I was confident my Father would not have any qualms with Liana, but Betalaina was a scion. To him, Scions were nothing more than mindless vessels. To be vaporized when in the away or to prove a point.
My father was not a compassionate man. He would not accept Betalaina’s sentience, of that I had no doubt.
Liana was protesting at being ushered into a room, but I insisted.
"This is ridiculous!" she said, "surely we can explain? Appeal to his better nature?'
I laughed, "you assume my father has a better nature?"
"Judging by the uninvited visit,” she answered, “I take it, he doesn't. I didn’t think he was the type to teach you how to ride a bicycle?"
My face went blank, "can I assume this bi-ci-cle is a rite of passage for younglings? In which case, to answer your question, no. My father sees me as an asset. Not a particularly good one at that. You need to hide in here." I gently nudged her into the pod room. Liana stood rigid refusing to budge, "I can handle him Liana. you won't understand us."
"Oh, I've dealt with men with enormous egos and a sense of entitlement before, Zan, don’t you worry about my safety."
"Zanthric meant, you won't understand what he has to say.” Betalaina said in my defence, “He doesn't have a translator, Liana." Betalaina had become a duller colour, she was showing her fear physically. She knew her fate if she was seen.
Liana's mouth formed an 'O' "I hadn't thought about that. We'll have words later, Zan. I won’t forget this mishandling!" With that they left, I could almost feel Betalaina's relief as the door closed and concealed them.
Then I waited for the inevitable. I wanted the reassurance from Thera, so I reached out. Silence. This lack of response was not an auspicious sign.
********
Lord Afaron Dascan of the land furthest from the Red sun, to say his full title, had long given up walking. Instead, he sat on a barely sentient platform with moving tendrils. Grown from an antiquated cultivated plant. The plant was impractical, of such limited intelligence it could barely move without guidance from pole wielding assistants. It was nothing but a status symbol. There were better plants for mobility, for Xerans with disabilities, they were so efficient, no one dreamed of using the platform. They were only grown for the wealthy, so they could declare that they were so rich they no longer needed to walk and could afford to employ the attendants to steer it.
Years of deliberate immobility had made my father an unhealthy man with purple cheeks. He looked worse every time I saw him. The royal red colour of the platform, skittering about on its spindly tendrils was meant to mock our last king, said to be a tyrant. All I could think of right then, looking at the useless vehicle and decoration was a line from an old earth song I’d heard:
"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss."
The platform, nudged by a visit weary attendant, pale and tired, skittered to a halt, jolting my father in his chair. He gripped tight before he fell flat on his face in front of me
I struggled then to suppress the laughter bubbling up. Mocking my father wouldn't help. I bowed and greeted his presence in the traditional way.
He held his hand up, "enough!" He boomed. I had spent too long speaking the Earth language. It had made my native tongue as strange as English once sounded to me. Over time I'd learned the language without the translator.
"I am here to stop this nonsense," he continued, "An advisor opened my eyes to your ruse. I did not believe him at first but he was most insistent I review the archives in detail. Now I have arrived, this lie has been uncovered. I see nothing but scions and pests, the programme has failed."
"Not yet,” I said, “The mission was to open the pods by any means."
"And you haven't opened a single one." He stated, "and is there anyone on this ship apart from you that isn't an abomination?"
"There is one human female," I said.
"One? Is that all?” And have you formed an alliance yet?"
"It is early, she has only been here for less than fourteen rotations.”
"And the other Xerans?" he said, wobbling as his platform shook. A strike from the attendant settled it, “what of them?”
"Left," I said, "or they succumbed and reside in the Great hall of the red sun."
"Don't sweeten bad news with the lies of the afterlife, Zanthric. I am not senile yet.” These falsehoods have confirmed that my decision is the right path for us."
"You cannot!"
"It is too late, it has been decided,” he said, “Lives have been lost, Zanthric and let’s not forget you’ve stolen a ship. A warrant for your arrest has been declared. However, I am offering you a choice.”
“So Father, What are these choices you have for me? I'm itching to hear them!" Oh sarcasm sounded so good! No wonder it was used by so many humans to express disgust. I folded my arms for good measure.
"The board has agreed your freedom on these conditions. You surrender our property and in return we will give you a new identity.” He said, “You will be given sufficient finances to do whatever you desire."
"Sounds too good to be true, Father." I replied, “what’s the catch?”
"How observant you are," he said with no emotion. "Of course I will play my part in the deception. Only the board and the family will know the truth. To the masses, you'll be nothing but a mourned son. You will be given a proper memorial with all the rites." He saw my face, "Don't look at me like that, Zanthric," he lowered his voice, "you must know that I can never appear with you in public again after what you did. Deep down I wonder if you ever were part of this family. Are you really upset at the prospect of never seeing me again?"
I wasn't, but deep down everyone wants approval from their parents, no matter how much they deny it. To give up Thera was unthinkable, even after knowing her time was limited, if she'd exhausted myself growing a ship for Liana to escape. I sent a message to Thera to reduce her functions to life support and growing the ship. She informed me the ship was almost ready.
I breathed a sigh of relief, "tell Liana to go to the ship" I mentally said to her.
"With my children? Betalaina and the unborn?" She said, then I felt her confusion, "I can't find them anymore. I'm, I'm shutting down, Zanthric."
She was losing cognitive function faster than I thought. Growing the ship had taken the rest of her energy. Yet she did not deserve to be destroyed.
"I'm sorry Father,” I said, or Perhaps it is Lord Dascan, now you've made your intentions clear. My decision is final, I cannot let you have the ship."
My father laughed, "Is that what you are thinking? That I want your ship? It’s a diseased ridden relic! It's the pods we want.”
"You won't be able to open them, without a coupling." I said in a vain attempt to defend them, "no seeds, no genes."
My father laughed again, the sound cut through me like psychic knives, "Did you not think we have been doing research? We have found a way to grow Xera Bioships that can be controlled. A certain cut, made to sentient plants when they’re young and they became fully compliant. No Scions, no pilots and no emotions. To think that was all that was needed all along. We will open the pods eventually, then the trials will start.”
No. Not like this. They were going to make them nothing more than mindless puppets. "I can't let you destroy them. I won't give them to you."
"I knew you would say that," he sighed, "that's why I sent scouts to scour the ship for the pods,” he gave a nod and armed guards filed in surrounding me, "arrest this man and escort him from this ship." The man who was once my Father commanded.
I was cuffed and restrained. One guard jerked me to move. I complied, there was no point I had lost. The pods would be found, Betalaina would be executed and so would I, after a long sensational trial. The worst, the Bioships would become extinct.
There was a shout from one of the guards but it wasn't a command. It sounded like the shouts of repulsion.
Liana was dragged in holding the last two pods. They were both covered in the brown black of the rot.