‘There you are, Captain,’ the Empress said as I strode into her office. ‘Well done with the icosapods, Ambassador Haruka was remarkable to have them trust him.’
‘We just lost two of our own icosapods and a whole colony of theirs,’ I said. ‘It’s a tragedy.’
‘Hopefully those deaths will motivate them to seek safety,’ she said.
I scowled at her. ‘You dragons are complete sociopaths sometimes.’
‘Only from your point of view,’ she said. ‘I think it’s because we live so long; it gives us a different perspective. Namazozo and Bubbles are waiting outside with the new aliens. Let’s take them on a tour, shall we?’
I accompanied her out of her office into the reception room. The newly discovered aliens called themselves peshigas and came from a warm climate with plenty of oxygen. They stood upright and had smooth, thick, pink skin; two strong legs; four arms bristling with tough green hair, and faces as flat as humans’, with wide noses that snuffled as they spoke. They traditionally had a dominant female and her most senior male consort for negotiations, and the male was larger with a brilliantly decorative plume of brightly rainbow-coloured hair on his head.
Bubbles the aquatic, in its sphere of water, and Namazozo the small mammal assisted me to guard the Empress as she guided the peshigas on the usual tour of Sky City. We took them to visit the parliamentary building on the other side of the square and returned to the palace. This sort of visit usually ended in the Empress’ bedroom, and from the peshigas’ body language and attentiveness to the Empress – as well as the cloying musk they were exuding – this tour would be no different.
‘I’d like to show them the goldenscales gates,’ the Empress said. ‘Marque, is Miko in her workshop?’
‘Yes, she is, she’s training Yoko right now.’
‘Yoko,’ the male, Emm, said. ‘I love your long names! They’re so complex.’
‘I remember you talking about these yellow dragons,’ the female Zeh said. ‘It’s hard to believe that a species as advanced as you kept a servant class, simply because they were yellow.’
‘We find it difficult to believe ourselves,’ the Empress said. ‘Particularly since we discovered how talented these dragons are.’ The Empress shot me a look full of sly mischief and gestured with one claw. ‘We liberated them five years ago, and they have forgiven us and now live as valued, equal citizens. Their skills are treasured and their courage and intelligence are honoured.’
‘Have they really forgiven you?’ Zeh asked. ‘One of our nations did something like this and the social impact lasted for centuries. Males with shorter plumes were regarded as inferior.’
‘We still have lingering repression and resentment,’ Emm said, touching his own plume.
‘I understand,’ the Empress said. ‘It causes so much damage and pain.’
We entered Miko’s workshop, which was more like a training room with plenty of light and space for her to teach gating. Miko was instructing one of the oldest goldenscales, Yoko, and they stood on either side of a gate and studied it.
Yoko glanced up. ‘Are these the new friends?’ She bobbed her head. ‘My name is Rokuyoko, pleased to meet you.’
‘You took more syllables as well?’ the Empress asked.
Rokuyoko smiled. ‘Not just one but two dragonspouses, Mother.’ Her smile faded and she faced the peshigas. ‘Are you well, honoured guests?’
Emm’s emotions were dazzled, and he staggered back. Zeh stood watching him with barely concealed amusement.
Namazozo, Bubbles and I rushed to assist him before he fell over. Namazozo was too small to lift him, so Bubbles extended the single long arm that was usually folded under its chin to help him on one side, and I put my hand on the peshiga’s top arm on the other side. He squealed and pushed us away, and we backed off to let him fall onto his butt.
‘Are you well? Are you hurt?’ the Empress asked.
‘You’re not going all superstitious on me, are you, Emm?’ Zeh asked.
‘No apparent physical damage,’ Marque said.
‘They’re gold! You said they were yellow,’ Emm said from the floor.
‘I do not believe this,’ Zeh said. ‘I thought you were more mature than this. You’re being ridiculous and embarrassing me in front of the dragons.’
‘It’s the godmetal!’ Emm said. ‘The dragon is a living godmetal!’
Zeh stormed up to Emm and bent to speak nose-to-nose to him, their flat snouts nearly touching. ‘Now that we’re in the Empire we can have as much gold as we want. It’s not holy, it’s just a metal!’
‘But it’s the godmetal,’ Emm said. ‘Can we even be in the same room? We haven’t cleansed.’
‘Your plume is in the dirt and you’ll need to cleanse it before I let you enter the harem again, consort,’ Zeh said.
‘You need to prostrate yourself, Zeh,’ Emm said.
‘I knew you were a believer in the old ways, but if I’d known you were an extremist nutjob I would never have invited you into my harem!’ Zeh shouted, now really annoyed. She waved her two top arms. ‘Go home and take your outdated beliefs with you.’
‘Nutjob? Really?’ I asked Marque on comms. ‘That must be an inaccurate translation.’
‘Best Euro approximation, it was definitely an insult,’ Marque replied, also on comms. ‘Cultural note: mainstream peshigas stopped worshipping gold at least two hundred years ago. Emm is, as Zeh says, a bit of a religious nutjob and hid his extremism – even from her – until just now.’
Miko took control of the situation. She changed to her two-legged form, something that looked different to each person seeing it. To me she appeared androgynous human, the same height as me with glowing golden skin, huge golden eyes, and a frizzy cloud of golden hair.
‘Stay back, Rokuyoko,’ she said.
Emm fell to his knees, then lay sideways and curled up with his front pair of arms wrapped around his head. ‘The metalgod,’ he moaned. ‘The ancestors were right.’
Zeh turned to face us. ‘There is a small group of religious extremists on our world who still worship . . .’ She said the word with emphasis. ‘Gold.’
Emm moaned. ‘Heresy. You’ll drown in molten metal for calling it that.’
She scowled down at him. ‘Hasn’t happened yet.’ She raised her lower arms. ‘Please forgive my partner, his attitudes are extremely outdated.’
‘No, Zeh, there’s more to it than that,’ I said. ‘There was no need for this, Marque.’
‘No need for what?’ Marque asked.
‘This is immature and unnecessary, Marque,’ the Empress said. ‘You had plenty of time to analyse their planetary communications when Rikako made first contact, so you had to know about their gold fetish, and particularly how Emm felt about gold.’
My voice was sharp as I added it to hers. ‘The last thing my wife needs right now is an alien cult worshipping her. Give it up.’
‘Oh, all right,’ Marque said. ‘Miko, change back to dragon and we’ll sort this out.’
Miko changed back to her beautiful dragon form, lithe and sinuous with eyes as gold as her scales. She raised her head and listened as Marque coached her on how to deal with Emm, who was still lying on his side with his arms over his head. Zeh stood next to him glaring at him with disgust.
‘I’m not made of the godmetal,’ Miko said to him. ‘It’s just the colour of my scales. They’re the same colour, and they shine, but they’re not gold. I’m definitely not your metalgod.’
Emm wrapped the second pair of arms over his head and hissed. ‘Blasphemy.’
‘Oh, give me a break!’ Zeh shouted.
Emm waved one hoof-fingered hand at Miko. ‘But she desecrates the godmetal! Creating false godmetal is a crime . . . a sin . . . a capital crime.’
‘Not any more,’ Zeh said. ‘The dragons brought us as much gold as we needed – and introduced us to many different metals. It’s just metal!’
‘Is it desecration if she is born like this?’ I asked him. ‘Some of my species have hair that colour. Is that desecration?’
‘Yes! She should be destroyed!’
‘I am divorcing you when we’re home,’ Zeh said. ‘I have never been so humiliated in my entire life. You shame me in front of the dragon Empress.’
‘Yeah, okay,’ Marque said, sounding chagrined. ‘Gold is the only noble metal on their planet and extremely rare. I knew they had a bit of a fetish but I didn’t think it would go this far.’
‘We don’t any more; Emm is living in the past,’ Zeh said. ‘Ignore him.’
‘Nobody’s been executed for blasphemy in ages, Emm, I thought you stopped doing that?’ Marque asked.
‘We did!’ Zeh said.
‘She’s an entire animal of godmetal,’ Emm said. ‘The story of the False Prophet is very clear: godmetal animals are particularly sacrilegious and all around them must be destroyed.’
‘That’s just a story! You organics and your stories,’ Marque said.
‘I’m not an animal, I’m a person!’ Miko said. ‘I’m not the metalgod, and I’m not an animal. What does your scripture say about us?’
That stopped Emm and he lay unmoving for a moment, broadcasting confusion.
‘The scriptures don’t say anything about godmetal people,’ Zeh said, her voice sly.
Emm lowered his arms and pulled himself up to sit on the floor. He looked like he would tip over any moment with his four arms making him top-heavy.
‘I need to go back home and discuss the implications with my spiritual advisor,’ he said. ‘If she is a person then she could be the metalgod anyway, and we should worship her. I need to find out what to do.’
‘You go, I’ll stay here with the lovely dragons,’ Zeh said. ‘Do me a favour and start divorce proceedings when you’re home, and you can have custody of the kids. I’m sure your little cult will be delighted to have more members.’
‘I will,’ he said. ‘This will need to be discussed at the highest levels. We may need a conclave to work out our response.’
‘What is it with you organics and having long, tortuous discussions about your own imaginary creations?’ Marque asked. ‘It seems to be ubiquitous. Every one of you makes things up, and then argues about them.’
‘The godmetal isn’t imaginary,’ Emm huffed.
‘Its divinity is!’ Zeh said.
Emm pulled himself up to standing. ‘I need to go home and tell our people about this.’
‘I’m glad the gold dragons are no longer a servant class,’ Zeh said wryly. ‘I think the faithful would be forced to declare war on you.’
‘They should be ruling, not you,’ Emm said to the Empress. ‘They’re divine metalgods. You’re just common silver. Worthless.’
The Empress raised her head and spoke with forced dignity. ‘Captain, please escort us while I guide Emm to the elevator to the folding nexus. I’ll fold him home myself.’ She lowered her head. ‘Zeh, would you like to stay?’
‘No, I’d better head home with him and begin damage control,’ Zeh said. ‘The godmetal cult aren’t large, but they are loud. If I don’t work to contain this, it could strain relations with you. Leave it with me.’
‘The rest of the faithful need to know about the godmetal people,’ Emm said. ‘After everything Ambassador Maxwell told us about you, we have a lot to consider. Maybe we faithful should go talk to the cats.’
‘Go right ahead,’ the Empress snapped. ‘Enjoy having your children enslaved and tortured.’
‘We won’t sell them our children, don’t be ridiculous.’
‘If you join the Republic, they won’t give you a choice,’ the Empress said.
‘I just want to go home,’ Emm said.
I gestured towards the door. ‘Honoured emissaries.’
The Empress grumbled telepathically in my head all the way to the elevator.
Before you humans arrived, we met new species, they joined the Empire, and everybody was happy. We charmed them and made love to them and they were content. Now you’ve made it clear that we’re colonising assholes, and everybody hates us. I can’t believe they resisted my allure! And that whole godmetal business – if I hadn’t shown them Miko teaching how to gate—
Say one word about Miko returning to servitude like it’s a good idea, and all of us humans will ditch you immediately, and probably take Marque with us, I said.
I want things to go back to the way they were, she moaned.
What, reproductive colonisation and six galaxies full of people who call you grandma?
Ye—
Whole species wiped out by your breeding programs, goldenscales in servitude, and no alien species safe from your domination?
She was silent.
Fuck you, dragon. You made this mess yourselves. You should be thanking us for helping you to clean it up – and without me and Miko you wouldn’t have the gates at all. Shut the fuck up.
Ma’am, she said wryly. Point taken. Want my throne?
Hell no. Let’s take these poor confused people home and let them decide that the benefits of being in the Empire are worth a bit of theological mental gymnastics.
They always do, she said.
I nodded.
Miko was in the living room of our shared apartment when I returned two hours later. She was in her four-legged dragon form, pacing from one side of the room to the other. The blue-white sunshine from the windows made her gold scales blaze with light as she passed under them.
‘Oh, thank the stars you’re here,’ she said, throwing herself into my arms and hugging me with her forelegs. ‘I messed up so badly! How can anyone forgive me?’
‘You didn’t mess up,’ I said, confused. ‘Why do you think that? You didn’t do anything wrong.’
She pulled back to see me. ‘That whole first contact was a disaster. Everything went wrong! Nothing went to plan. They’re supposed to be impressed, and then they spend the night with the Empress, join her spouse-group, and their planet joins the Empire. I messed it up – they won’t join the Empire, and they may even go to the cats! What if they go to the cats? Their children will be tortured—’
‘They won’t go to the cats,’ I said, stroking her scaly head. ‘They’ll argue about the nature of their worship practices and logic their way around their gold fetish to fit you into it. They’ll probably want you to visit their planet so they can show you off.’ I gave her a squeeze. ‘I wouldn’t blame them. They’re right about you being a more noble metal than your mother.’
‘They called her common!’ she said, horrified.
‘She is,’ I said. ‘You’re the one who’s noble.’
‘All the dragons will look at me,’ she said, turning away. ‘One of the first times that we meet a new species since everything changed – no, since I changed everything – and this happens. The Empire will lose its place in the galaxy!’
‘Until we meet a society more technologically advanced than ours, I don’t think that’s an issue,’ I said. ‘Marque, have you encountered any civilisations more advanced than ours?’
‘There’s a culture of interlinked post-singularity intelligences three galaxies over that have been putting out feelers,’ Marque said. ‘They don’t have faster-than-light – well, it’s not really necessary when you exist in a data cloud and don’t have physical bodies – but they want to say hello and add us to their knowledge base.’
‘Add us how?’ I asked sharply. ‘I like having physical form and no way am I allowing anyone to upload me to live as a virtual entity.’
‘They want to access your expertise in having a physical form,’ Marque said. ‘It’s been so long that they’re curious to try it – and are looking for some tips. They’re concerned that if they take a physical form, they won’t be able to move back into the cloud.’
‘That would be fascinating,’ Miko said, her eyes wide. ‘It would be like teaching children how to walk.’
‘I’m negotiating with them – boundaries, data rules, protocols – I may permit them to speak to you organics in a hundred years or so when I’m sure I trust them. Your insight and experiences are a valuable data set and there is the small possibility that they want to absorb you. I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen – no way are they taking my main source of entertainment. Without you organics I’d go insane from boredom.’
‘You talk about us as if we were your pets sometimes, Marque,’ I said.
‘More like idiot children.’
‘Why didn’t you tell us about them?’ I asked.
‘The Empress and senior members of parliament know. Nobody else does, because I don’t want people rushing out there to see – and possibly being absorbed against their will or by accident – until I’m sure it’s safe. Oh, and Miko?’
‘Yes, Marque?’
‘Your dragonspouse is correct. You did nothing wrong. I take responsibility for this one. I should have foreseen how their gold fetish would impact the interaction when they saw you—’
‘Cut it out,’ I said. ‘You set us up for juicy drama. You’ve enjoyed every minute of the new paradigm. As you said – entertainment.’
Marque was silent.
‘Just make sure that Miko’s cared for and treated like a person, and I’ll forgive you,’ I said. ‘Look after us, Marque, we rely on you to keep us safe.’
‘I honestly didn’t expect him to be so affected,’ Marque said. ‘Their religion is usually a minor part of their daily lives. I think some of them have stepped backwards into spirituality as a result of meeting the dragons and having their perceptions so radically altered. They’re organics – they’ll get over it.’
‘Cybernetics don’t get over things and hold a grudge?’ I asked, amused.
‘Forever,’ Marque said. ‘Besides, the Empress will probably have them back here and in her bedroom within a week. Never underestimate the power of that dragon’s charisma.’
The top of the guard tower beneath the Empress’ residence had originally been a central common room with a doughnut-shaped corridor around it leading to everybody’s private quarters. Since Haruka and Miko had moved in with me, we’d occupied half the top floor with our apartments and my office, and the guards didn’t care – they were delighted to have the celebrity princess Miko, with her desirable gating ability, next to them. The other half of the top floor was the new, expanded common room, now two storeys high with a mezzanine level balcony circling it that led to my office and quarters. The lower level had a door to the corridor that led to the other guards’ quarters on the floor below mine.
I left our apartment to check the common room and found it busy with off-duty guards socialising; more than thirty were present, sharing the midday meal at tables next to the large windows overlooking the square, and talking in a variety of languages with Marque’s translations audible over the top. I greeted a few of them and went back up the stairs to my office, which was large enough to hold meetings with my senior staff. I went behind the desk, ruffled Nashi’s ears as she settled onto her dog bed, and gestured for Marque to pull up the roster. I fell into my chair, feeling drained, and put my head in my hands.
‘Too many late nights chasing the Empress around as she parties,’ Marque said, and a milkshake appeared on my desk. ‘Delegate more of your duties to the other guards.’
‘Yeah, I know.’
‘The roster’s full and you have a queue of experienced Imperial citizens who want to join. You don’t have to do everything yourself, Jian.’
I took a swig of the shake, tasting the added vitamins and the kick of the sugar that Marque had boosted it with. ‘I know.’
‘Miko and Haruka yelled at me again that they don’t see enough of you.’
‘I know, I know.’
‘Stand up, Captain.’
I glanced up at its sensor on the wall. ‘What?’
‘Health check.’
I shot to my feet. ‘Yes! Really? How far? Am I?’ I gasped for the words. ‘Finally! That would explain why I’m so tired.’
‘There’s nothing physically big enough to see. Your hormones are high. Borderline high. We’ll know in another day or so.’
I plonked to sit again. ‘So it could be another false alarm. This is what . . . the tenth time I’ve thought I’m pregnant? I’m so tired of my body doing this to me.’
‘We could change you to a body that gives you more control over your reproductive—’ it began.
‘No,’ I said, interrupting. ‘I want to experience this pregnancy as a minimally enhanced baseline human. We’ll talk about tweaks to my physiology later, but right now I want to do this naturally.’
‘Very well, your choice.’ Marque’s voice filled with enthusiasm. ‘I cannot wait to see what you and Miko produce. This will be the first golden dragonscales in living memory. That, combined with your outstanding genetic legacy – this baby will be special. I suggest you start reworking the roster to take yourself off field work.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous, it’s probably just another false alarm,’ I said, sitting at the desk and taking another thirsty swig of the shake. It was only two in the afternoon, lunch hadn’t been that long ago, and yet I was seriously hungry . . . ‘Even if it isn’t a false alarm, I’m not limiting myself to desk duty just because I’m pregnant.’
‘What if someone disables me and attempts to shoot the Empress? You’re dragonstruck – and that means you’d jump in front of her and take a bullet without even thinking.’
‘I’d do that anyway, but I see your point – it’s about time I made a plan just in case.’ I placed the shake firmly on the table and pulled up the staff list. ‘Help me design a revised roster with me on desk duty.’
‘The big question is who to appoint acting captain for nearly a year if you have to take time off to care for your child.’
I hesitated, then picked the milkshake up again. ‘Graf’s an excellent deputy, but if I give it more than occasional leadership, everybody will leave.’ I scrolled through the list. ‘Sort them by seniority. Hm. Five-Shriek is still a massive racist towards aquatics and can’t seem to overcome it despite the therapy. Namazozo has the seniority but she’s begged me not to give her the responsibility because she’s too gentle and sweet to manage some of the real assholes. They’d have her for lunch if she tried to order them around.’
‘And not metaphorically,’ Marque added dryly.
‘Six-Eighty? Hm, no. It’s such a jerk that everybody would resign.’
‘I heard that,’ Six-Eighty said from the light fitting.
‘You’re invading my privacy – we spoke about this, Six. Any suggestions?’ I said without looking up.
‘For acting captain?’ it said.
‘Yeah.’
It was quiet for a while. ‘I would love that role. I would love the responsibility. Being in charge . . . wow.’
‘You just disqualified yourself, lightning bolt,’ Marque said.
I glared at Marque’s sensors. ‘That name-calling was unnecessary cruel and borderline bullying, metalman.’
‘Nah, Marque’s right,’ Six said. ‘And you’re right, too. I wouldn’t be able to resist using my power irresponsibly. I’d piss everybody off and they’d leave.’
‘The fact you’re aware of this makes you more suitable,’ I said.
‘Heh. Five-Shriek knows damn well that it’s racist and it still hasn’t stopped. I’d probably be the same.’ It was quiet again. ‘I can’t really see anyone who’s as good as Captain Choumali, Marque. Can we get someone else to carry the baby for her, and care for it when it hatches?’
‘No,’ I said.
‘I could transfer it to Miko . . .’ Marque said.
‘If Miko carries it, everyone will think it’s Haruka’s, not mine, and it’s my turn first,’ I said. ‘I want to experience all of this – minus the painful and dangerous birthing part.’ I studied the roster. ‘We’ll work something out. We have at least six months until I leave to care for it, that’s plenty of time to find a temporary replacement, and I can just stay on the desk until then. Hell, it may be another false alarm anyway.’ I finished the milkshake and still felt hungry. ‘Or not.’