“A shitstorm, by the sounds of it,” Hildra said.

“May I ask how we arrived here?” Layanna said. “How did you know what was going to happen on the docks?”

“That.” Denaris nodded. “Apparently the captain of the ship you were on alerted the police as to your arrival. Haggarty and I both have our loyalists and spies among the police force. His people called him. Mine called me. He had been anticipating your arrival, though, almost to the moment, and beat my people there.”

“He had help,” Avery said. “Someone told him to prepare for us, and gave him suggestions on how. Her name is Admiral Jessryl Sheridan, an Octunggen spy.”

“Yes, I’m aware of her. There had been rumors before her disappearance that she was the true power behind Haggarty.”

“Believe them. We need to locate her if possible; she brought something with her that we need to prevent her from delivering, if she hasn’t already.”

“I’ll help you if I can, but there’s only so much I can do.”

“How do you know who we are?” Layanna pressed. “Why did you bring us here?”

Denaris flicked ash onto the table; there were no ashtrays. “May I have your name? I’m sorry to be so direct, but I know much about you, so much it astounds me I don’t know that basic thing.”

Layanna regarded the Prime Minister for some seconds, then said, “I am called Layanna.”

Denaris nodded, gratified. “Not everyone in the Navy is for Haggarty, Layanna. I have many questions for you, more than I probably have time for or ability to understand. As for as how I get my information, suffice it to say that there are Denaris loyalists among the Navy. Many joined the Navy because I inspired them to serve their country, convinced them that it was worth fighting and dying for. Those may sound like the words of a braggart, but that is what they have told me, and I believe it. I’ve many faults and am far from the idealized figurehead you see on the banners, but among my defects you will not find false modesty. I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished. I’ve brought a once-great country out of darkness and set it on the path to greatness again. It’s my fondest desire and my life’s dream to see it get there before I die.” She pursed her lips. “Now. As to why I brought you here, that is more complicated.”

She paused, as if unsure how to go on. “First of all, Layanna—what are you? Again, that may seem like an indelicate question, but none of my agents have ever been able to give me an answer.”

“I don’t feel comfortable going into that with you.”

“You probably don’t think I’ll believe you. You might be surprised.”

Layanna maintained her silence.

“Fine,” the Prime Minister said. “Well, I have a theory. It sounds fantastic, but I’ll tell it to you, and you can tell me if I’m close or not. In their last great push, the Octunggen loosed some new creature of theirs, some monstrous thing that could not be killed. It was an otherworldly horror that wreaked massive destruction and sowed terror wherever it went. And there were scores of them. Soldiers said at night, looking through binoculars, they could see into the Octunggen camps. See the Octunggen bowing and seeming to worship the beings around their campfires. To make sacrifice to them using forcibly-infected prisoners of war. Sounds incredible, doesn’t it? I thought so. But more and more soldiers reported the same thing, and front-line reporters even managed to snap a few pictures. I confiscated them, of course. I didn’t want to spark a panic.

“Captured Octunggen laughed at us. They claimed those things were their gods. That the Collossum themselves had come to the war to ensure the victory of Octung. The descriptions of those beings match very closely, perhaps exactly, with the descriptions of you, Layanna, when you ... well, I don’t know the word for it. Transform? However you phrase it. When you become a ... I don’t know if monster is the word. Inhuman, then. When you become inhuman.”

“I am not human,” Layanna said. “I am a Collossum. I would demonstrate, but I’m already weakened from exerting myself on the docks and then against the ray, and would not weaken myself further. I need unprocessed seafood. Or, if you have a condemned prisoner that’s infected ...” She let the thought hang. When Denaris only stared at her, paling, she added, “Seafood will do.”

Denaris, almost imperceptibly, eased away from Layanna. She took a deep breath. When she spoke again, her voice had lowered, and some of her commanding air had evaporated:

“So it’s true.”

Avery stepped in. “She’s not from our world, or dimension, Prime Minister. Gwen. None of the Collossum are. And there are others, in the sea. Down deep. They don’t look human like Layanna does. Octung worships them, and it meant to conquer the world for them, but now that Octung has been stymied, the R’loth—that’s what they’re called, Layanna’s people—have decided to act on their own behalf.”

Denaris’s eyes had been fixed in dread fascination on Layanna, but now they stared at Avery. “The Azad Islands vanishing,” she said. “Is that part of it?”

“All of them?” said Janx.

Denaris closed her eyes. “Yes, and the force of destruction has claimed several other islands between the Azads and the Ghenisan coast, as well.”

“That’s their handiwork, alright. The R’loth.”

“What, precisely, is causing the devastation? What instruments are these beings using against us? Reports are vague and conflicting. And strange.”

“The one that leveled Ethali, and presumably the others, took the shape of a starfish,” Avery said. “Huge. As big as a city. And otherworldly.”

“A starfish. It’s really true …”

“We believe there are dozens of them, all coming toward the coast.”

“They’ll level Urslin and Consur,” Layanna said.

Denaris looked like she was about to be sick. “Can ... these things be stopped?”

“That’s why we’re here,” Avery said. “We obtained samples of Starfish tissue, and we need to analyze them, discover if the beings have some weakness. We’ll need a first-rate laboratory and access to a broad range of materials.”

“Anything else?”

“That will do for starters.”

Denaris breathed out in obvious relief. “I’d hoped you might have some notion of what to do—that’s why I brought you here. Well, the most pertinent reason. There is another. And beyond that there is the fact that I knew Haggarty wanted you badly, and I couldn’t let him have you if you really were that important.” She paused, and to Avery’s surprise she sort of smiled. “I hope it goes without saying that all charges against you—all of you—have been dropped. The public doesn’t know of your good deeds, but I do—enough, anyway. I hope to get your full reports in time. But not today. I have a busy schedule, and I’m sure you want to rest and settle in.”

“Settle where?” said Janx.

“Why, here, of course.”

“You want us to live here?”

“It’s where cabinet members, Parliament members and their aides live. As well as myself. Oh, most have residences in the city, and naturally their home provinces, but they all have an official wartime apartment here, however plain. Some use them, some don’t. I live here permanently. These days, I’m afraid to leave, although I make myself. Haggarty has tried to have me killed several times.”

“Cabinet members,” Avery said. “You want us on the cabinet?”

She smiled. “Just on paper. I won’t shackle you with any duties you do not wish for.”

“What about Ani?”

“School will be too dangerous for her, at least for the time being, but I will have her instructed here by the finest tutors. Will that be acceptable?”

Avery allowed that it was.

Mark entered. “Breakfast is ready, Prime Minster.”

As the meal was wheeled in and the savory scents of bacon and eggs and croissants filled the room, Avery returned his attention to the Prime Minister. “You said there was something else,” he said. “Some other reason you wanted to meet Layanna.”

Denaris nodded grimly. “Yes, but it can wait. I have a busy schedule, as I said, and this interview has made enough of a dent in it. Eat. Settle into your new homes and set up your lab. When I have time some day this week, I will show you.”

Chapter 8