“Tell me what you do,” he said to Nimueh in their first conference.
“I am a gardener,” she replied. “I tend the memorials and the Stones. My family always has.”
“I have an offer for you, beautiful Nimueh,” Uther said as they walked laps around the stone circle. Uther had come alone on this day except for Merlin coming up a few steps behind the other two. He had been grave for some time but Uther tried to ignore it and focus on his imposing plan. “I need you to come with me to Pendragon and try out some new technology for me. It’s made for D.R.U.I.Ds and I think will do you some good. If it works out how I think it should, all of your people can have the new upgrade.”
Nimueh was a young looking Avalonian and must have been ignorant to Uther’s plans. “I suppose. I was not natural born like so many of my brothers and sisters,” she said. “I have been around…a very long time.” Her eyes flitted to Merlin. “I remember the first Constantine in fondness. He said I was different and special, set apart from the others. I think I was just his favorite.” Her eyes were large and glimmered in the bright afternoon sun. “I will help out his descendent as though they were him.”
She crossed her arms and hugged herself. “I think I loved Constantine. He was like my father. He made me this way and loved me.”
“He made you?” Merlin spoke for the first time. “When you come to Pendragon, I’d love to run some tests to discover what makes you so different.”
Nimueh pressed her lips together and smiled at Merlin. A small blush lighted her cheeks. “That’s fine with me, Merlin. Anything for Constantine and his kin.”
Nimueh held his gaze. Uther saw playful banter playing at the corner of the young Avalonian’s lips, but it did not get reciprocated by Merlin. He seemed confused, not picking up whatever hidden message she tried to send.
The trio made their way around the strange glowing rocks in the circle to the center. A large stone table rested there with glowing blue runes, shapes, and circles.
“Shall I show you?” Nimueh asked sweetly. Uther gestured for her to proceed. “This is the core.” She poked the center symbol and a three-dimensional orb appeared, flickering in the air like Uther had seen in his hangar and the bridge of their ships. A faint tinkling like the whisper of tiny bells came from it.
“When a being of Avalon is born, the parents connect the child with the Mist so that they may ever be linked through the great network of computers and communication. Anything that gives or receives signals, we can speak to in our minds. I can also hear your speeder.”
Nimueh held up both her hands, her fingernails glowing as lines of light connected her to the orb in front. An outline of the transport they had come in appeared in the center and slowly rotated. She blinked and her eyes began to flash with codes and symbols.
“I’m speaking to it now. You need to change the oil and recalibrate the inner compass. It’s quite off. Also, you grind the breaks a lot.” She giggled. “Constantine always started to drive with the parking brake on.”
“That’s Ector, my pilot,” Uther said quickly. He shrugged off his too quick guilt. “He forgets to take the parking brake off sometimes as well.”
With a quick flash, Nimueh dismissed all the blinking signs and charts. “That is how we do it. I doubt if a human can. Your brains are not formatted to connect with so many small details like computers. And your mental capacity is too weak to deal with the lack of emotion from those things.”
“Okay,” said Uther. “I’ll ignore those statements if you tell me what makes you more special than the others.”
But the female D.R.U.I.D didn’t reply right away. She squinted her eyes and frowned. “Most D.R.U.I.Ds are born once. Or manufactured like the ones here. Very few are augmented.”
Merlin started and Uther glanced sideways at him. Merlin shrugged and shook his head, showing he didn’t understand either.
Nimueh sighed and put her hand to her cheek. “Oh, no. I’ve said something wrong, haven’t I? What do you know about me?”
“I may have read about you in my father’s ship’s log, but he didn’t know either,” other replied. “He just knew that you could reprogram every D.R.U.I.D on Camelot. That’s how the cities were built. Because of you. You told every D.R.U.I.D what to do. He called you the Mother of All. What can you do that the others can’t, Nimueh?”
She smiled. “As you said. I can touch those manufactured Avalonians, D.R.U.I.Ds, and the organic ones. Why? Do you need me to help you?” she clapped her hands together with glee. “I miss Constantine and will help his sons!”
This show of energy took Uther a little by surprise, but he was glad to see it. “Yes, I need to finish what Constantine started. Will you touch all the minds of every D.R.U.I.D?”
Panic punched Merlin in the stomach. Surely Uther didn’t want to enslave every D.R.U.I.D out of fear or lust for power? He knew Uther, that wasn’t like him. Or rather, it wasn’t like the Uther he had known on the ship.
“Then, please, Nimueh, connect to every D.R.U.I.D on Camelot.”
“Uther, wait,” Merlin said quickly as the girl re-opened the core. “What will you do with all of them. With me? We are not machines; we live and breathe! You cannot just reprogram us at will.”
Uther smirked and patted Merlin on the shoulder. “For the good of Camelot, Merlin. And yes, it appears I can.”
When the orb pulsated once again, Nimueh’s hands went up and her nails glowed again. The connection code scrolled over her strange eyes at lightning speed. The air around her skin rippled and the very ends
