Meru, page 8
Zie packed up the decorations around zir berth and tried to shake loose the melancholy that kept threatening to surround zir thoughts. Two different racing teams had offered zir a position, and zie’d finally chosen. One had performed better in recent events, but the Majestics had given rise to Kaliyu’s hero, The Royal. Their coaches were older, and many fans thought their methods too old-fashioned, but Kaliyu had decided to join them anyway. Zie could bring in new skills and attitudes, perhaps revive the team’s former glory. The Royal had retired many varshas earlier, so Kaliyu wouldn’t get to work with him, but zie would get to drape zirself in the signature purple and gold of his team.
Flying had always been Kaliyu’s refuge. It had come easy to zir, thanks to a generous contribution from zir maker’s gene-set. Nidra had had a magnificent pilot’s body, lacking only in thrust power for gravity, which zie had remedied in Kaliyu’s design. By the age of seven, Kaliyu had grown to full size, and none of zir pilot friends could beat zir in a microgravity race.
Zir gravity maneuvers and reality transits were of more middling skill, but they mattered less for racing. Not many pilots could do all three at all, much less with equal proficiency. That’s why zie had been so excited to meet Vaha. Another multimodal pilot! They had so much in common.
By the Nivid, stop thinking about Vaha!
The others at Nishadas, including their instructor Ahilavathi, hadn’t commented on the obvious falling-out between zir and Vaha. For that, Kaliyu was grateful, but their studied ignorance cast its own shadow, and zie felt relieved that zie was leaving. Once zie reached the Majestics’ training padhran, out past Mars’s orbit, zie would have plenty to keep zir occupied. Work the body to calm the mind. Zie needed to get moving.
The bare frame of zir berth stared back at zir. In the space of a few kaals, everything had changed. Would zie ever see Vaha again? The Solar System was a vast place, and the odds of finding someone by accident were minuscule. Kaliyu filed zir planned flight path with the Nishadas construct and took leave of zir instructors and the younger students. In a few kaals, zie would arrive at zir new home and begin to forge the bonds of friendship with zir teammates. With one last look at Nishadas and Venus, zie rotated away and began zir journey to the next chapter of zir life.
Not too far from Earth’s orbit, Kaliyu received a notification from another pilot that they had a passenger who wished to meet with Kaliyu. They were traveling faster in order to catch up and would intersect zir flight path in eight kilas. The message contained no details about the passenger or why they wanted to meet Kaliyu, leaving zir somewhat nonplussed and curious. What could be so important that someone would personally chase zir across the system?
Kaliyu replied and said zie would stop accelerating so they could match speeds. Zie disengaged zir thamity organelles and brought zir awareness back to visual space. The Sun’s rays bent around zir peripheral vision, but ahead, zie saw only stars. Zie dropped all three of zir tinted membranes over zir eyes and turned. Before long, zie could see the other pilot’s wings as a speck of reflected light. It grew larger with each passing hectas until Kaliyu could resolve the body, and then the smaller figure that clung to the pilot.
The alloy detached themself from the pilot and vented toward Kaliyu. They hailed Kaliyu via emtalk.
“Hello, Kaliyu. My name is Pushkara. May I approach you to have a private conversation?”
Kaliyu could not have been more surprised if a wormhole had opened in front of zir. “Yes, I’ll wait here.”
The pilot remained where they were, far enough that it would be impossible to read any phoric on Kaliyu’s skin. Could this be the Pushkara? The ancient champion of planetary rights? If so, what could he possibly want that he had traveled all this way to speak privately with Kaliyu? As the other alloy neared, Kaliyu could see the humanoid form, which confirmed zir suspicions.
Pushkara was as old as the compact, and he had a body to show it. The oldest alloys had minimal genetic changes relative to human beings. Much of their space-worthiness came from external augments, and they needed partial rebirths far more often than subsequent generations. Unlike Kaliyu, Pushkara didn’t have water-based lungs. He needed an external electrolysis machine to feed oxygen and hydrogen into his body. He had to consume a greater variety of organic matter than what bhojya would provide. And yet he posed the greatest opposition to the factions that supported human emigration from Earth. Respect for his work earned the concessions that had let him live for so many centuries.
Up close, Kaliyu could see the external lungs nestled between Pushkara’s wings. His legs were fused and ended in webbed feet rather than fins. His rigid solar wings jutted outward, fabric stretched over rectilinear frames that couldn’t flex or fold. Pushkara had a pale brown face with deep-set brown eyes and phores sprinkled across the cheeks and forehead. A sharp nose with sealed nostrils perched above wide, thin lips that broke into a friendly smile. His entire body was barely the length of Kaliyu’s hand.
Kaliyu cupped him in zir hands, slowing him with ease, then left him floating at zir eye level.
Kaliyu rotated them both away from the Sun and opened zir membranes to see better.
Kaliyu glowed blue-violet with embarrassed pleasure at Pushkara’s words. Perhaps the old alloy was here to ask for a personal pilot. Kaliyu had heard that some of the most reputable proxies kept them as staff so they could travel quickly to private meetings. Zie gave Pushkara a silent nod of thanks and waited to hear more.
Zie managed to hide zir surprise at the question.
Kaliyu nodded.
Pushkara smiled.
Kaliyu nodded.
Kaliyu’s white glow betrayed zir shock.
Pushkara continued with icy-blue determination.
Kaliyu nodded. Questions crowded zir thoughts. What does he want me to do? Something criminal? Something bad to Meru or Vaha?
Pushkara had a faint glow of regret.
So zir mission would be to sabotage Vaha’s. Good! Vaha deserved it for abandoning decency and taking a contract with Hamsa. The physical pollution gave zir pause. How could someone like Pushkara, whose career was built upon securing planetary integrity, suggest such a thing?
Pushkara continued.
If someone with Pushkara’s reputation was willing to make an offer like this, it must be the right thing to do. And if I’m at Meru, perhaps I can convince Vaha to see reason. While in orbit, Kaliyu would have plenty of time to talk some sense into zir friend and find a way to exacerbate the human’s natural tendency for harm. Lead her into doing something terrible on her own. And win Vaha back in the process.
Kaliyu couldn’t care less about the welfare of the human, but zie didn’t want to hurt zir friend. Somehow I need to find a way to shield Vaha from any mistakes the human makes. Zie will see why zie made the wrong choice, and I’ll give zir a chance to save face. With a way to salvage their relationship, zie could think of Vaha as a friend again.
It didn’t, but that wouldn’t affect Kaliyu’s decision.
Pushkara flashed, perhaps mistaking Kaliyu’s silence for reluctance.
That seemed clear enough.
They stared at each other for a few seconds. Pushkara flashed, slowly and clearly,
If Pushkara was telling the truth, if Nidra had survived the rebirth as a weller, then Kaliyu still had a family. Zie hadn’t been alone since zir grandmaker’s death.
Zie felt as if someone had turned reality inside out, like a transit that went nowhere.
And there was zir maker’s face, mapped on to one of those hideous slugs, creatures that digested human garbage and transformed it into amendments for soil. The metadata showed that the pictures had been taken recently, barely a masan earlier.
It was all too much to believe, to take in. Zir grandmaker had lied. Zir maker lived! And now Pushkara offered a way to reunite them. He waited for zir response with the vast patience of someone who had lived for centuries, but Kaliyu burned on the inside. A rage built that wanted to expand like a red giant star, to consume everything in its path. Zie wanted to speed to Earth, to see Nidra again, to release zir from the bonds of weller service. Zir grandmaker had raised Kaliyu for most of zir life. What else had she lied about? How much did Kaliyu really know about zir own maker? Zie wanted to cover zir phores, to hide zir turmoil from Pushkara. But zie could do none of that, not until zie gave the old alloy an answer.
What choice did Kaliyu really have? If zir maker lived, and Kaliyu could help get zir off Earth, zie had to do anything in zir power to make it happen. Racing, Vaha, Meru . . . none of it could stand in the way of freedom and a real life for Nidra.
Kaliyu could only nod. Zie could barely keep the riot of emotions from zir phores. If zie tried to say too much, zie feared that zir entire body might explode.
Zie wanted nothing more than for Pushkara and the other pilot to leave zir alone. Zie needed time to think, to process zir new reality.
Pushkara nodded and flew away. Kaliyu delicately grasped the small container of contaminant and stowed it in zir pouch.
