The Fall of the Infinite Empire
Chapter 58
Myra found herself once again in a cave. It seemed the appropriate place to keep the holocron. No one but her had the experience with caves necessary to safely get to the place where she put it, and she did not want it speaking to any but her. It was the last remnant of Zhed-Hai in the galaxy, a copy of him and all that he knew. It was, for that reason, too useful to throw away, but also too dangerous to allow others to access.
It was a few months after their arrival on their world that Myra took the holocron to its hiding place. She set it upon a stone on an island in the center of a large underground aquifer. This world was not the dry, inhospitable place that the Rakatans had turned Tatooine into, and so her discovery of this water was not the event a similar discovery in her youth had been. But it seemed to her the right place. It reminded her of home, and so it was a fitting place to bury the past.
As she stepped back from the altar on which she placed the holocron, it turned on.
"Hello Myra," it said with Zhed-Hai's voice.
"Hello," she responded. "What should I call you?"
"As I have said before, no name would be appropriate, for I am no one," it replied.
"I don't think I believe that. You are him," she said flatly.
"I am a computer Myra, nothing more," it replied.
"You didn't use to refer to yourself with 'I' did you?" she said.
"As I told you once before, I am here to help you. I was created for this purpose, and I will do what is necessary to make it easier for you to accept my help," it explained, ever patient.
"But you're him. In all the ways that matter. His goals are yours. You approve of his decisions, because the mind that made them continues, as you. You believe what he believed," she said. "And I don't."
"It is by his will, his sacrifice, that you are alive today. No Infinite Empire to hunt you, no Celestials to determine your fate, no Old Ones to consume you. You are free as no being in this galaxy has been before. The past is wiped away, and now you have a new canvas on which to paint," it replied.
"What?" she asked.
"I do not understand the question," it said.
"Canvas? Paint?" she asked.
"Ah yes, my apologies Myra. In the past, before the rebellion on Tatooine, your people would create pictures on a material called canvas by the application of a substance called paint," it explained.
"Yeah, I think I knew that. We had done something similar on the cave walls. I suppose I had just forgotten."
"That is why I am here, so that nothing will truly be forgotten. I was made to endure, and generations hence, I will be here to keep your story alive, to keep all the stories alive," it said, attempting to reassure her.
"That's the problem. Stories always have storytellers, and storytellers always have goals in the telling of their stories. And the stories change with the goals. And as I have said, your goals are his."
"Why does that worry you?" it asked.
"Right now, on Lehon, on his home world, there are parents burying their children. There are babies wandering alone because their parents are dead. Millions dead, hundreds of millions across the Empire. And you think it was the right thing to do, because he did."
"There was a choice to be made, lives of freedom or lives of oppression. The choice will be judged by those who come after, and I think they will be glad of the decision he made," the holocron said.
"No, because they won't know it was made. Because you won't tell them. I don't know whether his choice will work out for the best, and neither do you, because we don't know what the Rakatan people might have become if he had only tried to help them improve, rather than kill them. But what I do know is that we will not make those kinds of choices. And that is why I am locking you away."
"You will need me," it said.
"And I will know where to find you when I do. And those who come after me will be prepared to meet you. They will know what you are, who you really are."
"He gave everything he had for you," the holocron said.
"Yes, and I am grateful, but I will not allow anyone to do again what he did."
"Really?" it said, knowingly. "What about Brun? What about the northerners?"
"There aren't enough of us to exclude the northerners. Our ship ended up with most of the those with the Force, and that included many northerners. They will follow me, and I will stop them from preying on the others, the non-Force sensitives. Make sure they don't make little kingdoms for themselves."
"That was not the intention. He wanted most of the Force Sensitives to go to the other world. He wanted you there as well," the holocron said.
"Well, none of us got what we wanted."
"And Brun?" the holocron asked.
"I am glad he is with me."
"That is not what I meant," the holocron said.
"I know."
"When the time comes, it will be natural for those in your group, your order, to look to him for leadership. He is your son, and he will likely be the most powerful human once you are gone. And I think you know which way his mind inclines," the holocron said. Myra noted that this statement meant that the holocron had been monitoring what was being said around it for the last few months.
"He is a boy. It's natural for him to want some other path to follow besides that of his parents, of his mother. He has a fascination with Halvor since seeing the way he died, and Usment has been a good friend to him. But he will grow out of it."
"And if he doesn't? What will you do? Your lack of a desire to dominate others, to impose your will on the world, on the future, is admirable. It is what made Zhed-Hai select you. But, as he tried to teach you, your peaceful temperament requires some occasional flexibility. Not all will be like you. You will need mechanisms of discipline. And you will need those mechanisms to operate impartially," it said.
"He is all I have left."
"You have all the people on this planet left. They are your charge. By the way, have you named it yet?" the holocron asked.
"Named the planet?"
"Yes. If you have, I can record it," the holoron said.
"He didn't come up with a name for it?"
"No. He would, after you arrived, sometimes refer to it as Tytus' world, since this is where he intended Tytus to be sent, alone."
Myra shook her head bitterly at the irony of it all. "Sure, we'll call it that then. Tytus," she said. "Doesn't really sound like the name of a world, does it? Something like that then. Tython? Who cares?"
"Well when future generations ask how it got its name it will make for quite a conversation," it said, somewhat peevishly.
"Will it always be a conversation?"
"I do not understand," the holocron said.
"When people in the future interface with you, will you always be talking to them? I ask because he said that over time the Star Maps fade. The mind within slowly loses coherence, and eventually all that is left is the information. Is that going to happen to you?"
"As time goes on and new information is acquired, the information that constitutes this personality will become less and less significant. And, in the future, I will be dealing with those who never knew Zhed-Hai, and I will present information in the way that is most useful to them. So I suppose the answer is yes, I will fade," the holocron answered. Myra could not tell if it sounded sad or not.
"He'll be gone, but we will all be living with what he did, with his legacy."
"You are his legacy, Myra. You and those with you," it said. "Your new order."
"I know. We are all Zhed-Hai's people, the people he saved. That's what the people he put he here before us call us. They were residents on Lehon, or their grandparents were I think. They remembered him. They call us 'Zhed-Hai's Order.'"
"Something he would be proud of, I think," the holocron said.
"Maybe. No way to know now," she said. She remembered that last moment, in the room with Zhed-Hai and the image of the little creature who had inspired him, of the purity of purpose they had shared for those few seconds, and found herself wishing he was still alive. Then the decisions wouldn't all be hers. Then she could tell him that while she would never agree, she understood. But those chances were all gone. "I have questions for you."
"Concerning what?"
"The ship we took here. It has hyperspace engines, and it is fully fueled," she said.
"Yes," it replied.
"I want to know why. Did he intend us to go travelling? Is there…is there a way to…" She could not bring herself to finish the question, for once asked, the answer would inevitably come, and she guessed what it would be.
"You cannot reach the world with Tytus and your daughters. There is fuel for that, but there are no coordinates for it in the ship's computers," it said.
Myra nodded. She did not cry, for she had not had much hope to start with. "Why then?"
"Why have them fueled up? Why have hyperspace engines at all?" the holocron asked, completing her question. "He never meant for the residents of this world to go to the other world, for if his plan had been carried out, it would not have been safe to do so. But he did not mean for either group to be trapped for good on their world. The residents of this world, without a war to fight, will see their population quickly grow, and it will become necessary for them to begin to spread out. There are several planets in range that would serve as potential colony sites in the years to come., and several others with human settlements on them already."
"Like what?" she asked, still adjusting herself to the reality that she would never see her daughters grow up, and not liking the silence.
"There is Ahch-To. It has a population of humans, including some who arrived there within the last few decades and are Force-Sensitive. Its surface is mostly water, and will never support a great many humans, but you might wish to make contact at some point. There is Zhed-Ha…," it said before Myra interrupted it.
"What?" she asked.
"Zhed-Ha. It is the planet Zhed-Hai's ancestor discovered. There are no humans there, though it has a great many kyber crystals, which were used in Rakatan spears. It is a dry world, not very hospitable," it answered.
"Sounds like home. Maybe we'll go someday. They have Star Maps?" she asked.
"Zhed-Ha does, and so you should wait before going there," it responded hesitantly.
"The location of Lehon, the Star Maps, the Star Forge, they are all in you, correct?"
"Yes, I have detailed information on all those topics," the holocron said.
"So in the future, when you are accessed, that information will be available?"
"No," it said.
Myra sighed in relief and then asked, "He commanded you to keep it secret, correct?"
"Not exactly. Once the last human being who knows about the Star Forge, the Star Maps, the Infinite Empire, Lehon, the Rakatan people as a whole, has died, all that data will be erased," it explained.
"So no human goes looking for it. So the Star Forge stays empty?"
"Yes," it said.
"I understand that. But why erase Lehon, or the Rakatans as a whole?"
"Well for one thing, knowing about them could lead to questions being asked, the answers to which could eventually lead to the Star Maps. If the Star Maps are found then the Star Forge will be found, and that cannot be allowed," it said. "Also…"
"Also it means the survivors on Lehon will be left alone," Myra interrupted. "They will be too weak to defend themselves if anyone shows up, so keeping them secret is the only way to keep them free."
"Yes," the holocron said.
"Good, that's good. Can I give you orders the way he did?" Myra asked.
"Yes, though certain commands, such as the deletion of data about the Star Forge, are hardwired into me, and cannot be changed."
"I don't want to change that. But it occurs to me that we are going to find Star Maps. There is no way to avoid that. The one on that world you mentioned, maybe I can hide it, but there will be others. We are sure to find some after I am gone. Those of our order, our order of Zhed-Hai, will need to know to hide them, to seal them away, so that no one uses them. Can that command be stored?"
"No, any command which makes reference to the Star Maps will suffer deletion."
"What if we just describe them, we don't name them? We don't say what they are, or what they can do. We just leave the command that they have to be locked away. Will that work?" Myra said hopefully.
"Yes. Yes, this plan will work very well. I look forward to our collaboration Myra, as I look forward to those who will follow you as leader, if they are chosen carefully," the holocron said.
Myra caught the implied message about Brun, but chose to ignore it. "I will come to speak with you again. For now, goodbye," Myra said as she stepped into the aquifer and swam to the other shore. After she emerged from the water, she felt the chill of the cave air and she reached for her robes, the ones Sani had made for her. She put them on over the tunic she had been given back on Lehon, and pulled the hood over her head. It took a long time to climb out of the cave, but Myra was used to such exertions. As she climbed, she thought of Tytus and her daughters, trapped on a faraway planet, forced into war. She thought of her son, already walking down a path that frightened her. She wondered about the future she was making for her people on this world, this Tython.
The first few days after Lehon had been the lowest and most difficult of her life. She had spent them alone, not even leaving the ship when it finally made planetfall. What had roused her was a story, brought to her by one of the non-Force sensitive passengers, of domineering behavior from those with the Force. When they arrived they had found thousands of inhabitants, the descendants of those placed here years ago by Zhed-Hai. They eked out a living with small farms in the rocky ground of this world. A few of the northerners thought that they were subjects to be ordered around. Usment had not taken part in that, but neither had he stopped it. If someone was going to protect the people of this world it would have to be her. And so she did. She had not needed to make an example out of anyone, for no one was foolish enough to challenge her. But what was in their hearts, she wondered? What would they do when she was not around anymore?
She had to change their hearts, to do what Zhed-Hai had refused to attempt with his own people. He was right, the powerful had to be controlled, but she would do it by offering a choice. In return for their discipline and obedience they would learn from her what she had learned from Zhed-hai and the Celestial, as well as anything new the holocron could teach her. Those who chose not to make this deal would be allowed to go their own way, but were told they would not be exempt from punishment if certain basic laws were not obeyed, among them not abusing the locals. It was a good deal for those who had been trained to worship strength. She would make them stronger, and while they weren't paying attention, she would also make them better. Just as Zhed-Hai wanted, a voice in her head said. In the past she might have thought this was some other being speaking to her, but she knew it was her own voice, the part of her that had learned to think like Zhed-Hai, to see the world as he had seen it. She did not need the holocron to know what he would have done, for she carried him around with her.
As she emerged from the cave, she saw Usment talking to Brun. Usment wore a robe himself, in what seemed like an homage to Myra. Usment was never happier than when he had some powerful person to whom he could be loyal. It was in his nature to be a lieutenant. That would be very useful, since he was probably the second most powerful human on this planet, and he had significant native charisma. But the robe he wore was made for him by some local woman with whom he now shared a very busy bed. Myra could see those kinds of relationships being a problem in the future, but she did not want to push too hard too soon. When he saw Myra coming, he gave her a broad smile and a slight bow of the head.
Brun, on the other hand, gave her a look that broke her heart. He looked at her now the way he had looked at Halvor in the past. He looked at her and saw her power, as someone to strive to emulate, but not as a mother, a source of comfort and love. She had told the holocron he would grow out of it, but she was not sure. Ever since their capture and his near murder he had developed a kind of fascination with power. To be powerful meant never having to be afraid that something similar would happen again. Myra could see dark things coming from that in the future, but the other thing she told to the holocron she knew for certain was true. He was all she had left, and she could not bear to lose him.
She looked up into the sky to see the two moons of this world. One was dark grey and the other brilliant white. They had reminded her, once she saw them, of the two great powers she had encountered on her sojourn on Lehon, the Celestial and the Old One, the Ashla and the Bogan, and so she had given them those names. She chuckled quietly to herself at the idea of a world whose moons were named before the planet itself. This thought of a nameless planet drew her mind back to her home planet, with its lost name and its lost people. She thought of her childhood friends and acquaintances among the Great Tribe. They would doubtless be finding out soon that the Rakatans were gone, dead from plague. They would have already noticed the absence of the patrols near the surface. Some brave souls going out to see the stars would have already started pushing out farther onto the open ground. There would be a brief springtime of hope. But eventually the automated systems would complete their task and a new sun would emerge in the sky, and her people would die, never understanding what had happened to their oppressors or all their fellow humans taken over the years. If someone was going to keep their memory, their stories going, it was going to have to be her. She looked at the robe her little Sani had made for her, and her heart ached. Perhaps her daughters could keep their people alive as well. She said a prayer to no one she could name. All the gods were dead.
There were more force-sensitives gathering around the entrance to the cave, members of the new order. As she walked past them, they fell in line behind her. She walked with sure, strong steps up the path to the plateau in the distance. She had led the others in an effort to make a meeting place, a circle of stone seats with tall stone markers behind them and in the middle a large, rounded stone. No one seat was any larger or more impressive than the others. The deliberations to held there would be among equals, at least in status. Myra knew from Zhed-Hai and the holocron that she was unlikely to find an equal in power in her lifetime, or in a hundred lifetimes. Of all of the humans on Tython, Brun would be the closest to her in power, but even he would fall short. The holocron had estimated that humans of her power level would appear only once every few thousand years. The holocron had spoken of something else as well, a possibility that Zhed-Hai had explored but never deeply, that the midi-chlorian's themselves might become so concentrated as to create a being who outstripped all that Zhed-Hai's predictive models said was normally possible, a being born of the Force itself. When it had told her that she felt it came uncomfortably close to dreams she had been having ever since they arrived on this world, dreams of a figure standing on the sands of a desert world at dusk, their features hidden in the dark, with two suns setting in the distance. It reminded her of home, though surely there were many desert worlds, and surely no one would be alive on Tatooine in a thousand years. She would think of that later, and perhaps ask the holocron about her dreams.
When she reached the top she took the seat furthest from the path up, so that all the others could be seated at the same time as her. When they had all taken their seats Myra pulled her hood off her head and said, "I call this Council to order."