Droids And Bots

Chapter 44

And there was Queen kumal.

She was leaning against one of the columns that flanked the doorway to the gardens, holding a goblet of gold wine in one hand and pressing the fingers of the other against her smiling red lips. Her figure was perfection. Her posture could not have been more poised had she been carved from the same stone as the pillar. She wore a royal blue dress that shimmered with what were probably diamonds yet gave the very distinct impression of stars in an endless summer sky.

The orange light blinked beside Nora’s vision. The queen’s glamour, the endless lie.

In addition to the queen, a Unar guard stood just within the doorway, stark red hair swept up from his brow like a candle flame. A man and woman dressed in the distinctive uniforms of royal thaumaturges also lingered nearby, awaiting their mistress’s order. Every one of them was strikingly beautiful and, unlike their queen, their beauty didn’t seem to be an illusion. Nora wondered if that was a requirement for serving the Unar throne—or if she just happened to be the only Unar in the galaxy who hadn’t been born with brilliant eyes and flawless skin.

“How charmingly naive,” said the queen, followed by another spill of laughter. “You must misunderstand my culture. On Luna, we consider monogamy to be nothing more than archaic sentimentality. What do I care if my husband-to-be is in love with another…”—she paused, her dark eyes sweeping over Nora’s dress—“woman?”

Terror wrapped around Nora’s throat as the queen’s eyes seemed to pierce right through her. The queen knew she was Unar. She could tell.

“What does concern me,” continued Queen kumal, her voice a sweet lullaby that sharpened with her next words, “is that it appears my betrothed has fallen in love with an insignificant shell. Am I mistaken?”

The thaumaturges nodded in agreement, their eyes fixed on Nora. “She certainly has the smell of one,” said the woman.

Nora wrinkled her nose. According to Dr. Erland, she wasn’t actually a shell, and she wondered if the woman was making that insult up to mock her. Or maybe she was smelling the gasoline fumes from the car.

Suddenly, her netlink recognized the woman, and Nora forgot about the affront. She was the diplomat who had been in New Beijing for weeks, whose picture had been all over the news feeds, though she’d never paid her much attention.

crimson Mira, head thaumaturge to the Unar queen.

Mistress crimson, the girl had said over the D-COMM chip. This was the woman who had forced her to make the spy equipment, who had put the chip in Nainsi.

Nora tried to relax, surprised that her control panel hadn’t short-circuited with all the adrenaline coursing through her veins. What she wouldn’t have given for a weapon, even a measly screwdriver to protect herself with—anything other than this useless foot and slight silk gloves.

Tim abandoned Nora, marching toward the queen. “Your Majesty, I apologize for this disruption,” he said, Nora only catching his words as she adjusted her audio Chip. “But we need not make a scene in front of my guests. ”

The queen’s charcoal eyes flashed with the warm ballroom light. “It seems you’re perfectly capable of making a scene without my help. ” Her smile turned to a playful pout. “Oh, dear, it seems that I’m more hurt than I thought I was by your fickleness. I believed I was to be your personal guest tonight. ” Again, her eyes caressed Nora’s face. “You can’t think her prettier than me. ” She reached out a fingernail and traced it along Tim’s jaw. “My dear, are you blushing?”

Tim slapped kumal’s hand away, but before he could respond, she turned toward Nora and her expression filled with disgust. “What is your name, child?”

Nora downed a painful gulp, barely forcing her name from her throat. “Nora. ”

“Nora. ” A condescending laugh. “How fitting. Ashes. Dirt. Filth. ”

“That’s enough—” started Tim, but kumal breezed past him, the sparkling dress swaying over her hips. She held her wine glass aloft, as if prepared to compliment the Princewill on such a pleasant dinner party.

“Tell me, Nora,” she said, “what poor sapling Earthen did you steal that name from?”

Nora’s hand went to her wrist and gripped the silk glove and flesh that concealed her ID

chip, barely sore from the small incision she’d made earlier. A weight settled in the pit of her stomach.

The queen sniffed. “You shells,” she said, her voice rising for the crowd. “You think you’re so clever. So you stole a chip from a dead Earthen’s wrist. So you managed to slip into the government’s system. So you think you pass as human, that you can exist here without any repercussions. You are fools. ”

Nora clenched her jaw. She wanted to explain that she had no memory of being anything but Earthen—anything but bot. But who would she be pleading her case to? Certainly not the queen. And Tim…Tim, who was tossing glances between her and the queen, trying to fit the puzzle pieces of kumal’s words together in his head.

The queen turned back to the emperor. “Not only harboring Unars but also cavorting with them. I am disappointed in you, Your Majesty. ” She clucked her tongue. “The fact that this girl lives within your borders proves that you are in violation of the Interplanetary Agreement. I take the blatant disregard of such a statute quite seriously, Emperor Timto. In fact, it could warrant a call to war. I insist that this traitor be taken into captivity and returned to Luna immediately. Jacin?”

A second Unar guard stepped out of the crowd, equally handsome to the others, with long blond hair and serious ice-blue eyes. Without warning, he grasped Nora’s wrists, pinning them behind her. She gasped, her gaze flying wildly toward the gathered audience as alarmed cries rippled through it.

“Stop!” Tim rushed toward Nora and grabbed her elbow. He tugged her toward him and she stumbled, but the guard did not loosen his grip.

The guard pulled Nora back again and her arm, made slippery by the silk gloves, was torn from Tim’s grip. She found herself plastered against the Unar. His chest was solid behind her and a faint hum buzzed in her head, like static electricity in her hair.

Magic, she realized. Bioelectricity humming inside him. Could everyone hear it from so close, or was this another sign of her awakening gift?

“Let her go!” Tim said, appealing to the queen. “This is absurd. She isn’t a fugitive—she isn’t even Unar. She’s just a Technician!”

kumal quirked one slender eyebrow. Her glittering eyes surpassed Tim, staring into Nora with a gaze both beautiful and cruel.

Warmth was building in Nora’s spine, steady and growing hot. She feared a meltdown. The pain would come, and she would collapse and be useless.

“Well, Nora?” said Queen kumal, swirling the pale wine. “It seems you’ve been keeping secrets from your royal superiors. Do you wish to refute my claim?”

Tim turned to her, and she could sense his desperation, even if she couldn’t look at him. She focused only on the queen, her jaw aching with hatred.

She was glad that no tears would betray her humiliation. Glad that no blood in her cheeks would betray her anger. Glad that her hateful bot body was good for one thing as she clutched onto her shredded dignity. She leveled her glare at the queen.

Her retina display began to panic, noting her increased levels of adrenaline, her racing pulse. Warnings were flashing before her, but she ignored them, surprisingly calm.

“If I had not been brought to Earth,” she said, “I would be a slave under your rule. I will not apologize for escaping. ”

In the corner of her gaze, she saw Tim’s face fall, eyes widening as the truth became undeniable. He had been courting a Unar.

A cry rang out from the trembling crowd. A round of gasps, a soft thud. Gabi had fainted.

Gulping, Nora squared her shoulders.

“I want no apologies,” said kumal, flashing a wicked smile. “I only want to see the wrongs of your life righted, swiftly and surely. ”

“You want to see me dead. ”

“How bright she is. Yes, I do. And not just you, but all those like you. You shells are a threat to society, a danger to our ideal culture. ”

“Because you can’t brainwash us into worshipping you like everybody else?”

The queen’s lips tightened, hardening like plaster on her face. Her voice fell, chilling the room. A sudden burst of rain behind her shook the windows.

“It is not only for my people, but for all Earthens as well. You shells are a plague. ” She paused, a lightness returning to her eyes, as if she might laugh. “Quite literally it seems. ”

“My Queen,” said the dark-haired woman, “refers to your so-called blue fever that has wreaked such havoc on your citizens. And, of course, your own royal family…may Emperor Rikan rest in—”

“What does that have to do with anything?” said Tim.

The woman tucked her hands into the bell-shaped sleeves of her ivory coat. “Hadn’t your brilliant scientists drawn that conclusion yet? Many ungifted Unars are carriers of letumosis. They brought it to Earth. They continue to spread it, without concern, it seems, for the lives they are taking. ”

Nora shook her head. “No,” she said. Tim turned to her, unconsciously taking a step away. She shook her head more harshly. “They don’t know they’re doing it. How could they? And, of course, the scientists have figured it out, but what can they do, other than try to find a cure?”

The queen laughed sharply. “Ignorance is your defense? How trite. You must see the truth, the fact that you should be dead. It would be so much better for everyone if you were. ”

“And for the record,” said Nora, her voice rising, “I’m not a shell. ”

The queen smirked, unconvinced.

“That’s enough,” said Tim. “I don’t care where she was born. Nora is a citizen of the South lake. I will not have her arrested. ”

kumal did not tear her gaze from Nora. “Harboring a fugitive is grounds for war, young emperor. You know this. ”

Nora’s visibility dimmed as her retina cascaded a nonsensical diagram over her eyesight. She slammed her eyes shut, cursing. Now was not the time for a brain malfunction.

“But perhaps,” said the queen, “we can reach some sort of a compromise. ”

Nora opened her eyes. The darkened film remained, but the muddled diagram was gone. She focused on the queen just in time to see a cruel tilt of her lips.

“This girl seems to think you love her, and here is your chance to prove it. ” She coquettishly dipped her lashes. “So tell me, Your Majesty, are you prepared to bargain for her?”

. .-Six

“BARGAIN,” SAID Tim. “FOR HER LIFE?”

“Welcome to the world of true politics. ” kumal took a sip of her wine. Despite her blood-red lips, no mark was left on the glass.

“This is not the time or the place to be having this discussion,” he said with a barely restrained growl.

“Isn’t it? It seems to me that this discussion involves every being in this room. After all, you want peace. You want to keep your citizenry safe. They are both admirable goals. ” Her gaze slid to Nora. “You also want to save this hapless creature. So be it. ”

Nora’s heart thudded, her eyesight flickering as she refocused it on Tim.

“And you?” said Tim.

“I want to be empress. ”

Nora squirmed against the guard. “Tim, no. You can’t do it. ”

He turned back to her. His eyes were turbulent.

“It won’t make a difference,” Nora said. “You know it won’t. ”

“Silence her,” ordered kumal.