Beyond Death (Perimeter Defense Book #2) (27 page)

I thought the girl would laugh at the joke, but the Princess unexpectedly took my words seriously:

"And why would you have done a thing like that, Crown Prince?"

"It doesn't matter," I said, waving off my favorite's strange question. "I'd rather you explain me what made you give a striptease like that on a Swarm cruiser?"

Astra got embarrassed, and tried to cover herself with her hands. Then, she began to tell her version of the events in an offended tone:

"I was waiting a long time for your Highness, but then I fell asleep. After that, I heard a rumbling, and the lights went out. In the darkness, it was hard to breathe, but I didn't have time to get scared, because a huge Iseyek broke into the room with a flashlight on its armor, grabbed me, folded me up in a web and dragged me off. I saw people, called for help, but no one could help me. The praying mantis dragged me to its ship and started to poke holes in my cocoon with its sharp appendages. There were a lot of insects around. I was very scared that they would eat me right up. But then I remembered my mother's words, that insects don't eat women, and that their females perform wedding dances to attract males. So I started dancing to make them finally realize that I was a female and they weren't allowed to eat me!"

I took a surprised look at Phobos. He turned his head to the side, clearly showing incomprehension of the idea that some people were not supposed to be consumed as food. Doctor Nicosid Brandt's insecure voice rang out from the silence behind my back.

"My Prince, I may be mistaken, but I have a funny feeling that I know the answer: your companion is confusing two different nonhuman races. In Perimeter Sector Seven, in the star system neighboring Veyerde, Glorva, there is a race of intelligent spiders that really are somewhat externally similar to the Iseyek. The Glorvians are governed by a vibrant matriarchy. The huge and very aggressive males are not intelligent and serve as their soldiers. They fully obey the relatively smaller, but intelligent females in all matters. I suppose that Princess Astra royl Veyerde could have heard of the Glorvians and come to a mistaken conclusion about the Iseyek."

I laughed so hard that that a fresh gash opened up on my cheek. The doctor ordered me to be placed on a stretcher and brought to the operation room immediately. But right up to the last second, when I was cut off by the drugs, I was looking with a smile at my favorite's information:

Astra royl Kant ton Veyerde, heiress Princess to the star kingdom of Veyerde (under Alien control)

Age: 17

Race: Human

Gender: Female

Class: Aristocrat/Artist

Achievements: Iseyek Mating Dance

Fame: +5

Standing: + 5

Presumed personal relationship: Unknown

* * *

"Crown Prince Georg royl Inoky ton Mesfelle, finish your breakfast and you can see your visitors. But not for too long now, your Highness. It is counter-indicated for you to spend a long time speaking and using facial muscles," the attending doctor's assistant repeated Nicosid Brandt's prescription once again, and left my room.

The door had barely shut behind the young nurse before I scraped the contents of my plate down the trash shoot. Even in real life I couldn't bear the pressed liquid porridges and purees of unknown origin served in Russian hospitals, but eating that kind of food in a game was basically mocking the taste receptors.

"Who's in line to visit?" I asked Astra, who had grown bored with painting her nails.

The insect dancer had somehow managed to convince the attending physicians to give her permission to stay in my hospital room. How the Princess had been able to convince the normally very strict and uncompromising Nicosid Brandt, I had absolutely no idea, given that I was anesthetized when it happened. After I woke up, the fact had simply been presented to me, and I had been too weak to dispute it. So now, one day after the operation, it was a bit too late to send my favorite packing.

Astra, who was working temporarily as my secretary, was checking her communicator against the list on the screen:

"Your Highness, for the second day in a row now, there are many people who want to talk with you. Popori de Cacha, General Savasss Jach and Nicole Savoia are on
Umoyge-4
. The general has been waiting to speak with you in the hallway for fifteen hours now."

This behavior was quite uncharacteristic for the highly placed Gamma Iseyek, as he generally hated leaving
Tria
, and only did so for truly weighty reasons, so I asked General Savasss Jach to be called in first.

"Shall we also call in Popori de Cacha to translate?" Astra clarified, but I replied, "no." The head of my bodyguard had earned my temporary disfavor after what had happened on
Joan the Fatty.
Yes, I had already long ago figured out that it was not treason on his part; however, I still considered the Chameleon's behavior revolting.

The respectably long Gamma Iseyek was not alone, but in the company of a six-foot-high praying mantis, which was considered practically dwarf-sized for an Alpha Iseyek. In addition, the general's companion, differently from the Alpha Iseyek I had seen before, was wearing a heavy armored suit over its chitin body. The insect was even wearing a transparent protective helmet on its head. The vigilant Phobos was immediately set on edge by the appearance of the unusual visitor. Any Alpha Iseyek, no matter how small, would have a dangerous set of sharp upper appendages. My bodyguard was also worried by the strange suit of armor the visitor was wearing...

In order not to provoke my guard, the general asked his companion to take a seat near the door.

"General Savasss Jach to say that he to bring explanatory transsslator for to conversssation with Princcce instead of, much shshshame, dead and talented Bionica," said Phobos, explaining the centipede's squeaking.

"Allow me to introduce myself," the praying mantis sitting by the door said in clean-accented human language. "I have studied human language before, though it has been some time. My name is Nai Igir. I was specially trained to make contact with humans on the planet Sivala II; however, the Ulia massacre and the war happened before my tutors could finish teaching me."

The Alpha Iseyek’s speech patterns sounded distinctly female to me, though I had no way of checking this information. There was no pop-up on the character, and I was not capable of differentiating the Iseyek genders visually. The general squeaked something out, and Nai Igir suddenly started taking off her suit, piece by piece. I looked on in surprise at the spectacle, before Nai Igir suddenly removed the breastplate and... extended a set of wings!!!

"She is an Iseyek Prime," Phobos exclaimed with something approaching awe, before hurriedly putting his weapon away, which he had been keeping trained on the translator as she removed her armor. "A Swarm Progenitor."

The translator said, explaining the situation.

"Iseyek Prime are the race of Iseyek that first inhabited Sivala II. We created the other Swarm subraces as part of our scientific research. The Alpha Iseyek soldiers we created for capturing new territory, the Gamma Iseyek as academics and qualified technicians for complicated equipment, and the Beta Iseyek we created for everything else. Many other types of Iseyek were also created in these experiments, but we were unable to develop them into pure lines; they would all collapse into one of the three basic types in a few generations."

General Savasss Jach let out long warble, and Nai Igir set about translating:

"As a result of the Orange House attack on Sivala II, the number of Iseyek Prime was reduced to a critical level. As a consequence, the Swarm ceased to be under the control of the Progenitors, and began making decisions on their own. They grew drunk on the illusion of freedom they acquired, which pushed them toward irrational actions. So, some of the other Iseyek started looking on the remaining Iseyek Prime as a threat, a force that could perhaps want to claim a position of authority over the others again one day. A revolution followed in the Swarm, which lead to the Iseyek Prime going effectively extinct. Now the Swarm is some kind of advisory organ, where all important decisions for the Iseyek race are made collectively by approximately three thousand individuals. Your Highness has already had the chance to see that, quite often, decisions made in a simple majority turn out to be controversial, or sometimes even mistaken."

It was hard not to agree to that, especially after the Swarm had agreed in the majority to condemn the allied Perimeter Sector Eight Fleet to death.

"General, continue your thought," I said, trying to be as economic with my words as possible, as speaking had grown painful due to the stitches on my face.

"I have been keeping Nai Igir hidden in suspended animation on my ship for one hundred seventy years now. The war with the humans has long since ended. The Swarm's hunt for the last Iseyek Prime is also long over. But all the while, the sleeping Progenitor has been awaiting her hour. And it seems to me that her time has come. Crown Prince, I heard out your emotional speech in Kej carefully on the common channel, and am in full agreement that the Swarm has made a historic error that may lead to the total extinction of the Iseyek race. In fact, many Iseyek realize that there is no way out of the situation that has arisen. Though the Sector Eight Fleet has hampered the Aliens, they will still be able to capture the Swarm's systems before we are able to ship out even one of the egg transports under construction."

I winced in pain, and answered the general:

"There is a way out of this situation, though it will be fairly difficult. The Swarm doesn't have the materials or resources to continue building their huge starships. That means the construction must be stopped in all systems except one or two. Some of the resources that are freed up will have to be sent to select systems to speed the construction of the remaining transports, and to build combat ships
en masse
at the freed-up docks to hold off the Alien invasion."

I could barely make it, but I arrived at the end of the long sentence. The general heard me out carefully and answered:

"Your Highness, those are very good ideas. The only thing is that the Swarm is no longer in a condition to recognize the error of the chosen strategy, given that it is still the same Swarm that made the decision in the first place. Also, figuring out what systems to sacrifice for the good of the others is something the Swarm will not be capable of. Every option has its opponents, and their votes are key in passing any proposed solution. And as such, the Swarm will die out, and there is nothing that can be done about it. And so, I am sure that the time for the Iseyek Prime to return is at hand. The past hatred toward them no longer exists even in memory. Now, it is more the opposite opinion prevailing in Iseyek society: that under the power of the Progenitors, the Swarm never would have ended up in such a dead-end. That's why we need to present Nai Igir for all Iseyek to see, and to assert her rights for all Iseyek to hear. She is one of the Progenitors of all Iseyek, and it is precisely she that must be given full power in order to save all the others."

I kept silent, though there was a kernel of rationality in the general's words. But how then was I to assert the rights of this flying female, when we were totally cut off from contact with the Swarm? As if reading my thoughts, Savasss Jach continued:

"My opinion, Crown Prince, is that it isn't worth trying to get the Bej system to turn their beacon on. Triasss Zess is expecting that, and the warp beacon guard team will say no. I recommend going straight to the Khe system and putting in a request from there to the Arite system. I have many old acquaintances there. I can't promise they'll turn the beacon on for me, but there's no way they won't hear me out. And then, I can tell them about the Sector Eight Fleet's victories, and rich trophies, the rescue of the scientists and the last of the Progenitors. Information on the heroic allied Imperial fleet on the Alien home front will spread throughout all Swarm systems instantly, and even beyond their borders. Hiding our existence further would be impossible. The Swarm will simply have to turn on a warp beacon for us and let us into Iseyek territory, thus admitting their own error. It's either that or they'll have to explain to billions of Iseyek and Imperial citizens why they need to bury alive Crown Prince Georg royl Inoky ton Mesfelle, the victorious commander and close relative of the human Emperor."

"General, your plan really might work. I give you my permission to carry it out. And now I want to clarify something for myself: should we keep hiding the fact that there is an Iseyek Prime in our fleet, or should we, in fact, announce the fact? How valuable is her life in the eyes of the rest of the Iseyek?"

"That's for you to decide, Prince" said Nai Igir, translating the General's answer. "On the one hand, you could come across certain individuals with negative ideas about her. They even may try to eat her. On the other hand, the vast majority of the Iseyek would give their life for a Swarm Progenitor without hesitation. I would do so myself, as well as most of the generals and admirals I am acquainted with."

Something in the General's words made me think. One day, I had seen a Swarm admiral making what appeared to be a totally unjustifiable self-sacrifice before. Four valuable battleships to rescue one badly damaged ship... I had mentally made a note to figure out what that was, and it seemed I had found just what Admiral Ogesss Tusk may have thought valuable enough to accept such a strange trade-off.