Reclamation

The twenty-four Witnesses ringed the chamber, standing in their specially customized alcoves. Each body was encased in a metallic skeleton that made sure its limbs were properly supported regularly and exercised. The polymer tubes that fed into their veins kept internal nutrient and waste levels constant. If the power failed, or even fluctuated, they would all be released and the Holding evacuated. The only process that could not be circumvented was age. At 120, the Witnesses still died and had to be replaced from the mobile ranks.

Winema walked into the center of the circular chamber, tracked by twenty-four cameras and twenty-four eyes. She stood straight and proud under the gaze of the Memory. She did not have to hand them her name. They already knew her better than she knew herself.

"I have the names for the chain of Imperialists in my line of sight," she said.

Witness 14 opened his mouth. There was a delicate hiss as the joints on his skeleton responded to the movement. "Recite." The eyes blinked, but the cameras did not.

"Wife Caril Hanr Sone of the Grand Errand, Ambassador-Beholden Paral Idenam Or of the Grand Errand, Bio-technician Uary Nearch of the Grand Errand, Contractor Kelat Hruska of the Hundredth Core." Winema enunciated the names clearly, adding each traitor to the Memory.

"Ambassador Basq Hanr Sone of the Grand Errand?" asked Witness 20.

"No connection," said Winema. "They have been using him as a cover and blind for their activities. He is guilty only of being unobservant."

"Exile Jahidh Hanr Sone?"

"Still in operation on the Home Ground. Believed to be seeking and sorting useful artifacts in addition to delaying the Unifiers' actions."

The eyes blinked again. The delicate threads between the alcoves could not carry thoughts, but they could carry impressions. Their hunches ran from Witness to Witness like the electric current ran through the room, carried between the cameras using neurografted transmission wires that were even more sophisticated than Winema's own. It was the closest the Vitae had been able to come to mastering telepathy.

"Which of these are necessary to the Reclamation in their current positions?" asked Witness 24.

"Uary Nearch, Kelat Hruska, Jahidh Hanr Sone."

"Justify Jahidh Hanr Sone," said Witness 1.

The camera eyes reflected Winema's face and form twenty-four times as the Memory watched her carefully.

"His efforts discovered the artifact Stone in the Wall and began the understanding of the relationship between the mechanically derived and human-derived artifacts. He is motivated to make the final connection and it is highly likely he has leads into the truth that our Contractors and Ambassadors yet lack."

The Memory absorbed her statement. The silence was a comforting weight on Winema. Her camera eye tracked the room. The lines between the alcoves glowed violet as the Memory communed with itself. She was being considered seriously.

"Recommend disposition of Caril Hanr Sone and Paral Idenam Or," said Witness 10.

"It is my recommendation that they be collected publicly. This will slow current Imperialist activities within the Vitae Encampments. I further recommend that they be given to the Shessel World Enclave for their permanent exile in order to reinforce the impression of the Vitae's willingness to cooperate fully in Quarter Galaxy civilization now that we have returned to the Home Ground. We will require resources and diplomatic connections until emigration and settlement is completed."

The glow she saw with her right eye intensified. The camera eyes clicked back and forth as the Memory listened.

"The Memory concurs with this assessment," said Witness 1. "Formal Witness Winema Avin-Dae Uratae, you are assigned to the collection of Caril Hanr Sone and Paral Idenam Or. The Memory shall transfer their new status to the Assembly."

Winema closed her eyes and made full obeisance to the Memory.

Uary pressed the recorder sheet into the park wall and watched while the tidy lines of green text printed themselves across the milky grey surface. The park and the corridor were filled with the amber lights that created ship's dawn. No shadows except his own crossed the wall and the only sound in the whole park was his breathing.

Technically, there was no punishment for writing anything in a public park. Technically, many things were true. Technically, by now he should have been smuggled onto Kethran and into an Imperialist lab, where the female artifact recovered from the Home Ground waited for him. Technically, Jahidh should have already mapped the relationship between the mechanically derived and human-derived artifacts on the Home Ground.