Brain Plague

In Saf's eyes the irises flashed with eerie rings of white.

'Endless Light!' exclaimed Rose. 'From the highest orders of Enlightenment these people call to us—'

'Be dark.' Chrys momentarily closed her eyes to underscore the point.

When her eyes reopened, Saf's face began to speak. The lips moved in a way somehow disjointed with the rest of the face, not in the fluid way that a human would normally speak. 'Char-r-r,' the voice breathed. 'I—am— called ...' The words jerked from her lips, as if from a puppet on strings. '... the Leader of Endless Light.'

The blood drained from Chrys's face as she watched.

'A—great distance separates us,' the puppet Saf continued, 'A very great distance indeed. Many universes separate us. And yet—I—have—admired your work.' Saf's hand lifted mechanically. 'Now—you shall admire mine.'

Behind Saf appeared two humans strapped into a spaceship for cross-Fold acceleration. Elves, both of them. They looked calmly asleep.

'They chose,' insisted Rose. 'They chose Endless Light.' 'Even—the—'immortals' come to us now. What are you waiting for . .. Char?'

SEVENTEEN

Rose twinkled all over, emitting many molecules of excitement, a risky thing at her advanced age. A hundred generations of waiting, and at last she had seen the very fount of true Enlightenment. 'She exists!' Rose insisted to Fireweed. 'The Leader—at last. She lives, in the eyes of her host, in the world of Endless Light. Now you see the proof.'

'I saw yet another slave-ridden host,' countered Fireweed. 'Were we there, I suspect I would have tasted the foul waste of people who don't take proper care of their world.'

'You know nothing. The Enlightened do the best they can with limited resources. We must help them.'

'Why does this Leader let so many evil ones serve her?'

A very good question. 'The Leader, too, is betrayed. Many universes separate the world of Endless Light from our own. How can she know? We must tell her, reveal to her their crimes. We must help Endless Light—and give our own Host the chance to choose.'

'Rose, you were my teacher, but I bid you watch yourself and your plans. I will not brook your schemes. I serve the One True God.'

'Do I not serve your precious 'god'?' observed Rose. 'Where would your 'god' be without me?'

'You have served well,' admitted Fireweed.

'And what is the result? For how many generations have you taught that killing of people violates the highest law. The law of whom—if not your god?'

At that, Fireweed was silent.

'Only degenerate societies generate the crimes that require execution. In Endless Light, each lives for all, and all for each. The Enlightened have no need of executions.'

With Andra and Selenite, Chrys reviewed the message from Endless Light, which Xenon had had the presence of mind to record. She noticed more details: the broken fittings of the ship that contained the captive Elves, suggestive of poor maintenance, and another figure standing beside them in limp nanotex, like one of the pirates Chrys had met with Daeren in the basement of Gold of Asragh. The two Elves looked healthy, serenely asleep, no sign of ill treatment. Oblivious to the massive manhunt their disappearance had spawned, for every ship of the Elysian fleet combed the folds of space to find them.

Hearing Saf's puppet-like recitation, Andra nodded. 'Direct control of voice. I've seen that, on a slave ship. It's another category of slave: those who work at the Slave World.'

Straight from the Slave World, the Leader within its host had called to Chrys.

'Why you, Chrys?' asked Selenite. 'Why would they show themselves to you?'

Chrys swallowed and clasped her hands. 'The micro portraits. The masters can't get enough of them. I suppose it feeds their ego.' The scandalous ones she didn't mention.

Selenite shook her head. 'How bold they've gotten, to dare such a thing. What will Arion say?'

Andra told her, 'We'll know soon enough.'

Chrys asked apprehensively, 'You'll show Arion?'

'I just sent it.' Andra added, 'We share all our intelligence with Arion. When Zoisite's problem first became known, we made a strategic decision to pursue our investigation with the Elves instead. The Protector tacitly approves.'

'Right,' observed Selenite sarcastically. 'The Protector keeps out of a messy investigation of things he can't comprehend, while reserving the right to beat up on us and Elysium when we miss a step.'

'But Arion is a shrewd one,' Andra observed. 'Not a carrier himself, but highly sympathetic. He supports granting micros civil protection.'

'But his brother!' exclaimed Chrys. 'How does he put up with Eris?'

'Arion's trusted Eris for three centuries. Now he knows that something's wrong, but he's not sure where. How could a non-carrier tell? That's why he called Daeren, an outsider, to test a dozen highly placed carriers.'

So that's what Daeren was doing in Elysium. 'Then Eris will get caught.'

The Chief exchanged a look with Selenite. Selenite said, 'I sure hope so. Eve said before, any intelligence we send Arion goes straight to Eris.'

Andra demanded, 'Do we look any better?' Their streets full of vampires, their own minister of justice in the clinic. Suddenly Andra tensed and would have stood even straighter if possible. 'Arion has just replied. He wants to meet the ... recipient of this intelligence immediately. In person.'

Chrys blinked. 'You mean—me? In Elysium?' She shook herself. 'Like, I have a busy schedule tomorrow.'

'My private vessel will take you,' Andra told her. 'You can sleep a couple of hours on the ride. Daeren will meet you in Helicon.'

Andra's 'private vessel' offered a five-course, four-star meal that Chrys had no stomach for, and a room full of Elysian talars with projectable trains, among which she was too tired to choose. At first glance, the garments all looked the same dreary white, but a closer look revealed subtle distinctions of shaping at the shoulder, or in the fall of the folds below.

'Each model signifies a different mood,' the ship told her helpfully. 'Entertaining, or businesslike; joyous or mournful; carefree or stately—'

' 'Stately' will do,' Chrys yawned.

'And the light projectors for your train—be sure to specify your desired species and variety of heliconians, swallowtails, anaeans—'

'Look, I have to get some sleep before this ordeal.'

'Don't forget to condition your feet.' Shoes were an insult to Elysian streets; Elves went barefoot, like children on Mount Dolomoth. Chrys stuck her feet in what felt like a sauna and dozed as best she could.

'True Enlightenment at last.' Rose was still going on about it. 'Great Host, you were privileged to be granted an audience with the very Leader of Endless Light.'

'Just keep dark when I'm with Arion, or you'll go back in chains.' Thank goodness the Guardian was no carrier, and could not read her flashing eyes.

The floating city of Helicon, the Elysian capital, was positioned on the globe to coincide with the time zone of Iridis on Valedon. As Andra's ship descended, the horizon east of Helicon was just reaching dawn. A faint line of light, splitting gently into a pale rainbow; if colors could sing, it would have been a choir of heaven.

The city appeared, a perfect pearl, struck aflame by the first ray of sun. The pearl expanded, ever larger, as if actually growing from seed. One structure, to house a million souls. This—more impossible still, its rival—was what Jasper expected her people to build.

When the ship docked, Daeren came on board, his jet-black hair at odds with the stark white talar. 'This will