Playing God(105)

The equipment in the room was all fairly standard: desks, duplicators, speakers, stacks of charts, books, and forms. One wall, though, had been cleared of furniture to make room for a gleaming, Human comm station. Praeis hauled a folding chair in front of it. She touched the keys, which had been relabeled in the t'Therian alphabet, and tried to think what to do. She couldn't call Lynn. Lynn wasn't there. She didn't know Lynn's assistants well enough to call them.

She typed the address for David Zelotes aboard the Ur.

Outside the door, she heard voices and footsteps. The corridors filled with sisters on their way to breakfast, or to bed, or to wherever they were ordered.

The screen lit up. David, suited and dressed, but not helmeted, peered out at her.

“Praeis? What's happened? Are you all right?”

“I'm fine,” she said in English, forcing herself to mean it. “It's just a little crazy down here right now.”

David's mouth twisted into a half smile. “Yeah, I guess it must be.”

Praeis leaned forward. “David, I've got some very nervous sisters around me right now. Do you have any idea what this Human evacuation is about?”

He looked away quickly and looked back again. “They really aren't saying, Praeis. We're all supposed to hole up in the secondary domes and …” He shrugged irritably. “And I don't know what. I'm just behaving like a good little sheep and hoping someone will deign to tell me what's happening.”

They haven't found Lynn yet either, have they? “I'm sorry, David. This must be killing you.” All this time, and she still had to force herself to realize that David and Lynn were sisters, or as close as Humans could come to that bond.

He waved dismissively, but his face was still hard and angry. “ ‘Sokay,” he said. “I know it's … You're …” He gave up. “If I find out anything, I'll let you know, okay?” It was all he had to offer right now, and it wasn't much, but Praeis felt small somehow accepting it. “I can get hold of you at this address?”

“Put a general call down to this station. One of my arms-sisters will find me.”

“All right.” He nodded. Then his expression shifted, and she was dealing with the doctor. “How are you feeling?”

“I'm good,” she said firmly. “The treatments work. I am not sleeping well, but that could be—” A high-pitched whistle cut across her words. Her ears searched frantically for the source for a moment, before realizing it was coming from David's side.

A soft voice came down the thread. “All personnel report to secondary domes. Repeat. All personnel report immediately to secondary domes immediately. This is an emergency order. Repeat. This is an emergency order. Respond immediately.”

Praeis felt herself beginning to pant. David's eyes widened. “I …”

“Go,” she told him, and he left, without cutting the connection.

Praeis stared at the blank wad for a moment before she reached out with one trembling hand and shut the station down.

The Humans were being evacuated from t'Aori and the Hundred Isles. The Humans were being sequestered aboard their own ship, which was full of Getesaph, who had altered the relocation schedule so they would be in space before the t'Theria were.

Praeis got up and unlocked the door. She sat down again and waited.

Eventually, the door handles rattled, and the doors opened. Theia came into the office with Neys and Silv trading behind her.

“Mother?” Theia crossed the room and laid a hand on her arm. “Are you good?”

Praeis's ears crumpled. “No. No, I am not.”

“Ancestors Mine, Task-Mother, what's happened?” asked Silv.

“The ‘Esaph aboard the Ur have rebelled,” said Praeis.

Neys and Silv's ears instantly flattened against their scalps. Theia made a small noise and rested her forehead against her mother's shoulder.

Praeis straightened up and wrapped one arm around her daughter.

Did I say this war must not start? Well, they have started it without our help. Now there are other things we must do.

“We are going in. Neys, Silv, get the Group Mothers. Ted them we are on the go. I will inform the Majestic Sisters we are operative.”

Silv gawped at her. “How can we move without permission from the Queens?”

Praeis bared her teeth. “We must go, or there will be civil war. The Queens will realize that, but the debate will take time we do not have.” Time my sister does not have. Time my daughter does not have. Anger rushed through her, at the Getesaph, at the Queens, at herself. The Burn nibbled at the edges of her mind. For a moment she wondered again if the troops would follow her, but she dismissed the thought. She'd felt the mood during the musters. They all wanted their chance at the Getesaph. The Queens were right. They would follow a thrown stone.