Emergence (12 page)

What was that?
she thought, as she fell to the ground.
How it hurts!

The nulling field, though weak, was still in place, leaving her unable to muster anymore strength. She lay in the snow, bleeding, and the two men came to stand over her.

“You fat, stinking heretic.” He held up his weapon and aimed it at Melissa’s head. “I should shoot you here and now.”

Melissa wanted to cry, wanted to beg for mercy, but a switch flipped inside her. She could feel rage, red hot, coursing through her veins. Through the pain, she drew on sussa through the invisible network, and twisted the gun in his hands. He threw it into the snow and it boiled through, issuing a cloud if steam in its wake.

“Enough!”

She turned to find Richard standing over her. The last thing she saw was him shoving the butt of one of the weapons into her head.

Melissa woke in another small, white room. It was cold; from the metal chair she sat on, to the thick, smooth panels that made up the walls, she felt like she was buried again in the snow, surrounded by unyielding frigid white. Her arm was sore, and she saw a thick bandage where the bullet grazed her. Richard and Sliona sat across from her, with Richard anxiously fidgeting with a small grey pistol. She opened her mouth to speak, but all she could feel was pain.

Melissa felt mentally disconnected, as if she was peering through a pinhole to her body. She could tell they exchanged words about her, but they were garbled and faint. Richard pressed a few buttons on a console before him, and slowly Melissa could understand their words.

Sliona brushed back a strand of grey hair and said; “so, the Nemesnik wasn’t bluffing.”

“No. She clearly was able to access sussa, even with our nulling field,” said Richard. “But she wasn’t very powerful.”

“She was strong enough -- a few more minutes, and she would have incapacitated all our guards.”  Sliona examined her quizzically. “But she didn’t kill them. Why is that, child?”

Melissa moved her mouth, but was unsure if words came out.

“You feel the effects of the ‘stabilizer;’ a piece of technology we were able to salvage from one of the wrecked ships. While it is as effective as the portable device Richard has, it works in a fundamentally different way. It isn’t geared to affect Archsussa specially, just any mind we focus it on. We are able to, with other salvaged technology, scan your mind and get a unique print of it. With that, we can target you with this device, and sit here in perfect comfort. I’ll turn it down a little so you may speak, but be warned; we have three guns trained on your head, so even a hint of sussa will result in your death.”

Melissa felt the discomfort ease, and she was able to put together thoughts more coherently.

“Is this all you do; play with technology?”

Richard harrumphed. “One could argue that all you do is play with sussa.”

“So how are we any different?”

“All can learn of science,” said Richard proudly, “few can learn of sussa.”

“That’s a lie Richard, and you know it,” rebuked Sliona. “I may hate sussa, but science is a skill that few can master. You forget how special you are.”

He bowed slightly. “I am sorry, honored elder.”

“That’s all right, child. Now girl; why didn’t you kill my guards?”

“I . . . hate killing. My father killed, and my brother now kills, but I cannot.”

The old woman nodded with approval. “You look like an Archsussa, with all that fat, but you certainly seem to have a mind of your own. I can’t blame you for trying to escape. Tell me; where would you have escaped to?”

Melissa sighed. “I don’t know. I lived in the home of my dead mother, with a man I created. I grew arrogant, and mistreated him, and I decided to leave, so I might change myself.”

“See! Just another arrogant Archsussa!” cried Richard.

Sliona slammed her wrinkled hand on the table. “Do you listen, child? One day I’ll be dead, and there’ll be no one to correct you.” She began to cough, doubling over as Richard patted her back. Melissa hadn’t seen anyone that sick besides her mother, and wondered why they forsook the aid of an Archsussa even when their most important was ill. Sliona recovered after a few moments, wiping her mouth with a blood-stained cloth. “I heard you. You are different; you have felt the temptation to become arrogant and domineering, but have rejected it. You have seen others of your family kill, and you reject it. The question is; what path will you follow?”

“I . . . I don’t know. Why don’t you let an Archsussa heal you?”

“Haven’t you heard anything,” spat Richard, “we despise your kind!”

“But you would let your most important person die, from an illness we could cure?”

“You would cure me,” asked Sliona, “even as a captive, even though we probably would keep you as one?”

Melissa thought for a moment. “Yes, I would.”
 The old woman leaned back with a gentle smile, taking a wheezing, deep breath. “Dear Melissa, I think we might be friends.”

“How did you know my name?”

Melissa waited for a response, but all she got was Sliona examining her again with her penetrating steel-blue eyes. “Your brother mentioned his sister was missing, and said your name. Now, Richard, show Melissa some kindness. Ask Daria to show her to the toilet, and find some clean, warm clothes. And give her some food -- not too much, for it is about time she lost some of that weight.”

Melissa nodded, and shed a tear, unable to hold it in. “Thank you.”

Sliona squeezed her hand. “You’re welcome. There will be no dissection; it was merely a ploy to see if the Nemesnik was bluffing. But if you truly do hate the Freilux, consider helping us find a way to defeat him.”

Suddenly the door opened and a boy that seemed to be a mirror image of Richard came through. But instead of a serious brow, he had only joy in his eyes. In fact the first thing of him Melissa noticed was his affable smile.

“Sorry to bother you brother, but you said you’d join us for a game of nuvia.”

“You play nuvia?” asked Melissa, perking up. “I used to be pretty good at it!”

Richard’s brother smiled at her and for the first time Melissa felt like someone wasn’t looking at how fat she was. “You’re that new girl, that Archsussa, aren’t you?”

“Yeah. Who are --”

“Enough of this!” shouted Richard, bolting to his feet. “We’re in the middle of something important, Vincent. Can’t it wait?”

“
Sorry
,” said Vincent snidely. “Don’t worry about him,” said Vincent to Melissa, “he’s just drunk with what little power they give him.”

“Out! Out!” yelled Richard, pushing him back through the door. “I’ve had enough of you.”

Melissa couldn’t help but smile, and relaxed a little in her chair. Even Sliona’s withered lips curled into a kind smile.

“Now you know what I go through.”

Richard sat back down, his cheeks blushed. Melissa took pity on him.

“Why wouldn’t you join with my brother against him?” she asked. “He commands a sizeable army.”

“An army of
Archsussa
,” stressed Richard, eager to regain the foothold he lost. “While we desire to overthrow the Freilux, we would never replace him with another Archsussa. Your kind has ruled our world for far too long.”

Sliona shook her head. “While my young friend may be a bit crude, he speaks the truth for our people. Now; have you seen any wrecks of great metal ships, like this one?”

Melissa paused, debating about whether or not to tell them. “Well . . .”

Sliona’s eyes opened, and they both leaned forward. “Speak up, child!”

“I came across several on my journey, but they all looked as if someone had been in before me. Only one ship I came across was untouched, and it lies near my home.”

“You lie,” spat Richard. “You just want us to take you home.”

“Be calm, child,” rebuked Sliona. “What was in it?”

“It had several glass panels set in metal boxes, and it had an immense hole in its side.”

“We need to go there as quickly as possible,” said Richard to Sliona.

“Why?” asked Melissa, “what is so important?”

“Not now. Get cleaned, dressed and fed, and we shall talk in the morning.” Sliona got to her feet, and Melissa felt immensely relieved. “Oh, and hopefully I don’t need to say that you would be much better off if you tried not to escape. We could turn the stabilizer back on to full for all your waking moments, and you would go insane.”

“I understand. And my offer was sincere; I could heal you.”

Sliona paused for a moment, leaning heavily on Richard’s shoulder. “If Richard were as sick as I, I would order him taken to a Levitating City, so he might be healed. But for me, the woman who leads, I cannot show such weakness. One day hopefully you will understand; the temptation of sussa is strong, and corrupts us as it does you. The only way to remain pure, to remain free, is not to use it or take advantage of one who does. That is our mantra, our firm belief.”

Chapter 12

The morning brought a hard rap at the door, and a guard’s voice yelling; “make yourself decent, we’re throwing in some warm clothes.”

She scrambled to cover herself, and in a minute the bolts slid open and in was thrown a thick pair of fur-lined pants and a thick white jacket.

“What’s this for?”

“You said you would show us where the vessel was, didn’t you?” asked Richard.

“Why should I?”

“We could threaten you. We could turn the machine on to full. Or you could just realize that staying here would be interminably boring, and choose to do this for us. Your conditions would improve immensely if you helped us in this.”

She picked up the pants thrown at her, which reeked of a foul, musky odor. “Fine, I’ll do it. Can someone at least wash these clothes?”

The door was slammed shut, and Richard’s faint voice could be heard saying; “the arrogance of an Archsussa knows no bounds.”

Just as the first sun crept over the distant horizon line, Melissa set out on her first sled-ride. A pack of ten charaks pulled two sleds over an ocean of shifting white. They were smelly creatures, who panted and growled as they pulled their cargo over steep hills and down low mist-shrouded valleys. A few complained about their stench, particularly after hard exertion, but Melissa found it warm and quaint, a welcome change from the clinical nature of the ship of the scientists.

Richard led the group, and with them rode Daria, three guards and Vincent. Melissa gathered Vincent was a late addition, and only after a prolonged argument with Richard was he allowed to join them. As for Daria, Melissa learned Daria was the closest thing Richard had for a friend. She prattled on as they rode about how he was such a precocious youth, how the many technological advancements he discovered allowed them to live in relative comfort.

Daria was tall – taller than Richard. She had pale skin with a lot of acne on her face, and long, stringy brown hair that looked as if it hadn’t been washed in several weeks. Her teeth were yellow, her cheeks puffy and her eyes wide apart and Melissa knew if she lived on the levitating cities she would be one of the uglier girls around. But out there, in the cold wilderness, Melissa could appreciate her sparking personality, and thought she was prettier and prettier with each moment spent.

As she listened to Daria, she also felt a twinge of jealousy. When she lived on Imathrin, she had a crush on a neighbor’s boy who was also smart and intelligent, and suddenly she felt an extreme longing to see Asil.