“How so?” Aileen asked.
“Nothing is free in the Erasi, a payment first.” Jurr sent, Aileen was already warned on how much this audience will cost, so she reached into her coat’s inner pocket and grabbed preloaded credit chip and extended her hand towards the creature. One moment later the chip floated off her palm and down into the mist.
“Who rules the Erasi?” Jurr asked.
“Their founding races, the Gatray, the Uvaramo, and the Sorvani,” Aileen answered.
“Yes, and they have ruled for a long time… How many would you say are close to their level?”
Based on what Aileen and her people had learned, she knew that there was no race that could match the three founding races. For all intents and purposes, they were the Erasi.
“You are saying that that is by design?” Aileen asked.
“The Erasi has existed for a long time; it was built on the promise that all who join will grow equally. Yet the original three hold more territory, more warships, than all the other members combined. The others are used and exploited; the Erasi get a cut of any deal they enforce, and they control the distribution of technology. The races that join have no choice but to accept the Erasi terms, because without them they would be vulnerable, whether to their neighbors or stagnation,” Jurr sent.
“There doesn’t seem to be any discontent with the other races, as far as I have seen,” Aileen sent.
“And that is where the Weavers come in. They are the manipulators behind the curtains. They make sure that events transpire in the manner that benefits the three founding races. They make sure that the right people are in power, by bribing, intimidating, and assassinating when necessary. And their influence reaches far outside Erasi territory. They have toppled the governments of races that did not even know that the Erasi existed; they have instigated wars between peaceful neighbors, and made peace between mortal enemies, all so that they may grow more powerful,” Jurr said with a hint of anger. “My kind were once their victims. Unseen, they pushed another race to attack mine, and then they came and offered us aid which allowed us to destroy the attacking race completely. But the aid they provided was only enough to just barely ensure our victory, leaving us weak and broken and with no choice but to join the Erasi when they offered. Then, over the next couple of hundreds of years, they slowly drained us. Events happened that made us lose our interests, coincidences and accidents that forced us to downsize our holdings until we eventually lost all our territory. A disease that had no cure suddenly appeared among my people, leaving us infertile. And so over a relatively short period of time, they had ended my race.” Jurr’s rage and sorrow slipped through the connection and into Aileen’s mind.
“Why did they do that?” Aileen asked.
“A simple reason: because of fear,” Jurr said as his head rose above her. “My kind possessed power greater than theirs: telepathy, telekinesis, and other abilities. They did not wish to allow us to grow, fearing that one day we might become a threat. They will do the same to you, but unlike the Shara Daim, who will come after you openly, the Erasi will pretend to be your friends while manipulating events against you behind your backs.”
Aileen nodded, a gesture that was lost on the Uraasat. Adrian already had suspicions about the Erasi, ever since they had allowed the Veritas to leave Tarabat unopposed with a Shara Daim prisoner. It was why Aileen was here, to find more about them. “We had suspected some of this,” Aileen sent. “I assume that you have more than just your words to back this claim?”
Jurr tilted its head again. “You do not trust my words?”
“I did not know you yesterday, nor had I ever heard of your kind. And our short talk is not enough for trust to be built.”
Again, Jurr released a rasping sound that Aileen now knew was laughter, then it focused its eyes on her. “Yes, I have more than just my words to back that up. The question is, what can you offer me in return for it?”
“Didn’t I already pay you for information?”
“What you desire is more than simple information, for something like this I require more than simple credits.”
“What do you want?”
“I want to see the Erasi burn, their civilization crumbled to ash,” Jurr sent forcefully.
“That I cannot promise. We will protect our interests, but destroying the Erasi is another thing entirely,” Aileen sent. Jurr rose to tower above her and she felt him starting to speak, but she interrupted him, “But, there is something else that I can offer you that you will find worth equal or even more than what you ask.”
“And what might that be?”
“You said that your people have been infected with a disease. If it is in fact a disease artificially manufactured by the Erasi, or even if it is not, we might be able to help you. My people have a great knowledge of genetics and biological manipulation; we have eradicated all the diseases that once plagued us. We might be able to find a cure for your people,” Aileen sent.
Jurr lowered its snake-like body until its head was again on the eye level with Aileen. “To see my people restored, to see a youngling of my people again, that would be a gift greater than anything else,” he sent. Then a small box rose out of the fog slowly and stopped in front of Aileen, held there telekinetically by the Uraasat.
Aileen reached out and took it in her hands. She opened the box and found six small Erasi datachips. She closed the box and turned her eyes back at Jurr.
“That is all that my people and our associates know about the Erasi Weavers and the three founding races. Hopefully it will prove useful to you,” Jurr sent, then more intently continued, “I will be sending some of my people to you under the guise of traders, so that you may make tests on the disease that plagues us.”
“I can only promise that we will try,” Aileen said.
“That is more than any other in the Erasi have done,” Jurr said, and slowly disappeared into the fog. Aileen followed his signature remotely. She felt him move further and further away, meaning that there must be passages below the fog. Aileen was aware that there were many lower levels of the Dome. Homes to creatures that liked different kind of environments.
Aileen waited until she could no longer feel the Uraasat, and then she turned and left the room, going back to her people.
Chapter Five
Several days later — April; Year 55 of the Empire—Veritas; trans-space
Anessa was twenty-three years old, and she had been studying to become a Dai Sha for seven years now, ever since she had finished her basic schooling. Dai Sha training was long and hard; more than ninety percent of all who were admitted into the program failed. However, Anessa knew that she would not fail; this was who she was meant to be.
She remembered clearly that day when her Sha had awakened, when she had almost killed a classmate. She remembered the adults speaking when they thought that she couldn’t hear, saying how what she had done was impossible, that her power equaled that of a grown person. She was called a prodigy, a Sha user unlike any who had been born in recent memory, perhaps ever.
She recalled her father’s words on his last day. He had been old when she was born, well into the last chapter of his life. He had called her to his room when she was twelve, and Anessa had gone, sitting on his bed and holding his fragile hand as he spoke to her. He’d told her how proud he was of her; he’d told her that there was no greater honor in life than to serve the Elders directly as a Dai Sha. And he knew about that; he had been a soldier, one that had reached to the height of the elite. He had been a Do Sun, serving under a great Dai Sha. He’d told her that she would be a weapon for her people, a Dai Sha unlike any before her. One that would protect her people. And she had believed him. From that day forward, her only desire had been to serve the Elders and her people. She had followed that desire.