Edda (33 page)

Chapter 32

UNDERSTANDING

Cindella was standing
alongside Ghost and Penelope, looking out past the wall-length windows of one of the great tower blocks of Saga. They were so high up that they could gaze down upon a pair of falcons, which in turn were gliding far above the streets of the city.

“It’s incredible. So much life, and all of it unique.” Penelope gestured beyond the window to the busy city that stretched out before them. “I mean, I’d seen huge armies before now. But they were just robotic units. You have millions of people going about their lives down there, and every one of them is someone I could get to know, someone I could become friends with.”

“And there’s us, too,” said Erik. “You’re going to be seeing a lot more people from New Earth clipping up to Saga now that our council has decided to encourage stronger links between our two worlds.”

“That’s wonderful. And so are you, Ghost, for sending a rocket for me.”

Ghost turned from the window. “It’s nothing, really. I haven’t got any better use for them. The Dark Queen had a wild scheme to use them to disperse her offspring throughout the universe. And at one stage I thought I might try uploading myself into one and traveling that way. But these new electronic worlds suit me much better. Anyway”—Ghost moved to a couch and took a seat—“it will take about seven years to get to you and, if we haven’t contacted your humans by then, another fifteen to get to New Earth. You’ll be what? Forty, by the time you get to see each other in the flesh, so to speak?”

“Thirty-eight,” Penelope corrected her in a low voice. “In any case, I can still enjoy all this while I travel.”

“True,” said Erik. “And I think there’s a good chance we’ll make contact with the people who left your base before too long. If I were them, I’d be discreetly monitoring Edda in case of future problems. And once they see the armies have gone, or come across one of the message beacons we are installing, they’ll get in touch. You’ll see. You’ll be talking to your mother long before the rocket arrives. And then you can go meet her.”

“I daren’t hope for that. Just being here, among other people, is enough.”

“Well, the people of New Earth are hoping for that. You should see Gunnar’s postings, Ghost. He’s changed completely and is all for us racing through the different worlds leaving messages everywhere until we find our lost human colonies.”

Ghost smiled at this. “I think he came to like us in the end.”

“No kidding. He thinks the world of you and never stops talking about Athena, either.”

“How’s your body doing?” asked Ghost, looking at Penelope.

“Oh, it’s slow and painful progress. Especially when there’s so much to see here. Tonight, Athena is taking me to see a band. I forget what they are called. I’m really looking forward to it, though.”

“No Phuture, with a
P-h
instead of an
F
. That’s our friend’s band. I don’t know if you’ll like them; it’s an acquired taste.” There was an unrolled computer screen on the seat beside Ghost, and she tapped it a few times before looking back up. “In any case, take your time. You have years to build yourself up. Just keep at it, bit by bit.”

“Oh, I know. I’ll be fit and healthy long before the spaceship arrives, don’t worry.”

With a nod of encouragement, Ghost turned her attention to Cindella. “What about you, Erik? What are you going to do now?”

“The council has asked me to be New Earth’s ambassador to Saga. But I don’t know. I feel I ought to finish my studies and have some practical skills for our society. You know what a grind everything is; it’s going to take years to get our technology moving forward again.”

“Well, while I was away, the people of Saga learned that they can do without me.” Ghost could not hide the note of delight in her voice. “So I’m going to explore those new worlds we found. There’s still a great deal to investigate, despite the attempt by Lord Scanthax to reduce them to lifeless factories. You could bring Cindella along if you want.”

“Really?” Cindella came over to the couch and looked down at Ghost. “I thought you wanted to travel alone.”

“Well, I’ve gotten used to traveling with Cindella. She’s useful, handy if I run into a problem.”

“So, it’s my magic items you want, not my company?” Erik chuckled.

“I don’t see you finding a problem you couldn’t get out of,” interjected Penelope admiringly.

“I would have been killed by the assassin, remember, if he hadn’t been using that cursed knife.”

“The thing is, Ghost, I consider you my comrade, and I’ll always fight for you if you need me. But they need me at home, too. Well, Inny wants me to go on a survey trip with her, and I’m looking forward to it. I need time back in the real world.”

“I understand. Perhaps next year, or whenever you are in the mood to have a run around with Cindella. I’ll be reachable by radio in whatever world I end up in.” A moment later, Ghost looked up at him, a hint of doubt in her eyes. “Your decision isn’t based on the death of Lord Scanthax, is it?”

Penelope turned around, too, perhaps sensing that the relaxed atmosphere of their earlier conversation had gone. She was watching the two of them closely.

Erik let out a sigh. “Well, tell me, were you going to shoot him?”

Ghost paused before answering. “I was thinking that the only guarantee of safety for everyone back in Saga was to kill him, and I also thought about Milan, which caused me to begin squeezing the trigger. But then I hesitated. I didn’t want to lose your friendship. So the honest answer is, I don’t know.”

“Well, don’t worry; you’ll never lose my friendship. Remember when you held off Jodocus’s elementals and were fighting as hard as you could for the life of Athena? I’d have given anything right then to save you. Jodocus wanted me to believe that humanity could only survive by killing you and all EIs, but he achieved the opposite of what he intended: in that moment, I realized I cared more for you than for some abstract loyalty to my species. It seemed to me that if the only way humanity could survive into the distant future was through your destruction, then we deserved to die out. I still feel that. There is something in you that transcends the difference between human and EI. It’s like having a tiger for a friend. There’s no one I’d rather have at my side in battle. It’s just that . . . I’ve people I love on New Earth and I need to be with them for a while now.”

“Thanks, Erik. And I understand. But don’t forget me. And don’t forget what we have in common. I believe I understand you better than anyone else I know, EI or human. And that you are my comrade, in the same way that Milan was. Like him, you didn’t waver for an instant and that means a lot to me.”

“I feel the same way.” Erik replied.

“And what about you, Penelope?” Ghost rolled up her computer and put it in her satchel. “Do you think you’ll fit in with Erik’s people and their renunciation of violence? Or did you enjoy that final moment with Lord Scanthax? Did you feel avenged when you pulled the trigger?”

“Enjoy?” Penelope sounded surprised. “No. Not really. I felt it was justice, for what had been done to me. But I’m not a monster. I wouldn’t go looking for that feeling again.”

“Good,” said Erik emphatically, “because if you do end up on New Earth, you’ll have to get used to our laws. In fact, some people—a minority—wouldn’t welcome you even now; they’d consider you a murderer. But Gunnar and I have explained what happened to you and how you’ve had no other role models in your life than Lord Scanthax.”

For a while Penelope said nothing, turning back to the window and looking at the city below, teeming with life. Erik exchanged a glance with Ghost, who picked up her airboard and moved toward the door.

“I know you want me to feel ashamed,” said Penelope at last, “but I’m not. I still feel amazed that I actually managed to get the better of him and free myself. Even now, I wake up with nightmares, thinking that he’s watching me through the eyes of the robots.”

“I don’t want you to feel ashamed. No. I think it’s incredible how well you’ve coped with what happened to you. But . . . well . . . I’m not really in a position to judge, but don’t you think Lord Scanthax changed at the end there? That his final manifestation, the ambassador, represented a better and more sympathetic part of his character?”

“No, I don’t. You don’t understand what he was like. That was all lies at the end. He was attempting to deceive us to buy time for himself.”

“Then couldn’t we have rendered him harmless somehow?”

“Temporarily, perhaps.” Penelope turned around and shrugged. “But I couldn’t live with the thought that he was still out there, attempting to escape; that at any moment while I was in the electronic worlds, he could seize control of my body again and kill me.”

Often Erik had tried to imagine what it must have been like for Penelope to have grown up believing that her captor was her savior, and although he was certain that it had been a mistake to kill another sentient being, even one as cold as Lord Scanthax, he genuinely did admire the fact that she had the determination to survive such an ordeal.

To show he was not condemning her, Cindella walked across the room and gave Penelope a hug.

Over by the door, Ghost raised her airboard by way of a challenge. “Come on, you two, while we’re all still around. Let’s race, freestyle. Or are my skills too good for you?”

Now Erik laughed. “Bring it on!”

The tension that had been building up in him during the conversation melted away. When Lord Scanthax had fallen lifeless to the ground and the echoes of the shot that had killed him had ceased, Erik had been shocked to see Penelope holding the weapon that had fired the lethal bullet. Immediately afterward, feeling betrayed and manipulated, he had unclipped in a sweat, thinking that it would be impossible for her to ever fit in with the people of New Earth. But he understood Penelope, he really did. They would still be friends.

A week later, Erik was lying beside Inny, the two of them looking up at the stars from their camp in the mountains to the east of Hope. As he picked out the constellations, Erik’s thoughts turned to Penelope.

“She’s out there, orbiting one of those stars, the only human in her solar system.”

“Penelope? It’s hard to imagine, isn’t it? But she says she’s delighted with all the new friends she has made in Saga, and the parties, the bands, the dancing.”

“I know.” Erik snuggled closer to Inny, feeling the warmth of her body against his side. “But she can’t have this. Not for years, at least.”

“It’s surprising how well she’s turned out, really—given she didn’t have a mother or father, or anyone in her life to love her.”

Erik said nothing.

“What?” asked Inny.

“Penelope went into that battle with Lord Scanthax knowing exactly what she wanted, which was to kill him. She used me, and she was willing to risk Ghost’s life in order to achieve that goal. Penelope’s been damaged by the whole experience of growing up with Lord Scanthax. It will take her a long time to learn that not everyone is out for themselves; for her to trust that her new friends won’t abandon her.”

Inny said nothing for a while as they watched a shooting star flash overhead. “It must have been hard on you,” she said at last.

Surprised by the shift in the conversation, Erik turned to look at her.

“I mean, seeing Milan die. Seeing Ghost heavily wounded.”

“That was terrible. And so was seeing Count Illystivostich again, crawling after us, so desperate for blood that he risked crossing a portal. And Jodocus, betraying us, trying to kill Ghost.”

“We had no idea what going through that portal would lead to.”

“None at all.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t with you for any of that. Strange isn’t it? That we were so close physically, but in our heads, we were in completely different worlds.”

Erik thought about this. “Isn’t life always like that, even now?”

“How do you mean?”

“Well, we share this moment, our bodies side by side. But we’re alone in the way our minds work, in the way we understand the moment.”

“Oh, Erik.” Inny pushed herself up to look into his eyes. “That sounds sad.”

“Not really. Because I know you so well, you’re deep in my mind. Often, during those adventures I thought of you and I knew what you would advise. And much more than that, you’re not just in my mind. You’re in my heart.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Conor Kostick
was a designer for the world’s first live fantasy role-playing game (Treasure Trap), based in Peckforton Castle, Cheshire, England. He lives in Dublin, Ireland, where, having completed a PhD on the subject of the crusades, he now teaches medieval history at Trinity College Dublin. In 2009 the Reading Association of Ireland gave Conor their Special Merit Award for his fiction, and in 2010 he was awarded the writer’s residency at Farmleigh, the official Irish State Guest House.

Conor’s history books include
The Siege of Jerusalem
and, as co-author,
The Easter Rising: A Guide to Dublin in 1916
. His fiction includes
Epic
and
Saga
(the prequels to
Edda
) and
Move
.

BOOKS BY CONOR KOSTICK

EPIC
SAGA
EDDA