Mosaic

By decree of the Circle of Judges, having derived consent from Her Enlightened Majesty, Queen Caphala Gothsweme-Pedra, Project MOSAIC has been put on indefinite hiatus, and all members of MOSAIC Team are hereby ordered to report immediately to the Circle for involuntary resignation. Failure to comply with this order will constitute an act of TREASON and will carry the punishment of execution.
Yarro Zaine, Judge of Mortalities; acting on behalf of the Circle of Judges
Gzelt turned the letter over in his hands, eyes unfocused as he digested the words he'd just read for a third time. So that was it then: Selan had lost, and now they were all going to pay for it, with their lives if their miserable luck held out. Running was obviously impossible at this stage in the war, and their was no way he'd be able to hide with everyone in the city looking for him. He tossed the letter on the desk as he stood, imagining the desk buckling under the weight of a letter that for all intents and purposes pronounced a death sentence for him and everyone else on his team.
There was a part of him, admittedly small, that screamed in tortured fury at this final insult at the hand of fate; but he simply ignored it as he usually did. They'd known the risks since before they started all those years ago, they knew that the price of the opportunity they'd been handed had been absolute secrecy... and now that things had taken the worst possible turn, there was only one way to ensure MOSAIC team would keep silent about the second apocalypse sleeping beneath them.
The knock on his door finally arrived, and he answered it with due impatience. The hallway was stuffed with two-dozen armed guards, each armed and smiling grimly.
“Letter's on the desk; I imagine that they gave you orders to eliminate all evidence.”
The guard captain nodded, motioning Gzelt forward with one hand and prepping a pair of cuffs in the other. “Just a formality until we reach the circle, doctor.” he assured.
Gzelt walked past him into the midst of the escort, feeling the captain drape his arms in loose iron behind his back, and they set off towards the Circle.
Nothing was said for a while, just the sound of boots against concrete. Gzelt looked up as they crossed the plaza, weak sunlight piercing the scattered clouds above. Was it right for this to happen on such beautiful day? It'd been two months since he'd seen the sun last... to think that the next time he'd see it would be the end...
Before long the Circle was in sight, and Gzelt's guard narrowed down to a half-dozen as they approached. He spotted several other members of MOSAIC Team being lead in as well, each in various degrees of anxiety. Gzelt took the opportunity to reflect on his own emotional state again as the doors to the Circle closed behind him, but he failed to find any reason to linger on his feelings for long.
It appeared he was one of the last members of Project MOSAIC to arrive, as most of his colleagues were already seated on the benches ringing the center of the Circle. The Judges were present as well (save one), as was the Queen; and Gzelt turned to face her as his cuffs were removed. It was never truly feasible to understand what the Queen was feeling at any given time, her mask saw to that; but Gzelt thought he detected an air of worry about her as he took his seat.
After another minute of silence, the Judge of Mortalities strode forward to address the assembled crowd.
“Due to last night's incident, Project MOSAIC has been suspended, and all information pertaining to it and the former Amber Research Unit is to be scoured from the public record. In addition, we...” here he gave a slight turn to the Queen and the other Judges, “... have decided it is best that the members of MOSAIC Team, both former and current, be asked to sacrifice themselves to ensure total secrecy and avert a panic by the Gnothic population... This measure was-”
There was a sudden scuffle as two of the MOSAIC Team members attempted to stand, only to be forced back into their seats. Gzelt noticed that several others had gone pale, or were staring off into space; a few were visibly enraged, and still more were weeping softly. The Judge continued:
“This measure was not taken out of cruelty but necessity. Those of you here know greatest of all the inherent danger of allowing knowledge of this incident to linger. We are already in a tenuous position in the war with the Remembering, and if our enemy was to learn of what is even now being secured and hidden away, I fear there would be nothing we could do to halt a disaster more terrible than any other we have yet witnessed. You will be given two choices, exile in the Labyrinth, or death by infusion. We will give you one hour to-”
The Judge paused again, as Gzelt stood (slowly so as not to incur the ire of the guards behind him).
“The Circle recognizes Doctor Metviri Gzelt.” the Judge announced.
But Gzelt ignored him, focusing his attention on the Queen, who regarded him with the same stoic expression of the veiled.
“My Lady, you know of this matter in full, perhaps even more than I do at this point. I have great regard for the people of Gnothica that I serve alongside you... but I also have great regard for my own life, and the lives of my team, who followed every order we were given to the letter, never once failing to carry out even the most minute instructions. So I ask of you my Lady, do you yourself think that the loss of all these lives to be better than the potential cataclysm looming on the horizon?”
The Queen said nothing for a moment, only standing slowly and serenely in her usual manner as she considered his question. She strode forward until she was mask to face with Gzelt before addressing him.
“Metviri, before I answer, will you answer a question for me?”
“I will, my Lady.”
“Did she suffer?”
It was Gzelt's turn to think, not about who the Queen meant by 'she', but about the depth of her commitment to her people. It was necessity, as even the memory of Selan's fate was too dangerous to remember.
“Yes, my Lady.”
“Then yes, I think it is better that few suffer than many.”
The Queen quietly returned to her seat, doubtless aware of the impact her words were already having on MOSAIC Team. They had all seen the results of the experiment, they had all watched in horror as it happened, slowly; hour by hour, day by day, week by week. No person alive deserved that fate.
One by one the members of MOSAIC stood and assented to their doom, knowing that with them died the horrible secret of their mistake, that in some way, it would atone for what they had done.