Chapter 3- Second Thoughts
Thass Domain Yenek stood among the husk of what had once been his home, his grashal, his life. The plated hide of the grashal had fallen into disrepair, flakes of whitened bone peeling back from the darker underskin, and the fixtures which had once been his furniture were starting to decompose into the floor of the grashal.
He stood silently in the doorway, feeling the amphistaff at his side and conscious of the fact that this place no longer felt right to him. His vonduun armor and war accoutrements seemed to be too menacing to fit into such a loving, comforting place.
Softly and swiftly, he moved through the grashal to the rear of the dwelling, the older site of the sparkbee hives. Taken for mass-reproduction to larger fields, his hives lay shattered and lifeless on the withered lawn, moss crawling up through the husks.
A rustle came from behind Thass, but he paid it no mind, bending to let his armored fingers brush across the ruined hives. The glowing objects which had been central to his existence a few weeks ago were now dark, lifeless, and alien to the touch.
"You linger in memory," observed a voice behind him, soft and cultured. Thass tilted his neck to get a glimpse of the intruder.
"Do you long for the old days?" Yuuzhan said in that same quiet tone, gentle and yet overflowing with a thousand worries and sorrows barely concealed.
Thass turned back to look at the sparkbee hives. For answer, he said, "They were joyful, once. Carefree, even."
Yuuzhan knelt down beside him. A soft reassurance seemed to emanate from the world consciousness. "They were that," he said. "Now..." he gestured and an image congealed in midair: a bulky blue form with blurring wings. It impacted against a stone wall and exploded in pulp and exoskeletal fragments. "Now it longs only for destruction."
Thass craned his neck back to look at the sky. The bright midday sun burned into his eyes through the eyeholes of his mask. A sudden rage filled him, and he tore the vonduun creature off his face, blood from abraded skin and cracked joints smearing across his face. It felt oily and unclean. He flung the dying mask over the wall of the garden, watching it disappear into the fields beyond. In the distance, he could see the spire of one of the growing battleships in the produce fields.
"As do the Yuuzhan Vong," he murmured, his rage spent.
"As do the Yuuzhan Vong," repeated Yuuzhan in confirmation. "I regret, now, giving them the knowledge of weapons and religion and production. I have grossly erred, but I cannot now abandon them."
Thass suddenly felt an immense- was it sympathy? He barely remembered calm emotions, now- empathy with the world consciousness. How many of his once-peaceful children now lusted for the blood of their enemies? How many of their farming and building creations had been turned to destruction and death. How many had already been slain in this burgeoning war?
As if in answer, Yuuzhan said, "Over two thousand Yuuzhan Vong have already died in battle against the invaders."
"That is a considerable amount," Thass noted.
"The warriors are breeding as fast as possible," Yuuzhan said. "They will not stop to consider what they are doing to their people."
Thass turned and leant against the entrance back into the grashal. "They will not stop until the Cremlevian Order is expunged from the universe."
"That is my fear," Yuuzhan said. "The Force is becoming steadily more unbalanced, I also fear."
"The Force?" Thass asked, glad to turn the topic to things that did not incite images of coralskippers burning, metal-sheathed beings exploding in sparks- no! Do not think of it.
"Ah, the Force," said Yuuzhan wistfully, floating past Thass to seat himself at the remains of the living area's seat. "Picture the universe as a web made up of all the planets and stars everywhere. The Force binds these separate parts together, connecting all life together."
"All life?" asked Thass worriedly. "What of these machine users?"
"All life," Yuuzhan confirmed. "The Force contains the potential for both good and evil; life enhances it, death is its diminishment. There will be great amounts of death here. The Yuuzhan Vong do not understand the concept of the Force as yet, but soon they will grow too knowledgeable not to. I fear they will learn the lessons of the Force too late."
"Too late?" Thass asked, surprised. "Why can you not teach them?"
Yuuzhan sighed heavily, shrinking in on himself. With a start, Thass realized that the world consciousness was... older, more wizened, than when he had last seen him. "I have erred immensely," he said sadly. "It was my intention to give the Yuuzhan Vong the knowledge to fight off the invaders, to save them. In my fear and uncertainty, I gave them a new system of belief to strengthen them."
"The gods," Thass said with disgust. There were some, Thass among them, who were now realizing the paltry emptiness of their new religion. That he had even begun to think of them as real in his mind disgusted him.
"The gods," Yuuzhan nodded. "I believed that the Yuuzhan Vong were too weak, too peaceful, to fight off these invaders on my mere command. So I gave them a new purpose, a new calling.
"That was my greatest mistake." Yuuzhan paused to collect his thoughts. "I realize now that they would have stood the burden had I commanded it. The very ferocity with which they accepted this warned me of my blunder. Now that I have commanded them to accept it and delayed in the rejection of it, I no longer have any control over the Yuuzhan Vong."
A solitary tear trickled down the world consciousness's leathery cheek, and Thass felt a deep compassion for him. In appearance, so like a Yuuzhan Vong, yet different, more gentle, and entirely more palatable than the mindless berserkers who now roamed in place of the once-humble Yuuzhan Vong.
"There are those who are faithful," Thass told Yuuzhan, kneeling at his side. "I no longer wish to be a warrior, Yuuzhan. Let me help you."
A large, spindly hand crept out to rest itself on Thass' head. "You are kind and brave, Thass of Domain Yenek. I know not yet what I must do, but when I come to any conclusions, I will call on you."
"How will I escape being called to service again?" Thass asked. "I do not wish to fight again, not even against these machine abominations, filth though they are."
Yuuzhan clucked softly. "Be wary, child," he warned. "The anger of the masses has not left you fully. Remember my lesson of the Force, and what it means."
Thass bowed his head in chagrin. "All life is sacred," he murmured, as if in prayer. "I will try, Yuuzhan," he said.
The world consciousness's eyes lit up suddenly. "I have an idea," he said.
"What is it?" Thass asked excitedly. Surely, if anyone could rescue the Yuuzhan Vong from their plight, it would be their benefactor and caretaker. "What is it, Yuuzhan?"
Yuuzhan chuckled softly. "It is not of importance to all, little one," he said. "But I may be able to prevent your return to the battles."
"Oh, thank you," Thass breathed, throwing himself at his feet with a slap of bare flesh on bone. "Thank you, Yuuzhan!"
Yuuzhan lifted up Thass' head with one of his hands and looked deep into the Yuuzhan Vong's eyes. "Go and gather ten of those you think are yet loyal to the old ways, who reject our new circumstances," he said. "Bring them to me at the Hall of Confluence."
"What will you do?" Thass asked.
"I will announce them as my personal guard, and take you to my personal habitation, deep in the planet. There you will be safe until I can decide my course of action."
Thass could think of no appropriate words to thank the world consciousness, and so threw himself down once again and wept at his feet.
"Hush," Yuuzhan said. "I have not finished. There, I will also endeavor to instruct you in the ways of the Force, such as I can."
Thass was struck dumb with joy. "How...how can I thank you, Yuuzhan?" he whispered. "There is nothing, no service I can give worth the knowledge of the substance of life. You will instruct me in the greatest gift of all in exchange for mere service?" And he wept again.
"Hush," Yuuzhan said again. "Go now, and do as I command."
"Your will be done!" Thass whispered, and fled from the grashal with great haste.
Yuuzhan sat for a while more, thinking in the midst of the decay and death of the abandoned grashal, his thumb unconsciously stroking the husk of a dead sparkbee lying on the table. Suddenly, with a buzz, the husk broke open and a tiny new organism flew out, millimeter-wide wings whirring with the effort of keeping aloft.
Yuuzhan watched it flit out the window, and a smile broke on his face. There was hope after all.
If he could not reverse the damage he had wrought, the Yuuzhan Vong would be left to their devices and prepared for a crucible that would wring a new life for them from the ashes of defeat and decay.
The sparkbee was already dying.
Thass Domain Yenek stood among the husk of what had once been his home, his grashal, his life. The plated hide of the grashal had fallen into disrepair, flakes of whitened bone peeling back from the darker underskin, and the fixtures which had once been his furniture were starting to decompose into the floor of the grashal.
He stood silently in the doorway, feeling the amphistaff at his side and conscious of the fact that this place no longer felt right to him. His vonduun armor and war accoutrements seemed to be too menacing to fit into such a loving, comforting place.
Softly and swiftly, he moved through the grashal to the rear of the dwelling, the older site of the sparkbee hives. Taken for mass-reproduction to larger fields, his hives lay shattered and lifeless on the withered lawn, moss crawling up through the husks.
A rustle came from behind Thass, but he paid it no mind, bending to let his armored fingers brush across the ruined hives. The glowing objects which had been central to his existence a few weeks ago were now dark, lifeless, and alien to the touch.
"You linger in memory," observed a voice behind him, soft and cultured. Thass tilted his neck to get a glimpse of the intruder.
"Do you long for the old days?" Yuuzhan said in that same quiet tone, gentle and yet overflowing with a thousand worries and sorrows barely concealed.
Thass turned back to look at the sparkbee hives. For answer, he said, "They were joyful, once. Carefree, even."
Yuuzhan knelt down beside him. A soft reassurance seemed to emanate from the world consciousness. "They were that," he said. "Now..." he gestured and an image congealed in midair: a bulky blue form with blurring wings. It impacted against a stone wall and exploded in pulp and exoskeletal fragments. "Now it longs only for destruction."
Thass craned his neck back to look at the sky. The bright midday sun burned into his eyes through the eyeholes of his mask. A sudden rage filled him, and he tore the vonduun creature off his face, blood from abraded skin and cracked joints smearing across his face. It felt oily and unclean. He flung the dying mask over the wall of the garden, watching it disappear into the fields beyond. In the distance, he could see the spire of one of the growing battleships in the produce fields.
"As do the Yuuzhan Vong," he murmured, his rage spent.
"As do the Yuuzhan Vong," repeated Yuuzhan in confirmation. "I regret, now, giving them the knowledge of weapons and religion and production. I have grossly erred, but I cannot now abandon them."
Thass suddenly felt an immense- was it sympathy? He barely remembered calm emotions, now- empathy with the world consciousness. How many of his once-peaceful children now lusted for the blood of their enemies? How many of their farming and building creations had been turned to destruction and death. How many had already been slain in this burgeoning war?
As if in answer, Yuuzhan said, "Over two thousand Yuuzhan Vong have already died in battle against the invaders."
"That is a considerable amount," Thass noted.
"The warriors are breeding as fast as possible," Yuuzhan said. "They will not stop to consider what they are doing to their people."
Thass turned and leant against the entrance back into the grashal. "They will not stop until the Cremlevian Order is expunged from the universe."
"That is my fear," Yuuzhan said. "The Force is becoming steadily more unbalanced, I also fear."
"The Force?" Thass asked, glad to turn the topic to things that did not incite images of coralskippers burning, metal-sheathed beings exploding in sparks- no! Do not think of it.
"Ah, the Force," said Yuuzhan wistfully, floating past Thass to seat himself at the remains of the living area's seat. "Picture the universe as a web made up of all the planets and stars everywhere. The Force binds these separate parts together, connecting all life together."
"All life?" asked Thass worriedly. "What of these machine users?"
"All life," Yuuzhan confirmed. "The Force contains the potential for both good and evil; life enhances it, death is its diminishment. There will be great amounts of death here. The Yuuzhan Vong do not understand the concept of the Force as yet, but soon they will grow too knowledgeable not to. I fear they will learn the lessons of the Force too late."
"Too late?" Thass asked, surprised. "Why can you not teach them?"
Yuuzhan sighed heavily, shrinking in on himself. With a start, Thass realized that the world consciousness was... older, more wizened, than when he had last seen him. "I have erred immensely," he said sadly. "It was my intention to give the Yuuzhan Vong the knowledge to fight off the invaders, to save them. In my fear and uncertainty, I gave them a new system of belief to strengthen them."
"The gods," Thass said with disgust. There were some, Thass among them, who were now realizing the paltry emptiness of their new religion. That he had even begun to think of them as real in his mind disgusted him.
"The gods," Yuuzhan nodded. "I believed that the Yuuzhan Vong were too weak, too peaceful, to fight off these invaders on my mere command. So I gave them a new purpose, a new calling.
"That was my greatest mistake." Yuuzhan paused to collect his thoughts. "I realize now that they would have stood the burden had I commanded it. The very ferocity with which they accepted this warned me of my blunder. Now that I have commanded them to accept it and delayed in the rejection of it, I no longer have any control over the Yuuzhan Vong."
A solitary tear trickled down the world consciousness's leathery cheek, and Thass felt a deep compassion for him. In appearance, so like a Yuuzhan Vong, yet different, more gentle, and entirely more palatable than the mindless berserkers who now roamed in place of the once-humble Yuuzhan Vong.
"There are those who are faithful," Thass told Yuuzhan, kneeling at his side. "I no longer wish to be a warrior, Yuuzhan. Let me help you."
A large, spindly hand crept out to rest itself on Thass' head. "You are kind and brave, Thass of Domain Yenek. I know not yet what I must do, but when I come to any conclusions, I will call on you."
"How will I escape being called to service again?" Thass asked. "I do not wish to fight again, not even against these machine abominations, filth though they are."
Yuuzhan clucked softly. "Be wary, child," he warned. "The anger of the masses has not left you fully. Remember my lesson of the Force, and what it means."
Thass bowed his head in chagrin. "All life is sacred," he murmured, as if in prayer. "I will try, Yuuzhan," he said.
The world consciousness's eyes lit up suddenly. "I have an idea," he said.
"What is it?" Thass asked excitedly. Surely, if anyone could rescue the Yuuzhan Vong from their plight, it would be their benefactor and caretaker. "What is it, Yuuzhan?"
Yuuzhan chuckled softly. "It is not of importance to all, little one," he said. "But I may be able to prevent your return to the battles."
"Oh, thank you," Thass breathed, throwing himself at his feet with a slap of bare flesh on bone. "Thank you, Yuuzhan!"
Yuuzhan lifted up Thass' head with one of his hands and looked deep into the Yuuzhan Vong's eyes. "Go and gather ten of those you think are yet loyal to the old ways, who reject our new circumstances," he said. "Bring them to me at the Hall of Confluence."
"What will you do?" Thass asked.
"I will announce them as my personal guard, and take you to my personal habitation, deep in the planet. There you will be safe until I can decide my course of action."
Thass could think of no appropriate words to thank the world consciousness, and so threw himself down once again and wept at his feet.
"Hush," Yuuzhan said. "I have not finished. There, I will also endeavor to instruct you in the ways of the Force, such as I can."
Thass was struck dumb with joy. "How...how can I thank you, Yuuzhan?" he whispered. "There is nothing, no service I can give worth the knowledge of the substance of life. You will instruct me in the greatest gift of all in exchange for mere service?" And he wept again.
"Hush," Yuuzhan said again. "Go now, and do as I command."
"Your will be done!" Thass whispered, and fled from the grashal with great haste.
Yuuzhan sat for a while more, thinking in the midst of the decay and death of the abandoned grashal, his thumb unconsciously stroking the husk of a dead sparkbee lying on the table. Suddenly, with a buzz, the husk broke open and a tiny new organism flew out, millimeter-wide wings whirring with the effort of keeping aloft.
Yuuzhan watched it flit out the window, and a smile broke on his face. There was hope after all.
If he could not reverse the damage he had wrought, the Yuuzhan Vong would be left to their devices and prepared for a crucible that would wring a new life for them from the ashes of defeat and decay.
The sparkbee was already dying.