“Malketh Gaiason?” Sean looked behind him and saw two Gaian knights standing behind him. He ignored them for a moment and turned around again and placed his hand on the grave in front of him.

  “Goodbye, Violet,” he said softly before making his way to his feet and turning back around.

  “Yes, that’s me,” he said, “What would two Knights want with me?”

  “I think you know why we’re here very well. You’ve covered your tracks well for this long. But your backend hacker missed a camera. It caught you on the way here and flagged it to our system.”

  Sean let out a long sigh. It seems that they’d taken the bait. They hadn’t realized that the camera had been left running on purpose. It had been ten years since Violet’s death, yet it felt like centuries had passed since he’d last seen her.

  “So what happens now?” Sean said after a moment, “Am I under arrest?”

  “No, not yet,” the Knight who appeared in charge said, “Just come with us. We’ll be taking you to the Palace and they’ll decide what to do from there.”

  “A Palace? Which one?” Sean asked in confusion.

  “The Palace. The Palace for the Genemother. Home of the Gaian Knights. Been a long since there’s been a new Immortal. Over half a decade at least. We’re due for a new one sometime soon after you.”

  Sean let out a sharp breath. Emily… He’d nearly forgotten that she would be there. Would she know him? Could he tell her about the future and change things somehow now that he had a body?

  But he had his own mission now given to him directly by Peter Rose. The only way to get more information on what Peter Rose was up to was press forward. He had proven himself valuable over these last few years. Using Orion to whisper in his ear what he wanted to know while providing some extra hints of his technology to the ‘Den’. And he had formed a closer relationship with Alex to discuss the theology of the Shadow, which helped him rise the ranks of the organization faster than any of the others in a few short decades.

  Orion’s AI core was squirreled away in a safe place somewhere only Sean would be able to find it. For his own safety, Orion had mostly been on standby mode for the last few decades. Or his equivalent to sleeping. With Sean around both Peter Rose and unfamiliar people in the GFC it wasn’t safe for Orion to be active and trying to talk to Sean. And Orion got grumpy and depressed when he didn’t have anyone to talk to ‘face’ to face, so it had just been cruel to him telling him to not talk to Sean.

  So Orion was sleeping at the moment, but Sean woke him up for short stretches when he had enough time and was secure enough that Orion wasn’t at risk of being discovered and he could travel directly to where his AI core was housed so he could talk with him.

  And sometimes Orion helped Sean with something or some task while he was awake, but they mostly just talked with each other and relaxed together when Orion was awake.

  Orion would be shut down for a long time after this. Completely inactive until Sean was able to get some time on his own without being followed by either Peter Rose or the Gaian Knights. And go to activate Orion again.

  But until that point, Sean could only do his best to comply with the orders of the two Gaian Knights staring at him expectantly as he stood there thinking.

  Sean went peacefully with the two knights away from the graveyard and they drove to a nearby airstrip where they went into a luxury jet and starting flying through the air.

  “You seem tense,” the senior Knight observed as they sat down, “Don’t be. The Council is pretty forgiving. None of us liked the Jade Congress too much. The GFC overthrowing them was cheered by many. After all that footage and documents that leaked I could see why you had such a grudge against them…”

  Sean didn’t answer and idly stared out of the window. It had always been Violet’s dream to see the Jade Congress collapse. He had done it for her, so she could see it within her lifetime. Things weren’t perfect under the new GFC rule, but they were far better than they had been.

  It was Sean’s way of proving to Violet that she’d made the right choice, that her being happy was allowed. That even with her staying back the mission was still being accomplished. It was harrowing, having to watch her grow old and die as he remained the same. He had never truly understood Lira when she tried to explain the feeling before. He’d understood intellectually, but not truly what she must have felt seeing a line of her mortal friends die one by one in a long line.

  And from her account that was for people that were barely acquaintances. People who were somewhat friendly with her, but mostly still shunned her because she was an Immortal.

  What Sean had with Violet was orders deeper than that. They had been great friends. What would it be like, meeting someone like Violet again, only to watch them die again.

  “Is it true that…” the younger man, but seeing Sean’s expression as he stared out the window, the senior placed his arm on the other man’s shoulder and shook his head slightly.

  The rest of the flight was silent as Sean stared out the jet window and let his emotions rise and ebb within his chest freely.

  The plane landed and the two Gaian Knights left the plane. Sean paused at the threshold just before he was about to walk down the stairs. Past here everything would change. He could finally be entering the Immortal world and start working towards some answers on why the Shadow had sent him here with this body.

  A chance to finally determine what Peter Rose was up to.

  — — —

  They walked into the ornate hall that was packed with hundreds of people. Sean eyed their fashionable, stylish, and clearly expensive clothing as the two knights that brought him flanked him from behind.

  Many were wearing the distinctive crisp and militaristic uniform of the Gaian Knights. There was a clear path through the crowd leading to the end of the hall to a slightly raised stone platform at the end. Arrayed around the edges of the platform were a series of chairs arrayed in a circle with a stern faced immortal seated in each of them and a similarly circular table in front of them.

  Sean glanced at the two knights who’d escorted him in. The senior one nodded his head towards the center of the circular space. Sean walked up onto the platform and waited as the crowd of onlookers pressed in to observe and listen as the Gaian seemed to work to make sure they didn’t press too close to the people in the chairs.

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  This seemed just like how the Immortal Council chamber in the modern day. Lira had described it to him after she’d tried to get justice for herself for Lars’ abuse before she had met Sean. He felt his lips twist into a faint grimace as the comparison became unmistakable as soon as he made the connection. This might be the little baby Immortal Council that he was dealing with right now.

  “Malketh Gaiason,” a dark skinned man sitting in the chair directly in front of him asked, “Do you understand why you are here in front of this council today?”

  There was a short pause before Sean realized that he really meant for Sean to reply to the question,

  “I’m assuming that it has something with breaking out my mortal friends from prison?”

  A short pause, “Friends with criminals that are estimated to be responsible for over ten million credits or more destruction and numerous deaths of soldiers only doing their job. These are your friends?” the man said scathingly.

  Sean blinked. He’d expected some hostility, but… Was the man truly not aware?

  “Are you talking about the Jade Congress?” Sean clarified, “The damage to their military bases is what you’re referring to, that they did during their missions for the GFC?”

  “And the death of innocent soldiers,” the man added as the rest of the members of the council and the surrounding crowd silently spectated, “So you admit it? You knew what they did and not only didn’t stop it, but actively helped them escape. Are you yourself a member of the GFC mr. Gaiason?”

  “Absolutely, I’m a member,” Sean said with no hesitation, “I don’t see the problem with that. They are now the ruling party of the former Jade Congress territory.”

  “They overthrew the legitimate democratic government of the area and destabilized the whole region!” the man shouted and came halfway to stand at his feet, “You are a member of an extremist organization that waged a guerilla war for decades, likely with your assistance!”

  “Yes,” Sean said boldly, “I helped the GFC as best as I could against the Jack Congress. But don’t you dare call them a democracy. No one from the ruling party ever lost an election for over two hundred years, not even in the smaller territory elections. Their democracy was nothing but a sham to placate people who didn’t want to look too closely at what they were really doing.”

  “Really doing?” the man countered, “What exactly were they really doing then? I’ve seen no credible evidence of the Jade Congress doing anything so egregious as you seem to be claiming.”

  Sean clenched his fist briefly before releasing it again slowly.

  “If you’d have gone into one of those ‘ammo depots’ you’d have found all the evidence you needed. Political prisoners and all different methods of torture to get information from them. But no one ever bothered looking inside because the Jade Congress was so powerful. They deserved to collapse.”

  There was some muttering across the room and Sean suddenly snapped out of his hyperfocus on the argument to remember that he wasn’t alone. He twiched slightly and straightened up and tried to calm himself down from his anger at this man’s ignorant tirade on things he clearly didn’t understand.

  “Councilor Sanje,” a woman sitting to the man’s right said, “Shut it, won’t you? The adults are talking. We all get that the Jade Congress paid you well. So well that even after they’re all dead you’re still mimicking their talking points. But really that’s enough.”

  The man, Sanje, sputtered in anger, but controlled himself and sat back in his chair while glaring at Sean silently.

  “I’m Councilor Clara,” the woman continued, “Nice to meet you, Malketh. It seems like you’ve led an interesting life so far. Revolution fighter and overthrowing governments… Unfortunately as rudely as Sanje said it, there’s a grain of truth in there. You’ve still admitted to a crime in breaking out those two GFC members back then. But…”

  The woman smiled slightly and looked to be almost lounging in her chair and seeming almost completely relaxed, “I suppose there were some mitigating circumstances. Whatever the past was, the GFC is the ruling party now. If we can verify your status as a member and get an official pardon of your actions, then I see no reason why we would need to punish you. After all, that would be interfering in mortal affairs, punishing an Immortal because they used to belong in this old group or another. And we can’t have that. I call for a vote, to allow all actions Malketh here took as a GFC militant to be pardoned by his former government if they wish and we view him as… a new man of sorts, fully responsible for his actions alone from this day forward. I mean, our records show that he was never even brought here to our Council when he first turned Immortal! I believe perhaps this might be more our oversight in guiding him than malicious intent on his part.”

  “I second the motion!” Another councilor shouted from Sean’s right and after a short vote, a majority of the eleven member council raised their hands. Only Councilor Sanje and one female councilor kept their hands down for the vote.

  Sean glanced at Councilor Clara and she winked at him and smirked slightly. It seems that he was going to be pardoned.

  “Well that settles it then, I think,” Clara said, “Sorry for the unpleasant welcome to our ranks, Malketh. We have a room set aside for you. We have a test regarding ethics and regulations for your behavior as an Immortal. If you pass and follow its guidance then you may request for permission to leave and go out into the wider world. If you want to. This place is rather nice. Council adjourned.”

  Clara banged her fist against the table and then walked away. A few seconds later the others followed suit, leaving Sean standing alone in the center.

  The two Gaian knights came up to him and escorted him out as well to his luxurious room. Sean got an odd sense of familiarity as he looked around the primitive but plush and clearly expensive room. He was sure of it now. This was the beginnings of the Immortal Council. It was the same exact strategy. Pamper new Immortals and get them placid and dependent on the luxuries in this palace or on Immortus Station. Then make it hard to leave for a long long time until they were old enough that any concerns of the mortal world had long since faded away so far long ago as if to be irrelevant to them after they left the comfortable nest.

  Over the next few weeks, Sean didn’t strain himself. It would be nice to just relax a bit and enjoy himself a bit. Peter Rose sent Sean into this place to work his way up so that he would be more useful to the group.

  Sean found it very amusing in a way that Peter was working against the very organization that he would end up leading later on. And that he was sending Sean to do the thing that Sean had been doing to him the whole time.

  He was almost certain that he would never be in the ‘inner circle’ around Peter, including Alex the Herald of the Shadow. But he was already pretty damn close. Sean was sure that if he kept proving himself valuable and pretended to forget all about being shot towards the sun, that Peter might eventually start trusting him with things that were more important.

  But Sean was absolutely certain that it had been Peter who had done it and blasted him towards the sun. But Peter was the one who had recruited him to his group. So there was a chance he’d let his guard down and forget about what he’d tried to do to Sean.

  Sean wandered around and generally got to know the assorted Immortals lived in the palace. It was bizarre how similar to Immortus Station the community was. There was the same fascination and constant gossip and focus on fashion and other fleeting trends over anything else of substance.

  Very few people who lived left for long periods of time. But there were frequent visitors that came for short periods to socialize for a bit before leaving again back to their business out on Gaia.

  It seems that even now there were some basic terraforming projects underway on some promising planets in nearby star systems.

  Even Earth itself was a candidate for rehabilitation, even if it was still a big radioactive ball of ice at the moment and so would still need some serious effort before it would be hospitable to human life again.

  Just like at Immortus Station, Sean found himself able to become friendly with most of the Immortals in the Gaian Palace, but not close. They were just too detached from the realities of daily life. Of anything outside the walls of the Palace.

  Although Sean did see Alvrix and had a brief conversation with her that was more interesting. She was one of the Immortals that dropped by for a short period before leaving again to go on her own business elsewhere. Just like with the Immortal Council there was an ‘Immortal district’ in a few places around Gaia where the Immortals were allowed to live relatively isolated from the mortals around them.

  So many things had changed, yet hearing about the structure, it all seemed oh so familiar to Sean. It was a bit eerie, honestly, how close it was.

  But things were different now.

  Now he had a mission in this place.

  To become important enough that he could get answers from this place and Peter Rose.

  And discover whatever it was Peter Rose was hiding and what he was planning.