4th May
19:59 GMT -5
Blue-grey skin, pointed ears which are noticeably shorter than those of the three other Sheeda I've met. His face… No, his head, is taller and narrower than a normal human head, but only subtly so. You could meet a man of those dimensions on the street and only find it unsettling rather than monstrous or alien.
Naturally, he has a goatee.
"If you're seeing this message, then I have a visitor from Summer's End! Greetings, cousin. Welcome to my home away from home. Try not to trouble the locals too much; they can be ever so useful when they put their minds to it. And their backs, and their cunnies. You get used to the sunlight eventually; enjoy it! You'll not see its like again, and the burns are only temporary."
The illusion raises its right hand to its right cheek and touches it before lowering its arm again.
"If I'm still in residence, then make yourself known to me. I will welcome you warmly, and explain the purpose of the operation I've set up here. It will be pleasant to converse with an educated soul after so long amongst these… People. And as you can tell, I am rather partial to the sound of my own voice."
"Can you access the records?
"
Anarawd tried pressing a few buttons. "It's locked while this plays."
"I can tell you of the true history of our people, which I'm certain that my dear
wife has done her level best to conceal. I can tell you of the glories of the First Harrowing, the people we killed and the magics we stole. I can offer much in return for your service, and… As of
now, my dear wife will consider your loyalty suspect and order you killed should she see you again."
Mr. Yao nods. "If you are able to agree, do so."
Anarawd glances at him, clearly concerned. "I would not dare betray the Queen. And he would know that."
"But do you think he'd enjoy watching you try to lie about it?
"
"He
may. But amongst Sheeda, that sort of torture is
unusual. We-"
I nod resignedly.
"Save it for humans.
"
"-save it for Peoples of Spring, like yourselves."
"And I see that you've brought humans with you. How
very open-minded!"
Melmoth may not look all that inhuman but his constant toothy smile is a little disturbing.
"Two local men and-. Is that a
Lantern?"
Are Lanterns a big enough deal that he'd program this to recognise one? From the fact that the two I killed yesterday recognised me and the fact that I
think the Green Lantern Corps was active in this region of space during at least one previous Harrowing it's certainly possible-.
He's looking at me. That could be a programmed response, but-.
"Yes, yes, this isn't a recording. Imagine how surprised I was to be notified that someone had opened up my old hidey-hole."
The illusion… Makes eye contact with each of us in turn.
"I assume this means that her majesty Queen Gloriana Tenebrae is even now on her way at the head of a Harrowing fleet. Thank you for letting me know, I'll carry on with my own plan in response. But what to do about
you?"
Ring, trace the communication channel.
Mr. Yao takes a step forward. "We are willing to cooperate to defeat the Harrowing fleet. Once the Queen is dead, you could resume your place as king."
Working.
"But I want to Harrow you
too! The only philosophical difference between myself and ole'
Glory-
bra is that while she believes that
she should rule the Sheeda,
I believe that
I should! We can't reconcile, but, well… Your civilisation is dead and damned either way."
"We have access to other worlds. We could rehome your people on another planet, where you could rebuild your civilisation."
"I'm sure that you could and I'm sure that you
would. But my dear optimist, you need to understand that
I really like hurting people. I absolutely
love having them under my power, and I won't give that up for something as trivial as good sense. We have
time travel; did you really think that if we wanted to we couldn't arrive during a period where there were starships on Earth and simply
steal one? We don't Harrow you because we need to in order to sustain ourselves. We Harrow you because it lets us sustain ourselves while still
being ourselves; casually cruel and vicious and revelling in our superiority. And, frankly, your utter destruction is well worth that."
"There is no room for negotiation?"
"Not.. really. I mean to say, if you wanted to arrange yourselves into patterns and then kill yourselves we'd probably let you, and if by some miracle you actually
won then I imagine that the last few survivors would throw themselves upon your mercy… Perhaps. But on the core issue, I'm afraid that you are
shit out of luck."
Unable to trace.
I connect a filament to Mr. Yao and send a message through it.
"Do you want me to try assimilating the console?
"
He gives his head a small shake.
"Why did you found this colony?"
"If I had to live in exile, it may as well be a
comfortable one. Have you ever tried taking a shit in a garderobe?
Barbaric."
"That is.. all?" Abednego's hands are balled into fists. "You stole our forebears away from their homes-."
"Oh, you didn't think you were actually
important, did you?" He pantomimes astonishment. "You
did? Well, let me
disillusion you: you're
not. You're the result of me not realising that I'm biologically similar enough to humans that I can breed them."
He smiles. "Mea culpa."
"That's really it? I'm a little disappointed.
"
"They can't
all be sinister plots. Though my
actual breeding project is doing quite well. And since Glory-tits is on the move again… I suppose that it's time to ring the dinner bell."
He actually reaches out of shot and picks up a gong and mallet.
"Dinner time, children! Dinner time!"
I hear a
fizz coming from the lumps on the wall of the room and-.
"Attack from below! Everyone-
"
I stick flight auras around Mr Yao, Peter, Abednego and Anarawd and pull them
up-
"-off the-
"
-as the creatures below us cease their regurgitations and
bolt for the surface!
"-floor!
"
The floor buckles and the frantic burrowing displaces tonnes of soil in an instant, silicoid claw-faced worms bursting through, magically-enhanced corrosives bubbling from their maws!