The Lost Goats, 54
Aug. 5th, 2012 01:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
avevale_intelligencer"There," said Jenny, securing the last of the knots. "That should hold you."
"Can't we talk about mmmph," Zander observed. The filthy rags in his mouth were secured with duct tape, of which every smallship carries plentiful supplies. His body, suspended from the ceiling girder and hogtied to a nicety, swung gently back and forth. The smallship, powered down, turned and drifted inertly in space.
"You have done quite enough talking," Jenny said severely, "and I need to be with my partner for a while. You can meditate on what would happen if we just left you here."
She patted his cheek, turned and went to join Snood in Zander's quarters.
He was staring morosely into a glass of something the colour of the sort of stuff into glasses of which depressed people stare when they are depressed.
"He made me doubt," he said.
"That's what they all do," Jenny said soothingly. "They undermine certainty. He knows I'm not going to let him go, that we are going to strip-mine his brain for schemes that will keep us on top for ever. He's fighting for his freedom. You have to understand that, you of all people."
"Freedom," Snood droned. "Am I free now?"
"As free as a bird, love," Jenny assured him. "Sure, we may have lost Poppo, but look what we've got in exchange." She began ticking off points on her fingers. "One, the coup files, soon as he tells me where he's hidden them. Two, this ship, which is a disgusting old rustbucket but has lots of nice hidden toys my chaps can study and fit to a fleet of brand new corsairs. Three, an actual Nyrond at our mercy. I can torture him till we're both old and grey--hell, our children can teach their children on him. Trust me, he'll tell us everything. Death is just a moment, but pain can be eternal--literally, in his case. Four, we now know--potentially--more about Nyronds than any human alive. Think about capturing one of those homeships of theirs. Imagine the booty. We can have the whole galaxy, not a burned-out lifeless husk but a million worlds full of people all working for us."
"We could never control it all. The sheer size of it broke the Empire."
"We don't have to. That's the beauty of being--" Jenny laughed. "Definitely not a pirate. They wouldn't even know they were working for us. That's how the Nyronds work it. They come along, cream off the profits, and nobody is any the wiser."
"Adhemar told me they give it back..."
"Just another lie, darling, that's all. I mean, who would give back what they work so hard to take?"
"How did I get here?" Snood burst out. "I only wanted to be safe. Not to be afraid the whole time. A little peace of mind..."
"And you found out that the only way to be safe is to have more than anyone else," Jenny told him. "It's the simple truth of the universe. Life is a struggle, and the only way to win is to beat all the rest."
"But I am still afraid," Snood groaned. "The whole time."
"That's because we're not quite out of the woods yet. But you'll see. One day soon we're going to run like the wind, and sweep it all before us. Humanity can live, and the little people can dream their foolish dreams, but you and I, darling, have the will to get out there and make it happen, and that is all that counts."
"I'm tired." Snood turned tear-filled eyes to her. "Will you sing for me?"
So Definitely-Not-A-Pirate Jenny cradled her lover in her arms, and sang Disanthe's great aria from Act Two of The Empress's Handmaid, till his eyes closed and his breathing became slow, and the lines of pain and tension in his face were smoothed away; and the smallship drifted idly among the stars, and the Nyrond in the next room swung gently to and fro in the breeze from the air vents: and perhaps even he took some solace in the beauty of the music.
"Can't we talk about mmmph," Zander observed. The filthy rags in his mouth were secured with duct tape, of which every smallship carries plentiful supplies. His body, suspended from the ceiling girder and hogtied to a nicety, swung gently back and forth. The smallship, powered down, turned and drifted inertly in space.
"You have done quite enough talking," Jenny said severely, "and I need to be with my partner for a while. You can meditate on what would happen if we just left you here."
She patted his cheek, turned and went to join Snood in Zander's quarters.
He was staring morosely into a glass of something the colour of the sort of stuff into glasses of which depressed people stare when they are depressed.
"He made me doubt," he said.
"That's what they all do," Jenny said soothingly. "They undermine certainty. He knows I'm not going to let him go, that we are going to strip-mine his brain for schemes that will keep us on top for ever. He's fighting for his freedom. You have to understand that, you of all people."
"Freedom," Snood droned. "Am I free now?"
"As free as a bird, love," Jenny assured him. "Sure, we may have lost Poppo, but look what we've got in exchange." She began ticking off points on her fingers. "One, the coup files, soon as he tells me where he's hidden them. Two, this ship, which is a disgusting old rustbucket but has lots of nice hidden toys my chaps can study and fit to a fleet of brand new corsairs. Three, an actual Nyrond at our mercy. I can torture him till we're both old and grey--hell, our children can teach their children on him. Trust me, he'll tell us everything. Death is just a moment, but pain can be eternal--literally, in his case. Four, we now know--potentially--more about Nyronds than any human alive. Think about capturing one of those homeships of theirs. Imagine the booty. We can have the whole galaxy, not a burned-out lifeless husk but a million worlds full of people all working for us."
"We could never control it all. The sheer size of it broke the Empire."
"We don't have to. That's the beauty of being--" Jenny laughed. "Definitely not a pirate. They wouldn't even know they were working for us. That's how the Nyronds work it. They come along, cream off the profits, and nobody is any the wiser."
"Adhemar told me they give it back..."
"Just another lie, darling, that's all. I mean, who would give back what they work so hard to take?"
"How did I get here?" Snood burst out. "I only wanted to be safe. Not to be afraid the whole time. A little peace of mind..."
"And you found out that the only way to be safe is to have more than anyone else," Jenny told him. "It's the simple truth of the universe. Life is a struggle, and the only way to win is to beat all the rest."
"But I am still afraid," Snood groaned. "The whole time."
"That's because we're not quite out of the woods yet. But you'll see. One day soon we're going to run like the wind, and sweep it all before us. Humanity can live, and the little people can dream their foolish dreams, but you and I, darling, have the will to get out there and make it happen, and that is all that counts."
"I'm tired." Snood turned tear-filled eyes to her. "Will you sing for me?"
So Definitely-Not-A-Pirate Jenny cradled her lover in her arms, and sang Disanthe's great aria from Act Two of The Empress's Handmaid, till his eyes closed and his breathing became slow, and the lines of pain and tension in his face were smoothed away; and the smallship drifted idly among the stars, and the Nyrond in the next room swung gently to and fro in the breeze from the air vents: and perhaps even he took some solace in the beauty of the music.
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no subject
Date: 2012-08-05 12:37 pm (UTC)Anael (shrugs): Gives them this false sense of control, I guess.
Mitchel: But he's a Nyrond.
Anael: Yeah, she's aware of that.
Mitchel: Is she aware he can -
Anael: sssshhhhhhHHHT!!!
Mitchel (whispers): Okay.