Stars Rise

LXIV. I Tell Cristo the Rest

With simple images and a voice over narration, I tell Cristo the rest of the story. Tell him I worked for Marius for a decade and a half while the infant grew into a child and then into my daughter, Nova Potestas. She was so much more than a prize for my loyalty, and it was for her that I would betray Justin Marius.

I knew who she would grow up to be as if I knew her blueprint, knew that she would grow into a fearless, stubborn, demanding woman who enchanted everyone without ever compromising who she was an inch. What I never anticipated was the influence I would have on who she would grow up to be.

I raised her to ask questions, to spend every waking minute in search of answers, to thirst for knowledge about anything and everything, but more importantly, reality itself, the universe at large as much as her immediate surroundings. From a young age she was troubled. I remember the frown she wore, the corners of her mouth turned down, more often than she smiled. I remember her unease, the crinkle between her eyes when she asked me questions that I couldn't answer and neither could her schoolbooks.

She used to bring home friends to Potestas Tower. I thought they were from school, but with a little prying learned she had met them in the streets of Soliara, orphans like her. It wasn't common since no one was having children anymore, but I think she found each and every orphan in Soliara, and by the time she was ten I had to establish an orphanage in Potestas Tower or have to face her eternal sad doll eyes every time she brought home a new stray. There were twenty or so at any given time, and if statistically speaking that was an amazingly low number, it didn't alleviate the worry that tore at my daughter; she was convinced something about the world she had inherited was very, very wrong.

She was a bright girl and in her adolescence she read every scrap of press that came out of Constellation — from a young age she was obsessed, there were details she could read between the lines that made her blood run cold.

Constellation's highest objective, it said, was to reverse immortality and release the public to the natural cycle of life and death. Yet why had President Marius constructed a second star dial for Constellation's use only? Every few months new opportunities were made to honorary positions in the company, people who didn't actually work there were presented with a gnomon connected to the new star dial, more and more of Justin Marius's closest allies replaced Constellation board members who mysteriously opted to retire — they were going to live forever, why should they retire from a job title that offered unparalleled power in the empire with very limited workload? One board member, named Antonio Solari, died. Millions of Soliari were connected to the original dial, with various licenses for ownership of routers and weapons and to create links and light and food, to build, to invent, to create, and their immortality  depended on that connection too — the stars kept them alive with stellar energy, the way it combines with some access to the origin of life that remains beyond my complete understanding to this day.

From the time she was a child, Nova became obsessed with questioning what would happen if everyone was disconnected from the stars. If President Marius wanted them all to be mortal again, why didn't he just disconnect them all from the star dial?

The pieces didn't add up so she rearranged them until they fit, my genius little girl, the first to puzzle out what Marius was waiting for, and what he meant to do. And it tore her to pieces.

She grew into an unhappy uncertain woman, terrified of the future and always uncertain what to do about it. With her help I was able to piece together too exactly how Marius was able to fortify his power at Constellation. Starting with the puppet strings he pulled to device his election, he ensured he could never be unseated from power by erecting the second dial and determining who would be allowed the newest capabilities. The guardia grew strong, advancing their capabilities with every new discovery Constellation developed, while the people grew weak.