Chapter
3 - Apprehension
Mei-Wan
knocked on the door to the only suite on the top floor of the Magellan Hotel.
She waited for what seemed forever until the door finally opened. Sirona Rann
answered.
“He's
waiting for you,” Rann said, ushering Mei-Wan into the suite.
The
outer room was huge and ornate, nothing at all like what Mei-Wan had expected
in a modern hotel. It seemed like something out of another time, but with a
sense of the otherworldly to it. They walked across the room to a set of double
doors which Rann opened. These looked out into an even larger room with couches
and chairs scattered about. At the far end of the room was a balcony which
wrapped about the sides of the building from corner to corner.
Standing
out on the large balcony was Forcas, holding a glass of some golden liquid. He
turned to her and smiled.
“Doctor
Lau, how marvelous of you to visit.”
“You
sort of insisted,” Mei-Wan said as Rann stood some five feet behind her. “But
as you requested to speak to me alone, are we going to have your companions
listen in?”
Forcas
gave Rann a nod. “Have everyone clear the floor,” he said.
Mei-Wan
watched Sirona Rann exit the balcony.
“Satisfied?”
he asked.
Mei-Wan
didn’t respond.
He
pointed to his glass. “May I offer you something?”
“You
asked to talk,” she said. “How about we do that?”
“I
did want to be a courteous host.” He held up his glass. “This liquor comes from
Merlanda and is quite exquisite.”
“Then
by all means, enjoy yourself.”
He
laughed. “Usually when a woman says that to me, she means something else.”
Mei-Wan
rolled her eyes. “This isn't usually.”
He
nodded and took a short sip from his glass.
Mei-Wan
watched him closely. He was more than sure of himself in both demeanor and
poise. His suit had a sense of timelessness to it, as did the man himself. But
his arrogance was almost laughable. Could he really be that narcissistic?
“Why
do you hold such unbridled animosity toward the Ancient Progenitors?” he asked.
“I
have seen the evidence of their actions,” Mei-Wan said. “You did see my team's
presentation, didn't you?”
“Yes,”
he said, looking down at his glass. “A hypothesis based on biased supposition,
rumor, and the reports from their opponents in a war five billion years ago.”
“That
recording of them plotting out their targets in a war they described themselves
as a mission to exterminate is damning enough,” Mei-Wan replied. She watched
him closely. “You did see that, didn't you?”
“I
saw a desperate people standing up against overwhelming odds, taking desperate
measures to survive.”
“The
rest of my audience saw genocidal maniacs hellbent to destroy all life that
wasn't like themselves.”
Forcas
swirled the drink in his glass about. “What do you know of true desperation?”
“No
amount of desperation can ever justify genocide.”
“Can't
it?” he asked, glancing up from his glass. “When a whole galaxy of creatures
which are so different from you want to stomp you into the dust from which you
rose, don't you have a right to seek out their destruction?”
“You
have a right to defend yourself, not annihilate entire planets full of
innocents.”
“Innocents?!”
Forcas laughed. “Trust me, my dear, none of them were innocent.” He took a step
forward. “Your blue friend for example, she... or rather it, isn't innocent.
That being carries the memories of all those who came before it. Their plans
stretch over millions of years. That was the kind of adversary the Ancient
Progenitors faced.”
“You
don’t know her,” Mei-Wan said. “Dani and I embrace our differences.”
He
laughed again. “You are so very naive. She is using her place on your team to
spy on humanoids.”
Mei-Wan
shook her head. “So, paranoia informs your beliefs?”
He
stared at her, his eyes narrowing. “Are you...” His eyes widened. “You are! You
actually love that thing!”
“Yes,
I am in love with Dani.” Mei-Wan was proud to declare that fact to anyone. That
it might infuriate Forcas made it all the more delightful.
He
sneered at her. “Disgusting. You should be with your own kind.”
“I
find that kind of thinking disgusting.”
Forcas
turned to look out from the balcony. “This galaxy is on the verge of a great
change, Doctor Lau. You can either move with it or be run over by it.”
“Is
that a threat?”
“You
should embrace the coming change, embrace your true heritage.”
“Heritage?”
Mei-Wan spat. “That's just another word for mind your place in the scheme of
things, a scheme created by others for their benefit. I reject that. If we are
truly free beings, we should make our own choices, chart our own course,”
Mei-Wan said.
“You
don't believe that.”
“Yes,
I do,” she said.
“A
society can't survive long if everyone is charting their own course.”
“Only
if that society wants to conquer instead of explore, control instead of
understand.”
He
turned back to her. “The Ancient Progenitors created us. They set our course
for us. Who are we to question them?”
“We
are free beings. They don’t have the right to control us from the grave,” she
said. “Neither does it obligate us to blindly follow them down the same
self-destructive path they took.”
He
smiled at her. “And what if I could show it wasn't a destructive path at all?”
“I
would say the evidence contradicts that assertion.”
“It
might appear to,” he said. “But this universe is full of examples where
something appeared one way, but was in fact another, where something was
thought dead, but was in fact very much alive.”
“Given
they haven't been seen for nearly five billion years, I'd say they're as dead
as dead can be.”
His
smile widened. “What if you don't know what to look for?”
Something
about his tone troubled Mei-Wan. This wasn't a lunatic spouting crazy for his
own enjoyment. Nor was it some idealistic prophesy designed to control
millions. There was more here.
“Even
now you suspect I know something you do not.” Forcas’s eyes bore down on her.
“Feel
free to enlighten me,” Mei-Wan said. “I'm always willing to learn.”
He
stood for several seconds. “Come back tomorrow and have dinner with me.”
She
let out a long sigh. “You're wasting my time.”
“You'd
like to believe that,” he said. “But you sense I do know something about the
Ancient Progenitors, something you desperately want to know as well... and your
intuition is correct, I do.”
“I
don't usually expect to learn much from a religious person who leads a movement
like you do.”
He
leaned toward her. “Wasn't Copernicus a religious man?”
She
frowned at him, and turned to go.
“Eighteen
hundred,” he said. “Here in my suite.”
“I
wouldn't hold my breath,” she said as she headed toward the door.
“I
won't have to. I know you better than you know yourself.”
***
Mei-Wan stepped out the front door of the Magellan Hotel, finding
there was a slight breeze in the night air, and finding Dani waiting for her.
“You followed me?”
“I wanted to be sure you were okay,” Dani said, stepping toward
Mei-Wan. She placed a hand on Mei-Wan’s forehead.
“I’m fine, Mom,” Mei-Wan replied with a smirk. “Not a smidge of
temperature.”
Dani pulled her hand back. “Your mind has not been altered.”
“See?” Mei-Wan asked as they began walking toward the center of
the city. Few other people were on the streets.
“I was worried,” Dani said. “Forcas has too much power for a
religious figure given the cultural situation of the Federation.”
“It was bound to happen sooner or later,” Mei-Wan said. “Religion
has a habit of breaking into the forefront of politics throughout human
history.”
“But not in the last three hundred years,” Dani replied. “Forcas
presents a unique message.”
Mei-Wan nodded as they walked into a large open area near the
center of Sylvanus, the primary city on Yed Post IV.
“Did he have anything insightful to say?” Dani asked.
“The usual denial,” Mei-Wan replied. “He claims the Ancient
Progenitors were justified in what they did, and that some great future is
right around the corner if we follow the path the Ancient Progenitors have set
out for us.”
Dani turned to Mei-Wan. “But you are not convinced he is simply a
religious zealot?”
Mei-Wan considered that a moment. “There’s more to him than
appears.” She looked at Dani. “He’s asked me to have dinner with him tomorrow.”
“Absolutely not,” Dani said.
“Becoming possessive of me?” Mei-Wan asked with a grin.
“This is not an instance of jealousy as my kind do not possess
others,” Dani said. “I am worried about what he might do to you.”
“He wants to persuade me, not murder me,” Mei-Wan said. “And doing
that seems immensely important to him.”
“It would remove an obstacle from his religious crusade.”
“There’s more to it than that,” Mei-Wan said. “I just can’t figure
out what it is.”
Dani stared at her. “And presented with a mystery, you find it
hard to resist investigating.”
“You know me all too well,” Mei-Wan replied with a grin.
“Please, be careful.”
“I will.”
Dani stopped in the middle of a large courtyard area. “I also
wanted to talk about us.”
Due to what a statement like that would often mean coming from
another human, Mei-Wan became tense as she stopped walking and went back to
stand with Dani. “What about us?”
Dani formed a smile. “This relationship we have is incredibly
fulfilling.”
Mei-Wan took a breath. “I sense a but in there.”
“You want something more,” Dani said. “And our friends seem to
think our relationship can go deeper.”
“People do that,” Mei-Wan said. “They’re always looking to get
others married off.”
Dani took a step toward Mei-Wan. “Do you have an unfavorable
reaction to the idea of being married off?”
The anxiety evaporated, replaced by happiness in Mei-Wan. “Not at
all.”
“Of course, if you wanted to have children, we would have to use
other means as your species and mine…”
Suddenly thoughts of her son rose in Mei-Wan. She had given him up
to be born and raised by her sister Li-Na, and despite moments of regret she
still felt that was the best thing for him. Enlai would grow up to know her as
an aunt, and Mei-Wan was okay with that most days.
Mei-Wan pushed her thoughts away. “I had only briefly considered
having children with Jack, but once our marriage started to fall apart…”
Dani nodded. “I wish there was some way for us to reproduce
together. But as my kind does so by division and yours by sexual reproduction,
I don’t believe there is any means to meld those two methods.”
Mei-Wan took Dani’s hands. “All that matters is that you and I are
together.”
“That’s what matters to me as well,” Dani replied. “I want to
build a life with you.”
“Then let’s get married,” Mei-Wan said, smiling. She pulled Dani
into her arms, and they kissed.
