Chapter 11
The darkness enveloped Melissa, smothering her senses like a thick wet burlap bag that had no chance of relief or reprieve. In her childhood, the nighttime was when all the bad dreams came. For months one dream would repeat over and over as if it were stuck in an eternal loop. In it she was chased down a wide courtyard of marble steps, running with a flowing red gown she wore trailing behind her. She could never tell who she was running from, but they gained strength with each passing moment. She would turn to fight, but find she could manifest no sussa. Her hands hung impotent in front of her as a dark cloud came ever closer. She cursed it, forbade it to come any closer but it was all for naught. She would feel it consume her, stuffing itself down her throat and blotting the light from her eyes. And that was how she woke, screaming, thinking the darkness in her bedroom was the blackness that consumed her in the dream.
Over the years Melissa forgot the dream. It faded as most childhood terrors do, becoming blurred with the passage of time. But in that pitch-black room, she remembered it with full clarity, and while the darkness sought to claim her yet again, drown her sanity in a sea of fears, she net it with a clinical precision worthy of Richard.
That isn’t me -- it probably happened she who was me. She took a deep breath. Darkness holds no hold over me. I am different, I am myself; I am I, and if I want to survive I must think.
She leaned back and closed her eyes, trying to concentrate. Back over all she had read she flew, trying to remember any mention of being deprived of the use of sussa, but the old woman was right; the Archsussa was an arrogant thing. Not once was there ever a mention of being caught, of facing a foe that could negate the power of sussa.
She scanned her prison, looking for any opportunity. There were no windows -- whatever room it once was, it must have served a similar purpose. The only air and light came from three holes cut in the thick metal door no larger than a woman’s fist.
She slumped back. With my sussa, I could rip open the door and kill them all. I could blow a hole in the side of this vessel and fly out of here. She sighed. I need to sleep, but if I lie down, I will lose some of my power. But I just can’t think clearly. She lay back on the cot in the room, feeling her eyelids getting heavy. Just a few hours, so I can clear my head.
It was as she closed her eyes that she heard Toby’s voice.
Toby?
She bolted off the cot and scrambled next to the door, putting her ear against one of the holes. She could hear Toby speaking with Richard.
“We will attack the Freilux in three weeks; we would be much stronger with your forces with us.”
“I have spoken to Desli may times about this, Nemesnik, but our feelings about sussa still stand; we want a world where a normal human is in control.”
“And how would you levitate the cities? How would you extract water from the ground?”
“We manage to live here,” answered Richard with pride in his voice.
“In metal caves that are cold, dark and damp? Where the only light you get is this false imitation set in glass? I have promised you several times and I make the promise again; if and when you help me overthrow the Freilux, I will allow open ‘scientific’ investigations. You will no longer be forced to be a fringe -- you will be a part of mainstream society.”
“We have heard your pledge, and agree it is a magnanimous one. But we also know our weakness. A few of us might stay true to our values, and spend the days researching. But many of us would probably grow accustomed to the easy living the Archsussa provides, and in time forget all about science. No, for us as a people, as a world to move forward, it has to be without the likes of you and your kind.”
Melissa waited, wondering what Toby would do. He’s too headstrong to take that kind of insult.
“You know, I could take great offence to something like that -- especially after all I’ve offered. It wouldn’t even strain myself to obliterate this place.”
“The last thing we are is stupid, Nemesnik,” countered Richard with venom. “Believe it or not, we are capable of negating your power. If you raised your hand against us, in here, it would be the last time you raised it.”
Their voices were silent again, and Melissa screamed with all her might; “Toby!”
“Some Archsussa might succumb to your science, Richard. But we who are steeped in the power for many years, know ways around certain things. The box you hold at your side, enables you to pull a voice over great distances, true?”
“Yes.”
“Well, my father may have died ignobly, but in the early days of his reign he was a strong and wise Archsussa. He discovered ways to pull our power over long distances, to affect things halfway across the world. He created a web which supports us all in time of need.”
“Toby!” screamed Melissa again, “Toby!”
“I think you’re bluffing.”
“And I you,” said Toby, “but neither of us would want to find out. I’ll take my leave of you, and leave you in peace, but remember; I am at the peak of my powers, and it would be folly to challenge me. If you want to rid this world of the Archsussa, you best wait until I am long dead.”
“Toby, don’t leave me . . . please!”
She could hear several doors slam, and knew they had gone.
Why couldn’t they hear me? She heard footsteps coming to the door, and when she backed away, a tall guard opened it.
“Your screaming won’t do you any good, little heretic. What you heard was over our radio. They were meeting several floors above. How do you know the Nemesnik anyway?”
Melissa sighed, feeling defeated. “He’s my brother.”
The guard nodded with approval. “Well, at least you got to hear him once more, before you die.”
After he closed the door, Melissa began to feel hopeful.
An invisible web from which I could access sussa? She went back though what she had read, but could find no mention of such a thing. Was my brother bluffing? Or was it kept secret, as an emergency failsafe in case of something like this? She sat down again, relaxed, and began to concentrate. She opened her mind more than ever before, trying to feel the slightest hint of sussa.
Through the night she focused, not moving, not thinking of what awaited her in the morning. Though her body wanted to collapse from fatigue she pressed her mind on, scanning around her. She began to sweat and shake, so hard was she focusing on finding the sussa.
Am I being too straightforward? If this web was hidden, then perhaps the content itself is also hidden, so no one but an expert could find it. She pressed down, as if she were opening a ribbon, searching within the folds of existence. Finally, she felt something powerful pull her.
Is this it?
It was as if she discovered a narrow vein of gold hidden in a rockface. She touched it with her mind, and instantly was able to conjur a small firesphere.
“Power!” she cried, utterly relieved, “at last I have power again.”
She stood -- slowly, as her body was exhausted. Yet as she stood, the firesphere vanished.
I can’t manipulate this source properly -- it feels as if I would need months or years to properly adapt to it. Toby has had the time, but I haven’t.
She focused on the door. But I don’t need a lot of power to escape. She silently broke the lock in the door and opened it, seeing one guard at the end of the hallway.
I should kill you, she thought to herself, but I don’t need to. She reached out to his mind and rendered him unconscious. Slowly she staggered to the small metal room that moved, got inside, and pressed a button she hoped would take her to the surface.
The lift moved up for a few moments, opening its doors onto a long white corridor. Melissa moved quickly but quietly down it, looking in several windows at people preparing food. She was desperately hungry, and fought with herself at every whiff of food about staying and stealing and eating or just moving quickly out. Somehow she resisted, finding an airshaft at the end of the corridor that she
hoped would lead her to the surface.
She climbed for what seemed to be an eternity. Never had she felt more scared, or more fat. She barely fit in the shaft, and it was difficult pulling herself up the thin metal rungs. I never thought climbing would be this difficult. Or maybe it’s that I never thought I was this . . . pathetic. She stopped in the middle, catching her breath, feeling the chill of cold air sweep down inside. If I get out of here, I can’t go the way of Toby. I can’t stay this fat -- I need to sleep, and find balance in my life. I . . . I hate myself.
For the first time she had an epiphany about her emotional state. No matter what was being done to her by the community of the scientists, she was wreaking more havoc upon herself. It doesn’t help they are so thin – I feel fat in front of them. Those people could have thrown anything at me, but they threw food. They dared me to pick up the scraps and eat in front of them for their amusement. I don’t know if they hated more that I use sussa, or that I’m fat. She sighed heavily. I never even thought I would call myself ‘fat.’
Up ahead she could hear the sound of wind screaming through a crack, and she pressed herself on, reaching a small hatch left slightly open. With all her might she pushed it open, revealing a vista of limitless white snow. For the first time since coming across the scientists she laughed, and managed to smile.
I just need to get far enough away, and I’ll be able to use my sussa.
She clambered out, and began to quickly wade through the snow drifts.
“Stop right there!”
She turned, and found ten men pointing black metal weapons at her.
“If you try to run anymore,” said one of them, “we will shoot.”
“Enough of this!”
She focused all the sussa she could on them, breaking the mechanism that fired projectiles in six of the guns and knocking eight of them unconscious. But the other two managed to hold their ground and fire, with one shot wounding Melissa in the arm.
What was that? she thought, as she fell to the ground. How it hurts!
The nulling field, though weak, was still in place, leaving her unable to muster anymore strength. She lay in the snow, bleeding, and the two men came to stand over her.
“You fat, stinking heretic.” He held up his weapon and aimed it at Melissa’s head. “I should shoot you here and now.”
Melissa wanted to cry, wanted to beg for mercy, but a switch flipped inside her. She could feel rage, red hot, coursing through her veins. Through the pain, she drew on sussa through the invisible network, and twisted the gun in his hands. He threw it into the snow and it boiled through, issuing a cloud if steam in its wake.
“Enough!”
She turned to find Richard standing over her. The last thing she saw was him shoving the butt of one of the weapons into her head.
Melissa woke in another small, white room. It was cold; from the metal chair she sat on, to the thick, smooth panels that made up the walls, she felt like she was buried again in the snow, surrounded by unyielding frigid white. Her arm was sore, and she saw a thick bandage where the bullet grazed her. Richard and Sliona sat across from her, with Richard anxiously fidgeting with a small grey pistol. She opened her mouth to speak, but all she could feel was pain.
Melissa felt mentally disconnected, as if she was peering through a pinhole to her body. She could tell they exchanged words about her, but they were garbled and faint. Richard pressed a few buttons on a console before him, and slowly Melissa could understand their words.
Sliona brushed back a strand of grey hair and said; “so, the Nemesnik wasn’t bluffing.”
“No. She clearly was able to access sussa, even with our nulling field,” said Richard. “But she wasn’t very powerful.”
“She was strong enough -- a few more minutes, and she would have incapacitated all our guards.” Sliona examined her quizzically. “But she didn’t kill them. Why is that, child?”
Melissa moved her mouth, but was unsure if words came out.
“You feel the effects of the ‘stabilizer;’ a piece of technology we were able to salvage from one of the wrecked ships. While it is as effective as the portable device Richard has, it works in a fundamentally different way. It isn’t geared to affect Archsussa specially, just any mind we focus it on. We are able to, with other salvaged technology, scan your mind and get a unique print of it. With that, we can target you with this device, and sit here in perfect comfort. I’ll turn it down a little so you may speak, but be warned; we have three guns trained on your head, so even a hint of sussa will result in your death.”
Melissa felt the discomfort ease, and she was able to put together thoughts more coherently.
“Is this all you do; play with technology?”
Richard harrumphed. “One could argue that all you do is play with sussa.”
“So how are we any different?”
“All can learn of science,” said Richard proudly, “few can learn of sussa.”
“That’s a lie Richard, and you know it,” rebuked Sliona. “I may hate sussa, but science is a skill that few can master. You forget how special you are.”
He bowed slightly. “I am sorry, honored elder.”
“That’s all right, child. Now girl; why didn’t you kill my guards?”
“I . . . hate killing. My father killed, and my brother now kills, but I cannot.”
The old woman nodded with approval. “You look like an Archsussa, with all that fat, but you certainly seem to have a mind of your own. I can’t blame you for trying to escape. Tell me; where would you have escaped to?”
Melissa sighed. “I don’t know. I lived in the home of my dead mother, with a man I created. I grew arrogant, and mistreated him, and I decided to leave, so I might change myself.”
“See! Just another arrogant Archsussa!” cried Richard.
Sliona slammed her wrinkled hand on the table. “Do you listen, child? One day I’ll be dead, and there’ll be no one to correct you.” She began to cough, doubling over as Richard patted her back. Melissa hadn’t seen anyone that sick besides her mother, and wondered why they forsook the aid of an Archsussa even when their most important was ill. Sliona recovered after a few moments, wiping her mouth with a blood-stained cloth. “I heard you. You are different; you have felt the temptation to become arrogant and domineering, but have rejected it. You have seen others of your family kill, and you reject it. The question is; what path will you follow?”
“I . . . I don’t know. Why don’t you let an Archsussa heal you?”
“Haven’t you heard anything,” spat Richard, “we despise your kind!”
“But you would let your most important person die, from an illness we could cure?”
“You would cure me,” asked Sliona, “even as a captive, even though we probably would keep you as one?”
Melissa thought for a moment. “Yes, I would.”
The old woman leaned back with a gentle smile, taking a wheezing, deep breath. “Dear Melissa, I think we might be friends.”
“How did you know my name?”
Melissa waited for a response, but all she got was Sliona examining her again with her penetrating steel-blue eyes. “Your brother mentioned his sister was missing, and said your name. Now, Richard, show Melissa some kindness. Ask Daria to show her to the toilet, and find some clean, warm clothes. And give her some food -- not too much, for it is about time she lost some of that weight.”
Melissa nodded, and shed a tear, unable to hold it in. “Thank you.”
Sliona squeezed her hand. “You’re welcome. There will be no dissection; it was merely a ploy to see if the Nemesnik was bluffing. But if you truly do hate the Freilux, consider helping us find a way to defeat him.”
Suddenly the door opened and a boy that seemed to be a mirror image of Richard came through. But instead of a serious brow, he had only joy in his eyes. In fact the first thing of him Melissa noticed was his affable smile.
“Sorry to bother you brother, but you said you’d jo
in us for a game of nuvia.”
“You play nuvia?” asked Melissa, perking up. “I used to be pretty good at it!”
Richard’s brother smiled at her and for the first time Melissa felt like someone wasn’t looking at how fat she was. “You’re that new girl, that Archsussa, aren’t you?”
“Yeah. Who are --”
“Enough of this!” shouted Richard, bolting to his feet. “We’re in the middle of something important, Vincent. Can’t it wait?”
“Sorry,” said Vincent snidely. “Don’t worry about him,” said Vincent to Melissa, “he’s just drunk with what little power they give him.”
“Out! Out!” yelled Richard, pushing him back through the door. “I’ve had enough of you.”
Melissa couldn’t help but smile, and relaxed a little in her chair. Even Sliona’s withered lips curled into a kind smile.
“Now you know what I go through.”
Richard sat back down, his cheeks blushed. Melissa took pity on him.
“Why wouldn’t you join with my brother against him?” she asked. “He commands a sizeable army.”
“An army of Archsussa,” stressed Richard, eager to regain the foothold he lost. “While we desire to overthrow the Freilux, we would never replace him with another Archsussa. Your kind has ruled our world for far too long.”
Sliona shook her head. “While my young friend may be a bit crude, he speaks the truth for our people. Now; have you seen any wrecks of great metal ships, like this one?”
Melissa paused, debating about whether or not to tell them. “Well . . .”
Sliona’s eyes opened, and they both leaned forward. “Speak up, child!”
“I came across several on my journey, but they all looked as if someone had been in before me. Only one ship I came across was untouched, and it lies near my home.”
“You lie,” spat Richard. “You just want us to take you home.”
“Be calm, child,” rebuked Sliona. “What was in it?”
“It had several glass panels set in metal boxes, and it had an immense hole in its side.”
“We need to go there as quickly as possible,” said Richard to Sliona.
“Why?” asked Melissa, “what is so important?”
“Not now. Get cleaned, dressed and fed, and we shall talk in the morning.” Sliona got to her feet, and Melissa felt immensely relieved. “Oh, and hopefully I don’t need to say that you would be much better off if you tried not to escape. We could turn the stabilizer back on to full for all your waking moments, and you would go insane.”
“I understand. And my offer was sincere; I could heal you.”
Sliona paused for a moment, leaning heavily on Richard’s shoulder. “If Richard were as sick as I, I would order him taken to a Levitating City, so he might be healed. But for me, the woman who leads, I cannot show such weakness. One day hopefully you will understand; the temptation of sussa is strong, and corrupts us as it does you. The only way to remain pure, to remain free, is not to use it or take advantage of one who does. That is our mantra, our firm belief.”