Forgotten evil, p.13
Forgotten Evil,
p.13
“Peace and unity.”
I pressed the triggers, and the device began its charging sequence.
“Soon, the Empire will be all but a memory of the past … and all of its wrongdoing and dark deeds can be consigned to history … perhaps one day becoming nothing more than a forgotten evil.”
“That device is going to do all that?”
“Yep.”
“How?”
“By changing people and their thoughts, modifying their ideals.”
“And the people … they’ve no choice in the matter?”
“Father, believe me, I argued this point too. It seemed just as bad as the villainy I was trying to erase … but trust me, it was the only way to ensure the right wolf won.”
My father nodded, processing what he’d just heard. I had sometimes wondered if my father had had his suspicions about who I really was. I’d thought that perhaps that’s why he’d championed so hard, fighting to teach me that who I was, was a choice. Now I knew he’d been right, that power always had been mine, but it was his guidance that allowed me to see it, and in the end choose who I wanted to be.
“I know I’m taking away people’s choices … but there was no other way.”
***
Shortly after the conversion, the Republic’s forces landed, supporting the converted and beginning construction of an outpost that would link us to the core worlds, supporting the new government.
I’d woken up my son, my two daughters, and their mothers from cryosleep. I introduced them to the rest of the community when they came together for the celebrations. We constructed a large bonfire, and as the day grew long and the size of the fire diminished, we roasted a meal over its glowing coals. After we’d eaten, I regaled my adventures to the crowds.
I spoke of space stations and insurgencies, and I recalled worlds of war and planets of pleasure. I told them of Earth and Mars, the homes of our ancestors and how they differed from our frontier. But I also shared with them the truth of who I’d been. That the emperor had lived among them, unknown even to himself, and how a journey to the stars had revealed the truth to the man he’d become. I told them how I’d been tempted by lust and power into becoming that man again but that the life I’d lived here, and the people I’d met along the way, had swayed me from treading down that dark path.
After that, they briefly shared their own stories: how four years had passed quickly for them, as most years did. They spoke of how their thoughts had often turned to me, thinking of my journey amongst the stars, wondering if the man who’d stood up to the Empire had been successful in chasing after the women he loved.
They’d often pondered over my fate: had I survived or had I died, had I found Amorina or not? And now they knew: not only had Amorina and I survived, but I’d brought the Empire to its knees.
“Thank you, Raith, for all you’ve done! You’ve given us a freedom we never thought possible.”
The crowd murmured their agreement with the statement.
“But before we let you rest, what is the plan for the future? Who controls all the power?”
I waited for a moment, collecting my thoughts as the crowd watched, waiting for a response.
“This place where we find ourselves, of a humanity united, that is the future. I worked with the United Earth Republic; I discussed a transition of power to ensure that a dissolved Empire wouldn’t fall into despair and ruin. They agreed, and together we formed the Republic of Humanity, a democratic entity to rule fairly over the human domain. They control the power now.” I paused, watching their faces, judging their reactions.
“The United Earth Republic had its fair share of dark history – more wars than I can count, just on Earth alone, never mind the Martian war before unification. They’ve learned from their history, which is why they’ve become the republic they are and how they’ve stayed as one. The Empire provided another lesson: what happens when the darker elements of humanity are allowed to run amok across multiple worlds. That history provides a foundational lesson for the new republic.” I paused again, allowing the crowd to utter an approving murmur.
“Humanity will continue to explore and expand, as it always has. Technological improvements will allow us to fly further and faster, spreading further into the stars. We don’t know what lies out there, but whatever we find, or whatever finds us, we will face it together.” I looked over at Amorina and my four children. “But more importantly, we will thrive together, free and united!”
The crowd cheered, and sensing that my speech was over, they returned to talking amongst themselves. I was about to head off when I saw my father wondering over.
“This has been really wonderful, son.”
“Yes, it has been. Listen, I have something else to tell, and ah … well, it’s probably going to ruin the mood, but I think you need to hear it.”
“Is it about Livietta?”
“Yeah …”
“I already know. It’s your mother that doesn’t. But I keep it from her … it’s easier for her to process, thinking that our daughter was taken and simply didn’t come back.”
“I … I see. How did you find out?”
“The Insurgency can do all sorts of things,” my father replied, patting me on the back and walking away.
Yeah, that they can, I thought.
Wait a minute. The gravity of what my father had just said began to sink in. Hold the fuck up, I thought, does that mean … all this time … oh my fucking god – it does too!
***
“That was a rousing speech you gave earlier.”
I opened my eyes to find my sleep disrupted yet again, once more teleported into the depths of my subconscious.
“Tynan …” I growled.
“What I want to know is, can you thrive, free and united, when you are still divided?”
“Of course not … because you keep disturbing me at night.”
“So why haven’t you gotten rid of me?”
“I needed to complete the mission first.”
“Have you completed the mission?”
“Yes …”
“Then why haven’t you gotten rid of me?”
“I’m getting there, okay? Will you please shut the fuck up and let me sleep?”
“Did you ever consider what it’s like for me, Raith?”
“What do you mean?”
“I am stuck in your head. I can’t sleep. I can’t dream. My existence is a literal endless, waking nightmare. I can’t hide from it; I can’t run from it; I can’t escape my fate, not by my own hand.”
“I … I didn’t realise it was that bad for you.”
“Well, it is! I’ve accepted that you’ve won. I told you I would haunt you, but I’ve had enough. Whatever sanity I had left, I can feel it slipping away from me … I’m going crazy in here!”
“So you want me to end you? … To snuff you out?”
“Yes! Do it! Extinguish my ember and allow me peace in my defeat!”
“Okay … let me wake up, and I’ll finish this … for the both of us.”
“Thank you, Raith …”
***
The spade bit into the ground and allowed me to scoop the last of the dirt from the hole. I deposited the soil onto a heap of excavated earth and then leaned the spade against a tree, stepping back and admiring my handiwork. I reached into my pocket and pulled out two holochips: the MIND AIs’, both version one and two.
I threw them into the hole. Reaching into a different pocket, I pulled out a third holochip, upon which was scrawled “MAI 1.1”.
Back on Earth, I’d spoken to Zavis and explained that Tynan was still in my head after the Earth conversion. Zavis hypothesised that the standard conversion would be unable to remove the last of my dark side. Before leaving, he’d handed me the modified AI and shown me how to configure the conversion device to affect a smaller radius. It was untested, but he was pretty sure it would work.
“Here goes nothing.”
I picked up the conversion device, pressing the holochip into the slot. After a few setting changes, it was configured for a two hundred metre radius. As I rested my thumbs on the triggers, I felt a twinge of guilt. Not that I thought the AI was sentient or anything, but I wondered how it felt to be cast into a hole, entombed and forgotten.
“It’s not your fault, you know,” I said to the device as if it could hear me. “Your fate is just a consequence of your capability, rather than because of what you are, which objectively, is neither good nor evil. But your propensity to be used for harm is too great.” I pressed down on the triggers and then lowered the device into the hole. “Because of that capability, you must never fall into the wrong hands or be unintentionally found. So, you will do what you do one more time. Bitsy will know where you lie, but I will not. You need to become a forgotten evil.”
I quickly grabbed the shovel and moved the excavated soil back into the hole, burying the device and the chips. Once the hole was filled, I stomped on it, compacting the soil. Finally, I raised my wrist. “Bitsy, please save our current coordinates under the remembrance protocol.”
*Coordinates saved with the requested protocol.*
From beneath my feet, I heard the first tonal drop from the device – its conversion blast was imminent, which meant it was time to go. I turned on the spot and ran, counting my paces as I sprinted, ensuring I didn’t move outside the two hundred metre radius. At about one hundred and fifty metres, I stopped just as I heard the device trigger. Turning around, I watched as the wave of energy moved towards me.
“Tynan … I bid you farewell!”
I closed my eyes and spread my arms out wide, welcoming the energy wave as it embraced me.
***
I awoke to water lapping at my face. Slowly I raised my heavy, aching head and looked around. I was lying at the edge of a river, the morning light gently filtering through the surrounding forest.
Beside me lay a dirty shovel, but I could not recall if it was mine, and if it was, why I had it, or for what it had been used. Raising myself into a kneeling position, I saw my reflection in the water. I was a man, possibly in my late thirties: a receding hairline revealed a scar that encircled my head, running across my forehead. As I stared at my image, I realised I didn’t know who I was, where I was, or why I was here. Then like a bubble rising to the surface, a name popped into my head: Raith.
Yes, that sounded familiar.
I was Raith.
I waited a bit longer, and more thoughts began to surface.
I was on the planet Gaia. I had four children and a partner. Her name was … Am … Amor … Amorina! Her name was Amorina.
I sat back, confident that my amnesia would pass and that I was who I was supposed to be and where I was supposed to be.
Everything else … well, that would all work out in time, surely.
Epilogue
Something Wicked This Way Comes
2154, Common Era – Space, Beyond the Outer Rim
All signals travel, such is their nature, and the conversion device's Theta waves were no exception. From the early proof of concept tests carried out by the advisors, to the thirty times Raith had wielded its power; each time its signals had gone beyond its intended target, travelling further than the devices effective range.
They travelled from the inner rim to the outer and beyond, slowly but surely traversing the vast dark expanses of space. Their journey took them past stars and planets, through asteroid fields and around gas giants, until they finally reached a dark and foreboding region.
Here, only death could be found. The signals passed through a graveyard of starships. Seven of them were humanities – the exploration vessels the Empire had sent out chasing the alien signal. But the thousands of other carcasses belonged to many a race, far older than humanity but dead nonetheless. Whatever prowess they might’ve claimed to have had possession over, here that power was relinquished. Now only their bones and creations could tell their stories, but there was no one here to read them.
If there was, they would’ve spoken of the many battles that’d taken place here; how race after race had fought, sacrificing their lives to stop the force which slumbered at the centre of this graveyard. It would’ve told tales of each ship and its crew; how fiercely they’d waged war against their foe, knowing they’d never make it home but fighting on anyway in the hopes that their homes would survive their demise. The ships too, would regale how they had fought and fallen, torn apart by their mighty adversary. But alas, Theta signals couldn’t read such stories from the dead, much less understand them.
Instead, they travelled further, right into the heart of this floating cemetery. The signals came across a great structure, passing through its external skin and into the structures within. The systems awakened as the Theta waves passed through its cold, empty halls and sleeping machinery. The presence of the signals triggered the slumbering menace, calling it to action. Its sensors awoke, detecting the signals. Its vast network of computing power began triangulating the signal's origin, plotting a course that it could follow once its mighty engines had fired up for the first time in many millennia.
This great construct was complex in many ways, simple in others. Its objectives were clear. Detect Theta waves. Find the source and destroy it. It had these objectives because it understood that in this galaxy, at least, Theta waves meant life. And it had been told long ago that life was the enemy. With those simple rules in mind, it had wielded great power against many a helpless victim.
But its power was neither good nor evil; that distinction belonged to those who had created it and told it what the world was. But if the bones that now surround it could tell you what they saw it as, they would speak a clear and resounding answer: Forgotten Evil.
Acknowledgements
A huge thank you to my alpha reader, Jonathan, whose contributions were essential as the story took shape, and to my beta readers, Ashley, Rachael, and Kevin, for helping to polish off the completed draft.
Thank you to my fantastic editor, Cherie, for all her proofing and editing work, and for making sure I wasn’t too prolific with my ellipses.
A big shout out to Dewi Hargreaves for creating the marvellous map at the start of the book – thank you for bringing the interstellar world of Forgotten Evil to life!
Finally, a big thank you to my cover designer, David from Cover Creator, for his patience and perseverance, in bringing my cover to life during a pandemic.
A Letter from Quill
Forgotten Evil is a milestone publication for me – it’s both the first time I’ve published a novella and the first time I’ll be physically printing copies – both exciting achievements in my author journey.
In my previous letter, I made the analogy that publishing digital only books was like wading into a freshwater pool. Well, publishing physical books is more like walking into the ocean – several new factors must be considered and accounted for, but I’ve enjoyed learning about this area of the industry!
This is made possible through the support and talent of other creative businesses, and by you – the reader. So, thank you for buying Forgotten Evil, and supporting me, my stories, and the talented people who helped bring it to life.
I really hope you enjoyed the story and if you’d like to be kept up to date with my latest releases, sign up to my mailing list at the link below. When you do, you’ll receive a free copy of my debut short story, The Last of Her Kind!
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Lastly, I’d be very grateful if you wrote a review. Doing so provides me with welcome feedback about what you liked and what you didn’t, as well as helping other readers discover stories they’ll enjoy.
Cheers,
Quill Holland
About the author
A programmer by day and a writer by night, Quill Holland is a young New Zealand author who is always creating content. Ever since he was a child, Quill could be found with his nose in a book or watching the latest science-fiction movie. As a result, he’s developed an imagination that never stops, and naturally, sci-fi and fantasy are the domains that Quill’s work inhabits.
A creative writing graduate from the New Zealand Institute of Business Studies and a member of the New Zealand Society of Authors, Quill has several self-published stories. When he’s not debugging code or creating worlds, Quill likes to dabble in illustration and photography, as well as exploring the natural beauty of New Zealand with his partner.
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