Many people stared at Ry’nao’s empty chair. “Who will be emperor now? Was he sick?”

I held my hands up. “He’s been fighting! Ry’nao is still emperor—”

“My Collective showed me how big this battle is! We can’t win it! All of us need to bring our people back and run!”

Ir gasped. “There is no safe place from him! His troops surround our star systems, and if we try to leave, we will be slaves! Please, be calm—”

“Calm? We just saw our emperor die, and all of us are next! He saw what we’re up against!” So many people shouted! You can’t talk things out when emotion’s this high! All of our Biehshah and Zheien paled by a lot.

“Look, everyone, you need to think about this. All your Collectives are upset. When you take a breath and stop, they will. Together, we can do this. We have powerful enemies, but we have powerful friends, too.” I studied the panicked faces, but my Collective reached out to all the others. We tapped into the Diplomatic Link and showed ‘em victories won by people like them, new to Cubes.

A man stood up. “Did you show them how many people like us died?”

Dromie ran around and firework lights came from his hands. “I brought them back! I brought entire galaxies of civilizations back, and all of my people, to fight him! Most of them want revenge on Rentappenen. Feel his fear? He can’t hide it from us!”

I shivered. Ryonne~‘s golden eyes opened past wide. “Dromie, you must ne do this! He can strike at us—”

“It works both ways. Feel the deaths in his Collective? In Eriganh’s? They work with death and fear. If their members of their Collectives try to argue, he kills them. Many are leaving, now that they see us releasing slaves. They want to be free! Their new clones see this and refuse to help him! He is losing strength and we are doing it.

Most of the arguments died down. They saw it happening. We did, too.

I saw Daka, and he gathered escaped people from Eriganh’s Collective, Rentappenen’s, and people who left Satauuver’s, but now that Ray gave King Wtensau the Cube, they rejoined it and took these disgruntled members there. Showed Ir. Our son is not only fighting, he is healing people fighting. I let them see that, too.

“I’m scared! I want to quit!” That teen sobbed in her parents’ arms.

“Honey, I know you’re scared. We were, too.” Her mother also cried.

“But, we helped Daka organize people. Ry’nao said, courage is not lack of fear. Courage is acts despite fear. All of us were afraid. We saw people die horribly who disobeyed their slavers. Do you know how few the slavers are? They work by terror. They make examples of people who can’t fight back.” Her father hugged her.

“We showed them that people who can’t fight might have good ideas. Some of our most disabled people were that way because they fought, and even when they couldn’t do some things, they found ways to slow down the enemy. At times, the timing of where they were in a mine created a bottleneck and slowed production.

“One slave was Zheien. Everyone loved him because he showed love to even injured guards, and they became our double agents. They would put him on a narrow path that slaves had to carry ore up for processing. People refused to walk on him, and they couldn’t go around. People made an obstacle and guards couldn’t tell what was going on. Slaves used the ore by his directions to build a wall to block that path, then they moved up and found people barely able to walk and built a wall there, until they got to the guards at the entrance. Slavers are stupid. They expect trouble outside the entrance, not inside it! Organized slaves either convinced their guards to help them or put them in stasis, because they now had tech, and they took over ships.

“Because of one disabled man, they took over our mine and now we produce ore for the resistance. I’m still directing people because I have a Cube, too. But this is happening on a lot of worlds, with minerals so rare there might only be one mine.

“I tell you this to make you see, there are ways to fight Rentappenen without killing people or using our Cubes as weapons. There’s always someone smarter with a plan. People have been planning this revolt for millennia. Rentappenen didn’t expect this.

“Kirnonos has been planning, and Pirad has been planning, since long before this 300 year war started. They’ve been creating and hiding Cubes. We’re just helping them.”

The teen nodded. “Show me how to do that. I’ll fight, if I don’t have to kill anyone!”

A lot of our cube holders got excited. I thought about ending the meeting, but Ryonne~ shook his head. “We are safer here. This is why Collectives gather in special buildings. We are like a Collective. Inside them, each member concentrates minds.”

He showed me that a Cube is a virtual container for thousands of minds, who each represent other minds from outside. The individuals are specially bred to hold telepathic links. His members shared with him that they have healers in the group to walk them and keep their bodies in good condition, so they port to different hidden gardens with properties to strengthen them, in our Collectives.

Rentappenen, Eriganh, and Satauuver terrified their members and limited their awareness of these beautiful places. Or sent them into mines to do physical labor while their minds worked. Just like any slave, injuries happened frequently and they had to have a lot more healing. The three slavers used the threat of injury and death to keep them working. Just knowing they could get hurt in there killed a lot of them! But they just made more clones.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Some of those clones have knowledge of Rentappenen’s terror plan, and they are organizing troops to fight him. That’s a tactic Greg Wenh Cet used as a slave. He was in Rentappenen’s Collective and organized the revolt there, inside his Cube Of Many Colors. Rentappenen is finding certain key timelines that he wants to change, closed to him. They are gradually limiting the damage he can do. Part of that is enabled by the fact that he revisited many timelines to change them multiple times.

Changing timelines is strictly forbidden by every Council. There are protections against them, that Rentappenen surely disabled by his changes. Ryonne~ rubbed an eye.

Adia startled and made him sit down. He fell asleep on her shoulder.

Is he okay?

My husband does too much. He is okay, but we are all fighting in this battle. You feel it also, do you, Kia?

I nodded. I was as tired as I was working 3 jobs! But this work is worth it.

An arch formed and an Xchou came in. “Friends, will you enjoy our garden? Ry’nao often came here while he pondered important things.” The lady looked sad, but swept an arm out. A garden, underground?

All of us got up and walked in it. A huge place with trees and a high ceiling with a skylight! I looked up at that pink sky and setting suns over the orange mountains. Such a beautiful place, even though I longed to see a blue sky. It’s like a perpetual sunset. Blue fluffy clouds wafted past. Cloudless sunsets aren’t as pretty.

Ten appeared with a tray of drinks for us. My arms ached to hold our son. Ir kept an arm around me and picked a variety of flowers for us to sniff.

Leticia, who married Pirad, walked over to us. She didn’t smile.

“What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be with him?” Fear gripped me!

“I’m here because it’s safer in case Alb Seer gets invaded. Pirad’s so scared, he’s in Kirnonos’ Lab and Bedelia just let him know all of his clones died. He’s scared, but you know him, he’ll work until his last breath! I just wish, if we’re going to die, I could be with him.” Her blue eyes got teary.

“Do you really think we’re going to lose this war?”

She smiled. “I’m betting on our side! I just wish my family—well, I’m different now. I didn’t decide to change from Earthan to anything, but my mind’s still alien to them.” She sighed and the tears flowed.

I hugged her. “I know the feeling. I’m Biehshah now, but I don’t feel Biehshah, I feel Earthan. Maybe after this is over, I’ll reclone myself Earthan. But, Ir, you like me as a Biehshah—”

“My cesarae, I loved you as an Earthan, I love you as Biehshah, but whatever you wish to do, I will love you as much!” He studied me with his brown eyes wide, and they got teary. Ir wiped a tear and stared at it. “I like your human ways. Loving you changed me more than I ever dreamed. Pirad didn’t like it. I think he is afraid of changing. But we already changed, every level we lived in. We learned, and we grew. I think Bisillipia and Biehshah are also changing, and we must change with them.

“All our lives, we lived with fear, because of Rentappenen and his boredom with peace. How can peace be boring? There is always something to study, or to make, or to simply enjoy. Our flowers.” He picked a deep orange bloom. “This is a serfrom. They grew before your dinosaurs walked Earth. No one said, ‘Oh, this is too orange, let me make it pink.’ Our scientists did make other varieties, but they preserved the old ones and carefully kept each unique plant as it was. They saw the value, amidst change, to keep good things the same.

“We fear change, so we kept slavery, for how to control our enemies if not for enslaving them? But we who became Biehshah saw the wisdom of other levels, to make people free to choose for themselves.

“Bisillipia finally freed all their slaves. They live peacefully on Bisillipia. Those who disagree with the government can have a lawyer and speak all of their grievances. Was that move so difficult for all of our people, that we lost four levels? No one gathered troops to march in Leheren. No one traded for weapons. Now our leaders see their foolishness, to enslave half our world. All they wanted was to have a voice. Elshars taught us to allow people to speak against government and work to change things they don’t like.

“Disagreements did not cause the fall of Elshar. Slavers and Heden’s herb research to create slaver herbs did that. But, Elshar is back and cures Pirad made during our memories of Rainbow helped people who were forced to help Heden.

“Ih Esta found and destroyed all of his clones and all of his sons and their clones. As of today, Elshar sent Ih Esta to every Elshar colony and wrest all of them from slavers! Elshar slavers were Rentappenen’s best tool to keep power.”

I startled. “But, I thought it was the Zbbat and Esteerrians who were the major slavers!” The uprooted neon yellow tree people with six arms and six legs and killer telepathy took a lot of slaves. And the squat deep green Esteerrians with their ropy arms ending in mouths with teeth, elephant legs, and basketball-sized frog eyes on their shoulders enslaved star system after star system.

“Oh, but Zbbat and Esteerrians just took slaves. Their agreements with Elshar colony leaders opened doors for slaves, since prosperous colonies attract large numbers of people. Elshar leaders who kept slaves prospered because they sent a flood of people to the Zbbat and Esteerrians. Elshars knew how to teach them how to keep their people and our people alive as slaves, otherwise it wouldn’t have been profitable. Without Elshar cooperation, Zbbat and Esteerrians would kill their slaves too fast to keep a mine running. They always ran mines with people like them. But they like war too much.”

Leticia laughed, and her blond curls jiggled at her ears. Short hair. “They learned to like peace! Taredias made so many clones of Herdyyyath, he changed the Zbbat mindset. They’re a hive mind. Now they are fighting Rentappenen because Herdy’s loyal to Molly! He also cloned Myenhharrh, an Esteerrian who’s also loyal to Molly!”

“Whoa—wait! Molly’s friends with Zbbat and Esteerrians?” But I remembered her having Herdy for difficult healings. And, later, Pirad made Siadiasly for her but they mainly worked in the purple room with people in comas. I didn’t go in other parts of Rainbow much except during festivals with Ir. We never went in the Hospice, that multicolored building for really sick people. They brought any sick Biehshah to us in our Jujujean Colony.

“Her first shipful of slaves had an unconscious Zbbat and two Esteerrians, Myenhharrh and another Esteerrian, went with Binneas to Esteerr because they offered to help him with his negotiations there, because of her kindness to him! They were killed, but Herdy had their memories and Taredias used them to make clones. All of them were loyal to Molly.”

Wow. Mon Pa smiled. “Herdyyyatth saved me in the other future! Without him, Molly could ne touch my mind without grave harms. He allowed her to save my kinsmen.”

All of the rosy purple Zheien nodded, but they paled and their purple eyes lightened. Elshars usually get dark eyes when they get upset.

I looked up and there was Herdy! In this garden, his bulk didn’t impair him, yet he gracefully danced among the flowers without his huge body flattening a single plant! He had six great legs with six toes apiece like tentacles that held most of him above the ground so bushes didn’t even wave a branch!