The Misbegotten

Estefan Ernando, the Keeper of the Aegis Synod, sat there looking anywhere but at her – the wall, the floor – anywhere. It was taking every fiber in his body not to look. He didn’t want to make things worse. Why does this have to be so damned hard? Absently, he placed his hands upon his knees and slouched. It was a valiant attempt to hide the frustration, turning ever closer toward anger. All I ever wanted was to sit aside and watch mankind hang itself upon a noose of its’ own making. Why do they ask me to remove the rope? I have no desire to do so! I will never help them! Never!

An ancient thought came to mind. His head come up of its’ own accord as if someone had spoken in his ear.

I miss you, mama…

She was waiting, patient, though she wasn’t his mother.

His eyes found hers finally. He had to take a deep breath to keep his composure.

She was sitting so complacent, calm.

Inside, his guts churned and clenched. They were powerful emotions of the present combined with primordial stirrings of the past. They made him sick.

How could they ask this of me and my family?

An hour earlier, they had screamed into the VIP section of parking bay 167. The signature of their Glide-car was enough to gain them entry without human discourse. Estefan’s homing beacon took them right to it. It hadn’t taken them long to access the mobile Null-unit, which looked no different than a Glide-hauler on the outside. It was what lay beneath the paint and the fake company logos that differentiated its’ true nature from everything else around it.

Formed from a compound so secret, so rare – so expensive - only the highest echelons of society could afford it. Its’ technology was incredible. Even now, the true reach of its application was yet realized. This was despite the fact its' discovery dated back to 2074. All this time, only the Keeper and his Aegis Synod knew its’ secrets. Only they profited from the enormous advantage technology of this sort could award upon its’ owners.

It was Null-tech, a hybrid helix of conjoined elements that could thwart all Muto powers. It was so vital to the Synod’s existence, it accounted for just about fifty-seven percent of their annual profits. It made Diatainium mining look like pawn shop sales by comparison.

Once one stepped within a confined space surrounded by this compound, no one could find them. They were, in the simplest terms, “nullified” from the world around them. Not even the greatest Fermonist could find them. He could stand in the very next room or skulk beside a similar mobile Null-unit and never catch a single sense his prey were mere inches away. Null-tech was the skeleton that kept the Aegis Synod upright, if not uplifted, above all their competition. They guarded it with more firepower than all the terrible weapons conceived by the superpowers of the age-old Cold War.

The two of them had ditched their Glide-car, bolted for the rear of this new, wondrous vehicle. They had subjected themselves to the same verification required of all Synod-owned technologies. But, even that was quick, and after a few seconds, they entered.

Inside, they found themselves in a long room, apartment-like. The Keeper's consortium furnished it with all the accoutrements of such a dwelling.

Once the door had sealed behind them, the Null-unit activated. In an instant, they were invisible to the world. No one could hope to find them.

They were gone.

The Null-unit’s localized programming kicked-in. The entire vehicles lurched from its’ parking space and lumbered from the bay. Within minutes, it had joined the throng of traffic Angel Free Town was famous for having. They melted into to the thousands of thoroughfares, highways and sky-paths. Just another Glide-hauler among millions, they drove about the fifteen levels of the megalith.

They had at least a 24-hour stretch within this strange vehicle as it moved about the city, moving at random. They would have no ability to steer the –Unit. It would choose to go where it wished to go.

When it’s’ ‘Swarm projected their situation was within allowable parameters, it would open. Where it would do so, they had no idea, because they had no internal control over the Null-unit. It would just stop and open, giving them the opportunity to disembark.

Estefan wrenched his gaze from hers, his head bowed once more.

She seemed to notice his discomfort seeds were deeper than the mere disagreement between the two of them. A flash of concern echoed about her visage. Then, “Effy, why does this bother you so much? It’s not like we haven’t been through worse.” She wasn’t being facetious or sarcastic. She genuinely wanted to know.

In silent anguish, Estefan’s hand cupped his bald head. He shook with the same sort of nervous energy filling him when he was on the verge of killing. “You do remember them don’t you? Or maybe you’re becoming forgetful in your old age.” He couldn’t help the edge to his voice, so sharp it could cut. He was angry all over again. Sonofabitch!

Her eyes narrowed. “Don’t insult me, because you can’t explain what you’re feeling. I’m on your side, you thick-headed mule. And, I always will be,” she said, forceful, sitting on a chair opposite him, wrapped in a glow-shawl. It was a garment that provided both warmth and light to its’ wearer. It was the only luminance in the ten by forty meter chamber. It was the only heat as well, though temperature mattered little to him. Heavies were seldom affected by cold, or heat, for that matter. It had something to do with the imperviousness of their skin.

He felt chagrined over his outburst. She was, after all, right. She had been there on that day. She had been the one pulling him from the confused fog in his mind, getting him out of the line of fire. She’d done this despite the carnage raging around them. She had been the only one thinking clear enough to act. It didn’t matter blood covered most of his body. His victim lay sprawled upon the tiled floor of the balcony, lifeless, headless. Flavia had come and got him the fuck out of there.

“I’m sorry, Flavy,” he mumbled.

“I know,” she began, “but you still didn’t answer my question.” Her brow lifted upon her forehead.

He was silent for a long time.

She waited him out, determined to hear what he had to say.

“I can’t reconcile the risk against the reward,” he murmured, looking away.

“What risk?” she asked with meaning, somewhat aware of the answer already.

He replied at once. “I will not risk you or any of our family just because someone tells us if we don’t act, the human race will no doubt face extinction. How many times have we heard such nonsense in the past? I’m not a complete idiot.”

She sighed. She was weary now. “Estefan, I think you should consider the source this time before you go off making decisions as rash as that.”

He didn’t answer, though his scowl deepened.

Still, Flavia looked determined. “Dr. Ball’s family and ours go way back, my dear, further than any of our other business partners. Our little transaction back then helped us both, tremendously. It gave him and his people the means to leave earth and colonize Europa. It gave us the liquid funds we needed to insure our survival here on earth. It helped us win the war. We carved Angel Free Town out the rubble, because of them. Why would he come to us now, if he weren’t telling the truth about this new threat? Why risk the trust between our people? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“It makes sense, because they know the nature of our past and are using it to manipulate the situation. It’s the perfect entry point. They’ve established contact via a trusted source. A source that someone already compromised by the way,” explained Estefan. He shook his head, disgusted.

The auburn-haired beauty shook with frustration. “You’re too darned paranoid. You’re going to give yourself an ulcer,” she muttered under her breath.

“Oh, am I?” countered the Keeper. He tried his best not to give her the dirty look that threatened to blanket his face. Heavies don’t get ulcers!

She ignored him. She reached down to unstrap her heels from her feet, groaning, as an abrupt wave of fatigue washing over her. She hadn’t expected being this tired, but should’ve. It had been a long, grueling day, filled with too much destruction and death. How many had died on the Artery today? A thousand? Ten thousand? It was hard for her to think about. How could she not feel sorry for them?

Estefan stared at her as she massaged her feet with deliberate care, her long, slim fingers splaying long, thin toes. Her nails she polished black as usual, her fingernails colored the same. For a brief moment, he couldn’t tell what belonged to her foot and what belonged to her hand. Despite his ire over the topic of discussion, he felt himself thicken. Is she trying to distract me on purpose? he thought out of the blue. He had a notion to let the idea anger him further, but he forgot it almost as fast as it occurred to him. He had always loved Flavia’s feet.

She continued for a moment longer, and then a wave of self-consciousness washed over her. She stared up at him from her bent position, seeing a different sort of gleam in his eye. She knew it well, but decided to play dumb. They had been on the verge of a fight for much too long. It was growing bothersome. “What’re you thinking, Effy?” she asked in a low voice.

“Though I have to admit that I like it, I’m thinking you’re intending to use every weapon in your arsenal,” he replied. His voice was rougher than usual.

“You think I’m that crude?” she wondered, her tone the same.

“I believe you’re that smart, Flavy. You always have been,” he admitted. His eyes never left her hands as they continued to course over her lower extremities.

She brought her hands to her knees.

His eyes stayed glued to her feet.

“I don’t have to be anything, my dear. I could have you at any time. You could take me just as well. Neither of us would complain. So, why would I resort to such carnal games, knowing full well it wouldn’t change your mind…?”

He laughed aloud, hard and from deep within his chest.

Her smile lit up the room. The man she had once called brother, who she had loved for more years than she could remember, was back.

“You’re good, Flavy. You are waaaay too good,” he grinned. There was a film of residual lust coating the manner in which he said it. It was his way of complimenting her for lightening the mood.

She pulled something from one of the tiny pockets in her suit. She pulled her hair back away from her v-shaped face.

He realized it was an auto-twining hair tie, and thought, she’s giving herself a ponytail. He liked her with a ponytail. It accentuated her long neck and thin-boned chin. You are so beautiful, Flavia, he felt himself think. In that moment, he decided being circumspect was a waste of everyone’s time. The reality of who she was always seemed to center him.

“Truth told,” he began, quick to stand. The chair he’d been sitting on squeaked in protest.

They both ignored it.

“After what they did to us, they don’t deserve our protection.”

Her eyes followed him, her brow furling. “That was a long time ago, Estefan. That government, everyone who represented it, they’re all dead. Shit, my dear, they’re probably all dust by now.”

He shook with anger so intense it startled him. He hadn’t thought about the past – the far past – for so long. He had forgotten how much he had buried below the guilt and the sorrow… time. He’d tried with all his might to forget, but somehow, some way, he couldn’t.

They had no right to take my family!

He balled his fists until they began to turn red-hot with the incredible pressure he was applying. It was another by-product of being a Heavy. One had to control how tight they held onto something. They could inadvertently squeeze it into pure energy. This wasn’t a good thing, especially when he released the energy.

“I don’t think I care, Flavy,” he spoke through tight lips.

She was at his side before he knew otherwise. “Oh, Estefan, you can’t do that to yourself,” she smoothed. She touched his shoulder, but avoided his fists. She knew they were lethal when he had them clenched this tight.

He turned away. He made sure he was slow when he loosened the tension in his hands.

To her, he looked ashamed at the display of raw emotion. “Maybe, we should call the others,” she prompted. “You need to hear from more than just me on the subject.”

He turned back, under control. “Ok,” he said, reaching out to touch her cheeks with fingers still warm against her skin. “You are a better person than I am, Flavia. You always have been.”

Hers was a warm smile as she activated her Neuro-Nanoswarm. The thousands of nanite particles and motes came from all about the room at her bidding. It was time for the wives of the Aegis Synod to speak as one.

*****

Mena was the last to join them. With her arrival, the eight women comprising the centermost part of Estefan’s life were present. Well almost, their projections, at least, were before him.

He still sat in the Null-unit, twenty minutes later.

She smiled, demure at her tardiness. Her big, brown eyes blinked in rapid succession beneath pencil-thin eyebrows. These she framed with long, flowing, ruddy-brown hair. The 360-tru-def projection depicted her as real as if she’d been standing there before him in person. She was far away, though, somewhere deep in the Jovian system. Exactly where, he could only guess.

She was five-foot-even. She appeared no more than ninety-six pounds. This, despite the fact she had borne Estefan more children than any of the other women present. Her figure wasn’t much altered after all the years he had known her either. The surreal agelessness of her gave it away. She was an Old-Timer like him. This was the case for all old, Old-Timer’s. Their inability to age coupled with mild regeneration left their bodies in stasis. They all appeared somewhere between twenty-two and twenty-six years. Regardless of what happened to them. No matter how grievous the event, if they lived, in time, their bodies would regress to the type they had during their tender years. Their scars would fade. Damage done flesh and bone would disappear; even the markings of child-birth would fade.

It was amazing to think that Mena had given him eleven children and yet, there wasn’t a single blemish belying that truth. She looked no older than a junior in college, fresh from the library or the Student Union or some study group. Reality was far from it – very, very far. It was true that Mena was eleven years younger than him. But, she was still over three hundred and seventy-three earth-years of age.

She was petite; small breasted with round hips, curving into a round, bubble-butt. She wore an insulation suit. It was something one would wear underneath a Heavy-Enviro encasement. These they used when walking about a planet with more than three earth gravities. Wherever she was, she was near one of the gas giants. Only their gravity wells and heavy radiation levels required such personal fortification.

Estefan thought Mena was amazing all the same. He loved every one of the eleven children she had given him.

He nodded in her direction.

She beamed. Her nostrils flared below a proud ridge, her thick, pouting lips puckering to give him a “kiss”.

He shook his head back and forth at her.

Mena – no matter how bad things got – ever seemed to take anything too serious. She would rather joke or poke fun. She tried as much as she could to never let anything get her down. When something did sap her vibrant, light-hearted nature it made them all run to her, scared. Only the direst of situations were capable of affecting her spirit in a negative way.

Her levity was her way of saying she missed him. How could he not smile back?

At the same time though, he imagined they all missed him to one degree or another. He missed them, after all. It had been some time since they’d all been together.

The women before the Keeper were actually spread across the Solar System. This was protocol whenever their group was entering a dangerous phase. They deemed the meeting with Dr. Ahmed Carlos Ball as such. Thus, the Keeper had the girls – his girls - scattered before the wind.

Only Flavia accompanied him during times like this. On occasion, it irked the others to know they couldn’t be beside him in times like this. But, in the end, each of them knew Flavia was his best protection. She was his weapon and his shield.

At his side, the deadly vixen extinguished the fabric of her glow-shawl. The light (and heat) emanating from it vanished with a touch of her hand. They plunged into darkness for the moment.

Within a few heartbeats, the Null-unit auto-sensed conditions for its’ occupants weren’t optimal. It reacted. Low-level, phosphorus light pulsated about the upper corners of the elongated chamber. It emanated along the inverted corner where the walls met the ceiling. They bathed in pale blue, lighter color washed out and darker ones turned into varying shades of black.

He waited for the light to gain in intensity until its cerulean properties changed more or less to white. The true hues around them returned. Of their own volition, he felt his eyes stray to Katie.

She stood to leftmost from where he sat, staring back at him, her eyes intent. Her hazel eyes were almost glaring above the high cheekbones of her angular face. She had been emphatic about joining him and Flavia on this last mission.

He had forbid it, which had pissed her off something fierce.

She was about an inch taller than Mena and maybe weighed a handful of pounds more, but that was it. She was light-skinned with shoulder length, blonde hair.

(A color she always wore when she was angry with Estefan. It was her way of protesting. She knew he hated that color on her. She had programed it thus on purpose).

She was of a medium build with breasts fuller than Mena’s, though her hips were narrower. It made her backside seem to protrude, but the feature was more an optical illusion. She wore clothes as if she’d recently roused herself from bed, but he knew she hadn’t. She had deliberately stayed in bed all day, deliberately lazy, but deliberately alluring at the same time. She was telling Estefan, “Look what you missed today. Look what you could’ve had.” The spaghetti-strapped tank and fitted shorts clung to her curves, tight.

He could tell she wore nothing else underneath. He could see every bump, every crevice and every bulge. She left nothing to imagination.

What a brat, he thought as he forced his eyes to move from her sumptuous figure to the tall, voluptuous women standing next to her.

The projections made them seem close, but they weren’t. They were hundreds of thousands of miles apart. Katie was on Luna Prime, their sprawling headquarters upon the Moon. Ramona was within an undisclosed, orbital station five hundred miles above Earth. Not even Estefan was privy to her exact location; another protocol put in place to protect the integrity of the Synod.

She was wearing black heels over thigh-high nylons - the thick sort, looking more like socks. She had on a matching micro-mini skirt and loose fitting blouse. She wore it with the neck hanging over her shoulders, draped down her back. The unbutton front of it made a perfect “V”, exposing her ample cleavage. The skin there appeared spongy and drew his eyes before he could stop himself. She had cut her hair Cleopatra-style a few months back. Her dark brown, wavy locks were now obsidian glass, a miraculous high-gloss sparkling in the light. The fringe framed her broad face at ninety degree angles where her eyebrows ended. Her digital lipstick, mascara and eye shadow matched her hair. She looked like deadly viper hiding behind the veneer of an Emo-girl. Her appearance didn’t quite match the intensity in her blue-grey eyes. They were the only color about her, all else was black or white.

Even though, she was five hundred miles above him, Estefan could feel her trying to read his thoughts. His scalp tingled with the tell-tale signs she was using her Mutation to garner information from him.

Ramona was an Old-Timer like the rest of them. Yet, she was also a Sniffer. She was a Human Celeste capable of discerning another Celeste’s Mutation through thought. This “power” amplified, deepened, because she was also the most powerful Empathist the Keeper had ever seen. With her mind, she could unearth, read and sometimes manipulate ones’ emotions. Combining it with her Sniffer ability, she could come close to reading minds. If the subject was willing, she could unearth every lurking skeleton.

Now though, Estefan was not. That seemed to bother her. She hated it when he withheld information from her.

Welcome to the club, my sweet Mona. No one gets to know the whole truth this time, he thought. He nodded at her and let his eyes flick to the small diminutive woman projected to her left.

The tiny woman was in fact far away from them at the moment. She’d been “exiled” to Dark-side Mercury 7, a secure facility the Synod had built in a stationary orbit above the planet Mercury. The ultra-shielded base was forever moving in counterpoint with the rotation of that metallic sphere. Thus, it stayed in constant shadow, protected from the devastating Solar Wind.

Her name was Tirza. She stood there in what appeared to be a bathrobe and slippers. Her hair she had bundled in a huge towel, towering above her, made so, because she was so small. For as long as he had known her, Tirza had been one of the shortest women he’d ever met. She was dwarf-like in stature and being a Human Celeste hadn’t changed any of that. She was a mere four-foot-nine. This included the half-inch slippers she was wearing. She had an oval face with smooth cheeks, a tiny angled nose and a squared, but delicate-boned chin. Above those features, set close together, were large, ovoid eyes. They were dark brown, below thick, eyebrows, colored the same.

She smiled with love at Estefan, flashing her fingers with lightning speed. Being as old as they were, their mastery of sign-language was complete. In fact, they had altered the delivery and structure of the signs over the years. Thus, they’d just about invented a whole new method of communication only they could comprehend. And, of course, those they cared to teach as well. Those were, though, in short supply.

“Our daughter is well,” she had signed.

Estefan’s face softened. The thought of the precocious, eight-year-old daughter always did that to him. She could light the Keeper's darkest day.

Patricia was the youngest of his offspring borne to him of the Aegis Synod itself. He had younger children, but they had come from other women and had lesser status. Only those carried by the women before would be fit to rule beside them. All the others were well cared for and were never left wanting. They would always have a place within the Keeper’s vast holdings. But, they would never be a part of the inner circle – never.

Leda, the woman next to Tirza, had seen others’ fingers flash and understood the message. She turned toward the smaller woman, her hands moving with alacrity. “Does she like Dark-side?” she wondered with her fingers.

Tirza’s smile drooped. “She misses her brothers and sisters…”

Leda’s expression mimicked the other woman’s. “This will all be over soon. Then we can all be together again,” she signed, trying to lighten the others’ mood.

Estefan let his eyes wonder over Leda’s three dimensional figure. He ignored the conversation between the two.

She was awash in bright, artificial light. This sort was unusual this late in the twenty-fourth century. There had been plenty in the twenty-second though. This was when exploration of the Solar System had matured enough that serious colonization had begun in earnest. This light alone told the Keeper exactly where Leda was – Mars.

It had been one of the first planets extensively explored and settled. Some of its earliest communities had bi-centennial celebrations more than fifty years ago. So, it wasn’t all that difficult to deduce where one might find ago-old technology in quantity.

Though Estefan didn’t know exactly where she hid, he knew it was within the Martian permafrost. It was most likely somewhere deep.

Leda was wearing insulated blue-jeans and a sleek, lapis luzi dyed parka. She completed the ensemble with a matching beanie and scarf. There was a pair of sturdy looking boots upon her feet. Even then, she made it look sexy.

Estefan couldn’t make out a single aspect of her body, but he knew what was underneath. He could imagine her firm, perky breasts and small, well-formed butt under the layers of clothing. Still, that wasn’t what made her so appealing. It was her carriage. It was the way she held her chin when she turned to regard someone. The gesture of her hand, the splay of her wrist, the swivel of her hips when she changed position. The secret was in the sway of her shoulders. She was pure elegance to him.

To this day, she amazed him by the fact she was in love with someone like him. She always made him feel like a clod whenever she was near him. He was clumsy and retarded juxtaposed against her grace and porcelain features.

You should’ve been a Queen, my dear Leda… a pale-skinned monarch. You would’ve made the world kneel before your raven-like features. So complex and cold, and yet you are so passionate and loyal beneath. You have always been an enigma to me…

He realized, in that moment, she was looking back at him once again. There was a searching expression on her face as though she knew he was thinking of her, but wasn’t quite certain she wanted to know what those thoughts entailed.

He smiled, a lame attempt, feeling his earlier thoughts of inadequacy come to life. Then, he smiled wide when she began to frown. She thinks I am poking fun at her. He put his fingers to his lips and blew her an imaginary kiss, which made her freeze in place. She peered at him with one eye than the other.

“I will tell you later,” he signed.

She nodded, brisk, a silent gesture telling him he had better.

The woman to Leda’s left waved at him then, catching his attention. Her exuberance and vivacity undiminished through the years, though so many bad things had happened. It seemed to him, her indomitable spirit was impervious to crushing. She had the uncanny ability to bounce back from tragedy faster than any of them. She was always the first to explain the good and forget the bad. She was first to encourage and mollify uncertainty with her light tones and infectious smiles. She was the beacon they followed through the darkness. She was the glue of positivity keeping their unit strong, resolute in the face of adversity.

Her name was Sandy. She was of medium height with the strong arms and legs of an athlete. She had full breasts and broad hips, though none of that was in evidence now. She wore a low-level environment suit, a transparent Diatainium helmet, gloves and rigid boots. Estefan could see through the head covering. The mid-length locks of her russet-colored hair about her aquiline face and v-shaped chin. Her thin lips stretched even further because of her grin. Her small nose bunched at its’ bridge as her light brown eyes sparkled with mirth.

She’s far away too, recalled Estefan. His mood turned gloomy, because of the distance between them.

She too they sent away in secret, due to the delicacy of his meeting with Dr. Ahmed. But, there was another purpose to her journey at the same time. She was to visit DeepCore Alpha, the ice-mining facility the Synod had helped fund on Neptune’s massive moon – Triton.

There had been speculation as far back as the twentieth century that somewhere deep within the frozen ice sheets covering Neptune’s companion was a small layer of liquid water. That was if the rocky core of the moon was warm. After years of digging through the super-dense ice, the DeepCore team was approaching what they hoped was the discovery of that same water line. If proven fruitful and they found the existence of life, it could mean profits in the trillions for Estefan and his partners.

Sandy was there to represent his interests. She was to let the consortium that had built the DeepCore facility know, the Aegis Synod was watching. The fact he had sent Sandy with a security detail consisting of three Phalanx Class Cruisers and seven Agave Class Frigates helped stress the point all the more.

Sometimes carrying a big stick is all it takes…

His fingers moved.

Sandy’s smile faltered as she interpreted the import of what he was telling her with them. “How are things…?” he had signed.

Her fingers told a succinct message in reply, “Very promising and under control.”

He nodded his understanding when the seventh woman standing before him spoke.

“When are you going to tell us what happened? We heard about the chase on the highways of Angel Free Town. We were all worried sick!” she demanded. Her fists she clenched at her sides, both knees locked.

I was worried too, my dear.

She was the tallest of the group, who looked eye to eye with the Keeper himself when barefoot. When she wore her customary five inch heels, she towered over them all. She had dark, smoldering eyes, long eyebrows stretching near the edge of her face. Her hair she dyed red and came to her shoulders before ending with a bob. Her thin lips pulled taut as she glared at him, accentuated by a dimple on her right cheek. She was lanky with long arms and even longer, legs to match a tiny waist and narrow hips. She wore a custom, skin-tight leather jumpsuit, dark red, almost the color of dried blood. There was a strip of black running down each side. She wore heeled boots, completing the outfit and would’ve looked like some biker chick of an age passed. The thick mechanics’ belt slung around her waist and the pair high-powered eco-Halogen lights perched upon each shoulder said something else. She had already turned them off.

“How’s Saturn treating you, Ruby?” he answered, using misdirection instead of answering her question.

She glowered. “That’s not an adequate reply, Estefan.” She left the threat unsaid.

“We have seemed to have come to an impasse,” announced Flavia, cutting through the conversation.

Everyone’s attention focused on the deadly vixen beside him.

Flavia motioned with her hand. “You should all find something to sit on, because this may take a while…,” she trailed off as they all moved to sit.

Mena sat of the floor of whatever chamber she was within.

Then, Flavia began to detail everything all that had happened. She spoke of events since their arrival upon Earth, including her and Estefan’s polarized views on the matter. After fifteen minutes of explanation, the Keeper’s one-time step-sister posed the three-fold question.

“What should the Aegis Synod do about the use of Milandry tech against us? What should we do about the Shadow Spark? And what should we do about the Destro-Mancer?”

Ramona had been the first to answer, adding a fourth dimension to the issue. “Do you think it’s real? The whole thing, I mean?”

Estefan shrugged.

“It seems real,” replied Flavia. “The attack against us makes it moreso.”

“How do we know this isn’t some ploy to get Estefan out in the open?” countered Ramona.

Estefan laughed to himself. No one ever said Ramona was stupid.

“He seems to think that’s exactly what it is,” retorted Flavia. She gestured to the Keeper sitting beside her.

“But even if there’s a shred of truth to it all, the very idea of something as powerful as the Shadow Spark alone would force our rivals into action. In fact, just about every organization I can think of, would go after it. The other members of the Board, local governments, the Agencies, even legitimate businessmen would all want a piece of it. That’s not mentioning all the undesirables on the other side of the tracks. Pirates, raiders, Mercs, smugglers, buccaneers and Trû-Knights are all going to want a piece of the action. It won’t be long before the Clans and the Brotherhood, and the Yaku Alliance will be rampaging across the Solar System. They'll want their share for sure. Everyone will be going after it. It won’t stay secret for long. Your little escapade on the streets of Free Town is proof enough already.

“So, in a sense, the prudent thing to do is get the jump on everyone and see if this lead bears any fruit,” finished Leda. She picked at her nails as she went along.

Katie grunted. “It would have to be under the strictest security. And the Synod in its entirety will travel with the Keeper wherever he goes. Over that, I will have no argument.” She might be small for a woman, but once she put her foot down, few had the strength, or the will, to budge it.

Estefan sighed, knowing full well she wouldn’t back down this time. She would do whatever it took to be by his side. That was one of the reasons he couldn’t mitigate the reward over the risk. All the money in the world wasn’t worth shit to him, especially if one of his wives got hurt or killed. He would never risk them.

“If it is a lie, then it’ll be one helluva shit storm,” commented Ruby. Some of her earlier frustration had quelled. Flavia’s exhaustive explanation of what had occurred since her and Estefan had left the Moon had done the trick.

“If it’s the truth, it’ll be an ever bigger shit storm,” added Mena, always one to cut through the bullshit. “Either way, we have to find out the validity of this Shadow Spark claim. There seems to be no way around it.”

“And if it is true, we’re the only ones that can safeguard it from this Destro-Mancer character,” pointed Flavia. She was restating some of the same opinion she had voiced to Estefan an hour earlier.

“This is assuming the Celeste exists at all,” piped in Estefan for the first time. He perched his chin against the palm of his right hand, his elbow upon the hand rest of his chair.

“What makes you think he doesn’t?” asked Ramona. She uncrossed her legs and then re-crossing them in the opposite manner, hands resting upon the top of her thigh.

Estefan shrugged. “I don’t know one way or the other, but I will not assume he does just because it fits so nice into the whole of the story. What if the good doctor and the Muslim people he represents have another reason for wanting the Shadow Spark off their planet?”

“Like what?” wondered Tirza. Her tiny brow furled at the growing complexity of the problem before them.

Estefan stood of a sudden, making his chair squeal in agony. He paused to adjust the Grav-sensors on his suit, nullifying more of his tremendous weight. Then, he peered back at the group. “There are so many answers to a question of that nature. We could be here all day, spinning our wheels, and still not figure out what we should do.” He paused to hold up his hand when a few of them began to speak at the same time. “The question that we must address is not one of specifics on this detail or that. The real question is a much bigger one and it’s much simpler. I will not sit here all day arguing, because the answer is either a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’.”

They were silent, waiting on what he was going to say next.

“This is what made Flavia and I argue a while ago. It is why we called you all here, even though it is dangerous to do so, in a tactical sense.” He added the past part to warn them. They were entering dangerous times. “There is something going on out there in the Sixteen Worlds, something big. Of that there can be no denying.

“How do I know this?” he asked rhetorically, clasping his hands behind his back as he began to pace.

No one answered.

“I know this because of what happened out on the streets of Angel Free Town. Someone not only had the audacity to make a run for me in my own city. They fired upon me, using the most advanced tech of one of our rivals. I don’t like the way that fact feels inside, the more I think about it. Somebody had to be desperate or extremely stupid to pull such a stunt, knowing how difficult I am to kill. They even brought a Fermonist with them, which tells me their plight may be even worse than I’ve just mentioned.

“So,” he went on, “we know something is going on. We just aren’t certain of the details. But still, that’s not the crux of the question we must ask ourselves. The question is… should we even care?”

There were a few gasps about.

Tirza stood, her hand over her mouth, her eyes bugging out with astonishment.

Estefan forged on. “Why should we?” he repeated again. “What has anyone ever done for us? When was the last time someone, anyone, has done anything for us?”

“But, Effy, that sounds so callous, so cold,” answered Sandy. “We are no longer that Synod – the one that went to war and slaughtered thousands, enslaved even more. We aren’t them anymore.”

“Of course, we aren’t, Sandy. The very fact we aren’t though seems like reason enough to me. Why help now?” he asked. “Why, because now there is a possibility countless lives could be at stake? Is this what draws such concern from you now?” He stepped around his chair, closer to their projections. “There are always countless lives at stake, always. It has always been the way of the Human Race and it’s the same with the Combined Race now. Nothing has changed. We haven’t reached some plateau of benevolence and suddenly all is well across the Solar System. Sure, we have great technology, wondrous computer swarms and biological advances. It makes the medicine we had as children look like voodoo. But, it hasn’t changed the fact of what we are inside. We’re still poisoned. We still bear the mark of sin or evil or whatever the fuck you want to call it! It changes nothing! So, I ask, why should I risk any of you for the good of any of them out there! FUCK THEM!!!”

He sat heavy in his chair, winded as though he had been running a mile. The chair creaked, but no more.

The women remained silent, stunned.

Only Flavia seemed to be breathing.

“It won’t change the fact they killed my family once before. I cannot live if that were to happen again,” he mumbled, almost pitiful. His head bowed. None of them had seen his lips move, but he had spoken loud enough for them all to hear.

“Estefan? Estefan, my love, look at me,” urged Tirza, having come to her knees. Her projection was closer to him than it had moments ago. She was so tiny before him.

He raised his head to look into her digital eyes.

“They killed my family too,” she said. A single tear fell down her face. The 360-tru-def version of her was so accurate; he saw it shimmer as it fell to the ground.

“I know,” he barely managed, his voice cracking.

A new figure approached and knelt next to Tirza. “They killed all our families, my love.” It was Katie, her eyes full with pain and regret she couldn’t be there to hold him.

“I know…”

“We have to do this, Effy, for them,” came a third voice, a third figure. It was Mena, her razor-thin eyebrows coming together, imploring him to understand.

From further back, “We’ve lived good, long lives, Estefan. We have exacted our revenge. We helped destroy the government that took our loved ones from us. We helped bolster and balance the one that replaced it. We have spent centuries building something special for our living family to the glory of ones that are dead.

“Now, you tell me, there might be something out there with ability to threaten what we have worked so hard to construct. Now, you say, we might all be in danger again…,” Leda paused to look around at the rest of them. “No one - I mean, no one - threatens my family. I will make sure they won’t. I vowed long ago, if I could do something about it, I would fight. I didn’t vow to stand aside or turn tale and run. I vowed to fight. Though we may not know all the details, even if it was no more than a trap – I will resist with every ounce of strength in my body. I refuse to be a victim again. I will not wait this time. I will destroy and kill in the name of this belief, Effy. I will do it again and again, if I must.”

Her expression became imploring. “But, to avoid all that, we need to do this, Effy. We need to get the jump on everyone and put this whole Shadow Spark thing to sleep before word gets out and all hell breaks loose. And it will, Estefan, my husband. It will. By the blood of our lost families, we have no choice. The lack of time, the situation… what’s at stake has all conspired to make the decision for us.” She sighed. “The Milandry girls already have an advantage over us. We cannot afford to let that gap widen. We need to close it.” Her expression hardened as she looked straight into his eyes. “We have to make it disappear.”

Around him, he could hear the others agree and knew they would overrule him. He might by the Keeper, head of a meta-planetary empire, but he was not a despot within the Synod itself. One of their closest held secrets was, between the nine of them, they were still a democracy.

In the end, they voted unanimously – with one abstention – to make plans for the retrieval of the Shadow Spark from the surface of Europa.

They were to put all their efforts into unearthing whatever they could about the Destro-Mancer. The fact that only the Muslims had heard of his existence still bothered them. Their own intelligence resources outstripped Dr. Ahmed’s people tenfold, maybe twenty. They should’ve known or heard something.

Last, they would search high and low for those who had tried to assassinate Estefan in his hometown.

They would do what needed doing, but the first order of business was to call a Full Gathering. The entire command structure of their organization needed to move as one. This undertaking demanded it. Estefan made certain everyone knew the importance of that before the women signed-off.

One by one their projections winked out of existence.

He and Flavia were alone once more.

He felt hallowed, a shell, like the rind of a Cantaloupe eaten from the inside out. He couldn’t bear the thought of losing any one of them. They – and his babies – were all he cared about.

Why did they have to be so brave?