Page 26 of Spectral Seas (Spectral Worlds #2)

T HOUGH SPARSE, MONASTIC, and tinted blue, the accommodations provided to the three visitors from the Alpha Plane were as differentiated from the monastery as the Viridis habitat had been in the Ghrauk citadel. Leta, Abby, and Soren sat around a table with enough food for eight. Dinner conversation was light, but after they’d eaten enough to recoup their strength from the day, it was Leta who revisited the meeting with Sss’kallion. “I know the Viridians and Indici are in opposition,” she said. “And, as I understand, always have been. But, may I ask? Why did the abbot call the Viridians, ‘the betrayers’?”

“Well,” said Abby, “the Indici believe that there was a time, long, long ago, when the Ancient Ones ruled the Planes. The monks have always worshipped the Ancient Ones, and they believe that the Viridians were created by the Ancient Ones to serve as their physical extension in the planes.”

“Could that be true?” she asked.

“Every race has at least one if not more creation stories. Regardless of truth, the Indici believe that the Viridians rose up against their gods, that they betrayed their creators by helping to cast them to the void.”

“Ouch. No wonder they’re so upset. They believe the Viridians killed their gods.”

“Cast out.”

“Right,” said Leta. “Is there a difference?”

“If it’s your religion,” said Soren, “then, yes.”

“I agree,” said Abby. “It does make a difference.”

“Still,” said Leta. “Holding a grudge over something that may or may not have happened so long ago...”

“Not all are as forgiving as you,” said Soren. “It’s harder for some to forget travesty.” He gazed at Abby, thinly veiling his contempt.

Abby did not retort. His job as a Warlock entailed the hunting of Soren’s people. He didn’t like it then, and the thought of it still ached his gut.

“It’s not about forgetting,” said Leta. “It’s about moving on.” She too glanced at Abby. “Or better, moving forward. To them, it’s become religious fervor.”

“Or has it?” asked Abby.

“What do you mean?”

“The first syns in the homeland were mechanical constructs. It was the Indici technology that led to organic synthetics, not just food stuffs, but the synthetic animals. First hybrids, then fully programable organics.”

“Yes,” said Leta. “You mentioned that they were the originators of the technology.”

“Right,” said Abby. “Organic synthetics are based on Indici physiology. Programmed at creation with basic forms of neural lace.”

“I know what you’re getting at,” said Soren. “There are rumors at the consortium, but they’ve never been substantiated.”

“What rumors?” asked Leta. “What am I missing? ”

“You saw his eyes,” said Abby.

“How could I miss them. The way they seem to burn. But that’s just a neural lace impla—” She didn’t complete her sentence. “That would mean...”

“That what we see the Indici as isn’t their physiology,” said Soren. “But one they’ve streamed into.”

“They’re syns,” said Leta.

“Well, their bodies anyway,” said Abby.

“That’s the rumor?”

“That’s the rumor. Nothing is known of their breeding. No young have ever been seen. For that matter we don’t know their age, we don’t even know their gender. Sss’kallion may not be male. Sss’kallion may be a she.”

“Or something in between,” said Leta.

“Or something in between. Point is, for all we know, Sss’kallion was there when the Ancient Ones were cast out, in this form or another.”

“But that’s ridiculous. That would make him, her, it, tens of thousands of years old.”

“Hundreds of thousands,” said Soren. “Rumors.”

~*~