Camellia woke to the scene she had left behind – before she had whipped out the Obsidian Mirror. She stood at the window and stared into Ul’thetos’ container.
Camellia felt free of the creature’s telepathic pressure. Her hands went lax, and the mirror dropped. It shattered on the windowsill. Some shards fell at her feet. The others flickered and tinkled over the sides, into Ul’thetos’ enclosure.
Ul’thetos’ half closed eyes suggested that the creature still had something left to dream.
Camellia didn’t waste time. She ran to the bomb containers, unhooked the latches, and pulled the decay bomb first. She returned to the window and prepared to pull the thread.
Ul’thetos’ eyes were wide open, but Camellia felt no pressure on her mind. Behind her, Adalhard groaned.
In her peripheral vision, Camellia saw webbing. She didn’t give the hallucination her full attention. She looked at the bomb and saw dream Ah’nee’thit, just for a moment. She ignored that hallucination too.
It surrounds us still, Ul’thetos said.
Camellia knew that Ul’thetos also hallucinated. It’s not real.
You killed it.
Dream Ah’nee’thit? Yes, I did.
Camellia pulled the loose thread and dropped the decay bomb inside. The fuses fizzled through the layers, and Camellia ran for the second bomb. She ran past a groaning Adalhard.
You’ll kill the real one too. You’ve already killed me, Ul’thetos accused.
I can’t deny that. Camellia grabbed the second bomb – the wormhole. She ran back to the window and got ready to pull the thread.
Ul’thetos looked up. Camellia thought the creature looked weary. She knew Meladee and Eva would scold her. Everyone would probably scold her, but she harbored some sympathy.
Camellia promised, I won’t let the real Ah’nee’thit die.
At first, Ul’thetos seemed not to register the promise. Then, her eyes seemed hopeful.
“But you have to go.” Camellia pulled the second thread and threw the wormhole bomb to the other side of Ul’thetos.
Camellia and Ul’thetos both watched the arc of the fabric ball. Ul’thetos seemed to flinch as it touched down on her flesh.
Camellia knew the wormhole would take longer to run through its fuses. She hoped it would carry the decay through its magic portal.
Ul’thetos regarded Camellia. You’ll give Ah’nee’thit a wormhole...and send all of Ah’nee’thit somewhere else?
Yes, I promise. We will rescue every tentacle of your remaining child.
Ul’thetos closed her eyes, and Camellia watched as the final decay spell activated. Flesh necrotized, and decay spread in thready paths.
Camellia was surprised. Ul’thetos considered the second tenet of life the most important. Was it because the creature had failed the other two? Or because she had always put it above tenets one and three? It didn’t matter, but Camellia wondered if Ah’nee’thit would have something different to say about its parent now. Camellia bowed her head.
“Camellia, what are you doing?” Adalhard grabbed her arm. “That bomb is going off. We need to get out of here.” He pulled Camellia away.
They fled back the way they’d come. They exited the container, rounded the square hall, and ran right into Eva and Sten.
“The bombs are going off,” Adalhard said. “Go!”
Together the group ran out of the facility, decay streamed over the rivers of flesh, clearing the path before Meladee’s concrete men could part the limbs.
“This might swallow us too,” Camellia watched as decay crept onto the building itself.
The spread was slow, but the walls began to blacken and crumble.
“So be it,” Eva declared.
Camellia stared out over the ocean of flesh that had been Ul’thetos. Far from the prison, necrosis traveled through Ul’thetos’ body. The creature’s flesh dried and flaked. All of Ul’thetos’ remains within the prison were already dead, decayed by the bomb. The building’s edges crumbled, and as a slight wind blew by, dust flowed over the ground. Camellia wanted to run but decay lay ahead.
“The wormhole shouldn’t be far behind.” Camellia hung her head. She wondered if she had done the right thing in waiting a few moments. She only took a moment to say goodbye to Ul’thetos. Had it been that long?
Eva observed their surroundings. “The range is wide. Too wide, and the spell is decaying the prison. There’s no reason we won’t be decayed too.”
Through afternoon sun, Camellia watched decay uncover the land. She had never seen soil so flat and barren, and she had seen deserts. Trees shriveled up and fell to the ground in clumps.
“The wormhole is likely to reach us first,” Sten said.
The decay spell still crept over the walls, but it had slowed. In the depths of the prison, Camellia heard a sweeping sound, possibly the growing wormhole.
Adalhard nodded. “The wormhole doesn’t follow the same pattern. The decay spell affects the things it touches, and then, it works on the things that were in proximity. The wormhole will just open. I don’t see how we can hide from it.”
Camellia frowned. She had made a mistake. Maybe, they could have waited out the decay spell but not the wormhole spell. She should not have used that bomb.
Eva called for help. She rang the Bardiche and Commander Rooks. Neither answered. She called Meladee. No answer.
Perhaps, Camellia thought. They’re all dead.
Sten faced Eva. “It has been an honor to help you and your people, however small a group that was.”
Eva accepted the compliment with bowed head. “I am very grateful for what you, Commander Rooks, and the others have done for Lurren. The creature is dead. Lurren will need to be cleaned up, but others can do it.”
Camellia’s heart quickened. She knew this moment would be their last, but she didn’t want it to be.
She took Adalhard’s hand and stood on tiptoe. In his ear, she whispered, “Florian, I’m sorry.”
Adalhard regarded her with only some surprise.
“I wasted whatever time together we could have had,” she added.
“That’s not true at all. We’ve known each other a long time. We didn’t waste that.” He gestured to his chest. “I should have done something about it sooner.”
Camellia averted her gaze and looked ahead. “I’m not the same person that stole cameras.”
“I’m not the same person that caught you.”
Camellia and Adalhard held hands. Together they turned and looked into the wormhole. It had grown but still didn’t reach their place outside the prison.
Camellia frowned and thought about Ul’thetos’ tenets of life. She wondered what hers would be and whether she had failed them. Considering she and Adalhard had missed fifteen years together, she would say yes.
“Camellia,” Eva called. She strolled to Camellia’s other side.
Eva and Camellia looked eye to eye.
Eva continued, “You have done a lot for Lurren, and for me. Thank you. I never wanted you to give your life for this. I almost wish you hadn’t come this far.”
Camellia nodded. “Months ago, I would have given up my life for a much smaller thing. I find myself wanting to keep it now, but it’s okay, Eva.”
The group fell silent, and everyone made a choice: stare ahead at the spread of decay or stare behind at the wormhole. Sten stared ahead. Eva looked back and faced the wormhole. She reached in her toolbelt and grabbed the welder. In spite of the moment, Camellia smiled to see it. Now, she just had to pick a place to look. She decided on Adalhard and found him looking back.
He hugged her. “Last chance for this, I’m afraid.”
Camellia hugged him back and closed her eyes.
My three tenets of life: love my first family, find a lover, make my own family. I have failed all three.
Camellia didn’t love her family, not the way she should. She found a lover too late, and she would never have the chance to duplicate herself even a fraction of what Ul’thetos had managed. Camellia had done even worse for herself than the creatures.
But, on the other hand, she had Meladee and Eva. They could be a kind of family, and she loved them. She also had her work at the AAH and that had always offered fulfillment, even in bad times. Finally, Camellia’s affection for Adalhard did not go unacknowledged. It would never be all she wanted, but it was something.
Not a great life, but good enough. And, she had helped to make it possible for others to live their tenets, whether those tenets were similar to hers or not.
“Oh, look!” Sten called. “A ship is coming. It stopped at the dome. It’s headed our way.”
Camellia opened her eyes. She saw it.
A long, thin ship zipped to their location and arrived in minutes. The ship stopped, sending Ul’thetos’ dust into swirling patterns. It hovered and opened a door.
“Come on, guys!” Meladee shouted, waving them inside.
Eva leapt in, not waiting for the ship to come closer. She startled Meladee, and the mage tumbled off her feet. Adalhard and Sten hurried Camellia inside next. She moved as fast as her day weak body could go. Adalhard came after, and Sten climbed in last.
The ship rose higher, and they snapped the door shut. With plenty of time to spare, the ship sped away.
“You guys did it.” Eder sat up on a row of benches, but he didn’t look his usually bronze self. He’d gone ashen. “I’m so happy to see you guys.”
Inez sat beside him, looking grim. She put an arm around her brother and tried to make him lie back.
“Inez, we probably need to adjust the size of the wormhole,” Eder said.
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“Yeah, I know. I got that.” She nodded along.
“What will happen to the flesh that’s left untouched by the decay spell? Do you think all of it will die?” Eder asked.
Alim stood nearby. He crossed his arms. “We may have to kill it separately before it develops its own brain, but we can do that easily with cold temperatures.”
Camellia looked around the ship. She had been so resigned to dying that she found the sudden rescue a shock. She needed some time to adjust and wipe the look of grief from her face. At that moment, she vowed to fulfill her three tenets of life. She had to use the life she had been given.
Camellia peered into the seating arrangement, only half-full. She saw Inez and Eder, Alim, only three of the Iruedian warriors, and barely half of Rooks’ chosen crew. She dreaded to ask, but where was Rooks?
“Is this everyone that survived?”
Inez grew somber. “Yeah.”
Camellia covered her face. She felt Eva’s hand on her shoulder. Camellia didn’t know what Rooks considered her tenets of life, but the Commander certainly couldn’t fulfill them now. Maybe, daring planetary rescues was one of them.
“What’s wrong?” Meladee asked, stiffening.
“Rooks,” Camellia practically whispered.
“Oh, I’m fine.” Rooks said.
Camellia uncovered her face. “Commander.”
Rooks limped out of the cockpit and rested a hand on the door’s bulky molding. “Did they tell you I was dead?”
Camellia had no words.
“We’re happy to see you alive,” Eva said.
“I’m pleased as well.” Sten smiled.
Rooks gestured to the A team. “Well, I had more reason to be worried about you six. I’m happy to see you alive and successful. You set off all of the bombs.”
Adalhard put a hand on Camellia’s back and nudged her forward. “That was Camellia who set off the bombs. I remember that Ul’thetos destroyed our handkerchiefs, but when I came too, Camellia was up, and setting them both off.”
“Ul’thetos got pretty good at magic.” Meladee pulled out her ruined handkerchief. She picked at the loose threads and tangles.
Eva smiled and faced Camellia. “Apparently, the spell and subsequent telepathic control was still not enough to deter you. I’m impressed by how much you’ve improved. I remember when Ah’nee’thit brought you to your knees.”
Camellia hung her head. “The truth is that they, Ah’nee’thit and Ul’thetos, could destroy me any time they liked. They just kept me around because I was…entertaining.”
“So, what kind of puzzles did you make up to convince Ul’thetos that you should be able to play bomb technician?” Meladee asked.
“None. I...I used my Obsidian Mirror.” If Camellia wanted to fulfill her tenets of life, she needed to start from a place of honesty.
Adalhard stiffened.
Rooks stood a little straighter. “But that was on the Bardiche.”
“The thing in the locker is a piece of flat beard. I lied to you. I wanted to take it with me because I was scared I would need it.” Camellia looked at Adalhard. “I’m sorry. I will keep my promise to you though. I will give it to you now.” From a pocket of her outfit, Camellia removed a shard and handed it to Adalhard.
“This is the mirror?”
“That’s all that’s left,” she declared.
“You showed that mirror to Ul’thetos?” Rooks asked.
“Yes, and Ul’thetos dragged me in, along with all of you. You were asleep in the dream, and Ul’thetos couldn’t think clearly. I could because that’s how it works in someone else’s dream. I just had to prevent Ul’thetos’ win conditions to keep her from regaining her senses.” Camellia looked at Adalhard and found his gaze conflicted. She sighed.
“By keeping the mirror, you prevented our defeat,” Sten reasoned. “But, you also broke our trust. On the other hand, were we too distrustful of you and your understanding of the mirror? You, obviously, control it with enough mastery to use it as a weapon against an advanced lifeform.” Sten glanced around the group. “I cannot speak for the others, but in my eyes, you stand forgiven.”
Rooks nodded. “Give me a little time, and I’ll feel the same. In any case, I didn’t want to become a thrall. If the mirror was the only thing that prevented our defeat…I don’t know what to say.” Rooks shook her head. “I can’t see why we should argue about a broken mirror.” Rooks took a deep breath. “Now, it’s my turn to say something difficult.”
Camellia’s heartbeat quickened.
Rooks continued, “I’m sure you’ve noticed that…Cernunnos isn’t here.”
Camellia met Rooks eyes. “I hadn’t actually.” She studied Rooks’ face. She knew where this line of conversation would lead. “I guess I took him for granted.” Camellia hardly heard what Rooks had to say next.
The Lurrien ship, now amenable to organic drivers, flew over the landscape. It took them in circles. It weaved over Lurren’s coasts and glided by familiar landmarks, places Eva hadn’t seen in years. The necrosis continued for miles and uncovered much of lost Lurren. Some of the old places were tinged with decay, but they were still there.
The wormhole began to shrink before it reached even halfway to the animatronic jungle. Eva wished the wormhole would take the jungle with it, but she could not be so lucky.
The spell winked out of existence, leaving a featureless place below. The facility, mountains, and weather orb were all gone as well as Ul’thetos’ brain, the prison, and every pine that had rested embedded in the flesh for one-hundred years. They had a crater, but they could fill it with dirt from other locations on Iruedim.
Eva and Sten sat in the cockpit, giving the original engineers a rest. They were alone with the Lurrien ship, which was surprised and happy to find two synthetics at its helm.
“I wonder what changed this ship’s programming to prefer synthetics,” Eva said.
“It’s an older ship, Eva. Perhaps, it always preferred synthetics.”
“I doubt it.”
“I know that the organics and synthetics of your time made mistakes. Both demonstrated incredibly rigid thinking. But, at least concerning the synthetics, I think you’ve had a change of heart?” Sten smiled. He removed his fingers from the controls and let the ship steer itself, without his watchful eyes.
Eva crossed her arms. “Alright. I have. Now, you will have so much more data in your search for the location of the synthetic soul.”
Sten laughed. “That I will.”
Eva looked out the window. “It doesn’t matter. Soul or not, my affection for small robots like Tiny Tin and Ferrou, Spring Peeper and Wheelian will never change.”
“Well said,” Sten agreed. “Though, I have to admit. Since we have brought no synthetics from Girandola, I am happy to have you for company.”
Eva turned her head to Sten and gave him a wry smile. “I think you will find Wheelian and the others all too happy to give you their attention and company.”
“As long as you are there.”
Eva didn’t say it aloud, but in her private thoughts, she promised to be Sten’s friend always, whether they had difficult conversations or not. He had helped her free Lurren. Something she never expected to achieve. And, now, they would help the Lurrien synthetics begin new lives as well as the colonists from Girandola. Eva was making it right.
During the ride, Meladee and Benham sat towards the back of the ship.
Meladee tapped Benham on the shoulder. In a soft voice, she said, “This ship talks. Just like that train.”
Benham nodded. “Yeah, I noticed. Lurriens liked talking vehicles.”
“I wish Faustina could do that.” Meladee hugged her knees.
Benham laughed. “You know. We say the trains will give us nightmares, but you painted a similar face on Faustina.”
Meladee stopped him with an upturned hand. “Yeah, but it was more cartoony and less uncanny.” She paused and froze. “Oh god. I’m a proto-Lurrien.”
Again, Benham laughed. He put his arm over the seat, somewhat around Meladee’s shoulders, but not quite touching.
She looked at his arm and pulled it down, till his body was in contact with hers.
After a few moments in silence, she added, “Hey, you know, we own like three ships now.”
“Oh?” Benham raised an eyebrow.
Meladee ticked the ships off on her fingers. “Faustina. Mountaineer. Halfmoon. That’s three. We’re filthy rich.”
“We’ve got no liquid funds,” he reminded her.
“We do a little tourism, some shipping, ferry people back and forth to Lurren...we’ll have liquid funds in no time,” Meladee promised.
Benham smiled and pushed her bangs out of her eyes. “Yeah, we will.”
Meladee thought she could keep this man long term. She had no more problems: no Agaric Healers, no Ul’thetos, and soon no Ah’nee’thit. Meladee could relax and work on all that serious stuff everyone pestered her about so much. Meladee slouched in her chair and got nice and comfortable.
At the very back of the Lurrien ship, Camellia and Rooks both exited the bathroom.
“It’s been an adventure.” Rooks sighed.
“Oh yes.” Camellia bowed her head.
“I’m sorry about, Cernunnos. It was a bumpy ride, and he was the only one on his feet. He was trying to get the ship to you.”
Camellia nodded. “I am probably going to use the bathroom again. Adventure and all that.” She didn’t really need it, but she wanted to escape.
Rooks just said, “Okay.” Slowly, she moved away.
Camellia turned to reenter the bathroom and started to find Adalhard exit the men’s side.
“I didn’t expect to find you back here,” she stammered.
“I haven’t gone in hours,” he said.
“When I was young, Cernunnos seemed to go for days without a bathroom break.” Camellia tried to smile but couldn’t.
“I know. His accomplishments were many.” Adalhard frowned. “I wish I’d been nicer to him. I never thought…that he would die in an escape attempt, inside a ship, headed for safety.”
Camellia stared ahead. “It seems so stupid, doesn’t it? That’s how it seemed with my mother. She got sick, and there didn’t seem to be any reason for it. I partly wonder if I stressed him out and caused it.”
“I don’t think stress causes brain aneurysms.”
Camellia smiled and nodded. “No. Though, it probably never would have burst if he didn’t hit his head, and in some way, that’s on me.”
“Are you alright?”
“Yes. It’s not the first day that’s the problem. I’ve only gone a few hours without him. That’s less than our typical parting.” Camellia sighed. “Today – I’m going to be fine. Tomorrow will be different. That’ll be the first day of the rest of my life – without him in it.”
“Yes, it will...but I’ll be there.”
Camellia looked up. “That is very kind of you, Florian. Or, maybe, it would be better if I said Adalhard?”
“Florian,” he corrected. “You had it right the first time.”
“Florian.”
“I’ll be there. I promise.” Adalhard met her eyes. “I have a second chance.”
“I do too.” Camellia felt numb, still thinking of Cernunnos, but in the background, she found a flicker of hope. Her heart tried to quicken but responded too sluggishly to give her that feeling of butterflies.
Camellia touched her temple. She shook her head. Here and there, she still saw little hallucinations, things from Ul’thetos’ dream. Of course, since the dream had not been her own, Camellia’s hallucinations were minor and short. They would fade.
“What’s wrong?”
Camellia frowned. “When I’m not thinking about Cernunnos, I’m thinking about Ul’thetos. Specifically, Ul’thetos’ win condition, and I can’t help feeling that I’ve done something very wrong.”
“How so?” Adalhard’s eyes narrowed.
Camellia took a deep breath. “To win the game, Ul’thetos needed to fix everything in her life-cycle that she messed up. That was a lot of things. I empathize.” Camellia folded her hands and kept her eyes on the ground. “The most important was saving her offspring. I...stole Ah’nee’thit, at least the dream version, and I killed it.”
“Camellia, you had to do that.” Adalhard put a hand on Camellia’s shoulder.
Camellia nodded. “Yes, I did.” She raised her gaze to his. “Florian, I made a promise to Ul’thetos that we would find a home for Ah’nee’thit. That we would send every one of its tentacles through a wormhole to a new place. I have to keep that promise.”
For a long moment, Adalhard stared into Camellia’s eyes. She worried that he would tell her all the reasons why they couldn’t do that.
He said, “I understand. We’ll make sure you do. Speaking of promises. I appreciate that you gave me this, but I don’t need it.” He gave her the obsidian shard.
Camellia took it. She felt strange to hold the powerless object after so many bygone years of feeling powerless in its grasp.
“It can’t hurt you now. Punch a hole through it and make a necklace,” Adalhard said.
Camellia held the shard tight. “I will.”
She planned to wear it on the same chain as her daywalker’s stone. The pendants together could serve as a kind of badge to remind her of the times she had weathered.
After the ship took them on a tour of Lurren, it landed by Faustina. Camellia, Meladee, and Eva watched as Rooks and her crew mourned and celebrated. Members from the Bardiche were present, and the great ship hovered somewhere in orbit, above Lurren. The three friends hung back from the party.
“They’re pretty happy,” Meladee said. She wore her claddagh and kansazhi. “I heard they might try to retrieve more people from Girandola after you clean up.”
Eva gave a nod. “Yes, we need at least five thousand people for a decent colony. We’ll take some from Iruedim, but we might as well retrieve the people who we were forced to leave behind.”
“That’ll take time,” Camellia said. “And, more time to clean up. I hope they don’t look at the rescue as too little, too late.”
“It might be, but it still won’t be never.” Eva looked around the beach.
Camellia followed Eva’s gaze and smiled slightly at the pristine sand. Sunset hovered at the horizon, and Camellia thought, in a few years, Lurren would be this beautiful all over.
“This is everything I ever wanted,” Eva said.
Camellia and Meladee turned at Eva’s uncharacteristic tone.
“You put this all in motion,” Eva added. “Camellia, Meladee. You are the best thing my probe could have found.”
Meladee turned away. “Well, we’ve got to make sure all the monsters are gone. Can’t have any of that on Iruedim. I live here after all.” Meladee sounded strained.
“That reminds me,” Camellia spoke up. “Ah’nee’thit gets only the wormhole.”
Meladee frowned. “Why? We can decrease the area of effect with the decay spell. We don’t have to destroy Tagtrum.”
“That’s not the reason why we can’t use the decay spell.” Camellia gestured to herself. “I promised Ul’thetos that I would make sure Ah’nee’thit got a better life.”
“A better life?” Meladee asked. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Camellia did not explain, but she met Meladee and Eva’s eyes without wavering. “I made a promise that I intend to keep.”
Eva crossed her arms. “I don’t think they deserve our mercy. I have spent the past century under that thing’s flesh and watched it take all of Lurren’s land as well as my creator. I have no reason to think that the younger one will be any different. Why should we send it on its way to terrorize someone else?
Camellia straightened. “Because these creatures aren’t evil. Just different. They struggle to survive, and it was our misfortune to encounter one. But, we can find Ah’nee’thit a home on a planet far from other beings. Or, send Ah’nee’thit to find its own home in space. Giving Ah’nee’thit a chance to live is just decent. We shouldn’t take the chance from it.”
“We need to find a place where it can’t bother anyone else,” Eva said. “I don’t like it, but...we can keep that promise.”
Camellia sighed and closed her eyes.
“I knew you thought those things were cute,” Meladee teased. “I don’t get it, but we can save Ah’nee’thit as long as I don’t have to be its neighbor.”
Camellia nodded. “Maybe, it’s just my point of view. A monster’s sympathy for another monster. But, yes, it’s important to me – to save it.”
When she opened her eyes, she observed her friends. Eva seemed thoughtful and, somewhat troubled, but Camellia thought Eva would reconcile with their decision. Meladee smiled, relaxed, more so than she had ever been.
Then, Meladee’s face fell. “Hey, I’m sorry about your… I’m sorry about Cer…” Meladee never managed to say it.
Eva added, “It was sad to see him go. I feel somehow responsible. If it had happened at any other time, Rooks’ doctors might have saved him.”
Camellia lowered her eyes. “He would have loved this party.”
Cernunnos, it turned out, had an unruptured aneurysm. It lurked in his head, quiet, unnoticed. Camellia supposed it was one of those little things that people held on to. One of those things that were better to get rid of.
Camellia felt a hand on her shoulder. She felt another on her other shoulder. She looked up and saw both Eva and Meladee.