Deathstalker 08 - Deathstalker Coda

Price. “But what are you talking about?”
    “One of the Golden Age’s nastier secrets,” said Lewis. “Back when the rogue AIs of Shub were still the official enemies of Humanity, they routinely captured and experimented on humans, making them over into monstrosities in their secret laboratories. Sometimes for information, sometimes as part of their psychological warfare. And sometimes the Empress Lionstone the Fourteenth ordered the same thing done in her secret laboratories, in her search for new weapons, or just for the fun of it. And then there was the Mater Mundi, trying to turn espers into super-espers and failing as often as not. So when the Great Rebellion was finally over, and we were all friends again, Robert and Constance were faced with the problem of what to do with all the leftover monsters, which had once been men and women. There was no place for monsters in the wonderful Golden Age King Robert and Queen Constance were determined to build, so they gathered up all the products of all the secret labs, and dumped them on Shandrakor, to live or die as best they could. And then the Empire did its best to forget they ever existed.”
    “We had a civilization to rebuild,” said Silence. “We couldn’t do everything. We had to have priorities. We needed to spend our time on the problems we could solve. And if that makes us sound hard-hearted . . . we’d all been through a lot. We were all very tired.”
    “I gave those monsters my word that they would go home again,” said Lewis. “And so they will. First as shock troops in our war with Finn, and then . . . as our lost children. Set a course for Shandrakor, Admiral.”
    “Typical bloody Deathstalker,” said Silence. “Always being right.”

    And so the fleet went to Shandrakor. Some were heard to say that though they’d sworn to follow the Deathstalker to Hell and back, they hadn’t necessarily meant it literally. But no one said it too loudly. Except for Brett Random, who made it very clear that there was no way he was going back down to the planet’s jungles, under any circumstances whatsoever. And to prove it, he locked himself in his quarters with several bottles of wine and barricaded the door. Rose reluctantly stayed behind too, to keep him company and stop him from getting hysterical. In the end, only Lewis and Jesamine descended to the surface of Shandrakor, in a simple pinnace. And only Silence turned up to see them leave.
    “They’re calling this Deathstalker’s folly,” he remarked. “Everyone agrees you’re being very brave, but there’s already heated betting as to what condition you’ll return in, or even whether you’ll be back at all.”
    “I hope you’re betting on us,” said Jesamine.
    “Of course,” said Silence. “I never could resist the really long odds.” He looked back at Lewis. “Do some of them really remember being human? We had hoped . . . After all this time?”
    “Yes,” said Lewis. “They remember the lives they had, the people they knew, the worlds they came from. And they dream of being able to go home again.”
    “Lewis, they can’t.” Silence looked at the Deathstalker pleadingly. “We still have no idea how to undo what was done to them. Even Shub doesn’t know how. What could these monsters do, what could they be, on civilized worlds? Neither human nor alien, how would they ever fit in? Everyone they ever knew is dead and gone. They’d end up in zoos!”
    “I gave them my word,” said Lewis.
    “Then . . . they’re your responsibility, Deathstalker. Hopefully you’ll make a better job of it than I did, when it was my responsibility.”

    Lewis guided the pinnace down into the nightmare jungles of Shandrakor, darting in and out of the higher treetops until he was finally able to land in the clearing that held the buried Deathstalker Standing. The air was hot and wet and sticky as Lewis and Jesamine stepped out of the ship and onto the dark spiky grass. Insects buzzed fiercely on the heavy air, and from all around came the roars and screams of life and death on Shandrakor, where every life-form preyed on every other life-form. Lewis looked carefully around him, keeping his hands near but not actually on his weapons. So far, nothing had entered the clearing. It looked pretty much as he remembered it, but with no signs of the extensive damage that had been done during the last attack of the Emperor’s troops. The fast-growing jungle had already covered over the scars. Lewis