“Apologies, it’s hard to forget sustainability of the army is no longer a priority. It will be done. They do love their feasts,” Fá says.
“And where will you be during all of this, Atlas?” I ask.
“Oh, you know, around,” he says.
“Atlas, I just had to choose between moons to spare from annihilation. I’m all in, obviously. If you burn, I burn. If you don’t let me into the circle of trust now, how can we work together and, how did you put it, ‘get shit done’?”
Atlas considers. “Fair. I will be on a moon called Orpheus.”
“There is no moon called Orpheus,” I say.
“Not on any map, no. It is an irregular moonlet two point one kilometers in diameter with an orbit so close to Jupiter and so hidden by the planet’s radiation and magnetosphere that few sensor systems would notice it. If they did, their telescopes would see an uninhabited rock of little interest. Inside this rock lies the most secure vault in all of Ilium. This vault is guarded by an elite garrison of shadow knights. Its contents are so shameful to my family that not even its guardians fully know what it is they are protecting.”
“But you do?” I ask. I’ve never even heard of the termshadow knight. Atlas nods. “Shall I die of suspense? Am I in your circle of trust or not?”
“Very well. I will tell you what even Atalantia does not know, because unlike her you won’t salivate all over the table. This mission was organized to drain the Republic of its Obsidian weapons, punish the Rim, to unite it with the Core under a Sovereign, and to exterminate the Ascomanni, yes. But, there is a secondary goal that is arguably more important.
“As you know, I spent much of my youth in your grandmother’s vaults. The stacks there have information you’ll find nowhere else. I was particularly obsessed with the relationship between Akari and Silenius. In my readings, I found the true reason for the schism between the founders of our Society.
“Seven hundred and fifty years ago, Akari stole a weapon calledEidmifrom Silenius.Eidmiis a virus with a modular half-life capable of targeting any of the fourteen Colors without secondary transmission to therest. It is a weapon that will mean the end of war and ensure obedience to the Morning Chair for a thousand years. What planet, what Color, would dare raise arms ever again if they knew we could prune rabble-rousers out with a snap of our fingers?”
Silence falls upon my heart, and my mind conjures images of pristine worlds and cities where the sun still shines and the wind gently rolls, but are denuded of all human life, empty of laughter. I do not move for a long moment.
“Eidmimeans, ‘I devour,’ ” I say. “In Hittite, no?”
“Yes. Devour, eat, consume. It is the root of the word ‘edit’ in many languages.”
“Edit. As in edit out a Color?”
“Yes, on whatever sphere it is deployed.”
“Even Gold?”
“Even Gold.”
I try a laugh to dispel the joke. Atlas and Fá do not smile. It is hard to embrace the reality of such a weapon. The application may seem enough. Blockade a planet, remove all the Reds, or Obsidians. Sanitary. Clean. And in Atlas’s hands, a terror like nothing ever seen before. But the ramifications are impossible to fully understand. Wars are inconvenient and expensive, atomics too destructive and radioactive to use without blowback. This is…genocide in a bottle. It wraps my heart in a cold silence and squeezes.
“You see why I did not tell Atalantia of this,” Atlas says.
I nod and look up, puzzled. “Why would the Raa, your family, steal it and not destroy it?”
“The same reason mankind never freed themselves from atomics. Fear there may come a day so dire it would have to be used.” Atlas opens his hands as if to say here is that day for the Rim. “That is why I needed Diomedes. Helios told me only a Raa with the scar can open the vault. Fortunately, I have Vela now. I anticipate it will be the hardest mission of my career. I have no information on the base defenses, nor its garrison. I expect I will lose many patriots. When I haveEidmi,I will rejoin you on theLightbringer,Lysander. As for you, Vagnar, I fear we will not see one another again until we are toasting Thessalonican red at your penthouse in Hyperion.”
“I look forward to having you as my guest,” Fá says.
“Interference around Orpheus will be heavy. So if there’s any lingering questions now’s the time,” Atlas says.
I have one.
“You’ve killed your nieces, your nephews, your sister-in-law, and I don’t imagine Vela will survive Orpheus…so why is Gaia alive?”
Fá and Atlas exchange a look of amusement. Fá laughs. “Really,DominusLune. What kind of monster would kill his own mother?”
51
DARROW
Midnight Lands
