Queen Halyana did not take it kindly when people refused to do what she wanted them to. She seemed to be under the impression that whatever she wanted would be done without question, when that was not necessarily even possible. Willaway had no idea how to get through to her.

Perhaps he might not have been having so many difficulties if Varian hadn’t already refused to demonstrate how the sonic energiser worked, but… No, it was unfair of him to think that way. Using the device would not have provided Halyana with any enlightenment, but it would have used energy Varian couldn’t spare in their current situation, might even have increased the healer’s susceptibility to the poison they’d all been dosed with. Not worth the risk to satisfy Halyana’s whims.

Still, Varian’s refusal had no doubt made Halyana less inclined to believe any of them, which was unfortunate, because what Willaway was telling her was the truth. Without replacements for the components that had burned out, there was simply no way he could repair the Complex the way Halyana wanted him to.

He might, possibly, given enough time, be able to shut it down completely, but that wasn’t what Halyana wanted, and Willaway was hesitant to suggest such a possibility. With the Complex in its current state, operating autonomously, it might very well react badly to any attempts at turning it off. It had, for whatever reason, developed what appeared to be a will of its own, and he wasn’t sure if that had always been part of its programming, or if it was the result of whatever changes Adrea had made.

Trying to explain anything to Queen Halyana was like talking to a brick wall; she simply did not want to accept any explanation that wasn’t complete and total agreement with what she wanted. Well, he was NOT going to fawn over her and promise her he’d do the impossible; that would not improve their situation in the slightest. He’d tried to be patient with her, tried to point out the damage clearly indicated on the readout, damage he couldn’t magically undo, but she stubbornly refused to accept what he was telling her. It was maddening!

So now, thanks to his ‘refusal’ to comply with her impossible demands, he was to be thrown in the cells with Varian. As if they didn’t already have enough problems to deal with!


The End