Only Human (Themis Files, #3)(58)

—That was generations ago. I’m not sure that’s really on her mind.

—She lives in the past, Vincent. She lives in the palace. That entire building is a symbol of the mighty Ekt empire. Every single thing in there must have a story attached to it. Every tapestry—if they have such a thing—every piece of furniture. She can’t go to the bathroom without being reminded that her ancestors had all the power and she has none of it. The Ekt are more advanced in many ways, but, fundamentally, they’re not that different from us. Believe me, it’s on her mind.

—OK. Say it is. What do you want to do, Rose? Stage a coup d’état?

—You mean you and I? Well, no. We can barely make breakfast, we can’t stage a coup. The empress won’t either, it wouldn’t work. But I don’t think she has to, not if things keep going the way they are. The regions aren’t equipped to deal with this, mass protests, terrorist acts on a daily basis. Back home, we’d have called in the army, the National Guard, a long time ago. If this keeps escalating, they’ll want to give the empress more power. They’ll want the Imperial Guard on the streets. They’ll beg her for it.

—I don’t see how that helps us. Even if everything you’re saying is true, she doesn’t need us.

—Maybe she doesn’t. Maybe she does. I won’t pretend to understand everything there is to know about these people, but the empress does. We have no status here, no power whatsoever. Our one card is that we somehow inspire these people to rebel. That might be useful somehow. I don’t know.

—…

—Vincent, it doesn’t matter if any of this is true. We need the empress. She controls our fate. We’ll die here if she doesn’t help us.

—I’ll talk to Enatast again. Maybe he can set it up. But first, I have to find Eva.

—You won’t find her now, not if she doesn’t want to be found.

—So, what? I just wait for her to come home?

—Well, you know where she’ll be this afternoon.

—Right, the protest. Damn, she’s stubborn.

—The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

—I’ll tell Esok I changed my mind. Eva and I are going to have a long talk when I get my hands on her. Is it considered bad parenting to ground your child for life?

—Good luck with that.





FILE NO. EE426—PERSONAL FILE FROM ESAT EKT


    Interview between Vincent Couture and Ipet Estoteks, representative of the empress


   Location: Imperial Palace, Osk region


Translated by Vincent Couture


Note: I make her sound very formal in her translation even though she didn’t speak any differently than Enatast does. But, man, did she sound entitled! The tone. The posture. The demeanor. It felt as if she’d been waiting her whole life to look down on someone. I took a shower when I came back home.



* * *



—

—Greetings. I’m Vincent.

—Greetings, Vincent.

—How should I address you?

—You may not address me. I represent the empress Iksidits, daughter of Yotekot, sovereign of the Ekt. My words are hers.

—Thank you—thank the empress?—for granting this meeting.

—Speak now, Vincent Couture.

—OK. I…I am here to request assistance in ge— —You wish to go back to Terra.

—Yes. I do.

—The empress cannot assist you. Only the Council can.

—So I’ve been told.

—Then why are you here?

—What? I just told you why I’m here. I’m here to— —Why are you asking the empress for help if you have been told that she cannot help? It seems…insane.

—I…I’m asking the empress for help because the Council is not helping.

—You should know that the Council will never help you. There are many on Esat Ekt who feel the Council created this problem by visiting your world and needlessly killing so many of your people. There are many on Esat Ekt who feel the Council should be abolished. I can tell you that its members will not compound their mistake by admitting they have committed genocide on an alien species.

—This is insane! This. Your people, the Council, they send giants to our world and kill millions of us, then they punish us when it has consequences here. We didn’t do anything. You did this.

—Neither I nor the empress approved of the decision, but you are correct.

—What can the empress do to help us?

—The empress, as always, only wishes to help her people. But the law prevents her from doing what she so strongly desires.

—What does that mean?

—The empress does not wish for you to suffer for something you had no part in only to serve the interests of the Council.

—Then send us home.

—Again, our laws, as they stand, prevent the empress from following her heart.

—But…

—But what?

—Well, I’m hoping you didn’t ask me to come all this way just to tell me that we’re going to die here and that there’s nothing you can do about it.

—That is precisely why the empress asked you to come here.

—…No.