Lady Ivinia said, “This is not I who gives you this kiss, Loyal and Proven Beta, but, rather, the motherhood of all the race, including your own mother, who is not present to give it.”
Menelaus touched his cheek, strangely moved. He knew what a horrid and bloodthirsty race the Chimerae were, and yet still they were human beings. Almost.
Lady Ivinia spoke in a hushed voice, with great dignity, “That is the farewell kiss of the race that bore you, for it may well be that we die this day, and reach the longed-for oblivion which will quench the memories of all our crimes and shortcomings in beautiful, unending nothingness. They have taken away Alpha Daae and greatly I fear for his safety. I charge you that should the chance come, his life must be saved, even at the expense both of your life and honor, and of his honor. No glorious death is to be his: Should he so command, and with the strongest oaths bind you, I charge you by the womb of the mother that bore you, and the paps that nursed, to betray that command, and break those oaths. If the name of Anubis must be sunk forever in shame and cursed, let it be so, but he must survive.” She did not even mention the name of Alpha Yuen.
Menelaus then realized that the Alpha Lady meant to marry, no doubt to begin the Chimera race again, and that her only choices for the next Adam were between gray-haired Daae and young Yuen. And she had selected Daae.
He felt both awed and saddened by the ambition of her daydream, and its unlikelihood. It was nearly as unlikely as his own dream of finding his own true love again.
Menelaus said, “Ma’am, I will do what I might to save him. The sacrifice of the name Anubis to shame I do not regret, nor will I hesitate.” (It was not, after all, his name.)
She inclined her head regally, but then turned her nose aside, to look at him sidelong, a strangely coy and demure look on the face of a woman whose normal expression was one of cold and direct ferocity. “You speak as one almost not fully a Chimera. There is more to you than seems at first inspection. And yet Yuen says you bested him…”
“By a trick, Proven and Loyal Ma’am. He is Alpha; I am Beta.”
“… but I am convinced you are loyal to the race. You do not apprehend how near the race teeters to being utterly expunged, nor your own role in these events.”
“My role? Beggin’ your pardon, my Lady?”
Her eyes grew vivid as she stared at his face. “Alpha Daae realized that the Blue civilian named Illiance interrupted our briefing, and took you from us, merely to have you away from the field of action, while the camp was broken down and withdrawn with all personnel to the belowground here. You were meant not to be present when Kine Larz forced the great door to the lower levels. They did not return your uniform to you. This was not to shame you: they understand you are significant.”
Menelaus did not mention that he had not been buried with a uniform, Chimerical or otherwise.
He looked again at the Beta girls with their bows, Phyle with his sling; not to mention the belt capsules of the gray twins, or the poisonous oil in the hair barbs of Zouave Zhigansk.
Menelaus wondered at the nonchalance of the Blue Men. Perhaps the Blues wanted the Thaws to be armed, to have an excuse to slaughter them that would ease their consciences.
It took him a moment to realize that something more was involved in returning the native period garb to the prisoners. They had been allowed to retain their makeshift weapons in order to provoke a disturbance in the behavior patterns of the prisoners.
With hope of violence in the air, their actions would be tested under stress, and once again anomalies in behavior would be more obvious. It was a dangerous tactic meant to flush out the imposter among the prisoners, and it bespoke desperation on the part of the Blue Men.
Something was terrifying them into rash action.
4. Hairdressing
The Chimerae also sensed the terror in the air, and it gladdened their hearts. The Chimerae were relaxed, which was an odd sight, like seeing a pack of wolves suddenly learn how to smile. A certain degree of informality seemed to have overcome them: they did not address each other by rank.
Lady Ivinia whistled and doffed her tiara, pushed back Menelaus’ hood, and gestured for him to sit on the cold metal floor beside her. Then the Chimerae took out oils and combs and began dressing each other’s hair. Gamma Joet Phyle stood behind Lady Ivinia, who maintained a stoical expression as her hair was yanked by the apologetic Phyle. Vulpina and Suspinia stood behind Menelaus and began combing his hair, marveling at how short he wore it. The three Kine, Happy, Ardzl, and Franz, backed away on their knees, bowing, as far as the dog things would permit, frightened to see their master race wax merry.
Lady Ivinia said, “Brothers and sisters! For you are all ennobled to my blood this day: The oblivion we crave is upon us now! Let us each, in our hearts, curse the nonexistent God for his indifference, and dare him to destroy us! The more lingering the death inflicted, the longer the time to display the stoicism and bravery by which our descendants and lineages shall be judged by future Eugenics Boards…”
Her voice trailed off. Her words had no doubt been something she had been wont to say, a habit, and spoken before she could catch herself. A pall of silence hung in the air after this; no one of the Chimerae was willing to say that there would be no more Eugenics Boards, and no lineages, forever.
Menelaus stirred and said, “Well, don’t give up hope yet; it’s possible we can talk our way out of this. We all might make it out alive, if we only keep our heads…”
They looked shocked for a moment, and then, suddenly, the Chimerae opened their mouths and laughed peals of laughter, Gamma Phyle in bass, Lady Ivinia in a contralto, the two Beta maidens in sopranos.
Phyle, the scabrous-skinned Gamma, spoke up, “Good one, Sterling! Had me going!”
Vulpina, behind him, giggled and shrieked and said, “Oh, Anubis, you are too funny!”
Suspinia, the other Beta adolescent, said doubtfully, “He wasn’t really, I mean, not for real, wanting to live, right? It was just a rec hall prat, right?”
Lady Ivinia said, “Of course, my sister. Merely a comical word to unknot the tension! All Chimerae know that life is pain. Life is grief. The only joy of life is to inflict death on those who want so desperately to live. The only peace in life is to yearn for death, so that those who inflict death on you are cheated of this same joy. That is the Chimera way. In our blood, and in our genes, we are half beasts, and we despise the nature of pure men, who love good things.” But she said this not in a stern tone, but lightheartedly, as if she were speaking sentiments known to all; reminding, not instructing.
Menelaus jumped when Beta Vulpina spoke in his ear. He had not forgotten that the hands rubbing oil into his hair belonged to the maiden pressing against his back, but now her lips were dangerously near his ear, and he felt the intimate tingle of her breath on his cheek. She said softly, “Listen to the Alpha Lady! We must learn to love pain, and to love to inflict it!”
“Lovely,” muttered Menelaus in deadpan sarcasm. “How old are you, what, sixteen? Fourteen?”
“I am as old as I will ever be! This hour you and I will die together! Won’t that be fun? If we time it right, we can have the entrails of our corpses mingled together in a huge pool of blood. I ask this as my dying request. Do you really think me lovely?” And she kissed him on the ear.
He brushed her lips away from his neck like a man brushing a fly. “I am still married until death us do part, sister. I appreciate the offer—who does not like a romantic double murder-suicide in battle?—but let’s keep our guts inside us to digest food, and spill theirs on the floor.”
She pouted. “You un-face me! If I were not about to commit suicide in battle, I’d commit suicide just to spite you!”