I pressed pause and looked at Pew. He’d sat down in a chair and hunched up into himself.
“Oh, Pew…” I said. He did not respond. I went to him and kneeled by his chair. “Was that what they did to you?”
He shuddered a nod.
“And Qaliul tried to warn you. And then with Ley’ang…”
“And others!” He screwed his eyes up and nodded again.
“And Shan’oui allowed this?”
“She… she wanted them to take sperm, do it artificially, but when… when they came and made me… she said they couldn’t make it work, they didn’t have a choice, she said it was for the good of all the Pu, I had to do it for the good of the Pu…”
I had to restrain an urge to put a hand on his shoulder; it was obvious now what experiences had caused his PTSD, and why physical contact, especially from a woman, could trigger a flashback.
“Thank you.” I said.
He looked at me, eyes bathed in tears, shuddering.
“Can I die now?” he begged. “Please?”
“No,” I said. “I can’t let you do that. You’ve made a very brave first step but we still have a lot to do.”
“Just let me die…” He curled up into himself again, a ball of pain and sobs.
“It’ll get better, Pew. We can help you now.”
I believed it as I said it. I knew he didn’t.
11. Iokan
Iokan was convalescing, but liked to keep active, even if he was limited by smoke-damaged lungs and the need to carry oxygen with him at all times. He walked where he could, and resorted to his chair when he grew too tired. He seemed deliberately to avoid me at first, and spent time outside just looking at the mountains. But eventually he sought me out, requesting I speak with him just before dinner one day.
He preferred to meet outdoors, so I took a collapsible chair and sat down beside him in the meadow while he floated in his own chair. For a man who often wore a kindly look, ready to smile at the merest human foible, he seemed extremely grave.
“So, what would you like to talk about, Iokan?”
He held up a pad: he was finally complying with the doctors who’d forbidden him from talking until his lungs healed. I will tell you everything.
“Oh…” I said, surprised. “I thought it was too dangerous?”
He typed onto the pad and showed it again. It is too late. The danger is here. Will you pass this on to IU Directorate and Shadow Director of ICT?
“Of course. Let me just make a note…” I raised the priority of the meeting with my own pad. “I’ll pass it on as soon as we’re done.”
He’d already written his statement, and sent it to my pad.
My name is Iokan Zalacte. I am a colonel in the Zumazscartan covert operations unit known as Department Zero. Recently I have been involved in strategy and planning but for many years I was an investigator in, and then commander of, a Department Zero regional intervention team.
Department Zero was officially purposed with the task of assessing, retrieving and if necessary destroying artefacts pertaining to the Antecessors and their technology. But fifty years ago we were repurposed to deal with interversal threats to our nation and the world.
It has been fifty two years since our world discovered the existence of other universes, and that many of these universes are hostile towards us. For this reason, the major powers of my world signed a secret treaty to cease rivalries and concentrate on the interversal threat, which was recognised as existential in scope.
My world has been infiltrated and attacked repeatedly. We concealed this from our own public to avoid mass panic and because we feared full disclosure would force the interversal powers to act against us in unpredictable and disastrous ways.
We made numerous attempts at negotiation and begged for truce at every opportunity, but the Interversal powers refused all contact and continued their attacks. It was only through the efforts of defectors who were later murdered that we discovered the existence of the Interversal Union. We have been trying to contact you for the last ten years in the hope of finding assistance.
I do not regret that we were found by the Antecessors before you reached us. You must rest assured in the knowledge that my species is safe now from any further depredation. My fear is for your own safety. I believe the powers who attacked us may have been responsible for the recent attack upon Hub. There may also be a connection to the genocide on the world of Liss Li’Oul, but upon that I can only speculate.
I wish to assist you in every way possible. To this end, I append full access codes to all Department Zero facilities and grant you full use of the files and data we gathered.
I also grant the Interversal Union full title to all technologies existing on my world, whether directly of Antecessor origin, subsequently derived from Antecessor artefacts, or based on original work.
I wish you the best of luck in the days and years to come. May the Antecessors guide you and protect you.
He was looking out over the peaks as I finished reading. Clouds wrapped around our nearest neighbour, and the setting sun tinged them with red. It was already growing late in the year.
“Well,” I said, surprised. “Colonel…”
He tapped away on his pad. Rank means nothing.
“Why did you change your mind?”
Could have prevented attack.
“There’s no way to know that, Iokan. The terrorists might be completely unconnected to the people who attacked your world. The problems between humans and machines have been going on since long before the IU started…”
Should have acted anyway.
“You can’t blame yourself.”
He sighed. What happens now?
“What happens now for you is therapy.”
He nodded. Never doubted that.
PART ELEVEN — EVENTS
1. Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
An important announcement relevant to the future of the Interversal Union will be made at a press conference to be held at 10:00 HT on HD y276.m9.w1.d1 at the Interversal Assembly Building, room AA20. This will be followed by a brief question and answer session.
All accredited news organisations are invited to send one (1) representative.
Video, audio and data will be streamed live from the conference to all universes inhabited by IU members, prospective members and contacted species.
The text of the announcement will be available to news organisation representatives ten (10) minutes before the announcement, and will be under strict embargo until after the announcement.
Please contact the Press Office for interview slots with relevant IU personnel.
ENDS
2. Committee
I was summoned to the remote meeting room to come before the supervisory committee, but they did not say why. As I took my seat in the empty room, I feared the worst. The apocalypse watch had been reporting a deterioration on several worlds: new projections of eventual extinction on the radioactive wastelands of Llorissa; an imminent though minor comet strike upon Schviensever; and a worrying series of coronal mass ejections from Ardëe’s star. Nothing to suggest an imminent evacuation that could force my reassignment to other duties, but perhaps the meeting was intended to discuss some apocalypse that wasn’t yet public knowledge.