《The Ring of the Nineteenth》 1. The AL13 light military cruiser rounded the planet, keeping its speed low enough that a full rotation would have taken a little over an hour. Though they were no longer hidden from the light of the local sun, the pilots did not bother to raise the anti-glare screens, for a new shadow now loomed over them. A few dozen other ships clustered around them. Most were military, with the AL13 being one of the smallest at only a hundred metres long, but there were some merchant class vessels as well. The smallest was only a metre across, probably belonging to a far smaller species than the humans that operated the military vessels. The largest amongst them was a CF02 battleship ¨C thirteen kilometres long, and half as wide, appearing like a whale amongst a shoal of tiny fish. They all flew together in the shadow of the Ring. At almost twenty miles from one end to the other, the Ring was one of the smaller installations of its size. Far away in the capital worlds, it was common for Rings to be three times the size. Out here, in the nineteenth galaxy, there was little need for a Ring so big. ¡°Proceed to these coordinates,¡± said a cool voice on the intercom. The pilots steered their cruiser towards the upper right side of the Ring. Flying into the middle of a Ring was known to leave inexperienced pilots flailing over their controls. The instruments would become heavy, in a manner that felt as though there were thick sponges placed around them that resisted the more one tried to pull on them. This was the Ring¡¯s special gravitational field, which would hold all of the ships within its radius in the perfect lock until it judged the time was right. Upon the bridge of the Ring, General Katherine Graham watched on her screen as thirty-five ships of various sizes took their place within the Ring. ¡°How long to launch?¡± she asked. One of her technicians, a cone-headed Azribek named Twosie, answered her. ¡°One hundred and fifty eight seconds, General.¡± ¡°Energy levels?¡± she asked. ¡°Potential energy at expected levels,¡± Twosie said. ¡°Energy converters ready to launch at expected time. All calculations confirmed.¡± ¡°Very good,¡± she said. Katherine looked to her right, where six fresh-faced military graduates watched the proceedings with looks of fascination. At their head sat Commander Robert Cooper, his wheelchair locked in place just to the side of her general¡¯s chair. ¡°You,¡± she said, pointing at the young man at the front of the line. ¡°What¡¯s your name, private?¡± ¡°Um¡­¡± the boy said. ¡°Tamworth.¡± Commander Copper cleared his throat. ¡°Tamworth, General,¡± Tamworth corrected. Katherine nodded. ¡°Let me see how well you remember your education, Private Tamworth. How does this Ring gather energy?¡± Private Tamworth struggled to answer. Another one of the new recruits, a young woman with the scale pattern around her eyes that marked her as a Dentari, spoke. ¡°Permission to speak, General?¡± ¡°Yes, Private¡­¡± ¡°Luna, General. Rings such as this one are spatially locked to their nearest star, allowing them to remain unaffected by the orbits of the solar systems that they reside in. The gravitational forces of the solar system¡¯s planets are converted into energy, and then saved until the point of launch. The forces given off by multiple planets are large enough to accelerate the ships within to their desired velocity.¡± ¡°Thirty seconds, General,¡± said Twosie. ¡°Very good, Private Luna,¡± said Katherine. ¡°However, not all of the energy is converted into velocity. Some is converted into the envelope that protects the ships from being destroyed by going multiple times faster than light.¡± ¡°Yes, General,¡± said Luna. ¡°Apologies, General.¡± ¡°Fifteen seconds.¡± ¡°There¡¯s one more question I have for all of you,¡± said Katherine. She looked over their youthful faces, and smiled. She could remember what it had been like to receive her first assignment, and to be utterly terrified of everything that she saw. These children looked the same as she had. ¡°Have any of you ever seen the launch of a Ring from this close?¡± she asked. Without waiting for an answer, she addressed the whole room at once. ¡°Initiate.¡± Outside of the viewing window, the inside of the ring was suddenly awash with bright colours. Reds and blues danced together and made purples, and yellow coaxed them into wrapping around the thirty-five ships. They made a perfect seal around them, and then all at once they were gone. For a few seconds a rainbow was burned through the cosmos, before it faded into the empty blackness of space. Katherine heard a few small gasps next to her and turned to the new recruits. ¡°It¡¯s quite fantastic, isn¡¯t it,¡± she said. ¡°There used to be a legend that if you stared into the Ring just as it discharged, you would see the entire rest of your life stretched out before you all in one place. They said that you would have to make sure that you looked closely so that you could see all the important parts.¡± Commander Copper chuckled. ¡°Old wives¡¯ tales.¡± Katherine cleared her throat. ¡°Thank you, Commander Copper.¡± She addressed the new recruits again. ¡°I hope I didn¡¯t scare you when I summoned all of you up here without giving a reason. The launch of a Ring is one of the most beautiful things in all the universe. Letting you see it is my way of welcoming the new members of our crew.¡± ¡°Thank you, General,¡± said Tamworth. Although she hadn¡¯t given him permission to speak, Katherine decided against reprimanding the boy. It was only an expression of thanks, after all. ¡°You¡¯ll be going about your regular duties for the rest of the day,¡± she said. ¡°Private Tamworth, Private Luna, you have the privilege of experiencing another one of our welcome traditions,¡± she said. ¡°Is that acceptable to you, Commander Copper?¡± ¡°Of course, General Graham,¡± he said, smiling. ¡°The two of you are assigned to be the personal guards of our general for the rest of the day.¡± They both saluted. ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am and sir!¡± Katherine smiled at Robert. Even though he had given the order directly, they had deferred to her first. That was the chain of command, and how it should work, but it satisfied her regardless. She stood, and winced for a moment as pain flared in her upper thigh. An old battle wound, but one that remained staunchly persistent to trouble her. She grabbed her cane, and beckoned to the two young soldiers. ¡°Come,¡± she said. ¡°There is much to do.¡± Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. The Ring was twenty miles across, and a kilometre in thickness at all points. Because this was a military vessel, Katherine had control over the whole thing, though of course she ceded control to captains and officers for control of the military in each of the five segments. For the non-military operations of the Ring, each of the five segments had a governor that looked after its affairs. Each was voted democratically by the occupants of that segment, and each operated independently, with her oversight of course. In theory the Ring should have been able to run itself, but Katherine couldn¡¯t remember the last time that she had woken and not had more than a dozen messages from the Ring¡¯s bureaucracy about allocating resources, resolving budget issues, or requests to have a meeting to discuss an issue that she was sure they would be able to resolve on their own. It wasn¡¯t exactly like she could ignore the requests ¨C it was her job after all, and despite her complaints she enjoyed doing it ¨C but she got a pang of jealousy every time she approved shore leave or a day off. Her first appointment of the day took place in the market of the first segment. Katherine stepped into the elevator, with Tamworth and Luna following her a few feet behind. The doors closed on them. The elevator hummed as they started to descend. Katherine knew from experience that this would be a couple of minutes ¨C the elevators received only cursory maintenance, as the engineers had to devote most of their time to the functioning of the Ring itself. ¡°Private Tamworth, Private Luna¡± she said, turning to face her two new subordinates. ¡°You have permission to speak freely unless I tell you otherwise. Is that understood?¡± They shared a confused look with one another. ¡°Yes, General,¡± said Tamworth. Katherine smiled to herself. Right now, they would be wondering if this was some kind of trick ¨C whether she was trying to trick them into breaking a rule, or speaking out of turn. She decided to have a bit more fun with them. ¡°Furthermore, these military titles are so stuffy,¡± she said. ¡°So, I will just call you Tamworth and Luna, and you may call me Katherine.¡± If her last instruction had caused confusion, this one all but caused panic in the two young soldiers. Calling one¡¯s direct commanding officer by their first name was already against the rules, let alone a general like herself. ¡°Yes¡­ General,¡± Tamworth said. She was sure he had been about to form a K sound, but decided that that there was just no way to be certain. If only she were an expert on reading lips, but alas. ¡°Tell me about yourself, Tamworth,¡± she said. ¡°Where do you come from. The second galaxy, I¡¯d guess?¡± Tamworth¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Yes, General,¡± he said. ¡°How did you know?¡± Luna elbowed him. ¡°She¡¯ll have read your file,¡± she hissed. Katherine shook her head. ¡°Your name, Tamworth. It¡¯s the same as a town on Earth. Naming children after locations from Earth is a long-standing tradition in the second galaxy.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± said Tamworth. ¡°Well, yes, that¡¯s true General. But I wasn¡¯t aware that those kinds of traditions were known out here.¡± ¡°What made you want to join the Empiridium¡¯s army?¡± Katherine asked. Tamworth averted his eyes. ¡°Oh, you know. Stories, General. Legends. The sort of thing that they tell you around the campfire.¡± Luna snorted. Katherine looked at her without moving her head. ¡°Yes, Luna?¡± ¡°Stories,¡± Luna repeated. ¡°It¡¯s just, I don¡¯t mean to speak out of turn General, but stories about the Empiridium have been around for thousands of years. I just don¡¯t believe that most of them are real ¨C not fully, anyway. Stories change the more they¡¯re told.¡± Katherine nodded. ¡°Very true,¡± she said. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t blindly trust history. Why did you enlist, Luna?¡± Before Luna could answer, the door to the elevator opened. A pair of data analysts stood outside, clearly having called the lift, but they stepped back when they saw that she was the one inside. ¡°We¡¯ll wait for the next one,¡± one of them said. The doors closed. Katherine turned back to Luna and raised her eyebrow at her in a silent repetition of her question. ¡°I grew up in the tenth galaxy,¡± Luna said. She met Katherine¡¯s gaze and spoke in a steely voice ¨C an impressive thing for a new soldier. ¡°On the planet called Uplis. I assume you know what happened there, General.¡± Katherine nodded. ¡°From what I¡¯ve heard in reports, the surface was razed by anti-Empiridium terrorists. I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°I enlisted so that I could protect planets like Uplis.¡± Luna scowled. ¡°And to punish the animals who burn worlds to make a statement.¡± ¡°That sounds terrible,¡± said Tamworth. ¡°I¡¯m sorry that you had to go through that.¡± Some of the tension in Luna¡¯s body seemed to escape, like from a hole in a balloon. ¡°It was a long time ago,¡± she said. A cool chime told Katherine that they had arrived on the market level. She smoothed out her uniform and turned towards the doors. ¡°Neither of you are wrong for your reasons to enlist,¡± she said. ¡°One of you was inspired, the other one was pushed. How well you do here will never be based on why you¡¯re here, but on how you commit yourselves to your duty.¡± The doors opened, and they stepped out into the market. Katherine had to admit a small amount of foul play as she walked through the market. It wasn¡¯t strictly legal for her to have private citizens selling their own supplies on a military installation like the Ring. If she was ever court martialled about this, Katherine would argue that everyone who had a permanent residence on the Ring was either military personnel, contracted by the Empiridium for essential services, or the family of one of the above. She would argue that, as everyone in this market fell into the third category, they were in a grey position where they weren¡¯t technically private citizens as a significant part of their lives, namely where they lived, was under the control of the Empiridium. Them being allowed to operate businesses like this was therefore legal, if only by a specific reading of the law. No-one had ever raised an objection before, and Katherine doubted if there was anyone in the Empiridium who cared enough to enforce such a rule on a random Ring in the nineteenth galaxy. The market was quite large, built in a disused hangar. Anyone who filed for a permit could set up a stall and sell whatever they liked, and it was left up to them to get their supplies, as long as they followed regulations. Katherine made her way to a low stall. It held a one-sided Twinnie called Up. Twinnies were a unique species in the universe ¨C their bodies were largely humanoid, but each complete body held two minds that operated completely separately from one another, even being able to halve the shared body for a small amount of time. Katherine didn¡¯t know where Down went when Up was running his stall, but she always felt that it would be rude to ask. Up looked like a middle-aged man cut in half down the middle. He wore a special cloth garment over his unattached side, and with the remaining half of his face smiled warmly at Katherine. ¡°I¡¯m glad that you are in time,¡± he said, in heavily accented Empiridium standard. ¡°I try to be,¡± she said. ¡°Up, these are two of my new soldiers. I¡¯m having them guard me for the day.¡± ¡°Oh my,¡± Up laughed. ¡°The two of you had better be careful! People are always trying to kill Katherine!¡± Tamworth¡¯s hand immediately went to his service pistol, and he looked wildly around for threats. Luna narrowed her eyes at Up. ¡°You call the General Katherine?¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Up¡¯s hand went to his mouth. ¡°Should I not have done? Apologies, General. I have to remember to respect your position.¡± Katherine smiled at him. ¡°Luna, Up and I have a deal worked out. He¡¯s allowed to call me by my first name, and in return¡­¡± Up reached for a shelf inside his stall. He pulled down a small box of small, brown balls drizzled with a type of source. ¡°Lebari!¡± Katherine said happily. She plucked one from the box and put it in her mouth. It immediately dissolved when it made contact with the inside of her mouth, and she got an explosion of its sweet, slightly milky flavour. ¡°Oh, yes,¡± she said. ¡°You¡¯ve outdone yourself, Up.¡± Tamworth leant forwards. ¡°What are those?¡± he asked. ¡°These are Lebari,¡± said Up. ¡°They¡¯re a delicacy on my planet. We make them out of the milk of the onsti, a creature native to our planet. I¡¯ve been using the access to other ingredients on this Ring to refine my recipe.¡± ¡°I consider it an important part of my job to oversee the development of such a project,¡± Katherine explained. Luna stared at her. ¡°Excuse me, General, but did you bring us down here so that you could eat sweets?¡± ¡°You¡¯re taking speaking freely to heart,¡± Katherine said. ¡°The answer is no. I came down here so that we could all eat lebari.¡± Tamworth had clearly been waiting for permission, because he all but lunged for the box. He placed the lebari in his mouth and made a low noise of satisfaction. He closed his eyes and sighed. ¡°Decorum,¡± Katherine reminded him. ¡°You¡¯re on duty, Tamworth.¡± He nodded and forced his face back into a neutral expression. Katherine looked at Luna, who shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m not interested in sweets, General.¡± Katherine shrugged. ¡°If you say so. Up?¡± Up took a lebari from the box and wrapped it carefully in paper. Katherine took it from him and held it out to Luna. ¡°Hold onto it,¡± she said. ¡°Just in case you change your mind.¡± Luna hesitated, and then took the lebari and tucked it away in a pocket of her uniform. Katherine smiled at Up. ¡°Give my best to Down, won¡¯t you?¡± she asked. ¡°And to Past and Future.¡± ¡°I certainly will,¡± said Up. Katherine was about to step away when her communicator started to flash blue. She looked at the screen on her wrist, which told her that the call came from Ares Fitz, the governor of the first segment. ¡°Governor Fitz,¡± she said, as she pressed the talk button. ¡°I already have an appointment with you later in this afternoon. Is this so urgent that we cannot discuss it then?¡± ¡°I¡¯m afraid so.¡± Fitz¡¯s smooth, almost purr-like voice came from the implant in her ear. ¡°One of my technicians just found a body, General. It looks like a murder.¡± 2. Katherine looked down at the body on the ground. It was a young Tita ¨C a species that resembled the amphibians of earth, with smooth greenish skin and large eyes. This one was dry, which meant she had likely been out of the water for a while. The knife in her back was the likely cause of her death. It was a long, curved blade, buried almost up to the hilt. Without a further medical examination, she couldn¡¯t tell what amount of damage it had done, but that would be for later. There wasn¡¯t that much blood ¨C but what was there made a small yellow ring around the blade. None, it seemed, had made it onto the floor. ¡°Who was she?¡± she asked. Governor Fitz consulted his tablet. He was a human about her age, and usually she would have indulged herself with the thought that he was particularly handsome. His silver hair was pulled back into a ponytail, but a few strands had broken free and hung down on either side of his face. Though that was likely intentional. The only thing that spoiled his handsomeness was the open socket where his left eye had once been. Even though it had been nearly thirty years since he lost it, he still refused a prosthetic replacement. Katherine could understand why. ¡°This is Calira,¡± he said. ¡°She¡¯s a civilian worker contracted as an inspector of food shipments. She was reported missing this morning.¡± ¡°And why is she here?¡± Katherine asked. She looked around. This room had once been a server room based on the brackets that had once held installations, but the thick layer of dust was a clear sign that no-one had been here in some time. ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± said Fitz. ¡°This room was sealed; there¡¯s no way she should have had access. The only reason she was even found was that a technician noticed that a control panel had been accessed.¡± ¡°Meaning?¡± ¡°Look.¡± Fitz turned around his tablet and showed her the display. It was a map of the hallways they were currently on, on one of the middle floors of the first segment. He pointed to the room they were in, which was marked in red. ¡°This room is still marked as sealed,¡± he said. ¡°In order to fool this system, someone accessed a control panel and rewired the security system, without affecting anywhere other than this room and without raising any alarms.¡± ¡°Whoever did this knew what they were doing,¡± said Katherine. ¡°Not just knew what they were doing,¡± Fitz said. ¡°This should have been impossible, Katherine.¡± She cleared her throat and nodded to the door, where Tamworth and Luna were waiting and trying to pretend they weren¡¯t staring at Calira¡¯s body. ¡°My apologies, General,¡± Fitz corrected. ¡°As I said, this should have been impossible unless¡­¡± He trailed off, leaving the implication clear. Katherine turned. ¡°Shut the door,¡± she said. Tamworth nodded and pressed the button, and the door slid closed, cutting the four of them off from the outside. ¡°Private Tamworth, Private Luna,¡± Katherine said, walking over to her new soldiers so that they were directly in front of her. ¡°If either of you share any details of the things you have heard in this room without my express permission, then I¡¯ll make sure that the rest of your career is spent as far from the Empiridium capital as it¡¯s possible to be. Do I make myself clear?¡± ¡°Yes General,¡± they both said. Tamworth frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t understand, though. What is it that¡¯s so important that we have to keep it a secret?¡± ¡°Someone allowed this to happen,¡± Luna guessed. ¡°It¡¯s impossible to override security like was done here, unless you have someone in a place of control making sure that no alarms go off.¡± She looked at Katherine. ¡°Am I right, General?¡± ¡°You are,¡± she said. Fitz whistled. ¡°That¡¯s a smart one you have there, General.¡± ¡°This is Private Luna,¡± said Katherine, turning back to the governor. ¡°My other bodyguard is Private Tamworth. Both of you, this is Governor Ares Fitz, civilian leader of the first segment.¡± Tamworth¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t be the same Ares Fitz who they used to call the Moon Lion, would you sir?¡± Fitz chuckled. ¡°A very long time ago, Private Tamworth.¡± Katherine was a little impressed. There were few who remembered the name of the Moon Lion. She could see that Tamworth wanted to interrogate Fitz about his past, so she cleared her throat. ¡°Both of you were trained in investigation, I assume?¡± she asked. She pointed Calira. ¡°Both of you, tell me what you think.¡± Tamworth took a few steps forwards and knelt by the body. ¡°Clearly, she was killed with this knife. The dust on the ground around her hasn¡¯t been disturbed, so it doesn¡¯t seem like she was killed here.¡± ¡°But then how did she get here at all?¡± Luna asked. ¡°If she was carried here there should have been footsteps in the dust, no?¡± She too squatted next to Calira to be able to see her better. ¡°If she¡¯s all dried up, then she must have been here for a while. It takes a Tita about six hours to dry up after they die, so it must have been longer than that.¡± ¡°How do you know that?¡± Tamworth asked. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Luna twirled her forefingers around one another. ¡°I had a friend,¡± she said, and she sounded like she didn¡¯t want to go any further into it. ¡°You¡¯ve both done well,¡± Katherine said. She moved around the body and knelt down to be at their level. ¡°You did miss something important, though.¡± She reached out and touched Calira¡¯s back just next to the knife. It came away yellow from the blood. ¡°This hasn¡¯t dried yet.¡± ¡°But that¡¯s not possible,¡± said Luna. ¡°If the blood is still wet, then she would have died just a few hours ago at most.¡± ¡°Unless she dried out before she died,¡± said Katherine. ¡°Private Luna, how long does it take for a Tita to dry out when they¡¯re still alive?¡± Luna¡¯s mouth dropped open. ¡°General, I wouldn¡¯t even know the answer. I¡¯ve never heard of any Tita going so long without moisture that their skin dries out completely ¨C their bodies are just too well evolved.¡± ¡°The answer is a week,¡± said Katherine. ¡°That¡¯s a week in which the Tita in question received no water at all, not even a cup of water. On a Ring like this she would have had access to refreshments, but even that wouldn¡¯t help forever if she wasn¡¯t able to get access to a rehydration tank.¡± She stroked her chin. ¡°Assuming that she wasn¡¯t using a tank for all that time, she could have gone a month before she was dry. But that would have been like torture. Why would she do something like that?¡± She turned to Fitz. ¡°You said she was reported missing this morning?¡± ¡°Yes, General.¡± ¡°I want to speak to the person that ordered her missing,¡± Katherine said, standing up and brushing the dust from herself. ¡°And the technician who discovered her. I¡¯d also like to have a look at her quarters.¡± Fitz nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll see that they make themselves available to you, General.¡± ¡°Private Tamworth,¡± she said. ¡°I want you to look into the rehydration tanks. I want to know the last time that Calira visited one. Check every tank on the Ring if you have to.¡± Tamworth saluted. ¡°I¡¯m on it, General.¡± ¡°Private Luna, you¡¯re on cameras,¡± Katherine continued. ¡°I want you to retrace Calira¡¯s movements, as far back as you can give me. I want notes on her demeanour, and any places she went to that seemed unusual.¡± Luna nodded. ¡°Yes, General.¡± ¡°Off you go, both of you.¡± Tamworth hesitated. ¡°General, aren¡¯t we assigned to be your bodyguards for the day?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be fine,¡± Katherine insisted. ¡°It was mostly just for tradition. Both of you go, and be discrete. If anyone asks, say you¡¯re working on a report for me.¡± They both saluted again. Tamworth hit the door controls, and the stillness of the room was broken by the whooshing sound of the door opening. Katherine pressed the controls again, shutting her in the room with Fitz. ¡°Katherine¡­¡± he said, as soon as they were alone. ¡°Are you sure you should be solving this? The Ring has its own investigative branch, you know.¡± ¡°This woman was slowly drying out for a standard month,¡± said Katherine. ¡°Someone on my Ring, under my protection, was going through that for all that time. She was being tortured, Ares, that¡¯s the only explanation that makes sense. And no-one knew. Whatever I¡¯ve been doing, it wasn¡¯t enough to stop this woman from being tortured and murdered. I owe it to her to see this investigation through.¡± Ares sighed. ¡°You haven¡¯t changed,¡± he said. ¡°You still take things far too personally.¡± She glared at him. The fact that he was right didn¡¯t make her any less pissed off. ¡°What about those two?¡± He nodded at the door to refer to Tamworth and Luna. Katherine sighed and leant against the wall. She tilted her head back so that the back of her scalp touched the wall and looked up at the featureless metal ceiling. She felt like groaning, but she wasn¡¯t alone. ¡°They were here,¡± she said. ¡°And I want to keep this quiet. Besides, in this I can trust them more than I can others.¡± Fitz frowned. ¡°How so?¡± ¡°If someone with power on this ship allowed this to happen, it means that at least one person who I thought I could trust has been compromised,¡± Katherine said. ¡°Those two only arrived on the Ring a few days ago. They haven¡¯t been here long enough to have been involved in what happened to Calira, and they wouldn¡¯t have the authority to override a system alert. They¡¯re about the only people who I can be sure aren¡¯t involved.¡± ¡°And me, of course,¡± Fitz said. Katherine glared at him. ¡°If you were behind this the blood would have had time to dry before anyone found it.¡± ¡°And what about Robert?¡± Katherine took a deep breath before replying. ¡°Commander Copper is a highly decorated soldier, but no-one is above suspicion.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just that I haven¡¯t spoken to you in a while. Not about personal matters, at least. The two of you¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Katherine said sharply. ¡°I must have forgotten to send you the invitations to the party I held when we separated. What are you getting at, Ares?¡± ¡°No-one knows the military personnel on this Ring better than Robert does,¡± Fitz reminded her. ¡°If you trust him, you should talk to him about this. Find out if anyone has been acting strangely in the last month.¡± Katherine nodded slowly. He had a point. ¡°I¡¯ll talk to him,¡± she promised. ¡°Is there anything you¡¯d like me to tell him?¡± She tried to make it as obvious as possible that this was not a real question with the tone of her voice. Fitz either didn¡¯t pick up on it or deliberately ignored the implication. ¡°Please tell him that he¡¯s welcome to come over for dinner any time,¡± he said. ¡°As are you, and the children. Dena and I would be happy to see all of you.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll make sure to pass that along,¡± Katherine said. She pushed away from the wall, and her leg spasmed. She grunted in pain and bent down to rub it. Fitz watched her, concern on his face. ¡°The same or worse?¡± he asked. ¡°The same,¡± she said. ¡°It always gets worse on days when the Ring is in operation. The gravity manipulation does things to it.¡± ¡°You need some help?¡± he asked. ¡°That¡¯s what I have a cane for,¡± Katherine said, waving it in his direction. ¡°And if you don¡¯t stop asking about my personal life, then I¡¯ll show you what it feels like to get hit by it.¡± Fitz chuckled. ¡°I¡¯ll bear that in mind.¡± He looked down at Calira. ¡°What are you going to do with her?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll get Seraphina to take a look at her,¡± Katherine said. Seraphina was the Ring¡¯s senior medical officer, and one of the most accomplished doctors that Katherine knew about. She was also one of the people Katherine trusted more than anyone else ¨C more than Fitz, certainly. ¡°I need to know that I¡¯m right about my suspicions, and she¡¯ll confirm them. Let me know anything that I might have missed.¡± ¡°That makes sense,¡± said Fitz. ¡°I¡¯ll call someone to take the body to her. And I assume you want to keep this quiet.¡± Katherine pinched the bridge of her nose. She was so tired. ¡°We can¡¯t hide that she¡¯s dead. I¡¯ll speak to any family that she has, but for now we¡¯re keeping it quiet that this was a murder. I don¡¯t want people worrying that there¡¯s a murderer at large. I¡¯ll have Seraphina come up with a plausible cause of death that we can tell people.¡± Fitz nodded. ¡°Sometimes I forget how good you are in a crisis like this, and then you show me all over again.¡± ¡°Stop being kind,¡± she ordered. ¡°If you discover anything at all, make sure it comes straight to me. No-one else.¡± ¡°Yes, General. What are you going to do now?¡± Katherine hesitated. She needed to wait on Luna and Tamworth, and Seraphina¡¯s medical exam. She should talk to the technician, and the person who had discovered Calira, and she still had other meetings with a dozen people across the Ring to deal with. However, looking at Calira¡¯s body, seeing how young she looked, there was only one thing that she could think of doing. ¡°I¡¯m going to go and hug my children,¡± she said. 3. Katherine had to sign in to her children¡¯s school, so that they would have a record of all visitors for the day. The fact that she could go anywhere on the Ring with impunity but was still held back by the stern lady on reception had never been lost on her, and she suspected had never been lost on the receptionist either based on the way she always smiled widely as she handed over the sign in book. ¡°Can I ask what the reason for this visit is?¡± asked the receptionist. ¡°Do you have something that you need to drop off?¡± ¡°I just need to see my children,¡± Katherine said. ¡°Hmm,¡± said the receptionist. ¡°You know, usually we require parents to call ahead if they¡¯re going to be visiting by the school day. And wanting to see your children isn¡¯t the sort of thing we like to hear ¨C it can be very disruptive to the children¡¯s learning to have parents suddenly appear in class.¡± ¡°Are you saying I can¡¯t go in?¡± Katherine asked. She put on her general voice and said: ¡°I would like to know your ¨C¡° ¡°I can¡¯t actually stop you from going in,¡± the receptionist said. She was one of the few people who would cut off the speech of an Empiridium general ¨C Katherine was almost impressed. ¡°I¡¯m just saying what we usually recommend. It¡¯s ultimately the parent¡¯s choice ¨C how important is seeing them at the moment?¡± ¡°Imperative,¡± Katherine said, without hesitating. The receptionist shrugged. ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll let their teachers know that you¡¯re coming.¡± Katherine nodded and stepped through the doors into the school. Every time she came here, it was like stepping into a different world entirely. Most of the Ring was metallic and cold, designed for function over style, but schools were allocated special budgets for design that gave them a much different feel. The walls were made of wood ¨C synthetic wood, at least. Real wood was far too costly to be bought for this purpose, but she supposed the fake stuff did a good enough job. The walls were covered in artwork; pencil drawings of the exotic creatures from other planets and paintings of what were maybe supposed to be planets and maybe a representation of what happened when you sneezed on the paint. Wide windows were set into the walls, with special lamps behind them that mimicked the daylight that came through the window on a warm summer¡¯s day on earth. Standing in front of it, Katherine felt the side of her face growing warm, and saw the dust mites flying around the shoulder of her uniform. It was a more than pleasant feeling that made her wish she could be taking the children to the biodomes and watching them play while she soaked up the sun. She hadn¡¯t gone in years. When had it been? ¡°General?¡± She realised she had been standing outside her youngest son¡¯s classroom for the last few seconds. The teacher, Madame Oga, was staring expectantly at her. Oga was a millegre, a species whose bottom half was made up of a large number of tentacles. No-one knew the exact number ¨C it varied between individuals, and it was considered rude to ask a millegre how many tentacles they had. It did make her an excellent teacher ¨C each tentacle was extremely sensitive to vibrations and light, which meant that Oga could essentially see and hear through all of them. As she had explained at the last parents night, it meant that she could control her class even when her attention was pulled somewhere. ¡°Hello, Madame Oga,¡± Katherine said. ¡°Can I see Oliver, please?¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Oga said. She heard a playful yelp from behind her somewhere in the classroom, and Oliver was presented to her with a tentacle wrapped gently around his chest and under his arms. He giggled at the feeling of being carried. He was four years old, with a shock of blond hair that he refused to let her get cut, style, or even comb. His slightly round cheeks were flush, and his blue eyes widened to see her. It looked like the classroom was having its play period, because he had several stickers on his face and held a toy ship in his hand. It was a Model DZ60, but it was horrifically inaccurate, which wasn¡¯t very important. ¡°Hi mummy!¡± he said. Katherine knelt down so that she could be level with Oliver. It made her bad leg scream in protest, but Katherine would be damned if she let some old injury stop her from speaking with her child. ¡°Hi, Oliver. How¡¯s school today?¡± ¡°Good!¡± he said. ¡°Madame Olga is teaching us how to count all the way to a hunded!¡± Katherine looked up at Olga for confirmation, but she had returned to the classroom to split up an argument between two little girls about who should be allowed to marry one of the desks. The tentacle that had been left in her place made a motion as though it was nodding. ¡°That¡¯s exciting,¡± she said. ¡°Those are really big numbers! But it¡¯s hundred, Oliver, not hunded.¡± He held up his fingers. ¡°It¡¯s fifty, sicty, seventy, eighty, ninety, hunded!¡± The fingers that he was holding up had absolutely no bearing on the numbers that he was saying, but he said them so proudly that Katherine felt she had no choice but to nod along. ¡°Very good!¡± she said, pulling him into a hug. Then she started tickling his sides, forcing him to shriek with delight until she let him go. ¡°Bye mummy!¡± he said, and ran back into the classroom. Apparently showing off to her was enough to convince him that this conversation was over. Besides, he had to continue to play with his inaccurate toy. Once he was a bit older, Katherine was going to buy him some more accurate model kits to put together. ¡°He¡¯s doing okay,¡± Madame Olga said, her top half returning to the doorway. ¡°I know,¡± said Katherine, watching as Oliver engaged his ship in an epic space battle with a green, cow-like toy animal. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡°Are you alright?¡± Madame Oga asked. It was clear that she knew the answer, so Katherine didn¡¯t even bother lying. ¡°I¡¯m tired,¡± Katherine said. ¡°It¡¯s been quite a day.¡± ¡°Do you need us to keep the children a bit longer today?¡± Oga asked. Katherine shook her head. ¡°No, I¡¯ll be back in time to pick them up. And if not then I¡¯ll make sure Robert is here. Or I¡¯ll send one of my soldiers.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t be able to accept a pickup by any soldiers that you haven¡¯t introduced me to,¡± Oga reminded her. ¡°Or that your children don¡¯t recognise.¡± ¡°I know,¡± Katherine said. She pinched the bridge of her nose to try and focus. ¡°I¡¯ll sort something out. If anything changes I¡¯ll call.¡± ¡°Very good,¡± said Oga. ¡°I hope the rest of your day is better, General.¡± She winced suddenly. ¡°Oh, and I needed to tell you that Oliver has picked up a biting habit recently. Perhaps you could talk to him about it at home.¡± ¡°Yes, Katherine said. ¡°I will. Is he biting you now?¡± Oga nodded. ¡°But don¡¯t worry. At the moment, he¡¯s my problem.¡± She turned around. ¡°Oliver, sweetheart¡­¡± The classroom door closed behind her. Katherine sighed at another thing to deal with being added to her plate, then immediately chided herself. She should be happy that Oliver was biting. Well not happy exactly, but at least she had a problem that she would be dealing with if she were a normal person that wasn¡¯t responsible for over a million lives. She made her way down the corridor to the older end of the school. Here the artwork was less juvenile and took on more of a sophisticated tone. It was still made by children who were nine or ten years old ¨C or whatever the equivalent for their species was ¨C so it wasn¡¯t quite museum quality, but there was a definite intention behind the paintings. One of them caught her eye. It was a painting of herself, or at least someone who looked vaguely like her and had a slightly misshapen head. She was standing in a field of flowers on a bright summer day ¨C it looked like one of the biodomes, though a little prettier than it usually appeared. The General, by Sophia Copper-Graham, said the card underneath. Katherine smiled and opened the door to her daughter¡¯s classroom. This door was at the back of the room, behind the neat rows of desks, which meant that most of the students didn¡¯t see her come in. A few turned around and looked shocked to see her there, but no-one said anything. They were focused on a student in the front of the room, who was stood facing the rest of the class and reading from a book. She noticed Katherine come in, but didn¡¯t give her anything more than a quick glance before returning to her reading. She was tall for her age, with brown hair made up in elaborate braids that Katherine didn¡¯t even think she could have replicated herself, and dark eyes that were narrow and focused. Sophia was reading from a text that Katherine knew well. It was an old play, one that was typically performed on holidays. She was reading the monologue given by the star sailor Luxia towards the beginning of the play, the one that came just after she left her home planet for the first time. ¡°Goodbye, world of mine. What has our partnership been, if not that of the parent and the child. You the parent who bore me and loved me, and I the child who always rebelled. I have walked on your soils and swam in your oceans, but the greatest joy you have given me is to bear me into your skies and beyond. I will not return to you, mother world, but all shall know that I come from you.¡± Sophia delivered the monologue perfectly. Katherine wasn¡¯t surprised ¨C she had first taken her daughter to a production of this play five years ago and had been told emphatically afterwards that Sophia would be an actress one day. In true Graham family fashion, this hadn¡¯t just been an empty statement; Sophia spent much of her free time imitating the actors she watched on recordings of plays, and audiovisual programs. She clapped when she was finished, and the rest of the class quickly followed at the prompting of their teacher, Mrs Brown. ¡°That was excellently delivered, Sophia,¡± said Mrs Brown. ¡°Full marks on performance. Hopefully that will help the rest of you connect to the material in time for the upcoming exams. Sophia, why don¡¯t you step outside and speak with your mother while Zogin does his reading of Act Seven, Scene Three.¡± Sophia met Katherine in the hallway. She stood straight backed, with her chin up, as though she was standing to attention. ¡°That was wonderful, Sophia,¡± Katherine said. ¡°Thank you mum,¡± said Sophia. She smiled slightly before frowning. ¡°Why are you here?¡± Katherine didn¡¯t feel like being coy with Sophia, so she led her to a small bench in the hallway. ¡°This is a secret,¡± she warned. Sophia nodded. Katherine well knew that she could keep a secret. ¡°A technician found a body in a sealed off room,¡± she explained. Sophia gasped. ¡°That¡¯s terrible. Do you know what happened?¡± ¡°Not yet,¡± Katherine said. ¡°It¡¯s being looked into. It just threw me a bit, so I wanted to come and see you and Oliver to ground myself.¡± ¡°That makes sense,¡± said Sophia. ¡°Has it helped?¡± ¡°It has,¡± said Katherine. She reached up and plucked a single hair that dangled in front of Sophia¡¯s eyes. ¡°My first thought was that I¡¯d give you a hug. But don¡¯t worry ¨C¡° she clarified, as Sophia started to pull away, ¡°- I won¡¯t make you do that in front of your friends.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± said Sophia. Katherine smiled. The days of school politics seemed like an eternity ago now, though based on what she remembered she thought she would still take her current life over them. ¡°I¡¯ll let you get back to your classes,¡± she said. Sophia nodded and started to go, but she hesitated. ¡°Mum, I know you¡¯re busy. But, are we still going to be having dinner with dad tonight?¡± Katherine did everything in her power to hide the fact that she had forgotten. ¡°Of course,¡± she said. ¡°I know he¡¯s really looking forward to it. Maybe you can perform your monologue to him at dinner.¡± ¡°He actually helped me practice it the other night,¡± said Sophia. Her tone had shifted ever so slightly. Katherine knew that it wasn¡¯t blame that she was expressing, but a very slight hint of ¡°I didn¡¯t get to practice it with you.¡± ¡°That¡¯s probably for the best,¡± she said. ¡°He¡¯s much better with theatre than I am. I wouldn¡¯t have been able to give you any advice at all.¡± ¡°He was very helpful,¡± Sophia agreed. ¡°I know,¡± Katherine said. ¡°I heard you practicing a song in your room the other day. Has he heard that one yet?¡± Sophia blushed. ¡°No.¡± ¡°Well, then if you feel okay with it maybe you could show us,¡± Katherine suggested. ¡°It¡¯s the song from that show we saw a few months ago, isn¡¯t it? The Caves of Hintram, I think.¡± ¡°Right,¡± Sophia said. ¡°It¡¯s Silcra¡¯s Lament ¨C the song she says after she has to say goodbye to her brother and the man she was going to marry on the same day.¡± ¡°I remember,¡± said Katherine. ¡°I¡¯d love to hear you perform it.¡± Mrs Brown stuck her head out of the door and told Sophia that she should be getting back to class. Katherine let her go but lingered on the bench for a little bit longer. What she had said before was right. She had needed her children to ground her after what had happened to Calira. She was a general of a Ring ¨C being grounded was the most important thing she could do. Some people would have called it a weakness that she needed her children to command a Ring, and there were days when Katherine saw that argument. She had never needed to do this before she had children, so had they made her weaker? On her saner days, she knew that she was as strong as ever. Her children were on her Ring, which meant that anything that threatened it threatened them as well. As far as she was concerned, there was no better reason to do her job. She could feel it now, that old rage from her times in war, the one that had led her to victory more times than she could count. Someone was threatening her crew, and therefore threatening her Ring, and therefore threatening her family. She would make sure that they were sorry they ever did. Her communicator alerted her to a message. Seraphina was beginning her autopsy. It was time for her to go.