Souls
"Sara..." Jennifer said slowly. "No... No..." She pleaded. "Not you... I... I can't..." She tried to crawl away from the girl who knelt in front of her, but the Reverend Mother held her tight. "No, please!"
"Still." The Reverend Mother put a little power into her voice and Jennifer's tremors eased. Her eyes drooped a little as the Reverend Mother's power soothed her. "You have given so much, Jennifer. So much. I had no idea." Sara stared at the woman who now looked nothing like Serene with a question in her eyes. The Reverend Mother nodded. "You made mistakes, Jennifer. So many mistakes. I hope not to make the same ones. But this..."
The woman in her hands was broken. Broken in so many ways. Sun was a very experienced interrogator. He had managed to do so without driving her completely mad. But she was a mess.
"I told them everything I knew..." Jennifer sobbed. "Everything. The cutouts didn't work. The failsafes didn't work. I... I couldn't... I couldn't..."
"No one could. And... They wouldn't work." The Reverend Mother said quietly. "They are designed to prevent human interrogations, Jennifer. You had no chance against a Tenno one." She looked at Sun who nodded fractionally. "Was this really necessary?" She asked quietly.
"It was." The Loki Prime said in a mild voice. "Not only you, but the other intelligence she had. We needed it. She was not willing."
"She wanted to die and you wouldn't let her." The Reverend Mother said with a sigh. "It is traditional. There can be only one Reverend Mother." She shook her head. "Jennifer..." She crooned. "Jennifer... it's okay. It's okay."
"No, it's not!" Jennifer croaked. It was probably about as close to a scream as she could manage. "I just wanted to make amends..."
"I know you did the best you could, Jennifer." The Reverend Mother said sadly as she held the crying woman. "But you made lots of people angry. You pushed too far and too hard. You lost perspective. It wasn't about you. It wasn't about Lilly." Jennifer stiffened, but the new Reverend Mother would not let her go. "You knew the moment you appeared that I would go berserk. You hoped I would kill you. Or that Nikis would." Sara stared from one the other and... her face softened.
"I..." Jennifer relaxed in the Clergywoman's arms. "Yes..." Her voice was dull and listless now. "I... I want to die. Please... let me die..."
"No." The Reverend Mother said firmly. "You needed me? Well, you got me. But now? I need you." One hand cradled the woman's head and Jennifer slowly relaxed. Her face was... not quite slack, but close. The Reverend Mother looked at the silent ring of Tenno. "We have an opportunity here. If you are willing."
"What do you mean?" Karl asked when no one else spoke. Normal rules did not apply here. This wasn't the field. Technically, none were enemies at the moment. Yet anyway. Things could change fast.
"I am needed, Tenno Karl." The Reverend Mother said sadly. "The Clergy debated long and hard before they sent Jennifer to find me." Jennifer made a soft noise and the Reverend Mother soothed her with a pulse of power that had the woman sigh and relax further. "Even now, they would let me go. If I demanded it. If... I felt I could not do the job."
"They wouldn't." Sara said softly but Horatius was nodding and Sara stared at him. "They... would?"
"The Clergy are stuck, Sara." Horatius said quietly. "Too many enemies. Few allies. Special Forces are essentially all they can trust. And even we are leery at times."
"They -we- do not blame you." The Reverend Mother said heavily. "We have our agenda, protecting the human race. You have yours. Protecting each other."
"The Clergy has never thrown away Special Forces without a good reason." Horatius said stolidly. "Unlike the Board."
"But we would." The Reverend Mother said sadly. "If it came down to it? If the choice was you or a Clergyman or Clergywoman or the future of humanity...?" She shook her head. "I would like to think I would make the dispassionate choice... But I am no more infallible than Jennifer was. Less probably with as angry as I have been most of my life. But I will try and I have help."
"Ma..." Sara protested.
"Sara..." The Reverend Mother said softly. "In the end what matters here? Rocky is Tenno. I cannot take him with me. I cannot." Sara slumped but nodded. "Jennifer has made too many enemies. She cannot go back either. And killing her is a waste."
"But..." Jennifer managed to rouse herself for a moment. "I want it..." The Reverend Mother sighed and another pulse put the woman back into a daze.
"She is not rational right now. Neither was I for a while after Sun was done with me." The newest Clergywoman said dryly. "And on that note... Interrogator? Did you get what you needed?"
"You know I will not answer that." Sun replied in that same mild tone he always used.
"Yeah." The Reverend Mother said with sigh. "So... I know Intelligence can do... things. Can you wipe Jennifer's memory back to before she was selected to be the Reverend Mother? I probably could, but it would likely do other damage." At that, everything seemed to stop. "She would need more as well. Her augmentation removed for starters. The enhancements are all organic. I have set them to destruct and excrete. They will cause her no harm."
"Why?" Karl demanded, but both Nikis and Janet were looking from the Reverend Mother to the still human on the floor. Janet's expression was speculative. "Nikis? Janet?" Nikis waved to Janet who nodded slowly.
"There can be only one." Janet said softly. "You really think...?" She trailed off as the Reverend Mother nodded. "It won't be easy."
"If she doesn't remember..." The Reverend Mother said softly. "Then Rocky can be her son." Sara gasped and the Clergywoman nodded. "And... if you choose..." The words obviously hurt her.
"Ma..." Sara protested, then looked at Karl who shook his head. "Karl?" Sara begged.
"We cannot make this choice for you, Sara." Karl said softly. He shook his head again. "We should go. Two and Amelia will be here shortly. Iriana as well."
"There is... one more thing." The Reverend Mother said quietly. "Tenno Aeron." The sniper did not move. "You suffered at the hands of the Corpus. You lost your previous clan at the hands of the Corpus. You hate them." He still did not move. "We are not the Corpus, but you cannot know that. I ask... No, I beg..." She said sadly. "Sara needs help. She is willing, but she cannot tend an infant and maintain her studies and stay out of trouble." Sara stared from the woman who was her mom and then at the Loki who stood as if frozen. "Jennifer was always good with kids. She...wanted them. But she was only allowed one. That one died to the Ancient Enemy."
"You... would give her... your son?" Aeron's voice was stunned.
"She was a good woman." The Reverend Mother said sadly. "She was a singer. A scholar and a historian. She wanted to a counselor, a cleric. She wanted a family. She wanted a life. And instead? She got hell." The other Tenno of the clan vanished, Aeron remained. Sun, Nikis, Jasmina and Janet just watched. "Nothing I say or do can bring your lost clan back. But... Please?" She begged. "Give her a chance?" Aeron looked at her and then slowly nodded.
"For who you once were... One chance." Aeron said with a growl and then he too was gone.
"What..." Sara stammered, confused.
"He is still hurting." The Reverend Mother said sadly. "He will for the rest of his life. Jac helps, but... he will hurt." She shook her head. "I think..." She mused. "Jenni. She preferred the name 'Jenni'." She caressed the dozing woman's head gently. "We will call her Jenni."
Everything stopped as three new forms appeared nearby. Two and Amelia looked worried. Iriana looked professionally blank. The Reverend Mother nodded to all three.
"Healer Iriana, Tenno Two, Doctor Amelia..." The Clergywoman said quietly. "I am the new Reverend Mother."
"I..." Two shook her head, stunned. "I did not believe... Serene... Why?" Her voice broke as she stared at the woman who had been her sister and so much more. Amelia held her gently.
"Because there are children who need me." The Reverend Mother said sadly. "Because this one stepped down..." She stroked Jennifer's head again. "...and they needed...someone different. Someone new. Someone with a fresh set of eyes and no agendas. I have not betrayed the Tenno. I will not betray the Tenno."
"So you say now." Amelia said sharply. Iriana remained silent. "But things change."
"Indeed they do." The Reverend Mother rose to her feet. "This one..." She indicated Jennifer. "...made a number of mistakes. She made powerful enemies. Much of that was her fault, but not all of it. She did her duty and it cost her everything. Now she is lost. I... request that she be mindwiped and be given a new identity. That she live out her life as she once wished to. Singing. Studying. Helping others. Not the role she was called to. She did it well, but nothing lasts forever and she has paid enough."
"That is what you want..." Two said slowly. "What do you offer?" She inhaled sharply along with Iriana as the Reverend Mother knelt gracefully.
"Janet." The Clergywoman was calm. "We are ready." All eyes went to two forms that appeared by one wall. Empress Eliza wore her robes of state and her crown was glowing. But it was the other that drew the eye. The woman who wore the face concealing mask. The Lotus. "Empress. Lotus." The Reverend Mother said calmly. "Avalon is secure. The portal records are secure."
"In your hands?" Eliza demanded harshly.
"No." The Reverend Mother was still calm. "There is an authorized algorithm running in all Corpus databases that obfuscates the patterns. The portal nexus records will show that the portals go to places in the Deep Black and the Void." The endless night above and below the ecliptic of the Solar System and the extra dimensional horror that the Orokin had discovered and tried to use. "The Corpus will never figure it out. The only copy of said algorithm... is here." She tapped her head. "Take it." She bowed her head.
"Why?" The Empress demanded. "What do you want?"
"What I want, I cannot have." The Reverend Mother said sadly. "I want to go back to what I was before. But the Clergy need me. And I have never been one to back away from a fight." She crossed her arms, hands to her shoulders and bowed her head again. "We have no other options. We offer our service. Our selves, our properties, our sacred honor... all of who and what we are. The Clergy...We offer ourselves to the Lotus."
"You are not serious..." Eliza said, stunned. For her part, the holo of the Lotus just looked at the Reverend Mother.
"We have no other alternatives that bear thinking." The Reverend Mother said calmly, not moving. "We cannot prevail alone. The Board harries us. Not just Bek, although he is loudest. We were uncomfortable allies. We offer more at this time. Our full service."
The Lotus did not respond. Janet shook her head.
"This is...a heck of a change." Janet said softly.
"Not that much of one." The Reverend Mother was still calm, but a small smile crossed her features. "We have clandestine allies for some time. Now we offer more."
"What... exactly do you offer?" The Lotus' voice was calm, considered. "And what do you want? Exactly."
"What we want is for humanity to survive." The Reverend Mother said quietly. "The Board may deny the evidence before their eyes. We cannot. We cannot in good conscience stand back and watch while the remainder of the human race falters again." She shook her head. "The Collapse nearly wiped out the human race. When the Sentients return... if the Board continue to deny they will -which the Board will for their own reasons-... The remnants of humanity are doomed. We cannot allow that. War makes for strange bedfellows." No one spoke and after a moment, she continued.
"What I personally want is for my children to be taken care of." The Reverend Mother said softly. "Sara and Rocky... I love them both." She swallowed hard. "René will not survive much longer and her brothers... must be stopped. I do not think the Company can. Not even the Special Forces." She smiled an apology to Horatius who looked sour, but nodded. "Jennifer can be Rocky's mom. She has earned a rest. The Tenno will care for Sara." She did not move as Sara sobbed a little. Two and Amelia both stared from the girl to the Reverend Mother and back.
"And your offer?" The Lotus asked.
"Every resource." The Reverend Mother said firmly. "Every agent. Every database. Every vault. Every... everything. We cannot allow humanity to fall. If the Board have their way, it will. We must act. We choose this. We are unanimous."
"Wait..." Jasmina spoke up for the first time. "What do you mean 'We are unanimous'?"
"Janet." The Reverend Mother said to the Oracle who was standing there, open mouthed. "Zacharias and Jesselle both want me to hug you." She smiled as the Oracle did not snap at her. But her eyes lingered on the Ember Prime. "Tenno Jasmina..." She chided gently. "Did you really think the mass mind of sane Infested was the only group mind in the Solar System?"
The Lotus... nodded.
"Trust will be hard to earn, Reverend Mother. But welcome."
Far away
Cindy S-79 woke in darkness. She hurt. Many parts of her body hurt. But... she was calm. Something was pressing down on her, holding her to something that yielded under her. She felt air on her skin. She was not wearing anything. But that did not bother her either. She felt faint. The sounded of slurping came to her ears. Her blood was pounding in her ears and it...was in time with the slurping.
"Not too much, Georges." A harsh voice said from nearby. "We want her docile. Not dead."
"But she tastes so good..." Another voice sounded. "The fear tastes... so good..." The voice... it was awful. He was discussing her as a meal. She wanted to scream. To flail. To run away. But all she could do was lie there.
"Georges." The other said flatly. "We need her alive. You are taking too much."
"Fine, fine... Whatever." The horrid voice pouted. It sounded like a young boy, but it certainly wasn't. Something touched Cindy S-79's neck and something went click. Warm wetness dropped down her front and then... something was rubbing where... No. Was someone licking her? She shivered. "Oooo, she is awake. Strong. This one is strong. She will do."
"Put her in with the others and bring us one of the younger ones." The harsh voice said flatly. "We need you in position for takeoff."
"Ah..." The horrid voice sighed. "Until dinnertime, dear." Something caressed her cheek. This... being was licking her cheek! It was not erotic. He was tasting her!
"Georges!" The other snapped and the tongue withdrew.
A sense of movement and then she was lying on something hard. A door hissed and the sounds of muted whimpers came to Cindy S-79's ears. They cut off suddenly. She was shoved forward and then whatever had been holding her withdrew.
"You." The voice said and a short shriek sounded, followed by the sounds of struggle. One that ended with a sudden crack. A young female voice started to cry. "Oh don't worry dear. Your pain won't last long." The girl was crying until the door hissed again and cut the sounds off.
Cindy S-79 jerked as hands touched her. But...they were different. Slim. Gentle.
"Easy." The voice was female. About Cindy's age. Scared and tired. Horror was in every nuance of the voice. "I... can't do much. But what I can, I will. Drink." A straw found Cindy S-79's mouth and she sucked. The water tasted heavenly. "Good girl. Drink as much as you can. You need the fluids. You... lost a lot of blood." The woman's hands were professional, checking her over. But... Cindy S-79 felt cold things on her neck and on her wrists. They didn't hurt, but she had the notion that they should have.
"They... drank my blood..." Cindy S-79 said weakly.
"Yeah." The other replied after a moment. "They drink from all of us. I think they need the protein. They put the valves in so they don't have to cut us open every time. It is inconvenient for them to bandage us up, after... You know?"
"What are they?" Cindy begged. She tried to open her eyes and could not. "And what is wrong with my eyes?"
"Never you mind that, girl." The woman said quickly. "You need..."
"Please?" Cindy S-79 begged plaintively.
"According to them... You will not need your eyes." The other said quietly. "They removed them." Cindy S-79 jerked and then started to sob even though no tears fell. "Easy, honey. Easy... I will take care of you the best I can. As I do all of the rest. It is all I can do."
"Who... who are you?" Cindy S-79 asked as something warm and wet started rubbing her. Cleaning her?
"I am your caretaker and jailer." The other woman said quietly as she washed Cindy S-79's body carefully. "Once, my name was Francis D-12 and I was a medical officer for a salvage team. Now? I am just another slave. Just like you. Sooner or later, they will come in and take me just like they took poor Kathy R-59 a moment ago. But it is you I fear for."
"What...?" Cindy S-79 begged. "What will they do?"
"You will find out."
The engines were rumbling as the ship boosted away from their latest target.
Kathy R-59 was not in pain long. There was only so long a small human being could remain conscious under such conditions. Shock and blood loss drove her unconscious before the boys were half done with carefully stripping the meat from her arms. Tourniquets kept her from bleeding out. Then they settled in for the meal. It was easier when the meals were not squirming after all.
But then they stopped. The other female in the room did not speak. The drugs and other things that had been done to her guaranteed that. But she did watch as they carried the still form to lay it in front of her.
"You may not be able to be a mother for us." One of the them said mildly as he loosed her bonds a little. "But we will make use of you anyway. Reach out. Take the offering we give you."
"No..." The woman managed somehow to shy away, revulsion sounding loud and clear.
"It wasn't a request." Georges pushed the still girl up under the woman's face. "Eat. Now."
"No." She tried to push the mass of flesh away.
"So be it. If you had fed, you might have survived this." Pieter said with disgust as he keyed a control. The woman jerked in her bonds and then lay still. Her eyes unfocused and then focused on him. "Can you hear us?"
You are strange. The voice was...wrong. Not human. Not even close. It wasn't actual words. More...feelings that resounded as words? Very strange. Why do you contact us?
"We cannot survive as we are." Pieter replied calmly. "We want a cure."
There is none. The voice replied. Not with us. And... even if we did? You slay your own people. Why should we trust?
"Because we can give you this system." Pieter replied. "And all we want is a chance at our lives or vengeance."
Your words... will be considered. The voice vanished and the woman's body collapsed in on itself. Georges pulled the girl's form back and all watched as the conduit they had forged vanished.
"Well?" Georges asked for them all. "Now what?" He bent down and bit deep into the girl's neck. She was too far gone to react. The others started to feed as well.
"We keep doing what we have been." Pieter replied evenly.
"Even if the Sentients will not help us, or we cannot get any of these to be compatible, we will have revenge for our Mom before we die."