The Necropolis Empire: A Twilight Imperium Novel by Tim Pratt

The Necropolis Empire: A Twilight Imperium Novel by Tim Pratt

Author:Tim Pratt [Pratt, Tim]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: space exploration, space opera, Twilight Imperium
Publisher: Aconyte
Published: 2021-08-03T00:00:00+00:00


Chapter 18

“I’ll just escort the rest of you outside,” Kyrria said. Archambelle started to object – “We are colleagues, I’m sure Brother Errin wants me here to assist” – and the Hacan simply picked her up, as easily as Bianca would have lifted a teacup, and carried the doctor, stunned and silent, out of the room.

Voyou patted Bianca on the arm, rather awkwardly. “You’ll be all right,” Voyou said. “He’s, ah… a professional.”

“Just do as you’re told, Xing.” Richeline beckoned to the guards, who followed her and Voyou out of the lab.

Bianca disrobed. She was chilly at first, but the lab must have warmed up or something, because a moment later she was perfectly comfortable. At least her weeks undergoing Archambelle’s tests had given her lots of practice being naked around a stranger… though Brother Errin was stranger than most.

He turned, looked at her, nodded, then returned to his console. “Archie believes in fairy tales, you know. Ancient aliens, former masters of the galaxy, experts in cloning and genetic manipulation. The legends say they were experts on everything, super-scientists with everyday conveniences that violated the laws of physics as we understand them, and cities that soared impossibly high and delved impossibly deep. Supposedly the Mahact could make almost anything. Archie thinks they made you.” He looked at her again, and this time there was a shrewdness and clarity in his eyes she hadn’t noticed before.

“Wait. Who are the Mahact?”

Errin clucked his tongue. “What did the Letnev tell you?”

Oh, no. “Which time?”

“All the times, please. I’m curious.”

Bianca told him the first story, about her being the heir to a lost fortune, and the “truth,” that she was the child of a human aristocrat with a treasure map hidden in her genetics. “But I guess that’s not true either?”

Errin shook his head.

“Then, what am I?”

“Something new in the galaxy, I think,” Errin said. “I thought Archie was losing her grip, and believe me, I know about losing your grip, but I’ve seen your test results and who could have made you but the Mahact?”

“I still don’t know who they are,” she said.

Errin nodded. “According to old stories, ones almost no one remembers and even fewer people believe, there was once a great empire ruled by a cruel and brilliant people called the Mahact…” Errin told her about the aliens and their purported genetic mastery, and how Archambelle’s research led her to Darit, and how the Letnev hoped she would lead them to the treasure world of Ixth. “Archie thinks Ixth might have been the Mahact homeworld, or maybe just one of their holdings. If you could find it, that would be remarkable. The legends of my people say that on Ixth we’ll finally find the secret to cleansing our genome, and even creating female clones.”

Bianca took in everything he’d told her and finally said, “Why did the Letnev lie to me? Why not just tell me the truth about this Ixth?”

“Bianca. They need you to find Ixth. You don’t need them. If you knew the truth, there would be no reason for you to travel with them.



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