Yzabel / August 17, 2005

[Part 2 out of 4. Read Part 1.]They should have listened to MARA, when she had warned them of the hard times to come, of the military coup in Varsa, of the declining Senate of the Llenane Confederation, too big and loose to keep a whole continent under its guidance any longer. They should have paid more attention to the alarming signs of the previous years, to the escalation of political incidents, when governments had begun to worry and slowly admit to themselves that the situation was getting out of hand, on the diplomatic level as well as on the economic one. They should have listened to her, indeed, when she had told the Council of Nations that they had to step in as moderators between Mornen and Llenan, before it was too late.The negotiations had lamentably backfired, the two other continents taking offense at Ewell’s repeated ingerence in their foreign affairs, and in the end, war had taken its claim on them all.In his office of the highest tower of the Core Research Center, Vall’Eran was replaying for the tenth time the latest holo-display he had received on the secured Ministry channel. Obeying the new orders would only send them spiralling even more quickly on the road to destruction. A nano-virus! Using the units to assist the medics wasn’t enough anymore. He had consecrated his life and work to this research in the hopes of helping medicine progress, of bettering life conditions for the Ewelli and for the rest of the world, once it could be adapted to the human race, and now they wanted him to turn his precious nano-bots into a weapon of mass destruction against Mornen and Llenan.”Eran, we need to talk.”No sooner had the automated door finished sliding that Shell’Annan, his first assistant, stepped in, a decided and stern look on her pale Kellen face. She hadn’t changed much, in the past fifteen years, the nanobots maintaining her body in a state of permanent youth—still the same icy gaze, the same short, dark hair framing her pointy ears, the same strong attitude. Since the beginning of the hostilities, however, her expression had been of constant worry, and this crease on her brow didn’t seem to ever disappear in these days of trouble.”The workers will go on strike or run away”, she said without even leaving him the time to protest. “You need to negotiate with them again, or—— What use would it be? The main land has closed its frontiers. Even if I could let them go, they can’t go back home anymore now.”This clearly wasn’t the answer Shell’Annan was expecting from him, he could tell from her frustrated look.”Varsa’s going to use the A-M, for Shien’s sake!” Annan slammed her hands against his desk, shaking in anger. “We won’t survive it! Even if they strike Ewell only, we’ll just be wiped off too!— There’s no place we can go to. If our knowledge dies with us, it’s probably for the best.— Go and tell them that! There’s no point going on. All they expect from us are weapons, weapons, always weapons! Might as well blow up the Center ourselves, don’t you think?”Annan was right. The ideals he had pursued, decades ago, the high hopes placed in nano-technology, the Ewelli government, reputed to be so wise yet now stooping to the level of the Varsa military dictatorship or the Confederation’s willingness to aim all their intercontinental missiles at Mornen’s leading country… It was all crumbling before his very eyes, yet he couldn’t just abandon the Core. His life was on this flyland, after all.She took a deep breath; then only did he realize that she, too, was terrified.”We have to do something. Ra’Ell and Ar’Allan have suggested we take the Core with us. You needed to know this.— Do what? How do they want to do that?— They say they can infiltrate MARA’s main program through her copy on the local system. If we reconfigure the new nanites field and redirect the flying units, it’s doable. We can produce enough energy to move the flyland and keep it floating at twenty thousands feet. For two years, at least.”He understood the hidden meaning of her proposal, the risks they would have to take, the possibilities it could open, and he suddenly understood her fears, too. They could become the primary target, an artificial construct caught flying away without any escort from the military; would it be for the best, if they were to be destroyed in the process? They could also survive a little longer, if managing to go far enough from the effect area of the anti-matter weapons. So many ifs, so few answers, so little time.”They never told me about this.— You had enough to do with the officials, and… we wanted to make sure we could do it.— Annan… It’s already too late. The troops will be here this afternoon.— They will?”Sheer terror was in her gaze, in the slight jerk of her hands, allowing him to know that she had in fact already made up her mind about this idea, and was placing all her hopes in his decision.”You can’t. You can’t let them come. Please, Eran, we’re more than four thousands here!— Yes, four thousands scientists and technicians, without any weapons. Unless… unless we lie.— Explain…— They want weapons, we’ll give them weapons. Now, if we fail, we die. Are you ready for that?”A faint smile played on the assistant’s lips for a second. “If it means that I’ve at least tried, I am.”It was nothing less than a rebellion against the Ministry, a folly, an inconsiderate, desperate act—and probably the last one they would ever attempt.Perhaps he wouldn’t have to become a murderer, after all.

©Yzabel 2005