***Tirnanog, Mount Aerie***
***Thalia***
“You have to drive the wedges further in, or those muscles will snap off your finger,” I offered my experience since my mother had her index and middle finger inside Magnus's chest as deep as they would go, which I found to be a very risky thing to do.
Back on Earth, a surgeon would have baulked at the barbaric method, but it made perfect sense if the surgeon in question had a bloodvine mutation.
A thick network of artery-like roots had broken through the skin of Sienna's forearm and was following her fingers down into the injury to perform tasks most robotic instruments would have had trouble with.
I reached for the set of reverse pliers and applied a little more tension to give her more room to work with.
“It's fine, dear. Just don't come in contact with the poison,” she warned in a professional tone. “At the moment my main concern is to prevent cardiac arrest. I've temporarily blocked large parts of his circulatory system to ensure the brain and vital organs are supported.
“The poison isn't much of an issue for him, but the internal injuries caused a lot of internal bleeding. It keeping him unconscious is a blessing in disguise. I wouldn't even have known how to sedate him without testing out risky substances. I think we can log deathnut oil as a reliable sedative for people with zipper mutations. If it hasn't killed him yet, it won't do so any time soon.”
The deadliest poison known to the ninth strata, and it was supposed to be used for sedation?
I shook myself at the thought.
There were very few mutations which made it even remotely possible to handle the neurotoxin contained within deathnuts. The amount of oil on the dagger would have been sufficient to kill every human in the clan without such inherent resistance twice over.
Magnus's mouth was still burbling up bloody foam – his body's attempt to expel as much poison as quickly as possible. It had forced us to free his respiratory system with several tubes which allowed him to breathe freely now.
A similar reaction was recorded to happen when people had tried to poison zippers. Unfortunately, unlike the little pests, Magnus didn't have the necessary physiology to keep breathing while this process happened. The bloody foam which was produced in his belly quickly began to clog and prevented him from breathing.
Luckily, an elder had been among the first responders and managed to clear his throat and lungs before he suffocated.
“How is he even still alive?” I asked while I adjusted the little showerhead which washed the blood and poison into a basin beneath his head. It was connected to a secure container to be disposed of safely.
I personally tested Magnus's phenomenal poison resistance, so his surviving deathnut oil didn't come totally out of the blue. Though, it wasn't something I would've bet on. But a metal spike through the heart should have killed him. No blood circulation meant no oxygen for the brain. Even if the body would have survived the injury and healed in time, there should have been irreparable brain damage by the time Hayne managed to get him to the hospital.
Sienna twisted her hand around to apply the bloodvine tendrils to another spot. Likely in the process of stitching an artery. “It looks like the mutation which turned his muscles into subdermal armour applies to all his muscle tissue – organs included.”
I gasped and resisted the impulse to slap my forehead. Which would have been bad, given my gloves were covered with his contaminated blood.
“The heart is a muscle! But then… parts of the digestive tract are too, and blood vessels have muscle tissue. This sounds a little drastic, even for a primary evolution.”
“Indeed. This is why it’s so hard for me to stop the bleeding. Maybe he got something new? It’s not uncommon for the exiles to receive improved nanites. Happens every two or three decades.” Mom looked bemused. “It isn't like Earth cares about fucking up their bodies in case something goes wrong.”
She hummed while digging deeper into his chest.
“His heart got damaged nonetheless when the metal spike glanced off it. The assassins chose the right tool for the job, but they should have placed a little more forethought into where to stab him. If I had been in charge, I would have gone for the liver. Takes a bit longer, but he still would have bled out before reaching us.”
“It's an understandable error of judgement,” Dad added while working the instruments. “They had intel about his mutations, but there was no reason to assume attacking a vital organ would fail so spectacularly. Mistakes are easy to criticise in hindsight. Still, Magnus had a lucky angel watching over him.”
I regarded the half-dead body on our operating table. “I wouldn't call it a spectacular failure. They almost succeeded.”
“Almost' being the operative word here,” Richard joked. “They had the jump on him and still lost most of their people. For professionals, from what I heard, such a thing can only be called a colossal fuck-up.”
Mom changed the angle again. “I am doing my best to fuse the injured tissue back together, but it isn't easy to help without doing more damage. His muscle tissue doesn't have much in common with normal flesh and bone, which gives the bloodvines trouble. I nonetheless have to stop the bleeding before he can be left to heal on his own.”
I eyed the blackening skin on her hand and couldn't prevent myself from worrying. “Are you sure you can handle the poison?”
“I can keep it out of my blood, but you aren't ready for the technique. Don't try helping,” Sienna replied coolly.
“That's not an answer.” I knew exactly when my mother was evading a question.
“The hand will be contaminated with the poison once I am done,” she replied. “I will have to cut it off.”
Dad looked up from where he was monitoring Magnus's blood pressure and heartbeat. His eyes flicked from Sienna's hand to me. “Don't worry. Your mother can regrow it in a day or two with enough nutrients.”
I sighed. “I know. I am just worried, okay? As bad as it is to lose a friend, I don't need to lose you on top.”
“I am perfectly safe, dear,” Mom replied reassuringly. “Why don't you go outside and tell the worrywarts he will survive.”
I sighed and left the operating room.
Once I was in the atrium, I disposed of the protective gear which ensured sterility as much as it protected me from the poison. Someone would burn the contaminated gloves, apron, and mask later on. The goggles would be cleaned thoroughly.
Then I left through the second security gate after I was completely sure nothing on my body was contaminated.
Outside, I was greeted by a crowd of elders emitting a roiling cloud of conflicting emotions. While not everyone was present, it was almost as if the elders had decided to hold an impromptu gathering in our clinic.
Juliana and Skye Rumen immediately approached me, the question apparent in their eyes.
But my attention was drawn to Astra, who sat at the corridor's wall, hugging Teresa as if her mother provided the only anchor in the roiling sea of emotions. They spilled forth from Astra and permeated the room like storm clouds.
It hurt to see a friend like this. “Astra, stop brooding and cheer up. Mom says Magnus will be fine, though he will have a few horrible days until the poison is completely out of his system.”
Astra looked up and blinked through teary eyes as if seeing me for the first time. “He will?”
“Yes!”
The storm clouds immediately lifted, only to be replaced by overwhelming joy. Astra got up and ran over to hug me. She lifted me bodily from the floor and I felt my bones creak, but I was unable to deny her the emotional relief.
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“Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
I forced myself to smile instead of shrinking away. I hugged her, patting her back. “You can let me down, Astra. You are squeezing me too much.”
“Oh, so sorry!” She carefully let me down but kept hugging me for comfort. As much for my sake as for her own.
Sometimes, being an empath was a curse. I couldn't help but ride along on the roller-coaster of emotions which was emitted by the people around me. The more there were, the harder it was to block them out.
I liked Astra because of this. She had her emotions more under control than others. It was why we had become the best of friends, but right now she was a wreck and I did not like being close to her.
Well, being told you had lost your partner to an assassination would do that to people.
I could endure Astra’s loss of control for a little while. I would be a bad friend if not.
“Is there anything else you can tell us about his state?” Juliana Rumen asked. “It would have been quite the blow to lose his connection to his ‘organisation’.”
“They tried to stab him through the heart but didn't consider it could be reinforced too, like the rest of his musculature. The metal spike glanced off and was hard to get out without causing more internal bleeding. To make sure he would die they used deathnut oil,” I explained. “Their choice of weapon suggests they knew about his mutation, as hardly anything else would have made it through the subdermal armour so easily. They also didn’t take any half-measures with the poison, which suggests they knew of his resistance. There are other poisons which would also do the job in a normal scenario while being far easier to handle.”
“Is it possible they somehow got the information from the Tates?” Teresa asked, causing a stir among the elders.
Astra let go and turned to face her mother in outrage. “Thalia would never!”
The question was a powder keg and had me instantly become serious. My family had medical access to the whole clan. In case of a betrayal, it meant our enemies would know all the elders' and juggernauts' weaknesses. Thankfully, such a thing was unlikely because my strata treated patient confidentiality very seriously. Only the doctors in charge of a patient and the strata's elders had direct access to the files. If a spy wanted to steal more information than an individual target, they would have to frisk the entire hospital and collect the documents from every office.
“Exactly three people have access to Astra's and Tulkas' files,” I replied with absolute confidence. “They were my mother's and my patients. And Astra's pregnancy was supervised by Kiera Tate. If any of us willingly gave away a patient's weaknesses, the clan may as well start digging graves.”
“We just wanted to make sure,” Juliana clarified. “I don't believe any of you would betray the clan. And the Tates are political allies of the Frosts. It wouldn't make sense.”
Hayne Ortega cleared his throat. “There is a second source to gain basic information about Magnus's abilities. Worse, this source would know everyone’s abilities. It would also explain why the bodies couldn't be identified as belonging to any strata.”
“The assassins didn't belong to clan Aerie?” I exclaimed, shocked. I assumed the attack had been orchestrated by a strata which was against the war.
The fifth strata's elder shook his head. “These men and women had far too sophisticated and streamlined mutations, aimed for stealth and obfuscation. All identical. Those were bio-engineered enhancements for soldiers. They were remnants of the Forgotten. Earth sympathisers! When I arrived, the remaining living assassin chose to take his own life rather than be caught and interrogated. But it doesn’t matter. We have the bodies as proof and I recognized the signs from my time serving in the war. I am sure your parents will be able to confirm it once they get the opportunity to look at the corpses.”
“Then we have a big problem.” Juliana clicked her tongue. “Having a sleeper cell of the Forgotten in our midst without anyone noticing in all these years. They also must have a connection to Earth. Or were they alarmed by us when we activated the UI?”
She groaned and closed her eyes while shaking her fists. “This is the explanation of why we were always one step behind them during the war! They knew our abilities and could prepare counters for our best people! In any case, we have to act as if Earth wants to continue the war.”
Continue the war?
Skye looked around the room. “I hope nobody will oppose me if I set the clan to a state of war for the time being. At least until we are sure how big this problem is. Teresa, Etan, I would feel better if you could provide a few of your hunters to act as bodyguards and security for high-value targets. I shudder at the thought of active sabotage while it’s winter. It would be a death sentence for the colony if they somehow manage to destroy the ventilation system in a coordinated move. We wouldn't be able to survive on the surface and suffocate if we stayed in the main cavern. And if we split up the people, the creatures would pick us off!”
Etan bowed his head. “We will call back everyone who isn’t necessary for resource gathering.”
“At least it erases our concerns about Tulkas’s loyalties,” Bruce pointed out. “They would hardly try to kill someone working in their interest.”
Juliana looked towards the Patels. “Your people have one job from now on. Find them! Find their connection to Earth and kill them all if you can't.”
“We still haven't found the one who fell out of the elevator, so there must be one of them loose at the very least.” Bruce mused. “They should be smart enough to shut down their operations after this failure, but we will do our best.” He bowed and departed with hurried steps.
“Could someone please explain what’s going on?” Astra asked the questions which were burning on my lips. “Who are the Forgotten? What does Earth have to do with the war?”
“Oh, dear. Let’s step aside and I will explain.” Teresa got up and took Astra and me by the shoulders while Juliana continued to give orders.
Once we were out of the way, Astra’s mother began, “It's normally not talked about, but you should know as heirs. The Forgotten is a derogative term which came up after the great war between the clans.” She nervously played with her fingers before she continued. “This is a somewhat dark chapter in our rulership which I am not proud of, but a necessary one. It was supported by all the great clans which survived the war. I suppose you are familiar with the official story?”
I tilted my head. “The clan which ruled the Old Camp had overwhelming numbers thanks to the steady stream of exiles from Earth. They had ambitions to unify all the clans by any means necessary, but they were defeated once they managed to make enough enemies and the clans unified against them. The clans quarrelled over the Old Camp’s resources and their territory afterwards. Ultimately, they made the Old Camp a neutral zone and strictly regulated how the influx of exiles was to be used, so no clan would gain an advantage over the others.”
Teresa sighed and massaged her forehead. “Technically, all that is true, but as so often the devil lies in the details. The Old Camp's rise to power was a slow process and the clans would have fallen to them. Our rivalry with the Thich is legendary and stems from the times before the war, so our forefathers weren't without faults. We would’ve never been able to set aside our issues and unify if not for a common enemy. Earth.”
“Earth?” Astra asked. “But they gave up on Tirnanog!”
Teresa raised a disapproving eyebrow. “Earth’s leadership abandoned the colonies because they didn’t want to pay the upkeep. They decided to use this world as a penal colony instead. A deathtrap for anyone they disliked. What do you think they would do when they learned those colonies had stabilized themselves – no longer reliant on Earth’s resources? No longer teetering at the edge of existence? There is a big difference between a group of cavemen and a society which crawled its way back to the middle ages. It implies there's more possible.”
“They would want to regain control,” I answered questioningly. “And the easiest way would be to infiltrate the Old Camp because they took in all the exiles at the time! Mix in your people and take over.”
Teresa nodded approvingly. “The Old Camp’s aggressive policies were encouraged by operatives sent from Earth – which we call the Forgotten. Brainwashed super soldiers and undercover agents equipped with what Earth deems best among the mutations they researched thanks to us. Also, it’s not like there was no support to be found among our people for a reunification campaign with Earth.”
“The clans found out about the Forgotten!” Astra hit her open palm with her fist. “That was the reason why the clans suddenly managed to set aside their differences!”
“Yes,” Teresa replied. “The clan wars were an attempt by Earth’s government to regain control over Tirnanog while investing as little resources as possible. They failed, and we spent years cleaning up the remains of their campaign. This is our great shame.”
“Shame?” I asked.
Teresa gestured around. “What do you think would happen if we allowed the Forgotten to propagate their ideology of reunification?”
“People would flock to them,” I muttered. “Some because they hope for better living conditions. Others because they hope to return to Earth – but it’s not like Earth would take anyone back!”
“Earth would want resources and research materials once they are back in control,” I continued the thought. “Resources which we would have to give them. Which would make our lives harder. It’s not like they haven’t already proven they don’t want to pay for the colonies. And sending their people here hasn't worked out for them historically.”
Teresa shrugged. “It’s all conjecture since we prevented it from ever happening. A large part of the struggles after the clan wars wasn’t the clans quarrelling over the remains. That's just what we tell people to obfuscate the truth. It simply took us that long to root out the Forgotten and any sympathizers they still had among our populations. Suffice it to say, it wasn’t a pretty process, and the policies we enacted in the aftermath were mostly because we were uncertain whether we succeeded.”
“I see,” I said slowly while considering this secret history and the aura of insecurity which spilled forth from Teresa. What she described, it certainly wasn't a morally excusable or honourable process and it ate at her conscience.
But such was life. The morally impeccable were the ones to be trampled upon by those who weren't. One had to strive for ideals while dealing with the realities of life. “I can’t speak for the other clans, Mrs. Teresa, but having lived here for a considerable part of my life, I can say you did the right thing. I don't believe things would be better under an outsider's leadership. Especially not when they aren't even living on our planet.”
Astra studied me for a moment before she regarded her mother and nodded. “You were right to throw those arseholes off our home! Not everything is sunshine and flowers here, but it isn’t like we aren’t doing our best to improve things for everyone. When Earth tried to retake control they could have sent us aid or negotiated. They left us here to die, and now that we managed to build a secure haven they wanted in? Instead of helping, they chose subversion and violence. There is nothing you have to blame yourself for, no matter how brutal things got to get them off our planet. The moral responsibility is mostly on them! We might wish for clear lines in war, but the reality is there is no black and white, only grey.”
Teresa nodded firmly and straightened. “Thank you, girls. It’s good to hear such a thing from the younger generation.”