Forging Zero (27 page)

Representative
Na’leen assumed he was speaking of his new rank as a squad leader and quickly
cut him off. 
“A lie.  Your uniform shows your rank, not a kasja you didn’t
earn.”
  Representative Na’leen pointed at the silver triangle on his
chest.  It was exactly like the one that Battlemaster Nebil wore except it
lacked a fourth point and did not have the circle around it that Nebil’s had. 
By itself, without the protective ring that signified a full-fledged soldier,
Joe’s rank looked naked.  Childish.

“I
was curious why he would do such a thing, so I examined his file.  It seems
Kihgl’s personality underwent a radical shift after visiting Reuthos forty turns
ago.  His command even went so far to have him evaluated to make sure one of my
kind hadn’t assumed his identity, as some of us are wont to do.”
  Representative Na’leen’s flattened tentacle dropped another
orange morsel into the water above the wriggling wormy appendage in his face. 
“I
find the fact that he was examined for a Huouyt to be especially telling—it had
to have been something serious for his command to request a screening.”

The
Huouyt paused, watching Joe unflinchingly as his wormy appendage slowly drew
the orange morsel into its head.

Examined…for
a Huouyt?

“What
the hell is that supposed to mean?” Joe demanded.

The
water moaned and clicked with Representative Na’leen’s reply. 
“Evolutionarily,
before Congress discovered them, my kind were forced to mimic other creatures
in order to survive.”
  Representative Na’leen dropped another gummy orange disc
into the water.  The Huouyt paused, watching Joe unflinchingly through his bath
as his wormy appendage slowly drew the orange morsel into its head.

Joe
frowned, both fascinated and disgusted by the display.  “Mimic them how?”  He
couldn’t see how this…
thing
…could mimic anyone.  It looked like a cross
between a jellyfish, a squid, and some odd new form of coral.

Still
underwater, Representative Na’leen waved a paddle-like hand in dismissal. 
“We
were discussing Kihgl.  Not only did he survive the Dhasha on Ubashin, but he
also managed to capture a Huouyt assassin three days out of Planetary Ops
training.  Two great feats that have made him a sort of hero to the Ooreiki
here.  Some of his other traits fascinate me.  He has at least two
Congressional victories credited to his name, and is also of the
vkala
caste—a hardship among the Ooreiki like no other.
” The Huouyt hesitated,
peering up at Joe through the water. 
“Do you know what that means?”

Joe
swallowed and shook his head, not really wanting to discuss Kihgl.

“Vkala
are a stubborn remnant from an intentional genetic manipulation many eons ago,
during the formation of Congress.  They are the reason why genetic
experimentation is now banned.  Because the Ooreiki would not go to Vora
otherwise, the Ayhi took the Jreet’s immunity to fire and gave it to the
Ooreiki delegates in order to broker a peace between the first eight nations.”

Joe
frowned.  “They’re immune to
fire
?  Wouldn’t that be, like, a
good
thing?”

The
Huouyt made a sound of disdain. 
“Not to the Ooreiki.  To them, it is a
symbol of their ancestors’ betrayal.  They throw all
vkala
children into
a pen with
onen
and allow the beasts to eat them as penance for their
ancestors’ sins.  About one in ten thousand survive that pit battle.  And yet,
not only did Kihgl survive the vkala cleansing, but he somehow rose to become a
Congressional hero.”
  The Huouyt paused, watching Joe with his unnerving eyes. 
“So why has he given you, a Human
recruit
, what most Ubashin
historians would die to have?”

“Kihgl—” 
Joe froze at the sudden sharpness in the alien’s face.  The utterly casual,
friendly way the Representative was addressing him had almost overrode the
nagging little voice in the back of his mind screaming that the conversation
was headed into dangerous ground.  Wariness winning out, Joe said, “—didn’t
give it to me.”

If the
Huouyt was disappointed with his response, he didn’t show it.  He just plucked
another gelatinous orange disc from the tray and said,
“And yet he hasn’t
taken it away from you, either.  I found this mystery even more intriguing once
I discovered Kihgl is once again being investigated as a traitor.  This time
for owning relics of the Fourfold Prophecy.”

Joe
felt his skin crawling.  So this was what they had brought him to Na’leen for. 
They didn’t want to send him home.  They were trying to get at Kihgl.

Representative
Na’leen continued to pick at his food, though his huge oblong eyes never left
Joe’s face.  “
I find Kihgl’s history fascinating.  Almost as if he had
a…destiny…if one were to make such…leaps.”
  The Huouyt hesitated, watching
Joe through the water, and Joe got the unsettling idea that the alien was
gauging his reaction carefully.  After a moment, Na’leen went on,
“He was
trained for Planetary Operations by one of the most famous generals of our day,
a Dhasha prince by the name of Bagkhal.  He has survived sixteen battles that
he had no right to survive.  He is extremely intelligent, with dozens of
successful reconnaissance missions to his name.  He is a gifted saboteur, and
his tour on Ubashin proves he has a knack for survival.”
  The Huouyt
paused, watching Joe with his unnerving eyes. 
“So what interest does he
have in you?  Why didn’t he simply disappear when this latest Peacemaker
investigation began?”

Joe
knew how dangerous the conversation had become.  He had seen the fear in
Kihgl’s eyes.  He knew he was a single word from a death sentence, and every
nerve was vibrating on edge.  “Um,” Joe said, trying to sound as confused as
possible, “I’m a recruit.  I don’t see much of Commander Kihgl.”

Na’leen’s
eyes narrowed for a fraction of a second, then he went back to his food. 
Moving on as if Kihgl’s investigation did not matter to him, he said,
“When
I saw you in formation, I noticed you wore no recruit number.  I thought this
was an error until I asked about it.  Is it true that Kihgl calls you Zero,
boy?”

Joe
gave a wary nod.

“
Why is that, when it is Army custom to begin at One?
”

“Kihgl
hates me,” Joe said. 

“
And
yet he gave you the kasja.  Fascinating, isn’t it?”

Joe did
not like the way the Huouyt was watching him beneath the water, so he said
nothing.

“I
found that contradiction curious,”
Representative
Na’leen said. 
“So I examined the ship’s records.  Do you know what I
discovered?  You seem to be bright.  I’ll wager you can guess.”

Joe
waited, unsure.

“There
was no Joe Dobbs on the passenger manifest.  Someone had erased you from the
rolls.  Do you know what this means?  Zol’jib could tell you.  It’s what
someone does right before that unfortunate passenger goes missing.” 

Joe
felt a cold chill trickle over his body, like all the blood was rushing out his
feet.  He took a step backwards, feeling suddenly vulnerable.

“Careful. 
The Jreet are watching you, boy.”
  Na’leen lifted
his paddle-like arm from the pool and motioned languidly at the empty room.

Joe
swallowed hard, glancing at walls.

“How
old are you, Joe?”

“Fourteen,”
he said, a flush of hope lightening his chest.  It was the first time any of
the aliens had asked him that all-important question.

“You
weren’t supposed to be on that ship, were you, Joe?”

Hearing
that, from someone with enough power to do something
about
it, made
Joe’s heart ache.  “No,” he whispered.

“Why
were you?”
Na’leen asked, plucking at his food.

“I
helped some kids escape,” Joe said, remembering Sam.  “Before Commander Lagrah
could get them to the ship.”

“And
they took you aboard to use you as an Unclaimed?”

Joe
nodded.

“But
Kihgl accepted you, instead.  Gave you a place in his battalion.  Why?”

“I
don’t know,” Joe said.

“I
could offer to send you home, with the Congress’s apologies.”

Joe’s
head snapped up, his heart thudding.  “Will you?”

Representative
Na’leen nudged the orange discs in the bowl with his paddle-like finger. 
“That
depends on what you can tell me of this Kihgl.”

Joe
wanted to shout that he would tell him whatever he wanted, anything to get him
off the stinking purple planet.  Instead, he waited, his nerves taut with
wariness.  He felt like there was something he was missing, a deeper message in
the conversation that he couldn’t quite put his finger on, and it left him
feeling like someone had a shotgun aimed between his shoulder-blades.

“As
I told you, Kihgl is being investigated again.    The Peacemakers have already
submitted proof of his guilt to your regiment’s Prime Commander, but they
continue to investigate because they desire to know why he was hoarding tomes
and artifacts relating to the Fourfold Prophecy.  A self-made scholar on the
end of Congress.  Everyone on his ship knew it, too, but his reputation was
such that he went unchallenged until now.”
 
Representative Na’leen’s eyes suddenly seemed to crackle with intensity. 
“Has
Kihgl said anything to you about the Fourfold Prophecy?”

“No,”
Joe lied.

Representative
Na’leen’s electric-blue gaze hardened.  “A Huouyt can spot a lie, Joe Dobbs.”

Joe
swallowed hard and looked down at his hands, which were even then cut and
scabbed from the ubiquitous diamond chips that covered the planet.

“I
know a few things about the Fourfold Prophecy,”
Representative Na’leen said, still watching him. 
“Would you care to hear
it, Joe Dobbs?”

Joe swallowed hard.  “I thought
guys were put in jail for knowing stuff about the prophecy.”

Representative Na’leen waved a
dismissive hand. 
“Kihgl’s case was…unique.  He had intimate knowledge of
the Prophecy.  What I would tell you, everyone already knows.”

“Okay,” Joe said nervously.  He
didn’t really
want
to learn any more about it, but he also got the idea
that if he didn’t go along with the Huouyt’s idle conversation, his assistants
might do something nasty—like haul him outside and throw him off the roof.

Representative Na’leen visibly
settled himself in the water.  Then, taking another gummi disc, he said, “
The
Fourfold Prophecy first appeared during the Second Regency, during a time of
unrest between the first twenty members of Congress two million years ago.”
 
He cocked his head at Joe.  “
I believe your people were still living in
caves, yes?” 

Joe grimaced, trying not to feel
utterly insecure that this creature’s genes had been around long enough to
watch man evolve out of apes.  “Maybe.”

“It is nothing shameful,”
Na’leen said, apparently guessing the cause of Joe’s displeasure.  
“That
your species is still evolving is exciting, indeed.  You haven’t reached your
ideal genome, yet, which means your genetic code still allows for change.  Most
sentient races are fully evolved before we discover them.  In fact, the
scholars find your entire planet highly interesting.”

Realizing the Huouyt was talking
about Joe and his species as if they were an intriguing form of bacteria in a
petri dish, he muttered, “You were saying something about a prophecy.”

“Ah, yes.” 
The Huouyt made an amused sound. 
“The Fourfold Prophecy seems
to have originated in four places at once, at different corners of the galaxy. 
It is rumored that the Trith were involved, though no one has been able to
verify that.  What’s important is that in each of the four prophecies, it is
said that a new species will emerge that Congress will only crush itself trying
to conquer.  This species will have an ‘extraordinary genetic makeup that tests
the boundaries of science.’
  An obvious reference to Huouyt’s ability
to take other species’ patterns.
”

Joe felt his curiosity piqued at
yet another inference that the Huouyt could change shape.  “You guys really
transform?”

“
We do,
” Representative
Na’leen said, gesturing enthusiastically.  “
But that is not the most telling
part of the prophecy.  It is the fact that each of the Fourfold Prophecies uses
these exact words…  ‘The new species will be a mixture of old and new, able to
trade lives with a thought and sustain life without death.
”

“That’s really vague,” Joe said,
remembering the stupid woman at the fair and her dumbass predictions about
cave-people.

“
No, it’s not,
”
Representative Na’leen said, vehement.  “
It describes the Huouyt perfectly. 
We trade lives with other species when we change form.  And we are not
bloodthirsty like the Dhasha or the Jikaln.  Throughout our history, there has
never been a war.  We don’t need to subjugate other races to thrive because we
are
other races.  Any species out there, we can become.
”