“Loona,” Qorni called down the hallway. “Got a moment?”

“Of course, Forna,” Loona replied, with the same saccharine sweetness. Qorni gestured to a huddle room – the one where they’d struck the deal to build a united government in the first place.

Loona didn’t think Qorni intended to undo that now – she assumed if Qorni intended to take full control that she’d do so on the floor, in such a way as to maximize the damage to the liberals. Still, Loona was quite prepared to have Qorni tighten the screws just a little bit more, just for fun.

So Qorni’s first words were a surprise.

“Loona, you proposed a while back that we help organizations that are helping non-citizen humans. Do you still have the numbers for that handy?”

Loona blinked, and said, “Well…yes, of course, Madam Floor Leader.”

“Good,” Qorni said. “Get them to my office, I’m going to include them in the supplemental for Interior. Now, this is not direct aid – you’ll need to channel it through aid groups. And it’s for housing and food, not for education – that’s still not happening through the government.”

“Right. Of course,” Loona said, warily. This seemed too good to be true. There had to be a trap somewhere.

Qorni smiled, just a bit. “I know what you’re thinking. No traps, no mines. You saw the riots in Walak, I’m sure.”

“I did,” Loona said. “Incidentally, I’m having the Kaedan office of records send the citizenship records for human via direct courier. After that…I’m not sure I trust civil post. It will cost more….”

“That’s a wise move,” Qorni said. “Honestly. The Federation is going to take some finessing, but…well, the law is the law, right? We’ll cover the costs in the next supplemental.”

Loona raised her eyebrows. “Why the change of heart?”

Qorni sighed. “It’s not a change of heart, it’s my duty under the law. And honestly, Loona…I still don’t agree with the law, I’m still working to get it changed, but I do not want humans to starve, or be abandoned. That was never my intent. I hope you believe that.”

“I do, Madam Floor Leader,” Loona said. “I do.” She did, up to a point – she doubted Qorni had considered the potential fallout. But she was not going to do anything to risk this.

“Good. I’m sure Jonto will be looking at suits against the Federation. Obviously, we’re not going to invoke Article XXII over some riots. But he’s free to pursue legal options.”

“At what point would we invoke Article XXII?” Loona asked.

“I’m hoping that we are able to cajole them into following the law, Loona,” Qorni said. “You know the Federation. They tend to fight change with everything they have. We’re gonna give them time.”

“But not forever, I hope.”

“Of course not,” Qorni said.

“Well,” Loona said, “thank you, Madam Floor Leader. I’ll have the line items to you within the hour.”

“Very good. Very good.”

* * *

Palsa Temis was aware of a presence in his room before he was aware of anything else.

He felt pain, and numbness where his limbs should be, and the glossy hangover of cortexifan. He’d been beaten unconscious, he remembered that; he hoped that he was now in a hospital, instead of some Black Block safehouse. Oh, they wouldn’t kill him, he knew…if they intended to kill him, he’d be dead by now.

He opened his eyes, and was gratified to see that both were still operational; artificial eyes had their down sides, but you got immediate clarity when you woke up, no waiting for them to focus. Still, he was surprised to see a very large man kneeling beside his bed, holding a dagger pointed upward, eyes closed in meditation.

“Believe me,” Palsa said, “nothing went so badly that you should be contemplating suicide.”

The man smiled slightly, spun the dagger downward, and traced a symbol with it. He then slid it into a sheath inside his shirt. “The dagger of Epolian is not sharp enough to cut, and not meant to be used as a weapon. Were I to use it as one, I would guarantee my afterlife would be filled with nightmares.”

“Silly superstition,” Palsa grumbled. “Not that I begrudge you it. Everyone okay?”

“Not at all,” Xealo said. “But it appears everyone will survive.”

Temis closed his eyes; if he had been so inclined, he, too would have offered a prayer. “How bad?”

“Garae lost an arm, and it would have been worse, but Aranta and Jako cut the legs of the blocker who tried to shoot her in the head; Jako is going to live, but he’s aphasiac; Dr. Janga says he badly injured a part of his brain that controls speech. With therapy and microsurgery, he should be able to speak inside of a year…but the surgery will have to be done in the Empire, probably on Avalon, they’ve got the best hospitals for humans.”

“Terta, Pesa, Enti?”

All okay, thank the Dream. Bidi got stabbed, but he’s going to be all right too. Masra just got here, she got separated – she’s bruised up, but otherwise okay. She’s looking after him.”

“Any others?”

Xealo shook his head. “At least fifteen humans and one Titan were killed, and thousands injured. Poron Cesil just announced a dusk-to-dawn curfew until tomorrow and a ban on large events for two weeks.”

Temis laughed bitterly. “Of course he did. Frakking felgercarber. He try to blame this on me?”

“No,” Xealo said, with a thin smile. “It was outside agitators that caused you Federationers to get angry. Best if we head on home.”

“Are you going to?”

Xealo looked at Temis evenly. “Garae will need to go back to the Empire for treatment, and so will Jako. I will accompany them, because…well….”

“Your wife lost her arm,” Temis said, soberly. “I cannot ask you personally to stay. My question is more general.”

“Aranta is talking to the Foundation right now,” Xealo said. “The decision is theirs.”

Palsa Temis nodded. “I will not blame them if they wish to take their leave. I sometimes wonder why I do not.”

“Because you are guiding the Dream aright. You have sacrificed much to do it, too. I know you are not a believer, but I have prayed that Epolia would grant you a respite, a chance to recover. He pushes his guides very hard.”

“I am not his guide,” Palsa said.

“I know you do not think you are,” Xealo said, “but he dreams us as we are. ‘The guide who guides without believing is far more beloved than the believer who believes without guiding.’”

“Sacred Xealo,” Palsa said, “I hope you’re right, you know; I would like to think I’ll see my daughter again. And I would like to think that those who fight will be rewarded.”

“This is the point at which I’m supposed to press you to learn more about the Dream,” Xealo said, softly. “But I know you would see it as a discourtesy. Know, Councillor, that even if I am wrong, and you are right…I cannot believe you have not made the Federation a better place. And that makes the Empire a better place. And that makes the universe a better place. And if this is all there is…there is still value in that.”

“Thank you, Sacred Xealo. Now go watch over your wife; I am sure that she is in more need of your care than I am.”

“I should let you know,” Xealo said, “there’s a peacekeeper guarding us. Um…she’s….”

“What’s her name?”

“Safym Viaf. She’s….”

“Ah. Say no more. To anyone. Understood?”

Xealo nodded. “I understand, Councillor. I do.”

Meanwhile, in a small box in one of the hospital’s guest rooms, a human was talking to a horrified group of people.

The box was specially-constructed; soundproof, with a self-contained broadcast system with quantum cryptography. She had thought it overkill when they’d given it to Garae; she was grateful for it now.

“So Xealo intends to head home with Garae and Jako in the next few days. I don’t know where they should go….”

“Jako should come here,” Nick Archer said; he was also connected remotely, and though his face betrayed concern, it also showed resolution. “This sounds like Broca’s aphasia. If it is, we have a strong treatment regimen in place, using translators to help jump-start language repair. We could have him back to fluency within a few months, and hopefully fully-recovered within a year.”

“If that is acceptable to Jako, then we’ll make that the first stop; frankly, Dr Pria is an excellent physician in her own right, she can check over Garae before she moves on,” Yamanu said. “But this is dependent on Jako’s wishes. You say he can communicate?”

“He understands language well,” Aranta said. “He’s obviously frustrated with his inability to form thought into words….”

“Which has always been one of his finest skills,” Yamanu nodded. “I cannot imagine…please, tell him from me, we will support him as long as it takes to get him back to normal.”

“Yes, Dr Neutha.”

Yamanu looked around his conference room; he sat at the humans’ table, while the Titan, Dunnermac, and Avartle members of the board sat around the table upon which it rested. There had been a time when he’d thought it seemed like they were looming over the humans, watching their moves with godlike detachment; now, he wondered if they felt a part of the conversation. He leaned back, and looked around. “Any other questions?”

“Aranta,” asked Leny Dagaramonto, “just how dangerous is it there? Is this a one-off event?”

“No,” Aranta replied. “It is exactly what we were warned about. The Federation is openly flouting the Charter’s guarantees on speech, freedom, and security. It is absolutely not safe here at the moment.”

“Will you be returning with the others? Do we need to make arrangements…”

“Well, first…I will be resigning. I failed to maintain my discipline, and attacked a Titan. I cannot….”

“Stop that right now,” Yamanu said. “Pacifism is a difficult road, and nobody walks it perfectly. You saved Garae Ripja’s life at risk to your own. That’s commendable. I don’t accept your resignation. But the question stands: are you coming back?”

Aranta shook her head. “No, sir, not unless you tell me to. The humans who died today, they don’t have a way out. Someone has to support them.”

“I agree,” Yamanu said. He drummed his fingers on the table. He hated this; hated that it had to be done. Hated that he had to do it. Hated that Malala was going to be extremely disappointed in the decision.

But it was the only one to be made.

“Aranta,” Yamanu said, “I want you to continue to work with Councillor Temis. Find us an accessible, but secure, location to set up our headquarters.”

“Have you lost your mind, Yamanu?” Thurfrit asked, though he smiled slightly.

“No, Thurfrit. The Federation is not granting humans our basic rights. If they’re allowed to get away with it, others will follow in their footsteps. This is the fight, right here. We are going to Walak, all of us who are willing – and understand, there is grave risk in that decision. But the Foundation is going to Walak to fight for the freedom of humans. As am I.”

He looked back at Gae, who shook her head; she sighed tremendously. “As will all who can,” she added. “This is the battle line. If we win there…we win everywhere.”

“Exactly,” Yamanu said. “Aranta, you stay safe. The cavalry’s coming,” Yamanu added.

They closed the line, and Thrufrit withdrew to schedule the press conference, and Yamanu leaned back in his chair, eyes closed.

He knew that this would not end well. They had no choice, he knew; this was the path they’d chosen to walk.

Still, there were already sixteen new martyrs to the cause. How many more would he be creating by this decision?

****

It was the sort of day hikers dreamed of.

The air was cool and crisp, the sun was high in the sky overhead with not a single cloud was visible in the pale blue sky. All around were the sounds of small streams gently idling their way down the mountainside, leaves rustling in the gentle breeze and birds wittering away to their neighbours. It was the rare sort of day where it seemed like the Universe had gotten it right and nothing could be possibly be wrong anywhere in existence.

That was if you liked that sort of thing.

Myrell didn’t like that sort of thing. She was much more of a dimly lit underground tunnel sort of girl. She much preferred the humid, volcanic warmth of cave walls to the dry, harsh combination of cool air and sunlight. It burned her skin all too easily. Being raised underground will do that to a girl.

Under normal circumstances today’s hike would have Myrell in quite a foul mood which would be bad news for any vulnerable, sentient creature within stabbing distance, however these weren’t normal circumstances.

Myrell smiled as she trudged up the gentle slope halfway up a mountain a few kilounits away from the city. Today marked the beginning of the mission she had spent all of her life preparing for. Her part, although relatively small, was one of the most vital to ensuring her family’s success. And her contribution would not go unrewarded. This world and all the things that walked upon it would be hers to do with as she pleased. Depending on how well the rest of her family got on she may even be able to import other playthings from other worlds.

“I’d quite like some Ler…” she mused to herself as she walked. “They’d put up a fight. Hunting one of them would be fun!”

Myrell examined her pad and took a left turn up a steeper slope. It was hard going in the higher gravity even with the gravity dampeners but she was used to it. She’d grown up on a world with slightly higher gravity than Titans were used to. It had stunted her growth a little but it had made her quicker and stronger than a woman of her stature should really be.

“Dunnermac don’t fight, Avartle are just pathetic and Titans are hit and miss. But Ler fight! I want to track Ler in these hills!” she spoke between puffs of breath.

“I wonder how many Humans a Ler costs?”

Half an hour later Myrell examined her pad once more as she stood in front of a high rock wall. Her destination was only a few steps in front of her but also nearly a unit above her head.

“Stupid wall…it’s never easy is it?” She said to herself and removed her pack.

She rummaged through it and produced something that resembled and round, silver pistol and held it to the wall about the height of her hip and pulled the trigger.

There was a thud as the gun fired a metal pipe into the wall. She repeated the process just above her head and then put the gun away and secured her pack. She put her foot on the lower pipe and grasped the higher one with her hand and pulled herself up. It wasn’t the safest way to climb. A fall from this height, even with gravity dampeners could be fatal but Myrell didn’t have the time. This was her first day off since she’d arrived and she needed to get back before it got dark.

Another minute later and Myrell was standing at the bottom of a steep valley with a drop behind her and mountains rising all around her. And dead centre, landing struts in a shallow glacial pool, was her objective. It wasn’t any wonder they’d chosen this place. No Human could make it here and no Titan would want to.

Myrell approached the shuttle and looked for signs of life. She waded through the pool looking through the windows of the Titan shuttle. It looked unremarkable aside from the scorch marks on the nose where the pilot had guided the shuttle in unpowered to avoid detection.

“And just where is the pilot?” Myrell said as she examined the area around the shuttle. “Ah ha!”

She walked over to a large boulder not far from the shuttle. There was a small pile of dirt at the base which looked similar to the many piles she’d seen dug by explorer caste members before.

“What a dutiful member! Even burying themselves so I didn’t have to.” She smiled and patted down the mound with her foot to help disguise what was hidden below.

Myrell returned to the shuttle and entered her access code. She was pleased that the door opened without issue and she stepped inside and sat in the pilot’s chair.

“Hmmm…” she said and started to tap at the control panel.

“Low power mode engaged” the main monitor displayed.

She continued to tap and initiated a diagnostic of the shuttle’s systems.

“Engines…reactor…life support…hull…guidance…all nominal. Excellent!” Myrell smiled. “This couldn’t have gotten off to a better start.”

She powered off the shuttle and headed out, locking it behind her.

It took another few minutes to make her way down the cliff face and remove the pipes she’d fired into the walls but she was soon making her way back towards the city with a spring in her step.

“I’ll need to move fast…the ship is well hidden but it’s only a matter of time before somebody spots it…” She said to herself. “I need to come up with a plan so I can launch undetected…”

She had contemplated stealthily slitting the throats of all the Titans as they slept then storming the city and destroying the orbital control building but the Avalonian communications team would likely alert the Titan military and that would put an end to all her plans. She needed a way to knock out orbital tracking long enough so she could launch, head to Tau Ceti Eb, complete her mission and return undetected.

“Sounds simple when you say it like that. But this is why they picked me! I’m the smartest, sharpest, quickest mind in all the family.” She said as if she didn’t have a care in the world.

It took a bit longer for Myrell to make her way down the mountain than it took to get up. Going downhill in 1G when you weigh several hundred tonnes is a difficult process even if you have gravity dampeners. Go too quick and you risk forcing too much mass onto your leg before the dampener has a chance to work properly and your femur will collapse under the strain.

Myrell was happy to take a relaxed pace given how smoothly things had gone earlier. She was making her across a meadow beside a meandering river under a kilounit from the city when she spotted something she didn’t expect out here.

A lone Human woman.

Myrell spotted her quite far off, sitting on the bank of the river. The woman stood, clearly panicked and desperately looking for a way to escape from the fast approaching Titan.

The Titaness did her best stupid, friendly smile to keep the woman at ease and stop her fleeing. She had a few hours being she needed to be back in the city and she hadn’t killed anything since she’d gotten here. She had been playing the part of the golden girl Human lover. She was due a little fun.

“You’re a long way from home…” Myrell asked trying to keep the woman calm enough for her to snatch her. What she’d do after that she didn’t know. Kill her here where the noise could attract attention or take her back to the compound where she risked getting caught. She could always swallow her she thought. “Do you need a hand?”

“Don’t take me back!” The young woman shouted.

That was a rather odd reaction Myrell thought. Humans liked to be in large groups and abdicate all responsibility for themselves. They didn’t like to be on their own looking out for themselves. She gently lowered herself down, taking a seat near the woman on the edge of the river.

“Why don’t you want to go back?” she asked.

The woman let out a sob. “I didn’t want this…I didn’t want any of this!”

“Any of what?” Myrell’s face scrunched.

“This!” The woman waved her arms about and glared up at Myrell. “I was bred especially to be the best! To have a rich master who could afford me! Who would look after me and keep me away from all the idiotic other Humans!”

“But what about being free?”

“Free!? To do what!? Live in some barren box surrounded by other barren boxes and spend my life cleaning up after other people!? I’m better than that!” The woman shouted and then started to sob.

Myrell had to resist the urge to crush the self-entitled little creature into the dirt there and then. Such a pathetic, odious display deserved nothing more. But then she had an idea. The girl was pretty. Very pretty. And if Human men were anything like Titan men then a pretty young thing could be very useful to her.

“You want to be a pet then?” Myrell asked.

“I want to live the life I was born to!” the woman shouted.

Myrell reached out and before the tiny Human woman could object she found herself scooped up and sitting on a palm in front two enormous pink eyes.

“You could be my pet…” Myrell said gently.

“You don’t look like the right sort to keep me.” The woman scoffed.

With a flick of the wrist Myrell tossed the Human woman into the air and caught her tightly in her fist. She squeezed the woman to stop her squirming and held her up to her eyes and glared down at her.

“That is no way for an insignificant creature to talk to a Titan.” Myrell growled. “You wanted a master, now you have one!”

The woman let out a squeak and nodded.

“I may not look like it but I am a woman of means. I am volunteering here for some time and if you’re a very good little girl and do exactly what I ask no matter what you may think I can promise you a life of luxury and wealth.”

“I’d…I’d like that…” the woman relied.

Myrell relaxed her grip a little. “Have you ever heard of Pryvani Tarsuss?”

The little woman’s eyes lit up. “She’s only the person I’ve wanted to be owned by most, ever!”

The Titaness smiled. “Pryvani is a good friend of mine. Be very good and one day I’ll let you meet her. And if she likes you then she can buy you.”

The little Human gasped.

“But only if you do everything I say without question. We couldn’t let Pryvani Tarsuss have a disobedient pet now could we?” Myrell grinned.

“No mistress! We couldn’t!”

“Excellent!” Myrell said. “Now what shall I call you?”

“I have a name already mistress…” The woman said quietly.

“I’m giving you a new name.” Myrell said. “One to show you’re now mine.” She stopped and thought for a second and her face lit up. “Since you love Pryvani Tarsuss so much I think I’ll call you Pri! Pryvani would love that!”

The Human looked uncertain for a minute but then smiled and clapped. “Pri! I like that!”

“Good! Now let’s get you home little Pri. We need to get to know each other…” Myrell grinned.