one’s butt from freezing. Behind the dais sat a long ice table with built-in monitors that were also on, and normal wooden chairs around it. Command central, Alisa decided. Where the leaders came to mull things over and keep track of the system as a whole. The thrones were probably for formal meetings among their people, or maybe they were relics from a past era.