CHAPTER 26
ANGELIQUE
BEFORE YOU GO
Angelique placed her knife and fork down at the four o’clock position. She made sure the prongs of her fork were facing the plate too. This was an old-school habit her grandmother had drilled into her. It meant she was finished eating and satisfied with the meal.
She was surprised that this tradition had followed her across the galaxy. The more expensive the restaurant, the more likely they were to understand the subtle queues of etiquette.
The waitress—she was nineteen years old—immediately noticed the positioning of her cutlery and picked up the almost empty plate. She left the dessert menu on the table, then topped up her champagne flute and stepped back away from the table without a word.
Angelique was nervous, and it wasn’t because of the food. This was going to be her last day as Angelique for a long time. Or at least, over thirty clones of hers were about to wake up thinking that.
Tomorrow her sisters, her Ange’s Angels, would travel to every star system she had control of. Her clones would bring with them the latest technology. But, most importantly, they’d be taking with them news about the Atua people.
None of that was causing her to feel strange. It was the fact she was implementing the Shatterling Protocol. The process itself was straightforward. Duplicating herself dozens of times was no different from duplicating herself once.
The trouble was the Shatterling Protocol was something she had built up in her mind as a last resort. If everything turned upside down, that was when, and only when, she’d reach out to all the other planets for help in such a fast manner.
She thought about it a little longer. She realized that the protocol itself had taken on a new level of meaning. It was like going to a funeral, even though the person might have passed away some time ago. Going to the funeral often made the emotions more intense because it signaled they were never coming back. Angelique shook her head at the morbid nature of that example. Why is my mind thinking negatively?
Before she had a chance to answer her question, the curtain to her private dining area opened. She looked up expecting to see the waitress return.
Instead, Peter wandered through. He looked exhausted. He carried with him a glass of whiskey.
“The final supper?” Peter asked as he sat down.
“Yes, my final meal before I depart. It’s sort of a tradition I do just before I split myself.” Angelique looked at Peter, assuming he was here one final time to convince her to let the people on the planet use FTL communication. “If you’re here about the Starnet, I haven’t changed my mind, but I have been thinking about it.”
She knew Peter wanted to set up a Starnet connection with all her planets. In her mind, the Starnet was a one-way technology. It was Pandora’s box—it could never be put back. Yes, she had already shared the technology with her people on Juniper. But their thinking was aligned with hers. She believed connecting all the planets would act as a beacon for anyone looking. It would identify every planet under her control. It wasn’t worth the risk.
“I’m not here to convince you about the Starnet.”
Angelique was a little taken aback by that comment. She was about to share the truth with him: that she was didn’t want her planets to use the Starnet because if they did she wouldn’t have a clear purpose. She’d been traveling between the worlds and sharing new technology with everyone for so long that she was a little bit sad she wouldn’t have the chance to do it anymore. It took her a long bit of contemplation to figure that out. It was kind of a selfish reason to not give them the tech. But it was the truth. But now that she knew the reason, she was beginning to see a plan for herself post-Starnet. Because ultimately, there was no way she would be able to keep it hidden for too long. And the benefits of hundreds of billions of people connecting together, sharing knowledge, and improving on technology in real time were so worth it.
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She imagined how fast her people would grow if they didn’t have to wait for her to visit every few thousand years. She began to think about how a human empire might look.
There were more than a hundred billion stars in the Milky Way. A galaxy-wide empire was within her grasp … As long as they all got together to fight against the Atua aliens trying to keep them trapped. “Oh, that’s a shame because I have been giving it a bit more consideration.”
Peter raised an eyebrow. “Go on.”
“No, you go first. What did you come here for?”
Peter grabbed a small crystal out of his pocket. It was one of the permanent storage devices that stored information in a clear gem. “I assume Atlas has access to all your latest tech? So he can read this?”
Angelique nodded.
“Perfect, I’ve recorded him a little message here. I was wondering if you could send one of your clones to him.”
“Of course. Does any of the message concern me?”
Peter took a swig of his whiskey. “Not you specifically, but I have asked him to create a weapon.”
“To use against the Atua?”
Peter nodded. “I want something powerful enough to be a deterrent. Something so strong they’d be stupid to fight back.”
“Have you looked through the classified data? Every weapon any of my people have created is in there.”
“I have, but nothing stood out to me. I want something that’s the equivalent to a nuclear bomb on Earth. There, none of the superpowers fought with one another because of the risk of mutual self-destruction. I’m hoping Atlas can create something like that.”
“I see,” Angelique said. “You think Atlas will build a weapon?”
“He’s probably the only person I trust to build something with that much destructive force. If we are looking to build a weapon capable of destroying a planet or a solar system, then I’d want the recipe for that to be only known by someone at our level.”
“Our level?”
“I mean at the level where you’re thinking about groups of planets. Not obsessed with the day-to-day of what’s happening on one single world. We don’t want crazy people like old moneybags Callum Overwood having control of a weapon like this.”
Angelique found that comment interesting. At their level. It implied they were at a different level to others, which kind of made sense since she was part of a very small group of humans that had visited more than one planet. It didn’t make them better than others, but it did give them a unique perspective. It did give them the ability to see the galaxy in a whole different light. “You want this weapon controlled at our level? Not controlled by individual planets, but above them? Does that mean we’re taking control of the security of these planets too?”
“Yes, if we’re going to war with another alien species, we need a federation. Or a human empire with enough teeth to fight back.”
“Interesting. I think you and I are on the same page. I’m coming around to the idea of using the Starnet. But Atlas needs to figure out how to make it work without a constant stream of particles.”
The waitress came back in the room, interrupting them both. Angelique smiled at the young girl. “Can we try one of everything on your dessert menu?”
The girl looked at Peter, who raised his glass. “Can you get me another one of these?”
“Of course, Prime Minster. Which drink was it?”
“It’s a Scott Manley–label scotch. I forget the name; it’s the peaty one.”
“It’s Called Rocket Science for a Reason?”
“Yes, that’s it. Can I have another round of that please?”
Angelique didn’t understand why this planet had adopted hipster-like names for their whiskeys. Back on Earth, it was only beers that got the cool names. But this planet had continued that tradition with whiskeys and even wines.
The waitress nodded and then left the room.
“You were saying?” Peter asked.
“I’ve been thinking about it. I agree with you; the strategic benefit of the Starnet outweighs the downsides, especially if there’s a way to make it work without broadcasting our planets to the universe.”
“Agree. I wasn’t going to push you on it because it would also mean an end to your Ange’s Angel program. You wouldn’t need to visit the planets anymore.”
“More than that. I felt like it would lead me to lose my purpose. But I see two things I can do going forward.” Angelique raised one finger into the air. “I’ll still be able to break new ground and terraform new planets.” She raised a second finger and smiled at Peter before winking. “And secondly, I’ll be able to compete with you for whoever gets to be the leader of this federation of planets we’re building.”
“You can have it,” Peter said. “I assume both of us will get a chance. But you can go first. You deserve it, since most of the planets will be planets you created.”
Angelique looked at Peter for a good long while. The brazen nature by which they were able to discuss becoming rulers of a collection of planets was crazy. Especially considering they hadn’t yet solved their problem with the Atua aliens. It was the kind of thing you didn’t say out loud. She’d never had a friend she could talk to about these kinds of things before.
She liked the idea of having someone else she could talk to, someone that was just as ambitious as her, someone who said the things out loud that she would have previously only kept inside of her brain.
The young waitress walked through the door carrying several plates precariously balanced on her arms and hands. “Ma’am, if it’s any consolation, I think you’d make a great leader of the galaxy.”
Angelique took that as confirmation that she was right.