Emancipation

Chapter 4 : Goals

Chapter 4

The sunlight reached the forest floor in an enchanting dappled pattern. The plants smelled green. It was like Raen had never experienced green until she entered this forest. The sounds of the forest were almost overstimulating, chirps of insects, tweets, and caws of innumerable birds, even the raucous shouts of some kind of mammal. This wasn’t just a forest it was a rainforest. Part of her didn’t understand how it could be so pristine. Something in her gut left her expecting a denuded landscape. It was like a memory but how?

“Raen, come on, the village is through here,” Honor shouted from ahead of her on the trail. The rest of the snake-handlers had wandered off into the forest with collection equipment and containment bags. Raen snapped to attention and scurried along the path to join Honor.

Within a few minutes, they had entered the village. The houses were obviously built from natural materials, the thatch of the roofs and the wooden branches making up the walls and raised floors clearly evidenced their origins. A few children ran and played in the clearing at the center of the assembled houses. Adults worked on mats, in front of the houses, processing plant matter.

“This village collects and processes certain plants found in the forest for the same reason we collect the venom. The empire needs the complex chemical compounds found in the plants of the forest. We cultivate the ones we can in farms closer to the city but many will only grow here,” Honor stated. He lowered his luggage and equipment to the ground. “That house over there is for visiting collectors. There aren’t any beds, but the mats are more comfortable than the ground.”

Raen hadn’t expected a bed so she wasn’t the least bit disappointed, “When should I go out and start collecting?”

“Let me get you the equipment.” He pulled a bag of hoods from among his equipment. He also handed her a long collection stick with a hook on one end and a claw that opened and closed on the other end. Then he handed her a stack of sacks. “Put the hoods on them, for safety and to keep them calm and healthy.”

Raen nodded at the instructions and started to turn to head out into the forest. Honor grabbed her shoulder. He handed her a small device with an led display. Honor switched the box on and it displayed an arrow pointing to the center of the square. “When you are on your way back, follow the arrow.” Raen started towards the forest. “Wait! Miriobi? Where is Turin?”

A woman pounding dried flower petals into a powder stopped, “I think he’s in the garden.”

“Raen, come with me,” Honor motioned. He led her past the nearest house to a clearly cultivated area full of flowers of all types. “What do you think?”

Raen stared at the flowers. Near memories flooded her mind, she found herself thinking that these flowers all resembled other flowers she had never seen before but could name scientifically and a variety of common names. The sensation of having so much alien knowledge blow through her mind all of a sudden made her dizzy. She held a hand to her head and tried focusing on one violet-colored flower at the edge of the garden. Iris, her mind supplied. The root of the varieties she suddenly remembered could be used to create cough syrups and topical treatments for skin conditions like eczema and acne. She actively wondered what this variety could do. Surely its uses were more esoteric than that if it was of economic benefit to cultivate it.

“Raen, this is Turin,” Honor said presenting a young man just a little older than she was. She had forgotten they had come around here looking for someone.

“Pleased to meet you,” Raen held out her hand. Turin looked at her awkwardly and fist-bumped her outstretched hand.

“So, what do you need Honor?” Turin asked.

“I want you to go with Raen on her first trip out into the forest.”

Raen frowned. She wasn’t used to the idea of supervision. “I have the compass box. I can find my way back.”

“Raen, there are a lot of dangerous organisms out there. I would feel better if you had a local guide on your first trip.”

“Honor, seriously, I am going out there to collect the dangerous organisms.”

“Do you know what plants to avoid touching to keep from coming back with a bleeding rash?” Turin asked.

Raen glared at the sky, “Okay, but for the record, I have never needed a babysitter before.” She rolled her head around on her shoulders finally turning her focus back on Honor.

“I know Raen, but supervision is something you should get used to. I was hoping you would accept my sponsorship to the apothecary guild when we got back. They are taking on a new class of apprentices,” Honor dropped a virtual bombshell on Raen.

“That would mean I would have to leave my pack. I’m not ready, Constance still needs me. She still wakes up crying for her mother sometimes.”

“Raen, are you really going to choose to stay on the streets? Full guild membership could lift you above them permanently,” Honor argued.

Raen chose to turn her back on him and start marching for the forest. He was trying to determine the path of her life. Who did he think he was? Her father? Raen didn’t have a father. She looked over her shoulder at Turin, “You going to come guide me through the perils of the forest or not?”


* * *

"No, that is not a proper heel. You are to walk one foot to the left and half a step behind. Remember to be regal. You are the companion to The Queen of Darkness. Show no fear, not even of me, but do not defy me in any way!" Beaoul trotted along beside Mira as Mira paced the length of her throne room. Mira stopped abruptly in front of an alcove with a man dangling from chains attached to a hook set high in the black concrete wall. The alcove floor sloped backwards to a drain near the back wall. It was so it could be easily hosed down after Mira had "entertained" her "guests."

Beaoul managed to stop exactly on the mark of where she should when Mira stopped. Mira turned and stepped into the alcove. Beaoul followed, but she didn't like where this was going. The man attempted to stand as he saw Mira through his one unswollen eye. "I am never going to talk!" He growled in a hoarse near whisper." Beaoul flinched.

"But this isn't about you talking! This is about breaking you! I intend to destroy every last thing that makes you who you are. Then I will reconstruct what's left into a loyal lap dog. I have found I am fond of canines," Mira laid a gentle hand on Beaoul's head. Beaoul knew she was checking that Beaoul was in position. Mira held her hand out towards a rolling surgical tray. It rolled to her side and Mira grasped the first tool she laid her hands on, a cordless dental grinder. "Now, open your mouth. I am going to do some body modification."

Beaoul watched the man clench his jaws shut. She swallowed hard. Mira put down the grinder and grabbed a piece of metal designed to keep a person's mouth open during long dental procedures. Mira stomped on the man's instep. He howled in pain, opening his mouth. Mira forced the metal into his mouth and took a step back. Beaoul managed to back up as well. "Now that wasn't so difficult, was it?" The man hissed at her through an open mouth, it was all he could do. Mira picked up the grinder and went to work on his canine teeth sharpening them into fangs.

Half a step behind Mira a foot to her left, Beaoul sat. It was all she could do not to squirm in sympathy. She was a hellhound. Hellhounds have no empathy. Why did Beaoul have to be so damned exceptional? Her teeth ached as Mira ground the man's teeth into fangs.

Mira turned off the grinder and took a step back. She grabbed the man's jaw and turned his head from side to side examining her handiwork from various angles. "What do you think Beaoul? Should I do the rest?" Mira glanced back at Beaoul.

Beaoul swallowed hard and nodded. The man moaned as Mira turned back to grind the rest of the teeth in his mouth.

After a very long hour, Mira turned back to Beaoul. "What do you think?" Beaoul stared at the man's mouth as Mira turned his head from side to side again. The man had long since passed out. His mouth bled profusely from where Mira had either ground too deep or abraded the nearby gums. She had been none too gentle. "Bear in mind the blood is just a temporary effect," Mira lowered the grinder to the surgical tray.

Beaoul wrapped up her emotions in a tight ball and hid them before projecting the message that his teeth resembled a hellhound's.

"Great! Your teeth were exactly my inspiration. Speaking of your teeth, let me see your most intimidating snarl!" Beaoul complied. "Nice, Okay, I am going to bathe and otherwise freshen up. You stay here and flash that snarl at this guy if he wakes up. Throw in an intimidating growl or two while you're at it. Otherwise, put the fear of me in him until I get back."

Beaoul nodded and laid down in front of the torture alcove. Mira twirled and danced from the throne room leaving bloody footprints. Sanruphruph minions leaped to mop up the mess behind her. Beaoul stared up at the torture victim. She wished she dared to free him, one way or the other. Instead, she watched the blood dry on his chin, nursing a hard lump of guilt in her stomach.


* * *

There was a story in her family about a place in the north. She finally had the exact coordinates, after decades of begging for them from her father. The stories were that something critical to the future of their bloodline would happen at those coordinates when the stars were in a precise configuration. The alignment marked the opening of some kind of portal. When that portal opened, one of her family was supposed to go through it.

Since she was old enough to remember they had told her and her siblings of that story. Time had passed, many of her family had died from the radiation sickness that killed most people anymore. When she was younger the story was that the planet would nuke itself into oblivion. It isn't what happened. The background radiation of the universe had inexplicably grown exponentially. Scientists had come to the conclusion that the universe was in the process of rapidly imploding. They didn't know how or why.

Her father gave her the coordinates on his deathbed and told her the stars were aligning. She had four days to get to the coordinates. He didn't know if any of the other branches of the family were going to send anyone. He just said, "Seyona, you are our last chance. No one will be alive for the next alignment if there ever is one. You are the one in the story. Now go!"

Seyona was twenty-eight, without much of a life savings of her own. Although her family inheritance was pretty vast considering previous generations. She put all she had into getting to those coordinates by the alignment. Standing on a windswept marsh in northern Canada, Seyona was the one to find out what was on the other side of the portal. She closed her eyes and stepped through. The threshold never seemed to stop it just continued on to infinite whiteness.

Seyona kept walking even though for all she could tell there was no surface beneath her. She heard a sound behind her and the portal had swung shut. Seyona spun rapidly to try and orient herself in the white abyss. Her breath quickened, her vision blurred. She collapsed to the surface and cold tears puddled. She closed her eyes and just wept. There was nothing here. All the stories, all the hopes of her family, and there was nothing here to show for it. Seyona cried for everything that she had been through. Eventually, she cried herself out. Drying her tears she opened her eyes. On the surface beneath her was a velvet box and a small notebook.

Picking up the notebook first, Seyona opened it and read the perfectly uniform and flowing script, "I know it is hard to lose your whole universe. Just know you are not alone. I am here, all around you. You are safe now. I can take you anywhere or when you want to go. The key in the box is your key to return to this place. Insert it into any lock and it will turn the door into a portal here. Once you are used to the process you can return by inserting it into a wall. To leave this place just request a portal to your destination. I will open it. If you need anything just request it aloud and I will do my best to produce it. It would help me if you could picture your requests in your mind for me. If you have any questions, ask them. I will answer them in this journal."

Seyona flipped through the empty pages then put the notebook down. She picked up the velvet box and opened it. Inside on a gold chain was a pearlescent skeleton key. It was warm to her touch. She could go anywhere, anywhen? The possibilities were literally endless and exhausting. After her crying spell and the revelations of the journal all she really needed was a dark quiet place to get some sleep. She pictured a tent, in the style of dessert Berbers. She saw it as thick, made of ornate tapestries instead of thin canvas. The floor of the tent was carpeted in tapestries with piles of velvet pillows. "I could really use…" before Seyona could finish her request the tent in her mind's eye appeared in front of her. She crawled through the tapestry draped entrance and burrowed into the pillows. Sleep came quickly. It was a sweet, deep, dreamless sleep.


* * *

Fiona loved science fiction conventions. They were awesome. She had learned Klingon at one convention and so many techniques for creating cosplay props and costumes that it blew her mind. The best thing about conventions was that she didn't feel so absolutely freakish at them. Most of the people at the conventions believed in the possibility of things like telepathy, telekinesis, and the other realities of Fiona's life.

"I would rather know what someone was thinking than know how they feel." Kaplan, the DM of the roleplaying game argued on the snack break.

"Dude, they could be thinking, I want to kill that jerk, but if you can't feel what they are feeling, how serious is the thought? When do you call the police?"

Fiona piped up, "On earth? Or in a scifi situation? Because on earth you call the police claiming to sense the murderous intentions of your neighbor or having heard them think they are going to kill someone, you are the one they come after. You are the one that ends up in the straight jacket."

Kaplan chuckled and shot juice out of his nose, "She's got you there Stephen!"

"Steppenwolf! Call me Steppenwolf!" He whined.

Everybody laughed except Fiona. She could feel Steppenwolf's pain at hearing his given name. It caused him to flashback to all of the teasing and belittling he had suffered under that name at home and at school. "You mean we aren't supposed to be in character guys? I have been Feathersword this whole time!"

Kaplan held up a hand, "Feathersword and Steppenwolf are right. Just because we aren't drinking life potions and eating lembas doesn't mean we should drop character completely. I am giving them both extra luck points for the next five rolls!"

"Luck points? That is some fracking BS." Gemma groaned. From there the conversation deteriorated into another campaign.

Three hours later the game broke up and Steppenwolf slapped Fiona on the back, "Great counterspell, you saved my ass!" Fiona staggered for a moment as his pinky finger made flesh to flesh contact with her through the neck hole of her tank top.

Her surprise was such that she couldn't help but blurt out, "You can teleport?"

He backed away from her and blanched, "Don't be silly! The game is over we can be out of character now."

Fiona changed tack, I am a telempath among other things, you just taught me how to teleport.

His eyes got wide and he grabbed her by the shoulder and led her to a quiet corner of the room. "Seriously? You can read minds with a touch?" he whispered.

Fiona nodded, "Among other things. I read emotions in general. I thought it was crap the way you were treated as a child."

"That's why you spoke up?"

"Yeah, this is so weird. I haven't ever really had a conversation with someone I learned something like this from."

"You mean you know how to do more than read minds and now teleport." He radiated the same kind of loneliness and open curiosity she felt.

"A little, telekinesis, the ability to refocus heat energy, electrokinesis and the ability to control electronics. I am also a multi-level blackbelt in karate, taekwondo, and kung fu. I got tired of taking lessons to explain away my knowledge. Oh and I learned Klingon last convention."

"That is so cool. Who knows about this?"

"Me, my family, and you."

"I am honored you shared this with me."

"I felt bad for blurting your secret. So what do you do with your teleportation?"

"Mostly free movies. I didn't pay for the Lord of the Ring's Trilogy. I really don't know what to do with my powers. I mean it's not like I am Ironman. So what I can teleport. I'm not bulletproof and I do not know karate or any of that. What are you doing with your powers?"

"Collecting them, and keeping them secret."

"I know you're probably nothing more than fifteen or sixteen, but look at Spiderman and all he had was superstrength, the ability to stick to walls, and a spidey sense. He went ahead and figured out web-shooters too but you have way more going for you."

"I'm not bulletproof either," Fiona hesitated. Why didn't she use her powers? Was it because her parents had drummed it in since she first spoke that she had to keep it a secret? What was she really afraid of.

"There is a ticked showing of Rocky Horror Picture show in The Waterfall room, want to sneak in? It's easy to teleport!" He grabbed her by the hand and had teleported them both into the back row of the movie before she could respond. Experiencing the actual mechanics of teleportation as he did it live gave her an even better grasp of the process. She was about to thank him when another woman appeared behind them with a slight flicker of light. She walked right up to Steppenwolf.

"Nice 'port, I see we had the same idea. Vina's the name, what's your's cutie."

Steppenwolf looked at his feet. Fiona knew he didn't know how to talk to an attractive woman his own age. "His name is Steppenwolf, or that is what he goes by."

"Cool, cool, what is yours?" She held her hand out to Fiona.

"Fi." She was hesitant to touch someone so soon after someone who had given her a new ability, but then again she did know how to teleport already. Fiona wrapped her hand around Vina's hand and shook it. She nearly convulsed. Vina didn't teleport. She shifted herself through interdimensional barriers, creating wormholes to get from place to place, world to world, time to time. It was drastically different from what Fiona had learned from Steppenwolf.

Steppenwolf caught Fiona as she collapsed in slow motion. Vina just stared in surprise. "Come on, I have a room, we'll talk there." Steppenwolf scooped up Fiona and teleported to his room in the hotel. He laid Fiona on the bed while she attempted to regain use of her own body. Vina stepped into the room a moment later.

"Okay, Steppenwolf, what's up with Fi? Did I break her?"

"I would assume learning your teleportation technique was too much for her. She and I just met this morning and I taught her how to teleport not thirty minutes ago. I think it blew one of her mental fuses."

"Wait, you just met her this morning, and figured it would be okay to bring her to your hotel room in an incapacitated state! Are you some kind of creeper?"

"It's okay," Fiona said finally sitting up, "I'm sixteen and far from helpless. I would rather have this discussion privately rather than where just about anyone can hear."

"Okay, you tell me what just happened," Vina insisted.

"Steppenwolf is pretty much right. Usually, I don't absorb so much information or so many powers in one day. Let alone one hour. I am usually more careful than this."

"So what did you learn from her?"

"She transports herself through interdimensional rifts. She basically opens wormholes. I just learned how to travel between parallel universes, and through time."

"Cool!"

"How did I teach you to travel through time? I don't know how to do that!" Vina argued.

"Sometimes, I just figure new things out, though I don't know how you didn't know you traveled through time. You left New York City at seven in the morning and arrived in Bejing China at seven in the morning five seconds later. They aren't remotely in the same time zone…"

Vina blinked angrily, "How much do you know about me?"

"Most everything having to do with your abilities," Fiona shrugged.

"That is a humungous invasion of privacy," Vina said.

"I'm sorry, I have no control over it."

"Whatever, I am out of here before she learns something else from me," Vina stepped backwards through a rift out of the room.

Fiona pushed herself up off of the bed. Her hand went to her head to steady it.

"You okay kid?"

"Yeah, I'm going to my hotel room now." Fiona blinked midsentence and when she opened her eyes she discovered she was talking to her own luggage. She laid back on her bed and was asleep before her head hit the pillow.


* * *

He scratched his face. It wasn't really his face though. He had taken on the face of a random nondescript human. He missed the all-over stubble of his fur that he was used to. It was a mark of status and enabled him to reach a higher rank as a shapeshifter but he liked his normal sanruphrup form. Tyrulan stepped through the crowd sure that one of these humans would see through his disguise and see him as the wolf moving among sheep. He still had a few blocks further to plant the device. The briefcase in his hand held a bioweapon that could kill this entire city, if not the entire world. Exposure meant death but usually not before you exposed someone else. Tyrulan knew he had thirty minutes to place the case and retreat from this world or he would be caught up in all the death. Sanruphrup weren't immune to this contagion.

The sight of a small human hanging on to the arm of a woman as they walked drew Tyrulan's attention. These humans weren't as ugly when they were small. Too bad this little one had to die. They all did. Mira Black had decided and plotted and planned. Now it was up to him to carry out the plan. It was just a small colony of a rare interstellar earth empire. Mira's real goal was to remove all intelligent life from every planet in this universe, from any universe. Mira Black wanted to restore oblivion and chaos to the whole of the omniverse. To Tyrulan it seemed a shame, there was so much beauty in creation. Tyrula stiffened and checked around himself for signs of other dark operatives. If word got back to Mira that he even considered pitying the omniverse's destined fate he would be killed, or worse. Was there a worse than the eternal damnation of his allegiance to The Darkone?

There was the statue he was supposed to plant the suitcase next to. It was a memorial to the founding colonists. So many had died founding this colony. Mira loved the irony of placing the doom of the colony right there. Nonchalantly, Tyrulan placed the case on the ground. He stood by it for a few minutes and then walked away. A few blocks on the walk turned into a run. The watch on his wrist pinged, the weapon had been released. He ducked down the nearest side alley and teleported to the main dark compound. Safe from the consequences of his actions, Tyrulan crouched panting. He ran his fingers through the all too human hair on his head. Changing back to his normal form couldn't come too soon.

A wisp of darkness swirled into place in front of him and expanded into a dark swirling cloud, then the cloud spun itself into a human form, Mira Black, Queen of Lies, Mistress of all Evil, Tyrulan's master. "How did it go my boy?"

"Mistress, I placed the case just as you instructed and got out of there before I could become contaminated. Have I pleased you?"

"For now, find yourself a meal and prepare for your next deployment. I would like you to pilot a skipspace shuttle and launch an asteroid at the world you just visited. We don't want any loose ends, there is always a chance of the wild development of resistance to the pathogen. That would be bad news for our plans."

"May I return to my natural form?" Tyrulan itched the human flesh he wore.

"No, I have further need of this form." She tickled under his chin in a suggestive way. It made Tyrulan feel dirtier than he already did, but he merely smiled back at her.

"I will eat and then proceed with my mission. Thank you for allowing me the meal."

Mira smiled broadly at him, "Of course, I have to pamper my favorites."

A chill went up and down Tyrulan's spine at the idea of being one of her favorites, god help him if he displeased her.


* * *

Nova had more freedom than most women. She wasn't tied to the house or raising children. She could walk freely through Covettown when she chose. The clergy chose not to limit her lest her report to the creator and founders be less than complete. Requiring considerably less sleep than most of the people in the city, there was much of the night where she walked alone through the silent streets. One night she walked alone through an industrial part of town and she thought she heard the sound of voices, and strangely the impact of flesh on flesh. It was faint and she was certain none of the other people in the city would have detected it. Quietly, sticking to the shadows, Nova followed the sounds.

"Raise your arm a little higher to block, Gretchen."

"Simone, what good does that do, they will just strike again shouldn't I attack!"

Nova blinked and stepped up to the supposedly empty warehouse to hear more clearly. She found a crack from which emanated the soft glow of an oil lamp. She couldn't see well through the dirty glass but it seemed there was a group of women gathered in a circle around two engaged in mock combat.

"Gretchen, the best attack is a good defense. Live to fight another day…"

Intrigued, Nova searched for the entrance the women had used. She found it and squirmed her way between a board covering a door and the jamb. In the process, she knocked over a carefully stacked pyramid of cans. Within moments Nova sensed the women had her surrounded despite the fact that it was too dark to see.

"Who are you?" Simone asked

"Nova."

"What are you doing here spying on us?" Another woman asked.

"I was walking through the city and heard your voices and other sounds. I was curious."

"Damn!" Simone swore brazenly.

"Don't worry, my ears are far more sensitive than even the best. I don't think anyone else would have heard."

"Come on," Simone said flicking on a flashlight. She shone it on Nova's face briefly and then turned back towards the gathering place.

Once inside, the group, several women shy of what Nova had seen through the window, gathered around the lamp. "So, Emissary, why are you here?"

Nova swallowed, "I just was curious about what I was hearing. I didn't think this was a normal gathering."

"Are you going to turn us in?" A young woman not much past puberty asked softly.

"For what?"

"Nothing we are doing here is on the approved list of activities for women. We gather to teach and to learn from one another. This isn't a recipe exchange group. We learn reading, mathematics, sciences, how to defend ourselves."

"Let me guess, you believe men and women are equal," Nova commented.

Simone visibly hesitated, contemplating the admission of what amounted to heresy. "I believe men and women should stand on a level playing field. God knows we aren't equal. Men are stronger bigger and women give life, not just birth. We nurture life, in our children, our gardens, our daily activities. One sex really can't make it without the other, but that is no reason for one to bow to the other."

The carefully crafted statement summed up how Nova felt exactly. "How can I help?"

"Help?"

"Level the playing field."

Simone smiled, "We meet here Thursday nights. I have heard you have access to the records and histories. Do you think you could find something on the early founding of the colony?"

"I'll give it a go."