Lords of the Seventh Swarm

Chapter 26

Zeus had Hera to comfort, and to offer comfort in return. They talked long into the night about Herm’s death, about the brevity of life, about how there were no longer any guarantees.

He expressed his anger at how she’d humiliated him, and Hera told him in turn how she felt humiliated by his infidelities. In an odd way, he felt relieved that she had deceived him, had lured him to stand naked before Lord Felph, Gallen, and Maggie. It was a powerful reminder of how much she loved him, how jealous she felt when he squandered his affection on lesser women. Hera was a great woman-cunning, crafty, devoted.

The cruel joke she’d played made him love her all the more deeply, yet he felt equally touched by her tenderness. The blow of seeing Herm’s corpse devastated Hera, as it did Zeus.

Even now, as he considered his loss, waves of grief washed through Zeus, battering him. Herm had been his constant companion, his support. Herm understood Zeus’s moods, laughed when he joked, arranged liaisons when he wanted a woman. He never judged, as Lord Felph and Arachne did.

So after Hera fell into an uneasy sleep when Lord Felph asked him to accompany Gallen on the hunting party, Zeus accepted.

Felph clapped Zeus on both shoulders, stared into his eyes, and said, “I send you on a man’s errand. Don’t fail me.”

“I won’t fail you-or Herm,” Zeus replied. The lights in the hallway shone dimly so late. Everything was perfectly quiet.

“I know,” Felph said. He looked down the corridor, to the darkened atrium just off the north wing, as if afraid someone might overhear. “Bring this Qualeewooh back, understand? I don’t trust Gallen O’Day. You’ve seen him. He may be efficient in his way, but he’s soft. I’ll not have him freeing the Qualeewooh that killed your brother. You remember that.”

“I’m not likely to forget,” Zeus had answered.

“Good. And remember,” Felph said, “Gallen works for us. You don’t work for him. I expect him to follow your orders.”

The coldness in Felph’s voice surprised Zeus. “If he doesn’t?”

“Take command of this expedition,” Felph said. “See that he does his job.”

“You expect trouble?” Zeus asked. “If I kill him, Maggie and the others will make trouble.”

“Kill him?” Felph said, shocked, as if the thought had never occurred to him. “Why would you even think of killing him? I need Gallen to get the Waters of Strength.”

Zeus’s thoughts had been traveling dangerous paths, and he’d imagined Felph’s had followed the same. Yet obviously his father had never considered the implications of what he asked.

“You expect me to force Gallen to concede to your wishes,” Zeus said. “I doubt he can be pushed so far.”

Felph shook his head, as if saddened by Zeus. “I only meant for you to take charge. I–I never thought of harming anyone. But you-you think killing him will gain anything?”

“You want this Qualeewooh, and you want the Waters of Strength,” Zeus said. “You want me to go with Gallen, because you’re afraid he’ll leave Ruin, depriving you of both. So you want me to force him to stay, to get the job done, but I know of no way to force him. The only path I can see clear is to replace him.”

Felph shook his head, dismayed. “Replace him? You can do that!”

“You don’t need Gallen,” Zeus said. “It’s his mantle you’re after. If I took it, you could be assured that the Qualeewooh would be caught, and then I could go into Teeawah!”

Felph nodded, speechless for a moment, studied Zeus’s eyes. “I should have known,” he said sadly. “It’s my fault, not yours. I made you to hunger after power. I crafted you to be strong. I should have known you’d try to grasp for glory the easy way.”

Felph turned, shaking his head. “I … I’m sorry. I’ll send Arachne or Hera with Gallen, convince him to return with the Qualeewooh, as agreed. If we can’t …” Felph shrugged, signifying he would do no more. “Then Gallen will leave.” After a long silence, “If he does, perhaps you should go with him.”

That final turning of the back, the tone of abandonment, spoke volumes. Felph wanted someone to convince Gallen peaceably, and if he could not, then nothing mattered.

Nothing mattered. Zeus could go his own way, wander the galaxy. Like a broken toy, unwanted, a thing formed for the delight of its creator, now deemed worthless.

Felph’s most cutting words were unspoken. I’ll let you die. You’re not worthy of more life. You matter not.

“All right.” Zeus spoke before Felph could walk away. “Of course you’re right. I’ll convince Gallen to do as you ask.”

Felph turned, querulous. “How? Speak up. You had better be persuasive, or I’ll send Arachne!”

“Please, Father,” Zeus said,” send me! Give me this honor. The problem is … you give me nothing to barter with. You want Gallen to concede to your wishes, but he only wants assurance you’ll be fair. He doesn’t know you as I do. I’ll convince him you are just.”

Felph watched Zeus. Zeus had been able to speak with an urgency, a compelling tone, that demanded Felph’s attention. “How will you do this?”

“I … don’t know, yet,” Zeus said. “But I have Maggie’s ear, and she has Gallen’s. She was willing to serve you to win our freedom. In spite of our Guides, you required little of us. I’ll let her know. As for Gallen, I’ll tell him you were angry last night, that you could think of little more than vengeance-but your wrath fades quickly.”

Felph eyed him a long moment. “Whatever you do, don’t whine and wheedle.” Zeus had to stifle the urge to sigh in relief at the acceptance of his offer. “I want you to be a statesman, a diplomat-not a beggar, nor a thug. Go convince Gallen to keep his bargain. If you do, you’ll make me proud.”

Felph left, his still-bloody robes flowing behind him as he strode down the corridor. Zeus let out his breath. Almost his father had abandoned him. Almost he’d doomed Zeus to mortality.

As Zeus went back into his room, to Hera’s arms, he lay the night, unable to sleep, thinking. He considered ways he might convince Gallen to bring the Qualeewooh back to the palace, but in his mind’s eye, he could not envision any plan working. Gallen did not trust Felph. Gallen must have recognized a certain lack of character in the man, and all Zeus’s impassioned pleas might not change Gallen’s mind.

Zeus wondered. If he had Arachne’s insight into the human mind, he might be able to persuade Gallen that Felph’s intentions were honorable. But the truth was, even Zeus doubted Felph.

Zeus thought, Or if I had Herm’s cunning tongue, I could have lied so sweetly, Gallen would never know the truth. Or even if I had Hera’s basic decency and cunning, or Athena’s quiet wisdom, I might have found a way to twist Gallen to my will.

But Zeus lacked all such gifts. The truth was, that in the Great and Dreadful Game, Zeus was the worst player in the family. His bullishness left him ill disposed to intrigue and diplomacy.

The real problem, Zeus decided, was that Felph did not recognize a more viable plan, even when revealed to him.

Zeus considered the possibilities. If he murdered Gallen for his mantle, then killed Orick and Tallea-he’d still have Maggie. He liked the fiery redhead. Zeus had bet Herm he would sleep with her. Three points if he took her willingly one if against her will.

It would be ironic, he thought, if I won that last point after all. A pity Herm couldn’t have lived to witness it.

He imagined how it would be, wearing the mantle of a Lord Protector, hunting down the Qualeewooh. Certainly, if Zeus returned home with the quarry, Gallen and the others all dead, then Lord Felph could not complain. No one outside the palace would ever know what had happened to Gallen and Maggie. Felph would not tell, Zeus felt sure, not so long as Zeus followed his wishes. In fact, after the deed was done, Zeus decided he could make up a lie, tell Felph some reason why he had to kill Gallen in order to get the Qualeewooh.

Felph would have his Qualeewooh, and Zeus would get … what? The mantle? Then Zeus could get the Waters of Strength.

Yet as Zeus pondered the possibilities, he realized that giving the Waters of Strength What better way to drink from them, Zeus wondered, than to discover them myself? I could drink, and if they do me no good, Felph would get them in turn.

But if they give me the kind of power Felph believes …

So Zeus spent a sleepless night, plotting, wondering. It seemed so callous to consider murder so casually. Yet Zeus needed that mantle-and the Waters of Strength. Without them he would die. Felph would let him die. With them, he would never be under Felph’s thumb again.

Hera woke several times during the night, and Zeus rocked her to sleep. When he finally rose next morning, his eyes were gritty, his mind clouded from too much thought.

As Zeus dressed, he felt surprised Hera continued to sleep so soundly. She’d spent so much time weeping during the night, he did not want to disturb her. After kissing her gently on each eyelid, he slipped out the door just as a droid wheeled the breakfast buffet to his room. He grabbed a sticky Votifrian wafer and mango juice, then headed for the ship.

Arachne met him in a hall near the landing bay.

She sat, back to the wall. She looked calm. Of all Zeus’s children, she alone seemed unsurprised by death. Her dark eyes looked up with familiar intensity. Her silver hair was unbraided. She’d merely combed it behind her ears. This style so radically departed from the norm, she seemed undressed, incomplete.

“So,” Zeus said softly as he walked toward her. “Did you anticipate this? You knew of Herm’s death?”

“I hadn’t imagined it. His death was so … random. But I smell death in the air, more deaths coming. I spoke to Father. I know what he wants from you. And I know what you plan to do.”

“You know what I plan?” he asked in mock surprise. The truth was, even Zeus had not yet decided what he would do. He kept thinking yes, I’ll kill Gallen, then again no. Right now, he leaned toward no. He feigned ignorance. “So why are you here? Do you have some words of warning?”

“Don’t go on this expedition.”

Zeus laughed. He had imagined that she would give him some faint hints about how best to handle Gallen, or warn him not to kill the Lord Protector. “Surely you can be more direct. Exactly why don’t you want me to go?”

She studied his eyes. He could hardly bear her scrutiny, the careful way she studied his lips, his face. “You plan to kill Gallen. Even you aren’t certain that you’ll do it now, but the temptation will come, and when it does, you will succumb to it. I fear that nothing I say can change your mind. But what if I could tell you something you don’t know? What if I told you that if you kill Gallen, you will die? Would you stay here then? If I asked you to, would you walk away from this fine palace, from Lord Felph and his plots, from your dreams of glory?”

Zeus considered. Leave Lord Felph and the palace. “What would I gain from it?”

“Nothing,” “Arachne said. “But I’m asking you to walk away, to leave now and wander the desert. You could become a hermit. You will gain no glory. You will die old and alone, unloved. You would be miserable all of your days. But in doing so, you would let others live. This is what is best.”

“Best for whom? Best for me?” Zeus asked.

“Best for everyone but you,” Arachne said. “Father doesn’t see it completely yet, but he has begun to have misgivings. He’ll discover that you are a mistake. He wanted to create a new race of leaders. He thinks the Tharrin are too weak to control the world. He imagines that humans would be more amenable to someone like you, a powerful leader with human frailties. But our father is a fool. He thinks force must always be met with greater force. He doesn’t recognize the futility of his dream. Even if you could become a leader, others more cunning and ruthless would simply rise up to take your place, and we would find ourselves governed by men no better than dronon. Creating you was a mistake. Don’t let Father’s shortsightedness lead you down this path.”

“I don’t plan to kill Gallen,” Zeus said, surprised at the vehemence in Arachne’s tone, surprised at her conviction. “His actions dictate what will happen today, not mine.”

Arachne shook her head slightly. “You’ve decided to kill him, whether you know it or not. The temptation is too strong.”

Zeus stood, considering. He did not like Arachne’s halftruths and innuendos. So she knew he’d been considering murder. Certainly she couldn’t expect him just to walk away from this opportunity, just to run into the desert for a reason only hinted at. “So why have you come? To ask me to walk away from home? Or will you help me? You hint that if I kill Gallen, it will lead to my demise. Certainly my wise sister has some advice for me.”

“I’ve already given it,” Arachne said wearily. “But you will not follow it, no matter how sane my counsel, no matter how faultless my reasoning. So I am left with only one hope.”

“Which is…?”

“That you die today. Better that you die, than that you live on in misery.”

Zeus instantly became suspicious. He studied her hands, the folds of her yellow robe, searching for weapons. He wondered if she planned to shoot him in the back. But he could not imagine Arachne doing such a thing.

“Do you plan to kill me?” Zeus asked.

Arachne nodded. “I’ll do any part.”

“How?”

“With deadly knowledge.” Arachne waited for a moment for those words to sink in, waited for Zeus fully to realize she planned to tell him something that would lead to his death. She said softly. “Beware of Gallen. He is more than he seems.”

Arachne fell silent, and Zeus waited for her to continue, yet she did not speak. He stood over her, lingering. Her vague warning troubled him.

Gallen was a Lord Protector, a supreme fighter, but could he have hidden abilities, abilities like Zeus’s? Or was Arachne lying in an attempt to keep Zeus from attacking Gallen? If she wanted Gallen to live, perhaps she hoped Zeus would be frightened of him, would keep his distance. Or perhaps she spoke truly, and she planned to create some indecisiveness in Zeus, keep him from attacking quickly. Perhaps Arachne believed that if Zeus was indecisive, the Lord Protector could counter Zeus’s attack.

In half a moment, Zeus realized he needed to know more. Arachne would be reluctant to tell him. Yet he didn’t have time to wheedle information from her. So he came to a decision. He was standing over her, and with a swift but soft kick, he smashed Arachne’s nose and her head slammed into the wall with a thwack.

She half slumped to the floor, but her eyes were open. She stared around, dazed, and Zeus bent low and grasped a handful of her hair.

“Now, you prescient little bitch,” Zeus breathed into her ear. “You’re going to tell me exactly what you know about Gallen O’Day. What is he that I should fear him?”

For half a moment she did not speak, and Zeus looked around quickly. He did not want to be overheard, and he suspected that at any moment, Gallen or Maggie might come down this hall to the ship. He didn’t want Arachne warning them of his intent.

He took her by the hair and began pulling, dragging her toward the nearest door, an entry to the droids service chambers. Arachne recovered from being stunned and grabbed his wrists so he wouldn’t pull her hair out. She kicked, screamed. He considered killing her, but decided against it for now.

Instead he commanded the door to open, then commanded it to close as he passed, and he led her down the service tunnel, an entry broader than it was high, with minimal lighting. A hundred meters down the tunnel, he tossed Arachne to the ground.

“Now, bitch, tell me everything,” Zeus whispered. He placed the heel of his boot on her throat, ready to crush her esophagus if she didn’t answer.

“No!” she said.

Zeus was forced to punish her, but he dared not give a killing blow. Blood gushed from her nose, and both her eyes were beginning to blacken. Kicking her face again would gain him nothing. So he slammed her in the chest with his heel, driving her breast into her ribs.

She gasped in pain and began coughing. Whether she coughed blood, whether he’d punctured a lung, he did not care. He’d begun to lose patience.

“Tell me, big sister,” he growled. “I don’t want to be hard or, you. Were you lying? Who is Gallen O’Day?”

Arachne gasped, struggled to answer, and Zeus picked her up, by the material of her robe, pressed her against the wall.

“He’s … he’s Lord of the Sixth Swarm, you fool!”

The news astonished Zeus so much he stood up straight, let Arachne slide down the wall. He knew that if he were ever to gain position in this universe, he would have to fight the dronon. He’d imagined this would happen decades or centuries from now. Yet here sat Gallen, Lord of the Sixth Swarm, all unaware of Zeus’s intentions: Zeus only had to kill Gallen in order to take his place. It seemed … so fortuitous.

“You aren’t lying, are you?” Zeus asked.

Arachne coughed, spit blood. She shook her head. Zeus considered what to do next. As if reading his thoughts, Arachne said, “You don’t have to kill me. I won’t tell anyone.”

This annoyed him, the fact she knew his thoughts before he did. “Why not? Why wouldn’t you tell?”

“Because, I’ve already killed you,” she whispered. “I’ve told you the thing that will kill you. Nothing I do now will change that.”

Zeus feared she still withheld something, that she knew more about Gallen than she dared tell. She knew the Lord Protector could kill him, and she wasn’t saying how. He reached for her throat, and Arachne spit, “It’s not Gallen you should be afraid of, you fool! It’s power. It’s power!”

Zeus shook his head, not understanding.

“Imagine that today, even if you beat Gallen, even if you live out the day-why do you think he is here? He’s running from the dronon! The Lords of the Seventh Swarm are chasing him across the universe. Eventually they will find him.

“But what if they found you, instead? Could you beat them in single combat, could you best the dronon? Gallen knows he can’t. Death lies that way. Yet you run toward it. You seek his position.

“And what if you do happen to beat the dronon? What if you do gain a place of respect and power in this universe? What if ten thousand worlds elect you as their ruler, and you even manage to unseat the Tharrin? What then?

“I have already told you,” Arachne gasped, coughing. “Someone more ruthless and cunning than you will cut you down. If not in a hundred years, then in a thousand.

“And you will know, you will know all your life, that I told you it would happen. You will be forced to watch for it, to prepare. You will die the thousand deaths of cowardice before that one last one takes you by surprise.”

Zeus sat back and folded his arms. He’d always believed Arachne had more prescience than this, that she somehow saw what would happen an hour from now. In his heart he knew she really only understood people. Her knowledge was frightening, but more general than specific. She didn’t really know he would die by violence. Her theories were based only on some general beliefs about human nature and her own vain hopes for his demise.

But I won’t walk that path, Zeus told himself. When I am a leader, I will be kind. People will love me and protect me. They’ll keep my memories on file, my genome available on a hundred planets. They’ll build replicas of me for a hundred thousand years, until I am wearied by mortality, and even then, my consciousness will be stored in the Omni mind, so I’ll live as long as I desire.

He stepped back, wondering once again what to do about Arachne. He couldn’t let her go tell everyone he’d been beating information out of her.

“You said I don’t have to kill you?” Zeus asked.

“Yes, please, let me go!” she whispered. “I won’t tell what happened here. I’ll say I fell down the stairwell outside my room. You know how steep it is. No one will doubt me.”

Zeus nodded thoughtfully. “All right,” he said, as, if the matter were settled. He turned away.

Abruptly he spun back, kicking with all his might at where her head had been. Surprisingly, she had moved, just a bit, so her chin was lifted to connect precisely with his heel. She’d relaxed her neck enough so it snapped cleanly.

She pitched sideways onto the floor, her neck twisted at an exotic angle, blood pooling on the stone floor by her nose.

Zeus stood, astonished, confused. She’d known at that last moment he would spin, deliver the death blow. She hadn’t tried to run from it. She’d embraced it.

Indeed, she knew Zeus so well, she must have come to meet him this morning, knowing she would die.

If that were true, she’d sacrificed her life. But why? To deliver a message? To tell him that Gallen was Lord of the Sixth Swarm? No, she hadn’t wanted to tell him that.

No, her message had been simple: walk away. Walk away from power. You are too imperfect to hold it. It will lead you to destruction, and will bring misery to others. Felph created you by mistake. You are a mistake.

It was a hard message to hear. Obviously, Arachne held Zeus in low regard. Certainly, it had been a hard message for her to deliver, considering what it cost her.

If she bore the message knowing the consequences, then should I not listen? Zeus asked himself.

Too late. Too late to ask that question. I’ve killed my sister. I am committed to a course of action. I must move forward.

Yet Zeus knew that he wasn’t committed. Arachne had given him the answer. Live in the desert. Hide. You don’t have to kill Gallen, you can try to hide from what you are.

Am I so ugly, Zeus wondered, I must remain hidden, covered? Zeus looked for a place to hide Arachne. He couldn’t let her corpse be found. The solution turned out to be obvious. Down the corridor from him were recycling chutes where droids disposed of excess food, which was ground into compost.

Arachne always liked the gardens, Zeus thought. Now she would feed the flowers. He pulled her down the hall and slid her into a chute. She would stay in the gardens forever.

Zeus used a strip of cloth from Arachne’s dress to wipe her blood from the floor, tossed it after the body, then went to begin the hunt.