The Rapture

THIRTY-THREE

DUMUZI

"It never occurred to me you could pull that off," Ogrik stated as he brushed past me. His voice was low, but it was unnecessary. Our reconnaissance room was empty except for the large, blue orb resembling Earth, which rotated in front of us. "I am impressed."

He moved to stand beside me, his fingertips caressed by electricity as he worked at a glowing pedestal. He searched for the highest radioactivity concentrations on Earth, for reasons I did not understand, but I let him be. A powerful mechanical arm whirred and inserted a pin into the orb.

I said nothing.

"I know you much better than you think. That was nothing but a sophrot showing its gleaming, colorful spikes. You would never do that to Pearl or Shadrach, regardless of what they expected of you. But was it all a lie? I have a certain... feeling."

His voice was brash, but he was smirking.

When he felt my mood, the smile vanished. It reminded him of my darker temperaments, and he wanted none of it. I shrugged one shoulder. "You are entirely too perceptive for your own good."

"So she is with child. Pah! Yet something bothers you. Shouldn't you be elated?"

I moved to a table beside him, my gaze drawn to a project that another Enuki had abandoned. "I am."

A power sphere that generated gravity and pressure in order to facilitate space travel sat at a table. Was it necessary to replace the one we were already using?

Irritation soared.

It was not my request that this be made. In any case, it would provide me with something to do, so I began working. With a scowl on my face, I fiddled with wires, flicked switches, and completed computerized connections.

"It is Pearl." I ripped a connector from its socket and tossed it to the table beside me. "I fear that I may have emotionally wounded her, and I expected her to swat me out of her room when I returned. However, she did not. It is as if I have smoldered her embers."

"Hmmm." He studied the orb in front of him, tilting his head in thought. "So, what are you doing to do?"

"Retire from my seat on the council," I said, unbothered. "We will distance ourselves from this way of life."

That sent him rocking back on his heels, surprised. "You cannot be serious."

"I am."

"Why?"

My rationale should have been clear. The only thing that mattered to me was Pearl. Everything else was background noise.

"It killed me having to do what I did in that field. I will never do that again. For as long as I breathe," I ground out, tugging on a wire. "She says she forgives me—which she shouldn't have to—but I cannot forgive myself. I should not be the cause of her unhappiness."

"Neither should she be the cause of your unrest."

"One inevitably leads to the other, does it not?" I continued my work, casting my hair over my shoulder in one fluid movement. "Before I depart, I will make amends with my brother. I will not revoke his title. Earth will remain intact."

"How is that going to work?"

"It is the will of Osa."

"Even for me, that seems quite far-fetched."

I smiled, a human action. "Isn't it true that my child is a hybrid? How can that not be Osa's will? It would be so easy to claim I didn't sense it at first. Why would I destroy a planet from where part of it came?"