"Once, there was a world...

"That had no name.

"Because it had no name, it had no words.

"Because it had no words, it had no thoughts.

"Because it had no thoughts, it had no soul.

"When it was named, the world gained words and thoughts and a soul, and looked with horror on the wickednesses it had committed while it had been nothing.

"'Some errors can never be fixed,' wept the world."

--Excerpt from Terran Myths Reconstructed, by Daonial Ollstrent Pellnias

----

1 Standing Withering, 1886 CE

Palace of Governance, Acerbia

Half the room spoke up at once.

"In our current state?" Lenaa said, disbelief written across her normally stoic face.

"Bile, dad, you can't be serious," Senrii said.

Eztli drew a sharp breath and sat back in her seat. Tvorh tensed. But Oralie was the worst. The way she looked at him, as if he was betraying her again!

Perhaps he was. What sort of man proposed to use his wife as a bargaining chip or a weapon, much less both at once?

The sort of man who knew that Tellus was worth the cost. Dorsin raised his hands. "Please, be quiet. Quiet. Silence, I said!" The chattering stopped. "Thank you. Now is the time for Imperium. Humanity may die even if it unites, but it will certainly be dead by this time next year if it continues its partisan squabbles."

"Dorsin," Eztli said. She was rubbing at her chin as she stared at him, as if she couldn't believe that he was here in front of her. "We just prevented a terrible confrontation between our peoples--that is, between Nxtlu and Nethress. Surely you don't mean to pick a fight with Nxtlu and the rest of Tellus besides."

"I mean nothing of the sort," Dorsin said. "Let them bend the knee willingly, and there will be no war."

"No people ever bent the knee willingly," Lenaa murmured. "Only the threat of the sword makes a man abase himself." Cornartis grunted and nodded at her.

Dorsin formed his words like blades and cast them across the table at his sister. "And we will threaten, if that is what it takes. We will unsheathe the blade if it is necessary. We will even bloody it, if need be.

"I don't want war. None of us does. But what are our options?" Dorsin flung a hand back toward the screen. "As one species, we can choose unity, and we will still endure a war with another species that has devoured whole planets. Or, the other Gentes can choose war, further bleeding us dry as Nethress tries to gather us in unity to fight that last war, and we will face that foe weakened.

"The only other choice is to squabble until the enemy arrives to stomp our little hovels into paste. Is suffering annihilation without a peep truly better than fighting for life?

"We cannot avoid war. We can only beg the rest of Tellus to see reason, freeing us to spend the next eight months determining how to use our most powerful resources to best effect." He couldn't keep himself from looking to Oralie. As far as he knew--as far as any of them knew--all their technology would be useless, based as it was on the same poisonous Symbiont that the Sulfurians had seeded on this world. With her connection to Relay-Space and her ability to manipulate the SOPHIOS from a distance, Oralie might be their only true hope.

Dorsin's wife wouldn't meet his eyes.

Eztli, of all people, was the first to rise. "You ask what other options we have, Princeps Nethress. The answer is hiding in your own words. Our resources, Princeps. I have reason to believe that we were not the first on Tellus to discover these dangers."

Dorsin fought down his distaste and gestured for Eztli to continue. "Speak your piece."

"Milintica," Eztli said. "The prime Nxtlu bloodline, extinct these four centuries."

Dorsin had to keep himself from leaping across the table to fling Eztli across the room. His siblings and cousins likewise started at the name. Even Senrii scowled. Dorsin swallowed a lump of anger. "And why would you think they are relevant?"

In her typical infuriating way, Eztli continued as if she didn't notice she'd set the whole room on edge. "Suffice it to say that on one occasion I've encountered indications that the members of the Milintica strain had access to remnants of the Patrick Henry I found, and on another occasion, Princeps Tlalli Nxtlu implied that he is not ignorant of the dangers we are facing. That would make sense if he had access to some residual Milintica data."

Eztli stood up straighter, and the rhythm of her voice became more regular, more didactic. "It may be that Milintica's attempt to claim Imperium a generation before they were destroyed was based on the same reasoning that you are using, Princeps." She gave a wry smile. "Nethress, Nxtlu: we are not so very different."

"How dare you," Dorsin breathed.

"Think," Eztli said. "You say that every Gens on this planet must put aside their hatreds, no matter how reasonable, and unify. How can you expect Gens Utulo and Gens Rammert to join together happily when you cannot even bear to hear me say that our families are, at heart, the same? Worse will be said. Many times worse. If you would be Imperator, Princeps, you must be able to listen and think, rather than hating and doubting. Otherwise..." She looked around the room. "Perhaps you do not deserve to be Imperator."

Dorsin laughed into the silence. "And you do?"

"Hardly." Eztli put a hand on Senrii's shoulder. "Your daughter came to mind, actually."

"What?" Senrii sputtered.

"But my family still would not submit willingly," Eztli said. "You would have your wars, and more battles besides, and in the end as both our bodies lay dying on the battlefield we would look up to see our true enemy descending through the fiery sky. Even your daughter, as worthy a leader as she is, could not convince my family to give up their power. Your demands would doom us all.

"Let me make use of my resources, Princeps. There is more than Milintica. There are radio signals which may yet sing after all these millennia. There are ancient technologies yet to be unearthed."

Eztli drew the Heavenfall-era disc containing the data she'd extracted and the strange data-creature called AIda from her pocket. "If I can find another massless to power it, the Lifeship under Acerbia will be able to read the information on this. Additionally, you have access to the two most powerful Magi alive, Erus Tvorh--who is renowned for his ability to sniff out, or rather, hear out, subterranean treasures--and Regia Puella Thiyyatt, who herself comes from the Last Era. She may be able to help us uncover Last Era methodologies, technologies, and genomes that could aid us in the fight against the Silver Sands."

"The last time she helped us, we nearly died," Lenaa observed.

"Thiyyatt's not like that any longer," Tvorh said, speaking up for the first time. "She's... she's...better."

"No," Dorsin said.

"But--" Eztli began.

"Unity means that we act as one," Dorsin said. "There cannot be three dozen leaders running about Tellus, each one doing as he wishes. Three dozen heads--that is a hydra, a Chimera, not a human. Besides, your family tried to kill mine by poison, Eztli, and then tried to extort me into imprisonment. We cannot trust you as equals. No. The knee bends. Nothing else will do."

"I can't believe this," Senrii said, shaking her head.

"But you do bring up a good point, Eztli," Dorsin allowed. "Erus Tvorh and Thiyyatt are, next to my own wife, the two most useful resources we have. However, the princess is unpredictable, even if Captain Cornartis says otherwise. To ensure her cooperation, we will give her what she wants."

The faces around the room stared at Dorsin. Even Tvorh's eyeless visage seemed transfixed.

"Tvorh and Thiyyatt will be wed," Dorsin said. "She'll get the genes she desires, and she will give us her word of honor to assist, in return."

"No way," Senrii shouted.

"Dorsin, you can't," Oralie said.

"I..." Tvorh's head turned this way and that, the hairsilk of Aoife's bandanna fluttering as he looked for help. "I can't do that."

"Captain Cornartis, could the Free Cities be convinced to help us if we ally with you?" Dorsin glanced at Senrii. "I mean this in the traditional sense. My daughter is willful, but--"

"Bile, dad." Senrii leapt to her feet, and her chair skidded back and struck the wall. "I'm not going to be sold off like this. And neither is Tvorh."

Cornartis didn't seem to know who to pay attention to. "Princeps, I don't speak for the Free Cities. That's what makes them free."

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

If Cornartis insisted on being difficult, then Dorsin would sweeten the pot. "An alliance, with all the benefits thereof, plus free access to the genophage for any of your people who demonstrate genetic worthiness." He waved to Oralie. "The Gentes' genes are well-mapped, but your bloodlines are almost entirely untapped. I am sure that many of your people would make good hosts, and we will need an army of Magi to fight the aliens."

"You don't understand, Princeps," Cornartis said. "We're not Gentes."

"That is what I just said."

Cornartis half-laughed in obvious frustration. "No, you don't understand. We're not bloodlines. We're Amricians, Adonists, and yeomen. The Free Cities aren't a unified organization under the umbrella of 'Everyone Who Isn't a Generosus.' Each one is a Free City, and the military isn't the head of state or vice versa. You can't make an alliance with them by marrying your daughter to me the same way you'd have an alliance if you wed her to some Takahashi Dux. I could talk to Hallard and ask them to consider a literal alliance with your daughter, but at most, you'd get Hallard."

"Political minutia," Dorsin said.

"It's anything but." Cornartis spread his hands in pleading. "This is the whole reason we don't submit to the Gentes. It seems like minutia to you because you don't understand how we work. Even if we did work like you did, though, I wouldn't marry a woman who didn't want me, and your daughter clearly doesn't."

"No offense," Senrii said. "I like you, Captain, but last I checked I wasn't a piece of meat and this wasn't a butcher's stall."

"None taken."

The room fell quiet again. Dorsin leaned forward again on his knuckles. "I am beginning to think that some of those in this room have forgotten who is Princeps of Gens Nethress."

"We all know," Lenaa said, "but--"

"No buts. This is how it is. Tvorh, you will go to Thiyyatt's chambers tonight, offer of alliance in hand, with your body as surety. Captain, if you please, ask Hallard for an alliance according to these terms, and assist me in presenting similar offers to the others of the Free Cities. My daughter's hand remains available to you should you wish it as the price for your assistance.

"My brothers and sisters of the Comitatus, before you depart from Acerbia I will distribute to you your obligations regarding the other Gentes. You will contact them each according to the terms I lay out to you, offering them peace but being clear about the costs of recalcitrance.

"Meanwhile, you will gather the levies. Test the common folk, and send any who may make good Magi to Acerbia, where we will grant them the Bond. You are dismissed." Dorsin stood upright again, raised his chin, and clasped his hands behind his back. He took no pleasure in forcing his will on his family, but they would fall in line. Anything less meant extinction.

He forced himself to look at Oralie, whose hand was at her mouth, her eyes fixed at a low point on the wall across the table from her. He forced himself to look at Tvorh, who was hard to read without eyes but nonetheless seemed about to crumble. He forced himself to look at Senrii, standing at her place. Her chestnut hair fell like a veil around her downcast face as she stared at her hands, which were palm-down on the table--

"No," Senrii said.

Had Dorsin heard properly. "Excuse me?"

"No," Senrii said. Her nose parted her hair as she lifted her face, which was stony but glowed from within with the heat of anger. "No, I don't think I'm going to do that."

"Ductrix Acerbiae Senrii--"

"Ductrix?" Senrii's voice rose. "Ductrix? You yanked this city out from underneath me just a month back. Bile, dad, you just tried to sell me off to get an alliance. What do I look like, some Sodalite novice?"

Tvorh drew a sharp breath.

Senrii didn't seem to notice. "No, this whole thing is messed up, and you know what's most messed up about it, dad?" She jerked her head sideways toward Eztli. "I trust her more than I trust you."

Senrii's words jabbed Dorsin's heart like a forgebone blade. He instinctively looked to Oralie, but there was no comfort to be found there; her visage fled his attention like a fox chased by hounds.

"So yeah, none of that's gonna happen." Senrii walked around the table, coming to a stop in front of Dorsin. "Here's how it's going down. We're going to spend the next eight months tearing apart Tellus--the ground, not the people--freeing whatever Last Era and Heavenfall technologies we can. We're going to work ourselves to the bone, or even to the boneyard, preparing some nice surprises for our visitors. When those bastards show up, we're going to blow them from the sky. And we're going to do it united as one Tellus, like he describes." She jabbed a thumb toward Cornartis. "Freely. We're not going to spend this time punching our neighbors, not when we need to be training them to shoot aliens."

"You forget your place, Maga," Dorsin said.

"No, I don't think I do--"

The rage that welled up in Dorsin burst like a fountain out of his control. "You presume on my fatherhood to protect you!" he roared. "I have been too lenient with you. Piotr, take her into custody."

Piotr--

--hesitated.

Why did he pause? Why was Senrii looking at him expectantly? Pleadingly?

"Do your duty, Piotr," Dorsin said.

At last the ebony giant stepped forward. He placed a hand on Senrii's shoulder. Well, they had spent weeks together chasing down Thiyyatt. Surely they had formed the bond of two comrades-in-arms. Despite his anger, Dorsin could not fault Piotr for being gentle with her. It was enough. He turned back to the table. "Now that that is settled--"

"Not happening, dad," Senrii said.

Dorsin spun and jabbed a finger at Piotr, who hadn't changed position. "Get her out of here. Tvorh! You are dismissed to Thiyyatt's chambers."

"The kid isn't a slab of meat, dad!"

"Dorsin," Lenaa said, using the tone of voice that she had always used in their childhood to remonstrate with him, "be reasonable."

Infuriating family! Why could they not see what Dorsin was doing? Why could they not understand that this was the cost? He raised his hands in frustration. "Are you with me or with the aliens? Do you prefer one sun or two? Green forests or silver deserts?"

"She's your daughter, Dorsin," Lenaa said.

"He's no dad of mine," Senrii spat.

"Get her out of here, Piotr." Dorsin ground out every word. "Or I will. Tvorh--"

"I'm not gonna marry Thiyyatt, Princeps," Tvorh licked his lips but stayed seated. "I'm grateful for everything you've done for me, but I can't do this. I'm... look, I'm sorry. But I proposed to Aoife tonight."

Most of Dorsin's family looked merely slightly befuddled, but Oralie's head snapped up, and Senrii looked surprised.

"She's asking the Ambassatrix for a dispensation right now. She wanted to do it before Rab Zakiel goes back to Highkirk. She wants an Adonist wedding."

Senrii actually scoffed. "Short notice, kid."

"I don't care. I want this."

Betrayal. Betrayal from every side--but what should Dorsin have expected from an urchin? "You are not an Adonist, Erus Tvorh. You are Gens Nethress. Your pedigree belongs to me, and I will dispose of it as I see fit. If you disagree, perhaps Piotr would be less reluctant to take you into custody instead."

"Oh, you're so full of--" Senrii began.

The door of the room dilated shut. Meghan's voice rang out through the chordal units. "Enough."

Senrii's grin was big enough to swallow the palace. "Shouldn't have threatened the kid, dad."

"My family are under your protection, Princeps Dorsin," Tvorh's mother announced. "If you harm a single hair on their heads, I will gas the Symbiont free of each and every one of you."

"Oh, you're screwed now." Senrii giggled. "Her nerves are everywhere in the palace. She can do whatever she wants. Go, Meghan!"

Dorsin turned in a circle, looking at the air vents, but it was instinctive, rather than meaningful. He was well aware there was no way he could hurt Meghan. Except... "You're part of the Libraratory Tool. You need the Symbiont as much as we do, and you're right here with us. If you infect us, you risk infecting yourself, too. You'll die, and you'll probably kill my wife, too."

Perhaps not--Oralie had survived the injection into the Master-Mind beneath the Nameless City--but the look of relief on Oralie's face broke Dorsin's heart. He forced himself to ignore the pain.

"If you hurt my children, it'll be worth it," Meghan said. "For that matter, if you hurt your children, it'll be worth it. Let Senrii go, Piotr."

Piotr looked almost relieved as he did as she commanded.

"Much better. Princeps Dorsin," Meghan said, "I don't know if your plan is wise. I have access to a lot of data, but I'm not a warrior."

At least someone in this room recognized her limits. Dorsin didn't allow himself to talk, lest he say something he regret.

"Your daughter's right, though. We haven't exhausted all the options yet, so let me propose a compromise."

If it resulted in not getting gassed, Dorsin would hear it. "Speak."

"Do what you do best. Prepare for war. Send your Duxes and Ductrices back to their Duchies and have them gather their troops. But at the same time, let Senrii do what she does best."

"And what is that?"

"Lead. Let my son do what he does best: discover. Let Eztli do what she does best: synthesize the data. Let them go, Princeps Dorsin. If they think they can find a way to protect Tellus without war, let them try to prove it." She sighed, an all-too-human sound. "You can always shed blood later."

About that, she was wrong. If Tellus wasn't ready to protect itself--wasn't united--in eight months, it would die. "Not always," Dorsin said.

"These are my terms. They go their own way. You go yours. Both of you do your best as you understand it. Hopefully one of you will find the path to saving Tellus."

Did Dorsin dare take this deal?

"If you prefer, I could always gas you," Meghan said.

Dorsin slumped into his chair. "The rest of you, are you with me?"

Dux Venkas nodded. So did Dux Ymir. Ductrix Ramona and Dux Volund looked to Lenaa, who was chewing thoughtfully on the inside of her cheek. "Of course we'll do our duty as our princeps demands."

"Meghan, I keep your daughters as guarantee of your son's good behavior." Dorsin eyed Senrii and Tvorh in turn. "I find that I can no longer trust mere professions of good intent."

Meghan's reply was a few moments coming. "They will be unharmed?"

"I am not a monster," Dorsin said, making every word sharp. "I will protect them with my life, as I would protect all of Tellus."

"Then... all right."

Dorsin nodded. "Very well, Meghan. You have your deal." The door dilated open. Dorsin didn't dare breathe a sigh of relief, but he felt it all the same. "I am glad we could see reason.

"Now, my brothers and sisters, I present before you a motion to anaesthematize Tvorh and Senrii from Gens Nethress."

"What?" Senrii said.

"Wait," Tvorh blurted. "Why?"

Dorsin held up a hand. "And a further motion to suspend the death sentence. Senrii, you said I was no father of yours, but that's not my concern. There are irreconcilable differences in the two ways we will pursue our goals, Senrii. You may have more success pursuing leads across Tellus if our enemies do not have reason to assume you're spying on our behalf. It's better for you to be a free agent."

"Free agent for the Free Cities," Cornartis murmured.

"You're disowning me." Senrii staggered back into Piotr. "You're actually disowning me."

Angry though he was at Senrii for her mulishness, Dorsin wanted to set her at ease, to explain his intentions. If he explained any further, however, he would subvert those very intentions. Dorsin couldn't tell her that he intended her anaesthematization to be merely temporary; that one way or another, he would accept her back into the family once they had attained their goal of a unified Tellus. Loose lips brought skywhales to the ground, and even family couldn't always be trusted; Dux Pryan had proven that a year before.

The same way Dorsin's family was proving it now.

Senrii had to believe that all bonds had been severed. It was the only way to make their enemies believe it, to make them open their doors to her, to help her chase the goals she believed in so deeply.

"This is how it must be," Dorsin said. "Nethress and my path, or a free agent and your own."

"Dad," Senrii said.

"Please don't do this, Dorsin," Oralie said.

"Do you recant?" he asked gently. "Will you do as I command?"

It took Senrii a moment, but she shook her head.

"Do you, recant, Erus Tvorh?" Seeing the boy's obvious concern, Dorsin added, "I swore to protect your sisters. I keep my oaths." And Senrii needs you, he added silently.

"I'll go with Senrii," Tvorh said at last.

Dorsin nodded. "All of the Comitatus in favor of anaesthematization and suspended sentence, speak."

The motion carried.

"Tvorh, Senrii, you are now unbound by blood or General Principle. Tvorh, Senrii, Eztli, gather your things. You'll fly out within the hour on the skywhale with Rab Zakiel. Once you have departed Nethress territory, you will no longer be my responsibility." Dorsin sighed. "May you find success in your quest before I find success in mine."

"It sounds as though you already doubt your ability to unify Tellus through alliances and offers of peace, Dorsin," said Lenaa.

All Dorsin's anger had left him, and now there was only an empty hole in his stomach. His family was crumbling around him. "I have no illusions. Only hope."

The family filed slowly out of the conference chamber, but none of the stress and tension left with them. Dorsin couldn't watch them go, not even Senrii.

He didn't look up until Oralie's hand touched his shoulder. "I'm going with them," she murmured. Then his wife disappeared through the doorway.

Perhaps from his life.

"Meghan," Dorsin said, "I would be obliged if you would record a statement for me." He sighed again, feeling his whole life flow out from him in that single exhalation. "Make that several statements."

Should the worst happen, his family would deserve to know why.