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2179 ACE, in ORD/City One
SEOH’s office faced the east. From the one-hundred-and-seventieth- floor of the ANASKO building that towered above Lake Michigan, he could see reflections created by the last glimmer of sunlight dissolving into the calm water. Very soon, the MystiKs would no longer be a problem. He leaned back, smiling.
One more day until the BIRG Con.
The moment of reckoning for those furkken MystiKs was finally approaching. Furk, that worthless old board member who had died after he’d made the tiebreaking vote for the treaty, deserved to have his name live on in posterity as a favorite curse.
A light on the control panel built into SEOH’s desk glowed, then a hologram of his female AI assistant appeared. Leesa announced, “Vice Rustaad will arrive in your office in eight seconds.”
SEOH replied, “Acknowledged.”
The holographic woman disappeared and Rustaad entered, silent as a killer in the night, a role he’d performed exceptionally well from time to time.
Before Rustaad began his report, SEOH asked, “How close are the leaders of the MystiK Houses to arriving in our city for the BIRG Con?”
Holding himself with the posture of one born to money, Rustaad considered the question, never rushing to answer until he had the exact words required. “Based upon tracking the vehicles we sent for the leaders, none should arrive prior to noon tomorrow, but all should be on site by an hour before sunset. However, two H’ybridts have arrived already, early and within thirty minutes of each other, which I find odd.”
“Everything about those people is odd.” SEOH waved a hand, dismissing the issue. “I detest them personally, but they’re not an issue for us. Even their own people treat the Hy’bridts as reclusive wackos. It’s the G’ortians we need to keep an eye on.”
Rustaad inclined his head. “Agreed.”
“Any news on the remaining five to capture?”
“Some,” Rustaad admitted. “We had a small bit of fortune. A Hy’bridt went to the Creativity House and, from what I’ve gathered from our snitch in that House, the Hy’bridt raved that Callan was at the center of the prophecy and must bond to see it fulfilled.”
“Callan?”
When Rustaad nodded, SEOH stood and leaned forward with his hands on his desk, speaking softly. “Are you saying we killed the wrong twin? Because if that’s so, my son died for no reason.”
Anyone other than Rustaad would be shaking in his boots, but Rustaad was cut of the same shark cloth as SEOH. The TecKnati leader might regret losing his first-born son, but he had a natural indifference to things like having possibly murdered the wrong MystiK teenager.
Rustaad said, “There is no way to know for sure until tomorrow and even then, it may all be a moot point. At the time that you ordered Jornn’s death instead of Callan’s, everyone was of the belief that Jornn represented the greatest threat to TecKnati if he managed to do what no one else had and unite the fragmented MystiK Houses.”
“I know why I had him killed,” SEOH snarled.
Rustaad remained silent for several seconds, the equivalent of a sigh from anyone else. “My point is, had Jornn not been killed he would still be a threat because so many were willing to follow him when he took over leadership. But even if Callan is central to the Damian Prophecy, he is no longer in a place where he can influence change.”
“But he’s a G’ortian,” SEOH argued. “You’re the one who finally convinced me to take the G’ortian power seriously. Now you’re dismissing it.”
“No, I’m not.” Rustaad continued in a calm voice. “As long as the G’ortians we’ve captured stay in the Sphere, we shouldn’t have an issue here. If their powers transcended that Sphere, they would have been able to contact someone via telepathy by now, especially a Hy’bridt, but they haven’t. The Hy’bridt who spoke at the Creativity House managed only to further your plan.”
Settling back into his chair, SEOH asked, “How’s that?”
“Becka is the youngest of the Creativity House ruling family, but she has been singled out as Callan’s future mate since she’s also G’ortian.” Rustaad’s lips slanted up a tiny degree, just enough to televise his pleasure at what he was about to share. “She felt it her duty to inform Callan of the Hy’bridt’s revelation, so she—”
SEOH started chuckling, seeing where this was going.
“—rushed to tell Callan,” Rustaad finished.
“And we caught her, right?” SEOH added, enjoying the moment.
“Absolutely. We now have three G’ortians with Callan, V’ru, and Becka. Plus, Thylan is holding Becka captive and away from Callan to prevent their bonding.”
“That’s right. You said the Hy’bridt mentioned them bonding.” SEOH studied on that. “I wonder if we can feed her to a croggle to keep her from Callan.”
“That would be dangerous, SEOH. We’ve been fortunate to have no loss of TecKnati children when the MystiKs died on their own in the Sphere, but intentionally feeding Becka to a croggle would—”
“Constitute murder.” SEOH waved him off. “I won’t risk my youngest son.” SEOH had Bernardo surrounded by guards and medical professionals twenty-four-seven, but his firstborn had died of asphyxiation in front of several people. He just couldn’t trust that furkken treaty not to kill his progeny.
Rustaad picked up where he had paused. “There have been reports of Kenja and Callan battling, so sending in a group of Uberon warriors is turning out better than we’d hoped. If she kills Callan, we don’t risk losing a TecKnati child.”
SEOH hadn’t believed in any of this mumbo jumbo until his son died, but he acknowledged the risk now. He asked Rustaad, “What about the other four G’ortians still at home?”
“They are all kept within their respective compounds and protected by heavy security, but my resources tell me none of those G’ortians have a desire to lead, nor are they being groomed for such. It appears that as long as we keep the powerful ones segregated in the Sphere until tomorrow night, we will eliminate the threat of MystiKs joining forces.”
Propping his elbows on the chair arms, SEOH steepled his fingers. “Any news on deciphering the prophecy?”
“Nothing new from our technicians working on it, but the Hy’bridt who spoke to Becka’s family confirmed the prophecy will be fulfilled when the red moon sets tomorrow.”
SEOH pushed an eyebrow up. “You told me our sun will set at the same moment the red moon sets in the Sphere. Did the Hy’bridt specify the location of the red moon referenced?”
“No, and we aren’t due to have a blood moon visible in this country for another four years. That’s the closest we would come to a red moon here, which leads me to believe the Hy’bridt meant a red moon somewhere else. If we’re to give credence to their powers, we must assume she meant the Sphere’s moon even if she does not know the Sphere exists.”
“She couldn’t know about that,” SEOH argued, then leveled Rustaad with a don’t-go-there look to cut him off before he reminded SEOH, again, that the MystiKs supposedly had psychic perception or visioning powers as well. “Let’s move on to things that we know we can control. The laser grid must be ready to activate city-wide tomorrow, but only after all MystiK leaders are inside the boundaries of our city. I don’t want any MystiK leader to become suspicious and remain outside the power grid.”
“They won’t turn back,” Rustaad said, planted as still as a statue in the middle of SEOH’s office. He rarely sat. Everything about him was contained, as if Rustaad held his body in constant readiness for any situation. “As long as the MystiKs continue to be distrustful of each other and paranoid that every other House is a threat to their power bases, they’ll be too busy watching each other to worry about us. I’m only concerned about the grid performing consistently across such a massive area. We haven’t tested as much—”
SEOH slapped a hand down on his desk. “The grid was tested successfully in the Sphere, based on the report delivered by the last scout brought back.”
Patient to the point of being annoying, Rustaad blinked slowly in the face of SEOH’s anger, then said, “The scout said that Thylan had turned the grid sample up to eighty percent to neutralize Callan’s power. The grid he created covers an area slightly larger than a basketball court. Our grid is over twenty miles square. We can’t just run it up to eighty percent the first time it’s powered across the city.”
“If our engineers say it’s safe, then it’s safe. I have faith in technology.”
“I do too, SEOH, but you’ve used a skeleton crew of engineers to do this secretly. Every project designed and built as a prototype requires more beta testing than we’ve executed.”
SEOH rubbed his forehead and sat back, considering how much nicer life was going to be once he was the only ruler.
Rustaad made a valid point, but a miniature version of this laser grid had also been tested in City Three with a majority population of MystiKs over TeKs. SEOH’s MystiK snitch in that city had helped carry out that test. Sure, there was always a chance of a misfire with any new project, but the element of surprise was far more important than worry over one section of the grid not functioning properly.
He crossed his arms and reminded Rustaad, “Based on what our engineers determined, we need only sixty percent of the grid functioning to contain the power of the MystiK leaders.”
“True. As long as that sixty percent of the grid is in direct contact with the BIRG Con meeting hall.” Rustaad paused and touched his lips with a finger while in thought. He pulled his finger away before adding, “There is still a certain amount of gamble to all of this. I don’t like that we have no Plan B in place.”
Grunting his acknowledgment, SEOH lifted a hand and a hologram appeared at his left shoulder displaying a map of the ten cities left in North America. “Oh, I have Plan B.”
For the slightest moment, Rustaad’s eyebrows flinched with surprise before his indifferent mask slid back into place. “Would you care to elaborate, SEOH?”
“If the grid doesn’t work, we send word to the past immediately to destroy the eggs of all MystiK ancestors being stored in the female research center at the Byzantine Institutes across the world and order the K-Virus to be released.”
Rustaad argued, “But you were going to wait until you were sure we had the MystiK power under control before unleashing the virus.”
“Not anymore. No need to wait once the MystiK population is reduced to a fragment of what they have now.”
“That would be almost a month ahead of schedule. How would we know our people in the past have located the genetic ancestries for both of us?” Rustaad asked, his voice tight. “Plus, based on the schedule we set and assuming they’re on track in the past, we would still lose a third of our TecKnati population by releasing the K-Virus too soon.”
“Stop worrying. They were told to find the DNA links for both of us first. Nothing has changed with the orders we gave our people sent to the past. Unless we send another person back with new orders, our people will continue on track. But you wanted a Plan B, so there it is.”
SEOH waited for Rustaad to ask what SEOH had told Phen before sending the TecKnati scout to the past, but Rustaad’s ruthless control exerted itself. His rigid posture relaxed only enough for SEOH to notice, and that was only because SEOH had spent years watching for those rare tells. Rustaad had been SEOH’s right hand of justice for over ten years, the one person he trusted with many of his secrets.
Not all, but many.
Switching topics, SEOH asked, “Has Thylan gained the computer yet?”
“His last report indicated he would have it by tomorrow.” Rustaad’s unruffled demeanor had returned. “Thylan may surprise you yet, in a positive way.”
“That’d be a welcome change after years of fixing his screwups. Why couldn’t the MystiK treaty have targeted Thylan instead of my oldest?”
“One of life’s mysteries,” Rustaad muttered. “Speaking of Thylan, he did mention something odd about those three intruders in the Sphere.”
“What’s that?”
“The traitor said the girl called Rayen claims to have no memory and that she only recently arrived at the Byzantine Institute in the past.”
Shrugging, SEOH said, “Why should that matter?”
“Because this Rayen also claims to have been hunted by a sentient beast.” Rustaad’s cool gaze studied SEOH. “There were no sentient beasts during that period of history. The technology wasn’t developed until after the K-Virus infected our country. Except for a few that have been deprogrammed and reside in the zootech, no others should be roaming our land. Correct?”
“Yes. You’re not one to be subtle, Rustaad. Make your point.”
“If we have a sentient beast that has not been decommissioned, but is in fact active and traveling through time, the ANASKO board will turn on us.”
“Of all people, I know that.” SEOH held Rustaad’s unwavering gaze. “If you’re asking if I’ve got one on the loose, I’m insulted you think I’m reckless enough to risk my freedom, and life, by hiding or activating a sentient beast.”
“I would never insinuate such, SEOH.”
“Good, because that would put a crimp in our relationship.”
SEOH’s holographic assistant appeared, saying, “Vice Rustaad, you are wanted in R&D.”
When Leesa disappeared, Rustaad gave a slight dip of his head as his way of saying goodbye, then left.
SEOH sat back and pulled up his online vault of private information that no one else could access.
Rustaad thought SEOH had a rogue sentient beast, huh?
The board turning on him would be the least of his worries. Possessing sentient beasts or shielding knowledge of their existence could earn someone convicted of the crime a lifetime in prison.
Transmissions from six security videos surfaced on a holographic screen. When he tapped keys on a holographic keyboard, one of the vid feeds doubled in size. Three sentient beasts growled and pawed the ground. A four-legged jungle cat prowled across one cage, then paused and morphed into a bird of prey that had a sickle-shaped beak.
Chuckling, SEOH pointed a finger and the screen disappeared.
Rustaad didn’t think SEOH had a viable Plan B?
That was understandable since Rustaad had no idea that Plan B was to inject a body with the K-Virus and ship it into the past, day after tomorrow, regardless of whether they found Rustaad’s genetic origin or not. SEOH knew his had been located, because the uncle he’d never liked simply disappeared eight months ago, along with his entire family.
SEOH had sent his first TecKnati team back to the past with orders to locate his specific ancestors, then separate the DNA for his mother’s side that led to the uncle he hated, then destroy that line.
SEOH hadn’t told Rustaad any of that for the simple reason that Rustaad would have focused too much on his own survival and not on doing his job.
Rustaad’s only living relative, a cousin, had conveniently died in an explosion at one of their test facilities. That left no specific indicator to ensure the staff at the Institutes had located Rustaad’s ancestry.
More important to SEOH had been insuring he did not lose a TecKnati engineer who had been a part of creating the ANASKO Empire to this point. Every leader of ANASKO since the onset of the K-Virus in their world had hand selected engineers from eight specific families.
SEOH had seen confirmation that his people in the past had located the ancestors of those families.
Plan B was most definitely in place.
SEOH even had one more play to make.
Once the laser grid was activated in this city and these furkken MystiK leaders were out of SEOH’s hair, he was transporting three sentient beasts to the Sphere and programming them to attack anything that was not TecKnati.
