Page 88 of Returned to the Vissigroth
“That history cost us hundreds of lives, and that’s not even taking into account the weapons that may still be in Renegade hands,” Myccael answered. “Who knows what horrors may still be underground, waiting to be unleashed, and you want to chip away at it with data pads and spades like it’s just another buried city.”
“Itisanother buried city,” Zavahr hissed. “Your gods don’t get to dictate our science.”
Myccael’s eyes sharpened. “Be careful, Zavahr.”
Zavahr scoffed. “Careful? Why, because your gods will strike me down?”
I stepped forward just slightly, my shadow falling across the floor between them. Myccael didn’t need me, but sometimes the presence of two vissigroths made even the proud pause.
“My gods,” Myccael said slowly, “are the reason you’re standing here at all.”
Zavahr scoffed. “This again. Susserayn, with all due respect, you’re governing with superstition. You’re holding back science, history, and the answers we’ve been looking for.”
Myccael stepped forward. Just once. Slowly. “You’re not looking for answers. You’re chasing power you don’t understand.”
“That’s not your decision to make.”
“It is when you’re on my planet,” Myccael said flatly. “And when your curiosity threatens every life on it. You and your people are a protected minority across the Fourteen Planets. You enjoy rights because I grant them. Do not mistake tolerance for weakness."
Zavahr’s eyes locked on my son’s, and for a moment, neither of them spoke. Rank momentarily disappeared. They were just two men, staring each other down in a room where peace had always been a choice, not a rule.
Zavahr's jaw flexed. “You wouldn’t strip us of our rights over dirt and stone.”
Myccael didn’t blink. “Try me.”
That was when I stepped forward again.
My voice stayed level as I interjected. “Do you really believe the Zuten built their cities with no understanding of what theywere hiding? You think you’ve uncovered ruins. But what you’ve found is a lid. And you’re begging to pry it open.”
Zavahr’s gaze shifted to me, and I met it without blinking.
“Keep digging,” I said, “and when the mountain breathes fire, you’ll be the one left holding the torch.”
Darryck pushed off the column, finally joining us. “You were warned,” he said. “And if warnings aren’t enough, well… we vissigroths have always been good at delivering consequences.”
Zavahr opened his mouth, then closed it again. When he turned and strode out of the room without a word, the door groaned shut behind him with the sound of something final.
Silence lingered between the three of us. Finally, Darryck exhaled slowly. “He’s going to try anyway.”
“I know,” Myccael agreed darkly. “Let him. The gods are watching.”
And so were we.
"Well, if there is nothing else—" my excuse to leave the room was interrupted when a dragoon knocked and entered.
"I beg your pardon, Susserayn, the human engineer, Claudia, is here."
"Send her in."
There went my chances for a quick escape. I had no idea why Myccael had sent for Claudia, but since he had also ordered Darryck and me here, I guessed that it was nothing good, and I would be here for the foreseeable future. Damn.
Claudia entered with the same clipped efficiency I remembered from her last visit, her long coat swept behind her, and in her arms, she carried a flat, matte-black palmtop. Larger than anything we used on Leander. Almost ceremonial in size, as if the device itself had gravity.
Myccael stepped forward. “Claudia,” he said with a nod. “Thank you for coming. My father and Darryck—” he gestured to each of us, “—have been brought up to speed. As much as we can be.”
Claudia offered a respectful bow of her head, then placed the palmtop on the wide stone table at the room’s center. “I’ve pulled everything we could decrypt from the vault servers buried under the mountain,” she said. “Much of it is corrupted, but a few threads survived. You should see this.”
She touched the screen. It came to life with a quiet pulse of light. The image that appeared took the air from my lungs. Not rock. Not ice. Not the jagged peaks of the Pyme range I had known all my life. Ney, before me lay a city. Sprawling. Shimmering. Alive. Bigger than anything I had ever seen.
