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The Darkness Above
They have her! Areenna’s thought was more a scream, blistering pathways in Mikaal’s already staggered mind. The clones had taken Neleh. His father, Timon and Noslen, controlled by the clones, slept helplessly in a frozen cavern. That they lay as feed for the clones was undeniable, his father’s drone had clearly shown this fact.
“We cannot wait!” Unaware he’d spoken aloud, Mikaal gripped the Staff harder and started to stand. His heart had almost stopped when he understood the depth of what was happening; his mind raced with anger, fury, and the knowledge that he must save them.
Hold! Sophia commanded. If we move now, we lose all. We must wait until the last second.
I cannot wait. I must help them.
Areenna, tears streaking her cheeks, reached over, took his hand, squeezing hard to anchor him. I know how you hurt. I feel it in every muscle, every fiber of my body, but we must wait. What Sophia says is right. She is not like us; her emotions are unlike ours, they interfere not with what need be done. Mikaal, she knows when to strike. We must trust this. We must.
Mikaal turned to her. Hard this is to do. What of the two in the south?
Sophia, ignoring their more private conversation, eloquently shrugged her virtual shoulders. The women and the Eight contain them. They will be able to do so, until the Trinity ends this, or fails.
Mikaal’s fists clenched in frustration. This possibility, we will not allow! How long before Neleh reaches the clones?
It took Sophia only a few seconds to compute the time. Eight hours, nine at the most if they allow her rest. But, they want her tired. The more exhausted she is, the easier control is for them; therefore, they will not allow her to rest.
Areenna released Mikaal’s hand and stood. It has been long since we have eaten. We must maintain our energy.
Sophia nodded. Five minutes later, a Woman of Service entered, one neither Areenna nor Mikaal knew. She set a tray on the small table and left without a word. As she walked from the room, another woman entered, carrying two woven mats. She set them on the floor and she too left without a word.
Sophia pointed to the mats. After you eat, you should sleep. I will wake you well before the time to leave. An instant later, the computer-generated vision of Sophia disappeared.
Areenna stepped close to Mikaal. Her arms went around him, drawing him to her. She kissed him gently, then leaned slightly back to look into his eyes. “We must stay strong. It is the only way.”
He stared at her for a half-dozen heartbeats before a shadowy smile lifted the corners of his lips. “For them, and for you. But for now, we eat.”
<><><>
The essence of Sophia, that part of her mind that remained as human as conceivable while trapped within a computer’s memory, worked on the possible ways to free Neleh from the clones’ grasp. While she could do nothing directly, she had the drone, and had been going through all the files relating to the equipment.
She knew it had once been weaponized, but those weapons, small explosive missile-like rounds, had never been loaded into the drones that Roth had taken to Earth. There had to be something.
She scanned hundreds of files a second, seeking some clue to help. Thousands of files later, she found one option: the drone had been built with a laser marking system for military use. The laser was used to pinpoint a target; once done, the drone would release a small missile, which would follow the laser’s guidance.
Knowing how dangerous a move this might be, Sophia weighed the risks against the potential it had to cut the clones’ control of Neleh, even if only for a few seconds. Those critical seconds might be enough for Neleh to build a shield.
Sophia switched her consciousness to the drone’s controls and maneuvered it away from the cavern and down the slope to where Neleh trekked upward. The instant Sophia spotted her, she aimed and released the laser for four hundredths of a second. If all went right, she would be temporarily blinded, which she hoped would disrupt Its control.
<><><>
Two hours after leaving the small indention of a cavern, there was a flash of strange green light. Her vision clouded then darkened. She tripped, falling hard on the icy slick ground, her head smashing against a rock on the pathway.
The pain cleared Neleh’s mind. She was blind, yet spots danced before her eyes and there was a grey blurriness, not black. She lay still, shook her head, and took a deep breath. For the first time since leaving the others, she was free from Its control. She did not wait and wonder what had happened, she knew that hitting her head had somehow freed her. The pain?
Although It had controlled her every step since taking her over, she was well aware of what she had been doing, of the compulsions, of the dreams of her mother calling her, and of the Elders of The People waiting for her; and, of how she had no control over herself. She had tried to fight Its control, but had been unsuccessful. Yet, strangely, she discovered that the longer they controlled her, the more she was able to build resistance.
With Its control gone, and sensing she had but a few heartbeats before they struck again, she created a small bubble deep within the recesses of her mind. While not much at first, a simple place that allowed her to know what was happening to her, it was an area for her to rebuild her mind’s strength.
Kneeling on the icy path, she bent her head, and took several long deep breaths as her vision returned. Very carefully, she built a shield—not one that prevented It from reaching her, but a small shield, perhaps undetectable to them, but able to protect that little bubble of freedom she’d built, giving her the ability to think. Then she stripped her thoughts of the bubble.
Seconds after she’d fallen, It struck. She did not fight; rather she let It take her swiftly. This time there was a new dream. She was beneath the water, swimming with the humpers. She held onto Hazak, who led the giant freesh.
Pictures from Hazak’s mind raced through her own: he showed her herself, at the Island, climbing the path toward the top; then, there was a warning to her a beast was following her up the mountain—a beast who wanted to hunt and kill her. Hazak urged her to move faster, push herself harder.
She did, unable to control her feet while she was all too aware that the beast following her was her aoutem, Duv. But she could do nothing about the fear racing through her mind, the fear It sent to her, using sharp staccato bolts of thoughts striking so forcefully they were like arrows piecing into her skull.
The rantor was closing in; a rantor that would kill her and make her its dinner.
Then the dream changed. Peace and calmness swept through her as Sirod’s gentle thoughts embraced her, carried her forward and made her stop thinking of the giant cat. Tears spilled, freezing on her cheek as she accepted her mother’s call and forced her legs to pump.
But within that small bubble, she was able to know she retained a part of herself and breathe in the knowledge that she was Neleh, one-third of the Trinity. She was Neleh, the next Woman of the Village. She was Neleh, and her future mate waited for her to free him.
I am Neleh of The People, she told herself within the safely of her bubble of freedom, I am Neleh, the named daughter of Mikaal of Tolemac, and I will not fail! I am Neleh, granddaughter of the High King of Nevaeh, and I will not fail! I am Neleh, granddaughter of the High Queen of Nevaeh, and I will not fail!
<><><>
Sophia watched Neleh get to her feet and start forward again, but there was something different about her stride. She ran her programming, setting parameters for how Neleh moved, and ran them against how she had been walking. The calculations told Sophia that Neleh was indeed moving slower—purposefully slower. Sophia recognized the probability for the success of the laser was high, and Neleh had gained a modicum of control over herself. But, would it last?
Sophia sent the drone in a wide circle, bringing it higher up and behind the small Woman of Power, knowing that if Neleh saw the drone, the clones would as well. Still, there was something else disturbing Sophia’s thoughts and frustrating her because whatever it was seemed out of reach of her computer’s processes; but, when the drone closed in behind Neleh, Sophia realized exactly what was causing her frustration—the human part of her that still remained, Sophia’s instinct.
Neleh wore no backpack. She was not carrying the explosives set to destroy the clone.
Before she could say anything to Mikaal, the lens on the drone shattered, and everything went black.
