Here we go with the first part of Mirage and Moonracer's quirky, dysfunctional upbringing. "Moon" - that's Moonracer. She later changes her name.
And, yes, they are brother and sister in all of my stories.
Whilst this concept of the nature of Cybertron is my creation, I do not own the name, or any of the original ideas associated with it. Nor do I own any characters from Transformers, or any places or scenes. All these belong to Hasbro, IDW etc and I make no money from this work.
Warnings: some adult themes, I guess. Sex, and domestic violence. Some coarse language.
DECADENCE
By Ayngel
Chapter 1
From "Data retrieval and recall: my early life and times" by Mirage D'Ligier; an excerpt from "Celestine Heights"
Even though I lived in many places over my long aeons, I always thought of Celestine as home. It was special to me. Had it not been, I would not have fought so hard to save it. Had it not been, things could have turned out very differently from the way in which they did .....
Celestine is as good a place to start as any. It was an ancestral home of the D'Luminiere family, of which I was one half. I should explain that Alpha castes were bilateral creations, and not enhanced clones or unilateral productions as were many lower caste mechs. The Utopian designers had long ago concluded that combined programming from two mechanisms gave rise to a superior protoform, and so this was the only way allowed. The creators also had to be male and female, so whereas in other castes two from the same gender would engage a femme to incubate the developing program – the result of their copulation – before it was transferred to protoform status, this was forbidden among Alphas. The femme - incubator was always one of the creators. And Whilst many of the Alpha protocols may no longer have been operational, this one was adhered to with religious fervour.
Hence in human terms it could be said that I had a "mother" and a "father." But I have no wish to overidentify with humans. I will refer to them by their correct Cybertronian terminology as mech and femme creators.
My creators were very different. My femme creator's name was Chimera, a petite, sharp faced slight built mechanoid with an aristocratic although fragile look about her - although, being a D'Luminiere, she was a great deal tougher than she looked. Alphas may have declined, but the D'Luminieres were still powerful and had resisted change. They owned vast estates and ran pan – Cybertronian enterprises, renting out prestigious properties and engaging managers to run things whilst they raked in the credits and enjoyed an existence of idle pleasure. They said that to be seen leading a life of luxury whilst others did all the work demonstrated unquestionably the continuing superiority of the Alpha Caste. They also referred disdainfully to my mech creator - who Chimera had defied a pre-ordained bond to be with - as one of the "other types of Alpha."
His name was Swift D'Ligier. He did not come from the Towers, but from the Pinnacles, which was the equivalent suburb of Praxus, where he was a racer for a while - a champion, in fact – and then, later, a lawspeaker. He was handsomer than them - tall, lithe and quick in his movements, and also very fast in his racer alt mode. I am supposed to have looked like him, and I guess I do, although I adopted different colours. The D'Ligier family had also once been a large and cohesive unit also, but by then it was fragmented, the descendants having interbonded and replicated so that the original programming had diluted. Swift had probably about the most pure D'Ligier programming left in existence, and he commanded one of the highest salaries in Iacon. Nevertheless, this was not the same as being of the "superior cultural stock" which the D'Luminieres - and others like them - considered themselves to be.
Who could replicate with who was very ordered, you see, and bonds were generally arranged, not chosen and Chimera took a great risk and incurred their wrath by her choice. Later in life when I understood such things better, this emerged as something of a mystery, as it meant that they must have – well – loved each other presumably at some stage – or at least liked each other - which was most peculiar because you see, in all the time that I was growing up with them they never showed a smidgeon of any of that, or even any affection for each other, in fact, one could have been forgiven for having the impression that they couldn't stand each other. They seemed to be in a perpetual state of conflict, and there were many times as a sparkling when I was convinced that their fights could be heard down in Iacon, maybe even on the other side of Cybertron.
After their untimely deaths, I thought much about the cause of their eternal squabbles. I am sure a lot of it was the D'Luminieres. They never forgave Chimera, you see, or quit trying to persuade her to lead the sort of life they thought befitted her, and she had enough traditionalism programmed in to be influenced and to try and change him. But it was not to be. For whilst the D'Luminieres may have considered him inferior, Swift considered them a bunch of rich layabouts, and himself most superior - and that was a tension which never was resolved. In time he developed a hatred for the Towers, and he claimed Celestine was a ridiculously large property for a family the size of ours to maintain, and he wanted to move to Sky City, the new prestigious suburb in Iacon which the corporate elite were making their stronghold. He had a point – but it was anathema to Chimera, who hated such places, referring to them "holes they'd let the riff raff into." She refused to go.
Swift's response was to get an office apartment complex there anyway, and to spend a great deal of time in it. This infuriated Chimera, and when Swift reappeared at Celestine, there were bitter rows about practically everything: the amount of time he spent there; his lack of attention; his lack of contact; the pitiful supply of credits he provided. He would get angry and yell that she was selfish and over demanding and spent credits on useless things. She would scream that if he still lived at the Towers then she wouldn't be spending it and he would say he would rather be in the pits of Y'il Halco than living at Celestine Heights and she would scream at him to leave and then he would leave, and storm angrily out of Celestine and fire away across the lake in his jet boat. So it went on, and on, and on ....
Later, my sister said that as a young sparkling I got scared by their altercations, and that she would hold me in the dark and tell me everything was all right. She was bitter, and blamed them for the later problems between the two of us. I cannot say that I remember being frightened, or that I remember feeling anything about their behaviour at all. I do not believe this was to do with faulty recall systems. It was more that what transpired was completely normal, because I never knew them any other way. It was definitely more peaceful when Swift wasn't there, and we had more freedom because Chimera would take off into the Towers hub of Niacis - full of expensive shops and clinics and detailers - where she spent a lot of credits, and we were left to our own devices. But I never questioned the rightness of any of my creators' behaviour. It was just simply the way they were.
None of it was any great cause for concern anyway, for Moon and I always found many ways to divert our attention away from their altercations, and we were very close as sparklings. Celestine was fabulous, you see. It was a wonderland which had everything we could possibly require and we knew every single part of it. Every cove and beach we knew intimately; every corner of the gardens, every crystal and sculpture and statue in the courtyards. We knew every part of the house, all the rooms and chambers and corridors and conduits, and every conceivable way of getting up to the three high towers and other lofty reaches. It was our domain. We used to help each other out on to the narrow platform which surrounded the highest tower after dark and look out at the lights shimmering off the tall edifices reflecting in the water, at the boats as they went about their business and at the private shuttles and leisure flyers as they would their way between the islands and the buildings to alight on the many private landing pads. We would look out upon the lights of Iacon glinting and flashing in the distance and pretend that we were the D'Luminieres of the olden times and that between us we ruled all of Cybertron.
From an early time we did forbidden things in secret places. We collected crystals and grew new varieties in a hidden grotto near the beach, even though this was strictly against Altihex protocols and our creators could have been heavily fined, although nobody ever found out. There was a racing track which wound around the island, passing into tunnels and then emerging near the jetty, which Swift had installed in his days of fame at the Iacon Arena. It was another source of angst for our creators as Chimera claimed it had been a waste of credits, and the tunnels had not been maintained for years and were dangerous, and they were too expensive to fix. We were strictly forbidden to enter them - but we went there often, and Moon used to speak of her aspirations of becoming a racer when she came of age.
Our most ambitious endeavour of all was to breed turbomice in the tunnels and watch, fascinated as they connected up to each other and then spawned massive numbers of offspring. As their numbers expanded exponentially, it dawned on us, in our innocence, the inevitable fact that both of us must have sprung from Chimera or Swift in a similar sort of a way. This early replication education, of course, was only a partial analogy, of course, since turbomice multiplied at a considerably faster rate than mechanoids and did not need incubation chambers for the final stages of the incubation process. But it did raise another issue – the fact that Chimera and Swift must, presumably, have done something similar to bring us into the universe, and this was hard to imagine, given that they seemingly could not even stand to be in the same room as each other, let alone in the same sort of proximity obviously required to do something like that.
There were not supposed to be any mice in the Towers District, and this latter activity eventually gave rise to an infestation which was the talk of the neighbourhood and the subject of an expensive extermination project and law suit. Swift returned from Sky City in a less than amiable frame of mind, and we were summoned and duly castigated – although at that time Swift appeared to want little to do us, and when we were errant the main focus of his ire was always Chimera. Thus, after he had done with his brief lecture, Moonshine and I retired to the amethyst garden, to a secret little spot under the south window of the library, one we often made use of when we wanted to hear what they had to say as this was where they generally chose to have their altercations.
It was not the first time where one or both of us were the subject of one of their rows, as they differed as much in opinion on how we should be being brought up as they did on just about everything else. But this was decidedly more serious than anything previous, and Swift was decidedly angrier.
There was the sound of the cabinet where he kept his vintage premium grade opening, and the clink of glasses followed by a sound of pouring, as was always the case when our creator was about to launch into one of his tirades. His footsteps sounded heavily on the stone floor.
"I've never been so embarrassed in my life!" he roared. "And the cost! Have you any idea how many credits this has meant parting with? Those pest control agents from Auroco charge a fortune, and I had to abandon my clients at a moments notice in order to sort out this preposterous state of affairs - and throw some more at the de Loriens to settle them down! I can't have this Chimera! I won't have it, I tell you! It's your fault? Those sparklings are out of control!"
"My fault?" Chimera's voice snapped. "If you'd given me enough to engage a decent sparkling carer then none of this would have happened!"
"Well that's a bit difficult when no sparkling carers will stay in the job!" Swift's footsteps could be heard clanking across the stone floor. He was obviously pacing, as he always tended to do when he got like this.
"That's because they're all useless glitches! The only types available with the pittance you want to pay ..."
"Oh really? And I suppose that your impossible moods and the fact that they have to spend the entire time trying to locate their charges has nothing to do with it?"
Moon and I looked at each other and she smirked and put a hand over her mouth and I tried not to laugh as well. In earlier times there had been an attempt to engage a carer and a succession of well meaning young femmes from the suburbs of Iacon had been given the task. None of them had any luck with keeping us in line. Every single one had departed in sheer frustration, so that quite a while ago our creators had more or less given up on the idea.
Swift was barking again: "it can't go on, I'm telling you, Chimera! I've got enough of a problem with my credibility in this place without the two of them behaving like a couple of Kaon urchins. I mean, what is the matter with them? Don't they know how fortunate they are? I mean – you, who claim to be such a stickler for tradition. They would have been flogged for much less than this if I was a D'Luminiere or a De Ville - and when I think of what other youngsters have to abide. Why, do you know that a lot of those assimilate sparklings are stuck in underground orphanages?"
This comment evidently infruriated Chimera, who erupted: "What does that have to do with anything? Those wretches are in places like that because they have to be. Don't compare them to our sparklings, who are free as sparklings of the Alpha caste should be ..."
"Well it's time it came to an end!"
I looked at Moon, who was concentrating intensely. "What's a simmilate? I whispered.
"Ssssh! Shut up, Raji. This is important!" She was the only one in the whole of my life who ever called me that.
"It's time they had an education!" Swift's voice emanated from just above us. He had evidently paused by the window. "They should go to Newling College in Praxus. A fine institution. That's where I studied, you know. They take them there at their ages now, you know. It'll soon pull them into line."
"Are you out of your slagging mind?" Chimera shouted, and there was the sound of a glass being put down heavily and her footsteps near the window as well. Moon and I stole a glance at each other because when she started swearing, that usually meant it was getting serious. " It would be totally wrong for either of them. Especially Moon. I mean, whoever heard of a femme going somewhere like that? And Mirage is far too young. No, Swift! They are not leaving the Towers!"
"Damn it Chimera!" There was the sound as of something being banged down and Swift's footsteps crossing the room away from the window again. "Why can't you get it into your clogged processor that the days of sparklings hanging around and private tutors are gone!" More footsteps, and the cupboard opening again. More pouring noises.
"They have not! It's just that you don't want to damn well pay for it! Well you might have to. If Mirage has the ability ..."
"Oh Primus, not this again!" Swift roared. The cupboard door shut with a bang. "How do I get through? There is not anyone left on Cybertron with the ability. Abilities are dead! Programmed out! Damnit, I should know! I'm the one whose ancestors could do all that stuff." There was a pause and his voice dropped, and he added, sarcastically, "I know, of course, that this fact is a disappointment to you. After all, its what you hooked me in for ..."
Moonshine and I exchanged glances. "What is he talking about?" I whispered. She shrugged.
Chimera ignored the remark. Or maybe she didn't hear it. She was shouting again. I wondered if it was possible for them to actually have a conversation where they spoke in normal level voices. "It's out of the question, them going away! I mean – how could you, Swift! How could you want to separate me from my sparklings. Can you imagine what that would do to them? Selfish! That's what you are!"
There was a muffled noise which sounded as though Swift had just got something clogged in his intakes and the sound of something being placed on a table, and then of a chair being pulled out and somebody sitting down. "Spare me, please, Chimera! Since when did you devote your time to your sparklings? You've just said you wanted a sparkling carer ...."
"I spend lots of time with them! How would you know? You're not even here! I do lots of things with them...." her voice was near the window again.
Moon and I exchanged looks. It was hardly true. Occasionally we got taken to Niacis but that had not been for a while because on the last occasion we had taken off around the island and been brought back by the police. I could still remember the look on Chimera's face as the gleaming black and white officer had handed us back, face expressionless, red crest shining like a beacon, in front of an audience of curious Alpha femmes and their sparklings.
As if reading my thoughts, Swift said "Oh yes! I heard about Niacis! I believe you and your silly friends spent half a cycle running around the island looking for them..."
"That wasn't my fault! My makeover took longer than usual. And don't you dare talk about my friends like that! If Saphira and Aurora hadn't been there they might not have come back at all ..."
"Those glitches?" There was the scraping of the chair and then his footsteps again. It was another feature of their rows that if either of them ever sat down, it was never for very long. "Well if that's who you spend your time with, no wonder they're like they are. That's it! They're going to Newling ..."
There was a sudden crash to our left and the window above the beds there shattered and we both jumped. Shards of glass landed among the crystals, and a small statue went hurtling past us and smashed into a large amethyst cluster a short distance away. Then there was Chimera's voice saying "You take them out of the Towers and I'll make you sorry you were ever sparked Swift D'Ligier ..." and then Swift yelling "that was a family heirloom you stupid femme!" and then "No! Put that down ..."
Then there were bangs and the sound of something crashing on to the floor and what sounded like a scuffle and, above it all, Swift yelling: " ... Chimera .... stop...!" more scuffling, the sound of intakes hissing with exertion and the sound of Chimera saying through what sounded like gritted dental plates "I'll have you for every last credit Swift D'Ligier ..." and then a loud bang and Swift yelling "Knock it off, will you ....."
Then the scuffling stopped, and there was just the sound of hissing intakes and Swift saying "now take it easy. For Primus sake!" Then there was silence, followed by the sound of chairs being moved and one of them sitting down again, followed by footsteps and noise of the cupboard and the clink of cubes as more premium grade was evidently poured. Moon and I looked at each other. I glanced across at the broken statue which had come to rest under a particularly deep coloured amethyst cluster. It had been a scaled down raceroller. Now it was broken in two. "I liked that statue," I whispered to Moon. "Sshhhh!" she whispered.
"Look, Chimera!" It sounded as though Swift was making a great effort to control himself. "I am sick to the Spires of these arguments! Look - here's a suggestion .... what if we were to send Moonshine to Avilon .... if they'll have her after this ...."
Beside me I heard my sister gasp. I looked at her, curious. Her optics were wide, and she put a hand to her mouth. "What is it?" I hissed. She took the hand slowly away. I'll tell you later!" She still looked stricken.
There was a long silence - during which it sounded as though Swift sat down too - before Chimera said in a voice which seemed to have lost all of its previous aggression and was even bordering on pleasant: "Well, you do surprise me, Swift! Oh I think after this one incident there wouldn't be a problem. Mind you, if there were any more ..."
"Well!" he sounded defeated. "All the more reason for getting on and doing something about this now!"
There was another silence and then Chimera spoke. Her voice had hardened once more. It was amazing how it could change just like that. "But I thought you said before that was too expensive, and a waste of your hard earned credits. I suggested my family pay, but you said you wouldn't take their lousy charity ..."
"And I won't!' said Swift in a tone which sounded as though he would not keep his temper for long. "I've got a new client from Iacca Niara – there might be an opportunity for some – extras. Anything to keep those two from wrecking the place, not to mention our reputation. "Yes ...," he sounded resigned, now. "This is what we will do! And the sooner it happens the better!"
There was another silence. Chimera said, more quietly , "Well what about Mirage?"
"Look," he said "let's get the femme sorted out first. Then we'll deal with the other one. But I suggest you keep him firmly in your sight. In Niacis, or wherever else it is you conduct your frivolities. Now, Chimera, surely to Primus you can manage to control him on his own..."
At that, Chimera fired up again "Are you trying to tell me I can't manage my own sparkling?"
"No!" Swift cut in quickly. "No ... of course you can ...."
There was silence for a few moments, and then the clink of a cube being put down and of a chair being moved and then of Swift's footsteps crossing the room again. Then there was a long sigh from Swift's intakes and he said "Anyway, right now, I'm out of here. I've got an appointment in twelve thousand astroseconds ..."
"Swift, wait, do you have to go?" It was most curious that if even when these altercations involved a rain of curses and flying objects then she usually wanted him to stay. But, as usual, he didn't. There was the sound of footsteps leaving the room and then the entrance door to Celestine Heights was flung open and we cowered behind a couple of the larger amethysts as our creator strode past us and away down the entranceway, past the walled gardens and towards the boat ramp.
I felt weary. The white sun had risen high in the sky whilst we were engaged in our parental surveillance and the crystal beds were warm to the touch. In the distance, could be heard the sound of clippers as Wheeler, who maintained the gardens, trimmed the beds at the other end of the garden. In the distance were the sounds of the lake as business continued as usual around the Towers, and in the air was the ever present sweet aroma of tailings smoke.
As far as I was concerned, it had all been fairly routine. "Oh well, that's that then!" I muttered. I thought it was very pleasant in the beds there and that I could easily just drift offline. From the direction of the jetty there came the sound of a jet boat powering up and moving away from the island. "What do you want to do now, Moon? We could go down to the jetty and look for crab-bots ..." but then I noticed that she was looking at me with optics wide in alarm and that she was actually trembling.
"Did you not hear a word Raji? This is serious! They're going to send me to Avilon! This is the end of our days on the island"
I looked at her without understanding. What did she mean "the end of our days on the island?" That was what we did. Rule the island. It was what we had always done and what we were always going to do, for the rest of our lives. "What?" I said with a note of humour in my vocaliser, as I thought that surely this must be a joke.
But there was a note of desperation in her voice. "Raji, you have to understand! I've been dreading something like this! They've talked about Avilon before, but I didn't think they'd actually do it. It's a terrible place. You learn all this stuff about behaving properly in the Towers, as an Alpha femme should, so that when you come of age you can snag a well to do Towers mech and make sparklings and live a life like those older femmes do. Like – like Chimera! Uurgh!" She shuddered.
I was confused. From what I could see, Chimera had a fairly good life at Celestine, apart from the fights with Swift. It was true that she didn't do much except wander around the island herself and arrange crystals and furniture and spend money at Niacis, and make com calls to other femmes. But that seemed all right. I said "Well that isn't so bad is it?"
"You call looking pretty and twittering about at some stupid cafe in Niacis with femmes like – the D'Luminiere sisters, having to put up with Swift and his temper – when he feels like turning up here - just because he's your bond mate and you need his credits not so bad? Really, Raji! You are so dense sometimes. Have you observed nothing in the last few vorns?" and casting me a look of sheer exasperation, she rose and began to make her way out of the amethyst garden and across to the gate which led down to the jetty path.
Now I was really mystified, and I stumbled after her. "Stop, Moon wait...," catching up to her I said "I don't understand. What's wrong with all that? Isn't that what femmes do?"
She stopped and turned to me fiercely. "It's' what Towers femmes do Raji! Not all femmes . Why, I'd rather be terminated than do that stupid stuff! Do you know what they teach you at Avilon? How to do everything just right. They stick a brace up your back so that you walk just right. And you have to spend days just coming down stairs and greeting mechs and femmes and showing them into rooms and pouring energon until you do that just right. Then they make you decorate rooms and arrange crystals and hang lights until you can do all that just right. And you know what happens if you don't do it just right? They take you away and program you so that you do!"
I had never seen my sister look so distressed. This was a side of her, I realised, that I had never really known at all up until now. She turned away and continued walking down to the jetty, her back an expression of indignant fury.
I caught up with her again. She went on:" ... the only femmes there are ones that really get off on all that stuff – idiots with empty processors – and the only mechs they let you mix with are stuck up little pieces of pit like Blaize Rolls - Pitt or freaks like Blur De Lorien or the D'Luminiere triplets. And then before you know it they've arranged a bond and you're supposed to interface with them – like the mice do- and make sparklings. Then you have to do all that dreadful other stuff and bring up the sparklings as well! Can you imagine it!"
We had reached the jetty and now Moon came to an abrupt halt and stood looking out at the boats puttering across the water. I came up beside her. The white sun had crept behind Celestine Towers and their reflection wavered in their shadow as it fell over the lilac waters in front of us. The sweet scent of tailings filled the air. When I thought of my sister grubbing around in the caves with the turbomice or making channels in the black silt down at the jetty then I had to admit that I couldn't really imagine her doing that sort of stuff. But then she was a Towers femme and if that was what they were meant to do then I supposed she would have to get used to it. Presumably Chimera had got used to it at some time.
I said, as proudly as I could manage "we are Alpha castes, Moon! And some sacrifices have to be made!"
"You're just saying that because you heard Chimera say it!" she looked quite cross with me now. "We're not bound by the stupid caste system any more, Raji! That stuff at Avilon – it's way out of date. We can do anything! Why, we can go and work in Iacon, or Tarn, or Iacca Niara or the South Islands, or we can travel Cybertron and visit the outer worlds. Or we can be sports people of artists. That's what I want to do – become a racer like Swift once was. And I want to go to the dance school in Praxus! I know it's still a way off for you but you ought to be thinking about these things too. Primus knows, you don't want to end up a boring old idiot like Phantasm De Luminiere or, Primus forbid, stuck in an office in Sky City like Swift, do you?"
My logic circuits reeled with all this new information. Never had I thought about any of this before. I was realising for the first time that I'd always been so happy in our own little world on the Island that I had never really considered what was going to come after that and I'd presumed it would all just fall into place. Whatever it was. I looked up and across the water. A small flyer was winging its way under the bridge and away towards the West Gate and now I wondered where it was going. Moon was right – there was a whole other world out there. The trouble was, I'd never even acknowledged it existed.
"Raji you have to help me" Moon suddenly grabbed hold of my arm and I turned to her, and her blue optics were wide. She looked a little like she always had when she was thinking up one of our schemes, although in those days it was without the desperation which was there now. This was better, though, I thought. At least it was some semblance of the old Moon. "I need to stay on the island here for a bit longer until I am nearly of age so that I can plan my life out," she said. "I simply cannot go to Avilon. You have to help me to do something which will prove beyond all doubt that I am not the sort of femme they would want at Avilon!"
A sense of mischief and challenge arose within me then, as it had with all the secret enterprises which Moon and I had embarked upon over the vorns. This was like old times! But it was more than that. I realised with a sudden desperation that I wanted to help my sister. Had to help her. After all, Moonlight had to stay around. She had always been there, always been my companion and the one who made everything all right when things went wrong. The thought of her not being there was inconceivable, and right then I would have willingly undertaken to play a part in anything if it would stop her from leaving me at Celestine alone.
"What are you going to do?" I asked.
"Listen carefully'" she whispered. "I have a plan"
......
The first part of the scheme involved an old crystal sculptor called Glow who used to visit us. He specialised in drilling explosive substances into crystals so as to cause fractures. Although this was hailed as an exquisite art form in the Towers, I never could discern much other than the ruination of perfectly good crystals, but Chimera enthused about his work and there were examples of it all over Celestine and it seemed to be a mark of great esteem that he actually churned out these works on the island and not in Iacon. He knew a lot about crystals we had struck up a sort of a friendship with him and he had, in fact, helped a lot with the crystal collection in the grotto, although he had no idea that was where most of his kind advice had been directed.
Now, Glow was delighted to see that Moonracer and I had developed a keen interest in his work, and were eager to learn the art; and it was an easy task to persuade him to part with quantities of the main tool of his trade and to show us how to set up the explosions, on the premise that we were practising under Chimera's supervision. It was extremely fortunate that he never asked to see examples of this new talent – he was somewhat absent minded and that was to our great advantage – because there were no examples. Instead, we stored up a supply of the explosives. A supply big enough, it was intended, to cause a real explosion.
The second part of the plan involved the old racing track, and the tunnels with which we had become so intimately acquainted. We knew the exact whereabouts of each part under the house, and so the precise placing of the substance prior to its ignition ought to guarantee a particular result in a particular place. As it was, the target was this rather hideous fountain which Swift and Chimera had complained about for vorns – something they actually agreed on - and the destruction of which would achieve our objective without causing a too large scale a ruckus as had happened with the turbomice. Moon also figured - if worst came to worst – it would be seen as doing them a favour.
I would make it out to be all her doing. And there was no doubt that such un femme-like act when coupled with the turbomice incident would bar Moonlight forever from entry to the gracious corridors of Avalon.
....
We really did not mean to blow up the entire south courtyard.
But the one thing Glow never told us – because obviously he didn't consider there to be any need – was how much stronger the substance was outside of the confines of the crystals. As it was, the resulting explosion was heard all over the Towers and afterwards a large cloud of smoke rose and blossomed out and hung there for ages, all to see, so once again we were the subject of gossip and innuendo throughout Iacon. Glow never did another sculpture at Celestine.
Swift returned from Iacon in a furious temper, and this time he had every intention of venting his fury fully upon us in a manner which was, frankly, for the first time, frightening.
"Have you any idea how serious it is, what you have just done?" he roared. " You could easily have terminated yourselves."
He was right there. It was sheer luck that we had decided to go down to the jetty until after it was all over.
"And once again you've brought shame upon the family. Have you any idea how difficult this sort of thing makes life for Chimera and I?'
We hung our heads dutifully. Yet I knew that, nervous though we may be, both of us were thinking the same thing. That if we could get through this then none of it really mattered, because we had triumphed. Moonshine wouldn't be going to Avilon.
"Well one thing is clear, Moonshine. You lack the intelligence to ever be anything other than one of those silly fools that frolics about in Niacis. You might as well start thinking about bonding with a D'Luminiere or a De Lorien or a de Ville. Because that is clearly just about all you are good for. I never thought I'd hear myself say it, but I actually believe you need to go to Avilon to straighten out whatever crazed programs are running around in your circuits. You'd better just be thankful you're a D'Luminiere and that that alone seems to guarantee you a passageway there, no matter what else! By thunder! To think I was contemplating sending you two somewhere like Newling ..."
It was as though everything froze inside me, and I sensed my sister stiffen. This was a catastrophe. Then Moonlight raised her head slowly and stared straight at him. "I'm not going to Avilon!" she said steadily, her optics upon his, and at that moment I truly admired her, more than I ever had at any time in my before.
Swift's optics flared and he strode over to us with such force that I took a step backwards and I was conscious of Moon letting out a shudder. He bent down and cupped her chin in his hand "Oh you will go my young femmelette!" he rasped. "You will go, and you will make an effort, and you will make something of it and if you do not then I promise you that you will be so sorry that you will never even think of defying me again!" He pushed her roughly away.
"And as for you ...." he turned his optics upon me "... you're lucky I haven't flogged you the way some of those bondmates of Chimera's cronies would have done. Oh yes, Mirage, it's about time you realised how lucky you are to have a modernist like me for a creator or you would have sampled some of the traditional Towers discipline long before this." I felt a cold chill run all along my circuitry with the conviction that what he was saying was absolutely true. "You will do exactly as Chimera tells you until we decide what to do with you".
He rose, walked a short way away and turned to face us. "Do I make myself clear?" We both nodded, and I felt my optics suddenly burn fiercely and I hung my head again to avoid the shame of him noticing.
...
So it was that far from achieving the result hoped for, the episode achieved the exact opposite.
The first time that Moon boarded the ferry which went around the islands to take the young femmes to Avilon, Chimera and I went down to the jetty to say good bye. My sister wore an expression of sullen and silent fury, and she and Chimera said not one word to each other; in fact she would not even look at Chimera. I felt my optics burning again and my sister looked at me and a sad but determined expression came on to her face; before she went to get aboard she leaned across and gave me a little kiss on the cheek and whispered "don't worry, Raji. I'm not beat yet!" and then she gave me a little smile and I smiled back in what felt like a watery sort of way, and then she was gone.
At that moment, I caught sight of about half a dozen other femmes all peering out of the windows of the ferry and giggling between themselves, their expressions a combination of snootiness and an intrigue which, it was obvious, could not be helped. At that moment, I disliked them intensely and determined I would never have any of them as a bond mate, and I disliked my creators even more, and I pitied my sister. With as great an expression of complete indifference as I felt could muster, I turned from the jetty and stalked past Chimera without saying a word, back up the path that led through the gardens to the house, up the stairs and to the viewing platform around the highest tower and there I remained for the remainder of that cycle, staring at Iacon and at the lofty region which was Sky City in particular and hating the whole universe and especially Swift D'Ligier.
