X-Calibur: The Trial (11 page)

“It's okay,” Arthur said soothingly. “This is just a simulation, remember?”

“They brought you to me,” Merlin continued, speaking more to himself than anyone else. “Your Knights, they laid your body at my feet and begged me to save you. I did everything I could, worked every magic and spell I knew, but nothing worked. I failed you, Arthur. Despite all my power I was utterly helpless.”

“That was the past,” Arthur stated, a little more sternly than he intended. “I'm sorry, Merlin, but we don't have time to dwell on it right now. Gwen and Lance are counting on us to save them.”

Merlin nodded once, wiping a single tear from his eye. “You're right, my King,” he said. “You're here, now, alive and well.”

Alive and well,
Arthur thought to himself as the heavy wooden gate slammed shut behind them.
Here, inside this computer, how do I know if I'm either?

*****

“Triltan?” Gar-Wan's image asked. “Your father told me what happened but I'm not sure I'll be of much help. Arthur and the others are trapped inside the birthing pods?”

“And connected to the hive computer network,” Triltan replied. “I thought I was close to freeing them but it was all a trick.”

“A trick?” Gar-Wan continued. “By whom?”

“That's what I was hoping you could help me with,” Triltan said. “Have the Mori ever done anything like this before?”

“Not that I know of,” Gar-Wan replied thoughtfully. “I never had much to do with the slaves, I mean, with the cloning of humans and Dorgans.”

“But Gwen told me you used the technology to teach her how to fight?” Triltan asked. “You programmed the skills directly into her mind?”

“I did,” Gar-Wan agreed, “but I have no idea how it actually worked. I bought the device from someone on the lower levels of the hive, all I had to do was connect the electrodes and turn it on. I'm sorry, Triltan, I don't know anything more than that.”

“Okay,” Triltan said, the disappointment evident in her voice. “Thank you for-”

“Oh no, wait, I just remembered something,” Gar-Wan interrupted. “Evidence presented at a Senate hearing. The interrogators on the hive used something similar to the programming technology to extract memories directly from the mind's of the accused. If you're looking to find out how to disconnect them, it might be worth you looking at the security logs?”

“Thank you, Gar-Wan,” Triltan said with a smile. “That's really helpful.”

“Have you any idea who might be responsible?” Gar-Wan continued. “The one mentioned in the message perhaps?”

“Mordred?” Triltan clarified. “Merlin suspected a rogue security AI could be involved, but I don't see how. There were guards here, armed and waiting to ambush me. Would they follow the instructions of an AI?”

“No, fully sentient machines were outlawed,” Gar-Wan replied. “Any autonomous systems were severely limited in their capabilities; they certainly couldn't command living, breathing soldiers of the Empire.”

“Then I'm looking for a living person behind all of this?” Triltan asked.

“I don't see how it could be anything else,” Gar-Wan affirmed. “Those left behind on the hive would only follow the orders of a Queen, or at the very least someone assuming her position. Even the Senate was powerless without her instruction.”

Gar-Wan let his mind wander to the day he'd fled the hive with Arthur and the others, taking every jump capable ship and allowing Merlin to disable to hive ship's gravity engines. Not a day went by where he didn't wonder if he'd done the right thing in helping to free the slaves and cripple the ship he'd called home. What had happened to those left behind after Arthur killed the Mori-Gran?

He still firmly believed that it was right to free the slaves, but what of the cost? In the chaos that would have followed, how many of his people and suffered and died all because of his beliefs? The millions missing, those trapped inside the birthing pods, how much of that was his fault? What could he have done differently? What would have happened if he'd done nothing at all?

It had never been his desire to abandon his home, only to stir up enough trouble to bring the debate to the Senate. That had been his plan all along, placing Eve 221 on the mining asteroid with the skills to start an uprising. He wanted his people to abandon slavery, to look to themselves to build their own future, to stop stagnating. Despite his grand notions and peaceful ideals, he knew deep down that the Mori would remember him only as the villain of the story.

“Gar-Wan?” Triltan said again, rousing him from his thoughts.

“I'm sorry, what did you say?” Gar-Wan asked.

“Just, thank you,” Triltan replied with a smile. “You've given me somewhere to start looking for answers.”

“Good luck,” Gar-Wan said, though the sombre tone of his voice caused her to view his disappearing image with confusion.

*****

Merlin crossed the Fields of Camlann in silence, his head down as his dirty robes dragged muddy water in their wake. Arthur had no idea where they were going, didn't know how to begin searching for the Grail. How big was the simulated Earth in which they found themselves? Was it as big as the entire planet? Bigger? How could they travel any significant distance without the speed of a ship? How would they begin to look for it without scanners to help their search?

Then it hit him; he didn't have to search for the Grail, he'd already found it, or at least that was what Merlin believed. Whatever memories Merlin possessed, no matter how false or fabricated they may be, were the exact same memories shared by Mor-Dred. Wherever Merlin believed the Grail had been found the first time should be the exact same place it was now, albeit within the confines of the simulation.

“Merlin,” Arthur began, his voice lighter as he clung the first glimmer of hope he'd felt in days. “Tell me the story of the Grail again?”

“Of course,” Merlin replied, grateful for something to take his mind off of his failure. “The Grail was brought to Britain from the Holy Lands to the east by a man named Joseph of Arimathea and said to be able to heal any wound. How I wish we'd had it on the day you faced Mordred at Camlann.”

“Why didn't we?” Arthur asked.

“We'll get to that,” Merlin said, though the melancholy was already seeping into his tone. “All in all there were many quests for the Grail. I recall Sir Perceval and Sir Galahad spent years searching unsuccessfully, and it was only luck that eventually pointed you in the right direction.”

“What happened?” Arthur asked.

“A visiting dignitary had a little too much wine with dinner,” Merlin continued. “He let slip that his family were direct descendants of Joseph of Arimathea, and though he and his entourage disappeared later that night, it was the clue you needed to point you in the right direction.

“You reasoned, quite correctly I might add, that no man would willingly surrender such a valuable artefact. There were no records to suggest that Joseph of Arimathea had a family, but the dignitary had just given you a name to investigate. Following his ancestry was a relatively simple matter after that, and it led you to their family estate; a castle on the Isle of Corbenic.”

“And that's where we found the Grail?” Arthur asked.

“Eventually,” Merlin told him. “The descendants of Joseph of Arimathea had sworn to protect the Grail at all costs and to only surrender it to one deemed worthy. There were a great many trials you faced in the catacombs beneath the ancient castle. There were tests of valour and courage, combat and loyalty, and you succeeded in besting each and every one. At last you stood in the presence of the Grail.”

“So why didn't I return it to Camelot?” Arthur asked.

“Some things should remain beyond the reach of man,” Merlin told him. “Even a man such as you.

“After witnessing its power, you realised that there was nowhere safer for the Grail than where it already lay. Once news of its discovery became public, rulers from across the world would covet it and seek to take it from you. You realised in that moment that what you hoped would bring health and happiness to Camelot would in fact bring nothing but tragedy and death.”

“I really am quite smart, aren't I?” Arthur said with a smile.

“You've had a good teacher!” Merlin reminded him, smiling back. It was the first easy smile they'd felt in days and they allowed it to linger before returning to the task at hand.

“So what's next?” Arthur asked.

“Now?” Merlin replied. “We find ourselves a ship!”

*****

“Here, drink this,” Gwen said, holding the bowl of water to Lance's lips.

“Gwen?” Lance whispered, still disorientated from the suffering he had endured at the hands of the Jailer.

The bright sunlight was streaming in through the narrow bared window high up on the cell wall, the shadows from the bars falling across them both as Gwen supported Lance's head. She forced herself to look into his grey, milky eyes and away from the withered, twisted flesh of his left arm.

He'd been taken three times by the Jailer, and each time he'd come back worse than before. After the third time he was barely conscious when they tossed him onto the hard stone floor of the cell. Gwen hadn't been sure, if she was being completely honest with herself, if he'd ever wake up at all. His skin looked oily and a darker blue than she was used to, and his eyes were unfocussed.

“I'm here,” Gwen said soothingly, placing the wooden bowl down beside them and stroking his forehead. “I'm not going anywhere.”

“My arm?” Lance asked as he struggled to sit up. Gwen noticed he didn't even try to move it, the twisted, discoloured limb held close against his chest.

“It's okay,” Gwen lied. “I think it's looking better.”

“That's good,” Lance said, the barest hint of a smile appearing on his face. “I can't feel it anymore. The pain, it's gone.”

Gwen looked down at him, unable to hold back the tear that slid down her cheek and onto her lip, the salty drop sitting there until she wiped it away. “I'm glad,” she managed to say, forcing her mouth into a smile of its own.

Lance drifted off to sleep again, his head heavy on her legs. He barely moved as he lay there, the oiliness of his skin getting worse with every passing hour as his temperature rose and his skin grew darker. Gwen had given up trying to dress his wounds, unsure if the filthy water from the stagnant pool was doing more harm than good.

Her only sense of hope came from watching the sun set, the light outside the window turning orange and then red. She had watched that same sunset seven times, and seven days meant the Ardent Dawn was almost with them. The Teleri, with all their technology, would be able to help Lance. He just needed to hold on for a little while longer and then everything would be okay.

*****

Triltan hadn't noticed how quiet the birthing chamber had become until a sound from the stairwell startled her. It hadn't been loud or particularly threatening, but once she thought about it, it was the first sound she'd heard in a while. She knew what it meant, even if she didn't want to accept it. One or both of the prisoners were waking up.

Her prisoners
, she corrected herself as she unclipped the rifle from the bracket on her back. She'd been the one to capture them, to trick them into stepping into their own electrical field before tying them up and taking away their weapons. She'd left them lying on the floor of the corridor between the birthing chamber and the docking bay, hands and feet securely bound.

The rifle shook in her hands as she held it out before her and stepped towards the stairwell. She kept telling herself not to think about it, but that only made her think about it more. They were soldiers of the Mori Empire, highly trained, ruthless and dedicated to their cause.

Oh, and they were so much bigger than her.

And angry.

Furious even.

And she was walking
towards
them?

She paused at the top of the stairs as the rifle began to shake so violently she was worried she was going to drop it. She took a moment to try to calm herself, to remind herself that they were unarmed and
her
prisoners, not the other way around. The guards had managed to capture Arthur, Lance and Gwen, three of the most capable people she'd ever met, but she'd been able to get the drop on them. They knew how to get her friends out of the birthing pods, and she was going to make them tell her.

Putting on her most fearsome expression, Triltan held the rifle firmly in front of her as she began to descend the stairs.

Chapter 7

Of Kings and Queens

Earth Year 6239

As Triltan descended the steps, the sounds of agitated movement suddenly stopped. She flicked on the torch beneath the barrel of the rifle, shining it first at the closest guard and then at the one furthest away. They both lay still, unmoving, but she wasn't fooled. They were both breathing much faster than when she had left them, and the guard closest to her had turned himself around within the corridor.

“I, I know you're awake,” Triltan announced, though her voice stuttered, betraying her anxiety. “I'm armed, so I wouldn't, don't try anything.”

“What do you want?” the closest Mori asked, his bound feet failing to find purchase as he scrambled to get away.

“What is it?” the second Mori asked, his voice betraying his fear.

Triltan paused, taking in the scene before her. She had expected to find the guards already free and waiting to ambush her, or  perhaps fleeing, retreating to find reinforcements to take control of the birthing chamber. The few Mori that she had met were proud, fierce and noble. The two before her were shaking in fear; cowardly, almost child-like.

She was reminded of the impression she'd had of the guards when she'd bound them. The wide facial ridges were a sign of adolescence in the Mori, and though both were taller than her, neither of them were as tall as Arthur or Gar-Wan.

“You're just children,” Triltan said aloud. “Both of you.”

The two Mori looked quickly at each other before turning back to fix each of their eight eyes upon her. “What do you want?” the closest Mori asked again, sounding more fearful than before.

“Please don't hurt us,” the second Mori pleaded.

Triltan suddenly realised that she didn't know exactly what she wanted. She didn't want them to escape, to harm or her or call for help, she was sure about that, but as to what she wanted from them? Now that she was asked, she had absolutely no idea.

“Stop moving,” she said after a moment's thought. “Tell me how to free Arthur and the others from the pods.”

The two Mori looked at each other again before the furthest away from her whispered, “What's it saying? Do you think it's going to kill us?”

“I'm Sol-Dan,” the closest Mori announced. “And this is Mir-Bir. Please don't hurt us.”

Triltan smiled to herself. They couldn't understand a word she'd said to them. Arthur and Gwen had their capsules, and Lance used a small earpiece to translate what she said to him, but the Mori before her knew nothing of the Teleri or their language.

She returned the rifle to her back and moved quickly back up the stairs, retrieving the scanner from the console. She'd used one to transmit sounds before, deep beneath the ice of a frozen planet. It should be easy enough to use it to translate what she wanted to say to her captives.

Her
captives. Thinking about it like that made her feel better, stronger somehow. Her father had been so worried about her, insisting she run away and hide until he arrived to rescue her. Now she'd taken prisoners and she was about to question them, make them give her answers.

She stopped at the bottom of the stairs, the scanner held before her as she thought about what she wanted to say. Once she'd decided, she relayed the words through her capsule which translated them through the speakers on the scanner.

“I am Caran Triltan, Principal of the Ardent Dawn,” she lied. “You have imprisoned three of my, erm, officers, and I demand that you release them immediately.”

“We didn't imprison anybody,” Mir-Bir insisted, shaking his head.

“Does it mean the rogue slaves we captured?” Sol-Dan asked.

“They are no longer slaves of the Mori,” Triltan said. “Release them, now!”

Triltan was quickly settling into the role she'd created for herself. She had found it quite easy after the initial nervousness, simply imagining what her father would do in that situation. Although she'd never seen him interrogate a prisoner, she'd been on the receiving end of his disapproving tone more than enough times to emulate it.

“Sorry, we didn't mean-” Sol-Dan began.

“I said release them!” Triltan interrupted. “I'll give you to the count of three.”

“We can't!” Sol-Dan screamed, his voice breaking with anxiety. “We don't know how!”

“One,” Triltan said, her eyes fixed on the cowering figures before her.

“We're sorry,” Mir-Bir stammered. “We didn't mean to.”

“He made us do it!” Sol-Dan cried.

“Two,” Triltan continued, louder than before.

“It's not our fault,” Mir-Bir added.

“We didn't want to do it,” Sol-Dan said.

“Three,” Triltan yelled, her impatience growing. She didn't know what to do. She'd reached her deadline and had no intention of harming them unless they forced her to. Why couldn't they just free her friends from the pods? They'd put them in there, it should have been a simple matter to let them out again.

“We don't know how to let them out,” Sol-Dan said again.

“Anything, we'll do anything you want,” Mir-Bir added. “If we knew how to let them out we'd tell you.”

“Last chance,” Triltan said, though the voice coming from the scanner lacked any of its former conviction. They were children, just as she thought, given a task to accomplish. They weren't the ones behind the message, behind the trap. They were just pawns in someone else's game.

“Please, please don't kill us!” Mir-Bir screamed.

“No, please don't kill us,” Sol-Dan sobbed.

Triltan turned and stormed back up the stairs, angry at herself for not knowing what to do next.

*****

“You're sure this is the way?” Arthur asked.

“No, not really,” Merlin replied, a look of confusion upon his face. “The geography bares no relation to Britain, ancient or not.”

They had been walking for hours, following the winding muddy roads west, the direction Merlin had suggested led to the Isle of Corbenic. The sun was beginning to set in front of them turning the sky a deep red. Merlin was again impressed by the quality of the simulation, the detail in the clouds and the scattered light as it danced upon the road ahead. It was almost like looking at a sunset through the external cameras on the real Earth.

“Should we rest?” Arthur continued. “Are you feeling tired?”

“My knees continue to remind me of my age,” Merlin said with an annoyed huff. “But I can keep going. Trust me, time catches up to all of us eventually.”

Arthur smiled to himself. He was technically only two years old, the Mori birthing pods advancing him to physical maturity in a mater of weeks. He couldn't imagine ageing to a point where his knees hurt when he walked and his skin wrinkled. Few of the human slaves he had known lived for more than a year or two, and certainly not long enough to suffer from the effects of ageing.

“I hope so,” Arthur said, surprising the older man. “I hope we all get to live long enough to wish we were young again.”

“Fear not, Arthur,” Merlin replied. “By my count, that's the seventh sunset we've witnessed in here. The Ardent Dawn will be freeing us from this prison any minute, we just need to keep going until they do.”

“I know,” Arthur agreed. “I hope Triltan's been okay without us. What if something happened to her while we were in here?”

“She has a wise head on her shoulders,” Merlin said confidently. “Just because she defied her father's orders and boarded the hive, she'll have taken more than enough precautions. She'll likely be the first face you see after emerging from the pod.”

“Not if Lance gets to her first,” Arthur said with a grin.

“He does seem to have developed quite the crush,” Merlin agreed.

“Crush?” Arthur asked, confused by the use of the word. Back on the mining asteroid, crush had had an entirely different meaning.

“He enjoys her company,” Merlin clarified.

“Ah,” Arthur replied with a chuckle.

The red sky gave way to stars and a bright full moon, lighting the track before them. Merlin repeatedly picked his robes up from around his ankles, shaking off the caked mud and dirt before allowing them to trail along the ground once more. Arthur fared a little better, the roughly stitched trousers tucked into the high boots he wore.

Once the sun set the temperature dropped, but it didn't seem to bother either of them. Though Merlin's knees hurt, his legs never seemed to feel fatigued, and neither of them seemed to grow hungry or thirsty despite the absence of food or water. On Merlin's suggestion, they continued walking for as long as the road would allow.

“What's that?” Arthur asked, placing a hand on Merlin's shoulder. Ahead of them they were able to make out dim lights, flickering in the light breeze.

“That, my King, is hope,” Merlin said, redoubling his pace as they rushed towards the settlement.

*****

Triltan sat at the console, tapping icons randomly on the screen in the hope of finding inspiration. The code she thought would help her free her friends had turned out to be nothing but a trick to waste her time, and her prisoners seemed to know nothing about how the system worked.

Someone else was in control, the Mordred from the message she thought. Merlin had suspected it to be a rogue AI, though Gar-Wan had insisted that was impossible. She checked the chronometer on her scanner and realised that it had been almost fourteen hours since she'd lost contact with Arthur and the others and she was still no closer to freeing them.

But that's not quite true, is it?
she reminded herself. She'd been tricked by the false code in the system programming, but she'd also identified it for what it was and abandoned her analysis. The real code was in there, somewhere, and if anyone could find it she could. Lance and Gwen knew a little about computers, but not like she did. If she were trapped inside the pod and they were out here, would they have recognised the ruse so quickly?

At least they'd be able to get the prisoners to talk,
she thought, but again the prisoners had been talking, they just had nothing useful to say. She considered the possibility that they had been lying to her, but their overwhelming sense of abject terror quickly put her mind at ease. She may not be as tall and physically imposing as Arthur or Lance, but the two young Mori had never seen a Teleri before and didn't know what she was capable of.

When all was said and done, Triltan was doing far better than she ever imagined she'd be able to. If only she could find a clue that would point her in the right direction, the one real piece of system code or what was happening to them inside the enormous mainframe.

She stopped suddenly, hand hovering over the next random icon on the display. In all the excitement of her prisoners waking up, she'd forgotten about what Gar-Wan had suggested. If she could access the security logs, she should be able to find out how the interrogation machines extracted memories from the accused. She had been beginning to work her way through the encryption when she'd heard the sounds from the bottom of the stairs, but maybe with the help of one of the security personnel she wouldn't need to decipher the encryption at all.

With her spirits lifted, Triltan retrieved her scanner and ran down the stairs to find out how to proceed.

*****

The few trees lining the dirt road gave way to wooden huts, topped with tightly bundled twigs to keep the rain and wind at bay. Candles burned in windows and torches lined the streets, though there was no sign of anyone awake to greet them.

“Should we start knocking on doors?” Arthur asked anxiously.

“Not just yet,” Merlin replied. “Let's see if we find a boat before we go rousing people from their beds.”

Arthur nodded as he followed Merlin past the closest houses and towards a wooden walkway. The air seemed different, tangy from the smell of saltwater in his nostrils, and the gentle breeze seemed to invigorate him. The walkway became a jetty, the light of the moon shimmering on the small waves as they lapped against the wooden supports. Merlin was almost running as they raced towards the end where a single wooden boat rocked gently.

“Not quite the Ardent Dawn, or the Vanguard for that matter,” Merlin said as he tapped it with his foot. “But it's seaworthy and should get us to where we need to go.”

“Are you suggesting we steal it?” Arthur said with surprise.

“Do you really think the owner will just give it to us?” Merlin asked.

“Well, no,” Arthur agreed.

“If it helps, think of us as just borrowing it,” Merlin suggested. “Once we have the Grail, we'll bring it right back.”

Arthur said nothing more and stepped into the boat, stretching his arms out to help him balance. Once he was sure he wouldn't fall, he helped Merlin aboard and sat where he was instructed.

“Where are the controls?” Arthur asked after looking around for a console or display. “Which end has the engine?”