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Rina raised an eyebrow. ‘Really? Is she ready?’
‘Last time I checked, she was 99% there.’
‘Where is she?’
‘Safe, I hope, in Axuma. Probably so lost in her research work that she’s no idea Dunia is under martial law.’
‘Harlow and her work is a good carrot to dangle. If the Edenites are as savvy as I’ve heard from the grapevine, then what she’s got going on, should tip the odds from unlikely to very likely.’
‘But if they respond, I’m going,’ Selene stated.
Rina whipped her head around to stare at her friend. ‘No way! You’re the Prime in waiting. We can’t put you in danger.’
Selene shook her head firmly. ‘We can’t risk any more soldiers, and I need you here to oversee our people here and the revolt, if we can even call it that.’
‘How about a guard or two to accompany you?’ Rina suggested.
‘Nope, I can handle myself. Our resources are too stretched for guard duty. I’m a big girl.’
‘Not on Eden II, you’re not.’
Selene lifted an eyebrow in disbelief. ‘I’m no babe in the woods, Ri.’
Rina shook her head slowly. ‘You haven’t met the uncouth rabble-rousing mercs of Eden II yet. Even though you’re a sophisticated, experienced, well-travelled diplomat and negotiator, imagine them as mammoth dracula hawks. They’ll suck off all your blood and pick apart your bones if you can’t cut it with them. Well, maybe not quite, but they’re ruthless. Not to be underestimated.’
‘Consider me scared,’ Selene huffed. She shifted her view to the sky and the silver orb sitting fat in the sky. ‘Let’s do it, Rina. We’ve nothing to lose.’
Each evening, when its twin suns fell, the blue velvet darkness that shrouded Dunia and the forests of Zaalalum came to life. Copious trails of tiny, glowing creatures rose from their home on the forest floors to mate and partake in the wildwood’s bounty.
‘Pearls of heaven,’ Selene whispered to herself as she waded through the flitting bioluminescent patterns that lit a grove of trees on the outskirts of the Enclave.
She stepped down a flight of stairs cut into the rock. The shimmering lightning bugs trailed after her, brushing her skin with their softly beating wings.
High above her, Eden II’s silhouette had all but disappeared behind a large bank of clouds, and she followed a cobblestone path lit by fireflies and the torch in her hand.
She ducked under an overhanging rock and smiled slightly at the sight before her. Vines tumbled down a stonewall enclosing a deep blue pool of water dotted with lily pads and blooming lotus flowers. Water burbled out of the mouths of exquisitely carved stone figurines shaped like Dunia’s legendary oversized bees and winged moths. A long and low seat hovered above the water, bookended with lamps.
Selene ventured forward into the tree-lined dell. With a deep breath, sweet air flooded her lungs, mixed in with the fragrance of lotus blossoms and the heady perfume of lei’oia vine flowers.
She stared at the water, and her reflection danced back at her. She saw a woman with dark curls, honey skin, brown eyes, a pert nose and lush lips looking back at her. She wasn’t plain, but she didn’t consider herself a knockout either.
She felt sore, and the pressed lines around her eyes and mouth didn’t help to improve her appearance. Perhaps the grotto would restore her weary soul and body.
For Dunia was sentient. It had a complex psionic mycorrhizal network controlled by a single intelligent mind made of mycelium strands that connected the entire planet’s biosphere. While this network distributed water, nitrogen, carbon and minerals throughout the planet, it had also merged itself over time to live in symbiosis with the entire ecosystem. It even wielded power to direct the biosphere to protect itself from its enemies using the sheer power of its leviathan-sized plants, trees and animals.
She reached down into the water and splashed its coolness onto her face. The liquid trailed off her skin and fell in luminescent drops back into the small pool that caused the mirrored surface to dance.
Earlier that evening, she’d asked the garrison commander to direct her to the Enclave’s grotto. Every large facility on Dunia had a version of its own - a water-based retreat that flowed with the planet’s natural essence. Dunia’s grottos, built into the rocks and filled with ground or natural spring water, were temples of deep reverence and meditation that helped the residents pay respect to their beloved planet. A bath in the cave’s healing waters was most likely the best panacea she needed right now.
Feeling the ache in her muscles from her fast-paced flight from the capital, followed by a stream of endless and exhausting meetings, she slid down to sit in search of peace and maybe even a few answers.
Earlier that day, she’d silently watched the latest news holos from the capital alongside Rina and her hastily cobbled faction of coup resistance leaders.
They showed dark, turbulent clouds churning above New Malindi. Thick, dense smoke from burning buildings had spread across the cityscape. It filled the air with ashy debris, which scattered, drifting back down on the burning government buildings at the epicentre of the megacity.
Over the past week, riots had erupted throughout the megacity. Most people were demanding Selene be allowed to return to the capital and take her place as the True Prime. They brandished copies of the constitution that stated the revered title could only pass down by blood per the laws set in place since the planet’s inception.
To the loyalists, Massimo Makori’s takeover of the Prime’s seat was the worst treachery. So they’d banded together to form the Free Dunia Movement, comprised of members of the Security Council and every day leading citizens devoted to the Munene’s rightful Prime legacy. Many of them who’d enjoyed Kei’Lano Munene III’s excellent patronage, his commitment to social justice and his passion for compassionate leadership for many years.
