The Zcarbbs had kept their word and brought them everything they had asked for. Energy for secondary systems, spare parts, crates of food... There were even copies of the administrative beacons, which would finally allow the occupants of the “Lost Truth” to update themselves on the state of the universe.

  When they took off, Sava ordered the Xerineans to teleport the ship into extragalactic space. She wanted to take a little time before they were embarked on some more adventures. The Zcarbbs, although they had proven to be friendly, remained worrying and this adventure had added to all those she had been living for too long without a real break.

  Leaving the command seat, she threw a surprised look at Lhom and spoke to him:

  “Say, you haven't said anything for a while.”

  “Does that surprise you? I had nothing to say and you were doing very well.”

  Doubt suddenly crept in and Sava took a step back, defensively:

  “Or else,” she said, “it's another one of your psychological tricks. Yes, that's it: by not talking to me, you manipulated me so that I would speak to you of my own accord!”

  “But... no...”

  It was no use: Sava was already moving away down the corridor, not wanting to hear his justifications.

  Libre, scowling, walked around the ship.

  Why was everything escaping him? This adventure had already cost him so much… If he had managed to regain some control over the Xerineans, Sava was now an uncontrollable member of the crew… It wasn’t that he wanted to control her… But, if only she could stop hating him…

  The door to the training room wouldn’t open. Even the AI ??refused to take his priority request into account. Grumbling, he went to the common room, where he knew he would find the Xerineans.

  Seated together in a corner of the room, they were devouring a seafood dish with appetite. The Hom was convinced that their species only ate food tablets, but they seemed to love fish, octopus, mussels, seaweed and a few other fresh marine products… They also seemed to eat them raw.

  “Hey!” he interrupted them. “Why doesn’t the training room open anymore?”

  Xini looked up from her plate and finished swallowing a shrimp before answering:

  “It must be that Domeria is using the pool.”

  “So? What’s the connection?”

  “She asked me to build her a device that blocks the doors and whose effects I can’t easily counter. Logically, she used it.”

  The captain left his two technicians to their romantic tête-à-tête and went down to the hold, grumbling again. It was a good thing she hadn’t decided to lock him in his own cabin… She might do it one day or another… Everything continued to drift out of his control.

  Even the plan to report all the irregularities observed to the Administration was uncertain. The copy of the general data of the Administrative beacons, as given by the Zcarbbs, spoke of civil war, revolts, war against the Zcarbbs… The universe had become a veritable free-for-all… even more than before. Worse still: the Administration was still led by the same president, despite all this time. Since he was apparently one of the instigators of what he wanted to denounce, there was a risk that the situation would not improve anytime soon…

  He stared at the large cylindrical shape that stood in the middle of the room he was entering. Whether it solved his problems or brought him more, he was going to keep moving forward, like a Homtest.

  “What doesn't kill me,” he murmured, “is part of my story.”

  And he activated the opening of the stasis tube.

  Ex-Emperor Vector Vermilion grimaced as he regained his sense of sight.

  “You again? I told you to leave me in stasis.”

  The Hom in front of him didn’t seem as impressed as the first time.

  “I got rid of the Hogloo and his cronies. You’re free.”

  Vector eyed his interlocutor suspiciously. All the indicators seemed to point to him telling the truth, but many Homs, even the least educated, knew how to fool any truth detector. He had seen this Hom with the other terrorists and had assumed he was a mere henchman. However, if he had truly defeated a Hogloo warrior, he shouldn’t be someone to underestimate.

  “And for what reason? I never asked to be freed and I owe you nothing.”

  “That suits me. I promised Xini I would free you: I keep my promises… Even if she doesn’t seem to care anymore, I suppose she thought you could do something about that SECURA chip, if you were freed without the pressure of those bandits. Of course, you will have to wait for a stopover before you can get off my ship.”

  The emperor’s eyes glowed red as they fixed on his interlocutor, as if trying to tear from his very soul the dark secrets he was hiding from him.

  “What is your interest?”

  “My name is Libre Lhom, an alpha+ administrative agent, currently the victim of a small error that places me outside the law. I am not asking you for anything: as I said, I am keeping a promise.”

  “I don’t believe you: you have introduced yourself and justified yourself. So, you think you can get something from me. Don’t count on me: I owe you nothing!”

  The Hom nodded and sat down on a chair that the robots of his ship quickly shaped. A table and another chair also appeared.

  “Yes, you don't owe me anything. So, I propose an exchange.”

  The Vermilion hesitated. What did he have to lose by listening to this guy? Even if he returned to stasis afterwards, it was still an interesting distraction. So, he sat down opposite his interlocutor, with a gesture that remained noble and full of strength: he was not brought to the negotiating table, he sat there and dominated it.

  “An exchange? What could you give me? More importantly: do you think I would give you something?”

  Lhom gave a grin that meant everything and nothing, except that he was very confident.

  “What can I give you? Whatever you want. I don’t know what my connections with the parallel market are still worth, but I can probably provide you with some interesting contacts. I can also put my crew’s skills at your service…”

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “Could you tell me more about your next stopover? I think I can’t wait to get off there.”

  “My two technicians are Xerineans who promised to help me.”

  Vector, who was about to get up, stopped in mid-motion and sat back down.

  “Interesting… But I don’t see what I would agree to give you.”

  “Advice, perhaps?”

  “It costs nothing… Indeed, I could give you one or two pieces of advice: I wouldn't miss them.”

  Lhom raised his eyebrows in surprise. Vermilions could have a sense of humor? Was that part of their programming, or was it something that came naturally from their biological side?

  So, he began to tell his story, in a very condensed version that subtly highlighted the way he had kept control of events, rather than being their plaything.

  “My main problem right now,” he explained, “is Sava. Ever since she discovered that I had slightly controlled her psychology to ensure her cooperation, she’s been angry with me…”

  “Slightly controlled? What exactly do you mean by that?”

  “Nothing too bad: a little truth serum to make her receptive to my suggestions…”

  A shadow of distrust appeared in the Vermilion’s features, which was a lot for a creature that only displayed its emotions voluntarily. The fallen emperor suddenly seemed to be looking at something disgusting… Libre protested:

  “Hey! No: I didn’t do anything improper. I simply made sure she would follow my orders. I’m not… that kind of person. I’m a Homtest.”

  “Some Homtests are scum.”

  “There are few who are that scum.”

  “That’s true.”

  “I can understand that Sava is… a little angry at having been manipulated, but the problem is that she doesn’t change with time, she doesn’t calm down. I don’t really know what to do.”

  “What do you care if she hates you? The Homtest way is often solitary.”

  The captain sighed, a classic method of letting time pass in order to gather his thoughts. Then, he spoke again before the waiting time tired the patience of his interlocutor:

  “There are several reasons why I want to calm this disagreement. First of all, I still need help to complete my mission and cooperation works better without hard feelings. Then... Well... she's someone I respect... I can't really say why: a combination of things probably. She's someone competent. I really appreciate her character... well, before she got mad at me. It's... let's say that I would really appreciate going back to a positive relationship with her.”

  “And so, you find it logical to ask a creature designed without emotion to help you in your love story?”

  The captain blushed violently, lacking for a moment the control of emotions that his intellectual category boasted. That wasn't it. How had Vector come to this conclusion from his explanation?

  “It's not a love story! Frankly: what is love? Feelings? We can have feelings without letting them become love, and those who say that we have no choice when we fall in love are just cowards who do not want to make the effort to control their feelings. Love, although born of admiration, remains subject to the mind. A weak mind will probably let various natural or artificial desires, from the body and society, mix with feelings, but ultimately, the choice remains. Why is the possibility of friendship always crossed out in favor of a fantasized vision of love? Friendship also exists and, if it can transform into love, it always results from a choice. This choice can be made with full knowledge of the facts, or on the contrary through laxity, by letting thoughts develop without control. This is why I say that love is a choice, and that for the moment it has nothing to do with my problem.”

  The Vermilion looked both surprised and amused, which boded well for the continuation of the conversation. Libre wasn’t sure why he had issued this philosophical tirade, but the logic of the reasoning couldn’t escape his interlocutor.

  “So,” Vector said, “you greatly esteem this Sava, without it being love. However, you are not against the possibility of letting this feeling develop later.”

  Lhom hid his embarrassment with a wry smile. Vector had understood perfectly, beyond what he had wanted to formulate.

  “Well, if she didn’t hate me, I would greatly appreciate letting myself develop feelings for her. However, that is obviously not on the agenda. It is a vague possibility that could be or not be, if ever the first situation were resolved favorably. But even if I were to ask for advice on love, isn’t it said that you yourself have loved, despite your emotionless programming?”

  The Vermilion’s brow furrowed, as he didn’t hide the pain he felt as he rehashed his memories. When he spoke, his gaze was fixed, as if his thoughts were occupied with functions other than sight.

  “Did I love? Or did I just imitate those I envied for their emotions? If there is one emotion, I know I have developed, it is envy. Wanting what others have, isn’t that a trait that proves that I am a person and not a mere machine at the service of the Administration? If I remained faithful to my programming, to the goal that was instilled in me from the beginning to defend the Administration, I began to tell myself that perhaps, if I had what others have, I could do better...”

  Libre observed with a certain astonishment the legendary character who confided in him. Discovering what the great figures of the past thought was the dream of all those who, at one time or another, were interested in their stories.

  “So,” continued the former emperor, “I took the power that others had, to use it better than them and pursue the goal they had given me. I studied emotions and I tried to have some too, thinking that I would be more efficient that way... Or perhaps it was the revolt, the thirst for the forbidden, which so often drives those we can call ‘people’? Perhaps I was lying to myself when I said I wanted to serve the Administration? I used this pretext to seize what I wanted: the control whose actors I despised, the emotions that seemed to me to be the mark that could differentiate me from the idiotic machines and bring me closer to those I protected, but envied...”

  His eyes came alive, glowing for a moment, a bitter smile adorning his lips:

  “And yet, like you, many people, despise these emotions that I have sought to obtain... With good reason, no doubt, because the problem is neither emotions nor logic, but always the excess of one or the other: the excess that makes that when faced with a problem, those who then take power commit the other problem... And yet, avoiding the two excesses can also lead to the third excess: the illusory middle, the impracticable compromise, stagnation... You see: these three excesses are all the problems of the world. Excess in one direction, excess in the other and excess of balance. That is why I left politics and let myself be locked in: I could no longer find a position that was not an excess and I myself had become part of the problems that I was trying to solve...”

  “Is that really the reason for your departure? Legends say that you were heartbroken by the death of your beloved. I know that legends and rumors are often far from reality, but I have studied the matter enough to know that this one is very close to it.”

  Vector remained motionless, curiously hesitant, then he regained his usual aplomb and his stern gaze was subject to a few indecipherable fluctuations.

  “Perhaps… I still do not know if I deluded myself about the existence of emotions… She was my complement, my lieutenant, loyal beyond our common duty… We had… common emotions… or perhaps illusions… But when her death reminded me of the limits of our immortality…”

  The emperor became thoughtful. The expression on his face was unpleasant: as if he hesitated to say more, or to kill his interlocutor for having already told him too much. But his obsolete technologies couldn’t pierce the modern shields surrounding Lhom, could they? It was said that Vector Vermeil had had access to unparalleled weapons…

  Libre wiped the sweat he felt running down his forehead. In front of him, one of the most famous characters in the history of the universe laughed at this, then opened his mouth to reveal secrets of History.

  “After her death, I wanted to join her. Without her, I felt like nothing more than a soulless servant of an ideology of which I was the guardian, now without conviction. In a crazy gesture, a ridiculous simulacrum of those normal people I envied, I used the genetic material of her body and my own to conduct a new experiment. I used the Vermilion production matrix and my advanced knowledge in Tadlomas science to extract and mix a part of my essence and a part of my beloved's, thus wishing to create a trace of our feelings that would remain after us...”

  “You mean... that you created a child... using your wife's corpse?”

  “Through science, indeed, in a way as artificial as my crazy search for feelings, I created a son... yes.”

  “I... I didn't believe those rumors. Do you know what happened to him?”

  “No...”

  The Vermilion's face suddenly became devoid of all emotion. Lhom knew then that he was lying, but he said nothing. As much as he had needed someone to confide his own troubles to, Vector had this need, perhaps even more. This cyborg who feared being a monster without feelings had them nonetheless. He was a monster with feelings.

  “I believe,” said Libre, “that your emotions were very real...”

  They remained silent.

  After a moment, the emperor spoke, once again in the role he was living and had only briefly left during their conversation to become for a while an ordinary Hom.

  “Regarding your problem with Sava, I advise you to recognize your wrongs, even if you don't think so deep down. So, ask her directly what you should do to be forgiven. I am not an expert in the social field: I don't know what my advice is worth, but it's what I would do in your place if... it's what I would do if I had the chance to still care about someone.”

  Lhom nodded, uncertain of the value of this advice. Vector thought there was something else:

  “Do you have other reasons to ask her for forgiveness?”

  “No... just in relation to what I told you...”

  But he was lying: like a time bomb, he knew that Sava would soon discover another reason to hate him...