That small face watches hers, its small mouth twitching in its attempts at Widow signs. “Yes,” says the little one.
Shenya the Widow is nearly incoherent now, but whether it is from fluid loss or joy she cannot tell. “It will be painful,” she murmurs. “You may wish you had not said so.”
“I know,” says the little one.
Oh, but you don’t, little one. You have heard the stories, yes, but you are like Shokyu the Mighty: you theorize about experiences that you haven’t had. Shenya the Widow watches a drop of liquid emerge from one of those piercing eyes and roll down the small face. There will be many such drops, little one. Because the title of Daughter is not given; it is taken. You will win your life, or you will die.
“Very well,” whispers Shenya the Widow, her hearts overrun with love and fear. “So we begin.”
[AivvTech Mnemonic Restoration]
[Stage 2]
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[Hello! I hope you’ve had an enjoyable experience so far. We are now moving on to Stage 2. Though I have no way of predicting your exact reaction at the following material, I would like to mention that AivvTech does offer automated counseling services at the corporate Network node.]
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[Initiating memory transfer…]
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Blessed darkness has fallen, thank the goddess.
Shenya the Widow creeps through unfamiliar plant life. Her blades make so little sound that she can barely hear them herself, honed killing machine that she is. She is discomfited by the fact that Observer is all around her yet she cannot detect Him. It is marvelous, that camouflage of His. He would be valuable on a hunt, if He weren’t so useless in every other way.
Her thoughts, as she creeps through undergrowth, are a tangled whirlwind. The Humans, here! It is unbelievable. Of all the millions of species in this gigantic galaxy…what are the chances that Widow and Human would collide once again?
She very nearly chitters a soft laugh in the darkness. Was this part of your plan, Humans? When you were proud, when you were a trillion strong, when you waged a one-species war against the galaxy? You couldn’t know then that your last seed would be found by the Daughter of those you killed.
Because she is Widow, and Widows have long memories.
Shenya the Widow is aware of higher powers, in the practical sense. They are unavoidable, really, in such a crowded galaxy. She has met many tier threes in her travels and even the occasional representative of a four. That experience will humble an intelligence, make no mistake. But this is the first experience since her run-in with the massive Librarian ship that has made her question what she knows about reality. Is there a much higher power out there? A six? Goddess help them all, a seven? And has it taken an interest in the story of the Widows? Because if not, this coincidence—this opportunity for a perfect revenge—is the type that staggers the imagination.
[I sense heat and motion], says Shokyu the Mighty.
[Yes], says Shenya the Widow. [We are using the same senses.]
Insects flit through the air—some of them providing their own illumination, which reminds her of home. There are sounds too, which she soon realizes are animal sounds. Animal voices, perhaps, because the sounds seem like language. But Human language?
Goddess help these creatures if it is.
“It’s amazing,” says Observer in a voice closer than Shenya would prefer. “I have access to a lot of information. I’m not Networked, of course—because I’m not a fool—but I’m on every Network Station in the sector. I can find anything. I search unceasingly. And I know for a fact that Nobody knows where this colony is, except for Me. And of course You.”
“Fascinating,” she murmurs, quietly flexing several blades.
[I imagine you’re regretting that one percent offer], says Shokyu the Mighty. [If it’s really the Humans.]
Shenya the Widow does not reply. Her implant, little idiot that it is, has never bothered to learn the history of the Widows. It does not know what every Widow has sworn to do, should she ever find an enemy of her people. In fact, even the thought of profit is beginning to pale next to the thought of bringing her own people here. It would not be difficult at all to find a thousand Widow volunteers to come here and visit vengeance upon these unsuspecting—
“There,” whispers Observer’s voice. “Tell me what You see.”
Shenya the Widow crawls forward to the edge of the forest, then halfway up a tree to