Page 32 of Tears of Tungsten
Spilled Blood
Brendan
After Pollux’s strange fit in the Scylla, things settled down at the academy. I received no significant news from my father, beyond the occasional minor update. Selene was given a schedule that included her lessons on Terra and while it dug significantly into her time with us, we didn’t complain.
Two months after the beginning of the term, Selene took one of her first real exams at Chimera Academy. It was for Tachyon Firearms and she passed with flying colors. She still held her phaser a little clumsily, but the tachyon particles came to her regardless and hit all the required targets. It was more than enough, especially for a beginner.
Our whole unit was present to encourage her, but so were several others, some of whom didn’t have the same good intentions.
Since Selene’s mother had started teaching the class on Terrans, there had been less ugly comments directed at Selene. It didn’t take a genius to notice messing with us wouldn’t end well. But most of the other students still thought this was only a temporary change. They were making plans for the unavoidable moment when Selene outlived her usefulness.
I tried not to let my restlessness show and congratulated Selene with as much enthusiasm as I allowed myself in public. “You were wonderful,” I said, pulling her into my arms.
“I don’t know about that,” Selene replied with a laugh. “I still have a lot to learn. Sphinx says I was clutching the phaser too tensely the whole time.”
“Your wrist was in an awkward position, yes,” August replied, “but that’s not a big problem. Everyone has different grips for their phaser. You’ll find the one that works best for you.”
The other students unashamedly eavesdropped on us, but we ignored them. We ushered Selene away and celebrated her success in our dorms, in the best possible way—through a lot of sex.
The next day, though, Selene had another meeting with her mother, and we found ourselves lurking in the hangars on our own. I decided against going for a flight, although I was supposed to put in more hours. Instead, I stayed behind with August, Typhon, and the still dormant Charybdis.
Typhon had not forgotten my frustration with the rest of the students at the academy, because he chose this exact moment to make a wildly inappropriate suggestion.“There are so many humans at the school with a low degree of self-preservation, hatchling. Maybe we could just go ahead and consume them. That would remove every other problem we have on our hands.”
“I wish that were possible,” I replied, “but you know it’s not.”
Also it was too dangerous to talk about the idea out in the open, but we were trying to stay discreet by keeping most of our conversations telepathic. The unfortunate side-effect was that August was excluded from our exchange. Even so, he seemed to guess what Typhon and I were talking about.
“We can’t make any rash decisions,” he said with a sigh, “no matter how much the thought might appeal.”
I produced my tablet from my uniform pocket and flipped over the holographic files. Over the past couple of weeks, I’d been looking into a possible expedition into the Apsid Quasar. We didn’t need to go very far. A few apsids would be enough to provide fuel for our chimeras and remove the necessity of following The Grand Judiciary’s orders. But no matter how I looked at it, the option remained far more dangerous than the original plan.
We hadn’t lost anyone in the unit in our last confrontations with the apsids, but that was no guarantee. Plenty of chimeras had fallen to our foes. Mechas like the Medusa and the Minotaur were still dormant, and chances were they’d never awaken again. After what had happened on Mercury, could I really afford to take such a chance with the people I loved, just for the sake of the Terrans?
The answer was simple and no matter how many times I went over it in my head, it didn’t change my conclusion. Unless something extraordinary happened and the apsids attacked, we’d have to follow my father’s plan.
We might even have to speed things up. The Grand Judiciary had been very quiet, and I didn’t like it. I wanted our chimeras to be in perfect order and that just wasn’t the case right now. Nobody had found out about what had happened with Scylla, but that had only been out of sheer good fortune. If not for August and Selene’s prompt intervention, things could have been very different.
I was debating the merits of joining the others on the training field when the hangar doors slid open and Paul Welton walked inside. “Your Highness, good afternoon. I’m glad I caught you before you started your flight training.”
“Greetings, Lord Welton,” I replied. “Is there anything urgent you wanted to tell me?”
He nodded. “The Grand Judiciary has made a decision regarding the matter we discussed.”
My heart twisted and my stomach churned, but once again, I remained perfectly calm. “Oh? They’ve found the first food source for our chimeras, then?”
He nodded. “There is a small community of rebel Gaia followers living in The Ural Mountains. We haven’t dealt with them yet because they’re not violent, but they’re very isolated so nobody will miss them once they’re gone.”
A community of rebels. It was a good choice, but at the same time, an odd one. Why would they decide to target someone non-violent, when there were undoubtedly countless other options? There were plenty of small factions on Terra that opposed The Grand Judiciary and usually staged attacks similar to the one that had awakened Sphinx. What had these people done that had made them targets? This was rubbing me the wrong way, and not just because I’d have to kill innocent people soon.
I didn’t reveal any of these doubts to Penelope’s father. “Very well, Lord Welton,” I said. “We’ll go tonight.”
Lord Welton shook his head. “You’ll go now. There have been some signs of activity and The Grand Judiciary wants to deal with it before it becomes a problem. Besides, daylight doesn’t reach that region a lot, so you’ll be able to approach stealthily.”
This part wasn’t really unusual, since the Grand Chimera Unit had left the school before to go on missions. And maybe it was better to go as soon as possible, since Selene was busy with her mother and our absence wouldn’t be obvious.
Getting to The Ural Mountains, wiping out everything in the area and returning to the base wouldn’t take us more than two hours, if that. By the time Selene finished her own lessons with her mother, we’d be back. She’d never know what we’d done.
Lord Welton didn’t seem to realize we had no intention of including our lover, or if he did, he wanted to make sure we were in agreement.
