Terra (24 page)

-
March!
shouted one of the G’grk drones, entirely unnecessarily. The binding gel had completely solidified around her hands and she was aware of a horrid itching at her wrists. She glanced up at Lbbp. He smiled reassuringly at her but there was fear in his eyes. Proper grown-up fear.

They entered the council chamber. Blue G’grk banners fluttered from the ceiling. The council members were seated in their usual rows of seats but rather than sitting upright and alert, as they had been on that faraway day, they were slumped and bowed. Some of them were bruised and bloodied, blue stains on their shimmering robes. In front of the seats, kneeling on the floor, were yet more Mlmlns. Lbbp recognised some of them as members of the civilian government. They too looked wounded and battered. Ranks of G’grk drones stood watch over them all.

Approaching the rows of kneeling Mlmlns, Terra saw Preceptor Shm himself. He sat slumped in his usual place, blue blood trickling from a fresh wound in his scalp. He looked up as Terra passed; there was a flicker of recognition, followed by a terrible sadness in his eyes.

A high-pitched ranting voice was echoing through the chamber as they were shoved to the front of the crowd. -
Kneel!
barked the drone again, pushing Lbbp down to his knees. Terra knelt unbidden, to Lbbp’s relief.

-
It’ll be okay,
whispered Lbbp.

-
Quiet, slave!
shouted the drone. He kicked Lbbp hard in the lower torso. Lbbp doubled over in pain but did not cry out. Neither did Terra, though she trembled violently and tears welled up in her eyes. The drone glowered at her. -
Disgusting,
he muttered, then turned his attention to the centre of the room.

The ranting voice, which had continued all this time, came from a tall young G’grk warlord who paced back and forth in front of the chamber’s central dais. He wore shining plates of armour over his bare skin, and his face was striped with war paint. Looking up, Lbbp recognised him as Sk’shk, Grand Marshal K’zsht’s deputy and herald.

-
The Occluded Ones have seen your weakness and decadence! Rejoice that they send their avatars to cleanse and redeem you! You will be returned to the true path! K’zsht the Righteous will purge you of your sickness! K’zsht the Just will heal you through pain and fire! Your screams of anguish will be pleasing to The Occluded Ones! They will hear your cries of repentance!

On the dais behind Sk’shk, silent and unmoving, stood K’zsht himself. He looked exactly as Terra had seen him on the lectorium visualiser all those cycles ago. His skin was tough and wrinkled, criss-crossed with the scars of a hundred battles. He too wore armour but unlike Sk’shk’s gleaming plates his was scratched, scorched and dull. He held his ceremonial lance – the one that tradition required should never leave his grasp as long as he lived – and stared impassively out into the room as Sk’shk paced and bellowed.

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For many of you it is too late!
cried Sk’shk.
You are too sunk in luxury and depravity. You are too sick, too weak to be saved. You will suffer, and when death comes you will welcome her. But for your children there is hope . . .

The mood of the crowd, until then one of numb despair, now tightened into horror, and just a hint of anger. Terra sensed it immediately.

-
Your children will receive the blessings of hardship and ordeal! They will grow strong! Their spirits will harden with their flesh! They will be saved! They will be purified! They will be G’GRK!

Uproar. Noise from every quarter. A victorious cheer from the G’grk, cries of fury and defiance from the Mlmlns. One council delegate, a rudimentary bandage over one eye, pushed his way to the front of the crowd and yelled directly at Sk’shk.

-
Every one of us will die before we let you take our children!

Sk’shk stared back at him with the merest hint of a smile. -
Yes, you will,
he hissed, and nodded almost imperceptibly to one of the waiting drones.

The drone reached for his belt, to which was attached a row of little metallic spheres. In a single fluid action he snapped one of the spheres off, crushed it between his thumb and finger, making it crackle and fizz with a nasty energy, and hurled it at the delegate who had challenged Sk’shk. It struck the delegate square in the chest; he lived just long enough to feel his component atoms begin to lose their cohesion and fly apart in all directions. His scream of terror and agony was still resounding around the quartz dome as the last trace of him disappeared.

The cries of horror and alarm stifled themselves to whimpers and moans as the drones turned their fierce gaze upon the surviving Mlmlns.
Anti-matter grenade,
thought Lbbp.
Invented right here in Mlml a few orbits ago. Outlawed immediately. Some fool obviously went ahead and made some anyway and somehow the G’grk got hold of them. Maybe we deserve this.

Lbbp could feel Terra shivering beside him and thought he would explode with impotent fury. He’d heard reports about individuals who, in moments of extreme stress or rage, had suddenly performed terrific feats of strength and saved the day. He knew now such tales were myths; if anger could bring strength, he would have snapped free of the binding gel and torn the G’grk limb from limb. As it was, he fought to maintain focus and stay alert for a chance – ANY chance – to change the situation in their favour by even the slightest degree.

Terra closed her eyes tight and tucked her chin to her chest . . . she wanted desperately to hide and this was as close as she could get. She clung to the hope that if she could get to the end of this . . . meeting, rally, conference, whatever it was – without attracting attention to herself, then maybe, just maybe ..

-
THERE it is . . .

No. Oh no.

-
Now we see how far you have strayed. NOW we see how low you have fallen. That you would accept this . . . THING into your midst, that you would dress it up in clothes and treat it as one of your own . . . Have you no pride? No honour? No SHAME?

Terra looked up through her tears and saw Sk’shk peering down at her. She found the strength to whisper.

-
Please,
was all she could say,
please . . .

Sk’shk seemed taken aback. -
It speaks . . .

-
Yes,
said Terra,
I can speak.

-
How revolting,
said Sk’shk.
Bring it!

Two drones seized Terra’s arms, yanked her to her feet, marched her to the dais and threw her down before K’zsht.

-
There, Grand Marshal. See the alien wretch that these weaklings have cosseted!
He turned to the cowering prisoners once more.
This . . . beast, this animal . . . You have not only allowed it to corrupt your land with its presence, but you have permitted it to infect your very minds with these . . . f’kshnns, these st’rss . . . Such weakness! Such vice! You are indeed fortunate that we, the G’grk, choose to deliver you from your own frailty and wickedness.

K’zsht peered down at Terra. He did not speak and his face showed no clue as to his thoughts. Terra knelt up and made as if to address K’zsht.

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You will not speak to the Grand Marshal, beast!
screamed Sk’shk.
You will not defile his hearing with your screeches. See, Great K’zsht,
he went on, turning back to his leader,
what filth and putrescence pollutes the stars. But no longer!
He spun around to address the Mlmln prisoners.
Now your nation has fallen, its bounty shall be ours! We will harness your space-bending technology and make it our own. We will set out and take the G’grk’s gifts of purity and death to all the worlds of the universe! Starting,
he hissed, turning back to glower at Terra,
with the forsaken rock which spawned this vile creature . . .

Rrth,
thought Terra.
They’re going to Rrth. They only know it exists because of me. What have I done?

-
Rejoice, little beast,
hissed Sk’shk.
You will be the first of billions of your kind to die at the hands of the G’grk.

-
She’s my responsibility!
shouted Lbbp. The drone nearest to him made as if to strike him but hesitated at a gesture from Sk’shk.

-
I brought her here,
said Lbbp.
If her being on this planet is a crime then the crime is mine. Take me.

Sk’shk gestured again. A drone stepped forward and produced a small vial of fluid from a pouch on his belt. He poured a drop of the fluid onto the binding gel encasing Lbbp’s hands and it dissolved away. The drone beckoned to Lbbp to stand and he did so, rubbing his wrists.

-
You would assume responsibility for this creature?
asked Sk’shk, pointing towards the kneeling Terra.

-
Always
.

Sk’shk glanced towards K’zsht, then turned back to Lbbp.

-
K’zsht the merciful offers you a boon. You have a chance to make amends for your offence.

Sk’shk drew his sword, a heavy bronze blade with a curved serrated edge. He flipped it over and offered the jewelled handle to Lbbp.

-
Kill her.

Lbbp stared wordlessly at the sword. Terra turned her head to look up at Lbbp. She could read no emotion in his face.

-
This place is to be consecrated as a temple to the Occluded Ones,
announced Sk’shk.
This demands an act of sacrifice. You will now atone for your blasphemy in polluting their chosen world with this deviant filth. Spill her foul alien blood and you will be spared. Do it not, and you and all your compatriots,
he gestured around the chamber at the cowering masses,
will die today.

A moment’s pause which lasted an age.

Lbbp reached out and took the sword.

He examined the exquisite scrollwork engraved along the blade.
Strange that they should put so much effort into decorating it,
he thought.
They obviously have a sense of beauty somewhere among all the hatred and fury. How odd. How sad.

Terra looked up at Lbbp, desperate to see some sign of his thoughts in his expression. Lbbp did not meet her eyes but stared fixedly at the sword in his hand.

Lbbp sighed.

-
You know,
he said looking up at Sk’shk,
I really should take a swing at you with this but I’d probably miss, and besides, I want you to hear what I have to say right now.

He tossed the sword down at Sk’shk’s feet.

-
I’m not doing it. I don’t care any more. Kill me, kill all of us, it doesn’t matter. Even if I believed you were serious about letting these people go, and I don’t, we’re better off dead than ruled by you. But any killing you want done, you’ll have to do yourself. I’m not your instrument. We’re not your slaves.

Lbbp exhaled hard. He felt neither fear nor pride, just a peculiar calm.

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As you wish,
hissed Sk’shk.
But first you will watch her die.

Two drones seized Lbbp by the arms. Sk’shk bent down to retrieve his sword, bristling at the indignity of having to do this himself. At that instant, Terra realised that no one was watching her. She scampered away on all fours between armoured legs. Shouts of -
Catch her!
and -
Go on Terra!
came from above her. Her hands still held together by the binding gel, she could only manage a loping, tripedal crawl; moreover, she realised with rising panic, whatever she did there was nowhere to go.

A strong hand seized the back of her garment and lifted her off the floor. Terra dangled helplessly as a G’grk drone brandished her triumphantly above his head. She let out a wail of terror.

-
Hear how it howls!
laughed Sk’shk.
Hear how the beast howls!

Suddenly Terra’s mind was somewhere else.

The terror was just too intense for her conscious mind to process, so her mind did something different.

It remembered.

It remembered the last time she’d felt such abject despair. The kind of despair a new-born baby feels the first time it knows pain.

Terra was tiny. She was dressed in soft clothes. Her little limbs were curled up uselessly across her body. She was held in strong but gentle arms and her tummy ached. The pain was the first she’d ever felt, and it was terrifying to her brand new mind. She screamed, and screamed, and screamed.

The arms began to rock her, and a sound came to her ears. A voice, soft, soothing, a beautiful sound that eased her pain and banished her fear. Her mother’s voice.

Back in the council chamber, back in reality, the gloating G’grk heeded Sk’shk’s command to listen to Terra’s cries, but what they heard was not the howling of a terrified beast.

Terra, only dimly aware of her surroundings, half in the present and half in the past, did something neither she nor anyone else on Fnrr had ever done before.

Terra sang.

Her clear little voice rang out, resounding through the quartz dome of the chamber. A tune she’d long forgotten, in a language she barely understood. The first music ever heard on Fnrr, heard now by Mlmln and G’grk together.

‘Do not cry
Do not weep
Floating gently off to sleep
You are loved and safe from harm
Sleeping sound in Mummy’s arms . . .’

The song ended. Silence.

A sound. A metallic, clattering sound.

Then a voice. A new, thin, papery voice. The voice of someone very old.

-
Let her make that sound again,
said Grand Marshal K’zsht.
Let her do it again,
he said, pointing at Terra with his right hand. The hand which a moment earlier had dropped his sacred lance to the chamber floor.

The drone holding Terra lowered her to the floor.

-
Come here, child,
said K’zsht. Sk’shk made as if to protest but thought better of it.

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That sound,
said K’zsht.
Does it have a name?

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I don’t know,
said Terra.
I’ve never done it before.

-
But you could do it again?

-
I’ll try,
said Terra, and she sang the song once more.

G’grk and Mlmlns listened to the song in silence. K’zsht closed his eyes until the song was over.