Chapter 25
DAVE
Number One waved at Dimitri through the glass front of the lab, and as he buzzed them in, the Eight filed in. The door's automatic lock engaged behind the last of them with the familiar mechanical thud.
"Good afternoon," Dimitri said.
"Good afternoon," Number One responded for the collective.
"Would you like to join us for tea?" Mattie asked.
Usually, Number One declined the invitation, but today tea sounded like a good idea.
"Thank you. We would love some. Do you have enough cups for all of us?"
Mattie grinned, happy to get an affirmative answer for once. "Don't worry about it. I'll improvise with beakers."
The Eight took their regular seats along the wall.
"Can I have my notebook?" Petrov asked.
Number Three produced it from inside his shirt, where he carried it. He'd been the one charged with keeping it safe.
"Thank you." Petrov picked up the notebook with both hands and walked back to his desk.
Dimitri shook his head. "We should destroy that thing. You don't need it because your memory is impeccable, and writing down everything we discuss here, even in code, is a liability."
"Writing helps me organize my thoughts."
Dimitri opened his mouth to respond, then shook his head. "Why do I even bother? You never listen to reason."
Petrov snorted. "I don't listen to your reasoning. I listen to mine."
The Eight sided with Dimitri, but they also understood that the notebook was important to Petrov, and he might need his notes once they escaped the island.
Mattie returned from the kitchenette with two cups of tea and handed them to Number One and Number Two.
"Thank you," Number One said for both of them.
Good manners were not something that had been taught in the training camp, but the Eight had picked them up from the movies they had watched to learn about the cultures that they were supposed to one day infiltrate.
Dimitri walked over to the kitchenette and helped Mattie distribute the rest of the tea, some in actual mugs and some in repurposed lab equipment.
"We have a plan we would like to run by you," Number One said. "We want you to point out any possible pitfalls that we might have overlooked."
Petrov's eyes shone with interest. "What kind of a plan?"
"Getting rid of Losham's enemies. The three other brothers who are breathing down his neck."
Number One laid out the plan the way he'd told it to Sullha.
The brothers' growing pressure for proof.
Losham's planned gambit at Friday's council, telling the brothers to go to the harem themselves if they didn't believe him.
The trap waiting for them at the cliff, with one of the Eight wearing Lord Navuh's robe and pretending to be their father.
The brothers approaching unarmed because they couldn't enter the harem with weapons or their personal guards.
The Eight throwing them over the cliff. The harem staff thralled to remember Lord Navuh executing his insolent sons in a fit of rage for the sin of breaching his sanctuary.
"That is actually brilliant," Mattie said.
The collective absorbed the compliment, and Number One inclined his head.
"Thank you."
"It solves so many problems at once," she said. "With the other brothers gone, we are much safer, here in the lab and when we leave."
"What about the other brothers?" Petrov asked. "There are more than just those three."
"After what happened to the seniors, the juniors will be terrified of defying Navuh," Number One said.
Petrov leaned back in his chair. "So, Losham takes everything."
"Correct," Number One confirmed.
"And then what?" Mattie asked.
The collective examined her question while noting that she was emitting an excited scent, her face was flushed, and her eyes were bright. It wasn't difficult to guess where she was going with this.
"If Losham is the only authority on this island," she continued, "there is no one to oppose him, which means that he can free everyone in the breeding enclosure."
The collective had had this conversation with Sullha less than twenty-four hours ago, and the answer had been that opening up the enclosure would have to wait. That answer still applied.
"Perhaps he could free some of them," Number One said.
"But he cannot do even that immediately.
The political situation will be too unstable at first. The junior brothers are not the only obstacle.
Losham needs to consolidate his control over the army.
The senior commanders will need to confirm their loyalty to Losham over their loyalty to whichever of the dead brothers they had previously aligned with. All of that takes time."
"How long?" Mattie asked.
"Months. Possibly years."
Her eyes widened. "Years?"
"Yes."
When Mattie cast a glance at Dimitri, he scooted closer and took her hand, squeezing it gently. "I know it feels unfair that we are leaving while they are staying, but we are at least getting the people the Eight care about out of there. Sullha and her boy, Asira and Vinnah."
"Things are more complicated in the enclosure than we assumed," Number One said. "Sullha located Vinnah, and it turns out that she can't be trusted."
Number Eight tensed, and the seven folded around him.
They had been doing that for the past day, ever since he'd learned the news about his mother from Sullha.
He had been angry, then sad, then angry again, then he seemed to have accepted it.
But the anger and sadness had kept coming in waves, and the hive had been helping absorb the sharp feelings to smooth out the edges, and the sadness had begun to soften into the quiet acceptance that was the other side of grief.
Still, hearing the news repeated had reopened the wound.
"Why?" Mattie asked.
Number One explained about the order of the Sacred Mothers.
The First Mother, who had founded it four years ago.
The Venerable Mothers who led the circles.
"About one-fifth of the women in the enclosure have already joined the order, and their numbers are growing.
In a few years, there might be no one to save. "
Mattie's eyes shone with unshed tears. "I'm so sorry, Number Eight."
He nodded.
"I cannot understand it." She shook her head.
"I cannot understand women who would hand over their sons and do so with joy.
I cannot understand women who would teach other women that it was okay to be offered to strangers for breeding because that was what their god wanted from them, and to do so gladly.
This is so twisted that it's diabolical. "
The collective had bought into the same thing until Sullha had explained it from the perspective of the helpless and hopeless.
"It makes it easier for them to endure," Number One said.
"The Sacred Mothers provide a story that gives meaning to their pain, portraying the act of giving up sons as sacred.
In this version of the story, they can be regarded as special rather than victims. It does not match reality, but it doesn't have to.
It only has to be a story they can embrace and find solace in.
The other women, those who carry the truth, are crushed under it.
The version the Sacred Mothers tell themselves elevates them, gives their suffering meaning. "
Mattie wiped her cheek with the back of her wrist. "Poor women, but the truth is that it's not even unusual.
I think about all the coming-of-age ceremonies practiced by primitive tribes.
Some of those boys never came back, and yet their mothers followed the tradition.
Even today, mothers submit their daughters to sexual mutilation because it's tradition, and they are either helpless to prevent it or think that this is what their god wants.
I could never understand that either, but then I was lucky to be born into a different culture. "
The collective didn't know what she was referring to, and they didn't want to ask.
They would have plenty of time to learn about the outside world and all its ills after they left the island.
Hopefully, they would find more good than evil out there.
They were escaping the island for a better life, not worse.
"Sullha also understands the appeal of the Sacred Mothers' order," Number One said. "But she could never join."
"She is so strong." Mattie drew a breath and turned to Number Eight. "How are you holding up?"
"I am all right. The collective helps distribute the pain."
"That's the advantage of the hive mind," Number One said. "We don't have to carry our burdens alone. Every emotion, whether positive or negative, gets absorbed by eight minds."
She nodded. "That's good, I guess."
"This needs to be communicated to the clan," Dimitri said. "Both the assassination plan and the Sacred Mothers thing."
"We'll call them after we complete the rounds for today," Number One said.
"They need to know that there is an organized network of women in the enclosure who will report any suspicious behavior, and if given the chance, betray the women they consider lost. Whatever the long-term plan for freeing the enclosure looks like, it has to account for the Sacred Mothers. "
"That's a major complication," Petrov said. "By the time the clan gets around to freeing the rest of the women, there might be no one to free because every last woman joined the order. As for the assassination plan, I don't see any pitfalls. It's clean."
Dimitri picked up a syringe. "Let's get on with the shots, shall we?"
The Eight rolled up their sleeves, and Dimitri began the round, starting with Number One.