Log 1 Matter | Antimatter (43 page)

From the looks they received, Ara felt a
little on display.

“Orders of the queen. It was to be a full
convoy but I convinced them I should pick you up.” He ran around
and into the jeep. He sped off and screamed around a corner.

She clasped the door handle. “How did you
manage that?”

“Ah, just got here first.”

Ara burst out laughing as Ash screeched
through the streets with a few people yelling at them. They exited
the city limits in no time and were soon on the road. Coming in the
opposite direction was the convoy.

“Shit, Ash.”

“I can go back.” He glanced at her with a big
grin.

“No, no. This is fine.” She held on to her
hair.

On her entry to the kitchen, their mum and
dad came out. “Ara, you must go to King Delario’s, not Silvia’s.
They’ve bumped her again.”

Ara shook her head, annoyed, while Ashley
swore.

“Take the family jeep.”

“No, I’ll take you. Hurry up in case the
convoy comes here.”

“Oh, Ash. How could…” Dad was saying.

Ara dashed down the stairs to wash up.

“I’ll get your clothes ready.” Pen went with
her and then to her closet, bringing out her good clothes.

As Ara freshened, she saw Mum drop a top,
which fell to the floor. “You look nervous.” Ara clasped the
shaking hands with some concern. She decided not to tell them how
she was disconnected as the Mobile Unit.

Pen lowered her voice. “You know we love
you.”

“Yes.” Ara touched Pen’s pale face, trying to
keep her own panic at bay. Were they afraid she’d find out they
were Aether, the Energy Matter Beings?

“Your father has been involving himself with
the Koen; I’m worried it has something to do with that. You know
how the tensions are rising with the Avatara. Conditions on Earth
are so bad now.”

Ara sighed. Either Mum was equivocating or
Ara just couldn’t read people. “Then why doesn’t the Aryan
Government do something?”

“Maybe it is. Perhaps that’s the reason for
this Pure-Gen meeting.” Pen sighed. “Terance is trying to find out
and help. But it has to do with the contract originally signed. Our
entire system is built on contracts; if one is toppled then other
contracts come into question.”

“I know, Mum. I’m sure it’s not about that.”
She hoped it wasn’t but didn’t want it connected to her own
disconnection either, or matter levels too high. She followed Ash
down the stairs who rattled the keys in his hands. Ara barely noted
the scenery. Sooner than she expected they were driving through the
Delario gates, down the long driveway, and arrived to find Terzon
and Caleb, Meg and Tara standing watching the Pure-Gens enter.

“Thanks, Ashley.”

He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.
“My pleasure, Queen PuG. I’d better get back to work before the
boss notices I’m missing.”

Ara was startled out of her nerves and
laughed with him. He drove off and waved. Ara veered off to say
hello but was called back quickly. They followed along but smiling
guards blocked them. Tara waved to her and blew her a kiss. She
waved back and repeated the action. Meg scowled a little. Tara had
decided to stay awhile longer after Ara’s Virgo. When Ara contacted
her about coming back to Saratoga they decided to go public
transport on the way home, the Seeker would be transported by one
of the larger passenger rangers, a large cruiser, when it
eventually got here. Ara and Tara were going to swim, watch movies,
dance, and have some girl time after Ara was done with the
meeting.

Ara turned just as staff closed the large
inner doors, seeing that Caleb looked worried. Was she going to be
taken to the virtual room? She hoped not and breathed out with a
small shake of her hands as staff directed her to a room deep
inside the palace. It was windowless with marble floors and
comfortable chairs arranged in a semicircle. She made her way to
the middle row and sat in the middle seat.

There were seven queens and five kings and
twenty other Pure-Gens. Why had so many come to Saratoga? The
message had been clear. King Delario stood up at the front of the
room and faced them. He was dressed in dark pants, piped on the
sides in dark red, and wore a plain, black tunic over the top.
Terzon looked a little like the king, his father. King Michael
Delario had similar brown hair and stocky build, but had blue eyes.
“We have been called to court, friends.” He signaled a Pure-Gen to
issue out the official invitations from the Planet of Law. Even
now, Ara felt some awe having taken her contact with Korbet for
granted. The planet he worked on was an entire world built for the
Aryan Law Keepers. On the outside of the envelope, embossed, was
the symbol for the Triad, the three Artifacts. Apparently, they
were locked up tight in the planet somewhere. The Nexus,
Superlunary, and Sawol. It was confusing because of what she knew
of the Aether, which was very little. Officially, she’d only heard
about the Aryan Artifacts in other meetings she’d been invited to
and had to remember to raise only that which she knew
officially
. But what were the Artifacts exactly? Were they
Aether Beings, or Aether things? Ha, that rhymed. Ara removed the
grin from her face, but also held the invitation up to hide her
expression. Were the Artifacts just some kind of representation or
did they contain real power?

They were sworn to keep the meeting secret so
she’d pressed her thumb into the GEL mix, which took a sample of
her genotype. She read her invitation and a king handed her a
manual for the Planet of Law. It was bound in dark grey leather
with gold print. The three Artifact symbols blazed on the front. It
was full of information regarding the planet itself, people, laws
and offices of each planet registered, proceedings for each office
and protocols. Korbet’s name was in there. She found herself
blushing over his position, “Senior Executive Director of Space
Ways Law”, thinking of how often she contacted him for trivial
things. But he’d never made anything she asked him about feel
trivial. There were secondary roles for Korbet too, most of which
had the words “Senior” or “Executive” in them.

With nervous fingers, she turned over more
pages in the manual and read them. Why was it made of papir?
Perhaps some legal requirement. She was half way through chapter
one when a call came through and a king said in a loud voice that
dinner was ready. A single door opened and she could smell the
delicious smells of roasted meats and vegetables. Mostly she was
ignored but Vinicus found her and they went for a walk within the
inner courtyard. It was getting darker out and the lights were
turning on. He was already half way through the entire manual. Ara
knew she got bogged down on small things. She had to think
bigger.

During the course of the next few days and
nights, Ara found all the royals, and many Pure-Gens, were trying
to be nice to her. A tiny voice inside her suggested that they knew
what was coming.

On the second day, at lunch, Queen Audrina
approached her. “My dear, what do you think of our legal system
thus far?”

“Lengthy, ma’am.”

Queen Audrina was tall, willowy, with dark
eyes and hair, dark skin and elegant. Kavela had invited Audrina to
her Virgo, evidently he considered her family. She had agreed
because there needed to be at least three watching that the Virgo
was performed to standard.

“Yes, indeed, Ara.” She sighed. “Aryans are
about contracts, no money like on your pet Earth. Don’t look so
surprised, my dear, we all know of your interest in that planet and
those wonderfully planned broadcasts suggesting humans should be
integrated. We all watch it too, not only regarding the ways to
rule, but the economy. We do not use money or barter, but bonds
tied in words and legal jargon. That is why we have an entire
planet dedicated to Aryan Law.”

Ara’s first reaction was “duh” at the obvious
things but then the complexity of the laws still astounded her. She
knew of the contracts, after all she’d viewed her siblings’
contracts as they were trained and apprenticed and found work.
She’d signed many herself, committing to perform a skill and then
practice that skill to someone’s benefit. They were binding
agreements. But the depth and breadth? Her father had organized
many contracts for his children over time, right down to online
courses, and camping trips. “Will we know what the issue is before
the proceedings?”

“No, dear. I believe this meeting is all we
will receive. But there will be enough time during the proceedings
though—”

Ara waited patiently as Audrina was
interrupted by another king. She was still somewhat annoyed at
being treated like a child. To them she was the baby Pure-Gen,
orphan girl.

“—sorry, Ara. They have allocated five days
for us to decide once we hear the case. That can’t be good.”

“How many proceedings have you sat through,
Queen Audrina?”

“Several now. You needn’t worry, my dear.
Majority rules and you are a sensible girl.”

Ara mumbled, “Thank you, ma’am.”

“Ah, lunch is served.”

The room was in a closed off, domed garden
room. It was light, airy, and pleasant. She saw Vin waving at her
and she headed for their table. She listened to the conversations
around her but the food was so delicious she only listened with
half an ear. Food on Wilds was satisfying, but a queen’s or king’s
table? Always sumptuous. If anything, they spoke of everything
except why they were being called. That night she was directed to a
luxurious bedroom and was attended to in the bath and when she
dressed. They hovered around her, looking as if they weren’t paying
attention when she knew a single look or word would bring them
over. The art of not being attentive was a skill indeed.

It was on the third day, within the domed
room, that they received an emergency transmission.

The Avatara were splitting.

“A civil war!” a queen said from behind Ara
somewhere.

Voices rose and fell. She tried to focus in
on one conversation.

“…control over Earth, that planet is ruined.
What a waste…”

“…lives will be lost. We have to separate
from them but what of the collateral damage?”

“I want to know if the Aryan Government will
stop it, or at least send them somewhere they can’t hurt anyone
else.”

“Is this what we have to decide on?”

Ara felt a twinge of relief, and then guilt.
Relief that the meeting might not be about genocide, and guilt at
her not-so-subtle projects for Earth. Had they backfired?
Stubbornness rode her. No one seemed to care about the humans, or
the ever-declining animal population. Bel’s original idea about her
claiming Earth wasn’t such a bad idea and would be quicker than
Queen Silvia’s current plan to rule over Estancia and then hand it
to Ara. She might talk to Korbet about it; certainly Kavela was
keen on her taking a stronger role. First, she had to find out what
this vote was about but her mind slipped back to what Karu and
Balin had told her. It was so long ago she had to access her
long-term memory bank. How would she even go about trying to fix
that society? She was not equipped. She might be able to help them
after she was a planet engineer, if ever she got there. She could,
in effect, declare Earth, the planet if not the people, was under
her domain. Depression seeped in as she remembered she was the
Mobile Unit and that nothing she dreamed of might actually take
place. But then that didn’t explain her wonderful work at Wilds.
Why did Maya allow her to go there?

Audrina had informed her of the splitting and
took Ara into her care, overriding Queen Silvia’s right to care for
Ara. However, Silvia was gracious in all things. Maya had recently
sent a Pure-Gen data burst dictating that Silvia, and not Freda who
was the First Regional Queen, be mentor for Ara after she turned
five hundred, at her Age of Determination. Ara glanced around the
room. It was another life to her, one she was supposed to be a part
of.

“…this doesn’t change our duty but we must be
aware.”

“Is there any danger?” someone asked. She
couldn’t see who raised the question.

“Not at the moment but we’ve activated our
secondary planetary defenses, and sent several forces of rangers
from our Toga military base to patrol the region.” Silvia assured
as many as she could.

Ara felt sick and she really didn’t
understand what it meant. The way they were talking seemed to say
more than just the race fracturing, as “splitting” was a very
specific term.

“How will you get to the planet, dear?” a
king asked her.

What was his name? Logan?

“Range in my Seeker, sir. I like to navigate
myself.”

Audrina had told her not to worry about
titles for this meeting. Ara had a thought, and stretched her torso
upwards to look around. “I just have to put in a call, Tara and I
were going to travel public routes on the way home in a few weeks,
the Seeker was being prepared for storage.”

She avoided Silvia’s eyes but the queen was
amused. The effort to bring the Seeker to Saratoga just to have it
returned in storage to Wilds and then back again was embarrassing.
It hadn’t actually made it to Saratoga yet but the paperwork was
all over the place. But if people kept doing things without asking
her, she didn’t care much.

“Do you prefer machines to the transportals,
Ara?” the Second Regional King asked. Ross was very handsome. She
felt a moment’s trepidation. He had blue eyes and, while Kavela’s
were frosty blue, they were still earnest. Ross’s eyes were icy and
calculating. He was one of the kings of Estancia. He certainly
didn’t seem bothered about the enquiry into their care of that
station. Around Ross a blue energy streamed. And now he was staring
at her, a cobra like branch raised up, looking as if it were going
to strike.