Freedom, Humanity, and Other Delusions (Death's Handmaiden Book 3) by Niall Teasdale (best summer reads txt) 📕

said, ‘that is, the species you refer to as Harbingers, aren’t entirely different to humans. To be specific, we are made up of individuals, all with different motives and interests. Some of us are good. Some are bad. Many are, at least regarding other species, entirely indifferent.’ It paused again. ‘That may have changed. I haven’t seen any others of my kind in two hundred years. Longer, really. I happen to be very interested in other species. I’m a biologist by profession. Humans interest me, but Cari… I’m not entirely sure whether it was her power or her situation which made me decide to look out for her. You interest me too. There’s something about you…’

‘Carina doesn’t appear to have much power,’ Nava said. ‘Unless she really has sealed it away somehow. I was given to understand that you don’t encourage this Key to Darkness idea she has.’

‘I don’t.’ The Harbinger turned, clasped its hands behind its back, and began to pace back and forth across the rooftop. ‘I don’t think there is a Key to Darkness, but she does have a lot more power than those crude tests you people use would suggest. I know a spell to determine the precise power of a magician, which is why I know that you are a powerful sorceress. Cari isn’t quite at your level, but she should be close. It’s my belief that her kidnapping experience and the loss of her mother caused her to place a psychological block on her sorcery. If you want some proof, get her to improvise something. Something as large as she’s able to. You’ll find that she does so too easily. The closer you are to your capacity, the harder it is to force your mind into the right shape, correct?’ Nava nodded a reply. ‘You’ll find that, even at her supposed limit, Carina is barely troubled by a spell’s complexity. Almost as though her real capacity is much greater.’

‘I may try that sometime, but for now I’m going to take your word for it.’

‘Thank you. Can I ask a question?’

‘I’m sure you’re capable.’

Trudy stared at Nava for a second. ‘I can’t tell whether you’re being malicious, or sarcastic, or anything else.’

‘I’m aware. What was the question?’

‘Why are you naked?’

‘Because the spell I used doesn’t let me bring anything with me when I come here. I berated the inventor of the spell for this, but when it comes right down to it, it’s not like anyone is going to see me. You’re naked. Are you actually female? Or is the image Carina sees purely for her benefit?’

‘I created the Trudy image because I thought Cari would react better to someone around her age. And a human, obviously. I wanted to help her. She was lonely, and so was I… I am, however, not female. Nor am I male. Harbingers have one biological sex. Had. We were all capable of bearing children, though bearing isn’t quite the right– Do you really want a lecture on our reproduction system?’

Nava shook her head. ‘I believe I can get by without. I’m not sure I like thinking of you as an “it,” however, so if you don’t mind, I’ll think of you as Trudy, a female. What’s your real name?’

‘You would never be able to pronounce it. There’s a sound a bit like ‘trudy’ in the middle, so I decided to use that as a name after examining a large database of human names. Since I selected it, I’m very happy for you to use it to designate me. I also have no issue with you thinking of me as female. When I was material, I did prefer to act in a manner which you might consider feminine in nature. For example, I never had children, but if I had, I would have wished to be the birthing parent.’ There was a slight pause and another impression of a grin. ‘Frankly, discovering a species with a binary reproductive scheme was fascinating. I spent years observing your mating rituals.’

Nava shook her head. ‘You sound just like the pervy aliens in old science-fiction vids.’

‘Humans have huge databases of mating observations from the various animals on your home world! I’m a biologist. Observing other species is what we do!’

‘Just don’t observe me. You said that one of the reasons you became attached to Carina was that you were lonely. Grimalkin was a Harbinger colony long ago. I find it hard to believe there were no others of your kind there.’

‘And you would be rightly sceptical a few tens of thousands of years ago. When the Migration happened, pretty much everyone ascended. A few people chose to remain physical, but they died eventually and that left the rest of us to continue on. Except… Immortality can be hard. I had an entire ecosystem to document. Things changed. Evolution did not stop, even if we were gone. Maybe it was even more pronounced because we left all the animals to get on with things. But even I got bored after a while.’

‘I can imagine,’ Nava said. ‘I could, maybe, imagine a few thousand years…’

‘Exactly. So, some left the planet, flying off into space to find new places to explore. Some self-terminated, unwilling to continue with a life they’d grown bored with. I decided to suspend my consciousness. I put myself in suspended animation, if you will. That way, I could let the planet get on with things for ten thousand years or so, and then wake up to find out what happened.’

Nava nodded. ‘And one day you woke up alone.’

There was a definite sadness to Trudy’s gaze. ‘Yes. None of the others were left. Either they died or they left, but they weren’t there. I did my usual research, but there was no one to share it with. I was seriously contemplating ending it all when the colonists turned up.’

Loneliness, it seemed, was not just a human condition. Nava could empathise with that too. After her sisters had all died or vanished, even though