The Queen of Zeta Boötis
Summary:
It's been five years since Gerda set out to rescue her dearest friend, unwilling to accept Kai is lost to her. No one has ever broken free from the Swarm's drone programming, but she knows it's possible. She escaped Teegarden Station's AI, which wasn't quite the same as being under the Swarm Queen's thrall, but was close enough to renew her hope. She can bring Kai back.
Now, after visiting the oracles at Nu Lupi and Mu Arae with Doctor Peura at her side, Gerda journeys to the Swarm's stronghold at Zeta Boötis. But she must close the last of the distance to the Queen's hub on her own, her only armour the Wasp fighter she and the doctor salvaged at Iota Pucium.
Will Gerda make it through the stations at succeed at breaking through Kai's drone programming, or will he remain under the thrall of the Queen? Find out in this episode of The Queen of Zeta Boötis!
Notes:
- For Aeriel.
Aeriel, I am sorry. I saw your request for a retelling of "The Snow Queen", and I can't resist fairy tale retellings. And apparently I can't resist super-cheesy AU's. So...have a Yuletide treat?
The Rift she finds opens above the
plane of Zeta Boötis. Gerda's breath catches. The network of stations
stretches below her like a series of interconnected snowflakes. As
always, the Swarm is beautiful. The pang she feels every time she
catches sight of even the smallest scrap of their technology twists
sharp and deep. She's home now.
Doctor Peura's beacon pings in the periphery of her vision. Gerda pulls up her navigation display and traces the route back to him even though there's nothing for her to touch. Still, the act of reaching out and running her fingers through the holographic trail of Rifts and manmade Gates clears her head. She is not home.
She widens the display. She is far from home. She follows the blue line recording her progress, past Mu Arae and Nu Lupi and their ancient oracles, past Iota Pucium and the smugglers, past Upsilon Andromedae and its generals, past Teegarden Station and its lonely AI, past it all clear back to Sol. That is home.
The stations form a glittering ring around Zeta Boötis. And that is where Kai is. Gerda angles her Wasp towards the outermost ring of stations, following the tug of…whatever sits coiled behind her sternum. Something of her, or something of the Swarm that still lingers in her newest augmentations, the ones reverse engineered by Doctor Peura? She's not sure now. At Mu Arae, and even at Phi Boötis, where Doctor Peura had to stop, she'd been certain it was the bond she shares with Kai. They'd always done things in lockstep. Why wouldn't her oldest augmentations still be in tune with his?
But now as she races towards the first ring of stations, the pull feels less like Kai and more like the twist of awe in her stomach when she watches the Swarm attack in their perfect formations. Something squeezes around her heart, calming its rapid beat and filling her with a sense of icy calm.
Welcome home, my child.
Home? But Sol is home. Or is Kai home?
Yes. Kai is home, and Kai is here, so this must be home.
A Rift blossoms before her, and a squad of drones bursts through and swirl around her. She eases her Wasp into its proper spot in the formation. Yes. This must be home. She fits in so well.
Something twists in her chest, and her throat clenches tight. Sorrow, some distant part of her provides, that same distant part that came to her rescue at Teegarden. Left unacknowledged, it would turn to regret, and she's not one to live a life of regrets.
She pulls out of formation and puts all available power in the Wasp's shields. She's barely fast enough. The drones turn on her, as fierce as they are breathtaking. Without her augmentations, she'd never have the reflexes to withstand their onslaught. Even as it is, she loses eighty-two percent of her shields and exhausts her ammunition breaking through the line.
Resistance? Here? The tremor down her spine feels like a chuckle. How interesting. Shall I let you come closer, little girl?
A plasma bolt tears through her Wasp's shields. Gerda rolls, but the damage is done. A solid hit to her portside thrusters. She spins, but she still has something resembling luck. She's angled towards one of the stations. One more hit will set her spiraling into it. She checks and double checks the seals on her suit.
The drones swing back around. Gerda ejects and uses the debris of her poor little Wasp as cover. Between her momentum and the tiny thrusters on her suit, she can make it to the station, though if she doesn't grab on near an airlock, she'll die. The drones will spot her trick soon enough, and the station's hull can handle a spat of friendly fire to eliminate her.
There! Gerda fires her tether. The tip of the magnet bounces off the hull. Gerda tightens her grip on the gun. "No!" The drones are coming. Between her sensory augmentations and her visor, she knows their exact location, their exact speed, and the trajectories of their most probable attacks. She doesn't have time for a second shot.
The tether spins in a lazy arc, and then the magnet snaps tight. Gerda reels herself in, allows herself two relieved breaths, and then presses her palm to the airlock. Her faith in Doctor Peura is absolute. The nanites he injected in her do have the right codes. She will be able to enter the station.
She will.
One second. One point one. Two. Three. Her augmentations send a rush of adrenaline through her. Not that there's anywhere she can bolt once the drones are back in range. Still, it's nice to know her older augmentations still work flawlessly.
And she may need that adrenaline once she's inside the station. Are more drones scurrying to her airlock, stingers ready?
A pity she had to leave Mu Arae so quickly. Her plasma rifle would be handy. All she has on her is the torch Kai gave her years and years and years ago, and it's not much of a weapon.
The airlock's handle twists beneath her. Gerda pushes it open and slides inside. The drones fire, but she's safe behind the hull. She keeps her gaze fixed on the airlock's inner door. A real pity about her plasma rifle. She curls her hand into a fist.
The door pops open. The hallway outside is deserted. Gerda eases out, maximizing the sensitivity on her sensory augmentations. Nothing. This entire station is deserted.
She still makes her way slowly through the hall. How many kilometers of corridors are in these stations? How many will she have to explore to find Kai? Her suit only has four more hours of air. After that, her choices are suffocate or risk the air in the stations. It's no doubt laden with Swarm nanites.
That chuckling feeling strums down her spine again. So you do fear me.
She fears failing. She'd lost a year at Teegarden. She can't afford to lose a year here. Every day, the drone programming drills deeper into Kai. He's waited five years. She won't make him (can't make him) wait six.
You act as if he wants release. Oh, dear little girl, none of my children wish release. Remove your helmet, and I'll show you.
No. Not now, not in four hours. Gerda presses her palm to the wall and sends one of the bursts Doctor Peura taught her. The echo of tiny spiders creeps over her scalp. She shudders. But the feeling's worth it, because now she has Kai's location. Two stations over, three levels down. She'll have to move fast to make it in four hours.
* * *
Gerda clings to a handhold, her arms burning in exhaustion.
She's so close, but to get to Kai, she has to get through a recreation
hall of sorts. Or is it a mess hall? The bits and bobs of Swarm
technology in her newer augmentations don't offer up an answer. All she
knows is that it's a massive hall with hundreds of insectoid drones.
She's muted her hearing, but she can still hear the metallic tink tink
tink of their legs as they scurry along the walls.She swings to the
next handhold. No use cowering. The Queen knows she's here, so the
drones know she's here. They'll attack or not according to the Queen's
mood. The longer she stays still, the more air she wastes.
The drones stop, and then in unison turn to face her. Gerda's pulse spikes, and her mouth goes dry, but she keeps pulling herself along the handholds. Apparently, the Queen's sport involves her finding Kai, or she'd be battling stronger gravity.
She makes her way through the room and then climbs up a narrow hallway. A pair of drones skitter along behind her, but she refuses to pick up her pace. The spidery trail in her visor shows she's almost to Kai. Just a little further now. Just two more hours of air. She won't let fear shorten that time.
The hallway opens into a large spherical room. Gerda pulls herself up over the rim of the opening and takes everything in. The room's walls are smooth and polished, gleaming like ice in the light from a tall dais, much too wide and much too tall for her to climb.
But she'll have to, somehow, because Kai's kneeling at the top, his skin pale and translucent, reflecting the ripple of Swarm symbols streaming along the surface below him. He's working on some sort of puzzle, swiping at the surface with his fingers, trading one symbol for another dizzyingly fast.
"Kai!"
If he hears her, he gives her no indication. Gerda backs up and takes a running leap, but even in the low gravity, she can't get enough lift. She tries again and again and again until her breath's ragged and she's wasted so much air.
Laughter ripples down her spine. You see. I've set him to a task, and his only wish is to finish it.
"What task?"
Take off your helmet, and I'll show you. You could help him. That is what you wish, isn't it?
Yes…but not quite. Gerda presses her hands flat against the dais. If she could reach him, she could reach him, but there are no handholds, no imperfections in the surface she can use to haul herself up. And she feels so heavy now.
Take off your helmet.
No. She still has a half hour of air. Gerda slumps down and rests her back against the dais. "I'm here with you, Kai. For real, not just an echo like how I've been feeling you these past five years."
No reply.
She lets her hand fall to her belt. "I still have the torch you gave me. When I'm suited up, it's right here." She pats the case. "And when I'm planetside…"
The torch! It's not much of a weapon, but it's perfect for cutting her way out of tight spots. Or for cutting serviceable handholds in a smooth surface. She sets to work.
Twenty minutes of air. She won't make it halfway before fifteen. No, that's the Queen trying to discourage her. That thing isn't talking much now, but its laugher is a constant ripple down Gerda's spine. She pushes all doubt away.
Fifteen now. Ten. Five, and she's almost at the top!
Two. Gerda pulls herself over the edge. No time to savor it. One hundred seventeen seconds now. She crawls to Kai and curls her hands over his. "I'm here."
He shakes her off.
Gerda reaches for him again. "Kai, please."
His fingers still. He looks up at her, cocking his head first to the left, then to the right, like the birds they used to watch search for worms.
There's no helping it. She undoes the seals for her gloves and pulls them off so she can touch Kai, skin to skin, even though it exposes her to the Swarm nanites. She can reach him. She knows she can before the drone programming takes hold of her.
Can you now?
The ripple of laughter down her spine fades. Yes, she can. Gerda presses Kai's hands between hers. His skin is cold, and there's so little substance to him. He used to have massive hands. Now they're thin and too bony. "Kai."
"I think…" He licks his lips. "I think I know you."
Does he? Good. Maybe knows her name. She has one. She has to. Everyone does, right?
No.
That voice lies. It always has.
He slides his hands free from hers and presses his fingers to her helmet. "I do." He slides his hands down and unfastens the locks, then lifts it off her. "You're…"
"Who am I?" He has to know. If he doesn't, they're both lost.
He touches her cheek, his fingers like pinpricks of ice. "Gerda."
Yes! That's her name. "And you're Kai."
And you are both mine.
Kai shakes his head. "No. You gave me a task." He reaches down and slides one more symbol into place. "I finished it. Now I can go home."
You think it's that easy? The surface beneath them shudders. A mass of drones scurry into the room and take flight, their metallic wings beating low enough to strum through Gerda. You think I will let you go?
Gerda squeezes Kai's hand. "I passed a hangar two floors down. Care to steal a Wasp?"
He raises his eyebrows. "Are you saying you came all this way to lead me to a life of piracy?"
"Better pay than a marine. And technically, you're dead. Pirates tend not to do troublesome background checks."
"I remember…your logic always twisted a little wrong."
"My logic is flawless."
Kai laughs. It's a dry, broken sound, but they can work on getting it back to what it once was. So now they have to escape. She squeezes his hand again and then picks up her torch. "Follow me."
"I get lost when I don't."
True. But she always finds him. Gerda takes a running leap and trusts him to follow.
Doctor Peura's beacon pings in the periphery of her vision. Gerda pulls up her navigation display and traces the route back to him even though there's nothing for her to touch. Still, the act of reaching out and running her fingers through the holographic trail of Rifts and manmade Gates clears her head. She is not home.
She widens the display. She is far from home. She follows the blue line recording her progress, past Mu Arae and Nu Lupi and their ancient oracles, past Iota Pucium and the smugglers, past Upsilon Andromedae and its generals, past Teegarden Station and its lonely AI, past it all clear back to Sol. That is home.
The stations form a glittering ring around Zeta Boötis. And that is where Kai is. Gerda angles her Wasp towards the outermost ring of stations, following the tug of…whatever sits coiled behind her sternum. Something of her, or something of the Swarm that still lingers in her newest augmentations, the ones reverse engineered by Doctor Peura? She's not sure now. At Mu Arae, and even at Phi Boötis, where Doctor Peura had to stop, she'd been certain it was the bond she shares with Kai. They'd always done things in lockstep. Why wouldn't her oldest augmentations still be in tune with his?
But now as she races towards the first ring of stations, the pull feels less like Kai and more like the twist of awe in her stomach when she watches the Swarm attack in their perfect formations. Something squeezes around her heart, calming its rapid beat and filling her with a sense of icy calm.
Welcome home, my child.
Home? But Sol is home. Or is Kai home?
Yes. Kai is home, and Kai is here, so this must be home.
A Rift blossoms before her, and a squad of drones bursts through and swirl around her. She eases her Wasp into its proper spot in the formation. Yes. This must be home. She fits in so well.
Something twists in her chest, and her throat clenches tight. Sorrow, some distant part of her provides, that same distant part that came to her rescue at Teegarden. Left unacknowledged, it would turn to regret, and she's not one to live a life of regrets.
She pulls out of formation and puts all available power in the Wasp's shields. She's barely fast enough. The drones turn on her, as fierce as they are breathtaking. Without her augmentations, she'd never have the reflexes to withstand their onslaught. Even as it is, she loses eighty-two percent of her shields and exhausts her ammunition breaking through the line.
Resistance? Here? The tremor down her spine feels like a chuckle. How interesting. Shall I let you come closer, little girl?
A plasma bolt tears through her Wasp's shields. Gerda rolls, but the damage is done. A solid hit to her portside thrusters. She spins, but she still has something resembling luck. She's angled towards one of the stations. One more hit will set her spiraling into it. She checks and double checks the seals on her suit.
The drones swing back around. Gerda ejects and uses the debris of her poor little Wasp as cover. Between her momentum and the tiny thrusters on her suit, she can make it to the station, though if she doesn't grab on near an airlock, she'll die. The drones will spot her trick soon enough, and the station's hull can handle a spat of friendly fire to eliminate her.
There! Gerda fires her tether. The tip of the magnet bounces off the hull. Gerda tightens her grip on the gun. "No!" The drones are coming. Between her sensory augmentations and her visor, she knows their exact location, their exact speed, and the trajectories of their most probable attacks. She doesn't have time for a second shot.
The tether spins in a lazy arc, and then the magnet snaps tight. Gerda reels herself in, allows herself two relieved breaths, and then presses her palm to the airlock. Her faith in Doctor Peura is absolute. The nanites he injected in her do have the right codes. She will be able to enter the station.
She will.
One second. One point one. Two. Three. Her augmentations send a rush of adrenaline through her. Not that there's anywhere she can bolt once the drones are back in range. Still, it's nice to know her older augmentations still work flawlessly.
And she may need that adrenaline once she's inside the station. Are more drones scurrying to her airlock, stingers ready?
A pity she had to leave Mu Arae so quickly. Her plasma rifle would be handy. All she has on her is the torch Kai gave her years and years and years ago, and it's not much of a weapon.
The airlock's handle twists beneath her. Gerda pushes it open and slides inside. The drones fire, but she's safe behind the hull. She keeps her gaze fixed on the airlock's inner door. A real pity about her plasma rifle. She curls her hand into a fist.
The door pops open. The hallway outside is deserted. Gerda eases out, maximizing the sensitivity on her sensory augmentations. Nothing. This entire station is deserted.
She still makes her way slowly through the hall. How many kilometers of corridors are in these stations? How many will she have to explore to find Kai? Her suit only has four more hours of air. After that, her choices are suffocate or risk the air in the stations. It's no doubt laden with Swarm nanites.
That chuckling feeling strums down her spine again. So you do fear me.
She fears failing. She'd lost a year at Teegarden. She can't afford to lose a year here. Every day, the drone programming drills deeper into Kai. He's waited five years. She won't make him (can't make him) wait six.
You act as if he wants release. Oh, dear little girl, none of my children wish release. Remove your helmet, and I'll show you.
No. Not now, not in four hours. Gerda presses her palm to the wall and sends one of the bursts Doctor Peura taught her. The echo of tiny spiders creeps over her scalp. She shudders. But the feeling's worth it, because now she has Kai's location. Two stations over, three levels down. She'll have to move fast to make it in four hours.
The drones stop, and then in unison turn to face her. Gerda's pulse spikes, and her mouth goes dry, but she keeps pulling herself along the handholds. Apparently, the Queen's sport involves her finding Kai, or she'd be battling stronger gravity.
She makes her way through the room and then climbs up a narrow hallway. A pair of drones skitter along behind her, but she refuses to pick up her pace. The spidery trail in her visor shows she's almost to Kai. Just a little further now. Just two more hours of air. She won't let fear shorten that time.
The hallway opens into a large spherical room. Gerda pulls herself up over the rim of the opening and takes everything in. The room's walls are smooth and polished, gleaming like ice in the light from a tall dais, much too wide and much too tall for her to climb.
But she'll have to, somehow, because Kai's kneeling at the top, his skin pale and translucent, reflecting the ripple of Swarm symbols streaming along the surface below him. He's working on some sort of puzzle, swiping at the surface with his fingers, trading one symbol for another dizzyingly fast.
"Kai!"
If he hears her, he gives her no indication. Gerda backs up and takes a running leap, but even in the low gravity, she can't get enough lift. She tries again and again and again until her breath's ragged and she's wasted so much air.
Laughter ripples down her spine. You see. I've set him to a task, and his only wish is to finish it.
"What task?"
Take off your helmet, and I'll show you. You could help him. That is what you wish, isn't it?
Yes…but not quite. Gerda presses her hands flat against the dais. If she could reach him, she could reach him, but there are no handholds, no imperfections in the surface she can use to haul herself up. And she feels so heavy now.
Take off your helmet.
No. She still has a half hour of air. Gerda slumps down and rests her back against the dais. "I'm here with you, Kai. For real, not just an echo like how I've been feeling you these past five years."
No reply.
She lets her hand fall to her belt. "I still have the torch you gave me. When I'm suited up, it's right here." She pats the case. "And when I'm planetside…"
The torch! It's not much of a weapon, but it's perfect for cutting her way out of tight spots. Or for cutting serviceable handholds in a smooth surface. She sets to work.
Twenty minutes of air. She won't make it halfway before fifteen. No, that's the Queen trying to discourage her. That thing isn't talking much now, but its laugher is a constant ripple down Gerda's spine. She pushes all doubt away.
Fifteen now. Ten. Five, and she's almost at the top!
Two. Gerda pulls herself over the edge. No time to savor it. One hundred seventeen seconds now. She crawls to Kai and curls her hands over his. "I'm here."
He shakes her off.
Gerda reaches for him again. "Kai, please."
His fingers still. He looks up at her, cocking his head first to the left, then to the right, like the birds they used to watch search for worms.
There's no helping it. She undoes the seals for her gloves and pulls them off so she can touch Kai, skin to skin, even though it exposes her to the Swarm nanites. She can reach him. She knows she can before the drone programming takes hold of her.
Can you now?
The ripple of laughter down her spine fades. Yes, she can. Gerda presses Kai's hands between hers. His skin is cold, and there's so little substance to him. He used to have massive hands. Now they're thin and too bony. "Kai."
"I think…" He licks his lips. "I think I know you."
Does he? Good. Maybe knows her name. She has one. She has to. Everyone does, right?
No.
That voice lies. It always has.
He slides his hands free from hers and presses his fingers to her helmet. "I do." He slides his hands down and unfastens the locks, then lifts it off her. "You're…"
"Who am I?" He has to know. If he doesn't, they're both lost.
He touches her cheek, his fingers like pinpricks of ice. "Gerda."
Yes! That's her name. "And you're Kai."
And you are both mine.
Kai shakes his head. "No. You gave me a task." He reaches down and slides one more symbol into place. "I finished it. Now I can go home."
You think it's that easy? The surface beneath them shudders. A mass of drones scurry into the room and take flight, their metallic wings beating low enough to strum through Gerda. You think I will let you go?
Gerda squeezes Kai's hand. "I passed a hangar two floors down. Care to steal a Wasp?"
He raises his eyebrows. "Are you saying you came all this way to lead me to a life of piracy?"
"Better pay than a marine. And technically, you're dead. Pirates tend not to do troublesome background checks."
"I remember…your logic always twisted a little wrong."
"My logic is flawless."
Kai laughs. It's a dry, broken sound, but they can work on getting it back to what it once was. So now they have to escape. She squeezes his hand again and then picks up her torch. "Follow me."
"I get lost when I don't."
True. But she always finds him. Gerda takes a running leap and trusts him to follow.
