Reunification (26 page)

“
That is good, sister,
but I do have one more question I needed ye to answer for me before
anything,” I said.

“
What is that?” said
Kiriah.

“
Resita,” I said. “What
will happen to him now?”

Kiriah's happy smile vanished suddenly. It
was replaced by an annoyed look, as if she considered my question
to be irreverent. “He's going to remain in the dungeons of this
place until we purge every answer from him that we're looking for.
After that … well, we won't need him anymore.”

“
But ye will spare him?”
I asked. “Ye will let him go free after you are done with him, at
least?”

The coldness in Kiriah's eyes made me
shiver with fear. “I'll talk with the Elders about what we should
do with him. Fair warning, though; I can't guarantee he'll still be
alive after we are finished with him.”

Once again, the woman who wasn't my sister
showed her true self through that mask that resembled Kiriah's
face. Yet I did not argue against her, for I knew that that would
be useless. 'Twas not as though I could threaten these 'Elders' she
spoke of to convince them to let Resita go, after all.

Hence, I nodded to show that I understood
and said, “Fine. In the mean, will ye summon your doctors to fix
mine legs now?”

“
Sure,” said Kiriah, her
smile returning to her face as if it had never disappeared at all.
“I'll send someone to take you down to the medical room, where
you'll be treated. This room we're in right now isn't supposed to
be used for medical purposes.”

“
All right,” I said.
“What shall we do after my legs are repaired?”

“
I will get you
initiated right away, obviously,” said Kiriah. “I can't
wait.”

She sounded so excited about it that I
almost forgot that this was the same organization that had sent
gene-spliced lizard men to eradicate their enemies and nearly
killed me and Resita, as well.

But I did not, because despite what I had
said earlier, I did not truly support Reunification or its
goals.

No, I only said what I said in order to
gain the knowledge and information I needed to take down this
organization from within.

Because despite my sister's assurances
that these people were good and noble, I knew that her allies were
not. And I also knew that I was perhaps the only person in both
worlds right now who could stop them before their misguided attempt
to merge the worlds ended in utter catastrophe the likes of which
have not been seen in the histories of either world before.

The only question was if I was too late to
stop them. There was only one way to find out.

***

Chapter
Eleven

T
he facility in which Reunification
was headquartered was even larger than I thought it was. I
discovered that when a couple of floating robots came to my room
and transported me out on a flat, floating metal board, which they
pushed along through the hallways of Reunification's facility
toward the room where the doctors would work on me.

'Twas a well-kept facility, with spotless
walls, ceiling, and floor. It was clearly Xeeonite in design, for
only the Xeeonites designed buildings with such sleek interiors. We
passed many doors on the way down, but I could not see through the
windows on the doors because we went too fast and most of the
windows were covered with white curtains that were too thick to see
through.

We did not go down very far, only about
two floors or so, at which point I was taken into a room on the
right side of the hallway. Kiriah, who had been following us, told
me she would wait outside until I was fixed, which did not please
me, as Kiriah was the only person I knew in this place.

Nonetheless, when I entered the medical
room, I was soon distracted by all of the elaborate Xeeonite
medical instruments that I had never in my wildest imagination
would have thought of on my own, such as a flat table with strange
mechanical arms sticking out of it and a dazzling variety of
screens that showed images I did not understand in the
slightest.

Oddly, I did not see any actual doctors of
any sort. Indeed, it seemed to me as if I was the only living,
breathing organic creature in the room, as I saw no hint of anyone
else. Then I realized that I hadn't seen any other people on our
way down here, either, though perhaps all of the Reunification
members were busy working elsewhere at the moment.

The two robots that had transported me to
that room immediately (though gently) placed me on the flat table
and strapped me down securely using the straps on the table. Before
I could even ask what they were going to do to me, one of the
mechanical arms rising out of the table jabbed a needle in my arm.
'Twas like being stung by a bee, but as soon as I felt that needle
pierce my skin, I lost all consciousness.

It was perhaps a moment later that I
awoke. At least, it felt like that, though I knew how quickly time
passed when ye were unconscious.

When my senses came back to me, I realized
that I was sitting in a room, at a comfortable temperature that was
neither too hot nor too cold, a room which 'twas very similar to
the room I had found myself in earlier. The only main differences
being that there was no bed and none of the walls were glass or
indeed had any windows for me to look out of at all.

Additionally, I found myself sitting in a
reclining chair that was quite soft, though I did not recognize the
material that it was made out of (probably some synthetic Xeeonite
substance, as the Xeeonites detested anything crafted by nature). A
blanket had been spread over my body, a rather heavy one, but it
was a comfortable weight that made me want to lie down and sleep
forever.

Then I noticed that my legs no longer hurt
even half as badly as they used to. There was no pain in them at
all, though they did feel slightly stiffer than normal;
nonetheless, I preferred the stiffness to the pain.

And then I realized that I was not
actually alone in here. Kiriah stood in the doorway at the other
end of the room, seemingly unaware that I was watching her, arguing
with someone I could not see. All I saw of her conversation partner
was a flickering blue light, though that was not much of a clue to
his identity.

“
No, I understand,” said
Kiriah, her frustrated tone quite familiar to me, even though it
had been years since I last heard her use it. “But just because Rii
just got here doesn't mean he can't be trusted. If I show him the
Secret, I'm sure he'll be more than happy to help us.”

Then Kiriah went silent, as if her partner
was talking. But I did not hear any voice speaking from the blue
flickering light. That made me wonder if the speaker was silent or
perhaps Kiriah was somehow communicating with him in ways I could
not tell.

In any case, I listened hard without
making a sound, for I did not wish for Kiriah or her partner to
know that I was awake yet. I thought that, by eavesdropping on
their conversation, I might learn more about this 'Secret' mine
sister spoke of, whatever it was. For it did not seem likely that
they would explain it to me later, if Kiriah's argument was any
indication of her conversation partner's feelings on the
subject.

Then Kiriah raised her fist, but lowered
it, as if she thought better of hitting her partner. “I guess
you're right. But I can still initiate Rii into the organization,
can't I?”

More flickering of that strange blue
light. I thought I heard a low buzzing noise from outside the
doorway, in the hallway, but I could not even begin to guess what
might have been making that noise. There were likely many Xeeonite
machines that could make such a sound, but what this one was, I did
not know.

Once again, Kiriah spoke, saying, “All
right. Just tell the other Elders what we talked about. Also, make
sure to keep that damn robot in your sights. He's a tricky one and
we can't afford to have anyone stopping us, not when we're so close
to success.”

'Twas no response, as before, but the
flickering blue light did vanish. As soon as it did, Kiriah turned
around. Before she lay her eyes on me, I looked down at my chest to
prevent her from seeing that I had been listening. For I was under
the impression that mine sister had not wanted me to listen in on
that conversation, which did not make me feel well about my current
situation, to put it lightly.

“
Rii?” said Kiriah. “Are
you awake?”

Yawning falsely (for I had to continue to
make Kiriah think I had just awoken), I looked up at her and said,
in a tired voice, “Yes, sister, I am awake. I just awoke, in fact.
How many hours have passed since my surgery?”

“
One,” said Kiriah. “The
doctors put your legs back together in about ten minutes. Isn't
that amazing?”

“
Indeed it is,” I said.
I rubbed my legs, just to be certain they were in one piece, and
they did indeed feel that way. “Whilst I've never been the biggest
supporter of Xeeonite technology, if it is capable of feats such as
this, then perhaps it is not as bad as I thought. Still, I consider
Delanian magic to be better, as I know that a truly skilled wizard
could have healed my legs even faster.”

“
Perhaps, but what
matters is that your legs are better and you should be able to walk
on your own now,” said Kiriah. She clapped her hands together
again. “That means that I can now initiate you into Reunification.
After all, you're one of us now, so that means that you need to go
through the same things that we did before anything
else.”

Something about her words made me mightily
uneasy. “What, exactly, must I do now that I am a member of
Reunification?”

“
If you are ready to
walk, I can show you,” said Kiriah. “Do you need me to help you
up?”

I shook my head. “Nay, sister. I believe I
can walk of my own accord now.”

Thus, I took my blanket off my body and
looked at my legs more closely. They looked as normal as ever,
which did not surprise me too much because I had already suspected
they would. Still, I bent my knees and moved them around anyway,
just to be certain that they functioned as they ought to be.

Once I was certain that my legs would not
give out on me, I looked up at Kiriah again and said, “Now, let me
try to walk. If I need your help, then I will ask for it.”

Kiriah nodded as I put my hands on the
arms of the chair and pushed myself up. 'Twas difficult as first,
for despite my legs being whole again, I did not feel entirely
normal. I figured that that my legs merely needed time to recover,
however, so I did not worry much about it.

It was only when my feet touched the
ground that I realized that I was wearing shoes. They were soft and
comfortable and fit my feet perfectly. They weren't much to look
at, but I was so glad to have shoes again for the first time in a
long time that I did not complain about their plainness.

“
I had the machines put
shoes on your feet when you were sleeping,” Kiriah explained. “I
noticed how hard and scratched your feet were, so I thought you
would appreciate it.”

“
Thank ye, Kiriah,” I
said, though I still held onto one of the chair's arms to help me
stand. “I greatly appreciate the gesture. Ye know not what it was
like to go without shoes for so long.”

“
You're welcome,
brother,” said Kiriah. “Now, can you walk on your own or do you
need my help?”

I could stand just fine, but I did not
know if I could walk. I was hesitant to try, but then I let go of
the chair and took a step forward. When I did not fall flat on my
face, I looked at Kiriah and said, “It appears that I can walk just
fine, sister, though these shoes will take some getting used to, I
think.”

“
You'll get plenty of
opportunity to practice walking in those shoes, brother,” said
Kiriah. “Now, follow me. If you're going to be supporting
Reunification, then you need to understand what we're doing better
than you already do. And that means you have to participate in the
Ceremony.”

“
The Ceremony?” I
repeated. “What might that be?”

“
It's the initiation
ceremony that all new members of Reunification must undertake when
they join the organization,” said Kiriah. “We would have put you
through the Ceremony right away had your legs not been
broken.”

I noticed how carefully she worded that
last sentence. 'Had your legs not been broken' … what a joke. After
all, hadn't it been Kiriah who had ordered her men to break my
legs? Of course it had. Did she think she could make me forget her
involvement in my broken legs by refusing to take responsibility
for it?

Nonetheless, I did not bring it up,
because I was trying to stay on good terms with her. If Kiriah
continued to believe that I had had a change of heart, if she
believed I had forgiven her for breaking my legs (despite her not
even asking for forgiveness from me in the first place), then
taking down Reunification from the inside would be that much
easier.

“
Well, what are we
waiting for, then?” I said. I stretched my arms and legs, for they
were still quite stiff from me sitting in that chair for an hour.
“Lead the way and I shall follow ye, as always, my
sister.”

Kiriah smiled, like I had just said
exactly what she wanted to hear. She then turned around and
gestured for me to follow her, which I did, albeit slowly, as my
legs, while rapidly returning to their original limber form, were
still stiffer than they appeared.

Upon exiting the room, we found ourselves
in the empty hallways of the facility. I still saw no one else in
here but ourselves, although I did hear the sounds of workers and
construction equipment outside, which brought to mind that crane I
had seen before. Nor did the hallway have much of a smell to it;
'twas slightly sterile, as if the people who maintained this place
had put an obsessive amount of work into keeping it clean. I did
not understand why they would, but Xeeonites in general were far
more obsessive about cleanliness than we Delanians were. Perhaps
that was all there was to it.