Chapter 59 The Important Information

The “office” is a regular ederi dwelling in the middle of the forest of duhis. It is a big whitish dome as if made of tree roots with a fabric stretched over it. I feel no fear entering it. Fern is surely within, wanting to know if I brought Moro. Nope, I did not. What am I going to tell him? Whatever lie I want.

Leot is wise. He made his dream come true, and gave Fern a killing machine. But he had the mercy on the killing machine, too. The ederi can no longer read my mind. Did I say “my”? Am I merging with the restless spirit of Demi Gidealis? Good. He had a soft soul, but a strong heart. I’m not going to let Fern push me around. If only I knew how to override his orders…

Fern stands by a table of sorts. There are other tables around, with screens on them. Ederi guys sit in front of every screen, looking at it.

Fern’s bright green eyes flash with anger as I walk in. It’s always anger with him. Does he know other emotions exist, too?

“I see you did not bring Moro.” He hisses. “On your knees!”

What? I resist, but his glance burns through me.

I drop on one knee against my will while frantically tracing his signal in my mind to rip it out. It seems to be everywhere. It just floods me. I don’t know if it is possible to “rip out”.

I hate that guy. I hate him so.

“Do not hate, or you will turn into what you hate”.

What is this? Is this the voice of Salix in my head? What a relief!

“Why do you have to humiliate him this way, sir?” Levir walks out of the dark corner, frowning at the scene.

“Because it’s an animal, and it needs to know where it belongs!” Fern purses his lips and runs out. The other ederi look scared, so they just cast glances on me and Levir, and do not interfere.

The pressure is off, but it drained me. I can’t even get up.

“He holds you responsible for the death of his father.” Levir whispers, and helps me on my feet.

Allright, let’s look it up. Who is his father, and why am I responsible?

Levir sticks a piece of paper to my hand, and quickly tears it off.

“Don’t freak out. Just getting your skin cells. We’re going to start with an analysis of your genetic compound. There has to be a way to override his orders… For now – do not trust yourself. He will order you to continue hunting Moro. But we can’t have you run mindless across the catacombs. There is too much at stake.”

“I’m allright. I can control myself!”

“Yeah, I saw you falling to your knees fully in control of yourself! Arte, listen, you have no way of stopping his orders. Neither do I, at least for now. But Salix has established a psychic connection with you. That man loves you dearly and his heart bleeds for what Fern is doing to you. So, as soon as you feel yourself turning into the oeve, call for Salix. And we need to show you to the Emperor as soon as possible.”

A sudden doubt ripples through my mind and it makes me miss the “Emperor” bit.

“How can I trust you? Why should I trust you, and not Fern? Maybe I do need to blast through those catacombs to see what you’re hiding?”

Levir’s face turns pale at those words, his lips almost white. This way this ederi is even more strikingly attractive. Hm-m-m… What am I thinking? The guy quickly gets a hold of himself.

“Because you are a member of our Duhi Order. You are just like me. Look.” Levir unbuttons his shirt and the shock is all mine. He has a brand of a rose on the left side of his chest. It looks exactly like the one I have.

“It does not make any sense! Demi died. I have a new body!”

“I have a theory that Leot must have re-branded you to send us a message. There is hope. Let me analyze the cells. I’ll give you an answer later.”

OK, fine. He leaves and I find myself alone. The guys in front of the screens are not talking. I walk out and go along a path outside of the office. There is no sun, and I don’t know if even there is a sun. I was so busy with my own affairs, that I never checked what this planet Lira is, what system it is in, what constellation.

And what is the history of its people? The catacombs are made by intelligent beings. What kind of beings? Are they still there? Why doesn’t Levir want me there?

There is a leaf on the path. It is dark on the background of what looks like light-colored sand. I kick it, and move on.

What was that thing on Levir’s face? Why can’t I figure it out?

Suddenly I hear a screaming. A blood curling scream right behind me. I turn around to face a motionless human figure. It grabs me by my shoulders and hurls into the bushes off the path. Before I can get on my feet, the figure attacks me again in the most aggressive way.

I fight back vehemently and feel that I transform into the oeve. Apparently, it is not just Fern’s order, it is also my desire that triggers the transformation. I hope the attacker will get scared, but the fear is all mine – my attacker does not let up and it has no face. That chills me to the bone, if I have any.

It turns into a numberless cloud of leaves, flying at me, licking, burning as if threatening to devour. What the heck is it?!

I jump away frantically, and this thing, shifting from a human form to a whirlwind of leaves keeps on coming at me. An oeve has only one weapon. It is deadly, but it only works on a carbon-based life form.

I concentrate and release a blast of my energy. Immediately I hear a raspy voice which does not say, it just groans, and the thing freezes motionless. Then it disappears.

Whew…

I melt back into a Tensartis, an unrealistic body I came to like, and a sweet name I came to associate with my new mission. Whatever it is.

“You have to be cautious with things around here! We’re dealing with a planet-wide malfunction of immense proportions. Don’t think yourself a tough guy. You startled it, but did not scare it. They can’t get scared – they have no brain that we know of… What did you do to piss it off?” Levir walks around the dome of the office towards me. He is wearing some long one piece garment that makes him look kind of cool.

“Now you’re telling me!” I shake my head and squeeze a smile.

Levir studies me for a second, then frowns.

“Why did you kick it?”

“What? I… I didn’t… I kicked a leaf… Then a figure attacked me!”

“They are everywhere. Some actually have a capacity to kill you. We all have to live in fear until we figure out how to disable them… Anyway. I was looking for you. Bad news, my boy. I got the test results back. We found out that your body was exposed to powerful radiation that caused an unknown mutation in your cells. I don’t think we can help you to override Fern’s orders!

“H-mmm… And I think you guys get despondent all too soon, and you’re barking up a wrong tree, if you get my meaning.” I pause and continue in an undertone. “Fern is messing with my mind, not my body. So, we need to look for a way to stop him there, and my cell mutation is a conversation piece for another tea party.”

“Just keep your slimy oeve nose out of our affairs until I figure out how to re-program you.” Levir shakes his head, perplexed at my reply.

“How much damage one mindless oeve can do? You have worse things to worry about. Fern suspects that you are continuing your experiment with duhis, whatever it is. He wants you all dead. There is a Class A battle ship coming here from Crumbling Rose. Forget about me, and reprogramming. Maybe it’s time to bug outta here.”

I do not know what makes me say that. It seems like I catch a stream of information, as if someone needs to tell this to Levir, and they’re just using me.

Levir is really good at hiding his feelings. But at his point his horror and distress is palpable. God only knows how, as I can’t really see his eyes behind that device.

Fern appears behind him way too fast, way too unpredictable… His green eyes are as beautiful as the first time I saw him, and he is just as full of crap as always. He makes a hateful scowl at both of us, which greatly adds to the tension.