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talking. "Festina... all of you... I know you think the Balrog is evil. You
see it as a threat because you imagine some terrible parasite eating you,
stealing your soul. But it's not like that. It's... beautiful. Just beautiful.
It's wise, and honest, and gentle, and caring; I love it with all my heart. Of
course I'm scared how I'm changing, and I have my moments of doubt... but I
love this creature inside of me. I do. Because it's so much moreholy than
anything I ever dreamed possible."
She tossed her head defiantly, flicking the hair away from her face. Her
mouth was a fierce line, and her eyes blazed with reflected red light from the
moss as she stared at each one of us daring us to argue. "Think how this
bastard is using the spores he's captured. There are three of them linked
together: Admiral York on New Earth; this clone here; and that recruiter on
Celestia... who's another York clone, an earlier model without the fancy DNA.
He had his features changed with plastic surgery so he wouldn't be immediately
recognized by people using the recruiters' services, but it's still the same
old Alexander York, Three versions of the same man, touching mind-to-mind,
thoughts kept perfectly in synch so they're effectively the same person."
Kaisho gestured to the man at my feet. "This is your father, Edward body and
brain. The cloned zygote was planted in a surrogate mother right here on
Troyen, and born a few weeks before the war started; that glass thing was
installed in the baby's stomach a little while later. From that day on, the
child's brain was so dominated by transmitted thoughts, the infant had no
chance of developing a separate identity. Heis Alexander York: helping
Samantha on Troyen, leading the recruiters on Celestia, playing Admiralty
politics back on New Earth. A man with blood on his hands in three separate
star systems, and the League can't touch him because he never physically
crosses the line.
"Now," Kaisho went on, her voice still choking on tears, "can you imagine how
it pains the Balrog to be caught up in this? Every day, Admiral York commits
murder and war, using sentient creatures like disposable means to repugnant
ends. Can you imagine how the Balrog feels, melded to such a putrescent mind?
The entire Balrog race is in agony.I'm in agony, and I'm not holy, I'm just a
lower animal out of my depth."
"Kaisho." Festina's voice was soft, more tender than I'd ever heard it
before. "Please don't cry. Please. What does the Balrog want?"
"To free itself, of course. To detach itself from that awful man."
"And to punish him?"
Kaisho met Festina's gaze for a moment, eye to eye. Then she reached up and
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fluffed her hair back over her face, hiding once more behind her natural veil.
Her voice dropped down to the old familiar whisper: back to speaking for the
Balrog instead of herself. "If someone doesn't do something, he'll keep
playing the same tricks. He has more spores commandeered from the navy
hospital that examined me."
Festina contemplated the unconscious man at her feet. "Suppose we take him to
Gashwan for surgery. Have the gadget removed from his gut."
"We get the gadget," Kaisho said immediately.
"Of course," Festina agreed. "As for the man himself... if he's committed
crimes, and I don't doubt that he has, we'll turn him over for a proper trial.
Considering that the Balrog has heard York's every thought for the past few
decades, it won't be hard getting a conviction."
"Yes it will," Kaisho said. "Where is he going to get a proper trial? Even
ifJacaranda rescued us this very moment, you couldn't take this man back to
the Technocracy. He's a dangerous non-sentient creature; if you try to move
him out of this system, the League will kill you as well as him. And if he
stays on Troyen, he'll be acquitted by the new High Queen Samantha." Kaisho
shook her head. "Sorry, Festina dear, but you can't arrange any 'proper
trial' you'll never find a suitable legal authority."
"There is one," Counselor said. "There'sTeelu."
Silence for a moment. Then the other Mandasars nodded enthusiastically,
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