Sarah Zettel - Kingdom of Cages

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CONTENTS
PROLOGUE - Threats
PART 1 : The New World
CHAPTER ONE - A Mud Hut in the Jungle
CHAPTER TWO - Offshoot
CHAPTER THREE - Meetings
CHAPTER FOUR - Forces
CHAPTER FIVE - Stem
CHAPTER SIX - Witness
CHAPTER SEVEN - The Draft
CHAPTER EIGHT - Caught
CHAPTER NINE - Hothouse Flowers
CHAPTER TEN - Theft
PART 2 : Wild Birds
CHAPTER ELEVEN - Decisions and Beliefs
CHAPTER TWELVE - Queen of the World
CHAPTER THIRTEEN - Discovered
CHAPTER FOURTEEN - The Run
CHAPTER FIFTEEN - Athena
CHAPTER SIXTEEN - Under Cover
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - Escape
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN - Reclaimed
CHAPTER NINETEEN - Pursuit
CHAPTER TWENTY - Eden
EPILOGUE - Open Cages
Also by Sarah Zettel
This book is dedicated to my friend, Dr. Karen Fleming. Dude!
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
As ever, the author gratefully acknowledges the United Writers Group
for their help and patience. She would also like to thank Dr. Laura
Woody and Dee Keanealy, whose knowledge of biology, herbology,
and medicine was invaluable for writing this book, and Jan Harmon,
whose music gave her the title.
… Thank heaven for wild birds
They’re all dressed up in feathers, with colors
outrageous. They soar from this earthly bound kingdom of
cages On delicate wings, so small and courageous…
—Jan Harmon, “Wild
Birds.”
PROLOGUE
Threats
Contents - Next
“We are aware there is a crisis,” said Father Mihran calmly. “But it is not
ours.”
Tam’s gaze flickered to Commander Beleraja Poulos, the representative
from the Authority. Her face faded to white, then flushed darkly.
Tam did not have a seat at the conference table. His place was in the
back of the room with the rest of the administrative apprentices. They
stood shoulder to shoulder in their best black shirts and white trousers,
all of them there to watch this historic meeting and learn how to deal with
outsiders. Jace, standing just to Tam’s left, looked bored, but then Jace
always looked bored. Haye, on the other hand, was staring so hard it
looked like her eyes were about to pop out of her skull.
The late morning sun streamed through the pillow dome, warming and
lighting the room, bringing the feel of springtime with it. A ring of
windows let in a view of the marshes outside with their swaying reeds
and stooping, moss-draped trees. This was Pandora, the most beautiful
and perfect world ever discovered since human beings left Old Earth,
and it was about to turn humanity away.
It is what we must do, his Conscience implant whispered to him.
Pandora must be protected.
Tam eyed Commander Poulos uneasily. She had no Conscience to tell
her this. She sat before Father Mihran, straight and strong in a tailored
blue coat with gold braid on its sleeves and collar. She and her three
colleagues were a blaze of color crowded at the end of the table facing
the family council, which was arrayed down either side. The council all
wore straight black jackets with white cuffs and collars. If Tam worked
hard and did well, he’d eventually take his place at that table and wear
that coat for formal meetings.
Today, however, he was very glad to be standing well away from it.
Commander Poulos’s dark eyes were full of poison as she stared Father
Mihran down. Was she really going to just accept their refusal and go
away?
Father Mihran seemed to think so, if his outward calm was any
indication. His place was at the head of the long, low conference table
and his wrinkled, oak-colored hands rested lightly on its polished
surface. The father’s entire manner spoke of cool resolution, and Tam
wished he could copy it. He’d embarrass everyone if they caught him
shifting his weight like he wanted to.
“If the rest of the colonized worlds cannot take care of their planets or
their people, then…” Father Mihran dropped his gaze and waved one
graceful hand.
“Then they deserve whatever happens to them?” asked Commander
Poulos, her voice as suddenly full of poison as her gaze. “Is that what
you were going to say?”
“No.” Father Mihran sighed. “I was going to say I’m sorry for them.”
“But not sorry enough to help?” The commander’s light tone was
completely at odds with her thunderous expression. “We cannot help
them.”
Commander Poulos pressed her mouth into a straight line and raised her
hand. She had a blue gem embedded in her thumbnail, and Tam
wondered what its significance was. He should check. They would be
quizzed on such details later.
She touched one of the rings on her right hand. The Authority
representatives had brought their own video rig and now its screen lit up.
Tam wanted to groan and look away. Jace actually did. Tam stepped on
his foot and when the younger boy gave him a dirty look, Tam jerked his
chin at the screen. They had to watch. They had to know. How would
they ever be able to make decisions that could affect the entire family
and all the villages if they couldn’t stand to know what was going on?
Tam repeated that idea to himself as the images Commander Poulos had
brought with her played across the holograph screen yet again. There
was the wrinkled woman, whose right arm ended in nothing but a stump,
weeping as she stared across a field where the grain on the stalks
swelled with pulpy gray tumors. There was the filthy clinic full of
children with too-small bodies and too big heads with the one doctor
explaining they had no way to perform genetic analysis to find out what
was causing the defects. All that equipment had been washed away
twenty years ago in a spring flood. There were the funeral pyres with the
thick black smoke hanging over them, making Tam’s nose twitch as he
imagined the heavy stench. The remaining population leaned against each
other, watching what was left of their friends and relatives burn.
So many worlds, so many disasters, and one name for all of them. The
Diversity Crisis. All the Called, short for “colonized,” worlds were
struggling to survive in the face of depleted biological resources,
decimated populations, and vestigial infrastructures.
The disaster had even reached back to Old Earth. Commander Poulos
had opened her presentation explaining how, eight years ago, Authority
ships had carried a delegation from the Called to Earth. Drone ships
could have been sent, of course, but it was decided that the magnitude
of the tragedy truly needed a human voice to describe it, so it was
human beings who brought news of the catastrophe reaching out across
the colonies. Gene stocks thought to be adequate for the establishment
and growth of civilizations were failing. The fertility rates were dropping,
mortal defects increasing, and nature and disease were still taking their
tolls. All of the Called, even the space dwellers of the Authority, needed
fresh genetic input for every aspect of life—livestock, crops, humans,
everything.
Earth, although grown so far apart from her daughter worlds, had been
willing to help. But it was soon realized that the delegation from the
Called had brought more with them than their pleas. The plague they
carried killed two million inside one Terran month. No one knew where it
came from. Some said the delegates had carried it with them and it had
somehow survived sterilization and quarantine. Some said it had bred on
Earth itself, a hybrid of Terran and proto-Terran viruses created by
something innately harmless the delegation had exhaled the first day they
walked free.
Some said the delegates had released it deliberately, to wipe out the
native Terrans and reclaim Earth for themselves.
From this turmoil, only one agreement was reached. The horrified
Terrans sent the delegates back with a single message for the Authority
and all the Called: Never return. Never even try.
But the crisis among the Called would not relent and the Authority found
itself pushed into making a fresh decision: to come to the one colonized
world where it was known the Diversity Crisis had not reached and beg
for help.
Although, Tam noticed, Commander Poulos had stopped using words
like “begging” and “at your mercy” and even “please” twenty minutes
ago.
The images of disaster continued. A mass grave, a ruined field, a quartet
of children bearing the ancient signs of Down’s syndrome. Still, Father
Mihran’s gaze did not flicker. Tam wasn’t even sure he blinked.
“So much tragedy,” he finally murmured, and Commander Poulos’s
guard dropped far enough for Tam to see hope light her face. “But also
so much ignorance.” The commander’s hopeful expression faded as
Father Mihran gestured toward the screen. “None of this would have
happened if any of them had taken the time to truly understand the
conditions they were living in. To understand that, however beautiful,
their new worlds were not Earth.” His gaze narrowed as he watched a
family opening a silo door to see what had once been grain blow away in
a cloud of red dust. “If they do not understand the problems inflicted on
them by their own worlds, how can we hope to?” Father Mihran spread
his hands toward the window and the world outside. “We have been on
Pandora for two thousand years and we do not truly understand even
this one biosphere yet.”
“You can help them.” Commander Poulos spoke the words more as if
they were a command than a plea. “No one else has the analysis
facilities, or the experience, that you have here. You can draw out a
diagram for a single genetic base pair or an entire planet. You have all the
techniques and understanding of the long generations that have studied
Pandora.” Commander Poulos leaned forward, eager, believing she was
at the point of reaching her goal. Tam saw a man cradling a dead child
on the screen and secretly hoped she was.
“You can teach them how their worlds work,” said Commander Poulos
urgently. “You can help each world find its cure.”
“These poor suffering worlds.” For the first time. Father Mihran’s voice
took on an edge. “Let’s talk about them.” Commander Poulos drew
back just a little, but Father Mihran remained is he was, hack and
shoulders straight and ins hands on the table as if determined not to let
any gesture or expression distract anyone from his words. “Let’s talk
about groups of as few as a hundred would-be colonists being dropped
on a planet by your ancestors in the Colonial Shipping Authority,
because those colonists were hoping for riches or a place where their
own fanatic ideals could be enforced without question. Let’s talk about
the ones who hacked away at forests for the trade in exotic timber,
which your people shipped between worlds. Let’s talk about mines
gouged out for the trade in heavy and precious minerals, which your
people also carried.” His index finger tapped the tabletop, once. “Let’s
talk about colonies that failed and were enslaved by their
oh-so-noble-and-generous neighbors, according to treaties your people
mediated, part of which included shipping the slaves out to their new
masters.”
“Do you say you’re better than we are?” shot back Commander Poulos,
rising to her feet and leaning across the table. “Then prove it. Help the
Called to stay alive when they will not help each other and cannot help
themselves.”
“No,” said Father Mihran, and the other council members murmured
their agreement.
Commander Poulos glanced at her silent subordinates. The man on her
left hung his head. The young woman on her right just looked grim. Tam
felt the silent communication pass between them, and his stomach
tightened.
“Father Mihran,” said Commander Poulos. “Don’t do this. The Called,
the Authority, are desperate, and we’re here as ambassadors of that
desperation.”
“And how much are you being paid for the job?” asked Father Mihran
coolly.
Commander Poulos winced briefly. “A lot,” she admitted. “Because
there’s a chance you will not let us go again, especially when you realize
I can’t let you refuse.”
Silence, thick and worried. Not even Father Mihran made a sound.
“We need Pandora’s help or we are all going to die,” said Commander
Poulos, separating out each word and meeting the gaze of each and
every council member in turn. “Not today. Not even for ten years, or
maybe even twenty. But eventually. Whole worlds are already gone.
Earth has abandoned us, and we cannot compel them to change their
minds.“ Her gaze came to rest on Father Mihran again.
“And you can compel Pandora?” said Father Mihran, so softly Tam had
to strain to hear him.
“If you force me to,” replied Commander Poulos, just as softly. “Only if
you force me to.”
Father Mihran climbed to his feet. He stood only a few centimeters taller
than the commander, but at that moment it seemed to Tam that he filled
the entire room.
“You are ignorant and the daughter of ignorance,” Father Mihran said
flatly. “And you will leave us. Now.”
Commander Poulos bowed her head and gestured with two fingers to
the man on her left. He, in turn, typed a command into the comptroller
on his wrist while the commander touched the ring control for her video
screen again. The disasters faded away to become a desert— row upon
row of red-gold dunes stretching out under an endless sky. “This is a
live feed,” said Commander Poulos quietly. “I believe you call this place
the Vastness.”
“No—” began Father Mihran.
Light flashed, filling the screen, making Tam flinch. A boiling cloud of
dust and ash filled the entire screen, rippling, growing, cascading
upward, lifted by the long, low roar of thunder. Father Mihran cried out
in sheer pain and all the council babbled at once, some to the father,
some to each other, and some to their implants.
Tam could only stand there, jaw hanging, heart pounding. He couldn’t
believe it. A bomb. On Pandora, in the wilderness, the beautiful
wilderness, which must be protected, must be studied and understood.
“It’s a clean bomb.” Commander Poulos’s voice was almost gentle.
“This time.”
“You bloody-minded, ignorant…” shouted Father Mihran, but words
failed him. He just stared at the boiling cloud of ash, hearing the endless
rolling thunder, and Tam saw tears streaming from his eyes.
“You’ve kept Pandora pristine, to study and preserve, just like your
ancestors did,” went on Commander Poulos. “If you do not agree to
help find I cure for (he Diversity Crisis, the Authority will start bombing
this planet until there’s nothing left living outside your domes.”
Father Mihran’s hand curled into a fist and he pressed it against his
forehead. Around him, the council fell silent, except for Administrator
Has. “It’s real,” Has whispered, choking on the words. “I have
confirmation from Athena Station. It’s real.”
On the screen, the dust and ash finally began to settle, and Tam
glimpsed the burned black crater. It was so big. Bigger than any of the
dunes—what was left of the dunes. The whole shape of the world had
been changed to accommodate that huge black smoking hole.
“How could you?” gasped Father Mihran.
“Do you think we want to do this?” Commander Poulos stared at him
incredulously. “Do you think I’m having fun here? I’m threatening to
destroy an entire world. I’m acting like a damned dictator or crazy
general out of the legends.” Her knuckles turned white as she gripped the
table edge. “I’m going to say this one more time, Father Mihran. The
Called are going to die unless we do something.”
“And if the Called die”—Father Mihran’s hand shook as he lowered
it—“the Authority and its cities die.”
“Yes, and our way of life with them.” Her smile was tight and grim. “I
never said we were being selfless. The Diversity Crisis is in the corridors
of the Authority cities too, Father. We are just as desperate as the rest.”
“Why do you come here?” Father Mihran’s words came out as a sob.
“Have we ever asked anything of the Authority or the rest of the Called?
What right have you to force your problems on us?”
Commander Poulos sighed and straightened up, polishing the sapphire
thumbnail gem on her trousers seam. “No right,” she admitted. “None at
all. But you should be aware that it is not just the Authority that’s
bringing their troubles to you.” Father Mihran stared, fear and murder
both shining in his eyes.
Commander Poulos just nodded. “We already have rumors of ships on
their way here. The word is out that Pandora is clean and that it’s
extraordinarily compatible with human life. Now”—her voice grew firm
again—“maybe some of those ships will just dock with your Athena
Station and process their crews for potential immigration, all polite. But
some of them might not. They might just land and start setting up their
own settlements in the middle of your precious wilderness. They might
even do worse than that.” She stabbed her finger toward the settling ash
and the smoking crater. Tam swallowed. His hands were shaking.
Nothing could be worse than that. What could be worse?
The trees falling one by one, the ground stripped bare, the animals, the
birds, dead and dying. A wave of nausea washed though Tam. Oh, it
could get worse. It could get much worse. From the faces of the
councilors, he knew they were thinking the same thing. Jace was turning
green. Sick amusement accompanied fast by shame rolled through Tam.
One muscle in Father Mihran’s cheek twitched. “And the Authority
would of course stop anyone from invading Pandora.”
“If we knew Pandora was doing everything possible to help put an end
to the Diversity Crisis, we just might,” replied Commander Poulos.
“So…” Father Mihran groped for his chair and sat down heavily. “If we
refuse, we have the choice of the Authority destroying us or the
Authority allowing us to be destroyed.”
“Your people aren’t the only ones who learned the lessons of the pillage
of Old Earth.” Commander Poulos touched her ring and blanked out the
image of the burned ruination. “If we don’t move now, we will lose our
chance.”
Father Mihran dropped his gaze to the council. There should have been
argument. There should have been raging debate. The whole family
should have been called in. The city-mind itself should have raised its
voice.
But none of this happened. There was only silence, until Father Mihran
spoke again.
“It will take time.”
Commander Poulos inclined her head once. “We know.”
“Do you?” snapped Father Mihran. “I am not speaking of months. I am
speaking of years. Possibly decades.”
“We know,” the commander repeated. “That is why we are here now,
while we still have decades, perhaps even as much as a generation.” Her
face grew hard, and Tam knew she was seeing disasters that were to her
at least as horrible as the crater she had opened in the Vastness. “There
will be too much suffering, but there will be survivors. We’ll be able to
start over.”
Father Mihran opened his mouth and closed it again. “Which world’s
generation are you picking for our clock, Commander?”
The small, grim smile returned. “Why, Pandora’s, of course.”
Tam felt it then, the dizzy sensation of watching something begin to slip
away, like a leaf in a stream, and knowing with terrified certainty that it
was one of a kind, and when it was gone there would be no more.
Everything changed today. His world, his life, his vision for his future,
everything, it all slid farther away with each heartbeat.
He also knew that this feeling, like the image of the Vastness crater,
would never leave him. The Authority had won. They had let the
Authority win. With their single act, Commander Poulos and her people
had altered the lives of every human being living on Pandora.
And the Pandorans, in turn, would change the entire world, whether they
wanted to or not.
Part One
The New World
CHAPTER ONE
A Mud Hut in the Jungle
Contents - Prev / Next
It was late when Tam finally left the experiment wing and crossed Alpha
Complex's central lobby. Outside the dome, the sky's summer sapphire
hue had deepened to indigo, and the first three stars shone over the
forest, which stretched its long shadow across the marsh toward the
Alpha Complex. Silhouettes of wading birds—paddlers, skimmers, and
shimmies—stood stark and still in the peach and fuchsia light.
The beauty of the sight stopped Tam. He leaned on the railing in front of
the triple-insulated windows, giving himself a minute to watch the
marsh's many dances. Fish and insects rippled the water. Bats skimmed
overhead. One of the wading birds stabbed its beak into the water and
came up with a patch of darkness, maybe a frog. Snap! The meal was
done and the bird strutted away.
It might have been Old Earth out there. It almost was. Pandora was one
of the few worlds to score a perfect ten on the Almen Compatibility
Scale.
The scene tugged at Tam. He wished, as he had on a thousand other
evenings, that he could walk out of the complex with its pillow dome,
insulation, sealed portals, and water-cooled walls. He would step into the
pink and lavender glow of the sunset, onto one of the marsh's tiny
islands, and watch the water birds in their thousands take flight all
around him.
Oh, Tam spent a great deal of time outdoors, in the villages for which he
was administrator, but those were fenced and protected areas, not the
pristine wilderness, not what he saw through the window. That beauty
remained forever out of reach, past the glass, past the fences.
Just once. Tam thought. What could it hurt?
Years of conditioning raised a surge of guilt in him at the thought, and
摘要：

BackgroundColorwhiteCONTENTSPROLOGUE-ThreatsPART1:TheNewWorldCHAPTERONE-AMudHutintheJungleCHAPTERTWO-OffshootCHAPTERTHREE-MeetingsCHAPTERFOUR-ForcesCHAPTERFIVE-StemCHAPTERSIX-WitnessCHAPTERSEVEN-TheDraftCHAPTEREIGHT-CaughtCHAPTERNINE-HothouseFlowersCHAPTERTEN-TheftPART2:WildBirdsCHAPTERELEVEN-Decisi...

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