The Mercy of Gods

The two human groups talk. Jellit’s group includes Llaren Morse, an older man named Allstin, and three women named Merrol, Dennia, and Kell. They have already located many other human groups. After an evening of conversation, the two groups return to their rooms to sleep. Tonner and Rickar go with the new group, while Llaren and Jellit stay with Jessyn’s team to visit longer. Late in the evening, Jessyn walks from her room to the kitchen. She sees Llaren standing in the doorway of Synnia’s room, the two talking in hushed voices. Jessyn worries about what this might mean.

Dafyd and Else walk to the cathedral room. He wonders aloud if they could have saved themselves time and heartache if they had thought to simply ask Tkson for a translator box instead of waiting for one to fall into their hands. Now that they have one, however, they can start questioning the other alien groups.

They speak to species like the bone horses, called the Phylarchs of Astrdeim, who explain that the Carryx took over their society long ago. They built the ziggurats and city-worlds, but they’re “grateful [that] the Carryx have given [them] a wider sky to grow into” (315). They tell the humans that they’ll survive with some comfort if they stay useful. Each species is either scared of speaking against the Carryx or claims to be happy under their control.

They sit and rest. Dafyd worries about Else. She tells him that she isn’t who he thinks she is, but he says he loves her. They see Tkson and another Carryx walk by and follow them. The two Carryx go to the Night Drinkers nest. The unknown Carryx lies on the ground and allows Tkson to stomp on one leg, breaking it. Dafyd realizes that it’s some kind of ritual punishment. The two Carryx then leave, gesturing to a group of Rak-Hund, who slaughter the entire group of Night Drinkers. Dafyd watches in horror, realizing that this is the result of the humans winning their feud with the Night Drinkers. Having lost, the Night Drinkers became unworthy of survival. Else repeats the popular Carryx saying, “What is, is” (323), and Dafyd vomits.

As they sit in the Llaren’s group’s quarters, Jessyn reflects that Jellit has changed, though she knows they all have. She knows without asking that he has experienced trauma and violence. He in turn says he’s proud of her surviving despite her mental health issues. She promises that if they ever escape, she’ll no longer make him take care of her.

Others enter, including Llaren, Synnia, and Urrys Ostencour. Jessyn worries about the fanatical light in Synnia’s eyes. Urrys says that he wanted to talk to Jessyn alone before the rest of her group because he feels she has authority in the group after winning the fight with the Night Drinkers.

Urrys and other humans plan to start an uprising against the Carryx. They’ve manufactured crude projectile weapons and want Jessyn’s group to manufacture a chemical weapon that will work against the Carryx, like they did against the Night Drinkers. He says that their only choices are to live as obedient enslaved people or die fighting, and they would rather fight even if they know they can’t win. Jessyn agrees to share the plan with the others.

Tonner’s group argues about the plan. Synnia, Rickar, and Jessyn believe it might be worth risking. Campar and Else think it’s too dangerous and they should fight only when they have a chance of success. Tonner is more curious about whether it’s possible to fashion a weapon against the Carryx. The others look to Dafyd, but he remains quiet, and Tonner scoffs at him, irritated that the others seek his opinion at all. Tonner considers the scientific possibility of targeting Carryx biology. He thinks he could do it with enough research.

Before they can continue, Tkson arrives and orders them to follow. He leads them through the halls to a new lab. They realize that it was the Night Drinkers’ lab and that the humans have earned the right to use their resources.

Later, Dafyd visits Urrys and tries to convince him to stop the uprising. He points out that every species they talk to is either terrified of or loyal to the Carryx, suggesting that any species who resisted didn’t survive. He also fears that any uprising here, whether successful or not, will lead the Carryx to kill every human everywhere in retaliation.

Urrys accuses him of being a coward who believes that “if [he] just show[s] [his] belly hard enough” the Carryx will leave them alone. Urrys and Dafyd agree that the Carryx test is meant to see if humans can be domesticated, but Urrys believes that the humans will never domesticable. He believes that humans somewhere will fight back and doom them either way, so he would rather make a stand now and try to hurt the Carryx before he goes down.

Dafyd despairs as he walks through the halls. On the way back to his room, he sees Jessyn standing guard at their new lab realizes how much captivity has changed her. Once a gentle soul, she’s now hardened and sharp, as if someone “turned her into a knife” (349). As he passes her, she informs him that Tonner has made progress and wants to try feeding the not-turtles. He nods and continues.

He goes to his room, where Else joins him. She says they must stop the uprising. Suddenly, she says she needs to tell him something important and he must listen and not judge her too quickly. Haltingly, she tells Dafyd of a war between the Carryx and an enemy who is trying to stop the Carryx’s spread across the universe. This enemy knew six months in advance that the Carryx would attack Anjiin, so they sent a spy to blend in with the humans and thus gather intelligence from within captivity.

Dafyd is shocked and demands to know why Else didn’t warn people if she knew about this spy and the coming invasion. However, Else insists that it would have made no difference and would only have revealed the spy to the Carryx. Dafyd asks where the spy is now, and Else points to herself. He infers from this that Else is cooperating with the spy and hiding it, not realizing that the spy has completely taken over Else.

Else repeats that they must stop the uprising. If they gain the Carryx’s trust, they can take the humans off-planet on the next mission. Then the spy can contact its superiors, leading to a more permanent victory. Therefore, Dafyd must report the plan to Tkson, proving that only one human group needs to be culled, and the rest can be domesticated. Otherwise, they’ll all die. Dafyd promises to think about it.

Jellit returns to his quarters after a meeting with the resistance and is unsurprised when Dafyd approaches him. Dafyd tries to convince him to stop the plan, at least for now. He says that he watched Jessyn lose herself when she thought Jellit was dead, and he doesn’t want that to happen to her again. Jellit angrily says that he refuses to “sit here like a good pet” (364). He would rather he and Jessyn die than live as enslaved people. Dafyd leaves, and Jellit warns his friends that Dafyd might be a problem.

The swarm is waiting when Dafyd returns. Dafyd says that he can’t go through it, and he wants to tell Jellit about the spy to try to convince him. The swarm can feel his panic and guilt. It asks if Jellit’s safety would be the price he’s willing to accept in exchange for the others. The swarm offers to tell Jellit about the spy and convince him to switch sides, if Dafyd will warn Tkson about the resistance. Reluctantly, Dafyd agrees. The swarm feels his guilt and heartbreak. The remnants of Else and Ameer Kindred feel affection for Dafyd then. The swarm thinks it loves Dafyd too.

In the morning, Dafyd stands in the kitchen. He fears that he’s not strong enough to do what’s required of him, even if he believes it’s the right thing to do. Campar walks in, joking as always, and Dafyd confides that he has lost so much already and doesn’t want to lose this group of friends. Tonner bursts into the room, announcing that he has figured out how to feed the not-turtle.