A Cause for One Read online

of the rebel-held moon changed from a growl into a roar. Events happened too quickly. A timeless fraction of infinity screamed and stretched over the measure of existence. Explosions burst from mine craters, huge torrents of flame expanded to cover the moon with a blanket of fire.

  The whisper returned. "I can see the moon burning. You made the selfish choice. A man must be half a monster to rule, do you not see? Now, get out of my chair and live with your guilt. Go away, curl up in your smog hovel and cease moaning. Give me back my chair before others die."

  What have I done? I am a monster.

  Stirred by cries from the moon colony, Marjorie shrieked. Sorrow and compassion flowed through her. But no emotional demand for violent revenge darkened the corners of those feeling. It was a sensation Jaime had never felt before. I promised I'd give you back to yourself when it was all said and done.

  Even though the Great Sir continued to whisper his poisons Jaime no longer listened. Instead he fought against the weight of the galaxy. Straining through grief and hopelessness, he lifted an arm and pulled against tubes and needles. Fingers pushed through Marjorie's hair, rubbed the bulb-end of the bio-chip protruding slightly from her temple.

  Jaime screamed in an effort to focus. Snatching at the chip, he pulled it from Marjorie's head and palm-slammed it into Great Sir's forehead.

  A moment of blankness, then 'Jaime' downloaded into the frail, dying body. Age and weakness consumed him and he fell to his knees. Through fading eyes he stared at Marjorie, now fully herself, silent in the chair and lost somewhere in the universe. As she drifted away, transforming into some sort of Matron Goddess, tears swelled her eyes and started a slow trickle down her cheeks.

  "I'm sorry, Marjorie. Seven systems, seven children to nurture. Maybe you will nurture them better than others."

  Struggling to get up, then with one unsteady step after another, Jaime shuffled to the windowed panorama. A raw pessimism spiked his thoughts, perhaps tainted by the Great Sir's stirrings in the back of this stolen body and mind. Outside is everything and most of everything is full of nothing. The galaxy is empty and black and lonely.

  However a single light struggled against the overwhelming weight of void. A single light that made it all worthwhile. Somewhere, not too far away, a young woman called Roz sat in a shuttlecraft, shaken but safe.

  One or the many? I would burn a galaxy for just one.

  THE END

  Also in The Numbered Entity Project:

  Transcendental Error

  Green Fingers and Broken Mirrors

  Empathising with Spiders

  Data Drop One, A Short Story Collection

  Future titles from The Numbered Entity Project will be coming soon. Very soon…

  Search for 'the numbered entity project'

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