Dome 6, p.20
Dome 6, page 20
“You support this, Phex?” Tyve asked, confused and uncertain and needing her sun.
“I need to cook noodles and think about it,” said Phex. Because he did. Just because he understood the Dyesi perspective didn’t mean he agreed with it.
“Of course you do,” said Kagee, annoyed with him for some reason. He turned back to Missit’s parents, “Every time we spread godsong, we are spreading enlightenment without realizing?” He glanced at Jin. “Well, some of us are ignorant of the impact.”
“You are disposed to think of this as—” Jin hesitated, clearly crushed. “—underhanded?” It almost whispered the word.
“Are you not taking advantage of us gods?” Kagee wondered.
Missit’s father clearly liked a bit of an intellectual debate. He cocked his head at Kagee. “If this is merely what the divinity always does, isn’t that a little like drinking alcohol and then getting angry at the booze when you get drunk?”
“No, because we all know that drinking can make you drunk. Worshipers don’t know what the divinity is doing to them. And we didn’t know it was alcohol when we gave it away on the dais.” Kagee was sharp.
“Okay, not alcohol, then, something less poisonous. How about this: doesn’t the perfect meal or talking with a friend make you feel better? Before the divinity, didn’t listening to the right music make you happy? How is this different?”
Kagee looked around the group. All of Asterism was clearly puzzled and a little hurt. They needed time to process. The high cantor said, firmly, “You’re not here to defend the divinity but to ask us questions. We have instead quizzed you on the subject of enlightenment. Our apologies. But now we are at your disposal.”
Phex wondered what Kagee’s tactic was with this switch in topics. But he supposed they had learned what they needed, too, from Missit’s parents. There was no point in further debate. Now Asterism simply had to get rid of them as quickly as possible. Which meant giving them what they wanted.
Missit’s mother said, “Well, I hope you can see from your own questions and moral quandaries why the Dyesi are so reluctant to share the truth of enlightenment.”
Phex could see it all very clearly indeed. “Does Missit know any of this?”
Kagee glared at him.
Missit’s father looked amused. “He has never been particularly interested in our research, poor dear. He was never was very smart, you know? That’s why we encouraged him to go into entertainment rather than follow us into academia.”
Phex had a sudden wish for his own enlightenment, since he was now fantasizing about throttling the man sitting across from him. “And so, you allowed him to become one of the Dyesi’s most effective tools, unknowingly?”
“We allowed him? It was his decision.”
Phex tilted his head back and looked at the ceiling and thought about hand-pulling noodles and satisfying ladle shapes.
Missit’s mother said, suddenly interested for some reason, “You’re awfully protective of our boy, demigod Phex. Do you think he would care that his godsong causes enlightenment? We always assumed he’d not mind. He does so enjoy being a god.”
Phex wished he could ask Missit that very question. He couldn’t predict how Missit would react. He suspected Missit’s parents didn’t, either, for all they claimed the contrary. They were the type of people who, outside of their research, only predicted the outcome they wanted.
Phex and Missit had never had a conversation about free will or war or cultural resets. They hadn’t talked philosophy or political theory. They had been too concerned with the taste, and smell, and feel of each other. With thoughts and conversation around who they were as individuals, and what they could become as gods. Hopes, and dreams, and pantheons, and performances had occupied their thoughts as innocent art, untainted by intent. Because they were young, dumb children with the gift of song, and no thought to question how it was sent out into the universe. They’d never considered what it was doing – cantored pollen riding solar winds through the stars. They hadn’t even considered the repercussions of their own godhood until they’d been taken away from each other because of it. They’d thought only in terms of what the divinity made them do each day, beneficial or arbitrarily abusive. They’d never once wondered what the divinity was doing to its worshipers.
That was their moral failing, not the Dyesi’s.
Phex had no idea what Missit thought on the matter of enlightenment.
Kagee said again. “How can we help you with your research, Scholars?” He did not use the prefix honorable. Kagee wasn’t like that. “What do you want to ask Asterism?”
There was something in his tone that woke Phex up from his musings.
Kagee was being genuine. He had switched allegiances. He really did want to help Missit’s parents with their research. He wanted to help the divinity. He was being nice.
Kagee nice was a truly terrifying thing.
Phex thought, but did not say of course, that the Agatay susceptibility to enlightenment might have something to do with the enthusiastic willingness of the worshipers. How could he, of all people, articulate a performer’s sixth sense about an audience? Scholars would probably receive such information as the mere creative feeling of an artist. It wasn’t scientific. It was sensation.
Plus, Phex was pretty sure he didn’t want to help Missit’s parents.
But he did mention it to Kagee, right before they took to the dais the next night.
Kagee looked embarrassed but agreed. “I had noticed there was something better about performing here. I thought maybe it had something to do with these being my people and mostly my believers. But if you feel it too, then it’s not just me.”
Phex clicked.
Kagee looked at the others.
Asterism was stretching while they waited for the dome to settle and their cue to begin. The bodyguards and acolytes were mainly distracted with security measures or pre-show preparations.
Berril and Tyve clicked too.
After a pause, so did Jinyesun and Fandina.
“You don’t think it’s just that this is the first planet to predominantly believe in Asterism?”
Phex could see Kagee’s point. “At first, yes, but I get the same feeling when I’m up there with Tillam. There is something special about Agatay worshipers. I think Tillam would agree.” He left unspoken that fact that he couldn’t personally confirm this with Tillam, since he and Missit no longer talked.
Tyve shifted, restless. “I agree with Phex. I don’t know how else to put it, but it’s as if they just want godsong more here. They’re so excited for the sensation of godfix.”
“They feel it deeper,” said Phex.
“It makes it a lot easier for us,” added Berril. “I always love gracing, but this dome is special.”
As if to emphasize her point, the congregation roared as the dais lit up in anticipation of gods manifesting.
Asterism took to the dais as worshipers screamed and fainted in excitement. Some of the faces Phex could see were wet with tears of joy or just an excess of emotion spilling out. They hadn’t even started singing yet.
They began their first godsong, amazed to hear most of the crowd singing along. Seamlessly, Asterism moved from one song to the next. Even their most recently released godsong, Agatay had already memorized all the words. In a language that wasn’t even theirs.
Asterism ended on a flourish to resounding approval. The dome, an airy, fragile, impermanent structure, vibrated with the sheer volume of Agatay’s approval.
As quickly as they could, Asterism made their way off the dais to the safety beneath it. Berril first, in flight. Then the others. Phex, as always, last. Making sure his pantheon was safe but also giving his believers what they wanted with a spectacular running flip down the side of the dome.
There was some kind of chaos at the bottom involving most of the bodyguards.
It was a marker of Asterism’s resiliency and regular exposure to the fixed that this barely registered as a danger. Most of them didn’t pause to see what was going on, just moved fast, obeying acolyte orders.
With all of his pantheon out of sight down the passageway in the safety of the caves below, Phex, of course, checked out what was happening. But it was too chaotic to understand. There seemed to be some kind of fighting.
Itrio was guarding their exit and gestured at him aggressively to follow the others.
Phex might have gone to help, but he knew that his presence would be more distracting for the bodyguards than useful, so he ran after Kagee.
Behind him he was shocked to hear Quasilun’s bell-like tone sing out. The acolytes in his peripheral vision jerked in puppet-like response. The imago was activating the nymphs to fight? That seemed excessive. Perhaps it was worse than he thought. Was he getting jaded about their safety?
“Keep moving, Phex,” yelled Itrio at his back as if she knew what he was thinking.
It didn’t sit well with him but he did as ordered. Quite apart from everything else, Phex couldn’t afford to be injured right now. He had to go back up on that dais with Tillam in only a few short minutes.
12
LIVE FOR THE DOME, DIE FOR THE DOME
Asterism joined Tillam in the vestry deep beneath the dome.
Tillam already knew that something had gone wrong, since only one bodyguard followed Phex down and Itrio looked extremely tense. She took up a defensive stance in the doorway. Anyone coming after them would have to go through her in a one-on-one fight. Phex didn’t give good odds to anyone under those circumstances, not even an Agatay proxy.
Itrio pulled her earmuffs off but didn’t turn to look at them.
“Fixed?” asked Phex.
“Yes, but multiples all at once.” Her eyes remained focused on the passageway.
“Coordinated attack?” asked Zil, disbelieving.
“Yes, it seems so. Or just one big terrible coincidence. Frenzied, too.”
“Has that happened before?” Tyve asked.
Her brother answered her. “Not to Tillam. In divine history? I don’t know, better ask the acolytes.”
“Would they answer us?”
“Probably not,” said Jinyesun. “There’s no record I can find.” Of course Jin was already checking via its ident.
Phex joined the loose circle formed by the two seated pantheons. Everyone was tense. Even Melalan, who Phex had thought unflappable, had slightly wilted crests. Phex settled himself easily into one of the couches. Found himself instantly with a lapful of Missit.
Missit’s hands were on both sides of his face, forcing him to look. Phex was drowning in flecked gold.
“What are you doing? Get off.” Phex ordered even as he wrapped his arms around Missit’s slim waist and squeezed. It had been way too long since he’d gotten to do that.
“There’s no acolytes.”
Phex grimaced but agreed it was license to indulge. “Quasilun activated them.”
Missit shivered. “It must be really bad. Are you okay?”
Phex ran a thumb over one shimmery cheekbone. “To my shame, I barely noticed. I assumed it was the usual, just one fixed, and that the bodyguards had it covered. But then I heard Quasilun’s cantor, so I figured it must be bad.”
“Maybe the imago was ordering them to flee, not fight.”
“Then you really should get off my lap, they’ll be here soon.” Phex dropped his arms and pressed his body back into the hard wood of an Agatay bench.
Missit trailed his fingers over Phex’s face and neck, not looking away.
Phex felt self-conscious. He was sweaty from Asterism’s performance, but Missit never seemed to mind that. Never had. He always pounced, saying that he liked the salt on Phex’s skin.
Phex looked away from all that gold, up at the ceiling cut into the rock above them.
Reluctantly, Missit stood and walked to Tillam’s side of the circle, sat next to Melalan on another piece of aggressively square wooden furniture, hugged his knees to his chest, kept his eyes on Phex.
Everyone was staring at them.
As usual, Missit had taken on all the focus in the room.
Phex said to Kagee, breaking all his own rules in order to deflect attention, “You know what I don’t get? Shouldn’t Agatay have fewer converts and fixed because of protans?”
Kagee stared at him. Grey eyes blinking, eyes that couldn’t see color. Or couldn’t see most of it. “You’re right. This really doesn’t make sense.”
“Should we tell Missit’s parents?” asked Phex.
“What?” Missit twitched.
“We should at least look into whether any protans are being converted. That would be unusual, not to say unlikely.” Kagee gnawed at his lower lip. “I’ll asked the diarchs to look into it.”
Phex clicked approval.
“What are you two talking about?” asked Zil.
“Protans?” queried Tern, struggling to get his mouth around the alien word.
Phex said, because he knew Kagee was embarrassed, and he had no intention of outing his friend for something he perceived as a defect, “There should be a larger-than-normal percentage of individuals on Agatay immune to godfix, and therefore fewer fixed overall. But instead, we’re getting more fixed than normal.”
“Why?” pressed Zil.
Phex recited it monotonously, as if he’d read it in a textbook somewhere. “Agatay has a genetic defect, propagated post planetfall, resulting in a high percentage of protanopia in the Y-chromosome-carrying members of the general population.”
Melalan’s crests puffed. “The people on this planet are colorblind?”
“Not all of them. Not even most of them, just a higher-than-normal percentage of the population, and mostly just blind to the red end of the spectrum.” Phex said, glancing at Kagee to make sure he got it right.
Kagee, grumpy, added, “And mostly within elite families.”
“Does the divinity know this?” wondered Yorunlee.
“Jinyesun?” Kagee looked at their sifter.
Jin only looked uncomfortable. The four sifters in the room exchanged a complicated series of crest-wiggles and body posturing.
In the middle of whatever that was, the rest of the bodyguards came into the vestry.
One of Bob’s forearms was partly detached. A few of the others sported scratches and bruises. Even Quasilun looked rumpled – as much as someone hairless with almost no soft parts could look rumpled. The three acolytes were with them and seemed entirely unharmed.
Bob began attempting to reattaching the arm.
Itrio said, “We should cancel Tillam’s performance.”
“Those were Asterism’s fixed,” said Elder K, annoyed. As if it were Asterism’s fault.
“Whose believers?” pressed Phex immediately.
“Mostly Kagee’s,” answered Elder K.
“How many?” Phex was immediately in protective mode.
“Six.”
Fandina went over to see if it could help Bob with the arm.
“Coordinated?” Phex stood, then didn’t know why he’d done that and sat back down again, the thick edge of the seat biting into the backs of his thighs through the thin material of his performance jumpsuit. Was everything on Agatay uncomfortable or had he become spoiled by Dyesi soft furnishings?
“Yes. Apparently, they met in one of Phex’s believer forums.” It seemed like Bob had managed some interrogation during the chaos. Phex wondered if that had something to do with the arm.
Kagee looked more stubborn than guilty. “Is it weird that I’m kind of honored my obsessives managed to organize a coordinated attack?”
“Yes, it’s weird,” shot back Zil.
Phex thought it was a classic Kagee response. From their amused looks, so did the rest of his pantheon.
There was a sudden disturbance at the doorway.
A new set of security appeared, local Agatay. Then Miramo’s very worried face.
“You cannot come in,” said Quasilun, tone expressionless, huge body moving incredibly fast to almost entirely block the entrance.
“Kagee, are you okay?” Miramo’s voice carried easily, an orator’s projection, not a singer’s.
“I’m fine, Mira,” said Kagee, not moving.
“Let me in! I need to see him.”
“You cannot enter,” reiterated Quasilun, immovable as any wall.
“But I am diarch of this planet!”
“A dome is consecrated space and its premises inviolable,” insisted the imago.
Kagee stood and went toward the entrance, standing safely behind Quasilun.
“You have been listening to my songs. You’re considered too risky,” explained Kagee, no softness to his words for all they were spoken in his native tongue.
“Kagee!”
“Those who just attacked were my believers, Miramo. Mine.” Kagee’s face was pained when he said this, as if he were owning up to a personal sin. Maybe because she couldn’t fully understand what fixed were, Kagee could be more vulnerable with her. Phex felt like that sometimes with Missit. To love someone meant sometimes trusting them with harshness.
“What does that even mean?” Miramo was now standing directly in front of Quasilun. Phex could see her fancy boots and the bottom of her robes through Quasilun’s braced legs. She was too close, and he worried that her security detail had guns.
Kagee felt similarly. “Please go, Miramo. Now is not the time to flex your regency. This is a divine concern.”
“But your pantheon was attacked! On my planet. In my dome.”
“All domes belong to the divinity,” said one of the acolytes. “We merely loan this one to your world.”
Kagee said, ignoring the Dyesi, “My pantheon is untouched and remains perfectly safe. Did you forget that I am trained to kill?”
“No. Of course not. I’m just worried.” She took an audible breath and stepped back.
“Imago, let her see me fully and then she will leave. Okay, Mira?”
