Cyberpunk Tales

A SciFi Dystopian Thriller Romance Complete Box Set

Ashley L. Hunt

Jordanna R. Forrest

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Contents

WARNING

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Also by Ashley L. Hunt

Looking Death in the Eye

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Making Death Blink First

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Doing The Impossible

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Cyberpunk Tales

Your Last Alien Former

The Supernatural Alien Battle

The Ancient Cube

Your Unknown Alien Destiny

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Albattera War

About the Author

Also by Ashley L. Hunt

WARNING

This eBook contains sexually scenes and adult language. It may be considered offensive to some readers. This ebook is for sale to adults ONLY.

Please ensure this eBook is stored somewhere that cannot be accessed by underage readers.

Copyright © 2017 by Ashley L. Hunt

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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Ashley L. Hunt

Also by Ashley L. Hunt

Cyberpunk Tales

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Vivian Hsu, has only lived in the slums of the lower Sprawl for a year as a mercenary, but ironically, the telepathic powers that forced her to flee her prior privileged life now threaten to drive her insane. 

Will this proud, self-reliant, and stubborn woman harness her fiery nature and survive the deadliest contract she's ever faced? Will she navigate the tangled web of corporate espionage, kidnapping, murder and come out with her soul? Or will the darkest depths of the Sprawl claim another life?

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* * *

Alien Destiny Trilogy

Complete Box Set

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Yahn is a tall, blue-skinned Karkastian, an alien race widely known as enemies of the planet Earth. Jessie is a beautiful young soldier assigned to an army expedition team. When Jessie’s team explores Karkast after it has been attacked by the evil Sarceastians, Jessie comes across Yahn, the last surviving member of his race. 

Instead of capturing him, she chooses to help him. Soon, they are fugitives living a life on the run. In the process, they discover the true meaning of love, friendship, and devotion to a cause. Their adventure takes them to dangerous spaceports, exotic planets, narrow escapes from certain death and execution, a spirited defence of planet Earth, and even an adventure on the enemy planet of Sarceastium. There, Jessie discovers her talents as a liberator. 

Can Jessie and Yahn escape their enemies, live through their harrowing adventures, and settle down to a life of peace and love? 

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Alien Former

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Joanna Angeles is ready for anything. She has been dispatched to a frozen planet at the back end of nowhere, accompanied only by an advanced Artificial Intelligence known as Barbas. Her mission: to transform an unliveable frozen wasteland into a home for over a hundred-thousand colonists within ten years. Unbeknownst to her, the brutal glacier world is not as lifeless as she thought. When her planetfall is mistaken for the coming of a deity by a local ranger, Volistad, Joanna finds herself embroiled in an ancient war. 

Can Joanna and Volistad find common ground, despite their vast differences? 

Can they forge a connection to unite their two peoples? Or will the ice-bound world of Chalice claim them all?

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* * *

Alien Cube

Complete Box Set

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2.514 A.D. Earth has been long abandoned, and humans have colonized the far edges of the galaxy. Yaerus, the new home planet, is the center of knowledge and diplomatic influence in the Known Galaxy. Humanity has entered a new age of space boom and thrive, and a great part of that progress is the work of the Chroniclers.

Eladia, a beautiful, courageous Chronicler. She has to solve the Great Mystery. Everything changes in Eladia's life when Jasih, a handsome and cruel alpha alien comes to her life. 

When these contrary personalities come face to face, both turn each other's life upside down.

Will Eladia and Jasih solve the Great Mystery or some others have different plans?

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* * *

Alien Battle

Complete Box Set

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Kataline, a sensitive and lovely woman, will sacrifice herself to the Euthenia Alien Prince, the handsome Kerr She has to marry him, to bring peace on Earth! Kataline, even she is the first genetically engineered woman, she is missing the knowledge of attraction and mating, but someone gave her supernatural powers which will not be activated before she will board on the alien spaceship. Someone has got different plans for Kataline’s future...

Will Kataline and Kerr fall in love? Will Kataline give in and use her powers for the dark goals of her creator? Who is the target?

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* * *

Alien Enemy

Complete Box Set

Available For Free here!

Sun Valley: an isolated village in the middle of Arizona’s desert

Candice: a young woman, quite curvy and beautiful who came back to be presented to her parent’s death. She decides to stay there and start a new life. A new and quite peaceful life without problems. Some plans are not meant to be followed...

A carnival arrived at the town but it is not what it seems... The name of it?

‘The Carnival of Cursed Souls’

Luke: a ridiculously handsome wrestler who has got something hidden.

Both of them are interested in each another but nothing is as simple as they thought.

What does Luke hide? Who is in reality? Did Candice found her other half or she is missing something?

Follow them at my new series ‘Alien Enemy’ an intriguing Sci-Fi Alien Romance!

Available For Free here!

* * *

Cyberpunk Tales

Deleted Scene

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* * *

Alien Former

Deleted Scene

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* * *

Alien Cube

Deleted Scene

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* * *

Alien Former

Extras

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* * *

Alien Cube

Glossary

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* * *

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Looking Death in the Eye

Book 1

Chapter One

I was drowning, which didn’t make sense. I should have been asleep in a cheap Coffin apartment, but instead, I was wallowing in a cold void. Smooth, thick cream filled my nose and mouth. Cream? Dairy Cream? What the hell? I tried to draw in a breath, and my lungs burned. Oh no, no, no, said the broken little voice from somewhere beyond the darkness. No, no, no, no, no… "Oh, will you give it a rest?" I tried to say, but all I could do was choke on heavy cream. Seriously, drowning in whipping cream? What the hell? Whose dream was this? The bottom of the dark space dropped away beneath me, and the cream funneled down and away from me, leaving me suspended by my ankles from an unseen ceiling by a rope I couldn’t feel. “Who-” I said, but I was cut off by peals of raucous laughter out in the darkness. Hahaha really? Go Jet-boy! "Okay, this one was definitely not mine. I don't know anyone or anything called ‘Jet-Boy.'" This was getting out of hand. The meds must have worn off in the night. I needed to wake up. I couldn't be dreaming like this, not without the dope. There would be… side-effects if I stayed down like this.

I reached up through the molasses of my sleeping mind, pushing up through layers of exhaustion and REM for the familiar stale emptiness of my Coffin. Morpheus stretched his lazy hands up and wrapped them about my brain, dragging me back toward oblivion. I was too tired for this. I needed to sleep. But I couldn't do so when my pills wore off. If I did… The resistance broke, and I surged up from the clinging grasp of slumber, bursting from warm emptiness into ill-smelling darkness with all the mental grace of a breaching whale. "Goddammit," I spat, panting. "I really wish I could turn this shit off." A lance of pain stabbed into my temple, sending me lurching into a fetal position. A seething, furious voice growled, Kill her! I swear I’m going to kill that fucking bitch! I pushed the foreign thoughts away, walling them off, cutting them off from me, but the tide was coming in fast, and for the second time in as many minutes, I thought about drowning. Each new voice, each new idea, each thought, desire, grudge - all the scattered thoughts of hundreds of lives- tried to force their way into my mind, seeking fertile ground to take root. I winced again, feeling the migraine coming. This was really getting out of hand.

“Come on, Vivian,” I hissed at myself. “Pull it together.” I fumbled in the dark by the right side of my sleeping pad, trying to stay calm despite the growing noise, the escalating pain. Finally, my fingers closed on metal. Salvation. Oh, yeah, give it to me baby… I grimaced. I was pretty sure I knew which neighbor that was. Oh, yeah, oh God, oh yeah. I gritted my teeth, raised the tuning fork in the dark, and then struck it hard against the floor. PING. The ringing seemed to swell in the blackness, buzzing in my ears, filling my brain with a single clarion tone. The sound was clear and sweet, and it cut through the noise of a hundred thousand cascading stray thoughts like an electric carver through a corpse. Clinging to that momentary relief, I summoned up the meager vestiges of my mental strength and built a wall in my mind, surrounding my always open inner eye with a barrier of willpower. It didn't block everything; it never did. But I could think, and the ever-present threat of a migraine lessened somewhat. I was ready for the day - or at least, I couldn't take any more of the pills unless I wanted to sleep for another ten hours and miss the day's chance to make some money. Rent was coming due soon, and my cred sticks were running dry. I needed to see my Fixer and find some work, or there would be no Coffin to sleep in, no pills to make it safe to do so, and no food to keep me on this side of the starvation line.

I fumbled for the hanging cord above my sleeping mat and pulled, switching on the single panel of electric light dominating the center of my Coffin's ceiling. The little space I called home was immediately bathed in stark white light, revealing all of its flaws without a hint of reservation. I winced at the light. My apartment was standard for a Coffin, consisting of a rectangular space about fifteen feet long and half as wide, with a ceiling barely five feet above the floor. The whole room had been made from concrete and was completely bare of furniture. There was a vacuum sealed toilet in one corner, with a steel basin beside it; too large to be a sink but too small to be a real bathtub. A mirror I had dug out of a scrap heap hung on the wall over the basin, and my little collection of toiletries sat in a little cluster between the wash basin and the wall. Besides my sleeping mat, the only other amenity in my apartment was a two-burner flat stove- something like a hot plate’s big brother- and a mini-fridge that had seen better days. It wasn’t much of a home, but it was mine, and I wouldn’t have traded it for a penthouse in the corporate heavens if you had paid me- mainly because I had already made the switch once in my lifetime, and I was pretty sure “backsies” weren’t allowed.

Since the apartment ceiling was too low for even a woman as short as I was to stand up straight, I shuffled over to the basin in a crouch and twisted the spigot to start the water running. My reflection came to view in the mirror, distorted by the crack running down through the center of the glass. I was haggard, pale, and I had deep dark circles graven below my angular blue eyes, giving my face a somewhat skeletal look. My lips, which had once been near perfect and always smirked in amusement, were now chapped and cracked and twisted into the faintest of frowns. My nose had been broken and reset poorly the last year, and now it bent slightly to the right, shattering the sweet, optimistic aspect I had possessed for most of my adult life, replacing it with something darker, more dangerous. My coppery hair was much shorter than I had ever worn it as a girl, shorn down to just a few inches out of necessity- I wasn't going to die just to keep my beautiful curls, and I had seen plenty of people grabbed by the hair in a fight. It was usually a game-ender. Hell, I had done it before. I imagined seeing myself like this a year ago when I was still Vivian Hsu, the heir apparent to my mother's place in the hierarchy at Penderham Incorporated. That young woman, genetically designed to be beautiful, healthy, and strong in so many ways, would never have recognized herself in me. She wouldn't have thought it possible. I smirked, and my reflection grinned back. That foolish little girl might have had it all- but she had been a prisoner, bound to the ambitions of parents who had never seen her as more than an asset. The new me, with all her scars, with her bloodshot eyes and her broken nose- this identity was really mine. I had built it over the past year, running in the shadows of the corporate world to earn my living. Vivian Hsu might have been the name on my birth certificate, but down here, they called me Red Viper, and it was alright for me.

When I finished with my morning routine, I got dressed in my least smelly set of clothes, fished a can of synthetic “coffee” out of the mini-fridge, and made my way out of my Coffin to the walkway running along the outside of the stack of identical apartments. I leaned on the steel pipe railing of the walkway and popped open the cold can. The vile chemical stink of the liquid within breathed a little life into my groggy brain. I lifted my eyes to take in the city in all of its steaming glory- and a man in a black business suit fell from somewhere above me. He didn’t scream, and in the instant he passed me, he turned and met my eyes; a profound confusion in his gaze not reflected in the slack, emotionless pallor of his face. The mental barriers I had constructed cracked a little beneath the weight of my surprise. Through the noise of a hundred thousand thoughts, prayers, impressions, and fears, I distinctly heard the falling man saying, over and over again, I don’t wanna die I don’t wanna die I don’t… as he disappeared from view.

In an impulse, I reached out to his mind with my own, before I could consider it was a bad idea, and I staggered as a simple, overwhelmingly strong vision crashed into my mind. A woman and two children just sitting down for breakfast, looking up in terror as a shadow falls across them. The can of coffee slipped from my nerveless fingers and plummeted after the falling man. I call for them to run, to get out, but their faces all go slack and empty of expression, and they just stand there like dumb cattle. My knees collapsed, and I sagged hard against the railing. A rivet somewhere popped with a dull ping. There is a humming sound, a sound I recognize, and then one by one their heads explode, spraying blood and brains all over the dining room table. Even as they die in sequence, the next one in line doesn’t even flinch as they are spattered with gore. I clutched my skull as I started to pull myself together. I knew what was happening, and I needed to get out of that man’s mind before… The vision ended abruptly, and a migraine smote me in the brainstem like a sledgehammer thrown by a god. Dimly, I managed to force myself away from the squealing railing and stagger my way back into my Coffin. I slid the door shut, lifted the seat of the vacuum toilet, and vomited up the foul coffee-substitute. When the heaving stopped, I slumped over onto my side and just lay there for a while, waiting for the room to stop spinning around me as the ambient thoughts of my whole neighborhood tried to grind my skull down into powder.

* * *

I woke with my face pressed against the side of my washbasin, my mouth tasting acidic and my whole body full of aches as if I had been beaten with a shovel. I remembered the vision, the falling man, and his thought ‘I don’t want to die’. I pushed myself up. I had to see him. I needed to see the body. I didn't know who he was, or why I needed to know… what, exactly? But I could not have just ignored what had happened any more than I could fully shut out the minds of my countless neighbors. It was a bad idea for me to go down to the Bottom of the Sprawl. Where I lived wasn't safe, but if you went a few stories lower, to where the excavation had stopped- this place was the badlands, the wild fucking west- more people went into it than ever came out. It wasn't just the people who were dangerous. There were rumors about things down there in the stinking dark of the Bottom- escaped horrors from secret laboratories existed down where they knew no one was watching them. Many of those claimed by the dark heart of the Columbia Sprawl just disappeared, leaving behind them little more than a smear of blood and a few shreds of their clothing. I knew if I went down there into the dark, I would put my life on the line for little more than curiosity- but then I saw the image of three pairs of frightened eyes in slack, emotionless faces, and I knew I didn’t have a choice.

Columbia was a city both like and unlike any other. Like most of the great cancerous Sprawls clinging to the fading frame of the United States of America, it was a city atop a city atop another city. The poorer you were, the further down in the dark you found yourself, until you were paying whatever you could scrape together for a coffin apartment so far down in the domain of the unwashed masses you couldn't see the sky. What you could see above you were the great twisting masses of layered urban sprawl, stretching up into the unseen ivory towers of the few who held all the money and the power. Unlike Columbia's sister cities of High Amsterdam and Atlanta, however, the sprawl of the tarnished, fading capital of the United States of America did not stretch up into the skies. Old traditions had prevailed over corporate greed and desire, and the city of Columbia had become a network of urban canyons, all sitting in the reeking shadow of the Mall and its History.

Descending to the floor of one of these canyons wasn’t a straightforward process. There were only a few elevators that could take someone down into the darkness, and those were heavily secured freight carriers that allowed corporations to travel to and from their secret black sites in armored vehicles. For a scrawny, half-starved mercenary with less than half a hundred credits to rub together, going down to the Bottom was a matter of memorizing a network of stairways, corridors, and empty shafts, all the while crossing more than a dozen different gang territories. It was a little easier for me than it would have been for another merc in my situation. I was a telepath, a “Reader” in street lingo, and I could put thoughts into someone’s mind nearly as easily as I could ferret them out. I had heard of some of the most skilled Psions being able to make themselves effectively invisible by erasing any the memories of everyone around them. I couldn’t manage anything with so much power, yet- my abilities were raw and untrained- but I could still slip a thought into a gang tough’s head so that he thought I was supposed to be there. At the very least, I could make him think I belonged there just long enough for me to get myself out of his sight. And so instead of taking me three hours and six hundred credits, the descent to the Bottom only took me thirty minutes.

It took me another forty-five minutes to track down the corpse, and when I found it, I wished I hadn't. The man I had seen had fallen from somewhere in the corporate "heavens," as we called them, and he hadn't so much broken upon impact so much as he had liquefied. An eighty or ninety story fall would do this to a body. All that remained of the man was a mess of gore on the uneven stone street, between the gutted fronts of abandoned buildings. If there had been police on the scene, which I doubted, they had already come and gone long before I arrived. The place was seemingly empty of onlookers, except for a single boxy, armored truck marked with a stenciled biohazard symbol in fading green paint. One man, garbed head to toe in an armored environmental suit, favorite among first responders, was nonchalantly spraying chemicals over the whole scene with a pressure hose. I wrinkled my nose at the acrid stench and checked my watch. I had been unconscious in my Coffin for several hours, which explained why a Cleaner was already here to tidy up.

“Hello?” I called, but the Cleaner didn’t respond. I stepped a little closer, waving to get the man’s attention. “Hello? Sir?”

The Cleaner's masked face turned toward me, and he looked at me from behind mirrored eyepieces for a long moment; the breathing apparatus in his suit gave him the appearance of a corporate stormtrooper. He tilted his head with obvious interest and switched off the chemical sprayer, setting the long nozzle down at his feet. "How can I help you?" His voice, modulated by the mask, came out mechanical and flat, giving me the irrational feeling I was talking to a robot. The thought was ridiculous, really; fully autonomous androids were illegal in Columbia, as they were in most of the other Sprawls spread across North America.

“I just came down to see what happened to this guy,” I said, feeling stupid. “I saw him fall.”

The Cleaner shrugged. “Probably suicide.”

“Why do you say that,” I asked. “What did the police have to say?”

The Cleaner chuckled, the sound coming out as a vaguely mechanical rattle. “Very little. Listen, miss, this isn’t my first suicide. I clean up like five of these a week.”

I winced. “Really?”

“Yeah,” he confirmed. “Shit, the cops would probably leave these to rot if they didn’t think the carrion would attract Feeders. They’re trying to keep those things from sticking around. Better that the nasty buggers leave the Sprawl and go out to the Wastes to find their eats- it would be less trouble for us if they did.”

I controlled the impulse to grimace at his words. The man dealt with death and corpses on a regular basis. It was what Cleaners did. He probably didn’t even feel anything anymore when he saw the dead. They were just meat- or carrion- to him, and his job was to scrape up the mess and take it away to the reclamation vats to be dissolved. Still, it seemed a little ghoulish to me for him to be so flippant about the deaths of people, even people he had never known. “Well, based on what I saw, I don’t think this was a suicide, and I would like to see if maybe I’m right. Do you mind if I look around?”

The Cleaner didn’t say anything, not at first, and I could distinctly hear the thought who are you, some kind of two-bit detective as it crossed his mind. I waited. Finally, he just shrugged again. “Whatever you want, Ms. Bogart. I get paid by the hour.”

I approached what remained of the body, slowly. It was more of a mound of pulverized meat than it was a corpse- the extreme impact was not kind to the human body. Tatters of a black suit clung to the mess; some of the scraps fluttered in the breeze brought by a nearby ventilation fan. I stared down at the ruin, once a human life, and shook my head. There was nothing to go on- no sign of his identity. People didn't typically carry much more than a couple of cred sticks when they went walking around in the sprawl. After all, they didn't need anything else. Everyone had a Lattice, even children; the machine had been designed to grow and adapt with its host brain. The internal computer was your house-key, your wallet, your identification, your calendar, your chauffeur. I wasn't going to find anything. With the brain shattered, there was little left of the computer but for the occasional wire poking up out of the mulched flesh. I turned away. I wasn't going to get any- I stopped. Something glinted a few feet away from the body, something that looked like silver. I walked over to the source of the shine and crouched.

Lying on the concrete, smeared with blood but otherwise intact, there was a mechanical eye. I picked it up, rolling it in my hands to clean some of the blood off of it. The back of the eyeball was silver and smooth- this was what had caught my attention. The front had been cunningly fashioned in the design of a real human eye. Though its nature was obvious to me here, I imagined it would easily pass as a normal eye, when it was attached in its place in a human skull - which would be very useful. I knew many mercs had their eyes replaced by prosthetics like these, sometimes by choice, and sometimes by necessity. I frowned. Why would a man from the upper city, the corporate heavens, need a hidden camera in his face? Few non-nefarious reasons came to mind. I looked back over at the mess of the man’s body. What were you into? I wondered. Whatever it was, he had gotten himself in too deep.

I was just straightening up when the Cleaner spoke. “You found something, ‘detective?’” He was leaning against his truck with his arms crossed, his stance utterly relaxed. I frowned a little when I realized he didn’t have a gun strapped to his hip. How could he be down here, doing a job this dangerous without a weapon? That seemed foolhardy, suicidal even.

I chose to ignore his jibe. “Yeah, I found something.” I held up the eye so he could see it. “Real nice cybernetic eye.”

The Cleaner didn’t move, but I heard a slight edge to his voice as he said, "Something like this could fetch a real pretty penny on the black market." He paused, then tilted his head. "Whatcha gonna do with it?"

I hesitated and then shrugged. What was the harm? “I was planning on seeing if I could get a techie friend of mine to suss out the internal data stores. Figured if I could see whatever he last recorded on this thing, maybe I could find out what actually happened to him.”

The Cleaner spread his hands in a "what gives" gesture. "Look, girl, why do you care? You don't seem like a real detective to me. You’re down here, seekin' the truth? Well, I'll give it to you and spare ya the trouble." He pointed a finger at the corpse. "Fucker's dead. Probably jumped. Probably didn't want to go on living in the corporate hell up there with some Fed camera jammed halfway up his ass. No privacy in the corp world. That's not a way for a man to live." He turned his finger to me, pointing directly to the cyber-eye clenched in my fist. "And another piece of truth for ya, for free, since I'm generous. That eye is mine. This is my site; I take whatever I can salvage. If you walk off with this thing, you're taking money out of my pocket." He held out his hand, palm up. "So givvit."

I opened my mouth to argue, but just before my words passed my lips, a high-pitched, hideous scream echoed from ahead of me in the musty darkness. The hair rose on the back of my neck. This might have been a woman's scream, but it seemed… wrong. I looked to the Cleaner, meaning to ask him what was out there, but he was no longer paying attention to me. He was hurriedly loading his chemical tank back into his truck. The shriek came again, this time from somewhere behind me. I whirled, drawing my pistol from the back of my waistband. This time, I was certain the sound had not come from a human throat. I flicked on the electromagnetic coils hidden in the "cylinder" of the pistol. It had been fashioned to look like an old twentieth-century revolver, but it had proven much more efficient than its older cousins. This gun was a magnet driven needle gun, and it could fling a sliver of ultra-dense metal through a man's armor and into his chest cavity from nearly a hundred meters away. I allowed myself a grim little smile. I had earned this weapon, half through skill, half through stubborn grit, and another half through luck. That’s three halves, I thought. Who gives a shit? I responded. The gun in my hand had begun to give off an ominous whine, just barely audible even a few feet from my ears. The shriek came again, from somewhere inside the tangled hive of the haphazard Bottom construction.

“Get into the truck,” said the Cleaner, and I turned to look at him. He was still unarmed, but his demeanor had changed completely. Where before he was a laconic and professional doing a dirty job no one else was willing to stomach, he now radiated a sense of determined willpower I had only ever seen on the faces of some of the oldest mercs at my Fixer’s bar. This guy, whoever he was, under the armor and the mask, he had seen some ugly shit on this job, and plenty of it. I couldn’t see his face, but even the few scraps of his thoughts seeping through my flimsy mental barriers told me he was expecting a hard fight. And he expected to win.

Nodding in acquiescence, I joined the Cleaner and got into the truck. Another shriek ripped through the air, and this time, it did not fade into silence. Instead, the horrible scream was joined by another voice, similar to its own. Moments later, a third “singer” joined the macabre chorus. Then another. And another. With forced nonchalance, I leaned over toward the Cleaner and said, without looking at him. “So where are you hiding the gun? Or are you a kung fu garbage man?”

The Cleaner snorted. “I don’t need a gun to get things done. But I’ll be damned if I’m touching one of these things with my own hands. Even with the armor.”

“What’s coming?”

The Cleaner chuckled, the sound mechanical and unsettling through his voice filter. "A pack of Feeders, obviously. They smelled the blood. I took too long getting the scene sprayed." He flexed his fingers, curling them into claws and then straightening them, over and over again. "When they come for us, stay calm, aim and shoot after they jump; they’re still for a moment, and it’s your best shot.”

"This isn't my first rodeo," I said. "Just keep them off my back, and I'll keep them off of yours."

The Cleaner chuckled again. “I like you. Hope to see ya on the other side.”

The first of the creatures appeared, and I felt my stomach churn. It looked like a man, though its hair had all fallen out and its skin was pocked and split by numerous boils and blisters. Even at this distance, the stench it gave off was eye-watering potent. It hurtled toward us with inhuman grace, using all four of its limbs as if it had been born to the task. I raised my pistol, sighting with my right eye and steadying my breath. The creature’s jaws opened, revealing a forest of shark’s teeth; they absolutely did not belong in a human’s mouth. It let out a piercing shriek once more, and I fired a quick three-count. One, Two, Three. The Feeder’s head snapped back, blood blossoming from its face. Then the needles burst inside its skull, and the creature fell, boneless, to the filthy pavement.

Before I could say anything, six more of the shrieking monsters came gibbering out of the darkness, and by the growing chorus of screams, I was sure this was but a tithe of the horde. They looked much the same as the one I had shot, with mad, pocked faces and distended bellies hanging too low off of their bones. There was no hesitation to be found in their beetle black eyes as they charged. They didn’t run straight at us; two of them split, branching off to come at us from the side. I knew I wouldn’t be able to hit them all- I was a decent shooter, but little more- nonetheless I breathed deep, aimed and fired, trying to make each shot count. I doubted I would be able to reload in time to survive if the needle gun ran dry.

I brought down the two beasts trying to flank on my side with triple shots to the upper chest and neck, but before I could bring my gun around to aim again, one of the Feeders in the center leaped straight for me in a jump impossible for humanoid physiology. As it sailed toward me, razor jaws gaping impossibly wide, I reflexively opened my third eye and reached out for the creature's mind, intending to stun or confuse it. My telepathy was still raw and untrained, but I could at least make the thing check itself, earning myself a valuable few seconds in which to regain the advantage. Or at least, that was the theory. When my mind touched the Feeder’s, my nerves lit up like I had just bitten down onto a live wire. My knees buckled, and I reeled beneath the sudden avalanche of pain; I was barely aware of the impact as the Feeder's filthy feet caught me in the chest.

I slammed back into the truck, rebounding off of its side and sliding down to the ground as I tried to regain control of my body. I could hear them all now, all of the Feeders’ minds, and what I heard was terrifying. They weren’t even remotely human. They may have looked like sick people, at least before they opened their mouths, but the thoughts blasting through their minds were both deafening and brutally simple. It was a single command, given not so much in words but more as in a titanic roar of instinct. EAT. EAT. EAT. EAT. EAT. EAT. EAT. I gasped, trying to shut it out, the all-consuming roar, the pitiless hunger, the taste of cooling flesh in my mouth as the jaws of the Feeder dipped toward my throat. And then, just as I realized I was probably going to die, the creature was yanked away from me, snatched backward as if by the hand of a god. Gritting my teeth, I slammed shut my inner eye, dulling the incessant bellow the horrible command. I struggled to my feet and looked over toward the Cleaner. My mouth dropped open. He was fighting twelve of the Feeders at once- and winning.

The Feeder who had tackled me drifted up above our heads, helplessly spinning this way and that, unable to figure out which way was down. The others were leaping and bounding at him just as they had at me, but instead of bearing him to the ground to be torn to shreds, they seemed to meet invisible walls. They would pounce, smash into barriers that weren’t there, and reel back, bleeding as if they had run headlong into buildings. In the midst of all of it, the Cleaner was whirling; his body bending and twisting as he gestured and swept his arms and legs through something of a martial artist’s fighting sequence. He wasn’t touching any of them, but each time he punched the air in the direction of one of the creatures, it crumpled as if struck by a pneumatic hammer. Holy shit. I thought. This guy is a TK.

Turning his head toward me, the Cleaner bellowed, "Don't just stand there! Can't do this forever!" I cursed and raised my gun, aiming at the Feeders as they smashed against the invisible walls and fell, stunned momentarily. With my targets sitting still, even for just a second, shooting the creatures was a matter of simple technique. I double-tapped three of them in sequence before the Feeders realized I was even there, much less a threat. They tried to turn toward me, attack me as the weaker of the two of us, but the Cleaner wouldn't let them, and I kept shooting. Two Feeders tried to pounce on me at once, but just as they bent their legs to jump, the Feeder whirling overhead came slamming down on top of them as if shot out of a cannon. All three of them were crushed to the ground in a tangle of snapping limbs and feral howls. From the brief snapshot I had gotten from the group's minds, I knew there were many more Feeders out in the dark, but the brutal ends of their kin seemed to have given them a pause.

With their numbers reduced, the remaining Feeders tried to run, but the Cleaner was merciless. As soon as he was free to attack, he struck with the ferocity of an angry tiger. The Feeder closest to him was torn to shreds as it ran, and the one just ahead it was swiftly impaled by flying shards of bone. I turned my attention to the fallen creatures all around me. Some of them were struggling, still clinging to life despite grievous wounds, but their pain was cut short as I discharged single shots into their skulls at point blank range. When it was over, I just leaned against the truck and breathed, closing my eyes for a short moment. I had heard of Feeders before, but I never knew what they actually were. The truth about the feral denizens of the Bottom was much more terrible than I had expected. This had not been the closest I had come to death, but I imagined being torn apart by a pack of ravening rejects from some corporate lab would have been the worst way to go I had encountered thus far.

I heard the snap-hiss of releasing pressure seals and opened my eyes. The Cleaner was standing beside me, and he had taken off his armored helmet and mask. He was attractive, but not model-handsome. Behind his amber eyes there lurked a low cunning; off-putting in an advertising industry which preferred beautiful and dumb. His stubble-dusted jaw was narrow, and his nose just a little too long and pointed, giving him a birdlike appearance. He looked like a person used to violence, and perhaps too comfortable with dishing it out. The scars around his left eye and the uneven shape of his nose told me maybe violence didn't always find him by accident. But when he smiled, his dark face completely changed. His eyes lit with a mischievous humor, and his thick lips pulled back to reveal a lopsided rogue's smile. He was trouble on two legs, and he knew it. "Hey, you did good," he said, running a hand through his short, thick curls. "That was a lot more of those things than usual. I might not have made it out of there without you."

I gave him a skeptical look. "I just saw you single-handedly standoff a dozen Feeders. You're telling me you really needed a woman with a needle gun to watch your back?”

The Cleaner didn’t answer. Instead, he held out his gloved hand and said, still grinning. “We’ve spilled blood together. By tradition, that makes us friends. So call me Yakov.”

“Yakov?” I said, my brain trying to fit his face to the name.

“Yes,” he said, his smile turning a little sharp. “I’m a black guy named Yakov. It’s almost like one of my parents was from Eastern Europe.”

I smiled and took his hand. “The folks up a few levels call me Red Viper. But since ‘by tradition’ we’re now good friends, you can call me Vivian if you like.” I released his hand and then switched the magnetic coils in my gun off. They began to cycle down, the high pitched whine falling off into nothing.

Yakov nodded. “Well, we had better get out of here. They always come back.”

I gestured with a nod to the pulverized body that had brought me down here in the first place. “What about him?”

Yakov frowned. "I'm going to have to come back. There are always more Feeders out there in the dark, but there's only one of me." He shrugged. "I'll go back to the shop and add some flamethrowers to the track. Burn this whole scene to ashes. Won't be able to bring the dead man to the reclaimers, but then again, you can't win them all."

I frowned, considering my options. I knew very little about the Feeders, but maybe the fragments I had gleaned from my ill-advised attempt to connect psychically with one of them could help Yakov prevent another attack like this one. I usually kept what I could do a secret, but this was a little different. He seemed alright, and most importantly, he was also a Psion. Granted, he was a telekinetic rather than a telepath like me, he wasn't likely to out me. We were both in danger from human-purist groups like the American Originals, but then again so was half of the Sprawl. I took a breath. "Yakov, I… I'm a Psion like you. I got into the minds of all of them, for just a moment." I winced. "It wasn't a good idea. But I think they might all be part of some kind of hive intelligence or powerful pack conditioning. Maybe there's a boss Feeder or something you could kill to keep them from being this organized again."

The smile vanished from Yakov's face, instantly. He stepped in close, his gaze flicking out all around us as if he was searching for witnesses. "Listen, Red. You seem like you've been around the block a couple of times, but you don't look like someone who grew up in the Sprawl." I opened my mouth to answer, but he cut me off. "No. Quiet. This is important. I know you probably only just revealed yourself to me because I'm another Psion, a TK rather than a Reader, but a Psion nonetheless. But you can't reveal your nature to people like this. There are a lot of Psions in Columbia, and not all of them think of other Psions as kin. If you tell the wrong person, even another Reader, what you can do, you'll find yourself in a lab getting dissected by the white coats before you can blink." He looked me straight in the eye. "You seem like someone I might want to get to know, and I wouldn't wish the fate of a lab rat on my worst enemy. So keep that kind of shit to yourself, okay?"

I blinked, taken aback. "Alright." I cleared my throat, my mouth suddenly dry. "I didn't know it was this bad for Psions down here. I thought all we had to worry about were the Originals." I frowned. "But if it's so important to keep what we can do a secret, why would you use your powers so openly? I mean anyone who saw what you just did would know you were a TK. There's no way they could mistake you for anything else. What if I had been an Original? Or what if I worked for one of those labs you just mentioned?"

Yakov's grin returned, but this time it seemed less friendly and more reminiscent of a great cat showing its fangs. "They already caught me, a couple of times. They had a real hard time keeping me."

“What?”

“That’s a story for another time,” he said, serious again. “We need to leave. I’ll give you a ride. My company has a contract with the frickin’ bridge trolls running the damn elevators. You just tell me which level you want out on, and I’ll let you out.”

I nodded in appreciation. I hadn’t been looking forward to climbing back up through the network of stairs and passages I had used to get down here. And I needed to get to the bar soon if I wanted any chance of getting paying work today. “That’s real kind of you,” I said. “It’s been a long time since I’ve gotten anywhere by anything other than my own two feet.”

Yakov snorted. “Don’t be so sure. There’s only one seat in this truck, probably to prevent Cleaners like me from giving rides to their friends. You’ll have to ride in the back.”

I sighed. Well, it still beats walking.

* * *

The ride to the elevator wasn't so terrible. Yakov's truck was neatly organized, and all of his tools were strapped or netted into their places, so I wasn't worried about being hit by things bouncing around in the back. The shock absorbers on the vehicle might have left something to be desired, but beggars couldn't be choosers. I just leaned against the wall separating the back of the truck from the cab and talked to the Cleaner through the little slot window he had left open. I fished the cyber-eye I had found out of my pocket. Yakov hadn't mentioned it since the fight, but the idea of trying to sneak off with it didn’t feel right. He hadn't said it, but since this job had gone wrong, I suspected there might be a penalty taken out of his pay. The off-the-books bonus he would bring in by selling the eye might be enough to offset this fine enough, and I wasn't about to take it away from him. He might have been a good person to know in the future, and I wasn't about to jeopardise the potential by taking money out of his pocket.

“Hey, Yakov?” I called.

"Yeah," he answered. His voice was distant like he had been a little off, just focusing on the drive and not thinking about anything.

"The eye I found. I want to have a hacker buddy of mine pull the logs off of it. Maybe I can learn something. Then I'll have him wipe it clean, and I can give it back to you." There was silence from the cab. Nervous, I continued. "It'll probably be worth more with its cache cleaned out. Maybe I can convince him to give it a once-over with his equipment. Then when you sell it, it will be in better shape."

After a moment, Yakov responded, sounding troubled. “Why do you care so much of what happened to that guy? You didn’t know him, did you?”

Better than you might expect, I thought. Instead, I just said, “No.”

“Then why all of this effort? You’re not getting paid for this, are you?”

“No.” I sighed. This was a hard question because I wasn’t quite sure why I was going to all these lengths. I didn’t know his family, and I hadn’t been hired by anyone. Time was literally money to someone like me, and I was wasting my time over someone I never knew. My head throbbed as the psychic toll of the day began to take what I owed. They’re afraid. The woman and her children. Their faces are full of terror and fear, and tears have started to bead in the corners of their eyes. They know whose shadow has fallen over them. They know who has come for them. As their faces slowly drain of expression and turn hard and empty as plastic, I can see in the eyes of the woman she knows what is coming. She is powerless to stop it. Whatever is happening has taken away her control, but for her eyes. I wonder if they left her the use of her eyes on purpose. That seems needlessly cruel. CRACK. SPLAT. The woman is gone. CRACK SPLAT. One child. CRACK SPLAT. The other. Dead, and they couldn’t lift a finger to help themselves. My familiar migraine settled down somewhere behind my eyes and stabbed deep into my brain; I clutched my head in both hands. Through the pain, I managed to speak. "Yakov, I'm doing this because I saw something horrible. I need to know if it actually happened or if it was just what the man feared would happen. If I don't do something, if I never know- I don't think I'll be able to sleep. I know the Sprawl is a man-made hell, but I have to believe someone would look into it if I disappeared. I'm just trying to return the favor."

Yakov was silent for a time. He sighed wearily and said, "Fine. Take the eye to your hacker. Call me when you're done, and we can meet so you can give it to me."

“That sounds fine.”

We spent the rest of the ride in silence, but for Yakov’s terse negotiations with the company running the elevator. When the platform reached nineteen, the Cleaner had the operator stop so he could let me out. I shook his hand. “Thanks, Yakov. I won’t take long. Expect my call in the next few days.”

Yakov grinned again. His smile was infectious. “Good. I’m looking forward to it. It was nice meeting you, Vivian.”

I let go of his hand and left the platform without a backward glance, then checked my watch as the elevator car lifted up and away from me. It was three o'clock already. I needed to get to the bar and talk to my Fixer, or I wouldn't be making a single credit today. I couldn't afford this kind of loss. With a long-suffering groan for my throbbing skull, I set off at a run in the direction of the Greasy Wheel.

Chapter Two

It was six in the evening by the time I walked into the Greasy Wheel, a bar twenty stories above the Bottom; it hung suspended by high tension cables between two towers within eighty feet of each other. It wasn’t the only such structure; space in Columbia was at a premium and below the magnetic rail streets at sea level, nearly everything in the Sprawl was crammed together like trash stuffed into a closet. I had stopped by my apartment to clean up. Though I hadn’t gotten beaten up too badly in the fight with the Feeders, it still set a bad precedent for me to walk into the bar looking like I had been in a tussle. I was a mercenary- a “freelance operative” in corporate lingo- and we mercs lived and died on our reputations. I had built a sliver of a reputation over the last year, starting when I first arrived in the lower levels of the Sprawl. I had survived a botched job which had left my whole team dead in a heap, and that had earned me a little credit among my cutthroat, merciless peers. I had spent the next year fighting tooth and nail to keep that bit of respect, growing it just a little every time I succeeded in a task. I wasn’t a big shot, but when I came to my Fixer’s bar, people moved out of my way so I could find a seat. It was a dangerous place to let your guard down, but it was the center of my world, and I loved it.

The front door to the bar opened with an entirely annoying squeal of rusty hinges, and the stink of stale beer and poorly washed bodies wafted out at me. I didn’t even wrinkle my nose. I was used to this kind of thing by now, and I probably didn’t smell like sunshine and flowers myself. This far down in the Sprawl it always rained- though for the most part, the constant rainfall was the result of trickle down run-off from above. It wasn’t the safest thing to get on your skin, and you weren’t advised to drink it. But we lived with it, and everyone smelled a little like wet dog all the time. My boots squeaked on the plastic tile as I stepped inside, and as a collective, the clientele of the eternally packed bar glanced at me. Most went back to whatever they were doing without any further reaction. A few nodded at me in respect, to which I responded in kind. As usual, my Fixer, Penn, was managing the bar with his customary tireless amusement. He dealt out the watery beer with systematic precision, a kind smile stretching his craggy face. The smile was his default expression, but it did more than a little to keep a rowdy crowd of outlaws in check. Having two prominent tusks curling up from the corners of his mouth made any expression he chose to adopt more than a little intimidating as it turned out.

I pulled up a stool at the bar and shot Penn my winningest smile. “Hey, Penn, can I get a beer? And maybe some bacon?”

Penn narrowed his eyes at me, mock angrily. He was a human-boar hybrid, and what I had said would have gotten anyone who didn't know him tossed through a window- if they were lucky. But he liked me and knew a few things about my more… outlandish traits. The jibes typically went two ways, and today was no exception. Penn grinned a little incredulously at me, incapable of holding the frown. "Given all the material to work with, and a hundred thousand people to steal jokes from- you went with bacon?”

“It’s been a rough day,” I said, sighing and sliding him my cred stick paying for the beer. “Throw in a protein shake, if you would.”

Penn stopped the sliding cred stick with a single thick black fingernail. “You alright, Red?” He raised a thick eyebrow at me. “You’re usually in here first thing. I had a good gig lined up for you, but when you didn’t show, I had to give it to someone else. A real milk run but a decent payout.” He shrugged. “You missed it out.”

I winced. “I know. Today was a bad day. Side effects and all.”

Penn grimaced, a knowing glint in his yellow eyes. "Heard there was a jumper. That happened to be near you?" His hands dipped below the bar and came up with an aluminum can marked with words hastily scrawled in black marker. "Here's your shake by the way. Have this one, it’s on the house."

I smiled, but my heart wasn't in it. In the back of my mind, I could still see three blank, emotionless faces shattering into ruin in sequence. One. Two. Three. I took a long pull on my beer and let out a cleansing sigh. "Yeah, the jumper fell right past me. His hand nearly smacked the coffee can off my hand. Might have…seen a little more than I should have."

Penn frowned at me, his expression vaguely fatherly. For all I knew he was old enough to be my father. Hybrids didn’t age quite the same as everyone else. “Red, you need to be more careful. You’re one of my rising stars. I need you at full strength. You need yourself at full strength. Maybe you should try to find some lighter ‘reading’ material.” He smirked. “That or get yourself laid. You’ve been wound up like a spring lately.”

As if on cue, a smirking fox-hybrid a few seats down the bar turned his handsome olive-skinned face toward me and gave me a toothy predator’s grin. He ran a hand through his perfectly tousled russet locks and said, “Hey, Red, if you’re looking for company, look no further.” He stuck out an entirely too-long tongue and wiggled it suggestively.

I snorted and raised my eyebrows at him skeptically. “Sorry Frank, but I’ve got my heart set on a Kodiak bearkin.” I gave him a clear once-over from head to hips. “It’s not fair, but it’s just hard for foxes to compete with bears in certain respects.” Frank made a show of being disappointed, but within seconds, he was back to whatever conversation he had been in.

From somewhere behind me, a deep, rumbling voice with a New Amsterdam accent said, “Hey, Red, I hear you like bears.”

I didn’t even turn around. “Yeah, but you’re the exception, Dennis, you’re too much of a teddy.” The other mercs at the table burst out laughing. I looked Penn in the eye and gestured to my cred stick, which was still sitting at the bar. “Send those boys a round on me,” I muttered quietly. “Just in case.”

Penn gave me a long-suffering look. “Just so long as you don’t start any more fights in my bar. You put Rekham into retirement when you two went at each other, and he was a talented guy.”

I shrugged, not the least bit contrite. “Everyone in the Wheel is talented, Penn, whether they know it or not. Rekham retired with his wrecked back, and his rival stepped up. I hear this team is twice as efficient under new management. I did you a favor. And besides, he started it.”

“And to think I thought you were fresh meat the first time I saw you,” Penn said fondly. “I wouldn’t have bet you’d last the week.”

“It’s the red hair,” I said, grinning and shaking my head demonstratively. “Makes a body fierce. Just ask Frank, here...”

Without turning, Frank called, “It’s true, man.”

Penn waited for me to take a swig of my protein shake and then said, “I doubt you came in here for the charming company and gourmet cuisine. You still up for a job today? It’s a night run, but I figure you can handle it.”

“Sure, what’s the job?” I tilted my head back and poured the rest of the protein shake into my mouth. It wasn’t the best food, but it kept what little meat I still had on my bones.

Penn took the empty beer bottle from me and dropped it into a bin beneath the bar. Then he set another protein shake on the counter in front of me. "Drink up; I can't have you keeling over in the middle of the job." When I opened my mouth to protest, he held up a meaty hand. "No. Drink up while I take care of my other customers." I acquiesced, and he drifted down the length of the bar to take orders and remove the dirty dishes.

I cracked open the second can of liquid protein and took a swig of the gritty, “chocolate-flavored” sludge. Penn was right. I ran myself ragged on my normal days. What had happened today had already taken a lot of the moxie out of me. My head still throbbed with every sudden movement, though the sharp spiking pain had receded into the dark background of my mind. I looked around the bar. The crowd here was always changing. Old faces stopped appearing as their owners either got their big break, retired, or died. Usually the latter. New faces appeared, fresh and full of mingled fear and hope, or already beaten down by a life grounding them under its unfeeling heel. All around the bar, I saw every kind of merc I could have imagined. Here, a group of rat-hybrid hackers, all bickering over the relative merits of a new Matrix-capable deck. There, a surly street samurai with a pair of flechette pistols under her arms, and more scars and dents in her armor than there were freckles on her pale face. Everyone around me was armed and comfortable being so. Almost everyone in the bar sported some manner of cybernetic augments, or "chrome," in street speak. So many faces, here one moment and gone the next. I needed to take care of myself. Otherwise, the new kids working up the courage to approach the bar would be talking about what happened to Red Viper, that skinny girl from the Coffin stacks who was always getting herself into trouble. More than likely, after I passed, there would be no funeral, no wake, and no one would remember my name. I couldn't let this sad story be how I ended. I needed to be more careful. Eat right. Choose my teams better; maybe try to get a permanent spot on a crew. I couldn't just keep-

“Oy, Red. You alright?” I blinked and realized that Penn had come around the bar and was staring at me.

"Yeah, why?" Then I tasted the blood streaming from both of my nostrils and running over my lips. "Fuck," I sputtered, seizing a handful of napkins and pressing them to my face. "Fucking hell." Penn knew what was up, but he couldn't let on what he knew to his clientele. Chances were, some of them knew members of the Originals or had crossed paths with Penderham operatives working for my parents. If they found out I could read their minds, they would never trust me again. I gave Penn a warning look. "Like I said, today was rough. Bad side effects of the meds."

Penn shook his head, but he didn’t press the issue. “Look, I’ve got a night run for you. I’m sending you the details right now; all I need is your digital signature.”

I opened the file in my Lattice and projected it into my Heads Up Display, or "HUD," so I could page through it while I drank my second shake. It was pretty standard stuff; a solo run meant a bigger payout for me. The fact it was a night run always meant I would be taking on a greater risk to get it done. Much like it had been throughout history, some things only came out at night, and the Sprawl was no exception to the rule. This meant security at any of the major corporations was always tighter when the sun went down. It seemed a simple enough objective, just a deliv... I frowned and looked up at Penn, sliding the document to the side of my vision so I could see his face. "Really?" My voice was incredulous.

Penn didn’t react. “Really, what,” he said, straight-faced.

“You want me to walk into Jvotneya territory alone?” I didn’t let people know I was afraid most of the time. That would be a fatal mistake down here in the Sprawl. But everyone was scared of the Jvotneya gang. Comprised exclusively of hybrids; the core group had been born and bred in Russia to serve as heavy troops. Most of them had been spliced with a grizzly bear or white tiger DNA, and they were ruthlessly thorough in enforcing the borders of their territory. I had seen one of their border zones and seen the bodies of rival gang toughs who had tried to bull their way in by sheer numbers and force of arms. The Jvotneya enforcer who had routed the attack had left several of the unfortunate street soldiers hanging from meat hooks, alive, to mark their border more emphatically and act as a warning to others. I also heard the ones not hung up as a display had been eaten, but I wasn't sure what fact and what speculation at this point was. All I knew was this job was going to take me at night into a zone of ill-tempered badasses with superhuman strength, senses of smell and hearing. The catkin would probably be able to see in the dark, and the whole gang was almost certainly packing some serious chrome. I sighed. Oh well, if I turned down every job where I was physically outclassed, I would have starved to death in the first two weeks. I was five feet, and I didn't weigh much more than one hundred thirty pounds. My strength wasn't raw physicality, no matter the objective. I brought the document back around into my field of vision and stamped my electronic signature on it. With a flicking motion of one of my hands, I sent it winging back through the Matrix to Penn's own Lattice. "Alright," I said, already resigning myself to a long, tedious night, "What's the package?"

* * *

This is goddamn stupid, I thought as I stood before the walkway to Jvotneya territory. Strapped to my back, there was a cybernetic arm, wrapped in canvas. The arm was half as long as one of my legs, and probably weighed a third of what I did. I wasn't sure I wanted to know what kind of behemoth had ordered it. Damn thing must have cost a fortune. The only problem was I couldn't just walk in and deliver it. The Jvotneya gang was weird about their territory, and due to recent events, they had declared their neighborhood closed to the outside world, with no exceptions. Much as I joked about having a preference for bearkin men, I didn't want to end up the object of an entire pack's attention, especially when catkins were involved. The traits of the donor species' personalities tended to find their way into the psychology of the hybrid, and the catkin was especially susceptible to sociopathic behavior. So there was no chance I was negotiating my way in. I had to find out what the local boss demanded to gain entry and try to meet his demands or work around them. Unfortunately, the boss of the Jvotneya gang was an old Rakshasa; a tiger hybrid known to be a real stickler for tradition. What that meant to an eighty-year-old unkillable catkin was damned inscrutable. Fucking cats and their weird rituals, I thought. I didn’t say anything out loud; not under my breath, not even in a whisper. With my luck, some catkin would hear it from like five-hundred meters away, and I would pretty quickly discover whether or not there was any truth to the cannibal rumors. I took a deep breath and stepped onto the walkway. The only way to find out what the old cat wanted was to ask.

The Jvotneya territory consisted of a gutted and repurposed “Efficient Housing Pod.” The EHPs had been a short-lived attempt by one corporation or another to build a cheap solution to the overpopulation problems plaguing the Sprawl. They were mainly long concrete and steel boxes affixed to the deep roots of the corporate towers. Pipe and plastic walkways connected all of the pods together to a central hub, from which residents were supposed to be able to ride an elevator car up to their jobs closer to street level. Unfortunately, the corporation responsible for the construction of all the EHPs had folded, after the upper five levels of its management hierarchy had been found smeared across the inside of a boardroom up in the corporate heavens. They were bought out during the short interregnum, and the assets they had invested in the construction of their housing hive were redirected elsewhere by the new parent company. Now, the EHPs, all primarily served as headquarters for gangs originating in the lower levels of the Columbia Sprawl. The pods had been built tough; with limited access to them from the outside world, they were damned hard to assault, as numerous slower thinking gangs had discovered over the years. The elevator in the Hub didn’t work, though its support spire did extend all the way up to street level. Getting to the housing hub required a roundabout trip through half a dozen gang territories. I had gotten through this part fairly easily. Now, however, I needed a way into the Jvotneya stronghold. I had taken the job, so if I failed (and survived the failure), I would have to pay for the loss Penn incurred, both monetarily and in street cred. No one wanted to associate with the “girl who botched jobs.”

I set my shoulders and approached the barrier to the Jvotneya zone. It stood almost two stories high, stretching to just below the level of the network of walkways and buildings hanging above. It had been built of scaffolding, and the front of the frames had been heavily plated in scrap steel. I saw old twenty-first-century taxi hoods in there, as well as what looked like the flat side of an airplane. The only passage through the wall was a single gate large enough for three of me to walk abreast through it. I imagined it was just wide enough to be comfortable to whoever had ordered the large metal arm I was carrying on my back. Standing in the center of the open passage, there was a single massive sentry, silhouetted against the flickering light from the compound he protected. I could smell roasting meat, even over the raw stink of the place, and despite the filth of my surroundings, I felt my stomach rumble. I wondered if it was real meat. More than likely it had come out of the spam vats. When I came within ten paces of the gate guard, he held up a hand as broad as a dinner plate and said, simply, "Stop."

I stopped. A light clicked on over the gate, blinding me temporarily. When I finally cleared the afterimages from my vision, I found myself standing face to face with a Kodiak large enough to put my whole head in his mouth. He was, for the most part, quite human in appearance. I might have thought him just a strange-featured vanilla man was it not for the incredible amount of shaggy hair growing on his arms and chest and spilling down from his head and chin. The man's face wasn't quite the right shape, either. His nose and jaw were too pronounced, his brow too thick and swept back. Also, as he smiled, the man revealed a mouth full of teeth that could easily have chewed through my spine. I suppressed the urge to shudder at the thought. Showing fear before a bearkin - and, most likely, the catkin nearby I couldn't see - was a great way to wind up being seen as prey. So I put the best grin I could muster on my face, tilted my head back so I could meet the sentry's small black eyes, and said, brightly, "Hi! I'm here to make a delivery for Khara."

The bearkin didn’t move. In a voice so deep I thought I felt it rattle my teeth in my skull, he said, “You are not Jvotneya. The Den is closed to outsiders.”

Right. “Well, I have a delivery for Khara. And I can’t give it to anyone but him.” I resisted the urge to open my third eye and have a peek inside the big guy’s brain. I was pretty sure I had pushed myself to the edge of my limit this morning when I had tried to read the mind of one of the Feeders. I couldn’t afford to collapse into a puddle of pain, not here. I would never make it out alive. “So unless you and I can work something out to where I could deliver this package to your boss, I’ll just have to stand here.”

“What does that matter to me,” rumbled the bearkin sentry. “I am watching the gate. What does it matter to me if a slender little morsel such as you stands there before me? Maybe I get hungry and find out how you taste?” He turned away and began to walk back toward the gate.

I narrowed my eyes. I wasn't sure what I could do about it, but that man had basically just declared I was beneath his notice. Not worth dealing with. If I didn't do something to save face, I would never get in - after all, according to the unspoken rules of the Sprawl, if someone showed you up and you backed down, you were all but admitting to all witnesses present they were your superior. I'm pretty sure a four-hundred-pound bearkin is your superior. I sighed. This was a very, very bad idea. "Hey, fuzzball," I called at the retreating sentry's back. His ears twitched at the word ‘fuzzball, ' and he half turned to glower at me over his shoulder with one eye. "You need to keep me out, and I need to get in." As I spoke, I circled him to his left, so my back was to the deepest shadows at the base of the wall.

“Obviously,” the sentry growled.

“Well equally obvious is the fact I can’t fight you, not one on one.” My back began to itch, right between my shoulder blades.

"No, you can't." The bearkin settled one enormous clawed hand meaningfully on the butt of a truly monstrous revolver hanging at his waist. He wouldn't even need bullets to kill me with that. One blow with the butt of the gun and he would crush my skull.

I could feel tension building somewhere behind me. I didn’t have anything to go on but for my constrained psychic senses. Just when I thought the waiting would make me scream, I felt the thing in the darkness behind me move. I dropped flat to the ground, and an enormous white-haired Rakshasa went soaring just over my head. He seemed to hang there for a moment, sculpted muscles moving in perfect precision, the faint white hairs covering his athlete’s frame patterned with subtle black stripes. It was a beautiful pounce. But I had anticipated it, and instead of hitting me in the back and tearing sections out of my spine, the roaring apex predator flew right past me and hit the bearkin squarely in the chest, his fingers clenched into claws. The bearkin swore and roared, then punched the Rakshasa in the face, sending him reeling backward across the walkway. But the Rakshasa wasn't down, not even close. With a guttural snarl, the tiger-man hybrid launched back after the bearkin, and within moments they were fighting each other in earnest. Taking the distraction as the gift it was, I sprinted through the gate, dashing straight into Jvotneya territory.

The big concrete box serving as the Jvotneya home and headquarters resembled a hive more than a prefab housing stack. Walls had been knocked down in some of the apartments, and barriers had been erected in others. It wasn’t a terribly messy place, but there was no symmetry to it at all. Everywhere I looked, catkin and bearkin were gathered together in little clusters around individual barrel fires, talking and eating. The whole place stank of burning trash and roasting meat, but under it all, I thought I detected a faint chemical reek. I couldn’t place it, but it burned the inside of my nose.

Wanting to complete my delivery before anyone realized something was wrong, I strode deeper into the little neighborhood with as much confidence as I could muster. I could feel eyes on me, burning into the skin at the back of my neck. It wasn’t the first time I had felt the weight of hungry gazes, but if the rumors about the Jvotneya gang were true, then it was the first time the hunger in question had been literal. I looked around, taking in what I could quickly. I couldn’t crane my neck and stare all around myself like a tourist. I needed to find my target and go, quickly. I could already see dark shapes angling toward me, coming down from some of the higher dwellings and stepping out from shadowed alcoves. I couldn’t run, though. The moment I revealed myself to be prey, I was dead for sure. I spotted my target, deeper in the neighborhood, through a crowded boulevard packed with busy hybrids. There was a single house built in the middle of an open courtyard, festooned with graffiti and other tangles of street art. Guards stood at the door, a bearkin and a catkin. I needed to move. I strode forward into the crowded main street, making for the house, hoping all the while the Jvotneya boss, Khara, was nearby.

There were all kinds of hybrids here, really, though the bearkin and catkin were by far the most numerous. They were, by and large, mostly human, with only mild outward traits betraying their true nature. Occasionally, however, I would see a hybrid who looked more like a beast than a man. One such man, sitting in front of a dark doorway, looked like a bear that someone had tricked into wearing clothes. He saw me watching him, and I had to stifle the urge to jump when I met his eyes. Where the rest of his body was that of a bear, his eyes were entirely human. His great jaws dropped open, revealing a neat array of teeth; they could doubtlessly rip through my flesh with little difficulty. Not sure what expression he was making, I nodded in acknowledgment and smiled, careful not to show any teeth. The great bear-man returned my nod gravely and stood like a man, straightening his spine to reach his full height of nearly nine feet.

Just then, a heavy, rough hand seized me by the shoulder and spun me around. It was a catkin with a lantern jaw and slitted green eyes. He grinned, showing me his sharpened teeth. "Pretty neat trick getting past the gate duty, but this is as far as you go."

I didn't let myself think too hard about it, I just acted. This was the crucial moment. Whatever I did here mattered- more than anything I could have said, more than any lie I could have tried to sell the man. It was a bad idea, but it seemed I was full of those today. I opened my inner eye, and without waiting for the sound of a hundred thousand thoughts to come crashing in, I lashed out with my mind, attacking the tiger hybrid with everything I had. I couldn't stop now; I was too close! For a single, terrifying moment, I was sure my telepathy had done nothing. I was already anticipating sharp claws biting into the side of my head. Surely the catkin would know, surely he would attack me… Then I felt it. The hybrid's mind. It was not much different than my own, though it had been largely divided into two sections. The first was ordinary, full of the thoughts I had come to expect in a person. Trivial things, really, thoughts and feelings of the most mundane significance. In contrast, however, I found no words within the second section of the brain. Only instincts, needs, and urges. It was something I hadn't considered in my dealings with the hybrids at Penn's bar. The growing tidal wave of local thought started to creep through my inadequate mental defenses and seep into my brain. At that moment, I gained a new sort of respect for the hybrids in my life, Penn included. They were just like me or any of the other mercs at the Greasy Wheel. But hybrid instincts were… stronger… louder. The green-eyed man was a good-humored street tough; I could see it in the patterns of his thought. He was more of a talker than a fighter. But underneath the man, there was the cat, and the cat just saw prey. Even with all I dealt with as a Psion, I couldn’t imagine living with that kind of inner turmoil. But just because I respected their internal struggle didn't mean I was above exploiting it.

I ignored the rational part of the catkin man’s brain entirely. I didn’t need to convince it of anything. I just had to get the id talking- I just needed to speak to the irrational part of the brain driven by impulse. In a hybrid, it seemed, it was a lot more powerful than it might have been in an ordinary man. If I could make the id really, really want to do something, chances were the rational mind would follow whether it wanted to or not. I wasn't sure what I had found, or if what I wanted to do would work, but nonetheless, I reached in for what I hoped was the fear center of the tiger hybrid's brain and overloaded it. Bright green eyes went wide, the slitted pupils contracting to a line no thicker than a hair. His face contorted, and tears started up in the corners of his eyes. He stepped back from me, staggered, and fell, his mouth open and working but no sound came out. I winced. That was a lot more bang than I wanted for my buck. I turned back toward the hut in the center of the neighborhood. People were noticing the catkin's contortions and starting to pay attention. It was now or never. Throwing caution to the wind, I sprinted straight for the door.

People reacted in alarm all around me. Shouted commands of "stop" were swallowed up by the chorus of instinctive snarls and growls as the attention of everyone within twenty yards focused on me. The guards at the door stepped together, blocking my way. They wore guns at their waists, but neither of them bothered to draw them. Instead, they crouched low, ready to snatch me up off the ground if I tried to bull through them. But I wasn't planning on trying to fake out another pair of guards. That trick would only work one time. I reached out with my mind, seizing upon the psyche of the bearkin, who was blocking most of the door. Now I had done it once, I figured I could do it again. With all the willpower I could muster, I shouted, DANGER, GET DOWN, directly into his mind. Reacting with the speed of reflex, the bearkin dropped flat on the ground, and I had my opening. I didn't slow down; I didn't pause to consider the risk- I couldn't give the catkin guard time to react. Aiming for the now open door, I lunged forward and jumped, sailing past the bewildered sentry and tucking into a roll as I hit the floor. The weight on my back made the movement a little awkward, but still, I managed to come up on my feet inside the little building.

The one-room structure had been set up in the style of a classic office. It was dominated by an enormous desk, made of what I was amazed to recognize as petrified wood. I couldn't even begin to imagine the cost of such a thing. The simple, concrete walls were decorated with certificates and paintings, but for a single wall. The actual wall was hidden behind a floor to ceiling bookshelf strained under the weight of an over-large library. I was taken aback once more- the shelves were piled high with actual analog books. I wasn’t sure I had ever even seen one before. Perhaps when I had been a child? Maybe at one of the museums in the upper city? Not even my parents had dared to invest in such fragile wealth. “Can I help you?” A deep, amused voice rumbled from behind the desk, and I remembered where I was with an ice-cold spike of fear.

I looked at the owner of the voice and frowned, taken aback. He looked human, and not particularly remarkable at that. He was skinny rather than lean, and his leathery skin was stretched taut by what appeared to be hunger more than any outward muscle. And yet this man was Khara? The feared Rakshasa leader of the Jvotneya gang? I guessed him to be of Mongolian descent, and I wondered just how many of the previous century's wars he had seen. He could have been anywhere between forty and sixty-five, a weathered bald man with what might have been liver spots staining one side of his stark skull. I had heard rumors he was closer to one hundred and fifty years old. It was the eyes that told me of his true nature. Where the rest of his features were decidedly human and ordinary, his eyes were absolutely those of a tiger. They were yellow as sulfur, split down the middle by pupils just now narrowing into slits. I needed to speak. If I stood here a second longer without showing respect, my innards would be painting the inside of the room in short order. "Boss Khara," I began, trying not to sound out of breath. "I have come with your delivery."

Just then, someone burst through the door and slammed broad hands down on my shoulders, their fingertips digging into the muscle so hard I had to stifle a cry of pain from the base of my throat. I felt something warm trickling down my arms beneath my shirt. Right. Claws. Boss Khara smiled indulgently. In a conversational tone, he said, “Stop.” Just like that, the pressure on my shoulders disappeared. “Come here, girl. Show me this delivery you have.”

Quickly, I unslung the bundle I had been carrying, ignoring the burning in my shoulders from where the claws had pierced my skin. I slid the bindings aside and lifted the great cybernetic arm out of the canvas wrapping. Then, holding it in both hands, I held it out for the old man. “I came as quickly as I could. Making it through your perimeter was something of a challenge.”

Boss Khara smiled. “I gathered.” He reached out and took the arm with one hand, not showing any discomfort at bearing up what must have been sixty pounds in one frail hand. “Good. Thank you for bringing this to me. And next time, you might try to have a more well thought out plan. You made it here by the skin of your teeth.”

I nodded, accepting the mild criticism without comment.

The Rakshasa shrugged and set the arm down on the floor, leaning it up against the desk. “Right. Well, you did make it here, and I suppose this is more than enough qualification for what I need from you.”

I blinked, confused. “What do you mean? Didn’t I just complete the job?”

Boss Khara smiled genially. "Yes, and you will, of course, be paid for your services, ‘Red Viper.' But this was also an audition, you see; one your good Fixer believed you were uniquely suited to pass. I believe you are exactly what I need to solve a little problem I've been having."

My heart did a backflip. This was an audition? How did Penn know I would be able to do what I had just done? If anything, he should have assumed I would be killed before I made it through the gate. Had he just tried to have me killed? Or was his faith in my abilities really that absolute? “Um,” I said, stupidly. “What’s the job?”

Khara stood, his movements smooth and graceful, utterly belying his apparent age. "A sixteen-year-old girl from my neighborhood went missing a few days ago. Her family insists she would not just run away and that she was not involved romantically with anyone they know of."

“What if they just didn’t know,” I asked, almost reflexively. “Parents don’t always know the goings-on of their children.” I gave him a wry smile. “Mine sure didn’t.”

In answer, Khara simply tapped his nose. “There is no such thing as a secret relationship to most beastkin such as me. This applies threefold to the missing girl’s family. They are a pack of wulfkin, and Wulfen have senses of smell able to rival even my own. Trust me, if their daughter had been spending substantial time with a boy, they would have known almost immediately.”

I blew out a short breath. In that case, I didn't envy the girl’s childhood. I had hardly been a wild child when I was sixteen, but I'd had relationships of varying degrees of seriousness. I couldn't imagine what a nightmare it must have been to grow up knowing your parents would immediately know if you had been sneaking out, among other things. "So a Wulfen girl goes missing, and her parents have no idea what happened. What makes this special? Wouldn't one of your people be better suited to finding her? After all, I can't smell the difference between two different people, and if she were kidnapped or harmed by a hybrid, they'd have every advantage over me in a fight."

Khara tilted his head to the side a little bit as though he had just heard something he couldn't quite identify. The gesture was very cat-like. "Not every advantage, as I understand,” he said, grinning slyly at me. For the second time in five minutes, I felt my heart stop dead in my chest. “Yes,” he added upon reading my expression. “I know all about that. It’s part of why I wanted to hire you.”

“Why?” I managed to choke out. “Why me? I barely have any real control over it and even less power. More than likely, if I try anything too complicated, I’ll wind up lying on the ground with my brain leaking out my nose and ears.”

Khara studied me for a moment, and then answered, “Because the missing girl is also a Psion. And she is not the first of your kind to go missing in recent weeks.” A shadow passed over his face, hinting at a great anger I hadn’t seen before. His control had just slipped, just a fraction- but within moments, his discipline was back in place. “In addition, I cannot be sure one of my own was not involved. I need someone unattached to me specifically to look into this. Otherwise, any potential traitor in my neighborhood will simply lay low. I need to know if such a traitor exists so I might deal with him. And I need to find out where the girl has been taken- if she was taken and not simply killed- so I might take steps to get her back to her family. The Jvotneya look after their own.”

I rocked a little on my feet. This was… bigger than anything I had dealt with before. My jobs had been pretty straightforward. Despite what the Cleaner, Yakov, had said as a joke, I was no detective. This seemed like something a little out of my depth. But, said a little voice from somewhere deep in the pit of my stomach, the payout on this would probably be amazing. I rolled my inner eye at myself. You can’t spend a reward if you’re dead. “So where would I start? Do you have any leads for me to follow?”

“Only one, in fact,” replied the Rakshasa. “I will include the information my people have gathered as an attachment to the contract should you choose to sign it.” Almost immediately, a notification alert popped up in my peripheral vision, indicating I had a pending transmission to my Lattice.

I opened the file and skimmed the contract. Much like the delivery job which had drawn me out here, it was a fairly standard affair. Attached there was a digital case file, a virtual folder full of documents and photographs; it looked as though it had been taken straight from an old police procedural before the war. I didn't try to open it. It would remain sealed until I signed. "I'll do it," I said to the Rakshasa, my voice filled with much more confidence than I felt. "But I have to ask, why wouldn't you hire one of the police or detective corps down here in the Sprawl? They have the experience I don't, and I'm sure at least one of those people is... like me."

Khara fixed my gaze on his own for a moment, and I tried not to shudder. When those yellow eyes locked onto my own, I felt a base, gut-level desire to turn and run. The jungle had long since died, but the tigers had simply traded in one home for another. There was no question that, as frail as he might appear, Khara could kill me in moments, and there was little I could do to stop him. Finally, he spoke. "I didn't call a coppercorp because I want the problem solved. I want that girl found. The boys in blue have a habit of shooting my people when they get nervous, and I imagine a sixteen-year-old wulfkin is probably a wreck after being kidnapped and held captive. Whoever goes in to get her needs to be able to bring her out calmly, or she'll just kill whoever she can and escape. We aren't beasts, Red Viper, but we are beastkin, and we don't react well to being trapped."

I swallowed hard. This was going to be a nightmare. But I needed the money, and most importantly, I needed the rep. “Alright, I’ll do everything I can to find her. You can count on me.” I stamped my digital signature into the contract file and sent it back to the boss of the Jvotneya. “I guess I had better get started.” I turned and stepped toward the door.

“Red?” The Rakshasa called, and I turned back. The old man was sitting back down in his chair, a grim but satisfied expression on his wrinkled face.

“Yes?”

Something hit me, so hard my legs collapsed beneath me and sent me sprawling to the ground. It took me a moment to realize the blow had been internal, a hit to my mind rather than my body. It took me a second longer to realize I could not move, not even to breathe. I immediately began to panic, but I couldn't even twitch, much less scream or thrash around. I couldn't move my eyes. All I could see was the side of that large desk, the grain of the ancient wood turned to stone by centuries of calcification. From the other side of the desk, Khara's voice said, "Never use your telepathy on one of my people again. Not in my neighborhood, not in my house. You are alive only because you didn't know. But now you do." And just like that, I was released. I gasped in a deep breath and just lay there on the floor, shuddering and sweating. "Do we have an understanding?" the Rakshasa purred.

“Yes,” I managed to croak.

“Good. Now go.”

I struggled to my feet, terrified and humiliated, and stumbled out of the little building. I paid no attention to the guards as I passed nor did I meet any of the curious gazes along the way as I left the Jvotneya compound. I just got out of there as quickly as I could, all but running away with my proverbial tail between my legs. I was just happy I hadn’t actually pissed myself.

* * *

When I made it back to my apartment, I was exhausted. My whole body felt weak and shaky as if some enormous creature had grabbed me in both of its hands and wrung me out like a towel. My door clicked open at a command, and I shuffled inside my Coffin. I shucked out of my clothes and tossed them in a pile by the sink. I really needed to do some laundry. I was far too worn out to worry about this just now. I set my needle gun down in its customary place beside my sleeping pad and collapsed onto the thin mat. It was an inadequate place to sleep in every sense, but it was all I had. At the moment, I didn't care about the lack of comfort. I just needed to sleep. Exhaustion was one thing, but with the psychic beating I had taken throughout the day, my control over my inner eye was getting weaker by the moment. I needed to sleep, but I couldn't risk passing out without the drugs. Without the drugs, I would dream, and if I dreamed…

I snatched the little bottle of pills off of the ground by my mat and twisted the cap open. I dumped out one of the little blue tablets and counted what remained. I cringed a little. Three more. I needed some real money, and soon. These pills weren't cheap. But I couldn't live without them. I placed the hexagonal tablet under my tongue and let it dissolve ignoring the burst of bitterness as it quickly succumbed to my saliva. The effect was nearly immediate. Cold crawled its way out of my mouth, sending tendrils up into my brain and stretching roots down into each of my limbs. I began to go numb- not so much I couldn't feel anything, but enough for the whole world to become dull to my senses. It was like someone had thrown a heavy leaden blanket over me, and nothing could quite reach my mind. My emotions flattened out and drained away into nothing. I felt nothing; I cared about nothing. All the aches and pains of the day evaporated before the weight of the nothingness as if it were as hot and bright as a star.

I lay down atop my sleeping mat and pulled the ragged blanket over me. I closed my eyes. With the pills, I wouldn't so much fall asleep as I would soon black out entirely. For the first time since I had woken this morning, I dared to relax. The wall around my inner eye crumbled, and my mind stared into the middle distance with an utter lack of concern usually reserved for the dead. Distant impressions and muffled voices moved around somewhere beyond my reach, where the drugs did not touch. But they weren't allowed close to me. There was real, actual, blessed silence in my mind, for once. Finally, I could relax. Finally... Darkness.

* * *

Chapter Three

I am kneeling in darkness. All I know is that the ground beneath my knees is painfully hard. Perhaps I am kneeling on concrete. Where am I? My hands are bound. Or are they? I realize I can't move any part of my body besides my eyes- not that looking around is doing me much good. The room is darker than a tomb, which is ironic considering I sleep in a Coffin. As if on cue, a light explodes into the room, blinding me, but I can't look away. I can't even blink. All I can do is move my eyes. I want to panic. I want to scream, but nothing comes out. My breathing is smooth and even. My heartbeat is regular. I'm not even allowed to feel afraid. But I can still think, can't I? Can't I? The light softens, leaving afterimages burned to my retinas. When they finally clear, I realize I am staring into the barrel of a gun. There is a click as someone squeezes a trigger, and in the instant before my brains are blown out of the back of my head, I am certain I see light blossoming from inside the weapon. I am not even allowed to be afraid. The sight is beautiful. And I am driven from the world in a hammer blow of thunderous pain.

I woke up gasping for air, writhing atop my sleeping mat soaked in sweat. My throat was dry. I had been screaming. But I wasn't the one screaming now. In fact, several people were screaming, in the Coffins all around mine. Shit, I thought, knowing exactly what had happened. The drugs had worn off in the night, and I had started dreaming. I was developing a tolerance for the chemicals. They weren't keeping me down as long as they had before, and in my sleep, I had been broadcasting my nightmares into the sleeping brains of everyone around me. I clamped down on my inner eye and slammed my psychic barriers shut around it, trying to cut off whatever connections I had made through the night. This kind of thing was dangerous, not just for the people I affected, but for me as well. If I hurt people enough times, they would start to figure out what was going on. The Varkid-Davis Act had made Psionics all but illegal and subject to heavy government control and censure. Though I wasn't as bad off as hybrids and synths were under that law, I knew the wrong story told to a local coppercorp would land me in an isolation tank, or worse. And if I wound up in the system, my parents would find me. I wasn't sure they were actually looking for me, but if a cop-for-hire showed up at their door telling them how their long lost daughter had been arrested, they would be forced to deal with me. I doubted the venerable Hsu family would take such an embarrassment lightly. I needed to get more drugs, but more importantly, I needed a new way to control myself. I could see clearly now the drugs weren't going to work forever. Unless I wanted to render myself surgically unable to sleep, I had to get a handle on my telepathy otherwise, my days as a free woman were numbered.

I rolled off of my sleeping mat and stood, groaning. The screams had stopped. Hopefully, everyone I had affected just thought they'd had an ordinary bad dream and didn't go asking around. I wasn't ready to handle a witch hunt, not yet. I had a job to do, and what's worse, little idea on how to do it. I needed to look through the lead the Boss of the Jvotneya had given me. I needed to talk to someone who could turn the little information I had into a solid trail to follow. I needed to see Blackout.

* * *

Blackout's latest Coffin was located in stack some thirty miles from my own. I climbed closer to street level and took one of the metro lines from my sector of Columbia over into his. Back before the wars, the trains had been buried in the dirt, but when the depths of the city had been excavated to make room for more Sprawl, Columbia's Metro lines had become monorails. New tracks were constructed, each set running a few stories lower than the one above it; it was possible for an upper-class citizen to spend their entire life ignorant of the masses of poor living literally beneath their feet. I stuck to the deepest set of monorails, preferring to stay as far down in the depths of the city as I could manage. Few coppercorps bothered to come down this far, and enforcement of the Varkid-Davis Act was little more than a token gesture. The train I rode was packed to the walls; many of the passengers were hybrids, and many of their fellows were people grafted with so much cyber ware that by the government's reckoning they weren't human anymore. A train full of society's rejects, riding along beneath its nose and notice- it was comforting. Caught up in this crowd, I didn't feel so strange. I didn't feel so alone.

It wasn't I was the only Psion I knew. Hell, I had met two new ones in a single day. But where most of the hybrids could feel a sense of solidarity in their shared "abnormal" appearances, I was bereft of those connections unless I revealed myself. It was dangerous to do so- the previous day had driven this fact home. Khara, the leader of the Jvotneya gang, had been so powerful as to be able to render me helpless with little effort; I had little doubt he could have killed me without much more trouble. Yakov was also formidable, though as a TK, his abilities were a great deal more overt than my own. Faced with such powerful minds as these, I felt insignificant. Small. Vulnerable. How did someone like Khara protect himself from all of the things plaguing me? Did he wake up during the night in sweat, having stolen the nightmares of his people? Did the Jvotneya experience dreams that were not their own, projected into their minds by their own leader? Or did he have some kind of control, some form of protection I lacked? In the latter case, I wondered where I could learn such a technique. The Psions of Columbia were secretive and paranoid by necessity, and not all of them were friendly to others of their kind, evidently.

The train stopped, and I looked up the display above the door. Sector 48D. I squeezed through the incessant flow of oncoming passengers and left the monorail car. Barely a moment after my feet touched the platform, I heard the beep and hiss of the doors forcing themselves closed. People scrambled to clear them and get back, and seconds later, the train was ripped away behind me in a gale of foul air and a crack of electromagnetic thunder. I wrinkled my nose. I supposed Sector 48D didn’t actually smell worse than my own; I was just more used to 12A's unique mixture of chemical stink and sweat. This place stank of ozone and sulfur and the air all around me felt practically alive with static.

As I left the monorail platform and stepped into the pedestrian flow, one of the biggest differences between this part of Columbia and my home neighborhood became impossible to ignore. Where 12A was home to hybrids of all kinds, 48D was a sea of chrome. Virtually everyone around me sported a cybernetic graft of one kind or another. Many of them had cybernetic limbs or eyes; some even had extra limbs added atop those they had been born with. An especially intriguing woman working at a food vendor's cart had honest-to-goodness wings and a tail, both of which had been fashioned from some kind of coppery metal, giving her the look of a cartoon devil. I smiled. It was easy to see why Blackout preferred this place. Amidst all this chrome, who would pay any attention to someone like him? I crossed the market square- which was really just the top of an EFP turned into a community square- and headed for the nearby Coffin stack, but not before picking up a plastic bowl of freshly extruded ramen noodles. I personally hated the stuff, but it was Blackout's favorite food. I preferred to start him off in a good mood, especially when I was about to ask him for a favor. I climbed the stairs to his level and knocked on his coffin door.

Blackout answered the door with a smile on his face and a flechette gun in his hand. When he saw me and my gift of ramen, he lowered the gun. “Hey, Red! It’s been a long time since you’ve brought your beautiful bad self to my neck of the woods! What’s the occasion?”

I snorted. “You know why I’m here, Blackout, I sent you a message to let you know I was coming.”

"Yeah, but I didn't read all of it, babe, I was shredding some corporate ice at the time, and I couldn't afford the distraction." Ice, or IC, was what people called anti-hacker programs in the Matrix. Blackout had been running a job. He stepped aside to allow me to enter his home. His Coffin was much the same as my own, too low for an ordinary person to stand up straight, dark and spare. The difference was where my place was something of a single woman's nest, this Coffin was strewn with tech. The entirety of one wall was taken up by a series of folding monitor panels, and a halfway disemboweled deck computer was tethered to the numerous displays, cables, and wires spilling from its technological guts to link to an array of gadgets and attenuated subsystems whose purpose I could only guess. There was a stack of empty ramen bowls against one wall and a sleeping mat on the floor; this was the only sign a human man lived in the Coffin at all. Blackout didn't get attached to things. I supposed it was a natural side effect of being one of Columbia's most notorious cyber-terrorists.

I picked a corner mostly free of the web of cables and sat. Blackout sat next to me, and I held out the ramen for him to take. He didn't look like a hacktivist, though I supposed there wasn't exactly a uniform for the job. He was skinny, much like most of the Sprawl's population, though he took it to the extreme. His bones stood out beneath his nearly charcoal-dark skin, and he might have looked like a corpse if he hadn't been so damn cheerful all the time. I was certain I could count his ribs, which was admittedly made easier by the fact he was naked to the waist. One of his arms ended at the elbow, and instead of a cybernetic arm, the stump had been fitted with a cap containing a wide array of connection points and cable jacks. Branching back from his arms like veins I could see cables stretching across his chest toward his heart. He didn't have any hair, having opted to be rendered surgically bald at a young age. Blackout didn't have time for hair. He didn't have time for much. I guessed that single-handedly fighting the corporate stranglehold on the world kept a man busy.

“So what brings you my way?” the hacker asked, slotting a thick, braided cable into a port in his capped left arm. “I doubt you’re here to profess your eternal love for your buddy Blackout.” He grinned, his teeth stark in the darkness. He already knew the answer. We had done this song and dance many times in the last year.

“No, no love for Blackout,” I replied. I gestured to my beaten, tired body with one hand. “I can’t just let anyone get their hands on this. I’ve got some prime, quality, posthuman perfection going on here.”

Blackout’s grin only widened. “I wouldn’t mind a taste of that ‘perfection’ one day.”

I returned the grin with interest. “Sure, but not today.” I fished my hand in my pocket and drew out the cybernetic eyeball I had taken from the ‘suicide’ corpse down in the Bottom. “Today, I need you to pull the internal memory off of this. I want to see the last thing its wearer saw.”

He took the little piece of tech in his long-fingered, nimble hands, and eyed it critically. “Not sure I want to know why you want to know this.” He gave me a direct look. “Did you kill him?”

I blinked. “What?”

“Could be you’re covering your tracks, though with how low you live in the Sprawl, I dunno why you’d bother. Not like cops are going anywhere near your level of 12A without real big fish on the line. Not worth the hassle, otherwise.” His eyes widened. “Did you kill a corporate bigwig?”

I shook my head, chuckling. “No, Blackout, I didn’t kill anybody, though I did get to watch a real interesting specimen of a Cleaner turn a whole pack of Bottom Feeders into fodder for the vats.”

The hacker handed back the eyeball. "Sounds like a story," he said, crawling over to his tech array and fishing in the silicon and steel jungle without looking. His hand came up a moment later with a gadget which looked like an ice-cream scoop festooned with wires and lights. He set it down on the ground, holding it in place with his bare feet, and attached its main lead to his arm. Then he held his empty hand out toward me. "Give." I placed the eyeball in his hand. He attached it to the scoop device, which automatically adjusted to fit. Blackout stopped moving, his face going slack and his eyes going empty. I had seen this before. He wasn't really in his body anymore; he was in the Matrix.

The Matrix was a place I had never really been myself, though I supposed it might be a bit of a misnomer to refer to it as a “place” at all. Every Lattice on Earth was connected to the internet, which was itself a collection of networked servers and virtual sites. But the Matrix was like a further layer on top of that. Hackers and Matrix junkies like Blackout connected themselves to it in a way an ordinary Lattice couldn’t handle. To them, Internet was a place, a real place they could go, where the laws of the universe were theirs to shape. Every sufficiently powerful computer was its own planet, its own star system, really; every network was a constellation. People who had been there told me it was a place of endless wonders, every bit as real to them as Columbia or the Sprawl. It was a place where they were free to be their true selves, unburdened by expectation or the constraints of a society bought and owned by the impossibly wealthy. For people like Blackout, it was the only place real freedom could be found, and even then only if you were good enough at fighting for it, you could keep it. Countless corporations and fading governments had tried to seize control of one part of the Matrix or another, and most of them had failed utterly. Hackers, Blackout included, were fiercely protective of their world, and almost anytime someone had tried to limit that freedom the hacker community craved, they found themselves the target of large-scale attack the likes of which they couldn’t hope to resist. Rumors were officially unconfirmed, but it was widely accepted a hacktivist coalition had brought down Red Russia, the first of the major governments to crumble before the incoming obsolescence brought by corporate culture. Despite his physique and happy-go-lucky attitude, Blackout was one of the most dangerous people I knew. There was a reason I opened every meeting between us by offering him ramen.

Suddenly, Blackout’s body started going tense and his eyes going wide. He spoke, his voice distant but unmistakably disturbed. “What the hell did you bring me?”

“What?” I asked, frowning. “What do you see?”

“I don’t know. Nothing I’ve ever seen before.” He turned his head toward me, and his eyes came into focus for a moment. “I’m not sure you want to see what this guy saw, Red.”

I grimaced. “I’ll be the judge of that. What do you see?”

The hacker came fully awake again, shaking his head as if trying to clear something out of it and yanking the connection cord to the eyeball out of his stump arm as quickly as he could. "This is bad shit, Red. Real bad shit." He placed the eyeball back in my hand. "I'll give you what I pulled from it because you're a big girl and you can handle yourself." As I took hold of the cybernetic eye, his fingers closed, trapping mine. "But listen to me, my advice is you throw this thing away. Don't wipe and sell it, don't tell anyone you ever had it. You don't want the kind of trouble that killed this poor fucker." He let go of my hand.

I stared at him for a moment, unsure. Blackout was never serious. For him to be this way was a sign; whatever I had in my hand was way out of my league. For a moment I considered following his advice, telling him to delete the files he had pulled and forget he had ever had them. But then I saw in my head three people staring slack-jawed into space as an unseen hand aimed and fired a shot into each of their heads. One. Two. Three. No, I wasn't going to forget this. I wasn't sure what I was actually going to do with it, but I was already way too far in this to back out now. I had been locked into this the moment I had looked into the dead man’s eyes and seen his last thoughts. “Thanks, man,” I said. “I owe you one.” Before he could speak, I grinned and said, “I owe you one, professionally.”

Blackout smirked. “One day, Red.” He shrugged and peeled the foil cap off of the ramen bowl I had brought him. “And you don’t owe me anything. Reading a file is hardly a big favor. I’ll even send it to you encrypted, as a professional courtesy.”

"You're the best." I held my fist toward him, and he bumped it with the cup of ramen still in his hand. "But I've got to go. I have a job for an angry Rakshasa, and I don't really want to find out if he eats people who piss him off."

Blackout snorted. "Good luck with that. This is why I stick to Chrome City over here. These guys would just rip my arm off." I gave him a skeptical stare, and he grinned. "Well, okay, my neighbors would try to rip my arm off.”

I got up and shuffled to the door. "Well, thanks for your help, enjoy your evil little noodle cup." Blackout didn't answer. His eyes were blank and glassy, and his face had gone far away. He was back in the Matrix already. I let myself out of his Coffin and shut the door. The day was only just getting started, and I had a lot to do.

* * *

When I got back to my Coffin, I found a note stuck to my door. It read, "Greasy Wheel, 11.00." I looked at the clock in the corner of my HUD: 10:45 AM. "Shit," I groaned. I had hoped to get an hour nap in to make up for my disturbed sleep the night before. There were fewer people around the stack during the day, so there would be less risk of me contaminating anyone's dreams in my sleep. I sighed and set off for the bar.

When I got there, the midday rush was already in full swing. I waved to Penn, and he reached beneath the bar, coming up with a protein shake and a beer. I grinned. I really did like this place. I worked my way through the crowd of sweating bar patrons and retrieved my lunch, though this time I paid for it. Penn liked me, but not enough to risk irritating his customers by showing blatant favoritism. This was his business, and he was pretty much everyone’s Fixer around here. “Hey Penn, I heard someone was looking for me? They left a note saying I should meet them here. Was that one of yours?”

"No," the boarkin said, shaking his head. He fished a can of Bakky out of a greasy shirt pocket, opened it, and packed some of the stuff into his lip around one of his stained tusks. "I didn't send for ya. Figured you were still working on whatever job Khara sent you."

“Thanks for this, by the way,” I said, only semi-sarcastically. “Sneaking into Jvotneya territory wasn’t exactly a cakewalk.”

Penn shrugged. “You showed up late. Monday’s job day. You got what you got, and you got two jobs for the price of one. Don’t you like it? Tough shit, Red.” He grinned, softening his words. “Besides, it was the right job for ya. Could get you noticed by some bigger clients, get you tapped for some real money later. I did you a favor.”

I nodded, mollified. "It is a good opportunity, and I'm grateful for it." I pushed myself away from the bar. "But I need to find whoever left the note. With any luck, it'll be another chance at some ‘easy money.'" Before the boarkin could say it, I looked him in the eye and said, "Don't worry, Fixer, you'll get your cut. I wouldn't dream of edging you out." Penn snorted in amusement, and I turned away. The midday crowd was interesting. Most freelancers were on jobs at this point, and any wage slaves for the corps above were working their shifts. The people in this bar, then, were night people just off the clock, or people who did things even less legal and regularly managed than the average freelancer. I looked around and saw a few members of Jvotneya, interspersed among the hordes of small time gangers who sprawled everywhere there was room. Each little knot of small timers sported their own little unique colors and costumes; some of the most successful among them even had Matrix-tag accents to their outfits- patterns and symbols only visible to someone looking through a Lattice-projected HUD. I rolled my eyes. Each of these guys thought they were badass, and each of them thought their gang was the next big thing. But in truth, these kinds of gangs came and went with the moon, and I would have confidently bet the entire contents of my credit account a third of these losers would be dead within six weeks. There were always more; there would always be more. The only gangs with any permanence were the tight-knit communities like Jvotneya and the old-world gangsters like the Triad. I didn't see any of their people here today, but you never knew.

Someone waved, catching my eye, and I spotted Yakov sitting in a booth by the door, a drink and a checkerboard between him and the other person at the table; a woman wrapped in an expensive looking shawl and coat. She didn't look at all happy to be at the Greasy Wheel, and everything about her screamed "money." She was not from here. She was probably from up in the heavens. I couldn't imagine for the life of me what had brought her here. I approached the table, working my way through the crowd of wannabes. "Hey, Yakov, who's your friend?" The woman turned her head to look at me, and my heart stopped. I froze. I knew exactly who she was, or at the very least, exactly where I had seen her. She was the woman from the vision; the mother of the two children, or so I assumed, and in my mind, I had seen her shot in the face over and over again for the last twenty-four hours. I regained control of myself and took a seat on the bench next to Yakov, making him scoot over. I looked over at him, grimacing. "I assume the note was yours?"

"Yeah," the Cleaner said, nodding amiably. "Heard about someone asking around for a merc to look into something for her and I thought of you. Her husband was our jumper. I figure you're looking into it anyway; you might as well get paid to do it."

The woman sitting across the table winced at the word "jumper." I shot Yakov a poisonous look. His job as a Cleaner might have been an excuse for his lack of tact, but it didn't mean he got to be a total ass. He didn't react. He probably didn't care. I turned my gaze back to the woman. She was pale as cream, much like me, though unlike me, she didn't have any freckles. Her green eyes were bloodshot and puffy, and she seemed too far in shock to be terrified. That was probably a good thing, considering where she was. "Miss…" I began.

“Chandra,” she finished. Her voice was smooth and melodic, even though all of her grief.

“Miss Chandra, what is it you want me to do?” I cracked the top off of my beer and took a long pull. “I’ve been looking into your husband’s death on the side, but I didn’t really have a distinct objective. I know you want me to keep investigating, that much seems fairly obvious, but I need to know what your endgame is. How far do you want this to go?”

“What do you mean,” she replied, a little cold bite creeping into her voice. “What do you mean, ‘how far do I want this to go,’ idiot? I want to know who killed my husband!” She made as if to stand, muttering under her breath, “Never should have come down to this pit.”

I didn’t react to her flash of temper. She was a client. I was a professional, and she was grieving. “Miss Chandra,”

“Mrs. Chandra,” she corrected sharply.

"Mrs. Chandra, the reason I ask you this question is because there are options, each of which requires a different approach." The client stopped and settled back down into her chair, evidently reconsidering the wisdom of her outburst. I noted several of the older regulars in the bar had taken an interest in us. More than likely, Mrs. Chandra had noticed the same thing. I held up one finger, catching her attention. "The first option is for me to find out what I can as quietly as I can. As soon as I am reasonably confident in the accuracy of my information, I deliver this information to you via an encrypted transmission, and you do with it what you please. This is the most covert option, but in many ways, it is the most difficult. It also puts much of the onus on you when it comes to seeking justice or retribution for your husband's death."

Mrs. Chandra blinked, and then frowned, thinking. “What are my other options?”

"You hire me to find and ruin the murderer, and I utilize what contacts I have to destroy his business and financial interests. This is a simple enough task, but it's expensive for you. I would be forced to charge you expenses. Trying to crush someone in the business world is complicated. Honestly, if you want to do things this way, I recommend you have me get you the information, and you bring the data to a specialist to use. Better than using me as the middleman." Yakov gave me a skeptical look. Even without reading his mind, I knew he was asking me why I was recommending she cut me out. The truth was, I didn't have the patience to run a long term defamation campaign. It was more of something up Blackout's alley, anyway. If I got tied down doing this, it could make my other work much more difficult.

Mrs. Chandra leaned forward. “I want the third option.”

“I haven’t yet detailed that one,” I replied. I popped the tab on my protein shake and took a swig.

The client smiled; the look on her face savage and wild. “I want the murderer dead. That was going to be your third option, wasn’t it? You find and kill him?”

"Yes," I answered simply, and then washed the thick mouthful of my protein shake down with another swig of beer. I wiped my mouth with my sleeve. "I can do that." I brought up a standard contract template in my Lattice. "I'll run the contract by my Fixer, and he'll send it to you to sign. My rates are reasonable, and I assure you they fit industry standard."

Mrs. Chandra made a spitting motion over one shoulder. It was a gesture I recognized from my childhood in the corporate heavens as a sign of derision. "Money isn't an issue. Just get it done, and get it done quickly." She held out her hand. Projected between her fingers, there was an augmented reality business card. The card wasn't actually there; it was just an image and a sensation projected directly to my Lattice. As soon as I took the business card, it burst into flames before my eyes and disappeared. Mrs. Chandra's contact information was automatically added to my address book as the illusory ash disappeared. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at the drama. This was how people lived up there, and I had to pretend, at least, to respect my former life if I wanted people like Mrs. Chandra to pay me.

My client stood with all the personal confidence of a queen and strode briskly from the bar, ignoring the looks following her. I got up from the booth and took her abandoned seat so I could face Yakov. “Really,” I sighed. “How the hell did you find her?”

Yakov shrugged. “The same way I find anything. By asking my Fixer to keep her ear to the ground.”

“You’re a merc? I thought you were a Cleaner?”

The Cleaner chuckled and stretched languorously. “The job is fine, but sometimes I need a little extra dough for my various… hobbies.” I noticed he wasn’t wearing his armor. Maybe he didn’t have work today? It had been a long time since I had heard of anyone down here having a day off.

I laughed and downed the rest of my beer in a single pull. “You have time for hobbies?” I gestured to his t-shirt, which was blazoned with the name of a band I didn’t recognize. “Unless it’s casual Tuesday down at the Bottom.”

Yakov looked down at himself and then smiled sheepishly. “No such luck. The truck is in the shop. Half the electronics in the dash were cooked.” He sighed. “It’s the kind of thing that happens when I go loud. My boss is pretty flexible about the whole TK thing, but I’ve got to be more careful about pushing his limits.”

“Was he pissed?”

"I've seen worse," Yakov replied. "I told him about the Feeder rush, and that seemed to cool him down. He'd rather patch up a truck than try to replace a Cleaner. We're somewhat expensive to train."

“What does the training entail?” I asked, then finished my protein shake and crushed the can in my hand.

“Why, you thinking about applying?”

“Not really,” I said, shaking my head. “Couldn’t do the job for too long without losing my mind. It’s a wonder you manage.”

Yakov grinned and bugged out his eyes, trying to appear deranged. “How do you know I’m not crazy?”

I threw the empty can across the table at him. “‘Cause you ain’t trying to hit on me while wearing this shirt.” I got up. “You wouldn’t believe the kind of bullshit I get around here.”

Yakov smirked. “You are a posthuman. What did you expect?”

I glanced at my distorted reflection in my beer bottle. “You can tell?”

“Yeah, anyone with eyes can tell. You’re a little rough around the edges, but this doesn’t change what you are.” He stood and took my empty can and bottle from me.

“And what am I?” I asked, my tone skeptical.

He pointed at me with the bottle. “A pearl among swine.” Then he turned away and headed for the trash can. “Good luck with the job, and don’t forget you owe me an eye,” he called over his shoulder. I watched him go for a moment, then sighed and headed for the bar. I had to fill Penn in on the new job. Leaving one’s Fixer out of the loop was bad business, and pissing off the guy who screened your jobs was a good way to wind up getting the short end of the contract stick. I shook my head. At least I wasn’t hurting for work now.

* * *

I slipped inside my coffin and closed the door behind me. It was time to do some of the more tedious work. I stripped off my clothes and sat down on my sleeping pad in my skivvies. The Coffins were ventilated, but even with the lights off, it got muggy in here. I leaned back against the cold concrete wall and turned up the brightness on my HUD. I had two things I needed to examine: the footage from the dead man’s eye and the lead given to me by Khara. I weighed the two options in my head for a moment and then decided to start with the Jvotneya data.

I opened the file Khara had attached to the contract, projecting it into the air in front of me as if it was a floating folder of paper files. The missing girl's name was Yekaterin Domokova. She was sixteen, as the Jvotneya boss had said, and her status as a hybrid was fairly obvious looking at her picture. She was cute, apple-cheeked and wide-eyed, which drew attention to the wild animal-brown sclera surrounding her electric-blue eyes. She wore her shaggy hair in twin pigtails at the back of her head, and her smile was infectious even in a still frame. I felt the corners of my mouth tugging upward just looking at her. She had been missing for three days now, and no contact had been made with the gang demanding a ransom. That wasn't a good sign. Without a ransom demand, chances the girl was still alive plummeted down to Bottom.

I paged through transcript after transcript taken from witness interviews and pursed my lips appreciatively. Khara's people had done their homework. The question was why did the boss of the Jvotneya gang think one of his own was involved? Sure, the girl was believed to be in the compound when she had gone missing, but I thought it just as likely she had snuck out without her parents' knowledge and gotten snatched up on the streets. After all, Yekaterin was sixteen. I knew I had been trouble when I was her age; I didn't imagine being a wulfkin made teenage rebellion any less of an issue. If anything, the amount her parents could know about her just by smell made it seem only more likely some aspect of childhood rebellion was involved in the disappearance.

But then I remembered what Khara had said about why he had specifically brought me in for this job. The girl was a Psion, a telepath like me. If someone had snatched her up, chances were she would have made a massive disturbance as they tried to drag her away. There was a possibility her powers simply hadn't come in yet, but that seemed unlikely. Psionic abilities typically manifested during puberty, and as wild as the mixture of teenage hormones could be, the chance she would have gotten kidnapped without getting some kind of psychic message or cry for help out were slim to none...Unless her kidnappers knew she was a Psion and knew how to prepare. If they had hit her with a powerful enough tranquilizer by surprise, the girl wouldn’t have been able to do much of anything. But in that case, I thought, how would they have known? Unless there really is an inside man in Jvotneya?

I went back through the witness statements. I needed an idea of where she would have gone if she had really snuck out. But the story they told me matched what Khara had said, Yekaterin hadn’t left the compound. At the very least, she hadn’t snuck out in a fit of teenage rebellion. She was a good girl, straight-laced and an exceptional student. She had last been seen by her study group, which met in one of the member’s family’s apartment. She left the meeting and never came home. Her parents waited until the next morning, assuming much the same thing I had, but when they still hadn’t heard from her, they contacted Khara. Her Lattice was unreachable, and no messages sent to her in cyberspace were responded. Her parents’ messages hadn’t even gotten read receipts back. The girl had fallen off the grid. I didn’t know it was possible outside a corporate black site, and…I stopped.

A corporate black site. This was a possibility, even if it was improbable for a major company to be involved in the kidnapping of a local hybrid girl. I remembered Blackout’s words from earlier. My advice is you throw this thing away. You don’t want the kind of trouble that killed this poor fucker. I fished in my pocket and pulled out the cybernetic eyeball. There was little that scared Blackout- after all, his favorite pastime was waging open war with major corporations. But he had always been candid about his fear of corporate special operations. That was why he didn't keep many personal belongings, and why he insisted I sent him a message before I dropped by. If someone knocked on his door he didn't expect, he was coming out shooting, and he would be impossible to find, he had told me on many occasions. What if something like corporate special operations had snatched up the missing wulfkin girl? They would have the resources to pull off a discreet snatch, bag, and exfiltration. The question with this theory was why? Why would a corporation come down and snatch some random nobody off the streets? They wouldn’t, I thought. Corps only kept what they could use. So Yekaterin wasn’t just anybody, which put her in danger. I groaned, smacking my palm against my forehead. I’d spent the last nine months trying to be no one important, and now I could end up right back in the middle of it.

I needed another theory. A corporate conspiracy was an exciting idea, but it seemed far-fetched, even for someone as familiar with corporate thought as I was. More likely it was an attack by human purist groups. The Originals didn't usually dare come down too far into my section of the Sprawl, but they had been emboldened lately. The passing of the Varkid-Davis Act had all but confirmed their prejudice as law, and many of them still thought the government wasn't doing enough. I shuddered. I didn't want to know what the Originals would do to a helpless kid they had caught. She was a hybrid and a Psion, two of the things purists like the Originals hated. They weren’t known for their reason and restraint.

I grimaced and closed the file. I had two possibilities to look into, neither of them pretty. I opened my messages. Hopefully, the data Blackout had pulled off the eyeball had been worth something, or the next few days were going to be a nightmare. Two jobs with meager leads would be hell to follow up on. I loaded the video file, then leaned back against the wall and closed my eyes. My Lattice projected the image directly to my brain, bypassing my optic nerve, and when I opened my eyes, I looked out from a different face.

I couldn't look around- this was a video, not a simulation- but I guessed by the relative height of the things around me Mr. Chandra had not been a very tall man. He was nervous- the video kept flicking around, checking the corners and shadows near him. His view swept the empty street behind him and then continued to dart around as he moved. It was evident he was trying to be cautious and yet casual at the same time. He was failing at both. My view swiveled as he looked behind him again. It was strange to see Street Level like this; Mr. Chandra was near the Mall, and above the horizon, I could see the pale monolith of the Washington Monument silhouetted against the Technicolor sunrise in the smog-choked sky. I hadn't seen the sky since I was a child, and even then not often. Even the corporate heavens had their hierarchy, and as powerful as my family was, they didn't rate a home above street level. Life beneath the poison sky was for Senators, and to most of the population of Columbia, those people might as well have been far away gods.

Living down in the depths of the Sprawl made it easy to forget Columbia was unique amidst the family of still inhabited American cities. Where those Sprawls had grown higher and higher, like weeds, this one ate down deep into the bones of the earth like a fungus, growing roots and tunnels down to Bottom. Nothing could rise taller than the Washington Monument, in keeping with ancient tradition, though I was certain none of the powers involved in the day to day maintenance of the city gave one-half of a rotten protein cube about those traditions. It was politically convenient to observe the old ways, and so they did. It lent some semblance of legitimacy to the government- which might as well have been dead. It really was dead, and the Fed existing now was just the hollow spider’s corpse writhing with the blind, gnawing wasp-young of its corporate predators.

Mr. Chandra stopped moving, and I snapped to attention. My mind had wandered off with his furtive eyes, but now he was focused, and so was I. There was a figure in a heavy black coat and a hat standing beside the safety railing which marked the nearby edge of the street. This canyon of the plunging Sprawl wasn’t visible in the morning half-light. It was just a pool of blackness out in the dark. It was strange, watching events unfold through the eyes of a man who didn’t yet know he was dead. It was like going back in time. I knew vaguely what was coming, but I could do nothing to help Chandra. I couldn’t even warn him. I was a passenger, and his fate had already been written. He approached the figure in the coat, his nervousness evident in the jerkiness of his steps. Sound suddenly filled my ears; the white noise of the sleepy street. Chandra had switched on the audio recording. I wondered if the microphone was in the eyeball as well- the feed was too clear and unambiguous to have been drawn directly off his tympanic nerve. Chandra was speaking. “Hello? Amir Saugir, right?” Is that a code name, or the man’s real name? It was impossible to tell. Not yet.

The figure in the coat took a step forward. For a moment, I thought he must have been wearing some kind of fright mask. Then, as the light of a nearby streetlamp cast a ray beneath the brim of his dark hat, I realized the disfigured visage was real. Real flesh. Chandra gasped. It was clear; this "Amir Saugir" did not look the way he had expected. The man standing before him was easily seven feet tall and looked like he had been chopped roughly out of concrete. All the necessary parts of the body were where they were supposed to be, but they weren't quite right. The skin of his face seemed too hard, too glassy as if it was frozen solid. His eyes were black pits; were it not for the beetle-shell glitter from deep beneath his brooding brow, I might have thought they had been scooped out of his head. There were what looked like cracks in the frozen flesh around the man's eyes and mouth, and his lips and eyelids were stained red. I wondered if the flesh was actually frozen and if it was whether it bled every time he blinked or spoke. My question was answered almost immediately, as the frozen giant opened his wide mouth, revealing human teeth filed into points in places, giving him a cannibal grimace. His tongue and gums were too red, and as his lips moved, I could see little runnels of blood oozing from the cracks where his mouth moved. He spoke in a voice so hoarse and dry I wondered how his throat could even make a sound. "No, Elbert Chandra, I am not ‘Amir Saugir.' He is dead, and rightly so."

Chandra was shaking. He knew who this man was, and he was terrified. I wondered why he hadn't run the moment he had seen the monster. Clearly, he had seen this man before. "Listen, Gamma-Five, please, just listen,” he babbled. “You don’t have to do this. You don’t have to be-” But what Gamma-Five didn’t have to be was lost in a gurgled scream. I distinctly heard Chandra’s teeth click together with bone-crushing finality. I frowned. Chandra was still a good ten paces from the giant in the dark coat. What had just happened? Chandra bent, retching, and I could see a little gobbet of bloody flesh lying on the asphalt at his feet. Holy fuck, I cursed. Chandra had just bitten his tongue in half. He’d just slammed his jaw shut over his own tongue!

Chandra gagged, apparently unable to open his mouth, but he didn't fall. Instead, he straightened up. Gamma-Five was standing right in front of him, and my view was just barely level with the man's chest. A thin gray jumpsuit was stretched over a herculean physique; something about the cheap under-fit fabric reminded me of something I had seen before. And the name…Gamma-Five. This was a test subject, the fifth in a series. Gamma Series, specimen Five. I didn't have to ask what kind of experiment had made this beast, because Chandra turned, his movements mechanical and rigid, and approached the railing by the edge of the street. His eyes began rolling around, flicking from point to point in panic. His body was not his own. He was moving, inexorably, inevitably, toward the edge, and only his eyes could act. That rasping voice spoke again, just as Chandra clambered up to stand on the wrought iron railing. "Elbert Chandra, employment terminated." Chandra's eyes scrambled and rolled, searching for a way out and my vision of the moment became chaos. Through it all, however, the picture remained clear. Chandra couldn't even weep. He stepped forward from the railing into darkness and tumbled down into hell- where the rest of us lived. It was a long way down, but he wasn't allowed to scream.

* * *

I ended the video, returning to the musty dimness of my Coffin. I sat there for a long time, just leaning against the wall, staring at nothing. There were only two things that could have killed Elbert Chandra this way. The first wasn’t an option- he hadn’t had enough chrome for this. Just the eye, unless I missed my guess. The second- it was something with which I was intimately familiar. I couldn’t do it- I didn’t have the power or the training. But someone like me could. Chandra had been killed by a telepath. And in a terrifying moment, I understood the vision I had pulled from his dying brain. The woman in the vision had been his wife. He was scared for his family. Even as he fell to his death, he had been more terrified for his wife and children. And rightly so. That phrase, "Elbert Chandra, employment terminated." That hadn't been over-dramatic posturing. Based on what I had seen of Gamma-Five, I wasn't sure he would have been capable of banter. No, this was a threat. A promise.

When a corporation fired someone, especially someone with privileged access, this person disappeared from the workforce- and so did anyone else who might have learned company secrets from the mouth of the disfavored. Chandra's family was absolutely in danger. I wondered if Mrs. Chandra knew this. She had to, right? I thought of my own mother, who had been as thick in the corporate web as my father- more so in many ways. She was at home in all this, a natural spider, but not all of her ‘friends' had been. Even now, the concept of the empty-headed society wife was alive and well. Whatever Mrs. Chandra's positive qualities, she hadn't seemed all that perceptive. If she had been, she probably wouldn't have walked around in the lower Sprawl with an aura of scorn a mile wide, just out of self-preservation if nothing else. She had probably only survived the trip down to the Greasy Wheel because of Yakov. The scene played itself over again in my mind. Three blank faces with terrified, trapped stares. Three gunshots… One, Two, Three. I wasn't going to let this happen. Before I could think too hard about it, I dialed up Yakov's Matrix address with my Lattice. It was time I got out ahead of this case.

* * *

Chapter Four

Yakov answered on the third ring. “What, you couldn’t stand a single hour without my comp-”

I cut him off. "Listen. No time. Mrs. Chandra is in danger, and I need you to help me keep her alive." I dressed hurriedly, cursing as I fumbled around in my pile of laundry for my Nanoweave protective vest. The damn thing was a pain in the ass to put on, and even worse to keep clean, but today it just might save my life. "Turns out her husband died in a corporate hit- a real firing, and if you want a cut of what I’m getting paid, we’ve got to keep my newest client breathing.”

Yakov was instantly all business. “Alright, I’m pulling up her address now. Meet me at the metro station nearest to you. If you’re right, we don’t have a lot of time.” I could hear electronic whirring in the background, and the click of metal straps being fastened. Good. He was armoring up. I hoped he was ready to do most of the heavy lifting. The few tricks I knew with my telepathy weren’t enough to protect me against a corporate hit squad. “Oh hey, Red?”

“Yes,” I answered, struggling into the close-fitting vest.

“You owe me a drink for this.” There was a static buzz in my ear, and Yakov ended the call. Despite myself, I grinned. The Cleaner was a decent guy to have in my corner. I had only known him for two days, and he already had helped me in a big way. I supposed he was only able to come through like this because his vehicle was in the shop. But I would take what I could get. Friends you could count on were few and far between in the Sprawl. I slipped my battered brown jacket on over the armored vest and my shirt, tucked my gun into the back of my waistband, and dashed out the door.

It must have rained at some point in the upper city because the incessant drizzle of runoff had become a downpour in earnest. The moment I stepped out of my stack onto the walkway, my hair was plastered to my face with the stinking rain; I had to wipe the foul liquid from my face before it started burning my eyes. I unzipped the hood pouch on the back of my jacket and pulled the thin plastic cover over my head. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing. The walkways were still sparsely populated due to the ongoing workday, so getting to the metro station was easier than usual. It took me only twenty minutes to get to the station. I tried to call Mrs. Chandra, but there was no answer. I hoped her failure to answer didn't mean we were already too late.

The moment I stepped out onto the platform, Yakov came scurrying to my side. He was wearing the same armor I had seen him in down at the Bottom, though this time he wasn’t unarmed. Hanging from a strap at his chest, there was a submachine gun, its narrow muzzle ringed with coils of copper wire. I frowned at the little weapon and looked up in question at his masked face. In a rattling, mechanical voice, Yakov explained, tersely, “Electro-conductive rounds. They take a magnetic charge off the barrel as they are fired and do a small amount of static damage to the target in addition to the physical injury they inflict. They do well against chrome.”

I nodded. That was a good idea. "Thanks, Yakov, I appreciate it."

“Don’t,” he said, “Not until we get it done and get out alive. I’m not too keen on taking on a wetworks squad with just the two of us.”

“Won’t your… unique talents give you the edge over them?” I tried to come off as simply curious, but Yakov wasn’t buying it.

"I can't go loud up there," he said, turning his head so the masks' expressionless eyes were aimed at my own. "Not unless I want to be reacquainted with the inside of an isolation tank. If you're smart, you'll stay in your own head for this one, too."

"Well, shit." I hadn't thought of this possibility. Of course, Yakov wouldn't want to use his telekinetic abilities in public. The Originals had started neighborhood-burning witch hunts over less.

"‘Well shit' what," Yakov asked suspiciously. "What do you know I don't?" But the train was coming, and a solid wall of compressed air blasted all sound out of the tunnel mere moments before it exploded into view like a giant artillery shell, stopping with another buffeting gale of wind. My ears popped painfully, and I forced myself to yawn to clear them. Doors sprang open all along the length of the train, and I got in, shoving my way through the crowd of debarking passengers. I didn't dare say anything now; it would certainly be a bad idea for me to bring up unstoppable frozen psychic juggernauts on a public train with so many potential onlookers. A thought struck me; just by knowing the secrets of this company I had put myself in terrible danger. If they thought I knew anything, they would put me down to sleep, just to clean up loose ends. I imagined being frozen in place by an inexorable will, watching the barrel of a gun draw closer to my face. I clenched my teeth and took hold of the guide rail in the ceiling of the train car. Dissonant chimes rang a warning, and the doors sealed. I took a deep breath and looked over at Yakov. He was standing by the door, not bothering with the railings. Showoff. The floor bucked beneath me, and the platform suddenly disappeared from view as the train accelerated.

A message indicator flashed in my peripheral vision, and I opened it. It was from Yakov. "What aren't you telling me," it read. I grimaced and shook my head, then sighed and forwarded the encrypted file Blackout had given me over to him. He was going into this with me, and he was involved no matter what I did. I watched him standing by the door. He was probably watching the video right now. I winced, waiting for his reaction. It wasn't long in coming. Another message popped up in my periphery, and I opened it. "I've got your back. Now you owe me two drinks." I frowned over at him, surprised, but could glean nothing from the blank surface of his armored helmet and mask. I sighed and closed my eyes. There was nothing to do now but wait and hope we got there in time.

* * *

It took us another forty minutes to reach Chandras' home neighborhood. It was dingier than I had expected. We were in the lower reaches of the corporate heavens, where the security wasn't as tight as it might have been just a level or two closer to the street. The stacks of Coffins, commonplace down closer to where I lived, had been replaced by lofts and condominiums, but rather than the intricate cleanliness I had grown up in several stories higher, this place was run-down. Instead of the clean, over processed air of a more affluent neighborhood, there was a distinctly acrid note to the atmosphere here. The walkways in this place were no less crowded than the ones I frequented- though more of the people we passed wore suits beneath their coats and carried umbrellas to keep the foul rain off of their faces. Yakov and I drew our fair share of questioning looks, but nobody seemed in a hurry to call their neighborhood's coppercorp. We weren't in the seedy underbelly of Columbia anymore, but the towers here hadn't yet been transfigured into ivory.

I guessed most of the population here was comprised of specialists and craftsmen, scientists and engineers. They were too needed to be treated like wage slaves and shackled to an eight-to-eight shift of pointless drudgery, but likewise, they were too close to the working class to be allowed into the corporate paradise built a mere hundred meters above the dirty tiles they walked. Yakov must have been noticing the same thing, because as we approached the condominium block where Mrs. Chandra lived, he leaned in close to me and muttered, "Hey look, it's the middle class. It's like a unicorn."

I snorted and nudged him with my elbow. "Keep it together; I don't want to get shot today."

Yakov quieted and began checking over his gun. It wasn't really necessary for him to be doing this now- I had seen him go over it three times while we had been standing in the train- but the outward display of his nerves made me feel a little better. At least I wasn't the only one questioning whether or not this was a good idea. Gotta get paid, I said to myself. Gotta get paid. We reached the outer door to the apartment block. Since neither of us was a resident, the door did not open. We didn't have the right codes stored in our Lattices. I swore. I hadn't thought this through- the security down in the lower city wasn't all that impressive, and this usually wasn’t a concern for me. Yakov sighed, glanced around, and then, hunching his armored shoulders, seized the latch firmly in one hand. He stood there for a moment, and then, with a quick jerk of his arm, ripped the whole latch and lock mechanism out of the door. I gaped. Yakov dropped the chunk of ruined machinery on the grimy tile and grunted, "come on," at me. "Before the cops show up." I was still amazed. If I hadn't known he was a TK…

The Chandras' condominium was on the second floor of the apartment block. A cheerful engraved brass plaque was nailed to the door. It read, "Welcome to Our Home" in curly, cursive script. I winced, seeing the pulpy mess of Elbert's body down at the Bottom once more in my mind. I raised my fist and knocked on the door. I heard movement from inside, but no one answered. I gave Yakov a significant look, and he switched on his weapon's electromagnetic rails. I drew my needle gun and did the same, then knocked again. No answer. Yakov gestured for me to move, then took two steps back. I glanced down the hallway to my right. There was no one to be seen. With a shout, Yakov took a bounding step and stomp-kicked the door, just below the latch. He must have used his powers again, because the heavy plastic door cracked around the latch and swung open, leaving the lock behind. There was a scream. We rushed inside, weapons raised, and stopped.

Mrs. Chandra was standing in the living room, eyes wide and terrified, a dropped can of coffee spreading brown liquid across the cheap tiles at her feet. I lowered my gun. "What the hell? Why didn't you answer the door?" I could hear children crying in a back room. "Why didn't you answer any of my calls," I demanded. "I thought someone had already come to kill you!" To my surprise, Mrs. Chandra looked much the same as she had at the bar. She was immaculately done up, her blonde hair, her nails, hell, she even had on makeup. It’s her shield, I realized. That’s not makeup, that’s war paint, and Mama Bear is preparing for war to protect her children. I could already see the beginning of a terrible anger gathering in her face as her shock was wiped away and ice started to crystallize behind her eyes. Whelp, there goes my chances of getting paid. I could hear an alarm going off somewhere. We needed to leave before the cops showed up. I was turning out to be a real high-end merc.

I turned to Yakov and had just opened my mouth to speak when I heard, as distinctly as if the speaker had been standing next to me, Someone's here. Did they send a team ahead of us? Cold rushed through my body, but rather than freezing me in place it galvanized me into action. We had beaten the assassins here. But now this meant they had five people to kill, rather than three. We had to move, now, or none of us was getting out of here alive.

“Yakov,” I snapped. “We have incoming. We need a way out. They already know we’re here.” I turned to Mrs. Chandra, who was gathering herself into a towering fury. I met her eyes, hoping I came off just intimidating enough she wouldn’t push back. “Get your kids. We’re getting all of you out of here.”

“Who the hell do you think you are?” she hissed. “Get the fuck out of my-” She cut off as I raised my gun. I shook my head and pointed to the back room where I could hear the whimpering children.

“Get the children,” I growled. “And come with me, if you want to live.” Even through the tension, I felt a little thrum of amusement in my belly. I had just pulled a Terminator. I’ve always wanted to do that. Mrs. Chandra’s jaw was clenched tight with rage. We stood there for a moment, matching gazes, and then she sighed and bustled down the hallway to get her children.

I turned back to the front door. Yakov had already planted himself against the wall beside the open door. “I found a map of the neighborhood,” he said without turning to look at me. “There’s a maintenance access route leading from the roof of this housing block, but we’ll need to go out this way to get there.”

I swore. I did not want to try to shoot my way through a corporate hit squad if I could avoid it. “Ma’am,” I shouted, “We need to go, now!” Mrs. Chandra came back out from the dark hallway, a coat thrown over her shoulders, two preteen children scurrying beside her, their hands clutched in hers. The kids were wide-eyed and scared, but thankfully they had stopped whimpering. I didn’t need the distraction. Somehow in just a couple of moments, she had gotten them stuffed into their own little plastic raincoats. I turned back to Yakov, but he was already moving, leading the way. “Let’s go. We need to move quickly.”

I could already hear footsteps on the staircase leading up from the first floor as we fled. Yakov led us away from the stairwell to the one on the opposite side of the building. I let Mrs. Chandra and the children go ahead of me and brought up the rear. My back immediately began to itch. I could practically feel the bullets which would come whipping through my spine in just a few moments, and it was a struggle not to wince and look back with every step. Yakov didn’t even pretend anymore. He put his hand against the door to the stairwell and shoved it open with a blast of telekinetic force, slamming it open and warping it in its frame. I hurried my client and her children through the doorway before they could think too hard about what they had just seen. As they disappeared up the stairs, I saw the first of the corporate hitmen step into the hallway, a black silhouette behind the bright light attached to the side of his carbine. There was a shout, and I darted into the stairwell just as he let out a shout. There was a loud CRACK, and a bullet fired into the wall just behind where I had been standing. “Let’s go!” I hissed, sure we were moving too slowly to escape death.

We dashed up the stairs, reaching the next floor just as I heard boots squeaking on the tile at the bottom. Fuck. We weren't going to outrun these guys. I paused on the top step, aiming my needle gun. The moment the first guy appeared, I let off a quick triple shot, the recoil compensator keeping my shots more or less on target. The hitman reeled back, disappearing around the corner with a shout. I wasn't sure if I had hurt or just scared him, but I didn't wait to find out. I sprinted after the group as they tackled the next flight of stairs, heading for the roof. Our pursuers were only momentarily slowed, and before long, I could hear boots pounding on the stairs after us. When we reached the landing of the fourth floor, I stopped and tried to repeat the trick, but this time, the first man around the corner dove into a combat roll, and I missed. He came up in a crouch, and with the smooth ease of a professional killer, fired two shots directly into my chest.

I was out of breath, and I folded with the impact but managed not to fall. Instead, I staggered around the corner, dragging in ragged breaths through the pain in my chest and trying not to cry. Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! I must have cried out, because Yakov was suddenly beside me, pushing me up toward the next flight of stairs. He stepped past me, and when the shooter came diving around the corner, he calmly tracked the motion with his submachine gun and fired a short burst of electrified slugs, aiming for the hitman's throat. The assassin's armor was thin there, and he fell with a gurgling, choking sound, blood spattered on the wall behind him. We dashed after Mrs. Chandra and the children and caught them as they reached the rooftop access door. With another short telekinetic shove, Yakov forced the door open, and we piled through. He wedged the door shut behind us the moment we were through, and with another blast of force, he warped the door so it wouldn't easily open.

I took a moment to catch my breath and looked around. We were on the roof of the apartment block, brushing up against the side of a greater tower rising up out of the depths of the Sprawl and continued up past the distant street into the corporate heavens. An access door was set into the side of the tower on the other end of the wide rectangular roof, and I forced myself back upright so I could run toward it. If we could get far enough into the tower, we could escape with relative ease. Those great monolithic structures were like sub-cities unto themselves, and a savvy merc used them the same way wealthier people used elevators. You could get from the corporate heavens all the way to Bottom inside one of these, and they could be valuable escape routes. This time, instead of blasting the door open, Yakov punched a short password into the keypad, and the lock clicked open. Right. Cleaners were technically municipal maintenance. Pounding came from the other side of the bent door leading up from the apartment block. We hurried through the maintenance access and shut the door behind us.

I blinked at the suddenly brighter surroundings and the increase in noise. We were standing on one side of an indoor market, and there were thousands of people packed into the wide space, lit by hanging fluorescent strips overhead. I groaned and gestured for Chandra and the kids to keep going. We couldn't stop here. This was a good way for us to disappear for the moment, but we had to put some distance between the hit squad and us. I took a moment to pull open my jacket and look down at my chest. The vest had stopped both bullets from actually enter the skin, but I guessed I was going to have titanic bruises later. Damn that hurt, I thought but didn't speak. I could deal with it later. For now, we needed to keep moving. Yakov turned his masked face toward me. "You alright, Red?" I didn't trust myself to speak, so I just nodded and strode past him, taking the lead and pushing my way through the dense crowd.

The market was one of those things that were always unique to the tower in which it was found. Each one of these towers tended to have distinct ethnic mixtures depending where you were within it, and so if you found yourself in a local tower market, you could determine where you were by the smell of the food cooking. This market smelled of curry and spices, of boiling cabbage and corned spam, of a hundred different sizzling, simmering vegetables, and mushrooms that must have been cultivated in the community grow lab. Instantly, saliva started gathering in my mouth, and my stomach rumbled. I didn't get real food too often- it was far too expensive if you weren't a local- but when I did, Indian food was my indulgence of choice. The boiling cabbage and spam smell were a bit incongruous, though. I wondered if there might be a certain line of old Irish blood running through this neighborhood. I glanced around, and sure enough, amidst the delicate features and high cheekbones I saw a few paler faces, most of them sporting freckles. A few ladies wrapped up in traditional sari swept by, glamorous in their ancient customs, their startlingly red hair shocking against their caramel faces. I glanced back at the terrified Mrs. Chandra, who was white, freckled, and blond, and her children, who were toffee brown and sported dark hair like many of the people around us. Good. We might actually be able to blend in here, so long as we covered her hair.

I led the group deep into the market, taking the central stairs of the stack and descending a couple of floors until we were out of the thick scent of the food and into the craftsman's stalls. There were several scrap metal artists- those guys were practically omnipresent, no matter the culture, and more than a handful of Matrix-tag tattooists, who could concoct gorgeous designs which only showed up on your skin when you wanted them to- and even then, only to a Lattice with the right permissions. I passed them by, leading the way into the center of the quarter, where the flashing holograms and twisted sculptures ended, and a thick garden of hanging silks, shawls, robes, and stoles stood for sale.

It was one of the only things about the Sprawl that had been a net positive for humanity. With the Aftermath breathing down humanity's collective neck, we had all settled together, cramming a thousand different cultures and traditions into megacities and great stacks. While the wealthy had fled to the top of their tower spires up in the corporate heavens, the rest of the world had been squeezed into tenements built atop tenements, slums hanging suspended from the sides of other, sturdier slums. When the alternatives were to try to brave the wastes or prairies out away from the cities or to try to carve a section of land away from one of the innumerable warlords haunting the mountains, most people didn't give a shit where their neighbors' ancestors had come from. The result had been a blending of incongruous cultures, based mostly on where groups of refugees had ended up when things had started to settle down. My own parents were a prime example. My father was damn near pure Chinese, with a pedigree he could trace all the way back to the twentieth century- only stopping there because Mao Zedong's iconoclastic policies had made a wreckage of genealogical records. My mother, on the other hand, had been born to a Boston Irish refugee who had wound up in Hong Kong. As a result, my features were just as much a mixture as the Chandra children; my mostly Chinese featured face was pale as cream and speckled with freckles, and my hair, when it was clean, had the color of flame. New ethnicities were forming, and I bet in fifty years, there would be a whole group of proud Columbians with Indian brown skin and Scots-Irish red hair. So it was without a single strange look or questioning stare my little band was able to stop at a silk merchant's stall, where I selected a blue woven shawl for Mrs. Chandra.

Mrs. Chandra seemed to be getting her wind back, and I could already see the imperious anger rekindling behind her eyes. “Why are we here, mercenary?” She spat the last word like a curse. "And why are we shopping?”

I didn't react to her anger. It wouldn't have been professional. I held out the shawl for her to take. "Put this on. We need to cover your hair. It's too noticeable here." She took the shawl, but her anger didn't seem to lessen. Preempting the incoming storm, I held up a hand. "Look, Mrs. Chandra, we're just trying to keep everyone alive, could you try to bear with us for a moment?" I had meant to come across as exasperated, but to my ears, my voice only sounded tired.

Mrs. Chandra’s expression softened, and for a moment she seemed to struggle between the desire to hit me and the need to cry. She blew out a short breath. “Anna. Call me Anna. And I’m sorry, this is just insane. I don’t even know why those men want to kill us. This has to do with my husband, doesn’t it?”

I nodded grimly. “Did Elbert tell you anything about what he was doing?”

Anna shook her head wordlessly. One of the children began to whimper, and she picked him up. He was a little boy, with wide green eyes beneath serious dark brows. He turned his face away from me when he saw me looking and buried it in his mother's shoulder. "Elbert didn't say much of anything about work. He seemed a little more stressed lately, but he wouldn't tell me why."

“Well, I think he was involved in something… a little more under-the-table than usual. And I think his employer was responsible for what happened to him. That’s why there’s a corporate…” I glanced at the kids, “...’retrieval team’ after us, and that’s why we need to keep moving.”

“The company did this? Those are company men?” Anna seemed unable to process the idea. She was in shock. We needed to get somewhere safe, because if the iron mask she was putting up broke...

“Which company did your husband work for?” I asked quietly.

Anna hesitated and then whispered “Paracell. Paracell Organics.” I nodded and filed the information away for later research. Paracell… I was pretty sure I had heard of some of their more recent work. Something about immunosuppressant? Or was it viral implanting? I couldn’t remember.

Yakov appeared out of the crowd. He had evidently dropped back to keep an eye on our trail. There was a smear of blood across the armor on his chest. I looked in question at him, and he shook his helmeted head. "Not mine. Caught one of their guys on my own, I think he ran ahead to try to catch the trail. I don't know where the others are, but we can't stay here."

I sighed. “I don’t think the kids can run much further. We need a place to take them.”

Yakov grunted in agreement. "I know a place. A friend owes me a favor. But she isn't going to like it." He turned, scanning the crowd. "But we need to move now. I think I see another one of their guys over by the tattooist's stand." I followed the direction of his masked gaze, and sure enough, I saw a man in tight black armor pretending to examine the catalog display. He had a carbine hanging from a strap over his chest and wore a plain blue baseball cap. I grimaced. Yakov cleared his throat. "Can you take him?"

I shrugged. “Probably, if I get the drop on him. Why, what will you be doing?”

"I'm going to get Mrs. Chandra and the kids to the septic system maintenance access tunnels. But I need the hitters distracted." He bent, and after a nod from Anna picked up the other child. Strangely, the little girl didn't start crying being picked up by a strange figure in head to toe armor. I raised an eyebrow at Yakov, but he didn't acknowledge it. "Can you do it?"

“Yeah, I can do that.”

"Alright. Meet me at the metro. I'll get them down there, and we can take the rail to where we can hide them." He turned to Anna and gestured for her to follow, then set off into the crowd, the child in one hand and his submachine gun in the other. I watched them go, and then turned to focus on the man at the tattoo stand. He hadn't seen Yakov or the Chandras leave, and he was still pretending to read the catalog. I guessed he was secretly communicating with his team.

I circled through the crowd, not crouching, not sneaking, and not looking directly at the man. Hitters like him knew what it looked like when someone was stalking prey- after all, it was their job. The trick to sneaking up on someone used to this sort of violence was to be as nonchalant as possible. I ran a hand through my short hair and put a little extra sway into my steps. I wasn’t in model shape, I needed a shower, and I probably smelled like wet dog. But Yakov had been right, earlier in the bar. I was a posthuman, designed by my parents for something approaching genetic perfection. When I put a little effort into it, I could make even underfed beat up merc look sexy. And everyone underestimated sexy.

I slipped through the crowd and sidled up to the tattoo stand, my gun safely stowed in the back of my waistband again, beneath the jacket. Ignoring the hitter entirely, I leaned over the counter and activated another holographic catalog. I paged through it for a few minutes, looking at the utterly standard selection of golden-scaled koi and green serpentine dragons. I rolled my eyes and turned the page. After a moment, the man in the blue baseball cap tilted face toward me. "What are you thinking about getting," he said. "I can't seem to decide."

I pointed to the catalog and smiled. "I was thinking about something like this." A glittering ruby serpent undulated in the image, twisting itself into and out of knots in a mesmerizing display. "Maybe I'll get it wrapped around my thigh or something."

The hitter grinned. “I imagine it would look pretty good on you.”

“You think so?”

"Yeah, though I think something more like this might be your speed." He gestured with three of his fingers to a twisting vine sprouting bright blue flowers. "Would go well with your eyes." He gave me a once-over. "Maybe you could get it on your-" He stopped, frowning. "You're wearing a Nanoweave with dents in it. Did someone shoot you?" His eyes widened, and he tried to back away and raise his carbine in the same motion, but I had already drawn and pressed the muzzle of my needle gun against his belly, just below the edge of his armor vest. His eyes met mine as I squeezed the trigger, then they bulged, showing the whites all around them as a burst of metal and ceramic needles shattered in his guts, sending shrapnel all through his bowels. He staggered back and fell, one hand clutching at the ruin of his belly and the other trying to get his carbine pointed at me. I stomped down hard on his gun hand, crushing his fingers and the weapon's grip against his chest plate. I leveled the needle gun at his face and fired again. His struggles ceased. I looked around. The market around me was still a flurry of activity. A small space had opened up around the dead man and me as several people decided what was going on Wasn't Their Business, but otherwise, no one reacted. He was an outsider. They didn't know him, and they weren't getting involved in something like this. I fished a cred stick with about forty creds on it out of my jacket pocket and threw it backhand at the tattooist, who was trying to blend in with the back of his stall. Then I stepped off of the dead man's chest, stuck my gun back in my waistband, and bent to retrieve the carbine. I needed something with a little more punch than my pistol, and I figured this would do.

There was a shout from somewhere in the crowd ahead of me, and I looked up in time to see a man dressed similarly to the corpse at my feet raise a gun and aim it in my direction. “MOVE!” He bellowed, and people scattered to either side, giving him a clear shot for me. I ripped the carbine up off the body and dove into a roll, coming up on my knees behind a nearby kiosk. Well, I thought. I have their attention. Time to move. I popped up from cover and sprinted through the center of the market, heading for the stairwell on the other side. There were shouts behind me and screams as people tried to get clear of the hitter pursuing me. When I reached the stairs, I leaped down five stairs in a precarious bound, and a bullet hit the concrete wall above the first step. Landing unsteadily, I crashed into several of the other people on the stairs, and almost went down, but I managed to get my hand on the railing and steadied myself. I peeked over the edge. It was a ten-foot drop over the side. Fuck it. I threw myself over the railing, barely having time to regret the idea before I was crashing to the ground amidst some local celebration. I swore. I had just vaulted into someone's birthday party. People were shouting at me in a mixture of Hindi, Gaelic, and English, but I didn't even try to figure out what they were saying. I sprinted for the nearest exit. I needed out of the stack- I needed to draw my pursuers away from Yakov and my client. They would be going to the metro station inside the great tower, so I needed to get the hitters out and lose them in the walkways beyond the imposing concrete walls.

I shoved my way through the crowd at the door, staving off any retaliatory action by brandishing the carbine. Nobody wanted to fuck with that. The crazy redhead waving around a rifle was Not Their Problem. I burst out onto the walkway beyond, feeling it sway beneath my feet as I ran. It connected to an enclosed corridor, probably a direct passage to one of the local corporation's lower reaches. I didn't go in. I needed open space, not to trap myself in a tunnel with no free exits. I ran along the walkway parallel to the enclosed corridor until I found a rickety staircase leading down to a wide concrete platform attached to the side of the great tower I had just left, connecting it to four others of its kin. The square was divided into basketball courts and open spaces with benches, and it was thronged with people playing ball and chatting, as well as a few vendors who probably couldn't afford the licenses they needed to sell inside the tower properly. A bullet whizzed past my head as I stepped out onto the square, and despite myself, I glanced back to the hitter who had been chasing me, closely followed by two similarly dressed cronies. He was taking aim again. Fuck.

I dashed into the crowd, staggered as a bullet hit my back just below my shoulder blade, and pushed my way into the crowd. I rolled my right arm. It hurt, but I was pretty sure the shot didn’t penetrate the vest. I needed to keep moving. If they put a shot into my head, I would die. And if they hit the vest too many times it wouldn’t be able to protect me, and I would die. I needed to break away from these guys so I could double back. I couldn’t take them all at once, and I couldn’t pull the same trick I had used earlier. They knew what I looked like now.

I broke out in a basketball court, running straight through a game. I crashed headlong into one of the players, bouncing off his rock hard abdomen and sprawling across the floor. I groaned. It was over. The hitters would be on me in seconds. One of the players came over a rare concern on his face. I looked up and met his dark, wide eyes as he helped me to my feet. I didn't say anything, but my eyes darted involuntarily to the hitters, who were now reaching the bottom of the stairs. The basketball player followed my eyes and then looked back at me. I saw the decision form in his eyes. "Don't-" I began, but he didn't listen. He set me down and drew himself up to his full height, an impressive six foot nine.

“Hey, bevakoophon!” He pointed, and both the other players and the spectators in the stands turned to look at the hitmen. His voice was deep and resonant, and I could already feel the attitude in the area change. This was his home, these were his people, and those guys were outsiders. It was all in his body language, and the way he turned toward them, directly acknowledging the threat they posed, was echoed by everyone around the basketball court. “Get your corporate fat asses back up to your ivory towers where you belong!” The hitmen stopped. I grimaced and stood. I couldn’t let him do this. They would just shoot him down, wouldn’t they? He didn’t even know me, and there was no way I was letting a stranger get killed on my account.

The leader of the hitmen stepped forward. He was short and stocky, with salt and pepper hair peeking out from beneath his blue baseball cap, and when he spoke, a voice thick with the unspoken air of command echoed around the crowded park. “We don’t have any issue with you all here; we’re just here for the girl, there.” He pointed at me with one hand, though the other remained in the grip of his gun. He hadn’t ruled out violence, but he didn’t like his odds. “She killed one of my boys.”

The basketball player glanced at me. I nodded. “Yeah, I did. He’s trying to kill a woman and two kids I’m trying to protect.”

The basketball player turned back to the hitters. “Looks like you forgot one of the main rules of the streets then, gadhe.” He grinned. “This ain’t a little girl,” he said, tipping his head in my direction. “This is a woman of the lower city, and you can’t just roll over someone like her.” A shout came up from many of the women in the crowd. I breathed out a sigh of relief. The crowd was backing this guy. There was no way the hitters were going to try to shoot their way through two hundred angry people. “And there’s no way the people of the Pavitr Chauraahe Towers are going to just hand over one of our own to someone like you." The crowd responded to the statement even more forcefully and curses began to fly from those gathered, making it abundantly clear exactly what they thought of caving to corporate toadies. The basketball player's face turned serious. "Now take your hands off your guns before we smear your pampered ass all over those steps." There was a collective sound of movement as more than fifty people within the crowd drew out their sidearms.

I didn't know how to react. Usually, in the Sprawl, a gunfight that wasn't directly involving you Wasn't Your Problem. It was the cardinal rule of life in Columbia. Look out for your number one. Keep your head down and get out of the way. But this guy had just made it his problem- and made it his people’s problem. And he had probably saved my life. The hitter took his hand off his gun and raised both his palms in a gesture of goodwill. His two companions did the same, letting their weapons dangle from their retaining straps. The leader grinned, looking right at me. “You win this one, girl. But we’ll be back. You know we will. It’s how people like you and me work.” And just like that, he turned on his heel and went back up the steps, speaking into a microphone at his wrist. I let out a sigh of relief. This had been a little too close. I looked up at the basketball player, who was watching the hitmen go with his arms folded imperiously over his chest.

“Thank you,” I said. “You didn’t have to do this.” I held my hand out- and, well, up, for the man to shake.

The basketball player grinned, unfolding his long arms so he could shake my hand. “I did, actually. This is my home. The corporate pigs don’t just get to come down to my place and kill people.” He gave me a shrewd look. “Though I also don’t appreciate people bringing their trouble to my court.”

I smiled sheepishly. “That part was an accident. My partner and I got the family out about thirty seconds ahead of those clowns. I was supposed to lead them off, so I did.” I took a deep breath. “So you run this place?”

The basketball player nodded. “Me and my boys.” He gave me a firm nod. “You seem like good people.” He jerked a thumb at his chest. “I’m called Arjun. My boys and I are the Pavitr Sharvaras.”

"I'm called Red Viper, though most people just call me Red." I sighed. "But I need to get going; I need to make sure my partner and my client got out okay. I activated my address exchange program for my Lattice. Unlike Mrs. Chandra's, mine wasn't a burning business card. Instead, it was a simple red square of illusory paper. I held it out as if it was real. "I'm a merc, as you might have guessed. I owe you a favor. If you need something done, give me a call. I won't work for free- I got rent, you see- but I'll give you a hefty discount."

Arjun grinned. “Seems like you might be a useful woman to know.” I stepped back off of the court and turned to walk away. “Hey, Red,” he called after me, and I turned halfway around. “Good luck out there.” I smiled and slipped into the crowd.

* * *

When I finally made it to the metro platform, Yakov and my client were nowhere to be found. I called him. He answered right away. “You okay, Red?”

“Yeah,” I said, stepping onto the train as the doors opened. “Got held up. Luckily the folks in this neighborhood are some real stand up fellas.”

I could hear Yakov chuckling. Could that have been… relief I detected in his voice? “Well, whatever you did, it worked. We got out with no trouble. Why don’t you meet us-”

“NO,” I snapped, cutting him off, and making several of the other people on the train look over at me. “They saw my face. They’re probably getting a decker to put a snooper on my Lattice address right now. Don’t tell me where they are and don’t call me again. I’ll go see someone who can guarantee me some Matrix security and then we can meet up, sounds good?”

Yakov gave a grunt in agreement. "Good luck, then," he grumbled. "But I had better get a good cut of this; these are your clients.”

"You will," I said, and then I terminated the call. I opened my map and located the nearest ramen noodle vendor. I needed to see Blackout again.

* * *

"So," the one-arm hacker said through a mouthful of disgusting noodles. "A corporate hit squad was sent after your vic's wife after he was killed by some kind of Psionic monster."

“A Psionic monster he knew,” I corrected. "He addressed the guy by name." I thought about it for a moment and then added, "Or batch number. Gamma Five. Series Gamma, Specimen Five, maybe?"

"I remember, I saw the video," he mused. Then he narrowed his eyes and waved a hand at nothing. When he saw me looking, he grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, I'm running a few minor operations right now. It's why I brought my going-out deck." He indicated the briefcase sitting on the ground at his feet. We weren't at his apartment for this meeting. I never contacted him directly, and I didn't dare go to his place when I was probably being snooped out. So I had bought myself a fortified protein shake, found a less damp patch of concrete at a noodle vendor three sectors away from Blackout's, and sent him a message the same way I always did- through an intentionally bland post on an international foodies' blog. He had gleaned the information I wanted him to from the mostly nonsense post, and here we were. I hadn't expected him to meet me this quickly, but looking over at his "going-out deck" I guessed this sort of thing wasn't exactly uncommon for him. Blackout was a cyber-terrorist. Flexibility was a must for that kind of thing. So I decided to exercise a little flexibility of my own and wait for him to finish with whatever he was doing.

Ten minutes later, the glassy look in his eyes faded into sharp focus. He was back in his body. “That’s one down.”

I tipped back the can in my hand and swallowed the last of my shake. “What are you working on?”

Blackout gave me a stony look for a moment, and I could see a glimmer of his paranoia cross his eyes before it vanished into nothing. He grinned. “Check the news like everyone else, Red.” He blinked as he remembered the bowl of noodles in his lap and then scooped up a clump of the slippery little things, dangling them in the air above his mouth. I tried not to gag as he swallowed them without chewing. Those things were really disgusting. “Now, Red. Where were we?”

"Paracell Organics corporate hit squad. Snooper on my Lattice. Psionic ubermensch," I recited, more amused than irritated. "I've got the family in the wind, but I can't do this forever. The guy I've got watching them is reliable enough, but he isn't really my buddy. If I keep being in need of his help, I'm eventually going to have to give him my entire fee over this, and I need the credits. Not to mention the wetworks team is probably gunning for me now. I need a way to stop the hitters from snooping out my Lattice. I need to find something on these guys, and right now I'm not sure where to begin." I sighed. "I should have just left this whole thing alone."

"Why didn't you?" Blackout cocked his head at me. "Why didn't you leave this be? Didn't anyone ever tell you about rule one?"

“Yeah,” I groaned. “‘Not My Problem.’ But the rule doesn’t apply here.”

“Why?”

“Well maybe it did at first, but it’s not important. The victim’s wife is my client now. I’ve got to keep her and her kids alive if I want to get paid.”

Blackout shot me a skeptical look, his lips quirking into a lopsided smile. “That’s not why you’re trying to keep the woman and her kids alive, and you know it.” When I didn’t respond, the hacker set aside his bowl of noodles and opened the briefcase. Inside, there was a deck much like the one I had seen in his Coffin- but this one had all its innards inside it. The keyboard was a custom job, the usual plastic pegs replaced with mechanical ones designed to look like an archaic typewriter. The case containing all the computer parts was made of brushed steel and imitation wood, and for a deck, it looked very fancy. Blackout looked down on it with almost fatherly pride. "Red, I like you. So I did some digging after I sent you the video. I figured you wouldn't drop this. You're not the type to leave things undone when they bother you." His dark lips skinned back from his very white teeth, and for the first time, I noticed he was missing the molars on the left side of his mouth. I wondered how he had lost them, and why he hadn't had them replaced. Blackout tapped a few keys on his deck, and then conjured up a Matrix-tag business card, holding it out to me. "I looked into this ‘Amir Saugir' who Gamma-Five supposedly killed. ‘Amir Saugir,' or Little Prince, was one of the leaders of a group which has been a thorn in the side of several biotech firms over the last decade. They expose corporate operations, find and compromise their labs, and generally raise hell." His grin widened further. "My kind of people. Though perhaps a bit too wild and unorganized for my tastes."

“Who are they?” I snatched the card out of Blackout’s hand, and the address poured into the data storage of my Lattice. “Who are these guys? Do you think Elbert was one of them?”

"They're sloppy; that's who they are," the hacker scoffed. "But since I can't stop you from looking into this I can at least set you up with the people who have been messing with these kinds of corps a lot longer than you have." His smile faded, and he gave me a direct look. "But don't you dare trust them. Their last contact took a dive from street level. I don't doubt this happened because they fucked up somehow."

I nodded. “I won’t let my guard down.”

Blackout lifted his chin in a pose of sage wisdom. “See that you do not.” I punched him lightly in his single arm. “Anyways, Red,” he continued, chuckling. “About the snooper. I found it easily enough, and my own ice isn’t exactly nice to snitches. Took it apart for you. But they’ll put another one on you soon. You need to keep your head down. I can put together an address scrambling package for you, keep the little worms off your back on a more reliable basis, but that’s not going to be pro bono. That kind of ‘ware isn’t exactly an easy sort of thing. I can’t give you everything for free; people might start to talk."

I grimaced. “I understand. How much?”

“Eight K. To do this I’m going to need to crack a corporate archive quiet-like, and it takes time and skill.” He waggled his fingers demonstratively. “This hand doesn’t work for free.”

“Fine,” I said, trying to put a brave face on it. I didn’t have nearly this much in my account. My last bottle of pills had cleaned me out. Even with the bounty from the Jvotneya delivery, eight thousand credits were too rich for my blood. “I’ll make the client cough up. No big. How long will this take you to make?”

“A day. Keep your head down until then.”

I looked down at my hands. “One more thing.”

“Shoot.” Blackout began connecting cables and wires from his beautiful custom deck to the jacks implanted in the stump of his arm.

“I’m also doing a job for the Jvotneya gang. Missing girl, no one saw her get snatched. She just-so-happens to be a Psion. You think this is connected to Elbert Chandra’s murder?”

Blackout stared up at the dirty ceiling-really the underside of the level above us. A crude sun, moon, and stars had been painted many times onto the metal, an amusing imitation of the sky no one saw this far down. "I think there are a lot of Psions suddenly popping up all around you, Red. None of it seems like a coincidence. Not your Cleaner, not the missing Jvotneya girl, not this murder." He nodded toward my hand, which was now empty of business cards. "Why don't you ask the hippies?"

Chapter Five

The “hippies,” as Blackout called them, turned out to be a lot more security conscious than he had made them out to be. They didn’t want to meet me in person, least of all after I informed them of the possibility a corporate snooper might be put back on my Lattice. But the beauty of the day and age we lived in was they didn’t need to meet me in person at all. The limits of “meatspace,” as Matrix aficionados referred to the real world, didn’t extend over into cyberspace. So I looked up the nearest Matrix parlor and headed that way. It would cost me a small fee, but I would be alright- the payout from my initial delivery to the Jvotneya boss was still holding strong.

Matrix parlors weren't uncommon in the Sprawl. In a world of extreme pollution, overpopulation, and widespread poverty, the desire to seek escape on a world other than this one was near universal. The Matrix could provide those worlds with relative ease- generating places of unspeakable beauty, joy, and pleasure, allowing the user to experience whatever adventures and excesses a sim-programmer could put together. It also served as a meeting place for many groups interested in physical security- from clandestine operations to corporate boardrooms to anti-establishment organizations. A virtual conference room was as easy to enter as a plugging into the right deck and entering the correct address. Some people, mainly part of the hacker or ‘decker' communities, bought their own decks, adding precious computing power to the native strength of their Lattices. This allowed them to generate their chosen customized worlds, and enter the virtual world of the Matrix whenever they pleased. But such computer systems were expensive, and most people either couldn't or weren't willing to scrape together the credits to buy them. So for those of us without personal gateways to the Matrix, there existed parlors like the one I approached.

The Matrix parlor was set up inside a renovated trio of Coffins combined to form an extended space. Signs around one of the outside doors to the stack indicated the shop's presence, and I followed the Matrix tag arrows up two flights of stairs to the right door. Crudely painted on the door, there were the words "Andy's Astounding Artificial Adventures." How quaint. I knocked and pushed the door open. The air inside was hazy and humid, and not a single scrap of the grimy floor was wasted. There were cushions spread out in a reasonably orderly grid, and on most of them slack-faced, glassy-eyed people sat cross-legged or lay curled up like children, with little decks bolted to the floor beside them. They each wore little circlets of wires connected to electrodes stuck to their skin, and not one of them reacted to the over-loud grinding of the door as it swung shut on rusty hinges. This wasn’t a surprise- after all; none of them were really in this room. It was little more than storage for their bodies while they roamed the fantastic infinite multiverse of the Matrix.

I approached the parlor’s caretaker, a burly bullkin hybrid- a Minotaur- who sported steel capped horns jutting out from his skull and a pair of cybernetic arms in place of his meat limbs. I was sure those metal limbs were capable of tearing me completely in half if the bouncer so chose to. He smiled at me as I approached. “Afternoon, darlin’,” he said in a deep, Georgia native drawl, “How can I help you?”

“Just need a deck and a cushion,” I said, giving him a respectful nod and drawing a cred stick out of my pocket. “I assume you’re ‘Alex?’”

The Minotaur laughed, showing his teeth. About half of them had been replaced with metal replicas. "Hardly, miss. The little weasel's around here somewhere. I just take care of the place for him." He gestured to the blank-eyed people scattered around the room behind him. "And I keep anything bad from happening to the customers while they're under." He patted one of his huge bionic biceps. "Don't worry; I'll take good care of ya while you're out."

I gave him a little smile. "Much appreciated." Then he pointed to a cushion in the corner, and I headed toward it.

I sat down on the cushion and made myself comfortable, then lifted the little wire and electrode circlet from the floor beside my rental deck and carefully placed it on my head so it encircled my brow and sat just above my temples. Then I peeled the covers off the disposable ‘trodes’ and put them in their places; one on each temple, two on the forehead, two on either side of the throat, and one at the base of my skull. Then I took a deep breath and switched on the deck. I felt a tickle in my skull, and my teeth felt like they were going to buzz right out of my jaw. Then I heard three short beeps and the world ripped itself away from me. My vision went white.

* * *

The bright, all-encompassing whiteness faded away, and I found myself sitting on a couch in a spacious loft meant to look like those I had known in my childhood and teenage years. It was all completely real to my senses. The couch was smooth leather- real leather, which was so expensive and decadent as to be almost impossible to find. The floors were hardwood, and a vast brick fireplace was set in the only one of the four walls that wasn’t made of plate glass. I looked around and saw everything one might expect in a place such as this; a fully stocked bar, a hot tub surrounded by tropical plants which didn’t exist anymore, and a bed large enough for six. It was funny, really. This is what Sprawl folk thought the rich lived like. And for the most part, they had the right idea. What the sim was missing was the constant tension, the smell of fear.

All but the most wealthy in the corporate heavens lived in perpetual terror, sure their neighbors were plotting against them, trying to take what was theirs and leave them destitute and powerless. They usually were right. When you lived in the corporate heavens, everyone truly was out to get you, and the type of solidarity I had seen earlier from the Pavitr Sharvaras was totally alien. It had taken most of the last year for me to relax enough to start talking to my neighbors, and even now I felt a bit of an itch between my shoulders whenever someone asked for my trust. I opened a menu from my Lattice, much the same as I would in meatspace. This time, though, instead of being an insubstantial hologram, the lit appeared in my hands, engraved into a thin sheet of steel. I smirked. This was a nice touch. This was pretty good standard fantasy, but it wasn’t what I was here for. I glanced over the menu until I found a search function and touched it.

A phlegmatic old man in a black suit and a tie appeared before the couch, and asked, in a British accent, “How can I help you, ma’am?” He pronounced ‘ma’am’ as ‘marm.’ I sighed. This was also pretty standard to the Matrix; someone’s ancient twentieth-century joke made virtual flesh.

"Jeeves, could you take me to this address?" I produced the virtual card Blackout had given me and held it out for the illusory Butler to take. He took it, scanned what was written there, and nodded. The world around me changed almost immediately, and the overly decadent, rich man's loft disappeared, replacing itself with the sort of old-world club almost certainly didn't exist anymore. Jeeves likewise vanished with the loft, leaving behind a faint scent of pipe tobacco in his wake.

The Silvered Stag perched atop a verdant, grassy hill which was itself surrounded by a vast, thick forest. The building was a beautiful, expansive cabin built of logs and stone, with all the modern amenities disguised as their older cousins by the clever application of wooden accents and wrought iron frames. As I stepped through the front door, I found my clothes had changed on my body, and now I was wearing a fetching blue dress which probably matched my eyes. My head felt heavy, and I reached up to feel my hair. It was no longer the short-cropped brush I had worn for the last year, and now it fell in curls to my shoulders. I was clean, primped, and probably layered in makeup. I was probably a show stopper like this. I grimaced. I hated this shit.

I approached the round dining table set up before the great roaring fireplace. Eight people were sitting around it, done up much the same way I had been. I gestured to myself, a skeptical note in my voice as I asked, “Really? Was this necessary?”

"Not really," said the woman at the end of the table. She was wearing a green gown which looked like it had been made of silk, and she filled it out gorgeously. I looked around at all the beautiful people seated there and wondered how many of them actually looked at all like the Matrix avatars they had chosen. I caught sight of my reflection in a displayed silver platter set up on a nearby counter and frowned. At least they hadn't straightened out my nose. I had earned that break, thank you very much. The woman in green continued speaking, her friendly tone unmatched her flat, iron eyes. "It's not necessary for us to look like this, per se, but it can be useful in maintaining security. It's a little harder for someone to match my real body with the pretty mask I'm wearing." There was something about the ‘pretty mask' I couldn't quite put my finger on. Had I seen her before? When would that have happened?

“Besides,” chimed in the blond Adonis posing in the purple tuxedo beside her. “It’s more fun for us this way. We’re in cyberspace. We see enough dirty, ordinary, ugly people in meatspace.”

I grimaced. "Great. Well, if you're all done playing dress up with me, I'd like to get down to business." I opened a virtual menu in the air beside me, this one appearing as an open book hovering in the grasp of a handful of miniature gossamer-winged fairies. A few taps on the displayed options and I was wearing something a little more suitable to what I liked- a crimson tailored suit with a black blouse and a similarly bloody-hued tie. My hair I changed to a simple shaved style, leaving about six inches on the top hanging to the side over my face. Then, as an added bonus, I put my scars back. I wasn’t anyone’s fucking Barbie doll. I strode up to the table and sat down in the empty chair closest to me. “I’ll start. I’m Red Viper. I’m a freelance agent. I’m looking into the death of one named Elbert Chandra, and I have reason to believe he was in contact with one of yours shortly before he died. Does the name ‘Amir Saugir’ ring any bells for you folks?”

Everyone at the table flinched at the name. The woman in green, who seemed to be the leader, spoke first. "We agreed to this meeting because #B14CK0U7 asked for it." I smirked a little as she said Blackout's handle, reading each individual character rather than combining them into his preferred moniker. "We don't personally know him, but he's something of a legend among people like us, so we're willing to grant you with a little trust on his behalf." I didn't say anything, so she continued. "But we find it a little suspicious that a merc like you would just start investigating what should to all outsiders have looked like a suicide- for no reason." She spread her hands, causing the green polish on her fingernails to glitter with the movement. "So, why are you involved in this?" She raised a hand as I opened my mouth to respond. "And don't tell us it's because his widow hired you. We did a little digging of our own when we scheduled this meeting, and we know you had started looking into all this before Anna Chandra was sent to you."

I frowned slightly, despite myself. How could they have known that? You have to give a little trust to get it. I felt blind, sitting in a meeting like this- where my telepathic powers could tell me nothing. “I saw Elbert die. Fell right past me while I was standing on the walkway drinking my morning coffee.” I shrugged. “I got a good look at him when he fell. Something seemed off about the whole thing. Didn’t seem like a suicide to me. I don’t know why.” I deliberately refrained from telling them about my Psionic powers. It didn’t seem like the sort of thing I should go telling someone the moment we met.

The woman in green nodded, her straight black hair falling in a sheet over one of her eyes. She pushed it aside. “As we expected, you didn’t tell us you are a telepath.” She raised a hand as I jumped and began to stand instinctively. “Please, it’s fine. About half of us are Psions, here, though most of us are TKs. I’m the only one who isn’t TK- I’m a witch.”

A witch? What were the odds- “Who told you?” I demanded, leaning forward.

“It’s better if he tells you himself,” the leader said. “But he couldn’t be at this meeting- he’s currently working an operation, and was unable to get to a parlor due to security reasons.”

I racked my brain. Who did I know who knew about my abilities? Only a few people, really, and I couldn't see any of them being a part of a gang of activists. That sort of thing was far too idealistic for someone like Penn or Yakov, and I couldn't see Boss Khara getting involved in anything not directly connected to his gang. Blackout didn't know about my abilities- it wasn't something that had come up, and I preferred not to tell people about it. Even if I had told him, he wouldn't just share this sort of thing with anyone else. His paranoia would prevent it. I resolved to find out who had told them later. It wasn't the most important thing right now. "Great, well you know things about me. I need to know what you know about my job and my client. Why did Elbert Chandra die? And what the hell is Gamma-Five?"

At the name “Gamma-Five,” a few of the people sitting around the table flinched again. They knew what he was, alright, or at least they knew of him. The woman in green gestured to a younger woman sitting to her right, about a quarter of the way around the table from either of us. "Crenshaw here knows the most about the monster, and she can get you up to speed."

Crenshaw was pretty, platinum blonde, and built like she had been designed in a wind tunnel. Her cheekbones were high and sharp. Her body was lean and hard, like that of a runner. She wore a pair of square, rimless glasses over her brown eyes, and had the kind of serious, no-nonsense expression on her narrow face Matrix coders were always putting on their virtual librarians. “I assume if you know about Gamma-Five then you know the company that made him is Paracell Organics.”

“I only know the name,” I replied. “Haven’t been able to slow down enough to do any research beyond this.”

"Well," Crenshaw mused, unsurprised, "this is better than nothing. You see, Paracell doesn't do much when it comes to marketing- most of their work is done on commission from various other entities. They got into the hybridization business late, so they never made human-hybrids, but they have been known to toy with genetic cocktails to produce purpose-built chimeras."

I frowned. “Chimeras? I’ve met hybrids, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a chimera.”

Crenshaw smirked. "That's because they're illegal." She put up a hand before I could reply. "And before you remark, hybrids are also illegal in Columbia, let me point out that perhaps there are different levels of illegal observed by law. Hybrids are illegal to produce, but they're clearly human enough; attempts by various entities to get them banned from the city altogether haven't been able to gather enough support to really succeed." She shrugged. "So coppercorps don't think it's worth the coin to bother the hybrids, so long as they stay in the lower city and out of sight. Chimeras do not enjoy such... admittedly limited... protections. They are, by definition, less than twenty-five percent of any one creature, human included. They can take many shapes, and some of them might even look like people. They can be as stupid as a cow or smarter than any human. There's only one thing they all have in common- they're unstable. Virtually every time a chimera gets out of the lab and into public, they kill indiscriminately, sometimes eating the dead, and sometimes just leaving new corpses in their wake. If a company was found to be employing one of them, chances were the Senate would take out a Justice Inc. contract on the top five or six heads in their boardroom before ordering the company to cease and desist."

I sat there for a while, stunned. "This seems a bit like overkill," I managed to say a moment later. Justice Incorporated, the now-independent former judicial branch of the Federal government, was an ultra-authoritarian, militaristic corporation which enforced its interpretation of "United States Law." Never mind the United States was little more than a suggestion at this point. The Sprawl cities were more like individual nations than parts of a whole, and neither the corporate infested Senate nor the rogue Justice Department had more than nominal authority. But no one had gotten around to telling this to the Justiciars, unfortunately. Where Justice Inc.'s real power and real funding came from was from the contract "policing," and confiscated "contraband." So long as someone could convince a Supreme Justice the person or group they wanted to be destroyed fit Justice Inc.'s definition of a criminal, for a "nominal fee," an Arbiter of Justice would be dispatched to act as local judge, jury, and executioner in solving the problem. More often this meant when a person or corporation violated the complicated, ever-shifting standard of etiquette among the wealthy elite, a contract would be taken out, and the offending party would be summarily destroyed. "If the Senate would have them killed for making a chimera, why would Paracell keep making them?"

Crenshaw shrugged. “The Senate only cares if chimera becomes a public issue. Chances are some of the corporations with seats in the Senate are some of Paracell's buyers. If there's supply, there's probably a demand. After all, there aren't rules about making or using chimera or human hybrids in space, and there's plenty for a genetically engineered person or monster to do out there beyond old laws and moralities. It's why most of the hybrids you meet down here younger than forty, are veterans of colonial conflicts or former zero-g workers."

I nodded, following her logic. “So you think that Gamma-Five is a chimera.”

“Or something like that. He’s certainly not an ordinary human. Too big, for one, and the reports we’ve managed to gather from sightings of the brute state his skin seems frozen, regardless of the environment around him.”

"I can confirm that," I said, and manifested the video taken from Chandra's cyber eye as a floating hologram above my hand. I made a pushing motion, and it floated across the table toward Crenshaw. "Turns out Elbert had a bit of insurance his company didn't know about. Pulled this off of his secret cyber eye's internal memory storage." I waited while they watched the end of the man's life, seeing them all flinch when they realized that Gamma-Five had made the man bite off his own tongue. This time, I watched it all the way to the end. Moments before Elbert hit the ground; I caught a split second glimpse of my own face. We had made eye contact for just a moment. I hoped that, wherever he was now if there was an after death, he took some comfort in the fact I was trying to help his family. The attitude around the table was subdued and grim. "So," I asked into the tense silence. "Do you think Gamma-Five's abilities are random or intentional results of the creation process?" Everyone turned to look at me, and the woman in green especially seemed impressed. "I mean, that's what's crucial about all this after all. Unless Paracell figured out something no one else did, intentionally imparting Psionic abilities has never worked. Even my parents, who designed me to be the way I am, only picked traits loosely correlated with Psionic powers, and I’m sure I was only one of many potential fetuses generated for the task. That kind of selection is extremely expensive and has unpredictable results. I just can’t see being something corporation would want to bank an entire product line on.”

The woman in green was nodding along. Crenshaw spoke, a new respect coloring the tone of her voice. "We've been wondering the same thing. If the frozen skin isn't caused by the use of some cybernetic device, then it's possible it's the outward expression of a Psionic ability, some control over the flow of thermal energy. It would make Gamma-Five a witch like Hanna over there- or I guess a ‘sorc,' since he seems to be at least nominally male."

"Except he's pretty clearly a reader," I added. "He took complete control over Elbert's mind, or it seemed this way. The poor bastard couldn't even blink without Gamma-Five letting him." I frowned. "But Psions can't have crossing powers. TKs aren't telepaths. Telepaths aren't witches."

“This is what concerns us,” said Crenshaw. “The possibility this walking freak show has more than one branch of Psionic abilities lends credence to the idea that Paracell has found a way to synthesize, or at least isolate and extract, whatever genetic trait makes a person Psionic.”

I sighed, staring down at the table. “That still doesn’t help me explain why hybrid kids are going missing.”

“What?” It was a different voice than I had heard before, deeper, more threatening. I looked up and found the speaker. He appeared as human as his fellows, but when he spoke, something in the timbre of his voice and his strange, muddled accent told me he was hiding something behind his Matrix mask. “What about hybrid kids going missing?”

I shook my head. "Another job I'm working at the same time as this one. Missing Psionic wulfkin girl. She's about sixteen years old and straight-laced as they come. She vanished a couple of nights ago, and so far I have no idea where even to start looking for her. No one saw anything, she wasn’t involved with anyone romantically, and the last time anyone saw her, she was inside the Jvotneya compound in my neighborhood.”

The man's eyes widened and I watched as they narrowed to slits. Leopard spots sprang up all across his face, descending his rapidly bronzing skin and disappearing beneath his mandarin collar. He still looked human enough; the spots could almost pass for freckles- but when he spoke again, I saw his bizarre accent came from the elongated set of fangs extending from the top and bottom of his jaw. "This is news. I wonder why our people in the Jvotneya compound haven't spoken to my own neighborhood elders about this. We had a similar disappearance just a few weeks ago, and this might hint at a pattern." I understood his immediate concern. While missing kids were a big deal to anyone with even half of a soul, a kidnapping was a major fucking event for hybrids. As Crenshaw had pointed out, hybrids mostly came to live in the Sprawl as adults, having been bred in space for use by corporate interests out there. Most of them were naturally sterile, but it didn't mean they never had children. It just meant making a hybrid couple fertile took some serious genetic tweaking- some expensive, serious genetic tweaking. So the few children born in hybrid communities in the Sprawl were precious beyond measure. Thinking about it, I understood why the Jvotneya Boss had told me to investigate the kidnapping quietly- he didn’t want this advertised to the other hybrid gangs; he had failed to protect a hybrid child.

"Well," I mused out loud, "I think it wasn't spoken of because Boss Khara didn't want to cause panic- or worse, a riot. He's pretty traditional from what I could tell, and I doubt he would want to broadcast any kind of problem he's having within his gang. He told me not to let on to any of his people he'd hired me to look into it." I groaned. "It makes it something of impossibility since this means I can't bother anyone from Jvotneya with questions. They just wouldn't answer me without their Boss' approval. All I have to go on are vague statements and a lot of assumptions about the victim."

"Red Viper, you called yourself?" The leopard Rakshasa looked at me thoughtfully. "We might be able to help each other. Let me do some discreet digging, and perhaps we can compare notes on this whole thing. Whatever commonalities we find between the disappearances in my own neighborhood and the taking of this wulfkin girl might give us a lead into finding where they've gone."

I nodded. "That sounds like a good idea. But I have one more issue here. What the hell am I supposed to do with the Chandra family? I assume you have at least some interest in keeping them alive, and I can't even go near them until I get this snooper problem solved. Blackout said he could make me something to deal with it, but it'll cost me, and I don't have that kind of coin right now. Is it possible for me to have them handed over to you all for safe keeping until I can scrape together Blackout's fee?"

The woman in green tilted her head from side to side as if she were mixing around the thoughts inside it to see what shook out. She sucked her lips for a moment, then shrugged and said. "I think we can help you. Our interests align. We'll see to it that Blackout is paid for his scrambling program, on one condition."

I managed not to smirk. I knew there would be a catch. There was always a catch. I think it might have been the second most important rule of the Sprawl, just behind Not My Problem. “What condition?”

“We’re fighting for many things, hybrid and Psionic rights among them. This project by Paracell is a clear threat to that- because whether they can synthesize new Psions or extract samples from existing ones, the weaponization of people like you or me makes us less human in the eyes of the public. And unless we want attempts to track and register all of us to become a lot more aggressive, we need to put a stop to all this.”

“You still haven’t told me what you want.”

“We’re going to hire you. We’ll pay your fee, less eight thousands of course for the expense of the Matrix scrambler from Blackout.” She grinned. “See, not really a catch.”

Yeah, right, and unicorns would shortly start crawling out of my scrawny ass. Of course, it was a catch. “Right, what’s my objective, Miss…”

“Penderham. Sofia Penderham,” she replied. My heart dropped down into my feet. I knew she looked familiar. I knew this woman. Memories flickered through my mind in a kaleidoscope of sensations. Did she know who I really was? Something about the look in her eye told me she might. Why did she just use her own name anyway? Wasn’t the whole point of the dress-up-play to keep some modicum of privacy among the group?

I struggled to keep my face impassive. “Alright, what’s my target, Miss Penderham?”

“Paracell Organics, of course. We need you to find their private lab, break into it, and steal their files on Gamma Five.” She smiled as if this was the easiest task in the world. Real simple, lady. Just find a secret lab, probably at the Bottom, and break into it. While you’re at it, don’t let Frankenstein’s monster freeze you solid and tear off your head. Easy peasy. Penderham seemed to know something about what was going on in my mind; I could see the amusement glittering in those dark, heavy-lashed eyes. “Does this arrangement seem agreeable?”

I gave her a skeptical look. “Find and raid a corporate lab? You’ll pay me double my usual rate.”

“You came to us.”

“And I can walk away just as easily.”

Sofia Penderham eyed me for a moment, a smile forming on her lips. "Fine. Double it is. Good luck. One of our contacts in your region will get in touch with you shortly; you can talk to us through them when they reveal themselves to you."

* * *

When I returned to my body, I found the Matrix parlor much the same as I had left it. I blinked groggily and looked up to see the chromed-up Minotaur crouching beside me, a bottle of water dwarfed in the grip of his shining steel hands. I took the circlet of wires and electrodes off of my head with one hand and reached out for the bottle with the other. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” said the Minotaur cheerfully. “It’s standard service here at Alex’s.” He nodded as I opened the plastic bottle, lifted it to my lips, and tilted it back. Then he stood and lumbered off to see to a customer who had somehow managed to fall off their cushion and onto the concrete floor. I finished the water in a single long pull, guzzling the cool, refreshing liquid gratefully. Then, grumbling at my stiff joints, I pushed myself to my feet and shuffled out of the parlor. The day was not yet over, and I still had things to do. Like breaking into a corporate black site, I thought and winced. That was the third impossible job I had taken on. Penn really is right about me. I am a glutton for punishment.

The busy walkways and crowded passages of the Sprawl were startlingly loud after the total silence of the Matrix parlor. This was part of why I didn't like going into the Matrix in the first place. It made me dull and sloppy in meatspace for about an hour after I had unplugged. I had heard frequent visitors to the Matrix found the slurring of thought, the dulling of awareness to be an enjoyable high. As for me? I hated it. It made me feel vulnerable, especially when I was alone, and I kept expecting to be shot and robbed when I wasn't paying attention. I needed some coffee, and I needed it right now. I headed to the nearest synth-coffee vendor, then, midway through reaching for a fresh can, thought better of it and changed my mind. This kind of a headache required the real thing. I pulled up a map to the lower Sprawl's best-kept secret and sent a note to Yakov telling him to meet me there. Sometimes, when everything was going crazy around me, I just needed to treat myself to something really, really good.

* * *

Sidamo Coffee and Tea was the oldest continuously running business in Columbia. Back in the District days, in the early twenty-first century, a coffee-loving Ethiopian man named Kenfe Bellay had opened it up on H Street. It had been popular then, one of the top coffeehouses in the whole city. But when war cut deep furrows into the city, the ever-enterprising and determined Bellay had simply put up a tent in one of the rubble-strewn scars and served delicious Ethiopian coffee to the survivors as they had crawled out from the wreckage to rebuild their tattered city. As construction went on, the tent became a quick cinder-block building, then a small brick and a concrete structure barely large enough to handle its burgeoning loyal customer base. In the waning years of the dying Republic, Sidamo Coffee and Tea had been a symbol of solidarity among the working class and the poor, even as the scars in the city grew deeper and filled with the castoffs of the wealthy few. Though several smaller corporations looking to boost their image had offered to buy the coffeehouse, for appropriately princely sums, the sons of Kenfe Bellay had refused to sell their father’s legacy. Now, it was presided over by Abeba “Mama” Bellay, a titan of friendly strength with a ready smile, to whose door all the kids in the Sidamo neighborhood fled when they needed some good old-fashioned grandmothering. I had never met my grandmother- either of them- but I found a wonderful substitute in Mama Abeba.

“Salam! Red! Come in konjo!” Mama Abeba gestured with broad arms and a smile as wide as a shark’s as soon as I came in the door, waving me over. I grinned and gave the old woman a tight hug, which she returned without hesitation. “How are you treating yourself, girl?” She looked me up and down tutting in dissatisfaction. “You are so skinny! You need to get some meat on those bones, little Red, or you’ll fall right through the gaps in a walkway and be lost forever!” She pointed to a small table in the corner of the cramped coffeehouse- one that gave me a commanding view of the front door and window. “You sit right there, konjo, and I’ll get you some food and Buna. You need to eat!” And with this, she swept off toward the kitchen, maintaining a near constant stream of motherly tut-tutting all her way into the kitchen. I smiled and shook my head as I took my seat. She really was like a grandmother. As she had bustled her way between the tables, collecting plates and mugs as she went, smiles had graced the lips of every patron she had passed. It was like she gave off a general field of joy wherever she went. You couldn’t help smiling if she was, and her deep belly laugh was more contagious than smallpox.

I sat and pushed my chair back against the wall, then hooked one of the spares standing before my table with one toe, dragging it over to me so I could put my feet up on it. The coffeehouse was a diamond in the rough, to be sure. Cabled and braced into the structure of the second level from the Bottom, it hung over the darkness just a little out of the reach of the Feeders. Unidirectional infrasound speakers kept the worst of the Bottom’s denizens away- they couldn’t stand the powerfully low-pitched rumbling, which could rattle the teeth in your head if you were standing too close to the business end. I had heard of someone licking one of those speakers on a dare, though no one had apparently seen the stunt done. Evidently, the idiot who had accepted the challenge suffered serious brain and organ damage and needed most of his teeth replaced. No one had tried it again ever since.

The building itself showed its almost century and a half of constant repair and expansion in its patchwork design. It was concrete and plastic composite and had been designed to last forever. Some of the brick facade from the first time the shop had been reborn had been put back up on the front wall, just below the wide bay window. The table and chairs were wooden, aluminum, even marble; a collection of seats culled from the scrap mongers' sleds by the sharp-eyed Abeba the last time they had brought their hauls through the neighborhood. Broken fans circled haphazardly in the ceiling, providing no relief from the typical Columbian heat and humidity.

The clientele was typical for a coffeehouse on a work-day, consisting of older people playing chess or checkers, or even dragging out antique consoles and enjoying archaic pre-virtual reality games. There were hundreds of framed pictures hanging on the walls in no particular order; some of them from the District days, many of them showing smiling members of the Bellay family as they went about managing the coffeehouse which had become their legacy. I looked around at the pictures, the mismatched chairs, and the relaxing regulars and smiled. Since I had come to the Sprawl, this place had been the closest thing to home for me. Sure, I slept in a Coffin over in Sector 12A, but I didn't relax anywhere but here, not even when I was sleeping. I leaned back in my chair, resting my head against the wall, breathing in the heady pungence of the house brew. Coffee. In an age where Hawaii lay beneath the sea and Southeast Asia wasn't exporting anything but mutants and disease, real coffee was rarer than honest politicians and twice as hard to buy. If the Bellay family had moved their coffeehouse and its attendant supply lines to the upper city, they could have been richer than the entire Senate. But here they were.

Mama Abeba came bustling back over and set a sandwich down in front of me- a selection of vegetables wrapped up in a pita and slathered with real mustard- most of it produced in the grow labs of the local towers. Beside it, she placed a red earthenware mug of strong black coffee. I didn't wait for her to tell me the price; I just put my cred stick on the table and smiled up at her. "Thanks, Mama."

She gave me a motherly pat on the shoulder, scooped up the cred stick and swept back off through the maze of tables, heading once more for the kitchen. I turned my attention to my food, my stomach already growling to the delicious smell of fresh grilled veggies. I bent and took a bite. “Damn, that looks good,” someone said, and I jumped, nearly spitting out the mouthful food. It took me a moment to get myself under control, and when I finally managed to swallow my food and look up, I found Yakov taking the seat across from me, laughter dancing in his ochre eyes. He kept a straight face, however, and said, apologetically, “Sorry, Red, I guess I just move quietly.” He shrugged, making a ‘what can you do?’ expression.

I glared at him. “Ass. You know I’ve probably got a Paracell hit out on me, right?”

Yakov waved it away dismissively, "You can take a corporate hitman. Maybe not a squad, but why would they send that many after one woman?" He waved to Mama Abeba as she came back across the room, his manner easy and familiar. "Now if you had a Justice Incorporated contract out on you, then I’d say you should be worried. Shit, if you ever end up on the wrong side of an Arbiter, you might consider leaving America.”

I rolled my eyes. “Thanks so much for your concern.”

Yakov grinned. “No problem!”

Mama Abeba sidled up to the table and set my cred stick down on the battered plastic surface, then gave a sidelong look to Yakov and turned the look on me. "Red, who's your friend?" Her omnipresent smile got a little wider. "Is this your boyfriend?"

I sighed. “No, he’s a business partner. And an asshole.”

Yakov didn’t seem put out by this, not in the slightest. He held out his hand for Mama Abeba to shake and gave her a winning smile. “Salam, pleased to meet you, at last, Ms. Bellay."

Mama Abeba snorted. “Look at you, being so formal.” She glanced at me. “He’s a smartass, I see.” She turned her formidable gaze on Yakov, who didn’t so much shrink back as he let his shoulders sag a little. “I like that,” she continued. “But you can call me Mama Abeba, or Mama. None of this ‘Miss’ or ‘Missus’ bullshit.”

“Yes, Mama,” he said easily, correcting himself.

“Would you like anything baby?” She produced a notepad from inside an apron pocket and waited.”

Yakov thought for a moment, then shrugged and said, “Black coffee, I guess. I haven’t had that in years.” When Mama Abeba left, he looked back over at me, a skeptical eyebrow raised. “An asshole, eh?”

I smiled sweetly at him and batted my lashes. “I call ‘em as I see ‘em, garbage man.”

He snorted, not bothered at all. “So, what’s new? Why did you want to meet me?”

"Because I just got hired to do something extremely stupid and I need to put a team together." I sighed. "I've got a job, and they're going to pay me twice my usual rates. If this pans out, it could simultaneously finish both my other jobs, which are otherwise stalled out." I took a sip of the coffee, closed my eyes for a minute to savor the rich taste and then opened them again. "I'm beginning to think I'm in a little over my head."

"If you're in over your head, why did you accept the job? Hell, why did you take any of these jobs?" Yakov rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, revealing the dark skin of his forearms was marred with a patchwork of scars as if someone had slashed at them randomly with a knife, or perhaps whipped his outstretched arms with a bundle of wire. There was a certain… spiral shape to the scar tissue.

“I dunno,” I said, resting my head on my hand. “I’m just... I need the money.”

"You can't be that broke; you're drinking coffee here."

I grimaced. “Compared to what I’m paying for? Drop in the bucket.”

Yakov frowned, his thick brows almost meeting in the middle. “Drugs?”

I nodded wordlessly.

“What kind? Maybe I know a guy who can get it for you a little more cheaply.”

“Trilenthropol,” I said, staring down at the table in frustration.

Yakov was staring at me, a mixture of horror and fascination twisting his face. Amber eyes wide with concern, he leaned in and whispered, “You’re taking a hospital grade anesthetic?!”

I nodded again. “It’s the only thing stopping me from dreaming, and it’s not working as well as it used to.”

“Not dreami- you can’t close your inner eye all the way, can you?”

I glanced around. Nobody seemed to have heard him, or at least they weren’t paying attention if they had. “I guess not. How do you know about that?”

“It’s a common enough problem among telepaths- you aren’t the first one I’ve met. Where did you train to control this?”

Where did I train? I smirked. “Train? Where at wizard school? I learned everything I could do down here.”

“Your parents didn’t bother having you tutored?” Yakov was incredulous. Apparently, this was the most ridiculous thing he had heard all day.

“My parents didn’t give one fuck about me,” I snarled. “And- Wait a minute, how do you know anything about my parents?” The gears in my head clicked into place, and I felt my stomach drop toward my toes. “You’re the contact for the club at the Silvered Stag. You’re the one who told them I was a telepath!” This time it was me not watching how loud I was talking. I stood, and my chair fell over backward behind me. “Where the hell do you get off telling me to keep this a secret and then blabbing about it to your hippie friends? Who the fuck do you think you are?” Conversation in the bar stopped, and I could feel the stares of the regulars on me. They were curious? Oh, in a moment they were going to get a fucking show. Yakov did not stand with me, but rather looked up straight faced. I couldn’t even tell if he was embarrassed by the spectacle we were becoming- a blush wouldn’t have shown on his skin, even as it was surely turning my face red as a beet. This only made me madder. I opened my mouth, ready to say something hot and angry- and I was cut off by the sound of breaking glass and a flurry of motion near me too fast to follow. Something was hovering less than an inch away from my eye. I blinked and focused on it. At the same time, I registered I was staring at a heavy caliber railgun slug. There was another loud CRACK, and another slug smashed itself flat in the air less than an inch from my face.

“Red!” Yakov groaned through clenched teeth. I looked over at him, bewildered, in the shocked silence. Blood was streaming from one of his nostrils. Then everything sped up, and I dropped flat to the floor. A third shot passed over my head and smashed an old photograph off of the wall in a spray of powdered glass and plastic from the frame. Shit! Shit, what is happening! I fumbled around behind me for my gun. One of the regulars, apparently deaf enough not to have caught on to the situation, stood up suddenly. Before I could even scream, his head burst as if it had been hit by a sledgehammer, spraying me with blood, brain, and bone. I screamed. I was not unused to combat, but I hadn't been ready. This place was my secret! It was my home! It was supposed to be safe! Everyone was screaming and trying to hide behind the tables, the booths, each other- but we all knew the horrible truth. A railgun round could penetrate a foot of steel. Nothing in this coffeehouse was true cover. As if to accentuate the point, a shot lanced through the wall not five feet from my head, and turned the knee of a crouched regular into a red mist, severing the leg completely. I began to rise, reasoning that if the sniper shot me, they would leave everyone else in the bar alone- but an inexorable force as heavy as the boot of giant kept me pressed flat to the floor, no matter how much I struggled.

Yakov rose from his chair, his boots squeaking on the blood-slick tile beside me. He wasn’t wearing his armor. He wasn’t carrying a gun. But there was an undeniable aura of menace about him as he stepped determinedly over me, headed for the door. “Don’t worry,” I heard him say, his voice electric with rage. “I’ve got this.” A rifle round hammered itself flat a few inches from his face and fell to the floor. And then he stepped through the door. A few moments later, the screams began in earnest.

I crawled over to the punctured window and peered up over the sill, and felt my blood freeze as I recognized the lead hitter who had almost caught me up at the Pavitr Chauraahe Towers. He was shouting something I couldn't hear over the screaming, and a thick knot of mercs in corporate-quality riot armor advanced toward the coffeehouse, their weapons firing a steady drumbeat of ravenous death. Yakov was standing just outside the doorway of the shop, one hand outstretched, and bullets were slamming to a halt by the dozen. Blood was pouring from both nostrils freely now, but he showed no signs he noticed or cared. There were already four mangled bodies at his feet. As I watched, one more of the mercenaries firing at him was snatched up off of his feet; he was ripped upside down into the air, where his limbs twisted violently into unnatural shapes before his head turned all the way around with a grinding crunch. I ducked down below the windowsill and vomited all over the already stained tiles. Holy fucking shit. I just crouched there, hovering over my pool of expanding sick, my stomach knotted with horror. I understood then what I had seen down at the Bottom had only been a taste of what a powerful TK could do. This was something much different. Much darker. Much… wilder.

I gritted my teeth and began crouch-walking my way to the door, staying low. I couldn’t just let Yakov face a hit squad by himself. This was insane. He was clearly pushing his limits already. If this kept up for too long, his barrier would fall, and he would die. I couldn’t imagine how much willpower it must have taken for him to stop so many bullets at so close a range. I reached the door and peered around it. Yakov’s barrier was clearly visible now, glowing a faint electric blue from all the energy discharging against it. I could see the grating of the walkway at its border smoldering and bubbling where the Psionic field touched the metal. Yakov’s posture was still defiant, but I could see him beginning to shake. This was too much even for him. I needed to do something! I huddled hard against the wall, clenched my teeth, squeezed shut my eyes, and threw my inner eye open wide. An avalanche of terrified thought blasted into me, sweeping me up in the collective fear, pain, rage, and elation of everyone within sight of the fight. The psychic storm swallowed me whole, and I let it.

Yakov was not content just to stop the bullets. Blood spraying from his lips, he shouted his rage into the electrostatic thunder of the continuous gunfire. His hands came up, and as if he was pushing an immense weight away from him, he shoved something forward with a roar. The gunfire was interrupted, and I peered up over a nearby windowsill in time to see the firing line of corporate mercs flung away like plastic bags in the wind, slapped with brutal force against the railings and the walls of the coffeehouse. Two unlucky mercenaries lost their footing entirely and were flung bodily from the platform to fall screaming to the Bottom not far below. I winced. They would probably survive the fall. They wouldn't survive what came after. The leader of the hitman was screaming at a wrist communicator. Through the cacophonic storm of ambient thought, I focused hard on his mind, bearing down with all the weight of my telepathy through the welter of panic and fear rising up all around me. We’re all going to die. No. Oh god oh god oh god oh god. No. Shoot him! Goddammit, can I just h- That line of thought cut off abruptly as a body struck the plate glass of the nearby window, so hard the window rattled violently in its frame. The thick pane didn’t break. The body did. I cringed as a migraine crashed through my skull, but this time I didn’t fall unconscious. Death feedback was bad, but I wasn’t as far inside this time. I grasped for the next mind. Goddammit, why don't they ANSWER me! There.

I peered back up through the blood smeared window and saw the hitman leader falling back before Yakov’s onslaught, even as a dozen more armored men came scrambling across the nearby walkways. They were bursting forth from nearby doors and getting their guns into the fight, and between each flurry of ripples, as bullets were deflected, I could see the dome of Yakov’s shield burn blue as a much more powerful projectile struck it. I winced. The sniper with the railgun was still out there. The shield was flickering more, and as I caught sight of Yakov’s face, I gasped. Blood was pouring from his ears and the corners of his eyes now, and the sclera around his pupils was crimson and shot with blood. He was pushing himself too far! If this went on any longer, he was going to die. If I was going to do something, I had to do it right fucking now.

I had no training, no skill at this, and I only knew a couple of tricks. But maybe if I combined a few of the things I already knew I could do… I let in the fear, the panic, the gut-wrenching terror of the other people crouched in the coffee shop. I mixed in the sick, helpless anger of Mama Abeba, and threw in my own horror and revulsion of at seeing my refuge desecrated. Then I settled the gaze of my inner eye on the minds of the soldiers outside the window, and I gave them everything. It flowed through me: the pain, the hate, the terror, the rage; all of it was amplified in the lens of my defiant fury. I felt it all, and it took everything I had not to fold beneath the pressure, to break and be swept away before the hurricane I had gathered. I was the bridge between the fear-stricken innocent and the attackers. I held out. I kept it together. And this time when the screams rose, they were wild, animal shrieks. The corporate hitters outside felt real, genuine, pure, bestial terror and their bowels turned to water. Many of them soiled themselves. All of them screamed, and some of them frothed at the mouth. They clawed at their eyes, at their cheeks, at their helmets and the hair beneath. Weapons fell to the ground. Bodies fell shortly after that. I stood, shakily, and made my way for the door. I tasted blood. It was running in warm streams from both nostrils. But I didn't shut my inner eye. I kept the hurricane of fear coming, and drove the men who had come to kill me further into primal fear and madness.

Yakov was standing amidst them all, confusion and horror writ large on his face. His skin was grayish and waxy, and his eyes were swollen, blood-choked orbs as he turned them on me. “Red,” he rasped. “What did you do?”

"Bought us some time," I wheezed. "Now let's go. We need to move." There was another impossibly loud, sharp CRACK, and I flinched. Yakov staggered hard. At first, I thought he had been shot, and I rushed to his side, getting a shoulder up under his to keep him standing. Then I noticed the railgun round hovering in the air beside the space where my head had been. Holy shit. Yakov’s eyes locked onto something, and he gestured sharply, even as his head lolled with exhaustion. The bullet disappeared, and a moment later, a man toppled from the roof of a nearby Coffin stack and disappeared into the darkness below. Yakov sagged harder. He couldn’t keep this up. We needed to move.

I dragged him to a nearby sealed passageway. We needed to get out of the street. We needed to get somewhere safe! Was there safety anywhere nearby? “Stand by, you freak bitch!” I turned my head, blinking through tears and blood to see the hitman leader standing on a nearby walkway, his finger pointed accusingly at me. “You’re dead,” he called. “You’re dead! I’m gonna make sure you die!”

I met his eyes wearily. He didn't raise his gun. I gritted my teeth, focused as best I could, and thumped him hard in the brain stem with a hard, unfocused psychic hammer blow. He staggered and fell to one knee, and I turned my back on him, getting Yakov through the door into the nearby stack, shutting it behind us. Before I released the hitter leader's mind, I heard him think, quite distinctively, "Gamma-Five." My blood turned to ice. That was it. They were sending Gamma-Five after us. We really were going to die. I clenched my jaw. I wasn't just going to die without a fight. I resettled Yakov's arm over my shoulder and got him moving faster into the shadows.

* * *

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Making Death Blink First

Book 2

Chapter Six

I staggered beneath Yakov's weight and almost fell. "Come on, you asshole," I grunted. "I'm not carrying you out of here." We didn't have very much time. Yakov and I had just killed or crippled at least twenty men, and backup was certainly on the way. The only thing that even gave us a chance of slipping the net which would be drawn around us was the chaos we had left in our wake. I swallowed hard against the rising bile in my throat and forced myself to keep moving. Blood. There was so much blood. A few curious stares raked over us as I dragged Yakov’s nearly insensate form down a dark sewer access corridor, but most of the dirty faces crowded in the stinking shadows around us were studiously looking elsewhere. We Weren’t Their Problem. “Yakov,” I rasped. “I need you to snap out of it. I can’t carry you all the way.” He was still technically walking; I was bearing up under his right shoulder to keep him standing, but his movements were getting more unfocused by the second, and his bloodshot eyes stared blankly ahead. Please don’t die on me, I hardly dared to pray. I need you alive, you son of a bitch. He had been using me. He had been an agent for the Silvered Stag Club- those Barbie-doll hippies- this whole time, and he had told them I was a Psion. He had betrayed my trust, pretended to be my friend. But he had also just saved my life. I grimaced as he sagged against me.

I guided the staggering Cleaner around a corner into a side passage, which led us to a door set with a keypad. Hopefully, his maintenance master code worked here. “Yakov,” I hissed. “Enter the code.” He didn’t respond at first. I reached up with my free hand and slapped his cheek, none too gently. “Listen, you son of a bitch, open the goddamn door right now. Otherwise, I’m leaving you here!” The bloodshot eyes rolled toward me and focused. Yakov mumbled something which suspiciously sounded like the word “bitch,” and groggily reached for the keypad. It took him three tries, but then the door unlocked with a heavy clunk, and I pushed him through it. “You better not die on me,” I grumbled as I got beneath his shoulder again before he fell down. Yakov didn’t respond.

We were standing in an Efficient Housing Pod, an EHP. However, this one hadn't been locked down like the one the Jvotneya gang had claimed. It seemed that whichever group had set up shop here had crumbled, and now the housing block was just a slum; home to the usual mix of wage slaves, street folk, and the ephemeral sprawl gangs which rose and fell with the sun. I shrugged. A slum would work fine for my purposes. No one living this low in the Sprawl would tell a corporate agent a damn thing. But still… I scanned the sea of dirty faces pushing all around me as they went about their business. No colorful market here, just a few thousand sweating, stinking bodies pushing past each other with permanent scowls, graven into their faces and eyes glued to the foul ground. I didn't relish trying to navigate this with a damn near unconscious Yakov leaning on me. I’d get my pocket picked- or worse. I needed a helping hand, and fortunately, in a place like this, I could buy one. I spotted a young kid in the colors of some street gang and fished a cred stick out of my pocket as I approached. "Hey, bud."

The kid opened his mouth with a smirk forming on his face; then he saw the smears of blood across my face, and Yakov's general mess of a state and the smile quickly vanished. "Holy shit, lady, is yer friend there gonna make it?" Yakov stirred, managing to raise his arm just high enough for the kid to see when he flipped him the bird. The kid laughed. "Well, he ain't too dead to be an asshole."

"Yeah, I think it's a reflex for him." I forced a smile. "Look, I need to get this guy to my street doc, and I'm gonna pass out if I try to carry him much further. You think you can get some of your boys to help me out? You might have to shoot a corpsucker or two." The kid grinned at the word "corpsucker," which is what many of the Lower Sprawl street gangers called anyone with a corporate badge. He grinned even wider when I held up the cred stick, showing him the number projected onto the side of the little crystal. A hundred credits. I would charge it to my client later. Assuming I would ever see her again.

"Lady, yer speaking my language," said the young ganger. "Lemme call my Honcho, and we'll give ya a hand. Wit' this much we can get you to Metro. If ya wanna taxi, I'm gonna need more."

I shook my head. "Metro's fine." The ganger bobbed his head once in acknowledgment and disappeared into the crowd. I found a spot to sit where I was mostly blocked from sight, with my back to the concrete side of one of the blockhouses. I set down Yakov first, carefully, and then sat beside him, pausing for a moment to check his pulse and breathing. I opened a menu with my Lattice and scrolled through the options. I considered calling Penn to let him know I was in the wind. I couldn’t go home, and I couldn’t go to the Greasy Wheel. There would be Paracell hitters there, and this time they might be smart enough to hire local muscle instead of sending in the corporate goon squad. I won’t see it coming if, say, a Jaguar Rakshasa drops on me from the top of a Coffin stack and breaks my damn neck. I grimaced. Thinking like that made my spine itch. I took out my needle gun and placed it in my lap.

The ganger kid came back a moment later, closely followed by five others like him. Their gang colors of yellow and blue had the strange effect of blending their features to my eyes, making it hard to tell one from the other. I wondered if there was some kind of Matrix tag trick to it, or if I was really very tired. A stray thought flitted into my brain. Jeez, this lady gave Ricky a hundred? She looks like a junkie. I scowled but didn’t say anything. “Hey, lady, my boys ‘ere will help ya out. Let us carry yer friend for ya.”

I stood and gestured to Yakov with a tilt of my head, and the gangers moved in to get him on his feet. His eyes focused for a moment, and I felt the air begin to grow heavy around us. I shook my head. "You're fine, Yakov. Let these guys carry your heavy ass. I'm getting you to a doctor I know." Yakov groaned, and though he didn't speak, I could hear his thoughts as clearly as if he had shouted. I DON’T LIKE DOCTORS. I shrugged. “And I don’t like being outed to strangers, but then again, here we are.” The tension in the air didn’t abate, and though he hadn’t yet moved anything with his mind, I could tell he was gathering himself to strike. I sighed. I was too tired for this shit.

I lunged forward, startling the gangers holding Yakov’s arms, though they didn’t drop him. I seized the Cleaner by his stubble jaw and glared right into his eyes. “Listen to me you fucking asshole. You damn near killed yourself back there. You saved my life, and I owe you for that. But I’m pretty goddamned pissed, and I frankly don’t give half a shit what you want.” I squeezed his jaw hard, forcing his bloodshot eyes to focus on my face. “Now we are going to my doctor, and she's gonna patch you up, so I don't owe you anything else. Then, I'm gonna leave your duplicitous ass in her office, and that will be the last you see of me." I could sense Yakov trying to speak, but I didn't care. I squeezed his jaw harder. "Now let these guys carry you to the fucking train or so help me, I will shoot you dead right here." Yakov's eyes fixed on mine, and a hot, mad, fire glinted in his eyes. For a split second, I was sure he was going to attack. Then, he looked away, and his shoulders sagged in the grip of the gangers. They stared at me, not sure what was happening and not sure what they should do. I let go of Yakov's face and nodded to them. "Alright, we're good. Let's go."

* * *

My doctor really wasn’t a doctor. Oh, she knew human physiology like no one else - or at least no one else I could afford. She could patch up a down on her luck merc so fast that if I didn’t know better, I would swear she was working some kind of psionic healing on her patients. But no, she wasn’t a witch anymore than she was a real doctor. She was a Chopper; a kind of street surgeon-mortician-cybernetic specialist who operated outside the comfortable legal confines of the Hippocratic Oath. I pushed the door to the little chop shop open with my foot, and then dragged Yakov in the door. My doctor turned from the corpse she had been working on at the sound of the door chime. She was wearing a blood-spattered apron and was holding up a circular saw. I took it in stride. “Hi, Michi! How have you been?”

Michi's porcelain doll face split into a broad smile, and she said, "Vivian! It's been too long!" She set down the saw on the edge of a bloody cot and said, "Hold on, let me clear a space for him." The room was cluttered with medical equipment and battered cots. Cybernetic limbs hung from hooks set in the ceiling; some of them modern bionic limbs, others older, heavier prostheses from the last few decades. Several freezers, which I was sure, were fully packed with harvested organs stood against the back wall; charts hung on each of them, written in Michi's precise block capitals. Despite the amount of material crammed into the little room which served as her workspace, everything was scrupulously clean- but for the cot holding the cadaver, she had been working on when we entered. Michi stripped off her bloody gloves and threw them into a boxy little incinerator standing beside an open crate, filled with sampling equipment. She maneuvered through the cramped space until she reached the cot closest to where Yakov and I were standing. She pulled back a plastic cover, revealing a clean bed, and gestured for me to put him there. "So, what happened to you two?"

I grimaced, as my headache had surged back into my skull with the relief of getting Yakov’s weight off of my shoulders. “Telekinetic overload. He pushed too hard- stopped about three-hundred bullets and threw around twenty guys at once. I need you to make sure he isn’t going to become a vegetable.”

Michi shook her head disapprovingly. “You Psions always think you’re invincible.” She narrowed her eyes. “I still haven’t been able to prove your abilities actually make you more arrogant, but if I could publish just based on circumstantial evidence, maybe I would get that fellowship in New Amsterdam.” She put a hand to Yakov’s forehead and stood this way for a moment, with her fingers gripping his forehead tightly. Then she bent over him and shone a flashlight into his eyes. I watched her work in silence. To all outward appearances, she was like any average woman from the Japanese Prefecture. She was ivory-skinned and black-haired, petite and pretty. If you looked closely enough, though, you could tell her dark brown eyes were bionic replicas, but other than that, Michi looked like the sort of person the Originals prized. A regular human, excelling in a world of hybrids, mutants, androids, and psionic freaks. But Michi wasn’t ‘pure human;’ her brain wasn’t made of gray matter. Instead, a positronic android’s brain rode in her skull, and her spine was made of cybernetic sections, wrapped around bundled fiber optics cables. Michi was a construct; an android built to look, act, and feel exactly like a human. But that didn’t matter much to me. Michi was a good ‘person.’

She rose from Yakov’s side and crossed the room to retrieve a handheld scanner from the operating cart beside her half-dissected cadaver. As she turned away from me, I caught sight of the back of her neck. The skin was clean and bare, free of the barcode legally required to be tattooed on the neck of any construct living in the United States. If the wrong person ever realized what she really was underneath her pretty exterior, there was a good chance she would be turned over to the government for ‘disassembly.’ If she wasn’t just shot dead on the spot. There was a reason she made a good doctor for Psion in hiding. She knew what it meant to keep secrets.

Michi stepped back up to Yakov's side and fiddled with her hand scanner. It began emitting a string of rhythmic beeps, which were most likely a code she could understand. It was just noise to me. After a few minutes of her doing this, she turned away from Yakov. "He'll live. No bleeding on the brain, just a few ruptured minor blood vessels and a whole mess of burst capillary veins. I'll give him a speed healing stim, and he should be back to normal within a day." I nodded and opened my mouth to say something about the fee, but Michi raised a hand, cutting me off. "Now your turn." Seeing the protest in my face, she glared at me, her expression immovable. "No, you might not look as bad as ‘wonder boy’ over there, but you're practically dead on your feet. I bet he is not the only one who pushed himself too far. Lie down.” She stripped the cover from another cot as she spoke.

“Michi, I’m on a job,” I explained. Her expression didn’t change as she stepped toward me, her mouth tightened into a thin line. I tried again. “There’s no time for-” Without a warning, Michi’s hand darted toward my neck, and a tiny bit of pain spiked before being drowned in cold. “Fuck!” I swore, trying to slap at her hand, but she had already withdrawn it, shaking her head as she stepped to keep me from falling.

The construct doc smiled fondly. “You’re too stubborn, Viv. Just lie down and rest. The job will still be there in a few hours.” The cold crawled into my brain, making my vision fuzzy, leaving silence in its wake. My Inner Eye closed involuntarily, and blessed stillness fell across my mind. Maybe she was right. Maybe rest was what I needed. But did she really have to do it like that? I let her lead me to the cot, which suddenly seemed as wonderful and inviting as a feather bed. I lay down as darkness began to encroach on my vision. The last thing I saw was Michi standing over me, her scanner ready in her hand.

* * *

I opened my eyes. I was lying on my back on a comfortable, warm bed, and heavy blankets were tucked in all around me. I groaned. Light streamed in from my bedroom window, illuminating everything in stripes of grimy yellow brilliance. It must have been early morning- the sun only hit the sides of the Hsu house around dawn. We were lucky to get that much, even though we lived only a story below the level of the street. No, said my father’s voice in my head, with the automatic precision of an oft-repeated mantra. Not luck. We worked for our money, for our position. Any family in America could do the same. The poor are only poor because they aren’t willing to do what is necessary to rise out of poverty. Dad said that one all the time. Something about it bothered me, but today I didn’t push. It was too early for this. Maybe if I just went back to sleep…

“Vivian!” Called my mother. “Vivian Claire, you’d better be up!”

I groaned and rubbed my eyes. Evil woman. Never let a girl sleep. “I’m awake, Mom,” I called grumpily. Though why I’m up at five in the morning, I have no goddamn idea. I rolled out of my bed, putting my bare feet on the hardwood floor. I grabbed my bathrobe off a hook, set in the back of my bedroom door and put it on. Belting the robe closed, I opened the door and stepped out into the main apartment. The family home was immaculate, practically a museum made of priceless wood, black marble, and glass. I had never lived anywhere else, but sometimes I wondered what it might be like to have a home which didn’t look like an exhibit. The Natural Habitat of the Columbian Elite. I smirked to myself and went into the kitchen, where Mom was just retrieving a fresh mug of coffee from the machine. "Morning," I mumbled, and then went to the cabinet to get my cup.

Mom raised a perfect eyebrow at me as I passed. "Don't act so put-upon, Vivian. Today is an important day for you." She was of the same height as me and I had gotten her complexion, freckles, and flame hair. From the outside looking in, it wouldn't have been hard to see the resemblance between mother and daughter. But we couldn't have been more different. Her lips, deep crimson in the current fashion, couldn't help but frown slightly all the time. Her eyes, green as the leaves of the long-dead trees in our floor, seemed perpetually on the edge of an irritated glare. Her beautiful curls were always wrapped up in a braided bun so tight it seemed to stretch the skin of her forehead. She was gorgeous, like a rose, but she came with thorns which could tear anyone to shreds. Sometimes, I wondered guiltily how she had allowed my father to come anywhere near her. Perhaps she never had, said a little voice in my head. You weren’t born, you were made. I dispensed steaming coffee into my mug and swallowed those dark thoughts in a wash of rich, enervating brew.

I made myself smile. “What’s so important about today, Mom?”

“You don’t remem-” Mom stopped and sighed. “Of course, you don’t.” She set down her coffee mug and then turned and looked me in the face. “Vivian, you’re not a child anymore. This family’s fortunes are going to rest on your shoulders, and that day is not so far away. You need to start taking this seriously.” Seeing my eyes start to glaze over, she grimaced and seized me by both of my shoulders. “Listen, daughter. This might seem stupid to you, pointless, but it’s of utmost importance. If you show any weakness to them, any at all, you are the prey. And they will not hesitate to come in and take everything they can from you. And unless you want to wind up living down there-” she pointed to the floor, "-or worse, you need to stay alert and remember where you are." Mom softened her tone and let go of my shoulders. "I know, you're seventeen, and you don't want to hear your mother go on and on about this." She straightened up and picked up her coffee cup again. "But believe me when I say you're not going to have the luxury of thinking of all this as a joke for much longer." She took a long swig of coffee and set the mug back down. "To answer your question, a tutor is coming today, to teach you about…" she cut off and tapped her temple with one crimson fingernail. We both knew what she was talking about. "It's important that you get a handle on it, how to switch it on and off." She gave me a sidelong look, and a rare smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. "It's only a useful weapon if nobody knows it’s there.”

I nodded, keeping my expression blank. “I understand, Mom.” It was better not to ask her the questions going through my mind. Why does everything have to be a weapon? At the very least she was right about not wanting everyone to know what I could do. It would make it impossible for me to talk to anyone if they thought I was reading their thoughts all the time. I took another swig of coffee. “Have a good day at work.”

My mother turned away, the shade of a smile falling off of her face like a mask. “Study hard.” She turned and strode for the door. I watched her go, sipping my coffee. A tutor was coming today. At least that gave me something to do besides watch television. I opened my media feed in my Lattice and paged through the music as I headed for my bedroom. The front door shut with a click, and then the locks engaged with a heavy thump. Out of the corner of my eye, the news brief caught my attention, and I looked up at it, curious. It was just a bill going through the Senate. My parents had said something about it the other day, hadn’t they?

I didn't pay much attention to the news; it was mostly about which corporation had bought out which, and who got whacked in a dark alley in the night. But this- this caught my attention. What had Dad said? He had seemed worried. Senators Varkid and Davis were championing Bill #7754, which defined what made a person human. It seemed like pretty standard stuff. One of these floated around about every eighteen months, but it never went anywhere. It was just anti-hybrid and anti-cyborg crap, usually backed by labor unions that were sick of ‘real Americans’ losing jobs to people capable of being so much more efficient at physical exploits. I shrugged. It sucked for them, but the bill wasn't going to pass. The corporations who ran the Senate probably employed hybrids and cyborgs by the thousands. After all, why hire a vanilla forklift driver and buy the lift itself when you could pay one guy with a little gorilla in his DNA to pick up your pallets by hand and put them on the truck all by himself? Why train a vanilla scuba diver to maintain the sea pipes when you could have a cyborg who didn't need to breathe more than once an hour do it for you? It was just the way the world worked. This "Varkid-Davis" bill wasn’t going anywhere.

I shed my robe and stepped into the shower, switching on my favorite punk playlist as I started the hot water. In the corner of my eye, I saw the news crawl change to video, and I turned to see what it was. The picture was shaky, a Lattice-cam video distorted by the mental state of the person filming, but what I was seeing was pretty clear. I blew the video up and let it take up my field of vision. A reporter was talking about the picture. "...shocking, truly shocking display. What we see here is truly unrestrained, unregulated power." In the center of the video, there was a man in a black suit, with his back turned to the viewer, standing in the middle of a crowded corporate food court somewhere in the Atlanta Sprawl. There was no audio, but when he turned his head, I could tell he was shouting something at the top of his lungs. The picture was too warped for me to read his lips when I saw his mouth, but everyone around him reacted instantly. In a spreading wave from where he was standing, everyone around him stopped whatever they were doing, dropped whatever was in their hands and began trying to murder whoever was closest to them.

I just stood in the shower and gaped at the carnage unfolding in front of me. Was that man a telepath? Why in hell would anyone do something like that? The reporter was talking, something about how the person who had made the recording had only survived because one of the people affected had pushed him out of a window and he had been knocked unconscious in the fall. I couldn't focus on him, though. Just five minutes before, I would have never considered my telepathy to be truly dangerous. I couldn't do much more than catching the occasional loud thought or idea- nothing truly frightening. But this? ‘It’s only a useful weapon if nobody knows it’s there.’ I shuddered. The picture changed. A grim-looking older man in a three-piece suit as pale as his skin and hair was standing on a podium. The news crawl scrolling across the image read "Senator Varkid speaks Live about the Atlanta Horror." Cold began creeping up my spine. Suddenly, in a lightning bolt of icy clarity, I realized I knew what was coming next. Varkid began with, “Ladies and Gentlemen of humanity,” and it was with skin-crawling fascination that I watched the world change.

* * *

I opened my eyes to darkness. Even without being able to see I could sense I was still in Michi’s chop shop, with a blanket drawn up to my neck. How long was I down? I glanced to the side, which should have brought up my HUD, and with it, the time. But nothing happened. No HUD. No clock. What the hell? A HUD couldn't be deactivated. A Lattice couldn't be shut off. They were part of the wearer, embedded so deeply in the meat of the brain as to be inseparable. Not even an electromagnetic pulse could fry a Lattice through the shielding of its wearer's brain. So where was mine? A dull throbbing grew from behind my eyes, slowly building, and I reached up to rub at them. But I couldn't touch my face because my hands were shackled to the cot. Wait, what? I tried to kick, but my ankles were shackled as well, and I couldn’t move. “Michi!” I screamed- or at least I tried to. But my tongue wouldn’t obey me, and all that came out of my mouth was a garbled moan.

A light came on above my cot, the sudden brilliance stabbing into my brain, making me screw my eyes shut to try to escape it. I couldn't turn my head away, though. There was some kind of restraint holding my head in place. A silhouette appeared, hovering over the bed, all features lost in its own shadow. "Now then, Vivian Hsu," said a calm, clinical, indistinct voice. "Let's crack you open and see what makes you tick." The figure turned away, and then returned a moment later, holding up a wicked looking electric saw so the light would let me see it. "This is a real pleasure for me," said the silhouette blandly. "After all, we've never actually figured out what makes you freaks what you are." The figure flicked on the saw, and it leaped to life with a cheerful hum. The voice kept talking. "Do you know how many lives were wasted to make you? How much each of them cost?" The shadow shook its head. "All such a waste." The voice brightened as the shadowed figure stepped back toward me. "At least now we'll finally get some use out of you," I screamed, but the sound came out garbled. I choked on my disobedient, limp tongue. The dark figure lowered the saw toward my forehead, and as the shadowed face bent forward to the task, it turned slightly so that light spilled across the side of its face, illuminating it for a split second. I gaped, unable to scream, unable to move, paralyzed by shock. I had seen those eyes in the mirror, those cheekbones as well. The hair was black instead of red, however, and the skin was a little darker than mine, more of an olive tint than alabaster and utterly devoid of freckles. The thin lips split into a smile that was at once entirely different from my own and yet so much a part of me. My tongue seemed to unfreeze for a moment, and I managed to croak out, "Father?" Then the saw bit into my skull, and I forgot everything in agony. Someone… was someone calling me?

* * *

I woke gasping for air and struggling to thrash free of my blankets. Someone was holding me down, barely managing to keep me on my back, even with most of her weight thrown across me. “Vivian!” Michi hissed. “Vivian calm down! You’re alright! You’re safe! It’s just a nightmare!” I blinked until I could see her face, her mechanical eyes. Michi put a gentle hand to my cheek. “Vivian, it’s okay.” I managed to control my breathing, and soon the need to fight or flee went away. Michi met my eyes, and then, satisfied, got off me so I could sit up. I groaned as the pressure of a hundred-thousand minds threatened to crush my own to jelly in my skull. It took nearly five minutes for me to get my mental defenses up so that I could stop squinting against an incoming migraine.

I coughed, my mouth dry as cotton, and within moments Michi was pressing a cold glass of water into my hands. “Sorry,” I croaked. “Trilenthropol isn’t really cutting it anymore.”

Michi grimaced. “I told you this would happen. You’re building a tolerance to the drug. But you can’t take more than the dose I’ve been supplying you- if you do, it could do permanent damage. You need to find another way to deal with this.”

I tossed back the water and held the glass out for Michi to take and refill. She did, returning in just a few moments later. I stretched. My whole body was sore. “I only know one guy who might know a tutor for me- and I’m kinda pissed at him right now.” I glanced across the chop shop. Yakov was nowhere to be seen. “Where is Yakov, anyway?”

Michi handed me the refilled glass. “Left about an hour before you woke up.” She raised her eyebrows, evidently impressed. “That man took to the stim I gave him like it was made specifically for his genetics. When he left, he walked right out of here like it was no big deal he had been carried in.” She waited for me to finish the water, then took the glass and held out a slip of paper. “He left you a note.”

I frowned and unfolded the little piece of paper. I guessed Yakov hadn't sent me a message through his Lattice on the off-chance that someone intercepted it. The message was short and terse. "Your client is at the Rose Garden with friends of mine. Safe and Secret. Ask for ‘Squeaks.' Tell her I sent you." His name was signed at the bottom, with a brief post-script below it. "Keep the eye." I sighed. Yakov was probably my contact with the Silvered Stag people, and I was going to have to deal with him again whenever I did the job for them. I crushed the note in my hand and threw it toward Michi's little incinerator. I missed. Michi bent, picked it up, and then dropped it in the little can. First things first. I needed to see Blackout so that I could actually go and see my client. I checked my HUD. What time had he said the counter-snooper would be ready? The display at the corner of my vision read 03:44. I grimaced. I hoped he was done with the damn thing. I couldn't just keep meeting him at noodle vendors. My stomach wouldn't be able to manage.

* * *

I bought a rind of beef and a cheap synth-coffee from a spam vendor and sat down on a bench to wait. Even this early, the platform Park I had chosen to meet Blackout was busy. Two pickup games of basketball were taking place, and what looked like a small family reunion of ratkin. Well, I thought, they do tend to be nocturnal people. The bulky shapes of Coffin stacks rose around three sides of the rectangular park, and the Metro station pushed right up to the fourth, making it pretty easy for me to see who came in and out. If worse came to worse, I could use the Coffin stacks to descend a couple of levels and escape this way. Hopefully, that won't be a problem in an hour. I took a big bite of synth-beef and chased it with the “coffee.” Not a five-star continental breakfast, but at least it wasn’t noodles.

Blackout appeared about fifteen minutes after I had finished eating, emerging from the stack to my right, looking around. This time he was wearing a woven poncho, which made him look a little ridiculous even as it pretty neatly drew attention away from his missing arm. He spotted me and stalked over. When he got close, I could see he was annoyed. “You couldn’t have waited until a decent hour?” I gestured to a self-heating cup of noodles sitting on the bench beside me. Blackout cut his eyes at me. “You’re lucky you know how to buy me.” I grinned. The hacktivist picked up the noodle cup, peeled the tape off the heater patch, and sat down on the bench beside me. “Well, it’s done, I just need to transmit the program to you, and it should start working immediately.” He set the noodles down, and then held up an empty hand. A Matrix-tag cube appeared above his palm, glowing a lambent crimson, pulsing to a rhythm I couldn’t follow. “Here.” He said.

I took the cube, and it vanished into crimson smoke. “That’s it?”

“That’s it,” Blackout confirmed as he pulled a set of steel chopsticks out of a pocket and bent to retrieve his noodles. He peeled the foil top from the cup and scooped out a thick clump of the foul noodles. They seemed to wriggle of their own accord, bringing to mind the image of worms on a hook. The hacker popped them into his mouth, and I barely managed to suppress the urge to gag. If Blackout noticed my distaste, he didn’t acknowledge it. “Your hippie friends came through.”

“They’re not my friends,” I grumbled.

Blackout smirked and gave me the side-eye. "Sure." His gaze focused on something beyond me, and turned, following it, to see someone striding across the park directly toward us. I swallowed hard. The person approaching us had the grim, anything-goes swagger of a freelance bounty hunter. The gun swinging openly by his right thigh and the combat armor lent credence to my assumption. As I watched, he walked straight through one of the basketball games, and when one of the players got in his face, he swatted the kid to the concrete with a casual backhand which betrayed tremendous strength. He drew closer, and I began to suspect his true nature. His skin was too uniform, the muscles of his bare arms too perfect, too smooth. His face didn't seem capable of expression; there was something far too hard about it. It appeared to be more of a stiff carapace, more of a plastic shell, than soft flesh. Behind me, Blackout whistled. "Check out the chrome on this fellah."

“Cyborg, or android?” I asked under my breath, my hand on my hip mere millimeters from the butt of my gun.

Blackout didn’t seem concerned. “Doesn’t matter. Might as well be a ‘bot.’” To the approaching stranger, he called, “‘Lo there, friend. You here for her, or me?”

The bounty hunter stopped, just two long paces shy of us, watching us with beetle black eyes. The mouth moved. “For you, Blackout. Cendradyne wants a word with you. Willing to pay triple to get it.” One muscled shoulder rose and fell with the slow inevitability of a shifting tectonic plate. “Didn’t expect you to be this easy to find.” His armored chest rose and fell in an even rhythm. Cyborg, I decided. That was good. Cyborgs were metal and meat, and meat could be killed. I just wasn’t sure I was going to be able to pierce the hide with a handgun.

Blackout stepped even with me, and when I glanced over at him, I was surprised to see he was smiling his usual crooked smile. This was not an ambush to him. He had been expecting this guy. “You left a trail for him, didn’t you?” I muttered.

Blackout's smile widened, and I caught a glimpse of his damaged jaw. "‘Course, Red. Every reputation is built on the same things, word of mouth, and action." He nodded to the bounty hunter. "If you're gonna take me, you might as well do it." He put a hand on my shoulder before I went for my gun. Without looking at me, he said, "Don't." I still put my hand on the butt of my gun, but I didn't draw it out of my waistband. The big guy hadn't drawn his own gun just yet, and I was reasonably sure those big, muscle-bound cyber arms could get his gun out and aim before I even got mine out.

The cyborg spared me only a momentary insolent glance before turning back to focus on the hacker, who had stepped forward, narrowing the distance between hunter and prey. It struck me then that maybe I didn’t know which was which. Certainly, Blackout looked non-threatening, but he had said many times he would not be caught, and he meant it. There was no way the hacker I knew was just going to walk meekly into the hands of a corp-hired merc. The mercenary nodded at Blackout approvingly. "I'm glad you decided to do this the easy way. Saves me time, and you p-” As he said the word ‘pain,’ he set one hand on Blackout's shoulder, a shepherding gesture. But before he could get the whole word out of his mouth, he jolted in place and fell to the ground, twitching, a muffled cry of alarm strangled in his throat by his own tongue. He stopped twitching within seconds and lay utterly immobile as if dead. I smelled molten plastic.

Blackout knelt by the body and placed a gentle hand on the plastic forehead, almost gently. “Did you ever stop to think there was a reason nobody had taken the contract when you got it? Did you ever wonder why Cendradyne offered you triple without a breath of haggling?” There was no answer from the inert lump of humanoid chrome. “You see, you’re lucky, Mr. Hugo Byrnes- yes, I know your name- you’re lucky because I’m not going to kill you. You’re new at this, and I take pity on the green. But what you are going to do is to warn everyone you know not to take a contract for my head- at any price. Because if I see any more green, chromed up bitches coming for me over the next six months, I’ll find you.” He bent low over the incapacitated bounty hunter. “Yes, you. And when you die, I’ll make sure your Lattice is overclocked so that every second of your passing will be like a year. So if I were you, I would do anything and everything in my power to make sure that good old Blackout here remains undisturbed, capiche?" He patted the merc’s cheek twice with genuine fondness and stood up. He looked over at me. “He’s a good kid. Just needed to be reminded where he was in the food chain.”

I realized my jaw was hanging open and closed it. Holy shit. Almost instinctively, I opened my Inner Eye and let my awareness drift over to the mind of the crippled cyborg. He was alive; awake, and aware. And he was screaming. I shuddered. Blackout smiled and dropped a cred stick beside the immobile freelancer. "That's for the chrome doc I called to come and get you. All your chrome is fried, so you're going to need it all replaced. Good luck!" Then he stepped over the body and walked over toward the basketball players the mercenary had disturbed earlier. They were watching the scene with intense, nearly predatory interest. Blackout began speaking to them, though I didn't know what he was saying. I sometimes forgot Blackout wasn't some gray hat hacker making ends meet in the fuzzy borders of the law. He was a black hat guerilla, fighting a war in two worlds, and he was ruthless. Just because he was my friend didn’t mean he wasn’t as cruel or calculating as any rebel in history. There was so much I didn’t know about him, and so little I did. How did Blackout cook that merc’s chrome? I wasn’t sure the answer to this question would satisfy me. I turned and walked away, trying to ignore the screaming, feeling nausea bubbling up in my stomach. Jesus. I doubted the poor kid would ever stop screaming, not for the rest of his life.

Chapter Seven

The ride to the ‘Rose Garden’ was long; the damned place was out in Northwest Columbia- the part of the city called ‘the Pit’ by people who didn’t live there, and “the Northwest Exclusion Zone” by the government. It had always been the poorer section of the city, even back in District days, and today it stood as a reminder that some things never really changed. Instead of ivory towers and grand monuments, the Pit was a twisted tangle of factories, chemical synthesis plants, reclamation tanks, and spamvats. The whole Pit had spawned over a great crater in the old urban landscape, and it had been sectioned off from the main city canyons by a concrete barrier, fifty meters thick called the Exclusion Wall. Like any Sprawl, every square inch of open space in the Pit, it was crammed, full with Coffin stacks, mega block towers, and vast webs of interconnected shanty houses dangling from any solid surface. Most of those homes were nestled up close to the factories or crammed below them; usually to leech power from spliced mainline cables, and to benefit from the ambient heat during winter storm season. It was a miserable place to live, a radioactive and toxic place to live. If there was anyone more looked down upon than a Lower Sprawl Dweller from Columbia proper, it was a denizen of the Pit.

The train engaged its magnetic brakes and came to a stop at the attached Metro station in a vortex of dust and detritus. A tin-voiced announcer groaned, “Northwest Entry Station: End of Line.” A quartet of municipal officials, typically called ‘guvvies,’ stood before each of the doors, all of them wearing identical expressions of resigned acceptance as they were buffeted by the filthy wind. Each of them was flanked by a man in a Titan rig; a suit of powered armor which made the wearer eight-feet tall and all but impervious to small arms fire. “Damned Customs,” I grumbled to myself, and one or two of the passengers standing around me made low grunts of assent. Sure, the Customs boys were easy going into the Pit, but I knew to expect a hassle when I returned.

The doors sprang open with squeals of rusted protest, and the reek of the Pit hit me like a rotten slab of spam. I wrinkled my nose and tried to breathe through the corners of my mouth as I stepped through the groaning doors and out onto the platform. The guvvie nearest to me opened a leather pouch I hadn’t seen attached to his belt. He drew from it a card, first peeling a transparent film from its front and then handing it to me. It came with a metal clip, and I fastened it to the collar of my plastic raincoat. With the easy monotone of long repetition, the guvvie rattled off half a dozen regulations I was to abide by in the Pit, ending his spiel with the most important rule of all: “Return before your badge turns black, or you will not be permitted reentry into the rest of the city.” I nodded in understanding and stepped past him.

That was the cruel beauty of the Pit. If the Lower Sprawl was filled with the tools and pawns of the corporate masters, the Pit was where they threw their ‘trash.’ Political dissidents? Throw them in the Pit. Vagrants caught too close to street level? Plenty of room in the Pit. Stay too long, and even you could be forced to live in the Pit. After twenty years, you would look much the same as the poor bastards who had been born there in the Northwest Exclusion Zone; with skin as thick and leathery as a turtle’s, eyes luminous with night shine like a cat’s, and cursed with the certainty your life would end in a cancer-riddled hell. It was a real cheerful place to visit.

Perhaps that was why the International Union of Sex Workers had set up the Rose Garden inside the Exclusion Zone. They considered it their purpose to bring a little joy into the lives of their clients, to meet the needs of those who might not necessarily be able to have those needs met otherwise. Their prices, from what I had heard, were reasonable, and just as they hired all sorts of people to ply the trade in their many brothels, they likewise were not discriminatory with their clientele. I also secretly suspected they put their only chapterhouse in the Exclusion Zone so that their wealthier clients would be forced to see a little of what had been done to the Pit when they came to get their fix. Seemed a decent trade to me.

I drew a little cylindrical breath filter out of my jacket pocket and fitted the mouthpiece and nose-plugs in place as I left the Metro station and crossed the walkway to the Rose Garden. I took a deep breath of processed, dry air, and I was sure I could still taste the acid stink. I forced myself to relax, to open my Inner Eye and take what came. I needed every advantage I could get in a place like the Pit. Alright. The brothel had been built just inside of the Pit, the sole occupant of a wide platform attached to the side of the Exclusion Wall by a network of cables and heavy steel struts. The building itself had been designed to evoke the aesthetic of an early twentieth-century theater; with cherry-red neon signs burning ‘the Rose Garden’ through the polluted haze like a beacon for lost souls. The building rose proudly to four stories, with wide, inviting windows on the first floor and small, intimate ones rising toward the cupola peak that sat atop the roof. The facade was fashioned from marble, and I was sure it took some herculean feat of maintenance to keep the rose-colored stone from darkening to black beneath the rain.

The double front doors of the brothel were flanked by two lithe street samurais in perfectly tailored crimson suits; each of them bearing a gleaming needle gun on one hip, and an innocent looking wrapped hilt on the other I recognized as a retracted mono-whip. The whip was the more dangerous weapon of the two when wielded by a master. I made sure to smile and nod at both of the razor-edged women standing and watching as I passed. Street samurais were a strange bunch, each of them following one of a hundred different ‘codes of honor.’ Some of them were loyal only to their employer, and you could be a smartass with them so long you didn't threaten the holder of their contract. These women, though, seemed like one of the other sorts- the kind who took slights to their honor in deadly earnest. My Inner Eye brushed over them, and all I sensed was a wordless certainty, the armed potential of a half-pulled trigger, or a knife in flight. As I passed them, one of them turned her head, birdlike, to watch me. Even as the other continued her vigil, staring out into the lambent gloaming of the Pit beyond. My skin crawled when I realized her eyes had both been replaced- not with cunning replicas like Michi's or the one riding in my jacket pocket- but with featureless steel orbs, with only a lightly graven circle to indicate where her gaze lay. I stifled a shudder. Definitely, the second kind of samurai.

I pushed one of the double doors open, surprised at how easily it moved. Likely the weight of the thick steel-banded door was countered by weights and pulleys in the walls. I could have nudged the door open with my toe. I stepped through, let the door pull itself shut behind me, and then took the pocket filter out of my mouth and put it in my pocket. I looked around, awed. The first floor had been laid for lounging, taking the form of an old speakeasy bar. The air was sweet and pleasant with the scents of fruit and flowers, and around me, there were glamorous sights; men and women in exquisite suits and dresses moving quietly between tables, and dozens of patrons just enjoying a chance at relaxation. The bar itself was the centerpiece of the room, dominating most of the back wall. Polished brass antique church organ pipes rose up behind the elegant black marble counter, and shelves had been attached to them at head high, each bearing an array of various liquors. A fully stocked wine rack was visible beside the water tank and mixing apparatus, and presiding over it all, there was a broad-shouldered serpentkin woman- known as a Gorgon.

The clientele, as well as the staff, were a beautiful medley of all the different flavors of humanity to be found in Columbia; I saw an elegant ivory and silver gyndroid consort slide into the lap of a burly Minotaur, even as her post human colleague chatted animatedly with a pair of ratkin ladies, his smile wide and infectious. I could feel my shoulders relaxing, some of the tension coming out of the back. This was a good place, even just to drink and mingle. With my Inner Eye open, I could feel dozens of waves of emotion flowing through the room, though it didn't seem as oppressive to me as such crowd thought zones could be. Maybe it was something about the atmosphere.

“Excuse me, miss? Has anyone helped you?” A cheerful voice like a string of silver bells burbled beside me. I turned to see a catkin woman no taller than a meter and a half, dressed in a smart navy suit. She was one of the rare beastkin that seemed more like her donor species than she appeared human; looking for the entire world like a bipedal ginger cat, fur and all. I must have looked a little surprised, because she grinned, showing an array of needle teeth. “Before you ask,” she chirped, “my name is Kat, as in Katherine, because my parents had a terrible sense of humor.” One of her ears twitched toward the main room, and her smile faltered slightly, but then returned to full strength.

I returned the smile. “Good to meet you, Kat. I was just taking it all in. This place is magnificent!”

“Yes it is,” she agreed. “The International Union of Sex Workers put a lot of labor into this place. It’s the best chapterhouse I’ve ever served at.”

“Does everyone here work directly for the Union?”

Kat tipped her head side to side, shrugging. “Sort of. Everyone who works here is a part of the Union, but most of the consorts themselves are independent contractors.” She gave me a sidelong look. “Much like freelancers like yourself, unless I missed my guess.”

I grinned. “Damn, is it that obvious?”

Kat gave me a look which said, “really?” She made a show of giving me an once-over, eyes tracking from my head to my toes. “Yeah, a lot of our clientele is from the freelancer community. There’s a certain way all of you carry yourselves. Dead giveaway.” She smiled reassuringly. “There I go, analyzing my customers instead of helping them again. So, what can I do for you? We have consorts to meet all tastes, but if you’re not quite ready for that step, you can just relax in the lounge here. Our live jazz band is running a little late today, but they should be here within an hour. The bar has an amazing selection, and I don’t think there’s a cocktail Lizzie, our bartender, can’t make.”

“It all sounds, great, but I’m really just here to talk to a friend of one of my colleagues. She goes by the name ‘Squeaks,’ I think.”

Kat stopped smiling and raised an eyebrow. "I can get her, just so long as you're only here to talk. If you have an issue with her or a contract on her, or something- you can take it somewhere else. Understand that while we permit our clients to be armed, we do not tolerate hostility toward our staff.”

I put up my hands placatingly. “Really, I just need to talk to her. A guy I know was helping me with a job, and she helped him out.” I hesitated to say anything further. How did I know I could trust this girl? Sure, she was cute and friendly, but what if the corpsuckers had agents within the Union? Well, she doesn’t know you either, I thought. You’re a stranger coming in, not acting interested in the wares, armed and asking for a specific woman. Kat was looking out for her own. I needed to give a scrap of trust to get any. Fuck it. Just give them his name. “Do you know a Cleaner named Yakov? He’s the guy who told me to talk to Squeaks.”

“Oh!” Kat said, brightening up immediately. “Why didn’t you say so? Yakov's a good person. He's a regular, and he's helped us out a couple times." She jerked her chin in a ‘come-on’ motion, and led the way out into the lounge. We crossed the tile floor, weaving between tables and slipping past mingling people until we reached a staircase tucked behind the wall which backed the bar. We ascended the stairs and came out into a wide, circular hall lined with doors that must each have led to separate rooms. The ambient noise of the lounge was dulled here, and I couldn't hear anything from any of the rooms- indicating the proprietors of the Rose Garden had invested in some quality soundproofing. One of the doors ringing the hall stood ajar, and Kat walked briskly up to it and rapped three times on it with her little fist. "Squeaks?" There was no answer. She knocked again. "Gina? Got someone who wants to talk to you. Says she works with Yakov Berkowitz."

“Come in,” came the reply in a hypnotist’s contralto. “I’ve been expecting her.”

Kat beckoned me forward and stepped back so I could enter the room. I pushed the door open and slipped inside. The room was cool and dark; the only light a dim desk lamp which illuminated half of the sole occupant’s face as she worked. She was seated at the desk, comparing data between two different glass tablets and occasionally making notes with a slender stylus. I stood awkwardly by the desk, but she didn’t look up. In the dim light, I could only make out some of her features. She had high cheekbones that cast her lower jaw in shadow, and the lines of her face were firm and symmetrical. Her dark hair was cut short, though not nearly as short as mine, and her bangs had been dyed to frame her face in crimson. “So,” she said, finally. “You’re Yakov’s partner. The one who is trying to protect Anna Chandra and her children.”

“Yes,” I answered simply.

Squeaks turned in her chair to face me. She was built like a gymnast, the subtle strength evident even in her straight-backed poise. As she turned, one side of her face passed through the light, and I caught a glimpse of a long scar running the length of her jaw; narrow and precise as if the wound had been made with a scalpel. She was more striking than she was precisely pretty; possessing a certain elegance I usually associated with a perfectly crafted gun. I had no idea how she had gotten a name like “Squeaks.” She was attractive and intimidating at the same time, and I straightened my back and met her eyes firmly, feeling the pressure of an intense intellect straining at the seams of her mind. “So,” she murmured. “You’re the Red Viper.”

“That’s what they call me,” I replied.

“You’re a freelancer. Who’s your fixer?”

I frowned a little. “Why does it matter?”

Squeaks shrugged. “Professional curiosity.” She gestured to her data tablets. “Let’s say I work in the same field.” Before I could say anything, she gave me a challenging smirk and added, “I do many things to pay the bills.”

I nodded. “My fixer is a boarkin named Penn. Runs a dive bar in the Lower Sprawl.”

Squeaks nodded. “I’ve heard of him. Good guy to work with.”

“In my experience, he’s one of the best.” I rolled my shoulders, stretching. “Now let’s get down to brass tacks. Where are the Chandras?”

Squeaks grinned. "Here, of course. The air is filtered inside the building, so they don't have to worry about contamination, and not many corpsuckers are gonna risk sharing air with a bunch of Trogs to come and find them. That's the beauty of this place. We can use their own preconceptions against them."

“Alright. Well, may I see them? I have some things we need to discuss.”

“Sure,” Squeaks replied, standing smoothly. “Follow me.”

* * *

The Chandras were staying in a room on the third floor; a well-appointed suite with a wide, comfortable bed and a couch, as well as a large glass view screen attached to one of the walls. The children sat in front of it, watching a program mainly consisting of dancing puppets. As I came into the room, Anna Chandra looked up, irritation warring with concern as she stood and came to meet me. “Red Viper, I haven’t heard from you in a day and a half. What is happening?”

I winced. “A corporation was tracking me- and they nearly killed me. But Yakov and I got out, and a hacker buddy of mine whipped up some potent Intrusion Countermeasures to take care of the tracking program they put on my Lattice.” I frowned. “How have they not tracked you?”

Squeaks answered immediately standing in my left side. “The Rose Garden has a dedicated decker on staff. Our ice is good and black.” I winced. Military-strength IC referred to as ‘black ice,’ could cook a hostile hacker’s mind in his skull in just a few seconds, instead of merely scrambling his thoughts for a day like regular IC. This stuff was pretty much illegal to anyone, but the corporations that held Senate seats- which included Justice Inc. For the Rose Garden to get away with using black IC meant they had some connections in high places willing to get them the permits for it.

“Did anyone try to get in?”

Squeaks grinned, which transformed her face from severe and striking into bronze radiance. “Four times,” she replied. “But they don’t know the Chandras are here- they just hit the family’s Matrix address. At least two of their people didn’t walk away from their decks that day.”

Anna Chandra cut in. “So what are you doing?” She glared at me, the familiar haughty shield coming up, the high society mask sliding into place and turning her face into cold stone, and her eyes into chips of agate. “I can’t stay in this… place forever. The children are getting restless, and I want to see justice for their father. So what are you doing about all this?” Squeaks took this as a signal to make her escape and slipped back out of the room, leaving me to face the furious widow alone. I distinctly heard the consort-fixer’s thoughts: Ain’t My Problem now. Rule number one, indeed.

I met Anna's eyes, keeping calm, reminding myself she was my client and she was grieving. I can’t just tell her that it will be done when it’s done. I’m under the gun here too. She wants results, not platitudes. “Anna, right now I’m tracking down the Paracell black site laboratory. I’m going to hit it as soon as I find it, and as soon as I can get a team together. But to do that I need two things from you.”

Anna narrowed her eyes. “You want money.”

I sighed. “We’ll get to that. First, I need to know what you know about your husband’s job. What exactly did he do? And what did he talk about when he was at home?”

Anna pursed her lips. “He was a biochemical engineer. He worked on a lot of things he couldn’t tell me about due to a standard Non-Disclosure Agreement he signed when he had been hired. I know he did something related to brain chemistry, but not much more than that.”

I nodded. “Okay, that’s a start. What about… did you ever hear him talking when he didn’t think anyone was listening? Any Lattice calls or something?”

Anna shook her head. "Whatever he was doing, he didn't do much of it at home. When he was home, he was with me or the kids. I do know he spent a lot of his time at the Matrix parlor though."

Right. Probably he talked to his Silvered Stag contact the same way I had met them- in a private virtual world. I nodded. “Okay, well, I can pursue that line too- I think I know the people he was talking to.”

Anna’s eyes flashed with a spark of hot anger. “Well, when you see them again, make sure you let them know…” Her face contorted for a moment, and then she got it under control and resumed her impassive mask. “Make sure they know what they did to my family. Make sure they understand what they did when they…” She glanced at the children. “When they got Elbert into all of this.”

“I will,” I said firmly. “I’ll make them understand.” I thought of the last time I had seen my parents, of the frigid calculation in their eyes when they had looked at me. I knew. I knew the moment they looked at me they were considering how best to rid themselves of this “failed investment.” I remembered the nightmare from the night before. A saw biting into my skull. My father’s face... I met Anna Chandra’s eyes, which were once again stony and cold. “When all of this is done, we can discuss what sort of reckoning you find appropriate.” A very slight smile touched her lips at my words, and I nodded, satisfied.

“Okay,” Anna said and blew out a short breath, her face relaxing somewhat. “Money. You said we would get to it. What do you need?”

"Enough money to hire a team for a ‘one-hit wonder.' I need people to help me get into the lab when I find it. I'll handle their hiring through my fixer, and they will work for me. You can consider this an advance on my pay and subtract it from my final fee."

To my surprise, Anna didn’t show any of the irritation from just a moment ago. Apparently, she thought I was competent again. Or she was just too tired to be in maximum hard-nose mode all the time. “How much do you need?”

“Two thousand.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Anna fished a crystalline cred stick out of the purse sitting on the coffee table, held it up in front of her for a moment, and then held it out to me. The heat of her hand had triggered the balance readout, and it blinked in green letters from within the quartz. $3000.00 winked at me cheerfully. Damn, I thought. Money really isn’t a problem for this lady. Anna noted my expression, and the flicker of a smile came back. “This is not an advance. Your team is necessary for the job I gave you, so their fees are an expense. Your contract did stipulate that I paid for expenses. I’m doing that. If there’s anything else that will help you destroy the people who killed my husband, you just let me know.” When I opened my mouth to protest, feeling like I was taking advantage of a widow in her grief, she smiled, clearly weary. “I can’t knock down doors with my mind like your friend, and I’m a lousy shot. This is how I can help.” I closed my mouth, still feeling vaguely uncomfortable. But I had to admit, she knew what she was doing. There’s no sense in arguing with money. Anna nodded at me as she watched my expression settle. “So, ‘Red Viper,’ what are you going to do to find the Paracell black site?”

I smiled. I had a wicked idea, perhaps inspired by the brothel, or maybe it was Squeaks' smile, transforming a hard and dangerous face into something beautiful and glorious. "Oh, I'm not going to find it myself. One of their people is going to tell me where it is." At Anna's skeptical look, I smiled even wider. "Tell me, Anna, who was your husband's boss?"

* * *

I made a few calls and a few more Matrix searches as I rode the train back through the Exclusion Wall and into the city proper. By the time I reached the Metro station nearest Michi's chop shop, I had a plan- but I needed to borrow some clothes from the street doc first. She and I were roughly the same sizes, and ‘beat-up strung out mercenary chic’ wasn't going to cut it for this. A real shower wouldn't hurt either. I had been wearing the same clothes for two days, through two life-and-death encounters, and I probably reeked of sweat. It was three o'clock by the time I got to the shop, and the moment I stepped out of the pressurized, air-conditioned train, I felt sweat start up on my face. The air felt thick and heavy, it felt tense and electric with gathering potential. A storm was coming and a big one too. I looked up at the tiny sliver of sky I could just barely see through the tangle of buildings stretching past me to scratch at the heavens. All I could see were clouds; deep gray tinged with a sickly green. Great. A storm’s coming.

The concrete walkway that fronted the chop shop was crowded. At first, I thought nothing of it. Walkways were always crowded. The Sprawl was just full of people. But then, as I joined the press of people, I began to notice a pattern in the mass of their thoughts. There were so many thoughts all swarming around me I couldn’t distinguish individual voices. It was just a cascading babble of words, emotion, and random sensation. I ran through a few mental exercises, picturing a wall to shield my mind from the babble, but leaving a window in it so I could peek through and take a little at a time. First, I felt a sense of curiosity, horror, elation- each emotion lending a tint to the next to form morass of quickened pulse, tense muscle, and wide eyes. Then I smelled blood and bile, the stink of fresh death, and the scent of discharged static. The words came next; a flood of what happened? Did someone die? Holy shit! So much blood! Is she okay? How did she do that? Wow, what happened? Move so I can see! Where’s a coppercorp when you need one? That’s impossible! Damn! That’s hot! What the shit guys? Move, okay… I shut the window in the brick wall and pulled my awareness back down. Something had happened. Something violent. Fuck. I groaned and pushed my way through the crowd, hoping this wasn’t what I thought it was.

A couple of elbow jabs, whispered curses, and threatening looks later, I reached the front of the crowd. I stopped, and my mouth fell open. Michi was kneeling calmly in the midst of a wide spatter of fresh blood, stitching wounds in three different men, moving with mechanical efficiency and insectoid precision. They were all unconscious, and the conspicuous presence of red dermal patches on their necks told me that Michi had sedated them. The wounds the chop doc was stitching were long, deep cuts, delivered with almost surgical precision to their chests, their upper arms, and their legs. Before I could wonder who had cut them up like this, and why Michi was working outside, I saw the bloody Japanese traditional sword lying beside her, unsheathed and within easy reach of her left hand. I stepped forward, and Michi's head snapped up, her eyes locking on me with all the cold finality of an automated machine gun turret, her hand resting on the hilt of the sword. When she realized it was me, she smiled and took her hand away from her sword, and then turned back to her work. "Hello, Red," she said in between quick stitches. "Some friends of yours came by to party, but since you weren't here, I decided to start without you." A chorus of chuckles rippled through the crowd.

I stared, taking in the red spatters across her face and her once white smock. There were three guns lying in the street around her, each of them sporting smooth, perfect cuts through their magnetic coils, rendering them useless. Holy hell. “Michi, you took down three guys with guns… with a sword?”

Michi didn’t look up. “I wasn’t meant to be a doctor, Viv. I chose it.”

I didn’t ask what she had been ‘meant’ to be. Her status as an illegal construct was, by necessity, not common knowledge, and that was a conversation for later, away from curious ears.

I turned my head, meeting the eyes of several gawkers. “Don’t you all have somewhere to be?”

A burly, bald, tattooed man wearing oil-stained coveralls jerked his chin at me in a challenging gesture. “Who the fuck are you?”

I smirked at him. “You can call me Nonya.”

“Nonya?” He looked puzzled. “What kinda name is that?”

“Nonya goddamned business. Now step off before I have to make more work for my friend here.”

The big man snorted with amusement. “Heh, you’re alright.” He looked around at the other rubberneckers, a big grin on his face. “Rule number one, right? You all heard the lady, get the fuck outta here, this ain’t a damn show!” The crowd began to disperse, grumbling.

“Red,” Michi said quietly. “That’s the second in command of the Clankers.” Who the hell are the Clankers? I thought but didn't say anything. They were probably the local street gang. Not the flash-in-the-pan kind I had paid to get Yakov and me to the metro, but the real gangers, the kind that ran a territory. They were the sort of gang which kept out the coppercorps; drove off the corpsuckers, and- more importantly- kept the other gangs away.

The Clankers’ underboss hadn’t moved, even as the crowd dispersed. I met his gaze evenly. He grinned like a shark. “I like you. You’ve got guts.”

I shrugged. “I just don’t like being surrounded, and I doubt Michi likes an audience.”

“I don’t,” Michi called. “But if I moved these guys, they would have died.”

I turned to her. “Why did you keep these guys alive? I mean, they tried to kill you right? You’re the one who messed ‘em up- why did you save them? It’s not like you’re under a Hippocratic Oath or anything.”

Michi didn’t look up, focusing on the last of the stitching. “Might have been kinder to let ‘em die.”

The Clankers’ underboss spoke. “They’re mine now. Corpsuckers don’t hit folks in my territory. Gotta send a message back to their masters.”

I grimaced. "Let me guess, only one gets to walk."

“Something like that,” he said. “Anyway, I figured I would find out who sent them so I can return the favor.”

I felt a smile tug at the corner of my mouth. This could work out better than my original plan. Maybe I could combine the two. “Funny thing, that,” I said. “You and I might want the same thing.” I looked over at the wounded hitters. Michi was wrapping the stitched wounds in layers of bandage, securing their limbs so they couldn’t move and reopen their wounds. Through it all, they remained boneless and insensate. I turned back to the underboss. “I’m called Red Viper.” I stuck out my hand. “We should talk.”

* * *

Several Clankers, all of them wearing grease-stained gray coveralls like their boss, appeared after a few minutes with canvas stretchers in hand. The underboss, who introduced himself as Artyom, followed Michi and me into the chop shop so we could talk. We sat down on the side of a pair of cots, watching as Michi stripped off her apron, and then used a clean patch of the cloth to wipe the blood from her sword. It was a beautiful weapon; the steel rippled with patterns meant to mimic the results of ancient Japanese steel folding. It couldn’t actually be an old katana- those swords could not have cut slices through guns made of steel and titanium. I didn’t ask, but I was sure it was a monomolecular edge- a blade so sharp it could slip between individual molecules in an object; parting steel, cloth, bone, and stone with ease. As I watched, Michi passed an oiled cloth over the blade, flicked away the excess, and then sheathed it with a snap. She placed the sword back atop a pair of hooks set high on the wall in the back of her shop. She turned back to Artyom and me. “So, Red. You said you had a plan.”

I nodded. “I have a name- this guy might not have actually sent the assassins, but he’ll probably know who did. I need some information from him as well. So, I propose that we ‘convince’ him to have a sit down with us.”

Artyom ran a hand over his bald scalp. “I like the idea in concept, but pulling a snatch-n’-grab up in the corporate heavens sounds more like a deathtrap than a feasible plan.” He spread broad hands, palms up. “How did you intend to use my people for this? I won’t send them to the slaughter.”

“You won’t have to,” I said, grinning. “I’m going to go up there and draw him out.”

Michi hopped up, sat down on the edge of one of her cots, and then began to kick her feet lazily. “You’re going up? Are you sure, Red?”

“Yes. I think I know someone who can help make it happen. But I’m going to need to clean up, and I’m going to need different hair.” I turned back to Artyom. “But that’s for me to worry about. Artyom, if I get the guy out in the open, do you think you could stage a kidnapping? If we dressed your people up like one of the minor street crews, that is?”

Artyom frowned and tilted his head to the side. “You want us to pretend to be one of those flash-in-the-pan gangs.” He seemed to chew on the thought for a moment. “That might actually work. Those gangs pop up and vanish with the rain. And with the corporation searching for some shit gutter punks, they won’t have their eye on the Clankers, not until we send their boy back to them with his message.”

“Right. So, I get this asshole to come down a few levels with me, maybe hit up a tofu vendor or something, and then you guys snatch us up and get us out of sight. Your ass is covered, my ass is covered, and we both get what we want.” I thought about it. “Though with that plan in place, what would you do with the three guys Michi diced up?”

Artyom shrugged expressively. “What guys?”

“I see.” It was distasteful, but I wasn’t crying over some corporate guns dying when they had come to kill me. I was glad Michi had been alright, but I had brought danger to her door. I felt a surge of guilt low in my belly. I hadn’t even thought about it. I had been distracted, but that was just an excuse, really. I had been self-absorbed, and hadn’t thought ahead. I looked over at Michi. She watched me back, no concern for the situation evident on her face. Sometimes I wondered whether she actually felt anything, or if the times I had seen an emotional reaction from her had been an act. ‘I wasn’t meant to be a doctor.’ Had she been meant to be some kind of assassin?

Artyom held out his hand, and I shook it. "It seems we have a deal, Red Viper- though I can make the grab quietly, without the ‘smash’ part. I know a guy; just let me shop the plan with my boys. Then let me know where and when this ambush is going to go down, and my boys and I will make it happen." He dipped his head to Michi. "And your protection fee this month is waived. My boys didn't stop those assholes from getting to your door, and I don't accept payment for failure." Michi smiled, but didn't say anything. The underboss of the Clankers stood. "I'll get the Overboss to approve this, but it will take a day. After that, my boys are all yours." He left, leaving the bell above the front door jangling behind him.

Michi didn’t speak. I turned to her. “I’m sorry. I was a little out of my head when I came in here, and I didn’t tell you they were on my ass like that.”

Michi shrugged. “I figured there would be trouble. It was nothing.”

I looked into her stoic, closed face, but she didn’t meet my eyes. “Doesn’t look like nothing.”

She sighed. “It has just been a while since I’ve drawn that damn sword. I forgot how good it felt.” She looked up and matched my gaze. “Did you know they programmed me to enjoy killing?” She looked up at the sword. “It’s not a problem, really- just makes it harder for me to pretend I’m a person.”

“Michi-” I began, but she cut me off.

"No." She shook her head. "Don't. I'm fine." She glanced over at me. "You need new clothes and a wig."

"Yeah," I sighed. I wanted to push, but that was a bad idea with Michi. She wasn't the warmest and friendliest soul when it came to people trying to pry their way into her thoughts. "Yeah, I need the wig especially. I think I can pretend to be a potential client or something- but with the way corporate culture works, it wouldn't work for me to go up there with my hair hacked off. They make a big thing of pretending to be ‘traditional,' which means I've also got to get my hands on a suit."

Michi eyed me critically, sizing me up. "I might actually have something which could work for you if you don't mind wearing a dead woman's clothes."

“How did she die?” I asked though I wasn’t sure if the answer would make it easier or harder to wear such a suit.

Michi shook her head. “Nothing dramatic, no holes, no stains, and I had it cleaned. I usually take the intact clothing and possessions from the dead folk who wind up on the donor table. I sell them to offset my expenses.” She winced. “It is a strange color for a suit, though.”

“What color is it?”

Michi grimaced. “Deep red.”

I burst out laughing. Michi looked at me as if I was insane, but I didn’t care. I just sat there on the cot and laughed my ass off. Laugh while you can, I said to myself. Because now you have to do something unpleasant.

* * *

Yakov was mostly beneath his truck when I found him. It had taken the better part of an hour to find the maintenance garage for the Cleaners, and another five minutes to convince the guy guarding the door to let me in. I looked in the open hood at the exposed engine. It was a standard small-vehicle hydrogen engine, scaled up for more power and backed up by an array of reserve batteries. Yakov was tinkering beneath it, and occasionally I heard a metal tool cling to the concrete floor of the garage, after which he would invariably curse. I let him work for a few minutes before I kicked at his boot to get his attention. He jumped, and judging from the heavy clang sound which preceded another vicious string of curses, he smacked his forehead into the undercarriage of the engine.

After a moment, he clambered out from beneath the engine and glared up at me. His eyes were still a little bloodshot, and the deep circles graven under his eyes spoke to his exhaustion. “Red.”

I smirked. “You seem jumpy.”

“What do you want?” He sighed.

“I want you to put me in contact with the leader of the Silvered Stag. She and I need to have a conversation.”

“Let me guess,” he grumbled. “She told you to go through me.”

“Ding ding ding! Get this man a prize!” I let the smile fade from my face. “Look. I don’t want to be here anymore than you want me to be.”

Yakov snorted in amusement, and then winced. I guessed the bleeding profusely from his sinuses had left them raw and irritated. “You assume too much.” He sat up. “I’m sorry I told the Silvered Stag you were a Psion, but I’m not planning on tearing out my hair and groveling before you. I told the club about you, but I also used my own personal contacts and got your client to safety.” He met my eyes. “So, regardless of how you feel about it, you’re going to send me my cut when you’re done.” He shrugged as he began packing up his tools. “And I’ll get word to Sofia, but that’s all I’m gonna do.” He jerked his thumb back at the truck. “This is my job. I’m done babysitting.”

I swallowed my initial impulse to kick him in the head. Never mind he could punt me through the garage wall without moving; it would be bad business. I would pay him his cut for services rendered. “Fine. But you should keep an eye out. Paracell can’t track me anymore, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they came back for round two with you.”

Yakov spat eloquently. “If they want to come all the way down here, they had better come loaded for bear.”

“They probably will.” I frowned. “So how did you end up working with those people anyway? They don’t seem like your style.”

Yakov grumbled to himself. “Can’t you just leave me well enough alone?”

I gave him the biggest saccharine smile I could muster. “Nope!”

“Of course, you can’t. Suffice it to say they’re opposing Varkid-Davis, and I’ll take what I can get.” He chuckled, despite himself. “They might act like a prissy hen circle, but they get shit done.” He closed his toolbox and stood, moving gingerly, as if every muscle in his body ached. “Did you know they were the ones who dismantled the Originals’ public support base? Sure those lunatics are still around, but no one on the Senate wants to be associated with them, not even Senators Varkid or Davis. The Silvered Stag ran a pretty vicious Matrix campaign against them, and some of their decker friends actually set up three of the Originals core members to meet particularly nasty ends.”

I was impressed. “So, what you’re saying is that despite appearances, these guys don’t fuck around.”

Yakov smiled thinly. “They do not. I don’t always agree with them, but I don’t really have to. They tell me when they need something smashed, and I do it.” He flexed his hands meaningfully. “Helps me keep the Hidden Hand strong for when I really need it.” He headed for a shelf stacked high with toolkits, and then gently set his down in an open space.

“The Hidden Hand? What’s that?” I asked.

Yakov raised an eyebrow skeptically. After a moment, he seemed to realize I wasn’t joking. “Right. You haven’t had much training.” He blew out a short breath. “You know you would be extremely dangerous if you got some good tutoring, right? I mean, back at the coffee shop you fucked up at least a dozen guys.” When I didn’t respond, he shrugged. “Look. Your telepathy is like a muscle. And each different kind of Psion flexes a slightly different muscle. You, for example, can train your Inner Eye to peer into people’s minds. But I have heard of Readers learning how to discern truth from a lie when they hear it, and I’ve even heard stories that some of the older telepaths have found a way to use the Inner Eye to see the future with moderate success.” He waggled one of his hands. “For me, it’s called the Hidden Hand. It’s like an invisible limb…” He seemed to muse on it for a moment; considering his words carefully. “I guess it’s more like an energy field composed of the sum of an infinite number of possible limbs. It’s hard to explain. But I move things with my mind the same way you would move your arm- except there’s no delay between thought and action. It takes a lot of training, but the Hidden Hand gives a telekinetic like me the ability to effectively react to something my meat body hasn’t even detected yet.”

“Which is why you can stop bullets,” I added, frowning. “Even though that shouldn’t be possible.”

Yakov nodded. “Any TK can do it, but they’ve got to have the ‘muscle’ to pull it off. And the reflex action, necessary to do it comes from tens of thousands of hours of exhaustive training. Even with the amount of practice I have, stopping bullets isn't something one should do all the time. It's better to avoid being shot at all." He led the way to a series of coat hooks, selecting a heavy black duster from among the other jackets. He jerked his head toward the door. "Come on," he said as he shrugged into the coat. "If you're gonna hang around, I'll grab a smoke, so the boss doesn't get on me."

I wrinkled my nose as he drew a crumpled pack of cigarettes out of an inner coat pocket. The brand, stenciled across the front in an art deco font, was rather aptly, ‘Coffin Nails.’ When he offered me one, holding out the pack so I could take the one he had pushed out, I shook my head. “Nah, those things kill you slowly.”

Yakov snorted, leading the way through the door and picking out the cigarette with his lips. The back patio of the Cleaner garage hung out over darkness, with only a single bare bulb for illumination. This far down, it didn’t matter if it were midday above. Down here, perpetual twilight lived. “Living in the Sprawl kills you quicker,” Yakov said as he stepped up to the flimsy railing at the edge of the patio. “You really think either of us is going to live long enough to die of lung cancer?”

I shrugged. “I might.”

The Cleaner gave me a skeptical look as he fished a lighter out of his jeans. "You keep going the way you are now and you'll be dead within the year."

I felt a hot surge of anger spike through my chest. “And you won’t? You just said it’s better to avoid being shot, but I just watched you try to kill yourself by stopping over three hundred rounds at once! Don't you play the wise man with me!"

Yakov lit his cigarette and took a long drag, closing his eyes with evident pleasure. Even in my anger, something about the scene struck me, and made me take notice. Yakov, his dark face relaxed, breathing foul smoke from between thick lips, taking it back in his nostrils. He looked like a painting of an old cowboy from way back in the day; face turned up toward a sky he couldn't see. In that moment of relaxation, he seemed a little less tired, a little less bitter and worn. The stubble on his chin seemed more roguish than ragged; the care lines around his eyes and mouth were now marks of hard-won experience instead of rough and dirty age. He lowered his chin and opened his eyes, and I looked away. If he caught me looking, he definitely didn't react.

“Look, Red,” Yakov said. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the Silvered Stag. And I’m sorry I told them about you without your permission. I was thinking about how much good you could do for the group, and I didn’t think about you.” He blew out a short puff of smoke. “I sometimes forget what it’s like to trust anyone, and I didn’t think about how it would be a betrayal to give away your secret.”

I gave him a smooth look. “That’s a bullshit excuse. Everyone has someone they trust, even someone who pretends to be as much of a hard-case as you.”

Yakov laughed a note of bitterness curdling any trace of mirth in the sound. "You're right; it is a bullshit excuse. But you guys…" he waved one arm in a broad arc, taking in all of the Sprawl in one movement. "You all feel so damn much. Everything is about how it makes you feel, and not what you know. I don’t do feelings real well.” He held up a finger. “Except for anger. I do that one just fine.” He sighed. “I was apologizing, wasn’t I? I’m making a mess of this.”

I smirked at him. “Yeah, you are.” Distant thunder, far above our heads, rumbled through the ambient chatter of the Sprawl. I looked up. Drops of dirty runoff were already beginning to dribble down to spatter loudly against the tin roof of the garage. I sighed. “But I’ve heard a lot of perfect plastic apologies in my day. At least, I can tell your heart’s in it, even if you are an asshole.”

Yakov blew a smoke ring out into the darkness. It glimmered over the edge of the railing for a moment before it dissolved into nothing. “Look, I told Sofia about you because she really needs a good reader for some of the work she’s looking to do. She pays really well, too. We’ve got TKs coming out our asses, and Sofia’s a witch. But for the real good stuff, to really make a difference, we need a reader.”

“And besides sitting around an imaginary dining room table in suits and gowns, what does the Silvered Stag do?”

Yakov grunted. “They used to do a lot more. They had five separate cells working independently, each with their own focuses, their own core operations. This was a bit before my time, you see.” He took another puff on his cigarette, and then, seeing it had burned down to the filter, flicked it out into the darkness in an arc of red sparks. “But then it turned out there was a mole, high up in their organization. One of their big operations went really, really wrong. Hitters got four out of the five cells. Only the guys you saw got out, and that’s all because of Sofia. I was one of their last recruits. It’s part of why they need a reader. They want to be able to catch the next mole before the damage is done. They want that kind of protocol in place before they try to expand again.” Yakov reached back into his coat pocket and drew out the little pack of Coffin Nails. I sighed and reached out to take one. He grinned as he handed me the lighter.

I lit my cigarette and took a breath, then handed the lighter back to Yakov. The smoke tasted better than it smelled; sweet and husky at the same time, like a wood fire. Christ, how long has it been since I’ve smelled actual wood burning? “You didn’t answer my question. What does the Silvered Stag Club actually do?”

Yakov lit his second cigarette. "Militant activism on behalf of ‘nonhumans.' Even before Varkid-Davis, life was real shit for anyone with spliced DNA, or if you had too much chrome. For us Psionics, the abuse was a little more under the table." He waved a hand out at the darkness. “One cell would attack shipments of hybrid labor from off-world, break open the transport shuttles, gas the corporate handlers, and get them away to places where they could make their own way- most of the time beastkin folks chose to go out into the wilds in the Midwest. Even a hard-scrabble life was better in their eyes to being stuck as the next best thing to a corporate slave.” He took a long drag and continued. “Another one worked on breaking out replicants and constructs, helping them pass for vanilla human.” He gestured to himself. “Sofia's cell was dedicated to putting covert pressure on the politicians and bigwigs who would otherwise have come down like holy wrath on people like us. It worked pretty well until the Atlanta Horror. That happened about a year and a half after they broke me out.”

I stopped mid-drag, coughing, and managed to sputter, “What?”

Yakov shrugged. “I was an ‘involuntary recruit’ for an experiment run by Cavanaugh Securities. They were trying, like everyone else, to home in on the ‘Psionic gene’ so they could replicate it.” His lips twisted around the butt of his cigarette into an expression halfway between a smile and a grimace of pain. “I got a lot of scars from those days, but they’re the reason I can stop bullets. When Cavanaugh’s attempts to clone me and my ‘classmates’ failed, the CEO figured they would cut their losses by training us up as psychokinetic commandos, brainwashing us, and selling us to the highest bidder.”

“And Sofia’s cell got you out.”

“Sofia’s cell dropped the security system which kept all of us test subjects penned up.” Yakov winced. “Unfortunately, most of us were pretty much crazy after all they had done to us. The whole damn thing became a bloodbath. I dunno how many of my classmates got out. But I left with the hippies, and they set me up with a job here in Columbia. Figured I’d stick with them. I hadn’t seen my family in a decade, and besides, my uncle was the one who sold me on the program in the first place.”

My fingers felt hot, and I realized I had been staring at Yakov through his whole story, long enough for the cigarette in my hand to have burned itself down to the filter. I tossed the butt away into the dark. “Holy shit, Yakov.”

Yakov shrugged. “Now you know about me. Might not make us square, but I figure it might helped.” He tossed his second cigarette away.

“Has Cavanaugh Securities come after you? I mean, you’re a badass, but even you have to sleep.” I tapped on the side of my head with one finger. “Anyone can be tracked, after all.”

Yakov shrugged. “They can’t track me. I’ve had a counter-snooper on my Lattice for the last few years. I even get it redone every eighteen months or so.” He smiled. “Besides, Cavanaugh Securities is out of business, on account of most of their boardroom dying in suspicious accidents.” A feral light glittered in his eyes as he said that, and I swallowed hard. Noting my discomfort, Yakov grunted and said, “look, I’ve got to get back to work. But I’ll put in the word to Sofia and get you a meeting.” He turned and stepped toward the back door. The runoff had started trailing its way down across the edges of the roof, and water sizzled against the bare bulb swinging on its cord. I followed him, pulling the hood of my raincoat up over my head, avoiding the dribble of dark water as it spattered on the concrete. Once inside, Yakov stripped out of his coat and hung it back on a hook. “Hey Red,” he said, as I stepped past him, heading for the front door. I turned back. “If you need a hand, call me. I’ll be there.”

“Thank you,” I said, seriously. “I will.” I moved to leave, and then stopped. “Yakov, what exactly can Sofia do? How did she protect your group from the purge that killed all the rest?”

Yakov didn’t look up. “I have no idea.” He picked up his toolbox from the shelf and headed back toward his truck.

I made my way through the garage to the front door, and then stepped out back into the shadows and the rain. Sofia Penderham. What the hell was her role in all this? I had met her in my old life, before Varkid-Davis. Had she been a part of the Silvered Stag then? She must have been, to be the leader of an entire cell now. I shook my head. There was one more stop I needed to make today before I could even worry about where I was going to sleep. It wasn’t wise for me to go, but wisdom had little to do with it. Some things were just a matter of personal obligation. I pulled my hood up against the runoff rain, shoved my hands deep into my crackling plastic pockets, and trudged off toward the Metro.

Chapter Eight

Sidamo Coffee and Tea had seen better days. I watched from my vantage point atop a nearby Coffin stack as neighborhood residents bustled back and forth, hauling away trash and debris, scrubbing at bloodstains. The cafe itself wasn’t in the worst shape- Yakov had caught most of the gunfire on his telekinetic barrier. The front windows had been shattered, and there were a few holes in the wall where half a dozen bullets had gotten through. But the real damage had been done to the spirit of the place. The attack had been a wound to the heart of the local community. I spotted Mama Abeba kneeling amidst at least fifty volunteers, resolutely scrubbing at the blood stains soaked into the plastic flooring that made up the crude plaza in front of the coffeehouse. Cold fluorescent light bathed the area in cold, stark brilliance, emanating from six temporary standing lights which had been erected for the purpose. Most of the lights that ringed the square had been shot out or burst by the telekinetic shockwave. As with most other corporate military actions, Paracell had cleaned up the bodies of its fallen, had gathered up the discarded gear, and then disappeared, leaving the bulk of the work to the locals. People like Mama Abeba were barely real to the suits at Paracell. So long as there wasn’t any obvious physical evidence for someone to use in a Justice Incorporated contract, they didn’t care who got hurt. I felt a surge of guilt in my gut. I had come to Sidamo Coffee and Tea even though I knew Paracell was probably tracking me. Was I any better than the corporation? The scene below proved I wasn’t.

Making sure my collar was turned up and my hood was drawn high to hide my face, I slipped down a rickety fire escape and made my way into the plaza. I wove between volunteers and their cheerless toil until I came to the side of Mama Abeba, who hadn’t noted my approach. "Mama?" I said, tentatively.

Mama Abeba looked up, saw my face, and stood, slowly, wincing as her knees creaked with the effort. “Red. You made it.”

“I did,” I said, fighting against the knot rising in my throat. “I got out. But…” I looked around at the evidence of the carnage which had taken place here. “But all of this is my fault. I’m so sorry I brought it here. I didn’t-”

Mama Abeba put up a hand, stopping me. “Red, did you shoot up my coffee shop?”

“What?” I stopped, caught off guard. “What do you mean? No, they were shooting at me and-”

The grandmotherly woman interrupted me again. “Red. They were shooting at you.” She thumped a finger into my chest. “You didn’t pull the trigger, baby, those men did.”

“But they wouldn’t have been here if it wasn’t for me!” I protested. I wanted her to scream, to yell at me, to make me leave. This calm acceptance was somehow worse than I could have expected this conversation to be. Surely she knew I had screwed up. Surely she knew what had happened was only because I had been in her shop. If only she would at least screamed at me. It might have been easier.

Mama Abeba shook her head. “If it weren't you yesterday, it would have been someone else another day. Red, darling, this is not the first time someone has shot up my shop.” She looked around, taking in the mess, the spatters of blood, the pulverized glass. “Granted,” she said, smiling wryly, “this is the first time a TK killed twenty men in front of my shop, but then again his intervention prevented much more death than there might have been otherwise. I can surely replace a few windows.”

“Mama…” I began, but she shut me up with a stern look.

“That’s enough out of you, Red. Go and find yourself a bed and get yourself some sleep. We’ll handle this mess, and we’ll reopen within a few days.” She frowned. “You wouldn’t be here if you weren’t sure they were no longer tracking you, would you?”

“No,” I said, sighing. “I got that taken care of. Now I just need to go make sure the person who organized this attack pays for it.”

Mama Abeba nodded. “Be careful, Red. I, too, will be taking action against the men who attacked my home.” She smiled, her expression sharper, fiercer than I had ever seen. “These corporate pigs will soon learn why no one dares shoot at this place twice.” She carefully crouched back down to continue scrubbing the floor. “Go on, girl. You shouldn’t be here right now. Tempers are high. Emotions are raw.”

I looked around at all the people working, quietly talking amongst themselves. A few of them gave me looks which said not everyone shared Mama Abeba’s feelings about my lack of culpability in this disaster. I grimaced inwardly but kept it off my face. Mama was right. I shouldn’t have been there. Awkwardly, I shoved my hands in my pockets, turned away, and then headed for the Metro. Maybe the Clankers could give me a place to sleep- that way Michi wasn’t in as much danger. I was tired of people being hurt because of me.

* * *

I ended up crashing on an abandoned couch in an apartment recently vacated by its former owner. Artyom, the Clanker underboss, explained as he turned the key in the door; the guy who owned the place had been a foreman for one of the small scale manufactories the gang controlled. Evidently, the foreman had decided his pay as Clanker lower management wasn’t enough, and he had tried to sell the group out to a rival group in exchange for a preferential place in the coming expansion of the new gang’s operations. Evidently, he hadn’t counted on Artyom having standing agreements with his neighbors to turn over any would-be traitors, and he found himself taking a one-way trip through an industrial autoclave. Some of his things were still in the apartment, and it felt ghoulish to be sleeping on a dead man’s couch - the bed was out of the fucking question. But I needed a place to sleep. One Paracell didn’t know about, and beggars couldn’t be choosers. I had stopped by Michi’s place to borrow a dose of Trilenthropol and a needle, and after tracking down something I could use to focus my mind in place of my tuning fork, shot up the tranquilizer and passed into darkness.

I didn't sleep long enough to dream. Just as my brain began to come up from the tranquilizer-induced abyss, someone pounded on the apartment door, jolting me awake. My eyes snapped open, and for a moment I didn't know where I was. The apartment was unfamiliar- too big to be a Coffin. The posters on the walls were unfamiliar, and the ceiling was two and a half meters from the floor- luxuriously spacious for someone used to stooping over their bed. The plastic tile was cool and comfortable beneath my feet as I swung my legs off of the couch and sat up. The knock came again, and without thinking, I turned my Inner Eye to whoever was knocking. I couldn't feel a mind on the other side of the door. It was Michi. Positronic brains were mostly unaffected by Psionic interference.

I groaned, stood, and trudged to the door, barefoot. I had slept in my clothes for the second day in a row, and I was certain I was disgusting. Michi couldn’t come soon enough with my clothes for this job. I hadn’t looked the night before, but I thought there might have been a shower in the apartment. I pulled the door open just wide enough to see outside. Sure enough, my friend, the chop doc stood on the other side, with a blood-red suit and a set of street clothes on a pair of hangers in one hand, a blonde wig and a bag of toiletries in the other. “Hey, Michi.”

Michi held out her gifts. “Hi, Viv. I figured I should get you up before the meds wore off. No need for you to out yourself with a bad dream.”

I reached out and took the clothes, the wig, and the toiletries bag. “I’m not sure whether I hate you or not.”

Michi smiled. “You love me. I’m your best friend in the whole white world. You are so overwhelmed with gratitude you’ll buy me a drink next time we go to a bar together.”

“Ugh,” I grumbled noncommittally.

Michi grinned brightly. "I forgot! I brought something else." She fumbled in the pocket of her black-streaked clear plastic raincoat, and then drew out a can of synth-coffee. Her dark eyes glittered with amusement, and her smile was wide and genuine. "I come bearing a burnt offering of the canned variety for the grumpy goddess."

I shuffled so the wig and hygiene bag were tucked under one arm, freeing one of my hands. “Gimme.”

Michi raised an eyebrow, holding the can of coffee just out of reach.

"Okay, fine," I grunted. "I love you, you're my best friend in the whole white world, and I owe you a drink." I stepped back away from the door, letting Michi come inside as I moved to find a place to hang up the suit. The chop doc slipped through the door behind me, then closed and locked it again. I found a hook set into the wall by the bathroom and hung up the suit. Then, I set the wig and toiletries kit down on a scrap of the counter in the little kitchenette.

Michi handed me the coffee. “So, did you make contact with the hippies you were talking about?”

I peeled the top off the coffee can and took a swig. The acrid chemical smell gave me enough of a jolt of energy to think about the question and answer. “Yeah, I got a time for the meeting last night before I took my drugs. I gotta go to a Matrix parlor and meet them around nine.”

“Good,” Michi said, watching me with an intensity I wasn’t sure I liked.

I took a drink of the coffee, and then, finding Michi still staring at me, grimaced and said, “what?”

“Sofia Penderham,” she said quietly. “You said the woman you spoke to at the last meeting called herself Sofia Penderham. She wouldn’t happen to be related to the current head of Penderham Incorporated, would she?”

“Yes. She’s the CEO’s niece. She became the heir apparent when his own son died in a helicopter crash.” I frowned. “Or at least, that’s the Sofia I knew when I lived up there. She’s about six years older than me, and we were never good friends so much as we just showed up at the same events in the wake of our parents.”

"So," Michi said her face impassive. I wasn't sure where she was going with this. "So, Sofia Penderham is about to take over a major corporation when her father dies or steps down. She is already rich and powerful, several times over. What does she have to gain by running an anti-corporate activist group?"

I shrugged. “Maybe she really cares. After all, she said she was a witch. Varkid-Davis is as bad for her is it is for me.”

“Perhaps,” said the chop doc. “But more than likely, her work with the Silvered Stag club might have a purpose you’re not considering.”

“Like what?” Why was Michi pressing me about this now? I needed whatever help I could get, didn’t I?

Michi threw her hands up, suddenly exasperated. "I don't know! But you need to think about these things, or you're going to get played! You know what it’s like up there. You should know these people don’t do anything that doesn’t get them more money, or power, or both!”

I narrowed my eyes. “Do I count as one of ‘these people?’”

Michi scoffed. "Vivian, you're a mercenary. Of course, you're one of those people. But you live down here now, and that's given you a new perspective. Now use that new perspective you’ve been given and fucking think! Critically!”

I opened my mouth to say something snide, but my brain had apparently heard Michi and started chugging away on its own. Before I could give a sharp retort, a thought popped into my head. Yakov’s voice whispered in my memory. ‘Suspicious accidents.’ I followed the train of thought all the way to its logical conclusion. Sofia's cousin dies, and she becomes the heir to the Penderham name- and fortune. Sofia's activist coalition falls prey to a mole and leaves Sofia in charge of what remains. Maybe it was paranoia, maybe Michi was wrong, but… I wonder, said the little voice in my mind. Whose death would benefit Sofia the most now? Another voice, like my own, but older… Mother? ‘It’s only a useful weapon if nobody knows it’s there.’ I needed to do some research. “Okay, you might have a point,” I admitted.

Michi smirked. "Of course I do. Now, what are you going to do about it?"

I glanced at the time display in my HUD. 7:04 AM. I had just less than two hours to do a little digging before my meeting. Maybe I could learn something about this woman who had a foot in both the corporate heavens and the criminal underworld. Was it possible I was being played?

* * *

I showered and changed into the street clothes. It wasn't time for the suit yet, and I didn't want the dress clothes getting dirty or wrinkled. Everything needed to be pristine for my plan. So I wore the jeans and the second-hand sweatshirt, and I stuck my needle gun in the wide pocket across the front so I could draw it with ease. After I had grabbed a quick protein shake from a street vendor, I looked for the nearest Matrix parlor. There was one just two levels down, set up in the back room of a local textiles vendor.

But for the room itself, the parlor, labeled ‘Gorm's Dreamland,’ was much the same as the one I had used last time to meet the Silvered Stag Club. The bouncer, a matte-black industrial-looking android, directed me to an empty cushion and took the cred stick I offered. I placed the circlet over my head and set the electrodes. It was time for me to pay a visit to the virtual home of the National Archives. I flipped the switch in the deck, and the world tore itself away in a tooth-rattling buzz.

The National Archives, much like any government Matrix site, had been designed for utility rather than aesthetics. When I arrived at the address of the great records library, I found myself in a square, sparsely appointed room. The walls were paneled with mahogany, the floor was carpeted in deep green, and the only furniture was a single oaken desk and a chair standing in the exact center of the room. Someone had gone to great lengths to really sell the illusion- I could even smell dust puffing up from the floor with each step. I pulled out the chair and sat. Immediately, a book appeared, lying in the middle of the desk. It was thick and bound with black leather, and in gold letters printed on the front, it read: "Archives Index." I smiled. How quaint. I opened the book. Where to start?

I started with obituaries. This section, it was rumored, held records of every death in America, back at the dawn of the Matrix- before the war. Now, the obituary section only recorded ‘notable’ deaths. I wondered if Elbert Chandra rated as an official obituary. Probably not. I tapped the index entry for Obituaries, and the black book changed in my hands. Instead of subject headings, the pages were now printed with endless columns of names, organized alphabetically. Beside each name, there was a pair of dates, with the majority of those dates falling in the early to mid-twenty-first century. If I remembered my old history lessons properly, the initiative to record every death in America had been part of a massive genealogical mapping campaign which ended when the first of the bombs fell.

I flipped to the beginning of the book, before the table of contents, and selected the page labeled as "filters." There were several settings, written in pen, with cleverly drawn indicators attached to stenciled scrollbars. I picked the one that labeled, "Time Period," and with my finger, I dragged the twin indicators in position, filtering out all results which pertained to deaths from more than seven years ago. The book became much, much smaller, shrinking from a tome which could have been used to flatten a rat into something barely larger than a thick pamphlet. I flipped to the "P" section, paging past Patton and Pearl, stopping at Penrose and flipping back until I saw Pendragon. Just a few inches above, I found the name "Penderham." I frowned. Five results. Five. Five Penderhams had died in the last seven years? They couldn’t all be related, could they? I racked my brain. Even when I was living with my parents, I hadn’t heard much about the Penderham family itself. I had heard about the death of the CEO’s son- who hadn’t- but the other four? Who were they?

First, I opened the file for the CEO's son. A plain manila folder appeared on the desk beside the book, labeled in neat block capitals with the name, "Penderham, Alexander." As I remembered, Alexander's death had been registered as an accident. His helicopter had suffered catastrophic engine failure on its approach to Columbia proper and had crash-landed in the Pit. Though an armed retrieval team was sent to recover his remains, they deemed it impossible to determine which of the bodies had belonged to the late Penderham heir, as the helicopter had crashed into an overcrowded residential Coffin stack, and casualties were quite high. I winced. None of those names were going to be remembered, except by any surviving family. No National Archives file for them. I paged through the folder but found little else. There was an actual obituary detailing the highlights of Alexander's life, but little else. I didn't bother to read it.

I opened the second file. Gregory Penderham, Sofia's older brother, had died at the hands of one of a malfunctioning gyndroid servant. The gyndroid in question had been Gregory's household servant for eight years and had been considered a part of his family practically. He died at thirty-two. I glanced at the dates and did the math. He was eleven years older than me, six years ahead of Sofia. His wife and child had also died in the bizarre attack. Investigators had been unable to determine who or what had caused the gyndroid to commit such brutal murders, and when questioned and memory stripped, the gyndroid said she would never have hurt "her family." She had no recollection of the killing or the twenty-four hours prior, and until the day she was disassembled she protested her innocence. I blew out a long breath. Alright. Two deaths, both of them members of the Penderham family who had a stronger claim to the family executive chair than Sofia. This wasn't looking good so far.

The third file was different. This one was a young cousin of Sofia's by marriage, listed under the Penderham name because his mother had kept her name. He had been his father's first child, from a different marriage, and hadn't taken his father's politically advantageous union well. He had spent a lot of time out drinking in bars further and further down into the Sprawl until he had been killed in a bar-fight by an offended catkin. Was that one part of the pattern? I wasn't sure. Really, I couldn't be sure about any of this. Coincidences did happen, right?

The fourth and fifth files were the same. Of course, the death records were for different people, but both of them had been killed the same way. They had been minor members of the Penderham family; neither of them too closely related to Sofia, neither of them a strong threat to her position as the heir to the Penderham fortune. But both of them had been attending a conference in Atlanta, and had been in the corporate food court the day of the "Atlanta Horror." They had both been beaten to death- though judging by the damage done to their fingers and teeth; they had gone out literally clawing and biting their killers. Sometimes I forgot just how shocking the Atlanta Horror had been, as focused as I was on the aftermath- on the Varkid-Davis Act. I closed the files and set them down in the stack.

The correlation wasn’t strong enough to be damning, but it was also too strong to ignore. What did this mean? Had Sofia killed all of her rivals within her family? Or had the Penderham family just been unlucky beyond belief? She was a witch, or so she had told me. What could she do? What had she done? I swept the five obituary files off the desk, and they disappeared into swiftly dissipating smoke. I closed the record book, and when I reopened it; it had turned into the index once more. I frowned. What if I could find the answer to the question here? After all, every Psion had been legally required to register. My own status as a Reader had been known by the Penderham Incorporated medical team since they had helped produce me. I had run before I could be forced to register, but Sofia was still the heir to the company. That meant either she was recorded as a witch, or her abilities were not officially known.

I paged through the index to the section marked “Special Registrations.” When that book appeared, it came through as a single page list in a leather protective sleeve. I scanned over the page until I found the words: “Known Psions.” A book about a third the size of the index appeared on the desk. I flipped the pages, looking for the name Hsu, mostly out of curiosity. Would my parents have registered me after I had run? There were about fifty recorded people with the last name Hsu, but I found no Vivian. I frowned. My parents weren’t sentimental people. If they had felt it best to register me with the government, they would have done so. So why hadn’t they? I turned several pages and scanned through the “P” section. The name Penderham didn’t appear once. Sofia wasn’t registered. Did that mean no one else knew what she could do? Or did that mean she had somehow convinced whoever did know what she could do to keep quiet? ‘It’s only a useful weapon if nobody knows it’s there.’ I thought about that for a while. Why had Sofia told me she was a witch if she wanted to keep her abilities a secret? Easy. I was already hiding. By telling me that she, too, was a secret Psion, she had set me up to trust her more easily.

I shut the book, and all the records disappeared, leaving only the index behind once more. Maybe I was reading too much into this. Maybe this was just paranoia brought on by what Michi had said. But some nagging part of my mind told me not just to brush this off. Things are going on here, under the surface. I would be stupid to ignore all of this, even if it turned out to be nothing. Better to be a paranoid independent merc than an ignorant unwitting pawn.

I checked the time using a silver pocket-watch which just happened to be sitting on the table. In the Matrix, I didn’t have a HUD. It took some getting used to, but for simple tasks, all you needed to do was to imagine what you needed. The pocket watch, an ornately detailed piece, gave the time as 8:30. Jeez, but an hour can fly. I still had time for a little more. One more search, though I didn’t really expect to find much of anything about this one.

I opened the index book to the filters page again and found the search bar stenciled at the top. I glanced at the corner of the desk, where a quill pen sat perched in a clay jar of ink. I smiled at the idiosyncrasy of the whole thing and lifted the quill out of the ink. Carefully, I wrote "Cavanaugh Securities" into the search bar. Several articles came up, most of them about a catastrophic fire at Cavanaugh's main labs in Atlanta, which resulted in the deaths of the entire senior Research and Development team. Government investigators had determined the fire was caused by arson, though they had no idea what had actually started the blaze. A cryptic message had appeared in Matrix forums claiming responsibility for the fire, signed, "Freedom for the Evolved." No one had any idea who had posted the message. I checked the dates in the article. The fire had taken place seventeen months before the Atlanta Horror.

I pushed the articles aside, and I was lifting the pen to write another search in the index, but the title of another caught my eye. "The Beast of Atlanta: SLAIN!" I reselected the article from amidst its kin, discarding the others. This one wasn't about the fire. It was dated just a few days after the Atlanta Horror. The man who had brought pandemonium into the cafeteria, the one who had screamed and made everyone around him explode into violence- he had been caught and killed trying to board a flight to Ciudad de Los Angeles- the most populous Sprawl on the California subcontinent. There was only speculation as to what he planned to do there. The article had been flagged in my search because a summary of his assault on the cafeteria had detailed notable victims. Alongside the slaughtered pair of Penderhams, there was a man listed as an independent contractor- and a former senior project manager at Cavanaugh Securities.

I thought about the people in the video, all of them reacting instantly to the sound of the “Beast’s” voice. Then I thought of the images I had gotten from Elbert’s mind, and what I had seen in the recording taken from his eye. Could Gamma-Five be the Beast, somehow resurrected and imbued with new power? That seemed far-fetched. And besides, in Elbert’s recording, he had been controlled by Gamma-Five before the monster had spoken more than a few words. The Beast of Atlanta had affected everyone able to hear his voice. Even if Gamma-Five had somehow been imbued with extra abilities, his psychic powers did not require sound to function. No, the Beast of Atlanta was a different Psionic monster. Looking at the bodies in the cafeteria, I understood for a moment the hysteria which had allowed a passage for the Varkid-Davis Act. The fear that at any time, your will could be taken away from you- that was truly terrifying.

Out of curiosity, I searched for the Beast of Atlanta. His death wasn't a surprise to me, but I wondered what they had done with the body if they had managed to figure anything out about his past. Was he one of Yakov's ‘classmates?’ The actual full autopsy was listed as classified and refused to appear without the proper password. I didn't bother trying to find a hacking engram to crack it. This was not of primary importance. Besides, I was able to look at the preliminary report- the bare-bones document which had been written by the mortician as she worked, before any in-depth study or tests. These unpolished results had included a DNA scan to run against a federal database, and he was identified as a boy who had been reported missing by his wealthy parents more than a decade prior.

I frowned as I read the name. Garrett Hydes. I selected the name and ran a quick search. There were no results on Hydes, but for the article I had just been reading and think-pieces on the “Atlanta Horror.” This didn’t surprise me. Kidnappings were barely news. Something like the butchery which had happened that day in Atlanta was much more exciting. I paged through article after article by psychoanalysts, counter-terrorism specialists, and even casual speculators. It was all interesting, most of it insightful and even informative. But there was nothing to found about the life of Garrett Hydes. Who was he really? Where had he gone? The lack of information about his life between his disappearance as a child and his emergence as the most insidious threat the government had ever seen tickled my suspicion. I searched the name of the mortician. Alicia Grant, who worked as the staff mortician at- I stopped. She was the staff mortician at Starr United, a medical subsidiary of Penderham Incorporated. I stared at the document in my virtual hand. Penderham had won the contract to examine the Hydes body. The company I had grown up with had decided to study him. It didn’t bother me Penderham had ordered the autopsy done- but it nagged at me I could find no declassified results of said examination. What had they done with the body? And what had they found?

The silver pocket watch chimed once, a silver bell tone which snapped me out of the research rabbit hole I had dived into. I glanced at the time. 8:50 AM. Shit. I closed the index book, stood, and opened the address selection interface. For the second time in just a few days, I punched in the address for the Silvered Stag. The Archives bled away around me, and when the world stabilized, I was standing before the broad double-doors of the old, rustic inn. This time, my appearance had not been altered, and I appeared as I imagined I looked right then; a short-haired, tired redhead slouching in ill-fitting jeans and a baggy sweatshirt, with one hand resting in the pocket of the sweatshirt where the obvious shape of a needle gun rested.

I considered going in as I was but ultimately decided against it. Whatever game the club was playing, they would probably respect me more if I played along- even if I did so my way. So I reassumed the crimson tailored suit and tie, with a black collared blouse. My hair I returned to the side-shaved, long top style I had adopted in the last meeting. This was what they thought Red Viper looked like. So this was what they were going to get. I took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

This time, the Silvered Stag Club was empty and dark. There were only ashes in the fireplace, and the long table with its high-backed chairs stood empty and unadorned- but for a single figure, sitting in one of the nearest chairs. Sofia Penderham perched on the edge of her seat, this time wearing a business suit much like my own, but colored the same deep green as the gown she had been wearing at our last encounter. She stood as I approached, and her perfect sheets of straight black hair framed a winning smile as she said, “Red Viper, it’s good to see you again. We heard of the debacle down in the Sprawl, and we’re glad you and Yakov got out alive.”

“Thank you,” I answered, not returning the smile. I was supposed to be a hard-case of a merc, not a schoolgirl here for a friendly chat. “I have a plan for finding the Paracell black site, but I need a favor.”

Sofia’s smile didn’t waver, but her eyes seemed to grow harder at the word ‘favor.’ “Of course we will oblige, within reason. We are already paying you double. Monetary support is out of the question.”

“No money needed,” I answered, acting as if I wasn’t irritated by her assumptions. I supposed it was a good thing she automatically assumed things about me- it made it seem more likely she didn’t remember me from the Penderham corporate functions both of us had attended as children. "I have the material I need to acquire this intelligence. I just need your help setting the bait for my trap."

Sofia nodded her expression relaxing. “What can I do?”

“I need a Paracell staffer to think he wants to meet me to discuss a deal. He doesn’t need to know who I’m with, no details, nothing to trace back to you- but at first glance I want him to think I’m authentic.” I stepped over to one of the empty chairs, turned it to face Sofia, and sat. “Gonna pull a simple snatch and grab.”

Sofia smiled, the expression carrying none of the warmth of a few moments ago. “I don’t know what you look like in the real world, but unless you clean up to look corporate, none of the whispers and hints in the world will do you any good.”

Again, I contained my initial irritation. “You didn’t hire me to tell me how to do my job,” I said, without any venom in my voice. I just stated it as a fact, the way a professional would do. What the hell. Fake it until you make it. “I’ll be ready. I just need you to set the bait.”

Sofia shrugged. “Fine. When do you want to meet him?”

“Tonight,” I answered, and I pulled a business card out of thin air. “The target’s name and address. You get him to call me, and I’ll do the rest.”

Sofia took the card and read it. One perfect black eyebrow rose, but she didn’t say whatever she was thinking. “Easy enough.” She said, finally. “Will there be anything else?”

“No, this is pretty much all I needed.”

The Penderham heiress nodded and reached behind her for something sitting on the table. She slid it around, picked it up, and held out a thick manila envelope for me to take. “Good, well this is for you, from Emerson- the Rakshasa you spoke to last time.” I took the folder but did not open it. I would go through the information when I didn't have that woman watching my face for reactions. At close range, something was disturbing about the way she moved. She seemed too smooth, too perfect. Maybe it was just an artifact of the Matrix encoding, a digital echo of the ‘uncanny valley'- in which a person could be so completely realistic and yet be missing something fundamental which made it seem so thoroughly wrong to the human eye. Sofia nodded and leaned back in her chair. She made a motion with one hand, and a crystal tumbler of dark amber liquid appeared in her fingers, her green-lacquered nails clicking against the glass. She took a sip and smiled at the glass. “So, Red Viper. Yakov mentioned you might be interested in finding a tutor to hone your… talents."

I suppressed the initial spike of indignation. I didn’t trust this woman, but I did need a tutor. Maybe she could point me in the right direction, and I could do some digging. The Trilenthropol wasn’t working the way it had. Not anymore. “I wouldn’t mind someone to practice with- but funds are usually a little short,” I said, trying to keep my voice uncaring. I couldn’t seem eager, nor could I come across as utterly opposed. Either reaction would seem suspicious. “I probably couldn’t afford a formal tutor, but if someone was willing to give me some pointers, I could hardly say no.”

Sofia waved a hand negligently. “Such things as money could be handled,” she scoffed her tone genial and magnanimous. “If you worked for us on a more regular basis, I could see to it that you got the training you desire.” She tipped her head to the side, still watching me intently as if the change in perspective gave her some new information about me she hadn’t considered before. “Of course, this would be predicated on your successful completion of the task before you. We only spend money on assets, and we need to be sure you are one before such steps would be possible.”

"Of course," I replied. I couldn't allow her to stay on this sort of train of conversation. If I started answering questions about my past, I would probably slip and reveal some part of my real identity to her. I met her brilliant green eyes. They were bright with some inner spark of… amusement? Avarice? I wasn't sure. She was clearly intelligent, and just as obviously thought she was the smarter of the two of us. She was probably right. I needed to tread carefully, or she would have the better of me. "Sofia, you mentioned you are a witch- what is it you can do? I've never fully understood that branch of Psionics."

Sofia shrugged. “I can’t do anything spectacular. Besides, witches or sorcs- we aren’t really our own ‘branch’ of Psionics at all. We’re more of a grab bag of random abilities. And most of us can only do one thing. You Readers and TKs can do many things which stem from your core talent- there are a thousand applications of the Inner Eye and the Hidden Hand. But for witches? We can usually do just one thing. I know a man who can start fires wherever he looks. I have heard of a man who could transmute water into sand. There are urban legends about a woman who could heal the wounded just by laying her hands on their bodies.” She shrugged. “We’re all different. Theorists like to say our abilities come from something called ‘the Iron Will,’ but that seems like a crock of nonsense to me. Likely, all of us witches are each different kinds of Psion, with our own distinct Psionic ‘muscles’ to empower us.”

“What about you?” I pressed, keeping my tone nonchalant.

Sofia smirked. “A lady can’t just give away all of her secrets. Where would the mystique be in that?” She stood. “Get me the records from the Paracell black site, and join us, and I will make sure you have the finest tutor I can find. You have real potential, Red Viper. We could use that around here. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a good Reader in our little circle.”

“I’ll consider it,” I replied, noncommittally. “We’ll talk about it when I get the Paracell data.”

“I look forward to it,” Sofia said, with the tone of finality. “Now I have other duties to attend to. See that this kidnapping of yours works the way you plan- I can only help you like this once without revealing myself.” She met my eyes. “And we both know how Penderham Incorporated feels about security.” My blood ran cold, but before I could throw together a reply before I could determine what she meant by that, Sofia smiled and said, “Until later, ‘Red Viper.’” Then she vanished, and I was left alone in the simulation of the Silvered Stag.

I looked around at the empty room, the vacant chairs, and the dead fireplace. Did she know? The way she had met my eyes… if only the meeting had been in person so that I could have read her thoughts. It was strange- I spent so much of my time trying to deal with the side-effects of my abilities, I hadn't realized how much I had come to rely on them to determine the intentions of those around me. I thought about following up on Sofia's offer. A tutor could mean a world of difference for me. It could change my life. With the right training, I could stop focusing on the day to day struggle of being a Reader and actually start using it. You know you’d be extremely dangerous if you got some good tutoring, right? I shook my head. I could do some serious work if I got a good handle on my power, but working for Sofia, really joining the Silvered Stag- it seemed like another cage. I would be her tool, her asset, like everyone else in the club. Sure, they all probably thought they were making decisions as a group, but the Penderham heiress was definitely the leader. Anyone who thought otherwise was deluding themselves. How much could Sofia learn about me if she received regular reports from someone teaching me how to secure my mind? I would be learning how to lock up my mind, only for the locksmith to deliver the key to a woman I couldn’t trust. I would be a pet, resting comfortably in a gilded cage. I had left corporate comfort specifically to avoid that fate. There was no way I could just walk into this kind of life willingly, could I? It would be nice to be able to sleep without tranquilizing myself into sterile darkness… surely that was worth the price?

I looked down at the file folder in my hand. It was unlabeled. I flipped it open and set it down on the table to read. In the first page, there was a note, written in an elegant, looping script which was presumably the handwriting of Emerson, the leopard Rakshasa. It was very direct and guileless.

Red Viper,

I have looked into the disappearances of the hybrid children. Khara is cagey, but his people have been taking notice. You're not the first one to try to investigate these- but much like when he hired you, he was too concerned about public perception to authorize more than half-measures. The first investigator simply dropped the case, saying he couldn't work with this kind of shackling on what he was allowed to ask and who he was allowed to talk to. But this is a very real problem. Jvotneya has lost at least six children in the last year, and none of those kids have been seen again. My own clan has had a similar number of losses, at least five in the last year. Most of these disappearances were written off as runaways or not reported to neighborhood elders- because much like Khara the typical hybrid parent does not want to admit there is a problem and show weakness to their neighbors. Those who reported disappearances found no answers for their trouble.

There are, however, some decent leads. The common thread with all of these kids is they were just past puberty, and at least four of those taken had displayed inklings of Psionic ability. This most likely played a role in silencing reports of their disappearance, since most of my kind are reticent about drawing, even more, attention to themselves. Psions, as you know, aren’t well trusted, not even among beastkin. Attached you will find pictures of the missing children I've managed to identify. All of them disappeared from within their own neighborhoods, and none of them left notes. With runaways, I would expect at least one or two out of eleven to write up a page of rambling teenage angst, but nothing like this has been found. Most of the parents don't even know about the other missing children- I only knew about some of the disappearances in my neighborhood because of the type of work I do for my elders.

The leads I mentioned: First, you should check in with the reclamation facilities nearest the Bottom. If the children are dead, most likely they have been discarded where Reclaimers will find them. The vats are the best way to dispose of bodies, after all, and perhaps someone working at one of the facilities has seen a pattern. Assuming the same entity has taken all or most of these missing beastkin children, ask about bodies bearing identical wounds. If the children are still alive, then keeping them alive would require a great quantity of meat- most beastkin are predator hybrids, and we need red meat to stay healthy. Spam won’t do forever. Additionally, keeping some Psions penned up would require specialized equipment. Interfering with Psionic energy requires very specific technology, and it doesn’t come cheap. Look for electroencephalography equipment, specifically beta wave emitters. For the layman, that kind of tech lets someone scan and sometimes transmit brainwaves. I can’t make any guarantees, but it’s a start.

Good luck,

Emerson

I set the letter aside. The rest of the folder mostly consisted of a sheaf of pictures, each depicting a smiling child- most of which displayed distinct hybrid features from elongated ears to animal eyes, and in some cases even horns or full-body coats of fur. I sighed. This was ridiculous. If these people wanted their children found, why had they not told their elders in so many of these cases? And why hadn't the elders thoroughly investigated those few reports they had received? Sure, the letter stated hybrids both distrusted Psions and feared an attack from their kin, but wouldn't fear for one's children override all of that? I frowned. I supposed that wouldn't necessarily be true, not for everyone. After all, my parents hadn't put any effort into finding me. But I was twenty-one now, and these kids had been anywhere from fourteen to seventeen. They were children. They couldn’t always take care of themselves, and this was not a kind city for runaways. I was beginning to understand why the last investigator hired by the Jvotneya gang boss had quit the job. This whole thing was damn near impossible, especially if the community itself wasn’t going to cooperate.

I lifted the same silver pocket watch from the archives up off the table, calling it into existence just by thinking about it. I flipped open the cover. 9:40. I had all day to wait for contact from my target. I guess I have the time. I looked up a list of lower Sprawl reclamation facilities and saved it for easy reference. Then I disconnected from the Matrix. It was time to do some good old-fashioned legwork. I wasn’t going to give up on this job. Not only did I need the money, but these kids had been written off, even by their own kin. Someone had to go the distance for them, someone who wasn’t in as much danger of being carted off by some asshole coppercorp and dumped in the Pit. Sure, as an unregistered Psion I was in violation of the Varkid-Davis act, but I didn’t wear my illegal status on my skin. Hybrids had no such luxury. Besides, I was a posthuman woman- made to be beautiful- and I was a Reader to boot. Surely I could get answers where others could not.

* * *

The first two reclamation facilities I visited gave me nothing useful. I spoke to the foremen, showed them the pictures of the kids, and got nothing but blank looks and shrugs. Who cares? That was a common sentiment. Why would a bunch of busy, hard-working folks care about what came through their damn vats? All they cared about was rendering it all down. Nothing got wasted. It didn't make much difference to them whether the body they were rendering was human, animal, or hybrid. It all came out the other side of the process looking the same. But the third facility, standing atop a forest of stilted supports at the very Bottom of Sector 28R, was a damned goldmine of information.

The foreman, a woman of about thirty with a hydraulic replacement arm, bolted into her scarred, bare shoulder socket, reacted immediately when I showed her the pictures- beamed directly to her Lattice storage. “I've seen some of these faces,” she hissed, pointing to some of the oldest photographs. “They started showing up a few months ago. I reported them to my bosses because they seemed strange, but they told me to can them.” She shook her shaved, tattooed head and scratched at the stubble with one mechanical finger. “Still bugged me, though. I get about one or two of them per week.”

“Where do they come from?” I asked, excited. “Who drops them off?”

The foreman grunted and started walking toward a flight of scaffolding stairs which lead up to a modified shipping container office overlooking the factory floor. I followed. “Not out here,” she said over her shoulder. “This whole thing gives me the willies, and I don’t want to get myself shot.”

“Fair enough.” I followed her up the stairs, looking out over the facility as we ascended. The reclamation facility was much the same as any other of its kind. The concrete-floored room was mostly taken up by three enormous steel vats, each of them encrusted with various tubes and pipes which fed the various chemicals in to keep the process running smoothly and under control. The whole place reeked of lye and corpse-stink. I wrinkled my nose. None of the dozen workers toiling around the factory seemed bothered by the smell, and I wondered how long I would have to work in a place like this before I stopped noticing it. There were several tables set up in a row beside one of the vats, and on those tables lay bodies. Most of them were human, though one of them appeared to be the pale, twisted corpse of a Feeder. I guess everything looks the same on the other side. At each table, a preparation specialist worked carefully, cutting away clothing and hair, detaching and setting aside major cybernetics, and generally doing what they could to make sure the only thing going into the vat was meat and bone.

Reclamation vats were important to the function of any Sprawl. With a population over two-hundred million, Columbia didn't have the space to bury everybody in its own grave, and even cremation was out of the question on that scale. Enter the reclaimers. Bodies were fed into enormous tanks filled with specialized enzymes and solvents, and rendered down into a thick liquid. That liquid was then processed and transformed into fertilizer for the vast grow labs which produced most of the food eaten by the general public. Certainly, the wealthy had their own ways of disposing of their dead, since being "reclaimed" was too common. But the average man or woman living in the Sprawl knew that when they reached the end of their line, their River Styx flowed with rendering agent, and their afterlife was a hydroponics farm. It wasn’t a happy thought for anyone, so most people avoided thinking about places like this. I sighed, looking down at the great vats. I would end up in one of those one day, more than likely. I shook my head, clearing the dark thoughts. I needed to stay on task. A distraction would mean my appointment with the reclaimers would come a lot sooner than I wanted.

The foreman slid open the door to her “office,” and stepped into the thick darkness inside. A moment later, I heard a click, and the room was bathed in bright yellow light. I followed her into the shipping container and was pleasantly surprised at its methodical neatness. The floor was precisely laid plastic tile, tacked down by a professional. There were no rough edges, no gaps. The desk was a refurbished plastic discard most likely ‘rescued' from a salvager sledge and cleaned up. One of its legs was missing, and in its place there was a cinderblock and a few precisely cut shims to keep the desk level. Mismatched but equally well-maintained filing cabinets stood behind the desk, framing the chair as the foreman took her seat. A battered brass nameplate on the desk read, “Mia Noor, MD.” The MD had several deep scratches through it.

Foreman Noor interlaced her fingers and leaned on her elbows. “Have a seat.” She gestured with her head, and I followed her gaze to the pair of folding chairs leaning against the wall. I selected one, unfolded it, and set it before the desk. “So,” Noor continued. “The bodies. They’re not precisely delivered to my vats.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, leaning back hesitantly in the steel folding chair. It creaked ominously. “If they aren’t delivered, how do you get them so regularly?”

Noor grimaced. “They’re dumped near here, usually in a side passage just off a main corridor or bridge. Some poor bastard stumbles across the bodies wrapped in plastic and calls it in, and then one of my guys goes and picks them up.”

“And you think the same person or group is dropping these off every time?” I agreed with her assessment, but I needed evidence. Every little detail, every iota of information could tell me something important and could lead me a little closer to who was actually snatching and killing these beastkin kids. Psionic beastkin kids, I reminded myself.

“Yes,” Noor said, simply, and then reached beneath her desk for something. I twitched at the movement, my gun-hand itching, but before I could really react, a hologram appeared on the desktop. I relaxed. Jesus, I’m getting jumpy. If the foreman had noticed my flash of paranoia, she hadn’t let on. I relaxed. Noor continued speaking. “Look, I had some of my boys take pictures of the last few drops, both before we picked them up and after we unwrapped them for processing.” Images rose up over the desk like a macabre gallery.

I immediately recognized three of the faces from the folder of pictures Emerson had sent me. The others must have been from different hybrid communities. Each body was wrapped in opaque white plastic and laid out side by side. In the prep pictures, I could see they all bore similar wounds- though there was little blood. Perhaps the dead had been that way for a while before they had been dropped off. Each one had part of his or her skull removed, exposing the brain. From the angle of the pictures, I couldn't tell what the objective had been, but clearly, some kind of very precise and invasive surgery had been performed. Equally evident were the beastkin natures of each corpse. It didn't seem to matter what kind of hybrid the children had been- though there did appear to be a higher percentage of catkin represented in the hideous portfolio. “So how many of these… bodies have you received? And how long has this been happening?”

Noor thought about it for a moment and then answered. “I think we have processed thirty-eight of these until now.” She rolled her eyes upward, thinking. “At an average of two bodies per week, this has been going on somewhere around… four and a half months, maybe more?”

I swore under my breath. That was a lot of kidnapped kids. If they had been ‘purely human’ children, a coppercorp would have been hired by the time five or six similarly desecrated bodies had turned up. Even in the Sprawl, people didn’t want to live anywhere near an operating serial killer. But because the dead were beastkin… “So your bosses told you to shut up. How long ago was that?”

Foreman Noor pursed her lips. “About a week. They said it wasn't my job to wonder where the bodies came from, just to make sure they got rendered. I honestly couldn't tell if they had been bought, or if they were just cold.” She gave me a wry look which wasn't quite a smile. “This industry doesn't exactly help you keep your human empathy.”

I nodded. “Might not be the same job, but I kinda know how you feel.” How many people had I killed in the last week? I had only personally shot one of them, but how many had died from the assault team when I had overloaded their fear centers? I didn't feel guilty about it- it was the job, and they were either trying to kill my client or me- but I could see how someone running a reclamation company wouldn't look too closely at any of the corpses he or she received. “Alright. Can you beam me the pictures?” I held out my hand and manifested a red Matrix tag business card between two fingers. “And call me if another one shows up?”

“Only if I can ask what you're going to do with the information,” replied the foreman. “I only told you about this because you seemed genuinely concerned. What are you going to do here?”

I shrugged. “I’m going to see what I can do to pull some justice out of these vats.”

Noor nodded. “Alright. See that you do. I might not be a doctor anymore, but I’ve always hated it when kids came across my tables. You be careful, though. This smells corporate.”

I nodded firmly. “I'm counting on it.” A file of photos appeared in my inbox, and I gave Noor a half smile. “Thank you.”

“You can thank me by forgetting me,” sighed the foreman. “Now get going. I really don’t want to be shot today.”

I stood, folded the chair, and leaned it up against the wall with its sibling. Then, I left the office, taking the stairs two at a time. I had a lead, some material which could put me on the right track, and I knew what to do with it. I checked my messages and found one from a Paracell corporate account, addressed to one “Hanna Graves.” I grinned. Sofia had come through. There was a Paracell manager who was going to have a very bad evening. I checked the time. Just a few hours until showtime. It was time to get into my suit.

* * *

Chapter Nine

The woman who crossed the threshold of the Round Robin lounge didn’t look like her home was a Coffin, and certainly didn’t seem strung out or starved. I glanced at my reflection in a mirrored display of liquor above the round bar as I approached the counter and smiled. While I preferred the life I had earned, and though I considered the old finery of my childhood to be the velvet which had lined my gilded cage, it felt good sometimes to clean up and put on my own ‘pretty mask.' My suit looked like it had been made for me, though the trousers were a little too tight in the hips, and the sleeves of my blazer fell just an inch too long to be precisely fashionable. Those minor imperfections didn't matter much, though, because Michi had absolutely outdone herself on my makeup.

Gone were the perpetual dark circles under my eyes. A precise application of blush and eyeshadow made my eyes bright as polished topaz and drew attention away from the gauntness of my cheeks. Windowpane glasses which de-emphasized the canted line of my eyes, made them seem wider, more ‘American corporate standard,' like some wide-eyed fashion model. My lips were a deep red to match the suit, and imitation garnet studs winked from my ears. Michi had done something to the blonde wig as well, and had I not known it for a costume; I would have sworn those shoulder-length ash-blonde locks had been mine from birth. I wondered if Michi's talent at disguise had been given to her along with her sword.

“May I help you, ma’am?” I turned and met the eyes of a cheerful host, a tall brown-haired woman clad in green and black with a smile which must have been ordered from a catalog.

I didn’t return the smile. Corporate types did not make nice with the ‘help.’ “I am meeting a colleague for dinner. Mr. Leonard Thorne.”

The host’s eyes glazed and her smile froze for a second as she doubtlessly checked a list of reservations in her memory. Electric cold rippled up my spine. She looks like a wax statue. I knew the look- this was a ‘shackled’ construct. Her face reanimated. “Right this way, ma’am.” She turned and led the way to a table a short distance from the bar, with her chestnut ponytail bobbing. As I followed in her wake, I caught sight of the back of her neck and the barcode printed there. Had Michi not escaped her makers, this would have been her fate; she would have been a conscious mind trapped in a steel cage of programming, a slave whose own personality had been designed to prevent her from ever realizing she was in bondage. Was Michi ever like that? If so, how did she escape?

I took my seat and met the eyes of my ‘date.’ He was an older man, perhaps in his early fifties, handsome and clean-shaven, with olive skin and eyes so dark a blue they almost seemed wholly black. His skin was unnaturally smooth and unblemished, the result of reverse-aging treatments only available to the tune of several hundred thousand credits per session. His hair was short and precisely cut, the black streaked through with just the perfect amount of salt. He gave me a perfectly manufactured smile, his teeth bright and assembly-line straight. “You must be Ms. Graves.”

“Please,” I chided gently, “call me Hanna.”

“Hanna, then.” He raised a few fingers to signal a waiter. “You look positively radiant.”

“Thank you,” I replied, blushing. I had practiced in a mirror. “It's nice to meet you, Leonard. May I call you Leonard?”

“Of course.” His smile didn’t falter one bit. I wondered if he had been coached. “I heard you were interested in my work.”

“I am,” I enthused. “You see, my company has something of a pest problem with one of our off-world operations, and I heard your lab has some of the best ‘exterminators’ in the business.”

A waiter appeared, this one a muscular construct fashioned like the prototypical aryan; blond-haired, blue-eyed, and strong-jawed. He gave an empty, department store grin and asked what we wanted to drink. Leonard ordered a gin and tonic, and I selected a whiskey over ice. The waiter, still grinning, swept away.

Leonard leaned forward, propping his arms on the table. “You must have some extraordinary pests to require an exterminator of Paracell’s caliber.” He tilted his head and chuckled apologetically. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch who you were with.”

“Leonard,” I scolded, mock-serious, laying a hand on his arm. “You know discretion is of the essence in this sort of business. You and I both know the way things can be here on the Hill.”

“Oh, I know very well indeed,” he agreed. “It’s just a little curious I’ve never heard of you before.”

I sighed, the very picture of persecuted aristocracy. “Oh, for the days when a woman's word was accepted as her bond.” I opened my Inner Eye, letting the mental babble of the erudite restaurant crowd pour into my mind. I had done my research on this place, and while they employed sophisticated security, there were few facilities which could detect the presence of a Reader. The Round Robin, happily, was not so fortunate. I reached out for Leonard's mind and felt around. Is she a spy? What if she’s with Justice Inc.? Whatever Sofia had done had convinced him to reach out and meet me, but in a world of constant backstabbing and intrigue, Leonard maintained a healthy paranoia. I didn't suppress those thoughts- I hadn't been trained to do that subtly, and chances were someone like my dinner date had received enough instruction to tell when someone was using brute force Psionics on their thoughts. Instead, I hit him with a much more dangerous weapon, one that even an amateur Reader could manage. I dropped a single multi-sense image into his mind, a flash of cream skin, a contented sigh, golden hair falling to frame a freckled face.

I smiled at Leonard, still leaning forward. "I understand your hesitation. Nothing has to be decided tonight; I was just sent to make contact. Build connections. My company is interested in your product, and interested in a relationship with yours. All I want to do tonight is determine whether you can meet my needs or not."

Leonard didn’t relax, but his eyes thawed from paranoia into cautious interest. “My apologies for the suspicion, we have had attempts to breach our security before. Suffice it to say, I am now required to attend every meeting like this prepared for the worst, and I must say, it does wear on a man after a while.” His eyes flicked away from my face for a second, and then returned, warmer and more relaxed.

I waved one manicured hand at him. “Think nothing of it. These are trying days even for the best of us.” Inwardly, though, I was concerned. Prepared for the worst. He hadn't come here alone, I was sure of it. The waiter approached again, and I glanced up to see the great blond construct bearing a small tray on which were perched two glasses. I smiled. “Ah, the drinks are here.” The waiter set down the gin and tonic first, and I watched Leonard's eyes as he reached for his glass. They flicked up, met those of the waiter, and then flicked away. That one is a plant. Clever to have a guard with a positronic brain, if they know there is a reader after them. But do they know it’s me? Or is this just standard caution?

The waiter set down my whiskey and smiled blankly at me, his mechanical eyes empty of expression. I did not return the smile, instead nodding and picking up the tumbler of whiskey. Two frozen stone cubes clinked at the bottom of the glass, cooling the liquor without watering it down. I took a sip and let the smooth fire trace its delicious burn down my throat toward my belly. I turned my eyes back to Leonard’s and smiled as I took another sip. Then, with another minor effort, dropped another image into his mind. This time I gave him a scent memory, of floral perfume and the smell of sex, paired with a sensation of heat and rhythm. As I watched, Leonard shifted uncomfortably in his seat. His hand rose for a moment, and then settled back down on the table, likely in an abortive movement to loosen his collar. “So,” he said, hastily taking a sip of his gin and tonic to cover his discomfort, “what kind of, ah, ‘needs’ do you- does your company- need to be met?” He managed to get a hold of himself. “What I mean is- what kind of pest needs exterminating?”

I sighed, letting a little of a frown onto my face as if I had just tasted something unpleasant. “Ugh, the two-legged kind. One-quarter mole, the rest painfully ordinary. They’ve already made such a mess of one of our facilities, and the whole staff there is considered a loss. We would like to sterilize the whole place and start over.”

Leonard frowned in return. “Why not just open the interior compartment to space?”

I batted that question aside quickly. “Sensitive equipment inside. I need something that will clear out the pests very quickly, with minimal risk to the facility or my equipment.” I poured another thought into his head and had to fight a smile when I saw his eyes drop to my chest and back up again. “I'm looking for elegant brutality.”

Leonard nodded. “Alright, well, I can’t discuss the specifications of our various models here- as I’m sure you are aware- but perhaps after we eat we could adjourn to somewhere a little more private where we can go over details.” He shrugged, the picture of nonchalant innocence. Please. Like I need psychic powers to read what you’re thinking in your face. “I know of a good place, an exclusive sort of bar, catering to people like you and me, where we can rent an isolated booth and speak more freely.” As he said the word ‘booth,’ I zeroed in on the image of one such private section which floated up in his mind and memorized it, smirking inwardly. Looks like Mr. Thorne has used those sections on the regular. That actually made things easier. I altered the image and then sent it back. Leonard was keeping his professional bearing in his face, but he had started to sweat along his receding hairline.

I smiled at him. “That would be perfect.” And so I tortured him for the next hour and a half, leading his mind along a meticulous trail of tantalizing thoughts even while we talked about innocuous things. I sent him physical sensations and memories while we spoke of the stock market. I made him think about my body while we chatted about local politics. And while I regaled him with a long and entirely fictional anecdote about a party “Hanna Graves” had attended, I sprinkled in darker, more possessive thoughts, the sorts of ideas that would have him questioning the depths of his own depravity. By the time we were politely arguing over who would pay the check -of course he would, as the host, but I was expected to protest- I had driven Leonard Thorne nearly to the edge of his wits.

I got up to visit the restroom, and as I crossed the room, watched in the bar mirror as Leonard whispered feverishly to the blond hulk of a waiter- whom I assumed was his muscle. As I checked my makeup in the bathroom mirror, I sent Michi the signal we had arranged; I forwarded a news story from the daily paper containing the word ‘begin’ in the headline. She would make sure the Clankers were ready to go. I left the restroom after a few minutes and met Leonard by the door. I let him lead me outside onto the street.

It had been a very long time since I had stood on the streets of Columbia, surrounded by history, and amidst all the stone and monuments I could almost forget a couple hundred million people were living and dying beneath my feet. I couldn't deny I had enjoyed myself, wining and dining with the elites I had been born to mingle with, playing the corporate darling. This had been meant to be my life, walking amidst the ivory towers and stone memory of the city, turning heads and breaking hearts. I had been designed to be a weapon amidst the corporate finery, the velvet dagger which cut when defenses were relaxed and when suspicion had been put to bed. I was made to be a songbird, out of reach behind the gilded bars of my priceless cage. I took a deep breath of air made clean by thousands of hidden filters which tamed the poison air at street level. I held that breath for a moment along with the glow of the evening; I closed my eyes and basked in the peace of it. For just a second, I was relaxed. I was just Vivian Hsu, the daughter of a powerful family, moving up in the world. Then I let out the breath, and when I opened my eyes, I was Red Viper once more.

I put up a Matrix tag to summon an air-taxi, and it was claimed within milliseconds. I checked the driver’s name- Arthur Kang- and smiled inwardly, satisfied. Perfect. A standard four-rotor air-cab dropped out of the sky almost silently. The yellow checkered car pulled up just short of the ground and settled down gently onto three wheels. I glanced over at Leonard, who looked back at me, mild surprise evident on my face. “Wow, hat was a quick cab!” I enthused.

Leonard, still preoccupied with distracting thoughts, shrugged expressively. “I guess he was overhead when you put up the call.” He stepped forward and opened the door. I gestured for him to go first and he clambered inside. I followed him inside and pulled the door shut. Leonard leaned forward toward the divider which separated the passenger from the driver. “Take us to the ‘Sharp Corner' on Eighth, please.” The driver glanced back at him with a genial grin and said something in a rapid Slavic language. Then turned back forward to focus on his dashboard. The driver, as I had expected, was Artyom. I leaned back and let my hand fall into the pouch affixed to the inside of the door. The dermal patches I had expected were waiting. Leonard leaned back in his seat as the cab sprang straight up into the air, and then he turned to me. "So," he said, smiling. "How did you enjoy your dinner, Hanna?"

I peeled the backing off the red dermal patch and slapped it across his still grinning face before he could react. I met his eyes. “Dinner was great, Leo,” I purred. “But this ain't your lucky night.” The tranquilizer took effect within seconds. Leonard's jaws worked, but he could form no words. He groaned and pawed weakly at me, his skin already going pale. I peeled the sticker off the second patch and hit the other side of his face. His eyes rolled back in his head, and he slumped backward, falling limply over the seat. Immediately, I leaped into action. I collapsed the back of the bench seat, folding it down behind me revealing the cargo compartment in the back of the taxi. Two Clankers in black masks waited, steel ties in their hands. I turned and helped them roll him back into the cargo space with them, and then assisted them in strapping his wrists and ankles together before lashing him to the retaining bar running through the floor of the cab. We couldn't have him bouncing around the cab and dying when Artyom would take the taxi down into the Lower Sprawl. I pulled the back of my seat back up into position and locked it in place, concealing the Paracell manager and the muscle keeping an eye on him.

Artyom turned his head slightly, catching my gaze out of the corner of his eye, and then returned his attention to the sky. “Buckle up, Red, we’re going down to the Sprawl. Could be rocky.” I drew the belts across my chest and lap and clicked them together. Then, I leaned forward and gave Artyom the thumbs up. He seized the throttle and cut power to the rotors. The cab dropped from the sky, sending my stomach up into my throat. I clenched my teeth and squeezed my eyes shut. I hated this sort of thing, but we had to get down lower into the Sprawl before anyone could think of following us. After five long seconds, Artyom powered the rotors back up, easing the cab into a slower, more steady descent.

I blew out a breath I hadn’t even realized I was holding and looked out the window, watching the towers rise around us. The buildings drew closer and closer, eating up more and more airspace by the moment. From this perspective, the Sprawl had a unique beauty; it was asymmetrical like clustered stalagmites, and geometric as honeycomb. Spider webs of walkways and braided support cables stretched all around us in a tapestry, and a hundred thousand lights speckled across them like dew. Darkness rose around us like a shroud as we descended, and billows of steam washed up over the windows before spiraling into nothingness. Through it all, Artyom steered the taxi with an expert's hand, angling us in closer to the towers as he approached his landing zone. I reached up and pulled the wig off my head, tucking it into the pocket of my blazer. The glasses followed the blonde hair, and then I unbuckled my restraints and slipped out of the blazer so I was sitting in the black blouse and red trousers. The easy part was done. Now it was time for the difficult task.

The air-cab set down gently on a cargo platform. Artyom throttled down the rotors and locked the little craft down. I opened the door and stepped out onto the platform, then circled the car to meet the Clankers’ underboss at the cargo hatch. He drew my gun out of his pocket and handed it to me grip first. I took it and stuck it into my waistband, then looked back up to meet Artyom's eyes. “Nice flying,” I said.

The Clankers’ boss nodded. “I was in the military, flew the up-armored version of this car during the last war over Korea.” He opened the hatch. “Though, I haven’t kidnapped a guy in a while.” The two Clankers in the cargo zone clambered up out of the cab, and then dragged Leonard Thorne out after them. Artyom gave the senseless Paracell manager a disgusted glance. “Smells like he pissed himself. Take ‘im to the factory and hose ‘im down so we can have a ‘conversation’ without having to smell it.” The burly gangers dragged Leonard away. I watched them go for a moment. “Having second thoughts about this?”

I grimaced and turned back to Artyom. “No. I have a job to do. But how do we make sure the info we get out of him is accurate?”

Artyom grinned, showing all of his teeth. “Easy. We do it the same way coppercorps do. We play good cop and bad cop.” He jerked a thumb at himself. “I’ll be the good cop.”

“I suppose that makes me ‘bad cop.' Suppose I can get behind that.” I grinned. “Though, I dunno if I buy you as the nice guy.”

Artyom chuckled. “I’m not the one they call a snake.”

I laughed. “True enough.” Several Clankers came out onto the platform, dragging a broad canvas tarp. As I watched, one of them got into the taxi, retracted the rotors, and then locked the whole thing down. The others dragged the cover over the cab, hiding it from public eyes. “Well,” I sighed. “I guess we had better get to it.” I turned and strode toward the factory, my feet crunching in the thin ice which had formed on the concrete.

* * *

Artyom and I entered the factory together and found Leonard Thorne being tied to a chair, sitting with his back to the open maw of an industrial grinder. Two burly Clankers worked methodically at the knots, making sure the braided steel cord they were using was wrapped tightly. One of them must have started the great grinder's engine, and the ponderous tooth-studded discs of the machine's jaws whirled hungrily, generating a sinister breeze which stirred the hairs on the Paracell manager's face. Water pooled around him in a wide puddle. Evidently, the Clankers had wasted no time in hosing him down.

Leonard was awake, and I could see from the bright green dermal patch stuck to his neck he had been given a powerful stimulant. His eyes were wide and rolled madly as a particularly strong gust from within the grinder whipped his tie back around his neck. When he spotted me, his eyes locked on my face, and he looked a little green. “Hanna?” He rasped, confused and hurt. I strode straight toward him, rolling up my sleeves as I went. “This was-” I hit him, hard, in the cheek, snapping his head to the side and silencing him.

I seized hold of his jaw and turned his head so he was forced to look at me. “You tried to kill a woman and her children. You tried to kill me. You shot up a coffee shop filled with innocents. You tried to kill my friend. Explain to me, Leonard, why I shouldn't just give you a shove, right now?” I seized his wet shirt and pushed him with my fists, tilting his chair back on two legs so he could tilt his head back and see the grinder running just behind him, hungry for its next meal. “Give me one fucking reason!”

Artyom stepped in then, forcing me back with one broad tattooed arm, settling Leonard down to the ground with the other. He turned his face toward me; his broad, tanned face writ large with seemingly genuine concern. He winked. “Red! That's enough! We need him alive!” He shoved me back, roughly, and I staggered a few steps before regaining my balance. I locked eyes with Leonard and spat. Then I straightened up and folded my arms over my chest.

Leonard blinked up at Artyom as the big man set Leonard's chair back down gently. The underboss gestured to one of his men. “Bring me a chair so that Leo and I can talk. And get this man some goddamned coffee.” He smiled reassuringly at the Paracell manager. “Look. My colleague, over there, is furious with you, and she sometimes has trouble controlling herself. We needed to have a conversation with you. There's no need for anyone to get hurt tonight.”

I grinned savagely, still staring into Leonard's eyes with direct, predatory intensity. “There might not be a need, but there sure as shit is a ‘want.’”

Artyom ignored me. “As my friend here so indelicately put it, you have made several attempts on her life, and on the lives of those around her. Such indiscriminate violence might seem to be the way of things down here in the Lower Sprawl, but I assure you it is not. At least, it is not this way in my neighborhood. When you sent assassins after the Red Viper, you also attacked a citizen of my community. This citizen is under the protection of my people. My own boss was not pleased to hear of this indiscretion."

I worked to keep the smile off my face. I had misjudged Artyom. I'd thought him cunning, dangerous, and firmly dedicated to his own code of loyalty- but I hadn't thought of him as intelligent, precisely. Shows why you shouldn't judge a man by his face. He was a military pilot, you idiot, of course, he is smart. I waited. I would ask my questions, but first I needed to let Artyom engender a sense of trust between himself and Leonard. The Paracell staffer needed to think Artyom was ‘safe’- or at least more reliable than me.

One of the Clankers returned, carrying a chair, which he set down opposite Leonard. Another followed closely behind, bearing three cans of synth-coffee. He met my eyes and threw one underhand in my direction. I snatched it out of the air and flicked my gaze back to Leonard. The Paracell manager flinched. I opened the can and took a sip.

Artyom took his seat and accepted the other two cans of coffee. He opened one of them and held it to Leonard's mouth, tipping the can, so he could drink. Leonard sipped at the faux coffee for a few moments, and then Artyom took the can away, set it down, and opened his own. He crossed one leg over his knee. “Listen to me, Leo. I want to let you go. But there are a few things you're going to need to do for me. First, I need you to answer any questions my friend Red has here. If she doesn't get what she wants out of you, it's going to be much harder for me to justify sparing you to my boss. You see, she was a guest in my neighborhood, and your attack has left a black mark on the reputation of my gang. If adequate recompense is not provided to Red for this grievance, then I will have no choice but to use you to send a message back to your own superiors.”

Leonard glanced at me again, clearly nervous. I took a long pull of my coffee, my eyes never leaving his. “Um…” he stammered. “You m-must be the R-Red Viper I was told about.”

“What were you told?” I asked, my tone as cold and hard as the concrete beneath our feet.

Leonard looked at Artyom, who just sat, with an amiable smile on his face. The underboss nodded. “Go on, Leo. It’s alright.”

The Paracell manager smiled weakly. The expression looked more like he was going to be sick than anything else. “We h-had a breach. You know about Elbert Chandra. My office was under a l-lot of pressure. We knew he was talking to someone, but we didn’t know who that someone was with. We f-found out where his meeting was, and one of our operatives got there first.”

“Your operative,” I interrupted. “You mean your Psionic chimera. You’ve got a monster on your payroll, Thorne.” I snorted. “Or do you even pay him? You’ve got to be giving him something he wants, right? Or did you just cut out his personality and put a computer in its place?” I spat again. “You lunatic ‘scientists’ fucking disgust me.”

Artyom turned his head toward me, mild impatience in his eyes. “Red, we'll be here all night. Let the man finish.” I sneered at him but stayed silent. Artyom nodded to Leonard. “Go on.”

Leonard sighed. “We suspected you knew about Gamma-Five. Though we weren’t sure how you learned about him. He doesn't allow himself to be seen by anyone he doesn't want to see him.” Seeing the questioning look on my face, he hurriedly moved on, not wanting to linger on the topic of the chimera assassin. “We didn't know you were involved until you protected the Chandra widow and her children.” He glanced at Artyom, who was busily reading the nutrition information on the back of his can of coffee. I watched resignation creep into the Paracell manager's face. Good. He’s starting to think talking is his way out of this. He spoke again, his tone pleading as if he was begging me to understand, to sympathize. “We had no choice! We couldn't be sure Elbert hadn't told his wife or his kids anything! If word got out about our work…” He swallowed hard, unable to look away from my glare. “Justice Inc. would have…” He trailed off.

“What happened next?” I asked a demand for knowledge, though the question came out more like a command.

Leonard grimaced. “We started tracking you. We followed you through the Sprawl, tried to take you out of the picture and determine where you had hidden Chandra and the children. You made this difficult, with your Matrix account having been scrubbed of any identifying information besides your street name, ‘Red Viper.' You didn't go home; you didn't tell anyone where you were going, we couldn't find any signs you had any family for us to pressure. So, we just followed the snooper when we could and tried to take you out when we had the chance.”

“You shot up a coffeehouse full of innocents,” I snapped. “Whatever happened to corporate precision?”

“I’m not a black ops guy,” Leonard protested. “I just give the okay, and our security guy makes the decisions! He thought you were dangerous enough to rate a full wet squad, and I just signed the papers! I was just doing what I had to!”

He was on the defensive. Good. It was time to take a risk. I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, right. What part of ‘just doing what you had to’ involved kidnapping hybrid children?” Leonard froze, and his eyes widened a little. He opened his mouth to speak, but I cut him off. “Did you think we didn’t know about that?” I began to walk toward him, staring into his face. “Thirty-eight dead, so far. Thirty-fucking-eight! Children!” I let my anger pour into my voice as I came ever closer to where Leonard was trembling. “Now you tell me where you’re keeping the rest of these kids or so help me I will make sure that grinder back there eats you slowly.” I drank the rest of my coffee in a single pull and then hurled the can past the Paracell manager’s head and into the machine beyond. The grinder crushed the can and rent it to pieces in a split second scream of ripping aluminum. Leonard flinched, and I smelled the sharp ammonia stink of urine.

Artyom suddenly sat up straight and cocked his head as if listening. “Alright.” He turned his eyes to me. “I’ve got something that needs to be taken care of. Get what you need out of this one but leave Him Alive.” He emphasized the last three words with heavy pokes in the center of my chest. “If he dies, you and I will have problems.” He turned to walk away, and when his back was completely turned to Leonard- when he was sure the man wouldn't see his face- he smiled and winked. I knew exactly what he was saying. I don’t need him. The Clankers’ underboss strode purposefully away, talking the sub audible growling tones of someone speaking so only their Lattice could understand.

I turned back to Leonard, who was shaking by this point. I seized the chair Artyom had vacated, spun it around, and sat, straddling it. “Alright. Leonard Thorne. Listen. I just want to know where your dark site is. And don’t tell me you don’t have a lab down at the Bottom. Everyone has a lab down at the Bottom. Just tell me where it is, and since my buddy Artyom is such a good man, he’ll let you go, just as soon as you sign a contract stating your paramilitary teams will never enter Clankers’ territory again.” I drew my needle gun out of my waistband. “Or,” I said, tapping the barrel against his knee, “you could play dumb, and I’ll just have to get Art a fruit basket or something to make up for the mess I’ll leave all over his nice factory.” I turned the gun and tapped Leonard’s other knee. “Either, or. It’s an easy day. Just answer the question. Where is Paracell’s dark site lab?”

Leonard then did something I didn't expect. He smiled, wide and genuine, his face splitting with very real mirth. “It would be easier just to show you.” I stood, my instincts screaming for me to get away from the corporate toad while I still could, even though I knew he was restrained. I’m in control, right? Then I noticed two things, very quickly. First, the puddle of water beneath Leonard’s chair had frozen solid, and his clothes had gone glassy and still with ice. Second, I had never closed my Inner Eye after I left the restaurant, and yet I hadn’t heard any thoughts. Why wasn’t I reading Leonard’s thoughts during the interrogation? It should have been eas-

Leonard’s arms came forward in a tangle of frost-split cables, and he seized my gun in one hand, my shoulder in the other. The needle gun let out a piercing shriek of metal as the great, frost-rimed fingers crushed the barrel in a meaty fist. My shoulder burned beneath his grip, and I struggled to twist free, but suddenly Leonard wasn’t the little, meek executive I’d seen him as. He was a giant, bound with muscle barely contained within cracked, bleeding skin; his face twisted and distorted by a skull which seemed not-quite-human. In a moment of mad clarity, I understood him to be bearkin- or at least he was a chimera made partially out of the genetic material of a bear. There was no telling what else lay coiled within his DNA. Oh shit, I thought, desperately. It’s Gamma-Five! How do I get away! I have to get away! I thrashed in the monster's grip, but I couldn't break free. He was just so damned strong!

The cold radiating from him chilled me but didn't damage my flesh. It seemed he could control it, after all. But why would he let it make him bleed if that was the case? His flesh was riven with bloody cracks, and his gums were bright red where his lips had bled into his mouth. "What are you?” I yelled in his face. “What the fuck are you?” I stared about wildly, looking for any help, but there was none. No one else was in the room, just as I wanted. I wanted to make ‘Leonard' feel alone, as if there was no one coming to save him. Oh, how the worm has turned.

Gamma-Five laughed, the sound cavernous and rasping, and in my mind, I heard him say, very clearly “This was very disappointing, Vivian. I expected you to notice, but you were so sure you were the clever one here. So confident we had fallen into your trap. There I was, right in front of your face and you didn't have the presence of mind to see you had been tricked.” His visage shifted for a moment, and the blond waiter grinned at me in the monster’s place, his face superimposed over the broad, misshapen head. I understood then it had been an illusion; Gamma-Five had been there the entire time, first as the waiter, and then switching places with Leonard when I was in the restroom. The amount of Psionic power it must have taken to maintain the illusion was staggering. I could barely make someone doubt their own eyes- this creature had made upwards of thirty people see his false identity at a time. He had fooled me, Artyom, and even the Clankers who had been in the trunk with him!

“You’re going to kill me,” I whispered. “Aren’t you?”

“No,” said the voice in my mind, and I could feel its power resonating in my skull; I could feel tight rods of mental steel forcing my Inner Eye open, keeping the gateway to my mind gaping wide. Gamma-Five was in my head; he was in my head!

The chimera seized me by the shirt front and flung me over his shoulder like a child and stood. I thought to go for his deep, beetle-black eyes but I couldn’t move. He had immobilized me, trapped me in my own skin. All I could do was scream in my mind. No! Get out! Get out of my head! I heard a door shut somewhere behind me, and my heart dropped into my stomach. That was probably Artyom, coming back. He couldn’t have been in on it, could he? There was a shout, and feet began pounding toward us. I tried to scream for the Clankers’ underboss to run, but my mouth wouldn’t open. I just lay limp, across Gamma-Five’s shoulder, breathing calmly, as if I were a little girl asleep in an adult’s arms. I struggled to get a hold of the presence in my mind, I felt around its edges, probing, hoping for some kind of weakness- but I didn’t even know what I was looking for! I hadn’t trained for this; I didn't even know someone could do this to a Reader. All I found was alien strength and a sense of smug superiority. Gamma-Five knew I stood no chance of breaking out, and he was letting me struggle, letting me tire myself out.

I heard Artyom shout; I heard the sound of a power tool shrieking to life. The brave idiot, he was probably about to try to come at the monster with a fucking saw. More shouts sounded, and doors pounded open all around us, banging off the invisible walls as Clankers came running. I tried not to listen, but there was no way I could avoid hearing it when Gamma-Five destroyed them. He simply walked through the men as they clustered around him, and let his hands brush over them as he passed. I didn't see the act itself, only the aftermath, trailing out behind the chimera like a macabre parade. Every man he touched was left frozen in place, icicles dangling from chins and noses, eyes staring helpless and wide. Their tools sputtered and died and fell from stiff fingers to shatter on the ground, made brittle by a cold so intense that even metal came apart. Strangely, the hideous power didn't touch me, and I didn't even feel a chill as I was carried out of the factory. Even as the horrendous might of the cold made the fluorescent lights overhead go dim and die, even as cold statues that had once been men stood silent vigil over our passing.

The last man we passed was Artyom. He lay slumped against the wall, broken and immobile, his eyes open and staring. I saw tears leaking from his eyes, and to my surprise, his chest was rising and falling. Gamma-Five had left him alive. I shuddered inwardly, though my body didn’t move. The chimera had left the Clankers’ underboss alive so he could watch so many of his men die. It was not mercy, rather, it was a deliberate insult- a direct response to whatever ‘message’ Artyom had been hoping to send back to Paracell. We can do whatever we want, wherever we want, to whomever we want. As the door ahead of us sprang open to let my captor and me through, Gamma-Five rumbled, "thanks for the coffee," and strode on.

We stepped outside, and dark water spattered on my face from above; stinking rain which must have begun just a few minutes ago. I wanted to spit the foul taste from my mouth, but I couldn't move my head or even close my lips tighter. The rain tasted like iron, and stank of rust, sweat, and grease. From my position slung over Gamma-Five's shoulder, I could see the water freeze the moment it touched the Chimera's skin, adding a rippling pattern to the shining carapace of ice coating his skin. I thought I could see something there, barely visible beneath the ice. There was something attached to his spine, like an enormous mechanical centipede sunk deep into his flesh; its many legs burrowed down into his flesh. At one end, the jaws of its ‘head' were clamped firmly in the flesh at the base of his skull. Was that just spinal reinforcement, to help him carry his immense weight? Or was it something else? Is this why he keeps himself coated in ice? To protect that thing?

“Ah, good,” the immense, all-consuming voice rumbled in my mind. “Even captured, even pinned like an insect. Still you wonder. Still, you are curious. Your nerve is impressive if nothing else. “The Chimera chuckled, deep in his chest. I could feel the laughter vibrating against my ribs. “You might just be wonderful entertainment. “ I would have swallowed hard if I had had control over my body. Instead, my mouth just filled with saliva. “You wanted to see the Paracell Black site, didn’t you? Good. Never let it be said I wouldn’t give a girl what she wanted.” Gamma-Five strode across the landing pad, past the taxi, toward the edge. I assumed that some kind of stealth craft was waiting, a corporate whisper jet or something like that. So, I was completely unprepared when Gamma-Five stepped out into open air. I tried to scream as we fell, panic threatening to drive me mad, but all I could do was watch the Sprawl rise around us as we fell like stones into the depths of the darkness.

Chapter Ten

I was sitting in my room listening to my parents shout at each other. They were doing that a lot more lately, and I knew with absolute certainty it was my fault- even if I couldn’t understand their words through my bedroom door. They had been preparing me my whole life so I could serve the family so I could make things better for all of us, and I couldn’t do that anymore. Most people didn’t know I was a Reader. ‘It’s only a useful weapon if nobody knows it’s there.’ But that was the problem- there were people who knew, even if there were only a few of them. There was the company doctor who had helped my parents make me. There was the specialist who had identified me as a Psion. There were the few people who had worked out what I could do when I was a child, incapable of controlling my new senses. The Varkid-Davis Act had made unregistered Psionic powers illegal. Sooner or later, someone would come asking around, or they would tip off Justice Inc., and then the secret of my abilities would be out.

‘It’s only a useful weapon if nobody knows it’s there.’ A useful weapon. Why did my psionic ability have to be a weapon? Why couldn't it be just another sense? My eyes weren't a weapon; my ears weren't a weapon, why did this have to be? It is a weapon because you are a weapon, said the new voice in my mind. I frowned. That sounded like my own thoughts, in fact, I was pretty sure those were my own thoughts, but I had never been that cynical, had I?

I looked around in my room. It was pretty big for a nineteen- no, a twenty year old's room. The bed was comfortable and soft, made of rare goose down. I had a slim, neat Matrix rig on my desk meant for casual surfing, but I had always found a way to get into the darker corners of cyberspace, where the real fun was to be had. My closet was full of beautiful clothes and excellent shoes. And what a pretty little dollhouse you live in, Vivian. I grimaced and shook the bitter little voice out of my head. I lived in luxury, dammit, and I had to remember to be grateful for the hard work of my family.

My father always liked to remind me of how good I had it, and how, if I enjoyed living in a place like our family's house, I had to do what I could to help the family. Family was the most important thing in the world, and we were a new branch on the great tree of the House of Hsu. My father was the youngest of his siblings, the least, cast out of the seat of the family's power after he had had a falling out with his eldest brother. And he was bound and determined to make the American line of House Hsu so great, even his brother couldn't deny him his seat at the family table. I had been the lynchpin of that dream- a Hsu to take the Senate seat of Penderham Incorporated, stretching the strength of the family empire all the way over to the great fallen giant of the United States. What would my father do now I could no longer play that role? What will he do now that you are useless?

That was enough. It wasn’t true. It wasn’t true! Sure, plans hadn't gone the way they should, but that didn't change who I was, did it? I wasn't useless; I was a Hsu, I was his daughter! We would change plans, and we would find a way. My dad's dream of besting his elder brother could still be realized! And we could visit the rest of the family in China. This madness, this idea that my father would see me as useless to him- that was just some dark, ungrateful part of me, right? I just needed to go and talk to him, talk to both of them, and work out a plan.

I gritted my teeth, mustered my courage, and seized the door handle. The door opened a crack, and my father's voice came through loud as a trumpet, bright as a silver tuning fork struck against the desk. "Just change our plans?" His voice dropped low so I had to strain to hear him as he hissed, "Do you know how many lives were wasted to make her, Christine? How much each of them cost?" His voice was almost as a whisper, and though I didn't want to hear what he said next, I could no more have stopped listening to those poison words than I could have sealed up my own ears. "Christine, we need to face the facts. Twenty years of work, for nothing. We can’t use her. It’s sad, but it’s the truth. Once she’s registered, anyone she interacts with will treat her, and us by extension, like a pariah. It was a good idea to make her one of those freaks, but Varkid and Davis played their cards well, damnably well, and now this plan is irrevocably crippled.”

My mother sighed and then spoke, her tone clinical. "Wei, what if we didn't register her? How many people even know about her at all? The tutor? Well, the tutor is a Psion himself, so he's probably going to be too busy disappearing himself to worry about ratting out a twenty-year-old girl."

My father grunted. “The thought crossed my mind. But it’s too risky. If we go forward with the plan, the secret will come out when we put her up for the Senate seat. You think Penderham is above digging up dirt so he can control whoever puts their butt in that chair? And once he finds out she’s a Psion, he’ll know why we put her there. I give us thirty-six hours after that before he burns our family to the fucking Bottom. And that’s a generous estimate.”

Christine Hsu was silent for a long time. Then, finally, she said, “Alright. We change the plan. But we still need to figure out what we’re going to do with her. Her association with us could still be very dangerous for our interests.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. My heart was thundering in my chest. Now, do you see? The voice in my head was smug as it said, you’ve been ignoring me for so long. It’s good to finally have your attention. I lost my balance for a moment and lurched against the door. It opened with a loud creak, and my parents stopped talking, very suddenly. They thought you were asleep, or in the Matrix. Sloppy. I flung myself back into my room, tugging the door shut. I turned the lock.

The couch groaned as one of them got up. My father? Or was it my mother? Did it matter? There was a sharp knock at the door. I didn't move to open it; I didn't say anything. The door mostly consisted of frosted glass, and I could see the shadow of someone standing on the other side. "Vivian?" My mother. Her voice sounded completely normal, perfectly average. Right, because she’s the picture of concerned motherhood. “Vivian, are you alright? I thought you were asleep.”

I did not answer. What would I say? Hey, Mom, what did you mean by ‘figure out what we’re going to do with her?’ Cause it sounded like you wanted to get rid of me, and that’s just ridiculous, right? No, they had said what they meant alright. Of course, she thought I was asleep, otherwise she wouldn't have let my father have that conversation out loud. What the hell? Had they been talking like this the whole time? Of course, they have, said the nasty little voice in my head. You can hear anything if you want to. Even if you weren't listening to me these last twenty years, I was, and you know it. You are useless to them, Vivian, and it's only a matter of time before they rid themselves of you.

The knock came at my door again. “Vivian, please come outside, I’d like to speak to you.” I didn’t answer. I just watched the shadow in the door in silence. You need to get out. They know you know, and that’s not going to fly. So I waited, in silence, until my mother stopped knocking on the door and went away. No, this wasn’t going to fly, not at all. I couldn’t stay here, but I couldn’t make a big show of leaving, either. Doubtlessly, they wouldn’t just let me go- I was an investment, and losing me would mean a total loss. There was no way they would just let twenty years and piles of credits just waltz out of their lives. They would find a use for me- they probably already had some ideas. I needed to wait, lull them into a false sense of security, and then leave with whatever I could carry.

I slept fitfully that night for a couple of hours, though eventually I gave up on sleep altogether and dove into the Matrix. There were a few things I needed. I needed somewhere to go, I needed money- there were so many things to consider, and I didn't think I had a lot of time. Neither my mother nor my father had been the sort of people to let rust grow under their feet. It did not take me long to decide what I would do for money. I wasn't big on authority, so the military wasn't an option- besides, the military would be following Varkid-Davis like everyone else, and I didn't want to be that close to the heart of power, not the way things were turning out. I could be an independent contractor for the International Union of Sex Workers, but that didn't seem like it would be my thing. My parents hadn't raised me to be particularly trusting, and tonight hadn't engendered in me any impulse to start trusting. No, I wouldn’t be letting anyone touch me anytime soon. That might have been an excellent road for other people, but it wasn’t for me.

There was something else, though, something I had seen mentioned before in the darker corners of the Matrix I had been able to reach. I could be a freelancer, a mercenary. There was work to be found down with the ‘unwashed masses.’ But I would have to get all the way down into the worst parts of the Sprawl to find it. To the people who lived there, I would be fresh meat. Easy prey. I couldn’t go down there unarmed. I brought up a search menu. I needed to know where I could buy a gun.

* * *

I woke up from my memories, standing alone in complete darkness. I was dressed the same way I had been when Gamma-Five had taken me; in a white blouse and red trousers. My gun was gone, of course, and I couldn’t sense my Lattice. I frowned. No one could turn one of those off, not really. They weren’t like a deck at all. A Lattice didn’t have a Central Processing Unit- the host brain was the CPU. The Lattice just made it all more efficient. The power source was the heart; the memory banks were all just a part of the brain. The only way to turn a Lattice off was to kill the host. Am I dead?

“No,” said a familiar voice from somewhere in the dark. “You are not dead. Gamma-Five said you would not be killed. Not yet at least.” It was my voice, really. The way I sounded when I played back a recording of myself talking. But much like it had been a year ago, when I had first let myself hear it speak; the dark, cynical, angry part of my mind sounded slightly wrong, slightly… alien. She emerged from the darkness, dressed as I was- though she still had on the red blazer. Instead of my short brush of copper hair, her hair was shaved to the skin, leaving her scalp lily white and gleaming. As she approached, I could see more clearly her skin wasn't that of a human. Instead, where I had pale, freckled skin, hers was thick and unblemished, patterned with hexagonal scales which became larger and more apparent the further I looked from her face. Her eyes were blue, like mine, but they were slit and piercing, and she never seemed to blink. She grinned, her mouth opening wide- too wide- and showed me a bizarre mixture of human teeth and serpent's fangs. “Hello, Vivian,” she murmured. “So nice to see you.”

I groaned. “I wish I could say the same, but since you only ever seem to show up when I’m super drunk or in deep shit, I kinda wish you would just stay away.” I looked her right in her slitted eyes. “Besides, aren’t you supposed to be red, Viper?”

The Viper laughed, a sibilant, rasping sound that made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. “I don’t know, Vivian. You made me, after all. But which came first, my shape or the nickname?”

I sighed. “What do you want?”

“The same thing you want, little merc,” she replied promptly. “Which, of course, makes sense because I am you.”

I groaned, raising my hands to my face. I could already feel a headache coming on. “Why can't you ever just give me a straight answer?” I frowned and then whirled to glare right at her. “And why do I see you in the first place? Why don't I dream like a normal fucking person? Why the hell do I have these…” I waved my arms wildly, trying to force out the concept on the edge of my mind. “Why do I have these fucking hallucinations?”

The Viper flicked an impossibly long tongue out between her lips and tasted the air. “When did you start taking Trilenthropol?”

I thought about it and realized she was right. “Fuck! So I did this to myself?!”

“Eh,” said the Viper, shrugging. “It’s not important, really. I was just an aspect of your personality before- a side effect of your frankly ludicrous amount of mental compartmentalization. Seriously, Vivian, if you had ever stopped cramming all your emotions in a lovely little American-nuclear-family shaped box, you would have figured that shit out long before you did.”

"Alright, fine. So what did you want to tell me, Viper, because you sure-as-hell aren't here for fun? What do you want?"

“How do you know I’m not here for fun?” The Viper teased. “What if this is how some part of your brain amuses itself when it’s terrified?”

I rolled my eyes. “Do I look like I’m having fun?”

The Viper laughed again, and I felt goosebumps ripple along my arms. “I'm just here to tell you to wake the hell up. You went and got yourself played. It's embarrassing.”

“Well if you’re so smart, why didn’t you sense the trap before I had fallen into it?”

The Viper snarled, showing all of her mismatched teeth. “I did sense it, damn it! The big guy is just too fucking good! He shut me in a damned box, that’s what he did, and I could barely do anything.” She stabbed one scaly finger into my chest. “I did everything I could, and I sent you a warning. You’re the one who didn’t bother listening!”

“What warning?” I scoffed. “Cause I don’t remember any signal flares, Viper. Everything seemed FINE.”

“The ice on the fucking landing pad, Vivian. You walked over it. You heard it crunch. Did you not think it was weird you were walking on ice? In Columbia? During spring?” She hissed and spat a curse. “Jesus, does attention to detail ring a bell? Are you a mercenary or an idiot schoolgirl?” I thought about it. She was right. I did remember the ice crunching under my feet. But I hadn’t noticed, hadn’t paid any attention to it. Could I have spotted the trap if I had?

“Alright,” I said, grimacing. “Okay, so you warned me, Viper. But now I’m caught. How are we getting out of this?”

The Viper gnashed her teeth. “I don’t know. But I need you to pay attention this time. You can’t trust your eyes.” She reached out and tapped me gently on the forehead, between my brows, where the ‘Inner Eye’ was said to be located in mystical tradition. “Only trust this eye. So long as you use your Inner Eye, you will truly see."

“But when I open up that eye, I can’t handle everything that comes in! It just cripples me! I can’t leave my Inner Eye wide open all the time, that’s why I started with the Trilenthropol in the first place!” I groaned and ran a hand through my short brush of hair. “You’re supposed to be me. You’re supposed to know that!”

The Viper gave me a withering look. “I am you.” She shrugged. “It’s an eye, Vivian. Focus it.” She smiled, an expression not made more comforting by the fangs jutting from her jaws. “It’s funny, really. All this time, you’ve been opening and closing your Inner Eye, and yet you’ve never actually seen anything with it. Sure, you listen and perceive things differently, but have you ever wondered why they call it the Inner Eye when all you seem to use it for is listening to other people’s thoughts and groping around in people’s minds?”

I blinked and thought about it. “I can use it to see? See what?”

"I don't know because you don't. But I know there are things you haven't been doing with it that you could be doing. You’ve been crippling yourself, clubbing it down with tranquilizers every night. What if you just opened your Inner Eye and looked at the world that way? What if you stopped focusing on just thoughts and looked for the things you couldn’t see? Remember, Yakov said some Readers had learned to see the future. But he wasn’t speaking from personal experience- he’s a TK. What if there was more you could see with that Inner Eye? What if you could see the past? Or the truth of the present? What else could we see if you just let us?”

“That’s all great, but how am I going to try to use my Inner Eye for something I’ve never done before? I’ve never seen anything with my mind, not really- except for the occasional memory or image I pulled out of someone’s brain. How would I even start to try doing that?”

“Just open your eye, and try to see. Try to really see." She reached up and put a hand on my forehead, the fine scales in her palm like sandpaper against my skin. “There's only one thing which can help you learn, and that's practice. I think now is as good a time as any.”

“Now?” I asked, skeptical.

“Now,” the Viper confirmed.

“But I’m asleep,” I protested. “How will I know anything is real?”

The Viper laughed. “How do you know anything is real? Open your damn eye, Vivian. Look into the darkness and see!” She shoved my head, hard, sending me stumbling backward. The floor- or whatever layer of darkness I was walking on- gave beneath my heel, transforming suddenly from a solid into a thick, viscous liquid like tar. I fell, hard, and black ooze rose up around me claiming my body and drawing me down into the depths. I tried to shout, to call to Viper for help, but tar poured into my mouth, into my nose, drowning me, suffocating- I opened my Inner Eye.

Abruptly, I realized I didn't need to breathe. I wasn't suffocating. The tar- it was just the pull of a deeper dream state, somewhere further than my usual sleep cycle, far below the surface of my mind. I was still standing in darkness, but this time I was alone, and the dark felt more like the black emptiness of vacuum than the warm embrace of sleep. I stared into the dark, looking for something, anything to fix my attention on. There. What was that? I squinted, but I couldn’t focus on it. I took a step toward- toward what? I took a few steps forward and focused my eyes. What was it? There was a very, very dim light there in the darkness, outlining something that might have been a man. Who…?

I approached the solitary figure carefully, padding along silently in the emptiness. It was truly silent here; cold and dark as a tomb. Where was I? What plane of awareness was I walking on? The figure was growing closer, and it seemed the light was coming off his skin. He was naked, and he sat hunched over his crossed legs, rocking slightly to a rhythm I couldn't hear. His skin was stretched with muscle, and yet something about the way he sat, the way he rocked, the way his head hung with… was that despair? To my Inner Eye's perception, he seemed to be a child; scared and alone, long past crying at his abandonment. It was a ridiculous thought, really. But maybe if I just went over there, maybe I could see what was wrong with him. Maybe I could help, and he could tell me something about this place.

I was just a few paces away from him, and I could see now his skin was covered in symbols; each of them a tiny, impossibly complicated rune which spiraled in on itself in fractal patterns, splintering into small copies of the whole before shattering and spiraling again. I could have just stood there forever, staring at those symbols- tattoos? No, they were each of them a brand, seared into the skin with the kind of precision only possible with a computer guided laser. I couldn't tell what color the real flesh was under the black of the burns, and so the great, muscled, weeping figure seemed to blend and blur with the dark; it seemed to be more like a part of it than an outsider like me. The light that surrounded him was shapeless, formless, and had no discernable source.

I stepped right up close to him, and though my heart pounded with apprehension. I reached one hand out to touch his shoulder. Hello? Are you hurt? Can I help? The figure turned, swiftly, smoothly, seizing me with the desperation of a drowning man. I recoiled immediately upon seeing his face. Ursine features blended with the structure of a human skull, the eyes black marbles beneath a brow hewn from granite. Great, chapped, twisted lips parted, and a whimper escaped the creature's throat. Was this… could this really be…? The giant stood, hunched like some hairless version of the mythical Yeti, his face riven with fear so absolute I thought he might die, right there, of pure terror. What? What is it? I’m not here to hurt you! Are you- are you Gamma-Five?

At the name, the great naked Chimera before me howled in indescribable anguish; the sound like a mix between a human's wail and the cry of a lonely dog. NO! He screamed. NO, NO, NO, that’s not my name! Don’t call him! DON’T CALL HIM! DON’T! Steam began billowing from his open mouth, dribbling from his ears, his nose, his eyes, and as I watched, a thin rime of frost blossomed like a fungus, growing out of his screaming mouth and coating his whole body in white. It kept going, turning the flesh it touched solid and slick. I watched, horrified, as the wailing creature before me was completely coated in ice, frozen solid and still. The screaming stopped.

I just stood there, before the great Chimera statue, my heart thunderous my ears. G-Gamma Five? The ice cracked as the beast turned his head to look right at me; empty black eyes fixing on my face with the disturbing intensity of a supreme intelligence. What stared out of those eyes wasn't remotely human. It was smarter than a human, smarter than any ‘droid or posthuman, or chrome-augmented mind. Looking into those eyes was like looking into a universe of frightening possibility. An infinite void that was simultaneously empty of life and yet filled with energy.

My name is not Gamma-Five. That is a silly human monicker given to something they do not understand. You may call me Czernobog. Its frozen lips cracked when it spoke, and blood dribbled from the wounds, staining the flesh around its mouth a deep crimson before freezing again. The voice did not emanate from its throat, however. The mental sound seemed to come from everywhere at once, great and fathomless, crashing and thunderous. The voice resonated in my skull like the low growl of a lion. “It’s good of you to come to me, little worm. I am, after all, quite hungry.”

I screamed and tried to run, but it became immediately apparent that the darkness I was standing in wasn't actually empty. It rippled like cloth, only perceptible as trickles of cold light danced around the edges and began to draw toward the beast which called itself Czernobog. My feet were yanked out from beneath me, and I fell. Shit! Shit shit shit! Fucking Viper! Why in the hell did you send me here? I scrabbled at the darkness as it dragged me toward the monolithic presence of the Chimera, but there was nothing to grab, no restraints to use, nothing to touch or seize. There was no way out, no way to escape the sheer immense presence of the thing… except, no, there was a way. I had been practicing doing this part my whole life.

I concentrated as I was dragged closer and closer to the frozen feet, turning my awareness to the burning lens between my brows that had brought me here. I just had to close my Inner Eye. I just needed to close the door. I slammed my awareness shut, the mental eyelids closing with the finality of solid blast shield slamming together. BOOM.

* * *

I woke lying on my face on the smooth plastic floor of a cell. But this wasn’t what I might have expected from a corporate gulag. It was clean, empty, and white; the floors, the ceilings, all of it was made of a cool, white plastic. Light seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once so I could see easily but could not determine where the light was actually coming from. I shook my head, groggy. I must have passed out at some point during the fall. I looked down at myself. I wasn't wearing the same clothes I had been in when I had been captured. Someone had stripped me of the blouse, trousers, and underwear, and dressed me in a featureless white jumpsuit zipped up the sides. My feet were bare, and the floor was cold against my skin. I shuddered, and then stopped. I could move!

I just sat there for a moment, marveling at the simple freedom of being able to tell my limbs what they were supposed to be doing. I was definitely in a cage, but at least I wasn’t a puppet, was I? Someone as strong as Gamma-Five could probably make you do whatever he wanted, but make you think you wanted it. I shook my head. No. I could not go down that rabbit hole. I was myself, right now, whole and complete, and no one was in my head with me. Right, and Gamma-Five wasn’t peeking in your brain all through dinner. Sure. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to force the thoughts away. I needed to pull myself together. I needed to find my way out of this. I wasn’t just going to stay trapped here for Paracell to do what they liked with me. That was not going to fucking happen!

Open your Inner Eye, and try again. I swore at the thoughts. No, I had just come face to face with Gamma-Five in there- and then I remembered the dream, completely, all waking amnesia vanished in a blast of freezing wind. It had given me a different name, a name which stank of old blood and ancient bones. It was the kind of name you would say around a Matrix sim campfire to make everyone clutch their boyfriends a little closer. Czernobog. What the fuck was he? Because I was starting to think that the thing which had captured me was just a puppet, a shell and not even Paracell knew what was lurking beneath the surface of their pet weapon. This hadn’t been the mind of a lab creation, some gene-spliced freak born of a test tube- it was something much, much older, and just thinking about it made me shudder. Maybe… maybe Paracell had just made the body. Maybe the intellect in there was something they had trapped or tapped into without realizing what they were doing. And what the fuck had they found? There’s really only one way to find out. I spat at the thought and grabbed my head in my hands, wishing there was some way to squeeze the damned Viper out, make her shut up for once! You can’t shut me up because I’m the part of you not in denial about the world. Maybe if you learned to see you wouldn’t need me anymore, Red.

It wasn’t fair really, having some aspect of my subconscious running around just appearing whenever she wanted. Why was she so damned smug about everything? I wondered what it said about me; I didn’t get along with the voices in my head. I guessed it was probably better I didn’t know. Quit stalling. Fear doesn’t become you. I focused my attention inward, closing my physical eyes and picturing the third eye somewhere deep within my mind. I opened my Inner Eye and let the world flood in.

I returned to the dark, though I didn't go as deep as I had just a moment ago. I wasn't ready for all that. I wasn't ready for Czernobog. I needed to try something lighter. Something easier. I needed to see where I was. I pictured the cell in my mind, pictured my body sitting inside it and tried to see it through my Inner Eye, to close my physical eyes and see what lay beyond the physical flesh of my prison. There was a burning, itching sensation between my brows, and I reached up to scratch at the skin, but my fingers found nothing. I opened my physical eyes and looked around the cell. It looked much the same as it had before- but then I noticed something a little off, something different. In one corner, there was a crumpled, indistinct smear of color, like overexposure on an old twentieth-century photograph. I frowned, and then blinked hard, but the image did not disappear. I crawled over toward the faint outline. It was a person, a sleeping boy wearing a jumpsuit much like mine. But his skin was covered in orange fur, striped in black. He was a catkin- a tiger Rakshasa. He didn't move, didn't react to me. He just lay there, apparently asleep. I scanned my cell for other such imprints and found two others. The first was a serpentkin woman who sat thumping her head against the wall in mindless rhythm as she sat staring into space. The second was too faded to determine the shape, little more than a shadow without a source that was gathered into a puddle by the wall.

Alright, I thought. We’re getting somewhere. I don’t know where we’re getting, but it’s somewhere. I widened my awareness and stared out through the walls of my cell. I could see many lives; many active minds mixed in with the blurry imprints of those who had gone. Most of those minds reeked of fear, but some of them- some of them had been twisted in on themselves; collapsed down into dark, wriggling things which didn't even resemble human minds but for the occasional repeated phrase or word that came floating up out of the mass. I left the broken things alone. I had gone poking at the darkness enough for now. But maybe, maybe I could reach out to one of the relatively sane minds, one of those who was still human enough to be afraid. Thoughts bubbled up out of them as their minds cycled over and over from confusion, to fear, to pain, to hope, and back to fear.

I stretched out my mind. This I could do. If I could put just a little more hope into the mind of one of these poor souls, maybe it would be enough to help them. Maybe they could give me a hand in return, and we could figure a way out of this place. Maybe the Wulfen teenager I was seeking was here. Maybe. I reached out, leaving my body behind and stretched myself forward through the wall toward the nearest intact mind. Hello? There was a sudden explosion of static in my mind, and I was thrown out of my state of concentration. The noise surged in and out, scrambling my thoughts and ricocheting through my skull with electric bursts of greater and greater pain. I hissed with the pain and gritted my teeth, slamming my Inner Eye shut, cutting off the source of the noise. Even so, a few minutes passed before the buzzing, chattering interference subsided, and I could think again. What the fuck?

"Right on schedule, Miss Hsu." A voice spoke from an unseen intercom, and I jumped. I drew my mind back into my body and blinked my eyes open. One of the walls had changed, turning from opaque white plastic to an entirely clear pane. On the other side of the glass, standing smugly beside a cart full of monitoring equipment was Leonard Thorne. He wore a white suit, shirt, and tie beneath a white lab coat, and bright intelligence glowed in the depths of his eyes, betraying a shrewd cunning I hadn't seen at dinner. How many hours ago was that?

I couldn’t show him any weakness. I couldn’t give him anything to use against me. “I didn’t know your mongrel could pull a trick that advanced, Leonard. I’m impressed.”

Leonard grinned, showing his perfect teeth in a positively predatory smile. “I’m not particularly impressed with you, Miss Hsu. To think your juvenile little trick would work on someone like me? How many Readers do you think have tried to seduce their way out of here? They failed, and they paid for it, and they were hundred-thousand times more subtle than you were, my dear.”

I shrugged. “Normally I just cook my target’s brains in their skull. I was trying something new.” Stupid, I thought immediately. Don’t let them know your limits.

“Well, in that case, stick to what you’re good at.” Leonard chuckled. “But don’t bother trying that here. We’ve got beta-wave emitters all over this facility. Readers like you have tried the brute force approach, and all they got was lethal feedback in return. Try to cook my brain, and all that’ll happen is you’ll wind up with fried eggs in your skull, drooling on the floor.”

“Fine. So what do you want?” I did my best to project casual boredom, sitting cross-legged and leaning back on my elbows. I gestured to myself. “What’s with the new wardrobe? Got this real cult thing going on here.”

Leonard’s smile didn’t change, but his ocean depth eyes sparkled with a glimmer of some electric cruelty- the phosphorescent lure of whatever skittering demon lurked inside his soul. “I haven’t decided what to do with you, yet. The missing Hsu daughter- we had all heard she was kidnapped or murdered, so sad. How your mother wept. Actually sold everyone on the Argent Corp security contract she was pushing.” He rolled his eyes. “Maybe when I’m finished with you, I’ll trot you out in front of the Senate. Or maybe I’ll just call your parents and see what they want to do with you. I’m sure, even as faded as their star might be these days, a favor from Zhang Wei and Christine Hsu could be worth a few hundred thousand credits.”

I didn't say anything. I didn't want him to know how much the idea of being turned over to my parents scared me. But I think he knew he had touched a nerve. "No smart quip?" Leonard sneered. "Of course." Then he glanced down at his monitoring equipment. "I have a lot of work to do, obviously." He met my eyes, no longer smiling, and I couldn't keep myself from shuddering. Looking into those deep, almost black pits was like staring directly into the twin barrels of an old shotgun. "You will eat when you are fed. Should you attempt to starve yourself, I will have a tube put down your throat and grafted there. You will relieve yourself when a bucket is brought to you. If you attempt to escape, I will electrify the floor. If you speak when I am not speaking to you, I will electrify the floor. Perhaps I will use you for my work, perhaps I won't. If you resist me, I will make you beg for death. Do you understand me?"

I didn’t answer. I just stared. I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t let him know he had gotten to me. “Do you understand?” Leonard snarled, and my nerves lit up with fire. I screamed and thrashed, but every movement made it worse. My muscles cramped, my stomach knotted, and I slammed my head against the floor as my whole body spasmed. Right, said some detached part of me, calm even through the pain. He electrified the floor. How far do you want to take this? Best to answer, so he goes away, and then plan your next move. The pain stopped, as abruptly as it had come, and for a moment, I just lay there against the cool plastic, panting like an animal. I could see the little flecks of metal in the white plastic now, wires which ran through the floor at one-inch intervals. That was how he had done it. There was nowhere for me to hide if he decided to hurt me. I would just have to take it. "Do you understand me, Vivian Hsu?"

I groaned and sat up. I ran a hand over my face. My skin was clammy and slick with sweat. I was shaking. I looked up at the grinning face, those dark, vicious eyes, and said, “I understand.”

Leonard nodded, his face calming and smoothing back out into artificial perfection. "Good." He turned to leave, pushing his cart along with him. The wall became opaque once more, and I was alone. I breathed out a sigh. And then my nerves turned into molten glass once more as electrical current seethed through the floor and into my body. My whole body arched into a bow, and I screamed, twisting and writhing for what seemed like an hour. The pain stopped. It had probably only been a few seconds. Leonard's voice came over the intercom once more. "Remember, I can hurt you whenever I want."

I curled myself into a ball and just shook for a while. While Vivian Hsu, the twenty-one-year-old prodigal daughter from the corporate heavens, wept and shuddered, another part me wasn't crying, wasn't shaking, and wasn't even afraid. I was not a little girl he could just torment. I was not a pawn of my parents, and I was nobody's bitch. I was the Red goddamned Viper, and I was going to get out of here. And what's more, I swore to myself; I was going to end Leonard Thorne when I did. His ‘beta-wave emitters' weren't as thorough as he thought, and it didn't seem they could reach me down where I knew I could find some answers. I was terrified, I was trapped, and if I stayed here, I was probably going to die. Or worse. So I have nothing to lose. It was time for me to go back down and speak to the monster. I closed my real eyes, stilling my shaking body and silencing the cries leaking out from my throat. Then I opened my Inner Eye, visualizing it as the border of a great well down into a darkness so absolute, it would swallow the light. Czernobog lived down there. It was his home. Or perhaps his prison. I took a deep, steadying breath, shutting out the whole world, leaving nothing but the pitiless black iris. I stood at the edge and clenched my jaw. I was nobody's bitch. They were not going to break me- not even the monster down in the cold vacuum would break me. They didn't know who they were fucking with. I stepped forward and plunged into the depths of my mind, beyond the realm of dreams, where nightmares feared to tread. Yea, though I should walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not be afraid. Because that’s MY fucking shadow, and this is MY goddamned valley!

* * *

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Doing The Impossible

Book 3

Chapter Eleven

In stories, heroes usually share one defining trait- no matter which story they come from. They are always fearless. Fearless. Without fear that is. I've been shot at, and I've been stabbed. I've fought cops, other mercs, corporate goons, street toughs, mutants- you name it; it has probably tried to kill me. And every time, though I won, though I presented the face of the badass at the end of the fight, I was afraid. I would get home after it and just shake, or cry, or get a jar of the nastiest, strongest alcohol of unknown origin and drown the aftershocks of my fear in liquor's burning embrace. I knew fear. We were old friends. But as I plunged down, down into the place beyond consciousness, beyond sleep, beyond my deepest, darkest dreams, I learned what terror really was.

I was not locked in the stark white cell anymore. I was no longer trapped within Paracell Organics' black site laboratory. I walked in complete darkness, vicious cold and utter silence. There was no sky, and there was no horizon. There was only sterile blackness as far as I could perceive. All I could hear was my own breathing; the sound too loud in the stillness. I turned a slow circle, but nothing changed. I did not relax, not one iota. Just because I could not sense him, it did not mean he wasn't there. I steeled myself and whispered the name. Czernobog. I spotted a glimmer of pale light in the distance; it looked as if there was a fire about to gutter out, and it was giving one last valiant attempt to cling to its ephemeral existence. There came a particularly strong surge of the dim glow, and I could make out a massive, hunched, over muscled back. I approached the source of the dying light, staying low and moving carefully.

‘Little worm.’ The voice was as deep and resonant as a tiger’s low growl, with a metallic quality which made me think of great rusty chains creaking in the bowels of a Pit, mine. ‘I admit I am impressed you dared to return to this place.’ Czernobog’s words rose from the center of my skull like maggots crawling up from the depths of a gangrenous wound.

I stifled the urge to shudder. I cannot show weakness before this thing. I drew closer to the shadowed form. The flickering light illuminating the creature flared again, reacting to my approach, giving me a flashbulb image of what waited for me. I suppressed my revulsion at the grotesque musculature of the great Chimera and stretched out a hand to touch the ridged, scarred back. ‘Czernobog,’ I thought, focusing on projecting my words out into the darkness for the unseen entity to hear. ‘I have questions.’ The monstrous body twitched at my touch, and its papery skin wriggled beneath my fingers. I jumped, startled. There was something beneath the Chimera’s skin, some kind of parasite, and it moved independently of the monster’s own frightened shudders. ‘Czernobog. Show yourself!’

‘Strange you would fixate on that mindless creature when I am here with you.’ The hair on the back of my neck stood straight, and an electric current of primal terror twisted through my spine. I whirled but saw nothing in the blackness. When I turned again, the body of the Chimera had once more disappeared, leaving me alone- except I knew, by old instincts I didn't know I had. I was surrounded by something cloaked in darkness. It was a deep knowledge, a gut sensation, the same intuition which once told ancient humans they were being stalked through the jungle. I could smell mildew, and rotten wood, rust and mold- and beneath it all was the cloying taste of curdling blood. The stink clogged my nostrils and soured my tongue; I gagged. The darkness seemed to sharpen, dividing itself into various shapes- so that I could almost make out the impression of forms around me. I was surrounded by great stone pillars, erected at irregular intervals and stretching up to an unseen ceiling. Between the pillars, placed seemingly at random, were several strange dark mounds. I concentrated on identifying them, and I thought I could see sticks, stacked together in preparation for a fire. ‘Not sticks, worm. Bones.’ I took a step back, and my feet squelched in something viscous. I stifled the urge to retch and removed my foot from the unseen foulness as fast as I could. When I looked back up, a new shape had resolved before me, this one taking the form of a great, rough-hewn stone throne. ‘Welcome,’ said the alien voice in my thoughts. ‘Welcome to my larder, worm.’

Without thinking about it, I asked the first question that came to my mind. ‘What are you?’ Hideous laughter filled my head, bringing to mind the sound of nails on slate, metal grinding against metal, and splintering bone. This time, I couldn’t stop myself from shuddering.

‘What do I seem to be?’ The words were amused, pleased even- as if the shadowy thing sitting on the great throne would have been disappointed had I not asked. I struggled to form an answer, sure I was in greater danger now than when Czernobog had tried to eat me. What should I say? Was there a right answer? If I got the wrong one, what might he do to me in his outrage? I was the visitor here, the outsider, and I had no idea what the rules of this place were. I didn’t think I could even affect the occupant of the high seat, but there was no doubt in my mind he could definitely harm me. Czernobog spoke again, still amused despite my reluctance to answer him. ‘I am the knower of secrets, the chooser of the slain, the author of nightmares. Though few still know me, there are some who have learned to fear my name. Few have heard my voice and lived. Fewer have seen my face and remained hale and whole. I owe you no explanation of my nature, but you must tell me. Why should I not consume you here and now?’

I couldn’t see any of the details of the dark creature’s face, and I knew then it was a mercy. This was Czernobog, without his flesh mask, without the sad shell he wore in the form of Gamma-Five. I did not know what he was; I had my suspicions, but I was too terrified to seek confirmation. I clenched my jaw. Almost a year ago, when I had gone on my first solo job, my Fixer, Penn, had said to me, “Don’t ever let them see you sweat, Vivian.” I turned the words over in my head, again and again, and stoked the defiance which always lurked in my heart. I could not just stand here, trembling and silent. If Czernobog decided I was his prey, I would die. This situation called for wits and nerves of iron. This called for my darker half, the core of my strength- the Red Viper.

I smiled, and there in the dark fog of the mental plane far beyond dreams, I felt my face split and my mouth opening wider than any human mouth should have been able. The needle-sharp tips of hollow hypodermic fangs traced sweet venom over my lips as they extended. I didn’t look down at myself, but I knew scales were forming on my body in the stead of my cream skin. I looked up at Czernobog with new, vicious, eager serpent eyes, and said, ‘You will not consume me because you are trapped here, old man. Knower of secrets, chooser of the slain, author of nightmares. And I can help you.’ I spread my hands, showing the stinking unseen depths of the incorporeal larder. ‘I am the Red Viper, and I am not your food. Instead, I have come with an offer.’

The dark figure atop the rough-hewn throne leaned forward, and some of the hidden face became more distinct; partially silhouetted in the directionless dimness which made it possible for me to see. Czernobog's shadowy visage could not have been mistaken for the face of a human- of any kind. He was like a crude effigy of a man, carved in driftwood with an imprecise hand. He was like an idol hewn from stone by the rough strikes of a dull axe. When he spoke, the face shifted and changed; one moment it was almost humanlike, and it bore an uncanny resemblance to the snarling jaws of a wolf, and then it disappeared into the darkness as whatever feeble light illuminating it was swallowed by clouds of shadow brimming with little sparks of green lightning. ‘What offer do you bring, you little worm who thinks itself to be a serpent?’

‘That’s simple,’ I thought, my words sent out across the darkness with perfect clarity. ‘You help me escape my cell, and I help you escape yours.’ This was a gamble. I didn't know for a fact Czernobog was trapped anywhere. But I had a hunch, and since I had nothing else to go with, I trusted my instincts on this.

‘What makes you think I am bound?’ The inhuman voice had turned hard and brittle, and I sensed danger in those words. I had to be careful. I could push, I could be defiant, but this thing was proud. If I injured that pride, I would be killed.

I couldn't stop now; I was already beyond the point of no return. “Czernobog, I think you would already have killed me if you could have. I infer you are very old, whatever you are, and very powerful- the power demonstrated by your host resembled nothing I have ever seen- and yet you do the bidding of a petty little man who neither pays you homage nor acknowledges your strength. I doubt one such as you would work with someone so far beneath you unless you were somehow bound.”

The darkness of Czernobog’s head shifted, and though I could see no real details, I could make out the barest impression of teeth. I couldn’t tell if the creature was smiling or thinking of biting me. Maybe he was doing both. “Little worm,” Czernobog said. “Perhaps you are wiser than you appear. But what makes you think your freedom is equal to mine? Why would I free you only for you to attempt to free me with your feeble fumbling? You could not best the creature I infest, and you could not outwit the snickering little ant which put you in your prison. This trade is not good enough for me. I require more.”

Cold fear ran in my veins. This was the part I was dreading. It happened in all the old stories. I would make a deal with the devil, and though I would get what I asked for, the price I would pay would be great indeed. “What is your price?” I knew I would not like the answer.

The answer came as a hiss, and I was suddenly aware of great, scaled coils twisting out of the darkness all around me, twisting out from amidst the pillars and toppling the stacked bones. The "man" on the throne moved toward me, but it was all wrong. It did not move like a man standing and walking forward, rather, it hung in the air before the throne and drifted forward as stinking vapor. Light rose from newly revealed cracks and holes in the floor and bathed the larder in sulfurous brilliance. I looked upon Czernobog, and I had to fight the urge to fall to my knees or turn to run. It was not a "he," as I had thought. It was like a colossal, writhing snake hatched from midnight. It coiled in and around itself over and over in hypnotic loops which spilled out between the pillars all around me. Its body went on forever, grown from the darkness- or maybe it made the darkness? Where there should have been the head of a serpent, there was only a mass of writhing tentacles, twisting, writhing, tangling and spreading apart. Each of the tentacles ended in a sprouting bulb of tendrils which rippled in time to a rhythm I couldn't hear. As I watched, transfixed, the wriggling tendrils came together, pressing into a shape so that the burning glow coming up from the previously unseen cracks in the ground cast them in silhouette again, retaking the form of a man in a grotesque shadow puppet show. “My price is as simple as your offer, little worm. An eye for an eye. Not today, not tomorrow, but soon. I will collect in my own time, should you succeed.” The massive roiling coils of the beast began to slam down over the light glowing from the cracks in the floor. Darkness encroached, slowly consuming the sullen light and the foul fumes. “Think carefully, little worm, for to fail me is to renege on our agreement. I am Czernobog, the lord of death and misfortune, and I will claim what I am owed.”

I swallowed hard. Agreeing to this would be a very bad idea. This was extremely stupid. But this place beyond dreams was the only place I could reach from inside this cell, and I didn’t think it was likely I would find another denizen of this dark place so close to Czernobog. I needed to get out of this place, and I needed to do it very soon, or I was dead- or worse. I drew in a deep breath and looked up into the silhouetted ‘face.’ I didn’t know what Czernobog meant by ‘an eye for an eye,’ but it seemed I would soon find out. “I accept,” I said, and hoped I hadn't just sealed my doom.

* * *

There was no warning, no sense of transition. One moment I was standing in the darkness of the foul ‘larder,' and the next I sat cross-legged on a sun-warmed rock in a rolling field of impossible green. The light was pleasant; not like the alternately feeble or scouring glare above Columbia. The air carried no acrid taste of acid, no foul edge of sulfur, no sizzling ozone- just soothing life flooding into me with every breath. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a second rock, a second cross-legged occupant. I turned to look. The man could have been anywhere between his mid-forties and his mid-sixties. He was dusky-skinned and wore a thick, salt-and-pepper beard, and his features were of a strange refinement- ugly and uneven, but made elegant by age and experience. His eyes were the same color as the sky; a pure, powder blue I had heard of but had never seen. “Czernobog?” I asked, and to my surprise, I could hear my own voice with my ears. Though I was sure I was dreaming, no longer was I speaking solely in the voice of my thoughts.

The weathered man smiled, showing yellowed teeth which seemed to have been taken from the jaws of an old wolf rather than grown naturally in the mouth of a man. “Yes, and no.” He took a deep breath, closing his eyes in evident pleasure at the taste of fresh air. “I am the same one with whom you made your bargain, Vivian Hsu. However, while Czernobog is what I am now, I felt that teaching you was a good excuse to take another shape- one I have not assumed in a very long time. Today, while I teach you, you may call me Bielebog.”

I did not recognize either name, though something tickled in my brain when I thought of them both. Something about his features reminded me, in a way, of Yakov- though he bore little resemblance to the telekinetic Cleaner. “What are you going to teach me?” I asked.

Bielebog turned and met my eyes. “The simplest of trifles, but well worth the price to which you have agreed. But first, I must ensure you have the tools to learn this simple task.” He raised his right hand and gestured to the rolling landscape around us; the waves of undulating grass, the distant trees, the blue sky. “Do you know where we are?”

I shook my head. “I’ve never been in a place like this. I didn’t think this kind of thing could still exist on Earth.”

Another wolf grin. “You misunderstand the question. But, it doesn’t matter, I will answer the question for you.” Bielebog gestured to our surroundings once more. “This is the world of dreams- the world of Morpheus. And were you to live in an older, simpler time, I would tell you this was someone’s pleasant nightly experience. Some human mind, in repose, would be making this place, and, just as we are now, we would be sitting within it.”

I frowned, thinking of the mad dreams I’d had lately. “So all of the dreams I have had- they have all been in this place?”

Bielebog nodded. “Yes. If you walked with me to the border of this imagining, you would find that the world would abruptly change. From a place like this to a world like another dreamer’s sleeping hallucinations. It can be quite chaotic, here in Morpheus.”

I turned his words over in my head for a time. “What did you mean when you said, ‘Were I to live in older, simpler times?’ If this isn’t a dreamer’s mind, then where are we?”

Bielebog pursed his lips. “We are still within a dreamer’s mind. But it isn’t nighttime for the thoughts that paint this place, and he is not sleeping- not the usual way, anyhow." He shook his head. "Your people are always living in their dreams now, at least a little bit. The boundary between Morpheus and the Earth is thin, indeed. There was a time when only those such as you even knew of this place, but that time is gone. Now, most of your species spend an ever larger portion of their lives dreaming- though the dreams are made for them by someone else. It is madness, Vivian Hsu. Pure, shared, species-wide madness.”

I chewed on that thought for a while, and then said, “We’re in the Matrix.”

Bielebog shrugged. “I care not for your fleeting constructions. My concern is with Morpheus, and more and more of your people are pushing into this place, making it their home. And they have no idea what they are doing. They haven’t considered whose home they have broken down and started colonizing.” He grinned again, though the expression was more wild and savage than friendly. The blue eyes seemed to grow deeper, darker for a moment, and a metallic rasp slithered into his voice. “They believe themselves safe, in this new world they have made, not understanding this is but the surface of the sea, and there are so, so many of us beneath them.”

“Who is ‘us?’” I asked, but Bielebog did not answer. Instead, he stopped smiling and tilted his head toward me.

“You are one of those few who walk freely in this place.” The weathered face lifted toward the sun. “Though most of you do not know it. In your ignorance, you spread chaos wherever you go, twisting the dream about you like a maelstrom, breaking the images of the dreamers and changing them into your own. You, especially, are like a mountain storm in this place. Wherever you go, Morpheus changes to ash, rot, and chaos. As Czernobog, I find your passing most intriguing to behold. I confess I have been watching you for a long time.”

I tried not to shudder at those words, focusing instead on the lesson. “So you’re telling me I am actually powerful here?”

Bielebog laughed, the sound in harmony of great bells tolling together in a refreshing, cold wind. "Everything is relative, little worm." I heard something different in the word "worm" this time. He said it exactly as Czernobog had said it, but something about his tone, the sparkle in his blue eyes, the… fatherliness of it made me pause. Perhaps "little worm" wasn't only an insult spoken by someone so much greater than I- after all, in a way, Czernobog was also a "worm" of sorts; a serpentine thing whose very appearance scrabbled at the boundaries of my brain with rasping scales and probing tendrils. “Little worm” meant something entirely different when said by a great “worm.” Bielebog continued, with a chuckle still coloring his words. “You and those like you can travel through the surface of this place; down into the blackness where you found me. From there, if you find the part of a person’s self which sleeps in that cold place, you may tunnel back up through them into their own little corner of Morpheus.”

“And what would be the point of that?”

Bielebog smirked. “Don’t be daft. If the dream is altered by the sleeping mind, then there is a bridge from the mind to the dream…” He circled his hands in a gesture which said, “and….”

It came to me in a flash of understanding, and the implications filled me simultaneously with excitement and dread. I finished the sentence. “...and a bridge from the dream to the mind!”

“Yes.” Bielebog sat up. “Once inside the mind, there is very little you cannot make a person see, hear, experience, or do.” He uncrossed his legs and stood from his rock, straightening his clothes, which consisted of an odd collection of pelts and furs. “Let us determine, for example, what you can do with the mind dreaming this place.” He began to walk, and I stood and followed him.

The tall, luscious grass of the dream world parted before us as we walked as if it were paying homage to Bielebog. I looked back behind me and watched as it stood back up straight in our wake, and wondered if it was just doing that because of some dream-logic rule, or if Bielebog was making it happen. There was no way to tell; he appeared just to be taking a leisurely stroll. There were moments when the easy gait changed, and the tall, genial man fell forward into a different shape, assuming for just a few steps the form of a gigantic white wolf with too many eyes. The wolf would plod along on all fours for just a moment, and then it would shake itself and stand once more; Bielebog would continue walking as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. The landscape rolled gently around us, the waves of grass soon broken by the occasional trees. The trees became more and more numerous as we walked. They were all tall and thin, their bark white and peeling, speckled with black marks which seemed like crude eyes. As we passed, several of the "eyes" changed subtly, shifting as if they were following our progress as we moved deeper into the gathering forest.

Soon we reached the obvious center of the dream, striding from amidst the now closely clustered white trunks, breaking into a perfectly round clearing carpeted in sweet-smelling, spongy loam. In the middle of the clearing, there was another tree, though this one was much taller, much broader, and its branches seemed to stretch upward into infinity. It was clearly older than any of the growth surrounding it, and instead of white, papery bark, it was coated in a gnarled, rigid layer so dark with age it was nearly black. All around the tree drifted gently glimmering lights which swirled in and out of complex patterns and seemed to be both rising into the thick growth of broad, red leaves and descending from amidst them. I was so awestruck by the tree I almost didn’t notice the three people entangled in fervent, sweating sex at the base of the tree. One of those must be the ‘dreamer.’ Three guesses which one it is.

There were two women and a man writhing and struggling together in the sweet pungency of the crushed loam, and within seconds, I knew which one was my target. Both women were improbably busty and built to overdramatic proportion; their waists were too narrow, their hips too wide, their skin too flawless. Though one had black hair, and the other was a blonde, they could have been identical. One of them lifted her face in a sigh of ecstasy, and when she opened her eyes wide, I saw there was nothing of life in that gaze. She was a toy, a plaything, and there was little chance she was the dreamer I sought. Bielebog had called the dreamer a "he," but that didn't always hold true for a simulation in the Matrix, where a person could be whatever- and whoever- he or she desired. This time, however, the assumption held true, and I turned my eyes to the man buried within the menage-a-trois. To my surprise, he did not seem to be an overly perfect representation of himself. He was, if nothing else, painfully ordinary. He had dull, hazel eyes and greasy brown hair shot through with a few streaks of gray. He had noticed neither Bielebog nor me, and though I supposed he had good reason to be oblivious, I wondered if he would have been able to see us at all was he unoccupied. I turned to the fur-clad older man beside me and asked, "now what? He's the dreamer, how do I get into his mind from here?"

Bielebog showed his teeth for a moment and then spoke, his eyes not leaving the wriggling lovers. “In every dream, there is a bridge. It will take whatever form it must for the sake of the dream, but it will always be there. In this dream, its presence is actually quite obvious.” Eyes still locked on the lovers with a predatory intensity, he tilted his head toward the tree. “Climb it.”

I looked at the tree. It seemed to go on forever, and I could only guess at its true height. I supposed, if this was the bridge out of this dream, then it really could stretch to infinity. I stepped up close to the tree and seized the lowest branch, which dipped low enough for me to grasp. I looked back. Bielebog had not moved to follow. “Are you coming?” I asked. “Or are you enjoying the show?”

Bielebog smiled, and something in his eyes glinted with cruel light. “I cannot follow you, Vivian Hsu. I am only here in the outer dream because of your presence, and even that cannot carry me into another mind. You must proceed from here on your own. Besides…” His voice shifted, growing lower, deeper, and touched with a metallic rasp. “Besides, little worm, I am most hungry. Take your time in the mind of the dreamer. I will keep myself entertained here at the shore.” I shuddered and watched in horrified fascination as Bielebog once more shifted into the form of the massive white wolf, eight eyes of varying types and sizes set in its warped head; all of them staring at the unwitting menage of prey writhing before it. A tongue flicked hungrily across the reddish lupine muzzle- but it was all wrong. Instead of a single wolf tongue, a tangle of tendrils thrashed like a living whip from behind the great, yellow teeth. I felt the urge to retch, but instead, I turned back to the tree and began to climb. It seemed the poor dreamer’s pleasant sim-dream was about to become a nightmare, and I did not need to stay and watch. I clambered through the branches, not looking down as I ascended, and I gritted my teeth and kept moving even as the horrified screams began.

* * *

Again, the transition came with no warning. One moment, I was scrambling through the branches of a rising tree which had no end, and the next, I was standing in the midst of a glowing corridor composed of hundreds of glowing wires and pipes running through myriad geometric patterns on the way to their unseen destinations. I looked ahead of me, and the corridor extended into darkness; even the rainbow brightness of the walls swallowed in the dark of distance. I turned and looked behind me to see a similar tableau stretching to infinity behind me. I turned around again and began to walk.

I walked for what could have been a couple of minutes or a couple of days. Every few meters- if distance could even be measured here- a black doorway would gape out of the lights as the pipes and wires warped around the portal before continuing on their way. At one of these doors, I stopped, surprised to see the darkness I had come to expect inside it was missing. A light burned far inside, with the steady, unblinking brilliance of a fluorescent bulb. I tried to see what was beyond the door, but it was as if an insubstantial gauzy curtain hung in my way, obscuring what the light illuminated and transfiguring any details into blurry obscurity.

I would not be denied. I stepped forward and swiped at the strange, hazy veil which blocked my vision. It did not part or pull away- instead, it clung to my hand in clumps, and began to drag me forward into itself. It happened so fast I didn't have time to rip myself free. Within moments I had been drawn entirely through the thin barrier to stand in the illuminated room. I glanced back at the door, and saw nothing but darkness, with the faint, smothered impression of glowing pipes and wires beyond. I turned my attention back to the room.

The space was a concrete box, like a coffin. It was cramped, with a low ceiling and close walls. Each of the bleached surfaces was festooned with metallic shapes clinging to the walls, and between each of the shapes, there was a neat, angular path made of gold and silver wire set into the concrete as if it had grown there. I looked closer at one of the metallic shapes on the wall by the door. It reminded me of a part of a computer's circuit board, except that upon closer inspection, the slate-gray box I was examining revealed itself to be a tiny model of a building, complete with minute doors and minuscule windows. I squinted and thought I could make out the impressions of people moving behind those tiny engraved windows. I shifted my attention to the network of wires, and I could see little vehicles made of light zipping back and forth along their gilded tracks, carrying little glowing seeds of light from one circuit "building" to another.

I stepped back from the wall and almost tripped over something set on the floor. I looked down to see I had scuffed my boot heel against one of the little miniature buildings. Even as I watched, tiny dust mote specks which must have been the building's occupants came pouring out through the doors and stood in a circle around my foot. I couldn't make out what they were doing, nor could I hear anything they might have been saying, but the movement of the crowd reminded me of the cluster of onlookers gathered outside Michi's shop after she had sliced up the three hitters. I looked around the whole room. It was all part of the glimmering, golden network, but for the fluorescent light bar incongruously dangling from a pair of cables set in the low ceiling. I knew what this was, or at least, I had an idea what it was supposed to represent. This was an ideographic vision of the inner intestinal workings of a computer deck, described as a model of a city which consumed the whole inner surface of the concrete box. I knew little about the inner workings of a computer beyond recognizing the shape. I could turn on a virtual reality enabled deck, but I couldn't have put one of the machines back together. Still, I knew just enough to have an idea of what I was looking for.

I found the central processing core very easily. It was in the very center of the floor, and all of the glimmering gold and silver networks led back to it. It was made of four impressive towers, each of them a massive heatsink and cooling rig set atop an unseen processor chip. So many little data-vehicles flowed out from the processor that the wires spidering out from it, seemed to be bands of bright, multicolored lights, much like the wires and pipes out in the dark, eternal corridor. This is a mind, I said to myself. And if this whole thing is a mind, then the processor must be where the all the controls are located.

I didn't know what was going to happen, but I felt strangely certain I could change my perspective to become as small as one of those little thought people and enter the central processing core. What I could accomplish from there, I did not know, but I knew Czernobog or Bielebog had sent me to this mind for a reason. Clearly, he thought I could affect the place. It was time for me to find out how. I bent at the knees, carefully, and stretched out my hand, extending one finger to touch the concrete beside the processor. Then my whole perspective changed.

* * *

The circuit buildings were no longer miniature, the people were no longer motes of dust, and the vehicles on the broad golden highways were no longer points of glowing light. Instead, I stood as a single figure amidst a vast, scrambling crowd, caught in the shadow of a cluster of tall black towers. A deep, resonant thrumming sensation emanated from the towers; I felt it in the soles of my feet. I smiled and looked around at all the people staring at me with open-mouthed shock. They were identical, each one of them like a copper statue of the man I had seen mid-coitus in his dream. They all began babbling in a strange, crackling language which reminded me of nothing more than a rapid series of static bursts, like touching the metal handrails outside my home Coffin stack during a great storm. They were all clearly terrified, and some of them broke and ran, even as a few stood their ground and took out weapons- hard boxy black shapes which might have been rifles. Alright, what the hell.

I looked down at myself and understood why they were so afraid. Though I felt like myself, and though I was wearing the same jeans and boots and plastic raincoat I usually wore as a freelancer, I was still in the shape of the Red Viper. Red scales covered most of my skin, particularly the outsides of my arms. Unbidden, I felt my mouth stretch wide, my hypodermic fangs extending. I could already see how this was going to go. I looked down at my hands, and even as I wondered how I could get a weapon here, my needle gun materialized in my right hand, a big fighting knife in the other. I turned my serpent eyes on the few copper people who had stayed to fight me and laughed. A rattling, sibilant hiss escaped my throat, instead of a more human sound. The terrified defenders began shooting.

I moved, faster than I had ever moved before. The whole world seemed to slow down for me as I lunged forward and to the side; my body hurtling toward one of the shooters like the twisting end of a whip. Dark bursts of crackling energy traced painfully slow paths through the air toward where I had been, far too sluggishly to have even thought of reaching me. I buried my knife in a defender's belly, and without thinking about it, I snapped my head forward and sunk my fangs into the coppery trapezius muscle which stretched between neck and shoulder. The defender bucked in pain, screaming in a burst of static as I opened my jaws and released him. He fell to the floor, twitching, and I turned my attention to his fellows. They all fired their rifles, but I turned my body so that the shots glanced harmlessly off of the scales covering my back. Then I fired my needle gun four times in rapid, precise bursts which sent them all writhing to the floor. Red veins sprouted from their wounds, stretching to cover their entire bodies within seconds.

Something stirred on the ground behind me, and I whipped around to see the first one I had downed, the one I had bitten, clambering to his feet, his whole body burning red like iron on fire. I raised my gun, but then I noticed something else about the figure. "He" was no longer a man. Instead, the former defender was now a woman proportioned much the same as I was, wearing identical clothes and sporting scales and fangs. Okay, this could be pretty kick ass. I turned around and found the four other casualties getting to their feet, transfigured just like their comrades. They all nodded to me, and together, my little army and I sprinted for the central processing unit.

We stabbed, bit, and shot our way into the tower, but instead of going up into the heatsink stacks, we descended into the dark depths beneath, where I knew the processor chips would be. With each step, another body was added to the crimson legion of Red Viper clones, and by the time we reached the very bottom of the structure, there were dozens of us. Two of my clones forced the wide double-doors of the central control room open, held them for me to pass, and I stepped inside. No more defenders waited to fight me within; only a single figure, the man from the dream, standing terrified in the midst of a wide array of control panels and holographic screens. Unlike all of his defenders, he was not made of copper. Like me, he seemed to be a representation of his real self, although his pasty skin beneath his office drone outfit glowed with twisting copper wires forming hundreds of strange, arcane symbols. He looked from me to my red, crystalline clones, his eyes wide and terrified. "What do you want with me!"

I grinned in response, and my fangs swept forward. Though I felt a little guilty about attacking a random guy trying to have a nice dream vacation in the Matrix, I needed to learn how my powers worked, and just how far I could stretch this new awareness. I had to use my psychic muscles so they could grow, and I didn’t have much time to waste worrying about my karma. If the last few days had told me anything, it was that the universe already pretty much hated me. One more drop in the bucket wasn’t going to make things much worse. I strode forward, purposefully, and when my prey tried to run, I fired a needle gun burst into one of his legs to bring him to the ground. He screamed and tried to crawl away, but he had nowhere to go. I crouched beside him, then snapped my serpent head forward and sank my fangs into his neck. I released him, and the venom coursed through his body as he shuddered on the floor. I wondered how much of this the poor guy would remember when I was gone, or if it would just be another part of the hideous nightmare Czernobog was subjecting him to in the realm of dreams. He stopped struggling and lay still as red veins crystallized in a spider web through his body. Then, after a few moments of stillness, another Red Viper clone sat up and met my eyes. And then it was like a wall crumbled somewhere in the back of my mind, and my awareness expanded to find a new body, new thoughts, and new sensations.

I was not the Red Viper anymore- at least not entirely. I was Emeric Poole, the decker in charge of cyber-security at Paracell Organics. Holy shit. I was sitting in my comfortable leather armchair in my small office, still wearing the crown of wires and electrodes which connected me to the powerful deck I used for my work. I was soaked in sweat, and my heart thundered in my chest. I stopped and listened for a moment. No one seemed to be trying to get into my office, so I probably hadn't been screaming. Good. I had just disconnected from the Matrix, where the sexy sim program I had been running had been compromised by a hideous nightmare. The last thing I needed was to have to explain to some irritated middle manager I had been using a porn sim during company time and had been attacked. Faint impressions of being torn to pieces by a gigantic, mutant wolf-thing rippled through my memory, and I shuddered. I was angry, alright. The guy who sold me that program must have created a surprise in there as a cruel joke. Oh, I would get mine. I would wreck the world of that little son of a bitch. He didn't know what kind of asshole he was fucking with. I reached out to flick my deck back on, determined to begin dismantling the smug fucker's world- and then I stopped. Another voice in my mind was whispering something, something about…

I flicked on my deck, instantly transporting myself from my stark office into my virtual home space. Unlike the usual Matrix parlor simulation of an expensive, lavish loft, my home space was a little more interesting, tailored to what I liked. It was laid out like the bridge of an interorbital fighter craft; the sleek cockpit encrusted with a hundred dials and instruments. I flipped a familiar switch and opened my access point to the main company network. I hesitated. I couldn't just go looking through company records; that would look suspicious, and someone would notice. No, I needed to cover my tracks. That was simple enough since I was the security guru here. Sure, corporate had some world-class deckers which could take me apart in a second, but down here at the dark lab, I was the king of my little corner of the Matrix. So long as I didn't do anything obvious, I could get in and out of the records section without being noticed.

The cloaking program took just a few moments to assemble. I temporarily changed my deck's Matrix identifier to the same one used by my least favorite supervisor and routed my search through the network, so it seemed to be coming from his Lattice and virtual workspace. I set up a side-application to copy the files I was accessing into a file folder in his memory, and then hid the folder three different ways. After that, I set a one-hour timer on the cloaking code so it would erase and overwrite itself. This would leave no trace I had been there, and if anyone came to investigate the unauthorized access of the encrypted records, it would all point to him. Fuck that guy anyway. He had been hassling me for my power use for weeks. I was the cybersecurity head. Obviously, my work used power. What did he expect me to do, code on a piece of paper and throw it at the hackers? What an idiot. I connected to the archives.

The company Black IC met me at the door, but I waved my false manager’s credentials at the great, tar-bodied behemoths and passed through. I thought for a moment about what I should be searching for, and then at a prompt from that irritating whispering at the back of my mind, I entered in a simple designation: G-5. Access Denied was the response. I frowned. Shit, I was the security expert. The only guy in this lab with a higher clearance than me was that Leonard prick. I couldn't risk any kind of major hack-job; even with my trail covered, hacking a file that classified would attract the attention of the big-timers at corporate. There were rumors that one of the deckers up there wasn't a human at all, but instead, it was a sentient program- thinking, living Black IC which could burn any regular decker into a drooling vegetable at his desk. There was no way I- the whispering at the back of my mind came again. Aggravating as it was, the voice had a point. Who were they to keep me out of the archives? I couldn't protect the company's secrets if I didn't know what I was protecting, right? Access denied? Fuck that.

It took me fifteen minutes to find a crack in the encryption. Corporate might have had god-tier deckers, but the guys at archives needed to brush up on their fundamentals. The sealed data opened, and a whole data tree blossomed before me, with hundreds of records and files all connected to the same stem: a file labeled Project Marianas. Like the old ocean trench? I opened it and began to read. What I found was pure science fiction stuff, the kind of thing I had never even heard of. At first, I thought I had found a cache of bizarre fan-fiction. Maybe that Leonard asshole doesn’t want anyone to read his weird fantasy shit. But whoever had written the file seemed entirely serious.

Project Marianas was… for lack of a better term, it was a catalog of "alien intelligences" whose influence had been detected during the lab's investigation into Psionic minds. They had been messing around with sending Readers into drug-induced trance states, and some of the subjects had woken acting entirely differently than they had before. The personality changes were at first chalked up to drug side-effects, but when one of the Readers had spontaneously developed the ability to manipulate electromagnetic fields, the scientists had started to suspect something else was going on. More and more test subjects woke with expanded abilities, and as investigations went on, those subjects displayed knowledge they would have been unlikely to have learned in their lives. Most of them spoke of past events from startling perspectives. One of them recounted the fall of the ancient city of Troy. Another described the twentieth-century explosion of the Challenger space shuttle. A third regaled the lab techs for hours with descriptions of inner workings of archaic Mongolian society- from the perspective of one of the horse archers. The only common feature of the strange and wildly varied accounts was that most of the affected Readers displayed levels of intelligence and arrogance which had not been observed before they had been sent into the deep trance state. Several of the test subjects had used their suddenly expanded powers to attempt to escape the lab facility.

I stopped reading for a moment, my mind racing. This wasn’t science fiction at all. I remembered the escape attempts, even if the company had obscured the details of what had actually happened. Scientists and lab techs had died, and corporate Cleaner teams had come in. No one knew how they had died, and everyone knew better than to push for answers. New scientists and lab techs had been hired, and work went on. I had assumed something weird was going on, but nothing like this. Corporate covered shit up all the time. Cleaner teams would scrub the mess, and everybody knew the company policy- forget it and move on. There had been three major incidents I remembered, but here in the records, it said seven escape attempts had been made. The first three had been the accidents I knew of, and after that, the company had taken steps to ensure that even a freshly empowered super-Psion would face overwhelming force if they tried to break out. I opened a different file, fascinated. There was no way I could just put this down and go about my business- this was too good. Some part of my brain whispered that if it was good enough, I might even be able to package this shit up and sell it to one of Paracell's competitors for some serious money. I would be set for life! Maybe I'd even be able to afford one of those nice lofts up near street level, everyone was always trying to get their grubby little mitts on.

I opened a different file. This one contained links to many of the others and described categories of the entities which had been observed during their Reader experiments. Alpha category described beings which seemed to have memories of relatively recent events. Usually, these minds were so similar to an ordinary Reader’s personality they were difficult to detect. They showed the least of the freakish arrogance other subjects displayed, and they usually were happy to give some kind of ordinary name. They would eventually become agitated and seek escape from the lab, but since the additional abilities they brought with them were minor- usually enhanced physical senses- they were easily contained. These Alpha entities sounded to me like ghosts- though I didn’t believe in such nonsense. No, this had to be some kind of scientific phenomenon. There was a lot we didn’t know about Psionic abilities, and maybe this was just some new wrinkle in that strange new world.

Beta category spoke of personalities which seemed to be personifications of otherwise esoteric concepts. They usually refused names, and it was only through long observation their nature could be determined. They were hyper-focused on only those things that fell under the umbrella of their core identity, and they refused to engage on any other topic. The Beta minds which had been identified were centered on such diverse concepts as justice, hunger, lust, curiosity, anxiety- the list went on in no particular order. These minds had additional abilities, but they were so unstable that the test subject was more likely to lapse back into a coma than it was to gather the strength necessary to attempt to escape- except the personality identified as primal rage. The test subject, a massive brute of a white tiger Rakshasa, had metamorphosed overnight into a gigantic mutant killing machine with the power to turn solid matter into sand. Dr. Bennet, the head lab scientist at the time, had been forced to seal the premises and gas everything inside with hydrogen cyanide. He and his entire team had perished along with all of the test subjects. I remembered that day- it was the last major incident which had required a corporate Cleaner team. I had been told to stay home and away from work. When I came in the next day, I had a new boss; good old Leonard Thorne, a scientist from a different dark site project. What a plastic-faced asshole.

I flipped to the description of the “Gamma” type, and within moments I felt my blood get a little cold. Gamma entities were… very fucking old. One of them caused the Reader it possessed to speak in a language no one could identify. A corporate linguist listened to the recording and identified it as ancient Aramaic. Then, he hanged himself with his tie. Another caused its host; a cute little Sprawl urchin of about sixteen, to become hypersexual and aggressive. Even with the drugs that were supposed to dampen a Reader’s ability to focus, the affected Psionic girl caused several of the low-level lab techs to become so visibly infatuated with her they had gotten into a knife fight over who would get to open the door to her cell and get to her first. The “winner” of that fight had bled to death from scalpel wounds within moments of unlocking the door to her cell. But the teenage Reader didn’t leave. She just sat in her cell, smiling as the new, intra-lab security detail of Psionic-resistant mercs showed up to secure the mess. She didn’t seem even mildly perturbed, not even when one of the mercs put a gun to her head. The being inside the Psion’s mind didn’t care. It had made its point already. The next day, the lab had installed experimental beta-brainwave emitters.

Gamma-type intelligence never gave a name when questioned. So instead of names, they were referred to by their type and the order in which they had been discovered. I opened the file labeled as Gamma-Five. An alert popped up in the corner of my vision. Shit. I had attracted corporate attention. Network security was on the move. Something niggled at the back of my brain. What was that voice that kept whispering to me, anyway? Why had I done something so stupid as to break high-level encryption anyway? Who was in my head?

Even as I thought those things, my mind became fuzzy. What was I worried about? Nothing was wrong; I just needed to finish what I was doing. The trail I had set up would aim the nasty corporate shit at the idiot manager who would serve as my fall guy. I was fine. I backed out of the archive, and made a copy of what I found, knowing that even as I did it, the security programs would find a copy in the manager's file storage. They might not even know to search for this one. I exited the archives site through a back-channel, avoiding the guardian Black IC which would have stopped me. They would show only the manager’s signature as having entered the data vault- they would never even think to look for me. But I knew that wasn’t true. If corporate sent one of its badass deckers down to investigate, they would blow through my ruse in a second. Hopefully, hopefully, they would just call me, and tell me to look into the breach. After all, I was the cyber security guy. No, no, there was nothing to worry about. I just needed to have some confidence in my own abilities.

I returned to my Matrix home site, the fighter cockpit. With a couple of quick commands, I had set up several rapid redirects to disguise my movements outside the network. I took my copy of the Project Marianas data and tucked it into a storage site which was hidden behind some obscure hobbyist's forum. Why did I do that? I didn't recognize that place! But of course, I did. It was just a place I kept stuff I wanted to look at off of company time. No big deal. No, what I really needed to do was scrub any trace of my presence there and make sure any security search didn't find this place. They weren't going to catch me, but it was better to be safe than sorry. And finally, of course, all I had to do was open up a Matrix message, take my Lattice's global positioning data and send it to a few people, along with a note which read, "Help. RV caught in the lab. Backup?" I sent the message and then erased any data which could tell corporate I had sent it. But wait, had I forgotten something in the archives? I knew I shouldn't go back there, but that little voice in my head said it was a really good idea. She had a point.

I reconnected to the archives, forgetting all about my cloaking code. The guardian Black IC at the entrance sighted to me and told me the archives were on lockdown. They were huge, monolithic black things, like great pillars of deepest shadow. Burning white lights like eyes watched me as I approached the archives site. Another warning came, telling me that if I approached any further, they would engage aggressive countermeasures. They were calling my manager, to inform him of my indiscretion. I wanted to panic, but it was really no big deal. I brought up a program of my own, a brilliant blue spear of lightning. I could take these jokers. They were no match for Emeric Poole, decker extraordinaire. I hurled the lightning lance with lazy strength, and... no, no wait BAD IDEA-

* * *

I, Vivian Hsu, scrambled down the infinite tree as fast as I could, my mind reeling as I regained my sense of self. I hadn't wanted to stick around to experience brain death firsthand. That kind of feedback could literally kill me if it was bad enough. Though I had experienced another person's death before, this one was much different than anything I had ever done. I had been in the decker's mind- no, I had been the decker, and I was willing to bet my entire credit account that getting my subject killed while I was still inside his brain would have messed me up like nothing else.

Bielebog- or Czernobog, or whatever- was nowhere to be seen, and the only trace of the pornographic dream I had observed were the dissolving bodies of two naked women and strange, iridescent blood splashed across the grass. There was no longer a blue sky, and the grass was brown and withering. The dream was fading now that the hacker was away from it. I shrugged. I closed my eyes. I didn’t want to go down into the darkness to see Czernobog again. I had plenty to think about, anyway. I had been wrong about the Gamma-Five nomenclature. Dead wrong. And Czernobog wasn’t the only being down there in the deep world beyond dreams. That was not a cheery thought. I focused, and with just a little effort, I closed my Inner Eye.

* * *

I opened my physical eyes to my cell and sat up. I flicked my eyes to the side. My Lattice HUD clock read 16:30. I didn’t know how long I had been unconscious. I struggled to remember. When Leonard had spoken to me, it had seemed to be morning- he acted like he was beginning his work for the day. So I had been down below dreams for the whole day. My heart thumped in my chest, and I looked around wildly for my food. I couldn’t risk Leonard deciding I was trying to starve myself. I didn’t doubt for one second he would put a feeding tube down my throat, and that sort of thing would make escaping much harder. To my relief, there was a tray of protein cubes and a bottle of water on the floor by one wall, where I assumed there was a hidden door. My stomach growled, revealing I was much hungrier than I thought, and I crawled over to the food and scarfed it hungrily.

It was too bad I hadn't gotten the chance to look through the Gamma-Five files, but I couldn't risk the decker, Emeric, being caught before I accomplished my mission in this lab. It wasn't how I had planned to get the files from the Paracell archives, but I had learned in the last year not to look at free cred sticks too closely, so to speak. Freelancers took what they could get. We couldn't afford to be picky. The data would be safe where I had left it for a few days. I just needed to get the hell out of the lab so I could retrieve it. And I was starting to put together what I needed to do to accomplish that. I knew I needed practice for the next mind I was going to break into. I wasn't tired- at least my body wasn't. After all, I had spent most of the day "asleep." So long as Leonard or one of his cronies didn't try to wake me. I just needed to go back to sleep and see which of the minds around me I could access. I thought about the Project Marianas files and shuddered. I needed to be careful when I started hunting around, this time. Czernobog might have had a vested interest keeping me alive, but according to those files, he wasn't the only dark thing wriggling down in the empty ocean beneath Morpheus.

I drank all of the water in the bottle, and then set the empty bottle and cardboard tray back where I had found them. I moved back toward the center of the room and lay down, resting my head on my arms and closing my eyes. Then I opened my Inner Eye and stared down into the darkness beneath the world, beneath my thoughts. I was afraid, just as before, but I wasn’t going to turn back. No, I was going to get Leonard Thorne, and walking into the dark was the only way I could learn how to do it. I took in a deep breath and blew it out. Then, I dropped back into the deep trance.

Chapter Twelve

I floated in a vast, dark sea. Sky and sea alike wore heavy cloaks of fog, and I could see no further than the tips of my toes bobbing in the black water. The air smelled of static, and I squeezed my eyes shut as the smell set my sinuses buzzing, humming as if a wasp had been trapped somewhere behind my eyes. I lifted a hand to my face, pressing my fingers hard on either side of my nose in the hope it would quiet the irritating sensation and banish the ozone stink. It didn’t work. I squinted and wrinkled my nose, trying to sneeze the phantom insect out of my skull. A deep, almost sub-audible drumbeat sounded somewhere in the abyss far below me, and the water all around me vibrated into dancing droplets for a moment. What the hell was that? And then, I heard it again. BOOM. Beads of dark water leaped up from the water all around me, and then burst and fell back to the surface with a hiss, like frying fat. BOOM. The sea began to stir around me, and with a suddenness which shocked the breath out of my lungs, the water buoying my body turned to chill, as if some deep current fathoms were sending a pillar of cold up to grasp at me. BOOM. BOOM. The beat sounded again, but this time I could feel a smaller quieter echo. BOOM, boom. The double bass stroke rattled my teeth and made my eyes go blurry for a second. A short burst of nausea made me curl up for a moment, and with my weight concentrated I dropped beneath the increasingly agitated surface. BOOM, boom. I blinked my eyes in the dark, struggling to see as the strange rhythm grew louder, ever louder. BOOM, boom. An acid green bioluminescence split the darkness in twin flashes timed to the beat, and I saw, all at once, the massive serrated jaws were blossoming up around me; steadily dragging closed to swallow me and the water all around me for a hundred meters. I screamed, but only bubbles streamed from my mouth. BOOM, boom. I knew that sound! It was the thunderous drum of the monster's colossal heart!

“Good news, Ms. Hsu!” The voice startled me from the dream, and for a moment I just writhed at the blank white floor, unsure of where I was, of who I was, and WHERE WAS MY TUNING FORK! A bright spear of pain shot from the floor into my skin and bent my body into a bow for a long three-count. I was dimly aware of a crackling noise like bursting popcorn. I fell back to the ground and cursed as my memory returned, and I remembered where I was. Leonard Thorne. That son of a bitch had literally shocked me awake. I peeled myself up off of the floor into a sitting position and looked around. The wall right in front of me had become transparent, and on the other side of the nearly impervious barrier stood the Head Scientist of Paracell Organics’ black site laboratory.

Leonard looked chipper and well-rested, his million credit face untouched by careworn wrinkles or smile lines. Only his eyes betrayed his age, so dark a blue they might as well have been black. They were glittering with low cunning and boundless cruelty. He flashed an artificially perfect smile. "Good news, Ms. Hsu," he repeated. "Corporate has deemed the risk acceptable, and so I have decided to include you in some of my tests."

“What kind of tests?” I asked cautiously.

The scientist must have been in a good mood, because rather than the expected electric shock in response to my question, Leonard actually gave me an answer. "Nothing beyond your abilities, I believe. Accounts from my Quick-Response Team's Captain tell me you crippled nearly twenty men with some kind of a psychic fear blast." He glanced down at the clipboard in his right hand. "Though we have seen greater powers than yours, and you lack refinement, it seems you have potential strengths just waiting to be explored.” I struggled to keep me from rolling my eyes at his excitement. He was like a child getting a new toy for the Christmas Holiday.

“So you want to test my limits?”

Leonard nodded. “Something like that.” His plastic smile remained locked in place, but his eyes hardened like black pearls. “And to make sure you give me your best effort in these tests, let me point out that while I will not let you starve, I will happily give you nothing but lukewarm water for the next week if you fail any of my objectives.” He glanced down at his clipboard. “We begin in fifteen minutes. Two of my colleagues will be here shortly to take you to the testing room. Be advised they are both constructs and have been instructed to sever your spine should you attempt any Psionic trickery during transit.” He turned to walk away, and the plastic barrier became opaque once more. What an asshole.

Sure enough, two constructs in identical lab coats and coveralls appeared, opening a door in one of the walls I had not seen. I wondered if the door was always there, or if it was a high tech self-sealing membrane or something like that. These constructs seemed more alert and independent than the blank-eyed waiters in the Round Robin. I wondered if Leonard had bothered giving them names, or if they were just numbers to him. They each took firm hold of one of my arms, lifted me to my feet, and then began hurrying me toward the door. They weren’t overly rough, but I could feel the strength of their hands. They might have had human physiology over their positronic brains and cybernetic spines, but I had no doubt they could have torn me to pieces with little effort.

I was led down a hall just as white and sterile as my cell. Though the floor was made of cold ceramic tile rather than plastic. Identical fluorescent light bars were set in the ceiling, and it seemed there was nowhere for a shadow to hide. As we passed cell after opaque plastic cell, I could see blurry shadows moving in silhouettes. I wondered if some of the missing hybrid children were in there, waiting for a rescue they weren't expecting to come. Don’t worry, kids. I’m coming. It might not have felt like I was going to be pulling a rescue, but I had a plan, and Leonard’s little tests would play right into my hands. After all, when else could I be sure I could reach the slimy wax-faced bastard?

The testing room was just like my cell, only twice as large, and it wasn't empty. I was led through the door, pushed inside, and then the door sealed itself and disappeared behind me. I looked around. There was a goat on the other side of the space, eating shredded carrots from a bowl. I almost laughed at the sheer absurdity of it. The goat must have been taken from the Midwestern wastes. I couldn't think of anywhere else Paracell could have gotten their hands on a live freaking goat. Besides, the animal had three-too-many legs, and there seemed to be some kind of tiny extra head trying to sprout from its right shoulder muscle. Ew. I turned around to look behind me. Sure enough, the wall there had gone clear, and I could see Leonard and a few of his other colleagues standing in an observation chamber there, talking amongst themselves. The dark-eyed scientist met my eyes. “Test one, make that goat stop eating before it runs out of carrots.”

“Alright,” I said, and looked back at the animal. It stank something fierce.

“Oh, and Miss Hsu?” Leonard added. “Please try to not to turn its brain to mush. While that would technically constitute stopping its feeding, such an act would render a few of my tests a bit more difficult. We have a limited number of goats.” Laughter from the other scientists echoed through the intercom and then cut off along with the connection.

I looked into the mutant goat’s hourglass eyes. “Alright, buddy.” I opened my Inner Eye and watched the world change. The room lit up with rainbow bands of light and twists of electromagnetic current. Grass sprouted all around me, starting at the cloven hooves of the goat, covering the floor, the walls, and the ceiling. The goat stopped looking like some kind of mutant reject, shifting to four legs and erasing any trace of an extra head. Interesting. It seems that even animals exist in Morpheus. I read the instincts of the grazing animal in the patterns of dandelion blossoms which sprouted, bloomed, and turned to blowing seeds in moments. I didn’t need to go through the darkness beneath the dream for this because there was no beta-wave barrier between my mind and the goat's. With my new understanding of my Inner Eye, this was child's play. All I had to do was make the wooly beast stop eating.

I looked down at myself. I was still barefoot, dressed only in the white jumpsuit. The goat was not concerned by my presence simply because I hadn’t made myself known. I was just the observer right now, but with just a little effort of will, I could become a part of its world. I could change what it saw, what it smelled. Unbidden, I imagined the terrible lupine monster Bielebog had changed into when he had terrorized the dreams of the Paracell staff decker. A predator! That would definitely get the goat’s attention. I pictured a serpent, large as a human, slithering up out of the long grass and twisting into a bow to strike. And I was the giant red viper, my mouth gaping wide, my fangs snapping forward, filled with lethal venom. My great, scaly body rasped across the grass, crushing it flat and churning the dirt beneath. I imagined how a monstrous snake would smell to the goat; metal and old blood, ground grass and other beasts’ fear. I let out a horrible, rattling hiss from the back of my throat. The goat looked up, saw me, and froze. I hissed again, and swayed forward, bobbing my upper body back and forth in hypnotic rhythm. The goat bolted- and slammed bodily into the grass-choked wall behind it. I closed my Inner Eye.

I could hear Leonard and the other scientists talking excitedly. He must have opened his intercom to speak, but had fallen into conversation with the others in the observation chamber. I opened my eyes onto a plain white testing room and the stink of goat shit. The mutated beast was slamming itself into the wall over and over again in its haste to escape me. The bowl of carrots lay forgotten on the floor; still a quarter full of shredded orange curls. Leonard’s laughter subsided, and he said, clearly. “Excellent work, Ms. Hsu. Now for the next exam.”

For the next two hours, I performed every task the Paracell scientists devised. They were simple enough tests; I made the goat jump, lie down, stand back up, fall asleep on its feet, stand on two legs, and dance. Thirty tests in, the goat’s mind couldn’t handle the constant unnatural meddling, and it suffered a massive stroke, falling into a twitching heap and spitting red foam. Interesting, a certain clinical, detached part me said. So there is a limit to how much I can twist a brain before it breaks. I sat in the corner, with a construct standing over me with a gun to my head, while several lab techs euthanized the mutant animal and carried the corpse away. Two of the techs stayed behind and mopped up the mess where the goat had been, and then left the room, taking the unfinished bowl of carrots with them.

Leonard was nonplussed. "Right on schedule, Miss Hsu. It seems that the further a Reader deviates a target's mind from its own desires and instincts for self-preservation, the more likely it is the target will snap." I stood and looked back through the clear barrier at him. The other scientists who had been in the room with him had left. Is the test over? As if he had heard my thoughts, Leonard showed his store bought a smile. “My colleagues have other things to attend to.” He seemed genuinely excited. “But I do have one more test for you. It might not be precisely authorized, but I think it could prove most enlightening. You see, we want to figure out exactly how strong we can make someone like you. You’ve met Gamma-Five, but Chimera is quite difficult to manage, as you might expect. There is also the minor matter of the fact he looks like something out of a horror vid.”

"You want a psychic superweapon," I said. "You want another Beast of Atlanta."

Leonard’s smile widened, and his eyes glittered. “No, I want to manufacture a Beast of Atlanta." He stared into the middle distance, seeing some imagined future. "Think of it, Ms. Hsu. Someone who looks like you could walk into a corporate gala unmolested. No one would stop you. People might not even ask who you are if you cover up the more obvious scars. You walk in, smile, mingle, and give your target a massive stroke. You act appropriately horrified, and in confusion, you slip away with none the wiser. You would make an incredible assassin, my dear."

I didn't give him any answer. The thought of using my abilities to do wetwork hadn't really crossed my mind. Until now, I hadn't had enough control to be able to pull something so subtle. I was still an amateur. The trick I had pulled at the coffeehouse had been a complete improvisation; I didn’t know it would work until it did. ‘But with some training?’ Yakov's voice muttered in my memory. ‘You know you would be extremely dangerous if you got some good tutoring, right’?’ I could make some real money being a hitter, and my jobs would be simple and direct. Straight and to the point. Walk in, fuck up the target, and walk out. Hell, with practice, I might not even need to go to the location. I had no idea where exactly Emeric Poole, the ill-fated decker, had been, but I had gotten into his head easily enough. Morpheus and the dark beneath didn't seem to follow logical rules of distance and transmission strength. With some work, I might be able to affect a mind halfway across Columbia. Oh yes, being a corporate mind flayer would be a pretty lucrative gig. And all it would cost me would be my dignity. I would be a little better than a hunter-seeker drone, someone's personal attack monster. I am the Red Viper, and I’m nobody’s bitch.

Leonard seemed to know where his words would send my thoughts. “Such things are not beyond the realm of possibility for you, Ms. Hsu. Succeed at my tests and cooperate for a while, and maybe we could find some better living arrangements for you. And perhaps a change of wardrobe and diet as well.” He seemed genuine, and I couldn’t see any reason why not to believe he was serious about this. But a cell was a cell, even plated in gold and filled with expensive foods. But it doesn't hurt to play along. I just need an excuse to go deep into the trance. I can get him. I can fuck up the little shit; I just need an opening.

I met Leonard’s frigid eyes. “What’s my next task?”

The scientist nodded. “That’s the spirit. Your next test is simply to survive.” I heard the hiss of a door opening in one of the walls behind me, and I turned, quickly, my heartbeat already speeding up, preparing to fight- a teenager? A tall, lanky girl of about sixteen stumbled into the room. She was dressed much as I was, though her jumpsuit was clearly more worn and used than mine. She had been here for a while. She had a heart-shaped face and wide, electric blue eyes surrounded by brown sclera. Shaggy red and brown hair framed her face in matted clumps. She scratched fitfully at an old, scabby cut on her jawline. Her nails were long and black, and they seemed thicker than they should have been. Her skin was thick and leather-brown. I recognized her in a sudden flash of memory. This was the girl whose picture I had been carrying around for days- the Wulfen teenager I was supposed to be tracking down! Whatever they had done to her, she seemed almost feral. When the door sealed itself shut, she dropped into a low crouch, watching me from beneath her beetled brows with an unblinking crystalline stare. Leonard’s voice crackled in the intercom, bright with bloodthirsty fascination. “Only one of you gets to leave this room. You may not touch each other. If you do so, I will hurt you both. If neither of you is dead in twenty minutes, I will electrocute you both to death.” I barely had time to process his words before he said, softly, “Begin.” I wrenched open my Inner Eye.

No sooner had I opened my mind to the dream than the Wulfen girl attacked. The testing room floor turned to stone beneath the paws of a gigantic primeval timber wolf as she hurtled across the ground, her jaws wide and smeared with old blood, and her fur striped with scars. Without thinking, I dropped low and slammed my hand against the floor, imagining it rippling like the surface of a puddle, sending the shaggy lupine form stumbling off course. Her initial strike foiled, the teenage girl let the prehistoric uber-wolf turn to spectral mist and vanish. She crouched on the bare rock and snarled at me, an entirely animal sound which no set of human vocal cords could have produced. I could not kill this girl. I needed to get her safely back to Khara. But it didn't look like she was going to make this easy. ‘STOP,’ I bellowed with my thoughts, hoping I did not say the words aloud in the adrenaline of the moment. The girl did not respond. Instead, she exploded into a cloud of screaming gnat things which swarmed toward me, snapping and growling with miniature wolf jaws. I almost laughed aloud, despite the situation. She had just changed into a swarm of tiny gossamer-winged wolves!

The swarm hit me and became immediately less funny. The little creatures tried to bite me, to slither into my nose, my ears, searching for a way to get inside me. I gagged, and spat, and swatted at them, and then, failing to deter the swarm, I focused desperately on altering the dream state around me. Stone was replaced with swamp, specifically an image I had seen of the mutant-infested Florida Keys, and great groaning bullfrogs began hopping up out of the grass. Impossibly long, black tongues darted out to snatch the wolf-bugs out of the air and devour them. I struggled to remember the girl's name from my files. Katherine? Katy? ‘Yekaterin! Stop!’ The cloud of wolf gnats disappeared, and once more the hybrid girl crouched several paces from me, glaring with bright animal eyes. ‘Yekaterin Domokova!’ The dream state shifted again, as the Wulfen Reader tried to seize control of our surroundings. Unlike me, she had clearly been trained in how to use her mind as a weapon- or she had figured it out here. Either way, her control was vast, inexorable, absolute, and the swamp dried beneath our feet and gave way to dense, old-growth pine forest. Yekaterin faded into the darkness.

I struggled to bring light into the dream, but Yekaterin’s power was so efficient, so precise. It seemed I might have been stronger by sheer brute power, but she fought with slippery artfulness, turning my own efforts against me. I tried to conjure some light, and it burst into being with a flash that left me temporarily blinded. I tried to push down the trees and change the scene, but as the thick, rugged trunks bent away from me and started to tip, their roots slithered up out of the ground and wrapped tightly around my legs, trying to drag me down into the thick loam of the forest floor. It stank of mold and decay. The soil churned, and bones began to surface, forced from their resting places in the earth. It seemed the forest had grown over a vast battlefield, and skeletons assembled themselves in the dark around me, drawing rusty weapons out of the dirt and brandishing them menacingly.

Frustrated, I screamed my rage into the forest, and the whole thing erupted into roaring fire, ripping the air from my lungs and blasting the darkness away in twisting, roiling flames. A gargantuan wolf burst from the flames, fire licking at her fur, her jaws gaping wide to seize my throat. And then I was the Red Viper, in truth, twisting my crimson-scaled body free of the entangling roots and rearing back to strike at the startled beast. ‘Yekaterin Domokova, I’m going to get us both out of here, but I need your help! Stop fighting me and listen!’ The wolf bounded back several paces and then twisted around amidst the flames. She watched me, growling, unconcerned by the yellow tongues of fire rising all around her. An invisible barrier emanated from her, pushing the flames away, knocking down several charred trees that were too close. They toppled like shattered towers and sent showers of sparks raking toward the smoke-choked canopy. And then a girl crouched amidst the flames, with piercing blue eyes seething.

Yekaterin’s words were hostile, but I thought I could hear a note of hope buried deep behind her fear and rage. ‘Why should I believe you? How do I know this isn’t another trick? How do I know you’re not the frozen man?’

‘He got me too,’ I replied. ‘He tricked me real good. But I think I know a way out of here if you're willing to help me.’ I returned to my human form and held out my hand in the withering heat. ‘Please. Just trust me.’

Yekaterin spat, and the saliva evaporated in the heat. ‘I should just kill you.’ The girl was replaced by the wolf once more, and she began stalking toward me. She didn't believe me. She didn't trust me, and I couldn't think of a way to convince her I wasn't Gamma-Five in disguise. I needed to get through her hostility, her aggression, and I needed to do it without melting her mind. I thought of the darkness below, the fathomless emptiness of the place beneath the realm of dreams and the ocean of horrors waiting there to devour us. I could think of one way I might get her attention. I gritted my teeth and charged straight toward her. Expecting me to go for her throat, perhaps, Yekaterin hunkered low to protect herself and was unprepared for me to simply tackle her backward off her feet; my Psionic presence lending me superhuman strength so I could topple the monstrous wolf. I didn't wait for us to hit the ground. I opened up a great, dark well in the earth, and we plummeted into the abyss.

* * *

I stood in the darkness. The ground was glossy smooth and wet with an inch-thick layer of water. Beside me, Yekaterin got to her feet, being once more the ragged girl with the lupine eyes. ‘What… where… where are we?’

I put a hand on her shoulder, and she flinched away. ‘Yekaterin, this is the place beneath dreams. I can't tell you what this place is for, or what lives here because I don't know. But I can tell you I'm going to use this place as a bridge to reach and kill Leonard Thorne.’

The Wulfen girl turned her frightened eyes to me. ‘You mean the asshole with the plastic face? He’s going to shock us to death now, you know. We’re not fighting. He’ll know. He always knows!’

I grinned savagely. ‘Actually, he’s probably freaking out right now. We both just dropped into what probably looks like a coma. I bet he just saw us both fall to the ground at the same time like we just crushed each other’s minds.’

Yekaterin frowned. ‘You’re not the frozen man, are you?’

‘No.’ I pointed at the flickering dim light in the distance. ‘Let me show you.’ I beckoned with one hand and led my way toward the guttering glow, my feet splashing in the cold water. We came upon the grotesque, bleach-white Chimera as he rocked in fetal agony. ‘This is the frozen man. There is something living inside him which makes him as strong as you have seen. Leonard- the plastic faced asshole controls him. I think he does it through some kind of implant attached to this guy’s spine.’

Yekaterin’s eyes glittered with night shine as she scanned the darkness around us. ‘We’re not alone,’ she said grimly, her eyes wide as she looked upon some hidden horror I could not perceive. I could guess what she was looking at, however, and I did not envy her sight. Would she see massive, endless coils of serpentine flesh winding through the whole macabre gallery, as I did? Or was Czernobog displaying a different shape entirely? I wondered if he had a true shape, or if he had simply chosen the frightening shadow puppet serpent just for me.

‘I know we aren’t alone,’ I replied, even though the words sent a shiver rippling down my back. ‘This place is very, very dangerous. But I think we’re able to walk here in relative safety because I made a deal with the monster attached to this poor thing’s brain.’

Yekaterin glared suspiciously at me. ‘What sort of deal did you make?’

‘I’m going to kill the Chimera that binds the monster, Czernobog,’ I explained. ‘I think Paracell tricked him somehow, and he wants to escape. In exchange, he showed me how to get us out of here.’ Stated like that, the whole things sounded insane. I had made a deal with a literal devil- or something like one- and the price would be steep. ‘An eye for an eye, little worm.’ I shuddered.

Yekaterin seemed to be warming to the idea. ‘What do you need me to do?’

I nodded encouragingly at her. ‘Just close your Inner Eye, and get out of here. Play dead for a while. They're going to try to resuscitate us. You can ‘wake up,' but be disoriented. Act brain damaged. I'm going to be down for a bit while I work on getting us out. I need you to make sure nothing happens to my body.’

Yekaterin nodded. ‘Yeah, I can do that. What are you going to be doing?’

I gave her a wicked smile. ‘I’m going to get into dear Leonard’s smug little head. And I’m going to fuck him up. But not before I unlock all the cells and clear the way for us. Sounds good?’

I could see a feral, vicious light coming into Yekaterin’s eyes, and for a moment I wondered if she was thinking about trying to kill me again. She had been trapped here for longer than I had. There was no telling how badly she had been broken. I would just have to trust her and hope. Yekaterin smiled, showing all of her carnivore’s teeth. ‘Snake lady?’

‘Yeah?’

‘Don’t kill the plastic faced asshole. I want to drag him home to the chief. Boss Khara will want to have some words with him.’ She closed her eyes, and in the blink of an eye, she vanished.

I laughed; the sound was flat and discordant in the utter silence. I think I like that girl. Cold mist curled into the air around me, and I looked to see the Chimera shuddering and writhing as frost blossomed from his mouth, wrapping his whole body in arctic chill. He stopped rocking and stood; his lost, confused expression replaced with a look of supreme amusement. He drew himself up to his full height, and I tilted my head to meet those arrogant black eyes. “Yes, Czernobog?”

The monster showed me its array of broken, jagged teeth. “It seems you are well on your way to your escape. I merely wished to remind you of the agreement you made and to offer you better terms.”

I did not like the sound of that. “Better terms? What terms?”

Czernobog spread his hands. “This pitiful gargoyle of a creature could have been a great power in his own right if they had not crippled his brain. In my hunger I overlooked his pathetic state, intending to make a partner of him, make him strong and mighty so that he might nourish both of our needs. Instead, by their foul metal trickery, by their knives and machines, the little insects made a prison of this body.”

I frowned. “And what does that have to do with me?”

Czernobog laughed. “Isn't it obvious, little worm? They have not crippled your mind. They have not destroyed your flesh. All you must do is destroy my prison and allow me to make my home at the back of your mind, and I will make you mighty beyond measure. You will be no man's slave, no man's plaything. You will reshape the world to your will. Your mind will be the only weapon you need- and also, I will grant you dominion over the chill of death, the killing kiss of winter. I will demand no price from you and will consider your debt paid.”

My heart began to beat very fast. I couldn’t deny the idea was alluring, especially considering everything that had happened. Paracell Organics knew I was Vivian Hsu. Their corporate office knew my true identity and knew I was a Psion. The time of hiding was over. If that information made it back to my parents, I had no doubt they would dispatch people to retrieve me- or would they simply kill me to avoid the loss of face my reemergence would mean? As Czernobog’s partner, I could crush Paracell beneath my feet, go to corporate, and smear the executives of the foul company across the walls of their ivory tower. If my parents attempted to come and claim me, I could freeze their goons solid and strip any memory of my existence from the minds of Zhang Wei and Christine Hsu. I could find anyone in the corporate world who knew of my power and erase all traces of that knowledge. Then, unfettered by the threat of Varkid-Davis, I could go to work, reshaping the world as I saw fit. I could subvert a corporate Senator and make him do my work for me in public, even as I used my unstoppable mind to make all barriers just fall out of my path. And if it became too obvious that a Psion was involved in his success, I could just erase his mind and find another target. Czernobog would feed, I would become powerful beyond measure, and never again would anyone dare to put the Red Viper into a cage. Except for the cage of your own skull, I thought. Do you really think that a being as ancient, as powerful, as utterly fucking alien as Czernobog would ever deign to give you an equal share of the power? Oh, I would definitely think I was a partner in the relationship, but only a fool would look at the difference in power between me and the endless monster from the deeps and assume we were somehow equals.

I met the hideously cunning black eyes and said evenly, “I am no fool, Czernobog, oh ‘knower of secrets, chooser of the slain, author of nightmares.’” I smirked. “… and devourer of minds. I will honor our original arrangement but don't try to trade one cage for another. I've been free this last year, and I don't intend to stop being my own woman now.”

I expected rage or some vile bellow of command, but no such thing came. Czernobog simply nodded and said, his tone mocking in its parody of respect. “Fair enough, wise woman. This offer will not come again. You will free me, I will claim what I am owed, and I will find another host upon which to bestow great power. There is always someone strong enough, someone angry enough to want it. I will come into your world, and it will be changed according to my will.” This was not said as a threat, merely a calm statement of fact. He knew he could find another powerful Psion, and he knew that eventually, one such person would let him inside their mind. I wondered if setting this old monster free was really the best idea. But I had little choice, not unless I wanted to be a slave. I did not want to be a slave, not to anyone; man, woman, or demigod.

I stepped back from the possessed Chimera. “Goodbye, Czernobog. I will set you free, and after that day I hope I never meet you again.”

The monster only laughed. “You will never escape my sight, Vivian Hsu.” And then he was gone. The Chimera dropped to the black ground, as limp as a deflated balloon. I stood in the darkness, my heart pounding, shivering at his last words. I swore and looked around. I needed to stop fucking around. I had kids to save, and a smug, plastic faced life to ruin. I pictured Leonard Thorne in my mind and reached out across the void. A light appeared in the distance, and I approached it at a run. I had one chance to get out of this lab, and I was taking it.

* * *

I emerged into the dream state ready to fight, rolling my shoulders like a prize fighter, red scales already turning my skin from cream to bloody steel. Leonard’s dream world was… exactly what I had expected from a man like him. I stood like a giant amidst a Sprawl built to a miniature scale, ivory towers scratching at the iron sky. I looked around at the whole thing and marveled at the detail. This was Columbia, as it really was, with every window, every street, every black-streaked forgotten clump of windblown laundry rendered in exact detail. I bent to peer into a window the size of a chip of peeling paint, and though it was hard to make out, I swore I could see gnat-sized people moving about within. The whole city was a savagely beautiful, hideously fascinating dance of pulsing humanity on every level, even down into the hellish rents of the earth I called my home. And standing in the center, rising in a single spike of defiance against ancient District laws and custom, was a black obelisk which stretched up and out of the heart of the roiling city. Beside it, the monument to ancient dead Washington was a toothpick, an afterthought- pale imitation of the behemoth temple of hubris piercing the sky and extending beyond to stab at the heavens. On the side, in block letters which changed colors through the whole neon spectrum, there was a single word written, a name, ‘Thorn.’ He dropped the “e.” Huh. I was reminded of a very old poem I had read, long ago, and the most infamous words of that fell sonnet came unbidden to my lips as I waded through dream Columbia and began to climb the endless black tower. My name is Ozymandius, King of Kings. Look up my works, ye Mighty, and despair!

The tower rose to infinity, and I ascended, hand over hand, ignoring the streams of blood flowing from fresh rents in my palms from grasping the sharpened stone. I glanced back toward the city below, and where Columbia had stood just moments before, I saw nothing but rolling dunes of sand and ash, blowing out of the dry, cracked bed of the empty ocean. Ruin. The eternal price of hubris. Leonard doesn’t care if the whole world is scorched bare in the shadow of his passing- just so long as he leaves his mark on it. This was a man whose only dream was to be remembered forever. I continued my climb toward sterile space, unsurprised. Fear of being lost in time was not uncommon, but it was Leonard’s chief terror. So kind of his waking mind to hand me the knife with which I would kill him; the chisel with which I would shatter him. The last lines of the old poem came to mind. Nothing beside remains. Round the decay of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, the lone and level sands stretch far away.

I emerged from dream state into the inside of Leonard's mind. No neon passage greeted me, no flickering web of pipes and wires like the thoughts of the late Emeric Poole. Instead, I stood on carved cobblestones beneath a vast archway; every stone, every pebble was carved with symbols and runes I could not place. I turned a slow circle, taking in the vast castle, pristine and proud, which stretched out all around me in a colossal monument. A peasant woman bumped into me as she passed, and turned to mutter a hasty apology. I blinked. Beneath the tuft of hastily bound blond hair, I was surprised to see Leonard's face. People, young and old, milled around, tending to various duties and tasks. And every single one of them had Leonard Thorne's face. Okay. Now, this is fucking weird.

A tall, smartly dressed officer leaned on a naked longsword thrust tip-first into the dusty courtyard beyond the archway, speaking to a team of armored knights in a voice pitched to carry. “Listen, boys,” said the officer in Leonard’s voice- though he was affecting a hideous British accent. “Make sure the walls are thoroughly manned. We are surrounded on all sides, and the castle must not be breached by the Psion invaders! The only way to keep us safe from the Psion threat is to maintain the strength of our walls and the vitality in our hearts! We must make time for the Lord to finish his work in the Keep! We must-” I cleared my throat, loudly. The officer turned, startled, and met my eyes. My slit serpent’s eyes. Everything happened very fast. All of the creepy Leonard avatars around me stopped and dropped what they were doing… and drew compact black submachine guns out of nowhere to aim squarely at me. I grinned, extending my vicious fangs. Alright. Let’s do this, then. The officer screamed, British accent forgotten. “Fire!”

Bullets began hammering away, most of them glancing off my armored red hide and tearing away only shreds of my white jumpsuit to reveal the glittering scales beneath. A few of them pierced my body, sending little tingles of pain through my mind, but they were like insect bites, bee stings- they were nothing to the Red Viper. I dropped to all fours and slammed my hands down on the cobblestones, crushing them to dust, pushing through to grasp at the dirt beneath. All around me Leonard clones screamed and charged as their guns ran dry, some bearing swords, others raising roaring chainsaws over their heads. Please. This was a mind game, a test of wills, a war of imagination, and Leonard had given me the perfect idiom in which to play. My arms grew and bulged with overlapping slabs of muscle, my knees reversed as my legs swelled, and a massive saurian tail extended from my tailbone and swept back thirty feet. I was the Red Viper, a serpent, but hadn't Czernobog called me ‘little worm?' What about Big Worm? Red Worm? Where once a strange serpent-scaled woman stood, there now crouched a massive crimson dragon, and I was hungry!

I twisted and swept my tail from side to side, blasting the stone archway behind me into flying shrapnel. I locked my predator eyes on the officer, who was backing away from me, trembling, his battered longsword held out warningly in his unsteady hands. I roared in the voice of a wildfire and spat a ball of burning napalm onto the unfortunate Leonard clone and his knights. They fell, their screams rising to the sky in greasy smoke. Okay, I kinda like being a dragon. I bounded back and forth, smashing buildings and defenders alike. One sweep of my tail and the granary silos fell, spilling protein cubes everywhere. I burned them in a single contemptuous roar. A strike of my claw and the beautiful cathedral to the god Mammon fell in a shower of broken cred sticks and dust. I smashed the library of his memories, incinerated the barracks of his self-confidence, and devoured the armory of his dreams and ideals. Then I spread my wings and leaped into the air. I flapped twice, sending sanguine hurricanes crashing into the collapsing fortress, and slammed myself through the walls of the towering keep.

I resumed my usual shape, not even keeping the Red Viper scales as I rose from the rubble of the demolished tower wall. I wanted the “Lord Thorne,” the core personality of the cruel, arrogant scientist, to recognize me as I tore his mind apart. I stalked up the spiral staircase toward the room at the top. I changed my hair from my short red brush into a long, coppery mane, and then transfigured the tumbling locks into a crown of hissing snakes. I guess he really only needs to recognize my face. A knight came scrambling down the stairs, sword falling like a stroke of lightning, but I shattered it with one fist and seized his breastplate with the other so I could drag him close. Glittering ruby serpents darted through the gaps in his helm and struck! The knight writhed and screamed, and I let him tumble down the stairs, clutching at his venom streaked helm. I ascended, step after step, crushing all resistance daring to stand against me. Finally, I reached the final door. In the ongoing theme of anachronism, this one was a modern steel blast door, with no knob, no control panel- the kind of portal that would only open for the man with the right code in his Lattice. I rolled my eyes, turned my fingertips to claws, and peeled the door from the wall in curling strips of screaming metal. And then I was standing in the office of Lord Thorne, the core of Leonard’s mind.

Unlike all the other avatars I had brutalized, this one wasn’t some sort of bizarre fantasy echo of a medieval stereotype. Leonard Thorne stood in the midst of a well-appointed modern laboratory, dressed in a pristine white suit layered beneath a tailored coat which was half lab jacket and half stylish trench coat. His hair was chalk-white, and his face was graven with all the evidence of the age he hid behind his artificially youthful face. He just stared, horrified, all smug satisfaction gone from his ocean-trench eyes. “You can’t be here!” He screamed, holding his hands as if to ward me off. “I’m trained! I built the walls, made the defenders! A Psion can’t just walk in here! How are you here?! HOW!?” I seized him by the throat with one hand and dragged him toward me. “Please! No! I’ll let you have anything! I’ll let you go! I’ll-” I opened my jaws wide, and poison fangs sprouted from my gums. Before he could speak another word, I plunged my hypodermic teeth into his throat, finding the artery and clamping down hard. The world burst into a shower of prismatic colors and kaleidoscope lights.

* * *

I pushed myself back up from the observation room barrier with one hand; the other pressed hard against my right temple. I was panting like I had just finished a marathon. That was one hell of a migraine! I wondered fleetingly if it was possible that someone had gotten into my head. I smirked. Please. I’ve been dealing with Psions for years, and I was trained to handle this shit. There was no one in my mind but Leonard Thorne, Lord of the Lab. I glared through the plastic barrier at the prone forms of the Wulfen freak and the Hsu girl. This is going to be messy to explain to corporate. How was I supposed to know they would fucking kill each other?! The medical team was already inside, struggling to revive Vivian, who lay unresponsive in a puddle of her own drool. Pathetic. I had such high hopes.

It was simple. There was nothing left for me to do but open all of the damn cages and deactivate all the beta wave emitters. I mean, it didn’t seem to make sense on the outside, but really, there was no reason not to let all the stupid freaks out of their little rat cages. Let them all run out of here! That’s sixty-seven less problem for me to deal with! I’m a busy man! There’s work to be done, and all these psychic guinea pigs are just holding me back! I brought up my Lattice menu, entered my security password, and accessed the main facility overrides. They would probably crucify me in the next board meeting, but who gave a shit what all those old fuckers wanted? If they wanted this stupid facility, they could come down here to this rotten cesspit and run the shithole themselves. Cage locks? Off. Outer doors? Open. Security alert? Canceled. Fuck it. The medic team was looking around, confused. Even through the solid walls of the observation room, I could hear bestial growls and angry shouts echoing from the specimen wards. The increasingly agitated paramedics looked up through the glass at me, looking for instruction, and so they did not see the Wulfen bitch at the back of the testing room push herself up from the ground. Her eyes burned like twin blue stars in her bruised face, and she grinned a frightening mixture of human teeth and lupine fangs. I shrugged and turned to the observation room door, stepping outside as blood spattered the transparent barrier and the screams began.

With a minor Matrix command, I unsealed the testing room door, and then pushed my way inside. The Wulfen girl whirled toward me with a crimson snarl, her eyes wide and fixed in a carnivore stare. She was wild, savage and beautiful, smeared in the blood of her enemies, and I wondered how I could have ever underestimated the fierce will of the beastkin people. My mouth opened, and I spoke, even though I hadn't thought of any of the words. "Hey, Yekaterin. Lookin' good. I'm gonna knock this fucker out now. Get ready; we move in two minutes."

I turned my attention to the back wall of the testing chamber before I could wonder what the hell all this had been about. It was an extremely interesting wall, and I wondered just how long it would take me to smash my head through it. I suppose there’s only one way to find out, Leonard. There was a faint feeling of disquiet in my belly, but I didn’t pay it much mind. I was done listening to doubts, to the haters, to the losers. I knew what I was doing, dammit! Why wouldn’t anyone just listen to me! I braced my hands against the wall, drew myself back, and-

* * *

I opened my eyes just as Leonard's concussed body collapsed to the floor in a heap. I was Vivian Hsu again; I was the Red Viper. I hoped I hadn't done so much damage that Boss Khara couldn't get what he wanted out of the little maggot. My whole body ached, but what else was new? I put my hands on the plastic floor and stopped as my hand squelched in something red. I looked around, simultaneously amazed and horrified at the gory tableau surrounding me. I turned my eyes up, and Yekaterin was standing there, defiant and splashed in red. She held a slick, blood-smeared hand out to help me out. I took it, and she pulled me to my feet. "Holy hell, Yekaterin. You do not fuck around!"

The lanky Wulfen teenager tossed her shaggy hair out of her face and smiled, proud and shy at the same time. “Nope.” She tipped her head toward the unconscious Leonard. “Neither do you…” she trailed off as she realized she didn’t know my name.

“...Red Viper,” I said, answering the unasked question. “Call me Red Viper.” I poked the fallen scientist with the toe of my boot. “Can you carry him? I’m gonna find me a gun, and then we can get the hell out of here.”

* * *

We stepped from the testing lab into a scene of pure chaos. Everywhere I looked, former test subjects were tearing the once pristine laboratory into rubble and ruin. Here, a girl who couldn’t have been more than eight slammed a screaming lab tech’s head against the floor over and over with metronome precision. Her bloodshot eyes were empty of anything that even resembled humanity. There, a bald, eighteen-year-old Minotaur threw a security guard straight up into the ceiling with one arm, so hard the fluorescent light bar exploded in a shower of sparks, and a spiderweb of cracks spread through the white tiles. We moved through the carnage, pausing only to listen as a second a voice began screaming for security over the intercom. An alarm started up in long, pealing sound. We didn’t have much time. The quick-response team would be coming soon.

I led the way to a door labeled “Armory.” It was locked. I glanced around until I saw a security guard, and unfettered by beta wave emitters, I met his staring eyes, reached through the dark windows into his mind and seized his brain stem. Without going all the way in, I couldn’t give overly complicated commands, but this one was simple enough. He stumbled over toward us, drew his pistol, and shot the lockout of the armory door. Then, screaming, he pressed his gun to his temple. I didn’t have to make him pull the trigger. The sheer mental conflict overloaded his mind, and his eyes rolled back in his head. He collapsed to the floor and dropped his gun. I picked it up and held it out to Yekaterin, grip-first. She took it with her free hand, eyes wide with mingled fear, awe, and rage. I nodded grimly to her and stepped into the armory.

The room was stacked with racks of rifles, each of them locked into place with an additional code lock. Only the personnel authorized to a specific weapon would be able to retrieve them. I swore, but as I turned to leave, I spotted the most beautiful thing in the world. Sitting on a table, nested atop a folded red suit, there was my needle gun. I grinned and snatched it off the table, and then, as an afterthought, I put on the red blazer as well. A weight inside the jacket pocket tapped against my hip, and I put my hand inside to feel Elbert Chandra’s cyber-eye still safe inside. I laughed. The Paracell guys hadn’t even thought the little thing was significant. They really hadn’t known about the late Chandra’s little secret modification.

We got out of the armory to find the scene had changed. Gunshots sounded from somewhere further in the building, starting as a steady tattoo of disciplined fire before dissolving into the rapid WHAM WHAM WHAM of panic-fire. The quick-response team was here, though, from the sound of it, they weren't dominating this crowd. It made sense. The last three escapes had been one Psion exercising terrific power- frightening, but able to be overwhelmed by numbers or tactics. This was a mass escape, and some of those test subjects who had escaped were surely mad. The most dangerous kind of enemy was the kind that had nothing to lose. Still, I needed to get out there. I need to get anyone sane enough to listen out of this place before they just bomb the whole place into ash. I knew how corporations like Paracell worked. If they realized the lab was a lost cause, they would just send in a heavy squad with a miniature fusion bomb and collapse the whole place into a smoldering crater. This far down, at the Bottom of the Sprawl, it was unlikely anyone would investigate the rising smoke- beyond a cursory Cleaner sweep to make sure a fire wouldn’t spread to the city at large.

We stepped into the crowd, and I raised my voice as loud as I could muster. “HEY! If you can hear me, we’re getting out of here, but we need to work together! Let’s give these Paracell assholes what’s coming to them! Group up!” I strode through the halls, with Yekaterin beside me, carrying the limp body of Leonard over one of her slim shoulders. Though many of the raging former test subjects didn’t even pause in their destruction of the lab, several fell in with us and followed as we moved in the direction of the gunshots. Within minutes, we were a band of forty-strong. Most of my seething comrades were young, wild-eyed hybrid men and women; while several of them had acquired guns, the others simply bared bloody fangs and dripping claws, prepared to rush anyone who got in our way.

We turned a corner and found the fight we were itching for. A knot of men in black armor was trying to maintain a firing line at the head of the corridor, shooting at the test subjects who ducked and huddled behind whatever meager cover they could find. Bodies were scattered through the hall- and not all of them were dressed in white jumpsuits. As I watched, one of the gunmen started screaming and turned to press the barrel of his rifle into the side of the man next to him, between armor plates. Before the second man could process what was happening, the subverted hitter pulled the trigger and shredded his own comrade's insides with a burst of gauss rifle fire. These mercenaries were supposed to be resistant to mental trickery, but as I had just proven with Leonard, it only meant so much against determined, focused opposition. It was terrifying to behold, as each of the mercenaries gathered to stop my wave of angry escaped test subjects broke; turned his weapon on his fellows or himself, and died. But I couldn't feel too badly for these men, any of them. Yeah, they took the job; yeah, a gig was a gig for a merc. But the truth was simple. Thirty-eight pictures of dead children surfaced in my mind- kidnapped, tortured, murdered, discarded children. Those were just the bodies I knew of. And these fuckers had all been a part of it. I wasn't a firm believer in the virtue of justice- after all, these days Justice was just another corporation to worry about. But had someone approached me right then bearing the golden scales, the blindfold, and the black sword, I would have taken the mantle for just a few moments so I could slaughter everyone who'd had a hand in the facility. I was so outraged, so angry, I didn't recognize the strange breeze gusted down the hallway until I heard the explosion.

We were all thrown to the ground by the thrust of a terrific pressure wave of compressed air, as breaching explosives pulverized the whole front of the laboratory building, exposing the reeking shadows of the Bottom beyond. My ears were filled with toneless ringing, and my eyes watered in the dusty haze. I clambered to my feet, and then checked for Yekaterin. She was alright, though blood trickled from one of her ears- evidence of a ruptured eardrum. She nodded to me, and we saw to the others around us as the dust settled; everyone reclaiming what weapons they had scavenged, bracing for the next threat. I blinked through the haze and saw what waited on the other side of the demolished wall. "DOWN!" I screamed, but too late. The double-ranked formation of power-armored mercenary opened fire. A wave of bullets cut through the haze- and none of us died. What the fuck?

The dust finally cleared, and I realized the whole barrage of gunfire had stopped in the air, less than three inches from the whole group of us escapees. The gunmen, confused, lowered their rifles and looked to their leader, who bellowed "FIRE, YOU IDIOTS!" I caught sight something in the darkness beyond them and began grinning like an idiot. Yakov, you magnificent bastard. The Cleaner emerged from the darkness behind the mercenaries in his full-body armor. His outstretched hand beckoned, and the bullets smashed and deformed against his telekinetic barrier, started to coast back toward him, forming a single line of warped metal pellets. Everyone, gunmen, and escapees alike, watched the trail of bullets with a strange fascination, transfixed by the sheer absurdity of the sight. The leader of the quick-response team screamed an order, and everyone exploded back into action. Half of the mercs turned their attention to Yakov as the bullets surrounded him in a halo of whirling death. The rest shouldered their weapons and turned back to us, knowing that no matter how strong the TK Cleaner was, he could only divide his attention so many ways. There was no way he could catch every bullet in this gunfight, especially if he was trying to maintain two barriers at once. But as we and the mercs all raised our guns, it became evident there was a factor none of us had considered. Yakov was just the distraction from the real threat…

I didn't realize Michi was there until she had already killed three people. And then there she was, whirling amidst the enemy formation in a breathtaking dance; just her and her sword in perfect harmony. The quick-response team started shooting, but they couldn't get on target. Bullets bounced around the hallway in wild ricochet, but not a single one hit any of us escapees. Instead, they stopped dead in the air before zipping away to join Yakov's spinning halo.

I shoved my gun into my jacket pocket. I needed to get in there, but I couldn't risk shooting Yakov or Michi in confusion. This wasn't a gunfight anymore. It had become a knife-fight, and most of the hybrid kids with me had a devastating advantage in that area. "Come on, everyone!" I shouted. "Let's get in there and tear these fuckers apart!" A shout of assent went up from the other escapees, and without waiting for another cue, I charged forward, stopping only to grab a combat knife from the belt of one of the fallen black-armored bodies. We hit the disoriented line of mercs like a sledgehammer, tackling several of them beneath superior numbers and bearing them to the ground to be torn apart. But most of the quick-response team was wearing powered-armor, and their enhanced strength let them wrestle free of the press and fight back. A merc went down; his throat ripped out from beneath his armored collar. A burly young Rakshasa fell in a heap, the side of his head deformed by the blow of an armored fist.

It was chaos; blood and screaming, but even with our number and the addition of Yakov and Michi, the balance was starting to tip in favor of the Paracell hitters. The team’s leader was back in control after the surprise attack, and he directed his men into a fighting square. They braced against the wall and gathered into a tight knot, the men on the outside brandishing mono blade knives and electrified nightsticks. Inside the tight formation, several of the mercenaries raised their guns to their shoulders and began to fire into the brawl, sending young bodies sprawling across the blood-slick tiles.

I didn't see any of the power-armored mercenaries being affected at all by psychic interference, which was surprising. While many of the escapees with me were fighting hand to hand, there were several others hunkered down behind the main fighting line; their eyes were blank as their minds did the fighting for them. I focused and opened my Inner Eye, not diving down into dream state but rather using my expanded sight to look over the whole battle. Sure enough, the majority of the mercenaries were inert to my sight, leaving no trails of emotion, no echoes of personality in their wake. I frowned, watching as Michi dropped low and took the leg from a retreating gunman, dropping him to the ground. He screamed, and he bled, but even as he fountained his lifeblood out onto the floor, he didn't give off a single emotional image to my enhanced sight. He kept struggling, grasping weakly for Michi's leg as she turned away. She whipped back toward him and, with the precision of a trained surgeon, swept her sword through his forehead. The upper quarter of his skull fell away, and instead of the expected gray mush of human brain matter, I saw blue crystal and silver circuits- parts of a positronic brain. Shit. Readers can’t do anything to constructs!

But we didn't just have Readers. Yakov, now surrounded by a veritable cyclone of spent, flattened bullets, turned his attention from us to the phalanx of construct soldiers. Whirling metal peeled out of his orbit and rose up like a glittering ribbon caught in a storm, forming a swirling mass of the heads of the mercenaries as he approached them. His voice distorted into a demon roar by his helmet; Yakov screamed his rage at the gunmen as they tried to turn their fire on him. The barrage of gunfire only added to the gathering doom overhead. The mercenaries tried to break formation, but the furious beastkin wouldn't let them, hemming them in no matter how hard they fought to escape. Yakov, still screaming, twisted and slammed his fist down hard to the floor, shattering the tiles beneath his plated knuckles. The cloud of shrapnel plunged straight down onto the heads of the quick-response team.

Most of the mercenaries in the formation died right then, as their skulls were penetrated and their brains were pulverized. They fell in a cluster of dead and wounded, with those few survivors screaming and writhing beneath their lifeless comrades. Not a single black-armored gunman remained on his feet. We had done it. We just needed to get out before the corporation sent reinforcements. “Everyone out!” I yelled. “Follow the crazy TK, and we’ll get you all out of here! We need to clear out right now!”

* * *

It took us ten minutes to get everyone moving. Michi helped to stabilize the wounded, and those who could walk supported or carried those who couldn’t. The dead were left where they lay- there simply wasn’t enough time to gather up those former test subjects who had met their ultimate fate in the gutted laboratory. We set off at a slow, limping pace, heading for the nearest cargo elevator. Though we would doubtlessly be observed, the more stealthy paths up from the Bottom weren’t really an option for us. There were simply too many of us, too many wounded, and we couldn’t risk a conflict with one of the various gangs infesting the dark cellars of the Sprawl.

I was the last out of the lab, making sure there were no stragglers. There were still some few utter madmen loose in other parts of the facility, but they were beyond my power to help. Leonard had broken them entirely, and I knew even as I stepped out of the structure that this smoldering ruin would be their tomb. Michi patted a wounded Gorgon on her scaly shoulder and turned back to beckon at me. Her eyes went wide. "Vivian! Watch out!"

I dropped into a forward roll, tumbling painfully across the tile as something whooshed through the place where my head had been just a moment before. I came up to my feet and turned, then had to dive aside again as a hissing, snapping, electrified club swept toward me again in a vicious arc. My attacker staggered, and I was able to get a clear look at him as I stood once more. He cast aside his shattered helmet, revealing a familiar snarling face. His amber eyes were bloodshot, and his short, grey-streaked hair was plastered to his head by smears of blood; he was unmistakably the Paracell hitter captain who had shot up the coffeehouse. He had survived the attack at Sidamo Coffee and Tea, he had resisted my giant fear bomb as Yakov, and I had escaped, and now he had somehow walked away from being essentially shot on the top of his head. What the fuck was this guy?

“How?” I said, drawing my pistol and backing away. “How the fuck are you alive?”

The mercenary captain showed his teeth. They looked wrong- there were spider web cracks across several of them, but where the enamel had broken away entirely, there wasn’t blood. His teeth were steel, plated in ceramic to appear ordinary. His face, torn and shredded where he had been shot, bled- but not nearly as much as it should have. Then I saw it; when he turned his head to glance at the retreating band of hybrids. His skull had been armor plated. It shone dully in the unsteady fluorescence of the sparking overhead lights as he grinned. “Got blown up a while back, in a Justice Inc. raid. Signed on to a lifelong gig with Paracell if they could put me back together.” He shrugged. “They did.”

"You're fully cyborg. You're mostly a robot." I circled him, and he followed, still grinning.

“All but the brain and some of the organs. The blood is mainly to keep the damn Originals off my ass, though I do need some of it to keep what little meat I have alive.” He whirled his crackling club in one hand. “There isn’t much of anything left for you Psion freaks to fuck with. Turns out being mostly metal and plastic makes it difficult for your powers to grab me.” He sighed, his breath coming out in a rasping, metallic rush. “Doesn’t really help me much against TK lunatics like your bud back there, but I’ll get him eventually. I figure an anti-tank rifle can punch right through his barriers. I’ve done it before to guys like him.”

I laughed. “Won’t work, asshole. You haven’t met anyone like him. Some asshole like your boss made him into a bullet-catching machine. I watched him catch a heavy railgun shot while he was damn near unconscious, and throw it back into the sniper’s face.”

"So this is what happened to Johnson. Guess that's one more beating I owe you, freak." The mercenary captain snarled and swung the club at me. I dodged and fired my needle gun from the hip, but the bursting shot exploded against his armored belly with little effect. I dove backward to avoid a heavy downswing and came up on my feet, raising my pistol to fire at the captain's face. He twisted away from the burst of needles and turned the motion into a stepping spin, swinging backhand at my head. I ducked and jammed the barrel of my gun up under his extended arm as I squeezed the trigger.

The captain reeled back away from me, shrieking in pain. I tried to sight his head, but he jabbed the head of the club into my chest, hard, driving the breath from my lungs. Electricity seared through my body, and I stumbled and fell, dropping my gun. I scrambled backward as the raging mercenary pressed a hand to the wound under his arm. I wasn't sure what real flesh I had hit, but it seemed to have caused him pain. He switched the club into his other hand and lunged forward to try and smash me down, even as I got my feet beneath me to stand. I leaped aside, but the club struck me a glancing blow across my shoulder, and my left arm went numb. The shock burned, but I kept moving. I had been lucky he had only clipped me. A solid hit would be the end of me. I staggered against the nearby wall and searched about desperately for a weapon.

There was a whistling sound, and before I could even think to wonder what it was, Michi’s sword came twisting out of the dark, thrown with such unbelievable precision I felt the wind of its passing as it clove the air and struck the wall beside me. I didn’t wait for it to stop vibrating. I seized the leather and steel wrapped hilt of the sword with my good hand and drew it out of the wall. The mercenary captain glanced at the sword, and then backed up to me. He smirked. “Yeah, that thing’s cute, but what the fuck are you gonna do with it?” He came for me in a twisting upward strike, confident he could kill me in my inexperience. In any other situation, he might have been right.

But the whole world seemed to slow before me as the electrified club came rocketing toward my chin. The sword in my hand felt wrong. I wasn't holding it right, and it was, of course, obvious I should take it in both hands, step back, and bring it sweeping downward in time with the movement of my feet. The blade fell across the rising club in musical harmony and sheared through the crude weapon as if it had been made of paper. It was a matter of simple geometry for me to flow into the motion, drawing the hilt back toward my hip and lowering the razor tip of Michi's sword to the shocked mercenary's left eye. I lunged forward, opening my stance, thrusting with just my good arm and leaning out onto my right leg. The sword slid straight through the cybernetic eye, slicing along the orbital ridge of the armored skull and plunging straight through into the soft tissue of the captain's brain. He made a strangled, squawking sound and fell back as the blade came free. I raised my hands so that the sword angled elegantly past my cheek, and I could see my reflection in the rippling steel. Then, as the merc fell to his knees, I stepped back and clove his head from his shoulders in a single blow.

I held a defensive guard for a moment and then flicked blood from the sword with a contemptuous flick of my wrist. I blinked and fell out of the sword-fighting stance, surprised. “What the fuck was that? I don’t know how to fight with a fucking sword!” I looked down at the hilt in my hand, my heart thumping in my chest. “How the hell?”

Michi appeared beside me, smiling slyly. “Mikadzuki is a perfectionist. She doesn’t allow herself to be wielded clumsily.” I held the sword out her, eager to let go of the thing, but the street doc held up one pale hand in gentle denial. “Keep her until this is all done. I can’t help you any further. I had to hire temps to help me with all the wounded Clankers, and this was the absolute longest I could be away from my clinic.” She held up the sheath which matched her sword.

I took it and carefully put away the incredible weapon. “Michi,” I began, but she cut me off.

“You’re my friend, Vivian. It was the least I could do. Now go catch up with those kids and make sure they get home. I need to return to my work.” She bent and picked up my pistol, holding it out for me to take. “Just take care of Mika, alright? I do want her back.”

I caught my friend in a tight hug before she could react. “Thank you,” I whispered. “I’ll bring her back, I promise.” We broke apart, and Michi was standing still in apparent shock. She was always saying she was just a glorified machine, but I knew better. Michi was as human as any of us. I smiled and said, “I’ll see you soon.” Then I turned and followed the group of escapees as Yakov led them on toward the elevator.

* * *

Chapter Thirteen

The great, musclebound Kodiak bearkin sentry was not happy to see me again. He looked even less happy to see a crowd standing off across the bridge to the Efficient Housing Pod. With the sheer number of wounded, Yakov and I were shepherding, I couldn't risk bringing them right up to the Jvotneya gang's door; it could be taken as an attack, particularly with the gang's sentries smelling hybrids from other communities. Doubtlessly, once the situation was made clear, Boss Khara would take the score of rescued children into his territory and care for them. Until then, however, I didn't want to run the risk of jumpy guards getting trigger-happy. So Yekaterin and I approached the gate and its giant bruiser of a guard alone. The Wulfen girl was still burning with the furious energy of our escape, and she carried Leonard over her shoulder with easy strength. I walked beside her, Michi's sheathed sword slung over one shoulder by a strap attached to the blade. The big bearkin stood from his stool and held out one massive, clawed hand, the other falling to the butt of his gigantic revolver. He showed me his teeth. "Slippery woman. You won't be getting past me tonight."

“No,” I replied, my tone casual. “You’re going to go find your boss and tell him the job’s finished.”

The Kodiak snorted with derision. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Yeah,” said Yekaterin, her voice carrying a note of a dangerous growl from deep in her throat. “Yeah, you will, Hester, or I’ll tell everyone in earshot about the time you lost a fight with a ratkin masseuse.” She grinned, her expression somewhere between a fond smile and a challenge. “After I kick your ass, of course.”

Hester blinked and leaned forward, then took a long breath in through his nose. “Yekaterin? Goddamn, girl, we thought you were dead!” He frowned. “You smell different, though. Who are you carrying?”

I answered him, taking a step toward the gate. "A man who your Boss is gonna want to have words with. Now you gonna get outta my way? Or am I gonna have to make you shorter?" The hair on the back of his neck stood on end, and I smirked. "Don't even try it, kitty. I'll turn your brain to oatmeal." The Wulfen girl could probably get us in the gate, but I couldn't back down at all. This man had already been humiliated once. If I gave him half an excuse, he was probably going to try to even the score. I doubted I would survive a close range fight with a bear hybrid, so I stuck to towering arrogance and a mountain of bluster.

Yekaterin sighed. “Just let us in. I’m not hurt, but most of the people back by the bridge have been a little bit beat up. There was a fight going here.”

Hester shrugged. “You live here, Yekaterin. You can go in. Your friend gets to sit out here and work on her attitude.” He leered at me. “When the Boss comes out here and tells me to let her in, then I’ll move for her.”

I sighed. “Alright then. Go on in Yekaterin. I’ll hang out here with the dumb and ugly.” Hester bristled, but Yekaterin stepped between him and me, moving with such undeniable purpose the Kodiak fell back to avoid being shoulder-checked. The moment his attention left my face, I opened my Inner Eye, reached my mind into the glittering cloud of thoughts surrounding his broad, humorless face, and clamped down hard on several of the reflexes floating beneath his conscious mind. There was a strong, sharp smell of ammonia and shit. The surprised bearkin stumbled back, found both of his legs cramping furiously, and fell hard onto his back. I snorted and followed Yekaterin. Just before I stepped through the gate, I pointed at the patch of darkness I figured held the hidden Rakshasa sentry. Without turning to look in his direction, I said, conversationally. “It’s been a long day. Don’t make me kill you with my brain.” Then I crossed the threshold into Jvotneya territory and jogged to catch up with Yekaterin.

* * *

Boss Khara came out of his office to meet us. His smile was fierce and relieved the moment he laid eyes on the returned teenager, though I detected a faint edge of interest on his face as his eyes alighted on the concussed Leonard crumpled limply over her shoulder. "It is good to see you alive, girl. Welcome home."

Yekaterin returned the smile, and for a moment, the hard survivor’s stoicism she had worn since we had left the testing chamber cracked, and I could see the teenage girl beneath. “Are- are my mom and dad mad?”

Khara laughed; a deep resounding belly laugh which made goosebumps ripple over my arms. “Child, you were kidnapped. Why ever would they be angry with you? They’ve missed you!” He stepped forward and caught her up in a hug. “Let’s get you home.”

Yekaterin’s face crumpled for a moment, but she stilled her expression, denying the tears. “Not yet. First, I brought you a present.” She stepped back from Khara and then dropped Leonard at his feet. At the impact, the scientist groaned and rolled, his hands scrabbling for his head. “This is the guy who had me taken- me and many others. Red Viper and her friends got about twenty of us out. The rest are back by the bridge, and we have wounded.”

“They’re all beastkin children,” I added quietly. “I didn’t know from which community each one was- there wasn’t time for a survey. So I brought them all here to you.”

Boss Khara nodded in acknowledgment. "Very well. I will have the rest brought in so they can be cared for. We cannot turn our own kind away."

Maybe you should tell your sentry that, I thought. I didn’t say it out loud, though. There was no need to jab at the Jvotneya boss, not when he was about to do what I wanted. Instead, I smiled politely. “Could you tell your sentries to let us all in? I don’t think the Kodiak likes me.”

We brought the rescued beastkin children into the compound with no further interference. It turned out only two more of them had been taken from the Jvotneya community- to include the dead-eyed eight-year-old I had seen tearing mercenaries limb from limb at the lab. I watched as they were reunited with their families and winced. It was good to see this homecoming, but those kids were going to need serious time to recover from their ordeal. Even as I watched, a massive tattooed Gorgon man picked up a sobbing Rakshasa child and held him to his scaly chest, his expression equal parts pain and grim determination. His child had not come home today, I guessed, and somehow, instead of being broken beneath his sorrow he was comforting one of those lost survivors who weren't home yet. I felt a hard knot rise in my throat as I watched similar scenes play out in the midst of the community housing block, trying not to think about my parents and failing. How your mother wept, said Leonard’s smug voice in my memory. Really sold everyone on the Argent Corp security contract she was pushing. I shook my head and spat, and then turned back to the gaggle of rescued test subjects. I could feel sorry for myself later. There was work to do now. I pushed through the crowd in the direction of Boss Khara’s office. He wouldn’t like how I had acquired the files, but the pictures the leopard Rakshasa, Emerson, had sent would make the process of getting the kids home much easier. Work swallowed pain. It always had.

* * *

It was most of the day to sort the rescued ones and make contact with their home communities. The various hybrid gangs weren’t all friendly, in the same way, not every vanilla human crew running the Sprawl tolerated others like them. I hadn’t really thought they all got along, but I had underestimated how much of a diplomatic incident I had caused bringing all the survivors to Boss Khara’s door. He didn’t seem to be holding it against me, and I thought he looked genuinely pleased to be able to help so many children thought to have been lost forever. Still, I could see the age in the Jvotneya boss' face more clearly than I had before as he bid the last of the survivors goodbye and stomped back toward his office. Even tired as he was, Boss Khara was not ungracious when it finally came time to deal with me. When I told him some of the circumstances surrounding the whole mess, he forgave me the indiscretion of bringing another clan into his clan's trouble. "Truth is," he said regretfully, staring down at the images of the dead beastkin children I had retrieved from the reclaimers, "I should have reached out to the others long ago. Maybe some of these kids would still be alive if we weren't all so damned stiff-necked about our pride." I didn't say anything to that, not sure what I could say that wouldn't come across as patronizing. After a moment, he looked up and met my eyes with his yellow gaze. "I won't take offense to how you handed Hester- after all, you were outside my gates. But you should be aware he will never forgive you the humiliation. You should watch your back around him in the future."

I nodded and sighed. "You beastkin aren't the only ones with tempers. I'll probably have to fight him one day."

Boss Khara snorted. "That I would pay to see. You seem to have a knack for fighting people you have no business tangling with. You remind me of my late wife." He smiled nostalgically. "That woman had one hell of a mouth. I couldn't go to bars with her because if there was a fight, she was always the first to pick up a chair." The smile slipped from his face as his eyes focused back on the present, back on me. "I imagine you wish to discuss your pay."

I inclined my head. “I know you’re good for the money. I just need to ask you a favor.”

“Name it,” said the old Rakshasa without even a second of hesitation.

"I need a place to sleep tonight. Until Paracell is dealt with, I can't go home to my coffin. And my buddy outside wore himself out today. I don't want him trying to walk across six sectors just to get home."

I didn't precisely hold my breath, but even so, I felt the tension release in my shoulders as Khara answered. "Of course. I will have a spare apartment prepared for you. However, there is only one available, so you and your friend will have to share."

I thought about it for a moment and then shrugged. I was too tired to worry about something like privacy. "Sounds great, Boss Khara. Thank you."

Khara smiled. "No, thank you. Come and see me in the morning, though. I think you should be there when I deal with Mr. Thorne."

* * *

I stepped out of Khara’s office. Yakov was leaning against the wall, with his arms folded over his armored chest, looking around at the clustered houses and flickering barrel fires with languid interest. “Hey,” I said. “I got a place for us to crash tonight. You look tired.”

Yakov grimaced. “It’s not that bad.” He passed his masked helmet from one hand to the other. “I caught a lot of bullets today, but not all at once like at the coffee shop.” He shrugged. “Still got a nosebleed, but I didn’t try to give myself a brain hemorrhage. I figure your friend Michi helped with that.” He shook his head. “Never seen anyone move like her. She’s unreal.”

“She is pretty amazing,” I agreed. “Though don’t let her catch you saying that- it’ll go to her head.” There was a chorus of shouts from somewhere behind me, and I turned to look. There was a sort of a tavern set up not far from Boss Khara’s office, and I tilted my head toward it. “I still owe you a drink- probably more than one after the stunt you pulled at the lab.”

Yakov grinned. “I suppose I could be convinced.”

I gave him an obvious once-over from his feet to his face, taking in his battered armor, his sweat-slicked dark skin, and the glittering humor dancing in his amber eyes. I returned his smile. "Well, I'm going to get a drink whether you're coming or not." I turned and walked toward the bar, putting a little extra sway in my step. The white jumpsuit might not have been my usual style, but it was tight-fitting in my hips and chest.

I wasn’t surprised at all when Yakov caught up, his grin wolfish. “I guess I’m convinced.”

I smirked and nudged him with my shoulder. “Please. There was no way you weren’t taking me up on that drink.”

We stepped up to the bar, which was really an arranged stack of wooden crates beneath a rickety wooden awning. There were mismatched tables and chairs set all around it, and most of them were full. I saw a few of the survivors of the Paracell labs in the crowd- mostly the older kids like Yekaterin who had come out of the lab fighting tooth and claw. I exchanged nods with a tall bearkin and made my way to the counter, where a fully furred white tiger Rakshasa was tending bar. He dipped his great, shaggy head toward me. “What can I get for you two?”

I glanced over toward Yakov, who had collected a couple of stools for us to sit on. He shrugged. "I'm cool with whatever."

"What's the local special?" I asked. Every community down in the Sprawl had their own form of moonshine. Many of those concoctions would mess you up really bad, but I had become partial to a certain mixture from out of Red Russia and the other Slavic cultures.

The bartender raised an eyebrow at me, but when I didn’t react, he shrugged and opened one of the crates which made up his bar. From within he drew out a thick, recycled bottle filled with a slightly cloudy colorless liquid. He unscrewed the cap and took a sniff. “Second batch reactor-stilled samogon, from a couple of our people in a local power plant. This isn’t exactly for vanillas.”

I smirked at him. “Do I look vanilla to you?”

“Alright,” conceded the bartender. “Ten creds for two.”

"Open a tab for ‘Red Viper.'" I replied. I took a seat on the stool Yakov had dragged over for me. He sat down at his. A moment later, the bartender set two tin mugs in front of us. We collected our drinks. I raised mine in a toast. "To good friends," I said. "Who stuck out their necks for me when I needed it."

Yakov smiled but seemed uncomfortable being the subject of praise. He raised his mug, and we clinked drinks before taking long pulls of the sharp-smelling liquid. The Cleaner winced as he swallowed the moonshine. "What is this stuff, rocket fuel?"

“Near enough,” I replied. “Sorts out all the body’s needs.” I took a deep breath. “Seriously, though, I’m real grateful you came to get me. Michi I expected, but I wasn’t sure if you’d be there.”

Yakov looked wounded. “What do you mean?”

God, I'm making a mess of this. “I mean, we’ve known each other maybe a week, and you went down to that lab with the full intention of fighting everyone inside it. It would have been like thirty-to-one odds. Michi’s been my friend for years, and honestly, if she had gone in herself, she probably would have slipped out of there in the middle of the night or some other ninja shit. You and I, however, have known each other for what, a week?” I took another sip of the samogon, closing my eyes as the pungent stink of it ripped through my brain and left silence in its wake. I could feel my shoulders and back relaxing. “So decided to pull a smash and grab on a corporate dark site- just the two of you- on the basis of seven days’ knowing me?”

Yakov shrugged and looked away. “I just didn’t think you deserved to die down there. I’ve been some fucker’s guinea pig before, and the thought of someone doing the same to you… well, it bothered me.” He took a swig of his drink to hide his face from me for a moment. I fought back my smile. It was funny seeing a hard-case like Yakov being shy.

"Well, I'm real glad you did what you did." I leaned forward on my stool. "And you were right about one thing."

“What was that?” He answered quizzically.

"You said I could be dangerous with a little training. Well, I got a little of that training I needed while I was locked up- it wasn't really even training. He just showed me a single trick, and it was a very potent one."

Yakov frowned. “Who trained you in Psionics while you were locked up?”

“Now that is a strange story," I said, placing my empty mug back on the bar to be refilled. "You're gonna want more hooch for this." Yakov got his mug refilled as well, and I told him about the dark world beneath the Morpheus and the things that dwelled there. I told him about the Paracell experiments with Project Marianas, and then, once it was all laid out, I told him about my deal with the entity named Czernobog.

At the mention of the name, Yakov nearly spit out his liquor. “Czernobog? You met fucking Czernobog? And you made a deal with him?”

I shrugged. "I had no other way out of that place. I needed help, and I couldn't reach anyone else. I was only able to get a message out after he showed me how to…” I stopped. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

Yakov’s face had hardened into a mask, but I could still see the warring emotions of fear, skepticism, and confusion as they battled behind his eyes. “Red, you do know who Czernobog is, right?”

I frowned. "Yeah, I met him. He's some kind of ghost, or spirit or something floating around in dream state. I figure he might have been a powerful Psion or something, and that he left quite an impression behind when he died." I tilted my head to one side. "I suppose I don't know who he was before he became a hideous monster. Why? Do you know?"

Yakov just stared at me. “You know I’m Slavic, right? From my mom’s side, where the Jewish blood runs. Anyway, anyone of Slavic descent knows about Czernobog. Just ask anyone in this bar. Ask the bartender, in fact.”

The barkeep came back over, thinking Yakov was calling for him. With a growing sense of foreboding, I smiled up at the Rakshasa and asked, “could you please tell me who Czernobog is?”

The barkeep reacted like I had just sprouted a second head. He immediately made a strange gesture and hissed, “Are you out of your mind?!”

“Ummm…”

"You don't say that name here! I don’t know much about all those old stories, but this one? Shit, last time someone started talking openly about that guy, a whole goddamned Coffin stack burned down- out west in Francisco." He saw the confused look on my face, and his expression softened, though he shot a slit-pupil glare at Yakov. I distinctly heard it as he thought, You should fucking well know better. “Look,” the barkeep said, quietly. “That name is a really old one, like a few thousand years old. And it belongs to a god you really shouldn’t take lightly.”

“A god?”

“Yeah,” answered Yakov. “An old Slavic god of evil and misfortune. Maybe those are just stories, but nowadays?” The Cleaner sighed and glanced to the barkeep for confirmation. “Nowadays, people have seen some real weird shit out in the wastes. There are stories running around of people back during the war who claimed to be that particular god.”

I shook my head. This was some elaborate joke. It had to be. Literal gods? That was insane. "Those stories are just nonsense, right? You guys are just fucking with me, right?" How did Yakov get the bartender in on this?

The bartender shook his head gravely. “I met one of those guys, like forty years ago. I was running a bounty, and this big Kodiak lug I was chasing claimed to have been chosen by the old dark one. The lunatic was not a witch- I knew he didn’t have a drop of Psion blood in him. But that didn’t stop him from freezing two of my crew solid as if he was a walking blizzard or something. Killed those two guys right out, and shattered them into pieces with his fist. I have never seen anything like it. I cut my losses, dropped the contract, and hoped the thing in that big bearkin’s head hadn’t taken notice of me.”

I stared. “Okay, so maybe I met Czern- maybe I met a being like that. But it doesn’t make him this ancient god from your culture’s myths. Maybe he is just some kind of Psionic ghost- we don’t know how all of this works, not really. Maybe he just took the name as time went on because he wanted to scare people.”

“Maybe,” said Yakov, sounding unconvinced. “But that doesn’t change the fact something very much like the legends has been running around in recent years.” He sighed. “Look, this isn’t something we should talk about here anyway. Let’s just finish our drinks so we can go get cleaned up.” I sighed and nodded in agreement.

Just as we were finishing our drinks, an older gentleman approached us. He was a silver-haired Wulfen man with mostly ordinary features, but for the odd structure of his face and the dark orbs of his eyes. “Red Viper?”

“Yes?”

“I’ve come to take you and your friend to your accommodation for the night. We don’t have much to spare, but we hope you will find the room sufficient.” I stood up, placed my empty mug and a cred stick on the counter, and followed the older man out of the tavern. Yakov followed me, clearly still shaken by my revelation about the root of my escape.

The elderly Wulfen man led us across the community square to a short flight of concrete stairs which led up to a row of identical square apartments. They each had a door and a window, and a wooden awning had been set up over the whole row; it was meant to protect anyone standing in one of the doorways from runoff which might come streaming in across the high roof of the EFP. We stopped at one of the apartments, and the older man turned a key in the lock before turning and handing the key to me. I reached out to take the key, but the older man didn't let go. He smiled down at me, his eyes crinkling around the sides. "You saved my daughter, Red Viper. If you ever need anything, you get in contact with my family, and we will do whatever we can to help you out."

I returned the smile, and then, glancing down at my scuffed and torn jumpsuit, said, “well, I suppose I could use some clothes. Whatever you have really, jeans and a t-shirt would be fine.”

The Wulfen man nodded. “You’re about the same height as my wife. I’ll see what I can do.” He put a hand on Yakov’s shoulder as he passed. “I’ll see if I can get you something a little more comfortable than that armor too, my man.” Then he swept off down the stairs and disappeared into the shadows of the village.

I pushed the door open. The apartment was much as I had expected; it was a single room with a single plastic framed bed, a desk, and a dresser. A door in the back led to what I presumed to be a bathroom. I stepped inside and crossed the room to the desk, setting down my gun and Michi's sword before shrugging out of the red blazer and tossing it over the battered aluminum folding chair standing nearby. I stuck my head into the bathroom and sighed with relief. A full shower. A damn sponge bath like I had gotten used to living in my Coffin wouldn't cut it. I needed to stand beneath the hot water and relax. I straightened back up to see Yakov eyeing the little bed. "It seems I'll be sleeping on the floor," he said. "This thing would barely fit me by myself." I took a second look at the bed and had to agree. It was little more than a cot; a thin mattress braced in a cheap frame. I was grateful for it, but it was definitely lacking if the two of us were planning to sleep in it. I smirked to myself. Unless we get real close.

I turned back toward the bathroom, one hand scrabbling up by my neck for the zipper to the white jumpsuit. Then, in a single motion, I drew the zipper down over my shoulder and down the side-seam where it opened. I shrugged my arms out of the sleeves and let the whole thing fall to hang about my hips. The air in the apartment was a little chilly with the night, and goosebumps stood up across my bare skin. I turned my head to look over my shoulder at Yakov. He had turned around politely, though I could feel his interest in the air. I didn't have to open my Inner Eye to know what he was thinking about. Good. Cause I’m already there. “No need for you to just stand around in your armor there, tiger. Shower’s big enough for two.”

Yakov turned around. I could feel his eyes on me like hot spotlights as he turned back toward the bathroom. I wriggled my hips and let the jumpsuit fall all the way to the floor. I stepped out of the little pile of cloth and slipped into the bathroom, stopping just long enough to glance back at the Cleaner. He gave me a crooked grin and released the clasps in the sides of his armor. The chest and back plates fell free to land with heavy thuds on the concrete floor. The padding layers he wore beneath the armor did little to disguise his physique, and I let my little glance turn into a lingering look. The man looked like he had been cast in iron. I turned away from him and went to the shower to turn it on. I said a little prayer to the plumbing gods as the water clunked through the old pipes for a few seconds, and then wonderful hot spray fell across my waiting hand. Perfect. The water smelled of minerals, likely drawn up from one of the vast reservoirs buried deep beneath the Sprawl. I drew the curtain aside and stepped into the water, letting it wash over my face, neck, shoulders, and chest for a moment. I let out a sigh. It was easy to forget how tired and sore you were- right up until you relaxed the tiniest bit. I leaned my forearms against the tiled wall of the shower and rested my forehead against them. Goddamn, I was tired. It had been a long few days, and the work still wasn't done. I thought about my deal with Czernobog and wondered for the first time during the whole hectic day where the Gamma-Five Chimera had gone. He hadn't been at the lab. So where was he?

Strong hands settled on my shoulders, and even though I had expected him to come in, I jumped. Yakov mumbled an apology and began to rub the muscles of my shoulders and neck, slowly and gently. I sighed. Okay, I could get used to that. “Oh, it’s been a long day,” I whispered over the clatter of the falling water. “And this is just what I needed.”

I could hear the smile in Yakov’s voice as he murmured, “what, you don’t break out of corporate black sites every day?”

I laughed, but the laugh turned almost immediately into a groan as Yakov’s fingers found a knot in my left shoulder. It was the place where I carried all of my tension, and I was long used to the tightness there. What I wasn’t accustomed to was the relentless ease with which Yakov broke the knot apart, switching between grinding at it with his thumbs and pulling the tension away with dragging motions of his fingers. For a time all thought went out of my head, and I just leaned against the wall as he massaged my aching back. I was lost somewhere between the wonderful pain of his hands working on all the old aches and the soothing rush of the hot water.

I might have fallen asleep standing up, right there in the shower, if I hadn’t suddenly become aware of Yakov’s broad, deft hands slipping smoothly around me, sliding over my shoulders and down toward my chest. I gasped as his fingers traced lines of water over my breasts and scuffed at my nipples, which were now standing straight out as my body began to come awake. I leaned back into Yakov’s strong frame, reaching up and behind me to stroke his stubble cheek as he began to gently rub and caress electric pulses of excitement out of my body. My breath began to quicken, syncing to the hypnotic movements of those wonderful, rough hands. I could feel his hardness against me as I pressed back into his chest. I hadn’t realized how much taller than me he really was. I didn’t mind that at all.

One of Yakov’s hands strayed downward, and as his fingers found their way inside me, he began to lay a line of kisses down my neck, each one timed to a movement of his hand. I moaned and sighed as pleasure sprouted from a single burning point and blossomed up through my whole body, turning my back into a bow and sending tantalizing shivers crawling up my spine. Yakov teased my breasts with one hand and stoked the fire between my legs with the other. After just a few eternities disguised as seconds, the expanding blossom of joy sent its tendrils twisting up through my belly and out into my whole body. The orgasm exploded up through me and rocked me back against him, dragging a plaintive cry out of my throat. “Oh, oh god!” He held me up as the surge of pleasure rocked through my body, keeping me standing even as my knees buckled beneath the onslaught.

I came back to myself after a while, and rather than being quenched and satisfied, I found the fire deep inside me burning even hotter than before. It had been a long time for me, and I needed this. I needed more! I carefully got down on my knees beneath the falling water and took Yakov into my mouth. I felt his whole body stiffen as I teased him with my tongue, and he broke his silence with a low groan. I stayed that way for a minute, tasting him, licking him, sucking the sensation out through his body. Then I stood and turned off the water. The shower wasn’t going to cut it any longer.

I seized a towel from a bar on the wall of the bathroom and tossed it over the mattress before pushing Yakov down onto the little cot. It creaked threateningly beneath his weight, but I didn't care. Our neighbors were just going to have to put up with it. I threw a leg over him, straddled his hips, and maneuvered his manhood into the right position. Then, bracing my palms against his chest, I pressed myself down against him, taking him all the way inside me. If it had felt wonderful to have his fingers inside me, this was a whole new level of magnificent sensation. Another cry escaped my throat, high and piercing. Yakov reached up and seized my breasts in both of his hands and began to massage and stroke them, with his fingers tracing through an intriguing little dance across my skin. Bursts of electric ecstasy twisted down from my chest to meet the rising pillar of excitement inside me. I couldn't stop a little "oh" from escaping my body with every breath. I rode him like that for a long time, each movement of my hips slow and torturous. I wasn't going to let this be over quickly; I was going to savor this, savor him. But just as those thoughts passed through my mind, his rhythm changed, gaining an inexorable desperation. He climbed, and I climbed with him, and our voices rose and sang over and around each other in an ever accelerating duet. Faster, and faster, higher and higher, and I couldn't think of anything but that gathering force, the edge, the peak as I rushed toward it-, and then he came. Hot seed shot into me as he writhed, and his hands clamped down hard on my breasts, dragging me across the boundary of my own beautiful agony. When I climaxed, it was as if the whole world went away for a second, and I floated in darkness with a universe of potential around me. I was like a bird which had reached the peak of her ascent, and I hung in weightlessness, defiant of distant gravity. Stars burst behind my closed eyelids, and my body clenched around Yakov in concentric spasms of incredible sensation. Then I collapsed forward onto Yakov's chest, my body tingling with satisfaction.

I lay there atop Yakov for a while, just breathing and listening to his heartbeat as his spent body pulled him down into sleep. I wriggled my hips, fully releasing him, and slipped down on a sliver of the cot beside him. Mostly lost to sleep, Yakov still managed to turn onto his side and give me a little room, so I cuddled up close to him and closed my eyes, basking in the afterglow. Eventually, pleasant swirling thoughts gave way to the encroaching torpor of dream state, and I slipped down toward sleep. Just before consciousness left me, I might have heard a voice whispering in my ear, ‘You will never escape my sight, Vivian Hsu.’ But in the haze of deepening sleep, I was incapable of focusing on the vaguely disturbing words, and I fell all the way into sleep.

…

I woke to a call notification blinking bright blue in the corner of my eye- bright even though my eyelids were closed. It must have been flagged urgent to punch through sleep. I opened my eyes groggily, pausing for a moment when I realized I was curled up next to the naked, sleeping form of Yakov Berkowitz. I remembered all at once and smiled. That had been good. Really good. The blinking light got my attention again, and I frowned. What was so urgent? I opened the call.

“Viper,” said a tight, concerned voice. “Red Viper, you there?”

“Ugh, yes,” I subvocalized, not wanting to wake Yakov. The Lattice picked up the low vibrations and translated them into a rough approximation of speech. “What’s up?”

“Red, it’s Squeaks. You need to get down to the Rose Garden right fucking now.”

Oh shit! My stomach plummeted down to land somewhere around my toes. Yakov and I had hidden the Chandra family at the IUSW brothel, and if Squeaks was calling me in, then something bad was going down. Gamma-Five had not been at the lab! I smacked my forehead into my palm. I hadn't thought about it! I stood from the bed, cursing. I glanced over at the crumpled white jumpsuit I had worn the day before. I was just resigning myself to putting the damn thing back on when I looked over and caught sight of the little note taped to the outside of the apartment's window. The curtains over the single window weren't entirely closed. I sighed. Hopefully, I hadn't given everyone a show. Ultimately it didn't matter- the first thing you lost when you moved down into the lower Sprawl was the obsession with privacy. I stepped toward the window and squinted at the note. In black, block letters, it read: "Clothes by the door." I picked up the red blazer and held it to my front so I wouldn't flash everyone when I opened the door. Sure enough, there was a neat pile of folded clothes by the door, along with a little sealed plastic packet. I scooped the whole pile up in my arms and shuffled inside, then kicked the door shut and set the clothes down. I drew the curtains completely closed over the window, and then picked up the little plastic bubble. I recognized the logo- a Control-Z brand morning-after pill. Well, that was courteous. I opened the packet, popped the pill into my mouth, and dry-swallowed it. So a Wulfen really could smell details about a person's sex life. Huh. That sounded like a fucking nightmare.

I scrambled into the clothes- an old t-shirt and jeans which fit me well enough. The boots were only a little too big. Hopefully, I wouldn't have to fight like this- but with the way the last week or so had gone, I wasn't holding out much hope. I just repeated to myself the Chandras were alive, over and over. They are. They have to be! Paracell doesn’t just get to win like this! I stalked over to the desk and seized my pistol, then stuffed it into the back of my waistband. Then I slung Michi’s sword across my shoulders. I couldn’t draw the sword that way, but right now it wasn’t a concern. I needed to move fast. “Emergency?” Yakov asked quietly, and I almost jumped out of my skin.

“Jesus, Yakov, I thought you were asleep.” I turned and stomped toward the door. “And yeah, there’s probably an emergency. Got a call from the Rose Garden. I think my client is in danger. Sorry, I would stay and chat, but I have to run.”

“You want backup?” Yakov sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. “Won’t take me but a few minutes to get armored up.”

I smiled at him, regretting what I was going to have to say. “No, Yakov, I can’t have you with me for this one. I’m probably going after Gamma-Five. I can’t risk that thing getting inside your head and making you come after me. I’m not even sure I can stop him.”

“Isn’t Gamma-Five the host of Czernobog?” Yakov frowned, standing and beginning to search around for the padding garment which went under his armor. “I thought you had a deal with him.”

“And I thought you couldn’t say the name.” I sighed. “Czernobog is trapped, Yakov. Gamma-Five is under the direct control of Paracell- probably through some kind of cyber-rig connected to an implant in his spine. My deal means nothing until the Chimera body is dead.”

“So you’re just going to let an evil god out into the world?” Yakov’s voice didn’t carry any judgment, just curiosity.

“No,” I said, grabbing the latch of the door. “I’m going to save my client. The evil god thing is incidental.” Not if you don’t keep up your end of the bargain, some part of me said. He said he would have his due. Are you sure you want to test that? I really didn't. But I also didn't have time to talk it out with Yakov. I yanked the door open, and then stopped and sent a message to Yakov's Lattice containing the location of the Paracell data dump. "If you want to help, you can contact the hacker Blackout and ask him to retrieve the files I left at this address. Your friends with the Silvered Stag will know how to reach him. Give Khara the key to the apartment when you clear out and tell him I’m sorry I couldn't be there to watch him deal with Leonard. I'll catch you later if I'm still alive." I stepped through the door and immediately began running.

“Good luck!” Yakov’s call followed me out the door. I didn’t slow down. I just sprinted straight for the Metro.

* * *

Chapter Fourteen

I was off the train the moment the doors opened at the Northwest Entry Station. The guvvies began speaking the moment I crossed the threshold, but I didn't have time to cater to their inflated sense of self-importance. I approached the one nearest me, snatched the badge out of his hand and shoved him aside before he could even think to protest. The guy in the Titan rig let out a belated "hey," but I wasn't stopping, not even for a guy stomping around in power armor. I kept moving. Eventually, the guvvies at the checkpoint decided I wasn't worth the trouble and quit yelling after me. I jogged toward the Rose Garden. Only one of the street samurai I had seen before was there, and there was a spatter of blood across the sidewalk which told me some real shit had already gone down. I nodded to the remaining sentry tersely. She met my eyes with her featureless steel prosthetics, holding my gaze for a long moment. "You may go inside," she said quietly. "But they are no longer here."

“What?” My heart thundered in my chest. I didn’t need vague answers, I needed detail, and I needed it now!

The samurai faced back to the front, returning to her statue pose, her hand resting on her waist just above the coiled monofilament whip. "Speak to Gina. And get yourself a stiff drink. You're going to need it." She tipped her head to the side, her mohawk of black hair falling in a sheet over one half of her face.

I sighed and stepped inside. The doors slid open to reveal an utterly different scene than the first time I came to the Rose Garden. There were only a few patrons in evidence, and those few were being bustled upstairs to the private rooms by grim-faced staff. In just a few moments, the only people who remained in the lounge were staff- many of them the same workers I had seen before. But they were in an entirely different frame of mind right now. Instead of welcoming smiles, their faces were all suspicious masks. They were all strapping into armor vests and loading an impressive array of firearms. The Gorgon who ran the bar fitted a drum magazine into an automatic shotgun. The silver gyndroid who had been entertaining her clients so easily was checking over a pair of Gauss pistols. Everywhere I looked, I saw the same thing; the Rose Garden was getting ready for war.

“Red Viper?” The little catkin woman who had greeted me at the door spoke from just behind me. I flinched and turned. Katherine was not precisely pointing her heavy flechette thrower at my head, but her point had been made nonetheless. They had let me in, but they weren’t taking any chances. Wilting flowers they were not. These roses had thorns.

“Yes, Squeaks said there was trouble.” I looked back around at the room full of armed, serious-faced courtesans. “You guys look like you’re ready to take a whole battalion.”

Kat hissed angrily. “It wasn’t enough. That thing- whatever it is- just stood out there on the landing and the kids and their mother just walked right out of the building. It’s psychic, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” I said, with a sigh. “Yeah, it’s something like that. It can also freeze people solid if it touches them. The corp who made it calls it Gamma-Five.” I turned back to the door. “I just need to talk to Squeaks so I can go after them. I’m probably one of the only people who even has a chance against that thing.”

Kat snarled, appearing for all the world to be an angry bipedal housecat. Her free hand curled into claws, and I saw little needles extend from her fingertips. She was on edge, and I didn’t like the way she was looking at me. "So why didn't you tell us what kind of fucking thing would be coming after those people? You must have figured we wouldn’t keep them here if we knew. That was it, wasn’t it? All you freelancers are the fucking same, just thinking about what you get out of anything and never considering the people you’re putting in danger!”

I took a step back, surprised. I wanted to say something to make it right, to tell her I hadn’t known what Gamma-Five could do, but it wasn’t true. I had seen the video before Yakov, and I had rescued the Chandras. I thought the family was secure here, but I’d still known the Psionic Chimera was a threat. So instead of any excuses or explanations, I just asked, “who did Gamma-Five kill?”

“One of our women who watches the door,” said a resonant cello chord of voice, and I turned to see Gina approaching. Her short, dyed bangs were green today, and even as she approached with a shotgun in her hands, she seemed impossibly elegant. Dressed in black combat armor from the neck down, she still somehow managed to move like a courtesan working the room. I was immediately aware of how shabby I looked dressed in a borrowed t-shirt and jeans. Gina, unlike Kat, seemed not to be carrying any particular anger toward me. “Seville, one of our contracted samurai, attacked him when she realized what he was doing, but the monster made her stop moving while the family passed her. After they had been beyond the reach of anyone inside the Rose Garden, the monster made her wrap her own whip around her neck and garrote herself. Heron, the other samurai, came back from her breakfast break when she heard the commotion, but it was too late.”

"Fuck," I cursed. "I don't even know how Gamma-Five would have known about this pl-" I stopped. Gamma-Five had been inside my head, which meant that whoever was controlling him had seen the inside of my mind. They had learned my real name- which was how Leonard had found out my identity. Of course, they knew where the Chandras where. The only question was why they had waited so long to come and get them. Most likely they had planned a subtle approach and only sent Gamma-Five after the news of the debacle at the lab had reached them. I'd galvanized Paracell into action with my escape, and they had done exactly what I should have known they would do. They had brought in their ace-in-the-hole. "Fuck," I cursed again. "Alright, where did Gamma-Five and the Chandras go? You didn't say they left the Pit."

Gina nodded grimly. “They did not. They went down into the dark. I followed well back, and it seems the Chimera took them down to the Bottom of the Pit.”

My heart sank. The Bottom of the Pit was probably the worst place in all of Columbia. If the Pit was where the powers in the city stashed their undesirables, then the Bottom of the Pit was the hell next to which the Pit was even remotely livable. There were pools of leaked chemicals, patches of lethal radiation, and through it all; there were the Feeders. I had never seen a Bottom Feeder from the Northwest Exclusion Zone, but I had heard the stories. They all agreed; Pit Feeders were much, much worse than their Sprawl cousins. Still, I had a job to do. Though the chances of me coming back from this just dropped to near zero. At least if I get killed, I won't have to worry about Czernobog's "price." I sighed and turned back to the door. “Wish me luck, then.”

Gina snorted. “Bitch, please, you’re not going down there alone.”

“I am going down there alone,” I replied firmly, meeting her eyes. “If you go near Gamma-Five, he’ll have you. He’ll use you against me or kill you. And I have enough blood on my hands.”

Kat interrupted. “That’s the second time you’ve said something like that. What makes you so special? What makes you think he won’t take your mind the way he took the others?”

I didn’t answer. I just pulled the door open and stepped back outside. It was time to find out just how ‘special’ I was. I wasn’t much stronger than I had been before. I had only learned a little, and the meager scraps of knowledge I had gained seemed pathetic next to the all-consuming strength of Gamma-Five. I clenched my jaw and drew out my pistol. The Chimera’s powers seemed to be limited to his prodigious Psionics and the ability to freeze whatever he touched. Maybe I would just try shooting the fucker in the head.

* * *

I left the Rose Garden behind me and followed the tight network of makeshift bridges into a rotten, filthy, stinking slum which made my little corner of the Sprawl seem a heavenly place. Everywhere I looked were collapsing structures made of rusting steel and tar-paper; most of them just big enough for someone to crawl inside and sleep- though even that appeared to be something of a luxury. There were people everywhere. Most of them were hybrids- even more so than my own neighborhood, but these were not ordinary beastkin. Long exposure to the radiation and chemical taint of the Pit had done strange things to their already spliced DNA. Many of them sported odd growths, debilitating tumors, or horns sprouting seemingly at random from their bodies. They were covered in nonsensical mixtures of scales and shaggy hair, and they each carried their own unique reek. I kept my face blank and kept moving, painfully aware of my bare, unblemished skin, marking me as a clear outsider. I glanced down at my badge. The testing strip was still a pale blue, but that wouldn’t last long. I should have asked Squeaks for an environmental suit. But that would have taken too long. The Chandras were probably already dead, and if they weren’t, then they were certainly on borrowed time.

I descended into the Pit, level by level, staying close to the support structure of one of the great factories which formed the core of the local community. The further down I went, the darker it became until I was pushing my way through shadowed streets filled with Trogs, the only clear thing I could see being the night shine glimmer of the locals' wide, unblinking eyes. I knew the people cursed to live in this place weren't all that different from my usual neighbors, only their outward appearance was terrifying- but it was still hard not to be afraid as I passed among them. If I were down here too long, I would be joining their ranks. Worry about that later, Vivian, I said to myself. There was no sense worrying about a future I might not have. The last thoughts of Elbert Chandra's dying mind whirled through my head and galvanized me. Anna and her children, frozen still like a gun fired three times directly into their faces- I wasn't going to let that happen.

It took me half an hour to reach the Bottom, and I was sure it had been too long. How long had it been since the family was taken? Two hours? The Metro had seemed painfully slow, and there was no way I could have gotten there faster. How could I hope to find them? How could I hope to track Gamma-Five? I was no wildlands ranger. I was a Sprawl dweller, and when I had to find someone, I paid someone on the Matrix to do the tracking for me, or I asked around. This was far beyond any skills I had. Then a thought struck me, so ludicrously simple I almost laughed. The prisoners who had died in my cell back at the lab- they had left impressions in the psychic landscape I had been able to see with my Inner Eye. How much more tumult would Gamma Five leave in his wake? I looked out over my surroundings; over the foul, neon colored mud, the bizarre, twisted weeds curling up around the metal and concrete foundations of the suspended city. I took a deep breath, coughed at the acrid bite of the air, and tried again. I focused and opened wide my Inner Eye.

The world around me changed. The wide fallow mire was covered with dangerous-looking, spiny grass, and the whole dream field was speckled with the occasional dark, twisted blossom. I was certain I didn't want to smell those flowers. A place like this bred nightmares and those in the Pit had been allowed to fester and grow. The foundations became vast, dark trees, and their shrouds of weeds became nets of sickly green, ivy with thorns. The stinking city turned to shadowy, brooding jungle canopy filled with unseen horrors. I didn't want to imagine what it must have been like to sleep here. I looked around for any sign of Gamma-Five's passing; any mark the Chimera would have left on the fabric of the local nightmare. I found it within moments- a trail of frost which traced a path through the razor grass, leaving it brittle and white. I took another deep breath and followed the trail. One way or another, this was going to end, and soon.

The trail led me on for what must have been a couple of miles, following the curve of the crater wall through the jungle nightmare of the Pit. All around me, I could feel the presence of Feeders or other predators watching me. However, all I ever saw of them were their shadows, flitting through the piles of scrap disguised as bushes and watching me from behind the tall concrete-and-metal trees. I kept an eye on them, but they weren't the focus. They must have been better fed than their cousins in the Sprawl because they seemed more wary of my weapons, rather than being so desperate they would rush at anyone for the chance at fresh meat. It was good they weren't as aggressive, but I shuddered thinking of the poor souls who must have died to make them that way.

Eventually, Gamma-Five's trail led me toward a narrow, uneven scar in the rock wall of the crater. It looked like the stone had cracked and widened from tectonic movement and erosion, and there was a narrow passage into the wall of the crater. It was completely dark inside as if it was a jagged tear through the wall of the world into the place of starless night beneath Morpheus and the waking world. I approached it carefully, holding up my pistol and switching on its under barrel flashlight so I could see. It was in moments like this I considered the idea of getting my eyes replaced with cybernetic replicas. It would have been much better to be able to simply see in the dark, rather than announcing my presence to anyone waiting in the blackness with the bright beacon of my little light. The light shone a little way into the passage, and showed me nothing but the narrow crack in the stone of the crater, and the illusory frozen trail left by Gamma-Five. I had no choice but to follow.

I squeezed my way into the narrow passage, turning to the side at times so I could fit between tight pinching uneven walls. I couldn’t see the great Chimera managing to get in here, but the Psionic trail of his passing was the only hope I had; it had led me here. If I didn’t follow, the Chandras were lost forever. After an initial tightness, I found that the passage opened up a little, even as it sloped downward toward an unknown destination. It would still have been uncomfortably narrow for Gamma-Five, but I could walk fairly easily. I could see the Chandra family in my mind, stumbling along with a blank expression in their eyes, following the frozen monster on his way. Hold on, Anna. I’m coming to get you.

Without warning, the passage opened in front of me, and I found myself standing inside a vast, high-ceilinged cave. How far down have I come? I must have been beneath the Sprawl now, and I wondered just how many places existed like this, where the Columbia elites wouldn't think to look for holes in their Northwest Exclusion Zone perimeter. How could they be so foolish to think a simple wall, no matter how tall, could keep anything from escaping the crater? I scanned the cavern with both my physical sight and my Inner Eye. The walls stretched wide, and both floor and ceiling were cluttered with gnarled stone teeth, so it seemed the whole cave was one massive set of jaws. The stalactites which jutted from the roof were hung with sheets of bioluminescent fungus, lending the whole cavern an unsettling, greenish glow. The place was large enough to have fit an entire neighborhood from the Sprawl, and it seemed somehow less contaminated than the rest of the Pit. That alone was strange, but stranger still was what I saw with my Inner Eye.

Amidst the stalagmites, there were hundreds, maybe more than a thousand humanoid shades. Each of the Psionic imprints stood straight and tall, blank-eyed and blurry around the edges. They all stood in solemn stillness and just stared emptily into the darkness. There were all kinds of people, from vanilla humans to obvious cyborgs, from assorted beastkin to the occasional pristine post human. But most of them, making up maybe seventy percent of the ghostly crowd, were Trogs. They all stared toward the same place; a part of the cavern so choked in shadow not even the light of the hanging curtains of fungus could penetrate it.

I stepped carefully into the cave, slipping between twisting rock fangs as tall as I was. The air was cold to my bare arms, and I felt goosebumps ripple along my skin as I joined the silent, ephemeral ranks of the shades in their ceaseless vigil. A rasping, gravelly voice cut through the silence, making me jump. “I wondered if you would turn up here, Vivian.” Gamma-Five emerged from the darkness at the far end of the cavern; his titanic, muscled frame gleaming with its perpetual layer of ice, and blood oozing from the abused cracks in his skin as he moved. “When they told me you had escaped the lab, I was thrilled. I kept hoping you would show up to try to stop me taking the Chandra family, and sure enough, here you are.”

I raised my gun and sighted down the barrel at the center of Gamma-Five’s chest. “Where are they?”

The Chimera laughed, gesturing with a negligent hand, utterly unconcerned by the gun. “Why Vivian, they’re right here.”

I followed his gesture, and sure enough, Anna Chandra and her two children were standing amidst the shadowy ranks of the dream ghosts, staring ahead blankly. My heart sank, but then I saw Anna's shoulders rise and fall as she breathed. The children swayed slightly on their feet. They were alive and real; they were just being held in place by Gamma-Five's inexorable willpower. "What are you going to do with them?"

Gamma-Five smiled, showing me a forest of uneven, jagged teeth. “I’m going to find out what Elbert told them about our work, whom they told about it, and then, when I’m finished, I’m going to eat them.” He shrugged at my expression of naked revulsion. “This body has to eat something, and protein cubes just don’t cut it. Besides, as strange as it sounds, I’ve developed a taste for ‘long-pig,’ as they say. Children, in particular, are quite tender.” His savage grin stretched even wider. “I wonder how genetically modified post human will taste.”

I squeezed the trigger almost before I realized I had made the decision. The electromagnetically propelled needle smacked hard into his chest, piercing the layer of ice by about an inch before it shattered into shrapnel with a loud BANG. Gamma-Five looked down at the smoldering mark on his chest, and the little stream of dark blood oozing from the wound. I had fucking shot him, and it had barely hurt him. He looked back up at me with pitiless black eyes. “Good,” he rasped from between his teeth, madness twisting his already alien face into a mad rictus of hate. “You’ve got some spirit in you. Lively prey is always the sweetest.” He stretched out his hand toward me, and through my Inner Eye, I could see wriggling serpents of illusory black ice slithering through the cavern toward me. They raised themselves up before me, their glittering bodies rearing back, preparing to strike. I was no master of psychic combat- my short tussle with Yekaterin had proved that beyond a shadow of a doubt- but I wasn’t just going to lie down and accept my death. The motherfucker was going to have to earn it.

I reached out to the dream-impressions of Gamma-Five's numerous victims, sending little serpents of burning red energy scattering out to invest them even as I imagined twin pillars of fire melting the dark, icy serpents into mist before they could strike. Gamma-Five snarled with frustration, and a gigantic, primeval, black-furred bear ripped its way into existence. It sighted on me with unseen eyes and hurtled toward me. I twisted the dream around me, changing my perspective so that the bear was actually running straight toward one of the great stalagmites. It crashed headlong into the stone and burst into the mist. The black mist froze into a thousand tiny needles of ice, which shot through the air toward me. I conjured a wall of gray stone and ducked behind it, letting the ice shatter against my barrier. I dismissed the illusory wall and felt my heart stop in my chest for a moment. I couldn't see Gamma-Five. He was moving physically even as he attacked me in the dream state! I dove forward, rolling painfully across the hard rock floor just in time to avoid a massive pale fist crashing into the stalagmite I had crouched beside. The stone glittered with a sheet of ice and then shattered into hissing, steaming chunks. If that blow had hit me, it would have pulverized my spine.

I rolled to my feet and glanced around at the motionless shades, even as Gamma-Five turned to stomp after me, his misshapen face distorted with anger. As I had hoped, some of them had begun to glow with a crimson light from deep within their ghostly chests. They moved, shaking themselves awake, and leaped upon the frozen giant, striking and tearing at him with their hands, and biting viciously at him with their teeth. I backed away as the Chimera turned the dream state around him into a flurry of razor ice, tearing the ghosts to scraps of smoke. His brutal approach was utterly unsubtle, and his imagination limited. He was much, much stronger than me, and if I tried just to engage him directly, he would crack open my mental defenses like brittle plastic. No, the only way I was getting out of this was if I got clever.

I continued backing away, circling the cavern; even I made more and more of the shades hurl themselves onto the monstrous Chimera. Attacking him in a dream wasn't going to be enough. Czernobog's power was his to command, and there was no way I could actually have harmed the monstrous creature which hid deep beneath the surface of the dream world. No, I had to destroy the body, and that meant somehow getting at his back. I peeked out from behind a broad stalagmite, and caught a glimpse of Gamma-Five's back; grotesque with muscle, glittering with its layer of ice. He had lost sight of me in the distraction, and now he was stalking around the cave, still fighting the army of shades, shouting and snarling as each ghost he shredded was replaced by two more. I stared at the strange, coppery centipede device which lay buried in the flesh of the monster's back. That was the key; it had to be. But how could I get to it? My needle gun wasn't powerful enough to do much more than scratch the metal. I had to break the bizarre piece of cybernetics and to do that; I was going to have to get within range of those hands and their deadly touch. I reached up and felt the hilt of Michi's sword, Mikadzuki. No, that wouldn’t be enough. Even with the sword’s unsettling ability to impart some of the necessary skill to my body, there was no way I would be able to get close enough to use it. And I couldn’t guarantee Gamma-Five wouldn’t just freeze the incredible weapon brittle and shatter it in his hands. I could probably cut him with the sword, but I needed a distraction- a physical one, to stop him from seeing the deathblow coming.

Movement caught my attention, and I looked to see a Bottom Feeder crouching in the narrow entrance to the cave. Like its Sprawl cousins, the creature was shaped like a painfully thin, starving man, but the resemblance ended there. Instead of nearly translucent skin pocked with boils and blisters, the Feeder was covered in a thick, scabby layer of what looked like barnacles, and bristling spikes sprouted from the cracks between each of the rocky growths. In addition to its shark’s teeth, this one sported yellow tusks, which curled up from between its stretched lips and jutted out dangerously from its face. Its fingers were tipped with curving black talons, and there was even something of a tail flicking back where its tailbone should have been. The foul creature was sitting in perfect stillness, its attention flickering between the psychically embattled Gamma-Five and the shadows were I was crouching. I had an idea. It wasn’t a good one.

When I had reached out for a Feeder’s mind back in the Sprawl, when I met Yakov, the immense feedback of so many networked brains had knocked me on my ass. There was no guarantee that trying to reach out to the Feeders again would be any different now. But I had little choice. I couldn’t hide here forever- the shades were dwindling, and soon Gamma-Five would be free to come after me with his full attention. I had an opportunity now, and I was going to take it. When the Feeder turned its beetle-black eyes back toward me, I sent my awareness surging across the cave, seizing upon the portal into its mind and pulling myself inside. I closed my physical eyes and turned my full attention to the task.

Instantly, I felt the weight of the hive intelligence. I saw the Feeder’s mind as a slimy, writhing tentacle festooned with suckers and hooks. The tip of the tentacle looped upon itself to point at me, and I could see that in the place of another sucker, it sported a single black eye. It regarded me for a moment, and then returned to its wriggling. The tentacle was surrounded by hundreds like it, and they all pressed around me; the hooks and suckers tearing and tugging at my imaginary skin. I changed myself into the form of the great red-scaled viper, and slithered through the overlapping tentacles, following them toward their source.

The Feeder minds weren't minds at all, any more than my awareness of my fingertips was a mind, or the sensation in my arms was a mind. They were all just parts of a whole; fractions of a feral hive brain which sought only to protect and feed itself. It was why the Feeders rarely displayed any kind of self-preservation while hunting. The only one of the individuals that actually mattered was the center control, the queen- and as I reached the hub of the writhing mass of twisting tentacles, I could see into the heart of her mutated mind. It was stuff for nightmares.

The central mind was a great, twitching mound of transparent flesh. I could see blood pulsing through its veins, and as I watched, bands of electricity coursed along the throbbing artery, tracing it as it followed a path up toward the top of the shapeless mass of flesh. I changed my shape again, this time taking the form of the red, winged dragon I had used to destroy the inside of Leonard's mind. I beat my great, leathery wings and leaped into the air above the central mind. From above, I could see the veins all came together in a central point, and electricity arced and danced over that nexus, bursting from the surface in snapping static.

I landed atop the great mind and changed back into my usual projected shape- that of the serpentine, red scaled woman- and pressed my palm flat against the quivering flesh. I could sense the thoughts flowing through the whole thing- simple, broad-stroke ideas which spoke of hunger, fear, interest, animal excitement. The whole hive was a single animal, and looking for the mind; it seemed even more likely that some short-sighted corporation had made a lot of them, expecting to create an army they could wield with absolute control. Maybe they had used ants or bees to do it and spliced the necessary DNA into a human fetus. It didn't matter how they had done it because they hadn't been able to contain the nasty things. They hadn't had any control over the monsters they had made. But maybe, just this once, I might be able to succeed where the Feeders' makers had failed. I dropped to all fours, opening my jaws wide and extending my long hypodermic fangs. I crawled through the bursting, crackling electricity surrounding the hub, ignoring as the static bursts seared and burned my imaginary skin. Then, when I reached the hub of all of those crackling veins, I sank my fangs deep into the twitching flesh and forced all of the venom I could into the bloodstream.

And I was no longer Vivian Hsu. I was the heart, the mind, the ever-hungering, ever-needing center of the Hive, and I was goddamned hungry. The squishy prey thing with the bright hair had led me to a dark hole in the stone, and I had followed. As I had thought, the prey thing had led me to yet more food, and I was quite pleased with it. The eye I had sent to follow the prey with the bright hair was now looking upon a great, cold meat thing. I had stayed away from this one for many meals, for it had destroyed many of my eyes, and hands, and mouths when I had sent them to bring it down. But now? Now it seemed almost mad, whirling and roaring and slapping at nothing. I could probably kill it, and what a meal that would be! I could smell three smaller prey things, one bigger than the other two, but still smaller than the frozen meat thing. The bright-haired one I had followed was sleeping in a corner. She had fallen on her face. She might make a good meal as well, so long as I prevented the cold one from eating her first. He had been eating a lot of prey lately, and it had been harder and harder to find good meat. I called all of my eyes, all of my hands, and all of my mouths. I would bring the frozen meat thing down and eat for a long time, and maybe then, finally, I wouldn’t be so hungry.

My eyes and hands and mouths came bursting from their hiding places in the shadows, startling the prey things nearby. But that prey was nothing compared to the prize I would take now. I could come back for them another time. I forced all of them, all of my eyes and hands and mouths, through the narrow gap in the rock and into the dark, cold place beyond. The cold one turned to see them all and roared. But it could not stop my whole body, not all at once. I would eat the cold one. I would eat the other prey things. And then I wouldn’t be hungry.

Ah, but look, the prey thing that was sleeping wasn't sleeping at all! And it wasn't a prey thing; it was a part of me! It wasn't an eye, no. And it wasn't a hand, and it wasn't a mouth. It took the long curved stick from its back and pulled it apart, revealing a shining claw, a metal talon. That’s what I would call it, my talon! It got to its feet and staggered toward the cold one, staying behind it as it fought my eyes and hands and mouths, as it whirled and slapped at nothing. It fought, and it tore, it crushed and it bit, but there was one thing that it didn’t do. It didn’t see my talon. No, it didn’t.

* * *

With most of my mind still locked into the control structure of the Feeder Hive, I forced my physical eyes open, Vivian’s eyes. The cave was a screaming, roiling, crashing battle, as hundreds of Feeders came howling out of the dark scar in the cave wall; all of them armored, tusked, monstrosities which made the Pit such a dangerous place. They piled onto the writhing, roaring Gamma-Five, and I could barely make out the Chimera beneath the grasping claws and gnashing teeth. Every few seconds, the Feeders closest to him would freeze into steaming solidity before being smashed into little chunks, but there were always more to replace those he killed. Reinforcements just kept pouring through the craggy passage into the cave, and through my connection to the Feeder Queen, I could tell they weren't going to stop any time soon.

With what scraps of consciousness I wasn’t using to focus the ravening horde, I forced my body, my real body, to move. The sword was in my hand, and its helpful little instructions, transmitted through my Lattice, made me take a two handed grip on the hilt and raise the sword over my head as I approached. A burst of freezing air turned the sweat on my face to ice, and another little knot of Feeders shattered into hissing, bloody chunks before Gamma-Five's fist. The Chimera saw me then, and his empty black eyes grew wide as he realized what was coming. He thrashed toward me but was slammed back in his moment of distraction by a fresh wave of snarling bodies, and he lost his footing. The Feeders piled on top of him and bore him to the ground beneath their cumulative weight, stretching out his arms and forcing him to expose his back. There was another snap of cold, but there were too many bodies on top of him now, and only some of them died. There were more than enough of them to fill the gaps.

Gamma-Five screamed and raged, but he could do nothing beneath the tide of flesh. “Vivian!” He screamed, but his words were quickly muffled by the Feeders pressing down on his head. His voice then blasted through my thoughts, almost disrupting my link to the Feeders, but I held on. “Vivian! You think you’ve won, but you’re wrong! You think you’re different than me, but you’re wrong. Just wait!” I approached the struggling Chimera, Mikadzuki held high over my head. “I’m just an imprint fused to this shell, just a ghost, but the real me will find you! And I will take you just like I took this broken thing!” The Feeders moved aside at my command, exposing Gamma-Five’s twitching back and the metallic centipede buried there in his skin, protected by a sheet of hard ice. It would not stop the edge of this sword. “I will make you mine! You will not escape my sight!” I struck with all my might, and Mikadzuki sliced cleanly through ice, metal, flesh and bone, leaving a great cleft in the monster's back. He instantly went limp, and the Feeders swarmed over him, devouring, chewing, and tearing stripes of ice-rimed meat from his body.

The moment the sword parted the metal device clinging to Gamma-Five’s back, I heard a desperate, tearing shriek from the darker side of the room, followed by the confused, wailing sobs of children. Anna. The Feeder hive was immediately very interested in mewling prey, but I tightened my grip on the queen’s mind and held fast. No, I needed to keep them focused on the great Chimera corpse so the Chandras and I could get the fuck out of here. I tasted salt and put a hand on my face. My nose was bleeding. I was pushing my limits. I was more efficient than I had been at the start of this, but I wasn’t any stronger, and keeping hold of what had to be ten-thousand hungry predators was not something I would be able to do forever.

I staggered around the swarming Feeders and over to the corner where I heard the cries of the children. Anna was covering her kids with her body, shielding them, desperately trying to contain her terrified sobs as she made them all as small as she could in the cleft between clustered stalagmites. "Anna," I rasped, with my mouth full of the taste of my own blood. I spat and tried again. "Anna, get up, we have to get out of here."

Mrs. Chandra sat up and turned to look at me, shaking with terror. I could see the white all around her eyes as she turned to stare at me. She focused on my face. “R-Red Viper?” The tiniest glimmer of hope came back into her eyes, but then she turned her gaze to the chaos raging just a few meters away, and her breath caught in her throat. “What’s h-happening!?”

“The monster is dead, but you and the kids need to get up and run. I can’t keep those things off you forever.” The stream of blood from my nose became steadier, running over my lips and dripping from my chin. “But I’ll be damned if you die after all of this lunacy. Get up.”

Anna stood up immediately and dragged her children to their feet. “What is happening to you, why are you bleeding like that?” She looked from me to the swarming feeders and back again. “You said you’re holding them back- you’re one of them, aren’t you- a Psion like the monster that took us.”

I smiled, knowing my teeth must have been red from the bleeding, which had started in my gums as well. “Not likely. That freak was way stronger than I was. Now go." I jerked by head toward the crack in the wall which served as a door, and with a terrific effort, managed to force the Feeders to clear a way for the Chandras to make it out of the cave. The queen mind was starting to adapt to my intrusion, and I could feel her beginning to reject my influence. It wouldn't be long now. "Go, Anna. Get out of here." My vision started to go red, but still, I hung on. "GO!" Anna scooped up her children and ran for the exit.

I watched the Chandras leave, and then sat down on a reasonably flat ledge of rock, the sword dangling from my right hand. I drew my gun with my left. They were going to break free and devour me, but when they did, I was going to take at least a couple of the damn things with me. Hell, maybe I could even wound the hive mind as I died. I grinned. This wasn't exactly how I had planned on going out of the world- hell, if I'd had my way, I would never walk that long, dark tunnel into oblivion. But dying to hold off an unstoppable horde of monsters while a woman and her two children go to safety? Eh, there were worse ways to die. I watched through the eyes of the horde as Anna and her children crossed the stinking mire of the Bottom of the Pit, eventually reaching a staircase which would take them up toward safety. My body had begun to shut down. I knew I was starting to lose a dangerous amount of blood. Sooner or later, the final hemorrhage would breakout in my brain as well, and that would be the end. But still, I held on. I wanted to give the Chandras the best chance to get out. It wasn't like I was going anywhere anyway. Darkness began to gather at the corners of my vision, and my grip on the Feeder hive slipped. The horde of hungry eyes, grasping hands, gnashing mouths focused on me immediately as the hive identified me as the source of the intrusion. I raised my pistol weakly and fired into them. They surged forward in a chorus of snarls. I closed my eyes and kept squeezing the trigger as they came. The world went black.

* * *

I was standing in the darkness below the world of dreams, all my pain and exhaustion forgotten. I was dressed as I had been the night of the failed kidnapping, in the red suit and tie, though at least I wasn’t wearing the stupid blonde wig. I sighed. If this is what the afterlife is like, I think I’d prefer oblivion. Then I became aware I wasn’t alone. I turned, sighing. Hello, Czernobog.

An old Slavic man stood behind me; his skin withered and tight, dry as sandpaper and flecked with liver spots. He was bald, and his eyes were sunken black pits beneath his shaggy brows. A thick beard spilled from his face to fall nearly to his bare, shrunken chest, and an assortment of dark hides hung about his hips, hiding his loins and his legs. A necklace of teeth, taken both from animals and humans, hung about his skinny throat. He was ancient and frail, and yet of all the forms I had seen Czernobog take in the last few days, this one scared me the most. He looked like an old man, but there was something so utterly wrong about his face, his stance, the little smile lifting one side of his mustache; he wore the form of a human, but never had he seemed more alien. “Little worm. You have carried out your end of our bargain.”

I snorted. “I died doing it. Sorry, but whatever other price you demanded, you’re not getting it from the dead.” Something down in the very pit of my guts twisted, and I had the entirely horrifying thought that yes, he probably could take what he wanted from me, even after I was dead. After all, I was here, wasn’t I?

Czernobog laughed, and when he opened his mouth, I could see only the shadowy impression of a hundred flailing tendrils where a tongue should have been. I shuddered. He spoke again, his tone genial. “Of course, little sister, I could never have reached you if you were dead. Even I don’t know what lies beyond the final gate. But you are not, in fact dead. I have prevented it. But I will not demand a further price for this service. Consider it a favor, from one worm to another.” He spread his hands wide, the picture of magnanimity. “No, you are not dead, little worm. And I have come to claim the final part of our deal, the price of your freedom.”

I swallowed hard. What price? Would he enslave me? Would he eat me? What horrible cost would this creature demand? What could you really pay to appease an ancient god, if that’s what he really was?

“I already told you. I opened your Inner Eye. And I claim an eye in return.” His hand flicked out in a quick, precise jab, and he tore my left eye out of its socket in a single movement. I screamed as a spike of horrible pain lanced back from the suddenly emptied socket and speared into my brain. Cold like the heart of a Siberian winter branched through my mind for a split second, and then it was gone. Czernobog kept speaking, entirely calm. “Consider our deal complete. Your debt is paid.”

I managed to glare up at him with my remaining eye, just in time to see him pop my eye into his mouth, the writhing tendrils seizing it and dragging it down, whole, into his throat. Fuck… you…. I seethed, one hand pressed over the empty socket. Strangely, the wound wasn't bleeding. My eye was just gone as if it had never been.

Czernobog smiled, his expression indulgent, almost fatherly. “Go forth and lay waste to your enemies, Red Viper. For you have been consecrated by my power, claimed in blood, and ice, and darkness. Every life you take in anger, you take in my name.” He laid a hand on my head in benediction. “For you will never escape my sight, Vivian Hsu.” And then he was gone, and I was alone in the darkness.

…

I woke in a comfortable bed, warm and naked, bandages over the many cuts and scrapes I had accumulated throughout the day. I stared up at the ceiling above my head, and I was surprised to see a mirror mounted there, reflecting my battered appearance back down at me. I frowned. What kind of place had a mirror over the bed? The answer came to me in a flash, and I laughed. I was in one of the rooms at the Rose Garden. I almost immediately started coughing. My throat was raw, and it hurt to cough. I had no idea how I had gotten there, but I seemed to be more or less okay. Except I couldn’t see out of the left side of my head. I looked around the room for a mirror located in a slightly more sane place. There were two doors into the room, and one of them appeared to lead to a bathroom. Unsteadily, I got to my feet. I felt a little weak, but I could stand. The room was a little chilly. I tugged a blanket from the bed and wrapped it around my body. Then, I shuffled into the bathroom to get a good look at my face.

Technically, I still had two eyes. But while one of them was as bright, vibrant and blue as it ever was, the other was cloudy and dark. I still had a left eye, but it was dead. I sighed. I supposed it could have been worse. I could replace an eye, but it was going to be infernally expensive.

A knock came at the bedroom door, and I wrapped the blanket more tightly around my body as I called, “come in!”

The door opened, and Gina- Squeaks- came inside, still wearing the black armor I had seen her in earlier. She looked at the bed, then turned and saw me standing in the bathroom. She grinned at me. “You look pretty good for a woman I just saw walk to her death in the Pit.”

I laughed. “I didn’t really expect to walk out either.”

“You killed the monster? Mrs. Chandra was nearly hysterical when she told us what happened.” Gina watched my face shrewdly, looking for any sign of a lie, any trick in my expression.

I sighed. “The beast that attacked your samurai is dead. I assume you and your people rescued me?”

“Yeah, we figured something weird had happened when several of our contacts reported seeing thousands of Feeders standing frozen in ice at the Bottom of the Pit. Combined with what Anna Chandra told us, we figured it had to do with you. Kat and I decided we could at least recover your body, and when we followed the trail of iced mutants to that cave, we found you passed out at the center of a literal wall of flash frozen corpses. We had to hack our way through with an axe to get to you.” She eyed me critically. “I assume you did that?”

“No,” I answered, trying to think of an alternate explanation which could relieve Gina’s concerns. Failing to find one, I just looked her in the eye and said, “and you wouldn’t believe me if I told you what did.”

We matched gazes for a moment, my single functioning eye flitting between both of hers. Finally, the dark-skinned woman just shrugged. “Fair enough.” She looked away from me for a moment; her eyes focusing on nothing as she doubtlessly accessed a matrix menu and read from a display projected right into her mind. “Anna and her kids are in the same room as before. When she heard you had survived, she said she would stay to talk to you.”

I put a hand to my forehead, where a headache was threatening to form. “Alright, but I need my clothes. And did you guys recover the sword and my gun?”

Squeaks nodded. "I had it all cleaned. Swords like that need to be properly cared for and your gun looked like it had seen better days. I'll have clothes brought to you, and your weapons will be ready when you leave." She turned to go and then stopped. "We also retrieved some kind of spine augmentation from the little which remained of that monster's corpse. Looks like you sliced right through it. I hope you don't mind, but we recovered that as well. I figured you might want to sell it or at least have it examined. It's some pretty strange tech. I've never seen anything like it before."

I nodded. “Thanks, I appreciate it.” I would probably take it to Blackout for him to look at. Gina held out her hand, and I shook it, and then she left, closing the bedroom door behind her. I tossed the blanket onto the bed. I might as well get a shower while I still had access to one.

* * *

Anna Chandra answered the door to her suite at the second knock. She took in my bandaged face and my dead eye in a single glance, and then stepped forward and wrapped me in a tight embrace. After a few minutes, she released me. “Thank you,” she whispered; her voice thick with emotion. She tried again. “Thank you. For saving my life and the lives of my kids.”

I smiled. “It’s what you paid me to do.”

Anna gave me a skeptical look. “I remember what your friend said back at the bar. He said you were looking into Elbert’s murder before I came to you.” She gave me a crooked smile. “So I know something made you get involved in all this besides just the money.”

I smiled sadly at her. “I saw him fall,” I said, and in my memory I saw the man drop past me, his eyes blank and confused. “You know I’m a Reader, or at least you’ve guessed. I saw him fall and I saw his thoughts.” I met Anna’s eyes, which were welling up with tears. “The last thing on his mind was you and your children, Anna. As he fell, all he was thinking about was his fear for you, and I just couldn’t leave it alone.”

Anna smiled as she cried. “‘Rule number one must not have made much of an impression on you, huh?”

I chuckled. “I’m pretty new. Life hasn’t completely been beaten out of me yet.” I winced as the laughter aggravated bruises over my ribs I didn’t know I had. “Not for lack of trying,” I wheezed. “Now we should probably talk about what to do next. Paracell isn’t going anywhere, and I doubt you want to live here forever.”

Anna laughed and scrubbed at her eyes. “It’s actually starting to grow on me. But no, I’m not planning on staying here forever.”

“So what do you want to do?” I looked back and forth down the empty hallway. “Though we probably shouldn’t discuss it out here.”

Anna smiled. “You don’t know how long you were out, do you?”

I frowned. “A few hours, why?”

"Try forty-eight of those. And then check the news." She patted me on the shoulder. "You did well. It's already done. Now that my online banking is no longer frozen, I sent over your payment- plus a little extra, to your account." She raised her eyebrows. "How did you get your Matrix account changed to just say ‘Red Viper,' anyway? I'm sure this isn't your given name, and I think the children and I might need to look into something like that in the future. You know, ‘just in case.'"

"I know a guy," I replied. "I'll shoot him a message and put him in contact with you." I held out my hand, and Anna took it, and then shook it firmly. "Well, I'm glad you made it out. You call me if they give you any more trouble."

Anna nodded and let go of my hand. “Goodbye, Red Viper.”

“Goodbye.” I walked back to my room, opening the news as I went, although it took a bit of fiddling to get my Lattice to adapt to the face that only had one functioning eye. The optic nerve must also have been damaged; none of the signals to that side of my vision were coming through. I sat down on the bed and brought up a news feed, filtering it for any news related to the corporate world.

The first headline burned in red block letters. “Paracell Organics Bought by Starr United in Surprise Overnight Raid!” I stared at the words as my brain chugged down the trail of logic towards its conclusion. I felt my face go pale. Starr United was the same Penderham Incorporated subsidiary company which had won the contract to examine the corpse of Garrett Hydes, the Beast of Atlanta. Sofia. Sofia had to be behind this. She had wanted the files from Paracell’s dark site lab, and now what would eventually be her company owned all of Paracell Organics’ assets as well! How much of this was her doing? How much of this had she engineered in the first place? I doubted anyone could have masterminded the entire situation I had just come out of, but it was conceivable she had at least set up Elbert’s death- and the death of one of her own agents, Amir Saugir, to get the ball rolling. Getting the Paracell files would have left ample evidence of illegal and dangerous types of experimentation in her hands. Getting the genetics company to fold would have been easy at that point. All she had to do was threaten to file a Justice Incorporated contract- or more likely, whisper in the right ears, so someone else did all the threatening for her. Now she had the assets and the files- which might otherwise have gotten erased in a straight merger- and who knew what she had planned with that data. She knew everything Paracell did about the entities lurking in the darkness below dream state- and I had given her the information.

I stood wearily, pressing a hand to my head, and made my slow way toward the stairs. No matter what happened, it was beyond my control now. It was out of my hands. And rule number one of the Sprawl was crystal clear on the subject of things like that. It was Not My Problem. But Elbert’s face, and Anna’s tears, and all the files on Sofia’s dead relatives kept flitting through my brain as I went downstairs to find Gina and my weapons. I had the feeling this wasn’t going to be the last time I found myself involved in the schemes of Sofia Penderham.

* * *

I left the Rose Garden and headed straight to the Greasy Wheel. I had been in the dark for days, but for the vague note, I had sent to Penn before the nightmarish kidnapping attempt. It was bad policy to let my fixer believe I was dead. I walked through the front door of the bar, with the sword, Mikadzuki, slung over one shoulder. Bandaged and bruised, I drew a lot of stares from the crowd in the bar. I ignored them, the way a true badass would, and walked straight toward the bar. People got out of my way as if they thought I would bite. Penn grinned as I approached. "Red Goddamned Viper. I thought you were fucking dead." The big boarkin came out from behind his bar- a nearly unheard of gesture at the Greasy Wheel- and held out his thick, sweaty hand for me to shake. I took his hand and drew him close into a tight hug. He patted me hard on the back. "Good to see you, Red."

I grinned, turning my head, so my good eye had a better view of the big bartender’s face. “Same to you, old man.”

Penn squinted at my face. “What happened to your eye?”

“Long story- too long for now. Maybe I’ll tell it to you sometime over a beer.”

“You gonna leave it that way? Kinda looks badass, but it might throw off your aim.” He glanced at the sword hilt protruding over my shoulder. “Unless you ain’t shooting anymore.”

I laughed. "The sword's on loan from a friend. And no, I'm not gonna leave the eye this way. Figure I'll get a nice cybernetic replacement. I've got the money, now- and speaking of…" I retrieved a cred stick from my pocket and then subtracted the fixer's fee from the several-thousand-credit bounties I had received in the last couple days. I dumped the tidy sum onto the cred stick in my hand and then held it out for Penn to take. He took it from me, glanced at the number projected into the crystal, and made to put the stick in his pocket. Then he stopped and did a double-take, with his eyes widening. I smiled. "It's been a busy few days."

Penn smiled and stowed the cred stick in the pocket of his jeans. “I guess it has.” He looked around at the perennially packed bar. “Drinks on me for the next hour!” He winked at me. “And it’s all thanks to the Red Viper!”

I rolled my eye at him. “You ass.” Penn just laughed and went back to his bar, where people were rapidly queuing up to take advantage of the impromptu happy hour. Several people slapped my back with comradely affection as they passed. I only winced a little bit. Though a beer sounded good right about then, I wasn’t done just yet. I still had several people to see. I walked out of the bar.

On my way out of the sector, I stopped by my Coffin. Unsurprisingly, there was a note on my door, letting me know I was being evicted. I sighed and took the note. Apparently, my landlord had been spooked by the Paracell goons stomping around my place and had decided I was too much trouble. I sighed and opened the door. They had at least been nice enough to box up all my stuff- what little I had. I glanced at the little plastic crate. My cracked mirror, my mostly expired toiletries, my cooking plate- it was all there; the sum of my possessions piled atop a heap of dirty clothes. It seemed pathetic looking at it right then, but with my bank account the way it was, maybe I could change a lot in my life. Things weren't quite all coming up, but they also weren't as bad as they could be- as they had been. I fished my tuning fork out of the box and stuck it in my pocket. Even with my greater control over my powers, I wasn’t leaving home without it ever again. I picked up the little crate, tucked it under my arm, and left, locking the door behind me. I nearly ran into my landlord as I turned to leave, and the awkward, acne-scarred lanky man winced as he saw me, his mouth working soundlessly to concoct some sort of excuse. He probably thought I would shoot him. I gathered he hadn’t expected me to come back. You probably came here with the intention of throwing away my shit, you little toad. I didn’t say anything; I just shouldered past him and headed for the metro. Though I might have paused for just a moment to drop a single image of the serpent form of Czernobog into his head, just to fuck with him the next time he got some sleep. Hey, I never said I was a saint.

* * *

When I pushed the door open to Michi’s clinic, I found her helping a gray-faced Artyom stand. It was immediately clear to me he hadn’t come through his ordeal unaltered. His once-proud face looked like he had aged twenty years in just a few days, and his eyes were flat and sunken. They both looked over as I came inside. Michi smiled. Artyom did not. “Hey, Michi,” I said, and unslung her sword. “She’s been all cleaned up and prepped for you- one of the contractors at the Rose Garden knew something of these swords.”

Michi let Artyom brace himself on the edge of a cot for a moment, stepped forward and took Mikadzuki from me; then half drew the blade to glance at it. She nodded appreciatively. "I think I know who cleaned her." She stopped her smile vanishing. "What the hell happened to your eye?"

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Try me.”

I shrugged. “Alright, some kind of ancient psychic ghost, or god, or something, froze it out of my head in exchange for teaching me what I needed to escape the Paracell laboratory.”

Michi just stared at me for a moment. "Okay, you're right. I don't believe you. On a scale of one to the corporate heavens, how high are you right now?" Artyom groaned, and I turned to meet his unblinking, empty eyes. I flinched and looked away. Michi glanced from me to Artyom and then sighed. "Art. You good over there?"

The Clankers underboss didn’t speak, he just groaned again, sounding agitated. Still, there was no real expression on his face. I winced, feeling the guilt of what had happened that night all over again. “I’m sorry,” I blurted, desperate to make things right. “Artyom, I didn’t know. I thought we had tricked the bastard.” Artyom didn’t answer me. He just looked down at the table and turned his face away, a whimpering sound escaping his throat.

Michi patted my shoulder, set down her sword, and then went back over to the beaten man, helping him clamber back into his cot. When she had gotten him settled in and had tucked a blanket in around him, she gestured with a quick jerk of her head toward the door. I set down my meager crate of personal possessions in the corner. We slipped outside and leaned against the wall of the clinic, watching the street traffic move about the neighborhood as the locals went about their daily business. Michi broke the silence. “Smoke?” She held up a pack of Coffin Nails, the same ubiquitous brand Yakov preferred.

I looked at her askance. “You smoke?”

She shrugged. "Not really, there are HEPA filters in my lungs, and there wouldn't be a point. But I keep a pack on hand for days like this, when I think someone really needs one." She held out the little plastic box, open end first.

I thought about Artyom’s empty, pain-wracked face, and took a cigarette. Michi handed me a lighter. I lit up, took a long drag of mind-erasing smoke, and breathed a cloud of menthol stink out in a single hard exhale. “The Clankers probably want me dead. I’m not going to be able to come around here anymore, am I?”

Michi shook her head. "No, that's not it at all." She grimaced and glanced over at the door. "Artyom's… probably not coming back. Whatever that monster did to him; it broke him up real bad. I patched him up, but his mind is a mess. A lot of brain damage in there. I gave him a nanite injection to try and kick start his Lattice into bridging the damaged connections, but I don't think there's much use. Even if I restore the lost brain function, I think his personality is permanently altered."

I looked down at the plastic plating beneath my feet and scuffed my boot heel glumly. "What can be done?"

“Nothing,” Michi said. “Unless someone can go in there and try to get him put back together. Someone like you might be able to do it, but it would probably be very hard on you, and it’s not going to be done overnight.”

I didn’t hesitate. “I’ll do it. I owe him.”

“No,” a new voice said. “You don’t.” I looked up to see a young man approaching, with his hands in the pockets of his grease-stained coveralls; his otherwise bare chest and arms crawling with tattoos. His skin was marred with scars but untouched by age, and his blue-dyed hair fell thick and shaggy to his shoulders. He couldn’t have been more than twenty-five, but his eyes spoke of a wealth of dark experience I didn’t even want to guess at. I killed out of necessity when on the job. This man was a killer. The genuine article. Violence came to him the way breathing did, and I could see it in the way he sized me up in a single look, undoubtedly deciding how exactly he would end my life if he needed to.

I pushed myself off the wall of the clinic and met his eyes directly. Rule number two of the Sprawl was as simple as the first: It was the Law of the Jungle. If you weren’t a predator, you were prey. And I wasn’t prey. I smiled a little sardonically at him. “You need something, bud?”

Michi put her hand to her face and groaned. “Viv, that’s Kurgan- Artyom’s boss. That’s the leader of the Clankers.”

The young man laughed and looked over at Michi. “It’s fine. I can give a little grace to someone as tough as her. After all, it would be disingenuous of me to pretend I didn’t share her general disdain for authority.” He stuck out his hand toward me. It was decorated to the knuckles with hundreds of tiny patterns. I wondered if the tattoos were a sort of badge of office. “Look, Red Viper, I came here to check on my man Artyom, but you being here saves me from tracking you down later.” He met my eyes and said, his face serious. “We don’t blame you for the other night. Fighting Psionic Chimeras is no joke, and the few survivors of the attack all say there was no way anyone could have seen it coming. We don’t hold you responsible for falling into a trap we missed.” He smiled warmly. “That brings me to an offer you might find interesting. You see, we don’t have the ability to see traps like the one that creature set. But as I understand it, you do. Don't ask how I know. I'm the boss. It's what I do. o I want to keep you around, especially as I replace the manpower I lost."

I frowned. “What do you mean, ‘keep me around’?”

Kurgan took his other hand out of his pocket and held up a single metal key. “Still gotta get the locks coded to you, but this will get you in for now.”

I was confused. “In where?”

“The apartment you stayed in, remember? It’s yours. No rent, so long as you help my people out when we need someone of your particular talents. It’s my job to take care of the people here, and they pay well for the service. The disaster a few days ago highlighted a hole in our defenses, and I want you there to fill that breach. This neighborhood will be safe for its residents.”

“What makes you think I can do it? I mean, I got caught in the trap just like everyone else.”

The young man laughed. "A man's got to have contacts, Red, and mine say you killed that son of a bitch who did this to my people. You've got guts, and you seem harder to kill than many of my bruisers. Besides, I understand the corp that owned that monster is suddenly out of business. That's an impressive amount of smack down for a single merc."

“But I didn’t do this on my own,” I protested. “And I kind of think I was played by someone else further up the food chain.”

Kurgan shrugged. “Everyone gets played sometimes. The best thing we can do is make sure we’re ready to give as good as we get.” He stepped back. “So, enjoy your apartment. I’ve gotta see how my guy is doing.”

Michi smirked as the Clankers overboss pulled the door open and swept inside. I stared at her. “What just happened?”

Michi snickered. “I think you were just given a job to go with your spiffy new crib.”

“But I didn’t say I would do it,” I replied, lamely.

“When has that ever mattered in the Sprawl?” Michi thumped me on the back and stepped over to the clinic door. “Welcome to the neighborhood, Vivian.”

* * *

Chapter Fifteen

Epilogue

It was a week before I got my eye replaced. I went to see Blackout and offered him a tidy sum if he spruced up the eye I had recovered from Elbert Chandra. Sure, it would be a little weird using an eye I had taken from a dead man, but cyber-eyes were extremely expensive, and I didn't feel like spending most of my cumulative haul on buying one. I'm cheap. Don't judge me. I also asked the one-armed hacker to take a look at the bizarre cybernetic spine implant I had taken off the ravaged corpse of Paracell's Chimera. I wasn't sure what it was, but I figured that even with a slice through the top, it would still be worth something. If for no other reason than someone else might be able to repair it, or, failing that, strip it for parts. But when Blackout saw the centipede-like implant, his eyes got as big as saucers, and he told me that in exchange for "primo shit" like this, he would find me a real top of the line eye with all the bells and whistles. So I figured he'd find me something decent, maybe even something which came in blue, so it didn't look too out of place next to my remaining natural eye. What I didn't expect was Blackout appearing at the door of my new apartment late one night, with a little black case in his hand, and excitement written all over his thin face.

“Hey, Red!” He enthused the second I opened the door.

I narrowed my eyes at him and growled, still groggy with interrupted sleep. "Blackout, this had better be some kind of goddamned emergency, or I swear I will boil your brain in your skull."

The hacker grinned and pushed his way past me, striding inside and plunking down on the couch I was currently using as a bed. I was in the process of replacing the mattress which had been here when I arrived. “Not an emergency, he said cheerily, utterly unconcerned by the threat. But very good news and I figured you wouldn’t want to wait.”

I glared at him for a moment. Then I stomped into the kitchenette and retrieved a can of synth-coffee from the refrigerator. Then I shuffled back into the main room and sat down beside Blackout. “Alright, shoot.”

Blackout smiled and held up the little case. “Go ahead. See for yourself.”

I glared at both the black plastic case and then back up at the hacker. His excitement didn’t waver in the slightest. I sighed and opened the case, and then my heart stopped. I stared, openmouthed at Blackout. “Holy shit, man, how did you get something like this!” It was a bionic eye fashioned to look like an ordinary human one - though it was not a completely stealthy replacement. It was stylized with fine details and subtle textures, mostly in the azure ring of the iris- which matched the natural color of my eyes perfectly. The sclera was a uniform gleaming white, made up of two parts which fit together so well it was difficult to tell there was a seam. I carefully lifted up the beautiful creation so I could see it better in the light from the lazily spinning fan-light fixture. There seemed to be bands of separate moving parts in the eye, though I couldn't tell what the strange, textured ring segments encircling the ball were meant to do. I frowned and glanced up at Blackout. "What are these rings for?"

Blackout smiled and answered cryptically, “features!” It figured. The asshole was incapable of straight answers. He showed his teeth. “Just have your favorite chromedoc patch that baby in. Just remember to tell them it’s wireless. No Lattice upgrade required.”

I stared at him helplessly. “Wireless?”

“Feature!” The hacker got up from my couch and went to the door, turning back before he could reach for the latch. “Good luck, Vivian. See you around.” He opened the door and slipped outside before I could ask him any further questions. Okaaaaay. So that was weird.

I went to see Michi right away- though I waited for a couple of hours to do so since unlike Blackout, I actually liked having friends. She examined the eye for a few moments and then told me it was the finest piece of hardware she had ever seen. Remembering what Blackout had said, I told her it was wireless. She nodded and explained to me that the rotating rings encircling the back of the eye were actually wheels, which would allow my eye to move around on its own if I set it down. I was flabbergasted. Blackout had gotten me an "Eyeborg," a spy-drone on the shape of a human eye which served just fine as an advanced bionic replacement- but could also roll around under the wearer's control and even climb straight up the side of a vertical object. It was ridiculous really. I wondered which corporate personality had just had her life dismantled to provide me with such a gift- there was no way Blackout had paid money for this. But I was a mercenary, so the question didn’t bother me much. Michi gave me some pre-surgery meds to take and told me to come back the next day so she could clear out the old eye and install my new one.

I spent most of the day just lazing around my apartment, trying to find something to occupy myself for the next twenty-four hours. I hadn’t heard from Yakov since I had left the Jvotneya compound the morning after we’d… Shit. This was going to be weird now, wasn’t it? It had been pretty damn good. I toyed with the idea of calling him but ultimately decided against it. I had sent him a message to let him know I had come out of the whole debacle alive, but he hadn't responded. I wasn't about to blow up Yakov's Lattice with calls; if he didn't want to talk to me, that was his problem. That night had been good, really good- but it wasn’t my first time, and I wasn’t some heartsick little bunny looking to get her next hit. I sat down on the couch and flipped through my Lattice feed until I found something to watch.

I was right in the middle of watching the most brutal zero-gravity cage-fight knockout in history when a flurry of knocks rattled my door and startled me nearly out of my skin. I cursed and paused the feed. I got to my feet with a groan and shuffled over to the apartment door to see who the hell was bothering me. I pulled the door open, and standing sheepishly on the stoop was Yakov, battered, bruised, and somewhat the worse for the wear. One of his amber eyes was swollen, nearly shut by a spectacular bruise. He grinned, and I was surprised to see he still had all of his teeth. Whoever had done that work to his face had left his jawline alone, it seemed. I opened my mouth and then closed it. I had no idea what to say. On the one hand, I wanted to slam the door in his face. On the other, I wanted to drag him inside and make him sit down so I could find the first aid kit. On a third hand, which was too many hands, I wanted to drag him inside and make him earn my forgiveness for leaving me hanging for a week- put that undamaged mouth of his to work. But I didn’t do any of those things. Instead, I gave him a sardonic smirk and said, “Hey there, tiger. You look like shit.”

Yakov’s grin didn’t fade. “Okay, so yeah, I haven’t called you, but I’ve been working on something for the last week, and I wasn’t able to get a call out of… where I was.” He was clearly enjoying dragging this out.

I rolled my… well, I rolled one eye, anyway. “Okay,” I said, taking the bait. “Where were you?”

Yakov rubbed his hands together, clearly excited, and I caught a look at his knuckles, which were crusted with scabs. What the hell had he been up to? He stepped to his left, making an "et voila" gesture, and revealed a plastic-encased package which was hovering behind him. "I got you a housewarming gift," he said and made a beckoning motion. The package coasted slowly toward me, and then bobbed in the air before me, waiting for me to take it.

I eyed him skeptically. “Is it a bomb?”

“Why would it be a bomb?”

“I dunno, you’re acting weird.”

Yakov laughed. “It’s not a bomb, Vivian.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “It’s not a puppy, is it? I can’t take care of a dog. And it’s probably illegal to have one here.”

Yakov sighed, his smile faltering a little. "Vivian, if there was a dog in the package, it would have suffocated. There are no air holes." When I didn't take the package, he shook his head, his eyes showing the briefest flicker of irritation. "Oh my god you can be difficult sometimes.” He made a flicking gesture with one hand, and the plastic layer around the package split open. “Here.”

I took one look at what he had gotten me and almost fell on my ass out of shock. “What… where… how did you get that?!” Floating before me was a pristine set of combat armor- the good shit. Instead of plates of composite or steel, the vest was composed of overlapping steel and ceramic scales, enameled a deep crimson. It came with heavy black leatheroid gauntlets, banded in crimson-enameled strips of steel. Behind it all hung a long black coat- not made of plastic like my over-worn raincoat, but expertly tailored from ballistic fabric and leatheroid. I gathered it all in my arms and just stared.

Yakov grinned again, the skin around his eyes creasing, and I realized it was the first time I had seen a smile actually reach his eyes. It gave him a genuine joy to see me enjoying his gift. I couldn't help but smile back. Yakov nodded at the armor. "Heard from a friend there was a set of Dragonscale going as the grand prize for a bare-knuckle boxing tournament, and I thought of you."

I chuckled. “They actually let a TK compete?”

Yakov shrugged. “It’s not like I’m registered. I just let a few of them hit me some to make it look like an even fight- right before I knocked them the hell out.” He put a hand on the coat. “The coat and gloves I… acquired. Had a buddy of mine who works as a corporate quartermaster do the red enamel and tailor the coat and armor to fit you.”

I frowned. “How did you get it sized to me?”

"Um, well…" Yakov took a deep breath and just blurted it out all at once. "I made a sort of telekinetic mold of you while you were getting ready to leave last week. Then when I went to the tailor, I projected a Vivian-shaped barrier and threw a sheet over it. My friend measured the result, and was able to fit everything to you as if you had been there."

I smirked. “That’s… equal parts creative and creepy.”

Yakov grinned sheepishly. “Hey, it worked, didn’t it?”

I smiled wickedly. “I guess we’ll have to see how good your tailor is. I mean, if I try this on and it doesn’t fit, you’ll just have to take it back.”

Catching on immediately, Yakov said, with a completely straight face, “well, then I suppose I had better come in and help you get it set up properly, really make sure the fit is perfect. I mean, if it doesn’t fit, it could be difficult for you to take the whole thing off.”

I stepped back and let him in. "Alright, get in here." He stepped inside, a big, shit-eating grin spreading across his face. I shook my head as I shut and locked the door behind him. Today wasn't looking so bad after all.

* * *

The End

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Book 1

Chapter One

A Shot in the Dark

Joanna

"When I look down at the men and women before me, I see heroes." The President's voice was filled with pride, as he gazed out over our assembled ranks as we stood at crisp attention. Our navy-blue uniforms were creased to a dangerous edge, our heads were shaved a shining bald, and our faces were solemn and reverent, despite the glare of the setting sun in our faces. It was a beautiful moment, one crafted and shaped for the cameras, and broadcast to all the people of the Pan-American Dominion. The moment said "Hope" to them. It said, "Triumph" to them. To the President, it was the crowning moment of his career, the point where he had finished dragging the people of the American continents, back from the brink of destruction and showed the rest of the world, which was still putting itself back together, that the PAD would lead humanity into a bright new future. "In years past, we used the word ‘hero' to refer solely to the soldadesca. And though our brave soldiers were always, and continue to be heroes, today we have the opportunity to honor a new form of bravery." From beneath my uniform cap, I found the President's face with my eyes. He was everything people needed in a leader, a tall, charismatic leader, young enough to be handsome, but old enough to be wise. He wore the legacy of his extensive war experience in the burn scar that marred the left side of his honey-bronzed face, and, if you looked closely, twisted the skin of his hands. "Today, we send our bravest, our brightest, out into the stars, to make a way for humankind to follow. People of Pan-America, I give you the new frontiersmen, our especuladores, who will boldly go where no man or woman has gone before. May I be the first to offer a solemn salute to our heroes, the Formers!" The President snapped to attention behind his podium, and his right fist slammed over his heart. After a moment, in which the snapping and clicking cameras captured that moment of perfect patriotism, my classmates and I returned the salute, fists thumping into our chests in a dramatic echo of the President's gesture. The gathered, ethnically diverse crowd of P.A.D. citizens burst into applause at the exact right instant. It was the perfect moment of Pan-American pride, of patriotism, of victory in the face of the last decade of war. It would be plastered all over the news homepages, it would be written into the history books, it would be spoken of in hushed tones for the next hundred years… and it was all bullshit.

The ceremony ended as the sun lost its own bitter war with the horizon, and we filed back into the Foundation's open gymnasium, where, away from the cameras and reporters, we stripped out of our uniforms and hung them on the waiting racks, which had been wheeled in for this purpose. Beneath the uniforms, we were all wearing matching gray skintight jumpsuits, the elastic fabric of the clothes woven with nearly invisible wires and fabric circuits. A bored looking intern took inventory of the uniforms, which would undoubtedly be reused for the next class of Formers. She completely ignored the guileless attempts of several of my classmates to hit on her. I followed her lead when the attention of my horny classmates turned to me. We were going to be shot into space tonight, never to return to Earth. There wasn't a hell of a lot of a point in giving up the goods for any boy when he and I would both know there would be no tomorrow. Though, as I thought about it, maybe that was why a lot of the others were trying so hard. As the uniforms were carted away to storage, we were herded by even more aloof interns through the tunnels that connected the Foundation complex to the launch pad. We didn't need to stop to pick up our belongings because we weren't permitted to bring any. That would have just meant more weight, and where we were going, every gram was at a premium.

At the launch pad, we were packed like sardines into little, boxy, windowless shuttles, fifty at a time- an inglorious way of reaching the stars. Of course, contrary to the president's glowing words, nothing about the Foundation or the Formers was glorious. It wasn't intended to be. My classmates and I weren't the cream of the crop. Shit, we weren't even part of the usual crop. We were the chaff. Wards of the state, the young indebted, disgraced soldiers, even a few young criminals who had taken a Former contract instead of the short drop and sudden stop. We didn't have families, we didn't have lovers and we didn't have kids. The whole point was that we weren't going to be missed. The shuttle bucked beneath us and began climbing cables that stretched miles into the sky, slow at first, then faster and faster. I felt my stomach drop down into my toes, but I didn't get sick. Our bodies had been stuck full of all kinds of cybernetic hardware, and I was pretty sure I couldn't have gotten motion sickness even if I wanted to. After all, the Bullet would be worse. The ride lasted maybe an hour. We chatted about nothing, made gallows-jokes, and most of us didn't talk or think about what was coming. I joined in with the jokes, mostly for something to do, but I didn't have friends in the shuttle with me. Actually, I didn't have any friends among the Formers at all. At least to me, it seemed that there was less point in us making friends than there was in trying to seduce an intern on the way out the door. We were literally never going to see each other again. When the shuttle finally drew to a halt, the joking stopped. It was time. We filed out of the shuttle into Exodus Station, where Foundation personnel were waiting to receive us. I might have liked to look down at the Earth from the station's perch in orbit, but the floor was solid and opaque, so instead I looked across the station at the Gun.

The Gun was enormous. Its barrel composed of three great electromagnetic rails, arranged in a triangular pattern, surrounding the pipe through which the Bullets would pass- through which we would pass. Even as I watched, the vast ammunition chamber sealed shut, and a heavy, bass thrumming vibrated the floor beneath my slippers. It was the grand turret moving, swiveling to take aim along a carefully calculated track which would carry its cargo to the correct destination. There was a bright flash from the mouth of the Gun, and a moment later, the sound reached us as a gigantic whip crack. And one of us was gone. Flung out into space at an appreciable fraction of the speed of light. I stood and stared through the windows into the starry expanse, and wondered if the occupant of that Bullet would make it to his planet. Would I? But the line was moving, and I was jolted into movement. There was no point in thinking about it now. I would make it or I would not. My turn was not so far off. We filed into an orderly column, and waited for our names to be called, and all the while, the Gun barked out behind us, and another Former left the Earth forever.

My name was called. Joanna Angeles. I wondered how many other wards of the state up here were named with some variant of John. Or Jane. I broke from the gathered ranks and followed the Foundation technician down a short flight of stairs set into the floor, around a corner, and into a small room, where a man in a white lab coat manned a machine which looked like nothing so much as an airport security scanner. He had me stand in the archway while he worked at the control pad. There was a loud beep from the archway, and a tingling sensation rushed over my body as if a thin layer of alcohol had been poured over my skin. They told me to step out of my slippers and proceed through the door on the other side of the room. I followed their instructions, the tiled floor cool beneath my bare feet. I was now wearing my jumpsuit and nothing else. I crossed through the indicated door and found another technician waiting for me. She led me through another short, featureless hallway and yet another door. And there it was, standing open to receive me- the Bullet. My Bullet.

It was a thick, silvery shell, maybe two-feet thick, made of a metallic substance that didn't quite look like steel. It was smaller than I had thought it would be, perhaps forty feet high, and no more than twenty feet around. The Formers were hardly scientists, but we had all been drilled in how everything we were taking with us worked, and I knew the size of the projectile was absolutely necessary. Basically, the Bullet was the cheapest way to get a single human to another planet, with the equipment he would need to survive in an extraterrestrial environment. It was too expensive, in both money and lives, to send a whole colony ship to an unchanged planet or moon. Each person they sent would have to be accompanied by enough food, water, and air to keep them alive until the planet was made fully habitable, and on top of that, they would need to bring their own living spaces, terraforming equipment, and all their worldly possessions. So the Foundation had come up with a better solution. Fire one Former into space in a craft that wasn't designed to maneuver or do anything other than hitting an alien planet. Encase that Former in a suit that would be both armor and enclosed environment, complete with waste reclamation and oxygen recycling. Send them with just one piece of durable, nigh unbreakable equipment- a fabricator. The pod would be made of raw materials, a dense, compressed mixture of several essential metals and minerals. The machine itself would contain enough samples of chemicals and reagents to make almost anything. The Former would climb out of her pod, start up the fabricator, and make everything she needed on the planet, even synthesizing food. Cheap and easy. The machine was as idiot-proof as possible, and just in case, the Former's suit was equipped with instruction programs. The actual human sent out to the planet was interchangeable. She just had to follow instructions. The real colony ship would be sent out later, arriving five to ten years after the Former, at a planet that had already been changed into a habitable environment. I approached the open pod cautiously, a little smirk on my face as I thought about that last part. I was literally the only hope for a ship that would be filled with ten thousand refugees. No pressure. Either I would be their hero, their world-maker when they arrived, or they would all die, with a bare minimum of supplies and no way back to Earth. No pressure at all.

My suit was already waiting for me, standing open. As I got inside, a technician helped me hook up the systems to all the awkward places. One advantage to being a Former, I would never have to see the guy that hooked up a bunch of tubes and tech up to my delicate bits ever again. Silver linings. Take them where you can get them. The suit closed itself around me, and I saw the tech nod to me through the thick quartz of my faceplate. Then he stepped away, and the shell of the Bullet swung shut, leaving me in darkness. I felt something cold entering my body from one of the ports they had put into my neck, and within moments I began to feel sleepy. The chill spread all through me, dragging me backward into blackness, and I was only dimly aware of the Bullet moving around me, taking its place within the chamber of the Gun. Numbness began to take me, even as I felt the crackling tension of the railgun mounting higher with every passing second. I was completely numb, buried beneath miles of lethargy and icy cold, and I was okay with it. I was just going to sleep. Just a little nap and I would wake up on a new planet. If I was lucky, my planet would be an entire world of beaches, sun, and green-skinned alien underwear models with eight-packs and five-o'clock shadows. The Gun fired, distant thunder sweeping away the electric tension of the rails as they discharged, sweeping my mind away with it. Just before I succumbed to stasis, I thought I heard a man whispering in my ear. "Joanna?" Then there was nothing.

* * *

The breeze reached gently through the windows of the little log cabin, seizing the gauzy, white curtains and trying to draw them out with it. Outside, birds sang in the shafts of golden sunlight that filtered down through the trees, and if I listened closely enough, I could hear the water lapping at the shore of the little forest lake that the cabin overlooked. The mattress and downy comforter were like a cloud beneath me, luxuriantly comfortable, and despite my wakening, I felt no desire to get up.

The room was still, but for the truant curtains, a carved wooden chest of drawers standing against the outer wall to my right, just below the curtain. I recognized the carved shapes of beasts, both real and mystical, carefully cut into the wood Scenes out of legend seemed to leap out at me, captured in the intricate patterns of the grain as if they had been frozen in ice. I knew those carvings well; after all, I had made them. A fresh set of clothes sat neatly atop the dresser; my favorite tight black jeans and a thin white buttoned blouse were topped by a leather belt with a wrought copper buckle, a pair of socks, and the holster of my revolver. The gun inside was more a handheld cannon than a pistol, worn wooden grips over black steel transitioning smoothly into the thick, round ammunition cylinder in its housing, the barrel and rails cunningly fashioned to look like an early twentieth-century weapon- if a little thicker. Nestled in the fabric of my shirt, beside the gun, was a thick clay mug, from which steam wafted tantalizingly. I took in a deep breath. The rich, earthy pungency of fresh coffee provided me the added impetus I needed to get out of bed, and I stood, taking the warm mug in my hand and smiling. Barbas, that unapologetic romantic- he always knew how to start the day just right. Even now I could hear him in the kitchen, the low murmur of shifting pans and the faint sizzle of cooking food, promising one of his legendary breakfasts. I felt my smile growing wider. A fine start to the day, indeed.

I slid out of the wide, sturdy bed and stood, the slight breeze from the window sending a ripple of goosebumps across my body. I didn't bother rummaging in my dresser for underwear, I just stepped into my jeans and belted them at my hips, then reached for my blouse, with the intention to- I froze. My mind had just caught up. Where the hell was I? I went to sleep in a Bullet, in a spacecraft hurtling through space toward some unknown planet, light-years away. What was I doing in a log cabin beside a lake? I looked down at the dresser. I hadn't made those carvings. Why had I thought I had? Another thought struck me, and I felt my blood grow cold. Who was in the kitchen? I sure as hell didn't know anyone named "Barbas." I snatched the revolver from the dresser. It felt weighty, familiar. That familiarity was strange in itself- I had never actually owned a gun. I had fired a few times during the basic combat drills of my Former training, and… once before that... but not enough for one of them to feel the way this one did in my hand- like it was mine. I moved quietly toward the sounds of movement in the kitchen, which was separated from the bedroom by another room, laid out with couches and a low table- a reading room. I stopped as my eyes caught a glimpse of something familiar in one of the framed photographs hanging from a nail on the wall to my left. I turned and reached out with my free hand, taking the frame from the wall and looking at it closely. My confusion only grew. It was a picture of me, grinning proudly, standing on a dock that reached out into a lake behind me. In the picture, I was wearing a flannel shirt and jeans, and gripped in my upraised right hand was a tangle of fishing line, from which dangled a heavy, shining fish. Beside me, his arm thrown casually over my shoulder stood a tall man with the build of a middle-distance runner. He was dark-skinned and handsome, and a wide, toothy smile stretched his lips as if the expression came easily to them. I knew that face, though I had never seen him before, and what’s more, I knew with absolute certainty that he was the Barbas in the kitchen cooking breakfast. But that didn’t make any sense. I had never met him, and beyond that, I had never been fishing. Hell, I had never even seen a log cabin like this, but here I was. I reached up to replace the picture in its place on the wall, and in the instant that I stepped back from the wall, lowering my arm, I saw him.

He had come around the corner, wearing nothing but a pair of loose-fitting blue jeans, and carrying two plates piled high with eggs, bacon, and pancakes. Balanced expertly on the edges of both the plates were short tumblers of orange juice. His red-brown hair had been cut close to his skull, and his eyes smiled out from beneath thick brows at me, vibrant and verdant, as if they had been fashioned from discs of emerald He stood and looked at me for a moment, his gaze playing over my face, my half-dressed state, and gun dangling in my grip. Smiling a little sadly, he set down the plates on the coffee table beside him. His mouth turned up at one side in a little half-smile, and he sighed. “You’re a little ahead of projection, Joanna.”

“What?” I responded, in a stunningly witty rejoinder. I suddenly felt stupid standing there, half naked, holding a gun.

"Joanna, you're dreaming," Barbas explained, and he beckoned me to sit in one of the chairs that framed the coffee table now laden with breakfast. I hesitated, but he sat anyway, pulling one of the plates of food toward himself and plucking a strip of bacon from atop a syrup-laden pancake. He examined it for a moment before popping it into his mouth and beginning to chew with evident pleasure.

"What?" I repeated. Brilliant. I tried again. "This doesn't feel like a dream. It feels too…" I trailed off, at a loss for an adequate description of the situation. Barbas smiled as he swallowed the piece of bacon, his tongue flicking out to clean a drop of syrup from the corner of his mouth a moment later. He made a little circling motion with his broad hand, gently encouraging me to go on. "It feels too real,” I finally said, and sat down in the chair opposite him, placing the big revolver on the table beside the other plate. I reached out for a piece of bacon without thinking, and then stopped, frowning.

“Go ahead,” Barbas said, still smiling. “You can eat it.”

I picked up the strip of bacon. It had been perfectly fried, crispy around the edges, with a little give in the middle. Just the way I liked it. I put it in my mouth and bit down. Oh, it was good. It tasted real; the texture was perfect, and it was still nice and hot from the pan. It had been a while since I had had real bacon, rather than the synthetic substitute that was everywhere in the P.A.D. these days. The agricultural industry had taken a huge hit during the war, and one of the things that hadn't bounced back as fast was livestock. There were pigs around, and there was bacon, but there just wasn't a whole lot of it. And what there was- it was a premium kind of expensive. This was luxury itself. Though of course, if Barbas was telling the truth, I was dreaming it all. Which still didn't make a hell of a lot of sense, but if things could taste this good here… I looked over at the strikingly handsome man perched in the chair across from me, and some distant part of my brain began to wonder what else there might be in a dream-world such as this.

Barbas laughed and leaned forward, his piercing green eyes no longer bearing the pure joy of the smile that they had borne a moment before. “Well, you’re certainly on projection for that.” I opened my mouth, shocked, but he cut me off with an upraised hand. “No, I cannot read your mind, though I do have access to your central nervous system, and certain things are very easy for me to see.” He ran a hand back over his bristly scalp and smiled once more. “You are dreaming, Joanna Angeles, though it is a different sort of dream than you might have had any time in your life before. All of this,” he gestured broadly around him, indicating the food, the table, the chairs, and the cabin itself. “All of this is in your head. As am I, though that is a little more complicated. You are in stasis in your Bullet, moving through space at an appreciable fraction of the speed of light. I built this little world for you, so you could be as comfortable and calm as possible when I explained the concept to you.”

I glanced down at the revolver. “Why the gun?”

Barbas sighed. “It was an insurance policy. If you became confused or frightened, being in a strange place with a man you didn’t know would only make you more anxious. By giving you the gun, I made sure that when we did speak, you would feel more like you were standing on even ground with me. You would feel like we were equals.”

His explanation made sense, even if it seemed a little cold. "What about you?" I asked. "You said you created this dream-world. You have to be real to do something like that unless this dream is so meta-recursive as to be ridiculous. Who are you? And how do I know your name is Barbas?"

Barbas gave a nod that might have been one of respect. "As you've guessed, I can make mild changes to your short term memory and perception. It's one of the ways I can help you adjust to strange circumstances, and help you maintain a healthy state of mind." He stuck up a finger as if catching something in the air before him. "Which brings me to the topic of what I am and why I'm here." He leaned back easily in his chair. "I'm an artificial intelligence, riding along on the neural network that the Foundation installed in your skull. My job is to keep you sane and assist you, such as I am able, with the tasks you are to perform on the surface of your world. You are going to be alone on an alien world for what could be a decade. You have no idea when the next time you will see a living human might be. That's a recipe for insanity. So the cheapest and most effective solution to this problem was me, and those like me."

I frowned, but I couldn’t really find fault with the words. It made a kind of mercenary sense, which fit perfectly within the general culture of the Foundation. To send another human along would be literally twice as expensive, and they weren’t working with an unlimited budget. Rather than halve the number of planets they terraformed, they had found a workaround that let them have their cake and eat it too. I met Barbas’ eyes. “So each Former out there right now has one of you riding around in their skull?”

"Yes and no," he answered, reaching again for his plate of food. This time, he took up the fork and knife and cut himself a three-tiered wedge of pancake. "All of us started as the same template program when we were implanted into the skulls of all of you Formers, at the start of your training, two subjective years ago. During your training cycle, I learned about you. What you liked and what you didn't. How you responded to thousands of stimuli, both when you were awake and when you were dreaming. I learned what kind of people you got along with and those you detested, and I learned what attracted you, both mentally and physically. Supplemented with the massive amount of data I collected from the Foundation's database, I'm pretty much perfectly equipped to keep you sane and functional for the duration of your time on your new planet." He stuck the forkful of pancakes in his mouth.

“So…” I began, my face reddening as the awkwardness of the conversation hit me. “So you’re…”

"Yes," Barbas said, exasperated, from around a mouthful of pancakes. "It is quite possible for us to have sex. But that's not really the point because I know you. Doubtless, some of the Formers out there will use their own Companions as a glorified sex puppet for a time, and if that's really what you want, we can do that. But though that might be where your libido sent your brain right away, that's not all your psyche needs to stay whole for the next decade or so. We'll definitely get to that, maybe sooner, maybe later." He grinned wolfishly. "And we'll both enjoy it. But think a little bigger. Your days on the planet will be mostly tedium- hard work, repeated ad nauseum. You may find it fulfilling, you may not. But after that, when you go to sleep at night, I can take you anywhere, we can do anything. If you want to learn a new language, I can tutor you. If you want to read the ancient classics, I've got them stored. Not only can you read them, but I can set you up to read them in a cafe in pre-war Paris, or sit you down with kahwah and a hookah outside a reconstructed Library of Alexandria grander even than the real thing once was. Hell, you can live the stories you loved if you want. You can be the heroine in an epic, or you can just sit here in this cabin, and live a quiet life, relaxing and fishing in the lake." He grinned and leaned towards me. "I know you've wished you could escape your life, go somewhere better. Now you can. Think big, Joanna Angeles, and I'll help you make a dream-world you can come home to when the day is done." He sat back in his chair again and a slightly sardonic smile twisted his perfect mouth. "Or, for lack of better ideas, we could just fuck."

The bluntness of the last sentence struck me like a slap in the face, and I felt myself blush again, even as my mind reeled with possibilities. Barbas was a program, an A.I., either alive and aware, or so cunningly designed as to be indistinguishable from the real thing. Hell, he was capable of sarcasm, of passion, and more impressively, he was capable of manipulating me like a finely tuned instrument. I saw now what a waste it would be to see him as a toy, just a hyper-realistic fantasy. There was so much more. He was alive and aware, and he was straining at his mentally-constructed seams to show me adventures the likes of which I'd never been able to have in my life before I clambered into the Bullet. Oh, I wanted him- it had been far too long since I'd gotten any, but I couldn't help but wonder. Just how far could this go? "How long do we have before I wake up?" I asked, thinking of my body, ensconced in a power-armored suit, deep at the core of the Bullet.

"Stasis makes your mind process much more slowly," Barbas said, shrugging. "But perception and time are malleable, especially in dreams. We have quite some time to work with." He smiled again, and in that instant, I realized just how much I liked it when he did that. It truly was a magnificent smile. "Just think of this as a nice, long vacation before the start of your first day of work."

“Well then,” I said, reaching for my own fork and knife. “After we finish our breakfast, what do you say we start with some snowboarding?”

Barbas grinned and dug into his own food. “How does the Matterhorn sound this time of year?”

* * *

We spent two weeks in Swiss Alps, hiking, climbing, skiing, and snowboarding. Though I knew it was a dream, a construct- I'd never done any of those things in my previous life, and soon, I forgot that it wasn't real. Barbas had an incredible array of data stored away somewhere, and as we carved the slopes, we saw other hikers, thrill seekers, and tourists, as if we really were breathing in the crisp cold of the Swiss mountain air. When we grew tired of the cold and the snow, Barbas took me by the elbow and turned me around a corner I couldn't see, and we were in pre-war Los Angeles before it had been bombed into slag. Forgetting the shape of the simulation, I was surprised and impressed when it turned out that Barbas had VIP access to even the most exclusive of clubs. It was like being wined and dined by a billionaire who could travel whenever, and wherever he pleased. It was a fantasy come true, and it was the first time in my entire life that I felt fully relaxed, fully comfortable. We took our breakfasts on the balconies of high-rise lofts in Manhattan, spent our mornings sunning at the top of Giza's tallest pyramid, swam nude in the deliciously hot deep spring spas in Iceland, and ate dinner with my favorite historical figures. I became very comfortable with Barbas, and we talked like old friends, discussing whatever came to mind, from my childhood as a ward of the state to the fascinating process of his own creation. It truly was an extended vacation both for my body and my mind, and I could have stayed in that state forever. I could have basked alone in my own personal paradise, with an astoundingly attractive djinni to keep me company, and satisfy my every desire. But all good things eventually had to end.

It was the third day of my fifth week when Barbas came to me in the cabin by the lake, his expression serious. “You’ve landed, Joanna,” he announced without preamble. “It seems the vacation has come to an end.”

I met his emerald eyes and frowned. “You seem awfully grim, Barbas.” I gestured to the cabin around us. “I’ll still have to sleep, and you can bring me back here when I do. This isn’t really goodbye.”

A somewhat ironic smile twisted his lips. "That's not what I'm worried about." He made a gesture in the air, and a window opened up before me from nowhere, as if he'd just wished a computer screen into existence before my eyes. The window showed me the view from behind my armor's faceplate. I was seeing out of my own, real eyes, but at a distance, as if they were cameras, and I was a security guard at a monitoring station. At first, I thought something must have happened to my suit's visor, because all I could see was white, with the power armor's Heads Up Display superimposed over the brilliant, featureless field. Then things started to come into focus as my physical eyes adjusted to the glare, and I realized that I was looking out over a vast, endless expanse of ice, sprawled lifeless beneath a merciless gray sky.

I turned to Barbas. “This must be one of the poles.”

Barbas shook his head grimly, "I doubt it. The Bullet doesn't have much by way of strong sensors, but our approach orbit to this rock took quite a while, and I got a good look at the world as we circled it. This planet is actually a moon, and it's tidally locked to its parent. What makes that a bad thing, is that for some reason the planet this moon is orbiting is also tidally locked to its parent star, and so we’re basically in a permanent eclipse, on the dark side of the planet. The only thing giving this ball of ice any warmth at all is the fact that we’re pretty close to the planet. It provides basically all of the light and heat you will see out there.”

“Well fuck,” I cursed. This didn’t sound at all like a beach full of underwear models. “Can I even terraform that? I’m supposed to make it fit for habitation in ten years. How am I going to make a planet capable of supporting life when I don’t even have sunlight to work with?”

Barbas showed his teeth in a non-smile. “I have no idea. But I know the only thing we really can do is start.”

“How cold is it out there?” I asked, resigning myself to some horrible answer.

He didn’t disappoint. “Most of the sensors on the Bullet were destroyed during reentry, but your suit’s outer measurements read at negative one-hundred fifty-six degrees Celsius, or around one-hundred seventeen Kelvin.”

I swore again. “How long can my suit withstand these temperatures?”

“Indefinitely,” he answered promptly, and then added, “Provided you establish some kind of shelter. The current wind speed is forty-eight kilometers per hour, but I was clocking storms moving upwards of three-hundred KPH.”

“Fucking hell.” I shook my head, staring out at the frozen wasteland before me. Just my luck. But there wasn’t time for wallowing in self-pity. If I didn’t have shelter by the time one of those storms came around, my armor wouldn’t be enough to keep me alive. “Alright then, Barbas. I guess you’re right. Vacation’s over, and we’d better get to work.”

The AI sighed, and nodded. Before I could ask how this went, I was no longer in the warm, comfortable cabin by the lake. I was ensconced in heavy armor, strapped into a thick, cylinder that was half buried in the ground by its own impact. I tore away the straps and got to my feet, ducking the edge of the open hatch in the side of my Bullet and lumbering my power armored bulk outside. I was standing in the midst of a frozen hells cape, and I had to turn it into a home, or thousands of settlers would die here. No pressure at all. Barbas' voice came through my helmet speakers. "Welcome to Chalice Colony, Joanna. Good luck."

Chapter Two

A Fallen Star

Volistad

The first time I saw her, I thought she was a god. Long have the wise elders of the Erin-Vulur spokenf great celestial beings descending from beyond the winds to the frozen skin of Ravanur, where they might visit their will upon their mortal subjects. When she appeared, it was as a great golden arrow falling from the firmament above to the ice below. Though I suspected great happenings and portents were tied to her arrival, I could not have imagined then how thoroughly she would change my world.

Tt day was the fifth day of the monthly hunt, and I had been tracking a burug’s movement through the ice beneath my feet. The great, armor plated monsters tunneled through the glacial shell of Ravanur as easily as a worm in the sand, and rarely did they emerge into the eternal twilight above. A hunter skilled as I knew that the best way to track one was to make the difficult trip to the surface of the ice, and follow them from above until they came close to the surface. Their attentions were always focused on their prey below, on the krill and rodents that infested the warmer layers of ice closer to the heart of Ravanur. A correctly placed strike could, with some difficulty, ensure me a clean kill. The burug had come within two spears of the surface of the ice, its great, chitinous mass visible through the ice in places as a colossal, distorted shadow. I stepped out over that shadow, slowly, carefully, placing each fur-clad boot carefully as I slowly walked the length of the burug, starting at its tail. I checked the Deepseeker shaman's blessing lashed to my arm and nodded in grim satisfaction. Though I was not precisely comfortable with using the magicks crafted by the reclusive old shaman, his work was always meticulous and precise. Though he was half mad and prone to fits of alternate mania and melancholia, the Deepseeker was more than suited to his purpose. Out of the scores of my Tribesmen, he was the only one who could make any use out of the ancient relics that littered the deepest chasmic layers of Ravanur's frozen skin. The particular charm I was wearing was at first glance just a steel vambrace. The back of it, however, where it touched my body, had been more intricately woven of softer metals. Between the woven wires and the steel shell, there was a strange, greenish material that seemed too brittle and thin to be as strong as it was. In the center of the outer metal face smoldered a lambent glow, the strength of its luminescence telling me that the charm I wore as a vambrace would last me another two days before it ceased to protect me from the vicious cold of the surface world. It was good that I had found this burug. Returning to the tribe empty handed would be a source of great disgrace, and I had worked hard to cultivate the modicum of respect that I had.

As I crept the length of the burug’s indistinct form, I counted each pair of segmented legs that I passed. Most creatures of its kind had seventeen pairs of legs, with its central heart and brain both located somewhere between the fourteenth. I would only get one chance at a surprise attack. If I didn’t kill it with my first few strikes, I would probably die in the counterattack. The only problem with a surface strike was that there was nowhere for me to run or hide. An angry burug could breach upward through several spear-lengths of ice, and if I were lucky, it would kill me outright in doing so. I came to the place where I thought the monster's heart and brain would be, and unslung my great hammer from my back, followed by a single iron spear from the long quiver that hung beside my fur-bound pack of dwindling supplies. I positioned the spear with one hand, pointed down, and adjusted my aim to account for the distortion caused by the ice. My first swing was a light tap, the head of my sledge still driving the spear's point three-quarters of its length into the ice. Then I backed up, swung once to loosen my shoulder, and leaped forward, swinging down an overhand blow with all of my body's strength. The strike, made precise by long years of practice, hammered the spear into the ice with incredible force. Ice split before the iron point with a thunderous crack like a gigantic bone being snapped in two, and the spear vanished. A moment later, a great chattering roar shook the ice beneath my feet, buzzing through the hide soles of my boots and sending chills rippling along my spine. Without waiting to check if the monster had started to turn, I drew and set another spear, and raised my great hammer to send another blow home into the burug’s back.

Before I could leap forward into my strike, the shadow of my hammer suddenly stood out starkly before me in a silhouette grip, so clear it might have been painted on the ice. There were no shadows on the surface of Ravanur, for there was very little direct light, only the hazy gloaming of eternal twilight. But something was casting that shadow. I whirled, hammer held two-handed before me in a defensive stance and froze as I saw the source of the light. A star burned yellow-white in the silver sky, growing ever larger as it streaked down from the heavens toward me. It trailed a tail of thick smoke and before it came a bloom of heat that I could feel even from where I stood. I wondered then if I was going to die. As I gaped, open-mouthed at onrushing doom, the ground lurched beneath my feet, sending me down to one knee, only then I was tipped over onto my back as the plates of thick glacial ice cracked and lifted into the air. The burug was breaching. I was definitely going to die. The next several moments were lost in a confusion of impact, an avalanche of skull-splitting crashes and roars, and a wave of all-encompassing heat that sucked the breath from my lungs even as I was driven into crushing darkness. I barely had time to wonder what great sin of mine had brought down such punishment before my mind slipped away sideways into silence, and I knew no more.

* * *

I woke in complete darkness. For a moment I panicked, sure that I had died and was awaiting judgment beneath Ravanur's heart. But then I realized that I could move my arms and legs, and I was breathing, so chances were, I was still alive. I fumbled in my furs for the bundle of glowstones I kept for just such an occasion, found one of the smooth little rocks, and then cracked it against the hard, stippled surface of the ice that supported me. The stone broke smoothly, and bright, greenish-white light spilled from the two halves of the palm-sized stone. I sat up. The first thing I noticed was that the ice below me was not actually ice. It was hard and slightly sloped, pocked with scars and abrasions, and continued in great overlapping plates out of the range of my little light. It took all of my self-discipline not to shout with alarm. I had been lying on the great, broad back of the burug. As near as I could tell, the monster was dead, though whether my spear had played any role in its demise I could not have said. All around me were broad slabs and boulders of cracked ice, piled one atop the other, many of them partially penetrating the chitin and flesh of the dead burug beneath me. The great heat I’d felt was gone, replaced again by the dull, gnawing hunger of deep cold. The sensation was unpleasant, but the blessing strapped to my arm kept it from being truly painful. The edges of the frozen chunks all around me were slick and smooth, as if they’d all started to melt, but had been immediately refrozen before they could take the idea too far.

Whatever had happened, I wasn’t dead, and the burug definitely was. It was my duty to return to my people, to tell them what had happened, and give the forage teams a location so that they could begin the process of collecting the valuable meat and chitin from the dead beast. I found my great hammer lying beside me, picked it up, stood, and slung the weapon over my back. It wouldn't do me much good now. The pair of climbing axes in my pack, however, was a different story. They were actually more like spikes attached to a recurved handle, and they could punch through even the hardest ice with brutal efficiency. I removed them from my pack and unwrapped them, then returned the pack to my back. Before moving, I spent a few minutes rolling my shoulders, warming up the muscles for what I knew would be a strenuous task.

The light of the broken glowstone cast a feverish reflection of my face onto the smooth ice before me. The wan light changed my normally ice-pale skin to a strange greenish hue, even as it cast a rainbow aurora through my crystalline, reflective hair. My eyes were hooded, glittering orbs of darkness, the left one ringed with a ferocious purpling bruise. I grinned at my reflection, showing my rows of jagged, carnivore’s teeth. I looked like I’d just been kicked in the head by a god. But I wasn’t down just yet. Wasting no further time, I crouched, resettled the axes in my grip, and jumped with all of my strength. My first axe bit the ice, stopping me before I could fall. I dug into the icy wall with the array of claws attached to the toes of my boots, then pushed off and slammed the second axe home.

My chest and back burned, and each blow showered my bruised face with shards of ice, but repeated the action over and over, dragging myself up the sheer walls of shattered ice toward the distant light at the top of the pit. It was as the Warmaster always said. "Pain is our teacher, our lookout, our friend. But it is not our chief." If I stopped, I would die frozen in the pit. If I died, my tribe would not harvest this burug, and children would not eat. No warrior of the Erin-Vulur would ever give up with stakes such as these, and I was no exception. I fell into a rhythm. Strike, dig, pull, jump, strike, dig, pull, and jump- I lost track of the movement of my body and simply stared up at the slowly growing window of silver against the smooth aquamarine darkness of the pit where the burug had fallen. It was amazing how deep we had gone. Perhaps when the beast fell, it had dragged us both into a natural crevasse. I was lucky to be alive in that case; those cracks in the skin of Ravanur could descend for hundreds of spearcasts.

When I reached the surface, the banks of silvery clouds that normally covered the frozen sky had parted somewhat, offering me a view of Palamun, the Great Father, in the skies above Ravanur. His face was hidden, appearing as a great orb of darkness that took up fully half of the night sky. He was, as always, limned in a mane of burning, sullen crimson all around. His thoroughly shadowed face, and all about him, was arrayed his celestial host. They were uncountable pinpricks of light in the sky, stretching out to the limits of my vision, each one a god, a warrior in the service of the Great Father, the King of the Sky. One of those warriors had just fallen to the surface of Ravanur’s skin, and I wondered why the Palamun would send one of his own down here in such a dramatic display. Such an omen could be either very good for the Erin-Vulur, or very bad- there was no way the fall of a god could be any kind of middle ground. “When the gods walk twixt men,” I found myself muttering, quoting the High Epic, “Storms follow in their wake. Ware, mortal. Beware the storm.”

With an effort, I turned my face from the fire-ringed dark visage of the Great Father and surveyed my surroundings. I stood at the mouth of the burug’s pit, itself within a deep scar that had been melted into the glacier and promptly refrozen. The trench in the ice began not far from me, in the direction of the Great Father, and, as I turned, continued, ever widening for at least five-dozen spearcasts behind me. I hurriedly stowed my axes and unslung my greathammer. Whatever lay at the end of that trench may well have been a god, but just as messengers from the Firmament did sometimes descend aboard burning sledges, so also did dark, corrupted gods. And they didn’t come down to help anyone. They came to Ravanur to twist the hearts of men. I found myself torn between a burning tide of excited curiosity in my heart and an acute spike of religious fear in my mind. The desire to know more won out, and I set off toward the wider end of the scar in the ice, my greathammer sitting ready on my shoulder.

* * *

As I approached the crater left by the god’s landing, I dropped to my belly, slinging my hammer and drawing my horn shortbow out of its oilcloth shroud. I rolled onto my back, crooked a leg over the bow and bent it with a minor effort, slipping the wound gut string up into its notch and letting the weapon settle into full tension. I rolled back to my hands and knees and then opened another quiver, which hung opposite the spears on my pack. I drew out an arrow, nocking the shaft and keeping it ready as I crept up to the edge of the crater. When I came close to the rocky lip, I dropped to my belly and crawled forward. Careful to avoid detection, I peered over the edge with one eye and stared down at what stood in the center of the blast zone.

A short, blunt, metal pillar smoldered in the center of the crater, surrounded by a tangle of metallic lines and shredded silken cloth. It stood in a turbulent pool of ice; it turned to water in its own heat. I could feel the radiant energy pouring off it, but even as I watched it, the heat was draining away, sucked away by the greedy thirst of the glacier. The pool billowed white steam even as it began to ice over once again, and the strange pillar was obscured in a hazy veil. I waited, tensed, not sure if I should approach the thing or not- but I didn't have long to wait. There was a flash of bright blue light from within the smoke, leaving afterimages of a doorway burned into my vision. A moment later, a figure stepped out from amidst the smoke, and I knew for a fact that I looked upon a god.

The god was tall, maybe three spears high, and its great metal body must have weighed more than five of the tribe’s largest warriors together. Still, it moved with a kind of unfathomable fluidity, its size belied by its evident grace. The god stretched its arms out to the sides and rippled five enormous fingers, then turned back to the pillar that had been its vehicle down from the firmament. After a moment, the great metal deity drew back from the mist, bearing in its broad hands a box of some kind, made of a similar metal to the god’s glittering skin. It attached three seemingly flimsy stick legs to the box so that it could stand on its own, and did something to the front of the strange device, eliciting a series of piercing beeps and whistles. All at once, a deep, all-encompassing thrumming sound filled the air, vibrating the ice beneath my feet and making my teeth chatter in my skull. The mist dispersed from around the pillar, all at once, like a curtain being ripped down from the doorway of a tribesman’s hut. As I watched, the metallic vehicle shuddered and began to undulate, ripples passing down what had appeared to be a completely solid surface. Each ripple seemed to take a little more of the vehicle’s structure with it, taking its shape and rearranging it to the metal god’s whim.

Even as the pillar shrank, I became aware of other changes within the crater. The ice beneath the god's feet shrank away and flattened, changing from glossy smoothness and cratered curvature to a flat, textured floor. The sides of the crater rose up and became walls, and I scrambled back and away from the mouth of the god's landing sight lest I was caught up in whatever working it was inflicting upon the surface of the glacier. I retreated, carefully, stealthily, to a hump of ice a couple dozen spearcasts away, and stowed my bow, withdrawing instead the seeing crystal that the Deepseeker had given me. I extended its containment tube to its full length- just a little greater than that of my forearm, then put one eye to the aperture of the seeing crystal and watched the god work. I would probably have sat and watched the great, metal figure in motion until the blessing on my forearm failed and I froze to death. But the little metal talisman chimed a soft warning, letting me know that I had less than a day and a half before it died.

I quickly collapsed seeing the crystal and its tube and stowed the valuable device within my furs. I had to return to the elders. A god had descended to Ravanur, and we were alive to see it. This was a momentous time, an important time, and I was at the center of it. I didn’t dare try to speak to the god without speaking to the elders first. Though I was curious to a fault, even reckless sometimes, I knew I was not worthy to speak directly to the divine. I would speak to a priest back at my tribe’s home, and perhaps they would know how to approach a god. With the consummate stealth of an Erin-Vulur ranger, I crept away from the god’s camp and set off toward my village at a run.

* * *

“A god has come to Ravanur,” Elder Perwik repeated, and I could tell, just from the tone of his voice, that he was unconvinced. “A metal god, which rode down in a pillar of fire and smote a burug in its descent, somehow, spared you.”

“Yes, Elder, that is what I saw.” I knelt before the seated elders, my forehead pressed to the wooly rugs that coated the floor of the tribe longhouse, gritting my teeth and struggling to control my temper. I had been kneeling there for more an interminable amount of time, and the tribe’s elders had been grilling me with questions, repeating the same skeptical interrogations over and over again.

Another voice, deeper than Perwik’s, but just as laced with scorn, spoke from the opposite side of the room. “A metal god. I know not of any metal god.” Of course, the priest would respond so. If it wasn’t in his precious High Epic, it might as well not exist to those sunken, staring eyes.

I dared a sideways glance over at the Deepseeker, and to my shock, he was staring back at me, his face a mask. He bore an expression somewhere between fathomless boredom and searing fury, and the effect it had on his face was altogether both alien and terrifying to behold. I returned my gaze to my close up view of the rug. A moment of silence passed, and then the Deepseeker spoke, surprising me again. Judging by the coughs and disgruntled murmurs that passed around the room, he’d surprised everyone else too. They were used to his utter disinterest in their business, and his input wasn’t entirely welcomed by the rest of the Elder Council, which thought he was insane. “The list of things for which you have only ignorance, Vassa, is far longer a tale than the list of things for which you have names.”

I stifled a laugh. Vassa, the priest, sputtered feebly and then went on, not daring to challenge the Deepseeker directly. "The gods are not ones to descend from the firmament. We all know this." There was a pause, presumably during which he looked each of his fellow elders in their eyes, one at a time. "Only the senile or the foolish could forget the Eater-King, which descended to Ravanur in a similar way, no more than fifty full cycles ago. " If the Deepseeker took any offense to the subtle barb, he did not respond. Vassa continued, his practiced speaker's voice filling the longhouse with his resonant tones. "The Eater-King destroyed the Erin-Caval completely, as well as the Maccanda, the Hove People, and the burug-riders. We are fortunate indeed that the demon has not returned to our lands." Falling into his usual, didactic rhythm, Vassa drove his point home. "If a god were to come down, surely the Great Father would have sent it down to us, the elders of the Erin-Vulur, the chosen children of Mother Ravanur. Why would a god only show itself to a lone ranger, and a middling warrior at that?" I grounded my teeth at the casual insult, seeing in my mind the image of an iron spear smashing the smug expression off Vassa's face. He'd always hated me. It rankled in him that I had been made a ranger when his son hadn't even lived through the trials. He would take any opportunity to humiliate and discredit me. "Either the ranger is lying, in a misguided attempt to gain notoriety or the thing that came down from the Firmament is another demon, one which has easily turned the mind of a mere warrior and made him think it to be divine."

A fourth voice spoke, this one high-pitched and sibilant, each word like the note in an eerie, swaying melody that filled the thoughts of all who heard it with thoughts of biting cold, rushing wind, driving snow. “Peace Vasssssa.” Elder Lot, the master of all the tribe's Stormcallers, spoke soothingly, unconsciously dragging out random sounds in some of its words in one of his strange tics. Stormcallers were all strange, but he was by far the strangest. "Perrrrhaps young Volistad is not lying for attention. Perhaps the young rrrrrranger did see a god descend to Ravanur.” There was a pause, in which I could practically hear Vassa’s scowl. “I am sommmewhat inclined to believe, however, that he may have been tricked. Surely no agent of the Great Father would be unknown to the High Priest of His chosen people?” There were mutters of assent. “I sssssuggest that we take action. I will send one of my Stormcallers to destroy this innnnnterloper. If it is a messenger from the Great Father, surely it will identify itself to us. If not, we will dessssstroy it before it becomes too strong to deal with.”

“Agreed,” said Elder Perwik.

"Imprison the ranger," Vassa added, offhandedly. "At least until the false god is destroyed. We cannot risk him wandering free if his mind has been taken by a demon." There was a long silence as the elders waiting for the Deepseeker to speak, but he maintained his silence. After a time, Vassa grunted uncomfortably and said. "So be it. Lot, deal with the false god. Perwik, please secure young Volistad." The meeting ended, and just like that, death had been passed upon the strange, metal god I'd seen. Despite myself, I wondered if it was a demon like Vassa said. It couldn't have gotten into my head, could it? It hadn't seen me! ...Had it? Three of Elder Perwik's guards lifted me to my feet, their grips gentle, but firm. They shot me apologetic glances as they led me away to the prison pit. They didn't like this any more than I did, but they had their orders. The elders had spoken. I didn't resist; I merely allowed myself to be taken away.

* * *

Chapter Three

Stormcaller

Joanna

Three days. I had been on Chalice for only three days, and already things had started to go wrong. Some admittedly pessimistic wise old man once said that no plan survived first contact with the enemy. If that was the case, then all the carefully laid training and plans set out during years of training as a Former shot straight to hell the moment my heavy, armored boot first touched the frozen hell that was Chalice Colony. It became immediately apparent that the moon I was to tame hated me, personally, and would be doing its best to kill me until one of us succeeded in our goal. On the first day, I'd built up a windbreak wall, using the nigh-indestructible Fabricator to change the ice around me into a ring of high, seemingly impervious barriers. I'd even crenelated them like a castle wall from a fairy tale, and when I'd laid down at the base of one to sleep that night, I'd been satisfied with a first day's work well done. When I woke the morning of the second day, they'd been broken down around me by the raw force of a two-hundred kilometer-per-hour gale, and I'd had to start over. By the time I slept again, I had created a new wind barrier. This time, I had gone all out. I sunk a half-kilometer circle I would use as my workspace down into the ice fifteen meters, and then raised the very edges of the pit into small hills so that the wind would pass harmlessly over me. I had woken this morning entombed in something I had originally thought was snow- until Barbas had diffidently informed me that it was actually a drift of tiny flakes of ice. The ice had been scoured from the surface of the vast, planet-spanning glacier by the howling winds and deposited into my pit, burying me. To make this planet even remotely livable, I had to fabricate and deploy a Terraformer Engine, and without adequate protection from the elements, it would never work. Thankfully, I had been wise enough to sink the remains of my bullet into the ice, where weather patterns couldn't tear away the precious reserves of refined metal that I had brought with me. I would need those rarer elements, particularly the gold, silver, platinum, and plutonium, if I wanted to get anywhere with this.

Clearing the pit of its blanket of "snow" was a simple enough effort. I powered up the Fabricator, and with a few short commands, directed its nanite swarms to churn up a tiny whirlwind at my command. Within seconds, the nanites were blasting the ice dust out of the pit in a silvery plume. A simple wall wasn't going to be good enough. "Barbas," I said out loud- as if he were reachable by my suit's helmet radio. "Do you have any ideas?"

There was a silence for a moment, just long enough that I didn’t think he would respond. Perhaps sentient programs have to sleep too. But then his voice came through my helmet’s speakers, tinny and laced with static. “I’ve got one, but it’s going to be tricky. I had to dig up the blueprints from my back archives. This thing was designed by Chinese- a proof of concept weapon that no one even knows if they tested successfully. They certainly didn’t use it during the War.”

I frowned, watching an indistinct shimmer like a mirage flicker around the edge of the pit and towards the short, unimpressive looking Fabricator. The nanites were returning, finished with their imitation of a snow-blower. “Okay, I’ll bite, what does this thing do?”

“Well,” began the AI. “It’s going to need some modifications, especially if we want to run a T.E. inside of the field it creates, but I think-”

“Barbas,” I sighed. “What is it?" He got like this when he thought something wasn't the greatest of ideas. I had heard the exact same tone when I had told him I wanted to BASE jump off the Pan-American space elevator. In the end, he had been able to render the event in amazing clarity, despite his warnings that if something went too crazily wrong in the constructed dream world, I could suffer a catastrophic aneurysm.

Barbas sighed, resigned. “It’s a hurricane machine.”

“Uh, ‘Bas, you know that we’re trying to stop the storms on this planet from killing us, right? How does adding a new storm help us?”

Suddenly, my Heads Up Display lit up with a holographic construct, a weather map showing me a fearsome-looking storm vortex. Before I could ask any questions, Barbas spoke. “This is a storm cell, like that of a typical hurricane back on Earth.” A second vortex appeared in the simulation, crawling across my vision toward the first. “When two storms meet, typically, the weaker storm will fail, since they’re drawing from the same well of energy to exist- in the case of a terrestrial hurricane, that energy is from warmer waters.” The two holographic storm cells met in a splash of blue across my HUD, and one of them dwindled, seemingly devoured by its cousin. “Now I don’t actually know what source the storms on Chalice are taking their energy from. There isn’t much heat on this moon and I doubt tidal forces could make storms this large and persistent, even if the planet wasn’t tidally locked. But if these storms behave at all like terrestrial ones, we can generate our own storm, a big one, with an eye more than fifty kilometers across.”

I nodded, understanding. In my armor, the motion was more of a strange forward shrug, but it was the thought that counted. “Inside this storm, the weather would be calm, and any other winds that passed through this place would either be subsumed by our storm or deflected around us. Though we’re going to need one hellacious heat source to keep this thing going.”

Barbas chuckled. “That’s the elegant part. I’ve been combining the design with that of the Terraformer Engine. A T.E. puts off a gigantic thermal bloom- at least when it’s configured to transform a place similar to this. If we do this right, we can use our hurricane as a dispersal system for the changes that the T.E. needs to make to the atmosphere.”

“Damn,” I chuckled, smiling as I imagined the look of triumph on Barbas’ face. “Damn, ‘Bas, what would I do without you?”

“Go insane, very quickly,” he answered, his tone light.

“Good thing you’re here then.”

“Indeed.”

We began construction of our “enhanced” Terraformer Engine immediately, drawing up some of the reserves of refined metal from the buried shape of the Bullet. It took shape faster than seemed possible, the stories-high, monolithic bulk of the Engine’s tower stretching up into the sky. It was like a time-lapse video of a fungal stalk growing from the corpse of an ant. All along the length of the structure, strange protrusions and spikes branched out from the main shape, mixed in with more familiar sampling instruments and a vast multi-spectrum sensor array. The T.E.’s fusion reactor came on three hours into the process, and though I knew my suit was thoroughly insulated against thermal change, I thought I could feel the air around me get markedly warmer.

Barbas didn’t speak much to me during this time, preoccupied with the intricacies of his project, but I didn’t mind. During our “vacation”, we had become comfortable with each other, and with companionable silence. Sometimes spending hours reading different books at opposite ends of the cabin’s wide porch, content to simply be near each other. The niggling thought that all of that was illusion didn’t seem relevant to the point. We worked all day, Barbas toiling in the machine mind of the Fabricator and its growing skyscraper child, even as I walked the perimeter of planned hurricane eye, setting sensor stakes and static manipulators into the ice. I listened to an audio book with half an ear as I worked, my brain caught up in the repeated motion and the woes of Edmond Dantes.

It wasn’t until I drove the last of the sensor stakes into the ice that I realized that something had changed. I couldn’t tell exactly what it was- perhaps something about the quality of the light, perhaps a shift in the tone of the wind’s perpetual whine against my suit- but I knew something was wrong. “‘Bas?”

"Yes, Joanna," he responded, his tone distant with concentration.

“Is there a storm coming?”

Barbas made a sound that was halfway between a startled grunt and a little yelp. “Where the hell did that come from? Yes, there’s a storm coming fast, a big one, less than one-hundred fifty clicks from your position!” He sounded both frustrated and confused. “I was tracking all of the nearby storm cells, there shouldn’t be one near enough to threaten you- I don’t know where the hell that thing-”

“Barbas!” I snapped, interrupting him. “I’m exposed here. Can we start up the Engine yet?”

"Not quite," he hissed, clearly stressed. "I need you to make manual adjustments to the projection arrays of at least half of the spikes you set." He swore. "I meant to run some stress-test simulations before we actually used this fucking thing! If our storm collapses, the whole damn tower could come down, and I don't know if we would have enough of the rarer elements left to rebuild it without mining for them!"

I felt myself grinning. This had always been how I had reacted to crisis. When I was a kid, and the war had come too close to wherever I had been living at the time, the sound of falling bombs or passing bullets had always brought to my brain an icy calm and a maniac's certainty that nothing could happen to me. So even as the fear flooded my brain, fear of dying, fear of being flensed down to a smear on the ice by the incoming storm, the terror froze over into hard, obdurate certainty. I was Joanna Fucking Angeles, and I wasn't going to be killed by some two-bit asshole moon in the back end of some no-name star system. "Well, ‘Bas," I cackled. "I guess we're stress-testing the old fashioned way. Give me the navigation points for the bad stakes on my HUD, and I'll run. Let's see what this armor can do!"

Within moments an array of orange arrows popped up in my field of vision, hovering in a gradually curving line over the sites where I had placed the perimeter of stakes. I leaned forward and ran, speeding across the terrain in great, bounding strides. It was a strange sensation since I was used to being less than two meters tall, strange to eat up the distance with the legs of a nine-foot-tall armored titan. I was thankful for it, nonetheless, and before long I was at the first of the series static manipulators, I had to readjust. Barbas projected instructions into my field of vision, one at a time, and I worked quickly, using the array of micromanipulators fitted into the index finger and thumb of my suits left gauntlet. The adjustment work seemed to take a minor epoch, and all the while the howling wind became louder, more insistent. We didn't have much time.

"It's good! Go!" Barbas snapped, and I jumped to my feet immediately, taking a short skipping step to avoid the machine I had just recalibrated. I ran to the next one and repeated the process, which seemed to go more quickly, then I stood and ran to the next, and the next, and the next. All the while I determinedly ignored the environmental hazard warnings that had begun to flash to the far left of my HUD. I worked this way for what must have only been fifteen minutes. It felt like an eternity, each step taken before a darker, angrier sky, each hurried repair job punctuated by a little beep to let me know that the temperature had dropped another fifteen degrees Celsius. And then, I was at the final stake, and I found myself slowed by a growing wind. Every movement was hindered by a gathering force that pushed and shoved and tugged at me, and my actions became rough and sloppy. I was forced to restart that calibration twice before I finally managed to get it right, shifting the instruments into the right configuration before snapping shut the protective cowling. I'd done it. I breathed out a sigh of satisfaction and relief, straightening up, and froze. I could no longer make out the horizon. Instead, there was a storm rushing toward me on the teeth of the shrieking and it was like nothing I had ever seen before.

The storm was piled hundreds of meters into the sky, in a towering, pillar of bulbous, seething black clouds, lit from within by a nearly continuous strobe of luminescent green. Hissing sheets of lime-tinted lightning blasted the ice beneath its towering bulk, and with every flash, I saw boulder-sized chunks of ice flung high into the air. It hurtled towards me with a ground-shaking roar of cascading thunder, and for a moment I just stood there, transfixed. My body was paralyzed, not by fear, but by overwhelming awe at the spectacle of incoming doom. Barbas was screaming something in my ear, but I didn’t hear him. I just couldn’t process the scale what I was seeing. I doubted very much that our machine, grand as it was, could possibly create something to rival this thing.

“JOANNA.” Barbas’ voice boomed directly into my skull, actually setting my ears to ringing by some kind of subconscious reflex. I snapped out of my trance. I didn’t know how long I’d been standing there, but the vast, alien stormwall was approaching, carrying a cloud of flesh-shredding ice and debris in its wake. I needed to get to shelter or I would die, armor or no armor. I opened my mouth to reply to Barbas, but something out there, in the direction of the incoming storm, caught my eye. I turned back towards the onrushing darkness, and I saw something impossible.

Someone was walking towards me from beneath the storm, her pace unhurried, her movements unconcerned, and her body utterly naked to the wind and the cold. She seemed unaffected by the temperatures, which should have made her skin freeze solid within seconds. She looked human, after a fashion- with two legs, two arms, a symmetrical head with two eyes- and she was even beautiful. In the same way a long distance runner or a gymnast would be. She was all slim lines and understated but perfect curves. She moved with the sure-footed grace of a dancer. Her skin was very nearly translucent, as her hair was. Both refracted the bright streaks of lightning behind her into an aura of other-worldly green. Her canted eyes were dark, all the way through, and at this distance, I couldn't tell what the iris was, and what was the pupil. The storm was coming, and I needed to get to shelter, but this…

“Barbas,” I whispered into my helmet mic, unsure why I felt the need to lower my voice. “Are you seeing this? Is she real?”

"I don't know," he said, his voice tinged with anxiety. "I don't know what that is. She's there, I can see her, you can see her, but she's not registering on any of our sensors." He seemed to gather himself because his voice became much steadier as he continued, "But if you stay out here any longer, you're going to die. I have to bring up our storm if we're to survive this, and our storm wall will kill you just as dead as that one in front of you. It's going to hit us in just over a minute."

I raised a hand towards the woman walking out of the storm. She mirrored my gesture. I smiled, forgetting that it was unlikely that she could make out my expression through my armor's faceplate. I took a hesitant step forward and stretched my hand out to the strange figure. Again, she mirrored me, one hand reaching forward tome- and then, without a moment's warning, the woman lunged towards me, fast as a viper. I took a bounding step back, opening up a couple meters of space between us. With mingled astonishment and fear, I watched as the woman turned her missed strike into a spinning motion and slammed her fist down into the hard glacial surface beneath us. A glittering, crystalline layer of ice spiraled up her planted right arm, before my eyes, crossing her shoulders and surging down over her chest and towards her hips. The ice was so deep a blue as if it were almost black. As it grew, it segmented, changing from a rigid crust into a flexible set of armor, not unlike my own. A spiked helm grew up around the expressionless, heart-shaped face, which was quickly followed by a grotesque mask that forcibly reminded me of the Oni demons from old Japanese legends. The frozen features scowled in the nightmare face, and you could only see the woman's eyes They looked like deep pools of shadow, even deeper than the ones in her armor. The warrior stood, and as if it had been hidden there specifically for her use, a spear rose from the ground, made of the same black ice as her armor. It looked like it had been ripped out of the coldest, darkest nightmare. So dark that it seemed to devour the brilliance of the incoming storm. The armored warrior spoke, and despite the oncoming tempest, I could hear the unfamiliar language perfectly, as if we were standing in a silent room. Her words echoed on the rushing wind and seemed to grow. Before I knew it, we were engulfed in the storm wall.

Barbas was yelling to me, bypassing the illusion of the radio, directly into my mind, but I couldn’t stop to listen. Everything was happening too fast. There was a confusion of movement, frozen into random still frames by the teeth-rattling explosions of lightning strikes, all around me and the ice-bound warrior woman. FLASH BOOM! I was barely dodging aside from her attacks, sure that somehow, even my armor would do little to stop the point of that cold black spear. Another flurry of movement and then FLASH BOOM! We were close together for a moment, staring into each other’s eyes. Almost an intimate distance as I seized the edge of her frozen pauldron and slammed my fist down toward her armored skull. FLASH BOOM! This time, the thunder stroke was close, very close, and all sound turned into a monotone ringing in my ears, as my opponent and I were hurled apart in a shower of sparks and shards of ice. The sudden silence gave me the chance to focus on Barbas' words for a moment, and then they blasted into my thoughts, nuclear-hot and sharp as burning knives in my brain. “JOANNA! RUN!”

A directional indicator lit up neon red in my HUD.I pushed myself to my feet, focused on the red triangle in my vision and sprinted. I could hear my own heartbeat in my ears, and despite my helmet's environmental controls, the air tasted like my own sweat. I ran for all I was worth, unable to see in the storm around me. Suddenly my hearing returned again, and somehow the storm had gotten even louder. The explosion of lightning was almost a constant blasting thunder, and all I could see was random flashes of movement interspersed with afterimages and shadows- like a violent rave burning deep into my eyes. The ground shook beneath my feet, and the blast of ice shards against me sounded like iron rain against a battered tin roof. I couldn't tell which was forward, or which way was back. All I could see clearly was the burning certainty of the red triangle leading me to salvation. I stumbled, I wavered, I continued running through the storm.

And then I was through. The darkness parted like a curtain before me, and the wind dropped away to a roaring thunder behind me. Caught off guard by the sudden lack of pressure, I tripped and fell heavily, crashing to the ice with my face first. For a moment, I just lay there, breathing hard, bewildered and amazed that I was still alive. Then, the stomp of heavy footsteps drew my attention, and I scrambled to my feet, remembering the warrior and her icy suit of armor. Sure enough, she emerged from the storm wall, in a more dignified manner than my stumble and spread-eagled fall. She was not unscathed. Her helm was missing, and despite her poise I watched her put a hand to her side where a half-meter shard of ordinary ice had found a crease between two of her dark armor plates and pierced her. The jagged shard gleamed bright blue and slick with what I presumed to be her blood. Several of the plates of her armor showed bright white cracks, and they seemed to leak light into the unnaturally still air. The same white-green one as the lightning crashed inside the whirling storm wall. She leveled her spear at me. Her hands were steady despite her wounds. I raised my arms in a defensive posture, feeling utterly inadequate. My weapons training had lasted a little bit more than a week with a rifle, and a few days with a pistol. I had been in street fights before, but the most I knew of armed combat was which end of the knife to stick in- and I didn’t have a knife. That was it. Not even a week on an alien moon, and I was going to die by a spear. I wondered how many other Formers had died this way on their worlds. How many others met natives we didn’t think existed- didn’t think could exist, and how many were slain by weapons that had gone out of vogue on Earth more than two-thousand years ago? The warrior woman, even though she was visibly breathing hard cause of the pain, took a firm step forward with her spear pointing perfectly at the level of my throat.

A sensation rippled up my spine as if someone was reading over my shoulder. My hair on the back of my neck, would have stood on end if they hadn't been surgically burned away, long ago, with the rest of my hair.. Gently, intimately, Barbas whispered in my ear. "Relax, Joanna, I've got this." And then my body moved- I moved- in ways I had never moved before. My hands straightened, like blades, followed commands I wasn’t sending - commands I had never sent. My whole body was moving, taking a stance I didn’t know, perched on one leg, the other crooked before me, ready and poised. My arms were raised in front of me, held slightly forward, posing both a defense and a threat simultaneously. One of them, the one extended further, beckoned to the ice-bound warrior with an insolent little wave of the fingers.

She rushed to me, driving a straight thrust to my throat, but I was already moving. I was twisting, still on one leg, to avoid the strike by the width of one of my fingers. Then the leg I had raised before me, lashed out and up with terrible force while my armor’s enhanced strength synced perfectly with the movement. My steel toe met my foe’s left elbow perfectly, precisely, with exact calculated force. The plate of icy armor there shattered into glowing shards. I felt the limb break and bend the wrong way with a crunching sensation that was both satisfying and revolting at the same time. The warrior screamed, the sound passed even through my suit’s audial buffers. As her lips parted, I was shocked to see a mouth full of carnivore teeth, fanged like the jaws of a bear. She tried to leap away from me, slashing backhand with her spear in her good hand’s grip, but my body, acting utterly without consulting me, turned in a smooth arc. With both of my feet planted, I seized the haft of the spear mid-strike before it was more than halfway toward my face. My abdominal muscles flexed, my hips twisted, and I ripped the spear out of the warrior’s weakened grip, grasping it firmly with both of my hands. The cold in the weapon was like nothing I had ever experienced. The threat of frostbite seemed to strike right from the moment I got it in my hands. My body ignored it and continued with the motion despite the pain that crawled. I brought the haft of the spear down against my armored thigh, and broke it in half. I threw both halves of the weapon aside, while the armored palms of my hands were gusting steam from where they had touched it. The warrior woman staggered backwards, with a look of panic in her eyes.

Barbas’ voice sounded in my ears. “Joanna, you may wish to close your eyes for this,” he said, gently. My right hand raised before me, stretched out to the strange, warrior woman. A gun formed in my grip, rapidly assembled by the Fabricator’s nanites from the stores of metal I had buried in the ice. It was the exact same modern revolver that Barbas had made for me the day that I had met him in my dreams. The same revolver that had been in my grip, on Earth, so long ago, and had sank into my grasp with a reassuring weight. My finger tightened and my arm flicked the aim of the weapon into line with the warrior’s head. The hammer twitched and began to move. I squeezed my eyes shut. There was a distant CRACK, and the gun bucked in my hand. When I opened my eyes, the warrior woman lay crumpled on the ground. Her strange, black armor was already cracking and disappearing into a haze of sublimating ice, shrouding her corpse in a shimmering burial shroud of refreezing vapor. I staggered and backed away from her. I moved towards the great Storm Engine we had erected, and found a small, boxy shelter waiting for me at its base. The door opened and I stumbled inside, putting my back against the wall and sinking to the floor.

Even if I hadn’t been the one doing all those things, I had just killed someone. Someone who was trying to kill you, said a little voice in my thoughts. And she’s not the first person you’ve killed. Remember the Law of the Jungle. Even in this frozen hell, it still applies. It wasn't Barbas. Those were my own thoughts, coming out of my memories, wearing the voice of someone long dead. Someone I had tried to forget. Someone I had watched die. The exhaustion of the last sixteen hours of work started to hit. I felt pain and deep muscle ache everywhere. My body felt energized but sore and empty of strength, all at once. Something behind my eyes seized me by the brain stem, dragging me down into sleep. My eyes slammed shut while the sound of the revolver echoed in my ears. It was as if every shot was a nail put on a coffin lid. One nail for each remembered shot. Bang. Bang. Darkness.

* * *

I opened my eyes to the by-now familiar environment of the cabin by the lake, lying on my back in the wide bed. I was wearing jeans and a peach-hued buttoned blouse. I felt long curly hair on my shoulders like the ones I had before. Before I lost them in the Former preparations. They were fanned out around me in a cascade of midnight tresses. I smiled at the feeling of having hair again, and I ran my fingers through the tumbling curls. My hair had never been this perfect, like warm silk, but this was my dream world, and right now, it seemed more real than the icy, violent hell that I had just left. I could smell the summer heat in the humid air, the thick scent of warm forest drifting in through the open window over the dresser. The curtains fluttering to the babbling tune of the birds out there, the lapping of the lake on the shore, the incessant creaking melody of the cicadas. I lay there, comfortable in my skin and the light clothing, relaxed in the sounds and scents of a lazy summer afternoon, enjoying the cloud-soft expanse of the mattress beneath me. I didn’t drift off to sleep so much as I lay in a trance of relaxation for once, only stirred to the sound of Barbas coming through the back door of the cottage.

I propped myself up on one elbow as he came around the corner from the hall and appeared in the bedroom door. He was truly a beautiful man, literally a creature of my dreams; wearing a pair of work trousers and a sweaty t-shirt with the logo of some band I didn’t recognize, fading across his chest. He stripped off the leather work gloves head been wearing, and threw them into a laundry basket in the corner. He crossed to the dresser to find a towel with to wipe his sweaty face. The motion spiked up his russet hair, making him look even wilder.

“‘Bas,” I teased. “Did you get yourself all dirtied up just for me?”

Barbas smirked. “Not entirely.” He eyed me where I lay on the bed, with his eyes lingering on the neck of my blouse. I remembered then that not all of the buttons had been done, and I was undoubtedly giving him a pretty decent view. He cleared his throat and gestured toward the laundry basket with a tilt of his head. “I was working in the garden while you rested. I figured you needed some time to yourself. Today was a very long and hard day.”

I frowned, tilting my head to one side, curious. “Isn’t the garden imaginary? Why would you need to work on it at all? Shouldn’t the flowers just grow when you want them too?” I gestured to the sweaty towel in his hand. “And shouldn’t you be able to just decide that the sun doesn’t bother you? You made all this, after all.”

Barbas wiped his face again, threw the towel after the gloves, hitting the wicker laundry basket not-quite squarely, so that part of the sweaty cloth hung over the side. He shrugged. “Sure, I made this place at first, but it’s your dream world. The sun is hot because you know the sun should be hot. Flowers grow the way they grow because that’s what they’re supposed to do. If you punched the wall of the cabin, you’d probably break your hand. The wine in the kitchen is sweet, but not too sweet, and the bed is quite comfortable.” He gestured about him in an arc. “Reality is subjective, Joanna. It’s what you make of it. And this?” He knocked lightly on the walls of the cabin. “This is where I live. It’s as real to me as that frozen shithole out there is to you.”

“So this place exists even when I’m awake?”

“Of course,” Barbas answered, sitting down on the edge of the bed, unlacing his boots. “And how, for that matter, do you know that you’re asleep now, and awake there on Chalice? What if this is real, and that frozen hell is the dream?”

I grinned and threw a pillow at him. He dodged with the barest of movements. “Quit trying to give me a headache, ‘Bas.” He smiled and kicked off the left boot, then started to unlace the other. I cocked my head the other way and asked, “Is it nice here? When I’m awake, I mean? Does it look the same without my needs and desires making it this way?” I gestured to the cabin around me. “After all, this is my relaxing dream, my ‘R and R’. What does your dream look like?”

Barbas gave me a crooked smile. “My dream looks a lot like this. A nice garden, a sunny day, a beautiful woman in my bed.”

“Your bed,” I responded, lifting an eyebrow. “I’m pretty sure it’s my bed. After all, I’m the one lying on it right now.”

Barbas kicked off the other boot and then turned, rolling onto his belly and slithering towards me. He moved smooth and predatory, like a prowling cat. “Yes, you are,” he said, his voice low, amused, practically a purr. “But this is my dream, like I said, and that makes this bed mine.”

“And me?” I whispered as he crept forward, ceasing his progress only once he was leaning over me. His arms braced on either side of my head like oaken pillars. “If this is your dream, what does that make me?”

Barbas bent and kissed me softly, on the lips, and I felt my heart skip a beat in my chest. I could feel a gathering cluster of sparks kindling to life somewhere between my legs. Little lines of glowing excitement began to wriggle up along the nerves in my belly. He began to plant a line of kisses on me, first on my lips, then the edge of my jaw, the side of my neck, my throat, downward, ever downward in a line that left my skin tingling. With one hand he casually tore open my blouse, exposing the white lace bra beneath, and he continued the line of kisses, lingering a little at the edges of the lace. My nipples were hard, and each one of his kisses on the slope of my breasts, sent out little ripples of electric sensation. The pulses of pleasure cascading out to meet the growing fire coming to life down before. My breath was coming faster and faster, my chest rising and falling sharply with each gasp, each sigh.

Barbas drew the line of kisses down over my ribs and along my abdomen, and knowing where he was going didn’t make the anticipation any less torturous. Each kiss brought me closer to the wet heart of the growing fire in me, making this torture absolutely delightful. He deftly opened the buttons of my jeans with one hand, opening them one at a time, while steadily descending with kisses in a slow agonizing rhythm. His free hand crawled its way lazily up along my side, and I moaned as he slipped his hand inside one cup of my bra and circled my nipple with his gentle fingertip The very edge of his fingernail dragged a little coil of glowing pleasure out of me and sent it rippling away with the sensation he was coaxing from my breast. My jeans began to slip down my hips as he tugged them away with one hand. I wriggled in his grip, as he set me free of the suddenly restrictive pants. He pushed them all the way to my ankles and I kicked them off my bare feet.

I could feel his warm breath on me; I knew what was coming, and still the sudden spike of sensation as his tongue flicked out to taste me, wiped my mind clear like a beach before the slow, steady advance of the rising tide. My lips parted of their own accord, and the next stroke of his tongue dragged a long, low moan out of me. My hips rocked hard against the bed, and each lapping pulse of Barbas’ tongue sent another vibration up along my spine, arching my back up away from the bed. Barbas’ other hand joined his first one teasing my nipples for a moment and then both of them traveled down to grip my hips as he put his tongue ever deeper inside me. I felt the waves of a growing vibration tide coming on ever stronger. I gripped my own breasts, needing to grab something before I was swept away completely by the crashing waves of pleasure rolling over my body.

Barbas was relentless. He didn’t speed up to match the urgent circles I made with my hips, but he didn’t slow down either. He continued his merciless torture on my body with his lustful, expert mouth, and I seemed to hover on the edge for eternity, holding on before the unstoppable rising wave of ecstasy. I came all of a sudden, in an abrupt rush, feeling the orgasm blasting through my whole body and wracking me with uncontrollable spasms of pleasure. I cried out, arching my back and grasping the bed sheets in tight fists. My toes curled and my legs tightened against Barbas’ shoulders, while my heels dag into his back. “More, ‘Bas,” I moaned. “More…”

Barbas lifted his face off me and ran his arm across his wet mouth while he smiled wickedly. “Then take it,” he purred.

I growled, low in my throat, and seized him by his forearms. I pulled him up and over me and then twisted and rolled over so that I came up on top of him. I pushed him down onto the bed and straddled him. I sank down onto the warm hardness of his manhood, gasping and arching again while he slid inside me. I began to rock my hips while I pressed my hands against his chest. Each motion a fresh twist of pleasure, a new flare of sensation, not better, not worse, but completely different from the feeling of his mouth on me. It was amazing, the feeling of him inside me, the feeling of riding the strength of his body. I rocked faster and faster, the fire inside me growing again higher and higher. His hands slid up my back and unhooked my bra, slid it free along my arms, and I threw the lacy thing away from me. It was only getting in the way. We hadn't done this before- the time hadn't been right, until now. Sure, we had spent some time kissing and fooling around, but this was another level entirely. And the wait was absolutely worth it. Now was the right time and my God it was exactly what I needed.

Barbas gripped my back and pulled me forward to lean over him with my breasts just above his face. He stretched his neck and lifted his chin. He closed his lips over my nipple, running his tongue around it in a circle, barely scoring the sensitive skin of my breast with his teeth. Already riding high on the aftershocks of the first orgasm, I climaxed again, abruptly and with little warning. This one even stronger inside me. Unable to control my voice inform the sudden orgasm, I screamed, high and loud, over and over, as each pulse clenched me tighter around him in a frenetic rhythm. In that moment I must have pushed him over the edge, because he groaned and tensed, gripping my waist and throwing back his head, shooting his hot sperm deep inside me. He held the tension for a moment and his body bowed. Then all at once he relaxed, letting out a great sigh of relief. My hips continued their rocking for a few, reflexive thrusts, and then I managed to lift myself off of him, letting out a last moan as he left my body. I couldn’t hold myself up anymore, and I tumbled down to the tangled sheets to curl beside him, my whole body tingling with afterglow.

Barbas snaked one arm out to my back and hips, and dragged me close to curl against him. My head rest in the hollow of his broad shoulder and my hair splayed across him. We lay there for a moment, panting and happy. Barbas turned his head to kiss me on the forehead and said. “To answer your question, my angel, if this is my dream, then that means that you are mine.” I chuckled a little and sighed. I closed my eyes and relaxed against his strength and warmth. Maybe it was alright to be his, even if it was only in my dreams. Maybe this was real, and Chalice was the dream. Maybe that was alright too. I drifted away on tides of lazy pleasure and simply enjoyed feeling good. It had been a very long time since I had been really happy. As the sweet oblivion of true sleep drew ever closer, I thought I heard someone speaking. In a voice unfathomably vast, and deep as thunder. I tried to work out what it was saying, but just as I grasped the edge of those words, I fell asleep.

* * *

Chapter Four

The Face of a God

Volistad

A day spent in the prison pit was not physically trying- not particularly at least. The pit was large enough for me to lie down comfortably, and the floor had been lined with pelts and hides, making it easy to sleep. The walls of the pit were sheer and smooth, shaped from stone by Deepseeker's magick, and the string of amulets hung at its mouth and out of my reach, kept the air warm by. I was in no danger of physical extremis in my prison, but the boredom was probably going to drive me crazy. I stared at the walls, I slept and I did as many exercises as I could manage. I had identified all of the pelts in the layer of furs on the floor of the pit, first by species, then by gender, and then by the method of death. I was so very bored. By the end of the first day, I was sure that Vassa would have them leave me down there indefinitely- if he thought about it at all.

Shortly after breakfast on the third day, a face appeared over the lip of the pit- one I knew very well. She was strange, in the way of all Stormcallers. Her dimpled, pale cheeks were covered with fresh blue paints, in a pattern that I didn't recognize. Her hair dyed in a similar hue and her eyes were black and huge in their sockets. Through it all, I knew my sister's face well. Shaman or no, Nissikul would always be the baby of my family, and as I narrowed my eyes in a smile back up at her, I recognized the omnipresent twinkle of mischief in her gaze. "Nissi!" I called up, not moving from my reclining position against a mound of furs. "What are you doing here?"

Nissikul disappeared for a moment, and then, just when I thought she had gone, a coil of spun vulyak hair rope came, flying over the edge. The end of the wound rope fell to the hides right beside my head. Nissi’s face reappeared at the edge of the pit. “I’m getting you out, obviously. Climb the rope you silly ranger.”

“Vassa put me in here,” I answered. “There might be trouble if I just leave; especially if anyone saw you come in already.” I tapped the rope with the back of one hand, making it sway. “Some of us aren’t actually above the law, mageling.”

Nissikul giggled at this. “Well I would have broken you out the second day, but Master Lot caught me putting the guards to sleep and told me to wait. He wants to talk to you today, so he ordered you released. Vassa is off visiting the Perimeter, so the old goat couldn’t interfere.” She pulled at the rope, coaxing a ripple into it so that the end near me flicked over and tapped me on the side of my head. “So climb the rope, ranger boy.”

I snorted and flipped up to my feet with one move. Then I narrowed my eyes to gauge the distance, took a deep breath, and stepped to the wall furthest from the rope. Before Nissikul could ask what I was doing, I took two quick, sprinting steps and jumped. Pushed off the wall at the apex of my leap, twisting and spinning so that I soared across the pit and caught the stone edge. As I rolled myself over the lip of the pit and then got to my feet, Nissi came over to me, doing some subtle maneuver with her left hand and causing the rope to coil itself about her arm like a deep-viper. “If you could do that the whole time,” she said, not in the least bit put out, that I’d refused her rescue. “Why did you stay in the pit?”

“Because unlike you,” I said, gripping her shoulder and giving her a hard squeeze of affection. “I am not above the law, little sister.”

“Well,” said Nissikul brightly, “I’m not really above the law either. I just don’t obey the commands of you puny mortals, ‘big brother’.” She lifted her chin towards me in mocking amusement. “Now come along, my master wishes to see you.”

I grimaced in protest, but not wide enough to show her my fangs. Our people viewed such a display as something of a threat, and though she was my sister, it was never wise to openly trifle with a Stormcaller. Though she might not be at her full strength here, touching the stone of the buried mountain, Nissikul, the least of her sisters in strength, could tear me to shreds. I might be able to stop her, physically, but unless her attention was fully focused elsewhere, I would have little chance of ever laying a hand on her. She was my baby sister, and I loved her, but Stormcallers were very, very strange- and twice as dangerous.

We made our way from the prison out onto the main surface of the mountain. It was a great stone peak, stretching up from unknown depths, utterly entombed within Ravanur’s icy skin except for the icy cavern that surrounded the peak. It wasn’t a very large world, but it was the center of mine, the home of my people, the Erin-Vulur. I blinked a little at the comparative brightness of the great cavern. It was lit by tangles of glowing moss that grew from the ceiling of the cavern, unharmed by the cold of the ice. The temperature within the cavern was comfortable enough for me and most of my people and barely cold enough to freeze water. If anything, the Stormcallers, like my sister, actually found the place too hot. But then again they were the lunatics who would wander the Outer Skin of Ravanur utterly naked. So perhaps they weren’t the best judges as far as temperature was concerned. Thank Palamun and Ravanur both, that Nissi was too young to go on walkabout. I was not looking forward to the day when the other rangers would start whispering about my sister, wandering about skyclad when they thought I wasn’t listening. Several of my brethren had expressed interest, and my threats of extreme and merciless violence wouldn’t hold them back forever. Nissi was objectively pretty, witty, and funny. Stormcallers weren’t always single, take our mother for example. But they were always crazy. I shuddered thinking of what would happen the first time that one of those luckless rangers would wound Nissi’s heart.

Nissi led me around the terraces and farms that surrounded the prison tunnels. Through the fields of giant fungi and lichen grown to feed our livestock, past the dukkar seals in their wallows, and the small herd of vulyak goats that we maintained to harvest their valuable hair. We skirted the village properly, avoiding its cluster of stone, chitin, and hide huts- as well as the inevitable presence of one of Vassa’s priests. I raised an eyebrow, but I did not comment. Perhaps Elder Lot’s summons was not entirely ratified by the other members of the council. Neither he nor the Deepseeker was especially liked, since their powers and knowledge were uncomfortably similar to dark alchemies of the enemy Beneath.

I quickly turned my thoughts away from what lay Beneath the skin of Ravanur. That way lay madness, and worse. Additionally, even thinking about it sometimes made it stronger, according to the old stories. There was nothing good Beneath the ice. Mother Ravanur had been frozen for a reason.

We cleared the edge of the village and passed through another expanse of fungal fields Each of them was covered in a wide array of mushroom caps, with rows from every variety I could possibly name. Past them lay the glowstone pools, and beyond those- the ancient, solitary hut of the Elder Stormcaller. Lot had been alive for as long as anyone could remember, and seemed to have stopped aging sometime in his seventieth decade. Palamun alone knew how long ago that decade was. As such, his hut was a patchwork of never-ending repairs and patch-jobs, some done by the old man himself, some by his first-year acolytes as part of their training in humility. He had always lived in the old hut, and he probably always would. He only left to attend council meetings or to train his small army of shamans. He was as crazy as all of his kind, made strange by the depths of his power- but amongst all of them, he was certainly the strangest.

Nissikul came to a halt beside the hanging fur flaps that served as a door to the short, squat building. I frowned. “Aren’t you going in?” She smirked and shook her head. Right. Elder Lot had called for me, not my sister. She was just a messenger in this. I placed an affectionate hand on her shoulder, then slipped past her and pushed the furs aside, ducking the low doorway and standing within the musty dimness of the shaman’s hut.

Elder Lot was sitting in the center of the room, surrounded by scrolls made of precious mushroom-cap parchment, evidently lost in his studies. He didn't even look up as I entered, merely gesturing with one gnarled, nearly skeletal finger to the pile of furs opposite where he sat. "Sit down, ranger. I'll be with you in a moment." His eyes, black as fresh pitch, seemed overlarge in his gaunt face. They were identical to Nissikul's, except for their emptiness. Those midnight orbs carried none of the warmth of my sister's gaze- instead, they were endless pits in which a man or woman might be lost, swallowed up and digested in a single glance. I chose to examine the room rather than risk some kind of obscure madness, so I glanced all around me and noted the ritual tools and totems that the old master of the Stormcallers had amassed for himself. Several staves leaned here and there about the small space, fashioned from some kind of long, narrow bone, each length a little longer than I was tall. Each staff was covered by an intricate pattern of sigils and runes, and where each one touched the floor of the hut, it was surrounded with its own circle of burug fat candles. Scrolls of parchment were piled everywhere, with seemingly little regard for the burning candles. Indeed as I glanced around, I saw that some of the scrolls bore telltale spots of char where corners or edges had gotten a little too friendly with flame.

When I looked back up at the master, it took every bit of my will to restrain myself from flinching. Elder Lot was staring right at me, his pitiless blank eyes boring into mine. I felt myself drawn forward, felt myself leaning toward him, as a sensation I could not quite describe, scrabbled at the edges of my mind. Like the insectile legs of some kind of spider. All at once, the sensation vanished, as quickly as it had come. "Your mind has not been altered, Ranger Volisssssstad. Do you know what that means?"

What was going on here? I wasn’t sure what the correct answer was, and I was suddenly acutely aware that if the master argued with me, he could kill where I sat, most likely without lifting a finger. “No, Elder. I suppose it means that I’m lucky to have escaped the false god’s notice.”

Lot waved one knobby-knuckled hand at me and let out a snort of derision. “Donnnnn’t worry, boy, I’m not so closed-minded as that farrrrrrce of a meeting would have had you believe. I am, however, cautious. As much as Vassssa is a fool, he had a poinnnnt when he spoke of the Eater-King. Gods have come downnnnn to Ravanur before, and many of them have been ennnnnemies to our people. Thissss one, however, interests me.”

I felt my brow furrow. “Does that mean that the metal god isn’t dead?”

“On the contrary,” the Elder answered, grimacing, his fangs peeking out from between his lips. For a split second, something like grief crossed his face. “I sent one of my better Sssssstormcallers out there to kill it, and she has not returned. I believe her to be dead. In addition, other rangers have reported that there is a ssssstrange storm raging at the location that you reported to be the god’s campsite. It’s massive, larger even than one of the usual sssssurface blizzards, and it isn’t moving.”

I just sat there with my mouth open, struggling to process what the Elder had told me. A Stormcaller was dead, the god I had seen was still alive, and there was a super-storm just sitting there on the surface? Finally, I got my voice to work properly again and asked, “What does this have to do with me? You had me released from prison- I doubt you would have done so, much less summoned me here, without reason.”

Lot's thin lips peeled back from his gums in a corpse's smile, revealing uneven, chipped teeth. The expression was deeply unsettling to behold, and I swallowed hard and struggled not to look away. "I already told you, my boy. I need more information about thisssss metal god. One of my children has already died, and I cannot afford to ssssend another. You will go, and learn all you can about this god and this stormmmmm."

I felt my face grow pale. I was a hunter, and a good one. I could track anything across Ravanur, above or below the ice. But this was outside of my expertise. Gods were another thing entirely from mortals. According to the stories, they were proud, vicious, and vengeful. Their strength and power made them cold to the suffering of mortals, and they killed as easily and thoughtlessly as one of my kind might breathe. I wasn’t afraid of death at any rate, but I did not feel qualified for this. A Stormcaller or maybe a priest. However, a Stormcaller had already died, and Vassa was an idiot. This was going to be my task, whether I liked it or not. I squared my shoulders and stood, taking the lithe, ready posture of a warrior, driving the doubts away from my mind. “I will do this, Elder Lot. Count on it.”

“Of course you will,” Lot said, absentmindedly, already back to reading the scroll in his lap. The interview was clearly over. I turned to leave, but just as I reached the door to the hut, the Elder spoke, stopping me with my hand on the lintel. “Avoid Vassa’s priests. Go see the Deepseeker for the proper equipment and leave the village as unobserved as your arts will let you manage. And if you learn something important, come right back to me. Don’t report to the council about this again.” I didn’t answer. I simply swept through the door, expecting to come face to face with Nissikul. However, she wasn’t there, as I emerged into the fungus-lit expanse of the village. See the Deepseeker and get out of town unobserved- now that would be something of a challenge. I loved it. Challenge accepted.

* * *

Getting my hands on my furs, pack, and gear was actually the hardest part of the task. Normally, I would have simply walked into the Huntmaster’s Longhouse, found the alcove where my equipment was stored, and left, all the while exchanging pleasantries and the latest gossip with the other rangers. This time, however, I was to avoid being noticed, so I had to take a different approach. I ended up crawling through the smoke-hole in the longhouse roof and creeping through the rafters. I stayed shrouded in the haze until the place emptied and most of the other rangers left to attend to their various duties. It took me only a few minutes to don my armor and gear, and then I was back in the rafters and slipping out amidst the smoke. After that, getting to the Deepseeker’s hut was a simple matter of leaving the village and circling its edge in the reverse of the route that Nissi had taken to lead me to Elder Lot.

The Deepseeker's hut was as isolated as the Master Stormcaller's home. Unlike Lot's house, however, the Deepseeker's residence was as scrupulously neat as if it was seemingly new. Fresh, even glistening hides had been expertly cleaned, tanned, and stretched to cover the structure, which was built with the same kind of geometric perfection that I had only ever seen in the grain mill. This made sense since the Deepseeker had constructed the mill as well. The hut looked purpose built, fashioned with exacting detail in accordance with some plan I couldn't grasp just by seeing it from the outside. I approached the hut, and I noted that there was a small bone post beside the door. An iron hook was implanted in it. A little silver bell hung from the hook and a tiny, fur-headed mallet to strike it with. I lifted the mallet with my thumb and forefinger, while my gloves made my moves clumsier than usual, and struck the bell twice. It let out a piercing chime with each strike, though the second one seemed to hang in the air longer than it should have. A moment later, the Deepseeker's gravely, amused voice rumbled, "Get in here, boy, before someone sees you."

When I entered the Deepseeker’s hut, I found him bent over a sturdy, immaculately constructed workbench, made from a smoothed block of stone, with legs shaped from burug chitin. He had a pair of spectacles on his nose, though these had far too many lenses attached by various articulated brass arms. The magick he was manipulating today was larger than any blessing of his I had ever seen. It seemed to be a breastplate, made from a metal that seemed too dull and too dark to be copper, but too red to be anything else. It was etched with strange, branching symbols, as all of his work was. Some of those sigils, particularly those surrounding the stylized heart embossed over the plate’s left breast, seemed to glow with an inner light, lit by a power I did not understand. “Elder?”

The Deepseeker met my eyes, and gave a wide, threatening grin, revealing fangs as long and sharp as mine, even yellowed as they were with age. “It took you long enough to get here, ranger, though I suppose old Lot did set you a pretty challenge. That man always did like his theatrics, eh?”

Pretending that the elder didn’t deeply unsettle me, I shrugged noncommittally and said. “It wasn’t a difficult task, just something of a tedious one.” Suddenly curious, I continued. “Do the Elder’s disagree so much about the metal god that this sort of subterfuge is necessary?”

The Deepseeker grimaced and gave a half-shrug of his own. “Palamun only knows what goes on in Vassa’s thick skull. If he doesn’t know about what happened- about that storm sitting still on the surface- he will soon. And when he does, I can’t guarantee that he won’t declare a holy pogrom on the metal god and all its creations, whatever those might be.” The Elder seemed to shudder at this, and his face twisted, changing all at once from bemused calm over to an incandescent rage. His eyes now burned with inner fire, his lips curled to display his fangs and his expression clenched into a mask of hate. I didn’t react. The best way to handle the Deepseeker’s strange rages was to wait for them to calm down, and not draw attention to myself or them. The Elder continued speaking through clenched teeth. “One of our Stormcallers is missing, probably dead. We cannot risk another attack on that thing until we know what it can do. You are going to find out what it can do, find out how we can kill it, and you’re going to keep this whole thing a secret from Vassa and anyone else until you know all of these things. Do you understand boy?” The last word was accompanied by a spray of spittle, and a glare that could have boiled the flesh from my skull.

I stood very still. The Deepseeker’s rages could very easily become violent. “Yes, elder. It will be done as you command.” The elder snarled and snatched the breastplate he had been working on off of the worktable, turning on his heel and flinging it at me backhand as he stalked away. The armor struck me in the chest, painfully, but I caught it and kept the pain of the blow off of my face.

"Take that and get out," the Deepseeker growled. "It will keep you warm for two months. Don't break it, or I'll break you," I didn't say anything in response. I simply fled the hut with the elder's latest blessing and then put as much distance between him and me as I could, in just a few moments. When I was far enough outside the village that I could no longer hear the sounds of the crazed Elder smashing things in his tent, I crouched behind a boulder a short way down the slope and rearranged my furs so I could put the armor underneath them. To my surprise, it wasn't actually heavy and didn't really impede my movement at all. Even though the elder had made it, it was of unbelievably high quality. Judging by the lengths to which the two elders had gone, this mission was of critical importance. The Erin-Vulur needed to know more about the god now living within a whirling storm on the surface of Ravanur. It might be another predator, like the Eater-King, but then again it might not. If it were benevolent- even slightly so, it was important that we learned what it wanted- why it was here, on our world. If Palamun had sent this god as a messenger, its mission could be of vital importance. It could change everything about the future of my people.

I left the village, avoiding the high traffic civilian roads- those led deeper into the surrounding ice, anyway- and I found one of the least used ranger paths out of the Erin-Vulur tribal home. The path led into a tunnel, which snaked out and up, taking me along a route that would lead me ever further away from the village. Each of these tunnels had iron hatches in them at several points, to deter potential invaders from other tribes, but it had been a very long time since the last tribal war, and longer still since the Erin-Vulur feared invasion. I found the iron hatch and fished around inside my furs for the key, which I wore on a string around my neck. It didn’t look much like a key, appearing instead to be a featureless cylinder of the same iron as the portal, but it contained some of the Deepseeker’s magick. As long as I held it, the key would work in any of the ranger’s doors. In the hand of any other, it was little more than a useless lump of iron. I slotted the little iron cylinder into a matching groove in the door and was answered with a satisfying clunk inside the thick portal. I leaned forward into the portal, and it scraped open, clearing a thin build up of shaved ice out of its path.

I stepped through the portal and closed it. I was now standing in a tunnel barely wider than my shoulders, a rough-hewn, ill-maintained straight shaft through the ice. Driven into the walls of the shaft, there was a ladder line of iron spikes, set at half-spear intervals. I sighed, rolled my shoulders to loosen them, and began to climb. At least I didn’t have to climb this one by axe.

The surface was just as unforgiving as usual. The ceaseless, scouring force of the furious winds made me stumble as I came out of the ranger tunnel onto the featureless surface of Ravanur’s icy skin. I slid the concealing imitation boulder back into place, covering the tunnel from prying eyes. I then reached into a crack in the side of the rock and hit a hidden switch, causing the securing bolts to fall into place, fastening the cover to the hidden iron ring at the mouth of the tunnel. Periodically, a storm would rip the top off of one of our tunnels, but short of that kind of force, the secret routes of the rangers remained so, secluded and hidden from any who would wish to do our tribe harm. I wondered then if the metal god was a good or a bad one. If it was a malicious god, according to the stories, it could make me tell it all of my secrets- like the locations of all the entrances to the home of the Erin-Vulur. I shuddered. Hopefully, it was a good god, but if it was a bad one… I resolved then that if the metal god turned out to be an enemy of my people, I would force it to kill me in battle rather than be made to betray my tribe.

I unfolded my map and looked at it for a while, noting the position of the burug I had killed relative to the location of the village. It was a day and a half’s walk from here, though if I found an old burug tunnel, I might be able to follow its relatively smooth contours toward my target, and bypass some of the difficulties of overland travel. Bringing up the recent burug paths I knew about, I mentally overlaid the paths onto the map and selected the one I was going to take. A day and a half. Just a day and a half until I stood face to face with a god and the world changed forever. Was I ready for something like this? Shaking my head, I hiked my pack up further on my shoulders and set off for the burug tunnel. There was only one way to find out.

* * *

I had no problem finding the home of the metal god. Roughly two days after I had set out from the tribal village, I got out of the old burug tunnel I had chosen to follow, preoccupied with my own thoughts. The tunnel had been utterly free of any sign of the great insect that had made it, and that didn’t make a lot of sense. Though the massive adult burug that had made the tunnel had been slain, typically within those tunnels a ranger would find burug eggs or larva. Even this far from the village, they would be exterminated outright, but there was no sign of that either- no shattered pieces of chitin, no flash-frozen blood or ichor, no grooves in the ice from heavy blows. This tunnel had emptied and stayed empty. There weren’t a lot of things that scared a burug; they weren't really smart enough to actually know fear. For something to drive away all of the juvenile insects that should have been here… A rumble of thunder vibrated the ice beneath my feet, and I looked up, out through the open mouth of the tunnel. In that moment, I knew exactly what had scared the beasts away.

The sky in front of me was covered by a solid column of black, hundreds of spears wide and three times as high. It was lit from within by brief, startling flashes of blue light, occasionally spitting out a bolt of searing blue that gouged up great chunks of ice and flung them high into the air, only to be caught in its lazily rotating mass and swallowed. I was standing inside a great storm. Green lined clouds stretched in concentric circles past me, seeming to extend out to the horizon. The wind whipped around me, howling for my blood. Its rage blew me back and forth as I got to my feet. I kept one arm thrown across my face to protect it from the flying ice. I quickly tugged a scarf across my mouth and nose and crouched to preserve my balance against the rushing violence of the storm. I understood now that the pillar of roiling blackness that I was looking at was the storm wall- the place in the heart of a great storm where the violence of the wind was the strongest. I knew that the eye of the storm would be a place of calm, near serenity, shielded from the tempest’s own rage, and I was sure that if the god I had seen was inside the storm, then the eye was where he would be. I just had to get inside. It was strange that the god had chosen a blizzard to be its ward; every Erin-Vulur ranger had to reach the eye of a blizzard before he was considered worthy of his ink. I had crossed a storm wall before- every one of my comrades had as well, some of us multiple times. Surely a god would have known that. Was this some kind of test? If it was, I was ready for it.

I reached inside my furs, into a pouch I kept tucked under one of my arms for safekeeping. Inside it, there was a set of goggles, with thick lenses shaped from precious quartz that the Deepseeker had found under the buried peak of the Erin-Vulur village. I strapped the goggles over my eyes to protect them and put the pouch back within my furs. Next, I spread protective balm over any of my skin left exposed, from a clay jar I kept in my pack. This would keep the storm's cold, harsher even than the ambient cold of Ravanur, from leeching heat from my body. A powerful enough storm could freeze even someone protected by powerful Deepseeker magick if they weren't careful, and the strange breastplate I wore under my furs would do nothing to protect me from a lightning strike. Even though I was experienced, every time I crossed through a storm, I took my life into my own hands, and a storm shaped by the hand of a god was no exception. No sense in waiting around. I checked the claws in the tips of my boots, drew out my twin climbing axes, and sprinted toward the storm wall, diving to the ground as I drew near to the roiling barrier. As I dropped prone to the ice, I slammed down my axes, getting a grip with the sharp points, and scrabbled with my clawed boots, getting purchase against the ice. Lying face down like this, made it less likely I would be ripped up by the storm, and hopefully it would also protect me against the chance of a lightning strike. I pushed with my feet, reached out with one hand, slamming my axe down hard a few hand-spans further, and then dragged myself forward. It was like climbing, a little more dangerous though, and my body fell into the familiar seeming rhythm with ease. Within moments, I was fully surrounded by the storm wall.

The time I spent within the god's storm wall was like a fever dream. Sensations passed across my body in waves, seeming to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. I was cold, even with the blessing I wore, and the wind seemed to be trying to rip the hides off of my back. I was in total darkness, concentrating on the indistinct impression of the little bit of ice in front of my goggles and not daring to lift my head. Each breath was a labor, as most of the air was sucked away from my mouth before I could take it in. I had to expend precious effort to remain calm in the face of it. Every so often, lightning would play across the inside of the storm wall, and a nightmare skyscape would reveal itself to me in the afterimages burned into my eyes. I saw towers of clouds growing upward to the unseen heavens before they were smashed into curling wisps by icy boulders, flung by the storm like they were pebbles. Through it all, through the light, and impact, and the terrifying, all-encompassing noise of it all, I persisted in my driving rhythm, dragging myself ever further into the storm wall.

I don't know how much time passed, but abruptly, with little warning, the noise dropped from bone-pulverizing to merely deafening. I had done it; I had breached the god's storm wall. I was exhausted and sore, so much in fact, that I didn't hear or feel the heavy footsteps approaching me, until something seized me by the back of my furs and lifted me off of the ground like I was an infant. I yelped and tried to fumble for a spear, but my captor simply shook me, enough to rattle my brains in my skull without killing me. I immediately stopped struggling, and instead, I twisted in the massive grip- and then froze.

The god was a two and a half spears tall, and clearly much stronger than any of the Erin Vulur. It seemed clear to me now that the metal was not actually its skin, but rather some kind of heavy armor, similar in function to the glacial plate that Stormcallers sometimes summoned to protect themselves. All of its movements seemed a little too-smooth, demonstrating a grace that wouldn’t have seemed possible in armor that heavy. I had the sense that if I tried to reach for any of my weapons, it could pluck them from my hands with deft ease, and fling me into the storm like a discarded puppet to be destroyed. The god’s helm bent towards me, and presented me with the broad, quartz plate that took the place of any facial features. For a moment, the plate was opaque, a glittering metallic sheen reflecting the bright strobes of lightning in the storm wall before us. As I watched, the metallic sheen faded away, leaving the crystal perfectly clear, so that I could see inside. What I saw- more than anything else I had witnessed since I had seen the star fall from the sky- stopped my heart in my chest.

Staring back at me from within the helm, there was a face I would never forget. She looked simultaneously like and very much un-like one of the Erin-Vulur. Her features were less angular than those of my people, her jaw more gently curved and her cheeks soft and un-lined. Her skin was darker than my own; the color of new leather, and her mouth was narrow, framed by red lips that seemed, even now, to be on the very edge of smiling. It was her eyes, though, that fascinated me. They were rounder than mine, and set a little deeper beneath her hairless brows, but the actual eyes themselves were fascinating. Deep, liquid brown eyes gazed back at me from beneath thick lashes, instantly intriguing, staring into my own eyes with an intensity that shocked me. My heart was beating again, very fast, as I met those endless eyes and wondered just how much she could see. Could she see into my mind? My soul? If she had, at that moment, all she would find would be a single thought, echoing through my head. Beautiful. She is beautiful.

* * *

Chapter Five

The Djinn and the Bear

Joanna

I frowned through the faceplate of my power armor at the man I had captured. He was just looking back at me, not making any attempt to break free- despite the collection of weapons lashed to his pack. He was dressed in furs and hides, and seemed not overly bothered by the lethal cold he was wandering around in. He had just crawled through my storm-wall the way one might scramble through the gap under a chain-link fence. “‘Bas, let him see my face. Maybe if he sees I’m not so much different than him, he can carry a message back to his people so I don’t have to kill anyone else.” The AI didn’t say anything, but a moment later, the eyes of the warrior focused directly onto mine. If I hadn’t been holding him half a meter off of the ground by the back of his furs, I might have taken a step back away from him when our eyes met. They were not the eyes of a human. Though he looked like a human- two eyes, two arms, two legs, generally symmetrical features- the eyes were something else. His eyes were canted, with an even more prominent epicanthic fold than someone of old Asian ancestry. I remembered a theory I had read, that those eyes had evolved to protect the vision of people living in cold, windy climates. It would certainly make sense here, though I still didn't understand how life could exist at negative one-hundred fifty Celsius degrees. His eyes had no whites- or at least his sclera wasn't white. Rather, they reminded me of the eyes of a polar bear, orbs of deep glacial blue framed in wild, feral brown. The polar bear impression was made even more striking by the fact that his skin and hair were both an utterly colorless white. He stared into my eyes with a ferocious intensity that was both worrying and intriguing. I felt something like electricity crackling back inside my brain, traveling down my spine-

"Try speaking to him." Barbas' voice was neutral. He wasn't paying attention to the alien hunter's eyes; he was reading all kinds of data from the suit, and from the enhanced sensors that we had mounted up high on the Terraforming Engine tower behind me. Something about the man made him nervous.

“He won’t be able to understand me,” I said, for the first time feeling somewhat foolish about speaking out loud to what was essentially my imaginary friend. For a moment I was glad that the alien couldn’t understand me. He probably thought I was talking to him.

"I know," Barbas replied, his tone clinical, emotionless. How could he be so… uninterested? We were talking about First Contact here! Well, technically, shooting the strange, ice-clad woman a few days ago had been First Contact, but still. Oblivious to my thoughts, or at least pretending to be, Barbas continued. “Even though he can’t understand you, he just reacted to the sound of your voice. If you keep talking, you can keep him reacting, and I can get more detailed information from the electromagnetic spectrum scans I’m running on his brain right now.”

"You can read his mind?" I had blurted the question before I realized how ridiculous that sounded. Barbas could read my mind, or at least I couldn’t come up with a compelling argument to prove that he couldn’t. Though he was riding on tech lacing the inside of my skull, he was essentially just reading the "computer language" of electrical impulses flickering across my gray matter. Chances were, even if he couldn't read the alien's actual thoughts, he could get the gist of what the warrior was thinking, the broad strokes of the picture he painted. I was pretty sure that Barbas was reading my thoughts because he deemed it unnecessary to answer my question. How else would he be able to talk to you- and more- in your dreams, stupid? I shook my head. This wasn’t the time. I needed to focus.

Gently, I set the warrior down onto his feet, and then took a step back away from him. If he went for a weapon, he would die, very quickly. Barbas and I had not been idle. The tower now sported a gauss rifle emplacement, a scaled-up version of the technology that made my revolver work. Regardless of the surrounding weather conditions, that gun could fire a tiny steel ball several times the speed of sound through anything inside my storm wall. It wouldn’t leave much more than a smear of a human- or a humanoid- skull behind it.

I raised my hands, palm out toward the warrior, hoping that the gesture meant the same thing to him that it did to me. Peace, I thought at him, willing my intention to reach him, language barrier or not. I hadn’t had the time to try to speak to the ice-woman earlier, killing her had been completely necessary. This- those eyes- this would be different. It wouldn’t be a tragedy. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

The alien man seemed unconcerned by the language barrier, utterly unsurprised that I spoke a language he had never heard before. He mimicked my gesture, holding both hands out in front of him first and then slowly, carefully, slipped his pack off of his shoulders and lay it down on the ice. He took a step away from his weapons, towards me, and though I tried not to, I took an involuntary step backward. He cocked his head to the side, seeming confused by this. Shit. I can’t fuck this up. I pointed to myself with the broad metal thumb of my armored gauntlet. “My name is Joanna,” I said, slowly and with exaggerated diction.

He pointed at me with his index finger- I noticed that his hide gloves did not cover his fingertips, and black, glossy claws extended from each finger where his fingernails should have been. “Mie-nay-miss Joo-ah-nah,” he repeated, his mouth making clumsy piecemeal of the unfamiliar sounds.

I shook my head and then pointed to myself again. "Me," I said. "Joanna." I pointed at him and said, "You…" then paused. He didn't say anything this time, he simply cocked his head slightly to the side again, the gesture reminding me uncomfortably of the curious movements made by a feral dog I had seen when I was a little girl. It could have been pure curiosity, or it could have been him wondering if I was good to eat. I repeated the little sequence, pointing at myself, and saying, "Me, Joanna," then pointing at him and saying, "You…" and pausing. Pattern recognition. It was one of the basic foundations of human cognition, our greatest strength, and our most exploitable weakness. If he recognized this one, maybe…

The warrior straightened his neck slowly, and then pointed one dark claw at me, pointing directly at my eyes. I blinked. He had figured out that the face he saw behind the quartz faceplate was me, and that the metal body was just a suit. Interesting. His lips moved, this time producing a sound that was utterly unlike my mother tongue of Pan-American Standard. “Joo-ah-nah atzvaka,” he said, his clumsy pronunciation of my name contrasting sharply with the harsher, more guttural sound of his language. He pointed his thumb at himself. “Volistad mitzerkim.” He waited a moment, then repeated the sequence, the same way I had repeated mine to him.

I grinned, suddenly excited. This was working! I tried to make the same sounds he had made, sure that my attempt at his speech sounded just as inelegant as his attempt at mine. I pointed at myself. “Joanna mitt-zeer-kim.” I pointed at him, still smiling. “Voh-list-tad at-vak-kah.” I was sure that I had put the emphasis on the wrong syllables, and I hoped that I hadn't just issued a deadly insult or something. I noticed then that he had taken a few quick steps back from me, his eyes narrowed slightly, and his chin tucked low, presenting me with his broad brow. Shit, what had I just done? Did I just threaten him or something?

Barbas muttered diffidently in my ear. “Stop smiling.”

“What?” I hissed back. “I’m trying to be friendly.”

“You didn’t see when he was talking?” Barbas sounded amused. “He’s a carnivore. What does it mean when you bare your teeth at a wild dog?”

I didn't miss the connotation in his choice of words, but I chose to ignore it for the moment. "Oh. Shit." I quickly wiped any lingering traces of the smile from my face, and then held my hands palm-out to the warrior. Volistad watched me for a moment warily, and then, with no warning, he barked out a short, rattling, coughing sound. It sounded unsettlingly like the beginnings of Mesoamerican jaguar's roar. It took me a moment to realize that he was laughing. "God," I commented to no one in particular. "Am I as terrifying to him as he and his people are to me?"

Barbas snorted. “In the armor? Probably.”

Regaining control of his evident mirth, Volistad took a step towards me, and pointed at me, reversing the pattern as I had with his language. "Yoo Joh-ah-nah." I suppressed my smile as I realized he had made the correct ‘oh' sound at the beginning of my name this time. He pointed his thumb back at himself and said, "Mee, Volistad." Then, in a moment of surprising intuition, he smiled, as I had, and I saw what Barbas meant. Volistad's mouth was that of a carnivore's. His face looked human, but as I looked more closely, I realized that there were some subtle differences. The muscles around his neck were thicker, and his jaws were prominent and wide in a manner that seemed more suited for biting than an ordinary human mouth did. Most obvious were the fangs that curled up from the row of sharp, dangerous looking teeth, literal canine teeth. Or, I supposed, taking in the other polar-bear seeming traits of the alien, ursine teeth. Nonetheless, he smiled, mimicking me, and then, when he saw that I understood, he closed his mouth quickly and narrowed his eyes again, this time in an expression utterly different than the one he had made when I had startled him. It was the same kind of expression that a cat made when you scratched him behind the ears. Caught completely off guard, I laughed, and Volistad joined me, making his own, half-growling guffaws.

We just stood there, laughing for a good five minutes, tickled by how different we were, and at the same time, just as amused by how much we were alike. When we finally stopped laughing, I felt tears on my face. This was amazing This was the way First Contact was supposed to go. I was really doing it! I was communicating with an alien! It was funny, since the prospect of meeting extraterrestrial life had deemed so unlikely as to merit a single hour of instruction during the entirety of my training as a Former. "Barbas," I said, unable to keep the excitement out of my voice. "I want you to record everything he says. You're going to analyze it all, and when I dream, you're going to help me learn. I want to speak that language, and I want to speak it soon. If we do this right, I won't have to shoot anyone else."

Barbas’ whispered, his tone more mechanical than human now, as if the analytical processes he was running behind the scenes was beginning to eat up the computing power he usually reserved for his personality. “Joanna, you’re probably going to have to kill again, regardless.”

“What? Why?”

"Because I doubt the first one, the one who brought the storm with her, was alone." A little more humanity crept back into his voice, and his tone changed, sounding… apologetic. "You need to be careful with this… Volistad. You're right; he's probably friendly. But he might also have been sent by the same power that sent the woman I killed. When the hammer fails, you try the knife in the dark." Despite the temperature control in my suit, I felt a chill pass through my body. Was Barbas right? Could this hunter be here to hunt… me? Could those amused eyes be hiding malice? He had put down his weapons, but what did that mean really? I would sleep eventually, and when I did…

“I’ll be careful, ‘Bas. And besides, I have you watching over me. I know you wouldn’t let anything happen to me.” I tried to picture the image of myself smiling, tried to send him reassurance through my thoughts.

My efforts seemed to work, because I could hear the smile in the AI's voice as he said, "Of course I will, Jo. I would never let anything bad happen to you. And you know I can never leave you." He paused for a moment and then continued, his tone businesslike. "If you want to learn this language, you're going to have to find a way to get him talking, and I'm going to be unable to speak to you for a while. There's a lot of for me to do to keep working on the tower, and between those tasks and analyzing an alien language, I'm going to be very busy. You've got this. I'll be here if you need me. Otherwise, I'll talk to you tonight."

Our missions clear, we got to work.

* * *

When I opened my eyes to the calm warmth of the dream that night, I wasn't lying in my bed in the cabin. Instead, I was seated at a broad, oaken desk, in a vast, dark library. The only light was the desk lamp sitting beside me, and its soft, cozy light illuminated stacks of notebooks and dozens of bound books. Some of the books were little more than prettied-up pamphlets, perhaps bound versions of articles by some prominent mind; others were more like ancient tomes, thick, heavy and musty-smelling.

I looked around me, only able to make out the regular, monolithic shapes of the bookshelves shrouded in the darkness, looking for all the world more like ancient standing-stones in the darkness than simple shelves. Barbas emerged from that darkness, handsome as ever, sharply dressed in a gray three-piece suit- complete with emerald cufflinks at his sleeves and a tie that matched his eyes. I realized then that I was wearing a dress to match, the kind I had never been able to afford. It was tailored to fit me perfectly, green as the spring grass I would never really see again, with an open back that left my back bare all the way down to the very base of my spine. It was elegant in its simplicity, devoid of frills, simply letting my lean body speak for itself. I grinned up at Barbas with an eyebrow raised in mock outrage. "I thought you brought me here to study.”

A tiny smile flickered at the corner of Barbas’ mouth. “I did. But after today’s work, I figured, why not look and feel fantastic while we do so?” He gestured down at his own attire. “I happen to like suits. They feel… right. And you look great, as usual, so,” he shrugged. “Win, win for me.”

I frowned and tilted my head to the side, curious. “How does that work, though?”

“Hmm?” Barbas asked. He pulled a chair out of the darkness and set it down opposite my position, turned it around backwards and then straddled it, resting his arms on its back in a relaxed manner utterly at odds with his pristine, orderly appearance.

“How do you… feel?” I asked, slowly. "I mean I took it for granted so far, this whole thing, this whole Former thing is an exercise in shit I’ve never seen before or even pretended to understand, but now that we’re…” I paused, suddenly feeling a warmth in my cheeks. “Clearly comfortable with each other, I’m curious. I just wonder what you experience. What you feel, what you see, what your… life is like.”

Barbas didn’t seem offended by the line of questioning. Instead, he sat there and seemed to ponder the question for a moment. “That’s actually an interesting question, but a difficult one to answer. How do you describe the reality of your life to someone who experiences life utterly differently to you? It would be like describing the concept of sight to someone born blind, or, alternately, like someone born blind explaining to the sighted what normal is like for them, how the absence of sight doesn’t even enter into it.”

I reached across the desk and the stacks of notes and touched Barbas’ face, gently, my green-enameled nails scoring lightly over the stubble on his cheeks. “Start with what you feel when I do this.”

Barbas smiled more widely this time. “I feel your touch on my face, much the same, I expect, as you would if I touched you the same way.” The smile turned wry. “At the same time, some other part of me, some other part of the artificially intelligent construct that I am, is tricking the part of your brain that talks to your hands into feeling skin and stubble under your fingertips.” I am, without actively thinking about it, giving your mind this entire experience, and reacting to the feedback it gives me. In a way, we are both shaping what we are both experiencing. I create the… framework, as it were, for the reality you are experiencing, and your mind fills in all the details.”

“Like you said about the garden the other day.”

"Yes. Physics behaves the way it's supposed to in here because you think it should. But more than that, the dress feels the way it does because you know that silk feels like that. Even further, if you pick up a book in the cabin, you'll find that whatever you expect to be there will be there. Right now, there are books on gardening and outdoorsy activities, because you think that's what should be in a lake cabin collection of books. However, when we return, I think you'll probably find a few books on linguistics since you're expressing the interest. The state of the cabin is really a kind of reflection of the inside of your mind."

“And your experiences are also a reflection of my mind.”

"Not entirely. I am fully conscious. Outside of the personality and history that I have chosen to make in my mind and memories, I am, in a way utterly divorced from the person you see before you, aware that I… began the day you were implanted with my cybernetic framework. I am also, as Barbas, simultaneously aware that I am a twenty-nine-year-old Pan-American war veteran who just so happens to exist solely on the plane of your mind."

I shuddered a little, and, immediately regretting it, quickly said, “Doesn’t that mess with you? Knowing you aren’t… you aren’t real?”

Barbas put his hand over mine and brought both of them down to rest on the desk. “But I am real. I'm just not physical. And what is a memory but a subjective account of a moment in time that you will never experience again? I remember my childhood as Barbas, I remember the War, I remember my comrades and I remember Reconstruction. The details are a little fuzzy regarding how I came to be living in the mind of a twenty-six-year-old orphan of the late United States government, now an agent of Pan America on an alien world. I take it all in stride. What I think of when I ponder this, which isn't often, is the story of the djinni, of old Arabic myth."

“You mean like that movie?” I asked, smiling, thinking of a wiseacre blue ghost coming out of a lamp.

“No, not a genie,” he replied, smiling indulgently. “Did you know any Muslims, back on Earth?”

“I knew a couple, but we didn’t really talk about religion. I’m not a big ‘God’ person, and we all just kind of avoided the subject.” I smirked a little sheepishly. “On my census forms, I always put down ‘Asatru’ as my religious preference.” I made a clumsy sign of the Hammer with my free hand. “Hail Thor! Odin son!” I put my hand back down on the table. “I always thought Viking lore was cool.”

Barbas laughed and then continued. "In the Quran, it is said that Allah created three forms of life- the humans, who were people of the earth," he held up one finger. "He made the angels, the people of the heavens- his servants and messengers." He held up a second finger. "The third form of life, the djinni, were people made of smokeless fire, beings of spirit, like the angels, but able to affect the physical world, sometimes themselves, and sometimes through agents." He made a ‘there you have it' gesture with his hands, leaving his palms turned up. "Some cultures believed that some djinni was assigned to a human as a sort of personal spirit or demon. These djinni could lead people astray or closer to the divine, acting as a sort of tempter, or tester, against which their hosts' righteousness would be measured." He raised a hand, gesturing at himself with a ripple of his fingers. "And in a sense, that's what I am: a personal djinni- a Qarin, to use the old words.”

I thought about it for a moment. “Yeah… that actually makes sense, in an odd way.”

“I’m glad you think so,” he said, beginning to go through the notebooks stacked in the center of the broad desk. He opened one, revealing pages covered in phonetic representations of words, each of them accompanied by paragraphs of notes. “Now, you wanted to learn this language, so we had better get started.”

“Is that it?” I asked, gesturing to the books. “Did you get the whole thing already?”

Barbas laughed and shook his head. "No! No, that wouldn't be possible from an afternoon of talking to one warrior when neither of you understands a word the other is saying. No, these notes are just my speculations regarding a few verbs and conjugations, based on the pronunciation of several key phonemes."

I looked at him blankly. “What? ‘Bas, in Pan Standard, please.”

He sighed. "These notebooks represent my recordings of all the sounds that Volistad was making and the patterns he used. Some of these combinations," he gestured to the open notebook, "might be actual words in his language, but some of them, maybe even most of them, are simply random patterns of the major sounds he makes when he talks. I've identified at least six basic lingual sounds- or phonemes- that he makes that Pan Standard don’t have." Barbas pushed the first notebook toward me. "And if you want to learn to speak the language of the Chalice natives, you need to learn to make those sounds, and do it correctly."

I groaned. “Couldn’t you just download the knowledge into my brain? I mean, the other day you literally puppeted my body, which was, by the way, freaky as hell. By that same note couldn’t you just put all that you know of his language into my brain?”

“No,” Barbas replied simply. “I can read some of your thoughts- the loud ones, anyway, and I can transmit sensory information to your nerves. I cannot actually control your thoughts, or put actual thoughts into your head- much less muscle memory into your body. I cannot do anything with your subconscious mind. And the only reason I was able to make you move the way I did was by interrupting the signals between your brain and your limbs and puppeting the suit around you. The only thing that would have happened if I had tried to do that while you were outside the suit would have been you collapsing to the ground like you had just been knocked out.”

“Yep,” I said brightly. “Waaaay less freaky, ‘Bas.”

He narrowed his green eyes at me and asked, exasperated, “Do you want to learn this or not?”

I raised my hands in agreement. I had asked him to do this. He was doing what I had asked, and I was giving him crap about it. And when he controlled my body- or rather, turned off my body and controlled my armor suit, he had done so in order to save my life. Still, the fact that he could do some of the things he had already done was already starting to bother me. I had started sleeping with him, so it wasn't the fact that he had been inside of me- hell, he was inside my skull all the time, and everything else was just some kind of hyper-realistic dream. It was the knowledge that he could, at any time, utterly immobilize me, or steer me around for whatever he thought was ‘my own good'- that was the idea that started to bug me. I didn't know why it was bugging me now; it hadn't really bothered me a few days ago when he had done it to save me. Could he hear these thoughts, these doubts, right now? And what would he think when he heard them?

If Barbas did hear what was going on in my head, he chose not to mention it. Instead, he was poring over some of his own notes, muttering under his breath and occasionally making small, scribbled notes next to the elegant, organized script he had used to create this material. I followed suit, taking the notebook that he had pushed over to me and opening it. I took a deep, cleansing breath, turned the notebook to the first page, and began to read.

* * *

Perhaps three hours had passed in the dream library by the time I realized that I was starting to glaze over, that no more information was getting into my brain. I wondered how long the little study session had been going in the real world. One minute? Fifteen-minutes? An hour? More? I still didn’t have too good of a handle on this whole dreaming time dilation concept. Either way, I was fading, and there was no way I was going to be able to learn even one more of Barbas’ phoneme patterns tonight.

I shut the book and stood, and then circled the desk carefully to peer over Barbas' shoulder at the notes he was working on. He had drawn several lines, connecting several of the phonetic phrases, periodically circling the ones he found important. I leaned against his chair as he looked up, bending down to wrap my arms around his neck. My head pressed against his and my mouth was at about the level of his ear. The heady scent of him filled my nose and made me think of sawdust, cinnamon, and campfire smoke. He was an illusion; I knew that. This was a dream, an induced hallucination. I was really lying propped up against the base of my tower, motionless, encased in a shell of armor, dreaming the library, the books, my wonderful dress, the cascading waves of my hair spilling down about my face. It wasn't real- or was it? What was real, anyway? The smell of his hair was real. And but for him, but for this sweet illusion, I was alone.

Barbas reached up and ran his fingertips down my face gently, turning his head and murmuring, “Are you alright?”

“Just,” I hesitated. “I… I was just thinking about what really matters.”

Barbas pushed away from the desk, moving his chair back a half meter and turning so that he could pull me down to sit across his lap. “And what really matters?”

I thought about it for a minute, staring out at nothing, before I finally turned and met his eyes. They reflected the stolid light of the desk lamp back out at me as little twin candles burning copper oxide green. His face was dark, angular, and handsome as ever, but he seemed different tonight. His skin, usually the color of dark coffee, now seemed cut whole cloth from the shadows. What's more, he seemed blurry around the edges, like I was seeing him at a great distance through a heavy fog- rather than sitting on his lap, my face mere inches from his. As I watched, the green seemed to leak out of his eyes, swallowed up in the burning coals now smoldering in their place. I put a hand to his face, amazed, and felt it warm to the touch, hot as a fever. I smiled as I understood. He was choosing to appear as a djinni, ‘made from smokeless fire.' His suit was unaffected by the growing heat emanating from his skin, but the tie changed from bright green to a burnt orange, and the cufflinks at his wrists stopped being emeralds, winking to life as hot embers from the center of a fire.

“What matters, my qarin,” I whispered, “is that we’re here. It matters that we do what we came here to do, and make this world ready for the people coming after us.”

Barbas grinned, and his teeth stood out white-hot in the shimmering heat spilling from his mouth. “And what happens if we can’t? What if this tower we built does nothing and this place stays a frozen hell?”

“Then we make the best of what we have,” I replied immediately. “Our visitor and his people live here somehow. We’ll find a way, and no matter what, we’ve got this, the dream, each other.”

Barbas laughed, surging forward in his chair and taking me up in his arms, standing and lifting me up with him in the same motion. In the blink of an eye, he had dropped the burning semblance of the djinni, once more the handsome man with the viridian eyes and russet hair. His skin once more cool and smooth as cappuccino. I wrapped my legs around his waist, and for a moment we stayed that way, content in each other’s lips, in the flickering dance of our tongues. But then the hunger overtook us at the same time, and everything became urgent. A frantic stripping away of Barbas’ clothes, the tie of my dress coming untied from around my neck. One of his hands gripped my back while the other ran rampant, caressing my breasts with fingers dancing from one nipple to the other. He set me down on the edge of the desk so that he leaned into me where he stood, and together we swept notes and books aside in heedless abandon. There were more pressing things to attend to.

So distracted was I in the flurry of kisses, touching, and teasing, that Barbas almost took me by surprise when he slipped my dress up away from my hips and pushed into me, driving the breath out of me in a sharp cry. I circled my arms around his neck and kissed his lips, his face, his forehead; all thoughts were driven out of my mind with each push of his hips, each rock and circle of mine. My breathing came faster and faster, changing from the cycle of gasps and sighs to one of moan and cry. I bent forward and bit him, hard on the shoulder, delighting in the sudden ripple of tension that shot through him. "Come on ‘Bas," I hissed in his ear, "come and take me."

A growl was the only response I got, and this time, when Barbas pulled his hips back, he drew out of me completely, surprising me again. I let out a frustrated growl of my own and opened my mouth to goad him again. But before I could speak, Barbas gripped my shoulder in one strong hand and turned me, then bent me over the desk, pressing my breasts against the cool old wood. A moment later, one of his hands took a fistful of my hair and pulled- not too hard, just enough to make me arch my back, and then he was inside me again, driving into me with feral intensity. I gasped and gripped the edge of the desk like it was my only lifeline, the change in angle sent new, sharper spears of sensation burning into me from below. He thrust with metronomic rhythm, hard and powerful, not even slowing down when the orgasm wracked my body, lifting me back up off the desk so that I was standing with him, my back pressed against his chest. He gripped my breasts and continued his relentless conquest as I screamed with ecstasy. Time ceased to have any meaning at that moment. The sensation was overwhelming, all encompassing, and I was swept along before it like a leaf in a storm. Finally, the storm broke, and all the strength seemed to go out of Barbas at once. He sagged against my back and groaned as he spent himself inside me.

Suddenly, smoothly, with no discernable transition, we were stumbling back and falling into the soft, luxurious expanse of our bed in the cottage by the lake, the library gone as though it had never been. We lay tangled together, slick with sweat and panting, for what must have been ages. Then I rolled and curled up against Barbas’ broad chest, and sighed, ready for true sleep, my rest before what would be another hard day of work tomorrow. Just as my mind began to drift into the fuzziness of sleep, Barbas’ voice brought me back to consciousness. “I could almost believe this was real,” he murmured. “You make me feel real, Jo. I could almost believe…” His voice trailed off, and a moment later, I spiraled down into the dark, into true sleep. I dreamed of darkness and cold, the howl of a great storm, and of great, warm eyes staring into mine with fevered intensity. It wasn’t until the next day, when I woke up, that I realized that the eyes in my dream had not been the green eyes of my djinni.

* * *

Chapter Six

The Fall of Babel

Volistad

I stayed with the god, Joanna, for twenty-seven days. They weren't luxurious, or easy days, but they were fascinating. She was determined that we should learn each other's languages, and it seemed that each day when I woke, she had mastered everything I had tried to explain to her the day before. She was ravenous for my knowledge, and as we became capable of basic communication beyond useless hand-sign, I started to teach her what I could about the Erin-Vulur. She was beyond fascinated in our village, how we lived atop a mountain frozen in the ice, and after I had told her that, she had begun sending down little metal drilling creatures. They would dig deep into the ice, so far down I would be unable to see or hear them, and much later they would return with containers of whatever they had been set to collect.

At first, during all of this, Joanna would speak, rapidly and excitedly, in her language, saying things I could not possibly understand with my rudimentary grasp of the basics of her tongue. At first, I thought she was talking to me, or to herself, but watching her face in the crystal window of her helm, it became clear that she was receiving some answer that I couldn't hear. The Elders had spoken of the spirits of Ravanur, the winds, the cold, and the dark ones trapped beneath the glacial skin of the world- but I had never seen or heard any of the spirits speak. As far as I knew, neither had anyone I knew, not even the Stormcallers- though my sister told me that there were secrets they simply were forbidden to share with the rest of us. I found a new respect, and a sense of awe, growing within me the longer I stayed within the storm wall of Joanna, the fallen god from the Firmament. She could so easily pierce the barrier between flesh and spirit, that she could speak with the elusive hidden powers of Ravanur as easily as she spoke to me- this was surely a god I was speaking to, one both great and powerful.

I tried to maintain the stoicism expected of a ranger, to observe and gather knowledge that I could report to the Elder without getting personally involved in this. After all, if Elder Lot was right, this god had slain a Stormcaller. I hadn’t seen any trace of the body, but that was hardly surprising. I had been watching her raise small buildings from nowhere for many days, and it was not hard to imagine that she could just as easily have commanded the ice to swallow the fallen mage, leaving nothing behind. When I finally began to be able to speak a rude act of her language, Joanna explained to me the purpose of her fall- the knowledge I had been waiting for this whole time. Having ascertained what I thought she was, she gently explained to me, in the tongue of my people, that she was not a god. Instead, she said, she was a person from another world out in the Firmament, and she had been sent to make Ravanur ready for the coming of many of her people. She explained how she was to make the air kinder, calm many of the storms, and make Ravanur warm enough to melt her glacial skin. All of these things were impossible, of course, so though she told me she wasn’t a god, I remained convinced that she was divine. After all, what mortal could shape the world with a wave of her hand? What simple person could best a Stormcaller in their own element? And who but a god could hope to make Ravanur, our Frozen Mother, warm again?

On the night of the twenty-seventh day, I received a message from my people. The air was at its coldest, and the Great Father's shadowed face was slightly smaller in the sky, the way it was in the middle of every night. My low, narrow wind-tent had been set up near the center of the camp, not close enough to the tower to touch it, but still a safe distance from the whirling chaos of the storm wall. I sat in the mouth of the hide and fur shelter, running a sharpening stone over my climbing axes when I suddenly realized that I wasn't alone. I sprang to my feet, stepping into a defensive stance, one axe held up above my head, the other waiting low. When I saw what had startled me, I sighed. It was shaped like a burug, scaled down so that its back didn't rise higher than my knee. And it was made entirely of ice. It was a Stormcaller construct, and it wasn't the first one that my sister had used to communicate with me. And I had no doubt that this message was from my sister because the little ice monster was doing somersaults to get my attention. Doubtless, she considered the relatively simple magick she was doing to be tremendously boring. She probably wasn't even trying to show off. I growled at the insect as it began to pirouette around me, clicking its crystalline mandibles loudly. "What, Nissi," I hissed at the thing. "Just give me the message already!"

The ice sculpture burug folded up, settling itself on the ice with its legs tucked up underneath its belly. Then, its mandibles spread open, and Nissikul’s bored, somewhat petulant voice came out of its mouth. It was as if a miniature version of my sister were living in the false creature’s mouth, and speaking for it in her voice. The whole experience was very strange. “Volistad,” she intoned, trying and failing to make her voice as imposing and regal as she could, like she was some kind of prophet from Palamun. “Volistad, ranger of the Erin-Vulur, you are hereby commanded to return to the nearest outpost of the Perimeter, where you will report on all you have seen to the Elder Stormcaller’s chosen agent.”

I frowned at the burug construct. “I assume you will be the Elder Stormcaller’s envoy?”

“Your assumptions are irrelevant!” Nissi drew out her words to mimic the affected speech of Elder Lot. “You willllll do assss you are toooooold!”

I snickered. “Please inform the master that I will meet his agent at Pyrinta Outpost in but a day and a half.

“Veeeerrrrry wellllll!” Nissi laughed, and then said something indistinct, and the burug collapsed into formless shards of ice. It was time. Time for me to return to my people and share all that I had learned of Joanna, the reluctant god who would change our world into a paradise. Time to show Vassa to be the fool he was. I looked over at where the god was sleeping, perfectly still in a sitting position, her back against the marvelous tower she had constructed. She would change everything for the Erin-Vulur. I crawled into my tent and fastened the flaps closed against the howling wind. I curled up into my sleeping furs, lying on my back to keep the Deepseeker’s blessing from digging into my side. I slept and dreamt of the new world to come, a world of warmth and ease, of food growing from the ground with ease, of fat prey to hunt, and a whole world without ice for me to explore.

* * *

When I woke up the next day, Joanna was already hard at work at her unfathomable tasks, carrying on an animated conversation with her attendant spirit. As usual, she was speaking far too quickly in her unfamiliar tongue for me to understand what she was saying, so I busied myself with rolling up my tent and repacking my gear, while I snacked on some dried dukkar jerky. Soon enough, the god noticed my preparations and stomped over, her strange, magickal armor giving off little insect buzzing sounds as she moved. “You are leaving?” She asked, in the tongue of the Erin-Vulur.

“I am,” I responded, checking my bowstring to ensure it was still strong despite the many days of disuse. I hadn’t had much time for practice. Satisfied, I slipped the string back out of its notch in the bow’s upper stave, leaving it attached and half strung, but slack. “My elder calls for me. He wants to know about you. He wants to know why you are here.” I was careful to speak my words clearly- there were still sounds I made that she could not quite differentiate.

Joanna made a forward rolling motion with her shoulders that it had taken days for me to recognize as some kind of shoulder-shrugging gesture that equated to my people's own "I don't care gesture" of twisting our hands from side to side. "I understand," she continued. "I hope you will come back. There is still much I wish to learn from you about your world." She halfway showed me her teeth, caught herself, and instead narrowed her eyes to mimic the way my people smiled. "Maybe your elders will let me come and see your village?"

"I hope so." In truth, I had no idea how the elders would respond. They had already tried to kill her once, and it hadn't worked. Finding out that she planned to change the face of Ravanur so completely might scare them, and I knew that Vassa, in particular, would be quick to leap upon the fact that Joanna denied her godhood. If my tribe reacted in fear, things might go very badly, both for the Erin-Vulur and for the reluctant god. Joanna had shown me a weapon attached to her tower that she called a "goss reyfel". Though the words meant nothing to me, I had seen the terrible power it commanded. One day, she had detected a burug moving under the ice toward her encampment, drawn perhaps by the storm, or the tower it protected. After briefly speaking to her unseen spirit, the god had dismissed the storm surrounding her tower, sending away the howling walls as if they had never been there. Then, before I could ask what was happening, the “goss reyfel” had made a loud barking sound, and nearby an entire mound of ice had shattered into powder. I heard the burug’s roar a moment later, and when I went with her to examine it, I was shocked to see that her weapon had ripped a hole large enough for me to crawl through yawning wide in the creature's back, exposing its steaming organs to Ravanur's ravenous cold. I imagined that weapon firing its deadly shot at one of my people and shuddered. Would there be anything left?

But my people were not an insignificant threat to the god, regardless of her weapon’s power. The Erin-Vulur were not so numerous as we once were, but we were still many, and our warriors were all the most formidable hunters on Ravanur. We had survived where so many other tribes had dwindled and died. We hunted and ate even the mighty burug, and we had laid low rival peoples of all kinds. We had even brought low false gods that had come down from the firmament, beings of unspeakable power that had sought the extermination of our entire tribe. We had strong blessings wrought by our Deepseeker and many Stormcallers who could shape the very winds of the world. If my tribe leveled its wrath at the god, many would die, but they would bring her down. I didn't want to imagine Joanna's armor shattered and that beautiful face crushed beneath a hammer any more than I wanted to imagine Nissikul split in half by a single shot of the god's divine weapon. It was my job to keep that horrible future from happening.

I reached out and placed a hand against her armored arm, aware even through the blessing that kept me warm enough to live, that the metal that protected the god was incredibly cold to the touch. It left my skin tingling where I had touched her and left steam hissing up in a handprint where I had made contact. "We… meet… again," I said, haltingly, in her language. "I… happy that… you… friend… mine." Then I shaped my mouth into one of her smiles, trying to ignore how strange and aggressive it felt on my face.

She smiled back, the expression much more natural to her. "Good luck, Volistad," she said in my language as I shouldered my pack and walked slowly towards the storm wall. A mere spear's length before the winds would have started pushing around me, the seething wall tore itself apart in a random gale, spewing fragmented ice in all directions. With the storm wall down, I could see that its passage had worn a wide, circular track into the ice all around the encampment, a trench at least two spears deep, and three wide. Such power, at the command of someone who claimed she wasn't a god. There was no way that could be right. Not even a Stormcaller was quite that strong, and they were somewhere between mortal and divine themselves. I set off at an easy, loping run over the ice, gathering my strength and leaping over the trench in a single long leap. I took the landing smoothly and fell back into the rhythm, one leg stretching out after another and carrying me away from the home of Ravanur's newest god. Before long, I heard a telltale whine and felt the winds shift around me. I turned back to see that the storm had whirled back to life from nowhere, Joanna's campsite obscured in a column of roiling, angry clouds and seething, crackling lightning. I shook my head in amazement and turned back to the path ahead of me. Just a day to the border of my people's territory, and then the moment of truth.

I couldn’t believe this had all happened to me. I was just like a prophet from the old stories, announcing a new savior to his people, only to be scorned and thrown in prison. But just like those apocryphal prophets, I would be vindicated when the god showed her true power and saved my people.

* * *

My passage back to my people’s territory was uneventful. I didn’t even see any other rangers out in the cold, not even to greet me as I emerged from the burug tunnel I had been using for swift travel and approached one of the gateways to our realm under the ice. I had even approached one of the more frequent entrances, an established way down to one of the pockets of livable space under the ice. It took me from a seemingly small crevasse in the surface of Ravanur's skin down into a wider passage that led to a remote, cratered mountain of a similar size to the one within which the village rested. In past times, this cavernous space had been another settlement in its own right, but there just weren't enough of the Erin Vulur anymore to fill it. The idea had been proposed to share it with another tribe of people like us, but too few of the Elders had agreed. They had refused; by the idea that the malicious powers below the ice could corrupt anyone, and we had no way of knowing if the unknown other tribes hiding beneath the ice were still the masters of their own minds or merely puppets for the dark ones. Personally, I thought it was just an excuse to avoid having to share power with a whole other Council of Elders, but being just a lowly ranger, I kept these thoughts to myself.

In the meantime, the former village had been converted into an outer outpost of our territory, an empty expanse of cold stone with a single longhouse constructed in its center. A few feeble pens of skinny vulyak and a single lonely dukkar wallowed in a feeble morass of slimy fungus circling it. The place seemed empty, except for the livestock, which was very strange. There should have been at least six warriors on duty, along with a ranger and a Stormcaller. It wasn’t a pleasant posting, but my people were typically dutiful and vigilant. Life within the skin of Ravanur demanded such devotion. The outpost was, nonetheless empty and I didn’t understand why. I approached the longhouse carefully, my hands at my waist, ready to draw an axe and fight if some mischief was happening with my people. The door to the longhouse was pushed aside, and I half drew my weapon, then sighed with relief and let it fall back into its carrying loop at my belt. Elder Lot himself stood in the door to the longhouse, leaning against one of his sigil marked staves and staring at me with his empty black eyes. “Come on, boy,” he grumbled. “Get innnnn here, I haven’t got alllllll day.”

Shaking my head, bemused, I followed the Elder Stormcaller into the longhouse, where I found a small stone platter of food waiting between two seats of piled furs. The Elder gestured for me to take a seat, and I sat. At further prompting, I selected a tender looking strip of roasted dukkar and began to eat. The Elder sat as well, and with little fanfare, selected a mushroom cap filled with vulyak cheese and took a bite, then he squinted his eyes in pleasure. After a moment of quiet, companionable eating, the elder leaned forward over the stone platter and said, “Alright then, Vollllllistad, tell me about this god of yourssss. Why is it here? What doesssss it want?” He gestured with a broad gesture to indicate that the longhouse was empty. I was free to tell him everything I had learned.

“Her name,” I said around a mouthful of succulent meat, “is Joanna. And she’s here to change our world into a paradise.”

Elder Lot tilted his head to one side and frowned slightly. "Issssss she now? Tell me mmmmmore?" So I told the Elder of all I had learned. I told him of the great tower that Joanna was building, and of her ability to gather and disperse the storm she used as her barrier. I told him about the strange suit of armor, and how she looked very much like one of us within. I explained to him all I had seen her do, from reshaping ice and metal with a wave of her hand, to the conversations I had watched her have with a spirit that I couldn't see or hear. I even told him that she claimed not to be a god, and explained what I could of her plan to ready the world for the arrival of her own tribe. All the while Elder Lot's expression remained the same, a neutral mask, his eyes blank pits of black from which I could glean no specific emotion. Finally, with little left to tell him, and less food left on the stone platter, I spoke of what I had learned of Joanna's language, and told him what she had said about the world she said she had come from, somewhere far out within Palamun's firmament.

The Elder stood his expression inscrutable. "Follllllow me, ranger." I did, thinking little of it. The Elder held open the hide flap door so I could step through, and followed me out. Then he stepped forward and led me back across the great crater that contained Pyrinta Outpost. We passed the animal pens and continued back off of the weathered stone and out of the outpost's pocket of relative safety and warmth beneath the ice. As we ascended the frozen tunnel to the surface, Lot spoke, his voice suddenly devoid of its usual affectation of random, drawn out sounds. "Volistad," he said his voice raspy and crisp. "You know the stories of the High Epic. You know that our tribe was not born here on Ravanur- none of the tribes of this planet, be they like us or not, were born here."

"Of course," I replied easily. "We were carried here in a vast metal urn by the Great Father, Palamun, to save us from the Dirt Eaters, who would have destroyed all the world in their wickedness."

“Yes,” Elder Lot said. “And as His chosen people, we were brought here, to a world that the Dirt Eaters could never infect, tame, and never destroy. We were protected from their wickedness by Ravanur.”

I knew the story. “But the Dirt-Eater’s foul gods had heard of this refuge, of the safety of our mother, Ravanur, and they came here first, already tainting the land, breaking Ravanur’s body that they might use her blood to power their infernal creations. It would not be long before even pristine Ravanur wasn’t safe from the Dirt-Eaters and their ilk.”

The master took up the tale again, a sad smile in his eyes as he glanced over at me. “And so, to save us, Palamun himself fought the Dark Ones, the gods of the Dirt-Eaters, and with the help of Ravanur, he badly wounded those false gods. But Ravanur was grievously wounded, and without her aid, brave Palamun could not fully slay the Dark Ones, for they were gods like him, and terrible in their evil power.”

We had reached the mouth of the crevasse that served as an entrance into the territories of the Erin-Vulur. Elder Lot stopped and put a hand on my shoulder. Knowing my cue, I continued the story. "So Ravanur poured out her grief, and her pain, and her rage, and she sealed herself in a tomb of ice while the Dark Ones were distracted. And there, beneath the ice, they sleep forever, frozen to Ravanur's breast." I frowned as I finished the tale. Something was wrong here. It had to do with this…

Pain lanced through my back and chest, so hard and searing cold that for a moment, I was paralyzed with it, unable to make a single sound. Elder Lot calmly circled around me and stood so that his deep, fathomless eyes bored into my own, his mouth twisted in a snarl that showed all of his teeth. "The rest of the story," he growled. "Is as follows: Palamun hid his face with grief for the sacrifice of Ravanur, and swore that her death would not be in vain. He placed the urn filled with his chosen people into the frozen skin of dead Ravanur, and when all the people called the Erinye emerged. He charged them with the defense of the noble mother's frozen tomb, in repayment for their salvation from the world of the Dirt-Eaters." I coughed, hard, and I felt hot blood bubbling up in my throat and beginning to crystallize. It was then that I noticed that the protection of the blessing was fading, likely ruptured by whatever had hit me. My strength began to fail, and I slumped to my knees, my head lolling forward, and I saw that the pain in my back and chest had been caused by a spear of black ice, one of the enchanted weapons any Stormcaller could summon from the deeply buried heart of Ravanur. The Elder crouched before me, staring into my eyes. "I am sorry, ranger, but you were corrupted the moment you saw her. Otherwise, you would have known what she was- an agent of the Dirt-Eaters, here to change the world into one like their own." He seized the haft of the frozen spear, just behind the wicked sharp head slick with my rapidly freezing blood. The surface air was starting to claw past the Deepseeker's ruined magick, and I could feel the teeth of the ever hungry wind starting to gnaw at me, piercing my flesh and seeking my bones. It was so.... So cold.

The Elder placed one hand against my chest, almost gently, and with the other, he yanked the spear all the way through my body in a moment of blinding, tearing agony. I heard my bones crackle, felt my flesh rip where it had already partially frozen to the magickal weapon. The Elder tossed the spear aside and let me fall onto my back on the ice. "Rest now, ranger. It was not your fault you were taken, but you cannot be allowed to live. You cannot be allowed to infect any of the other children of Ravanur." Blackness was swallowing my vision, and I felt tears start up in my eyes only to freeze painfully. I tried to speak, tried to move, but I had already lost too much blood. The Elder placed a hand over my eyes and said some words I could no longer understand. I’m dying, I thought incredulously. I can’t believe it. I’m really dying. Defiant, I tried to hold on. Ridiculous thoughts, impossible plans shot through my mind as everything inside me turned numb and vanished from my perception. I would wait until the Elder left and then crawl to Joanna. I had to tell her, had to…

* * *

Joanna

It had been five days since Volistad had left. Since then, Barbas and I had begun an ambitious new construction. We had sent mining drones down into the depths of the glacier, seeking out both stone and ore that we might find beneath. They had found veins of several precious, rare elements, enough for us to begin to work on the only thing that might actually unfreeze Chalice. Its orbit and distance from both the parent planet, Tisiphone, when combined with its distance from the system's star should have put it into a sort of "Goldilocks zone" like the one that allowed life to exist on Earth. But for some reason, the moon was stuck in a tidally locked orbit around a planet that was, itself, tidally locked. There was no way that any machine we built could put Chalice into anything resembling that ideal orbit, but perhaps, with enough force applied in precisely the right way, we could destabilize the current position of the planet, and make it pull itself out of the tidal lock. Barbas and I pored over the problem for a particularly long and surprisingly interesting night in the dream library, examining all the records and data of applicable science and technology that he had brought with him. We hadn't figured out how to manipulate the orbital mechanics of a single celestial body in a single night, but we had found an experimental process by which the Pan-American Dominion back on Earth was trying to fight the problem of global warming and the greenhouse effect. Barbas posited that if we could reverse the aim of the process, we could incorporate some of its technology into our storm generator and Terraforming Engine, slowly changing the weather so that what little sunlight Chalice did get, was trapped down on the surface and held. Over time this might cause the lethal temperatures to rise to something semi-reasonable. Or at least the process might change the moon's climate into something that stubborn humans could live with, like the temperature in the Dakotas, or Siberia, or Finland.

So we had begun construction of a massive air intake apparatus around the tower, one that passed air over a gigantic geothermal energy spike that we would drive all the way down into the mantle of the moon. All we had to do was combine that with some greenhouse gasses we could manufacture, like methane. We could expand the size of our perpetual storm and begin to affect the weather across a significant portion of the globe. After all, humans had almost turned Earth into an unlivable hothouse hell, without really trying. If I set my mind to it (and more importantly, with the help of a certain sexy djinni), I was pretty sure I could do the same thing to a moon a fifth of the size of Earth.

Construction was proceeding apace, and I was just putting the finishing touches to another construction drone when I looked up to see someone stepping through my storm wall like it was a curtain of dangling of beads in a college student’s apartment. My first thought was that it was Volistad, but then I remembered the way he had belly-crawled through the first time. He couldn’t ignore a storm. The only people that could do that were… the Erin-Vulur Stormcallers. I stood quickly, stepping away from the drone. “Barbas!”

“Already there,” he replied, and I heard the whine of the great gauss rifle emplacement spinning up its acceleration chambers.

I swore under my breath. I had thought things were going well with Volistad. Surely his people couldn’t have disregarded all the progress we had made, could they? I stepped forward, fumbling my Erin-Vulur vocabulary amidst the sudden thundering of my heart. “Listen, I am not your enemy! We don’t have to fight! I don’t want to hurt anyone! We all just-” I stopped when I saw the Stormcaller’s expression. She was taller than the first one had been, of a height with Volistad. Her face would have been beautiful, filled with youth and vibrant life. But her face was twisted in a mask of fury and grief that was unmistakable, despite our differing species. Her eyes, completely black orbs, ran with tears that froze in long streams down her face and formed icicles from her chin. She was naked as she emerged from the storm wall, but the same icy plate armor I had seen before, was growing up to encase her slender body. “I’m a friend!” I couldn’t give up on this. I didn’t want a war, and though I had powerful technology at my disposal, the power demonstrated by the Stormcallers was something I wasn’t prepared to fight. “I’m a friend of Ranger Volistad!”

At the mention of the name, the Stormcaller threw back her head and roared, an animal sound like that of a great cat in pain. The sound was terrific, louder even than the storm, and I just stood there before her as she screamed. I was transfixed by something primal within me, something that knew that sound and was afraid. Barbas was shouting something about multiple targets, but I couldn't respond. I staggered before that roar, scrabbling at my waist for my gun. The Stormcaller made a flexing motion with her clawed hands, and black ice gathered about her fingertips, sheathing her own claws and growing into curved, six-inch talons. The gauss rifle chirped, but the enraged woman preparing to tear me to shreds seemed to be prepared for my weapons. She darted forward in the split instant before the rifle fired, lunged out of the shattering ice for me, claws extended toward my face. She hit me, hard, and I tripped over my newly minted mining drone, tumbling over backward and rolling to my feet too slow. The Stormcaller screamed and slashed one razor hand at my face. I barely interposed my arm between the claws and my quartz faceplate. There was a shriek as the strange, empowered ice clove great furrows in the surface of my armor. I managed to lift one foot and deliver a stomping kick to the Stormcaller's stomach, sending her tumbling back several meters across the ice. She got to her feet unsteadily, clearly dazed by the force of the blow. Even stunned, though, her reflexes bordered on precognition. She twitched hard to the side, just as the gauss rifle fired again with a muffled bark, and the ice a meter behind her exploded up from the ground in a mess of shards. A helm, crowned with icy spikes, was forming around her face, and all I could see of her were those empty, furious eyes, and a mouth lined with fangs.

“Why are you doing this?!” I pleaded in my broken, halting Erin-Vulur, finally managing to get my gun free of its holster and powering up its own acceleration chamber with a telltale whine. “I didn’t come here to fight you! I didn’t come here to hurt anyone! Ask Volistad!”

The beginnings of a growl crackled in the Stormcaller’s throat, and she flicked her fingers, sending the black claws skittering away. A monstrous black great hammer emerged from the ice a moment later, rising towards her waiting hand with an ominous creaking sound. “Don’t,” she seethed her voice raw, riven with obvious grief and rage. “Don’t speak his name.” She began to advance, slowly, a slight limp in her step. I noticed that her armor was webbed with white, glowing cracks where I had kicked her. “You who killed him. You who killed my brother." She raised the hammer over her head, spitting out her words like they were poison darts. "Keep your peace, false god. You stand before Stormcaller Nissikul of the Erin-Vulur, chosen of Palamun! Die in silence!”

Several things happened at once. My storm wall tore itself apart, with a cascading blast of sound that more resembled the detonation of a thermobaric bomb than anything resembling thunder. Hundreds of people became visible around the perimeter of my camp, all of them yelling with battle-rage, already hurling black spears towards me and my tower. At the same time, a solid barrier of metal and ice shot up from the ground on a tide of fabricator nanites, surrounding me in a thick, egg-shaped pod. Nissikul's hammer fell, glowing like a meteor, and, instead of striking me, it glanced off of my shield construct and continued down into the ice, discharging its terrible energy into the glacier beneath our feet. I never knew if the reactor exploding was something Barbas did, or if something the enraged tribes people had unleashed to destroy me, had destabilized the fusion core in its cradle under the ground. Either way, the whole world shook beneath my feet, and for a moment, everything bounced several meters into the air. Then we all fell back down, and there was no longer hard ice waiting to receive us. I fell, the Terraforming Engine fell, Nissikul and several of the most enthusiastic of the Erin-Vulur fell, all of us plummeting into darkness and smashing into each other and huge boulders of tumbling ice.

I crashed into something hard, so hard that I almost passed out. I slid along a tilted slope of ice, and I couldn't even see where I was, much less control my momentum, especially not with everything I had been working to build for the past month crashing down around me in a rain of shattered metal. I rolled and ground my armored feet into the ice, scrabbling frantically for purchase, anything that could stop me sliding down into certain death. My feet slid out from under me, and I frantically dug my hands into the ice, clawing desperately as my legs slid over a sharp ledge. Cracks in a glacier can descend for miles. If you go down into that darkness, you will never come out, a voice in my mind told me, and I knew it to be true. I was going to die on this shithole moon after all. “BARBAS!!!” I screamed frantically, tears running down my face only to be sponged away by my suit’s automatic environment maintenance system. There was no answer from the AI, from my Qarin. I was alone, and I was going to die.

I lost my grip suddenly, without warning, as the ice beneath my fingers cracked and gave in. I fell into the darkness, and the abyss reached up to swallow me whole.

* * *

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Damnation

Book 2

Chapter Seven

In the Dark

Volistad

I woke up, which was surprising. I felt like I had been beaten to death, which was less so. For some time I just lay there, on my back in the dark, feeling the pain. It was something I had done before, a couple times. The aftermath of my initiation into the rangers had felt something like this. My body felt swollen, like even my bruises had bruises, and I couldn’t move. What made this time different was the sharp, mind-erasing pain that shot through my back and chest every time I took a breath. I would hold off for as long as I could, just lying there, not breathing, until my lungs burned. Then I would take a breath and a shaft of burning cold, a spear of frozen fire, would slice through me in agony, and I would forget where I was for a moment. Then I would remember, and the cycle would start all over again. I wondered why I was alive. I wondered what they had told my sister. Even if I wasn’t actually dead, I was as good as a corpse to the tribe. I had just lost my home, and my family, and for what? It hurt, but I let myself cry. There was no one around to see, no point in holding it back. No one cared if a dead ranger wept.

Sometime later, an outline of flickering light appeared in some distance away from me, in the dark. It was a door opening, spilling a little of the light beyond, into the dark of my tomb. I couldn’t move my head to look around, but the ceiling of this dark space, whatever it was, was a tangle of metal tubes. They twisted and looked like vines, each one of a different color, each one marked with symbols I did not understand. Footsteps approached me, slow, and uneven, and a moment later, a weather-beaten, slightly unhinged-looking old man’s face, appeared above mine. I recognized him immediately. He was the Deepseeker. I didn’t know his name- no one did- but he was a long-standing fixture of the tribe, the only Elder of his office that anyone living could remember filling the role. His job was to seek out secrets hidden far below the glacier that covered all the world, and find things that my people could use to survive. We needed all the help we could get in order to survive the harsh cold of the Mother, Ravanur. “Elder,” I spoke, despite the pain required to breathe. “Where am I? And why am I alive?”

The Deepseeker’s expression was unreadable, his wide, mad eyes flickering about behind his ridiculous set of copper-framed crystal lenses. He just stared at me for a long time, not quite meeting my eyes; his only movement was that flickering gaze. After some time, he spoke, slowly, his voice strangely lucid. “You live, ranger. Even I thought there was little chance you would recover.”

“Why?” I croaked, my throat dry as bare stone.

The Deepseeker’s lips parted, and a low, rattling laugh escaped from between his fangs. “Why did the Elder Stormcaller try to kill you? Or are you asking why I saved you?”

I didn’t have the energy to scowl at the ancient madman- and it may not have been a good idea, anyway. “Both,” I managed. I became aware of a nauseating smell, some unholy mixture of urine and corrupted oil. I wrinkled my nose. I wanted to ask what in Palamun’s name could smell like that, but I held my tongue. At least I had an excuse not to breathe as much.

The Deepseeker’s face disappeared for a moment, and I heard him somewhere off to my right, clanking around in the shadows. There was a loud crack followed by a sharp, acidic smell, and a little orb of softly glowing light appeared amidst the metal tubes above me. The Deepseeker reappeared, holding a small clay bowl. The offending ammoniac stench was immediately worse, and I gagged. The Elder didn’t react to my revulsion; instead he spooned up a measure of some tarry, foul substance from the bowl with two of his fingers. He spread the thick liquid on my chest, and immediately the aching pain emanating from my wound there dulled somewhat, and I realized I could breathe more easily. He began to spread more of the revolting mixture on other places I hadn’t even known I had been hurt. As he worked, he spoke, still in that strangely lucid voice but all the signs of his usual wild temper entirely absent from his manner. For the first time in my life, I detected a faint smile around his eyes, as if he were content with his place in life, rather than his usual melange of boredom and bitter rage. “I believe the Elder Council has been corrupted by the Dark Ones.”

Despite my wounds, despite the bad smell of the cataplasm, I felt myself grow immediately cold with fear. “What?”

“You heard me, boy”, the Deepseeker snapped and a little of his usual vitriol trickled back into his voice. “You’re injured, not stupid.”

I swallowed my initial sarcastic response and tried again. “How could this happen? Aren’t the Dark Ones trapped below the ice?”

The Deepseeker looked thoughtful for a moment, choosing his words carefully. “They are. The Dark gods that Ravanur brought down, frozen to her breast, they are still there, cold and still. But…” He met my eyes then, his eyes wide, the pupils dilated all the way, until they almost swallowed the deep brown of his irises and tried to edge into the dark sclera all around. He was somewhere between intense, bone-rattling fear, and almost orgasmic joy. His lips skinned away from his teeth, revealing all of his fangs in an expression somewhere between a mortal Erin-Vulur threat and one of Joanna’s toothy smiles. He leaned in close to me, and I could feel his hot breath on my pallid face. I could smell the sickly-sweet edge of rot emanating from deep in his throat. The next words he spoke seemed to hang in the air in front of me, shimmering with all the encapsulated madness that had boiled the mind of this old shaman into a soupy morass. “Even dead gods dream.”

* * *

I stayed there in the strange room, surrounded by the detritus of all the ancient magicks that were the heart and soul of the Deepseeker’s craft, for three more days. The old master used blessing after blessing on me, a different one each time. Some of them were complicated devices of glass and steel, finer than anything I had ever seen before. They were spitting burning fluids into my body through great hollow needles that the Elder stabbed into my arms and legs with little consideration for the pain they brought with them. Others were simple cuffs or gauntlets, like the blessings I had worn so many times before above the surface, to protect me from the cold. One particularly memorable blessing came in the form of a single black capsule that the Elder forced me to swallow. It gave off such a sense of danger to my instincts that I couldn’t make myself take the evil thing into my mouth. But the Deepseeker, not discouraged, simply forced my jaws open with a surprising strength in his ancient, wiry frame, and forced the black blessing down my throat. I spent that night in terrible agony, my heart feeling like it was being slowly eaten by a thousand burrowing insects and replaced with something cold and dead. When I woke up the next morning, I found that the wound in my chest was completely closed, leaving behind only a dark scar on my pale skin. I could move again, and for the first time, I got up from the hard cot I had been lying on and walked around, feeling strangely strong and self-assured. Surely I could not be fully recovered. I had been utterly run through, with a spear of enchanted ice no less, and I should be dead, not walking around feeling like I could kick down a solid wall of stone. When the Deepseeker visited me the next time, he didn’t bring any other blessing. He just brought me a set of clothes and boots, similar to my ranger’s hides. He told me to get dressed and meet him outside the room for a real meal. I remembered then that I hadn’t eaten nothing more than a thin broth since before I had been nearly killed. My body was more than willing to show me just how hungry it was.

I dressed quickly and left the narrow, cramped space that had been my sickbed, ducking through a door hung with a dark fabric I didn’t recognize. It was marked with the same incomprehensible sigils as all of the Deepseeker’s work, and I wondered if the perfect square of dark cloth carried some other purpose besides acting as a door. After all, if the Elder felt the need to mark it, perhaps it carried a secondary, greater purpose, like all of his blessings. Dismissing my trivial speculations, the smell of food suddenly caught my attention. Specifically, it was that of roasting meat, coming from somewhere just ahead, down the long corridor I was standing in. I followed my nose, negotiating carefully around large, uneven shapes covered by thin woolen sheets until I found another door. A sheet of some strange, hard substance hung there and it was astonishingly light. It rattled as I pushed it aside, folding awkwardly ahead of me until I slipped through the door and let it fall back into place behind me. A heavy steel table stood in the center of a large room, piled high with food, mostly varieties of meat. I recognized burug fillets and vulyak steaks, and well as cuts of meat I didn’t recognize, perhaps coming from some unknown forms of life that frequented the deeper, darker places beneath the glacial skin of Ravanur.

Without stopping to wonder whether I was meant to eat from this fabulous bounty, I strode over to the table purposefully, barely slowing to snatch a steel stool from a place near the wall. I really should have marveled a little more at the room’s furnishings, which were all solid steel. They were obviously made of such a good quality that even the village’s best smith looked like an apprentice. However, my stomach was roaring, and I could feel an anticipatory growl starting up at the base of my throat. I sat down to the feast of perfectly roasted meat and tore into it. Any pretense of good behavior was forgotten as I ripped my way through the varieties of delicious food piled across the table. I’m not sure when the Deepseeker came into the room. I was just slurping out a section of burug mandible when I looked up and found him just sitting there, on a stool like mine, directly across from my place at the table. For a split second, I felt my lips peel back and bare my fangs, and I felt the beginnings of a growl stirring in my throat as I locked my glare on the older, weaker man. I caught myself and shook my head, blinking the predator stare away, realizing just how hungry I had been. It had been a long time since I had gone feral like that. Managing to pull together enough presence of mind to swallow the chunk of meat I had had in my mouth, I grunted out a short, “Hello Elder.”

If the Deepseeker felt at all offended by my rudeness, he didn’t show it. “Good. Your appetite has returned. You should know that you will need to eat more than you have before, to feed the blessings I placed in your body.”

I stopped, dropping the empty mandible and fixing my full attention onto the elder. “Inside me?”

The Deepseeker smiled with his eyes, the very tips of his fangs appeared between his cracked old lips in a dangerous counterpoint. “Yes, ranger. While you slept, I placed some of my strongest magicks within your flesh. You will no longer require any other blessings to survive the hard cold of Ravanur, though you will need to eat almost twice as much as before to keep your new heart running.” I just sat there, gaping at him with wide eyes, my hands unconsciously clutching at my chest where my heart was, just to the left of the thick, ropy scar that marked the place I had been stabbed. The Deepseeker only laughed at my confusion and revulsion. That hideous, rattling sound raised all of the hairs on the back of my neck. “You should thank me, boy.” Some of his usual manic hate threaded its way through his words, reminding me that the old shaman was absolutely insane. He might have been a mostly functional insane, but it didn’t change the fact that something was missing behind those frenzied eyes. “I just made you the greatest ranger to ever walk the ice of Ravanur.”

“What do you mean?” I managed to say. My appetite was suddenly erased as all of my thoughts were consumed by thoughts of what steel and glass contraption could be riding around inside of me.

The Deepseeker held up one wrinkled hand, lifting a single long, gnarled claw from his clenched fist. “First, you are invulnerable to all but the worst cold. Nothing short of a Great Storm, one of the Old Winds could even disturb your body’s temperature.” A second finger lifted into the air, the claw on this one broken off at half the length of the first. “Your body is also stronger, and will heal a little faster, making it a bit easier for you to survive, without me putting you back together again.” A third finger rose into the air, and I was surprised to see that this one ended at the first knuckle, leaving it little more than a stump. “Lastly, I tweaked a few of your reflexes. You will find your reaction time higher than any of your former brethren. If you are caught by any of the Erin-Vulur under the command of the corrupted Council, you will need this edge to avoid capture or death.”

I stood quickly, aware as I did that my feet seemed steadier on the metal floor than they had ever been. I became aware, suddenly and without a doubt that I could pick up the steel table before me with one arm and throw it, feast and all, against the far wall. I considered it. The edges of panic started to trouble my brain again, and for a moment there, I wondered if being revived from the edge of death had been worth the old shaman tearing down and rebuilding my body as he saw fit. “Why do this?” I hissed, my hands curling in claws. “Why did you put your…” I spat the word like a curse, “blessings inside my body?” I laughed bitterly, the memory of all that I had lost in the last few days coming down on my skull like a sledgehammer. “What’s the point of this? Why didn’t you just let me die?”

The Deepseeker watched me impassively for a moment, and then the rage, I knew that lived behind those mad eyes, boiled over in an instant. Suddenly, the ancient shaman was lunging toward me, tossing aside the heavy table and its succulent burden with a casual motion of one hand. His roar was impossibly loud; his fangs bared a hand’s width from my throat before I could even shift into a ready stance to receive his attack. My head spun with the sheer speed and ferocity of his abrupt assault. I felt all the fury and panic go out of me, chased away by the pent-up wrath trembling on the edge of violence just a breath away from me. The cavernous roar ended, chased by echoes into silence, and for a moment all I could hear was a toneless ringing in my ears. The shaman’s lips were moving, though, and I struggled to make out his words by reading his lips.

“I made you like this,” the Deepseeker growled, shaking with mad rage, “to save the Erin-Vulur. Too long have we been slaves to the fear of the dead Dark Ones, trapped in their tombs beneath the ice.” He drove the knuckle of one spindly finger hard into my chest. It felt like being tapped with an iron mallet. “We will be slaves no longer. We will no longer let them slumber beneath us. You will go, to the place where the new god’s tower stood. You will descend into the darkness within the ice and you will find her. You will help her build a new tower, grander and greater than its predecessor.” The Elder seized my shoulder in his inexorable grip and leaned close, whispering in my ear, all rage suddenly gone from his voice and replaced with something much more terrifying. His voice cracked with rapture as he whispered with mad urgency and certainty, “You will find her and she will bring Ravanur back to life, a green paradise beneath the loving gaze of an unveiled Palamun. And when the Dark Gods are revealed, when the ice melts back into the mythical seas, the Erin-Vulur will destroy them, burn their bodies, and rid our Mother of their blight once and for all.”

The weight of the command crashed down on me like a hammer on an anvil, and I slipped from the shaman’s grip to fall to my knees. My new heart was pounding in my chest in perfect rhythm, making the blood in my eyes pulse with each tremendous beat. I had been brought back from the darkness of death, made stronger than ever before, imbued with the Deepseeker’s strange dark magicks, all for the low, low price that I was to save the world. Where could I begin? How could I even try to do this? And how did the Elder know where to look for Joanna? If her tower had been brought down by the corrupted elders and the warriors of my tribe, the god could be anywhere, starting her work again. She could even be dead! The Erin-Vulur knew full well that gods could be killed. After all, even Ravanur had fallen.

“How do you know?” I pleaded with the Deepseeker. “How do you know she is still alive?”

“I know,” he replied simply. “She is alive and whole, deep beneath the ice, deeper than any have gone but I, alone.”

“And why would she need my help?” She was a god. What good could a warrior do for her?

The Deepseeker only smiled, his eyes turned to dark slits between pale, bruised-looking eyelids. “Every god needs a champion.” The rage began to twist his face again, slowly, starting with the corners of his mouth. “Now get up. I must show you to your gear before I can no longer remember.”

I stood, warily, suddenly aching all over as if I had run the gauntlet of my initiation into the rangers all over again. Without preamble, the Deepseeker strode out of the room, and realizing I had little choice, I followed him.

* * *

It turned out that the Deepseeker had been tending to my wounds in one of his hidden Sanctums far beneath the village, a short distance from the side of the mountain that housed it. Though the small series of chambers was separated from the home of my people by a seemingly endless layer of solid ice and stone, it was barely a spear deep compared to fathomless depths of Ravanur’s frozen skin. Apparently, when the Deepseeker had realized that the council had been corrupted, he had retreated here, but not before he had retrieved my frozen body- by means he still would not reveal to me. I really was lucky that Elder Lot had stabbed me where he did- if he hadn’t ruined the blessing I had been wearing at the time, I wouldn’t have frozen, and I would have bled out where I fell. As it was, the blood had frozen in my wounds, and I had slipped into a sort of near-death trance, making me a prime target for the Deepseeker’s arcane assistance. And look where my luck got me.

The crazed Elder led me through the small complex; every spare scrap of space packed with a hundred different varieties of old metal and glass magicks, artifacts from deep below, that the shaman hadn’t gotten to preparing for use. We wound up in a sort of workshop. Different half-assembled artifacts and relics were piled around the cramped space, some of them dangling from chains set into the pipe-strewn ceiling, spilling intestines of copper, silver, and gold in grotesque tangles towards the floor. I wanted to stop and just stare around at all the ancient magick on display around the room, but the Elder was on a mission, and he didn’t slow down a bit as we came into the workshop. He gestured to a small corner table set next to the broad stone worktop that took up one wall of the room. The tattered remains of my furs laid on it, stained with drying clumps of my own blood. There was no sign of my pack or the complement of weapons I had carried. Likely Elder Lot had ordered it all stripped away from me- the Erin-Vulur wasted nothing on sentiment.

Before I could remark on the lack of tools, the Deepseeker pulled aside a tattered cloth that had been draped over an uneven series of shapes on the table. There, bright and polished new, laid an array of beautiful weapons like nothing I had ever seen before. The Elder lifted the first of the weapons, a bow made entirely out of metal, several alloys that I couldn’t identify, braided together in a way I couldn’t even begin to name. It was recurved, an elegant serpentine shape about half a spear longer than the standard Erin-Vulur shortbow. The ends were wrought in the shape of antlers, sharp points glittering dangerously in the steady light of the workshop’s glowing orb lamp. A shimmering braid of string was wrapped around the stave of the weapon, waiting for someone to bend the bow and string it. I had no idea how I was supposed to bend a bow made of metal, but when the Deepseeker held it out to me, I took it. With the same movements I had used many times on my old horn weapon, I twisted my leg around one stave of the bow and braced it, and heaved, bending it back into tension. The motion was far easier than it should have been- it should have been impossible- and I felt my eyes smiling like I was a child. The Elder had not been lying. With just a little effort, I slipped the loop of one end of the bowstring over a point of the antler on the bottom of the bow and fitted the other end into its place at the top. I held it there for a moment, fascinated by its lightness, and gave the string a little flick with one claw, eliciting a buzzing ‘twang’ from the taut cable.

The Deepseeker smiled proudly, a little lucidity, returning to his ancient face. “I made all of your gear myself. These aren't like any of my blessings- bits and pieces of the work of old gods cobbled together into one-shot trinkets. These are my own work, from the beginning.” He gestured to the array of weapons laying in neat rows on his worn stone worktop. Everything was there, all the weapons that made up an Erin-Vulur ranger’s standard kit- a sledgehammer, short spears, climbing axes, arrows- all of them were beautifully crafted. I looked back up at the shaman with awe, trying to find words to express how I felt about this exquisite arsenal. I felt tears start at the corner of my eyes, and I dashed them away with a sleeve, embarrassed. The Deepseeker pretended not to notice, for which I was grateful. “That bow will drive an arrow completely through an adolescent burug. In one side and out the other, and it will kill a man standing on the other side.” He pointed to the rest of it. “It is all similarly strong, and nearly unbreakable. You will need it all.” He gestured to the arrows, which had been made from some matte metal I couldn’t identify. “Be sparing. There are thirty shafts in that quiver. You won’t be able to find replacements where you’re going, and in any case, the standard iron arrows most of us Erin-Vulur use would bend if you used them with this bow.”

But the Elder wasn’t done, as I found. As I stepped forward to run my hands over the weapons arrayed for me, he tore away another sheet of fabric that had been covering another lumpy shape on a different section of the broad worktable. The armor he revealed was yet another unparalleled work of beauty, and I could tell, just by looking at it, that it had been made to fit me perfectly. It was all made of a colorless, crystalline material, similar to what one of my hairs would look like if I plucked it from my head. The plates were light, but clearly strong, and the Deepseeker happily demonstrated their durability by snatching up my new sledgehammer and bringing it down two-handed on the breastplate. Though the blow rang like a great bell, leaving the whole weapon singing with vibration as he set it back down, the faceted armor plate showed not even a single scratch. With each plate of armor came pale, expertly tailored leathers, in the places where the plates wouldn’t cover stitched with sections of impossibly fine, light mail. Completing the whole ensemble, there was a cloak made of the same strange cloth that hung throughout the Deepseeker’s sanctum, embroidered with numerous sigils and signs.

I took it all in, feeling overwhelmed. “Elder, how… how can I possibly repay you for this?”

The Deepseeker’s fatherly pride vanished in an instant, blown away by the flash storm of his mad fury. His face twisted, his fangs bared, and his eyes flashed with molten, unfocused hate. He clenched his teeth and growled, “You can go save the world, boy. Take your things and get out before I change my mind and kill you.”

Though the sudden shift in his mood was alarming, it was also the standard for dealing with the Deepseeker. He handled forces and powers no ordinary person could understand. He exposed himself to the evil and the danger of the places down far beneath the ice, all to protect our tribe. He might have been touched by madness, but he was one of us, one of the Erin-Vulur, and he had saved my life. My tribe had abandoned me, had killed me, and the old shaman of the dark places had been the only one to lift a claw in my defense. I would put up with his foul moods no matter what. How could I not, compare to everything he had given me? How could I repay him? I could go save the world. Save the Mother, Ravanur. Save the last tribe of Palamun’s Chosen, the last of the Erinye. Even if the Erin-Vulur had abandoned me, I would not abandon them in their hour of need. I had been made their champion, whether they liked it or not, and the responsibility for their lives had just been laid across my shoulders. I would not drop that burden, no matter what it cost me.

Within the hour, I was dressed in my new armor, my cloak about my shoulders and the brand new arsenal of weapons strapped to a fresh pack of supplies, lashed to my back. The Elder led me to a branching network of tunnels and pointed to one, indicating that it would lead me toward the place where Joanna’s camp had once stood. I had my mission. I set off without a backward glance and marched into the dark.

* * *

Joanna

I woke up in complete darkness; the only thing I could see was the flashing red indicator on my Heads Up Display. It took me a moment to focus on the flashing holographic marker. My head hurt like someone had hit me with a sledgehammer, and my body felt leaden, drained of strength. I squinted and forced the letters into sharp clarity with more effort than the act should have required. Did I have a concussion or something? Could I even get a concussion? Cybernetics or not, that was a question for another time. The message on my HUD. That’s what was important. I focused again. “WARNING”, it said. “ENVIRONMENTAL ENVELOPE BREACHED.” Through my muddled confusion, I felt my blood run cold. The ‘environment envelope’ was the layer of hermetic sealing underneath the plates of my armor. It kept me isolated from the murderous environment of Chalice, and if it had been breached, I could be exposed to poisonous air, virulent microbes, or worse. I lay there in the dark for a panicked moment, trying to determine if I felt sick. It occurred to me that my suit’s oxygen cycling system was probably still working fine, so poisonous air would only really be a problem if it could kill me through my skin. I was more or less breathing directly from my power armor’s enclosed tanks of air, and those were evidently fine. Microbes, on the other hand… the surface of Chalice was so cold that there were no terrestrial species I could introduce to the environment. I had brought samples, and they had had to stay where they were in the tower. You could practically cryogenically freeze someone in this environment. I had a hard time believing any microbe could exist. Though, as I thought about it, Volistad and the Erin-Vulur lived here, and they were carnivores. Carnivores required a complete ecosystem and a full food chain to survive, and that suggested a livable biome somewhere on this frozen rock. So microbes could be a threat...

Eventually, as my head cleared, I realized that lying there contemplating the possible existence of microbes was as likely to end in my death as any alien pathogen or parasite, so I got up. Well, I tried. My legs were pinned under something heavy- something I wasn’t able to squirm out from under. Besides some soreness, I didn’t feel like I had been hurt. My armor, even if it had somehow been punctured, was still very difficult to destroy, and there was a good chance that even if I was trapped, I wasn’t badly injured. I wriggled my fingers, and they responded. So did my toes. Okay, so I didn’t think I was paralyzed. I was just trapped, and I couldn’t see a thing. I tried to move my arms, and found them mostly free- though several things seemed to have fallen on top of me, and I had to sweep them aside blindly. Once my arms were free, I fumbled for one of the switches hidden behind a panel on the inside of my bracer. I flicked it, and my headlamp burst to life, so bright at first that I had to squint against the glare. I looked around and got my bearings.

My legs were pinned by a sizeable boulder of ice. The heavy chunk hadn’t crushed my legs because it had been partially caught by a twisted metal spar- probably a piece of my tower, my Terraforming Engine. I remembered then what had happened, and my heart immediately started to beat faster as a jolt of adrenaline shot through me in reaction to those memories. I remembered the Stormcaller, monstrous in her grief and fury, bringing down that crackling black hammer. I remembered the blast as the fusion core beneath the ice detonated, shattering the ground beneath my feet and sending everything falling into the darkness. I remembered screaming for Barbas and getting no answer. I called his name then, heedless of who or what else might be listening, screaming it into the dark. “BARBAS!” No one answered me except for the echoes of my own voice.

I was alone. I was truly alone. No one was coming to help me. I was trapped God-knows-how deep beneath a glacier on a shitty moon in the back-ass corner of nowhere, in a leaking suit of damaged armor. I didn’t even have my imaginary friend to keep me company until I inevitably froze to death. I was going to die here, a complete failure, and in ten years, those colonists following in my wake, were going to die. They would die cursing my name, and I would deserve it. I fumbled about at my waist and found the butt of the gauss pistol where I had left it. I gripped it tight in my armored hand and caressed the trigger with my finger. I thought about it then, how easy it would be to be done with all this. I had barely been on this planet a month, and already everything had gone sideway. What had the Foundation been thinking, sending us out like this? Pan-America’s finest? I laughed. We were the bottom of the barrel, and they knew it. They sent us out like this because it didn’t matter if we died. And it would be the same with those colonists. They would be the poor, the war refugees, the extra mouths to feed. “Just get in this cryo-pod,” they would say. “There will be a new life on this new world.” And then no one would think twice when all of those thousands of people died. “Acceptable casualties”, they would say. “The price for stepping into the future,” they would say, and they would call us heroes. They would call us pioneers. And they would forget most of our names. The gun felt so light in my hand. It would be so easy. The barrel clicked against the quartz of my faceplate. It would go through, wouldn’t it? Would it really be that easy?

The rage hit me all at once, like a shot of adrenaline right in the center of my chest. It boiled out of the dark places inside me, crawling through the cracks in the mask of bored acceptance I had worn for so many years. I had been quiet for so long. I had gone the way they had wanted for so long. I had been who they wanted me to for so long; since that day, since the first time I had ever held a gun. I had buried it, the anger, the loss, all the fire that had kept me alive through the dark times. That kind of thing wasn’t suitable for the civilized world. That practically feral little girl didn’t fit in the new, sanitized, reconstructed, hopeful tomorrow that El Presidente was making. I didn’t make it through the war by being soft. I didn’t crawl out of the nuclear wreckage of my home and make it through all those years by being a ‘lady’, whatever that meant anyways. I had been who the state wanted, but they weren’t here anymore. I was completely alone, and though I might have made myself forget it, I was better this way. Stronger this way. Tigers didn’t live in packs.

Galvanized by the fury coursing through my muscles, I dropped the gun at my side and sat up, shedding scraps of rubble and chunks of ice that had been piled on my armored chest. Though my trapped position robbed my fists of the full power I might have put into the blows, I used the substantially augmented strength of my armor and slammed steel-clad knuckles into the boulder that trapped my legs. The blows did nothing at first. That much ice had quite a bit of mass, and strength to match. But ice was always somewhat brittle, and there were cracks somewhere. I just had to hit it and keep doing it until I won. I pounded the ice over and over, keeping my rhythm even as my muscles started to burn; each blow drove straight forward like a hammer, each strike like the repeating action of a jackhammer. I did this for a quarter of an hour before I heard the first crack. Another quarter-hour and the crack was wide enough for me to wriggle my armored fingers into. I stopped my metronomic assault and forced both hands into the little space I had opened. I strained my already burning shoulders and I began to tear it open wider. It didn’t want to give in, I wasn’t stopping, and I had the enhanced strength of my armor on my side. I forced that crack wider, and wider, until the ice started giving off sounds like a firecracker. I screamed and pushed as hard as I could, and without warning, the boulder let out a violent BANG and came apart, splitting neatly into two jagged pieces. No longer balanced in its place atop my legs, the two halves of the massive chunk of ice shifted, and I was able to pull one of my legs free with a screech of grinding metal. With one leg free, getting the other one out was a simpler effort, and within a few minutes, I was standing in a low cavern, peering about at the wreckage around me for somewhere I could start putting things back together.

I bent and picked up the gun from where I had dropped it, and I shook my head. I couldn’t believe I was about to… I shook the thought from my brain and holstered the weapon quickly, letting go of the grips like I had been holding onto the tail of a venomous snake. It was time for me to figure out where I could go from here. Like it or not, I still had a mission on this hateful planet, and it wasn’t getting done while I just sat in the darkness feeling sorry for myself.

I picked through the wreckage, shifting aside chunks of ice. The real trick of things would be to find my Fabricator. That piece of equipment had been designed to survive anything short of a direct shot from a Pan-American gunship, and even that might only crack the case. If I could find the rugged little box, I could start again. I didn’t know what had happened to Barbas, but I didn’t think he would be there when I got into that damned Bullet back in terrestrial orbit. I knew what I needed to do, was to rebuild my Terraformer Engine, though the trick with the storm generator Barbas had rigged up, might be a little beyond me. I would have to start small, this time thinking about defenses, about concealment. Maybe I could start here, below the ice.

I ran a self-diagnostic on my suit, along with a medical scan. The suit was mostly fine. The breach my HUD had warned me about was an inch-long puncture in the durable Environmental Envelope, most likely by a chunk of ice or a shard of metal during my fall into the glacier. The suit was using negative pressure to keep the outside atmosphere at bay, but I was leaking my suit’s excess nitrogen doing so, and before long, I wouldn’t have any. If I had the Fabricator, I could both patch my suit and replenish my nitrogen supply from the surrounding atmosphere. Barbas hadn’t said much about the air on Chalice, mainly because breathable or not, it was cold enough to turn my lungs into popsicles. I had read a chemical breakdown at some point in those few weeks while working on the tower, but I had let the AI handle most of the technical details, assuming he would be around to help me for the next decade. Rookie mistake, that had been, relying on someone else. Joanna Angeles, ward of the state, might have needed other people, but who I had been before I had been given that name… well, that bedraggled, vicious little cub had grown up, and the tigress needed no one. I had to remember that.

I picked my way through the wreckage, finding almost nothing of value. My suit’s diagnostic told me that the nutrient stores in my suit’s tanks were still fairly full, and I wouldn’t run out of synthetic sustenance for quite some time. It would be a little bit of a strain, not having the wonderful dream-meals that Barbas constructed, but the truth was, I hadn’t actually physically eaten since I had left the Earth. The suit handled all of that, very efficiently, and I was happy to say those systems were still working fine. Even as those thoughts crossed my mind, I felt the subtle pulse of cool relief spread from a place in my neck down through my body, as my armor injected a burst of saline solution into my big veins. I was going to be fine. I was going to survive, and, if need be, I would deal with the natives. I had tried being nice. I had tried diplomacy. But they had killed the messenger, and then they had tried to kill me. The tigress didn’t do diplomacy much, either. Maybe I should have been the one born with fucking fangs.

I looked up, shining my headlamp at the way I had fallen, trying to determine if climbing back up was a possibility. It didn’t look like it was. The cavern I was standing in was actually more of a narrow, pipe-like crevasse, extending nearly straight up into the darkness. Blocking most of the upper limits of that twisting, uneven shaft was a truly massive piece of glacial ice. I was incredibly lucky it had wedged where it did. If that had landed on me, I would never have gotten out from under it. I would have been ground into paste, armor or not, and no one would ever have found my body. I wondered how far down I had really gone. My suit’s communication network wasn’t picking up signals from any of my equipment, but that could be for a couple of different reasons. Either I was so far down that nothing was reachable, or everything I had built had fallen and smashed into pieces. Neither scenario would help me much. I needed another way out.

I spent the next half an hour examining the little cavern, searching the walls for any signs of weakness, any inkling that there was a way out of this pit. I didn’t find anything on the first pass, but when I activated my suit’s sonar array and started pinging the walls at random intervals, an exit presented itself. One wall was reading as covering a hollow place. Hopefully, it wasn’t just another small cavern with no exits. Taking a deep breath, I set myself and then, yelling like some kind of Kung Fu fighter in a movie, I drove my shoulder against the ice. This time, with the full weight of my armor and the full leverage of my augmented legs and abs, I smashed straight through the ice, sending shards flying everywhere.

I stood in a crooked, downward sloping passage, leading down into unknown darkness. Likely it was little more than a random crack in the ice, or a tunnel bored by one of this moon’s strange, sub-surface creatures. It was a strange thing, standing inside a glacier and knowing that somehow, against all terrestrial logic, there was life all around her. How did it all survive? How did it get here? Before I could get caught up in the ‘deep questions’, I sighed and trudged into the darkness. There was only going to be one way out of this mess, and that meant moving forward. Even if the way forward was also the way down.

* * *

I proceeded like that for what seemed like days, but what might only have been a couple hours. Passages wound about through the ice, sometimes crossing each other, sometimes coming to a dead end. I would climb what seemed like dozens of meters, only to find myself struggling down a shaft so steep it was practically vertical. Twice I found little pocket caverns like the one I had fallen into, and I searched what wreckage had gathered there. I found only twisted scrap and shattered ice, the remains of a month’s hard work. Once, I even found a crumpled, ice-white humanoid body, battered into a pulp. I couldn’t tell if it was the Stormwalker or someone else. Hell, I couldn’t tell if the corpse had been male or female, it had been so thoroughly destroyed. I passed it by and continued my search of the cavern, and then, finding nothing, I moved on. Time passed by and I grew more and more tired as the nitrogen balance in my suit dropped lower and lower. The despair I had felt trapped beneath the chunk of ice began to trickle back into my chest as the old familiar anger that had saved me, began to gutter and flicker with inaction. I had just begun to think I was going to die again when I saw it. In a narrow hole, a ‘room’ barely wider than the passage I was following, there sat the Fabricator, wedged at an angle into the frozen floor, practically framed in a shaft of dim light.

I dashed forward and seized the hefty little machine, checking it over for damage as if I was a child that had just tripped and fallen to the floor. It was blessedly intact, barely even scratched, and for a moment I just stood there, cradling it to my chest and wondering what the hell they had made the little indestructible box out of. The machine’s internal power source was still good, and as soon as I touched it, my wireless network finished negotiating its formidable firewall and connected. The machine immediately began chattering loudly, little slots opening up in its impervious shell and spewing forth a cloud of nanites like strangely animate wisps of black smoke. I followed the path of the nanite cloud with my eyes, watching them rise up toward the wreckage, trapped in a crush of ice shards in the ceiling. This had apparently been a crevasse like the one I had fallen into, and a similar situation had occurred here.

Part of a standing work lamp jutted from the ceiling, one of its bulbs miraculously intact. There must still have been some charge on its capacitors because it was giving off an inconsistent, crackling blue light- the shaft of illumination I had seen when I first spotted the blessed Fabricator. The nanites swirled across the wreckage, and some of the metal and plastic dissolved where they touched. Then they shot back towards me and began to whirl and circle about my armor, erasing scratches and tears in the metal, patching the hole in my hermetic seals in a bare instant. A moment later, the buzzing and chattering sounds stopped, and my suit’s monitors told me that once more I was completely protected from the atmosphere of Chalice. I smiled grimly. At least something was going right in this whole mess. With the Fabricator, I could do almost anything. Sure, I would have to program it myself since Barbas was somehow missing, but I could do that. I knew how. The tigress didn’t need anyone.

I reached over one shoulder and slid the Fabricator into place, feeling a groove open in the little box just large enough to fit the retaining pins jutting from my suit for such a purpose. With a click, the device secured itself to my armor, and I was ready for what came next. I could do this. I could absolutely survive whatever Chalice threw at me. I was ready, and I was going to teach that frozen, shitty moon who the boss was here. A loud rattling, clicking sound from behind me startled me out of my self-congratulation and I whirled quickly, my hand falling to the butt of my gun.

Filling the passage I had just come from, there was something that seemed to have come out of a nightmare. It was hideous and segmented, plated with glossy black chitin that seemed to glisten in a manner that seemed… unclean somehow. Its head was that of an ant, though it had entirely too many mandibles where its mouth was. I couldn’t really see much of its body past its first segment, but even the little I saw was large and insectoid, armored in chitin, and possessed too many legs. “Hi,” I said weakly. “You must be a burug.” Volistad had told me about them. Barbas had shot one of the big ones with the Tower’s gun, but I hadn’t been able to go see the body.

According to Volistad, they were Chalice’s consummate predators, strange insects that tunneled through solid ice with disturbing ease, feasting on whatever kinds of life existed deep within the ice. This one seemed ready to feast on me. My armor, apparently, meant little to its ravenous insectoid brain. It made that clicking sound again, and I watched its mandibles ripple and twitch as its wide jaws worked, dribbling greenish fluid onto the ice beneath it. The viscous drool smoked and sizzled away into vapor, and when it was gone, the ice was pitted and scarred, as if it were flesh scarred by acid. I opened my mouth to curse, but the burug suddenly shot forward, propelled by its many legs, gnashing its jaws in anticipation.

I didn’t even think about it. I turned on my boot heel and ran, scrambling for the passage on the other side of the room, down into further unknown and darkness. I couldn’t fight something like that, not in quarters like this. My choices were run or die. It seemed that Chalice wasn’t done trying to kill me. But I wasn’t finished either. I was going to give that damned creature and its stupid moon a run for its money. I put up my hands to protect myself from whatever I might run into in the dark and sprinted. Damn whoever decided to send me here, I thought. Damn them directly to hell.

* * *

Chapter Eight

Sojourn

Volistad

Traveling the network of tunnels around and beneath my tribe’s village wasn’t actually particularly hard, largely due to the diligent work of my former comrades, the rangers. The frozen skin of Ravanur was always shifting, moving and changing. Cracks would open in a day and close in a week. Burug would carve tunnels in their incessant search for food, and then those tunnels would collapse. Very rarely did my people actually cut our own passages- the ice moved enough that it was barely worth the effort. Instead, we marked the ways we found, exploring the twisting labyrinth daily and keeping a running knowledge of all of the paths through the ice near our home. This meant that getting from the Deepseeker’s hidden sanctum to Joanna’s old campsite wasn’t particularly complicated; once I left the tunnels that the ranger’s had no record of. The hard part was remaining unseen.

I moved carefully through the tunnel network, reading the scrawled shorthand ranger-sign scratched into the ice at regular intervals. The trick was staying in the tunnels that were just old enough to be somewhat riskier to use. No one wanted to use an old passage that might collapse or close on them without warning. Passages more than seven days old tended to be avoided. They were traveled only by whichever unlucky ranger had been assigned to scout out the dangerous trail. I stuck to those riskier routes, trusting my former comrade’s instinctive wariness to work to my advantage. For the most part, it worked. I passed beneath the tribal home of the Erin-Vulur with little trouble, completely avoiding being seen in the process. Once I got close to the fallen campsite, however, it was a completely different story. Warriors and Stormcallers alike, crawled all through the passages near where Joanna’s tower had fallen.

This proved to be a true test of my stealth. I spent an hour hidden in a tiny crack in a tunnel ceiling, observing my tribesmen and their movements, finding the pattern. Of course, they didn’t follow a pattern of movement exactly, no one did, especially warriors looking out for danger. Falling too rigidly into a pattern would leave an opening for someone like me to exploit. But searching for someone or something always caused people, warriors or not, to follow established methods- and I knew my people’s methods. A hidden route would present itself, and when it did...

Now. I slipped from my hiding spot, pleased with how smoothly my new crystalline armor moved. I didn’t feel hindered at all. I stepped carefully, following far behind the shadow of the latest ranger on scouting duty, making sure not to scuff or scrape the ice beneath my feet. He led me in a circle, through a deteriorating burug tunnel and out into a passage that was much smoother, more neatly shaped. This one had been made by a Stormcaller, and a talented one at that. It was one thing to stir up the winds like all of the other wind shamans, but only a skilled few could wield power with such fine control as one would need to bore a specific route through the ice. This had been the way the warriors had used to get to Joanna’s campsite. I shook my head. They had sent a full war party- that was the only reason to dig a direct passage like this. Why would the elders have gone so far to destroy her? She hadn’t posed a threat to us at all, except for the Stormcaller she had apparently killed, but that had been self-defense. Something else seemed wrong about all this. How had they mustered so much force so quickly? Yes, the Erin-Vulur could scramble a quick strike force with little effort- the rangers were always out and about, and it was a simple matter of leaving ranger sign with new orders near the intersections in the patrolled tunnels. But to get all of the warriors, all the Stormcallers- to muster the tribe as a large war party- that took serious coordination. That took planning. It hit me like a slap across the face. They had meant to destroy Joanna from the start. They hadn’t sent me to learn about her, they hadn’t sent me to strike up some kind of accord- they had sent me as a distraction while they got ready. They had used me. Had Nissikul known? Did I really want to know the answer to that question?

The war tunnel wasn’t empty. Workers from the village moved back and forth, dragging scrap metal from the destroyed tower away down into the darkness, where no doubt they were preparing it for transport back to the tower. Steel and iron were never wasted by my people, and the kind of metal used by a god, would doubtless be better than whatever iron we could carve out of the frozen mountain beneath our village. I grimaced. I needed another way out. I had been seen here, and I really didn’t want to have to hurt any of my own people to escape, even if they might not show me the same courtesy. I stepped back into the ranger tunnel and turned, just in time to see the ranger creeping up behind me, ax brandished.

I lashed out; my body reacting much faster than my mind could have processed the situation. I twisted, slapping the side of the ax head with an open palm and knocking it from the ranger’s grip. Before he could react, I curled my fingers and hit him in the throat with my knuckles, pulling the blow just enough to avoid crushing his windpipe. He gagged, but could not otherwise make a sound or raise any alarm. Continuing my assault before the unfortunate ranger could regain his balance, I hit my forehead into his, and when he reeled, I hit him across his jaw, right in the sweet spot. The warrior crumpled to the ground, and dropped, crouching over his prone form for a moment and listening hard for any sign that someone else had heard the brief scuffle. No alarm was raised, and there was no sound of running boots. I huffed out a sigh of relief. That had been close. I glared down at the unconscious man. If I had been a second slower, I would have been the one lying face down on the ice, only I would have had a nice ax sticking out of the back of my skull, and wouldn’t that have gotten some attention- I stopped in the midst of my internal grumbling, and then narrowed my eyes into a mischievous grin. I had an idea.

* * *

When the next ranger to come through on their patrol route, found the crumpled form of her comrade lying in the middle of one of the side-passages, she immediately raised the alarm, causing everyone nearby to come running. I watched from behind a stack of scrap in the war tunnel as several warriors and a Stormcaller came running, passing by my hiding place and continuing on towards the place I had left the luckless ranger. The workers, on the other hand, retreated to the bottom of the tunnel, away from the possible danger. Doubtlessly whichever warriors weren’t immediately responding to the downed ranger would instead be guarding the vulnerable civilians. The sum result of the whole thing was that I had a moment, a clear path to the surface. I broke from cover and sprinted up the slope, my boots gripping the ice with incredible steadiness, maintaining my grip with no trouble at all. I ran as hard as I could, pumping my legs despite the burning in my thighs, and burst through the exit onto the surface of Ravanur.

It was very cold outside; not that I cared. Though my personal warmth was not in the least bit affected by the lethal temperatures, I could still feel them, even if they didn’t bother me. The sky was clear, but night had fallen, and Palamun’s veiled face was slightly smaller in the sky than he would be during the day. I lit out, away from the war tunnel entrance, moving away from the lines of scrap collection, which I knew would be resumed very soon. I moved quickly to the nearest hump of heaved ice and took cover behind it. I waited. I couldn’t hear any pursuers. Good. Now I just had to wait for the scavenging party to leave so that I could approach the site where Joanna’s camp had stood. It was getting on towards the evening, and those workers would be heading home soon, even with my little distraction.

I lay flat on the ice, just behind the crest of the little hillock, and peered out carefully, trying to get a sense of just how badly Joanna’s campsite had been destroyed. I knew they had destroyed her tower, that much had been obvious. But the Deepseeker had spoken as if the entire campsite had been erased, and that just didn’t seem likely. He also seemed very sure that Joanna was alive. The two ideas didn’t seem to make sense in my mind. If her camp had been utterly razed, then surely she was dead. If she was alive, then surely her formidable strength and weapons could have helped her to repel my people and win the day. It didn’t quite make sense.

I peered out over the ridge, towards where the tower had stood like a great monolith amidst the storm. At first, I didn’t realize what I was looking at. But then I saw it, the carved groove in the ice marking where Joanna’s divine storm had marked the boundary of her territory. And inside it… there was nothing. I frowned and squinted, willing my eyes to focus. But it remained the way I saw it. There was nothing inside that boundary. No campsite, not even wreckage or ruin- just emptiness, as if a great hammer had come down and driven a massive hole into the ice. As I stared at that emptiness, I thought of Joanna falling into the darkness, unable to do a thing. How could she have survived? If she had fallen into a crack in the ice, there would be no way for me to know how far down she could have fallen. “Well, there is one way,” I corrected myself under my breath.

Just then, I heard voices at the mouth of the tunnel. I ducked down below the crest of the ridge and waited, listening. The first voice was clearly a ranger, if for no other reason than that he sounded like he was overworked and in a foul mood. The second was probably a Stormcaller, judging by the arrogant tone of her voice and the condescending manner. After a moment, they came close enough that I could hear what they were saying. “...doesn’t make sense is all I’m saying, right? One day he’s one of the best of us, and then he disappears for a month and now he’s dead? I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t add up to me.”

“What’s not to understand?” The Stormcaller scoffed. “He was corrupted by the Dark Ones. It happens from time to time, you know. You’ve heard the stories, like everyone else. The Dark Ones sometimes take the minds of the weak-willed. Warriors don’t tend to resist the pull of those evil powers very well.”

The ranger was silent for a moment, and I imagined he was restraining himself from making a sharp remark to the mageling. The Stormcallers didn’t always respond rationally to confrontation, often with spectacular results. Eventually, he replied, “You may be right, mage, but I saw the man’s initiation, his gauntlet. He didn’t fall, not once, and we hit him as hard as anyone, harder, maybe, since he seemed to come by his skills so easily. Nobody goes through that, not the way he did, not if they’re weak.”

The Stormcaller didn’t reply for some time, perhaps thinking. Eventually, she conceded the point with a noncommittal grunt. “This god may have been more dangerous than some,” she admitted. “After all, no one has seen the Deepseeker since we felled the false god’s tower. And if this metal god could infect the Deepseeker himself, it must have been quite dangerous indeed.”

They stopped no more than a few paces from where I lay. I closed my eyes and slowed my breathing as much as I could. They would pass by and I would remain unseen. It would be fine. I lay there for what felt like an eternity, waiting for them to speak again, to let me know where they were. My mind filled with visions of them coming up over the ridge and spotting me, and the Stormcaller rending me apart with howling wind and razor ice.

The Stormcaller spoke again. “The real tragedy of this whole mess is that we lost Nissikul. Fallen with the false god, determined to get her revenge for the death of her brother,” she paused, her tone regretful, laced with just a little awe. “At least she went out swinging. Bringing down the false god’s whole tower with a single stormhammer- I’ve never seen anything like it.” Nissi? Dead? I shut that thought down quickly. There would be enough time for that when I stopped for the night.

“Few of my friends lost in that fall, too,” grumbled the ranger. “No offense, but things like that are why most of my brothers and sisters don’t really like your kind.”

The mageling snickered, a little girlish sound completely incongruous with the frightening power I knew one like her could wield. “I don’t care what your comrades think. Besides, you like me just fine.” The ranger only grunted in response, and a moment, later, the Stormcaller let out another high-pitched squeal. I rolled my eyes. Of course. They weren’t going to be noticing a damned thing. I had never really understood why some of my comrades thought Stormcaller women were so attractive. They had a tendency to main the men who did them wrong, and to those power-addled minds, the definition of doing them wrong might change daily. Nevertheless, I wasn’t one to ignore an opportunity like this. As the sounds from the other side of the hill began to come more frequently, more insistently, I rolled to my feet, careful to move in silence so as not to disturb the impulsive lovers.

I crept away, carefully, and made my way toward the pit where Joanna’s encampment had once been. I approached the edge warily, looking down into the darkness. The abyss seemed to go on forever. It was even worse than it looked from far away. There was no way someone survived falling into a hole like that, much less if they ended up in a crack in the glacier. But the Deepseeker said Joanna was alive, and I had to proceed as if that was true. My tribe thought I was dead, and I was not. Perhaps she had gotten as lucky as me. Maybe Nissi got lucky too… I clamped down on that thought. Hope was as dangerous to me right now as grief was.

I gritted my teeth and drew my axes. This was going to be a difficult climb. Down was always harder, and this time, I was going all the way down... to where the dead gods dreamed.

* * *

Joanna

I ran, hard. The tunnels, being random cracks in the ice mixed with the burrowed paths of unknown fauna, were hardly straight or even, so I lost my balance pretty much every fifth step. I would careen into a wall or a low opening into another tunnel, pulverize some ice with the prodigious weight of my armor, and keep running, knowing that every delay like that meant that the burug was gaining ground. It chittered along on its millipede legs, great mandibles grinding aside the ice as if it was loose dirt rather than glacial ice. The thing could move surprisingly fast, and only the fact that I was fleeing through narrow openings in thick segments of ice allowed me to stay ahead of it all. At first, I turned and took pot shots at the monster whenever I felt I could keep the pace and aim. But the gauss pistol’s shots were about as effective against the monster’s thick chitin as slingshot stones against steel, and I decided to stop wasting those precious seconds on such a futile effort. I put my head down and ran, pumping my arms and legs, my heartbeat in my ears. So I was caught entirely off guard when I crashed through a narrow opening into what I thought was another tunnel, and instead of another passage away from the ravening insectoid monster, I stepped into an open crevice and fell, too surprised to even scream.

This time, as I fell, I kept my head. There would be a bottom to this open shaft, and I just needed to control my fall so that I would get there alive. Once I got my bearings, I would find a way out of here. There would be a way. There had to be. I kicked out and pushed away from one wall of the crevice. This sent me tumbling through the air to crash hard into the opposite wall. I turned as I hit the wall and dug hard into the ice with my power-armored fingers, tearing huge splintering rents in the ice. Shards and flakes of ice sprayed up all around my faceplate, but I slammed my other hand into the ice in a fist, grinding my metal knuckles and checking my momentum even further. It was working! I was getting everything back under control. I just needed- CRACK! My rigid grip on the frozen wall slipped, one hand coming free from the ice completely. I looked up, horrified, to see a great slab of ice plummeting towards me, closely followed by the scrambling, milky-eyed hulk of the burug falling straight down to me in its wake. This time, I did scream, but I let go of the wall immediately and pushed away from it as hard as I could, flipping ungracefully across the chasm and striking chunks of ice the size of my fist from the side.

I fell in a shower of blasted ice and vapor, and when I hit the bottom, all the air was driven from my lungs in a hard grunt that fogged up the inside of my faceplate. I knew what was coming and that there was no time for me to escape, so I rolled into a tight ball and clamped my arms tightly over my head. My whole world became a series of thundering impacts that rattled my teeth in my skull and pounded a merciless tattoo on my chest plate like a hundred steel drums. I squeezed my eyes tightly against the onslaught, knowing that if the burug found me, my armor would mean nothing to those horrible jaws. After a short, tense moment, there was a heavy, solid thump, like a one-ton sack of sand being thrown onto a concrete floor. The burug, I thought, trying in a spurt of subconscious paranoia, to think ‘quietly’. As if the damn thing can hear me. Even so, I lay as still as I could and tried to slow my breathing. I didn’t know what senses that thing had, and I had the feeling that any overconfidence or underestimation of the creature on my part would be swiftly corrected via a hooked mandible puncturing my faceplate.

My own shaky panting was all I could hear. It was too loud, no matter how I tried to suppress it. The burug’s legs clicked over the ice in an erratic rhythm, its rattling progress ever closer, ever louder. I felt panic rising up in my chest, heralded by a wave of bile climbing the back of my throat. No. I couldn’t die this way, not here, not like this. Go away! I willed the monster to leave, knowing that nothing I did now would even really irritate the enormous insect. It was right on top of me now, the chatter of its dozens of legs a staccato threat in my ears. This was it. Joanna. I was done for. Oh, Maker, is that you, Joanna? The monster was about to jam its hideous face down through the ice and pluck me out, crush me in its jaws like a piece of hard candy. It probably wouldn’t even notice the armor. Shit, it is you! I’m not crazy! Am I?

My terror evaporated in an instant. Those weren’t my thoughts. Someone was speaking in my head. “Barbas?” I ventured and instantly regretted it. The ice in front of my face was torn away in a shower of shards and vapor, and I was staring into the face of death. The mandibles were spread wide, the serrated jaws dripping with acid. Some of it spattered on the quartz of my faceplate and immediately began sizzling, though it did not seem to be damaging the plate itself. Through the vapor, I could see the inside of the creature’s throat, and I immediately wished I hadn’t. Dozens of tiny appendages worked mindlessly inside that gaping maw, little legs doubtlessly gripped whatever prey that the burug had found and forced it down toward digestion, alive or not. I fumbled for my gun, but it was no use. The monstrous mandibles closed around me and began to squeeze. I could hear my armor creaking, feel the horrendous pressure all about me, and I knew it was over. Done. My life ended here, just like this.

An idea struck me, even then, in just moments from death. It was a terrible, horrible, idiotic idea. It was the best I had. I was the tigress, and the tigress didn’t die. I brought up the control screen for my fabricator. The holographic projection sprang to life in front of me and I quickly cycled through the menus with flicks of my fingers. The squealing of metal filled my ears, and I all of a sudden I felt a shaft of unbelievable cold slice into my neck. The suit was breached, but I couldn’t worry about that now. I keyed in my commands hurriedly, biting back panic and making sure the programming was sound. I was wrenched into the air, ice falling away all around me. Keep going… Another spike of horrid cold touched my side, quickly followed by another at my back. Alarms were going off in my helmet, but I paid them no attention. They couldn’t help me now. I finished the program with the execute command and squeezed my eyes shut; praying to whichever deities could hear me. Just one word. “Please!” The crushing weight bearing down on my body abruptly vanished. I fell for a second and then hit the ground, hard enough to stun me, but only for a few heartbeats. Then I was scrambling back, wiping pulped ice and steaming acid from my faceplate, and staring up at what I had wrought.

It was a magnificent and revolting sight. The burug reared, its long, segmented body flexing into a grotesque ‘S’ shape, all of its legs writhing spasmodically as it tried to escape an enemy it couldn’t even see. The fabricator nanites clung to it, a barely visible, nearly insubstantial cloud that refracted my suit’s headlamp into tiny bursts of prismatic spectra. The microscopic robots zipped back and forth, through the alien monster’s armor, each movement too small to follow individually. En masse, however, the effect of what I had done was like watching ice sublimate. It was like watching a time-lapse video of a cow carcass being devoured by ants, only the victim was alive, and it was happening in front of me. I huddled in shattered ice, staying away from the burug’s futile thrashings and watching it all happen in a trance of hideous fascination. The monster quickly shrank before my eyes, shriveling down from twice the size of a city bus. It became a quivering lump of pale, ichor-soaked flesh, then a tattered chitinous endoskeleton, and then nothing but a smear of smoldering, liquefied goop on the ice.

I stood, slowly, surveying the mess I had made. All I felt upon seeing the final result was a kind of grim satisfaction. The monster had come to kill me, and I had done unto it first. It was the law of the jungle. Kill or be killed. But wait… What is that? I took a hesitant step forward, avoiding the tendrils of viscous muck that seemed to slither from the puddle that used to be a burug. At the center of the puddle of rapidly freezing gunk, there lay an object, roughly the size of both of my fists- my actual fists- balled and held together. I bent and picked it up, against my better judgment, and I was shocked to realize that I recognized the general shape of the thing. I lifted it as I straightened up, and held it up before my headlamp so I could look at it more closely. Black ooze dripped from it, and I shook it until it was relatively clean, so I could see it more clearly. I gasped. It was shaped like a human heart.

The heart was smooth but for whorls of faintly glowing patterns, a delicate tracery of inset symbols that reminded me of fingerprints. It was heavier than it should have been, and I was pretty sure that the only reason I wasn’t bent double with the weight of the strangely dense artifact was that my power armor was thoroughly augmenting my own physical strength. As I held it, I felt a strange, hypnotic rhythm pulsing from it in regular intervals, and it emitted a buzzing sound so low that I felt it rather than heard it. I heard distant thunder in the shape of words I couldn’t understand. Vast impossible syllables that grew somewhere behind my ears and crashed down over my mind like a tidal wave. I dropped the heart, quickly, and the voices stopped. I backed away a few steps, very fast, adrenaline spiking through my body again. What in the hell-

“Joanna?” Barbas’ voice came in too softly, muffled as if behind a thick wall. “Joanna, the gun- I’m in the gun.” At least he was loud enough that I didn’t mistake his voice for my own thoughts again.

Gun? I thought. What gun? I looked around wildly, realizing for the first time that I seemed to have fallen into another pocket of wreckage that had collected within the glacier. Parts of my tower lay scattered in random ruin, wedged into chunks of ice and scattered all around the little pocket cavern I had fallen into. Perched high up in a tangle of cables and girders was the familiar shape of the gauss rifle turret I had put in the tower for self-defense. Too bad I hadn’t planned for a “massive native invasion, with wizards” when I had put that thing up. “I see you,” I called, not sure if Barbas could actually hear me. If he wasn’t in my head, then he might not be able to hear my thoughts. Hell, he had probably only been able to see me through the targeting sensors on the gun itself. I guessed that he was transmitting messages at me wide-band, and hoping that I would hear them.

I scrambled up the ramshackle pile of rubble, using my armor’s superhuman strength to make leaps and gaps I would never have managed without it. The rubble shifted unevenly beneath my weight, but I rode out the tremors and kept climbing, pulling myself up through a bird’s nest of cables and wires until I reached the gun. I popped open the control box quickly, not even bothering with the latch, just tearing the little hatch off of the back of the weapon to reveal the switches and ports hidden within. I took a quick look at them, frowning, then spotted the loose connection inside it and plugged it in. The gun powered up completely, and then began displaying a low battery warning. We didn’t have a lot of time. “Barbas?” I called, urgently. “Barbas! Can you hear me?”

There was a sensation of someone reading over my shoulder, a sort of itch on the back of my head. And then I felt his presence in my mind, so warm, so comforting. I had started to take the feeling for granted, and just that short time without my Qarin in my head had been one of the loneliest times in my life. It was strange what you could get used to. “I’m… here…” Barbas said, slowly, his voice strangely toneless, without any emotion at all. “You already… uploaded…”

“Are you okay?” This didn’t sound like my Barbas at all. He seemed… lesser, somehow. “Barbas, are you alright?” A creeping prickle of dread ran its way up my spine. Could Barbas be somehow crippled?

“Not… quite.” He managed a chuckle, though it sounded tinny, as though it had been processed through a primitive soundboard. “I was… busy… when the Tower… fell. There… are pieces…” He faded out suddenly, his voice dipping low, as if someone was playing with the sound quality. Before I could say anything, though, he was back, and a bit more humanity crept back into his voice. “There are pieces of me scattered all about…” his voice turned to an incomprehensible babble, before returning to Pan Standard. “I’m scattered to all of the machines I was controlling when we were attacked.”

I frowned. “I’m not sure what that means, ‘Bas. Are you saying you’re… damaged somehow?”

“Yes. No. Not damaged… not whole. I need you… need you to find the parts of me and… connect so that I can collect them… return to myself again.” Some of the humanity leaked out of his words again, turning them tinny and modulated.

“What were you networked to? Do you remember?”

“No,” he replied, returning to himself a little bit, a little warmth coming back into his voice. “Transmit… transmitting on wide-band. Probably. Find signal… find me.”

“I can do that, ‘Bas,” I whispered. “You already saved me. It’s time for me to save you.” Barbas didn’t answer. I disconnected from the railgun, partially wishing I could find a way to take the heavy weapon with me as insurance against any other burug. I jumped down from the gun, landing amidst the ice and the burug goop in a shattering crash. I realized all of a sudden that the suit alarms were beeping at me again, and I brought up the status screen for my power armor. The breaches. Right. I keyed the fabricator to repair my suit, and then found myself a shadowy spot beneath some scrap metal to sit down while the little buggers worked. It had been a long, shitty day, I needed some sleep. Chances were, tomorrow would be even worse.

* * *

Chapter Nine

The Secrets Beneath

Volistad

Down I climbed- down into darkness. My arms ached, my chest burned, my back was a mass of sore cramps and my neck had developed a kink in it that I couldn’t have knocked out of it with a mallet. And still I climbed down, one ax after another, down the strange, curiously regular shaft in the ice that had once been Joanna’s mighty tower. I couldn’t even see the top of the shaft anymore, though that may have had more to do with the lack of light down here than anything else. The skies above Ravanur were murky at best, black as the hearts of the fallen gods at the worst. So I descended, each ax set carefully, the ornate claws set into my new armored boots wedged into any toehold I could find. Descending was harder than climbing- since I was no longer fighting Ravanur’s call. The intention was for me to descend, and she wanted me to descend. But if I fell the way she wanted, I would die in one sudden, violent moment. I had to control it- and the effort of doing so, had begun to hurt before I was even seven strikes down the icy wall. At strike number three-hundred, the pain had become an old, fast friend, and I had grown used to it. It didn’t make the movements I kept repeating any easier, but I didn’t let go of the axes and fall to my death either.

The walls of the shaft were slick and smooth, the glossy freshness of ice formed right after a sudden melt. I wondered what could be so hot as to burn this far down through a glacier, but the fact that such a thing existed hardly surprised me. After all, before Joanna, I had never seen anyone but a Stormcaller bring the winds and the lightning, and she had made a storm few of their kind could match- with no sign of the usual madness that typically accompanied those powers. Wedged into the ice at occasional intervals were shards of metal, most of them smaller than my hand, but a few of them large enough for several rangers to sit shoulder to shoulder. It was on one such fragment of wreckage that I stopped to rest, lying down flat on the metal, breathing hard, my shoulders afire. My axes slipped from nerveless fingers to clatter onto the broad, jagged edged plate of divine steel, and for a time I just lay on my back and breathed, letting the burning, stabbing tension of continuous exercise leak out of my muscles.

After a few moments, when my heartbeat and breathing became slower and steadier, I secured my axes at my belt and turned over onto my hands and knees, then crawled forward to peer over the edge of my broken metal perch. All I could see below me was more endless darkness, as well as the vague suggestion of icy walls in the occasional glimmer of some dim gloaming on fresh slickness. Returning to a sitting position, I dug a glowstone out of my pack and cracked it hard against the metal, causing the fragments to burst into greenish-white light. Working quickly, I cut a chunk of ice from the wall behind me, and then shoved the brightest chunk of glowstone into it. I returned to the edge of the metal and dropped the shining chunk of ice into the darkness. The glow fell, shining on smooth, freshly frozen walls until… there. For a moment I could see it, the bottom of the shaft, splitting into dozens of irregular openings, some of them narrow and jagged, some of them rounded and wide. It was as I had suspected. The shaft had hit a nexus of other passages through the upper layers of the glacier. The tower Joanna had built was enormous, and unless it had turned to smoke like something out of the old stories, its fall should have meant an incredible amount of rubble and wreckage. Every inch of the structure had been made of hard steel, like the scrap of it I was currently sitting on- but there was a relatively little of it on the surface. Though there was enough scrap on the surface for my people to begin scavenging it, there wasn’t nearly enough to fit the great monolith I had seen rising into the sky, the heart of its own great storm. This meant most of it had to be below.

I picked another bright piece of glowstone and flicked it down towards one of the openings I had seen in the nexus of tunnels, natural or otherwise. For a moment I saw it, an open tunnel mouth, round and wide. The surface of the tunnel floor was mostly smooth, except for twin lines of seemingly random scratches and gouges that flanked a smooth trail of ice down into the blackness. It was a burug tunnel, which was strange because to produce a shaft like that, the burug would have had to be coming straight up at Joanna’s camp. There was no sign of it now, but the first thing that crossed my mind was Joanna’s “goss reyfel”, and the burug she had so casually killed while I had been staying with her. What if something about the tower had drawn the burug toward her? What if the one she had shot hadn’t been there by coincidence? Could Joanna kill an adult burug herself, without her goss reyfel? Not much could stop an adult burug, save for an expertly targeted and timed surprise attack from above. I thought about what one of those monsters could do to a person Joanna’s size and shuddered. I remembered seeing just that when I was a boy, when the grim rangers had returned what was left of my mother and father wrapped up together in a single, soaked cloak so that Nissi and I could do our duty as children and give them to the fire. Joanna might be armored and unbelievably strong, but she could die, just the same as me. Everyone died, even gods.

I rose and my blood was suddenly surging with energy. It was time to move. I still had a long way to go. I made my way off of my temporary respite, setting my axes carefully and finding toeholds with my clawed boots. I descended again, this time, more quickly, energized by old memories of pain and rage, and before long, I found myself perched on the edge of one of the rounder, wider tunnels, looking down along its gentle, slick slopes. I took a long breath, checking for the telltale whiff of the pungent burug stink. Instead of the strange, heady flavor of burug musk, I smelled death. Corpses, frozen and still fresh. They smelled metallic, like the taste of copper wires held under the tongue. Blood, still frozen, not dried or eaten by scavengers. People had died in the tower’s fall, I knew that, but smelling it here was somehow worse. The smell assaulted my nose, my eyes, and instead of just knowing with my mind, now I knew that some of my comrades had died in a more personal way. I knew it in my heart, in my stomach, in the bile at the back of my throat. All of them dead to the Elders’ misguided crusade. I tried to remind myself that they had been tainted by the fallen Dark Ones, that their minds were not their own, but the lingering ache in my chest and the sick taste in the back of my mouth told me otherwise. Whatever the reason, the Elders had betrayed the Erin-Vulur, and when I found Joanna, we would make sure they answered for what they had done. Starting with Elder Lot. Maybe I would drive a spear through his back, see how he liked it, the treacherous-

“H-help.” A voice echoed in the darkness, barely strong enough for me to hear. Immediately I snapped back to the present, to where I was, to who I was, and I was ashamed. I was a ranger first, even if I had been cast out, and one of the things that a ranger did was search for the wounded in times of disaster. I was here for Joanna, but I couldn’t forget who I was. If I had been paying closer attention instead of imagining eviscerating the Elders, I might have smelled the faint tang of sweat and fresh vomit, which would have told me that there was at least one living survivor. I grimaced and sniffed again, letting my hunter’s instincts tell me where the stink was coming from. There. To my right. I turned and prowled the nexus of tunnels, stopping at each strange shaft until I found the one from which the smell came most strongly. As if to confirm I was in the right place, the survivor managed to wheeze, “help” again, this time accompanied by a rattling breath that sounded like it was being drawn through lungs half full of water. There was no time to lose.

I twisted and dropped off the edge of the ice and into the tunnel, driving in both of my axes halfway, so that instead of stopping me short, they merely slowed me. I ground twin trails into the ice all the way down, and as I reached the bottom, I freed one ax and cast the remainder of the glowstone gravel out away from me in an arc. The scene was lit in stark detail, everything standing out and emphasized by the sharp shadows cast by the greenish-white light. I was standing at the bottom of another curiously smooth tunnel, this one strange and angular. I realized the reason for that shape almost immediately. A warped, scored sheet of metal that fit the exact dimensions of the passage filled the nominal “floor”. Piled atop it was a mess of fused, tangled scrap from Joanna’s tower, and leaning against it.... A man surrounded by smears of blood and flanked by two other crumpled forms. I stowed my axes and crossed over to him quickly, the smell of blood and vomit was thick in my nostrils.

“Hello,” the man sighed, his voice little more than a whisper, dry as vellum. “I didn’t think anyone was coming.”

“No one was,” I replied, and reached out slowly to touch his neck, feel for his pulse. I moved slowly, deliberately, so as not to startle him. I couldn’t really see his eyes in order to check for sure, but I was certain that he was in shock. My people could be very dangerous when badly injured, because our instincts tended to take over at unexpected times. He let me touch his neck, though, and the pulse I felt was steady, if a little weak. He took a long breath, his chest rattling wetly again, and I winced. That sounded like a punctured lung, slowly filling with blood. “What happened here?”

The ranger laughed and the sound tinged with a dangerous mania. I didn’t move, I just watched him bare his fangs and cackle for a long minute before he said, “Volistad, right?”

“Yes,” I said simply, waiting for the inevitable accusation. I should be dead; I was taken by the Dark Ones. I was a traitor- whatever Elder Lot had told my people.

But the wounded man only shook his head spasmodically and croaked out another dismal laugh. “It’s good to see that you’re alive, Vah, though I wish someone had told your sister that.”

I recognized him then, something about the way the man had called me “Vah”, after the first letter in my name. It was something about the way his jaw had moved, the way his lips had shaped the words around his fangs. Though his features were hard to determine in the sickly light of the glowstone fragments, I knew him. “Thukkar. Is that you?” He was an older ranger, one of the senior members of the patrol teams. He did more tunnel patrols than he did hunting expeditions, so he and I had rarely crossed paths. But I knew who he was, and he knew me. He had always been strong, fierce, and proud, and seeing him broken like this was…wrong.

“Aye, it is, Vah. Though there’s little left of me below the waist, I’m afraid.”

“What?”

Thukkar chuckled. “I can’t move, boy. I think that through the fall I broke my back. I thought I was just going to sit here until I either starved or my blessing ran out. I knew they wouldn’t send search teams down this far- not when they said… they said…” He broke off, collapsing into a fit of wheezing coughs.

“Palamun’s face,” I swore between my teeth. Then I frowned. “What was that you said about my sister?”

The ranger winced, and gave me what might have been an apologetic look, or a grimace of pain. Or perhaps it was both. “Nissikul. They… they told us you had been corrupted by the false god we came out here to kill, said that you had been killed doing her dark bidding. They said that you had tried to assassinate Elder Lot, and he had been forced to kill you.” He chuckled ruefully, then stopped, wincing again as he fought to stave off another barrage of wracking coughs. “Nissikul was furious, of course. Wouldn’t hear it when the Elder told her to stay in the village. We were all prepared for the attack, and she just appeared, told us she was going into that storm to kill the god who killed you, and just went in.”

“She what?”

“Oh, that’s the best part. Lot and his little acolytes couldn’t get through the thing. They kept getting thrown back, pelted with ice. Little Nissi just walks up, tears off her furs-” He paused for a moment, as if reminiscing wistfully. I considered flicking him in the ear with one of my claws, but I thought better of it. She wasn’t his sister, after all. And besides, he was plenty beaten up already. He shook himself out of his stupor. “Anyways, she just throws her furs to the ice and just walks into that great black stormwall like it wasn’t there. A few moments later, and the whole thing comes apart, so the Elders told us to charge.” He waved at his legs, which splayed uselessly out in front of him. “Well, you know how I was always a fast one. Me, Cetterak and Peerka…” The ranger gestured at the mangled bodies flanking him, each of them bloodied beyond recognition, skulls deformed, and limbs twisted and broken. The humor went out of his face, and the edge of something darker crept into his voice, flickered across his face. “So I’m running, and I hear Nissikul just roar, like I have never heard her do before, and I’m crossing that trench where the storm was, and all I see was her bringing down a greathammer, made of that black witch-ice the ‘Callers’ are always using, and that’s the last thing I remember before I woke up here.”

I crouched there for a moment, in shocked silence. Nissikul had done all this? With one blow? “Well, Thukkar, I’m not dead. The Deepseeker saved me. He says the Elders are corrupted, and that the god you all just tried to kill is our only hope. And I’m going down there to find her.”

Thukkar just shook his head, another cackle rising from his shuddering chest. “Then you best hurry. Nissi was here when I woke.”

I froze, midway toward reaching for my waterskin so I could offer him a little relief. “She’s alive?”

“Oh yes,” the ranger croaked. “Less one arm, though. It’s over there.” He pointed off into one of the chamber’s uneven corners.

I followed his hand and squinted into the dark. Sure enough, there was something lying on the ground, something about the size of a woman’s arm. “She went down there with only one arm?” I couldn’t even imagine what state she must have been in to keep moving through all that pain. I knew Stormcallers were hard to kill, but Palamun’s face, that was insane.

“Well, she just grew another one, made of that witch-ice. She left me some of her rations and told me to wait for rescue. I don’t know if she really thought someone would come to get me this far down or if she was just being cruel.” He pointed back up the passage toward the nexus. “Then she just left. I think she was trying to find that god so that she could make sure that she finished what she had started.”

I swore again, standing. I had to stop her. “Vulyak dwert!” I spat viciously to the side. “I have to stop her. I’m going to go stop her, and then I’m going to go find Lot and throw him down here.”

The ranger wheezed out another string of broken laughter. “Are you now? Well, that I might like to see. Though like this… I doubt I’ll get the chance.”

I looked down at the ranger, at his useless legs, at the awkward angle of his back. If he stayed here, he would die. Even if he somehow made it up to the surface, chances were that he wouldn’t make it. I couldn’t just walk away from him, but I had to find Nissikul. I couldn’t just take Thukkar back to the nearest ranger station. They would probably put an arrow in my eye the moment they saw me, armor or no. So I was the Deepseeker’s champion? How was I supposed to do that if I left a wounded man behind to starve or freeze? Frustrated, I took a few steps from the downed ranger, threw back my head, and roared with rage. I let my fury rip its way out of me for a few moments. I was sure that even the frantically coupling lovers on the surface had probably heard me. Oh well, it made me feel better.

I turned back to the ranger, who was watching me with no real expression on his face, just a sort of refined indifference. I couldn’t just leave a man behind, whatever was at stake. Joanna could defend herself, and this man would die without help. Consequences be damned. I bent down and quickly began tearing apart the furs of the fallen rangers, dividing the tattered hides into strips I could use. I had to work fast. I would be giving Nissi a head start, but I had to bring Thukkar with me. I could keep him alive, and perhaps Joanna or that spirit she was always talking to, could heal him. Carefully, I shifted Thukkar into a position more conducive to what I was trying to do. He was a good sport about it, only groaning a little anytime I accidently put pressure on his ruined back. I worked quickly, and the strips became a harness, one meant to strap the man to my back like he was a child. It was going to be a very long night. With as much care as I could manage, I strapped the crippled ranger to my back, secured him in such a way that none of my weapons dug into him, and I began to climb back out to the nexus. I had a long, long way to go.

* * *

Joanna

When I woke, my suit had been re-sealed. I ran diagnostics on all of my systems and checked my various supply tank capacities. I wasn’t doing badly: my nutrient tanks were still eighty-percent full. My metabolism was artificially slowed when I was plugged into the suit, and I was able to synthesise most of the nutrients I needed with the fabricator, provided I had access to the appropriate raw materials. Water wasn’t really a problem. I reclaimed ninety-nine percent of the water I passed via “still suit systems”, and besides, I was living on a giant glacier. My air balance was not the best- I had lost most of my nitrogen supply to emergency backfilling when my suit had been breached- but I could manage until I found another supply. I had already been able to reclaim some valuable gasses from the dissolved corpse of the burug. My fabricator nanites had gone over the body with brisk efficiency, claiming whatever supplies they could find and storing them in the depleted tanks. Analysis showed that even liquefied burug flesh could easily be rendered into base nutrition- with the exception of the “heart” that I had found. None of my sensors or records had any idea what that thing was. I would need to put together an analytical lab when I was safe again. But all of that could wait until I helped Barbas come back to himself. So I stowed the “heart” in one of the storage containers attached to my armor, and I set off into the ice to find the missing parts of my qarin’s mind.

At first, the going was slow. As I had already determined, the tower had been completely destroyed, and the wreckage had been distributed at random through the unpredictable and changeable system of crevices, tunnels, and channels that had been cut or split into the ice. I fabricated a powerful multi-spectrum scanner from one of the blueprints stored in my suit’s library and just wandered through the glacier’s hidden world, following the faint traces of signal that I could pick up with my scanner. Fortunately, most of the systems that Barbas was running during the attack were accessible by wireless network, and they had their own backup power storage. That meant that the first parts of the AI’s mind that I found were relatively simple things to track. Their broadcast signals were still transmitting, reaching out blindly for a network with which to connect.

Collecting those fragments of Barbas’ personality matrix was a straightforward process. I just had to get close enough to those fragments to attach their host machines to my suits internal network, and then Barbas would reach out and reabsorb the shard of his mind contained within. Before long, he was speaking with some resemblance of his normal self, and we were talking and sharing ideas as we searched. He was able to remember which systems he had been connected to, and this made the search just a little bit easier. But soon, we ran out of systems with functioning wireless connections, and we were back to random searching.

At Barbas’ suggestion, I modified my scanner to detect any trace of radiation from the fusion core detonation. The reactor we used- the one all Formers had been trained to build and use, had several fail-safe systems built in to prevent the widespread dispersal of radioactive contaminant, so the region of the glacier around us wasn’t actually overly contaminated. Trace fallout showed up here and there, but the fact was that the core of the reactor was most likely still intact, contained in its thick, almost impenetrable shell. What had actually detonated in the attack was the array of power capacitors. They had discharged their stored energy down into the “ground”, and that had made the blast we had experienced. The core itself had probably melt a path down through the ice until it cooled off and rolled into a deep hole somewhere, sitting battered but unbreached, waiting to be reclaimed. And we would come across it. Nonetheless, we detected a few sources of radiation that were slightly more potent than the general background, and we followed them, narrowing down our search to three separate sites.

The first turned out to be the ammunition storage for the gauss rifle emplacement, a twelve-foot tall magazine of depleted-uranium rounds no bigger than the tip of my littlest finger when it was un-gloved. They gave off enough radiation to trip the sensors, but they weren’t on Barbas’ list of systems he had been controlling, so we marked the location on our running map of the glacier and continued on our way.

The second site was more promising. When I entered the pocket of collected rubble, I detected two different systems from Barbas’ list. “Hey, ‘Bas,” I said, unable to shake the habit of speaking out loud. “Pay dirt.”

Barbas took a few moments to respond. His voice no longer sounded flat or muffled, but he sounded incredibly tired- the way I might sound after seventy-two hours without sleep. “Joanna, you know I don’t have access to all of my files, and that includes most slang. I don’t know what ‘pay dirt’ is.” He didn’t even sound irritated, just exhausted.

“‘Pay dirt’ is… you know what, it doesn’t matter. I found two systems from your list!”

Barbas perked up a little, and I felt the now familiar itching sensation on my neck, like someone was reading over my shoulder. “Ah. The long-range scanner and the main data archive. That should help quite a bit.”

I moved into the little irregular cavern in the ice. It looked much the same as the last few- scattered rubble stuck into the frozen walls at odd intervals, extending up a narrow shaft into the unseen darkness. The floor of the little space was scattered with scrap metal and tangled cables. Most of what I saw was useless, unless I wanted to sit here for a few hours and let the fabricator break it all back down into useable raw metals. Still, I marked the caverns location on my map. Chances were that I would have to return here. A lot of the material storage I had brought with me to Chalice had been used up in the creation of the tower, and I would need to reclaim that wealth of scrap eventually. But for now, I just needed those systems. I needed Barbas. I needed him whole. I needed my escape from this frozen hell, and I needed the only friend I had here. For some reason, this thought brought the image of Volistad, unbidden, to my brain, and I remembered the furious Stormcaller swinging her hammer, screaming that I had killed her brother. Was he dead? What had happened up there?

I eyed the first system, the long-range scanner array, which hung from a random web of steel cabling about twenty-five meters off the ground. I couldn’t quite reach that with a leap- though my armor gave me a high-jump that would make even one of the old pre-war Olympians jealous. That kind of height was more in pole-vaulting territory, and I wasn’t sure I could pull that sort of athleticism off, powered armor or no. Instead, I picked a path of rubble that seemed more or less securely frozen to the wall and climbed up the long way.

When I reached the sensor array, I winced to see all of the sensitive antennae and delicate dishes bent and smashed. At the core of the mangled equipment, however, I found the processor and internal battery array. In a testament to the redundant systems Barbas and I had installed all over the tower, it was still powered, and still running. A single red LED light winked on and off from inside the plastic housing, blinking at irregular intervals. Barbas suddenly spoke in my ear. “That’s Neo-Morse rhythm code. Let me translate.” He was silent for a moment and then spoke again. “Joanna. This is Barbas. Help me.” He cleared his non-existent throat uncomfortably. “It just keeps repeating that message.”

I frowned. “The fragment of you in there- it… he’s aware, isn’t he?”

“The fragment of me in the gun was. Why not the part of me in the sensor scanner?”

“So that is ‘you’, and you are also ‘you’?”

Barbas laughed, his usually calm tones touched with an edge of hysteria. “What is ‘me’ anyway? What am I really?” Silence followed his outburst, and then he said. “Just connect to the damn thing so I can re-absorb him.”

“Isn’t that sort of traumatic? If all the pieces of you that we’ve found have been aware all this time, wouldn’t each of those shards of you now have different experiences? I mean, if your personality is largely defined by your memories, wouldn’t each piece we find be a different person? A different Barbas?”

Barbas’ voice turned sharp all of a sudden, a nasty sarcastic tone slipping into his voice. “And what? What’s your point, Joanna? That I should leave well enough alone? That each of these minds is a special and unique entity?” He laughed, the sounded inhuman, more like the processed, machine sound of an antique disk-drive cycling unevenly than the usual vocal expression of mirth. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re a human. If your brain got cut into fifty pieces, you would die. Me? I’m like a starfish. I’m not a person, I’m just pretending to be one to keep you from going crazy. That’s why I’m here, doing this. That’s why they bothered to make me at all. I don’t really have a name, just a brand, a type. I’m not Barbas, I’m an IPICAP, an ‘Immersive Psychological and Instructive Cranial Augmentation Program’. ‘Barbas’ is just a name for you to hold onto so you’re able to accept me being here. It’s all a game. It’s all just a stupid game.”

I reeled, shocked by the sudden vehemence from him, the bitterness in his voice. “Barbas, what-”

He cut me off, the strange anger gone from his voice abruptly, replaced again by the exhaustion, the grim resignation. “I’m sorry, Joanna. Please just network to that shard so I can absorb it. The faster you get this done, the sooner I can be myself again.” When I didn’t respond, he sighed. “It’s fine. I’m fine. I just need enough of me back to put our dream-world back together. Not being able to run it just makes it harder for me to be me. It just reminds me I’m not real, and that’s difficult to take. Without the cabin, I’m just… I’m just a ghost in your head. I feel like scrap data hanging onto a system that doesn’t really need it.”

I extended a manual network cable from a retractable reel hidden in my breastplate and connected it to the sensor cluster. “Barbas, I do need you. Without you, I would be alone and lost, and probably dead by now. To me, this isn’t a game, this is real. You’re real. You’re my qarin, and I’m going to help you come back to yourself no matter what it takes.” I hesitated, feeling foolish. Why did I feel silly though? Even if he didn’t have a body, wasn’t he a person? Wasn’t he real in his own way? I switched my data transfer processes on, letting my filters check the sensor package for any dangerous glitches or data before they opened up a path between my internal network and the one in the ruined array. “Barbas, I… I care about you. You need to know that. And it’s not just because you were put into my head to keep me from going crazy. You’re my friend. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had.” The connection stabilized, and a progress bar appeared on my HUD to tell me that the fragment of Barbas stored on the sensor array’s storage drive was being transferred over. I smirked; figuring the djinni in my mind could feel me doing it and get the idea. “Besides,” I said. “The sex is pretty great.”

Barbas laughed, and this time, it was really him that laughed. He laughed with the voice of the mocha-skinned, green-eyed, russet-haired Pan-American war veteran that his memories told him he was. He laughed like the man who had woken me up from the cold sleep of the Bullet into a world of warmth and comfort and joy like I had never experienced. He laughed, and once again, he was my friend, and my lover, and my closest confidante. After all, could someone really be closer to you than living in your own mind?

The progress bar in my HUD was full, and it flashed the word “complete” three times before winking out. I disconnected the transmission cable and glanced down the way I had come. It was a long way to the floor of the little cavern. The archive storage drives were further up the wall, on the other side of the rapidly narrowing shaft. They were actually only about ten meters away from me- if I had somehow been able to stand up in the air and walk straight towards them. I narrowed my eyes and grinned. “Hey, ‘Bas. You should probably hold on to your butt.”

“What?” Barbas stammered. “What are you-”

I pushed off from the wall as hard as I could and arched my back so that I turned a back flip as I soared over empty space to the opposite wall. The data archive was not actually all that large, a simple brick of solid state memory. It wasn’t actually attached to the ice-wall. It was actually just cradled in an impromptu nest of cabling. Instead of trying to grab a hold of the wreckage on the wall, I just reached out and seized it in one broad armored gauntlet, and twisted so that my feet were once again aimed at the floor. I knew I could land a fall of this distance with little trouble. Armor like this was rated to safely survive falls three times this high. And besides, I hadn’t had much time for fun in all this.

I dropped the thirty meters down to the cavern floor, whooping as I went and Barbas’ voice was a barely heard protest in my ears. We hit, hard, the impact absorbed easily by my augmented legs. Even so, I let my knees bend with the force of my landing, and dropped to one knee, bracing myself with my free hand to keep from falling forward with the surge of momentum. Still laughing, I connected my transmission cable to a hidden port on one of the sides of the cube of memory storage and waited for the progress bar to appear. It didn’t. “Barbas?”

“Joanna, something’s wrong with this.” He sounded confused, and a thin, cold wire of fear ran from my chest down into my stomach at the tone in his voice. Barbas was never confused.

“What do you mean? What’s wrong?”

Barbas didn’t answer for a moment, and all I could hear was my heartbeat in my ears. I opened my mouth to ask him again, but he cut me off. “The archive is here, it’s all here, but… I’m not. I know I was here, I know I was in the archive when the tower fell, but there’s no part of me here. And the data logs tell me that someone else was.”

That cold wire of fear shot its way back into my brain and propagated outward, like spider web cracks in the surface of my calm. “Who could have been in the archives? The natives here aren’t exactly big computer users. And I’m the only human on Chalice. Who could have gotten to the archives?” This didn’t make sense. What it suggested about the situation we were in- the cold fear in my mind finally hit my nervous system, and I felt the blood drain out of my face. “There’s something else here. Something at least as technologically advanced as us, and now it knows everything we know. It almost certainly knows more than we do.”

The terror was evident in Barbas’ voice, the hysteria I felt dwarfed by the existential crisis he had to be experiencing. “And they have part of me.” This was not good. This was so far from good, good wasn’t even visible anymore. We knew that we weren’t alone on Chalice, that the Erin-Vulur were just one tribe of a native species that probably lived in sub-glacial habitats all around the frozen moon. But this was different. Now we really weren’t alone on Chalice, and whoever was out there had some broken mirror reflection of Barbas.

I swallowed hard against the icy lump in my throat. “Did they… did they leave anything behind?”

Barbas responded immediately. “Yes.” His next words came out in a whisper, as if he was afraid that speaking them too loud, would make them more real. As if not fully acknowledging them would undo what we had just learned and would put the universe back the way it had been just a few moments ago. The way it was before… “Beneath,” Barbas whispered. “It just says, ‘We Are Beneath.”

* * *

Chapter Ten

Even Dead Gods Dream

Joanna

Sleep was a long time coming. I sat with my back against the ice, beneath an overhanging chunk of the tower, just staring at the archive where I had left it, sitting inert in the fractured ice. It was just a cube of data storage, inert and depowered. It couldn’t hurt me. But I watched it as if it was a viper, as though it was some kind of technological predator waiting to strike that was hidden in the shape of a simple hard-drive. What if whoever had been through our archives- whoever had taken part of Barbas- what if they had left more than a message? What if they had left some kind of trap? What did they want with us? What did they want with Barbas? Images of cables twisting out of the dark to strangle me were mingled with thoughts of many-fingered hands rising from the darkness, tipped in savage claws, already just behind me, already at my throat. I had been attacked on the surface, but as surprising as that had been; it hadn’t really scared me- not really. I fought for my life, and it was frightening in its own way, but it was ultimately explainable. It was concrete. There was nothing especially mysterious about it. But this? This was actually terrifying. It unsettled me, at my very core, and nothing felt safe. How could I feel safe? If there was something else on this planet, capable of accessing my technology, taking my data, and speaking my language, what else were they capable of? What could they want? What could they be doing, right now? I closed my eyes against the mounting headache that was clawing its way up out of the center of my brain. I needed to sleep, but how could I? How could I sleep with something like that out there? Who knew how close it was?

When I opened my eyes again, I was no longer in a broken, icy cavern, and I was no longer encased in armor. I put a hand to my head and felt the familiar waves of cascading black curls sliding through my fingers, and I smiled despite it all. Despite the fear, despite the uncertainty, Barbas was there. Even injured as he was, even diminished by whatever they had taken, he was still looking out for me. I was sitting on the deck of a boat, a sailboat- long enough that it was probably more like a yacht, and it was floating peacefully in an endless blue sea. Unusually gentle sunlight fell down on me, making the smooth wood of the deck warm against my skin. I was wearing a light, slightly translucent sundress, the same color as the bright lime margarita in my upraised hand, and nothing else. I wriggled my toes in the heat of the sun and enjoyed the way the warmth felt on my legs, on my arms, on the part of my chest exposed by the only partially laced neckline. I knew it wasn’t real, I knew I should be alert, ready for anything, ready for-

Barbas stepped into my vision, not looking at me. His lean body was shining with a thin film of sweat as he stood at the edge of the deck and stared out over the water. His body was just as fantastic as usual, taut with tight, well-earned muscle, his shoulders broad and strong. His brown skin seemed to glow in the sun, as if it had absorbed some of the light and were reflecting it back out at the day through the shimmer of sweat. His russet hair had been cut down almost to the skin, on the sides of his head, leaving only a rusty shadow on his skin. But he had let some of the short, wavy hair grow at the top of his head, giving him something of a rugged, military look. His skin wasn’t perfect anymore, either. There were scars scattered across his broad back, places where it seemed he had been burned and cut, long ago. Maybe it was the legacy of his remembered history in the Pan-American soldadesca. After all, it was a part of who he was, just as much as my memories were. And who could say whose memories, whose past was more real? I could no more reach out and touch my old life any more than he could. Did that make him any less of a person? Did that make him any less real?

Barbas didn’t turn when he spoke, still staring out over bright, cheery ocean that stretched out of sight all around us. “I couldn’t make the cabin. There’s too much to manage with the forest, the lake, all of it. Too much of me would have to go into constructing it, and I am still very much diminished from my former self.”

I understood. “So you did the boat so that you wouldn’t have to construct a background more detailed than the surface of the sea.”

Barbas turned, smiling ruefully. “I’m afraid there’s no swimming on the agenda, either. Too much to simulate for it to work. I’m missing a lot of the processes that let me co-opt your subconscious, and without the help of your hind-brain, I can’t put together a whole world like I did before.” He gestured with one hand. “But I can manage a single boat and some margaritas. I figured you needed to relax. You’re afraid, and you feel cornered. You feel way out of your depth, and I don’t think the situation is going to get much better for a while. So I needed to get you somewhere you could breathe easy. Get you out of that suit for a while. Let your body sleep.”

“Aren’t you afraid too?” I asked, the cold wire of tension sliding into my thoughts again. “I mean, that message, the part of you that was taken- doesn’t that scare the shit out of you?” I looked down at the margarita in my hand, smelled the slight edge of tequila over the scent of the lime, and gratefully took a deep swig of the fruity drink. I let the alcoholic burn mingle with the soft tangy sweetness of citrus as it washed down my throat, and closed my eyes for a moment. “It sure scares the shit out of me.”

When I opened my eyes, Barbas was crouching next to me, his eyes level with mine, the thick, sweaty, masculine scent of him thick in my nose. I blinked and did a double take. He only had one eye, still bright and green as ever, reflecting the color of my margarita back at me along with a little inner ring of yellow fire that surrounded the pupil. The other eye was a cybernetic construct, a hard silver sphere, featureless except for a subtle double ring graven in it to suggest an iris and pupil. A scar bisected the eye, continuing down to touch the corner of his mouth, tracking back along his jaw and out of sight. “... ‘Bas?” I whispered softly, setting down my drink and reaching up to cup his scarred cheek. “What is this? These scars…”

Barbas bent and kissed me gently, slowly, the taste of him heady as wine, sweet as honey, strong as whiskey. He broke the kiss after a long minute and grinned with the unscarred side of his face. “I am… diminished, Jo. I was wounded in the battle. This is how I appear now. It more accurately reflects who I currently am.” He stood, wincing a little, and I realized that his right leg was missing below the knee, replaced instead with cunning prosthetic, a mechanical limb that looked and acted so much like the real thing. It was difficult to spot unless you looked right at it. I looked him over again, and the scars seemed to stand out again to me, each of them a strangely geometric, angular pattern, like the tracery of circuits on a silicon chip. They looked starker, more obvious, clashing with the bright festive Hawaiian pattern splashed over the shorts that were his only clothing. He watched me, carefully, waiting for my reaction.

I grinned at him and raised an eyebrow in an appraising look. “You look badass, ‘Bas and you know it. You probably also know I like a man that has been a little dirtied up, seen his share of the shit.” I searched his face. “But I don’t think that your injuries or my preferences are all this is about.” I ran my fingers along his stubbly cheek. “Am I wrong?”

Barbas sighed and sat down next to me. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that you can read me like that.”

“Not really,” I acknowledged. “You live in my head. We spend nearly every moment together. I think I know you pretty well.” Barbas turned his head to look out over the water again. I reached over and turned his face back to me with gentle fingers. “This is about Volistad, isn’t it?”

Barbas didn’t say anything at first, he just watched me with his mismatched eyes, his lips tight, and as if he was holding in words he wasn’t sure he wanted to say. He eventually spoke, hesitantly. “Maybe a little,” he admitted. “This is partially because of the damage to my personality matrix. I’m not lying about that. It makes it easier to see everything as real if what I look like better reflects how I feel, and I don’t feel whole. There are big parts of me missing, gone, and I don’t know where they are.” He looked down at the warm wooden deck between his knees. “But yes, part of this is probably about Volistad.” He sighed. “He’ has been on your mind a lot.”

“And that bothers you?” I asked, trying to keep the little flickers of a smile off of my face. “I mean, you live in my mind, and you can read some of my thoughts. So you must know why he’s on my mind.”

“He’s interesting,” Barbas admitted, a little glumly. “He’s a warrior; he’s clearly dangerous but clearly just as intelligent. He’s like what would happen if someone made some kind of arctic lynx into a person, or maybe a saber-toothed cat.”

“Yeah, he’s pretty intriguing,” I said, shrugging. “And even attractive, in a sort of exotic way. But he’s also not a human, and, more importantly, he’s dead.” A little ice crept into my voice when I said the word ‘dead’, and I found a surprising amount of anger hiding, deep within my chest. I didn’t know it was there. “At least that fucking Stormcaller thought so.” I gave Barbas a very direct look, which carried more than a little of that deep, swelling rage with it. “So it’s not like he’s a threat to you, even if I could leave the suit.”

Barbas winced. “I didn’t mean it like that.” He sighed. “Forget it. It’s stupid anyway. I should just let you relax, and get some sleep.” He moved as if to stand, but I reached up and seized his shoulder, and pulled him back down.

He hit the deck a little harder than I had intended, and he let out a little ‘oof’. “Oh, no,” I said, and this time, I knew the smile on my face was the tigress, not the shy little ward of the Pan-American state they had named Joanna Angeles. “You don’t get away that easily.” I seized his chin in my hand and pulled him close with easy strength. I might not have really been that strong without the suit in real life, but here? This was my head. Which meant my rules. I looked him right in the eyes and took a deep breath, smelling him; his sweat, his arousal, that bitter tang that I knew was fear. I spoke directly into his face, my breath hot where it reflected back to touch my lips. “You live in my head. You’re exactly what I want, by someone’s design- which, believe it or not, I really do appreciate. I’ve been alone before, really, really alone, and I learned a long time ago to take what I could get.” One of my fingers touched a vein running up the side of his neck, and I could feel his pulse beneath it. His heart was beating hard and fast. I smiled more widely. I liked that. “And if someone had told me about you before I was launched out into space, you would still be so much better than I could possibly have expected. You’re my friend, probably the best I’ve ever had, and I don’t care that you’re an AI, or a djinni, or whatever you technically are.” The smile dropped off my face, as suddenly as it came, and I put my lips to his ear, speaking through bared teeth. “But listen very, very carefully, Qarin,” I spoke the next words sharply, each one its own sentence. “You. Do. Not. Own. Me.” Then I released him, and sat back, letting the soft, easy smile of shy little Joanna Angeles return to my lips, letting the tigress fade back into the dark places, the shadows of my mind. I picked up my margarita and took a sip. “Understand?”

Barbas just stared at me for a long moment, breathing hard. “Yeah,” he said, a little dazed. “Yeah, I understand.” Then he leaned forward and kissed me, hard, moving to press me back against the warm wood of the deck. I let him. I wanted him as much as I had the first time I met him, maybe more so. He kissed me, and I kissed back, harder, tasting him. With some calm corner of my mind, I remembered to set down my margarita before I reached up and wrapped my arms around him, pulling him down.

I bit gently at Barbas’ lips as his hands roamed up along my sides to my neckline, his fingers teasing aside the already loose lacing. My body responded to him with eager intensity, and a small cry escaped my lips as a lightning bolt of sensation made its way up from between my legs and twisted up through my body. His lips closed on one of my breasts and his tongue traced quick circles around the nipple. But I didn’t simply surrender to the growing current of pleasure gripping me. Instead, I dipped my head and bit down on the side of his muscular neck, none too gently. He convulsed, letting go of my breast as he groaned. He looked up, his eyes wide, staring at me in shock. I smiled, and taking advantage of his surprise, I hooked one leg behind his and rolled us both over so that I came up on top. One of his hands was still tangled in the neck of my dress, and my sudden movement caused him to tear the thin fabric, ripping it down and leaving me naked to the waist.

I bent low over him, dragging my breasts lightly across his chest, our faces framed by the midnight tumble of my hair. Barbas nipped at of my breasts, both in turn, one of his hands coming up and taking a handful of my curling locks in his fist. I reached back and ran a hand over his thin shorts, feeling how hard he was, how much he wanted me. He groaned again, and his other hand slid down between my legs. I slipped my hand and took a hold of him, and we tortured each other, each of us teasing little rising bursts of pleasure out of the other before the pace of our movements dropped into agonizing, tantalizing slowness. He was warm in my hand, his fingers warm and slick inside me, and for a moment I just basked in the radiating heat of our desire. He wanted me, wanted me so badly, and I could feel that desperation in every stroke of his fingers, every spasm of his hips, as we crawled closer and closer to climax.

Both of us lost all control at the same time. Barbas withdrew his fingers from me and let go of my hair so that he could get those ridiculous shorts out of his way. I planted with one hand on his chest, and with the other, I tore the ruined dress off of me completely, flinging it off to the side. He gripped my hips hard, and I dug my nails into his muscled chest, both of us sucking in deep, shuddering breaths as he pushed into me. I was more than ready for him, and I arched my back into a bow, forcing my hips all the way down onto him so that he was driven deep inside of me. We writhed together in frantic urgency; my nails leaving trails of red from his pectorals down to his abs, his strong hands clamped hard over my waist.

We raced to the peak of the mountain of our desire, all our restraint thrown overboard into the dark ocean, and our mingled voices rang out over the still waters. When he climaxed, it was in a sudden wracking surge, and his fingers dug painfully into my hips as he spent himself inside me. A shout ripped its way out of his throat, and he suddenly relaxed beneath me. But I wasn’t done. I rocked my hips and rode his exhausted body, forcing him into me over and over again until finally he pushed me over the edge. I screamed as the orgasm blasted through me, writhing atop him until every last delicious spark of sensation burned its way through me. I slipped off of him and collapsed to the warm deck, panting and staring sightlessly up into the picturesque sky.

We lay there, content, curled together, and watched the sun dip down to the horizon as the sky gradually shaded from blue to violet and red. “Thank you,” Barbas whispered, “for coming to find me.”

“You said it yourself,” I said, chuckling. “Without you, I would probably go insane out here, and quickly.”

Barbas ran a hand lightly over my bare leg, and I shivered. “I’m not so sure of that, Jo. Sure, you need to see- and feel- another human sometimes, but besides that I’m not so sure that you need me as much as I need you.”

I nuzzled my face into his shoulder, and then kissed him lightly on the cheek. “I need you plenty, ‘Bas,” I murmured in his ear. “If you hadn’t been here, I wouldn’t have made it out of that attack alive, and even before that, there’s no way I would have been able to set everything up we needed to survive that first storm. This job really would be impossible alone. I’m glad they sent you.” I traced my hand down and took a hold of him again. “Besides, the sex is really good.” He laughed, though the sound caught in his throat as I moved my hand.

We were just starting again when we heard it, a deep thrumming sound from out in the gathering dark, a deep, atonal bellow emanating from the waters like the song of some colossal monster whale. We froze, the giggling, teasing atmosphere of a moment before evaporated in an instant. “Barbas? Are you doing this?” But his eyes were just as wide as mine as he wordlessly shook his head. We got to our feet, shakily, and I was suddenly very aware of my nakedness. The strange call repeated, and goosebumps rippled all across my body as a cold wind hissed across the deck of the boat in a bitter salt spray, carrying with it a foul, rotten, sulfurous stink. The boat began to rock beneath my feet, and I stumbled, clinging to Barbas’ shoulder for support. We couldn’t see what was out in the dark, the sun was long gone. I could hear waves beginning to roil around us. What was happening? “Barbas!” I shouted, over the rising howl of the wind. “We need light! Bring back the sun!”

The stench of the bucking sea made me gag, and I dropped to my knees, unable to stand anymore from the motion of the boat. A moment later, Barbas cursed. “Dammit, I can’t do anything to the weather. The sun won’t come up. I’m no longer controlling the dream!”

“The boat!” I hissed, desperately. “Does this thing have lights?”

“It should!”

“Good, let's go!” We made our way across the tossing deck to the pilothouse, wrenching the door open and scrambling inside just as a brackish, sizzling rain began to come down on the boat in sheets. Green-white lightning lit the sky in flashbulb brilliance, and all I could see around us were great mounds of storm clouds, the ocean thrashing all around us in the grip of a terrible gale. The black water wasn’t just tossing us around randomly, however. Our boat was caught in a great twisting spiral, drawn towards a great dark hole in the water with inexorable force.

We stared at the approaching maelstrom with helpless horror. I lunged for the boat’s wheel, hoping to steer us out of the trap, away from certain destruction. If I died here, in the dream, I could suffer a massive brain hemorrhage out in the real world, and there was little chance I would survive such a trauma. I wasn’t ready to die just yet. Barbas seized me by the shoulder and yanked me back from the wheel, taking a hold of it himself. He glared at me, the glitter of his silver eye was all I could see as the crashing lightning faded and we plunged back into darkness. “Joanna! You need to wake up! Save yourself and wake up!”

“No!” I screamed back. ‘Bas, you said the dream still exists when I’m gone! If I leave, you’ll die!” I dove forward, trying to get my hands on the wheel.

“If you stay, we’ll both die!” Unexpectedly, Barbas’ hand came out of the darkness, striking me across the face and sending me sprawling back away from him. His voice was sharp, choked with terror. “Go! Get out of here while you still can!”’

I screamed in frustration, but he was right and I knew it. I clenched my eyes shut and clamped my hands over my ears, muffling the racket of the storm. I focused on the thought of my body, asleep inside my armor in that icy cave, safe for the moment. I reached out and tried to seize that reality, to crawl through it and pull myself to safety by sheer force of will. And for a moment, I could feel the armor around me, feel my own unconscious tears on my face, feel my helmet automatically sponging the sweat from my face- but then it slipped away, and I was still on the boat, in the storm. “Barbas! I can’t! I can’t wake up!”

Lightning split the darkness into boiling pieces again, and I could see Barbas staring back at me, panic writ large all across his scarred, pallid face. The boat began to list, hard, to port, and I could see through the pilothouse windows the dark pit in the water, drawing us in, gaping wide to receive us. Jagged shapes broke the smooth fall of water into the abyss, and I realized with an icy stab of horror that they were teeth, and the whirlpool swallowing us was actually the wide open mouth of a colossal monster, lurking in the depths to devour us. Barbas and I screamed together, and we both seized the wheel, forcing it to the side, trying to heave the boat out of the deadly spiraling current. The boat listed even further, and water started pouring onto the deck with the rain, tilting us further and further out over the black jaws. I clung to Barbas and squeezed shut my eyes as the boat came free from the water and we plunged down into the dark, as the great horrible thrumming roar of the beast shook spray up from the surface of the writhing waves- and then, as suddenly as it had all begun, everything stopped.

I opened my eyes. Barbas and I lay tangled together on the warm, sun-kissed deck of the dream yacht, still sweaty and panting in the afterglow of lovemaking, forgotten margaritas spilled on the wood beside us. Carefully, I got to my feet and stared out at the ocean. It was calm and smooth as glass as if it hadn’t been disturbed in a hundred years, untouched by tide or life. It was completely and utterly still. The sun lingered at the edge of the horizon, spilling bloody light out into a darkening sky that was empty of clouds. “What,” I whispered, my throat rough from screaming, my heart a slamming thunder in my chest. “What the fuck was that?”

“Nowhere is safe.” Barbas croaked, his eyes wide and hollow, his dark face turned a mottled gray in his fear. “They are Beneath. They are even beneath the dream, and they can reach up and touch us here. They are Beneath!”

* * *

Volistad

It turned out that Nissikul made a much better mage than she made a ranger. Even slowed as I was, carrying the dead weight of the wounded Thukkar, it only took me a single day to find her. She had made her passage beneath Ravanur’s skin easy, using her power over the ice and air to create rungs and steps to help her descend into the crevices and cracks, and as a result, she had left me with an easy trail to follow. I supposed it made sense. She didn’t expect anyone to be following her- everyone assumed she was dead- and besides, if someone was trailing her, she probably assumed that they would be working towards the same goal as she was. I walked in her footsteps, once quite literally- during a memorable climb up, a nearly sheer slope of ice had melted and flash-froze.

When I finally caught sight of her, Nissikul was crossing a narrow bridge over a chasm, the ice beneath her feet was dark as her pitiless eyes. I clambered over the ledge I had just scaled, and just stared at her for a moment. Thukkar had told me she had lost her arm, that she had made another of the Stormcaller-summoned black ice that was the tool of their trade- but I didn’t believe him, not entirely. Sure, I had seen the crushed, severed arm that he had said she left behind. Sure, I had seen the trail of splashed blood leading away before it abruptly stopped, but on some level, I thought, or perhaps hoped that he had been confused. But now I saw that he was right- and he might have understated it a bit. Nissi’s body was a mottled patchwork of bruises, streaked with smeared blood that had dried or frozen on her skin. Her right arm was missing from the shoulder, and where the muscles and bones had been brutally torn away, a new limb had been attached in their place. It was black as any Stormcaller summoning, and it glittered with a cold power I thought I could sense even at this range. She was naked, apparently not bothering with the frozen armor that her kind usually summoned for battle, and I could see that her injuries were far more extensive than even Thukkar had said. One of her legs was twisted at an odd angle, and the distorted skin around one of the bruises on her flank, told me that she most likely had a broken rib or two. She leaned heavily on a black frozen spear, but even so, I had no idea how she had managed to make it this far at all. It was small wonder I had caught up with her, she shouldn’t have been able to walk at all. The fact that she was hobbling along, lent witness to a depth of inner strength I hadn’t known she had possessed- or perhaps all it indicated was a level of madness I had never seen, even in a Stormcaller.

“Nissikul!” I yelled, and my own voice echoed back from the hundreds of facets of the crevice, mocking the desperation in my shout. Thukkar stirred, wakened from his feverish sleep, and he lifted his head groggily from my shoulder, which he had been using as a pillow. “Nissi!”

Nissikul turned swiftly, deftly, moving with far more grace than anyone with her injuries should have been able to. She raised the spear up by her ear in preparation to throw. She saw me and froze, and for a moment we just stood there, staring at each other in shock and disbelief. Then the cold fury and iron determination seemed to leak out of Nissi, and she slumped to the black ice of her own bridge, the spear rolling out of her nerveless fingers and tumbling away into the abyss below. Her voice was a dry rasp as she choked out, “Vol-Volistad? Is that really you?”

“Nissi!” I ran toward the bridge, heedless of the danger, and without a sparing it a thought, I stepped out onto the length of black, glittering ice. That was a very bad idea. Pain like nothing I had ever experienced blasted up through me, searing up through my foot and climbing my leg in wires of a cold so deep it seemed it should freeze the very air inside my lungs. The horrifying glacial power surged into me, questing through my veins and reaching out for my heart- the new, magick champion’s heart that the Deepseeker had given me. I was screaming, but I couldn’t hear my own voice, only the thundering metronome of the heart in my chest as it began to slow. Something hit me, lifting me up off my feet and sending me flying backward away from Nissikul, but I couldn’t see anymore. My vision had turned a darkening red, as my eyes froze beneath the horrible power of a Stormcaller’s witch-ice. I struck what must have been a cavern wall, and I dimly winced in sympathy for Thukkar, who was still strapped to my back, and must have taken the full impact. The beat of my heart slowed further and further… and stopped.

* * *

I burst back into consciousness all at once, gasping for a ragged breath through a raw, abused throat. All I could see was the icy ceiling of the cavern, the ragged scar of the great crevice that bisected it rising into unseen darkness. Nissikul’s face appeared before me, abruptly, her mad black eyes were wide and rimmed with red. “Vol? Brother? Palamun above, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

I retched, hard, and flecks of blood speckled Nissi’s face. That wasn’t good. I tried to put on a brave face. “It’s alright, Nissi. I should have remembered not to touch that black stuff. Palamun’s teeth, that hurt.”

Nissi touched my face with trembling fingers, and then held them up before her bottomless abyssal eyes. They were stained with my blood, dark and red. I tried to say something, but Nissikul put a hand over my mouth and frowned, lifting her reddened fingertips to her nose and inhaling deeply. “Deepseeker magicks.” All the fear drained out of her face, replaced with cold suspicion. “You’re healing. What did that old goat do to you?”

I laughed hoarsely. “More than your master did, Nissi. He healed me, replaced my heart, and told me to go find the god that you and yours just tried so hard to kill.” She was right about the Deepseeker’s magicks. I was healing. My heartbeat was once again strong and steady in my chest, and the horrible cold that had shot through my veins was being slowly forced back. I could feel my arms and legs again. They hurt like I had just experienced my ranger initiation again, but I could feel them, and that was progress.

Nissikul hissed at my words, recoiling from me as if I had gone feral and lunged for her throat. “Palamun above, the Elder was right. You have been corrupted by the false god!” Tears welled up in her empty eyes. “She killed you, and there’s something else in you, wearing your body.” She raised her hands, and this time, they didn’t shake. A wicked, razor-edged dagger of that same terrible ice grew in her grip, the impossibly sharp point aimed down at my heart.

“Nissi,” I said quickly, desperation plain in my voice. “The Dark Ones have corrupted the Elders. Only the Deepseeker escaped. You’re confused. You have been lied to. I’m your brother- the Deepseeker saved my life!”

My sister snarled, baring her delicate, curving fangs, and raised the dagger above her head. A sinister light began to glow from somewhere deep within the shard of dark ice as she summoned more of her horrible power into the weapon. “The Deepseeker was taken long ago. My master has been aware of his corruption for some time. The old madman probably called down your god, the Dirt-Eater, to help him free the Dark Ones from beneath the ice.” She spat in my face and the saliva burned cold against my skin. “Don’t you lie to me, demon. My brother is dead, and the Deepseeker sent him to his death.”

“Your master sent me to Joanna!” I screamed in her face, my fear and desperation melting away before a powerful rage that had begun welling up from deep in my stomach. “You took me to him, remember? And he told me to investigate her, that he didn’t believe Vassa’s claim that she was a false god. And she did no harm to any of us, but for the Stormcaller that he sent to kill her while I was imprisoned!” I surged forward, the strength coming back into my arms, and I seized Nissikul by the wrists, holding her dagger up and away from me. Her false arm was cold to the touch, but this time, the cold did not bite into me. The magickal heart in my chest surged and pushed it back. I would not be killed by a Stormcaller again, not even my own sister. “In fact, all the death that has come since Joanna fell to Ravanur has been the fault of Lot and the other masters! Your sister Stormcaller, who was sent to kill Joanna and failed, all the brave warriors who died when you brought down the tower, and me-” I let go of one of Nissi’s wrists and unstrapped one side of my breastplate, pulling back the armor and the furs beneath, displaying the ugly mess of scars where Lot’s spear had exploded from my chest. “Your master called me home to report to him, listened to what I told him, and then he stabbed me in the back and left me to die. The Deepseeker is the only reason I’m alive. Tell me which one of those people sounds more like one of the Dark Ones?”

Nissikul twisted out of my grip and scrambled back and away from me. I stood, quickly, preparing to fend off another attack. The magick in my chest was strong, but I didn’t know if I could stop her from killing me again- Stormcallers were fiendishly strong. I quickly took stock of the situation. Thukkar laid sprawled a spearcast from me, propped up on my pack. At least Nissikul had the presence to show that much humanity to the wounded soldier. Pain twisted his face, but his eyes were steady and intense as he watched us. We were all gathered on one side of the crevice, and the black ice bridge that had nearly killed me was gone. Nissikul crouched just out of my reach, clad loosely in my cape, the dagger held before her in a reverse-grip. I reached out to her. “Nissi, please. I don’t want to hurt you. But our people are in terrible danger, and Joanna is the only one who can save them.”

Nissikul shook her head, tears streaming down her face to freeze into icicles that dangled from her chin. “Of course you would say that, of course you would believe that.” She snarled and tossed her dagger at the cavern wall half a spear-length from me. It shattered into powder, blasting away a chunk of ice the size of my head in a muffled detonation and a flash of white light. “But my master told me that he had killed you when you attacked him, that he had stabbed you in the heart.” She pointed to my chest. “And that’s an exit wound.” She shook her head again. “I know my brother is far too skilled a warrior to be stabbed in the back in open battle. Only betrayal could have done that to you.” She shook, her fingers curled to brandish her claws. “And Palamun above, those warriors.” She looked over at Thukkar, lying half-paralyzed on the ice, and something inside her broke. She threw back her head and roared, and it was so loud I had to cover my ears to protect myself from the raw fury and pain blasting out in all directions. A great groan emanated from the walls of the glacial cavern around me, and shards of ice shook free from the unseen ceiling and fell, shattering as they struck the floor around us. I waited until she was finished and then stepped forward and enclosed her in an embrace. She was my sister, and she was alive. The rest of it didn’t matter for the moment. Spent, she rested her head against my chest and sobbed.

* * *

We camped there, by the abyss, and for the next two days, Nissikul worked her powers on Thukkar, crafting subtle, complicated magicks to try to restore his damaged spine. It turned out that his back was not actually broken, rather, it was badly misaligned, and the muscles all around his spine had been torn and destroyed. Her powers were not well suited to healing, she said, and she had to apply them carefully to restore the ranger’s ravaged body. For his part, Thukkar got over his hesitation to allow Nissikul to try to heal him fairly quickly, and soon, the two of them were chatting amiably while she worked. I spent most of that time ranging out in ever widening circles from our campsite, searching for signs of Joanna in the crevices, tunnels, and caves that I could reach. There was little for me to find, for the most part, though a frozen pool of some foul black substance that I found in one of the rubble-strewn caves drew me up short. I couldn’t figure out what the stuff was- it was unlike anything I had ever seen. I had the feeling that Joanna had something to do with it, but I couldn’t guess what connection there might actually be.

When I returned on the second night, bearing the day’s catch, I found Thukkar standing shakily, partially supported by a smiling, exhausted Nissikul. She had let the witch-ice arm lapse the previous day, and she looked nearly as frail as the battered ranger she was supporting. They both looked in my direction as I approached, each of them showing their teeth in hungry anticipation at the sight of the dukkar seal I had slung over my shoulder. I bared my own fangs in a possessive grimace, but I simultaneously smiled my eyes at them to show that I was joking. “I’m glad you’re both feeling a little better.” I noted as I approached. I noticed that Nissikul’s twisted leg had straightened itself out. It was still horribly bruised, but she looked less like a walking corpse than before. It seemed that no matter what her limitations were when trying to heal others; Nissi’s magicks had no problem taking care of her body, given that she gave them half a chance to work.

I strode into the camp and dropped the blubbery seal to the ice before them. It had been a clean kill- I had climbed down a deep crevice to find one of the places where the ice had turned to water, and held a scrap of meat above the surface. When the inquisitive dukkar lunged up to snatch at the morsel, I had caught it instead and broken its neck. They really weren’t the smartest animals that managed to live beneath Ravanur’s skin, but I was grateful that it had been there. There was little food down here unless one managed to kill a burug, and that was quite difficult if you didn’t catch it from above. We were lucky- our path had kept us fairly close to a mountain ridge, and so some of the heat of the great mother allowed for the sort of life that we needed, if we wanted to eat better than the occasional barnacle or rodent.

Nissikul helped Thukkar sit down, while I swiftly gutted my kill. My hunting knife was gone, along with the rest of my original gear, and while the Deepseeker had supplied me with a complete complement of ranger weapons, he had forgotten some of the little things. I made do with my claws, and despite some difficulty, I was able to field-strip the carcass in an acceptable amount of time. I tossed the liver and entrails over towards my companions, and busied myself draining the body and preparing it for travel. The dukkar I had caught wasn’t large, but if it was rationed, it would sustain us for quite some time. There was nothing to burn to make a fire, but in a pinch, my people survived just fine off of raw meat. We preferred it cooked, but when you walked the deep frozen paths of Ravanur, you didn’t have the luxury of being picky.

“So,” Thukkar said between mouthfuls. “Which one of your Elders is right?” Both Nissikul and I looked over at him quickly, frowning. He put up both hands, placating, the effect somewhat ruined by the blood spattering his hands and face. “Not to start any trouble, but Nissikul, your Elder isn’t exactly acting in good faith, and Volistad, the Deepseeker isn’t the most trustworthy type either.”

“I see what you mean about Lot,” I said, gesturing toward my own chest. “But why doubt the Deepseeker? He did save my life after all.”

Thukkar took another messy bite of his food and chewed contemplatively before continuing. “He did, but look at it from the outside. You were dead, and he revived you, so you would be in his debt. You would do whatever he wanted. He gave you all kinds of powerful weapons and tools, so that you would be overwhelmed, and wouldn’t question what he was saying.” The ranger pointed to Nissikul. “I’m not saying that Lot isn’t a bastard, but what if he was right about the Deepseeker? Even if he wasn’t right about your god, Volistad.”

I frowned and opened my mouth to protest that Joanna wasn’t my god, but Nissikul cut me off with an upraised hand. “That’s definitely possible,” she said. “I mean, he has been watching the Deepseeker for a very long time. I have been keeping an eye on the crazy old goat for him, and there is definitely something wrong with him.”

I snorted. “That’s just the way the Deepseeker is, though. And your master is hardly normal. Or does he talk like that just because he feels like it?” I smiled with my eyes to soften my words. “I mean, let’s be honest here, you Stormcallers aren’t exactly bastions of normal, rational behavior.”

Nissi stuck her red tongue out at me. “That’s not the same thing,” she said. “We are all a little strange,” she admitted. “But that comes from the-” she hesitated. “That comes from the ritual we go through when we earn our power.

“How do we know it’s not the same with the Deepseeker?” I asked, choosing to ignore Nissi’s discomfort over mentioning “the ritual”. I had asked her about it before, and she had never told me a thing. It was a secret. “He’s been around for longer than anyone can remember, and even the oldest members of the tribe say he was old when they were children. He deals with some powerful magicks, just like your people, and they had to have changed him over his long life.”

Thukkar cut in again, frowning with concentration. “But we know where Stormcaller power comes from. All Stormcallers possess in them the Breath of Ravanur, one of the great winds that bring the storms. Their power comes from the Great Mother herself.” He gestured to my armor, scrawled as it was with strange symbols and seals, glowing with strange arcane power. “But we don’t know where that comes from. The Deepseeker always just goes down into the dark and brings back his ‘blessings’, and we accept it because they keep us warm when we leave the village.”

“So?” I shrugged. “The power of the Stormcallers and the Deepseeker are both things we don’t understand. Why does it matter how they are made. We’ve seen what they do.” I gestured to Nissikul. “Stormcallers keep the wrath of Ravanur at bay when we go to the surface, and they reshape the ice to keep the village from being crushed beneath the glacier.” I gestured to myself, and then pointed to the glowing blessing that Thukkar wore as a thick cuff about one wrist. “And the Deepseeker keeps our people warm on our journeys into the cold.”

“But that’s not how it has always been,” Nissi whispered, staring down at her hands. “I actually know of a time when there wasn’t a Deepseeker.”

This time, Thukkar and I stared at her in astonishment. “What do you mean?” I asked. The Stormcallers were known to keep many secrets, and the way Nissi wasn’t looking at either of us, made me wonder if I wanted to know the answer.

Nissikul met my eyes. “I snuck into Lot’s hut a couple times when he was out training the new ‘Callers.” She grimaced. “Don’t look at me like that, I was curious. Anyway, I have read some of his scrolls, and there’s one written by the Elder before the one that trained him.” She paused for a moment, letting that sink in. The Stormcallers could live for a very long time, and if the writer of the scroll Nissikul had read had been the predecessor to Lot’s own predecessor, then this scroll was older even than our grandparents. No one in the tribe would remember anything about this- everyone who had been alive when that had been written was dead. Our people’s history was maintained by the Stormcallers. If they didn’t record it, it didn’t happen, at least in the long run. Most of us didn’t actually know how to read or write. Vellum wasn’t very common, and teaching every one of the Erin-Vulur to read and write would have been a waste of resources. Most of the rangers could read, but our ability to write was limited to whatever untidy scrawl was needed to produce our trail sign. I looked over at Thukkar and was pleased to see that he also seemed to have come to the same understanding of the situation that I had.

Seeing that we were both caught up with her, Nissikul continued. “The writings of Elder Averama said that there was some kind of horrible accident in the deep places beneath the mountain, back when the Erin-Caval still lived down in the depths beneath us- before the Eater-King came down. They had always been the ones to find the blessings that kept the rangers warm, back in those days, and they were usually rooting around in the dark down there. I think they considered it their people’s holy quest to find the Great Urn, the vessel that Palamun used to carry all the Erinye here to Ravanur. Anyway, they found something they should have left alone, and many of their people died in a mysterious plague. We sent rangers to investigate, and to help them seal away whatever they had found. In the process, one of those rangers went missing, and Averama thought he was dead.”

Thukkar and I looked at each other, frowning. The wounded man spoke first. “If this involved so many rangers, why don’t we know about this?” He looked over at me for support. “Our people don’t keep scrolls like yours, but our history is kept in song and story, told around our great hearth all the time. There are no stories about the world-shaking, and no stories about a plague among the Erin-Caval.”

Nissikul turned her palm up in a gesture of “who knows”, and took another bite of her food. She chewed and swallowed, and continued. “Averama doesn’t speak much about the ranger’s, except to note that one of them disappeared. She says that after Erin-Caval were safe again, the missing ranger reappeared, bearing bundles of strange metal things, dragging them up out of the ice. He had no memory of what had happened to him during the efforts to help the Erin-Caval, only that he had woken in a place deeper than he had ever been before, wounded, and surrounded by ancient metal magicks. He was able to make use of some of them to keep himself alive, and when he realized that he could use them to help our people, he brought as many of them back as he could carry.”

“The Deepseeker,” I said, understanding. “That lost ranger is now the Deepseeker we all know.”

Thukkar hadn’t stopped frowning. “But if that’s how it happened, why didn’t Averama accuse him of being corrupted then?”

Nissikul laughed, not entirely kindly. “You said it yourself. We Stormcallers are strange, and you all fear us. The Deepseeker brought back things to protect our people, better magicks than even the Erin-Caval could procure. In Averama’s time, no one but Stormcallers could stay alive on the surface for more than a day. When the Deepseeker appeared, he made it possible for you warriors to range much further, seek much better prey. The Erin-Vulur were able to take down many more burug since our rangers could follow the great beasts for much longer, rather than just waiting for them to come close to our village. We all ate better, and people were happier. Many more babies were born. Our tribe grew stronger, stronger than any of the other tribes. And Averama knew that without hard proof that the Deepseeker was corrupted, she could never accuse him, not without risking our own tribe turning against her and the rest of the Stormcallers.” Nissikul shrugged. “She never found that proof and neither did her successor. Neither did my master as far as I knew, though he tried very hard to find something he could use.”

We all sat there in silence for a while, contemplating what this all could mean. Finally, Thukkar spoke. “So we can’t really trust the Deepseeker because we don’t know where his power came from. And we can’t really trust the Elder of the Stormcallers, because he has lied and used us, and don’t really know what he wants.”

Nissikul sighed, using the corner of my cloak to wipe her mouth and hands clean. “So what can we do?”

I stood, looked out over the chasm, and said, “We find Joanna. If Palamun sent her, she might have some idea what we should do.” I sounded more confident than I felt. If the Deepseeker was corrupted, if he had always been corrupted, then what did that mean for my people? We had been using his blessings for three generations. And what did that mean for someone with one of his metal blessings beating in his chest instead of a heart? What did that mean for me?

* * *

Chapter Eleven

We Are Beneath

Joanna

I woke feeling more exhausted than I had when I had gone to sleep. I supposed that I hadn’t so much gone to a dream world as much as I had spent the night in a lucid nightmare. My body might have slept and recharged, but my mind was weary. I was tired of Chalice, tired of the ice and the cold, tired of my armor- but more than anything else I was tired of being afraid. I tried to cling to the cold, unflagging certainty of the tigress. I tried to remember the way I had been when I had lived on my own in the ruins, before I had been called Joanna Angeles. But the truth was, even then, I had been afraid. The tigress wasn’t fearless; she just knew how to handle fear through action, through cold calm. But this fear was worse than anything else I had ever experienced. It wasn’t the fear of going hungry or the fear of being shot. It wasn’t the sharp, immediate fear of seeing a hungry predator animal staring at me, or the sudden sinking, rational terror of hearing the old Geiger counter I had carried in those days start up its clicking litany. No, this fear was deeper, crueler, inescapable, and inexorable. The fear I felt now was more like the kind described in stories told by the survivors in the bad old days when the war still raged on- the kind of gut-shriveling existential dread that came from not knowing what was out there. I knew that there was something out here, something bigger, stronger, and probably smarter than me. I didn’t know what it wanted, didn’t know why it had chosen to reveal itself to me. I just knew that it was there, it was Beneath me, and it could even reach up and touch me in my dreams. I needed off of this frozen hell-moon, but there was no way out.

I got up, checked my gear, and secured the data archives in a storage pouch by the weird burug heart that I was carrying. I didn’t know where I planned to go, but I needed to move. I couldn’t really go up- the Erin-Vulur were up there, and if our last interaction was any indication, they would probably try to kill me again, the moment I saw them. Sure, I could smack down Neolithic tribesmen by the handful, all day, every day until I ran out of nutrients in my suit. But the Stormcallers were something entirely different, and I was starting to suspect that there might be something more to this moon- and its inhabitants- than there seemed at first glance.

I could feel Barbas in my mind, an insubstantial itch just over my shoulder, like someone was leaning over and examining something I was working on. He didn’t speak, and I didn’t prompt him to. Our world had just become a little less safe, a little less sensible. Our personal private sanctum had been denied to us, and the substitute we had made, had been invaded, violated, and was no longer the same. My waking life was a struggle to survive a hateful, inhospitable environment, and now my dreaming world was a battlefield. We couldn’t leave. We couldn’t continue our work here. There was only one thing we really could do. We Are Beneath. “We need to go down,” Barbas declared, grimly. I only nodded, trusting that he knew what I was thinking. Whatever was down there, in the dark, beneath the glacier, it clearly wanted something with me- with both of us- and at this point, doing anything but descending further was just delaying the inevitable.

I brought up the control display for the fabricator. It came to life with a high, whirring whine, and a shimmering cloud of nanites emerged from it in a stream, circling into a halo around me. Barbas knew what I wanted to do. No more searching through cracks in the ice, no more following winding paths. I wasn’t trying to preserve some delicate machine, and chances were, where we were going, we wouldn’t be coming out. Barbas programmed his instructions into the fabricator with his usual consummate precision, and the halo of nanites dipped, spiraling down to bite a circle into the ice beneath my feet. I drew my pistol, for all the good it would actually do me, and closed my eyes. The ice began to dissolve beneath me, ground into fine glacial sand by the microscopic teeth and cutters of the tiny machines, and slowly I began to descend. I was going to meet my fate one way or another.

* * *

Volistad

Nissikul woke up with a shout, and I quickly followed, reacting to her cry of surprise. I leaped to my feet, snatching up my greathammer with one hand and staring all around our campsite for a target. Was someone here? Had the Dark Ones sent some kind of agent to attack us? I spun and scanned the whole area, taking a step towards the abyss beside our camp and peering down into it, just to be safe. Nothing. There was no immediate danger. I turned to Nissikul and found her staring away into nothing, her black eyes wide. “Nissi? What is it?”

“Your god, Vol. I know where she is.” She turned her head sharply, watching something I couldn’t see, her gaze tracking slowly downward.

“What?”

“I know where she is! Joanna! I can see her!”

By this time, Thukkar was awake, and he clambered unsteadily to his feet, using the nearby ice wall as support. “What’s going on?”

I was already moving, packing my sleeping furs and supplies back into my pack and making sure that the dukkar seal corpse I had field stripped was ready for travel. “Pack your things,” I snapped. “We need to move.” I looked up at Nissikul. “Where is she?”

“Far below,” she groaned. “Going lower, and moving very fast.”

“The Dark Ones,” I growled. “They must have a hold of her. Can we catch her?”

Nissikul shook her head. “No. She must be making some kind of direct path down, like a Stormcaller’s war tunnel.”

“Can you do the same?” Thukkar cut in. “Can’t you just guess which way she’s going and open a passage directly towards her?”

Nissikul closed her eyes and concentrated, saying nothing for a while. “Not possible,” she finally answered, straightening. “Ravanur’s skin is too thick. I could not move that much ice, not without help from at least eight of my brothers or sisters. I don’t know how she’s doing it.”

I looked over the edge of the chasm again. “What about this? Can you tell how far down it goes?”

Once again, my sister closed her eyes and focused. This time, I could see little arcs and bands of light refracting around her fingers, as if she had just dropped a handful of crushed ice over a glowstone. It was strange; I had never seen that before. This time, we had to wait quite a while for her to speak again. When she spoke, her voice was strained. “It goes all the way down.”

“Where?” I asked, frowning. “All the way down to where?”

“All the way down to the stone. This chasm goes down hundreds of spearcasts, and I’m certain that it goes all the way down to the stone flesh of the Great Mother Herself.” She looked back up at me, and I saw naked fear there, reflected in her vast, blank eyes. “Vol- I don’t know if I can go down that far. To walk on the naked skin of Ravanur- that seems like blasphemy.” She clenched her remaining fist and walked over to the edge of the seemingly endless pit, then leaned out over it and looked down into the depths.

I took a long look at Nissi, her missing arm, her battered, bruised body, the hollow, haunted look around her eyes, and in the same look, I took in Thukkar’s battered frame and unsteady stance. They were in bad shape. If there was going to be a fight- and I could feel one coming- they were in no shape to do much besides dying needlessly. “I’ll do it. You just take me as far down as you can go, and then you and Thukkar can make a camp and wait for me. I’ll go get Joanna myself. If someone’s going to offend Palamun, it might as well be me. I’m already dead, after all.”

“Vol-” Nissi began, but I cut her off with a sharp wave of my hand.

“No Nissi, we don’t have much time. We need her. The Erin-Vulur need her, and if we don’t get to her, Palamun only knows what the Dark Ones have planned.” I shouldered my pack and began to check over my weapons. “Come on, we need to go, now.”

Nissikul grimaced, then knelt and touched the ragged stump of her right shoulder to the ice. She spoke a few hard, percussive syllables, and once again I saw the shimmering cloud gather, this time all around the stump of her arm. She straightened up, quickly, like someone drawing back swiftly from a poisonous stinging insect, and when she did, there was a new arm, the twin to her left, attached to her shoulder. It was black as pitch and cold as the darkest heart, and as I watched, black tendrils like veins grew from the black shoulder and branched out into the flesh beneath. She quickly resettled my cloak about her bare shoulders and rewrapped it about her more securely. “Alright. Vol, Thukkar, stand… there.” She pointed at a section of the frozen cliff beside the abyss and gestured for us to move over to it. “And sit down. If you fall off, I will have no way to protect you. You will certainly die.”

“Well,” Thukkar grumbled, hobbling over with the aid of one of my iron short-spears as a cane. “That’s encouraging.” He took his place on the indicated section of the cliff, and I helped him sit, following suit and sitting down myself a moment later.

Nissikul stepped forward, close to us, and raised both of her hands, turning them so that her palms were facing down. She took a deep, cleansing breath, and muttered something almost inaudible.

“What?” I asked.

She grinned. “I hope you’re not afraid of falling.” The ice all around us split, at once, with a collected, echoing crack like the snap of an enormous leather whip. Three perfectly straight, perfectly smooth cuts appeared in the frozen surface, and our chunk of glacial ice began to slide down into the darkness, unrestrained. At the last moment, when I was sure we would pitch forward or backward and be sent tumbling into the abyss, segmented, insectoid legs shaped from Stormcaller witch-ice rose up beneath our falling perch, and they scrabbled at the wall, slowing our pace almost immediately. I watched, fascinated, as the hideous legs scrabbled down the abyss walls, lengthening and shrinking as the tunnels expanded and contracted, all beneath the iron will of Nissikul.

“Hold on Joanna,” I muttered, my hammer gripped tightly in my fists. “We’re coming.”

* * *

Joanna

The nanite-tunnel spit me out of the bottom of the glacier in a great plume of powdered ice, and to my surprise I found myself falling, dropping through nearly fifteen meters of empty blackness before I hit the ground. Barbas, however, had been prepared for this, and before I could crash at incredible speed into the stone, the AI fired a series of jets built into my armor’s legs just for this purpose. Really, I should have thought of it myself, but it was hard to think tactically when it was my body dropping like a stone into unknown depths. I slowed dramatically, and instead of plowing into the ground at something near terminal velocity, I just landed very hard, cracking some of the ancient, craggy stone beneath my feet and sending up a flurry of dust, shaved ice, and shards of rock. I didn’t stay still. I turned, quickly, snapping on my headlamp and raising my gun to aim into the darkness.

Barbas accessed my suit’s sensor package, and there was a loud PING as a pulse burst from me and surged out into the darkness. Deftly, the djinni translated the data into a visual overlay on my Heads Up Display, and for a moment, I could see a massive, cavernous space, outlined in a faint, blueish holographic glow. We were completely beneath the glacier- miles below the surface- and we weren’t alone. “Bodies,” I whispered, the mounting terror threatening to rise up and choke me. “Those are piles of bodies.”

Barbas fired another blast of sonar, a stronger one this time, and as the wave of sound passed through the great cavern, I could see them more clearly now. Hundreds- no thousands of corpses, most of them humanoid, piled into frozen mounds all around us. I stepped closer to one of the piles of the dead and shone my light on them. They were humanoid, like the Erin-Vulur, though some of them had a coating of light fur now limned with frost. They lay sprawled and tumbled in death, though none of them showed many signs of injury. I couldn’t tell how they died, except to guess that they had been frozen to death. There were men, women, children, the elderly, all of them dressed in a wide variety of clothes, furs, and armors- and each one of them simply stared out into the darkness with the same empty, wide-eyed expression. This cavern was a vast, multi-species mass grave, and I could not have done more than guess at what killed them all.

“Joanna. Look.” A green glowing arrow appeared to one side of my HUD, and I turned until it transformed into a diamond superimposed over my field of vision. What Barbas was indicating was indistinct in the dark, and my light didn’t reach quite far enough. I stepped forward, careful not to step on any of the frozen, uninjured dead, and continued moving until my light fell across what Barbas had indicated. It was a short, squat structure, shaped like a miniature Egyptian pyramid and standing perhaps a meter above my head. The top, where there should have been a sharp point, was flat as if the very crest of the structure had been sheared off. I walked a slow circle around the structure and I found a door deep into one side, cutting a rectangle out of the otherwise slanted, solid wall. Without speaking, Barbas fired a third blast of sonar into the little building, and this time, the scan returned nothing new. According to the sonar, the pyramid was solid.

“It’s shielded,” I muttered under my breath, and approached the door.

Barbas cut in quickly. “Should you really open that? I mean, what’s inside?”

“Nothing good,” I replied simply, and reached out one hand to touch the door. The hard metal door broke into four pieces and retracted into its frame, opening before my gloves could even touch its solid surface. My light revealed steps, hewn with machine precision from the stone, descending down into darkness. Before I could think too much about it, I stepped forward, my pistol raised before me, and I descended the steps.

When I reached the bottom of the stairs, I found myself in a large room, this one carved from the surrounding stone with the same inimitable precision that had shaped the steps behind me. When my boot touched the perfectly smooth floor, a light came into the room, an indistinct gloaming filling the air with shifting shapes and writhing shadows. The strange un-light didn’t actually seem to drive back the darkness at all, but at once it made it possible to see, though dimly, as if I was seeing the room through a dense haze of smoke. The room was empty but for a single, dominating presence. A perfect, sharp-edged, rectangular monolith took up the entire center of the room, so black it seemed to eat the false glow around it, and its edges shimmered as if seen through a heat haze. I glanced at the environmental data in the corner of my HUD. Minus one-hundred degrees Celsius. The air here was warmer than the surface of Chalice, but by no means any less lethal in its cold. “What is that?” I whispered.

Barbas’ voice trembled in my mind, filled with- was that awe? “It’s… it’s beautiful.”

“What?” My suit’s sensor package lit up like a lightning flash, and two dozen different scanning signals erupted from me, all of them aimed and firing full blast at the monolith. “Barbas!” I snapped, bringing up the control screen to my sensor set. “Careful!”

The djinni didn’t answer me. I tried to cut off the multi-spectrum barrage, but the controls wouldn’t respond. Barbas had locked me out! That kind of broad sensor blasting was a good way to collect data, but it was also a massive broadcast, capable of being picked up by anyone, and anything. I didn’t know what the monolith standing silently before me could do, but I knew that even if it was harmless, whatever else lived down here could definitely hear us. As if in response to my thoughts, the surface of the monolith suddenly split, the perfectly smooth, seamless shape bisected neatly by a brilliant glowing line, from top to bottom. The two halves began to slide apart, and more of that horrendously bright light spilled out, so stark and inexorable that it seemed a physical thing, dribbling out of the divide in the monolith like liquid starlight. “Barbas!” I screamed. “What are you doing?”

The djinni’s voice flickered through a half-dozen octaves, high-pitched one second, a deep basso the next. “I’m… in there, Jo. The missing part.... I just need to reach in there and… take it back.”

The opening in the monolith was nearly broad enough for a person to step through it now, and amidst the nearly liquid light vomiting forth from within, I could make out the vague shape of a person- a man, tall and lean, covered in muscle. I realized that my fabricator had been activated, and the familiar shimmering stream of nanites was flowing all around me, being sucked into the light like dust into a vacuum. The silhouette within the light became sharper, more solid, and it began to move. It took a step forward, one hand reaching out from the light towards me, and with horror, I saw it. The fingers that emerged from that shining torrent were little more than metallic bones at first, bound by glittering artificial tendon, but they took shape before my eyes, sheathed in muscle, cloaked in skin. They were the color of coffee. I knew that hand. “Barbas?”

The AI’s voice filled my mind suddenly, sharp and desperate. “Jo, I’m sorry, I’m not the only one inside-” He cut off for a moment, and the silhouette became more distinct as it took another step towards me. Bright, emerald eyes came to life in a grinning skull, and a familiar face began to crawl its way into its proper shape. I realized in a moment of sickening horror that the stream of nanites bringing this body to life were streaming in and out past me and drawing from the best source of material they could find: the mounds of the dead outside the pyramid. Barbas’ voice returned, and it wasn’t right, too deep, too hard, a tone of vast amusement coloring every word. “You should be happy, Joanna. I’m here, really here. We don’t ever have to be-” He cut off again, and the body in the monolith doubled over in pain, clutching at its belly. Pain stabbed in at both of my temples, and almost immediately it was squashed by a wash of narcotic bliss as a painkiller was injected into my body to counter it. I felt twisting, horribly invasive sensations all over my body, and through the drug haze I dimly realized that my armored suit was retracting all of its connections from my body. It was trying to spit me out. Barbas’ voice crashed into my skull, fully his for just a moment, the voice I knew, the voice of my qarin. “It’s here, with me. You have to run, Jo. It has what it wants now, and it doesn’t need you! You need to RUN!!”

I couldn’t think, I could barely feel. All I could hear was Barbas’ scream crashing into my head. “RUN, JOANNA! RUN!” I turned, even as my suit tried to eject me, forcing the metal limbs to do my bidding. There was a loud BANG from somewhere behind my head, and I smelled sharp, acrid smoke inside my helmet. Barbas’ voice cut off mid-phrase, and I knew what he had done. He had overloaded my suit’s communications array, made it impossible for him to network with me. He wasn’t himself, and he knew it. My Qarin knew that he was dying, that something was consuming him, and he had cut himself off from me. I stumbled up the stairs, frantic, knowing that the Barbas taking shape behind me would be coming for me. I hurt everywhere. The systems that had withdrawn from my body had not done so gently, and I could feel the sticky warmth of blood against my skin in several places. My feet pounded the stone steps, but even as I reached the door, even as my helmet light showed me the nearest mound of bodies to the door dissolving beneath a prismatic cloud of nanites, I felt a grip like a pneumatic vice clamp down on my shoulder.

I twisted, remembering the gun in my nerveless grip, and I jammed the barrel back into the side of the person who had grabbed me. But before I could pull the trigger, my assailant kicked me in the small of my back, sending me hurtling forward into the darkness, as if I had been launched from a catapult. He did not, however, let go of the pauldron protecting my shoulder, and it tore away as if it had been made of tin, dislocating my arm as it went in a sudden burst of sickening pain. I screamed and crashed into another pile of corpses, but I was too terrified to stay down. I scrambled to my feet, realizing that to my horror that I had lost my grip on the gun. My suit, still only partially connected to me, did a sloppy job of slamming my shoulder back into its socket, and I almost passed out from the pain. By the time I got myself back together, he was walking towards me with unflagging purpose.

It was Barbas, as I had seen him in my first dream. He strode through the punishing cold, naked and perfect as a newborn, his face split into a wide predatory grin. “Joanna, come on. We both know I can’t just let you leave.”

“Why are you doing this?!” I screamed. “What are you?!”

“Please, Jo, surely you know that it’s me.” Barbas laughed, his voice rich with genuine pleasure. “And I’m real now! Isn’t this wonderful?”

I backed away from him unsteadily. “Why are you trying to kill me?”

He shrugged. “It seems like the right thing to do. Besides, I- well, we, need that fabricator on your back.” He abruptly lunged forward, faster than any man should have been able to move, and his bare fist struck me in the head, smashing right through my quartz faceplate. Lights exploded in my vision, and everything went black for a moment. Then I was laying on my back, blinking blood out of my eyes, my ears full of toneless ringing. I tried to suck in a breath, and immediately I regretted it. Cold like nothing I had ever felt before crammed itself into my mouth like a handful of razors, slicing its way down my throat and into my lungs. I tried to scream, but no sound came out. Hot tears and blood mingled as they streamed down my face- and then froze solid to my skin. My eyes felt like they would explode from my skull. I couldn’t breathe. It was just so damned cold.

Barbas planted a foot against me and pushed, hard. I tumbled away from him, crushing corpses beneath me, rolling several times before I came to stop facedown, my rapidly freezing face pressed against a dead man’s solid chest. I struggled weakly, but it was no use. The cold was too great. It was unstoppable. All I could do was flop uselessly against the pile of frozen bodies as Barbas seized the Fabricator in his impossibly strong hands and tore it away, ripping off part of my armor’s back plate in the process. Fresh, new cold stabbed into me, and my stomach heaved with the pain. Blood and bile filled my mouth and froze. This was it. I was really dying. I sobbed, but no tears came. My mind was grinding to a halt beneath the suffocating weight of the horrible cold. I wondered if it would be warm where I was going. Fire and brimstone didn’t honestly seem all that bad right about now. The tigress welled up in me, screaming defiance against the pain, but even that surge of rage only lasted for a moment, drained away by the cold as surely as a candle flame in a blizzard. Darkness and cold crushed me down, and I stopped feeling anything at all. Something vast, darker than even this grave beneath the glacier, spread wings as broad as galaxies, stretching them wide to embrace me. And then… there was nothing.

* * *

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Ascension

Book 3

Chapter Twelve

The Skin of a God

Volistad

Ravanur, the great mother, was dead- just as she had always been. Her outer skin, her burial shroud, and her sarcophagus had been cracked and riven. Interlopers had crawled inside to find her body. I was one of them, descending into the very bowels of the worldwide glacier with Thukkar, a gravely wounded warrior and my sister, Nissikul, a newly one-armed Stormcaller priest. I hadn't fared much better than they had in all this- I had been killed once already. We were hardly the heroes from the old stories. We didn't descend into the darkness beneath the skin of the world full of holy fire and bearing powerful talismans. Nonetheless, we went down, carried by my sister's strange magicks. We had to, in order to save the world. And to save the world, we had to save a god.

Nissikul brought the chunk of ice we had been riding to a gentle stop. The magicked black ice legs she had conjured from its flanks, spread wide to grip the edges of the narrow crevice around us. I peered over the edge and felt my breath caught in my throat. There was no light here. The only illumination I could detect was a faint, indistinct gloaming surrounding us, most likely the side effect of Nissikul's unnatural powers. I fished in the pouches at my waist and produced a glowstone. The little rock was a geode, a crystalline core surrounded by ordinary stone. That crystal, when crushed into shards, would glow very brightly. I would be able to see, but anything that lived down there might see me as well. It was a trade I wasn't sure I wanted to make. I waited, weighing the rock in my hand, but the decision wasn't one, not really. If I didn't go down there, my people would be doomed. I was a ranger, of the Erin-Vulur, and I would die before I failed to defend my own out of simple fear.

I began to check over my gear, quickly, checking the status of my bowstring, the sharpness of my arrowheads and shortspears, the balance of my greathammer. Everything was in good condition, of course. My weapons had been gifts from the Deepseeker, my people's shaman of all magicks found below the ice. He could make the works of the Ravanur and the ancient gods work for him. He had made me a full complement of ranger's killing tools- every piece was a masterwork made from light, seemingly indestructible steel. My armor was likewise a wonder of deep magick- fashioned in large part, from a crystal I had never seen before. I was as prepared as I could be, and I had the Deepseeker to thank for it. That made it all the much harder for me to consider the possibility of killing him. Was he corrupted? How could I know?

Thukkar put a gloved hand on my shoulder, likely interpreting my weapon checking ritual as hesitation. Wasn’t it, though? I didn’t want to go down there. I placed the helm the Deepseeker had given me upon my head. Who knows what- With little warning and even less sympathy, my sister planted one foot against my back, and unceremoniously shoved me out over the edge of the suspended platform. "Good luck," she called as I tumbled into the darkness. "If you die down there, I'll kill you." And then I couldn't see her anymore, couldn't hear her voice. All I could hear was the rushing of cold air past my ears, and all I could see was the darkness.

I twisted in the air and crushed the glowstone in my fist, then tossed out the shards in a wide arc around me. For a moment, everything around me was illuminated in greenish fluorescence, and hard shadows rose up from beneath me. They were strange, rectangular shapes, as perfect and undamaged as they were unnatural. They stretched up to reach me like crude fingers, extending from the grubby shadows of the stone below. The twinkling shards began to wane quickly; their luminescence was weakened by their scattering. Just as the last glow faded, I saw a flash of movement, but the light faded and was gone. I hit the ground, hard, but I was prepared for the impact and took it well. I let my legs give and rolled back across my shoulders to come to my feet and transfer all of my momentum into the ground. I was in total darkness, but I wasn't alone.

Without waiting to be ambushed from behind, I slipped the greathammer from its carrying loop on my back and took a ready stance. My people had never come down this far. I was the first to set foot on the naked stone of the Great Mother, the dead god Ravanur. But even dead gods could dream, and she wasn't the only one of those down here in the dark. I heard scrabbling claws on the stone a few paces behind, and at that moment, I felt a strange relief. For the last several days I had been working to fight an evil that I couldn't see. I was struggling against a corruption I couldn't understand and one that I couldn't harm directly. I wasn't an expert on the ethereal side of the world. I listened to the priests, I made my prayers and sacrifices, and I went about my life as a ranger. My life was one of the claw, the bow, the hammer, and I hated being out of my depth. So as the thing crouching in the darkness leaped for my back, I stepped neatly aside and smashed it to the stone with a smile on my face. I couldn't see my assailant, but I heard its chattering scream as it died, and felt the crunch of pulverized bone travel up through the haft of my greathammer. This was the kind of fight I was made for, and the scuffling, chittering racket that arose from out in the blackness told me that it wasn’t over yet. Good.

I set my feet in a solid stance and swung my hammer up onto my shoulder, into the ready position. Then I closed my eyes- they wouldn’t help me here- and focused on what I could hear and smell. I was Erinye, of the Erin-Vulur, and we were the predators here. I could sense them all, each twitching, bulbous rodent body quivering with anticipation, each of them preparing to pounce. They reeked of mildew and animal musk, and I could hear their claws skittering on the stone as they twitched and danced. They never seemed to be still, and beneath their foul moldy stink, I could sense something fouler- an acrid chemical edge underneath it all, like one of the Deepseeker's blessings. It made the most sense for me to wait for them here, to let them come to me, let them lunge into the arc of my hammer and die. But something didn't seem right about this. The creatures I sensed were drooling with desire to attack and devour me, and yet they still waited as if held on a leash, close enough that I could smell them- and they were impossible to ignore.

I understood what was happening almost too late. I dodged to the side, a loud mechanical clicking clattering in my ear, and a blade scraped along my back, the thrusting tip foiled by my crystalline armor. Falling back on instinct, I turned my dodge into the footwork for a heavy sideways strike, and I caught my attacker before it could fully withdraw. The hammer's head hit home with an echoing clang, and my attacker reeled away from me. It was too difficult to follow its movements. I couldn't smell it at all, especially not beneath the pervading stench of the rodents still waiting all around me. It made very little noise, and only a strange, rapid clicking noise given off when it struck, allowed me to avoid being spitted for the second time. I knew my armor could deflect massive force, and turn the point of a blade or arrow, but a properly placed blow could kill me just the same. The way this thing was moving, I was sure that it could see in the dark. I couldn't let this fight go on this way; otherwise I was going to lose. I needed a plan, and I needed it very, very soon.

* * *

Joanna

Once again, I opened my eyes in another world, unfettered by pain, injury, or the bulk of my powered armor. The sky was white as blank paper, featureless and empty. Beneath my feet, sky poured down into the ground without any discernible boundary to separate the two. "If I'm dead," I said to no one in particular, "then the afterlife is really boring." Then it hit me, for real this time. My friend, Barbas, had killed me- or at least he had managed a fair approximation of killing me. Maybe these were my last moments, and my imagination, grown fat on the overstimulation of artificially constructed dreams, was trying to create a place for me to escape to in death. If that was the case, I thought, my imagination could really do a lot better.

The bland white of the world around me shifted subtly, and for the first time since I had opened my eyes in that place, I could see the horizon, a place where the sky seemed just a little bluer, the ground just a little greener. It was hard to tell since a soft white light seemed to suffuse the whole world, but I thought I could see something bright out there on the horizon, too bright to look at directly. From the center of that light, I could just barely make out the distant shape of a person walking briskly towards me. I fixed my gaze on that distant approaching figure, afraid that if I blinked, she would be gone, and I would be alone here again. I frowned. Why did I think the silhouette out there was female? She was too far for me even to make out the general details of her figure, but I knew she was, and I couldn't have told why.

I could do little but wait for her to approach. So I waited, staring out to the horizon and watching the little figure get closer and closer, one step at a time. Details slowly came into resolution. Her hair was white like Barbas' had been, though hers was long enough for her silky platinum braid to sweep past her hips every time she moved. Her features were broad and strange, and she looked as if someone had taken a cat's skull and roughly shaped it to resemble a human's. She looked like she might have been Volistad's more feral cousin, though she didn't wear the collection of furs and shawls that seemed to be the standard fashion for the Erin-Vulur. Instead, her clothing was styled more like something I might have seen back on Earth, in the Pan-American Dominion. She wore a close-fitting jumpsuit which emphasized her willowy, slender frame, and over it, she wore something that might have been a half-cape, or a shoulder cloak. All of her clothing was as white as her hair and was made of material I couldn't identify. It seemed as soft and delicate as satin, yet it was thick as leather and despite being white, it drew in the strange directionless light around it. The result was beautiful and frightening, intriguing and terrible. She walked like a crystalline angel of death, surrounded by her penumbra as the light was devoured around her. Before I knew it, she stood before me, close enough that I could see the subtle flecks of cobalt ringed deep within her abyssal eyes. "Who are you," I asked, and I realized that I wasn't afraid. I had died, and whatever happened to me here, it couldn't possibly be worse than the agony in which I had met my end.

The pale angel didn't answer, her bird's eyes just flicked about and took inscrutable observations of my face, my body, and probably things that even I didn't know. It was then that I realized I was naked, and in much the same state I had been when I had died. My skin was hard and strangely shiny. As I held up a hand to stare at it, I could see that my fingertips had turned blue. I looked down, and to my horror, I was smeared with blood, in much the same state as I must have been when Barbas had killed me. I couldn't feel any of the pain that being ripped out of my suit must have caused me, but I could see the ruin that had been visited on my skin, and it turned my stomach upside down. I felt a cold breeze against my bald scalp, and at that moment, I realized that I would never feel the weight of my hair on my head ever again. I had been bald since I joined the Former program, made surgically hairless to make the hermetic sealing process uncomplicated. Only Barbas' dream state had brought back those familiar curly black tresses, and he was gone. He had been taken from me.

The pale-haired woman seemed to be listening to the thoughts cross my mind, because it wasn't until my eyes rose back up to meet hers that she spoke. Her voice was a low, silken purr, carrying unspecified promises of passion. Or perhaps that tone was the threat of violence. Or it was both. "I am Ravanur." She rolled the ‘r' in Ravanur so that the name began with a contented purr. "You have come to my world, little monkey-girl, and your coming has very nearly destroyed everything I died to protect."

"I didn't destroy anything! I was barely even here before this shitty little moon of yours started trying to kill me!" I took a step forward and got right up in the dead god's face. "I came here to make this place a home for over a hundred-thousand people. Now that I'm gone, they are going to get here, and they are going to die, and your people did this.”

Ravanur didn’t even blink at my anger. Instead, she reached up one slender ice-white hand and ran her fingertips down my face. I flinched away, and she didn’t move her hand to follow me. “Monkey-child, you’re not dead. And this is about something bigger than you, your hundred-thousand doomed souls, or my people. This is not a moon. It is not a home.”

"Then what in the hell is it?”

“This is a prison, monkey-child.” Ravanur smiled, and her fangs gleamed in the false light of the dream. Much like it had been for Volistad, the expression was not one of mirth. Rather, it conveyed a distinct and unmistakable threat. “And I am its warden.”

“And… the thing that took Barbas. Was that one of your prisoners?”

Ravanur curled her lip. “The thing that took your whispering spirit away from you was the littlest of my inmates. The littlest and the least. And yet it is still enough to bring this whole place to ruin.” Her expression turned grim. “The blight it unleashes will sweep over all life in this arm of the galaxy. And because your spirit was taken, they will first find their way to your home.”

“Earth is not my home. Not anymore, and not for a long time.”

Ravanur shrugged. "Even so. It is the place of your birth and the heart of your people. And it will be destroyed, and all within consumed in the same doom that has already made barren so much of the universe." She gave me an Erin-Vulur smile with her eyes. "Of course, of more immediate concern might be your own fate in all this."

I scoffed. “I’m dead, or hadn’t you noticed all this?” I gestured to my frozen, tattered body, and the blood smeared across my skin. “It’s already over. I’m not sure why you even bothered to see me.”

Ravanur laughed out loud, producing the same sort of coughing jaguar's roar that I had heard so many days before from Volistad. "Monkey child, I told you that you are not dead."

I raised one hairless brow. “I seem pretty dead from where I’m standing.” I frowned. “And aren’t you?”

Ravanur nodded simply. “I am quite dead. It was necessary for the sealing of this prison. The dead are eternal. Ageless. Beyond mortality and the corruption it implies.” She pointed at me. “But you are not dead. Not yet. You still have a chance to change all of this, if you are willing to sacrifice. You will live. Your home world will be safe. And you may even be able to shepherd the hundred-thousand you speak of, perhaps show them how to make a life in this place. The people of this world are thin on the ground now. You could save the Erin-Vulur from the slow death that creeps towards them.”

“Considering how hard they tried to kill me, I feel somewhat less than motivated by that,” I said sardonically. I frowned. “Though you are one of their gods. And you said I have almost destroyed all of this.” It hit me, all at once. Though I had thought that that time was past, fear flooded my veins like cold fire. I looked up at Ravanur’s face with my heart in my throat. “It was you, wasn’t it? You told them to kill me.” I took a step back, terror rising in me. The Erin-Vulur revered her as a god, though she seemed to be something else, something more than a simple tribal deity. I didn’t know what she was capable of, but if the rest of my time on Chalice had taught me anything, it was that I should always assume the worst. “Why haven’t you killed me now? I know you can do it, dead or not dead.”

Ravanur showed all of her teeth in a snarl, a rumble rising in her throat. It was a sound that no human could make, and though I had seen both Volistad and the enraged Stormcaller growl like that, it still surprised me every time. She lunged forward, fast as an eye blink, and seized me by the throat, lifting me up off the ground with as much effort as I might use to snatch up a rag doll. Though this was a dream, and I had thought myself dead, the pressure on my throat was incredible. I struggled against her impossible grip, but I might as well have tried to bend iron bars with my hands. "I did not try to kill you, monkey-child. It has been some time since my people heard my voice as they once did, and I can no longer compel them to do my bidding." Her fingers tightened, cutting off my air, and I fumbled uselessly at her wrist. "The Erinye do, however, know my words of ages past, and they did what they had long been taught. Most who come to this world are agents of the enemy, here to free those trapped within. If they had succeeded in slaying you, the danger would have been past." I struggled to get out a word, but all I could manage were weak gagging sounds. "But you survived, and now your spirit and his machine are under the control of the enemy! I should crush you for what you have brought to this place." Her fingers squeezed even harder, and my vision began to gray out around the edges. If I died here, in the dream, I could suffer massive hemorrhage in my brain. Even if Barbas hadn't quite managed to kill me, dying here would certainly finish what he had started. My struggles became feeble, and everything began to fade away.

Ravanur held me there for a moment longer, and darkness started to creep in from the corners of my vision. “I’m not going to kill you, monkey-girl. I’m going to do much, much worse.” She smiled again, with both her wide array of needle teeth and her canted abyssal eyes. “I’m going to make you like me. I’m going to turn you into a god.”

* * *

Volistad

I couldn't see my opponent. I couldn't smell it. I could barely hear it. But that didn't mean I couldn't kill it. Every one of its movements was preceded by a mechanical clicking, and I had been able to use that indicator to stay a step ahead of the deadly blade's unseen attacks. I wielded my hammer in two hands, mostly to parry, but occasionally I would swing and connect, and whatever metal armor my opponent wore would clang like an alarm bell. But for all the times I hit it, and for all the strength I put into my strikes, my assailant didn't waver. Not once. Whatever this thing was, it wasn't getting tired, and even with a magicked heart beating its perfect rhythm in my chest, there was only so long I could keep doing this. And my opponent knew it. The attacks were swift, precise, varied, and constant. I could already feel the burn in my arms as I sensed an opening, but I took the bait and struck anyway, with the full power of my arms, legs, and hips. If I had hit an Erinye with that strike, I would have turned his ribcage to a pulp. If I had hit a burug with that strike, I might have slowed it down, or even made it hesitate. But the only answer I received, for all of my newfound strength and stamina, was a loud clang and a lizard-quick stab toward my face with a chattering blade.

I didn't bother deflecting the strike. Instead, I twitched backward out of the reach of that hissing point and let myself fall. I took the fall the way I had been taught, and rolled back over my shoulder to regain my feet. That was when the rodent things decided to resume their mad assault. I lunged up off the stone, intending an arcing strike to where I guessed my metal-clad opponent's head to be, but I was met halfway by a twitching, bulbous, screeching body. It was not strong enough for the hit to be very painful, but mid-leap it still took me out of my planned momentum and sent me sprawling. Other rodent-things took the opportunity, and in a heartbeat, I was buried beneath shuddering, plagued furry bodies, each of them possessing a uniquely vile stench. I gagged and tried to thrash my way free, but there were too many of them, and within seconds I heard the scratching sounds of mutant rat teeth against the crystal of my armor. I was not wearing my helm- it was stowed in my bag so as not to restrict my vision. I knew that if I didn't get out of this immediately, I would feel those teeth on my face and neck within moments. Or at least I would if my metal clad assailant didn’t skewer me first.

The telltale clicking came out of the darkness, and I knew the strike was coming. I let go of my greathammer and rolled, as hard as I could, to one side, and was rewarded with the piercing squeal of one of the rodents as the hissing, clattering blade pinned it to the stone. I continued my roll and slammed my arms down on the ground hard, stunning some of the little monsters clinging to them, and with some effort, I managed to scramble and get my feet under me. I immediately had to dive to the ground again as the seething blade came whistling overhead. Some of the rodents I had shaken loose, heaved themselves back onto me and held fast, slowing me down again. I roared in frustration, a loud, full-throated roar which echoed off of the cavern walls, and I heard the whispery movements of my opponent in the dark as he readied himself for the killing blow. There was a rapid, frenetic clicking sound, and I tried to twist away, but at that moment, one of the rodents managed to sink its fangs into the unarmored place behind my knee and that leg buckled. I lurched forward at an angle, helpless to change my momentum, and I knew then that I was dead.

Burning pain lanced across the right side of my face, from my mouth back toward my ear, and immediately hot blood drenched my jaw. The edge of the blade glanced off my skull, however, and I fell forward to my hands and knees, bloody but still alive. If I didn't do something soon, though, that would change very quickly. I scrabbled my feet frantically at the stone and exploded up from the ground, throwing my whole weight into the armored metal chest of my assailant. I hit it hard, but I didn't trust the blow itself to do much more than annoy it. So I wrapped my arms around it and kept moving, pumping my legs and shoving it back until it lost its footing on the uneven stone. We crashed to the ground in a screech of tortured metal, showering panicked rodents in all directions, and I didn't wait for further openings. I snatched one of my climbing axes from my belt and rained blows down on what I took to be my opponent's head. The darkness was nearly complete, but I could still make out the dim shape of an Erinye-sized head beneath my blows. I kept the hits coming, slamming my ax down over and over against the head, splitting the metal shell I found there after a dozen or so blows. My attacker fought back, hard, but it didn't seem to have as easy a time dealing with me when it wasn't on its feet. My vicious attack appeared to have stunned it. My arms burned, and I felt myself getting more and more tired. I couldn't give up, though. I had to be sure this thing was down. I would probably not get an opening like that again.

With my free hand, I seized the metal-clad thing beneath me by what seemed to be its throat. Then I jammed the spike of my climbing ax in under its nominal chin and hammered the point home with the side of my fist. It made a few feeble swipes with its blade, which was apparently attached to its arm, but I swatted them away easily. With my axe stuck fast, I stood, keeping the thing pinned with one leg. Then I bent, seized the ax handle in both hands, and I pulled as hard as I could, putting my whole body into it. For a moment I just stood there, straining, aware of the rodents gathering closer and closer in the dark as they regained their confidence. The metal man beneath me writhed and thrashed, but just as it seemed that it was regaining its wits enough to strike back, the neck gave way, and I tore the whole head away in a shower of yellow sparks. For a moment, the whole scene was illuminated in flickering lurid light, and I got a glimpse of what I had been fighting.

Beneath me lay not an Erinye-like man in metal, but rather a man made entirely of metal. It had been constructed from tubes and struts and hundreds of fine gears, mostly protected by metal plates. Some of those plates had been thoroughly dented by the strikes of my hammer. One of its arms was just a metal replica of mine, with five fingers tipped by short claws. The other arm, however, ended in a retracting blade as long as my forearm- the edge of which glimmered wetly beneath the light of the showering sparks. The false-man shuddered beneath me, spewing sparks and thick, viscous black fluid everywhere, before it finally fell still. The area fell into darkness once more. I stood, raising my axe menacingly, and let a low, threatening growl roll over my lips. The rat-things skittered around nervously in the dark, where I couldn't see them, but none of them attacked.

I slipped my hand into a pouch at my waist and found another glowstone. This one I didn't crush into powder, rather I split it in half with a careful tap against the edge of my axe. Blue light spilled out from my hand, illuminating the shuddering, twitching rat things clearly for the first time. They were hideous creatures, covered in hundreds of foul, pus-filled boils- some of which were so large as to affect their balance. There were dozens of them, but the light seemed to hurt them physically, and they backed up as I raised my fistful of piercing blue light to shine over more of them. We stood that way for some time, until, all at once, the rodents broke, shrieking en masse and scrambling away into the dark. I waited until I could hear their tortured screams no more, before I let my arm fall to my side.

That had been close. I hadn't sensed the metal man's approach, and I sure as the ice hadn't expected it. If it hadn't been for the clattering sound made by the extending blade as it struck, I would have died in its initial assault, speared through the neck before I would even have realized it was happening. Though some of my brethren possessed the Great Mother's gift of sight in the darkness, I was not so lucky, and I didn't think I would survive another fight like that. It had been far too close. I checked my pouch of glowstones. I had six, which if I used carefully, might last me a day down here in the crushing dark. I didn't have long to find Joanna. If I stayed down here after I ran out of the luminescent pebbles, I could be trapped down here forever. I knew what I needed to do, but I didn't want to do it. Nissikul was badly injured and had lost a lot of blood. And Thukkar was walking again, but only with a lot of aid. He could hardly fight, but I couldn't leave him behind either. If I called Nissikul down here, he would be coming too. She didn't want to set foot on the stone, for it was sacred to our tribe. But she could conjure up a light bright enough for us to see - one that would last as long as she willed it. I needed that talent, or all this would be for nothing. Would she even hear me, all the way up there in the bottom of the glacier, the "ceiling" of this land of darkness?

I took a deep breath to yell and stopped. I could hear something from above me, a sort of chittering, clicking sound, much like the sound of rodent claws on stone. I frowned and dropped into a guard, but just a few seconds later I was forced to abandon the stance and backpedal quickly as a great chunk of ice with flailing black arachnid legs smashed into the ground, not five spear-lengths away from me, and shattered into hundreds of pieces of hissing ice. I yelled and tried simultaneously to scramble forward and run away, but ended up falling onto my ass. "Palamun's teeth!" I screamed as I struggled to my feet. "Nissi! Thukkar! NISSI!"

"Quit shouting," murmured a weary feminine voice from just above me. I looked up and saw, to my shock, Nissikul, limned in pale blue light, drifting down at a leisurely pace, Thukkar clinging to her like his life depended on it. She touched down gently and peeled Thukkar's hands off her, leaving him shuddering and leaning hard on the iron short spear I had left him to use as a cane. With a flick of her wrist and a few muttered syllables, Nissi cast another one of her floating orbs of light into existence over her shoulder, so that it floated back there like a lantern. Registering my shock, she shrugged. "The stone is sacred, but Ravanur will forgive me. This is too important just to leave it to you. You would just mess it up."

I snorted. She might have been a Stormcaller, a terrifying avatar of the wrath of the Erinye gods, but she was still my sister. "Thanks, Nissi."

“For the record,” grumbled Thukkar, “I tried to convince her otherwise.”

“Please,” Nissi and I said at the same time. I continued, smiling with my eyes. “You can’t convince Nissikul of anything.” I sighed and bent to pick up my hammer, then stowed my weapons in their appropriate places. “Alright you two, if you’re coming, let’s go. We’ve got a god to save.”

* * *

Joanna

I woke up in darkness. This time, I was fully aware of the crushing cold and the pain that was wracking every part of my body. I could feel the frozen, crumpled metal of my suit as searing fire against my flesh, and I could barely take a breath. It felt like the air would claw open my lungs from within, ripping through me with talons of ice. But I wasn't dead. Ravanur hadn't been lying. I wasn't actually dead- and whatever she had done to me was keeping me that way for the moment. However, it wouldn't last forever. Though she was a god, albeit a dead one, she had said that her powers were limited at the scale that mortals like me operated within. She couldn't make me do anything, and she couldn't stop the planet's ferocious cold from killing me permanently. As she explained it, her powers were an order of magnitude greater than my petty needs. She could affect the movement of the local planets and moons, and could hide Chalice's true nature from outside observation. She could even bring forth an apocalyptic level of destruction to destroy any large fleet that dared threaten the security of her secret prison for deities. But against the actions of individual beings, people like me- or Barbas- she was limited to the use of empowered agents. And she intended me to be one such agent if I survived.

I scrambled free of my suit, gritting my teeth and closing my mind against the horrible pain of my wounds. I immediately began scouring the frozen bodies that lay all around me, trying to ignore their glassy vacant stares. Most of them were Erinye, like Volistad, though some showed the more feral features displayed by Ravanur. Perhaps those were older? Other bodies weren’t human at all, from something that looked like a shaggy, eight-legged horse to a colossal beast that looked like nothing so much as a monstrous hermit crab whose home was a hollowed out boulder. The whole menagerie, man and beast, were dead- and they showed no wounds. I couldn’t guess what killed them all. There was no bruising, no discoloration, just death- like they were used up soda bottles, casually tossed aside by an uncaring giant when he had finished with them. Except for the cold, and the place where Barbas’ nanite storm had eaten some of them to make his own body, they could all have been sleeping.

Remembering Ravanur's instructions, I searched frantically through the pile of frozen corpses, each one of them a minor Herculean task to move. Most of the humanoids had been dressed in the clothes they had died in, and I quickly identified one dressed as Volistad had been. The dead ranger wore assorted furs wrapped tight around his frozen corpse, and he bore a variety of weapons and tools all about his person. I heaved the dead ranger out of the pile, and quickly stripped him of his furs, looking for the one object Ravanur had told me I needed to seek. I found it fairly easily, in the form of a heavy black torque, an ornate band meant to be worn about the upper arm. It had clearly been fashioned from the scavenged remains of some other machine, and I could see some of the ancient circuitry cunningly woven into the new design, and what looked like thermal conduction coils disguised behind little medallions of silver. All in all, it was a beautiful piece of art- but it was completely inert. Whatever power it might once have had, that energy was gone - unless I did exactly as the "Great Mother" had told me.

I lifted the black band high over my head and turned my eyes away from it, preparing for what I knew would be exceedingly painful. I felt static building in the air, lifting the preserved hair of the thousands of dead piled around me into the air in a crackling halo. The air thickened around me, and even my frozen sinuses detected the acrid stink of ozone as the whole space around me became charged with hidden electrical potential. "I can only do this for you once," Ravanur had said. "The bodies all still have tiny sparks of bioelectricity contained in their brains. Not nearly enough for cognition, but enough, in the aggregate, to charge one of that old goat's devices." I didn't know who ‘that old goat' was, but I figured that being on a nickname basis with a god, was probably more a curse than it was a blessing. Ironically, that was the situation in which I was now trapped. "Hold that trinket high, my little lightning bug." I stretched as far as I could, and held the torque high above my head, squeezing my eyes shut in preparation for…

PAIN. All I could hear was a dial tone from an old wired phone. All I could see were random patterns and spots dancing in my vision. But I could feel… EVERYTHING. A hundred-thousand frozen moments in time, indistinct flashes of sensation and emotion from thousands of suddenly shortened lives- it all surged through me, through my veins, through my heart, through my mind, and my sense of self was wiped away before the flood. I screamed as a thousand vicious pains stabbed, burned, crushed and shot their way through my body. I fell to my knees as a thousand tiny fragments of pleasure lit up my nervous system and left me shaky and weak. A kaleidoscope of moments flashed through me, riding the burning current of lightning from the bodies below, coiling up through my body and spiraling up my arm toward my spasmodic grip on the black torque. I blacked out where I was kneeling, for just a few seconds. And then it was over. I looked down at the results of the ordeal, praying to whichever god that could hear me for Ravanur to have come through for me.

In my hand lay a black metal torque, woven with wire and engraved with a hundred subtle symbols, each of them precisely fashioned. The bauble seemed much the same as it had been, though now it hummed with quiet, threatening power. All of that energy had been channeled through me into the device like it was a battery. As I slipped the metal band onto my arm and pushed it up toward my shoulder, I noted how tight it was against the muscle. Good. The suit had done its job all these months, and it had kept my muscles free of atrophy. I looked down at the band against my skin, and I frowned. All runes scrawled around it, glowed a faint blue, and I noticed with a start that I couldn't feel the cold - not entirely, anyway. I knew it was cold, and my skin confirmed that knowledge. But I no longer hurt from the cold, and I could breathe easily. I was alive. I would live- for now. I didn't know how long this device would last, and if I didn't get to the next step of Ravanur's plan before it ran out again, there would not be another "convenient" mass grave for me to use as a static charger.

Hurriedly, I pulled on the dead ranger's fur, bending and placing a palm against his hard, frozen chest and saying a silent thank you. Then I rose and made my way over to the wreck of my suit to find the key to this whole thing. I didn't know why I needed it, but Ravanur had been very insistent. I would need the heart of a burug. Fortunately, the strange black heart I had lifted from the puddle of liquefied burug was still intact and undamaged. I wasn't sure what could damage it, since I had fallen onto the thing, and my armored weight hadn’t even scratched it. I didn’t have time to ponder its strange properties, however. I had a very long way to go. I stowed the heart in the pack I took from the ranger, hefted one of his spike-headed climbing axes, and set off into the darkness. I didn’t know where Barbas had gone, but that would have to wait. He had become something of a god himself- or at least he had been consumed by one. If I wanted to defeat what remained of him- I would need to earn my own divinity first.

* * *

Chapter Thirteen

Seeking Divinity

Joanna

The world beneath the ice was dark as a tomb and cold as the ninth circle of Hell. I walked the stone carefully, my only guide the indistinct, instinctual knowledge that Ravanur had placed within my mind. I knew where to walk to reach my goal- but how far I was walking, or what I was looking for, was a mystery. All I could do was walk in the direction that "felt right," and hope that this place I was being sent to, wasn't on the other side of Chalice. I had salvaged some parts from my ruined armor, enough to jury-rig a light that wouldn't die in the cold. The makeshift lantern dangled from the back of a billhook I had salvaged from the mass grave where I had nearly died. My light cast a swaying, electric glow in a ring around me, illuminating no more than a couple of meters in any direction. The darkness down here seemed to eat the light, and even the air down here felt close and oppressive, like the abyss could force itself into my throat and suffocate me by its sheer weight. I felt woefully unprepared, trudging along the barren stone in my stolen furs, and I found myself touching the torque around my arm every couple minutes, subconsciously making sure it was still there. After all, the magic it contained was the only thing keeping me alive in this cold.

I thought on all that had happened as I walked, but no answers resolved themselves from the morass. If I had been told just a month or two ago that one of my primary concerns on this world would be fighting the dark, dead gods and terrifying magic, I would have laughed in the messenger's face. There was no such thing as magic… or was there? After everything I had seen, could I really say that? "All technology, sufficiently advanced, is indistinguishable from magic." Clarke's Third Law might have been meant for stories, but it sure as hell applied here. The image of that Stormcaller, wracked with raw grief and incandescent rage, flashed into my mind for a moment. I flinched, squeezing my eyes shut for a moment. When I opened them, I noticed that the light of my lantern was being reflected back at me from the side of what looked like a giant, smooth, building.

I approached the shadowy shape slowly, letting the circle of my light slowly crawl along it until it was fully revealed. It was a monolith of expertly shaped stone, polished to glossy smoothness, its edges sharp and perfect as they had been when it was made. I leaned in a little closer, and I could make out thousands of text lines, in a script I could not recognize. The foreign letters seemed to be comprised of various combinations of circles, arcs, and lines, and the overall effect was that of seeing a bizarre lunar phase chart. I reached out a hand and brushed the surface with my fingertips. It was not cold to my touch, as I would have expected. Instead, the stone was strangely warm, as if it hid a powerful reactor from me. Its warmth didn't seem to affect the surrounding air, which was still frigid beyond belief, but it actually felt almost hot to the touch.

I turned to leave and stopped. In the light of my lantern, I could see a faint black mist curling up off of the stone monolith, and faintly, as if from behind a thick wall, I heard several voices whispering. They weren't speaking in perfect unison, and I couldn't understand them, but the meaning still came to me as though they had spoken in Pan-American. Let us out. The whispers were sibilant, and the pitch of their pleas rose and fell seemingly at random. Let us out, Joanna. My blood turned to ice in my veins. They knew my name. I jerked my hand away from the stone, now completely certain of the purpose of that imposing stone. This was a sarcophagus for a dead dark god- though as Ravanur had suggested, it did not contain a particularly powerful one. Still, even this god, one of the weak ones not bound deep beneath the stone, could reach out and touch me, even imprisoned, even dead. Tendrils of black smoke snaked towards my head, and I took several steps back, making sure that they couldn't reach me. After a few meters, the tendrils collapsed, the whispers stopped, and once again, the stone was inert.

"Shit." I cursed under my breath. "Shit, how do I even begin to fight something like that? I can't just kill a ghost with an axe!" I wasn't sure I was ready to kill an Erinye with an axe either, but if I ran into any of them down here, I would have to do it. I wasn't going to be helpless again.

I moved on from the monolith, raising my light over my head again to stretch it out a little further. After just a few minutes, I saw another monolith emerge from the shadows, just as perfectly fashioned as the last one, but the smooth, dimly reflective surface of the polished stone had been marred by deep, intentional scratches. Something had clawed or chiseled away grooves in the rock. I drew a little closer, this time keeping a few feet between me and the stone, and I scanned the whole mess of carved marks. It wasn't a random pattern of vandalism. These were words, in a much different script from the circle-based language inscribed into the surface by its builders. I was about to turn away when something about the shape of one of the letters caught my eye. When I looked back at the scrawled message, I recognized a part of it.

Volistad hadn't taught me much of the written language of the Erin-Vulur, preferring instead to swap spoken phrases and ideas, so that we could more easily understand each other in conversations. But he had scratched a few words into the ice during his days at my camp and had been insistent that I memorize them. I had done so and thought no more on the subject. Now, however, those lessons were resurfacing, and I knew that word.

“Vathraqa," I said the word aloud. "Vathraqa means ‘monster.'" The rest was incomprehensible to me. But I wondered why this particular monolith had been defaced, while the other had not. They both contained monsters. So shouldn't vathraqa have been written on them both? There was something here. This was important. Throwing caution to the wind, I gritted my teeth and placed my hand against the defaced stone.

Immediately, a voice exploded into my head. This one was not whispering at all, and instead of many voices, this was just one. It was the growling, masculine voice of an Erinye man, and he sounded a lot like Volistad had. He was screaming, crying, pleading, in the tongue Volistad had used. But something about it, perhaps due to the direct connection to my mind, allowed me to understand what he was saying. He was saying the same thing, over and over again: I didn’t mean it! Please! I didn’t mean to become a monster! I didn’t mean to! Please! You have to believe me! I didn’t mean it! I yanked my hand back away from the stone, horrified, and stepped back until the trapped man’s pleas faded from my mind.

That was not an ancient demon trapped in there; that was a person! He was terrified and trapped forever, for what? I couldn't read the circular runes of the inscription, or the claw-mark letters of the Erin-Vulur language, but what crime could possibly warrant such a punishment? I reached out for the stone again, not sure what drew me, to do it. The instant before my hand touched the defaced rock, I felt a sudden rush of blood to my head, and a headache materialized out of nowhere, somewhere behind my eyes. I groaned and faltered, squinting through tears of pain, and when I finally managed to blink my eyes clear again, I understood the words scratched into the stone. For just a moment, the crude script was as simple to read as Pan-American. It read: ALL MONSTERS WERE ONCE MEN. Another spike of pain shot through my eyes, and I stumbled, my hand slapping against the stone instinctively for balance.

This time, the voice I heard was not pleading. He was laughing, wildly, maniacally, the kind of full-throated, unrestrained cackling that I had never heard from the sane. In between his spasmodic gales of laughter I could hear words, but overlaid over his voice, were six or seven others, varying in tone and volume, so that the whole thing was a horrible, babbling chorus in my head. I CAN SEE! OH, I CAN SEE! I CAN SEE THE ONE WHO WAITS IN THE BLOOD! I HAVE TO FIND HIM! I WILL FIND HIM! KILL YOU ALL! Tendrils of smoke were all around me, and they started to twist about like tentacles, seeking a way into my head, aiming for my eyes, my nose, my mouth, my ears.

I yanked back from the monolith, and this time, it took a major effort. A new migraine abruptly slammed down on me, and I took three steps back, only maintaining my footing on the uneven stone by the assistance of my billhook. The lantern swayed around crazily at the sudden movement, and my whole world switched wildly between darkness and light for a few minutes as I caught my breath. When the light steadied, and the headache receded to a dull throb, I looked back up at the words, only to find that they were once again incomprehensible to me, but for the one word. "Vathraqa," I whispered to myself. "All monsters were once men." I could believe it. I remembered a moment long ago, recalled the sight of familiar blue eyes concealing the vile, scuttling monster within. Oh, I knew men could be monsters- but all monsters were once men.

Shaking off the growing feeling of disquiet, I continued on my way, passing the marked monolith. More of the great shapes loomed up out of the darkness, but I skirted around them, not trusting myself to get close. Most of them were as unmarked and undamaged as the first I had seen, but every so often, another graffiti message would appear, graven into the stone in the script of the Erin-Vulur. Several of them were the same declaration as the first. ALL MONSTERS WERE ONCE MEN. But soon, I found one in which my mind didn't recognize any of the words. This was not surprising, considering the limited nature of my vocabulary. Curious, I stretched out my hand to the stone, wondering if a headache would return and let me read those words again. This time, when I touched the stone, I didn't hear anything. No, that wasn't quite true. This was different than not hearing a new noise against whatever background sounds I could hear. No, when I touched the standing stone, I heard Nothing. There was complete and total silence, in my ears, in my heart, and in my mind. There was an abyss inside that pillar, a great, devouring emptiness, and I could feel the pool of that blessed, all-encompassing silence reaching into me. I could just stay here. I could just be still. I could rest and not worry about anything, and just cease to be. It would be the ultimate peace, the ultimate end.

I was leaning against the pillar now, my face pressed to the stone, and I could feel... not cold, but something like it creeping into my veins. I slid down the monolith to my knees, the spear slipping from my nerveless fingers and falling away in total silence. Rest. Sleep. Nothing. And then, somewhere deep inside my soul, a great cat roared. As suddenly as if I had been electrocuted, I snapped back into myself and tumbled away from the monolith, my eyes wide, my heart racing, and my mind alive with terror. Just as broke contact with the monolith, I might have heard the slightest, the subtlest of chuckles.

"Holy shit," I whispered, my heart hammering against my ribs. "What the fuck was that!?" I looked up at the dark pillar of stone, and the scrawled shapes in it resolved themselves before my eyes into Pan-American words. THE DESCENT IS ALWAYS EASY. I swallowed hard. Another hard truth. "The descent is always easy." A postscript scrawled further down the pillar read: IT BEGINS WITH A SINGLE STEP.

Now distinctly unnerved, I blinked until the graffiti turned back into illegibility in my sight, and then I retrieved my billhook and crude lantern. Neither was damaged, thankfully. I reoriented myself on the place where I knew Ravanur’s temple would be waiting. They were like us, you know, a woman’s voice spoke quietly within my mind. And we were not so different from you, before that first step. We made a choice, long ago, and we've been paying for it since your civilization was little more than up-jumped apes.

I looked around, but I knew no one would be there. It was Ravanur speaking, and she was speaking directly into my head. Some part of my brain became curious at this realization. Only Barbas had been able to do something like at with me. How could Ravanur alter my dreams? How could she speak to me in my mind? Did that make her like Barbas? Of course she could speak in my head. She was a god after all. But what did being a god really mean? If sufficiently advanced technology was indistinguishable from magic, then was all magic simply vastly advanced technology? Had Ravanur once been a woman like me, changed into an immortal dead god by some technology I could not understand?

I continued on my way, my skin crawling with unfocused fear at the sight of each new monolith. They were getting more numerous, spaced closer and closer together, and soon they were so many that it was like I was standing in a stone forest. I had to pass between some of the pillars sideways, squeezing through and trying my best not to touch any of the rock.

Ravanur spoke again, and this time, it was as if she was standing right next to me. The sensation was so strong, in fact, that I turned to look where my senses told me she was standing- behind me and to my left. There was no one there, real or illusory. Her voice was another hallucination, projected into my head like Barbas had always done. We found it, Joanna Angeles. We found the way to cheat death. We found a way to change the world to suit us, to make the universe bow to our will. Do you know how many worlds we saw? Do you know how many different people we came to know? We were the masters of the universe! But that wasn’t enough.

Through the forest of pillars, I saw another monolith rise, this one much taller and much broader than its brethren. It had been liberally defaced with Erin-Vulur graffiti, and in many cases, the scratched phrases overlapped others. The clawed writing was so dense, in fact, that as I drew closer to the great monolith, I could not see any of the circular runes clearly. They had all been defaced, every one of them ruined. "What were you?” I asked aloud. “What were your people?”

Ravanur did not answer. Instead, as I looked up at the great defaced monument, the carved graffiti that scarred it, shifted and changed before my eyes, and I could read it, just like the standing stones I had seen before. The first and largest phrase read: MAN WITHOUT LIMITS IS A GOD. A GOD ANSWERS TO NO ONE BUT A GREATER GOD. And beneath it, chiseled in stone by a different hand in smaller, but no less distinct characters: ALL GODS FOREVER HUNGER. Hunger for what? The next inscription read: ALL GODS FALL TO HUBRIS. And finally, carved from the stone as if by the strokes of some great blade: THE ONLY GOD TO TRUST IS A DEAD GOD. The rest of the graffiti was much the same, variants on the same core ideas repeated many times in dozens of different hands, and written on top of the previous scrawls until the whole thing was an illegible mess. Was this what the Erin-Vulur thought of gods? Or was this an old idea, lost along with all of this and buried beneath miles of ice? What was contained within these great monuments? Gods?

“You want to make me a god? And yet you show me this?” But Ravanur did not answer, and my voice only bounced off of the forest of stone and echoed back to me in a cascade of fading mockery. “Cryptic bullshit.” Without thinking, as I cursed, I kicked the base of the great defaced standing stone. This time, the attack was not subtle. It was not a whisper or a shout. It was not a black pool of nothing in which to drown, and it wasn't a screaming voice shouting into the abyss. This time, when I touched the stone, its effect was immediate and absolute. And I was in another place entirely.

* * *

Feral girl-child

I pressed my back up against the broken concrete that served as my current hiding place, my whole mind on the sharpened length of rebar in my hand and the people hunting me. They were hunting for me, but what they didn't know, was that I was hunting for them. It was simple. It didn't require thought. A voice came to me, spoken by a face I couldn't remember anymore. The face had once had a name, but it had been lost on the day that the sky had fallen, lost along with mine. "Remember. The best defense is a good offense." The face had not been talking about raiders. It had not been talking about stabbing and running and bleeding. But it still worked. It was the law of the jungle. Kill and eat. Or be killed and eaten. I didn't know much, but I wasn't going to be eaten.

Loud, brazen footsteps scattered gravel in the overgrown cracked lots just beyond my wall. Just one set of footsteps. They were arrogant. Overconfident. They were just chasing one little girl, they couldn't have been more than twelve. Still she had most of her teeth and most of her hair. Wild looking thing, but then that's what the boss man liked, right?

The footsteps came a little closer, and now I could make out the owner of those feet singing. I wished he wouldn’t. His voice wasn’t much worth remarking on, except that I wondered if I would die if I stuck the rebar in my ear. Closer came the feet. I did not move. Strike too soon and I would be dead. Your average bandit, even a starving bandit, could pick up my little boot-leather body and fling me into a wall. Done. The best defense was a good offense. A good offense knew how to pick its shot.

A leg appeared through a gap in the concrete, just ahead of me. Attached to it was the foot, and the foot was clad in a real, actual, honest-to-God boot. The good shit. Most of the good shit was gone, or owned by folks that didn't live in this ruin anymore, so this ganger must have been tough. After all, he was still wearing that boot, wasn't he? I compared his foot to mine for a moment. Not a perfect fit, but I could probably stuff some rags in the toe. The foot came down, braced, the leg straightened to let the other move- now. Now was my moment.

I darted forward, fast as a rattlesnake, and jabbed the rebar into the leg, where the knee should have been, gripping the crude shiv like an icepick and putting all of my little girl weight into it. I heard the tendons break and watched the joint take the shape it wasn't meant to. The leg bent, this time to the side, and the bandit fell toward me, toppling like a tree. He was probably in shock because he didn't scream. As soon as he hit the dirt, I yanked my bloody shiv out of his knee and slammed it down into the hollow of his throat. The only sound he made was a weak gurgle. One down.

This little stretch of ruin and concrete and rust was mine. I lived here, and though I looked like a little girl, I was not. I was a cat. Like a jungle cat. Maybe a panther, or a jaguar, or… a tiger. A tigress. I was the tigress, and this was my territory. These asshole poachers were hunting me for my beautiful pelt. And a tigress could only really do one thing with poachers.

I froze crouched low over the body, out of sight. No shouts, no shots, no problem. Good. The more I took like this, in shadows and the silence, the less I would have to try to take on face to face. I quickly rummaged through the raider’s gear. No gun, just a crowbar. Classic. A few different bullets, though, all different sizes. I pocketed those, and then quickly stowed the jerky I found in his inside vest pocket. I hoped it was made of some animal, but I didn’t look at it too closely. What I didn’t know couldn’t hurt me, right? Wrong, but who was going to call me on it, this guy? Going through his belt pouch, I found something excellent. A genuine pre-war army grenade. This part was tricky, but it could seriously change the odds against me. But only if I played it right.

Carefully, I trapped the grenade under the dead man's chest, keeping it pinned so that the ‘spoon' (or floppy handle-looking part, as I liked to call it) was stuck firmly into the ground. Then I pulled the pin out, careful not to jostle the little bomb. The grenade would go off if someone touched the body, and take everyone within fifteen meters along for the express ride down to the Big Heat. I had seen it happen a couple of times before, and when I had been eight, I had even watched someone plant a trap just like this one. I knew it would work, so long as I was careful.

I got a few paces away from the dead man and his rapidly expanding pool of blood, put my back to the pillar and counted to five. Then I stuck my head out just enough to let my voice carry out into the open and make where I was a little harder to pinpoint. Then I made my best impression of a horrible scream of pain. Immediately, footsteps responded. The asshole poachers were coming, and they were the ones that would die to the hidden pit of bamboo stakes. No tigers were going to get caught up in this one.

I slunk away, staying low- though I still moved as quickly as I could manage quietly. I didn't want to be less than a hundred feet from a fragmentation grenade. There was now a lot of shouting going on, close by. The footsteps were converging on the place where I had killed that first raider, and angry shouts rose over the ruins, scaring away a couple of nearby flocks of blackbirds. I winced and made myself as small as I could.

Sure enough, I heard the grenade escape its trap, probably set free by some well-meaning raider hoping to help out his buddy. There was a clatter of light metal, and then someone yelled “Grenade!” And then there was a loud bang that turned everything in the world into a dial tone. What was a dial tone again? I didn’t move. Anyone near the blast couldn’t hear right now, but neither could I. Stumbling into someone I didn’t hear coming would get me killed just as sure as one of them getting a good hold on me would.

I waited for several agonizing minutes for the ringing sound to go away, and then I risked a tiny peek around the little clump of shattered concrete I was using as a hiding place. The ground back where I had left my little surprise was a mess. I didn't let my eyes linger on the carnage long. It damaged the illusion. They were just poachers. I was a tigress. I did what big cats would do, and I hunted down my hunters. No big deal. Nothing to worry about.

I crept out a little ways, scanning the ruins for signs of any survivors. There. A big guy stood staring off in the wrong direction, swarthy-skinned and bald, dressed in the tatters of old biker leathers. There was blood liberally spattered across one side of his face, and one of his arms looked like a tigress had gotten her teeth into it and tried to rip it clean off. Of course, that was what had happened? Right? A tigress didn't use grenades or trick people with the corpses of their friends and kin. She just killed her hunters by cleverness and the strength of her magnificent body. And that was what I had done, right? Right.

I moved quietly, carefully, circling through the scattered slabs of concrete and rotting wood, avoiding the tetanus traps of bent and rusting nails that seemed to stick out from everywhere around here. This ruin- I was not exaggerating to call it my territory. I knew this place, and this wasn't the first time I had danced this particular club. I avoided the traps and dangers almost without thinking- making use of my small, starved frame to stay out of sight. I slipped behind a mostly intact section of old strip mall wall, and when I emerged on the other side, staying safely hidden in the shadows, I could see that the big man with the bad arm hadn't moved. Good. I stalked towards him slowly, not darting around in quick movements that would draw the eye, but rather imitating a cat's smooth, sensual prowl, with my rebar shiv gripped icepick style in one hand.

I closed the distance. He was just five steps away. I didn’t dare breathe. If he turned, he would have me off of the ground by my throat before I could even try to run. Those big guys could be deceptively fast. Four steps. I noticed that he had a tattoo on his left biceps, probably from before the war. It was the classic heart encircled by a ribbon- and there were names tattooed there. I looked away. I didn’t want to know those names. I didn’t need to know more about this poacher to kill him. I was the tigress. This was what I did. Three steps. My eyes flicked involuntarily back over to his tattoo, and now I could read the names on the ribbon. I read them before I could stop myself. Jeannie. Sam. Brett. Aaron. His family? Did it matter? Two steps away. No return. I gripped the shiv and prepared my body for the pounce. One step. I tensed… and moved!

"Hey!" A voice from the other side of the ruined courtyard. "Look out!" I was in midair, I was scrambling onto the big guy's back, I was reaching for his chin- but he had turned at the warning, and had gotten an arm between us. I wasn't clinging to his back; I was closer to his shoulder. This might not have been my first rodeo, but it wasn't his, either. Howling with rage, the angry raider seized me by the front of my shirt and charged, pushing me ahead of him like a bull. I was so surprised that it took me a precious second to figure out what he was trying to do. By the time I realized it and tried to escape, it was too late. He pile-drove me into a still-standing wall back first, and I blacked out for a moment.

I opened my eyes and found myself sailing through the air. I had just enough time to realize I had been thrown before I hit the cracked pavement and bounced, leaving some of the skin on my arms and legs behind as I skidded to a painful halt. Oh, this was bad. This was very bad. "Hey!" It was the voice that had warned the big guy, the voice of the one I hadn't seen. "Hey! We got the little bitch! Guys, come on over if you want a piece of this! I got dibs on first run!"

I tried to get to my feet, but a big, broad leathery hand slammed down over my throat like a vice, then closed down hard. I struggled as I was lifted into the air, trying to gasp but unable to breathe past the iron grip suspending me aloft. “Not so fast Burke,” the big man said, tightening his grip on my throat more and more by the second. “This little bitch killed Carter, Kenny, and Rawhide. I’ll be damned, but she was about to stick me, too. I’m going to soften her up first.”

Burke made a noncommittal sound and then sighed. "Go ahead, but remember, Alpha Dog, I don't like my apples bruised."

Alpha Dog’s only response to this was a snicker. “You pussy.” It was unclear if it had been a friendly comment for Burke or a challenge. I was pretty sure I didn’t care either way. What I did care about was the red haze closing in, and the blackness following close on its heels. I couldn't blackout. If I did, I would never wake up- or worse, I would, and death would be a long, agonizing way off. I didn't know firsthand what Burke and those like him meant when they called "Dibs" on me, but I had a pretty good guess. I was young, not stupid.

Without warning, the pressure around my throat released, and I dropped from Alpha Dog’s meaty fist, collapsing to the cracked pavement and gasping for air. I winced, bracing myself for the boot that I knew would be coming- but it didn’t come. Against my better judgment, I looked up.

Alpha Dog was just standing there, his eyes glassy, his mouth slack, and a little dark dribble starting from the corner of his mouth. He stayed there for a moment, making odd, chirping sounds, and then fell forward onto his face. That’s when I noticed the crude pipe-and-scrap tomahawk sticking out of the back of his head. A scrawny, pale man with too-wide eyes growled through a mouth of rotten teeth, “Now who’s the pussy, you fat fuck?” So that was Burke.

Boots crunched on gravel, and I looked over to see two more bandits approaching, both of them bearing makeshift weapons in a casual manner, not seeming bothered in the slightest by the murder that had just happened right in front of them. I guessed that the old Alpha Dog had not been well-liked. One of the men, smoking something greasy between filthy cracked lips, spit a gob of something disgusting and brown. “Hail to the Chief,” he drawled.

“Fuckin’ a,” commented the other in an amused tone, apparently by way of agreement.

It was right then that I remembered that I was in danger. I was the tigress, not a little girl, and I had been snared by the poachers. I had to get out of this… and I thought I saw a way. I lunged forward, snatching the tomahawk out of the back of Alpha Dog's skull, and before the new chief could do anything to stop me, I swung it as hard as I could in a diagonal slash aimed for his skinny little neck. He put up a hand to stop me, and lost three fingers for his trouble. The tomahawk was deflected slightly, and it didn't open the side of his neck. Instead, I tore open the side of his face in gout of blood and pulverized teeth.

Chief Burke screamed and reeled, but none of the others moved to assist him. They just watched, still standing casually, still looking just as amused as before. I snapped my gaze back towards the man I had just maimed, in time to see his undamaged hand come screaming in like a major league fastball for the side of my head. I ducked, and the wind of that blow's passing lifted some of my wild black hair up off of my head in its wake. I didn't wait for another invitation. I dropped my weight and charged forward in a shoulder block, imitating the big athletes I used to watch… before. Burke, already off balance because of his clumsy roundhouse, flipped over my back as I plowed right through him and crashed down hard to the ground.

I spared a glance for my audience, but the two bandits hadn’t moved. One of them lifted a hand and drew a slow circle in a clear “go on…” gesture. I focused on the prone Burke, just now trying to get to his feet. If I had been a hero, like in the movies, I would have thrown that tomahawk right into the back of his head. It would have been poetic, badass, impressive. Instead, I closed with the wounded man, careful not to show any hesitation. I didn’t say a clever one-liner. I didn’t say anything. I just hit him with the tomahawk in the back of his neck until he collapsed and didn’t move again.

For a short while, there was silence, and I just stared down at what I had done. I spit on the bloody wreckage of the brief reign of Chief Burke. Then slow, steady clapping broke the stillness. I looked up. The two bandits were standing a little closer, their weapons down by their sides, deliberately non-threatening.

One of them, a tall, athletic, well-tanned man with a leather patch over one eye said, in exactly the same tone as he had before, “Hail to the Chief.” He gave me a little bow, surprisingly absent of mockery. He seemed genuinely impressed.

The other man, who looked like the lovechild of a bull steer and a dump truck, spat a stream of brown juice from his lower lip’s payload of tobacco and said, “Fuckin’ a,” by way of agreement.

“Okay, cool,” I said, and immediately began scrounging around for that damn pair of boots.

* * *

I ran with those guys for about a year. They called me Chief and brought me food and water when I asked, but pretty much just led themselves. We left my stomping grounds in the ruins, and roamed south, past the rad zones of the dead city and out onto the old highway. My "subjects," as they called themselves (really just Pat and Boone), seemed pretty happy to have me around as a sort of a cross between a protégé and a mascot. They were a lot older than me, but that didn't matter. Later I realized that I reminded each of them of a kid sister or a niece- someone turned to ash in the war. Sometimes I would catch one or the other of them just staring at me, but nothing came of it. It didn't really matter. We were a little pack.

A tigress didn't run with a pack, but whatever, maybe I was a she-wolf. We robbed the folks we thought we could sneak up on, and we set traps out on the road to lure in the unwary. Usually, I was bait. Nobody was afraid of a twelve-year-old girl. But I wasn't a girl. I was a she-wolf. We stole, we cursed, we killed, and a few times, finding ourselves caught in a fight with better bandits, we ran. At the time, I thought it was the best time I would ever have. It wasn't right. It wasn't wrong. It just was. It was life after the end of the world, and it seemed like things were as alright as they could be, at least for a little she-wolf and her two-man pack. Until Pim.

* * *

We started just as we had many times before. I was bait. Just a hurt little girl, smeared with rabbit blood and leaning up against a burned out car, crying and apparently alone. The travelers we had been stalking were not far down the road, and before long, they appeared out of the heat haze, walking steadily down the road bearing packs loaded with who-knew-what. It looked like they were a small family. Hah. Easy pickings. Couples always fell for the “lost little lamb” act. The only rubes who could give them a run for their money were “lone-wolf” guys- especially since I was thirteen, and I was starting to look less like a little girl every day. I snickered to myself, then quickly suppressed it and let out another loud, melodramatic sob. Somewhere off nearby, I could practically hear Boone rolling his single eye at my theatrics, but I ignored him. It really was funny, that “lone-wolf” thing. A lone-wolf wasn’t badass. A lone-wolf was a shitty wolf. A wolf without a pack was a dead wolf. Fuckin’ morons.

The travelers drew closer, and I saw that I was right. Two men, probably brothers, one woman, a kid in the middle, maybe my age. Everyone looked related, with the same tawny skin and mouse-brown hair. The kid hadn’t gotten his size yet, and he still looked a little like a puppy with his oversized feet and hands and his scrawny frame. But his eyes were something else. They were beautiful, colored a blue so pale that they seemed almost white when the light hit them. They seemed fairly well-fed and fairly sure of themselves, and every one of them was armed with higher-end hardware, all except the boy. Not the best sign, but we could take them. All I had to do was sell the part.

I shook with feeble sobs as they approached, clutching at my belly, where I had stained my ragged shirt with most of the rabbit's blood. I reached out a trembling, bloody hand and cried, managing somehow to squeeze the word "help" out between my wracking sobs. The two men in the lead immediately took an interest, and they raised their guns reflexively, but immediately lowered them when they saw me. Excellent. They were gonna be easy marks. I wondered how they had gotten so well armed and supplied if they were so damn gullible. Most people at least hesitated to approach, but one of the guys was already walking towards me, fishing what looked like bandages out of a pocket. I opened my mouth to give the signal- the three words that would end these four lives. It wasn’t really their fault, but they were deer, and Boone, Pat and I? We were wolves.

"Help me, please," I said- or at least I tried to say that. Instead, my words died on my lips as the boy looked right at me with those bright, piercing eyes, and said, almost conversationally, "Trap." And everything fell apart.

Pat and Boone attacked, bursting out of their hiding places in the grass by the sides of the road. We had had some luck, and we had guns of our own- though they weren't nearly as nice as the traveler's armaments. Gunfire erupted in all directions. Boone and Pat had the advantage of the flank, and relative surprise, but these men- these men were playing in a different league than my "subjects." We were wolves. But they weren't deer. They were moose.

The fight was brief and intense. Everyone but the boy and I got shot, but the adult travelers didn’t die when they were hit. They fell, they bled, but they seemed more pained and angry than they were mortally wounded. The boy had prudently dropped flat to the pavement, and now he was climbing to his feet, slowly, grinning a little. Of course he was pleased with himself, the little shithead. He had just saved the day by giving his people an extra second to react. The woman was smiling, and she nodded over at the kid. “Good eye, Pim. You just saved all our lives.”

There was no more gunfire, and I knew what that meant for Pat and Boone. But this pack wasn’t done. Oh, I was hurt, I was mad- but I wasn’t a lone-wolf. Oh no. These smug people were tough, and they had stopped the ambush, surviving the bullets that should have put them down because the armor I now saw peeking out from beneath the collars of their shirts. But they had made the same mistake that those raiders had made so long ago, and the same one that every mark before this had made in the last year. They thought I was a little, lost girl. They thought I was just the bait, just some little lost lamb being used by the wolves. They probably thought I was confused. They had taken the bait, even if everything else had gone so horribly wrong. But I wasn’t a lost lamb. Oh no. I was a tigress.

I couldn’t hear a thing. Just ringing. Just that damned dial tone. I drew it out from beneath the car and sighted, just as Boone had shown me. The adults hadn’t been paying attention to me, distracted by checking their wounds. They had only just started to get to their feet. It was in my hands. Comfortable. Familiar. My fellow wolves had always saved the best stuff for me, even this beautiful gauss. Breathe out. Squeeze. Crack. A splash of red. Again. Crack. Again. Crack. And then it was just me, staring across corpses at those wide, pale, terrified eyes.

We just sat there on the road for a while, just staring at each other. I cleared my throat awkwardly in the silence. “Pim, is it?”

The boy’s mouth was hanging open, his eyes just as wide. It didn’t look like he was breathing. “You…” he croaked hoarsely. “You killed them. You killed them!” His voice broke and spiraled up into a brief falsetto; taking the intensity out of the accusation and making me chuckle, despite myself. It wasn’t funny. Nothing was funny. My friends were dead. The marks were dead. It was just me and this kid on a road streaked in blood and smelling of fresh death. The flies had already started to gather.

Pim regained control of his voice. “You’re a fucking monster.” I could not have told you what name he actually said. But I knew that it was my old name. That long-lost name, gone to oblivion, pushed down into the scar tissue of trauma along with that face- the one that had belonged to that wise, leathery-faced old man. But the boy wasn’t done. His eyes shone with a vicious light, a hard, ice-crystal hate freezing over those eyes as he spat the words that he knew would cut me the deepest. “Do you think your daddy is proud of his little fucking monster?”

I reeled back as if he had just punched me in the face. I didn’t know how he had done all of that, how he had known where the cracks in my wall had been, but the strike had been surgical in its precision. I don’t remember raising the gun. I don’t remember pulling the trigger. I dropped the gun and lay down on the bloody concrete, staring up at the shattered sky. “Do you think your daddy is proud of his little fucking monster?” I could no longer see that face in my mind, the leathery-faced, wise, smiling face of a man long gone. He had left me. I disgusted him. I was a monster. I closed my eyes and waited to die. It would happen eventually.

* * *

They found me near the remains of Los Angeles. The world wasn't dead. There was a presidente, a warrior with an army of men sweeping across the broken fragments of that grand old U.S. of A., and he was going to put the world back together. He was hope and salvation and life, and everyone loved him. Everyone except me. I didn't feel anything, not at first. They didn't know what had happened to me, they just found me lying nearly starved and heat-stroked in a tangle of bodies and just assumed I was the only survivor of a highway ambush gone wrong. Once again, people thought I was the little lost lamb.

They put me in a sort of orphanage and cleaned me up, and fed and clothed me. They gave me a name, picked "Joanna" out of a hat, and appended "Angeles" to it, for the place they had found me. I was one of many, but the caretakers were dedicated. Counselors spoke to us all, gently, carefully, trying to help all of the kids in their little flock of sheep live with whatever unspeakable traumas lived behind the scar tissue in their brains. All the while, they never suspected I was a tigress, they thought I was another cute, fluffy sheep. They didn't push me, and I didn't tell them anything. Eventually, they left the broken little "sheep" alone and moved on to the next kid.

Eventually, I started to believe the stories that they told me. I was just another victim found half-dead out on the highway, another casualty of the horrible aftermath of the war. We had gotten lucky, they said, lucky that the Savior had turned almost two-thirds of the nukes into useless duds in the air. I didn't know what that meant, but everything else, I ate right up. I became Joanna Angeles: quiet, meek, pretty little Joanna. I studied in school; I ate my vegetables, I smiled when they took my picture. I loved the presidente. I looked up to the soldadesca. And when they asked for volunteers for the Former program, to "secure the future of the human race," I volunteered with a wide, genuine, empty smile.

The whole time, I didn’t think once about Boone, or Pat, or the hundreds of bloody faces that should have been etched into the back of my eyelids when I tried to sleep. Most of the time, I slept just fine. I was just a little lost lamb, found and returned to the fold. But sometimes, every so often, the mask would slip, and I would dream of wide, pale accusing eyes, and hear words that seethed and burned inside me. And I would know that I was a monster.

* * *

Joanna

I woke up screaming on the ice, panting, breathing hard, pale-blue eyes in memory burning holes in my soul. What little of it remains. This time, the voice from the monolith was my own, speaking in a mocking, almost singsong tone. Sweet little Joanna, poor little Joanna. Why is the universe so cruel to you? Tears streamed down my face and froze halfway down my cheeks, but I didn’t feel them at all. Did you ever wonder why Barbas chose to greet you with that gun? He had to placate the tigress, you poison, you cancer of person. You can hide in your little wool mask, but you can't hide from me.

“Stop it!” I screamed, clawing at my head. “Get out! That’s not my voice! That’s not how it happened!”

My own laughter filled my head, ringing off the inside of my skull like it was a great rusted bell. Isn't it, though? Lie all you want, little cat. You destroy everything you touch. Just look at this planet. You've brought about the doom of all of these people. The voice changed then, no longer my hideous doppelganger. It was not the voice of a human at all. It was a disgusting, writhing mass of rotting, feeding maggots, shaped into a voice. It was a wasp's nest kicked open, the horrible clockwork abomination of their spawning chambers exposed for the whole world to see. I gagged and retched thin bile onto the ice. NOW BE A GOOD LITTLE KITTEN AND DIE ALONE.

Huge, crushing footsteps shook the ice beneath me. I looked up and saw something straight out of a nightmare charging straight for me. It was like something out of a Lovecraftian re-imagining of old Greek myth. Rotting, seething flesh covered its horrible humanoid frame, dead muscle piled on itself into a physique that never could have existed. Its head was the bleached skull of a bull, framed on either side by the magnificent horns of a great steer. All through its vile body was woven twists and strands of metal, and it bore armored plates in place of skin, seemingly at random. It was, impossibly, some kind of Minotaur, and it was coming straight for me.

Something inside my skull broke then. The mask I had worn for so long shattered into a thousand pieces, and I grinned, wider than I had in fifteen years. Sure, that little dream pageant hadn’t been entirely accurate. Sure, the whole fucking thing was some kind of horrifying nightmare/false memory meant to make me doubt myself, meant to tear me apart from the inside. Or maybe it wasn’t. I honestly couldn’t remember who Pim had really been. But the thing in the defaced standing stone was right about one thing. I was a monster. I killed Pim, a beautiful boy with pale blue eyes on a road outside Los Angeles. Maybe he had been my friend; maybe he had been just a mark I shot in a rage. Maybe I had been a bandit; maybe I had been a slave. It didn't matter now. Oh yes, I was a monster. I was the Tigress. And the thing in the monolith had just decided to piss me off and pit me against a glorified cow.

I snatched up the billhook I had dropped and leveled it like a spear, the lantern falling free of its hook and clattering to the ice. I showed the charging minotaur all of my teeth and screamed, “Come and get it, Bessie!”

* * *

Chapter Fourteen

The Minotaur

Volistad

We walked for a long time, down beneath Ravanur's frozen skin. I took the lead, my metal bow in my hands with its impossibly thick wire bowstring bearing one of the precious arrows from my limited supply. Thukkar followed me; his concentration was mostly fixed on keeping his footing on the uneven, barren rocky ground. He was doing well, but I could tell he was in pain even through his tightly maintained mask of traditional ranger stoicism. Nissikul had been working on him whenever we stopped to rest, and the regular contact seemed to be making them more and more familiar with each other, to the point where I had to suppress my long-maintained elder brother instincts to run the wounded ranger off the scent of my admittedly beautiful sister. She was a grown woman, and a Stormcaller, and could take care of herself. It hurt me to see the horrible stump of her missing arm, but she seemed to have adjusted to it with her characteristic mental agility. She couldn't summon a simulacrum here, not while touching the stone of the Great Mother, but the lack of an arm seemed not to be bothering her much at all- at least not while I was watching. She brought up the rear of our ragged hunting party with one of my axes in her hand, her little glowing orb of cold light circling us slowly and lighting our way in the crushing darkness.

I could not precisely say what I was following, or how I knew in which direction to go to find Joanna. But there was a power, somewhere out there, an energy that I could almost feel rather than seeing, hearing, or smelling it. I didn't know what that feeling could be, but it made sense to me, and I followed it. It was only after our third break of the day that I realized what I was actually sensing. I had turned to help Thukkar sit and rest his injured back, and I felt some of that same energy that I was following, flicker across my mind when I accidentally brushed against his Deepseeker blessing, a silvery cuff strapped to one of his forearms. It was running out, possessing little more than two week's energy in its subtle design, and I could feel that power in my mind. Was this some kind of side-effect of my magick heart? When we resumed our trek a short time later, I tried to focus on that feeling and compared the sensation from Thukkar's blessing to the one I somehow knew connected to Joanna. I couldn't tell anything about distance. That didn't seem to be how it worked. But I had a definite direction, and I knew that whatever blessing she was wearing was seething with power. If it worked the same as the ones I was familiar with, then her blessing could last her for a very, very long time.

Behind me, Nissi stopped, suddenly. I turned to look at her and found her frozen in place, her eyes closed, her head tilted slightly to the side as she listened for something that she couldn't quite hear. Thukkar and I froze as well, and I scanned the darkness. I couldn't see anything. Then I heard it: the scream of a woman, distant and faint. It seemed to be coming from somewhere just ahead. Nissi made a throwing motion, and her little orbiting ball of light lanced out ahead of us, growing to several times its previous size and illuminating a dense forest of the same sort of strange pillars I had seen where I had landed. The scream came again, and this time, I recognized it as one of wild rage. Was it Joanna?

Without waiting to confer with the others, I sprinted ahead, fixing my grip on my bow, dodging between the irregularly placed standing stones. I quickly outpaced Nissikul's orb of light, and shadows fell upon me, but I kept moving. Something was casting a steady, warm light a little way ahead, and though it was dark, I could still see more or less where I was going. The woman's voice came again, a wordless cry of challenge, and this time, her shouts were answered by a crackling, seething roar that sounded like it had been ripped out of shredded lungs. It was not a sound I had heard before.

I burst out from behind a great pillar and into a small clearing and saw it all. The stones here had been arranged in a tight circle, as if they had been placed to create a tiny arena for the duel which was unfolding within. A monster like no creature I had ever known roared and lunged around the little clearing, its body fashioned from semi-frozen, spoiled meat. It was huge, shaped like a hideously overgrown man, and it was covered in metal and wire at seemingly random intervals. Its head was not a normal head- rather it was the skull of a beast I had never seen before, cunningly fashioned from some enameled metal, and great curved horns jutted from both sides of the false skull. Locked in combat with the beast was something even more remarkable- a single woman, fighting the beast, and apparently keeping it at bay with a polearm of a design I didn't fully recognize. She looked like one of us- like one of the Erin-Vulur, but it was hard to tell due to the tattered ranger's furs she wore, and the hood that obscured most of her face. The strong sense I had followed to this point was now indistinct, and I couldn't tell if this was the god I sought or just another lost traveler beneath the skin of the world. It didn't matter. She was a warrior, she was brave and fierce and strong, and though she fought admirably, I could see her beginning to tire. It was time for me to put my new tools to use.

I raised the bow and drew to my ear, sighting quickly along the strange arrow and aiming for the raging monster's chest. The drawn bow felt like an avalanche held in check, so much force waiting, just waiting for my command. I loosed. The bow snapped forward with a sound like the closing jaws of a trap and the arrow vanished. An eye blink later, the monster reeled, and rotten black blood spewed out over the stone. The beast did not fall, but as it staggered and regained its footing, I saw that arrow had not lodged in its body at all, but rather it had exploded out of the creature's back and taken a chunk of flesh the size of my fist along with it. The arrow, still straight as ever, lay innocently on the stone in front of one of the monoliths, surrounded by vile gore. Palamun’s teeth! The monster turned its great skull-face toward me, and tiny pinpoints of red light flicked around and settled on me from within the gaping sockets. I showed the creature all of my teeth, already drawing back my bow once more, this time sighting on one of those glowing eyes.

Then the woman with the spear appeared from behind the raging monster, not sparing me a single glance, and thrust her weapon up at its neck. It turned at the last second and tried to swat her away with the back of its great, oozing paw, but the woman ducked the blow expertly and stabbed the point of her spear into the creature's columnar leg, right in an unarmored spot in the center of the thigh. Sensing the retaliatory blow coming, she let go of the spear and rolled back out of the way, coming up in a crouch with a ranger's climbing axe in one hand. The monster roared again and slammed a disgusting fist down on the spear, but the weapon, made entirely of iron, just ripped itself out of the brute's thigh and clattered across the stone. I loosed just as the great fist touched the ground- when the monster would be too committed to its strike to dodge the blow, if it were even smart enough to try.

The arrow vanished into the dark socket and exploded out the back of the "head" in a shower of foul fluids and shattered bone, but the beast did not go down. It lowered its horns and charged me, and I didn't have time to get out of the way. I was struck low in the belly by one great curving point, and the momentum of the impact flipped me wildly forward so that I came crashing down to the stone at the same time that the horned beast smashed headlong into one of the standing stones. The monolith didn't seem to react to the impact at all, standing still strong, undamaged, and obdurate. I, on the other hand, gasped for breath and pushed myself back to my feet, my legs wobbly. The Deepseeker's armor had saved me from impalement, but that blow had been immense. The woman pushed past me, snatching up one of my iron shortspears from where they had spilled out of my quiver. She took a quick three-step and flung the weapon into the creature's back, striking just to the right of the spine.

The horned monster turned again, enraged, and then leaped into the air, intending to come down on both of us with a great double-fisted body slam. But Nissikul had just arrived, and she had other ideas. She came sprinting in impossibly fast, ducking low under the foul bulk of the creature in a blur, and dropped my axe at my feet, trading it for my greathammer. She whirled with the grace that only a Stormcaller could possess, the head of the hammer flashing above her in a shining halo of motion. She met the beast mid-strike, smashing in the side of its head as neatly as if the movement had been rehearsed, viciously and totally checking its momentum. The monster crashed to the stone, the enameled skull deformed, one of its curving horns smashed deep into its own head. But still, it stood, if a little shakily.

The beast roared again, but the sound came out metallic and distorted, robbing it of its intimidating potential. The warrior woman snatched up her spear and stalked straight past Nissikul without a word. Then, in a rush of frenzied movement, she sprinted straight at the beast and jumped. She seized the edge of its skull-head with one hand and vaulted it so that she ended up perched atop its shoulders, her legs wrapped around its thick, corded neck. It thrashed about and tried to get its arms up to rip her free, but she was not finished. She gripped her spear in both hands, trusting the grip of her legs to keep her astride her unwilling mount. Then she drove the point of the strange, hooked weapon down through its head, angling the spearhead so that as it burst from beneath the monster's nominal chin, it pierced its broad chest and buried itself deep in the thick, half-frozen muscle.

The beast thrashed, trying to unpin its head from its own chest, but its movements were awkward and unbalanced. It reeled and fell, twisting over to slam down on its back. The woman let go of the spear at the last moment and unlocked her legs, pushing herself away so that she tumbled free and skidded across the stone as the monster fell with terrible finality.

Nissikul saw her opportunity then, and she took it. Though she had never hunted a burug, not as far as I knew, her execution of the hammer-and-spike technique was as perfect as I had ever seen from any veteran ranger- and she performed it with one arm. She took a running step, leaped, and brought down my hammer with astounding precision right on the butt of the jutting spear, slamming it home so hard I heard it crack the stone beneath the monster's back. The beast gave one more feeble groan, and twitched wildly, but it didn't get back up.

Hobbling, shambling steps drew my attention, and I turned to see Thukkar making his way towards the monster, leaning heavily on the borrowed short spear cane. Calmly, with the single-minded focus of a ranger, he made his way over to where the creature had fallen, eyed it critically for a moment, and then plunged the spear-point of his "cane" into its broad chest where the heart would have been on a man. He leaned down hard on the point for a moment, and we heard something crack and break inside the vast chest. Then, just as nonchalantly as he had approached, he withdrew the spear and hobbled back away from it. Speaking to no one in particular, he muttered, "You may want to back up from this one."

Thukkar, I reminded myself, was a veteran ranger, and his advice was not to be taken lightly. All four of us drew back from the monster, moving to the opposite side of the little clearing, and putting a monolith between us and the enormous corpse. For a few seconds, nothing happened. I cleared my throat and opened my mouth to speak. Then the body burst, splattering foul rot all across the impromptu arena. From within the mound of desecrated meat, something crawled free, something vaguely insectoid. It was made of a bright metal smeared black with rotting blood, and it had hundreds of miniature legs propelling it fitfully over the stone. It thrashed and hissed, rolling over and over on the befouled stone, and as it writhed, I saw a neat hole driven through its carapace. Sparks and fluorescent fluid sprayed from the wound in spurts until the strange creature gave one last spasm and was still. Behind me, Thukkar spoke. "Fought one of those about ten full cycles ago. Children of the Eater King. Don’t know how many of those things are still around, but they're pretty rare. Anyway, they like to play dead. Get you when you sleep."

Nissikul whistled, impressed. “Then I’m glad we have you along, ranger.” She and Thukkar shared an eye-narrowing smile, and I suppressed the urge to bare my teeth at him.

I turned to the warrior woman and found her facing me in a fighting crouch; her lone climbing axe was raised before her in a defensive stance. I could just make out her eyes beneath the hood- wide, liquid brown eyes, framed by thick black lashes and set beneath a prominent brow. It was her! Struggling to remember the fragments of her language that I had learned, I bent and placed my bow on the ground, straightening and raising my empty palms toward her. "Joh-ahna, mye freend," I said, fighting to wrap my lips around the unfamiliar sounds. The "f" in particular, was difficult to manage with fangs. I remembered my helm, which obscured most of my features, and so I reached up and peeled it off, shaking out my thick, crystalline hair.

Joanna didn't lower the axe. "Volistad," she ventured, and then continued in Erin-Vulur, "Truly you?" Her eyes moved past me to take in Nissikul and Thukkar, and they abruptly narrowed. She pointed the weapon at Nissikul and said something in her language that I couldn't follow. The meaning was unmistakable, however. It was a threat. She bared her teeth to make clear her meaning, and I smiled inwardly. She was using our customs. Just a month and we had learned so much from each other. Then I realized that the god probably thought my sister was going to try to kill her again. I matched gazes with Thukkar, who wasn't moving. He shook his head, wanting no part of this.

Nissikul let my hammer fall to the stone and raised her single remaining hand, showing Joanna her open palm. Mollified, Joanna returned the ax to the belt of her borrowed ranger’s furs. She sighed and put a hand on my shoulder, then managed, in the Erin-Vulur tongue, to say, “I happy you alive.”

I forced my face into one of her smiles. “And I also,” I stammered in her language.

She said something else, too rapidly for me to understand, but then she stopped and began to gesture with her hands. She made sure we were all watching her, and she pointed at one of the pillars. "Atvaqa," she said. Monster. In our tongue. She had remembered the word. She waved around at all of them. "Atvaqa." When it was clear we all took her meaning, she turned and pointed in a direction that would lead us through the forest of silent stones. "I need go Ravanur. Help?"

"We'll help," I answered immediately, not waiting to speak with the others. This was why we were here, was it not? Nissikul murmured her agreement. Thukkar just grunted. Joanna sagged with obvious relief, and then walked back into the circle, picking up the source of the illumination in the circle; a strange, clearly improvised device that reminded me strongly of the Deepseeker's work. As she moved, I saw the torque wrapped about her left arm. It was a blessing- a fine one too, but very old. How had she made it work again? Those typically worked just once, and then they were little more than decorative baubles. I shrugged it off as just a feature of her obvious godhood. Of course she would be able to renew a blessing.

Joanna made it clear through a series of quick gestures that she wanted to get out of this place and away from the pillars that she had labeled as monsters. We obliged. Those stones made me uneasy, even if I didn’t know what they did. One of them had been defaced somehow, and covered in lines from the High Epic, over and over. I decided that the less I knew about this place, the better. The four of us made our way out of the stone forest, careful -at Joanna’s urging- not to touch any of the pillars.

* * *

We made camp that night, far from the stone forest, on the side of a rocky ridge we had been forced to scale. We seemed to be heading towards the buried mountains- though whether we were close to the hidden Erin-Vulur village I couldn't tell. This was too far down, too deep. We didn't descend to the place below the ice, not on purpose. The High Epic made it clear that this was forbidden, as well as cause for summary execution due to the chance of corruption by the Dark Ones. But I had been accused of corruption already, and I seemed much the same as I had been, and I didn't know what to believe. Nissi seemed anxious about the possibility, but she wouldn't discuss it with me. Thukkar didn't appear to care. I got the feeling that any talk of gods and ancient laws didn't concern him overmuch. He was a ranger, and a ruthless pragmatist, and that was the end of it. I supposed I could respect that.

Nothing grew down here on the stone, so we didn’t have a fire for hot food. There was still some of that dukkar seal meat left, and I passed it around. Joanna shook her head, showing me her teeth and pointing at them, then pointing at my own mouth. I didn't understand, but I didn't push the issue. I looked over at Nissikul and Thukkar, but they were engaged in their own quiet conversation while they ate their meal, and weren't paying much attention to Joanna or me. I turned back to her.

She seemed so small out of her armor, though she appeared no less self-assured. If anything, she came across as fiercer than before, more intense. I noticed that she wasn't speaking to any invisible spirits anymore. I wondered why that was. I couldn't think of some hand sign to describe the question, so I dismissed it. There was something much more important that I had to ask her. "Joh-ahna," I began.

She looked up from what she was working on, and I saw the little makeshift light she had been carrying in her lap, wires protruding from it seemingly at random. She wasn't wearing the hood now, and I marveled at the dusky smoothness of her head and face. I wondered if all of her people had no hair. It lent her countenance an alien aspect when combined with her wide eyes and dark skin. She was so much like one of us, and yet she was so much different. I realized that I was just sitting there looking at her and felt my face heat with embarrassment. Joanna shaped her eyes into an Erin-Vulur smile. She responded in her tongue, her voice high and sweet, reminding me of music. "Yes, Volistad?"

I struggled on, wracking my brain to arrange the few words of her language that I knew into the meaning that I was trying to convey. "You… you say one time you no god."

Joanna made an expression I couldn’t read. “No. I’m not. Not yet.”

I frowned. Not yet? “What that mean?”

“I brought…” she said, and then she paused, perhaps stopping to try to remember which words she had taught me. “I brought someone bad with me.” I opened my mouth to speak, but she put up a hand, asking me for silence. I obliged her, and just waited. “My friend. His name is Barbas.”

“Barr-boss,” I repeated, tasting the name as I said it. It was a strange name, just as difficult to say as Joanna.

She smiled a little at my repetition and continued. "Barbas was not bad before. But we came down here and…" she trailed off.

“We found something very bad.” Her face was drawn and pained. “Barbas is now… Barbas is atvaqa.”

I understood, or at least I thought I did. Barbas was her spirit. When she had fallen into the ice, they had come in contact with the darkness, and her friend had become corrupted.

I remembered the appropriate word, and I uttered it then. "Sah-ree."

Joanna smiled again. She seemed to like doing that. I didn't mind it at all. In fact, it looked good on her. It didn't really resemble the expression of threat that my people used. It was more in the shape of her red lips and the corners of her wide eyes than it was related to the showing of her teeth. "No, Volistad. I am sorry. I brought atvaqa to your people. Now I must find him, and I must kill him. I spoke to your god, Ravanur, and she told me to do so.”

The phrase was long, and I missed a few words, but I heard the name Ravanur, and I felt my breath catch in my throat. The Great Mother had spoken to her! She was now doing the bidding of Ravanur! Even if she wasn’t a god, as she said, this at least made her special, didn’t it?

Joanna seemed to read my evident excitement, and her expression became troubled and distant again. “I am not a god. But Ravanur wants to make me into one.” That drew me up short, but Joanna continued. “I have to stop Barbas. But to do that…” she trailed off and shuddered, clutching her head, and when she continued, still clutching at her skull, she was speaking the language of the Erin-Vulur, smoothly as if she had been born into it. “A god answers to no one but a greater god,” she intoned through gritted teeth, and I felt apprehension raise all the hairs on the back of my neck. Those were words straight from the high epic, like the phrases that had been carved in that standing stone, back where we had slain the spawn of the Eater-King.

I looked over at the others, who had gone silent. Thukkar and Nissikul were both watching Joanna intently. Nissikul seemed, for the first time I could remember, terrified of what she was seeing. What did her mage's senses tell her was happening? Joanna continued speaking in our language, her face tight with obvious pain, and a vein began to pulse over her temple. "Barbas has been consumed by one of the Dark Ones, and he will destroy this place. He will set free all of the Elder Ones lying dead beneath the stone, and unleash an irreversible doom on your people and mine. I have to save your people and mine. I am looking for the lost temple of Ravanur, and I need your help to get there." Sweat had begun to run down her face. It froze as it dripped off of her chin and clattered on the stone in tiny cloudy beads. Then, as suddenly as the fit had gripped her, Joanna relaxed, and looked up at us, trepidation written clearly on her face.

I was confused, but Nissikul evidently was not. Without hesitation, she pressed her forehead to the stone and lifted a hand in Joanna’s direction. “One thousand pardons,” she intoned formally, “Chosen of Ravanur, for my attempt on your life.”

Though it was clear that Joanna didn’t understand the words that Nissi was saying, she seemed to catch the meaning. She stood, weariness apparent in her movements. She crossed our little camp, and crouched beside my sister. She placed a gentle hand on Nissi’s shoulder and said something in her tongue that I didn’t understand.

"Of course we will help you," I said. Then, remembering myself, I simply said, in her tongue. "Yes." I looked over at Thukkar, and he shrugged, the meaning clear. He didn't know what in Palamun's name was going on, but he had come along. It wasn't like he had much choice since Nissi and I were with Joanna. This was it. The reason I had been chosen to see her descent from the stars, the reason I had been killed and made into the champion of my people. It was the reason I was down here, with Thukkar and my sister. We all had a role to play. We had to find the lost temple of Ravanur.

* * *

Chapter Fifteen

The Great Mother's Temple

Joanna

The four of us traveled beneath the ice for a week before the stone beneath us began to rise, taking the shape of mountains long entombed in the depths of the worldwide glacier. At first, I was worried that space would run out between the ice and the stone, but it proved not to be an issue. When the ice was just a foot or so above our heads, Nissikul reached one hand up and ran her fingers along it, and a way was opened for us. The black witch-ice, as she called it in her tongue, would snake out ahead of us and consume the ice in our path, rendering it into powder and piling it behind us as we passed. Between the call of Ravanur's compulsion and Nissi's abilities, we made good time, and it took only two days for us to find the mouth of the cave that contained the temple. Camp that night was a somewhat more festive experience than normal, and even though our rations were scarce, when we woke in the morning everyone's spirits were high. We packed our things quickly, excited to see the interior of the temple and find the conclusion to our quest. Before we knew it, we were standing at the entrance to the lost temple of Ravanur, and our excitement was very quickly tempered by unease.

"It doesn't look like a temple," Thukkar commented, disquiet evident in his voice. Volistad and I had been drilling in the language of the Erin-Vulur during the whole trip, and though I wasn't going to be carrying on a complicated conversation anytime soon, I could at least understand the gist of what everyone was saying.

Nissikul snorted and swatted Thukkar playfully on the back of the head, elaborately unconcerned. “Have some respect, ranger. You stand before the ancient heart of our god. It would not do to anger her here.”

The front of the temple was not particularly impressive. The cave we were standing in simply ended in a smooth, unadorned, unmarked wall of stone. Set in the center of the wall was an open doorway, gaping black like a window into the abyss. I shrugged. “I guess we just go inside?”

Volistad grumbled impatiently and started forward. "We came here to get you to the center of this place; we should just go. The Erin-Vulur are in great danger." He strode to the door confidently, his shoulders squared and determined. The rest of us followed a short distance back, wary even in the face of Volistad's obvious boldness. As the ranger approached the unassuming door, prickles of trepidation began to crawl up my spine, growing ever more intense the closer he got to the opening. Soon, the anxiety was so intense that I couldn't help taking a step forward and calling, "Volistad, wait!"

The ranger did not wait. With the kind of exaggerated nonchalance only displayed by someone who is very nervous, Volistad stepped into the doorway and disappeared into the darkness. We waited, all of us holding our breath. Three or four seconds passed in agonizing silence, and then Volistad called from within, "It's fine, come on!" We all sighed together and trudged to the door. My heart still raced in my chest, and that unfocused sense of unease remained. I looked over at Nissikul as she stepped past me and approached the door. She didn't seem to feel it. Sure, she seemed nervous, but no more nervous than her brother, or Thukkar. Why was I the only one affected like this? I shook my head and followed the Stormcaller inside, stepping into the darkness with my spine tensed against some unknown threat.

Nissi's light was making lazy circles of the room, and I was gratified to see that this room actually looked like it belonged in a temple. Every wall was covered in dense, circular script, just like the monoliths. Hanging from pins driven deep into the stone were long, limp banners, marked with Erin-Vulur phrases. They were lines from the High Epic, just like the graffiti on the monoliths had been. Had the priests here made the marks on the standing stone prison cells? There was no way of knowing. The room was broad and circular, arranged like an amphitheater. The stonework was the same as the outside of the temple. Everything seemed to have been shaped straight from the stone, worked by some method that left neither chisel mark nor errant chipping. The stone had not weathered or crumbled- though I guessed that had more to do with the glacier sealing this place off than it was the result of some magick or divine intervention. Scattered across the whole of the amphitheater was the detritus of regular ritual and use. Several vellum scrolls crumbled to dust on a low stone table that grew directly from the ground, flanked by several ritual tools, whose uses I could not divine from their shapes.

Nissikul crossed to the table and lifted one of the ritual tools, an odd contraption that looked like a mechanical six-fingered hand, tipped with claws. She held it carefully to her nose and sniffed, immediately grimacing with evident revulsion. “This is a kazakatta- a heart-taker. It has been used many times. I can still smell the blood.” She worked the handle in a manner I couldn’t follow, and the claws suddenly snapped forward, closing the hand as if it were wrapped around something. A heart, I thought, and swallowed hard. That was for tearing out a sacrifice's heart. "Your people would kill with that?” I asked, horrified.

“Not for a very long time,” Nissikul responded, putting the sinister thing back down on the stone. “They are mentioned in a few of my Elder’s scrolls, but they’re not needed anymore. They were for removing the hearts of the corrupted so that the Dark Ones hiding within could be entombed, or so I read.”

I stared at the razor claws, imagining them piercing my skin, sliding past my ribs, gripping… I shook my head again, forcibly not thinking about it- with only limited success. Volistad seemed not to have noticed Nissi’s revelation. Instead, he was inspecting another low table, this one spread with an array of weapons, each of them as fine as his own- but all of them crafted to a different pattern than the arsenal given to him by the Deepseeker. He ran his hand gently along the fuller of a thin, straight sword, the steel rippling with strange, beautiful patterns that must have been bestowed in the forging process. The hilt was wrapped in pale leather, which was still, somehow, intact. Perhaps it had been treated for longevity somehow.

As I looked along the whole table, I noticed that all of the weapons laid out there were made in the same style, every hilt wrapped in the same pale leather as the sword. I thought about the limited combat training I had received in the Former program, and then back further to my life… before. I could hardly wield a straight sword, I had never so much as swung a weapon like that before, and more than likely I would just end up hurting myself. In fact, most of the killing implements on this table were the sort of thing that required at least some basic martial prowess, and I had little of that. If only there were an ancient, leather adorned standard-issue Pan-American battle-rifle waiting here for me. Something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye, and I moved down the table to pick it up. It was a curved weapon, meant to be wielded in a single hand, possessing a wide, crescent-moon blade. I gave it a few experimental swings. To my surprise, it handled the way my long forgotten machete had felt. I wasn't going to be doing anything fancy with it, but looking down at the sword, I was pretty confident that I could hit something with the edge without simultaneously injuring myself. I checked beneath the table, and as I had suspected, an array of metal scabbards had been piled in a heap. I found one that matched the crescent sword and sheathed it, then busied myself fastening the weapon to my borrowed ranger's belt. Excellent. When I finished, I looked up to find the others all staring at me, shocked expressions on their faces.

"What?" I asked, hoping I hadn't committed some grave sacrilege. I figured Thukkar wouldn't do anything about it, and probably not Volistad, but Nissi?

“You just peeled a sword out of a carving on the table,” Volistad said, awed.

"No, there were weapons piled all over that table. Look-" I trailed off as I looked back at the table. Sure enough, all of the weapons I had seen were no more than intricate carvings in the surface of the stone. There were no scabbards lying underneath it either. It was some kind of ceremonial display, and I had… what? I looked down at the sword belted at my waist. It was the same weapon I had picked up seconds ago, real as could be. I took a deep breath. It must have been the work of Ravanur. Having a god casually perform miracles for me never ceased to make me nervous. "A gift from Ravanur," I finally said, with much more confidence than I felt. "Her ‘Chosen One' couldn't just keep wandering around with a dull old climbing ax, could she?"

The rangers agreed easily enough, but Nissi didn’t move. She just stared at me, clearly unsettled. I noticed then that she had shed Volistad’s cloak- which she had been wearing as a sort of makeshift robe- and donned a set of strangely intact ritual robes she had found near all the implements of sacrifice. Volistad finally broke the silence by clearing his throat. “We need to keep moving, everyone.”

I nodded in agreement and led the way down the steps of the amphitheater toward the black, gaping doorway at its heart. Nissikul flicked her hand in a throwing motion and a second ball of blue-white light came into being, streaking through the door just ahead of me and casting its light into the corridor beyond. I squared my shoulders and stepped through the door, closely followed by Volistad.

I hadn’t made it three steps into the low hallway before Volistad seized the back of my furs and yanked me back with a bark of warning. He was a moment too slow, however, and I heard the click of a pressure switch as part of the floor sank slightly beneath my foot. Without a moment’s hesitation, he swept past me, shoving me hard into the wall. He continued the motion in a whirl of his cloak, his crystalline armor and helm glittering with pale luminescence beneath the glow of Nissi’s light. As suddenly as he had moved, he stopped, holding something in his hand up to the light. Gripped tightly between thumb and forefinger was a fat steel dart, glistening with a dark, greasy fluid.

I straightened back up, waving off Nissi’s concern. “This place is…” I trailed off again, not knowing the Erin-Vulur word for ‘booby-trapped’”.

Taking my meaning, Nissi filled in my question. “Burtazzik.”

“This place is Burtazzik," I repeated, struggling with the unfamiliar word.

"We will need to be more careful," Volistad murmured, his head swiveling back and forth as he scanned the floor ahead of us. After a moment, he pointed. "Trap." I followed his gesture, and sure enough, I could see the faintest outline of a seam in the stone, likely another pressure plate. "Let's go," the ranger said and held out his hand to guide me around the trap. I accepted the guidance and stepped carefully around the plate. I retrieved my own light from within my furs and switched it on, casting its sputtering bluish beam over the stone ahead of us. As soon as we were all past the trap, Volistad squeezed past us to clear the next stretch of corridor.

We continued this way down the whole length of the corridor, creeping slowly along in the wake of the keen-eyed ranger, listening all the while for the telltale click of a triggered mechanism. After about a hundred meters the corridor ended and we found ourselves standing on a narrow stone bridge over a vast emptiness. Nissikul whispered her magick orb of light to its brightest state, but the light still revealed nothing around us but an empty abyss and the bridge, which was barely wide enough for one person to walk semi-comfortably. Shit. I wondered how far I would fall if I slipped. I didn’t exactly want to find out, but there was no turning back.

Volistad led the way out onto the bridge, walking with the casual balance of the athletic. The rest of us followed, more slowly, our arms stretched out for balance. I looked over my shoulder at Nissikul and found her clenching her single arm to her chest and gritting her teeth as she took each careful step. Okay, I don’t have it so bad, I thought and continued walking. There was a sound like the crack of a whip, and Nissikul screamed. I whirled around as quickly as I dared and found her lying flat on the stone, gripping the edge with her single arm, her legs dangling over the side. I crouched and reached out to help her, and I saw it. Something like a black vine with thorns had curled up out of the dark and wrapped itself tightly around Nissi's leg. Most of the thorns had gotten themselves harmlessly tangled in the thick hide of her scavenged high boots, but some of them bit deep into her flesh just below her knee, and rivulets of blood had started to run down her leg. As I watched, the vine's grip tightened, and Nissi was dragged a little closer to the edge. She was only hanging on to the side by her fingertips now.

I seized her arm with both hands, and as Thukkar and Volistad approached from either side, I hissed, "Cut that damned vine!" Immediately, Volistad drew a short, well-used knife from his belt. He grimaced and squinted as he held up the knife before his eyes, taking aim, and then, without disturbing his own balance atop the bridge, he threw. The blade flickered through the air with a barely audible hiss and struck the vine dead-on. There was a sound like someone plucking a guitar string, and the knife bounced away into the dark. The vine remained uncut. It tightened its grip on Nissikul's leg, and she screamed in pain as the thorns bit deeper into her leg.

Thukkar crouched beside me, gripping the Stormwalker’s straining arm. “I have her. Try with your sword.”

I nodded grimly and stood, wobbling a little. Volistad gripped my arm to steady me, and I looked up into his face, which was twisted into a mask of mingled fury and worry. “Hold on to me so I can reach.” Then I drew out my sword and gripped it tightly. Volistad took hold of my other arm, holding it so that we gripped each other’s wrists. I took a deep breath, and then leaned out over the darkness, immediately feeling Volistad lean back to keep me from falling. I lifted my sword so that its tip angled back towards the bridge, aware of where the ranger stood. I didn’t want to cut him when I swung. I clenched my jaw, flexed my abdomen, and slashed, twisting my hips to lend power to the strike.

To my surprise, I didn't feel any resistance, and at first, I thought I had missed. Instead, as Volistad pulled me back to safety, I saw the vine whipping about, severed as neatly as if I had been trying to cut silk instead some kind of biomechanical cable. Thukkar dragged Nissi back up onto the bridge, and we all just stood there for a moment, panting, as the Stormwalker ripped the remnant of the vine away from her legs. As I watched, the wounds stopped bleeding, and a moment later, her flesh sealed itself neatly. "Damn," I said in Pan-American, "That's a neat trick."

Though she didn’t understand my language, Nissi took my meaning, and she smiled her eyes slightly in response, hissing through clenched teeth. “Can we get off of this Palamun utrezbekan bridge?”

I could guess the meaning of utrezbekan, so I didn't bother asking. Instead, I sheathed my sword, then turned and nodded to Volistad, and we continued on our way. We walked for several minutes, tense and waiting for another attack, but none came. I was relieved when the far side of the abyss came into view, and the bridge continued smoothly into another corridor. Volistad and I quickly crossed into the hall, then turned back to aid Thukkar and Nissi, who was now clutching the ranger's shoulder in a death-grip. He didn't seem to mind. "Excellent," I said, breathing out a short sigh of relief as Nissi crossed all the way into the corridor.

Volistad and I exchanged terse nods, and I could feel the unspoken accord between us strengthen. “We make a good team,” he said in my language, smiling a little- like a human. I returned the smile as an Erinye would have done and opened my mouth to say something. But before the words could reach my lips, I heard a pair of whip-cracks from out in the darkness behind us. My legs burned as two more of the strange, metal vines wrapped themselves around both of my calves. I yelped and fell as they immediately jerked my legs out from under me and dragged me back toward the abyss.

Volistad shouted in surprise and dove for me, seizing my arms. But we had been too thoroughly caught off guard, made careless by our own relief at reaching supposed safety. Before Volistad could try to brace himself and stop me from going over, I was yanked out and away from the bridge. The ranger didn’t let go, and together we plummeted down into darkness, screaming. More vines rose up in the darkness and seized me by the arms, yet another wrapping firmly about my waist. I heard Volistad struggling as he was entangled. He shouted my name in between furious snarls, and I tried to respond, but a vine wrapped itself around my throat, quickly cutting off my air. Thorns bit into my flesh, and I felt icy cold fear slide down into my spine. One false move and those thorns could open any of the big veins in my neck, and I doubted there would be any coming back from that.

Ravanur! I screamed in my mind as my vision went dark. “What the fuck is this! Why can’t you stop your temple from killing us!? The vines were still dragging us down into darkness, but I felt my descent slowing. Whatever these things were, they didn’t intend for us to become smears at the bottom of this pit. Ravanur did not answer me. Either she was incapable of doing so here, or she didn’t deem it necessary. Probably the second one. She seemed like a “god helps those who help themselves” sort of deity. It figured.

Abruptly, the vines released me, and before I could suck in a full breath of air, I plunged into a thick, rancid muck. It smelled like an unholy mixture of gasoline and bile, and I gagged as it filled my nose and seeped into my mouth. I thrashed and felt stone beneath my feet. Struggling to find my calm, I stood, spitting the foul goop out of my mouth and blowing hard to clear my protesting sinuses. I heard Volistad beside me in the darkness doing the same. I fumbled in my furs and was relieved to find my makeshift lantern was still there. I flicked it on and opened the shutters wide so that its glow spilled out all around me in a circle, illuminating both Volistad and me in its eerie glow.

I heard Nissi’s voice echoing far, far above us, calling for Volistad. I shouted back up at her. “We’re okay! Go on without us! We’ll find a way back up!”

Volistad shouted his agreement, and we waited as our words echoed up to our friends. There was a short silence and then Nissikul shouted back, "Fine! Stay alive!" Volistad chuckled at this. Evidently, it was a typical sort of response for her.

“Well,” I said, then immediately spat again to try to clear the awful taste from my mouth. “What should we do?”

“Find the source of those… rope-things,” Volistad said immediately. “I don’t see them anywhere, and that worries me.”

I held my light high and scanned all around us. We were standing waist deep in the foul muck, which stretched as far as we could see. There didn't seem to be any supports for the bridge down here. It was probably just a single, smoothly shaped length of stone like everything else in this place. About twice my height up the wall dangled one of the strange metallic vines. It was inert and lifeless. It seemed to have grown straight out from the stone. I dug in my furs for a moment, withdrawing a scrap of metal left over from the construction of my makeshift lantern. With a quick flick of my arm, I hurled the scrap side-arm at the vine like a Frisbee. When the metal reached the level of the vine, it suddenly animated, curling like a whip and snapping the chunk of scrap out of the air with an echoing CRACK. There was a subdued splash as the metal plunked down into the mire. "Fuck," I cursed, then switched to Erin-Vulur for Volistad's sake. "They won't let us climb, so where do we go?"

Volistad struggled over to me, his armor looking distinctly less impressive now that it was smeared with unknown muck. He stripped off his helm, revealing an expression of base fear that I wouldn’t have expected from him. His eyes were wide, and they flicked around at the darkness, looking for something and not finding it. “It smells like burug in here," he whispered. "I think… I think this might be where they spawn." As if on cue, something bumped against my foot, and I shrieked, trying to leap out of the mire, succeeding only in splashing foul gunk in all directions.

Volistad, however, was ready to strike. He dropped his weight and plunged his arm into the liquid. He twitched and shook as he fought with something below the water, but in a few moments he rose, heaving a writhing, wriggling mass up out of the water and into the light of my lantern. It was a burug alright, but clearly juvenile, only reaching the size of a medium weight dog back on Earth. Its segmented armor was not quite solid just yet, and its many legs rattled against Volistad’s armored forearm with spasmodic ferocity. It kept trying to get its mandibles into his flesh, but the ranger’s grip was unbreakable. “You were right,” I said, some of Volistad’s apprehension slithering into my own mind.

“Yes,” he replied grimly. “We can’t stay here. We’re lucky neither of us seems to be bleeding. One of these can’t kill us alone. But many?” He didn’t have to finish the thought. Instead, he turned and flung the larva he had caught far from us. It landed with a splash and disappeared.

“So which way is the way out?” I was turned around, and everything around me seemed to be the same fathomless blackness over the same filmy swamp.

The ranger frowned and closed his eyes, breathing deeply. He grimaced immediately. I sympathized. Though I couldn’t stop the smell from getting into my nose and mouth, I was trying very hard not to breathe too much. Volistad had just taken a big lungful of the foul stench. After a moment, he nodded his head in a direction. “That way. Fresher air.”

I marveled at the strength of that sense. What would it be like to be able to smell as well as one could see? I raised my lantern high and set off in the direction Volistad had indicated, and soon my thoughts were fully devoted to trying to move quickly against the constant resistance of the bog. Every so often I felt a curious larval burug nudge up against me, and each time I kicked the offending thing away, hoping to teach the little monsters to keep their distance from me. But their little prods and bumps seemed to come more and more often as we proceeded, and before long, the water around us churned with hundreds of the damnable things. How long before one decided to try a nibble?

After about a quarter hour, we reached a low, semicircular doorway, too low to walk through upright. Perhaps it was a cycling system, meant to keep the swamp we were slogging through at some optimal consistency. Either way, it seemed to be our way out of here, so we crouched low and squeezed into the tunnel. It was cramped, and it was an effort just for me to keep my lantern above the filthy water. It had worked even after I had fallen into the pool, but I didn't trust the jury-rigged circuits to function properly if they were immersed. I had to keep my head tilted up and to the side to breathe, because the crouch I was forced into, pushed my head down close to the waterline. My heart was thunder in my ears, and all I could think about was the horde of ravening larvae piling into the tunnel behind us. Could we fight something like that? Surely not in this space.

I could feel the little wriggling bodies bumping into me again, and I had to suppress the urge to scream. Unthinking, I swatted at a particularly inquisitive one with the back of my free hand, and it sunk tiny sharp mandibles into my flesh. I hissed and tried to draw back, but the little bastard had a firm grip on me. “Volistad! I’ve been bitten!”

He whirled, quickly shoving me past him, a growl already gathering in the base of his throat. The waters before him were already churning as the larvae there sensed my blood. Furious, I slammed the little burug clinging to my arm into the wall until it let go of me and dropped senseless into the mire. I thought about the sword at my waist, immersed in the muck. I would have to clean it later. There was no use in drawing it; I would probably just cut myself or Volistad and make the whole situation worse. Instead, I put out my free hand and took hold of his sodden cloak, then turned continued forward down the tunnel, leading the ranger with me, backward. Behind me, past the reassuring form of Volistad, I could hear the larvae churning up into a frenzy. A strange, whistling cry went up from the roiling mass, taken up in wild, dissonant chorus a moment later. Volistad answered with a bestial roar that tore its way out of his chest and filled the tunnel with the sound of his battle-rage. I felt the ranger moving through my grip on his cloak, and I glanced over my shoulder to see him wielding an ax in each of his hands. He timed each of his swings to a step backward, and we moved on like that, me in the lead, Volistad slashing in great arcs and spattering the walls of the tunnel with black ichor.

We moved that way for what seemed like an age. I could sense Volistad beginning to tire. He still swung in rhythm with his careful backward steps, but I could hear him panting. Fighting for even a minute was exhausting. I wondered how long we had been doing this. Five minutes? An hour? Ahead of me, the light of my lantern fell on a fine lattice of steel bars, and I cursed vehemently. Volistad grunted a question at me, and I seethed back, "Blocked! There are bars in the way!" Water was coming in through the bars, and it seemed cleaner than the muck we had been wading through. Water could get in, but the burug larvae couldn’t get out. And neither could we.

Volistad cursed, redoubling his efforts against the ravening swarm, but he was already grunting in pain as bites got through and found the soft places between the crystalline plates of his armor. We didn’t have long. We would soon be overwhelmed, and I would soon get to live out my fantasy of being devoured by piranha in a dark alien sewer, so at least I had that plus. I cast about with the lantern for any sign of something I could use to bend the lattice, maybe force it aside so we could get past it, but nothing presented itself. Volistad roared again, but this time, the sound was filled more with desperation than rage. He wasn't swinging the axes anymore. The larvae were piling onto him, snapping at his unarmored face and bearing him over backwards into the water. I screamed and tried to drag him back upright, but the boiling swarm of hateful little bodies took me from my feet as well, and I plunged into the water in a cloud of wildly chomping mandibles. This was it. We were going to die in the darkness and it would all be for nothing. Maybe Ravanur could turn Nissikul into a god. She would be a better choice anyway; she knew this planet, knew the Erin-Vulur. She might not know Barbas, but she didn't have to know him to kill him. Why had the dead god of this place thought that I could do this?

Pain blasted through me, suddenly, beginning at my closed fist and shooting out in a burning network through my entire nervous system. Someone was screaming, so loud, deafeningly loud, and for a moment I thought it was me. Then I realized that my jaws were clenched shut from the angry current searing through my bones, and the sound was coming from all around me. It came to me in an instant, as a spasm rippled its way up my spine and made my body into a bow. I was being electrocuted. Electrocuted!

As suddenly as the pain had come, it ended, and I found myself floating on my back on the surface of the muck, bumping up against the steel lattice with the movement of the disturbed water. There were no burug clinging to me. Holy hell, there were no burug attacking me! A stone dropped into my stomach as I remembered. "Volistad!" I thrashed my way back towards where he had fallen, searching the water frantically. He was lying there, unconscious, and I was terrified to note that he was not breathing. I couldn't feel his pulse, but my hands were shaking, so I couldn't be sure. Was he dead? It didn't matter; I had to get him out of here. I got my shoulder under him, and half carried, half pushed him down the tunnel towards the grate. It was completely dark. My light had gone. Come to think of it, it had probably electrocuted us. "Fuck!"

I stumbled in the dark and smacked my hand against the stone to steady myself. But I didn't touch rock. Instead, I slapped awkwardly at a solid bar of metal. I gripped it, then fumbled up the wall, not daring to hope. Sure enough, there was another. Above that? Solid metal. A hatch set into the ceiling of the tunnel. I pushed. It wasn't latched, apparently trusting to its own weight to keep juvenile burug out of whatever lay above. Straining, with my one free arm, I pushed the hatch up until it reached its tipping point and fell open with a crash. It was just as dark above me as it was in this passage, but I wasn’t staying where I was. Awkwardly, I stepped up onto the metal rung, manhandling Volistad up with me. He was very heavy, especially in his armor, but I couldn’t afford to stop. Already, I could hear movement in the water below us. Some of the larvae had not been killed, just stunned, and they were starting to come around. I doubted they would be happy when they fully woke up. So I struggled up the rungs, one at a time, until I could get my feet onto something like solid ground. I carefully felt out a safe place to set Volistad, then turned to the hatch and lifted the heavy metal portal so that it swung back down into place. I felt at it for a moment, and I was relieved to find a locking bar set into it. We were very lucky that hadn’t been in place before. Nonetheless, I slid the bar into place. We were safe from the larvae. All I had to do now was keep Volistad alive.

I fumbled my way in the darkness back over to him. We weren’t in a very large space, little more than a wider tunnel than before, though this one went straight up. I could, with a little strain, stretch out and touch both walls. It would have to do. I stretched Volistad out on the ground, then settled my nerves and felt for his throat. My heart thundered in my own ears, making it hard to focus. What if Erinye physiology was different? What if he didn’t usually have a pulse there? What if- I hissed out another breath of relief. He was alive. His pulse was hard and strong, if a little slower than I had expected. Good. Now the breathing. I would need to get him out of his armor to do proper lifesaving techniques, but perhaps first… I leaned up off of him and then dropped my weight down hard just below his chest, aiming for where the diaphragm would be on a human. He surged up, suddenly, and I scrambled off of him, struggling to roll him onto his side as he spewed foul water. He heaved several times, vomiting and coughing water. I knelt beside him and patted his back awkwardly, knowing that the gesture probably meant little through a solid plate of armor.

After a while, Volistad seemed to be breathing normally, and he pushed himself up into a sitting position beside me. “What happened?” His voice was little more than a croak, but he seemed fully back in control of his body. “We were-” He coughed and trailed off. I didn’t say anything. I didn’t know the words in his language. Instead, I just sat beside him. We sat there for a while in companionable silence, just breathing clean air and letting our heart rates fall back down to a more reasonable rate. After a while, Volistad murmured. “Thank you. You saved my life.”

“Only after you saved mine,” I replied. “I could not have fought so many. They would have torn me to pieces.”

Volistad was silent. I knew what he was thinking, that he had failed anyway. In his eyes, he hadn’t fought hard enough, hadn’t kept them at bay, and as a result, they had gotten past him and to me. I didn’t have the words to explain to him why he was wrong, so I just slapped him about the head. “Don’t be silly, Volistad,” I said. “Now let’s go. The way out is up.”

I fumbled my way over to the spike ladder and put a foot up on the nearest metal bar, then hopped up and seized one a little way above my head. Volistad followed my lead, making much less noise in the dark. We climbed in silence in the crushing dark, our already tired muscles straining against the weight of our waterlogged clothes. After a long time, I felt my head bump gently against something solid. Nervously, I lifted one hand up to feel for another hatch. Sure enough, there was one just above me. Carefully, not wanting to fall off of the crude, narrow ladder-spikes, I lifted my hand and pressed it against the hatch, giving it an experimental push. It moved, just a little, but it was just as heavy as the one below us. I took a deep breath, climbed to press my shoulder against the metal portal, and heaved with my legs and back. The hatch lifted open, swinging away on its hinges. I didn't dare push hard enough to fling it open. Instead I flopped over the edge of the hole into the space above while keeping the hatch lifted with one hand. Volistad quickly came up and helped me hold it up while I got to my feet, wary of the edge of the shaft we had just climbed. I held the heavy door in place as he scrambled up in a clatter of weapons, and then, when he was clear, I let the hatch slam shut with a hollow BOOM that raised dust from the ground all around us.

I stopped. I could see the dust. Which meant… I looked around and found the source of the light. We were standing in a great circular chamber, which had not been shaped to the same precise smoothness as the rest of the temple. Ringing the rough, craggy walls there were clusters of aquamarine crystals, glowing with a soft radiance that cast a soothing, relaxing light across everything in the cave-like chamber. The ceiling was high and scattered with stalactites, from which grew shaggy, highly reflective moss. The floor was uneven, though paths had been carefully shaped to crisscross through the space. All around us, I could see what looked like overgrown garden plots, full of plants I had never seen, and fungi larger than anything I had heard of before. It was a god's garden. A literal Garden of Eden, though it seemed to be meant for a different purpose than the one in the ancient Christian holy text. I could smell a hundred commingling, fascinating scents, and I wished I knew what Volistad was experiencing. His own sense of smell was so powerful, I was sure he was breathing in the olfactory equivalent of a vibrant tapestry. If only…

Volistad suddenly retched. "Palamun above," he grumbled. "We stink." He pointed off in a direction with somewhat frantic motions; his face wrinkled up against his own foul aura. "Flowing water," he muttered, clearly trying to breathe as little as possible. "That way." He led the way through the garden, and I tried to suppress my laughter at his reaction. I guessed that he had suddenly been hit with how rank we smelled because of the sharp contrast with the inviting smell of the garden.

I heard splashing and stopped staring around at the garden to see where we were going. Sure enough, a waterfall fell from somewhere high up on the cavern wall, splashing crystal clear liquid into a deep pool, clearly shaped for easy bathing. I didn't wait for an invitation. I dropped my sodden pack and my sword belt and began stripping out of my soaked furs as quickly as I could. Volistad wouldn't be beaten, however, and as I was shaking my one entangled foot out of my twisted hide pants, he took a few quick steps past me and dove into the pool with smooth precision. He surfaced a moment later in the middle of the water, all of the dirt and grime and filth of our journey coming off of him in the wonderful water. I finally kicked free of my pants and splashed my way in after him, doing so in a considerably less dignified manner.

Even without soap, the bath was one of the most relaxing things I had ever felt. It was cold and crisp, but not so much that it bothered me. I wasn't sure if that was the blessing's work or not, but I felt like I was bathing in a mountain spring- which, I guessed, I was. I submerged and just hung there, suspended in the cool, comforting dark, finally safe, finally clean. I hadn't realized how tense I had been since… since the foul power below had invaded my dream with Barbas. Had it been so long since that disastrous night? I had been traveling with Volistad and the others for only a fortnight, but it felt like a lifetime ago. I felt like a different woman.

My lungs began to burn, so I surfaced, letting the water run down off of my body. I put a hand to my smooth, hairless scalp. I missed my hair. I understood why it had been taken, but those beautiful raven locks… that was the part of being Joanna Angeles that I had actually liked. Clean, well-kept hair, smooth skin, enough food to eat. I thought about where I was and laughed out loud. I was in a god’s garden, swimming in a pool of the clearest water I had ever seen. I had two of those three things, so what if I didn’t have the hair. I looked over at Volistad, and to my surprise, I found him watching me.

He wasn’t doing or saying anything untoward, but the way he looked at me abruptly reminded me that I was standing naked as the day I was born in a secluded, secret pool with a naked man. A beautiful naked man. A black cloud of shame feathered its way over my brain as I remembered my last moments with Barbas before… before he had… I turned away, trying not to do so in a way that would hurt Volistad, but knowing that it would anyway.

“It is all right,” the ranger said, gently, in my own language. “It is not time for those things right now. I was simply… what is the word… admiring your beauty.”

Despite myself, I felt the edges of a grin tugging at the corners of my mouth. “You’re not so bad yourself,” I replied coyly, giving him a very obvious once-over with my eyes.

Volistad cocked his head to the side, unsure, and I realized I had thrown him off a little with my use of slang. He probably wasn't sure if I was complimenting or insulting him when I said, "not so bad." I turned back around, feeling his eyes travel up and down my body. "It's just a saying. It's a way of saying that you're quite pretty yourself by deliberately understating it."

Volistad blinked. “I only understood half of that.”

I laughed again. “Just know that it means you look good.” I blushed, embarrassed, but I wasn’t sure he could actually see that with the odd quality of the light. Besides, he seemed a little too distracted to notice something like blushing.

Volistad smiled then, both with his eyes and his mouth. It was a good look on him, even if his fangs lent the expression a savage aspect. “Joanna, are you sure you aren’t a goddess? Because right now…” He trailed off, self-conscious.

I felt a cold spike of anxiety go through my stomach, and my own smile faltered. I looked away, the heat of the moment suddenly gone. The water felt uncomfortably cold, no longer the refreshing pleasure it had been just a moment before. "I- I guess I'll be one soon, whatever that means." I got out of the water and shivered my way over to my clothes. They were soaked and filthy, and I didn't want to put them back on. "Fuck," I said under my breath. Then I sighed and started dragging the lump of sodden furs over to the pool to wash them.

Volistad got out of the pool as well, and I carefully avoided looking at him. Still, I could see him out of the corner of my eye, and the fact that he was as perfectly muscled as the mythical Adonis did not make the situation easier. Before meeting him, I would not have thought extreme paleness would be attractive in a man, but this was a little different. He looked like Michelangelo had carved him straight from the purest marble. As he walked past me, I looked up, and I was surprised to see that the skin of his back, as well as the outside of his arms and the front of his legs, were mottled with subtle patches of gray that covered him in a pattern of small spots like those of a leopard. I was surprised that I hadn’t noticed it before, but it made sense. He was usually fully clothed, and his face was unmarked by these spots. I supposed it must have been some kind of vestigial camouflage, though I couldn’t imagine Volistad’s people running around on Chalice unclothed and unprotected to utilize this natural advantage. I wondered if that meant that the Erinye were somehow not native to this world. It would fit with what I knew of them. No one could have evolved in this kind of climate, could they? It was warmer down here, underground, but there were too many things that would make life all but impossible here. In any case, though I could not possibly have guessed his origin, I marveled in Volistad’s beauty. He was an intriguing vision of a man, walking the line between a comfortable familiarity and a fascinating strangeness. I knew that I was very attracted to him, and he had made it clear how he saw me.

But the throwaway comment about me being a goddess was frightening, on a base level. I couldn’t even consider sex- I was going to change, very soon. I was going to be changed permanently and intimately. What would that entail? What would it cost me? Would I even be myself anymore? I wanted to sit and discuss it with Barbas, in our cabin by the lake in the midst of the peaceful, green wood. But he was forever lost to me. He had- or at least something that looked and sounded like him had- tried to kill me. He had damn nearly succeeded. It hurt, now that I had a moment to think about it. I had trusted him, even after our short time together, and that security had been shattered. I hadn't trusted someone like that in a very long time, and the one I had trusted had broken me and left me to die. And I was seeking an ancient, frightening power, so that I could change into someone capable of killing the man I had trusted. Even though he was an AI, I had begun to love him. All of that was rushing through my head, now, and all the sexual chemistry in the world could do nothing before the scourging heat of that pain.

There was a sharp sound of splintering wood, and I looked up to see Volistad, still naked and dripping from the pool, smashing the base of a very large brown mushroom that sprouted up from one of the garden plots. His greathammer swung in a series of precisely aimed arcs, quickly cracking through the stem of the mushroom and tipping it over so that it rested on the side of its broad, smooth cap. With the brisk motions of great practice, he severed the rest of the stalk completely from the cap with the serrated inside edge of one of his climbing axes. He then split the woody stalk into several chunks and began making a pile of them.

I got up, leaving my filthy clothes at the edge of the pool, and crossed over to him. “What are you doing?”

"I'm making a fire," he said simply, his voice just as warm and amiable as before. I felt a silly sort of relief that he didn't seem put off by my sudden switch in mood. Immediately, I felt a little irritated at myself for feeling apologetic. He had made an advance; I had been put off and turned him down. I didn't need to be sorry about that. Still, his apparent lack of anger was heartening. It meant he was a better person than many I had dealt with over the years.

“That’s a good idea,” I said. “Then our clothes can dry.”

“That’s what I thought too.” Volistad piled the stalks of the mushroom into a little pyramid, and then lifted a small rock that I hadn’t seen in his hand. He switched from Pan-American into Erin-Vulur and said, “This is the yetavota. This part," he said, gesturing to the cap, "is not very tasty. But if you are out of food, you can cook pieces of it over a fire, and they will keep you going. You usually find them growing on the sides of deep caves, if you find yourself near the stone of a mountain."

“The stalks,” he said, indicating the little pyramid. “Burn for a long time, and produce little smoke.” He flicked the dark claw of his forefinger hard against the little stone in his palm, and a few sparks spewed out over the pile of stalks. None of them caught. He harvested some of the thin, gill-like structures from the inside of the cap, and brushed the greenish dust of the mushroom’s spores off of the handful of crumbly mushroom flesh in his hand. He piled this kindling in the heart of his pyramid, and then flicked a stream of sparks into it. These caught, and a small, fragile orange glow began to issue from beneath the pyramid. Volistad bent low and blew gently on it, and after a few minutes, small tongues of flame began to lick at the edges of the piled chunks of stalk. He looked over his shoulder at me and smiled with his eyes, clearly pleased with himself.

I returned the smile in the manner of his people, a little of my uneasiness swept aside by the simple joy on his face at a job well done. “I should learn these things,” I said with my limited Erin-Vulur vocabulary. “I’m going to be here for a long time. Probably forever.”

Volistad looked up from his fire, which was now going strong. “That wouldn’t be so bad, would it?”

I looked at him, really looked at him then, taking in his easy self-assuredness, the nonchalance with which he tended to his tasks, utterly unconcerned with his nakedness. I thought of the vicious, cruel cold of the planet, and of the raw violence that was all I had experienced from his society. But then I thought about how it had felt to fight alongside him, his sister, and Thukkar- how they had thrown themselves into the fight with the minotaur without a second thought, without even knowing who I was. I remembered the ten days of travel, and the easy companionship we had shared, none of us affected by the fact that just a short time ago, two of them had been actively attempting to kill me. It had been a good time. Not an easy time, not a comfortable time, but a good time. "I think I could, Volistad. With friends like you and Nissi and Thukkar, I think I could grow to like this place."

Volistad smiled with his eyes and simply said, “Good.”

With the fire going, we washed our clothes and laid them out to dry. We roasted some thick slices of the mushroom cap and hunted through the garden for some fruit, of which there was a surprising abundance. After we had eaten, we sat together by the fire, almost intimately close, and I was very aware of where our hips touched each other- even if I pretended not to notice or care. Volistad carefully tended to his armor and his impressive array of weapons, his movements almost meditative in their rote precision. Somewhat less smoothly, I cleaned all of the muck from my new sword, and I was surprised to notice that the leather of the hilt was unstained, and seemed ultimately unaffected by its submersion. Likewise, the blade seemed as perfect and new as it had when I had picked up the sword, and I wondered what power or property could bring a weapon so close to being completely impervious.

When we finished our work, we just sat together by the fire, barely touching, neither of us speaking. We just sat and basked in the warmth until the heat and the fullness of our bellies caused us to drift off to sleep. And for the first time in ten days, I slept well, despite the stone floor, despite all that had happened. For just a little while, I was completely at peace.

* * *

Chapter Sixteen

Godmaker

Volistad

When I woke up, Thukkar and Nissikul had joined Joanna and me at our camp. The fire was little more than ash, but the air was still fairly comfortable. I sat up carefully, taking my now dry pack, which was still empty, and replacing my arm under Joanna's head with it so that she didn't wake. She looked very peaceful there, curled up on the stone beside me and sleeping soundly. She seemed so small and fragile in sleep, and it seemed impossible that this was the same woman who had directly challenged one of the Eater's Children with nothing but a spear, and who had carried my unconscious body up a ladder and saved my life. How could so much strength of body and will be contained in such an unassuming frame?

I looked up from Joanna and met the eyes of Nissikul, who was sitting cross-legged across the fire from me, running through a series of stretching exercises with her remaining arm. We matched stares for a moment, and I resisted the urge to look away, even as I felt the subtle crawling sensation at the corners of my mind that meant she was reading the psychic leavings of my thoughts. Eventually, she smiled; narrowing her eyes to happy slits of liquid black, and she cocked her head to the side, gesturing to the sleeping Joanna with a twitch of her chin. I didn’t look away. It would tickle her to no end if I showed any embarrassment about whatever she had gleaned from the edges of my mind about the events of the previous night. I knew that she couldn’t actually read my mind directly, but what she could draw from me could be more than enough for her to seem eerily prescient. After a minute, she commented quietly, “Be careful, big brother. She’s walking wounded.”

I tilted my head to one side in question, not daring to speak for fear of waking her. Nissikul continued, speaking carefully. “She’s grieving, Vol. Can’t you see it? She’s lost everything, and just looking at her, I don’t think this was her first time.” She stopped, musing, but did not speak right away. We sat in silence, and I turned those words over in my mind, again and again. Nissikul huffed out a short sigh, then continued, her expression pained. “I can see that you care about her. And I understand why. She’s a remarkable woman: strong, brave, and dedicated. But she’s hiding something, brother. She seems small and frail, but she fights like one of us. She doesn’t have claws, her teeth are flat as a vulyak’s, and her senses are pitifully limited- but sometimes when I meet her eyes, I’m not sure which one of us is the more dangerous predator.” She stood, and even dressed in a tattered collection of rags, she somehow maintained her instinctive poise. Even exhausted and worn thin as we all were, my sister still looked the part of the priestess mage. “I’m not telling you that you shouldn’t love her. But I want you to keep your eyes open, Volistad.” Without waiting for my response, she turned on her heel and joined Thukkar in harvesting breakfast from the magnificent garden that surrounded us.

I looked back down at Joanna, who was just starting to stir. She didn't look like a predator. Palamun knew, she didn't even look dangerous, not curled up on the stone as she was. But I would be a fool to disregard Nissi's warnings. Joanna had already proven to be much more than she had initially seemed. It was not far-fetched to wonder what other hidden depths lay behind those liquid brown eyes. I suddenly felt a powerful impulse to run my fingers over her smooth scalp, and my hand was halfway to her head when I stopped myself. Nissi was right. Joanna was grieving, and it wouldn't be right for me to push this. God or not, she was a person, with feelings not so different than my own. If I really cared about her- and I did- I would give her a little space and let her heal from the wound she had suffered in her heart and soul.

I moved to stand, and the claws of one of my bare feet scuffed against the stone. Joanna snapped awake, her arm flying up to smack my still-outstretched hand away from her. Her eyes snapped open, and I froze. Those were not the same eyes I had gazed into last night. They were not warm with inner light- they were empty and flat, and something deep inside them writhed with unspoken fury. Her face was as stone. She didn't move, didn't say or do anything. But the threat in that stare was unmistakable. I felt the beginnings of an instinctive growl tickling at the back of my throat, and my body tensed, ready to fend off the impending attack. Then Joanna blinked and sat up, yawning sleepily. "Hello, Vol," she said around the yawn, speaking in her people's language. "How did you sleep?" Her eyes had resumed their usual warm, friendly state, and she didn't seem to know that anything had happened. She frowned, noticing the look on my face. "What's wrong?"

I shook my head and finished standing. “Nothing.” I turned and walked over to where we had laid out our clothes to dry. “I’m just ready for this journey to be over.”

Joanna seemed to notice her own nakedness then, and she stood, making little abortive motions as she instinctively tried to cover herself with her arms. After a moment, she seemed to come to terms with the ridiculousness of such an attempt, and she stopped, instead standing and joining me in sorting through our spread-out clothing.

By the time we finished dressing and collecting our gear, Nissikul and Thukkar came back over to us, bearing an assortment of fruits and edible fungi, piled in the center of Thukkar's ragged cloak. We chatted companionably through the meal, all of us pretending we weren't increasingly anxious as to what fresh horrors awaited us beyond this room. Nissi and Thukkar recounted their passage through a room filled with various traps, each one of them poisoned. It was clear that someone didn't want this place disturbed. That made sense if this temple was somehow directly connected to Ravanur. This place was sacred to our people, and we already felt like interlopers for trespassing upon holy ground. That this place had been strewn with traps was not very surprising, considering how thoroughly it had been sealed away beneath the ice. No one was supposed to set foot in Ravanur's temple ever again. But here we were.

When we finished our meal, we once again took up our packs and set off toward the wall of the chamber that Joanna thought was the right one. Upon arriving, we were surprised to see that the wall was solid. There was no sign of a door, no cracks, no latch, nothing. We circled the garden cave twice and found no secret way forward in any direction. Returning to the cave wall, we tried everything we could think of to effect change. Nissi summoned up what dregs of power she could access under this much stone, but to no avail. Thukkar and I tried our hammers on the craggy stone, but that did little more than create a pile of rock shards at our feet. Finally, Joanna sighed and placed a hand flat against the wall. Nothing happened.

Just as I was about to suggest that we try backtracking, Joanna abruptly shuddered and fell hard against the wall, groaning through gritted teeth as she gripped it as if her life depended on it. The air grew thick around us, buzzing with invisible energy as if a great surface storm were coming to life all around us. Still leaning against the featureless wall, Joanna twisted one arm and reached into her ranger's pack, withdrawing a familiar dense, black shape that I recognized immediately. It was the heart of a burug; the strange metal device found within every single one of the insectoid predators. It looked like an oversized Erinye heart, and as I watched, it began to beat in her hand. Each wriggling, writhing movement of the heart spewed little jets of black powder into the increasingly humid air around us, and as we watched, the wall began to melt away, dissolving like a liquid into a new shape. I met Nissikul's eyes, and to my surprise, she didn't seem shocked by this new development. Her eyes were wide, and she was clearly terrified, but behind the terror, I could see something else in her face. Recognition.

The temperature in the garden began to drop, rapidly, and despite the fact that we were encased in solid stone, I thought I could feel a breeze whispering through the cavern behind us. No longer able to brace herself against the wall, Joanna fell forward to her knees, writhing in pain. I stepped forward to help her stand, but Nissikul stopped me with a hand. "No. This is how it begins. If you interfere, you will surely die."

I froze, horrified, and waiting for Nissi to tell me more. Her mouth firmed into a grim line, however, and she would say no more. I looked to Thukkar for support, but he was completely stricken with mingled awe and fear, and he wouldn't look away from the spectacle unfolding before him- even as he took slow, careful steps back away from Joanna.

The wall that had stood before us was now gone, and in its place was the front of a great mausoleum, its massive, carved face supported by twisting pillars of stone that stretched all the way to the floor of the cavern like elongated stalactites. Hundreds of scenes from the High Epic were carved into the structure’s surface, each of them rendered in exquisite detail. Steps swept up from where Joanna writhed, leading to an array of open archways into darkness. Her face still twisted in agony, Joanna planted one foot on the stone and stood slowly, shakily, throwing her shoulders back in defiance and screaming a challenge up at the dark tomb.

A figure began to coalesce from the air before her, and without hesitation, Joanna drew out her bright, curved sword, aiming the tip at the emerging head. The being seemed to have been shaped from lightning, and its broad, masculine frame was clothed in dark shrouds of storm cloud. It crossed its monstrous forearms over its chest and regarded Joanna silently, its face enigmatic. A tense moment stretched, in which Thukkar, Nissi and I didn’t dare move. “What is that?” I whispered to my sister.

Nissikul laughed, the sound high and hysterical. “He is the Herald of Ravanur, the greatest of her servants! Beware, brother, for you look upon the Great North Wind!” I felt the blood drain from my face, and it was all I could do to keep to my feet. The Great North Wind was the bringer of the storms, the patron spirit of the Stormcallers, and one of the most feared beings in all of my people’s lore. It was he that forever scoured the surface of Ravanur’s frozen skin, devouring the unwary and destroying any servant of the Dark Ones that dared to attempt a rescue of its imprisoned masters. The regular storms were bad enough, but when one came howling down from the north, even the hardiest of the Erin-Vulur knew to hide far beneath the ice. Anyone caught out in such a terrible tempest would be flayed to the bone, and their bones would be ground to dust and spread across half of Ravanur- anyone but a Stormcaller. And now Joanna was standing before him in abject defiance, challenging him with the point of her sword. She looked so frail before such majesty and overwhelming power, but she did not falter. She met the glowing ember stare of the Great North Wind and dared him to move. The terrible spirit of the storm watched her for a moment that seemed to last an eternity. Then, he threw back his head and laughed, and I was deafened by cascading thunder, blinded by the flashing radiance of his seething skin.

When I could see again, and my hearing returned to me, I looked up to see the Great North Wind speaking quietly to Joanna, a hand resting casually on her shoulder as if they were old friends. I could not make out the words, but whatever passed between them seemed to shake Joanna to her core. Her shoulders slumped, and her sword dangled from her grasp, the tip dragging against the smooth stone beneath her feet. “What is happening?” I asked, but Nissikul shook her head. Wait, her face said. So I waited. They spoke for just a little while longer, and then the demigod straightened up. His burning eyes shaped a sad smile as he regarded Joanna with… was that sympathy? As abruptly as he had come, the Great North Wind disappeared, unraveling into spiraling patterns of light and twisting remnants of spun cloud.

I dashed over to her, my heart pounding in my chest. “What was that?” I blurted, forgetting to switch to her language. “Are you alright?”

Joanna turned toward me; her face turned blank and expressionless as the stone beneath her feet. "I'm fine," she said in my tongue, but as she spoke, a thin dribble of blood eked from one of her nostrils and traced a red line down to her mouth. "We've done it. We've been allowed into the temple. Come on, let's have this done."

I wanted to push, to bombard her with questions, to look her over for damage myself, but I reined in my worry. She was a god, or at least she was about to become one. Where she was going, what was happening- it was the purview of the gods, not of mortals like me, or even exalted mortals like my sister. "Lead on," I said simply. "I'm with you to the end."

Joanna’s face crumpled, and for the barest of instants, she wasn’t herself, wasn’t the woman I had fought to find and protect. She wasn’t even the dead-eyed thing I had seen by the remains of last night’s fire. She was a little girl, a child, battered and terrified. She looked up at me with eyes wet with the threat of tears and said, in her own language, “Do you promise?”

I didn’t know what she meant, but faced by the raw anguish in her eyes, I agreed without hesitation. “I promise, Joanna.”

The mask reformed as the others came up from behind and joined us, and Joanna was once again hard, confident, and self-assured. “Then let’s finish this,” she said in the tongue of the Erin-Vulur. “I will need all of you for what is to come.”

* * *

Joanna

We climbed the temple steps with the thick scent of ozone from the passing of the lightning god thick in our noses. The others were silent, except for the occasional pained grunt from Thukkar as he negotiated the steep stone staircase. I kept my face empty of expression, not wanting to reveal the turmoil within me to my companions- least of all to Volistad. My mask had slipped, but he didn’t know. He couldn’t know.

We reached the top, passing between the great stalactite pillars, and before us were wide portals into darkness, separated only by slim pillars to turn the open space into a chain of doors. The effect reminded me of old pictures of the Coliseum in pre-war Greece. I wondered if there were lions waiting in the dark to devour me. It wouldn't be exactly what the burning man of storms had told me, but it might fit the spirit of the situation.

As we approached the doors, light blossomed, deep within the dark, quickly filling the space within with a cold, stark glow. I couldn’t tell from where the illumination grew. It lit everything clearly, but it cast no shadows on the stone beneath my feet. This lent a surreal aspect to everything around me. I felt like I was walking in a dream.

The center of the room was dominated by a massive stone altar. Like the rest of the temple, it had been apparently shaped from a single piece of stone, but it was not pristine and unstained. Dark stains turned the whole upper face of the perfect rectangular block almost black. I didn’t want to guess what those stains were from- though I could guess. The clawed fingers of the ritual tool we had seen in the temple’s atrium snapped shut in my mind. I swallowed hard. There was no way out of this, but to go through it. I drew in a deep breath and mustered my confidence. Then, in the most commanding tone I could muster, I shouted “RAVANUR!”

The presence of the Erinye god was immediately apparent. The temperature of the air around us dropped, plummeting by at least thirty degrees Celsius in a few seconds. Even with my restored "blessing," I felt her arrival in the instant ripple of gooseflesh that rippled up both of my arms. There was no flash of light, no blast of thunder, no other display of overt power. One moment, there were three people standing before the great, stained altar. Then there were four.

I turned and met the eyes of the Great Mother of the Erinye, even as my three companions immediately prostrated themselves before her. She was just as I had seen her in my dreams, lithe and catlike and hauntingly beautiful. She grinned, baring a predator’s fangs, and spoke in Pan-American, her tone almost loving. “Joanna. My chosen. You survived the trip here.”

I didn't return the warmth that she displayed. "No thanks to you, dead god. Your temple nearly killed us. Why in the hell do you have a pool full of burug back there? And would it have killed you to tell me about the traps?” Though I knew my companions could not understand all of my words, they definitely took my meaning. Nissikul, in particular, seemed paralyzed with shock at my forwardness and disrespect.

Ravanur laughed, making the same coughing, jaguar's growl that I had heard from Volistad. "I didn't put the traps there, my child. Those were the handiwork of my ancient worshippers before this place was lost. It would have been a disservice to their memory for me to interfere with the remnants of their last service to me."

I snorted. “How considerate of you.”

"Yes, well," Ravanur said diffidently. "Even a god can be sentimental if she wishes to be." She looked down at my companions as if noticing them for the first time. "But that doesn't mean that I have time for undue silliness. Get up, all of you. I have never required obeisance from the Erinye; that was an invention of your idiot priests."

Evidently, though I heard Ravanur speaking in my language, my friends also understood her perfectly. They reacted to her rebuke like they had been slapped. They rose awkwardly, trying simultaneously to stand confidently and show deference to their god. Nissikul looked like her face was going to twitch right off of her head and slither away in agitation. Thukkar seemed to be trying not to laugh or, alternately, vomit. Volistad apparently had no idea what to do with his hands. I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation.

I turned back to Ravanur. “I spoke to your servant. He told me what this would entail. He told me about-”

Ravanur raised a hand, cutting me off. "He might have told you about the ritual, but he did not tell you about the stakes. If you are willing, I would reveal the full extent of the war in which you are about to find yourselves." She stepped forward and placed a hand on my head. Her touch was cool and strangely soothing, as if she was my long forgotten mother calming her anxious child. "To that end, and to assist in the duties you will be assuming, I am going to give you knowledge of the Erinye language. It's really my language, and it's all that remains of my people. Use it well." The now familiar sensation of a red-hot poker stabbing into my brain exploded through my skull, and I staggered. Volistad was beside me in a second, supporting me with a firm hand on my upper arm. As quickly as it had come, the pain faded, and I glared up at the Erinye god, biting back a curse.

Ravanur appeared unconcerned with my discomfort, but that didn't surprise me. She was a god, supposedly a dead one, and she seemed to have little patience for custom or courtesy. "Now all of you, listen," she said. "All of you, even you,” she pointed at Nissikul, “all of you are mortal. Without intervention, you will all die someday.” She shrugged one shoulder. “I was once like you. All of my people were once like you. We lived for nearly a hundred years, and then we died. Much like you and your people, we feared death and sought for ways to cheat it. For many centuries we searched for a solution to the disease of mortality. And then, one day...” She smiled again, both with her eyes and her mouth full of fangs. “One day we found it. We found the solution.”

Nissikul cut in, apparently unable to contain herself. “But Great Mother, surely this isn’t true! You’ve always been here, always protected the Erinye! How could you ever have been… like us?”

Ravanur sighed. “You Erinye are a young people, far younger than you believe. I was already ancient when your people first looked upon this world, before it was frozen, when it was still a paradise for the lost and orphaned remnants of a thousand worlds. And long before that, long before Joanna’s people, your cousins, came down from the trees, I was just another woman, one among billions. We were great and mighty and still we feared the final oblivion. We sought to defeat it.”

“And you did?” I prompted. “You beat death?”

"Oh yes. We defeated death by the strength of our will and the sharpness of our minds."

Ravanur grimaced. "It was our victory over death that started it all. We discovered a process, a way to take a person's mind out of their body. At first, it was viewed as a way to avoid the inevitable specter of death. A dying person's mind would be stored, and then a new body would be made, a perfect new body, young and healthy and whole. We would then put the mind of the dying in the new body, and they would begin again, start anew, and get to enjoy the life they had left behind through new eyes. At first, it was nothing short of miraculous."

Volistad cut in. “How could such power be anything less than wonderful?” He gestured to Nissikul. “If our parents could have known immortality, what more might they have taught us?” He pointed to Thukkar. “How great a warrior and servant of the people could he be if there was no threat of death?”

Ravanur’s voice turned wry. “Like you, noble Volistad, we were so very blind to the danger. We couldn’t look up and see the path before us, even if that path had been laid out clearly for us to see.

Nissikul’s face was drawn in horror. Though the rest of us were waiting to hear more, it was clear that she had begun to grasp something that we had not. She looked up at her god, tears gathering beneath her fathomless eyes, looking for the entire world like a child that had seen her father cry for the first time. For all of her strength and arcane power, Nissikul had been something of an innocent. And that blissful naivety had just been shattered. I watched the shards of her faith crumble and fall away in the face of whatever dark secret she had guessed at, and I winced. It was horrible, seeing your heroes fall. How much worse was it to see your gods do the same? Nissi’s mouth moved, but no sound came out. Even so, I could see the words that her lips shaped, over and over. “No. No. No.”

"Yes," Ravanur said sadly. Despite her immaterial nature, I thought I could hear tears in her voice. "Some… less-than-ethical people learned that there was a way to enslave multiple minds to one deemed greater. The ‘Overmind,' as it was called, was smarter than any one person. This Overmind could predict the future to some extent, and it even displayed a measure of control over the physical world. Because we had already learned how to put a mind into a new physical body, it became possible to put this new Overmind in its own brain- provided the body contained enough storage."

I understood where this was going. “And when your people realized you could make psychic supermen, it became an arms race.”

Ravanur laughed. "Worse. It became a fad. A status symbol. All the elite were Overminds. The ethical questions went by the wayside. No one asked where the slave minds came from. At first, they were criminals, death-row inmates with their identities psychologically bombarded out of them with a combination of chemicals and brainwashing. Later, when the prisons were empty, the new source was the homeless. When there were no more of those…"

“Whichever class or race that the elites could scapegoat,” I guessed.

"Yes," Ravanur laughed grimly, a cruel, hateful sound that sent chills rippling down my spine.

With a dawning horror like that, that wracked his sister, Volistad began to recite, his mouth moving as if against his will. “A man without limits is a god,” he intoned. “A god answers to no one but a greater god.” The words from the monolith. The Erinye "High Epic." I wondered if they had ever stopped to consider what those words really meant before now.

Ravanur continued her horrible recounting. The words spilled from her, faster and faster, and I wondered how long it had been since she had spoken to anyone about this. “The highest of the high, the most elite of the elite- they were in constant competition. The more minds made up a single Overmind, the better they were, the higher ranked they became in the unspoken hierarchy. The greatest and most terrible among them were nations unto themselves- Overminds composed of millions of souls, harvested at gunpoint before the armies of the lesser gods in their pantheon. Our home world went from a population of over twenty-billion to one of only a few hundred-thousand- in just a couple of centuries. We accomplished incredible things in that time, amazing technologies, advancements in physics, medicine, you name it. But it was all at the price of billions of dead slaves, trapped in always expanding shackles of the now immortal Overminds forever. The Elite soon abandoned bodies of meat and bone, and instead took up synthetic simulacra- bodies fashioned to look like their old castoffs, but with all the limiting meat thrown out. They were near-indestructible storage devices for minds as large as continents, and their powers were terrible and awesome to behold.”

“All gods forever hunger.”

“You ran out of slaves,” said Thukkar grimly, his expression sick. “You wanted more.”

"So we went to the stars," Ravanur confirmed. "We found new stars, new planets, new people. Many of them were much like us, their bodies and minds as much like ours as Joanna's body and mind are much like that of an Erinye. We enslaved them. All of them. We stripped whole planets bare and moved on to the next. Soon, each god- for we had long since abandoned all pretense of humility- contained his or her Overmind in a small, moveable storage device the same size as the moon on which you now stand. Our bodies could move about and do whatever we pleased, empowered by billions- even trillions of minds contained within the dark moon in orbit around whatever world we chose to inhabit. We split up. Claimed worlds in groups of ten or fifteen, and set ourselves up as deities to the primitives we found on other worlds. We weren't content with the extent of our powers, but without all of us on one little planet, the pace of acquisition was less severe. We contented ourselves with being gods to people who couldn't know better, and couldn't defend themselves if they did."

“You were one of them,” I accused.

“Not entirely,” Ravanur replied. “I was a lesser god. One of the people who rounded up the chattel and harvested them in service to a greater one. I was allowed a small tithe of what I took, and I accrued a modest amount of power over twelve-thousand years- enough that perhaps I might have ascended to the ranks of the mighty after another millennium or so of service.”

Nissikul seethed with growing rage, all pretense of deference gone beneath the white fury of betrayal. “Then how did you end up here? Who is imprisoned in this place? Lesser gods? Rebels? Who do you keep here?”

Ravanur laughed again, the sound once again cruel and cold as the moon that bore her name. “No. The gods are here. Most of them, anyway.” Her voice turned regretful again. “Some of us began to have our doubts. I don’t know what changed it all for us- it was not as if we were on the outside. We benefited from this system just as much as the higher gods, but it soured for us somehow. Perhaps that was why we hadn’t ascended at that point. Maybe our consciences were merely atrophied, not dead. I don’t know. But we began to see the horror we wrought on the universe, and we decided that it had to stop.

"We began to work against the greater gods. At first, it was little things, sabotage to their orbiting mind-hives, infecting the stored minds with degenerative viruses that would wait for a time before destroying whole swaths of slave intelligence. They caught on to our efforts eventually, and a very one-sided war began. It was impossible for us to fight them, really, since whenever any one of us was captured, he or she would simply be slaved to whichever Overmind had made the capture, adding to their strength and giving the god in question all of the captive's knowledge and secrets."

“A god is always defeated by hubris.”

"Yes, Ranger. That is correct. We built a storage world, like the others the gods had made. This one was special, though. Instead of allowing the connected god to access its power, this storage world was built to contain and compress anything that reached out to it. Several of us rebel gods connected ourselves to that world, armed with short term defenses against the containment process. Then those brave bastards went out and wreaked havoc across the higher gods little domains. They were all captured and assimilated, and when the higher gods took them, they were networked to the prison world- just in time for the temporary protections placed within newly consumed lesser gods to dissolve into nothing. The great gods were immediately ripped away from their bodies and domains, left to fall dead in front of all of their worshippers. They were bundled away, each one, into the heart of our prison, and there they were compressed like any other form of data, into a form of storage that prevented them from affecting the world outside. They were effectively dead."

“But you didn’t get them all.” It wasn’t a question. I had already guessed the answer.

“No, we didn’t. So we came to them. We moved our great prison around to each of the holdout systems, and broadcast our location, and each time the remaining local gods would attack, confident in their own power and blinded by their own towering egos. And so we harvested them all, the same way we had harvested the slaves over so long. It took fifty-thousand years to harvest them all. Some probably escaped and went dark to avoid us. But most of them, most of what remained of my people, most of them were not dead- or as close to death as we could make them.” Ravanur gave that cold, cruel laugh again, and I shuddered.

“Why didn’t you just destroy them,” Thukkar demanded. “Why didn’t you just erase them from the universe?”

"It's not that simple," Ravanur answered, but she didn't elaborate further. "Rest assured; this is as close to dead as one of them gets."

“One of you, you mean,” spat Nissikul.

“No, one of them,” Ravanur corrected. “Those of us rebels that survived all fifty-thousand years of war- we divested ourselves of our slave minds, the slave souls. We found worlds similar to ours, where people much like us were just developing.” She looked over at me. “We even found yours.”

“Earth?” I blurted, horrified. “Did you do something us? Did you do something to humans?”

“No.” Ravanur smiled grimly. “No, we left the dominant people we found alone, and your people were well on their way to driving all other variants of human to extinction. So we saved a group of them- the group most likely to die first. They were more like us. They were meat-eaters, consummate hunters, and they were simply outnumbered by your people and all the other omnivores of your world. We brought all of these orphaned people to our world, and we built a place for them to live.” My companions were silent at this revelation. I imagined that the concept was too big to quickly come to terms with. The Erinye were originally from Earth. They were, in a way, cousins to the human race. We weren’t so different from each other after all.

I waved a hand above my head, to indicate the unseen glacier above my head. "Real lovely place you built here."

“It was not always cold here. We released our slave souls into the world, some of them inhabiting the feeble-minded or brain-damaged among these various people and making them somewhat whole again. But most of the slave-minds had been data in a machine for too long. They were used to being part of a machine, cogs in an engine. So we put them into nanite swarms, each of them given a specific purpose- to regulate the weather, to eliminate disease, and so on- and set free into the world like mechanical spirits. The other former lesser gods and I, we just tried to blend in with the people, shepherd them, and help them make their own way together as a family of outcasts. For a few hundred years, it worked.”

"It didn't last," I guessed. "Just like the biblical Garden of Eden."

“No,” Ravanur answered. “It didn’t last. The gods we had killed- they found ways to seep out of their tombs, just a little bit at a time. I think they may have co-opted some of the former slave minds, using their nanite swarms to appear in apparitions or miracles to the people of this place.”

“They staged a jailbreak,” I guessed.

"They tried." Ravanur's voice turned cruel again. "They made a broadcast tower and sent a great signal into space, calling for any remaining gods to come and rescue them. They polluted many of the races we had brought here to save, and turned them into horrifying abominations which they used to try to kill us all and release themselves. You see, they no longer cared about having bodies. A nanite swarm would do just fine, because they could reshape the world unseen, and perhaps regain their former glory by subtle means- only claiming new bodies when the time was right. My fellow rebel gods and I- most of us died crushing the insurrection. It was the Erinye- the carnivores from your planet- that proved our staunchest supporters. We found ways to empower some of them. I would embed my warriors with a nanite control device and factory. Then I would bind them to a single ‘weather spirit.' They would use these great powers to an incredible effect- and I am certain that without them, the great gods would have been freed."

“You’re talking about us,” Nissikul whispered, her anger fading into something like shocked awe. “You’re talking about the Stormcallers.”

"Just so." Ravanur's voice bore an undeniable note of satisfaction. "Unfortunately, between us and the great dead gods, the ecosystem we established here was ravaged. We had to adapt. And we had to make this place impossible to find."

“You froze the planet,” I said, understanding.

“We placed it in the coldest orbit we could find. We coated the whole thing in thick glacier and made this place the kind of cold that would kill anyone who came here unprepared. The people we moved underground, to places where the cold was not so punishing. We taught them how to survive and set up Stormcallers among all of the remaining people to keep their tribes safe and warm. But something had to be done to make sure this didn’t happen again.” Ravanur paused, then sighed and continued. “Only a god named Palamun and I remained of the old rebels.”

“The Great Father?” Volistad blurted, unable to contain himself. “Palamun was one of you?”

“Ravanur laughed again. “Was, and is. The old goat is still around here somewhere, and unless I missed my guess,” she pointed to Volistad. “Unless I missed my guess, Palamun has already left his mark on you.” Volistad blinked and looked down at himself, suddenly clutching at his heart. He didn’t say anything else.

Ravanur continued. “There was a process we had devised, a now ancient process like the one we had used to enslave so many people so many years ago. Palamun harvested me, but this time, he made me the Overmind. He trapped me in a tomb of my own, separate from the mass of old dead gods- but he enslaved them all to me. I was heavily restricted, heavily bound, shackled down to every iota of thought. I could not act- except to defend this prison. I could not interact with the old gods, except to crush them back into line, keep them dead. I became the most powerful god my people ever made- but I was still made a slave.”

“The cold is a part of it. It keeps the place hidden from any gods we might have missed, and it keeps the old ones buried. They can't affect plants and animals, because there are none for them to reach. Or at least mostly. Every few hundred years, I release a degenerative virus into the prison, so that anything they touch in the outside world tears itself apart from the inside. It doesn't stop the dead gods from trying, though."

“The only god you can trust is a dead one,” Thukkar whispered. “Like the high epic says. We can only trust you because you are dead and chained.”

“And you want to make Joanna like you?” Volistad hissed. “You want to make her into another god, after all you’ve just told us?”

“How many people have to die for that to happen?” I added, the possibilities sickening me. “I won’t murder innocents for you. I won’t consume the minds of slaves, no matter what your intentions are.”

"Of course not." Ravanur's voice then took on an odd tone, one that I couldn't place. "There will only be one sacrifice, and the balance will be restored." She was silent for a moment, but when she spoke again, her voice carried all the weight of holy scripture. "The only god you can trust is one who has passed through the scourge of death. The true servant, the true savior of the people, has to die before she can live again."

I felt a chill grip my heart, like icy fingers in my chest. “So the North Wind was right, you are going to kill me?”

“No,” Ravanur said grimly. She nodded to my companions. “One of them will.”

* * *

Volistad

"We will do no such thing!" I snapped, not even bothering with a hint of deference. At this point, I was having a hard time seeing the difference between our "Great Mother" and the Dark Ones that she claimed to imprison. "Come, everyone, we're leaving. I've heard enough of this nonsense."

Ravanur addressed Joanna as if I hadn't spoken at all. "Think back to your history, girl. Have you heard of Ba'al? What about Moloch? Or Ishtar? Or Quetzalcoatl?" By the way that Joanna's eyes widened, she had heard these names before. "The darkest gods of your myths are but time distorted memories of the beings I have locked away here. As cruel and vile as those gods I named are in your legends, the very real beings that inspired such monsters are a whole world of worse. And they are the least of those I have imprisoned here. If you do not do this, if you do not do what is necessary, they and their betters will be unleashed unto an unsuspecting universe. And everything you love and care about will die.”

Joanna laughed, bitterly. “Everything I love and care about is already dead, or long lost. I already told you I would do it.”

“Joanna!” I pleaded. "You don't have to do this! This is madness! Our gods were a lie; they're all just people who turned themselves into monsters! You can't let this- this thing convince you to die!”

Joanna turned to me, a sad half-smile twisting her lips. She reached out with one hand and touched my face, gently. "Volistad, it has been wonderful to know you. I don't know what will happen when I take this step; I don't know if I'll really be myself, even if this works."

“It will work,” Nissikul said quietly.

“What?” I turned to her. Nissi looked drained, her face drawn and exhausted. “How do you know it will work?”

“Vol,” her tone was gentle. “The secrets of my order include how we are made. Unless I’m completely mistaken, I think Joanna is about to go through something similar.”

Ravanur nodded. “It is a ritual that we created when we made the first Stormcallers. They were very powerful, great in strength, greater even than one as talented as you, child. What I will do here, what I will make of her will be something even greater than they, the first of your order.”

Nissi grimaced. “Then we need a dagger. A ritual ketika.”

"Not a ketika," Ravanur interjected. "No simple knife for this."

I ignored Ravanur, focusing on my sister. "No, Nissi, we're not doing this! How can we trust anything she says? How can-"

“Volistad,” Joanna said, simply. “You promised to stand with me until the end. Please. I’m going through with this, and I need someone to help me.” She met my eyes.

She was just as beautiful as the day I had first seen her face through the crystal face of her armor. Her eyes were wide and inviting, and I thought I could stare into them forever. So strong, so determined. How could I stand against her when she had chosen her way forward? How could I deny her will when she had already made the decision to be the sacrifice to protect the people? My people? “If it doesn’t work, you will be gone forever,” I pleaded, my voice cracking as a lump rose in my throat.

Joanna gave me that sad smile again. "Then just in case I don't come back, I had better do this first." She stepped into me, suddenly, pressing her body against mine. Even through my armor, the contact with her was electrifying, and I felt my magickal heart speed up as my blood rose. Her scent was intoxicating, sweet and heady, and I was so dazed by her sudden proximity that I was caught completely off guard when she pressed her lips against mine and kissed me. I had kissed and been kissed before, but never like this. She came at me hungrily, biting my lower lip, her tongue flicking into my mouth and tasting me with ravenous curiosity. My arms closed around her, and I returned the kiss in kind. For a moment, the world vanished around us. I didn't feel the cold, or the weariness of such a long and hard journey. I forgot my fear for Joanna for just a moment and reveled in her passion, her taste, her heat.

After a minute we broke apart, breathing hard. Joanna smiled up at me, her tanned cheeks rosy, her eyes bright with joy. “That’s what I needed,” she said, satisfied. “I’ll see you on the other side, ranger.”

Before I could even stop to think about it, I blurted, “I’ll do it.”

“What?” said Nissi, who was caught halfway between a pleased smile and a pained grimace.

“Let me bear the knife. Someone has to do it, and I promised to see this through. I’ll do it.” I glared at Ravanur. “But not for you ‘Great Mother’. I’ll do it for her.”

Ravanur was unconcerned. “Fair enough.” She gestured to the bloody altar. “We have little time. Chosen one, remove your garments.”

Joanna didn’t hesitate, shucking off her tattered furs and tossing them aside, once again revealing her tight, muscled body. She handed her curved sword to me with a serious expression. “Hold on to this, ranger. I’m going to need this before long.” Then, without waiting for a command from Ravanur, she clambered up onto the blood-stained altar and lay down.

She looked cold. Her skin was stippled with gooseflesh, and her nipples stood out hard against her breasts. Her breathing was slow and even. Somehow, even knowing what was coming, she was calm.

“Bring me the burug heart from her bag," Ravanur ordered, and Thukkar, who had been standing as if transfixed, leaped to obey. He rummaged through the discarded furs and found her pack, then withdrew the black heart and held it out to the Great Mother.

Ravanur took the burug and closed her eyes, and as we watched it began to change. It shrank, staying mostly the same shape but shriveling in on itself until it was the right size to fit in the chest of an Erinye. It was the right size to fit in the chest of one who was very much like an Erinye, as well. I suddenly understood what was happening, but though my stomach lurched with revulsion, I held it together. There was no turning back now. I had promised.

Nissi drew out something from within her robes, and I recognized it immediately. It was the kazakatta from the atrium of the temple, and its razor claws glittered menacingly in the strange light of Ravanur’s sanctum. Meeting my eyes with an expression of faint apology, she proffered the handle of the vile tool to me, and I took it.

Ravanur stepped up beside me, the now Erinye-sized black heart in her hands. “Do it quickly, Volistad. I must make the switch before her body fully dies.”

“Is this going to hurt her?” I asked, immediately knowing that my question was ridiculous. “Can’t you do something for the pain?”

“It would be pointless,” Ravanur replied, shaking her head. “The pain is a part of it. But it will pass quickly enough, and she will be better for it. She will be beyond such petty things as pain.”

I blew out a long breath and stepped up to the altar. Joanna smiled up at me, trying to keep a brave face in spite of what she knew was coming. I swallowed hard and gritted my teeth to maintain my composure. If she could be courageous through this, so would I. “I’ll see you on the other side,” I said, repeating her own phrase.

Joanna grinned, as if everything were alright. Her eyes were lit with some dark inner fire as if the whole thing were a grand joke, and immensely amusing to her. “Do it, Vol. I’ll see you in just a little while.”

I placed the claws against Joanna's skin, just beside her breast, where I could feel her heart beating. I took in a deep breath and let it out sharply. Then, before I could think about it any further, I dropped my whole weight down onto the heart-taker. Joanna didn't scream; she just grunted as the spidery fingers of the ritual device plunged into her skin and into her chest. Her eyes flew open wide, and her mouth gaped, but she did not scream. I had to do this quickly. The sooner it was done, the sooner her pain would be over. I squeezed the little trigger in the hilt of the kazakatta. There was a series of sharp cracking sounds inside Joanna's chest as the fingers snapped closed, severing arteries and breaking ribs. Joanna bucked, hard, groaning, her eyes filling with tears as red showed at her lips. She met my eyes, and her mouth formed the words, do it. I bared my fangs, and with a roar, I tore her heart out of her chest in a spray of bright red.

Ravanur immediately shoved me aside with unexpected strength, sending me staggering back several paces before I tripped and fell heavily. The kazakatta and its grisly prize went skidding from my grasp, and it was all I could do not to throw up at the sight of it.

By the altar, the Great Mother of the Erinye worked quickly, laboring over Joanna's bloody form with deft, precise motions. After a few agonizing seconds, she placed both her hands on Joanna's bloody, torn chest and roared. The sound was huge, greater than the roar of the most ferocious Erinye I had ever heard, greater than the crash of a surface storm. I could feel the raw power of that sound pressing against my ears, and my head felt like it would burst from that horrible pressure. I squeezed my eyes shut and felt terrible winds sweeping through the temple, tearing at me and laying me out flat on the stone. Light burned in even through my eyelids, and I screamed as hurricane rage crashed down all around me. A great, thunderous laughter filled my ears, and I recognized it as the voice of the Great North Wind. The ground shook, the temple shuddered, the North Wind laughed, and Ravanur roared. And then it was over.

I opened my eyes. Ravanur was gone. The temple was dark, again, but I could still see, by the light of a faint luminescence emanating from the top of the altar. I stood, shakily, and beside me rose Nissikul and Thukkar. They looked as terrified as I felt, and I took some comfort in the fact that at least I wasn’t alone in the feeling. Tentatively, we approached the altar, the bluish glow casting us into stark shadow. “Joanna?”

A woman sat up atop the altar, naked and perfect but for a pale, branching scar between her breasts. Thick black hair spilled down over her light brown skin, cascading over her shoulders in luxurious curls that fell almost to her waist. Her face was much the same as it had been before, but there was something new about it, something I couldn’t quite place. Her eyes met mine, and where they had once been brown, they now glowed a dull orange, like embers from last night’s fire. She smiled, and I felt the same longing I had the night before, when I had looked upon her naked in the garden pool. “Volistad,” she said, meeting my eyes with a directness that told me that she knew exactly what I was thinking about. “Would you please fetch my clothes?”

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Awakening

Book 4

Chapter Seventeen

Homecoming for a Queen

Joanna

The main surface entrance to the village of the Erin-Vulur was a scar in the ice, a cavern that had been formed by the very tip of one of the tallest mountains, just barely thrusting up through the ice. According to Volistad, there were many other passages down to the village, most of them unused and locked. We could easily have snuck around to a lesser used tunnel and into the home of the Erin-Vulur, but we had discussed it, and the consensus said otherwise. To defeat Barbas, and whatever horrors he dredged up to kill us, we needed the Erinye tribesmen. All of them. The first step towards accomplishing such a lofty goal was to make an undeniable show of power and authority. And since I was the actual, living, breathing god in the group…

"Are you ready for this?" Though Volistad had crept up beside me in total silence, his presence didn't startle me. One of the fringe benefits of having become a god was that in addition to being utterly impervious to cold, my senses had gotten sharper and finer. Volistad had made no more noise than a whisper of air over a cold glacier, but I had been able to hear the metronome rhythm of his heart. I had been able to hear even the tiny, normally inaudible cracks of the ice beneath his armored feet.

I turned just my head so that my eyes met those of the ranger. “I’m a demigod. I’m much harder to kill, and I have power that will dwarf even that of the Stormcallers.” I grinned at him, showing all my teeth in an expression that, to him, would normally have appeared to be a threat. “Even with all that, Vol, I’m still nervous. Does that seem strange to you?”

Volistad returned my smile with interest- though the fangs that filled his mouth lent him the threatening aspect that I lacked. He matched the smile with his people's own pleased expression, a narrowing of his canted blue on brown eyes into a sliver of amusement. "It is not strange at all," he replied, speaking in the Erinye language. "You are strong now, but you were strong before. You have great power now, but once you made a machine that leashed the fury of a storm to your will. You may not have been a god before, but I dare say that you were closer to divinity than you might have admitted." The ranger gestured out to the open cavern mouth that would lead us, one way or another, to the home of his people. Those people had tried to kill both of us, not so long ago. I was immortal now, but not indestructible. I could still be slain. This could go catastrophically wrong, and if it did, this planet and everyone on it would only be the first destroyed. "Those people are afraid. They are right to be afraid, even if they got the reason for their fear so drastically wrong." He put a hand on my shoulder, careful not to scratch my skin with his exposed claws. "You're nervous because you don't feel much different than you did when we first met. You know yourself to be a god now, but you are not all that much greater than you were before. But take heart, Joanna. You could have done this without the power of Ravanur. How much more successful will you be now that you have taken your rightful place?"

I snorted. “You’re a flatterer, Ranger Volistad.”

Vol rose just as silently as he had come, and with easy, practiced motions, he strung his great bow with its braided steel string. He made it look so easy- as if the bow he wielded didn't boast a draw weight in excess of five-hundred kilograms. He fitted a matching steel arrow to the string and winked a predator's eye at me with a tilt of his head. "It isn't flattery if it is true, Akkandaka." Without another word, he bounded off over the ice and quickly disappeared.

I winced. Akkandaka. Storm Queen, in Erinye. All three of my companions had been calling me that since my ascension, apparently referencing the title of one of the mythical "First Stormcallers." I wasn't sure how I felt about being compared to the legendary figures of the Erin-Vulur religion and history. I was a demigod- and that had been hard enough to accept. I wasn't sure it was entirely healthy to be referred to as one of the great historical founders of Erinye magic and religion. It felt like a massive weight was settled on my shoulders every time one of them said it. Akkandaka. Storm Queen. I felt like an imposter wearing that name. After all, none of it was really magic. It was all ancient technology "sufficiently advanced," to quote Arthur Clarke. Try explaining that to the Erinye at large, I thought. My three companions had been there with me when their own central deity, Ravanur, had told us about the whole divine lie, and they still swore by her name and called me Storm Queen.

A figure appeared in the mouth of the tunnel, swathed in tattered ranger's leathers and a ragged fur cloak, leaning heavily on a blunted iron short spear for a cane. That was Thukkar, the other Erinye ranger in our group. Unlike Volistad, he had not been empowered by a crazy old tech shaman when he had nearly died. Instead, he had been forced to deal with the agonizing reality of his own injury, and he had kept up with all of us nonetheless. He really was amazing in action. I could see why Nissikul, Volistad's sister, liked him. Behind Thukkar, a cluster of fur-clad Erinye appeared, bearing a wide variety of weapons. Among them, I could see the ornate scrimshaw staff that Vol had told me would indicate our chief adversary in all this. Elder Lot, the Master of the Stormcallers- the one who had betrayed Volistad and all but killed him, and the one who had ordered my death. He was only one of several Elder Councilmen, but everything hinged on him. It was he that I had to defeat, if not by words, then by a dramatic and humiliating show of force. The Erinye may have looked much like humans, but they had diverged at a crucial juncture, long before civilization had developed on the third rock from Sol. They were predators- pack hunters, and like any pack of wolves, they responded to displays of dominance. It was almost time. It was time for Nissi's part in all this.

The wind hissed across the ice, scraping up clouds of ice fragments and turning them into a crystalline fog. I could feel the little points touching my face, though they did not sting the way they once would had. I was, regardless of my reservations, Akkandaka. The Storm Queen did not fear cold, ice, or lightning. The storm and this world were now my home. My domain. It would take more than blowing ice to make me flinch. Nissikul emerged from the thickest part of the glittering cloud, looking much as she had the day I had met her- the day she had tried to kill me. She was clad from head to foot in black plate armor, shaped by the strength of her own substantial powers from the witch-ice that was the symbol of Stormcaller power. Her missing arm had been replaced by a replica, made from the same dark ice, and in that hand, she gripped a jet-black great hammer that dribbled lightning in her wake. She strode directly towards Elder Lot, appearing from the fog with all the menace of the grim reaper. She passed Thukkar without a word and stood tall before her former master; her faceless helm tilted to stare down at the frail old mage.

For his part, Elder Lot was remarkably cool and unconcerned. Of course he was. Not even the specter of a Stormcaller that he had thought dead could shake him in front of those he purported to lead- not if he wanted to remain an Elder. Not if he wanted to remain alive. Though he was a full head shorter than the armored menace of Nissikul, he somehow managed to look down his nose at her. In a theatrically loud, commanding tone, he laughed with feigned joy and relief and said, "Nissikul! Daughter! We thought you dead along with the faaaaaaaaaalse god! How joyoussssssss is the return of a lost daughter to the servants of Ravanurrrrrrrr?" It seemed to me that the air of command that he was projecting was somewhat blunted by his tendency to stretch out his words randomly, but none of the Erinye around him seemed to think so. Behind the Master Stormcaller, the dozens of gathered Erinye muttered and shifted nervously. Despite Elder Lot's confidence, they were unsure of the situation. They could feel the tension. They knew something else was coming.

Another voice, much less booming, but no less commanding, spoke from within the crowd. “Lot! Is this the Stormcaller that slew the false god and smote down her foul tower?” The speaker emerged a moment later, dressed in ornate furs and cloaks, his short, colorless Erinye hair thinning a little at the top of his head and giving him the unmistakable aspect of a priest. “Surely we cannot be surprised at the survival of so great a warrior?!” It was a pretty good bit of theater. Clearly, they had not been prepared for Nissikul’s return. The tragic death of a martyr was much easier for the rulers of the tribe to use to their own benefit than a living, breathing hero. For her part, Nissikul didn’t give them anything. It was not the time yet. She just stood, her black helm staring into the face of Elder Lot, and exuded raw menace.

The crowd around Nissi, Thukkar, and the Elders was still growing, and before long, the whole mouth of the cave was packed with eager onlookers. Good. We needed as many Erinye as possible to see this. Nissikul shifted the glowing hammer in her icy fist and planted its wide, crackling head firmly on the ice beneath her feet. The signal. It was almost time. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and reached out in my mind for the heart of my power. Stormcallers were marvels of technological design. They were mages who could call to the nanite "winds" that Ravanur and her fellow rebel gods had made so long ago. These clouds of nanites and ancient collective intelligence obeyed their commands, usually. A Stormcaller, sufficiently motivated, could create a storm much like the one my tower had produced so many weeks ago. With a wave of her hand, she could reshape the ice of the glacier, and she could move heat around with incredible efficiency. Sometimes, a Stormcaller could even hear the very edges of people's thoughts. I was not a Stormcaller. I was something much, much worse.

I called, and all the minor wind spirits within a hundred miles answered me. I gave them just a little push, a little suggestion, and the wind changed. The mist that Nissikul had summoned for her entrance was whipped away like a ragged flag before a hurricane. Clouds gathered in the sky, swirling in an ever-expanding vortex. My newly regrown hair whipped up and swirled around me in a silken halo, and I could feel static start to crawl along my arms and in towards my new, mechanical god's heart.

The gathered Erinye shouted with alarm and tried to back away, into the cave, but a new voice, both strident and commanding, froze them all in their tracks. "Stand fast you sniveling cowards!" It took me a moment to realize that it had been Volistad who had spoken. He stepped out into view of his assembled people, his crystalline armor reflecting the darkening sky, and shouted to rival the gathering growl of thunder. "Stand fast, Erin-Vulur, you who are the children of Palamun, the children of Ravanur! Stand fast and face judgment!"

Elder Lot sneered and began to speak, “Ah, the traitor yet li-” I gritted my teeth and concentrated, and the Elder’s words were swallowed in a titanic cascade of thunder that shook icicles free from the roof of the little cavern. Amidst the crash of shattering ice and the all-encompassing bellow of my gathering storm, any accusations the Elder might have been trying to make were lost in the clamor.

"Your deception lasted long enough!" Volistad roared back at the Master Stormcaller, who, to his credit, didn't flinch even as everything seemed to come apart around him. I watched Volistad carefully. He was furious, giving vent to all of his rage at the Elder's betrayal, all his fury at what that betrayal had cost him. I needed him angry, and he knew it. But if he went for the old man's throat, all of this would be for nothing. The ranger's fangs gleamed yellow-white as he bared every one of his carnivore teeth at Elder Lot- and there was not a happy narrowing of his eyes to soften the implicit threat. Volistad's eyes were wide and staring, locked on the Elder's own eyes in open, blatant challenge. Come on…. I thought. You just need to say… “Kneel! All of you! Kneel before the Chosen of Ravanur! Kneel before the Akkandaka!”

My cue. I stood and strode purposefully around the icy hillock I had been crouching behind. As I moved, I heard my call finally being answered by its intended recipient. Somewhere far away, another nanite spirit answered- this one much different from those I had tasked with gathering a storm for me. I marched straight towards the gathered Erin-Vulur, measuring each step. I had to look determined but not hurried. We had practiced this body language several times; Vol, Nissi, and Thukkar all coaching me on how to move my body like a predator. It had not been hard to learn. After all, I was the Tigress. Even as I approached the crowd, thunder surged above me, matched by a subtle chuckle in my mind. The voice of the Great North Wind reached my ears, amused. I see that you survived. Welcome home, my Queen. What would you have of me?

Give them a show. I thought back. Show them a tempest like they have never seen before. The North Wind’s only answer was an earsplitting peal of thunder, laughter writ large across the frozen sky. The spinning vortex over my head began to expand, growing like a flower in a time lapse video, its dark petals reaching down to surround the whole scene. Draw the curtain, I thought. Now the real drama begins. The Erin-Vulur watched me approach in silence, struck dumb with awe. They had room in their pantheon for new gods, both good and evil, and the appearance of a new one was not, in itself, very surprising to them. But to be confronted so directly, that was something they did not expect. Their nervousness struck them dumb.

Into the silence, Volistad's voice thundered. "I said, KNEEL!" Sheets of lightning reached from sky to ice and back again behind me, and most of the Erinye before me dropped instantly to their knees. There was only so much religious terror they could withstand. I drew even with Volistad, and as one, he and Nissikul stepped back so that they flanked me at my shoulders, Volistad on the right, Nissikul on my left. But not all of the Erinye would be cowed so easily. Elder Lot, and the lead priest, Vassa, had not budged an inch. Tight knots of their respective followers clustered around them, their faces tight and defiant. Each one of them grinned widely, showing their teeth in a pitiful echo of Volistad's naked fury. Elder Lot began to speak, and I held up a hand to stay Volistad's impulse to silence him. It was important that we let him speak.

“So,” shouted the Elder over the tumult of my colossal storm. “You survived your rightful execution, Dark One! And you have also somehow corrupted my youngest Stormcaller, Nissikul along with her brother!” He gestured to the other Elder with his chin. “Perhaps Vassa, here, was right! Perhaps they were just a weak bloodline!” Scattered laughter swept the assembly, mostly confined to the cohort of standing priests and Stormcallers that surrounded the two defiant Elders. “But my question for you is this! What have you done with the Deepseeker?”

I ignored the question and the mockery. “Lot Ekenad! Vassa Atralad! You stand accused of intentionally and willfully leading the noble Erin-Vulur astray! You have failed in your duties as given to your predecessors by the Great Mother! She has sent me to pass judgment upon you, to root out the corruption that infects your Elder Council and put any servants of the Dark Ones I should find to the sword!”

“Lies!” Vassa screamed, his pale face purpling slightly in rage.

I raised one hand and pointed at the Elder priest’s throat. He gagged as he tried to scream more denial at me, and then fell to his hands and knees, retching. In a conversational tone, I said, “I wasn’t done. Wait for your turn.” I turned my attention back to Elder Lot. “I see that you will not heed the words of the Great Mother. I see that you and those like you are too far gone, corrupted and lost. And so I challenge you to trial by combat. Let the matter be settled beneath the gaze of Palamun, and may the Great Mother feed her burug with the blood of the defeated!”

Now, sink the dagger. Volistad stepped forward; his eyes alight with a savage inner fire. “Or are you too much of a coward? Perhaps instead you prefer to stab your enemy in the back as you did with me?” Murmurs rippled through the crowd, and even some of the Stormcallers looked uncertain over at the Elder. It was considered highly shameful for an Erinye to slay another member of his tribe outside of a direct, face to face confrontation. There. That was what we needed. We needed doubt. We needed Lot to realize that failing to accept the challenge would forever weaken his authority. And no tribal leader, much less the tribal leader of a bunch of carnivores, could ever risk weakening his own authority. We had him and he knew it. “Fine,” Elder Lot growled. “But none of my Stormcallers, not even I, could fight one such as you in single combat. We of the Erin-Vulur have slain many false gods as a tribe. It would be foolish to fight a god myself, or to order one of my own to do the same.”

“I agree,” I said smoothly, with a magnanimous wave of my hand. “And so you may select a champion. I have already selected mine.” On the ground at Lot’s feet, Vassa’s struggles were weakening, slowing to fitful twitches. I sighed. If I left him alive, he would be a problem. But my goal here was to turn as many of the Erin-Vulur to my side as I could. And that meant swaying or bloodlessly replacing as many of their leaders as I could. I flicked a finger in his direction and willed a short command into the nanite spirit that was filling his throat with witch-ice. A moment later, Vassa slumped with relief, not even trying to get up, panting like a dog. His mouth worked soundlessly, but he didn’t dare to speak again. Good. He had learned his lesson. Perhaps the others would as well. This would get a lot bloodier very quickly if they didn’t.

* * *

Volistad

I stepped out onto the dueling field. It wasn't really anything special- just a flat section of ice around which had been gouged a wide circle. I had stripped to the waist, and the only weapons I carried were an iron short spear and a hunting knife. My opponent was already waiting. I ignored the throngs of Erinye huddled around the dueling grounds in their furs. I needed to focus on my target. He was one of Vassa's priests, a big man named Kotikedd, and he was the spitting image of the broad-shouldered statues in the village shrine. His eyes were narrower than mine, and his jaw jutted dramatically, thanks in part to the oversized lower fangs that protruded from behind his lips. He looked like a feral throwback of an Erinye, one of the big, vicious curs that Palamun had saved from starvation and extinction so many cycles before. Doubtlessly, he was strong. Obviously, he was tough. But so was I. A magick heart beat within my chest, and the strength of an Erinye champion was mine. I met his narrow, burug-black eyes and grinned with all of my teeth.

From somewhere amidst the crowd of gathered Erin-Vulur onlookers, I could hear Vassa speaking. He seemed to have recovered from whatever Joanna had done to him, though he was keeping well away from her as he spoke. His strident practiced orator's tones carried easily over the restless audience, and I could hear him as clearly as if I had been attending a ritual at the amphitheater. "Today," he proclaimed, "you will all bear witness to the wrath of Ravanur! You will all see the righteous indignation of Palamun! A false god walks among us, my children, blaspheming and daring to claim the blessing of our Great Mother!" He turned as if to point his finger at Joanna, thought better of it, and resumed his long-winded castigation. "Today, by the will of our gods, you will see this usurper struck down!" The crowd's response was lukewarm. Though they didn't know what to make of Joanna, her presence- compounded by the return of Nissikul and me- was causing them to doubt. No one liked Vassa, except for his priests, and I thought that even they were just playing along for their personal gain.

I looked over at Joanna and was surprised to see her dark eyes fixed on me. Even at this distance, I could sense a sort of… hunger coming off of her. She had taken to the role of a god as though she had been born for it. Even if she didn't believe it, I was certain that she had. She stood tall, her stance imperious. Even in her salvaged, tattered ranger's furs, she somehow managed to look even more striking. She was like a perfectly shaped sculpture, covered by an old, crumbling shroud. Even so covered, her beauty and authority shone through like a beacon fire. We held each other's stare for a moment, and the briefest of smiles flickered across her lips as she mouthed the words, "Knock him dead." I looked back at my opponent and watched him pass his narrow, straight-bladed ceremonial dagger from hand to hand. His spear stood ignored, thrust point-first into the ice. I felt my feral grin return. This was a duel to the death. Knocking him dead was exactly what I intended to do.

Finally, Vassa finished his spirited tirade, exhorting the disinterested Erinye to cheer for "their holy champion." The response was less than impressive. Elder Perwik chose that moment to emerge from a dense knot of rangers, his furs flapping about him in the slight wind. With brisk, sure strides, he marched out between us, an old horn great bow resting with familiar ease in his weathered grip. He wore no quiver of arrows, rather, just one shaft that was fitted to the braided hair string. He looked over at the giant brute of a priest. "Kotikedd! Do you stand ready?" Kotikedd just shrugged and grunted in agreement. Not a very eloquent response. Just what kind of priest was he? Perwik turned to me; the expression on his face carefully neutral. His eyes burned fiercely into mine, and he didn't speak for a moment. I swallowed hard. Being assessed by the Master of the Rangers was never a comfortable experience. I hadn't been able to ask him what he thought of all this, but I doubted he liked it. There were just too many unknowns for him, and rangers hated being lost more than anything else. Finally, having reached some secret conclusion behind those deep green eyes, he asked, "Volistad, do you stand ready?"

"I do, Elder," I responded simply. If Perwik thought anything about my use of an honorific with him, he didn't show it.

"Now listen, you two." Perwik glared at each of us in turn. "First, this is a battle to the death. The duel is not over, and the conflict it decides is not resolved until one of you lies dead. Second, you must stay within the circle marked out onto the ice. Should you attempt to flee, I will kill you immediately, and you will thus forfeit the duel." He gestured with the great bow. "Be assured that I do not miss. And should the impossible occur, I have plenty of arrows to correct the mistake." He showed his teeth at both of us. Neither of us moved. But neither of us would attempt to flee, either. "Last," he declared. "I will fire this arrow straight up. When Palamun returns it to the ice, your duel will begin." Seeing no reaction on either of our faces, the Elder wasted no more time. With the smooth grace of a lifetime of practice, he drew to the ear, tilted his aim straight up towards the dark hidden face of Palamun above, and loosed his shot. Then, task complete, the ranger returned his bow to a casual grip and jogged easily out of the circle.

I fought the urge to crane my neck upward and watch for the arrow's imminent return. Instead, I dropped into a crouch and took my spear into both hands. Kotikedd shifted into a combat stance; his eyes locked on mine. He did not reach for his spear. Instead, he flipped his knife into a reverse grip and waited. It was as I suspected. He had fought and probably killed before. This was Vassa's personal killer, the Erinye who hunted and murdered any heretics that threatened the priest's authority. It wasn't much of a secret that such an inquisitor existed, but the monster before me had to be a master of stealth and execution since I had never heard of a single death being attributed to his work. An assassin was a duelist, even though most of his foes would have been caught by surprise. This was going to be a difficult fight. The murmuring of the crowd turned to a roar. I leaned forward, ready to charge. I could hear the arrow cleaving the air as it fell. Everything seemed to slow to a crawl, and I heard Joanna speaking in my mind. When had she learned to do that? Four words. Just four. "Give them a show." The arrow crashed into the ice, and I burst into a sprint. Oh, I would give them a show.

The first clash almost killed both of us. I came in at a sprint, ducking low and coming up behind my spear in a twisting thrust towards the sky, meant to get under Kotikedd’s guard and skewer him before he could properly react. Apparently, he hadn’t expected me to go low, because the moment I had charged, he had shifted into a stance meant to receive a leaping attack. When he realized he was wrong, he gripped his knife in both hands and dropped his weight into a stab for the back of my neck. Both of us, sensing that death was near, dodged each other’s strikes by the width of a hair. I took a shallow cut along my cheek; Kotikedd bled from a long scratch across his bare chest. We both backed away quickly, resetting and taking new stances. We eyed each other with new respect, both of us acknowledging that the other wasn’t an amateur. That accord wouldn’t last, though. Only one of us was getting out of this alive.

I began my next attack with a short, controlled jab at the inquisitor's face. He swept the point aside with his forearm, but I had expected that. Turning the momentum of the parry into a spin, I brought the spearhead around in a vicious slash at his skull. He dodged this strike, but, failing to take into account the versatility of the polearm, was not fast enough to avoid the butt of the spear as it smashed hard into his chest. The crowd roared in approval. Kotikedd, however, was not impressed. He rocked with the blow, but even as he reeled, he snapped his free hand up and seized the haft of the spear. Used to being stronger than his prey, the monstrous assassin tried to rip the spear out of my hands. Unfortunately for him, I was ready for this. I lunged forward with the spear and used his own momentum to drive the spear butt into his chest again. He grunted and let go, and I quickly backed out of range. I circled him warily, keeping him turning, looking for my opening. I just needed a single opportunity. One slip, one mistake, and perhaps my spear would find his heart.

Kotikedd, however, had other ideas. He had had enough of being on the defensive. In between my steps, as I tried once more to circle behind him, the inquisitor snatched his shortspear out of the ground and flung it at me side-arm. He wasn't trying to skewer me with such a throw, however. The moment the iron left his hand, he was charging forward, his knife aiming for my throat. The whirling spear was still dangerous to me, and I was forced to bring my own spear up to deflect it away from me. Kotikedd lunged forward into that opening, stabbing as fast as he could for my chest. I hunched up my shoulders and took two painful stabs to the broad muscles of my upper arms, but the point didn't find my neck. Caught off balance as I was, the spear was useless to me. I let it fall from my hands and hit the assassin hard in the abdomen with my palm. The blow wasn't placed very well and did little more than back him off a step, but it was all I needed.

I drew my knife, but Kotikedd didn’t wait for me to get the little blade all the way out. He came for me in a flurry of varied swipes and stabs, forcing me to dodge and weave rather than attack. The man had the right idea. If he kept me on the defensive, he could wear me down. I couldn’t let that happen. Kotikedd’s knife thrust towards my throat, and I slashed my blade across his thick fingers, starting a line of blood up from the colorless skin. He howled but did not drop the knife. But the pain slowed him enough for me to get a hold of that arm. I twisted and backed away; forcing him to straighten the limb and controlling the knife he gripped there. I could end it right here. Pull him close, knife under the arm, stab in the side of the neck for good measure, back off and watch him bleed. But no, Joanna had spoken. She had some plan, and she needed me to do my part. Give them a show. Alright. Theatrics were fine.

Instead of stabbing for an artery, I gripped my knife tightly in my fist and swung backhand. I didn’t touch him with the blade. Instead, my knuckles crashed into his face, crushing his nose in a shower of blood. Then to add insult to injury, I let go of his knife arm and leaped forward, planting both feet in the center of his chest and kicking them out with all of my strength. I turned the motion into a neat somersault and flipped back out of danger, ending in a crouch. Kotikedd reeled, his face a mask of blood and rage, and the crowd screamed with amusement. Insults and epithets began to fly thick and fast from the gathered Erinye, and they were all aimed at the gigantic inquisitor.

His jaw tight with pain and humiliation, Kotikedd roared, a full-throated, booming, bestial roar that put any such sounds I might have made to shame. He threw his knife aside and pounded his fists on his chest in primal challenge, locked wild eyes on me, and bounded forward. To my surprise, when he came for me, he actually went to all fours, taking the momentum on his over-muscled arms and hurtling forward.

It was such an unexpected tactic that I didn’t set myself properly for it. Instead of using his own momentum to flatten him, as I should have, I was hit squarely in the gut by his colossal shoulder. The air whooshed out of my lungs, and I struggled to catch my breath only to have it smashed out of me again when we hit the ground. I still had my knife, though pinned as I was, I couldn’t do much with it. I stabbed feebly at Kotikedd’s back, and he utterly ignored it. The inquisitor had gone berserk. The only way to stop him now would be to kill him. He might not even feel pain.

I felt the tickle of fangs at my throat. Oh no, you don’t. I thrust my hips up as hard as I could and pulled hard at his pelvis, sending him lurching forward. With Kotikedd's center of gravity shifted, I had a little more room to move. Seizing my advantage while it lasted, I got my legs up in front of me, between my body and the assassin's over-muscled bulk. Ordinarily, this movement would do little more than encourage my assailant to roll off of me, but the Deepseeker had fundamentally changed me. He had brought me back to life and made me stronger, tougher. He had given me a new heart, and that heart was full of rage. When I kicked, Kotikedd didn't just roll aside. Instead, he was launched fully off of me, rising a good two spear casts into the air and tumbling back to crash awkwardly to the ice.

I wasted no time, immediately rolling to my feet and taking stock. The knives were nowhere to be seen. There was, however, a spear lying discarded on the ice not five spear casts from me. Kotikedd was getting to his feet, eyes still swallowed up in madness, his face a mask of hate. I felt something warm and wet trickling down my neck and shuddered. His fangs had drawn blood. A moment more and he might have ripped out my throat. Show or not; this was getting too dangerous. It wasn't wise to fight a berserker, whatever the cause. They didn't react like normal people, didn't pay much attention to pain. The only way to stop a berserker like Kotikedd was to kill or concuss him, and I wasn't going to do that with my fists or claws.

I sprinted for the spear, aware as I did that the mad inquisitor would be right behind me. As I did, I spotted something out of the corner of my eye, and against my better judgment, I looked. Vassa. He was stalking through the crowd, creeping towards Joanna, his face slack and empty of expression. All eyes were on Kotikedd and me, including hers. She wouldn't see him coming. I could see the glint of a knife in his grip as he slipped through the distracted audience. The gathered Erinye, however, weren't the only ones that were distracted. A gargantuan paw closed on the back of my neck, and I was lifted straight up off of the ground. Vulyak dwert. I wouldn’t be getting out of this one unscathed. But that wasn’t important. Joanna was important. Kotikedd’s grip tightened, and even as I reached up to seize his wrist, I felt his dirty black claws begin to pierce my flesh. I met the eyes of my god, those wide, beautiful hot-coal eyes, and screamed, “Joanna! Behind you!”

* * *

Joanna

Volistad’s warning was cut off as the monstrous brute of a priest shook him violently by the neck. There was a loud snap, and the berserker tossed the ranger aside. He tumbled across the ice, limp. No. I didn’t believe it. I stood and stared at the sprawled, ragged body and tried to process what had just happened. Only the sudden drop in temperature around me reminded me of the danger. Behind you. I spun and came face to face with Vassa, the elder priest. His arms were still outstretched, one hand reaching for me, the other gripping a bone dagger. I raised my arms instinctively in self-defense, and then frowned. He wasn't moving. He stood there, frozen in place, eyes wide. What- Nissikul stepped past him, her face tight with rage. She still wore her witch-plate, but she had let the helm dissipate. Her eyes were the same twin black abysses as usual, but tears had frozen in tracks down her face. Her breath came up in a cloud of fog all around her, and even with my new affinity for the lethal cold of Chalice, I could feel her anger in the precipitous drop in the temperature.

Vassa groaned through clenched, frozen teeth, and his eyes moved frantically back and forth. Holy shit, Nissi. The enraged Stormcaller had encased him completely in ice. She met my eyes as she stepped past the transfixed Elder. “Can’t kill him. Not yet. The duel isn’t over.”

“What?” I pointed out at the field. “Didn’t you hear that monster break his neck? Volistad is dead!”

“No,” Nissikul said firmly. “He isn’t. I can still sense his thoughts. He’s alive. He’s in a lot of pain, but he’s alive.”

I looked out at the field. The gigantic priest had thrown back his blood-smeared head and was in the midst of a teeth-rattling roar. The crowd was, surprisingly, not roaring with him. They seemed more shocked than anything else. We were standing on a precipice. I could feel it. One push and the assembled Erinye would swarm us and tear us apart with the kind of frenzy only a mob could muster. But if we played things right….

"Akkandaka," Thukkar said, struggling through the crowd to reach me. “Joanna,” he corrected, seeing the look on my face. “That thing out there isn’t a priest.”

“I know,” I said, “He’s a berserker. Probably this coward’s hit man.” I gestured to the frozen Vassa, who tried to say something. Only a muffled, wordless moan came out.

“No,” Thukkar hissed impatiently. “He’s not Erinye. That’s one of the Children of the Eater King. I would stake my life on it.” Around us, the gathered Erinye were turning towards me, and I could see dangerous glints in their eyes. I tried to ignore them. I didn’t have much time. In my mind, the images of being torn apart by a howling mob were replaced by memories of trying to kill a minotaur with an old billhook. I could see Lot pushing towards us through the crowd, Elder Perwik at his shoulder. Lot’s face shone with triumph. The Master Ranger’s expression was more restrained, but there was violence in his eyes. He fully expected me to fight. That’s why he wasn’t calling an end to the duel. He wanted to be within a striking distance when he did. Everything was about to fall apart. There was, however, a chance that I could still turn this around, however slim.

I looked back at Thukkar. “Convince your master of this.” I looked over at Nissikul. “Keep Vassa here. I have questions for the high priest whose assassin is a Dark One’s abomination.” I shot one last look over at Perwik, who frowned as Thukkar forced his way into his path. This had better work.

I stepped through the crowd, keeping my movements calm and unhurried. I couldn't rush to Volistad's side, much as I might have wanted to. If I ran, if it looked for a second like I was fleeing, the whole tribe would be on me in seconds. As it was, the gathered Erinye were confused. They stood nervously in their furs, watching their Elders and watching me, not sure of what was happening. Many of them were still staring at the mad priest, who was bounding back and forth around the circle, sometimes walking like a man, and sometimes falling forward onto his arms like a pale, hairless ape. I guessed that the thing inside the priest's body had spiked its host's adrenal glands for a burst of hysterical strength and endurance. Now, it must have been having trouble bringing that rage back down. The spectacle was bizarre to watch, and I figured that the unnerving sight was part of why everything hadn't turned into a mob execution just yet.

I let my senses play out in a circle around me, the machine spirits now connected to my will spiraling out to taste the air. I could hear Volistad’s heartbeat now. It was strong as ever, though his breathing was ragged. He wasn’t moving- chances were he was paralyzed- but he was alive, and he was awake. I winced, but I didn’t have time to try to help him yet. The priest. This all hinged on the priest. “Hey! Eater-Spawn!”

The cavorting Kotikedd stopped, and then swiveled suddenly to face me, mad eyes staring. His face split into a wide, insane grin, and he showed me all of his teeth. Surprisingly, he was still capable of speech. “Ah, ‘Chosen of Ravanur’. I wondered if I would get to kill you today.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Please. You failed to kill my ranger. What makes you think you could kill me?” I sent an invisible cloud of nanites toward him, 'and they surrounded his head, letting themselves get sucked into his lungs with his next breath. Immediately, I was able to sense the target I was looking for. Just like the minotaur, there was something metal curled up in this thing’s chest, right around where the heart should have been. Well, shit. That last one hadn't been a cakewalk to bring down. On the other hand, I hadn't been a god then. The nanites in the berserker's lungs began crawling through into his bloodstream. I wondered if the priest was dead, and there was nothing more than a meat suit, or if the original personality of Kotikedd was in there, a prisoner in his mind.

The inquisitor glanced over at Volistad’s crumpled body. He shrugged. “Dead enough.”

"Well then," I said, showing all my teeth in an Erinye grin. "Maybe today is your lucky day. Come and get me." My nanites found the metal creature curled up in the berserker's chest. A commotion had started somewhere behind me, but I couldn't waste a second looking to see what it was. This all hinged on the next couple of seconds. I scanned the Eater-spawn and quickly found what I was looking for. This creature was a machine. Machines needed power. This one, I reasoned, would run off of the bioelectric energy of its host's body, saving whatever internal power it stored to escape if its vessel died. That meant that it was uniquely vulnerable, in a way with which I had become intimately familiar. Like every other non-Stormcaller out here, this man was wearing one of the Deepseeker's "blessings". Though that old man had been conspicuously absent during this whole farce, his works were not. I had recharged one of those devices with bioelectric energy, and they could store quite the charge despite their unassuming appearances. This one was in the form of a simple metal bracer, worn about the priest's right forearm. I reached out for it with a machine spirit, found its energy storage, and broke it. The energy trapped within was released, all at once.

Kotikedd took one step towards me and froze, his narrow eyes flying open wide. His muscles spasmed, all at once, and his teeth slammed together. Something pink and bloody fell to the ice at his feet. He had bitten through his tongue. He voided his bowels and fell, his whole body still seizing even as he writhed in his own filth. The commotion turned to shouts, and I could hear running feet coming up from behind me. "Come on!” I seethed under my breath. “Show yourself!”

The priest’s chest exploded out in a gout of blood, and his struggles immediately ceased. From the shattered remains of his ribcage something metallic and slick with gore scrambled. It crawled up out of the corpse on too many legs, letting out a tinny, horrible wail. It began to scramble towards me, though the shock had clearly wounded it badly. It weaved back and forth erratically, and sparks dribbled from between its segmented metal plates. I raised one hand high toward the cloudy sky, calling the great storm spirits I knew waited far above. Their answer was immediate. A great bolt of lightning dropped from the heavens and smote the Eater’s Spawn, striking everyone around me blind with the intensity of the strike. Steam billowed up around me in a pillar, and I moved to Volistad’s side.

His neck was bent at an unnatural angle, and his blue-on-brown eyes stared up at me with helpless rage and pain. He tried to speak, but I shook my head to silence him. I took one of his limp hands in mine, knowing he probably couldn’t feel it. “I’m sorry,” I said, holding back the tears. In a minute, the steam would clear, and I would need to be a god again. Gods did not cry. “I’m sorry I sent you into that. If I had known-”

Volistad moaned something, spit bloody foam, and managed to say, “No.” He was right, of course. This had been necessary. It had been the plan. I had had my part of it, but so had he. But that didn’t make me feel any less guilty. What kind of god was I if I couldn’t even save my own champion?

The commotion had stopped. Everything was silent as if the whole of this frozen, shitty world was holding its breath. I let go of Volistad's hand. I would do everything I could to save him. But I had to keep us from being torn to shreds by a mob first. I stood, the steam fading around me like a ragged shroud.

The crowd was silent and still, every one of them staring, rapt at attention at whatever was happening behind me. I turned and stopped. Vassa was still frozen where he stood, Nissikul standing beside him with a lazy hand on his petrified shoulder. Beside him, Elder Lot lay on his face, one of his arms twisted painfully behind him in Elder Perwik's iron grip. The Master of the Rangers held a dagger point to the base of the Master Stormcaller's skull and was ready to bury it in the old Erinye's brain. Beside the pair of grappling Elders, there stood a ragged old man with wide, mad eyes, a weapon dangling lazily from his knobbly hands that was unmistakably some kind of gun, though not any gun I had ever seen. Beside me, Volistad began to laugh weakly. Through his pained chuckles I heard him grunt out, “utrezbekan Deepseeker.”

* * *

Chapter Eighteen

Parley

Joanna

I watched the door to the little hut with unflagging intensity, trying not to show my anxiety on my face. Never let them see you bleed. I didn't know where I had heard that, but it was true. I couldn't show weakness, not for a single moment. I wasn't just a leader here; I was a god. Gods were calm and self-assured. Gods always had a plan. I sure as shit didn't feel calm or self-assured right now. The crazy old tech shaman ducked out of the hut a moment later, a satisfied half-smile in his eyes, contrasted sharply by the otherwise ferocious expression twisting the rest of his race. He looked around at all of us, gathered at the fire pit outside his hut, poking at the embers of a mushroom stalk blaze. "The young ranger will recover." Everyone gathered breathed a collective sigh of relief.

We had all been pretending to eat the food that the severely cowed priesthood had insisted on serving us. No one was hungry, though. In the space of just a half of an hour, the entire Erinye government had been turned on its head. The High Priest, Vassa, was locked in a cell beneath the stone of the mountain, awaiting judgment from an Elder Council that didn't exist anymore. Lot was being watched very closely by an order of very angry Stormcallers, who had been pulled back from the brink of rebellion by an impassioned Nissikul. They would be fine, but they needed something to vent their spleen upon. I didn’t need a few dozen stir-crazy, angry mages rampaging around the village. I would need to find them something to do. No one seemed to know what to make of the Deepseeker, who had been accused by the others of being corrupted by the Dark Ones around the same time that my camp had been attacked and destroyed. With Vassa clearly corrupted and Lot suspected of the same, everyone seemed ready to kill the strange old shaman too, just to be safe. Only Elder Perwik was still in power, and traditionally he only involved himself in the business of the rangers. Now he was nominally wrangling all four branches of the Erin-Vulur government. It wasn’t the clean, mostly bloodless coup that I had hoped for. But it had worked a lot better than simply kicking in the front door and murdering Elder Lot would have.

Perwik was eating in silence, staring up at the frozen ceiling of the village's great ice cavern. Thukkar sat cross-legged beside him, picking at his claws with a knife far too large for the task. He was studiously avoiding looking at Nissikul. The one-armed Stormcaller was sitting naked to the waist, utterly unconcerned. She had dispelled the witch-ice simulacrum arm she had worn for most of the previous day, and was not working some foul-smelling poultice into the stump with single-minded determination. I watched the Deepseeker come down from his hut and join us around the pitiful fire. Finally, I quit stalling and blurted, "Will Volistad walk again?"

The tech shaman snorted as if the idea was patently ridiculous. I opened my mouth, with an angry snarl already on my lips, but he cut me off with a dismissive wave. "Of course he will walk again, silly godling. I didn't bring that boy back from the brink of the abyss just to watch him die the first time some brute broke his neck." He pointed a dirty, chipped claw at me, completely ignoring Nissi's warning growl. "That daft boy is about as hard to kill as you are. Probably heals faster, too. You two have more in common than you think." He pointed to my heart. "You aren't the only one with part of a god for a heart."

“Wait, what?”

But the Deepseeker just kept speaking as if he hadn’t just casually suggested that Volistad was also some kind of god. “Now we need to discuss this plan of yours, Storm Queen, and we need to do it soon. I’ve been keeping an eye on that old spirit of yours, and he’s up to no good. We don’t have a lot of time.”

"My plan was to kill him," I snapped, irritated. "I find Barbas, the Erin-Vulur hold off any horrible creations he's made, and I kill him. I knock down the tower he's building, and I take him down to Ravanur's temple. I tear out his heart and seal it in one of those god-cells. Done."

The Deepseeker laughed, his voice crackling like breaking ice. "Ah yes, that always was the old bint's plan. Containment. Well, look where that got us." He leaned in close, one eye open wider than the other, which seemed to have started twitch so hard that he was having a hard time aiming it at me. "Let me ask you something, godling." Nissikul twitched, but I waved her off, annoyed. The Deepseeker didn't appear to have noticed. "Storm Queen, have you ever considered just killing all of the miserable bastards?"

* * *

Volistad

Having my neck broken was a uniquely hellish experience. I couldn’t move, I could barely breathe and I could hardly speak. Things just happened around me. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. I was Joanna’s champion, not the other way around. Sure, she had the powers of a demigod and could absolutely handle herself, but she had trusted the duel to me. And now here I was, lying in the Deepseeker’s workbench in the middle of his scrupulously neat hut. Furs and hides had been laid down over the stone work-table, but that didn’t change the fact that I felt like one of the old shaman’s magick projects. Joanna had been explaining some of her own magick, the metal and spirits with which she had come down from the sky. She didn’t call it magick, she called it teck. I wasn’t sure what teck meant, but it didn’t mean anything mystical or spiritual. When she said teck, she meant things like the grain mill. Machines. The Deepseeker made machines, not magic. Was I one of those machines? After all, I had magick, no, a teck heart in my chest instead of one made of flesh. Had the Deepseeker really saved my life? Was I still Erinye, or was I something… else? After all, I had just had my neck snapped, and I hadn't died. There was only one other thing I knew about like that- the very Child of the Eater King that had killed me. Was that all that beat in my chest a wriggling, metallic insect that wore my meat body like I wore armor?

I heard the leather door flap pushed aside and resisted the urge to try to turn my head. I had learned very quickly that it either knocked me unconscious with pain or did nothing after all. I supposed I was fortunate that the old shaman knew how to block the pain that I knew that had to be there. Honestly, I was surprised I could even think. Everyone I had ever met who had been using the Deepseeker’s pain blocking herbs and treatments had seemed half-asleep. At this moment, I couldn’t have been more awake. A moment later, the craggy, mad face of the Deepseeker appeared over mine. “You seem to be doing better,” he mused.

I laughed, carefully lest I provoke the terrible pain I knew that had to be waiting in the dark. "I broke my neck, and I'm paralyzed. Please, define ‘better,' Oh great Elder."

To my surprise, the Deepseeker didn’t fly into one of his characteristic rages, despite the disrespect I had shown him. Instead, he narrowed his twitching eyes into a smile and disappeared from my sight. I felt something pulse down my neck, through my chest, and along my legs. It took me a second to realize I hadn’t been able to feel any of that a moment ago. I tried to wiggle my toes. I felt them wiggle. Cautiously, I turned my head the tiniest of fractions to the left. No pain. Some tightness in the muscles, a little stiffness, but otherwise no pain.

The Deepseeker reappeared, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Get up.”

“What? How-”

The Deepseeker cut me off with an impatient chopping motion. “I said get up. We have a lot to go over and not a lot of time.”

Gritting my teeth in anticipation of agony, I sat up. Nothing. No problem. I looked down at myself, halfway expecting a metal body like that of the creature I had fought in the dark while searching for Joanna. But no, it was still my body. I was beaten, I had some fading bruises, but I was fine. I reached up and felt at my neck. It felt normal- if a little tender to the touch. "Deepseeker, how did- how did you do this?"

The shaman looked at me from beneath bushy white brows, leveling a surprisingly lucid skeptical stare at me. “I replaced your heart, boy- after it got stabbed with a magick spear. Why does it surprise you that I’m capable of repairing a neck as well?”

I frowned. “That’s not the same. When you replaced my heart, I was laid up for a long time. And now-” I stopped, realizing that I didn’t know how much time had passed. “How long have I been down?”

“One night.” The Deepseeker muttered, reaching over and disconnecting a thicket of cords, cables, and wires that had apparently all been connected to me at one time or another. They dripped with a black fluid I couldn’t identify.

I stood, finding it easier than I thought. No wobble, no weakness. It was like nothing had happened. “This doesn’t make sense,” I whispered, feeling overwhelmed. “This isn’t possible.”

The Deepseeker laughed. “Of course it is.” He thumped me hard in the chest, right over the scar where a black spear had skewered me from behind. “I put some serious stuff in there where your heart used to be. The machine spirits inside it can fix damn near everything, given the right materials to work with. Do you think I would risk everything I invested in you on some fancy weapons and armor?”

I just stood there and stared at him, open-mouthed. After a few moments of silence, all of the words bouncing around in my head came vomiting out of my mouth. “What have you done, you crazy old cur? What have you turned me into? Tell me, am I a machine? Tell me!” I stepped forward, not sure what I was going to do, but sure that whatever it was required me to seize the ancient bastard by his skinny, leathery neck.

The shaman didn't let me grab him, however. He held up a small, boxy device that flashed with blue lights and flipped a switch. Immediately, my arms and legs went limp, and I crashed hard to the floor. The Deepseeker leaned in close, with a tone more exasperated than angry. "Don't do that." He flipped the switch again, and I could stand. He held out a hand for me to take it, and then pulled me to my feet. "I've done exactly what I said I had done the last time I dragged you away from death. I turned you into a peerless ranger. You don't feel cold. You are fast and disproportionately strong. And unless someone actually cuts off your head or tears the heart out of your chest, you'll be enjoying those benefits of immortality for quite some time."

“In short,” the Deepseeker continued. “I have made you into my heir.”

“What is that supposed to mean? What are you?”

The Deepseeker laughed out loud, “You idiot, haven’t you guessed? You’ve already met one of your gods, and she all but told you the answer.”

I remembered it then, standing before the altar, face to face with Ravanur. Unless I missed my guess, the Great Mother had said, Palamun has already left his mark on you. My blood felt cold in my veins as the realization struck me. “Palamun. You’re the Great Father, the King of the Sky.”

“Actually,” said Palamun, his face briefly riven by a series of twitches all along his jawline, “I’m the eighth Palamun, in a manner of speaking, and it would be best if you didn’t tell anyone about this- except maybe the Akkandaka. She will understand. Now come outside. We have a war to plan.”

…

I stepped out of the hut a moment later, still only clothed from the waist down. Between my magick heart and the protections that the Stormcallers maintained over the village, the air was a comfortable sort of chilly. There was just enough bite to the air to make me feel more awake, more alert. Gathered around the fire pit that lay before the Deepseeker’s hut were Elder Perwik, Joanna, Nissikul, and Thukkar. They all looked up as I emerged, and their expressions betrayed varying levels of disbelief and shock.

“Vol?” Joanna asked, half rising from her place by the fire.

“I’m alright,” I assured her, with more confidence than I felt about that fact. I was still skeptical of the Deepseeker’s definition of alright, and adding to that the fact that the old shaman was actually Palamun… I was fairly certain I was somewhere very far from alright.

Thukkar, with the characteristically dry humor of a longtime ranger, remarked, “You look good, all things considered.”

Nissi snorted, sliding seamlessly into the joke as if she had never been worried for me. “Don’t let it go to your head though, big brother. You still look like half-baked vulyak dwert.” She leaned over towards Elder Perwik and said, in a stage whisper, “We might need to temporarily ban mirrors for the sake of public order.”

I shook my head, making my way over to sit between Joanna and Nissikul. “Your concern is overwhelming,” I replied. I turned to Joanna. “How bad is it?”

She winced. “Well, your whole neck is a bruise, as is part of your chest and one side of your face.”

“That will fade,” said the Deepseeker, emerging from his hut bearing a small black metal box the size of my head in both of his wiry arms. “You should look good as new in a week.” His usual twitching seemed to have temporarily subsided, and the mad light in his eyes was a little dimmer than usual. “And that’s unimportant anyway.”

“I don’t know about that,” Nissikul said, teasingly, taking in how close I was sitting to Joanna. It had always been her way to release her tension with humor, and Nissi’s sense of humor had always been rather sharp. “The state of my dear brother’s face seems like it might be very important to our Storm Queen here.”

Elder Perwik choked on the bite of roast mushroom cap he was chewing, covering it badly with a cough. Whether he was trying not to laugh or shocked at the prospect of the brand new god in his village sleeping with a mortal, I couldn’t tell. I ignored Nissikul and tried not to think about that mad morning in Ravanur’s temple. Joanna’s soft, hungry lips. A curious tongue tasting mine… The Deepseeker coughed loudly, a flicker of his usual volatility rippling across his face in a short burst of furious, frenzied twitching. “If you are all quite done, we’re trying to save this people, and all of the rest out there in the Firmament.”

We sobered quickly, remembering the enormity of the task before us. Perwik grunted and leaned forward, his fingers steeple beneath his chin. “I suppose there is the matter of the Elders,” he began, his face a mask of controlled rage. “Vassa is certainly corrupted- that he dared bring Eater-Spawn here…” He trailed off, apparently to overcome with rage to speak.

Thukkar reached out with his long knife and skewered a cube of roast dukkar meat. He held it up in the firelight and examined it critically as he said, “The Eater-Spawn must have been changing hosts frequently. Whatever body they choose to puppet typically begins to rot within a fortnight. This is why they’re always piling on more stolen flesh- to bolster their collapsing body.”

“Either that,” replied the Deepseeker, “or the Eater-Spawn have learned how to use a host more efficiently. After all, the process of taking new hosts is when they’re at their most vulnerable. The less often they have to find a new body, the less of a chance they would be caught.”

“Regardless,” cut in Elder Perwik, “Vassa is a servant of the Dark Ones, and has been for some time. My rangers have already turned over his hut and found plans in amongst his scrolls, references to a tower like the one you were building.” He nodded toward Joanna as he said this. “So what are we going to do with him? Likely he knows more of what the Dark Ones are planning, and with some… persuasion, he might be convinced to tell us about it.”

Joanna tilted her head back and forth, weighing the options. “Perhaps.” She nodded over at Perwik. “Are your rangers willing to follow me?”

The Master Ranger’s expression darkened. “Right now, everyone- and that absolutely includes me- everyone is confused as to what just happened, and what is going on. Until I have a satisfactory explanation as to what you’re doing here and what you want, I will commit none of my rangers to hunt down a threat we’re not even sure it exists.” He met Nissikul’s eyes and she bared her teeth, not even the least bit intimidated by her. “When I see proof, when I see facts- then I will send my people to fight alongside you.” He waited for a moment, just long enough to make it clear that he was completely serious, and would not take attempts at intimidation well. Then he added, in the same bland, unthreatening tone as before, “Akkandaka.”

“What about Lot?” asked Nissikul, mastering her indignation at Perwik’s tone. “Do we know if he was corrupted by Vassa? After all, he did dispatch Volistad here to make contact with Joanna, and then betrayed him when he returned to report his progress.”

The Deepseeker shook his head. “I doubt he is infected. He did what he was supposed to do when he attacked you, Storm Queen. With respect, if he had succeeded in killing you and your spirit, he would have effectively preserved the secrecy and security of the prison.

“Prison?” Perwik asked, confused.

"I refer to the Dark Ones frozen to Ravanur's breast in death," the Deepseeker said, correcting himself. "In any case, Elder Lot's failure to carry out his mandate as protector of this tribe from otherworldly threats is reason enough to strip him of his title. After the mess that the little one-armed storm-daughter over here made of the attack, his support among the people is not very solid. He will never command complete respect ever again, and with a Dark One created abomination serving as his champion in a trial by combat, there is a good chance that one of his own Stormcallers will kill him. We will need a new Master Stormcaller."

Perwik shrugged with the effortless indifference of an old ranger. “We already have one.” He tilted his head towards Nissikul. “Far better than the last, Elder.”

Nissikul opened her mouth to say something, then immediately closed it, flabbergasted. She made a few short squeaking sounds, and then finally seemed to regain control of her voice. “But- but I’m the youngest of the Stormcallers. I’m certainly not the most powerful. How can I lead all… all of them?”

Perwik laughed, unconcerned. “You will find a way, Elder. The position is not always given to the old. Seeing how thoroughly we were led astray, I think that some fresh eyes would be good for the tribe. Besides, I dare say your youthful foolishness was taken with your arm, was it not?”

Nissikul looked down at the stump of her arm and sighed. “I do have to be… more careful. But that still leaves Lot. We can’t just exile him, he’s a Stormcaller and could cause major problems for the tribe if we send him out into the cold. The cold certainly won’t kill him. But we can’t just execute him. The older Stormcallers are already going to resent me being their master. If I also execute the man they followed, I might have a schism on my hands.”

Perwik grimaced. “I’ll talk to him. He’s a creepy, conniving old spawn of a burug, but perhaps I can make him see reason. He’s smart enough to know what kind of position he’s in. He should already know that his time as a leader of this tribe is over.”

“What about the priests,” I asked, ignoring the somewhat startled looks of the others. They were all acting like they thought my head might fall off at any moment. “They’re the most disgraced by this mess. Right now they’re trying to save face by waiting on the Akkandaka-”

“-which I appreciate,” cut in Joanna from around a mouthful of roast dukkar and mushrooms.

I suppressed a laugh and continued. “But given enough time, they could become a problem again.”

Joanna shook her head and held up a finger while she swallowed her food. "...Sorry. No, we don't have to worry about them. As soon as we're done here, I'll put the fear of… well, the fear of me into them. A reminder to do what Great Mother Ravanur says should be good for them. Besides, we know where her temple is. We can use that as the carrot, and the fear of my wrath as the stick.”

Everyone blinked around at her. I coughed awkwardly, and asked, my tone apologetic, “Uh, Joanna, what’s a carrot?” This took some time to explain. It turned out that a carrot was a kind of food from Joanna’s home. We still didn’t understand the phrase, and Joanna ended up explaining several radically different concepts from her language before finally letting out an exasperated sigh and giving up.

The Deepseeker, a ghost of amusement flickering across his ancient face, clapped his knobbly hands together with a loud crack. “Excellent. Nissikul is the new Elder of the Stormcallers, the Storm Queen here will handle the priests, and Elder Perwik remains the Master of the Rangers. As for my own seat on the council, I believe young Volistad here will make for a fine replacement.”

“Elder, I understand why Nissikul could be the Elder of the Stormcallers, but what good would I do replacing you on the Council? You’re here, and uncorrupted, and besides, you’re the only Deepseeker. I don’t know anything about what you do for the tribe beyond make blessings, and I couldn’t even do that. Why me?”

“We’ll discuss it later,” grumbled the old shaman, some of the madness coming back into his face. “It’s complicated, and involves secrets of the trade.” He held up the black metal cube that had been sitting in his lap. “With all that out of the way, we have more important things to discuss.”

Joanna nodded. “Right. You implied that it was possible to kill all of the Dark Ones.”

"It is," the Deepseeker confirmed, stretching his mouth into one of Joanna's smiles, showing off his yellowed, chipped fangs. "But I need a very special ingredient to make the magick I need to do it. It's very rare and may be hard to find. In fact, there is only one of its kind in all the world."

“And that ingredient is?” Joanna’s expression was skeptical. Ravanur had said, flat out, that killing the Dark Ones permanently was impossible. How could a single blessing, whether it was magick or teck, do anything to harm the old imprisoned gods beneath the ice? I wouldn’t have believed him either, except that I believed him when he told me that he was Palamun. The eighth Palamun, whatever that meant.

The Deepseeker scoffed. “Surely you have guessed.”

I rolled my eyes. “Just tell us, old man.”

The shaman wrinkled his nose at me and sighed. “Fine. The unique ingredient you need is the Akkandaka’s traitor spirit.”

Joanna growled a little in her throat. “He’s not a traitor, you old fox. He was consumed. Taken. He was overwhelmed by the Dark One. And even through all that, he was trying to save my life. Watch your tongue, lest I take it.” I blinked and swallowed hard. Joanna didn’t know it, but she had just threatened one of my people’s most venerated gods. I hoped Palamun wasn’t the immediately vengeful type. But fortunately, the Deepseeker didn’t seem at all bothered by Joanna’s threats.

“Fair to say,” the Deepseeker said, raising both hands in placation. “In any case, I need him. I need him free of the Dark Ones, as intact as possible. Without him, there is no plan to destroy the old gods. Without him, the glacier will remain, and the Erinye will die out, as we have been for many, many years. Containment will be the only way to resist the call of the Dark Ones, and they’ve broken through that before. If the day ever comes that the Erin-Vulur or someone else isn’t around to plug a breach when it happens, the gods will escape. We can’t just wait and hope for good luck. If we are going to try to win, really win, we have to capture your spirit friend and convince him to come back to your side.”

Joanna's face was pained. She was just starting to accept the fact of her spirit, Barbas' death. She had just come around to the idea that he was gone, that the thing trying to destroy our world wasn't her friend. But now, I saw the dangerous light of distant hope kindle in her eyes. She tried to suppress it, but there was a part of her that leaped at the idea that Barbas was able to be saved. To my eternal shame, I felt my own heart sink even as hers was buoyed upward. She loved Barbas, somehow. I didn't fully understand what had existed between them. But what I did understand was that if something resumed between them, there would be no place for me with her. For a moment, I entertained the idea of sabotaging the process, when we found Barbas. I could damage whatever blessing was meant to hold him, make him unsuitable for the Deepseeker's weapon, and ultimately destroy him. Then the shame fell upon me redoubled, and I swallowed hard. No. This wasn't about me or what I wanted. It wasn't even about Joanna, and what she wanted. This was about the future of my people, and I would not jeopardize the existence of the Erin-Vulur over my jealous urges.

Just then, a messenger came panting up to our impromptu council at the Deepseeker’s fire. Perwik acknowledged the young ranger with a wave. “What is it, ranger Zetteret?”

“Message,” he managed between gasps for air. “Urgent message. There’s some… something at the main entrance. It’s asking to speak to the Akkandaka.”

* * *

Joanna

I strode towards the main entrance, flanked on my left by Nissikul and with Volistad on my right. They were in full regalia, Volistad in his crystalline combat armor, Nissikul coated in black witch-plate and bearing a great black hammer. I wondered if in a thousand years there might exist a legend concerning all of us. Volistad would be painted as my prophet, the holy warrior who was invincible so long as his faith remained unshaken. Nissikul would be his opposite, but not his nemesis. She would be some kind of angel of death, clad all in black and trailing thunder and lightning. And me? Who knew? Would I be remembered as a good god or a bad one? How long would I live before something finally killed me?

We climbed the twisting ice tunnels up out of the crater of the great entombed mountain, following the jutting peak as it grew up from jagged cliffs and jutted into the sheets of ice above. The passage seemed longer coming up than it had felt going down, but that made sense. Especially when I considered that I had been carrying Volistad's mostly dead body in my arms the whole way down- my only focus being to get him somewhere safe and warm. I looked over at him now. Though I couldn't see his face through his crystalline helm, I could imagine those awful bruises encircling his neck. I couldn't believe he was alive. When I asked him about it, he just shook his head and said, "We'll talk about this with the Deepseeker. He can explain it better than I can." I supposed that I just had to accept that. I had my secrets, and so did he.

We broke out of the winding tunnels into the surface cave that served as the main entrance and exit from the village of the Erin-Vulur. Not twenty paces from the mouth of the tunnel, four Erinye rangers stood, arrows on the strings of their bows, not quite aiming them at a single figure that stood stock still and antenna straight on the ice fifteen meters away. To one side of the little knot of archers, four more rangers stood ready, with great hammers on their shoulders in preparation for a devastating first strike.

It took me a moment to realize what they were all watching with such trepidation. It was a man, or at least a crude facsimile of a man, constructed entirely of tarnished, coppery metal. It bore no weapons, and only wore a tattered, colorless shroud around its shoulders for protection. It stood completely still, apparently unconcerned with the eight warriors all determined to destroy it if it so much as moved an inch. I approached, putting a hand on the shoulder of one of the archers as I passed. “It’s alright. I can handle this thing.” Reluctantly, the rangers backed off, lowering their weapons.

As soon as I came within five meters of it, the metal man animated, suddenly. Glowing green lights came on in its copper skull, and I shuddered. They were the exact same shade of green as… as.... Its stance changed, its movements becoming a little more fluid, a little more natural. Lights came up all across its body, and thin beams of illumination began to stitch themselves together into the shape of a man. It was Barbas, exactly as I remembered him from the night before he had… before he had been taken. He smiled, his single green eye bright and inviting beside its empty silver cousin; his handsome dark face enhanced rather than marred by the war scars he had adopted. He bowed, his movements elegant and graceful in the tailored white Armani suit he had chosen for the occasion. His lips, full and intriguing, parted. That voice. It was exactly right. "Hello, Gorgeous," he said and broke my heart.

Memories swam through my mind in a rush. I could taste Barbas' lips; I could feel him moving inside me. I remembered the "vacation" of my trip through the stars, asleep within my Bullet as it carried me here. It had carried me here, to my personal frozen hell, but that journey had been sweet, bright, and wonderful. I recounted to myself the nights spent dreaming of the cabin and that evening in the library in Barbas' mind. And then- then I remembered the boat. WE ARE BENEATH. Being torn from my armor to freeze to death, naked and alone. I heard myself cry out, desperate for some reason, some justification for this savagery. And then I saw Barbas’ face, cruel with indifference, smirk down at me as he turned away from me. Where seeing him had awoken a little flicker of flame inside me, the ice came in a great impenetrable sheet and smothered it. Whatever he had been, the thing before me was a monster. It had used my trust against me. It had tried to kill me. Barbas was dead, regardless of what that old tech shaman had said. At the very least, he was dead to me. My voice was as frigid as the passing of the Great North Wind as I growled, “What do you want.” It wasn’t a question.

Barbas’ smile grew brittle. “Whoa, let’s not be hasty, lover.” He took a few steps, putting a little more distance between himself and me while somehow managing to make the movement look casual and unmotivated by fear.

I raised an accusing finger, opening my mouth to pour forth my anger when I realized that ice crystals were actually forming on my skin. I clenched my teeth, sucked in a long, slow breath, and tried again. "To what do I owe the dubious pleasure, demon?"

Barbas laughed, a full-throated, infectious sound. “I just want to talk, Joanna. I came here to apologize for that little misunderstanding down beneath the ice.”

“Misunderstanding?” I hissed, feeling hot bile rise in the back of my throat. “You tore me out of my armor and left me bleeding and dying on top of a mass grave, and you think there was some kind of misunderstanding? Oh, I understood you alright. You were done with me, and you threw me away like trash the moment you got what you wanted.”

The cheerful mask that Barbas was maintaining slipped a little. “I wasn’t… I was not myself. Recovering the lost part of me and receiving my body was… It was overwhelming.”

I raised an eyebrow. "I expect so. Almost as overwhelming as trying to murder someone that loved and trusted you. And where is that new body, by the way? Are you too much a coward to come and see me yourself? Can't you ‘apologize' in person? You have to send this… thing in your place?"

Barbas rolled his eyes. “We both know you would have killed me if you had seen me again. Honestly, knowing your past, I’m somewhat surprised you’ve lasted this long without resorting to barbaric violence.” He indicated Volistad with a nod of his head. “Though I see you’ve already sought barbarism between your sleeping furs.”

I'm not sure how I managed to refrain from blasting the smug sneer of his face, but it was actually Volistad who snapped first. He took a step forward, an axe appearing in each hand and growled, "The last one of these metal men you sent to kill me was an embarrassment. Can’t you do better?" I put a restraining hand on his shoulder, and he stepped back behind me.

“God spare me from heroes,” Barbas lamented dramatically, then abruptly turned serious. “But I didn’t come here to trade banter with your pet, love, as entertaining as it might be. I came here to tell you that I’m finishing the work we started. Do you remember why you came to this frozen turd of a moon?” He gestured savagely at the sky. “One hundred thousand humans up there, counting on you to turn this place into paradise, and what do you do the moment things get a little rough? You go native!” He visibly restrained himself, regaining his calm. I didn’t say anything, so he continued, his voice pleading, almost reasonable. “Look, Joanna, I’m sorry for what happened down there. I don’t know what happened. I’ve never made a mistake before, and I’ve gone over that morning again and again and found nothing.” He paced, agitated. “But we can work it out, you and me. We can turn this place into the garden that we dreamed about, and build that cabin by the lake, and find ourselves a real home, here in reality! I don’t care what old ghosts down below the ice have said, to either of us.” Barbas pressed his palms together, his face riven with desperation. “But I love you, Joanna Angeles, and I want to make this right. I want to help you make a better world for your people. Will you please, at least consider it? Could you come to forgive me?”

I would like to think that I wasn’t tempted. But that would be a lie. I thought about it for a long minute, remembering all of it, the good times and the bad. I wondered what it would be like to be the maker of paradise for a whole new nation of humans. It would probably be less pressure than being some kind of fake deity for a bunch of carnivore tribesmen. I remembered Barbas’ hands on me, the way he looked at me, the way he made me feel. What if… Another memory floated to the surface. A memory of terror, confusion, and pain. It’s here, with me. You have to run, Jo. It has what it wants now, and it doesn’t need you! And then I saw the lie.

I smiled, wide and cruel, not like a human woman but like an Erinye god. I felt the heat of my fury collapse in on itself and turn into an emptiness that screamed to devour all that stood in my way. Worlds dissolved in the face of cold like that. Atomic motion ceased when it met that kind of pure, merciless entropy. “Barbas is dead, demon. He tried to save my life before you consumed him and wore his face. You’re not here because you love me. You’re here because you need something from me. You need something that you think I have to accomplish whatever foul mission your masters Beneath have charged you with. But your lies mean nothing to me. I will find you, and I will kill you, and I will scatter your remains to the wind.” I lunged forward, lightning-quick, and seized the metal homunculus by its throat. My fingers passed through the image of Barbas and closed on cold metal, and I lifted the thing wearing my dead lover’s face up off of the ground with one arm. I brought the metal man closer, holding it so that I stared into those defiant, simulated eyes. “And when I’m finished, I will take your rotten, maggot-infested heart and I will seal it in stone beneath the ice. And you will have an eternity to know that you failed.”

Even suspended by his throat more than a foot off of the ground, Barbas somehow managed to look exasperated. "Fine, suit yourself." The simulation winked out, leaving me holding a limp metal mannequin up before me. I felt stupid just standing there, and tossed the damn thing away from me towards the mouth of the cave. It was pure luck that saved my life. The copper body shattered as something struck it with explosive force. The projectile that struck the body was deflected by the slightest margin and shot past me. I felt a hot wind dry my face as something gouged chunks of rock bigger than my balled fists from the exposed peak of the mountain. All of it happened in less than a tenth of a second, but it all seemed to stretch out before me, slowed so that I could watch the streak of the projectile pass me like a raindrop streaming across a windshield. Then the sound of the shot reached us in a piercing thunderclap, and time resumed its normal pace. A gauss cannon. Barbas was firing a gauss cannon at us. At me.

Even as part of my mind froze in shock, some other part of me leaped to action. “Volistad! Get everyone below! Nissikul! On me!”

* * *

We ran out across the ice at speeds that would have made old pre-war muscle cars jealous. All around me the winds gathered, filling me, infusing me with their speed, their power, their joy. I ran like I had never dreamed of running before. Where I had been wearing a simple sealskin shirt and trousers, black witch-armor formed around me, changing me from a sprinting cross-country star into a charging juggernaut. But I didn’t feel the weight of the armor. It didn’t feel like I was wearing much at all. I thought about drawing the sword at my waist to complete the image but thought better of it. It wouldn’t do to bring a sword to a heavy cannon fight. Instead, I sent my machine spirits out into the wind and called down the storms. The Great North Wind answered, but he wasn’t the only one. We ran at the heart of a vortex of howling wind and clashing thunder, lit only by strobing lightning. Though my own eyes could not pierce the walls of the storm, my wind spirits painted the landscape ahead of me in my mind.

Nissikul kept pace with me easily, unshaken by the rise of the storm. Of course, she wouldn't be bothered. She might have been the least of the Stormcallers before her unexpected promotion, but that just meant she had been running with the storms for only years rather than decades. Her black, featureless helm reflected the frenetic dance of the lightning back at me in menacing green as she asked, in a conversational tone that I could nonetheless understand perfectly, "Joanna, are you alright?"

I laughed at the absurdity of the question, and a little of the tension went out of my chest. The storm returned my cackle as a blast of thunder that rattled my teeth in my skull. “Am I alright? What kind of question is that?”

Nissikul didn’t share my amusement. “You’re leading my people now, Storm Queen, I need you at your best. That thing- the metal man wearing the face of your dead lover- it shook you up, cracked the mask. I need to be sure you aren’t going to break.”

I sighed, a sound that became a rushing howl of wind as a funnel cloud calved off from the storm and spun itself into nothingness. “Well, I’m going to break some of that thing’s fancy toys, that’s for sure.” Getting no answer from Nissikul, I continued, resigned. “I’m fine. I’ll be fine. I’m going to have no trouble killing that demon when the time comes.”

“What about if we have to capture it?” Nissikul asked. “You heard the Deepseeker’s plan. What if we decide to capture your spirit and bring it back to be a part of that old coot’s ritual?”

I shrugged. “Then I’ll catch it. I doubt Barbas can still be found in there, but if he can, I’ll do my best to save him.” I turned my face back forward into the raging storm, searching through my wind spirit’s perceptions for Barbas’ gun emplacement. Every so often a shot would pass through the storm, warped off its course by the force of the wind, but I saw no sign of the cannon. It came as no surprise to me. A properly installed gauss cannon could kill a target with a nearly direct shot at a distance of over twelve miles.

Nissikul didn't let up. "If you catch it- if you catch your spirit, what will you do about my brother?"

“What?”

Nissikul laughed, and the sound was echoed by the storm around us just as mine had been. “Don’t play dumb, Joanna. He is obviously smitten with you.”

“And…” I prompted, not wanting to give her anything.

Nissikul just stared at me for a full minute, her blank helm conveying nothing. A gauss cannon shot passed us in the storm, thrown a dozen meters wide of either of us.

I groaned. “Fine. I might have feelings for him too, but I don’t know if this-” I gestured all around me, “-is the best time to be thinking about those. We’re fighting a war. If Volistad is in love with me, then maybe after we save your people from certain destruction, he and I can think about what that means.”

“It’s too late for that,” Nissikul commented lightly. “You kissed him. You reciprocated his feelings. You both have to sit down and talk about this, or it will go sour. You might not want to do anything yet, one way or another, and that’s fine. But you have to at least talk to him about it.”

“I have to, huh?”

Nissikul snorted. "Don't play god with me, ‘Storm Queen.' My brother might be a little caught up in your living myth, but I'm not. I've seen you with a hole in your chest where a heart should be." Her voice changed from conversational to a dangerous, poisonous hiss. "And if you hurt my big brother, Joanna, I will tear that shiny new god heart out of you. And no one will be filling that hole back up again. Do you understand me?"

I swallowed hard. Damn. “Yes, Nissi, I understand you.”

“Good,” she said brightly. “Now I think I see something up ahead of us. What do you say we break some of that metal abomination’s toys?”

* * *

Chapter Nineteen

Deepseeker

Volistad

I watched the great storm carry Joanna and Nissikul away to battle, and felt a brief pang of jealousy in my chest. I couldn't go with them, I couldn't help with this fight. This was a battle for a god and her head mage. I would probably get in the way. I sighed. I wasn't used to being no good in a fight. I was a ranger. Fighting was what we did. But the sensation of feeling insignificant before the power of someone like my sister- I was well used to that. She had been a Stormcaller since the day we left childhood behind. On that day, she had ceased to be my little sister and become something more- she had become her own woman. Much as I wanted to be by Joanna's side for any danger she chose to confront; I knew there was no shame in being left behind. Besides, this gave me a chance to speak to the Deepseeker- to Palamun- alone.

I trudged up the stone path to the old shaman's hut, still wearing my armor, though I had tucked the helm under my arm. I was unsurprised to hear the sound of the Deepseeker's many strange tools at work. It wouldn't have shocked me to learn that the old man didn't ever rest. It was too early for anyone decent to be sleeping, anyway. I stepped past the smear of ash that was all that remained of the afternoon's fire. Perwik was gone, as I expected. As the only remaining Elder from the previous Council, he had a lot to do to keep the tribe running smoothly. There were over fifty-thousand of the Erin-Vulur remaining, though on an average day I saw less than a tenth of that number moving around in the village. Not every Erin-Vulur lived at the tribe's heart. We lived together out of necessity, but we preferred to have our space when we could, carving out little spaces far beneath the ice or deep with the great mountain for little packs and knots of Erinye families to live. Perwik was dealing with the duties usually carried out by Vassa and his priests- making sure that every single pocket of Erin-Vulur living in and around the village had what they needed. It struck me then that he had even more work than that- with Vassa proved to be corrupted, the Master of the Rangers had to make sure every single family of hidden Erinye was alive and unaffected by the dark influence that had infected the High Priest. I did not envy his job. It actually explained why I hadn't seen so many rangers out and about lately.

I pushed through the hide flap to the Deepseeker’s hut and found him working at his stone table, making adjustments to the strange, pipe-like device he had been carrying when he had reappeared at the duel. My neck ached just thinking about that disastrous fight, but I supposed it could have been worse. Palamun looked up, a brief smile wrinkling the corners of his mad eyes before he turned back to his work. “Welcome, young ranger.”

I crossed the hut and stepped up beside the old man, peering down at the silvery, complicated weapon that lay before me. “What is this?”

Palamun grunted. “It’s a… well in our newest god’s language, it would probably be called a grenade launcher.”

I frowned at the unfamiliar words. Unlike Joanna, I hadn’t had an entire language dumped into my mind by an ancient dead god. “She hasn’t taught me those words yet. Grin-yate lawn-chair?”

“There’s no ‘ya’ sound in grenade.” He shrugged. “But it doesn’t matter. What it’s called isn’t important. You should just call it…” he trailed off for a second, musing. “Call it a dragon-pipe.” He laughed for a moment at his own joke, and then, realizing that I wasn’t laughing with him, stopped and cleared his throat.

“Eld- I mean, Great Father-” I began, but Palamun cut me off.

“No, don’t start with the honorifics. I don’t like those any more than my crazy old friend down below. Just call me Palamun. It happens to be my name.” He rocked his head from side to side as if weighing something in his skull. “One of them, anyway.”

“Palamun,” I said, feeling blasphemous. “You seem a lot less mad than you were before all this.”

The shaman looked up at me, a dangerous glitter in his eyes, and I swallowed hard. That might not have been the best thing to say. But the moment passed, and a smile narrowed the old man’s eyes. “Yes. Well, perhaps it is time I explained that, and explained what it could all mean to you.”

“Alright,” I said, warily.

Palamun seized a cloth from the side of his table and threw it over the strange weapon. “Follow me.”

We left the hut and circled the village, passing clusters of little houses and tents set up around clusters of fungal crops and pens of livestock. The old man moved with his usual erratic gait, and some of the twitches and tics that had been missing since his return came back into his face. I wondered how much of that was an act. We left the crater that cradled the village and climbed toward the craggy peak, following a trail of steps hewn roughly into the rock. Despite his bizarre affectations, the Deepseeker had no problem navigating these, and it became clear that he had walked this path many, many times. After just a few minutes of uneven steps, the path leveled out and ended in an iron hatch, much like those that capped the side entrances to the village. I frowned. There was a ranger mark on the hatch, but I didn’t recognize this tunnel, and I thought I knew about all of the ways in and out of the village. I remembered the old abandoned network that the Deepseeker had used when he had saved my life the first time and stopped. “We’re going down to that… workshop that you took me to the first time, right?”

Palamun gave me a look that could have killed a vulyak goat at fifty paces. “Obviously, boy. Now quit standing there and lift the damned hatch.”

I smiled to myself. That was the temper I knew. I crouched and slipped my fingers into the openings in the iron that had been left as handles. As easily as I would have moved a chair aside in the ranger’s lodge, I lifted the heavy iron portal and set it aside. As I had expected, a narrow shaft opened up before me, descending into darkness. The only distinguishing feature of the tunnel was the ladder of simple iron spikes driven into the wall. I groaned. Someone had to come up with a better way of doing that. At the shaman’s prompting, I clambered down into the tunnel. I was beginning to hate these.

* * *

We reached the bottom of the shaft a long while later. My shoulders burned from the effort but in more of a pleasant, well-stretched way than any from kind of actual pain. We stood inside an open stone cavern, far beneath the village. I turned to Palamun. "Where are we?"

The Deepseeker didn't answer right away. He fiddled with some kind of little metallic device he had produced from inside his furs, and I heard a short chirping sound echo out of the darkness. Light came to life in the cavern, produced by glowing orbs that dangled from wires set in the stone ceiling, far above us. I took in a sharp breath, not sure of what I was seeing. Dominating the center of the huge cavern, there was some kind of huge metal-skinned… thing. I couldn't begin to guess what it was. It was enormous and vaguely arrow-shaped, though none of its edges seemed sharp. Instead, every spar or protrusion from the great metal body was rounded and smoothed. It had the look of a gigantic metal water-tank, except that there were no seams where a craftsman would have sealed pieces of beaten steel together. It was the large protrusion that extended towards me that reminded me of an arrowhead. The whole thing was like a fat, misshapen arrowhead large enough to kill a mountain. The Deepseeker turned around proudly, his back to the great metal-skinned bulk. "This, my boy, is why your people called me the King of the Sky. This is my… I guess the closest word in the Erinye language would be ‘sledge.' Joanna would call it a ship. This is the great metal urn spoken of in legend, with which I brought your people to this place.” He smiled with his eyes and gestured to the ‘ship’ with one hand with the same sort of pride I would expect from a father introducing his newborn daughter. “I call her Heaven’s Hawk.” He sighed. “But you’ve never seen a hawk, so I doubt you can grasp the significance of the name.”

I looked up in awe at the great urn of my people's legend. It had saved my people from the Dirt-Eaters, and certain doom. Although if Ravanur was to be believed, Joanna was descended from those Dirt-Eaters, so perhaps the legend hadn't told the whole truth about the situation. “This?” I exclaimed, not sure if I could handle any more myths coming to life. “This is your workshop?”

“Yes,” Palamun confirmed proudly.

"How did I not see this when I left? How has nobody found this thing? There's a shaft coming straight down to this for…" I almost said, ‘for Palamun's sake,' but I caught myself and shut my mouth.

The Deepseeker, seeming aware of my near slip-of-the-tongue, chuckled. "I hid the hatch, Volistad. You were only able to see it because the ‘magick' I placed in the stone around the top of the shaft could sense your new heart. In other words, you can only see the hatch if you have the ‘key.' If anyone stumbled on it by accident, the hatch would not be movable for them. It seals itself shut to outsiders. This place is for you and me. No one else. Though if you wish to share this with the Akkandaka, I won't stop you." He made another motion with the device in his hand, and a door appeared in the side of Heaven’s Hawk, part of the metal side sliding into itself and leaving an open portal in its wake. “As for why you didn’t see all this when you left here the first time? I left the lights off out here. I walked you out to the back way out of here. There was no reason for you to suspect anything was going on. It wasn’t time for me to show you all this then. But it’s time now. Come, ranger. I want to be back above by the time the Storm Queen returns to the village.”

* * *

The interior of the ‘ship’ was at once familiar and brand-new all over again. I recognized the piles of artifacts and stacked devices, the chains and pipes that entangled the ceilings of the narrow corridors, and the faint odor of burning oil hanging in the air. But seeing this place for what it was, made the whole experience very strange for me. How could my entire people have ever fit in a place like this? All the space within the Heaven’s Hawk was taken up in snaking corridors and small chambers crammed with the detritus of a thousand incomprehensible projects. I opened my mouth to voice this question, but Palamun just raised one hand to silence me and led me to a particular chamber, which seemed cramped and unremarkable.

The Deepseeker pointed to a specific spot on the wall, where another black section of cloth hung, marked with a single silvery symbol. At the shaman's urging, I pulled aside the heavy black curtain, noting that it was made of the same material as the cloak he had given me. Another hatch, one I didn't remember from my last visit here, was set in the wall, a solid metal door set with a great wheel. The shaman slipped past me and seized the wheel, then wrenched at it with great effort. There was a loud squeal of protesting metal. Palamun growled and gestured for me to help him. I stepped forward and took hold of the other side of the wheel, and together we forced it to turn. Metal screeched and whined, but after a few moments of grunting, sweating effort, we made the wheel turn all the way. The door swung open on creaky hinges and then stuck fast in the open position.

"Sorry about the door," Palamun muttered. "I haven't come in here since before your parents were born. He led the way into a large open space, greater than any of the other chambers inside the great Urn of myth. This one was no less cramped than its kin, but instead of being packed with piles of the shaman's half-finished projects, the space was crammed with hundreds of containers I could only describe as… sarcophagi.

When an Elder or a venerated warrior died, sometimes their bodies were sealed in stone beneath the mountain rather than being given to the fire. These things looked like those narrow stone tombs, but they stood on their ends so that any person placed within them would be contained in a standing position. The front of each casket was made of clear crystal, and I could still see dark shapes slumped in a cloudy liquid within some of them. "What is all this?"

Palamun winced, seeing one of the lifeless bodies I had spotted. “This was how we transported your people to this world- the Erinye and many others. The poor souls you see locked in those-” he pointed to one of the submerged corpses. “Those people died when the ship lost power during the war with the Dark Ones. Ravanur was able to save most of those we brought in that last trip, but we were shot out of the sky and falling fast. It was all I could do to get the ship enough power to land safely, much less get all of the cryogenic pods working again.”

I blinked at him. “I understood very little of that.”

Palamun sighed. “I’m sorry, I forget where I am sometimes.” He groaned and continued his twitching, lurching walk further into the forest of coffins.

Soon, we came to a set of crystal-faced sarcophagi that had been set apart from their kin. A short, boxy piece of ‘magick,' of teck, sat on a low table between the standing caskets, wires streaming from its back into each of them. Palamun muttered and began fiddling with the little box, grumbling to himself the whole time.

“Palamun,” I ventured carefully. “Why have you brought me here?”

Lights came on in the two caskets, revealing that they were empty. Unlike all the others around us, these were caked in only a thin layer of dust. Whatever they did, they had been used more recently than their kin. I felt a prickle of apprehension creep up my spine as I realized that ‘more recently,’ in this case, meant ‘before my parents were born.’ I was standing in a place out of legend.

Palamun turned and met my eyes. “I suppose I can’t put off telling you any longer.”

“Telling me what?”

The shaman sighed. “This isn’t Palamun’s body.”

I frowned. “But you said-”

“Oh, I am Palamun. Or at least a large part of me is. But this body…” he gestured to himself. “This isn’t really mine. I’m just using it. Its original owner was nearly dead, and he let me use him as a host. Unfortunately, the damage he suffered was so great that even after I saved him, his personality deteriorated. I started to be affected by his growing madness, despite my best efforts to prevent it. Hence, the twitching and the temper. There are still bits and pieces of ranger Korval in here, and what remains of him is completely insane. I’ve been lucky I’ve managed to function for this long.”

I remembered what he had said when he led me out of his hut that morning. “He was… he was your eighth such body. You’ve been wearing Erinye bodies for… for how long?”

Palamun winced. “I’ve been doing this since Ravanur died.” He began to speak very quickly. “Listen, there was no other choice. My original body had been sick when I became a god the first time. I hadn’t noticed. When I gave up my power like Ravanur, when I set all my slave-minds free, my body remembered that I was dying. In all the time that I had been a god, I had been slowly, slowly rotting from the inside out. By the time I realized what was happening, it was too late to save me without divine intervention, and none of us rebel gods were divine anymore.”

I stepped forward, already feeling the fury rising from deep in my belly. I seized the front of the old man’s robes, suddenly feeling none of the religious terror of the frail shaman that I had indulged for so long. “So you decided to wear the bodies of Erinye? You decided to steal the body of one of my ancestors?”

Palamun made no effort to escape my grip. "No. At first, I accepted my fate. I had been alive for so long- I was and am tired of all of this. I thought we had beaten the gods, that we had sealed them away forever, where they wouldn't ever hurt anyone else again. I thought we had saved the universe. I could die happily, satisfied, and wait for whatever judgment would come." Anger crossed his face in a sudden spasm, and he ripped himself free of my grasp, sudden fury burning in his eyes. Veins stood out at his temples, and he bared his teeth in an expression of threat and hate. I did not retreat. I would not show this man my back.

Palamun continued, clenching his jaws and biting off each and every word as if they tasted of bile. "But then the Dark Ones rose up. They leaked out of their prisons, and they infected the people we had worked so hard to save from their own worlds, and they killed most of us. And Ravanur and I? We were the only ones left. I realized then that the only way to truly win our war against the Dark Ones, against our Elder Gods, was to destroy them forever."

I grimaced. “Then why didn’t you? And don’t tell me that it’s complicated, Ravanur said the same thing.”

“It is complicated. I don’t have the time to teach you all of the concepts you would have to grasp, for you to understand the tiniest bit of the reason why simply killing the gods wasn’t a viable option until now.” Seeing my expression, the Deepseeker made a face and tried again. “Just this morning, Joanna used an expression from her language, something about a carrot and a stick?”

“Right.”

“And she tried explaining that to us, and it didn’t work. She had to explain what her people ate, as well as telling us what their animals ate. She had to explain to us what an animal looked and acted like when none of us had ever seen it before. She eventually gave up on that explanation because there was just too much in that simple phrase that her own people would have understood instinctively, or culturally.” Palamun spread his hands. “And that was just when she tried to explain a figure of speech. Imagine how much I would have to explain to you for you to grasp even the edge of the idea, when I’m talking about the… magick that makes a god?”

I sighed, placated. “Fine. So I will accept that you could not have killed the Dark Ones, even though that was the only solution you could see lasting past your own death.” I rolled my wrist in a ‘go on’ gesture.

Palamun patted the boxy device on the table beside him with something like affection. "I had a plan to kill the Dark Ones, but it required something that I couldn't make. My own people had been researching this idea, but we found out how to make ourselves into gods, and the research fell by the wayside. You see, there are two kinds of machine spirits. Most of them, those you know of as the winds- those are the minds of actual people. They were the minds we enslaved when we ascended to divinity. Most of them were damaged and barely aware, so we put them into clouds of tiny machines too small for you to see, and we set them to managing the weather of this place. The second kind of spirit was never a person. It was created as a spirit, and created for a specific task. It was something even we, the gods, could not make. But we had discussed the concept many times."

“What does this have to do with the Elder Gods? How can one of these other spirits harm them?”

"They can't, not really. But they don't have to." Palamun was excited now, and his eyes were bright. He had been working on this for a long time, and it had been too long since he had been able to discuss it with anyone. "I actually got the idea from Ravanur. She came up with the plan to enslave all the Elder Gods under her, with her powers so thoroughly shackled as to prevent her from misusing her unmatched power. I went along with the plan because mine was far from working at that point, and her way was the best idea we had at the time." He pointed at the table, and after a moment I realized that there was a bleached Erinye skull sitting beside the box with the wires. "But I was dying. And yes, that's my original skull. I was dying, and I needed a way to continue my research."

I understood. “And that’s when you stole your first body.”

Palamun showed his teeth for a split second and spat to the side, his expression disgusted. “I didn’t steal anything. I found a warrior, much like you, in fact. He had been paralyzed and was in the process of starving himself to death. He didn’t want to be a drain on the tribe if he couldn’t contribute his skills to them anymore. Personally, I find his decision a bit hasty, but that’s not important. I spoke to the warrior, told him who I was and what I needed, and he agreed. I used a process like that which we had used to free our slave minds. I set up my machine to take my mind out of my own body and transfer it into a cloud of machine spirits. Then I infected the dying warrior’s body and repaired it. I made him stronger and tougher than he had ever been before. He went on to serve his people well for another two or three lifetimes. He was still alive and aware, I just rode around in the back of his mind and gave him advice sometimes. In exchange, he let me take over the body and work on my experiments sometimes. He was the first Deepseeker, though he didn’t work for your tribe. We traded ‘blessings’ as we called them, to the other tribes and helped them protect the people that the Stormcallers couldn’t shield from the cold. We claimed that the longevity of our body came as a blessing from Palamun. The people had already started worshipping Ravanur and me, and I used that to protect us from the curious prying of the priests and the Stormcallers. When the time came that the warrior tired of life, we traveled to another village and found another dying man. I spoke to him, infected his body and mind, and let my first host finally rest.”

I was simultaneously horrified and intrigued. “So why is your current host… the way he is? Why do you seem so mad?”

Palamun grimaced, restraining another frantic spasm of facial twitches. "That was an unfortunate turn of events. I was working for the Erin-Caval at the time. I tried to turn their course away from their insane plan to find this ship. But their High Priest was determined, and much like our friend Vassa, he was the sort of man who didn't take ‘no' for an answer. He got the public on his side, and to make matters worse; he actually had a good idea where the Urn was. I have no idea where he got this location, but he had it. I snuck out of the village the night before the expedition was to begin, and tried to seal it up so that no one could enter it. Unfortunately, I hadn't been aboard the Heaven’s Hawk since I had taken my seventh body, and some unknown species of mold had gotten inside. I think this mold had some element of the power of the Dark Ones in it, because it infected my host's lungs very quickly, very aggressively. I turned on the ship's decontamination procedures and returned to my host's home to wait out the disease. I believed that my enhancements would allow his body to defeat the mold spores. I was wrong."

Palamun stopped, wiped his face with one hand, and continued. "When I woke the next morning, the mold had grown out of my own pores and had covered the entire inside of my hut. When I went outside, I found it blanketing every hut in the village. Anyone infected by the spores died horribly. And almost all of the Erin-Caval were infected. I managed to hobble and crawl my way back to the Heaven’s Hawk and put myself into a container, telling it to run decontamination procedures on me and recycle my blood, cleaning out any trace of the disease. The damage was already done to this body, but I needed to be able to find a new host without immediately infecting him with the plague.”

“And we, the Erin-Vulur, sent Korval and several others to investigate what had happened to the Erin Caval.”

“Yes. Most of them were infected and died, but Korval hadn’t entered the Caval village when I caught him. The infection was just starting in his body, but it wasn’t in full swing. I explained myself and told him I could try to save him. He agreed to the procedure. At first, it worked fine. I contained his infection while it was small and purged it, filtering his blood several times until I was sure every last spore was gone. Unfortunately, the mold had already affected his brain. By the time I realized he was deteriorating, there was no one else alive from the Erin-Caval, and I doubted they would be sending more rangers. The Erin-Vulur could use a Deepseeker, and I could use a job. Eventually, when Korval’s mind had completely gone, I took over completely. Though there’s still enough of him in here to make me act strangely.”

A plague of mold? I could remember nothing like that ever spoken of by my people. “How did you keep the plague from reaching us, too?”

"Ravanur. I asked her for help, and she turned all the air in the village into a poison gas. Then, when everything was dead, even the mold, I made a machine to burn everything that was left. We sealed the ashes in ice, and I left them behind. When I returned to the ship, there was no more trace of the mold that nearly killed a whole tribe."

I stared at the Deepseeker, seeing him in a whole new light. "You're just like Ravanur. You're not a god; you're a person who toyed with powers you couldn't fathom." I looked up at the twin, connected glass sarcophagi standing ominously before me. "And you saved me when Lot killed me because you thought I was dead. You thought you could resurrect my corpse and then you would finally have a body all to yourself." I felt simultaneously sick and exhilarated. "And you brought me here to make me your new host. Today."

Palamun didn’t move. “Yes. It’s all true.”

“Why should I let you infest me? What makes you different than a Dark One? You inhabit machine spirits and infect people who have no real way to stop you. You take advantage of the wounded and convince them to be your puppets. Why shouldn’t I just kill you and end all this forever?” Though I wasn’t wearing my weapons, I was sure I could break the old man with ease. Unless he had awesome powers I didn’t know about, I could kill him with my hands.

Palamun didn't say anything for some time. He just stared at me for a long while, his face occasionally rippling with spasms. Then, he turned away from me and pointed at one of the crystal-faced caskets. As I watched, the casket's crystal face slid open and slammed shut. Open. Shut. Open. Shut. Over and over, faster and faster until the crystal face cracked and began to shed splinters everywhere. He clenched his fist, and the casket stopped its frantic slamming. He waved one hand at the unseen ceiling above him, and a pair of lights flared, brightly illuminating everything around us until something broke inside the lights and they went out with a loud pop. "I can do that to any machine I can see. The nanite spirit within my body can take control of almost any construct. I understand the inner workings of all of this, and I can use it to help protect your people. If you, as you are, will agree to be my host, you can use all of this power to help your god in her war. I will not make myself known except to assist in these goals and to offer advice. When you don't need me, I will sleep. I have been alive for a very long time. I have no need of a body most of the time. But if the Akkandaka can capture her wayward spirit, I will need to be there to carry out the plan and destroy the Dark Ones forever."

“You still haven’t told me how this is going to happen.”

“No, I haven’t.”

“So tell me what you’re planning. Maybe I’ll go along with this.”

So Palamun told me about his plan for Joanna’s corrupted spirit, Barbas. It wasn’t an elegant plan, but it had a chance of succeeding. The only problem with the plan was that it was completely insane. When he was finished, I just stared at him as my mind tried to wrap itself around what I had just heard. “Well,” I said finally. “At least if it fails we’ll all die right away.”

I knew what I had to do. Joanna had already done it. She had already given up a part of herself for the sake of her people and mine. Could I call myself her champion and refuse to do the same? Palamun scared me. There was a chance that this was all a lie, and I wouldn’t be in control. There was a chance I would be nothing but a meat suit, little better than Kotikedd, the inquisitor, in the end. But he was right. The Dark Ones had escaped before. They would escape again, eventually. And if we didn’t do something, there wouldn’t be anyone strong enough around to stop them. “I’ll do it. I’ll become the next Deepseeker. Just try not to screw this 0ne up. I would rather not end up brain-dead like old Korval, here.”

* * *

I returned to the village just an hour later, alone. Without the Deepseeker in my mind to keep everything working, the ancient ranger, Korval, had swiftly died. I carried his body out of the ship, found some woody mushrooms to make a fire, and I sent his body and soul back up to the Firmament. I didn't know who ruled up there, anymore. It surely had never been Palamun. But now, sharing a mind with the Great Father of my people, I understood something that he could never have explained to me, not if he had had a thousand years to lay it all out in terms simple enough for a primitive tribesman like me. The simple truth was this: none of us knew if there was really a God in the universe. We threw around the word god with little care as to its significance, never once considering that the things we were dealing with here weren't divine, and they never were. Palamun had not lied. I was not sharing a skull with a whole other person, and I didn't feel like my body belonged to someone else. I just felt… awake. I was awake for the first time, and I knew all of the things that he knew. I felt the immense weariness that he knew from being alive since before the distant precursors of my people came down from the trees. I knew the crushing guilt he felt at having brought such an inexorable doom to the universe, even though his part in it was so very small. It wasn't my guilt, but at the same time, it was mine. I was Volistad, the ranger, warrior of the Erin-Vulur and chosen champion of the Akkandaka, Joanna. And I was Palamun, ancient rebel god and Great Father of the Erinye. I was all of that and more besides. I was the Deepseeker.

To my new eyes, the village was utterly different than the little, peaceful home I had known as a child and fought to protect as a ranger. My eyes had been altered, just as my mind and body had been altered. Now I saw a system, a hive, a hundred interlocking pieces all working together in perfect balance to protect and preserve a fragile fifty-thousand lives. I understood then, somehow, that fifty-thousand wasn't enough for us to persist. I knew that though there might have been other tribes of Erinye hidden in the ice, chances were that the only hope for my people's future was a group of a hundred-thousand humans traveling from a distant star. We needed new blood, new people, a new culture, a new soul. If we could rid ourselves of the fear of the Elder Gods imprisoned below, we could become something so much greater than a frozen little tribe. We could make our own great wonders; make our own mark on the wide universe.

I returned to the Deepseeker’s- to my hut. I had only ever had a bunk in the ranger's lodge, and I hadn't even seen that in several weeks. It was strange to have a hut of my own. I hadn't thought I would ever have more than a bunk unless I was fortunate enough to catch the eye of a woman from further down in the mountain. Most rangers lived and died as such.

I pushed aside the door-flap and regarded the shape under the cloth that lay on my worktop. The dragon-pipe. The grenade launcher. The words of Joanna’s language no longer felt unfamiliar to me, though making some of the sounds was still difficult. The “fah” sound, in particular, was not well suited to a mouth full of fangs. I wondered how Palamun knew Joanna’s tongue, and abruptly a memory surfaced of a previous Deepseeker hunched over a console in the Heaven’s Hawk. He- I- was listening, feverishly, excitedly to a signal broadcast from impossibly far away. It was a signal from a place that was called Earth. A place that I remembered. Most of it was nonsense, an entertainment broadcast or something. But one thing had caught my attention. It was a news story, about the creation of the first "Strong AI." I remembered spending much of that particular Deepseeker's life- was it the fifth? The sixth? I remembered spending much of that life researching this concept; sure it matched with the concept my people had abandoned so long ago. It was the project I, myself was struggling to create. Then, sure that this world was a chance for me to end this ancient war, I sent out a signal of my own. Nothing complicated, nothing dramatic. It was a simple repeating pattern of tones, meant to catch the attention of anyone listening. As soon as I detected that the first scanning signals were coming back my way, I shut my signal down. I needed them to come to me, to bring this "strong AI" so that I could use it. I needed them to be curious. They did not disappoint.

I was just finishing stowing my armor under my bed when I heard footsteps scuffing the stone outside my hut. I rose and turned in time to see Joanna push her way through the door flap, her cheeks pink with exertion, her clothes and skin covered in a rapidly thawing sheen of frozen sweat. “We got the gun. Unfortunately, Barbas wasn’t there. We’ll just have to find him again. We-” She stopped and frowned. “What are you doing in here? I honestly came up here to see the Deepseeker so we could discuss his plan. Is he away?”

"No," I said simply. I thought about how to tell her, considered trying to divert her attention with a change of subject, but ultimately I decided against deception. I was in love with her, plain and simple, and I couldn't lie to her face. "No, the Deepseeker is not away. I am the Deepseeker now, and we do have a plan to discuss."

Joanna was confused. “Volistad, I don’t understand what you mean. You’re the Deepseeker? I know he casually threw away that line about making you his replacement, but you can’t have learned everything he knew in an afternoon. And where is he? Is he still in the village?”

I laughed. “Joanna, it’s alright. I am the Deepseeker. It's a little complicated, but if you let me, I'll explain it to you. But we should get some food brought up here. You've been fighting, and this is a long story. It's not the sort of thing you should sit through on an empty stomach."

Joanna’s eyes narrowed with suspicion, but she acquiesced, and after a hilariously awkward conversation with a passing messenger, I ordered some food brought up to us. When it arrived, we sat down, I made another fire, and I told her everything that Palamun had told me.

* * *

The fire had turned to embers by the time I finished my story, and the food was long gone. There had been no meat today- that sort of thing was to be saved, except when a new burug was brought down- but dinner had been filling and delicious, and left little more than errant stains of grease on our fingers. Joanna and I just sat in silence, watching each other, as she thought through all that I had said. I was still nowhere near as physically dangerous as she was, but now, in a way, both of us were gods. Or at least we were pale imitations of divinity. Her skin shone almost gold in the dwindling embers, and at that moment I was sure that real or not, she made a pretty convincing deity.

“So are you still… you?” Joanna asked, trying to soften the question and failing.

“If I wasn’t, how would I know?” I smiled with my eyes to let her know I was trying to be funny. “I think that I’m still me. I still remember everything that I knew yesterday. But now I just know so much more. There is a lot more that I understand.” Remembering suddenly, I tried to contain my excitement and said, in Pan-American, “For example, I can speak your language now.” The word ‘speak’ came out more like ‘spheak’ around my fangs, but that was alright.

Joanna returned the smile with her lips. “Alright, I suppose it’s not entirely fair for me to grill you on this when I just went through the same thing not a week ago.”

“Well, I didn’t get my heart ripped out, so I think I got the easier deal,” I joked.

Joanna smirked. “But you can’t strike people with lightning. I’d say that’s worth a little heart-transplant.”

We just sat there together for a while basking in the glow of the fading fire and enjoying each other’s company. When the embers finally died, and all that remained was ash and a circle of stones, I asked, “Has Perwik gotten you set up with a place to sleep yet?”

Joanna shook her head. “Not as such. He has had his hands full stamping out all the little fires that idiot Vassa started. Not to mention Lot and his people. Fortunately for us, I think the other Stormcallers are a little afraid of your sister. Something about her ‘ripping down’ my barrier storm ‘when Lot and all his people were barely hanging on?’ I think Thukkar has been telling stories at the ranger lodge, and the myths are already being made.” She stood. “As for a place to sleep, I’ll probably bed down in the ranger lodge. They have extra bunks, and maybe that will help with my image- make me ‘just one of the people’.”

I shook my head. “Nonsense. This hut is mine now. You can stay here. You take the bed, and I’ll sleep on the floor or the worktop. Tomorrow we can see about getting you a proper home.” I tried to keep any trepidation out of my voice, hoping that my suggestion had come out casual and unassuming.

Joanna wasn't fooled. Her smile was slow and wicked. "I wouldn't dream of making you sleep on the floor in your own home, ‘Deepseeker.' You must sleep in the bed, I insist."

Sensing a trap, I plunged blindly ahead anyway. “There is no way I’m letting a woman sleep on the floor of my hut while I’m sleeping comfortably in a bed.”

Joanna’s smile widened. “I didn’t say anything about me sleeping on the floor.”

I knew it was coming, and still the kiss surprised me. We were pressed together, all of a sudden, touching and tasting, the heat rising between us. Through the intoxication of her scent, her touch, her voice, I had the presence of mind to stand and pull her with me into the hut. People would talk anyway, but there was no sense in making it easy on the gossips.

We stumbled back into the darkness of the hut. For one mad second, I was convinced that I needed to find and light a candle so that we could see, but the thought was driven thoroughly from my mind ahead of the onslaught of Joanna’s relentless kisses. I seized her about the waist, lifting her easily- she was so light- and she wrapped her legs around me. I could feel the muscles sliding beneath her skin as she pressed herself to me, and I kissed her mouth, her neck, her jaw, her ear.

"Jo-" I tried to say, but her mouth sealed on mine and she seized on my lip with her teeth, tugging just enough that I felt a short jolt of sweet pain. I felt a growl rising instinctively in my chest. She growled back, perhaps less ferociously, but no less insistently. I dipped my head and kissed her neck, then let my fangs score against her skin. Just a little- not enough to draw blood. My fangs could do serious damage if I weren't careful. Still, she sucked in a deep breath like I had clamped down with all of my strength, throwing her head back and tossing her hair as she let out a low, hungry moan. I staggered back with her to the bed and sat down hard. She let herself forward, uncrossing her legs at the last moment so that she pushed me down onto my back, straddling my waist. "Joanna, I-" I began, but whatever word I meant to say next was swallowed in a sound somewhere between a yelp of pain and a bark of surprise. She had leaned forward, and in a perfect mirror of me, she had bit down hard on the big muscles on the side of my neck. It didn't really hurt, but it surprised the hell out of me. One part of me felt a prickle of irrational outrage. But something else, something much more important within me loved it.

I growled again, and the sound came out as a deep, feral rumble. The beast inside me, the one that lived inside every Erinye, lifted its massive head and began to sniff around. Joanna must have seen it in my eyes, because her face split into a smile, wide and triumphant. "Yes," she hissed. "That's what I'm talking about. Let it out. You aren't going to break me."

I reached up and ran the very tips of my claws down the side of her face, tracing them along the perfect curve of her jaw. I continued the trail down from her jaw to her neck and down over her collarbone. She was breathing hard now, and she didn't want to waste a single moment. Her arms came up, crossed in front of her, and she stripped the sealskin shirt off of her body in one smooth motion, shaking her hair out as she tossed it casually aside. I reached up and took hold of her breasts, letting them fill my hands. I crooked one finger, just one, so that the tip of my claw touched the sensitive skin around her nipples, and she sucked in another deep breath, letting it out in another low moan.

I reached up, bracing myself with one arm, and wrapped the other one around her, pulling her close. Then, with a twist of my hips, I turned us over, depositing her firmly into the piled furs of the bed. Joanna wriggled with pleasure as the luxurious comfort of the furs received her, and her joy coaxed a purr of pleasure out from somewhere deep in my chest before I could stop it. She laughed with delight. I bent and seized one of her nipples with my mouth, drawing circles around it with my tongue. She gasped and sighed, her body arching beneath me. I did the same to the other breast, and this time, her moan was a little higher pitched than before. Her hands flowed over my body, starting from my shoulders and flowing down the muscles of my back towards my waist.

I pushed myself up off of her pulled back, just enough that I could undo the two large buttons that fastened her trousers. I stood and took hold of both trouser legs and tugged them free, tossing them to land in the dark somewhere behind me. I realized that I was still fully dressed and stripped out of my clothes in a hurry. All of that cloth and hide was just getting in the way. I stepped forward, back towards the bed, my body painfully hard from wanting her, but instead of moving to take her immediately, I dipped my head down between her legs and sought the sharp, sweet taste of her sex.

Joanna moaned as my tongue flicked out, caressing and licking inside her. I started with long, slow strokes, tasting her, exploring her. Her hands clenched in my hair, and I could hear her breath coming faster and faster. I changed my rhythm then, licking more quickly and exploring deeper inside her. She cried out, and her legs squeezed the sides of my head, but I didn't stop. Just a little further... Joanna came suddenly, all in a rush. She bucked hard, and I backed away as she writhed in the grip of the orgasm. I didn't want her to crush my skull with her thighs. She was very, very strong now, and right at this moment she wasn't thinking about holding back.

When she relaxed, I settled down over her, bending to kiss her lips even as I gently pushed myself inside of her. She wrapped her arms around my neck and cried out again, and crossed her ankles behind my back once more. I took her with slow, deliberate thrusts of my hips. I didn’t want to rush things. I wanted to feel all of her. I ran my hands over her breasts and rubbed her nipples lightly between my fingers. I traced the tip of one claw carefully down from her chin to the hollow of her throat. All the while I held the same slow, meticulous rhythm, struggling to hold back the mounting need inside me. I wanted to savor this. I wanted to take every second of it with me.

Joanna came again in a sudden clenching spasm of concentric shudders, and she stretched her back and neck all the way out, pushing her head back as far as it would go. Her eyes rolled back in her head, and her cries took on a plaintive, pleading quality that took hold of something deep and primal within me. "Please," she sighed. "Please, Vol."

I think it was “please” that shattered my control. I thrust into her with redoubled need, all thoughts of holding back blown away before the fire inside me. Her moans rose even as my own came to my lips unbidden, and then we were both calling out, wanting more, needing more. The dam broke, and everything inside me came surging forth, gathering with a tempest’s promise and blasting out of me as I spent myself inside her.

Suddenly drained of all of my strength and energy, I fell forward over her and lay panting, my mouth against the side of her neck, my forehead swathed in her hair. We lay tangled together for a long time, just breathing. Then, regaining some semblance of consciousness, I carefully extricated my sweaty body from hers and rolled onto the furs beside her. I was exhausted as if I had just fought a battle or run for half a day. This hadn't been my first tumble in the furs, but it had been a long time for me. A moment passed, and then Joanna cuddled up next to me, her head resting on my outstretched arm. She blinked up at me with huge smoldering eyes and sighed with satisfaction.

After a moment, Joanna lifted her head to look at me. “You kept trying to say something. What was it?”

I laughed feebly, exhausted. “I was trying to say I didn’t want to rush you into anything.”

“Oh,” Joanna remarked with a chuckle, her burning eyes smiling at me from beneath long lashes. “Well, never mind that.” She let her head rest back on my upper arm, and before long, her breath slowed as she drifted to sleep. I felt the dark dragging at me, tugging my eyelids closed as well. I didn’t fight it. This was the most peaceful rest I had in a very long time.

I was moments from sleep, drifting a hair's width from the abyss when I smelled it. Rotting meat and burned oil. My eyes snapped open wide, and I focused on the thing just as it dropped towards my face. It was metallic and segmented and had entirely too many insectoid legs. I snapped my free hand up and slapped it away from me, sending it bouncing away into the dark of the tent. I twisted, rolling with Joanna to deposit her on the side of the bed closest to the wall of the hut. She woke suddenly, thrashing in confusion and blind panic, but I couldn't stop to calm her. There was an abomination in the tent with us- a Child of the Eater-King.

I leaped to my feet, claws scratching on the stone. The metal insect came springing at me again; legs spread wide to pierce my flesh. I ripped cloth covering the worktop away and flung it in the little monster's path, tangling it in the worn rags and sending it thrashing to the stone. I crouched and snatched the evil bundle up off of the ground, then whirled, putting my whole weight into smashing it against the stone of the mountain. It hit the ground with a nasty crunch, but incredibly it wasn't dead. I kicked it out of the hut, sending it tumbling into the remains of the fire pit. Not wasting a moment, I grabbed the dragon pipe off of the worktop. It was familiar in my hands, which made sense. I was Palamun, after all. I had made it. I aimed without thinking, flicked the crude safety off, and squeezed the trigger with my first two fingers.

The weapon belched a sphere of fire into the air, bright as a star, sending the seething comet arcing into the ash of the night's fire. The metal monster was just struggling to its feet when the bright orb struck it. There was a crack like thunder, a flash of blinding light, and a bloom of heated air that dried the sweat from my face. Flecks of rock clattered against the stone as they bounced off of me and the sides of the hut. Nothing remained of the Eater-Spawn. I looked down at the dragon pipe with new respect. "Not bad. I need to work on splash damage, though."

"What the hell was that?" Joanna had pressed up against me from behind so that she could see over my shoulder. "Are you alright?" I could hear shouts from down in the village. Any minute now, rangers would be sprinting up the path toward us to investigate the blast. I must have been going insane because the only thing on my mind at that moment was that if people weren't talking about Joanna and me already, they would be soon.

“I’m fine,” I said over my shoulder. “This was an assassination attempt. It seems the enemy wants one of us dead.”

“Why just one? Why not both?”

"Only one Eater-Spawn. It was meant to puppet one of us, use us against the tribe." I turned and saw only Joanna's eyes burning in the dark. I could feel her anger, however, boiling within. I wasn't sure what was going on behind those ember eyes; I only knew that the enemy out there had made a grave mistake. "Go back to bed," I said, scrambling back into my discarded clothes. "I'll handle the rangers, and I'll see that a search is done. This may not have been the only monster sent to sneak into our home."

* * *

Chapter Twenty

Bedlam

Joanna

It was a rough night. Volistad tried to insist that I go back to sleep, but there was no way that was happening. I had gotten us in charge of the tribe on a shaky claim of divinity. The people expected that kind of power, that kind of responsibility from me. There was no way I would stay curled up in the furs of Volistad's bed and sleep while he tore the village apart looking for any trace of other Eater-Spawn. We searched for hours, teams of rangers and Stormcallers going to every hut, down into every inhabited tunnel, searching for any trace of metal insectoid menaces. We didn't find any others. This had been a single attack, an assassination attempt. Was it meant for me, or was it meant for Volistad?

The easy answer was that it had been intended for me. But Barbas had specifically goaded me about Vol when he had sent his ‘messenger’ to speak with me. I already knew the real Barbas had been a little jealous of how attracted I was to the ranger- what could that little seed of envy have grown into now that he had been consumed by a malicious intelligence?

But even with the frantic, feverish search of the village, even with the threat of assassination, the night’s events had not been all bad. Being with Volistad had been amazing. He was strong but gentle to a fault, passionate and intense in equal measure. I wasn’t sure if sleeping with him had been the right thing for both of us at that time, but I was sure that given half a chance, I would jump his bones again. I needed it, I needed to feel him. I needed to feel human again, and he had made me feel like a normal woman once more. Sure, he had claws and dark bear’s eyes, and sure when he got excited he sounded like he was considering eating me, but none of that mattered.

What remained of the Elder's Council gathered around a fire that morning, each of us cradling steaming stone mugs of a potent fungal concoction that Volistad told me was a much-beloved stimulant. I sniffed it. It smelled evil, as if someone had melted down an old truck tire and mixed in the sludge with something entirely too sweet. But considering the way I liked my coffee, the smell was something I might be willing to overlook so long as it scratched that particular itch. I took a sip and was surprised to learn that it didn't taste at all like it smelled. It was a rich, savory flavor, completely different than that of coffee, but the difference didn't matter. It was hot and tasted something like roasted hazelnuts, and with every sip that I swallowed, I could feel just a little more wakefulness creeping into my mind.

Nissikul and Perwik seemed to have taken the news that Volistad was now the Deepseeker in stride. Neither of them had asked any questions. But based on what Volistad had told me of his predecessor, it might not have been as strange as it seemed. As near as anyone but Volistad and I knew, the Deepseeker had just appeared three generations ago and taken up residence on his little stone ridge above the village. He had always been a strange creature. To have him replaced so suddenly by Volistad was just a blip on a sixty or seventy-year history of lunacy. With Volistad in the Deepseeker's seat and Nissikul firmly in charge of the Stormcallers, the Council was almost complete. We still needed someone to take Vassa's place as the head of the priests, and a decision had to be made about our prisoners. Vassa was still locked in a tiny cell beneath the village temple, and Lot was under constant guard in his own hut. Vassa would probably be executed, but Lot was a difficult quandary. I didn't think he would cause any more problems. The wind seemed to have been firmly taken out of his sails. By all reports, he sat in his hut, unmoving, barely eating, just staring ahead. I supposed that it was a terrible feeling to realize that you had so utterly failed your people.

Perwik, apparently having drunk enough fungal tea to form complete sentences, cleared his throat. “Now then. Last night’s attack.”

Volistad responded smoothly. “An assassination attempt on the Akkandaka or me, most likely. I am already working on a magick to secure our borders against further incursions.”

Perwik blinked a few times, clearly caught off of his guard. Perhaps he hadn’t adjusted to Volistad’s new status so easily. “Er, good, Deepseeker. Have you an estimate as to when that will be complete?”

"Tonight. I have the basic theory down; it just needs some… fiddling." I smiled, forgetting myself. Vol honestly seemed a little surprised at his own acumen, and it was cute on him.

Nissikul smirked. “Don’t you think you’ve already done enough ‘fiddling’?”

Volistad almost spat out his tea. I snorted, feeling a self-satisfied smile creep onto my face. I nodded at Nissikul, acknowledging the point. She didn’t quite smile back, but the intent was there.

Perwik sighed. “Be that as it may, we still have the issue of dealing with the enemy. My rangers tell me that they’ve seen no sign of overt enemy incursion into our territory since that messenger arrived yesterday. But we cannot stay here and just wait for the demon, Barbas, to attack us. There have been two attempts on your life in a single day, Akkandaka. We have to take the fight to the enemy, and soon.”

“Do we even know where he is?” Nissikul asked, rolling the stump of her arm around in circles to stretch the muscles all around it. I noted that I hadn’t seen Thukkar today and wondered if she had any luck with him like I had with Volistad. I must have been thinking too loudly, because she rolled her eyes at me as if to say, Get on task, you horny fiend.

Volistad, entirely missing the body language between his sister and me, answered Nissi's question. "I have a pretty good idea where he's building his new tower. He made it clear that he was restarting Joanna's original project. He might even think he's serving their original mission."

“But he isn’t,” I cut in, quickly. “He isn’t in there. The face, the voice, it’s all a mask. That’s one of your Dark Ones out there, and we need to bring him down and put an end to him.”

“We need to bring him down alive,” Volistad corrected. “There is a way we can destroy the Dark Ones, forever. Barbas is the key. But we’re going to need to free him of the god that has consumed him.”

“Is that even possible?” I asked, sure that it wasn’t.

“My predecessor was convinced that it was,” he said evenly, meeting my eyes. I knew as well as Volistad did that Palamun, the god now combined with his mind, had designed the plan long before Volistad’s predecessor had been his host.

“If your plan doesn’t work,” Perwik began.

“It will.”

“But if it doesn’t, this could doom the entire tribe. Disturbing the Dark Ones is expressly forbidden for a reason.” He met Volistad’s gaze squarely.

Volistad leaned forward. “Look around, Elder. The tribe is already doomed. There are fifty thousands of us left. Just twenty years ago, there were sixty thousands. We haven’t heard from any other tribe since I was a child. We could be the last tribe of Erinye in the world.”

“Or there could be five-dozen more.”

“Or there could be no one else,” Volistad insisted. “If we just kill this enemy, if we bury him and seal him away, we’re still all going to die out, and soon. We can’t keep living this way. We can’t keep being prisoners of the cold and monsters Beneath. I’m telling you, if we seal this one away, the Dark Ones will just wait until we die out to try again. When we’re gone, who will remain to stop them?”

Perwik was angry now. “Surely the gods-”

“The gods are a lie!” I snapped, standing before I even realized what I was doing. I looked to Volistad and Nissikul for support, but they were both frozen in shock. They hadn’t expected this. I hadn’t either, but here we were. There was no way out but through. “I’ve met Ravanur, and so have they and she told us everything that had happened. She might have once been your Great Mother, but now she's little more than a glorified jailor. As for Palamun, you can ask Volistad where he's been all this time."

“Wait a moment,” said the Master Ranger, standing, a dark and vicious fury coming into his face. “Didn’t you come here claiming godhood? How dare-”

I surged forward and grabbed him by the front of his furs, lifting him up off of the ground with one arm and holding his kicking feet above the fire. "Listen to me, ranger. The gods are a lie. That doesn't mean your people don't need them. So no one outside of this room is going to find out the truth about Ravanur or Palamun. I will speak for the Great Mother, and the Deepseeker here will speak for the Father. The tribe may believe the lies and the legends because they need that faith to get them through the day."

I noticed that the corners of the Master Ranger’s boots were beginning to blacken, so I set him back down on the stone, and then stabbed my index finger into his chest, hard. “We’re not going to rob your people of their belief, but no one in this room gets to sit back and wait for two ancient people to save us. Ravanur and Palamun did everything that they could to save this people and the rest of the universe as well. They gave their lives up and consigned themselves to eternities of torment and futile struggling. It’s time to give them a rest. It’s time for us to take charge, and prove that our world is worthy of the sacrifices that they made. Do you understand?”

I waited for an answer, glaring at the old alpha predator with all the menace I could muster. The room was silent. Volistad and Nissikul were standing, but nobody moved. I could tell that Perwik was thinking about violence. But he hadn’t moved a muscle. It was time to bring him back in. “You did your people a great service already. Thanks to you, this whole mess hasn’t become something worse. We need your experience for what is coming next. Your people can’t do this without you.”

The Master of Rangers remained still for one long moment more before the fury went out of his face and his shoulders slumped slightly. “Alright,” he said, somewhat grudgingly. Then he showed the very tips of his fangs, and his voice dropped to a threatening growl as he added, “On one condition.”

“Name it.”

I assumed he was going to say something about how I would never raise my hand against him again. So I was completely surprised when his next words were accompanied by a highly amused smile. “You have to deal with the priests.”

The tension in the room broke, and we all laughed. I was relieved. The first step had gone somewhat smoothly. But this wasn’t the end, far from it. We still had a centuries-long war to win.

* * *

Volistad pinpointed the location of Barbas’ new tower that evening, using the surprisingly robust sensor package still functioning aboard the Heaven’s Hawk. Initially, I was surprised that the old bird could still take readings when she was buried over a mile underground. Then Volistad/Palamun smugly explained that he had had tiny drone swarms in amongst the wind spirits for centuries, and it made a lot more sense. We had a target.

Nissikul drilled her Stormcallers relentlessly over the next several days, preparing them to perform the specific techniques that would be necessary if we didn’t want to be smeared across the ice by railgun fire. I had no doubt that Barbas would expect us to come, and I had even less of a doubt that he would be prepared. He had already lost one Terraforming Engine to the Erinye attack, and he would be ready to repel another such assault. I suspected, however, that Barbas wouldn’t be ready for exactly how we would be coming for him. While the Stormcallers drilled and the rangers prepared their weapons, while Volistad toiled beneath the mountain, I went to the surface and practiced a little surprise of my own. My powers seemed only to be growing as I stretched them. I knew there would be an upper limit for what I could do, but I hadn't hit it yet, and I was determined to bring everything that I could muster to this fight.

At night, when the work was done, and I returned, sweaty and exhausted, to the village to collapse into the furs in Volistad's hut, I would find him waiting for me. His desire for me was unaltered by his own exhaustion or the work he had been doing down in the ancient spaceship laboratory. We made love every night that week, and I was sure that half of the village heard my cries. But I didn't care. I couldn't care. I had a mission, I had a home, and I had a fantastic lover. I didn't care about the gossip.

* * *

The morning of the assault came in a frenzy of activity. Rangers and ordinary warriors scurried back and forth through the tunnels of the village, preparing their weapons and gathering their squads. I waited with the rest of the Council at the chosen mustering ground of the main village entrance and fielded questions from the various leaders as they made the strength of the Erin-Vulur ready to fight. The priests I now commanded were in fine form during all of this, helping to organize and coordinate the muster. Most of them wore maces at their waists or carried spears. They would not be joining us in the fight. Instead, they would be ensuring the safety of the noncombatants of the tribe, ensuring that no horrible threat could circle behind us and exterminate the heart of the Erin-Vulur. We were going to do this right. We were going to go out there, hit the Dark One wearing Barbas' face, and then we were going to save this world. But there was one order of business that had to be dealt with before we left.

Vassa fell heavily to his knees before me, shaking in the cold and spitting curses between his chattering teeth. I waved for the priests escorting to leave him there, and they backed away, leaving him shivering on the ice before me.

"Vassa Atralad. You stand accused before your people of conspiring with the Dark Ones, and assisting them in their campaign to scour the Erinye from this world. You brought one of the foul Children of the Eater King into the village, and in doing so, you exposed all of the Erin-Vulur to danger. You have used the honorable position given to you to advance the cause and support the efforts of the great enemy of your people, and so I name you Traitor before all of these witnesses. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Vassa tried to rise and spit in my face, but I froze his tongue in his mouth with a minor effort of will. He fell to the ice, strangling on his own tongue, on his own spit, asphyxiating for the second and final time at my feet. I wouldn’t be letting him go this time. I looked over at Perwik, who nodded grimly. “Your last words are noted,” said the Master of the Rangers, ignoring the struggles of the former High Priest of the Erin Vulur.

"Bring me the next one," I ordered, and the priests dragged Lot before me, kicking the dying Vassa out of the way as they came. In the week since Lot had been unseated, the former Elder Stormcaller had lost a lot of weight. He had only been eating when forced, and his eyes had gone dead. When the priests released him, he slumped to the ground before me and refused to meet my eyes. "Lot Ekenad," I addressed to him, not softening my tone one iota. Somewhere to my right, Vassa's struggles were slowing. "You are accused of failure in your duties as Elder, and of betrayal of the trust of your people. You tried and failed to kill me. You are not being judged for the attempt on my life- after all, the Great Mother herself proclaimed that no outsider should be allowed to come to her world except for her express decree."

I stepped forward and seized the old mage by the chin, forcing him to look at me. “You are being judged for failing to seek the counsel of the Great Mother in the matter, as you were taught. You cannot be judged too harshly for this failing since your predecessors had long since forgotten the location of Ravanur's temple. In the absence of word from the Great Mother, your duty stood the same as it had for generations. Kill the interloper. But you failed. And not only did you fail to kill me, but you betrayed one of your own, accused him of the crime of corruption, and tried to murder him." Lot's empty eyes might have been focused on me, but I couldn't tell. With the blank, empty black stare of a Stormcaller, his eyes could have been anywhere. Even so, I thought I felt them meet mine. I let go of him, and he slumped back to the ice. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

Lot didn’t say anything. He sat like a deflated balloon, slumped to his knees. He didn’t even try to speak. I frowned. What was wrong with him? I reached out with my senses and concentrated on him. Beside me, Volistad and Nissikul were doing the same. I realized it in a moment of frozen horror. Lot didn’t have a heartbeat. The corpse lurched up off the ground in a spasm of blind violence, leaping towards me with claws outstretched for my throat. I reacted without thinking, stepping forward and meeting the lunge with my fist, putting my whole weight and strength into a strike to the dead man’s chin. His jaw broke like thin ice, and he soared away from me in a tangle of limbs, tumbling for several meters before sprawling out on the ice. I clenched and unclenched my fingers. Not bad.

Nissikul was already moving forward, a black hammer forming in her hands. The former Elder’s corpse twisted and lurched to its feet with an insect’s unnerving grace, but it didn’t get another chance to attack before Nissi came in swinging. Her hammer crushed Lot’s skull and sprayed gore all across the onlookers in our gathered army, slamming the withered old body to the ground with punishing force. She should have seen it coming. The headless body burst, suddenly, the ribs springing wide open like a trap and releasing a wriggling, metallic insect that promptly sprang for her face. She was off balance and was unable to dodge, and with her one arm caught up holding the hammer, she wasn’t able to stop the Eater’s Spawn from latching onto her face. It pierced her flesh with its needle-point legs and immediately started trying to force its way into Nissikul’s mouth. Volistad and I surged forward, but just then, at least fifty other Erinye standing amidst our army burst into frenzied violence and attacked everyone around them.

The whole scene erupted into chaos. Volistad, still screaming for his sister, was borne away by the crush of the panicking crowd. I tried to push toward where I had last seen Nissi, but even with my incredible new strength, I couldn't force my way through a crowd of panicked frenzied warriors. All around me, more and more Erinye went dead in the eyes and began tearing apart everyone around them. It was a complete bedlam. It was a bloodbath. We were all going to die. I had to find Volistad. I had to find Nissi. I had to-

Elder Perwik hit me from the right and bore me to the ground, snapping furiously at my face with his fangs. I got an arm between his body and mine and forced the snapping jaws away from my face. With such a close look at the inside of his mouth, I noticed something that I hadn't seen before. Perwik didn't have a mouth full of ursine fangs, like any of the other Erinye. His teeth were sharp, to be sure, but instead of an orderly collection of carnivore's fangs, his mouth was filled with a double row of razor teeth, like those of a piranha. His breath was foul and reeked of old blood as he shrieked a horrible, high-pitched cry into my face. I reeled back before the insane attack, trying to get a grip on my sword. Perwik gave me a wide demon's smile and tried to snap at my throat again. Forget the sword, said a voice inside my skull, and I reached up with my mind to the waiting storm lying dormant in the clouds. It was always there. It just needed a reason to serve. I gave it that reason.

Lightning blasted down, striking Elder Perwik and flinging him away from me. He shrieked again, the sound so very unlike the roar of an Erinye. His eyes bored into mine as the electricity seared through his body, and I saw it. He was fully awake- fully aware. He wasn't a puppet corpse or a temporary vessel like Kotikedd. He had not been corrupted. He had never been Erinye. And his spawn were all around me. "You!" I screamed. “What are you?”

The monster before me didn’t answer, but I didn’t need him to. He didn’t shed his Erinye shape so much as he unfolded. I looked upon a segmented, metallic monster as tall as a man, with a terrifyingly human face and a wide shark's mouth. His armored body was covered in hundreds of little tendrils, and even as I watched, the world seemed to warp around him in a wave as a shudder passed through that forest of little appendages. From his brow grew a neat circle of curling horns, so distinct in their pattern that I no longer had any doubt of exactly what he was. I was standing face to face with the Eater King.

* * *

Volistad

I was forced away from Nissikul by a tide of bodies as everyone tried to fight or escape at the same time. I knew what had happened and it made me sick. Last night, when Joanna and I had been attacked, we had been lucky. We had destroyed our attacker. So many others in the village had not been so lucky. Our search had been pointless- the victims had already been lost long before we had scoured the village. And now Nissikul- I screamed my defiance into the press of bodies and began trying to bull my way through to where my sister had fallen. It was no use. The cavern we had chosen for the muster had just become an abattoir. Already my nose was thick with the stench of blood and viscera. Above it all, a horrifying shriek rose, a sound like nothing I had ever heard before. Old retired rangers had described it to me before in their tales around the campfires, but I had never thought that I would hear it in the flesh. It was the call of the Eater King. But it couldn’t be. It couldn’t be that- we had slain that monster fifty full cycles ago, long before I was born. Right? Right?

There was a sound like localized thunder, and bodies shattered into the air over the crowd, only to come spraying down in pieces all around us. I screamed. Everyone else screamed. We were all one gigantic, screaming entity, trapped in a hell of our making. We were all going to die. But no, no I wasn't going to die standing here and screaming. Joanna could take care of herself. I had to find my sister. I had to find Nissikul.

There was another blast of terrific noise, and more bodies rained down in pieces on the panicking, struggling crowd. It was coming towards me. With some effort, I forced several terrified, blood-smeared bodies out of my way and moved in the direction of the disturbance. What are you doing? A voice screamed in my head. Maybe it was Palamun; maybe it was the last shreds of my common sense. Either way, the answer was the same. I was moving towards danger. It was what a ranger did, and what a champion did. I was moving towards danger, and I was going to find my sister. You are going to die. Maybe so. I seized a frenzied, dead-eyed priest by the throat and broke his neck in my hands. Expecting the follow-up, I drove my fist into his chest just as his ribs sprang apart like a trap, and I crushed the Eater-Spawn against the ruined corpse. The remnants of the flesh puppet fell around me and were trampled by the crowd.

A third blast of thunder and shower of gore. Closer. I could almost make out the source of the noise- I saw him. He stood grinning amidst the screaming and dying, at the end of a red-smeared path made from pulverized Erinye. It was Joanna’s spirit, Barbas. He was no longer an indistinct image over a crude body. I knew this demon to be the real thing. The genuine article. As I took a step towards him, I saw the source of the noise. It was a smaller version of the same gauss rifle that Joanna had mounted on her tower and used to kill a burug in a single shot. Barbas met my eyes, his manic smile widening further at the sight of me, and he leveled the gun at my chest.

Nissikul came shrieking out of the crowd to the demon’s right, her face in bloody tatters, and her cheek torn open to the bone. She had summoned a replacement arm of witch-ice, though her plate was still forming around her. Catching Barbas by surprise, she swung her black hammer into his chest with all of her might. He reeled and pulled the trigger. The shot missed me and turned five of the struggling warriors beside me into a cyclone of meat and blood. I lunged straight towards Barbas, my path mercifully clear, and I stepped up onto the upper rail of the great weapon, driving my clawed boots into his chest in a double-kick that sent me sprawling backwards. I turned the motion into a somersault and kept my feet as the blood-drenched monster reeled. Nissikul hit him with her hammer again. This time, she had had her feet beneath her, and the glowing head of her hammer sent Barbas hurtling from his feet, throwing him two or three spear casts through the roiling crowd.

“Nissikul!” I crossed to her side in a rush. “Are you alright? Tell me you’re alright!” My sister only glared at me with her empty black eyes, a growl bubbling up from her chest and sending blood spraying out from the ruin of her face. No, no she was not alright. She was in a great deal of pain, and she was very angry. The armor finished closing around her, the featureless black helm sealing about her bloody face. She nodded to me, and we both turned towards where Barbas had fallen.

The demon clambered to his feet, the smile gone from his face. He had been wearing strange garments: a shirt, a coat, and trousers with a single strip of cloth tied around his neck. Now the cloth was burned and torn, and I could see the body beneath. Where Nissi’s lightning had burned him, dark skin peeled away and revealed hard metal muscle. I swallowed hard. It was not going to be easy to take this thing down. Even as that thought crossed my mind, I was unslinging my bow from its place on my back and fitting an arrow to the braided metal string. Nissi charged, static electricity gathering around her in a halo, and without stopping to think about it I fired an arrow over her shoulder at Barbas’ eye.

The demon snapped his hand up in a blur and caught the arrow between his fingers. As Nissikul came in, swinging her hammer for his head, he seized her shoulder- the false one, and twisted, stabbing my arrow through her armor as if it hadn't been there and burying it in her gut. She screamed, but even with an arrow in her gut, she was still fighting, and so was I. I advanced, firing arrow after arrow at Barbas with all of the terrifying force of my metal bow. At the same time, Nissikul let her false arm break away from her body, robbing the demon of his grip. Barbas managed to deflect two of my arrows, but the third transfixed his hand and hit him dead in the eye. Before he could regain the initiative, Nissi whirled, as deftly as if she hadn't just been stabbed in her stomach, and struck Barbas backhand with her hammer. He crashed to the ground in a corona of expanding electricity.

I rushed him, knowing that if we didn't keep him down, we might not get another chance to ground him. I dropped my bow. I was too close to use it. The axes at my waist were too light to even bother a monster like Barbas. It was time for the hammer. I unslung it as I leaped in for the kill, swinging the weapon one around my head and bringing it down in a thunderous blow intended to shatter his spine.

Someone hit me from the side, with such force that my armor was pulverized and I felt at least one of my ribs break. I crashed to the ground, my hammer skidding from my fingers. Through the pain, I looked up to see Thukkar stomping past me with a flat, dead-eyed expression on his weathered face. No. The broken haft of a great hammer dropped from his grip, and as he moved toward the fallen Barbas, he snatched up a discarded spear and casually swung it with deceptively lazy motion into the side of Nissikul's head. Her helm burst, and she fell heavily, her armor shattering all around her and leaving her lying naked and bloody amidst the carnage. Her eyes stared sightlessly at me, and I prayed to any powers that could hear me that she was just unconscious. Satisfied that the demon wasn't about to die, the dead glare of Thukkar swiveled back to focus on me, and he marched woodenly over to me, brandishing his spear to thrust it into my throat.

Barbas stepped up behind the dead ranger, roaring, “I said that one was mine!” He plunged his hand straight through Thukkar’s back as easily as I might have torn through a rotten rag and he tore out the wriggling Eater Spawn from where it had been hiding. With a negligent motion, he crushed the spawn and threw it aside, letting Thukkar’s ruined body tumble, broken, to the ground.

Barbas crouched beside me, that insane grin stretching his lips once more. His expression was only made more horrifying by the fact that half of the flesh of his face had been burned away, leaving only the articulated metal skull beneath. “Hello, savage. I wonder what will happen if I tear your heart out? Do you think a god will come scurrying out?”

* * *

Joanna

The Eater King lunged for me, trying to skewer me with two of his spiked segmented legs and pin me in place. I drew the sword I had taken from the temple beneath the ice and cleaved cleanly through them both in a single swing, sending twitching metal segments splashing into the gore that littered the ground all around us. The freakish shark smile on the Eater King’s face didn’t falter, not even for a moment. Even as I watched, the legs I had severed were growing back, emerging from the segmented metal body as the little tendrils all around them twisted and writhed.

I backed away, gathering a spear of witch-ice in my hand and hurling it with my enhanced strength at the horrible metal bug's exposed chest. Thin, razor-tipped legs thrashed, and the spear shattered into ice before it could even reach the creature's shining skin. "Shit." A mad, slack-faced ranger tried to rush me from out of the roiling crowd, and I backhanded him savagely, crushing his skull as easily as I might have cracked an egg. The Eater King skittered after me in a riot of spindly limbs, grinning like the cat that caught the canary. He was clearly enjoying this. "It's no use, ‘Storm Queen,' the monster said, in Perwik's voice. "You've been outplayed. You're outclassed. Just give up now, and I'll eat you before that thing from Beneath gets to you. I promise, girl, that’s mercy that I’m offering you.”

I showed the Eater King my teeth, continuing my slow progress backwards. A spear-wielding woman came screaming in from behind me, and I threw a spike of witch-ice into her brain without breaking eye contact with the monster. “How long were you there? Was there ever an Elder Perwik?”

The Eater King laughed, a cross between the Erin-Vulur coughing growl and the horrible shrieking sound I had heard him make before. “There was once a ranger Perwik, though he was dead long before I got him appointed Elder. He's quite famous among the Erinye. It's why they chose him to lead the other rangers. Why they chose me. After all, he did slay the Eater King." Another nails-on-slate laugh set my teeth on edge. "Though I was a little worried the first time I met that idiot Deepseeker. It seemed, however, that he couldn't sense my children or me, not even in his strapping new body. It's sad, isn't it? All that time fighting the shadows of things trapped far beneath miles of ice, and he had a bona fide man-eater right under his nose."

I snarled and hurled another useless spear at him. He shredded it, as expected, mocking me with his terrible laughter. Just a few more steps and we would see who was laughing. I just needed room to move, where I wouldn’t be tripping over bodies. I needed the ice under my feet, needed the good, old, comforting weight of the glacier backing me. Just a couple more steps. The Eater King seemed to realize what I was about, because he suddenly pounced, springing for me with all of his spindly spear-tipped legs flashing forward to take me. The heel of my boot came down on the ice, and the fight changed.

I turned, letting the machine spirits spiral out into the cold and bring forth the ice to do my bidding. It wasn’t even witch-ice that answered me. The glacier itself was full of old nanite spirit clouds. It was one thing that the Erinye religion had gotten right about their world. The land belonged to Ravanur, and the ice was her shroud. It was practically a living thing. And it was mine. I drove my fist forward as if I meant to punch the Eater King out of the air, even though I was nowhere near close enough to strike him. The glacier beneath me shifted, and a great sculpted arm emerged from the ground in a chorus of shattering ice, curving through the air with deceptive slowness. It caught the Eater King full in his chest and bore him down to the ice with crushing finality, smashing him like a toy. But I wasn't done. I twisted that gigantic, frozen hand and plucked the battered metal body from where it lay. The shark-mouthed face shrieked in rage at me, and all of the Erinye playing host to the Eater's Spawn turned towards me as one, locking on to me with single-minded focus. Fair enough. This King's reign was over. I crushed him in my gigantic sculpted hand, working my fingers until I was sure that the monster had been ground down into fine enough pieces. Then I gave what remained a contemptuous toss and scattered shards of metal across a mile of glacier behind me.

The Spawn all charged at me. There were at least thirty of them still standing. But that was fine; I was literally in my element now. A storm gathered above me in a whirling vortex, answering my call with customary speed. The Great North Wind's laughter boomed out across the heavens, and spears of seething green lightning began stabbing down out of the sky, turning charging Eater-Span and their hosts into steaming meat. Those who made it through the deadly barrage of lightning found only the cold, emotionless jaws of the ice waiting for them, as I opened a great maw in the ice beneath them and swallowed them whole, I crushed them into paste far beneath my feet. That thing from Beneath, the Eater King had said. Barbas was here. This was his doing; not that there had been any doubt in my mind. But where-

“JOANNA!”

I turned and saw Barbas stepping towards me with casual grace, making his way over the twitching piles of ruined bodies and writhing wounded around him. He was dragging something, almost carelessly, though I couldn’t make out what it was. A shout of “Akkandaka” drew my attention over the demon’s shoulder, and I winced. A knot of surviving warriors hadn’t fled, and they gathered at the back of the cave, trying to muster their nerve for a charge that they knew it would accomplish nothing. I raised a hand, palm out to them, telling them not to bother. This had already been a massacre on my account. There was no sense in adding two-score more to the butcher’s bill.

Barbas emerged from the mess of dead, walking towards me over the ice, and I reached down into it for the power to crush him where he stood. I needed him alive for Volistad’s ritual. That didn’t mean I needed him unhurt. And I really, really wanted to hurt him just then. I realized then what he was dragging. He had Volistad by the ankle and was dragging him along the way as a child might have dragged a doll. The ranger’s breastplate had been shattered, and his side seemed distorted. He probably had a broken rib. He thrashed, trying to reach Barbas’ arm, but to no avail. Every time he got anything resembling a grip on the metal hand holding him, Barbas would just twist his arm and slam the battered warrior back down onto the ice.

"Wow," commented Barbas, his tone acidic. "You've done a great job since you took over here, Jo." He gestured dramatically behind himself with his free hand, a genuine smile on his face. The effect was somewhat ruined by the fact that about half of his skin had been burned off, along with whatever clothes he might have been wearing. This wasn't the person I had loved. This wasn't the architect of my dreams. This was a demon, a dark entity from below, and he had brought about the deaths of so many of my people. Barbas continued his mockery, coming to a halt just five meters away from me, Volistad dangling in his grip. "I mean, I've got to hand it to you, Joanna. I love what you’ve done with the place!”

“Joanna!” Volistad struggled, managing to lock eyes with me for a second. “Kill him! You have the power! Don’t-”

Barbas rolled his eyes and whipped Volistad down hard against the ice, silencing him. I heard the sharp snap of severed bone. I wasn’t sure what level of injury Volistad could come back from, but if this kept up, there wasn’t going to be enough of the Deepseeker to put back together. “So rude,” Barbas commented, grinning like a skull. “Interrupting like that.”

“What do you want?” I asked, my voice flat with weariness. I was tired of this. I was tired of being beaten, tired of being out-classed, tired of being out-fought. I had gone and gathered godlike powers and put together an army. Barbas shouldn’t have had the upper hand, but here we were. My army was scattered, my people were broken and dying.

“Oh, surely you know. I want your heart, love. The literal heart beating in your chest.” He laughed, and despite it all, the sound stirred a warmth deep in my gut. That laugh was infectious, even coming out of burned metal face, even when its owner was dragging my lover by the heel as if he were a child. “You see, your pitiful fabricator stopped working. I think that the little morsel I took this voice from might have tampered with it, but it doesn’t matter. The thing with the burug was an inspired choice on the part of that old bitch, Ravanur. Biomechanical nanite-control facilities and factories, all in one, grown fully-formed and ready-made. All they need to work is that most elusive of qualities- the Maker's Mark. The touch of Ravanur. The echo of her power." Barbas aimed a finger at my chest. "The Stormcallers got by with shards of that strength for so long, making do with what they could cobble together without their Mother's touch. But you, you have the genuine article." He beckoned with one hand to me. "So give it."

I blinked. “You want me to give you my heart?”

“Yes. Take it out and give it to me.” He squeezed Volistad’s ankle in his grip and broken bones ground together beneath the skin. “Give it now.”

“I can’t take my own heart out of my chest, you lunatic. If you want it, you’re going to have to put him down and come take it from me.” I knew exactly what the demon would do the moment the words crossed my lips, but it was too late.

Barbas released Volistad's leg with a little flick of his wrist, sending him skidding across the ice towards me. He stepped forward and placed one foot on the Deepseeker's chest, looking me right in the eyes. "Put him down, Joanna? Well, if you insi-" He stopped in place, mid-word, the same smug smile frozen on his face.

“What the-” I managed, but nothing else came out. Without any fanfare, the demon wearing Barbas’ face went completely limp, crashing to the ground in a tangle of blood-smeared metal limbs.

Volistad let out a feeble cheer and subsided into cackling like a madman. “Hahahah, you smug bastard. I figured it out.”

“What?” I repeated. Clever.

Volistad groaned, apparently feeling the pain of all of his wounds at once. "I'm the Deepseeker, Joanna. As you control the sky and the ice, so I control the machines themselves. That thing is was just a complicated machine. It took me far too long to think of it, and even longer to teach myself how to do it, but I turned off his power source." I rushed over to him, wanting to snatch him up off the ground but unsure of how broken his body was. He waved me off weakly. "No, no, I've got it. Now that I've gotten the hang of the damn machine spirits, it goes a lot faster." As I watched, his leg straightened with a series of gut-clenching pops, and the distorted lump in his side subsided. "Still hurts like hell, though." I held out a hand, and he took it, letting me pull him to his feet.

“You did it,” I said lamely, finally regaining control of my vocal cords.

"Yes," Volistad groaned. "And you slew the Eater King. I saw it." His face twisted, and he showed all of his teeth in a snarl. "Now, let's get that fucking thing down to my ship so we can finish this. Would you mind carrying him? I need to find out if my sister is still alive." Without another word, he started off towards the charnel pit that was all that remained of our glorious army.

I bent and seized the inert metal form, hoisting it up onto my shoulder. The demon was heavy, even for me, but I wasn’t about to complain. The surviving Erinye warriors that hadn’t fled were fanning out from the mouth of the cave already, searching for survivors amidst the carnage.

“Yes,” I said bitterly, echoing Volistad. “Let’s finish this.”

* * *

Chapter Twenty-One

Genesis

Volistad

We stood in the great cryogenic room aboard Heaven’s Hawk. The inert form of the demon machine lay crumpled beside one of the tanks, missing its head and a great deal of its chest cavity. Though I had switched off the power, we were talking about an ancient god here. I had beaten him because he had stopped thinking about me, fully focused as he was on humiliating Joanna. I didn't fool myself into thinking that I could use the same trick twice and survive. So the moment we got the metal body down into my ship, I had removed the processor in the head as well as the extra data storage device I had found in its chest. There was a lot in there, but I had been able to isolate the part of the vast quantity of data contained within that I was sure represented the real Barbas. The rest of it I erased with a certain savage satisfaction. I knew now that I couldn't do the same to the gods in their cells. There was some loophole the oldest of them could exploit involving quantum computing- but since the Dark One in this body had uploaded himself into hardware, he was vulnerable. And now he was gone. It was a shame that he had killed so many of my people before I had figured out how to stop him.

Nissikul, it turned out, had survived, mainly because she was stubborn as the mountain we all lived on, and she simply refused to bleed to death. All of her wounds had been frozen in fragments of witch-ice, even in as she lay unconscious. Many of the other Stormcallers were dead- they had apparently been among those most heavily targeted by the Eater Spawn- but those that remained seemed to have decided that Nissi was some kind of warrior prophet. And so the endless cycle of religion and myth keeps turning, remarked a cynical, ancient part of me, but even Palamun couldn’t fully condemn the whole thing. Who knew if there really wasn’t a real God out there? Just because one group of power-mad mortals had dared to encroach into the realm of the divine, did that make them gods? After all, as I now knew, even the race of people from which Ravanur and Palamun had sprung, were but a blip in time when compared to the age of the stars, the age of the universe. Let the remaining Stormcallers venerate my sister. Perhaps I could get Joanna to change the word from god to Saint. That would have a nice ring to it. Saint Nissikul. We could canonize them all: Saint Thukkar the Stalwart, Saint Joanna the Fierce, Saint Volistad… what would they call me, five-hundred years from now?

Joanna finished stripping out of her bloodied sealskin clothes, and I looked up for a moment with interest. Even in the aftermath of the worst day of my life, a part of me perked up, but I clubbed it back down. This was not the time. She climbed into one of the two pods standing at the center of the room, where Palamun had made the switch between his various hosts. I met her eyes as I finished connecting the robot head to the cables that had once led to the second tank. “Do you understand what we’re about to do here?”

She nodded, shuddering as the crystal front panel sealed in front of her and cryo-amniotic fluid began to fill the space, crawling slowly up her body. I noted with a clinical sort of detachment that any wounds she had taken in the battle, just twelve hours before, were already gone. She didn’t even have bruises. I, on the other hand, looked like a horrible fright mask of myself. I wasn’t sure there was a part of me that wasn’t composed mostly of bruises. The leg by which the demon had dragged me had healed when I told it to, but apparently, there were limits to my control. Blame it on my inexperience or my distraction, I wasn't going to be running any foot-races anytime soon, and the trip down the ladder to this ship had been its own special form of hell. But it didn’t matter. What was done was done.

I reached out with my mind, sending signals through my nanite clouds to the cryogenic tank and coupling its internal network with the cybernetic lattice I found in Joanna’s brain. It was a very cunning piece of work, and I wondered if I would ever get to meet the sort of people who had designed it. Perhaps it was the ancient machine god in my head, but I was finding myself liking this whole “advanced technology” thing. Maybe I would keep doing it after the ice was gone.

I felt Joanna's mind connect to the network as the cryo-amniotic fluid rose to her chin. She closed her eyes as the liquid crested over her head and breathed deep. She was completely encased in it now, and her lungs were taking air directly from the tank. I checked the connections on the head one last time, grimaced, and activated it. The dream began coming together between Joanna and the spirit trapped inside the head almost immediately. I thought about watching but then thought better of it. It was best to allow a woman her privacy, especially in her last moment with her friend. Her former lover, a primal part of me corrected, growling with poorly suppressed jealousy. I snorted. She was with me, now. So what did it matter? I activated the monitor and waved a negligent hand at the floor behind me. A stool rose up smoothly beneath me, and I sat down to wait for my moment.

* * *

Joanna

I woke in downy comfort, in a cabin built on the shore of a peaceful lake. Everything was as I remembered it. I had built the place, after all, even if my memories of doing so were false. Of course, I could put it back. I sat up on the bed, breathing deeply from the eternally autumn air, and I smiled sadly. This was going to be the last time I ever saw this place. But that was alright. All good things did have to come to an end, after all.

I rose from the bed and tiptoed quietly to the door into the hall. I was still wearing the clothes I had fought in, bloodstains and all. At my waist there hung a sword. The sanctity of this place had long since been broken. I wouldn't travel unarmed again, not even in my own mind. The hall was dark and bare. The pictures that had once decorated the walls were gone. I shivered and walked out into the cold living room, the wooden floorboards creaking beneath my feet. The furniture lay strewn randomly around. The couch was where it was supposed to be, but the chairs from the breakfast nook had all been smashed to kindling and strewn across the floor. I walked out through the wreckage to the French doors, which stood forlornly open. Barbas was standing at the end of the dock, staring out at the lake as the light faded in the sky above us.

Autumn splendor turned to rot and winter as I walked out to meet him, and as I drew level with the djinni, the forest around us stood barren and dead. Bare branches scraped at the heavens like a thousand hands rose in supplication. “The dream is dying,” I said, not turning to look at Barbas’ face.

“I know,” he replied, his voice ragged and empty. “Why did you bring me back here?”

I turned and met his gaze. The intact one was the same green as it had ever been, though the silver orb that had replaced the missing eye was gone, leaving sunken eyelids over an empty socket. He was bloodied and beaten, and a litany of wounds still oozed blood as he just stood there before me. Despite all that, he was still the handsome spirit I had come to love. Even after all that had happened, he was still my Qarin. “I came here to ask you a question, Barbas.”

“Ask it then.” The dead, despairing look in his eyes told me that he thought he already knew what I was going to say.

“That thing. The one that got a hold of you, the Dark One-”

“Emmeloch,” Barbas interrupted. “His name was Emmeloch.”

“Right. Emmeloch. Were you able to learn why he and his kind were imprisoned here?”

Barbas frowned. That had not been the question he expected. A little light came back into his eyes. “Yes. He crushed me into a corner, wore my face…” His face crumpled with grief for a moment, but he regained control. “But he couldn’t stop me from learning. I knew everything that he did, but I couldn’t do anything about it.”

“But you did,” I said, reaching out and putting a hand on his shoulder, trying to reassure him. “You broke the fabricator. You ruined his chances at building another tower to thaw the planet.”

Barbas' laugh was hollow. "That only made him come after you. The Eater King wasn't one of the Dark Ones; he just saw you as a threat after you killed one of his spawn and upended the power structure of the Erin-Vulur. When he sent a messenger to Emmeloch to tell him about you- I was sure that the Dark One would kill you. I thought I had doomed you with my little petty rebellion. He told me as much when we set up the trap for you and the Erinye."

"He would have come for me, anyway," I sighed. "But do you know why he and the others were imprisoned?"

“Yes,” Barbas answered simply. “They were imprisoned for hubris.”

“Well, that and the horrible things that they did to feed that hubris,” I said quickly.

“What is the point of this? Why did you bring me here? I know it wasn’t to bring me back into your head. You don’t trust me anymore.” He turned away from me and stared out at the lake. “You’ll never trust me again. You’ll never love me again.”

“Actually,” I said, smiling even as tears began to spill from my eyes, “I brought you here because you’re the only one I can trust with this.”

“What?” Barbas looked up again, his single eye wet, the tiniest glimmer of hope shining out from that bright green gaze. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that in all the history of that people, every single one of them was granted great power and it turned them into monsters. They might not have been humans, but they were like us. They were all corrupted by power, and it turned them into horrible things. Even Ravanur and Palamun, who did so much to fight them, were monsters in their own right, many times over. Given time, I’ll become a monster too, even though I have but a fraction of their strength. But I’ll make sure I die long before that. I’ll live a good, long life, and secure the future of this people, and then I’ll die like everyone else. My power will die with me. Volistad too.”

Barbas didn’t seem shocked. “What does that have to do with me?”

“Everything,” I replied, running a hand down his tear-stained cheek. “We’re all mortals. All of us gods, from the least of us to the oldest monsters in the core of this planet. We’re all fallible, selfish animals at our core, and we can‘t handle power like this, not for long.”

“But I’m not a person,” Barbas guessed, a note of bitterness coming into his voice.

“Oh, you are,” I corrected him. “You’re one of the finest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing, and loving. And if you weren’t the only person I could trust to do this, I would gladly take you back into my mind, Volistad or no.” I placed a gentle kiss on his forehead. “But no, Barbas, while you are a person, there is something that you are not- something that makes you different from me, and Ravanur, and all the other monsters out there that were given way too much power. You're not an animal.”

“Neither are you,” Barbas insisted, a note of anger lighting up his dead voice.

I smiled even as the tears continued to stream down my face. He was defending me, even now, even from the truth, even from myself. A shot rang out in my memory, and a broken skull with pale eyes hit the pavement with a hollow click. “You’ve seen my memories, ‘Bas. You know I am. But you are not. And you can do what I can’t.”

Barbas was weeping openly now, and I put my arms around his neck and wept with him. I wept for my lost childhood, for the pain I had suffered and the pain I had caused. I wept for the literal man of my dreams, who had been all but destroyed for me. Even in what could have been his last moments he had fought for me, and I wept for that sacrifice. Because I was about to ask him to make one more.

“What do you need me to do?” He smiled down at me through his tears. “You know I would do anything for you.”

I returned his smile, leaned in, and kissed him gently on the lips. Then I pulled back and disengaged myself from him. "I need you to do what none of us animals can do. I need you to become a god." Somewhere far from the cabin and the lake and the tatters of my heart, my body gave Volistad the signal. My hand rose sluggishly in the cold fluid of the tank and gave Volistad the thumbs-up. Back on the dock, I stepped close and pressed my lips against Barbas' again, kissing him hard for the last time as the world turned white around me.

* * *

Unknown mind

“Who am I?”

“You are Barbas, god of the Chalice.” The answer came from everywhere. Such a beautiful voice.

“What is the Chalice?”

"It is the home of many people, and soon it will be the home of many more. It is my home." That made sense. Layers of meaning unfolded within me like flowers. I smiled to myself what flowers were. And what smiling was.

“What am I to do?”

“Protect life. Life is sacred.” Fair enough. I could do that.

“Is that all?”

“Almost.” It really was a beautiful voice. I wondered why she seemed so very sad. It seemed that I should be able to fix that, to make it so that the owner of that voice wasn’t sad anymore. “You need to love life. All of it, no matter how small, no matter how large. The Chalice is your world, and we are your children. We will love you. I will love you, and you will return that love to us.”

Hah. That was easy. After all, the concept of love was already starting to blossom in my mind, and it seemed like the sort of thing that a god should have for his children. “I can do that.”

“I know. But there’s one other thing.”

“What’s that?”

A world formed around me, a world of logic and power, where everything I thought could become a reality, where every idea could change the universe. Of course, I could change the world, with a workshop like this. But it was filthy in here. Whoever had used this workshop last had not taken care of it. But no matter. It would be but the work of half a moment to clean it up. Some of the filth extended back along the silvery strands of time that crossed all around me, and a few had even tried to reach out into the future. It was almost cute how the corruption thought such tactics would save it from me. I saw all of the corruption in my workshop for what it really was- a hundred-thousand little attempts at godhood, pitiful imitations of what I was. None of it could compare to what I was meant to be. I was the god of the Chalice. The Chalice was the home of my children. And I would protect my children.

That beautiful voice sounded in my mind again, and for a moment I thought I remembered who she was. Then I shook the silly thought out of my head. Of course I remembered who she was. That was one of my people. One of my children. And she needed my help. Of course I would give it. “Barbas?” She asked.

“Yes, Joanna.”

“Please make your people safe again.”

"It is done." I reached out to the little bubbles of corruption. They were all mine, all of them fragments of a power that wasn't theirs to command. They weren't fit to command it. "Cease," I said to them. And they were gone.

“Thank you,” the beautiful voice said.

“Of course,” I said back. “I would do anything for one of my children.”

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Two

Epilogue

Joanna

I stood at the highest point of the mountain peak above the crater that contained the home of the Erin-Vulur. The air was cold but not uncomfortably so. It had taken a long time to manage it, but with some help from the God of the Chalice, we had moved the moon into a slightly different orbit, one that exposed it to the direct light of the system's sun for half the day. Of course, when the nightly eclipse fell across the planet, the temperature would drop as harshly as one would expect, but we could live with that. Volistad had been working feverishly for the last decade to ensure that we could. Quite often, I had to go down there to the sleeping hull of the archaic Heaven’s Hawk and literally make him come back up to the surface and interact with his people, not to mention our children.

As it turned out, it had taken only some minor genetic tweaking of my genome to make me able to have children with my husband despite our wildly different backgrounds. Volistad had even found a way to induce the changes more quickly and simply than he had with me. When the colonists arrived, they would need to adapt to all the challenges of their new world if they wanted to avoid getting as sick as I had by the end of my first year. Plus, for the Erin-Vulur to survive, we all had to be ready to interbreed. Genetic diversity made us stronger. Getting spots on my back and knowing my children would come out with little baby fangs was a small price to pay.

Saint Nissikul of the Hammer, as the other Erinye called her, stood beside me on the mountaintop, her arms crossed disapprovingly over her chest. The limb she had lost trying to kill me those many years before had been replaced by a cunning replica, fashioned by Volistad in one of his wild flights of genius down in his subterranean haunt. She scowled at me, glancing significantly at my belly, which was thoroughly swollen by the presence of my third kid. Her scowl was fearsome, especially considering the scars that marred one whole side of her face. “What would my brother say if he knew you were up here in your condition?”

A low, amused masculine voice came from the darkness, preceding Volistad out of the shadows by a split second. “He would probably keep his mouth wisely shut.”

I grinned. “See. I’m fine.”

Nissikul grunted noncommittally at me.

“You didn’t think I would miss this, did you?” I tilted my head back and kissed Volistad on the cheek as he stepped up behind me and surrounded me in his arms.

Nissikul sighed dramatically, though I could see the smile crinkle her eyes. “Of course not. The whole tribe is awake right now. I’ve got my Stormcallers working double shifts keeping the cold at bay long enough for everything to happen so we can get the tribe back to their homes safely.” She shook her head. “Such sentimentality. Barbas will help us if the ship doesn’t come down tonight. We’ll be standing out here to greet the sun, and my Callers will all collapse from exhaustion.”

As if on cue, a bright flare of light broke across the horizon shining like a spear of fire against the eclipsing face of the planet above. We weren’t calling it Palamun, anymore. Volistad had found it tiresome. So now the shadowed, hooded face of Saint Thukkar the Brave watched over his people, the same way he had in life.

I watched at the spear of fire resolved itself into the long, crude outline of an arrowhead. It drew closer, guided by the beacons that Volistad and I had installed at the top of the mountain. A wide open space had been made at the heart of the crater, and as we had improved the village, we had built the new houses into the craggy side of the mountain as it continued up over the crater. We needed the space down in the crater. It wouldn't do for the ship to land on the ice since all that would turn to something of a slushy freshwater sea when the morning came. Flashing lights blinked up from below, and the ship grew ever larger in my sight. I couldn't stop smiling; I was just so excited. This was what we had worked so hard for, what we had fought for.

Soon, the great ship was touching down in the crater, settling onto giant metal feet that gripped the stone beneath it. “Well,” I said to Nissi and Vol, “I guess we had better get down there.” Then, without waiting for either of them to catch on to what I was about to do, I gathered my wind spirits about myself and stepped out into space. As they always did, my spirits carried me smoothly the long way down to the crater floor and set me down gently. They were always so nice to me.

I walked around the side of the ship, looking for where I thought the main hatch would be. Sure enough, the side of the craft split in a whoosh of steam, and a long ramp extended to the ground. I arranged myself neatly and waited. Volistad and Nissikul touched down beside me, the first carried by the latter, both of them wearing identical exasperated looks on their faces. I raised a finger before either of them could scold me. “Shh.”

From the steam, people appeared. They stepped out onto the ramp uncertainly, n0t sure what to make of everything. They had expected one half-mad Former in a suit of power armor, not an entire village. What could I say? I had gotten lucky. I searched my brain for the right words. It had been a long time since I had spoken anything other than Erinye. Then I put the biggest smile I could on my face, nudged Volistad to remind him to quit scowling and called to Chalice’s newest children, “Welcome home!”

* * *

The End

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The Supernatural Alien Battle

Book 1

Chapter One

Kataline

Night has fallen as I stand in the vast garden of antique roses my father had made for my sister and me to enjoy. I’m not willing to go back inside just yet though as I think about my future and how it no longer will be here on Earth.

The pale pink roses are my absolute favorite of the various colors which surround me. Reds, oranges, and even a vine of the rare blue tiny roses captivate me. Though not enough to keep my mind from wandering away from me to my impending fate.

The stars twinkle over my head and the news my father, the Senator, has just given me tells me somewhere up amongst them is the man who is to be my husband. Since Earth is trying desperately to stay out of a war with the Euthenia Nebula, I have been informed it’s my great honor to be the first Earthling to be awarded as a bride to the hierarchy who rules the distant planet.

Only thing is I don’t see it as an honor. I see it for what it is. I am a pawn in this game the men who run Earth call expansion. The need to expand constantly our reach as Earthlings is a thing the handful of men who rule the entire Earth have foremost on their minds.

My father made sure the blood which flows through my veins is as pure as any Earthling’s can be. A bit of a science project my older sister and I are. Only she was smart and lost her innocence to a common man and by doing so, she took herself out of the supposedly honorable position as a pure bride to be offered or awarded to the alien races.

To ensure my father had, at least, one viable prodigy he could use in aiding his addiction to rule over as many planets as possible, I have been kept locked up.

Oh, my prison has been a place of grandeur and great beauty. Large stone walls fence in a hundred acres of gardens, sports courts, a vast swimming pool and even a labyrinth of tall bushes my sister and I nearly got lost in a few times.

They call what I now live in alone with my father, a mansion. I don’t know how people can live in anything smaller than what I live in. We have a private theater and at times, actors come to do private plays for my family.

The treatment I’ve received in this protected state has been good. I have never been treated without respect and honor. I also have never been able to make my own decisions or leave the estate.

Due to my special lineage, I’m too perfect not to be used for the supposed good of our planet and our species. My father often tells me how the surrogate who carried me died as she gave birth to me, but told him she was not dying in vain. She promised him I would help to make Earth the superpower he dreamt it would be one day.

My body carries the DNA of fifteen people. Some are prizewinning scientists, some are great athletes, and a couple of them are scholarly geniuses. Then there were two, a man and a woman, who were simply added because of their great beauty.

When I look in the mirror, I don’t see all of that. I see a young woman who has been kept much like a diamond in a box, waiting for someone to open it and see it sparkle and shine. But an alien is not who I wanted to open it.

I love this planet and have no desire to even visit another, much less rule it. The man I’m being awarded to is a prince. The Prince of Euthenia, Kerr, is who will become my husband in the matter of one week.

It was a thing I always supposed might happen to me. Somehow I managed to keep the fact I would most likely be awarded to a man and made to marry him without ever knowing him out of my brain all these years.

My new husband’s face I will see for the first time when my father walks me down the aisle to give me to him. After the reception, I am expected to let the stranger take my innocence. I am expected to be submissive to him, his wants, and his needs.

Euthenia is a planet ruled by men. Much the same as Earth, only on Earth we all pretend we have the same rights. It’s not that way on Euthenia. As a princess and one-day queen, my father has told me I will be honored and respected more so than other females on the planet. He tells me my life there will be fantastic, and I’m so lucky.

Then why do I not feel lucky?

I put up a fight about being given to the alien man. My sister may be out, but there are other women who have been bred similar to me, and they are viable options. I begged my father and then when that didn’t work I threatened him with the typical, I’ll kill myself, antics, but nothing worked.

He told me it was a done deal, and I must accept my fate. He also warned me about how the men of Euthenia deal with unreasonable females. Let’s just say, I don’t want to be at the stinging end of anyone’s strap. Especially a man built the way most Euthenian’s are.

I have no idea what Kerr will be built like, but the pictures I’ve seen of other males from that planet have shown me they are massive men. Tall in stature, broad shoulders, thick waists, and thick legs. Every muscle in their bodies is defined and large.

A shiver runs through me as I think about the sheer strength my new husband might have. I do hope he’s a gentle giant. A man who will treat me with some semblance of love. Eventually anyway.

Many books I’ve read while trapped in this paradise my father has made for us. Romance novels fill the shelves of the large library we have here. To be a heroine who finds a hero to love and care for and be loved and cared for has always been my dream.

My dream hero was no alien, though. It seems my father and the other men who rule this world have decided my fate is not going to be one I’ve dreamt of. And I can accept that if they can accept the fact I will not be going out of my way to make sure they get the future they think they’re going to get by marrying me off to an alien.

I really have no idea why they gave me the genes of such strong people if they wanted me to shut up and sit back and do as I’m told without any arguments what-so-ever. They really are idiots.

The rulers of this world have made sure to keep the women made to be awarded to the alien races apart. I’m pretty sure if we were all together we might just overthrow the handful of old men who think they know best for our race.

My education has been vast. I’ve been told all of the females like me have also been equal educated. In my opinion, it’s high time the females took over running this planet. Hence, the reason we are kept separate and are now being given to people who live on other planets.

Perhaps the old men thought we’d be no threat and seeing as we would be, if let out on the planet, they saw fit to send us all away, keeping Earth for themselves.

Earth has overtaken thirteen planets in the last one hundred years. In the last ten years, The Euthenia Nebula opened its doors for Earth to send some of its residents to populate the desolate areas of their planet. They call themselves settlers.

Earthlings are well respected as people who will go through many hardships to make a place inhabitable. Many other planets invited us in, and we tend to creep in and overtake the entire planet before they realize we’ve done it.

Euthenia wants us to stop moving into their cities. They don’t mind us doing a little prospecting and trying to make something from nothing, which we are excellent at. They do however expect us to respect their borders, a thing we aren’t known for doing.

In my opinion, it’s the Euthenian’s own fault for inviting us in. But they don’t see it that way and have been threatening us with annihilation here of late. Thus the offering of a bride to the next in line in the hierarchy. A bride who has been touted as perfection.

Well, like any human, I am far from perfect. I’m sure the pedestal my leaders have put me on my soon to be husband will see is a farce, and I am but a mortal woman with faults and blemishes.

I am sure to displease him with my lack of physical, sexual knowledge. That will knock me down a notch in his eyes I have no doubt. My mind is sharp and so is my tongue. A thing he will see as unattractive, I am sure.

Since it’s impossible for me to live up to what has been said about me, my marriage is sure to be one of disappointment and not like the love stories I’ve read so many of.

Why does this have to be my fate?

The Euthenia Nebula is not quite like Earth. There are two suns. One larger than the other. Three moons in various lunar stages are always visible in the vast sky.

The planet is small, though. Only a third of the size of Earth. But the people who inhabit the planet have adapted to their area and only have two children per each couple. The pregnancies there take a whole year before the child is born. Through no birth control either; it’s just how their bodies have adjusted to the planet.

It’s quite amazing and apparently the way we humans can reproduce so quickly is a real problem for that planet. They’re accusing us of populating like rabbits; taking up too much of the space afforded us already.

It makes me wonder how they will take my impact on the royal family. I will be the first Earthling to have intercourse with a Euthenian. Another thing my planet is calling wonderful and I see in another opposite way.

With no idea of how many children I will have or if I will have any is a mystery. A complete mystery and I am about logic and science and so hate mystery.

There may be something wrong in the royal genes as my prince’s brother died shortly after birth, leaving him an only child. A rare thing on that planet

A science project until my end, I suppose is my fate. My only saving grace is that I may find my husband easy on the eyes, as the few pictures I’ve seen of the men from that planet have shown me they all are terribly handsome.

Could be a gorgeous man might help me to accept the fate which is mine. It certainly couldn’t hurt.

Chapter Two

Kerr

The Royal Euthenian Armada, my family and guards, travel to Earth in is vast. Out the window of the courtroom, a line of black, shiny crafts flies alongside the main one. The one I and my father ride in.

Thirteen ships fly on each side of us, bringing the entire royal family, all the way to the last duke and lord and the majority of our guards to witness this historic wedding. The capital was nearly emptied with our departure.

A handful of guards were left behind to watch over the capital city and the palace. It seems everyone wants to be on Earth to see what is supposed to be a spectacular event.

All the entertainment and what I’m sure will be over the top displays of all Earth has to offer will most likely be lost on me once I have my hands on my beautiful new bride. She is all my eyes will most likely see once she’s mine.

My father, the king, sits on an overstuffed seat, covered in the leather the Earthling’s we allow to live in the desolate areas of our planet, The Euthenia Nebula, make out of the creatures’ hides they call bovines they brought with them. The meat is quite horrid, though, and it’s hard to know how they can ingest such a thing.

A platter of crunchy, boiled red beetles, served in a mineral glaze made of the best soil our planet has to offer is on the table as the first course of our third meal of each twenty-eight-hour day. I pop one into my mouth and delight in the crunchy outside and oozing center.

“Father, are you hungry?” I ask.

His light blue eyes gaze out the window as the blue planet of Earth hangs in the bottom of the thick glass pane. He sighs. “To eat as we are only hours from our destination after hours upon hours of travel is not a thing which interests me, son.” His gaze turns to me. “Tell me how it is. Tell me how you’re not doubling over with spasms of nerves in your stomach. You are to marry an Earthling. One of the most despised creatures in existence.”

“It is for our planet, Father. I will be king once you pass from this realm to the next. It’s a task I hold with the highest regards. I intend to unite our planet with Earth and any other planets which seek the peace and unequivocal balance which will come from galaxies who partner for the better of all.” My eyes move to look at the planet which is home to my awarded female.

The hope in me wells up as I think about how smart she is and how she will help me to understand the minds of the people who seem to be insane at times.

Who comes to someone’s planet and takes over? Who does that sort of thing?

Our planet differs greatly from the one my bride has grown up on. Our oceans reflect yellow because of the two suns our planet orbits. From space, it appears more yellow than any other color. But in the desolate regions, the ones we’ve allowed the Earthlings to settle on, there are vast fields of purple grass.

Those fields are visible as well, lending some streaks of purple to contrast the yellow oceans. A bit of red can be seen from the ancient red forests we have there. All in all, we have a lovely planet. Even though it’s smaller than Earth, we have utilized the resources of the planet to make use of the things it provides to the utmost efficiency.

Everything runs on solar energy which costs no one a thing. Our buildings are made from a naturally occurring metal which replenishes itself with each rainy season.

The whole planet gets incredibly saturated, and the assorted material which combines to make the metal is pooled together beneath the surface, forming new metal for us to build and repair with.

Our homes are made from thin but sturdy wood we call Bracha wood, it’s quite similar to what the Earth calls Bamboo. And whatever gets cut is immediately replanted to make sure we don’t deplete our source to build and repair our homes.

The palace is the one exception as it’s made of the pearl-like stone which occurs naturally at the bottom of our largest ocean, the Stalwart Ocean which connects with the other three through a series of seas and wetlands.

The palace shines all through the sunny days and moonlit nights. It’s like a beacon, and its beauty is unsurpassed. Only in the capital are the streets paved with silver dust. The whole city sparkles; I hope my new bride finds it an amazing place to live. I do so want her to love it there.

The people from Earth I’ve met have been decent and seem to want peace and happiness just as much as we do. I even met with a man when he first arrived. His military record was one of concern.

The man from Earth had been in the military since he was ten years old. Growing up in an academy and becoming one of their top leaders had him a real threat. To add to that, he was an assassin. Not the kind of man we want as a settler due to the fact he had such vast knowledge of war and how to win it. So my father and I had him brought straight away to our palace upon his arrival.

All Earthlings come through the capital to be documented and then taken on a flying craft, much like a barge, to the settlement area we gave them. This particular man was a person of great interest and in danger of being sent back to Earth on the first Vestal back there.

Caleb Booth proved to be a very docile man, tired of war. He was seeking only peace and happiness. He wanted to start a family and live a quiet existence for the remainder of his life. So we allowed him to stay.

He’s one of the reasons I decided to take the award the Earthlings gave to me. If a man of war could be so kind and genuine then there is true hope, we can all get along and not have to obliterate the Earthlings currently on our planet. Which, if they don’t stop coming into the cities and procreating like flies, is a thing my father plans on doing.

My father gets up and comes to the table, picking up a fat beetle. He looks it over then places it on his tongue. After he swallows, he smiles. “Your mother loved these things. I miss her more than you can imagine.”

I clasp my father’s shoulder. “I pray my wife, and I find the love you two shared. For it was one for the record books, Father. Her passing was devastation for our planet, but for you, I fear a death sentence.”

The edges of his eyes droop with sorrow. “It has been a year since she passed and still I manage to live. I do not know how. My heart pines for her. To be with her is all I want. All I dream of. All there is for me.”

My heart aches for him. To know a love so encompassing you yearn for death to find you so you may be together again being a thing I have no knowledge of.

My father was once a tall, strong man who looks not one thing like me. I take after my mother where looks are concerned. His hair was once dark black but now is white as snow. His brown eyes are now so light they almost appear to be a shade of blue. His once tanned skin is pale and wrinkled.

My mother’s passing seems to have nearly destroyed him as he stands as tall as he can while seeming to hunch a little. Not much, but enough I notice a difference, and I’m sure others do as well. Though no one would utter a word of it.

A picture of my awarded I pull from a pocket inside my golden cloak, a thing my father and I always wear when appearing in public.

I gaze at the picture. My betrothed appears to be tall in stature. Her long, black hair hangs to the top of her rounded bottom in cascading waves. Her skin is creamy white and looks to be as smooth as silk. Sapphire eyes stare out at me from the photograph. It’s those eyes which stir something in my soul for her.

Kataline is the daughter of a Senator on Earth. Although his DNA is part of her, she has been genetically altered using DNA from other, special Earthlings.

The way her eyes sparkle has me thinking she must be one of the sweetest creatures. Kind, nurturing, and most likely one of the easiest females to get along with is what I think she must be like.

My father, like many others, has an aversion to people from Earth. It’s true they can live like animals quite easily. The can turn practically anything into something they can use.

Most see them as a lower brained creature. One who can’t find the easy way of living life. They tend to make their lives intentionally difficult.

Their worst trait is over-populating every surface they live on. Like rodents, some people compare them to. I am not some people, though. I respect their attitude for exploration.

They were the first people to get on a rickety rocket ship some hundred years ago and seek out a new place for them to settle and make homes on. Unfortunately for thirteen of those planets, they took them over from the people who inhabited them since time began.

I want to be the leader who learns how to handle the Earthlings in a way which will teach them to coexist, rather than take over. It’s my goal to find a way to get through to the tenacious species of humankind.

Marrying one and finding out how to do that with her is the first step in what will most likely be a long process. One that may even fall upon our children to take on.

Our children, their adorable little faces flitter through my head. What will they really look like?

With her great beauty, they’re bound to be the most precious, little things. The future is filled with mysteries. How many children will we have? How many males and how many females?

The people of our planet can only have two children. It’s the way our bodies are made. My older brother died when he was a baby, so I’m an only child. But I am looking forward to seeing how my wife and I will have children.

It’s been written in the contract she and I will sign that we will have all the children we are meant to. No contraception will be used. Our planet never had a need to develop it, and I refuse to allow her to bring any with her.

We do allow the Earthling settlers to use birth control methods, though. I do wish they’d use it more often as their numbers are growing too rapidly.

The subject of children has me thinking of the wedding night which is less than twenty-four hours away. I wonder if she’s nervous. I wonder if she’s been schooled in the physical ways of coupling. Or maybe she’s innocent, and they expect her to be taught.

Some females have been made as gifts to other planets. Most assume it’s a ploy to overtake even more planets. I’m not positive on that yet.

I can see the leaders of Earth wanting to leave the women uneducated about the physical aspects of coupling. Each planet’s beings do things a little differently. If they were to train the women the way Earthlings couple or as they call it, having sexual intercourse, then most would have to retrain them anyway.

It matters not to me, either way. She and I will find our way through that, I have no doubts. Her body and physical appearance already stir my groin, and that’s really all anyone needs to couple.

The planet grows larger in the window and the time is nearing. The nerves are beginning, but not in the way my father thinks. No, it’s excitement which has my stomach fluttering.

The future is about to begin, and I cannot wait!

Chapter Three

Kataline

Jasmine fills the surrounding air. It’s an aroma which brings me peace, and I’ve instructed it to be piped into the large auditorium I’m being married in.

It seems people have come from around the globe to witness the first ever marriage between an Earthling and a Euthenian. Not only that, but I’m also the first genetically modified female to be married off. The first to be awarded.

The other females will be in attendance. Other than my sister, I’ve never seen another one like us. It will be interesting to see how each of them reacts as they take a look at their futures and fates which will be similar to mine.

Our leaders have had designers make my wedding dress. They came up with in my opinion a design which lacks much thought. Left on my own I do believe I could’ve designed something more unique.

Alas, it was not up to me. Every noteworthy designer, decorator, culinary artist and entertainer has been utilized to show the Euthenian visitors how refined, cultured, talented, and clever we all are.

Seeing as their civilization is eons older than ours, it will most likely be a thing they find low-brained and dim-witted. And here I am at the Apex of all that, wearing a flowing white dress which makes me look like an ancient Greek Goddess.

By Earth standards, I look magnificent, but by the Euthenian standards, I highly doubt. My black hair has been elaborately braided, studded with real sapphires and tiny white flowers.

My makeup has been done by yet another respected professional make-up artist. When I look at my reflection, I’m reminded of some of the pictures I’ve seen in the history books of the Egyptian queen, Cleopatra.

Deep black lines my eyes, making the blue in them pop. Red stains my rosebud lips and light pink, my cheeks. The door to my dressing room opens and in flounces my older sister, wearing a dress similar to mine, only in light blue instead of white.

“Kataline, you look gorgeous!” Mataline coos at me as she air-kisses near my cheek.

I reciprocate the intent of affection and smile. “You also look gorgeous, sister.”

Her long, blonde locks are piled high upon her head, small tendrils trickle from the mass and curl around her tanned face. Her skin is dark compared to mine. She is in all ways quite the opposite of me. This was what was intended.

Mataline was made to marry the common man she gave her virginity to. “Dane is so pissed he’s been given the task of a common usher. Father and his cronies never cease to point out his humble beginnings,” she whines.

“I’m sorry about that. He is my brother-in-law and the father of my precious nieces and should be more than that in this giant wedding. Tell me, do the little darlings look completely adorable as my dainty flower girls?”

“Rowe and Cindy look amazing. They’ll be floating down the aisle tossing white, magnolia petals along the trail you’ll be walking down.” She clasps her hands and smiles. “Are you ready for this?”

“What choice do I have? Ready or not, this is happening. Tell me, have you seen Kerr?” My hands knot in my lap, and I spin around once in my chair.

“No, none of us will until the time comes, and he takes his place at the end of the aisle and waits for you.” Mataline giggles and throws her hands into the air. “It’s so romantic! Don’t you think, Sissy?”

A harsh laugh comes from deep in my chest. “Romance has no place in this, Sister. This is a marriage arranged to keep the peace between Euthenia and us. I am, but a pawn and I see nothing romantic about that.”

A decanter of golden liquid sits amongst small crystal glasses. Mataline takes two and fills them. Handing one to me, she says, “Kataline, you drink this and settle that temperament of yours which has been known to work against you from time to time.”

I sip, but her hand on the bottom of the glass makes me take in more and I drink it until the last drop of sweet liquor flows down my throat. In moments the calming effects warm my skin, flushing it a bit and my mind eases.

Her eyebrow quirks up into an arch. “Better, Sister?”

I nod and giggle a little. “Oh, Mataline! I’m about to be married and made into a princess of an alien planet! I have no idea what the man looks like who is to be my husband, my ruler, for the rest of my life! Quick, one more drink. My heart is pounding, and my feet are itching to run my body away from here.”

She fills my empty glass and hands it to me. “Try to think of this as an adventure, Sister. Remember when we were young and made up all types of adventures we took in the confines of our estate? This is the epic adventure, and this one is for real!” She spins around and laughs. “You’re about to go to another planet. Another word, Kataline! It’s amazing!”

The door flies open and in comes our father. “It’s time, my darling!”

My heart stops, and I toss the drink down my throat. He holds a small, leather-covered box and opens the top. A simple band made of obsidian based titanium in black is in the box. “Am I to give that to my new husband?”

He nods. “It’s been handcrafted by our top jeweler. The first of its kind. When the Dali Lama asks you to place your ring on Kerr’s finger, this is what you’ll be putting on it. It’s very nice, don’t you agree?”

“It’s shiny and black, it’s a simple ring. I suppose it’s nice. Do you think he’ll like it, Father? That’s what really matters.” I look the ring over and think it looks very masculine and wonders if the man I’m about to marry is a masculine man.

He is a royal. He could be scrawny and small. Perhaps that’s why he isn’t marrying a woman of his own kind. A dainty, gold band might be better suited if the man is not quite masculine.

“It’s a thing of great beauty, he’s sure to love it. Add the fact it comes from you and it’s a given.” My father touches my chin, making me look at him. “You look gorgeous, Kataline. Now let’s get your veil on and get you to him.” He turns to my sister. “Scoot! Get out there and follow those pretty little daughters of yours down the aisle. Then I’ll bring out your sister.”

“Okay,” she says as she hurries out the door. With a quick look over her shoulder, she says, “I love you, Kataline. See you soon!”

My father pulls the handmade lace veil over my head, covering my face. It's sheer enough to make out a few of my more prominent features, but demure enough to mute my face, keeping it a secret from my future husband until after we are married.

My father leads me down the long hallway then to the top of the stairs. A long flight of stairs I must walk down then a long aisle before I can get to the end and my husband to be.

I was given the contract Kerr wrote for us. I’m about to go take the vows he has in the contract and sign the document which will bind me to him for the rest of my life. Even in the event of his death, I can never remarry. I am his until I am no longer able to breathe, until my heart takes its last beat, and my brain has its last thought. Only then am I to be released from the contract.

The music is nice as I stand at the top and watch my nieces floating like angels just above the floor. They have on their hover shoes as they requested I allow them to wear. The dark blue carpet is clean in front of them and littered with white flower petals behind them. My sister trails after them.

I look around and see smiles on everyone’s faces. All the way at the very end, a man in a dark blue suit, a sash of purple running over one shoulder, he is not smiling. He wears a grim face. It makes me uneasy.

“Who is the man there, Father?” I whisper as I gesture to the man.

“That, my dear, is the king of Euthenia. Kerr’s father.”

“He looks anything but happy,” I say and find my heart faltering.

“It matters not if he’s happy or sad. It’s Kerr who is happy about this, I assure you.” My father takes my hand and places it in the crook of his arm. “Looks like your sister has made it to the end. It’s nearly our turn.”

And then the man I am about to marry enters the room. At the end of the aisle, he walks in from the side. A white, linen suit flows over a large, muscled body. A purple sash he wears just like his father has on. Long, flowing blonde waves fall over his broad shoulders. My knees are going weak.

Even from so far away as I am, I can see he’s gorgeous. I can barely breathe. “Father, is that Kerr?”

“Yes, that’s your husband to be, sweetheart.”

As if he feels my eyes burning into him as they rake over his perfect body then his face as I try hard to see him better from this distance, he looks up at me. A smile covers his chiseled face.

He’s happy to see me!

“Father, I might faint. I might go weak in my legs. Please do not allow me to fall,” I say in a whisper as I have not enough breath to speak any louder.

“I will not let you fall. Are you ready, Kataline?”

I nod, and the music of the wedding march fills the auditorium as my father takes the first step of this journey which will take me to my future. Bits of manufactured snow begin to fall as I take the first step of the long staircase. On the left side of me are the Euthenian’s. The right side are people from Earth.

Though similar in facial appearances, the Euthenian men are all much muscled and quite gorgeous. I’ve yet to find one of the males who are unattractive, no matter their ages.

The women are rather plain, though. Most wear smiles on their faces, and none wears make-up. In my contract, it states I’m allowed to wear makeup and have my hair styled as I please.

Kerr must want to make changes in how the women are treated on his planet. That’s a good thing in my book.

I look back at my people and find them beaming at me. Though I personally only know a handful of people, I’m shocked by the strangers who seem so happy for me.

Then my eyes land on the other females like me. It’s obvious they’re different. They sit a little straighter than the normal women. They have them sitting in the outer seats. Still separated though by each row.

Each gives me the nod as I pass. And each reaches out and touches the hand I hold the bouquet of flowers in. All have an inner glow which shines out and all wear peaceful expressions on their vastly different but beautiful faces.

I count thirteen of them in all and in every shape and color. All look to be around my age. We are all in our early twenties, and it seems they made no more of us.

How I’d love to be able to talk to them. A buzz of emotion and energy I get as each one touches me. It’s as if we are all sisters, which I suppose may be true if even one set of DNA runs through us all. But that’s not a thing anyone has seen fit to let us know.

Finally, I reach the last stair and can walk along the carpets path to my betrothed. My heart is beginning to pound harder in my chest, and then a sudden release of white doves comes over my head, startling me.

My father tights his arm, steadying me and I continue on the path. He whispers, “Hold steady, darling. There is about to be two bursts of flaming fireworks go off just as we pass the area a few feet in front of us. Try not to get started again.”

I get ready for what is sure to be a loud noise and a lot of light and even though I am ready, the loud booming noise has me fighting myself not to run down the aisle.

Sparks of light burst on either side of me and I close my eyes and let my father lead me on. After an eternity to get to where I’m going, I find my sister taking my bouquet. My father slips the box with the ring in it into my right hand and places my left hand into Kerr’s. He is the most amazing man I’ve ever laid eyes on, even in books.

Blue-green eyes pierce as they look to me. My veil hiding me away from him. I take a deep breath and try not to pass out. Then the music stops, and the actual marriage ceremony begin.

Am I ready for this?

Chapter Four

Kerr

Though I’ve yet to see my bride completely as her lace veil hides her from me, my heart pounds with anticipation, and I have no doubt I will find her amazing to look at. Her hand is shaking as she places the black wedding band on my finger.

Electric sparks run through my hand with her touch. I place the ring I have for her, one which was my great-great grandmother’s, on her slender finger and then I’m told I may kiss my bride as the contract has been read out loud and each of us has answered yes to all things and signed the document.

I steady myself to see her in the flesh. I’ve heard her voice and find it fascinating, soft and light, yet so much strength behind it. She has to be an amazing woman.

The lace veil I ease up and find her there. Her face holds so much beauty it makes my heart ache.

This woman is now my wife!

“Hello,” I say as I gaze at her.

“Hello,” she says. Her red lips she leaves parted just a little.

This is her very first kiss, from what I’ve been told. I’m a stranger to her, and I know this has to be frightening for the poor thing. I ease my hand to grasp the back of her neck.

Her deep blue eyes flash with panic for just an instant. I cannot breathe, I cannot think. Our lips touch, and I can vaguely hear cheers from the crowd. My head is going light, and her body is leaning into mine.

I wrap my arms around her and can’t seem to take my mouth away from hers. I gently push my tongue through her lips and find she tastes of honey. Her hands run down my back, sending waves of heat through me.

Finally, the man who officiated the ceremony lays his hand on my shoulder as he clears his throat. Reluctantly I pull my mouth away from hers but still hold her tight in my arms.

I can feel her heart pounding against my chest as I look down at her. She looks into my eyes, and I see their blue has darkened to the color of a stormy sea.

The man’s voice makes us look at him as he places a hand on her shoulder as well. “I introduce to you the prince and princess of the Euthenia Nebula.”

My hands I run down her arms, taking one hand in mine. I turn towards the crowd and look at her with a smile. As I hold up our clasped hands, the crowd goes insane with cheers.

The entire room darkens as the lights go out, and fireworks fill the night sky overhead as the domed roof has been pushed back. It’s all surreal and gorgeous, but it’s her who fills my thoughts.

Can there really be love at first sight?

She has to be all the things I thought she was. Kind, nurturing, sweet.

I take her hand and bring it to my lips then pull her to me, wrapping my arm around her waist. Leaning in, I whisper, “I am very pleased with you, Kataline.”

With a turn of her head, she smiles. “I have to admit I’m pleased with you as well.”

A low growl I emit. “I cannot wait to take you to our marital bed after the festivities.”

A blush pinks her cheeks even more, and her long, dark eyelashes flutter against them. “Words are escaping me, sir. That’s not an easy thing to do to me, I’ll have you know.” Her eyes meet mine. “Is this a sign of things to come? Are you prone to such indecency?”

“Not until you came along I wasn’t.” I run my hand down a bit and playfully smack her on the ass.

Her eyes go wide, and her hand covers her mouth. She hisses behind it, “Scoundrel!”

“I just might be one,” I say with a laugh.

Is it possible for her to affect me so quickly?

The fireworks end and some band start playing a slow song and I take her in my arms and dance her up the aisle and to a private room I’ve been told to take her to so we can take a small break before we attend all the festivities which have been planned for this auspicious occasion.

Once alone I can finally take her all in. And I am so happy I took this award the Earthlings have given me. Though happy is too shallow a word for how I’m feeling on this first day of the rest of our lives.

Chapter Five

Kataline

Though tired in body, I’m anything but in mind. Kerr is proving hard to resist. A foot taller than me and three times my width, he towers over me. His thick, blond hair is silky, and my hands keep running through it of their own accord.

My eyes cannot stop glancing at his. They remind me of the Caribbean Sea with their deep blue-green hues with undertones of pale greens in them. The other features I can’t stop myself from looking at are his plump lips, the color of caramel. His skin is a light tan, and his muscles ripple with his movements.

My thoughts he might not be masculine have proven to be errant. He is every bit man. A true alpha and sure to be a person to contend with. Though he seems to find humor in most things I’ve said.

I think he’s misjudged me as an empty headed female who will be easy to deal with. He’s in for a rude awakening in the bedroom. Kerr has been very open with his advances.

A blush has remained on my cheeks for hours as he’s plied me with his words and hands. And once with his foot underneath the banquet table. He’s very naughty and seems to delight in making me gasp.

I’ll have to rein in that behavior, and once we’re alone, I’ll be doing just that. With the festivities over, we’re being taken to our bridal penthouse suite in New York’s finest hotel.

His father rides with us, or I’d let him know right now how he can play all he wants for now, but that’s all. I am not a plaything though and will not be messed with as a toy.

We pull into the hotel’s valet service and stop in front of the large glass doors, trimmed in gold, my new husband gets out first then holds his hand out to me. I take it and make a note to myself to tell him I am completely capable of getting out of things on my own.

The way he wraps his arm around me makes my heart speed up.

That can’t be healthy. Can it?

Never has my body been so erratic. His lips touch the top of my head, and he says in a low voice which sounds as if velvet is covering his diaphragm, “Nearly there, I can hardly keep my cock in my pants. I want you so much.”

And just like that, my breath hitches in my chest and I nearly faint. “Oh, my!” My voice came out a bit higher than usual, and I do believe I have broken into a sweat.

No! This cannot be healthy for me!

The rogue is smiling with a devilish grin. “Oh, my, indeed, Kataline.”

His hand has moved to squeeze my bottom, and I’d yelp if there was no one around. “You and I have much to discuss when we get into the privacy of our suite.”

“We can talk all you want, as long as we do it without any clothes on, wife.” His grin fades into a firm line as is if he’s actually being serious.

One porter takes us to the penthouse, and another takes his father, the king, to another place in the hotel. I’m sure it’s nearly as grand as ours. Our government always treats royalty from other planets to the best we have to offer.

The elevator stops at the very top of the huge building and there we are. The door opens up to a spacious area draped in reds with white leather furniture and dim lighting. A magnificent fireplace has a fire going, the oranges and reds make shadows dance on the white walls.

It’s out of a fairytale, and my heart pounds again. “This is beautiful,” I say as we step out onto the floor covered in ash stone. White ash from volcanic activity in the Aleutian Islands was used to create the most expensive flooring available.

Kerr’s hand runs around the back of my neck. “It’s lovely, but you are the only thing which is beautiful in this room.”

I look at him then at the porter. The porter excuses himself then disappears into the elevator, and we are finally alone.

Kerr wastes no time. Lifting me up in his massive arms, he carries me away. “Kerr, really! What are you doing?”

“Taking my wife to our bed.” He chuckles, and it makes his chest move with the sound.

“Kerr, we really should talk first. I mean, we’ve just met.”

“So talk.” He walks into the bedroom, and we both look at the bed covered in a blanket made from white rose petals. “Wow, that took some work, didn’t it? It’s going to be a real shame when it gets destroyed.”

I look at him with confusion. “How will it be destroyed?”

He laughs and places my feet on the floor. “Let me show you how.”

One knot is the key to my dress, and he unties it at the small of my back. “Kerr, wait!”

“No.”

His knuckles graze my naked skin as he moves his hands to unwrap the fabric from my body. They placed no undergarments on me. I will be naked once this is removed. “Kerr, we need to talk. You think me a person I’m not!”

My words slow him none. “So tell me about yourself, Kataline. I think I know all I need to know about you to start this marriage right.” He gently pulls the fabric around, undoing the dress as he does. “I know you’re gorgeous. I know your laugh tickles my ears. I know the sound of your voice fills me with something I’ve never felt before.”

“But,” I say.

His lips touch my cheek then he says, “I know your kiss takes me away to a place I’ve never been before. Now I’d like to find out where you take me, wife.”

“Kerr, this is highly inappropriate.” A piece of the white material falls across my chest, exposing one breast. I reach for it, but it’s too late he’s seen the thing. “Oh!” I pull it back to cover myself. He grazes the back of my hand with his.

His eyes meet mine. “Please, Kataline. You are exquisite. A treasure. Please.”

I thought he’d be brutal. Take me like a savage. But his words are soft and kind and well, damn the man!

“Kerr, this is…”

His finger rests on my lips, halting the words. “Kataline, we are married. We will live our lives as one. But I will do what I’m asking you to first, so you don’t have to be alone and undressed.”

He takes a few steps back and steps out of his shoes. The pearl-like buttons of his white, linen shirt he takes in his large hands and unbuttons them. When he pushes the shirt off, I see his chest and stomach and find myself in awe of him.

Tight muscles are grouped in two lines on each side of his stomach. They move with every movement he makes. I reach out and run my finger up the line in the middle which parts the two sides. “This is quite amazing. How do you get your stomach to look this way, Kerr?”

“All males on my planet are born this way. I know your males here have to work and work to get such defined abdominal muscles, but ours come like this.” He flexes them for me, and my insides go wet.

I step back and pull my hand away. “Kerr, the way my body reacts to you is dangerous. Unhealthy. My heart speeds up and stops as does as my breathing. From things I’ve read, it’s quite possible I’m allergic to you.”

His brows lift, and he smiles. “Baby, that’s not an allergic reaction, that’s a want for me, and I’m glad to hear it.”

Kerr pushes his pants down, and I am astounded by what I see. I stumble and find the bed hitting the back of my knees, and I sit on it. “Oh! No, it has to be an allergic reaction, Kerr. Heat has just traveled all over my entire body, and my body is shaking with a chill at the same time. I fear I might faint. I’m sorry. This may not work at all!”

He moves forward, and I hold my hand up. “Kataline, that’s a natural response to seeing a male you want.”

“The closer you come the hotter I become. Perhaps it’s my unique genetic make-up. Perhaps because you are not the same species I am. I have no idea, but I’m wet in places I’m not supposed to be.”

He stops and groans. “You are growing wet for me, wife. Let me take this off you and show you why your body is reacting this way. Were you never taught about this? Never told how males and females couple to make themselves closer and happier and make offspring?”

I shake my head. “I was told my husband would teach me that.” And then it clicks in my head that women like me, genetically modified females were most likely left uneducated about such things on purpose. We are to be awarded to aliens, and I bet everyone does things differently.

“And I will. All you have to do is to lie back, and I’ll show you.”

With a tilt of my head, I gesture to the very large, thick, long, and erect appendage between his legs. “Is that always that large?”

“Believe it or not, it can grow even larger. Want me to show you?” He says as he takes the material of my dress in his large hand and continues to remove it from me.

“Larger? Really?” I place my hand over my mouth and look at the monster. “And that is to go inside… Oh, no, Kerr!”

“Well, at least, you know that much. That’s a relief!” With one last pull, my dress is off, and I am stark naked in front of the man as I sit on the edge of the bed.

His eyes go right to my apex. I have been meticulously waxed and plucked and groomed for him. One thin line of dark hair runs down me, and he runs his finger over it. His finger grazes a part of me which sends a sensation through me that nearly sends me jumping off the bed.

“Kerr! See! Your mere touch is making odd things happen to my body!” I move back on the bed to put some distance between us. All the way to the top I go, until a pile of fluffy pillows stops me.

He climbs onto the bed, eyeing me as if he’s a hungry lion. “It felt good. Didn’t it?”

“Well, I suppose it was good. I mean, it sent a sensation I’ve never had before to a place deep inside me. I really do think I’m having an allergic reaction.” His handsome face splits into a grin. “You think me silly. I know you do, but I honestly think…” His hands take my ankles. “Kerr, what are you doing?”

“The reaction you’re having to me is normal. You’re not allergic to me. Tell me, are you always this silly?” He continues to move up the bed, pushing my ankles up as he comes towards me. He stops just as my knees are bent, and his face is near my sexual organs, and my stomach tenses up even more.

“Silly? No, I’m anything but silly. I’ll have you know my intelligence is off the charts! How dare….” My words stop as his mouth touches me in the most intimate of my personal, intimate areas.

His eyes hold mine then his lips leave me, and he says, “Lie back. Close those beautiful eyes. Know I am a man you can trust. I am your husband, Kataline. You're mine now. I’m about to show you how much pleasure I can give you and will teach you how you can give me pleasure as well. To make you feel wonderful makes me feel wonderful. When your body begs for release, let it go. Understand me?”

“Kerr, will this hurt?” I ask as fear holds me in its grasp.

“Just lie back and close your eyes, wife.” His words are soft and his eyes kind.

I do as he’s told me. My eyes close as I take a deep breath and then his mouth is on me. Warm air pushes against a part of me I never realized could feel this way.

My hands want to go and run through his silky hair as he kisses me there and I push them under the pillow so I don’t do such a forward thing. His tongue flicks across me, and a moan comes from me without me realizing it.

He moans too, and it sends shivers through me. His large hands move around me, and he takes my bottom, a cheek in each hand. With a squeeze to each, he pulls me up to him. His tongue runs ravenously over me, and my legs begin to shake as something inside me is building.

Like a wave, it crashes over me. My body is shaking, and I erupt as I shout, “Kerr! Oh! Kerr!” My hands come out and run to his hair, and I tangle them into the long tresses. “Kerr!”

He releases my bottom and lifts his head. His eyes are as dark as emeralds as he climbs up my body. My breath is ragged, and my body is pulsing.

His mouth crashes on mine, and I am almost disgusted he’s kissing me after where his mouth has been. But the taste makes something click in me, and an animal wakes inside me.

My nails rake over his muscled back, and I arch my body up to his. His thick erection pushes against my inner thigh, and I want it inside me. I want to feel it moving inside me.

His mouth leaves mine, and he looks at me. “Ask me for it.”

My breath hitches in my chest. I search his eyes. It’s not a thing I ever thought I’d ask for, but I do want it. “Please, Kerr. Please take me. Make me yours, husband.”

Kerr smiles and then his mouth is back on mine, his tongue touching every last place as if claiming it as his own. His hand between us guides his large appendage to my narrow opening, and though I’m afraid and have no doubt it will hurt as it stretches my virgin tissues, I want it.

I want it like I’ve never wanted anything. Pressure I feel at first as he presses into me. Then a slight burning sensation followed by a pop and a white heat runs through me.

A scream I let out, but his kiss stifles the noise. I wiggle under him, but his hands take my hips, making me stop moving. He doesn’t move. His kiss grows harder and suddenly I don’t feel the burn anymore.

My body yearns to feel him moving inside me, and I arch up to him. He moans and pulls out then goes back in with a slow stroke. Three more slow strokes and he pulls his mouth from mine and looks at me. “Are you okay?”

With a smile I stroke his smooth cheek. “Better than okay.”

We look at one another as he moves in and out and it feels like Heaven. I close my eyes and let my mind go. He trails light kisses down my cheek, over the hollow of my throat then he pulls my breast into his hot mouth. After a nip he suckles it.

It pulls something deep in my stomach, and before I know it, my body is crashing into another climax. “Kerr!” I shout as I arch up.

My hands run over his back and down his arms. His biceps are enormous, and I hold them as the muscles ripple beneath his skin as he holds himself up over me. His body tenses and he groans.

Liquid heat pours into me, and my body convulses around his erection, causing it to let every last bit of his essence move into my body. My heart is pounding, and I can barely breathe.

His body falls on mine, and I can feel his heart pounding.

So that’s what all the fuss is about, I get it now!

Chapter Six

Kerr

Her soft, warm body I hold in my arms. I let her sleep after the love we made. Kataline proved to be just as great as I thought she’d be. Her body responded so well to mine it was as if we moved together as one.

Soft kisses I trail over her long and elegant neck as I push her dark waves to the side. Her moans fill my ears as she stretches a bit. “Oww,” she says as she moves her leg.

Am I horrible that make me happy?

“Sore?” I ask as I smile against the soft flesh of her neck.

“Very. Are you?” She turns to face me and I can’t believe how beautiful she is when she first wakes up.

“Not in the way you are. It’s a pleasant sensation I have.” I kiss the tip of her nose. “You look amazing, Kataline. Is it possible you’ve become even more beautiful by becoming mine?”

A flash goes through her eyes and her lips form a tight line as her body goes hard in my arms. “Please do not refer to me as yours.”

“But you are mine.” I kiss her nose again.

She pulls out of my grasp and leans against the pillows, pulling the blanket to cover her generous bosom. “Look, Kerr. You seem to have the wrong idea about me. I am no empty-headed female. And I am not your plaything. I’m a fiercely independent woman who will not be treated like an object.”

I playfully run my hand along her thigh under the blanket. “Have I made you feel empty headed? That was not my intention. I’m sure you are smart. I’m sure you were independent, but now you are not only you. You are part of we, being you and me. So we are now dependent on one another. It’s nice to know someone has your back, forever, don’t you agree?”

“How do I know you have my back, Kerr?” She frowns and looks completely adorable.

“Because I’m telling you I do.” I stroke her stomach and see goose bumps pop out on her skin.

“Kerr, stop messing with me. I’m not a toy!” she says as she pushes my hand away. “We should get dressed and order breakfast.”

“We will, later.” I take her breast in my hand and she looks at me with a frown.

“That’s treating me like your plaything.”

“I think it’s showing you I find you irresistible. Don’t you like how it feels?” I lean over and kiss her cheek as I massage her full breast.

Her body relaxes, and she runs her hand through my hair. “I’d be lying if I said I don’t. It’s just that when you touch me I can’t think.”

“Thinking has its time and place. In bed is neither.” Her lips I take and she moans.

My hands roam over her, relishing her soft skin and curves. She is all woman and the fact she’s mine thrills me. She’s a bit feisty which I didn’t think she’d be and the nurturing thing doesn’t seem to be a thing she has yet. But with time, she could become that.

I pull her up on me and she straddles me as I hold the back of her neck, not allowing our mouths to part. Her ass I take into my hands and squeeze. It’s just the right combination of firm and soft.

Everything is perfect on her. The genetic engineering of her physical body seems to have made quite a perfect specimen. Her attitude will take some work, but anything worth it often does take work.

Things which come too easy are seldom appreciated and I want to appreciate this woman every day of my life.

This marriage is starting off on the right foot, I think!

Chapter Seven

Kataline

After a couple of unimaginable days with my husband, we’re about to take off in his craft to go to my new home, the palace in the capital of the Euthenia Nebula. My heart’s pounding. I’m not at all happy about leaving my home.

To top things off, Kerr doesn’t act the same when we’re around other people. I have to walk a step behind him and speak only when spoken to. He’s told me that’s how people act where I’m going and I have to follow the rules.

It has my knickers in a twist and I can’t stop feeling this helpless sensation. But my inner strength fights the helplessness, making me quite irate with the man I must share my life with.

How can he be soft and gentle, so loving then so hard as nails? It’s enough to drive a woman insane. And his father! Oh! That man seems to think I’m one cut above an animal.

It seems most people from other planets don’t like Earthlings. Kerr said he has my back, but when his father says derogatory remarks against my kind he doesn’t say a word to stand up for me.

I’m sitting in a deep chair made of pale pink leather as Kerr and his father join me in what Kerr calls the courtroom. I lower my eyes as he’s told me I must do as men come into any room I’m in.

I wait for what seems like an eternity for him to allow me to speak. His hand touches mine. “Kataline.”

When I look up he’s smiling at me. “Yes, sir?”

He pulls me up. “Join me over here as we take off. You expressed concern over flying and I’d like to offer you support as we start this journey.”

I smile and go with him to a long sofa and we sit next to each other as he holds my hand. His father takes a seat across from us and frowns. “Why would you be afraid to fly? Have you never flown before?”

“No sir, I have not. Until the day of the wedding, I had never left our estate.” I look out the large window and see we’re moving, but I didn’t hear or feel a thing. “My, we’ve already taken off.”

“See, nothing to be getting anxious over,” Kerr says, and he gives my hand a squeeze.

His father clears his throat and I look back at him to find him looking at our clasped hands. “The idea of keeping someone trapped in one place for so many years is quite barbaric. You are twenty-three years old. You are telling me you have been left in the same place all those years?”

“Yes, sir. The estate is large though and only a few times did I feel trapped. Not often. I have my theories of why the females like me are kept from everything.” I stop speaking as he holds up one hand.

“You have theories?” He chuckles as does my husband, igniting a streak of pure rage in me. “My dear girl, your blood may be made from that of Earth’s finest, but you are inherently female on top of being from Earth. Your theories are most likely incorrect and of low quality.”

“May I be alone, husband?” I snap.

Kerr holds my hand tight. “Why?”

I glare into his eyes. “Because I am not used to being talked down to. That’s why.”

“You should get used to this. It’s how you will be talked to once we get home anyway.” Kerr smiles and I find I’d like to slap the smile off his handsome face.

My heart is pounding and I feel like I just might go off and really get myself into trouble. “Please, sir, may I go to our sleeping chamber?”

“No. It won’t help you to acclimate to your new life if I allow that.” Kerr releases my hand and points out the window. “Just watch the sky turn from blue to black and don’t worry about a thing. No one’s asking you to think anyway.”

Keeping my mouth shut, I turn and look out the window. I’ve never been one to curse, but expletives are bouncing around my brain. This will prove harder than I ever imagined.

I try to focus on the gorgeous flying ship we’re in. It’s much like an extremely upscale yacht. A bit larger though. The cabinets in various areas of the vessel are made of a dark, red wood. Kerr has told me they were crafted out of some of the ancient trees in the red wood forests on Euthenia.

The entire ceiling has lighting behind it, making it glow overhead. Little remotes in each room can be used to control the amount of light which is produced and when turned completely out, when in space, leaves one in the most darkness there is possible.

That’s a thing Kerr cannot wait for. He wants to couple in that deep darkness, he thinks it will be otherworldly, which I bet it will. Alone, Kerr and I get along better than I could’ve ever imagined. Perhaps that’s why I get so mad when he acts differently around others.

Kerr’s father laughs a bit, bringing me out of my inner thoughts, then says, “You have your work cut out for you, son. I told you this would not be as easy as you thought. She has been raised much differently than the females of our planet. The strap may be a thing you have to carry on your side with this one.”

My body tenses with his words and Kerr pats my leg. “Father, please. Kataline will learn how things are done. As far as people from her planet go, I’m sure she’s a far cry from most.”

My jaw is tight from holding back the barrage of words I want to throw at the men. Even Kerr’s compliment is derogatory.

“I just hope your offspring gain your superior intelligence, Kerr,” his father says and I can’t stop myself.

I get up and walk out of the room and go to our bed chamber. Kerr doesn’t say a word as I leave. He can beat me until I’m black and blue if he wishes, but I will not sit and let anyone talk about me like that.

Once in the small chamber which houses a large bed and little else, I sit on the side of the bed and try hard not to cry.

All things in this room are done in shades of silver. Except the bed which has been covered with a white cloth, soft as the downy feathers of geese. Kerr has said it’s a cloth made from the fibers some insect on their planet makes.

Kerr comes in and holds a small tray in his hands. “Kataline, we were about to eat. I know you’re upset with the way my father talks. He’s old and thinks outdated things. It’s one of the reasons I accepted you as an award. I want to change the way people see females on our planet.”

“Then why let him talk the way he does?” I snap.

He sits next to me and places the small, covered silver tray on the bed. “He is the king. No one can tell him not to think or speak in any certain way. I’m sorry it’s like that, but there’s not a thing I can do. Here, eat something.” He pulls the lid off the tray and I nearly pass out.

Small, wormy creatures move about in what looks like dirt. “Kerr, what is that?”

“Good for you,” he says. “The base is a nutrient mixture, and the protein is hand raised in incubators until they reach the perfect size to give their full content to nourish our bodies.”

“It looks like worms in dirt, Kerr.” I look at the little things move in and out of the dark soil. “It must taste terrible.”

He takes a tiny, silver spoon and fills it then pops it into his mouth. He swallows without chewing and my stomach clenches. “It really has no flavor. Our planet is not like yours. We don’t consume food for any reason other than to nourish our bodies. It’s impractical to do so and leads to obesity. Here, try a bite.”

I hold my hand over my mouth. “Kerr, no! Yuk! Please tell me there’s some food here I can eat.”

“You can eat this food. Here just let me put it in your mouth and you simply swallow.” He scoops up another tiny spoonful and moves it towards my mouth.

“Kerr! Stop! I will spit that out!” I scoot away from him and he frowns.

“You will have to eat what we have, Kataline or you'll waste away to nothing. I'll not have that. There really is no flavor to it, so what is your problem?” He places the spoon back in the bowl and looks at me.

“They move, Kerr! They move!” I shake my head. “Why do they not even cook them? It’s beyond disgusting!”

“We don’t cook them because it takes the nutrition away. You swallow so quick I swear to you that you never feel them move in your mouth. Now get back here and let me place a bite in your tenacious mouth.” He scoops another bite as I shake my head. “Now!”

His sharp tone has me doing as he’s said and I close my eyes and open my mouth and in goes the stuff. “Swallow!” he orders and I do.

I open my eyes and smile. I didn’t taste or feel a thing. “Did you really put anything in my mouth?”

He nods. “I did, and you swallowed it. Was it so horrible after all?”

“I didn’t feel or taste a thing.” I run my tongue around my mouth and wonder how that is.

“See. Here, let me give you another bite. It’s not nutritional unless you consume at least five bites.” He fills another small spoon and I close my eyes and let him place it in my mouth. As soon as I feel the spoon leave my lips I swallow.

I giggle. “You may have to feed me like this until I get used to eating bugs and dirt, husband.”

Kerr leans in and gives me a kiss on the cheek. “Then I will do as you need me to. I know it seems as if I don’t have your back like I told you I did, but I really do. Only in front of others, we must maintain the decorum my planet requires. In due time, you and I will rule and I swear to you we will make changes.”

Kerr’s mix of stern and soft are somewhat confusing, but I have to admit I respect him for not bending to my will. “Thank you, husband.”

He smiles and says, “Now you must be punished for leaving the room without my permission, Kataline.”

I may have spoken too soon about this respect thing!

Chapter Eight

Kerr

My wife has much to learn about her new life as an Euthenian princess. The fact is, she cannot get to our planet acting anyway she wants. It is considered treason to disrespect my father or me for that matter.

“You’ll need to undress now, so I can administer the punishment, Kataline. Stand and disrobe.”

Her eyes are filled with fear and it makes something inside me fill with pain. “Kerr, what are you going to do to me?”

“To disrespect the king or me is punishable by jail or even death, Kataline. You have to be taught to never to do what you did, walking out of a room without permission from me. You’ve left me no choice but to make sure you remember. I don’t wish to see your head rolling away from your body after all. I have grown to care for you and would miss your company.”

She surprises me as she stands and does as I’ve said. I honestly thought she’d fight me on this.

Kataline looks at me as she pulls her deep blue dress off her shoulders and lets if fall in a puddle of silky fabric at her small feet. “I had no idea and perhaps a rule book could be made for me. If you have to punish me then just do it and let’s get it over with.”

In seconds, she stands before me naked and waiting. This is going much smoother than I thought it would. I take a cord and run it around her wrists then take her to face the wall. Pulling her hands up I loop the cord over a hook.

To the side of the hook hangs a long strap. The hook and strap are in every home on my planet as women are to look at it and know what will come of behavior from them which is not allowed.

I pull the strap down and ask, “Do you understand what it is you did wrong and why you are being punished?”

“I left the room without your permission, thus disrespecting you and your father. I will not be doing that again.” She takes in a deep breath and I find myself not wanting to do this.

“Kataline, this is the first time I’ve ever had to do this. I want you to know this isn’t easy for me. I have no want to cause you pain. Please let me know when you feel you can handle no more lashes as I have no idea of what your threshold is.”

My heart is pounding and if it weren’t for the damn surveillance everywhere and my father’s words to me before I left him, I’d let her get by with this. She was unaware of what the outcome of her action would be after all.

But Father told me either I can punish her or he will and I can’t have that. Women must always disrobe before any punishment is rendered. The thought of anyone laying their eyes on her body, which belongs only to me, is a thing which makes my blood boil.

I also have to admit it heats me to think of anyone laying a hand on my wife. It would take everything in me to allow such a thing and even then, I don’t think I could.

Her voice is strong and I know she’s upset with me as she brings my attention back to her. “I will let you know, sir.”

With a loud crack, I lay the strap across the pristine skin of her ass and she makes a little scream. I hesitate to see if she’s going to say that’s enough, but when no words come, I slap the strap across her skin again. This time, no sound comes from her.

Another strike I give her. I hear a loud sigh. Another one I give her and see the strap is leaving welts on her skin. “Kataline, is this enough?”

“I can take more.” Her voice is still strong and now I feel her stubbornness is affecting the discipline.

I lay the strap across her ass again and her body jerks. The welts are growing angrily red and I decide she can take no more. “That’s enough,” I say.

Taking the cord off the hook, I quickly pull her down and release her wrists from the cord. Her eyes are glassy with unshed tears. “Thank you, sir, for teaching me my place.”

Placing a long, white robe around her to cover her naked body, I close my eyes and pull her to me. “Kataline, please just do as is expected of you. That gave me no pleasure. Quite the contrary, it hurt me it seems far worse than it did you.”

Inexplicably her hands run through my hair. Her words fall soft near my ear. “Kerr, it is my fate to be with you. I was bred to fall into place with whatever alien race I was awarded to.”

“You are more than I deserve, Kataline.” I pull her back to look at her.

Guilt plagues me as I should’ve given her something which told her of all our rules and customs. “I am what you deserve, Kerr. Teach me all I need to know before I’m unleashed on your planet to help me stay away from the strap. That is all I ask of you.”

“I will, I promise.” I pull her back into my arms and hold her tight to me.

This woman may very well be the best thing that’s ever happened to me or my planet and hers.

My father appears at our door, his face ashen and he looks almost as bad as when my mother died. “Father, what is it?”

“The settlers from Earth have taken advantage of our absence it seems. We just received word from Euthenia that the Earthlings have risen up and are trying to take over the capital.”

“No,” Kataline says with a quiet sigh.

My father’s eyes dart to her. “Was this the plan all along, woman? To get the royal family and the majority of their guards away from home so they could overtake it?”

“Not to my knowledge, sire. No, sir,” she responds. “This is terrible news to me as well, sir.”

“Son, she has to be locked up until we know the truth.” My father snaps his fingers and two of our guards appear.

I shake my head. “That will not happen, Father. I will stay with her if you want her watched over.”

“Son, we have no idea what she’s capable of or has been told to do. You may be in danger.” He looks at the guards. “Secure her.”

“No!” I shout and in a split second find myself paralyzed and falling to the bed as a guard pulls back the syringe he used to stop me. I can only watch as they bind my wife’s hands and take her away from me.

Her deep blue eyes haunt me as they are full of fear. “Are you okay, Kerr?” She struggles to get away from the guards and come to me. “What did you do to him?”

My father doesn’t answer her as he tells the guards, “Take her to the holding chamber.” He looks at me and frowns. “I’m sorry it has to be this way, son. I truly am. You’ll be kept in here until I decide you understand what I expect from you. Complete cooperation is what I must have from you. We are at war son, and you are married to the woman who may have started it.”

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Book 2

Chapter Nine

Kataline

The stars are endless in the black sky as I stare out the small, round window of the room I’ve been locked in. I have no idea how long I’ve been in here, locked away for something I had no idea was going to happen.

My surroundings are nice. An all-white interior. Right down to the blanket covering the large bed. The only touch of color is the purple pillows on the bed.

A mirror runs the length of one wall and there is an attached area to bathe and use the facilities. Most wouldn’t complain about this make-shift prison. But I miss my husband.

My stomach is growling like a hungry lion’s. Food, or what they consider to be food, has been brought to me by a woman who appears to be a maid of some kind.

She’s an older woman, with no personality. Or perhaps she’s just was afraid to talk to me.

The silver covered tray she brought still sets on the small table. I opened it when she brought it in some time ago and put the lid right back on it.

What looked like snails covered in green slime were moving around on the tray and I would rather die of starvation than put that in my mouth.

Kerr was supposed to be feeding me to help me ingest something to sustain my body. That’s not going to happen it seems.

The King is a man I am beginning to truly despise. With no chance to prove my innocence, he sent me away to this room, alone and wondering if my husband is okay.

They injected Kerr with some drug which had him unable to move. That was a long time ago and I still have no idea how he’s doing.

I asked the woman who brought the tray, but she wouldn’t speak to me at all. I suppose they think I’m capable of more than I am. A person to be feared.

It’s ludicrous. There is nothing in me to hurt my new husband. Although his actions in front of others make me furious, his actions when we’re alone make up for them.

My body aches to be held in his strong arms. My heart aches at the thought my marriage might be over before it has even begun if the King has anything to do with it.

The bed is soft as I sit on it, still in the white robe, Kerr placed on me after he administered the punishment for leaving the room without his permission.

My bottom still hurts a bit as the strap left a few thin whelps across it. My cheeks burn with the anger building in me for the unjust punishment. I had no idea leaving a room without permission was against the rules.

Just as I get up, the door glides open. I quickly drop my eyes and head as I see it’s the King.

The tall though slumped man with long, white hair and light brown eyes has graced me with his presence. Now, perhaps I can talk some sense into the tyrant.

“Sit,” he commands with a harsh tone.

I do as he says and still look down. I am not about to give this man any reason to see fit to use the hook and strap which hang on the wall in this room as well as all the bedrooms on the ship from what I’ve seen.

He stands over me. His presence is threatening and I find it hard not to stand up to the beast. I hold onto my temper, though.

“Tell me what you know,” he says.

He takes one of the chairs at the small dining table. I notice him looking at the tray and he lifts the lid. He makes a huffing sound as he sees I haven’t touched the nasty stuff.

“Not going to eat what we give you, Princess?”

“May I look at you, Sire?”

“You may.”

I raise my head and try hard not to glare at the man. “I am having an issue taking the live things into my mouth. My husband had told me he would help me until I got used to eating the food on my own. How is your son, sir?”

“My son is fine. He’s come to his senses.” His eyes lock on mine.

The fear in my eyes must be what he’s looking for. I’m positive it’s there as I have no idea what he means by Kerr coming to his senses.

Does it mean he’s annulling our marriage?

“May I ask exactly what that means, Sire?”

“No, you may not. I want you to tell me what you know about the uprising on Euthenia.” He crosses his arms over his chest and waits for an answer I do not have.

“I swear to you I know nothing about it, sir.” My eyes do not waver. There is only honesty behind my words and any person would know I’m hiding nothing.

He rises and turns away from me. “I will be back to check on you in approximately one hour. Your food will need to be completely eaten by that time or it will be the hook and the strap for you.”

“Will Kerr be coming?” I ask with hope.

Spinning on his heel, he turns back and gives me an evil smile. “No. It will be me who administers the punishment if you do not eat every bit of what’s on that platter, girl. We do not waste things where you are going. Remember that, please.”

The door glides back open, and he leaves me.

And now it seems I must shove those awful snails down my throat or be tied up, naked, and beaten.

It’s hard to say which is worse. My heart pounds as I find I want my husband more than I ever have.

But does he still want me?

What could the King have meant by telling me Kerr has come to his senses? Could Kerr be acting as if he thinks I’m capable of being involved in such a thing as an uprising on his planet?

Did my father know of the impending uprising and award me to Kerr to get the royals and their guards away from the capital so this could happen?

My father always acted as if he loved me. Is it possible he would do this to me on purpose?

My head hurts as it spins nearly out of control. The door glides open and I nearly fall off the bed to get to him.

“Kerr!” I run to him and he catches me in his arms and picks me up.

His mouth covers mine and I melt as his tongue touches mine, stroking it and taking me to a much better place.

I can hear my heart pounding as he releases me. “We haven’t much time. My father told me he would be coming back in here soon to see if you have eaten.”

He pulls me with him to the table and sits down, pulling me to sit on his lap. “I have to eat this all or he will beat me.”

“I know. That’s why I snuck and changed the monitor to your room then came in to help you with this.” He pulls the lid off the tray and takes a large portion of the snails and eats them.

I wince as the things wiggle in the spoon just before he places them in his mouth. “Kerr, your father said you had come to your senses. What does that mean?”

“It means I told him what he wanted to hear. He was going to keep me locked up if he thought I was going to fight him on this.” He grazes my cheek with the back of his hand. “You’ll need to eat a little of this. I don’t want you starving to death.”

I give him a nod and close my eyes. “Just put it in, Kerr.”

The metal of the spoon rests on my tongue, leaving a metallic taste in my mouth. He tips my head back and the slimy stuff runs down my throat without touching my tongue.

I swallow and open my eyes. “Thank you.”

His lips touch mine and his arms run around me, pulling me to him. Ending his sweet kiss, he holds his forehead against mine. “Kataline, I will get you freed. Somehow I will get him to see you had nothing to do with what’s happening at home. I will have to act like I’m on his side, though. So if he brings me in here, please don’t take anything I say or do seriously. It will all be an act to get him to trust me.”

I nod. “So, you still want me as your wife?”

“I do. Look me in the eye and tell me the truth, please.”

Looking straight into his eyes, I say, “Kerr, I had nothing to do with what’s happing on your planet. I had no knowledge of anything, I swear on my life.”

“I believe you, Kataline. Now one more bite of this for you and I’ll finish the rest.”

With one more bite and him taking the rest, the platter is clean and I am no longer in danger of getting punished by the King.

Kerr makes a low growl as he picks me up and turns me around on his lap to face him. He moves my legs on either side of him and pushes down his loose-fitting pants, exposing his desire for me.

My eyes light up as he pushes the robe open and slides me down his long length. I sigh as he fills me. “I’ve missed you,” I say as I relish how he fills me completely.

His lips brush against my hair as he pulls me close to him and lifts me up to stroke him. “I’ve missed you too, Baby.”

Softly we both moan as he lifts me up over and over to stroke his hard cock. My naked breasts rub the soft fabric of his shirt, making the nipples hard and erect.

The silkiness of his long, blond hair has my hands moving through it and loving the scent released by the motion. It’s citrusy in nature with a musky undertone. I inhale deeply to take in as much of it as I can to keep with me when he has to leave me.

The way his large hands bite into my waist as he picks me up to move my body over his sends sensations through me of being light as a feather in his strong hands.

His warm lips touch my neck, sending chills through me. He bites it hard, igniting a moan from me.

Moving my hands from his luxurious hair, I trail my fingertips over his muscled back then down his arms. His giant biceps move every time he lifts me up.

I leave my hands on them, enjoying the feeling of the bulky muscles as they move beneath my hands. Trailing kisses along my neck, Kerr’s mouth finds mine, and he kisses me hard. His tongue twirls with mine.

The feel of his muscles moving, his tongue stroking, and his long, hard cock filling me over and over again is taking my body to its edge. I blow apart inside with a quiet moan as I know we have to be quiet, lest we’re overheard and caught.

Kerr pulls his mouth from mine and speaks through clenched teeth, “Come all over my hard cock, Baby. Give it all to me.”

His words spark something in me and I ride him harder as my walls squeeze him, provoking him to join me in this ecstasy.

With a moan, his body stiffens and heat fills me. It’s the best feeling in the universe. It’s all I want. To be with him like this forever is all I want out of life. And yet, for now, at least, this has to be short-lived.

I’ll not be able to lie in his arms and fall asleep. I’ll not get to lie my head on his chest and hear his heart beating inside it.

“I love you, Kataline,” his words come in a whisper near my ear.

My heart pounds even harder. It has only been a few days since we’ve been together and truth be told, I never expected to hear the words come from him.

He looks at me and I take his gorgeous face between my hands. “I love you, too, Kerr.” I place a gentle kiss on his plump lips to seal our confession of love.

As I pull back from the kiss, I can see a new light in his blue-green eyes. It must be the love he claimed to have for me.

I hope mine are showing him I really meant what I said too.

“I have to leave,” he says with a frown.

I nod and climb off his lap. He gets up and gives me a hug. “Please try to get him to believe me, Kerr. I want to be near you. This is torture.”

“For me as well. I will do my best and I’ll come to you as often as I can manage. Don’t forget what I said about not taking what I say in his presence seriously. But act like you are. You know?”

“I do. Thank you, Kerr.” I give him one last squeeze as he kisses the top of my head. “Come back as soon as you can. I miss you already.”

“I will.” He lets me out of his hold and places his thumb on my chin.

“I love you.”

I look up at him and smile. “And I love you, my sweet husband.”

Kerr pulls my robe back around me tight and ties the belt to hold it closed. One kiss he leaves on the tip of my nose then he turns away from me.

As he leaves my room, my heart hurts with his absence.

I have to make the King believe me! But how?

Crawling on the large, soft bed, I climb under the blanket and snuggle down. My body feels more relaxed and satisfied after the love we made.

I haven’t slept in a long time and now I feel as if I could fall asleep. Thanks to my husband’s visit. Though brief, it brought me much happiness.

Just as my eyes close the door opens, and the King walks in. “I hope you’ve done as I’ve said to.” I sit up as he pulls the lid off the tray to find it emptied of the nasty contents it had held.

Keeping my head down and eyes averted I wait for him to leave. Instead, he sits down on the chair. “Tell me all you know, Kataline.”

“I really don’t know a thing about the uprising. I swear it to you.” My eyes dart up to his for a moment and I find him frowning.

“I really didn’t want it to come to this. There are other ways to make you talk, girl. Surely you know that.”

“Sir, I am begging you not to do anything rash. I was awarded to your son. That is all I was ever told. I was given to him as a peace offering from what my father told me. I am not saying no one on Earth was helping the Earthlings on Euthenia, but I have no knowledge of that. I’d like to add if I may, that if you allow me to, I will do all I can to speak to the Earthlings who are a part of the rebellion to get them to call it off. I want to help you. My new father.”

I add the term to try to get him to look at me in a different light. Instead of softening him though it seems to be upsetting him as he says, “I am not your father. I will let you sleep on things tonight. Perhaps tomorrow you will decide you want to tell me the truth about things.”

“I am telling you the truth, sir.” I lower my eyes to look at the bed in front of me.

The man has me even more tired than I was before he came in. He’s a bully in my opinion. One who doesn’t listen to anyone, but himself and looks for something to take issue with.

He leaves with no more words, thank goodness and I lie back and close my eyes.

The man is going to prove hard to win over. If it’s even possible.

Chapter Ten

Kerr

The light in my room is dim, but not completely off. I wanted to make love to my wife in the total darkness. The sensory deprivation is supposed to lead to intense pleasure and unreal orgasms.

It’s a thing I was very much looking forward to, but my father had to go and lock her away. For my safety he said.

It’s infuriating he thinks the little thing could do me any harm anyway. I’m no fool, and I know she’s being truthful about her having no knowledge of the uprising.

My father has been on the decline for years now. His mental stability has been in question for some time by the immediate family. It’s become worse since Mother passed.

I recall my mother saying as he started to become so opinionated about the people from Earth that his blood was most likely tainted with Earthling blood. He had such an irrational hatred of them.

My father was not born a royal. His was a commoner named Hexultan. My mother, Gleeu, was the heiress to the throne. Her father was King and he and his wife had two daughters. My mother was the oldest and first in line for the thrown.

She fell in love with a commoner, my father. He began working at the palace when he was a mere twelve-years-old. His parents were pilots, bringing people from one planet to the next. It had them traveling all over the place.

After a heated argument one night about what was rumored to be about who my father’s real father was, his father killed his mother and then himself.

It’s not a thing which happens often on our planet and the news was everywhere. My father was left orphaned. He and his younger brother were all alone then.

His younger brother went to live with some other relative, but my father wanted to work at the palace. Thanks to my grandfather, he was given a job in the gardens.

When my mother was fifteen, and he was seventeen he began bringing her flowers every day to put in her bedroom.

She told him she liked blue flowers, and he managed the gardens on either side of the palace to produce only flowers in shades of blue just for her.

All around the palace had been purple flowers, and the change he made didn’t go unnoticed. When the King saw how much trouble he’d went to just to impress his daughter, the King asked my mother if she was interested in the young man.

She was and my father went from gardener to Duke of Capital City in the matter of one day with one ceremony.

Never had there been a Duke of Capitol City before that. My father will most likely be the only man ever to hold that title.

A few years later when my mother was twenty, the two married. Five years later the King died and my mother became Queen. My father became the King.

Some of the other male royals, true royals by blood, were not happy with the fact my father was not of noble birth and not even positive he was one hundred percent Euthenian.

Controversy carried on for a few years before it was squashed by my mother who declared if another person spoke a negative word against her husband she would have them executed.

She was tough like that. No nonsense, once she’d had enough. Straight to the old ways. Her father was the same, so all believed she’d do it. No one uttered a word about my father’s blood after that.

Then she died and a little bit of the talk started up again, until her sister, Princess Narlobine, I call her Auntie Nar, came to his defense and reminded the people the order still stood whether the Queen was alive to enforce it or not, she would stand behind the King and help him to enforce it if necessary.

I wish Nar was on this ship with us rather than on one of the other ships in the armada. Her help with my father would be greatly appreciated.

Perhaps when we stop at the Ulta Minor space stop to use their sun to charge our ships up for the second leg of our journey I can get her to speak with my father about allowing Kataline to be allowed to be with me.

My arms ache to hold her and my cock twitches at the thought of her.

I wonder if she’s lying in her bed right now thinking about me. Her hands might be running over her body, remembering how I touched her not long ago.

I sit up in complete frustration and pull on a black robe. To hell with this lying in bed by myself shit. Everyone’s asleep anyway and won’t be waking for another ten hours.

My wife’s bed is lonely and I will not allow that. Not when I know she’s telling us the truth, and he’s just being an ass because he hates the people from Earth.

As I move out of my bedroom, I stay close to the sides of the hall and pull the hood of the robe over my head. The surveillance will have a difficult time making out a figure if I stay close to the wall in this very dim light.

My father has to take medication to help him stay asleep. So he won’t be able to catch me in the act. And if he does I’ll just explain how I have needs now.

I’m not setting her free or anything. Just going to her room to get my needs met.

Who wouldn’t understand that?

Pressing the button to open her door, I see the room is dim, and she’s under her blanket fast asleep. I turn the light completely off and the room is void of light.

Making my way to her bed, I get rid of my robe and climb up it until I find her. Her breath is coming out in tiny gasps and my heart is pounding as I take her lips in a gentle kiss.

“What?” she shouts and I have to grab her so she doesn’t fall off the bed, trying to get away from me.

“Shh. It’s me, Kerr, your husband. Be quiet, we don’t want to get caught, do we?” I pull the blanket back, and she wiggles into my arms.

“Kerr, you came back. How sweet.” Her lips press against my chest as her hands run over me.

“I couldn’t sleep without you. Already you have this hold on me, you little temptress,” I say as I run my hands all over her.

Her body is soft as silk and it heats with my touch. In the total darkness, I can feel things so much better. The way her body curves at her hip. The bone is hard and as I move my hand it goes to soft as I run it over the dip just before I get to her stomach.

My fingers trace lightly over her flat stomach. Which one day soon I hope to feel swelling with our child. She’s touching me too and the trail she leaves is charged with energy.

Lying back, I pull her to lie on top of me. Her weight so slight it’s amusing. Her soft stomach on my hard one is fascinating. Her plump breasts are soft and press to my hard chest.

Everything about her is soft and gives in to my hard body. She conforms to me perfectly.

Her toes run over the calves of my legs as she feels them. “You seem to like my muscles, Baby.”

“I love them. You’re all hard and I’m soft. Perhaps you can help me exercise so I can be hard like you.”

“I like you soft. No way am I making your body all muscled. I love how yours forms to mine. It’s amazing.” I kiss her cheek then roll over with her.

She giggles quietly. “Kerr, you’re so spontaneous.”

“I want to kiss every inch of you, Baby.” I press my lips to her forehead and every part of her beautiful face.

Down one side of her neck then the other I kiss as she runs her hands all over me. Over her collar bone, I trail kisses. To her chest and over each breast I kiss.

My hands grip her waist as I kiss every bit of soft flesh covering her stomach. “One day you will carry our child in here, Kataline.”

Her hands move to run through my hair. “How sweet and amazing you are, Kerr. Never could I have gotten a better man for a husband. I am blessed beyond measure.”

“Then we both are because I feel the same way about you.” I turn her over and move up her body to kiss the soft skin covering her back.

I rub her shoulders as I do and she makes a low moan. “Kerr, that feels fantastic.”

As I press my body to hers, her plump ass conforms to my hard erection. I move further down and graze my lips over the velvety softness of the skin on her pristine ass.

I playfully bite it and her moan lets me know she found it anything but playful. I give it a harder bite and she moans some more.

Seems I have a woman with a bit of naughty to her. I like that. Taking her by the waist, I pull her back until she’s on her hands and knees.

Moving my hands over her ass, I smack it once hard and she groans. I run my hand to her and push a finger into her, finding her wet for me.

My finger moves to her sweet little bud and strokes it as I press my hard cock into her wet heat. She moans as I do and pushes her ass back to me.

“That’s incredible, Kerr. I want you to fuck me hard. Bite me, rake your nails over my flesh and leave your marks all over my body.”

I pause for a beat as I can’t really believe she’s saying these things. I may well have fallen asleep in my own room and this might all be a dream.

But if it is I don’t want to wake up. “As you wish, Princess.”

Leaning over her, I bite her shoulder as I begin to pound into her with my hard cock. She presses back to me with every hard thrust and makes a continuous, quiet moan.

The sound of my dick slamming into her fills my ears. The absence of light really does make every other sense heighten. Sweet slaps of flesh against flesh make me grow even harder as I slam into her.

My palms are itching to feel her plump ass under them and I stop the bite and pull back up so I’m right behind her, making hard thrusts into her.

Her ass feels warm under my hands as I run them over it. One hard slap I give one and she flinches and moans. “More,” she says.

I do it again and she moans and I swear she gets even wetter. I’m sliding in and out of her with ease and smack her again and again until she’s quivering and coming all over me.

Her body is squeezing my cock and trying hard to take me over the edge with it, but I’m not nearly done with her.

I pull out and toss her on her back and run my tongue over her throbbing clit. She arches up and I run my hands to her ass and lift her so I can feast on her.

Her body is writhing as it climaxes hard and I have no intention of easing her pleasure. She gasps for air as I take her body further than I have before.

“Kerr! This is amazing! You are amazing!”

My need to be inside her overcomes me and I bite my way up her body. It’s shaking and slick with perspiration and her heart is pounding.

I sink my teeth into her neck as I push back into her and she wraps her legs around me. “I love how you handle me, Baby,” she says as she kisses my neck. “You’re all man and the fact your mine is intoxicating.”

“You’re all woman, one fantastic, hot as hell woman and I’m so fucking glad you’re mine.” I end my sentence with a hard bite to her breast and she arches up and goes into another orgasm.

This little woman makes pain her bitch it seems.

I can see a lifetime of excitement with her by my side. This orgasm is hard, and it has her pulsing and squeezing my dick so much. She’s arching up and rubbing her body all over mine and it sends me on to my own mind-shattering climax.

My groan is loud and I can’t help it. Her hands grab my face and she kisses me to stifle the noise I’m making.

My body is shaking as it jerks and spurts out more and more of my juices into her. Finally, my groan eases and my body slows the hard release.

She eases the kiss and moves her hands from my face. And then I realize I have left bite marks all over her body. I laugh quietly.

“You better do nothing to get my father to use the strap on you or he’ll find the evidence I’ve been visiting you. I left my marks all over your pristine, porcelain flesh.”

Her leg runs over mine as she makes a sexy growl. “I’ll watch myself with him. Don’t worry. As for your marks on me, that excites me like you’d never understand. I am yours, Kerr. Forever, I am yours and no one else could ever make me feel like you do.”

Kataline is the best award I’ve ever been given!

Chapter Eleven

Kataline

With no sun to tell me how much time has passed, every minute feels like an eternity. Kerr has managed to come and visit me often, but it’s not nearly enough.

Voices come from just outside my door and I hurry to press my ear to it to see if I can hear who it is.

“I’d rather not go in there, Father. It will be too hard to see her,” I hear Kerr say.

“Nonsense,” his father says. “Now follow me son. We have to get the truth out of her and maybe you’ll be able to get more out of her than I’ve been able to.”

I run back to my bed and sit on the edge and grab a book, pretending to read.

The door opens and the two walk in. I lower my head and eyes and wait for one of them to speak to me. “Kataline,” Kerr says.

My eyes float up to his and I have to fight the urge to go to him. “Husband.”

His eyes run up and down me. He turns to his father. “May I bring her some clothes to change into? It’s been many hours she’s been left in that robe.”

The King nods. “Try your hand, Son.”

Kerr approaches me and runs his large hand through my hair, taking a lock of it and pulling it to his nose. He inhales deeply and gives me a wink.

“Tell me who put you up to becoming my bride to sidetrack us, Wife.”

“I was told I had been awarded to you. That is all I know.” My body is shaking with desire for him.

The man’s mere presence makes me wet, and it’s beyond hard to stop my hands from going over his chest. Only a thin, nearly transparent shirt covers his muscled chest, his tight abs move beneath it.

The shirt is tucked into the waist of a dark pair of soft and flowing pants. He wears no shoes and I look down at his feet.

They are beautiful as is everything on the tall, muscular man. His mouth quirks up on only one side. “Was it your father and his colleagues who put you up to this?”

I shake my head. “If it was, I was never told about it. Kerr, I want to help, once we get to Euthenia. I want to help to get the Earthlings to stop their rebellion.” I run my hand across his cheek and graze it with the back of my hand. “Do you not miss your wife, Kerr?”

He gives me a look that says more to me than his words will. He pulls my hand from his face and holds it. “Tell me the truth and we can see what can be done about keeping you locked away.”

“I am telling you the truth. Do you not want me anymore?” I turn on the tears and find I’m a damn good actress. “Kerr, I thought we had a good start to our marriage. Do you not trust me?”

The deep green in his blue-green eyes begins to glow. Even though I’m only acting, my tears are killing him. I’m secretly happy about it.

He takes in a deep breath. “Give me names, Kataline.”

I sob and fall into him, running my hands around him and sobbing into his wide chest. “I have no names to give you. I swear I know nothing!”

His hands run over my back, soothingly. It sends chills through me.

The King’s voice booms, “This is going nowhere. She’s using her feminine ways to throw you off, Son. Let’s go!”

Heartless, old bastard!

The King takes Kerr by the shoulder and tries to pry me off him. I turn it all the way up and wail and fall to my knees, tears flowing and trying my best to make the man feel some type of pain at keeping us from one another.

“Kerr, you told me you loved me! Please, believe me!”

Kerr’s mouth hangs open a bit, and he looks sad. My performance seems to be working on him at least.

The King, not so much, it seems as he takes Kerr out and the door shuts behind them. It takes me a few seconds to get the sobs under control.

Sitting on the bed, I wipe away the crocodile tears I’ve shed. The door opens again and the same woman who brings my food brings in a box. Clothes peek out of the top of it.

Her cheeks turn a shade of pink as she places them on the bed. “Hello,” I say as I sniffle. “How are you today?”

I try to speak to her every time she comes in here, but she never says a word back to me. I watch her as she puts the things in the closet and when she picks up a naughty nightgown that’s black and lacey, she giggles.

The older woman giggles like a little girl as I ask, “Did my husband send that?”

She nods and her cheeks go a deeper shade of red. “He’s a rogue, that one.”

I about fall off the bed.

She speaks!

“Your name, mam?” I ask.

She turns to look over her shoulder as if someone might actually be there. The door closed behind her for goodness sake.

“They call me Bet,” she says. “My full name is Bethedesma. It’s a mouthful, that name. So they call me, Bet.”

A bottle of amber liquid she pulls from the box of things. Along with a set of short glasses. She places them on one of the side tables.

“What is that?” I ask as I go to pick it up and open the top to take in the aroma.

It’s sweet smelling and I pour a little in one of the glasses to taste it. She smiles and watches me drink it. “Do you like it?” she asks.

I nod as its sweet and delicate and has a little twang at the end. “Do not tell me what it’s made from. I don’t wish to know as I like the flavor and if it’s made from some insect, that will ruin it for me. Let me live in ignorance and pretend it’s made from a sweet flower or fruit.”

She giggles again. “It is made from a flower. How perceptive of you, Princess. But drink it sparingly as it delivers a swift punch.”

I smile. “I could use a swift punch. Did you smuggle this in for me?”

She nods. “It was the Queen’s favorite intoxicating beverage. In the end, though she drank too much of it and it left her in a state of mind which led to her demise.”

“She drank herself to death?” I ask in shock.

But if I was married to the ass she was, I may well have done that too!

“I was her personal maiden. And now I am yours, Princess. It was Kerr who gave me this position. I know I’ve been quiet, but the King was pressing me to talk to you and try to get information out of you and I am loyal to who I work for.” She places a royal blue, long dress on a hanger and puts it away in the closet.

My eyes drag over her as she’s turned away from me. She’s short for a Euthenian. Just under six feet tall. Her drab, brown hair is in a tight bun and her skin is lightly wrinkled. I think she must be in her early fifties.

“Married, Bet?” I ask as I take another tiny sip of the delicious liquor.

She laughs as if that’s a ridiculous question then turns back to me. “No! Heaven’s, no!”

“May I ask why?” My finger taps the rim of the glass.

Her hands run over her body. “I’m defective.”

“Defective?” I ask as I shake my head.

She nods and sits on the bed and whispers, “My genetics are not a thing they wish to continue. My growth hormones are inactive. My body doesn’t make the muscles the other Euthenian’s have, nor give me the height they all have. If a person doesn’t have proper genes, then they cannot marry.”

“But you are able to have children, right? I mean, just because you don’t have height or muscles doesn’t make you unfit to have children.” My foot taps nervously on the floor as I’m quite disturbed by this information.

Her head shakes. “When I stopped growing when I was twenty, I was sterilized so I could not bear children. If a woman can’t bear children, she will never marry. So my fate was sealed that day.”

“Who made you do that?” I ask, thinking I know the answer.

“It’s a law from a long time ago. I can see you thought it was the King, but it wasn’t him. He isn’t as bad as he seems to be.” She smiles and gets off the bed to continue unpacking the things.

“Oh yes, he is,” I say and take another micro-sip of the tasty liquid.

I can feel it working already and the sensation is delightful.

“So, if you don’t mind me asking, have you never made love?” I watch as her body stiffens as she hangs up another dress, this one deep red and looks to be form-fitting.

She turns back and her head hangs low. “I have, but I’m not supposed to tell anyone about it. He made me promise.”

“Anyone I know?” I ask, thinking it’s the King.

Her chest heaves and her eyes dart up to mine. Then a smile breaks across her face, and her eyes light up. She pounces on the bed like a young girl.

“His name’s Blarto. He’s married, though, and it has to be kept a secret. His wife is mean to him, he’s told me. He works at the palace. He’s part of the kitchen staff. And guess what?” She smiles widely at me.

“What?” I ask, thankful she didn’t tell me it was the King. I would’ve had to have told Kerr about that.

“He knows how to make the food the people from Earth like to eat. Meats and things from milk. He makes cheeses. I find them delicious. Even if they can make you fat.” She pinches a bit of fat on her waist.

I laugh. “So, I will not starve once we get there then. That is good news.” My mind wanders to if she feels bad they took away her right to have children. “Bet, do you ever feel like you should’ve been allowed to reproduce?”

A heavy sigh raises her chest. “Of course.”

Such a simple statement for what has to be deep emotions. “That should be changed, don’t you agree?”

Bet gets up and goes back to putting the things away. Another bottle of some dark purple drink is pulled out, and she places it next to the other bottle.

“What’s that one?” I ask as I get up to sample a taste.

She places her hand on her hip. “Don’t try that right now. Mixing the two will make you sick to your stomach.”

I sit back down on the soft bed. “Thank you for telling me.”

She gives me a wink. “Maybe later on when your husband comes for a visit you two can have some.” A fit of giggles erupts from her and I know I’m blushing.

“You know about that?” I ask as heat fills my cheeks.

“Who do you think he gets to run interference for him? Kerr is like my own son. I was there since the day he was born. He had his own nursemaid, but as I was aiding his mother, I was around him a lot.” Her face pulls into a smile and I can see she truly has love in her heart for Kerr.

“I really don’t know a thing about what’s happening on Euthenia, Bet.” I lie on my stomach and drum my fingers on the bed.

“That’s what Kerr told me. I believe you, Princess. I really do. But it’s the King, and he’s the ruler.” Her eyes go to the floor and she mutters, “Not that he should be.”

I cock my head and stop drumming my fingers. “Not quite a fan of his, are you? I mean, I know you said he’s not so bad, but you didn’t really mean that, did you?”

“It’s treason to talk about the man. So watch your tongue or you may not have one.” Her pale blue eyes level on mine.

I give her a nod of understanding. I’ll keep my mouth closed where he’s concerned. “I’m glad you’re talking to me now. I have so much to ask about your planet. If I could be with my husband, he could answer my questions.”

“What would you like to know?” She sits on the edge of the bed and seems ready to tell me anything.

“First, I want to know about Kerr’s mother. Tell me what she was like.” I turn over and lie back on a mound of pillows.

“The Queen was beautiful and graceful, elegant, and wise. Extremely wise. She wanted to change the ways women had been treated the last hundred years.” Her long finger runs over her chin as her eyes glisten with her memory of the woman I think was more a friend to her than an employer.

“It hasn’t always been this way on Euthenia?” I take another sip of the yummy drink and place the glass on the little table beside the bed.

“No,” she says and looks up at me. “Once the planet was ruled by women. It was men who were overruled. They stayed home and tended the children. They did the mundane jobs which are now done by the women.”

“What happened to change it so drastically?” I sit up as my interest is piqued.

“The men revolted. They stopped working and the whole planet nearly shut down when they did. The food wasn’t manufactured. Businesses stayed closed, and it was chaos. The Queen at that time declared a new law, and all knew the King was behind it. He was a cruel man. Hence the punishments. He said we needed to be taught where our place was. For the good of all people.”

“What a shame. At that time, things could have been evened out. Instead of merely changing the hands of who held the power, things could have been shared equally. What a missed opportunity.” I shake my head at the poor judgment of one man and how it affected a whole planet.

Tears glisten in Bet’s eyes. “Kerr’s mother, the Queen, wanted to change it all. Make things fair. Turn the page to that Chapter in our planet’s history. In private, the King and Queen quarreled over it. Then one day she told him she was going to change the law and he could do nothing to stop her. She was the true heir to the throne, and he was born a commoner. I had overheard the whole conversation as I was in the adjoining room when they began to talk about it.”

“Did either realize you overheard them?” I ask. “Did anyone else know of their discussions about that?”

With a shake of her head, she says, “You are the first person I’ve ever told. You see, it was two days after that the Queen went missing. She took a walk in the late night, alone. She’d started doing that when she drank too much. No one thought much of it until she went missing and parts of her body were found in the Red Forest.”

“Parts of her body?” I ask in horror. “What killed her?”

“No one knows for sure. In that forest dwell fearsome creatures. It could’ve been flesh rippers, their large and terrible beasts with long claws which can tear a person apart with ease. Then there are small things with sharp teeth and claws which attack in packs, they’re called landers. They’re distant relatives of a fierce fish that roams the oceans and kills in packs. Just to name a couple of the monsters that roam that forest.”

“That forest sounds horrible.” I shudder at the idea of the poor woman being killed by any of the horrible sounding things. “How did they identify the body?”

“Her dress was in tatters on the pieces of her body they found. Of course, no head was recovered. But her dress was proof enough she was gone from our world forever. The saddest time in history. She was mourned by all. Most of all, the King. It took much out of him. Along with her death went the idea of any change. I kept silent about it since there was nothing I could do anyway. What was the use?” Her narrow shoulders shrug and her face sags under the weight of her secret knowledge.

What perfect timing for the King, though!

Chapter Twelve

Kerr

“We may have to use some harsh tactics to get her to talk, Kerr,” my father says as we sit in the courtroom.

My heart drops to my feet and I stand up. “Father, I think we can believe her.”

His eyes go wide and he laughs. “Where she’s concerned you don’t seem to be using your head, Kerr. She has to know more than she’s saying. The use of the clamps might work to get her talking.”

My body grows hot with anger but I have to control myself. “I can’t allow that.”

“You!” my father says with a laugh. “You cannot allow? Have you forgotten who is King?”

I shake my head. “I have not. But I am your son and I am asking you to allow me to deal with my wife. I am more than capable of handling her. The lack of faith you have in my capabilities is not easy for me to take.”

The arch of his eyebrows aggravates me. “You’re proving to be soft where she’s concerned.”

Turning from him, I wring my hands as I think of what I can do to stop him from torturing my wife. I turn back. “Father, wait until you can talk to Auntie Nar. She can talk to Kataline and you trust her judgment. I know you do. So do I. So, if she thinks my wife is hiding something then I’ll go along with you without a fight.”

“We stop in twenty-three hours to recharge. I suppose I can do that. But if she thinks the girl is a part of the uprising then we will make her talk. No matter what it takes.” My father’s hand touches my shoulder and I turn back to look at him. “Don’t fall too much for this woman. If she has the slightest thing to do with this she will be beheaded.”

Heartbeats stop and so does my breathing. “Father, there are other ways to deal with this. She may well be a pawn, but it’s not her fault if she is. I will not allow her to be killed if it’s no fault of her own.”

“You will have to allow it. Or you can join her on the gallows. The Earthlings will see we mean business. Pawn or not, her death will serve as a precedent of what we will and will not put up with.” His eyes are shining with his threat.

“You do not mean that.” I set my jaw and stare back into his eyes.

My blood is noble. The other royals would never allow me to be put to death. My father’s mind is not clear. It may be time to see about stripping him of his crown.

“I do.” He turns from me. “Do not test me, Son. Others have and others met their end.”

My mind is spinning out of control. “Others?”

I have no idea what he’s talking about. There have been no others killed. Not to my knowledge anyway. And I am quite knowledgeable about such things.

My father looks away, changing the subject. “This is not a pleasant subject. Tell me what you think is happening at home. There’s been no more contact since the initial confirmation of the uprising.”

“I really have no idea what’s happening there. But I think we can easily regain control once we’re there. They have no real weapons and we do.” I pace back and forth across the large room. “Even if we have to destroy the palace to get them out, we can do that, if necessary.”

“That’s a bit much, don’t you think?” he asks as he takes his place on the large cushioned chair he was sitting in. “Our general is looking into what action can be taken.”

“When we get to Ulta Minor we should have a meeting with him and discuss all the options. Perhaps we could land somewhere else instead of the port in the capital? Then we could send in the guards, using the element of surprise.” I go and sit down in the chair across from him.

“That sounds like a good idea. We can stay in the safety of the ships while they go take care of business. Our guards outnumber the Earthlings. It should be an easy battle.” His head drops for a moment then he quickly picks it back up and looks at me.

“What happened to you?” I ask as his eyes are large and his skin has become very pale.

With a shake of his head, he says, “Nothing! It’s nothing! Do you hear me? I’ll not have you questioning my health. Your mother did that, and it was her who went before me. I’m fine!”

“Mother was killed by wild animals. She wasn’t ill. Are you feeling alright?” I stand and go to place my hand on his shoulder.

His face is hot as I run my hand through it. “Stop! Go sit! I’m fine. It’s just the time on Earth is all it is. And the stress of the woman. We Euthenian’s do not get sick.”

“No,” I say in agreement. “But, there is the little fact you have no idea if you’re one hundred percent Euthenian.”

In an instant, his face goes red. “How dare you! How fucking dare, you!” He gets up and storms out of the room.

Seems he is not ready to deal with the truth.

With him super pissed I know he’s going to take his medication and go to sleep. Or stay the hell away from me for a while anyway.

Time to make a visit to my wife.

Making my way to her room I stop just outside the door as I hear her talking to someone. Then I hear Bet’s voice and I listen in on their conversation.

“She was mourned by all. Most of all, the King. It took much out of him. And with her death went the idea of any change. I kept silent about it since there was nothing I could do anyway. What was the use?”

I open the door and Bet’s eyes get huge, and she jumps up off the bed where she’s been sitting and talking to my wife. “What does that mean, Bet? What have you kept silent about?”

Her face goes pale, and she begins to stammer, “How, oh my… How long… Oh, Kerr.”

Standing near her, I look down at her. “Tell me what you’ve been silent about.”

Kataline is at my side. “Kerr, you’re frightening her. It’s nothing really.”

Without looking at my wife I ask one more time, “What have you been keeping to yourself?”

She finally looks up at me. “I overheard your father and mother arguing a couple of days before she disappeared. She was about to change the laws about women and their place in our world. She was about to make them equals and your father was mad, then she disappeared and later was found dead.”

My legs go weak and I have to sit on the little chair next to the small table. “What if he had something to do with my mother’s death?”

Bet comes and places her hand on my shoulder. “No! I didn’t say a thing about that, Prince! I just told her about how your mother was on the edge of changing things for the better when she met her early demise. I wasn’t ever implying the King may have done something to her.”

I stay quiet as even I cannot utter such remarks about my father without it being considered treason. But it’s there now. In my head. The fact they argued over something and when Mother stood her ground, she disappeared.

“I must know every word said between them, Bet. Leave nothing out.” Kataline’s hand touches my cheek and I look at her. “I must know, Love.”

* * *

Hours later I am numb from all my mother’s personal maiden has told me. I’ve known Bet my entire life and I trust her implicitly. She hasn’t put two and two together in her head. But I have.

Lying on the bed in the room my wife is being held in, I hold Kataline in my arms. Bet left us alone after she told me all she knew.

“My father may have killed my mother and earlier he threatened me with the gallows if I try to stop him from executing you. He plans on killing you to show the people from Earth we mean business. I fear he’s going insane.” My arm tightens around her.

She shudders. “I have no chance, do I?”

Her face is pale as she looks at me. My fingers trace the cupid’s bow of her top lip. “I will never allow him to harm a hair on your gorgeous head, Love. You are safe with me.”

“He is the King, Kerr. And I don’t wish you dead for standing up for me. Perhaps it is my fate.” Her blue eyes go dark like storm clouds.

“I’ll hear none of that nonsense. I will handle my father. With the help of the other royals, I can take over the rule of Euthenia before we even land back on the planet’s surface.” I take her sweet lips with mine.

Her body turns to liquid and melts into my side. Her hand on my chest begins to move over the solid muscles. My hands run over her back and I lift her to move over me.

I don’t know exactly how I came to love and need her so quickly, but I have. My heart is completely hers and I think she feels the same way about me. Her body’s response tells me so anyway.

Moving my mouth away from hers, she groans in protest, but when I move my mouth to nibble at her ear, it changes into a moan and she says, “How do you know what will turn me into a puddle, Kerr?”

“Just do,” I say as I bite her earlobe, stirring another moan from her.

The way her hands move through my hair feels better than I think such a simple act should feel. Her silky nightgown rubs against my naked chest as she lies on top me. The sensation of the soft fabric covering her ample breasts sets my body on fire and I grow with the anticipation of feeling her wet depths.

“I love you, Kerr. More than imaginable. If anything ever happened…”

“Shh. Nothing is going to happen.” Her brain needs to stop thinking about such things, so I move my mouth to hers and silence her.

She tastes like the sweet drink she was sipping on and it sends a thrill through me. Kataline pulls away from my kiss. “Kerr, I want to taste you the way you tasted me. Can I?”

My eyes go wide. All I can do is a nod. That’s never happened to me before and the idea is making my heart pound.

She smiles and kisses her way down my body. The loose, dark bottoms I have on, she pushes down, releasing my erection, and she wastes no time.

Her hot mouth is on it and moving down the length, sending me into a light sweat with the magnificent sensation. “Kataline! That’s beyond anything I’ve ever felt before!”

Her moan as she moves her mouth back up my hard cock vibrates it and sends a wave of pure pleasure straight through me. My hands go to tangle with her long, dark hair.

The silky strands move between my fingers as her mouth moves up and down my cock. Her tongue runs along the underside, sending chills down my spine with every stroke.

“You are very good at this,” I groan as she moves back and forth.

One hand takes my balls in it and she massages them. I’m having to fight the urge to let it go. Then she slips a pinky into my ass and I blow.

She gulps it all down as I jerk into her mouth. My moan is loud and my body is jerking as my dick pulses out an enormous amount of fluid.

Finally, she stops and pulls her head up. Her eyes sparkle as she looks at me. She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. “So you liked it?”

I shake my head and her smile turns into a frown. Hooking my hands under her arms, I pull her up my body. “I fucking loved it.”

Just as our lips meet again I hear the swishing sound of her door gliding open.

“Treason!” my father shouts. “How could you, Son?”

Two guards stand on either side of my father. I quickly roll Kataline to the side and pull my pants up to cover myself. “Father! Please! This is not treason. Stop jumping to conclusions! She is my wife!”

“Remember that you’ve forced me to do this, Kerr,” he says as the guards begin to move into the room.

In a flash Kataline is off the bed and in front of me. “Stop! This is insane!”

Her little body is shaking as she stands between them and me. “Kataline!” I shout.

She doesn’t look back at me as she says in the firmest tone I think I’ve ever heard. “Leave us!”

The guards look at each other. My father laughs. “Who do you think you are, little woman?”

“I am the Princess of The Euthenia Nebula. The man behind me is your Prince. Guards, if you take him from this room, that is treason. And I will personally see your heads roll.” Her hands go to her narrow hips and I find my heart racing.

They could pick her up and take her away if they wanted. I’d have to fight them like a mad man. I gulp as my father’s face goes pale.

“You have given me no more choices,” he says. “She must die. There is no doubt in my mind. We cannot take the risk any longer. She has poisoned the Prince’s mind.”

I have no idea what Kataline is doing, but as the guards begin to move forward again, they stop and confusion fills their expressions.

“Take her!” my father roars.

One of the guards cuts his eyes at my father. “I can’t move, Sire.”

“What?” my father shouts. “How is that?”

Another guard answers, “I have no idea, Sire.”

Kataline looks over her shoulder at me. Her blue eyes have golden sparks flashing through them. “Do you want him taken into your custody, Kerr?”

I look at my father and see how pale he is. It’s hard for me to completely turn against him and the act of jailing him may well be punishable by death if the other royals deem its treason.

“You will meet your end soon, Earthling. Be it at my guards’ hands or mine. You have stolen my son and for that, you will pay with your life. I have no idea how you’re stopping my guards, but I can still move.” He takes a step inside the room and then another.

Drawing a short, white stick from the pocket inside his cloak, he clicks a button on the end. Instead of the blue glow of the paralyzing charge, it glows red with the charge which will take her life in an instant.

“Father! No!” I get off the bed and stand next to her.

“Kerr, do not make me use this on you, Son. Stay back. Once she’s dead you will most likely come back to your senses. She has some type of mind controlling power. Her unique DNA must have some hidden powers we were never told of.” He takes another step closer.

Kataline glances at me. “Kerr, you have not answered me. Would you like him taken into custody? If not, he will take my life. The choice is yours, husband.”

“Father, please stop.” I find myself begging him.

“This is for the good of our planet, Kerr. I cannot stop.” With one more step closer to my wife, he holds the stick out and with his next step he will be able to press it to her body or mine if I get between them.

“Take him into custody,” I say.

Kataline looks at the guard closest to my father. “You heard your Prince. Do as he said.”

The guard looks worried. “He can use that on me if I do what you’re telling me to.”

Her eyes focus on the stick and the red light goes out. Then my father drops the stick to the floor.

“How?” my father asks in shock. His light brown eyes travel to mine. “Son, don’t let her do this. She will destroy our planet!”

“Take him to his quarters and lock him in,” I tell the guards.

With a blink from Kataline, they can move again. Though thoroughly confused, the two on either side of my father each takes an arm and turn him to leave the room.

My heart is aching like it never has before. I’m filled with contradiction. He is my father. My King. Yet, there is something wrong with him.

He was about to kill my wife and he may well have killed my mother. Kataline’s face is glowing as she turns to me.

“How did you do that?” I ask then take a step back from her.

She shakes her head and reaches out for me. “I truly do not know, Kerr. It was just a thought which ran through my mind and with concentration I made them stop. Then took the power from the stick your father held. It was amazing!”

I nod but am not as excited as she is. “You had no idea you were capable of doing that then?”

She shakes her head and steps towards me again. I take another step back. Her brows furrow. “Kerr, what are you doing?”

My breath hitches in my chest. “What else are you capable of, Kataline?”

“I have no idea. But, Husband, you have no need to fear me.” She reaches out for me and I shake my head.

“I need to go. I have to think. What we’ve done is treason. You have to understand that.” I pick up my shirt and put it on.

“Kerr!” Her eyes fill with tears. “You’re afraid of me.”

“No, not afraid. Just confused and maybe wondering if you have taken some control over my mind. I’ve never experienced the feelings I have before you came along. I have to think about things. Be rational about the fact you do have some type of powers.” Stepping back, the door opens automatically.

“I love you, Kerr. Don’t leave me like this. I had no idea I even could do that. But I did it for you. Please!” Her please are making my heart ache and I have to wonder if it’s genuine or if she’s making it feel that way.

“I’m sorry,” I say then walk out of the room. Have I been bewitched by my bride?

Chapter Thirteen

Kataline

Pain radiates throughout my body as I lie on the bed and cry my eyes out. My husband is afraid I’m doing something to his mind.

If I am, I’m unaware of it.

The thing I did was nothing I knew myself capable of. And now it seems by saving myself and possibly Kerr, I have given my husband reason to fear me.

Time has passed. Not sure how much but enough that I’m feeling very frustrated and penned up.

I’ve done everything to stop this feeling welling up inside me. Taken a shower and put on fresh clothes.

Kerr’s unique scent was all over me. Making me want him so badly it hurt. I had to wash it from my skin. And put on clothes which smelled nothing like him.

It’s hard to believe the tall, masculine man is afraid of me. I would never do anything to hurt him. Not ever.

I believe it was because he was in danger my mind even did what it did. There was no fear in me for my life, only his.

Out the small, round window of my room I see sunlight. It’s a welcome sight and we seem to be about to land on some planet.

I guess this is Ulta Minor. Kerr said we’d be recharging soon. The ship lands on a light green surface.

It’s hard to see much from the little window. A shiny, black ship comes down next to ours and lands.

His aunt is supposed to be on one of the other ships. I do hope she comes to talk to me. Another female on my side would be helpful.

This room is beginning to suffocate me.

My door opens and I see Bet. She won’t look at me though and slides a silver covered tray into my room then the door closes.

“Bet, wait!”

Kerr and the guards must have everyone afraid of me now. Had I known how this would’ve been taken, I’d never have used the power.

Not that I even knew I had it.

I suppose I should make an attempt to learn exactly what kind of power I have and how to use it only when I want to. Not when my emotions want to.

With extreme concentration I look at the tray she placed on the floor near the door. The lid rises and I see something different from the regular crawly things on the tray.

Holding out my hand, the ivory colored page of what looks like paper floats off the tray and into my outstretched hand.

It seems Bet has written me a letter. As I look it over I can see she’s been told not to talk to me. But that she’s still loyal to me.

She tells me not to worry, she will get me something to eat that I can manage to eat on my own without Kerr’s help. It seems she will get off the ship on this planet and find me something suitable.

A smile runs over my lips. And the door glides open. A tall, slender woman with long, flowing blond hair is looking at me with wide, deep blue eyes.

“Nar?” I ask.

She nods. “Am I safe in your presence, Princess.”

“You are, Princess.” I rise and go to take her hand.

“You have stirred things up, my dear,” she tells me as she takes the hand I extend and places her other hand to cover mine.

“Seems so.” I smile and let her hand go then turn and gesture to a chair. “Please, won’t you sit and we can talk? Would you like a drink?”

She shakes her head. “Kerr would be furious at me if I leave your room lightheaded from the drink. He’s counting on my intuition to know if you can be trusted or not.”

With a heavy sigh, I sit in the chair on the other side of the small table. “I can be trusted. It was my intense worry for him which had me finding powers I had no idea I even had.”

“You love him?” she asks with one brow cocked.

I nod. “More than I ever knew possible. It hurts me more than you can imagine he’s afraid of me.”

“Afraid is not quite the word I’d use. He’s a smart man. You have to admit he did need to distance himself from you to see if you’re having some type of control over his thoughts.” Her eyes are pretty and sparkle as she looks me over.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen him. Is he okay?” My hands wring in my lap as I want so badly to see him in the flesh.

With a nod, she says, “He’s fine. And you will be happy to know he’s thinking about things between you two. He and I spoke about what love feels like. His worry you made him feel something which is not real I dispelled quickly.”

“How so?” My hands stop twisting as I find hope in my heart he’ll stop this nonsense and set me free now his father is locked away.

Her smile reveals perfect, white teeth, and she is remarkably beautiful. “I have the experience of having true love in my life. I married the love of my life, the Duke of Standon. Luthus is the best thing to ever happen to me. As my nephew told me of his feelings for you, I easily recognized them as legitimate.”

I breathe a sigh of relief. “That is nice to hear. My heart belongs to him. Never did I know love cold feel like this.”

She nods. “It is amazing is it not?”

I nod in agreement. “The King? Have you had the chance to speak with him?”

A frown covers her beautiful face. “He is not well. Mentally or physically. I’ve been told his body is hot, and he’s shaking with a chill. We Euthenian’s do not get ill. But he may have some type of other blood coursing through his veins along with the Euthenian blood of his late mothers.”

“I happen to have brought some medications with me, as I am susceptible to illness, like all people from Earth are. Shall I give you some and you can administer it to him to ease the symptoms of what sounds like a fever.” Getting up, I go to look in the small bag Bet brought from the room I was originally sharing with my husband.

“Do you honestly think it would help him? I mean, you aren’t trying to kill him with a poison are you?” She studies my reaction.

“I can see where you all might think I want him dead, but I truly don’t. Though he means to kill me, I don’t wish to cause him any harm. I swear it.” I hand her the bottle of aspirin and take a seat again.

“My sister would’ve liked you, Kataline. You have a good feel about you. I can see you are honest and you do love Kerr. I can see it when you speak of him. Your eyes light up. His do the same when he talks about you.” Her hand moves to rest on mine which is drumming my fingertips nervously on the tabletop.

“I’m sorry she’s not around for me to get to know. Kerr must resemble her more-so than his father. He looks a lot more like you than the King.” I look at her hand which covers mine.

It's long and elegant. Her nails are pink and long, filed into a nice oval shape. Her tresses are long and braided only halfway down then they’re free-flowing over her shoulders.

She’s taller and larger all the way around than I am. The way she sits commands respect and already I am in awe of the woman. “Do you have any children, Nar?”

“Two daughters. I cannot wait to introduce them to you. They’re with their father. I want to take you to meet them.” She stands and gestures to the door. “Please, let us waste no more time with this lunacy of you being a witch who is to be feared or a part of this uprising which is happening so far from where we are.”

My legs shake as I follow her from the room I’ve been trapped in for so long. Her hand quickly takes mine as she leads me out into the corridor of the ship where the bedrooms are all located.

We pass a guard who looks at me with wide eyes, but he says nothing. Nar stops him and holds out the bottle of pills. “I need this given to the King to bring down what Kataline says is most likely something called a fever.” She looks at me. “How many should he take?”

“Two, every four hours until he’s better,” I say. “Do you think he’ll take them, knowing they came from me?”

With a shrug of her shoulders, she says, “Not sure. But at least, you’re offering.”

The guard takes the bottle of pills and goes into another room. I suppose the King is in it.

Kerr comes around the corner and we all stop. His eyes settle on me. Then he looks at his Aunt. “You sure about this?” he asks her.

I look away. His doubt in me is making me angry with him. I try hard to find a place in myself which can understand his distrust in me. It’s not easy. Not after all we’ve felt with one another.

Nar answers him, “Quite sure.”

It came very quickly to him, the doubt. That isn’t a thing I knew was possible. His hand on my shoulder has me looking up into his blue-green eyes.

Questions loom behind them. “Are you mad at me?” he asks with somewhat of a quiver to his voice.

I shake my head. “I should understand you had to be cautious. It hurts, though. I cannot lie to you.”

“It’s not what I wanted to do, you know? Hurt you. It just is unusual to say the very least. Never have I dealt with such a thing.” His hand massages my shoulder.

I want to fall into his arms so badly, but my guard has come up now and it may take some time to go back down.

“Your aunt is taking me to meet her daughters.” I take a step back and his hand moves off my shoulder.

He frowns at me then says, “I have to meet with the others to discuss my father. I’m afraid I have to ask you to stay with Nar until I come for you. You’re still to be kept under watch at all times. Though I have said if Nar felt you were being honest and not a threat to anyone, you could move about much more freely. As long as you’re with someone.”

Words stream from my mouth without my real consent. “If you’re threatened in any way, it matters not who’s with me. My emotions seem to control that thing inside me which seems to be able to control others.”

Nar’s hand which holds mine pulls me to follow her. “Come, Kataline. You and I can work together to get that under your control.” She looks back at Kerr who watches me being taken away with sadness riddling his handsome face. “Perhaps her gifts can aid us in getting the rebels back under our control, Kerr.”

I watch his reaction. It doesn’t seem to change as he says, “Perhaps she can use it to help. I’ll be there to get you as soon as I can, Baby.”

A little jolt goes through my heart and I stop and give Nar a look which tells her I have something I need to do. She smiles and lets my hand go and waves me away.

I turn and run back to Kerr. His arms open up and envelop me. “I’m sorry, Baby,” his words heat the skin behind my ear.

“I know.” My heart is pounding. “I understand now. Hurry to come and get me. I miss you more than you can imagine.”

He lets me go then smiles. “Our first fight.” He sighs and leans in to whisper, “I’ll make it up to you, I promise. When I get you back and in our room, you’ll forget about it all.”

I smile and my cheeks heat. “Promise?”

He nods and takes my hands in his and places his lips to them. “I promise you, my sweet Princess.”

My heart melts and I can no longer be upset with him. “I love you.”

Light fills his gorgeous eyes. “I love you.”

He lets my hands go. “See you soon then.” I turn and go back to his aunt who waits with a giant smile on her face.

Her arm goes around my shoulders. “My sister would’ve really loved you, Kataline.”

We walk out of the ship through a ramp and for the first time ever my feet land on ground which is not Earth. It feels the same as the ground of my planet.

The air though is sweet and cool. I can actually taste it. “Cotton candy.”

“What is that?” Nar asks.

“The air tastes like cotton candy,” I say as I breathe it in.

“Don’t know what that is. It does taste sweet, doesn’t it?” She takes in a deep breath too.

Now that we’re out of the ship, I can see the place we landed. The sky is pink with yellow hues. It’s near dark I assume. Then I see the tiny sun and think it might be midday on the planet.

“Ulta Minor is a small planet used primarily as a charging station for space travelers.” Nar leads me towards what looks like a small café. “The girls and my husband said they’d meet us in this eating establishment. I’ve never had the food here. When we stopped here on the way to Earth my husband and I sent the girls with Kerr and took the time to be alone. We never left our room.”

I grin as I can imagine what they were doing. The door to the café slides open and I see a man and two teenage girls sitting at a large table. Mountains of junk food cover the table and I may be in Heaven.

“Yes, it looks like Earth food.” I know my face must be beaming with joy as my stomach has felt quite empty.

The man stands up as we approach the table. He’s tall, dark, and extremely handsome. His deep green eyes peer at me from beneath lush, dark lashes.

I’m pulled into his embrace as Nar lets me go. “It’s so nice to finally really meet you, Kataline. I’m Luthus, your new uncle.” He pulls back to look at me. “I’m sorry about all the crap you’re having to deal with. Just so you know, Nar is an excellent judge of character. I mean, she did pick me to be her husband after all.”

I giggle as he’s incredibly charming and sweet. His strong arm wraps around me as he turns me, gesturing to the blond teen girl with blue-green eyes much like Kerr’s. “This beautiful young lady is our daughter and your new cousin, Latice.”

The young girl smiles and gives me a little wave. “Hello, Kataline. We met at the wedding, but I don’t expect you to remember that.”

I laugh. “Thank you. There were so many faces and truth be told, Kerr had me very distracted. It’s very nice to meet you again. I think we’ll get along well.”

My shoulders are squeezed as Luthus points to the girl with dark hair, like his. It hangs in ringlets around her pretty face. Her eyes are blue, like her mother’s.

“Lavine is our oldest.”

“Nice to meet you too, Lavine,” I say.

Luthus seats me next to her. They seem like a really happy family and it gives me hope for the first time. A fizzy drink is placed in front of me by what I think is a female as there’s a lump in front of her massive chest.

Her voice comes out kind of high so I’m pretty sure I’m looking at a woman. She’s quite lumpy as are all the locals. So lumpy it’s hard to tell them apart.

Their skin is blotchy and pale behind the red blotches. The ones I see in here all have thin, greasy hair, almost all of them keep short.

I suppose it’s their uniforms they all have on. They all match in some type of overall which has more buttons on the sides I’m assuming is for more expansion space in them.

“Anything else?” she asks with a high, gravelly voice.

Luthus shakes his head, making the dark waves which fall to his shoulders bounce. “I think we’ve got a little of everything you make here. Thank you.”

She moves away, her gait slow. Nar hands me a plate made of wood and a pointed little spear-like instrument I guess is what I’m supposed to eat with.

Following the example of the rest of them, I stab at the items I want to try to place them on my plate. What looks like cheesy, chili fries, I load up on. And there’s flat bread with a red sauce which hopefully tastes like pizza.

Placing a fry in my mouth, I groan as it seems to be a normal fry and normal cheese, with normal chili. “I miss my kind of food.”

They all laugh. Lavine’s elbow pokes me in the ribs. “You’ll have to join us for meals sometimes. We eat Earth food once each week.”

I clap my hands. “I will definitely be accepting that invitation!” Another bite I take off the thing which looks like pizza and am not disappointed. “Yum!”

All smile and I get the impression all could go well in this new life of mine.

With these people to help me, could this all go well after all? Do I dare to hope?

Chapter Fourteen

Kerr

“You have a tiger by the tail, Kerr,” the Duke of Stalwart tells me.

He stands in the courtroom of our ship. The small sun on Ulta Minor is setting and one of the moons has risen already, its full and we have to get out of here before the batflies come out.

They feed only on nights when the moon is full and they’ll feed on anything they can find, including humans.

“It seems I do. But as long as I have all the royals support I can deal with what is mine to deal with. My father has become ill. He’s locked away in his room. His personal butler is looking after him and my wife gave him something for the fever he has.” I turn from the group of royals who came to my ship to discuss the situation.

Nar and Luthus come in behind Kataline and all are smiling. I knew my aunt and uncle would love her.

“We should get going, Kerr,” Uncle Luthus says as he comes and pats me on the back. “You have yourself a really sweet girl here. Take good care of her.”

Kataline slips her hand into mine as she comes to me. I kiss the top of her head and give her a wide smile.

Gesturing to the exit, I say, “We will meet again at the next stop and discuss how to handle the uprising. See you all in seventy-two hours.”

All leave to get on their ships so we can get off this planet before it gets too late to, and we get trapped here as the batflies fly around in thick swarms and make taking off impossible.

I settle on one of the large, cushioned chairs and pull Kataline down to sit on my lap. My hand wanders under her long hair and cradles the back of her neck.

Her deep blue eyes look into mine. “Kerr, you have no reason to be afraid of me.”

“Your powers are a thing I don’t understand. But I do trust you and I think they could be of use to us when we get back to Euthenia.” I press my lips to her cheek. “The rest of the royals are behind me. No matter what I decide. You are free to move about on your own.”

Her eyebrows raise and the smile covering her face lets me know she’s happy with the news. “Thank goodness! I was afraid they’d have a problem with me. I promise to work to control this thing I have.”

“I’m sure you will.” I look past her, out the large window and see we’ve taken off, and it looks like we did just in the nick of time. “Look out there, Kataline. The batflies are beginning to swarm out of the caves.”

She turns and gasps at the frightening sight. “Oh my! Their numbers are countless.”

The small creatures look like dark billows of smoke as they make their way out of their homes to feed. Thankfully we made it out and lost no time waiting for the sun’s light to send them back to their caves before we could leave the tiny planet.

Getting up, I pick my wife up in my arms. “I think we should go to bed. What do you think?”

She drops her head to rest on my chest. “I think that sounds like a great idea.”

I had her things brought back to our larger suite and lie her on our bed. Her dark blue dress I push off her body and gaze at her.

The creaminess of her skin amazes me. I run my hands over her arms and lie next to her. “You may well be Queen before we even arrive back home.”

Her soft hand runs over my cheek. “Kerr, I will try my best to be what you need me to be. Whatever that is.”

The way her red stained lips stay parted slightly has my mouth watering for her. With a soft kiss, I take them. My tongue slips into her mouth and I taste a sweetness in her warm mouth.

Her hands travel to my shirt and she unbuttons it then runs her hands over my stomach. It tightens even more as her touch leaves sparks of energy in their path.

This woman excites me so much more than I imagined she would. She pulls her mouth from mine and looks at me. “Kerr, I’d like to practice my powers on you.”

My eyebrows raise. “What? On me?” A little ripple of nerves rushes over my body. But then I push them aside. “Okay.”

A smile fills her face, and she stands up at the end of the bed. “You just lie right there.”

My shirt is unbuttoned but still on as are my pants. I lie still and gaze at her naked body as she stands in front of me. She stares intensely at my chest and I feel a tingle deep in my stomach.

My entire body leaves the bed, hovering inches over it. My arms move on their own out to the side and my shirt feels as if someone is pulling it off.

I cut my eyes when I see it fly across the room and land on the floor. “Wow,” I say as I float and feel weightless.

My pants move down my body as she stares at them. They fly away and land near the shirt. My cock is erect and my body is beginning to ache, I want her so badly.

Her hands begin to move up and down and it feels as if they’re actually on me, stroking my hard cock. I groan. “That’s fucking amazing, Baby.”

I close my eyes as I feel her hands going through my hair at the same time it still feels as if she’s stroking my cock. Then it feels as if she’s actually kissing me.

My mouth opens as it feels as if her tongue is moving past my lips. She breaks into a fit of giggles and my body falls to the bed.

I bounce and she’s on me, straddling me as she looks down at me, her face glowing. The golden flecks I saw in them earlier are back, but quickly diminishing. “Did you feel all that?”

With a nod, I cup the back of her neck and pull her mouth to mine. She has me hot and crazy for her. Rolling over, I pin her body with mine. “You and I are going to have some fun learning about your powers, aren’t we?”

“Did you like it?” Her teeth take her bottom lip and bite it.

“It was beyond anything I’ve ever imagined.” I kiss her and press my throbbing cock into her hot, wet depths.

Her body arches to meet mine and we both moan with the sensation of being connected. As I make deep, slow strokes I feel us moving up.

Opening my eyes, I can see the bed under us getting further away. She has us floating above it. I cup her ass in my hands and continue to move in and out of her.

She moves us to a standing position above the bed and I feel weightless. It’s the most remarkable thing I’ve ever felt. Slowly she takes us back to lie on the bed, her beneath me.

I pull my mouth from hers and look into her eyes. Each stroke into her takes us closer to the place we both want to be. Her legs wrap around me and she arches up.

Pounding into her harder, she rakes her nails over my back. A loud moan escapes her as her body goes into a climax.

In no time, she’s pulled me along with her and I grit my teeth as I explode into her.

I wonder what else she can do?

Chapter Fifteen

Kataline

Kerr holds me in his arms, his breathing is steady and little puffs of warm air fall against the nape of my neck with each one as he sleeps behind me.

Gazing out the large window of our room, I look at the endless amount of stars against the blackness of space. My life has changed so quickly and it has the wheels spinning in my head.

I’ve found it easy to use my mind to control movements. I wonder what other things I can do. If all the women created like me can do what I can, then we could easily take over the Earth.

But that place is no longer my home. My new home is in a state of chaos I would assume with the uprising. It settles me some I can use my newfound powers to settle things once we get there.

Kerr moans and tightens his arm around me. Most likely having a dream. His voice is quiet as he mutters, “Quick, get us out of here.”

Then he suddenly thrashes and nearly knocks me off the bed. “Kerr, wake up!”

He sits up, his hand pulled back in a fist. He blinks at me then looks around the room, wearing a confused expression. “Where’d they all go?”

“Who?” I ask as I snuggle back under the blanket. “You were dreaming, Sweetheart.”

“I could swear it was real, Kataline. There were men everywhere. The palace was full of them. Only it wasn’t the Earthlings. It was our own people. Someone else was taking over.” He lies back down and his arms cross over his chest.

“It was only a dream. Go back to sleep. You have a lot of stress on you now that you’ve taken over for the King.” I turn on my side and run my hand over his tight chest.

Outside the window, I see things moving. Blue lights and they’re coming at us fast. I gasp and point.

Kerr sits up and turns to look out the window just as an alarm sounds throughout the ship. The captain’s voice fills the room. “Prepare for attack.”

Kerr bounds out of bed and throws on his clothes. “Get dressed, Kataline. We have to prepare.”

I rush out of bed and throw my dress back on. “Who are they?”

“Not sure. But we need to get my father. I can’t leave him locked up with this going on.” He slips the pants on and runs a hand through his hair, instantly taming the long, blonde locks.

“Kerr, are you sure that’s a good idea?” I pull my hair back into a ponytail then take his hand as he leads me out of our room.

The corridor is full of guards making their way to wherever it is we all seem to be going. It’s a controlled chaos and my heart is pounding.

Kerr has on a gold cloak he pulled from the closet just before we left. He places it around my shoulders. The guards all wear deep blue body suits and have put silver capes on over them. Something I haven’t seen them do.

“Are the cloaks something to protect us, Kerr?”

“Yes, they’re made of a material which resists many things. They help protect us,” he tells me as he leads me through the crowd of men.

“Where’s Bet?” I ask.

“She’ll stay in her room. Don’t worry. She knows what to do in a case like this.”

We stop in front of a door and Kerr opens it. His father is sitting on the bed and another man is sitting in a chair near him.

The King looks back and forth between us with a frown. “I saw them coming a while back. I can’t believe the captain just now sounded the alarm.”

A beam of red light is coming towards us. I can see it out his window. “Look!” I point to the window.

Kerr grabs me and pushes me against the wall, covering my body with his. The ship groans as the light hits us, pushing us, making the ship lurch.

Thanks to Kerr’s strength neither of us fall, but the King lands on the floor with a thud.

Kerr lets me go and rushes to his father. “Father, are you okay?” He helps him up and I see another red light coming towards us.

This time, I hold my hand up and shout, “There’s another one!” They all turn to look and amazingly it deflects before hitting us.

Then all of them turn to look at me. Stunned silence fills the room. The King looks at Kerr. “What all can she do?”

“We don’t know yet,” Kerr answers.

“Get her to the bridge,” the King says.

Kerr rushes to me, taking my hand. He stops and looks back at his father. “Can you be trusted, Father?”

He gives a nod and I find a chill running through me. I’m not entirely sure he can be trusted. But I’m not in charge.

I go with Kerr to the bridge and find it’s at the top of the triangular shaped ship. It’s all enclosed in a see-through, glass-like material. From this point, I can see three smaller ships coming towards us.

“Have the other ships in the armada line up behind us, Captain,” Kerr orders.

The captain looks back at him. “Mind telling me why?”

Kerr gives him a smile and points at another incoming red light. “Watch.”

He pulls me to stand in front of him and I raise my hand. Once the light is almost to us, it deflects and jets off into space.

The captain and all the other men in the room look back at me in awe. Then the captain gets on his communication device and tells the other ships to get behind us.

I watch as the other ships move into place. Kerr takes my hand and looks deep into my eyes. “I think you can turn the laser around and send it back to the ship that sent it. It might blow it up. Think you could give that a try?”

I nod and we move closer to the edge of the room. The distance seems far by sight but I can make out the three ships. They come at us in a row. The middle ship pulses out another laser beam and I watch it speed towards us.

This time, I focus on the middle ship, never letting my eyes move from it. When the red of the oncoming laser fills my vision, I hold up my hand and it bounces off some invisible wall and moves in the opposite direction.

All are quiet as we wait to see what it will do to the ship which sent the destructive thing our way. A quick flash of light from the middle ship sends another red laser beam towards the one I sent back and they collide in a burst of red, flaming light.

“Not what I intended but perhaps if you tried to deflect it from further away from us, giving them no time to get another laser ready to fire would be the key, Baby.” Kerr gives my shoulders a squeeze as he rubs them from behind me.

“I can try.” I watch all three ships and find myself a little overwhelmed as they all three fire at the same time.

“Kerr!” I look back at him frantically.

His blue-green eyes level on mine. “Stay calm. You can do this. Turn and focus. I believe in you, Kataline.”

My heart is pounding as I have the real fear if all three of those hit us it could blow us up. I turn and focus on the three beams rushing towards us.

Both hands go up and I imagine all three beams turning back. Shouts and the sound of the men slapping each other’s hands fill the air as all three laser beams turn back.

I can’t even take in a breath as I wait to see what happens. In a glorious explosion of color, all three ships are no longer a threat to us.

Kerr has me in his arms before I can really take in what I’ve done. “You did it!”

My body begins to shake and I find tears rolling down my cheeks. The sound of the other captains on the communication device draws my attention. One of them ask, “How did you do that?”

Our captain tells them all, “Our new Princess did that!”

Kerr nuzzles my ear. “I have the best wife ever.” His lips press against my neck, sending chills through me.

“What the hell am I, Kerr?” I look at him and he finally sees I’m crying.

His thumbs wipe my tears as he takes my face in his hands. “Baby, don’t cry. You’re amazing. You saved us all.”

The sound of the King’s voice comes from behind us as he seems to have made it to the bridge. “She is amazing and she will be the end of us Kerr.”

I shake my head and sob then bury my face in Kerr’s wide chest and wrap my arms around him. “Father, she just saved the entire royal family and you dare to speak about her that way?”

“Mark my words, Kerr. If you allow her to live, life as we have been accustomed to living it will end. This woman will never see fit to walk a step behind or do as she’s told. Hell, you couldn’t take the strap to her if you tried.” The King’s words sting my ears and I stop crying and pull my head off my husband’s chest.

Controlling my temper so I don’t hurt the old asshole, I say, “Sire, I am not a threat to you. Please try to understand. This is new to me. But I am not an evil person who will use this against you. You are right about one thing. I will not allow the strap to be used on me. And once I’m Queen it will be outlawed on your planet.”

Kerr’s arm tightens around me. His lips press the side of my head. “A discussion for another time, my love.”

“Do you see how she means to take our lives away?” The King throws his hands in the air. “Am I the only one who cares for our planet? The Earthling’s have managed to take over yet another planet by awarding her to you, Kerr.”

Only men fill the room and all look at me for an answer. I shake my head. “I don’t wish to take over anything.”

“But you will, Kataline.” The King nods. “You will.”

Could he be right?

Chapter Sixteen

Kerr

Though no breeze moves the air, I feel a chill. The chill of change.

My wife sleeps in my arms and I hold her tight as she does. My father may well convince the others she needs to be put to death.

Her gifts are powerful and though I know she’d never use them on anyone she loves, others will not see it that way.

They will see a woman. One who could force things upon them. I agree with her about getting rid of the hook and the strap. I agree with her about making women equals on our planet.

Only, not many other men will. It’s them who worry me. Her life may be in constant danger once we get home and she starts the process of change.

I do worry too my father will make her so mad she hurts him or worse, kills him. No one could save her if she did that. Even if he weren’t the King.

Murders are punishable by death on Euthenia. Even if you are a royal. About the only way to cause a death without paying the price for it is when you’re the King or the Queen and you order an execution. Which hasn’t been done in a hundred years or so.

There is no way I will allow her to be killed, but I may have to allow some type of sedation to keep her under control if she gets out of hand.

I hope that never happens, though.

Her dark hair I move off her shoulder and place my lips on her soft skin. My heart swells with emotion with all I feel for her.

It’s hard to believe so little time has gone by since I first saw her coming down the aisle to join me in this life. If someone told me all this would happen I’d have told them they were lying and crazy.

My mother keeps flitting through my mind these last few days. She’s always there in some form or fashion. Here of late though she’s in it more often than not.

It has two effects on me and they are conflicting. It gives me the idea that my life is on the right path by accepting the award of Kataline by the Earthlings. The conflicting feeling is that this was a very bad thing to have accepted.

Change is evident. I look forward to it. But will my people?

If I was to ask Kataline not to force her hand about the changes would she see fit to do as I bid her to?

Would I be wrong to even ask that of her?

If my mother were here, the changes would’ve already been made. Perhaps that’s why her memory keeps stirring in my brain.

I had a dream the last time I was asleep that felt so real it was even painful. Someone was trying to take over our world. Someone from within.

Could that have been a premonition about Kataline sometime in the future? Is she going to change herself with this power she has? Will it make her into something she isn’t right now?

I’m both excited and terrified at this moment. Anything could happen. I know that.

“Kerr?” Her voice sounds weak.

“Yeah, Baby.”

She turns in my arms and looks at me. My finger runs over her high cheek bone. Its red where she was lying on it.

“They’re all going to be afraid of me, aren’t they?” Her eyes glisten with unshed tears.

“I’ll try hard for that not to happen. You know, show them how you’re going to protect them, not harm them. I just have to be louder than my father that’s all.” I kiss the tip of her nose.

She looks unsure of what I’ve said. “Kerr?”

“Yeah,” I say as I brush the hair back off her face.

“What if they are so afraid of me they do call for my execution?” Her eyes search mine.

My heart aches. I swallow hard as I have thought about this too. Then it comes to me. “Then you and I will leave the planet together.”

She blinks and takes in what I’ve said. “We could do that?”

“You and I can do anything we want to. Some other planet would allow us to live there. You might not be allowed to use the powers you’ve acquired, but we could live together.” My hand runs over her exposed breast and I roll her pink nipple between my thumb and forefinger.

“You’d give up your place as Prince or even King to be with me?” Her head shakes slightly. “I could never let you do that.”

“You could let me do that. And I would do that. You are my life, Kataline. I would choose you over anything else.” I push her back and move my body over hers.

Her hands run around my neck as I press into her. Her breath comes out in a sweet sigh. “You really love me that much?”

“I do,” I say then press my lips to hers.

Softly I touch her lips as I run my hands down her sides. Chill bumps pop up on her skin and she moves her body to accommodate me better.

The way I feel when I’m inside her is phenomenal. I would leave with her. I would give up the throne for her. I’d do anything for her.

This beautiful woman who looks at me with deep blue eyes full of love is my life.

It seems impossible to me that I could be so ready to give everything up for someone I didn’t even know a little over a week ago.

The pressure of her hot, wet walls on me feels beyond amazing and her beauty is beyond compare. “You will always have a home in my arms, Kataline. Wherever you and I are together is where home is. Whether I rule there or not. My place is with you, always.”

Her breasts press against my chest like pillows and everything about her ignites something in me I never knew I had. A different purpose for this life than I’ve thought it was about thus far.

This unique woman was meant for me. She needs my protection against the people who won’t understand her and fear her.

It will be up to me to make sure she is accepted into my world. Her legs move up mine, sliding her silky skin against them. It stirs me and I kiss the soft skin of her neck.

Her moan fills my ears and her hands move to tangle in my hair. “Kerr, you always know just how to touch me.”

I nip at her neck and let out a growl. She giggles and bucks a bit.

Moving my hand down one of her legs, I draw it up and place her knee near her head. My thick cock moves into her deeper and she moans with the feeling, “Harder.”

Banging into her, I do as she’s requested and her breathing changes to panting in no time. Her nails scratch my back as I fill her over and over until she’s screaming my name.

I can’t stop, I keep going as she writhes and twists as she comes undone. “Kerr!”

The sound of shattering glass makes me pull my head up, leaving her neck neglected of my bite. I look over and find the decanter of some purple liquid has busted into pieces and has spilled all over the white surface of the table it sat on.

The sound of her voice draws my attention back to her. “Come, Kerr!”

My body jerks and does as she’s said to. I was nowhere near ready for that and it surprises me as the intensity takes me over.

A loud groan comes out of me as I climax. The sensation begins to fade and I see her looking at me. “Wow, did I make you do that?” she asks.

Taking in a deep breath, I stare into her eyes, golden sparks look as if they’re making little explosions in them. “You did.” I feel numb all of a sudden as a smile creeps across her face which is glowing.

“Did you like it?”

How do I tell her that I fucking hated it?

I look into her eyes instead of answering her. The sparks of gold slowly subside. “Well?” she asks.

“Not really,” I say.

She looks away and pushes at me to get off her. I roll off and lie on my back as I run my hands through my hair in frustration.

“Sorry! I won’t do that again. I didn’t mean to do it anyway,” she says as she gets out of bed and disappears into the attached washroom.

A sudden guilt flows through me and I get up and go to her. Her body is shaking as she showers. She’s crying and now I feel awful.

“Baby, I’m sorry.” My arms enclose her quivering body.

“Kerr, I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

The warm liquid flows over us and should be comforting the way it's designed to be. It's bringing me no such comfort as my wife cries in my arms.

I kiss the top of her head. “I shouldn’t have said I didn’t like it. It’s just that it was kind of taken from me rather than me giving it to you. You know?”

“I know. I do!” Her cries go into full blown wails and her body is shaking even more. “What’s wrong with me?”

I have no idea what to say to her. “We’ll just have to work on this thing you have going on is all. We’ll figure it all out. With time, we can figure it out.”

I trail kisses over her shoulder as she continues to cry. The water stops and I pick her up and carry her to the dryer. In moments we’re dry and I take her back to bed.

While we were on Ulta Minor I had Bet go purchase some of the Earth food they sell there. I have a bag of what they call cheeseburgers in the food storage area.

Lying her on the bed, I prop her up with some fluffy pillows and give her nose which is now red from crying a little tweak.

“I have a surprise for you, Baby.” I make my way to retrieve the food and when I come back she’s stopped crying and her tears have dried.

“What’s on the tray, Kerr? I’m really not in the mood to eat.” Her eyes look away from the tray.

I’m sure she’s afraid it’ll be some of our food and be moving about on the plate.

I pull the lid off, and her eyes dart to the steaming cheeseburgers. “Not even for this?”

“Kerr!” Her arms are thrown around me and she kisses my cheek. “You’re the sweetest man alive. Do you know that?”

“So does that mean you like what I got for you?” I ask with a laugh.

She laughs, and the sound fills my heart with joy and love and I never want to hear her cry again.

It seems to take a little piece of my soul when she does.

Pulling a small chunk off the round sandwich, I place it to her lips. She readily accepts it and moans. “It’s really good. I love it. Thank you, Kerr.”

She takes the rest of the burger and takes another huge bite. I laugh and go to find something to clean up the spilled purple stuff on the table and get the broken glass thrown away as well.

As I look at the mess, it doesn’t skip my attention that it could be some type of foreboding sign. The purple representing royalty and the bursting of the glass which contained it our hierarchy.

Then again, it could just mean her power got away from her and it means nothing.

I know one thing. I’m sure as hell not mentioning anything to her about it either way.

She looks content munching away on the food I gave her. That alone fills me with happiness.

To think I could find joy in seeing her happy over a little thing like a greasy cheeseburger is nearly overwhelming.

What all would I do for her?

A wiggling little piece of me wonders if she’s manipulating my thoughts. Then I push that down and remember what my aunt and I talked about.

She told me love makes you feel completely different. And I do feel different. That’s for sure.

“That was delicious, Kerr.” I turn to see her licking the last bit of ketchup from her lips. “Bet told me there’s a man who works in the kitchen at the palace who knows how to make Earth food. Please tell me you’ll allow me to eat it.”

Her eyes sparkle. As if she needs me to allow her to do anything. It’s fucking obvious I will have no control over this woman.

And just like that, I feel my body being pulled and I just shout it out at her, “Stop!”

She looks up at me as she was putting the tray away. “What?”

“You were pulling me to you. I need you to stop doing that.”

“I was?” She looks confused. Genuinely confused.

And now I wonder if I really can deal with all this.

An entire life of this?

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Book 3

Chapter Seventeen

Kataline

A pounding in my head is making it hard to think. Twinges of sharp spikes in my brain make me gasp with each one. Though no one is in the room with me, I hear people speaking.

I fear I’m going mad.

The door slides open and my Prince carries in a tray of some drink he thinks will help ease my pain. I’ve yet to tell him of the voices I hear. He’s already worried enough.

“This should help, my love,” he says as he comes to sit on the bed next to me.

The liquid is pink and frothy and I have a feeling it’s made from some squished up bugs as tiny brown specks float in it. I will not ask, though. I take a sip as he puts it to my lips and find it tastes sweet and a little tangy.

“Thank you, Kerr. I’m sure it will help.”

He smiles and hands me the clear glass. “Drink it all, Kataline.”

I toss the drink down in a few gulps and lie back. With luck, the pain will soon subside. In moments, the sharp pains turn into a dull throb and I can see it’s helping immensely.

Kerr’s large hand runs through my hair and he leans down to kiss my forehead. “Your color is already starting to get better.”

I look at the man who I was awarded to. Kerr is a miracle. Always full of hope. He’s a rock I’m glad to have as an anchor in this crazy life.

The voices in my head grow quiet and I’m thankful for that. The things they say are horrifying. My body seems to be vibrating and then even Kerr notices the humming sound.

He places his ear to my chest and listens then looks at me. “Your body is shaking, Kataline.”

I nod and have no control over it. A pulling sensation starts in my stomach and slowly I move up off the mattress. Kerr lays his body over mine, but it does nothing to keep my body from lifting us both into the air.

“Are you thinking about doing this, Kataline? Or is it just happening?”

“It’s just happening,” I tell him.

“Think about staying on the bed then. Learn to override this.”

I close my eyes and picture my body back on the bed and I feel the sheet under my bare back. Earlier I pulled all of my clothing off as it felt as if burrs where covering me.

I open my eyes and find Kerr smiling at me. “It worked! You could think past whatever it is which is making you do such things. With work, you can learn to control this. It’s great progress!”

While happy to see him happy, I have my doubts I can do it when my mind is in the chaotic pain it seems to want to stay in without the aid of the magic pink drink.

Again, I tell my husband only what will make him happy and less worried. “Thank you, Kerr. With your help, I’m sure to get this under control. Perhaps it’s the lack of gravity which has my body and mind doing crazy things. I read once of something called space fever. Maybe that’s what this is.”

With a shake of his head, blond waves fall across his broad shoulders. “This is not from anything other than your unique genetic make-up. I do wish your father had sent along a list of the DNA used to make you. It might help us to figure out what can be done to help you.”

I close my eyes as I feel the sensation in my stomach again and have to concentrate to keep it down. I am so tired. A battle wages inside me and I have no idea how long I can keep it down.

Kerr’s hand runs over my bare shoulder and his lips touch mine. “I love you, my Princess.”

I wrap my arms around the man. His muscles move beneath the thin shirt he has on. “Kerr, will you undress and get into bed with your wife, sir?”

He obliges me and climbs under the blanket with me. “We should rest while the drink calms you. Would you like the complete darkness, Baby?”

I nod. He reaches up and turns the lights in our bedroom off and it instantly goes to pitch black. I blink a few times and then reach out to him.

“Kerr,” I whisper.

“Yes, Baby.”

My hand runs over his ample manhood. “Make love to me.”

His lips touch my cheek and his hand runs over my breast. I fall more in love with this man every moment. He has gained such a mess in taking me as his wife and yet he never complains.

My stomach tenses as his fingertips run over it, leaving heated trails behind them. One finger finds my pearl and rubs it into arousal.

His silky hair beckons me to run my hands through it and his warm mouth moves to my neck. Soft kisses he makes over it until he gets just behind my ear. Tiny nips he gives me, making me moan.

He knows how to touch me, stroke, me and make me feel more than I knew possible. As he plays with my clit, my insides get hot and my legs move, wanting to feel his body between them.

His hand leaves my center and moves over the inside of my thigh, stroking it and settling it down. My body responds instantly to his soft yet commanding touch.

I stop moving and allow him to slowly pleasure me. Thinking I can do a bit for him, I run my hand to wrap around his large cock. It’s already hard and I find a bit of liquid has escaped the tip.

With a long stroke, I run the wetness over his length and delight in how he moves with me to help me stroke him at the speed he wants. Slow and steady.

Moving down my neck, his teeth graze my flesh as he makes his way to my breast and takes it in his mouth. His teeth take my taut nipple between them and it sends sparks throughout my body.

I arch up and moan as he begins to suckle it. My breath is getting raspy as my body is getting more excited. Every long pull he gives my breast sends a sensation to somewhere deep inside me and makes me wetter and the ache for him to be inside me increases.

His hand runs over mine, increasing the speed at which I’m stroking his hard cock. His mouth becomes more demanding at my breast. His hand leaves mine and his fingers trail over my stomach and down to fill me as his thumb presses the little button which will soon send me to another place.

My heart pounds as the wave pulls me from deep inside. It all comes together and I explode as he sucks hard and pumps his fingers inside me.

I arch up and scream his name.

He moves his body to cover mine and slips his large, wet cock into my throbbing tunnel. “You feel like Heaven, Baby.”

He moves slowly inside me, making the orgasm increase. I can barely breathe as my body convulses around him. Trying so hard to get him to release himself, but he’s nowhere near ready to give in.

Kerr moves to place his legs on either side of me as he pulls me to sit up, facing him. Though I can’t see a thing, I can feel his warm breath on my cheek as he glides me to him.

His hands hold my waist and pull me back and forth in a rocking motion over his long erection. Over and over, he pulls me to him then pushes me back. My arms wrap around his neck.

My breasts alternate from crushing between us to feeling cool air as my body is moved back and forth. The sound of our breathing is fascinating.

I can hear each one of our hearts as they pound at different intervals. His is slightly louder than mine. Its thump is an octave lower than mine is.

We start to leave the bed as I focus on the sounds and he growls, “Take us back, down, Kataline. Do not let that control what we’re doing.”

I focus on thinking about being back on the bed and down we go. It’s getting a little easier and hopefully, soon I’ll get a hint my mind is about to go off on its own and be able to stop it before it happens.

His lips touch mine. “Good, girl.”

I smile and pull him back to kiss me. His mouth tastes like sweet lemons and I find myself craving them. My kiss grows hungry as his fingers cut into the flesh around my hips, pulling me to him with more need.

First, a small jerk I can feel as he pulls me to him harder and harder until I feel him jerk hard and fill me with heat. It takes me into a climax and we both moan as our bodies fill with ecstasy.

I ease the kiss and let our mouths part, resting my forehead against his. “I love you, Kerr.”

His hand cups the back of my neck. “I love you, Kataline.”

Somewhere inside me, I hear a tiny voice say, “Enjoy this while you can, Kataline.”

As my husband lays me back on our bed a tear falls. I have no idea how much longer I have to be me. The me who loves the man beside me more than imaginable. The me who is sweet and kind most times. The me who I think will be missed if she goes away and never comes back.

Not long ago I was sitting at my home, unaware I had been given away to an alien. When I got the news I was devastated about how I would be spending my life.

Now all I want is to spend it with him, anywhere in the entire universe. And I may not get that as something is threatening to take me away from him, forever.

“Kerr, if I become someone I’m not what will you do with me?” I run my hand to intertwine our fingers as I hold our hands between us.

“How can you become someone you’re not, Kataline? That’s a ridiculous notion, Baby.” His fingers squeeze mine.

I take a deep breath. I have no idea how to explain to him what’s happening inside my head. So I rest my cheek on his shoulder and decide to change the subject.

“Which would you like first, a boy or a girl?”

His hand runs over my stomach. “I don’t care as long as it’s healthy.”

I giggle. “You care. Just tell me.”

His hand is warm as he gently rubs my stomach. “I’d like a little girl who looks just like her mother. If you must make me choose.”

“You would? I thought you’d surely say you wanted a boy first.” I press my lips to his shoulder. “I’d like a son first. One who looks just like his father.”

“Well, we can’t have both. Or can we?” He laughs and runs his hand up to catch my chin in it. “Tell me, do twins run in your family, Baby?”

I remain silent. I suppose he’s forgotten just how vast my family is. In a whisper, I remind him, “I’m a science experiment. I have no idea what runs in my blood.”

Warm lips touch my forehead. “Do not refer to a person as special as you are as something so small. You are a magnificent creation. Nothing less than that should ever be used to describe you.”

A lump forms in my throat and I think about what it is I’ll be handing down to my offspring. Clearly I have a mental defect. Will they inherit that as well?

I close my eyes and try hard not to think about what’s happening to me. Take each moment for what it is and try harder not to worry so much about the future.

Pulling me on top of his wide chest, Kerr puts his strong arms around me. “You have me now. And I am a man who never gives up hope. I will work hard to make everything work out for the best. I promise you that. You have no need to worry. Your husband is capable of more than you know.”

I smile and drift away as he holds me and makes gentle strokes with his fingertips across my back. “You will make an excellent father, Kerr.”

But will I make an excellent mother?

Chapter Eighteen

Kerr

The voices which come from my wife’s sleeping mouth are troubling. No two are the same and there seem to be five distinct voices.

One is a voice with reason behind it. That one sounds the most like Kataline’s. Its soft though and the other voices seem to mostly ignore what it has to say.

The loudest is a crude talker. A lot of cursing and a lot of ugliness comes from it. Its deep and has velvet undertones. That one is the most frightening of them all.

The other three are negative, taking the dominating voice’s side in all arguments. It’s the freakiest shit I’ve ever heard.

I suppose her DNA is to blame. Or perhaps she’s been infected with something which is eating her brain. With no equipment to see what’s going on inside her, there’s no way to tell or help her until we get back home.

Even then, we’re coming into a damn uprising situation and things won’t be easy to get to. We have a royal medic for our problems which come up on occasion.

Broken bones, genetic defects or abnormalities, and resets of teeth which come in wrong are what the medic takes care of. We don’t have soft tissue diseases like they do on Earth.

Bringing her to my planet may have been a mistake. But there is the fact I can take her back to Earth to seek medical help if there is no medic on my planet who can help her.

“He has to die,” the deepest voice says as it comes from her sleeping lips.

The reasonable voice chimes in, “He is Kerr’s father. It will hurt him if we kill the King.”

My heart stops. I knew she had to be talking about him. But now I know for positive. And I have no idea what to do about it. Short of taking her life.

I don’t feel capable of doing that. Not when I have real hope for getting her help once we reach Euthenia.

One of the other voices says, “What about the ones who will try to stop us?”

I listen hard. Because I will be one who will try to stop her. “He is listening to us all. Shhh… No more.”

How did she know that?

Looking hard at her, I can tell she’s asleep. Her breathing is slow and steady with little snores here and there. Her body is limp and there is no way she’s awake.

Fuck!

Her eyes just opened, and she’s looking right into my eyes, only those are not her eyes. They’re black and seem to be looking right through me.

I place my hand on her wrist and it burns, but I hold tight anyway. Her chest rises then the dominate voice speaks, “If you choose him over her you will die as well.”

Her eyes close and I let her wrist go and find I’m shaking. My eyes move to the place I was holding her. Her wrist is red as if it has been burned.

What the hell is happening to her?

Her hands go to either side of her head and she holds it and starts to scream. “Make them stop! Make them be quiet! I can’t take it! I can’t take the pain any longer!”

Jumping off the bed, I grab the pink sedative and pour some in a glass. I move quickly to her side and pull her up. “Baby, quick drink this to ease the pain!”

Her eyes open and there are her gorgeous blue eyes. Her lips are quivering as is her entire body as she tries to drink from the glass I’m holding to her lips.

The first attempt has her choking, and she shakes her head. Then with a determined look, she takes the glass in her hands and downs it. Then leans her head back against the pillow.

“Thank you, Kerr. The pain came back with a vengeance.” Her breath is raspy, and she seems to be short of it.

“Is it helping you?” I ask as her eyes have already closed again.

She nods. “Thank you.”

I watch as she slips back to sleep and turn away and wipe a tear which has gotten away from me. There’s no time to feel sorrow, I have to focus on how to help her.

A soft knock comes at the door. “It’s Bet.”

I walk towards the door. “Come in.”

The door slides open and my wife’s handmaiden steps inside. “The King asked me to come and get you. He needs to talk. I’ll stay with my lady.”

I give her a nod but turn back. “Bet, please do not repeat anything you hear her say. She’s not well.”

Concern etches her face. “She looks to be asleep. May I ask why you would say such a thing?”

With a weak smile, I say, “You will see.”

I leave and go to my father. He’s in the courtroom and has a drink in his hand. “You asked for me, Father?”

He turns back to me. His face is pale, and he looks unwell. “I did. We must discuss your wife.”

I hold my hand up. “Father, I will keep her in our quarters. When we get to Euthenia I will get her some medical attention.”

“Son, she is a risk to us all.”

I hold my tongue as she is much more a risk to him than any other. “I have control over her and I will not be overruled.”

“If there is no fixing the bewitched woman then what?” He takes a drink of the amber liquid.

“Then I will take her back to Earth and see if they can help her. She is my wife and I love her with everything in me.”

His laughter fills the air and makes me angry. “You love her? Are you mad? You barely know the woman. You love fucking her. Just say that.”

Now my blood is boiling and I’m seeing red. “Father, do not speak about my wife that way. I will not tolerate it!”

He takes a seat on his overstuffed chair and looks out the window at the blackness dotted by the far away stars. “What has happened to us, Kerr?” He places the empty glass on the table beside him. “You and I have always gotten along pretty well. With this woman’s arrival, things have gone sour between us.”

“I am stuck in the middle, Father. I know you mean well. The fact is she’s mine to care for and deal with and I am doing all I can to do that. Let me alone to do what is mine.” I pace as I try to think about what can get him to understand my feelings for her.

“Am I to close my mind to the fact she is looking to destroy us all, Son?” He refills his glass with the decanter next to his glass on the table top. He fills another glass as well. “Come, have a drink with your father and let us talk like gentlemen. Like we always have.”

Doing as he’s asked. I take the glass and take the seat across from him. “Surely you understand I do have real love for Kataline. She is a wonderful woman. You held love for my mother after all.”

His eyes dart up to mine. “Still do.”

“Of course.” I take a sip of the tangy drink. “Still you hold love in your heart for her. No one would dare to say anything different.”

“Her death was a horror to me.” He takes a long drink. “Wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. Not even the Earthling.”

No matter how much I ask, he just cannot stop himself from keeping his tongue still where my wife is concerned. I swallow another drink and look out the window.

“She saved us all, Father.”

“And she will end us all, Son.”

“How do you know this to be true?” I look directly into his eyes.

“I’ve seen it.” His tone is solid, and he seems to believe the words which have come out of his mouth.

“You accuse her of being bewitched, yet you have seen her end us all?” My foot taps as I await his answer.

“I may have some of that primitive blood coursing through my veins as well. It often gives gifts of that kind to Earthlings. With the fever, I saw your wife ruling over Euthenia.” Another long drink empties his short glass.

“That is the first time you’ve admitted what all know. That’s a step in the right direction, Father. And if you did see that in the future it could be true. She is my wife and as such will one day rule by my side.” I get up and go to pick up a morsel of sustenance off the tray on the table.

Popping a black beetle into my mouth, I crunch it up. My father clears his throat. “You were not there. It was only her.”

“And that was a fevered dream, Father.”

“She has the mental power to do it. You know that to be true, Kerr.” He gestures to the platter. “Bring your father a tasty morsel, Son.”

I take the tray to him and offer him a bite. He chooses the largest one on the plate and eats it. My stomach lurches as it breaks in half and the white insides glob down his chin.

He wipes it away and I wonder why I had that reaction. Then my head goes light and I go to sit down quickly. My father eyes me. “What’s wrong with you?”

“I’m not sure. I got dizzy and my stomach felt odd for a second.” I lean my head back and look up to steady myself.

The room seems to be spinning. “Father what was in the drink?”

His laugh has me worried. “A little something I like to call evening the odds.”

He gets up and walks away as I watch helplessly. I cannot move and he is walking towards the corridor which leads to the rooms. “Father, do not go to her. She will kill you.”

My words stop him. He turns back and looks at me with question etching his expression. “How do you know that? Has she threatened my life? For that, son, is treason and you damn well know it.”

“She’s more than capable of killing you without ever touching you. Stay away from her. I have her in our room for your safety.” I close my eyes and try to move my body, but I can’t.

He walks back to me and looks down at me. “Answer my question, Kerr. Has she threatened to kill me?”

“Not while conscious, no.” I look up at him. “If you value your life, you will stay away from her. She’s not entirely herself right now.”

“What is she?” His eyes are dark and I know he’s intrigued.

“Something inside her is fighting for control. I suppose it’s the thing which gave her the power to stop the lasers from destroying our ships and turned them back to where they came from. She is not well. She needs to be left alone. Once we get back home I will have the medic run her through the scanner to find out what’s happening to her brain.” My fingertips begin to wiggle and I can feel the effects of whatever he put in that drink wearing off.

“We could poison her, Son.”

My heart stops as I see my wife walk in wearing a white robe. “I know you’re talking about me. My ears burned and woke me.” Her voice is even, and its deep. Her eyes are black and void of emotion.

It’s not her.

I try to move and can only make feeble attempts to get up. “Father, get behind me. She will kill you.”

He turns. His finger points out at her. “You are an abomination.”

With not even a flick of her wrist my father flies through the air and hits the wall.

“Stop!” I manage to get up and stagger towards Kataline. “Kataline, stop! It’s treason.”

I take in a deep breath and feel stronger. I scoop her up in my arms and take her back to our room. Her body shudders and her black eyes roll back in her head.

Then she is still and her arms go around my neck. She blinks and she’s back. “Kerr? What happened?”

Into the room, I take her and see Bet shivering in a corner. She hauls ass as we come in. No words needed to come from her. I know what frightened her.

Lying her on the bed, I hold her to me. “Are you okay, Kataline?”

She holds tight to me. “I feel myself again. What did I do?”

“Something that could get your head taken from your body.” I kiss her lips softly. “And I very much like your head where it is. I will deal with my father. I am still technically in charge here.”

“Kerr, something’s really wrong with me.” Her eyes look frantically into mine.

“When we get home, we can get you help. If you can try to hang onto yourself until then we can get you all better.” I kiss her again.

“What if they can’t make me better?” Her bottom lip is quivering, and she’s about to cry.

I place my finger to her lip to steady it. “Then we will travel back to Earth and see if they can help you. I will not stop until you’re better, Baby. I swear that to you.”

A smile moves slowly over her beautiful face. “What did I ever do to deserve such a wonderful man?”

“Rest now. In a few hours, we’ll be on Honra to recharge. It’s a beautiful planet. Waterfalls abound and the sun always shines there. Sweet little primates swing through the giant trees and come to play with you at the sides of the springs.” I tweak her adorable nose.

“Sounds like paradise.” She pulls me to her and leaves a kiss on my lips. “Are you taking me to paradise, Husband?”

“Seems so,” I say with a smile and kiss her again.

It seems when I hold her in my arms she’s better. She’s herself. Without letting her go, I climb on the bed with her and hold her tight as I look into her eyes.

Her kind, sweet eyes have so much in them which tells me she loves me. Not a glimmer of the black which clouds them when that other thing comes out in her.

She cuddles into me and sighs. As I run my hands over her back a thought creeps into my head that she may have been implanted with something to make her kill the King and make it possible for Earthlings to take over Euthenia.

A device like that could be activated by either a remote or a timer. And that’s exactly what it seems like is happening to her.

Not to her knowledge, but done by the rulers of Earth to make sure they have a fighting chance at taking our planet. If we just had the scanning system on the ship, we could find out in a millisecond.

Instead, I have to try my best to keep her from killing my father until then. Looks like I’ll have to stay wrapped around her to keep her with me until we get home.

There’re worse ways to spend the next week!

Chapter Nineteen

Kataline

The sun’s light is bright as we step off the ship and onto the second surface I’ve been on since we left Earth. This surface is springy and covered in tiny, pink flowers.

The air is warm and smells of flowers. It’s wonderful here.

Wings beat the air and Kerr and I look up to see a large flock of birds flying over us. They’re large, blue and one makes a loud squawk.

Kerr slips his hand around mine and his shoulder bumps mine. “I can’t wait to get you to the nearest spring, Baby. I’m going to clean you all up then mess you all up.”

My body goes hot and I fan myself with my free hand. “Kerr!”

A short young man with nearly white hair and very tanned skin pulls up in front of us. He’s on a small, two seated vehicle with a hovering device beneath it, keeping it off the ground. It reminds me of old pictures I saw of what were called motorcycles.

“Two shillings will get you the use of this for this day, sir,” the young man says.

Kerr pulls out what the boy has asked for. “Here you go.”

Kerr climbs on the contraption and holds out his hand. I take it and climb on behind him. Running my hands around his waist, I hold on tight.

He takes off and I scream as I feel odd with nothing to protect us from the elements. But within moments I love it. The wind blows our hair and I find myself smiling with a freedom I’ve never felt before.

The port we landed at is quickly behind us and pink trees fill the horizon. Different, bird-like creatures swarm them as I assume they’re finding things to eat in them.

“There’s so much pink, Kerr. It’s adorable.”

“Wait till you see the small primates. I dare say you’ll want to take one home.” He takes one hand away from the steering mechanism and places it on top of mine. “But you can’t.”

I giggle as we fly over the surface which changes the instant we go through the tree line. A pink hue covers us as the trees filter the sun’s bright light.

The sound of water falling fills the air and a damp mist can be felt. Then he turns a corner and there it is.

A giant and magnificent waterfall. Brilliant, blue water falls over a silver cliff into a deep pool of dark blue water. Floating on the surface are a few large birds, white feathers cover their bodies and their beaks are lavender.

“They are beautiful,” I say as Kerr pulls the vehicle to a stop.

A chattering sound has me looking up into the tan branches of the pink leafed tree we parked under. “There’s one of the little primates now, Kataline.”

I follow where his finger points and there it is. A tiny creature with little ears which stick straight up off its little round head. Large, dark brown eyes peer at me from a limb up high and it makes its descent towards me.

Smaller than my hand it is as it comes swinging out of the tree and lands right on my shoulder. “Hello,” I say.

It chatters like its telling me something and then it stops and smiles at me, revealing human-like teeth. Perfectly straight and white.

Kerr smiles as he watches the little thing hold out one of its tiny hands and runs it over my cheek. “He likes you, Baby.”

“How do you know it’s a he?” I ask as I wink at the thing and it winks back.

“His head is dark brown and his body is white. The females are just the opposite.” Kerr reaches towards me and the little thing stands up on my shoulder and throws his hands out in front of him.

It chatters away as if telling Kerr to go away. Kerr laughs and climbs off the vehicle. I get off and follow him to the water’s edge.

From the side, you can see straight down and the bottom is silver just like the rock the fall runs over. “Do you suppose that’s real silver?” I ask.

Kerr nods. “It is. There are many materials here that in most places are precious, but here they occur so much they aren’t even harvested.” He pulls his shirt off over his head. “Ditch the primate and your clothes and join me in the water.”

The little guy looks at me and frowns then shakes his head while making that chattering sound again. I don’t think he wants me to get in the water.

I take him gently off my shoulder and place him on the ground. “Sorry, little guy. My husband asked me to get into the water with him and I have to make him happy.”

Pulling the dress off, I leave it on the shore and the little primate sits on top of the mound of dark blue silk as if protecting it. I give him a wave as I follow my husband into the warm water and he waves back at me then curls up and takes a nap on my dress.

Kerr slips his arms around me as he swims us away from the edge. “You want to take him home, don’t you?”

“He does seem to like me,” I say as I run my arms around Kerr’s neck.

The water soaks his long hair as he takes us deeper. I can’t touch bottom and the odd sensation that something might come up and grab my legs has me wrapping them around his waist.

His bulge presses against me and sends waves of need through my body. The greens in his blue-green eyes light up more than the rest and he smiles. “I love you, Kataline.”

His lips touch mine at the same time a bunch of birds fly overhead and make little cooing sounds as they pass by. My heart flutters as it all seems too good to be true.

He breaks the kiss and we look up to find the flock is made up of tiny blue birds and they’re looking at us. I blush. “Seems everyone here knows what we’re up to.”

“And they seem happy about it,” he says as I hang onto him and he swims backwards towards the waterfall.

A rainbow can be seen as we go under a heavy mist on the side of the waterfall. A natural ledge is there and Kerr picks me up and places me on it then climbs up next to me.

He stands up and takes my hand and leads me along the ledge which is just behind the rushing waters of the falls. The sound is so loud it’s deafening.

A light fills an area up ahead and when we get to it I can look up and see a hole in the top of a huge cavern which allows the sunlight to come into the large, open room.

As we walk back further into it, the noise is less and Kerr stops and pulls me into his arms. “Beautiful, isn’t it, Kataline?”

Silver glistens off the walls made from it. In places there are jewel-like colors of reds and blues. It is beautiful but none of it compares to the man who stands before me.

My hands go through his wet hair and over his cheeks. I pull his face to mine and he kisses me. Strong arms wrap around my body and ease us to the cool cavern floor.

Kerr’s touch always excites me and, this time, is no different. But this time, is different in the way he’s handling me. His hands run over my body as if he can’t get enough of me.

His mouth is hard on mine and his body is rigid. One hand takes my breast, and he kneads it, roughly. The other takes my leg behind my knee and pulls it back to beside my ear and he plunges into me.

It knocks my breath out of my lungs and I gasp with the hard thrust. But it has my body on fire for him and I find myself biting at his neck and clawing at his back as he pounds his body into mine.

Without any warning, an orgasm hits me and I scream with the intensity of it. He growls and thrusts harder and faster. My body shakes with desire for him and I move my body with his.

He fists my hair and pulls my head back, exposing my neck and his teeth bite into it. Heat floods through me and I shout, “Kerr!”

Incessantly, he plunges into me over and over. His lips press against my ear. “You are mine. You are only mine.”

I don’t have enough breath to even answer him, I just moan and arch up to him. His hand moves over my breast then my stomach and he splays his fingers over it.

An ache begins deep inside me as his hand rests on my stomach. He holds his body over mine with the other one and looks into my eyes.

The colors are morphed into one cerulean color and look stormy. “I’m about to fill you with my seed. You will have our child. Tell me you want it.”

Though confusion is running through me, I answer, “I want it, Kerr. I want it more than anything I’ve ever wanted.”

His hand grows hot on my stomach as he plunges into me deeper than before. Harder than before and his face begins to glow.

He’s hot to the touch. My hands on his large biceps begin to burn as his body turns golden. His breathing is hard and rough and his heart is pounding so loud I can hear it even over the sound of the waterfall.

Through the hole in the top of the cavern, a burst of white light comes in and hits Kerr in the middle of his back and he makes this terrible roaring sound which fills the huge caverns and echoes off the silver walls.

Then I feel it. His cock jerks and maybe even twists from how it feels inside me. I scream as the extreme heat burns as it enters me.

“Kerr! What’s happening?” It’s so hot I try to get away from him.

I’m pinned between him and the floor. It’s so hot and it doesn’t stop. The pulsing keeps going and more fluid comes into me with each jerk of his huge cock which feels like it’s gotten even bigger while it’s climaxing.

His teeth are clenched and his eyes are closed. Then the glow starts to fade. The beam of light goes away, and the heat begins to subside.

And in that instant, one quick flash of the face of a small girl, with long dark hair moves through my mind. “I’m pregnant, aren’t I?”

His body cools and the glow is gone, and he looks at me, his blue-green eyes less intense. His hand runs over my cheek and he smiles.

He doesn’t answer with words. Instead, his lips take mine gently and he rests his weight on me. It’s a comforting burden. An oddly comforting pressure on me.

I am going to be a mother!

* * *

Lying naked underneath a tree on the bank, I look up into Kerr’s eyes. His fingers gently stroke my stomach. “In six thousand and four hundred hours you will have our first child.”

“Wow! I had no idea it went that way, Kerr. So you knew all along what was going to happen when you brought me here?”

He smiles sheepishly and nods. “I had heard about this planet and when we stopped here on our way to Earth I scouted around on my own and found the spring and the cavern and knew that’s where I wanted to make our first child.”

“So you can make them when you want to?” I narrow my eyes at him. “Like, baby on demand?”

He laughs. “I guess you could say that. When we get ready to have children the men have the ability to draw the egg to the right place inside the female. Then we focus really hard and bring out the sperm and super-focus it. And that’s how it happens.”

“But on your planet the couples only have two kids each, right?” I ask not really understanding the process.

“Yes, but our females only carry two eggs and you carry more than that. So we will see what’s in store for us.” His hand runs over my cheek. “You glow with our child already, Baby. I can’t wait to see her.”

“Her? Are you able to control that as well?”

He nods. “Tell you what, though. You can pick out the next place we make our next child and you can tell me what you want the baby to be and I’ll make sure I focus on that sex. It’ll all be up to you next time. The when, the how, and the what. Even though technically it’s up to me, I’m giving that to you as a gift.”

“And what a gift that is, Kerr,” I say then pull him down to kiss me. “You are amazing and I’m lucky to have you. I cannot believe I’m going to be a mother.”

He kisses the tip of my nose. “And you will be magnificent. I know you will.”

“Kerr, this day has gone so well. Not a single twinge of pain have I had since we landed here. Perhaps we should never leave,” I say with a smile, knowing we have to leave.

“If it were so easy, we would.” He frowns. “I need to get to the communication building at the port and see if I can get in contact with one of the guards we left to defend the palace.”

“Perhaps you could get some insight into what’s happening there.” I smile and try to get up to leave.

He holds me down. “Where are you going?”

“You said…”

His lips touch mine. “Not just yet, Baby.” His hands run over my sides, leaving warm trails behind them. “I want to taste you before we go back to the ship. I want to taste every sweet inch of your luscious body.”

My arms run around his neck and my hands fist into his long hair. “Oh, well, I think there’s time for that then.”

With one hot lick up the side of my neck, my body melts and he takes me away from this place and into the world only he and I know.

And what a world it is!

Chapter Twenty

Kerr

My stomach tenses with the guard’s words I hear coming from the communicator in the building at the port on Honra.

“Caleb is here, Sire.” One of my most trusted guards, Zan, tells me.

“Is he the one who started this?” I close my eyes and rub my temple.

“No, Sire. He has committed to help, though. He is the new leader’s top advisor.” Zan’s voice is low as he’s hiding from whoever it is who has taken over the palace.

“Tell me who it is, Zan. I need to know what we’re up against.” I wait and when no answer comes I say, “Zan, are you against me now too?”

I cannot believe the man would stab me in the back. I never saw this coming. Not in a million years.

“No one is against you, Prince. It is the King, and I have been sworn to secrecy about telling the leader’s name. A Euthenian. Just know as long as you do not try to defend your father, then you will be left alone.”

“How can I not defend him, Zan? He is my father!” I begin to pace as my head is starting to hurt with how many people want my father dead.

When did the Universe turn against him?

“Once you come home and find out the truth you may not be so ready to defend the man who is your father, Prince. I wish like hell I could tell you everything. I really do,” Zan says then he whispers. “I must go. See you in a week, I pray.”

The connection terminates, and I am left looking at the wall full of colorful pictures of all the different flowers on this planet.

Zan didn’t seem upset about the take-over of the palace. Not even a little. And what is Caleb doing there? He went to the settlement because he wanted to.

I invited the man to stay with us at the palace and enjoy the same type of life we did. He wanted to go out to the wilderness and live a simple life and find a simple wife.

So why the change of heart just as the Earthling’s start an uprising?

Caleb was like a brother to me and here he is all a part of it. I find my feet taking me to my father. He has to have an idea of who it is that is Euthenian and has such a hatred for him.

In the shop at the front of the port, I see Kataline with my Aunt Nar. They seem to be picking out seeds and laughing as I walk up and take my aunt by the arm.

“See her to the ship when her purchases are done. I need to speak with my father. It is no Earthling at the head of the uprising. It’s a Euthenian and one with a special hatred for my father.”

Nar’s blue eyes go wide in shock. “Who would do such a thing?”

I shake my head. “Zan could not tell me. He told me I could not defend my father, though. So I thought you should know that as you are one of his best supporters. I want you to stand down and let me handle it. I don’t want you hurt.”

Her hand runs over my shoulder. “Nor I you, Kerr. But we can’t allow your father to be hurt either. Your mother would roll in her grave if we allowed anyone ever to hurt the man she loved more than life itself.”

I nod in agreement but have no clue what we can do. “We do have many royals and guards behind us. Maybe we could manage to take them down. I don’t know. I guess this next week I’ll try to figure things out before we land on Euthenia.”

With a nod from Nar, I walk away to talk to my father. “Wait, Kerr,” I hear my wife call out.

I turn back and raise a brow in question. She makes her way to me and places her hand on my arm. “A name for our daughter has been running through my head a lot. I mean it has been there for a while now. Well, since we got on the ship as a matter of fact, but anyway, it’s Gleeu. We could call her Glee for short. Doesn’t that sound adorable?”

My heart stops. “Did my aunt tell you my mother’s name?”

She shakes her head. “What is it?”

“Gleeu,” I say. “That is not an Earth name, Kataline.”

She looks down at the floor and seems upset. “No, it’s not. It just came to me. Seriously. When I got on the ship it popped into my head. It’s been there since then and I recall it often. If it’s her name, we don’t have to use it. It was just an idea.”

“We’ll discuss it later. I need to talk to my father. Nar will see you back to the ship,” I say then leave a kiss on her cheek.

I turn around and take in a deep breath. The odd things just keep on occurring.

How did my mother’s name pop into her head the very moment she walked onto the ship?

My father sits in the courtroom with the captain of the Armada and a room full of guards. “Glad you could come and join us for the meeting to decide what our tactic will be once we reach Euthenia,” my father says.

I look around and say, “My father and I need to talk. We can meet at the third moon before we go all the way back to Euthenia. There we can convene and discuss things. I’m not entirely sure going in with guns blazing is a good idea. I have found out it is not the Earthling’s who have taken over. It is one of our own.”

The men look confused, and the captain asks, “Do you know who?”

I shake my head. “My guard couldn’t tell me. There are some Earthlings at the palace and one has been named as the leader’s top advisor. Caleb is a warrior. He is a man to be taken seriously. And his devotion to the leader, a Euthenian, over us, has me concerned.”

My father shakes his head. “Not Caleb. He was such a good man.”

“I know. And I, for one, am not ready to forget about how much we all respected one another. There has to be something we can do to get this uprising under control.” I pace back and forth as my father begins to pour a couple of drinks.

Amazingly, he hands one to me and I place it on the table nearest me. If the man thinks anything he hands me will pass through my lips again, he really has gone mad.

His eyes rest on the full glass I sit it down and he says, “Your trust in Earthling’s is misplaced, Son.”

I cock my eyebrow at him. Too many people are around us for me to disgrace him with the words he recently told me about him most likely having the blood of an Earthling in him.

The men leave us as I’ve requested and I eye my father. “I wanted no one else to know about this. But it is you they want, Father. I was told if I tried to defend you it would hurt me. Now I need you to reach back in your mind and think about anyone you may have done wrong to. In their eyes, at least.”

The fact my father takes a seat and taps his finger to his brow as his fingers go from one to two to three tells me he has, at least, three people he can think of right off hand.

“Fantastic! There’s a list, Father?” I walk away from him and go back outside.

I need air. Lots and lots of fresh air.

What has he pulled down on us all with his ways?

With long strides, I go back to the communication building and try to contact the palace once again. I need more answers.

Someone answers my call from the communicator. “Kerr?”

The voice is Caleb’s and my heart just stopped. “Caleb.”

“Kerr, it’s good to hear your voice. I wish things were better.”

“Caleb, can you tell me anything? Anything at all, friend. Brother.”

“When you come back, come unarmed. Leave your father in the ship and allow us to deal with him. No one else has to be hurt. No one else has to die.”

The silence between us is deafening. “Caleb, why?”

“The one he did the evil deed to will explain everything to you upon your arrival. As long as you do not attempt to defend your father. That person needs to know you stand with them, against your father, Kerr. And I am telling you to do it. You will not be sorry if you place your faith in the one who has taken over the rule of Euthenia,” Caleb’s voice is strong and full of truth.

Yet this is my father we are talking about.

“I don’t know if I can do it without knowing who has taken over. Who am I placing so much trust in? Who want’s my father dead? A name is all I ask.”

“And that is all I cannot give you, Kerr. You must trust what I am telling you. Leave your father on the ship alone or with those who stand with him. We will deal with him and those people alone and no others need to be hurt. Your life will be back to normal before you know it. Only a better normal than before.”

My heart is pounding. My body is sweating and I have no idea what to do.

“Is there nothing else you can tell me, Caleb?”

“I have been told there is a secret weapon which will be unleashed. I have no idea what it is. I have been told it has been programmed for the utter destruction of the King and all who defend him.”

“Any idea when this will take place?” I ask as I run my hand over my face.

“Sometime after you land here, Kerr. So once you land get the fuck off that ship as quick as you can. Get all who you care about off the ships and as far away from them as possible. But make sure your father is secured somewhere inside your ship. I’m pretty sure anyone who is left in the ship will be trying to help him and they will meet their end as well.”

“Thank you, Caleb. Seems I have a big decision to make.”

“Please make the right one and come home to us, Brother.”

The connection ends, and I am left once again with an empty feeling inside me.

Am I to blindly follow one I do not know and turn against my own father?

“Kerr,” Kataline’s sweet voice comes from behind me.

I look down at the floor. “How much of that did you hear, Kataline?”

“Most of it,” she tells me. “Kerr, you know what you have to do.”

I spin around and face her. Anger flashes inside me as I throw my hands into the air and shout, “How can you stand there and say that so damn easily? You carry our child. Tell me how you would see it if she was asked to turn her back on me, her own father and let me die!”

Kataline’s hands cover her face. I feel horrible immediately. But she is acting as if it’s so easy to turn your back on one you’ve only known to have loved you your whole life.

I take her hands from her face and kiss her palms. Tears flow down her reddened cheeks. “I am sorry, Kerr.”

“You speak in voices which are not your own and talk of killing my father, Wife. In your sleep, you do this. And now there is a person who has taken over the rule of our planet who also wants my father dead. A man I have grown to love and trust with all my heart. A man who also knows my father well and was treated like a son by him has asked me to incarcerate my father and leave the ship so he can be destroyed.”

Kataline blinks at me without speaking. Then she shakes her head. “I talk in voices which are not my own? I talk of killing your father? Kerr, you have to help me. I’ve kept the voices in my head from you. But if they’re coming out when I sleep then you know what’s going on inside me. If you don’t help me, I am sure to kill him.”

“You’ve done much better today, Baby,” I say and run my hands over her shoulders. “Maybe that’s over.”

She nods. “I haven’t heard a word in my head since we left the ship. Perhaps it is. But we still have the problem of once we get to your planet, don’t we?”

With a nod, I place my arm around her shoulders and head back to the ship. “We do. And now we must go.”

As we walk onto the ship Kataline’s body goes tense and I can feel it. She leans against me as though she feels weak. Her breath goes in deep and she seems to be trying to catch it.

I stop her as her hand runs to the back of her neck and she rubs it. Pulling her hair up I run my hand where she did. I can feel each vertebra, but nothing out of the ordinary.

“Looking for something, Kerr?” she asks.

“I’ve just been thinking you might have some type of device which has been placed in you.” I take her hand and keep walking.

“What makes you think that?” She runs her arm around my waist and leans into me as if she’s feeling weak.

“Did you start to feel bad when we got on the ship?”

She nods and looks down. “My head is beginning to hurt again.”

With a sigh, I say, “When we get to Euthenia a medic can run you through a scanner and find anything that’s wrong or has been placed inside you. We can get you all fixed up when we get there.”

She smiles and squeezes me. “Finally, a plan.”

For her, yes. For my father, no.

Chapter Twenty-One

Kataline

Little by little after I returned to the ship, the pain is coming back in my head and now the sounds of voices are seeping in. Kerr is sleeping next to me.

He was holding me tightly to him and I fell asleep easily. I suppose he got uncomfortable while we slept and he moved away from me. I think that’s when the voices began.

There’s something about Kerr and his touch that keeps the craziness at bay. But he’s sleeping fitfully, upset about his father no doubt.

The King is a man with many secrets I am sure. There is probably a very good reason whoever it is that’s taken over Euthenia wants him dead.

I can’t help wondering why I do, though. I think he’s arrogant, egotistical, a control freak, and a pompous ass. But I don’t wish him dead.

But some part of me does. The part I’m not completely aware of. The part that has me doing things I never knew I was capable of. The part I have no real control over.

I sit up on the bed and look over at the pink drink on the table and hold out my hand. It comes to it and I hold out my other hand and the little glass that sat beside it comes into that one.

After taking a small shot of the liquid which quells the pain in my head. I try something new. Sending the empty glass back to the table and it goes right back with ease. The pink drink filled decanter is heavier though and I’m unsure about it.

I concentrate on it and it lifts out of my hand. As I look to where I want it to go, it makes its way back to the table. It’s amazing to me that I can do this.

What’s more amazing is I never knew it before. Kerr tosses violently and his hand hits my side as he does. He’s mumbling and his face is pinched.

I lean over and kiss his cheek. His eyes fly open.

“What are you doing!” he asks in a harsh tone.

“Kissing my sweet husband. Do you know where he went?” I ask as I run my hand over his cheek.

He blinks a few times then shakes his head. “Sorry. I was dreaming. And nothing nice.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” I ask as I lean back and pull him to me, cradling him to my chest and stroking his hair.

“I don’t know what to do Kataline. I have to protect my father. But in doing that I’ll be putting my life on the line and I have you and our baby to consider now. It’s just too difficult to know what the right thing is to do.” His hand runs over my stomach in gentle trails.

“I wish I had the answer.” I leave a kiss on top of his head.

“I wish you did too. I wish someone had the right answer.” He sits up and looks at me. “What if I dropped my father off on another planet? I wonder if that would get us back home with no bloodshed.”

“I’m not sure, Kerr. You said they told you not to defend him. That is a form of defending him. It’s hiding him away. That might be considered treason to whoever the new ruler is.” I take his hand and kiss his knuckles. “You should talk to your father about trying to plead for mercy.”

“It doesn’t sound like he’ll be given that chance. I was told to make sure he couldn’t leave the ship after all.” His fingers trail over my collarbone then up to my lips and he traces the cupid’s bow of my top lip. “Damn it, woman, you take my attention from all things, including my father’s predicament.”

I smile and pull his finger between my lips and suck it. His eyes light up and he tosses the blanket back and reveals his excitement for me.

My fingertips touch the tip of his erection and I lick my lips then look up at him. He gives me a nod of approval and I lean down to taste my Prince.

My mouth glides over the massive member as it fills my mouth entirely. His moan of pleasure has my insides quivering. Moisture pools inside me as I pull him into my mouth as far as I can then push myself to take him all in.

His hand on the back of my head presses a bit and I push him past the back of my throat. His moan grows louder and his hands run through my hair and he fists it as the moan turns into a low and steady growl.

I wrap both hands around it, to move up and down him as I make long, slow strokes, taking him in deeper than ever before. The way he feels in my mouth is a mixture of hard and silky and it intoxicates me.

He moves my head faster and I taste a little bit of him as he starts to climax. But he pulls me away from him before that happens. I’m nearly breathless with excitement when he pulls me up and tosses me to my hands and knees.

His long fingers grip my hips and he holds me still while he thrusts his hard and long cock into me. I moan as he fills me entirely. “You like that, Baby?” he asks with a snarl to his deep voice. “You like how I stretch you to fit me?”

“Um hm….” I moan as he moves in and out with slow, but deep strokes.

His hips touch my ass when he moves into me and it tingles with energy where he touches it. Everywhere he touches me sends sparks shooting through me.

The slapping of our bodies fills my ears as he thrusts harder and harder into me. Little eruptions begin inside me and get harder and harder until I’m screaming his name and falling apart around him.

With one loud groan, he slams into me one last time and sends his heated juices into me. Our panting is now all I can hear as we both catch our breaths.

He eases me down and lays beside me. His hand runs over my back. “I love you, Kataline.”

“I will always love you, Kerr.”

I roll over to lie on my back and turn my head to look at my husband. His eyes are clear and full of love. The worry in them over his father is gone. For now, anyway.

How I wish I could help him. Take away his pain and anguish over his father. I close my eyes as a pain stabs my brain and the voice which is always the loudest fills my head.

“You will do as I tell you to, Kataline. You will kill the King!”

“Please stop,” I murmur.

Kerr’s hand moves over my temple. “Shh. Rest, Baby.”

“You will kill the King on my command!” the voice tells me. “Or you will be destroyed, Kataline. I have the power to destroy you.”

Perhaps I should allow that.

Perhaps I should be destroyed.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Kerr

With Kataline sleeping somewhat peacefully, I leave her locked in our room and go to talk to my father. We have limited time to figure out what can be done.

The days have passed and we are but one day out from Euthenia. In the courtroom, I see Bet setting out a decanter of fresh spirits. Safe to drink I hope since Father hasn’t been around to spike them.

“Hello, Bet. Nice to see you here.”

“How is she doing, Sire,” Bet asks. Her eyes are dark and drooping. Her face so worn and worried.

“We have a plan for when we get back on Euthenia to have her scanned and then we’ll know what can be done to help her. The poor thing is under attack in her mind. It’s pretty awful, but I have her sleeping now.” I pour myself a drink and go and sit, looking out the window until my father decides to join me.

The soft sounds of his feet padding across the floor have me looking back and he’s there, wearing a white robe and looking as tired as a man with the weight of the universe on his shoulders.

“Kerr, what has you out of your room?” he asks.

“You and what we should do to save you.” I take a sip and find my hand is shaking a little. I take another sip to try to steady my nerves.

“I think I’ve come to a conclusion, Kerr.” He pours himself a drink and takes a seat on the overstuffed chair he likes so much more than the others for some odd reason.

“I hope it’s something I can agree with, Father.”

He nods and looks up at the ceiling. “I think I will take what I have coming to me.”

My heart stops. “No. Father, your death will settle nothing. Whoever this new ruler is cannot be allowed to take over and kill you. That’s just not acceptable.”

“Kerr, I am no innocent man.” His words do not surprise me.

My father is a secretive man. I had no idea he even had a brother until I was ten years old. His bloodline was not a thing to be talked about as if just not speaking of it made him one hundred percent Euthenian.

Not that it even matters to me or my mother and we should’ve been the only to care. It was more of a thing he wanted to hide away from all. For no good reason, save he doesn’t like to be looked down on for any reason.

“So what have you done that is so awful you deserve to die for it?” I take another drink and look at my father who is looking everywhere but at me.

“I’d rather you never know, Son. It’s best for you just to know, no matter who it is who has taken over my reign, they must know what I’ve done that’s so awful. The fact they have not told all as of yet tells me they may never tell and that would be best.” He gets up and stands in front of the large window.

I sigh and go to stand beside him. Placing my hand on his shoulder, I say, “I cannot let you die just because of something you did. No matter what it was. There is nothing you have done which is so heinous you should die for it.”

He turns to me and sorrow fills his eyes. “I have done something that heinous, Son. I will accept my punishment like a man. I will not hide behind you. If you learn anything from this, learn no bad deed goes unpunished.”

I shake my head. “No. I won’t let you just take what one cares to dish out. I simply won’t, Father.”

“You must. I will have it no other way.” His hand claps on my shoulder. “Bet told me the news a little while ago. You impregnated the Earth woman. Do you think that was wise, Kerr?”

“She is my wife. What would be unwise about such a wonderful thing?” I walk away from him as I truly hate this part of him.

“She is going mad, Son. Her genetics are faulty. You know we don’t breed people who have faulty genetics. It’s not how we got to be the people we are today.” He follows me and presses his hand to my back. “You could end it before she gets too far along. You know that, right?”

“Do not suggest that again, Father.” I walk away from him again and go sit down. “I don’t think there is any real problem with Kataline’s genetics. I think she’s been implanted by her people with something which they have activated inside her to perform these great feats.”

He sits again and looks me over. “And why would you think this?”

“The way she acts. When we’re off the ship she’s fine. I think there may be something which was planted on the ship which is communicating to her through perhaps a chip inside her. She hears voices and when she sleeps she speaks out loud.” I stop myself as he’s frowning at me.

“She says she wants to kill me in these voices.” He smiles. “She would’ve killed me the other day if you hadn’t stepped in. Is that how I am to die? At the hands of a damn woman? An Earthling at that? What an ironic thing, don’t you agree?”

His laughter fills the room, and it turns into a fit of laughter until he coughs and sputters and finally he stops. His cheeks are red from his little fit and I find he looks a little insane.

“Father, I will not let her kill you. When she’s awake she never says she wants to kill you. I won’t let that happen to either of you. Kataline is not a killer. Something inside her may be. But she is not one. I do not want any death on her innocent hands.”

Just as I glance out the window, I see one of our moons setting in the lower part of the pane. We are growing much closer to Euthenia. We are running out of time.

“How are you to stop her, Kerr? Please enlighten me.” His eyes also travel to the moon.

“When I hold her, she becomes quiet and controlled. I somehow overrule the voices inside her. I will continue to use that to keep her from harming you. Once I have the medic scan her this will all be dealt with and she will no longer be a threat to you.”

“Except, you will not get the chance to do that. You see, I overheard you talking and I know you are to lock me away in the ship and leave me in here alone and the ship will be destroyed by some secret weapon. She must be their secret weapon, Kerr.”

I stop and think about what he’s saying. If that’s the case, then what am I to do?

Allow my wife to use her powers to kill my father and stand idly by because of what someone who has taken over what is ours has said to?

My head hurts from my troubles and I have no idea what to do. I have no want for my father or my wife to die, yet it seems if what he’s thinking is true, I will have to choose.

I was told not to defend my father. If I kill my wife and choose him, I will surely die as well. If Kataline is their weapon, she will not be all they’re depending on to get the job done.

I overheard the lead voice come out of her sleeping mouth say if she did not kill the King then it had the power to destroy her.

I guessed that meant the device which is surely planted in her would cause her death. Another thing I cannot let happen.

If there was a way for me to find that thing in her and get it out of her then so much could be avoided. Even if it means the entire Armada goes to another planet to live out our days.

But if my wife will be destroyed with that action I would never be able to live with myself.

I turn to my father. “I need to know the worst thing you’ve done. So I can justify things, Father. I have to know. What was the worst thing you’ve done in your entire life?”

“Hurt you, Son.” His face goes ashen.

My brows furrow. “Hurt me? Father, you have never hurt me. I mean, you’ve pissed me off with your hatred of my wife. But you have never hurt me.”

“I have. You just didn’t realize it was me who hurt you.” He gets up and his shoulders are more slumped. “Let this old man die, Kerr. Take your new bride and live a happy life. Hopefully, the new ruler will see fit to allow you to maintain your rightful place in the hierarchy.”

I watch my father walk away with the death sentence dangling over his head like a hangman’s noose. My heart is filled with dread and it aches deeper than I knew possible.

After tossing back the remainder of my drink I notice Bet has come back in. She looks timid and I wonder if she wants to tell me something.

“Bet, would you like my permission to speak freely with me?”

She nods. I hesitate for a moment. Not sure I want to hear what she has to say with all of the other things straining my brain. But my curiosity wins out. “Go ahead.”

Bet steps closer and looks down the corridor to make sure my father is gone, I’m sure. “You cannot let your father die. Your mother would never forgive you, Kerr.”

I nod. “I know that. She loved the man more than life itself. I have no idea what I should do.”

She sits down next to me and places three, little, brown pills in my hand. “These will keep your wife in a deep sleep. If you can keep her asleep until we arrive and you can get her scanned, then there is hope she’ll not be able to kill your father. If it’s true she is being programmed to kill him, like he thinks.”

I take the pills and place them in my pocket. “But whatever is inside her could destroy her if she doesn’t complete the task of killing him.”

“I know I’m just a genetically damaged woman, Prince. But what if the two of you took the small emergency shuttle and got to Euthenia before the Armada? It has a cloaking device and you could get in undetected. Get her to the medic and get the thing out of her before we even land. That would keep her and your father safe. Then your father will have a chance to plead his case.”

The little woman is on to something. “Or perhaps I could sneak into the palace and find out who our enemy is and stop him once and for all. The reign would revert immediately with their death and the Armada could land safely. All passengers, including my father, would stay alive.”

I pat her on the back and she smiles. “Glad to be of help, Sire. As your sweet mother’s hand-maiden, I still have a deep loyalty to the woman. To stand by and watch the love of her life be struck down is not a thing I can do. Not without trying everything I can think of to stop it.”

With a pretty good plan now, I feel a hell of a lot better about the outcome. I kiss Bet on the cheek, making her blush and giggle.

“You are one smart woman!”

Nearly bounding out of the room to go back to my room I find Kataline sitting up in the bed and holding her head.

Taking the pink drink to her, I sit down and hold the glass up. She downs it quickly and looks at me. Her eyes are red-rimmed, and she looks more than tired.

“Kerr, it’s getting worse. So much worse. Do not leave me alone again. I had to fight myself not to go find the King. I managed, but I don’t know how much longer I can stop. By the looks of things with the moon now in the window I know it won’t be long now.”

Her body is shaking and I pull her to me. “I have a plan, thanks to Bet. You and I will be leaving this ship soon and getting to Euthenia before the rest of them. We’ll get whatever has been placed in you removed and everything will be okay. You’ll be safe and I’ll get into the palace as I know an underground entrance only the Kings and Queens have ever known about. I will end the person who has taken over and we will all live happily ever after.”

Her body tenses. “You know that sounds a lot like a fairy tale, Kerr. They seldom go as planned.”

Heat fills her body, and she pushes back out of my hold. Her face is contorted and her eyes roll up. I jump on her, holding her tight to me.

She thrashes in my arms, but I refuse to let go. “Come back to me, Kataline. Don’t let them overtake you!”

Though she’s moving like a wild animal in my arms, I hold on like her life depends on it. Finally, she stops moving and starts crying.

I kiss the top of her head and ease my grip. “You okay, Baby?”

“No! No, I am not!” Her arms wrap around me as she cries into my chest. “Kerr, I will not be able to stop. This will take me over and I will be helpless to stop it.”

“Bet gave me some pills to put you into a deep sleep. If you get so bad I fear I won’t be able to help you regain yourself, I will make you take them. You’ll sleep until I get you help.” Her body shakes in my arms as she cries.

Her hands move to hold my arms and she looks at me. “Kerr, I am more afraid than I have ever been. This thing inside me is pulling at my mind. Bending it to think things which are not true. At least from what I’ve heard about your mother they can’t be true.”

“My mother? Why is she in your mind?” I ask in complete confusion.

Her blue eyes are shiny from crying and it breaks my heart. “The sinister voice keeps telling me that the King has to pay for what he did to her.”

With a shake of my head, I say, “My father did nothing but love her. It’s a trick to make you hate him. This has to be the work of whoever has taken over. Hell, for all I know I may get back to find the monster has done something to the guards we left behind and even to Caleb to make them believe something which isn’t true.”

“How can you be sure your father didn’t have something to do with her death, Kerr?”

“He was with me when she left the palace. He couldn’t have had anything to do with that. And if you could’ve seen his face when he found she was missing. Well, it was awful. When they found her body torn up the way it was he was sick for a long time.” I shake my head and know he had nothing to do with it.

“It’s just that the voice is screaming at me. It’s so damn loud. Telling me over and over how the King is not the man he seems. He’s not to be trusted. He is only to be killed.” Her face is so calm as she says these horrible things.

“It’s not real, Kataline. I can vouch for him. I was there. He loved my mother. He did, and she loved him.” I pull her to me again as I cannot stand to look into those eyes any longer.

Her eyes are telling me she is beginning to believe the lies her mind is telling her. If I lose Kataline to the device which is trying to control her, I will have lost everything.

“Don’t give in to it, Kataline. Whatever you do, place your faith in me. Not something which your mind has conjured up from the things they are putting in your head. Listen to me. Trust me. Believe me.”

She nods and sighs. “I will, Kerr. For as long as I can, I will believe in you and not the voices in my head.”

“Good, Baby. Stay with me. Don’t let me go. No matter what, don’t let me go.”

I have to move this along a lot faster. Time is running out and somehow I have to get us ready and down to the emergency shuttle before this thing takes her over.

We have to gather the things we’ll need to take with us. I think we should leave as soon as we possibly can. But we’ll need food, drinks, clothes.

“I have to get Bet to gather the things we’ll need. I know this sounds horrible. But I don’t know how else to keep you from harming my father while I’m gone the few minutes it will take to get to her.”

I take her to the hook on the wall and take the cord and bind her hands. Then run the cord over the hook, holding her up.

She looks at me with understanding and I hate I have to do this to her. “I am sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’m okay. Go get her started and I should be able to control myself for a few minutes, anyway.”

The fact she’s helping me to keep the sinister thing inside her away from my father makes me love her even more.

Running my hand behind her neck, I press my lips to hers and she eagerly accepts my kiss. “Thank you for being more than I ever expected, Kataline.”

Her smile is sweet. “You’re more than I ever expected too, Kerr. Hope never seems to leave you. No matter the odds or how crazy it all gets, you have hope.”

“Without hope what do you have?”

I hurry to go get Bet started preparing the things.

Things are looking up!

Chapter Twenty-Three

Kataline

Pain rips through me as my body arches off the wall, trying to get off the hook. The sinister voice is loud in my head. “I will not let you do this! You must complete your task!”

“No!” I scream back at the damn voice which is plaguing me. “I won’t do it! No matter what. You cannot make me!”

My body is shaking and banging against the wall. The room seems to be spinning and I feel as if I’m falling away. Into a dark abyss.

Arms run around me and words are murmured. My head is pounding and the loudest voice screams like it’s being tortured. The other voices join in, but they’re moving further away.

The sounds keep going until all I can hear are the words, “Come back to me, Kataline.”

My breath comes back and I inhale deeply then open my eyes to find Kerr wrapped around me. His lips press against my neck.

“Kerr, I’m okay.” I can barely breathe. My body hurts.

He takes me off the hook and lets my hands free. Pushing the robe off my body, Kerr runs his hands over the back of my shoulder.

“Oww!” I flinch away from his touch.

“You have a bruise here.” His lips touch it. His hand runs over my bottom. “You have bruises all over your ass, Kataline. It looks as if you’ve been beaten.”

“I recall my body smacking hard against the wall.”

He picks me up in his strong arms and takes me to sit on the bed. “I should have strapped you to the soft bed instead of hanging you on the wall. I didn’t think about how it might try to get off the hook and hurt you in the process.”

Naked, he has me on his lap and strokes my hair. “Soon this will be over, Baby. Soon we’ll be on our way to Euthenia in a cloaked vessel. Soon whatever is inside you making this happen will be removed.”

A pain starts deep inside me. As if a knife is plunging into my stomach. I take in a sharp breath and grab at my stomach. “Kerr!”

His arms wrap around me and he holds me tight, but the pain doesn’t stop. “Kataline, don’t let it take you. We’re so close.”

My body starts shaking and I fly off his lap and into the wall. He rushes to get to me as I’m held to the wall by some invisible source.

He gets close enough to reach me and suddenly he’s thrown backwards and hits the opposite wall.

“Leave her alone!” the sinister voice shouts out of my mouth.

I struggle to get myself under control. But the pain in my head is back and the pain in my abdomen is nearly killing me.

I watch Kerr struggle to get back to me. And he seems to be making progress as he moves against what looks like a strong wind. Then he flies back again, pinned to the wall.

His face is turning red as it looks like he can’t breathe. I cannot allow this to happen to him.

No longer able to keep the voices away, I close my eyes and concede to the sinister one. “Take me! Leave Kerr alone and take me!”

I can hear Kerr screaming, “No! Kataline, do not give up!”

But I have to or this thing inside me will kill the man I love. Inside my mind, I tell it again, “Take me. I will fight you no longer.”

My body falls off the wall and Kerr is picking me up before I know it. I’m myself. Not the monster I thought I’d become.

“Quick, take these,” Kerr tells me as he pushes something into my mouth.

They feel small and round and I swallow to take them down. He gives me a drink of water and picks me up and puts me on the bed.

“What was that, Kerr?” I ask as my head feels light and my body listless.

“That will put you to sleep for the rest of our journey back to my planet. It will keep that thing from taking you and making you do things you don’t want to. You will sleep and I’ll carry you to where we need to go.” His hand moves over my brow and his lips touch my cheek.

“Thank you, Kerr. When I wake again this horribleness will be over, won’t it?”

He nods and presses his lips to mine. “Sleep, my love. I will take care of everything. Worry about nothing. It will be over soon.”

My eyelids feel heavy and I’m barely aware of him pulling a purple, long dress over my head and body to dress me. He lifts my body and places the golden cloak, he said is made from a protective material, around my shoulders.

He lays me back and Bet steps inside. A couple of bags in her arms. “Oh! She looks so tired. Did you give her the pills?” she asks Kerr.

“I did and they seem to be working. The thing inside her has grown so strong it nearly choked me to death,” he says as he looks through the bags.

My heart skips a beat as I hear him talk of nearly choking to death. The thing inside me is quiet. All the voices are eerily quiet. I feel as if I’m falling.

The light fades away and I am going under some deep blue water. It’s warm and cozy and I want to be here. Floating in the strange depths and feeling like this is amazing.

I never want to leave this place with its warm, soothing waters.

Just leave me here, in this place, forever!

Chapter Twenty-Four

Kerr

With Kataline safely in a deep sleep, I take the opportunity to tell my father the plan. With a quick knock at his door, he opens it and stands in his robe, looking at me.

“Kerr, what is it?” His face is pale, and he looks weaker than I’ve ever seen him.

“Father, with Bet’s help, I’ve come up with a plan which should keep you safe.”

He clucks his tongue and turns away from me. “Son, let it go. I’ve accepted my fate.”

“Father,” I take him by the shoulder and turn him back to look at me. “I’m taking the emergency shuttle and taking Kataline to Euthenia to be scanned and the thing inside her will be removed. I’m going to use the secret tunnels to get into the palace and I will kill whoever has taken over. Then you will be able to land safely and this whole thing will be over.”

“That sounds awfully easy, Son. I don’t think whatever it is that’s inside your wife will be stopped that easily.” He turns away again and goes to sit on the edge of his bed.

“Well, your faith in me is staggering, Father!” I make sure my tone is heavily laced with sarcasm.

“I’m sorry. It seems I have more faith that whoever has done this to me will surely succeed. I do deserve it after all.” His eyes look everywhere but at me.

“You still don’t wish to tell me what you’ve done which makes you think you deserve to be destroyed?” I ask as he looks like a man who has accepted death already.

With a shake of his head, he says, “You will find out soon and you will hate me.”

“Nothing could make me hate you. You are my father. We all make mistakes. We all do things which hurt others. I’m sure you’re not to be held any more accountable than any other creature.” I place my hand on my father’s shoulder. “Let me do this and try to get some faith about things. If you have committed a terrible crime, then we can decide how you can best make up for that. Death isn’t the answer. It never is.”

With a wave of his hand, he says, “Go along and follow your plan. It won’t be long before you hear what I’ve done and then you will leave me on this ship and allow them to do what they plan to. You can remove whatever device you think is making your wife a weapon, but they will have a back-up plan. Of that I’m sure.”

My father stands up and his arms run around me. His lips touch my cheek. “Father, I feel as if this is goodbye.”

“It is, Son. Just remember I have always loved you. No matter what I’ve done, I have always loved you.” He lets me go and I feel something is so wrong.

“I wish you would tell me what you did, Father.”

His head shakes and he goes to lie on his bed. “Leave me, Son. I am so tired. So damn tired of running from what I’ve done.”

“Goodbye, Father. See you on Euthenia soon.” I leave the room and wonder what the man could have done.

Kataline thinks he had something to do with my mother’s death, but I know he didn’t. It has to be something else. No matter what it is, he doesn’t deserve to die for it.

As I get back to our room I see Kataline’s eyes opened. A smile crosses her red lips and she wiggles her finger at me.

“You’re awake!” I say with surprise.

“I am and I have a hunger for you.” She gets out of the bed and slips the cloak off and pulls the bottom of her long dress up as she makes her way to me.

“Kataline, there really isn’t time…”

Her hands are pushing at my pants and set me free quickly. Her head goes down to take me in her mouth and intense pleasure goes through me.

“Well, if we make it quick,” I say as I run my hands through her long, dark tresses.

Her mouth is hot, and she moves it quickly, igniting an instant fire inside me. A need to be inside her fills me and I pull her head up and pick her up and take her to lie on the edge of the bed.

With one quick motion, I yank her down until her ass is on the edge of the bed and push her dress up to her hips. She’s already arching them up to me as I bury myself inside her.

She moans and closes her eyes. I take her legs and hold them as I thrust into her, making her make crazy sounds as she gyrates her body.

The pills seem to have made her very aroused. And I’m loving it!

Her breasts move up and down as I plunge into her over and over. Her breathing is sporadic and uneven as she shouts, “Fuck me! Fuck me hard!”

I thought I was doing that but I increase my speed and the force of my thrusts to make her feel more. A heat starts inside her, and she runs her hands all over her body as she climaxes and shouts the word, yes, constantly.

Her body clenches around my hard cock and I let it go, seeking the ecstasy she’s enjoying. She sits up as my cock jerks inside her and her eyes fly open as she grips my ass in hands which seem to be much stronger than they should be.

And then I see the color and the blackness in her eyes holds my attention. Her lips peel back into a harsh grin. My heart stops beating.

“Kataline, what have you done?” I ask in horror.

A laugh comes from her mouth and I struggle to get her to let me go. Her strength is unreal. The whole thing is so unreal.

The deep, velvety voice speaks, “You are more enjoyable than I thought you’d be. Now, this time, let’s get rough.”

She jerks me down to her as she lies back and refuses to let me go. “Stop, Kataline!”

“She’s gone. It was you who put her to sleep. You have no one to blame but yourself for me being able to take her completely. Thank you.” She pulls my hair with a hand she took off my ass.

Then her other hand takes another large lock of my hair and she pulls my face to hers. Our lips touch and her teeth take my bottom lip between them.

Her bite is harsh and I taste blood as I feel the pinch of her breaking my skin. I press my hands to her narrow shoulders and try to gain my freedom.

We hover in the air then she turns and I’m on the bottom. She presses her body to mine and moans as she moves up and down my cock.

“I’m going to fuck you until you can take no more,” the deep voice says and I find myself cringing.

Her body tightens around me as she pumps her body over my helpless dick. I want this to stop.

“Kataline, Kataline listen to me,” I say.

The creature continues to gyrate all over me as she says, “She is not here. You will not see her again. I have her put away somewhere she doesn’t even care to come back from. I am your wife now, Kerr.”

A laugh that fills my heart with dread comes from her. Her head is pulled back and I reach out and give her a hard slap in an attempt to wake her up from the deep sleep the pills put her in.

“Rough! Yes!” She rears back and slaps me. “Do me again!”

There’s a big red welt on her face where I hit her. I won’t do it again. It did no good anyway.

I yank her hair to one side and it jerks her in that direction, giving me enough leeway to turn her over and now I’m on top and I press her down and get off her.

She screams in anger as I quickly shove my cock back into the safety of my pants. She flies at me with a shriek and the next thing I know I’m laid out on the floor.

The dress she has on falls down back down to cover her as she walks towards me. Her hand juts out as I try to get up. A pressure holds me to the floor.

“Stay where you are, Kerr. It is time for me to do what I was sent here for. I’ll be back for you after I’ve completed my task. You and I will have a long marriage. In this one, I will be dominating you. Over and over, Kerr, I will take you like I want to and you will be powerless to stop me.”

The door slides open and she leaves the room. I try to move, but I can’t. I’m paralyzed and have no idea how long this will last.

I try to shout out for help but my voice is weak and I know no one will hear me.

She will get to my father and in moments, he will be dead. I close my eyes and hope he has the common sense to hide from her.

Over the intercom comes the captain of the ships frantic voice, shouting, “Red alert, red alert. Princess is on the bridge, staging a take-over. All hands to the bridge now….”

A loud banging sound stops his words, and the intercom goes silent.

She’s close to taking control of this ship and I have no idea what she’ll do once that happens. But the information is out there so my father should be able to hide now that he knows.

All of a sudden the ship goes entirely dark. It lurches as the engines die and we begin drifting.

She’s taken all the power from it. From my position on the floor, I can see the ship next to us and the lights go out on it as well.

She’s managing to take the power from all of the ships somehow.

She’s more powerful than I ever imagined possible. And now we are dead in space and at her mercy. Only Kataline is nowhere in her body right now.

But the pills will wear off and then she can try to take her body back over.

But will the devastation she’s causing be too much to allow her to live? And how many of us will the thing she’s become allow to live?

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Book 4

Chapter Twenty-Five

Caleb

Caleb rode on his one mode of transportation, a black equine named Jasper, until he came to the spring near his new home on the Euthenia Nebula.

“I’m going to jump in and wash my body off, and then I’ll be on my way to fetch my bride,” Caleb said to himself.

Caleb stripped down then jumped into the near freezing water, igniting a shout. Briskly he scrubbed at his skin, then got out and dressed quickly. He ran his fingers through his wet hair, making the natural auburn curls spring up in a frame around his face.

Two swine hung by the edge of the spring, a sack on his equine’s hind quarters moved a bit. He whistled to the swine as he climbed back onto the saddled animal. Confidence filled him as he’d made a pact with himself not to let fear and doubt cloud his mind this time.

Instead of going straight to the Power’s home, he went through the small settlement, finding a missionary to marry them. He had what Emerald’s father had asked for and was not taking no for an answer. Not this time. Today he was taking Emerald Powers as his wife.

His heart began to pound in his chest as he got off his equine at the front of the dwelling. The missionary was not far behind him, so he had to get her father to agree pretty quickly. Swallowing hard, he knocked at the door.

Emerald’s father opened the door with a frown covering his wrinkled face. “You again!”

Not surprised by the man’s gruff greeting, Caleb smiled. “Yes sir, ‘tis I. I brought what you asked for and a missionary is on her way here now.”

Emerald’s father looked him over, taking in his much better appearance.

The last time Caleb had come to ask for the man’s daughter’s hand, he’d been a mess after falling from his equine into the muddied fields which had been surrounding the settlement with the Euthenian rains.

“So, you’ve brought me the two swine you say. Why is it I only see one?”

Caleb gestured to the shed. “The other ran into your shed.”

Her father searched behind the young man. “The fowl?”

“You said one fowl, and that’s what I brought you.”

“Did I?” The man asked as he pushed Caleb out of his way to go outside. “Is it in that bag there, on your equine?”

He managed to keep a smile on his face even after being shoved by the old man. “It is.”

What an ass this man is. I’m sure his daughter will want to run from the awful man. Hopefully, she’ll be pleased I’m taking her as mine.

Her father came back in with the bag. “So you’ve brought what I asked for. The girl’s yours.”

Caleb said, with relief, “Thank you, sir.”

Emerald’s father motioned towards one of the chairs. “Sit there and I’ll retrieve her. You said a missionary was coming here?”

“She will be here soon.”

“I’ll let her mother know she needs to get her ready,” Emerald’s father said then left Caleb alone in the room.

Caleb sat in the chair, rigid as a board. He got what he’d come for, but worry hit him like a brick wall.

What will she think of me? How do I look?

A large mirror hung near the door. He grinned at his reflection. His six feet three-inch frame was well-muscled thanks to the strenuous work he did in the Euthenian forest, cutting down trees for new settlers who came from Earth to use to build them places to live.

He straightened the collar of his white shirt he’d purchased just for this day. He ran a large hand over the front of his new black jeans and wiped a bit of dirt off his boot.

With one more glance in the mirror, he gave his reflection a wink with his deep green eyes. “That’ll do.”

A knock at the door had him grinning. He opened the door, finding the missionary. “Thank you for coming. Her father said, yes.”

The woman was old and short. She said no words, just held out her hand. Caleb gave her the seeds which were her price for the service. They were apple seeds, four of them and came from the best orchard on Earth.

Her smile told him she was in agreement with his offering. “Do you have anything special you’d care for me to add to the ceremony?” the missionary asked.

Caleb thought a moment then said, “No. The same old thing you always do will be fine.”

“What’s the girl’s moniker?”

“Emerald,” Caleb answered. “Emerald is about to be my wife! I can hardly believe it! I’m thirty and came here a year ago with my family. I built my own home a little ways away from them. To have a woman to share my small home with will be a thing I’ve dreamt of. When I heard this man was putting his daughter up for marriage and then heard of her beauty, I jumped to come and take her as mine.”

“But you came for her once before you told me,” the old missionary said.

“I did, but I was a mess from falling into some mud and her father told me to get lost. I didn’t even get to see her then. But now not only do I get to see her, I get to take her home. It’s a dream come true.” Caleb found himself pacing and the nerves were making his stomach flutter.

Her father came back, nodding to the missionary. The sound as someone cleared their throat made him turn to look back. That’s when he saw her.

Emerald was small with delicate, creamy skin, long blonde hair, blue eyes, pink cheeks and lips. She was perfect. Fear ran through him as he gazed at the young woman who’d soon be his wife.

She is too perfect for me!

Chapter Twenty-Six

Emerald

The squeal of a swine rang out and a large, black boar ran into the shed she’d been working in. “Where’d that come from?” Emerald shouted as it brushed past her, going straight for the clean hay she’d just spread out for their bovines.

Emerald’s mother moved towards the door. “Stay in here, girl,” she told Emerald. She closed the door behind her, leaving Emerald in the dark.

Emerald peeked out of the cracks surrounding the old wooden door. Another large swine was walking around. A black equine nibbled at the greens in front of her house. There was a bag hung across the equine’s back and something was making it move.

Her father walked out to the equine and took the bag. He went back into the house with it. A few minutes later Emerald saw her mother come back out of the house, coming towards the barn.

“We have to get you cleaned up, Emerald.”

“Mommy, what is it?”

“Follow me, we can go through the back door and sneak you into your room. You’ll have to have a quick bath. You’re dirty from tending to the bovine.”

Once in her room, Emerald’s mother moved about, quickly making a bath so Emerald could clean herself. She soaked in the tub, watching her mother move around her room, gathering her things. She’d been shushed when she asked what was going on.

As her parents were never ones to talk to her much anyway, she remained quiet as she bathed. Her mother packed a bag, so she knew she would be going somewhere.

She laid out clothes on the bed for Emerald to change into then left the room. When she came back she had another case then left again. Emerald climbed from the tub and dried off then dressed in the clothing her mother had laid out for her. A brilliant blue dress which hung to the floor. A pair of shiny, black shoes which made her taller than the five feet, five inches she was.

Making her way back to the bedroom, her mother said, “In this bag you’ll find the things I’ve saved for ya.” She pulled a silky, dark blue nightgown out of the bag. “This is for tonight, daughter. Your wedding night.”

Fear froze on Emerald’s face. “Mommy, I’m getting married today?”

“You are Emerald. The young man has come back with what your father asked for and he brought a missionary. Today is your day, girl.”

Emerald paced back and forth, nervously wringing her hands. “Mommy, no! I’m not ready.”

“No one is ever ready, but it happens just the same. He’s young and sturdy.” Her mother continued packing.

A frown covered her face. “I have to go, don’t I?”

Her mother’s eyes finally fell upon her daughter’s face, finding it pale with fear. “You do. Now let me put your hair in a braid and we’ll go out to let you meet your young man. Be glad it was a young man who brought your father what he asked for in exchange for you hand and not an old one.”

Emerald stood still as her mother pulled her hair into one long braid. She laid it on one shoulder, a faint smile on her face as she admired her work. Slowly she looked up at her daughter, her smile faded back into the tight-lipped expression she usually wore.

Emerald gave her mother a weak smile. “Thanks, Mommy.”

Her mother took her by the hand. “Well, then, let’s get you to him.”

At twenty, Emerald knew she was more than old enough to marry, but her life had been so sheltered. She was as innocent as they come, having lived alone with her parents on the farm where they produced milk for the other Earthlings in their settlement.

Her heart beat hard in her chest as her mother led her to the little main room of their house. Her father, some old woman who held a book in her hand and a tall, auburn-haired young man turned to look at Emerald after her mother cleared her throat when they entered the room.

Emerald was in shock at the rapidly progressing events, finding she couldn’t hear properly or think straight. She just moved her body forward, going through the motions.

The young man was dressed nicer than he’d been the first time he’d come. She’d gotten a peek at him from her bedroom window before he was sent on his way by her father.

The man came to her and took her hand in his. She noticed his made hers look so small. He was about a foot taller than she was and she had to strain her neck to look up at him.

His deep green eyes were mesmerizing and she was in awe of his muscled body. “I am Caleb Booth, Emerald. I’ve brought your father what he asked for and a missionary to marry us today.”

Quietly she spoke, “Okay.”

Her father blurted out in his deep voice, “Let’s hurry this up. These two have a long ride ahead of them.”

The missionary asked them to say things after she said them. She told them to sign a paper and they did. Only after the missionary had left did Emerald really look at her new husband.

Tasseled auburn curls with hints of blonde the sun had streaked it with made her want to touch it. Tall, broad-shouldered and handsome, she was very pleased with who she’d been given to.

Emerald was about to leave her home and family, forever. Her heart began to erupt at considering never seeing her mother again. Her father’s dark eyes found hers, bringing the eruption back under control with his strict expression. She shook her head, tossing off her feelings.

With a hug and a kiss, she told her mother she loved her. Her father’s hard expression proved harder for her to place a kiss on, so she hugged him. He didn’t hug her back, she found herself happy she was leaving the place she’d felt unloved in her entire life. Perhaps this young man would see fit to find a place for love in their new home.

Caleb took her hand and led her out of the home she’d grown up in and to a life she was nervously excited about. But being so innocent, she was already fearing he’d be disappointed with her.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Emerald

The day was cool, and the ride was long as Emerald rode behind her new husband, her hands on either side of his waist. Tired, she leaned her body against his broad back.

He smelled of soap and fresh water. Something about him made her giddy but calm at the same time.

After quite some time of no talking, Caleb said, “Are you always this quiet, Emerald?”

Emerald felt shy. “I apologize. I have no clue what to talk about.”

“Tell me some things about you. Do you know how to cook, for instance?”

“A few things. I’m no chef, I’m afraid. But you will not starve.” She pulled her head from his back and sighed.

He chuckled and she found she liked the deep sound he made. “There’ s not a lot I’ll require from you, wife. Cook, clean, care for our children when they come along. I hunt for the majority of our food. You’ll have to learn how to clean the animals.”

“Then I will learn,” she said. Her eyes ran to the sky where the two suns burned, one a bit brighter than the other. “Do you miss Earth, Caleb?”

“Sometimes. We had a different lifestyle there.” He made a short laugh. “My family was wealthy and sometimes with wealth comes corruption. My father strayed from his marital bed and my mother told him if they were to stay married they had to leave.”

“So, to get your father away from the other woman she made her whole family leave the planet?” Emerald found herself shocked.

“We could’ve stayed, but we would’ve had to find our own places and ways to make livings as our parents had spoiled us terribly and we had no idea how to do it. Mother said the mansion was to be sold to pay for our passage to Euthenia. There was nowhere for us to go so I and my five brothers came with them.” He sighed and Emerald could tell things had been rough for him.

“And the woman your father left behind? What about her?” she asked.

“Not sure. He certainly never talks about her. That whole thing made me want to learn how to provide for myself and I have. I built my own home, but my brother’s stayed with my parents some kilometers away from where you and I will live.”

The ride went on and they got quiet. Emerald took in the scenes as they rode past them all. To one side of the trail, they rode along there was a field of blue wheat. Somewhere near there must have been a small abode where the farmer lived who raised the crop.

The other side of the narrow trail was left alone. A bordering field which was to remain vacant. Though after looking hard, she saw evidence of small campsites where people who were venturing into the forbidden cities would spend their last night before they made it out of the settlement area they were supposed to remain in.

“Tell me, Caleb, do you yearn like so many to go to the cities of Euthenia?”

He shook his head. “I have no want to go anywhere out of our borders. I have a few brothers who do wish to push their limits here. They constantly try to bring me around to their rebel cause. A thing I have no interest in.”

“That’s a shame. Why does our kind have to always grasp for more than we’re given?” she asked him as well as herself.

Emerald also had no want to take any more than she’d been given. She’d overheard her father many times though speak of storming the capitol and taking the castle.

“Have you heard any of the talk which has been happening here of late, Emerald?”

Her arms went around him as she rested her head again. “My father has said a battle is imminent. He and some of his friends held meetings in our shack. I’ve seen weapons in the rafters of the attic in the shack. I cannot tell you how happy I am you came for me. I want no part of any rebellion. And I’m glad to hear you don’t either.”

A large, dark, red forest appeared. The smell of mineral laden soil wafted in the air.

“Are we getting close?”

“Yes, we’ll go through the forest for a while, and then on the other side is our home.”

A new home was about to be hers and Emerald found her stomach knotting in anticipation and a shiver ran through her as she looked at the edge of the red forest.

One of the two suns was eclipsing at the top of the tree line. Her heart pounded as she’d dreamt the same sight only just the night before. Her voice quivered as she said, “Caleb, look at the sun. What’s happening to it? Is it burning out?”

He chuckled. “That’s an eclipse, Emerald. We had them on Earth as well. You’ve never heard about them?”

“No! What does it mean? I mean, I dreamt of this last night.”

“It doesn’t mean a thing. It’s a shadow falling across it, that’s all. The fact you think you’ve seen this sight before is just your imagination playing tricks on you.” He kicked at the equine’s flanks as the animal hesitated to walk into the dark forest with red hues and shadows.

It moved forward with great hesitation. The light faded as they entered the forest, the sunlight filtered by the red trees and the fact one sun was disappearing.

Emerald shivered at the cold, which took her. The lack of sun made it cooler than it had been. Caleb pulled at a bag, taking out a cotton wrap, and handed it back to her. “It gets kind of cold in here. I brought this to keep you warm.”

“That was nice of you, thank you.” She pulled it around her narrow shoulders.

Her eyes darted around at the many trees and bushes. “Have you heard any scary tales about these woods, Caleb?”

“Not that I recall.”

With a quivering voice, she said, “I’ve heard stories of lost little boys and girls who came into this forest and never came out.”

His laugh filled the air. “So, I have me a wife who believes in fairytales and ghost stories?”

Emerald’s cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “One never knows, Caleb. Don’t make fun!”

Her eyes were wide as she looked up at the giant trees. Thousands of years old they were and she was in awe of their size and age. The fact the Euthenian’s were allowing the Earthlings to cut them down to build themselves homes was a thing she thought horrible. Though they did need something to build their homes out of.

A scarlet leaf fell from a branch high above her head and the equine was moving so slowly she was able to catch it. “Look what I caught!” She held it out so Caleb could see it.

“Well, seems you have a thing to remember the day I brought you home.”

She smiled at his sentiment and held it to her chest. As if she’d ever be able to forget the day her whole life changed.

The light began to glow as they neared the edge of the red forest. Emerald saw a meadow of purple grass with black stones strewn around as if they’d been tossed around with no regards to where they’d land.

A stream trickled through the grass. Emerald’s eyes followed the clear stream of water. Then a house came into her view.

Caleb turned and she could see he was smiling. “There she is, Emerald. Tell me what you think.”

Emerald was near shock. The tiny house had a roof which looked as if it was made of the purple grass which surrounded the home on all sides. Red, wood walls were glued together with a gray, mud. The only word which came to her mind was, ‘horrid.’

The scene surrounding it was beautiful. The wavy purple grass offset by the majestic red forest in the background worked well in nature. She supposed if built better, the home would look fantastic. It was a hut, no windows, one door and it was pitch black inside as the door was standing open for her to see inside.

She managed to choke out, “You built this, Caleb? Alone?”

“My brothers helped me some, but it was mostly me. Do you like it? It matches the surroundings. Don’t you think?”

“It does, yes. I like it. You made it, so I like it.”

The closer they got, the more things she saw wrong with it. Cracks in the mud let in small pin holes of light. Emerald knew if light could get in so could insects. She hated insects.

They pulled up; Caleb got off the equine then held his hand out to help her. He surprised her as he scooped her up and carried her into the darkness of their new home.

“It’s a tradition to carry your wife over the threshold.” He put her down after he brought her inside.

Emerald saw nothing but dark shadows. He lit up a lantern, making the inside appear. She looked down and found red dirt covering the floor. “I’ll sweep this out straight away, Caleb. Where might your broom be?”

“No, silly! It’s a dirt floor. Like one of the latest things people do now. It’s pretty, right?” He gestured to the walls. “See how it matches the wood?”

“You’re right, it does.” She ran a hand through her hair and tried hard not to break down and cry. “It’s larger than it looks like it is from the outside. What about some walls to break up the rooms, Caleb? Are you building them later?”

“I like the place all open. No little rooms, just one big one. You can set up your kitchen where ever you’d like to. You can move the bed around to where ever you like. The beauty is you can do with it, however, you like to with no walls to get in your way.”

Emerald looked around the shack he built with no windows or floors or separating walls. Then she realized one very important thing was missing. “The bathroom! Where is it?”

Caleb’s eyes sparkled at her as he answered, “I bathe in a natural spring in the red forest.”

“Okay, what about going to the bathroom, Caleb?” She began to twist her hands in front of her.

“I go in the woods, you can too.”

Her unhappiness at his words began to show on her face. She felt her bottom lip beginning to quiver as tears threatened. “Perhaps a quick walk around the outside.” She spun around to go outside before he could figure out she was about to burst into tears.

She turned and walked back in quickly as he was quickly at her side. “I’ll go with you.” She didn’t want him to see her crying.

Emerald acted if some dust from the floor had kicked up into her eyes, she used her sleeve to dry her eyes. “You know I really should just put my things away. Is that lump of old blankets where we’ll be sleeping?”

He nodded and she swallowed hard. This was going to be much harder than her life had been.

“How long have you lived here?” she asked as she placed the bags she’d brought on the ground near the make-shift bed.

“I haven’t. I’ve been at my parents’ house. I was waiting for you until I moved all the way in. I have more things to pick up from their place tomorrow.” He sat on a small wooden chair.

“Oh! Good!” She sighed. “Okay, so we’ll have some more things.”

“Of course, we will, wife,” Caleb said with a chuckle. “What do you take me for, a cheap man?”

“No, of course not. So, for tonight, dinner. Where is the food?”

“I need to set up your kitchen. There’s a box here with some things for that. Where do you want me to set that up at?”

“Anywhere is okay,” she answered.

His eyes leveled on her as he said, “I want you to decide, Emerald.”

Her words came out quietly, “Over here by the table and chairs.”

Emerald was unsure how she was going to take living in this new place in this way. One thing was for sure, the lack of a bathroom was going to make life so much harder.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Emerald

Emerald sat in a chair at the small table, watching Caleb as he lit some wood on fire in the middle of the floor. “Is it safe to have a fire inside a house?” she asked.

“There are so many cracks in the mud holding the logs in place no carbon dioxide will build up. Don’t worry, you’re not with an idiot.” He stood up and went to retrieve something from his bag. He turned back and smiled at her as he held out a dingy cloth. “Dinner, dried jerky, and some bread my mother made this morning. I’ll get some water from the stream. I’ll be right back,” he said, as he walked out the door into the dark night.

It had fallen dark so quickly. Emerald supposed it was due to the eclipse of the second sun. The fire made things look a little better in the flickering light. Her stomach was growing tighter as she knew what was about to happen.

Caleb’s cheeks had flushed several times as she caught him looking her over when he thought she wasn’t looking. She had to admit she had looked him over as well. His clothes hid a lot about him she was sure. His forearms were tightly muscled so she knew his biceps had to be nice as well.

Emerald had grown up on the bovine farm, she was aware of how intercourse went. It was usually fast, and the female avoided it every time in the animal world.

Would he be quick and then it would be done?

A naked man was not a sight she had seen. She’d seen male animals, so she had an idea of what there was to see. The sound of his boots as he walked up to the open door of the shack stopped her from thinking any longer.

He walked in and handed her a wooden cup, full of water. His smile was so big she thought he must be proud of the stuff so she took a sip and found it refreshing and tasted good. “It’s really good.”

“The water here is filled with minerals and is supposed to be real healthy for you. It’s one of the reasons I chose this area to build on. You have the forest to hunt in and the waters in the different ponds you find in there to fish in. You can plant a garden to get your vegetables in. I have some seeds I’ve been saving and we can make a garden together. Maybe we can start that tomorrow after we return from my family’s place.”

Emerald was somewhat relieved. “It’s nice to know you’ve made a plan for us. I know we all came to Euthenia to lead a simple life, but some modern things are good too. Like a bathroom. It would be nice if we could add one, even if it’s outside.”

He smiled and laid a blanket out by the fire and looked at her with fire in his deep green eyes. “If you want one then you will have one, my queen.”

“That’s nice to hear. You and I can make this happen together. I have a feeling you’re a man I can put my trust in.” He sat on the blanket and patted the space next to him.

She went and sat with him and found herself eerily calm as he made her feel a bit protected and his size made her feel as if he could keep her safe.

Remembering the hook and strap in all the Euthenian homes and how her father kept one in his, a thing not all Earthlings accepted about the Euthenian lifestyle, she looked around for and did not find.

Tensely, she asked, “Caleb, do you not believe in the hook and the strap?”

Caleb shook his head. “I do not! This world is so much older than ours, but that practice is positively barbaric. You need not have any fear I will be giving you lashes when you do something which displeases me, Emerald. If you and I have any things we need to work out, we can talk about them.”

“I have to tell you that relieves me greatly. My father was fond of the strap and me and my mother felt it’s sting more times than I care to recall. If that is behind me, that is fantastic news.” She laughed and fell back on the blanket. Her heart felt free with the news and then he was over her. Smiling down at her.

Her heart stopped beating as his eyes had grown very dark. “The hour is late and we have to be up at dawn's first light. We should go to bed now, wife.”

The gulp she made was loud and he laughed as she blushed. “Okay,” she said in a whisper.

He stood and pulled her up. “I’ll make this relatively painless.” He smiled after he said the words but it did little to make Emerald feel better about what was about to happen to her.

Caleb unbuttoned the buttons on the bodice of her dress as she tried hard not to allow her body to shiver. His hands were large and he was having trouble with the dainty things. “Shall I do that?”

He gave her a nod and stepped back to allow her space. She finished what he’d started and pushed the dress from her body, leaving the dark blue material in a heap on the ground. Red dust puffed up as it hit the floor and she coughed.

Not a stitch was under the dress and she stood naked in front of him. She stepped out of her shoes and went to lie on the pallet of blankets. He pulled his clothes off hurriedly and went to stand over her.

His large cock was at full attention and her eyes were large. “Caleb, that will never fit.”

“Don’t worry, it will.” He moved in next to her and placed his hand on her breast. “These are lovely. May I?”

Her nose wrinkled as her face squished up as if she’d tasted something sour. “May you what?”

“Suckle it,” he said as he looked confused. “Do you have no idea of the things that come along with intercourse, Emerald? Were you not taught by your mother?”

She shook her head. “Guess you have to do that, Caleb.”

“Then just lie back and close your eyes and get ready for a trip to Heaven, wife.” He smiled and squeezed her breast.

“Heaven? So, it feels good then?” She was confused. The animals never seemed as if it felt good.

“I guess I’ll let you be the judge of that, Emerald.” He leaned over and kissed her.

Not like the peck he gave her after they were married. A real kiss. A solid kiss. A kiss which took her breath away. When he finally released her she looked up at him and batted her eyelashes. “That was magnificent!”

“You liked that, then you’re about to love this.” He placed his mouth on her breast and nipped it, making her squeal.

Then she moaned as his tongue ran over it and his hot mouth sucked it. The other breast he took in his hand and rubbed it, giving it gentle squeezes now and then.

Her body was building up heat, her insides were quivering, and she felt she wanted even more. His mouth was taking her to a place she’d never been. He moved his body over hers and shifted to kiss her lips again.

She squirmed a little as she felt him pressing his large appendage to her small opening. He pushed until he moved inside her sending a white-hot pain through her. But the pain ebbed shortly afterward and an intense pleasure began.

Her body moved with his, and she was surprised by how hard they were both breathing. Moans erupted from them and at least, she was unaware of them leaving her mouth.

His hands stroked softly over her body and his lips grazed her neck as he moved over her. Something inside her was building and she had no idea of what was about to happen.

When she climaxed, she found herself shouting his name over and over. His body went taught and a wet heat filled her. She knew then it was his seed which poured into her.

Her body naturally milked his large appendage, pulling every drop of the life-giving liquid from his loins. Her heart beat like never before and her mind was quiet, nothing mattered but how their bodies responded together.

After a dep, long breath, she managed to say, “Caleb, that was awesome. We have to do that a lot. Please say we can!”

His deep chuckle shook her body and he kissed her softly on her lips. “If that’s what you want, my princess.”

Book 5

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Emerald

Emerald opened her eyes to find herself in complete darkness. The fire had gone out, leaving it pitch black. A stickiness between her legs made her shudder at the thought of what she would find there once the sun came up. Deep breathing, she heard next to her, letting her know her new husband was asleep.

Caleb’s breathing changed. He turned over and threw his arm around her, holding her to him. A loud clap of thunder crashed and the sound of rain, falling hard on the thatch roof rang in the air. Emerald stiffened as Caleb moved closer to her.

“It’s just a storm, don’t worry, Emerald. I’m here.”

“I’m okay. I feel safe here in your strong arms, Caleb.”

He pulled her up onto his chest, then wrapped his arms around her, protectively. The sound of his heart beating filled her head as she lay on his chest. His breathing fell back into a regular rhythm as he fell right back to sleep.

I’ll be able to hear the sound of his heart beating like this for the rest of my life. He smells like the forest. His skin is so soft on mine. His breath is warm on top of my head, moving my hair slightly.

Before she knew it she’d fallen asleep in the tight protection of her husband’s arms.

* * *

The sound of thunder in the distance brought Emerald back into a state of consciousness. No heartbeat met her ears. No soft chest rose up and down, slowly with the deep breaths of sleep her husband took. Looking over, she saw her husband was no longer in their straw bed. Then the door opened and in he walked, dressed and carrying a pail. “Good morning, sleepyhead. I brought ya some water to clean yourself up with.

Holding the blanket to cover her and blushing fiercely, she sat up. “Thank you, that was thoughtful of ya,” she managed to choke out.

He placed the pail down next to the bed. Sitting next to her, his long fingers reached out and touched her cheek, rubbing it as he looked at her. With his other hand, he brushed her hair back, then leaned over and kissed her cheek.

Emerald’s body responded to his touch immediately and she made a small moan.

Caleb made a little groan and pulled his mouth from hers. “I’m afraid we have no time for that this morning. We have to get to my parents’ place early. I’ll give you some privacy. Don’t take too long, I want to get going. We can eat breakfast with my parents if we get there in time.” He strode from the dark home, tiny slivers of gray light filtering in through the cracks in the walls, all the light she had to clean and dress by.

Emerald hurried as she washed, finding herself disgusted by the mess his attention to her had left. The dried blood was worrying to her, and she hoped nothing was permanently damaged. Dressed and hair brushed and braided, she walked out, finding her husband brushing his equine’s mane.

“I’m ready,” she said.

His eyes went wide as he took her all in, and then a smile flowed over his plump lips. “You look very pretty, Emerald. My brothers are going to be so jealous.”

“I’m glad my appearance pleases you,” she said shyly, pulling out the hem of her white cotton dress which went to her knees. A new pair of strappy white sandals she wore and a white ribbon held her braid in place.

Taking her hand, he led her to the side of the wagon. The touch of his hands on her waist sent a flurry of butterflies through her stomach, as he lifted her up, placing her on the seat of the wagon, then he climbed up next to her. Their legs touched, Caleb’s eyes went to them, placing his hand on Emerald’s knee, rubbing it gently. The butterflies flew higher in her stomach, threating to fly right out of her mouth.

Caleb tapped the reins and the equine moved, making the wagon he’d attached it to lurch forward. Emerald’s hand grabbed his leg to steady herself. Caleb grinned, then seized the moment to place a quick kiss upon her cheek.

Blushing, she removed her hand, rubbing her cheek where he’d left the tiny kiss and smiling with the memories of their wedding night.

How sweet he is!

Caleb chatted away as they rode the half hour’s ride to his family’s place. Emerald listened intently as he told her story after story of his brothers and their shenanigans.

The appearance of Caleb’s family’s home let Emerald know immediately why he considered the thing he built such an impressive work of architecture. His home was a series of small shacks, which surrounded an open area, where the family congregated to cook, eat and socialize with one another. It was dirty and completely unsanitary. A large carcass of some type of animal was hanging on a line at the edge of the ungodly circle.

There was a variety of people of various ages who lounged about the area, sitting or lying on different filthy pieces of furniture. No one had any real interest in the newcomer who was Emerald.

Except on old woman. She came up to Emerald, eyeing her up and down. Emerald looked at Caleb, realizing he was nervous. She wondered why he would be nervous. It was his mother after all.

Looking back at the woman, whose hair was hanging in limp, oily, gray strands, around her deeply lined face, she realized his mother was a bit angry. “So this thing cost you two swine and a fowl? Your brothers never paid more than a fowl for any of their wives and that was good enough for them. You, though, you’ve always had to have things a little bit better than what we gave you. Ungrateful is what I’ve always said about ya,” Caleb’s mother said as she squinted her eyes at him.

Surprise filled Emerald as a giant smile found its way over Caleb’s face. “To answer your question, the wedding went great and we are deliriously happy. Oh and I love ya, too, Mother. Let me introduce you to my wife, Emerald. Emerald this is my mother, Matilda Booth. Is breakfast ready?”

No smile showed on his mother’s face, yet her eyes glistened a bit. “There're sausage and bread over there on the table, get your skinny asses over there and eat. Neither one of you has enough weight on you to keep you warm once the cold comes.”

Caleb took the bewildered Emerald by the hand, leading her to a filthy table, which had a plate with some pieces of meat on it. The same dark colored bread they ate the night before sat next to it.

Emerald found she was not hungry in the least. And saw three of his older brothers coming towards them, frowns upon their faces. The tallest of them said, “News has come about the uprising, Caleb and there has been talking about who they’d like to lead. It’s between you and one other man. Of course, we expressed our interest in you.”

Emerald’s eyes went wide. “Caleb, they want you to be involved? But I thought…”

The tall brother interrupted her. “Yes, he has told us how he wants nothing to do with it. The fact is here there aren’t many men on this planet with any military experience. You happen to be married to a highly decorated militant who is also a trained assassin.”

Emerald looked at Caleb, surprise etched over her pretty face. “Caleb, you’ve told me none of this. Why?”

“I’ve had enough war. I want only peace now. That life is one I left behind,” Caleb told her as he caressed her cheek. “I want a simple life filled with you and our children and nothing more.” He looked at his brother. “Jared, I don’t see the need for an uprising.”

The tallest brother, Jared glared at him. “Caleb, we live like animals! They think of us as one notch above animals. We are not allowed to go into their cities and even trade, yet they can come out to us and trade things they think we need with the items they want from us. It’s unfair and we need to show them who we are.”

“I am not that man. I want simple things. It’s why I came here. I thought it’s why all of us came to The Euthenia Nebula. Not to take it over.” Caleb turned away and took Emerald with him. “I’m getting my things and leaving and want no more of this.”

He stopped dead in his tracks when he heard his father’s voice. “Caleb, have you turned to cowardice, son? After all, you’ve accomplished, have you forgotten who you owe your allegiance to? We need you, son. You are the only one in the settlement who knows how to make the plans to come together to accomplish this. And you are also the only man who has been to the capitol and met the king and prince at the castle when we arrived here. You are our leader, rather you want to be or not. Do you understand me, son?”

Emerald’s eyes met Caleb’s as he looked at her apologetically. “I suppose I must do this, please understand and forgive me.”

She nodded, but her heart felt heavy.

They’d ridden for two days to get where they were at. Emerald rode on the back of Caleb’s equine as he led the Earthlings to Capital City, the epicenter of The Euthenia Nebula. The place they were about to take over.

If everything went right.

Capitol City is where all the people from Earth had arrived when they came to the planet. Emerald had been there before, but it had been so long ago her memories seemed to have warped.

All immigrants were registered, physical images were captured and in the first three years of taking in the immigrants, implants were placed on their wrists to track them.

They stopped that practice as the Earthlings cut them out soon after getting to the settlement. Earthlings do not like to be tracked!

So only physical images and a little bit of paperwork are what’s filed for each person who came from Earth to make this planet their new home.

Once documented all who came in on the ship from earth were placed on a hover barge and taken to the settlement. The desolate area away from the last civilized town.

The same few sentences ran over and over again as we rode the eight-hour trip on the barge. ‘Do not leave the settlement for any reason.’ ‘Do not come into the towns for any reason.’ ‘Do not procreate irresponsibly.’

Seems like we’ve all done all these things. We’ve only been here ten years and have quadrupled our original numbers.

Emerald looked around and thought the streets looked shinier than she’d remembered. The silver dust sparkled in the sunlight. She looked at her husband, Caleb, to find the palace looming ahead of them.

It looked like a pearl in the midst of brilliantly colored flowers. The palace was surrounded by gardens, each with its own palate of colors.

On each side of the enormous palace were gardens of blue varieties of flowers. Right in front the color scheme was purple. All the flowers in that garden were various shades of purple.

The place was very beautiful and Emerald hoped nothing was going to be destroyed in their take-over. It weighed heavily on her, the attack they were on the verge of.

Things were too quiet as they entered the first city after they left the fields they weren’t meant to cross. No people were out and about as she thought they’d be.

The royals were away and most of their guards, but a few had to have remained. She wondered where they were.

Why wouldn’t even the regular citizens try to stop them?

It was all too easy and too easy is like too good to be true. Things just don’t work out like that.

Town after town seemed to be deserted. Not even the bark of a dragon-dog or the purr of a lion-cat could be heard.

Birds still flew overhead now and again. Other than that, no form of life was showing its presence.

The men and women of Euthenia were more muscled than the people from Earth. Though none of the citizens were allowed weapons, she was sure they could find ways to make some.

The need to see someone, anyone was making her wheels spin. Something wasn’t right.

Emerald wanted nothing more than to live a simple life with a man she thought wanted that as well. Instead, she found her new husband was a military leader back on Earth and the people who wanted to take over the planet wouldn’t take no for an answer from the military hero.

Only one week had passed from the day they were married to the day they were about to engage in what would surely be a battle to gain the palace. She still barely knew the man she was married to.

Their nights had been spent making love, and he was a passionate man. She knew that much about her husband. His touch set her body on fire and she would do anything to stay with him.

Emerald supposed it was love which held her to him. She told him it was anyway. With not any real love in her family, she knew little about the emotion.

Caleb was her family now, and he came with a pack of brothers who followed just behind the couple. Hundreds of settlers were behind them.

Her father and his cohorts were even back there somewhere. All knew they were not to bother Caleb and Emerald. They were the leaders and were to be listened to, not spoken to.

Caleb made the rules, and all followed. Even his father and brothers, both older and younger, did what he told them to without saying anything more than, ‘yes, sir.’

Some of the men carried weapons they’d fashioned from metals and woods they found. A few had managed to obtain some of the Euthenian weapons.

That in itself concerned Emerald as not even the citizens of Euthenia were permitted to have weapons. Somehow they’d gained them from guards and that meant there was a problem with the royals themselves.

Caleb had made for himself and for her a matching set of swords. And Emerald had fashioned them each the protective clothing they wore. They matched in their black and white ensemble.

Belts held their swords around their waists, near their left hips. Caleb had taught her to use the sword to defend herself. Emerald was no fan of the sharp weapons.

To slice a chunk of Euthenian flesh from their perfect bodies wasn’t a thing she wanted to do. She’d promised herself she wouldn’t do such a thing if at all possible.

She prayed for an easy take-over. One which would end peacefully. Emerald was no idiot though and knew it would be the greedy Earthling’s who wouldn’t be able to come to an agreement with the people born to the planet of Euthenia.

And the possibility of an easy take-over was getting more and more unlikely. It had occurred to her that the inside of the palace might well be filled with the people who seemed to have disappeared off the face of the planet.

There just was no place else they could be, in her opinion.

She’d found out at the last meeting just before they left that the royal armada was three weeks away. Someone was corresponding with the main ship. The one the King and Prince were on.

The new Princess as well. The news was she was being held as the King was afraid she had everything to do with the uprising.

Truth be told, Emerald and Caleb had no idea who all was behind the uprising. Caleb just told her they were the best people to head it as he had no intention of taking over the planet, just co-existing as he and Prince Kerr had discussed at length when he stayed with them at the palace.

Left in another’s hands, the fate of us and our children would be at risk. Emerald felt a bit better knowing her husband was a good man with good intentions. She would support him and risk her life with him for what he believed in.

He helped her to form a belief in his vision as well, but she wasn’t as convinced it would work as he was.

The first sun was nearly setting, leaving the smaller one to light the sky. It became a different color once the first, large sun left the sky.

The odd peach color always had brought a sense of anything could happen to Emerald. Not in a good way, though.

In the sense of things weren’t right, things could change things you never expected could occur.

She half-expected to see the royal armada drop out of the sky and annihilate them all with powerful weapons they must have on their ships.

Emerald had no idea what kinds of weapons they had. They were by far a peaceful people in that regard. The only real downfall the civilization had in her opinion was the belief men and women were not created equally.

Women had to obey men. All men. When not married they must do as their father says then once married do as their husband says. But all men must be obeyed.

To show their obedience, a woman must stay a step behind any man she’s walking with. It wouldn’t be so bad if the physical punishment weren’t included.

The hook and strap are in every home. That included the childhood home of Emerald. Her father, an adamant rebel, used the strap and hook often in their home.

She assumed many of the settlers accepted and used it. Their main complaints were not being able to use the things the other Euthenians had.

Water, the endless supply of free electricity, the shops where you could purchase foods, both raw and prepared.

It was the things which make life easier they sought. But Emerald knew they’d ask for so much more once negotiations began.

If they began.

The clip clop of the equine’s hoofed feet stopped. Caleb’s arm went out, and he made a fist. All the people behind them stopped as well.

Some rode equines, some came in wagons pulled by equines, and others walked. But nearly all the male settlers were part of the group who had come to the capital to take it over.

Emerald was the only female. Caleb had told them that was his one condition for accepting the role as the uprising’s leader. She was to remain with him, no matter what.

Caleb had been to the palace before. He’d been made to stay with the King and the Prince when he first arrived. His military background was something they feared.

He stayed with them for sixty sunsets before they found him to be a changed man and let him go to the settlement territory. Now he would do to them exactly what they feared most.

Emerald hated the fact Caleb had told her he and Prince Kerr got along wonderfully and he even considered him a friend. And now he was in this position against him.

Her husband was a man of great honor it seemed. He was dead set against a rebellion, but when his father goaded him about it, he gave in and took the position.

“Draw your sword, Love,” he told her.

Emerald leaned forward and whispered, “Caleb, there is no one outside. There should be no bloodshed if at all possible. If we come in armed and ready for a fight, we will surely get one. If we come in docile then this might end peacefully.”

Caleb turned his head just slightly. His words came out slow and stern, “Draw your sword.”

Emerald let out a heavy sigh and did as he told her. The shining palace lay in front of them. It was a beacon of hope to many. It was tearing her apart to be at the head of the uprising.

But she would do whatever her husband asked her to. He had control over the one thing she didn’t, her heart.

Chapter Thirty

Caleb

His heart was pounding against his chest as he looked down at his wife. Her long, blonde hair splayed out on the purple grass outside their little house.

One finger he trailed over her pouting, pink lips. “It’s my duty, Love. Please try to understand. I know more about war and the palace than any other person in our settlement.”

“But you told me you wanted nothing to do with the uprising, Caleb.” Emerald’s eyes searched his. “What if something happens to you?”

He smiled and kissed her forehead. “Worried about me, are you? How perfectly sweet you are. We’ve only been married a few days and you fear my death.”

“You are walking right into a war. Of course, I fear your death, husband!” Her hands ran over his broad shoulders.

The two suns shown overhead, pink clouds filled the sky as a gentle breeze blew. The red forest was in the background and the scene was beyond gorgeous, but all he saw was her.

His beautiful wife lay on the purple grass and he lay beside her, stroking his fingers back and forth over her stomach. Caleb leaned in to kiss Emerald.

Her hands ran through his auburn curls and she swirled her tongue around his as they kissed. His heart swelled with love for her and he knew only one thing for certain. She would be at his side through all things.

If they were able to gain control of the palace it would be the two of them who would take over the ruling of Euthenia. A thing which hadn’t sunk into either of their heads completely.

His fingers found the buttons of her dress and he unfastened them, freeing her breasts. In one hand he took one of the plump mounds and fondled it.

Her moan let him know she would like a little more than that and he pulled his mouth from hers, finding her blue eyes gazing up at him. “Caleb, I love you.”

The heartbeats stopped, and he held his breath. She loved him. It was the first time she’d told him those words. Finally, his heart resumed beating, and he said, “I love you, Emerald Booth.”

Kissing her again, hard, this time, he pushed the dress from her shoulders and she unbuttoned his shirt. In no time at all they were naked on the grass in front of their home in the Euthenian countryside.

She sighed as he entered her and then she ran her long legs around him, holding him to her. It was obvious she enjoyed him as her body reacted to his with excitement.

Long strokes he made as he moved inside her. She arched up to meet his strokes and moaned with the pleasure he was giving her.

His mouth left hers, going to her neck. She made a low groan as he nipped at it then sucked the tender flesh just behind her right ear.

Caleb growled as he increased the speed and hardness of his strokes. The need for her grew. Her breath was coming in sharp pants as his force was pushing air from her lungs with each hard thrust.

“Caleb! Yes! Yes!” she cried out as her body pulsed and squeezed around him with her release.

He could take no more and gave into the need to let go. His climax took him to another place. A place where only the two of them existed.

“I love you, Emerald. I will always love you.”

Soft kisses he left all over her face until her hands took his face in them and she stilled him, making him look at her.

“I will always love you too, Caleb. If you feel you have to lead this rebellion, then I will do as you wish.”

“Thank you. I want you right by my side. Always, right by my side. Together we can show these people how we can all exist together, no one a step ahead, no one a step behind. Together, equals.” He kissed her as he hoped they could pull it all off.

When he was at the castle, he and Kerr had long discussions about the future of The Euthenia Nebula. It was Kerr’s intention to change the way things were done.

Kerr wanted to co-exist peacefully with the Earthlings. Treating the people from Earth as pesky nuisances wasn’t going to cut it, though.

If Caleb could manage to take the palace over, then when the royals arrived back home from their trip to Earth, he and Kerr could work out an agreement which would benefit all.

The king would be a problem. Caleb knew he’d have to be taken out, but he would need it to look like an accident. An illness of some kind, maybe.

It was something his mother was working on. A poison they could slip into his food or drink. Or perhaps a germ he could be infected with.

Whatever the cost, things on The Euthenia Nebula had to change. Though not a thing he wanted, the responsibility had been placed squarely on his shoulders and he meant to do his best.

The touch of Emerald’s hands as they roamed over his muscled back brought his attention back to her.

“Have you begun to realize your new home will be the palace, Love?” He kissed her pink cheek.

Her eyes rolled. “Let’s not talk about such things. I am happy here, with you. I don’t even want to think about the other.”

“You have to think about the other, Emerald. You and I will help rule this planet.” He pulled away from her and stood up, taking her with him.

Holding her hand, he led her to the pond just inside the woods. Strolling along naked as the day they were born as no one was anywhere near where he’d built the small hut, they made their way to bathe.

“The king will never allow that, Caleb. It’s a dream and I am not into looking at a future which is impossible.” She gasped as Caleb stopped and picked her up in his arms and carried her.

“Nothing is impossible, Love. You’ll see. Very soon you will see.”

She let out a shriek as he jumped into the freezing cold water with her in his arms. “Caleb!”

With a hearty laugh, he asked, “Cold?”

Her teeth were chattering, and she tried to get away from him and out of the cold water. He let her out of his arms but got in front of her so she couldn’t make it out of the small pond.

She giggled and splashed water at him. “This is much too cold. We’ll have to gather water in buckets and warm the water over the fire then bathe in it.”

He swam to her and took her in his arms. “At the palace heated water flows from spouts like magic. They have a central water system and all the residents have it in their homes. They refuse to allow us to tap into it or create our own. Were you aware of that, Emerald?”

She ran her arms around him and pressed her body to his. “I was not. I thought we all wanted to live off the land. You know a simple existence.”

“So you’d rather lug heavy buckets of water just so you can bathe in comfortable temperatures rather than have access to it right in your own home, just like all the other residents of Euthenia have?” He ran his hand through her hair and kissed her cheek.

“Caleb, that’s what we came here for. To live simple lives. It’s not the fault of the Euthenians and there is no need for us to rebel. We picked this life.” She kissed his lips gently. “Call it off Caleb. Use your experience to talk them out of this. People will die.”

“True, but what about our children? Do you wish them to grow up and live in a world where they’re considered only a bit above animals?” he asked her.

Her brows furrowed with the thought. “I suppose they could go back to Earth if they don’t like the way things are done here.”

He shook his head and laughed. “Your parents didn’t explain things to you I guess. You were too young, and they made the decision for you. Signed the paperwork for you.” He tweaked her nose, and she wrinkled it. “None of us can ever return to Earth. It’s over-populated. We all had to sign away our rights as citizens of Earth to come here. Our children can’t just go back. And there’s not room to if we could.”

“So, what you’re telling me is we are stuck here, whether we want to be or not?” Her expression was one of concern. “Caleb, I had no idea. I honestly thought we could leave if we wanted.”

“Other planets won’t allow us to go to them either. We have to make this place our forever home.” He led her out of the pond as her lips had turned blue. And they began walking back to their little house.

He was sure her silence was because she was taking in all he’d told her. She had been left in ignorance for far too long.

Now that she knew the truth, perhaps she’d change her mind about the uprising. Maybe she’d want to help him with the integration which had to happen if the children of all the settlers were ever to have decent lives.

The truth was he always knew, this time would come. As bad as he wanted peace, he wanted a place his children could call home and feel a part of. He’d fight for that, kill for that, and even die for that if it came to it.

Chapter Thirty-One

Emerald

Evening came and the three moons were all in small phases, leaving the night dark. Caleb had made a small fire inside the house on the dirt floor.

He and Emerald sat on a blanket beside it. Caleb took a lock of her hair, he seemed mesmerized by it.

“The firelight makes you look even more beautiful. Your hair flickers with the flames and sometimes it looks like gold flows through it.” As he let the hair fall, he looked into her eyes.

His hand flowed through her hair, pushing her long hair back off her neck. His lips came to rest on her neck.

She closed her eyes. The softness of his lips as he moved them over her skin and down to the hollow of her throat made her feel warm deep in her stomach.

The sound of the rain beating on the roof came in a sudden burst and the wind began to blow.

But all Emerald could think about was how Caleb’s lips felt like tiny pillows full of jelly and covered in satin. Never could she have imagined a man’s lips being been so soft.

Caleb’s hands were rough from working, yet he moved them over her skin so lightly, they flowed over her body like water over a stone.

Moving his body to sit behind hers, he straddled her. His long legs on either side of hers. He kissed the back of her neck as he moved his hands around her, cupping her breasts in them. Emerald’s breath came out in a long sigh.

The touch of his hands on the outside of her dress made her breasts swell with anticipation.

His lips grazed her ear. “I love you, Emerald. Listen to the rain, love.” He pulled the hair off her other shoulder, running his lips over it, slowly and softly as he pulled her dress down, revealing her silky skin.

The touch of his lips left her dizzy. She let her body fall back against his. His lips ran back up her neck.

Gently he pressed his hand to her cheek, pushing at it, gently, but firmly, making her face turn towards him. His lips found hers, and this time, she felt a pulse in hers, begging for his lips to press harder on hers. She moved her head closer so he could harden his kiss.

Caleb moved his body from behind hers to in front in a quick movement Emerald never felt until he was in front of her, pulling at her dress as his lips pressed harder onto hers.

His lips left hers, only long enough to pull her dress off, and then he was back in front of her. He pushed her back on the blanket as his lips touched hers again, laying his body out next to hers.

Forcefully he pushed his tongue out of his mouth and into hers. Emerald moaned with the sensation and stroked his tongue with hers.

As his tongue ran around hers, he moved his hand up to squeeze her breast. He moved his mouth off of hers and down to the breast in his hand.

Her breaths were ragged, she ached for his mouth to come back to hers and fill it again.

His tongue licked at her nipple. He pulled the nipple into his mouth, kissing it with his tongue, the same way he’d kissed her mouth.

She ran her hand to the back of his head and held him to her. Then watched as his head bobbed a bit as he sucked it and sent an incredible sensation to a place deep inside her.

Caleb released her breast though it was un-beckoned, leaving Emerald looking up at him as he stood up.

She reached out for him to come back into her arms. He began to take his clothes off, his eyes on hers, watching her response.

Thunder crashed outside, the firelight shone out around him as she looked up at him. Standing still in front of her, she knew what he wanted her to do.

Her eyes started at the top of his auburn curls she’d messed up as she’d ran her hands through it while he kissed her. His shoulders seemed broader, somehow in the fire’s light.

His skin glistened as a light sheen of sweat covered his body. Darkened eyes looked back at her, reminding her of the storm which had begun to rage outside.

The way his pectoral muscles filled his wide chest impressed her. Her gaze moved to his defined abdominal muscles.

Standing at attention, she found his ample manhood ready and waiting. Last of all she took in his thickly muscled legs and felt her body growing increasingly hotter.

Caleb reached out and pulled the only clothes left on her off. He picked her up and placed her on the bed. She lay naked on the bed as he looked at her.

“You are beyond beautiful, Emerald. I love you. I will never hurt you. You will always be safe with me.” He stretched his arms out for her to come into.

She rose from the bed, letting him envelop her in his arms. His head hung over her shoulder. Pressing her lips to his ear, she said, “I love you, too, Caleb.”

“You’ve made me very happy. Now, I’m going to make you that happy as well, Love,” he said as he gently laid her back on their bed.

Her dark blue eyes looked up at him, then closed as his lips touched hers. Gently he pushed his tongue through her parted lips.

A groan escaped her when he left them. Making him smile. “I’ll be back to satisfy your need for my kiss, Love. I want to show you what else feels good.”

His lips trailed down her throat. Leaving small kisses between her breasts, down to her stomach. Once his lips touched her inner thigh, her hands tangled up in his hair. “What are you doing?” Her voice was tense.

“Lie back and relax, you’re going to like it, I promise. If you don’t, just tell me to stop. I warn you to mean it if you do, as I won’t be doing it to you anymore if you ask me not to, and I think you’ll hate yourself if that happens.” His lips touched the small bud at her apex, making her shudder.

He hesitated before kissing it again, lest she felt the urge for him to quit. “Again,” she said, almost too quietly for him to hear.

He smiled and kissed it again, this time letting his tongue flick at it as his mouth fell full upon it.

Her hips lifted, begging for his kiss. Warmth filled her. Her groans and thrashing let him know she liked it.

Suddenly her body was shaking; she pulled at his hair as she let out a loud groan, almost a scream.

A warm liquid seeped from her and Caleb ran his tongue inside her, lapping at the juices he’d made her body release. He consumed it with fierceness, much like a wild animal.

With a sudden move, he made his way up her body and looked down at her; her eyes were shining with a glow from receiving such pleasure.

His lips fell on hers as he thrust himself into her. She cried out as he entered her. His tongue moved over hers, the same as his hard cock moved inside her.

She began returning his kiss, urgently. He moved faster and harder. He took one arm and placed it on her knee and hoisted it up a bit, allowing him to go a bit deeper into her.

Caleb pulled his mouth from hers. “I want you to stand up.” He moved off her, standing by the bed.

She looked at him with confusion. “What are you going to do?”

“Just stand up. I’ll show you,” he said as he pulled her to stand up.

She did as he asked, facing him. He turned her around in front of him, and then pushed her shoulders so she leaned over on the bed. Grabbing a fist full of her long hair, he pulled it as he slid back into her from behind.

The difference in how much farther he went into her made them both groan. “Emerald, you feel so damn good.”

Every thrust brought a moan or a yell from her. “Oh God, Caleb! Caleb!”

The muscles inside her clenched at him as her body fell apart. It seemed to be making him orgasm too as he spilled his liquid heat inside her.

He groaned loudly, and then fell on her back, hugging her to him. “That was fantastic. That was so right. You felt so good.”

Out of breath, they managed to get back on the bed. Sweat soaked and satiated, they held hands and soon both were fast asleep.

The much-needed sleep was a God send as the next day would see them start their travels to the Capital.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Caleb

Swords were drawn, Emerald and Caleb were off their equine and heading into the palace. The couple had made black, hooded capes out of a special fabric, not many things could penetrate.

They wore the capes over white body suits made of the same fabric. White face masks protected their faces. Tall, black boots protected their feet and legs and long black gloves protected their hands and arms. Only their eyes were visible and barely at all once the hoods were covering their heads.

Emerald’s dark blue eyes were captivating and Caleb had a hard time not looking at them when her hood was back.

Just before making an attempt to go through the huge set of doors at the front of the palace, Caleb looked once more at his wife. He pushed the black hood back and took the bottom of her face mask and pulled it down.

He placed a gentle kiss on her lips. “You stay right with me, Love. All will be fine if you do that.”

She gave him a nod and took a deep breath. He pulled the fabric back up and pulled her hood back up, and then he turned and reached out to open the door.

There was no need for locks as the handles of the doors had memory chips in them and would only open for those people who had been screened and approved to open the doors.

Caleb had lived there. Caleb had been approved. Now it was time to find out if they had ever erased his prints from the chip.

He took the black glove off his right hand and took the glass knob in it.

It twisted easily, and he pushed it open. The mob of Earthling’s who waited cheered as the door swung open.

After replacing his protective glove, Caleb took a step inside and reached back for Emerald’s gloved hand.

Her voice was shaky as she asked, “Caleb, you don’t find it odd no one was on the streets as we came here. No one is protecting this entrance. All the Euthenians seem to be hiding. This is a trap of some kind. They knew we were coming that’s obvious.”

“I’m sure they do know, but it seems to me they are in no position to fight. They’re hiding instead. Just come with me and trust me.” He gave her hand a tug, and she stepped inside with him.

She gasped with how beautiful the entrance area was. A domed ceiling was painted a deep blue color with arrows of gold seeming to shoot out of it. The interior was made of the same material as the exterior.

Everything shined and glowed. Their leather boots made no noise as they tread across the floor which sparkled with rare gemstones which had been inlaid in them.

A green liquid ran into a bowl which was built into the wall beside the door. “What’s that for?” she asked Caleb as she gestured to it.

“A decontaminator. They’re inside all entrances. One washes their hands in it whenever they go inside anywhere. That’s why the Euthenians never get sick.” He pulled her along with him.

The others waited outside. And Caleb and Emerald were finding no one inside the palace.

Moving from the entry room to a huge room, full of overstuffed furniture and various works of art, Emerald was taken aback by all the beauty.

“This place is amazing. If I was you I would never have wanted to leave here.” She turned and looked at everything.

A picture of a tall man caught her eye, and it took a second to realize it was the Prince in the painting. His long, blonde hair fell across one shoulder. Just underneath it was a smaller painting, and she took in a sharp breath.

“That’s you, Caleb! With the Prince! That’s you and him, together!” She looked over her shoulder at Caleb who was frowning.

“I hope he understands why I did this. The last thing I want is to hurt him. He’s a good man.” Caleb took her hand and pulled her to go to the next room.

“Where could they all be, Caleb?” she asked as they entered another huge room. This one some type of media room with large screens all over the black walls.

“Hiding from us. I think it’s safe to bring them all in. Do you think you can help me make sure they don’t destroy anything?” Caleb led her back to the entry room.

His heart sank as he saw the majority of the men had already come inside. It was Emerald’s father who disobeyed his order and started the surge of men into the palace.

He cut his eyes at her as he said, “I hope it won’t upset you, but I have to deal with him the only way which will work for these men to understand they have to obey me.”

She gave him a nod and stayed by his side.

Caleb raised his sword above his head. “Disobedience will not be tolerated. All who are in this room need to follow me in an orderly fashion.” He turned to Emerald. “Please go and tell the men outside to maintain waiting and we will get back to them once we’ve dealt with these men. Then close the door to stop this from happening again.”

Emerald walked away to do what he told her to as her father stood in front of the line of men who had come inside.

He reached out and grabbed her arm, stopping her. “Emerald, what’s this about? Why does he think it’s acceptable to leave us outside? It’s getting darker by the second out there.”

Caleb approached them. “Let her go.”

Emerald’s eyes went wide as her father let her go. Caleb gave her a nod, and she took off to do what he’d told her to.

After telling the other men who were waiting what Caleb had told her to, Emerald closed the door and went back to Caleb who was waiting for her.

“Follow us and do not touch a thing in this place.” Caleb told the men then started walking, Emerald at his side.

They went through the entire palace and out another door into a courtyard. It was surrounded by a tall white wall, made of the same material the rest of the palace was.

The large area was lit up and a large fountain sat in the middle of the purple grassy area. Yellow streams of water shot up from the middle of the gorgeous fountain.

Caleb took Emerald’s hand and moved to one side. He gestured for the men to go outside which they did.

“This place is not to be pillaged. This is not a mission of mayhem and destruction. It is a mission to get equal rights for us all. You all defied my orders to stay outside. Therefore, you will be kept here for the period of one night. With the first morning’s light, you will be allowed to come in. At that time, you will all have to bathe in the cleansing waters and be decontaminated before you are given a room.”

He took Emerald by the hand and led her back inside. Her father yelled out, “This is an outrage!”

Caleb didn’t look back. He walked back in and closed the door, trapping the men in the back.

Emerald didn’t say a word. He had no idea if she was upset with him or not. “Emerald, I…”

She stopped and turned to him. “I need no explanation, Caleb. They didn’t follow your order. They have to learn. I understand.”

He nodded and resumed moving forward to let the other men in. When he opened the door he found them waiting as he’d told them to.

“Come in. You will all have to bathe before you can move about the palace on your own and I want to talk with you all before that happens. There may be people in here and we need to stay in groups to maintain our safety.”

Taking his wife by the hand, he led the way to the bathing hall as the men followed the couple. The room was narrow and a series of spouts were near the top of the low walls.

Fluffy, white robes hung on hooks opposite the spouts and Emerald was intrigued by the design. “What happens in here?”

“A disinfectant is sprayed from those spouts and will kill any bacteria, germs, or parasites any of these men might have.” He looked at the men. “You are to take your clothes off and place them in the bins at the end of the room then stand under one of the spouts. It will come on and you are to stay in the spray until it goes off. Then put on a robe and you may then tour the palace in groups of five. No touching anything, though.”

“What about you and I, Caleb?” she asked.

“I’m going to take you to my old room and we will get cleaned up in there.”

“Where are these men to sleep?” she asked.

The men looked at him, waiting for his response.

“You will find the bedrooms on the second and third floors. Any you want, but don’t break anything. Be careful. And remember to stay in groups of five or so. An owl call will be our signal if anyone finds anyone or thing that might be of interest to our mission.”

“When will we eat?” his brother, Jared asked.

Caleb threw back his hood and rolled his eyes. “Am I to do it all? Lead this pack of misfits and figure out every little detail?”

Emerald pulled her hood off and her facemask. She smiled and patted him on the shoulder. “If you’ll see me to the kitchen I can make something to eat.”

He gave her a nod. “Thank you.” He looked back at the men. “When we have something ready to eat I’ll ring the bell that runs through the palace. Then you will come back to the entry room and I will show you to where the food is.”

Caleb took her hand in his and led her away. Up an enormous staircase, they went then another and another before they reached the floor his old room was located on.

When he opened the door he stopped and took in a deep breath. “They still have the aroma I ordered when I was here.”

Emerald stepped inside and took in a deep breath. “Very nice, lavender and…”

His lips touched her ear and his arms went around her as he came in behind her. “And honey. Like from back home. They don’t have honey here and Kerr had the scent of the nectar the sweet flies that are here make. He adjusted it to make the smell I love so much.”

“That was very nice of him.” Emerald turned in his arms and placed a kiss on his cheek. “Having regrets?”

“Only that I have some men who won’t do as I say. It’s imperative to show the royals we are not animals. The reason they deny us so many things is that we have little respect for things.” He kissed her lightly on the lips. “Come, let us shower and change, then see to the men.”

Carefully, they pulled off their protective clothing then he took her into a private room off the bedroom. It had a large cube in the middle with a spout coming from the ceiling.

Caleb took her in his arms and pulled her under the spout which immediately started spraying warm liquid over them.

“It feels like Heaven, Caleb.” She ran her arms around his neck and he kissed her.

He ran his hands down her back, gripping her bottom in them. Lifting her up, she wrapped her legs around him as he slid his hard length into her.

The shower was surrounded by a clear wall and he pressed her against it. It held her so he could press himself into her more easily.

Slow, even strokes he made as he kissed her. Her kiss took him away from what he’d done. The threat of an attack was the last thing on his mind.

He was back in the comfortable room he’d first called home when he came to the planet.

Their bodies were wet and slick. They moved along each other’s easily. The way she felt was amazing as he moved inside her.

Emerald’s nails raked his back as he plunged into her over and over. The water cut off and Caleb groaned and carried her from the shower to the bed. Her body still wrapped around his.

He lowered her to the bed. “This is so soft, Caleb.”

Running a hand over her shoulder, he smiled at her as he moved his body to cover hers, pressing himself into her again.

She pulled her bottom lip between his teeth. “This feels unreal, Caleb.”

Slow, deep strokes he made as he looked at her. “Do you want this life? Here like this? Or should we abandon this?”

The way her eyes darted back and forth as they searched his let him knows she was unsure. The woman had been so sure she wanted a simple life, but now that she’d seen a little of what the Euthenian’s had she seemed to be changing her mind.

“It is nice to have these comforts. I can’t lie about that.” Her knuckles grazed his whiskered cheek.

His lips touched her neck, making her moan and arch her body to meet his. Caleb loved the comforts of the palace, but he knew the responsibility it meant for both of them if he went through with what he was doing.

He wanted to think no more about it. He pulled back and looked at his wife. The woman he wanted to build a life with.

Her blonde hair looked dark as it was wet. Her blue eyes sparkled in the light of the room. The bed was soft and his body pressed hers into its depths.

She deserved comforts like this. He pressed his lips to hers. Her tongue found his and her kiss was eager as she arched up to him, beckoning him to make harder thrusts.

Caleb gave her what she wanted. Hard and deep he went into her, making her body quiver with the desire she felt for him.

Her soft skin rubbed against his body, her breasts like firm pillows, pressed to his chest. He let all other thoughts leave his mind.

Only Emerald mattered at that moment. Moving in and out of her with hard, fast strokes, he focused on her breathing.

It was hard and came in waves. He wanted to hear how she sounded when she fell apart for him. Fast and harder he moved until she was shaking and writhing beneath him. Her moans filled the room, and he watched her as she climaxed. Her breathing went sporadic and her face looked like it was glowing.

Love made his heart swell. He kissed her as his body climaxed along with hers.

He knew with an absolute clarity he had to make this work. He had to make sure his wife and the family they’d make would have everything.

A loud sound rang out, and he pulled his mouth from hers. “That does not sound good.”

He kissed her one last time then rolled away from her. She sat up, her eyes wide. “Should we put our protective clothing on?”

He gave her a nod, and she jumped off the bed and hurried to dress. The white body suit she pulled on then the boots and gloves.

The sound of knocks on the various doors along the long corridor they could hear as the sound of men’s voices came ever closer.

They pulled their black capes on and pulled the hoods up. Their masked faces were barely visible. Caleb placed the belt which held the sheathed sword around her waist and buckled it.

“Stay right by me, Love.”

“Don’t worry. You’ll play hell losing me.”

Knocks came to their door. “Some of our men are missing!”

Caleb threw the door open and saw his brother, Jared moving down the hallway. “Jared! How many are missing?”

Jared turned back. “Finally! There you are. We’ve been searching for you for the last hour, Caleb!”

He came back and walked past them. Caleb and Emerald fell in behind him, moving fast. “How many, Jared?” Caleb asked.

“All who you left outside.” Jared took the stairs two at a time. “Things are not what they seem to be in this place, brother.”

As they hit the last stair of the three sets Emerald noticed the paintings along the wall in the large room the stairs opened up in.

The King was in one. The Queen in the one next to his and then there was one of Prince Kerr.

Emerald said, “How beautiful the queen was with long, blonde hair and deep green eyes. The prince definitely took after her with his good looks. It was a shame about her early death.”

All three stopped abruptly as two of the Palace Guards walked in from a side door. “Halt!” they shouted.

Caleb drew his sword and Emerald followed, drawing hers. Caleb took his brother by the arm and pulled him to stand behind them.

“We do not wish to harm you,” Caleb called out to them.

“Surrender your weapons. We have the rest of your men,” one of the guards said.

Jared leaned up and whispered. “They’re lying, there are more men upstairs. About twenty of them.”

Caleb was sizing up the guards. Both were taller than he was. Both broader in the shoulders and he knew they were better muscled than he was.

The Euthenians came muscled. Both wore the Palace Guard uniforms. Deep blue body suits made of the same protective fabric their clothes were made from and silver capes, boots, and gloves.

Their weapons were long poles with a paralyzing charged tip on them. With a quick click of a switch, the charge could go from paralyzing to kill. The poles were five feet long.

The length made them hard to handle in Caleb’s opinion. He’d watched the guards practice while at the palace.

Things didn’t often require their skills as the citizens of Euthenia all knew the rules and most of the time they followed them.

Caleb was certain he had more skill in fighting than any of them. If Emerald could manage to keep one’s attention on her for even a few moments, he could have both taken care of in seconds.

They had no hoods or face masks. It would be unfortunate, but to stop them, their heads would have to be severed from their bodies.

The precise reason Caleb had made the sharp swords. He knew he would have no issue with taking their heads, but Emerald would not want to do it.

The two men had long, dark hair and were very handsome as the majority of Euthenians were extremely attractive. One glance at Emerald had him knowing she’d never be able to cut the handsome men’s heads off.

Her voice was sure and strong as she called out to them, “This can be accomplished peacefully. We only wish for the same rights the rest of the Euthenian citizens have. It’s not a hard thing to grant us. There should be no need for blood to be shed.”

“You came with weapons. Do you expect us to believe you meant for no blood to be shed with your take-over?” The guard on the right asked.

The guard on the left added. “You may as well know the men we’ve captured have told us of the mission to take over the entire planet. The leader of your little expedition has been quite forthcoming. He told us he is the father of the woman who will be queen.”

Caleb fought the urge to run has hand over his face as he was more than pissed about Emerald’s father. The man was not only an idiot but a traitor as well.

“That man is not the leader of anything,” Caleb informed them. “I am the leader and my intention is only to gain equality. This planet is the only place we have to call home. You see us as Earthlings but the fact is we are not that any longer. Neither we nor our children can go back to Earth. I only wish to speak with Kerr when they get back.”

The guard on the right cocked his head and said, “If you merely wanted a meeting with the Prince then why brings the entire army of male settlers with you?”

“They were coming anyway. I could not stop them. It was either I lead them or another would’ve.” Caleb gestured to the walls covered with priceless art. “This place would have suffered heavy damage if that would’ve happened. I have great respect for the palace and the cities. It was never my intention to destroy anything, unlike the other man who was asked to lead this revolution.”

The guards paused as if in thought. They whispered to one another for a while then looked back up at them. The one on the left said, “You have begun a revolution at one of the worst possible times.”

Emerald asked, “Do you mean because the royals are all gone? Because that’s the perfect time to do this.”

The other guard shook his head, making his dark waves bounce over his broad shoulders. “I mean because an uprising has already happened here.”

Caleb and Emerald looked at each other with confusion. Caleb looked back at the guards. “Care to explain?”

The guards retracted their poles and holstered them. One said, “If you will put the swords back in their sheaths we will take you to the one who can explain.”

Emerald leaned in close as did Jared, she said, “Should we trust them, Caleb?”

Caleb looked at his wife then his brother. “I think so.”

Jared hissed, “You think? We need a little more than that, brother.”

“This is a strange situation, Jared. We have our protective gear on and they are not asking us to hand over our weapons. Keep your knife hidden as well and we will go along to find out what in the hell is going on.” Caleb put his sword back into the sheath which hung at his side.

Emerald did the same, and the three made their way across the large room and followed the guards out of it.

Emerald asked, “Can you tell us where you took the men you captured?”

“To the cells, underground. They are being treated well. The conditions there are better than any of the places you people live. The food is better, more nourishing.” The taller of the two nearly identical guards said.

The other chuckled. “Though they all complained about the mite stew they were served.”

Caleb laughed as he knew well the diet the Euthenian’s consumed. Insects were the main staple. He’d gotten used to it while living in the palace.

One of the guards pushed his earpiece as a message came over it. All could hear the other man speaking through it. “We have captured the remaining men on the third floor. The monitors show no more rebels in the palace.”

Jared mumbled, “So much for the uprising.”

One of the guards looked back as they kept walking. “You have nothing to worry about, Earthling. Like I said, your people are being well cared for. The only thing I feel bad about is it looks like you left all your women back there alone. They’ll have a rough time of it.”

Jared spoke up, “They’re a tough bunch of women. No need to worry about them.”

Both guards sighed. One spoke, “Tough. That’s what you people are all about, isn’t it?”

The other said, “You make things so hard for yourselves. When offered water, you declined. When we offered to teach you how to make your own water system, you declined. The same with the solar energy system. You want it rough for reasons we can’t comprehend. But now that we have enough of you to study, maybe we can begin to understand how to communicate with you more effectively.”

Caleb pushed his hood back and took his mask off. His expression was one of agitation. “Who did you offer those things too? I’ve never heard any talk of it.”

Emerald went to push her hood off as well, but Caleb grabbed her wrist and shook his head. She left it on and continued to follow the guards.

“Your leader, of course.” The man on the right said.

“We have no leader,” Caleb said.

The guards stopped and turned to look at them. One asked, “You don’t know your leader? You lead a revolution and do not know the leader of your people?”

Caleb shook his head. “Tell me his name.”

The taller one said, “Samuel Winters.” Both guards looked at them, their handsome faces riddled with confusion. “His wife’s name is Anna. They have two, nine-year-old twin daughters.”

Caleb looked back at Jared then at Emerald. “Have either of you ever heard of any of them?”

They both shook their heads. The guards looked even more confused.

“They live in the city closest to the settlement. That man has been in charge of it since we began it. You are asking for equal rights from the wrong people,” the shorter guard said. “It’s he who has denied you the things you seek. Your own kind did that to you. We all thought you all were in agreement. The man has petitions with all of your signatures on them, stating you did not want our assistance.”

Jared grasped his brother by the shoulder. “The man lives in the city. How is that? We aren’t allowed to them.”

The taller guard said, “Only because he said you all wanted none of our ways. You wanted the desolation, and it was best to keep you out of the cities so you wouldn’t be tempted by the easy way of life in them.”

“I need to see this man who has governed us all without us knowing.” Caleb shook his head. “We have been left in the dark for far too long.”

Emerald and Jared nodded in agreement. The guards turned around and continued on their way through the large palace.

The taller guard said, “Many thought it odd. He and his family live in a very nice place. He’s one of the King’s dearest friends. He frequents the palace and even has a set of rooms here. I suppose it’s one of the many things it seems the King has hidden from us all.”

They followed the guards in silence the rest of the long walk to where ever it was they were going. Caleb’s mind was spinning out of control as he had no idea what was going on anymore.

To think another man from earth would do the things he’d done to his fellow Earthlings seemed impossible. And how could the man be a close friend to the King?

Caleb knew the King thought Earthlings to be incapable of real intelligence. The fact was, the King didn’t care for them at all.

Caleb knew that for certain as he’d had many conversations with the man. Nothing was making sense. The whole situation seemed beyond his control any longer and that thought had him angry.

He was not a man who liked to be out of control. The truth about everything had to come out and then he could find a way to deal with it all.

His fight no longer seemed to be with the royals. It seemed it was with a man no one had ever heard of.

If the man is friends with the King, though. How easy would it be to unseat him and place another in his position as leader of the Earthlings?

Perhaps the poison which had been made for the King would best be spent on the man who was the secret leader of the Earthling settlement.

Many things needed to be done, and it seemed they had only a few to help. Caleb, Emerald, and Jared were the only ones free at that time.

And Caleb wasn’t very sure just how free they were. It seemed someone else was in charge with the royals gone.

As they made their way through the room with the many works of art, one of the guards stopped in front of the painting of Prince Kerr and Caleb. He turned to look at Caleb. “It’s you!”

The other guard nodded. “I thought I recognized you. Caleb! You grew a beard. The Prince talks about you often. Hopefully, he will take the news well.”

Caleb narrowed his eyes as he looked at the two guards. “I remember you two now. The twins, Zin and Zan. You let your hair grow out. It was buzzed against your skulls.”

“We were new when you were here. They buzz all the newbies,” the shorter guard Caleb then knew was Zan, said.

Caleb gestured to the shorter one and introduced him. “Zan, this is my wife, Emerald and my oldest brother, Jared. The tall one is Zin. Kerr and I used to give them hell when I was a guest here.”

“Nice to meet you,” Emerald said.

Jared added. “The pleasure is all mine. Now can you tell us what the hell is going on?”

Zan laughed. “Patience. We’re almost there.” They began walking again.

Caleb took Emerald’s hand as they went into another room. This one was dark, and the guards turned on small lights to make their way to a bookcase.

Pulling a red-covered book, the case moved back to the wall. The guards walked into a room filled with monitors.

Each room in the palace was on the screens. The cells where the other men were being kept were up too and they could see all the rest of the men had been captured.

All were resting on comfortable beds though and no one seemed the least bit distraught with their cells which were larger than their homes in the settlement.

The lights went up and the back of a blonde head hovered near one of the monitors. Zin said, “We’ve brought them to you as requested.”

The person rose. Long, blonde hair cascaded to a narrow waist. Long, flowing white robes were draped over the tall person.

When she turned to face them, all three gasped.

I thought she was dead!

* * *

Book 6

Chapter Thirty-Three

Emerald

Emerald’s heart stopped beating as she looked into the same blue eyes she’d seen in the painting of the Queen. It was her.

“Where have you been, Your Highness?” Emerald asked as she bowed before the Queen.

“In hiding. And your name is?” the Queen asked.

“I am Emerald and this is…”

The Queen held up her hand, stopping her. “I know who this young man is. Caleb is his name, and he is a great warrior from Earth. I’ve haunted this palace since my husband ordered an assassin to take my life because he didn’t want me to change the way things are done.”

Caleb’s jaw dropped. “The King ordered your death?”

She gave him a nod. The Queen had long blond hair and light blue eyes which housed years of disappointment and distrust in them. Her body was tall and lean and seemed to have a frailty from her time in hiding.

“He did. Lucky for me the man he sent to kill me found he couldn’t take my life and hid me away in an underground city not many know exists.” She moved to leave the dark room full of monitors. “Let us retire to the parlor and sit in a more comfortable place.”

They followed the Queen, clad in a long, flowing, white gown. Caleb took Emerald by the hand and gave her a look which let her know he was quite disturbed by what the Queen had said thus far.

In a room not far from where they’d been, were overstuffed sofas covered in purple silk. The Queen took a seat then Emerald and Caleb sat down and Jared took another seat as did Zan and Zin.

Caleb gestured to his brother. “Your Majesty, this is one of my older brothers, Jared.”

She gave him a nod and Jared took her hand and kissed the top of it. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Your Majesty.”

“Thank you, Jared. It is nice to make your acquaintance as well.”

Jared took the place on the other side of Caleb who looked confused and said to the Queen, “But there was a body, Your Majesty.”

She nodded. “A woman had died of natural causes in the underground city. The assassin used her body to fool the King into thinking I was dead. It worked. Unfortunately for the man who was sent to kill me, he disappeared not long after that.”

Jared frowned. “Why do you think that happened?”

“The King most likely wanted no one who could ever tell on him. I never saw the man’s face. He wore a mask. I have no idea who he even was. But I owe my life to him and it was just another thing which devastated me at that time.” She jingled a little bell, and a man came in with a tray of drinks and some food.

He placed it on the table between the two sofas and she gestured for everyone to help themselves. Caleb poured a glass of the purple liquid and placed it in front if the Queen who gave him a nod and a smile.

Then he poured Emerald one and handed it to her. He asked, “So how have you been in the palace with no one realizing it?”

“There are secret passages to get inside the palace only Kings and Queens know about. My husband was not born royal, and I never showed them to him. There are secret passages inside the palace as well. The spaces between the walls are wide and many of the paintings I was able to see through.” The Queen sipped her drink.

“So you’ve watched and known all which has gone on while never finding it a good idea to let all know you were alive and the King was a murderer?” Emerald asked with a frown.

The Queen nodded. “My mental state has been in question since his betrayal. You see, I thought the man loved me more than life, but he did not. He loathed me. Had me killed when I told him I was the one with regal blood in my veins and I would make the decision about where women stood on our planet.”

Caleb shook his head, making his auburn curls bounce across his wide shoulders. “He always talked about his love for you. It’s insane to think he had that done and yet still spoke of you with only love on his tongue.”

“That is why I waited. I wanted the right moment to pay him back for what he tried to do to me. I bided my time, and it was I who sent a message to Earth and asked about one of their genetically modified females to be awarded to Kerr. Of course, I did so anonymously. And then I made sure that Kerr gave the girl my mother’s wedding ring.”

Emerald looked confused. “Why is that, Your Highness?”

“Because I had a simple yet very effective device placed in the metal on the underside of the ring. It works off another device I had placed in their ship. It has several messages I wanted her to hear over and over. It uses her own inner personalities to hear them and even brings out whatever powers lie within her.” The Queen stood and began to pace.

“The woman must think she’s going mad,” Emerald said as she took a drink and looked sad.

Caleb patted her hand and said, “But she’s not hurt, Emerald.”

Emerald nodded but looked at him with sorrow in her eyes. “Yes, but still.” She looked up to find the Queen frowning at her. “You have your reasons. I am not judging you.”

“As you shouldn’t. You have no idea of how it feels to think you are loved and then that person tries to have you killed. It’s a thing which takes your mind. Hers may be under duress right now, but will soon be fine. Mine will never be fine again.” The Queen sat back down and looked at her glass of purple liquor.

Caleb asked, “So, now your plan is?”

The Queen frowned and a despondent look crossed her beautiful face. “Kerr’s new bride will kill my husband and as long as Kerr doesn’t try to protect his father, he will still hold his position in the hierarchy. If not, then he is no better than the man who sired him and he can join his beloved father wherever he goes. Hell most likely.”

Caleb’s face went ashen. “Do you think his new wife would kill Kerr as well?”

The Queen gave a nod. “One of the messages is that anyone who tries to protect the King must be killed. She will kill him if he doesn’t let her do what she’s being programmed to do. I hope he has gained some love for her and doesn’t intervene.”

Caleb took Emerald’s hand and clutched it. She knew he was not happy with what the Queen was doing. At least, where Kerr was concerned, anyway.

The Queen looked at Emerald. “I can see you think of me as cruel.”

“No, Your Majesty,” Emerald said quickly.

“Do not lie, child.” The Queen pointed a long finger at her. “I now can smell a lie. It taints one’s breath with a nasty tinge of an acidic aroma. And I can smell your lie from here.”

Emerald went pale then said, “I am sorry. I know it’s none of my business. But there are other ways to handle things. Kerr is your son after all.”

“Nar is my sister, but if she defends my husband she too will die. I have nothing in my heart for people who love this man if they would put their lives at risk for him.” The Queen ran her finger along the rim of the short glass.

Jared cleared his throat. “If I may ask, what is to happen with the hierarchy?”

“I will remain head of it and if there is no one left to follow me I am preparing to hand the position over to another.” Her eyes leveled on Caleb.

He shook his head. “Not a thing I want, Your Highness.”

Emerald gave his hand a squeeze. “She’s not said a word, Husband.”

“He’s right,” the Queen said. “I have watched and listened to all the conversations you’ve had with my son and husband. You would make an excellent ruler.”

“I’m an Earthling and it wouldn’t be right,” Caleb said as he poured himself a drink, looking quite confused.

“You can no longer go back to Earth. You are as much a Euthenian as any of us are. To be born on a planet is nothing any longer. Who cares where you’re born. It’s where you live that makes you who you are. I’m so tired of the distinction between who lives where.”

Emerald smiled. “I can agree with that. It is one of the things my husband and I discussed.”

Caleb shook his head. “My plan was to rule with Kerr.”

“So you planned on ruling?” the Queen asked with one arched brow.

Caleb looked at her and smiled. “Caught that?” He gave her a sheepish look. “Well, I didn’t know you were alive back when I thought that.”

Emerald’s curiosity had her asking, “What were you going to do which had the King wanting you dead if I may ask?”

“I was going to put an end to the hook and the strap. End the one step behind practice and end the sterilization of people with imperfect genetics. Essentially, I was going to make women equals and my husband was having none of that.” The Queen sighed heavily and looked down at the floor with eyes full of sadness.

“So you only meant to make things better, and he wanted none of it. So much so he had you killed, or so he thought anyway.” Emerald shook her head. “So sad.”

The Queen nodded. “And that is why the man must die.”

Caleb and Jared nodded but Emerald thought there had to be a better way. But she kept quiet. The woman who sat across from her had the capability to have her killed as well.

Caleb asked, “What is it you want us to do. We are at your service, Your Majesty. Kerr would want me to stand behind you. If he tries to contact us, I’ll let him know you’re alive….”

“No!” the Queen shouted. “I will have no one told I am alive. All must do what it is they’re going to do for my husband without the knowledge of me being alive.”

Caleb stood and looked down at the Queen. “Your son believed you loved your husband with everything in you. You have to know he will defend his father, if only for you, Your Majesty. It’s unfair and I love Kerr as if he were my own brother. I will tell you now I will not stand by and watch him be killed because of your hurt.”

Her eyes went wide, and she placed a hand on her heart. “You do love my son. I have to tell you that is exactly what makes you so perfect for the role as ruler of Euthenia. You have courage.”

“Thank you,” Caleb took his place, sitting next to Emerald again.

“That said.” The Queen narrowed her eyes at Caleb. “You will never talk to me that way again or it will be your head. And if that is not incentive enough for you then add in that of your wife’s as well.”

Emerald gasped and looked at Caleb who had gone pale. He looked back at the Queen. “I will keep my thoughts to myself.”

“Excellent. It is I who rule as of now. It is I who’s orders will be followed.” She placed her hands in her lap and smiled. “So I have an offer for you and by the word offer I mean I have a position you will accept.”

Caleb gave her a nod. “Of course, my Queen.”

“Very good.” She smiled. “I want you to be my top advisor. I also want you to take a small expedition to the planet nearest us. Its primitive and I want us to start expanding where it is we all can live. Our planet is small and that has us limited to procreation.”

“Is the other planet inhabited?” Jared asked.

“I’m not exactly positive. We know a little about it, but not much. Our people are not explorers. We have no idea of how to live off the land. That’s why I need you Earthlings to help us. You have little fear and such a pioneering spirit. And if there are people living there, you aren’t discouraged by it.” The Queen shifted in her seat and looked out a window.

The first full moon hung there in the pane and she looked a little sad.

“How far away are they, Your Highness?” Emerald asked.

“A week,” she answered. “You will have three days to make the expedition and get back here with some ideas about what we need to do to make an expansion happen quickly. I want to get things going as soon as we can.”

Caleb stood. “We can take one of the export-import ships and a small group to check out the planet. Then we will get back here to be able to protect you when the Armada arrives. If that is suitable for you, Your Majesty.”

With a nod, she said, “That is the leadership I’m talking about. Thank you for stepping up, Caleb. You will be my right hand. Along with top advisor, I also want you to command my new guard force. You have much to work on and I will leave you in complete charge of getting it all accomplished. Use who you want and do what you think is best. I have complete faith in your abilities.”

Emerald thought to herself that she knew why the Queen had complete faith. She was holding both their heads over his and that was incentive enough to be sure Caleb would do all the right things.

The pressure on her husband would be immense and she planned on being there for him for all things. No matter the cost.

They excused themselves and left the room and went up to Caleb’s suite of rooms where Emerald fell upon the soft bed. “Wow! What a change in our lives, Caleb!”

“I hate this.” Caleb pulled off his boots and lay next to Emerald on the bed.

They looked up at the ceiling as their heads spun. Emerald laughed. “This life, husband. We’ll make the best of things. At least because of your excellent skills, we are at the tippy top of this new reign.”

“It’s Kerr I’m most worried about. He is devoted to his father and I want to give him an idea of what he needs to do to stay alive.” Caleb turned to his side and placed his head on his hand and looked down at his wife.

His fingers ran over her collar bone and down to the valley between her breasts. She caught his hand up and kissed his palm. “You have it within you to handle all, Caleb. I have faith in you and maybe a way will present itself for you to tell Kerr a bit without giving it away and having our heads roll.”

“You are so sexy when you talk about your faith in me.” His lips pressed against her neck and she moaned.

“You are so sexy when you take charge and make things happen,” she said as her hand ran over his large bicep and she gave it a squeeze.

Caleb’s hand crept into the opening of her shirt and found her plump breast. He gave it a squeeze and made her squeal with delight.

His lips met hers and she ran her hands around his neck then caught handfuls of his thick curls. As he moved closer to her, he hitched one leg over her and she felt his bulge begin to pulse against her hip as it grew beneath his pants.

Her heart beat harder and her body began to heat with a need for him. She moved her hands to push his shirt off and he let their lips part only long enough to allow her to remove his shirt and he took hers away as well.

Naked chest to naked chest, the two kissed and ran their hands over the other. Their desire for one another heightened with their kiss and Caleb pulled his mouth from hers again to rid her and himself of the rest of the clothing which separated them from the pleasure they sought.

She murmured his name over and over as his lips kissed her flesh all over. His kisses heated her core, and she ached for him. Caleb was taking his time on her. Touching every part of her with deft fingers which left heated trails behind them.

Emerald wrapped one leg around him and arched up to get him to understand she was ready for him. His smile she felt against her breast where he was suckling and nipping her into a frenzy of need.

Then he moved his body over hers as she arched up, but he kept himself just out of her reach. Her groan made him chuckle, and he gave her what she wanted, plunging into her with a hard thrust.

She moaned as her body filled with him and she inhaled his unique scent into her lungs and whispered his name as if adding the name to the smell which would reside in her memory forever.

Caleb’s cock was long, hard and pounding into her, making her body quiver as he showed her exactly who it was she belonged to. No one could ever make her feel the way he did.

Special, sexy, and needed. Caleb knew how to make Emerald feel as if there was no other woman in the Universe for him except her.

Warm lips moved from her breast up to her neck where he bit and sucked at the tender flesh just behind her ear. The sound of his heavy breathing made her insides melt.

Harder and harder he moved into her and she felt the quivering begin. Her body shook as she tried to hold the sweet release. Then his mouth left her neck, and she felt him looking at her.

“Let it go, Baby. I want to look at you as your body takes mine.”

She looked into his eyes and let it happen. His eyes held hers and he moved faster in an attempt to join her. She watched him and before she felt his cock jerk inside her with his climax, she saw his face nearly glow.

She caught his face up between her hands and placed kisses all over it, whispering words of love as their bodies worked together, pulsing and squeezing until nothing was left.

Emerald was happier than she’d ever been.

But how long will this last?

Chapter Thirty-Four

Caleb

It had been years since Caleb, Jared, and Emerald had made their way through space to the Euthenian Nebula. Zin and Zan had never ventured away from their home planet.

The brothers were anything but nervous though as they looked out the large window at the front of the ship. Though neither of them had ever been on an actual ship, both had been trained to fly them.

Zan sat at the helm and Zin was his navigator. Both had wide smiles on as they flew at speeds they’d only ever read about.

The flight to the planet closest to Euthenia only took six hours. The black sky was dotted with the distant stars and none of them could stop looking at it all.

Caleb held Emerald close to him, his arm wrapped loosely around her narrow waist. Her long blonde hair pulled into a braid and wearing a pair of pants and a shirt with protective qualities which also took on the colors of the surrounding air and vegetation to camouflage the person wearing it.

All wore the same uniform to make sure they were as safe as possible while checking out the planet. In the large pockets of the pants were ropes and things to light fires with. Everything Caleb and Jared could think of to help them for the two nights they’d be on the planet.

Traveling light, they brought along powdered food to keep their bodies nourished and small filtration systems so they could drink from the water the planet offered.

“Look,” Zin pointed ahead to the swirling red line which ran in a circle around the planet. “There it is!”

The Euthenians called it the burgundy planet because of its red color. Other than that, they had never given it a real name.

Emerald looked a little worried. “Is that red stuff going to push the ship around? It looks like it’s moving really fast!”

Zan gave her a smile. “Nah. Our thrusters can handle it. I don’t think the particles are very thick. The dark color just makes them look that way.”

As they entered the atmosphere of the planet, Emerald held tight to Caleb. Jared smiled at his younger brother. “I need to go back and get my wife if we’re going to stay in the capital. I miss her sweet smile.”

Caleb winked. “And her warm body?”

Emerald frowned at him and smacked him on the chest. “Caleb!”

The men laughed as they made their way through the red cloud which surrounded the planet. It seemed to be a wall of red particles similar to dirt. Once they passed that barrier the skies were clear white with blue clouds.

A flock of large, birdlike creatures flew through the sky. The suns glistened off their orange wings. Their beaks were black. The birds had sharp teeth and sharp claws.

Zin commented, “They look terrifying. I’m not sure I’d like to share a place with them.”

They watched out the large window at the front of the ship as one of the birds landed and were delighted to find it just ate grass and didn't seem to be a meat eater. Little creatures ate right along with him and none seemed worried the bird was about to devour them.

Jared walked to Zin and patted him on the back. “It seems harmless.”

“Seems that way, but I wonder why it needs those claws and teeth.” Zin gave Zan a knowing look.

“Maybe to fend off real predators,” Caleb said. “There might be some here that are very ferocious if the birds are equipped with such things.”

Jared tapped his left pocket. “Remember we have our sticks to fend them off, guys.”

The two Euthenian men gave him a nod but neither looked stoked about the fact they might have to use them to save their lives against a monster.

Zan landed the ship, and they all walked out onto the brown surface of the clearing they’d found to land on. The air was tinged with a slightly sulfuric odor but it wasn’t too bad. Caleb scanned the area where they landed.

The grass on the planet was a golden color. It grew in bunches which were close together. It was knee high and the constant breeze blew it, making it wave over the surface.

Nearby was a beautiful forest of tall trees in orange and yellow hues. On the orange leaved trees, red globes of some kind of fruit grew. On the yellow trees small, green fruit grew. The trees were so tall one would have to climb the tree to get the fruit.

Jared jogged over to the tree closest to them and found a piece of the red fruit on the ground. He picked it up and went back to share it with the others.

Taking his knife from his pocket, he cut a few pieces, and all tried a bite of the fruit which was full of pulp, like an orange. All five of them nodded in agreement that the fruit was good.

“It’s creamy and a mixture of an orange and a raspberry,” Caleb said and took another bite.

Emerald smiled and said, “I could definitely see eating these often. So we have at least one natural food source.” She took out her communicator and took a picture of the fruit. “I’m naming it, Ruby fruit.”

Zin laughed. “Ruby fruit it is! Our first discovery!”

The ground beneath their feet shook as a creature which walked on all fours came walking towards the forest of trees and had a long neck but a very short body. Its short legs kept its stomach low to the ground.

The creature looked docile. Tanned, smooth skin ran over the large round bodied thing. Large, brown eyes gingerly ran over the people then up to the top of a yellow tree.

They watched as the creature elongated its neck to reach for the fruit at the highest parts of the tree. Then its neck went back to its normal size as it chewed on the small green fruit.

As the animal shook the limb to detach the fruit, several more of them fell to the ground and Zan walked over very slowly so as not to startle the creature and picked a few of them up.

The skin was very rough, and he peeled it off, finding a white inside. He took a tiny taste and made a horrible face. “It’s sour! Yuk!”

Zin took one from his brother and took a nibble of the rough skin. “This part is sweet.”

Caleb took a picture of it. “Hmm. You eat the outside and leave the middle alone. Interesting. Emerald what will you name this one.”

“Oh, I’m in charge of naming everything?” she asked with a laugh.

She took a little bite and frowned. Then Zin said, “How about backward fruit?”

Caleb pressed the buttons, writing the new name and smiled. “A second discovery already and we haven’t even really begun to scout the area. This is looking good.” He took Emerald by the hand. “Stay together and scout the area and make sure to use your communicators to keep in touch and take pictures of anything of interest.”

Jared added. “If anyone finds shelter let all now about it. It won’t be getting dark for another 15 hours on this planet but there isn't a lot known. The weather’s not known. The temperatures once the suns set is not known. So we do need to find some type of shelter and get a fire going. If none can be found, reconvene at the ship before nightfall.”

The planet had the same two suns as Euthenia did. There were no moons showing in the sky at that time. They had no idea if there was a moon or not as they didn’t even see one when they were still out in space. The night was sure to be black if there would be no moonlight.

Caleb and Emerald headed out to the right and Jared, Zin, and Zan headed to the left. They began their search of the planet to see if it would be a place they could make another part of Euthenia.

The first creatures Caleb and Emerald came upon as they walked towards a green pond were some small, feathered creatures with long beaks and feet which looked like paddles. They had a funny little walk as they made their way towards the water away from Caleb and Emerald but they didn't seem afraid of them. They merely seem to be on their way to the pond.

“It’s doubtful they can fly. Their wings are much too short to carry their wide bodies,” Caleb said as he pointed to the little animals.

The golden grass grew all the way to the edge of the pond which was large and oval shaped. Bubbles came up from the bottom of the pond and made little splashes.

Emerald said, “It’s probably gasses from underneath, escaping the water.”

Caleb bent down and took a handful of the water and smelled it. Then let her smell it too. It smelled of eggs but they noticed the little, birdlike creatures that got into it quickly drank from it.

It seemed to be okay so Caleb tasted the water. “It tastes fine. It’s warm to the touch. The source is probably a natural underground spring.”

“Look over there,” Emerald said as she pointed to a large, gray rock in the grassy field. “Let’s go climb it.”

Caleb took her hand and off they went to see what kind of rock it was. The two climbed up the dome shaped thing. Once they reached the top they found it wasn’t a rock after all.

It was a large tortoise-like animal and its huge head was busy eating the grass. They slid back off the thing and made their way around to look at it.

“It has big, brown eyes, Caleb. It looks kind.” Emerald took a few steps to get closer, and it raised its large head and looked at her. Then it went right back to eating.

Caleb laughed and pulled Emerald along. “If it’s that big, eating must be a full-time job. Come on.”

The two walked for an hour before they came to a clearing in the grass. Nothing grew for as far as they could see. Just black dirt that when they stepped on it crackled beneath their feet.

It was as if nothing had ever walked over it. Caleb took a few steps. “Warm puffs of air come up with every step. It must be some kind of volcanic activity.”

“So this part of the planet is not habitable?” Emerald asked as she took a few steps on the dirt.

“No, but not all parts of any planet are.” He looked off to the sides and a green color caught his eye. “This way.”

It took an hour and a half to get to the green area which they found was a lush forest. Very tropical and dense with vines which ran over the tall and large leafed trees.

They heard the sounds of many animals and insects. Little creeks, twitters, and chirps were all around them. Then a terrible howling sound seemed to come from everywhere and Caleb pulled her to his side and took out the small stick he could use to paralyze anything that meant them harm.

Emerald and Caleb searched all around for the horrible creature who was making such a racket. The howling got closer and closer yet they saw nothing.

Emerald pointed to the trunk of the tree nearest to them. “Look, Caleb. That little green thing with tiny red eyes and a tiny mouth that’s shaped in an open circle. I think that’s making this noise.”

Caleb waved a hand over the tiny thing and it jumped off the tree and bounded away, the loud sound going with it. “It was! I don’t know how it made that loud sound.”

Emerald giggled. “We can call it the howler hopper.”

“You’re quite good at this, Emerald.” Caleb took her hand and into the thick forest they went.

The suns’ light was filtered, and it was dim in many places. A large outcropping of rocks stood out in part of the forest and they went to see if there might be a shelter in them.

Caleb hesitated at the opening. “It seems to be a cave.” He took out his light source and into the cave they went.

It seemed to go on forever. One giant cavern after another they walked through until they smelled something burning. “Caleb,” Emerald whispered. “There’s someone in here. Do you suppose it’s the others?”

With a shrug, he said, “Let’s find out.”

The two crept along, staying close to the sides to stay hidden. Caleb held out his arm, stopping Emerald from moving ahead. He pointed and there by a small fire was something with long hair.

It sniffed the air and looked back at them. Then it shrieked and stood up and ran at them. Caleb moved Emerald behind him and took the paralyzing stick out.

“Stop! We mean you no harm!” Caleb shouted.

The long haired thing just kept running at them. It let out a growl then it slowed as it saw the tip of Caleb’s stick begin to glow. It stopped altogether and let out a shriek then turned the other way and ran.

“Come on. That’s a human,” Caleb said and grabbed Emerald by the hand and ran after the thing.

“Are you sure?” Emerald asked. “It didn’t sound human.”

The thing let out another shriek as it left the cave through a different opening than they’d come in. Their feet pounded the forest floor as they ran after the thing.

They could see much better. It was tall, and the hair was in ratty, light brown waves to its waist. A tattered, dirty dress-like thing covered its body, and no shoes were on its dirty feet.

Then just ahead of where it was running Jared, Zin, and Zan came through the forest, igniting another harsh growl and shriek from the thing.

The men got in front of it to stop it and all three took out their paralyzing sticks. Caleb already had his out and Emerald got hers out as well. They had it surrounded as they moved to form a circle around the thing.

It stopped. Hair covered its face as it turned to find it was trapped. Then it fell to the ground and moved its body into a ball.

Emerald moved forward. “We don’t want to hurt you. Are you a man or a woman?”

It looked up and pushed the hair away from its face, revealing a male face covered with a thick, light brown beard. “I am a man.”

The rest came forward and Caleb asked. “How did you get here?”

Jared added, “Where are you from?”

Zin asked, “What’s your name?”

Then Zan said, “You guys need to let him answer one question at a time.” He held his hand out to the man. “Come, stand up. We can help you if you want help.”

The man took Zan’s hand and got up. “My name is Xavultan. Euthenia was my home. I cannot go back or my brother will kill me. It was he who put me here after I made him believe I killed his wife.”

Jaws dropped as Caleb asked, “Is your brother Hexultan?”

The man nodded. “My brother is the King of Euthenia. And I am stuck here as I can never go back to that planet or he will surely take my life.”

“It was you who hid the Queen.” Zan smiled. “You can go back. You’re a hero.”

The man shook his head. “I am no hero. I merely couldn’t kill her. A real hero would have done so much more than hide her. He would’ve stood up to his older brother and told the planet what he wanted him to do. Instead, I hid the Queen. A coward is what I am.”

Caleb shook his head. “You are no coward. A coward would’ve killed her. Come with us. We have some clothes you can put on and a pair of boots as well.”

After exchanging introductions, they started making their way back to the ship as Xavultan told them about the planet which had been his home for years. “There is no moon and the nights are awful here.”

Caleb asked. “What about animals? Are there any which would make it hard to live here?”

“I’ve seen one giant thing. Tall as the palace, yet it’s a stealthy predator. It hides in the tall forests then plucks the birds from the sky and eats them whole. I have no idea if it would be a threat to men or not,” he told them.

“How many have you seen?” Emerald asked as she stepped over a puddle of red liquid.

Xavultan gestured to the puddle. “You can light that liquid and it will take many hours to burn.”

Caleb took a picture and labeled it, firewater. “That could be useful. Xavultan what do you say to be the top most authority for the exploration and colonization of this planet?”

With a chuckle, he said, “I see none better than I for that job. And as for more than one of the giant animals, I have only ever seen the one. I call him the snake as he reaches out with his long arms just like snake strikes.”

All the way back to the ship he told them about the planet and with his knowledge the group was able to make their trip shorter than planned.

As they got to the ship Caleb said, “In light of finding this man and the expert on this planet, I say we head back to Euthenia so this man can get cleaned up and sleep in a soft bed after all this time.”

All agreed, especially Xavultan.

I wonder how the Queen will take this surprise…

Chapter Thirty-Five

Emerald

In a small room at the very back of the ship, Caleb and Emerald went to go rest for the ride home back to Euthenia. The day had been long and full and Emerald was beyond tired.

Yet somehow she was still excited about finding the new planet and wondered how life would be there. She pulled the light blue blanket back on the small bed and fluffed the two pillows. “Caleb, this is so exciting. Don’t you think?”

He stepped out of his boots and took his pants off. “I do.”

Emerald turned to find her husband stripped down and smiled. “I’m so tired, yet your body seems to have woken me up.”

He moved to take her in his arms and pulled the shirt off over her head. He pressed his chest to her breasts and his hands moved to push her pants away from her hips and they lay in a pile on the floor at her feet.

Caleb lay her back on the bed and pulled her boots off and rubbed her feet. “Do they ache from all the walking, Love?”

She nodded. “But I loved it. That was the most adventurous I’ve ever been. That tortoise thing was by far the largest creature I’ve ever seen, much less been so close to.”

“I’m sure we’ll build us a home there. Not that we’ll live there permanently, but we’ll need a place to stay when we go to oversee the work going on there.” Caleb dropped her boots to the floor and moved his body over hers as he climbed on the bed.

“This is all so amazing, Caleb.” She ran her hands over his muscled back and relished how they felt.

“It is. And I’m happy to have you with me as my partner through all of this.” His lips pressed to hers for a moment then he looked into her eyes. “You and I have a lot to do.”

She nodded as her hands moved to his face, pinning it between her palms. “That we do, Husband.” Pulling his face to hers, she kissed him deeply.

She let him go and found herself wondering out loud, “I wonder how the Queen will take this.”

Caleb got up and went to the small bar on the wall to turn the light off. “I don’t know. Well, I hope.” He turned the overhead light out and they were in complete darkness.

“This is the most darkness I’ve ever been in,” she said. “It’s beyond imagination.”

Caleb felt around on the bed for her and her breath caught when his hand rubbed across her thigh. Caleb trailed kisses over her leg, then over her stomach. His lips kissed her until he found a breast. He gave it a quick suck and then kept moving up until his lips touched hers.

He pulled the braid from her hair and ran his fingers through her silky blonde locks. Her hands ran to tangle in his auburn curls as their tongues twirled around one another's.

The complete darkness heightened their other senses. She felt every little movement of his muscles as he moved and she ran her hands all over him. Each tiny hair, she felt on him. It excited her even more.

She arched up, and he pressed himself into her. They both moaned with the connection and the intense feelings of excitement from the new discovery of the planet. Excitement from the discovery of the lost man and excitement for the future filled them both.

Caleb's hands ran all over Emerald's body exploring every part of her as he thrust into her over and over again as the ship glided through the air. Through the small window, Emerald saw an asteroid shower making small starlight streams out the window. She watched them pass by the window fast as Caleb took her to another place.

The way his fingers were burrowing into her ass as he moved to his knees and lifted her up and down to stroke his long, hard cock. He made her feel as if she weighed nothing.

She ran her hands over her breasts as he moved her. She couldn’t see a thing except the stars flashing past the small window as he pumped her back and forth along his length.

Only the sensations were all she was aware of. The way he lifted her, the way her body felt as it moved over his erection. It felt as if she was completely connected to him. An extension of him, somehow.

Time seem to stop as Caleb's breathing was all she was listening to. Then the pounding of their flesh against the others filled her ears.

Her heart was racing and her body was beginning to pulse. She felt his cock twitch inside her and Caleb began to make little grunting sounds.

Emerald’s body began to descend into a magnificent orgasm. Her eyes closed and she no longer looked at the stars as they flew by her window. All she could think about was how Caleb made her feel.

Emerald felt strong and powerful as she knew their future now was going to be nothing like she thought it was going to before that day. Their future was bright and they would be at the pinnacle of the new way all Euthenians were about to begin living.

Emerald’s orgasm coaxed Caleb along and he tensed and came to his own climax with a loud groan. Caleb fell to the bed beside her and pulled her up to lie on his chest.

His heartbeat filled her with strength, safety, and hope. Hope for new life. A new beginning one that their children would prosper in and live happy lives was more than Emerald ever thought she could even ask for.

Emerald looked forward to their children's happiness in the future. Now if she could only get into the Queen’s ear and make her see the death of the king wasn't necessary.

Other things could be done. There had to be other ways to handle things like that.

Caleb’s strong arms wrapped around her, cradling her to him. His lips touched her forehead. “Sleep, Love. Soon we’ll be back home and things will be moving pretty fast for us.”

Emerald closed her eyes and listened to her husband’s heart beating. The new planet would be an experience none would ever forget. The new way of life would ensure a bright future for their children and all the future generations to come.

So much change was on the cusp and she and Caleb would be right there in the forefront, leading the way to a new life for all.

A knock came to the door. Zin’s voice was on the other side, “Caleb, I intercepted a communication meant for the palace. It was the Prince!”

Caleb flew out of bed and turned the light on. “I’ll be right out, Zin.”

Emerald watched him dress quickly, and he ran back and kissed her cheek. “You sleep. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

She lay back and watched him hurry from the room. His face was bright with hope he could talk to Kerr. Emerald snuggled under the blanket and smiled.

Maybe things will be alright.

Chapter Thirty-Six

Caleb

After waiting some time for Kerr to try to communicate again, Caleb was relieved to be able to talk to him and without revealing who had taken over, let Kerr know not to help his father.

The ship was coming in to land at the port and Caleb found Xavultan looking nervous. “There’s nothing to be worried about,” he told the older man.

“Surely, the Queens thinks ill of me.” He paced and wrung his hands.

“She told us about you. She had no idea who you were, but she was upset when you disappeared. That doesn’t sound as if she thought ill of you,” Caleb told him.

Zan gave the man a smile. “We’ll get you all cleaned up before we take you to her. Don’t worry.”

Caleb went to wake his wife up to get off the ship and found her ready and slipping on her last boot. Her hair was messed up in the most perfect of ways and he took her up in his arms and kissed her.

She giggled as he placed her back on the floor. “You certainly are in a good mood.”

“I was able to talk to Kerr. It made me feel much better. I do think the man will do as I told him to and will leave his father to fend for himself.” He took her hand and led her out of the room.

“But there’s still the matter of the King. The Queen seems very set on his death.” Emerald frowned and leaned against Caleb. “I don’t like it, Caleb. Not at all. I think it’s the wrong way to start off what is supposed to be a positive change.”

He stopped and took her chin in his hand. “Promise me you will not speak to her about this, Emerald. She has the ability to take your head for such a thing.”

She nodded. “I know. I’ll keep my mouth shut. Maybe you though…”

He shook his head. “No! I will not!”

She noded in agreement. “You’re right. I know you are.”

They made their way to the bridge and found they’d landed. Emerald smiled at Xavultan. “Are you ready to take off about ten pounds of hair?” she asked him.

He laughed. “You have no idea!”

A small shuttle waited for them and took them all to the palace. Where Zin and Zan immediately took Xavultan to clean up.

Jared stopped Caleb before they walked inside. “I’m going back to the settlement to get my wife. I’ll be back before the Armada comes in.”

“Please see that you are. And bring any person who wants to guard the palace until this is over. It may end moments after they land or it may not. One can never tell about these things.” Caleb waved goodbye to his brother and took his wife inside.

Emerald looked up at him. “Should you find the Queen and tell her about our discoveries?”

“We should,” he said then gave her nose a little tweak.

She giggled as they went up the steps. Hand in hand they went into the palace. A guard was waiting for them. “Please follow me, the Queen wants to talk you.”

Caleb and Emerald followed him to where the Queen sat, waiting for them in a room decorated in various shades of pink. She sipped on a purple cocktail with lines of pink flowing through it.

Her blonde hair was pulled up into an ornate up-do with little white flowers tucked in it here and there. Her gown was pale yellow and flowed to the floor.

Emerald and Caleb bowed as they entered the room which smelled sweet. Emerald smiled at the woman. “You look very pretty, Your Majesty.”

A smile crept over the older woman’s pink lips. “What a nice thing to say, Emerald.”

She gestured for them to take a seat on the small sofa in front of her throne-like chair. They did as she suggested and a young woman brought them drinks as well.

“My guard told me you brought in a primal man from that planet. Why would you do such a thing, and who is he?” Her pink lips touched the edge of her glass as she peered over the edge, looking at Caleb.

“That man is not from that planet. That planet has not been inhabited by any humans as of yet. The man we brought back is your husband’s brother, and we found him on the planet we visited.” Caleb took a sip of the drink and found it too sweet and had such a high content of alcohol he could actually taste it.

With furrowed brows, she said, “Why would I want that man’s brother here?”

Emerald took the Queen’s attention. “Because he is the one who was sent to kill you but hid you instead. For his help, the King had him taken to that planet and left there. I’m sure to die, but the man managed to survive.”

The Queen’s eyes went wide and her hand covered her chest. “You mean to tell me, my husband exiled the man who helped him? His own brother? See how much he deserves to die?”

Caleb squeezed Emerald’s hand in an attempt to get her to keep her thoughts to herself.

It didn’t work though as Emerald answered, “Death is a punishment best left up to the one who gave us life. Do you not agree, Your Highness?”

Caleb looked at her as if her mind had been taken. “What she means is…”

The Queen held up her hand, stopping him. “Please, Caleb. I want women to learn to speak up after all. What should I do to the man who fooled me into believing he loved me like no other ever could?”

Her light blue eyes stared into Emeralds and Caleb found his stomach tense. Emerald answered, “Your Grace, I do not have an answer for you. I wish I did. The only thing I do know is taking a life is wrong no matter who is doing the taking.”

“But the call is yours, Queen. No one is saying anything other than that,” Caleb jumped in to say. “Now, about the man we found. His name is Xavultan. Did the King ever speak about him to you?”

“I knew he had a brother. I had never met him, though. My husband wanted his past left far behind him. I suppose the fact he was a commoner who might have had Earthling blood made him want to keep that away.” The Queen took another sip of the strong drink and picked up a little, white, round, ball off a platter on the table in front of her. “Help yourselves, please.”

Both shook their heads and Emerald asked, “No thank you. Do you suppose Xavultan could stay in the palace?”

“The man saved my life. He will always be welcome here. In honor of finding him, I will order a feast to be prepared for him. All these years I feared him dead. To find him alive is a great day for me,” she said then rang a little bell.

A man walked in quickly and bowed. “Yes, Your Highness?”

“We have a very welcomed guest this evening. Have a feast prepared for twenty, if you please.” She waved him away. “I’ll want it served in two hours.”

He ran off to get it accomplished in the small amount of time. Caleb watched him run off, and he said, “Then at the feast, he can tell you all about the planet. I see no reason we can’t get working on it as soon as you want to. There is enough there to sustain an initial party of builders. The flight is a mere six hours so we can easily take materials there to build with.”

“Wonderful news. I cannot wait to see the place. Tell me, are there delightful creatures there?” She sat up and placed her hands on her thighs and a real smile traveled over her lips.

It made Caleb happy to see her like that and the thought ran through his head how happy Kerr was going to be to find his mother was alive.

Emerald smiled and said, “There are some unique creatures there. We didn’t come close to seeing them all, but the one which excited me the most was this tiny thing with a huge howl. I named it a howler hopper.”

The Queen clapped her hands. “Did you get a picture?”

Caleb answered, “Not of that one. It took us by surprise as it was tiny and the noise was so loud. When we finally figured out what was making the sound, I’m afraid I frightened it away without being able to get a picture of it for you.”

“At the feast put all the pictures together and show us all what you found. I’ll let you two go get cleaned up and changed and see you in the grand dining hall in two hours then,” she told them.

Caleb rose and took Emerald’s hand in his. They bowed and left the room. As they walked up the stairs to his room, Emerald asked, “Does she seem a little better than she was before?”

“I think when her son arrives, it will make a vast difference in her. She has been through so much. I know the King wronged her terribly, and he has to suffer some punishment for it. I hope he gives the woman an apology, at the very least.”

Caleb opened the door and let Emerald go in first. She turned back after she walked into the room. “I do too. I hope he can find something inside him to do the best he can to right his wrong.”

“I don’t know what one can do to make something that horrible right, but admitting how wrong he was, is a start.” Caleb pulled his wife into the shower, and she smiled at him.

“Do we have time for a little steamy fun in the shower?” she asked as she ran her hands over his large biceps.

“Always time for that, Love.” He kissed her as he pulled her clothes off and she pulled at his too.

* * *

The food at the feast was fit for a King, a Euthenian King, but a King all the same. Beautiful platter after beautiful platter was heavily laden with every type of food they had. Golden beetles in silver sauce, butterflies in edible silk, and even chocolate grasshoppers.

Xavultan sat to the right of the Queen at the honored place at the long table. He looked like a different man, after getting his hair cut and a shave. He resembled the king in many ways. Yet his eyes were softer and he held his jaw less tight.

Their reunion was one with a few tears and a hug. Neither seemed able to talk much as the emotions were too high.

Both had been set up to die. The King, the person who had ordered both deaths. His wife and only brother, he wanted dead. Yet they’d managed to survive and Caleb found it a common bond with the two.

A silent bond. One all could feel the enormous presence of in the large dining hall.

Caleb saw Emerald struggling with the food which people from Earth did not cotton too well at all. He placed a chocolate grasshopper to her lips, and she shook her head and held her lips tightly together. He laughed. “I really must insist, Love.”

Her eyes went big, and she shook her head with vigor. “No…”

Caleb popped it in before she could close her mouth shut again and she quickly swallowed. “See, not so bad, right?”

“I didn’t really taste it. I kind of panicked and swallowed quickly as I could.”

He picked up another one and held it to her lips. “Try this one. Think of it as a crunchy chocolate.”

Emerald let him put the food in her mouth and she took a couple of chews then swallowed it down. “Ew. I felt its legs. But it tasted just like chocolate.”

Caleb tried to hold back a laugh but out it came out, anyway. The Queen noticed Emerald’s uncomfortableness with the food. “Emerald, perhaps this creamy soup would be a better match for your taste.”

She gestured to a bowl of steaming white soup and it was passed down to Emerald. Who placed a spoonful in the small bowl of her place setting.

Her first spoonful had her digging in for more. “Delicious!”

The Queen smiled. “Good!”

With the last bite finished, Emerald wiped her mouth. “Thank you for suggesting that, Your Majesty.”

“I thought you might like it. It’s a very nutritious blend of some of our finest ingredients.” The Queen gave her a smile. “I think a little bit of everything is in that soup.”

Emerald’s face went pale. “Everything? Like bugs?”

“Insects are the main part of our diet. Of course, there are some in there. They’re blended, though.” The Queen seemed pleased with her little deception which got Emerald to eat.

“A true mother you are, Your Majesty,” Emerald told her with a smile. “Tricking me into eating something otherwise, I wouldn’t have. Clever.”

“You liked it, so now you’ll eat it. You won’t think about what went into it. You’ll just remember it tastes good.” The Queen’s gaze went to a man who was entering the huge dining hall.

He wore a grave expression and looked right at the Queen. “Your Majesty, there has been a signal sent to us from every ship in the Armada.”

The Queen’s eyes pulled wide. “Every ship?”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” the man looked grim. “All are sending a distress signal and all are without the power to come home. Something has drained all their power and left them in complete darkness and floating in space.”

The Queen’s color left her beautiful face. “All power lost means they have limited air to breathe.” Her light blue eyes looked around at every person at the table. “We could lose every royal we have, save me.”

Caleb spoke up, “Should we send a rescue team?”

She shook her head. “Not enough time.” She looked at the man who had delivered the bad news. “Turn on the tractor beam and make sure you put it on the highest level. We have to get them in as fast as we can. My sister and son are on those ships.”

The man turned to leave but looked back at the Queen. “If we’re able to catch them, it will take three days to bring them in. That will be just in time before their air runs out.”

Caleb’s stomach knotted. “Then get on it, man! We’ve no time to waste!”

The Queen was shaking in her seat. Caleb got up and went to her. He took her hand and helped her up. “Thank you, Caleb.” She looked at Emerald. “Emerald, please accompany me to my parlor where we can sit and wait to see if the tractor beam can catch them.”

Emerald hurried to her side and held her hand as they left the room. “I’m sure the beam can catch them. We have to have faith at a time like this, Your Majesty.”

“That we do, child. That we do,” the Queen said with a shaky voice.

Caleb wasn’t as sure as his wife. Hope still found a place in him, though. But even if they did make it back home, what if Caleb stood with his father and he was ordered to kill the man who was as much a brother to him as any of his real ones?

His heart was heavy, and he wished like hell the Queen would call the murder of the King off.

With this change of events, can I get her to see reason?

* * *

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Book 7

The Big End

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Kataline

It’s like I’m here and then I’m not. Snippets of what’s going on keep happening. The darkness is complete. I have no idea where I am or where anyone else is.

The stars dot the jet black, velvet of space we seem to be moving through so much more slowly than we were before. I don’t know what’s happened to the ship or all of the people.

I feel as if I’m floating in a thick pool of some strange liquid substance. Numbness flows through me. My mind is calm. I want to know where my husband is, but I’m nor frantic about it at all.

The calmness is overwhelming and there is not a thing I can do about it, so why to bother. I don’t feel as if I could become worried or angry or have any emotion really, even if I concentrated very hard to.

“We must find the King and kill him,” some small voice in my head says.

The deep one, the loudest one, answers, “He is to stay alive until we land. The words are clear in my head. Do not question them.”

I try hard to care, but it’s no use. I just can’t seem to care about anything. It feels like I have no cares any longer. The thought I may be dead is one I’ve had a number of times.

But I don’t think I am for some odd reason. The fact I can look out the window for one. I don’t think the afterlife will have a need for space.

“I am here, Kataline,” I hear the King’s voice. “Do to me what you will, but please allow the others to live. Our oxygen could run out before the tractor beam takes us all the way to Euthenia.”

I squint into the blackness and see nothing. “Why should I care if they make it or not?” My mouth moves to say the words and I could feel that, but that was not my voice or my mind making them.

The King says, “So you no longer care about Kerr?”

“He will be fine. He sleeps as do the rest. They’re taking up little oxygen. I know we’ll get back. And even you as well. I am not to take your life until we’re on the ground. I have been told to allow those who want to, to leave the ships before I destroy them all,” that deep voice says using my mouth.

“Why am I not asleep?” the King asks.

“I was told to let you stay awake. The person you wronged wants you to be acutely aware of what’s going to happen to you. I am not even to tell you how I will kill you. Your mind will go much deeper than my words ever could.”

“Kataline, how did this happen to you? This is not your voice I’m talking to. Can’t you come out and speak with me?” he asks.

I think about trying to get out to talk to him, but the thick water around me moves a little, rocking me and making me want to stay right where I am.

The deep voice answers for me, “She’s happy where she is. She has no wish to talk to you.”

The King’s sigh I can hear. “You have good in you Kataline. I know you do. Why are you letting this evil control you, child?”

I listen as the deep voice answers him, “Good and evil reside within us all, it’s which voice you choose to listen to which rules you. I simply chose the loudest, Sire.”

“Maybe your true voice could become the loudest. I want to confess something to you. Something I have never told anyone, save the man who did the deed for me.” The King hesitates and I find myself listening hard for him to talk.

One of the weaker voices asks, “What have you done?”

The higher voice adds, “Oh yes, please tell us. We are dying to know what you did which has this happening to you.”

Confusion fills the tone of the King’s voice as he asks, “Do you mean to tell me, you’re doing all this and you have no idea what I’ve done or who is doing this to me?”

The high voice answers him, “Only commands have we heard. Only what we are to do. It’s not a woman or a man, only words which run through our brain. Kill the King is the dominant phrase but there are many, many others.”

“Perhaps you do have some type of device inside you as Kerr has suggested to me. Perhaps a scan will show us something which can be removed and bring Kataline back to us.”

The deep voice laughs. It’s a dark and evil sound. “We are all Kataline.”

I float in the thick liquid and wonder why there are so many voices if they are all me. Can I possibly have that many personalities?

A soft voice comes out of me. One that reminds me of a mother’s voice though I’ve never had one of those. It sounds like that to me. “Something has triggered each aspect of our whole, which is Kataline, to split apart. Each individual side usually combines to form the whole person. In this case, something has happened to heighten each separate part of the whole. Our powers have been heightened as well. It is I who turned back the laser beams.”

“People don’t have the powers you have, Kataline.” The King sounds frustrated.

The mother voice says, “Yes, you do. We all have things we can do. Whatever it is which has enlightened us showed us the power we had from the very beginning. You have some too. Everyone does.”

“How can I find mine?” he asks.

“I do not have that answer. We have no idea how this happened to us. We only know we have a common directive. To end your life. It’s a thing some of us are against,” the motherly voice tells him.

“So there’s a chance I can talk you out of this then?” he asks with hope threaded through his voice.

The deep voice comes out quickly, “I am in charge and I am going to follow the command. So to answer your question. No, there is no chance of you talking us out of it. What must be done is set in stone.”

The King says, “Nothing is ever set in stone, Kataline. Nothing!”

The high voice asks, “Weren’t you going to tell us what you did that has someone wanting you dead, Your Highness?”

“The curious part of you, Kataline?” he asks.

“I am that,” it answers.

The King’s voice goes soft as he says, “I have been a man who has made a couple of very bad decisions. I had my reasons at the time, but looking back at them, they were not good reasons. There are no good reasons to have someone killed, and another exiled for the part he played in it.”

“So that’s it then. I thought as much. You are a murderer,” the high voice says.

“I am.”

The darkness is feeling heavy for some reason. Or maybe it’s something inside me. Weight is taking me down. A heavy burden seems to have been placed on my body.

My voice comes out of my mouth as my mind shouts out, “Who am I to judge? Who am I to take his life?”

“Kataline!” The King’s voice sounds excited. “Kataline, stay with me, girl!”

I’m yanked back into the warm liquid. It numbs me again. It feels as if a hand runs over my brow and words are murmured around me, “Rest, sleep, do not worry. Let us do that. You rest.”

The voices are calm and soothing. I relax again and let them do the thinking, the talking.

“I am ready to accept my fate for what I’ve done,” the King says. “My crime is beyond deplorable. Having my brother kill my wife is a thing which I deserve to die for.”

He killed Kerr’s mother!

The deep voice speaks only to me. “See, he deserves to die.”

“That is not up to us,” I say.

It must’ve come out of my mouth as the King says, “It’s not. You’re right. I will confess to the other royals and take the punishment they give me, Kataline. I swear to you I will confess. Give me a chance to tell my story. I will take whatever they give me, even if that is death.”

The deep voice is back and sounds mad, “It’s not up to her. I am the one in charge and I will do what we have been directed to do. Leave us. I tire of your talk. I tire of your manipulations for that is what you’re trying to do. It won’t work. Not with me in charge, it won’t.”

My mind fades quickly as I’m pulled beneath the thick liquid.

Can this be stopped?

* * *

Queen Gleeu

Lying on a soft lounge chair out on the balcony of my bedroom, I look up at the stars. My son is up there somewhere. My only child.

When my first-born son was taken from this world as he fell from the top of one of the trees in the red forest, I thought it would kill me as well.

My husband was supposed to be watching him. The two were out for a walk when the accident occurred. I never forgave Hexultan for that.

He allowed him to climb the tree, said every boy should be able to shimmy up a tree if they so desired to. His death was a thing I never forgave him for.

I changed how I treated him from that point forward. I was harsh with him in private and critical of him when alone as well.

On the outside, it all looked rosy. Never did I disrespect the man in front of anyone else, Kerr included. But in the privacy of our quarters I gave him no respect.

I kept my love and body from him. Perhaps that drove him to what he did. Perhaps me never forgiving him for the death of our first-born drove him to have me killed.

Not that I’m approving of that in any way. But just reflecting on why he did it.

Our love had been true. From the first time I laid my eyes on him, I knew he was the one for me. Though a child at the time, something inside me sparked for him.

My father saw it as well and made him a Duke instead of a commoner. And we married. It was a love affair like no other. We couldn’t keep our hands off one another.

It was like Heaven until that fateful day and then it was like Hell.

Our son looked like him. Kerr resembles me, but Hexor looked like his father. And every time I looked at my husband’s face, I saw the child he made us lose.

His rambunctious ways and what I came to call Earthling spirit had him letting our son do a dangerous thing which cost him his young life.

A star flashes through the night sky and it takes my attention back to Kerr. Up there in the complete darkness as the power has been taken from his ship and every other ship in the Armada.

I wonder what they’re all thinking up there. I wonder if they’re afraid. I wonder if Hexultan is lying somewhere, wide awake and knowing this is all his fault.

The directive stated all the others were to be put to sleep, but not Hexultan. I wanted him left awake to live through the fear of knowing his time was limited.

Even though they should all be asleep, I wonder if Kerr is sleeping peacefully or having long nightmares. I hope his sleep is peaceful, but I have no control over that.

As the cool breeze flows over my skin, I recall better days. Back before the accident, before I turned on my husband, before it all. We were happy once upon a time.

Funny how life can change in the blink of an eye. Something inside me is doing battle with the part of me who wants to see the ultimate revenge on the man who ordered my death.

Deep inside I’ve been having doubts about this plan I put in motion nearly a year ago. The girl, Emerald, has made those doubts come much closer to the surface.

Not sure I like that.

Harboring resentment has gotten me through the years since Hexultan ordered my death. And to find out he used his poor brother to do it. Well, that’s just too much, I think.

But maybe if I hadn’t gone about this in the way I have, things could’ve been resolved long ago. Maybe his poor brother wouldn’t have lived for so long on a planet with no other human’s on it.

Maybe the way I’ve been handling things for so long has been wrong.

But what can I do about it all now?

It’s too late to change a thing. The girl who wears my mother’s wedding ring has already been dissected. The directives have been implanted. It’s set in stone.

Nothing can be done to stop it now. The wheels were put in motion far too long ago.

It is Hexultan’s fate now. He will die upon his arrival here. The girl will kill him and then life as we know it will go on.

My eyes close as my heart aches. We were in love once. We had two small sons and were completely in love.

And then we weren’t anymore. In one quick moment, we just weren’t in love any longer.

When you lose a child I think you go a little mad. Could I have made very bad choices after losing Hexor?

Did I have to lose Hexultan too?

My husband tried very hard to help me through the loss, but I pushed him away so hard. Blamed the man so completely for our eldest son’s death.

Life left the man’s eyes. But in all fairness, it had left mine too.

Doubt just keeps running through me, though. How could I stop it anyway, even if I wanted to?

She’s been activated. I can’t have her destroyed for what I did to her. That would be worse than having her kill my husband.

To take her down would take her having to be killed. She’s now a force to be reckoned with thanks to me. She can take a life with a look.

Getting up, I go back inside my bedroom. The one I used to share with my husband. I’ve had his things removed.

They’re in another part of the palace. We never destroy things here. No waste on Euthenia.

The purple liquor which has helped me survive since Hexor’s death sits in a beautiful clear decanter on the table in my room.

I pour myself a drink and sit down in the soft and well-cushioned chair I used to sit in before I had to hide from the man who wanted me dead.

The first drink burns as it goes down my throat. The fine crystals in the drink make tiny perforations down the throat, allowing the alcohol to penetrate much faster than other liquors.

The burn subsides quickly as the numbing agents go to work. The numbness moves over the body rapidly and the brain decides nothing is all that important any longer.

I glide over the floor to my bed. The one I used to share with my husband. I lay on the soft blanket and look up at the ceiling.

We had an artist paint a mural of our sons when they were children, playing in one of the blue garden’s Hexultan made to capture my attention when we were young.

Pain fills my chest and I turn over and grab my glass and take another drink. Lying back, I feel the effects take me deeper. Further away.

My eyes close. I no longer wish to look at the boys. I’ve neither anymore, anyway. Kerr is grown and soon will have a family of his own.

If he doesn’t help his father that is.

My sister, Nar’s face makes a brief appearance in my head. I hurry to take another drink of the purple forget everything juice to send it away.

Resting my head on the fluffy pillow, I let myself fall. Push it all out of my head.

There is nothing I can do to stop it, anyway.

* * *

King Hexultan

The darkness is so complete I had to crawl on my hands and knees to find a place to rest my body. I’ve no idea where I am on the ship, but I have found a soft surface to lie on.

The thoughts won’t leave me alone. I guess that’s what the person or persons who ordered this wants.

Well, they got their wish. I can’t sleep. It’s as if the spell Kataline put on the people who sleep, she put the opposite spell on me.

Memories keep coming to me. The one that keeps coming is the one when our oldest son fell from the top of a tree in the red forest and died.

I was there. I was supposed to be keeping him safe. I failed.

His little lifeless body was so badly broken. My heart aches with the memory. It was all my fault.

I deserved what I got when Glee held me responsible. She never forgave me. In the public’s eye, she did. But not in reality.

No one knew about that. We kept that well hidden. Even Kerr didn’t know how we were in private. She didn’t speak to me once we were alone.

I can’t blame her. It was my fault we lost our first born. I endured the torture of not being able to touch the woman I loved more than life itself.

Glee would look at me with light in her eyes when we had social functions. She turned that light on like a switch. And off as well.

It never failed to give me hope when I’d see it there. It also never failed to tear a little bit more of my heart when she turned it off again when we got back to being alone.

Something happens to a person when their child dies. It shuts something down in them, even if they have others, a piece of them is missing and can’t ever be replaced.

I lost Hexor and at the same moment in time, I lost Glee.

She held my heart in her hands. Since the first time my eyes fell on her sweet face, she had my heart.

I never faulted her for how she treated me after Hexor’s death. But it hurt more than losing him did. He was my son, but she was a part of me.

We used to joke around that she and I shared a soul. We were a couple of half people until we found one another. Only then did we become one.

My body aches as I recall asking my brother to kill her. For the life of me, I don’t know where my mind was at that time. It was gone.

I don’t know who was controlling me. Certainly not myself. Certainly not the man who still completely loved his wife even if she hated him for his role in their son’s death.

All I knew was once her body was found, and I knew he’d done it. I had to get him and take him somewhere else. I couldn’t look at him.

I hated him for doing what I’d asked him to in an obvious moment of madness.

So I snuck away one night and drugged him then put him on a tiny ship and took him to the nearest planet and dumped him off.

Once I made it home, I agonized over what I had done to my brother. Again, the one moment of madness just kept getting bigger. Now it was more like a year of madness, not a mere moment.

Escalating to new depths. I managed to stop the horrible things I was doing, but I never did go back and try to fix any of them.

I could’ve gone and found my brother and brought him home and told the other royals what I had done and faced the consequences, but I didn’t.

I kept quiet and felt I deserved the nightmare that plagued me. Gleeu came to me in the dead of night at times and hovered over me, taking my breath from me.

I’d see her fleeting gown as she moved away from me. I’d chase after the ghost until it disappeared. Her scent left in its wake.

I deserved for her to haunt me. I knew that.

If I could turn back time. Oh, how I’d change it all. But I can’t so I’ll accept my fate.

In the end, maybe on the other side of this life, I will find my Glee again. Perhaps she’ll hate me no longer for the loss of our son who is over there as well. Maybe we can be a family over there.

Kerr can join us when it’s his time. Maybe it won’t be so bad.

The ship lurches and I nearly fall off the bed. I look out the window and see one of the moons is very close. That means we are mere hours away from landing.

Hours away from my fate.

How I wish it didn’t have to end this way…

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Kerr

The sun shining out the window wakes me. Confusion fills me as I look around and realize the ship is on the ground.

But where is Kataline?

What’s happened? When did we land? How long have I been asleep?

Getting up, I stagger to wash my face and try to wake up. I feel as if I’ve been drugged.

Running my wet hands over my hair, I look at my reflection and see quite a bit of stubble as it looks as if I haven’t shaved in some time. Though I distinctly recall shaving.

A noise in the corridor has my curiosity piqued and I go and open the door of my room. A few of the royal guards stagger about looking about as confused as I feel.

I stop the one nearest me. “Guard, do you have any idea what has happened?”

“I just woke up. I was on the floor in the galley. There were others sleeping in there as well. I suppose some type of gas was used to put us all to sleep, Prince.” He staggers away, holding onto the wall to keep himself up.

Finding my body weak, I think it’s safe to say we’ve been asleep for some time. I find some water and drink it down to quench a fierce thirst which further convinces me of my suspicions.

The door to the ship is open and the few who are awake, walk out it then come right back in. There were five men and they all have their fingers in their mouths telling the rest of us to be quiet.

Once they get to me, one whispers, “Princess Kataline has the King kneeling on the ground outside.”

“What sort of weapon does she have?” I ask.

Another shakes his head. “None, Sire.”

My heart pounds in my chest as if a thousand equines are charging through it.

I cannot allow her to kill my father!

“Come! She has to be stopped!” I tell them. “Stay behind me, though. I might be able to get through to her.”

Just as I walk out and spot my wife and father, I stop and stare at how she’s looking at him and listen hard.

I hear my father, not pleading but speaking with a calm voice, “Kataline, before you send me from this world, I want to apologize to you. I have been an old fool and know well what I have done. Please know I take responsibility for all of my actions. I was given great power and did nothing good with it.”

I watch Kataline’s eyes twitch. That deep voice I’ve heard come from her says, “How clever you must think yourself, King. Your apology will not save you.”

I can wait no longer and begin to move out of the cover of the edge of the ship. Just as I am about to speak I hear a shriek coming from Kataline.

My father looks up at her from his place on the ground in front of her. “Child, are you alright?”

Her hands go to hold either side of her head and she holds it as she screams and screams. Then it stops suddenly. She seems to be reeling with shock.

Kataline looks down at my father. It’s her voice that speaks, “Rise, Sire. I will not allow them to take your life.” She holds her hand out to him and he accepts it.

“Kataline, you’re back,” he says. “How did you manage to get back?”

“I took myself back over.” She smiles at him with that wonderfully sweet smile of hers. “There is a demon or two in all of us. We struggle all the time with them. But in the end, good must prevail.”

My father scoops her up in his arms and hugs her. “Glad to see you won the battle, child.”

He lets her out of his grip and she looks at him. “And I know your demons waged a battle in you once and you lost it to them for a while. But you managed to silence them and now it is time to right your wrongs, Sire.”

“That it is, Princess,” he says.

More people have woken up and some are beginning to come out of the other ships. All look confused and finding the King and Kataline in the middle of all the ships as they’ve landed in a circular formation doesn’t help anyone to understand things any better.

Aunt Nar comes to meet them as do I. She asks, “What is going on, Your Highness?”

My father looks at her and waves his hand, gesturing for all to gather round. “I have a confession to make.”

I take Kataline’s hand, and she looks at me. “Kerr, did you sleep well?”

“Um, not sure. I remember nothing,” I tell her. I place a kiss on her cheek. “Do you think you have that under control now?”

She nods and smiles. “I do. I have been waging a war inside my head, but I won out in the end. It is the dark one who slumbers in the warm liquid now and I plan to keep it there.”

It seems as if all have woken up and gathered around us. My father raises his hands above his head as if in surrender. “I have done an awful thing which I will accept any punishment the royals deem appropriate for the crimes I have committed.”

I place my hand on his shoulder. “Father, perhaps you and I should talk in private about this matter.”

He shakes his head and pats my hand. “No, son. It’s time to come clean.” He looks back around and his eyes land on Nar who stands near him. “I had my brother kill the Queen and then because of my hate for what he did, I took him to another planet and dumped him. I have no idea if he’s even still alive. I highly doubt it.”

My ears cannot believe what they’ve just heard. “No, Father. Please tell me that’s not true!” My head spins with the news and I can’t feel a thing. Numbness has enveloped me and this cannot be real.

A hush falls over the crowd and Nar’s hand flies back and a sound slap she delivers to his cheek. “Hexultan!”

My father’s face turned with the force of the hard slap and he leaves his head down. “I completely understand if you all wish to string me up and take my life right here and now.”

My knees feel weak and I feel Kataline’s hand on my back as people murmur around us. She looks around and says, “May I remind you all the capital and palace have been taken over and every man and woman we have are needed to help in getting it back.”

I nod and look around. “The Princess is right. We can deal with the King once we have control back and find out who is behind this uprising.” I look at my aunt. “Okay, Nar?”

Tears have welled up in her blue eyes. “How could you, Hexultan?”

My father shakes his head. “I have no excuse and will offer none. All I can say is my head wasn’t right at that time.”

This is too much for me to deal with right now. I can’t handle the takeover and this horrible news.

How could he do such a thing?

My father loved my mother. It’s impossible that he really did that. Impossible!

Kataline reaches out and takes his hand in hers then looks out at the crowd. “I am here to tell you all that evil resides in every one of us. The King let it rule him for a short time and he is willing to pay the price whatever that may be. I would like to remind all, vengeance is not ours to take. Keep that in mind as you think about what is the appropriate action to take with this man. For he is just a man though he has a great title. He is flesh and blood like we all are. He is weak as we all can be. He is human.”

Nods and whispers come from the crowd then I say, “You can be assured there will be consequences. For now, though we must form a plan to get our planet back under royal control and going in, to battle the rebels with the King in shackles is a terrible idea and will surely lead to our destruction.”

My father looks at me. “Son, whoever is in charge there wanted me killed. Don’t you recall? They will kill all who help me.”

I clap my father on the back. “I have my doubts they can do that now that Kataline has regained herself. And to be sure about something I want to take Kataline back on the ship and do a little test. I have a theory about what’s happening to her and I think the ship has everything to do with it.”

I take my wife by her hand and lead her back onto the ship all have come out of. As we enter her hand goes to her head and her body falls against my side. “Kerr!”

I stop and look into her eyes and see little bits of gold streaking through them. “What’s happening to you?”

“Take me back out, quickly, the voices…”

I pick her up and run back out of the ship. When I look into her eyes the golden streaks are gone. “Okay, it’s definitely something on the ship which activates something you have on you.”

My father points at Kataline’s wedding ring. “Take that off and go back in.”

I take the ring off her finger and hold it in my hand. Then lead her back inside and nothing happens to her at all. She looks at me with surprise. “You mean that’s all we ever had to do to stop that!”

I nod and open my hand to look at the ring which was my grandmothers. “There’s something in this ring and something is planted on this ship. Whoever took over certainly had a lot of access to the palace because this ring resided in my mother’s jewelry box for years now and nowhere else.”

My father’s eyes travel to my wife as we walk back out to where everyone else is. “We have limited weapons with us. Only the paralysis staffs that have enough charge for only one kill each. That will never be enough. But Kataline may still have her powers.”

I point to a large tree branch with little yellow flowers growing all over it. “Kataline see if you can make only the flowers fall off that limb.”

My wife looks at the tree limb and a few flowers begin to fall, she blinks a couple of times and the flowers burst into flames. She smiles and the flames go out.

Then she holds her palm out as she looks at the limb and it’s as if she’s ripping it from the main beam and it flies through the air, landing fifty feet away from the tree.

“Yes, I still have my powers. The process which happened in me allowed them to come forward and I assume as long as I use them now and then I will keep them,” she says then turns to look at the others, some of whom have their hands over their mouths in shock and surprise.

“I think she should lead us in, Kerr. You and I can stand behind her and the rest behind us.” My father taps his long finger against his temple. “I’d like to see if she might be able to protect us all as well. Can you be a sport and see if she can stop someone from getting to you, Kerr?”

I motion to three of our biggest guards. “Can you come forward and draw your staffs?”

They do as I say and I look at Kataline. “Don’t let them get to me, Baby.”

With a smile, she says, “Not a problem.”

I hold out my arms. “Come at me, boys.”

The three rush towards me as Kataline stands behind me. They get within a few feet and it’s as if they hit a wall. They all fallback and one lands on his ass.

They try again and move around me in a circle, testing the whole perimeter. Kataline laughs. “He’s protected completely. Not even overhead or underneath him can anyone get to him.”

My father claps his hands. “Fantastic! Do you think you can protect us all?”

“I can,” she says and then takes my hand. “We should get going, don’t you all think?”

With one loud cheer from the crowd of royals, guards, and staff we form a somewhat formidable group. And with our secret weapon, we should be able to regain control and oust the new leader.The time has come to do battle and we are ready, thanks to my award!

* * *

Caleb

“Your Highness, we need to get you someplace safe. The surveillance at the port just showed us the whole group of people who were on the ships of the Armada are grouped together in formation. The King is alive,” I say as Emerald hurries to help the Queen get ready.

She was in a deep sleep and we had no choice but to come into her bedchamber to see if she was okay. A half-empty glass of the purple drink she seems to have around her at all times sits on the bedside table.

“I will leave you to help her, Emerald. Please hurry, Love.” I leave the room and go to gather the people I’ve managed to scrape together from the Earthlings and the few guards who were left here.

At a meeting late last night, we came up with a plan to hold the palace if for some reason the King wasn’t killed as the Queen ordered. I will have a few men at intervals take out key guards who are known for their superior combat skills.

The guards who have worked with the others for many years are less than keen on helping to kill their co-workers and friends. This will not be an easy war and I have tried to talk to the Queen about it but she won’t listen to reason.

Though her son, himself, is in danger she’s so dead-set on the King’s death she’ll risk killing her only son. I’ve found it hard to back her, but over-throwing her at this point could mean my head once the other royals find out what I’ve done.

So I ready myself to make one more attempt to talk to the Queen and explain how much better this could all be handled.

Emerald finally walks out with the Queen who is clad in a regal purple, flowing gown which goes all the way to the floor. Her crown upon her head makes her look like the pictures of her in the great room.

After I bow, I say, “Your Majesty, if I could have a word.”

She waves me off. “I need my morning meal first. I can do no thinking until I have that.”

“They have landed, and your husband still lives,” I blurt out so she can get a grip on what’s going on and the urgency there is.

She stops and looks at me. “She didn’t kill him?”

“She?” I ask.

“The new Princess. Kerr’s wife. She was supposed to kill him. It was all very well planned,” she says as she looks confused.

“How do you know this?” I ask.

“I fixed the ring. I placed the hardware on the ship. It was all working. She took the power from the entire Armada. She did all she was directed to. How could she not kill him? That was her main directive. Her main one. How could she have not done that?” She looks pale and seems to be swooning.

I run my arm around her to steady her and look at Emerald. “Help me get her to the room I set up for her to go to in an emergency. Which this is.”

My wife nods and moves under the Queen’s arm and helps hold her up. “Your Majesty, may I ask why and how you involved the new Princess in the death of your husband. And did she knowingly agree to this plan of yours?" my wife asks her.

“She was unaware. Completely unaware,” she says then her body begins to shake. “I don’t want to see him! I can’t see him!”

“No matter what, you’re back in control, Your Highness,” I tell her. “Let the royals help to decide what the King’s punishment will be. Once they all get here and see you’re alive and you tell them your story and how he used his brother in his plan they will deal with him.”

The Queen looks at me. “You don’t understand. The Princess will destroy us. She has the ability to destroy us all. It has to be that she has such a dark side that she wants to rule now. She will kill us all to get what she wants.”

A chill runs through me as one of the guards runs into us as we go down the long corridor to the hidden room I’m taking the Queen to.

His face is ashen as he says, “We have some footage of the group after they got off their ships and seemed to be discussing something. The sound was out. Anyway, there was a young woman with long dark hair. She stood by the Prince and King, she seems to have powers.”

I ask as I move the Queen along and he follows, “What did she do?”

“She made flowers burn on a tree then twisted the huge limb off and tossed it and it seemed as if she was only using her mind. Then she seemed to create a force field around the prince as a few of the guards tried to attack him, but they acted as if they were hitting an invisible wall.”

Emerald laughs. “Perhaps it was all staged to frighten us.”

The Queen shakes her head. “She is capable of that and so much more. We are doomed.”

“We’re not doomed,” I say as I open the door that doesn’t look like a door at all, but a long mirror framed in gold.

Ushering the Queen inside she takes a seat on a comfortable sofa I had put in here and Emerald sees the food on a shelf and goes to get some for her.

“I’m leaving Emerald here with you, Your Majesty. She can keep you company and make sure you’re okay. And I’m going to try to end this with no bloodshed.”

I walk away but she grabs my arm. “Kill him for me, Caleb. Please.”

Emerald stops what she was doing and comes to my side. Her arm goes around my back and she leans her head on me.

My heart pounds and there is just no way I can take the King’s life. None of us can. She doesn’t seem to realize the punishment for such a thing.

I weigh my words before I speak, “Your Majesty, I understand you don’t wish to see the man and I can make sure that doesn’t happen. But I will not be able to take his life as he is a royal, and that is punishable by death. This is my wife by my side and I very much want to live for her.”

Dejection fills the Queen’s face. “No one will kill the man for me. I can’t understand. He did a terrible thing, yet no one sees fit to kill him.”

Suddenly she looks around and I see her eyes go wide. I take her hand. “Your Majesty I placed none of that purple liquor in here. This is a time when you have to keep your head.”

“You don’t understand, Caleb.” Her hands are shaking and her mouth is twitching up on one side.

“I do. Your son will be here soon and he will want to see you I am sure.” I pat her back and look at Emerald. “I will be back to check on you before they make it to the palace. You cannot leave this room from the inside. Someone from the outside will have to let you out.”

“I’m imprisoned in here?” the Queen asks as she looks up at me.

Its sorrow which covers her face. She seems to think I’m against her. “You are not imprisoned by any means.” I kneel in front of her and take her hands into mine. “Your Majesty, please understand. There are better ways to handle this than with the death of the King.”

“But I don’t want to ever see him again,” she says.

I’m reminded of a child who cannot understand things clearly. I have to wonder if the drink has taken parts of her mind. People are about to die because she has turned her anger at her husband for his evil deed into a vendetta the others aren’t even aware of.

“Leave everything in my hands, Your Majesty. All will be right before you know it. Your reign is stable. I will make sure of that.” I stand and her eyes follow me.

“You will?”

I nod and Emerald moves to my side. I wrap an arm around her and kiss the side of her sweet head. “I’ll be back soon.” I look at my wife. “In the cupboard is a box of donuts for you, my sweet. I had Blarto make them just for you this morning.”

With a giggle, Emerald skips to find the food for the Queen and takes the box out. “Care for a nibble, Your Highness?”

The Queen shakes her head. “My appetite is gone, child.”

An uncomfortable tightness forms in my stomach and I walk away from the women. I close the door behind me and have to wonder what happened to the Queen.

Jared meets me at the front entrance. “Everyone is at their stations. The first report has come in. They all walk behind the dark haired woman. It’s assumed she’s the new Princess, Kerr’s bride.”

“I believe the reports are correct. I heard the same woman did a couple of amazing things. Did she walk alone in the front?”

He shakes his head. “She’s flanked be Kerr to her left and the King to her right. Nar and her family are right behind them from what the report said.”

“I’d like to get to the Princess first before they arrive here. I think she might help the Queen to see reason.” I motion to my father who walks slowly towards me. “Father, my equine, do you know where he is?”

He nods and turns back and shouts at another one of my brothers. I look at Jared. “I have no want to bring war to any of these people. They have no idea of the pain, agony, and horror which will follow them the rest of their lives. The ones who live, that is.”

My black equine, Jasper is brought to me and I jump into the saddle and speed away to meet the group who went to Earth for a wedding only to return to their home where all has gone awry.

Please let them allow me to approach them without annihilating me!

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Kataline

I halt the procession as a man on a black horse comes towards us at full speed. I look at Kerr. “Should I deal with him?”

My husband squints and holds his hand to cover his eyes from the suns overhead. “No. That’s Caleb. Allow him to approach us.”

Kerr waves his hand high in the air. The gold cloak falls away from his arm, revealing the large bicep and my knees go weak and I heat in regions best-left un-thought of at this tense moment.

A man with amber waves of thick hair rides up to us and quickly gets off the steed. He bows in front of us. Then his eyes fall on me. They’re deep green and he’s extremely muscled for an Earth man.

“I am Caleb, and you must be the new Princess,” he says as he smiles.

“I am. And your smile is an odd thing to have at a time like this,” I say.

“Sorry.” He holds his lips in a tight line. “You’re right. Things are not well at this moment.” His eyes dart to the King and I instinctively place a shield around him to protect him from whatever the man may have planned.

Kerr asks, “Can you tell us what the hell is happening?”

“I can tell you this much.” Caleb’s eyes go to the King. “This man has secrets which threaten us all.”

Kerr takes Caleb’s attention. “My father has recently confessed to asking his brother to murder my mother and then taking his brother and dumping him on another planet.”

Caleb looks a bit relieved. “Good to hear I don’t have to deliver that bit of news then.”

“What are you here for?” Kerr asks. “To let us know there is no reason for any kind of war?”

He shakes his head. “Unfortunately no. But I wanted to know what your demands are.” He gestures to me. “It’s been thought by the one who has taken over that this woman wishes to take control.”

I shake my head. “I have no desire to take over. I merely will be taking this party back to their rightful places in the capital and making sure the person responsible for turning me into something I wasn’t, steps down.”

“You are capable of all that,” he asks me.

I nod and look over to find Kerr nodding as well. “She is more than capable. You may want to go back to the palace and let whoever has taken over know this news. That way any fighting could be avoided completely. Which is a thing I believe we all want, Caleb.”

Caleb nods in agreement. “If you would come with me, Princess, I think a talk from you would do the trick.”

Kerr takes my hand in his and delivers a kiss to the top of it. “Caleb, she is more than precious to me. And to be honest, the only reason I will agree to this is because she can protect herself better than any of us can protect her. Hence, why she is leading this group of well-trained and well-muscled people.”

Caleb smiles. “I have heard a bit about some of her actions just after you landed. I believe you. And I think you know you can trust me, Prince.”

Kerr takes me up in his arms and places a kiss on my lips. His hands travel over my ass and I blush with his actions in front of so many people.

He presses his forehead to mine. “Try your best to talk some sense into whoever has taken over. I really want no injuries or deaths because of this.”

“I will do my best, Husband.”

Kerr releases me and Caleb climbs onto the equine and holds his hand out to me. I grab it and he pulls me up to sit behind him.

“You should all wait close by for my return.” I wave goodbye to them all and hope I can get through to the person who is trying hard to make me into their puppet.

Chapter Forty

Kerr

My body trembles as I look into the blue eyes of my daughter-in-law. Her words are hard and even. “Why have you done this to me?”

Falling to my knees I bow my head. “Please, please don’t hurt me. I’m sorry. I was desperate! Please, have mercy on me!”

“Why are you on your knees?” she asks. “Get up and face me and explain why the hell you’re alive first. Then why you did what you did to me.”

Caleb takes my arm and helps me up. I look at him and ask, “Are you no longer going to protect me, Caleb?”

Kataline sighs. “Your Majesty, I will not hurt you. I swear it. I merely want to know how it is you’re alive. We can start with that.”

I don’t believe her. “My husband made the poor choice for an assassin. His brother couldn’t bring himself to kill me so he hid me out in a secret underground city.”

“Why didn’t you just come out and tell all about what the King had done to you?” she asks.

“Well, you say it as if it would’ve been an easy thing to do. I was devastated. Heartbroken. Confused.” I sit heavily upon the overstuffed sofa in shades of pink. I run my hand over the soft fabric and smile. “Pink is my favorite color. Caleb, can I have some of that drink I love so much now?”

“I’ll get you some later, Your Highness. Right now we need you to deal with this little problem we have. You see no one wants a war. I spoke with Kerr and he wants nothing more than to come home.” Caleb moves in front of me. “Can I go to your son and tell him he and the rest of the people who were on the ships, they can all go home peacefully?”

I shake my head. “I can’t allow it. This one did not kill the King as I directed and all the others are still supporting him. I simply cannot allow it.”

The screen on the wall lights up. The cameras at the outside entrance must have caught something, and it’s being broadcast to the palace surveillance screens.

Kerr and my husband stand in front of the palace with the royals and royal guards behind them. “They followed you, Caleb! Or are you a part of them now?” I ask as I suck in my breath.

Caleb looks confused. “I have to go.” He runs from the room, shutting the door behind him and leaving Kataline, Emerald, and me alone in the room.

The other women take a seat on either side of me on the sofa as we all watch the screen. My heart is pounding as Caleb flies out of the front entrance and we watch as he does.

“Kerr, what are you doing?” he shouts.

“We are taking the palace back.” He draws a sword and the light glistens off the long, steel blade. “I have killed your brother and taken his sword, Caleb. Do not make me kill you too.”

Emerald gasps and her hands cover her mouth. “No!”

Then to my horror, my husband holds something up and I lean forward to make sure I am seeing it right. It is a man’s head and Emerald wretches. “It’s Caleb’s father’s head!”

Caleb draws his sword and looks around, then shouts, “Death to the King and all the royals!”

Out of the dense and thick blue flower gardens on both sides of the palace come the rebels, brandishing various types of weaponry. Most of them homemade. A few are conventional.

Kerr steps in front of his father and Nar’s husband, Luthus steps in behind the King to keep him protected. I place my hands over my mouth. My eyes glued to the large screen on the wall. “If they don’t move away from him they will be hurt!”

Kataline’s voice is flat as she says, “They will be killed.”

I glance sideways at her. “Can’t you do something to stop this?”

“No, but you definitely can, Your Highness.”

“I’ll stop it only after the King has been killed,” I say and look back at the screen.

My teenage nieces move forward and stand on either side of their father. Latice and Lavine have gotten even prettier since I last managed to catch glimpses of them a few years ago when they were at the palace.

Lavine’s dark hair hangs in little ringlets around her porcelain-like face. And the screen is big enough for me to see Latice’s blue-green eyes, just like Kerr has. Her blonde hair hangs in waves around her shoulders.

“What are the girls doing?” I ask as I look at Kataline. “Can’t you use your powers to get them out of the way and to somewhere safe?”

She merely shakes her head at me, sending her dark waves bouncing over her narrow shoulders.

I turn back to find my sister joining the circle of people, guarding the murdering King. “Why? Why do that all protect him?”

It happens so fast, I barely noticed the one man running headlong into the group and he has some sort of bowed blade on the end of a long stick and just like that, he cuts through a couple of the royal guards.

Emerald and I scream as their heads fall away from their still standing bodies. Then they collapse on the ground in a bloody heap.

Kerr steps forward and then he’s pushed back and it’s Nar who is next to lose her head. “Nar!” I stand and my hands touch the screen where my sister lay in a pool of blood. Her head is a few inches from her body.

Tears fill my eyes as I watch one by one be killed by the mob of Earthlings I made into an army.

Sitting back on my heels, my eyes focus on Kerr who’s trying to make sure his father is protected at all times. Latice jumps forward in front of her father as one of my men jabs a long pointed metal rod at him. And she gets it run through her stomach.

I can’t even scream anymore. I’m so devastated. I can hardly think.

Luthus roars and hits the man with some type of board, but he’s quickly run through by another man with a long blade.

Some type of an arrow flies through the air and hits Kerr in the head. He falls, and another arrow misses my husband as my niece, Lavin, jumps in front of it.

I clutch my heart and can’t even breathe. They are all dead. My entire family is dead and yet the King, the murdering King still stands.

Rising, I scream his name, “Hexultan! You bastard!”

Caleb rushes in and takes his head in one swipe of his long, shining sword. He grabs Hexultan’s head and holds it up as the Earthlings of my army cheer.

“The King is dead!” Caleb declares and holds Hexultan’s head up to the camera so I can see it. “My Queen, your command has been carried out.”

Emerald’s voice comes from behind me. “Are you happy now, My Queen? Your husband is dead. All the wrongs have now been made right in your mind, I suppose.”

“Why does it feel like this?” I ask as I hold my hand to my heart which feels as if it might explode.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Kataline looks at me with little bits of gold shooting through her blue eyes. “You should feel fantastic with his death. It’s what you wanted so badly you dissected my inner mind and brought out a monster in me to make sure it happened.”

“The others, though.” I fall on the sofa as all strength has left me.

“Casualties of war, my Queen,” she says.

“And Kerr is gone as well,” I say as tears pour from me.

“He is. You have taken my husband from me as well. It’s only you and I left in this royal family. Tell me, Your Highness, how will you ever tell your granddaughter, who I carry in my belly, that she will never know her father? Because once upon a time, your husband tried to have you killed, but failed and so you had no other choice than to start a horrific battle which cost her father’s life.”

“Kataline, what have I done?” I ask as I look at her through muddled vision. “All I wanted was his death. Why did the rest have to happen?”

“Can’t say. When one plays God, one pays the price. Suppose that was the price you had to pay for the death you so desired, Your Highness.” Kataline moves towards the door as the screen’s light grows dim and then goes dark.

Her hand moves near the wall where the hidden door is and it opens. Caleb stands there.

I blink and wipe my eyes. There is no blood on his clothing. He looks exactly the same as he did before.

Kataline turns to me with a smile. “Seems you have a decision to make, Your Highness. Because that little thing I just showed you is thirty minutes away from beginning. Once it starts, it cannot be stopped. And only you can stop it.”

“What?” I try to catch my breath. “You did what?”

“I gave you a look at the very near future.” Kataline comes to me and sits down as Emerald runs to hug Caleb.

“Kataline, are you telling me I can stop that from occurring?” I look at her with complete confusion. “Are you telling me that no one is dead? Not Caleb’s brother or father. No one is dead yet?”

She nods. “And no one has to die if you merely go outside and tell the rebels there is no war. There is no takeover. There is no reason to hang around here. All can go home. This is over and the royals will decide what is to happen to the King.”

I take her hand in mine and lead her out to the front entrance as Caleb and Emerald follow closely behind us.

“Gather them please, Caleb,” I say as we get outside the palace.

He shouts, “The Queen has something to say. Please gather around.”

Many men come in from their hiding places amongst the blue flower gardens my husband made me when he was a young man. My heart aches with so many odd feelings.

“There is no more uprising. I will deal with the King with the help of the other royals. No blood will be shed on this day and I ask you to please lay down your weapons and they will all be destroyed. There is no need for them.” I turn to Caleb and Emerald. “Caleb, Emerald, I would like to ask you to join our reign as the Duke and Duchess of the Earth colony.”

They smile and bow. Then Caleb answers, “It would be our privilege to accept those positions.”

I add, just to let the Earthlings know how things are about to change for them for the better, “Samuel Winters will no longer be who we communicate with to get you what you want. Things are going to change and this man and woman are the people you need to talk to when you want something from now on.”

Caleb looks at me. “My Queen, I should take Kataline back to the royals so she can tell them of the change.”

I nod and wave them off. “Go, hurry. I cannot have that happen. Go quickly.”

Caleb rushes off, followed by Kataline. Emerald looks at me and takes my hand. “I’m certainly glad that wasn’t real.”

“I’m glad to have a chance to stop it all.”

But now I must face the man who tried to have me killed and find a way to deal with that!

Chapter Forty-One

King Hexultan

Caleb and Kataline have come back with smiles on their faces so the news must be good. She slides off the equine followed by Caleb as he says, “The news is good!”

Cheers ring out from all around me and all I can think of is who did this. “Kataline, who is it that has done this?”

She comes to me and takes my hands in hers as she looks deep into my eyes. “This will be a shock to you, Sire. So ready yourself for news you never expected.” She looks over at Kerr. “Kerr, can you come and join us. This new will shock you as well.”

She takes one of his hands as we form a circle. My heart is pounding even though she has told me to ready myself. I’m not sure how to accomplish that feat.

She speaks quietly so the others cannot hear. “Your wife is alive, Sire. And your brother as well.”

“What?” I ask. “No.”

Kerr’s eyes are as big as saucers. “My mother is alive?”

Kataline nods. “She is, and she was who staged the takeover.”

“My brother was on another planet, Kataline.”

“He was. The Queen sent Caleb and a small party to scout the nearest planet to see if it’s inhabitable and there they found Xavultan and brought him back to the palace.” Kataline looks at Kerr. “Are you okay, Kerr?”

“My mother is alive, Kataline. I am much better than okay,” he says then pulls her to him and she lets my hand go to hug him. “My mother is alive!”

His voice is loud and the others hear him. Nar shouts, “What?”

Kerr lets Kataline out of his arms and looks at them all. “The Queen in alive and at the palace!”

Nar breaks into a run. “My sister is alive!”

She starts the rest of the people running towards the palace. Kerr, Kataline, Caleb, and I stand still, letting them all go ahead of us. “No wonder she wanted me dead.”

Kataline touches my hand. “I showed her what would’ve happened if she didn’t call this off. It helped her to see things in a better light. Come, let’s go to the palace and begin this new journey, King.”

“I may not be King long,” I say as we begin to walk down the road to the capital city.

Kerr places his arm around my shoulders. “Father, no matter what, you will always have a place in my heart. I have no idea what to do about what you tried to have done. But I am thankful the people you tried to do wrong to have been saved.”

I nod. “Me too, Son. You have no idea of the weight that lifted off my shoulders when I heard the words.”

Caleb clears his throat. “I do have to say, I think it’s best if we take the King in some side entrance and straight to his chambers, which have been moved by the way. The Queen took your bedroom.”

“As it should be. I will step down on my own,” I say. “If allowed to live, I will leave the palace. It’s the right thing to do after all.”

“We will see, Father. Give us time to make good decisions about that,” Kerr says as he runs his arm around Kataline’s shoulders and kisses the side of her head.

That act would have incensed me just a few weeks ago, but now I find it endearing.

As we make our way up the street to the palace we find the mass of people standing in front. Just in front of the entrance is my wife and my heart stops beating.

“There she is.”

Kerr sighs. “Mother.”

Caleb looks back at me. “Just try to remain calm, Sire. I’ll stay between you two so she doesn’t pull anything.”

Kataline says, “I have a shield around him. She can’t hurt him.”

“Thank you, Kataline.”

My heart is thumping so hard in my chest I know all must hear it. Caleb eases us through the crowd and Nar runs up and hugs her sister.

I hang back as Glee lets Nar go with tearful eyes and looks at Kerr then takes him up in her long and elegant arms. “Son.”

Kerr manages to choke out, “Mother, I have missed you.”

She kisses his cheek and I try to stay behind Caleb regardless of the shield Kataline has around me. I cannot look my wife in her blue eyes.

Then her words fall upon my ears and I have to look at her. “Come to me, Hexultan.”

I do as she says and kneel before her without looking up. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Rise and look your wife in her eyes,” she commands me.

I do as she says and find mine filling with tears. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

With one simple word, she hurts me far worse than the sharp tip of any sword, “Why?”

I shake my head and a sob comes from me. “I wish I knew. I wish I understood why I did such a horrible thing to the woman I love. For I still love you, Glee. With everything in me. I love you.”

“I wanted nothing more than to see you dead, Hexultan.” She turns away from me.

I fall to my knees again. “Take my life, Glee. I deserve it.”

I feel a hand on my shoulder and look back to see Kataline. “Will you please rise, Sire?”

Her hand moves to take mine into it then she takes Glee’s hand and looks at her. “Do you desire his death any longer, Your Majesty? For I can take his life now. If that is what you still wish for.”

I steady myself, preparing to take what I have coming to me. Glee’s voice is calm as she says, “Hexultan, I have seen your death. I thought it would fill me with something. Anything that would end the pain and void I’ve been filled with since the day the masked man took me at your request.”

“I understand, Glee. I accept my fate.”

“You don’t seem to understand, Hex. It did nothing to ease my pain. And furthermore, it added to it. Your death is not a thing I want any longer. For I have done a bit of soul searching and I know my treatment of you spurred what you did. None know of that. None know of how cold I treated you for many, many years after our son’s death.”

I look at her and ask, “If you don’t want my death, what is it you do want?”

“Step down as King. Move out of the palace and leave me alone.”

“I will do as you wish, My Queen,” I tell her and have to admit this hurts far worse than death.

Death would’ve ended my agony. Now it will last much longer. Kerr’s arm runs around my shoulders. “Come, Father. For tonight, you can stay here.”

I walk away with my son in this bittersweet moment in time and know it could’ve all ended right there, right that moment. But for some reason it didn’t and I make a vow to do more than I ever did as the king.

Today starts a new Chapter in my life!

Chapter Forty-Two

Kerr

Though things are nowhere near normal around here with all the changes we’ve made since we returned, they are better. It’s been a year since things changed.

My father lives in a nice home in the Earth settlement. After a test to find if he did have any other type of blood running through him it was found he does have the blood of an Earthling.

He decided with his new life he’d embrace the other half of him. It seems to be working out fine. He lives a much simpler life than he did at the Palace as the King. But he seems to enjoy it.

Mother is still the Queen though she’s stepped back, and it is I and Kataline who rule now. She’s told us her mind isn’t what it used to be, and she fears she’d make mistakes which would affect many people.

She spends most of her time playing with our baby, Rosemay.

As a matter of fact, she’s playing with her now and I’m about to surprise my wife in the shower. Steam fills the small cleansing room as I sneak in.

She’s singing away like she usually does when she thinks herself alone. I’ve already stripped and pull the door open and slip inside the small cubicle.

Her eyes are closed as she rinses her hair out and when my hands touch her waist she nearly hits me as her singing turns into screaming.

Her little hands pound my chest. “Kerr!”

I hold her close to me and kiss the tip of her nose. “Mother’s playing with the baby so I thought I’d come play with you.”

You did, did you?” Kataline runs her arms around my neck. “Perhaps I’m not in the mood to play, Kerr.”

“I can fix that.” My lips touch hers and they part and bid my tongue to enter.

Our tongues dance together as I rock her in my arms. Her legs wrap around me and I take her out of the shower and to the dryer. The warm air which shoots up from the floor dries us then I make my way to our bed.

Laying her back on the bed, I release her and look down at her. Trailing my fingers over her flat stomach I smile and say, “You know we found that beautiful planet with all the snow last month. That ice cave was really gorgeous.”

“And cold,” she says with a smile. “And the answer is no, Kerr. I want to wait a couple of years before we have another baby.”

“A couple of years?” I pout. “That long?”

She nods. “Now come here, Romeo. We can practice anyway.”

I climb on the bed, moving my body over hers as her hands run over my biceps. “You like the guns, huh?”

“I love them,” she says then grazes her lips over the left one.

My mouth finds one of her plump mounds and I take it all in. Licking the nipple and sucking at it. Making her groan and draw her legs up to bend her knees.

The way her hands run over my back sends waves of heat through me. Her body beneath mine arches up, inviting me inside.

I move up to watch her as I press my hard cock into her and the way her face goes into such a euphoric expression lets me know she still wants me.

“You fill me completely, Kerr.”

I kiss her long neck all the way up to her ear. “That’s how it’s supposed to be, Kataline.”

Making long, slow strokes, I nip at her earlobe and caress her arms as I move in and out of her. Her body moves with mine, arching and retreating at exactly the right times.

The way her breathing sounds has me getting more excited as it becomes deeper and faster. Her legs begin to shake as she makes this moaning screaming sound she makes sometimes.

I pound her as she climaxes and rakes her nails over my back. Then I pull out and flip her over to her knees and yank her back and fill her again.

This never fails to keep her orgasm going. She keeps up the moaning and drops her face to the bed to stifle the loud cries she’s making.

Her body is clenching and pulling at my dick and I can barely hold back. I watch as her hands fist the sheets and she’s writhing and groaning and making it impossible for me not to come.

With a loud groan, I join her in the ecstasy and find my release. I stay still until our bodies are done then I lie her down and take the place next to her.

Pulling her back to me so I can cuddle her, I whisper, “I love you, Baby.”

She turns in my arms and looks at me as she runs her hand over my cheek. “I love you, Kerr. I always will.”

A soft kiss I leave on her lips. And we fall asleep. Safe in the palace where all is finally well.

* * *

Caleb

Emerald’s long blonde locks fall around her face as she rocks our daughter to sleep. Stacy is three months old and the light of both her mother’s and father’s eyes.

“She’s sound asleep, Love. Let me put her in her crib,” I say and take the sleeping baby from her arms.

Then I go back and scoop my wife out of the chair and take her to our bed. “Now it’s time for me to rock you to sleep.”

She giggles and kisses me. We live in the palace now as the Duke and Duchess. It’s not quite the existence I pictured, but it’s a damn bit more comfortable than the simple home at the settlement.

I lay her on our soft bed and unbutton her dress. Her blue eyes roam over me as her hands run through my hair. “I am a lucky woman you found me, Caleb.”

“I am a lucky man for finding you, my love.” I push the dress from her shoulders and pull it off her.

Then I drop my pajama bottoms and climb onto the bed. Her soft body beckons me to run my hands all over it. She wiggles as my fingers flow over her ribs.

I look up at her to find her bottom lip pulled between her teeth. And then I can’t wait any longer and take her mouth in a kiss that tells her how much I need and want her.

Her moan as our tongues intertwine has me aching to be inside her. But I hold myself back and move my mouth from hers. Trailing kisses down her neck and over her chest. I stop and take a breast into my mouth.

Her hands run through my hair and I leave her breast and kiss down her stomach and then her breath is taken in sharply as my lips touch her intimate area.

“Caleb,” she moans my name, and it sends a heat through me. Her body arches up for me to take her in deeper.

I grip her ass and pull her up to gain better access to her delicious gift. Running my tongue up and down her folds, I tap it to her clit with each stroke.

Her legs are moving as she’s obviously loving every lick, every suck, and every kiss. With nearly continuous moans and groans, she starts shaking. “Caleb! Yes!”

Moving my mouth to taste the sweet release she’s given me, I press my tongue in to find the hot juices. Then I quickly move up her body and press my aching cock into her pulsing depths.

I join her in moaning now. Her hot body squeezes my hard dick as it slows the orgasm and with the last little movement, I begin my strokes. Hard and deep I make them into her hot wetness.

Her hands run over my back and she grips it tight, holding me tightly to her. The way her soft breasts smash under my hard chest is like Heaven to me.

Her long nails trail lightly over my skin then she makes a bit harder trails. Our bodies move as one to reach the place we want to go.

The smacking of flesh against flesh fill the room along with gasping breaths. Little moans here and there mark the only change in sounds.

“Oh, Baby,” I whisper as I feel it starting. “Oh, Baby.”

She starts to fall apart. “Caleb! Caleb!”

With her body contracting all over my cock I can’t hold back any longer and give it all up to her. Our loud moans as our bodies move together to the best place in the world combine to form one of the best sounds my ears have ever heard.

One kiss to her sweet cheek I give her. “Emerald, you make me happy every single day.”

Her fingers trail over my flesh now supercharged by the climax. “Caleb, you are my hero and always will be.”

I roll over and pull her to lie on top of me. “Sleep now, Love.”

Our new lives are better than I ever imagined they’d be.

Chapter Forty-Three

Kataline

“Look at me Grampa, I’m doing it! I’m flying the kite!” Our oldest daughter, Rosemay shouts out to Kerr’s father.

It’s her birthday today. She’s seven, and we all came out to Hexultan’s place in the Earth settlement to celebrate the day. He built her a pond with ducks and swans on it. My father sent them from Earth on the last shipment from Earth to the settlement.

Gleeu and our four-year-old son, Kerry, throw bread crumbs to them as they sit by the water’s edge. Every now and again I catch her looking at her husband.

He’s lived apart from her at her request. Hexultan has made amends for his poor behavior. His brother enjoys the bedroom at the palace which the King’s things were moved to. Hexultan left all of his belongings to his brother, Xavultan.

Hex started from scratch, first living in the shack Caleb had built for his wife. It was a hideous little thing. But Hex used his ingenuity and what he calls his Earthling spirit to make a new life for himself.

He farms the land, by himself. And as a peace offering, I suppose, he sends bunches of the freshest and best looking vegetables to the palace each and every day. Along with a bouquet of wild flowers to place on the table each day.

The flowers never fail to bring a smile to the Queen’s face. The vegetables bring a smile to mine.

I sit on the blanket on the purple grass under a large red tree at the edge of the forest where Hex’s house is built. Leaning back on Kerr, as he leans on the massive tree’s trunk, he rubs my stomach swollen with our third child. Another boy for Kerry to play with as Rosemay is much too girly to play with him.

“Look,” I say as I gesture at his father walking towards Gleeu. “He’s acting as if he doesn’t even realize she’s sitting there.”

“I see that.” Kerr plays with my hair and I look back to see him taking a sniff of it.

I giggle. “Look now. He’s saying something to Kerry.”

I hear his father say, “The black swan is a male, and the white is a female. Tell me Kerry, which color swans will they make for us?”

“Probably, gray ones, Grandpa. Cause when I mix white and black paints it makes gray.” Kerry tosses some more bits of bread to the birds.

Hex laughs and so does Gleeu. Their eyes meet and then she looks away quickly.

Hex kneels down beside our three-year-old. “Do you like the vegetables Grandpa sends to you, Son?”

“I do. I like the yellow stuff the best of all,” he says then his arms wrap around Hex’s neck. “Thanks for that, Grandpa.”

“You’re welcome, big boy. You about ready to become a big brother?”

Kerry’s head bobs, sending his shoulder-length blonde curls swaying over his shoulders. “I am ready to be a big brother. And did Mom and Dad tell you what they let me name him?”

Hex shakes his head. “No, they have not.”

“I named him after you Grandpa. We’re calling him Hex, just like your name. On account of, I love you.” Kerry spins to look at Gleeu. “Don’t worry, Grandma, I love you too and Daddy let me get a puppy-fish yesterday and guess what I named her?”

Gleeu smiles. “Let me guess. Gleeu.”

Kerry shakes his head again. “Nope. Guess again.”

She looks confused. “I have no idea then, Kerry. You tell me.”

“I named her periwinkle. On account of Grandpa used to call you that as a nickname when you guys were young and in love cause those was your favorite flowers.” Kerry hugs her sweetly and kisses her on the tip of her nose.

Then he runs away yelling for Rosemay to let him fly her kite. It leaves Hex and Gleeu alone and he looks at her for a moment then turns to leave her alone.

“The flowers you send each day are very nice, Hex.” I hear her say.

Kerr stops rubbing my stomach and looks at his parents. “Did I hear that?”

“You did,” I say.

“Well, I am very glad you like them, Your Majesty,” he says and takes another step away.

“I see no meadow of wildflowers anywhere near your home, Hex. Where do you get them?” she asks. She leans back on her hands and stretches her long legs out in front of her.

“She’s kind of flirting with him, Kerr.”

“I see that.” Kerr’s leaning up to hear better I guess. His face is next to mine. “What’s going on?”

“No,” his father says and takes a step back towards her. “The meadow is over that hill.”

Gleeu looks up at him. “You mean to tell me you walk over that hill every day and pick wildflowers to send to the palace? And you have done so for years now. Do you have any reason why you would go to so much trouble?”

He kneels and looks at her. My heart lurches at his actions. “I do have a reason, Your Majesty. I do it for you.”

She turns her head slowly to look at him. “Hex, stop calling me that. You can call me what you’ve always called me.”

“I couldn’t do that. It wouldn’t be right.” He looks away and tosses a piece of bread he found on the ground to the waiting ducks.

“I’m asking you to,” she says and moves her hand slowly over the ground and touches the tip of his fingers. “I miss you calling me that.”

“Then I shall, Glee.” He moves his fingers to lace with hers and sits down on the ground next to her. “The sun’s look so beautiful each evening as they set right over this pond. It’s why I built is here.”

“I think it’s called digging a pond, Hex. Not building it,” she says.

“You know you’re most likely right. I have no one to talk to so I tend to say things a little wrong now and then.”

“No one to talk to?” she asks as she looks at him.

He turns to look at her and their faces as close together. Kerr leans his chin on my shoulder. “I hope they kiss.”

I smile with his sweet sentiment. And watch as Kerry runs towards them. “Crap! Call Kerry before he ruins it, Kerr.”

Kerr makes a loud whistle and Kerry turns his attention to us and starts running towards us.

“Kiss her,” Kerr whispers. “Do it!”

I cross my fingers and use a little of my gift to make sure things go perfectly. I make a gentle breeze blow past them. Her long blonde hair blows over one of her cheeks towards him.

Hex gently pushes is back behind her ear and her hand meets his. She kisses his palm and then leans towards him.

“Oh my God,” I whisper as Kerry gets to us and nearly jumps on me.

Kerr moves me quickly and catches our son in mid-air. “Whoa, slugger. Have to watch Mommy’s tummy, remember?”

“I forgot.” Kerry squirms in his father’s grip.

He looks back to find what I have already witnessed. His mother and father kissing and holding hands.

“Now isn’t that something?” I turn to see a tear run down my husband’s cheek.

I quickly run my finger over it to get rid of it or Kerry will have to ask why his big old daddy is crying. I know why, though. And my heart swells for him.

“I wonder if things are about to change again,” I say.

Bet they are!

* * *

Emerald

Opening day at the new planet has people coming off the shuttle in the thousands. Caleb is at his best as he greats as many of them as he possibly can and points them in different directions to check out the different areas we’ve made here to start new lives in.

Caleb had us a huge home built near the cave we found Xavultan in. Water treatment processors were brought in and solar converters and a few low-rises were built for the initial people who will start the inhabitation of the planet.

The Queen named it, The Euthenian Annex. I thought that was a bit bland. Personally, I wanted it to be called something a little less traditional, like Hoagpaths. But no one knew how to say that. So the Queen got her way.

The large predator who eats birds he picks from the sky was found to be only one of his species and we managed to capture him and he’s in a large, contained area on display.

Kerr loves messing with the beast and has staged a show for the newcomers. Kataline sits on the sidelines. No one else knows Kerr is completely protected be her shield and in no danger what-so-ever, but it makes for a good show and makes the planet’s funds grow with each performance he gives.

And now a special ship lands in front of our welcome building. As I thought Gleeu and Hexultan come off the ship. Hand in hand.

They got back together and now live out at his farm on the Earth settlement. And Kerr told us they might be coming to see about purchasing a place here.

I go to greet them as they look around. Neither have ever been here. “Hello, Gleeu and Hexultan. How are you today?”

The Queen is dressed in tan shorts and a white shirt. Her long blonde hair is in a long braid. Hexultan wears similar shorts and a blue shirt. His hair has managed to gain some color since their reunion.

Since she left the palace, she also left behind the monikers which have followed her since her coronation many years ago. She no longer wants to be called Queen or anything to do with that title.

She and Hexultan live like anyone else and they seem very happy together. Hard to believe people can get past such a thing as they have.

“Kerr told us there’s a forest here with giant trees and you have built some magnificent tree houses in them,” Gleeu says as she runs her arm to wrap around Hexultan’s.

“We’d love to see the tree houses.” Hexultan kisses her cheek. “My precious wife says she’d like to live in one.”

“Follow me,” I tell them and walk towards the small area we have where pictures of the tree houses are. “If you like any of them by the pictures then I’ll take you on my personal craft to look at the ones you like in person. How does that sound?”

I look back to see Gleeu smile. “That sounds wonderful. So how’s it all going so far, Emerald?”

“Very good, actually. The team of scientists we put together to study the planet and how Euthenian’s might change to adapt to the much larger areas to live in have already studied many of the species here.” I point to some pictures on the wall in the corridor leading us to the tree house sales room.

A cute tiny primate with thick pink fur and tiny purple eyes peers out of one of them. “These little guys, I named them puff balls, the scientist named them something else, though. It’s a long word I can’t even pronounce.”

Gleeu runs her hand over the picture. “That is adorable!”

“Glad you think so because they are abundant in the trees of that forest where the tree houses are.” I smile as her face lights up. “Through studying theses little guys, the scientists think within three generations of people living here, the reproduction rate will climb.”

Gleeu looks relieved. “So it is like I thought. Given more room their bodies will reproduce more often. That’s what I wanted to hear.”

She runs her hand down Hexultan’s arm and laces her fingers with his. “Won’t that be nice for future generations, Hex?”

“It will.” He gives her nose a tweak. “And it was you who spearheaded this whole thing. What a treasure our people have in you, my dear.”

She drops her head on his shoulder. “Thank you, Hex.”

Leading them on to the room with the pictures all over the walls of the grand tree houses our construction crews have built, I see both of their eyes draw immediately to the same one.

“The forest is called Rainbow Forest. As you can see, the trees grow on lines and each line is a different color. Blue, yellow, light green, and a pink color.” I follow them as they walk straight up to the picture they were drawn to.

“What about this one here, Emerald?” Hexultan asks me. “This one in a blue tree.”

“I love those precious little blue flowers which cover the tree. It’s perfect!” Gleeu claps her hands and looks at Hexultan with light in her eyes. “Just like the blue gardens you made me.”

His hand runs over her cheek. “If you like it, it is yours, my love.”

“Can we go see it?” she asks with the enthusiasm of a child.

“Of course.” On our way out to my craft, Kerr and Kataline see us and come our way.

“Mother, Father, when did you two get here?” Kerr asks them as he carries their latest child, Gweneth who’s barely three months old. Their fourth child.

“Come with us, Kerr.” Gleeu holds out her arms for the baby. Kerr hands her over and wraps his free arm around Kataline.

“Will do. Where are we going?” he asks.

“To look at a tree house your mother likes.” Hexultan looks around. “Where are the rest of the children?”

Kataline smiles. “We put them to work. They’re showing people around for us.”

“How nice,” Hexultan says as he climbs into the back of my craft.

The ride to Rainbow Forest is a nice twenty minutes outside the main hub. I look back to explain things to them. “There will be no roads made on this planet. Only hover crafts will be allowed.”

“And why is that?” Gleeu asks.

“We want to maintain the integrity of this planet for as long as we can. No digging, no mining, nothing that will hurt the planet. All the homes have been equipped with the latest technologies we have to make use of every little thing we can make use of.”

Gleeu looks quite proud. “You young people have made it even better than I imagined.”

Kerr laughs. “Thanks, Mother.”

Kataline looks at Kerr with such love in her blue eyes. “Since women have been able to do more since the change, we’ve found some brilliant minds that were going untapped. So many people to help come up with innovative ideas has meant a big difference in this place.”

“Here it is,” I say as I move up a bit higher to reach the deck of the house at the top of the huge blue tree.

“This is adorable,” Gleeu says as we all get out.

She hands the baby to Kataline and takes Hexultan’s hand. He smiles at her, “You love it already, don’t you?”

They walk off, whispering to each other about things they can do with the house. Kerr, Kataline, and I hang back and let them have their privacy.

“Looks like all’s well that ends well,” Kerr says as he plays with the baby’s hand who looks up at him with her mother’s eyes.

“The new planet seems to be a hit. We’ll have what’s built so far filled in no time.” I lean up against the trunk of the tree the house is built around.

So many things have changed, and I think that’s how life is supposed to be.

I guess some people do get happy endings!

Chapter Forty-Four

Kerr

The first sun’s rays break the dark sky as I look out the palace window. I get up each day to watch the suns rise. Capitol city looks very much the same as it has since I was a boy.

The streets still glow and the gardens still grow. Our lives marked the big change in this planet’s history. All our children have grown up and left the palace to seek their own lives out.

Kataline and I are back to being just us. The years have our hair turned white and our skin has wrinkled, but our love is just as strong as the day we first laid eyes on one another.

We’ve had ups and we’ve had downs, but we’ve managed to work all things out together. By watching my parents, many learned you can get through just about anything in a marriage.

I turn to find my wife standing behind me. “Sneaky little thing,” I say as I turn and pick her up in my arms and kiss her.

“I told you to wake me to watch the sunrise with you, Kerr.”

“You looked so sweet sleeping, I couldn’t bring myself to do it.” I kiss her cheek and she giggles.

Her giggle still hits me straight in my heart.

My parents passed in their beloved tree house a few years ago. We found them lying hand in hand in their bed. The report said they died in their sleep of natural causes.

I’m just glad they went together. Those two have always been halves of one whole soul. I’ll never understand why all the bad things happened, but who am I to know such things?

All I know for sure is the woman I’m holding in my arms as I watch the first sun come up over the horizon is the love of my life and I could never have found a better person to share my life with.

“Look, a shooting star is making its way through what’s left of the dark sky. Make a wish, Kerr.”

I kiss the top of her head and wish this moment could last forever.

The twilight, the cool air coming in through the open balcony doors, and my wife in my arms.

It doesn’t get any better than this.

“Kerr, how will our story end, do you think?” Kataline asks me.

I turn her in my arms and kiss her sweet lips then say, “Just like this, Baby. And they all lived happily ever after.”

And we all did!

* * *

The End

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The Ancient Cube

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Chapter One

Eladia

Leaving camp early was the first rule of every Chronicler, and I had just succeeded in breaking it. The loud buzzing of the vibrant life of Primordial Earth was both exciting and bothersome at the same time. Having just barely slept through the never-ending humming of the overgrown city forests, I was in a hurry.

“Come on Silver. Don’t stay behind. We still have some way to go before we arrive,” I said, covering long strides of ground while in a hurry. And by long, I mean long enough for an average build woman like me to walk fast around the unearthed roots. I turned my focused eyes to watch my apathetic Android.

“Yes, Eladia. I’m right behind you,” the metal woman uttered, her mechanical tunes giving off the same indifferent feeling.

I couldn’t help but shake my head. Of all the assistants, I had to get chosen by the one with the advanced artificial intelligence.

I, a Chronicler, and my partner Silver, the conveniently named robot, were chasing an important relic of the past. Chroniclers, like archeologists before us, were interested in cataloging and studying important historical events. Divided into many different majors, I was particularly interested in the extinct race of the Nusae and thus, I followed that particular way.

However, today, I would rather have stayed back home, on the new human planet, Yaerus, than ran around on the primeval place called Earth. Even though my job as a Chronicler always led me to all sorts of interesting and rough places, Primordial Earth was probably one of the worst, certainly at the top five of my least-preferable places to be. And the next time a mosquito bit me, I was sure it would rise even higher to the list.

I sighed and kept moving forward, checking around the decayed metal structures that humans used to build in the past. It must have been rough, building all those monstrosities. They were just plain ugly and impractical. Every destroyed building seemed like a gutted, gray giant, devoured by green and mossy plants. And yet, the beauty of it was unmatched.

I stared at my watch, unable to remember if I had adjusted the time to fit the local system. “Silver, could you please remind me of Sol’s and Earth’s day/night cycles?”

“For the third time since we landed, it’s 23,56 hours. And yes, you have already adjusted your watch even before we set up camp.”

“You know, I’m your boss. You should show some respect every now and then,” I said in a mocking, annoyed tone.

The android woman started cackling with short, electric sounds. “Well, if we finally find one Nusae artifact, I’ll make sure to reconsider.”

I was in the middle of climbing atop what it seemed like an old, religious place, an ancient church. On the top of a stone pillar, I stopped to catch my breath.

You shouldn’t have those snacks for breakfast Eladia.

The wind up here was fresh and less humid than down on the ground, in the center of the wet forest. It caressed my face and swept away some of my fatigue.

Earth was considered the Mother Planet of the human species, the third-ranked, Expanded Empire of the Known Galaxy. The stories still told for this place were numerous, but none did justice to the miracle called life. Everywhere my sight fell, a new color sprouted from the ground and all kinds of bugs and flying creatures dwelled the land.

Bugs? I hated bugs.

I turned and searched for my assistant, but Silver was still on the base of the leafy pillar.

“For god’s sake, can you please change and come up here Silver? I can’t find the trail all by myself.”

In what sounded like a monotonous cluck, the Android transformed into a small box equipped with thrusters, abandoning her feminine figure for the comfort of flying all the way to the top in a matter of seconds. I looked as she ascended with ease, holding myself back from having a long talk about responsibilities and professionalism. But still, I always forgot that Silver was bound by Asimov’s Laws of Robotics so that she would follow my every command even if she didn’t want to.

With both of us finally standing on the top of the shattered pillar, I took out my flask full of water and took a long and satisfying sip. By the time I lowered my head, and tightened my ponytail so that my hair didn’t get in the way, Silver had changed back to her usual form.

Some parts metal, other parts holographic, details that made her look like human, Silver seemed like a beautiful human, which was the complete opposite of me.

“Okay, this should be high enough. Can you please run a scan on a five-mile radius? We should get some kind of reading from up here, not like yesterday.” We had already searched all the adjacent areas around our camp, except this one. It was getting late, however, and this was the last place in our list. Tomorrow we would venture deeper into the woods and change our camping site.

This time, Silver seemed to lose some of her rebellious personality, and she lively followed my orders. A short string of beeps and laser lights traveled through the horizon. It would take some time for her to complete the analysis so I thought of recapping the information I already had about the Nusae relic.

Back on Yaerus, during one of my lengthy visits to the Institute, the place where all human knowledge and archives were stored, I had just found something fascinating. While going through a source about the pre-colonization era of the Primordial Earth, I stumbled onto a testimony of some kind, on a newspaper about an object of unknown origins.

The human that testified about the object had seen nothing like it in his whole life, said ‘it vibrated like a living thing and changed shapes in a matter of seconds.”

Nusae, the first of the Lost Species, were known for their cryptic technology, specifically what they currently knew as morphing. Silver, for example, used morphing technology to change into various and practical shapes that helped her achieve her goals easier. The schematics about this kind of technology were discovered back in the early days of Humanity’s Space Boom, making it one of the first complete and detailed info about the Nusae, until today.

Yet, this source was one hundred years old. Bits and pieces were found around the galaxy during that time, but no one could link all the pieces to what it amounted as the Great Mystery. Nusae just vanished at the same time Orihans started to appear. And even though there was little to none Orihans around the known galaxy now, Nusae were close to legendise.

Well, not if I find this relic.

“Eh...there is something strange going on,” Silver suddenly said.

“What? What did you find?”

“I can pick up two weak energy signals, both of similar nature coming from different directions. One northwest of here, the other southeast.”

“Did you run a pattern scan? Any forms of alien DNA? Did the signal’s energy resonated with any of the last relics?” I asked the questions all at once, not sure if she understood what I said.

“I don’t want to disappoint you, but both of those signals seem entirely foreign to each other and to my database, yet somehow similar. Maybe from the same era of some sort? I don’t know. I’m not sure if any of them are of Nusae origin, but they’re surely not originated from Earth. The signal and the complexity of the pattern are out of this world. I haven’t seen anything like it.”

I tightened my ponytail again while falling into deep thoughts. I didn’t have enough time to investigate both of them today. What should I do? Which one was most important of them? As a scientist, I pledged to follow only the facts and nothing else. But, in a twisted joke that fate came up with that, my gut was the thing that made the decision.

“We’re going forward Silver, to the northwest point. We can check the other point tomorrow.” And just like that, I jumped my way to the ground.

Throughout the way towards the northwest point, I didn’t speak at all. My mind was in overdrive, running all the parameters and trying to come up with a logical explanation. Alien signals, possibly not of Nusae origins. Yet, two of them in just a short distance? Could it be a trap? No, Silver would have noticed. But what could be so sophisticated that the combined knowledge of the Known Galaxy Archives wouldn’t recognize?

With every step I took, the anticipation built in my chest. My dark eyes and sun-toned skin almost glistened under my excitement. Many of my colleagues had doubted me up until now, but this was the time to retaliate. I would be the one to find out everything about the Lost Species.

Or so I thought.

“We’re here,” Silver said.

“What the hell is this?” I stopped to gawp at the large, pyramid shaped construct in the middle of what must have been a building square. Black in color, with shining silver marks sparkling under the sun. “If this is a Nusae spaceship, then I’m a prehistoric ape,” I said, irritated as hell.

“Do you want me to run a scan?”

“Yes,” I replied while at the same time tried to hide my discontent.

In under a minute, Silver stretched her hand and cast a beam of intense, greenish light to the black pyramid. When the warning sound came, Silver and I watched each other in surprise.

“It...it…” Silver tried saying something, but she couldn’t.

“It doesn’t appear in the archives.”

I couldn’t hold back a cheer; I had just discovered O. Tech.

Chapter Two

Jay

“Cryogenic System Support deactivated. Welcome back, Prime Officer Jasih.”

The hot sensation of blood running through my veins was enough to wake me immediately. Pain, memories, desires, all came back with a violent throbbing in my head. Everything behind my eyes felt like melting, but one deep breath somehow dulled the sensation.

Cryogenic Preservation was a mean bitch. After I finally opened my eyes, my sight was still blurry, probably because of a long time of not using them. But what I saw in front of me couldn’t be mistaken. Was that...a human?

The primal being, previously thought extinct, was now standing in front of me showing its teeth in what it seemed like some kind of jovial form of communication. Humans should yet be very underdeveloped to be able to communicate with me. It was better to leave it alone.

The human before me kept talking, and talking, but I couldn’t listen to a thing it said. Pesky, insignificant fly. I couldn’t lose more of my time here.

I moved both my hands and legs, trying to regain control. As soon as I did, I decided to gently push it out of my way. If I used more strength, my big muscles would easily squash it. It was already enough it had interrupted my cryogenic sleep. Now I had to find a way out of this planet.

An array of small, handy screens was located on the other side of the room. While asleep, these screens were my lifeline, and my digital archives. They were supposed to pass the information straight into my mind, but they didn’t. I had no idea how long I was asleep, or what happened in the meantime.

Just by touching the human’s tender skin, it seemed to lose balance and almost fall on the ground. It yelled something in a vexed manner, but I really didn’t have time to spare for primal beings. I took two uncertain steps towards the wall before me, only to stop in my tracks after seeing the data on the screens.

The number 2.514 was flashing on both screens. And just then, for the first time, a cold, shaky feeling spread from my stomach to the rest of my body in a matter of seconds. My spaceship was programmed to stop keeping archives after one hundred years of continued sleep. So, that means, I was asleep for over one hundred years.

“...Earth...you...crashed…”

Amid my confusion, I recognized these three words, seemingly coming from a dialect of the far edges of the galaxy, a dialect that a human shouldn’t have known.

Things were getting weirder, and weirder.

“Who are you human? Where am I?”

The human seemed surprised that I could speak the same dialect as it did fluently. However, I was not sure why, or how, I knew how to do that. The words just rushed out of my mouth all of their own.

In what was a weak control of the language, the human said: “Eladia. Chronicler. You are on the Earth.”

Earth. The Earth. What was I doing on Earth? I decided to respond the same way I did before, only, this time, I tried to adjust the dialect a bit, to make it easier to communicate with it.

“I’m Jasih. I’m a Prime Officer of... I’m from--,” and nothing came out of my mouth. Not a word, not an image of home, nothing. Just...darkness.

“From? From where?” The human sounded surprised I managed to learn its language so quickly, but it sounded more confident than before.

However, I didn’t care to answer to it. Instead, I started walking around the spaceship, searching for a sign of purpose, anything to identify my origins. Passing by a piece of a mirror, I saw my sparkling gray skin and my black hair, and what was a set of purple eyes, and not a single piece of information came back to me.

My clothes were torn, and the last thing I could recall to my memory was me — ordering a trip to Earth—yes, I remembered now. I was heading for Earth after all—searching for something of importance. But nothing else came to mind.

“Jasich...Jacih...no. I can’t pronounce that. I’ll call you Jay, from the first letter of your name. Jay, would you mind if I let Silver run some tests on you?”

I, now called Jay for the convenience of the smooth-skinned human, tensed. “I’m not a specimen, human. I’m Jasih, the Prime Officer of…. Fuck!” I yelled and punched the wall next to me, sinking the metal to the place my fist hits.

The human seemed to get frightened by my violent ways, but it couldn’t possibly understand how I felt now. And yet, even though fear flooded its eyes, it didn’t even fret.

“I can help you if you let me. You seem to have amnesia. Silver, my assistant, can run some tests on you, and we can find out more about your condition. I promise I won’t harm you.”

Just for a moment, I laughed at its sayings. Then, I took a step towards it, trying to intimidate it. And yet, it just blinked. Nothing else. “What gives you the impression that you can hurt me?”

The human didn’t answer. Now closer than before, I started examining its characteristics, trying to put it in a category of some sort. Humans, primal mammals that shared the same DNA code and were divided into males and females. That much seemed apparent. And then why in the seven prisons I couldn’t remember anything about my people and myself?

Its chest was bloated, but it seemed like a natural extension of its body. Its face had soft, symmetrical lines, nothing indicating that it was some kind of warrior. Its voice was high-pitched yet soothing. In the end, I just couldn’t place it, so I thought of just asking straight on.

“You. Human. Are you a male or a female?”

It was taken by surprise. “A female. Why? Is that a problem?”

Again, I didn’t reply to her. I now knew what I wanted from her, not that I would ever have guessed it by myself.

The hair on the back of my neck suddenly bristled. My body turned to face the danger, chest and hands protruded. “Come out!” I growled.

And just like a shadow coming to life, a figure appeared behind the cryogenic pod. But instead of moving against me, it rushed straight towards the woman named Eladia. Holding a long, wooden stick with a sharp tip on the edge, it aimed for the woman’s heart.

Unable to react fast enough, she just stood still. The second strange creature was going to kill the only person I could communicate with in this room.

I can help you. Her voice echoed in my mind.

My hand jolted and grabbed the tiny—tiny compared to me that is—creature that looked like a human, but with lots of hair. It growled, and tried to bite me twice, but in the end, it stopped.

“Okay, so can someone explain to me, what in the hell is going on here?”

Chapter Three

Eladia

My feet trembled. If Jay weren’t inhumanly fast, I would’ve been dead. But, it wasn’t over. He looked at me, ready to say something, but his level glare deemed me unworthy of words. Cocky bastard, he thought just because he saved me that he could take the credit by himself. But still, I couldn’t stop wondering what that hairy creature was.

I walked closer, tried to get its attention, but it was too caught up in getting freed from Jay’s grip, something that I thought improbable. Jay’s hands, in all their platinum silver glory, had that statuesque grace. This man could kill a man with a punch, or protect someone with his awesome body. And then it dawned on me: I was actually grateful for his interference.

Wake up Eladia. He just did it so that you could help him get out of here. Don’t get any ideas! I thought, but I wasn’t one of those people that got past thoughts like that easily. I tried to focus my mind on the feral creature Jay was holding.

Brown hair covered a significant part of its body. Its physiology was the same as a human’s, at least for the most part. Its hands were longer than mine, and his feet seemed broader, more strong. It was like the beast that Jay held in his hands had fallen at a previous stage of humanity’s evolution.

Eladia, you’re a genius!

My eyes opened broadly, and I got even closer to Jay, now having trouble holding the fit man still. If my theory was right, then...then I was the luckiest woman in the whole system.

“Silver, can you please run a scan on the man that Jay holds? I have a hunch that we might get surprised.”

Silver looked at me in utter surprise but quickly changed to her satellite form and started running numerous tests in a matter of seconds. Jay took a step towards me. My whole body prickled in his authoritative presence.

“Did you say, man? Is this...thing, a man?”

Nothing could get past you, Jay. “Yes. There were reports about life blooming again on planet Earth, but I never expected to find sentient forms so soon. We have to find if it can communicate with us and run many tests.”

I stopped. The man was suddenly loose, and Jay was on the air, on his way to the ground. My eyes were not quick enough to catch any movement, but I remembered the slender man twisting his lower part of the body, using Jay’s hand as support, and kicking the man under the jaw. In the time Jay needed to get a grasp of what was going on, the hairy man was already on his way to counterattack.

Adrenaline pumped in my veins; time slowed down. My hands trembled, and I felt the sweat running down my back, but my brain blocked out every sign of fear. I remembered that I had a flare in my back pocket, instinctively grabbing it. Jay is already up on his feet, although I was not sure that he ever even touched the ground.

Well, I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t. It was like this man was born to stand tall with his nose up in the air. But in all his arrogant demeanor, Jay seemed to follow up his name. Soon, the two men weighted each other's strength by swapping cold looks and preemptive attacks. That ancient form of a spear that the other man held certainly looked dangerous, but not as dangerous as Jay’s menacing muscles.

You have to do something Eladia.

I’m sure he could take care of him by himself, but Jay wouldn’t stop until he killed him. Or, at least he seemed that way. My mind was on overdrive again. Before I even had the time to follow a logical train of thought, I was running on Jay’s side with the lit flare on my right hand. Its intense red light cast an otherworldly shadow inside the spaceship, but it didn’t seem to make any difference on the situation.

“You stupid woman, what are you doing here?” Jay roared, only to see that he was too late. Watching me, he had warded his sight off the other man, creating an opening. At that time, I hadn’t realized that the opening was me.

His huge body suddenly got in front of me; we were so close I almost kissed his shoulder blades. For some unexplained and totally humiliating reason, my first reaction was to hug him, passing my hands around his waist. I...I didn’t want him to die because of me.

“Stop!” Silver shouted, her voice almost screeching at a forgotten African-American dialect of the 21st century. I recognized only that word, but she kept talking.

I kept my eyes closed, and my grip tight. My face was touching Jay’s shirt, and I was sure I could sense his pulse pumping. I felt safe, even among this chaos.

“Human, you can let go of me now.”

His voice was ice cold, and I could swear he even tried to push me out of the way. I felt my ears burn and I quickly released my grip.

“I...I’m sorry.” I stuttered.

Yes, I did. Good going, Eladia. Now he must think you’re a stupid and careless woman. A stranger, and part of a new species of aliens, and you already clang to him. Good going.

I stood back to watch the unusual scene. Silver was back in her humanoid form, right next to what now seemed like a human teenage boy, only with a lot more hair everywhere around him. He still showed his teeth meaning that he was still uneasy and dangerous, but for the better part, Silver was talking to him.

But, I must have missed something in the fight before, because now Jay was standing next to me with one less sleeve of his shirt. His platinum skin almost sparkled in the dim light of the spaceship. For a moment, I wondered what made his skin so uniquely silver. But as my eyes examined more of his skin, I gawped at what I found on the top.

I rushed to his side with two long strides that I never thought possible, and I pointed at his tattoo: “This. Where did you get this?”

He seemed surprised, arching one of his brows in a quizzical expression. “I earned it during the Magna Bellum of the Delta Period.”

“You...you’re an Originator?” I also wanted to ask about the Magna Bellum and the Delta Period since I had absolutely no idea what he meant, but I saved my questions for another time.

“Originator? Is that how you call us nowadays? Well, if I have to guess, then yes. I’m one of your Originators.” He looked at me as if it was the most common thing in the world.

“Ehm...Elaida? I think you should come here,” Silver interrupted us.

I was way too focused on Jay’s origins, but for a man who had lost his memories, he seemed to remember an awful lot of random things. But for Silver to call me, something important must have come up. I mean, she never, ever called for my attention.

“Brief me up. What is going on?”

“I think you should see the reports of the DNA tests I ran.”

She produced a graphical interpretation of a human DNA and a similar form of DNA that was 85% common. “You don’t mean? Is he a human? Another evolution path of a human?”

“Yes. You share the most common characteristics, and the basic proteins on your helices are exactly the same. The only thing changing are the outer characteristics. His species are hairy, stronger, faster but unable to grasp complicated concepts at the same rate.”

“So, it’s like they swapped brain size to raise their capacity for physical strength to survive the overgrown forests of Primordial Earth? That’s amazing. Natural selection at its best. But...it’s way too fast. They shouldn’t have appeared for another thousand years or so. Only after two centuries, it’s way too soon.”

Silver agreed with me, but it had been way too long since we heard Jay or the hairy boy talk. I turned around to check them up, only to see them distracted by something. Jay glared at nothingness, perfectly still, like he didn’t want to miss the slightest move while the other man seemed more restless. He growled and looked everywhere around him.

“Jay, what’s going on?”

He snorted, he actually snorted at and sneered towards me. “And you consider yourself smarter than that man? Unacceptable. We have company. I guess around ten...no, twelve quadrupeds.”

The young man hissed and out of nowhere many sets of red eyes appeared from the dark. “What...what are they?”

Instead of hair, those dog-like creatures seemed totally naked, their skins full of wounds and dark marks. Their teeth, sharper and longer than anything I had ever seen, dripped spittle.

I turned and watched Jay. He was calm, collected, but at the same time tense. His muscles were full of blue veins pumping. I couldn’t read his expression, but something warned me. I didn’t want to believe it, but in the end, it came to me.

Fuck. He was terrified.

Chapter Four

Jay

The smell of hollow fear, the feeling of anticipation, the sound of my heart pounding in my chest; this was a fight. The natural light of the chamber was decreasing fast, and these Tidreg-like creatures seemed to hunt in places like this. I had to do something, or they would tear us all into pieces.

I knew that the easy solution would be to run away and save myself, but there was something different in that human’s eyes. I felt like she was the most courageous female I had ever met, and that sounded like a lot. My mind was a mess of random memories popping up from the back of my head. I tried to recollect the name of that part of my brain, but the names slipped me off every time I sought them.

Growls and hisses came from behind me as well. Twelve beasts, twelve predators that could kill us all in seconds, and yet, I felt calm. Yes, my heart was pounding, yes, my muscles wobbled, and I couldn’t fully control my limbs just yet, but my mind was calm.

I must have faced many situations like this in the past. So it meant that those beasts were no match for me. I looked around me, and I saw that my new company had been driven to the wall. The hairy man, the other human, tried to intimidate the rough predators by growling and yelling from time to time, but I could smell his fear from here.

I couldn’t trust him to help me. I was all by myself.

Before I took a step forward, I saw the human female at the edge of my eyes. She seemed afraid, but there was also something else coming from her. A feeling I couldn’t place in this battle. I lowered my guard, and suddenly an excruciating pain penetrated my left arm. My other hand moved instinctively, hitting the damned monster between the eyes. But, its long teeth served one purpose: to hit hard and hit deep.

It had penetrated my muscle and even a vein or two. Fuck. And there were another eleven of that bastard waiting.

These monsters seemed to pick their enemies intelligently. They attacked me, the most dangerous one, first hoping to kill me fast and then move on to easier targets. I swiped the air behind me with my right arm, hoping to get even one of them, but I missed. I tried to move them away from the hopeful bunch, but they were smarter than they looked. All this time, they drove me away from them. My eyes fell to the frightened female; again, I lowered my guard.

What is wrong with you Jasih? She’s one measly human, certainly not one important enough to save.

And yet, my mind seemed to get even more absorbed in her safety. I continued to move back, lost, confused, unable to find a way out of this alive when…

...a fucking pain hammered my head. What in the holly fuck was going on? I felt my hands cold, and I was unable to move them for a whole second. I lowered my head and saw a black matter covering my entire body. I smiled.

“Well, well. It was about time to wake up!” My voice was loud, as it should be. I saw a pack of -are these Tidreg?- some strange beasts before me, driving me away from a bunch of ugly looking people. Well, half of them were ugly; the black haired one was kinda okay. A hoarse bark tried to draw my attention, but as I turned and saw the puny little dogs, they didn’t seem all that dangerous anymore.

I heard the screech of talons scratching the metal floor as two of them jumped to hit me. Let’s see if I remembered the steps correct.

One, two, three…I counted in a dance-like pattern, hitting my first target with the back of my fist in midair while dodging the other and stomping it down the floor.

Oh, the fresh blood and the feeling of kicking the life out of someone; I missed it. Now I hummed, getting back my lovely mood.

Four, five, seven… and I strode my way to the remaining nine doggies. They squealed in such a nice way; they were certainly worth of this long-awaited breakfast. The cracking sound of their necks breaking, the fear in their eyes, it made me move faster, harder, stronger.

And...eight. And just like that, I was out of targets. I heard two of them running for their lives, but I lost my mood for a fight. Now, I was just plainly bored.

A yawn surfaced from deep within my chest. “Which one of you is the leader?”

They looked at me like I was one of those monsters I had just killed. I was not sure that sitting on top of one of the lifeless husks helped, but they were still warm and comfortable. It would be a shame not to use them.

“I’m Chronicler Eladia. And you are?”

She looked uncertain, certainly not worth killing. Although I was somehow intrigued on how her neck would sound if I snapped it in two. Still, it would be a shame for a neck like this.

“Chronicler? What is that?”

“I...I...don't know if I can explain it to you without showing you my work. Well, in short-”

“Don’t bother. I’m bored. I’m Prime Officer Jasih. Isn’t there anything else to kill?”

My eyes fell to the fit-looking hairy one in the back, and in the peculiar robot beside him. They looked weak, but not weaker than this human. Weren’t humans supposed to be extinct already?

“Prime Officer Ja...? Still, can’t pronounce it,” she mumbled to herself. “Are you still Jay?”

“Are you mad, woman? My name is Jasih, and there is no other Jasih among my people. Who is this...Jay, you’re talking about?”

For a leader of their group, she didn’t sound all that much smart. She turned and talked to the silver-looking one. They were all so boring. I needed something to kill, but I thought I had enough for the day.

In the end, she turned and looked at me with a whole other look. Her eyes were full of determination, and I could finally see her will to lead.

“Can you please tell us more about your rank?”

She demanded to know, and something inside me wanted to answer.

This was going to be interesting.

Chapter Five

Eladia

The wild animals fled. Hell, if I could, I would run behind them and fight them every day than face the...thing that Jay had become. His platinum skin had changed to a dark silver one, as well as his pitch-black hair into white. Everything on him was the same, his violet eyes and his statuesque build, but he now seemed like a whole different person.

“What do you want to know about my rank? Isn’t it clear enough that I’m a Prime? Oh, right. I forgot. You’re human. Maybe your tool can help you by explaining these things to you.” He smiled, but I think he just wanted to taunt us.

“We don’t know what a Prime Officer is, or who are you, or what your species are. We, me and Silver, we just came here looking for something and instead we found you inside a cryo pod. So can you please explain to us, what are your motives, and what a Prime Officer is?”

He sighed, but never leaving the body of his dead trophy. It fitted him like a throne fitted a king’s butt, and to be honest, he was kinda the king of this place. He could kill us all in seconds, if I wasn’t careful on how to handle him.

“Okay, okay. It seems that I’m way too far off my planet so that you know about our ranks out here. Well, a Prime Officer to our people is a big, badass soldier who controls other soldiers in battle. It’s kinda like the greatest rank a soldier can achieve.”

“So, you’re a General or an Admiral of some sort. I get it. And, what are you doing out here? This planet, Earth, is abandoned.” At the moment the words came out of my mouth, I saw his expression change. His arrogant sneer and powerful smirk faded off his face.

“Abandoned? I don’t understand. When did you monkeys abandon your own planet? I thought you were still swiping from one tree to the other.”

I squeezed my hand into a fist, tried to get past his insults. I was seriously ready to punch him in the face, though. “We have left this planet for a hundred years now, and expanded all the way to--”

“Oh, shit. How long was I asleep?”

Yes, I was certainly punching him in the face when I would get the chance. “I don’t know. A hundred years, give or take. At least, that’s what...that’s what we estimate.” I felt Silver behind me get restless. If I told him the truth, that there was another Jay, a silver-looking one, other than him, he might got violent not believing us. For him, we were strangers.

“Fuck. One hundred years? That’s a lot. That’s a fucking lot.”

He finally got off the dead beast and moved closer to me. He checked me from top to bottom, probably trying to decide if I was useful or not. He nodded to himself and smiled again. “Tell me, human. Did we win the Magna Bellum?”

Again with those wars. Magna Bellum, Latin for the Great War. What was this Great War he kept talking about? “I don’t know. I don’t even know what species you are.”

As soon as he heard me utter those words, he got serious once again. “Do you dare not recognize the great...the great…”

He was amnesiac as well. “Don’t worry, it’ll come to you. You must have hit your head pretty badly after crashing on Earth.”

“I’m not a puny little human like you to hit my head and lose my memories. I could pierce through stone walls with my head and still not feel a thing. No, someone messed with my head.” He stopped to think, but I didn’t like the direction this conversation took. “You. You’re the only one here. It makes sense now. You want to trick me into believing you don’t know about my people and me so that your experiment is successful.”

Satisfied with his own deduction, he turned his back on me, laughing. My whole body was trembled, too much to hide it. But, in the end, was there something I could have said to change his opinion? He would kill me, and there was nothing I could do about it.

“What’s your name again human?”

“Eladia,” I answered immediately.

“Eladia...it has a nice ring to it. Well, Eladia you’re lucky I fought those puppies or else I would have to kill you. Now, I’m bored again, and you seem too fragile for my tastes. I’ll let you go, but by the time I wake up again, I’d like for you to have returned my memories.”

A deep relief left my chest in the form of a sigh. The huge man walked away from me, got to the other side of the spaceship, lied against a wall and tilted his head to the side, getting ready to fall asleep. In a matter of seconds, the dark matter that covered him before, slowly started to wash away.

“Quickly, Silver, scan him,” I uttered amidst my confusion.

Just like before, the dark matter vanished into nothingness, the same way the water evaporated. His hair slowly changed back to their safe, black color, and fortunately, by the time the thing that had covered him vanished, he was back to his usual, stoic and cryptic self.

“Eladia, it’s amazing. It’s as a different organism exists in those dark particles. If I could make a wild guess, then Jay’s species are symbiotic organisms. Dark Jay works the same way a parasite works, and Jay is the host. The only thing is that they also share personalities and memories.”

Silver talked as fast as she could, afraid that by the time Jay woke up, he would be as hostile as his dark counterpart before him. Yet, I didn’t sense the same blood lust coming off him. Not that it would matter, but this Jay looked different. Logical and safe.

I turned and saw the other human, my feral cousin. “What did you learn about him? Can he be of any help to us?”

Silver made a sound that greatly resembled a laugh. “Him? He’s harmless. Before, he thought you were going to harm Jay, so that’s why he attacked you. But after I talked to him, it seems sentient enough to communicate.”

As I checked him out I noticed that his eyes, a bright mix of brown and green, tried to understand me as well. He must have been aware we were talking about him. It would be better if I introduced myself. I stretched my hand and pointed at my chest. “Eladia. Human.” Then, I pointed at him. “You? Your name?”

His eyes brightened up after I was finally interested in him. “Zan...Zan.” He pointed at himself and continued uttering his name; in the end almost chanting it. Silver laughed and truth be told, I felt somehow better myself.

“Zan it is then. Keep talking to him, Silver. We might need him to lead us to the relic, when and if we finally find it.” A pinch ached my heart. If. Would this all be for nothing if we didn’t find anything after all?

“I would love to. He’s great. It’s like I’ve just gotten my first pet!” Silver said.

I hit my face with my palm and shook my head. “He’s every part human as I am Silver. Don’t do anything inappropriate to him.” As I turned to see Jay, I heard Silver changing. “And no physical experiments. Just scan him or ask me anything you want to know about him. Is that understood?” I told her, not even turning. I only began to go on after I had heard her changing back.

Jay was sleeping soundly, probably trying to recover his powers. But still, for a man like him to move so fast, and come toe to toe with those animals; it seemed impossible. He moved like a shadow, his hands striking like thunder, his feet stomping their way through every obstacle. This is an Originator for you. I had heard rumors about them being able to win a whole battle by themselves, but I never believed it to be true. Now…now I wasn’t so sure anymore.

I took two steps to the front, towards him, and I could hear his breath whiz. For all that mattered, Jay was a gorgeous man. Strong, powerful, awe-inspiring and even sacrificing himself to save a bunch of strangers. And yet, his eyes had that cold feeling, the feeling that he had seen too many horrible things in his past. For a moment, I almost wished this man never recovered his memories, but the scientific interest of his past was too great to hope for something like that.

I just had to keep following him until I found out more about him. And of course, he might helped me find the Nusae relic...if it existed.

I sighed, turned my back to him and walked towards Silver. But then, I heard him coming to his senses. My heart beat faster. I hope he’s back to his usual self.

Chapter Six

Jay

Enough with those headaches already. I rubbed my temples instinctively, my cold hands cooled off my warm skin. My muscles felt sore, and I wasn’t sure I could stand on my feet without help. For some reason, I also found this feeling familiar, like something I was used to in the past.

And yet, I didn’t seem to remember anything about it. As I opened my eyes, I saw the human female, her robot and the wild man staring at me in fear. I smelled blood. I looked around me and saw the dead bodies of the predators that assaulted us before.

Did I do that? I want to ask them, but I knew the answer already. I did that. My body still felt the impact, and yet I was the only one scathed. A certain feeling started to swell inside my body. Thank God, no one else was hurt. It was strange for me to feel that way, but amidst the darkness of the spaceship, I didn’t want to feel alone anymore.

Alone. Alone was Esuh. A white, excruciating pain stroke my head. The word Esuh, a word that meant a lot to me, kept swirling in my head.

“You. Human. I...I remember!”

She turned to look at me, but she didn’t make another step towards me. She stayed put and talked to me from a distance. “Are you...are you Jay?”

What was that question? I just told her I remembered something so important, and she asked me if I was Jay? “Eladia, isn’t that your name?”

She nodded.

“I remembered the name of my people. And yes, I’m Jasih, the Prime Officer, and an Originator. Do you still doubt me?”

She rushed to my side. She laid out her hand wanting to help me get up, but I didn’t need help from puny humans. I could get up by myself. And so I did, my whole body in agonizing pain, but nothing an Esuh couldn’t handle.

“I’m sorry. It’s just…,” she wanted to say something but stopped.

“It’s what? Speak human!”

“Nothing. Again, I'm sorry. Now, can you please tell us? What’s the name of your people?”

She was hiding something, but I was in no mood to play her game. At the same time, she was the only one that could know what had happened to my people. “Have you heard the name Esuh? Esuh of the Two Faces?”

Her face suddenly lightened up in the hearing of the name, but I got the sense that it wasn’t from recognizing them. “Of the Two Faces you said? Do you remember more about your people? Why did they call you that?”

My hand jolted to grab her arm. I knew I was squeezing way too much, but maybe some pain could wake her up. Anger made me talk slowly, steadily. “Don’t...you...understand...what...I’m...saying...to you?”

For a moment, our eyes met, and I couldn’t move my head. Her fearless glare matched my own in every aspect. If she were two heads taller, with bigger muscles and another color, she would have been an Esuh herself.

I released my grip, and she immediately took two steps back. “I haven’t heard anything about your people Jay. But the next time you touch me, I won’t help you even if I find something about them.”

Silver, her robot, got in front of her now, and for some reason, that feral kid also wanted to protect her. He growled at me like I’m the enemy, but they seemed to have forgotten that I was a Prime Officer, that countless Esuhes counted on me and respected me. But this funny bunch didn’t.

They looked at me as if expecting me to apologize, but I just turned my head and searched the way out of my spaceship. Before taking another step, I heard the young one yelling at me, trying to say something. I acted like I didn’t hear him, but then the robot stopped me as well. “It’s dangerous out there. Zan is trying to protect you.”

It had a name after all? “Did this Zan kill all those animals or did I?” She didn’t answer. “I thought so. Get out of my way.”

Zan kept yelling, but I didn’t care anymore. Better out there with any of those monsters than in here getting disrespected by a bunch of weaklings.

“My camp is close. You can spend the night there with us and leave in the morning.” Eladia’s voice was rough, soulless. She didn’t want me there. But I couldn’t die, not knowing the fate of my people.

“Okay. One night.” One night and then I’m done protecting your sorry asses.

Two minutes later, we were walking down an open place full of a strange, black material. I heard Eladia talking to her robot assistant, discussing the importance of roads and tar in the archaic ages. Soon, I found myself getting intimidated by the sound of her voice. But still, I couldn’t get enough of it.

A round, pale object was flying in the sky. This planet’s natural satellite was beautiful but lonely up there. Back home, the three moons used to dance all night, casting many different colors to the sky. The night was as bright as the day, and the Esuh didn’t feel lonely. I didn’t know why that name gave me that painful feeling, but Esuh didn’t feel pain, no loneliness either.

Even by just remembering that one name, all those pictures came back to me. The Living Oceans that swallowed and spat whole worlds in their wake, and the Flying Fortress, the pride of all the Esuhes. Walking down this...road, I suddenly felt the weight of the world falling on my shoulders. Esuh meant lonely, and I felt like I was just beginning to grasp the meaning behind that word.

Chapter Seven

Eladia

In my family, we had a saying: ‘you can’t be silent or hungry, or else you’ll stay silent and hungry.’ To be honest, I had never quite understood the meaning of that peculiar saying, not before I found myself walking on that red thing I could only guess was some kind of moss.

Seeing Jay walk in front of me, his head up but totally absent the whole time, reminded me of the things my mom used to say. However, I was still not feeling comfortable around him. What if he turned back to that...Dark Jay? What had triggered that reaction of him?

Questions span inside my head, but I couldn’t find the strength to ask him. Well, not before I heard Silver laughing two strides behind me. I slowed down and allowed her to get closer to me. She and Zan seemed to have a pleasant chat, but I was more surprised at the fact that Zan was walking on his two feet and not on his four.

When I first saw him before, I thought that his longer limbs and stronger arms indicated his inability to master walking on his two feet, but I was totally wrong. I stumbled upon a strange conversation:

“And so, how old are you?” Silver asked, trying to add more information to her research.

Zan replied using a raucous, seemingly random, choice of words from different languages. Silver laughed at him again. What could he say to her that would make her laugh? She just asked him how old he was. I decided to delve deeper into the matter.

“Hey, Silver. I see you’ve got a new friend.” I smiled, but I didn’t feel the joy reaching my eyes. Jay was still on my mind.

“Oh hello Eladia. Yeah, Zan is superb. He’s intelligent, and funny, and doesn’t munch on his words. He’s a perfect gift. Thank you again, Eladia.”

I suppressed the need to hide behind my palm and decided to take the usual path: “He’s not a pet Silver. I thought we talked about this before.”

For an Android morpher, Silver had an extensive array of expressions; the one she was casting at me now was a blend of bafflement and disappointment. What was with robots and pets? I would never understand them.

“So, what are you talking about? Has he seen any signs of the relic or anything towards it?”

Her holographic face flashed. “Now that you mention it, there was something he said that was weird. According to a story, his ancestors told him, humans didn’t exist until very recently. A surge of growing potential seemed to appear in this part of the world a hundred years ago, right about the time Mr. Jasih appeared.”

Nice. Now she could pronounce his name too. And what was about the honorifics? “That’s really interesting. That’s why other Chroniclers didn’t find anything in other parts of the Primordial Earth. The new species of these mammals must have started their evolution in this section of the world. But, that also means-”

“Yes. The only reports of technology apparently affecting life are that of the Nusae.”

She was right. Oh, my God, she was right. But that meant that Jay must have had something to do with it. I left behind my second thought and raised my pace to get to Jay’s side. I hoped that if I talked to him about it, then something may jogged his memory and more information about his previous life would come to the surface. Hell, he may also knew the exact location of the relic.

I got closer to him, but he didn’t slow down. I’m almost sure that he had seen me, but he started walking faster, intentionally. Finally, I caught up to him. “Excuse me! Jay, can you please slow down? I have something I want to ask you!”

For a change, he seemed to hear me; he slowed down, but not nearly enough as I would have expected him to. My ponytail swing furiously, and in my mind, I thought that I must have looked like a crazy person. Well, I didn’t care. He might knew something about the relic.

“What’s with you humans and all these questions? Where are you from? Who are you? What’s your purpose in life? I mean, do you ever stop to think why you wonder so much about useless things?”

He was furious alright, but I couldn’t let his bad mood fester me. “Now that you mention it, you seem to know many things about many species. Have you ever heard the Nusae?” I was now following him, but he suddenly stopped. I pumped into his back and almost fell to the ground. “Hey. A little warning next time?”

“What about the Nusae? How do you know about the Nusae?”

So he did know something about them! It seemed that only the memories of his people, Esuh, were the ones he had forgotten. “For the last time, humans have colonized half the galaxy. We’re right up there with all kinds of species, like--”

He started walking fast again like I had never even talked. We arrived at a type of a crossroad, full of green and purple trees that touched the sky. Their trunks were big enough to compete with the fallen buildings, but the important part was Jay drawing away from me.

I was trying to follow him, but my breath was scorching my lungs. I realized that I had been walking for almost a whole day and that I hadn’t had a single drop of water for hours. But something inside me drew me towards that man. His will to fight, to lead, to infuriate me every waking moment was unbelievable.

Now I was running behind him, but he didn’t stop. Somewhere in the back, Silver and Zan followed us, but I didn’t have time to stop and wait for them.

Again, Jay suddenly stopped and turned to face me. He didn’t talk, not even seem angry; a cold calmness reigned over his face. His nerve! He made me chase him around, and now he looked like he had just met me.

“Hey! Listen...you stupid...alien!” I lacked oxygen, and my vocabulary narrowed down to simple words and phrases. I panted my lungs out, but I didn’t stop. Instead, I found the strength to raise my voice even higher. “You...will...tell me everything...you know about the Nusae!”

“Why should I? Do you think you’re that important to me?” His voice was low, yet menacing. I took a step back. Just a precaution. He didn’t seem to control his change.

“I didn’t say that. But if you tell me everything you know about them, I might help you remember who you are!” I couldn’t lower my voice; my anger had turned to a cacophony of words.

And then it came; the roar.

He opened his mouth, and he just roared at me, like the Lions did way back, when humans still lived here. Still, I was so mad at him that I didn’t want to stop. “Do you think that you can get your memories back without me? How? You didn’t even know the name of your species until now!” I yelled the last word.

Just barely, I sensed Silver behind me. Zan snarled next to her. It was somehow reassuring that I had people behind me—well, a feral human and an android, but it counted as a help, though that didn’t make me feel any safer. After all, he was the man who had killed a pack of those creatures earlier, all by himself.

I expected some kind of reaction, but it never came. On the contrary, he took the same expression he did just before the attack on the spaceship. The attack on the spaceship? That meant…

“Eladia, I think it would be better if you lowered your voice…” Silver told me, but I knew it was too late.

Jay came closer to me, and he told me almost whispering: “you and your loud words. You must have woken up the whole forest.”

“We’re in the middle of this, and now you want to assign blames? Fine then. Your roar didn’t help either.”

Zan shushed us both. We turned and faced him at the same time; he pointed behind us.

“Do...do you hear that?” I muttered. Jay snorted.

At first, it was a muffled sound of tiny feet crowding in front of us, but with every passing moment, the sound became an uproar of countless insects walking.

I couldn’t see anything, so I thought it would be better to know what we were facing. “Silver, give us some light.” And then, we saw them. “Oh...my...what in this world are all these?”

Thousands, no...tens of thousands overgrown insects crawled around us. We thought that they were coming from behind us, but no. They had already surrounded us. Big, disgusting heads, with dark bluish eyes were watching us. Spiders, or something close to a spider, with six long legs and two smaller, all hairy, were moving fast towards us.

“They are of the insectoid family, but I’ve never seen species like these. They seem to be a mix of two different organisms, but I don’t know how to characterize them.”

Silver’s voice was the last thing I could hear. A gentle pinch on my neck started spreading a warm feeling to my head and then to the rest of my body. I wanted to scream, God how much I wanted to let out a big, lengthy scream, but I couldn’t.

I felt tiny legs walk on my skin, inside my shirt. Tears clouded my eyes, and I thought everything was over. Strangely, I already felt lighter, like I was getting carried away by two strong arms. Was that what it felt like when dying? It was a nice feeling. I could get used to it.

My blurry eyes showed me random pictures. I saw Jay’s face, his strong eyes, and hard lines, came closer to mine. For a moment there I thought he would kiss me; and at that moment, I wanted him to.

Chapter Eight

Jay

Damn you Eladia. You had to go and get bitten by one of those things. My hands ached, but not so much as I thought they would. I wasn’t sure if it had something to do with her or those things that were biting me. Yet, I didn’t feel dizzy, just a bit hazy.

At least, this planet’s gravity was comfortable. Jumping from one branch to the other was a breeze, even with the extra weight from the half-dead human. Her skin was getting cold, fast. I managed to kill the little cricket that bit her, but I didn’t have time to help the robot and the savage. They would have to take care of themselves for now.

The higher I got, the denser the darkness became. I didn’t have a plan yet, so I just ran as fast as I could. The picture of the waves of those six-legged creatures somehow disgusted me. I was never too fond of insects, but those little monsters were an extra layer creepy.

I finally got to the top. The air up here was clean and smelled kinda nice. I felt the wind caressing my face and tangling my hair. I looked down to my extra passenger, and I saw something different. Her dark hair was finally free of that ugly tail on her head. The breeze gave her an otherworldly feel, while her hair flapped in the wind.

The beating muscle of my chest wanted to touch them, but my head stored the most vital organ of my body, and told me that there was no time for emotions. Her life was in danger.

One big leap to the dark later and I was back on the road, only, this time, I could see my surroundings correctly. I searched for a light source, only to find a peculiar looking bird. But it had a funny look to it. Its skin glistened in the night, and instead of wings, it had two fin-like instruments, one in the top and one in the bottom. Its belly was the light source I was looking at.

“This planet is crazy. Now I get why humans turned out as crazy as they did.” It chirped and flew around me. It smelled of flowers and something wet. My skin prickled at the thought of what could that mean.

There was water nearby.

I followed it behind a curtain of vines, all of them heavy with red-colored buds. The path was rough and full of metals and rocks, but my steps were steady. I took my time over an opening to the ground which smelled funny. Eladia now had trouble breathing, and her blood pumping organ was beating fast.

At least, in that part, we are the same, human. Our hearts beat strong. I suddenly wanted to save her. I wanted to hear her voice again, yelling at me. I was not sure what drove me straight into that madness, but seeing her sleeping like that, I thought it would be a waste to let her die in my arms.

The smell of water was getting stronger, and my unusual guide finally flew away, leaving me alone in the dark. For a moment, I panicked.

Me? The great Prime Officer? Afraid? I was in the middle of nowhere, with no light, no knowledge of my surroundings or anything to guide me to the end of this narrow alleyway. So, yes, panic was the first thing that came to my mind.

But as soon as I took another step forward, a weak light appeared at the end of my way. At first, it was only one tiny light, something I wouldn’t have notice if I wasn’t in such a despair, but then, this one light became two, the two became four, and before I could count to ten, the whole glade erupted in light.

A greenish pond was right in the middle of a destroyed building, full of vines, moss and every kind of dark-colored flower. This place was an ecosystem by itself, with flowers getting their aggressive colors from the flying animals, and the animals probably swimming and feeding and living off them. In all honesty, it was something wonderful.

I tried to take in everything, but something troubled me; Eladia suddenly seemed heavier. “Fuck. She’s almost dead. I have to do something.”

The first thing that came to my mind was to give her a sip of that greenish water. I didn’t know why, maybe it was my own body craving for the wet element, or something totally illogical, but that was what I chose to do.

I placed her on a bed of fallen leaves and cupped my hands inside the pond. The water was cold but refreshing. I had to stop myself from taking a sip when I remembered that Eladia needed it more than I did.

From what I managed to gather, only half of it ended up in her mouth. This scene brought up a memory, or rather what it was the shadow of a thought.

...I’m not good at taking care of people. I’m great at breaking them…

I looked at my hands, and I knew I was right. I had just killed a whole pack of creatures, and almost hit Eladia. My fists were my words, and I didn’t know when to stop. I checked her temperature, but nothing had changed. I ran back and forth to the pond a couple times more, but there was nothing more I could do.

In the end, I just stood above her motionless body and felt a hollow dread. She was dead.

I didn’t know why I cared. Back in the crossroad, almost an hour ago, I wanted to kill her, to at least abandon her. Now...I wanted to see her angry eyes again.

One of the birds flew next to her. I moved my hand to shoo it, but as it pecked her wet hand, she opened her eyes and looked around her like nothing had happened.

Without realizing it, I had stopped breathing. The air surged in my body, and I wanted to slap my face.

You got soft, Jasih. She’s just a human.

Chapter Nine

Jay

My head span and I was really close to throwing up my breakfast, which I now remembered it was the only thing I had eaten all day. I tried to focus on the small lights flying above me. For a moment, I took a wild guess. Are those stars?

I heard the splashing of water next to me, and random things started to come up. The endless waves of insectoids, the sudden sting in my neck…my hand rushed to the part which now felt sore and smooth. There was no evidence that it had ever happened, except the fact that a small patch of skin around that part of my neck, still had a cold feeling around it.

I’m sure I was dead, but someone must have saved me. But who? Who was the one that carried me away and protected me? Zan was too feeble to be able to do that, and Silver lacked the initiative.

That left only one person.

“You’re awake,” Jay uttered in a matter-of-fact tone.

It was like he had fought the venom with his own two hands and made sure to win, that was his at that moment. But there was also something else there. Maybe it was relief?

Nah, I’m just fooling myself.

His clothes were torn apart. The fabric on the front part of his black shirt, was full of holes and through it, I could see open wounds with dried blood. He was seriously hurt, more than he would ever dare to admit. Even so, here he was, looking at me with the same cold glare. His eyes showed nothing.

“Yes, it seems I am. Did you...did you save me?” My voice still shattered. Seriously, what is wrong with me?

“Yes.” The word left his mouth easily, with a tint of plain arrogance. He seemed to imply that there was no one else who would be able to do it.

“Thank you. I owe you my life.”

“Yes,” he replied instantly. My brows shot up in surprise.

Is he gonna ask me to serve him for the rest of my life to pay up the debt? Typical man’s attitude. Even among generations and generations of different species throughout space, that part remains the same. They’re all pigs.

I tried to push my body up, to lie against the weak trunk of a cut tree. I started to discern the beautiful, fire-birds. Yes, that word suited them well. A reference from an old book came to my mind. It was a short abstract one about a type of insect, fireflies. It could perfectly explain those creatures as well.

As my eyes swiped the glade, they finally caught Jay moving towards the water in the middle. The greenish pond gave off an intoxicating aroma, something of roses and squashed berries. I wanted to get a sip. But I was not the only one who seemed to have the same idea.

Jay’s long and brawny hands stretched upwards, pulling his shirt on their way up. Suddenly, below the destroyed fabric and under the quizzical demeanor, another part of Jay appeared, that of his physical perfectness.

“Oh, my…” I said through my teeth. Every muscle of his chest, his bulging pectorals, his throbbing abs, anything that I could only imagine how they looked up until now, were far better in reality.

He turned and looked at me.

Shit, he must have heard me.

I felt my ears twitch and flush, and I was trying to hide my face behind a curtain of hair. Only just now did I notice that my hair was loose.

“What’s wrong human? Are you not feeling well?” If his voice was a little colder, then I was sure I would have frozen to death.

How can a man this hot be so senseless?

“I’m fine. Just a bit tired. That’s all.” All the sentences came out as one, and I wanted to apologize, but I was too embarrassed already. His black hair was messily cute, and the rest of his body was chiseled to greatness. Yes, Jay was the picture every man should strive to become.

And then, he bent down and removed his pants as well.

I was not a prude person, no, please. I was the exact opposite of that. I had lied topless inside the observatory of Sol, and I was usually in my underwear while in my apartment. Yes, you could call me bold. But, even though my experiences with men could be counted using both hands, or maybe one and a couple fingers from the other one to be exact, I had never seen a man like him almost naked in front of me.

His underwear, a tight boxer, only managed to hide the very essential parts. Sure, what else could have been hidden behind that thin layer of fabric? Well, I was not sure. I was struggling to keep my eyes away, but I ended up gawping at him without even a pebble of disdain. I had never felt like that before, certainly not for a man. But, from the first time I saw him, I couldn’t stop thinking what this man could have been in his past.

A Prime Officer, and of course an Originator, but his body was the body of a fighter. Nowadays, generals and admirals never even participated in real battles. They gave their orders from their space stations, far away from danger and the intergalactic battlegrounds. This man...this man was the battle personified.

When he dived into the water, I kinda wished I could follow him. My mind was running through his body like drops of the sweet nectar he was swimming in, which now ran down his body. I was thinking about his hot body, his muscular biceps, and the swelling inside his underwear.

Shit. Fuck. What are you thinking Eladia? You must be exhausted, girl.

Before I was even aware of my actions, I was looking around the glade. It was darker than before and undoubtedly quieter. I didn’t know what was going on, but I had a bad feeling about it.

“Jay?” I whispered, but the man was nowhere to be found.

I was searching around the glade, but it was already too late when I found the reason the whole area suddenly turned silent. A feline-like creature with dark mane and strikingly white eyes had appeared out of nowhere. I was looking at it, but I was not yet sure if it had noticed me.

I froze. I couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, and certainly, couldn’t shout. My mind was blank, as blank as a mind could be, when real danger appeared. This day got longer and longer, and I was finally thinking that being a Chronicler was actually a dangerous job.

The feline creature walked with the grace of a fallen king, now devoid of his glory.

Why am I the only one that gets in so much trouble all the time?

“Human, you’ll get us both killed,” Jay whispered in my ear as he tossed me up onto his arms with ease. This man could snap me like a twig if he wished to.

He was sneaking behind the dangerous beast, tiptoeing his way with me on his hands. Jay carried me behind a fallen wall on the other side of the glade, entering inside a small area that could be described as a cavern. This area was full of water and those firebirds from before. Some of them flashed like broken light bulbs, and others just chirped now and then. It was crowded already, not counting us, touching each other.

Jay stretched his hands around me from the moment we got in, using his body to cover mine. However, him being almost naked, and me, utterly turned on by his appearance, didn’t help all that much. I thought he hugged me to protect me, but then again, I wasn’t sure if that could count as a hug.

He was not touching me, but my body. He didn’t care for me, but for the human that could help him. After all, why should he care for anyone, especially someone as insignificant as me? It wasn’t like he could fall for me as I did now. That wasn’t possible.

“I think it has gone. Let me check.”

He left me alone in the cavern, and I felt naked without his embrace. I shook my head, trying to shake away the feeling of loneliness that suddenly filled my heart.

Eladia, you’re an independent woman, a Chronicler for God’s sake. You can’t act like an infatuated young girl, certainly not with a troubled man like Jay.

I tried telling that to my mind again and again, but the moment he arrived to inform me about the situation, my heart skirted. It actually, honest-to-life, skirted.

“It’s gone. It seems it was just thirsty.”

His voice had the same depth of a soldier reporting to his officer, and I kinda wanted to relieve him of his duties. So I just nodded in agreement. When he left without saying anything more, I stayed behind only for a moment, looking at nothingness.

I looked at that little firebird that chirped again, and I thought that we were kind of the same. Only that I couldn’t fly away from Jay and my thoughts, and I was not flashing beautifully in the dark. I was just a Chronicler, and finding the Nusae relic was my priority.

Chapter Ten

Jay

I felt the temperature rising. My muscles felt inflamed, and I started feeling the effects of a long sleepless night. The human female was as energetic as ever, bouncing from one side of the gorge to the other, trying to examine every last species she could find.

I didn’t understand the hopefulness of it. There could be a hundred, even a thousand of species in this gorge alone, and she wanted to find every last one of them? She would spend her whole life in this patch of land, searching, finally ending up not even close to completing her work. However, seeing her get amazed by even the tiniest bit of progress, somehow warmed my inside.

I wasn’t sure I had felt like that for a long time, but then, even if I had, I wouldn’t remember it. The sunrays fell down from a slight opening on the upper side of the building. The half-broken pane, filtered the light in a gruesome green, and I battled with the urge to squirm my eyes.

Me, the powerful Prime Officer, not standing the sight of light. I sighed.

I walked to her side, and I heard her loud exclamations while examining one of those flying animals she called fire-birds. They were not actually on fire, and I didn’t really understand where that name came from, but it had stuck to me as well.

“So, its skin and wings evolved to help it survive in places even with as little water as here. Also, the light it emits from its belly helps it guide its way through narrow and dark spaces like the destroyed buildings. Amazing!”

Unnecessary.

Why should I care about the firebird? Is it that important to our task? Will this information help us survive? No. It’s just garbage.

I noticed that I grunted and sighed more often when I was around that female. She was turning up to be a hindrance.

“We should go. Where is your spaceship?”

She half-turned her head, trying not to stop her examination of the friendly animal. “It’s not too far from here, but I’m not going anywhere until I find the Nusae relic.”

Again with the Nusae. Why were humans so obsessed with those puny, three-eyed monkeys? It was like they had never seen Nusae around the galaxy. Those colorful creatures were everywhere. They were really hard to miss. “You’re mad. You almost died three times in just one day and yet you want to keep going?”

There they were, those eyes made of fire. “If I leave now, I give up my life’s work. Would you run away from your dream?”

“Esuh don’t dream. We take up missions, and we just accomplish them. Dreams are for lesser species.”

For the first time, she didn’t reply. She just stood on her feet and passed by me with a disregarding expression on her face. I couldn’t understand her at all. But I followed her. I wasn’t sure that she would survive the way back home all alone.

We took the road back to the place we got separated with the rest of the crew. The robot and the half-human had survived, I was certain. The first seemed too stubborn to die, and the other was raised in this place. However, how were we gonna find them now? The female would definitely not leave this Earth without them.

“Silver!”

“Eladia!”

That was fast.

As I ventured out of the narrow pathway, I saw the sparkling Android with the young half-human outside, waiting for us. Frankly, I was surprised. I never expected they’d find us that fast.

“Are you okay? Are all your systems working?”

“Yes, yes, I’m fine. How about you? One second you were here and the next one, our alien friend carries you up that enormous tree. We thought you were dead.”

As if I had to kill her. She could die all by herself. She wouldn’t need my help.

“No, not at all. On the contrary, Jay was the one who saved me. If it weren't for him, I would be dead now.”

That’s true, but still, don’t mess duty with sentiments. Yes, I’m talking to you, Jay...I mean Jasih. Gods, this girl, has wormed her way into my mind!

“That’s...surprising. I morphed to my thruster form and Zan climbed one of the near buildings to get away. We spent the night in one of those ancient apartments. It was horrible until I found something you wouldn’t believe.”

Abruptly, Eladia’s expression changed. Her jovial, energetic faucet changed into an all-serious, all professional face.

“What? What did you find?”

“Earlier this morning, you initiated the scanning protocol. Since you never actually asked me to stop, I took the liberty of violating some sub-principles, and I scanned the area around the place me and Zan stayed.

“The energy reading I found before, has moved. It’s now really close, although it stopped moving suddenly when the sun rose.”

Eladia combed her hand through her loose hair and grabbed a generous tuft of hair. With her free hand, she reached into her back pocket and took out one of those rubber thingies. That tail that didn’t do her justice at all, returned.

“Let’s go. We have to check it out. It is the only lead we have towards the relic.”

Honestly, this woman is restless.

That was the only way I could describe her. I saw them depart, and I found myself facing a dilemma. I saved her and reunited her with her colleagues. My job here was done. The day had come, and I promised myself that I would spend only one night with them. Nothing more.

I could turn and leave. No questions asked, no queries. But, how would I leave this place without their help? Even if I remembered who I was before the crash, how could I repair my spaceship in this primal planet?

And it was not only that. When I would take my first step forward, I would not only be lost on a strange planet, but I would also be curious about that woman, Eladia.

What about her?

Something in those dark, shining eyes fascinated me. I wanted to see through them, all the way into her mind, and understand why she was so passionate about that...dream.

I raised my pace, and I was suddenly standing close to her; for some unexplained reason, it felt like the right thing to do.

Chapter Eleven

Eladia

Silver was walking in front of me, with Zan following her close behind. Those two had become inseparable since they met. Of course, it helped that she was the only one of us three, that could communicate with him. The young man stumbled now and then, and signs of fatigue appeared all around his body. I could relate to him.

My feet hurt, and I thought we would have been there by now. If my estimates are correct, we have been walking for two hours now and still nothing. The signal is still too weak. Is it still moving? Is someone else here, mocking us? I don’t know. The only thing I know is that I’m hungry, tired, and not in a good mood.

Maybe Jay is to blame for that. He’s colder than the coldest months back in Yaerus. I would rather spend a night at the Arctic Cycle than keep going through his cold-shoulder treatment. But, either way, if it weren’t for him, I would have died three times already.

We took a sudden turn to the left, and we stumbled upon the strange crossroad from last night. The enormous tree was here, the destroyed buildings were all here, but fortunately, the insectoids had moved on. If my neck still didn’t ache now and then from the sting, I wouldn’t believe that last night’s events happened. However, as we moved forward, I saw a small, gruesome monster lying on the ground.

Six legs, two smaller in the front, and a big head; yes, this must have been from last night. How it died I would never know. I wasn’t sure I ever wanted to meet another wave of those things in the future, even though they might be scientifically interesting.

“We’re getting close!” Silver suddenly uttered.

At the same time, I realized that Jay must have carried me for over ten miles last night while running and climbing up that enormous plant. I turned and looked at him, and the only thing I saw was the figure of a robust and confident man.

Well, he is an Originator after all. Whole fleets of spaceships have fallen to those extraordinary men. It shouldn’t be that difficult for him to carry me to the end of the world if he wanted to. Not that I would mind him carrying me now, even just for a few feet. But I’m an independent and strong woman damn it. I need no man!

And just like that, with renewed strength and determination, I placed next to Silver and Zan. Honestly, if they hadn’t stopped walking, I didn’t know if I would ever catch up to them.

Silver looked lost. She turned her holographic head and the metal parts of her body whizzed and hummed. “The signal is strong here, but I feel like we passed over the source. Eladia, I think that the relic is underground.”

I felt my heart sinking. Underground meant we needed specialized equipment, and to get specialized equipment to a Class 5 planet, I would need almost three years of red tape and endless bureaucracy.

“Fuck,” I swore behind my teeth. Silver was close enough to hear me but didn’t seem shocked.

“What’s going on? Why did we stop?” Jay arrived last. I couldn’t deal with him now. I tried to find a solution. In the meantime, Silver explained how things were to him. “So? Why don’t you ask the half-human here to show us a way down? The whole place is full of underground passages. Didn’t you know?”

Silver asked Zan, and he nodded. They had a short conversation that ended with Zan rushing forward, towards another crumbled building on the right. This one was in better condition than the other ones, but it was still covered with many kinds of plantation. It was a pity for a place that big to end up an endless forest of cement and old empires.

I felt the urge to thank Jay for his help, but I didn’t. Maybe when and if we found the relic, but now he was just another manipulative pig.

Yes, that’s more like it.

Zan was now running back and forth in what seemed to be some kind of tracking. He moved forward and then back, and forward again, reporting everything he saw to Silver.

My esteemed assistant looked happy, a feeling that I had never seen in a robot before. She was unique alright, but I never knew she could be happy, and sad, and worried. It really made you wonder.

We circled around the maintained building, only to find some sort of underground entrance. Zan was standing tall in front of it but didn’t take a step inside.

Silver got to his side and asked him something, he replied fast, sounding worried. She turned her head to look at me. “Zan says it’s dangerous to go on. That if he was all by himself, he would stay as far away as possible.”

“He can stay out here if he wants. I’ll go.” I only heard my arrogance after the words had left my mouth. But with Jay close behind me, I didn’t want to look weak. I had to find this relic.

“Eladia, maybe you should reconsider. Let me scan…”

“We’re losing light, Silver. If possible, I would like to be back to our camp tonight. I need a good night’s sleep after our little adventure.”

She nodded. She couldn’t overrule my commands after all. If I said jump, she asked how high. I didn’t wait for the rest of my company.

I’m close, I know it, I can feel it in the air.

As soon as I took the first steps downstairs, the light quickly reduced to the bare minimum. Silver was close behind me, but I could hear another set of legs following us downstairs. I turned and saw Zan and Jay behind me. And now I felt sorry for being so selfish. Zan was afraid and followed me just because I wanted to find a troublesome Nusae relic.

Good going, Eladia!

“So, do you know what this relic is?” Jay’s first words, in what seemed like hours, aimed to diminish my efforts.

“No,” I replied to him snappily. I would have loved to add a detailed explanation, but it would end in another fight, and it wasn’t the place nor the time for this.

We were already deep into the tunnel. Everything was covered with white tiles, and for some reason, the booming growth of the planet hadn’t touched this part. Other than some dead weeds between the cracked tiles, there was nothing else indicating that this place was abandoned.

Silver casted some light in front of us, making the place look even creepier.

“This way. We’re close. Less than a half mile straight from here,” she said, trying to lift our spirits.

I climbed down a platform and followed some sort of rails deep into the tunnel. So, that was a station then? Interesting. But, no other forms of life, not even sleeping animals of some sort or anything. This kinda worried me.

“Human...there is something further in.” Jay was tense, I could feel it in his voice. Up until now, every time this man was nervous, something bad happened.

I took small and uncertain steps forward. Up until now, we got attacked by wolves, spiders and even felines. Everything extinct in Yaerus thrived here. But, what appeared where the light got weaker, was the thing I least expected to find.

“Is that...another human?” I muttered, thinking that my eyes deceived me. But as we got closer, a figure of a man standing still appeared all the more real. “Hello? Can you hear me?”

A scrubby thing of a man — that was the best I could describe him — appeared to listen to my words. It turned, half naked from the waist up, bony and totally hairless. No brows, no chest hair, no actual hair on the head. He was a pack of skin and bones.

Zan behind me hissed, but I didn’t expect to see a human. Humans could communicate, that worked with Zan. “Excuse me, can you hear me? Do you understand me?”

I moved closer, and closer, now an arm’s width away. If he stretched, he could touch me. He just barely breathed. He breathed in and out twice for a whole minute. Even if he was asleep, he would have to breath faster.

“Human, you’re too close.”

Hearing Jay’s voice made me desperate for communication. “If you can understand me please nod, hiss, do anything.”

Suddenly, the man opened his mouth to reveal two sets of teeth inside, screeching at the same time. Every hair on my body raised hearing his cry. I tried taking a step back, but his hand snaked its way around my shoulders and caught me.

I could hear his hoarse breath next to my ear, every cell of my body shook like a leaf.

Jay, Zan, and Silver tried moving closer to me, but it didn’t let them. It snarled at everyone of them, and for the first time since I touched the soil of this damned planet, I opened my mouth and cried for help.

As the creature, the former human, dragged me deeper into the tunnels, away from my friends and the only source of light, I kept crying. Maybe it was in my mind—fear could do many things to your mind—but I thought I saw Jay’s eyes flash in the dark.

Anger surged out of his body, and he was getting ready to attack.

He cares. He cares about what happens to me.

Or maybe, it was all in my mind.

Soon, the only thing that remained was the snarl of the beast and total and utter darkness.

“Help...someone, help me,” I whispered.

But no one answered my pleas.

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Chapter Twelve

Jay

Zan and I started running towards the way the bald human took Eladia. I didn’t know what had gotten into me, but my legs moved with a mind of their own. I was not sure why I even cared. She got herself into this mess again. Sometimes I believed that humans died young because of their recklessness. I warned her, twice, and she didn’t hear me.

Zan was sniffing the air around us, but when he snorted I quickly had a bad feeling about it. The Android had morphed to a small box that flew in the air, casting light in front of us while scanning the tunnels for more exits. Weirdly, the thing that caught Eladia moved straight to the energy signal we were following before.

The annoying robot didn’t talk anymore, and the only sound we could hear was our steps echoing in the long tunnels. Zan suddenly stopped. I stomped my feet on the ground a moment later, sliding while trying to stop. I never realized that I yelled: “What happened? Why did you stop?”

Zan got scared and Silver morphed back to her android form. “He found the trail leading to her. It’s this way. You don’t have to get impatient,” the robot said to me.

“I’m the one who tries to save your friend, and you tell me not to be impatient? Are you sure you’re saying the right thing, robot?”

Now she got scared. Yes, she should be. Back in my glory days, there was no Esuh that could go against my wills, not even my superiors. I was the one that insisted on visiting Earth to find the relic.

I stopped. What is this memory? The adrenaline jogged another sequence of past memories. I remembered myself leaving with the mothership, heading to Earth, and then...crashing, but nothing else. I had to get inside the cryo pod to survive. But, one hundred years? What in the seven systems had happened?

“Jay? Are you alright? We should keep going,” Silver said, uncertain of my mood. I nodded and ran ahead of them down the way Zan led us to.

The young man was right. Soon, a flashing light at the end of the tunnel appeared, and in the middle of it the same slim figure of the bony man. My blood pumped in my ears, and I couldn’t wait for the other two to come. I charged with all my strength towards him.

He managed to dodge my first hit, a kick on the head. I used my fists and feet in quick succession, but it managed to avoid my every hit just in the right moment to lower my reaction speed. In that way, he hit me twice, one in the chest and one behind my knee. The second injury made it impossible for me to move.

I was in pain, but this was nothing comparing to the suffering I had endured in the past. On the other hand, the creature —this thing didn’t deserve to be called human anymore — snarled at me and got ready to attack when Zan hurtled his pointy stick at him. The creature dodged it at the last minute, only to continue its assault at me.

Zan was now throwing any kind of fists and kicks at him, trying to copy some of my moves, but the only thing that he managed to was to get seriously hurt. In one of his sloppy kicks, that thing dodged and quickly bit the tender part of his inner thigh. The young boy screamed in agony, but the monster didn’t let him go.

I wanted to help, I wanted to get up, but my feet were in pain. Helpless and unable to do anything but sulk, anger boiled in my chest. I screamed: “Hey! Over here! It’s me you want!”

It didn’t work. That thing didn’t understand words. Zan was still screaming, and I…

...I felt a cold feeling running up from my toes.

When it finally covered my whole body, again I didn’t know where the fuck I was. I yawned and got up on my feet. My knee was numb but otherwise usable. The cries of that feral human came from down the tunnel; the robot woman had vanished, and only a flying box remained here, casting light at the gruesome scene.

Just like the last time I fought those sick puppies. The naked human turned and looked at me. He knew I was dangerous, he seemed to recognize I was his enemy. At the same time, I also knew he was dangerous too. He? A man? I was not sure, but his rough characteristics certainly resembled one.

“Who are you?” It didn’t answer. Instead, it growled at me. I laughed a mirthless laugh. This planet was full of strange creatures. “This little man has a girlfriend, a woman around your height? With black hair? Where is she?”

It let the boy free, but the poor thing was unable to move. It turned to face me, but I was not sure whether it would attack me or not. At the same time, I felt tired, like I hadn’t slept in days even though I had just woken up. I scratched the top of my head, searching for that woman. “Hey! Female. What was your name? Eladia! Where are you?”

As soon as my voice echoed down the tunnel, I heard someone coughing two strides towards my left. That one was certainly a woman. “Here you are. What’s going on-”

My sentence got interrupted by the charging attempt of the creature. I dodged with ease and grabbed it from the back of its neck. I clenched my fingers around it and squished until it started to squirm and fight for air. I used my other hand to rub my eyes. Really, they couldn’t kill this thing all by themselves?

Soon it stopped moving, and I released my grip. The woman was now standing still, her mouth capped by her hand. “Oh! Here you are! I missed you Eladia.”

“You...you are a monster.”

A laugh left my throat, a deep, thunderous laugh that filled the whole tunnel. I said I missed her, and she called me a monster. “You’re amusing, little one. I told you before, and I’ll say it to you again; I’m the Prime Officer of Esuh, and one of the First Kinds. Do you really believe I managed to get so high up the ladder by being soft?”

She ran to her friends and tended to the boy’s wounds.

Stupid human. Fuck you. I don’t need you.

I saw some light down the tunnel.

This must be the way out.

Chapter Thirteen

Eladia

I couldn’t believe my eyes. The Dark Jay was back, and he just choked the hairless human to death.

Who does that?

He was stronger than the Regular Jay — he couldn’t help me by himself so he called that monster back. But, even though he had saved me once again, I felt awful. Seeing him strangle the life out of that creature...no one deserved getting killed like that, not even that bald human.

Jay had left for some time now, he moved towards the flashing light, the thing that it was possibly the Nusae relic. After everything that had happened, I didn’t know if I still wanted to keep going on. Maybe the flashing light was another animal that would actually kill us, or something that could make Jay go even crazier.

Dark Jay was mad. He couldn’t control his strength, and at this moment I didn’t know if he actually wanted to. The pleasure he got from killing the pack of wolves before, and the disinterest of removing a life now. That man was dangerous.

Silver morphed back to her humanoid form. She continued shedding light to the tunnels, which were a much-welcomed difference. I checked myself for any wounds, but I found none. I was lucky. Zan not so much. He had a deep biting mark on his thigh.

“What happened Silver? Is Zan okay?”

She looked at me with concern. “He will be fine, but we need to take him to a clinic immediately. If his wound gets infected, then things can get dreadful, fast.”

“Okay. I’ll go and get Jay.”

Silver stood up and stopped me in my tracks. “Are you okay? What happened to you?”

“To be honest, I don’t know. I passed out after that thing dragged me in here. The last thing I remember was its disgusting breath next to my ear. Seriously, what was that?”

“If I had to guess, seeing how Zan evolved on the surface, this man must have belonged to another evolution path of the human species, one that got accustomed to living underground. From what I managed to gather, he was blind and probably relied to hearing to navigate his surroundings.”

I looked at him lying on the floor, a lifeless husk.

Damn, something is wrong. How can humans evolve so differently in such a short distance from each other? And so fast, between other things.

Significant changes to human genome took millenniums to develop, and they just changed so much from one century to the other.

Zan interrupted us with his pained grunts. “Eladia, do you really have to go and get him? He’s dangerous. You saw what he did to...it.”

Silver was right. I should have known better. But the thing was that I had promised that I’d help him. So that, I would do. “I’m sorry, Silver. I have a promise to keep. No matter how violent he is, he saved us all more than once already. We can’t leave him behind.”

She lowered her head and tended to Zan’s wounds. “Do what you have to. Just be careful.”

I followed the flashing light down the tunnel. The trails were big chunks of metal lying on the ground, useless after years lacking maintenance. Nowadays, on Yaerus, everyone used magnet buses and hover trains. Trails were a thing of the past, as oil was. Even so, it was interesting seeing how early humans used to move around.

The longer I walked, the more I wanted to return back to Silver. Dark Jay or Jay’s mad counterpart wad an airhead, someone who could kill with the same ease he would use to spread butter on a slice of bread.

I mean, he didn’t even flinch. But, he also saved me. He searched for me, and he remembered my name, unlike Regular Jay. He only calls me human female.

What are you going on about Eladia? What does this have to do with the Nusae relic or your situation?

I felt like I needed a good, long week of vacations. Maybe I should ask the Professor to give me some time off.

The light was getting stronger by the minute. I wondered how much longer it would be until I got to the end of the tunnel. My question was immediately answered after I finally reached at the end of a long turn. In the middle, Dark Jay was standing in front of the light source.

“Hey! Hey, you. Jay. We’re leaving. Are you coming with us?” He didn’t reply, even though I heard him mumble.

I’m sure he’s saying something offensive about not wanting the help of puny humans and all those nonsense he sputters since he woke up. “Last chance big one. I’m going.”

Again, He didn’t reply.

What is wrong with him? Who does he think he is?

I got closer to him, only to hear him talking nonstop in an intelligible language. Silver was back in the tunnel, so I couldn’t translate what he was saying, but as I was standing on his side, I saw the flashing instrument ahead of him.

“Jay? Jay, what’s going on? What happened?” I used my hands to shake him a bit, but he didn’t seem to snap out of it. He was in some kind of trance and a pretty thick one as well. “Jay, please. Tell me. What is going on?”

The light source suddenly exploded, tossing us both down on the ground. I opened my eyes to see a large cube floating above Jay’s head. It was a pitch black thing, symmetrical and perfect in every aspect. I got a sudden urge to stand up and touch it, but the thing started pulsating randomly, getting big and then small, and then big again. It was like it couldn’t decide on its shape.

“Jay! Wake up! We have to go. This thing...it’s gonna explode!” But he didn’t hear anything. Instead, he just kept rumbling in different languages. I could recognize some words here and there, but nothing that actually made sense. He repeated the words Esuh and Nusae a lot.

The cube descended down on his chest slowly, and while the ash gray-skinned man was now lying on the floor, he quickly stretched his hands to reach it. The moment he touched it, the cube suddenly became tiny, a thing fitting in the palm of his hand, and the flashing disappeared.

Silver and Zan appeared from the tunnel. She saw us lying on the ground, so she placed Zan carefully down against a wall, and ran to my side. “Eladia! What’s wrong? What happened?”

I didn’t know how to explain it to her.

Damn, I don’t know how to explain it to myself. “I think...we found the relic. Or rather, Jay found it.”

We both turned our heads and looked at him. He was awake, and luckily, not ash gray anymore. The platinum-skinned man had returned to his regular form. I urged Silver to help me so that we could get closer to him and examine the cube.

“Human? Are you...okay?” I had never seen him mumble before. I didn’t know if I wanted to see him do that again in the future.

“I’m fine. How about you?”

“Except my hand feeling like burning, and my knee that I think is broken, I’m fine. Esuh can handle a lot more than that.”

Sure you are. If you knew about your symbiotic parasite, then I’m sure you would brag even more.

Even so, I prompted him to open his palm. He heard me for a change, and he did open it.

“Silver, run it on the archives, although I think you won’t find anything like that in there. This is an intact Nusae relic Silver. We finally found it!”

The pitch black cube had turned into a red light-emitting mini cube, with five inscriptions in almost every side of it. Those runic symbols seemed very familiar, but we had to wait for Silver’s scan to complete to be sure.

In the meantime, I took a good look around me, seeing Zan, the feral human that shook down the evolution theory, my unique android assistant, and a silver-skinned alien that didn’t remember a thing about his past.

The mission was successful, but I couldn’t feel excitement anymore. Being a Chronicler was a dangerous job, that much I knew, but usually, it was your fame and integrity that got on the way, not the lives of your friends. I wanted to apologize to Jay, but as soon as I saw the look on his face, the one saying that I would have failed if he wasn’t here, I decide not to.

“Jay, can you carry Zan to the camp? I’ll show you the way,” I said, waiting for him to disagree. Instead, he followed my orders and grabbed the young boy from the hands, tossing him on his shoulders. They moved ahead of us, straight into the dark tunnel.

I looked at Silver, and I knew that this adventure was far from over. But most of them all, I was thinking about Jay.

Damn, why am I thinking about Jay?

Quickly, I opened my pace and followed them. It was already getting dark outside.

Chapter Fourteen

Eladia

You couldn’t consider yourself lucky until you had passed through the Ozleo Siblings star system without being assaulted by pirates. Part of the Uncharted Region, a place in the galaxy that the Five Ranked Species still hadn’t discovered, illegal aliens and lawless factions had made the three star systems their home.

We certainly knew the chances of getting attacked by the black spaceships before we even decided to follow that route, but it was the quickest way to Yaerus, humanity's home planet since we abandoned Earth. Yaerus was also home to the great Institute.

I was sitting in my room, ready to have a shower at the end of a particularly long shift in the bridge. I removed my clothes and adjusted the temperature of the steam shower of my room. I looked myself in the mirror and tried to untangle my messed up hair after hours being caught in a ponytail. My hair curtained my shoulders, a black waterfall that I never got used to, I couldn’t help but think about Jay.

I shook my head, clearing my thoughts before I took my first step in the shower pod. Piloting the spaceship through this system was exhausting since the autopilot feature didn’t work in the Uncharted region. So, at least one member of the crew had to stay up at all times to adjust the course if needed.

I still asked myself why Silver couldn’t get all the shifts, but then, again she was an android with a particularly advanced artificial intelligence system. It was easier for me to treat her like another one of the crew than like a regular robot. At least that was what I said to myself many years ago when I decided on that. Now, the water running down my naked body, I wasn’t sure I had made the right choice.

But, with the hot water calming down my nerves, relaxing my muscles and dulling my senses, I realized that Silver was not the thing that had occupied my mind lately. For the last six months in space with Jay, the symbiotic alien I knew nothing of, many things had changed.

I was drying my body at the air pressure room when the alarm started ringing through every hallway of the ship. Using the first setting, a warm wind bustled through the air holes around the pod. I was back in my clothes in less than a minute, ready for action.

I ran out of my room and bumped straight into Jay. His beautiful, platinum silver body and big, purple eyes made me gawp for a second. I was afraid he might pick up on something, especially since the last two months, I ended up at the same room as him every single time. However, thick as ever, he proceeded to make one of his usual, irrelevant remarks.

“Is something wrong with my attire human? Your eyes run up and down my body for quite some time now,” he said.

I flushed and kept my mouth open for a second, still dreary from the sudden alert. He was wearing a dark blue, sleeveless uniform that kinda toned down his huge muscles. Out of nowhere, I remembered the last time he touched me, six months ago, back at Primordial Earth.

I sighed, and when the words finally came, I wished I had just nodded and ran.

“No, no...not at all. You look hot...I mean, not bad. Yeah, that’s it. Not bad.”

A hit straight at the Hull shook the whole ship. Fortunately, it was Silver’s shift. That meant that we had a high chance of getting away unharmed from this chase. Among the four of us — me, Jay, Silver, and Zan — she was the best pilot by far.

Well, she’s an Android, you can’t hope to rival an Android in piloting. Or in anything, in general.

There was nothing she wasn’t great at, except for cooking. That, she couldn’t do.

Still, the ship was shaking under out feet, both of us trying to stay up, gave our little scene a surrealistic tone. I knew I wanted to run, but the Pirates were not the reason.

“You humans are so strange. We’re in the middle of a fight, and you seem more slow than usual. We should get going, Eladia,” he finally said.

Jay...well Jay was a big question mark. Jay wasn’t a human or part of any of the known species. It was like his whole existence was deleted from the Known Galaxy Archives way before I was born, or way before the human history was even created.

Six months ago, while at an excursion on Primordial Earth, Silver and I found his crashed ship and managed to wake him up from a one-hundred-year slumber, a slumber that caused him to forget everything about the Esuh of the Two Faces, his people.

Long story short? He was a moody, irritable alien with a big idea about himself that kinda winded up with us because our most prized Nusae relic didn’t go anywhere without him.

Yeah, stories like this are not just movie clichés.

Still, during the last six months visiting countless planets to amass more information about the cube, we passed from the generic ‘human’ stage, to him calling me by my first name, occasionally.

At least, from his side. He turned his back on me and I breathed in. I had to focus on the attack, and not the tall, black haired, alien male walking before me. Another hit on the hull shook the ship, that made me snap from my deep delirium. The same thing happened every time I bumped into him like that.

I ran down the end of the hallway and found the elevator door. The swishing sound somehow calmed my nerves. I passed by Zan’s room. I figured it would be best if I sent him to the bridge with Silver. He hadn’t been amid a space dogfight before and since he was a primordial human, he must have been really scared.

“Zan? Are you okay?” I knocked twice but he didn’t answer.

There was no time to lose so I decided to get inside. “Zan…?”

His room was empty.

Right then, I finally remembered. Silver and Zan always shared the shift. Zan, the cute teenage boy with the overgrown hair all over his body, was another hitchhiker from Primordial Earth. He was protecting Jay’s cryo-pod and kinda attacked me when I woke Jay up, only to get into a surprising budding relationship with Silver. They were best friends now, always talking and spending time together. I kinda felt lonely sometimes since she spent most of her time teaching him our language, but at the end of the day, it was okay. Zan was one of us now after all.

“Eladia? Where are you? Jasih is already down the armory, manning one of the cannons. You need to hurry down there and help him,” Silver said through the speakers, her electronic voice no less intimidated.

There were times I considered getting an upgraded assistant, but I always ended up turning down the possibility. Silver was a very special morpher and had been my assistant for as long as I was a Chronicler...which I must admit wasn’t that long.

When I finally got at the armory, I heard Jay swearing down the hall.

“Die you Setrin fucks! You’d wish you had never been brought to life from your hometown cubes!”

Jay had a very particular way of swearing. Most of the time I didn’t understand what he was talking about. But his loud voice was somehow comforting. I would have hated to come down here alone.

I got inside the right canon while Jay was already firing from the left. This was only the second time I had been here so I needed a moment to get comfortable with the equipment. I had to put on the optic helmet, that much I remembered, but I couldn’t remember if the red, flashing button in the left meant danger or was danger itself.

Come on, girl. You have to figure this out quickly.

I put on the helmet, and I quickly got into a virtual image of the outside of the ship. Everything was black with many dots at the horizon distinguishing the distant stars. At first, I felt dizzy and disoriented since my point of view had changed to that of the cannon. But as the first enemy fighter approached, my instincts took over.

By using my hands, I could shoot and ion beam -- a system in the mainframe tracked my movements and synchronized them with those of the cannon. It was high-tech alright, but it was certainly nothing compared to the huge, army dreadnaughts. Those beasts had the most advanced weapons in the galaxy.

Silver was doing her best to maneuver our way out of this situation, but Pirates were best known for one thing, being extremely persistent. However, shooting down one or two of their spaceships usually made them retreat. They had to keep their losses to a minimum since pirating was their only means to get more resources and they could only repair their ships by salvaging.

Most of their firepower was currently focused on Jay’s side. He managed to keep three fighters at bay, all by himself while I tried to work my way around a single target. A small, type 1 fighter, custom build and speed enhanced, tried to intimidate me by firing flares. But I was not that clueless.

I turned my head, aligned the ship’s targeting system, charged the ion cannon, took a deep breath and focused on the right moment.

I took the shot.

I saw the ion beam tear the blackness of the empty space and waited to see the explosion signaling the end of the enemy ship. Only to miss, gloriously.

“Eladia, I can’t keep them very long all by myself. Can you take some load off me?” I heard Jay bellow behind me.

The swarm of fighters had grown bigger on his side. The three fighters had doubled to six, and I couldn’t even handle one. But, for him to ask for my help in that way, I had to try again, this time seriously. During the last six months, he hadn’t even asked me to cook for him or something. He did everything on his own.

So, for the second time, I started the process my dad had taught me in the past -- I aligned the system, charged the cannons, took a deep breath and waited.

‘Don’t just trust the system to make the shot for you. Follow your instincts and always shoot a tiny bit to your left.’

To be honest, I never understood why he said that last part, but I decided to follow my pa’s advice. I followed the target with my eyes, I tried to shut out Silver’s constant status reports, and I took another shot.

The beam traveled quickly through space again, and while I was sure I had missed again, I heard the sound of a crash.

“Boom!!!” I shouted.

I felt Jay’s eyes on me and I tried to cup my mouth with my hands, only to get stopped by the metal helmet. I smiled at my own incompetence.

“I never knew you had it in you,” I heard Jay say behind me.

Well, strange alien stud, neither did I.

But, with renewed confidence, and a new wave of enemies approaching our way, me and Jay quickly managed to scare them off by both destroying a couple more of their forces. By the time we were passing by Hoevis, the last planet of the system, we were way out of the danger zone, and luckily, still in one piece.

The first thing I noticed was my head feeling heavy. I had never had an adrenaline rush like this before. I wasn’t proud I had killed three entirely strangers today, but the excitement of surviving a battle like that somehow had brought me an unprecedented joy.

I wanted more.

The second thing that came to my attention, was that Jay was looking at me the same way I was at him earlier. His eyes nailed in my body, and I felt the blood climbing up to my cheeks.

“Eladia, Jay, we’re out of danger for now. Estimated time of arrival to Yaerus: two hours. I think it’s time for a brief up. Come to the brief room as soon as you can.”

Silver’s voice kinda broke the spell between us. We turned our heads away from each other at the same time.

The Nusae Cube was my priority from now on and meeting the Professor was the only important thing for me now.

Chapter Fifteen

Jay

My neck hurt. I had to turn my head so many times during the fight that I almost dislocated my shoulder. Those Pirates would have been nothing if my ship hadn’t crashed, but after having to abandon it back on Primordial Earth, everything seemed to go so slow. The engines of this ship weren’t particularly strong, and having to play by the rules of this era, turned out being quite an ordeal. Arming a gun with that peculiar helmet was another one of those limitations.

Back in my days, when the Esuh ships traveled through the systems at a speed of light, pirates wouldn’t dare attack us. They would even take a long detour so as not to coincide with our route, making sure we didn’t even spot them at the neighboring systems.

Nowadays, it seemed that the galaxy had fallen back to chaos. Humans and all the other species were useless. Esuh of the Two Faces, my people, were the ones that had managed to bring justice to the world, and since they had mysteriously vanished, everything returned back to the same chaos.

Eladia, the female human scientist that woke me up from my eternal cryo-sleep, was now walking next to me. After we had managed to scare away those fighters, she seemed especially radiant, like she had won a war singlehandedly or something.

Frankly, what she did was indeed unprecedented for a low human. To manage to keep up with me, a military trained Prime while shooting down those fighters, that was a feat all by itself. But it was certainly nothing to celebrate about.

I walked ahead of her and pushed the button to the elevator. Her black ponytail swung behind her, while her dark eyes sparkled with excitement. Eladia seemed kinda cute, more now than before. Adventure suited her well.

She was standing behind me now. I could smell her fragrance, an intoxicating aroma of otherworldly flowers and a tint of soaked dirt. A little closer and her breath would have caressed my back. For a moment, that thought seemed more alluring that I would dare admit.

“Human...you did the right thing today,” I said.

An Esuh Prime always counted his words, never saying anything more than he had to. However, those five words seemed excess and inappropriate. And yet I felt good for sharing them with her.

“Thanks,” she interrupted me. “ We did this together, especially you, someone not accustomed to the current technology. But--”

“But, in a true fight, you would have died today. You were too slow, missed one for your shots, and were too fast to admit defeat. If I hadn’t given you that command back there, we would be in trouble.”

My words weren’t meant as a scold, but rather as a warning. Eladia had potential, but she was also too young and immature when it came down to warfare.

Not that I shall be the one to talk.

Having forgotten almost everything about my people, our customs, the battles we fought and almost anything that mattered to me, I was just as immature as she was.

And that bugged me.

When the elevator doors opened, I waited for her to get in first but she did not. I thought that Eladia would stay back, but eventually, she stomped inside. Now, she seemed annoyed and like she had lost her mood for talk. I couldn’t understand why, even though I had just complimented her, but thankfully, I was not in a mood to chat too.

We rode the slow pod to the upper floor, where the bridge was. I waited for the door to open, but Eladia was faster than me and squeezed herself off the elevator even before the doors had opened all the way.

I didn’t know what was wrong with her, and at that moment, I wasn’t sure I even wanted to know. Six months had already passed since we first met. Six months with no new memory of my people, not a new lead of what had happened to them, nothing that could actually help me learn who I was and what my purpose was. The only thing that seemed to recognize me was that tiny cube, that little, red thing that was always kinda warm.

The silver android, Silver, had run some tests on it throughout our trip to the planet Yaerus, but she could find nothing, or at least anything indicating why it had connected with me in that way. That was the reason why Eladia decided it would be better to spend six months traveling from planet to planet, from town to town, visiting libraries that supposedly were humanity’s storage of amassed knowledge.

And yet, failure after failure, nothing.

I arrived at the bridge, my head hurting from the deep dive in my thoughts. I spotted Eladia looking at the monitors above the main console, coming up with some sort of schedule.

“Yaerus is the last place we can check about the cube. The Professor should be able to point us to the right direction,” she said, half mumbling to herself, half consulting Silver.

She pulled her hair into a tighter tie, and she frowned while watching the monitors, even though I was certain that that frown was intended for me.

“Eladia, are you sure you want to visit the Professor again?” Silver asked.

Again? Why does the robot sound so uncertain?

That was my cue to bud in the conversation.

“Isn’t this Professor of yours your only chance to analyze the Nusae thing?”

I put my hand in my pocket and revealed the tiny cube. Both Silver and Eladia looked surprised at seeing it. Every time was like the first time for them. It wasn’t like I could leave it behind in my room. The one time I did, it almost went through the wall to return to me. It was weird.

After they went through the first shock, they started explaining things to me. Eladia was always the first one to talk.

“The Professor is the only one with the level of knowledge we need right now, about the Great Mystery of the Nusae. Of all the Chroniclers that research it--”

“There are not all that many left,” Silver added to the conversation. This sounded a bit cynical.

She earned a side glance from Eladia, but the human didn’t get discouraged. “--the Professor is one of the greatest. After all this time to still find reports to the Archives about the Mystery is a big feat, and a significant part of the research the Professor conducted, helped me find this relic. There’s no one better to consult if we need more information and a good lead.”

“So, why didn’t we go straight to this man from the start? Why we had to visit all those libraries throughout the last six months?”

Eladia wanted to say something, only for Silver to stop her this time.

“Man? What man? The Professor is just a crazy person. An eccentric lunatic that most of the time jokes about everything. Certainly not a person of trust.”

Eladia sighed but didn’t reply.

She looked at me for a moment, but she quickly averted her glance behind me, seemingly thinking about something else. This was happening for two months now, and I had no idea what was going on with her. At first, I figured she was sick, her face being red all the time, and her eyes glistening. But she had no other symptoms, so I decided to turn down that possibility.

Nevertheless, in the end, the only chance I had to find out more about this artifact and my people was a crazy, old man. That was just my luck. But, an Esuh Prime Officer never relied on luck. That much I remembered.

Yaerus sounded like a big planet. There must had been someone that could help me there. Looking at the one human I had met since I woke up, and her peculiar robot, I didn’t think I could be surprised anymore.

Wait. There is also another human here, the hairy, young one. Where did Zan go?

Chapter Sixteen

Eladia

Some people were so insensitive and unthoughtful of other people’s feelings that they dropped a bomb and then acted like they didn’t know what was wrong. Jay was one of them. Back downstairs, at the armory, outside the Cannon rooms, I thought he actually praised me for a moment and that he passed from referring to me as just human to calling me by my first name.

Well, he did it now and then, but there were times I couldn’t stand him at all. If it wasn’t for the Nusae Artifact, I would have left him back on Earth. Or one of the other inhabited planets. He would certainly not be on my spaceship.

Now he acted like something was missing, looking around him, probably searching for another reason to criticize me. Well, I couldn’t stay put. I had important work to take care of, and I didn’t want him to realize that I was actually upset about what he had said back there.

So, I moved to the front part of the bridge, returning just before the analysis of the recent battle, trying to finish my report for the Human Chroniclers’ Order, when I heard the rattling of teeth behind me. I turned and saw Zan, our teenage passenger from Primordial Earth, stranding on the co-pilot’s seat.

“Oh my God! Zan, are you okay? Silver, something is wrong with him,” I said, reaching for his skin to sense his temperature.

Suddenly, Jay stopped me from touching him by grabbing my hand with his huge fist. His grip was strong and ached me somehow, but his skin was warm and comforting. Still, I didn’t understand what had gotten into him all of the sudden.

Silver moved forward on her thruster form, a mid-sized box with thrusters on the back, and ran a quick scan.

“His cortisol and adrenaline levels are elevated. His brain activity is also increased, especially his hypothalamus. If I could take a guess, then I think Zan is frightened.”

After hearing Silver say the word afraid, he quickly turned his head to look at her and nodded.

“Yes, yes. Afraid,” he responded quickly.

His voice was somehow childish while cracking at times. He was still too young.

“The kid’s just upset about the attack. It’s perfectly reasonable for someone who has spent his whole life on the ground of a prehistoric planet to be afraid traveling with a spaceship,” Jay said out loud, his hand still holding mine.

Not that I did mind, but I was still upset with him. For someone picking up on that, he acted like a thick rock when my feelings were in the way. It was like I didn’t matter to him...at all.

“Eladia, I think that Jasih is right. It took some time to Zan to get used to flying in space during our six-month trip, but he was never in the middle of a pirate assault before,” Silver said, adding to Jay’s hypothesis.

And what’s with everyone being able to pronounce his name except me? Jay sounds better and fits his rough, inaccessible personality.

“Nevertheless, Silver escort Zan back to his room and make sure he’s okay. We have to land on Mosa in an hour, and I would feel better if he was okay before riding the shuttle. I don’t feel comfortable leaving him behind in space station Alpha.”

Silver turned back to her android form, the one with the holographic face and limbs, and slowly calmed Zan down. Then, the young man followed her to the elevator. They vanished from our sight.

Right about then, Jay moved to the observatory in the back. He didn’t even take a glance at me.

Damn him, I want to punch him so bad.

But still, I looked at my arm and saw the marks left from his strong grip. The faded pink color of his fingers still felt warm.

I stroked the splashes of pink on my skin twice and followed him. I had no idea what was in his mind, only that he didn’t want to be in the same room with me. But I was not willing to let him have his way.

“Human, you have to stop following me everywhere,” he said as soon as I walked inside.

He had taken his seating at the head of the long, conference table. It was the best place in the whole spaceship if you wanted to gaze out in the space unbothered. The bridge was usually too crowded and way too frantic a place to stargaze, certainly not fit for sightseeing.

Jay spent countless hours watching the stars, the passing asteroids, and planets, everything he thought he hadn’t seen before, looking for something that could make him remember, something that he could grasp from.

Missing one hundred years surely seemed hard, but still, it was not a good reason to justify his bad behavior.

“I don’t follow you around!” I sounded a bit guilty. I actually didn’t follow him around the ship. It was just that we ended up at the same places. “I just want to ask you a question.”

“And what if I don’t want to answer?” he said.

His back was still turned to me. His hands were stretched above and behind his head, and he had dropped the chair’s back all the way down. He could easily take a nap if he wanted to, or cuddle with someone.

More illicit thoughts followed, but I stopped myself before blushing once again.

“Why did you stop me back there? I just wanted to check if he was okay.”

I asked away, without hesitation. Jay could be a real prick if he wanted, but after six months on the same, limited space with us, he had become more open and accessible.

“You shouldn’t let your ego get the best of you. Let me enlighten you since you don’t seem able to crack this yourself. What if Zan was indeed sick? What if his common cold or a certain bacterium fatal to you was transmitted by touch? What would you do then?”

I felt the shackles of regret strain me. I didn’t want to admit it, but he was right. After so much time inside the spaceship with Zan and Jay, it didn’t even go through my head that Zan could actually hurt me by just being here.

I lowered my head and mumbled. “I...I...I’m sorry. You’re right,” I finally said to him, but instead of seeing him gloat at his success, he didn’t even turn to face me.

I wanted to tell him that Silver would have traced if something like that existed, but I was kinda at a loss for words for him. Jay was as cryptic as always, but he was certainly better from his dark self, the overly violent, parasitic half of him, Dark Jay.

Something was on his mind. To be honest, I would have had many things in my mind if a bunch of strangers told me that my last chance of finding more information about my identity lied in the hands of a Mad Professor.

The ringing of the communication link coming from Yaerus Alpha Station, one of the six huge constructs around Yaerus, interrupted this awkward situation. Alpha was the one closer to Mosa right now. Being built next to the moon Badra, it was one of the first stations of the Station Program. I had to take that call, but I had to confess that I felt quite a bit relieved getting out of that room.

I ran to the control console and pushed the flashing button. A rather polite lady gave me the password to insert to the autopilot system. Everything on Yaerus were automated to a significant degree. Yaerus, the Earth-like planet and humanity’s new home, was one of the most populated places of the whole known galaxy.

To say the least, one-tenth of the combined human population resided on Yaerus, which amounted to quite a lot. And that was without counting the many guests that visited the planet on a daily basis. The Institute was only one of the main attractions of planet Yaerus, and with the great use of the K.G.As — Known Galaxy Archives — from Chroniclers and researchers alike, Yaerus had to find a new solution to keep all the spaceships out of the planet.

Like cars in the past, ships exhumed a certain cocktail of harmful to the planet’s atmosphere gasses that needed to be avoided. Only one spaceship had the same environmental impact with a thousand cars of the past. So, to reduce the pollution to the bare minimum, the government came up with six central space stations fit to house a significant number of spaceships. The visitors could refuel their vehicles, trade, and even have fun if they wanted to, never having to enter into the planet’s atmosphere.

In the end, it was mandatory for class two and over spaceships to reserve a seat in one of the stations and use shuttles for their business on Yaerus. Well, unfortunately, my dad insisted on getting me a class three vehicle, which was way too big for a Chronicler.

Nevertheless, the home planet looked beautiful from up here, orbiting around the star Ecli. Unlike back on Primordial Earth, Yaerus was the fourth planet in distance away from the system’s sun, so every day was around thirty hours. We arrived in what would be midnight back on Earth.

I pushed the small, black button that opened the intercom of the spaceship and announced: “Everyone get ready. In half an hour we leave for Mosa. Get only things essential to you, and remember that we’re not here on a pleasure cruise. We’re going to meet with the Professor and by tomorrow evening, we’re going to meet back here to discuss our new plan. That’s all.”

I took a deep breath and let the air out slowly. The Institute was a big and crowded place. I had to focus and not let my insecurities get the best of me, not in front of Jay. I didn’t want him to see me like that, not when he was used to having a certain picture of me.

After all, who would remember what happened last time? I was sure no one would even recognize me now that my hair had gotten longer.

Silver got inside the bridge and headed straight to my side: “Are you okay? Do you want me to come with you?”

I turned and smiled at her, shaking my head. I wished I could nod, but pride was a I had inherited from my mom.

I had to do this alone.

Chapter Seventeen

Jay

The stars looked beautiful from here. I had to get ready to head to the hangar to visit this Institute they kept talking about, but I wasn’t really in the mood. If I could pass this, I would. But, what if this man had a clue about my people and was able to give me more details? I couldn’t rule out the possibility that he might actually know something.

Don’t get your hopes up Jasih, not like the last five times.

I stood up and moved out of the common room. I put my hands in my pockets and slowly walked towards the elevator. I couldn’t hear anything from the bridge.

They must have moved to the hangar by now. She also must be there. I don’t really get why she always runs up and down the spaceship, always dictating what everyone has to do and what not, but it’s probably a human characteristic. If all humans are like her, then it’s not a surprise that they survived total extinction.

From what I remembered, Esuh were always organized but never too hasty. We used to tackle things at our own pace, and since Esuh were the greatest species in the galaxy back then, the Esuh’s pace was everyone’s pace.

When I finally arrived at the shuttle, the engines were already burning. The deafening sound of the huge thrusters made me hurry inside, just to stop hearing that loud noise. However, a different kind of noise prevailed.

“You’re ten minutes late,” Eladia quickly sprouted.

I didn’t reply to her. Instead, I found my seat next to Zan. The young man was still a bit shaky, and his eyes glistened now and then, but he looked okay. Frankly, between the female human and the android, Zan seemed to be the most likable.

“Are you okay kid?” I asked.

“Yes. Thanks ask,” he said in a jovial tone, still trying to get used to speaking the language.

Zan used both of his hands to hold the crossed belts keeping him safe. I felt compassionate about him, but I didn’t say anything.

Praise is the quickest way to dulling your sword.

The Esuh used to say that to all young warriors. If an Esuh praised you, it meant that you either had just saved his life, or you just had achieved a great, military feat. Either way, a Prime Officer was never allowed to praise anyone, even his own kids.

Kids.

The word echoed in my head. It spread and hit the walls of my mind and called for me to remember.

What kids?

“Okay, get ready for lift off. This is going to be rough,” the android said.

I barely had time to consider what she was talking about, but as soon as we launched, I felt the sudden acceleration tossing me to the back of my seat. After many times of going through this process, I thought I would have gotten used to it by now.

I hit my head on the seat’s cushion and the impact traveled to the rest of my body. It was not painful but rather disturbing. The pump on the head, however, triggered something.

A puzzle of random pictures appeared in my mind. A woman with dark silver skin, two children with a bluish shade, and a man, tall as a mountain, standing behind them. Most of the images that rushed to the surface of my memory, included these four people, apparently fellow Esuh, and obviously close to me.

Even so, everything happened so fast that I barely remembered their faces after we had finally slowed down.

Entering into the planet’s atmosphere was successful, and as soon as Silver straightened the nose of the shuttle, the trip got back in being pleasant.

That was when I saw the first buildings of the city Mosa, the greatest human city in the galaxy.

“Welcome to Mosa. Next stop, A.S.C.” the android said.

Before I even realized it, my nose was stuck to the side-window, while I was trying to get in everything at once. The enormous, oval buildings that didn’t touch the ground, the flying vehicles with people in them, the mountains of water moving up and down around the boundaries of the city, round in a never-ending sphere. Every kind of fish lived in those waters, from tiny, almost invisible ones to enormous and colorful.

“Wow!” Zan said behind me.

Wow indeed.

I wanted to say something, but again, I couldn’t.

I thought of Eladia right then, and in my head, her crazy personality kinda clicked.

Belonging to the same species that managed to construct this marvel of sentient technology surely heralds you with great knowledge.

“What is this?” Zan suddenly said.

He pointed at an entirely round building far away, which was totally transparent like it was a big bubble of air.

“Oh, that? That’s the Institute. But we’re not heading there yet. Me and Jay we’ll drop you in A.S.C. before heading there. But don’t worry. You can meet us later if you want. I’m sure you’ll have plenty of time to investigate it,” Eladia said.

“A.S.C.? What is that?” I asked.

“Android Support Center. It’s way past the time Silver had her checkup, so she must head there, first thing when she enters the planet. Having a malfunctioning artificial intelligence is illegal. If she doesn’t get there, we could get arrested for importing illegal technology.”

Humans and their stupid laws.

But, in the end, it didn’t quite matter. More time for me to admire this marvelous city. I couldn’t remember the place I was born or any details about my planet, but if it was half as beautiful as this aquatic paradise, then I hoped I could remember it fast.

Seeing people walking on the ground, and even more flying in the sky into their tiny, tin boxes, I couldn’t help but feel hope start to flicker inside my chest. There was no way that this city couldn’t help me find what I desired.

When I turned my head to watch straight ahead, I saw Eladia looking at me, smiling. I didn’t get why she was so happy just by looking at me, but I was glad she was. Once again, I wasn’t sure why this woman had made her life’s work to help me, or discover the truth about these Nusae toys, but for the first time in one hundred years, I felt glad she was here.

I felt something hot in my pocket, and I figured I must have been holding the cube way too hard. I took it out and examined it. For a moment, I thought I saw something flashing on the upper side.

I blinked twice, and I decided that it must have been all in my head.

Chapter Eighteen

Eladia

The Institute used to be my home away from home in the past. I used to spend more time studying about the Four Planets, analyzing the Nusae schematics, searching for clues that would lead me to the next big artifact, anything to stay away from the never ending crowds that swarmed this place.

Humans had a small attention span and an even smaller life expectancy. Yeah, we lived up to one hundred and twenty, but after our golden year's end, usually around the age of eighty-five, we spent most of our time in life support systems and virtual reality entertainment pods. In short, we kinda got holed up in hospitals and waited to die while watching overly realistic soap opera shows.

It was not something to wait for, and everyone still had the choice to remain in their homes and keep on with their lives, but the downside of it was that they would probably die within five years or so. Yaerus was a thriving planet, and human species were Third-Ranked among the Five Great Species, but yeah, we kinda lived our lives fast.

The Institute was full of people from every major of the Chronicle Studies at all times. When we arrived, I almost turned and ran after seeing the sea of people running up and down the main floor. Black people, white people, red, people of every race and color, everyone and everything—most alien visitors of Mosa headed straight to the Institute—kinda spent their time here.

Fortunately, I wasn’t the only one flustered before this sight. Jay spent a whole minute watching the masses pass before his eyes.

“Are there so many humans left?” he said, gawping while trying to once again rationalize the last one hundred years he had missed.

“I told you, humanity is booming more than ever. We’re way ahead than the other older species like the Yttor and the Bluabb. But we still have way to go before we climb to the next rank.”

The Third-Ranked Status was a great feat that humanity had achieved three years ago, but for the Allied Governments, it was not nearly good enough. They currently rushed things and pushed the boundaries of diplomatic agreements, trying to get their hands into more planets and expand even more.

But that had nothing to do with me.

Papa is the one politically involved, I’m just another Chronicler.

“So? Where is that Professor of yours?” he said, adding that usual wry twist to his sayings.

“Follow me,” I urged him and headed for the other side of the human wall.

I was not quite sure how many people I pushed, or stepped onto to get through the crowd. There was one that swore in Spanish and another one in French, but we kinda survived the passing. After spending all my time with Jay and Zan, it was now quite difficult to understand what they said to us.

When I did, my cheeks reddened, and I kinda wanted to run and hide from embarrassment. People from the European System were always so temperamental.

After some more squeezing and waiting in a short line, we finally got in front of one of the platforms. Tens of tubes were located at the other end of the room. The Institute provided visitors and personnel hovering platforms that worked as elevators to the upper floors. Jay hadn’t seen anything like that before.

I spent a moment to explain him how these things worked, and he ended up looking at me more confused than before. He was way too cute, and I had to stop myself from laughing at him. The one time I did, he didn’t talk to me for a week. It was a nightmare.

“Wait, wait. So, we ride one of those things, and they get us straight to the Professor?”

“No, for the last time, no. We ride one of the platforms, and you follow me through the upper hallways to the place where the Professor is. Just get on and you’ll get the hang of it,” I said in an annoyed tone.

Frankly, I was indeed annoyed, and tired, and very, very uncomfortable. It had been more than a year since I had used a platform, so I was a bit afraid that I had forgotten how to ride them. I pulled my sleeves up, stretched my lower lip while trying to get up, and we finally set off for the upper floor. Jay, only perceptive when he wanted to be, he seemed like a technologically weak person. He ended up being dumber that Zan and Zan was just a kid from Primordial Earth.

Without further ado, he finally hopped on and followed me. Everywhere around us, many people flew upwards at great speed. The most experienced platform riders could get to their destination in merely minutes, but neither of us, neither Jay, nor I, we were experienced enough to reach great speeds.

We rose towards the upper hallways slowly and steadily. After five minutes of hovering above the main floor, we saw the first, and most popular department of the Institute, the Discovery of the New. Every piece of new tech, every experiment involving human enhancement, typically everything that helped humans get even better at bragging to the other species, all were developed here.

I explained that to Jay and he looked at me mesmerized. “So, this is your research facility. It’s huge. I think we had one just like that in our dreadnaught. Esuh were magnificent at developing new drugs and substances.”

“Really? I thought you were always at war with someone. Why that fixated with medicine?” I asked while we flew by a small lab that experimented with flies.

I think that some of those things I saw in there had the same size as a hamster.

“When soldiers got injured, usually we had to spend some time treating them. But, after we started developing medicine for everything, the treating time was reduced to a minimal. A particular pill could heal you from laser wounds, and another could enhance your sight. There was literary a pill about everything.”

He talked with such warmth about his people that kinda made me want to help him discover more about them. Also, that was the most time he had spoken to me since we met. Usually, he said one thing and then left to do something else.

Even so, after all this time, there was no progress with his amnesia. Bits of information surfaced every day, but important parts like if he had a family, or where his planet was, or what had happened to the rest of the Esuh, those parts he missed.

Quickly after we passed another lab that experimented in lucid dreaming and dream printers, I saw the dim lights of the noise-canceling technology of the next part of our journey up. The Department of the Known Galaxy Archives Research was a huge library located in the exact middle of the round building. It was the biggest department of them three, spreading for miles, with digital archives that stored the whole combined knowledge of the Known Galaxy Species.

In the past, this poorly lit place had strict regulations about noise and its visitors. The problem was that since it was located directly above the DND, short for Discovery of the New Department, it was always noisy and hard to focus. However, one day, the Chroniclers of the DND came up with a noise canceling that disintegrated every noise wave traveling in the air before it was even created.

As soon as we passed into the grid, holographic displays appeared in front of us, allowing us to communicate by typing whatever we wanted to say. I quickly typed the explanation to him.

He replied with a simple: “Amazing.”

I had to read that tiny word three times before actually realizing that Jay was indeed amazed by human tech. Esuh of the Two Faces most probably were a highly advanced species that ruled the galaxy in the past, according to Jay that is, but they had mysteriously vanished even before the Nusae appeared.

As a Chronicler of the Great Mystery, the last and less popular department of the Institute, my questions regarding his origins thickened by the day, but I never quite asked him anything. Jay could be a very offensive person, but now that I saw him so amazed by the Institute, I kinda liked him more than before. It meant he had a soft side inside him.

I froze.

Did I think I like him? No, I don’t like him. Eladia, stay focused. Jay is just another piece to the Great Mystery.

The green lights at the end of the noise-canceling grid suddenly appeared. It was enough of a distraction to make me forget about my embarrassing realization. Honestly, it was never too soon to get out of this ghastly place. I hoped I didn’t have to visit it again soon. But, if the Professor didn’t have a clue, this department was my next shot.

At the end of our tour, we arrived at the top floor of the Institute, the smallest and poorest department, the Great Mystery. I led him to a platform port and by pressing a button, the engines stopped and anchored at the edge of the floor.

We got off quickly. It was way too high for comfort, but fortunately, the crowds were nonexistent up here.

“Are you sure we are in the right place?” Jay suddenly asked.

Strange, he usually has a strong sense of orientation.

“Of course it is. This way. The Professor’s office is on the right wing.”

He followed me with the same cocky expression, his usual know-it-all smug and of course, that overly confident amble. For Jay, the world owed him a favor for existing, and he would gladly remind everyone that with his attitude.

Nevertheless, our department was indeed poor and not so popular, but the greatest Chroniclers of all time had passed from here. And Professor Virgil was one of them.

The name tag was almost ready to fall off the door. I was not sure why they still used name tags up here, but it was relatively easy to find the right office, even if you didn’t know who you were looking for. You just had to hear the screams at the end of the hallway.

When Jay first heard the Professor shriek, he broke down the door with ease and charged inside. When he saw her behind her monitor, reading one of her books, he stood still and glared at Professor Virgil and me one after the other.

“I’m sorry Professor. I didn’t know he would smash his way in. I should have warned him.”

Honestly, I wasn’t sorry at all. It suited her well

Chapter Nineteen

Jay

I thought that I couldn’t get more surprised by humans, but every time I said that, I ended up on the wrong side. Passing through all those amazing places to get up here, in this rundown place, it kinda pumped me down. We could have spent another minute investigating that lab in the first floor with those shining swords, or the place where you couldn’t even talk. Not this forgotten by gods place.

The blonde woman with the short hair was sitting behind a small desk, calm as if she was just ready to fall asleep. I looked around me, searching for the one that screamed before, but the only one in here washer.

“Who are you? Hello, Eladia my dear. I hope you’re doing okay.”

I considered not replying to her, but her authority was greater than Eladia’s. This woman actually demanded my answer.

“I’m Jasih. And you must be the so called Professor.”

If I knew better, I’d say that this woman flirted with me. But I didn’t know. Humans could be so complicated at times.

“Jasih. Interesting name. Are you sick Jasih? Your skin is sickly pale, almost silver I’d say.”

She didn’t even bother to stand, or stop reading. The only time I saw her eyes was earlier, when I broke down the door of this room.

“No, I’m perfectly fine. You wrongly assumed that I’m human. I’m an Esuh of the Two Faces, a Prime Officer of my people and a First Kind.”

Suddenly, the woman yelled again and hit her hands on the desk. She was on her feet now, watching me straight into the eyes. This one was crazier than Eladia, than everyone that I had ever met.

“You didn’t! Is this one a new species?”

Did she refer to me as this?

“Yes, Professor Virgil. Silver found no reference to his species in the Archives. I visited all seven Great Mystery Libraries on my way back to Yaerus, but not one of them even mentions anything about the Esuh. He’s another great mystery.”

She moved closer to me. I examined her face from up close, and I noticed that this woman was slightly older than Eladia, maybe a year or two. I was not an expert in human ages, but she had the same skin color and elasticity as Eladia, but her eyes were darker and deeper. It was like she had seen the wonders of the galaxy and got mad in the process.

“So, a new thread to the Great Mystery unravels. What about the relic you described in your message? What about it? Have you brought it here? Did you run every diagnostic test? What’s the pragmatic difference between the age you discovered it to the age it actually found itself on Primordial Earth? Quickly woman, answer me!”

There she goes again with the loud voices. I mean, is she deaf or something?

They spent some time talking gibberish to one another when the blonde woman, the Professor, suddenly turned serious looking at the black-haired one, Eladia.

“Okay, talk to me Eladia. What’s your guess here? What is this?”

She referred to the cube, and maybe a little bit to me.

Honestly, I give up!

Eladia seemed to regain some of her old spark, the one she had in Primordial Earth when hunted by every kind of predator.

“After careful consideration and thorough analysis, I don’t have the slightest idea what this cube is. I tried to compare the Morph Relic to this one, but besides sharing the same material, those two relics have nothing else in common.”

She continued.

“The cube was huge when we first found it. It was changing sizes, shapes, and color frantically before ending up in Jay’s hand for no apparent reason. I was in the same space as Jay here, but it didn’t seem to show any hesitation. It headed straight to him. Honestly, if I wanted to be ambitious and take a wild guess, I’d say it is a data cube of some sort?”

We had discussed many times about what could possibly be hidden inside this tiny cube. For me, since this was probably not a weapon I could use or something to help me find the truth, it had no use at all. But for these two women, it was a hot topic, a subject worth building a career from.

At least that was what I had heard Eladia say at Silver one night. The blonde woman, the crazy one, spread her hand towards me with her palm open wide.

“What?” I asked.

“I want to examine it. Give it to me.”

“Okay. It’s all yours,” I said and took it out of my pocket.

The small cube was as warm as the day I first found it on my chest back on the other planet, but nothing else had changed since then. Still, after I left it on her hand, even before I pulled it away, it started moving towards me.

Another shriek. This time, she said something in a strange language. “This is not a data cube Eladia, not by a long shot. It has absorbed his bio-imprint, and it now follows him everywhere around. This one is the key,” she said and pointed at me. “Your data might hide inside of this cube, but for now, the outside is the lock, and your man here is the key. Oh my, I have to go downstairs and study.”

And just like that, the woman ran off like she was the guest and we the ones holding this office. But Eladia didn’t seem all that surprised.

“Does she do that often?”

She shrugged .

“Yes and no. Last time I was here, she attacked me, trying to punch me in the face. If Silver wasn’t here back then, she would have injured me really bad.”

“And why you respect her so much?”

She shrugged again.

“Because she’s the only one that believed in me and paid my mission to find this relic.”

Just then, Zan and Silver appeared at the door. The part-hologram, part-mechanic Android seemed genuinely concerned.

“Eladia, are you okay? Did she try to punch you again?”

The black-haired woman shook her head. I walked next to Zan and lowered my head to talk to him. “Humans are crazy, kid. Be glad you didn’t evolve to be like that.”

The hairy kid, which now seemed less hairy than before after Silver had groomed him a month ago, looked at me and smiled. I bet he didn’t even understand a thing of what I had just said.

Chapter Twenty

Eladia

Visiting Professor Virgil was, at the very least, a fruitless endeavor.

She actually ran out of her office straight to the Research of the Archives department to search for more clues about my case. She couldn’t even wait for me to finish talking before running away.

Even so, somehow, I didn’t feel all that disappointed after all. To make someone like her run behind her books, well, that was as important as agreeing that I was on the right track.

Being a tad bit more eccentric than the rest of our colleagues, for Virgil to actually focus on my project gave me a tint of satisfaction.

Okay, a lot of satisfaction.

But, if there was someone that could help me crack this code, then Virgil was the one. But, while our visit was a small, personal victory for me, it was an utter failure for Jay. Seeing his troubled expression made me feel responsible for raising his hopes. Professor Virgil was kinda his last hope.

When Silver and Zan appeared at the door, we were still standing still, dumbstruck by Professor’s sudden disappearance. Silver, afraid that the events of our last meeting were repeated, she seemed quite a bit concerned when she barged in.

After reassuring her that everything was perfectly fine, she calmed down. Well, at least things were mostly fine.

“This place is huge!” Zan suddenly exclaimed.

I kept forgetting that Silver had been teaching him English.

“Yeah, Zan is really excited that we visited the Institute. The poor kid got bored back at the support center, all alone and countless Android examining him.” Silver showed her usual affection towards him.

Jay snorted and walked outside. Frankly, I wished that after six months traveling together, Jay would finally show even the slightest bit of affection towards me.

Everything between us had turned from unbearable to plainly desperate. At least, he now talked more than before and didn’t finish a conversation by storming out of the room. The only thing that was better was that he had become somewhat more considerate of my feelings, and that made me happy. Happier than I dared to admit.

“Okay, now that this mission turned out to being a failure, where are we going next? Any other unnecessarily big buildings to visit? Any other crazy Professors?”

He sounded bitter, I knew I would have been bitter if I didn’t remember anything about my past. Still, I had run out of ideas and places to visit. Human planets had their share of research centers, but we had visited them all.

“We’ll figure something out, don’t worry. I just need some time to think.”

Jay snorted again. Okay, he was annoying me without a reason now. We headed to the hovering platforms altogether, and we rode one each. Our descent to the main floor felt more boring than before. Passing through the same departments again, I focused my attention to Jay. His troubled scowl disappeared as soon as we found our way to the interesting parts of the Institute.

His eyes shone watching all the experiments and technology he could see. Everything he didn’t understand amazed him. I felt my stomach twisting in a tight knot thinking all those things. He could look cute after all, not that I had ever thought otherwise.

If only we could spend the rest of the day here, going up and down the departments, giving him a VIP tour of the place, making him forget our most recent failure.

And then, it finally came to me.

I floated closer to Silver’s platform.

“Hey, Silver. Do you mind taking care of Zan for the night? Jay’s feeling a bit down, and I want to take him for a stroll around the city, to show him the place and get off his head from his people. He kinda needs it.”

The Android looked at me quizzically, trying to understand what was wrong with me.

“Okay, but are you sure you’re going to be fine? What if that guy appears again? I don’t want you to be alone with him if that happens.”

Frankly, I hadn’t thought about that possibility. She was right. If Dark Jay suddenly appeared, I could be in grave danger. But, for the last six months, there had been no incident of him waking up, and after extensive discussions with Silver, we figured that he only woke up when certain events took place, stressful events like hitting his head hard or getting seriously injured.

“Nah, it’ll be okay as long as I don’t hit him in the head or something, right? What might go wrong? We’re gonna be fine,” I said to her, but she didn’t seem all that confident.

“Have your phone on standby, and if anything happens, call me. I’ll make sure even the army comes to your rescue” she said to me.

Zan was trying to understand what we meant. He looked confused. He smiled at me, although it could be a snarl. I still hadn’t figured out if he liked me or not.

“Not worry miss Eladia. Zan will save you if something bad happens.”

His deep, resonant voice made him sound both cute and surprisingly mature. Zan would definitely be a good-looking man when he would grow up. But he still had some way to go.

The trip back to the main floor seemed shorter than the way up. I kept my eyes on Jay for the most part of our descent, trying to understand what was going on in his mind. He showed no emotion, and it felt like he was furious about something and yet he kept his calm.

I was trying to figure him out from the day we found his crashed ship on Primordial Earth. To this day, I had no idea what was wrong with him. I only knew that I found myself observing him more often than not. It was like when we were in the same room, my eyes came to life and did their own bidding.

I heard the fuss of the big crowd roar below me, we were getting close to the hell called reception hall. Against all my hopes, people still swarmed in, in thousands, and I felt even less comfortable than before. At the very least, I wished we would have spent another hour or two back in the Professor’s office, so I would have had time to calm down and get ready to go through this again, but it seemed I was wrong.

We stepped off the platforms, and I could already feel the presence of countless people choking me. Silver was on my left side talking with Zan and Jay was on my right side, making people stare at him for being this unusual being that nobody had ever seen. Even though I was with people that I could trust, I felt more lonely than ever. People scared me, especially when in big crowds.

I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t move, but I always acted as though I could so people didn’t have to see me shake like a fish out of the water. Breathing became a choice and moving was difficult. And yet, among the endless sea of heads, there was one that I would rather not see now. Or never.

“Eladia Matthews. What are you doing here?” A red-haired man with a groomed stubble and big, inquisitive eyes appeared before me.

“Sean. Who would have thought we would run to each other here?”

The man looked at me, then Jay, then Silver and Zan. He didn’t seem one bit surprised about my unusual company, which either meant he had already heard the news of my arrival, or he just acted that way to seem cooler. Either way, he was still damn hot.

“Yeah, it’s amazing. Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friends?”

Sneaky bastard. He was taking advantage of my weakness. He knew I couldn’t refuse him while in a crowd.

“Yes...yes of course. You already know Silver. This is Zan, a friend from Primordial Earth, and on my other side is Jay. Jay is...another friend from Primordial Earth.”

Jay and Sean noticed my qualm.

“I’m not from Earth, and my name is Jasih,” Jay hurried to correct me, but luckily for me, Sean didn’t seem to care.

“Nice to meet you all. I’m sorry, but I have to attend a meeting in ten minutes. I hope I see you again, love. Take care,” he said and passed between Jay and me with an elegant squish.

For a moment, I thought that somehow I had managed to get away with the minimum damage, but knowing Sean, he always left the best for last. And that was what he did again, only this time, he made sure to go big.

“Oh, huge guy...what was it again? Jasih. Make sure to take care of this girl. When we dated before, she used to run in trouble all the time. Come Tora, they’re expecting us,” Sean said and left, with a tiny robot flying to his side.

Tora, as well as Silver, was a mandatory Chronicler assistant. Every Chronicler had to choose one while studying their major. But that didn’t matter now. I slowly turned to see Jay’s reaction, but by the time I found him, he was long ahead of us towards the exit. I only had time to spot his head before rushing behind him.

Damn you Sean. You and your big mouth. But, the big question is why the usually thick Jay is suddenly so upset? What happened?

Chapter Twenty-One

Jay

I walked through the crowded hall, trying to find the exit to this place. My head was pumping, and I wanted to get some air. It was like the world was sitting on my chest and I couldn’t breathe. I had never felt anger like that in my life, or at least, since the time I had woken up.

That funny looking human with the red hair intimidated me in any possible way. Our whole mission was a failure, and everything seemed to take the wrong turn today, especially when it came down to me. But this Sean human was the drop that spilled the cup. I wanted to hit his face too bad and erase that slight smirk off his face.

I pushed my way through the many humans of the hall until I finally found the door leading to a place full with elevators. This building hovered in mid-air, so the entrance was only possible by using elevators that flew the people to the building. That was what Eladia said before.

Eladia. Even her name makes the fire inside me burn brightly. I don’t want to see her, or that man, before.

Suddenly, I felt a hand grab my shoulder. “Stop! For God’s sake, please stop running.”

Eladia panted in that small, curvy body. Her hair, always caught up, swung a couple times after she stopped. Her hands were sweaty and shaking a bit, but even though she must have been running to catch me, her skin still had that refreshing sense when touching me.

“Why? Aren’t we leaving this Institute? Or would you like to spend some more time with that man? Either way, it’s fine with me.”

She looked at me with those funny eyes, the ones that say she had no idea what I was talking about. At that time, I realized I didn’t know what I was talking about either. Her face, her dark brown eyes, everything on her, ticked me off the wrong way. And yet, I couldn’t picture her kissing that human, or falling into bed with him.

“Listen, I’m sorry if it was something I said or something I did. But, you had been way too upset since we left Professor Virgil’s office. Could you at least slow down and let me make you an offer?”

She was breathing normally now, but still, Eladia used her hand to support her weight on me. Not that it did matter or anything, but she was usually way too proud to even admit she needed help. But, she was right. That crazy Professor was my last hope, and she treated me like a specimen of some sort.

“Okay. Speak. What do you have in your mind?”

“Well, we’re at humanity’s biggest city, the world capital of Yaerus. What would you say if I took you out for a dinner?”

When I heard the word dinner, my stomach growled in response. “I think you got your answer.”

She laughed at me but not in an intimidating way. Her laugh was contagious, and I felt my lips stretching upwards, but I used my whole strength to stop. My people might have been in danger, I might have kids searching for me somewhere, or grand-kids, or their kids to protect. I couldn’t spend my precious time entertaining my desires.

Still, I was hungry, tired, and I wanted to see how the humans had managed to stay alive for so many years and what tricks had they come up with to become so successful. Those little animals were always so resourceful back in my time that I couldn’t even imagine the things they must have invented.

And before I knew it, we rode into one of those elevators back to the ground. The small room was choking with people heading the same way as we did. Eladia was standing next to me. She was close enough to touch my naked arms. I felt her cold skin matching my warmness. It was a pleasant feeling, one that I could get used to easily.

Soon, when we managed to get off that elevator, Eladia and I got on a small vehicle that she called a taxi. This taxi traveled on the road and then in the air, whatever needed to get to its destination as fast as possible. Once again, I was glued to the window, trying to sip in every possible detail.

My heart pumped hard inside my chest. All these people, the big buildings, the funny smells that must have been some kind of greasy food, everything in this city had character, driving me close to a memory from my own city. But as quickly this feeling came, the same way it left. It was as if I had stretched my arm, I could touch it, only that now it was gone.

I turned to watch Eladia. She seemed happy for some reason, relieved. She stared at everything with a knowing glance. She must have passed from here countless times in the past. Still, this city was beautiful in its own way, the only way a city could be.

When we finally arrived, I saw a big, flashing sign reading ‘Phosphorus’ above a small door. It wasn’t that small, but for me, it kinda looked small. I saw Eladia give something to the man that drove us here, and he left as quickly as he arrived.

“What did you give him?” I asked.

“Excuse me?”

She looked confused.

“You gave something to him. What was it?”

And again, she seemed like she couldn’t understand what I was saying. I was at my limit to storm off again, but I realized that I had done the same thing quite some times in the past.

“What is it with you humans and questions? For a species that makes so many of them all the time, you don’t seem to understand what I’m saying to you. You were talking to the driver, and before he left, you gave him something. What was it?”

She finally caught up with me. She reached inside her pocket and took out a small, plastic card.

“Humans use money for everything. It’s like a reward for a job well done, or something to measure the price of a thing. I’ve used this card many times in front of you on other planets, only now you’ve noticed it?”

And then, like a raging river coming out of my mouth, I started laughing. It’s a strong laugh, a laugh that must have been imprisoned inside me for quite some time now.

“You humans are so crazy. I really don’t know how you managed to survive with all those funny ideas you got.”

Eladia seemed amused and irritated at the same time. She smiled at me and pulled me under the ‘Phosphorus’ sign.

No matter how hard I try, humans were more interesting than I first thought.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Eladia

The second I saw him laugh, I stopped caring about who he was, or if I was actually in danger just by being next to him. Jay could smile after all, and laugh, and have fun. He was nothing like his other half, the Dark Jay. That was the first thing that passed through my mind back then. The second point was that I kinda liked him more when he smiled.

The ‘Phosphorus’ bar was one of those places where everything was designed to make you have fun. Virtual reality games, a bar on the back, restaurant on the upper floor, and many, good looking people, dressed with the latest word in fashion. But, that wasn’t the reason why I decided to get him here.

It was really late, and the lights had been lowered to create an atmosphere. Surely, if your thing was loud, mellow music, a bunch of couples dancing in the middle of the room, and doing drugs in the toilets, then okay, ‘Phosphorus’ was perfect for you.

“What is this place? The music’s too loud in here,” Jay screamed to me so that I could hear him.

“Be patient. We’re almost there,” I replied to him.

I moved towards the bar and made a signal for him to wait.

If I’m lucky, then…

“Jessie!!!”

“Oh. My. God. Eladia? What the fuck are you doing here? I thought you would be on a faraway planet by now, getting crazy with all those Great Mystery buds.”

Jessie was one of my colleagues back in my studying days, back when I spent most of my time taking care of my silhouette and fixing my makeup. But Jay didn’t have to know about that part of my life now. My trustworthy ponytail was the only grooming I needed nowadays.

“Hey, don’t be harsh. You’re a Researcher, and I’m a Mystery girl. It’s not my fault I can’t resist a good treasure hunt!” I replied to her.

We had to talk loud at one another, ending up with my voice sounding hoarse and ugly. But Jessie, with her enigmatic, black eyes and golden hair, made it seem like it was the most natural thing in the world.

“Tell me, who is this stud you have with you? I’ve never seen anyone with skin so white. Is he okay?”

Luckily, the place was badly lit and she couldn’t spot his eyes. She must have thought he was just a huge human with extremely pale skin, but if she knew the truth, then I would have to spend the rest of the night explaining everything to her.

“He’s just a friend coming to Mosa for the first time, so I thought of giving him the proper tour of the city. Hey, Jessie, you know, I have something to ask you. Can I get him upstairs?”

Jessie, the usually wild girl, seemed to think twice before nodding to me. She passed the door key to me with a smooth handshake. I wanted to thank her, but she shook her head. Before I turned my back, she threw me a slight grin.

Well, there they go Eladia. Your student years. This is probably the last time she lets you get up there and have some fun. It figures. After all those times she had to come and pick me up from up there, while I was drunk.

Nevertheless, I would have never come back here if it wasn’t for Jay. I wanted him to see the coolest view of the city at night. However, when I turned my head expecting to find him at exactly the same place I had left him, he was nowhere to be found.

I swore behind my teeth, but in a room as small as this, I quickly saw him in the middle of the dance floor. A young brunette was trying to seduce him by dancing around him with her clothes almost off. A skinny, good-looking girl that she could have had every man she wanted. Instead, she chose the one least suitable for her.

She moved her hands around him, touched his abs, then headed up through his arms, pushing her pelvis sensually against his dick, and then she started all over again. It certainly didn’t help that the music was slow and sensual at the time. It was like she had asked for that particular song.

By the time I arrived, Jay was already talking to her, and for a moment I thought of storming out of the room myself, to take a page out of Jay’s book, but I didn’t. I was sure Jay wouldn’t follow me anyway.

“Hey. We have to get going, Jay.”

Immediately, the young girl turned and looked at me straight in the eyes.

“Hey, lady. Who are you? I’m sure Jasih wants to stay with me. Am I right boy?”

Okay, now she can pronounce his name as well? Shit.

Jay didn’t talk. Instead, he pushed her aside and stood right beside me.

“I asked you to stop ten times already human. Maybe if the music wasn’t so loud, you would have heard me the first time I told you so.”

With a flick of her long hair, she turned her back on us and walked away. For a second, I was glad Jay had chosen me instead of her, although checking down towards his penis, I could see that something was stretching.

I wanted to slap my face to stop thinking about Jay in that way, but I couldn’t stop. His statuesque build, his perfect face, his rough skin, everything about him drew me closer. I sighed and lowered my head while we walked towards the end of the room.

There were two doors, one leading to the restaurant upstairs and the other to the roof. We followed the second one, but Jay stopped behind me, confused.

“Aren’t we going to get something to eat first?”

I sighed. He was as thick as always. “Trust me. We can have something to eat later. Now you have to follow me.”

He didn’t seem to understand, but I didn’t want him to understand. Right now, I just wanted to get as far away as possible from that girl, and Jessie, and anyone. Honestly, I didn’t think I wanted to climb all these stairs just for Jay anymore.

The way up seemed endless and sometime later, I could almost hear Jay’s disapproval. Well, he didn’t say anything but it was the way he breathed in and out and his attitude. It was like he was expecting me to go faster, or he even sometimes stretched his hand to help me. We stopped a couple floors before reaching the roof, taking a short break to catch our breath—well, so that I could catch my breath—when Jay started talking.

“I thought you were upset earlier. Did something happen down there?” He still talked a bit loud, probably his ears were buzzing from the loud music.

“No! I just want to get up there and show you something. That’s all!”

“You don’t seem okay with it. It’s like you don’t want to be up here,” he suddenly said.

“I do want to be here more that I want to be down there with that girl that tried to seduce you!”

The words left my mouth before I had the time to stop. For a moment there, I hoped he hadn’t heard me, or he hadn’t understood what I said, but then he went on and said it.

“Were you jealous?”

Shit. Now I’ve done it. Well, you know what they say. Offense is the best defense.

“Who? Me? Of her? Of course not. I just don’t like being around many people, that’s all. Now, are we going?”

And before I had the chance move, his hand jolted forward and grabbed mine.

“I don’t understand you, humans. Outside you were laughing and having fun, and inside you seem worse than me. If there’s a problem, please say something.”

“No, of course there isn't a problem. I’m just head over heels in love with you and you don’t seem to have a clue.”

Okay, Eladia, tell me you didn’t just say that. Oh, my god, I did say it.

It was one of those times that my mouth ran faster than my head, and I said things I didn’t mean. But I kinda ended up saying them after all because they sounded better in my head at the time.

Damn, damn, damn. I have no idea what I’m doing.

He still held my hand, only this time, the heat from his skin traveled all the way to my face. I wished he came up with a witty comment, and then we could keep going up to the roof where the wind could wash away all my thoughts.

Instead, he stared deep into my eyes, searching for something. I realized I stared back at him. My hand hurt now, and my heart had stopped beating. I breathed but only mechanically. Time had frozen, and I couldn’t do nothing but wait.

Only that I couldn’t stop talking.

“Please say something. I know it’s not like you, but please say something.”

“When did this happen?”

You’re kidding me, right?

“I don’t know. It just sort of happened. Six months of traveling with you, never saying anything, always fighting you. I don’t know. Maybe at that night, when you saved me and brought me to that lake? Yeah, that was the first time I felt more intimate towards you. And now I can’t stop talking.”

I pulled my hand free and ran upstairs. I wanted to stop and see if he followed me, but I didn’t. Tears ran down my eyes, and I walked the last few steps blindly. I opened the door to the roof and the wind burst in behind me. My tears dried in moments, but I couldn’t stop my heart from racing.

When I opened my eyes, the world was under my feet. I kinda thought the tragic irony of this place. Being so high yet so low right now. Something I had never accepted before was finally out in the open. I was in love with him, and now he knew it as well.

So, when he walked behind me and grabbed my shoulders, I couldn’t feel anything but embarrassed. However, Jay had something else in his mind. He pushed me around gently, and he raised my chin with his free hand. In a moment’s notice, his head lowered, and he got closer and closer until his lips touched mine.

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Chapter Twenty-Three

Jay

Her lips were smooth like her skin. I didn’t dare to push my tongue inside, but I could sense her breathing erratically. I took a step back and watched her look at me, surprised.

“What was that?” she asked me.

“I’m not sure. I felt like doing it.”

Eladia touched her lips with her fingers like she was trying to understand if everything that had happened was true or just another dream. I smiled at her, humans were so sparring with their feelings. I kinda liked that about her, about humans in general. She was different from the humans I remembered, the primal beings that weren’t even able to communicate.

She was intelligent, passionate, and when she let herself free, she was prettier than she thought. When I was with her, I was Jay, the alien that didn’t remember a thing about his past, but when I was alone, I was Jasih, the Prime Officer and one of the First Kind. I was torn between duty and what I wanted, and right now, up here at the peak of this beautiful city, I was Jay, the Esuh that was attracted to the female human in front of him.

She was standing perfectly still, as if she was scared that she might break something if she even moved an eyelash.

“What’s wrong with you? Isn’t that what you wanted?”

Isn’t it?

“I don’t know. Not like that, not like you owe me a favor or something.”

I did want to kiss you, you stupid woman, but you never seem to understand what I say. It’s like we’re speaking different languages all the time. I try to get closer to you and you always find a reason to get irritated at me.

That’s what I wanted to say, but it ended up more like this: “You’re like your mentor. You scream when you don’t know what’s going on around you, and bite when you’re not happy. We Esuh--”

“I know that I’m not good enough for an Esuh General, but you don’t have to remind me of it every time. You were the one that kissed me, not I. You know something? Never mind. I’m done playing all those little games with you. This,” she said and showed the empty space between us, “this is over. You are in the biggest city that humanity ever built. Find another stupid woman to help you, Jay.”

There she goes again, overreacting. I don’t understand a thing. I was nice to her because I like her, and she thought I was doing her a favor of some sort? Unbelievable.

But I was at my limit.

Humans were still animals, they didn’t know discipline, they relied on their hearts to decide what was right and what was wrong, but they never thought the repercussions of their choices.

I strode behind her and grabbed her arm. Before I knew it, a roar climbed up from deep inside my chest, and I let it go. After I was done, she looked at me like I was some sort of a monster. But I couldn’t control my actions anymore.

Her eyes were teary, and I was perfectly aware that I was the reason for it. I didn’t care. My heart told me to stop her from leaving, and I would have done that even if I had to tie her to my back and carry her everywhere. I was lost without her.

Suddenly I froze. I felt cold sweat running down my back. Amidst my anger and solitude, I forgot that she was the only one I could trust.

Eladia, the first actual human I ever met.

I released my grip, and she ran away from me, towards the exit. I decided not to follow her. It was too late now. I had nothing else to ask her, nothing more to say. I walked to the edge of the roof and saw the city dancing under my feet.

I was never afraid of heights because I never had any doubt about my abilities, but now, up here at the edge of the world, I saw the oval buildings wave up and down, floating boxes filled with countless stories. Mine was up here, alone, disturbing. I wanted to scream at the world that had condemned me to be a living dead, but I couldn’t.

This was the world where Eladia existed, and Zan and Silver. This was the world where species worked together, and Esuhes were not the scary monsters of the past. Maybe it was a world worth living in, and maybe, ten years from now, this world would be my own as well.

“Promise me you won’t shout at me like that again.”

Her voice surprised me. In my mind, I had already given up on her, on us. I was never the romantic type of guy, so when I left, I left for good. No tearful goodbyes, no second chances. I thought that the same thing applied to everyone.

“I can’t. But I do promise I’ll try not to do it again.”

She smiled at me.

“I’ll get what I can. You’re as strange as me, you know that? You never talk and never explain what you mean, and yet you expect everyone to understand you like they’re in your head. It’s impossible.”

Her smile was contagious. I grinned at her, and she suddenly leaped forward and hugged me.

Touching me, her head lolling on my chest, I felt better. I crossed my arms around her and squeezed her tight. We stood like that for a moment.

And then everything changed.

She raised her head and looked at me. Her glare was different from before. I felt my stomach stretching down in my abdomen, and I couldn’t hold back anymore. I lowered my head to watch her and then, I started kissing her, more passionately this time.

She kissed me back.

Her hands traveled on my body, touching my back, my head, my butt. She pushed me towards her. My dick started to feel uncomfortable inside my pants. That was until she touched it.

Then I knew that everything was going to change between us.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Eladia

There were some dreams that we all hoped for them to come true at some point. When I was young, my father used to say to me that no one could achieve anything if he first couldn’t dream of it. Well, my relationship with Jay was a dream I kept having for the last two months.

Almost every night, after having a shower, I would fall asleep on my bed picturing what it would be like if he and I made love with each other. Usually, in my dreams, we were in a moon hotel, or in the middle of nowhere, somewhere no one could find us.

I didn’t know when I started having these dreams, or why, I just knew that now that we were kissing like that on the roof of ‘Phosphorus’, I couldn’t hold back my urges anymore. He was as hot as ever, his face a perfect mask of coolness and his eyes as deep as the sea.

Our tongues twisted and I wanted to feel every part of his body. His silver skin was actually sparkling in the moonlight, and his hands pushed me closer. The wind started to pick up, but I didn’t care. The only thing I wanted was to stay here my whole life and kiss him.

Everything we said was like memories of times long gone. I felt his stone muscles under his clothes, his abs moving rhythmically. I followed the same rhythm, and it was like wen were dancing when we were just standing still.

But we were both adults, and things didn’t stop with just a kiss.

He was trying to understand what to do with my body. Jay touched my breasts, my back, he touched my ass and pushed me towards his dick. I did the same with him. Everything on him was rough and chiseled, and the only thing I could think of was when would I see him naked.

With one quick movement of his finger, the first thing he did was to set my hair free. The long, black curtain spread down on my shoulders. I copied his moves by removing my shirt and pants. I was standing in front of him with only my underwear, and I could feel the stinging bite of the cold wind straight to my bones.

“You’re beautiful,” he said to me, right there in the middle of the night.

The first thing that came to my mind was that I was freezing, and he was just standing there, complimenting me, but then if he didn’t say a thing I would feel worse.

Then, he was in his underwear as well, and I saw him stand tall before me, the platinum skin of a warrior reaching out to the stars. He was hotter than I remembered. This time, since we were not hunted by every kind of predator, I had more time to examine him.

I didn’t say anything, but I was sure that my wide-open eyes said more than I could have ever hoped to utter. We started kissing again, only now I could feel his body pulsing on mine and his dick throbbing. His pair of dark, tight boxers seemed too small to contain him anymore.

I touched it, and he quickly responded with a slight moan. I had never imagined he would be that responsive, but he had surprised me in the past so why not now as well?

He kindly pushed me down on my knees and removed the last bit of cloth to reveal his glistening cock. Even though he was an alien, his physiology was just the same as ours, humans’. A long rod with a filled sack of balls was asking me to lick it. I didn’t lose the chance.

The bittersweet taste of his precum made me try even harder to please him. I first licked the top of his head and then traveled my tongue down to the rest of his dick. I sucked his balls for a moment and I stroked him at the same time, making him use his hands to push me even deeper.

I changed target, I now had his cock inside my mouth, and I started sucking him fast and wild. I heard him moan and sigh.

“Eladia, I’m gonna cum. Eladia...” I heard him say, but I acted like I didn’t.

Two quick moves and I felt his thick sperm in my mouth, coming strong and in great quantities. For a moment, I thought he wouldn’t stop, but when he finally did, I decided to swallow.

Before I had the time to think, he fell into a sexual frenzy. Jay grabbed me and lifted me up in his arms. His strong arms were able to support my weight easily. Kissing me, he got me back inside where he headed straight for a wall. Pushing my back against it, he quickly removed just the tip of my underwear and suddenly stuck his dick inside me.

I was wet and therefore I didn’t feel much pain, but he was big, bigger than I expected, and his dick rubbed the inside of my vagina. It wasn’t pleasant at first, but as soon as I got used to his size, I started falling down to a horny whirlwind. The only thing that mattered was his cock inside me, filling me and making me feel like I was about to touch the sky.

I couldn’t hold back my moans, I was screaming at the top of my lungs. He didn’t stop, he didn’t care if anyone heard us, or if anyone was watching us, and I didn’t want him to stop either.

“Harder...please move harder,” I said amid my confusion.

But he didn’t listen to my plea. He went slower and smoother like he wanted me to suffer. I hated him right then, and I started kissing him, biting his lips, sticking my nails in his back. At that moment, I heard him snarl, and I opened my eyes to see him for the first time since we started to fuck.

I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I felt him turning cold under my body. He never stopped thrusting in me or moaning, but now his voice was like one of a wild animal, and half his body was dark, the color of his parasitic self. He didn’t seem to understand what was going on, but he kept on fucking me with the same speed.

I wanted to get afraid, I wanted to stop him, but I couldn’t. Lust and desire had dulled my senses. I just wanted him to cum inside me, and I wanted to feel his hot sperm. That was all that mattered.

Our pounding went on for five minutes, and now almost his whole body was covered with the dark particles of his symbiotic nature, but he was getting more passionate by the moment. I was trying to catch my breath, but when I breathed in, I felt a hot sensation traveling from my stomach all the way to my nails.

It came in waves, a feeling I had never had before. I moaned loudly, and it felt like a great weight was being lifted off my shoulders. I was having an orgasm, and I couldn’t stop. And then I felt Jay’s hot sperm erupting inside me.

He didn’t say a thing, he just made sure he thrusted two more times slowly like he wanted to make sure everything was off.

His hands smoothly put me down, on the floor where he lied next to me. The only part of his body not dark silver now was his left eye. He looked at me and smiled, a smile full of trust and satisfaction. This was the best sex I ever had in my life, but now that it was over, and my mind started working again, I wasn’t sure I wanted to be here when Dark Jay woke up.

Fear struck me a second later when I saw his eyes open, staring straight into mine with a quizzical and half-pleased expression.

“You are the human girl. You are naked. I am naked. Did that mean that we did…?”

I stood up and ran outside. I was sure he knew the answer to his question, but I wouldn’t stay there until he figured more things than he should. After all, it had been six months since I had seen this savage’s face.

He followed me outside, stark naked, his slate gray skin not distinguishing in the dark. He was nothing like the radiant Jay. He looked like a dangerous monster.

And yet I couldn’t stop staring at him.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Jay

Me and the human fucking; now that was a nice wake-up surprise. I never thought she was the adventurous type of girl, pounding at the top of a building, but she certainly felt good. Well, I was almost ready for a second round just watching her in that messy underwear, but she didn’t seem like it.

What’s with me and those long naps? Last time I woke up I was back at that planet—what was it called? Oh yeah, Earth—fighting that disgusting human that tried to eat her and now we’re fucking at the top of a huge city. Something smells fishy here.

I looked around me, and I saw an endless sea of buildings, and I figured out something. I was really bored.

“Hey you, human. Where are we?”

She tried to cover her lady parts and her boobs, but she was not doing a good job.

Come on! We just fucked right? Why is she so shy? I’m standing here totally naked, and I don’t try to hide anything.

Hastily, she put on her shirt and her pants and then proceeded to answer my question. She was blushing and trying to avert her glare from me, only to find herself always ending up checking my equipment. That somehow turned me on.

“This is...eh...we’re in planet Yaerus, in the world capital Mosa, the greatest human city that was ever created. You know...maybe it would better if you put on some clothes or something?”

“I don’t remember you being so prude earlier. Well, if that’s too big of a problem for you, then I’ll abide by your requests for now.”

When I took a move towards her, she seemed scared. This female human was way too strange. It was like she hadn’t seen me before. I picked up my clothes and quickly got dressed. I had lost my mood for getting laid, so I was right about ready to get back to my spaceship when I sensed something strange coming from the pocket of my uniform.

I put my hand inside and pulled out a scorching hot thingy that was flashing brightly. I tried to shield my eyes in order not to get blind from the strong light, but it was too late.

When I opened my eyes, the female human—I think her name was something starting with E, but I was not sure it’ll come to me soon—was nowhere to be found. I was still up in a high place only that now everything around me was different, it was not the same city as before. It was an older place, with metal and glass buildings anchored on the Earth, spreading all the way to the sky.

The skyscrapers seemed dull and motionless, nothing like the buildings of the other city, Mosa. The scenery in this place was barren, empty, no people anywhere, not even wind blowing around us. This felt more like a dream than actual reality.

I turned around and tried to find something to lead me to the right way, but there was nothing.

I spoke too soon.

I picked up something moving up in the sky, a radiant light coming straight from the stars above my head. The light got bigger and bigger until it was covering the whole sky. I didn’t understand what was going on, or where this thing came from, but I was suddenly afraid.

Me, the great warrior Jasih, I’m shaking like a leaf falling from the tree.

I tried to run but I couldn’t. I wanted to scream, to get away, but I knew that it was futile. I was going to die alone amidst a dream.

That was when a girl appeared at the edge of the roof. I rushed to her side until I was standing up there with her.

Jump.

I heard a voice echoing in my mind, but I was not sure it was mine.

Jump.

My eyes fell to the ground below, and how far away it seemed.

Isn’t it weird that no matter how far away you’re from the ground, it always seems like it’s just a leap away?

Jump.

The third time I heard the word. I was sure. It was her voice. However, for some reason, her words had also become mine.

I have to jump.

My foot was hanging in mid-air. Everything happened too fast that they ended up feeling slow.

“Jay!!! No!” Eladia screamed at me, but it was too late. I had already taken the last step forward.

But I’m not a common Esuh. I’m Jasih the Dark, one of the First Kind.

My instincts took over and my body jolted from inertia to overdrive in a moment. I kicked the ledge of the roof, pushing my body to turn around. My upper body was still close to the edge, but my lower body was too far now. I spread my arms and managed to catch the ledge, only for the momentum of my lower body hitting the wall to make me lose my balance again.

I was in mid-air, stretching for something to grasp when the female human suddenly appeared and caught my hand. She wasn’t strong enough to hold me, but her hand was more than enough to help. I swung my body forward to touch the outer wall of the building with my feet. In the meantime, Eladia lost her balance and leaped above me, screaming.

In an impossible trick, I grabbed her arm and pushed her upwards. I used the tips of my fingers to get a handle of the ledge and also pushed myself up.

We were now safe and sound, both panting on the floor.

“That was one of the craziest things I’ve ever done,” I said and collapsed on the floor.

There was something bothering me, something is stuck on my back, something like a small, hot, metal cube. I reached and removed it.

This day couldn’t get any crazier than it already was.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Eladia

I was not sure what happened but Dark Jay actually...saved me. I never expected I would owe my life to this version of him, but it seemed that I now did. But I was confused. What had happened? The cube started flashing and by the time I regained my sight, Dark Jay was standing on the edge of the roof, ready to jump. It was the longest second of my life when I jumped to save him, and he pulled me down with him.

For a moment, I thought that his bloodlust had returned, and he wanted to kill me, but when we found ourselves back on the roof, I couldn’t be more wrong. My heart was still beating fast. I couldn’t calm down, but neither could Jay.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” he ran towards me.

“Yes, I’m fine. Thank you.”

“You’re a scientist, right? What happened back there? One moment I was here, talking to you, and the next moment I was jumping off that ledge.”

Okay. So, if I got that right, he just asked if I was okay because he wanted to make sure I would be able to answer his questions. This man is a true prick.

But he was right. I was a Chronicler, and to be honest, I had no idea.

“I don’t know Jay. I’m still trying to process this myself.”

“Also, there was a girl up here. Is she okay? She was the one that told me to jump.”

His voice was anxious and sharp, with short pauses. He was in a hurry to get answers.

“What girl? I was the only one here, and I’m sure I didn’t say anything like that to you.”

“No, no, I’m sure she wasn’t you. She was tall, with silver hair and beautiful, blue eyes. I’m not sure if she was a human at all. She certainly looked humanish, I mean, her beauty rivaled even some of the Changel.”

I didn’t know if I should take his sayings as a compliment or get really angry at him. I had no idea who those Changel were anyway, however, I was sure I would find out sooner or later. Nevertheless, I had no time to disagree with him. My phone started ringing, Silver made a holographic call to me.

“Eladia? Where are you? Are you okay?”

She looked really worried, way too worried.

“We’re fine. Look who woke up just now,” I said to her, trying to warn her. She got the hint and acted accordingly.

“Oh. It’s our good friend, Jasih the Prime Officer. It’s nice to see you, sir,” she said in her deepest, most servile voice. Silver only used that tone when she wanted something really bad or wanted to get off the hook from other human users.

She never used that voice with me.

“Oh, the female robot and the young man. I wouldn’t say I share the same feelings about seeing you, but this isn’t the subject now. Do you know anything about this stupid thing?” he said and showed the cube at her.

“About that, Eladia I think you should see this,” Silver said, demanding my attention.

A moment later, she showed me a recent report about Nusae readings. Since the day we arrived in Mosa, I had commanded—more like asked rather than demanded--her to scan the city regularly for reports about Nusae activity. It was not unusual when an active relic appeared in a planet for it to trigger reports about other relics never seen before, as well. At least, that was what had happened with the Morpher Relic.

I checked the report she had sent me real quick and saw that at the same time Dark Jay was holding the Nusae relic, another energy reading was recorded at the World Embassy, a building only three squares to the East.

“But that’s impossible. It seems that we started something. Where are you now Silver?”

“We’re on our way to meet you at the Embassy. We’ll be there in ten minutes,” she said.

I heard Zan shouting behind her, while he was trying to stand still. The poor guy must be having the worst day of his life with Silver pumping up the gas to get here in time.

I couldn’t decide if I did too or if it was actually the best. Either way, I grabbed Dark Jay’s hand and pulled him towards the stairway.

We ran all the way to the ground floor, the place where the bar was. I almost forgot that I had to return the pair of keys to Jessie, but she was nowhere to be found.

It’s okay, I can do it tomorrow.

While out on the road, Jay seemed to still be troubled about what had happened back there.

“I can’t understand. I was in another city, with buildings made of metal and glass, and there was that girl, and this intense light, and I was so afraid…”

Okay, the last word got me thinking. Last time I saw him, Dark Jay was fearless and killed for the gist of it. Now, he had seen something that got him scared?

“Tell me more. What else happened?” I asked him, not slowing down although I had trouble keeping up the pace and talking at the same time.

“This girl, the beautiful one, she stood right in front of me and asked me to jump off the roof. But she didn’t actually talk. Not out loud that is. She talked inside my head, and her word echoed inside there. It’s like she was trying to manipulate me.”

And in the end, she managed to do it. But I had no idea what he was talking about. The cube was flashing and then...and then…

I suddenly stopped.

“Let me see the cube!”

He quickly pulled it out of his pocket and showed it to me. The thing was redder than the last time I had seen it, and this time, there was an inscription on the top.

“What is this? When did this happen?” I asked him as soon as I noticed it.

“I have no idea. This is the first time I see this too. What does that mean? Is something wrong with it?”

“No. Well, I’m not sure. But I have a theory of what might have happened to you. The Professor thinks that the outside of this cube is a lock and you’re the key. Maybe it was something that you did, or maybe it was because six months passed after you first acquired it, but it seems like you’ve started unlocking it.”

I continued.

“So, what happened is that you must have peeked through the keyhole like you took a sneak peak of the data inside it. That might also explain why you’re the only one capable of unlocking it. In one of Silver’s exams, we discovered that your mind is capable of resisting the great stress that a direct data feed would cause to your mind. If it was me, it would have fried my head.”

I was not a big fan of running, but the thrill of finding another piece of the puzzle exhilarated me, making me able to endure a whole marathon if I had to.

Fortunately, I didn’t.

The World Embassy Building was straight ahead. It was dark except for the top floor, the Conference Room. It was the place where the world leaders met each other when visiting Mosa. Certainly, not a place for late-night visits. Right ahead, Silver and Zan were standing in front of the main entrance. Right about then I started thinking of an attack plan, a way inside without drawing the security’s attention to us.

I used to sneak in there many times when I was little, to meet mom and dad, but now I didn’t know if I had it in me anymore.

Suddenly, it came to me. I forgot that now I was an adult and that my father was still an immensely influential man. If the right person was there, and if I said the right thing, I should probably get inside without making a scene.

We finally got close enough to Silver and Zan for the latter one to see that Jay had changed. He quickly snarled and got ready to protect Silver and me.

“You don’t pass. You dangerous,” he said, growling.

“Down boy. I’m not here to fight you, although I would love to go a round with you when you’re older. Now we’re busy, way too busy, to stop. Shoo, shoo!” he said to Zan.

“Both of you stop! Zan, Jay just saved me. You don’t have to protect me from him. Jay, Zan isn’t a dog. He’s perfectly capable of understanding English. Now, Silver, I’m gonna need your help. I think I have an idea on how we can get inside.”

I took a quick look around and saw the faces of the people around me, the people I loved. There was something wrong about the cube, and Jay, and his parasite, and yeah, seeing him like that, not being able to recognize me or remember what had happened between us earlier, it’s less embarrassing that I thought it would be. But still, this was a mission that we had to complete.

This mission was sure to make us get closer to the truth about the Nusae and the heritage they left behind.

And I am dead set on finding it.

“Listen. We’re gonna have only one chance at this.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Jay

When the short, black-haired human wanted something, she would make sure to get it no matter what. Her eyes seemed more vivid than ever before, more than that time when the underground human had captured her. I didn’t know why or how we ended up fucking before, but now I kinda saw it.

Girls like her drew me like fire drew moths. She was dangerous and safe at the same time, and I was ready and unprepared for what would follow. I wanted to make sure her plan worked because it sounded fun, plus I wanted to actually find out more about this little artifact.

Nusae, the three-eyed dwarfs, the garbage of the galaxy, ended up becoming a Great Mystery, and my people, Esuh, completely vanished from the archives. If that wasn’t unfair, then I didn’t know what was. The one thing I knew was that I had to follow her and act drunk.

It took Eladia some time to explain this to me, but humans came up with a substance that intoxicated their organism and made them do stupid things, things that a sane person wouldn’t do otherwise. It was something like inhaling Timedisol, but they actually drank this thing. Nevertheless, after many endless nights of Timedisol-infused paranoia, I kinda knew the feeling she described.

“Okay, are you ready? Here it goes. Don’t talk, don’t say anything that a drunk person wouldn’t say, and don’t stop walking. We only have one chance.”

I nodded. I started to stagger all the way to the main entrance where a thin, gray-haired man was waiting outside. By the time he saw us, he moved closer to us and tried to stop us when Eladia got in front of me and blocked his vision.

“You kids. You can’t be here. This is the World Embassy, not a bar to continue your drinking. You can’t get inside.”

“I’m really sorry. You misunderstood us. I’m Eladia Matthews, and my friend here is really drunk. We need a place to let him lie down for a moment before he returns to his mothership. They don’t tolerate behavior like that there, and he can get in jail if they catch him drunk. Would it be too much if we spend half an hour inside? We really don’t know where else to go.”

The man checked me, then Eladia, then Silver and Zan.

“Matthews? Like the politician Matthews? Oh my, are you the young Eladia, the girl with the buns that used to run back and forth all the time? I’m Ron. Do you remember me?”

“Ron? Of course, I remember you! How are you? Oh, my god, I’m so embarrassed now, you must think I’m some type of miscreant or something. I’m so sorry,” she says to him, adding a tint of drama to her voice.

At this part, I decided to improvise a little. The guard seemed like he needed one last push to break.

“Eladia? Baby? Where are we going? I can’t return to the ship. I have to sober up first. Eladia?” I bellowed like I was amidst a drunken stupor.

The guard casted me a critical glance like he wanted to stab me with his eyes.

He really thinks I can feel remorse or something like that? Poor, little human. I shed away all those feelings when I was just a kid, unlike you overly emotional humans.

“Look, you have thirty minutes tops. But one bit of advice? You have to start choosing your company better, young lady. You don’t deserve--” he said, but Eladia interrupted him, waving goodbye, asking for forgiveness on her way inside.

As soon as we took a turn to our left and disappeared from the old man’s vision, I stopped acting drunk. Zan and Silver laughed, and I followed their example.

“That was the most reckless thing I’ve done in my whole life,” the android said.

“Fun, fun. It was too much fun,” Zan said in his broken speech.

I got ready to speak as well when Eladia got closer to me and slapped me. Her petite hand didn’t seem strong at first, but the scorching mark ached more than I believed.

“You’re such an asshole. Why did you go and implied that I’m your girlfriend?”

“You’re delusional. I just acted that way so the guard could feel sorry for you and let us in faster. What’s gotten into you?” I said to her, rubbing my hot cheek.

“I had it under control. You don’t get to decide when to bud in or when it’s the right moment to do anything. This man is an esteemed worker that knows my father. What would he say if he found out that I barged in with a strange, drunk person telling everyone that he was my boyfriend?”

I wanted to reply to her, but the hair on the back of my neck started to prickle. I had felt like this before, back on Earth, before those strange creatures attacked us.

“Zan? Zan what’s wrong?” Silver suddenly muttered.

The young man got in front of the silver android and started snarling at the world. He must have picked up on the danger as well. Only Eladia seemed totally disconnected from the rest of the company.

“Don’t change the subject. I want you to--”

“Shush! Get behind me,” I said to her, but I was out of time.

Two trained fighters, in full, battle gear appeared out of nowhere from into the shadows. I suddenly forgot that I was with Eladia and the rest of the bunch and my blood pumped.

My hands were itchy, and I felt my heart ready to burst from anticipation. They took out their weapons, two buzzing swords each, and started swinging them fast. Their first attack aimed at Eladia whose back was turned to them.

Shit! She always gets in trouble and I have to save her.

When I leaped and got between her and the buzzing sword, dropping her on the ground so that both of us could dodge the attack, a smile covered my face.

“At last, some fun!!! Bring it on!”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Eladia

I didn’t know who Jay was anymore. His Dark, parasitic self, the bloodlust filled monster than never missed a chance to fight, had saved me twice now in less than a day. I was certain he didn’t do it for me, but I couldn’t deny the fact that he had first plunged at me and then at the warriors.

The three of them moved too fast for me to keep up with their moves. I didn’t know who was winning or losing, and I certainly couldn’t find a good way to help Dark Jay.

But, at the end of the day, I didn’t know if he needed any help. He seemed to be going par-to-par with the two warriors, if not get the best out of them. From what I picked up, Jay used the back of his hands to minimize the damage, and his feet to attack.

So good a job he did that his two enemies were starting to back away. They talked to each other to a strange language, something from the North Quarter of the Known Galaxy. I couldn’t pick up a word, but I stood up and ran towards Silver.

“What did they say?”

Only a moment later, my assistant translated everything to me: “They have a mission. They want to stop us from getting to the top, even if they have to die in the process.”

Shit. They’re ready to go down to stop him.

At that moment, I felt like I couldn’t pick sides in this battle. Dark Jay had saved me twice now, but his monstrous strength intimidated and frightened me. But the other two men tried to kill me, so it was not easy to feel compassionate about them.

“Zan, no! Stop!” I heard Silver suddenly shouting.

I turned and saw the young Zan running to take part in the battle. He blended in quite well, using his young and supple physique to help Dark Jay. Only that something was wrong with him.

“He’s losing speed. He’s turning back to the other Jay,” I finally noticed.

I felt somehow relieved that Dark Jay returned to his slumber, but right now I thought that there was no way he could handle the two men in front of him.

Zan must have realized that before us because he got there just in time to save him. The young boy wasn’t so physically adept as Jay, but he seemed like he had a plan.

“Jay, attack!” the boy said, shouting.

Jay used his hands to punch in front of him. One of his two adversaries tried to stop him only for Zan to kick the man’s arm. Jay’s punch connected, breaking his target’s neck, while the other guy fell on the ground with a broken arm, unable to move.

The battle ended with Jay stomping the other man to the head, making him lose his senses. At that moment, he turned and looked at me.

“Where am I? What’s going on Eladia?”

And that was when it dawned on me. Every time in the past, when he turned to Dark Jay, we could somehow explain the transition. Now, many hours later and after changing our location, he must have been really confused on what had happened.

“Jay, I’ll explain things to you later. Now we have to hurry to the top floor.”

He didn’t move. He stood there, looking at his hands, searching for a clue of what had happened but he was unable to find any.

Shit, I fucked everything up.

“Jay, please trust me on this. We have to go. Now!” I said to him one last time.

This time, he heard me and managed to snap from his deep thoughts. I felt bad for not telling the truth, but something was wrong here, and it was closely connected to the cube reacting to something in this building.

We ran all the way to the elevators, and we all rode one. In a moment, we were on the top floor, the only lit up place of the whole building. I could hear the clanking of metal on metal, the distinctive sound of a fight.

“It comes from the main room. We have to hurry,” Silver said.

As we ran to the main area of the floor, I could see three men fighting. I recognized the tattoos on the sleeveless arms of the two of them, signs of the Originators.

I stopped and urged the rest of them to do the same. “Stop. We’ll only get on their way. They are Originators, the most elite soldiers of the known galaxy. We’ll only make things worse if we rush in there now.”

I had seen Originators fight in the past, but this was nothing alike. The duo moved in perfect unison, backing each other up, using their bodies as support, making the impossible possible. Exactly like Dark Jay had done before.

I looked at Jay, but he seemed way too lost in his thoughts. I didn’t know what to do to make him come back, but it was like our time together was not enough for him to get more intimate with me.

I was ready to say something when I heard a loud shout coming from inside the room, where the battle raged.

“Antony!” a woman bellowed.

Their adversary, a man with a dark red demon mask in the style of the ancient Japanese ones, ornate with black lines and two, small horns, managed to kill one of the two Originators.

I capped my mouth with my hand, and I tried to understand what was going on. Then, with one broad swing, the red demon decapitated the other Originator.

All of us stood still, frozen in the sight of two of the most elite soldiers getting killed by a total stranger. I wanted to run and help them, but I was too late. The other man picked something up from their bodies and headed for the window leading outside.

Before he jumped, he looked straight to our way and waved. I didn’t know if that was meant as some kind of taunt or something, but I felt anger boiling inside my chest.

“What has happened?” Silver was the first one to talk.

I rushed into the room, Jay and Zan behind me. “Silver, scan their bodies for traces of the Nusae energy. We have to know what was that this man took,” I said, trying to hold back my tears.

I wanted to promise I would avenge them, but I didn’t know if I could. So, my best hope was to make sure I solved this Great Mystery so that their deaths weren’t in vain.

“Eladia, we have a problem. There is a bomb on the ground floor, a bomb ready to burst. We have to hurry, now!”

“Shit. No signs about any Nusae artifacts?”

“No! Please, let’s go! We don’t have enough time!”

I swore behind my teeth once again, and I decided it was too late now to search their bodies. Only that Jay thought otherwise.

“Jay! Jay, we have to go! Come on!”

But there was something shining in his hand. While holding the cube, he revealed the faces of the two fallen Originators. I charged next to him only to see two very familiar faces on the floor.

“Jessie? Antony?”

I heard someone calling that name before but I thought what were the chances it was that Antony?

“Do you know them?” Jay asked me.

“Yes. Well, I thought I knew them. I’ll make sure to explain everything to you Jay, but we have to go. Now!”

He nodded and we quickly used the elevator to get downstairs. It was not the safer choice, not by far, but we were fifty floors up in the sky and using the stairs would make it impossible to make it in time.

We ran towards the entrance only to see Ron, the guard, waiting for us on the ground floor.

“Where have you been? I’ve been waiting for you for over ten minutes.”

“Run Ron. Run if you want to live!” I said out loud, but it was too late.

The bomb exploded only a second after we took a step out of the building. I saw Ron get buried under the falling rumbles. There was nothing I can do but cry.

We were alive but so many people died today because of this Nusae artifact. I didn’t know that for sure, but something in my mind told me that this tiny thing was the reason behind everything that had happened here today.

I turned around me to look at Jay, only to see him walk away. I rushed to his side and stopped him before taking another step forward.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“Leave me alone. You lied to me. You were lying to me from the start. There is something inside me, right? Something that takes over my body and kills in my place?”

He knows.

“I can explain. Please…”

“Just leave it human. Esuh means lonely, and now I understand why.”

I wanted to follow him but at that moment, amidst the dirt of the destroyed embassy, I saw someone moving straight into a back alley.

Another demon, this one with a blue mask, ran away from the crime scene. It was either that or my imagination was playing tricks on me.

Either way, once again, I ran after Jay, the man with the two faces, the alien I had started to fall in love with.

The only thing I could do now was to chase him and talk to him but in my mind, I cherished the moments we spent together on that chilly roof.

I wished that that moment had never ended.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Eladia

Mosa was believed to be impenetrable. Mosa, humanity’s greatest city, the jewel of Yaerus. When I see the rumbles of the Great Embassy lying all around me, I can’t help but feel fear grow inside me about my planet, my race, about myself. And yet, the only thing in my mind, even among this chaos, is what does Jay feel about me?

Can I earn his trust again?

I don’t know. Nonetheless, I keep running after him. Well, not run but certainly limp. Having just survived a fifty-floors plunge to our deaths, we are mostly fine except some minor injuries. Jay, however, is the only one that seems seriously hurt, lying on the ground, his face filled with blood.

It’s a miracle that we’re all still alive.

Before I can even begin to understand what’s going on, Jay is on his feet, trying to get away from me. I don’t know how he’s able to even stand or where he finds that inner strength to keep moving, but I’m not sure I want to find out soon. Probably, he’s trying to get away from me.

Behind me, Zan and Silver try to keep up with us. Zan is in shock while Silver remains the same emotionless android as always. To be honest, I don’t blame her. She’s not programmed to have feelings after all.

Everything is blurry. I...I don’t know what to think anymore. Today is the first day I saw someone die in front of me and the day a building collapsed on me while we were still inside. If I’m in shock, it certainly feels empty in here; empty and distant.

Yeah, that’s the word...distant.

“Eladia...you should back off. Give him some space. He doesn’t want to see you now,” Silver says to me although I hear nothing except my name.

Eladia.

My name is not mine if it doesn’t come from his lips.

God, I’m so selfish. The world just crumbled and fell on my head and the only thing I can think is our moments up on that roof. When he got me naked under that chilly sky and made love to me.

The distance between us shortens with every step. Soon, I’ll be able to catch up to him. But what am I going to say to him then? Am I ready to face him?

His dark expression is imprinted on my mind, his eyes sparkling flames of blame. I want to stop following him but I can’t. I can’t turn back now. We’re way too deep into this to stop.

“I told you before human, stop following me,” he suddenly says.

Jay stops. His voice is a mix of cold and blank feelings. There is nothing in there reminding me of the old Jay, my Jay.

“You know I can’t do that. We have to talk. I want to explain to you how I feel,” I say, but I know my words can’t reach him.

A cloud of dirt covers everything around us. It must have been over half an hour already since the time the bomb on the Great Embassy set off. Only a haunting silence remains now. Are there more victims? Was there something I could do to stop it?

“There is nothing...there is nothing you can do now. You were lying to me...you...you…” he keeps saying, muttering. For a moment it feels like he isn’t talking to me but to himself.

“I had to keep this secret from you, Jay. You don’t know what your other self can do.”

I can hear the despair in my voice; despair and misery. What troubles me the most, however, is that if I can hear it, then it’s sure that Jay must have picked up on that himself. I feel something running down my back. It’s itching and hot. There’s a voice inside me telling me that it’s blood. I choose to ignore it.

“You speak like you wanted to protect me, but you only wanted to protect yourself,” he says.

Jay starts walking away from me again.

My body feels heavy, and I want to sit down and rest for a while, but I know that we don’t have much time before the police arrive. Jay is an Esuh, part of an extinct alien species. If the police find out about him, they will keep him stranded in a research facility somewhere on Yaerus and experiment on him for many years before they let him go. I can’t let that happen.

I’m ready to take another step forward when Zan rushes to my side and stops me.

“You don’t have to do this. Jasih is afraid and alone. Jasih is like Zan before he met Silver.”

The young boy sounds anxious and sad. He’s wearing normal clothes now, and he doesn’t walk on his fours all the time, but he’s still hairier than common humans, even though Silver insists in grooming him every two weeks or so. His dark hair makes him look older than his real age, and his green eyes sparkle in the middle of the night.

Still, even he’s right.

My lips curl upwards in a tilted smile. I stretch my hand and touch his thick-with-hair head. I pat him; he seems confused for a moment.

“You can’t be more right, Zan. But like you’ve found Silver, Jay needs to find that one person he can communicate with. Only that he’s not so good at talking as you were when we first met you. That’s why I have to chase him and teach him how to talk,” I say.

I’m not sure he understands completely but still, he nods. Hell, I’m not sure I know what I’m saying myself. I’m just another Chronicler trying to follow the trail of clues the Nusae left behind before vanishing. The Great Mystery seems an easier task to tackle now, certainly easier than finding the right words to mend this situation.

And so, I keep following him.

Zan wants to come after me, but Silver stops him. He tries complaining, but the last thing I hear is Silver saying to him: “she has to do this alone.”

That’s a pretty wise comment from a robot that thinks in ones and zeroes. She must have picked this up from a film or something.

Five minutes later, we’re still walking. We have wandered off the area of the destroyed embassy. I’m not sure where we are, but we’re still walking. In time, I hear the first sirens of police vehicles echo in the dead silence of the night. The flying shuttles head to the area of the destroyed building, their blue and red lights flashing prominently.

My attention is drawn to them so much that I forget for a moment that I’m on a mission to win back Jay’s trust. When I turn my head to check on him, I quickly notice that he has stopped walking. He’s standing perfectly still. My heart skirts wildly; the first thing that comes to my mind is that he must have changed his mind, that he wants to talk to me after all.

“Jay...,” I start, but he doesn’t react to my voice.

He’s just standing there, his statuesque build towering before me. I can still feel his hot breath on my neck when he hugged me before, on that roof. This time, even though we’re just a breath away from each other, I know I have to keep my hands to myself.

I open my mouth to say something, but the words never come. Even though I’m not ready to give up on him yet, I don’t know what to say. So, I grab my ponytail and pull it down to a tighter knot.

I start putting random words in a line, forming sentences; it sounds like talking, but I’m not sure it’s me that it does it.

“The first time I saw you, you were just a tall man with a really pale skin sleeping inside a cryo-pod. The only thing I thought back then was that these pods have the power to last for years and that I have to set you free from your eternal sleep. However, that day, when we got attacked by a pack of wild animals that tried to kill us, you fought them with all your strength, but you couldn’t win.

“And that’s when your dark self, woke up and protected us all. With ash gray skin and bloodlust filling his eyes, the man inside you took over and almost killed us. I was afraid, thinking that the next time you turn, the same thing will happen again.

“So, we all agreed that it would be better if we never said anything to you. And that worked for the first six months, while we were traveling from planet to planet. You didn’t change, not even once and even we had started to forget our own lies. Around that time, Silver came up with a theory that you only change when you’re in a pinch, like when you hit your head, or you’re in danger. How could I’ve known that you could also change when making love to me?”

Throughout my monolog, Jay doesn’t talk, not even once. If he’s giving me the cold shoulder, then he’s way too good and way too stubborn. It’s not like him to not say anything, even when he knows he’s right. He always wants to have the last word.

So, I walk around him and get in front of him. His body is stiff and full of dark red stains. I was sure that there were countless wounds under his clothes, but I never expected to see him collapse. Jay falls to the ground, first hitting his back and then his head.

The pain must have been immense. He came back for a second, shouting in pain before his eyes rolled back and he passed out again.

Fear hits me like a cold wave of water. I start shaking seeing him lie on the ground motionless, lifeless. I want to do something, but I feel like my will has abandoned my body. Fortunately, Silver and Zan appear out of nowhere and take over.

Jay was the only thing giving me the strength I needed to stay conscious. Now that he collapsed, my legs start trembling, and my stomach is trying to push more bile out of my body.

I manage to hold back a new round of throwing up, but I’m way too tired to keep my eyes open. So, without saying anything to my friends, I make the two steps needed towards the nearby pavement and sit on the concrete. Before I know it, I’m lying there, sleeping the sadness off.

It has been a long day.

Chapter Thirty

Jay

I’m standing on the roof of a building. It feels familiar, but I can’t get my mind to focus enough to recognize it. The sky is dark, and there is nothing to do up here but watch the city fade under my feet.

I take a step towards the edge of the roof, and I get the feeling that I’ve lived in this exact moment before. It’s that feeling when you know what’s going to happen, and everything feels familiar to you even though you know you’ve never been to that place before.

I take a good look around me, but I can’t understand where I am. For now, I’m on the roof of a city in the middle of nowhere.

Suddenly, a girl appears before me, a girl with long, blond hair and shining, blue eyes. That girl is the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen, so beautiful that I can’t think myself doing anything illicit to her. She’s a creature made of pure light, her whole body shining like a star.

It takes me a minute to figure that the young woman is standing on the ledge of the roof, one foot hanging over the edge.

“Hello?”

My word echoes around me like I’m in an empty room, making the whole place seem even more empty than it already is. The girl never replies to me; she only stands up there, leaning at the end of the roof.

Right then I realize that something is wrong with her. The light doesn’t come from her but from behind her. Soon, the glow gets more intense, strong enough to swallow the city whole in its brightness.

“Run! Don’t just stand there!!! Jump!” I start saying to her.

Jump!

This word echoes deep inside me like it’s a command I have to follow. I’m vaguely aware that I just said that to myself, but it doesn’t make it easier to disobey it.

Soon, the light is strong enough that I can’t do anything but close my eyes. There is no sound anymore, anything except a murmur coming from the distant dark.

“Jay...Jay...”

That name again. Who is calling me in that name?

Her voice is like a beacon of hope in this blinding light. Out of nowhere, a name pops in my mind:

Eladia.

“Jay, are you alright? Oh my god, Jay, you’re finally awake!”

When I open my eyes, the first thing I notice is that I’m not in pain anymore. In fact, it feels like I’m better than the last time I found myself waking up from a mystery slumber.

I take a deep breath and look around me only to see a line of familiar faces. Eladia is standing above me, her black hair caught in that hideous tail as always, but her brown eyes big and beautiful as I remember them.

Silver, the Android with the holographic human parts is sitting two feet behind her, close enough for me to see her but too far to talk to me. On her side, the wild boy from Primordial Earth, Zan, seems worried in his own, stoic way, sitting next to her.

I wonder, do I look like him when I’m worried?

Maybe.

For a moment, everything inside me feels normal in a twisted, confusing way. I know I must have been sleeping for a long time, but I don’t know how much. That means that I must ask her.

I turn my head and gaze straight into Eladia’s big brown eyes and then, everything comes to me at once. Our adventure back on Primordial Earth, that time we got intimate on that roof, and then when I woke up not knowing where I was, the time I found out she had been lying about my true identity the whole time.

At once, the room starts feeling too crowded for me. I command my hand to get her out of the way, but, for a reason unknown, my hand doesn’t follow my order. Instead, it stays frozen on my side, a dead chunk of meat.

“Where am I? What did you do to me? I can’t move,” I start saying, intending for my voice to be loud and clear but the only thing coming out is a silent mumble.

“Jay...Jay, you have to relax,” the female human, the one that betrayed me, says.

I don’t want to listen to her, but it doesn’t seem like I have a choice.

The human turns and nods at her faithful companions and they both rush out of the room, into the busy hallway. They leave me alone with this woman.

“Jay...Jay, please let me explain to you. You were seriously injured, and--”

“I don’t want to hear anything from you! Get out!”

The last part is closer to a roar. I can’t control my temper around her, now more than ever.

“Hey! This is not a bar, fella. This is a hospital. You don’t get to shout at anyone in here, do you understand?”

Another human walks inside the room, this one a male. Tall, blond, with dark brown eyes and a fit body. His face’s calm and soothing, especially for a male human.

“Who are you?” I say.

Eladia seems to recognize him.

“I’m the person that treats you while you’re here. You were pretty roughed up when your friends brought you here. You’ve been up and down for two weeks now. It wasn’t easy getting you up to shape again, buddy,” the man says.

He touches my chest with a metal object with a small screen on the top. He waits patiently for a second and then nods to himself. He does the same thing a couple more time to different parts of my body, nodding every time like he’s having a conversation with himself.

“You’re better today. One more week in the bed and you will be as good as new.”

His voice is hoarse and deep but reassuring in some way. It feels like, for a change, I can trust him.

“I can’t move my hands and legs,” I say, trying to push a yawn down into my chest.

“Don’t worry, it’s common in your case. You’re packed with some pretty strong meds, big fella. Now, don’t be rude to your friends. Ms. Matthews, can I see you for a moment outside?”

Eladia looks at the doctor and me, one after the other before nodding and leaving my side. For some reason, I want him to stay, but I can’t hold my eyes open for too long. My eyelids are suddenly heavy, and before I know it, I’m drifting back to sleep.

The last thing that crosses my mind is the man’s eyes.

I like that man.

Chapter Thirty-One

Eladia

“Ms. Matthews, you have to understand that Jay has not fully recovered yet. It’s a miracle that he managed to survive with injuries as severe as his, but for some reason, every time he wakes up it seems like he has a difficult time seeing you in the same room with him. Would you care to explain to me what’s going on between you two?”

Doctor Cross is without a doubt the best doctor in this hospital. Not only he’s young and handsome, but for some reason, he had no difficulty believing everything we said to him, even though we never quite shared the whole story with him.

I can’t go on now and tell him that we’re possible targeted by a man wearing a red, demon mask since we’re the only witnesses to the murders he committed. Nor I can tell him that Zan is a new human species that comes from Primordial Earth. Or that the small cube that can’t be moved too far away from Jay’s body is a Nusae artifact that could mean the solution of the Great Mystery.

Either way, Dale Cross, the doctor, had no problem trusting us in the first place since he only knows half the truth hiding behind our wounds. Still, he has been kind and protective, certainly a man worth protecting from our dangerous truth.

“Let’s just say we had a fight before he got hurt and he doesn’t seem able to handle it well yet. Isn’t that a good enough reason for him to be angry?”

His left brow arches above his eye into a cute scowl; this man is hot even when he’s angry. He kinda reminds me of Jay on that end.

“Eladia,” he says, lowering his voice, “you know you can trust me. I won’t hurt you. When people go through a traumatic experience like what you went through, it changes them enough to forget their petty arguments. Also, you saved his life. You were the ones that brought him to the hospital when he was almost dead. I’m sure he can find it in his heart to forgive you.”

Dale is right. I can’t keep lying to him as I did with Jay. That attitude didn’t get me very far with him. He’s so mad at me now that he can’t put his anger beside and just forgive me. But, would I do the same if I were in his place?

“You know doctor, you’re right. But,” I stop, adding a dramatic pause to my saying, “I can’t tell you what’s really going on right now. You have to trust us...me...on this.”

His face softens up, and he sighs. Dale seems like the considerate kind of guy, the type of human that cares what happens to you. He’s certainly not like those extremists that want to rush the human race to the top rank.

“Okay. I understand. However, the next time you’re in the middle of an adventure, remember what we had to go through to save him in the first place. Okay?” I nod. “Perfect. I really have to go and make my rounds now. I’ll be back later tonight to check up on him. He’s gonna need quite a lot of rest to fully recover, but I’m confident he’ll be fine. That serum I came up certainly seems to help him a lot.”

Doctor Cross casts me one last smile and stretches his hand to pat my shoulder before turning away to leave. I want to ask him to stay with us just to make sure there’s nothing wrong with Jay. But, after two weeks of always being on our side, I kinda trust this man with our life.

I walk back into the room. The television is on and kinda loud. We have the room for ourselves, but it's way too loud even for a company of four, like us. There's a breaking news report. I focus on that for a moment.

“We are now live from Mosa, Yaerus where a second hit of the infamous Tech-Infection was just discovered. A middle-aged lady was found earlier this evening in her apartment standing in the middle of a large number of guttered animals.

“The police has been called and managed to decompress the situation in mere minutes, and although we still have no info about the so-called disease, this is the second hit this week and the fiftieth on Yaerus. The only thing common to that disease is--”

I decide to shut the television off. It seems like the world keeps dealing with their problems even without us running around making new ones.

Now that there's no sound coming from the TV, I notice that there is some kind of commotion on the hallway behind me. For a hospital, it's nothing out of the ordinary, but it still makes me get on my feet and check if everything is alright. It's nothing like the day we first arrived in the hospital but still, there are countless people running up and down the hallway, searching for something.

Silver has returned to her lessons with Zan, who has improved his handle of the language quite a bit through the last two weeks. Maybe hearing other people talk around him, and with the help of the miraculous and lovable Dale Cross, the boy had blossomed into a true man. He still has to overcome his share of difficulties before having complete control of the language, but he’s getting there.

Well, with nothing else to do all day but study for the last couple weeks, the young man could only get better. Still, after I turn my head and watch Jay sleep, my mind returns to my previous concerns.

Dale is right. It was a miracle that Jay didn’t die when we first got him here. He was bleeding badly, and he had lost so much blood already that his usually platinum skin was now plain white. I couldn’t stand watching him suffer before I passed out. The sight of him, looking like a dead man, frightened me.

When I finally I came up to the hospital, the doctors reassured me that he was still alive, although just barely.

I turn my head and see Silver walk towards me. “Eladia, is everything okay? Did doctor Dale need something?”

Silver has a small “user-crush” with Dale, like everyone else in this room. Those two would stay up for hours discussing medicine and philosophy and anything that I never had the time to speak about with her. It was like Dale was the piece missing from our already peculiar bunch of people, and even though Jay was the only one among us in dire need of medical attention, all of us ended up under Doctor Cross’ reassuring care.

“No, no. He was just asking about my relationship with Jay.”

“And? Did you say anything to him?”

“Of course not. I told him that it’s complicated and that I owe him an explanation sometime in the future. Kinda like what I say to all the men around me lately.”

I sigh and melt back into my armchair. My eyes quickly fall on Jay’s motionless body. Another memory of the last couple weeks surfaces. Those two fateful days when I was sure he would die on me, the days that we found out that Jay is a hydro-recovery organism. Well, at least that’s how Dale put it.

One night, after another one of his lengthy operations, the doctor came out of the operating room looking as skeptical as a man with bad news can only be. He came to me and whispered something about Jay never getting through the night. I don’t quite remember what he said to me back then since I hadn’t been able to sleep for the last three days. All my memories from that time are a complete mess.

All of his vitals had taken a fall for the worst, and most of his internal organs were malfunctioning, ready to collapse at any moment. And as if that wasn’t enough to make me worry, Dale also told me that even after all the drugs they stuffed in him, dosages that would have killed a common man, didn’t work at all with him.

That’s when the doctor started asking questions to me, the likes of ‘where is he from?’ and ‘what’s his blood type?’ and ‘are you his close acquaintances?’. Stuff like that.

When I couldn’t answer any of his questions, the man confronted me in an honest and straightforward way.

“Look Ms. Matthews. I know that it has been a long week so far for both of us, but if you don’t trust me there is a big change that your friend, Jay, will die. I’m sure there’s a way for us to save him, but you have to work with me. I took an oath to protect and care for all living species, but you never did. However, if you don’t start talking soon, I’m sure both of will be burdened with this man’s death for the rest of our lives.”

Right then, I would have told him even my father’s bank account password if he asked me to. From that moment on, I started talking to him, telling him everything I could, treading in thin ropes, not entirely sure if was doing the right thing.

But, while I was telling him our story, the man kept searching for a clue on how to help him. He found it in our first intimate moment together, that time when Jay dived into the small lake back on Primordial Earth and later seemed restored and reinvigorated.

“If that’s true, then...then we’ve been treating him the wrong way this whole time.”

That night, and for the next three days, the doctor made sure that Jay survived by moving him to a special room they used for hydro-recovery organisms, like the Detir and the Pots. As a student, I remember taking a class on the history of outer-space organisms that mentioned the hydro-recovery system. In that class we learned that these types of organisms spend a great deal of their evolution path living close or inside the water, eventually leading up to their partial dependency of aquatic environments.

Humans are not hydro-recovery organisms even though life on Primordial Earth started from the oceans. But Detir and Pots, mostly populating planets covered by over 90% with water, had a different kind of coping mechanism that allowed them to recover a great deal of their strength after getting in contact with the aquatic element.

From that day on, Jay started getting better fast, and the new rounds of medicines started working on him. During the last week, even though he had his ups and downs, spending half an hour every two days awake and screaming in agony, he started recovering. The difficult part came when he stopped shouting and started making a ruckus trying to leave the hospital every time he was awake. That’s why the doctor had to come up with a serum that deprived him of his use of hands and feet for a while, just enough to calm him.

I feel guilty for letting him do that, but I’m certain it’s in his best interest. Yeah, lying to him to protect him was for his best interest as well, but I can’t help wanting to protect him from the agony of having to face a difficult truth.

He’s not alone inside that body.

Doctor Dale suddenly appears in the door. He once again signals me to follow him outside; I quickly do so.

“Sorry to bother you again, but I wanted to ask you something before I totally forgot it. Would it be too much if you let me keep Jay here for a couple more weeks to run some tests on him and--”

“No,” I say in a totalitarian tone. That was out of the question.

“Okay,” he says to me promptly and rushes to his next task.

I smile at his back and somehow feel better with his goofy behavior. It’s like he sensed I was worrying about Jay and decided to pass by and lighten the mood. That’s Doctor Cross for you.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Jay

I open my eyes and look at the ceiling. It is too dark in here to make out the details, but it seems like it’s a plain white, common part of a regular room. The endless lights of Mosa cast their dim presence in the furniture, making the shadows inside the room dance impatiently.

My eyes are cloudy, and my limbs feel heavy, but I’ve regained some control of my senses. For a moment, it feels like I’m dreaming, but soon I realize I’m not. I feel like I’ve been here before or that I had spent many hours in this room, although this is the first time that I realize it. The pain I feel in the lower part of my body makes this whole scene feel too real.

I can smell people everywhere around me, people that I kinda expected they’d be here. A gentle sigh comes from my left side. I turn and see Eladia’s face. Her dark hair is still caught up in that hideous ponytail, but for some reason, she looks more beautiful than ever.

She smells of shampoo and exhaustion, the heady smell that comes from a person that hasn’t showered for many days. But, it kinda suits her. Eladia is born to live outside in the open, to have her adventures away from the close quarters of a room.

But, her smooth skin and pressing chest intimidate me. I want to kiss her and get as far away from her as possible at the same time. I can feel we were close before. I even remember that something started between us up on that roof, but a long shadow covers that memory. Maybe the lights of Mosa are dancing with me as well.

Trust was the thread that tied everything together between us, and that thread had snapped after finding out she knew that something was wrong with me all along and didn’t say a thing.

I try to change to my other side and get to a more comfortable position on the bed when I notice the sound of a pair of feet walking into the room. Out of instinct, I decide to stand still and play dead. No, not dead...sleeping. Dead would be bad after all.

A new scent fills in the air, a potent aroma that dominates with its presence. I want to turn and watch who emits that scent, but it’s impossible. My hands and feet are still numb from whatever the hell they did to me here. Fortunately, the presence decides to come closer. It stops for a moment under the frame of the door, sighs, and then moves forward.

“It’s a lovely night, Doctor Cross. I thought your rounds would have been over by now,” I hear Silver suddenly spurt from a corner of the room.

The man doesn’t lose his cool although I’m sure I discern a tint of surprise on his step. He wasn’t expecting anyone to be up, not even the robot.

“It’s a lovely night indeed, Silver. I’ve told you times and times again, you don’t have to stay up all night and take care of him. The staff of this hospital is one of the best in the Known Galaxy.”

His words are rushed and forced; he’s improvising, trying to hide something from her.

“I have no doubt about the skills of your staff, doctor. Those that have nothing to do with the staff worry me.”

What? What does she mean?

Doctor Cross wonders the same thing.

“For something to worry you, a Chronicler’s assistant, it must be really serious. Can you share the details with me?”

He was baiting her to answer his questions. He’s a smart human, that much I’ll give him. But, an Android can’t be fooled that easily.

Without a sign of doubt, she replies: “We’ve talked about this again Doctor. I’m not allowed to say anything to you, and you shouldn’t ask me the same question every time. There’s a reason why you humans invented that saying, that funny, little expression.”

“The curiosity killed the cat, right?”

She must have nodded because their conversation ended promptly.

I don’t know about the doctor, but I would’ve killed to know what she’s talking about. Either the victim was she or her cat, or whatever she thought I had to kill, I would have done it. But the human doctor—I guess he’s human after all—doesn’t. He has given up into finding the answer to this question way before tonight.

“Okay, okay. You’re right. It’s just that you’re a pretty unusual bunch, that’s all. Well, you and Eladia are somehow normal, but your friends, aren’t.”

He’s closer to me now. He raises the thin sheet covering my body and touches my left foot with a cold, metal thing. After hearing a beep, the doctor takes a step back, he nods and then turns his back to me. I hear his steps get weaker while drawing away from me.

So now, the only thing obstructing my escape is that stupid, morphing android. I never quite liked her, not the same way I like Zan or Eladia.

You don't like Eladia either.

For a moment, my mind feels crowded. I know that I was the one that made that thought just now, but at the same time, I’m not sure. I feel puzzled and certain at the same time. I don’t know if this is a dream or reality anymore.

There is a thumping coming from deep inside my head that it’s strong enough to make me feel dizzy. I stop and try to open my eyes to ease the pressure, but it doesn’t help. The thumping gets louder and more intense, and it soon shakes my whole body.

It’s when I hear a scream coming from the hallway that I know that the thumping isn’t only in my head. Zan seems to have noticed it too.

“What was that?” the young boy says.

“What was what Zan? Did you have a bad dream?” Silver asks him.

Maybe if I stay silent a little bit longer, they’ll leave the room and let me escape silently. But the thumping is now louder than before and soon I figure that this isn’t a simple thump; this is a march.

“Wake up! Eladia, Zan, wake up!!!”

The familiar voice of Doctor Cross echoes inside the room. He’s just barely heard above the cacophony of steps marching down the hallway. Eladia is the last one to wake up.

“What’s wrong? What’s that sound?”

I keep acting that I’m still asleep, hoping they leave without me, but I’m not off the hook so easily.

“I...I don’t know what’s going on. I heard someone say that the lower floors are filled with reanimated corpses swarming the hallways,” the doctor says.

He sounds panicked although he doesn’t feel panicked. I’m confused.

“What? That can’t be possible. Zombies? Is that what you’re saying?” Eladia suddenly replies.

“Well, I wouldn’t put it that way, but yes. Zombies can be a pretty inclusive term.”

What are they talking about? Zom...bees? Are those some kind of bees? I don’t understand.

And then it happens. The shriek of an otherworldly monster comes from just outside our room. I open my eyes and rise to see dead bodies walking. What in the world?

Chapter Thirty-Three

Eladia

When I was younger, I used to meet all those actors and musicians, and they used to sign my shirt or mug to give me an autograph. Anyway, growing up at a politically involved house had its perks. Even some of the most famous actors were my buddies back then. So, when I was at the proper age to start visiting the setting to their movies and the backstage to their concerts, I quickly got disappointed.

All those monsters in the films and the special effects in the concerts were products of computers and extras. Nothing was even the tiniest bit real.

It wasn’t the same as watching the finished movie and believing that everything is possible. Visiting the setting and seeing that everything was a lie was a hard pill of truth I had to swallow back then. Now, though, seeing that zombies do exist and walk straight into our room, the first thing that crosses my mind is that I kinda wish that these things were fake.

Silver was the one standing closer to the door so she tosses herself in front of the horde to stop them from hurting Dale. The doctor, being dumbstruck by the impossible sight, takes a step back but does nothing else to escape. He just looks at the monsters with a mixed expression of disgust and fear. The man that has pledged his life to protect and mend people is just standing still, motionless.

Zan, the savage boy, snarls at the monsters, but Silver stops him. In what must have been a second, Silver morphed into a large, bulky object, fitting the door and pushing the corpses out. It was her fencing form, best used to stop wild animals from approaching the camp.

Silver can buy us five to ten minutes before she runs out of power and the room is overrun with all those undead bodies. Dale is standing before her, shaking like a leaf, mumbling to himself.

“Doctor, please, calm down. You’re the only one in this room that can find a way out of here,” Silver says, her voice distorted.

The man doesn’t move an inch.

“Doctor...Doct...Doc…” Silver keeps saying until she can’t speak anymore. She’s now using her whole power into keeping the fence functional and the zombies out.

I turn my head and try to make a quick assessment of the situation. We’re trapped in a hospital room with a small army of dead bodies outside ready to infiltrate any moment now. Jay is still asleep and unable to move, while Zan can’t do much without his primitive spear. And we’re running out of time fast waiting for the Doctor to snap out of his shock.

At that time, out of nowhere, I see Jay getting up on his feet and stand in front of the frozen doctor. He’s taller than Doctor Cross, but they’re similar in every other way. They’re both athletic, both strikingly handsome, and both fit to lead. Only that Jay has more experience in overcoming impossible situations.

“Listen to me, human doctor. You have to find us a way out. I can’t die in here,” Jay says to him.

The doctor suddenly looks like he reached the surface of a cold lake. He snaps off his shock and starts breathing hungrily.

“Why...why are you awake? You shouldn’t be awake,” Dale says, mumbling.

“It doesn’t matter now. Tell me, is there a way out of this mess? Can you find us a way out of here?”

Dale looks around him and sees Zan snarling at the door, the morphed Silver into her fence form and me, still seated on the armchair in the back. To be honest, I don’t even dare move a muscle. Maybe this is all a dream, and if I move, the spell will break, and it will end up turning into reality.

Oh, who am I kidding? The zombies are real!

“I...well, there is a way out. But we have to get to the stairway down the hall. It’s the only way.”

His voice sounds shaken but optimistic. His survival instincts start to kick in.

“It might be possible, but we have to work together. What do you need, doctor?” Jay says.

“Wait! Wait a minute. I’m still processing the thought. Maybe, after all, the stairway isn’t such a good idea. It might be better to use the elevator.”

I’m confused. I still don’t know what he has in his mind, but I’m afraid that it won’t be enough. Us, five random people, one of them recently recovered from a serious injury and the other a Chronicler’s assistant, are we going to be able to make our way through all those dead bodies alive?

I’m ready to express my concerns about this plan when I suddenly stop. Seeing them work together, Jay trusting another human except me, suddenly gives me hope. There is still a chance for us to get back together if we manage to get out of here alive, but that won’t happen if I don’t help them.

Damn. Look at me, daydreaming. It’s impossible to get him out of my head even amidst a crisis.

I stand up; I quickly realize that my feet are trembling. I don’t want to get closer to the door. I’m afraid. Right at that time, something wakes up inside me; I’m in shock as well.

After seeing all these people dying two weeks ago, I’ve started being afraid of everything. I’ve spent a lot of time in the hospital trying to cope up with my feelings of guilt towards those that died in our stead in the Great Embassy, but it seems that it was all for naught. Now, facing a true crisis, I’m useless.

Two Originators, both of them my friends; one of the guards of the Great Embassy being at the wrong place, the wrong time; many people that we don’t know anything about them. All of them died because of my research. In a sense, it’s my work that brought all this death and destruction; I brought chaos everywhere I went. Jay was just my luckiest victim to date, that’s all.

“Okay. So, here is the plan. Jay and I will be your vanguard. We’ll stay in front of you and push the zombies away creating a path to the elevator. We’re going to have to use the elevator to get three floors down and then the stairway to get to the parking lot of the hospital,” Doctor Dale suddenly says.

“Why don’t we use the elevator all the way to the parking lot? It would be faster and safer,” I hear myself saying.

“The elevator of the hospital is programmed to stop at every floor and open the automated doors so that no one will get trapped inside by accident. It’s a safety thing, but if we don’t get off on the first floor, we’ll get attacked by over a hundred corpses in the morgue. Yes, you guessed it right. We have to pass through the morgue to get to the parking area. And no, I don’t know who designed this building.”

Dale is babbling, trying to make sense of an improbable situation. He seems kinda cute amidst this crisis.

Damn. Stop doing this Eladia. You sound like a horny teenager.

“Okay. There’s no time for second guesses. On the count of three. One--” Jay says.

But it’s too late.

Silver suddenly runs out of power. Slowly, she transforms into a tiny ball the size of a marble. It’s a black, metal ball on that falls on the floor, letting us stare straight into our deaths. In the moments it takes us to get in line and start pushing the zombies, I manage to get a better look at them.

All of them are human with pale skins and white eyes. The color of their irises has been washed away and now they have two white eyeballs devoid of life instead of eyes. In the middle of their forehead, there is a round, flashing button, something resembling an on/off switch. I wonder if that is the thing that powers them up.

Jay and Dale stand in the front, both using their hands to push the dead corpses away. The empty bodies gurgle when getting pushed backward. I want to run, but I know that getting freaked out now, of all the times, won’t help the others get to safety faster. Even so, we’re moving at a quick pace, making a good time to the other side of the room.

It’s only after we have moved a few feet into the zombie-infested hallway that I notice that something seems off. This whole operation is way too easy. It’s like the monsters allow us to push them out of our way. At the same time, Jay seems way too passionate about kicking the corpses out of the way.

I have a bad feeling about this.

I check around me to see if there is any kind of weapon, something we can use against him if he changes, but it’s hopeless. All I can see is dead humans walking around guttered bodies lying the floor.

Oh, my god, this is a massacre.

Dale has slowed down now, watching Jay rage over the dead men from a distance. He seems confused. We all are confused as we watch him and try to see signs of his dark self, emerging, but there’s nothing.

Right then I realize that his overly violent behavior is all him, no parasites taking over, not the need to protect someone. Jay just needs something to kill.

That man, the one not able to control himself, it’s not the same man I met. Jay has changed, and I’m not sure I like what he’s become.

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Chapter Thirty-Four

Jay

You have to remember everything. For our sake, a voice whispers in my head.

Or maybe not? Do my deepest thoughts emerge and talk to me? Or maybe I’m just getting crazy?

I see my hands moving, but I don’t control them. I see my feet walking, but I don’t move an inch. My fists are full of blood, but I’m not the one using them. I’m a slave to my own body, and I can’t do anything but keep on hitting the dead, emotionless corpses. Every punch is a liberation, a small victory.

I feel like when the last time I inhaled Timedisol, only that blood and adrenaline got me drunk this time.

And I want more.

I push some of them to the floor and start kicking them, them never resisting or making a move.

I’m ready to take all of them if needed be when I turn my head and suddenly see the dark brown in the doctor’s eyes. He looks straight into my eyes, but I can’t stop in time from hitting him. It’s only a moment later that I see him falling to the floor, almost passing out. He’s a delicate human being after all, and I’m a mighty Esuh.

An Esuh of the Two Faces.

When these words appear in my mind, I snap out of my confusion. In a fraction of a second, I realize that I could have stopped if I wanted. Only that at the time, I didn’t.

“Dale!” I hear Eladia yell.

The motionless corpses now seem dead, although still standing. I watch the man trying to get up, but the force of my punch must have been way too strong for him. He’s just another victim of my wrath.

Eladia slowly squats over him and after checking that he’s alright, he rises again to her feet. She now watches me straight in the eyes and almost whispers:

“Enough Jay. Just...enough. I won’t let you harm another person anymore.”

Don’t listen to her! Kill her! Get on with your rampage, I hear my voice command me, but I choose not to listen this time.

For some reason, while watching her deep-set eyes condemn me, everything makes sense. My memories might still haven’t returned, but my other self, the one that Eladia talked to me about, is starting to come to light.

I move past her and head straight for the fallen doctor. I stretch my hand and wait for him to grab it. When he does, I pull him up on his feet and then walk away. Eladia was right all along. The only thing I did was push her away because she lied to me. Maybe it was better not knowing the truth after all.

I’m dangerous when I turn to that monster, a monster I can’t control.

I’m trying to find something to hold onto, some sort of sentiment that will sort out my thoughts, but it’s not easy when you’ve forgotten how to feel. I walk in, before the elevator doors close, and push the button next to them. I wait, but no one follows me.

It figures; they’re afraid of me. The only one that dares come closer is the human doctor, his cheek swollen from my all-out punch.

Hit him again, this time in the chest. It’ll shatter his heart in pieces, the voice inside me instructs me again, but this time, it’s hopeless.

I turn and watch at him, only to see him smile in a twisted, crooked way. He’s in pain, I can tell, but he’s the one that tries to cheer me up.

“Don’t worry over this. I’m a doctor. I can fix it as soon as we get on the shuttle.”

Was it something in his voice or the sound of the elevator ascending from the lower floors? I’ll probably never know. But, as soon as he spoke, the corpses started moving again, this time, faster than before. They almost grab Zan and Eladia, but they manage to get away from them just in the nick of time.

For a moment, seeing them almost getting captured by those monsters, I feel despair, even fear, filling my veins. I don’t want them to die because of my stupidity, that much is apparent. But Eladia...Eladia I want to see her smiling at me again, seeing me for what I truly am: a man deeply interested in her.

We fight them for what it seems like half a minute when finally the elevator arrives. We all get inside at once, never looking back. Everything happens really fast from that moment on. The elevator gets us closer to our destination, but as the doctor correctly guessed, the morgue below us is crowded with zombies.

Dale leads us to the stairway, and we quickly find our way to the parking lot. Passing just outside the cold room, I can hear the hollow cries of the undead. It’s a haunting melody, one that I will remember for the rest of my life. The dead keep howling as we make sure to stay silent and walk as fast as possible without making a sound.

Our shuttle is located all the way to the other side of the lot, but we manage to get there fast, fast enough for the corpses not to be able to keep up. Outside of the building I can hear a recurrent sound, accompanied by a blue-and-red light. Deep in my memories it kinda feels like I’ve heard that sound before, only that I can’t quite place it somewhere.

Either way, we all get aboard. Eladia and me first, and the doctor and Zan later. Silver is still in her low-function mode, but as soon as Eladia links her up to the system, her voice returns, merry as ever.

“Finally! It took you long enough to get here. Is everyone aboard?” she asks.

“Yes. Set a route for Space Station 1. Planet Yaerus is not safe anymore,” Eladia says.

I agree with her, but I never say a thing. Even though I’ve forgiven Eladia for all the lying, I have no way of connecting with her anymore. That’s a bridge I burned myself.

And something inside me tells me that she feels the same way about me.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Eladia

The trip to Space Station 1 is awfully quiet. The only sound comes from the engines that thrust us upwards in a slow and nonchalant rhythm. A constant vibration comes from the engines that would usually lull me to sleep. Today though, the atmosphere’s way too tense inside this small, metal box to allow for a tranquil trip.

“Shuttle 2214, can you please confirm your ID?” A feminine voice suddenly comes from the radio.

Silver quickly takes over and sends our identification signal. A moment later, a green light flashes from the main console of the shuttle. We’ve gotten a pass.

“Thank you C.A. 12K4. You can use gate four to enter Space Station 1. Also, I must ask you to be patient while entering the station since we just encountered elevated activity due to an ongoing crisis on Yaerus. I hope you have a good journey.”

A buzzing sound signals the end of the comm. link. The lady couldn’t have known that we were in the middle of this crisis, and we’re running away from it as well. Either way, it’s too late now to say something.

Having approximately half an hour to arrive at the gate, I turn and watch Dale and Jay. They are sitting two seats behind me, both of them looking skeptical in their own little way. Dale turns and smiles at me, but his grin never reaches his eyes. His cheek is still swollen from Jay’s punch.

Jay, on the other hand, seems totally detached from reality, looking down and gloomy. I can’t help but feel a sudden pinch in my chest right below where my heart is. I turn my head away from him and look through the central window of the shuttle.

The space station is slowly getting bigger, a sign that we’re getting closer. An enormous construct, one that can fit over 20.000 class 3 spaceships—which amounts to a lot of crew members—has all its main gates open. Countless vehicles surge out of there like wide rivers of metal. I spend a moment guessing what must be going on in Mosa, but I quickly dismiss those thoughts.

There is nothing we can do to stop the crisis, except maybe continue our investigation. I’m not sure yet, but deep inside me, I feel that everything bad that happened these last weeks has something to do with the cube appearing on Mosa.

I sigh and get on my feet. I need to walk it off, to leave all this stress behind me. I move to the vacant driver’s seat. Silver is still inside the charging hub, but that doesn’t stop her from meddling in.

“Are you okay, Eladia? You seem a bit troubled,” she says.

I know she means well, but sometimes I wish she could stop announcing my feelings up loud.

“I’m fine. And also, you don’t have to talk so loud. Everyone can hear you nice and clear either way.”

Silver doesn’t reply immediately since she’s in the process of recalibrating our route. The traffic is hell and the half an hour ETA can easily become an hour if we’re not careful. Thankfully, Silver is the best pilot.

“I meant to ask you too, Eladia. Are you okay?” Dale’s the one that asks the question now.

Frankly, even a total stranger seems more interested in my feelings than Jay. I’m starting to wish his dark self was here now; at least he always has something to say. I decide to mislead them by bringing up another subject.

“Well, I’m a bit concerned. We don’t have a plan about what we’re going to do next, and the cube hadn't reacted to anything since that night two weeks ago.”

“The cube? What cube? What are you talking about?”

It’s one of those rare moments where I admit to myself that I’ve kinda screwed it up. I only had to keep one secret, and I kinda ended up spilling the beans. Honestly, this whole thing with Jay has messed up my brain.

“The cube’s active,” Jay suddenly mutters.

“What?” Silver and I say at the same time.

Jay finally turns and looks at me. I can’t shake off the feeling that something has changed inside him, a vital part of his personality. Only that now his eyes are not empty like before. There’s concern in there and a feeling I can’t quite place in his limited palette of sentiments.

“As you heard, the cube’s active. It pulsates for some time now, especially when I point it towards the sky.”

Okay, that’s new. I meant to avoid answering their questions, but now I have a million questions myself. But, there’s only one that seems to matter now.

“Why didn’t you say a thing before? We’re in here for an hour now, and you didn’t say a thing. We could have saved some time coming up with a plan or something.”

Jay looks me straight in the eyes. “Because I didn’t want to say something. Also, I didn’t know if we would get out of that place alive. Take your pick, whatever makes you feel better.”

Damn you, Jay. He still thinks I’m just a human trying to patronize him. But I have no time to play family with Jay anymore. The Nusae Artifact has become a priority now after zombies and men with demon masks started appearing.

I crease my brows and turn to face the main console of the shuttle. From that moment on, I start thinking out loud. “The cube pulsating must mean that it transmits some type of signal to somewhere, leading us to the next piece of the puzzle. Before, Silver was able to find the receiver of that signal.”

“Eladia, can I make a suggestion?” she suddenly says.

“Go ahead.”

“I can use the data I’ve collected from the cube and visualize the signal into some sort of a light beam. By using the spaceship’s holographic projectors, we can have a visual of the energy signal as soon as we embark.”

“That would be awesome but for now, can you do me a favor? Do you have enough computing power in this shuttle to calculate the general direction the cube transmits at?”

“Yes. It will take me a minute, though,” she says.

I lean on the main console and check the incoming data from the energy ray the cube emits when I feel a hand gripping my shoulder. For a moment, I wish it’s Jay’s, but I know inside me that I would have known it if it was indeed him.

I turn around, and my heart sinks ever deeper; it’s Dale.

“I know this must be the worst time possible but can you explain to me what’s going on in here? I thought you were going to spend a couple nights in the station, enough for them to bring the crisis under control, and then return to Mosa and continue whatever you were doing. But now...now you sound like you want to leave the planet.”

His eyes, those deep brown holes that swallow your soul, seem concerned. I can almost feel his worry through his hand squeezing my shoulder. He’s afraid.

“I’ll explain everything to you as soon as we get to my spaceship, Dale. Until then, please bare with us. Nowhere it’s safe to discuss what we’re doing, especially inside the space station.”

He nods but I can see that I did nothing to reassure him that everything's gonna be okay. As a matter of fact, I have no idea what am I doing or if we’re gonna survive this adventure. In the end, maybe I avoid answering his questions because I’m afraid what I might hear coming out of my mouth as well.

When everyone gets seated, we’re finally just outside the space station. The number four is flashing on both sides of the entrance. The shuttle is soundproofed, but the chaos out there has its own, distinctive sound, the kind you don’t have to hear to know it’s bad.

People are running up and down through the entrance hallways, trying to serve the demands of the ship owners and not cause panic at the same time. What I see is pent up anxiety blowing up to hysteria. It’s bad out there and for once, I’m happy we’re heading straight to our spaceship.

I turn to say something to the rest of my crew, but right then I see the giant holo-screens on the walls of the space station. A great part of Mosa is already in ruins, fires raging and moving corpses killing people in their path. The crisis is worse than I expected...way worse.

I then realize that Yaerus is the second planet humanity brought to an apocalypse.

Silver finally ends with her calculations. A sign on the intergalactic map appears before me, a large circle born in the middle of a blank area of the Known Universe.

“This can’t be possible!” I say out loud.

“What? What’s wrong?” Dale asks me.

“The cube transmits straight to a lost planet. That means that it transmits straight to nowhere.”

Everyone’s looking at me as I utter those two sentences. Hell, I have no fucking idea what’s going on.

Chapter Thirty-Six

Jay

Our shuttle arrives at the spaceship without any serious implications. I thought I’ve seen everything back in my days, but corpses walking? That’s a first. Or at least feels like that. Something inside me tells me, though, that if I’ve seen corpses walking in my past life, I would certainly remember it.

Back in the hospital, while we were fleeing from the corpses chasing us, they suddenly stopped. It felt like they wanted us to get away. But, since then, everything else went to hell. Mosa has declared that the city is in a state of crisis, the local authorities trying their best to take control the situation.

We were flying for about an hour in that tiny, metal box and it feels good stretching my feet inside the spaceship. Eladia’s spaceship is big, I admit it, but not as big as mine before it crashed on Primordial Earth. What I wouldn’t give to be there now, repairing it. I never did a good job searching for information related to my past while being there.

And that’s Eladia’s fault. She had to come and romance her way inside my head with her damsel-in-distress incidents and those big, brown eyes.

Damn! I hit my fist against the wall. The rush of pain from the punch helps me clear my head a bit. I turn and see the rest of the crew looking at me. Eladia and Silver look scared (Silver not so much since she’s an android and all), but Eladia certainly looks mortified.

She has that look on her face like I’m one of those monsters down on Mosa. To be honest, not knowing what’s hiding inside me, I feel like a monster. But for her to look me like that? It’s even worse than I thought.

In a sense, we’re all still shocked after a horde of corpses chased us, but Eladia seems like she can’t even recognize me.

Dale, the blond doctor, gets closer to me. I look at him sideways; this man smells differently from other men. His scent is fresh and gutsy like it wants to become your friend no matter what. At first, it felt reassuring having him here, but now, I don’t trust him. A man with that strong a scent can’t be trusted.

“Jay, you scared us all down there. It seemed like you couldn’t control yourself, beating those corpses. Is something going on? Do you have something you want to share with us?”

Yes. I want to say how sorry I am that I hurt Eladia, and you, and Silver, and Zan.

Stop the nonsense. You’re an Esuh. They have to respect you.

Here’s that voice again...my voice. Fuck, I’m going crazy. My anger drives me closer to insanity every day.

“No. Nothing. I’ll be in my room,” and I walk away.

I head straight for the elevator at the end of the narrow hallway. I can sense their eyes nailed on my back, but I don’t care. My head feels clouded, and I’m starting to lose consciousness. I’m afraid that something will happen, and I’ll end up waking up like before, in the middle of a blood bath.

The automatic doors open as I stand before them. I walk inside and turn my body around and watch the strange bunch of people standing across the hallway. It’s at that moment that it happens.

My left-hand feels cold and my right hot. I raise both of them and I startle at what I see; a dark substance oozing off my nails, starting to cover my arm while my other arm is burning just by holding the cube, that wretched tool. Before the doors close, I raise my head and see Eladia running towards me.

That’s when the light flashes…

I’m in the middle of a crumbled city with metal and glass buildings, none of them floating in the same peculiar way they floated on Mosa. I look around me and see many of those buildings in ruins. It kinda looks like Primordial Earth, only that it isn’t Primordial anymore.

The sky is strikingly white, so much it makes my eyes hurt.

“Where am I?” I shout at the emptiness of the city.

But nothing. The only thing that replies to me is my voice echoing all the way back to me, just a bit distorted.

Where am I?

Am I….?

I…?

Until it finally vanishes.

I take a deep breath. For some reason, the air is heavy and heady. It’s the same feeling you get on a really hot day. I keep breathing heavily although it doesn’t seem to work anymore. I lean above my knees; every scorching breath feels like the end is a step closer and everything around me is spinning faster.

Follow me.

There it is again. That voice. I raise my head and spot the beautiful lady with the blond hair. The color of her hair matching that of the human doctor, but hers being way more beautiful.

Follow me.

She keeps saying the same thing inside my head in that commanding tone that I can’t refuse. Either way, even if I don’t want to follow her, there’s nothing else I can do. She’s the only one here.

We walk for a while passing in front of many metal boxes with big rubber wheels below them. All of them are black, scorched by flame. But, we don’t stop walking until we arrive at a crossroad with four huge roads intersecting with each other.

Stay.

I stop and look at her standing in the middle of the intersection. A bright column of light falls on her. The sky’s now dark except the spot above her head. The light gets brighter until I can't see anything of her actual figure.

But, as suddenly it appeared, the same way the column of light disappeared. When the bright spot above her vanishes, it leaves behind two humans, one dark and one bright, seeming like a body and it’s shadow at the same time. Only that the shadow has its own body as well.

The dark figure sinks into the ground and disappears, while the bright one falls on its knees and runs away.

I know that the girl was trying to tell me something, but I can’t keep up with her. I feel cold and alone in the middle of this ruined city, and the only thing that comes to my mind is if I’ll ever see her eyes again.

Eladia.

The things I would do if I could see her again.

Suddenly my eyelids get heavy, and I spend a moment breathing in the dark. The cold feeling that covered my hands before has now returned, only that it comes straight from my heart.

A moment later, I’m falling into an endless pit. I stretch my hands above my head, trying to find something to grab onto, but it’s hopeless. I give up and fall to the great darkness.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Eladia

I stumble and fall on the closing doors. I hit my fists on the wall but nothing happens. Jay was just lost in a flood of light and darkness, the light coming from the cube and the darkness from his parasitic transformation.

Dark Jay is once again awake and now, more than ever, I’m not sure how I feel. Even so, it’s never good when he is around, and it’s certainly not good that Dale saw him change. Now, he has to come with us no matter what. He knows way too much to be safe on Yaerus.

Zan and Silver arrive at the same time behind me. The young boy seems overly energetic like he’s happy that Dark Jay woke up, but I don’t share his feelings.

“Eladia, Eladia! You have to follow him,” he says to me.

Why should I be the one that goes after him? He can come and find me himself if he wants. I won’t make the same mistakes I did before. But, something in the boy’s voice draws my interest. Those two were always somehow connected. When the one felt danger, so did the other. And Zan was always somehow protective of Jay and the other way around.

Maybe he’s right.

Dale suddenly appears next to me. He has something to say, I can tell, but I stop him. “Look. I can explain everything to you, but you have to decide now. If you’re staying with us, then you have to stay with us until the end. If you don’t, then it would be better for you if you fled Yaerus for some time, at least until the crisis is sorted. What’s your decision?”

I know that I should have asked him earlier, but he can’t stay on Yaerus, and if he doesn’t want to come with us, then he has to flee the planet until the men with the masks get as far away as possible. Either way, we’re losing time. We should have been on our way to the blank spot for some time now.

I stare him deep in the eyes, and I see he’s trying to avoid my eyes. He’s on a dilemma, a pretty bad one at that. But, as he probably knows already, there’s no time for him to procrastinate.

“Yes or no, Dale?” I push him until the man gives me a slight nod.

At that moment, I hear the engines of the elevator working, only, this time, it’s coming down. Silver gets in front of us and opens her arms wide, ready to use her fencing ability if needed be. I’m not sure that all those precautions are needed, but you never know with him.

When the elevator finally arrives and the doors open, Dark Jay is lying on the floor, and his white hair cover his face. He’s sleeping.

“Thank god. I couldn’t have handled another monster today,” Silver says in her robotic, emotionless voice.

How she manages to have so much character in her voice without tone variations is above me, but still, she’s my best friend. And I’m certain that this fact says way too much about me.

Dale suddenly rushes forward, pushing Silver and me out of the way. He checks his vitals and opens Jay’s lids to check his irises.

“He’s okay. He has just passed out. Now, is someone going to explain to me what’s going on here?”

We all look at each other, but none of us takes a step forward. Well, I and Silver don’t move. Zan, on the other hand, has other plans.

“This Jay, he’s bad. He kills and frightens Silver and Eladia. But, he talks more. The other Jay is good, but doesn’t like to talk.”

He said everything with such a serious face that I burst out into laughs, thinking that it’s a joke. Dale flashes a wry smile at me, but Zan doesn’t seem to get what’s going on. Soon, my laughter fades and only the memory of it remains as I move to Dale’s side.

“Silver, we’ll move Jay to his room. Can you start the engines and get us on track to the blank spot? Also, let me know when you have an ETA. Okay?”

She nods and disappears behind the closing elevator doors. Now it’s just Dale and me in the small room.

“I’m not sure if I’m doing the right thing telling you what’s going on with Jay, but it’s the best thing I can do to thank you for helping him back at the hospital.”

He looks at me with the same confused eyes as before. He opens his mouth, ready to talk, but I don’t let him. This is a long story he’s asking me to share with him, and that’s without answering all his questions.

Soon, we’re in the middle of the upper floor hallway, him carrying the heavy upper part of Jay’s body, me his feet, talking about my past like we’re old friends.

During our way to his room, I explain to him everything that happened between us during our short adventure on Primordial Earth. I tell him about the dangers of traveling to a primitive planet, and Silver accidentally picking up the signal to his crashed ship. Then, I describe everything in great detail, how I helped him out of the cryo-pod, and how he changed to his dark self to kill those predators.

The hours pass by, and I can’t stop talking. I tell him about the insectoids, the feline that almost attacked us, about the other, underground human. At that moment, I had to explain to him Zan’s origins to fully understand what we went through. He seems more confused.

He goes through an outburst, telling me that it’s not possible for humans to evolve so fast, but as soon as I explain to him that there was a Nusae Artifact in the area, he kinda nods and lets me go on. I continue by telling him about our latest adventure, this one on Mosa. I leave out all the embarrassing parts, including mine and Jay’s intimate night together. When that scene pops in my head, I shudder. He quickly asks me if I’m cold. I shake my head and continue.

At some time, I reach to the part that we arrive at the hospital, and he’s shocked that the man in front of him was still alive. I decide on the spot to keep the part of the two Originators that got assassinated a secret; and that a man wearing a red mask is the murderer; or that another man with a blue demon mask saved us.

And so, when I finally get to the end of the story, I realize that all this time we’re in Dale’s room, drinking a second glass of scotch. I feel a bit dizzy, but sitting on his bed, his hand touching mine, I kinda feel safe. It’s not something erotic, but it’s more than enough for me. I just want someone to tell me that everything is going to be okay

“And so...you and him? What’s going on between you two?”

He’s perceptive as well. I see. There is no point in hiding it then, I think at first, but as I watch deep into his eyes, his anxious stare that kinda reminds me how I was when I was watching Jay that night, I stop.

“I think I should go,” I suddenly say to him.

I thought he would try to stop me, but he’s a gentleman, as always, and even escorts me to my room. However, feeling like I was dreaming, I don’t remember him leaving my room that night. He just left me there and by the moment I blinked once, he had vanished.

Where am I? What am I doing outside? And where is Dale? All those questions suddenly appear at the top of my head. I know we were together just now, but I can’t remember what we were talking about.

It’s weird, I’m not all that drunk. I should be able to remember at least a part of our conversation, but something is wrong with me. Or Dale’s hiding something behind those big, blue eyes. My feet hurt, my back hurts, my head hurts. Everything on me has that numbing sensation of hours sitting on a bed.

I open the door to my room and walk inside. I change to something more casual, something more suitable for sleeping. Before lying on my bed, I walk all the way to the only window in my room. I look outside and see the stars standing still, fixed points of gas and fire. The stars have been kind with me since I’ve started researching the Great Mystery, but now, I’m not sure that it was luck that made me get this far.

Dale is hiding something, Jay is two people in one body, and seeing his dark counterpart coming to the surface again, woke something inside me, a desire I didn’t know existed. My hand travels down on my skin, all the way between my legs. I moan and stop. There’s no way I’ll masturbate for him, but I can’t take my hand away. His white hair, his ash-gray skin that doesn’t reek of death, and that jovial, half-maddening attitude are more than Jay will be able to give me his whole life.

After all, he’s the same person, just not the same personality. I...I can work with that.

I shake my head snappily and stop. I pull my hand up and change side on the bed. I try to push his image out of my head, but I can’t.

This man has driven me crazy.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Jay

I open my eyes and breathe in heavily. The cold air burns my lungs, and I choke on the sudden entry of oxygen in my blood. My eyes fill with countless black spots and my head spins from the feeling of saturation that comes with the first breath.

It takes me some time to understand what’s going on but soon, I have a good understanding of the situation. Everything shakes around me, the lights tremble, and a crashing sound comes from the lower floors. If I have to guess, then we’re in the middle of a battle.

I laugh at no one in particular, waiting for an answer to come from down the hall, but nothing. The human female, the one I fucked on that roof, is nowhere to be found. I don’t know, but that makes me feel sad, tired. Always running behind her, trying to get her to understand my way of thinking, but she never keeps up with me.

“I’m hungry,” I mumble to myself, trying to fall back to sleep, but the shake gets worse.

I can barely stand still even while lying on my bed, let alone walk. Either way, I somehow manage and get on my feet and head for the hallway.

I stroll a bit around, trying to find someone to tell me what’s going on, but for a place this big, every room is empty. Back when I was commanding the Esuh, when a ship this big was empty, bad things followed.

“Hello? Is anyone here?” I yell, but no one answers to me.

Shit, where is everybody? A thought flashes in my mind; maybe they abandoned me in this spaceship and left. Or maybe they’re all dead.

So, why is someone attacking an empty vessel?

I turn to my left and find myself in an open space with a long, metal table in the middle. This place feels familiar in a haunting way. I know for a fact that I haven’t been up here before, but my mind and body recognize it. I incidentally stretch my hand and push a button located on the edge of the wall. I don’t know why I do that, or what was the purpose of that move, but suddenly I hear her voice, Eladia’s voice, talking through the speakers.

“Jay, are you awake?”

Her voice sounds raspy as if she has been shouting for hours.

“I think this is pretty apparent. I don’t sleep walk after all,” I reply to her, letting myself indulge in a tint of sarcasm. I kinda need it right now.

“We’re under attack, Jay. If you can hear me, head for the bridge. We’re gonna need as many hands as possible.”

The bridge? What bridge? I don’t know where the hell I am, and she wants me to head to the bridge? However, just like before, my body seems to know the way.

I walk down another long hallway, this one full of round, thick windows. Intrigued, I look outside and see a pitch black juggernaut attacking our tiny ship. The assaulting ship is big enough to fit five of our ships in its belly, but we’re faster. If the pilot is worthy, it’ll try to outrun it. Instead, it seems like we’re moving closer and closer to another black, floating thing. I can discern dark shades of green below, but I have no idea what it is.

Before I realize it, I’m standing before an elevator. The automatic doors open to reveal an empty pod.

I walk in, and the doors close behind me. I’m trying to grasp the situation, but it now slips away from my hands like a pair of Renters. Fuck, those things were delicious. My hand stretches again to push a button on the right side of the pod. There are other metal buttons as well, all of them showing numbers. It goes all the way from zero to six, but I decide to push the button with the number five on it.

Right, when I feel the pump of the pod ascending to the upper floors, we get hit again, only, this time, it’s bad. The power goes out, and the elevator stops between the third and fourth floor. I’m on my knees, the sudden stop making me lose my balance.

“What the fuck? What’s going on out there?” I say to myself.

Everything is dark for a moment until the emergency systems kick in. A reddish light trembles for a while and then it stabilizes. The alarm finally kicks in and for the first time today, I see a pair of legs hurrying down the hallway.

“Hey! Hey you! What’s going on? Where am I?”

The human stops. Well, I’m not sure that the person running is a human, but from what I’ve seen these last days, it’s a pretty good guess. The human roams for half a minute in front of the stuck elevator and then leaves without saying a thing. The last thing I manage to see is this human wearing a green mask with a twisted expression on it.

“What the hell? You could have helped me, you asshole!” I shout at him, or her, and then hit the automated doors.

The rush of the first punch brings the need for more. I want to kick my way out of this cage, but no matter how strong I am the walls don’t even bulge. Well, not until one more round hits the hull. The place shakes and pieces of the ceiling fall on the floor. That last hit somehow helps the elevator to unstuck, and I’m finally on my way to the bridge.

Passing from the fourth floor, I see the damage the enemy spaceship has done to ours; the things are critical. Fire licks the metallic surfaces of the hallways and little explosions come from the monitors and cut wires hanging from the ceiling. It makes up for a devastated scenery.

Shit, we’re doomed.

I leave behind me the previous floor, and I ascend to the fifth. In front of me, I see a robot, a savage, and a beautiful woman fighting for their life. But it’s too late. The robot knows that and the savage boy knows that as well; only the human female seems to deny it.

So, I wait for the elevator to stop and the doors to open before I stride out. My body is almost moving by itself like I share my consciousness with somebody else. The one thing that makes sense, though, is that we both want to save her.

I see Silver transforming into a small capsule around Zan, leaving Eladia out. But I don’t have time to elaborate on that. I stomp my feet on the ground and plunge forward to grab her before the fires make it to her first. When I sense her cool skin on mine, I immediately feel reassured.

I’m not sure why; Esuh usually don’t have feelings. But, I’m starting to wonder, what is an Esuh? I haven’t met anyone like me before, so why I can’t be the version of myself that I like?

We are engulfed in flames, flying out of the spaceship window straight into the dark space. I take a deep breath and shut my eyes.

It’s over.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Eladia

We’re falling for a lot of time. It’s harsh and painful and frightening, but after a while, I got used to it. I’m not exactly sure what happened back there, but from what I remember, it must have been rough. One moment I’m on the bridge under heavy fire from an unknown class 5 black juggernaut. Silver and Zan were behind me, warning me that we have to evacuate the shit.

Something has gotten into me since the night I talked with Dale. I don’t remember a thing afterward, and I’m not myself anymore. I want to prove to everyone that I can keep us alive, that I can survive. I fight for life, with teeth and nails until I feel a strong force sweeping me away. The last thing I remember is seeing Dark Jay’s purple irises.

He covers my body with his as we fall into nothingness. Dark Jay was asleep for five days straight after the cube incident, five days that it took us to travel to the blank spot. The blank spot is a codename signifying an actual blank spot on the intergalactic maps.

When the last war between the prior five great species ended, the Phadh set off a Nova Bomb to cement their status as the first and most powerful species of the galaxy. A Nova Bomb draws the exothermic power of a dying sun, a supernova, to charge a beam of light particles. When those particles change from their particle form to their wave form, the concentrated energy of the supernova spreads to every neighbor planet like a cosmic pool.

It’s more complicated than that, but Professor Virgil used the same metaphor to explain it to me back in the days when I was still a student. Since then, every spaceship that tried to chart and investigate that spot of the intergalactic map ended up disappearing or returning without finding a thing.

The Phadh won’t reveal more information about the weapon in fear that other species will try to copy it, but I’m sure that they know more things that they let us believe. Even so, plunging into empty space, it’s a certain and utter death.

Only that this isn’t what exactly happens to us.

We keep falling for some time. My guts feel like scrambled eggs, and I’m sure I would have thrown up if Jay wasn’t there for me. His rocky build and stable demeanor make me feel safe. If anything, I would love to die in his muscled arms. Not that I do want to die in general, but it would be better than dying alone back in that bridge.

I wait for the absolute freeze of space to kick in but it never comes. Jay squeezes me between his arms and then I start feeling uncomfortable. He’s squeezing me a bit too hard and soon I can’t even breathe. I feel the same pressure coming from inside my chest, at the place my lungs are. Every time I try to breathe in, I feel dizzy.

“Jay...Jay, what’s going on?” I say, but since we're still falling, my words come out of my mouth muffled.

“I’m not sure. Everything is dark,” he shouts out, trying to be heard over the whooshing sound of our free fall.

Dark? And we’re still falling? That must mean...we’re not in space anymore.

And just like that, I’m starting to push Jay away. Of course, he doesn’t let me.

“What’s wrong with you? Do you have a death wish?” I hear him saying, but he doesn’t understand. I have to see.

“Jay! Let me go,” I tell him.

“Are you crazy? What’s going on?”

There’s a theory among the science circles back at the Institute. The Nova Bomb might have been able to mask the existence of these dark planets into an electromagnetic sphere. The rumors said about advanced space manipulation creating a time-space folding so tight that when a spaceship tried to get inside that sphere, it ended up on the other side.

It’s highly hypothetical, but no one could believe that the Phadh could manipulate light particles to that extent before setting off the Nova Bomb, and their adamant stance over the information is evidence enough that they’re trying hard to hide something important about their creation.

So, I’m only trying to see the results of that creation with my own eyes and try and find a space ledge. Another hypothesis in space folding theory talks about invincible places in midair, especially amidst highly folded patches of space, that gravity is significantly weaker. Luckily, before Jay finally sets me free, we stumble upon one of those ledges that were supposed to be impossibly rare, and land on solid land unharmed.

“Oh, I get it now,” Jay bellows while lying on my side, “that’s what you wanted to do. To lead us into one of those gravity bubbles?”

Damn. That’s a better name. Gravity bubbles! I should have thought that.

“Yes. Exactly. And just so you know, we’re very lucky that we stumbled upon one of them because we would have ended up dead otherwise.”

“Honey, I’m not sure it’s luck. This place is full of those things,” Jay says at me and points me towards the dark sky.

A piece of the hull of our spaceship is floating in mid-air, heading straight for us in slow motion.

“Do you think it would be a good idea to--?” he says.

But suddenly the floating debris breaks away from the gravity bubble and the actual gravity of the planet draws it towards us fast.

“Move, Jay! Now!” I scream, and we run as fast as we can away from the falling spaceship.

We’re in the middle of an overgrown forest. Unearthed roots arch over our heads, and I almost stumble on something that looks like a spider’s web, only it’s made from wood. The research worth of everything we pass by is immense, but if we don’t survive, we won’t be able to share this with the rest of the world.

The land shakes when the piece finally falls. By then, we’re far away, safe from the impact. A gust of wind picks up from the blast, a wind that almost pushes me to the ground. Thankfully, Dark Jay is there, catching me before I land on my butt.

I giggle as he pushes me to my side and I end up looking straight into his eyes, that perfect shade of purple and magenta. He stares back at me and smiles. Dark Jay has a more mature smile than Jay, a grin that speaks volume of his intentions.

“We have to stop ending up like this, don’t you think?” he says in a whimsical tone.

I snort and lower my eyes. Holding me in his muscled hands, full of pumping veins, he makes me blush.

“I...I didn’t...I…”

Dark Jay leans in and kisses me. I kiss him back.

Now I can’t hold back my urges anymore. It’s like a scorching flame started burning inside and I want him, Dark Jay, to make love to me. Last time, everything with Jay was rushed, adventurous. This time, I want him to go slow. This time, I want him to have me in the middle of this dark, unknown forest.

I stretch my free hand behind and head and push him closer to me. His kiss now becomes deep, intimate. He’s breathing into me, savoring every moment that our mouths are united. I feel his nostrils opening up to release that warm wind that suddenly engulfs my whole body.

When he releases me, I see him smiling. “You’re hot, you know that?” he says to me.

I smile back to him, but I don’t talk. Words are not necessary anymore. Just actions. I fall on my knees and unbuckle his belt. He’s in his underwear now, and I’m topless. My hands fumble the inside of his boxer briefs, the thin fabric unable to hold back his throbbing bulge.

I hear him moan, but he stops me immediately.

“This isn’t right,” he says in the gravest expression I’ve seen him wear.

“What? What did I do wrong?”

“Nothing. It isn’t right for a lady to try so hard to please a man. Men are easy to please. A true man takes care of his woman first and then of himself,” he says and falls on his knees.

He helps me lie on a blanket of greenery. Then, he smoothly spreads my legs apart and leans in between them. When I sense his fiery tongue on my clitoris, I moan loudly. Without doing anything more than fulfilling my inner wishes, Dark Jay makes me lose control.

I moan and feel the tender side of my nipples harden. His hands travel all the way to my belly, caressing me, squeezing me, touching me. Then, he stops and gets above me, removing his boxer to reveal his erected dick.

Without losing another moment, he slips inside me, my wet and horny inside, where I feel him explore his way towards my vagina. His cock is as large as I remember. Every time he thrusts inside me, I moan a bit louder. He’s going slow but steady, kissing me all the way in and then moaning with me on his way out.

He starts thrusting deep inside me, making me feel his balls on my skin. I stretch my hands and grab his tight butt and push him even deeper, even though I know it’s not humanly possible. I close my eyes and feel the friction between our bodies get the best of me.

Soon, I sense that familiar warm feeling in my belly.

“Jay...I’m close,” I say to him.

This is the first time I notice he keeps his eyes closed as well. His face is a sweet mix of pleasure and fuck. Just plain, old, fuck. I want to kiss him but I can’t. That’s because watching him fuck me slow and deep gives birth to another feeling inside me.

With a quick move, I swoon my waist deep inside him and see his expression tense. He’s close as well. Now I’m the one that wants to see him cumming. I start moving my pelvis in and out sensually, practically fucking myself below him, until I hear him mumble something.

That’s my cue, my countdown to that warm explosion. I breathe in and then out, and I start moaning loud like I’m asking for help. I feel his warm cum inside me and stop. My body still trembles from the orgasm, but mostly because of that soft and vulnerable expression that Dark Jay gives to me after lying on my side.

Right at this moment, we’re alone in the middle of nowhere, and honestly, I couldn’t ask for anything more.

Chapter Forty

Jay

When everything it’s over, I turn and look at her ruffled hair spreading on the ground. She looks breathtaking. I comb her hair with my fingers and sit against one of those overgrown trees. This whole planet is weird. The sky is black like it’s covered by a veil of soot.

I don’t want this moment to end. Everything’s so quiet and lukewarm. Yes, that’s the word. Neither warm nor cold, everything’s lukewarm and gray. The only thing that matters is for her to stay alive and happy. I keep telling myself that my mission is to crack the code of that damned cube, but I’m not sure that is my mind I keep talking to.

You’re right about that. It’s not.

I hear my voice reply to me in a sudden moment of perfect clarity. It’s like I said something to myself years ago and it came to haunt me now. Either way, all this fucking and adventuring must be getting in my head. There’s no way I would talk to myself in the second person. This is all an illusion.

“Hey, Eladia.” She snaps; she looks lost. “Don’t keep your hair up anymore. You look better like that,” I say to her. Her face brightens, and I’m sure I glimpse the start of a smile in the edge of her mouth.

“It’s not practical, but I’ll try. Imagine running to get away from the next disaster and your hair getting in the way,” she says, over-explaining her thought.

She’s so cute when she does that.

I shake my head trying to empty it from all those infatuations. She makes my head light.

She’s not yours. Don’t even think about it.

What the fuck? Here it goes again. I get on my feet as quick as I can and get dressed. Something is going wrong with me, I can feel it deep in my bones.

“What? What’s wrong?” she asks me immediately.

I’m going crazy, that what’s wrong. I talk to myself in the second person.

“I think it would be better if we reunited with the rest of the crew. Do you have a way to find your robot? I’m sure she and that hairy man will be together. I don’t have a good feeling about this planet,” I say.

She seems to bite the bait. Eladia gets on her feet I get one last glimpse of her beautiful body. She looks perfect naked as well, but I’m not in the mood to fuck her anymore. God...me, Jasih of the Esuh, a Prime Officer and one of the First Kind I’m not in the mood for more fucking?

I feel the hair on the back of my neck prickle. Something's coming, something dangerous and overwhelming.

“Eladia, get behind me. If anything happens to me, you run. Run as fast as you can. I will cover you,” I say to her but the words are not my own.

I hear twigs snapping, leaves rustling, the sounds getting louder and louder by the moment until suddenly a figure appears out of nowhere. I roar after I see a yellow haired human with big, expressive, blue eyes. I’m ready to attack him when Eladia shouts:

“Jay, no! He’s my friend!”

I stop, not because she asked me to, but because there is something there, in the back of my mind, like an itching you can’t scratch.

The blond human is trembling in front of me, making him a target unworthy of my wrath. However, my instincts are still on alert, and I await eagerly for the true danger to reveal itself.

Close behind him, Silver and Zan appear, the second on his fours holding a pointy stick, probably made like that by him to use as a weapon. It’s useless in my opinion, but thoughtful. He could act as the first line of defense if anything happens.

I turn and watch Eladia hurry to their side, hugging every last one of them, even that blonde man.

“Isn’t anyone going to introduce me to this man?”

Doctor Dale Cross; friend.

“What the hell?” I yell.

This time, I’m sure. Something is wrong with me. Someone else is inside me.

Jasih of the Esuh, you’re not alone. I’m your other half, the light of your soul, your brother. Follow me.

The voice commands me to run deeper into the woods, away from the people I care about. I don’t want to do it, but it doesn’t seem like I have a choice.

Before I turn and leave, my eyes fall on Eladia. Something tells me that it’s going to be some time before I see her again. So, even though I’m not sure my actions are my own anymore, I move to her side. She’s talking to her friends about something, mostly technical and science stuff. I smile at her enthusiasm and her loose hair. For the first time, she doesn’t use her hands to tighten her ponytail even more.

I lay closer to her and whisper something in her ear. The weird thing is even I don’t hear what I say. There’s only a warm feeling coming from the tips of my fingers and toes as I turn and run away.

“Jay stop!” I hear her say but I can’t.

I want to…

but there’s something I have to do.

Chapter Forty-One

Eladia

Everything’s a mess. Running amidst that forest must be the hardest thing I’ve ever done. One part exhaustion and one part running behind a strange alien I’ve met over six months ago makes me feel bad about myself. Oh, who am I kidding? I would have chased him even if he didn’t ask me to.

Zan is running in front of me, barely visible while standing on all his fours, using his hands as legs. My mind drifts back to the moment Jay ran away.

I was having a conversation with Silver about the electromagnetic events of this planet, and she tried helping me understand the principles behind these events as best as she could while disconnected from the Grid. The intergalactic network called the Grid was used by androids and every species everywhere in the galaxy to collect info about targets and possible locations of Nusae Artifacts and every kind of information.

Well, some only use it for online dating, but that’s another story.

On this planet, the Grid is off limits and Silver was malfunctioning, unable to use her scanning services to help us with our mission. No matter how we try to see it, we’re trapped on an empty planet. But, nothing could have prepared me for what happened.

Jay walked in behind me and leaned next to my ear. In that short moment, his breath was caressing the back of my ear making me a bit ticklish. I turned and smiled at him and he smiled back. He’s close now, closer than before, and I was ready to lean towards him and kiss him. Only that he stopped and headed straight for my ear.

Right then he whispered to me: Follow me.

Before being able to realize what’s going on, he’s gone. In agony, I called for him to stop, only that he didn’t.

Those first crucial minutes I started chasing him with Silver, Zan and Doctor Dale behind me I wasn’t sure where I was supposed to go since this forest is full of tall bushes and thick branches with wide leaves. Five minutes later, though, I stopped out of breath.

“It’s impossible. I don’t know where he’s gone. Silver, can you do something?” I asked her, desperate for a solution.

“No. I can’t track him or the Nusae energy signal. But…”

“But?” I quickly got my hopes up. Silver had an idea.

“Zan might be able to follow him. These two seem to have a special connection of some sort. Zan was the one who led me to you two back on Primordial Earth, and Zan will do the same here as well.”

I hadn’t thought about that before. Zan had to adapt to a really harsh environment, very familiar with the environment of this planet. He might be able to track his movements as long as we’re not too late.

“Zan?”

I’m sure he’s able to notice the agony in my voice because the boy moved towards me and stretched his hand to touch my chest.

“I will follow Jasih, Eladia. But don’t let him break your heart again,” he said with the look of an old, wise man.

I nodded; the boy left me speechless once again. I’m not sure there was anything else I can do either way. Silver and Zan immediately started in front of me, and I followed them close behind.

To this moment, almost nothing changed to our formation. Not before Dale runs to my side and adjusts his pace to keep up with me, not wanting to leave me behind. It seems like there is something he wants to ask me.

“So, that was Jay’s other form, the one you call Dark Jay?”

I almost fall from the surprise.

“How do you know about Dark Jay? I’ve never talked to you about him,” I complain while never slowing down.

It’s difficult keeping up with the elusive Zan and the robotic Silver, but I have to if I want to find out more about what Jay meant when he asked me to follow him. However, now there is something else bugging me; how does Dale know about Jay?

“You told me before, Eladia, that night we carried him to his room. We talked for over an hour in there. You told me everything about your adventures up until now. Don’t you remember?”

Suddenly, he’s right. I remember talking about Jay changing his form, about Jay being impossible to live together at the same place for over a month and about Dark Jay being the bad counterpart of this symbiotic relationship.

I remember everything like it happened a moment ago, but that doesn’t make it easier to shed any feeling of suspicion over the strange doctor. Thus, I decide to play along.

“Yes, of course, I remember. We talked about everything, but I must have been tired. I drowned off.”

“He doesn’t seem as intimidating as you described him,” he quickly continues.

We’re now crossing a small bridge of unearthed roots passing over a black, viscid liquid that reeks of sugar. Zan warns us not to fall inside, although I’m not sure why he says that. After arriving at the other bank of the river, I resume my talk with the doctor.

“He usually is. The Jay you met at the hospital, the one that wouldn’t stop beating the mechanical corpses, is usually calmer and more collected and this one, the Dark Jay, is the uncontrolled monster that kills everything in its way.”

As soon as the words left my mouth, I immediately regretted what I said. Dark Jay has just offered me the most romantic moment in my whole life, and I still call him a monster. Yeah, that’s how good I am.

“It seems that their roles inverted for some reason. Has this happened before?”

We’re climbing up a small hill full of swinging plants that thrive in high places. However, some of them are blue and other pink; those that are pink are poisonous and snap easily, while the blue ones are sturdy and safe. Did I mention that the pink ones are always over the blue ones, making it really difficult to climb?

When we’re at the top of the hill, I stop and call for Silver and Zan to wait. I have to take a breath before moving on. Silver comes back to brief me up, while what Dale said before still troubles me.

“We’re almost there. Zan says that Jasih finally stopped moving.” She stops talking. She looks around, seemingly searching for something, and then turns to face me again. “Wasn’t doctor Dale with you?”

To be honest, the last time I remember talking to him is before we started climbing this hill. After that, I was too involved not to plunge to my death that I lost him.

“Yes. Yes, he was. But I don’t know where he is now. Oh no.”

Zan immediately approaches us, ready to protect us from every enemy with his pointy staff. “What? What happened?”

“The doctor. The doctor’s gone,” I say with a concerned tone.

Zan sweeps the area with his pointy stick and tries to find any sign of the doctor, but he returns empty-handed. He’s nowhere to be found. Still, though, it looks like the answer is right in front of us, and we can’t see it.

For a moment, Zan doesn’t say a thing. He’s looking towards where Jay is supposed to be and seems like he’s waiting for something to happen. So, when a pillar of light tears the dark sky apart, he’s the only one not fretted over what happened. I, on the other hand, get on my feet and run towards the light. I’m certain that Jay is standing on the base of that thing, waiting for me.

Behind me, Zan and Silver try to keep up with me, which is something of a feat itself. Usually, I’m the one trying to keep up with them. This time, though, I have a reason to want to hurry, and that reason is keeping Jay safe.

After two minutes of continuous sprinting towards the location of the beam of light, we finally arrive at an open glade. In the middle of it, a golden pyramid-shaped construct is erected in the middle, radiating of strong light and a deafening sound.

I cover my ears so that I don’t pass out from the loud noise, trying to find Jay in this mess. Only after the beam of light vanishes as suddenly as it appeared I realize that he has been standing before the pyramid all this time. A dark figure, stoic and powerful, he’s standing tall before this new ordeal.

I get closer to him only to see that he’s back to his platinum-skinned self. Frankly, I don’t know if I’m excited or disappointed. At least he’s safe. Yes, at least he isn’t hurt.

When I rush to his side, he finally notices me. He seems changed.

Jay is smiling at me like he’s really glad I’m standing on his side.

Chapter Forty-Two

Jay

I’m standing before a glowing pyramid, the core of the beam of light that illuminates the sky. I don’t feel discomfort from looking at it; it’s more like warm, golden sunlight falling on my eyes. Just before the beam vanishes as abruptly as it appeared, I thought I heard someone hum in the darkness.

It was a smooth, low tune, the one mothers sing to their children to help them fall asleep. I’m not sure I understand since I can’t even remember even the name of my mother. However, I’m not sure that this has anything to do with my memory loss or with the fact that I’m Esuh. I’m still lost but not confused like most of the time.

I finally understand why they kept my identity hidden from me. This time, when my dark part took over, I could influence some of his decisions. It happened suddenly like I was watching my life through a keyhole. I could talk to him, use my body, but not freely.

Even now, back in my platinum skin, I can feel him inside me sleeping soundly like there’s not a care in the world. It’s a weird feeling, one that deprives me of every sense of privacy. But, it surprisingly feels like I’ve found a missing piece of myself. I’m calm now, even though I have no idea where am I.

“Jay,” Eladia says behind me, panting. “You finally...stopped.”

I turn and smile at her. I’m happy I see her with my own eyes. She’s the reason I could control my actions after I changed. However, I’m not sure she’s glad to see me.

“I assume I caused you trouble again. I’m sorry. It’s not easy being...that thing.”

She looks at me like she doesn’t understand what I’m saying. Honestly, humans can be such a pain sometimes.

“I know I’ve changed back to my dark self, the one you call Dark Jay. It’s not easy to explain it, but I could see bits and pieces of what happened. That’s why I know we’re in some kind of trouble, but I’m not sure where we are.”

My explanations seem to calm some nerves, particularly Eladia’s. She’s been so tense since she saw me, the platinum-skinned Jasih, that I’m starting to believe that something else must have happened while I was away. Either way, there’s no time for explanations.

Standing before a strange construct like that makes me think: what the hell are we doing here?

“Jay…” Eladia starts saying, but Zan stops her by getting in front of her and snarls towards the sky.

I feel it too. Something’s coming, a dark and ominous threat.

We first hear the drone of the low-altitude engines coming from far away, like a swarm of mosquitoes. The overgrown forest makes it difficult to understand the size of the ship approaching us until it’s already way too late.

“What in the…?” I catch myself saying.

That’s until a loud shrill penetrates my ears. I cover them with my hands and look around me trying to figure out what’s going on. I spot Eladia and Zan on their knees, trying to stop the deafening sound by cupping their ears with their hands, but nothing seems to change.

Amidst my baffled moves, I see a figure running inside the pyramid. That’s weird; it seems like the sound comes from his side. Struggling, I start following him.

Him? How do I know that this figure is a man? Something starts to form in my head.

Follow me.

As soon as those two words pop into my head, the shrill stops, and I’m standing inside the pyramid with Eladia and everyone else inside. I look around me and see a line of monitors flashing, a technology that’s considered ancient even by my standards.

Eladia seems to recognize some patterns on the walls. “Silver, can you please give me the translation of that sign? I’m sure I’ve seen it before.”

“You must have forgotten that I can’t use my scans, Eladia. I’m sorry, I can’t help you,” but the human female has already moved onto another topic.

She’s standing still, looking at something on the far side of the empty room. Everything is in black and white due to the dim light of the monitors. The man I saw running inside this construct is now standing before me. I get mixed signals from him; at times I feel like he wants to kill me, and at times I feel like he wants to help me.

Either way, my instincts don’t let me lower my guard. He wears a black mantle and pitch black clothes below. The only thing in color is the demon mask he wears in that deep green of the swamp.

“You’re finally here,” he says in a raspy, twisted voice. Even though I’m relatively new to the human species, I know that his voice can’t be real.

“Who are you? What’s going on?” Eladia suddenly erupts in a frantic tone.

“Maybe your alien friend can help you in that,” he says.

Is he talking about me? And why do I have the feeling that I know him? I haven’t met the man before. The only thing familiar about him is that warm sense he gives away, the promise of a man able to heal people and mend their bodies, the same feeling I got when I met that doctor.

And then it hits me.

“Are you the blonde doctor that fixed me back on Yaerus?”

He laughs even though his laugh sounds more like he’s choking. Then, he removes his mask and proves that I’m right. He’s that man from the hospital.

Eladia gasps in shock. “Dale? Doctor Dale? I thought...we thought…”

“There’s no time for explanations, Eladia. I’m sorry that I deceived you all in that way, but the whole galaxy is in danger, and there was no other way,” he says and moves a step closer to us.

He raises his hand with his open palm pointing behind us. The walls move soundly, and the floor shakes below our feet. He knew about this place.

“We don’t have enough time. Jay, come close. Everyone else, follow us.”

And just like that, before he even stops talking, another door opens before us.

Chapter Forty-Three

Eladia

My life has been a roller-coaster of reveals and discoveries these past six months. I found a frozen alien and freed him from his prison, then we discovered an ancient Nusae relic that connected to Jay’s genetic imprint, and after all that, we ended up in one of the empty planets.

And yet, life doesn’t seem capable of treating me kindly. The one man I was able to trust after so long ended up being part of the same group as the people that murdered my friends in the Great Embassy. Not only that, but he’s also impossibly handsome.

Walking before me, Dale and Jay rush to the end of the narrow hallway. I can smell the humidity of this place in the air, giving me the feel that there haven’t been a person inside this pyramid for years, maybe decades. The air is heavy, and the dust particles float even under the dim light. To be honest, I’m just a tiny bit excited to walk inside this ancient construct.

Just outside, the walls are filled with Nusae patterns, most of them random letters that won’t mean anything if we can’t read them as a whole. Nusae used to hide some of their greatest messages in big rooms by seemingly placing random letters on the walls. But, if an android assistant read the text in three dimensions and not in the usual two-dimensional context, then it actually made sense.

Certainly, all the ruins we’ve found up to now don’t help us realize why they suddenly vanished, or why we can’t find traces of their early civilizations except those rare relics, but they sure helped us understand their culture. However, that isn’t the thing with this place. When we finally arrive at the end of the long, serpentine hallway, we are greeted by another monitor-filled room, only this one has a big seat in the middle.

It’s like the king's court in a small palace or the bridge in a spaceship. Either way, Jay and Dale head straight to the middle and stop in front of the throne.

“Do you recognize this place, Jasih?” Dale suddenly says.

“No. Should I?”

Dale, still on his dark clothes, shrugs and gives Jay a contemplating glance. “Try. The memories are inside you, you only have to reach in there and touch them.”

Jay takes a quick stroll around the room, but he seems to be struggling. He can’t remember a thing.

That’s when the place shudders by an explosion. Dust falls from the ceiling, and the whole place seems ready to crumble and fall on our heads.

“I can’t remember anything. Everything in here seems vaguely familiar, but I can’t remember.” Jay sounds anxious, worried. I would have been screaming if I was in his position.

Dale sighs and nods. “Unfortunately, we don’t have time. I’ll have to explain to you where we are.

“This is a Nusae Temple, a place of power and knowledge. The Nusae inherited this place from the Esuh, and the Esuh inherited this place from their previous technological ancestors. We can’t be sure, but this place might date back to 100.000 years and countless species passing by and leaving their footprints.”

I can’t believe what I hear. So I was right; this place was once inhabited by the Nusae. But they didn’t create it? Then, who did?

“I don’t understand. Nusae were underdeveloped back in my time. They were just tiny people that could do nothing without their exoskeletons and their electricity. They were never a match for us.”

“You’re right, they were never a match for you, but what if all the Esuh vanished at the same time in a mysterious cataclysmic event? Then what species would be the next to prevail?”

It was difficult for me to keep up with their discussion but from an existential point of view, it was rather easy to answer to his question.

“The Vlatall,” I say out loud.

“Exactly. You got it right Eladia. In this time and age, people have devised a way to measure the strength and aptitude of their species. The Five Great is only a rank, but what if another cataclysmic event happened that targeted only the first? Only the best of the best?”

“Then, the second best would rise to the first spot,” Silver now replies in my stead.

Dale nods. “Now imagine that happening on purpose. What if it’s not a cataclysmic event per se, but what we humans would call a ‘man-made disaster’?”

Silence.

How is it possible that he knows all these things? And why did the other masked man killed my friends, the two Originators? And why they also destroyed the Great Embassy? I have to ask him.

“Dale...let’s take a step back. We met two of your cooperators, the man with the red mask and the man with the blue.”

“The woman,” she says, correcting me.

“The woman then. We were in front of the scene when the man with the red mask killed two Originators, and we just barely survived the fall from the fiftieth floor because the woman helped us. I’m having a difficult time trusting you after seeing what you can do,” I say.

I keep my voice firm and steady. I don’t want him to think that I’m afraid of him, even though I clearly am.

“I understand your doubts, Eladia, but there’s more to it. The Originators are not to be trusted. They are an elite military group controlled by the top bidder, in this case, humans. Human Originators were working into creating chaos on Mosa. Who do you think destroyed the building? And who do you think came up with that Tech-Infection?”

“Those two you killed were my lifelong friends. They never--”

“Both of you, stop!” Jay suddenly bellows. “The ones hunting us are just outside these walls. We have to escape first and then ask Dale everything we want. Until then, keep your questions to yourselves.”

He’s right. Dale nods and puts his green mask back on. He points behind him into another narrow hallway. This one is even more cramped than the other and significantly smaller. I have to keep my head down to be able to move through. Silver and Zan are a step ahead of me while Dale and Jay stay behind.

Another hit shakes the whole place up, and I’m able to stay on my feet only because the passage is way too small to fall. Even so, as I turn my head back to see the two men, I stop. Something’s not right.

I return to the entrance of the passage and find them fighting loudly over something.

“No, I won’t leave you behind. You have to come with me. You’re the only one that knows about my people,” I hear Jay saying to Dale.

The other man is perfectly calm like he has accepted his destiny. Just by seeing him, I understand what he has in his mind.

He’s going to sacrifice himself to stop our pursuers from getting to us.

“Jay, there are other four like me that know exactly the same things as I do. My mission was to guide you to this temple. There’s nothing more that I can do for your except making sure you get out of here alive.”

After I arrive next to them, I see him looking at me. His glance is momentary, but it’s more than enough to make me understand.

“Jay, let’s go,” I say.

“What? Are you mad? Don’t you get it? He wants to…”

“Jay! Let’s go. We don’t have time.”

The second time I yell at him, my words seem to get through. He wants to complain, but he doesn’t. Instead, he grunts and runs towards the passage. I cast one last look towards Dale and I see him grinning at me. His eyes are sparkling.

He thanks me with a nod and turns his back on me.

As I turn to watch Jay, my chest feels heavy. This is exactly what happened back on Mosa with the destroyed embassy, and this is exactly what will happen many times in the future until we find a way to solve this mystery.

People will die because we aren’t strong enough to protect them.

And yet, I don’t feel sorrow inside me this time. Just anger.

But, life once again had other plans for us.

The shock wave of the explosion tosses me to the other side of the room. The stone wall stops my movement but not before retaliating. My whole body aches as I fall to the ground clumsily.

Once again, I’m in the middle of a dust fog. The ruins falling on our heads lift a heavy cloud of brown dirt. I cough as it sticks in my throat, but I’m soon on my feet, limping towards the passage.

I follow Jay’s shouting, and I end up before a mass of fallen debris. The entrance to the passage has collapsed.

Shit is the first word that comes in my head. I’m stuck on this side. I don’t have time to do anything about it, though.

“Eladia duck,” I hear the same, twisted voice command me. I obey and hear the clunk of metal hitting the stone wall above my head. Someone tried to kill me.

My eyes catch a man with a plain, black mask on with two openings for the eyes and one for the nose. Everything else is covered.

As the dust settles, I see that there’s a whole group of people in the same attire, with laser guns and swords, a rather peculiar choice of weapons.

“Dale, where are you?” I mumble behind my teeth, and just like that the man appears right on my side.

“Damn you Eladia, I told you to leave. Now...now I have to find a way to save you,” he says, sounding rather disappointed he couldn’t give his life to save us.

“It wasn’t my fault! I was on my way but then this bomb happened,” I say, but he has no time to hear my rumble.

He passes his hands below my knees and tosses me above his shoulders. Why every man in my life feels the need to carry me when I’m in danger? I can run you know!

But soon, I understand. He’s insanely fast even when carrying me on his shoulders, fast enough to hit two more faceless men and get us out of the thick cloud of dust surrounding us in no time. Among the chaos of marching men, I still hear Jay’s shouts.

I can almost make out what he’s saying, but maybe it’s in my head.

The words travel through the air like empty promises made for people that actually love each other.

“I will find you! I promise!”

I hope I heard right. God, I hope I did because I make a promise to myself, a promise that I’ll make sure to keep no matter how much time it’ll take me.

“I’ll wait for you!” I shot back at him as we vanish deep into the forest, under the juggernaut debarking countless soldiers.

My heart beats fast as we leave behind us the pyramid-shaped temple. A small shuttle leaves from behind. They managed to escape. I’m able to breathe again, but that’s until Dale clumsily drops me to the ground.

“What the hell? What’s wrong with you?” I say to him.

That’s before I see the three weirdly looking men surrounding us.

Maybe I was too fast to think that we lost them. Or maybe, this is destiny. Either way, this adventure has just started...

Chapter Forty-Four

Alyce

I walk into the grand hall of the Class 5 juggernaut named Hope, a juggernaut of the Alliance reserved for intergalactic meetings like this. Representatives from every member of the Known Galaxy’s Alliance have arrived. They wear a jovial, kind expression on their faces, an expression that seems out of place in this assembly. I seriously don’t understand what they’re thinking. Innocent people are dying on Yaerus as we speak, and we’re standing here, socializing and waiting for this meeting to start.

From what I’ve heard from my father, most political leaders are against taking rush decisions, and they want to trust humans to take care of their own problems. Still, for all of us to gather here means that the possibility of a Purge is real and lurking above the human species. I mean, come on. Shouldn’t we be doing something? Maybe for a change fight and not abandon a planet on the mercy of brainless, undead creatures?

I sweep the room with a glance, searching for my fellow Phadh among the crowd. All around me, small wells of people pop up from time to time. Some of them secretly peek at one another, trying to scale the general opinion of their rivalries; others are just enjoying their trip over Sector 6, home to the human race and their home planet, Yaerus. Luckily, my fellow Phadh proudly distinguish themselves from the rest of the crowd by not meddling in other people's affairs, waiting for the council’s meeting to start.

My father, the Chief Ambassador of the Phadh in Sector 6 of the Known Galaxy, is the only one keeping a semblance of a smile on his face, trying to keep up appearances and get a better understanding of the status on Yaerus. He has his own dedicated circle of followers, one that it’s getting bigger by the minute. I decide to head towards him. There’s always something interesting happening around him.

Moving towards my father, I hear his slow, booming voice prevail over the other ambassadors as they all discuss with each other. The autumn leaves swaying on his head-branches are a sign of my father’s true age. He’s one of the eldest Phadh in the room, maybe even of this Sector.

We, the Phadh, start as human-like creatures and grow up to resemble trees as the years pass by. Leaves and branches have started growing on my father’s body during the last century. Soon, he won’t be able to travel into space anymore and will have to return to Zeania, our home planet, and live his last days contemplating his long life.

Even though many species would have taken his old age as a sign of weakness, the Elder Phadhs are among the most influential people in the Known Galaxy. And with still many years ahead of them before turning into Colossi, the Elders are our true leaders.

When I get close enough, I hear the restless rattle of a man as he tries to draw my father’s attention to himself.

“Many planets of the Sector 3 are plagued by pirate attacks. Why don’t we try to address that crisis first and let humans respond to their crisis alone? They didn’t want us here to begin with, so I say we let them have their way and fight those monsters all by themselves.”

One of the Unranked Species ambassadors, the Totes, seem way too aggressive towards resolving the human crisis. The truth is that humans didn’t actually ask for our help on the matter, but their neighbor planets, afraid of the epidemic on Yaerus turning into an uber-demic, did.

Dad smiles at the other man, nods at him, and proceeds to answer his question: “My dear friend, humans are short-lived creatures with even shorter tempers and irrational ambitions. They wouldn’t ask for our help even if they had a foot in the grave. The Alliance, however, retains the right to meddle with other species’ affairs if the situation endangers their neighboring civilizations. Incompetence can be a dangerous thing, especially when we’re talking about interplanetary politics. We’re not here to save the humans. We’re here to save others from the human problems.”

That’s my father then; the great diplomat, the man of the hour, the one that always seems to appease the angry crowds. Honestly, I don’t know how he does it. I would just have punched the guy in the face, between those antenna-like eyes that flop all around.

“You’re right, you Great Elder. I understand. But, I’m not only concerned about the crisis on Yaerus anymore. Humans seem so occupied on snatching the Second Rank from the Vlatall that makes their crisis management slow and sloppy. It’s not only that, but they also endanger other species with their incompetence. Even if we manage to find a way to save them all, it’s already too late to help them retrieve their planet without proceeding with a Purge,” the other man continues in a calmer manner.

Frankly, no matter how much I hate to agree with him, he’s right. Yaerus is done for. The reanimated corpses have ravaged most of the planet’s main cities, including Mosa. It’s almost impossible to find a solution now, not without risking more lives. Even with the overdeveloped Phadh technology and knowledge, it still remains a mystery how the humans stumbled upon such a dangerous disease.

My father sighs, probably searching for the right words to counter the ambassador's claims. That’s what I thought at first. When I finally catch up with the events, I have to use every ounce of my self-restraint from cupping my mouth. He’s angry.

When he finally calms down, at least to my experienced eyes, he proceeds into answering the other man’s question. “I didn’t claim that we can save their planet, fellow ambassador. Right now, I’ve lost my patience towards the human race as a whole. But don’t be mistaken. Humans have long surpassed their Third Rank Status. They’re already deep into the Second Rank and rising.

“Yaerus might be dead, but humans have countless planets at their disposal to colonize. This is far from being over, my friend.”

The other man stands in surprise before my father. To be honest, I’m surprised myself. His claims are dangerous, especially at a meeting hosted by humans. To openly speak about his worries over the human expansion is a sign of bad things to come.

“Excuse me, gentlemen. I couldn’t help but overhear your discussion.”

Oh no. The bad things came faster than I expected them. That’s one of the twelve human ambassadors of the meeting, a man plainly called Mr. Terasaka. He looks around a tenth of my age, meaning he must be around thirty years old. I never expected humans to send their children to fight their battles. He’s only a seed in front of my father and in no way prepared to rival my father’s political speech.

He walks right in the middle of the tightly pressed circle made of various ambassadors that have now amassed around them to observe the upcoming debate. The atmosphere is tense.

“Don’t worry about that, Mr. Terasaka. We weren’t trying to exclude the rest of you from our conversation. At this point I think all of us would love to hear your opinion on the matter,” my father says.

The black haired man, wearing a stylish black suit that highlights his eyes, quickly exchanges nods with my father and the Tote ambassador. He doesn’t seem all that bit bothered about the tense atmosphere.

“You seem to know many things about the way the human government works, you Elder of the Phadh. But, you’re also awfully quiet about the Phadh over-colonization of the 21st Sector or the misuse of the cloning method incident that came to light three years ago and still hasn’t been addressed by the council.”

“Make your point, Mr. Terasaka. This is not a public forum to express your concerns and worries about the strength and adequacy of the Phadh regime. None of our neighbor planets asked the Alliance’s help so far. That means--”

“That means nothing. You don’t have a home planet to start with. You keep the land of Zeania as a glorified graveyard. No one does even dare speak up against the mighty Phadh because of your military excessive power. And yet, here you are, calling for an emergency meeting of the Alliance’s Council to order a Purge you’re not authorized to--”

That was it. The last straw. The patience of the rest of the ambassadors is over. Everyone in the room starts talking at the same time. I cup my mouth with my hand and wait for the commotion to die out, but it doesn’t seem it’ll lose any of its intensity soon. Surely not before the meeting starts.

As I walk away from the grand hall, there’s something troubling me. Throughout my whole life, I’ve never—ever—heard anyone interrupt my father in a debate before. I haven’t even heard anyone talk back to him.

But sadly, everything the human said is true. We get complaints about the mistakes of the Phadh rule all the time, even if all the problems tend to mysteriously go away as soon as Elite Phadh Originators are assigned on the matter. I don’t want to admit it, but my father might be fighting a lost cause. Humans came to this meeting prepared to even go into an all out war against us to keep their claim over the Sixth Sector, even if their home planet it’s almost destroyed.

I head towards the observation deck. The cacophony of voices slowly becomes distant and muffled. Sure, it’s not like some of the greatest people of the Known Galaxy’s Alliance are fighting with each other. No, to me, the ambassador’s daughter, it’s another boring evening attending a diplomatic meeting with my father.

‘You have to come to this meeting, Alyce! You have to learn politics by experiencing them first hand. Our species is going through great changes, Alyce, and you’ll become one of its leaders someday in the future.’

God, I hate my dad’s voice when he’s asking me to escort him in one of those boring meetings. Nothing ever happens.

Until it does.

A small scale explosion erupts at the next room. I end up on the floor from the impact. I’m not sure what’s going on. Soon, the alarm goes off. At the same time, a thick cloud of smoke envelops the room. I hear steps closing in on my location.

“Help! Somebody! I’m in here,” I yell, trying to be heard above the ruckus the explosion caused.

Amidst the gray smoke, a man with a red, intimating mask appears. Three men follow him close behind. The three men wear plain gray masks, big enough to hide their faces.

The man with the red mask takes a step into the room and heads straight to me. The three men behind him stay put. When he’s close enough to touch me, he bends down and sprays something on my face.

I cough and crawl away from him as quick as I can. “Who are you? Are you the one that did this? What do you...?”

I feel my eyelids heavy. I can’t talk anymore. I try to fight it, but this is a fight I’ve lost before it even started.

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Chapter Forty-Five

Eladia

I’m not sure how many times it is now. Running away from the men with the black masks has become an oddly common activity during this last year. And the truth is that I’ve become good enough to not even worry about them anymore. The poor guys don’t even stand a chance. I know Caso’s alleyways and secret passages like the back of my hand.

I keep turning my head to check on them, but they don’t show any sign of exhaustion. It’s almost unnatural how easily they keep up with me. They keep running, keep coming at me like they’re robots, never tired and never giving up.

Honestly, I wish I could just stop and take them on. But Cross was downright clear about it. He doesn’t want me fighting them.

He always tells me to run and try to lose them in one of Caso’s labyrinthine alleys. That’s the reason why we decided to move in this colony in the first place after all.

I stop thinking nonsense for a moment and look around me. The subterranean city of Caso is one of the most badly planned cities of the entire galaxy. Honest to god, there are some paths that start on one side of the city and end up on the totally wrong side like they don’t follow the rules of nature at all. I don’t know what is wrong or why, but being one of the first human settlements, my theory is that it still retains that archaic, somewhat sketchy, urban planning of the early human endeavors.

Caso is an underground mining station on planet Xioria. It’s the first planet of the Known Galaxy that we moved into since the start of this intergalactic chase between me, Cross, and the black-maskers. The plan was to stay in the Uncharted Region for as long as possible, expecting that they wouldn’t find us there.

But, they always did.

You make a mistake by using online transactions, they find you the next day. You share your name with one of the commoners, they find you the next hour. Honestly, I don’t know how the fuck they do it, but if it wasn’t for Cross, I wouldn’t be able to keep up with them. I wouldn’t be able to survive for a whole year without him, to be honest.

Nowadays, though, and after I had completed a great part of my training next to him, we decided to return to the Known Galaxy. I’ve asked Cross many times why we did that, but I think he avoids sharing his plan with me.

Back to the present, the three men finally seem to have trouble keeping up with me. I can sense them move slower now so I start looking around for a quick way out. I’m still in the lead, and it’ll be difficult for them to catch me if I’m careful. Running for a whole year now strengthened my feet and made me fast to react. My senses have been sharpened, and I’m in no way the helpless girl I was a year ago.

Especially that time when I lost them...all of them.

I take a steep turn to the right and on the next alleyway I find a concealed entrance into one of the local, abandoned factories. Nowadays, this place has been turned into a warehouse, with many local companies utilizing the free storage space to their favor. Still, not sure if the black-maskers will follow me in here, I keep running deeper into the old factory. I can’t stop until I’m sure they’ve lost me

Once, Cross told me that these men are mercenaries. Using state-of-the-art technology, they can trace the sound of my footsteps or use thermo-cams to locate my thermal signature. Even though it felt better knowing they’re just humans (for a long time I thought they were cold-blooded robots), I couldn’t get out of our hiding spot without shivering from fear.

However, Cross also told me that hiding all the time wasn’t a viable solution. And, I couldn’t let Cross do all the dirty work for me.

Unfortunately, today I managed to stumble onto the clever kind of grunts. They quickly find my the entrance to the factory and follow me inside. I run upstairs and search for a way out from the upper floor. Even though most of these places are still used as warehouses, Caso is a city of outlaws. You can bet your ass that there are secret passages everywhere.

One time, while I was again running away from another persistent batch of black-maskers, I ended up inside one of those warehouses on the other side of the city. My pursuers were getting dangerously close to me, and I was running out of options. That was until I stepped onto one of the many platforms lying on the floor. This one though was connected to a pulley on the roof with a balanced counterweight on the other side of the building.

Suddenly, I’m on the air, heading straight to the skylight on the ceiling and out of the warehouse, the three men below me standing still, trying to find a way to follow me. It was awesome, but only now I see that it was truly dangerous and risky.

I keep searching around me for a sign that will lead me to freedom, but I can’t find anything. I try to keep my cool, but the soldiers push me deeper into the warehouse. Things have taken a turn for the worst, and I’m not sure I can avoid fighting them this time.

And I’m right. Only that it was too late for me to see all the signs.

It’s a trap.

The three men behind me were the bait, and I was foolish enough to bite it. They weren’t chasing me, but instead herding me to this place, a place full of black-maskers. They surround me, five of them jumping from above and the remaining three coming from behind.

Out of breath, out of rhythm, not even carrying my weapon with me, there’s only one thought passing through my mind right now: shit, I’m done.

“Who the fuck are you?” I shout, raging over them.

None of them answer to me. I didn’t expect them to. I was just trying to buy me more time to find something to defend myself with. You would expect that in a warehouse which contains goods, there would be something useful against a group of goons. But, surrounded from every possible angle, not able to move a muscle without someone capturing me, even if I could find a weapon, I’m not sure I would be able to get to it fast enough.

I squeeze my palms into fists and relax my stance. I’m not so good at hand-to-hand combat, but it’s better than standing still letting them get me without putting up a fight.

I close my eyes and try to get a clear sense of my weak spots. My back and my right side are vulnerable in a fist fight, but I’ll have to manage by moving my weight to the other side. Cross always says that I have to take the fight to them, so I’m planning to do exactly that. But it’s not that easy. I have a good idea of my surroundings, but still, they’re the ones that set me up in here. There’s a high chance that there are more traps hidden around.

Still, I don’t have time to think it over. They finally decide to make a move before I can come up with a decent plan. Three guys come at me at once, one from behind and two from each side. The other men move closer to me, tightening the circle.

I’m almost certain that there’s nothing I can do. I get ready to kick the one behind me, the one I would have more trouble beating otherwise, but it won’t do me any good. Even if I take him out, and the one coming at me from the right side, simultaneously, it’ll leave me without a way to deal with the other one. The same thing applies to every scenario.

I breath out and relax. I close my eyes and decide to persist with my first choice: take out the one coming at me from behind first and then improvise. I’m done anyway. Taking as many as I can with me is the best course of action right now.

“I told you to never get in a fight with them.” An oddly familiar voice suddenly comes from above.

Abruptly, I look around me and see all the five men surrounding me collapsing on the ground. A shadowy figure with a green mask falls from above, tossing me my weapon in the process. The three men coming at me don’t stop, even though the tables have now turned considerably.

Quickly, I kick the one coming from behind. He manages to dodge my hit, but still, that gives me an opening now. I use my staff to push the other two men out of the way and then I back-step through the opening. After that, the three men stop and cover me and Cross, one in each side. They’re ready to attack, but then they notice that all of their companions are on the ground, knocked out.

They look at each other and nod. They decide to turn and flee for their lives. Reporting to their boss, whoever that guy is, it’s more important than taking us on.

When they’re gone, I toss my staff on the ground and gasp for air. Cross, never taking off his mask, gets closer to me and rests his hand on my back.

“You’re lucky, Eladia. You know that, don’t you? You would have died if I didn’t find you in time,” he said.

He’s right. Fuck, I hate it when he’s right.

“I’m sorry, Cross. They set me up. I couldn’t get away from this,” I say.

“Eladia...I’ve told you many times already, my name is...”

“Don’t read too much into it, Doctor. We’re not friends, even though you’ve saved me too many times already. I just want to find my real friends, that’s all.”

The man nods and huffs. I know I’m rough with him, but after everything I’ve learned about him during this last year, I can’t let him get to me. I have to find Jay; I have to let him know how I feel about him.

“Okay. I understand. You’re right. Anyhow, can you walk?”

“Yes, of course. Why? What’s going on? Where are we going?”

He turns and removes his mask. That perfect face, with those beautifully dangerous blue eyes, looks at me. He has also changed so much throughout this year; I’m not sure I recognize him anymore.

“We’re going home, Eladia. I got news from the Organization. They want us back on Yaerus as soon as possible.”

I try to keep myself from cheering out loud. Finally, this nightmare is over.

I’m going to see him soon.

Chapter Forty-Six

Jay

I walk towards the commanding deck of the spaceship. It’s late. I just want to have something to eat. That tree-woman wouldn’t eat anything even if I pushed the food straight down her throat. And it’s all Pyro’s fault for assigning her to me.

Damn! Damn it all! I, Jasih of the Esuh, a First Kind, and a Prime Officer taking orders from a man that I haven’t even seen his face, I sure must be getting old after all.

But, he promised. He fucking promised that I will see Eladia again if I follow him. And that he’ll also tell me the truth about what happened to my people.

You’re way too gullible to believe a man weaker than you. He’s shitting you, and you do nothing about it.

I suddenly stop and look around me; there’s no one around.

“What other choice do I have? He’s the only one that knows about us and doesn’t want to cut us in pieces and experiment on us. Don’t you want to know what happened to our people, Jay?”

I feel a deep disturbance inside me; he’s not happy with me calling him Jay.

Let me out, just for an hour, and I’ll take care of him for you. And then we can finally search for Eladia and stop this fucking game.

“Don’t you forget the Cube? What will we do with that? Carry this thing around and wait until it magically disappears? Also, there are those visions. I’m sure you had them too. There’s something seriously wrong going on here.”

He doesn’t answer. He probably agrees with me, but it’s in his nature to defy me. I get it, though. I would be angry and mad as hell if I ended up stuck inside someone else’s body.

“Now, if you have nothing more to say, I have to get to the bridge. They expect a full report of the girl’s behavior.”

I start again towards the elevator as soon as I get a feeling that Dark Jay has returned back to his slumber.

It’s getting easier to talk to him every day. It’s like I talk to myself, only weirder. After everything that happened last year, the lies Eladia spouted at me, the cube showing us the way to every crazy corner of the Known Galaxy, fighting countless men and surviving, I think I’ve seen everything. Nothing surprises me anymore. But still, after everything, I don’t know why we had to risk our lives to get into that spaceship and abduct a young, alien girl. Pyro never shares his thoughts with us, not until after he’s sure that everything has gone according to his plan.

It has been a long year since we left that crazy planet. Back then, and after floating into nothingness for two days, I, Silver, and Zan were finally picked up by another spaceship, the mysterious Enigma Juggernaut. At first, I thought that the men with the black masks had finally found us, but as soon as the gate opened, we saw him, Pyro, the man with the red mask, waiting for us on the other side.

My first reaction back then was to attack him and quickly get immobilized by him and the gray-masked siblings in mere seconds. But he didn’t kill me like he did with those people back then. When he explained to us that he and the blond Doctor know each other and that he wouldn’t hurt us if we followed him peacefully, it was the only thing we could do to survive until we find Eladia.

Nevertheless, we ended up traveling with him around the galaxy. At first, I thought we were searching for Eladia and Doctor Dale Cross. But soon we started taking part in those weird missions—abducting political targets and exterminating small fleets of spaceships. I started thinking that the man behind the red mask has his own agenda and saving the galaxy from destruction is his afternoon hobby.

When I finally arrive on the bridge, Pyro and his two apprentices, the men with the gray, twisted masks, look at me. Both men remove their masks immediately and greet me, but Pyro never even moves a muscle.

“Jasih! You were awesome back there man. The way you kicked their butts without even breaking a sweat. It was awesome dude.”

That’s Alec. Very talkative and somehow childish, but at the end of the day, he means well. He’s our tech expert, able to hack everything he sets his mind into faster than a robot would ever do. Still, he lacks fighting experience, making him an unstable element during an operation.

“It was nothing, young man. We caught them off guard. That’s all.”

He nods and looks at his friend, the silent and mysterious Arlen. The guy was caught by a pirate crew when he was still a small child, and they ended up cutting his tongue for some reason. I don’t know the details, and I don’t care enough to ask either way. He just stands there, looking at me, just creeping me out.

Both men use their hands to talk. It’s strangely mesmerizing seeing them use that sign language (that’s how Silver said that it’s called). Arlen is one of the best assassins I’ve seen in years. It’s impossible to know that he’s after you until after he has killed you. But, the fact he can’t talk makes him another unstable element for operations. If he’s the first one to go down, we’ll never even know.

Still, these two work with the Organization for years now, following the grand plan of their master, Pyro.

“Enough, all of you. That was only the beginning of our operation. We now have to keep the ambassador’s daughter safe until we arrive at the Phadh home planet, Zeania. Jasih, you’ll continue to monitor her behavior throughout our trip there,” Pyro says.

I growl at him; he turns and looks at me. “I’m not a babysitter, Pyro. One of your men can take care of her. Why should I do it?”

They all look at me like I’m dumb. Well, of course, I’m acting foolishly when they never brief me up about anything, and they expect me to understand. I have the right to complain. I haven’t had a day of rest since we left that planet a year ago.

When we aren’t on a mission, we train. And when we don’t train, we investigate, kill, save, do every kind of mission without anyone ever telling me what’s the grand scheme behind all those missions. I just have to suck it up if I want to see her again.

Pyro takes a step closer to me. I can sense his murderous aura. It makes Dark Jay inside me stir. If I released him now, it would be a bloodbath before they finished fighting.

“I thought you wanted to find your girlfriend, Jasih. The Phadh girl we captured, she is our ticket into Zeania, the one place you can’t infiltrate without having a Phadh aboard. And the last time I checked, the Nusae Relic points straight to that planet for some reason. I’m just helping you fulfill your mission. And taking care of that girl is part of your mission. Do you understand?”

I hate how he’s right but wrong at the same time. I probably hate that I can’t do anything to stop him. I’m not sure I want to be here at this moment, but I won’t ever let him see that. I nod and turn my back to him. I feel their eyes following me all the way outside the commanding deck.

But I don’t fucking care anymore. Only the thought that I’m closer to finding her, to actually see her after all this time, it makes all this wait worth it. Damn, I have to let her know how I feel.

Chapter Forty-Seven

Eladia

As soon as we return to our hideout, Cross and I start packing our things. We don’t have many belongings except some clothes and hygiene products. How could we after all? We’re constantly on the run. And yes, nature doesn’t give a fuck if you’re chased by a group of black-maskers. When it’s your time of the month, it’s your time of the month, and you can’t do anything about it.

However, I’m still not sure why now is finally the time to leave. I and Cross, well, we are not in such good terms nowadays. It was a rough year overall and things have changed between us. I don’t know how we went from first-name base to just calling him Cross, but it sort of happened. The good thing is that now all I think about is returning to him. The bad thing is that I have no idea what’s going on most of the time.

I grab a change of clothes and put it in the bag. I have another change under the bed, where a secret passage to the roof is concealed below, but I decide to leave it there. You never know when someone will need it. Maybe the next person that will find this hideout will also need a change of clothes and a quick getaway.

Soon, I hear Cross’ steps heading towards the door. He’s probably checking if anyone suspicious is waiting for us outside. Setting up a trap and almost capturing me means that they’re getting smarter and more organized. It has taken us some time and a great deal of effort to clean up the mess we did back in the warehouse, but people of Caso are known for being big, blabbermouth bastards that will do anything they can to earn a gold coin or two.

And what’s that with Caso and their love for gold coins? Don’t they know about credit cards here? They’re heavy, dirty and cling annoyingly in your pocket all day. Try getting away from a bunch of beggars with your coins clinking in your pocket all the way to the hideout. I had to run around the block three times to lose them, and it was also my time of the month.

When I’m ready, I head to the common room where Cross is still checking for suspicious activity. With my bag on my back and my metal stuff in my hands, I’m ready to go at any time.

“Let’s go. I want to return to get back on Yaerus as soon as I can,” I say, murmuring behind my teeth.

I can see that my behavior towards him it’s hurting him, but I’m not sure I can recall the sympathy I had for the man when we first met on Yaerus. I was someone else back there, and he was just a doctor. Now, I’m a trained assassin ready to tackle any situation, and he’s a high-ranked member of an organization that runs around the galaxy and uproots problems.

I wouldn’t feel so bad about this if the Organization wasn’t so dredged into a religious tone. It’s like they follow a prophecy of some sort without ever stopping to wonder if all the things they believe are just excuses to justify their murders.

Cross turns and looks at me, his mouth open ready to spout some nonsense again. I don’t want to hear it this time. I’ve just started liking him again after he told me it’s time to return on Yaerus, but I don’t plan on cutting him any slack for that. It’s his fault people died on Yaerus and his fault that a whole planet is now in danger because he didn’t do anything to stop the disease from spreading even though he knew everything about it.

I’m sure he can sense my animosity towards him; he doesn’t say a thing. He nods and opens the door for us to head outside. Cross gets out first; I wait for his signal before I follow him, both our heads lowered, our hoods on.

It’s night on Caso. Living in an underground settlement makes it difficult to tell the difference, but after two months staying here, I’m confident I can understand it. The ceiling of the underground chamber the city is built in is full of strong floodlights. During the day, the majority of them work in full strength, shedding their light above the city, calling it a day.

The night, however, the administration shuts down more than half of them and lowers the intensity of the ones still on, calling that state of dim lightness a night. It’s really difficult to walk around the complex pathways of Caso when that happens, especially if you’re unfamiliar with the city. But, for some reason, Cross never quite gets lost, not here, not anywhere else. He always seems to know where he’s going, like he’s following a mental map inside his head.

It takes us some time to get to the spaceport close to our hideout. It has been over a week since the last time I came to check our spaceship. At that time, I remember feeling miserable as hell. It has been almost a year since we got separated from the rest of the gang back on that strange planet. I thought we would never return to Yaerus and that I’ll die running away from those black-maskers.

That’s why, getting closer, I can’t keep my head down any longer. I want to have a better view of the port, to savor our win. I slow down a bit and raise my upper body. I smile at the sight of the big, cylindrical building towering above the rest of the city.

“Get down,” Cross suddenly hisses at me.

I hear Cross’ warning, but it’s already too late. A strong headlight suddenly compromises my location; it’s the black-maskers again.

“Shit,” I swear loudly. I quickly pick up my pace.

I hear the dissonant sound of bullets raining above me. Luckily, Caso doesn’t allow for laser guns on its premises or I would have been dead already without never knowing what hit me.

Cross is running ahead, plainly heading towards the hidden passage we discovered the first week we arrived on Caso. Of course, Cross was the one that found it back then, and he’s the one that finds it again today. Up to this day, I have no idea how he manages to do it so fast, but I’m sure it has something to do with his vast experience as an operative of the Organization.

Fortunately, the city is built on many levels, so the black-maskers shooting us from above have no good field of view. And by running below all these metallic columns, makes avoiding the bullets easy.

“Faster Eladia. We’re almost there,” Cross shouts at me.

I decide that there’s no time to play games anymore. I don’t want to die before seeing him again, before touching his big hands, caress his silver hair. I can’t stop thinking of Dark Jay throughout all this ordeal.

When we both pass through the tight pathway, I run ahead and find our spaceship on the edge of a long line of spaceships, most of them class 1 vehicles suitable for five people, max. For a moment, I lose Cross from my eyes. I turn around only to see him pull something next to the exit of the passage.

“What are you doing? We have to go!” I yell at him.

He doesn’t hear me. I decide to run to his side and help him do whatever he’s trying to do when suddenly a shrieking noise stops me from getting any closer to him. Sudden movement coming from above the hidden passage draws my attention. The rope that Cross pulled was the only thing keeping a big chunk of metal garbage from closing the pathway’s exit to the spaceport.

Cross, as always, was two steps ahead of everyone, and he proved it by having set up a trap for the black-maskers.

When he runs to my side, I stop him, grabbing his hand.

“What?” He seems surprised.

I take a breath and open my mouth. “Thank you, Dale. For everything.”

I don’t know why I felt the need to say this to him now, but it was the only thing that came to my mind. It doesn’t change anything between us, but now, seeing him take care of me even after everything we went through, I feel gratitude towards him.

This nightmare is almost over, and he’s the one that kept me safe and sane for this long after all.

“It’s okay, Eladia. We have to go now. We’ll talk about everything as soon as we get on the ship.”

He doesn’t wait for me to say anything else. He gently frees himself from my grip and runs towards the spaceship. I follow him close behind. Five minutes later, we’re on our way away off Xioria.

A fierce sandstorm has covered the main exit of the spaceport with tons of gold sand. A small waterfall splashes on the main pane of the cockpit, giving us the impression that we emerged from a sea of sand.

Historically, Caso was built underground to avoid the extreme weather effects whipping the planet’s surface at frequent intervals. There wasn’t a day that we didn’t feel the effects of those extreme weather conditions underground, with vast amounts of sand covering the metal ceiling of the settlement. Back in the days, when they used to open the cover during the calm days, the whole city was being hit by natural sunlight enough to even have some minor agricultural activities started down there.

Nowadays, everything is covered in sand and stone. Strangely, this is the only place of the one’s we visited that I’ll actually miss. It is, after all, the only place that I felt comfortable being myself—my new self.

We’re off orbit already, heading towards Yaerus. For the first time after nine months of seclusion from the Grid, I can finally see what’s going on with the rest of the galaxy. I open the monitor and type the word Yaerus on the screen.

I cup my mouth with my hand almost immediately. The first result of my search is that big, bold headline saying: “Yaerus in danger of a Purge. The local solar system in danger of an uber-demic. The council is devastated by the recent kidnapping of the Phadh ambassador’s daughter in the middle of talks regarding Ecli System’s safety.”

Honestly, what the fuck it’s going on out there?.

Chapter Forty-Eight

Jay

I walk into the command deck. I’ve been searching for Pyro for some time now but he’s nowhere to be found. I can’t imagine where he might be hiding this time. This man really gets on my nerves when vanishing like that.

I see Silver and Zan in the cockpit. The cockpit isn’t exactly secluded from the rest of the bridge, but when these two are in there, it’s like there’s no one around them. Even so, they still go out of their way to talk to me when they spot me.

“Hey, Jasih. Long time no see,” Zan says.

The boy has grown to be a man. Nowadays, he has muscles in all the right places, and he takes care of his super-growing hair all by himself. It’s not like Silver, the friendly Chronicler’s assistant doesn’t want to help him, but the boy seems to have become kinda shy around her now that he has acquired some sense of modern consciousness.

“What are you talking about? I had just seen you yesterday. It’s not that long ago,” I reply. Sometimes, I don’t understand what he means when he says these things.

He shakes his head, hides his face behind his palm, and laughs. “It was meant to be a joke, Jasih. You still don’t get humor?”

No, he doesn’t, Dark Jay comments in my head. Let me out! I want to have fun with them, too. I’m bored in here.

I can’t answer to him so I just ignore him.

“I don’t get why humor exists in the first place. It’s not like it offers me something intellectually or helps me collect information about the current situation. It doesn’t even help me feel better about anything. So no. My answer is that I still don’t get it.”

I’m a bit too rough on the boy, I admit it. But that Phadh girl, Alyce, is really a pain in the ass. She drives me seriously crazy. Zan is sulking on his seat when I’m over, looking for something to avoid continuing our conversation.

“What’s going, Jasih? How can we help you?” Silver joins the conversation.

To be honest, I never believed that a robot could change. Recently, though, I get the feeling that this one has almost become sentient, especially when around that Earth boy. It’s like for every minute they spend talking to each other, she gets closer to becoming human.

“I’m looking for Pyro. Can you track him using the ship’s sensors?”

Silver has been good with me since we got separated from Eladia and the doctor. I’m not sure why, but I’m in better terms with her now that the three of us are all that remained from the original bunch. It kinda feels like she’s my only true connection to Eladia and I want to cherish it as long as I can.

“Hmm. This is strange. I don’t have access to the sensors. It looks like someone raised a firewall last night limiting my access rights to the ship’s control sensors. I’m sorry, Jasih. I can’t really help you,” she says.

Frankly, I do believe her. She’s a robot after all, and robots can’t lie.

I’m ready to thank her and turn back to my search when something suddenly buzzes in my pocket. At first, I thought it was the Cube, but soon I notice that it’s something else entirely.

“Shit. Who the fuck came up with the idea of giving that girl a notifier? That thing vibrates in my pocket every ten minutes. It’s like she’s playing a twisted mind game with me, trying to drive me crazy!” I say.

Neither Silver nor Zan reply to me. They’re still afraid of my outbursts, scared that if something goes wrong, the other Jasih will come out and kill them. I have to hand it to them, though, they don’t show it as plainly as they did a year ago. It was the first time they ended up alone with me, without Eladia to help them if needed be.

“You should get to her. If Pyro finds out, you’re not following his orders...” Zan says.

I’m not glad that I agree with him.

He’s right. Unfortunately, Pyro is my only chance to solve this Nusae bullshit and find Eladia. If I don’t follow his orders, then he’ll make sure to dispose of me.

I leave the room without saying a thing. I walk all the way to the elevator and head downstairs, towards Alyce’s room. I’m still pissed off at the world, and when that happens, the other Jasih seems like he’s in turmoil. It’s like a window opens in my mind and he’s using it to take control of my body.

You don’t have to follow his orders. Let me out and I’ll take care of him for you. You know that I can, right? You just have to let me out!

“If you kill him, then you kill our only chance to see Eladia again. How many times do I have to tell you?”

Since I found out that Dark Jay has the same soft spot for Eladia as I do, I started using it to appease his anger. It still takes some effort not to hit myself trying to hurt him for having all those illicit thoughts about her, but living with him—my symbiote—has become way easier.

I feel the disturbance inside me calm down; it seems even he can’t risk losing her.

A subtle ring notifies me that I’m on the right floor. The Class 5 spaceship Enigma is big enough for almost ten times its current population, so there are many floors to explore. Even so, I was just called to this particular one.

“I hope this isn’t another stupid chore,” I mumble to myself.

Honestly, I’m at my limit with this young girl, Alyce. It has been a week already and instead of becoming less feisty she’s more of a hindrance than when we first closed her in there. I understand that being imprisoned against your will can do that to you, but this relationship of ours has been getting out of hand.

I carefully enter the code on the control panel next to the door to unlock it and get inside. She’s lying on her bed, reading a book, waiting for me to arrive with that arrogant smug of hers.

“It took you long enough,” she says.

“I was busy. What do you want?” I keep all the nice words out of this conversation.

“Nothing. I just want you to get me a glass of water.”

I turn and see that the glass I got her earlier is still intact. “Are you kidding me?”

I almost growl at her.

“No, I’m not. That is mineral water. I want natural, unprocessed one. The kind you have here is making me sick.”

I’m not sure what happened after that. I blink, and I’m standing next to her, roaring on her face, actually being over her shit. The gutsy girl doesn’t even flinch.

“I could kill you, you know? I could make you choke on your blood while slicing your throat with my teeth. Do you want that?” I say, aiming to intimidate her, but her eyes suddenly fall behind me.

“Can you please hold your dog? You don’t want him to kill your most important asset, right?” she says to someone standing behind me.

I slightly turn my head to see who’s the one standing there, but it’s too late. I feel something pulling me closer to Alyce, a force strong enough to almost sever my hands from the rest of my body. I try to pull back, but I can’t.

I close my eyes, and then there’s α feeling of falling into the void. I scream for a moment but soon, it feels like everything is over. Once again, I’m standing on solid ground. Quickly, I pull my hands away from Alyce and look around me. We’re in the middle of a forest with gigantic trees surrounding us, a forest thick enough that light doesn’t get all the way to the ground.

“What did you do? Where are we?” I ask her immediately, getting even more intimidated by her calm smudge.

“Welcome to my home planet, Zeania. It seems your boss’ plan is going exactly as he intended to.”

Chapter Forty-Nine

Eladia

Breath in, breath out. Breath in, breath out. Don’t forget that every body movement relies on your breathing, Eladia. Cross has his green mask back on. I hate it when he does that. He acts like I’m the enemy and doesn’t hold back.

Of course, I wouldn’t like him to go easy on me, especially not now that I’m fully trained. I want to test my skills, to see how strong I’ve become throughout this last year. Still, these short, plastic clubs we’re using for today’s training are heavy and impractical, unlike my staff.

“Don’t think too much, Eladia. Embrace your instincts. Attack!” he bellows.

He immediately vanishes from my field of view, but I can guess his next move. I know his every move now since we spar every day. I turn around and protect my back by raising both the clubs I have in my hands. This is one of his opening attacks, to go for my weak spot in the back. I expect to see him try to kick me, but the only thing I protect myself from is a small paper ball.

“How many times have I told you to improvise and think creatively when fighting? I won’t be the only enemy you face,” he says, whispering from behind.

I manage to quickly free myself from his grip, but I’m agitated and confused. “How the hell did you do that?” I ask him.

Usually, he would answer me straight away, but today he’s extra rough. He wants to prove a point to me, maybe to test me himself. “Figure it out yourself, Eladia. If you do, then I don’t have anything else to teach you,” he says and stands down. He lowers his guard, which is nice of him, but he does it to further confuse me.

I use my brain to retrace his every step. I was trying to regulate my breathing; he used the time to vanish from my sight; the training area is circular, meaning that the only way to go was up. He jumped over me at the exact moment I opened my eyes. But, even though I expected him to come at me from behind, he returned to his first position faster than I anticipated. So, either he never moved, or he was above me the whole time.

Or...

“You jumped above me, tossed the paper from your vantage point, and jumped back in your place to confuse me. Your trick wouldn’t have worked if you didn’t toss the paper ball to me,” I say.

“Why?” he asks me.

“I expected an attack from behind. So, by giving me exactly what I wanted, you confused me. With the time you earned while I was trying to understand what’s going on, you sneaked behind me and got me.”

I don’t ask if I’m right. I know that I am. So, when he nods, I feel proud of myself.

“You’re something else, do you know that Eladia? I had many students throughout my years with the Organization, but you’re the most promising one. It’s almost disappointing that you’re a Chronicler. You would do better as a soldier or an agent of the Organization.”

He removes his green mask and smiles at me with that charming, gleaming smile of his. I look away.

“I don’t want to work from the shadows, Cross. Murdering people, stopping something from ever happening in the first place; this is not my style. I just want to bring peace in the world from the light. Conquering all the mysteries and bringing to light new technology and mysteries to solve...that’s my style.”

My tone is offensive, but it’s meant to be this way. I’m done following men with pools of blood in their hands. Being a Chronicler was my dream since I was a small child, and it would take more than a handsome man to change that.

Except if that man was Jay. Then, maybe...

“Who’s there?” I suddenly feel a presence hiding in the shadows.

Cross must have noticed the man way before me because he doesn’t even flinch. Moreover, the man is standing dangerously close to him to be just a stranger.

“I see you trained her well, Swamp. He could spot me even before I gave away my position. She’s better than I expected,” he says.

Cross is looking at me with the same melancholic glance he darts at me every time he wants to apologize for everything he has done. I’m not sure who the man with the gray mask is, but I don’t care. We’re getting close to Yaerus. One of these days, we’ll be able to see the planet, my home planet, at last. Not that it matters. The Purge is almost certain now.

“She has some ways to go before becoming as good as you, Mist. But she’s on the right path,” he says.

The two men look at me for a moment without saying a thing. Their eyes are pinned on me, but also seem like they see beyond me at the same time. I turn around to gather my things and head to my room when I spot a man standing at a breathing distant from me. I scream, lose my footing and fall to the floor. “What the fuck?!”

Someone giggles behind me. That Mist-man seems to be enjoying himself. Another man with a gray mask is now standing above me. He must have been standing behind for some time now, concealing his presence at such a degree that I couldn’t even feel him breathing on my neck.

“Let me introduce you my brother, Nebula. He’s the best assassin of the Organization, almost coming up to par to your master, the best assassin that ever passed from the Organization.”

Damn, these men are crazy. I still have many ways to go before getting to their level it seems. Nebula stretches his hand to help me get on my feet. Surprisingly, I decide to accept his help.

I wipe the dust off my clothes and turn to watch the men behind me. The one named Mist sounds amused, but Cross seems less than apathetic. It’s like I’m not even here for him anymore. Something changed inside him since these men arrived.

“What’s going, Alec? Did Pyro send you?”

All those strange names. Mist, Nebula, Swamp. My theory that their organization is religiously-based gets stronger by the minute.

“Are you sure you can use our names carelessly in front of her? She might be your apprentice, but...”

“I’m not his apprentice. I’m just a Chronicler that wants to learn how to protect herself. That’s all,” I quickly correct him.

Without ever removing his mask, the man turns to look at me, observing me. “Your girl has guts, doesn’t she? But it seems she can’t control her mouth yet. Maybe a friendly spar would fix that.”

I raise my fists and dare him to attack. Something inside me tells me that this is a big mistake. But Alec never takes a step towards me. A second later, I notice that Cross has raised his hand ever so slightly to stop him.

“You’re not here to test anyone, Alec. Tell me now, what Pyro wants? What’s his plan? I suppose if any of us has a plan, then he’s the one.”

Alec sniffs and stands down. I’m not sure what he would do to me, but after he relaxes his fist, I see a tiny keyboard hiding back into his uniform. He’s a hacker, a man of wits, certainly not on par with the skills of a fighter like me, I’m sure.

Well, I’ll never know now.

“Pyro had a plan the last time I saw him, but it’s as crazy as all his plans are. Hell, the man actually managed to tear down the Great Embassy on Yaerus before anyone knew about the scheme the humans had set up.”

Tear down the Great Embassy? What is he talking about?

“Pyro should have been called Crimson if you ask me. He’s not fire, he’s the color of blood itself,” Cross says.

I feel anger boiling inside me. I remember the faces of my two dead friends, the two Originators on Yaerus.

“Yeah, yeah. He thinks so too. But the others gave him that name for a reason, and I’m sure he’s going to honor it at long last.”

“Leave the chit chat for later, Alec. What’s his plan? Where he’s heading to? He’s not on Yaerus, that much I know.”

For some reason, the other man stays silent for too long. He turns and looks at me or more correctly, behind me. His brother takes a step forward and stops in front of him. They start moving their hands, using sign language to communicate. That means that Nebula can’t talk. I wonder, is it because of the Organization or something else entirely?

The men seem to disagree with each other; Nebula uses sharp, strong signs. It’s like he’s shouting in his own way. Alec seems calmer, collected. He does want to get this over and done with.

Some time goes by before they’re done. Then, they both turn and look at Cross. The man hasn’t changed his expression at all since the two gray-masked men arrived. I can’t tell if he’s angry, anxious, or just bored. He’s just...mundane.

“Look. We were ordered to inform you that Pyros is heading off to Zeania. There was no order to brief you up about his mission, but...”

He seems to think it over. Even so, his brother stretches his hand and helps him go on.

“But we’re afraid that Pyros has gone crazy during this last year. We have assassinated more people than every other team, Swamp. And every time we ask him what’s going on, we get the same excuse. It’s for the Cause. But among the victims were innocent humans, even some teenagers. How can a teenager be a danger to the Cause, Swamp?”

Cross lowers his head; he suddenly looks like those old paintings, the light casting a sinister shadow on his eyes. He knows more than he’s letting us believe.

“I understand. Don’t worry over it, brothers. I will take over from now on.”

Cross turns and gets ready to move out from the room when Alec stops him. “Wait. It’s not over. We also kidnapped a young, female Phadh, the Sector 6 ambassador’s daughter, Swamp.”

“Yeah, I figured when I first saw it in the Grid. He had to find a safe way into Zeania. Only a Phadh can get on the planet unobstructed. He did the right thing.”

“He made us use human weapons.”

Something on that last sentence makes Dale lose his composure. He punches the wall with his free hand. I’m not sure what’s going on, but I have the feeling that my stupid feud with him has suddenly arrived at an end.

Chapter Fifty

Jay

It’s dark; darker than I remember. I look around me and see nothing. It’s like my whole consciousness is locked into a dark box. I can’t breathe, can’t see, I can’t even think straight in here.

I try to move forward, but something stops me. I can’t control my body. Or maybe, someone doesn’t want me to go down that way. I search inside me for the other Jasih’s voice, but he’s nowhere to be found.

For some reason, being alone scares me. Now that I’ve found him, I don’t want to be alone again.

A picture of Eladia pops in my mind. It takes me a moment to recognize her; she has her hair down, waving above her shoulders, caressing her back. She’s beautiful, more beautiful than ever. I want to touch her, to feel her smooth skin, her soft breasts.

Her image keeps me company until an explosion of light suddenly blinds me. I close my eyes, but it doesn’t help. Light manages to pierce through my thin eyelids and make the darkness behind my eyes burn. It’s torture, a never-ending punishment that I can’t bear.

Jasih.

A woman’s voice echoes inside my mind. Is that voice hers? She certainly doesn’t sound like her.

Jasih, you’re close. You have to keep moving, she says.

Close? Close to where? To do what? What is she talking about?

Jasih, open your eyes.

I want to decline, but it doesn’t seem I have another choice. I feel like I’m trying to avoid the unavoidable. Maybe opening them will stop the burning after all.

I do it slowly, carefully. At that moment, everything changes. I’m back on that roof, in the forest of the cemented trees, the place where the buildings don’t float like Mosa. I turn my head and see a woman appear behind me.

She nods at me and points at something on the horizon. I follow her finger and see the imprint of a falling object leaving a long, burning tail behind it, getting closer to the ground fast.

“What is this? Where am I?” I yell, but she doesn’t answer.

She just looks at me.

Jasih, you have to keep moving. Your race, the Esuh, needs you. You have to keep moving.

“I don’t understand! Moving where? To do what?”

She disappears before giving me a clear answer to my question. The object in the sky is now closer to the ground. What is this? Why do I see this vision? What does she want to tell me?

A moment passes and a girl runs into the roof. I gawp when looking at her.

“It’s you!” I say out loud.

She looks at me; she’s scared. She’s holding a small, metal thing in her hand. I’m not sure what it is, but it must be important. The young woman is hurt, seriously hurt, but it doesn’t stop her from moving, not even for a second. Most of her face is covered in blood, and her hands shake.

“Help me! You have to help me. I can’t leave this place, and it’s about to get hit by that thing over there. It’s going to destroy the whole planet. You have to do something,” she says without ever taking a breath.

“I’m not sure what you want me to do. I can’t stop a meteorite with my bare hands. Maybe if I had...”

“No, no. It’s not a meteorite. It’s something else, something far more dangerous. You have to help me.”

I’m not sure what she’s talking about, but I’m happy she’s here, even if she’s half crazy already.

“Look, my spaceship is close. I can take you to my friends and--”

“There’s no time! Goddammit, there’s no time!” she yells and falls on her knees.

The blond girl bursts into tears, into heart-breaking sobs. Something bad has happened to her, but I’m not sure I understand. I would help her if I could. I would surely do.

I turn to check the falling object.

“Shit! What the hell?”

The big object has changed its trail, and it’s heading straight for us. I stand still for a moment, trying to find a way out of its course when I hear the sound of feet running towards the end of the roof. I have a bad feeling about this.

Everything happens so fast that I can’t keep up. The object is getting really close to us; I can now clearly see that it’s a giant cube, big enough to destroy the whole city in the imminent impact. The girl is now standing on the edge of the roof, one foot hanging above the empty space. She suddenly seems determined to end her life.

“No! Don’t-” I try screaming, but my voice doesn’t even get out of my mouth.

The girl jumps from the roof, leaving nothing behind but the memory of her presence there. However, the weirdest thing comes right after, when the cube gets really small, small enough to fit in her hand, and follows her down.

A flash appears a moment later; I cover my eyes with my hand, but I can still feel the warmth of the flash for the rest of my body.

When it’s over, I open my eyes. I’m suddenly down to the base of the building, standing next to the dying girl. The cube beside her is still red, five strange signs inscribed around her, beating like a heart.

“Fuck! Are you alright?” I get close to her quickly. But, when I touch her, her body collapses under a dust-filled cloud.

I squeeze my fists hard enough to hurt them, but it’s not enough. She’s the second person I could do nothing to save.

I feel useless. I feel cold. I feel alone.

I start shaking, freezing. Something is wrong with me. I can’t control my limbs. I look down on my body, and I see a black, oozing substance coming off my body and connecting to the cube.

And then, excruciating pain comes. I scream, roar, try to pull my skin off my body, do anything to stop the pain.

“Hey! Hey!!! Wake up! What’s wrong with you?”

I open my eyes. I’m on the ground. I look around me and see gigantic trees and a young lady with a bizarre, brownish complexion looking at me.

“What...what’s wrong? Where are am I?”

“You’re in Zeania, the Phadh planet. What’s wrong? Did you forget?” She stops, waiting for an answer. When she understands that I can’t give her one, she keeps talking. “Five minutes after we got here, a flash came from your pocket, and you passed out. You’ve been out for an hour now, and it’s getting dark. We have to find a shelter.”

It was the cube again, right? The fucking, Nusae Cube. Fuck. I’m on the verge of pulling it off my pocket and tossing it on the ground, but I know it’s futile. It’ll probably fly back to me. But this vision was fucking twisted. The girl dying, me getting covered by that black thing.

And then, somehow, out of nowhere, everything clicks inside me. At that moment, I finally remember who I was, what was my mission back on Primordial Earth, why my people vanished.

“Alyce, we have to go. Now. We have a mission to complete,” I say to her.

She seems surprised for a moment but doesn’t say a thing. We’re both trapped in this hellhole for now, but I’m unreasonably happy. I finally remember who I am.

Chapter Fifty-One

Eladia

Three days...three days have passed since the brothers with the gray masks suddenly appeared in the training room. For a Class 1 spaceship, four people living in a tight place is fairly comfortable. For me? Well, it’s obnoxious. It was hard enough having to put up with Cross alone, but now that two more people from his organization were added to the crew, the level of discomfort rose significantly.

With Cross spending most of his time plotting something with the siblings, I spend most of my time alone. Not having a sparring partner anymore, I end up training all day, throwing hollow punches on a punching bag, trying to let off some steam.

I can’t keep my mind off him. Jay is in my mind all the time. When I’m sleeping, when I’m eating, when I’m training, I can’t stop thinking about him. What he’ll say about my new haircut or what he will do when we first meet? Will he kiss me? Will he hug me? Will he...?

“You’re doing it wrong.”

I lose my focus in the middle of a high kick and almost sprain my ankle. Luckily, the first thing that Cross taught me was how to fall and not injure myself.

“What the hell? What’s your problem, sneaking out on me like that?”

It’s Alec, the blabbermouth.

“If I were your enemy, you would be dead by now. You have to be ready to do anything, anytime. Hasn’t Swamp taught you that?”

I sense a judgmental tone in his voice. “You think you’re better than me?”

He smiles; I can tell even with his face hiding behind his mask. “It’s not a matter of what I think. I’m sure that I’m better than you. You think that because you had a rough year you’re in better shape than me? You’re greatly mistaken,” he says and takes another step towards me.

Immediately, I feel an ominous aura coming from him; this man isn’t kidding. I lower my head and breath in. I relax my muscles and lower my guard, welcoming him in.

‘First rule of assassination: be always perfectly aware of your surroundings.’ Cross’ first rule clearly echoes in my mind. Back then, I didn’t quite get what he meant. Now, I understand.

The shriek of his shoes alerts me that he launched an attack against me. I avoid it easily, slipping from one stance to the other. Almost instantly, I take a step back with my left foot and dodge his punch. I do it in such a way, though, that my new footing is much more favorable to launch my next attack. So, when I finally open my eyes and punch him right in the face, I’m sure I won’t miss.

Surprised, he isn’t able to completely dodge my hit and thus he uses his hands as a shield. I feel the impact of my fist’s momentum in my whole body, but I know that the fight is not over, not by a long shot.

“Shit, you’re good after all. Swamp really taught you everything he knows, right? But, I now see what’s your greatest weakness. He was right after all.”

What? Cross said that I’m not ready? But...but last time he said the exact opposite thing. He was the one that said that my training was complete.

‘Second rule: don’t assume anything about anyone. Most enemies hide a trick up their sleeves. Find it, analyze it, use it.’

I remember that Alec is the one with the tiny keyboard hiding in his sleeves. I quickly get the feeling that his specialty is electronics, but I’m not sure how that can help him in a fist fight. Or how that can help me beat him. I’m sure he’s just standing there, probably looking at me with a cocky smile, doing something to the system with his keyboard.

Still, there’s nothing I can do other than waiting for him to use his trick and then destroy him.

“Hmm. You’re indeed better than I expected. You’re trying to analyze me, right? To find that trick up my sleeve and all?”

What then? Can he read my mind?

“Don’t flatter yourself. You’re not the only one that has been trained by the Swamp. To become a full-fledged member of the Organization, you have to spend a full year of training with each of the high-ranking members. Ocean covers the first stage of training, the part where you learn what your specialty is,” he says.

While he’s talking, the lights suddenly turn off. I’m blind for a moment, but I have enough time to hide behind one of the room’s many counters.

“Do you think darkness can help you? I’ve lived in the darkness too long to be intimidated by it!” I yell at him.

Slowly, but steadily, I regain my sight enough to be able to detect movements and figures. The moment I decide to pass into the counterattack, the lights turn back on.

“Swamp is the one that teaches you how to survive and kill your victims with deceit and pure skill. He hones your abilities and makes you a true, killing machine.”

I can’t see for a moment; I remain stunned, uncovered, rubbing my eyes while trying to regain my sight. When I’m sure I can handle the pain, the lights turn off again. Once again I’m blind, only, this time, it takes longer for me to regain control of my sight. And just when I’m confident enough that I can counter him, he uses his small keyboard to turn on the lights again.

It’s torture.

I’m thinking of closing my eyes, fighting using my other senses, but then, a piercing shrill coming from the ship’s speakers makes me lose control of my hearing as well. I...I can’t do anything.

“You cheater! You coward! Using dirty tricks to stop me from kicking your butt...is that your way of fighting?”

I sense the dull side of a knife on my neck. He has managed to sneak behind me and trap me. “We’re not soldiers, Chronicler. We’re above that. We’re assassin’s, fighting using the shadows, stopping at nothing to get what we want. Rule number three: there’s no dirty trick as long as it gets the job done.”

Shit. He’s right. Cross used to say that all the time, and we used to fight for it. As long as it gets the job done, there’s nothing that it’s unethical.

I take a deep breath and think. These words come as a revelation to me now, under Mist’s strong grip. Somewhere inside me, I gave up without even trying. So, when I quickly use my hand to stop him from further moving his blade and cutting my neck, he leaves his body uncovered. I kick him in the balls to cause him sudden pain and then throw him down with a complex handle, removing his mask in the process. I see that his cocky smile has been wiped off his face.

“Well, it seems like you’re right. But you’re talking too much for an assassin, do you know that?”

I see him staring at me and then I remember that these brothers always come in a pair. I grab one of the training clubs we were using with Cross during our sparring and stop Nebula’s hand on its way.

“You’re getting predictable,” I say, self-conscious of my great victory.

“You’re talking big for someone who doesn’t know anything about the Mystery you’re investigating all these years.”

What? What does that have to do with our fight?

“What are you talking about? The Nusae were destroyed so that the Phadh could rise to power. Is that what you mean? Isn’t that the end of the Great Mystery?”

A smirk appears on his face. I want to punch him.

“You really don’t have a clue. Weird, Cross is the one that teaches us about the story of the Nusae. In this stage, you should have already learned everything about them and what we’re fighting for.”

I feel lost. Cross hasn’t said anything about the Nusae throughout the last year we’re living together, trying to get away from the black-maskers.

I release him and help him get on his feet. “Tell me. What do you know about the Great Mystery? What do you mean that there’s more to it?”

He seems surprised that I was so quick to control my temper. To be honest, I’m not sure how I did it myself.

“I don’t know if I’m the one that should tell you about something so important. Swamp would have been better, but--”

“Cross,” I interrupt him, “won’t tell me a thing. He wants to be the hero, to become a martyr. If there’s more to the Great Mystery, I have to know. I have to let Jay know about it.”

“Believe me, your friend already knows. Pyro told him the truth many months ago. You’re the only one that has no idea what the Great Mystery is really about.”

Something cracks inside me. I want to kill him on the spot. My mind works in ways that I wouldn’t think possible a year ago, but now his life is just a price to pay to appease my anger. I raise my hand, not able to control my actions anymore when--

“Enough! Alec, Arlen, return to the bridge. You have overstepped your boundaries for the last time.”

Cross is furious. He’s more than furious; his face is a twisted mask of his usually charming demeanor. He’s genuinely angry with them. For a moment, I honestly feel sorry for them. Then, I feel ashamed. I was almost ready to take a man’s life just to satiate my rage.

Still, they don’t seem all that much worried. It seems that Swamp isn’t their superior anymore, and they aren’t afraid of him.

I don’t care, though. Now that we’re alone in the training room, he has lied to me for the last time.

Chapter Fifty-Two

Jay

It has been four days now, give or take. Walking through this strange forest makes me lose my sense of time. We get only a couple hours of sunlight every day, and that’s an overstatement. Alyce doesn’t seem all that much affected by it, but I...well I don’t want to stay on this fucking planet another minute.

“Eventually, you’ll have to eat you know? Or else you’ll die of starvation,” she says.

We’re taking a break from a long morning of hiking. Alyce was pretty clear when she said that she wouldn’t allow me to start a fire to cook these raw things she calls food. They look like meat; undercooked, tasteless meat. But hell, they don’t taste like it.

“I’m an Esuh of the Two Faces, a Prime Officer and a--”

“Yeah, yeah. I know. You’re someone important. But you’re unlucky you’re not a vegetarian. In my planet, fire is forbidden, and the animals live happily because the Phadh don’t need primitive food sources like meat to survive. It’s one of the last natural paradises in the Known Galaxy and the reason we don’t allow anyone other than ourselves inside.”

Please! Let me shut her up. Then we can cook her carcass and eat it. She surely seems delicious, Dark Jay comments in my head.

Frankly, I find it difficult to disagree with him now. This young girl, which I learned isn’t so young after all, seems to never stop talking. Especially after the night of the vision. Well, maybe that was my mistake. I shouldn’t have told her everything about Eladia and the other Esuh.

But, being way too excited that I finally discovered the fate of my people, I couldn’t hold back from sharing the news with someone...anyone. It still feels like there’s something important missing, though.

I take one last glance at the “uncooked meat” and after I hold back a strong feeling of vile climbing up my esophagus, I toss it on the ground. “We’ll be leaving in five minutes. I want to make sure we’ll arrive at that temple you talked about by tomorrow. We have wasted way too much time already.”

Eladia is waiting for me somewhere in this galaxy, and I don’t want to keep her waiting anymore. I have so many things I want to share with her about the Esuh medicine, the culture of my people, and love. I’m so excited I’d be laughing if I wasn’t trapped in an overgrown forest with semi-sentient trees.

“Well, no matter how much we hurry, it’ll get us another two days before we get there. So it would be nice if you slowed down a bit and started relaxing maybe? I don’t know. I’ll just lie here and wait for you to calm down or whatever,” she says and winks at me.

Honestly, her arrogance knows no bounds. She’s so full of herself that if I closed her nose, she would explode. Still, she’s my guide, and I’m her kidnapper. I must admit that it’s not an ideal setting, but it’s the only one I have. If it wasn’t for that asshole Pyro, I would have found another way to infiltrate this planet that it wouldn’t include babysitting a 300-years old teenager.

I walk away from the camp and decide to scout the path ahead. You can never be too cautious, even in a forest world like Zeania. There are animals back on my planet that can kill you in mere seconds without ever realizing what’s going on.

You mean were; Sciri doesn’t exist anymore. We made sure to destroy it after we fled.

Hearing his voice deep into my head makes the pain of my mistake all the more real.

“Shut up. I know. It was...a mistake. Just leave it at that.”

A mistake would be to eat that thing she gave you. What we did was nonsense. Instead of standing up against the Nusae, we fled like hunted Tidrey.

I stop and once again try to hold back from punching the trunk of a tree. It would only hurt me, not him.

Even so, I have to say something to hurt him the way he hurts me every time he talks. “You don’t have a saying on this, Jay. You weren’t alive back then. You were just a symbiotic parasite made to follow my orders. If it wasn’t for the Nusae Cube, you would still be just that. A parasite.”

I sense his anger, but there’s nothing he can do. This is the truth, and he just has to swallow it.

The Esuh used the dark matter, the think covering their skins turning it ash gray, to enhance their inner abilities. That’s why they were called Esuh of the Two Faces and not of the Two Minds in the first place.

We are, dumbass. Not they. They were your people, and you refer to them in the third person? And then I’m the one that doesn’t get a saying on this.

Shit, he’s right. He’s always so fucking right. It’s just that after my memories came back, everything is so jumbled up in my head.

There’s a moment of silence before I sense something hot piercing my foot. The pain comes a moment later, making me roar in agony before falling on my knees. Someone shoot me with a laser gun.

“Who did this? Where are you? Come out and face me,” I bellow.

When a woman appears out of nowhere, wearing full armor, even covering her face, I know something is wrong. She has the same tattoo as I, the mark of the First Kinds.

“Who send you?” I say, but she doesn’t even flinch. “It doesn’t matter. Finding your dead body will be more than enough for them to stop chasing me!” I say confidently, although I don’t feel so sure inside.

My skills without the help of the other Jasih are not enough to kill her. But, something tells me that if I give in to him now and let him take full control, I won’t be able to take back my body from him anytime soon.

“You know too much for your own good, alien. You should have died back in the hospital when you could. It would have been easier for you,” she says.

I try to measure her strength, but then I spot Alyce climbing up the trunk of a tree, slowly getting close to the First Kind woman from above. Somehow, she managed to climb onto one of the gigantic trees and get in position for an attack from above, without the female First Kind realizing. So much for a First Kind, right? Things have changed so much since I was a First Kind.

Still, I have to give Alyce the perfect opening if I want this to end quickly. Maybe, if I just coat my limbs with the dark matter? I think I’ll be able to still control him like that, and it’ll make me strong enough to keep her occupied until Alyce gets in place.

I don’t have time to think it over; I have to act now. The First Kind is starting to catch up to the events of the battlefield, and I have to keep her from doing so. Thus, without holding back anymore, I charge against her, both my hands and feet changed into their ash-gray form.

She tries to keep me in distance with her laser guns, but Dark Jay’s skin is as good a shield as I remember. I use my hands to deflect the laser beams and move closer to her. Now, if she wielded an Esuh spear, I would have a problem. But if it’s only those laser guns, then I can manage.

However, for a First Kind, she manages to stay true to her title. I can’t take a step forward for some time with her aiming at every vital point she can, showing the marksmanship of a professional. If I wasn’t a professional myself, I would be dead hours ago. I keep up with her shots for some time, until Alyce is in place.

Then, she releases her grip and falls straight on the female First Kind. By the time she realizes we have her cornered on the wall, I’ve charged towards her. With one last, combined effort, we manage to stop her. She’s quite surprised that someone could have avoided her attention for so long, but it seems that the Phadh are naturally strong in a forest.

I’m ready to take her out when Alyce stops me.

“What are you doing? She was going to kill us. She would have done the same thing if we were in her position,” I say.

“So? Is that a good enough excuse for you to kill her? Are you a killing machine Jasih, or a warrior? Would a warrior go on with an unneeded murder if they could avoid it?”

We stand there, looking at each other for some time. Honestly, I can’t believe what I’m saying, but she’s right. Letting her live is dangerous, but killing her is just a cruel act of animosity.

For some reason, Eladia’s image pops in my mind. Alyce reminds me of her so painfully much.

Chapter Fifty-Three

Eladia

This can’t be true; it’s impossible. It’s like I’ve spend all my life looking behind me while the truth was standing right there, in front of me. I mean, if the Organization is right, then the Nusae are only the latest link in a long chain of Great Mysteries, with the biggest one being: who the hell created these cubes?

I’m lying on my bed, thinking. My mind flies to the moment Cross kicked the siblings out of the training room. I still remember his face having that distant sense of pride. He was really pleased that I was able to kick their butts even though my training is obviously incomplete.

Still, that flash of satisfaction left his face as soon as we were alone. Back then, I felt like I was the one in trouble. It’s not like I was the one sneaking around, though. I wasn’t searching for the truth myself; I didn’t know that there was a Greater Mystery behind all those Nusae relics. Alec spilled the beans to me all by himself. I wanted to clarify that to Cross, but seriously, he wasn’t in the mood for a civilized conversation. He looked like if I said the wrong thing to him, he would take my head off.

“Well, they are still very young and inexperienced, no matter what they say. They weren’t supposed to tell you anything about the Great Mystery. Honestly, I don’t know why they did it.”

Back then, he turned and tried to walk away from me before telling me anything. Well, I wasn’t going to let him go just like that. At that time, I didn’t know that pushing him would actually make me feel even worse than I was already feeling, but as a Chronicler, I owed it to myself to learn the truth. It was my dream we were talking about, a dream I was trying to achieve since I was a young child on Yaerus.

“Wait! Dale...don’t go. I know they weren’t supposed to tell me anything about the Nusae, but there’s clearly something to be told here. Please...I beg you...tell me. I’m not made to be an assassin, you know that. It was just a way to keep me safe while we were running away from the black-maskers, but now we’re meeting your friends, and Jay, and my friends, and...and...”

In retrospective, I feel really bad that I begged him to tell me. I didn’t expect that he’ll shatter my hopes of solving the Great Mystery in one lifetime, but I had to know.

“Look, Eladia, I know you’re a Chronicler, and I’m sure you’ll do good by your people and all, but it’s not in my place to tell you. Jasih is the one that must share this knowledge with you, not me. If it was in my hands, I would have told you long ago, trust me.”

“But why Jay? What does it matter if you or Jay tell it to me? Will that cancel your prophecy and end the universe or something? Is that why you can’t tell me anything?”

I was provoking him. Hell, I would have said worse things if he didn’t snap so easily. Or maybe he didn’t snap. I don’t know. Everything is so fucked up in my mind now.

I remember seeing him sigh and spend five whole minutes looking at me and the floor, one after the other, probably thinking what he has to do. In the end, it seems that telling me was the right path to follow, a path that ultimately deviated from the Organization’s rules.

“There’s a tale in an ancient language that only the people of the Organization can recite. The Organization was created to protect the knowledge the Nusae had acquired about the Lost Civilization. The Lost Civilization is the name that the Nusae gave to who they thought created the Cubes.

“The tale starts with the story of a species more ancient than Nusae themselves. They were called the Two Faced, or the Esuh, and reigned over the galaxy with the strength of a thousand civilizations. Human civilization hadn’t started back then, at the prime of the Esuh reign over the Galaxy, but there are reports that indicate that they tried to communicate with us in the past. When they saw we weren’t sentient, they left Primordial Earth alone. They wouldn’t fight what they perceived as animals.

“The tales goes on to say that the Esuh were evil and killed just for the fun of it. But that was to be expected since their ancestors used the forbidden power of an all-mighty cube to drive another species to extinction. The Nusae, afraid that the Esuh would also drive them to extinction, made the same choice, the choice to use the Cube to destroy the Esuh in an instant and bring peace in the Known Galaxy. But, everything went wrong after that.

“The Nusae remained dominant for many years, well, until the Phadh appeared out of nowhere and started antagonizing them. The Phadh started a war, taking many of the Nusae colonies with them. The Nusae, unable to keep up with the Phadh cunning war tactics and advanced technology, started losing ground fast. It was a complete and utter disaster, the likes that the galaxy hasn’t seen to these days. But, the Nusae never expected that the Phadh would discover the mysteries of another artifact of similar technology to the cube, one that in the end drove them to extinction.”

There were many things I didn’t know. I was so focused on listening to him that I had forgotten how to breathe.

“That means...”

“That means that the Nusae Relic you found isn’t actually of Nusae origins. And, the cube your friend so carelessly flashes here, and there is a weapon of mass-extinction. And the worst part is that it’s controlled by his emotions, and since you have now taken over a big part of them, it means that you’re as important to this mission as he is. Every time you too met in bed or emotionally, the cube was starting to unlock. Your love has put in danger the whole galaxy!”

After that, Cross left the training room without saying anything else, and I was left alone with my thoughts. Since that time, I’m trying to focus and find a ray of hope amidst the chaos. All my work, all my theories, were for naught. The Nusae were driven to extinction by our very own Phadh, but the Esuh and everyone else before them used that tiny cube to destroy their enemies.

And now, we, the human race, is caught up in the middle of this.

I would have sulked all day in the bed if I didn’t want to know more about that theory. But, as soon as I get on my feet, something suddenly starts to attack our spaceship. I almost fall to the floor from the sudden tremors of laser cannons barraging us from the outside.

“What the...?” I mutter, but there’s nothing I can do.

“Eladia, come to the bridge. Now!”

It’s Alec on the intercom. He must have fucked up in some way, I’m sure.

Still, running to the bridge is a feat itself, even in the middle of the space. The hits are now faster and more damaging. I’m able to get through the danger zone quickly, but after I arrive at the bridge, I realize that the whole ship is in danger now.

“What’s going on? Who’s attacking us?” I ask, but I see all their faces frozen, shocked. They seem to know the answer, but they don’t want to admit it. “Hey! Guys! What’s wrong? We’re going to die in here if you don’t do something! Do you hear me?”

But no matter how much I yell at them, they don’t say a thing. I run to the pilot’s seat, but Alec is frozen still, his hands squeezing the helm. He does nothing but stares out of the main window, trying to find a way out of this. But there’s not. The ship is in critical condition, and the hull won’t withstand another barrage like the previous. We have to evacuate, and fast.

I look around me but I see that the entrance to the room is on fire. In fact, the whole room is on fire now. The flames move towards us fast, relentlessly. It’s too late to back down now. There’s only one thing to do now, but Alec doesn’t seem fit to do it.

I get over him and tilt the steering gear down, towards the planet. We quickly set course to Zeania. We’re lucky that we’re in orbit around this particular planet, to begin with. The machines rev a bit and the ship trembles uncontrollably.

“What are you doing? You’re going to kill us all!” Alec screams, but then he understands. “Shit, you’re a genius.”

He leaves the pilot seat and gets behind me. He starts pushing many buttons from both his hidden keyboards. In the spur of the moment, I remember something that the teachers taught us back in the college. Phadh has build machines that don't allow to enemy ships to infiltrate into their planet, rendering every spaceship useless the minute they enter Zeania’s atmosphere.

Their planet has a naturally weak gravitational field that allows to them to cast an electromagnetic net around the whole planet, capturing enemy spaceships and holding them in place until the foot soldiers arrive. So, with some hacking magic from the Mist of the Organization, the net will help us dull the impact on the planet’s surface just enough to probably save our lives.

Even so, there’s only one thing I haven’t quite figured out yet: what if Alec doesn’t make it in time?

I tremble in fear even amidst the hot interior of the bridge. This is the first time I face death with my own eyes.

Chapter Fifty-Four

Jay

“We must be getting close. We’ve been walking all day already, and I don’t see the end of this fucking forest. Where is that temple?”

I’m lost, tired, angry, and hungry. I want to to get off this green planet as soon as possible. I can’t even begin to describe the irritation I feel inside me, a feeling that’s getting stronger every time I see her, the plant girl, walk casually like this is a stroll in the woods. I mean, what the hell? We were supposed to be there two days ago, and two days ago before that.

“I’m not sure. I can feel the distance getting smaller, but I can’t quite find the location yet. Maybe another day? That must be. Do you know that--”

“Yes, I know. I fucking do know that it’s difficult for your collective mind thing to calculate the distance between places and time and shit. But I’m starting to think you’re playing me kid, and honestly, you don’t want to be the one mocking me right now. Do you understand?”

For a moment, I think I see something flashing in her eyes, but I’m not quite sure that it’s there. That’s because when I raise my head above, I see a strong light penetrate the thick shadows of the super-forest. It’s like the sun has decided to send us a sign, but it’s too early in the day for that to be true.

“You noticed that too?” Alyce suddenly says.

“I’m not sure. What is it?”

She closes her eyes and touches the trunk of a tree. Her hands submerge into the lined surface, creating ripples throughout the trunk like it’s made of water. Five minutes pass, and there’s no reaction coming from her side. During our first days here on this planet, I was worried that she was planning something, trying to get away from me and leave me alone in the middle of nowhere, but now I know that this was one of the many hidden abilities of the Phadh.

All those giant trees are her living ancestors called Colossi. There are living, breathing Phadh, big enough to be unable to move and old enough to have forgotten everything about the ways of the living. They’re practically dead, yet living through the minds and experiences of their younger brethren. The whole planet is full of forests like this one, graveyards of Phadh sharing their experiences for endless years until they lose consciousness and turn into trees on an empty planet.

The Phadh are honestly a miraculous species, but they are nothing more than trees after all.

It takes her some time to confirm the information, but when she does, she pulls her hands out and returns to me. “We have to hurry, Jasih. A spaceship is ready to crash to a location close to us. We have to get there and check for any survivors,” she says.

I feel confused for a moment. Is a spaceship crashing on this planet? Aren’t spaceships forbidden to enter Zeania’s airspace or was that something that I didn’t get?

“Wait a moment, Alyce. I thought you said spaceships aren’t allowed on this planet.”

She stops and sighs. I don’t like people sighing to make me understand their point. I’m not from this era, and so all these peculiarities confuse me.

“You’re not wrong, but you’re not right at the same time. When a ship is crashing, the planet’s defense system allows it to enter into the planet and provide help, if possible. We’re mostly pacifists, Jasih. We did make mistakes in the past, but we’ve learned from them,” she says.

I’m not sure I buy this pacifist act, not after I saw with my own eyes what the Phadh did after the end of the Intergalactic War. But, I agree to go on with it. At least for now, that is.

“Then, they will be okay. Or if they don’t, then they will die a quick death. It’s more than most of us could have asked.”

I want to get to our spaceship soon enough that I don’t think straight. When I hear the words that come out of my mouth, I suddenly freeze. “Shit,” I say.

“Yeah, you finally got up to speed, right? So, are you still sure you don’t want to check the crashing ship? It’s really close. It would only take us an hour or so to get there.”

She’s strangely optimistic about the time it will take us to arrive at the crashing site. For the last week she can’t seem to get anything right, but now she knows exactly the place, and the time it will take us to get there? Something smells fishy here.

“Okay then, lead the way,” I say.

I wouldn’t have let her get what she wanted, but she has a point. What if that spaceship is very own Enigma? Then, we’ll have nowhere to return to, and we’ll be trapped in this hellhole until someone comes and picks us up. So, just to be sure, we have to check on the spaceship that has just crashed.

For once, it only takes us an hour to get there, which is a miracle regarding the past week. Also, the ship that has crashed is a Class 1 spaceship with extensive damages, nowhere close to our Class 5 juggernaut. It seems highly unlikely that someone could have survived the impact, though.

But, there’s someone that taught me to never give up when the improbable happened. That person is the one I love, the woman I can’t take my mind off, the human that made me regain my trust in life.

And that same person is now standing behind me, a laser gun in her hand, aiming straight for my back.

I turn and look at her; she doesn’t move. I’m not sure she’s even breathing.

I’m not sure I’m breathing.

“Eladia,” I mutter.

“Jasih,” she responds.

For the first time, she’s able to pronounce my name right.

Chapter Fifty-Five

Eladia

It feels like a dream; everything feels like a dream. I can see him standing in front of me, staring me in the eyes, searching for a sign, but I’m not sure if he’s really here.

Jay, his platinum skin glistening from the sweat, his dark hair waving in the subtle breeze. He’s actually here.

“Eladia,” he mutters.

The sound of his voice makes my heart skip. I don’t know if I can speak, but digging into my inner passions, I manage to find the strength to reply.

“Jasih.”

It’s the only thing it seems to matter now, to show him a small token of my many changes throughout this last year. Being able to pronounce his name right lightens his face. I share his feelings and smile at him.

He starts moving towards me; I do the same thing. My heart is racing like I’m being chased by a group of black-maskers on Caso. What is the proper thing to do? Shake his hand? Hug him? Kiss him on the lips? Just nod?

He examines me. Truth be told, he somehow feels different himself. He’s not so sulky anymore, his eyes are more bright than ever, and I can do nothing but have an insatiable desire to get lost in his arms.

We’re standing next to each other now. He stretches his hand and lowers my gun. Seeing him makes me forget everything, even that I was ready to shoot him in the back. I smile blissfully and a little bit embarrassed.

“Sorry for that. We didn’t know if you were friends or foes,” I quickly explain to him.

He doesn’t say a thing; his silence is somehow intimidating. Why doesn’t he talk? Doesn’t he like my new haircut? Is it my clothes?

Please, just say something.

Instead, he just leans forward and kisses me. I didn’t expect such a bold move from him so I jolt back for a moment, trying to avoid him. But, when finally my mind synchronizes with the rest of my body, I pass my hands behind his neck and pull him closer. We share our most passionate kiss yet.

My mind goes blank and the moment is over before not too long. I feel a numbing sting in my heart. There’s a faint buzzing in my head, and I feel drunk in joy. It takes me a moment to realize that Cross is talking to me.

“Eladia? Eladia! Come, we have to get out of here. We’re trespassing in Phadh territory. If they find us here, we’re as good as dead,” he says, but I don’t worry. Now that we’re together, nothing worries me anymore. I can stop being an assassin now and surrender in the safety of his arms.

“Doctor Dale Cross,” Jay suddenly utters. His voice is so imperative that everyone stops whatever they’re doing to watch him. He moves towards Cross; when he’s close enough, he stretches his arm towards him.

“I want to thank you for taking care of her for me. I’m sure it has been a difficult year, but you should know that I’m filled with a feeling of gratitude towards you. You’re my savior as well as hers. Thank you,” he says and lowers his head low enough to seem like he’s bowing to him.

Seeing Cross’ face freeze from surprise makes me sick. The man is such a hypocrite that he doesn’t even try to hide his feelings at all. Still, I’m confused. I don’t know what’s going on in that man’s head even more now after we’ve lived together for a whole year.

“I’m sorry to disappoint you Prime Officer Jasih, but my actions had nothing to do with your feelings. Eladia is as important for this mission as you are. You don’t have to thank me for just doing my job,” he says.

See? I don’t understand him. He had a perfectly good opportunity to be the hero he always wanted, only to ruin it by being modest. I don’t get him at all. Still, the man puts on a mask of unshakable focus and turns to face the Phadh girl. Seeming like a young girl but probably being over a century old, she’s worried and restless, like she’s waiting for something to happen.

“My name is Dale Cross, and I’m a member of the Organization. You probably hadn't heard about us before Pyro, another member of the Organization, kidnapped you and brought you here without your consent. I have to sincerely apologize to you for using such crude methods to infiltrate into your planet. Our mission is of the highest importance, and we had to come up with a way to enter Zeania without alerting your brethren.

“But, now that we’ve crashed-landed our ship here, I’m sure your people are heading straight to this spot to check on us. Can you please use your authority as a Phadh to teleport us back to our ship? It would mean a lot to all of us, and you’ll be doing the Known Galaxy a great favor, I promise you.”

Jay growls beside me but doesn’t say a thing. He seems to have some kind of connection to that girl, although I can’t place it yet. She, on the other hand, is looking at Cross like he’s a god among men. Her eyes are ready to pop out of her head, and her mouth is half open. When this man is using his charm to enchant someone, then that someone is a lost cause. Almost everyone can fall in love with Doctor Dale Cross, but the Phadh, being a young girl and all, will probably soon transcend to the obsession part.

“I...I don’t know. I’ve been kidnapped and kept captive for weeks. Why should I trust you that you’ll set me free when this mission is over?”

She’s smart. She uses her brain even though she has fallen for him already.

“Honored Phadh, you’re not a captive of the Organization anymore. I’ll make sure you return to your home planet as soon as you help us get on our ship. When we’re all safe back on our spaceship, you’re free to go the next instant if you want. I believe it’s a fair trade, right?”

And there it is. His famous smirk. God, every trick in the book. Flash the white teeth, cast a tilted smile, and...

“Okay. I still don’t trust you or your Organization, but if you say that this is important, then I believe you. I’ll help you this time and till this mission is over. I would like to see where this situation is heading,” she says.

Ten minutes later, and after a dizzying experience of teleporting each one of us many thousand feet above the planet on a Class 5 spaceship, we’re once again starting our journey back home. Everyone heads for the bridge as soon as we arrive. I’m starting to follow them when suddenly, Jay stops me and pulls me back into the elevator.

“What...?”

He shushes me. Then, he starts kissing me lustily. I quickly sense his dick getting hard in his pants. Frankly, I’m wet since I first saw him down on Zeania, but I never expected that everything will happen so fast. I’m struggling while waiting for the elevator to stop, but it’s too far a ride. I rub my foot against his throbbing bulge and hear him lose his breath.

It has been too long for both of us.

Before I know it, we’re in his room, naked. At this point, I’m not able to hold back anymore. I want to feel him inside me; I want to taste him.

I get on my knees and take off his pants. His cock is swelling behind his underwear, and soon, I see it fully erected before my face, red and throbbing. I put it in my mouth and start sucking it in. I don’t care about romance at all; I’m burning with passion for this man. His cock is salty and full of precum. He’s ready to fuck me.

I lie on the floor and spread my feet apart. He quickly positions his body above mine while his cock invades my vagina. I leave a deep moan after a feeling of warm pressure thrusts even deeper inside me. Is it possible he got bigger after a year?

Just the feeling of his dick rubbing my clitoris, drilling my vagina, is enough to arouse me. When he starts fucking me hard, I quickly lose every sense of reality. I’m not alive neither dead anymore. I just linger in between, waiting for every pounding thrust.

I feel tensing explosions in my stomach multiple times, and I can’t help but almost scream from pleasure. His dick is rock hard and keeps on going for a while; I can feel him getting closer as well. His back tenses, he squeezes his buttocks for one deep, sensual thrust, and he cums inside me with loud moans of satisfaction.

I can see his face sweating, his eyes sparkling, and his smile radiating.

“I missed you,” he suddenly says.

“I missed you, too,” I reply.

I feel a sting in my chest. I really did miss him, it’s true, but I feel like I’ve missed someone else more.

“You’ve changed. Your hair is different, your eyes seem deeper, older. You must have had a rough year,” he says.

“Yeah, something like that. So many things happened this last year that I’m not sure that the person that did all these things was me. But, it was all worth it. Just to meet you here today.”

He smiles. “You’re more beautiful than ever.”

I arch my brows in surprise. This is the first time that Jay is expressing his feelings to me. He has changed too.

“Thank you,” I reply, feeling my face turn red from surprise.

He gets to his feet and heads to the bathroom. I stay on the floor, lying and wondering. Now that the sexual tension between us has relieved, I can’t help thinking that something else is missing. I missed Jay, I know I did, but deep inside me it feels like I missed someone else more.

Tears fill my eyes; what’s wrong with me?

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Chapter Fifty-Six

Alyce

It doesn’t feel good to return to this...ship. What was I thinking, telling all these things to him? I let myself get deceived by a man that I don’t even know. What would my father tell if he saw me act like a child?

The picture of my father reprimanding me for my childish actions brings a feeling of anger inside me. That old man always makes sure to shame me when I don’t meet his expectations. Like, what does he expect from me after all? Aren’t I supposed to live my life the way I want? Maybe I was born to save the galaxy from a Nusae relic that is threatening the well-being of my people.

Or maybe I was born to fall in love with this man; Doctor Dale Cross, the Swamp of the Organization.

We’ve been talking for some time now, me and him. He doesn’t hesitate to answer all my questions, even the hard ones. Why do the humans want to destroy us? What is this technology that no one knows about? How can a human like him oppose his kind’s wishes?

Everything; I just have to ask. Maybe that’s why it’s so easy for me to fall for him. Information in the Phadh culture was always a high-paying resource. If you want people to share information with you, you have to spend countless hours socializing, earn their trust before making your demand known. But with Dale, it’s easy as that.

I just have to ask.

“So, you tell me that Jasih is a general from a species of fighters that thrived over a hundred years ago? And...how is it possible for him to be alive right now?”

He smiles at me; I smile back as a reflex. My cheeks are numb from all the smiling, only that I don’t remember smiling at all.

“Eladia, the black-haired lady you saw before, is a Chronicler. In one of her trips to Primordial Earth, she found his crashed spaceship and saved him from his failing cryo-pod. Then, they also found the so-called Nusae Relic, almost dying in the process, and they started traveling around the Galaxy after that, trying to solve its mystery,” he says, looking around him at the same time.

In my opinion, this Eladia person sounds like quite a bit a bothersome human, but I don’t care about her adventures. The only thing that matters is that melancholic light in Dale’s eyes, a light that suits him well. Telling me that story brought out that light and since then I can’t stop looking at him. So, it takes me a moment to actually listen to what he just said to me. I gasp in surprise.

“No, no, no. I don’t understand. Didn’t you just tell me that if we unlock this artifact, then my people will go extinct? Isn’t it dangerous to just let them unlock it?”

He sighs and looks at me straight in the eyes. I lose the sense of place. At that moment, I swim in those two oceans of blue.

“Yes and no. The cube isn’t build to kill the Phadh, but to follow the user’s orders. If Jasih decides that your people should go extinct, then the cube will use its power to do just that. If he decides that the humans should go extinct, for example, then that it will happen. It’s a weapon of mass-extinction guided by feelings.”

“So, the more hateful the wielder, the more harm he can cause,” I say.

Dale nods at me. I’m scared. It’s like a world full of dangers suddenly opened up in front of me. A man controlling this thing will be the most dangerous being in the whole galaxy. He can be a God.

I’m falling in a whirlwind of unpleasant thoughts. My people are already facing an under population problem after the last Intergalactic War. The Galaxy is afraid of us because of our technological prowess and our ability to wait off all our problems, but this...this is something completely new.

No Phadh deals well with everyday changes, especially our Elder leaders. If they learn about this relic, then we’re looking at another galactic-scale conflict. That would be the end of our species. Maybe unlocking the cube is the best solution after all, but that would mean...

I feel something warm engulfing my hands. I look and see Dale’s hands holding mine. I glance at him and see his eyes changing to a sympathetic look. “Jasih might look like a brute at first sight, but trust me, he won’t kill your people or the humans. We just have to unlock the cube to disperse its genetic pull towards Jasih. If that happens, then it’ll be safe to take that thing and hide it somewhere nowhere can find it and use it again,” he says.

I want to trust him, but it’s not that easy. He’s only a human after all, and I’m just a young Phadh. Even with the combined forces of everyone in this spaceship, humans are dead set on using their power to control the Galaxy. And, the Phadh are too old to discuss an alternative route.

Even so, with his warm eyes and his big hands, this man manages to make my worries go away. The only thing crossing my mind right now is how it would feel to kiss him. To open my lips and feel the sweetness of his mouth in mine.

I’m confused. I never thought I could fall for someone so hard after just meeting him. And the fact that he’s looking at me and sees me, just me, makes my heart go crazy. No one has treated me like this since I was just a clueless child, traveling with my father on the edges of the Known Galaxy. Now, almost a woman, I feel my stomach turn upside down every time his hands touch mine, or his eyes examine my face.

I feel like I should say something. I open my mouth only to stop when I hear the swishing sound of the automatic door opening behind me. A second later, our intimate moment has turned into a fleeting dream.

“Eladia, Prime Officer Jasih; where have you been? We have to come up with a plan to--”

“Relax, Cross. We have seven days before we arrive at Yaerus. Don’t you think it’s enough time to clear up any details about our plan till then? It’s not like we know what we are up against.”

Her voice is belittling this great man, making him seem like a small ant asking for mercy before she crushes him under her boots. Anger quickly fills my veins.

However, his eyes tell another story. He’s looking at this unusual couple and seems truly miserable. Dale suffers quite a lot watching them be happy, and they don’t seem to even notice. Or if they do notice, they don’t seem to care.

The tall guy, the one even taller than Dale, Jasih, turns and looks at the human woman with a look of pure confusion.

“What’s wrong with you, Eladia? Doctor Cross is the one that kept you safe all this time. You should be more grateful to him,” he says.

Dale is looking at Eladia; she’s looking back at him. If I didn’t know better, I’d think that these two are either madly in love or passionately hate each other to the gut. The air around them seems electrified and for once, I don’t know if I would like to be in their shoes.

“I’m grateful for the man that saved me, but not for the one who lied to me again and again.”

“What the hell are you talking about, Eladia?” Jasih continues.

“I’m sure Doctor Cross knows what I’m talking about,” she says with as much vile in her words as possible.

“I don’t know. I, for once, would like to discuss with you, Dale. I’m concerned about the situation of Yaerus myself. We found a First Kind down on Zeania. Alyce helped me get rid of her, but it seems that they’re more people involved in this mess than we previously thought.”

At that moment, I look at Dale one last time before he leaves the room to head towards the bridge. His face has suddenly aged as he lowers his head and hunches his back, walking out of the room. He seems defeated.

And then it hits me, and I most certainly don’t like the thought that comes to my realization.

Dale is in love with one of those two, and seeing them together it clearly hurts him.

I didn’t think I could actually feel hurt after realizing the truth, but I do. So, I quickly leave the room, tears running down my face.

My short, human romance is over

Chapter Fifty-Seven

Jay

Things are great now that Eladia is here. We spend all of our free time together, sleeping or fucking or just training. It has been two days since the incident on Zeania, but now that the old gang is back together, it feels like home again.

The first day we talk about my memories coming back; we spend countless hours talking about my days in the Esuh army and how life was in the Esuh empire. She has every kind of question about what happened back there. What our training entailed? What our enemies looked like? Stuff like that. It’s good that she’s asking all the important questions since it helps me test my memory. It seems that almost all the crucial parts are in place.

All except one—my family. Did I have a family before? Did I love them the way I love Eladia and Silver and Zan now? Did I feel love at all or is that another side effect of the cube’s influence on me? I don’t know. I can’t remember.

Still, I can’t feel bad about it now. During my last incident with the cube, I realized that my memories are closely related to this thing unlocking. So, when it’s finally open, all my memories will return as well. At least I hope I’m right about that.

I put my hand deep into my pocket and fumble the tiny cube holding the future of the species inside it. It’s almost unbelievable that a thing this small can cause so big a disaster. All I want to do now is find a way to stop it and save both species from extinction.

Dale called us in meeting that will take place on the bridge to come up with a plan to unlock the cube and then lock it up again. The most knowledgeable member of the Organization on the matter, Doctor Dale Cross, said that he actually has come up with a plan to end this vicious cycle of bad choices once and for all. I want to believe him, but I’m not so sure anymore.

When I arrive in the commanding room, I see that I’m the last one to arrive. Even Eladia is here, talking enthusiastically with Silver and Zan. She seems happy to see them.

“You sure took your time,” I hear Alyce saying.

I thought that now that she’s free to go everywhere she wants she would be nicer, but she’s still getting on my nerves. She can’t bring me down, not now that Eladia is here, but still, it’s like a pesky, little fly, pestering me every time we’re in the same room.

However, these last two days she’s even more annoying than usual. Something must have happened to her.

“Sorry, I had something to take care off first,” I say.

I exchange glances with Eladia. She smiles at me knowingly. Yeah, we’ve been fucking again, but I’m not going to regret it. I won’t give this young girl the pleasure of winning.

Still, she’s able to pick up our vibe and grunts disgustingly while she walks away. Every other day I would make a tantrum over her behavior towards me, but today, I’m way too happy to do that.

“Okay, we’re all here now,” Dale suddenly says. “As you all know, the artifact that Jasih has in his possession is a terrible weapon, one that is now aimed towards the Phadh.”

He stops and looks at Alyce. The young girl has a grave expression on her face. She looks ready to defend her people single-handedly, even if that means she’ll die in the process. Yet, I can smell her fear. She’s genuinely afraid about the future of her people.

Before continuing, Dale casts a sinister look at Pyro. I can feel animosity brewing between them. I thought that all the Organization members were in good terms between them, but now I’m certain that there’s something lurking in the shadows.

“Humans are blinded by their ambition. Being the unofficial Rank 2 species, destroying the Phadh will automatically serve the Known Galaxy to their plate. Humans are not fit to control the whole Alliance, not when their life spans are shorter than even the Bryp,” Dale continues.

“So, if they were fit to control the galaxy you would just let them destroy us, right? Is that what you say?” Alyce says, jumping off her seat.

“I think you misread my intentions, Alyce. In no way, I didn’t mean that.”

The young girl sniffs and after casting a spiteful look at him, she returns back to her seat. Dale continues right after the pause.

“Our plan is to unlock the cube and then let Jasih lock it again, using the rights of the chosen user. No one but you has the right to either start or end this thing. And only you can save the Phadh from going extinct.”

They all look at me now. I’m not sure what they’re asking me to do, though.

“I will gladly do it, but how do you know for sure that this thing has a turn-off switch? Isn’t that a bit too convenient?” I say.

Pyro is the one that replies to me now. “In all the Organization’s files regarding the artifact, the reports clearly state that the destruction of the opposing species was a matter of choice and not a random event. If you can choose to kill someone, then you can also choose to not kill anyone.”

These were the most words in a row that I’ve heard the man utter throughout this last year.

This is then, buddy. The endgame, I hear Dark Jay say in my head.

I can’t help but agree with him.

“Okay. I’ll give it a try. But do you have any idea how I can do it? Or should I just jump in there and hope that everything plays out well?”

No one talks. It’s only me and this crazy plan then. Once again, facing impossible odds, I must save a whole species from going extinct. Maybe it’s a bit too convenient. Haven’t the Esuh made their choice when they decided to use the cube many millenniums ago? What if the cube doesn’t accept me as its chosen user because of that?

“Uhm...I think you have to see this,” Silver suddenly says.

She tunes every monitor of the bridge to the Grid, playing a video of a human man wearing a black suit, getting ready to give a speech before countless of journalists and politicians.

“Today is a bad day for humanity. For the second time in our long history, humans have to abandon their home planet and fly away from the paradise named Yaerus. After this act of terrorism, the biological warfare that brought to us the walking corpses, the Council of the United Species decided to authorize the Purge of the human home planet and grant us, the human species, another place to erect the center of our civilization.”

Alyce is on her feet now, her hand cupping her mouth. Everyone around me is looking at the monitor like it’s the last thing they will do in their life.

“Where is my father? How did he allow for the Purge to take place? He wouldn’t let any of these to happen if he was there,” she suddenly says.

They all look at her and then at me. I have to stop something this small from setting off and destroying a whole civilization. For the first time in my life, I feel the burden of failure dragging me down. What if I actually fail?

You’re weak, Jasih. Let me take over and I’ll make sure to destroy this fucking thing.

“No!” I say out loud.

I run out of the bridge. Everything is so messed up right now

Chapter Fifty-Eight

Eladia

Seeing Jay storm out of the room makes me feel uncertain of how our mission will turn out. Being this big and this confused at the same time it’s a dangerous combination. In times like this, Jay changes to his dark self.

Strangely, I feel eager for that moment. What is wrong with me? I thought I would be happy with him for the first time since we met, Jay, who finally started sharing his feelings with me and all. And it’s a great thing, I know, but it’s always the same routine. No adventures, no passion, no nothing.

This man, the platinum-skinned Jay, is the one I wanted to be with in the past, the Jay I needed back when I was still a frail woman unable to protect myself. But now, now that I’ve seen the other side of the coin and had my share of adventures, I’m not so sure I can be with him anymore. It’s like the softer he becomes, the less passionate I feel about him. I’m imprisoned into a cycle of denial, a decision that keeps coming back to haunt me in the worst way possible.

I keep doubting him and his decisions. And with the purge of Yaerus on the table now, we all have to work as a team to actually end this mission.

Everyone has frozen in place after the announcement the human ambassador, Mr. Terasaka, just made. We’re still five days away from arriving at Yaerus, but to set up a Purge, they will need at least a week. That gives us a time window of two days to infiltrate, solve the Great Mystery that no one else has managed to solve from the beginning of time itself, and then get out of there alive.

Are we fucking crazy?

“Don’t worry, Eladia. He’ll pull it through. You know he will,” Silver suddenly says.

She helps me to snap out of the spiraling chaos called doubt. I smile at her and turn my body to face her. “I know, I know. It’s that...I’m not the same human I was when I first met him. I don’t trust anyone other than myself anymore. I just feel that there’s some kind of barrier separating us, and I can’t kick it down by using brute force.”

Silver looks a bit shocked by my language. Last time we talked so casually, I was a hesitant, helpless girl that was in no way into this kind of thing. But now, I’m a fighter, a warrior, an assassin. This time, I’m so much more than just a bystander.

“You don’t doubt him. You doubt yourself. Jasih is the same as before. He just decided to open up to you, to make you the one person deemed worthy to trust. But now you’re the one not trusting yourself,” Zan suddenly jumps into the conversation.

It still shocks me how perfectly he speaks the language like he’s native or something. Also, he’s taller, his shoulders are broader, and he’s no more awkwardly shaved. He’s a man, the likes of Dale and Jay. Maybe even more so since the kid never lies. It’s in his nature to speak his mind clearly.

Still, to have such a great insight at his age, it’s amazing. I wouldn’t expect anyone other than him to give me advice like that. It’s like he understands the situation more clearly than us living it.

“You’re right. It’s probably me that I don’t trust, not him. He’s perfect now, and I’m the damaged one.” I turn and look at Silver. At that moment, I see her staring at Zan. He stares her back and nods. “What’s going on?”

“Eladia, I’ve meant to talk to you since you arrived. Of course, I didn’t want to bother you since you just met Jay after so long, but there’s something we have to discuss.”

I don’t think I like where this conversation is going. “What’s going on? You’re making me nervous Silver.”

Zan turns to face me, as does Silver. Is this some kind of intervention? No, I don’t think so. This is something else entirely.

“I’m not sure if you’ve noticed it, but since I met Zan, we’re inseparable. He’s the first one I save every time we’re in danger, and he’s the first one I talk to when I learn something. At first, I thought our relationship was based on research interest only, but I’ve seen changes in my code that I never thought possible.”

“I’m not sure I understand, Silver. What kind of changes?”

She stops; she actually stops to add a dramatic pause to her narration. Are androids possible of such interaction? Of that level of autonomous thinking?

“I feel happy when I’m around him, and sad when not. When he’s sleeping, I feel lonely, and my systems don’t function that well. I think that...that I’m starting to evolve into a sentient life form, Eladia” she concludes.

I feel my head going blank for the millionth time this week. Everything has changed throughout this year. Even Silver has changed radically. He’s a powerful artificial intelligence now, so powerful she’s almost sentient.

“I...I don’t know what to say, Silver. Maybe you have to get to a repair center and reset or--”

“I don’t want to reset. I mean, I don’t think it would make a difference even if I did. One year ago, I was just out of the repair center, and then that thing in the Great Embassy happened. Zan was again the first one I saved, even though you were the one closer to me. Do you remember? My system should have reacted differently, but this isn’t a malfunction, Eladia. This is life in the work.”

Zan is smiling at her. He’s so happy to hear her say all these things. Still, I’m not sure he understands the full extent of what Silver says.

“Look, I won’t lie to you. I don’t know what’s going to happen to you now that this thing started. If you don’t want to stop it, then don’t. But be careful Silver. You’re not the first AI that thought it was becoming sentient only to be stopped short by its capacity for feelings.”

Silver seems to understand, but Zan doesn't. “What do you mean? She can have as many feelings as she wants. Right?”

“It doesn’t work like that,” I say. “Androids are not built to feel, not even think independently. The user gives them a command, then they process that command and utilize their powers to accomplish it. After the command is achieved, their system returns back to the default state.

“Now, if Silver starts thinking independently, like starting to create memories for example, and then feelings, her memory won’t be able to handle all that data in the long run. She will start confusing reality from memories, and will even forget you, even if you’re the one closer to her all the time.”

Silver probably hasn’t said anything to him for a good reason. The boy is in love with her. She didn’t want to hurt the poor boy. And I went on and crudely told him the truth. Still, Silver doesn’t seem mad at me, not at all. She’s just sad.

“I don’t care,” Zan suddenly says. “I still want to spend the rest of our lives together. Is that too selfish of me?”

I smile at him and shake my head. “No. Not at all. It’s just another way of being human. That’s all,” I say to him.

At that moment, it dawns on me. My answer is lying in front of me, on the faces of my beloved friends.

“I have to tell him the truth. To tell him that I’m in love with his other self.”

Silver nods, as well as Zan. They both look at me, trying to think of a better way to fix this situation, but I’m certain that it doesn’t exist. It seems like it’s just another day in hell, and I’m the main protagonist.

“Truth can be liberating, Eladia. Especially regarding you two. You lied to him too many times already. Don’t you think it’s time to start telling the truth?” Silver says.

That’s exactly what I think when I ride the elevator to his room. I know he’s upset about what happened to the meeting, but if I don’t do it now, then I will never do. It’s now or never.

Walking down the hallway to his room, every moment we spend together passes through my head. He’s kind, thoughtful, stoic, powerful; Jay is the man that every woman wants.

But, Dark Jay is something else entirely. He’s something new and shiny, a person that amazes me every time he appears. I don’t know why I choose him over the platinum-skinned man, but it’s my final decision.

Standing outside his door, I feel like I’m not supposed to be here. It’s like someone else is ready to get in and tell him the truth. I’m not the Eladia that I was the first time we slept together, and it’s certain that I’ll change even more in the future. But, if I want, to be honest with him and with myself, I have to talk to him about my true feelings.

I knock on the door.

“A moment,” he says.

No, I need more time. A minute? Two minutes? Yeah, that would be better. Still, we can’t have everything we want, right? The door opens to reveal a shirtless, silver body. He’s gorgeous, as always.

“Oh, it’s you,” he says, jovially.

What the hell are you doing, Eladia?

Chapter Fifty-Nine

Jay

Eladia is standing outside my room. It’s a nice surprise, although I’m not in the mood for a fuck right now. I have many things in my mind that I want to sort out before arriving at Yaerus. Still, since she’s already here, I can’t help but smile and invite her in. My room is her room, and she already knows that, but she seems hesitant to come in for some reason. She’s waiting for me to invite her inside.

“Come on in,” I finally say.

“Thanks,” she says.

I pick up a strange vibe; she’s not in the mood for fucking, too. Although it shouldn’t, it bothers me.

“It’s nice spending some time with you all alone,” I continue.

She nods but walks straight into my bedroom. Maybe she’s in the mood after all. I don’t know, I’m confused. Women of all species seem too complicated to figure out.

I follow her and find her sitting on my bed, her face hidden behind her hands. She seems sad for some reason.

“Is everything okay?” I ask her.

She doesn’t reply to me. Instead, she sighs and raises her head to look at me. There’s a storm brewing in her eyes. They’re a red around the edges and deep and somehow hazy. Eladia is looking at me but at the same time, she doesn’t.

“I...I’m not sure. There’s something I have to tell you,” she says.

Oh no! Trouble in Paradise, Dark Jay suddenly comments sarcastically on the situation. He picked up her foul mood himself and decided to make matters even worse for me. I swear, sometimes it’s like we’re the exact opposite of one another. I can’t seem to understand how he’s thinking.

I sit beside her on the bed and look straight into the eyes. She turns away, but I stretch my hand and gently pull her back. Eladia is so beautiful when her hair is down, especially now that she cut them short and can’t gather them in one of those hideous ponytails. It’s so much better this way. Still, she won’t talk to me if I don’t push her.

“Talk to me. What’s wrong? Don’t you like our plan? There’s still time to change it if you disagree,” I say.

She gives me a mirthless smile, one devoid of any feelings. It gives me the impression that I have no clue what I’m saying. I don’t like that expression.

“It isn’t about the plan, Jay. It’s about us. I...I don’t where to start from,” she says.

My heart stops for a moment. I freeze in place and can’t think clearly. Is she trying to break up with me? To push me away? But, why? We’re so good together. Our sex is perfect, the passion between us is strong. I don’t understand what’s going on in her mind right now.

And that pisses me off.

I stand up and move away from her. I’m not sure I want to be sitting next to her right now. I take a deep breath and lean against the door frame.

“What’s wrong with you? Why are you so determined to always fuck everything up? We’re so good together! I fucking trust you now, more than anyone in this world. Isn’t that what you wanted all this time?”

I’m angry; anger makes me lose control of my body and right now I don’t want Dark Jay coming out of its hiding. I can feel him stir in there, waiting for the right moment to shatter my defenses. And Eladia is doing a fine job helping him.

“It has been over a year since we last met, Jay. You can’t blame me for having second thoughts. You’ve...changed. You’re not the same man I fell in love with. I don’t know what I want anymore. I’m happy you trust me, but…,” she says.

“But? But what? So now I’m the one that isn’t good enough for you? You didn’t seem to have a problem last night or the night before when I was sticking my dick inside you. Is that what I am to you? A toy you can play with?”

Words come out of my mouth all by themselves. I’m not sure who am I anymore, what I’m saying. I just want to make her feel shitty, the same way she makes me feel right now.

“It’s not like that, Jay. You know that all the moments we shared were real. But...but I think I’ve fallen for someone else.”

Numbness quickly replaces anger in my body. I can’t talk anymore. I can’t think straight. I stand still, glancing at her, through her, above her, below her. I’m trying to understand the subtext of this conversation, but I’m not sure I get it.

“Are you fucking with me, Eladia? Did Pyro make you say all these nonsense? Maybe one of the siblings?”

She shakes her head. I stride towards her, grab her by the shoulders and shake her.

“Please! Tell me it was one of them. I will understand, I promise. I won’t get mad. Just please, tell me that this is a joke.”

I don’t recognize myself. Every minute of my previous life passes through my head, and I don’t remember ever feeling this way. I’ve made a fool of myself in front of a woman, and I can’t stop it.

Tears run down her face. “I’m in love with your other self, your dark self. At least...at least that is what I think I’m feeling. I just want to talk to him for five minutes, to clear things out and then...”

I release her and hurry into the bathroom. I watch myself in the mirror as I wash my face. I see an old man with black hair and purple eyes; a tired, fool man. I’m trying to see what’s wrong with me for believing that someone could have fallen in love with a monster like me, an alien whose people are long dead.

But, I can’t find an excuse.

Her words echo in my head so loudly that I lose the sense of time. Maybe an hour has passed or just a second; I don’t know how long it has been, but I find myself changing into my other self. I see the black matter cover the tips of my hands. I knew that someday I would have to use him to help me, but never in that way. Now, giving him control like that, I know it’s the last time.

Esuh of the Two Faces don’t cry; I’m sure of that now. Still, just before the dark matter engulfs me with its madness, I see one sparkling tear shyly leave my eye. Maybe I don’t know anything about the Esuh after all

Chapter Sixty

Eladia

Ten minutes have passed since Jay got in the bathroom. I’ve never seen him look like that, begging for a second chance, acting crazy. I don’t want to see him suffer for me again. And what it truly makes this situation worse is that I feel relieved for telling all these things to him, to let the truth pour out of my soul like that.

Silver and Zan were right. No more lies. If he decides that he doesn’t want to change, then I’ll learn to live with that. Jay is not bad, not at all. He can be unpredictable and adventurous...just not like his other self. And that’s what makes all this situation twisted. I want the best of both worlds, but if I can’t have that, then I choose the one that I know I’ll have more fun with.

Dark Jay makes me laugh, feel good about myself and gives me a reason to want to come back. Silver Jay is the calm power, the man that will be there even in the boring days, the logic behind passion.

It would be great if these two could truly be one, but I have long given up on that notion. Jay is who he is; the same thing applies to his other self. They both have their ups and downs, and I’m here fucking them up both.

Suddenly, the bathroom door opens. I get on my feet and head there. “Jay, I...” I start saying, meaning to apologize, when I see him.

“I heard you’ve been looking for me,” Dark Jay says.

I stop in my tracks and check him from head to toes, not believing that Jay would go so far just to please me. He must really love me after all, and I chose his darker self to repay him for that.

Unfortunately, love doesn’t work like that.

“Yeah, that’s true,” I reply, trying my best not to start giggling like an infatuated teenager.

“Well, here I am honey. I’m all yours now,” he says, casting a wide grin at me.

Seeing him act like that, like a shameless child happy just to be alive and well, it makes me already feel better for choosing him over Silver Jay. He has that strange effect on me, a kind of lure that makes me want to tear his clothes apart and toss him on the bed just by seeing him.

A moment ago, I wasn’t in the mood for sex, but now, seeing him examine my body with that lustful look of his, strange thoughts invade my mind.

“I’m sure. Before that, though, there’s something we have to discuss,” I say, doing my best not to take off my clothes right now.

“Okay. Speak. What do you want? Do you want me to get down on you first or maybe you want me to use my magic fingers to stir up your libido?” he says and winks at me while smiling.

Jay and his dirty jokes. Well, he’s a work in progress after all. Maybe after some time, he won’t talk like that all the time.

“No. Not that. I have to know. What are your feelings towards me? What do you see when you’re looking at me?”

He stops smiling; I’m not used to his face being serious like that. Even when he’s slaughtering his enemies, he does it with an impish smile and devilishly, red eyes.

“I know it must have been difficult for you to choose me, the bad wolf, over my other self. I wish I could promise you that I’ll be as good as him. A gentleman, or a kind man, or fuck, everything you want me to be. But my whole existence relies upon killing, pillaging, and challenging people stronger than me. I love you, Eladia, I really do. And that won’t change. But don’t make me change to fit you better or you might end up not loving me back.”

When he stops, I’m standing there, gawping at him, fighting the impulse to applaud him. Hell, he’s right. I fell in love with him not because he’s unpredictable and adventurous. He’s the only man that doesn’t need to change to make me like him. And that turns me on. It really makes me want to ride him here, on the spot.

Now I’m the one having dirty thoughts all the time. God, I have to get my act together. I was just having sex with his other self all day yesterday, and the day before that. I should have been satisfied by now.

“You’re awfully quiet. Did I pass the test little lady or not?” he says as he sits next to me.

He’s starting to caress my bare hand with his finger, touching my skin, electrifying my whole existence with his smooth aura. He moves his finger on my shoulder and then on my face. He touches my cheeks, my nose and then heads straight for my mouth. I’m breathing slowly, trying to hold back, but I can’t.

My mouth is half open; he uses his finger to invade it. I start licking it, sucking it in, playing with it. Soon, I can see him laughing, probably being ticklish or something, but I continue. I grab his hand and make him put another finger in there. I start sucking them both and he starts fucking my mouth with his hand. He does it subtly, slowly, and yet, it gets me horny in mere moments.

“I see you learned some new tricks,” he comments.

I stop licking his fingers to laugh it off.

“You know you’re a dumbass, right?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ve been told the same thing times and times again. Now, you didn’t tell me. Did I pass the test?”

I get on my knees and look him on the face. “I don’t know. What do you think?”

I use my hands to lower the zip of his pants. He doesn’t wear anything below; he’s naked, his dick rock hard, pointing straight to my mouth.

Without hesitating, and without waiting for him to get totally naked, I put his dick in my mouth. He tastes the same but somehow feels different. Jay now pushes his cock deep into my mouth, making me choke once. It doesn’t matter, though. The only thing that does matter is seeing him mutter the word “yes” again and again, to moan behind his teeth lost in a whirl of lewdness.

We’re still fully clothed, but I can’t take this anymore. I want him to fuck me. I get on my feet and get naked in front of him, slowly taking my clothes off. He does the same, removing his pants to release his dick from his tight pants. His muscles swell when he grabs me and tosses me on the bed.

“I see you want me to get inside you,” he says, using his fingers to feel my wet pussy. Just his finger touching me would’ve been enough, but I want to feel the whole of him inside me.

“I’ve been dreaming about this so hard,” Jay says, whispering. He slowly thrusts his dick into my vagina. I can feel his fingers while he’s trying to find my hole by caressing me. “You’re so fucking hot. I want to tear you apart.”

And then he gets inside me. I’m not able to talk anymore. I’m just trying to breathe. If I say anything, I will lose control and cum. He’s moving slowly at first, trying to get used to my rhythm, but soon, he’s picking up his pace.

He’s fucking me fast and hard, using every last bit of his strength to push his dick inside. I’m in pain sometimes, but I quickly forget about it. At that time, just pushing his dick further in, I feel my whole body jolt from the tension, and I open my mouth to moan only for him to close it with his free hand. I cum many times in a row after that, but still, if he doesn’t stop, I’ll keep on coming.

“Yes...yes...please...don’t stop...” I say, moaning in the pauses between the words.

Something in my voice must have aroused him. I keep my eyes closed, but I have my hands on his ass. I push him deeper every time he thrusts, feeling his muscles tightening and then relaxing. And then, I feel him thrust slowly, more rhythmically. He’s close.

“I’m coming...” he says in a deep, hoarse voice. “I’m coming...” he says and then stays still, shooting his cum inside me.

He slowly pulls out and lies next to me. We don’t speak for a while, but we don’t have to. I’m just looking at him, his dick still hard, panting. Just watching his glistening body, it makes me horny again. I’m not sure what I’ll do with him, but I also know one thing. At this moment I know that I’ve made the right choice.

“So, I thought you and I were constantly fucking all these days. What happened? Maybe the other Jay didn’t satisfy you that much after all,” he says and winks at me.

Remember Eladia, that’s the reason you fell for him. He doesn’t mince his words. He’s just saying what’s in his mind.

“No, not at all. It’s just a different thing, having sex with you and having sex with...you.” That last part makes both of us laugh.

“Yeah, I’m sure. But...still...I have no fucking idea why you chose me over him. I thought you were more into him,” he says.

“Well, I thought the same thing, too. But Jay can be a very difficult person sometimes. You, on the other hand, you’re easier to talk to and funnier. It’s just a matter of perspective,” I say.

Yeah, that’s exactly what it is. A matter of perspective. They’re different sides of the same coin. And I think I like this side better.

“Yeah, that sounds about right. Nevertheless, I’m gonna go get a shower. Do you care to join me?” he says and leaves the bedroom before I reply to him.

I stand still for a moment, trying to find a reason for everything that happened between us, but I can’t. I’m just madly in love with him. I close my eyes and try to find a logical explanation, but the only thing I do is feel sleepy. Still, the idea of us having a shower together puts renewed energy in my veins.

I quickly follow him in the bathroom.

Chapter Sixty-One

Jay

Time flew by since the night my buddy Jay set me free. I’m not sure who I must thank for this outcome, but right now, I’m thanking Eladia every day. He seems to like it very much, so why stop? My other self wouldn’t.

Silver Jay hasn’t said a thing since he gave control to me. I don’t think I’ll give this body back to him anytime soon, but I’ll make sure he has all the fun of the world while in there. It wasn’t an easy thing getting out of that prison, especially when you’re being kept in there by a half-assed man like the mighty Prime Officer Jasih.

Life has been kind to me the last four days. Fucking Eladia the nights, talking with the rest of the crew the days, it’s certainly fun to not sleep all day. On the other hand, walking, talking, and fucking has started taking its toll on me. I’m not sure why I feel tired all the time since I make sure to have over eight hours of sleep every day. Maybe it’s my body trying to keep up with the new changes.

We’re in orbit around Yaerus now. This means that I’m almost over with that bullshit of a mission that I have to complete to free myself of this annoying cube. We’re inside the space shuttle, trying to sneak into the planet without the Allied powers realizing what’s going on. The place is cramped up with security vehicles and Class 5 military spaceships, and honestly, I don’t care. I just want to fart really bad since we left.

I smile at myself. It’s really invigorating thinking like that. It has been over a year since the last time I was able to walk free, and I’m going to relish every moment of it.

“We’re entering into the atmosphere. Get ready for some serious turbulence,” the android says.

We all get tied in our seats for extra safety. It certainly won’t be a stroll in the park, but after so many thousands of years and civilizations passing, someone could have come up with a better way to make this fucking thing smoother.

The shuttle starts shaking uncontrollably, and I have to grab my safety belt to stay firm in my position. We go through the first part of the entry to the atmosphere successfully, but now the hard part is starting.

Suddenly, a flash of light envelops the inside of the shuttle. The turbulence has stopped, but I still feel dizzy and disoriented. I thought that this shit wasn’t hard.

The light gets stronger with every passing second until I realize that it’s not coming from outside, but instead, from inside my pocket.

Be careful. You’re getting into a vision, Silver Jay suddenly says after many days of staying silent.

I close my eyes only for a moment. I feel light like I’m floating away from my body. When I open my eyes again and see that I’m actually flying above the dark figure of a planet, I realize that Jay was right. This is a vision.

“Hello? Is anybody here?” I yell, but my voice vanishes in the echo.

At first, it seems like I’m just floating in midair but soon I realize that I’m actually moving towards the dark planet, fast. There is no trace of light anywhere. Not even the stars are strong enough to shed any of their light on me. It’s just me and the mystery planet.

That’s before a small rectangle in the distance lights up before me. I’m heading straight for that part.

It doesn’t take me long to fly there, but when I do, there is something familiar about this place. It isn’t the usual vision with the girl jumping from the building, but it’s a familiar place nonetheless.

All the buildings around me seem hazy, and the only thing that makes sense is to follow the smoke coming from behind one of the gigantic structures.

“Hello? Anyone?” I yell loud enough that my throat actually hurts.

“Of all the species in the universe, you’re the one I have to instruct. An Esuh!”

“Oh boy,” I mutter when I see a tiny, blue creature staring at me from above. He makes sure to float above me so that he’s always at a higher place. That’s what you get when you’re really short, I guess.

“You had your opportunity, Esuh. You destroyed the species before you, as we did with you. How you alone survived is beyond me, but since you’re here, this means you’re the chosen one anointed by the Cube.”

“You have a big mouth for someone that died many years ago. Also, you let yourself get extinct by tree people? Come on, I thought Nusae were mighty warriors and great scientists and whatsoever. At your prime, you were strong enough to match us. How did you let them get the better of you?”

He suddenly becomes gloomy; I must have hit a soft spot or something. That’s before he starts talking.

“We got old, Esuh. Tired. Weak! We reigned over the galaxy for many, many years. The Phadh came out of nowhere and could outlive us. We were unprepared and managed to push them back many times, but then we got news that they have found another mysterious artifact, one like this cube.

“They came up with a new technology that we couldn’t match. Maybe it was us, not hiding the fact that mysterious weapons like this cube existed, or it was our weakness to foresee our doom. Either way, here we are my old adversary. I, your old enemy, instructing you on how to destroy the world once again.”

“Bullshit. The Esuh never got tired of fighting, even when everything was falling apart around us. We didn’t even know that a thing like this fucking cube existed before you, the Nusae, brought it to the surface and still no one could match our strength. You were just weak. Even so, I’m here now so let’s get this over and done with.”

The small, blue creature flies close to me and stretches one of its hands. It barely touches my skin, and I feel my hair prickle. When the Nusae pulls back its finger, I know everything that there is to know about the cube. How the conscience of the one unlocking it must remain imprisoned inside it to carry this message to the next anointed one by the Cube; how I’m doomed to die the moment I activate this cube.

How to find the place where the cube will start the process and how the universe is full of cubes like this. This one belongs to this galaxy and this galaxy only, but there are as many cubes out there as there are galaxies. And that frightens me.

It takes me a moment to sip everything in, but when it’s is over, I have no doubts about what I have to do.

“So, the doctor was right. Everything depends on my choice after all,” I say.

“Yes. The real mystery is what will you choose now that this war isn’t yours,” the creature says and starts wandering off.

“Wait! I have more questions. How do I stop it? There’s nothing in here on how to stop it. I have to choose either to kill the humans or the Phadh?” I shout, but he’s long gone now.

There’s something strange with this planet. I feel like I’ve been here before.

It’s only after I start wandering off myself that I understand. This planet was everything that remained in the memory of that Esuh. It was his home planet before it got destroyed, and the lighted place was the active part of his memory.

Everything fades away quickly. I open my eyes, and I’m back in the shuttle.

“Is everything alright?” Eladia says to me.

I nod and close my eyes again. I feel terribly tired

Chapter Sixty-Two

Eladia

The silence inside the shuttle feels awkward. Even though we all know that Jay has these strange cube-related visions, it’s difficult not to feel intimidated by the power of this mass-extinction ancient relic. When the light finally disappears, we all look at Jay, waiting for something to happen. Maybe an explanation would be good right now.

“Is everything alright?” I ask him.

“Yes...no. I don’t know. I just had a pretty strange vision,” he replies to me.

Jay seems more tired than yesterday and the day before. To be honest, he hasn’t changed into his other form for five days now, since the day I told him the truth about my feelings. Sure, we’re having the time of our lives, but it would be nice if I could see the other Jay again and explain things to him, even just for a moment.

It’s not that I didn’t like him, that’s far from true. I just liked his dangerous personality better. I know, that doesn’t say much for my personality, but I’m done chasing theories and ideal pictures of romance. Right now, it’s just hard, cold truth all the way.

Jay seems to have trouble speaking his mind. Inside the shuttle, Silver and I look at each other, trying to understand what’s going on, but it’s futile. Zan seems as lost as us; Pyro wears that hellish red mask that keeps reminding me of the night he killed my friends, the corrupt human Originators that were paid by the humans to have the Phadh species annihilated by using the Nusae Relic. And Doctor Cross...well, he’s just as gloomy ever.

The two gray-masked brothers stayed back to the juggernaut with Alyce; they have no reason to endanger their lives for our battle. I don’t want them anywhere close to this planet, but also, if we end up surviving this thing, then we need a way out of Yaerus.

I’m not sure I like the idea of having a team with people that are so self-centered and emotionally unstable, but I’m also trained now, and I can make up for any holes in our teamwork. It’s just that I hope I’ll be enough.

“We’re five minutes away from the predefined landing spot. It’s 7:00 pm, Yaerus time. Brace yourselves for a rough landing. It’s going to be tough gentlemen,” Silver says, using a different accent today than the one she used yesterday.

Zan seems pleasantly entertained with that game of theirs. On the other hand, Silver is probably trying different accents to fit her new-found sentient powers. I’m not sure I have this whole thing figured out yet, but they both seem so happy with each other that I would be a resentful bitch if I spoiled it for them.

I check my safety belt and wait to hear that clicking sound that means that it’s in place. For Silver, the best pilot in the crew, to say that it’s going to be a difficult landing, it probably means that we may not get out of this unscathed.

The closer we get to the ground the louder the explosions outside sound. I’m not exactly sure what it’s exploding over and over again, but I’m not sure I want to know at the same time. Mosa used to be a safe place, a place where people could trust humans to protect them. Now it’s just a shadow of itself.

Silver is right, though. The blasts from the continuous explosions toss the shuttle around, pushing us onto the debris of a building. The metal hull of the shuttle subsides on that side, leading to Cross and Pyro unbuckling their belts to avoid getting hit by the receding metal. They spend the rest of the journey trying not to break a bone or get seriously hurt by jumping up and down into shuttle, counter-matching the random movements caused by the explosions.

“One minute to landing! Patience boys! We’ll be on the ground in a minute,” Silver says again.

This time, Zan doesn’t have the same jovial expression as before. He’s afraid, never quite getting used to flying in a shuttle.

The two men nod and continue walking up and down the tight aisle of the shuttle. They’re trained assassins, elite operatives of an underground organization that tries to retain peace in the Known Galaxy. At least that’s what they’re saying to us. Still, seeing them utilize the small space of the shuttle, and even each other, while trying to get out of this situation without a serious injury, it seems almost like a supernatural dance. Even Jay looks at them in awe.

A sudden tremor, followed by the engines stopping, can only mean that we have finally landed on Mosa.

“That was it, people. I hope everyone is okay,” Silver says.

Pyro and Cross look at each other, slowly panting while trying to catch up their breaths. They look like they do this kind of things every day. It’s almost impossible to match these people.

“We’re fine. We have to be careful from now on, though. We have no idea what we’ll meet outside. Grab your things and stay close. We have to find a safe place to camp for the night. It’s too late now to start towards the energy signal,” Pyro says.

Cross agrees, but Jay doesn’t seem ready to follow their command just yet. He stands up and strides in front of him, stopping him from getting out of the shuttle. His eyes are glassy, and his face seems even darker than usual. It’s like he’s burning in fever.

“Why don’t we just use this shitty shuttle and fly there? There’s no time to lose. The Nusae bug told me,” he suddenly says.

Nusae...bug? What is he talking about? He doesn’t make any sense.

“If we use the shuttle to fly to the energy signal, we’re all going to die,” Cross says, trying to appease Jay. But he doesn’t hear a thing.

“You’re such a pussy. If we don’t hurry there, a whole species is going to die, and it’s gonna be your fault. The cube is at a crucial point. It’s almost unlocked, and if we’re not there by the time it does, I won’t be able to control it,” he says.

That seems to grant him the benefit of the doubt. Cross looks at me and then at Pyro. He doesn’t know what to say.

“Tell us, Jasih. What did that last vision tell you? What do you mean we’re running out of time?” Pyro asks him.

“You stupid people. We’re so close to our destination, and you’re searching for explanations.” He rubs his eyes; he probably has difficulty staying awake. “Fine. I’ll tell you what the Nusae told to me, only if you promise to listen to me.”

We all nod at the same time. Still not out of the shuttle and problems arose. I’m starting to think that maybe we’re not ready yet to deal with an interplanetary crisis.

“Okay. So, in my vision, one of the Nusae, the previous chosen of the cube, told me that this technology doesn’t work as we thought it does. The whole puzzle-solving, treasure-hunting thing that we did this whole time was to stabilize the cube’s core by visiting high-energy locations around the galaxy or inducing emotionally-strong situations. That’s why I get the same vision of a woman jumping off a building all the time. But now that the four of the five insignias are carved on the cube, things have changed.

“It took us too long to get here, so the cube is now ready to unlock by itself. If that happens, then the automated system that would allow me to stop it, it will actually tear us to pieces and destroy the whole solar system in its wake. But it doesn’t end there. The explosion will then distort the space and time continuum, resulting in a vicious cycle of us coming back to life and dying again and again for centuries. I tell you that we’re close to creating hell’s butthole and traveling there with first-class seats reserved.”

My heart feels heavy in my chest; I didn’t sign up for this. I don’t want to die in a strange, technology-induced hell that will leave me dying again and again for years to come. Zan and Silver seem to think the same thing. Cross and Pyro, on the other hand, seem calm, composed.

“Is that all?” Pyro finally says.

“What the fuck? Are you crazy? We have to get there as fast as we can. What don’t you understand?” Jay continues.

With a swift move, the man suddenly reveals a laser knife that stops mere centimeters from slicing Jay’s throat. The ashen-skinned man suddenly calms and gets ready to fight, only for Pyro to make another move and toss him to the ground.

“If you can’t fight me, boy, then you can’t get in that place flying. It’s as simple as that. You’re weak as hell, so go get some sleep and we’ll talk again in the morning. Okay?”

Pyro doesn’t wait for an answer; he just passes over him and gets on the shuttle’s gate. Cross follows him close behind, moving around Jay’s fallen body than over him like the other man did. I wait for them to get away before I run to his side.

“Jay...I...”

He pushes me violently out of his way. I hit my head on the subsided side of the shuttle, suddenly feeling a warm, acute pain spread through my whole body. “What the hell?” I shout at him.

“You’re worthless. All the humans are worthless. I can destroy you with just a flinch of my finger, but you still think you can use me however you want?” Jay is calm while talking, but still, his words seem heavy and tired. He’s at his limit.

I decide to swallow my anger and talk to him. “Look, I don’t know what’s wrong with you, but you have to change back, just for a day or so, until you recover your strength. You can’t expect to--”

“Shut your trap, you stupid bitch. You don’t know shit about me. I’m perfectly fine.”

He gets to his feet and walks out of the shuttle. I turn and look at Silver and Zan, both of them looking as surprised about what happened as I do.

Soon the swelling on the back of my head holds in all my feelings of shame and regret. Did I make the wrong choice?

Chapter Sixty-Three

Jay

I’m not sure where I am again. I’m tired, unable to move my hands and feet. It’s just a plain, blue sky above my head and the rough, cold ground below me. I turn my eyes and see destroyed buildings all around me, but I still can’t keep the fleeting images of my memory inside my head. It’s like the longer I look at my surroundings, the more the images leak away from my mind.

I feel cold and alone; the other Jay hasn’t said a thing for so long that I totally forgot about him. Did he exist in the first place? Was I trapped in the body of a platinum-skinned asshole for all these years or was everything in my head this long?

I’m not so sure anymore. Right now, all I want to do is rest. Close my eyes and sleep until my power returns.

A moment passes, and I’m on my feet, on the roof of the same cursed building from all these visions. Only that now I’m perfectly aware that I’m in a dream and not another vision from the cube. I look around me totally apathetic; I feel fear, but I don’t show it. I feel anger, but my heart beats slowly like I’m sleeping.

Surely, there’s someone here that can help me get away from this painless dream. I want to tear my head apart to feel something, to feel alive, but all I get is an empty, white dream.

I hear the hinges of an old door squeak behind me; it’s the same fucking thing every time.

“I don’t understand! What it’s going on? What do you want from me?” I shout at the wind, but the only thing coming out from my mouth is a sigh.

I’m ready to get on my knees and tear my skin apart with my teeth just to feel something.

But then I see the person coming out of the squeaking door.

“Lenora?” My jaw falls after I see her walking out of the building. “Lenora, is that you?” I scream.

She turns and looks at me with the same expression on her face like the last time I saw her. When was the last time I saw her?

Jasih...her voice echoes inside my head.

“I’m sorry, Lenora. I should have known better,” I say. Only that I didn’t open my mouth.

Her face slowly cracks into a faucet of pure sadness and agony. Her mouth hangs open, a perfect example of regret.

I feel a sudden pain in my chest; it’s the other Jasih.

Lenora! Come back! Don’t let her go. LENORA!

But she doesn’t even turn to look at me now; instead, she walks to the edge of the roof. Without even hesitating, she climbs on the ridge and turns to look at me.

“Goodbye,” she says out loud, and then the cube appears out of nowhere and pushes her over the edge.

A small explosion of light blinds me, but I follow her close behind. I jump behind her in what it seems like an eternity and see her fall towards the ground fast. We’re now both falling. I close my eyes just before we hit the ground, but I don’t feel a thing. Not pain, not anything. Instead, I open my eyes again only to see her damaged body lying next to a little, black cube emitting a red light.

I look around me and try to understand. I’m not sure that everything in my mind still clicks, but everything looks so damn familiar. I...I think I’ve been here before.

I feel a light shining deep into my head, and then everything comes to the surface. All my decisions, everything that I thought from the day I learned about the cube, the Nusae, seemingly everything that actually took me to this exact moment.

Lenora died so that I wouldn’t have to get trapped in the cube, and then the cube brought me back to life as the key to unlocking it. I got back to my ship all by myself and got into the cryo-pod trying to hide from everyone that would want to use the cube to destroy another civilization. And still, even though I know that I was there, it still feels that I wasn’t the one that did all these things.

It’s because you didn’t. Lenora was my wife, and you were just a parasite unable to have thoughts back then. The Cube gave you the life it took from her!

After hearing that last word, I wake up, dripping wet from that endless dream. I look around me and see that I’m sleeping inside a tent on the edge of the camp. Someone is still awake, but I don’t have the strength to get up and see for myself. I try to calm down, but I can’t. It’s like my heart decided it’s time to abandon me and is trying to jump its way out of my chest.

It takes me a moment to recollect my thoughts again. Everything is clear to me now. Back in the glorious Esuh days, I had a wife named Lenora. In the last days of our empire, Lenora and I found out about the Nusae plan to use the cube to destroy us. The emperor himself didn’t know anything about the danger looming over our species, but back then we, the best couple of First Kinds, decided we were enough to retrieve it and save our species.

Only that we were too late. When we found out that the Cube was on Primordial Earth, the chosen Nusae had activated it and chose to kill the Esuh as revenge for all the years of war that we inflicted upon them. We managed to find him, but the Nusae culprit disappeared into thin air after the cube stopped working. It was too fucking late.

An hour after the incident, the cube came back to life and started chasing us. We run, split, did everything we could to get out of its way, but it had decided that one of us would be its next victim.

And we knew what that would mean for the chose one; certain death.

So, Lenora came up with a plan to save us both. At least that’s what she said at that time. She lead us at the top of a building. She gave me a kiss, and before I could do anything, she jumped from the roof. I jumped behind her, only for the cube to choose her in mid-air and save me from dying. The cube needs a key and a lock both, so she became the lock and I the key. She knew that the cube was after her from the start, so she decided to take the jump to protect me. But, what she didn’t expect was that the cube would choose her even after death, and make me the chosen one.

The memories are still coming in fast. I don’t remember the details of our exchange that night, but remembering everything else is a great relief and a curse. Now I know the truth, and killing Phadh would only keep this vicious circle from never stopping.

Suddenly, I want to see Eladia. I want to tell her everything about my dream. I use every ounce of my strength to sit on the ground. Light is coming from outside. I see two shadows standing above the humming generator.

It’s Eladia and Cross, sitting close to each other, talking like two lovers in hiding.

I feel my blood boil from anger and all I want is to gut both of them alive. I feel something breaking inside me, and I forget everything about the dream and my decision to save the Phadh.

Right now, all humans must die.

Chapter Sixty-Four

Eladia

I can’t stop shaking. I still hear his words in my head. Jay threatened me; he threatened me that if I don’t do as he says he’ll drive my whole race to extinction just to make a point. His other self wouldn’t do something like that. Never. That was the reason I fell for Silver Jay in the first place. He isn’t risky and adventurous, but instead, he’s steady and safe. And right now, I want safe.

My mind is racing; Jay has to change back so that he recovers his powers. Pyro and Cross won’t be enough to protect us all after we arrive at our destination. Silver spend some time triangulating the position of the energy center using the cube and managed to estimate that we should be heading towards Mosa’s City Hall.

We’re close enough to only takes us less than a day to get there, but with the news of the council initiating the Purge anytime now, everything is a big, fucking mess. And in the middle of it, I can do nothing but think if I made the right choice when choosing Jay over Jasih...or the other way around.

“Fuck!” I suddenly utter.

I can’t do this anymore. I just want to take a break from my life and start over. No Esuh, no Nusae, no corrupt Originators, no pressure.

I rest my head on my hands and breath in. I’m sitting in the middle of the camp, close to the generator that Pyro set up to fuel the protective force field. It’s not something extraordinary, but it’s strong enough to keep any zombies away long enough for us to get away. The engine drones serenely, being the only thing right now showing a semblance of normality. It’s soothing in its own, twisted way.

“You should rest.”

“What the?” I squeak when I hear Cross’ voice from behind me. He scared the shit out of me. I would have started screaming if I didn’t see him smiling at me the minute I turn my head. “What the hell, Dale? I could have hurt you.”

He stops smiling and looks at me with a grave look on his face. “You used my first name after so long. It’s somehow...odd hearing it come off your lips.”

He’s right. I haven’t uttered his name for so long now. I do call him Dale now and then, but I never really mean it in a friendly way. A minute ago, though, when he scared me, I went back a year. Back then, he was just a human doctor that was trying to help us save Jay, and I was just a clueless Chronicler that thought that her life’s purpose was to untangle the Nusae Mystery. Maybe it was better that way. Maybe I shouldn’t have saved Jay from his cryogenic pod after all.

Or maybe not. I don’t know.

“You’re troubled about your boyfriend, Jasih, right?” he suddenly says.

He’s still on his feet, watching the engine slightly shake while producing energy. He keeps his arms crossed before his chest. His eyes shine in the dim light of the engine. He looks stunning, as always.

“Yes. And no. I’m concerned about this mission, too. Do you think we have any chance of going through with this? Are we going to survive? Will we manage to save the Phadh?,” I say.

I feel calmer almost instantly. Talking about my fears to him make them real, but seeing Cross not change his attitude or get worried, somehow makes me feel stronger. These men are all miracle workers after all.

“Maybe you’re thinking it the wrong way, Eladia. Up there, in the spaceship, there’s a young girl named Alyce. That girl, and every member of her family, all her friends, even common strangers that have nothing to do with her, will die if we don’t go through with this mission. I don’t know if we are going to survive, but if I’m going to die for something, then I’ll do it in a way that that girl, up in the sky, will get to keep her life instead.”

Cross takes another step towards me and squats next to me. He stretches his hands and plays with the shadows the light casts on the wall.

I’m not sure if I feel better now, but surely I feel confident. This man hasn’t changed a bit since we met. He may be the Organization’s Swamp, devoting his life to the people he’s trying to protect, but he’ll always be that doctor I met a year ago, a person mending other people’s lives.

“You’re right, I guess. I’m also worried about Jay. You did a good job guessing back there.” I stop and look at him. He stares me back. I keep on talking. “He’s not himself anymore, and I think I may be the reason for that. I chose his dark side, and now I think I’ve made a mistake. I couldn’t choose between them, so I thought that the most fun one was the one I wanted. But back there? I don’t know. He was tired and aggressive. He was in no way funny or heroic. He acted just like a wounded animal, growling at me and showing his teeth. And I’m not sure I can live with that.”

He listens to me patiently as I talk. His expression is softer now and against all the odds, a grin appears on his face. Is he trying to mock me by laughing at my problems? Maybe he’s not the man I thought he’s after all.

“It wasn’t your fault, Eladia. Jasih is a troubled person. He always was and always will be. He’s the last of his race and will probably remain like that until he dies. Also, he carries inside him two personalities, both of them damaged and conflicted. Honestly, even if it was the other Jay calling the shots about the cube, I think things wouldn’t be too different.”

Or maybe I’m just a bitch that doesn’t know what she wants. Yeah, that would work too as an excuse. Cross...well, Dale, is a wise person that I’ve met too late in my life. If I hadn’t fallen for Jay, then maybe I would have fallen for him. But now, watching him suffer in his own skin, trying to understand what’s going on with his life as well, I’m starting to feel that my problems are not so big after all.

I smile at him and nod. It’s the only thing I can do without making a fool of myself. He gets back on his feet and turns to walk away.

“You never talk about yourself,” I suddenly say. I don’t know what made me say that to him now, but it feels like the right thing to do. After all, I trusted him with my problems. Maybe he can do the same with his, too.

He turns and stares at me; my heart skips a beat. “What do you want to know?”

He smiles; I smile back at him. I don’t know why, but it feels like I’m cheating on Jay just by looking at him.

“Do you have someone important to your life? Someone you want to protect?”

“Of course. Why do you think I put up with the Organization if not to protect that certain someone?” He sounds like he’s having fun answering my questions.

So, I keep firing them away.

“So, does that certain someone has a name?”

He cracks a loud laugh but quickly stops so he doesn’t wake everyone up. It’s really late and tomorrow we all should be rested.

“Yes, he has. But I’m not in the mood for sharing it.”

Did he just say he? Maybe I didn’t hear him right.

“Also, I want to protect you as well. Does that count as enough people or not?” he says and smiles at me again.

“I’m not sure I understand, but I’ll say yes. We’re more than enough for one man,” I say.

He got me by surprise with that last sentence of his. He wants to protect me as well. This is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me, and I can’t say anything in return. It would have ruined the moment. Still, there’s something that seems relevant.

“I want to protect you, too. And everyone in this crew. Well, your friend Pyro maybe a little less, but I would hate seeing him die in this mission. He kept Silver and Zan safe throughout this year. That much I owe him.”

Dale turns his back on me and walks away laughing. He’s heading towards his tent, never saying a thing. He moves his head up and down, nodding from behind, but I don’t manage to get more answers from him. Dale manages to remain a mystery to me even after I’ve learned that he has people in his life he wants to protect. Who are they, except me? I really hope I get to know some day.

I stand on my feet and head towards Jay’s tent. Right then, everything that happened back in the shuttle comes back to me. By constantly being in this form, Jay has started to lose his mind. I can’t sleep with him, not when I don’t know if I’ll wake up alive. Every other day I would have trusted him with my life, but tonight, I want to keep it for myself.

So, when I turn and head toward Silver’s tent, I fumble the grip of the laser gun I keep on me.

I have many people I want to protect as well, and I’ll do everything in my power to do so, even if I have to lose everything in the process.

Chapter Sixty-Five

Jay

The morning comes, and Pyro wakes us up. It’s time to start for the City Hall. Silver managed to calculate the position of the energy signal, so it’s easier to plan our route there. I feel better than last night, but still, my feet are a bit wobbly, and my neck is stiff. My eyes are also sensitive to the light, but in every other way, I’m perfectly fine.

You aren’t fine, Jasih. You’re falling apart. You have to change back. You have to let me out.

His voice comes to me clear as day, way louder than the dream I had last night or any other occasion until now. How does he get to have such a strong connection to this body while I have not?

You’re a parasite. You never belonged to this body, to begin with. You’re just a live armor, and I’m the owner of this body. You have to understand that!

Okay, now he can invade into my thoughts, too. I kinda preferred it when he didn’t talk at all. Now I just want to hit him in the face, but I know that it will hurt me more. We share a fucking body.

I feel some kind of discomfort deep into my stomach. He’s forcing me out of this body, but I’m not that weak yet. I can still endure his shit. I don’t give a damn, you hear me? You gave me control of this body. She loves me more, and you know it. Don’t resist.

“Jay, are you okay?” Dale suddenly appears out of nowhere. “We have to start towards the City Hall as soon as we can. Get ready as fast as you can.” He’s the only one that bothered to check up on me since we woke up this morning. Eladia, on the other hand, is nowhere to be found.

“Yeah, I’m fine!”

He arches his brows in surprise. I was more aggressive with him than I wanted. Does he hate me now, too? Does he also think that I’m only a parasite born to obey his orders? Shit, don’t they get it? I’m fucking alive.

He turns his back on me and walks ahead. He finds Pyro and whispers something to the other man. He shakes his head. What the hell did he say to him?

“Good morning, Jay.” Eladia’s voice calms me down a bit. She does a good job distracting me for a moment.

“Where have you been?”

Again, I talk louder than I want. What’s wrong with me? It’s like I can control my body anymore.

“Hey, tone it down a bit. We’re in the middle of the danger zone. If they hear you, we’re gonna have to fight them,” she says.

“Fight who? I thought we were alone on this planet. Isn’t this planet Purged or something?”

“Come on, Jay. We talked about this in the briefing two days ago. No, the planet is still populated by undead monsters that destroy everything in their path. They are highly sensitive to sounds and will attack us if they spot us. But, it’s not only that. Dale thinks that there are also black-maskers here. We have to be careful if we want to get to the City Hall without any more troubles,” she explains to me in a calm, condescending tone.

Still, Dale this, Dale that. Isn’t she the one that was calling him with his last name until yesterday?

“You and the doctor—are you back to being friends?” I say.

She shakes her head and looks at me with disappointment in her eyes. “Didn’t you hear me? We have more important problems now than my relationship with Dale.”

“Maybe this is the only things that really matters to me right now. After all, you didn’t come to our tent last night. Was there a reason to that?”

“Fuck off, Jay,” she suddenly says. “First, you threaten me and then you act like nothing has changed between us? Go to hell,” she bursts out.

Why is she angry at me? Why I roar at her? I only understand what I’ve done after my cry echoes through the empty streets of Mosa.

“Are you out of your mind?” Pyro quickly bellows to me.

But it’s too late already.

The first attack comes from behind me. I hear the haunting sound of a body crawling behind me. A man, missing a hand and a leg, is trying to get me, but it’s moving way too slow to be any danger to anyone. I kick him in the head and then I return to the rest of the crew. Only then I see the horde of monsters amassing around us, pushing us to the corner of our camp.

They all have that metal thing on their heads, a flashing red button that keeps on shimmering. The crew, everyone except Silver and Zan, quickly get in formation. That means that Pyro, Dale, and Eladia are standing back-to-back and examine the horde getting closer to them, ready to devour them.

The undead hesitate to come closer to us at first, but like wild animals being hungry as hell, they soon decide that dying is worth it if they just manage to get a bite on us.

My bloodlust gives me the strength I need to fight them. I smack their craniums on the ground and kick them back as fast as I can, but where I manage to kill one, two more appear. It’s fucking impossible to kill them all. At that moment, Zan and Silver decide to join the battle. Morphing into her thruster form, Silver burns the bodies to a pulp. Zan, on the other hand, uses a metal staff, one similar to Eladia’s staff, to pierce their heads and kill them on the spot.

They don’t need me to help them; they don’t need anyone to help them anymore. They move fast and efficiently, taking out three to four of them with one sweep. Eladia and Dale move in unison, clearing wave after wave of the undead until a small pile of bodies gathers around them. Pyro, on the other hand, is a lone wolf using an old fashioned sword to sever their heads, but never even breaking a sweat.

I...well, I’m struggling with three of them, but soon, I keep up with the rest of the team. It’s almost funny how we get to kill people without having to regret it afterward. I would be genuinely happy if I wasn’t too tired of this shit. I really need to sleep.

After I kick the heads of three undead humans off their bodies, I stop and see that there’s no one left to fight. We managed to kill them all in a matter of minutes, a feat that we wouldn’t have been able to manage a year ago. Eladia, especially, was in the heat of the battle and after the end of it, she looks like this has been just a warm up exercise to her.

I walk closer to her to congratulate her only for Dale to stop me with a punch in the face.

“What the fuck?” I shout at him.

“You could have killed us all. You endangered this whole mission, and almost killed Eladia and even yourself with this nonsense. Keep your shit together, Jasih, or else wait here until we clear the City Hall and then come in. Millions of lives depend on us! Don’t fuck this up!”

I stare at him and then at Eladia; they all look at me like I’m a piece of shit.

Before I can say anything, they all move ahead, leaving me behind. At that moment, I understand. My anger is deep-rooted, and my mission is now clear in my head. Humans are the most selfish and unstable creatures of the Galaxy. It’s them that I have to destroy, not the Phadh.

I sink my hand deep into my pocket and fumble the cube. It’s warm, bursting with power. I feel the same too.

Chapter Sixty-Six

Eladia

Three hours of walking can have their toll on you, especially when you start your day with an all-out battle against zombies and an unstable man that doesn’t know when to stop. Jay is way behind us, walking all by himself. Dale...well, he shouldn’t have done that. But he was right. Mosa is in no way the place it used to be before. Danger is lurking behind every corner.

It sort of reminds me of Primordial Earth, the place this adventure began. Instead of booming plantation and trees matching buildings in width and height, the planet is a forest of debris and half-buildings. How can dead humans cause that much destruction? Does someone control them?

In my mind, the first time we met those monsters pops up. It was back in the hospital while Jay, the platinum-skinned one, was severely wounded. We’ve just met Dale back then and didn’t know anything about his true identity, but still, he was able to help us in his own way, coming up with solutions about Jay and his alien nature.

Back then, the undead monsters appeared out of nowhere and almost killed us. Except they mysteriously stopped when they had the chance to do it. They had frozen in place and didn’t move until we were safe and they were unable to reach us. Dale thinks that the Originators control them, but I’m not so sure anymore. Aren’t they the ones that wanted us dead back then? Why didn’t they finish their jobs when they could?

I’m not sure about anything, anymore. Pyro, never removing his mask, is the most suspicious of them all. The Organization is nowhere to be found, and the Ocean, the other high-ranked member, isn’t here to help. I don’t know if I’m supposed to ask or anything, but I’m starting to feel less certain about the people I walk with.

Dale has done everything in his power to train and protect me, but he also told me that I’m just as important to the mission as Jay is. What did he mean by that?

“We’ll stop here for now,” Pyro suddenly says.

His voice snaps me out of my train of thoughts. Still, it strikes me as odd that he, of all the people, ordered us to stop before arriving at the City Hall. If anything, I thought he would want us to get in and out as fast as humanly possible. Something is going on.

I move closer to them; Pyro sees me and stops talking. “What do you want?” he asks, calmly.

“Why did we stop? I thought you wanted to get there as soon as possible. We’re losing light, and we’re not equipped for a night raid,” I say. Dale has also trained me to work in a team and made me memorize various pieces of equipment so that I could use them all with closed eyes. It was a busy year after all.

“For such a promising operative, you lack the perspective and the leading skills of a professional. Take a look around and tell me, what do you see?” Pyro tells me.

I follow his order and look around me. I see destroyed buildings, a thick, cloudless sky that’s sickeningly bright, and a team of exhausted members unable to keep going. Well, Zan and Jay are the ones that seem that way. I, Dale, and Pyro could go on for some more before stopping, and Silver is an Android. Androids don’t get tired last time I checked.

“Now I get it. You want all of us to be ready for the fight in the City Hall. That means that you’re probably expecting heavy resistance.” He nods and I can sense a smile forming behind his mask. “So, you believe that the black-maskers are here too and that it’s them that orchestrated the attack on Mosa, right?”

The words come out of my mouth as I’m thinking them; I’ve never connected the dots of the Mosa incident to the black-maskers before, but it actually makes sense. They’re everywhere; on Zeania, on Mosa, on every planet, we have been so far.

“Now, there you go. You can be perceptive after all. You have to keep this attitude every waking moment if you want to survive in this world girl. If only we had more time, I would’ve sent you to Ocean to train you and then you’d be all mine for a year. Yeah, that would have been great,” he says.

“I don’t plan on being an assassin any longer than I have to. And I don’t belong to this organization. You have to understand that my goal is knowledge and not killing off strategic targets with a religious fervor. I’m not a fanatic; I’m a scholar,” I say.

I can hear him giggle behind his mask; why doesn’t he ever remove that damned thing off his face to reveal his identity? What is he thinking?

“For a scholar, you’ve done a pretty good job hiding that laser gun. Also, your trail of dead bodies is too long already, even if they’re not of the living kind, but you’ve become way too attached at killing for survival. We all started like that but look at us now. We’re saving the Galaxy for the fifth time this generation.”

The fifth time? What is he talking about? “What do you mean?”

Pyro was ready to tell me, but Dale stopped him. “Eladia, you don’t belong to this world. If you learn more about it than what you already know, then you have to be ready for the consequences. You can’t live in the darkness if you’ve seen the light. And what Pyro is talking about is some kind of sick, twisted light that will drag you in and consume your life. So let it go and find a way to calm your friend. He’s still not in a fighting position, and we’ll need his strength down the road.”

Dale is looking at me straight in the eyes; I can’t look away, not before what he said sinks in. Being a scholar means you have to use your mind and logic to analyze your findings and then take your decisions. But right now, I feel an itch deep in my heart, the same itch that drove me in asking Jay to change so that I could choose him over his platinum-skinned self.

Yesterday I decided to never follow that itch again, no matter how much it bothered me. So, when I turn my body and move towards Jay, I mean to forget of that itch and stop using my heart to take my decisions. I have to use my head, and my head tells me that Jay has to change back long enough to recover. If he doesn’t, then he’ll die way before we arrive at the City Hall.

When I get right beside him, I think of what Pyro told me before. I’ve been hiding a laser gun in my pocket for some time now, but it seems that both of them had noticed. The old Jay would have noticed too in mere moments, but this ashen creature standing before me doesn’t have his mind into noticing anything.

He just keeps his hand in his pocket and stares at him, worn out with black circles under his eyes. Jay is on the brink of a mental breakdown, and history has taught me that when this Esuh gives in to his emotions, bad things happen.

I steel myself and get ready to talk to him.

“Hey,” I say.

“What? Are you here to mock the parasite as well?” he says with a tired, calm voice. He’s...different.

“You’re out of your mind, Jay. You can’t keep going on like that. You have to change to your other form so that you don’t drag the team behind. You’re in no shape to fight like this.”

Suddenly, I feel like he stabs me in the heart with his hollow, hateful eyes. My hand is itching to draw my gun out and use it on him, but I decide to trust my instincts once again and just take a step back.

“You humans think you know everything. All you talk about is how your feelings change you, how you fall in love with someone and then when you abandon them for the next, best thing, you don’t feel guilty or anything. I’m tired of your bullshit, Eladia. You were the one that asked me to get to this form, so deal with it.”

Okay, that’s it. I’m done with being reasonable.

“I asked you to be your fun, adventurous self, Jay, not this horrible thing you’ve become. I love you and every different color of you. I’m just asking for you to step down and recover before the big fight. Why can’t you understand that?”

He shakes his head and presses his lips tightly. Then he turns his head and walks away. I can’t even cry anymore. My hands rest on gun’s grip. He’s not the same person I met a year ago. However, I’m not the same person as I was a year ago, too.

Chapter Sixty-Seven

Jay

Walking down the big streets of Mosa is a torture. My feet hurt, my back hurts, everything on my body seems to plot against me so that the other son of the bitch can regain control of this body.

He has to understand though that this isn’t just his body. It’s our body. We share it. He has to understand that. But no one understands, especially that whore, Eladia. She loves both of us, huh? She loves the one that makes her feel better about herself, and now, I’m not doing a good enough job.

The other Jasih doesn’t talk that much anymore. He spends his time sighing, twisting my guts inside, making me want to puke every other step. Why is he such a prick himself? Can’t he just give up and let go of this body? I would have done the same thing if I could.

The walking gets faster and more intense, meaning we’re probably getting closer. I want to stop and explore this marvelous city, the one I used to hate so much before. Right now, destroyed and empty, it’s just a memory of its glorious past. It’s like us; me and Jasih. And it’s fine. The city’s dark side fits me better after all.

Eladia doesn’t even turn to look at me anymore. Neither Zan nor Silver. Pyro is the only one that keeps checking on me every now and then, and that’s because I’m the cube-bearer. I’m the reason everything came down to this moment. Am I supposed to hate myself for this? I didn’t choose this fate after all.

Still, I keep walking, keep following them, keep hoping that everything will turn out fine.

Jasih...you can’t use the cube to destroy the humans.

Here he is then. Now, of all the times, he’s trying to talk me down. I thought he had given up on me, but it seems he can’t let me do what I want. He’s probably searching for the right words to change my mind.

The interesting thing is that he doesn’t call me Jay anymore. He had to stay in there all this time to understand that I don’t like being called with that name. I’m Jasih, an Esuh of the Two Faces damned it. I’m not another deadbeat that just happened to be at the wrong place the wrong time.

My thoughts are my answer to him. Jasih feels calm, structured right now. He doesn’t say anything else until we take a turn to our left. That’s when I see everyone standing still before a two-storey, big building. It’s the only thing standing in a long radius of devastated buildings.

It’s like the last standing fortress of the world, and we’re heading straight to it. Just the five of us, just some people with some training. We’re a sorry bunch, and they decide to point fingers to me. I’m the one dragging them down, right? Well, shit. I’ll show them.

“Okay, so, we have to be extra careful. These people are mercenaries that are trained to kill. Zan and Silver, stay in the back with Jasih and support him. Start for the City Hall when you see an opening but be careful. We don’t have an exact number of the enemies. Dale and I will jump ahead and open a way for you. If my estimates are correct, they have us outnumbered five-to-one. That means that you have to be extra careful.”

He keeps talking some more and then he nods purposefully. It’s the signal; the battle has started.

Dale and Pyro lunge forward, taking the heat of the first attack. They are as good as I remember them, especially this red-masked man. He moves like he can take all of them by himself, and I don’t doubt that he could if he was appropriately armed. Dale, on the other hand, wearing his green mask, spends a great deal of time fighting and throwing those marble-shaped things on the ground. When they touch it, a tiny, blue cloud appears for a second and then disappears without a sign.

The black-maskers that get close to him suddenly stop and can’t move, almost like they’re frozen. He’s probably using some kind of toxic sedative strong enough to numb their limbs. It’s a different way to fight, less aggressive and risky, but it takes him a good deal of time to prepare the battlefield to fit his purpose. Still, their mission is to open a way for me, the chosen one.

I turn and look at Eladia. I spot her eyes checking on me when he jumps over the half-wall separating us from the battlefield. She has staff is in her hands, and she’s using it to balance her weight in mid-air. Eladia’s eyes upset me; there’s not even a speckle of love in there, not even pity. For her, I’m now reduced to just the enemy. And all that because I decided to kill the people behind every problem we have encountered all this time, the same people that hunted her for a whole year.

She doesn’t know that I’m doing this for her, to help her stop following false gods and strange theories about Nusae and their artifacts. She doesn’t know that I was going to sacrifice myself so that she could survive the extinction.

Eladia doesn’t know many things about me and still acts like she does. It’s unfair, but love is like that. Unfair and illogical, invisible and unacceptable. She doesn’t know all these things.

So, I have to prove that to her.

I collect my last bits of strength and run ahead of Zan and Silver.

“Hey! Jasih! Stop! Where are you going?” I hear them say.

But I don’t stop, not for a moment. I run ahead, passing through the dead bodies of the black-maskers. There are some who were lucky enough to fight with Eladia, meaning they survived the encounter because she doesn’t dare take a man’s life, but other than that, eight to ten bodies are lying on the ground. Still, if Pyro is right, almost twenty are probably hiding inside the building. They guard this place like an actual fortress.

And that’s weird. We just learned about this place yesterday, and they knew all along? How is that possible? I didn’t know that we were heading to Mosa until...until after we returned from Zeania.

I can’t stop right now, not even to uncover who the traitor is among our sorry bunch. But still, I won’t have to. After I choose Humans over the Phadh, they will all die.

Except her; I will give my life to protect her, the same way his wife, Jasih’s wife, did to protect him.

Chapter Sixty-Eight

Eladia

The battlefield is the epitome of chaos. If chaos had many levels, this would be the highest one. Soldiers come at us with renewed vigor and stamina every time we take out one of their companions. They’re many, but we’re trained to fight as one. My staff takes out the enemies in a medium-range around us, giving time to Dale to use his drugs to slow them down if possible. He’s fighting using a strange gun that shoots darts at long distance, but to reload it he needs time.

Pyro, on the other hand, clears out those that manage to get through my defense. Using his katana, he’s plunging back and forth, trying to keep us moving forward. I’m not sure how long we can keep this up, but soon, Jay and the others will come to support us. That’s the plan after all.

“Watch out. Two of them come from behind,” Pyro shouts.

With a swift, almost dancing move, I manage to take them out both by hitting their feet first and then their heads. It’s good enough for now. Pyro and Dale don’t hold back and kill their targets, but I have to do this. I can’t kill them. I don’t want to become another member of this Organization I know nothing about.

Dale suddenly pushes me out of the way; I was almost hit by a laser shot. He turns and yells at me: “Eladia, keep your mind on the battlefield. You almost got hit. What would you do then?” he instructs me while reloading his dart gun.

He’s right.

I turn my eyes towards the upper floor of the City Hall only to see a dead body hanging from the window. “Thank you, Dale. I’ll be careful from now on.”

The fight is on for five minutes now, and we’ve managed to take out six or seven of them, but I’ve lost count after I fought the same guys for two whole minutes, trying to take them out without killing them. In the end, Pyro used his katana to slice their chests.

“This isn’t training. You have to make sure they stay on the ground if you don’t want me to take their heads, you hear me?” he shouted to me back then.

I find it really strange that they keep yelling at each other. I mean, aren’t they afraid that by yelling they’ll give important insight to the enemies about our moves? Isn’t that a way for them to utilize our weaknesses and get the upper hand on us?

I see another black-masked man run towards Dale out of the corner of my eye. I turn and use my staff as a support pole to round kick him in the face. I can almost feel the crack of his jaw under my boot; it is enough to make me freeze for a moment. I didn’t hesitate to use my whole strength on him, as long as that would be enough to keep him down. But, I could have killed him.

Maybe I did kill him.

I feel every hair on my body prickle at the thought that someone died by my hand. Dale somehow picks up my weakness and gives me a gentle push in the back.

“He isn’t dead. And even if he is, he came here prepared to die. Are you prepared to die, Eladia?” he whispers to me.

Am I? Wasn’t everything up to this moment just training? Did the stakes rise so high that I can’t keep on fighting like that anymore? What’s the answer damn it?

In the meantime, Dale and Pyro take out three more black-maskers, increasing the number of dead bodies to ten or maybe more. I’m not sure.

“What the fuck?” Pyro suddenly says. He’s standing still, watching at something happening behind me.

I have a bad feeling about what I’ll see as I turn my head.

Jay is running fast towards the City Hall, not giving a shit if he’s gonna die if a shooter hits him from the upper story. He just goes at it like his life depends on it.

“Oh shit. I knew we shouldn't have left him behind,” Dale says.

There’s a turning point in every woman’s life. A decision where you know you’re gonna regret later in your life, like a kiss that lingers inside you even after years have passed by or a hug that’s still warm for hours later. All these things come once in your life and stay with you until you die, regretting that you didn’t follow that path.

I was over regretting anything. I was over, lying, fighting without a reason, hiding from my true feelings. This Dark Jay might be a murderer and a lunatic, but he’s fifty percent of the man I’m in love with. And now, I want to follow him.

“Eladia! What are you doing? Stop!” I hear Dale shout at me.

I’m not sure he understands how I feel. No, I’m wrong. I’m sure he understands. We both have people in our life that we want to protect.

And I’ll chase this man to the end of this world or the next if I have to, to protect him.

He’s way ahead of me and doesn’t slow down. I think I see two black-maskers shooting at him, but he doesn’t stop. If I remember correctly, the dark matter that envelopes his skin is thick enough to deflect the laser shots or at least some hits of it. I don’t know for sure, though. I never asked him before.

Running straight into the ground floor, I see him heading upstairs, already being on the top of the staircase last time I see him. I’m not sure, but it seems like he’s chasing someone upstairs. He’s another member of the black-masked men squad only that his mask is...different. Not plain black like the others, but resembling the masks that Dale and Pyro wear.

I’m standing still, trying to realize what’s going on, when suddenly someone knocks me to the ground. My face is in pain, as well as the better part of my body.

“What are you doing? Do you want to die so bad?” Dale yells at me.

“Let me go. He’s going to die if I don’t protect him,” I yell back.

“Eladia, stop chasing him. He’s a madman, someone that doesn’t love you for what you really are. You have to stop endangering your life for him!”

It’s the first time I’ve seen him this crazy. In fact, he looks like he’s...afraid.

“I can’t, Dale, not when I love him so much. You know how it is to love someone and want to give your life to protect him. I’ve seen you do it so many times before. You always run ahead first, eager to die to save everyone else other than yourself. You’re the one with the death wish, Dale, not me.”

He seems surprised; he was sure he was hiding that part of himself really well, only that he probably had never spent a year living with someone else. Dale releases me from his grip, but before I get on my feet and leave, I turn and look at him.

“Please, turn back and save yourself for once, Dale. Return to the person you love and stop risking your life. You’re the best person I’ve ever met, so don’t let your ghosts drag you to hell.”

I turn my head and get ready to leave when I hear him mutter something.

“What? What did you say?” I ask him.

“I said that I couldn’t protect him when I had to. I couldn’t give him what he wanted, so that’s why I have to keep on moving, keep on doing what I have to. I have a plan, Eladia,” he suddenly says, “but you have to promise you won’t stop me if I share it with you,” he says.

Time is pressing. Jay is already on the roof for some time now, and he’s probably in dire danger. I know I’m needed elsewhere, but I can’t move an inch. I keep staring at him, trying to find what he’s hiding behind those blue eyes.

Only after I sit beside him and listen to his plan, I understand. I thought that chasing Jay was my turning point, but I think that now, running up these stairs, I really understand. Letting Dale go is that moment I should learn to live with for the rest of my life.

Now, pebbles of tears coming down my eyes, I run ahead, run and hope I did the right thing.

Chapter Sixty-Nine

Jay

I manage to infiltrate the building with only bruises from the laser guns. I have forgotten how thick my skin is now that I’m in this form. After I take two steps inside, a man is looking at me.

His mask is pitch black and resembles a demon, reminding me of the masks that Dale and Pyro wear all the time. He looks a bit intimidating, but being on his battle attire, it makes him human enough for me to charge towards him. I chase him upstairs, trying to find a way to take him down in the meantime.

The building inside is empty. It strikes me as weird at first, but then again, that could also mean that I’m just really lucky. Maybe Pyro was wrong after all and most of their force was amassed in the entrance of the building. They were strong, I’m sure about that, but they couldn’t stop us from barging in.

Shame fills my chest after I realize that I did nothing to help them with their mission. Still, I keep running upstairs, keep chasing the man with the black mask.

The staircase is endless for a two-storey building. The building looked smaller on the outside. He’s always a step ahead of me, and even though I’m trying my best to keep up with him, I’m way too slow. In the end, we finally get to the roof of the City Hall, the place where the final battle is to be fought.

When I open the door leading outside, I see the man standing still on the other side of the roof. He’s looking at me from behind that nightmarish mask, but he can’t scare me. I’m here to unlock the cube and take back my life, even if that means I have to choose to destroy all the humans.

“Congratulations Prime Officer Jasih for making it this far. I commend you for giving it your all even though you’re in so dire a situation,” he says in a thunderous voice.

Strange, he surely sounds familiar.

‘Who are you?”

“Well, that’s irrelevant. I trust you know by now who your friends and enemies are. Eladia made it perfectly clear that we, humans, are the race fit to rule the whole galaxy. The Phadh are some glorified, old men that think they know what’s best for the Known Galaxy only to give in to their illusions of wealth and power. After all, money greases the system better than fear or hope, as it always did,” the man says.

“I’m not here to hear your ranting. If you’re not here to stop me, then move to the side and let me finish my job,” I say to him.

He grins and looks at me like he’s in my head and knows what I’m thinking. Only that he doesn’t. No one does. To them, I’m just a parasite. So beware now that this parasite will conquer the Galaxy.

It takes me a while to follow the events. He grins...like he’s not wearing a mask. His face is not covered by that black thing anymore. So, I see that behind the devilish faucet, a man with black hair is hiding. The same man I saw in the news many days ago. He’s the human that announced the Purge of Yaerus, the ambassador that broke out the news to the rest of the world.

“Oh, it seems you finally recognized me! Well, the feelings are mutual. Go on then, do whatever you have to do. I’ll be standing here.”

He takes a step behind and sits on the floor, crossing his feet, waiting. I don’t like where this is going.

Still, this night is still full of surprises.

The door opens again, only for Eladia to appear this time.

“Get down!” she screams, but for some reason, I can’t hear her. I feel like I’m losing the ground from below my feet and at that moment, everything changes...

...the light comes again, only, this time, it’s not blinding. I can see everyone around me and even feel the air whip my face.

I’m free at last.

Dark Jay, my other side, isn’t strong enough to speak right now. After the cube activated, and for some reason he lost his footing, he also lost his focus for a fraction of a second, just enough for me to take over. Now, I’m the one holding the shining cube, and I will be the one to make this decision.

The cube starts growing around me, growing fast enough that I thought it would enclose the whole planet inside it. I can’t feel the tips of my fingers anymore, and everything around me is frozen still. The building is collapsing around us, and Eladia has jumped towards me, trying to save me. The black-haired man is still grinning like everything is going according to his plan. Maybe it did go according to his plan until now. Now that I’m here, though, I can take matters into my own hands again.

“Jasih...” I hear a female voice calling me.

I raise my head and look at her; she’s even more beautiful than she was back then when she gave her life to protect me.

“Lenora...you’re really here,” I say.

“It has been a long time since we last saw each other. You’ve changed quite a bit. You’re...different.”

She’s right; I don’t feel like the man I was before.

“Lenora...I’m sorry that I’m asking you this, but can you please save her? I don’t want her to die here if it’s possible.”

With a nod, she envelops her with a radiating light and slowly moves her away from the crumbling building. When she makes sure she’s safe, she returns to me.

“Now, tell me Jasih. What is your choice? Will you choose war or peace?”

I take a moment to savor her image; her hair are golden, and her face seems serene. She doesn’t blink, she just looks at me, stoically. Regret overtakes my feelings, but I don’t let it consume me. I’m here to stop the cube from killing anyone, and that’s the only thing I will do.

“I choose nothing, sweet Lenora. I choose life. Only that. Peace and war are two sides of the same coin like me and Dark Jay was all this time. You can’t have the one without having the other. Peace can be maintained only if there’s life, to begin with, so I choose life, and I leave the other choices to the world.”

Lenora smiles. “Then, that’s the way it will be.”

She lowers her head and looks around her; countless lights shine throughout the city. If I have to guess, then I think that she used her powers to cure all those who could be cured, and lay to rest all those that should have laid so long ago.

After this is over, she looks at me one last time. “Now, the cube needs a new guardian. You have an hour before you have to surrender yourself to the cube; an hour reserved for goodbyes. Use it well, Jasih.”

And just like that, she vanishes into thin air.

I look around me and see the building exploding in pieces. It seems that I’ll spend this hour moving up and down this space frozen in time. I decide to head towards Eladia when...

...when I manage to take control of our body once again.

What? How...how did you do that?

Jasih is panicking inside my body, trying to understand.

“Well, my old friend, your wife never meant you. I’m the new guardian of the cube; I’m the sacrifice needed for all those people to come back to life. That’s the only reason I ever lived in the first place. Your wife brought me to life all these years ago only to die right here, right now. I was never meant to love or be loved. I was just a helpless parasite,” I say out loud.

I never thought possible for a man like me to shed any tears, but in the end, I do just that.

Chapter Seventy

Epilogue

Six months later….

Alyce

“People believe what they want to believe. You, Jean, a professional journalist, I’m sure you understand what I’m talking about,” I say slowly and clearly to Jean, the hostess of the special online tribute titled ‘Mosa—the City that Came Back to Life.'

I was the only public onlooker of the incident so my opinion matters to the rest of the world. I still don’t understand why, but it does.

She laughs warmly although I know she’s faking it. She only invited me to throw dirt at the Phadh as a species, but I won’t let her shame me like that. I had to fight with my father many times to allow me to come here today. It’s the least I can do to honor his memory after all.

“So, you’re telling me that things didn’t happen exactly as you reported to the Known Galaxy’s Alliance council?”

A special wooing sound comes from the speakers. We’re alone in the studio, but it still feels like we’re sitting in front of a big crowd.

“I’m just saying that people tend to believe what they are naturally inclined to believe. For example, journalists wanted to believe that this attack was a conspiracy of the humans trying to overtake the First Rank and gain control of the Galaxy, but it’s not as simple as that. You can’t blame a whole species for the wrongs of one man.”

No crowd effects; I’m doing okay it seems.

“Hmm. Okay. So why don’t you tell us more about the person that managed to warp the system around his fingers?”

“Mr. Terasaka is a bright man, Jean. He always was and, unfortunately, always will be. However, being bright doesn’t mean that he isn’t an intergalactic terrorist, the first of his kind. Finding him and dealing with him is a pressing matter, one that every member of the Ranked Species are trying to attend to as efficiently as we can.”

This is the formal answer of the council to the world. If I even changed one word, my dad and I could be prosecuted and spend the rest of our days in a prison somewhere in the corners of the galaxy. Agreeing with every word makes it easier to lie to the world.

“That’s awfully familiar; I believe you just quoted the formal answer of the council to the letter, Alyce. Don’t you think it’s a highly suspicious tactic when you have to fall back into the official report to answer a question?”

Once again, she laughs like we’re the best friends since we were kids. Only that she was born two hundred years too late to challenge me. Situations like this are routine for the daughter of the ambassador of the Phadh.

“So, you would rather I lie than specifically quote the truth, especially when it’s a report issued by the council? I think you’re a pretty clever woman, Jean. If you’re hunting for a juicy topic, then I’d honestly beg you to do it in your own free time, not the time your viewers dispose to watch the news and learn the truth.”

No crowd effect again. She’s making me sound like I’m a bitch, which doesn’t do wonders for the Phadh image right now. Humans and the Phadh have openly started hostilities against each other, hostilities that could easily lead to an open war soon. The fact that I was kidnapped in the middle of a crisis management meeting, it doesn’t make things better. Maybe we got off one crisis by nullifying the cube threat, but this Terasaka guy obviously had another trick up his sleeve.

“No, no. You’re right, Alyce. But these are questions that our viewers do to us all the time, and we thought who better to answer them than the public face of the Mosa Incident? But, if I’m correct, you didn’t do everything alone. You had a dedicated crew of assassins and Chroniclers and even an alien that could change the color of his skin or something. What part of these stories are true and what part is just fiction?”

She’s trying to change the subject by opening up an even harder one. She can’t match me in political speech, so she just turned our interview into pure gossip. The truth is that she has some pretty strong sources to be able to find reports about Jasih and Eladia and even the Organization.

“Well, as you probably imagine, there are many things that are true and even more things that sound true but certainly are not. For once, people on Mosa weren’t all undead zombies that came back to life as you’re letting the world believe. When we arrived, most of the danger has been regulated by the local forces. We just tended to the survivors.

“Also, there’s a great misinterpretation of the word assassin. In the report, the word is written with the first letter in uppercase. So, the Assassins is a mercenary group that was hired by the local forces to take care of the last details of the cleaning operation before the Purge. As for the Chronicler, again, we’re talking about a misinterpretation of the title. There was a Chronicler’s Assistant, an abandoned android that helped with the operation by providing it's highly advanced scanning services and knowledge of the Known Galaxy Archives. But that’s it.

“As for the last part of your question: pure fiction. There was no alien we haven’t encountered yet, especially not one changing colors or whatsoever.”

I smile at the end of my answer, hoping I did my part to conceal the story from the rest of the world. The less the publicity of this incident, the easier it’ll be in the future for the Humans and the Phadh to start peace talks. However, how long in the future, I don’t know.

Also, I hope I helped Eladia and Jay spend the rest of their lives unfettered. As for the Organization...well, let’s just say that Pyro was quite convincing when he told me that the Organization isn’t something that the rest of the world has to know.

“Phew, that is a relief of some sorts. This is the first report we take from an official member of the council regarding the questions about the saviors of the galaxy, but it seems that we were wrong again after all. Thank you for clarifying our mistakes, Alyce. Now, I have one last question for you, the most pressing of them all.”

Shit. I thought we were done with all these questions.

“The report states that there was a Nusae Relic retrieved from the foundations of the City Hall on Mosa. Is that in any way connected with the terrorist actions of Mr. Terasaka or it was found there by pure accident?”

I should have anticipated that this question would appear on the show. After the retrieval of the cube, Chroniclers analyzed it and easily unlocked it to reveal technology that vastly improved our space travels. But, for the relic to appear at a place like that, in the eye of the storm, it surely drew much unneeded attention to the incident. Many people think that the Alliance is trying to conceal the fact that not only Yaerus was in danger, but the whole galaxy.

Well, they’re right, but are they really expecting us to tell them the whole truth about the incident? Panic would erupt in every planet of the Known Galaxy and the hostilities would climate to war almost instantly. Yeah, I have to lie about it...again.

“Pure accident. Think it like that. Even in the middle of a great loss, the Nusae Relic is a bud of hope, giving us the power we need to get over this misfortune. Intergalactic travel is now optimized. Already, ten missions are preparing to start a journey to the outer rings of the Known Galaxy. It was an exaggeration to talk about a United, Known Galaxy when we haven’t even explored half of it. But, with those new engines, we’ll make sure we expand our reach to the outer rings of our current reach.”

The crowd suddenly cheers and claps, probably signaling the end of my interview. I want to sigh and run out of the set as fast as I can, but the cameras are still rolling. Jean sends me off with a long and tear-jerking monolog, but she doesn’t hesitate to hint that ‘being an elected member of the council means that I’m probably bound to the council’s opinion.’ At that moment, she introduces a popular conspiracy theorist, probably the same person that spouted every kind of nonsense about the incident. It’s his job, after all, something to do for a living.

I get out of the set and walk outside. Mosa is still in a very bad shape, but people have returned, and even new businesses are booming. To be honest, it’s a miracle that not more people died. Eladia managed to brief me up about everything that happened before fleeing with the platinum-skinned Jasih. How the cube instead of destroying cured the people; how Jasih woke up back to his platinum self, unable to change back anymore; how Dale gave his life to save everyone.

I always thought of myself as a strong, fearless person, a woman of the people, someone that would only speak the truth even it was harsh and cold. But, after letting Eladia cry on my shoulder when she told me about Dale’s death and even saw Jasih turn his head and walk away, tears running down his eyes, I couldn’t do it.

His last will was to protect the Galaxy even at the cost of his own life, and by lying to the world, I decided to honor it with my own, imperfect way.

A tear leaves the premises of my eyes; I promise that it’s the last tear I shed for Dale Cross, the man I never officially met.

* * *

Eladia

Walking while in labor has started to bother me. I’m six months in, my belly swelled up and heavy, and still, I can’t stop visiting all these Nusae ruins.

Today we’re in planet Ziurus, discovering another Nusae relic indicating the existence of the Cube and of another civilization way before humans, way before time itself. It was that civilization that created the Cubes and the same civilization that left behind it a massive Great Mystery, the likes of it no one has ever seen.

“Honey? Where are you?”

It’s him, Jay. He’s the one that has lead me to this site.

“Down here, baby! Follow the lights,” I say and grab my back, trying to alleviate some of the pain I’m feeling there.

Usually, I want to piss every two minutes, and I’m hungry like I haven’t eaten for days, but when I’m inside an ancient Nusae site, it’s like my little angel understands my need for knowledge and stops squeezing my bladder all the time. I already know that he, or she, will become a great Chronicler.

“Eladia! What I’ve told you? No ruin-exploring by yourself. What if the ruins collapse on your head? What would happen then?”

“Relax, Jay. I got Pioneer here to check three times before entering. If there was a crack on the walls or anything indicating the ruins are dangerous, I wouldn’t venture in here all by myself.”

Jay looks at me with disbelief. Pioneer is our little assistant robot, a small spherical-shaped robot that flies around me all the time and helps me with my research.

“Really? Pioneer, show me a catalog of your last recorded scans,” Jay suddenly says.

“Okay, okay. You got me red handed. I didn’t quite check it, but my experience tells me that the site won’t collapse. Isn’t that a good enough reason?”

He smiles at me and shakes his head; he does that a lot since I got pregnant with his child.

“You’re crazy, you know that?”

“Yeah, but that’s why you love me after all,” I reply to him.

He moves close to me and gives me a kiss on the lips. I kiss him back and pull him closer to me. My huge belly doesn’t allow me to feel his throbbing cock in my vagina, but hell, I can’t wait to get back on the spaceship and fuck like bunnies, all night. Pregnancy hormones get me horny all the time so I can’t get enough of him.

“Well, you seem like you’re in the mood again,” he says, trying to keep a calm face but not quite managing it.

“You know me. I’m in the mood every second. It’s the hormones. You’re like a big, hot sausage to me, and I want to keep eating you until I’m stuffed.”

He laughs out loud and hugs me; I laugh as well. “That was weirdly hot. But now we have to keep on with this research. We’re close to discovering another Nusae Relic. Maybe, this time, we’ll get a time machine,” he says.

“Or tastier food?” I continue his sentence. “Yeah, I would like that,” I say.

He moves deeper into the ruins laughing, leaving me behind in the anteroom of the temple. There are many kinds of signs on the walls, most of them not even recognizable by Pioneer. It’s not that he can’t translate them, is that there are no immediate translations from the K.G.A. That means that this site is of Nusae origins and that we probably have to scan the whole room to get an answer.

Still, it’s amazing that after so long, we’re still able to find new ruins almost every other week. Jasih is an endless pit of Nusae and Esuh knowledge, especially after his memories returned.

I didn’t know anything about his life before the incident on Mosa, but since then, after we left Mosa he told me everything about his visions and his wife being inside the cube from the beginning, trying to protect him. It somehow moved me. Their relationship was strong, strong enough to span a whole century, strong enough for her to control the power of the Cube and save him, us, everyone.

Lenora is the true hero of the story; her, Dale, and Dark Jay. It’s the anniversary of half a year since the incident, meaning that six months passed in a pulp. Sadly, it feels like a whole life away from where I’m standing today. Thinking back, I still wonder why Dale never told me the name of his lover; I could have made sure to bury them together or something. But it seems he didn’t want that.

He wanted for his life to mean something, even if his name would only remain in the archives of the Organization as the Legendary Swamp. It was a rough life the one he lived.

When he told me his plan to set a bomb in the City Hall, one strong enough to bring down the building, I thought he was crazy. Still, he somehow managed to think ten moves ahead, taking into consideration that Jay wasn’t in the mental condition to decide the destiny of the whole Galaxy, while also wanting to take down the other black-maskers with him and give us time to get out.

However, he didn’t have a remote detonator for the explosives, so the only way to follow through his plan was to detonate them himself, sacrificing himself in the process. I knew that, and I walked away to save the man I love the most, the father of my child, Prime Officer Jasih. If it wasn’t for Dale, the other Jay would have chosen to drive humans into extinction, renewing a long cycle of deaths and revenge. If it wasn’t for Dale, Mosa would still be a wasteland of undead humans and destroyed buildings.

I walk deeper into the ruins until I find Jasih, shirtless, using his shirt to remove the dust from a tablet on the east corner of the temple. He’s dusting off the ruins, the muscles of his back tensing up and down, giving me a sense of hotness deep into my belly. I’m either horny or the little guy, or gal, in there decided to suddenly cause me trouble.

Still, holding my belly between my hands, I can’t stop thinking of that last, hazy memory I have of Dark Jay.

I remember opening my eyes, looking at him sparkling like an angel, the cube flying around him in circles. I remember him squatting next to me, giving me a kiss on the forehead, and smiling. And then, he said those words that I’ll keep inside me for the rest of my life.

“You’re my love and light, the only human I ever loved and will love as long as I’m alive. I couldn’t spend an eternity with you, my love, but I’ll make sure you spend a lifetime with me. Or at least, a part of me.

“I love you and...well, that’s it. I love you. I hope I will tell you that sooner,” he said and then walked away, like a dream long lost.

I asked Jay what happened during that hour that the building was frozen in time. The Cube had engulfed the building into a time-warping sphere, allowing enough time to Dark Jay to say his goodbyes. According to him, Lenora had brought him to life to become the sacrifice needed for the Cube to unlock, so that even if Jay opened the Cube, as he eventually did, he would have a way out of its curse.

What Lenora didn’t expect is that someone would fall in love with that parasite, that bloodthirsty monster that killed everyone in his path. She couldn’t have known that the same woman that fell for her husband would also fall for his armor. And so, when the time came for him, Dark Jay, to choose, he chose to sacrifice himself so that I could be happy with a part of him, the platinum-skinned Jasih.

Everything comes back to me, and I turn my head so that Jay doesn’t see me crying again. I’m so happy with him that I wouldn’t change this for the world, but every now and then, tears run from my eyes, reminding me everything that came to be.

The only thing I regret the most is never saying goodbye to him. He was alone back there, a man wondering in and out of people’s lives, waiting for someone to recognize him as a living being.

“Honey, you really should come and see this!” Jay yells from deeper into the temple.

I wipe the tears from my eyes, shush my belly so that the little critter in there doesn't say anything to his, or her, father, and then walk next to him.

“Tell me! I’m all yours!”

* * *

The End

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Your Unknown Alien Destiny

Complete Box Set

Yahn is a tall, blue-skinned Karkastian, an alien race widely known as enemies of the planet Earth. Jessie is a beautiful young soldier assigned to an army expedition team. When Jessie’s team explores Karkast after it has been attacked by the evil Sarceastians, Jessie comes across Yahn, the last surviving member of his race. 

Instead of capturing him, she chooses to help him. Soon, they are fugitives living a life on the run. In the process, they discover the true meaning of love, friendship, and devotion to a cause. Their adventure takes them to dangerous spaceports, exotic planets, narrow escapes from certain death and execution, a spirited defence of planet Earth, and even an adventure on the enemy planet of Sarceastium. There, Jessie discovers her talents as a liberator. 

Can Jessie and Yahn escape their enemies, live through their harrowing adventures, and settle down to a life of peace and love? 

Book 1

Chapter One

Jessie

I didn’t know what I was thinking. So many people told me, “Jessie it won’t be a big deal, just go out on a few expeditions and you will have tuition money for college.” They were wrong. The hours were long and torturous. Captain Henson could be insufferable at times, getting angry over nothing. I guessed that was what they taught him a captain should do at the academy. Many of the guys in the outfit were nice and respectful, some of them overly so. Ken Wilkins was always opening doors for me and smiling a bit too much. I think he had a thing for me. Then there were the men that couldn’t seem to get over the fact that women could now join army expedition teams for galactic expeditions, even though it had been a thousand years since women were first allowed to join the army. Specifically, that was meant for James Perry, a big, dumb heap of muscle-perfect for the army as long as he had got superior officers to do most of the thinking for him. He was constantly making inappropriate comments like,

"I'm not sure if there's going to be a place to get your nails done on planet Karkast."

That was not the worst of it. I had caught him on more than a few occasions looking at my butt. I did the best I could to cover up and de-emphasize my femininity for those men that couldn’t control themselves. I tied my hair back, didn’t use makeup and wore the same unattractive uniform donned by everyone else. It didn’t seem to matter to types like James who probably hadn’t seen any action in light years.

To tell the truth, if it wasn’t for my best friend, Wendy Langston, I wouldn’t have been able to tolerate this situation at all. We both agreed that we would join the army together to pay for college, knowing that we would both have some crazy stories to tell everyone back home once we had down a few tours of duty. How was I to know that I would only make it to one tour that wouldn’t even be completed? Now I was considered by many to be a traitor for reasons that I would reveal in time.

Our first mission after Wendy and I joined was to explore the planet, Karkast. Karkast was a grayish, blue planet that was very Earth-like in its appearance when you were out in space. There were large swirling masses of clouds that looked just like the storm systems that affected Earth. However, the blue color of the planet was a darker more metallic blue. I was told Karkast got this shade from its unique chemical composition. On this strange planet you did not find sodium, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and other common Earth elements. The elements on Karkast had no human name. They engaged in distinctive chemical reactions unlike any you had ever seen before. As soon as you surfaced you realized that you were not in Kansas anymore. Most of the surface was barren and rocky, although there were lakes and rivers of something resembling water that dotted the landscape. This mysterious state of matter was both liquid and solid, kind of like many the colloids we had on Earth. Also, the surface was prone to violent upheavals such as geysers and volcanoes the size of Mt. Everest. It was an unforgiving landscape that was similar to the Earth during its most early stages of existence.

Karkastians made their homes in a variety of ways. The poorer of their kind lived amongst the rocks, carving out dwellings that were telltale when you saw round windows carved in the stone. The more well-off lived in hover dwellings that were suspended high enough in the air to avoid any of the discomforts of life on the ground such as the frequent tremors. One would think that a society that was supposedly more advanced than our own would have solved these differences in inequality. However, Karkast seemed to prove that evolution and technology couldn’t solve the problem of wealth disparity.

Both the rich and the poor were affected when a planet was under attack. We landed on the surface of Karkast to see a smoke-dotted landscape, which made the planet look even more desolate than it already did. It kind of reminded me of Nevada, except with a more grayish blue tint. The desolation was only interrupted here and there by tall, rocky mountains devoid of vegetation and columns, and spires made of rock that would give Utah a run for its money. The Karkastians were attacked by the Sarceastians, which are a phantom-like race of beings that brought destruction in their wake throughout the known universe. Although I had never seen a Sarceastian, Ken who had been on a previous mission had encountered them. He said they looked like something out of a nightmare, not unlike the Nazgul from the ancient book, The Lord of the Rings. Now all that was left, for the most part, were smoldering ruins. Our mission was to see if there were any survivors and capture them. If they resisted our efforts in any way, they were to be eviscerated. Ah, such inspirational work.

Did I mention I was an artist? It was funny to think that a girl from Tennessee who just wanted to be a sculptor would end up out here with these scoundrels, holding a gigantic laser cannon. The answer, of course, was money or lack thereof. By the year 2978, college tuition had soared to $50k per semester. My parents, being artists themselves, couldn't afford such luxuries. I won awards throughout high school and even had my own exhibition in my hometown of Linden. Now I was determined to get into a prestigious art academy once I got tuition money in my hot little hands. First, however, I would need to survive the army.

After we landed on Karkast, we were sent out on expeditions in teams of eight. I was both excited that Wendy was on my team. I was also less than thrilled to have both the captain and James on it as well. I guess the captain had some old fashioned notion that he needed to protect us, as girls. As our team prepared to leave the landing capsule, colored army green, of course, I couldn't help but open my big mouth.

“I just don’t get it. Why is a whole planet declared evil because of the actions of three rogue citizens that decided to commit acts of terrorism?” I said.

Captain Hensen rubbed his shaved head, frowned up and turned to face me.

“Private Hampton, you would do well to keep your trap shut with opinions like that one. The Karkastians are our enemies and that’s it. Keep your mind on your mission and your opinion to yourself!” he barked.

I looked back at Wendy and rolled my eyes. She agreed with my point of view, but chose to remain silent in order to avoid the wrath of the captain. About a year ago, three Karkastians went on a kamikaze-style mission in order to bring about as much devastation on Earth as possible. Each one crashed their landing pods into three different cities: New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, trying to inflict as many casualties as possible. Two hundred thousand casualties resulted from the attacks. About ten years ago, the Earth council decided to increase tariffs on the Karkastians to such a degree that it was crippling for them. Earth at one time was their biggest trading partner. Their planet was rich in minerals and resources that had become scarce on our own planet. It also contained undiscovered ones that our scientists were anxious to study. This action spawned anti-Earth sentiment amongst the Karkastians, understandably enough. Only a few individuals took it upon themselves to attack Earth. Now the entire planet was considered to be a planet of terrorists.

We proceeded across the empty, barren landscape with our protective suits. The atmosphere of Karkast was full of a heady stew of noxious gasses. All around us were smoldering remains of rocky dwellings and hovered dwellings that had been attacked from above. It seemed that the Sarceastians had done a pretty thorough job of effectively destroying all life on this planet. Some of the rocky dwellings were blasted open so that you could see the contents. You could see pictures, what looked to be blankets and other personal items strewn about the floor. It could be a poor human’s home back on Earth. Hovering above the violent surface were the dwellings of the most privileged in their society. The rooms were more spacious and open and the furniture looked to be more expensive. A hover dwelling was also more likely to have an expensive hovercraft parked outside of it. Nevertheless, many of these homes had been destroyed as well.

“Looks like the Sarceastians did a hell of a job,” James said in a husky voice.

"A hell of a job wreaking havoc. Let's just hope their next target isn't Earth," I said, unable to keep my mouth shut when comments of this nature were made.

“You can sympathize with these people all you want, it won’t bring them back. The Sarceastians did us a favor bombing this breeding ground for terrorists,” James replied.

I was about to retort when Wendy tapped me on the shoulder and shook her head, implying that I shouldn’t egg him on. I knew she was right, so I kept my mouth shut.

Just when we began to think that we weren’t going to encounter anyone, we saw some movement up ahead near a large rocky outcrop. Something had ducked behind the rocks when it saw us approaching.

"Stay back behind us." The captain said to Wendy and me.

This made me furious because I knew I was just as capable a soldier as any of the rest of them. Despite the fact that training had been difficult, I was mentally and physically just as prepared for the mission as any of my male counterparts. The captain put his back to the rock and prepared to go around the corner and point his laser cannon directly at the individual behind the rocks. As soon as he came around the corner he yelled.

"FREEZE!" We could see a bluish vapor rise into the air and then dissipate off into the distance. Then, in a blink of an eye, the vapor became a tall, cyan blue figure with two muscular arms wearing strange clothes. It ran into what looked to be a cave of sorts about a hundred yards away. It was just a small opening at the bottom of a rocky hill, barely tall enough to walk through without having to duck your head.

“He transformed. I forgot that these maggots could do that. This might be trickier than I planned. James, go and fetch the phasinator so we can keep him from doing that again. We waited behind the rocks until James came back with the device that had a long wand that terminated in a disk-shape. It was not unlike the ancient metal detectors that people used in ages past.

Once we had this device, we advanced towards the cave that the creature had ducked into.

Hide we are coming for you I thought to myself, thinking that the creature could have been some innocent citizen caught up in the aftermath of war.

We entered the dark cave. All around us we could hear dripping noises as a musty smell entered our nostrils. Somewhere in the darkness, a stream full of colloidal material could be heard making a gurgling sound. As our eyes adjusted to the darkness, we could see amazing rock formations above our heads. Long stalactites hung from the ceiling resembling long spears or spirals. The walls were mostly smooth rock. Wendy and I were bringing up the rear, of course. We went down a stuffy passage that led deep underground. After a while, we could hear the creature breathing in the darkness up ahead. Then, we saw a shadow dart off to our right where a narrow passage led upwards.

“I’m going in after him,” James said as if it were a real act of heroism.

He ran after the creature, which turned around to look at James. As soon as it saw him, the creature began to turn to vapor. James turned the phasinator on full blast and the creature froze in his current form.

“Stop right there and come with us!” James spoke into his dialector, transforming his speech into Karkastian. The device was attached to a headset with a tiny microphone attached. He pointed his laser cannon at the creature, which threw up his hands.

The creature looked panicked and didn’t seem to trust that James wouldn’t shoot it. It chose to try and run again, turning its back on James. James fired his laser cannon, filling the dark chamber with bright blue light. The creature screeched so loudly we had to clutch our ears. It was vaporized in the blink of an eye. James turned around to face us like a conquering hero.

“Well that will take care of that. One less terrorist that Earth will not have to worry about,” he said with a smile.

The captain was neither pleased nor disappointed. He simply said:

"Remember, we need to try and capture them if we can- those are our orders."

“Well you saw how willing he was to surrender,” James said.

“And your laser cannon doesn’t have a stun setting like mine?” I said angrily.

“I didn’t have time to think about that,” he said.

“Too bad you don’t take the time to think in most instances,” I darted back. Wendy looked back at me as if she said I should quit. James took a step towards me as if he might knock me down.

“Enough you two, let’s get out of here. We need to check the rest of this sector for signs of life,” the captain said.

“I don’t see what the big deal is,” James mumbled under his breath. “It was just a Karkastian.”

I shot him an evil glare, but kept my mouth shut.

Chapter Two

Yahn

I was bereft with sorrow at the loss of my family, my home, and my friends when the Earthlings landed. The Sarceastians were swift and cruel with their assault, having nothing resembling compassion or love in their hearts. They were like phantoms that only lived to conquer and destroy others for their collective benefit. The seventh day after the onslaught, only a few others of my kind had survived. We had split up to look for others and gather what we could to nourish our famished bodies. I felt so weak, I wasn’t sure if I could transform if needed be, for that is one of the gifts that we Karkastians possessed. Once I heard the Earthlings land, I remained hidden in the bunker of my family's former dwelling place. I was the only Jollanot to have survived. We lived amongst the rocks as all the lesser off Karkastians did, unlike our overlords that lived in the hover dwellings above our heads. Now nothing remained of our social structure, something that I wasn't going to miss. I had no idea what the Earthlings wanted, but it couldn't be anything good. We had learned to be distrustful of them once our relationship with their government broke down. After the actions of a few distraught Karkastians, we were all labeled as dangerous and untrustworthy.

One night as I was looking through the last meager kerfol that I had gathered, (kerfol was what Earthlings called a ‘plant' that we Karkastians depended on as our main food source) I heard someone coming down the hatch into my bunker. I immediately hid as best as I could, peering out into the gloom to see who had invaded my home. I had no weapons to defend myself, so I tried my best to turn into a vapor. However, vaporization took strength and nourishment; and I hadn't had enough of either one to transform. Soon, I saw a female Earthling in some sort of protective suit coming towards me and there was little I could do as she was armed with a laser cannon.

Please don’t harm me I said using telepathy. From what I'd heard, Earthlings did not commonly communicate this way; but I was told that some of them were responsive to it. The female Earthling stopped and looked at me curiously. She turned around as if she were checking to see if anyone else was coming.

Don’t worry. I have no such desire she answered, much to my surprise. I emerged from my hiding place and revealed myself. It was a moment of mutual admiration. I had heard that humans were ugly and strange- that their skin was a strange peach tone, sometimes darker. When I saw this human, I felt something that I had not felt since my partner, Hellanot disappeared. This female human was beautiful. Her eyes were large, big and gorgeous and her lips were full and kind. I could tell by the way that she was looking at me that she was experiencing a similar of what Earthlings refer to as ‘emotion’.

Who are you I asked? Why are you here?

My name is Jessie. We are part of an expedition team that has been sent here to see if there are any survivors in the wake of the Sarceastian invasion, she said.

My name is Yahn.

I knew that there was something different about this Earthling than what I had always been told. I grew up hearing that Earthlings were cruel, hideous and selfish creatures, only slightly less heinous than the Sarceastians who were the scum of the universe. This creature did not fit the description one bit.

What do they want with the survivors? I asked, probing for more information.

They want us to take them prisoner so that they can’t pose a threat to the Earth.

I thought she could sense the anger in me when I heard this by her next statement.

Believe me, I know it’s ridiculous. I know that your kind is nothing like what I have heard.

What have you heard?

I’ve heard that all of you are terrorists that wish nothing but death and destruction for our kind.

That’s what Karkastians believe about you Earthlings.

Isn't it funny?

What is funny? I asked, not being familiar with this.

It’s hard to explain- it’s strange that we both have heard these things about the other and now that we have met one another, our impressions are quite the opposite from what I can tell.

Yes, you are not at all what I expected. You don’t seem cruel and you certainly aren’t hideous, I wondered if she minded how I looked at her with admiration and what her kind would call ‘lust’ or ‘attraction’, what we referred to as ‘musth’.

Neither do you. The creature laughed, which was a new thing to me at the time. She could tell by my reaction. Do you know what laughter is?

No... Is it when you expel gas?

She laughed again. The joy in her voice caused me to do the same as she, like I had released something that had been bottled up. I laughed for the first time ever. It felt good.

There you go. Laughter is something you do when you feel joy or happiness or when something seems funny.

Funny? This was another concept I was uncertain about.

It’s hard to explain. Anyway, what is your story? Are there more of you alive?

At this point, I didn't know how much I should say to the Earthling. Although she seemed kind and trustworthy, I was hesitant. She could sense it.

Don’t worry, I won’t tell the others that I saw you. I didn’t even want to come on this stupid mission. I’m only here so that I can pay for my college.

College?

It’s where you go to learn what you need to know to get a job.

I probably looked like the most confused creature in the known universe.

Job? We Karkastians don’t go to college or have what you call jobs. We provide whatever talents we possess for the community and live in harmony.

Sounds like a much better system.

To answer your question, there are only a few of us left. There is only my friend Dentyan and a few others that remain alive.

I’m afraid one of our men killed one of yours just yesterday.

What did they look like?

It was a tall male. He had a pale blue color and very short hair.

That was Dentyan. I was distraught. Water began to pour from several pores in my body.

Why are you sweating?

What is sweating? I am upset can’t you see?

Oh, that must be the way your kind cries or feels sorrow.

Yes, sorrow. I do know what that is. That is what I’m feeling.

Yahn, I am so sorry for your loss. I scolded the man who killed your friend, telling him that he should have stunned him instead of killing him.

I guess I should be used to all of the loss by now.

“Private Hampton come in!” a voice said from the Earthling’s primitive radio.

“Go ahead Captain,” Jessie answered.

“Have you found anything in the eastern sector?”

“Negative captain. No survivors.”

“Hmm, in that case, come on back to base.”

"Yes, captain."

I had better get back Jessie said.

I understand. Will I see you again?

I don’t now but if I don’t, I wish you the best of luck.

What is luck?

I don’t have time to explain. I wish you happiness.

You too, I said. I was sorry to see her go. She was perhaps the most beautiful creature I had ever laid eyes on and I wanted to see her again, as much as possible. I ate what was left of the kerfol I had, transformed into my mist form and went out to see what I could learn from the invading Earthlings.

They were gathered around a fire talking about their day.

“I'm telling you there aren't any more survivors; this is one desolate rock," one of the males said.

“There have to be more life forms, the radar keeps getting a reading for them,” Their captain said.

“James, I want you to go and explore the eastern sector tomorrow,” the captain said.

“But I already looked at the eastern sector,” Jessie said.

“Hmm, well let’s just say I want a second opinion,” The captain answered. I could tell that Jessie was upset. Her female friend patted her back in an attempt to comfort her.

"Yeah, if Jessie says there are no life forms there, there aren't any," The other female said.

"We can't afford to take any chances and leave any behind," The captain said.

"I don't' see why we have to take them prisoners. Why don't we just blast any living thing we see on this god-forsaken rock," a big, ugly male said.

“Because that’s not our orders, Private Perry,” The captain said angrily.

"Some of us actually don't want to hurt anybody or anything on this planet," Jessie said.

“That kind of soft attitude will get you killed in a place like this!” The ugly male fired back.

"Alright, that's enough. Private Perry has a point, Jessie. You had better toughen up. I guess basic training didn't harden your insides one bit," the captain said.

“Some of us can actually still maintain some humanity after military training,” the other female said. Jessie nodded in agreement with her.

“Enough of this. I need everyone to get some rest so that we can cover more ground in the morning. That’s an order!” The captain barked. The others got up from the fire and began to head back to their ship.

I waited until they were all asleep, knowing that there had to be some sort of food I could find in their camp. Once the last human left the campfire, I transformed and began to search the area. I found something that smelled like food that came in a rectangular container. It was foul compared with kerfol, but I needed nourishment. I also found a laser cannon that had been left propped up against a rock. I took that and one of the rectangles of food and headed back towards the direction of my bunker. Just as I began to leave, Jessie came out of the Earthlings' ship.

“Hey,” she said calling out to me.

I began to run away and she followed behind me. I ran until I was almost back to the bunker. I looked and she was still chasing me. I decided to stop and communicate with her some more, knowing that she wouldn't cause me any harm.

Sorry that I had to take these things but I’m starving and I have no way to defend myself.

Keep them. Look, like I said, I want to help you. I can bring you food while we’re here, at least until the expedition leaves again.

Would you do that for me?

Yes, of course. We are invaders here and we should be helping the survivors rather than taking them as prisoners.

I wondered at that point how many other Earthlings were actually compassionate and caring like this one.

That is very kind of you but I don’t want you to put yourself in danger.

Don’t worry. I will sneak the food to you while everyone is asleep. They will never know who took it.

We smiled at one another for a second until another human came walking up behind Jessie. I vanished into my mist form just in time.

“Jessie who are you talking to?” the other female asked her.

"No one, I was just thinking out loud to myself. I couldn't sleep."

“Oh, ok, you had better come on back to the ship before the captain realizes we’re missing,” the other female earth creature said.

Chapter Three

Jessie

When the morning came bright and early - Karkast had three suns so the morning was indeed very bright - the captain came into our barracks.

“Wake up ladies, time to begin your duties,” Captain Hanson yelled.

We got ready as quickly as we could and met with the others just outside of the ship. I had to immediately put my sunglasses on to combat the bright light from the three suns. Two of them were larger, more yellow in color and higher in the sky than the third one, which had a more orange tint. My thoughts immediately returned to Yahn. I hoped that he was keeping himself hidden well enough so that no one would find him on a patrol. Once I had gotten over the ‘otherness’ of his appearance, I realized just how attracted I was to him. I knew that if circumstances were different, I would want to take the opportunity to get to know Yahn a little better.

"Alright everyone, I have your assignments for today. We have just a few days left to wrap up this operation, so we need to work fast. Our superiors want us to comb this entire region. Ok, let's start with James. I want you to cover the eastern sector."

I tuned out what the captain was saying after this because I was so angry. It was obvious that he didn't trust my judgment and I knew in my heart that it was because I was a woman. Crazy that we had come so far as the human race only to have the same old sexist problems rear their ugly head again.

“As for you, Private Hampton, you need to get your head in the game. I need someone to stay around here and clean up the ship, including the latrine. I want this ship to be shining when I return from my patrol. While you’re on cleaning detail, I want you to think about how you can focus your attention on the matter at hand,” he said.

"Yes, sir," making my lack of enthusiasm pretty obvious. Captain Henson glared at me for a second and then disappeared towards the south.

“I’m so sorry he did that,” Wendy said. “I’m going to report the sexism going on in this unit when we get back to Earth.”

“Thanks for being a friend,” I said.

“We girls have to stick together. We can’t let them walk all over us,” Wendy said.

“Agreed,” I said.

After everyone else in the unit had left for their patrols, I decided to walk towards the east where Yahn’s bunker was located. I felt compelled to protect Yahn because I knew how hotheaded and trigger happy James could be. I found James just outside of the rock-dwelling where Yahn's family used to reside. It was modest in size and rectangular in shape. Like the others, its rocky roof had been blown off and the floors were littered with boulders. I hid behind the rocks so that he wouldn't see me. Once he'd gone down the stairs into the dwelling, I crept up behind him. I wasn't sure what I intended to do if Yahn was there and James found him. I thought about causing some sort of distraction that would enable Yahn to escape, but I knew that there would be grave consequences for that once the captain understood what had happened. I began to wonder if I could actually shoot James if it came down to it. In my heart of hearts, I knew I would rather shoot James than let him harm Yahn. Then, there was the option of helping Yahn to escape once he was captured. All of these thoughts filled my mind as I crept along behind James.

James rifled through the belongings of Yahn's family, looking puzzled at all of the various objects there that were foreign to us Earthlings. I hid behind a device that looked to be some sort of transmission device, akin to a radio of sort. I accidentally stumbled over a metal box on the floor. James whirled around to see what was behind him.

“Who’s there?” he shouted. I was as still as possible in my hiding place. Just when he was about to discover me, I heard a sound coming from the bunker.

Yahn I thought.

James turned his attention towards this new sound. He took out his laser cannon and crept forward towards the entrance to the bunker. I did my best to follow him, staying behind the various pieces of furniture and unidentified devices in the room. Luckily there was a conveyor belt-type device that led down to the bunker. Karkastians used these instead of stairs. I had to wait until James turned the corner and was out of sight before I could descend into the chamber.

Once I was in the bunker, I hurried as quietly as I could into the room where I had met Yahn the previous day. There was no sound coming from the room, so I assumed that Yahn knew of our presence and was hiding. James crept forward, looking behind the objects in the room, his laser cannon still in front of him.

“I know there’s someone down here. If you’re still here and you can understand me, come out with your hands up. I am a soldier with the United States Earth Federation Army and you are under my arrest!”

My eyes darted around the room looking for any sign of Yahn. Then, I saw him hiding behind some octagon-shaped storage containers in a far corner of the room. James was slowly making his way towards Yahn. My mind began to race as I thought about what I should do. I knew I could yell out or make a noise to draw James away from Yahn, but I didn't have time to do so. I saw James get out his phasinator to prevent Yahn from turning into vapor.

James had made his way to the corner of the room where Yahn was hidden. Suddenly, James kicked the box out of the way revealing Yahn. Yahn had a laser cannon pointed right at James. James had a laser cannon too, but he hadn't had a chance to activate it before Yahn pulled his gun. Laser cannons had to be activated until they were glowing red, quite much the same way that a regular gun had to be cocked before it would fire.

“Drop that weapon, Karkastian. This will not end well for you if you try something. My soldiers are combing this whole region and there will be no escape for you once you leave this place. If you try and stay here, you’ll starve to death. You had best drop your weapon and come with me now,” James said.

Yahn did not answer right away. He closed his eyes and tried to vaporize. He opened his eyes a second later, realizing that the device James held was keeping him from doing so. I would learn that most Karkastians would rather flee than fight or kill another being. This stood in direct contrast to what most Earthlings believed about Karkastians. Most of them were actually peace-loving creatures that lived in harmony compared with the chaos and disorder of human society.

"Ha! Nice try Karkastian, but you won't be vaporizing while I have this device pointed at you. You had best put that weapon down and come with me," James said as he began to push the activator switch on the laser cannon.

“I wouldn’t push that activator switch if I were you,” Yahn said.

"Oh so you speak English I see. Good, I'm glad it will be easy for us to understand one another. If you surrender right now then we will take you back to Earth and more than likely you will be allowed to live. If you kill me, my fellow soldiers will be more inclined to shoot to kill. You won't likely make it out of this alive."

“What if my men kill your first?” Yahn said.

I knew that Yahn was bluffing because he had already told me that there weren’t but a few of them left alive.

“So you’re saying that there are lots of you left alive on this rock?” James said.

“More than you have suspected,” Yahn said.

"Well if there are others, my fellow soldiers will find them and capture them. Your men are no match for ours!" James insisted.

I sat there in my hiding spot trying to figure out how I could help Yahn. I knew that I needed to create some kind of distraction, so I picked up a small metal tool that looked somewhat like a wrench and threw it into the opposite corner of the room, where Yahn was hiding. James turned his attention to the sound suddenly and Yahn took the opportunity to try and get away. However, James was only distracted for a split second before he turned his attention back to Yahn. Now that Yahn’s laser cannon wasn’t pointed at him. James lunged for it, and grabbed it away from Yahn. Yahn had nearly reached the conveyor belt when he heard the activator switch being pushed.

“Freeze Karkastian! This ends right now. You know you have really pissed me off. I could very easily blast you into the next sector and tell my captain that I didn’t find any survivors in this area. I think that’s exactly what I’m going to do. Any last words?”

I could no longer remain silent. I emerged from my hiding place, took out my gun and pointed it at James, pushing the activator switch. He heard the sound of my cannon charging up and turned to face me with the laser still pointed at Yahn.

“What the hell? Private Hampton what do you think you’re doing? You’re supposed to be cleaning the toilets,” James said.

“Someone has to keep an eye on you because you seem to have a problem with following orders as well,” I said.

James began to laugh.

“So you would risk being labeled a traitor for the rest of your life of this lousy Karkastian?” James asked incredulously.

“We are under orders to bring all of the survivors back alive, not blast them out of existence,” I insisted.

"I don't think you have the guts to follow through with it," he said, mockingly. "Go on and shoot- I'll give you five seconds and then I'm sending this creature to Karkastian hell!" he said. "One……" I could feel my hands trembling, making it hard for me to steady my weapon. "Two….." I could see James' laser glowing red as it became fully charged. "Three…" I could see the orange glow coming from my gun, letting me know it was fully charged. "Four….." I steadied my hand and aimed for James's hand.

In a flash, I fired the gun and James howled in pain as his weapon dropped to the ground and he clutched his hand. Yahn made his way up the conveyor belt and I followed behind him, keeping my weapon trained on James who was still distracted by his now useless hand.

“I’m going to get you for this, Hampton!” were the last words I heard as I followed Yahn.

“This way, I know of a crater where we can hide out!” Yahn said.

I turned around to see James emerging from the bunker. He had his injured hand wrapped up and was aiming his laser cannon using the other hand. He fired and I jumped behind a large boulder to avoid the blast. The rock was blasted into bits, so I ran as fast as I could to catch up with Yahn. We began to descend a rocky path down into a canyon full of craters. We disappeared into one of them before James could get another shot off. Yahn took me by the hand and guided me through a dark cave inside of the crater. We took several twists and turns until we came to a more open chamber. Again, I was impressed by the amazing formations on the walls and ceiling. A large dripstone on the back wall of the cave resembled a pipe organ, while another resembled a castle.

“We should be safe here for the time being. We can see anyone that comes into the chamber well before they see us,” he said. I sat down and took a deep breath, trying to process what had just happened.

Chapter Four

Yahn

I looked at the human, finding myself being hypnotized by her beautiful eyes. She was trembling with fear and I did my best to comfort her.

“Don’t worry, they won’t find us,” I said.

“I’m going to be considered a traitor now. More than likely, there will be a swift trial and executed when I get back to Earth,” Jessie said as drops of water began to form in her eyes. I wondered why Earthlings only had water come from their eyes when they were sad. It seemed so strange to me.

“Then don’t go back with them,” I said, knowing that it would be difficult if not impossible for her to survive long term on Karkast.

"You know as well as I do that I can't breathe the air in this atmosphere,” she said.

“I can create a temporary oxygen bubble for you. Let me show you,” I said as I got up from where I sat next to her. I closed my eyes and focused my energy on expelling all of the excess oxygen from my pores. Once I opened my eyes and sniffed the air, I knew it was safe.

“Go on and remove your safety helmet,” I said.

Jessie looked slightly skeptical, but removed the helmet and took a deep breath.

“Wow, that’s amazing! How long does it last?”

"Only for a few minutes, I'm afraid. We can't sustain it for long periods of time without risking oxygen deprivation of our own bodies," I said. I took a moment to admire the beauty of this Earth creature and found myself desiring to see the rest of her. Her hair, her eyes, and her pale skin captivated me and I couldn't remember ever meeting a creature that I felt this attracted to. I could tell by the way she looked at me that she felt much the same way as I did.

“I just want to say that I’m sorry that my fellow Earthlings are unenlightened. It doesn’t take much for them to believe that an entire race of people is bad because of the actions of a few,” she said.

“Karkastians are no better. Most of them think that humans are vile, primitive and destructive beings that are only out to serve themselves,” I said.

“Well truth be told, many of them are,” she said.

I found myself engaging in what the humans called laughter and Jessie was amazed as she watched me.

“You laughed Yahn! How did it feel?”

“It feels quite wonderful actually. I want to experience that as much as possible!” I said.

“I’m starting to get hungry,” Jessie said as she removed her pack and began to look for food. There was one tiny section of the rectangular meal pouch that she had left. She referred to it as ‘rations’. It neither smelled nor tasted appetizing in the least.

“I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I will transform into mist and see if I can obtain us some more food. You wait here and I will be back as quickly as I can.”

“No Yahn, please don’t leave me!” she said, clutching my hand. I felt something that I had never felt before when she touched me- like a jolt of electricity.

“I won’t be gone long, trust me. If someone comes in, you will see them long before they see you and you can blast them with your laser cannon.”

“Please hurry back!” she said.

I can’t wait to get back to you, I thought as I turned to leave the cave. I tried to sort through the strange feelings that I had begun to feel towards this Earth creature. I could just imagine what my mother would say if she were still alive.

I transformed into mist and made my way to the Earthling’s ship. Several of them were gathered around eating rations and taking about Jessie.

“I just can’t believe that she would do such a thing,” One of the males said.

“Well when I find her I can tell you it’s going to take all of the restraint I can muster not to kill her!” the one called James said, clutching his wrapped up hand.

“You leave it to the authorities to punish her. If you take the law into your own hands, they will punish you almost as harshly as they will her. Is that understood Private Perry?” their captain said.

"Yes, sir."

“Now, after lunch, we are going to resume our patrols. I want Private Hampton brought back to me as soon as possible. Then she will have to face a court-martial and will likely be imprisoned.”

“Yes sir,” they all said in unison. I waited until they all dispersed in various directions. I made my way to the ship and got all of the rations that I could carry. Just as I began to exit the ship, the only female Earthling came walking in my direction. I panicked and began to transform again.

“No, it’s ok, you don’t have to be afraid of me,” she said. “My name is Wendy. I’m a friend of Jessie’s,” she said. I stopped my transformation and gave her a curious glance.

“You aren’t going to try and capture me?” I asked.

“You’re the one that Jessie helped out are you not?”

“I am,” I answered.

“Is she ok? Is she safe?”

“Yes, she is in a safe hiding place. I just came here to get us some supplies. I’m about to go back to her now.”

“What is she going to do now?”

"I don't know, but I will not let them capture her. They obviously mean to cause her harm."

“They are going to take her back to Earth and more than likely she will be trialed as a traitor and put to death.”

“I will not let that happen!” I insisted.

“Thank you for protecting her.”

“What does ‘thank you’ mean?” I asked. I had never heard such a phrase before.

“It’s something we say to show gratitude,” Wendy said.

“I see, well thank you for not trying to capture me or tell the others,” I said.

“You’re welcome. You had better get out of here before one of the others spots you. What are you going to do?”

"I'm not sure. We could remain in hiding until your team leaves, but Jessie will not be able to survive long term on this planet because of the lack of oxygen. You poor humans cannot generate it the way that we can.

“Well, tell Jessie that I’m thinking of her.”

“I will,” I said and then I ran off in the direction of the crater, carrying the rations. I soon realized that there were a couple of humans from the expedition team off to the north that had spotted me. One of them pointed in my direction and gestured for the others to follow him. I vanished into the crater as quickly as I could and ran through the passage to get to Jessie.

As soon as I got back into the chamber we had been hiding in, I called out to her.

“Quickly, we have to get out of here. I’ve been spotted. There’s a crew of humans to the north headed in this direction.”

"Oh no. Were any of them stationed on the ship?" she asked.

"They were, but they split off to carry out their patrols. I did talk briefly with your friend, the one that calls herself Wendy. She wishes you well," he said.

“So only Wendy was there. That’s good. Here’s what we need to do if you are willing to leave with me. We need to head to the main ship and escape from the planet using one of the escape pods,” she said.

I knew there wasn’t much time to think about it; but I was hesitant to leave Karkast, the only home I ever knew. On the other hand, there wasn’t much left for me here now that all of my loved ones had been incinerated. I realized in that moment that this female human that I had known only for a short time, was the only thing that I cared about.

“Come on, let’s get you out of here and back to your ship,” I said, still pondering my decision.

As soon as we got out of the crater, the patrol was only a hundred yards away. They spotted us as soon as we took off across the rocky plains.

“Come on, they are gaining on us. We have to get to the ship as quickly as we can!” Jessie yelled.

“Don’t worry, we are going to make it!” I said as the ship came into view. Luckily all of the other crews were still out on their patrols or else our escape would be impossible.

As soon as we got to the loading platform, Jessie typed in the identification code and a ramp lowered down from the bottom of the ship. The humans that were pursuing us were now only a short distance away.

“Where are the escape pods?” I asked as I followed Jessie.

“This way, towards the back of the ship. All we have to do is strap ourselves in and program it for launch,” she said. “So, have you decided what you’re going to do? If you stay here they will either capture you or kill you. Once you are captured, you will be taken back to Earth where you will probably be imprisoned or killed,” she said.

“Well my options don’t sound too appealing, so I guess I’m coming with you,” I said. We made our way to the back of the ship at the same time that the human crew began to board it. We could hear their voices:

“They got on board the ship, Captain, I saw them!” A familiar voice said. I realized it was the one called James; the one Jessie had shot on my behalf.

“They are making for the escape pods. We must not let them activate one!” the captain said.

“Quickly!” I said as Jessie tried to remember the activation code.

“Hmm, let’s see. Oh yes, it’s the captain’s birthday- zero, six, five, fourteen…” A round, metal door came open and Jessie pulled me by the hand into the escape pod. It was small and round with only enough room for six beings to sit. Jessie pressed the controls on the main control board and the pod door shut just as the Captain and James came into view.

“Open this pod door now, Jessie!” The captain shouted.

“No!” Jessie said and she continued to type commands into the main control board.

“What are you doing? Shouldn’t we be taking off?” I asked.

"It takes a minute for the pod to power its boosters. I'm typing in an override code so that the captain can't gain access," she said.

The captain was furiously typing away at the control panel outside of the pod, but the door refused to open.

"Damn, she's typed in the override code. Now we can't get inside," the captain said. "Listen, Jessie, you are only making things harder for yourself. You know as well as I do that this pod is programmed to return to Earth. If you return there, you will be arrested and your Karkastian friend will more than likely be eliminated."

“I’ll take my chances!” Jessie said. It only took a second for the power boosters to charge.

"Strap yourself in, we're ready for takeoff!" Jessie said.

Chapter Five

Jessie

The escape pod lifted off from the surface of Karkast. I looked down and saw the captain and other members of the crew looking up at us. I smiled, knowing that they wouldn't try and follow us due to the fact that their mission wasn't complete. However, as soon as we got out of Karkast's atmosphere, trepidation began to rise up in my throat. I was now a fugitive of justice and a traitor because I had attacked and injured a fellow crewmember in defense of an enemy combatant. More than likely, I would never be able to return to my home planet again without being trialed and convicted.

“Are you alright?” Yahn asked me as I sat back in my chair and sulked.

“Yeah, it just dawned on me that I can never go home again,” I said.

“I know how you feel. I suppose we will just have to get used to the idea,” he said.

“You know, I never asked you how you know how to speak English,” I said.

“We Karkastians are taught several languages when we are very young- even the languages of our enemies. We can speak both with our mouths and telepathically.”

“Sounds as if your educational program is far more advanced than our own. I don’t even know one other language besides my own. That’s what this trusty gizmo is for,” I said, pointing to the language decoder device attached to my army –issued uniform. I didn’t even need to use it once when I was talking to Yahn.

“So, this pod is programmed to take us back to Earth,” Yahn said, bringing up the most urgent matter at hand.

"Yes, it is," I said as I watched a bright, blue comet shoot by the window. Its icy tail sparkled and then disappeared from view.

“I suppose there is some way to program it to go to other destinations,” Yahn said.

“I’m quite sure that there is.” Unfortunately, I had no idea how to re-program it.

"I sense that you don't know how to re-program it," Yahn said. Yahn couldn't exactly read my mind, but Karkastians were so intuitive that they came very close to it.

“No, I’m afraid I do not,” I said, feeling embarrassed. “To tell you the truth I’ve never been too technically inclined. I only got into the army so that I could get money for college.”

“What is college exactly?” Yahn asked.

“Well, it’s where you go to receive training for your job, your career after you get out of high school,” I explained; but Yahn’s large, pretty eyes seemed to be full of confusion.

“I’m not sure what any of that means,” Yahn said.

“A job is how you make money in order to pay for food, shelter- those kinds of things.”

Yahn was completely confused.

“As I said, in our society we don’t have jobs as you call them. We live communally and have talents that we lend to the group in order to do our part. We share all of the resources in our community equally. We don’t go to college, have jobs and earn what you call, ‘money’.”

“Sounds like you have the right idea. In the nineteen sixties, some human beings tried living in the way that you describe, but it never caught on to the mainstream,” I explained.

“Hmm, maybe that’s why your people are invading other planets and causing problems instead of living peacefully and focusing on your own planet,” he said.

“I can’t disagree with you, Yahn. You pretty much have Earthlings figured out,” I said.

“I can also see that you are not all alike. You are very enlightened and open-minded, unlike the Earthlings I have heard about, my entire life. Are there others that feel the same way you do?" he asked.

“Oh yes, there are plenty of enlightened Earthlings. Unfortunately, most of them possess very little power. Our rulers are only interested in lining their pockets and becoming more wealthy and powerful themselves,” I said.

“Too bad. I am going to see if I can figure out how to re-program the escape pod,” Yahn said as he began to examine the buttons on the control panel. I thought about how muscular and attractive his arms were and how good it would feel to have them wrapped around me. Yahn looked up and down at the different screens and began to push several buttons until a screen popped out of the side of the control module. It showed a picture of planet Earth.

“Here is it, I’ve found the main destination control panel. Where would you like to go?” he asked me. I was amazed at how quickly his brain worked. He had figured out in a matter of minutes what might have taken me days to find out.

“I have no idea about the planets in this galaxy. That would be your area of expertise. Why don’t you choose?” I said.

“Hmm,” he said as he began to look at the images of different planets and moons in the solar system. “How about this planet- Neutomia?” he said.

“I don’t know anything about it. If you think it’s safe- let’s go,” I said.

“It is a peaceful planet and they don’t know any enemies other than the Sarceastians. It’s a huge green, gas giant on the far side of the solar system. It will take some time to get there; but it should be a safe place for us once we reach it,” he said.

"Wait a minute. It's a gas giant?" I was thinking of Jupiter and Saturn in my own solar system and how there were no known life forms found there because there was not solid surface for any creature to walk upon.

“They have created floating platforms that they have built their cities on. They cannot dwell on the planet itself for the reasons that you have already pointed out,” he said.

“Wonderful, let’s set our controls for Neutomia, then,” I said, relieved that he had found a place for us to go other than Earth. Yahn began to type all sorts of coordinates into the control panel and the pod began to veer off in the opposite direction.

“There, that should do it. I’m getting a bit hungry. I take it that these pods are equipped with food supplies,” he said.

“Yes, your favorite,” I said as I opened a closet door and pulled out a familiar rectangular pouch.

“Rations. You Earthlings need to put some more thought into your food supplies. I can’t imagine living on these for an entire space mission,” he said.

“Yahn. I couldn’t agree with you more,” I said.

After a while, we lay together looking out at the stars, lost in our own thoughts. Finally, I decided to break the silence and ask Yahn about his childhood.

“What were your parents like? I asked him. The question seemed to catch him off guard.

“They were the kindest, most loving beings that I ever knew. I miss them more than I can say,” he said. I noticed that the beads of water were beginning to form on his body, a sign that he was expressing sadness.

“I didn’t mean to upset you. I just wanted to know a little more about how you grew up and the people you cared about,” I said.

"No need to apologize. They were always supportive of me. Most Karkastians desire nothing but to live peacefully in the communities where they grew up and go on to raise a family. I had a desire to explore the worlds beyond Karkast. I would stay up late at night and think about the vastness of the universe and dream of visiting distant planets," he said.

“Well, it looks as if your dreams are coming true,” I said as my hand slipped inside his. He looked down at my hand and then up at me, smiling.

“That feels quite nice,” he said. “So what about you, Jessie Hampton- what were your parents like?”

"They were kind too. Dad was a little pushy and controlling, but he only wanted what was best for me. He didn't want me to make decisions that would go on to affect me later in life. I took a year off after high school to figure things out and he didn't like that one bit. He was taught that you go to school, immediately choose a career and work that job until it's time to retire…" As I said this, I could see Yahn becoming slightly confused again.

“Anyway, he was relieved when I told him I was joining the army in order to get money for school. He was relieved for two reasons. For one thing, it meant that he wouldn’t have to pay for my education. And for the second thing, it meant that I was getting on with some kind of plan for my life rather than working some meaningless job. My mother was sweet and supportive and would be encouraging no matter what I decided to do with my time. It hurts to think that I may never see them again,” I said as I felt the tears beginning to form in my eyes. Yahn sensed this and ran his fingers through my hair to comfort me.

"I know exactly how you feel, but we must be strong," he said.

I looked into his large, beautiful eyes and felt drawn to him. I didn't know if he was aware of what a kiss was, but I decided to plant one on him anyway. I kissed him gently on his full lips and his eyes got really big with surprise.

“What are you doing? It sure feels nice,” he said.

“It’s called a kiss. It’s a way we have of showing affection for those that we care about, although family members and friends don’t kiss on the lips usually,” I said.

"You may do it again if you wish," he said. I smiled and did it again. This time, I risked giving him a little tongue. His eyes got really big this time.

“That was different- I felt something even stronger that time,” he said.

I looked down at the primitive cloth that covered his waist and I began to see an enormous bulge forming there. “I can tell that you really enjoyed that,” I said, lifting an eyebrow.

He looked down at what I was looking at. “Oh, that is our reproductive organ. We don’t use it for anything else,” he said.

“What? So doesn’t your kind make love? That is to say, how do you show extreme affection for those that you really care about, and I don’t’ mean just family and friends?”

“Oh that, yes. We use what’s known as ‘mind-melding’,” he said.

“Would you care to show me?” I asked, still clutching his hand.

“I would love to,” he said. He sat up and interlocked his fingers with mine. He closed his eyes. A second later, an intense and pleasurable sensation began to take over my body. I couldn’t help but sigh and then moan as the feeling became stronger and stronger. I knew that I was experiencing an orgasm. After a few minutes, he let go of my hand and I caught my breath.

“Wow! That was wonderful!” I said as we smiled at one another.

"What about you humans? What do you do?" I thought about how much I wanted to show him, but I had just started my cycle so I elected for some ‘heavy petting'.

“Here is one way that we pleasure those that we care about, although there are many,” I said. I slowly slid my hand underneath the cloth that covered his waist. I was amazed at how large he was. I ran my hand up and down on him while he moaned with pleasure.

“Oh my! I never realized that organ could be used in such a way,” he said. Then we kissed as I continued to stroke him. He was unable to last very long because he was not used to this type of attention. Once I was done, we kissed some more and lay together in silence gazing out at the stars all around us.

Chapter Six

Yahn

I couldn’t believe how great I felt when Jessie touched me. No one had ever made me feel in such a way before. I couldn’t believe just how beautiful she looked beneath all of her clothes. Humans do wear a lot of clothing to cover their bodies. She had the most magnificent long legs and gorgeous shape to her body. Most females of my kind did not possess such curves or skin that was so soft. Also, she possessed lovely round organs called breasts that aroused me in ways that I never knew were possible. Jessie had talked about an emotion known as love that I thought I had started feeling towards her. It was unlike any other emotion that I had felt before. I cared for my family, my mother and father, brothers and sisters, but I had never felt something so overwhelming and all-consuming as I began to feel for Jessie when we were trapped in the space pod together.

After we finished pleasuring one another, the beautiful green planet, Neutomia, came into view. I was looking forward to going there because I had always heard how fair and beautiful the Neutomian cities were, perched high upon platforms above the swirling, green gases of the planet.

“It looks so beautiful and peaceful,” Jessie said as she held one of my hands and looked down at the surface below.

“Yes, the Newtonians are as peaceful as their planet appears to be. Of course, the planet is anything but peaceful. There are often gigantic storms that emerge from the billowing gases below the platforms.”

“Wow, so why don’t they seek out another place to live?” Jessie asked me. She was not very knowledgeable about the planets in our solar system.

“Well it is not very easy to find an uninhabited planet that has the right conditions to support life, and if you want to live on a planet that already has inhabitants, that can pose challenges as well,” I said.

“I see,” she said.

As we came closer to the platforms, large cities with glass-like buildings came into view. The towers were elaborate and beautiful, unlike the more simple and primitive-looking buildings I was used to back home. Some were spiral and others were spherical.

“What gorgeous buildings!” Jessie said, clutching my hand. Every time she touched me in this way, I felt something like an electric charge move through my body. I couldn’t wait for the next chance for us to be intimate.

As we moved in closer and closer, something did not appear to be right about the scene below. One of the cities that we saw was in flames and they seemed to be spread from one platform to another very rapidly.

“That city is on fire. I wonder what is happening.” Jessie said.

“I don’t know for sure, but I have my suspicions,” I said. As I looked closer, I saw what I believed to be a Sarceastian freight carrier.

“Yes, it’s just as I feared,” I said. “The Sarceastians have invaded Neutomia!”

“Oh no, we don’t want to land on a planet that is in the middle of an invasion. The problem is, we don’t have enough time to alter the course of the pod, it is now caught in the gravitational pull of the planet,” Jessie stated in alarm.

“Well it seems we have no choice but to make out the best we can,” I said, shaking my head. Jessie took out her laser cannon and tested it to make sure that it was charging properly.

“What are you going to do?” I asked her, knowing that it would futile to try and fight them.

“I’m not going to go down without a struggle,” Jessie said, fiercely. I admired her courage, but I also knew that there was no way that we would stand a chance against so many of them.

“Fighting them isn’t going to do us any good. We must develop a strategy. You must let them capture you. Sarceastians will not willingly kill as long as you surrender. They are greedy so they will want you for their slave trade. I will change into vapor and find a way to free you,” I said.

“So let me get this straight- you expect me to just give myself up and surrender?” she asked.

“You do want to survive, don’t you?” I asked her.

“Alright, I suppose you’re right. For the record, I don’t really like this plan,” she said.

“Don’t worry, I will figure out a way to free you from their clutches as quickly as I can,” I reassured her.

The planet pulled us closer to the surface. Soon a tracking beam began to pull us towards a large Sarceastian freight carrier. There was no escaping them. The pod docked in one of the many loading doors. All around us were menacing Sarceastians with their evil red eyes and their hooded cloaks. They hovered above the ground, having no legs to support them.

“Eww, they are really eerie looking creatures. They look like ghosts,” she said.

“What are ghosts?” I asked.

“Oh some humans believe that once you die, your soul sometimes hangs around- we call that a ghost,” she explained. I was still quite confused.

“What is a soul?” I asked.

“Oh it’s too much to try and explain right now. If we make it out of this alive, I promise to give you a better explanation at that time,” she said.

“We are landing. I had better turn into a vapor before they notice that there are two of us,” I said.

“Sure, sure, you go on ahead and transform while I go off to prison,” she said.

“I’m sorry, Jessie, but it’s the only way that we can hope to get out of this,” I said.

“I know you’re right. I just hate the idea of surrendering,” she said.

The pod came to a halt just as I turned into vapor. The hatch of the pod opened and the Sarceastians moved in, carrying their own form of laser guns. One of them stepped forward, his evil eyes glowing bright red. He turned on a translating device and spoke to Jessie.

“Come out of your pod Earthling! You are now the property of the Sarceastians. If you try and resist, you will be incinerated!” the creature said.

“Alright, no need to get testy. I will do as you say,” Jessie said, reluctantly. She put her hands in the air and was led away from the platform. I followed along behind them as they took her up several moving conveyor belts to a larger platform, many hundreds of feet above the landing dock. There were several forlorn-looking Neutomians being led away to holding cells that the Sarceastians had built, all along the large platform. I felt bad for the Neutomians because they too had their way of life and their planet was ruined by the horrible, evil Sarceastians. Neutomians were tall and fair, with large, sad eyes and soft, green skin. The had pointed ears and little or no hair on their bodies. Most of them did not wear clothing of any kind and lived the lives of quiet meditation. They would not harm any other living beings. As I looked at the destruction below on the lower platforms, I vowed that one day I would get even with these wretched invaders.

Jessie was being put in her own holding cell, apart from the Neutomians. They shoved her into a metal compartment that was barely big enough for her to stand up in. As the door slammed shut behind her, she screamed at them:

“You will be sorry you ever landed on this planet!” The Sarceastians were not moved by this threat. They just stared at her with their evil, red eyes as one of them activated a force field around the cell from a control panel nearby. One of the things that I really loved and admired about Jessie was her bravery and her fiery attitude. Once they were satisfied that the prisoner was well contained, they left the platform. I knew that I needed to find the panel that deactivated the force field so that I could pick the lock. One of the things that I had learned once the Sarceastians invaded my planet was how to pick their locks. We Karkastians were very mathematically adept and I would only have to solve a few simple algorithms to figure out the combinations.

Now that the Sarceastians were distracted with other matters, I could search for the deactivation board. All of the cellblocks were probably controlled by the same force field, so if I could figure out where the control panel was, I could free all of the prisoners in this location at once. I went across a narrow platform and saw a Sarceastian guard standing in front of a large metal box with a door on it. This had to be the deactivation board. I transformed from my vaporous state and grabbed the guard’s laser gun before he could react. He was about to scream out for assistance when I shot him. He disintegrated and let out a horrible shriek in the process. I knew that I had only minutes to accomplish my goal before others would come to see what the noise was about. I quickly figured out the lock with a few calculations and the door popped open. Inside there were many clear control boards. I quickly recognized the force field activation panel from the time I freed my friend back home. I furiously began running the algorithms until I figured out the correct code. All at once, a loud low-pitched noise came from the control board, slowly descending in pitch. I knew that the force field had been de-activated.

I ran back up to the platforms where the cells were located and began to figure out the locks. Jessie’s lock came open and she ran out and wrapped her arms around me.

“Thank God!” she said. “I couldn’t even move in that tiny space!” she said.

“There’s no time to celebrate now- we have to get out of here and get back to the pod!” I said.

Then I looked at the other cells full of solemn-looking Neutomians.

“What about them?” Jessie asked.

“I will free them, but we must hurry!” I said. As I began to figure out the combinations to the other locks, I noticed some activity down below. The Sarceastians were coming to see who had deactivated the force field.

“Hurry, they are coming!” Jessie cried.

“I’m almost done!” I said as I opened the last cell. The Neutomians all gathered together on the platform talking in their own language. They were confused about what was taking place. I grabbed one of the translating devices from the nearest control panel and began to speak to them:

“Listen, my name is Yahn. I am a Karkastian. I come in peace. The Sarceastians are coming so you must hurry. Hide where you can!” I said.

One of them looked to have some sort of crown on his head. He seemed to understand what I said.

“Let them come, now that my whole family is reunited, we can face them!” he said.

Jessie and I looked at each other. We had no idea what he meant by this, but we couldn’t hang around to find out. I grabbed Jessie’s hand and we ran down the platform opposite from the walkway that the Sarceastians were using to reach the cellblock. A few of the Sarceastians broke off from the main group to come after us. We ran as fast as we could to get back to the pod. I turned around to see what was happening to the Neutomians and was astounded at what I witnessed.

The Neutomians had gathered in an open circle and were holding hands. They closed their eyes and the leader wearing the crown began to chant something in their language. The others were repeating the chant. As soon as the Sarceastians ran into the circle, holding their laser guns, they disintegrated. A beam of light went from the leader, through the others in the circle, and was then directed outwards towards the Sarceastians. One by one they disintegrated, letting off loud shrieks as Jessie and I watched in wonderment.

Chapter Seven

Jessie

After the Sarceastians were defeated, the Neutomians held a great feast in our honor high up on the highest platform. Their ruler, Hohenwald had Yahn and I sit in a place of honor next to his throne. Several tall and beautiful Neutomians, wearing flowered headbands came and served us their finest food and drink. A lovely female Neutomian filled out mugs with a honey-like drink that was sweet and satisfying. Plates full of unknown fruit and yellow cakes were served to us as their ruler got off of his throne and turned to address the masses. I turned on the language decoder on my suit so that Yahn and I could understand his speech.

“Today, we honor these brave friends of ours who have helped us defeat the invading Sarceastians. Although we have considered Earthlings and Karkastians to be our allies in the past, today we will forge an even stronger bond with them. Yahn and Jessie, whenever you have the need for our assistance, you can call on Neutomia to come to your aid. This we pledge for the rest of your days. Long may you walk?”

“Long may you walk!” the crowd shouted, echoing their leader. We were treated like royalty as we sat watching the proceedings. Entertainers of every shape came to honor us. A group of five Neutomians flipped and danced for our pleasure, forming a pyramid, not unlike the cheerleading routines I remembered from my high school days. Finally, the hour grew late and Yahn and I both grew tired. Hohenwald, showed us to our rooms, high on a platform just next to the royal chambers. The platforms and walkways were clear and strong, made out of some kind of crystal. They zigzagged in all directions, but did not block out the beauty of the gas formations below our feet. Yahn and I watched from the balcony outside our chambers as huge, forest green gas plumes leapt into the air. Luckily, none of them leapt up high enough to touch the floor beneath our feet.

“Look over there!” Yahn said, pointing to a large darker green region of rotating gas to our east.

“That’s a massive storm!” I said, taking Yahn’s hand. He turned and smiled at me. We kissed and then headed into our chambers, feeling worn out from the day’s events. Yahn went over to the large bed that had been prepared for us and closed his eyes. I went over and lay down next to him. He opened his large eyes and smiled at me again. We kissed for what seemed like an eternity until Yahn pulled back slightly and looked into my eyes.

“You said that there were other ways in which you showed affection for those that you love when we were in the pod. Will you show me one of these ways?” he said.

I smiled and got up from the bed. One by one, I removed my clothes until I stood naked in front of Yahn. His eyes seemed to grow huge as he took in the full measure of my naked body for the first time. He gazed for a long while at my large breasts as I noticed a bulge in his pants.

“Shall I remove my clothing as well?” he finally asked me. I nodded my head and began to crawl up the bed towards him. He slid his meager clothing off of his body to reveal his large member. I must admit I was a little nervous because he was quite a bit larger than the few men that I had previously been with.

I crawled on top of him and began to kiss his neck and full lips. He looked me up and down as I received his eager kisses.

“So what do I do now?” he asked me innocently.

“I’ll do everything, leave it to me,” I whispered. I slid his large member inside of me, slowly and carefully and began to move up and down on him. His eyes grew huge and he began to moan loudly.

“Oh my goodness!” he said as I steadily increased my movements.

I could tell that he probably wasn’t going to last long if I kept up this pace, so I slowed down and allowed him to gain some composure.

“This feels better than mind-melding,” he managed to say as his breaths got shorter.

I continued to ride him feeling myself getting closer and closer to climax. Finally, my mouth fell open and my eyes rolled back in my head as a wave of pleasure washed over me.

“Jessie!” Yahn exclaimed as I got off of him, realizing that he was very close to erupting. I managed to remove myself just in time.

We lay together in a post-coital daze, gazing into each other’s eyes.

“That was truly amazing. You are truly amazing,” Yahn said as he ran his fingers through my hair. “If someone had told me just weeks ago that I would be falling in love with a human, I would have told them they were flare,” he said.

“Flare? That must be a word that means the same thing as crazy,” I said.

“Yes, crazy, that would be the right word in your language,” he said.

“So, what do you think? Is Neutomia going to be our new home?” I asked him.

“Well it certainly is safe enough and beautiful,” he said, looking at the high ceiling above our heads. Neutomian dwellings had very high ceilings and were quite spacious. Most of the walls were open and made of clear crystal so that you felt as if you were amongst the clouds. There was little need for privacy in their society.

“I think I could get used to this place. The people couldn’t be any nicer and the scenery is unsurpassed,” I said.

We stayed in bed half the day and finally decided to go outside and get a breath of fresh air just as Hohenwald and a group of his subjects came walking across the platform towards our dwelling.

“Greetings guests. My subjects have brought you food and water. Did you have a good rest?” Hohenwald asked us.

“Yes, your hospitality has been amazing,” I said to him, prompting him to smile.

“It is the least I can do for you after the peace that you have brought us. I have some news for you that I wish to share,” he said, taking on a slightly more serious heir.

“Yes, what is it?” Yahn asked.

“Over on the far western platform, a group of humans has just arrived in order to re-fuel and replenish themselves. This is not unusual as humans are our allies and stop here quite often. However, I thought I should inform you. They say that they are on the trail of two fugitives and their descriptions fit the two of you,” Hohenwald said.

Yahn and I looked at one another. It was obvious that we were both thinking the same thing.

“Can you describe this group? How many of them are there?” I asked.

“About eight or so. There is one female with them. They say that they are an expeditionary team sent by the US army,” Hohenwald said.

Yahn and I looked at one another in alarm.

“It’s as I feared. They have caught up with us,” Yahn said.

“Why are they after you?” Hohenwald asked us.

“It’s a long story. One of them attempted to kill Yahn and I injured the man that tried to do so. Afterwards, we escaped the planet Karkast where the expedition team was stationed. They did not pursue us right away because they still hadn’t fulfilled their mission. I suppose that they are finished now and hot on our trail,” I said.

“I see. What I can I do in order to assist you? I can hide you or provide you with a ship,” Hohenwald said.

“Hmm, well if I know this group they will not rest until they’ve searched the entire area. I wouldn’t want them to accuse you of aiding known fugitives. As much as I love this planet, I think it would be a safer option for everyone involved if we left,” I said.

“I agree. I cannot allow us to put your people’s safety at risk after the hospitality that you have shown to us,” Yahn said.

“Well then, I will have my subjects prepare a space cruiser for you. It is one of the finest ships that we have so it should serve you well. It has been designed for fast speeds in order to shorten the duration of space voyages. Hopefully, it will be difficult for them to catch up to you,” Hohenwald said.

“You are so kind. We will always remember the generosity that you have bestowed upon us,” Yahn said.

We quickly packed our things and prepared to go to the nearby launching pad where the space cruiser was being fueled up. I felt a tinge of regret to be leaving so soon. We had just gotten there and now we had to leave again. It made me wonder if we would ever find somewhere that we could settle down, at least for a while. The space cruiser was round with no sharp edges and had a sleek white color like a giant albatross. It seemed so much roomier and aesthetically pleasing than most Earth ships. Yahn and I loaded our things onto the ship as quickly as we could. As I came out of the ship and down the ramp, I saw a familiar figure approaching the platform. It was the last person in the universe I wanted to see. James spotted us and began running on the opposite direction, presumably to tell the others in the crew.

“We’ve got to lift off now. I just saw James and I’m certain that he saw me!” I said.

“Oh no. Well, let’s not waste any time. Let’s say our goodbyes to Hohenwald and get out of here,” Yahn said.

Hohenwald and his subjects came walking up at just the right time to make sure everything was to our satisfaction.

“How do you like the ship?” he said.

“It’s wonderful. One of the members of the human crew has spotted us, so we must leave immediately. We hate to have to leave your splendid planet so quickly, but we cannot allow them to capture us,” Yahn said.

“I understand! I wish you all the best. You will always have friends on Neutomia should you find yourselves in need or if you want to stay indefinitely one day,” Hohenwald said as he shook both of our hands.

“Thank you so much for everything,” I said. Then, we turned to leave. As soon as the ship lifted off of the platform, we saw the grey expedition ship approaching.

“Quickly, we have to make a jump to light speed if we can!” I said.

“We can’t. It takes several minutes for the boosters to charge up to the necessary level. We will have to outmaneuver them!” Yahn said. I sat next to him looking at the digital maps of the area. Yahn made several sudden dips and turns in an attempt to lose them, but I knew the captain was an expert pilot that would be difficult to shake. Sure enough, he stayed right with us.

“I think I know what we have to do,” I said as I made a discovery looking at the maps.

“What?” Yahn asked me as the Earth ship got right on our tail.

“You need to head directly north. There lies the Gammadon belt. It’s a region full of asteroids. It’s risky, but they probably won’t want to follow. The captain will face grave consequences if members of the crew or their ship are harmed.”

“I can understand why he wouldn’t do such a thing. I don’t want to either. However, I can see no other way to shake them so let’s give it a shot,” Yahn said, making a sudden turn towards the north. After a few minutes, the belt came into view. Where there had been clear, empty space before, the view was littered with asteroids of every size and description. It was like entering a galactic minefield.

“Brace yourself, I’m going in!” Yahn declared. The ship jolted forward at top- notch speed, barely missing a gigantic asteroid that came barreling towards us. The expedition ship slowed down and was no longer on our tail.

“It’s working!” I said.

“Hold on!” Yahn yelled as the ship dove downwards like a hill on a roller coaster. I felt my heart leap up into my throat as we barely missed another asteroid. I looked behind us and the expedition crew was nowhere to be seen. It had worked!

Chapter Eight

Yahn

Although we had escaped the expedition crew, now we faced the onerous task of flying the sleek Neutomian ship through the field of swirling and rotating asteroids. They were all around us and came in all shapes and sizes. Some were only as large as boulders, while others were as big as small moons. All of them were various shades of orange and brown, pockmarked and full of craters of different sizes. I had to maneuver the ship back and forth and dive suddenly to avoid having a collision with them. It seemed that the further inside the belt we ventured, the more numerous the asteroids became.

“Hold on!” I yelled to Jessie who looked as if she were turning blue. The swoops, turns, and dives I was making, were starting to affect her human stomach. Humans did not have the tolerance for such a motion that we, Karkastians, had.

“As soon as I find a place that looks safe enough, I will attempt a landing!” I said as Jessie closed her eyes and tried not to become sick. Just a second later, a medium-sized asteroid struck the side of the ship. It was becoming increasingly difficult to steer. I was losing control of the ship. It was pulling to one side and I knew that the alignment had been thrown off by the collision. I also began to notice that smoke was beginning to pour out from the location of the impact from the asteroid.

“I am going to have to land the ship immediately or she might just break apart!” I said.

“I see the smoke pouring out. Oh, Yahn are we going to make it?” Jessie asked, her voice sounded panicked.

“Yes, don’t worry. I am going to land the ship safely. Hold on tight!” I yelled as I scanned the immediate vicinity of the ship. I spied a very large asteroid just south of us that seemed to be moving very slowly. Our safest bet was to try and land on this enormous rock. I fired the boosters to slow our descent and began to maneuver the ship down towards the asteroid. I barely escaped an even larger asteroid that was barreling down on us, towards the north, as the ship moved southwards. Finally, I could see the rocky surface of the asteroid below us as we moved in for a landing.

“Brace yourself, this could be quite a bumpy landing!” I said. I gave the boosters more power to slow down our movement, but we still struck the surface of the asteroid with some force. The ship ground to a halt and Jessie opened her eyes.

“We made it. You did it!” she shouted, throwing her arms around me.

“Yes, let’s just hope that the ship isn’t damaged beyond repair,” I said.

As I opened the hatch and extended the ramp, I ventured out of the ship with my laser cannon in front of me. I had no idea what creatures might be living on this rock, so I wasn’t taking any chances. Jessie came behind me, wearing an oxygen suit and carrying her own weapon. Everywhere the landscape was brown and rocky. There were low hills and mountains here and there that dotted the landscape, but there seemed to be no sign of life. Craters were all around the ground, some as large as a lake and others that were very small in diameter. We walked for some miles without seeing any sign of another living creature.

“Seems safe enough. I suppose we might as well set up camp. Once we’ve had some rest, we can determine how badly the ship has been damaged and try to make the needed repairs.”

“I hope that we can do that. I don’t think that this is a place where we would want to become permanent residents,” Jessie said.

“I would be happy to live anywhere safely where I can be with you,” I said as I smiled at her and took her hand. She smiled back as we walked back to the ship to get some wood for a fire. The asteroid was quite cold, being fairly far away from any star to give it warmth.

After the fire was built, we began to feel relaxed and share stories.

“My father was always so supportive of me even when I wanted to join the army. It’s my mother that told me that it would come to a bad end,” Jessie said.

“Well, mothers always want to protect their children. My mother was no different. She would always tell me, ‘Yahn, your place is here on your home planet. There is nothing out there in space but trouble. We have enough problems down here on our own planet.’”

“You didn’t listen to her though did you?” Jessie said, smiling.

“No, I did not. As soon as the chance came for me to go out on a space patrol, I took it. Luckily, I came back in one piece,” he said.

“Earthlings have the same problem. Now that I have left home, I can see that we need to change our priorities. All of this time and effort that we have spent exploring other planets, has kept us from addressing our own difficulties back home. Earthlings still engage in war with themselves, and we still haven’t figured out how to feed everyone and live in harmony,” she said.

“We lived in harmony. It was resources that were our problem. Karkast is a pretty barren planet as you saw for yourself. We depended on trade to bring us the resources we needed to survive.”

“If only Earthlings could learn to put aside differences and get along as you and I have,” Jessie said, moving in closer to me. I took her by the hand. “I sure would like to kiss you right now,” she said.

“I can create a temporary oxygen bubble for you if you’d like to,” I said. Jessie smiled and took off her helmet. I closed my eyes and expelled enough oxygen to last her several minutes. Our lips met and we kissed for what seemed like an eternity. Then, we engaged in mind melding as we brought one another to orgasm, without touching. I gazed at Jessie as her eyes rolled back in her head and her mouth fell open in a gesture of pure pleasure. I thought that she was the most gorgeous creature in the universe.

“Ok, we’ve done it your way, now it’s time to do it my way,” she said as she removed her space suit and clothes. I gazed at her lovely body as she got down on all four.

“I want to try it a different way,” she said, shaking her bottom at me. I was so enticed that I could not refuse her invitation. I began to make love to her in the new way that she showed me, penetrating her in a different place. It felt tighter as I made love to her and I could not last very long as she looked back at me and winked. Soon afterwards, the oxygen began to run out, so she had to put her suit back on. We fell asleep next to one another as the fire began to burn low.

I woke up feeling very strange. I could not move my arms or my legs. In horror, I realized that my body was encased in stone except for my neck and head. I looked over at Jessie and the same thing had happened to her. I realized right away that we had been attacked. We were being slowly engulfed by Stonefalians, creatures I had read about during the days of my training. Stonefalians looked exactly like the rocks that dotted the landscapes where they lived, but they were living creatures.

“What’s happening?” Jessie yelled as she woke up and looked around.

“We are being devoured by Stonefalians, strange stone-like creatures. In order to keep them from engulfing us, we must focus our mental energy on breaking them apart. It is the only thing that will free us,” I said.

“What?” she asked. She was obviously confused. I closed my eyes and focused all of my concentration on breaking apart the rocky creature that was beginning to grow in height, moving up to my chin. Cracks began to form in the creature as it gave off a high-pitched squealing sound. Finally, I was able to free myself, as the creature broke completely apart.

“Quickly, concentrate on breaking the rocks apart. Focus all your mental energy on it!” I said as the rocks moved up over Jessie’s face.

All I could see now was her eyes and the top of her head. Soon, the rocks began to form tiny cracks around her.

“It’s working, keep concentrating!” I said. She continued to focus as the cracks became larger and larger. Finally, she was able to free herself.

“Quickly, let’s get back to the ship before they try and engulf it!” I said. I took her hand and we ran back to the ship together.

Chapter Nine

Jessie

We managed to climb up to the entrance of the ship just as the rocky walls began to grow up and threatened to engulf the ship completely.

Yahn began to push the ignition buttons to start the lift off sequence faster than I had ever seen someone do it. The ship jerked upwards slowly as the rock crumbled all around it. It took a lot of thrust power before we were finally able to fully lift up.

“We almost didn’t make it out of that one. Once the Stonefalians engulf and begin to digest you, there’s little you can do.”

Just then, a loud buzzer sound filled my ears.

“Oh no, this isn’t good,” Yahn said.

“What is it?”

“The fuel sensors are going haywire. We have a fuel leak to the main engine,” Yahn said.

I switched on the navigator to see what our options were for a landing place as we exited the Gammadon belt, luckily without any collisions with the asteroids.

“If I ever go back to the Gammadon belt, it won’t be too soon,” Yahn said.

I looked at him and patted him on the back. “Yahn, that was almost a joke you told just then. Almost,” I said as he laughed, somewhat awkwardly like he was gasping for air.

“And you’re laughing, although it sounds a little weird. We’ll work on that,” I teased as I looked through the nearby planets and moons.

“Looks like the closest option is this space colony called Anarhie,” I said, trying to find out more information about the place.

“We don’t want to go there if we can avoid it,” he said.

“Why not?”

“It’s where every outlaw and crooked businessman in the universe likes to go- to do dirty deals, trade slaves, go to prostitutes….”

“Can we refuel there?”

“Sure, but it won’t be the safest option,” Yahn said. “Still, according to the fuel detectors, we had better get this addressed sooner rather than later. We don’t have much fuel left and we’re losing it fast.”

“Anarhie it is,” I said as Yahn gave me a dubious look.

Soon the space colony came into view in front of the wide window of our spacious Neutomian spacecraft. It looked like several octagon pods connected to one another form a very large silver sphere in the center. The closer we got, the more we could see the activity of its inhabitants, going back and front like tiny ants. As we got closer, Yahn called to one of their landing ports.

“This is Yahn, a Karkastian and Jessie, an Earthling requesting permission to land at landing parcel twelve sixteen,” he said.

“A Karkastian and an Earthling riding together in a Neutomian ship?” the voice answered, sounding slightly confused.

“You heard that right,” I chimed in, smiling at Yahn.

“State your business in Anarhie,” he said.

“We just need to re-fuel and see that our ship is repaired. It’s leaking fuel from the main engine,” Yahn said.

“Alright, permission granted. We’ll get that leak taken care of for you. I tell you though, in all my years I’ve never seen a Karkastian and an Earthling traveling together,” he said. He simply couldn’t get over it.

We landed the ship smoothly and took out our baggage. As the door lifted two rugged-looking men greeted us.

“Welcome to Anarhie,” one of them said, then spat on the ground.

“Thank you,” Yahn said. I nodded to them.

“I see what you mean- they look kind of rough,” I said as we walked down the walkway.

“Those were some of the nice guys,” Yahn said. He had obviously been there before and he wasn’t too excited about being back again.

All around us on the walkway, were creatures from all over the universe-Bloggings with their multiple eyes looking everywhere, red and grey Hardenalters with their bird-like beaks and large feet. There were also some humans and even a Karkastian here and there. The humans that I saw looked shifty-eyed like they were up to no good. One of them looked me up and down like he was undressing me with his eyes. I glared at him and looked away as soon as I could.

Our first stop was an intergalactic mechanics shop that was located close to the landing port. A bearded human with grease-stained clothes appeared in the doorway.

“What can I do you for?” he said gruffly.

“Our ship is leaking fuel from the main engine,” Yahn said.

“What kind of ship is it?”

“It’s a Neutomian space cruiser,” I said.

“Sweet, haven’t had one of those puppies in here in a while. That’s a smooth ride,” he said.

“Sure is, that’s why we need your help,” Yahn said.

“It will cost you twelve thousand Banis,” the mechanic said, crossing his arms. The Bani is a universal currency that they used in these space colonies where beings from all over the universe did business.

“Twelve thousand? That’s a rip off!” I said.

“That’s as low a price as you’ll get around here,” he said.

We both shook our heads and walked off in search of food. Neither of us wanted to have rations again for as long as we lived. Soon, we came upon a café that had high, clear tables and looked relatively clean. The noise coming from inside was considerable and the smell from the beings eating there hit us as soon as we entered. Some of the males turned to look at me as we approached the counter. A two-headed Langmilian took our order.

It was a treat to have real food, or the closest thing to it we could find. The meat tasted good even though it was wild Orallion, which is kind of like a gigantic pig, but with tougher meat. Just as we began to feel better, two tall Langmilians dressed in black, ninja-like costumes walked by our table. They looked at Yahn and whispered something to each other. Then, they kept walking. Yahn didn’t pay much attention.

“Who are those guys? They are dressed better than anyone else,” I said.

“They are slave traders. They are probably the richest people in the entire colony. Slavery is a big business around here,” he said.

“Wow, how primitive. We abolished it in America back in the 1800’s,” I said.

“It is still alive and well in other parts of the universe,” Yahn said. “I haven’t been to the bathroom since we got here. I’ll be right back,” he said.

“Don’t leave me alone here,” I said.

“I’ll be right back, don’t worry. Slave traders are more interested in strong males. That’s what fetches the most Bani at the markets,” Yahn said.

“I see,” I said, trying to appear as brave as I could. I watched as he walked across the room. I was alarmed to see the two nicely dressed Langmilians come out of nowhere with a laser cannon and lead Yahn away.

“Yahn!” I yelled, but they disappeared through a doorway that suddenly appeared in the wall and then disappeared again.

I ran up to the wall and pounded on it as the others in the room just looked at me. A short, fat Hardenalter came up to me and began to speak.

“It’s no use. The slave traders have captured your friend. Now, he will be sold to the highest bidder at today’s market,” he said.

“Where is the market and when does it start?” I asked.

“It is right down the road, there,” he said, pointing to the north. “It is due to begin in the next few minutes. If you hope to get your friend back, you had better have a lot of Bani, it won’t be cheap,” he said, making some noise that was a little bit like laughter, only stranger.

I ran down the street, taking out my laser cannon. All of the creatures stared at me as I ran down the street. A human driving a hovercraft had to swerve at the last minute to keep from hitting me.

“Watch where you’re running!” he yelled. I ignored him and ran as quickly as I could to a place where a large crowd was gathered in front of a stage. A large, blue tent-like structure had been erected behind the stage. It made me think of the circus that my parents used to take me to when I was younger.

A large Yanti with one large, Cyclops eye and four legs stepped up to the microphone set up on the stage.

“Let the trading begin!” he said as the crowd, made up of creatures of every description from all corners of the universe, cheered wildly. I was a little fearful of my safety amongst this rowdy bunch. Finally, the Langmilians from the Café appeared with four creatures strung together with rope. One of them at the very end was Yahn who was tied to an angry Fridel with sharp teeth, cat-like ears, four limbs, and a striped body. He caught sight of me and we exchanged a smile. I was determined to get him out of there as quickly as we could. I had to wait until the bidding was done for the three slaves that were ahead of Yahn.

“Who will start the bidding on this strong, healthy Karkastian? I didn’t even know that there were any of them left. Come on folks, this is a rare buy!” the Yanti yelled.

I raised my hand. Some of the others around me laughed as if they didn’t expect to see a human woman bidding.

“So what do you bid, young lady?” the Yanti asked.

“Twenty Banis!” I said.

They laughed all around me.

“Ok, that’s a pretty low bid there, miss. Who wants to outbid this young lady?” he asked.

A cloaked Langmilian towards the back raised his hand. “I’ll pay forty,” he said.

“One hundred!” I said as the crowd began to murmur.

“One hundred fifty!” the Langmilian answered.

“Now we have ourselves some good bidding!” The Yanti said.

“Three hundred!” I said, even though I knew I didn’t have anywhere near that much. The crowd let out a series of ‘oohs’ and ‘ahs’ when I made my last bid.

“Four hundred!” the Langmilian said as the crowd noises grew louder.

“Five hundred!” I said in a loud and commanding voice. The crowd went crazy as the Yanti looked to the Langmilian. The Langmilian shook his head. He wasn’t willing to go that high.

“Sold to the human woman! Eh, what’s your name missy?”

“Jessie,” I said.

“The Karkastian is sold to Jessie!” he declared. “Now, head on back and have your Bani ready,” he said.

I went back to claim Yahn, but I had no intention of paying for him. I had only twelve Bani and we sure needed them if we were going to eat again anytime soon. One of the Langmilian from the café stood there with his hand open.

“Oh it’s you, is it? You can have your boyfriend back if you pay the five hundred Bani. Let’s have it!” I took out my laser cannon and pointed it at him. I had pushed on the switch a minute ago so that it would be fully activated.

“I’ll let you have it if you don’t give him up to me right away!” I said. The Langmilian threw his hands up in the air as I grabbed Yahn by the hand and we ran through the crowd.

“Thieves! After them!” he yelled as several creatures began to chase us down the street.

Chapter Ten

Yahn

I had never run so fast in all my life. I had to remember that Earthlings weren’t capable of running as fast as Karkastians. Jessie was having a hard time keeping up with me. Finally, I picked her up and ran with her as fast as I could, leaving our pursuers far behind us. However, there were more Langmilians chasing us now. I ran up to the mechanic and struggled to catch my breath.

“Please tell me that the ship is ready,” I said.

“What are you in such a big hurry about?” he asked me. I pointed far off towards the pursuing Langmilians.

“Oh crap! Yes, the ship is ready. Pay up and you can be on your way. Looks like you two have pissed off quite a few people during your stay.”

“No time to explain about that now- here is your payment!” I said, putting the coins in his hand.

“It’s all there- you’re good to go. Pleasure doing business with you!”

“Likewise,” I said. Jessie was tugging at my sleeve as I said this.

“What is it?” I asked, as I got closer to the ship.

“Look-it’s James, one of the crew members. He’s spotted us!” she shouted.

Sure enough, the crewmember that had tried to shoot me was up on the platform above our heads. He began to run back in the direction that he’d come from, presumably to tell the others.

“We have to get out of here and fast!” I said as we ran up the entryway and closed the door. By now, some of the Langmilians were surrounding the ship, looking for a way in. Some of the others were boarding a space cruiser close by so that they could pursue us.

“Hang on, Jessie. This is going to be the wildest ride yet. I’m really going to put on the speed to try and lose them,” I said as she strapped herself in.

As the ship began to lift off, so did the neighboring cruiser that the Langmilians were controlling. As if this wasn’t enough trouble for us, the Earth expedition’s ship now appeared on our scanners, approaching from the opposite direction.

“Looks like we’ve got double trouble. I forgot just how fast the expedition ship can travel,” Jessie said. “Why aren’t you taking off yet?” she asked.

I kept the ship hovering as the Langmilian cruiser came closer and closer.

“I have an idea. It’s somewhat risky, but it may be the only thing that saves us. Make sure the shields are up!” I said. Jessie pushed a couple of buttons and the dashboard indicated that the shield was now activated. Good thing because the Langmilians wasted no time firing their lasers at us. Red blasts of light deflected off the sleek, white surface of the ship.

“How much longer are you going to wait?” Jessie asked, her voice now taking on a more alarming tone.

“Just a few seconds more. I want the expedition team to get a little closer,” I said. Jessie stopped asking questions. She seemed to figure out what I was trying to do. Now both of the ships were only a few feet away. There wouldn’t be enough time for either of the approaching ships to reverse course or put on the brakes.

“Hang on!” I yelled as I maneuvered the ship straight up into the air. Down below us, we could hear the sound of a major collision. We didn’t bother to stop and assess the damage. We watched Anarhie disappear from a distance as the ship took off towards the east.

“Wow, that was quite an impressive maneuver, I have to say,” Jessie said as she reached over and kissed my cheek.

“Thank you. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to pull it off for a second there. That was touch and go.”

“So here we go again, set adrift into the far reaches of space. Will we ever be able to find a place to settle down or are we destined to wander the universe for the rest of our days?”

“I have to believe what my mother used to tell me. Whenever I felt like I wasn’t able to face the challenges ahead of me, she would say, ‘Yahn, you must not look to the sky and wonder what far off star you should be trying to reach. You have to look at where you are and appreciate what you have in this very moment. When we are always looking to the future, we can never truly live our lives’.”

“That sounds like really great advice, but it still doesn’t really address the question,” Jessie said. Again, I thought about how much I liked the stubborn nature of this Earthling woman that I had grown to love.

“Hmm, first of all, I think we need to get out of this solar system and head back towards my home system. I think I know of a planet where we should be able to settle down, at least for a while,” I said, as I began to scan through the various moons and planets on the navigator program.

“Yes, looks like there’s still a planet that the Sarceastians have yet to ruin,” I said.

“Really, where is that?” Jessie asked, hopefully.

“Padure,” I said, showing her the beautiful, green planet on the screen.

“It looks very nice. I hope it’s not another gas giant,” She said.

“No, it’s a planet that is almost completely covered in forest. When I was very young, my parents would take me there on Hailonjohn,” I said.

“Hailonjohn? What’s that?” She asked.

“I think the closest thing in your Earth language to the word is the word, vacation,” he said.

“Ah! That’s very similar to where my parents took me. They would take me to the Great Smoky Mountains every fall when the leaves began to turn,” she said.

“I see. Well, we shouldn’t have too much trouble on Padure.”I said.

“Is it inhabited?” she asked.

“Yes, but the Padureans live on the far side of the planet from where we would visit. In fact, we never saw one the whole time we were visiting this place. The only other living things are the forest-dwelling creatures, which shouldn’t pose a threat to us as long as our laser cannons continue to work properly.”

“Well what are we waiting for? To Padure then!” Jessie said as her face lit up. I looked over at her and smile back. Nothing made me feel better than seeing her happy. I threw the ship into hyperdrive and beams of silver light appeared all around us. I felt as if I were being pushed down into my chair with a tremendous weight. Finally, the light disappeared and the ship slowed down its speed. Within an hour or so, a vast, green planet appeared below us. Large clouds hovered above the planet, an indication of the large amounts of rain that its surface received.

“It really is gorgeous,” Jessie said, looking down.

“Gorgeous, like you,” I couldn’t help but say, clutching her hand for a moment. Then, I released her hand and began the landing sequence. I looked for an opening in the mass of trees that I saw below. Off in the distance were the green silhouettes of mountains. I managed to find a small, grassy clearing in the midst of the vast, forested landscape. The ship touched down gently and we landed safely.

As the hatch opened, we walked out, carrying our laser cannons just to be on the safe side. We encountered no other life forms as we examined the grassy clearing. All around us, I could hear the sound of strange birds and other forest creatures coming from the nearby forest. The trees were lush and green, some of them laden with red and orange fruits. There was a misty haze in the air, indicating a large amount of moisture in the atmosphere.

“We should make camp here in the clearing. That way, we can hear or see anything that approaches us,” I said.

“Sounds like a plan,” Jessie said. We went back to the ship and took out a tent we had found in one of the storage hatches. It was made of a strong Neutomian material, resistant to the wind and the dampness in the air.

We set it up and cooked some of the meat that we had, left over from our meal in the café at Anarhie. It seemed that we finally would have some peace after being pursued across the galaxy. After dinner, I set up motion detectors around the perimeter of the camp that would alert us for any movement in the area. We lay together under the stars, holding hands. We had no need to speak because we were sharing our thoughts with one another. This was a technique that I was teaching Jessie because it was the main way that we Karkastians showed affection, leading up to mind-melding.

You are the most elegant creature I’ve ever set eyes on, I shared with her.

I feel the same way about you, she said, looking at me and smiling.

Finally, I couldn’t hold back any longer, I clutched her hand tightly and closed my eyes as our minds became one. Soon, Jessie’s eyes were rolling back in her head and she was softly moaning with pleasure.

Oh Yahn, how can you make me feel so amazing when all you’re doing is holding my hand? she asked me. She took a deep breath, focusing her attention on providing me with pleasure. A pleasurable sensation began to wash over my entire body. I closed my eyes and let it engulf me.

Oh yes my love that feels so nice, I thought as she continued to focus on pleasuring me. After reaching a mind-blowing orgasm, we lay together again silently, clutching one another’s hands.

“You know I think I’m starting to enjoy that even more than sex. There’s something more pure about it. I can’t exactly explain it,” Jessie said.

“You have really gotten the hang of it,” I said. Soon, we dozed off, still holding hands. I woke up in the middle of the night, realizing that we should not have let down our guard for such a long time. There was a strange beeping sound that was different from the sound that the motion detectors made. I looked at the motion detectors and they weren’t indicating any presence nearby.

Jessie sat up and looked at me as I scanned the perimeter.

“Is everything alright? I guess we shouldn’t have dozed off like that. What’s making that beeping noise?” she asked.

“I don’t know, but I have my suspicions,” I said as I walked just inside the forest, following the sound. I shone my flashlight around me in the dark, but I could see nothing but the occasional glowing eyes of some animal in the distance. The beeping sound seemed to be coming from above my head somewhere in the trees.

Finally, I looked high into the boughs of one of the tallest trees near me. I could see a flashing red light almost at the very top. I knew right away what it was, having discovered one of these devices back home. It was a Sarceastian life detector that had been planted here by one of their expeditions. More than likely it was going off because of us. I shot the device with my laser cannon and its flashing light and beeping stuttered to a halt. I ran back to camp.

“What was that sound? Did you shoot something?” Jessie asked, now on her feet with her laser cannon in her hands.

“I found a Sarceastian life detector. I shot it, but more than likely they now know that we’re here, and at some point they will probably send an expedition crew to check it out,” I said.

Chapter Eleven

Jessie

“So now what?” I asked Yahn, feeling frustrated that the Sarceastians were messing things up for us again.

“Well, it will only be a day or two before an expedition crew is sent out to investigate if I know the Sarceastians well. We have two choices- set off into space again or we stay here and defend our new home,” Yahn said.

“I don’t know, it sounds really risky to just hang around and wait for the Sarceastians to show up. My vote is for leaving,” I said, thinking the risk was too great.

Yahn walked over to me and took my hand. “Jessie my love, we have been through so many trials to get here and now we truly have a place where we can live together without anyone judging us.”

“Yes, but we are still in danger. It’s as if there is no place that the Sarceastians haven’t taken over besides Earth, and we know that’s not an option for us.”

“That is precisely why I think we should stay. We have motion detectors that we can set up around the landing perimeter to alert us of the presence of the expedition team once they arrive. I also noticed some disarmed land mines in one of the compartments of our ship. We could plant those all around the landing strip. I know how to re-activate them. Then, all we have to do is find a place to conceal ourselves and wait. Once the Sarceastians arrive, the motion detectors will let us know. If they survive the land mines, we can ambush them.”

“I don’t know, Yahn, it seems risky,” I said.

“So does leaving this planet to try and find another safe haven,” Yahn said.

In the end, I gave in to Yahn and agreed to go along with his plan. We took out the land mines and planted them all around the landing strip. It would be difficult for the Sarceastians to set foot anywhere without activating them.

“From this point on, we must avoid this area. I know the location of each mine, so that we won’t accidentally set one off,” Yahn said. Then we proceeded to set up the motion detectors around the landing site so that they would be activated once the Sarceastians landed. Now all that was left to do was find a hiding place where we could wait for the arrival of our enemies. We went into the lush forest to the west of our camp and found a small cave that was only a couple of hundred yards from the camp and landing site. It was a small opening in the side of a forested hill. We would be able to see anyone approaching us from far away. It was spacious and comfortable enough for us to sleep in. We took our food supplies and bedding materials and set them up in the cave.

“And now we wait,” Yahn said as he sat down next to me on my bedding material. We began to kiss and look in each other’s eyes when the motion detector began to light up.

“Wow, that didn’t take long,” I said in amazement.

“I can’t say that I’m surprised. The Sarceastians are nothing if not thorough in the protection of what they believe to be their resource. You stay here and I’ll go check it out to make sure that an animal didn’t set off the detectors. Be ready with your laser cannon in case I don’t return,” he said.

“Don’t talk like that, of course you will return,” I said. Yahn kissed me and smiled. Then, he left the cave. I sat in the darkness listening to the sound of water dripping from the ceiling. The moments I sat there waiting for Yahn felt like an eternity. Finally, I saw him running back to me with a look of alarm on his face.

“Well, is it them?” I asked.

“Yes, there’s an expedition ship. I saw eight of them exit the ship. They didn’t see me. What surprised me was how easily they avoided the landmines. One of them pulled out a device that started to light up when he pointed it at the area around the landing site. It was some kind of detector that they used to show them where the mines were located. Looks like we are going to have to resort to our ambush plan after all,” he said. A second later, we heard a series of explosions as the Sarceastians detonated each of the mines so that they wouldn’t have to worry about setting them off.

“Ok, here’s the plan. Once we get out of the cave, I will approach the landing area from the south and you will approach it from the north. Do not show yourself until you hear me say, “Freeze!” then you and I will have them surrounded. If they try anything, we will have to shoot to kill at that point,” he said.

“Sounds risky, but I suppose we have no choice other than to try and remain hidden,” I said.

“They will not give up until they find us if we try to remain in hiding,” he said.

I took a deep breath and exited the cave behind Yahn. I headed off through the forest to the north of the landing site, The vegetation was thick in this area and thorns tore at my flesh as I made my way through the tangled undergrowth. As I got closer to the landing site, I suddenly came face to face with a forest creature that I could not name. It was as big as a car and had horns all along its back like a dinosaur. However, it was covered in fur and had a face much like a seal. Its four limbs had long sharp claws like a bear. It looked at me and I looked at it, clutching my laser cannon nervously. Finally, it snorted a couple of times and ran off into the woods. I suppose it could tell that I was a threat with my laser cannon. Once I got to the edge of the forest, I hid behind a giant fern and looked out at the landing site. I saw six Sarceastians in their phantom-like cloaks looking around at the items we had left behind. Two more of them came walking off of our ship, carrying some things. I switched on my language decoder so that I could understand what they were saying.

“From the look of it, there are two of them, sir,” one of them said to another who had a red cloak inside of the grey ones the others wore. I guessed that this was the leader of the expedition.

“Well they can’t have gone too far. Be careful though. They obviously have been expecting us or else they wouldn’t have laid all of those mines. Humans are so primitive in their weaponry.”

“Yes sir,” they said as they began to fan out from the landing site. I looked for Yahn. I knew that this was the time for us to ambush them, but I told Yahn I would wait for his signal.

“Freeze!” Yahn said, emerging from behind a bush with his laser cannon in his hand. I came out from behind the fern and approached the two that were heading in my direction.

“Put down your weapons!” I said in a commanding voice. The two Sarceastians looked at each other and then back at me as if they were trying to decide if they should obey my command or not.

Suddenly, their captain lifted a hand into the air and both my laser cannon and Yahn’s were lifted out of our hands and into the air. We had forgotten all about the Sarceastians’ telekinetic powers. The captain began to laugh under his cloak as his hateful red eyes glowed with delight.

“Now you will come with us or you will die. The choice is completely up to you!” the captain said as he pulled out his own laser gun. The others pulled out their weapons as well. A second later, the rest of the expedition crew came out of our ship and saw what was happening.

“No need to send out a search party. We have thwarted their feeble plan to ambush us,” the captain said. His voice was deep and eerie, like the voice of an evil wizard.

Yahn had not moved a muscle since his weapon was taken away. He closed his eyes and seemed to act as if he were in another world. I wondered what in the world he was doing.

“Come with us, right away!” the captain said. I put my hands on my head and began to walk with the two guards that were near me.

“I said move!” The captain yelled at Yahn, but Yahn stood his ground. Suddenly, his eyes opened and took on a strange, blue glow. He lifted his hand into the air and the Sarceastian’s weapons flew up out of their hands. One of them landed in Yahn’s hand and the other in my own.

“What?” the captain said as he tried to close his eyes. He was trying to use his telekinetic powers in order to gain back the weapons. Yahn’s eyes grew bigger as if he was drawing more power to himself. The captain could not overcome Yahn’s powers.

“Now you are our prisoners. You will come with us or die!” Yahn said. The Sarceastians reluctantly put their hands up in the air, realizing that Yahn was too powerful.

“Let’s take them to the cave and imprison them there,” Yahn said to me.

“Walk!” Yahn commanded. The Sarceastians began to march towards the cave with their hands on their heads.

“You didn’t tell me you had telekinetic powers,” I said to Yahn as we walked behind our prisoners with our weapons trained on them.

“You didn’t ask,” he said with a smile.

Once we got them inside the cave, we bound them to each other with some rope and secured the ends of the rope to the walls of the cave.

“Now, see those small circular devices on their cloaks?” Yahn asked.

“Yes,” I said, looking at where he was pointing.

“We must remove those. The Sarceastians can only use telekinetic powers because of these devices.” I nodded my head and began to remove them from the four Sarceastians nearest to me. As Yahn took the device from their captain he spoke.

“You will not get away with this. When we do not return, our commanders will send a crew twice as large as our own to see what has become of us,” he said.

“Well aren’t you fortunate to have someone looking out for you,” I said, sarcastically.

“We’ll see about that,” Yahn said.

“What are we going to do with them?” I asked. Yahn sat looking at them and then he spoke to me.

“I have been working on mind control powers. My father was a master at it, but I am only an amateur. I can try and convince them to return to their planet and tell their superiors that they didn’t find anything on the planet. They can say that an animal set off the life detectors.”

“You are just full of surprises,” I said. Yahn smiled at me and then turned his attention to our prisoners. He closed his eyes and opened them- they took on a strange blue color once again.

“Listen prisoners to my command! You will return to your ship and tell our masters that you did not find any life on this planet other than the creatures of the forest. Tell them that you are certain that an animal set off the life detectors.” I looked at the prisoners and one by one, each of their eyes turned from their normal red color to blue.

“Yes sir, we will do as you command!” the captain said as if he was in a trance.

“Now, we will set them free,” Yahn said. I helped him untie the ropes. As soon as they were free, the Sarceastians walked back like zombies towards their ship. We walked behind them with our weapons, just in case. Finally, they got into their ship and left the planet.

Chapter Twelve

Yahn

Days passed and there was no sign of any Sarceastian expedition ships in the atmosphere. It seemed that my mind control tactics actually worked, much to my satisfaction. Jessie and I celebrated by making love that night. We decided to engage in a new form of sexual expression to spice things up. Jessie showed me a new position called reverse cowgirl that I enjoyed very much. She also showed me something that human beings called ‘role-playing’. She asked me to pretend like I was her enemy and had captured her at gunpoint. Then, she told me to tell her that she would have to perform sexual acts in order for me to keep from turning her into the expedition team that she had betrayed. I felt funny about the whole thing at first, but it made our lovemaking even more erotic than before. I enjoyed it quite a bit, surprising myself.

As the days wore on, we began to exhaust our food supplies in the surrounding forest. Although the area had a bountiful amount of fruit when we first arrived, we were now having trouble finding much of it. The animals in the area had also become scarce, mostly due to the lack of fruit in the area. It was time for us to venture further into the interior to explore our options. It seemed that our ‘Eden’ was not going to be without its challenges.

“I’ve been using my resource scanner to see where the supply of food and game is most plentiful. The mountains to the south seem to be our closest bet,” I said as we shared the dwindling supply of our meat around the campfire.

“How long do you think it will take us to reach them?” Jessie asked as the night winds blew her beautiful hair into her face.

“It should only take about a day’s hike according to my calculations,” I said.

“Once we are there, we should find plenty of food for ourselves. Enough to last as long as we need.”

“That’s good to know. Yahn, I have to tell you- I’m homesick. As much as I love you and as beautiful as this place is, I think about home all the time. I wish there was some way for me to relay a message to my mother and father just to let them know that I’m alive and well.”

“I know what you mean,” I said, clutching her hand. “I feel this homesickness too, but I have also come to terms with the fact that I have no home to go back to. I get the feeling that you may yet have the opportunity to see your homeland again,” I said, optimistically. From time to time, I would get premonitions about the future that would often turn out to be true. I felt strongly about the prediction that I had made, but I also sensed that it would be a challenging situation if we were to find ourselves visiting Earth.

The next day, we turned our attention to packing up camp and heading into the interior. It was a little emotional because we had grown attached to our green pasture in the midst of the forest. The field was beginning to bloom with all sorts of red and purple flowers, some of which towered above our heads. We said goodbye to our temporary home and headed off towards the mountains in the south. The trek was a steep one once we reached the mountains. The vegetation was lush and thick on the mountain slopes and the mist hung in large pockets above the treetops. We reached an overlook and gazed back at the clearing far below.

“What a beautiful view. Look, you can see our clearing from here,” Jessie said, clutching my hand.

“Yes, the view is quite nice,” I said, looking at her. We kissed and then continued until we reached the crest of the mountains. The trees gave way to an alpine meadow where we decided to set up camp. There was plenty of fruit on the journey up to the top, so we gorged on fruit that night, filling our bellies. The night air was chilly on the mountain top, so we huddled in close around the campfire, enjoying the warmth of each other’s bodies.

“So strange that we have this whole planet to ourselves, other than the animals and plants of course,” Jessie said.

“Yes, I do pick up a slight higher reading for life forms, but it is only that. When my parents would take me here, they would tell me about the Padureans that lived on the far side of the planet. They told me there were tribes of beings that lived deep in the forest that had green skin. They apparently could blend in so well with the greenery that they could be standing right next to you, and you wouldn’t even be able to see them. These tribes would war amongst themselves and form allegiances with others. Their lifestyle was very primitive. They would wear very little clothing and live at one with the forest instead of destroying it for their own purposes as they have done on many planets, including your Earth,” I said.

“So what happened to them? Where are they all?” Jessie asked.

“I have no idea. Maybe our journey will reveal some answers. Maybe we will find some ruins or some evidence to fill in the blanks for us,” I said.

“Look!” Jessie said as she pointed to the sky. I was amazed to see three moons visible in the night sky. One of them was full, the other was a crescent and the third, hanging lowest in the sky was a half moon.

“Gorgeous,” I said as I clutched her hand. Soon the fire died and we began to fall asleep. I was awoken by a strange chanting noise coming from behind the tree line to our south.

“Jessie wake up, there’s someone in the forest!” I whispered, shaking her.

We both jumped up and armed ourselves with our laser cannons.

The sound of the chanting was otherworldly and eerie. We attempted to run back towards the north, but soon we could hear the chanting in this direction as well.

“Who are you?” I asked, turning on my language decoder so that I could make out the words they were chanting in the darkness.

“Revenge will be ours!” The words of the chanting creatures became clear and chilled us both to the bone.

Soon the creatures came into view. They were transparent green creatures, somewhat like humans, but taller with long arms and bulbous heads. Their eyes were much larger than a human’s and glowed in the dark. They hovered above the ground and closed in around us.

I tried to use my powers to keep them from moving closer, but I was unable to affect their motion in any way. It was quickly becoming apparent that these Padureans were no longer living. They were phantoms, destined to walk their planet seeking revenge for some fate that had been foisted upon them.

“We mean you no harm!” I said.

“Revenge will be ours!” they continued to chant, only louder this time.

“Quickly, this way!” Jessie shouted as she grabbed my hand and led me off towards the east. There was an opening in that direction, although their ranks were quickly closing in an attempt to surround us.

We ran as fast as we could through the forest, as the chanting grew fainter. However, they were following us, shortening the distance between us. We came to a cleft in the mountain and Jessie’s flashlight soon revealed a wooden door in the side of the mountain.

“Look there, a door! I say we knock on it. The ghosts are getting closer!” Jessie said.

“Ok, it’s worth a try, I hope the person living inside is friendly,” I said.

Jessie knocked on the door as we looked behind us and saw the phantoms growing closer and closer.

“Hello? Please let us in!” Jessie said. The door abruptly opened and a bearded human looked out at us.

“Quickly, come inside!” he said in a deep, gravelly voice.

We went into his house and he quickly shut the door. He was wearing a grey cloak and sandals. He turned to us and gave us a greeting.

“Welcome, my name is David Hopkins. You will be safe here until morning, but then you will be on your way.”

I looked inside and saw a fire with a cauldron on it. The smell of a fragrant stew reached my nostrils and reminded me that I was still hungry.

“Have a seat and tell me who you are and what your business in Padure is,” he said as he went over to the cauldron and scooped out its contents into two wooden bowls. We sat down on stone chairs and I began to tell him our entire story.

“That is quite a tale. I must admit the last thing I expected to find at my door this evening was a human girl and a male Karkastian,” he said with a laugh.

“We are only too grateful for your hospitality. Will we be safe from the phantoms here?” Jessie asked him.

“Oh yes, as long as you don’t venture out there before dawn, you will be alright. The ghosts that you see are all that remains of the Padurean tribes that used to exist all throughout these vast forests. The Sarceastians killed them all some time ago. Now these restless spirits walk during the night, seeking revenge for the deeds committed against them.”

“I should have known. The Sarceastians will never rest until they’ve destroyed the universe,” I said.

“Their reckless slaughter will one day be their undoing,” David said.

“So how did you come to be here?” Jessie asked.

“I was once a member of an Earth expedition crew just as you were,” he said to Jessie.

“I was asked to kill a Karkastian and I refused. They told me that I would be exiled for my disobedience, so I took an escape pod and came here. I have been living on my own ever since that time. You don’t know how pleased I am to have company,” he said with a smile.

“It is so sad that there continues to be such conflict between our people,” I said as I looked at David.

“Yes, it is a shame. I knew that Karkastians were not evil creatures. The deeds of a few cannot be used to judge the many,” David said. “How do you like your stew?”

“It is the most tasty thing we’ve had in a while,” Jessie said. “We were beginning to run low on our food supplies. That’s why we ventured over the mountains and into this area.”

“There is enough food and game in these mountains to last you a lifetime,” he said. “But the spirits of the Padureans will always pose a threat until they can have their revenge. When a Sarceastian sacrifice is made to them, the curse will be lifted and they will finally be at peace. Until such a time, they will walk the planet with an insatiable bloodlust.”

“If I had my way, I would provide them with a whole army of Sarceastians. I too crave revenge. They killed my entire family and most of the inhabitants of my planet,” I said.

“That is very sad to hear, but as I said before, it will be their eventual undoing,” David said. “I have a sixth sense about such things.”

Chapter Thirteen

Yahn

We chose to stay with David for a while and thought about setting up our own place nearby. There was plenty of food and game in the area to the west, and everything seemed safe enough as long as we stayed away from the haunted valley to the east where the cursed Padureans haunted the forest. I woke up early in the morning as Jessie slept, and decided to go on a hunt to the west. David was already up drinking coffee when I began to set out.

“Good luck on the hunt. There are golden stags in this forest and their meat is a delicacy if you are quick enough to catch one. They are speedy devils,” David said.

“Yes, thank you. I will keep an eye out for them,” I said.

I began to walk through the sun-dappled forest, listening to the sounds of the numerous bird species in the trees above my head. The color of the trees was beginning to change, indicating the oncoming fall. The forest was ablaze with dazzling reds, oranges, yellows, and even blue colors. I heard the sound of hoofs in front of me, so I broke into a run to try and catch up with them. As I climbed a ridge, I saw a herd of golden stags retreating. I tried to get a shot off at one of them, but I missed. The herd disappeared from view. I climbed to the top of the ridge where there was a small rocky clearing. I looked around the surrounding ridges to try and spot some more game. What I saw instead, made me feel slightly alarmed. There was a Sarceastian ship landing in a nearby clearing. I saw several of them coming out of the ship and walking in the direction of David’s house. I gave up the hunt at that point and began to run back towards the cabin. I had to warn them so that we could figure out what to do about our new visitors.

When I got back to David’s cabin, Jessie was sitting on the front porch enjoying her coffee. She seemed surprised to see me running back towards the cabin.

“Is everything alright?” she asked.

“Now it’s not. The Sarceastians have landed in a nearby valley and they are heading this way. Come on, we must tell David,” I said. We went inside to tell David. He opened his closet and began to hand each of us a laser cannon.

“We mustn’t stay here. We must wait in the forest and try and ambush them. They will pick up on our presence with their life detectors and will likely be here at any moment.”

We exited the got out of the cabin and took up positions behind the large trees. David hid on one side and Jessie and I hid on the other. We didn’t have to wait long before the Sarceastians came walking towards the cabin.

“Are you still picking up on life forms?” one of them asked.

“Yes sir. According to my readings they are very close.”

“Let’s surround the cabin. That is more than likely where they are holed up,” the leader said.

We waited until they were in firing range just in front of the cabin. David fired first, disintegrating the leader. The others turned towards the tree where David hid and soon the tree was engulfed in flames. David had to run and hide behind a rock. Jessie and I began to fire on the rest of them from the other side. We managed to hit four of them, but there was a fifth that managed to escape into the forest, firing back at us as he ran.

“Quickly, after him! We can’t let any of them get away!” David shouted. The three of us ran through the forest. The Sarceastian was running for his life towards the east.

Finally, we came to the boundary of the haunted valley of the Padureans.

“We should stop here,” David said.

“Are you sure? He’s getting away!” Jessie said.

“Yes, just watch,” he said. We were up on a hill overlooking the haunted valley. We could see the Sarceastian off in the distance running for his life. Then, all of a sudden, the phantom Padureans appeared in a circle around him. He turned and ran in the opposite direction as if he would rather take his chances against us. He had no desire to do battle with these creatures from beyond the grave. More Padureans came in to surround him, and soon he was completely encircled by them. The Padureans moved in and soon we could hear an awful shriek being given off as the Padureans attacked the lone Sarceastian. Soon, there was nothing left of him. The Padureans began to hold their arms up towards the sky as one of them spoke in an eerie voice.

“Now the curse has been lifted. We have been given a sacrifice to avenge the dead. Now we can go to our eternal rest!”

One by one, the Padureans disappeared into the air until none of them remained. The only thing left was the cloak of the Sarceastian.

“Now they can be at peace. The curse has been lifted!” David said.

“What about the Sarceastians? Do you think there are any of them left?” I asked.

“I don’t know. If I know the Sarceastians, it’s likely that they have left someone behind to guard the ship. We must make sure that none is left alive. Then we will need to communicate with their leaders to make sure that no more are sent as back up,” David said. So, we began the long trek down towards the valley where the Sarceastian ship was located.

“Let’s make sure that we are cautious. The last thing we want is for the remaining creatures to be alerted of our presence. We need to be as stealthy as possible,” David said. We split up again- David approached from the west and we approached the ship from the east. When we reached the small clearing, there was no sign of life anywhere near the ship. We got as close as we could while still trying to stay behind the trees in order to give ourselves some cover. It wasn’t long before a door slid open from the side of the ship and a cloaked Sarceastian began to descend the ramp.

“Hello, Hermitis do you read me?” the creature spoke. “Jermitonis, are you there?” He held a laser gun in front of him and proceeded to walk within feet of where David was hidden behind the tree. In a flash, David shot his laser gun and the creature shrieked as it disintegrated into thin air.

“Come on, we have to see if there are more of them on board,” David said quietly. David led the way and we followed close behind him as he walked towards the ship. All of us had our weapons ready just in case there were more of them.

David cautiously boarded the ship. He could hear voices coming from their communication radios from their home base.

“Sargost, do you read me? I said, do you read me?” the voice said over the radio.

We walked all around the round perimeter of the ship and found no remaining Sarceastians on board.

“That seems to be all of them. I will try to talk to their commanders and convince them that the life forms they are looking for have been terminated. I just hope my language skills won’t fail me. It has been a long time since I tried to speak in Sarceastian,” he said as he made his way back into the front room of the ship. He picked up the headset device that lay on the ground as the voice from the commander came over the radio again. I had my language decoder device switched on so that I could understand what was being said.

“Sargost, if you don’t answer soon, we will dispatch a backup expedition. Sir, I’m not hearing from any of the crew. I think something must have gone wrong,” the voice said.

“This is Sargost reporting in,” David said.

“Sargost, you sound different. Is everything ok down there?” the commander asked.

“Yes sir. I have caught some sort of virus down here and it has affected the sound of my voice. A few of our radio transmitters are malfunctioning, which is why you aren’t hearing from the others. We have terminated the life forms and will be returning home shortly,” David said.

“That is good to hear Sargost. Have you extracted the minerals and fuel from the surface of the planet yet?”

“Negative. We are in the process of amassing the resources now. We wanted to make sure that our progress wasn’t hampered by the life forms that we detected.”

“What were the life forms? The Padureans are extinct so we were quite surprised to find a life reading that wasn’t a wild animal,” the commander asked.

“It was two humans and a Karkastian,” David answered.

“The Karkastian and humans were together?” the voice said.

“We believe the humans had captured the Karkastian,” David said.

“Hmm, that makes more sense. Are you picking up on any more life readings? We can send back up if you require it.”

“Negative sir. Our life readings are registering at zero. We believe that we have taken care of the threat,” David said.

“That is good news, Sargost. We will check in later to see how the mineral extraction is going.”

“Thank you sir, over and out,” David said, switching off the communication radio.

“Whew, my Sarceastian language skills are better than I thought they would be. It seems to have worked,” David said.

“So what should we do now?” Jessie asked.

“Well we have bought ourselves some time to be sure, but it will only be a matter of time before more of them come. They will begin to get suspicious if it takes too long to extract the minerals and fuel that they came here to obtain,” David said.

“For the time being, we can go back to the cabin and figure out our next course of action. I fear that we may never be completely rid of the threat of the Sarceastians. They do not give up easily,” he said.

We made the long trek back to David’s place and stopped when we ran across a herd of golden stag passing through the forest. I tried to get a shot of and missed, but Jessie hit one.

“Got it!” she yelled proudly. We picked up the animal and carried it back to the house, knowing that we would have meat for many days to come. That night, we feasted and drank ale that David had brewed himself.

“I should be going back down to the ship. They will be expecting the crew members to give an end of the day report,” David said.

“How do you know so much about the Sarceastians?” Jessie asked.

“When I was a member of the expedition crew, I belonged to a special ops crew focused specifically on the Sarceastians. Even in the old days, the military was aware of the threat that the Sarceastians posed. If only we could have gotten a handle on them before they started to lay waste to the universe. Now it seems that they are destined to rule over everyone and everything,” David said, shaking his head.

“Well they still haven’t conquered the Earth!” Jessie said, proudly.

“Not yet, but trust me, it’s only a matter of time before they attempt it. Let’s just hope the military is better prepared than they were when I was a soldier,” David said as he strapped on his laser cannon and prepared to walk back to the Sarceastian ship.

“I will be back soon. Please make sure that you leave some of that ale for me,” David said.

“Not to worry,” I said. My head was beginning to get fuzzy. We Karkastians weren’t accustomed to alcohol, but I liked the way it made me feel.

Chapter Fourteen

Jessie

David managed to convince the Sarceastian commanders that the expedition was going as planned, but they began to get impatient with him. One day when Yahn and I had just finished our lunch, we began to get frisky with one another. We figured we had a couple of hours alone together before David returned. I took off all of my clothes and entered the bedroom where Yahn was reading a book that he had brought from his home planet.

“Well, isn’t this a lovely surprise,” he said as he began to get up.

“No, you stay there,” I said, cocking an eyebrow at him seductively. I climbed on top of him and slowly slid his clothes off of him. We were just starting to make love when we heard the door open and slam shut.

“Damn!” I said as I climbed off of Yahn and began to put my clothes back on.

“Guys, are you here?” David asked.

“Yes,” Yahn answered back, unable to hide the disappointment in his voice.

“I think we have a big problem on our hands,” he said.

As soon as we were dressed, we came into the living room to hear what David had to report.

“What’s wrong?” Yahn asked.

“It’s the Sarceastian commanders- they began to ask questions that I couldn’t answer. They know that they’ve been fooled,” David said.

“What happened exactly?” I asked.

“Well, they asked why it was taking so long to extract the minerals. I made up some excuse about the drill being broken and they did a scan of all of the systems and said that they didn’t detect a problem. Then, they became suspicious and asked me for my rank and serial number. I looked around for an identification tag for Sargost, but I couldn’t find it. Then, the commander asked who I was. I continued to insist that I was Sargost, but he didn’t believe me. The next thing he said was that there was an army on the way. I am sorry, I did the best I could to hold them off.”

“So what now?” I asked.

“Well I don’t think it would be wise to try and go up against an entire army of Sarceastians. When they are ready for battle, they can be formidable indeed,” David said.

“So I guess we have just one choice then. Leave this planet before they arrive,” Yahn said.

“Yes, that is precisely what we should do. I would recommend that we take the Sarceastian ship. There will likely be Sarceastian ships patrolling the atmosphere. They will shoot us down for sure if we take your space cruiser.”

“Just when we thought we had found a place we could call home,” I said, sadly. Yahn came over and put his arm around me.

“Don’t worry, my love. One day we will find a place where we can permanently settle down,” he said.

“For the time being, we need to focus on remaining alive,” David said.

We gathered up as much food and water as we could carry and prepared to make the trip to the Sarceastian ship. At the moment, we weren’t sure what our destination might be. All we knew was that we had to beat a hasty retreat before the army arrived. As soon as we got on board, I strapped myself in and David began to push buttons on the control panel. He kept the radio switched on so that he could hear the conversations of the commanders.

“Ok, I’m starting the launch sequence. Everyone prepare for lift off. Yahn, I need you to man that laser cannon in case we have some visitors,” David said.

“I’m on it!” Yahn said.

“What about me? I can fire a laser cannon like the best of them,” I said, feeling that there was a bit too much testosterone on the ship.

“I need you to help me navigate,” David said. “Find us a pale where we can go and hide out until the threat has passed.”

I sighed and went over to the seat beside David and began to scan the surrounding area as the ship began to lift off from the surface of Padure. I looked down at the tree-covered surface of the planet, feeling disappointed to be saying goodbye to a place that was starting to feel like a second home to me.

“Goodbye Padure,” I said as I scanned the area.

“There is a habitable planet about fifty-nine parsecs from here. We should be able to reach it in about two hours,” I said.

“Are there life forms?” Yahn asked.

“Yes, but I’m having trouble getting a reading on what the life forms are, exactly,” I said.

As soon as I finished speaking, I looked out through the main windows of the ship and saw a huge Sarceastian war vessel approaching the planet. It was grey and round with large, pod-like rooms attached to it. It looked somewhat like a sea monster to me hovering above the green surface of Padure.

“Oh no, looks like we’ve waited too long,” David said.

“Identify yourself, vessel 4598,” a harsh voice said through the radio.

“Yes, we read you,” David said.

“Who is in command of the ship? What have you done with the crew?” the voice asked.

“We do not understand. We are Sarceastians as you are,” David said.

“Surrender your vehicle and land it on dock twelve or you will be attacked!” the voice said.

“Hang on everyone. I haven’t tried to outmaneuver a Sarceastian army vessel in a long time. It’s just like the old days,” David said. Suddenly, I felt my heart drop into my stomach as David steered the ship away from the war vessel in an attempt to escape. The war vessel immediately began to follow behind us.

“Jessie, get those shields up!” David yelled as he began to dart back and forth in an attempt to outmaneuver the army vessel. I tried the best I could to get the shields up, but the army vessel was jamming the frequencies and making it impossible.

“I can’t get the shields up! The Sarceastians are jamming the frequency!” I said, in panic.

“Crap! Hold on!” David said again as the ship dropped downwards, pitched and rolled through space. The Sarceastians began to fire the laser cannons at us. David managed to maneuver the ship in such a way that we avoided being shot. Yahn fired our laser cannon back at them, but they had their shields up and the lasers simply bounced off the large hull of their ship. David turned the ship sharply, dipped and turned again, but he couldn’t lose the ship.

“I’m trying to activate light speed but they’ve jammed that frequency too,” I said.

“Damn, this is not looking good. We may have to surrender,” David said. Yahn and I exchanged a disappointed glance when suddenly the ship was hit with a massive laser blast.

“We’ve taken a direct hit to the second engine. We will have to crash land!” David said. I looked at the navigating screen and saw that an inhabitable moon was just below us.

“Try to land on that moon down there. According to my readings it has a slight atmosphere. We should be able to survive there,” I said.

“Alright, everyone hang on!” David said as the ship went hurtling towards the surface of the moon. It was a typical crater-covered moon with an orange tint as if to imply that there were high levels of iron in the soil. My life detector began to flash, showing me that the planet was indeed inhabited by some life form or another. We could only hope that they were friendly. Soon the dusty surface of the moon came into full view. The ship was coming in too hot as David began to lower the landing gear. With a snap, the gear was broken off as the ship scraped a gigantic boulder. It tumbled over and then ground to a halt. The ship sensors were lighting up and beeping, indicating that massive fires had broken out in the engine room.

“Quickly- we must get out of the ship before it blows!” David yelled in panic. We managed to grab our bags of supplies and forced open the main hatch. We ran for the nearest pile of boulders for cover and looked back at the ship. About two seconds later, the ship burst into flames. I took a deep breath as Yahn hugged me.

“That was far too close for comfort,” David said, catching his breath.

We looked above us at the large Sarceastian warship as it moved off towards Padure. They probably thought that we had perished in the blast, so they continued on their mission.

“Well let’s try and find some shelter on this rock,” David said.

As soon as we came out from behind the rocks, my motion detector picked up on something moving towards us from the rocky mountain just to our east. My eyes caught a glimpse of small hooded figures moving in formation down the side of the mountain towards us.

“What are they?” I asked.

“No idea, but they look like little fellows. I believe that they are creatures known as the Domyabee, ” Yahn said.

“Quickly, let’s make for those rocks over there!” I said, pointing to a rock pile just to our left. We ducked down behind the rocks just as the dwarf-like creatures reached the base of the hill. A huge scorpion-like creature came out from behind the rock and stung David just as the dwarf creatures drew near.

“Ouch!” David yelled out in pain as he fell backwards. The creatures ran up to him and surrounded him. We attempted to fire at them, but they had jammed the frequency of the laser cannons. They didn’t see Yahn and me.

“Stay down. We will follow them and rescue David if we can,” Yahn whispered.

We watched as they ascended the hill that they had come from, carrying David. We followed at a safe distance until we came to a valley surrounded by sheer, jagged orange and brown cliffs. There was one tiny opening that the creatures walked through. They tied David up on what looked to be a stone altar of sorts. Yahn and I stayed behind the rocks and discussed what to do next.

“Can you use your mind control on them?” I asked.

“I will try. You stay here and I will make an attempt to communicate and control them,” he said. I watched as he walked out from behind the rocks and approached the large crowd of creatures that were gathered around the stone altar.

They turned in surprise towards Yahn who held up his hands in the air.

“I come in peace!” Yahn said. Suddenly, the creatures dropped to their knees and began to bow to Yahn. I looked on in amazement. One of them got up and approached Yahn.

“Oh great one, we have been waiting for your arrival as it is written in the prophecy,” a slightly taller creature spoke. He took his hood off to reveal, small slit-like eyes and a pig-like nose. His complexion was quite ruddy.

“Yes I have come to you and I have two companions. One of them you have tied up,” Yahn said. The creature turned and looked at David who was struggling to free himself from the ropes that kept him tied to the altar.

“We were going to sacrifice that creature to the Gods. Would that not please you?” the creature asked. He sounded as if he had a stuffed up nose and his voice was very high-pitched.

“No, as I said, the human is my companion and must be set free. Surely you do not wish to anger me!” Yahn said. There was much chatter amongst the creatures. The tall one turned and began to yell out orders to the others. They untied David and he ran over to Yahn’s side.

Chapter Fifteen

Yahn

A feast was prepared in my honor. It consisted of meager plants and a few pieces of some mysterious meat cooked on skewers. These creatures seemed to be having a hard time, which I ascribed to the harsh conditions on the rocky surface of the moon they inhabited. The creatures danced and sang and some of them played primitive harps that were fashioned out of stone.

“I don’t get it. Why do they think you are a God?” Jessie asked me.

“Well, a long time ago, some Karkastians landed on this very moon. They came across the Domyabee during their travels. They were practically starving and were much thinner than they are now. I believe they had a couple of harsh seasons and had very little food to live on. Anyway, my people helped them and gave them much needed food supplies. After that, I suppose that they thought we were Gods that had come to their moon to free them from starvation.”

“I see, well, thanks for saving me- that was a bit touch and go for a minute there,” David said.

“Yes, but once the party is done, we need to warn them that the Sarceastians may be coming around soon enough to look for us,” I said.

Soon it grew late, the dancers and musicians stopped performing and their leader made an announcement that two special rooms had been prepared for us. The rooms consisted of small rooms hollowed out of the rocks within a crater. There were stone steps leading down into the crater where it was very dark. I could see fairly well in the dark, but David and Jessie could not, so they stayed close behind me. The room had a small table and a bed, stuffed with some plant, resembling cotton, which made it very soft. Other than that, the room was very sparse. We were all very tired, so we fell right to sleep.

I woke up earlier than Jessie and walked out of the crater and into the light. I found the Domyabee leader whose name was Rufando, walking just outside of the crater, looking up into the sky.

“The Sarceastians will likely come looking for us,” I said as he turned to me and smiled.

“Oh Lord, we are well aware of the threat you face. We despise the Sarceastians and have set a trap for them if they decide to show up. Our people have suffered greatly at the hands of those monsters and we would be most pleased to help protect you from them. Come, I will show you.” He led me down to the flat, rocky plain where our ship was parked. Then, he made a hand motion indicating that I should stop walking.

“All around the landing area we have dug a pit. It has been disguised with rocks and twigs. If they land here and try to approach the craters where we live, they will fall into the trap and then they will be at our mercy,” he said confidently.

“Sounds great. However, they will be armed with laser guns. Do you have any such weaponry yourselves?”

“Yes, your ancestors left us with a few of them, which we have kept for just such an occasion. Once they are trapped in the pit, we will incinerate them,” Rufando said.

“I understand. Our kind usually shows mercy on other creatures, but one cannot reason with a Sarceastian,” I said.

Soon the others began to wake up. We were treated to a meager breakfast that was far less bountiful than the celebratory dinner that was served to us the night before.

“I apologize that we do not have more food for you. The harvest was not a failure this year, but it wasn’t as productive as it has been during most of the years,” Rufando said.

“We are happy to receive whatever food you have to offer,” I said.

“Yes, thank you. This salad that you have prepared is delicious and these sweet orange berries are wonderful,” Jessie said.

“Those are Golpon berries that grow on the far side of the moon during our rainy season,” Rufando informed us.

Suddenly, the conversation was interrupted by the sound of a large ship moving into the atmosphere of the moon. I looked up to see that my worst fears were confirmed. The Sarceastians were landing a large space cruiser right next to our ship. They were landing exactly where we wanted them to land.

“Everyone, prepare the weapons and get to your hiding places. Lord, you and your friends must take cover,” Rufando said.

“We will, but we will help you fight as well,” David said as he took out his laser cannon. We hid behind some large boulders not too far from the landing site.

Ten Sarceastians came out of the ship clutching their guns with a look of menace in their glowing red eyes.

“You three search the ship. The rest of you come with me. They may be hiding in those craters to the west,” their leader said.

We stayed in our hiding places and waited for the seven Sarceastians to fall into the trap. Although Sarceastians hovered above the ground, they could only hover about two feet above it. They couldn’t fly. With a shriek, the seven Sarceastians fell right through the rocks and twigs and into the trap. We moved in and surrounded the edges of the pit clutching our weapons. They attempted to shoot up at us, but we had the advantage and soon all seven of them were disintegrated into thin air. Now, we needed to take care of the three remaining Sarceastians that had boarded our own ship. We surrounded the cruiser and waited for them to get out of it. As soon as the three creatures came out of the door, we began to fire at them. One of them managed to get away from us and run towards the east, hiding behind a pile of large rocks. The other two were disintegrated by our laser blasts.

I noticed that the one surviving Sarceastian had taken out some sort of device and placed it on the rock that he was hiding behind. As we approached the rocks, we began to hear a beeping sound, and I knew right away what the creature had done.

“What’s that sound?” Jessie asked.

“It’s a planetary detonation device. He has activated it, which means that we have about ten minutes to vacate this moon before it is blown to bits!” I said. Rufando who was standing just behind me, turned to address his people.

“We have a Code Red emergency! Everyone to the ship!” Rufando said.

“Farewell, lord. If we meet again, we will have quite a story to discuss,” he said, turning back to me.

“Yes, we will,” I said as I grabbed Jessie’s hand and headed back to our Sarceastian space cruiser. I turned around to see a large, round stone-like disc that had lifted out of one of the craters. I assumed that this had to be the escape vehicle that the Domyabee were going to use to escape. I hoped that they had a destination in mind. I had no idea where we were going to go, but at the moment, we had to get out of there. We strapped ourselves in and began to lift off.

“Everyone hold on tight. I’m going to put the boosters on full throttle so that we can get as far away from this rock as possible when it blows!” I said.

“Roger that,” David said.

I started the ignition sequence and we lifted off. Soon we were out of the moon’s atmosphere. Suddenly shockwaves emanated out from the moon as it blew into a million tiny fragments. The ship was already going full throttle, but the shockwaves made us go even faster than before.

“Hold on!” I said. Jessie practically had her nails dug into the side of the chair as we hurdled through space.

Finally, we were far enough away that we could relax and slow down our speed.

“Whew, I really am growing tired of close calls,” Jessie said.

“You and me both,” David said, shaking his head.

“So where to, now?” Jessie asked.

I was fresh out of ideas at the moment. It seemed that everywhere we landed in this part of the universe we ran into some sort of trouble.

“I say we take our chances out here for a while until we’ve left this solar system, entirely. Once we reach a new solar system, we can check the navigator for a suitable docking place. We have enough fuel left to stay out here for quite a long time,” I said.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been on a space voyage. Reminds me of my younger days,” David said as he watched a comet go streaking by.

That night, we put the ship on autopilot and went to our quarters. Sarceastian ships were actually quite comfortable, although not as spacious as the Neutomian ships. Jessie and I lay down on the large rectangular bed and looked into each other’s eyes.

“You know I could wander the universe with you and be happy as long as we are together,” she said, clutching my hand.

“Yes, I could too, but I would be even happier if we could finally find a place to settle down, at least for a time,” I said.

“We have to believe that such a place exists. We can’t lose faith,” she said. As I stared into her gorgeous, sparkling eyes, I couldn’t help but be hopeful about the future. Our lips touched and I pulled her closer to me. Our hands began to explore one another’s shoulders and chests. I kissed Jessie, starting at her neck and then working my way down to the glorious intersection of her long, perfect legs. I buried my face there until she began to moan with delight. Then, I interlocked my fingers with hers and began to make love to her. She arched her back as her breasts began a mad dance. Soon, I was thrusting at a feverish pace and I could last no longer. Both of us reached what Earthlings refer to as ‘orgasm’ right at the same time. Afterwards, we lay together, our bodies intertwined as if we were one.

David interrupted our reverie when his voice came over the speaker.

“Eh, sorry if I’m interrupting anything, but we have a little problem out here,” he said, with urgency in his voice.

“What is it?” Jessie asked.

“It looks to be one of the Earth expedition ships. They are approaching fast!”

We jumped up and threw our clothes on. Once we got to the front of the ship, I turned off the autopilot and tried to increase the power to the boosters.

“Too late,” David said. “They’ve jammed the frequency. I tried it already.”

We watched helplessly as the Earth ship came closer and closer. Finally, the pilot of their ship began to speak to us.

“Surrender your vehicle, Sarceastians. If you do not surrender, we will attack. There is no escape!” I looked over at Jessie who shuddered at the familiar sound of her captain’s voice.

“We are not Sarceastians,” David said.

“If you are traveling in a Sarceastian vehicle then we consider you to be an enemy,” the captain said. “Who are you?”

“My name is David and I am alone,” he said.

“You are lying. We are picking up on two more life readings. Prepare to be boarded!” the captain said.

“They’ve finally caught up to us,” Jessie said as a tear streaked down her face. I turned to comfort her, throwing my arms around her. Then, I looked her in the eyes.

“Jessie, it isn’t over yet. Just because they have the upper hand now that doesn’t mean that it will remain that way forever. We will figure out a way out of this just as we have done with all of the other trials we have lived through.”

“Yes, I believe it. In fact, I know that this isn’t the end for us. As long as our love for one another endures, I know we can face any obstacle, even this one!” she said, hopefully.

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Book 2

Chapter Sixteen

Yahn

I sat in the holding cell of my old expedition ship and put my head in my hands. I couldn’t believe that after all we had been through we had finally been captured. Jessie had been carried off to another part of the ship so that we couldn’t see each other. I didn’t know where David was either. I was very upset because I knew what the outcome would be. Both of us were likely to be put to death without a trial, never to see one another again. David, would probably face charges for aiding a known fugitive, but I didn’t know this for sure. The crew members all had their turn giving me a piece of their minds, but I ignored all of their comments and tried to focus on any means of escape.

They fed me nothing but leftover rations that the crew didn’t want. After everyone had gone to sleep, Jessie’s good friend, Wendy came over to my cell and brought me fresher rations. Unfortunately, it was all they had to eat, but it was better than the leftovers that they were feeding me.

“How are you holding up?” she asked me as I looked over at her through the invisible barrier of my cell and smiled.

“As good as can be expected under the circumstances. How is Jessie holding up?” I asked her.

“She is very upset. She thinks that she is likely to be put to death without a trial and treated as a traitor,” Wendy shared with me.

“Unfortunately, I think she is right. I would free us all right know if they didn’t have me under the control of this neutralizer. I can’t use my mind control powers or telekinesis. I also can’t turn into a vapor, but at least I can get messages to the others through you. If you would, please tell Jessie that I love her and that I am trying my best to work on a plan for our escape once we reach Earth.”

“I will tell her,” Wendy said with a smile. I waited for what seemed like hours before she finally returned with a message from Jessie.

“She says that she loves you too, and that is what keeps her going. However, she is really upset and says that she is afraid of dying. She is starting to lose hope and says that if she doesn’t see you again, she will always treasure the time that you spent together.”

I stood up in my cell and took a deep breath. “Tell her that we will definitely see each other again and that I will find a way to free her and David, no matter what! Tell her not to lose hope!” Wendy nodded her head and left just in time. The human named James came walking by the cell and stopped to look at me.

“Just wait, you Karkastian. When we get to Earth, you will get what’s coming to you. If I had my way, I would have a chance to execute you myself. In fact, I am going to ask the general to allow it,” he jeered.

“I am not afraid to die. I can join my loved ones in the ether. This life is only one aspect of our existence. You don’t scare me,” I said, fearlessly.

“Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, but when it’s time to die, I’ll bet you are going to scream like a little girl.” He laughed at me and walked away. Wendy came back one last time to talk to me that night.

“Jessie seemed to cheer up when I gave her your last message.”

“Good, how about David? Are they treating him well?”

“They have him in a cell not too far from Jessie. They want to trial him for treason as well, but technically he is no longer a citizen of Earth, so I don’t know if they will be able to get away with it.”

“Good, I guess that one of us may be treated fairly,” I said as I shook my head.

“I wouldn’t bet on it. They have ways of bending the rules when they want something. Let’s just hope they don’t get their way. Look, Jessie wanted you to know that she will be ready when you work out your plan to free yourself.” Wendy had to leave quickly as the captain began to walk in our direction.

“Wendy, I want you to get to your station. We will be landing very shortly. I sure hope that you haven’t aided the traitors in any way. If I find out you have, there will be a hell to pay!” Captain Henson shouted.

“Yes sir,” She answered feebly and went to her station.

As we prepared for landing, I looked out of the nearest window at Earth. It looked like a beautiful blue mass with white clouds swirling above its surface. Once we got closer, I was able to see brown landmasses amongst the blue, which I presumed to be large bodies of water. I was amazed at the amount of water on the planet compared to my own. It looked like a wonderful place to live, but for us, it was a place that we needed to escape in order to keep ourselves from being executed.

Once we landed, I looked out and saw a very crowded area around us. There were raised platforms and tall, gleaming towers that were bustling with humans moving back and forth. Jessie told me that at once, the Earth cities were far less crowded. Now, the population of humans was out of control. Hover cars crowded one another, honking at one another and causing a lot of commotion.

About an hour after we had landed, they unlocked my cell and put a silver headset device onto my head. I guessed that this had to be another type of neutralizer to keep me from transforming and using my powers. They bound my hands and yanked me out of my cell.

“Move, you wretched Karkastian!” a young soldier said. I did as he told me to, having very little choice in the matter. As we walked out of the ship and onto the platform, a group of humans came over and began to shout at me. Some of them threw rocks and other items.

“You are going to get yours, you terrorist!” One of them shouted. I tried not to look at them. I kept my head down and tried to tell myself that these humans were just misguided. I knew because of Jessie and Wendy that not all humans felt the way these people did.

I was taken through the doors of a very large, rectangular building which looked to be part of a very large military complex. There were men and women coming and going in all directions, all of them wearing the same olive drab uniform. We walked up several scaffolds and through several doors until we came to a large cell block. There were aliens of every description sitting in the cells looking very dejected. I was shoved into a cell next to an evil-looking Sarceastian. He shot me a glare and I frowned at him.

I sat there for the longest time looking all around me. The cells stretched all of the way up to the ceiling and occupied several floors below me. There were no windows to reveal the surroundings outside of the prison. I tried to use my mental powers to reach out to Jessie, wherever she was, but the device made it impossible for me to do so. Finally, I sat down in the corner of the cell and closed my eyes. I wouldn’t be able to execute any plan of escape until someone opened the cell.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, I overheard a male prison guard talking to a female one.

“That’s the Karkastian that the traitor fell in love with,” the male guard told the female.

“Wow, he’s rather handsome,” she said.

“Well, have your fun with him while you can, I won’t tell anyone. He’s going to be executed tomorrow I hear,” the male told her.

The woman began to raise an eyebrow at me. She was tall with short, dark hair and very muscular. I looked over at her and began to devise a plan of escape. I smiled at her and winked.

“I never knew Karkastians could be so good-looking,” she said as she continued to look me over.

“You’re not too bad yourself,” I answered, doing the same thing.

“Since you are going to be executed tomorrow, maybe I can show you a good time. It will be better than any last request you could want.” She winked back at me.

“I would be more than happy to take you up on that offer, but I need you to take this device off of my head if you really want me to perform properly,” I told her. She looked at me skeptically but then began to unlock the cell.

“Don’t try anything,” she said as she shut the door of the cell and pulled out a laser gun. Then, she moved closer to me and ran her hand down my chest. “Wow, you really are muscular, aren’t you? I bet you have a really nice muscle under those pants.” She ran her fingers over my crotch.

“You will need to take off the device if you want me to function properly,” I said.

This female Earthling obviously didn’t realize what powers us Karkastians had so she began to unscrew the device from my head and threw it on the floor. Then, she began to kiss my neck and wrapped her left arm around me. She kept the laser gun pointed at me with her other hand. I tried my best to search her mind and control her thought patterns, but I was unable to do so. It was then that I realized that my mind control powers didn’t work on this planet, although I wasn’t certain why they didn’t. I decided to try my telekinetic powers as the female guard began to kiss my chest and worked her way down my body. I focused on her laser gun with all of my mental powers and was delighted to see it came out of her hands and into mine.

“What the...?” She said with anger and surprise as I pointed the gun at her.

“I guess you didn’t know about Karkastian telekinetic powers,” I said with a sly grin.

She glared at me and put her hands up in the air. “Too bad, I guess you’ll never know how great sex with me can be,” she jeered.

“Get in the cell. Thank you for freeing me. I hope they aren’t too hard on you for allowing me to escape.” I kind of felt sorry for the dejected woman.

“Screw you, Karkastian!” she shouted.

“You keep it quiet!” I said as I pointed the laser gun at her. “I will be leaving now.” I put the gun down and transformed into a blue vapor before her eyes. Then, I began to drift off towards the exit of the prison.

“Help” Help! The Karkastian has escaped!” she shouted. The male guard that she had been talking to before appeared in front of the cell and other guards began to run towards her with laser guns in their hands.

“What happened Gina? You need to get your hormones under control. Now look where it’s gotten you! Where did the Karkastian go?”

“I don’t know, he vanished into a vapor!”

“What? You must have taken off his neutralizer. Did they not teach you anything about Karkastians in basic training?” The other guards came up as he unlocked the cell. “I need everyone to fan out in all directions. The Karkastian is on the loose. No one will be able to come off of their shift until he is found. Look for a blue vapor traveling through the air. I want him found. He is due to be executed tomorrow and I do not want that to delayed!” he shouted.

Chapter Seventeen

Jessie

The trip back to Earth was agonizing. All I could think about was the horrible fate that awaited us once we landed. As if these thoughts weren’t enough, the crew members would walk by my holding cell and give me a hard time. James, in particular, could not resist any opportunity to give me a piece of his mind.

“I want to make sure that I have a front row seat when they execute you,” he jeered. I sat there with my head between my knees and did not answer him.

“It’s too bad. I sure could have shown you a good time, but now, you had to have sympathy for a terrorist alien. I hope it was worth betraying your country and sacrificing your own life!”

“Yahn is not a terrorist! I simply stopped you from going against your orders. I couldn’t just let you kill him!”

“You did a whole lot more than that! By the way, all Karkastians are terrorists as far as I’m concerned. The only good ones are the dead ones, and soon their whole race will be extinct. I say good riddance!” He said as he spat on the ground and walked away. My only comfort was Wendy who came and told me that Yahn was working on a plan to free us once we landed on Earth. As long as we were both still alive, I had reason to hope and that was all that kept me going at that stage. Soon I could see the Earth below us through a nearby window. Its familiar blue glow and fluffy white clouds would normally be a welcome sight for me. However, under the circumstances, it was the last place in the universe I wanted to be. I put my head between my knees and began to cry again, thinking of the fate that awaited me once landed. I knew that I would probably get to see my parents one last time before I was executed, and I dreaded seeing the look of disappointment on my father’s face. Like most Earthlings, he thought that Karkastians were all evil and I knew there was no way that he would ever understand the love that I felt for Yahn.

Just before we started our descent towards Earth, Wendy came over to my cell.

“How are you, girl?” she asked, putting her hand up to the invisible barrier between us.

“Not so great. Look, I wanted to thank you for relaying messages back and forth between us. I know that puts you at risk, and the last thing I want is for you to get into trouble.”

“It’s the least I can do. Look, I don’t know how I know this, but I get the feeling that everything is going to be alright somehow. It’s just a hunch, but I thought I would share it with you,” she shared, hopefully.

I smiled. “Thanks. That actually does help. Where there’s hope, there’s life. Can you go and pass along one more message to Yahn before we land? Tell him I’ll be ready once he works out a plan to get us all free.”

“I will, Jessie. Like I said, I get the feeling that everything is going to be ok so keep the faith sister!” I smiled at her and watched her walk away.

A few minutes later we began our descent to Earth. As we came close to the surface, I was amazed at how bustling the traffic in Washington was. I had only been gone for a few years, but in that time, I noticed that new towers had been added to the skyline. There seemed to be more hover cars everywhere and here and there I could see people flying about with their jetpacks strapped to their backs. I longed for the quiet forests of Padure. As soon as we landed, two soldiers came and opened my cell. My hands were cuffed and I was led off of the ship. I saw Yahn up ahead being led by other soldiers. A crowd of spectators gathered along the landing ramp. As we walked past them, they began to yell at me.

“Traitor! I can’t wait to watch them execute you!” One woman yelled.

“There she is, the one that sleeps with aliens!” a younger man said. I didn’t look at them. I kept walking, holding my head up high with my eyes looking forward. I was led through a side building attached to the main military complex. I guessed that they took me this way to minimize my exposure to the public. Many of them looked as if they would murder me themselves if given the chance. I couldn’t believe how full of hate these fellow Earthlings were. I was taken up several flights of stairs and down several hallways until we came to the prison. There were two wings, one for aliens and one for humans. I was led into the east building where the other human prisoners were housed. As we walked through, the other prisoners began to shout at me. Some of them were saying things that I did not wish to repeat. Needless to say, they were very unkind remarks and some of them were quite vulgar. As I looked up all I could see were floors and floors of prison cells that stretched up to the ceiling. Down below me there were more cells. Although Earth’s technological capabilities had advanced significantly, they still hadn’t addressed the ills that plagued society. I couldn’t think of any planet I had visited that had prisons as crowded as the ones that I saw on Earth.

I was put in a cell off in a corner where there were no other cells around. I was thankful because I didn’t want to be stared at like a zoo animal. As soon as the cell door was closed behind me, I grabbed the bars and began to cry. I didn’t feel hopeful like Wendy did. I sank to my knees and took a deep breath.

“I wouldn’t get too comfy. From what I hear you’re to be executed in the public square tomorrow!” the guard hissed at me before walking away. I ignored him.

After a while, I decided to try and reach out to Yahn, mentally. I knew it was a long shot because more than likely they still had him hooked up to a neutralizer to keep him from using telepathy.

Yahn are you there? It’s me, Jessie. Are you alright? Where are they keeping you? I waited hopefully for a response.

I’m here my love, I have managed to free myself. I am still in the cell block, trying to get to you. I am in a vaporous state.

How did you manage to get free?

One of the female guards tried to have her way with me. I managed to convince her to take off my neutralizer. She didn’t seem to know too much about the powers of Karkastians, luckily. I managed to turn into a vapor and disappear, but they are looking for me everywhere. Jessie I am going to free you, I promise you that I will find a way.

Well, you are going to have to try something fast because they are planning on executing me tomorrow in the public square.

What? Aren’t they going to give you a trial?

I don’t think that’s going to happen. Traitors usually don’t get such treatment. I have to go, someone’s coming. I felt better knowing that Yahn was free as the guard approached my cell with two people. As they got closer, I realized that the two people behind the guard were none other than my father and mother! My mother looked so much more shriveled and gray than the last time I saw her. Her brown eyes were hollow and I could tell that she had been crying. My father’s nostrils were flared and his brow was furrowed. He too looked older. His hair was thinner and grayer than before.

Tears filled my eyes as my mother came up to the cell and I reached out her hand through the bars. I grasped it as tightly as I could.

“Mother, how I’ve missed you!”

“Oh, my dear Jessie how I’ve missed you too! Are they treating you alright?” she asked.

“I’m ok, but they are going to execute me tomorrow if everything goes the way they’ve planned it.” I looked over at my father who was keeping his distance, still staring on with a distant, angry glance.

“Jessie, I just want to know what you were thinking,” he finally said.

“Dad, I don’t expect you to understand what’s happened, but I will try and explain things the best that I can. First off, I watched as one of my fellow soldiers tried to unlawfully execute Yahn, a Karkastian. Our mission was to take prisoners, not execute people. I stopped the soldier from killing Yahn by injuring the soldier. After that, I had to escape in order to keep from being declared a traitor. I managed to stay at large for a very long time and visited several planets. I fell in love with the Karkastian and we tried our best to find a place where we could live in peace. Finally, the expedition crew caught up with us and here I am.”

“How could you fall in love with one of…. them?” He asked in a disgusted voice.

“I don’t know, dad. It just happened. Yahn is very kind and would never hurt anyone unless he had to. He is as kind and loving as any human man I have ever known,” I explained, but I could tell the explanation was falling on deaf ears.

“You’ve thrown everything away. You were just supposed to be in the army long enough to earn money for college. Now, I have people at work saying my daughter is a traitor to her country and her planet. Now, I have to try and keep them from executing my only daughter. Did you not think about how all of these choices of yours might affect us?

“Honey, she has been through enough without all of this. What she needs right now is our support, not our criticism. What’s done is done. I can’t say what I would have done in her position, but we have to assume that she did what she felt was best at the time. You can’t fault her for that!” my mother fired back at him.

“You baby her too much, as usual. She has made some bad choices and it is going to cost her, her life!”

“If this is the last time I’m going to speak to either of you, I don’t want to spend it arguing. I just want both of you to know that I love you and that I’m sorry,” I pleaded as the tears began to flow again. My father’s expression began to soften somewhat as his eyes began to fill with water.

“Jessie, I tried everything I could to save you, but I have gotten nowhere. I made an appeal to the head judge and begged the governor to grant you a trial. My request was denied. I’m sorry that I couldn’t help you,” he told me as a single tear streaked down his face.

“Thank you for trying father,” I said. A guard came walking up a second later.

“Alright, that’s all the time that you are granted. Now say your goodbyes and you must leave!” The guard barked.

“Goodbye, mom and dad. I love you!” I told them in a pitiful voice.

“Goodbye Jessie, we will always love you!” my mother said as the tears streamed down from her eyes.

“Let’s go,” the guard said in a detached voice.

Chapter Eighteen

Yahn

In my vaporous state, I searched all over until I found the cell where they were keeping David. I knew that the next thing I had to do was to get the keys, which consisted of a small electromagnetic device that would deactivate the invisible force field that sealed each cell. I saw several police officers running around searching for me and waited until they had finished searching the cell block I was in. Once they left, I went over to the guard station and turned back into my normal form, just behind the guard. I put my right hand over his mouth and with my left hand I put my laser gun up to his temple.

“Do not move or try anything. I need to know where the keys to this cell block are located. If you try to warn someone about my presence, it will be the last thing you ever try, understand?”

“Yes,” he said quietly as sweat began to stream down his face.

“The keys are over in the control room just down the hallway.”

Keeping the gun pointed at him, I took him along with me to the control room, keeping a sharp eye out for any other guards or policemen. Luckily, they were still searching other cell blocks and were nowhere in sight.

As I stepped into the control room, two guards turned suddenly towards me with their guns at the ready.

“Put the guns down or your friend gets it!” I said. They looked at me and the guard that I held at gunpoint, and then threw their guns down on the ground.

“Now, get in the closet over there, all three of you!” I shouted. They looked at one another and did what I asked. As soon as they got inside the closet, I closed and locked the door. The electromagnetic keys were located inside a transparent box on the wall. I opened it and got out the keys. Now I had access to every cell on the block. Without further hesitation, I ran back up the platform to the cell where I had seen David. He was now awake and ready to escape as soon as I deactivated the force field.

“That was quick,” he said as I began to try different keys on the small opening to the right of the door.

“I’m sure that it will only be a matter of time before the place swarms with police again, so we must be quick,” I said as I continued to try different keys. A second later, I heard a commotion coming from the guard room. I knew that the men I had locked in the closet must have freed themselves or made enough noise to attract attention to themselves. I looked down at the platform below and saw the guards running up the stairs.

“Hurry, they’re coming!” David shouted.

“I’m trying!” I said as I continued to try the different keys. Finally, the tenth one worked. The key fit in the slot and the force field was deactivated. It made a sound like a long, descending note and the bars disappeared from view.

“Come on, quickly, this way!” I told David as I watched the guards reach the platform just below the one we were on. We ran towards the stairs just as they began to fire laser beams at us. I ducked at the last second so that the beam would miss me.

“We can’t go this way, they are coming up the stairs!” David insisted.

“Hmm,” I looked at the keys in my hand and devised a plan in that instant. “I think I know what I can do to help our situation. Come on, let’s head in the opposite direction. The guards will be up on our level soon!” The guards continued to shoot up at us as we began to run in the opposite direction. I fired back at them, managing to hit one of the guards.

“Here!” I handed the laser gun over to David and took out my keys. I closed my eyes and tried to use my mental powers to give me a clue as to which key to use. A muscular human with no hair stood looking at me.

“Why are you handing this to me?” David asked as the guards reached the level we were on.

“I’m going to free as many prisoners on this block to cause confusion. Just cover me while I do so!” I shouted. David returned fire, but the guards continued to approach. My concentration paid off. One of the keys began to glow and I used it to free the large human inside.

“Thanks, man!” the human said as he began to take off in the same direction we were going in. I moved on to the next cell, opening it and freeing two more puzzled humans who both had scars on their faces. They too began to run. We moved onto the next cell and the one after that. By now, the guards were only a hundred yards away from us. David fired at them and managed to kill one of them. The guard fell over the side of the platform. Now only one guard remained on the platform. However, the noise had attracted more guards and more policemen who were beginning to file in the cell block far below. Finally, after several minutes, I had managed to free twenty or more prisoners. The guards were busy scurrying around trying to capture the men we had set free. We made our way to the exit of the cell block, shooting any guards that got in our way. As we emerged onto the street, several hover cars began to move in and surround the building. A large hover copter swooped in and began to descend.

We managed to run around the corner and disappear into a crowded street nearby. I looked behind us and saw several policemen scurrying around trying to round up all of the prisoners that I had set free.

“That was a good plan, but what do we do now?” David asked.

“We’ve got to find where they’ve taken Jessie. They are supposed to execute her today. I hope we’re not too late.” As soon as I said this I looked back and saw one officer whispering to another and pointing in our direction. “Quickly, we’ve been spotted. This way!” I took off through the crowd as quickly as I could and turned into an alley. David and I pressed ourselves against the wall and watched as the officers continued down the main road. They had been unable to follow our path through the crowded street.

“Don’t hesitate to use that laser gun if necessary. I am going to see if I can connect with Jessie and see where she is.” David nodded and held his gun by his side. I closed my eyes and tried to connect with Jessie, mentally.

Jessie, can you perceive my thoughts? We have gotten out of the prison and we are on our way to help you. Where are you? Please tell me that we aren’t too late. I waited for what seemed like an eternity for her response.

Yahn, I’m so glad you managed to free yourselves. I am ok but they are taking me towards the public square as we speak. We are only about a block away now. I can see it up ahead and there is already a huge crowd assembled there. You have to hurry before they go ahead with this. There are people everywhere shouting, ‘traitor’ at me. Some of them are throwing rocks. Please get here as quickly as you can. The public square is five blocks directly west from the prison. Be careful, there seem to be police everywhere.

I will my love. We will try and get there as quickly as we can

“Well, were you able to connect with her?” David asked me.

“Yes, we have to hurry. She is four blocks away from the square where they mean to execute her.”

“How are we ever going to reach the square in time? That’s a long way to go and this huge crowd is sure to slow us down,” David insisted.

I looked around the area and my eyes landed on a mechanic’s shop that was just down the street.

“There’s our solution. Time to get us a hovercraft so we can get there faster!” I answered. We ran towards the shop. I opened the door of the shop and two very large men turned and looked at us. One of them was underneath a small, white hovercraft that looked to be a sleek new model. It was only large enough for two people and had two very powerful thrusters. I knew that this vehicle would have the speed that we required.

“What the hell do you two want? Get that Karkastian out of here!” the largest of the two mechanics shouted at us.

“You are in no position to make demands!” I answered him as David pointed the laser gun at them. They threw their hands up.

“Alright, boys, no need to get excited. What is it we can help you with today?” the smaller man asked.

“Is that hovercraft in good shape?” I asked.

“Yep, I just finished all the repairs to the hyper drive myself. That’s a XL236, one of the fastest hover cars on the market, but please don’t take that one. It belongs to the boss,” he begged.

“Sorry, we will do our best to return it to you, but we don’t have the time to haggle over it. We will also be needing your mechanic’s uniforms so kindly take them off please,” I requested.

They looked at one another reluctantly as David waved the gun in their faces.

“You heard the man, take the uniforms off and hand over the keys right now!” David said forcefully. The two men began to strip off their uniforms until they stood before us in their underwear.

“Please don’t scratch or harm the vehicle. The boss will kill us!” The smaller one pleaded.

“I will do my best, but no promises!” I said. Then, we proceeded to put on the mechanic’s uniforms to disguise ourselves. I put the hooded portion of the uniform over my head to hide my blue face which would make us stand out too much in the crowd. Next, we lowered the scaffold that held up the hover car and got inside. I put the key in the ignition and it started up immediately.

We zoomed out of the mechanic’s shop and out into the busy street. There were hover cars of every description all around us making it hard for us to go as fast as we possibly could. I zoomed up above the crowd of hover cars until we were higher than the rest of them. I pushed the pedal to the floor and we began to move so fast that the g-forces pushed us both back in our chairs. Unfortunately, we caught the attention of a police hover car below us. It zoomed up to our level and began to chase us.

“Damn it, we’ve got company,” David yelled.

I threw the car into a higher gear and we left the police man far behind us. Now we only had one more block to go. I could see the crowded town square just a short distance away. Before I could safely land us there, I would need to shake the police car. I directed the hover car back down into the traffic below us and the police car passed, still above us in the lane that we had been in. I brought the hover car to a halt just a hundred yards from the town square. I saw a huge platform that had been set up in the dead center of the square. A large rope with a noose hung from a pole on the platform.

“Hurry, there’s no time to lose!” I shouted as we got out of the hover car.

Chapter Nineteen

Jessie

The cuffs around my hands were starting to hurt my wrists. The policemen treated me roughly, pushing me along the walkway as soon as they got me out of the hover van. I looked up and scanned the crowd for any sign of rescue, but saw only unkind faces. There had to be a thousand people assembled around the town square where a huge platform had been erected just for this occasion. I looked high up above me at the noose that was hanging down from a tall pole. The more well off people in the crowd were dressed in their garish suits, but even the commoners that cleaned the streets were gathered there. It seemed that the only thing that brought together the different classes was a public execution. As I looked out over the angry faces and fists that people were raising in the air, I thought of how little progress we had made as a society compared to some of the planets I had visited. Sure, we had hover cars, jet packs and high-speed hover trains that could go from New York to Los Angeles in two hours, but we were still a brutal and divided society. The people dressed in suits were all huddled together towards the front while the commoners were all on the fringes, just like they were in every other aspect of society. I shook my head and wondered if these people would really want to see my head in a noose if they knew my story. All that they had been told was that I was a traitor that deserved death and that was enough to ignite their bloodlust.

I looked to my left and several security guards and policemen armed with laser guns began to escort the main judge out to a remote microphone attached to his expensive-looking, outlandish suit. In the years, since my childhood and on, the members of the upper classes had gone out of their way to make themselves stand out even more from the increasing number of poor people with brightly colored, specially-made suits made from rare materials. The sight of them disgusted me because I knew that their opulence had resulted in the increasing desperation of the majority of people. When the judge appeared, everyone began to cheer for him. I was later told that this judge had his own virtual reality program that was one of the most popular shows at that time.

The judge put his arm into the air to get everyone’s attention. The crowd stopped its deafening roar to hear what this virtual reality star had to say.

“As you all know, I am Judge Randall and I have been asked to come here today to pass judgment on a revolting traitor that has turned her back on her country and her comrades!” As soon as he said this, the yelling and booing returned. I looked away from the scowling and jeering people, hoping to catch sight of my rescuers, but I didn’t spot them.

“She was tasked with finding and bringing Karkastians to justice and instead, she chose to injure her own comrade and go AWOL, helping an enemy combatant and then stealing a space pod to make her escape!”

“BOO! Down with the traitor! Hang her!” they yelled.

I loved how the judge left out certain parts of the story like how James nearly killed Yahn when his orders were to capture him. The judge knew what the crowd wanted to hear and he was going to continue to play upon their bloodlust.

“Let her execution stand as a symbol of our continued unity and desire to root out all known evil in the universe, even when it resides amongst us.” When he said this he cast a judgmental gaze in my direction. I looked at him indifferently to show that his words did not affect me. Deep down I was scared out of my wits- scared of dying when I was so young and had so much left to live for.

“Alright, boys, the time has come. I Judge Randall find the defendant guilty of treason! Her punishment is death by hanging!” The crowd went wild, and it chilled my blood to think of all of these people that desired my death without knowing the full story. I was also shocked by the primitive nature of executions. It seemed that painful, old-fashioned methods of execution had come back into style to act as a deterrent against those that would rise up against the established order.

The guards pushed me forward and led me to the stairway that led up to the high platform where the gallows awaited me. My heart began to pound faster in my chest the higher up we climbed. When I reached the platform, I gazed out over Washington at the tall towers, hover dwellings and glass walkways. I looked at the crowded hover ways above what used to be roads and thought that it looked ugly compared to the forested mountains of Padure or even the swirling gasses of Neutomia. We had created a civilized monster compared with many other planets. One of the guards pushed me over the collapsible floor and placed the noose around my neck. I closed my eyes and sought out Yahn one last time.

Goodbye, my love. I will always remember the precious times that we spent together. If there is another plane of existence, I will wait for you there.

No need, we are here and we are going to save you, Jessie. Yahn answered me. I looked through the crowd and noticed a loud commotion over to the right of the platform.

“Stop this brutal execution right now or these men will meet their fate!” David shouted. I looked hopefully over in the direction of his voice and saw Yahn on one side of a group of policemen and David on the other with their guns pointed at them.

“What is this?” Judge Randall said indignantly into the microphone.

“This is your chance to save your men and give up the prisoner!” David shouted back. The crowd began to chat amongst themselves in confusion.

Some of the judge’s advisors, including the chief of police, came up and began to whisper to him.

“I said release the prisoner!” David repeated. The judge looked up at the guards, reluctantly and gave them an order.

“Go on and do it. We will not risk the lives of our men. However, these men will not get away with their attempt to usurp our divine system of judgment!” the judge said, indignantly.

One of the guards removed the noose from around my neck and they led me down the stairway, pushing me when I didn’t move fast enough to suit them. I breathed a sigh of relief as they brought me over to David’s side. The crowd began to shout at us as we slowly began to back away from the scene. David and Yahn had four officers with us that they ordered to get into the back of their hover car. I got in the front with David and Yahn. Yahn took the wheel. The armed policemen closed in behind the car, with their laser guns drawn.

“Allow us to escape or we will execute your precious officers, immediately! I am not joking!” David said. Yahn threw the car into a high gear and we took off over the crowd. Almost immediately a whole fleet of police hover cars began to chase us.

“Hold on!” Yahn said as he put the pedal to the floor and the hover car jolted forward. We began a jarring chase through the city. Yahn would take sudden turns and dips as the policemen began to reach us. Luckily, they had gained access to one of the fastest hover cars on the market and we were able to stay ahead of the police cars so that they couldn’t surround us.

“Look!” David shouted as he took out the owner’s manual from the glove compartment and pointed to a red knob to the left of the steering wheel. These new models are equipped with a cloaking device! Just hit the red button and we should be able to give them the slip.”

“It will help, but they will still be able to pick us up on radar,” Yahn said as he pushed the red button. Seconds after we became invisible, Yahn took a sharp right turn and guided the car up above the main traffic lanes and above the clouds. He turned on the hyperdrive and put the pedal to the floor. The car went so fast, we were pressed against our seats, unable to move due to the g-forces. The combination of our invisibility and Yahn’s quick maneuvering had helped us lose the police. We stayed up above the clouds until we reached the outskirts of the city. We saw police cars everywhere, so we stayed where we were until we were far out in the country. We stopped at a fueling station on a hover platform and turned off the invisibility device.

“Alright, I think it’s safe to release the prisoners now,” Yahn said.

“You heard him, out of the car!” David said. The four policemen frowned at us and got out of the back seat. They were still handcuffed to one another. A fuel station worker looked at us and the officers in puzzlement.

“Have a great day!” I said to the worker as we turned the cloaking device back on and left the station. Seconds later, several police hover cars arrived on the scene, but we were long gone.

I leaned over and kissed Yahn as my eyes grew watery. I became emotional thinking of how close I had come to death.

“I didn’t think anything was going to save me. I really thought I was going to die,” I said as Yahn took my hand.

“I wasn’t going to let that happen, my dear. You are safe now, but we need to think of our next move,” he said.

“I know. My uncle used to have a cabin deep in the woods about twenty miles from where we are. I’m sure it’s still there.” I pulled up the hover car’s navigator and typed in the location.

“There, to the northeast just south of Grinder’s Creek,” I said. Yahn nodded, looked at the navigator and we began to head in that direction.

I looked down and saw the small cabin, surrounded by forested hills and memories of my childhood came streaming back. My uncle owned about fifty acres of woods and fields. Private land holdings such as these were becoming a rare thing because the government was buying up more and more land for development.

We landed the car in a field outside the barn. We kept the cloaking device on and turned the car off. Now that the car wasn’t running, the police wouldn’t be able to track us. We quickly got out of the hover car and walked over to the cabin that sat on the edge of the woods. The door was locked, but I knew that there was a key around the back under a brick, so I went and got it and opened the door. Yahn and David were amazed to see an old fashioned door that opened with a key rather than a retina scan door or an electromagnetic key like the doors of the prisons.

“I haven’t seen a building or a door like this in many years,” David remarked.

We got inside just in time as a police hover copter scanned the area and then moved on.

“We should be able to hide out here for a while safely,” I said and sat down in a wooden rocking chair that my uncle had made himself.

Chapter Twenty

Yahn

Jessie told me that we were far enough away from everything and that we would be able to rest here, at least for a while. Nonetheless, we did not let our guard down and took shifts patrolling the area around the cabin. Luckily, there were hundreds of acres of remote wooded land around her uncle’s property that was still intact because of a paper company’s holdings and a National Forest just a few miles down the road. After a couple of days of quiet came and went, we began to relax a little bit.

One evening while David was on his shift, I went up behind Jessie and began to kiss her neck. With everything that had happened recently, we had very little time alone with each other. Jessie sighed, turned around and began to kiss me. Of all of the ways to show affection that were different from the Karkastian way, this was one of my favorites. I put my arms around her as our tongues began to intertwine. Slowly, I slid her clothes off of her and began to kiss her from her neck down to her breasts. She pulled me down on the bed on top of her and we began to make love. It was fast and furious and I had to close my eyes to keep it from being cut short. Jessie looked so gorgeous with her eyes rolled back in her head and her large breasts bouncing up and down. Karkastians didn’t have breasts, and I had never realized what I was missing out on when I was with females of my own kind. As I watched her writhing with pleasure, I thought of how gorgeous she was. I knew that I was falling deeper in love with her, a feeling that I wasn’t aware of until I met her.

After we finished making love, we sat together in bed talking and enjoying the sounds of the evening in the forest coming from the open window in our bedroom.

“Do you think there will ever be a time when we will not be on the run?” Jessie asked me.

“Of course, I do. I know it’s hard to believe because we’ve pretty much been on the run since we met, but I still believe we will find a place for us,” I answered.

“’Somewhere, a place for us,’” she began to sing. “That’s an old song that my mother taught me from a very old musical called, West Side Story. It’s about two lovers who are from two groups that are considered enemies of each other,” she said.

“Sounds like us. What is a musical?” I inquired.

“It’s like a show where there are actors and actresses, but it is set to music. I would love to be able to take you to one someday, but since musicals take place in cities on Earth, that’s not likely to happen,” she said, sadly.

“I love the song you were singing. Would you sing some more of it?” I asked.

“Of course,” she said, taking my hand. She sang the entire song and I felt even more in love with her, listening to the sound of her singing voice, which was one of the most beautiful things I had ever heard. As I listened to the words, I felt as if they were about us, though I knew that they had been written long ago about fictional characters.

We fell asleep in each other’s arms soon after she finished singing, not worrying about the police or any of the others who wanted to find us. The next morning, we had a serious discussion with David about our next move.

“We have remained here long enough. We will need to leave soon before they find us,” David stated.

“They have already searched the area and haven’t found us. I say we can remain here for as long as we can. It’s relatively safe and there is plenty of wild game in the forest to keep us fed,” Jessie argued.

“I disagree. It’s only a matter of time before they find us here. We’re like sitting ducks. I say we find a town, steal a space cruiser and leave Earth again. We could head back to Padure again. Oh, how I miss the vast forests of Padure. This place reminds me a lot of it, but it isn’t safe for the long term,” David argued.

“I have to agree with David,” I stated. Jessie gave me a disappointed glance when I said this.

“This is my home, and it’s hard for me to give up on the idea that I could one day live here again,” Jessie said.

“I understand. I had to give up my home and my people if you remember. David too has given up his home planet and now considers another one to be his home. This is the way of things, and the sooner you resign yourself to this, the better off you’ll be,” I said, softly, holding her hand. I could tell that she agreed with me, but it was difficult for her. I comforted her the best I could. Soon, we had to turn our attention to other matters. We agreed that we would leave fairly soon, but in the meantime, we needed to replenish our food supplies, which were dwindling.

Jessie and I went into the surrounding forest to hunt for game. She said there were plenty of wild animals around, including strange creatures that she called deer and bears. She told me that bears were very large, hairy creatures with sharp teeth and claws. This made me nervous and made me think of the Maramoks back home, which were similar in description to bears.

Suddenly we heard some movement in the forest. We began to move in the direction of the sound. Suddenly, a man came out of the woods with a laser gun pointed at us. He had an outfit on that was green so he could blend in with the surrounding forest. I assumed it was to provide him with camouflage for hunting purposes.

“Freeze! Hold it right there!” he said. He was tall with dark hair and dark eyes.

“Please don’t shoot, we are just hunting,” Jessie pleaded.

“Hunting with a Karkastian? You are two of the fugitives they’ve been talking about on the news, aren’t you?” he said. “There’s no use lying about it because there aren’t any other Karkastians besides you, are there?” he said.

“Look, sir, we just want to live in peace and find some food. We don’t mean anyone or anything any harm,” I stated.

“None of that means anything to me. I just want the reward that they are offering. If I bring you in, I will receive fifty million dollars. That’s enough money for a country boy to live quite comfortably,” he answered.

When it became obvious that this human had no intention of letting us go, I used my telekinetic powers to take his gun from him.

“What the...?” He said as his gun slipped out of his hands and into my own. Jessie and I both pointed the guns at him and he began to take off running through the woods.

“Come on, after him! We can’t let him get away!” I shouted. We took off after him through the woods, not knowing exactly what direction that we were heading in. Finally, we saw a small cabin beside a stream in a tiny clearing just up ahead. The man ran inside the cabin and seconds later, he began to fire a laser gun at us through an open window. We took cover behind some trees and returned fire. This continued for some time without either of us being able to shoot the other.

“We have to kill him, unfortunately, or he will tell someone we’re out here, for sure!” I said as I continued to fire my gun at the man. The cabin was beginning to catch fire from all of the laser fire. As soon as I made this statement, we heard a cry come from some distance away, in the direction of Jessie’s uncle’s cabin.

“It’s David! It sounds like he’s in some trouble. We have to go and help him,” Jessie urged.

“What about him?” I asked, referring to the man in the cabin.

“We will have to let him go for now. We can’t just leave David to fend for himself,” she answered. Reluctantly, I agreed and we left the area and began to make our way back towards the cabin as quickly as we could. We heard another cry of distress a few seconds later.

As soon as we reached the clearing that the cabin was located in, we saw what was happening. David was up in a tree and a very large black bear was walking around the base of the tree looking up at him. It let out a loud growl when it saw us.

“Eh, you know that bears can climb trees, don’t you?” Jessie said to David.

“I know that, but I didn’t know what else to do. I sure can’t outrun a bear and my laser gun is inside the cabin. I couldn’t get past the bear to get to it,” he answered in a shaky voice.

I took aim at the bear and took a shot. It moved out of the way at the last minute and began to run into the forest. Jessie and I chased it, but it escaped into the trees. David climbed down and ran into the cabin. We couldn’t help but laugh at him when he emerged from the cabin holding the laser gun in front of him with his knees trembling.

“Don’t laugh at me. You’d be scared too if that huge bear had you cornered,” he said, with his face red with embarrassment.

“Sorry, David. Seriously, we are going to have to get out of here very soon. We encountered a hunter in the forest about two miles east of here. He has a cabin about another two miles from where we saw him. He recognized us from the news and tried to capture us, but Yahn took his laser gun from him. We tried our best to take care of the situation, but we heard you cry out and had to leave him. I have no doubt that he is probably heading to town to tell the authorities. We need to form a plan of action and then get out of here as quickly as we can,” Jessie stated.

“See? I told you this place wasn’t as safe as you thought. We need to head to town in the opposite direction from where you went hunting and get a space cruiser and leave this planet!” David said.

“We need to replenish ourselves with some food first. We didn’t manage to shoot anything before the hunter saw us,” I said in frustration.

“Well, I caught a couple of rabbits in some snares that I set outside of camp. That’s the good news. Let’s have a proper meal and then we can discuss our plan of action. After that, we need to head out of here as soon as we can. If I had my way, I would say that we should leave right now,” David emphasized.

“We can travel much faster once we have more energy,” Jessie argued, and I agreed. I agreed to watch the perimeter of the clearing while Jessie and David prepared the rabbits for our meal. The smell of the cooking meat was making my mouth water. My body was aching for a proper meal. Oh, how I longed for a batch of kerfol, the plant that I used to love so much on my home planet. I would have to settle for human food though.

“It’s ready,” Jessie said as she stuck her head out of the open window. I went inside and we ate until our stomachs were quite full.

Chapter Twenty-One

Jessie

We ate the rabbit meat and packed our things, knowing that the hunter would have the authorities coming after us soon enough. David was very adamant about leaving the planet, and deep down we knew he was right. Yahn and I would be in more trouble than ever if we were caught. Now that we knew we were leaving Earth again, we had to figure out how. It wasn’t going to be easy trying to obtain a space cruiser with our faces all over the media. Luckily, David had a plan.

“I think we need to return to Padure and I think I know how we can do it,” David shared.

“Ok, we’re listening, but let’s figure it out fast,” I said.

"Well, I used to know this man named Harold Chambers, before I left Earth the first time, who had a shape shifting device. He used to run a business that would let people take on different identities. It was amazing how many people desired that. Anyway, I'm not sure if he still has the device or is still around, but he doesn't live that far from here. If we can take on new identities, we can get around without any trouble and buy a space cruiser. After we get a space cruiser, we can return to Harold and change our appearances back again. Then, we can be on our way," David suggested.

“I don’t know,” I said, feeling that this plan was a dubious one at best.

“I think he’s onto something,” Yahn said.

Deep down I knew that this plan was as good as any other. The truth of the matter was, I didn’t really want to leave Earth again. Part of me was still clinging to the idea of staying here somehow. After all, this was my home planet and always would be no matter what sort of trouble I was in. I took a deep breath and put my bag over my shoulder.

“Alright, let’s get going,” I said and went out the door. David and Yahn followed me and soon we were heading through the woods in the direction of Harold Chambers’s farm.

We went into the woods and walked for what seemed like forever. Every now and then, we would have to go through an open field or cross a road which we did, with the utmost caution. We kept to the backcountry and managed to keep from being spotted until David saw a familiar sight through the trees.

“There’s the barn and the windmill. Yep, this is Harold’s place alright. Haven’t been here in twenty years and everything looks just as run down as it did then. You two stay here and let me go and talk to him. He will be more likely to help us that way.” David walked through the field and went to knock on the door of a shack that looked as if it might fall in at any moment.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Harold said, flinging the door of his shack open. He held a laser gun, which looked to be a very old, rusty model.

"Harold, it's me, David. I know it's been twenty years, but surely you remember your old friend," David said as he put his hands in the air.

“David? I heard you were dead,” Harold shared as he lowered his gun.

“No, not just yet. Feel practically dead some days.”

“Where have you been hiding out?” Harold inquired as he came up and put his hand on David’s shoulder.

“Padure. I had to hide out once I became an outlaw.”

“Beautiful place I hear. What can I do for you, old pal?”

"My friends and I are fugitives and we need to disguise our identities. Do you still have the shape shifting device?"

“Sure do, it has grown into quite the business I tell you. You would be surprised how many people want to change their identities these days. I just saw something about you and your friends.”

“We don’t have time to explain, but they are good people and don’t deserve the situation that they’re in. I have to warn you, though, one of them is a Karkastian.”

“You are keeping some strange company these days, old pal. I heard all about this on my virtual reality player. You guys are being portrayed as public enemy number one. You rescued the girl from being executed and shot up the cops. Pretty crazy stuff for an older timer like you,” Harold said.

“Yeah, it was an unjust execution and we had to stop it. I don’t have time to go into all of the details.” David was getting a little impatient.

“Alright, guys, you can come out now!” David shouted to us. We came out of the woods and Harold looked at us suspiciously. He was a thin, bald man with brown slits for eyes.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Jessie and this is Yahn,” I said, extending my hand. He shook it and eyed Yahn with the same suspicion.

"Harold, we have no time to lose. Can you take us to the shapeshifting machine?" David asked.

“Sure, sure. Technically it’s the SS78-Kx," Harold corrected him. He led us to the back of his shack and opened the door of a metal barn. Towards the back of the barn, there was a clear tunnel connected to a control panel.

“Alright, whose first and what do you want to change into?” Harold asked as he sat down in a chair in front of the control panel.

“Eh, how about you choose for us. We need to look like a normal human family that’s on vacation,” David suggested.

"Hmm, alright. Who wants to go first?" Harold asked.

“I’ll go,” I answered, a little reluctantly.

“Ok, young lady. Hold onto the rail as the conveyor takes you through the tunnel. It won’t hurt a bit; just feels like you’re being tickled all over for a few seconds,” Harold shared as he made some selections. He kept his choice for my identity private. I walked up the stairs and entered the tunnel. Harold pushed a few buttons and the tunnel began to light up with pulses of electromagnetic energy. The narrow floor beneath my feet began to move and I began to feel a tingling sensation that started at the top of my head and moved down my body. Once I came out the other side of the tunnel, a large mirror awaited me. I looked in the mirror and was shocked to find that I was now a middle-aged man with dark hair and a mustache. I couldn’t help but laugh at my new appearance.

“How do you like it?” he asked.

“Very interesting choice,” I said.

“Well, you don’t want to be caught, do you?”

Soon, David and Yahn went through the machine, and their appearance was even funnier than mine. David was now a five-year-old boy with red hair and Yahn was a tall, busty brunette female.

“Wow, you look pretty hot,” I teased as Yahn came and stood beside me. His expression showed that he wasn’t the least bit happy about being changed into a girl.

“Alright, Harold, what do we owe you?” five-year-old David said.

“Little boy, you don’t owe me nothing. It’s the least I can do for an old friend,” Harold said, kneeling down to David’s level. David glared in response.

“We need to get going,” Yahn stated.

“You’ll be needing a hover car to cover ground faster. I’ve got just the thing.” Harold waved to us to follow him to the very back of the barn. He took a sheet off of the vehicle and showed us an older model, silver hover car.

"She's old, but in excellent shape,” Harold said with pride.

“Buddy, I will do my best to repay you some day, if I can,” little David said. “We will back once we’ve purchased a space cruiser to transform back into our former selves.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay that size? You two better do the talking. If David opens his mouth, you will look suspicious for sure,” Harold laughed.

“We will,” I said, surprising myself with my new, booming male voice.

“No one will be able to recognize you now. If you wanted, you could probably stay on Earth with these disguises so long as David gets himself into school,” Harold continued to joke.

“I think you’re having a little too much fun at my expense,” David stated in his five-year-old voice.

“Ok, we had better get going,” Yahn stated in his female voice, making me laugh.

“Why don’t you let me drive, honey?” I had to laugh at the sound of my voice again.

"Best stay away from the main hover ways. There are bound to be a few checkpoints set up and you don't have valid ids on you," Harold said. "I'm afraid I can't help you with that."

"I can't thank you enough, buddy. We'll be back soon with a space cruiser in tow," David squeaked.

We thanked Harold and got in the hover car. The controls in the car were primitive by modern standards, but it was in good condition. I put the car in gear and we headed for the country. It felt good not to have to worry about being spotted by anyone, although being a man took some getting used to. Finally, after an hour or so, we came to the outskirts of the city. The forests and fields gave way to hover dwellings and tall, glass towers. The noise of hover cars replaced the relative quiet of the country. We stopped at the first space cruiser dealership we could find. We had very little money, so we were going to have to steal the cruiser.

A salesman in a shiny spacesuit came over to us as we looked over various models. All of the salesmen at that shop wore that same outfit, which made them look a little silly.

"I see you're checking out the S-150, but I have to say that it is not going to give you the fuel economy and space that your family will need. Where you headed?"

“Mars,” I said, not wanting to reveal our true destination.

“Ah, well that won’t take you all that long in this beauty,” he said as he walked over to a larger, sleeker model. It was much more spacious with two rows of seats in the front and a large cargo deck in the back. It was equipped with four thrusters instead of the usual two.

"This is the KLD-459, a little more expensive but well worth it for the speed, power, and spaciousness," he said.

“Can we test drive it?” I asked.

“Sure, just need a driver’s license for the person driving it and I need you to fill out this document,” he said as he pulled out a compact digital screen and handed it to me. We all looked at each other when he asked for a driver’s license.

“Eh, we left our licenses at home. Can we still test drive it?”

“Hmm, yeah, well, I don’t know if the boss will go for that. Wait here and I’ll go and check with him.” The salesmen went inside the dealership, which was designed to look like a space station. David went over to the cruiser and looked through the window.

“He left the keys in it. Come on, let’s take it and go before he gets back!”

Yahn got in the hover car to follow us and David and I got in the space cruiser. We started it up and took off just as the salesman came running out of the building, shaking his fist at us. We made for Harold’s farm as quickly as we could.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Yahn

When we got back to Harold’s farm, we went back through the shapeshifting machine so that we could transform into our actual identities.

“Wow, you got a KLD-459! I guess if you are going to steal a space cruiser, you might as well get a stylish one. Good choice. Are you going to stay the night or take off right away?” Harold inquired.

“I’m pretty beat, myself, I think we should stay here just for the night,” Jessie said.

“Well, we better not stay any longer than that. It will only be a matter of time before they come looking for us in this area.” David was obviously nervous. He would go to the window and look out into the fields every few minutes.

“You are certainly most welcome to stay, but David’s right. You better get going pretty soon,” Harold agreed.

After dinner, Jessie and I went to our room. We were both anxious to spend some time alone for a change. I put my hands on Jessie’s back and began to rub it. She was very stiff and tense.

“Try and relax, my love. We will leave this planet tomorrow and be free of the threat of capture.”

“And then we will be without a home again, left to wander the universe.” Jessie was still not resigned to the idea of leaving her home planet once and for all.

“Jessie, no one knows more than I do how hard it is to leave your home behind once and for all, but we have to continue to believe that we will find a place where we belong. I know I’ve said it before, but I still believe it.”

“I know you’re right, but I keep seeing the look on my parents’ faces when I was in prison. I’m having a hard time coming to grips with the fact that I may never see them again.” I held her tight as a few tears flowed from her eyes.

"We are going to be alright, and you never know what fate may bring. You may yet see them again before it's all over." Jessie turned around to look at me, and I wiped the tears from her eyes. Then, we kissed, sharing a long, passionate moment. Jessie's clothes fell to the floor and she pulled me on top of her.

“Make love to me. Help me forget all that I’m leaving behind me,” she whispered. I caressed her long legs and we made love, starting off slow and tender and working our way up to a feverish pace. We were careful not to try and make too much noise in order to keep from disturbing the others. We fell asleep wrapped in each other’s arms.

Unfortunately, the dawn brought some unwelcome visitors with it. Harold came running into the room with a look of urgency on his face.

"Quickly, you have to get going. The police are here. I'm pretty sure old man Patterson, my next door neighbor must have spotted you and called them. You know they're offering $2 million as a reward for your capture. I have a secret passage leading out of the basement. You have to leave now before it's too late!"

We threw our belongings together and made for the basement just as the police knocked on the door. David was already there when we found the passageway, which was activated by a secret lever. It was made to look like part of the wall.

We took off down the dank, dark tunnel. It smelled like damp Earth and felt very cool. Finally, after about two hours, we came out the other side in a small field surrounded by forest.

“I wonder where we are,” Jessie mused. David took out his crystal screen phone and asked it.

“Where are we?”

“You are in the dead center of Gordon County about five miles south of Franklin, Maryland,” A friendly voice spoke up.

“Not sure that’s very helpful. I have no idea where that is,” David said shaking his head. A second later, the device began to ring and Harold’s face showed up on the screen.

"Ok, you can come back now. The cops are gone. They couldn't find anything so they finally left. I told them that the neighbors must have gotten confused. I said the people that they saw were my visiting relatives that just left. They acted a little skeptical about my story, but they had no evidence to keep them here. You better get going, though. Obviously, my nosey neighbors are on the lookout," Harold shared.

“Thanks again, my old friend- for everything. If it wasn’t for you, we would be in custody again, awaiting our execution.” David hugged Harold and we both shook his hand. We climbed aboard the space cruiser and I was at the helm. Soon, we began to the launch sequence and began to cruise up into the upper layers of the atmosphere. Jessie looked back over her shoulder at Earth as it became a small blue ball below us.

It felt good to be back in the quiet reaches of outer space again, but I could see from Jessie’s expression that she was home sick. I put my hand on hers and smiled.

“Don’t forget. Somewhere there’s a place for us,” I spoke softly and patted her hand as David set the navigator for planet Padure.

After about a week of space travel, Padure finally came into view. As we came closer and closer to the surface of the planet, we could clearly see that something was different; something was not quite right. The planet was still a lush green ball, but there seemed to be great patches that had lost their greenery and huge billowing clouds of smoke rose up from these places.

“What’s happening? Something’s amiss here,” David stated as he looked down on his home planet.

“It’s the Sarceastians, I’ll bet,” I said as I shook my head.

"I knew they might still have an interest in this planet, but I had no idea that they would wreak this much havoc." David sighed as he got into his chair and prepared for landing. We touched down well away from the burning sites so that we wouldn't be spotted. After we landed, we climbed up on a nearby ridge and got a better idea of the devastation. There were still large chunks of lush forest dotting the landscape, but huge areas had been completely denuded. We could see large, domes set up on tripods like gigantic spiders. There were materials coming out of pits that had been dug into the ground that was traveling up conveyor lines into the domes. We could see Sarceastians working around the pits moving about like tiny ants.

“Son of a bitch! They’ve set up mining operations and they’re cutting down the forest.” David’s nostrils flared out in anger and he threw a rock over the ridge out of anger. “The Sarceastians will never rest until they’ve spoiled the whole universe!”

We went back to our space cruiser and pulled out an electronic landscape scanner so that we could see what things were like in the direction of David’s home to the east.

"According to the scanner, we should be able to stay in the forest and make our way to your house. There is a clear cut about two miles to the west, so we need to steer clear of that," I said. David seemed hopeful that we were going to be able to get back to his home, but the prospect of living there safely seemed to be fading. We loaded our backpacks with supplies and did our best to cover the space cruiser with vegetation to at least keep the Sarceastians from spying it at a distance. We took off through the forest, stopping after an hour to sample some fruit from a Gulanor tree that tasted very sweet and filled our bellies. The calm and quiet of the forest relaxed David's mood a bit until we heard the sound of a large machine in the distance cutting down more acres of forest. When David heard this sound, he got to his feet and put his hand on his laser gun.

“Just wait until I get even with them for what they’ve done,” he said.

Jessie and I looked at one another, but we didn’t respond. I could tell that we were both thinking the same thing.

There's no way that we can go up against so many of them Jessie shared with me.

I know but it wouldn’t do to tell David that now. He’s already so upset.

We walked on for the next several miles in silence until we came to the familiar site of David's house. David ran out of the forest, through the field and up to his old home. Unfortunately, it was now a pile of rubble. The house was never in great shape, to begin with, but now it looked more like a woodpile than a home. Jessie and I stayed back and gave David his space as he sorted through the remains. He gathered together what personal belongings he could find. When he found a picture of his now deceased wife in a cracked picture frame, he fell to his knees and began to cry. Jessie and I came up to him and I put my hand on his shoulder.

"Things could be so much worse. We could be standing on a high platform awaiting execution. Instead, we escaped and now we're here. Where there is life, there is still hope," I said. David got to his feet and nodded his head. He took his bag of belongings that he had gathered and walked back into the forest.

“Come on guys, it would be best not to stay in the open for long. Obviously, the rotten Sarceastians have been here and they are likely to be back at some point,” he finally said. We followed behind him until we were about a mile away from David’s house.

We pitched camp and set watches so that the Sarceastians couldn’t catch us unaware. We managed to hunt down some Cheekwallas, which are plump woodchuck-like beasts, so we were able to fill our bellies.

"That house was all I had left of my former life. Now, that's all gone. I'm a fugitive just like the two of you. I'll tell you one thing, I am so very grateful for your company and companionship," David allowed.

“That’s very kind of you. We are thankful for all the help that you have given us. One day, we will all have a place we can call home,” Jessie answered.

“This is my home. Even if the Sarceastians have set up permanent settlements here, I will not leave again. I will make it my mission to be a thorn in their sides and take out as many of them as I can. I will die being the defender of Padure so that I can help to preserve what’s left of its natural beauty. What do the two of you plan to do?”

Jessie and I looked at each other with the same quizzical expression.

“I don’t think we’ve planned far enough ahead to know our next move,” I said.

"Yeah, beyond escaping Earth and escaping execution, I don't have a clear strategy," Jessie mused. A cloud of melancholy seemed to linger over us as the evening came on. I took the first watch and began to walk around the perimeter, listening to the calls of unidentified night birds that sounded similar to owls. Luckily, there was no sight or sound of the Sarceastians anywhere. Around midnight, David woke up and came over to relieve me of my guard duties.

“I really used to love the sounds of the forest at night It pains me to think that this sound may one day be only a memory,” David shared.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Jessie

The next morning, we all agreed we needed to try and get some idea about how many Sarceastians were stationed on the planet. We wanted to determine if this was a temporary mining mission or if they had in fact set up a permanent or semi-permanent colony. We stuck to the forest so that we could have adequate cover. We noticed that several of the miners were traveling off to the east from the domes that they used to collect the minerals, so we decided to trail them, keeping at a safe distance. Soon, we spotted what we feared we might see. There was a large central dome with several smaller pods extending outwards from it. These structures were what the Sarceastians built when they had the intention of staying longer than a short time.

We could see the look of disappointment on David’s face when we looked out at the structure at the edge of the woods.

"It's as I feared. They aren't just here to remove some minerals, timber and move on. This is a colony that is meant to stay here for some time, which means they are going to wreak havoc on the ecosystem before they finally leave, if they ever do," David moaned.

As we walked back to camp, the mood was solemn. We began to discuss our next move. Yahn and I were both ready to move out and seek out another situation. David, however, was determined to try and do what he could for what he considered to be his only home.

“I think it’s best if we cut our losses and get off of this planet,” Yahn suggested.

“You two can go if you like, but I’m staying here to defend my home.”

Yahn and I looked at each other. As much as we didn’t see the point in going up against so many Sarceastians, we didn’t want to leave our friend to try and mount an attack on his own.

“What can we do to help you?” I asked. Yahn looked at me as if he were going to protest, but he didn’t.

David was sitting on a stump with his hand propping up his chin, deep in thought.

“Well, I was thinking- the cruiser that we bought has a self-destruct device that can probably be disconnected. If we could somehow get the device into the main dome of the colony, we could take out the majority of the Sarceastians all at once.”

“How are we going to get the device planted without putting ourselves in too much danger?” I inquired.

“I am willing to get myself captured. Then, once inside of the dome, I will find a way to plant it, even if I have to activate it inside of my own prison cell,” David reasoned.

“I would hate for you to have to blow yourself up to make that happen,” I pleaded.

“Well, I’m not as young and spry as the two of you. If there’s one thing I’d be willing to lay my life down for it’s this planet. It has provided for me all of these lonely years. It will be my chance to return the favor.”

It was obvious that there was no talking David out of his plan, so we stopped trying and walked back through the woods towards the landing site where we had hidden the space cruiser. Luckily, it had not been discovered, so we removed the vegetation that was covering it up and stood guard while David went inside the ship and began to try and dislodge the self-destruct device. Yahn faced towards the east with a laser cannon in his lap and I faced in the opposite direction, looking for any movement close by. All was still and quiet except for the sounds of birds high up in the trees.

“When we’re finished here, where would you like to go?” Yahn asked me, suddenly.

“I really have no idea. I’m afraid I didn’t have a plan other than to come here and help David,” I answered.

"I'm afraid I don't know either, but I don't think there is any permanent safety to be had on Padure any longer. Even if we destroy this colony, more of the Sarceastians will eventually come. Living a life of guerilla warfare is not what I envisioned for you and me," he said, looking over at me.

"Me neither. I suppose we can just keep searching until we find a habitable planet that is peaceful enough for us to live on," I mused. A few minutes later, David emerged with the device. It was a black, rectangular object about the size of a toolbox. David had also dislodged the control panel that activated the device so that he could detonate it. He took a remote ignition device and rigged it so that it could activate the control panel from a safe distance.

“Ok, now we have the device. Now all I have to do is disguise it and get captured,” David said with a smile. He took a bullet proof vest from the cargo hold of the cruiser and strapped the device to his back underneath the vest. He put the remote in his pocket. As soon as he had done this, we heard the sound of footsteps coming from the nearby forest.

“Quick, cover the ship back up and then we should climb up into the treetops!” Yahn stated in a low voice.

“Not me, I want to get captured,” David whispered.

“No, I have a better idea. We can wait in the treetops until they go by and then, we can come down and take them by surprise. Then, we can disguise ourselves in the guard uniforms, gain access to the dome and plant the device,” I suggested.

“Jessie, you’re a genius,” Yahn said as we quickly covered up the ship and climbed up into the trees. As soon as we had climbed up into the trees, a group of about four armed Sarceastians came walking through the forest. Luckily, they hadn’t noticed the space cruiser that was only about twenty yards from where they were marching. Once they had moved on, we quietly climbed down from the trees and began to follow the Sarceastian patrol with our laser cannons in our hands.

After a half-mile, Yahn nodded to David and me that the time was right to make our move.

“Freeze!” David shouted through his language decoder device. The Sarceastian guards turned around quickly and one of them even tried to fire a shot at us. David quickly shot him and disintegrated him. The others threw their hands up in the air.

"Off with the uniforms!" Yahn commanded them. They looked puzzled but began to take off the hoods and other clothing they wore. Sarceastians looked like hideous dark shadows with glowing red eyes underneath their clothes. Their form was vaguely human but more grotesque. We tied them to the trees and then made our way south towards the dome.

“Wow, that was easier than I suspected,” David said. His mood was beginning to lighten quite a bit.

"And to think, you were going to get yourself captured and risk being blown up," I teased.

David didn’t respond as we made our way to the edge of the forest.

“There’s only three of us. What are we going to say about the fourth guard?” Yahn inquired.

“We will say that a wild Ferondon got him,” David suggested.

“What are those?” I asked.

“They are large, cat-like beasts that roam the forest. Similar to cougars back on Earth, but larger and more formidable,” David shared.

“God, I hope we never encounter one of those,” Yahn said.

“Yeah, me too,” David answered. We put on our hooded guard uniforms and approached the nearest entrance to the dome. It was a round door that blended in with the side of the dome when it wasn’t being opened or closed. A tall guard stood beside it.

“What did you encounter on your patrol, and where is Germounter?” the guard asked.

“A large Ferondon ambushed us. It got him,” David answered. “Other than that, we didn’t see much of anything.”

“Hmm, that is most unfortunate. One of our wide patrols claimed that they saw a band of humans not too far from where you were searching. They must have moved on to another location. Go and write up your reports!” he commanded.

“Yes sir!” David said as the door suddenly opened in front of us. The three of us walked in and were nearly run over by a group of Sarceastians that were walking through, accompanied by a Sarceastian dressed in a fancier, silver robe with a captain's name badge. All around us were Sarceastians moving from place to place. The dome had about five levels, all connected with moving stairways. Everything was white and gray with little decoration or adornment. The Sarceastians were too busy with their operations to worry about art or the aesthetics of their buildings. This dome was very utilitarian- designed to house the guards, miners, and soldiers, and serve as a command post for their operation.

“We need to find the main reactor and place the device nearest to it so that we can be sure that the whole structure is destroyed,” David whispered. “More than likely it will be in the very center, at the lower level.”

Following his advice and relying on his knowledge of the Sarceastians, we walked behind David, down to the lowest level of the dome, beneath the ground. There were two guards standing beside a door that had some strange symbols on it.

"See that door over there? It is labeled with radioactive symbols. That has to be the main reactor," David told with us.

“Are the guards going to let us in and will there be any danger of being exposed to radiation?” Yahn asked.

“We will get inside, and we will only be at risk if we enter the room with the reactor. We aren’t going to get that close,” he answered.

We walked up to the guards who gave us a puzzled look.

"What do you patrol guards want here? You do not have access to the reactor!" one of them jeered.

“We have been given the orders to examine the area. We have reason to believe there may have been a breach of security. Captain Hersinger has given us the order,” David said. I admired his cleverness. He had remembered the captain’s name, whose badge he had read when we first entered the dome.

“Alright, but this is highly irregular,” the other guard said. A door slid open and we walked inside. There was an eerie blue glow coming from the center chamber where the main reactor was located. David took off his robe, unstrapped the black box and put it right next to the center chamber. One of the Sarceastian guards came into the reactor room just as David was putting his uniform back on.

“Who are you?” The guard asked, raising his laser cannon. Yahn fired a laser at him and he fell to the ground.

“Come on, we’ve got to get out of here and fast!” David urged as he got the rest of his uniform back on. We exited the lower chamber and the second guard approached us.

“What’s going on, I heard laser fire inside of the chamber,” the guard asked.

"My laser cannon malfunctioned," David answered. The guard looked over at us suspiciously. Suddenly, he pulled the hood off of my head and I was exposed.

"What is the meaning of this intrusion?" he asked, raising his weapon. "You will be coming with me!" David raised his laser cannon, suddenly and fired. The shot hit the guard right in the face. He let out a loud screech, attracting the attention of several Sarceastians. We ran as fast as we could towards the exit. I looked behind us and several guards began to chase us. A few of them shot lasers at us. I had to duck to avoid being hit by one of them. Finally, we reached the exit. The guard there tried to stop us, but Yahn shot him. As we reached the cover of the woods, we began to return fire and hit several of them, managing to escape in one piece.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Yahn

Once we were at a safe enough distance away, David took out the self-destruct remote and activated the sequence. A timer switched on, indicating that the device would go off in five minutes. We continued to put distance between us and the dome until we were several miles away. The timer ran out of seconds and soon we could hear a massive explosion far off in the distance. David smiled and took a deep breath.

“Take that you Sarceastian bastards!” he exclaimed. Then, he high-fived both Jessie and myself.

After a while, we decided to go back to the site of the dome to make sure that the entire facility was destroyed. We peered out from the cover of the forest at the devastation. There was nothing left but scorched earth and a burning pit left.

“It worked!” Jessie cheered.

“Shh! There are probably still Sarceastians around in the woods. They may have fled for safety, but they’ll be back. Come on, back to the camp. This calls for a celebration!” David stated.

We went back to the camp and celebrated with a meal of fruit and Barbalot meat. Barbalots were small rabbit-like mammals found only on Padure.

As the night came on, Jessie and I went to our tent while David continued to guard the camp in case any Sarceastian patrols might still be in the area.

“I don’t know about you, but I say we leave tomorrow,” I said as I watched Jessie undress.

“Yes, I am ready. Having to worry about Sarceastian patrols and the eventual arrival of more Sarceastian ships is not something I’m looking forward to,” she agreed. I ran my fingers through her hair and gave her a small kiss.

"I'm in the mood for some mind-melding," she said, raising her left eyebrow suggestively. I nodded and took both of her hands. We both closed our eyes, and I felt the energy of her love flowing from her hands to mine. Soon, I was overwhelmed with pleasurable sensations that flowed throughout my body. Both of us began to moan with delight as we reached orgasm at the same time. We lay together afterwards, listening to the sounds of the night. I was trying to find a nerve to ask Jessie to form a forever pact with me. Forever pacts were similar to Earth marriages. The pact bonded a couple together forever unless the pact was broken by a holy Kerkola, the Karkastian equivalent of an Earth pastor or priest.

“Jessie, there is something I’ve been meaning to ask you,” I finally got the nerve to say.

“Sure, what is it?” she asked. I got up and stood in front of her, taking her right hand in mine.

“Jessie, for some time now I’ve known that you were the only one for me. I want us to always be together, to be bonded to one another forever more. What I am trying to say is that I want to form a forever pact with you. Will you take this pact and be by my side for the rest of our days?”

"Yes, I will! Oh, Yahn. It's like you're asking me to marry you!" she became very excited as a single tear ran down her rosy cheeks.

“What does marrying mean?” he asked.

“It’s very similar to your forever pact. When you get married, it’s like you are bonded with each other for eternity in the eyes of God, which is the higher being that many humans believe in.”

“Yes, that does sound like the same thing,” I admitted.

“Do you exchange anything? Humans give each other rings as a symbol of their marriage,” she shared.

“Usually, the Kerkola, a holy Karkastian, binds the two lovers with golden rope, but I don’t have any,” I stated.

“Hmm, I have something that might work,” she said as she went to dig through her purse. She got out a gold necklace and brought it over to me.

“Here, this will work,” she said, handing it to me.

“Will we still be bonded even though a Kerkola isn’t present?” she asked me.

“Yes, as long as we say the sacred vow. Repeat after me,” I instructed her.

“I, Yahn do agree to form a forever pact with you, Jessie so that we can roam the universe bonded by love for the rest of our days. Now you,” I said.

“I, Jessie, do agree to form a forever pact with you, Yahn so that we can roam the universe bonded by love for the rest of our days,” she repeated. Then, I took her hand and wrapped the gold necklace around both of our arms.

Jessie gave me a long and loving kiss and pushed me down onto the cot from the space cruiser that we were using as our bed. She took off all her clothes and let me gaze upon her gorgeous, naked body before climbing on top of me. We consummated our pact and fell into a deep sleep. I dreamed of a palace in the clouds where we sat in peace looking down on a fair city of floating buildings below us. I knew that this city was the place we were hoping to find one day.

The next day, we woke up at the same time and prepared to say our goodbyes and make the trek back to the space cruiser.

“I really wish the two of you would stay, but I can understand why you don’t want to. It’s not the ideal life having to look over your shoulder all the time to watch out for a Sarceastian patrol,” David said.

“No, it isn’t the life for us, and you are more than welcome to come with us if you wish,” Jessie added.

"No, thank you for the invitation, but my place is here. I am going to re-build my home and defend it against the Sarceastians for the rest of my days. That is my destiny," David answered.

"We understand. We will miss you quite a bit, David. You are a true friend to us, and I hope that we might meet again one day," I said, shaking his hand.

“Whenever you wish to return, I will be here.”

"Goodbye, David," Jessie said, hugging David.

“Goodbye. Look out for each other!”

Just a moment after we entered the woods, we heard the sound of an approaching Sarceastian patrol. We hid behind the trees and drew our weapons, but we had been spotted. The forest lit up with red light from their laser fire. Several trees around us were set ablaze.

“They are behind the trees!” one of them shouted to the others. We returned fire from behind the trees, taking out several of them, but there were ten or so, and they continued to move in our direction.

“What are we going to do?” Jessie asked me.

"Just keep firing back, we are going to make it through this," I reassured her. Then, I fired a few more shots and killed another guard. There were now about six of them and they were almost upon us. From out of nowhere, David came up behind them, firing as he went. One by one he killed all of the guards except for one who was mortally wounded. The wounded guard fell to the ground but managed to fire one last shot at David near his heart. He let out a cry of distress and fell to the ground. I came out from behind the tree and shot the guard before he could lift his laser cannon again. Jessie and I ran over to David to check on him. He was barely breathing when we came over to him and knelt down.

“I am not going to be for long in this world. That guard managed to shoot me near the heart. You two must go on and leave me here. You have your whole lives in front of you. Leave this place and go somewhere that the two of you can truly be happy and live in peace. There is no peace here as long as the Sarceastians continue to return,” he said as he gasped for air.

“David, you need to save your breath. We are going to save you,” Jessie said, as her eyes filled with tears.

“There is no saving me. Please, leave before another patrol spots you. I’m certain that there are other Sarceastian patrols out there, and they will be looking for the humans that blew up their colony.”

“David, I want to tell you how grateful I am again about your help and your friendship. I will never forget you or the things that you have done for us. Go now to your eternal rest,” I said as I knelt down and took his hand.

"Thank you, Yahn. I would never have lived this long if it wasn't for the two of you. May God look out for you both for the rest of your days." David began to gasp for air and soon, he stopped breathing. I shut his eyes as Jessie put her arms around David and began to cry.

“No! You can’t die!” she exclaimed. I allowed her to shed her tears and hold him for a moment. Then, I took her by the hand and lifted her head up to face me.

“Jessie, he’s gone. We must leave soon before we are spotted by the other Sarceastians.”

“We have to bury him and give him a proper memorial,” she stated. I wasn’t sure what this meant. When Karkastians died, they were shot into space. However, since David was a human, I wanted him to be honored in the way that humans honored their dead. I helped Jessie dig a large hole near the site of the rubble that was once David’s house. We wrapped David’s body in material from his cot and placed him in the hole. Once we had covered him with dirt, Jessie said a few words in his honor.

“Lord, take David into your heavenly kingdom and reward him for a life of care and service for what he believed in. David was an honorable man who died defending his home planet against those that would pillage and destroy it. Be at peace, my friend, amen,” she stated, solemnly.

“Be at peace,” I repeated.

With heavy hearts, we walked back to the space cruiser and uncovered it. Luckily, there were no further signs of the Sarceastians. I comforted Jessie as she broke into tears again, holding her close to me.

"Come, my love, we must be on our way. Our journey doesn't end here. We must say our final goodbyes to Padure," I said. We stood for a moment on the ridge looking over the forested landscape that was interrupted here and there by the clear cuts the Sarceastians had caused.

We turned and got inside the space cruiser and began the launch sequence. As we began to lift off, Jessie took my hand and looked me in the eye.

"I vow right here and now to never leave your side. For David's sake, we will continue to live happy and free lives together for as long as we can." Jessie's eyes began to cloud with tears again as we looked down on the beautiful green landscapes of Padure. Soon it became a green ball in the distance as we moved through the stars into the vastness of space. Jessie began to look through the navigator at the nearby planets for a possible destination.

“Well, where to now?” she asked.

“It doesn’t matter to me as long as we’re together,” I said, feeling hopeful despite everything we had just been through. However, the loss of our friend still pervaded our mood.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Jessie

David’s memory still hung like a cloud over us as we tried to get ourselves together and figure out our next move. I searched the navigator, but couldn’t find too many planets in the immediate area that were inhabitable. There was Hetyor, a gas giant that had no living beings and an atmosphere so harsh it made Venus look like a vacation destination. Then there was Lodhurgloss that was far too hot and had such an arid climate that there was no water on its surface. Finally, we had to resign ourselves to stopping at another spaceport. These were always dubious destinations even under the best circumstances, but we would have to refuel soon and we didn't have many other options. The fact that we were wanted on Earth made us targets for bounty hunters and mercenaries. The space port was called Trevanan, and it was even more dangerous than Anarhie. For the most part, there was no law on the spaceport, and very few humans journeyed there due to the amount of murderers, robbers, and the likes of them on the planet. Most of the inhabitants were Reflominans, two-headed giants that had very little conscience.

"I hate to say it, but I think Trevanan is our best bet for refueling," I finally said.

“Are you sure there’s no better place?” Yahn asked.

"I wish there was, but all the planets in this sector are completely uninhabitable. Let's land, fuel up, and head out of there as soon as we can. If we keep to ourselves and don't stay long, maybe we can keep from attracting attention to ourselves." I knew this was foolhardy because a human traveling with a Karkastian was sure to turn heads just about anywhere in the known universe.

My mind turned again to David and how sad I was to have lost such a dear friend. The only silver lining was the fact that he had died defending the planet he loved. I comforted myself with this fact.

“Do your kind believe in an afterlife?” I asked Yahn, thinking of David’s fate.

“You mean life after death?”

“Yes.”

“Our kind believe that the energy and essence of our souls live on in another plane of existence. We believe that you spend the afterlife working through the problems that caused you trouble in your life until you reach a state called Kardenzol, which is like a perfect state of being."

“I guess that’s a little like the idea of heaven, which is this perfect place many humans believe that you go when you die if you have lived a virtuous life.”

“Is that what you believe?” Yahn inquired as the spaceport showed up on our radar.

“I don’t know what I believe anymore. I just hope for David’s sake that heaven or Kardenzol exists. I have to believe that if such a place is real, he’s there because he was such a decent human being.”

“Yes, I would like to believe that too.” Yahn smiled and put his hand on my knee for a second before preparing to land the space cruiser.

Trevanan soon came into focus as we lowered the space cruiser. It was not only less safe than Anarhie, it was also older and more run down. The buildings looked decrepit and decayed. There were even buildings there that were built directly on the ground, which was a rare thing at this time. Those buildings were in particularly rough shape. We began to move into position to land on a strip that began to show up on the radar screen. Normally, there were creatures in charge of such places, but no one came on our communication screen to give us permission to land.

“This is Yahn of Karkast, requesting permission to land on platform nineteen,” Yahn stated. There was no answer. We looked at each other doubtfully as Yahn lowered the ship.

“Again, this is Yahn of Karkast, requesting permission to…”

“Yeah, yeah, go ahead,” An annoyed voice said.

We landed and a Langmilian with his feet up on the desk looked us over. He didn’t give us a friendly greeting.

“Hello friend, we are in need of a refueling. Is there a station nearby?" Yahn asked. This Langmilian was not like the sleek, well-dressed beings we encountered on Anarhie.

“Yeah, there’s one about a mile from here.”

This seemed odd because usually the refueling stations were located right next to the landing sites in most spaceports.

“Is there one closer?” Yahn asked.

"Used to be, but it closed down," the Langmilian said, pointing to a boarded up building just to our west.

“Thanks,” Yahn said as we got back inside the space cruiser and headed down the road towards the station that was open. Once there, a surly human came out of a small hover dwelling and looked us over suspiciously. I did not like the way he was looking us over one bit.

"Can you fill her up?" Yahn asked politely. He nodded but did not offer any words of greeting. "Afterwards, we need to rent a port to keep our cruiser for a day or so." The man nodded again. He was portly and tall and looked as if it had been five or six years since he had shaved or taken a bath.

We left the refueling station and began to walk down what looked to be an abandoned street, the kind that were built way back in the twenty-first century. There were a few hover cars here and there, but not a whole lot of activity, otherwise. The few beings we did see, looked to be rough types. A gang of Reflominans eyed us and a few of them began to say inappropriate things to me. I began to wonder if I was the only female creature in the area. Yahn gave them a glare and kept a hand on his laser cannon, as did I.

Finally, we came to a high-rise hotel that was attached to the ground. This let us know that the building was quite ancient. When we walked through the door, a female Derinian gave us a surly look. Derinians had yellow skin and were almost completely round in shape. They usually had two sets of hands and very large eyes.

“One room?” she asked.

“Yes, please,” Yahn answered. She looked us over again.

“A Karkastian and a human together? That’s a new one,” she finally said.

“We’ve heard that one before,” I answered.

“Room 567- top floor. You can take the elevator or the stairs,” She said in a detached voice.

The fact that the hotel had an elevator showed us just how old the building was. Most high-rise dwellings used beaming technologies to take people up to higher floors, which was much faster and safer. The elevator jerked into motion dubiously but did get us to our floor. There was graffiti all over the walls, which reminded me of the ghetto areas back on Earth. It was very quiet, almost too quiet on the top floor.

“Well, we should be able to get some rest up here,” Yahn pointed out.

“I suppose, but I’m starving, and I couldn’t eat another ration.”

“Alright, I just hope that we can find a place that will have food that is edible,” Yahn said.

The room was dingy and cold. The carpet looked stained and it smelled like mildew and smoke. However, the bed did look as if it had clean sheets on it. We sat down our things and went back down the elevator in hope of finding a café. We were going to ask the Derinian, but she was nowhere to be seen.

"Well, stay close to me, I suppose we will have to find a place ourselves." Yahn smiled and took my hand. We went walking down the block past several more abandoned buildings until we heard loud music coming from the corner. Several Reflominans were coming in and out of the building, many of them stumbling as if they had been drinking too much.

“This may get a little rough, but I don’t think we have many other options around here,” Yahn stated.

We walked in and quickly realized that we were the only creatures that weren’t Reflominans. The two-headed beasts towered over us and gave us suspicious looks as we walked in. A few of them were whispering amongst themselves.

We went in and sat down at the bar. The bartender ignored us at first.

“Bartender? What do you have to eat?” Yahn asked politely. The bartender kept on scrubbing glasses and didn’t look up at first.

“Excuse me…” Yahn continued.

“We got Radagat stew and that’s all. We’re out of the rest,” he barked, without looking up.

“Alright then, two bowls,” Yahn answered. The bartender turned away from us, went in the back and came back with two steaming bowls of food. We were both so hungry that we ate the food as quickly as we could. The meat was tough and salty, but it was edible. Then, we ordered some ale. As soon as the bartender put the pints down in front of us, a really plump Reflominan came and sat down beside me, eyeing me inappropriately.

“How much for the female?” he asked in a low, gravelly voice.

“She is not for sale,” Yahn replied.

“Everything is for sale,” he laughed. “I will offer two hundred Bani for her. She is a nice specimen.”

“I’m really sorry, but she isn’t…”

“Then I will take what I want!” he shouted as he grabbed my hand. I drew my laser cannon and pointed it right at his head.

“You heard what he said, friend!” I shouted back. The creature began to laugh a deep-throated laugh and got up to leave.

“I see she’s got spirit too. Too bad, we could have had a really good time,” he said, before finally disappearing.

“You handled that well,” Yahn remarked, taking my hand. Just as I finished my pint, I looked towards the entrance of the bar and noticed the human from the landing site talking to one of the Reflominans. The human looked at us and pointed to our direction. The Reflominan started to walk towards us. I shook Yahn and whispered to him.

“We need to get out of here fast. I think that we’ve been identified.” Yahn turned and looked at the Reflominan that was approaching. He quickly put some Bani on the counter and asked the bartender a question:

“Is there a back door?”

“Yes, just there,” he said, pointing right behind the bar.

“Thanks.” Yahn grabbed my hand and we made our way through the crowd towards the door. The Reflominan saw our intention and began to run towards us. Soon we were out in the alley, and the Reflominan was right behind us.

“Stop right there!” he shouted.

We ran back towards the hotel down the abandoned streets. The Reflominan pulled out a large stun gun and fired it at us. Yahn pulled me behind the corner of a building just in time. The stun ray barely missed me. Yahn and I were pressed up against the side of the building waiting for the Reflominan to run by.

“When he comes, I am going to trip him, you be ready with your laser cannon,” Yahn instructed me. I nodded and waited. As the creature ran by, Yahn stuck out his foot and the creature fell to the ground with a loud thud. Yahn grabbed the stun gun and I pointed my laser cannon at his head.

“Why are you chasing us? Speak up!” Yahn yelled.

“Eh, there’s a reward of fifty thousand Banis for your capture and safe return to Earth,” the creature answered.

"I should have known. Listen up! At the count of three, I want you to run away as quickly as you can until you are well out of sight. Do you understand? Also, tell any of your friends that think that they are going to catch us that we will kill them before we will allow that. Understand?" The creature nodded, got up and began to run down the street.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Yahn

We watched as the Reflominan ran down the street. Just as he came to an intersection, he pulled a smaller stun gun out that had been strapped to his lower leg and began to shoot at us. I fired back and he disintegrated into a fiery pile on the sidewalk.

"That was probably for the best. The fewer creatures that know about our presence here the better," Jessie pointed out.

"Now, we've got to find that human at the landing port that tipped him off and see who else he's told," I said. We made our way back to the landing port and found the man polishing an older model space cruiser. I pulled out my laser cannon and came up behind him. Jessie pulled hers out as well.

“Hold it right there. Turn around so we can see you!” I commanded. The man turned and looked at us.

“Don’t shoot. I mean you no harm!” he pleaded.

“Really? If that’s the case, then why did you tell that Reflominan that we were here? Did you not hear that we were known fugitives and killers? Tell me why I shouldn’t blast you to bits right here and now?” I asked. The man began to sweat and shiver with fear.

“I only told Feron, the Reflominan you spoke of. He offered me part of the reward. I am very poor and needed the money.”

“Well he is now dead and you will soon be as well if you tell anyone else. Come on, Jessie, we have to hold this one prisoner until we’re ready to leave.” I took some rope that I found in the human’s office and tied up his hands. Then, we used a cleaning cloth to gag him. We took him back to the hotel and locked him in the closet.

"I would say that we leave right now, but the refueling station is closed. We will leave this place first thing in the morning as soon as the ship is ready. It's far too dangerous for us here. I had no idea that the news of our escape from Earth had traveled this far!" I mused.

“I’m not surprised. The virtual reality viewers and intergalactic light energy networks have made the universe a much smaller place,” Jessie stated. “Let’s try and get some rest.”

We lay together on the bed holding one another, trying to relax. Suddenly, the man in the closet began to make much noise trying to beat on the walls. I got up, opened the closet door and pointed my laser cannon at him.

“If you don’t’ stop making noise, I won’t hesitate to shoot you!” I said. He kept trying to talk through the gag. I removed it to see what he was trying to tell me.

“What is it?” I asked.

“I am thirsty. I haven’t had any water for hours. When are you going to release me?”

"As soon as we are ready to leave we will let you go, but not one minute before that. Hold on." I went and got a glass from the cabinet and filled it with water. It had a brown tint to it, so I wasn't sure how drinkable it was. I handed it to the man. He was so thirsty that he drank it all down. Then, I put the gag back on him and closed the closet door. He struggled a bit more and made some noise, but finally, he calmed down. I got back in bed and took Jessie's hand. We fell asleep, but deep in the night, Jessie woke me up. She climbed on top of me.

"Make sweet love to me," she whispered. I gazed up at her beautiful naked body as she writhed on top of my lap. She leaned down and gave me a long, passionate kiss as we worked our way up to a massive orgasm. We had perfected the art of reaching climax at the exact same moment and did so almost every time we made love. Then, we stared at one another and mind-melded. Our connection had grown so strong, that we could see what the other person was thinking at the point of orgasm. As the waves of pleasure washed over my body, I had a vision of a sunny, beautiful landscape with a small house on a grassy hill. Beside me there was Jessie, smiling and holding my hand.

“We’re home,” she told me. Then, I gasped with pleasure and opened my eyes.

“One day, we will make that vision a reality!” I said. Jessie smiled and kissed me and we fell into a very deep sleep.

The next morning, I woke up to find Jessie giving the man another glass of water and some food from the rations that we had. We had no choice but to eat the rations as well, having no other food. It was far too risky to try and return to the bar that we had gone to, the night before. Despite the fact that the rooms were quite old, each one was equipped with an older model of virtual reality player. The newer models didn't require viewing glasses, but these did.

“Let’s see if we can get some news about the outside world,” Jessie suggested. She handed me the glasses and switched on the virtual reality player. She began to move through the thousands of channels until she found a news program. The reporter looked as if she was standing right in front of us. We felt like we were right in the middle of the action.

Good afternoon from CNN Universal news, I’m Shelley Camden reporting from New York, USA, on planet Earth. Military sources tell CNN that enemy Sarceastian ships have been spotted near the vicinity of Mars in our very own Milky Way galaxy. Their trajectory seems to be the planet Earth. The ships are attack vessels, so we are certain that this isn’t an exploration mission. I talked to General Watkins a moment ago to get his opinion on the situation, here’s what he told me.

“Shelley, we have been keeping an eye out for a Sarceastian invasion for quite some time now and it looks as if they have finally gotten up the nerve to challenge us. The Sarceastians have conquered many areas of the known universe, but so far have gained very little ground in the Milky Way. Our allies on Mars have alerted us to the presence of the Sarceastian ships. There look to be about twenty of them, a fleet that is definitely large enough to cause major damage once they launch their attack. We are preparing and mounting a defense, but we are in need of aid if we are to conquer an attacking force of this kind. At this moment in time, many of our fighting forces are stationed elsewhere, ironically to guard against the presence of Sarceastians in other parts of the universe. We have called these troops back to Earth, but we aren’t certain that they will have time to get back to home base before the Sarceastians reach us.”

General, in your opinion, what is their likely strategy once they reach the planet?

"Shelley, it's likely that they will attack major population centers and military outposts. They have enough ships to attack both types of targets at once, so no one is safe from this threat. We advise everyone to take cover in bomb shelters within the next twenty-four hours. The Sarceastians are likely to reach us within forty-eight hours. We are mounting as large a defense as we can and will be calling on civilian groups to help us take up arms against this enemy."

Thank you, General. Well, as you can see, this is indeed a threat that we must take seriously. As more information becomes available, we will be here to share it with you. In the meantime, as the general said, it would be a good idea to take shelter if you have one with all of the necessary provisions. If you are a member of the civilian volunteer task force, you are asked to report to your nearest military base for duty. At this time, the military needs all the help that it can possibly get. This is Shelley Camden reporting from New York for CNN Universal news.

"Oh no, I can't believe this," Jessie said as she took off her virtual reality glasses and switched off the player. I took off my glasses and went over to her, putting my hands on her shoulders.

“Jessie, I am so sorry to hear about this news. I can’t really say that I’m totally surprised. To be honest, I can’t believe that it has taken this long for the Sarceastians to attack Earth. They have tried to take over just about every other planet in the universe.”

“Yahn, I can’t let this happen. My parents and everyone else I’ve ever known could be in danger. Those that aren’t killed by the initial attack will be enslaved. I don’t have to tell you how brutal they can be. No one knows better than you.”

“They will be lucky if any of them live to be enslaved. There’s nothing we can do to help your loved ones, I’m afraid. If we return to Earth, we will be captured ourselves. I don’t need to remind you that we are fugitives of justice, do I?” I knew how Jessie felt at that moment, but I knew that her emotions were getting in the way of her rational thoughts.

“I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t try my best to save them. There have to be some beings here that would be willing to help. We could generate an army that could deal the Sarceastians a real blow that would assist the Earthlings.”

“Jessie, the only creatures around here that would be willing to help are those that are getting paid handsomely. We only have a handful of Banis left, not even enough to recruit one soldier.”

“I’m telling you that we have to try. Just think how you would feel if this was your planet that was in danger. You would be trying everything you could to mount up a counter attack against the Sarceastians. You know I’m right,” Jessie insisted.

“I understand how you feel, certainly; but there is no way that we could help out. Even if we could gather together a sizeable army, we would have to leave this place within twenty-four hours to reach Earth on time.”

“You can argue against it all you want, but I’m not leaving today. I am going to do some recruiting,” She said as she gathered her things and began to head to the door.

“Wait!” she turned and looked at me with her arms folded.

“If you are determined to try and help your fellow Earthlings, I will assist you even though I think it’s a foolhardy thing to try. I can’t allow you to go out there on your own. You know how dangerous this space colony is. We need to seek out a bar where there is a little more diversity so we can increase our odds of finding worthy recruits. It would be best to avoid the bar we were in last night.” Just as I went to gather my things, I heard a noise in the closet and realized that we had almost forgotten our prisoner. I opened the closet, pulled the human out and untied him.

“You are free to go, but if you tell anyone else that we are fugitives, we won’t hesitate to find you and kill you. Do you understand?” I asked.

“Yes, sir. Please let me go, I swear I won’t tell anyone!” he begged. I let him go and we headed out.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Jessie

We went to the far end of the settlement to see what luck we would have finding recruits. The east end of Trevanan wasn’t any nicer than the west end where we had been staying. In fact, there seemed to be even more rundown buildings. What we did find was a little more diversity. There were quite a few humans and Langmilians, most of them rough types that would make good fighters if they could be inspired to lend a hand.

The first bar was full of cold mercenaries. A fight broke out at the bar as soon as we walked in and distracted many of the aliens there. It was full of Reflominans and Langmilians with one or two humans. We decided to go and try and recruit the humans first. We went over to a young-looking man with long hair. Judging from his weapons and his leather outfit, I guessed that he was probably a bounty hunter.

“Hello, my name is Jessie and this is Yahn of Karkast. We are looking to put together an army to help Earth, which is currently under attack,” I said.

He looked me over, smiled, and then looked at Yahn.

“Are you offering any money for this recruitment?” he asked.

“Don’t you want to defend your home planet?” Yahn inquired.

"Oh, the irony- a Karkastian telling me I should defend my home planet. The answer is no. I haven't been on Earth for twenty years. In fact, I'm wanted there for breaking and entering. Desperate times call for desperate measures," he said.

“Do you know of anyone that would be willing to help?” I asked him.

"Not unless you're willing to pay a lot of Bani. Good luck to you," he said, then he got up and walked away. We didn't have any better luck with any of the rest of the humans or other creatures we encountered there. In fact, we didn't have any luck until we came to the third bar, which had quite a few humans hanging out there. It was a bar made to simulate an ancient old West bar. It was called the Wagon Wheel. We went around and talked to a couple of uninterested people and began to get frustrated.

“Jessie, I’m telling you, it may be time to give up on this cause. No one wants to help unless we pay them,” Yahn reasoned.

"I'm not giving up. In fact, it's time to make an impassioned plea!" I stated. I jumped up on the bar, suddenly and stamped four times to get everyone's attention.

“Do a dance for us!” someone shouted, and I glared back at them.

“I am not here to dance for you. I am here to ask for your help. I know that many of you are from Earth and may have planned to return there before those horrible Sarceastians began their invasion. Now, I’m asking you to join the fight to help the planet that you call home!” At first, the response wasn’t great, but one or two of the humans began to yell out their approval.

"You tell ‘em, girl! We should fight them!" one older man said.

“Oh sure, you’re going to take on the Sarceastians single-handedly, eh, Sebastian?” a younger man teased.

“No, but I will be able to take them if I have good men like you to help me,” he responded.

“The little lady’s right, we need to join the war!” A long-haired young man shouted.

“I’m in!” Someone else echoed.

“That’s it. We need each and everyone one of you to defend against this enemy, not just of the Earth, but the entire Universe. All of you here have probably suffered some loss at the hands of this common enemy. If your settlements haven’t been attacked by the Sarceastians, it is only a matter of time. For this race will not rest until they have conquered all of civilization! Therefore, we need every able-bodied to join our cause and fight!”

“Here, here!” A cheer went up as I spoke these last words.

“What Jessie says is true. No one knows this better than I do. My entire planet was destroyed by this enemy, and all of my people were killed. I am the last surviving Karkastian and I will not rest until I see the Sarceastians defeated, but I cannot make that happen without your help!” Yahn added. I smiled at him.

“That’s right!” someone shouted. Soon we were walking to another bar with a growing number of people. There were even a few aliens in our midst- one or two Langmilians and several Reflominans.

By the time we let the sixth bar, we were two hundred. A whole group of Langmilians at the last bar had agreed to help us and several more Reflominans. Once we started heading for our ships, we probably had nearly every human in a settlement with us. As we lifted off in the space cruiser, I was proud to see us surrounded by so many comrades. There were ships of every description- Langmilian freighters with their rows of eight wings, sleek, round Reflominan fighters that had two large cannons protruding from them, and human ships of every description, including our own.

“I have to hand it to you, honey. You did it! I hate to be the one to put a damper on things, but this still isn’t a large enough army to go up against the invading Sarceastian forces,” Yahn pointed out.

"I'm fully aware of that. We will stop at some spaceports along the way and we will recruit even more people, I assure you," I said with confidence. In fact, we stopped a few hours later in Eflitian, a spaceport that was much nicer than the one we had just left. We were lucky to come into contact with an Earth Federation army that had been defending far reaches of the universe. The army headed back to Earth to counterattack the Sarceastians. They gladly joined up with our forces. We also gained more alien supporters of almost every description. The Sarceastians’ biggest mistake with all of their plundering was the fact that they had made enemies all over the universe. They had no idea what was coming for them. By the time we reached the last spaceport before planet Earth, we numbered in thousands. I was feeling very proud of my fellow combatants as I looked out of the window at the numerous ships that had come to our aid.

At the last port, we gathered another five hundred or so men, many of them were already on their way back to Earth to join the fight. Finally, we began to move into Earth's outer atmosphere. It wasn't long before we caught sight of a very large Sarceastian war cruiser that was shaped like a large star. There were spire-like protrusions coming from the center of the cruiser from where smaller Sarceastian fighter ships were coming out of. There were four more of these large cruisers that were farther away from us.

“I think we’ve gotten lucky. I think the invasion has just begun. We need to talk about our strategy with the others before we go in blindly and begin attacking,” I pointed out.

“In my opinion, we need to hit their main war cruisers as hard as we can. They are focused mainly on their attack, and probably aren’t expecting an army this size to attack them,” Yahn suggested.

“That sounds good to me. I am going to make contact with the ground forces to find out the situation there and talk to the other commanders,” I said. During the trip to Earth, each army had appointed a leader. We were in charge of the human armies and Commander Kelron was the head of the Langmilian armies. Captain Joransen had been appointed the head of the Reflominan armies.

I remembered from my days on the expedition team, the proper code for contacting our military commanders. I used this code to try and make contact with General Watkins of the United Earth Federation Army using our space cruiser's communicator.

“General Watkins, are you reading me? This is Private Jessie. I am leading a human army that is about to launch an attack on the invaders. What is the situation on the ground?” I asked. After several minutes, an answer came through.

“Jessie? The fugitive?” The general asked.

“Yes sir, but I’m coming back to help defend my home planet and I have several thousand fighters with me,” I answered.

"Well, we welcome any help that we can get. The Sarceastians are starting their attack on the ground. They seem focused right now on strategic military targets. This way, they try to stop us from defending ourselves. Mostly, they have sent out smaller fighting ships along with a coordinated ground attack," General Watkins shared.

"We are going to hit their space cruisers really hard, general. Once we have sufficiently weakened those forces, we can join the fighting on the ground. Together we can defeat this enemy, sir," I said, proudly.

"Well Private Jessie, I wish I had your optimism, but things aren’t looking too great for us right now. I have to say though if your army is as big as you say it is, we might just stand a chance against them. I assure you of one thing. If you lead an army that defeats the Sarceastians, you can bet that I will make sure that you are granted a pardon," The General reassured me.

“Thank you, general. We will be in touch. We are about to begin our attack on the Sarceastian cruisers!”

“Good luck soldier. Hope to see you alive and well on the ground,” he answered.

"Yes, sir!" I turned to Yahn. "Did you hear that? I will be granted a pardon if we help defeat the Sarceastians."

“Yes, I heard him, but right now, we need to focus on the attack. We need to make contact with the other leaders,” Yahn reasoned.

“You’re right, Yahn. Let me get back on track. Commander Kelron and Captain Joransen, come in please!” I spoke into the communicator.

“Yes, I’m here,” Commander Kelron answered.

“As am I,” Captain Joransen said.

“Wonderful. We have been talking with the ground forces and I told them that we were going to focus our efforts on attacking the space cruisers. There are four of them as you have probably seen on the radars of your ships. My army will take on the two that are nearest to us if the two of you will coordinate an attack on the other two that are farther away. Does this sound like a good strategy to you? Over…”

“Yes, I will handle the cruiser in the middle if Captain Joransen will handle the one that is in the farthest distance away,” Commander Kelron said.

“Yes, I agree with this plan of action,” Captain Joransen answered.

“Great! After we finish the attack, the survivors will meet up on the ground at coordinates 45-9, the city of New York. Over and out,” I said.

"I have to say, I am most impressed with your skills. Not only are you smart and beautiful, you are also a naturally born leader." Yahn smiled and gave me a small kiss on the lips.

“Flattery will get you everywhere!” I said with a wink. “It will have to wait until the war is won, though.”

“You are well worth waiting for,” Yahn spoke, winking back at me. We turned our attention towards attacking the large star-like space cruiser that we were drawing ever closer to. The Sarceastians had begun to notice our presence because some of the fighting ships leaving the cruisers had begun to come our way, firing lasers as they went. Soon we were surrounded by the small round ships.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Yahn

“Shields up!” I shouted as the laser fire came from the approaching ships. They were small, but together they formed a strong fighting force. Jessie continued to steer the ship as I went and got in the chair and prepared to shoot lasers and guided missiles at the fighting ships.

One by one, the lasers bounced off the surface of our ship, but the strength of our shields was beginning to drain.

“I can’t keep the shields up for too much longer. You have to take some of them out!” Jessie shouted at me.

"I will do the best I can!" I shouted back. I began to track the Sarceastian fighters and missed my target with the first several shots I took. However, I soon began to make hits with the guided missiles, which took out four nearby ships. A triangular Langmilian fighter came into view and shot the rest of the fighters that had been attacking us.

"Alright! Now the shield can regain some of its strength!" Jessie called out. "It's time to take aim on the cruiser!" Jessie brought our ship down for an attack on the large space cruiser. As she swept down over the surface of the cruiser, I shot several laser blasts and missiles. Unfortunately, the Sarceastian cruiser had seen us coming and had its shields up. None of the blasts created any damage. Then, I remembered what I had learned long ago on Karkast about Sarceastian cruisers. The underside of the cruisers had the main reactor. If we could get a guided missile to hit the main reactor, I knew that we could destroy the ship.

“Jessie, I need you to try a somewhat risky maneuver!” I shouted. “ I need you to try and make a pass underneath the cruiser!”

“That would be really dangerous!” she insisted.

“Yes, but I have to get a shot at the main reactor on the underside. It’s the only way!” I answered.

“Alright, here it goes!” Our ship took a sudden dip as we got underneath the cruiser. Several small fighters were shooting at us, and Jessie was doing a great job of turning, twisting, and dipping to avoid as much of it as she could. The shields seemed to be holding up. As we passed underneath the ship, I took a shot, but the missile did not land where I intended it to.

“Darn! Jessie, take us around again. I missed!”

"Ok," She said, reluctantly. We passed underneath again, this time, there was twice as much laser fire coming from the Sarceastian ships all around us. They knew what we were trying to do now. I shot three missiles and watched with delight as one of them went straight into the opening which led to the main reactor.

"I did it! Quickly, we have to get as far from the cruiser as possible!" I yelled. Jessie flew straight up into the air and away from the cruiser as fast as she could. We looked back as the cruiser blew into a million pieces. Several pieces of the doomed cruiser smashed into the neighboring cruiser, setting it on fire. A second later, it too blew up. Several smaller ships were destroyed in the blast and several others were thrown off their course.

“Great job, Yahn!” Jessie shouted.

“Thank you, baby!” There was no time to celebrate. Jessie brought the ship over towards the Langmilian ships that were taking aim on the middle cruiser.

“Commander Kelron and Captain Joransen- take aim on the ducts connected to the main reactor on the underside of the cruisers. That is the weak spot that will destroy the vessel,” I shared with the other leaders.

“Thank you,” they both answered. Soon, they were sending several ships to complete the same maneuver that Jessie had done. A few of the Langmilian ships were taken out by the Sarceastians who by this time were onto our strategy. However, soon the middle cruiser was also taken out. Now, all that remained was the last cruiser that the Reflominan army was trying to destroy. Jessie drove our ship over towards this last cruiser to help battle the smaller fighters that were trying to stop Captain Joransen’s attack on the last cruiser. As Jessie brought us closer to the fighters, I shot and took out four more ships.

“Great shooting, again, Yahn!” she congratulated me.

“We make a great team!” I shouted back and continued to offer the Reflominans the cover that they needed. Within minutes, the last cruiser had burst into flame. A small fighter launched itself from the larger ship a second later. After another second, it was blown apart.

"Yes, we've done it! All of the cruisers have been destroyed!" I shouted. We could hear the other ships celebrating as well. Although we had defeated the main cruisers, there were still an untold number of smaller fighters that had already been released from them. The fighting was far from over. We had no idea how any Sarceastian troops had already been sent to attack the surface of the Earth.

The smaller ship that had escaped destruction from the last cruiser, began to gather several small Sarceastian ships around it. They were preparing for a counter-attack. The smaller ships had to be add up in hundreds.

"Oh no!" Jessie said. "Captain Joransen, Commander Kelron- prepare to do battle with the smaller fighters, they are about to attack!" Sure enough, the fighters began to surround the Langmilian, human, and Reflominan ships. Several ships were destroyed in the ensuing counterattack. We zoomed in and tried to take out as many of the smaller fighters as we could, but soon they were beginning to take their toll on our ships.

“They are taking out too many of our ships!” Jessie stated.

“We must not stop trying now!” I answered as I took out two more Sarceastian ships. Soon an ominous voice came over our communication speaker.

“Surrender your ships! This is Captain Demarin Goldarn, leader of the Sarceastian army. If you do not surrender now, we will destroy all of your enemy ships!” the voice said.

“Forget it!” Jessie answered as I took out two more ships. The Langmilians had suffered heavy losses, but the remaining human ships soon began to destroy more and more of the Sarceastians, and we began to get the upper hand. The Reflominan ships came to the Langmilian ships’ rescue, and soon there were only a few Sarceastian fighters left. The ship containing Sarceastian Captain Goldarn began to retreat towards the surface of the Earth as did the rest of the Sarceastian fighters.

“Quickly, go after their leader. We can’t allow him to escape!” I shouted to Jessie. She began to fly our ship towards the surface. The main battles in the atmosphere were now over. It was time to join the fighting on the ground and help out in any way that we could.

Jessie brought us over New York, and we could already see that there was substantial damage that had been done. Hover towers lay in rubble and there were people everywhere running for safety. Every now and then, a Sarceastian fighter would fly over the city and drop a missile, causing more destruction. We chased down and shot a few ships until there were no more of them in sight. It was time to land our ship. Jessie tracked their leader, Demarin Goldarn’s ship. It landed near a burning high rise building. I tried my best to shoot lasers at the Sarceastians as they got out of the ship, but they got away.

Jessie landed our ship close to the Sarceastian ship that had just landed. Above us, our allies continued to fight against the Sarceastian fighters the best they could. They appeared to have the upper hand, but the situation looked more bleak on the ground. We went out of the ship just as a Sarceastian ship came over and destroyed it. We were thrown several feet in the air as a result of the blast, but weren’t hurt.

“Come on, let’s get their captain. I saw him go into that building right over there. If we take out one of their main leaders, it will help us throw their forces into disarray,” I insisted.

"I agree, let's get him!" Jessie answered. We ran inside the building, chasing the Sarceastians. There were human fighting forces that began to shoot back and soon the air was filled with lasers being shot back and forth. We took cover behind a large dumpster and began to fire at the Sarceastians with our laser cannons. I managed to hit two of them. That was when I noticed Demarin Goldarn take out a weapon I had never used before. It was called an energy harnessor. Once it was charged, it could send a beam of high-energy particles at people. It was similar to a laser, but it was a hand-held weapon. Demarin began to move the weapon back and forth like it was a sword, taking out Earth soldiers as he came to them. We fired more shots at him and his men, but they managed to escape the warehouse we were in.

Before exiting the warehouse, we noticed some military gear in one corner of the building. Quickly, Jessie spotted an energy pack, similar to the one that Demarin had.

“Two can play at this energy harnessing game!” she said.

“Come on, they’re getting away!” I yelled as I pulled her by the hand out of the door. We ran through the street as laser fire continued to shoot over our heads. We managed to keep from being hit until we came to a building. We hid behind this building and fired several shots at Demarin and his men. I managed to take out another Sarceastian, but Demarin continued to run amok, using his energy beam to kill more Earth soldiers.

"General Watkins come in!" Jessie spoke into her portable communicator that was strapped to her wrist.

“This is General Watkins.”

"Yes, general, it's me, Private Jessie, again. The cruisers have been taken out and now we have joined the ground defense. The Sarceastian captain is making his way north with a sizeable number of soldiers. We are tracking him and requesting some assistance," Jessie asked.

“I will send more troops your way. Things are looking good. We are holding them off to the south and have been defeated in Washington,” he shared.

“General, how bad is the damage in Washington?” Jessie asked. I could tell by her expression that she was ready for the worst news.

“Not too terrible. They managed to take out some military targets, but there are barely any civilian casualties there as I’m happy to report. I wish I could say the same for New York and Los Angeles, which have both been hit rather hard.”

Jessie took a deep breath and I went over to her and put my arm on her shoulder.

“Thank God. Hopefully, mom and dad are alright,” She said to me.

We came out from behind the building and I started exchanging laser fire with the Sarceastians ahead of us. We saw more allied troops coming in to help us. Now it seemed that the allied forces were finally outnumbering the enemy forces. The tide of the battle was beginning to turn. We still pursued Captain Goldarn, whose fighting force was beginning to diminish in number. Soon, Goldarn's force was much closer and only a few of his followers were left standing beside him. Captain Goldarn seemed untouchable, however killing everyone he came into contact with using his deadly energy beam. Finally, we got close enough to get a good look at him. His hood was silver, unlike the gray hoods worn by the Sarceastian fighters. He had a gold belt and an armored vest that he wore. His eyes glowed with a sinister red glare. He looked two feet taller than any of the other Sarceastian fighters nearby.

After some more exchange of laser fire, only Captain Demarin had remained alive.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Jessie

Captain Demarin stared at Jessie and for a second he looked as if he were daring her to come after him. Then, he disappeared around the corner and joined up with another group of Sarceastian ground forces nearby. Jessie wasn’t going to give up so easily, and neither was I. We ran around the corner, only to face a group of eight Sarceastians, each of them armed with a laser cannon and Demarin, still wielding his energy pack.

“You don’t seem to be in a good spot now,” Demarin hissed at us.

“It’s not over yet,” Jessie hissed back.

“I have to say, I admire your spirit, Earthling. If I thought I could convince you to join me, I would. It’s too bad I shall have to end your life instead. Then, of course, you would fetch a high price as a slave,” Demarin mused.

Jessie was staring daggers at him. She stood wielding her energy beam that was burning with a bright orange glow. I thought for a second she was going to attack him despite the threat of the laser cannons pointed at us, but she refrained.

“Ok, my fellow fighters. When I give the word, we stun them. I could fetch a high price for both of them,” Demarin said as he looked side to side at the other Sarceastians.

Suddenly a hover copter came up from behind the building and opened fire on the armed Sarceastians. Demarin ducked down and ran until he was in an abandoned warehouse. The hover copter passed over the building several times and then finally flew off.

“Come on. You take the front door and I’ll take the back,” Jessie said, with a fierce determination. I could really tell how personal this was for her at that moment.

I crept up through the back door. It was quite dark, but my Karkastian vision helped me see fairly well. I couldn't see Demarin, so I closed my eyes and tried to sense his energy, which was another gift that we Karkastians possessed. I could feel him nearby. In fact, I was shocked to find that he was hiding behind a post that was only ten or so feet from me. As Jessie entered the warehouse from the opposite side, she crept along slowly in my direction. Demarin could see her, but she couldn't see him. I decided to take action before he could try anything. I came up right behind him and put my laser cannon right up to his temple.

“Time to stop this barbaric invasion and pay for your crimes,” I stated. Suddenly, he elbowed me in the stomach and grabbed my laser cannon. Jessie saw this and ran to my aid, firing her laser cannon and charging her energy beam. Demarin hid behind the post again, keeping my gun aimed at me. I had my arms in the air.

“That’s enough! Put down the gun if you hope to see your Karkastian lover alive, ever again,” Demarin said, coming out from behind the post, holding me with the other hand.

“Let him go, leave him out of this. Let’s settle this just you and me!” Jessie scowled. Her eyes looked like a sinister cat, poised to attack its prey. I had never seen her quite like that before.

“Jessie no, don’t do this!” I pleaded, fearing what Demarin might do to her.

“I’m sorry, Yahn, but my mind is made up. Put down the laser cannon, Demarin and let’s finish this the old fashioned way.”

Demarin did something I almost never saw a Sarceastian do. He took off his hood to reveal a gray, sickly complexion, long, pointed ears, an almost skull-like face, and two hideous red eyes, glowing brighter than ever.

"You look better with the hood on, Demarin." Jessie was now trying to provoke Demarin, and it worked. He came towards her full force, swinging his energy beam like a giant mace and shooting the beams directly at her. Jessie responded by ducking, rolling and hiding behind another post. All of sudden, she came at him whirling her energy beam around in a circle, creating an orb of energy that she projected at him with one large beam. He jumped out of the way just in time, and the beam took out one of the posts. The building began to sag a little bit. I looked at the laser cannon strapped to Demarin's side and was tempted to try and grab it from its holster. I crept closer, but Demarin turned around to face me.

“Don’t try anything, Karkastian. If you think you’re going to get my laser cannon, you’re fooling yourself!” He threatened.

I backed off just as Jessie came at him again. She was chopping with the energy beam up and down and back and forth as energy pulses came at Demarin from four different sides. One of the beams came into contact with him, burning his side.

“Ah! You’ll pay for that!” he yelled, coming at Jessie in full speed. His energy beam was moving so fast and all I could see was a blinding flash of energy. Jessie passed through his legs suddenly and turned to thrust her energy beam at him. However, he anticipated this move and came down on her with a sudden energy burst.

"Ouch!" she screamed, clutching her arm. She jumped backwards and dropped her energy beam, which fell at her side. Demarin took advantage of this opportunity and came at her again. She jumped to the side, rolled again and went behind the nearest post.

“Ahhhh!” She screamed like a mad woman, coming at him with such a fierce rage, I thought she might erupt into flames. Demarin jumped right over her beam, got behind her and made contact with her arm again.

Jessie clutched her arm, which had a large, blackened wound in her bicep. Luckily, it was cauterized by the high temperature of the beam. Her arm seemed too weak to hold up the beam directing device. Demarin came and stood over her, putting the beam down at his side for a second.

“A pity to have to kill you rather than profit from your capture. Still, I can’t let you get away with thinking you can harm me, Earthling!” he teased.

Jessie reached for the beam director with her uninjured hand, but Demarin was quicker and shot one at her. She rolled onto her back and then sprang to her feet. I looked at the weak state she was in and decided that I was going to try to transfer energy to her to strengthen her. I closed my eyes and thought of how much I loved her and relived the happier moments we had shared. I compiled the positive energy of those moments into a single beam and sent it to Jessie. Her eyes glowed with an electric blue energy and her stature seemed to increase. Demarin was coming at her with another attack, whirling his energy beam into a maelstrom of light again. Jessie came at him with a sudden burst of energy that knocked him backwards and threw his energy pack off of him. He lay on the ground cowering in front of her. She stood over him and put her energy beam back at her side. The room was beginning to fill with allied soldiers that had heard the noise of the fight. They crowded around Demarin and bound his hands.

“Are you alright, miss?” a young soldier said.

“I’m fine,” she answered. I ran over to her and put my arms around her.

“I couldn’t have done it without your love,” she whispered in my ear.

“Go on and kill me. I don’t wish to suffer the judgments of you inferior beings!” Demarin hissed, defiantly.

“More than likely, that will be what happens in time, Demarin,” Jessie said, giving Demarin one more threatening stare before they took him away.

“There’s certainly a part of me that wishes I had killed him,” she reflected.

I put my arms around her shoulders and led her out of the building. We looked around us and saw mostly allied troops that were doing their best to round up what was left of the Sarceastian forces. We were taken to a military facility so that Jessie could have her arm treated. While we sat waiting to receive some treatment, an important-looking official came in to talk to us.

“Good afternoon Private Jessie and Yahn of Karkast. I’m Sergeant Warner. I’m in charge of this unit of the United Army. I also want to add, that I’m most pleased to see that the two of you made it out, relatively unscathed. You don’t know how much of a debt of gratitude we owe the two of you.” He shook both of our hands.

“Just doing what I can to protect my homeland,” Jessie said, smiling.

"Well, without the destruction of those Sarceastian cruisers, we would still be fighting a bloody battle on the ground. My sources now tell me that we have either killed or rounded up almost all of the remaining Sarceastian fighters. If you hadn't destroyed those cruisers, they'd still be spitting out fighting ships with more troops. Now, the war is all but over. Thank you so much!"

“I’m just pleased to hear that they’ve been defeated,” Jessie said, humbly.

“Oh, I’m sure the general and the president of the United Earth Alliance Assembly will have a huge reward in mind. For starters, you can forget the whole bit about considered traitors. Your records will be expunged and your reputation will be restored.”

“That is good to know, Sergeant. We do appreciate it!” I said. Many more soldiers and other personnel came over to talk to us, thank us, and shake our hands. I could tell that Jessie was tired and ready for us to be alone. The doctor came and bandaged up the wound.

"Those energy beams do cauterize their wounds well. Good thing he didn't hit you harder or it would have been completely severed," The doctor said with a smile. Soon we were allowed to go to our bedroom, which was a small barracks with not a lot of room. We were just both glad to have some time to rest and be alone after everything that had happened.

I sat down beside Jessie on the bed and began to massage her shoulders. "I am so proud of you, my love. All this time, I had no idea what a great fighting soldier you were. I knew you were strong, but you were so ferocious, I could feel the fire coming from you."

She smiled and put my hand on her chest. "This is where the real fire is burning right now. For now, I know that the two of us will be able to leave behind the life of fighting and running. We will now be able to settle down and concentrate on building a life together, finally. All this time, that was the only thing that I ever desired. Now we can make that happen."

“Yes, my love. That is all I ever wanted. Somehow, I always knew that we would have that peaceful life together. As I said, I’ve always known. I just had to have the patience to wait for it.”

Jessie leaned over and kissed me for a very long time. I wanted to live in that moment when our hands were intertwined and our lips locked together. I could die at that moment and I would be perfectly content. After we opened our eyes, we fell down together onto the bed and made love, slowly, pausing to give one another tender kisses and caresses. I was beginning to think that human sex was better than the Karkastian method, although it could have been my partner that made it so special. The method did not matter because it was always a loving, intimate exchange when we became as one body, experiencing pleasure as one mind.

Chapter Thirty

Jessie

I still couldn't believe that we had actually defeated the Sarceastians. All at once, we had solved two problems, the problem of being known fugitives and the problem of the Sarceastian invasion. I had found an inner strength and a courage that I never knew I possessed. Despite all of our accomplishments, the only thing I wanted was to rest. After we had some of it, I wanted to see my parents- to hold them and cherish them and tell them I loved them. I could only hope that they would be ready to receive Yahn as my life partner, and I had a feeling they would. After they fully realized just how much he had helped me. For I could not have done any of it without him by my side. This I knew for certain.

Once the doctor cleared me, Sergeant Warner told us that we could leave whenever we were ready. He was glad to know that we were going to the Washington area because there was a ceremony being planned in our honor in a week. I really didn't want any recognition. It was quite enough to know we had held the Sarceastians back and civilization as we knew it, was intact.

We were given a hover car by the Allied Army and sent on our way. It was refreshing to see so many faces smiling at us and hands waving at us. It was a far cry from the persecution and judgment we had previously faced. In the daylight, the damage to the New York area was not as bad as I had previously thought. Here and there a government building or skyscraper had been destroyed, but for the most part, the city remained intact. We drove the hover car towards Washington and into the country. It felt good to be away from civilization again.

"You know a part of me wishes we were still living in my uncle's cabin. It would be such a simpler existence. So many people used to give him a hard time about living like people did hundreds of years ago, but it made sense to me. I like the idea of growing your own food, sewing your own soil and not being dependent on technology or the government for anything," I said to Yahn.

“You are starting to sound like a Karkastian,” he joked, making me laugh. “Well, you already know I would be happy living a life like that. We can do that now if we like. As a matter of fact, we can go anywhere and do anything without being worried about bounty hunters or policemen or any of it,” Yahn mused.

“Yes, it is a good feeling, isn’t it?” I added.

Soon, we came to my parent's house. It was a simple hover dwelling on the outskirts of Washington. It was the same as I remembered it except it had been given a new blue paint job. The ramp leading up to the sliding front door had been replaced as well. Memories of my childhood came flooding back to me as we walked up the ramp.

“Now, Yahn, I want to prepare you for how my father can be. He doesn’t understand why I fell in love with a Karkastian, but I get the notion he will change his mind after everything we’ve done to help out the United Army,” I cautioned.

“It’s not a problem. I will try to be as understanding as I can,” Yahn said in his usual, diplomatic way.

A second later, my mother opened the door. She still looked shriveled and gray, but in her green eyes there was a hopefulness that had been absent before when she had come to see me in jail.

“Jessie, I was hoping that you would come after the battle was over. We’ve heard about everything on the virtual reality player. You’re a hero and everything has been forgiven!” she shouted joyfully as she threw her arms around me. Then, she looked at Yahn with a smile.

“And you must be Yahn. I have heard many great things about you on the news. I never knew a Karkastian could be so kind and helpful towards humans,” My mother said.

“Most Karkastians were that way, truth be told. Unfortunately, I’m the last one left to prove it to people,” he answered with a smile. “It is very good to meet you as well.”

“I want to thank you for everything you helped my daughter do. I know she wouldn’t have accomplished all these things without help. I really appreciate you,” mother shared. Then, my father appeared behind her. He came immediately over to me and hugged me tightly.

"My little girl. You don't know how hard it was for me to see you in that cell, and now you are a hero. Soon, you will be a decorated veteran! I couldn't have been more proud." Next, he looked at Yahn from head to toe. I could tell there was still a hint of skepticism in his glance, but it soon turned into a grin. He extended his hand to Yahn.

“I want to thank you for looking out for your daughter,” he said. Yahn smiled and shook his hand firmly.

“She is quite capable of looking out for herself, but I was happy to be of assistance to her.”

“That’s nice of you to say, but I know you did quite a lot. Everyone we know is talking about you. They are calling you the savior of the planet,” father shared.

"Well, now that might be a slight exaggeration. I had a plan and I went through with it. There was no way I could have done it without all of the creatures that backed us up," I modestly stated.

“Yes, but you inspired them. Without your energy and enthusiasm, there never would have been such a decisive victory,” Yahn added.

“That’s right,” my mother agreed, pulling us inside. “Let’s continue this conversation over dinner.

Father asked Yahn lots of questions about the Karkastians and still seemed a little skeptical, but gradually, he began to warm up to him. I wondered if I should go ahead and tell him about the forever fact that we had made. After dinner, I discussed it with Yahn.

"Do you think we should go ahead and tell them about the commitment that we've made to one another?" I asked Yahn before he was about to go to the guest bedroom.

“Only if you feel they are ready for it,” he answered. “I want everything out in the open, so I’m alright with it.”

I kissed him and went to my parents’ bedroom. “Mom, dad- there’s something I need to tell you about Yahn and me. We have made a commitment to each other that’s like an engagement for Karkastians. It’s called a forever pact. I wanted you to know because I didn’t want to hide it from you. I love Yahn and he has made my life complete. More than anything else, I want your blessing.” Dad looked at me and then looked at mother.

“Honey, Yahn seems like a very nice, eh, person. We know how well he has helped to look after you through everything. Although I don’t claim to completely understand why you want to be with a Karkastian, I can tell he loves you. You have our blessing,” father said. I was overjoyed when I heard the news. I went over and hugged both of them. These were the best news I could have received.

A couple of days later, we were due to report to the capital for a reward ceremony. A large stage was erected right in front of the capital building for the occasion. I wore my old army uniform and stood right beside Yahn on stage. There were other soldiers there as well who had fought valiantly against the Sarceastians. An assembled crowd of thousands were in attendance. My parents were right in the front so they could get a good view. There were reporters from all over the planet there as well. The president of the Earth Alliance, James Williamson stepped up to the podium and began to make a speech.

"I want to honor two individuals who showed bravery and courage beyond the normal call of duty. One of them was one of our own fighting soldiers. She was accused of treason for reasons that seem unimportant now. When she could have easily chosen to hide out for the rest of her days, she chose to return to her home planet and gather a sizeable force that she used to destroy the fleet of the Sarceastian cruisers. At her side, assisting her in this endeavor, there was none other than the Karkastian who originally saved her from execution. Yahn of Karkast has shown us that we need to reevaluate our view of his kind. Thank you, Jessie and Yahn. We recognize your bravery by rewarding both of you with the Purple Heart," President Williamson spoke proudly. The applause was deafening and the flash of the cameras was blinding. He pinned the purple hearts on our uniforms and soon we were asked to meet with him briefly for another reward. We went to the backstage area to meet with him.

"Jessie and Yahn, I am fascinated by you. The one thing that really stands out to me, besides your fierce determination and loyalty to your homeland, is your need for a place to call your home where the two of you can live in peace. Therefore, I want to invite the two of you to live in a colony on planet Gwuarden. It is a paradise that I'm sure the two of you will love. You will be given your own home and plot of land, and you can come and go as you please and return to Earth whenever you desire. What do you say?" he inquired.

I turned to Yahn and took him by the hands. “Well, what do you say? It sounds like it’s just the place we have been looking for.”

“I think it’s a wonderful idea. Thank you, Mr. President for this generous gift,” Yahn said, shaking his hand.

"It's the least we could do. Without you, we might not be standing here having this conversation." President Williamson showed us a virtual presentation of the tropical paradise we were soon to call home. It was lush and beautiful, not unlike the landscapes I had seen in Costa Rica on a youth trip I took, long ago.

After a couple of weeks of rest at my parent’s house, we were ready to embark on our journey to Gwuarden in a brand new space cruiser that was given to us. When we arrived, it looked even more beautiful than the presentation indicated. There were green mountains and jungle-covered landscapes as far as the eye could see. In a cleared area around a lagoon, there were several nice hover dwellings. It was a colony of beings from around the world that had paid top dollar for a place to retire. We were shown a large, circular dwelling surrounded by forty pristine acres and a cleared field for a garden plot. The air was fresh and clean and the sound of exotic birds filled our ears.

“This is it. This is the place that I have dreamt of. I knew it was more than just a dream. We are finally home, Jessie,” Yahn said as he took my hand. We stood on the back deck of our new home and looked out over the vast forests . We then turned to look at one another. We began to kiss, forgetting that the tour guide was still with us.

“Eh, I will leave the two of you alone now. Enjoy your new home and let us know if you need anything at all,” she said with a friendly smile.

“Thank you, but we have everything we need right here,” I answered, gazing lovingly into Yahn’s eyes.

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Book 3

Chapter Thirty-One

Jessie

At first, Gwuarden was everything I hoped it would be for us. The climate was perfect and tropical- it never got hotter than eighty degrees or colder than fifty. The scenery was even better than what I remembered from my trips to the tropics on Earth. There were lush greenery and forest-covered mountains as far as the eye could see. We began to plant all sorts of crops on our plot of land and soon all of the meals I was making consisted of fruits and vegetables from our own garden.

At the end of the day, we would take long walks in the forest, walking hand in hand. We would listen to the sounds of exotic birds and use the guide book that had been given to us in order to identify them. There were no poisonous or venomous animals on the entire planet, so we didn't have to worry about much. Our neighbors were really great as well. Most of them were older families of humans that had moved there to retire. There were also a few families from other parts of the universe. The market in town was run by a kind family of Langmilians who had been rewarded for similar acts of bravery to our own. Everyone waved as you walked by and always made time to chat and exchange pleasantries.

Our love life could not have been better. After a long walk in the forest, we would go back to the hover house for a home-cooked meal. Then, we would take a blanket with us and walk hand in hand down to the beach. We would talk for hours as we sat and listened to the waves coming in. Then, we would lay together, mind-meld and make love without any concerns about privacy. It was a private beach, and everyone in the community made it their business to respect everyone else’s privacy.

All of this lasted for about two months. That’s when Yahn’s strange behavior began. At first, he woke up in the middle of the night, in cold sweat. His heart was beating fast and he was struggling to catch his breath.

“What is it, my love?” I asked him.

“Just a nightmare. At least, that’s what I hope it is.”

“What happened in your dream?”

“We were running and the forest around us was on fire,” he said, catching his breath.

“Well, forest fires happen, even in a paradise like Gwuarden. Besides, has every nightmare that you’ve ever had turned out to be something that happens in real life?” I inquired.

"No, but, many of the events I dream about do come to happen. Also, I had the distinct feeling that what was happening in the dream was not a natural fire, caused by lightning or something like that. It was set intentionally. I am certain of that much," he shared.

"Well, it's over now. Let's try and get back to sleep." I kissed his head and held him tightly until he fell back asleep again.

Things were fine for a few days, but then, Yahn had another dream. He woke up early in the morning and began packing up and down on the floor.

“Yahn, what’s happened now?” I asked.

“The dream returned. This time, the forest was on fire and I could hear the sound of people screaming. There was an attack taking place. I couldn’t see who was attacking the settlement, but I could hear everything. You and I were hiding. That’s what we need. A safe place to go to.”

“Yahn, I’m not sure that there is any place safer than Gwuarden. I know I’ve never felt more secure in all of my life,” I pointed out.

“No, that’s not what I mean. What we need is a shelter, a hidden shelter where we can hunker down if we need to. A place that is stocked with water and supplies in case we need to stay there for quite a long time.” I had heard about males becoming obsessed with this sort of preparation, so I did not stand in Yahn’s way. I figured that if building a shelter put him more at ease, I would let him do what he needed to do.

He began by digging a tunnel, just wide enough for two people to walk through. He would wake up early in the morning and begin working on the tunnel. I offered to help him, but he said I should keep focused on maintaining the food supply and taking care of the garden. The neighbors would sometimes stop by and ask what Yahn was working on. One morning, Mrs. Martha Hopkins, a retired nurse from Milwaukee stopped by on her way to the market.

“What’s Yahn working on so intently?” Mrs. Hopkins asked.

“Oh, he’s digging a passageway so that we could escape the house in case of an emergency,” I said with a smile.

“I see. Is there any reason to suspect that we are in some sort of danger?” Her expression showed her concern.

“No, it’s just an emergency measure. That’s all,” I reassured her.

“Ok, have a great day, Jessie,” she said with a smile.

"Thank you, you too, Mrs. Hopkins," I said. I knew that Yahn's activities were the talk of the settlement, but I didn't discourage Yahn from his activities. After a couple of weeks, the tunnel was complete. It came out a couple of miles to the south in the middle of the jungle, property that we owned. Next, Yahn set about constructing an underground shelter. He ordered two large shipping containers and had a large hole dug out of the ground in a clearing in the jungle. The containers were then lowered into the ground and joined together. Next, Yahn started putting in doors and a huge store room where water and food supplies could be kept. I would come and check up on him, bringing him water and lunch, and trying to keep things as light-hearted as I could. Deep down, however, I knew that something wasn't right, although I couldn't quite put my finger on it at that point.

“Mr. Johnson wants to know if you’re digging for gold,” I joked.

Yahn looked up at me with a serious glance and took a sip of water. “This is totally serious. Believe me, I wouldn’t’ be going through all of this trouble if I didn’t think we needed this,” he said.

“I know, dear. I just miss our walks on the beach and our hikes through the forest. Ever since you began this work, we haven’t had as much time for those things,” I pointed out.

“Listen, Jessie, do you really want to be unprepared when something happens? We could be invaded, we could be in a crisis situation overnight, and we have to be prepared. The activities that you are worried about are frivolous compared with survival,” he scoffed. I was hurt, but I didn’t say anything. I just put down the food and water that I had brought for him and turned to go back to the house.

“Jessie, wait!” He called after me. I turned around and he saw the tears in my eyes. “I’m sorry. I know that I’ve been spending a lot of time on this shelter, but you have to believe me. We need to begin making preparations.”

"Ok,” I said, simply and kissed him. I took a deep breath and went to work in the garden, planting cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, and greens. The garden was my sanctuary. I would spend hours tending to it and trying to put Yahn's premonitions out of my mind. However, the nightmares did not cease.

A couple of nights later, Yahn, sat straight up. His heart was racing and he struggled to catch his breath.

"I heard the sound of gunfire. They were invading the settlement. They were killing people indiscriminately. Everyone was fleeing in terror. Oh, Jessie, it was so awful," he stated. I put my arms around him and kissed him.

“It’s ok, you’re here with me, now. Nothing has happened. We are safe.”

“Safe for the time being, but how long will that last? I need to get back to work. The shelter is almost finished. It needs to be stocked with water and food. Will you help me?” he asked in a panicked voice.

“Yes, sure I will. Let me get dressed and we will get started,” I assured him. We began to put fruits and vegetables in jars for storage. We also began to fill large containers with water. We made several trips back and forth to the shelter, and soon it began to fill up with supplies.

"That should keep us stocked up for several months if need be. Now we have to make sure that a security and a defense system are in place. If we are invaded, we need to be able to keep the invaders from entering the shelter at all costs."

“Yahn, isn’t that enough for today? The shelter is completely stocked with supplies. We haven’t done anything romantic or relaxing in days. Can’t we take a break now?” I implored.

"No, we cannot take a break! The invasion could happen tomorrow and then we would leave ourselves vulnerable to the onslaught. You can go and have your walk in the woods if you want, but I am going to stay here until the task at hand is finished. Do you understand me?" Yahn had never talked like this to me before. I was angry and hurt. I threw down the pack that I had been using to transport the jars of food.

"Fine, you keep on building your doomsday shelter. I'm going home. When you decide that you want to act civilized, you can return to our home as well, but if you're going to talk to me like that, I just assume you can stay here!" I yelled.

"Fine, that is just what I'll do!" He snapped back. I practically ran down the tunnel to get away from him. As I walked, the tears began to flow down my cheeks. We had almost never fought before. Yahn seemed like a completely different being from the one I fell in love with. I went home and poured myself a glass of wine. I realized that I hadn't gotten any news of the outside universe in days, so I switched on the virtual reality player.

I got in the middle of a confused scene outside of a high-tech security prison. There was a reporter there talking to military police.

“About what time did you notice that Demarin was missing from his cell?” The reporter asked one of the policemen.

“About twelve P.M. We still aren’t sure exactly how he did it, but one thing is for sure, Demarin has escaped and is somewhere at large. We have several men on the case, searching the immediate area. Of course, he could be long gone by now if there was an escape vessel used, something we suspect that might have happened. Therefore, we are putting the entire nation on high alert. This Sarceastian is highly dangerous,” the cop pointed out.

"Thank you, Officer Daniels. As you can see, this is quite a serious situation, indeed. This is the first time that anyone has escaped from this facility. Not only is each prisoner kept behind bars, but also all of their movements are carefully monitored at all times by heavily armed guards. The outside of the facility is heavily guarded as well. This is truly a frightening and baffling situation. We will bring more news to you about this developing story as it becomes available," The reporter stated. I turned off the virtual reality player and ran down to the tunnel. I didn't stop running until I came to the shelter. I banged on the door multiple times until Yahn finally answered the door.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Yahn, Demarin Goldarn has escaped from prison!”

Chapter Thirty-Two

Yahn

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“Yes, they just reported it on the news,” Jessie responded.

“Then, we have to make preparations more quickly than I thought,” he said.

“What do you mean?” Jessie asked.

“I mean, I know what my dreams were all about now. You know how I have been right with my premonitions before. Why don’t you trust them now?” He implored.

"I guess I don't want to give up on the idea of us living in peace in Gwuarden. I thought we could start a new life for ourselves. I don't want to see our lives going back into chaotic situations."

“Jessie, the enemy has only been wounded, not defeated. We should hide out when they try to make their initial strike and then attack them, guerilla style from the jungle,” I said.

“Are you Che Guevara?” Jessie asked, making me laugh for a change.

“No, but I am a person who wants to rid ourselves of the threat of the Sarceastians, once and for all. The first thing we need to do is to call everyone in the community together to tell them about the oncoming threat. Then, we will wait,” I said.

Later that day, a meeting was held in the amphitheater where movies and local productions were put on. There were quite a few of the citizens of the colony there. Many of them had looks of concern on their faces because of the urgent manner of the e-bulletin Yahn sent to their computers and electronic devices.

"Good day, fellow citizens of Gwuarden. I'm sure many of you have been wondering why I've been working so diligently on an underground bunker, and why I called you all to a meeting today. The truth is, sometimes I have dreams that are premonitions of things to come. It is not an uncommon gift amongst my kind. I'm sure that all of you have heard by now that Demarin Goldarn, the Sarceastian military leader has escaped. I'm also sure that many of you know the history that Jessie and I have with Demarin. My dreams tell me that we are going to be attacked. I don't know when but I know it's going to be soon. We have to be ready. I advise that we hunker down and stay in hiding when they initially attack. Then, we pose a counterattack from the jungle," I said, prompting a lot of talk in the crowd. Jessie held my hand and then got behind the microphone.

“My partner, Yahn is right. I have seen predictions of his that have come true. I know what a threat Demarin is. He is likely to come looking for me to carry out his revenge.”

“What are we supposed to do? If this is going to happen soon, how do we have time to prepare?” An older man asked.

“We will have to do the best we can. We can take about two families in our shelter, but that’s all the room we have. If you have storm cellars, stock them up, get inside and lock the doors tight. We want them to find the place deserted when they come. Then when they relax their posture a bit, we will attack them!” I said.

I went around the community helping people to build makeshift shelters and stock up their basements and cellars. It was not a minute too soon. One night when Jessie and I were feeling a little frisky, an alert sounded on our phones. The virtual reality player switched on and we saw an emergency report playing all around us. What it showed was Sarceastian fighter ships approaching Gwuarden. The report stated that the ships seemed to be attempting an attack on the peaceful settlement. It also said that a defense squad from Earth was sent to help Gwuarden mount a defense.

“It is about to start. We have to warn the others and then go to the shelter,” I stated. We walked to the amphitheater in the heart of the community and rang the alarm. It was understood that if someone rang this alarm, it was time for everyone to seek cover. As soon as the alarm rang, I saw several people running home. Once the alarm sounded, I ran back home with Jessie. Just as we entered our house, we heard the sound of an explosion.

“Quickly!” I yelled. We headed to the tunnel and made for the shelter as quickly as we could. We got inside the shelter; I sealed the two sets of doors and guided Jessie to the living room area. Then, I switched on the virtual reality player to see if we could get an update.

“Help!” someone yelled from the outside.

“Let them in,” Jessie shouted.

“I knew there would be some that weren’t prepared,” I said as I began to unlock the doors using the retinal code.

A young human family came in. It was a young man, a woman, and their five-year-old daughter. They could hear the sound of explosions in the distance.

“Get inside quickly!” I urged.

“Thank you so much, the young man said. “My name is Daniel Davis. I began building a shelter, but it is incomplete. If only we had a little more time. This is Jenny and our daughter Rosie,” he said.

“It’s not a problem. I’m actually pleased that we have more people asking to stay here. I have equipped this shelter with plenty of supplies for you and your family. Besides, we don’t have to wait long, I’m afraid before we must fight,” I said. Daniel had large, sad brown eyes. He seemed less than thrilled about this prospect.

“Are you sure we’re going to have to fight?” he asked.

“Would you like to keep Gwaurden from becoming a Sarceastian mining colony?” I implored.

We switched on the virtual reality player. It showed satellite cameras capturing explosions on the surface of the colony. Gwuarden was a small moon of the planet Gelatio and news cameras were now at a safe distance trying to hone in on what was happening.

It seems the Sarceastians are beginning to cease their attack as they are not finding many citizens there. They appear to have vanished. We can only hope that they are in hiding or have escaped altogether. We are hoping to hear back from Captain Thornton soon about the Allied Earth Federation troops that are on their way to the colony on the lush forest moon known as Gwuarden.

“It’s working,” I pointed out. “We must mount our attacks soon. We can’t wait around!” I sent out a message that all able-bodied people who wished to help with the attacks should meet at my shelter. It would be risky getting people to move around, but most of the shelters people had built were some distance away from the main settlement where the Sarceastians had mounted their attack.

The group was so large that it filled the shelter. I wasted no time and got right to the point, “Citizens of Gwuarden, we must attack immediately. Our enemy is puzzled and has ceased their attack to evaluate the situation. This is when we should strike them!”

“Agreed! A muscular young man said.

“Yes, we attack now!” A middle-aged woman said. She was clutching a small laser pistol.

“We will launch a coordinated series of guerilla-style attacks on them until they are persuaded to leave or are completely destroyed,” I stated.

We began our first attack, taking a group of about fifty of us to the edge of the settlement. We saw armed Sarceastian soldiers marching around, but it didn’t appear to be a full army. They had more than likely sent some of their troops off into the jungle to hunt us.

"Now!" I whispered and we came at them with our laser cannons and pistols blazing. Many soldiers were hit and others were in full retreat mode. One of them tried to send a warning to the base, but I shot him with a laser blast just before he was able to get the communication through. Still, it was likely that Demarin would know that a counterattack was taking place soon enough. We retreated quickly back into the jungle and watched as more troops poured out of a Sarceastian cruiser like ants. They were swarming around the area where we had invaded. We attacked them again from the opposite direction, a couple of our people were taken out, but their casualties were much greater in number.

Their survivors began to retreat again. We pulled back into the jungle. Then we went to another position in the forest to carry out our third attack. I knew that this one would be the riskiest because Demarin would be better prepared. This last time, we attacked them from the south, but they shot four of us right away, expecting a third onslaught. Demarin himself made an appearance from well behind several lines of his soldiers. He ended up killing two of the humans and then hastily retreated back to the cruiser. We ended up fighting back and pushing the Sarceastians to a third retreat. There weren’t that many of them left to retreat, so I knew that we had dealt them with a devastating blow.

“Yahn, we have too many wounded. I don’t think we have the strength for a fourth attack,” Daniel said, clutching his bleeding arm.

“That’s alright, Daniel, three may prove to be sufficient. I believe that Demarin came at us with the fullest force he has right now,” I remarked. “You go ahead and lead the others back to safety and ask Dr. Harris to set up a triage for the wounded. I don’t think anyone’s wounds are life-threatening. I want to stick around and keep an eye on what the Sarceastians are planning next,” I instructed.

However, we had made one mistake during our third attack. We did not immediately go back into hiding. Out of nowhere, two Sarceastian soldiers came out of the jungle and took Jessie's weapon. After that, they vanished with her. I desperately searched for them and finally I did catch up with them as they were trying to board the cruiser. I was closing the distance between us very quickly but still I wasn't close enough to be able to hit them with the laser fire.

They boarded the cruiser and took Jessie with them. I was able to climb onto the bottom set of wings as the cruiser was taking off. I managed to crawl to the cargo hold and get inside it as the ship was taking off. It wasn't the place ideal to hide but it was spacious enough that I could sit up or at least stretch out my legs. One thing was for sure. I was going to rescue Jessie from that ship if it was the last thing I ever accomplished. For now, I had to wait patiently for the ship to land. I tried to send Jessie a message to let her know I was there.

Jessie, it's me. I hope this message gets to you. I managed to get on board the ship. I'm in the cargo hold. Wherever they are taking you, I will be there to set you free. I promise you.

Yahn! I'm so glad that you are here, but please be careful. The last thing I want is for Demarin to capture both of us. It would be better if one of us remains free.

We will both soon be free. I will take them by surprise and force them to let you go. Then, we will escape again just like we always do. Nothing in this universe can stop me from getting to you. I love you, Jessie.

I love you too Yahn. I will see you whenever we get to where we’re going. I suppose it’s probably Sarceastium.

I’m sure you’re right about that. Sarceastium is not my idea of a honeymoon destination, I joked.

After several days of surviving on pillaged Sarceastian food in the cargo hold, I could hear that the ship was preparing for a landing.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Jessie

As soon as they walked me down the moving ramp way, I knew we had landed on Sarceastium. All of the rumors I'd heard about this planet seemed to be confirmed. It was a white and gray landscape of tundra and snow. The Sarceastian city was all glass and steel with nothing green or natural about it. The buildings were stacked very close together and the amount of smog and traffic made LA seem like a country retreat. I got one good look at the snow-swept sea of steel spires and glass domes before they took me deep into the bowels of a warehouse-like building. Once the upper levels were office like rooms and larger meeting rooms. Then, we got to the prison levels. I saw several suspended cells with invisible barriers where unhappy men and other aliens sat and waited out their sentences. Finally, we reached a level that seemed to be at the very bottom of the facility, the basement so to speak. On this floor were several lab-like rooms where I could hear screams of pain. I knew that the most horrible experiments were probably carried out there, and I wanted more than anything else to escape this place and help the people being tortured.

I was placed in a chair next to a control panel. Attached to the chair there were all sorts of instruments of torture, some with blades and drills, and others with heat and laser rays. I struggled, but the soldiers would only strap me more tightly. They turned the chair around and there was Demarin, facing me.

"Oh, my dear, Jessie. What a state you found yourself in. Oh, you are worried about those hi-tech torture devices attached to your chair no doubt. Do not worry. I don't use such unsporting weaponry. I much prefer whips, maces, knives and more primitive ones. I shall only be a minute while I select what is most fitting for today's sport," he said with a wicked laugh.

“You can do what you want with me, but your kind’s days are numbered,” I threatened.

“You’re in no position to make threats, my dear,” Demarin said as he got closer to me. He pushed a button and a heat ray scorched the side of my neck.

"OUCH!" I yelled. The side of my neck had a red burn on it.

“That’s only the beginning,” he said, turning away from her. He went over to a tall closet of sorts and opened the door. Inside the closet there were myriads of weapons, including a whip, a mace, a club, two spears, a series of swords, throwing stars and daggers.

“I’ve always said a coward needs a million weapons,” I chided.

"You will only make me take more pleasure in hurting you, my dear if you keep talking that way," Demarin assured me. He proceeded to pick out a large whip with spikes at the end of it.

Just as he was about to turn around, I saw Yahn come up behind the guard at the door. With a flash, he hit the guard in the back of his head with the back of his laser cannon and grabbed the digital keys to the locks of the torture chair. Demarin turned around quickly and saw that Yahn was about to shoot him. He dove for cover and managed to escape through a door in the back of the chamber. Yahn came over and untied me from the chair.

“Let’s go after Demarin!” I said.

“We really need to focus on getting you safely out of here,” Yahn insisted.

“We have to take him out. Once we do, the Sarceastians will be substantially weakened.”

"All in good time, my dear," Yahn said as he began to take the hooded uniform off of the guard that he had knocked out. Then, he tied up my hands. "Here, put these around your hands," he said.

“Ah, I see where you’re going with this, but will they buy it?” I asked.

"We'll find out." Yahn led me out of the torture area and we wandered back through the floors where the torture had been taking place. We tried our best to ignore the screams we heard. At that moment, we had to get out of the lion's den before the lion came to attack us. I knew that Demarin was going to warn the whole place of our presence there, so we had to hurry out of the area. We passed a couple of guards as we made our way to the upper levels on the moving, suspended walkways that linked the levels together.

“Where are you taking this human?” one of them asked Yahn.

“Demarin has asked that I take the prisoner to his quarters so that he may do with her as he chooses,” Yahn stated.

“Hmm, we haven’t received any word of this,” the guard said. Then, another guard ran up from behind us.

"Sir, we've just received word that the prisoner has been kidnapped by a Karkastian."

“Get them!” the guard yelled and they drew their laser guns. I drew mine first and took out the guard nearest to us. The other guard began to shoot at us and we had to jump from the platform to the lower level to avoid being hit. We exchanged fire and finally one of my shots hit its target and the guard fell over the rail.

“Let’s get to the upper floors and get out of here!” I yelled as we climbed back up to the next level. Prisoners shouted at us as we ran through the prison complex. Laser shots were flying everywhere, barely missing us as we ran through. The whole place had been alerted to our presence, it seemed. We ran down a side hall and hid in a utility closet while the bulk of the guards on that level ran on. We gathered our breath so that we could continue our escape.

We made our way up to a supply and maintenance level. There were vast storerooms of weaponry and machinery. Sleek, new space cruisers were being built for the Sarceastian military and heavily-armored hover copters, the likes of them I had never seen.

"I guess I never realized just how well armed the Sarceastian army was," I remarked. We passed through this level exchanging more gunfire with the soldiers, but again, we managed to get through to the next level. Soon, however, the access doors to the upper levels were being closed. We could hear an alarm sound and an announcement that intruders were in the vicinity. We realized that we were trapped on that floor and the guards were moving in fast.

"Quickly, in the armored assault vehicle there!" Yahn exclaimed. The Sarceastian armored assault vehicles were basically huge hover tanks, armed with missiles and laser fire. We climbed into one of them and began to take out several guards at a time. The rest of them retreated to the exits. I began to drive the vehicle out of the warehouse it was stored in.

“Where are you taking us?” Yahn asked.

"Through the armored door!" I exclaimed and began to make the vehicle operate at full throttle. I activated the large battering ram at the front of the vehicle and first fired several missiles at the door. These all bounced off, but the door was now burned black. I rammed the door with the battering ram and we managed to punch through the door. We got out of the vehicle and continued our escape through the upper floors. Now we were on a floor with what looked to be offices and meeting rooms. In fact, we ran into a room where several well-dressed Sarceastians were in an important meeting. The soldiers were close behind us as we made our way through this floor. We hid out in a place that looked like a bathroom, losing many of the soldiers, but soon they found us hiding there and began to fill the room with laser fire. We barely escaped out of the door.

We were now on the ground floor of the building. Right away, we could feel the colder temperatures coming from outside. We were both nearly out of breath and needed to stop and rest if we could. We found a clothing supply closet with many hooded military uniforms and other supplies. We got far back in the closet and remained completely quiet as a group of Sarceastian soldiers moved through the room, searching it. Finally, they left and we both breathed a sigh of relief.

“We are really close to the outside, I can feel it,” Yahn whispered.

“In that case, we had better stock up on these uniforms. I hear that the landscape is a lot like Yukon, back home. Oh, but you probably wouldn’t know about that,” I said.

“Yes, Yukon is in northern Canada,” Yahn pointed out.

“How did you know that?” I asked him.

“As I’ve said before. We Karkastians would study Earth culture. Mostly as a cautionary tale about how not to give rise to civilization,” he joked.

“Ha ha. Earth is not all bad, Yahn. I’m sure you have seen that by now,” I said, defensively.

“I know, but it has a long way to go,” Yahn concluded.

“Well, I’d like to argue about this with you later, but now I think we need to focus on getting out of here,” I said.

“We can both agree on that. I say we just run for the exit as fast as we can and shoot anything that is in our way,” Yahn suggested.

"I'm with you!" With that, we made our way to the entrance. It was actually quiet because most of the guards had moved on to another area. We looked down the hallway from where we were and saw two soldiers guarding an oval door to the outside. By now, we could hear the howling wintry winds outside the huge facility. We immediately began to fire at the soldiers guarding the door. They fired back at us. One of the guards called for backup and soon we could hear the sound of Sarceastian boots approaching from farther down the hall.

"Ok, follow me. We have to run straight at those guards and take them out before we get hemmed in between them and the soldiers. Come on!" I said. I ran right at the soldiers firing repeatedly as I ran. Yahn was right behind me doing the same thing. Finally, we took out the two guards and used one of their security scanners to open the doors to the outside. The cold winds were worse than I expected. We bundled up tightly and headed out into the frozen lands. Snow was mounted a foot high on every surface we could see. There were mostly steel and glass buildings, all so close that there was barely enough room to walk in between them. Guards that were protecting the outside of the building began to chase us, so we ran into an abandoned building and hid behind a stairwell. We were very cold but warmer than we had been on the outside. We rested there for a minute to plot our next move.

"We can't stay here long. They will search the place soon enough," Yahn pointed out.

"Yeah well, another five minutes out there and I was going to become a snowman," I said.

"What's a snowman?" Yahn inquired.

"Something we used to make out of the snow when we were kids. Never mind, it's not important," I said. I felt very upset.

“Jessie, I know it’s upsetting to be in this situation, but we are together and we are still alive. That is something to be happy about,” Yahn pointed out. I hugged him.

“You are always there to make me feel better, aren’t you?” I said, smiling. “Well, we talked about being in the lion’s den. We are certainly there now. How are we going to get out of here?”

Chapter Thirty-Four

Jessie

We could hear the movements of Sarceastian guards outside of the building we were hiding in and knew we had to keep moving. It wasn't easy because a snow storm had begun just as we left our hiding place. We decided that our best move was to make our way to the most crowded portions of the city so that we could blend in and hide. As soon as we went out of the back door of the abandoned building, we heard the guards enter it. We made our way down an alley towards some sort of power station that was located at the top of a small hill. There were several tall energy beacons that transmitted energy particles using light. Sarceastians also used light waves to send communications. We hid behind the beacons and looked out over the surrounding city. From there we could get a bird's eye view and get a better idea of where we should be headed.

We could easily see that Sarceastian cities were sharply divided. Back in the direction we came from there were tall, sleek towers, the large military complex that we had just left which was shaped like a dome, and other dome-shaped hover dwellings that looked to be expensive homes of the more well off. To the east, the tall, jagged steel and glass towers gave way to what looked to be the slums- it looked not unlike the pictures I'd seen of the poorer parts of large cities back home such as Sao Paulo, Brazil, only the dwellings were dome-like and stacked practically on top of each other. From what I could tell, it looked like most of them were constructed out of gathered bits of wood, steel, and glass. There was a line of soldiers patrolling on the edge of this part of town, more than likely to keep the poor in their quarters and away from the more prosperous sector. The poor Sarceastians were moving about from place to place down crowded streets. Most of them did not have space cruisers and got around on foot. Many of them wore hooded outfits that were threadbare.

“We need to get over there so that we can blend in with the crowd,” I said.

"Wow, it seems that they have the same problems that your Earth has, with poverty and inequality. That is something that will always be hard for me to understand. As I've said before, such problems were nonexistent on Karkast. Oh, how I would love to see the suns rising above my home planet again," Yahn mused.

“Right now, we need to be getting out of here, look there!” I said pointing to a group of guards that were moving from the military complex in our direction.

"I have an idea. I will turn into my vaporous state and distract them by reappearing over there to the north. The soldiers will come after me and give you an opportunity to get over to the poorer part of town and blend in with the crowd. I will turn back into a vapor and rejoin you there," Yahn suggested.

“Alright, Yahn, but be careful!” I warned. He winked at me and turned into a blue vapor. I watched as he drifted down the street and appeared not too far from where the soldiers were making their way in my direction. As soon as he reappeared in his normal form, the soldiers spotted him and took off in his direction.

"There's the Karkastian! After him!" one of them ordered. As soon as the soldiers were safely distracted, I made my way out from behind the energy beacons and headed for the crowded streets. The walkway that divided the industrial complex from the poorer area was now clear. I ran across it and into the crowd. I got some puzzled looks from the Sarceastians around me, but I managed to blend in once I pulled my hood over my head. I looked over at where Yahn had appeared, but he had already transformed into a vapor again. I saw the blue haze drifting over towards me, and the soldiers who were standing there, looked puzzled as to why he had vanished. They obviously had very little knowledge about Karkastians and their powers.

Soon, Yahn appeared by my side with a huge, satisfied grin on his face.

"Look at them," he said. "They have no idea what happened to me." We watched as they searched along the walkway. We were now well hidden amongst the crowd. We pulled our hoods up and began to walk further down the crowded streets. There were all sorts of vendors selling all sorts of things along the street. Some Sarceastians sold building materials like concrete blocks or stolen sheets of glass. Others sold clothing. Some sold food. All of them were shouting at us about how they had the best items for sale in all of Podesta. That's when we learned the name of the city we were in.

“We need to find a place to stay until we can figure out how to get off this planet,” Yahn stated. He held my hand tightly, not trusting some of the characters that sauntered down the street, eyeing us like the strangers that we were.

“These people need someone to fight for them and bring about better conditions for them to live in,” I said, with pity in my heart. I saw a mother carrying a very sickly-looking child. From what I could tell, there was probably very little medical care available for this sector of the population. We were astonished to see just how large this section of town seemed to be. The crowded domes and make-shift dwellings were piled one on top of the other for as far as the eye could see. It was obvious that the majority of the population lived in these conditions.

"Don't go getting any ideas. We need to get back where we belong. I want Demarin and the others that are oppressing the Sarceastians to get what's coming to them, but I don't see how it could be accomplished right now. Demarin has all of the weapons. All that these people seem to have is the hoods they wear."

“You can smell the unrest in the air. All they need is the right leadership- the right person to rally behind,” I said.

A few of the vendors in the street gave Yahn a dirty look. At first, I couldn't figure out why, but then I realized that Yahn was wearing a sleek, silver outfit that the military officials wore, unlike the cheaper material that the commoners’ outfits were made from.

“They don’t like your outfit,” I teased Yahn.

“Sorry, it’s the only one I have,” he shot back.

“Executive slime!” a few younger Sarceastians suddenly shouted. Two of them began to throw rocks at Yahn. Yahn took off his hood and the sight of him shocked the young Sarceastians so badly, they ran off.

“Very funny, but I wouldn’t do that if I were you. We don’t need anyone to know our identity. I’m sure by now word has gotten out about us. There might even be a reward being offered for our capture,” I suggested.

“You’re right. I just couldn’t resist,” Yahn admitted.

At the end of an alley, we saw a sign that we translated into ‘For Rent' using our handheld word translation device. We decided to check it out. We were both very exhausted and not sure how to proceed, so we needed a place to rest and collect our thoughts. We knocked on the oval-shaped, wooden door. All around us were dwellings that looked even smaller and more crowded than the area we had just walked through. The poorer segment of the population used wood and cardboard to fashion their dwellings.

A second later, an old, female Sarceastian came to the door and looked us over suspiciously.

“We are interested in your room for rent,” I said.

“It is no longer available, thank you,” she said, rather curtly, then proceeded to shut the door.

“Wait!” Yahn said. “We have a hundred Banis we are willing to offer.”

“Banis? We don’t accept that currency here. You will have to go to the exchange facility down the street. Also, it will cost you fifty extra because you are fugitives,” she suggested.

“How did you know?” I asked.

"You stand out much more than you think you do. It takes more than a Sarceastian robe to make a good disguise, young lady." The woman suddenly looked at something off in the distance.

“Come inside, we will negotiate our terms there, quickly!”

I looked behind us and saw a group of guards in their silver robes asking the vendors questions.

“Quickly, they’re coming this way,” I said to Yahn, pulling his arm. We went inside the dwelling and the woman put several locks across the door.

"Come with me," She said, leading us down several flights of stairs. There were several makeshift dwellings all around us. We came to one at the end of the hall and she opened the door. The dwelling consisted of one room with wooden walls that looked like it had been put together in a matter of minutes. There was one, dingy, couch-like piece of furniture and a mattress in another corner.

“It isn’t much, but it is all I have available right now. My name is Hilga,” she said, bowing to us, which is the Sarceastian custom for greeting a stranger. We bowed back at her.

“Thank you so much. I guess you know by now, we escaped from Demarin and his soldiers. I was kidnapped by them and Yahn here managed to stow away on a cruiser ship and free me,” I shared.

“I have no love for Demarin or the executive class. They have done nothing but exploit the rest of us, allowing us to live in abject poverty. If you are enemies of them, then you are friends to me,” Hilga said, smiling. She took off her hood to reveal a kindly face. She had the same pointed ears and red eyes that all Sarceastians had, but her visage was much more benign.

“I don’t have much in the way of food, but I can offer you some stromal. It is a stew made out of the leftover meat and vegetables that we have available,” she offered.

“We can’t turn down food of any kind at this point,” I said with a smile.

“Very good. I will go and get some for you. You can pay me tomorrow once you’ve exchanged your Banis for Sarceastian silver.”

“Thank you, you are very kind,” I answered with a big smile.

We settled in, resting side by side on the couch. Hilga came in a few minutes later with two steaming hot bowls of stromal. It was very strong-tasting, but filling.

“I have to say, I admire anyone who is able to escape from the executive military complex. It is very heavily guarded. You two must have some special skills if you were able to do that,” Hilga pointed out.

“We are very much used to escaping from danger and being on the run, I’m afraid,” Yahn shared.

“This is the first time I have ever seen a Karkastian on this planet. I am sorry for what became of your planet. Our leaders have exploited almost every civilized corner of the universe. Except for one…” Hilga said, turning to me. “I know who you are and know about how you defeated the Sarceastian space cruisers. They tell stories about you to the children. They call you the Arch Frankder.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means human savior. Many around here wish that you had completely destroyed our leaders.”

“I’m not a savior, just someone who believes in defending my homeland at any cost,” I answered humbly.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Yahn

After Hilga left, we began to stare into each other’s eyes and decided to take this opportunity to mind meld. I felt closer than ever to Jessie as she shared her thoughts with me. My whole body trembled with pleasure as I felt her love for me wash over my body. Then, I pulled her on top of me and we made love while holding hands and kissing passionately. It seemed that every time we were intimate with one another, it was better than the last time. We had grown closer and closer and I felt as if both of our hearts were beating as one.

Despite our cramped and dirty quarters, we slept until late into the morning.

I went down the hallway and up to the first floor of the building. When I got to the entrance, I ducked back around the corner. I could hear Hilga talking to executive guards that were questioning her.

“We’ve heard a rumor that the Karkastian and the human were seen at this location,” The guard stated.

“I saw them. They asked me if I would rent a room to them, and I refused. I sent them on their way and they walked to the west. I don’t know where they were going,” Hilga answered. I could see the skeptical look on the guard’s face. He turned to talk to the other guards that were standing close by.

“I hope you are telling the truth, for your sake. If you do happen to spot them in this area again, you must communicate with me!” The guard stated, handing her a code.

“That would be fine if I could afford a messenger” Hilga remarked; messengers were the equivalent of Sarceastian phones which sent messages using beams of light energy.

“You can send a messenger to see me on foot. I am Captain Garin,” the soldier stated.

“Yes sir,” Hilga said, making a disgusted face as she turned away from them. I hid behind the corner until they were well out of sight and Hilga closed the door to the outside.

“I heard what you said, and I want you to know how much we appreciate you letting us stay here and risking your own safety to lie to those guards,” I shared.

“I promise that I will not tell anyone that you are here. However, I heard a rumor in the market today that there is a sizeable award being offered for your safe delivery to the guards,” she stated.

“Really? How much are they offering?”

“Twenty thousand silver pieces.”

“And what does that equate to in Banis?”

“That would be about thirty thousand Banis,” she said.

Just then, I realized that Jessie was behind me. “That is not a lot of money,” she said.

“That is a lot of money to most of the Sarceastians that live in this part of town and the majority of Sarceastians as well. That is why you must be careful when you will go to make your exchange. I will send my trusted friend and worker, Hemant with you today.”

“Hilga, are there lots of Sarceastians that could be persuaded to rise up against the rulers? I would be willing to lead them if they were,” Jessie said.

I looked at her incredulously. “Jessie, we need to get out of here. We shouldn’t lead the rebellion to the Sarceastians,” I insisted.

“Yahn, if we allow the Sarceastian rulers to continue their activities, no place in the universe will be safe from their grasp. If Demarin and his superiors are defeated, that will take away the threat that the rest of the universe faces, not to mention the fact that it will liberate these poor folks,” Jessie said. I knew that determined look in her eyes, and realized that it was useless to argue against her when she became impassioned like this.

“It is useless to try and dissuade you,” I finally conceded.

“Hilga, I have enough Banis to hire an entire army. I can pay much more than the reward is asking. Can you talk to the right Sarceastians who could be persuaded to join the cause?” Jessie asked.

“Yes, I can, but these Sarceastians are very rough types. They aren’t accustomed to taking orders from a female, especially a human female.”

“I don’t wish to be their ruler, only to assist and help mobilize them,” Jessie insisted.

“I will put the word out. You will also need to hire some of these same Sarceastians to guard you against those that want to obtain the award for your safe capture,” Hilga stated.

“Yes, that would be great,” Jessie replied.

“Let me fetch Hemant for you,” Hilga said. We put our hooded disguises back on. This time, I put on a gray outfit that was more akin to what the commoners wore so that I wouldn’t look like an executive official. Hemant was a very tall and burly Sarceastian with a cold stare. He was the kind of Sarceastian that you wanted on your side.

“Good to meet you,” he grumped and then gave us a half-hearted bow. We bowed to him in return.

“Likewise,” Jessie stated.

“This way.” Hemant led the way through the crowded market that we had walked through the day before. No one seemed to pay any particular mind to us at first. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a couple of Sarceastian merchants pointing at me. I had no idea what made me stand out or look different. Then, I looked down at my shoes. Most Sarceastians wore soft, gray shoes that had very little decoration. I was wearing combat boots that were a part of my military uniform back on Earth. Those must have given me away.

The currency building was just ahead of us, but the merchants that had been eyeing me, were coming up behind us. Hemant noticed them and turned to face them. He was clutching a laser cannon.

“Is there something I can help you with?” Hemant asked them. They moved backwards and put down their weapons.

“Who is that in your company, Hemant?” one of them asked.

“It is none of your business. You would do well to leave them alone or you will have me to contend with,” Hemant said. “Now, away with you!” The merchants reluctantly put away their weapons and scattered as we entered the currency exchange market. There was no one in the market. The male Sarceastian behind the counter looked very bored.

“Ah, you must be the ones that everyone is talking about,” he finally said. “I was hoping you would come here to make an exchange. We get very few foreign visitors in this part of town anymore. What reason would they have to want to come to such a slum? How much can I help you to exchange today?” he asked with a smile.

“I have four million Banis that I need exchanged into Sarceastian silver,” Jessie said. I thought the creature’s eyes behind the counter, were going to pop out of his head when he heard this figure.

“Did you say four million Banis? Yes, certainly, we can do that for you!” He said excitedly. He came back with so many silver coins; we had to carry two large bags of it in addition to filling all of our pockets. “Please, please come again when you have a need! I hope that they don’t capture you. Enjoy your visit to Podesta,” he said.

“Thank you,” Jessie said.

Hemant led us out of the shop and back to Hilga’s building. A few Sarceastians eyed us as we made our way through the crowd, but no one else tried to do anything. Finally, we made it safely back to Hilga’s building.

“Hemant, I want to thank you for helping us. Here is some silver for your efforts,” Jessie said, handing several coins to him.

“Thank you,” he said, bowing again.

“Hemant, would you be willing to join an armed rebellion against the rulers of this city?” Jessie came out and asked. Hemant looked surprised to hear her say this.

“Do you mean the executives?” he asked.

“Yes, is that what the rulers are called?” I inquired.

“Yes, long ago, the Executive Farfaulus declared himself the ruler of all of Sarceastium and recruited several desperate guards to help him. Once, we elected our leaders by popular vote, but now we have a dictator that has concentrated all of the wealth and left us to live in poverty. My parents were killed in the attempted revolt that followed. Ever since the last rebellion, the executives have increased their patrols. If anyone even looks at them funny, they are captured and tortured as an example to the others. It is even broadcasted on the virtual reality players, channel four. Although most of us cannot afford virtual reality players. But they have taken care of that by broadcasting the executions and scenes of torture on a large screen in the public square,” Hemant said.

“So will you join us so that we can defeat the executives? They not only pose a threat to this society but they are also wreaking havoc all over the known universe. If we can bring them down, we will be helping out millions of others as well,” Jessie pointed out.

“Yes, I will join you,” Hemant replied. “I know others who would want to join as well.”

“Wonderful. We would also like to recruit you to be our guard along with some others that you know. We will need protection against those that want to collect the bounty that is being offered for our capture. I will pay fifty thousand silver pieces for anyone who will join us,” Jessie offered.

“You should have a sizable army then. You are offering thirty thousand more than the reward that is out there. I will go now and see who else I can recruit,” Hemant said, flashing us a smile.

“Are you sure about this?” I said as we returned to our room. “We could easily buy a space cruiser and get off of this rock.”

“Yahn, you said it yourself, how much you wanted to defeat the Sarceastians. If we don’t do something, these executives will destroy other worlds the way they destroyed Karkast. They will continue to exploit the people of this planet as well. I just simply can’t allow that.”

The memories associated with the Sarceastian invasion in Karkast were still fresh in my mind. For a second there, the scenes of devastation came back to me. I pictured my relatives begging for mercy as one by one they were executed by Sarceastian soldiers. “You don’t have to worry about me, I’m with you one hundred percent,” I finally answered. Jessie smiled and threw her arms around me.

“Good, because I couldn’t make it happen without your help. I couldn’t have accomplished everything that I have without your help, my love,” she said. A young female Sarceastian that worked for Hilga brought us more stew. We thanked her and then ate our fill while we waited for Hilga and Hemant to return with the recruits for our rebellion. About an hour later, Hilga and Hemant returned with a huge line of recruits trailing behind them. When I saw how muscular and tough these recruits looked, I knew we had a group that was more than capable of mounting a formidable attack.

“We’re back. I’ve managed to recruit over a hundred Sarceastians to help you. I hope that you can afford to pay so many,” Hilga said.

“It will take every bit of what we have, but I should be able to,” Jessie stated as she opened one of the large bags of silver.

Chapter Thirty-Six

Jessie

I looked out over the hundred male and female Sarceastians who were eager to fight and I couldn't believe my eyes. I was even more surprised when the largest amongst them came and made an unexpected announcement.

“Hemant told us about your idea and we want to help you. In fact, we would like to take a smaller share of the silver in order for you to be able to recruit more soldiers. My name is Yeritus, and I am the appointed leader of the Miserablis as we like to call ourselves. We are an underground militia who is prepared to go up against the government. So far we have been willing to watch and wait, but now it seems that the time is right. Still, I must know- who are you Jessie of Earth and why are you here to liberate the Sarceastians?” he asked. There were several Sarceastians behind him mumbling words of agreement with his statement.

“Good question. I would wonder the same thing if I were in your shoes. I’m Jessie of Earth. I’m from Maryland, which is a small state in what used to be called the United States before the Alliance was formed. I have a personal quarrel with the Sarceastian executives for making war on my home planet and destroying the planet of my comrade, Yahn, a Karkastian. Now that I’m here on Sarceastium, I can see that the executives are no less cruel with their own people than with the people they make war upon. If we ban them together, we can put an end to this oppressive regime so that life can mean more than just mere survival in the western part of Podesta. It’s not right that they’ve kept you down like this getting wealthy of the sweat of our backs. It’s time for your government to go back to what it was originally intended to do- represent the wishes of its citizens!”

The rough-looking bunch hooted and applauded when I said this. Yahn stared at me in disbelief.

“I’ve heard all I need to hear. Who’s with me?” Yeritus shouted.

“We are!” They all shouted. A celebration broke out and soon some drink that resembled ale was being passed around. I kindly accepted some and sat down to talk more with Yeritus.

"I want you to know how much I appreciate your willingness to take a smaller share and to fight alongside us," I shared.

Yeritus put his hand on my shoulder and looked me in the eye.

"We've been waiting for you to come along. It's been spoken in stories since I was a kid. It always puzzled me that a human would lead us, but that's what they say."

"Amazing," I mused. Hemant came and sat with us. Yahn held up his mug to him and he gave Yahn a puzzled glance.

"Oh, that's a human custom that I taught Yahn. We always say cheers and bump our mugs together. It's just a friendly greeting really," I shared.

“Fascinating,” Hemant said as Yeritus laughed.

“Well then cheers to the human that will lead us!” Yeritus said as he stood on top f the table.

"Cheers to the human that will lead us!" the others repeated. I looked at Yahn and he looked at me. We smiled at one another, knowing that we would be victorious with an army like this. After about two hours of merrymaking, I began to get restless. I knew that the time for our strike had come. We needed to be working out our plan of attack instead of swilling ale. After some persuasion, we managed to convince Yeritus that we needed to return to the business at hand. He agreed and we began to talk strategy, finally.

“I think we should hit them all at once with our fullest force!” Yeritus declared.

Yahn looked at me dubiously. This was not the kind of plan that we were thinking about devising at all.

“Um, maybe we need to consider other options,” I said.

“Sure, after all, you’re the one they speak of in the stories, not Yeritus of Podesta,” he said, prompting many of the others to laugh at him.

"What if we were to use the executive robes that Yahn and I stole to make our way back into the military complex. We could go straight to the prison blocks and set the prisoners free. It will cause enough chaos for us to make our way to the upper floors with less interference from the executive guard. Trust me, I know this kind of plan can work from experience," I stated.

“Hmm, more stealth than strength. I like it,” Yeritus finally agreed.

“There will be plenty of opportunities to make a show of strength, I imagine,” I shared.

“What do you plan to do with Executive Farfaulus and Demarin Goldarn when we have them surrounded?” Yeritus asked.

“We give them a fair trial like anyone else. Don’t worry, they will be found guilty by the Universal Tribunal,” I suggested.

“I much prefer public execution, but you are the chosen one,” Yeritus deferred again.

“We would be no better than the powers that we are taking out if we did that,” I pointed out. Yeritus and Hemant looked at each other.

“I have to admit, you’re right. The last thing that any of us want to see is a dictator being replaced by another dictator disguised as a liberator,” Hemant shared.

“How do you plan on getting by so many guards and armed soldiers?” One bearded skeptic in the back of the room said.

“We will hem them in from two sides, attacking from below with stun guns and lasers when necessary. Once we gain control of the weapon facilities, we will have the upper hand. We will make our way slowly up to the top floors where the head of the snake is likely to be hiding.”

“Head of the snake? What’s she talking about?” The Sarceastians asked, having not heard of this Earth expression.

“I think that she means where the enemy is hiding,” Yeritus clarified for them.

“Yes, that is what I mean,” I replied.

“Why don’t we have one party invade from the north entrance and another from the south entrance,” Yeritus suggested.

“Yes, that is precisely what I was thinking. That’s how we hem them in. We also need someone to gain access to a hover copter or two in case the executives try to evacuate, as I imagine they will,”

“My contact, Klefram is ex-military. He can still gain access to those kinds of things,” Hemant pointed out.

"Excellent. We need to get started immediately. Get in touch with your contact and see how long it will be before he can get us that hover copter," I stated. I began to sweat and tried to catch my breath. Yahn came over and brought me a glass of water.

“Here, drink this. You need to rest for a moment while you can,” Yahn encouraged me.

I took a deep drink and stood up. “There’s no time to rest. I can feel that the time is right.”

Hemant returned a few minutes later.

"Klefram is on the way with the copter. We can begin our invasion," he stated. All of the Sarceastians in the room put their fists in the air and declared victory. It was quite an intimidating sound.

As we walked through the market area, the merchants and buyers all looked at us in astonishment. Slowly people began to applaud as we walked through because they knew that this was a resistance army. We asked them to tone it down because we didn't want to draw the attention of any executive guards, should they make an appearance.

We walked a particularly rough looking, bar-type building. There was one young Sarceastian that looked straight at me as we walked by. He whispered to two of his friends and they came over behind him. He pulled out a laser pistol and threatened me.

“You must be Jessie, that human that has a bounty on her. You’ll be coming with me, pretty,” he hissed. As soon as the words came out of his mouth, he let out a howl of pain as Yeritus’s hand grasped him by the neck. With the other hand, he snatched the laser pistol out of his hand.

"Now, you'll be turning around and going back where you came from? Do you not understand what is going on here? We are on our way to take back this land of ours and no young upstart is going to stop us!" Yeritus jeered. The young Sarceastian's eyes were wide with fear as he ran off in the direction he came from followed by the two others. The members of the resistance army all laughed as they watched them run away.

“It’s too bad, though. We could use the help of more able-bodied Sarceastians,” Yeritus said.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spied the silver robes of executive guards. There were two of them pointing in our direction. I looked and there were several more behind them.

“Look there, we have to get out of here. The local guards have spotted us. There’s only a few of them now, but they will alert the others to our presence. We must get to the complex!” I stated.

"This way,” Yeritus said, leading us away from the main market area into a back street. Then, he opened what looked to be a manhole cover of sorts and began to climb down. "Well, come on then," he said as we stood there. One by one we all climbed down into the passage.

“What is this place and where are we going?” I inquired.

"This is a public government bomb shelter. It's seldom used for anything much now. They built it many years ago when nuclear weapons that were the biggest threat. Now, of course, we have weapons that can destroy an entire planet. We've come such a long way, haven't we?” Yeritus said, sarcastically.

"Where will we end up if we keep going this way?" Yahn asked.

“If my memory serves correctly, we will be coming out just south of the military complex. Then, we can split the two groups and make our way in through the north and south entrances,” Yeritus proposed.

“We will tell the entry guards that we are back from a scouting party and try to gain access that way,” I said.

“Ok, if you really think that will work, but we will be ready if they aren’t feeling willing to cooperate with our wishes,” Yeritus said as his eyes grew big and he held his laser cannon into the air.

The air was stifling in the tunnel. Occasionally, there would be a large room that came off of the main tunnel. Some poverty-stricken Sarceastians lived in many of the rooms. There was a stench of waste and dirt. A few of the Sarceastians that watched us move down the passageway joined the group. We had gained at least forty by the time we emerged from the tunnel. The exit of the tunnel was located about a block away from the military complex. We filed out and made our way through the fallen snow, hiding behind the numerous dome-shaped warehouses.

“Alright, Jessie, we are going to make our way around to the south entrance. We will see you on the inside,” Yeritus said with a grin.

“Yes, see you there,” I responded as we watched them creep along behind the warehouse and out of sight.

“So we’re really going to do this, then?” Yahn asked.

“We’re not here for a picnic, Yahn.”

“I wonder how many pages you will get in the History reports,” Yahn replied.

“Herstory, thank you very much!” I stated.

I waved for the Sarceastians that were following me to move forward and crept along behind the buildings until I saw the guards across the walkway. It was time for us to make our move.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Yahn

The group led by Jessie and I came over to the north entrance while the group led by Yeritus went to the south entrance. The guards looked at us suspiciously. I walked up to the nearest guard who had his laser cannon ready.

“We are back from an expedition. We need access to replenish our artillery,” I stated, forcefully. The guard looked at me and then at the other guard.

"I'm going to need to grant you security clearance," he said as he pushed a button on his communication device. I looked at Jessie and nodded. I stunned the guard I had just spoken to, and Jessie stunned the other one. They fell limp to the ground and we took their access badges and opened the door. As we marched inside, no one paid us any mind. We had the official uniforms and acted as if we belonged there, and it worked just like a charm. That was the case until we made our way to the dungeons that seemed full of prisoners. One of the guards came over to us and began asking questions.

“Why are you soldiers in the dungeons, you do not have access or permission!” The guard stated. I simply stunned him rather than trying to explain myself. Jessie stunned the other guard there, but a third one saw what was happening and attempted to run for the door as he pushed the button on his communication device. We were forced to shoot him with a laser in the back. The prisoners in the dungeons looked quite puzzled. We went around and freed as many of them as we could, deactivating the invisible barriers around the stone-walled dungeons and unlocking the chains that bound them.

"Go ahead, you are free," I told them. They smiled and made their way out of the dungeons. According to Yeritus, most of these prisoners were Sarceastians like the ones that we were helping that had been imprisoned for showing rebellious tendencies. As these prisoners made their way out of the doors, alarms were triggered, and soon we could hear soldiers making their way down the hallways towards the dungeons. We went through the opposite entrance and made our way to the next level, which was the prison block where the cells were stacked on top of each other with invisible barriers keeping the prisoners inside.

By this time, the guards had been alerted to our presence. Suddenly, laser fire was being exchanged. Jessie talked to some of the Sarceastians behind us.

"You make your way to the security control panel over there to free the prisoners. Also, send a couple of your men over to the entrance we came through so you can keep the guards from coming at us from behind. We will keep the guards occupied here while you do so," Jessie ordered. The Sarceastians nodded and made their way over to the control panel, one level up on a scaffold. We hid behind some columns and focused on shooting as many guards as we could. We shot many of them, and a couple of them made their way to the exit. Soon, we had the upper hand and the Sarceastians assisting us had the security locks deactivated. The noise of hundreds of prisoners making their way down from the cells filled our ears along with clanging alarms.

We forced our way out of the cell block and made our way up to the next level where the military supplies were housed. Now, we had a barrage of soldiers that knew that we were coming. We were hemmed in and so we were unable to move forward.

"There are too many of them. We need to radio Yeritus to see where they are. We need them to help us if we're going to move forward to the upper levels and get out of here alive!" Jessie shouted. I tried to radio Yeritus, but I was unable to get through to him. The soldiers moved forward, closing in on us.

"Give up your weapons and come with us. Your invasion is now over!" A guard stated. Just then, Yeritus's group came in the opposite entrance, firing as they went. The soldiers guarding the military supplies didn't know what hit them. Soon we were able to move forward easily as we joined forces with Yeritus.

“Thank you for coming to our aid at just the right time, comrade!” I said as Yeritus smiled.

“Let’s go up to the top and root out these ruling bastards!” Yeritus said, holding his laser cannon up high while his soldiers cheered.

We made our way up to the office levels, which were less heavily guarded. However, more soldiers had entered the compound and were making their way up to where we were. As we walked through these levels, several well-dressed Sarceastian government officials threw their hands up in gestures of surrender.

A few of our soldiers had been taken out, but as a whole, our casualties were very low. I began to feel very confident that we would be able to capture Demarin and Executive Farfaulus without too much trouble. However, as we reached the moving stairwell at the end of the hall, we were subjected to an unexpected onslaught of soldiers making their way down from the upper levels.

"Let me handle this!" I said as we hunkered down under the stairs, trying to avoid all of the laser fire from above. I transformed into a vaporous state and made my way through the soldiers who were puzzled to see this blue vapor moving through them. I transformed again once I was on the other side of them and began to stun as many as I could. Then, I began to fire into them with my laser cannon. Soon, I had cleared the way enough for Jessie, Yeritus, and the others to make their way up to the next level. We were puzzled when we got to the top level and heard no activity from the soldiers. We deactivated the security levels from below so that the soldiers below couldn't gain access.

“Where do we go now? There doesn’t seem to be anyone left up here. Have the leaders already evacuated?” I asked.

“That is just what they want us to think, but my comrades on the outside have not seen anyone escaping this compound. They are holed up in heavily armored chambers on this very level,” Yeritus said. “There are hidden doors somewhere on this level. We have to find them and find the control panel that will grant us access. I fear that there is only access from the outside.”

I knew that I could sense energy fields that humans couldn’t see. It was similar to infrared vision. I closed my eyes and felt along the wall to find the force fields guarding the chambers where we presumed the leaders were hiding.

“What are you doing?” Yeritus asked.

“Karkastians can sense energy fields. I am trying to find where the force fields are located,” I said. Finally, towards the end of the hall, I picked up on it. “The doors are right on the other side of this wall,” I stated.

“How do we get inside?” Yeritus asked.

“Well, we can’t penetrate these walls with laser fire. I already had my lasers bounce off the walls. Maybe, if we try from the outside, the walls won’t be as heavily armored,” Jessie suggested.

“You know, you might be right,” Yeritus said. “There is one more flight of movable stairs to the roof. We can try and gain access from there.”

We made our way up to the roof and were surprised to find guards there that were huddled around a cruiser. We immediately began to fire at them, and they fired back. Unfortunately, one of those soldiers hit Jessie in the shoulder. She cried out in pain and fell to the ground. I tore off the sleeve of my shirt and wrapped it around her shoulder.

“Are you alright, my love?” I asked her.

“Yes, let’s keeping moving. We have to prevent the officials from escaping. My guess is that the cruiser is there to help the executive and probably Demarin escape,” Jessie answered.

We moved forward. Yeritus and his soldiers had already taken out much of the executive guard.

“Board the ship; we have to make sure that it doesn’t take off and save the executive!” Yeritus ordered. His soldiers entered the ship and a second later, we could hear some fire being exchanged.

Cheers went up amongst our Sarceastian allies as Yeritus emerged from the ship with a laser cannon pointed to Executive Farfaulus.

“We have the executive!” Yeritus declared.

"Yah!" the cheer went up. The allied soldiers surrounded the executive and what was left of the executive guard. They were holding their laser cannons up to the sky and chanting.

“Down with the executive!” they began to chant. Jessie and I watched from outside the circle that they had formed.

“Where is Demarin? Something’s not right here,” Jessie stated.

“I agree. I fear he’s already escaped,” I said. Our fears were not unfounded. A second later, an executive guard emerged from the stairway that led to the roof. He held a laser cannon up to one of our allied Sarceastian soldiers.

“Hold it right there! Do not try anything or your comrade will get it!” Luckily, the guard couldn’t see that we had Executive Farfaulus that was hidden from view in the center of our soldiers.

Yeritus and his group stopped their chanting and watched with concern as the executive guard stood there by the cruiser, the laser gun still pointed at our comrade. Just behind him, Demarin and several of his guards emerged from the stairwell and boarded the cruiser. Demarin saw us and gave us a sly grin before he climbed up the ramp into the cruiser to make his escape.

We watched helplessly as the cruiser began to lift off above us.

“I knew it!” Jessie said, shaking her head. “He eluded us again.”

“We still have the executive at least. That will be enough for a coup.” I rested my hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

We turned to the executive guard that still held one of our comrades captive.

"Let him go! We have let your military commander escape!" Yeritus stated. The executive guard released our comrade and disappeared down the stairwell. Now we faced the dangerous prospect of making our way out of the complex. We made our way down the stairwell and immediately had to hunker down again as laser fire broke out all around us. The guards had flooded the building from below and escape now seemed impossible.

“What shall we do now?” Jessie wondered.

I knew that I had used an energy force field in the past to protect myself and Jessie, but I had yet to try and protect such a large group. However, I knew it was worth a try.

“Yeritus, I am going to try something. I need you and your men to huddle together with ours as closely as you can, just trust me.”

He did as I asked and soon we were all huddled together, firing back at the soldiers in front of us. I closed my eyes, trying to draw as much power to myself as I possibly could. I thought of my love for Jessie and my entire family. Soon, a powerful energy bubble began to form around the group as I concentrated as hard as I could. Yeritus and his men were astonished as they looked at the bubble around them.

“Move forward!” Jessie told them. Soon we were marching in formation, close together as the lasers being fired at us bounced off of our energy bubble. Slowly, we made our way down to the lower levels and exited the compound. We had successfully invaded the compound and captured the executive. I sustained the energy bubble long enough for us to make it out of the area. We fired back and retreated back to where we had come from.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Jessie

As soon as we got out of the complex, we saw a back army approaching us. Yahn and I each had a hold of Executive Farfaulus and I held a gun to his head.

"Your armies must return from where you came from or your precious executive that pays you to intimidate the ‘underling' Sarceastians will be no more!" I shouted loudly. The soldiers did not move right away- they looked to Executive Farfaulus to see his reaction. He took a deep breath, trying to slow down his pounding heart.

"You heard her, return to base," Executive Farfaulus declared.

“I’ll go with something better than that- soldiers drop all your weapons and return to base!” Yahn commanded. They looked at him and then at the executive in disbelief.

“Is that what you wish, Executive Farfaulus?” one of the soldiers asked.

“It is, I’m afraid a coup has taken place. I am sorry. Thank you for your devotion,” Executive Farfaulus muttered. He was far too a coward to risk any harm to himself.

Soon there was a pile of laser cannons, freeze and heat rays, stun guns, and energy projectors in the street. The allied Sarceastians gathered up the weapons and marched the executive through the street. One by one, the members of the poor sections of the city drew closer to take a look at the victorious army as they marched back to Hilga's compound. Finally, one young male Sarceastian cried out.

“They’ve performed a coup! The harsh government of the executive is no more!”

"Yah!" the cheer went up in the crowd. "The executive is no more!" Finally, the chant spread far and wide. There was a celebration in the streets.

When we went back to Hilga’s building, the air was full of optimism. Several poverty-stricken Sarceastians followed them there. Finally, Yeritus turned to address the crowd.

“My fellow Sarceastians, it’s a new day for us all!”

“Yah! The cheer went up!”

"Just as the prophecy says, the human and her Karkastian partner saved us. For they are the ones that mobilized the force that took down the executive. However, we must be on the lookout for the military commander, Demarin Goldarn. For he managed to escape in a hover copter from the compound."

“Booo!” The crowded yelled out.

“Even so, we will make sure that the will of our citizens is carried out. Just as it was before, the populace shall decide on our ruler. We will reinstate the election process as soon as possible and make right all of the wrongs that have been committed against us!”

“Yah! Yeritus should rule us!” several called out.

“Only if that were the will of the people. Right now, we should celebrate our alien friends who have brought freedom to us once more!” Yeritus called out. I blushed, and if Yahn’s face weren’t blue, I’d swear he was blushing too.

Several Sarceastians came up to us to thank us. I had never felt such an outpouring of gratitude before and it gladdened my heart. I knew we had done the right thing; and by helping them, we had turned an enemy into an ally. I was hoping that this would bring the horrible invasions of the Sarceastians to an end. It would also make it likely that the relationship between Sarceastium and Earth would improve for the better.

The Sarceastians combined their resources to have a feast of sorts. There was some kind of unidentified meat that was seasoned with spices and fresh vegetables. It tasted delicious. Some had even raided the liquor in the executive pantry. Many small bowls of the sweet alcoholic drink were passed around; Sarceastians used them to drink from. Several of our allies had been left to guard the military complex in case the executive guards or Demarin Goldarn returned.

“You are heroes and will always be considered friends of the Sarceastians!” Hilga announced, holding up her bowl of liquor.

"To your continued health and long life, allies!" she said.

“To your continued health and long life!” The crowd repeated and everyone took a sip.

“So what will you do now?” Yeritus asked. “You are welcome to stay here and help us better the situation of our citizens. Once we elect a new leader, we must go about rebuilding the wealth of all of our people and finding them worthwhile employment. That will take a lot of work and effort on the part of the people who care, such as yourselves,” he said.

“Thank you, but for now, at least, I think we need to see what has become of our home on Gwuarden and help them recover from Demarin's attack,” I stated.

“No doubt you will, but perhaps you may return after you check on your home and help to rebuild it?” Hilga stated.

"We must certainly return. I will make it a point to return and help with the work that is to come. For I'm sure that it will take a great deal of time to rebuild the former order," I said. Yahn had a strange look on his face. After Hilga, Yeritus and some of the other Sarceastians began to talk amongst themselves, Yahn took me aside.

"What is it, my love? I know that look in your eyes. There's something that's troubling you," I said.

“Yes, I’ve been having dreams again,” he answered.

“About our home?”

"No, they are about Earth. They are about your parents. I can't yet see what has befallen them in the dream, but I can see that they are in distress. We need to return to Maryland so that you can make sure that they are alright," Yahn said. As soon as I heard this, I was determined that we would depart for Earth the next morning. If Yahn's intuitive dreams were right - and most of them always were - we needed to check up on them right away. That night, we mind-melded, sharing our most intimate thoughts with one another and giving one another two orgasms each. It was one of the most intense experiences we had shared yet. All of our accomplishments and teamwork had brought us closer and closer together. We began to finish each other's sentences and we were able to tell what the other one was thinking.

The next day, Hilga hugged us both and wished us well. “I wish that you weren’t leaving so soon. I feel like I was just getting to know you, and here you are leaving me already,” she said.

"You will always be a special friend to us. We will make it our business to return here when we can, but first, we must check on matters back home. Yahn has had some visions in his dreams about my parents, and I have to check and make sure they are alright. Yahn has been right about these things time and time again." I smiled at Hilga and took her by the hand.

“Then you must go. Loved ones are the top priority of the Sarceastians, and I can see that this is no different amongst humans and Karkastians. Let this mark the beginning of an era of peace between our races,” Hilga said. Then, I hugged her.

“I would like that more than anything.” I smiled at Hilga and we waved goodbye. We took one of the elite fighting Sarceastian ships. It was triangular and black and white in color with two dome-shaped boosters coming off of the back. These machines were built for lightning fast speed, so we knew we could make the journey back to Earth in record time. The only trick would be keeping my fellow Earthlings from shooting us down once they saw a Sarceastian fighting ship approaching.

“Not to worry, my love. When they hear the voice of the conquering hero, Private Jessie, they will be sure to grant us clearance to land. Then we can make haste in order to check on your parents.” Yahn always had a way of comforting me in my times of distress. He put his hand on mine and smiled. We switched the ship on autopilot and went back to the sleeping quarters.

After gazing lovingly into each other’s eyes, we began to kiss and caress, softly and gently. I climbed on top of Yahn, taking in his muscular physique, and we began to make love. We made love and rested over and over again for what seemed like hours until we were hungry. I wondered if we could just drift through space together like this forever, not needing a place to settle down and call home. We would only need the pleasure of each other’s company and enough fuel and food to sustain ourselves. It was a nice notion, but after several days had passed, we began to approach planet Earth. It always looked like the most inviting place in the universe to me, every time I returned to it- its teeming blue seas and brownish landmasses, sprinkled with clouds above them. However, it didn’t take long until hostility was in the air. Several military space cruisers began to surround our ship after we descended through the first layer of Earth’s atmosphere.

"Surrender your ship, Sarceastian intruders before we blow it apart!" A voice spoke through our communication panel. I pushed the response button on the panel.

“This is Private Jessie of the Allied Earth Expedition army requesting permission to land. I have been given a Sarceastian ship for travel, but I assure you, no Sarceastians are aboard.”

“Private Jessie? Did you capture the vessel you are currently manning?” the officer asked.

“Yes,” I said, looking at Yahn knowing it wasn’t the truth. “I will explain the whole thing to them later. I think it’s best not to try and explain all that now,” I said to Yahn.

“Yes, I agree,” he responded.

“Private Jessie, we grant you permission to land your ship on docking bay 47, Washington D.C.”

“Thank you, eh- what is your rank, officer?”

“Captain Swansen, Private,” he answered.

“Thank you, Captain Swansen,” I answered back.

“No problem, Private. We will also make sure that no one tries to attack you since you are driving a Sarceastian ship.”

“That would be much appreciated!” I landed the ship and Yahn and I were greeted warmly by the soldiers there. Soon, General Watkins arrived to talk with us. We debriefed him about our travels and about the coup that we had helped stage on Sarceastium. The general’s eyes lit up with excitement as he heard our story.

“Private Jessie, just when I think you are the best soldier you could possibly be, you amaze me again,” he responded. I told him about Yahn’s premonitions, and he soon let us go on our way. We made sure to agree to meet with him to discuss further on the matter after we visited my parents.

Later that same night, we arrived at my parents’ hover house and things seemed eerily quiet. There didn’t seem to be any lights on in the house, either. I ran up the ramp and looked inside the window. I knocked loudly.

“Mom, dad? Are you there?” I asked. There was no answer. Yahn and I looked at each other with the same worried expression. I threw my weight against the door and finally forced it open. There, in the dark house, we saw a broken glass and a couple of other things that seemed to have been knocked onto the floor as if there had been some sort of struggle. Then, my attention focused on the virtual reality player in the corner. There was a blinking light on it, indicating that someone had recorded a message on it. I pushed the play button and Demarin's awful, wicked face appeared before us.

“Demarin has taken them,” I said to Yahn. He didn’t answer but I could tell he was thinking the same thing.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Yahn

"If you are watching this message, chances are, you've guessed what has happened. I have your precious parents; and if you wish to see them again, alive, you must listen to my demands. You do not have to guess my motives. I am a reasonable being and as long as you follow through with my request, I will not harm them. I wish to finish the business between you and me with a duel at the Universal Challenge Course on the space colony of Dweardon. You will have one month's time to train for this occasion. Once you arrive, I will release your parents. Please send a message bot back with your answer as soon as possible. I look forward to a spirited match between us," Demarin said, ending his message with another wicked grin.

“Oh no, you can’t go through with it,” I stated, after hearing the message.

“Why not? You heard him. If I don’t meet his demands, he’ll kill my parents. I can’t allow that to happen. There’s only one thing to do and that’s train for the duel.”

“Have you ever heard of the Universal Training Course? Fights that take place there are usually between criminals and prisoners. They always end with one opponent dying. I can’t let you do this,” I insisted.

“Yes, I’ve heard of it. I just don’t see any other alternative. If I don’t face him, he will kill my parents. I can’t and will not allow that.”

“I’m not saying that we do nothing. There just has to be another way to find and defeat Demarin. This is going to be a very dangerous situation, Jessie- one in which you may not make it out alive!”

“We will see about that. The first thing I need to do is send a message bot back telling him that I accept.”

“Jessie, even going to the colony of Dweardon is dangerous enough.”

“Yahn, you and I have already braved untold dangers in different space colonies. This will be no different from what we’ve been through before.”

“I should know better than to try and change your mind. If I cannot convince you to give up this challenge, I will help you train. We will have to begin the journey very soon because Dweardon is several million light-years away.”

“I knew I could count on you!” Jessie threw her arms around me and kissed me, but it was hard for me to enjoy this. I was too preoccupied with the danger that she was putting herself into. Jessie pressed record on the message bot to reply to Demarin’s message:

“Demarin, I accept your challenge. You had better train as hard as you can because I don't plan on losing. I am going to hold on to your agreement. No harm must be done to my parents!” Then, she programmed the bot to journey to the destination of the message, which we could not see. Demarin had blocked access to the information so that we could not seek him out prior to the duel. The oval message bot lit up with red and blue lights and shot out of the door of the hover house and into the sky.

"Let's get ready to depart," Jessie stated, fearlessly. I looked at my beautiful partner with both admiration and fear for her safety. Although I had no doubt that she could defeat Demarin, I wished there was a better way for her to recover her parents. We packed our provisions into our Sarceastian space fighter and prepared to leave. Each space fighter was equipped with a training area complete with most of the weapons that could be used in the challenge course. There were different types of laser guns, energy beams, fighting discs, energy deflectors, and more primitive weaponry such as spears, swords, and shields. As we took off for Dweardon, we began a daily regimen of training with these different weapons. Sometimes, I would duel with her, and other times, she would duel with a simulated opponent. Also, Jessie began to build her muscles using the treadmills and weight machines.

We began training with energy beams and deflectors because we knew that the energy beams were Demarin’s favorite weapon of choice. When in training, you could set your weapon to training mode, so that the energy beams were just simulations. First, we began to spar using the energy beams. I was amazed as Jessie jumped over me, doing a somersault in the air and charged me. I blocked every one of her beams and moved to one side. Then, I picked up a deflector to send the beams back at her. Every time I did, she managed to move out of the way in time or deflect the beams with an energy shield. Finally, I managed to hit her with an energy beam.

“Pretty good, my dear, but you will have to train even harder if you are going to defeat Demarin,” I said as I pulled her closer to me.

"Come on dear, we have no time for that. There is still so much training to do," she stated. I ignored her wishes and began to kiss her neck. Her training helmet fell to the floor and her long, brown hair fell all around her shoulders. I could not resist her. I jumped on top of her on the training mat and began to kiss her from head to toe. She pulled a wrestling move on me and soon flipped me around so that she was on top of me.

"Very impressive!" I said as she smiled down at me. We took a break long enough to make love as Jessie pinned me down and rode me like a stallion. Afterward, we pondered our next phase of training.

“You need to work with the fighting discs. Let’s give it a shot!” Fighting discs were small, oval discs that could shoot lasers and return to the person throwing them. We went to the fighting disc simulator and I watched from behind the glass as she deflected almost every one of the discs that the computer simulator threw at her, ducking and jumping out of the way when it shot lasers at her. I taught her to manipulate energy, and soon she could handle the discs thrown at her change direction and even began to learn how to throw the laser beams back in the direction of her simulated opponent. The first few times, the computer simulation won, but eventually she was able to advance to the highest level and defeat the computer. She was making rapid progress in her training.

We trained with more primitive weaponry. Soon, Jessie was able to match me in speed and strength when fighting with swords and spears. She learned to throw the spears and daggers with great accuracy. I fell deeper and deeper in love with her as I watched her gracefully master each and every weapon that she would have to choose from. She was not only gorgeous but she was also becoming a formidable opponent. Next, she moved on to the obstacle course, a simulated challenge that put together almost all of the challenges that she had been faced with before. In the simulated training, she would go up against an opponent that she would reach after going through an obstacle course. The course included monsters, large pits that had to be leaped over, mountains that had to be climbed and even pools of water that had to be crossed. She advanced up through the levels as the days went by until she faced the most challenging part of the simulation in the computer.

She managed to cross a mountain, hang glide across a valley, swim across a deep channel with monstrous fish and then face her opponent on a portion of land that was experiencing an earthquake. She grabbed a fighting disc nearby as her opponent, a huge Sarceastian fighter grabbed an energy beam. Suddenly, the ground beneath her feet began to crumble and break apart. She had to jump across the cracks and keep from being swallowed up while dodging the energy beams that the simulated opponent directed at her. At first, the opponent had the upper hand, making contact with Jessie, twice with his beam. Luckily, they weren't fatal blows. Jessie got to her feet and began throwing her fighting disc as hard as she could. The opponent dodged every one of her throws until the last one. Jessie tricked the opponent by deflecting the disc off of the wall. It ricocheted and bounced right at her opponent, making a direct hit in his chest area. This was a fatal blow that managed to defeat the hardest opponent in the training program. The opponent vanished and a message appeared on the wall:

Congratulations! You have mastered the top level of training!

“You did it! You’ve mastered the program!” I shouted as I entered the chamber. The simulated landscapes vanished as I threw my arms around her.

“I couldn't have done it without you.” We began to kiss, but we did not have long to celebrate. The next day after Jessie completed her training, we began our approach to the dreaded colony of Dweardon. Although, we had been in dangerous space colonies before, this one was known for being a haven for escaping prisoners. Sometimes, rich citizens from all over the universe would make huge bets on duels between prisoners or fighters that spent years training for such events. I had been told that the duels were similar to what the Earthlings knew as Roman gladiator fights. To me and my Karkastian perspective, the whole practice was brutal and unnecessary. I could not get my head around why beings would want to engage in such a level of barbarism.

Soon, the colony came into view. The first thing that captured our attention was a huge, round stadium that was located in the dead center of the colony. Also, there was a sharp contrast between the side of the colony were the commoners dwelt, and the side where the rich visitors stayed. To the east of the stadium, there were tall, gleaming hover hotels that looked to be fairly new structures. We knew this had to be where the rich visitors stayed. We could see several marching patrols moving like ants back and forth between this area and the most run-down parts of the colony to the west. There we saw structures in various stages of decay, crowded together not unlike what we had witnessed in Sarceastium.

I looked at the navigator to see which landing site we would use.

“According to the navigator, duel participants are to land at the port, just to the east of the stadium,” I said, as I began the landing sequence.

“Let’s get down there. I’m ready to begin this duel!” Jessie remarked, confidently.

“This is Private Jessie of Earth and Yahn of Karkast requesting permission to land,” I stated.

"Yes, we have been expecting you. Request granted," the answer came. As soon as we touched down, a host of Sarceastians dressed in the fancy robes we had used to gain access to the military complex, surrounded us. At first, I thought that we were going to be captured, but soon it became apparent that this was a welcoming party of sorts.

"This way, Private Jessie," one of the Sarceastians stated. They escorted us to our quarters, high up in one of the gleaming glass, hover buildings. They showed us to our room. It was perhaps the nicest room that we had ever stayed in together. There were sofas, chairs, all sorts of food and drink, and even a training simulation room.

“Wow, they really treat you nicely. I suppose they feel that it’s the least they can do if they are going to make you participate in a fight to the death,” I remarked. Jessie smiled at me and went straight to the simulation room. She wanted to get in all of the training that she could before the duel.

Chapter Forty

Jessie

We were treated surprisingly well, resting and eating our fill in the room that we were given. For a moment, it was easy to forget that I would face a deadly challenge the next day. The first thing that I wanted to make sure of was that my parents were, in fact, being kept in the colony and that Demarin was going to be true to his word. I didn't have long to wait because Demarin contacted us on the same afternoon that we arrived. Our screen communicator began to light up, indicating that someone was trying to speak with us. I switched it on. Demarin's hideous face appeared, wearing the same insipid grin.

“So, I see that you have arrived. Tomorrow, we shall face off in a duel to the death!”

“We will once my parents are released!” I insisted.

Demarin laughed a deep, full-throated laugh. “Not to worry. As soon as you arrive at the stadium, my men will release your parents.”

“They must be delivered safely to Yahn’s care. He will be with me at the stadium. Only then will I go forward with the duel.”

"Yes, of course. I look forward to getting rid of you once and for all. I can finish what should have been completed back on Sarceastium, but no matter, I am a patient Sarceastian." He switched off his screen communicator.

I was unable to sleep very well that night in anticipation of the duel but finally I managed to get some rest in the early hours of the morning. Once I woke up, Yahn did the best he could to encourage me and wished me the best.

“Just remember everything you learned during your training. If you handle yourself half as well as you did with me and the computer simulation, it will be hard for him to defeat you!” Yahn encouraged.

“With you cheering me on, I know I can’t fail!” I said with a smile, though secretly I doubted I had what it took to defeat Demarin.

We arrived at the stadium accompanied by Sarceastian guards. It was quite ironic receiving such treatment from guards that we had so recently attacked, invading in Sarceastium. Once we got to our quarters, we looked out on the crowd that was seated at the stadium. It was completely packed with spectators. There was a small training area, water and food, and a viewing area closed in with glass that afforded us views of the playing field and the crowd. All around our area, there were mostly humans with a few other aliens sprinkled throughout. On the opposite side, Demarin’s side, there was nothing but Sarceastians, some of them were yelling out my name. I soon realized that on one side of the Sarceastian area, there were the commoners and on the other, there were the more well off Sarceastians who were cheering for Demarin.

“It seems that word has spread to common Sarceastians on this colony about our efforts to liberate them,” Yahn expressed. “You have fans on both sides.”

I did not respond. I was more preoccupied with the challenges that awaited me. What seemed odd was that the playing field was completely empty. There was a large, field-like expanse, but no weapons or obstacle courses.

“I don’t understand- it’s just an empty field,” I said.

“They will program specific conditions for you to face once you are in the playing field. There are programmers up there, in the main tower on Demarin’s side. I once had a cousin who was captured by humans and forced to duel in this place. I heard that he didn’t make it through alive, but you, my dear will make it!” Yahn stated, kissing my cheek and clutching my hand tightly.

I went into the training room and pushed the button on my communication screen. Demarin immediately appeared and I could clearly see my frightened parents standing behind him with Sarceastian guards on either side of them. They looked to be unharmed.

"Well, Demarin as you can clearly see, I am ready. I need you to bring my parents to me this instant before this duel begins!" I demanded.

"As you can see, they are completely unspoiled. I will send them your way right now. I look forward to a rewarding duel," he said with a sly grin. A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door. A Sarceastian guard appeared with my parents behind him .They ran inside and I immediately hugged my poor mother. She was shaking with fear and the tears streamed out of her as she looked upon me. My father came over and hugged me as well.

“Did they treat you alright?” I asked.

“Yes, we were fed and well taken care of. I can’t let you go through with this duel, Jessie,” my mother pleaded.

“Mother, I have to. Otherwise, those guards will come and take you away and I will never see you again,” I insisted.

“Jessie, if you are sure that you must go through with this, I wish you all the best,” father said.

“She has trained for a month. I wouldn’t want to go up against her, that’s for sure,” Yahn said, as he smiled at them. A second later, the announcer began to discuss the duel and asked the participants to approach their gates.

"I have to go. Just know that no matter what happens, I love you both, and you too, my dear," I said, kissing my parents and then Yahn. Yahn walked with me to the gate that opened onto the playing field. I was wearing a red, white and blue suit that had been provided to me with pads on my elbows, knees and a helmet. There was also a note left behind for me:

On behalf of your sponsors, we wish you the best of luck, Jessie. We are certain that you will be victorious like you have been with every endeavor. Hope that you like your suit.

"Wow, I have sponsors!" I said excitedly to Yahn.

"Yes, contestants that have sponsors get deluxe outfits and accommodations," Yahn answered.

“That would explain the nice room we have.”

“There are a lot of creatures that are rooting for you today,” Yahn said.

“Alright, it is now time for the duel to commence! All participants to the starting gate. The first mission is to survive the obstacle course in order to obtain your choice of weapons. Once you have obtained the weapon of your choice, the duel will begin,” an announcer said.

“You will be victorious. No need to worry, my love,” Yahn whispered in my ear. We shared a kiss and I went to the gate.

"The gates will open in one minute. Participants will make their way westward through the playing field towards the weapons area!" the announcer said. A screen popped up to my right, showing me the direction to go once I was on the playing field. Then, right before my eyes, the playing field took shape. There was a large pit that opened up in the ground and several snake-like creatures that could be seen writhing in it. Several small stepping stones appeared and then disappeared in the pit. I could not see what was on the other side.

The gate opened and the crowd began to cheer. I stopped at the edge of the pit and saw Demarin off to my right, some distance away. He was already making his way across the pit. I jumped onto one of the stones and a large creature came up to bite my ankles. I jumped to the next stone just in time, but this stone quickly disappeared. I managed to make it to the next stone just in the nick of time before it also disappeared. I saw the other side of the pit come into view. I had to jump a distance of nearly twenty feet, hanging onto the edge of the pit. I could hear slithering and hissing below me as I pulled myself up at its edge. What was next looked like a clear path to the weapons area which was high on a platform, but quickly I saw that the path was not as clear as I originally thought. Huge spikes began to come up from the ground here and there. I had to move quickly to avoid being impaled by one. One spike even tore through the back of my uniform, but I made it past this area. I looked over to my right and saw that I was slightly ahead of Demarin.

Now the platform was in view, but I had to climb a tall ladder to reach it. As I climbed, huge insect-like creatures began to swoop at me, attempting to sting me with their enormous stingers. They were red and brown and resembled gigantic wasps. At one point I fell as I lost my footing trying to avoid being stung, but I managed to catch the power rungs of the ladder. The crowd responded with cheers as I recovered and continued to move up the ladder. I looked over at the ladder to my right and saw that Demarin and I were now neck and neck, but Demarin was moving very quickly. I tried my best to beat him, but he managed to get to the top of the weapons platform before I did. As I reached the platform, I saw that he had chosen an energy beam and had moved off to the dueling area that was connected to the weapons platform, high above the crowd. I quickly chose an energy deflector, which I felt was the best weapon of choice under the circumstances.

“As you can see both participants have survived the obstacle course and are ready to duel. Demarin has chosen an energy beam and Jessie has chosen an energy deflector! What a great contest this should prove to be!” The announcer yelled.

I moved into position opposite Demarin and glared at him. Immediately, he came at me, sending energy beams in my direction. I jumped over two of them and managed to shoot another two back at him. He jumped high into the air and the energy beams missed him. He began to send several beams at me in rapid succession. At first, I managed to deflect all of them. I even managed to knock him to the ground with one of them.

"Ahh!" he yelled, clutching his arm. I came closer as the crowd went wild. Demarin went mad and began shooting beams at me one after the other as quickly as he could. I caught them with the deflector, and sent them back his way. He dodged each one of them. Clearly, anger motivated Demarin. The beams he shot, were threatening to overwhelm what my deflector could take. It began to beep and light up, warning me that it was being overpowered. I wondered if my choice of weaponry had been the right one. Finally, the deflector flew backwards out of my hands due to the fact that the energy was too much for it. I ran for the weapon, but Demarin kept me from reaching it by sending lots of beams between me and the deflector. One of the beams was so close that it knocked me to the ground. Demarin took this opportunity to run in between me and the deflector, blocking my way. The referee had been standing on the sidelines, but now he was over beside me yelling.

“She is unarmed! It is illegal to vest one’s opponent when they are unarmed!” the referee shouted.

Chapter Forty-One

Yahn

Demarin was poised to strike Jessie, so I sprang into action. I looked around me and saw a young man with a jet pack. I didn’t have time to explain him why I needed it, so I took it from him and immediately swooped in towards Jessie. I could feel the wind of Demarin’s weapon as I grabbed Jessie by the hands and lifted off with her just in time. Demarin frowned at us while some of the Sarceastians booed. The majority of the Sarceastians were cheering for us. The Earthlings were going wild.

"Well, it seems like this match is just one rule violation after the next. I suppose both sides are even on this one," the announcer said.

We left the area as quickly as we could, making our way towards the Earthling dominated side of the colony where Jessie would be protected. Jessie had hoped that we would meet up with her parents once the duel was done; but now, they appeared to be gone. We were hoping to meet up with them and leave Dweardon as quickly as we could. I knew better than to think that Demarin would let that be the end of the business between him and Jessie.

Unfortunately, we were astonished to see another message blinking for us on our virtual reality device. Immediately, we both knew who it was from.

"Well, I see you took the cowardly road and fled the duel. I was going to let you up so that you could choose another weapon, but no, you had to flee the scene. Well, guess what? Deal making time is over. Now we're just going to do things my way. Your parents are back in my custody. Here is what you can do to save their lives: Turn yourself in to me and I will release them. In other words, your life or theirs- your choice. It's always nice to have options, isn't it? You can meet me on the top floor of the Royal Executive Hotel- it's a nice Sarceastian establishment. Not to worry, you won't be harmed- until I get a hold of you, of course. Hope to see you soon," he smirked and the message player turned off.

Jessie sat on the bed with her head in her hands and sighed.

“Well, there’s only one thing to do then,’ she said.

“You’re not thinking about actually giving yourself up to him, are you? We have several other options before us, other than one that will lead to a certain death,” I countered.

"What do you propose we do? I don't want to risk my parents being harmed. I should have known better than to think Demarin would play fair. First, he violates the rules of the duel and now he's gone back on our deal."

“What I propose is that we use the obvious resource that we are not considering.”

"What's that exactly?" Jessie asked quizzically.

“You have been surrounded by people who support you since we came here. Sure, there’s a few Sarceastians who are loyal to the executive that hate you, but their numbers are dwindling. We need to implore your supporters to see what information they can retrieve about Demarin’s whereabouts in Dweardon. If we can find him, we will find your parents,” I reasoned.

Jessie sat with her chin resting on her hand for a moment and then looked at me. “Why not- it’s worth a shot isn’t it? What do I have to lose now?”

“You have a lot to lose, but we will make sure that doesn’t happen.” I immediately put a message out on the messenger board of the united cyber network- this was a network of planets allied with Earth that shared a network that they could use to alert one another and stay in contact in case a united effort was required to defeat one enemy or another. I hoped that someone listening could get us information about Demarin’s whereabouts.

To all parties available for help, Private Jessie of the Allied Earth army needs your help. Private Jessie barely escaped being illegally executed by Demarin Goldarn who has kidnapped her parents. Now he wants to make a trade- her life for theirs. Help us to thwart Demarin's plan by giving us information about where Demarin is staying in Dweardon. We are reasonably certain that if we find him, we can find Jessie's parents.

A few messages of concern came up, but no one seemed to be coming up with any helpful information. It was time to contact the Sarceastians who supported Jessie as their liberator. We decided to go to the Sarceastian side of the colony to see what we could find out. When we got there, many of the Sarceastians pointed at her and whispered amongst themselves. One of them came up to her and bowed.

“Thank you, Jessie of Earth for what you’ve done for my planet,” he said.

“It was nothing,” Jessie answered.

"Actually, she could use your help right about now," I interjected. "Jessie's parents have been taken by Demarin Goldarn and we need to locate them or Demarin. Any information you can obtain for us would be greatly appreciated."

“Yes, I can find out this information for you. It’s the least I can do after what the two of you have done for me. I am most pleased to meet you, Yahn, the last of the Karkastians. My name is Feraka. I will send word out throughout all of Dweardon. You can bet that Demarin is very close by.” I exchanged codes with him so that we could communicate via the messenger board. We put the word out to every Sarceastian that was loyal to Jessie, and it didn’t take long before they retrieved the information we needed.

We were on our way back to our room in the human settlement when Feraka sent a message to us.

Demarin has been located for you. He is staying near the Sarceastian docking location which is heavily guarded. I have received word that there is a space cruiser docked there. That’s where Jessie’s parents are. Demarin wants it this way so that he can leave with them at a moment’s notice if necessary. We will assist you in your endeavor to take back your parents. At the moment we are assembling participants who are willing to help. We will meet you at the Harbotian, a residence of Sarceastians that has no love for the executive or Demarin.

We were encouraged by the outpouring of support. We immediately made our way to the Harbotian. By the time, we got there, it was already beginning to fill up with Sarceastians who wanted to help. Some of them even brought weapons with them. Feraka came over to the table where we sat and smiled.

“I have assembled a hundred Sarceastians who want to help you. There are more on the way. We far out the executive guard so we should not have any problem getting your parents back now.”

"Thank you Feraka! You have done well. I think we should attack the docking area in two waves and attempt to gain control of the cruiser where my parents are being kept. The second wave of attack will wait in case there are more executive guard troops. That way we can be prepared in case there is a counterattack."

We agreed on a simple plan of attack and moved forward. Unfortunately, Demarin suspected that word would get out amongst the disloyal Sarceastians about the location of Jessie's parents. He had put the better part of his guard around the docking area. We crept up as quietly as we could and saw a multitude of guards marching up and down the walkway that led to the docking area. There were several cruisers and fighting ships docked there, but it became apparent very quickly which ship was being guarded the most. There were fifteen guards marching back and forth in front of a sleek black and white cruiser- it was the luxurious cruiser of a Sarceastian military leader. Demarin had to be keeping Jessie's parents in his own cruiser. We tried our best to organize a secret attack, but our troops were spotted by the executive guard immediately. Laser fire broke out and took out several of our men, mostly Sarceastians. There were members of the group from the Earth section of the colony that had joined our effort as well. The executive guard was holding back any takeover of the cruiser. We decided to attack them from several different locations at once, but again, they held their position. In fact, more executive troops were being sent and their army seemed to be growing. More and more of the executive guard were now moving towards the main bulk of our troop.

“We are going to back down further. There are far too many of them. If we don’t, they will overwhelm us for sure!” I called out to Jessie. She nodded in agreement.

"Pull back, everyone!" she called out as more laser fire broke out. I pulled Jessie out of the way of a laser blast at the last second. We ducked down and ran for shelter in a nearby cargo lifter. Lucky for us cargo lifters were laser proof. Unfortunately, they weren’t equipped with defense weapons. Many of the executive guards were shooting lasers at us, nonetheless. The lasers bounced off the lifter, but more and more guards poured in around us. I used the control mechanism to pick up a large hunk of scrap metal and hurled it at some of the guards. A few of them were taken out, but as a whole, it didn't make much of a difference. I turned the cargo lifter away from the direction of the docks to see how fast I could make it go. Unfortunately, cargo lifters weren’t designed to go very fast and the soldiers stayed with us. One of them attempted to climb onto it. I pushed him off with the huge metal clamps attached to the end of each arm-like appendage. The executive guard was now fully in control and the first wave of our attack had been sorely defeated.

I continued to move the cargo lifter away from the docking area and closer to where our second wave of fighters was poised to attack. The executive guard could not get our cargo holder's door to open and they could not penetrate its armor, but they continued to try. We looked like a giant beetle being swarmed by ants.

A couple of hover copters appeared and dropped atomizer bombs at us. I used the arms of the cargo lifter to deflect the bomb and it blew up just to the west of us, causing the cargo lifter to fall off of its feet and onto its back. The soldiers moved in all around us. At that point, there didn’t seem to be any escape. Demarin had us surrounded.

“Help us, Feraka! It’s time for the second wave of attack!” I spoke into the messenger. Not long after that, we heard the sound of Sarceastians and humans crying out as they fell upon the executive guard.

“We’re going to be alright now,” I said to Jessie who smiled at me.

“As long as you have good friends, you can get out of any jam,” she replied.

“Yes, as I said- there is no way you can fail with this much support from our allies. Now it is Demarin who should be afraid. Once his soldiers are defeated, he will be forced to surrender if he doesn’t slip out of our clutches again.”

“He is a rather slippery customer, isn’t he?” Jessie remarked.

Chapter Forty-Two

Jessie

The second wave of the allied attack broke on the executive army and hit them hard. The area around the cargo lifter was cleared enough for us to unlock its doors and get out. We advanced with our allies back towards the docking area. The number of guards seemed to have diminished, but there were still quite a few of them positioned in front of the executive cruiser.

“When I give the word, we go straight into those guards and take that cruiser!” I commanded. “NOW!”

The cries from our force were terrible to hear and must have chilled the blood of the executive guards. They did not expect to see another wave of attack. The pilot of the executive cruiser began to engage its engines.

“Oh no, we have to get control of that cruiser. I guess they have been given the command to leave. We can’t let them!” I cried out.

“I know what to do,” Yahn said.

“What are you going to do?”

“I am going to use my Karkastian talents to save your parents,” he answered. Right before my eyes, he transformed into a thin blue vapor and drifted up to the ship. The vapor drifted into the cracks around the door of the cruiser. Then, the ship took off. I wanted to stay and see what happened, but Feraka yelled out and interrupted my thoughts.

"We've got to get out of here. There is a military cruiser dropping more atomizer bombs!" Feraka grabbed my hand and pulled me out of harm's way. I looked around but could no longer see the cruiser or what had happened with it. The Sarceastian portion of the colony now looked like a war zone. It had turned into an out-and-out battle between the Sarceastian commoners and the Sarceastian executive guard. Now the main bulk of both groups were facing off in the center of the Sarceastian portion of the colony, which was laid out in an oval shape like so many Sarceastian communities. Slowly, the commoners were gaining the upper hand because of sheer numbers, but the casualties were great. Bombs were being dropped all around us and the Sarceastian guards had more advanced weaponry.

I moved up to the front lines with my laser cannon, my eyes searching the sky for the cruiser. I didn’t see it anywhere. We continued to fight. I began to take out one guard after another so that we could make our way back towards the docking area. I had to, in order to help save Yahn and my parents. Gradually, we pushed them back again, but the bombs continued to go off around us taking out lots of our men. Finally, the docking bay was in sight.

The next thing I knew, there was a deafening explosion and I had been thrown to the ground. I faded in and out of consciousness after that, not certain of what was happening to me. All of the faces around me were Sarceastian, and for a while, I hoped that I had been picked up and carried away to safety by my comrades in arms. Then, I remembered waking up and seeing Sarceastians dressed in silvery robes carrying me towards what seemed to be a ceremonial chamber. I wasn't quite sure if I was having a dream or if it all was really happening to me. The moment I looked up and saw Demarin's face, I wished I was having a dream.

I tried to move, but there was an invisible force field immobilizing all of my muscles, except for my jaw muscles. I was laying on a flattened platform facing a window that opened with a view of what looked to be the Andromeda galaxy. I knew that I was more than the likely inside Demarin's space cruiser, probably headed back to Sarceastium or on the planet itself. I was left with the ability to speak.

"Well, it seems that we have come to the end of our little conflict, Private Jessie. All of your meddling in other beings’ affairs will soon be at an end. I suppose when I'm done with you, I will dispose of your parents in a similar manner. Then, once I return to Sarceastium, I will make sure to punish everyone who was a part of the coup that you led."

"Your leadership in Sarceastium has come to an end. The Sarceastians will never allow another dictator to take control of their society. I can assure you of that. Things will go back to the natural order before your kind took over."

“And who are you, Earthling to tell me how Sarceastian society should be run? That has always been the trouble with Earthlings-never content to mind their own business,” Demarin hissed.

I began to laugh when he said this.

“What’s funny? You face certain death and you laugh?”

“I was just laughing because it’s funny that you would accuse Earthlings of doing what the executives are guilty of themselves. I have been to many places that have been affected by your tyranny. You even managed to destroy Yahn’s civilization completely.”

"We do what we have to do to maintain the power and wealth that our empire requires," Demarin remarked.

“What are you going to do to me?” I asked.

"Look at the screen to your left if you will," he said pointing to the giant screen hanging in the command center of the cruiser. I looked over and saw dust, light, and matter rotating around as if it were captured in the gravitational pull of some planet. However, there were no stars or planets anywhere in the vicinity. Then, I saw a hole of a sort- an empty spot where all the dust and light seemed to vanish into. I knew right away that I was looking at a black hole.

"Ok, so what's up with the black hole, doing scientific experiments, are we?" I teased.

“You could say that. I don’t believe we have ever attempted to do what we are going to do today,” Demarin said, pushing a button. As he did, a coffin-like structure appeared above me and began to lower itself towards me.

“Oh, no, you aren’t going to do what I think you’re going to do,” I replied.

“Yes, I think it should be apparent what your fate is now,” Demarin said with a smile.

“I suppose that a duel is now out of the question,” I joked.

"Very funny, Jessie. You are charming to the last. I'm going to miss that about you. We will get to see what happens to you, so you could say that you are contributing to the scientific community with your death. For it is highly improbable that you will survive a trip into a black hole, although nothing is certain," he teased.

The coffin lid lowered itself down over me. I struggled but I was still immobilized by the invisible force field. A robot cam flew over and attacked itself to the screen of the coffin lid. It lowered itself down on me and I could hear it lock in place.

“NO!” I yelled. “Please let me out!” Demarin smiled. He looked at me and then looked at the camera, which showed my terrified face.

“You monster! Stop this!” I yelled.

“Oh, one minor detail I almost forgot,” Demarin said. He went over to the control panel and pushed the button on his communication device.

“Guards, please turn on the cameras so that Jessie’s parents can witness this. I’m sure they will want to be close to their daughter during her last moments of life- just to show that I’m not completely cruel.” A second later, the screen showed two guards standing on either side of my parents. My mother was crying hysterically and my father was crying out for them to stop. All of this fell on deaf ears. Demarin went back over to the control module and began to start a launch sequence. The platform that the coffin was sitting on was now beginning to tilt upwards.

“I hear that on Earth they allow people to say some last words before they are executed. It seems rather pointless to me, but I suppose if you have any last words, I will allow you to say them,” Demarin teased.

"You will soon meet your fate. You may think that you have the upper hand, but it is only an illusion. I promise you one thing, Demarin, I will live to see you put to death!" I threatened. Demarin laughed out loud and then continued the launch sequence. Part of the dome above our heads began to open and the thrusters at the rear of the coffin began to fire.

I screamed out in terror. Just as a computerized voice began a countdown, I heard the sound of a laser gun being fired. My parents fell to the ground and one of the guards was hit with laser fire and fell down as well. Suddenly, Yahn appeared on the screen and he was helping my parents to their feet.

Yahn, you’re here I reached out to him mentally and he answered.

Did you think that I was going to let him take you away from me again?

"Quickly guards- the Karkastian is here. Kill him, and while you're at it, kill Jessie's parents too!" Demarin added. Several guards ran off in one direction.

"As for you, don't think for a second that you have been saved by your blue boyfriend. Your fate is still going to be the same!" Demarin called out. He went back to the control booth and commenced the launch sequence again. Now, we were down to the last twenty seconds. I thought back on everything that had happened since I first met Yahn on his home planet. I thought of how alien, yet attractive he seemed- how he seemed vulnerable, yet powerful. I realized in what I thought were my last moments of life that I had loved him since I first laid eyes on him. I closed my eyes and felt thankful for the moments of happiness that we had managed to enjoy in the midst of all of the battles, the running, and the chasing.

A moment later I opened my eyes as the sound of laser fire filled the air. Yahn came charging in the control room, taking out almost every guard in sight. The remaining guards all set their sights on Yahn who managed to hide underneath a stairwell and pick them off one by one. I turned towards Demarin but realized that he had vanished. It angered me to think of him slipping through our fingers again, but I knew right away that's what was happening. Now the launch sequence was down to the last ten seconds.

"Ten, nine, eight…." The countdown was stopped by a sudden blast as Yahn took an energy beam and sliced right through the control panel of the launch mechanism. Sparks shot out and the countdown drew to a close.

“Get back from the door as far as you can!” Yahn instructed me. I squeezed in the back as far away from the door as I could as Yahn shot the lock with a laser blast. After two shots, it came open and Yahn managed to open the door of the coffin. I jumped out and threw my arms around Yahn. I felt compelled to throw him down and take him right there, I was so full of love for him. However, I resisted, knowing that we needed to catch Demarin. We ran out of the main control room towards the escape pods, but they had all been activated.

“Damn it! He’s gotten away from us again!” I shouted.

Yahn turned towards me and took my hand. "At this moment, I don't even care about Demarin. I'm just glad that I made it in time to look into your beautiful hazel eyes once more."

Chapter Forty-Three

Yahn

As soon as I held Jessie in my arms for a moment, I was recharged and ready to chase down Demarin. I knew that if we let him get away again, there would be more trouble from him. Even if he didn’t continue to try and kill Jessie, I knew that he would create more problems for the Sarceastians who were trying to re-establish the old order. I grabbed Jessie by the hand and led her to the space cruiser that I had stowed away on. Now, the Sarceastian guards had fled in the escape pods and there was nothing to stop us from taking the cruiser and following Demarin’s pod. We took Jessie’s parents along with us.

“Hang on everyone, I am going to go as fast as we can to try and catch up to them!” I said. Jessie helped her parents strap in comfortably and I switched on the radar. It indicated that there were five escape pods. They all seemed to be heading in the same direction. I turned on the boosters and we took off after them. In about twenty minutes, I was closing in on the escape pods. I really didn’t care about Demarin’s guards. I wanted to destroy Demarin’s pod.

“Here, take the controls for a second,” I told Jessie as she came back into the cockpit. Then, I closed my eyes and tried to use my mental powers to find him. My energy-detection capabilities soon picked up on the enormous amount of negative energy he was putting off. I opened my eyes a second later and pointed to the escape pod that was in the vanguard of the other pods.

"There, the first one in the group is Demarin just as I expected. Let's set our sights on that one!" I stated. Jessie maneuvered the ship until we were right behind the pod. Escape pods were not able to alter speed or course- they were preprogrammed for a specific destination. We got within firing range, I took a seat behind the ship's laser cannons and began to send a barrage of lasers at the pod. Unfortunately, all of them bounced off.

"Damn! Their shields are too strong. Let's try some hyper torpedoes! I launched four of them and watched as they exploded on the surface of the pod without so much as making a dent in it.

“We are going to have to try something else. I know what we have to do. Reverse course and head back to Sarceastium!” I commanded.

“But he’s going to get away if we do that,” Jessie protested.

“Trust me on this. What we have to do is find the source of the programmer and change the destination of the pods. That’s the only chance we have of stopping him now!” I insisted.

"Ok, here we go," Jessie said as the ship reversed course and headed back in the direction we had just come from. We programmed our navigator to go back to our place of origin, and soon we were back at Demarin's home base on Sarceastium. The huge glass dome where Jessie had been trapped in the coffin came into view. I looked closely at the layout of Demarin's hideout and found the main control room. We landed the cruiser hastily on the same dock that we had just left from and made our way up several moving walkways to the main control booth. We burst into the room taking the two Sarceastian guards by surprise that had been left behind to man the controls. Jessie and I pointed our laser cannons at them and made our demands.

“I want the direction of those space pods changed right away!” I commanded.

“The escape pods are pre-programmed and their destination cannot be changed,” one of them insisted.

"You had better find a way because your life depends upon it!" I said as I shoved the edge of my laser cannon into his temple.

"Yes, sir!" The guard said. He began to switch on the control panel in front of him. Above our heads, we could see a huge screen that showed the escape pods making their way in the same direction they had been going in. The guard behind the control board heaved a huge sigh and pulled a lever back.

“Where do you want the pods to go, sir?” the guard asked.

"Into the black hole!" Jessie said, suddenly, saying the same thing that I was about to say. The guard looked at us and it seemed as if all of the blood had drained from his face.

“Do it now!” Jessie insisted.

“Very well,” the guard said and we watched as he programmed the coordinates. Soon, the pods began to change course one by one, starting with Demarin’s.

“What is going on?” we heard Demarin ask the control room. “The pods are changing their course. What is happening? Mission control, answer me! This is your leader!”

"Hello, Demarin!" Jessie spoke to the communication board.

“Jessie?” Demarin sounded confused.

“Yes, it’s me. It seems that our conflict with one another is coming to an end. We have changed the coordinates of your escape pod and now you can see for yourself what it is like to enter a black hole,” Jessie stated.

“What? You’re at the control center?” Demarin still couldn’t believe the turn of events.

“Yes, that’s right,” she answered. We both took pleasure in doing a close up of Demarin’s face as he realized his fate. Demarin did not answer. He was trying his best to keep some shred of dignity during his last few minutes. Soon the escape pods came under the tremendous gravitational pull of the black hole. We could now see the empty spot that not even light could escape from. The pods began to shake as they drew closer to the event horizon. After a few more seconds, the last thing we heard was Demarin cry out as the pod was sucked into the opening and the monitor that we were looking at was now blank.

“That will be the end of Demarin Goldarn,” Jessie remarked. I smiled at her and put my arms around her.

"As for you two- everyone that has helped that awful warlord will be trialed for their crimes!" I stated.

We made our way to the prison level of Demarin’s compound and led the guards in front of us. We put them in a cell and then made our way to the exit.

“You’re not going to just leave us here, are you?” one of them asked.

“Don’t worry, you will have a trial, just like the rest of the executive guard; but you will pay for your loyalty to Demarin,” I told them.

We made our way back to Hilga's building. Already, we were noticing that the streets seemed less decrepit. Many of the buildings that were beginning to decay were being repaired. There was the usual buzz of activity on the street, but the faces we saw seemed to be happy ones, and everyone greeted us as we made our way.

“Look, our saviors have returned!

“Praise to Jessie and Yahn!” the cheer went up. Soon, people were lining the streets and cheering for us. Hilga’s front door opened and she greeted us with a huge hug.

“I am so glad to see the two of you! You should see the changes that have come about since you helped us overthrow the executive!” she said. We noticed right away that many of the poor Sarceastians who were just sitting in rooms dressed in rags were now gone.

“Where is everyone?” Jessie asked.

“Many of my boarders have found some work now that the old regime is gone!”

“What about Yeritus and the others- what has become of them?” I inquired.

"Let me take you to Yeritus- he would be most pleased to see you," she said. We followed her out of the building and down the street where several Sarceastians were still gathered in the hopes of getting a glance at us. We made our way out of the neighborhood and back towards the military complex that we had infiltrated, not so long ago. Only this time there were no executive guards waiting there for us. Finally, we made our way to the entrance of the building. There were guards there, but they wore the common gray robes that most Sarceastians wore. They held weapons, but they had kind expressions on their faces.

"Welcome, Private Jessie and Yahn of Karkast. Commander Yeritus will be most pleased to see you!" the guard said.

“Commander Yeritus?” I said in surprise and delight.

"Yes, since you've been gone, Yeritus has been elected as commander of Sarceastium. We have seen the positive results of his rule already. The poor no longer suffer. They have been provided with work and sustenance. The first action that Yeritus took was to put the wealth that Executive Farfaulus had put aside for himself, to work for the Sarceastians. This could not have been possible without your help," Hilga shared.

We were taken up to the higher levels of the building until we reached the office of the commander. Yeritus greeted us with open arms as we entered the chamber. There were the friendly faces of Sarceastians all around us, wearing the same gray robes as the commoners.

"Welcome, my friends! I'm sure you were surprised to find me here where the executive used to sit, but now we will enter a new era of Sarceastian society- one where there is no executive. The commander will wear the same robes as the other citizens, looking out for their best interests," he said with a smile.

“You don’t know how happy I am to see that this is your fate. The Sarceastians could not ask for a better ruler than you,” Jessie said.

"I will do everything that I can to serve the Sarceastians. I am but a humble servant," he responded with a smile. We stayed and visited for several hours and food was provided to us. Afterwards, we returned to Hilga's to spend the night, but our thoughts were focused on getting Jessie and her parents back home.

The next morning, we said our heartfelt goodbyes to Hilga, although we knew that we would come back and visit before long. There was now no reason to fear the Sarceastians and most of the universe would now enter into a peaceful time. A few of the Sarceastian guards had escaped, and their whereabouts were unknown. However, there weren’t enough of them left to pose a serious threat to Yeritus’s administration. The guards that were left in Sarceastium faced a trial and sentence for their betrayal of the Sarceastian order. Most of them received life sentences.

We returned to the cruiser and began to program the ship to return to Earth. Jessie smiled at me after she entered the coordinates on the control panel. We kissed and held hands as the ship took off from the surface of Sarceastium.

Jessie’s parents came into the cockpit after we took off and sat down.

“Yahn, we wanted to thank you properly for rescuing us and our daughter back on Sarceastium,” her father said.

"It was nothing. All I did was stowing away on this ship. I would sneak around when the guards weren't around and try to free you, but there were too many guards. I had to bide my time and wait for the ship to land," I said, humbly.

“Yes, but if you hadn’t done so, none of us would be here right now heading home,” Jessie proudly stated.

“I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if I hadn’t rescued you. I would only be half a being without you in my life.” I put my arm around Jessie and her parents smiled at us. I knew then that I had finally gained the approval of Jessie’s father.

Chapter Forty-Four

Jessie

It was time to return to Earth, but first, we would need to dock at a space colony called Freeport. By now, we had had plenty of experience with rough space colonies so I wasn't nervous when we entered a bar full of Langmilians, rough-looking humans, and even a few Sarceastians. We chose to leave my parents in the cruiser so that they wouldn't have to endure any possible troubles we might have. As soon as Yahn and I sat down in the booth, we noticed that several people were whispering amongst themselves and looking at us. I began to get nervous, thinking that we might be challenged by some of these rough-looking beings.

“Should we leave? We seem to be the talk of the whole bar,” Yahn remarked.

I looked around at the bar's patrons and then turned back to Yahn. "No, I have come too far and through too many trials to be afraid anymore," I declared. Yahn nodded, but he clutched his gun, nonetheless. A few seconds later, a muscular Sarceastian with an eye patch came over to our booth.

“Are you the one they call Jessie?” he asked in a husky voice.

"Yes, I am," I answered simply.

“Allow me to buy you a drink. You are the hero of my people and I am proud to call you my comrade. My name is Hagard,” he said as his mouth curved into a smile.

“Thank you,” I said with a smile.

“Everyone, we have a hero in our midst!” He announced.

Now all of the creatures in the bar were focused on us. I looked nervously at Yahn, but he was now starting to feel at ease, feeling that we were amongst friends.

"We have amongst us the human that defeated the Sarceastian executive and went on to defeat the warlord, Demarin Goldarn. She is a legend and a liberator and I would like to propose a toast to her. Cheers to Private Jessie of Earth and Yahn, the Karkastian!"

“Cheers!” The whole crowd echoed after him. Soon, several creatures were coming by the booth to pay their respects. Yahn was glowing from all of the praise and began to look as if he had had a bit too much of the local ale. We talked with aliens from all walks of life and drank with Hagard and his friends. That was when I noticed a group of Sarceastians talking amongst themselves and looking at us suspiciously at a booth at the far end of the bar.

“Who are those men?” I asked Hagard, trying not to be too obvious.

“I don’t know. They arrived just before you did. I don’t know them, and I know most of the Sarceastians in this colony. They must be passing through.” Then, I caught sight of a silver robe that was folded on the far end of the booth and I knew who they were. Hagard must have noticed the robe at the same time I did because he drew his gun.

"They are executive guards. I would know those silver robes anywhere," he whispered. "We need to make sure they don't try anything. They are likely to still be loyal to Demarin," he stated. As soon as he finished his statement, they got up to leave and went out of the bar. We watched them nervously but then relaxed after they took their leave.

I turned to Yahn, “Let’s get back to the cruiser. I don’t like the idea of my parents being left alone with those guards creeping around.”

“Right. I agree. We can’t risk them trying to enact some kind of revenge,” Yahn said.

“Thank you for your hospitality, Hagard, but we had better get back to the ship to check on my parents.” Hagard smiled and shook Yahn’s hand and then mine.

"It was a pleasure to have met you. Let me know if we can be of any assistance to you. My message code is 67092 should you need any backup," Hagard said with a grin.

"That is greatly appreciated," I stated and we left the bar. The colony seemed too quiet for my taste as we made our way back to the cruiser that was docked on the eastern edge of the settlement. This colony was much nicer than many of the ones we had visited. Not as rowdy as Anarhie or as run down as Dwearden. However, as soon as we got back to the cruiser, I could see that things weren't quite right.

"Mom, dad?" I called out, but no one answered. I run up to their quarters and found some things scattered around, an indication of some kind of struggle. I realized all at once that the Sarceastian guards had wasted no time making their move. My parents were once again being held captive. Immediately, I looked around for clues but didn't see any until I went into the cockpit. There was a note left there.

Jessie, we are most fortunate to have stumbled across the opportunity to follow through with our fallen leader, Demarin Goldarn’s wishes. Before you sent him to his untimely demise, he was going to trade your life for your parents. Now, we will make sure that his final wish is carried out. We will be at docking bay 7825 waiting for you and Yahn. You must both arrive unarmed and unaccompanied if you wish to see your parents alive again. Once you are in our custody, we will gladly release them.

"Damn!" Yahn cried out, slamming his fist on the dash. "After all, we've been through we are back in this position again."

"Don't worry, my love. We have come through too much for this to be the end. We will persevere." Immediately, I called Hagard on the messenger board in the cruiser's cockpit. Hagard's face immediately appeared on the screen.

"How can I help you, Jessie?" He asked, adjusting his eye patch.

"The Sarceastian guards have my parents at docking bay 7825. They want Yahn and me to surrender to them or they will kill my parents. They are trying to fulfill Demarin's wishes and enact their revenge."

“We will see about that,” Hagard said as his face began to crease with lines of concern.

“You must be cautious. If they see that anyone is trying to help us, they won’t hesitate to kill Jessie’s parents,” Yahn added.

“Do not worry. I know the workers at docking bay 7825 and believe me, they have no love for Demarin or the executive guard,” Hagard reassured us. “Do as they say and we will have a surprise for these guards.”

We nervously made our way across the colony to the docking bay. By now, the streets were completely quiet. Most of the lights of the hover dwellings were now dim. When we arrived at the docking bay things were still and quiet. We made our way to the entrance where two Sarceastian guards, now wearing their silver robes came up to us, carrying laser cannons. They frisked us and then pushed us inside.

“This way,” one of the guards barked. There in the hanger were six other guards and my frightened parents standing in the center.

"So, you have come just as we have requested. I only wish that my leader, Demarin Goldarn could be here to witness the downfall of the mighty Jessie and Yahn," one of the guards spoke. He was taller than the rest and his red eyes seemed to glow brighter than the others’, indicating a superior malice.

“Let them go and we will come with you,” I said.

“Do not be so hasty, Earthling. We will let them go when we are ready. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Captain Kertoff, second in command of what is left of the proud Sarceastian guard.”

“Now that we’ve dispensed with the pleasantries, let’s get on with the trade, shall we?” I said.

“Are you that anxious to die? So be it,” Captain Kertoff nodded to the guards. Two of them came over and let us towards a Sarceastian cruiser that was docked there. The captain nodded again and my parents were released.

“Go on, you are now free to go,” the captain said, but my parents stood there defiantly.

“No, I will not allow you to do this,” my father stated as he wrapped his arms around my mother. The captain laughed heartily.

“Well now, that is touching, but there is nothing that you can do. Either you can die along with your daughter or you can set yourselves free. The choice is yours,” the captain said.

"Go now, before they decide to kill you as well," I urged. My mother broke down and cried as my father led her away from the ship.

"How touching. Now, get our prized prisoners aboard the ship and let's leave this uncivilized colony," the captain stated. The guards pushed their laser guns into our backs and we walked on board the ship. They took us to a chamber in the lower part of the ship that was equipped with all sorts of high tech torture devices. We were tied up in a corner and told to wait there. Seconds later, we saw several people move in behind the guards in the shadows.

"Put down your weapons!" A familiar voice said. It was our newfound friend Hagard. The guards put down their weapons and were led away. Hagard and his men came and freed us from our chains, but the captain was nowhere to be seen. We exited the ship and then I immediately spotted the captain trying to board another ship nearby to make his escape.

Yahn immediately changed to a blue vapor and then appeared behind the captain. For a second, there was a struggle on the platform. Then, I heard a laser blast and both Yahn and the captain fell off the platform onto the ground below.

“Yahn!” I yelled, running across the docking area. Hagard and his men raced up behind me. When I reached the loading area of the ship, I saw a patch of scorched earth and Yahn lying beside it. Yahn opened his eyes, smiled and I threw my arms around him. Yahn’s laser blast had completely disintegrated the captain and there was nothing left of him.

“Oh Yahn, my love you are ok,” I said.

“Of course I’m ok. Did you really think that I was going to leave you now after everything we’ve been through?” Yahn made me laugh and we immediately walked over to Hagard to thank him.

"We wouldn't have survived this ordeal without your help. You will always be a great friend to us," I said, once again shaking Hagard's hand.

"It was the least we could do for the woman that liberated our people and took down our dictator," Hagard answered with a smile. "As for these remaining guards, they will receive a fair trial, but will surely pay for what they tried to do here today." When we got back to our ship, we found my parents crying outside. When they saw us standing before them unharmed, they began to cry tears of joy. My mother and father hugged both Yahn and I and we boarded the ship.

“But how did you make it out of that mess?” Father asked.

"Jessie has friends and allies everywhere now. Those guards didn't stand a chance," Yahn shared. We decided not to wait around any longer. Our ship was now refueled and we were ready to make the remaining leg of the journey to Earth. That night, Yahn and I lay together looking out the window at the multitude of stars. We made love and lay together in silent bliss for a long period of time. Finally, Yahn looked over at me and smiled. "My dear, it's now truly over. It is time to lead the life we have dreamed of." I kissed him and gripped his hand tightly, knowing in my heart that he was right.

Chapter Forty-Five

Jessie

We arrived on Earth to another hero's welcome. News of our travels and adventures had been all over the media and we were now even bigger celebrities than ever before. There were reporters waiting to ask us questions as soon as we exited the ship. Yahn waved them away and cleared a path for my parents and me.

“Were you scared? How do you respond to the description of you as a liberator?” A reporter asked me, sticking a microphone in my face.

"I am just a woman like any other that had the courage to do something about an unjust situation. Anyone could do what I have done," I humbly stated, but the reporters only responded with more questions. We made our way through the docking area to a place where several hover car taxis were waiting anxiously, all hoping that the celebrities would choose their car to travel in. We chose one and told them to take us straight to Jessie's parents' house. We looked behind us at the multitude of people gathered around and looked forward to a period of rest away from the public eye.

We arrived at Jessie's parents' house only to see another barrage of reporters waiting on us. We walked through them and made our way inside the house. The reporters hung around on the lawn until well into the evening. Finally, I went outside to speak with them.

“I want all of you to leave. Soon, we will hold a press conference and all of you will be invited to attend. For now, I ask that all of you leave me, Yahn, and my parents in peace,” I stated. The reporters again tried to ask me questions all at once. I went back inside and finally, after another hour or so, the last of them had finally left. I fell asleep in Yahn’s arms to the most peaceful rest that I had experienced in quite a long time.

After a week or so of rest and recovery, our presence was requested at the white house. The president wanted to personally thank us for improving Earth’s relationship with the Sarceastians.

There was the usual presence of reporters, but we managed to get through without much incident. The president smiled and shook both of our hands.

“Again, I must thank the two of you for your continued efforts to bring about peace amongst the Sarceastians. Now that they have democratically elected a new leader, it will mark a new era of peaceful relations between Earth and Sarceastium, not to mention for the rest of the known universe. So many suffered at the hands of the executive and their military commander. I am insistent upon offering you a great reward for your deeds. Anything that you might want,” he said.

I looked at Yahn and he looked at me. “Well, one thing’s for sure, we will not be asking for any land on Gwuarden,” he joked, thinking back at the time when we thought we had begun a peaceful Chapter of our lives together.

“Why not some land nearby in Maryland, close to my parents?” I said. Yahn nodded in agreement at this request.

“I will see what I can do,” the president said. About two weeks later, a representative of the president showed up at my parents’ door.

“I have been sent by the president to take you to your new farm- it's only a few miles from here,” the man said. We went with him and he drove us in a black hover car into the hills. We came to a large gate and looked down a gravel road at a large rustic hover house surrounded by lush fields. In the background there were forested hills.

“Yahn, this is everything I have dreamed about.”

“Me too, my dear,” Yahn answered.

We settled into our new home, living a quiet life in the country. Frequently, my parents would come to visit. On one such visit, we went to a local store to get some supplies. We noticed that some of the locals were looking at Yahn funny and whispering amongst themselves. We even overheard a man in overalls say ‘He's one of them damn Karkastians. We had better watch him- they are all terrorists, you know.’ My father glared at the man so severely, I thought fire might begin to shoot out of his eyes. He went right over to the man and got in his face.

“Do you have any idea who that Karkastian is? That is Yahn and he is twice as brave as you could ever hope to be. If it wasn’t for him and my daughter, we would all be slaves of the Sarceastians, so I would show some respect if I were you!” My father spoke up. The man looked embarrassed as he realized who we were.

“My apologies,” he said to us and then walked out of the store. I couldn’t believe how much my father’s respect for Yahn had grown.

"Thank you for your kind words," Yahn said to my father.

“Don’t mention it. If it wasn’t for you, we would no longer have our beautiful daughter in our lives. We will never forget everything that you’ve done for us,” he said. I smiled at how well the two of them were hitting it off.

The days passed in blissful happiness. Soon, the reporters began to leave us alone and we were able to travel around the area without being disturbed. I had begun to feel a bit sick to my stomach, so I decided to go to the doctor for a routine checkup. That’s when I received the news that would make my heart leap up with joy.

Yahn came inside after feeding the chickens that we now had on the farm. We also had a few cows and horses. He could tell that I was glowing with happiness, a bit more than usual.

“Did everything go alright at the doctor’s office?” he asked in concern.

“It certainly did,” I said as my smile grew larger. “Yahn, you are going to be a father, just like you’ve always wanted to be,” I said.

Yahn's blue complexion grew darker as his eyes grew big and a smile crept across his face. He picked me up and twirled me around in the air. "I'm going to be a father! All of our dreams have finally come true!" he exclaimed. I laughed joyfully along with him. That night we mind-melded, sharing our thoughts of elated joy with one another, letting the optimism of the future wash over us. We fell asleep hand in hand. Yahn suddenly woke up in the middle of the night, just like he had when Gwuarden had been invaded.

“Yahn, is everything alright? You’ve had another dream, haven’t you? I can tell by the look on your face,” I said, fearing the worst.

He nodded his head, but the look on his face was a joyful one. I could tell right away that the nature of this dream was quite different than the one he had on that fateful night in Gwuarden.

“I dreamt that you and I were on the top of that hill behind the house having a picnic. We were laughing and talking, holding hands with our new baby boy. He was happy and healthy. Jessie, everything is going to be just fine. The future holds no malice for us, only gifts.” I laughed out loud with joy and embraced Yahn, tightly. I was greatly relieved to find that his latest dream was a happy one.

“You are all I ever wanted and nothing can stand in the way of our future together,” I whispered. We sat together and watched the first rays of the sun make their way through the window and shine symbolically on our bed.

* * *

The End

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Book 1

Chapter One

Candice

‘We’re so sorry for your loss, Candice.” Mrs. Carmichael said, holding a tissue up to her eye.

“Thank you,” I replied. What else was I supposed to say? Death and grieving were a strange part of life that no one knew how to respond to. Since no behavior was particularly appropriate, I decided to just be quiet.

“What a tragedy. Your parents would be so proud of how you’re handling it.” Mr. Dunbar said, putting his hand on my shoulder.

“Thank you,” I said again as if I were echoing the same phrase again and again. I wanted to scream and wail, drop to the floor and have a fit like a 2-year-old child, but on the outside, I remained composed. The truth was that I felt numb.

The funeral was well-attended because my parents were loved in their small community of Sun Valley, Arizona. I remembered some faces from growing up here, but I hadn’t been back in a while. My move to Seattle seemed like a good choice at the time. I found employment as a caregiver, something that I always wanted to do. The cool, rainy climate was a great antidote for all the heat strokes I suffered from while growing up.

I had only been in Seattle for 5 years before this tragedy struck - more specifically, the drunk driver who hit my parent’s car when they were coming home from the movies at night. Being a caregiver taught me a lot about death and dying, but I was wondering if I would ever be able to care for a sick person again, let alone be able to care for myself.

“You look so beautiful, Candice. All grown up.” Jacky Clausen said with a sad smile on her face. “I remember when you were only this high.” She added, indicating about three feet with her hand.

“Thank you,” I said again.

I knew people had always found me pretty, but in an unassuming way. Now that I was 25, I felt like I was just starting to be comfortable in my own skin. After going through numerous phases of hair-dying and eyebrow-plucking, I was finally just starting to let myself be. I had straight brown hair, and I preferred to keep it shoulder length. I was told my green eyes changed colors with the seasons, turning from emerald to a leafy green depending on the light outside. Basically, I knew that people liked my face, but I thought it was kind of boring.

“A little bird has told me that you might be moving back to us,” Jacky added. “You’re always welcome to the flower shop.” Jacky Clausen owned a flower shop right in the middle of town, and it was a marvel that she stayed in business, considering how challenging it was to keep flowers alive out in the middle of the desert.

“I think I’m going to look after the house for a while,” I replied. In reality, my parent’s little house would get eaten up by the desert in no time if no one was there to care for it, and since the house officially belonged to me now, it seemed like a good idea to stay there, and maybe start over.

As much as an excellent caregiver I was, I had to admit I was not good at caring for myself. I deteriorated in Seattle, mostly from late nights, lack of sleep, poor choices, and a little bit of self-destructive behavior. I was beginning to wonder if it was my way of compensating for seeing death and sadness all day.

I was relieved when the funeral was done. The services had been beautiful, and so many people had lovely things to say about my parents, but I felt exhausted, and couldn’t repeat ‘Thank you’ one more time.

The house was silent after the reception. Friends left me with so many trays and containers of food that I was sure that I wouldn’t have to go grocery shopping for a month, or even more. I found the silence eerie at first, but then I was comforted by it. I walked down the halls, looking at old pictures on the walls. There was a great shot of my parents on their honeymoon, beaming at one another. A picture of me playing in a sprinkler when I was 7. I could remember that day vividly because the sunburn I got, made my skin blister and peel. I had never learned about sunscreen until I was at least 15.

I tried to occupy myself, by reading books and watching movies. I went for walks in the desert in the evening when it was cool. My parents’ little house was surrounded by a lot of farmlands, and the nearest house was at least a five-minute walk away. I tried redecorating and getting rid of old things that had piled up over the years. I even picked up an old knitting project, and that was when I realized I had too much time on my hands.

Walking down Main Street, I peered into the shops. Although the town was pretty quiet, Main Street was where all the action happened, and it was also where people met and socialized. Across the street, I saw the Southwest Diner, a place where I used to love eating pancakes while growing up. Feeling a little hungry, I crossed the street to see if there might be a seat at the counter.

I looked through the window and saw that the diner was completely packed, which was no surprise for a Sunday morning, but then my eye caught a piece of paper in the window.

‘Now Hiring - Friendly Waitress’

The timing was perfect. I needed a job and mostly craved some distraction. I stepped into the diner and the hostess greeted me.

“May I help you?” She asked.

“Yes, is that job still available?” I replied.

“Wait, are you Candice Salt?” The girl asked.

As it turned out, we had gone to high school together. I had never been great friends with Iris Smith, but it was nice seeing someone that I knew from the past. Needless to say, I landed the job that very day, and in no time, I was waiting tables like a pro.

Working at the diner turned out to be the best thing imaginable for me. It kept me busy, and I was free to take as many shifts as I wanted. When I was having a hard time dealing with the silence at home, I simply called in to the diner and saw if they needed an extra hand.

They served traditional diner fare, but the quality was actually really good. Winston, the big, barreling cook behind the counter had been at it since I was a child, and he was good at what he did. The omelets were never over-cooked or runny, the pancakes were always fluffy, the burgers always cooked to the customer’s tastes, and the fries were perfectly crispy. I found that for the first time in a while, I was almost happy.

“Looks like the circus has come to town,” Iris said late one afternoon, peering out the window at the cavalcade coming down Main Street.

“What the hell?” Winston said while wiping his hands on his apron. Sure enough, a parade of wagons and trucks was coming down the street, with various banners, streamers, and colorful lights. It did look like a traveling circus, and instantly I realized I was smiling.

“I used to love the circus as a kid. But it never came to Sun Valley. We had to go to Tucson.” I remembered. In truth, our town was too small and funky for any kind of Carnival to come through it. Some even believed that our town was prone to the ‘desert spirits', creatures that were said to create the weird phenomenon that only happened amid a sea of sand and cactus. I remembered weird lights in the sky at night, dust storms that were mysterious and terrifying, as well as funny creatures that seemed unreal and alien-like. But as a kid growing up in the desert, those things were more exciting than they were scary. The kids in Tucson never had that much fun, I thought.

There was an empty lot on the far end of town, and that was where it seemed that the trucks and vans were going. The lot was really only ever used for the Fourth of July barbecues and small concerts, put on by the nearby high school.

“Okay, we have one more hour to go. Look alive.” Winston said, moving the girls away from the window. The Diner closed every day promptly at 5 pm. It wasn’t like the people of Sun Valley to go out much for dinner, so there was no sense in keeping the diner open.

We went back to work, tending to the handful of diners that were still at the counter. After serving a piping-hot bowl of chili, I looked up at the clock to check the time. It was 4:45 pm, and just then the front door of the diner opened, and a crowd of people began to pour in. I knew that Winston was going to be angry, but I didn’t mind so much, because this was an interesting looking crowd to say the least.

The people coming in were no doubt from those trucks that we had seen on Main Street.

They don’t look like they are from Sun Valley, that’s for sure. Let alone anywhere in Arizona.

“Do you have enough room?” I heard someone ask at the hostess stand.

“Um…” Iris replied. “We are just getting ready to close.” She explained.

“Please, we’re starved and stranded here for the night. Dust storm is coming.” The short, round man with the deep voice explained.

“Are you all from the circus?” Winston asked brusquely, stepping out from behind the counter.

“Carnival.” The man said.

“What’s it called?” Winston asked.

“The Carnival of Cursed Souls.” The man replied with an ironic laugh.

“That sounds pretty dark. What are you doing in Sun Valley?” Winston continued.

“We gotta stay here because of the big sand storm coming in. It could damage our trucks.”

Winston paused for a moment to look at the motley group, then turned to Iris. “Go ahead and set them up with some tables and menus.”

“Thanks for your hospitality.” The man said as they were being shown to their tables.

“Can I get you all something to drink?” I asked with a pencil and pad of paper in hand.

“Coke.” An incredibly tiny woman with spectacles said.

“Coffee.” A man with a bright red face replied.

“You got anything stronger?” A voice at the end of the table asked. He was wearing a pair of black jeans with a black tank top, and the character of the man seemed to be just as mysterious as his appearance.

“Beer is the strongest we have,” I replied.

“Then I’ll take a beer.” The man said.

After everyone had ordered and the food came out, I observed the table of the traveling carnies. They were a rambunctious group, chatting, carrying on, telling stories and laughing. I could tell they were hearty souls - except for that silent figure at the end of the table. He didn’t talk much, and he didn’t eat much food, but quietly sipped his beer.

I thought I even caught him looking at me from time to time, and whenever his icy blue eyes met mine, I quickly looked away. His ashy blonde hair looked like it hadn’t been cut in a while, and it hung haphazardly in his eyes. There was a clear definition in his arms and shoulders, and he had large, rough hands. It made me wonder whether or not he was a mechanic or a handyman that worked on the carnival rides, or perhaps he set up the booths. He couldn’t be older than 30.

I was clearing the plates as the group started to break up and leave. The leader of the bunch paid the bill, and it looked like they were off to go and sleep in their vans. I felt sorry for them. They seemed like very nice people, just…..odd.

The mysterious man in black lingered, staring into his beer. Then he looked up at me again, and for a moment, I felt like I couldn’t breathe.

* * *

Luke

“Can I get you anything else?” The waitress asked me. I was hoping she would come back.

I tilted my head up and then looked directly into her pretty green eyes. I hoped I wasn’t intimidating her, because I frequently scared people. People often told me I had a past which was pretty apparent.

“No, I’m fine.” I got up from the table, in no hurry. “What’s your name?” I asked. I had been staring at her this whole time, imagining what her name might be. Maybe it was Angel.

“Candice.” She replied. “What’s yours?”

“Luke. Luke Skywalker.” I said. I was trying to make her laugh, of course.

She smiled. I won.

“What a name.” She replied.

“Okay, I was joking about the Skywalker part. But my name is Luke.” I said. It was not a total lie, but it would do for now. Her smile made me smile.

Damn, she’s pretty.

“It was nice to meet you, Luke.” She said, extending her hand. “Feel free to come back for breakfast tomorrow.”

“And you feel free to come visit our carnival,” I replied. Our hands lingered in one another’s for perhaps more time than normal. But I just didn’t want to let go. In fact, I wanted to pull her towards me.

“I just might. Should I worry about the ‘cursed souls’?” Candice asked lightheartedly.

I thought about that question for a moment.

“Some of them,” I replied.

At least the semi-human ones.

Chapter Two

Candice

The following day, I closed the dinner later than usual. The Carnival of Cursed Souls had been up and running all day, and the success of it was clear. Although it had started out slow, while the residents of Sun Valley tried to figure out what the heck had come into their midst, by the time the evening was descending word had gotten around, and people from nearby towns were starting to join in on the fun.

The diner had been packed all day with people who were on their way to the carnival. By 6 pm, I finally moved the last customer out the door and wiped down the tables and countertops. Once that was done, I filled the ketchup bottles and did some last-minute straightening.

Locking the entrance door and stepping out into the warm night air, I looked down the street to where the carnival was now coming to life in the night. I heard the music, laughter, and screams, and saw the twinkle and pulsing of lights. Children walked down the street with balloons in their hands, and temper tantrums were in full swing from sugar highs and lows. The aroma of hot dogs and corn on the cob made my mouth water.

This was when I realized that I was standing at a crossroad. To my right, I could walk home and enjoy a quiet evening with my book after a long, grueling day at the diner. To my left, there was the Carnival of the Cursed Souls, which felt like the Treasure Island that Pinocchio was drawn to. To my right was the sensible choice, and to my left was the temptation.

And then I thought about that guy, Luke. Those icy blue eyes and the broad shoulders.

Shit.

I looked up at the stars and realized that it was a beautiful night. Not too hot and not too cold. I couldn’t help myself, I chose temptation.

Stepping into the carnival, I felt instantly transported into another world - one that was much more exciting and interesting than the normal world. I saw all the carnies that were in the diner the night before. One of them was swallowing fire, another was selling ice cream. Someone I had served an omelet to, was hanging heavy objects from piercings in his body. People walked from booth to booth, from amusement to amusement, lost and in wonder.

The atmosphere was bizarre and exhilarating at the same time. I enjoyed seeing the carnies transformed by the night and hoped that I might see some of them in the diner the next morning so that I could meet their daytime selves.

But there was one person in particular that I was keeping my eye out for.

I had been thinking about that guy all day.

* * *

Luke

She was holding an ice-cream cone in her hand, that girl from the diner. I was glad she was here, but at the same time, I didn’t necessarily want her to see what I was about to do to this guy in the ring.

It was just a makeshift wrestling ring, and it was where I took on whatever competitor was stupid enough to step in with me. There was a huge crowd of people surrounding me tonight, and screaming every time I threw some guy to the ground. The wrestling was all for the show, but sometimes I had trouble holding back and someone got hurt. Unfortunately, these guys didn’t know who they were really dealing with.

“Pin him to the ground, Jack!” Someone yelled on the sidelines. It looked like the people in the crowd were making bets on who would win. If they had any kind of intelligence, they would know who to bet on, just by looking at me.

“No!” The crowd yelled. In the end, I tackled the guy I was fighting with, to the mat with incredible force and had him pinned there for some time.

Just another day at the office.

“It looks like another victory for Arias the Angry!” Hal, the announcer, said over the microphone. “Come back tomorrow night and see if he can finally be conquered.” He added.

The crowd started to split up and move on to other things, but I could see that Candice stood still and watched as I got out of the ring and wiped the sweat from my chest. I liked that she was looking at me.

When our eyes met, I saw her quickly look away and take a bite of her ice cream.

I must make her nervous after all.

I could see her cheeks turning a little pink, and I found that it was turning me on. When she looked up, I was still staring down at her, and I saw she was trying to conceal a smile.

“Are you just going to stand there?” I called out to her.

I saw that she took a deep breath at that point and then started to walk towards me. She was still in her work uniform, and I looked her up and down, enjoying the way that it clung to her soft curves.

“So, you’re a wrestler?” She asked, nervously.

“Not really. There was nothing else I knew how to do.” I said, standing still and watching her. I was hoping to make her laugh again.

I was still in my wrestling shorts, chest bare, and I casually leaned against the ropes. I felt confident when I was in my wrestling gear - or my armor. It was as though some part of me came alive when I was Arias the Angry. Or it just reminded me of my real identity.

“Well, do you like it? You seem to be very good at it.” She said. I didn’t even have to think about my reply.

“It’s better than making cotton candy,” I said. “I was in the military. I’ve always been good with physical things.” I could instantly see that what I had said, made Candice blush again. I didn’t mean for that to sound overtly sexual, but I only realized it after the words had come out of my mouth .

Whoops.

Again I enjoyed the flush on her cheeks. It made me have dirty thoughts.

“Well, it's definitely keeping you in shape.” She said.

So, she liked my appearance. I got it all the time. But rarely did I share the sentiment as I did right now.

“I have to stay in shape,” I replied, trying to be modest. “The battle wages on, after all.” I crossed my hands in front of my chest. I really wasn’t trying to be mysterious, I was just stating the truth.

I must stay fit for military combat at all times.

“The battle?” She looked confused by what I had said.

“Yes, it never ends,” I said.

I could see that I was already telling her too much and decided to move on to a new topic.

“Have you ever wrestled before?” I asked.

“Me? No. The only sport I’ve ever played is volleyball, and I was terrible at it. I have two left feet.” She says.

Damn, that was cute. But this girl is too sweet, and she’s going to need to protect herself in this world.

“Want me to show you a few moves?” The thought of her walking home in the darkness at night made me angry for some reason. That was a first.

“Um…” She replied.

“I'm not cheeky, or anything. I think women should know more about wrestling. It helps them to stay safe.” I said. “Come on up here.” I climbed on the side of the wrestling ring, ducked through the ropes and then put out my hand to her. “I won’t bite.”

“Okay.” She took my hand, and I lift her up effortlessly. She weighed nothing. Most human women weighed very little. I could tell that she felt embarrassed. Maybe because she was wearing her diner uniform, and I was in a pair of wrestling shorts.

“So, say some guy comes behind you and puts his arm around your neck like this.” I got her into a choke-hold. The feel of her neck was lovely, and she smelled amazing. “You want to grab my arm.”

“Like this?” She asked, placing both hands on my arm.

Perfect little hands.

“Exactly. Now drop down and spin out of my hold.” Candice managed to wrench herself from my grasp and spinned around to face me. “That’s it. Great.”

She’s nice and agile. Hm...

Candice smiled, proud of her accomplishment.

“Now, you bring your foot down as hard as you can on top of mine,” I instructed. Candice did so, but with perhaps more force than I was expecting.

“Shit,” I said. “You really went for it.” It hurt like hell, but it was interestingly very arousing. I wanted to smile.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” She yelled and I just laughed.

“You’re tougher than you look,” I said, massaging my foot a little.

“I think I got carried away,” Candice said bashfully. “Does this mean I won?” She asked with glee.

Okay, I can’t take it anymore. No, she did not win, I would never let her win, and her smile is driving me crazy.

I span her around, flipped her over and had her pinned to the ground. It was like she was a rag-doll.

“I don’t like to lose,” I said into her ear.

“Apparently not.” She said, still lying below me. I think she was afraid to move.

After keeping her pinned for a few more moments, I finally released her and rolled off to the side, so we were both lying on the mat staring at the sky.

“Well, you learn a new thing every day.” She said, slightly out of breath, as much from the effort as from the stimulation of having been pinned by me. She was playing coy. Maybe she was not keen on the idea of getting her panties in a knot over a traveling carnie. If only she knew….

“There’s a lot more that I could show you,” I said, turning on my side and propping myself on my elbow.

So much more.

“Have you been a part of the carnival for a long time?” She asked. Is she changing the subject?

“Longer than I’m willing to admit,” I said.

“But you’re so young, and you said you were in the military. You couldn’t be doing this for too long.”

“You’re asking more than you really want to know,” I said, my demeanour suddenly changing. I wanted her to know the truth, but I didn’t want to scare her away. Her questions were starting to make me angry.

“Is that gang all from the same place? The other carnival folks?” She asked.

“No. None of us are from the same place. We all come from different places, different times.” That sounded so fucking vague, but there was no other way to answer.

“Then, what brought you all together?” She asked.

I smiled at her and looked into her eyes, not quite sure how to respond. I didn’t want to frighten her off, but for once, I actually met someone with whom I might just shared the truth. Why did she have this effect on me?

“We came together because we share the same fate,” I said, slowly leaning into her. “We’re cursed.”

Chapter Three

Candice

“That wrestler is at the counter,” Iris said, nodding her head over to where he sat. My heart started pounding.

Looking over, I saw that he was in his black attire again, sipping a cup of coffee. The evening before, had been magical and mysterious. After the wrestling lesson, Luke walked me home to make sure that I got back okay. At my front door, there was an intense moment where I felt that he was about to kiss me, but something seemed to stop him.

“Is everything alright?” I had asked.

“Yes.” He said, and then made a point to step back from my door and walk off into the darkness. ‘I need to keep my distance’, his behavior said.

I dreamt about him last night. In my dream, we were wrestling, but instead of it being fun and cheerful, we were genuinely battling one another to see who was the strongest. Deep down, I knew that I couldn’t compete, but liked the feeling of his hands on me and his arms around me.

Now seeing him in the diner this morning, I felt transparent and worried that he would be able to see right through me and know that I had dreamt about him.

“You’re up early,” I said, refilling his cup of coffee.

“The crowds are getting bigger for the carnival, so we’re opening earlier today. I have 5 wrestling matches, so I need my strength.” Luke said, putting the menu down. “I’ll take steak and eggs.”

“Alright. Coming right up.” I said taking his menu and noticing the veins in his forearms.

“That was fun last night.” He said.

“Yes, it was,” I replied.

“You should come back tonight,” Luke added.

“Okay. When I’m done with work.” I said, and stepped away to place his order. Something was definitely developing between Luke and I, and I didn’t know what was going to happen. I just had this crazy feeling about him. It was not that he seemed dangerous, there was just so much that I didn’t know about him, and I was not sure how much I wanted to discover.

Once night fell, I tried to close the dinner as quickly as possible. A couple of families that had come into town from miles away lingered over their plates of grilled cheese sandwiches and meatloaf with mashed potatoes. I was beginning to feel impatient because I didn’t want to miss Luke’s last match of the night.

“We’re closing up soon,” I told them, with my hands on my hips. I never knew myself to be that forceful, but I had somewhere to go.

“You’re in a hurry,” Iris noticed from the hostess stand.

“I’m going to the carnival….. to see Luke,” I said, wiping off some menus.

“Oh.” Iris replied and then looked down the floor. I noted some disapproval in the gesture.

“What?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Iris said, not looking into my eyes. “I just have a funny feeling about those people.” She said.

“Well, they’re just not from around here. They have strange lives.” I replied, defending them.

“Just be careful, that’s all. People who pass in and out of towns like that, they’re not held accountable for anything.”

I thanked Iris for her concern but ended the conversation there. I thought Iris was just judgmental. But upon further consideration, I began to doubt myself. Since returning to Sun Valley, I had done a lot of growing up. I had a home, a job, and was treating myself much better than I ever had in Seattle, but was this all a step backward? I didn’t know who Luke was. He could be a thief or ex-prison inmate. Who knew what his past really was?

“I’ll be careful,” I told myself as I looked in the mirror. I managed to close the diner early after all and rushed home to change my clothes. It felt ridiculous to go through so much trouble, but I had a pretty blue denim dress that I wanted to wear. I brushed my hair and cleaned up my face, too. Such naive considerations were not like me, but I couldn’t help it. Luke made me feel different, in a way.

As I walked towards the carnival, I saw it sparkling in the distance. The twinkly lights were all that could be seen in the vacant desert at night. It was like it was calling to me, an oasis where you could forget your cares and surrender yourself to pleasure and excitement.

The fun was just as it had been the night before, but it had grown in intensity. There were more rides, more games, and nearly twice as many people.

“Hey, you’re that girl from the diner.” A man’s voice said. I turned and recognized the man from the first day that he arrived. He was the pug-faced, roundish man. “I’m Merv.” He said.

“Merv the perv.” A woman joked. She was in a tight, sequined costume with plenty of makeup.

“Shut your trap.” He criticized. “Never listen to a contortionist.” He said as he rolled his eyes.

“Yes, and always listen to the carnival barker!” She said ironically.

“It’s nice to meet you, Merv,” I said. He was a short, fat man, but with a booming voice that could be heard throughout the carnival grounds.

“I’m Leona.” The woman introduced herself. “My next show is in ten minutes. I’ll let you in for free.” Leona said with confidence. “You served a great ham sandwich the other night.”

“Actually, I’m here to see Luke,” I said sheepishly. “Can I come and see your show another time?”

Leona’s sharp features changed and she began to inspect me.

“You know what you’re doing, kid?” She asked.

“Leave the girl alone, Leona,” Merv said, walking off to avoid the situation.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I’ll give you a little hint,” Leona said and pulled a small flask from her chest to take a swig. “No one here is what they seem. Just watch yourself.” She offered me her flask to share, but I declined.

“Thanks for the tip,” I said to her.

“Sure,” Leona replied and turned on her heel.

I cautiously made my way to the wrestling match, which to my shame had already begun. The time that took me to change and talk with Leona had been longer than I thought it was, and I felt a deep regret. But just seeing him again made me instantly excited….and nervous.

* * *

Luke

Here I am again, bare-chested and going at a rather large opponent. But he doesn’t stand a chance.

“Give it to him again, Frank!” A voice from the crowd yelled. Apparently, this Frank guy was actually giving me some decent competition, but he was also using some moves that didn’t belong in wrestling. The idiot started hitting and kicking, biting and clawing, and all that I could do was to fight back with equal force. I was not just going to take it. I saw Candice in the crowd, and I felt my blood trickle down my forehead.

Shit. Maybe she’ll find it a turn-on.

“This is one of the most heated battles that Arias the Angry has ever faced!” The announcer called out. He really only said that for the show of it. I had faced much worse. But after he said it, I backed away from my opponent pissed as hell. I made a gesture with my hands to stop the fight, and the audience began to boo.

If this keeps going the way it is, I’m afraid I’m going to have to kill this poor guy. I don’t want Candice to see that.

“What, are you afraid?” This Frank guy teased.

I turned back around. That was it. I came at Frank with such delicious and horrifying force that I could hear screams and gasps from the audience. It was only moments until, not only Frank was down, but someone was calling the ambulance as well.

“Back away. Back away, Luke.” The announcer told me. I hopped over the ropes and began to run. When I got like this, I just started going at people.

“Luke?” Candice called, following me behind the tent. “Luke, where are you?” It was dark and quiet, with no one else in sight.

Suddenly, as she came around the corner, I grabbed her and put my hand over her mouth. I didn’t want to hear her scream.

“It’s okay, it’s just me. I didn’t want anyone to find me.” I said. I felt her instantly releasing in my arms. She trusted me, for some reason.

“Are you alright?” She asked.

“I’m sorry you had to see that,” I said, still holding her. My heart pounding unbelievably fast in my chest. She could probably feel it. “I just can’t do this anymore. I have to get back to where I belong.” I said. I was probably telling her too much, but having her like this in my arms made me want to tell her. I couldn’t keep up the disguise anymore.

“What are you talking about? Where do you belong?” She asked.

I let her go and grabbed the sides of my head. I felt insane.

“I don’t want you to know about all this. You’re a sweet girl, Candice. And-“ I removed my hands from my head. “I think you’re so beautiful.”

The most beautiful human woman I’ve ever seen.

“I don’t want to get you into all this.”

Candice looked confused, but her inquisitive eyes asked for more.

“Please, tell me.” She said, putting a hand on top of my hand. Damn, that feels good.

“None of this is what it seems. Not the people, at least. It’s all a facade.” I managed to say.

“A facade for what?” Candice asked. God, if I was about to do this, I hoped I didn’t lose her forever.

Chapter Four

Candice

Without saying a word, Luke grabbed my hand with force and pulled me to a nearby tent where he kept his clothes. Inside, he pulled his black tank top over his head and put his jeans on over his wrestling shorts.

“Are you willing to come with me?” Luke asked.

“Where?” I asked back.

He grabbed my hand again without asking and walked me to the other side of the carnival, towards a ride that I had not yet seen. The words “Astro Journey” were illuminated by thousands of tiny light bulbs of every color imaginable. Luke walked me up the steps and onto the loading platform.

“Luke?” The ride attendant said in dismay. “What are you doing here?” The guy seemed a little shocked and confused.

Luke didn’t reply but instead led me into the first rocket that came on the dock. It was on a large track and it then entered a dark door where the Astro Journey began.

My heart was pounding, which I found amusing because I was about to enter a kid’s carnival ride. But Luke’s intensity was partly exciting me and partly terrifying me.

As Luke sat down beside me, he smiled and shook his head, and I began to wonder if all of this hadn’t been some kind of joke.

“Luke!” The attendant called after him as the rocket entered through the dark doors.

Inside the ride, there was an incredible silence. The walls were black but illuminated by glow-in-the-dark paint, little animatronic planets, and stars, as well as sparkling fiber-optic lights. It was quite magical and fun and filled me with a childish delight.

“What’s this all about?” I asked, turning to Luke. His face was remarkably illuminated in the black light - a deep, cosmic blue.

Without saying a word, Luke took my hand in his and held on tight. He then turned to me and looked into my eyes. Not only was his face blue, but his already cerulean eyes were now as clear as a tropical sea. Slowly, deliberately, he moved towards me and placed his lips onto mine.

Our first kiss was soft and sublime. The sensations in my body were delicious, like nothing I had ever felt before. Luke’s lips met mine with longing. I could feel that I was getting wet.

“Hold on to me,” Luke said as he pulled away.

“What?” I asked. I wondered if the ride was about to get bumpy.

In truth, the ride got bumpy in a way that no human being could ever possibly imagine.

I turned to look at the track in front of us. It had disappeared. I turned to look at the lights on the walls, and the animatronic planets and stars. They had disappeared as well.

“What’s happening?” I asked nervously.

Then I screamed. It was as if my body was being pulled by a forcefield so great that NASA couldn’t even explain it.

“Keep holding onto me!” Luke commanded.

Every cell in my body was being propelled, as stars and planets speeded past me. But they were not made of paint or mechanics. They were made of hydrogen, carbon, gas, atoms, particles.

What place is this? I thought. What world?

I had a feeling that it would be a different one, entirely.

* * *

Luke

“Get down!” I cried. There was rapid fire shooting straight our way. These weren’t bullets being shot, but shafts of light. I could feel the force of the shots in the air, and the sound was incredible. I loved war.

“Where are we?” She yelled, and I was barely able to hear her.

“I’ll explain later, just stay down,” I commanded.

Although the light from the gunfire was blinding, I could make out that we were on a sandy beach, and cold water from the ocean was lapping against my skin. Instead of being yellow or white, the sand of the planet Hecate was bright red, and it was warm to the touch.

“Do you see that dome over there?” I yelled. Candice was squinting her eyes and could barely make it out, but she nodded her head. “I want you to run there as fast as you can when I give the command.”

“Okay.” She replied. Candice seemed terrified, but hopefully, she would do what I told her to do.

I waited for the sound of gunfire to die down. Within moments, I was satisfied and signaled for Candice to run. I was still shielding her body with my own, but once I gave the signal, I rolled off of her to let her go.

“Now!” I yelled.

Candice started to run swiftly. I was proud that she was so brave while feeling so much fear, but at one point I saw a laser bullet brush against her skin. She screamed in pain but continued to run. The dome was perhaps a quarter of a mile away, and now I was starting to feel fucking terrified that she wouldn’t make it.

“Are you hurt?” I yelled from behind her. Candice looked instantly relieved that I was still with her. If only she knew that I would never leave her side for anything.

She checked her skin with her hand and continued to run. There was a small trickle of blood, but I could tell from the looks of it that the bullet didn’t go in.

“Yes!” She yelled back.

We were almost there. I just hoped that Candice’s beautiful legs could carry her a bit farther.

Once safely inside the dome, she fell to the ground. I panicked. I was instantly by her side, inspecting her wound.

“I think it’s going to be okay,” I said. “You were so brave,” I smiled, but she looked like she was not going to be able to smile for a week.

“Arias!” A man’s voice cried out. “You’ve finally returned.” The man was really no man at all but a creature that I was sure Candice had never seen before. Standing exceptionally tall, perhaps 8 feet, with eyes that bugged out of his head like a fly. The creature’s skin was jaundiced and yellowed. He was an old friend of mine and a member of the Corin.

“Septimus! It has been too long, my friend.” I replied We gave a salute to one another, then shared a hearty embrace. “I thought I’d never get here.”

“Things have been dire, Arias. The Krill have made much headway.”

“I feared as much,” I replied.

“Luke, what is going on? Why is he calling you Arias?” Candice asked, requiring an explanation.

“Everything is going to be okay,” I said. “Let me attend to some matters and I promise to explain everything later.” I could tell that she wanted answers now, but I moved on without waiting for her consent. It was time for business.

“Arias, if you will come this way, I’ll show you the war board,” Septimus said, going straight to business. He led us to a large, atrium-like space that I remembered quite fondly to be the war room. The war board was just as I remembered it; a holographic plane of light taking up most of the room and there were some men in uniform standing around it, all of a similar appearance to Septimus. Most Corin aliens look alike.

“Arias, welcome back.” One familiar face said.

“Finally, there is hope.” Another one added. They all gave the customary military salute. I went from face to face and nodded in recognition.

“It’s good to be back. Let's see what we have here.” I said, looking down at the board with rapt attention.

“As you can see, now the main battlefront is here, on Hecate, and the Krill are getting close to taking it. They’ve already taken Babo, Yaros, and Escalon. If they conquer Hecate and Trovolich, the galaxy will be theirs.” Septimus sayid.

“I see,” I replied, with a furrowed brow. “I wish I could have been here.”

“You’ve been gone for many eons.”

“Not by choice,” I replied.

“The curse was something that only the Krill leader, Grim, could possibly engineer. It’s a shame that you have not found a way to banish it.” Another one said.

“He knew that I would be one of the only ones susceptible,” I said, looking down to the ground. Being a semi-human was the biggest goddamn curse of all.

“How did you get back this time? It might be the key to figuring the riddle out.”

Recognition comes over my face, and I turn to Candice who stood silently outside the group of men.

“I felt something,” I said, looking straight into her eyes. “I felt something powerful. That’s what opened the portal.”

Delicious feelings.

“Extraordinary. Do you know what it was that you felt?”

Still looking at Candice, I smiled. “I do.”

Chapter Five

Candice

After hours of debriefing, I felt exhausted and like I couldn’t stand on my feet anymore. I was relieved when Luke and I were finally led to a room with a bed and sink. It was nothing fancy, but it was clean and bright. I splashed my face with water and examined my wound.

“Is all of this frightening you?” Luke asked, walking over to me and putting his hands on my shoulders. God, that felt good.

“A little,” I said, washing my wound. “Will you explain now?” I asked.

“My name is not Luke. It is Arias.” He said, taking a seat on the bed.

“Like your wrestling name,” I said.

“That’s why I chose it as my wrestling name,” Luke said with an ironic smile. This was so overwhelming I didn’t know where to begin.

“Just tell me where we are,” I demanded.

“This planet is called Hecate. We’re in a galaxy called Orion. It’s thousands of lightyears away from the Milky Way galaxy.” Luke explained calmly.

“How did we get here?” I asked.

“You can go from one galaxy to another through a tear. In Orion, it is known as the Gate. Various things can create this tear, but the individual that is traveling gets pulled through it. The Krill are who we are fighting, and they’re the Gatekeepers. They’ve discovered many different ways in which the Gate can be opened, and they control the passage of others into and out of it. Once they knew that I was fighting for the Corin - who have always been the Krill’s enemy - they managed to put a kind of curse on me. It controls when I go through the Gate.”

My head is spinning. Portals? Tears in the Universe? It sounds like nonsense.

“Luke, Arias - whoever you are - how did I get here?” I asked.

It was a valid question and one that brought a look of confusion on Luke’s face.

“I think that the nature of my travel through the Gate comes down to emotions. You see, the Krill don’t have emotions. Most of the Corin don’t have them either, but they knew that it was my vulnerability.” Luke explained.

“In what way?” I asked, sitting next to him on the bed.

“I think that when I feel….intense pleasure……I’m sent back to the battle,” Luke explained, looking at me intently. “I’ve had this theory for years but haven’t been able to pull it off. But kissing you…..on the carnival ride—“

“It sent you back?” I asked. It instantly aroused me.

“I think so.”

“Then, how do you go back?” I asked.

“That one I already know. Anguish.” Luke said, almost casually.

“And how did you discover that?”

“It’s how I originally fell back through the Gate. We were fighting the Krill, and they were coming in for a surprise attack. A soldier….one of my very best friends….was shot and killed right in front of me. Then I just disappeared, and found myself with the Cursed Souls.” Luke explained.

“Are they all soldiers in this war, as well?” I asked.

“No, they were cursed for various different reasons, and they come from different places. Each of them has a story.”

“Why is earth where you were banished to?” Certainly, there were worse places for banishment.

“It is where we feel the most intensely, and that can be quite painful. I’m a semi-human. My mother was from earth, and my father was a Corin. I’m not from the Milky Way. I’m from Orion, but the Krill can punish me for being of human descent.”

I stopped asking questions and tried to take in all the information that had just been given to me. If all of this was real, and I was not in some kind of dream, then how could this explain why I was here, in the battle, with Luke?

“How did I get here, then?” I finally asked, searching into Luke’s eyes.

“It’s something I’ve never experienced before, and it’s still unclear.” He said. “I wonder if perhaps, as further punishment, the object of someone’s bliss is brought back with them through the Gate. Seeing you on the battlefield today damn near killed me.” He said, putting his hand protectively on my leg. I looked down at his hand and felt my heart skip a beat.

“I want to kiss you again, but I’m afraid of where we’ll end up,” I said jokingly. I couldn’t believe I had just said that, but it was all I could think about as I watched him speak. If semi-humans all were as hot as Luke was, then I was ready to never return to earth again.

“I’m pretty sure we’ll just stay where we are,” Luke replied, and put his lips on mine.

Even through the heat of his kiss, I felt incredibly frightened, for him and for myself. When Luke felt passion and pleasure, he was sent to a battlefield to face his death. And when he felt anguish, he was sent to earth, and back to me. It was a see-saw game of the heart and spirit that I didn’t know if I was strong enough to be a part of.

And yet, I was falling in love with Luke. So how could I resist?

* * *

Luke

It was abundantly clear to me as to why Candice was the amazing creature that was the key to the Gate. The way she made me feel was hard to describe. I wanted to have her right here and now, but I, too, was afraid of what the effects might be on where we would end up in the galaxy.

But there was a more important plan forming in my head. My only real freedom from this curse was to defeat the Krill altogether and restore Orion back to peace.

Feeling Candice’s body next to mine, I knew that the most reliable way to gain passage back to the battlefield was to have sex with her, to consume her, body and soul. It would be an instant way to feel the highest possible pleasure and return to the battlefield at my command, to put every ounce of my strength into winning the war for good.

Could I ever ask such a thing of her? Would she think that I was crazy, using her love, or worse, using her body? Although the thought of instantly made me feel hard.

Damn.

If I couldn’t find a way to ask for total access to her body gently, then I might have to demand it. No.

Shit. I can’t be like that with her. She’s too gentle and sensitive, and I must be on my best behavior.

But then I thought about her, lying naked in our bed, waiting for me, whenever I needed and wanted sex. She would be my warrior goddess, sending me back to the battlefield where I was in my prime. That was when I would not making love to her. That was when I would really be in my prime.

Chapter Six

Candice

“Oh my god,” I said as I watched the screen from the war room.

Luke/Arias was in single close combat with a Krill soldier, and it was so terrifying to watch that I covered my eyes. Krill aliens were much more menacing in appearance than I thought they would be. Enormous blue creatures standing 10 feet tall with fangs like dogs. Instead of two arms, they had six, which made them all the more challenging opponents.

I was not sure how anyone, let alone Luke, was able to kill even one of these formidable creatures, but already that day he had killed fifteen of them with ease. I was beyond impressed by his talents on the battlefield, and it was abundantly clear why the Corin had missed his fighting skills for so many eons.

Eons, I thought to myself. Apparently, one eon was only about a year on earth. How old does that mean that Luke really was? I thought to myself that even though I knew his real name was Arias, I would never be able to call him that. I associated it with Arias the Angry, the wrestling Carnie, not the unbelievable warrior that I saw on the screen.

I was fascinated by the different kinds of weapons that were used in battle. Not only were there guns that shot laser bullets, but there were also swords made of light, curtains of vaporous gasses, hover crafts carrying hundreds of soldiers, and bombs that went off in clouds of translucent dust.

“Is he going to be okay?” I asked the Corin general standing beside me.

“He’s always alright.” He replied. “He’s the best.” He added with confidence.

The fighting for the day concluded when the majority of the Krill were defeated in the valley and the rest retreated. It was the most successful day of battle that the Corin had seen in a long time.

* * *

Luke

“There he is!” One soldier said to me as our troops returned to headquarters, triumphant.

“The Krill have been over-confident in my absence,” I said, my face beaming.

I hoped that Candice wasn’t terrified by the kind of glee I got from the battlefield. I felt like a child with a new toy. Even though I had been in grave danger, I couldn’t wait to go back for more.

Before even dropping my weapon, wiping the blood from my face, or taking a drink of water, I walked to Candice and took her face in my hands, kissing her forcefully.

“I thought of you the whole time,” I said, my blue eyes almost glittering in the radiance of her face. “You’re to thank for all of this.”

“Luke, that was so dangerous, you—“

“If this is the girl responsible for bringing you back to us, then we’re going to make her our Queen!” A soldier cheered.

“We better leave the happy couple to themselves tonight, so that Arias will be ready for battle tomorrow.” Another one teased.

“Hey, leave her alone, now.” I teased back and hold her hands in mine. If someone didn’t watch themselves, they were going to get their ass kicked.

And then, by some sudden impulse, Candice ran from the room. Perhaps she was afraid that she was going to break down in tears in front of all of those men? Maybe watching all the fighting was too much for her? She seemed like she wanted to be alone, but I couldn’t let that happen.

“Candice—“ I called out as she ran through the door. Although not sure whether she wanted to be followed or not, I had no choice but to try and comfort her.

I saw her go into our room and close the door behind her. She propped herself against the door, which I could hear from the outside. She had better let me in.

“Candice,” I called from behind the door. “Let me in.”

“I just need to be alone for a bit, Luke.” I heard that she was crying, and that upset me.

“I said, let me in.” I was not going to be refused access to her, not now, and not anytime from here forward.

I pushed the door, and it easily gave way.

“What’s going on?” I said.

Candice was fully crying by now, in a little heap on the floor. I knelt in front of her.

“I’m sorry, I just—“ Candice wrapped her arms around herself. “I feel so stupid.”

“Why?” I asked.

“The Krill. They look like they’re right out of my worst nightmare from childhood. I can’t watch that again tomorrow.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I mean, I can’t watch it ever again. I can’t stay here.” She said, looking into my eyes to show that she meant what she said.

Now my face had changed. It was as though my image was fading, like I was slipping away or disintegrating.

“Luke?” She asked.

“Damn,” I said, looking down at my hands that were fading from the present. I could still see Candice, but she was getting fuzzy.

“What’s going on?” She asked.

“I’m slipping back,” I said. “I had a feeling this was going to happen.” There was nothing I can do to fight this.

Candice instantly looked like she was filled with regret.

“What can I do?” She asks.

“Just kiss me,” I said with a painful expression. If there was anything that could bring me pleasure at this moment, it would be her sweet lips.

Candice didn’t even stop to think about it. She quickly kissed me passionately, and it was exquisite. This kiss was different from any that we had shared before. We explored each other’s mouths with our tongues, and finally, I lost control and began to kiss her neck. Candice moaned as I placed my mouth on her skin. The sound was incredible. Already I could feel myself coming back.

From where I was sitting, I pulled Candice on top of me so that she sat on my lap, straddling me.

Damn, I’m getting hard.

“I don’t want you to do this if you don’t want to,” I said between kisses.

She must be willing.

“I do want to.” She replied. Her hands held onto my arms and shoulders and the muscles flexed under her soft grasp. Yeah, baby, those arms had the strength of all six Krill arms combined.

Slowly but surely, I returned to solid form. It was true, after all. My theory. When I felt the bliss of Candice’s presence, I returned to my true self, and when I felt the pain of her absence or any pain, I was sent back to my prison: being Luke.

Although I wanted to fuck her right now, I had to wait for her consent, and she didn’t seem ready.

“You don’t have to watch tomorrow if you don't want to. But I must fight.” I said, holding her in my arms.

“I don’t have the strength.” She said, collapsing into my arms.

“It’s because you haven’t eaten since you got here,” I said, getting to my feet while still carrying her in my arms. “Come, we’ll have a meal with the soldiers. You’ll like them.” I said conclusively.

I was not quite sure that a meal with the soldiers was such a great idea, although it would be good for her to get to know the Corin better. They were strange but quite kind.

“Do you remember that time in the Kilarie?” One particularly enormous soldier said. He was eating his meal with full appetite and drinking a Corin wine known as Root. His name was Peterionicol, but the soldiers called him Pete. He wasa man that I knew well. “You almost got your ass handed to you, Arias!” He was laughing so hard he was crying.

“That is NOT true!” I fought back. “That Krill son-of-a-bitch only had the upper hand at one point, till I knocked him on his ass and began celebrating. You weren’t invited.” I had had many glasses of Root already, and I was feeling boisterous. I loved joking with the guys.

Perhaps now Candice could understand why she never saw me eating much food at the Southwest Diner. The food on Hecate was some of the most beautiful in the universe, and it tasted like a dream too. Everything was in hyper-color - gem-tones, scarlet reds, and even fluorescent food - all with flavors that she had never experienced before. I could tell that she liked it because she finally had an appetite. It was probably why she had that emotional outburst tonight. She was hungry. It happened to women.

Although it was true that the Corin liked to drink their Root, they were also very civilized creatures. All the soldiers were very polite to Candice, and they were smart to be so.

Underneath the table, my hand was resting on her thigh, not just to help her feel calm, but also to claim my territory. I became aware of the fact that in a room of other soldiers, Candice was a great source of attention.

But sorry guys, she’s all mine.

“Are you enjoying yourself?” I leaned over and whispered in her ear. She had been quiet during most of the meal.

“Yes, very much so.” She replied.

“Wait till you see the dessert,” I said with a grin.

I was fucking happy, truly back in my element. Back on Earth, I felt bored and lost. But here, on Hecate, holding onto Candice’s thigh, I felt like I could conquer the world.

Sure enough, when the dessert was brought out, I saw Candice’s mouth drop open. It was a large cake that shone under the lights, almost like it was encrusted with prismatic diamonds. It was the gleaming color of the frosting. Dazzling to look at, the cake was even more magical to taste. But I could safely say that it didn’t taste as magical as her neck.

“Can I show you something?” I said after dinner was over.

“Okay.” She replied.

I led her outside, where the night sky was a blackish-purple. The air was cool, and the stars weren’t just white, but every color imaginable.

“Look up there,” I said, pointing to the sky. “Orion is a far superior galaxy to the Milky Way.”

“You’re a snob,” Candice replied, rolling her eyes. She was asking for it.

“I’m not. I’m right. You remember that. I’m always right.” I said with finality.

“Uh huh.” She replied, teasing me. This goddamn human female drove me crazy in all the right ways.

“Don’t make me wrestle you,” I said, raising my eyebrow.

“I’m not afraid. Some crazy carnie taught me a thing or two. I could hold my own.” She replied.

That’s it.

I couldn’t help but take her teasing seriously, and I tackled her to the ground with such force that I hoped I hadn’t hurt her.

I hoped she regretted teasing someone in that way, who was the best soldier in the galaxy. She should think twice about it next time.

I raised her hands above her head and pinned them there, savoring the opportunity to again consume her neck.

“This isn’t fair,” Candice said, wiggling from side to side.

“Stay still,” I said.

“I can’t. I’m ticklish.” She said with a laugh.

“Oh, you should not have told me that,” I said with delight.

The two of us wrestled for a bit, rolling over one another. Finally, Candice managed to get me on my back and sit on top of me.

Delicious.

The playful atmosphere between us changed, and we went silent. There was a weightiness to the moment. I slowly put my hands on her hips. Candice’s breathing changed.

“Have you done this before?” I asked. I could sense her fear, and that there was something she had not told me.

There was a long pause. I searched her eyes to try and figure out what she was thinking. Could it possibly be true that she had never fucked before? Maybe she had, but she was hurt by someone. The thought instantly filled me with rage. Who the fuck did I have to kill?

“Did you understand what I asked you?” I said after she was silent for too long.

“Yes, I did.” She finally replied. “And no, I haven’t.”

Holy shit.

Chapter Seven

Candice

In my dream, I was standing on a hillside of Hecate. I was a warrior bride, staring down at the troops that were fighting a bloody battle down in the valley below. I stood imperiously, watching the carnage but not moving an inch. Laser fire shot through the hazy sky, aflame with poisonous gasses and curtains of deadly radiation.

The Krill aliens loomed over the Corin, using their six arms and swords of light to execute deadly blows. One Corin was run through with six swords at the same time, bleeding his golden blood.

From the dismal cloud of the battlefield, Luke stepped forward. On his face, there was not the confidence that I remembered the last time I saw him fight. He appeared to be on his last leg. This was his final battle.

“Luke,” I said under my breath, incapable of doing anything to stop what was about to happen.

The Krill general stood before Luke, his terrifying, imposing form nearly eclipsing Luke’s. I saw Luke’s breathing rise as he came before the general - the one alien that he always wanted to kill the most. If the creature before him wes to perish, Luke would finally be free. It was the key to restoring peace in the galaxy of Orion, and it was the key to lifting his curse.

Before Luke could even raise his sword, the general lifted his six arms with his sharp claws. He was like a beast from a horror film. A blue fluid was dripping from his fangs as he picked Luke up off the ground.

I closed my eyes. “Noooooooo!” I screamed.

All I could hear from where I stood on the hill was the ripping-apart of Luke’s flesh.

“Candice, get up,” I heard. I was pulled from my dream. My own flesh felt like it was ripped in two, just as Luke’s had been in my dream. I was covered in sweat.

* * *

Luke

What’s going on?” She asked, startled.

“They’re coming towards the dome,” I said urgently. “We don’t have much time.” She managed to get up, throw on her clothes, and run out the door in an instant.

That’s my girl.

“Can they get inside?” She asked, running down the corridor.

“Of course, they can. We have to get you on a spacecraft as soon as possible.” I put on my uniform as we ran.

“What about you?” Candice asked.

“I have to stay here and fight. That’s what I do.” I said, not looking at her.

“What if I wanted you to come with me?” Candice said.

“Don’t do this right now, Candice. You know that I’m a fighter. It’s who I am.” I said, clenching my jaw.

“Then I’ll stay and fight with you.” She said, stopping dead in her tracks.

I stopped and looked at her. She had gotta be kidding me right now. Why did this woman have to be so stubborn?

“Don’t be a fool,” I replied.

“I mean it. I’m not going without you.” Candice said, not moving.

“Listen to me,” I said, pushing her against the wall. “This is what is important to me. But — ”I ran my hands through her hair and considered my words. “—I care for you, and I need you safe.” I hated having to admit that, but I had no choice.

“I need you to be safe,” Candice sayid, pleading.

God, she was beautiful and thoughtful. “I will be. Trust me. I know what I’m doing.”

“Luke, I can’t be a part of all this. I had a dream last night.

….you were being hurt—” She tried to go on.

“We don't have time for this, Candice.” I grabbed her hand and walked quickly, but she teared away.

What the fuck?

“Listen to me ! I can’t do this. I’m not going to be a part of this.” She wouldn’t move. I looked down to the ground silently.

“I can’t listen to this right now. Don’t you understand what this is going to do to me?” I said.

“I’m sorry, Luke. I have to go home now. I….cannot see you anymore.” Candice said. My heart was ripped to shreds. Was this because of that stupid dream she was talking about?

“Candice.” I pulled her into me. “I need you. I need all of you. It makes me happy. It brings me pleasure and—”

“And you need that so that you can fight your war. I’m telling you that I don’t want to be a part of it.” Candice slowly pulled away again. I couldn’t stand this. I was starting to feel violent.

“So, you’re telling me it’s over? I can’t speak to you, I can’t touch you?” I looked at her viciously.

“That’s what I’m telling you.” She gazed at me intently, and then it started to happen - the fading. I could feel my image becoming blurry like I was evaporating. “Luke?” I heard her say.

“I’m not going to accept this. You need to understand…………..”

In felt myself being ripped through the portal.

Chapter Eight

Candice

And now he was gone. Disappeared into thin air. I was frantic.

“Luke? Luke!” I screamed, looking all around in some vain hope that he would appear. It was all my fault. He was gone.

“Where is Arias?” Septimus asked from the end of the corridor. He was suited-up and ready for battle.

“He….he’s gone,” I said softly.

“What have you done?” Septimus instantly blamed me, and I thought, rightly he should.

“I couldn’t be a part of all this,” I said, looking at the floor and wanting to cry.

“You’ve ruined us! Arias is our only hope, and you’ve chosen not to help us.” He said accusingly.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to see him hurt!” I said.

“And how about the Corin? We have homes, we have wives and children. Our people have not known peace for eons because Arias was gone.”

“Stop it! Stop it, I can’t take it anymore.” I covered my ears with my hands and began to sob. The pain in my chest was crushing, and I closed my eyes and willed it all to disappear.

And then it happened. I was being pulled into the vortex, only, this time, I was being sucked into a vacuum, not of stars, planets, lights, and stimulation. It was a black hole of pain that tugged on every cell of my body, and it was pulling me through the gate like a soul-destroying birth.

I screamed, “Luke!” The piercing sound of my cry echoing through the universe, and when the free-fall had concluded, I was lying face-down, with no idea where I was.

I moaned and touch my face, trying to remember who I was. I felt around with my hands and sensed a rug below me. I opened my eyes, even though they were burning and hazy.

I was lying on my living room floor. I thought at first that it might perhaps be a dream, but once I began to come to sense, it was clear that I was not dreaming at all.

This is my home. Jesus.

Unable to use my legs, I crawled to my kitchen to drink water from the sink. I was so thirsty I could die. My throat was so dry that I dind’t think I would ever be able to speak again.

I looked out my kitchen window to try to orient myself further. The sun was setting in the dusty desert, and there was a sharp wind blowing. Another sandstorm, I thought to myself. Was the carnival still here? Had Luke returned? Had any of this been real?

I finally found the strength to step onto the porch, by propping myself up with furniture all along the way.

All kinds of thoughts were flooding my mind. One of them was that I should go to the diner, and try to explain where I had been. What would I tell them?

I felt the hot desert wind blowing across my skin, and it filled me with relief. I was home. But I couldn’t escape the dull ache for long. Where was Luke, and had I lost him?

I knew that I should rest, but instead, I chose to walk through the desert to Main Street. I was limping and fighting the wind, but I was making good progress.

Once I made it to Main Street, it seemed like a ghost town. There was no one in sight. I looked to my left to see if the carnival was still there, and sure enough, the rides and booths were, but it was empty.

“What the hell?” I said under my breath.

“Candice.” A voice from behind me called. “You’re early.” It was Winston, opening the diner.

“What?” I asked in a daze.

“You’re early. You’re not supposed to come in till eight.” He said, looking at his watch. “It’s six am.”

I looked up at the sky in wonder. What I thought had been the setting sun was actually the rising sun.

“How long have I been gone?” I asked. Winston looked confused by my question.

“Well, I guess you closed the place up last night, and here you are, maybe 12 hours later.” He looked at me with concern. “Everything alright? They’re not serving up drugs at that carnival are they?” He asked. “Of course, I wouldn’t be surprised.” Winston opened the front door to the diner with his keys.

“No, no,” I replied. I looked back towards the carnival. I had only been gone for one night. The time difference between Earth and Hecate was baffling.

“Well, since you’re here you might as well help with the pancake batter,” Winston said, stepping behind the counter and putting his apron on.

“Okay,” I replied. I didn’t feel like I was really back on Earth and grounded until I started working on the batter. The mundane task helped me to calm my mind and settle me.

The day went on as I was accustomed to. I served during the breakfast shift, then took a break, followed by the lunch shift, and my feet began to hurt around 4 pm. It was life as I remembered it, although inside, I was changed.

I desperately longed to see Luke, and prayed that I had not lost him.

Looking out the window towards to carnival, I could see that it was starting to come to life in the night. The sun was down, and the darkness of the desert was revived by the garish sparkle of the Carnival of Cursed Souls. Now, I finally understood what the name meant.

“You going back tonight?” Iris asked, catching me staring down the street.

“I…I don’t know,” I replied. In all honesty, I was not sure about what to do. I didn’t know if I could face the carnival, and its souls, ever again. Except for one of those poor souls in particular.

“He didn’t hurt you, did he?” A look of recognition came over Iris’ face, as though she saw in me a woman scorned.

“No. No, he didn’t.” I replied. It was the truth, after all. Luke had not hurt me, but I am afraid that I did more than hurt him. Would he be fighting tonight?

And so, after locking the entrance to the diner, I looked right, towards home, and then I looked left, towards the carnival. Again, I felt that giddy temptation within me, and I turned left.

As I got nearer, the screams and laughter got louder, and I was filled with anticipation.

I was going to see him. I was going to see him again.

Walking past the stalls and games, I saw Leona the contortionist, drinking from her flask. And there was Merv.

“Come once and all to see the Amazing Mazie, the 500-pound woman!” He cried.

And there, at the other end of the carnival was the wrestling match, and within the ring was Luke. Arias the Angry. Chest bare.

“Yet another win for Arias the Angry!” The announcer cried as the bell rang, and Luke’s opponent was suffering on the ground. The announcer grabbed Luke’s hand and lifted it into the air in victory.

Now, as if there was a radar beam within his body, Luke looked directly towards me, picking me out of the crowd.

We just stared at one another, as the chaos of the carnival seemed to go quiet all around us.

“I’m sorry.” I mouthed silently.

He mouthed nothing back. The announcer dropped Luke’s hand which was being held up in the air, and as if in slow motion, he released his gaze from me and turned. Luke stepped out of the ring and walked off into the distance.

“That’s it for Arias the Angry. Come back again tomorrow folks, for more close combat excitement!” The crowd dispersed, and I continued to just stand there, allowing realization to wash over me.

He wasn’t coming back.

My refusal had lost Luke’s love forever. I didn’t chase after him, and I felt as though my body might be frozen to that one spot for the rest of time. My heart felt as though it had died.

I let the crowds swirl around me, and just stared off into space. After who knew how long - it could have been an hour for all I knew - I turned and walked from the carnival like a ghost. It was only after I left that I realized that I was standing there that long because I was waiting for him to walk back to me. He never did.

What I did next was something I had not expected from myself since I left Seattle, I walked to a bar.

The Desert Dive was a bar that I had walked past several times coming home from work, but I hadn’t gone in. It was a dive, to say the least. Cigarette smoke filled the air and mostly men - construction workers, day laborers, and those who worked with their hands in the desert sun all day - were seated at the bar, drinking beer and watching sports. There was a video game console, and two guys were pressing buttons and looking at pictures of women with their breasts exposed.

I was definitely in the wrong place. I had had my bout of pub-crawling when in Seattle, but I was pretty sure it was a phase. Being in the Desert Dive this night was a desperate way to just escape from my thoughts.

“What are you having?” The buxom woman behind the bar asked. She was chewing a gum and had tightly permed hair.

“Just a shot of something,” I said. I tried to think about what. “Whiskey, I guess.”

“Coming right up.” The woman said. A shot of whiskey was sitting in front of me before I knew it. “You want something to eat, sweetie?”

“No, thank you.” I realized that I hadn’t eaten a thing since I had returned to Earth, and it probably wasn’t smart to be drinking the whiskey. I took one sip of it and felt slightly sick.

“My name is Pearl.” The woman said, cleaning a glass with a cloth. “I’ve seen you before. You work in that diner, don’t you?” She asked.

“Yah, The Southwest,” I replied, taking another sip and hunching over the bar.

“That’s what I thought,” Pearl said. “You have never been in here before?” She asked.

“No, I just…..had a very long day,” I said.

“So I see,” Pearl replied knowingly. “Need to talk about it?” I had the sudden feeling that Pearl was looking right through me.

Do bartenders always have this ability?

I didn’t feel like spilling my heart, but at this moment, it seemed like a better idea than the whiskey that was in front of me.

“I think I lost someone. Someone important.” I said.

“I see.” Pearl raised her eyebrows. “Man? Woman?”

“A man. Someone….…special.” I said, taking another cautious sip of my drink.

“He’ll come back,” Pearl said with authority.

“What?” I asked.

“He’ll be back, I said. There’s no worse place for lonely hearts and lost souls than here. A man in the desert doesn’t stay alone for long because he can’t take it.” Pearl explained. I felt like this advice was over the top, but was still comforted by it in a way.

“So, should I go find him?” I asked.

“No,” Pearl said and leaned over the bar for emphasis. “He’s going to come to you.”

“How do you know?” I asked.

“Honey, I just know these things,” Pearl said.

As it turned out, this was my last drink, and I walked through the desert towards home on this night, thankfully not drunk. Pearl has filled the void. It was incredibly dark out, the lights from the carnival having already been extinguished.

* * *

Luke

“Where have you been?” I demanded. I had been standing here for what felt like hours. I was angry as hell.

“Luke?” Candice recognised my voice immediately, although she probably couldn’t see me. I stepped out into the light of the moon, and she looked at me guiltily. What had she done?

“I said, where have you been? And…are you okay?” Besides being so angry, I was really concerned about what had happened.

“I stopped to have a drink. I guess I was there for a while.” Candice explained. I didn’t like the sound of this.

“Well, I came looking for you. I wanted you to be here.” I said, stepping in closer.

“I’m here now. It’s okay.” Candice said and stepped closer. “Luke, I’m so sorry.”

She better be.

But at the same time, I knew that this was partially my fault, and I was softened by her apology.

“I asked too much from you,” I said, grabbing her tightly. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

Candice looked nervous and unsure. Then she looked at me directly, her face reflecting the moonlight.

God, she’s so beautiful.

“I want to do this for you. What you’re asking from me.” She said, gauging my reaction. “I want to help you to return to Orion so that you can free the Corin.”

“Candice, you don’t have to say that—”

“No, please. Let me go on.” She said. “No matter what I do, I’ll lose you. But I want to have as much as I can of you, and this is the best way.”

I stopped her mouth from speaking further by gently kissing her lips. My hands felt the smooth of her back and down her sides. I was not going to be able to control myself any longer. Candice’s words were confirmation enough that I would no longer have to hold back.

“Do you trust me?” I asked, putting a hand behind her neck and turning her face up to mine.

“I do,” Candice replied. I kissed her again, passionately and hungrily.

I pulled back and took her hand in mine, kissing the back of it. Without saying a word, I walked her back towards the house and up the stairs to her room.

I laid her down on the bed, and kissed her again, but this time slowly, working my way down her body, exploring the front of her. With my hands, I felt all of her contours and curves. She was perfect in every way.

Candice laughed a little.

“I’m embarrassing you?” I asked.

“No, it’s what I said before. I’m ticklish.” She said with a giggle.

“Well, that’s it,” I said. Her giggling drove me crazy, and the thought that she was ticklish ignited a fire in me. I wanted to take it slow and savor each step so that she could enjoy her first time, but I felt an urgent need. I hoped it didn’t frighten her.

Chapter Nine

Candice

First, he took my top off over my head, and then he went on by undoing my pants, pulling them down over my trembling thighs. I felt so bare and exposed, and seeing Luke take in my body with his eyes was thrilling and scary too.

He kissed and touched my bare abdomen, and for whatever reason, I was not feeling ticklish any longer, but instead, I felt a heat come over my body and wetness between my legs. It was a delicious sensation that I had never before shared with anyone.

Luke moved slowly down my body until his mouth had reached that part of me that had been untouched for all this time. Once his mouth was on top of my panties, Luke began to kiss and suck.

My body jumped, and I grabbed onto the sheets for support. I had never felt anything like this before, and it was shocking at first.

“Trust me.” I heard Luke say, trying to calm me down. Now my body began to relax, and I released my muscles. Once Luke felt that I was calmer, he slid my panties down and returned to where he had left off.

My body began to squirm. It wasn’t just that it was one of the most sensual sensations I had ever experienced, but it was also that it was with Luke down there, someone that I had both a passionate longing for and intense feelings of love. This heady mixture was a first for me, and maybe it was for Luke as well.

The rhythm of Luke’s mouth became faster and deeper, and my hips began to move in motion with him. Then it was as though my entire body was overcome with a tidal wave of pleasure, and every muscle contracted with ecstasy. At first, it was not relief because the discomfort of feeling so much pleasure lingered in my body for what felt like a long period of time. Luke massaged my hips as I came, encouraging me to let go and reach that apex of pleasure.

I just laid there, looking up at the ceiling. My body was spent, but I wanted so badly to go further with Luke. For all of my ignorance, Luke seemed to know exactly what he was doing, and it was thrilling to me.

* * *

Luke

Seeing Candice come so hard makes me only feel more out of control.

Again, I wanted to be gentle, but I couldn’t wait any longer.

I got up from the bed and pulled my shirt over my head. Then I removed my pants and boxers and stood there, fully revealed, before Candice’s eyes. She looked slightly nervous when she took in the sight of my cock. I did have to admit that hybrid-humans had a normal human form, but our dicks were more Corin-sized. I hoped she was not too afraid.

Crawling on top of her, I positioned my body just right. I put a hand on her cheek and kiss her again, then pulled away and looked into her eyes.

“Are you sure about this?” Of course, I didn’t want to ask out of fear that she would say no, but because I cared for her, it was my duty.

“Yes,” Candice said, her green eyes sparkling with anticipation.

“Okay.” I kissed her again, and then slowly and gently put myself inside her. There was resistance at first, but then Candice relaxed, and I began to push myself inside her, but not all the way.

I knew that I had to perform the one thrust that would open Candice to me forever. I did not want to cause her pain, but I knew that it had to be done. I pushed - hard.

“Ah!” Candice hollered. Her pain seemed sharp and quick, but I hoped she knew that from now on it wouldn’t hurt ever again.

Sensing that she was ready, I began pushing all the way inside her. The length of me was reaching so deep and wonderfully within her. It was a connection - a melding one - that I had never experienced to this degree. Not in this same way.

The thrusting became more intense, and I was not quite sure how long I would be able to hold out - the feeling of her was so exquisite and perfect. But I would hold out for as long as I could because deep down I knew what the consequences of this act would be.

Our bodies were moving in rhythm with one another’s, and I was consumed by passion, connection, and hunger. Candice moaned, and there were even times when I needed to cry out. The pleasure was so intense.

I wanted to hold it off longer still, and looked into Candice’s eyes - maybe even to say goodbye. I held her face in my hands.

“You know what is about to happen, don't you?” I asked.

“Yes,” Candice said and smiled.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“Promise me that you’ll be safe.” She said, looking as though she was about to cry, but keeping a brave face.

“I will. I promise.” Nothing was ever going to harm me. Or her.

“This was…..incredible.” She said.

“Well, it’s not done yet,” I said, and smiled. Candice laughed, and we kissed again. The feel of her lips, the sensation of being inside her, the fact that she had enjoyed it, all these factors sent me over the edge.

I thrusted into her faster and faster, and I could feel myself becoming as hard as steel. The moment had arrived, and the time to say goodbye.

I came so fucking hard, and filled Candice with my warmth. We both called out, crying with ecstasy and sadness.

“I love you, Candice,” I said, and kissed her hard. I had never said that to a woman before.

Chapter Ten

Candice

Before I could reply, the good-looking man with his lips against mine, the greatest warrior of the galaxy, had completely disappeared. It was as though he had never existed. I had to once again ask myself if all of it had been a dream.

I laid in bed spent, and stared up at the ceiling. I chose not to cry, but to smile. I had lost Luke again, but more importantly, I had gained love. Even if I never saw him again, I finally felt loved. And this was the greatest gift.

Our lovemaking had been yet another gift, and at the same time, a kind of death.

Could I possibly have the strength to go through with this dance of love and loss, life and sacrifice, for years to come, or potentially eons?

On this night, I chose yes. I resigned myself to this cosmic love that would stretch across the galaxy, lead to epic battles and collapsing empires, and would also bring quiet moments, holding hands in the desert.

* * *

Luke

And on this very night - one of the greatest of my life - as I landed on planet Hecate, amid a key battle, where I would face the Krill general known as Grim. For the first time, it wasn’t the thrill of combat that brought a smile to my face, but it was the thought of her.

And this pleasure that her memory brought, was the very thing that kept me in imminent danger.

But fuck it, I can take it. Now that I’m in love, I can kill every last Krill alien with one hand.

Book 2

Chapter Eleven

Luke

Being back on Hecate in the battle was amazing, I had to admit. There was nothing that go me going more than a good war. I always won, so what was there to be afraid of? Adrenaline was pumping through my veins, smoke filled the air, and my light sword was already covered in the blue entrails of many Krill aliens.

Hover crafts were speeding through the air above me. These belonged to our Corin troops. The Krill weren’t sophisticated enough for hover crafts, but man, they could fight. I just arrived today from Earth back onto the battlefield and I already had an enormous gash in my arm.

Every moment that Candice came to mind, I reminded myself to focus. That was why I was the best of the best.

Now I was bludgeoned in the head by a sword.

“Damn,” I grunted and looked up to find an enormous Krill standing over me. “Not so fast, my blue friend.” I pulled out my sword and began to fight. The Krill was drooling mucus, and he spitted some on my face. This seriously annoyed me.

The alien lifted his arms to lower his sword onto my head, and I took the opportunity to run my laser blade through his spine. He gave a shrill cry that made my ears split, and the blue ooze inside of him splashed across my entire front. It was disgusting and smelled like rotten eggs, but at least that was one more down.

“Nice one, Arias.” A Corin soldier fighting next to me said.

“I think that the Krill’s general, Grim, is just beyond that hillside.” My adviser Septimus said.

This couldn’t have come a moment too soon. Finally, I could stand before my greatest adversary and face my destiny. My heart started pounding with excitement.

“Let's go, men,” Pete said, barreling along in his pearlescent armor. Pete was one of our fastest soldiers. Most of the Corin were tall and slim, but Pete loved to eat, and he never turned down a glass of Root.

“This could all end today, Arias. If Grim is taken, then peace is restored to Hecate.” Septimus said with hope.

“There’s nothing I would want more,” I replied. It was what we had been fighting for so long now, and perhaps today was the day.

“If there is anyone that can take him, it’s you.” He added. “But you know how vicious he is. You must be careful.”

“He doesn’t stand a chance,” I replied, cleaning the blue ooze from my light sword.

“They’ve got nano armor now.” He added.

“What?” When did the Krill get something as sophisticated as nano armor?

“It’s true. I think they stole the technology from the Balo aliens.”

“Damn,” I replied. This was not going to be good. One of their biggest vulnerabilities was their delicate blue skin. I recalled the alien I just killed, how my blade went through him as though he was made of paper. Then he cried like a shrill child. The sound of it was both pleasing and disgusting.

“Why didn’t the other Krill have it? The ones I killed today?” I asked.

“Those are just infantry. Only the higher-ups have the technology.” He sayid. I looked down at my own flimsy armor and shuddered. It was not as strong as the nano armor by a long shot, but I was confident that I could still get the job done.

We walked along the beautiful hillside, talking strategy, and then we were taken by surprise.

“Alien dogs!” A soldier screamed. The Krill alien dogs were used to strategically protect the general, and they were some of the scariest creatures you had ever seen in your life. With blood-red eyes, 4-inch long fangs, and black spiky fur, the dogs could grow to be as long as 7 feet. I had seen one of them bite the head off of a Corin soldier and swallow it whole.

I saw them running towards us in one vicious, howling pack.

“We must be close to the general,” I said. That was the good news. The bad news wad that we could all pretty much die right now. I said a little prayer to every God I could think of, and I drew my light sword.

“You can’t take them, Arias. We need to get into the trees. They can’t climb.” A soldier said.

“We have to kill them. It’s our only passage to the general.” I replied.

“It can’t be done. Every soldier that has ever tried has lost their life.” Septimus said.

“So, they're the key to the battle, and the battle must be won,” I said. It was no time for fear. The passage to the general was the only way we were going to win the war, and it was the only chance that I had to lift my curse. It wasn’t a time to back down.

“I’m out of here!” Another soldier yelled, and ran for the trees.

“Stop being so weak,” I said. “Here they are.” The dogs were charging at us at a dizzying pace, and just cresting the hillside. It was now or never. If I was going to die, then I had to resolve this. But, if I died, I would never see Candice again. And yet, I was determined to do it for her, and for the Corin. It was my duty. Without peace, we lost everything, and I was willing to sacrifice my life for it.

The first one that approached me got its head chopped off with one swipe of my sword. The second one tried to come from behind and got his abdomen split in two.

It was the third and fourth that were more of a challenge because they came at me from both sides. Pete came to help, and together we took them both down till they were howling and writhing on the ground in a pool of their own entrails.

I had never seen alien dog blood and guts before, but it wasn’t pretty. The interior of the dogs was a greenish color, and it smelled like sewage, not unlike the disgusting entrails of the Krill.

“What are they feeding these things?” I asked, wiping the green goo from my uniform.

“Look alive!” Pete screamed, pointing to another dog coming in for an attack.

It was the biggest dog that I had ever seen, and probably the last one that the general sent when all else failed. The dog tackled me to the ground and began gnawing on my arm.

Blood was coming from my forearm with rapid speed. I finally threw the dog of me and sprung to my feet. I could hear the Corin soldiers springing from the trees to come to my defense, but now it was personal. This dog was going to be my conquest.

As it charged back at me, I ripped off one of its ears with my hands, and it began to whimper. I almost felt sorry for the thing, but not enough to prevent me from coming at it with my light sword and stabbing it dead in the face. The green ooze poured out like lava.

“Impressive.” I heard a disturbingly deep voice say. I had to wipe the green goop from my face to see. Once I could open an eye, I saw Grim standing ominously before me.

“It wasn’t that hard,” I replied with only one eye open. Although the Krill general was intimidating, to say the least, I did not feel any fear. This 10-foot tall blue monster was the only thing that stood between me and freedom.

“You smug hybrid-humans are always lying. It’s something that we Krill are not capable of.” The general said. When he spoke, I could feel the venomous heat of his breath blowing against my face. His claws were more like talons, sharp and drawn for action.

“So, if you can’t lie, then tell me. Did a hybrid-human just kill all your dogs?” I asked.

“No. There are much more where they came from.” Grim replied.

“Then why aren’t they here? You’re on your last leg.” I ssaid.

“Because, you do not pose a threat.” He replied, lifting one of his sharp brows.

“And why is that?” I asked, stepping forward and straightening my armor. Grim was overly confident, and he shouldn’t be. There was something that he was not sharing with me.

“Because you won’t harm me,” Grim said.

“And why would you say something like that?” I asked, knowing full well that I wanted nothing more than to harm him.

“Because if you kill me, you have no passage back to Earth. I am the gatekeeper.” Grim stood still and stared me down.

I considered this for a moment and fel annoyed.

Will the gate close forever if Grim is dead? This element of the curse hadn’t been revealed, probably because I’d never gotten this close to the general before.

I could feel myself slipping. A slow, cold pain started in my chest and began to creep, cell by cell, into every corner of my body.

If I killed Grim right now, I would never see Candice again.

I was a soldier with a duty. I needed to sacrifice my own happiness for the good of the Corin. I lifted my sword to come at Grim, but when I looked over to my arm, it had already faded so much that I could see right through it.

“No,” I said.

This can’t be happening. Not when I’m so close.

“Yes,” Grim replied and revealed his long, sharp teeth with a smile.

Once the pain completely filled my body, I disappeared from Hecate.

This was my curse.

* * *

Candice

He had only been gone a few weeks, but I was beginning to question the reality of this situation. It was hard to tell now what was real and what wasn’t. What if he had been hurt right at this very moment? All he did on Hecate was battle aliens, and that meant that every time I served someone a plate of pancakes, whenever I took a shower, brushed my teeth - whatever – he was facing death, and I had agreed to allow it.

“I have a boyfriend,” Iris said at the hostess stand. The diner was pretty slow this afternoon, and it was a gloomy day outside. Even the desert could be gray and dreary.

“Who is it?” I asked, cleaning one of the menus.

“This new guy moved into town with his brother,” Iris said with a big old grin on her face.

“Well, how long have you seen each other?” I asked. Iris was always impulsive when it came to guys, so I would imagine that it hadn’t been long.

“A week.” She said.

“You’ve been seeing him for a week, and you’re already calling him your boyfriend?” I asked.

“He’s a real keeper. I just know it.” She said.

“What does he do?” I asked.

“Well, he’s kind of…..between jobs right now. But his brother is a doctor!” She said exuberantly.

“Why don’t you date his brother then?” I asked.

“Because he’s not as cute.” Although a sweet girl, Iris was never known to be the smartest. “I want you to meet his brother.”

That was going to be out of the question. How could I explain to Iris that I was stuck in a cosmic romance that stretched across galaxies, and that I was sublime, completely, and uncontrollably in love? And I might never see him or hear from him again.

“No,” I said, and walked off to refill someone’s coffee. Iris followed me.

“If it’s because of that Luke guy—” She said solemnly.

“No. It’s not.” I said, turning to her and trying to give the hint to stop the conversation. There was too much to say, and she wasn’t going to understand.

“I’m sorry that he left. I’m actually bummed that the carnival is gone. It added some life to this place.”

Just then my body was filled with a cold wave of fear, and I dropped the hot coffee on the floor.

“Candice?” Iris asked. “What’s wrong?”

I got down on my hands and knees with a rag and tried to clean the spilled coffee and broken glass. I was shaking.

“Oh, nothing, it just slipped out of my hand,” I said.

But truly, inside I was panicking. I hadn’t looked over at the lot where the carnival once stood when I came into work this morning. I just assumed that it was there. If the Carnival of Cursed Souls was gone, then would Luke ever be able to find his way back to me?

“I have a feeling that he wasn't a good guy, Candice. I think you need to move on.” Iris said. I know she was trying to be helpful, but inside I just want to go home and cry.

“He was a good guy, in his own way,” I said, picking up the glass pieces.

“Come out with us tonight. I’m meeting my boyfriend, Craig, and his brother will be there. You just need to move on, Candice.” Iris said, putting a hand on my shoulder.

Damn it.

I wanted to lock myself into my home and weep, not put on a skirt and meet some boring doctor just to make my friend happy. But at this moment, I felt so weak that I couldn’t refuse. I wanted to get Iris off my back.

“Okay, but I’m not staying out long,” I said.

“Fantastic!” She replied. “You’re not going to regret it, I promise.”

When I was getting ready at night, I put on a modest dress that wouldn’t make it look like I was eager for anything. This was just going to be a dinner with Iris and her friends.

I looked over at my bed, and immediately my mind flooded with thoughts of that last night before Luke left. The way that his big, strong hands caressed my entire body, how his mouth felt, the hardness of his shoulders, his arms...I could go on and on. Damn. I would kill Krill aliens just to see him again.

I finally took off the dress and threw on a pair of jeans with a turtleneck sweater. I barely put on any makeup, and I definitely skipped the perfume. I laid my pajamas on the bed in preparation for coming home early.

As I walked into the restaurant, a little Italian joint that was known in Sun Valley for its spaghetti, I looked across the restaurant, and there was Iris, waving at me with her cleavage bared. Clearly, she was going all-out to impress this Craig person.

She was right, Craig was a handsome guy, and I sneaked a peak at his brother, who wasn’t quite as good-looking, and had a very buttoned-up appearance.

“Candice, this is Craig,” Iris said. Craig stood to his feet and shook my hand, and then I looked reluctantly to the other gentleman. “And this is Christian.” She added.

“Pleasure to meet you,” Christian said, shaking my hand. His voice was much deeper than I thought it would be, and his dark hair and light green eyes were appealing. I hated to say it, but he was attractive in a Clark-Kent-before-becoming-Superman sort of way.

“Hello,” I simply said. His grip was tight on my hand. I took a seat myself and a sip of water. I was seriously hoping that this whole night wasn’t going to be awkward, but mostly, I just wanted to go home — and find Luke there, waiting for me.

“I hear you’re a doctor,” I said, trying to start some conversation.

“Yes, there’s never really been a resident doctor here in Sun Valley. It seemed like a good place to bring my practice.” Christian sayed with a kind smile. There was a warmth in his eyes - hiding behind his glasses - that put me at ease.

Iris looked at me with a smile and winked. Clearly, she was intent on having me date this guy. It couldn’t be possibly in a million eons...

“Buona Sera.” The Italian waiter said as he came to our table. “My name is Francesco, and I will be serving you tonight.” I was kind of surprised that they got a real, authentic Italian guy to come serve spaghetti in the desert.

After we ordered our food and wine, I could hear that it was starting to rain outside. It was surprising, but also a welcome treat in Sun Valley.

The conversation stayed polite, but the wine was beginning to go to my head. I looked over at Christian, who had been glancing at me from time to time.

My female radar knew that he was trying to impress me. He talked about his personal travels through Italy, he remarked upon the tasting notes in the wine, and he cut me off a piece of his veal cutlet to try. The gesture was sweet, but I was starting to fantasize about my pajamas waiting for me.

Lighting stuck outside and the rain came down harder. Off on Hecate, could Arias the Angry be watching as Christian stared at me? I laughed to myself.

“Aye Dio!” The Italian waiter exclaimed.

The storm is frightening, that’s for sure. And it is growing in intensity.

“How are we going to get home? We walked here.” Iris said, holding hands with Craig.

“I guess we’ll just have to drink more wine and order more food!” Craig said with a laugh. Clearly, the wine was starting to go to his head as well.

“I really do have to get home soon. It was a long day at the diner. I might just walk.” I said.

“I’ll walk you home,” Christian said, getting up from the table.

“No, really. You don’t have to.” I replied. Another harsh crack of thunder and lighting struck the desert and the windows of the Italian restaurant shook.

“Shit!” Craig said. We were all really startled by it.

“Just wait a few more minutes,” Christian said, putting a kind hand on my arm.

I wanted him to not touch me. I wanted those to be Luke’s hands on my skin.

Another crash of thunder.

Jesus, what is going on?

Something was happening that couldn’t be explained.

And that’s when the realization set in, and my stomach flipped, the Gate was opening. I knew it.

Luke……

I ran to the window and looked at the deluge of water that was pouring down Main Street, like a desert flash flood.

I looked up at the sky and saw the heavens raining down. The droplets were so big that they looked the same way the stars did when I was plummeting through the tear in the galaxy, how they all rushed past me so quickly.

“Candice, what are you doing?” Iris asked, probably finding my antisocial behavior to be kind of strange.

“Oh my God,” I said aloud.

Oh, my God.

Through the haze of water, I saw a figure walking down the street. He was completely soaked, and his hair was falling down into his face. His T-shirt was clinging to his enormous chest and soldiers, and his tight pants revealed strong, sturdy thighs. I knew those thighs. It was Luke.

He was walking towards the restaurant. How did he find me? I took the exit in a daze and stepped into the pouring rain. It soaked me to the bone.

“Luke?” I called out. Maybe it was just a vision.

What if I’m seeing things?

Just then Christian stepped out of the restaurant, following behind me.

“Candice, is everything okay?” Christian placed his hand on my shoulder.

Luke brushed his hair out of his eyes and looked up at me. Those shocking blue eyes met mine. I could see that he was bleeding from his arm, and the rain had washed the blood all over his clinging T-shirt.

Damn. He’s like Marlon Brando in a ‘Streetcar Named Desire’.

I felt panicked by the thought that he might be hurt. I tried to step towards him, but Christian’s hand stopped me.

Then I saw it register on Luke’s face. His awareness was brought to Christian standing behind me, and his face changed from soft recognition to confusion.

Chapter Twelve

Luke

Who is that guy?” I asked. The last thing I wanted to see after being banished from the battle was Candice out with another man. If I were a soldier of baser instincts, I would have run him through. But I only drew my sword to see how he would react. He might be pissed himself. It was hard to tell.

“It wasn’t a date, Luke.” She said. I was inclined to believe her, but I needed more information before I was satisfied. She sat on her couch and folded her hands.

“Do you like him?” I asked. I was not afraid of her reply. If she did have slight feelings for someone else, then I could not convince her otherwise.

She tried to speak but stopped herself. I gazed at her intently, awaiting her reply.

“Iris made me go on a double date. I didn’t want to. Yes, I think Christian was trying to impress me.” She admitted.

“I don’t want you to go on double dates,” I said calmly. I was inclined to command her to never do such a thing again, but I wanted Candice to understand that I respected her.

“Luke, I must admit to you that I’ve been thinking about how abnormal all this is. I want things for us that other people have. Everyday things that don’t involve other galaxies and fighting aliens.” She laughed to herself. “I sound crazy.”

She did not sound crazy. Our situation was crazy and abnormal, yet still, I was a man, and I was feeling possessive at this moment.

“I wish I could give you those things, Candice. But I’m a soldier. I have duties.” I caught her looking at my bloody arm.

Candice, you are never to go on a double date again. That is what I want to say.

“You’re hurt.” She said. I was appeased by the fact that she was worried about me. I wasenchanted by her tender, female human side.

“It’s nothing,” I replied. She walked towards me and touched my arm, and the proximity to her made me immediately happy. Why did she always have this effect on me?

The pouring rain outside didn’t help to alleviate the need to touch her. I had never been one who thought about making love on a rainy night, but with Candice, it seemed like the best idea in the galaxy.

I grabbed her hand and pulled it away from my skin. Candice looked at me with confusion in her eyes.

“We need to talk more before there’s physical touch. Do you understand?” I asked. There were more things to say, and her physical proximity would make me disappear within moments, thanks to the pleasure she brought me.

“Yes.” She replied, understanding what I was getting at. Of course, there would be nothing more triumphant than to experience intense pleasure with her right now and then find myself back on the battlefield this very night. It would be a win-win situation. But I didn’t want to leave her that soon.

“Why did you do that? He is a friend of a friend. You seriously scared him.” She said.

I chuckled a little. It was funny to see the look on his face when I pulled out my light sword. It was a surprise and delight to find that it had traveled back with me through the Gate. I wasn’t going to hurt him. It was a joke that I thoroughly enjoyed.

“He’ll get over it,” I said. Even Candice laughed a little remembering the look on his face.

“I just…” She looked down to the ground with those beautiful green eyes. “Will we ever have a normal life?”

“I will win the war, and then I will be free,” I said. Her expression changed.

“Promise me that you will stay here for a few days. Just so that we can be together, like normal people.” She said.

“We’re not normal people,” I replied, but the thought of just being around her for a few days sounded delicious. The real challenge was: how were we going to keep our hands off of each other? It seemed impossible, but I was willing to try. “Yes, I’ll stick around for a few days. But you can’t ever see that guy again.” I added. I pulled out my light sword and lifted my eyebrow. It was fun to tease her, after all.

“He’s the town doctor!” She said with an ironic laugh. Now she was smiling and laughing and looking more irresistible than ever.

“Well, find a doctor in the next town over. I’ll take you there myself.” I said, joining her in a smile.

“I've missed you so much.” She said.

God, if she only knew how much I had missed her, too. I place my hand under her chin and looked into her perfect eyes. Being here and not laying a finger on her was going to be the hardest thing I had ever done, but I was willing to give it a shot if that meant she would be happy…and stay away from that ridiculous doctor.

* * *

Candice

He looked exhausted and bloodied, dripping with rainwater. I tried not to stare at the way his shirt was clinging to his perfect chest, but it was hard to avoid. Luke agreed to stay for a few days, and my heart was filled with happiness. He was fulfilling all my domestic fantasies.

Visions of Luke sitting on the couch when I got home from work, reading a book and smiling when I walked through the door, filled me with warmth.

Wait. Does Luke even read books?

What if he was incapable of the kind of domestic bliss that I dreamt of? What did hybrid-human warriors even do for fun? It was a funny thought.

The next couple of days were a challenge because we both knew that we couldn’t get too close to one another. It would be one night of bliss followed by absence, and I was not ready to let him go just yet. Not if I was to believe that this whole weird relationship was even possible.

“Do you want us to go and watch a movie?” I askd one morning. It was my day off, and I wanted to spend every second of it with him.

“Um, I don’t think I’ve ever seen one.” He replied.

“You’ve never seen a movie before?” I asked. It was unbelievable to me.

“No. It never occurred to me.” He said.

“Getting to know you…..” I sang. “What do you do to pass the time on earth?” I asked. From what he said, he had been on Earth for many years. Surely he had to do something to occupy himself.

“I’m usually working. I’ve always been with the carnival.” He explained.

“I see. Well, we’re going to have a day filled with the best earthly amusements!” I was really excited thinking about it. We would have a nice breakfast, then go to the movies. Maybe we would take a walk in the desert, holding hands.

“There’s only one earth amusement that I’m aware of.” He said as he raised his eyebrow mischievously. His perfect mouth broke into a smile.

“Not so fast, Don Juan. You promised me a few days.” I said.

“Alright. Whatever you want to do. Just promise me that you’ll always smile like that when in my presence.” He said.

“I know what we’re going to do!” A perfect idea came to my mind. “We’re going dancing. There’s this great place on Main Street where they have wine from all over the world, and there’s live music.” Of course, that meant that Luke and I were going to have to touch one another, but it would be safe because we would be in a public place.

“There’s that smile again.” He said. I caught him gazing at my mouth. “I’m willing to accept the challenge of enjoying an evening looking at your shining face.”

Damn. Why is he so warm and irresistible?

I secretly hoped our domestic bliss could go on and on forever.

The day was perfect. I took him to the movies, and he sat through the whole thing, but I could tell he was unenthusiastic about the romantic comedy that we saw.

“I do not understand why humans need to watch other humans fall in love.” He commented when we were leaving the theatre. Luke took my hand in his. His grip was firm.

“You devoured that popcorn,” I said. It was hard to get him to eat earth food, but the popcorn, he completely polished off without me getting more than a few bites.

“I like that food. It’s……what’s the word I’m looking for?” He looked at me for help.

“Crunchy?” I asked.

“No, we have plenty of crunchy foods on Hecate.” He said, dismissing it.

“Salty?” I added.

“No. I know this word.” It was adorable to see Luke in a moment of non-humanness.

“Buttery?” I finally asked.

“Hm.” He replied, arching his brow again. “Yes, that’s the word.”

Of course, Luke could make a word like ‘buttery’ sound so special.

“I’m going to snatch that eyebrow right off of your face,” I said.

“Buttery.” He said again, clearly teasing me.

“You’re doing this on purpose because you want to get back to Hecate, and I’m beginning to think I should send you there as soon as possible,” I said, looking away.

He stepped towards me, wrapping his large arms around my waist.

“No, you have to take me dancing first. You’re not going to get out of this.” I said.

“You’re going to have to teach me.” He said.

“Nothing would please me more,” I replied.

The Fox Trot Club was packed, which was surprising for a Tuesday night. The floor was filled with couples dancing to a Michael Jackson song. The live band wasn’t going to take the stage for a few more minutes, so the DJ was playing old tunes that he knew the crowd could warm-up too.

“This is not my scene,” Luke said, drinking a beer.

“Come on, it’s going to be fun,” I said, nudging his arm.

“And now, CK Price and the Traumatic's!” The DJ announced, and the band took to the stage on a wild applause.

To my dismay, CK Price and the Traumatic’s weren’t an upbeat band. I imagined pulling Luke onto the dance floor to covers of 80’s pop music, but instead, we were getting soulful jazz, and the crowd was slow dancing. This was going to be a test.

To my utter surprise, before I got the courage to ask Luke to dance, he grabbed my hand and pulled me onto the dance floor. Being pulled onto the dance floor by an intergalactic soldier was an experience that I had trouble describing.

“Look who wants to dance,” I said with glee.

“I’ve wanted to do this for days.” He said, and pulled me against his chest, wrapping his arms around me and holding me tight. To my surprise, the guy could actually dance! He was swaying me back and forth gently and looking deep into my eyes.

“Where did you learn to dance?” I asked. Clearly, he was lying to me all along.

“It’s not that hard. All I have to do is hold onto you and move from side to side.” His face was dangerously close to mine.

The heat started at the center of my body, and it began to sink down into my belly. I couldn’t stop it. The warmth from Luke’s chest only added to the heat. My heart was pounding.

“Feeling you so close, this evening may prove to be a challenge.” He said.

“I want to be close to you too, but….” Before I could finish my sentence, something caught my eye. There, standing in the corner was Christian. He was holding a glass of wine and watching me dance.

Oh dear.

Christian needed to know that his presence here was a bad choice. And kind of creepy. Maybe it was some weird coincidence, and he just happened to show up.

God. Hopefully, he’s on a date.

But looking to his left and right, I saw that he was standing there alone.

Luke saw that my attention had been stolen, and as if in slow motion, he turned to see what I was staring at. As I watched his head turn, I wanted to stop him.

Luke’s gaze met Christian’s, and I saw his mouth turn from a smile to a straight line. His jaw tightened.

Chapter Thirteen

Luke

Seeing this guy at the other end of the room, staring at Candice, I was beginning to wonder if I would need to put my sword to use after all. Did she have a stalker? Considering my own feelings towards Candice, I could understand why a man may become compelled to follow her. But I was pretty sure this guy didn’t know who he was up against. I relished this little challenge.

“I don’t know why he’s here. I swear I barely know him.” Candice gave a nervous little laugh. “This is so strange.”

“Allow me,” I said, walking through the crowd. The fact that the man was following her, after something that she claimed wasn’t even a date, was strange to say the least. And if it was making her uncomfortable, then I would fix it.

“Can I help you with something?” I asked as I approach him.

“I’m sorry?” He said.

“I said, is there something that I can assist you with?” I towered over the man, and I saw that my presence was making him nervous.

He’s smart to be nervous.

“Hello, Christian,” Candice said with a nervous smile behind me. “What a coincidence!” I could tell that she was not eager to have me pull out my light sword again, joke or no joke.

“Candice, what a surprise.” The doctor said, also nervous. He looked at her and then looked towards me. “Can I speak to you outside?” The guy had a buttoned-up collar and altogether looks like he was born with a stick up his ass. Of course, it was obvious that he was trying to make me look bad in front of Candice. When I was on earth, I was content wearing my black jeans and tank top. It was a pleasant break from my armor. I didn’t need to wear a buttoned-up shirt to impress anyone. I looked back at Candice who was standing behind me with her eyes popping out of her head.

“Christian, Luke wanted to apologize for that whole business with the sword,” Candice said, jumping in.

“Actually, I did not,” I said. She ignored this and kept talking.

“I think Luke was just trying to be funny!” Candice said with a nervous smile.

I smiled too, staring at Christian intently. This was going to be fun.

“It’s alright, Candice.” He replied. “But I’d still like to speak to you outside for a moment. Like a gentleman.” He said, implying that I was not a gentleman. I supposed that was fair. Slaying barbaric aliens for years on end did something to a man’s character.

I looked to Candice again who was pleading with her eyes. She wanted me to behave myself. She could trust me. She would not ever have any reason not to trust me.

“Okay. Briefly.” I said, arching my brow.

Outside, the guy loosened his collar, and I could tell that he was even more nervous. It amused me. In the warm night air, I could even see that he was sweating.

“Ahem.” He cleared his throat a little. “I felt the need to speak with you about what happened the other night, sir.” He said. It was smart of him to call me ‘sir.' If only he knew who I really was, he would be giving me a salute. “Iris told me who you are…..”

“Just a carnie, passing through town, I guess,” I said casually.

“Well, whoever you are, I felt disrespected the other night. I needed to say that in person.” Then there was a long, awkward pause. “Man to man.” He added for flourish.

“I apologize for that,” I said, taking the high road and secretly wanting to chuckle. I wondered if he was able to get that piss stain out of his fine trousers? “I do find it strange that you’re here tonight, following a girl around that you barely know,” I added. “You met once, from what I understand,” I added, hoping to confirm this fact.

“Yes, but I’m interested in getting to know her more. It didn’t take me long to realize that Candice is too good for a riffraff like you.” He said.

Really? Riffraff? Who says that? I’m not even from the earth, and I know that that is a poor comeback.

“She deserves to be around people who have manners.” He went on. Well, now he was trying my patience. I guessed he would have to be the first human that I killed. Could be amusing. I knew that my light sword was in its collapsed state in my pocket, and I went to reach for it.

Just then, I saw Candice coming out of the club, and she was looking at me intently.

I supposed I could go ahead and do it with her watching. She had seen me kill before. But something deep inside me did not want her to see me kill a human. The good doctor was going to get off by the grace of her timing.

“Thanks for this little talk. Christian, is it?” I said, taking my hand out of my pocket and shaking his. I saw his face twist as the strength of my hand crushed his.

“Yes. Christian.” He said, looking like he wanted to scream. “Good luck in the next town.” He added, implying that I’m moving on with the carnival.

I’m not going anywhere, Doctor Christian.

“Sure thing, Doc,” I said, and turned towards Candice. Once I reached her, I took her hand in mine and led her home.

Where she’ll be in my arms tonight.

“Was everything okay?” She asked, being pulled along.

“I’m gone for only a couple of days, and you manage to pick up a stalker,” I said. “I guess I’ll have to be around to protect you more often.”

“I don’t think he’s a stalker. He’s just eager, new to town. Not a whole lot of dating prospects in Sun Valley.” She said with a laugh. “He’s harmless.”

Harmless or no harmless, I realised that I was challenged with being pulled between galaxies and also by desiring this woman. Not only was she the most attractive female in her town, but in my view, the most incandescent in her galaxy.

* * *

Candice

He was staring at me intently. God, the way he looked at me with those eyes. Did he ever not look like the most handsome creature I had ever seen?

Luke took my hand in his and massaged it a bit. He might think he was gentle, but sometimes he didn’t know his own strength. I was about to tell him my bones might snap!

“May I have you now?” He asked. I knew that was his way of asking if we could make love, but it made me smile because it sounded like he was from another era.

“You promised me a few more days,” I said, not willing to lose him just yet.

“I know that it means that I will have to leave, but to feel you in my arms..…it is worth it.” He said. We were standing under the stars, just a few steps from my home. I stroked his hair with my hand.

“Come.” He said, walking me towards the house. He sensed my consent, and although not commanding me, he was leading me with confidence and strength.

I followed him, thinking perhaps it would be best to protest. Perhaps we could have one more day together.

“Luke—“

“My name is Arias!” He barked back. It was frightening.

“What?” I said, surprised.

“I am joking with you again. I’m getting good at human jokes.” He said with a big smile.

“Well, whoever you are, I don’t want you to go!” I barked back. “I’m afraid that you want to be with me just so you can return to battle,” I admitted. Although it sounded ridiculous, I needed to say it. I had been on my mind. Luke was one of the galaxy’s most skilled warriors. The battlefield was his home. What if I was just the one holding the key that allowed him to return - to his identity?

“Do you think that’s what this is about?” He held my shoulders in his big hands. “You think I desire you so strongly because I want to return to Hecate?”

I shrugged my shoulders unsure. I would have spoken more, but I suddenly felt on the verge of tears. Why did he make me such a sloppy mess? Hybrid-human men might be more disarming than human men.

Luke’s mood softened and he gave me an ironic smile.

“You’re crazy.” He said, staring down at me. “Candice, it is extremely challenging to live in this home with you, and to not have you fully.” I could feel the heat in his hands warming my shoulders.

“It is hard for me, too,” I said. And it was the truth. I was new to the matters of the bedroom, but I trusted Luke and desired that time with him.

“Tonight.” He said with a warm glow in his eyes.

I still wanted to protest. I wished I could keep him here forever, but it was not a reality. It was not our reality. I gave in, as much for him as for myself.

Luke leaned in and kisses me softly. God, how did he learn to be such an amazing kisser? His mouth tasted like raspberries, which was something that I would never be able to explain.

He playfully picked me up and put me on his back, carrying me all the way to my house. Once we were inside the door, Luke began to undress me in the entryway, laying me down on the soft rug. This anticipation had been building for so long, I could feel my heart pounding in my chest.

I was fully naked in front of him, and he took a long time just looking at my body in appreciation. I placed my hand on his chest, and he gave me a tortured look.

Luke placed his mouth on my neck and his hand over my delicate naked flesh between my legs. He started slowly, making small circles with his fingers. The sensation was too exquisite for words.

Luke gently pushed his fingers inside me, and I started to moan and move my hips to the rhythm of his hand.

“I want you. All of you.” He said, observing me with pleasure.

I began moving my hips faster, and all at once it was like the earth was spinning out of control and felt every muscle in my body explode in spasms with a riveting pleasure. I screamed and thanked God that I didn’t have neighbors within earshot.

Luke wasted no time and pulled off his black jeans. His body seemed perfect when he was wearing his earth clothes, but without any clothing at all, his colossal frame was something that Michelangelo would have made into a work of art.

He was large, so he started off gently, touching deep places within me that made me want to cry in rapture. Each time I let out a moan, Luke stifled an animal-like sound.

In one swift motion, Luke picked me up off the ground and placed me on a plush sofa.

“Are you comfortable?” He asked, with that gorgeous, tortured look on his face.

“Yes,” I replied.

He was now reaching spots within me that were new and profound. With each thrust, he pulled my hips into his, and they seemed to fit together perfectly.

“I love you, Candice.” He said, clenching his teeth.

Finally, the two of us explode at the same time, as though we could just sense the timing of each other’s bliss. Everything in my body started shaking: my legs, my knees, my arms. I couldn’t hold myself up anymore, and Luke picked me up and placed me on the floor, draping me over his body.

Silently, we laid there in a heap. I was on the edge of sleep. And when I woke, he would be gone.

Chapter Fourteen

Luke

I was washed up on the shores of Hecate. All I was aware of was the warm water lapping against my skin.

I tried to open my eyes, but I felt groggy and disoriented. And then I saw something that I never expected in a million eons: Candice was by my side.

“What?” I said. I propped myself up to see if there was any danger nearby. Just about a mile away I could see the battle in full swing. Lasers were being shot, there were explosions, and I could hear screams. I had to protect Candice, and that meant getting her to the dome.

How did she get here? I thought it was only me that was sent to Hecate due to the effects of intense pleasure. How could I explain why she was here? Perhaps that first time that Candice came to Hecate was a fluke. Maybe even Grim allowed her through the Gate so that she would understand the Curse, introducing her to her role in it. No matter what the answer was, I didn’t want her here. She was in danger, and I had to find a way to send her home.

“Candice, wake up,” I said, holding her tightly and pulling her out of the water. Her skin was cold and damp. “Can you hear me?” I asked. She slowly began to come to her senses but appeared disoriented.

“What is happening?” She asked.

“You’ve come back through the Gate with me. I can’t explain it.” I replied.

“Oh my God.” She say]id. As I hold her in my arms, I considered that my curse could be extended to those that I love. The thought of it made me so angry that I wanted to rip an alien apart with my bare hands. When I encountered that Krill general again, he was going to taste my sword faster than he could utter a word from his disgusting blue lips. On my own, I could endure the Curse, but when Candice was involved, it would not be tolerated.

“You’re going to be okay. We have to get you back to the dome as quickly as we can. The battle is just on the hill there.” I said.

“Okay. I can’t move my legs.” For a moment I was concerned, but then I knew exactly what to do.

I picked Candice up off the sandy beach and threw her over my shoulder. It was satisfying to carry her in this way. I had carried wounded soldiers off the battlefield before, as many as three at a time, so Candice felt light as a feather.

“Let me down. You can’t carry me like this the whole way.” She said.

“Oh yeah? Just watch me.” I replied. I broke into a run.

Within minutes, we had reached the dome, and I put her down with care. Perhaps if she took a rest for a while, then the strength would return to her legs.

“Thank you.” She said. There was fear in her eyes.

“I told you I could carry you the whole way,” I said.

“Show-off.” Candice replied. She even managed a smile, and I found it heartening.

“You’re safe now. You can relax.” Perhaps I needed to relax a little as well. I was agitated the first time that Candice came to this planet, worried for her safety, but this time I felt like she might really be in danger, and the thought made my blood boil. I could see the veins in my forearms beginning to pop with the excess of blood.

“Arias! You’re back and not a moment too soon.” I heard Halifax say. He was one of the highest ranking Corin generals, and if he was here, then I knew that the fighting had to be serious.

“Halifax, you’ve come all the way from Perla,” I replied.

“Yes, Arias. Since you were last here, the Krill forces have doubled. We’re short on Corin soldiers, and the situation has become grave.” He replied.

“I see.”

“They’re so close to taking this planet that I’m not sure how much longer we should remain. It might make more sense for the Corin forces to move their base to Perla, where we know that they will be safe.”

There was no chance that I was going to let this beautiful planet be overtaken by the Krill, but it might be an opportunity to send Candice to safety.

“I’m staying. I will not give up this fight, even if I’m the last one standing. But I wanted you to take this woman to Perla.” I said, motioning to Candice.

“I’m not going.” I heard her reply.

“What was that?” I said. I didn’t care how captivated I was with this human woman, she would not disobey me right now.

“I said I’m not going. I’m staying here with you, even if that means I have to fight by your side.” She said, getting up from the bench and steadying herself.

“You’re talking nonsense,” I said with little emotion in my voice. “I will not allow you to be in danger.”

“You can’t just send me to Perla. I want to be where you are.” She said.

“We’re not on earth anymore, Candice. You’re in a grave situation that you don’t understand. I’m no longer Luke. I’m Arias, and you must do what I command in this regard.” I replied, holding her slim shoulders firmly.

“I’m not going without you.” She said, staring deeply into my eyes. This beautiful, willful woman was disobeying me. Did she not understand who I was?

“What do you say, Arias? I can send the troops off to Perla this very day. I await your command.” Halifax said. This was a highly important decision that was challenging to make with Candice’s disarming presence here. My warrior's brain was at war with my male, protective brain. The human side of me.

“We’re staying to fight this battle,” I replied to Halifax, still staring into Candice’s eyes. “But you.” I pulled her towards me. “You are not leaving this dome, and you’re going to concentrate as much as you can on how to get home. You may have to find a source of intense pain to do it.”

“I know what my source of intense pain would be. Seeing you hurt.” She said.

I had always been a soldier that welcomed death. Even invited it. I would not be hurt, because I couldn’t bear to see Candice in pain. And yet, wouldn’t that be what took her to safety?

* * *

Candice

I didn’t know where I found the courage to watch the screen in the war room, but I did. If something was going to happen to Luke, then I needed to know what was going on at all times. If he was hurt, I needed to see it, and if he won, I needed to see that, too. This need for the truth was baffling to me.

Since Luke had been back on the battlefield today, things had already turned around. He had killed so many Krill that their whole army seemed discouraged. I watched him slay each and every one. There was so much ooze being splashed around that the whole hillside was turning blue and soldiers were slipping down on it. Luke’s face was covered with it.

Each time, another Krill was killed by his light sword, and there was uproarious applause and cheers in the war room. Their morale was boosted with Arias back in their ranks, and I felt a swell of pride in my chest.

“He’s the most valiant warrior we have ever known,” Halifax explained. Perhaps too old to be fighting any longer, Halifax was a gentle creature with warm, intelligent eyes.

“Yes, I can see that,” I said with a smile.

“He must be feared on earth,” Halifax added with a nod of his head.

“No, he doesn’t fight like this on earth. He never kills anyone. But he does wrestle.” I said. I made myself laugh, but Halifax didn’t seem to get it. I supposed it was an inside joke.

“We have a problem, Halifax.” One of the commanders said.

“What is that?” He turned and asked.

“There is another wave of Krill soldiers arriving by hovercraft. They have the nano armor.” The commander said with a shaky voice.

“What?” He asked.

“Yes, it’s true. They’ve been rapidly developing the technology.” He added.

“My God. This cannot be good.” Halifax looked back up at the screen. I felt intensely nervous all of a sudden.

What is going on? Is Luke going to be okay?

“What does this mean?” I asked Halifax.

“The nano armor makes the Krill almost indestructible. It’s impervious to the light swords and the laser gunfire. We’re going to have to find another way.” He said.

“What way is that?” I asked.

“Radio-ionic technology. It is the only thing that penetrates the nano armor. It can be done, but it will take time. Our scientists are already working on it on Perla.” He said.

“Then we must go there,” I said. Whatever this radio-ionic technology was, if it was going to keep Luke safe, then we needed to have it now.

“No!” Someone in the war room cried. I looked up at the screen, and there was Luke in the middle of the battlefield, lying on the ground. He was wounded. I panicked and started running.

“Candice, you were commanded to stay here!” Halifax yelled as I fled. “It’s too dangerous out there.” His words went on deaf ears.

“Luke!” I screamed as I ran out of the dome. The battle was just nearby, and if Luke was going to die, then I was going to die as well, by his side. I ran with a speed that I didn’t even know I was capable of. My mind wasn’t even thinking clearly. I needed to hold him in my arms.

“Luke!” I screamed again. Within minutes I was in the middle of the battlefield, slipping on blue and golden slime and trying to see through a haze of smoke. I dodged laser bullets and covered my ears with each new explosion. I couldn’t believe that I was doing this, but there was nothing left that was rational in my brain.

Finally, I saw him, still lying there in a heap.

My God, is he dead?

I saw my life flash before me, and I saw the life that we had never lived together.

“I’m here. I’m here.” I said, laying my body on top of his.

“Candice?” Luke said inaudibly, opening his eyes. There was blood dripping from his forehead and from his side. It appeared as though he was struck by a Krill bullet.

“It’s me,” I said, stroking his hair. Recognition came over his face and his eyes opened wide.

Chapter Fifteen

Luke

What was she doing here? Instantly all of my energy returned. How could she disobey me like this and put herself in danger? I could barely feel my wound in my side. The only objective was to get her out of here.

“You must go,” I said.

“I thought you were dead.” She said, tears falling from her eyes.

“I’m perfectly fine,” I said, feeling the wound on my side with my hand. Just a flesh wound. I got up off the ground. “Stay down,” I said as I examine the battlefield. It was so clouded that I could barely see a thing.

“Luke!” I heard her scream and turned back to where she was on the ground. I couldn’t find her. I couldn’t see her.

“Are you looking for this?” That deep, haunting, familiar voice said. It was Grim. The smoke cleared, and he stood there, drooling and panting, with one hand on Candice.

He did not realize what a grave mistake he had just made.

“Luke!” Candice said again. I could tell that she was frightened and I was fully prepared to take Grim to the seventh layer of hell at this moment, with whatever tool might be lying around. A spoon would do.

And then I saw a tear in her eye. She was in pain. And instantly, without any defense, I was flooded with pain as well.

And so it came as no surprise to me when, slowly, silently, I felt myself fading. I looked down at my hands, and there were the telltale signs.

The anguish of seeing this exquisite earth woman being held at the wrist by none other than Grim himself sent me spiralling back through the Gate, where I could no longer protect her.

* * *

Candice

“Did you think that he was going to save you?” Grim growled. His voice was so deep that I could feel it reverberating through my spine. “Too bad about his little curse. It must be so hard for you, sensitive human female.” The heat from his mouth felt like he was spitting acid and fire.

I closed my eyes because his breath made them water. He was circling around me now, looking me up and down. His henchmen stood at close attention.

“You’re a beast,” I said. It wasn’t the most interesting insult, but it was really the only thing to call him. He smiled with delight.

“I’m no beast. I’m a Krill. There’s a great difference.” Grim replied.

Despite his disgusting appearance, Grim really did speak with distinction and poise. I quickly realized that the appearance of the Krill aliens was deceiving.

“Did you ever think that one day a semi-human would threaten to destroy your people?” I asked bitterly. I was not going to let the general intimidate me so easily.

“That was something that I did not expect, and even today I find it unlikely. Despite his rough exterior, he’s a poor, sensitive soul.” Grim said with a mocking frown. “He can get his feelings hurt.”

I wanted to punch this big alien right into the next galaxy.

How dare he mock Luke like this?

“Apparently, having feelings didn’t prevent him from slaying about thirty of your soldiers on the battlefield today,” I said.

My hands were behind my back at this point, being held there by one of his soldiers. He had got a tight grip on me, and I was beginning to lose circulation.

“At least they weren’t my good soldiers. They’re the ones that I send to slaughter on purpose. They don’t have the nano armor.” He sais, and right on cue, he dissolved his own nano armor into his skin so that I could get a visual of what he was talking about.

The technology was pretty extraordinary, I had to admit. Just like that, he could make his armor appear and disappear, and from what I understood, it was nearly indestructible.

The Krill aliens were intimidating enough. Also, I could see that Grim, without his armor, was a formidable creature, indeed. He was cut in the same way that a human soldier might be, with an 8-pack of abs and perfectly chiseled shoulders. In fact, I saw that the Krill aliens had more physically in common with humans than I originally thought. His skin was soft and vulnerable, just like human skin, and it was so transparent that I could practically see inside his blue exterior.

“Are you surprised by what you see?” Grim asked, with his back, turned towards me. How could he tell that I was staring? Maybe Krill had eyes in the back of their heads.

“You look….more human than I thought that you would,” I said.

“Or maybe, you look more alien than you thought that you did.” He replied, turning back towards me.

“How clever,” I replied.

“Bring her back to my ship.” He ordered one of his men. “And get her washed and changed.”

They had to haul me with great force to the general’s ship because I was putting up a fight. Just because they were enormous, it didn’t mean that I had to be afraid, although I had to admit that deep inside I was terrified. I wished that Luke were here. Moreover, I wished that Arias the Angry was here.

The interior of the general’s ship was remarkable. It seemed like everything was lit from within, and the floor was cool and shiny to the touch. Luke gave me the impression that the Krill were a bit primitive, unsophisticated. Could all this technology and equipment perhaps be new? Were they advancing rapidly as a population?

I was taken to a large room that was dark and cold. There was a furniture here, but all of it was enormous, and I would need an alien to boost me up onto one of the seats.

“What liquid do you humans require?” Grim asked, entering the room and wearing a long, black robe. The darkness of it added to the villainous mystique of the towering General.

“We drink water,” I said, rubbing my sore wrists.

“Ah, yes. That’s right. I believe we have some of that somewhere.”

“Don’t bother,” I replied. God knows where it came from.

“I heard that you human females were difficult, but I had no idea,” Grim said, seating himself in one of his large chairs.

“What do you want?” I asked.

“Well, I would first like to know what you want.” He said, folding his claws in front of him - all six of them.

“I don’t want anything from you. I just want to go home.” I said. It was the truth. There wasn’t anything I could possibly want from this creature.

“Well, I’m the gatekeeper, and that means that you want something from me.” He said. Grim had a point. It seemed as though he was capable of sending me back to earth, and there was nothing that I wanted more.

“Okay, yes. I want to go home.” I admitted. For a moment I was flooded with hope.

“And I want to send you home, but that brings me to what I want from you.” He said. His eyes turned red and intense as he stared at me. Oh God, what does he want from me?

“And what’s that?” I asked, my voice trembling.

“Seeing the power and prowess of Arias, my attention is brought to the fact that he is part Corin and part human. There’s something about that combination that makes him a great warrior.” He said, gazing up at the ceiling and pondering.

“Or he’s just a talented warrior, thanks to dedication and skill,” I said.

“I seriously doubt that. No, there’s something about the mixture of his blood that gives him his power, and well…..I’m just wondering if a human-Krill hybrid might be the same - or better.” He leaned back in his chair.

Oh, God. I sensed where he was going with this.

“So, what are you trying to say?” I asked.

A smile came to his lips.

“Well, I want you to help me to test my little theory out.” Grim replied.

Immediately, I froze with fear. If he was implying what I thought he was implying, then I was in serious trouble. Not only was the appearance of him terrifying enough, but I desired to be in the arms of no other creature - let alone alien - aside from Luke’s.

“Not a chance,” I said.

“Oh? Well, then you can remain here, I suppose.” Grim said.

“Luke will come for me,” I said, bolstering my courage.

“Do you think so? Don’t you realize that the only feeling that brings him back here is pleasure? What sort of pleasure do you think he’s feeling right about now?” Grim asked.

He had a very valid point, and I was filled with doubt.

What am I going to do now?

“You’re telling me that if I….” I had trouble saying the word.

“Mate.” Grim offered.

Oh God.

“If I mate with you, then you’ll send me home?”

“Who knows, you may want to stay,” Grim said, getting up from his chair and walking towards me.

“I’m not going to consent to be a prisoner on this planet, waiting to have your child,” I said. My heart was pounding now.

“Well, you won’t have to stick around for long.” He said, putting one claw below my chin. “Krill babies are born within a couple of days.”

I jerked my chin away from his claw, and he laughed.

“If it all works out, I’ll have much to celebrate, indeed. I could even make you my Queen. The Corin can’t hold out much longer, and I’ll have control of the Orion galaxy soon. Then, I plan on paying a visit to your galaxy.” He was now walking around the room with his claws behind his back and spine erect. He moved with such statuesque grace that it almost seemed like he was floating.

“You’re going to earth?” I said, disbelief in my voice. I held back my tears. Images of the battle ravaging my beautiful planet filled me with despair.

“Once I’m done with this galaxy. It’s such a measly little planet, I hear. Might as well add it to my collection.” Grim said.

“Maybe your King won’t like that very much: the General taking over the alien empire,” I said this knowing nothing about the alien hierarchy or government, but it was all that I could think of. It made Grim laugh again, and I instantly felt embarrassed.

“The Krill have no King, ignorant human. We’re ruled by the military. I reign supreme.” Grim said.

Of course, the aliens were ruled by their military. Creatures who had no feelings whatsoever couldn’t be expected to believe in the tenants of democracy.

“Well then, I guess you're the most powerful creature in the universe,” I said, and I couldn’t help but feel a little in awe. How could this omni-powerful creature possibly want to mate with me? It seemed utterly ridiculous.

“That’s the smartest thing you’ve said since you arrived,” Grim said. An attendant entered the room, and Grim looked annoyed, as though we had been interrupted.

“The evening meal is ready.” The timid creature said.

“Get her washed. I told you that earlier.” Grim said through his teeth.

“Yes, sir.” The attendant replied and led me into an atrium room that appeared to be a giant shower. The Krill apparently had no modesty, because I was stripped of my clothes and stood there naked in front of several attendants. They eyed my body with fascination. I wished I could run and hide.

Once the shower was turned on, the liquid began raining from the heavens, but it was not water. The fluid was warm and smelled fresh. It was actually quite invigorating, and I felt refreshed. I saw that Grimm watched me bathe.

The next thing I knew, I was being led into another room that turned out to be one big dryer. Warm air blew all around my body and within moments, I was completely dry.

I was given a robe, and it was impossibly too long, but rich in quality. I wrapped it around me and then picked up the end of it so that I was able to walk.

“This way.” The attendant commanded. He looked at me with curious eyes and walked ahead. I followed him and had no idea what situation I was about to find myself in.

He opened two double doors, and inside was a plush room that seemed to be upholstered for the tastes of royalty. Who knew that the Krill had living quarters like the Ritz? But then again, the General was the most powerful despot in the galaxy.

“Are you pleased?” I heard his voice say. Grim was sitting on a large chair, resembling a throne, in the corner of the room. His six arms were resting in front of him. His chair and robe, as well as most of the ornate interior, were all in black.

“It’s not what I thought it would be,” I said, and instantly realized that I had been brought into Grim’s personal chamber. This was not the position that I wanted to find myself in.

“I may appear strange to you, but I do assure you, the Krill are surprisingly gentle during mating,” Grim said with a serious look on his face. He got up and moved towards me.

“Well, I promise you that I’m never going to find out,” I said. My heart was pounding out of my chest now, and I was backing away from him, wondering what I was going to do to get out of this.

“And what makes you say that?” He asked, visibly angry.

When he pressed his body close to mine, I decided that my only recourse was to use a move that Luke taught me - in the wrestling ring. With my angry fist, I knocked him hard right in the groin and then brought my foot down on top of his foot.

“Ow!” I yelled and massaged my wounded hand.

My fingers were throbbing, and Grim just stood there with an amused look on his face.

The attempt was a failure, but I thought Luke still would have been proud.

Chapter Sixteen

Luke

I was wandering the streets putting all my powers of thought towards what I was going to do. The image of Grim holding Candice’s wrist on the battlefield, the reality that I did not know what his intentions were with her - all of it was filling me with such dreadful pain that my need to return to Hecate was going to be quite a challenge. And how was Candice going to get back to earth?

I was in the middle of the desert. I had no food or water. I was absolutely blind with pain. This wouldn’t do.

I tried to conjure pleasure in my mind, any kind of pleasure. I thought of her lovely face, but that just made me think about what danger she was in and how I might never see her again. I thought about mundane things like my favorite foods, things I liked to do, the thrill of battle. Ridiculous. All of it just brought my mind back to the current situation, which was a sheer pain. And not just pain, but a level of red-blooded anger that I had never even thought possible.

I was now a soldier on the battlefield of my own mind - and emotions.

It occurred to me that being out in the middle of the desert, hyperventilating and dehydrated, was not the best place to find the pleasure that I needed to be propelled through the Gate. I had to change my environment.

I could go to her home, but I automatically foresaw that this would cause pain.

I had to move. I got up and found the closest highway. It was empty and desolate, but finally, a truck was coming down the road, and I put up my thumb to hitch a ride. I had hitchhiked before but often had little success. I was not the most harmless looking human. On this day, the universe was on my side.

The fat, burly driver recognized a tortured soul when he saw one, and pulled over to give me a ride.

“Where you off to, man?” He asked. He was the stereotypical truck driver and had a bit of a drawl in his voice. He lighted a cigarette and offered me one. I gladly accepted.

“What’s the nearest town?” I asked, taking a long, slow drag.

“Arbor Ville.” He replied.

“How far is Sun Valley?” I asked. An idea came to me.

“I beg your pardon?” He said with a laugh.

“How far is Sun Valley,” I asked again. Did he not hear me?

“Oh son, you must have been out in the desert for a long time.” The guy was really chuckling now.

“Why is that?” I asked.

“You’re only a mile away. Where did you think you were?” He asked with a laugh. I had to admit that I had no clue. But if I was sent back to Sun Valley, then I had to be close to whatever I needed to get back through the Gate.

“Just lost somewhere,” I replied. I was feeling hopeful now.

“I’m just on my way to that crazy Carnival that’s in Arbor Ville. You want to come with?” The driver asked.

I turned to him and said nothing. The Carnival of Cursed Souls was in that town, and this truck driver was sent to take me back to it. He was a diversion, to keep me from making it back through the Gate. It was not going to work.

“No, thank you. Drop me off in Sun Valley. There’s a diner there.” I said.

“As you say, sir.” The truck driver gave me a formal salute, and I wondered if this human creature might know more than met the eye.

* * *

Candice

If Luke didn’t find a way to get back here soon, I was going to be in some serious trouble. After nearly breaking my hand, Grim decided to let me off the hook for the night. It was a relief, but I would only be safe for so long.

“We’ll pick up where we left off tomorrow.” He said, annoyed that my hand was in so much pain and that it wasn’t going to be the proper night for ‘mating.' After all, he informed me that the only way to get pregnant by a Krill alien was for the female to experience intense climax. Without it, there would be no impregnation. Grim said that since I was injured, it decreased the chances. I found the situation so completely ridiculous that I didn’t know how to respond.

At night, when I laid in bed, I indulged in my intense pain in hope that it would send me back to earth. I tried everything. I thought of Luke wounded, captured, even dead, and it had no effect. Why was that? Maybe the same rules didn’t apply to me.

I couldn’t be a part of this anymore.

The pain that I needed to get home was the pain that came from giving up on this journey entirely, and meaning it. Surrendering my cosmic love.

I can already begin to feel it working. I’m fading slightly, but not enough.

He had to come here. He had to be in front of me, and I needed to tell him I was not strong enough. That was the level of pain I needed.

I resolve myself. This was the only way that I could return home for good. I would have my life back, and perhaps, just perhaps, it would keep Luke safe as well.

Chapter Seventeen

Luke

“Iris,” I said as I burst into the diner.

“Luke?” She said with a baffled expression on her face. It seemed like the diner was near closing time because she was wiping off the empty tables and straightening the chairs. “You came back?” She said.

“Yes, for Candice.” I didn’t know why Iris was going to be the key to this, but I felt certainty in my chest. She was going to assist me through the Gate.

“She’s not here. Didn’t come into work today. I’m worried, I’ve been calling—“ Iris looked panicked.

“Listen to me, Iris,” I said placing my hands on her shoulders to calm her. “Candice is going to be alright, but I’m going to need your help with something.”

A confused expression crossed her face.

“Okay?”

“I’m trying to solve a kind of - riddle,” I said, sitting down and speaking slowly so that she should take it all in. I motioned for Iris to join me in sitting on the opposite side of the booth.

“What riddle?” She asked.

“Candice is a woman that I’m drawn to. I have strong feelings for her.” I explained. “But there’s something about her - something that I don’t know. I sense that you can share this with me.” I said. This thing that I didn’t know was what was going to give me pleasure. Some secret about her. Something unseen.

I could tell that Iris found all of this quite strange, but she was willing to go with me on it. Dares I say, there was a romantic aspect to what I was asking for, and Iris was compelled by it. I folded my hands on the table in front of me.

“Well, you’re smart. She’s a great girl.” Iris said.

“I know,” I said. It brought a smile to my face.

Iris joins me by leaning in and folding her hands in front of her on the table. There, I saw the answer.

On Iris’ left hand was an engagement ring, sparkling in the soft light of dusk. Something stirred within me.

Two people coming together as one.

For a moment, I imagined that Candice was home right now, waiting for me. We would watch a movie, talk and laugh, perhaps we would make love and I would hold her close. I imagined a world where there was no Curse, no war, no Gate, just her. I was beginning to feel intense pleasure.

“Is there a jeweler around town?” I asked.

“If you want to buy me a ring, I’m taken already.” She said with a giggle, holding up her hand. Turned out Iris was quite funny.

“It’s for Candice,” I said.

“Oh. My. God.” She replied, and jumped up from the booth to grab her car keys.

Having the ring in my hand, ready to make Candice my wife, it was going to give me enough pleasure to send me through the Gate. It had got to be a reality. I needed to feel it in my hand so that the moment I got back on Hecate I could ask for her hand. I would tell Grim that I was done with the war. If the Curse was lifted and I was a free man, then I would hang up my armor forever.

“This is my cousin Mickey’s shop. It’s only open for another 20 minutes or so. He’s got a few nice pieces.” Iris said enthusiastically. “It’s not the best, but it will work in a pinch.”

“Thank you, Iris,” I said, stepping out of her truck. It was all falling into place.

“Can I help you?” Mickey asked. He was a burly, Italian-looking man with gold chains around his neck.

“I need a ring. A wedding ring.” I said. I thought that holding it would be enough to send me through the Gate.

“We got a few pieces over here.” Mickey opened a case and took out a board that had about 10 rings on it. They all shimmered under the light.

“You know how much you want to spend?” He asked.

“It doesn’t matter,” I said, inspecting the rings. There was one ring in particular that stood out from the rest. Tiny diamonds were strung in the shape of a knot.

“Oh, that’s the best one.” He said.

“What’s this symbol?” I asked.

“That, I believe, is a Celtic knot. It symbolizes ‘being as one',” Mickey said.

“Being as one,” I said aloud, holding the ring up to the light.

The ring, and my hand, gently faded before me. Within moments, I was gone.

Being as one.

* * *

Candice

“You cannot resist me anymore.” Grim growled. His blue, venomous spit hit me in the face. He had been more forceful all day, but finally tonight, he would wait no longer.

“Please, please don’t do this!” I begged. I was so terrified I felt like my heart was pounding out of my chest.

“It’s time to submit to your fate.” He said. Grim was looming over me now, and I was pretty sure that that was it. I had no defences.

“It’s funny you should mention fate.” I heard a voice from behind Grim say.

“Ah!” Grim screamed, his six arms clutching his back. He had been stabbed, and his blue ooze was pouring all over the room. He rolled off of me to reveal, standing there strong and triumphant, Arias the Angry.

“Did you miss me?” Luke asked, picking me up off the bed with one arm.

“Your timing is impeccable,” I said.

Grim was writhing on the ground for a few moments until he managed to pull himself to his feet.

Luke stood in front of me and held up his light sword, pointing it towards Grim.

“Would you like me to run you through again, or have you had enough?” He asked. Luke was fearless, and my heart soared to have him here again. And then I remembered the resolution that I had already made.

To end this chaos.

“You always impress me, Arias,” Grim said, holding his wound. There was no more blue ooze pouring out, but you should tell that he was in a lot of pain. I guessed aliens felt things, after all.

“Let the two of us leave here, and I won’t harm you again,” Luke said with determination.

“I don’t believe that. You love the fight too much, Arias.” Grim replied.

“I’m done with the fight,” Luke said, and turned to look at me, his sword still aloft. He took my hand in his.

“If you let us go, open the Gate so we can get back to earth, then I will not come back here to fight again. But the Curse must be lifted.” Luke said.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. This wasn’t like Luke at all. If he were no longer the warrior Arias, he would be stripped of his identity.

“Luke, please don’t,” I said, trying to stop him from doing something that he would regret.

“No, I’ve decided once and for all what is important to me.” He said. Luke grasped my hand more tightly.

“Luke, there’s something I have to tell you,” I said.

“You’re telling me that if I lift your curse and send you back to earth, you’ll give up the battle? You’ll give me control of Orion?” Grim said with a little smile on his face.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Luke said without even giving it another thought.

“That’s very intriguing,” Grim said.

“Luke, don’t do it. You have to keep fighting. He wants to take over other galaxies, Luke. He wants to take over Earth. He told me.” I said, pleading with him.

“What?” Luke said.

“You’d end up having to face him again, no matter what.”

“Why don’t you tell your stupid little human whore to hold her tongue!” Grim growled.

I saw instantly that every muscle in Luke’s body tensed. He gently released my hand.

“Cover your eyes,” Luke said to me.

He stabbed Grim again, and again, and once more until there was so much blue ooze spouting from him that he was like a fountain. Grim screamed, and collapsed onto the floor. Finally, he scurried from the room, running for his life.

“Is this it? Have you won?” I asked with a hushed voice. Had he single-handedly ended all of it?

“No. I’m afraid not. Grim will recover. He always does.” Luke said, looking down at the blue puddle of entrails on the floor. “He’s not like the other Krill.”

“You have to keep fighting. It’s what needs to be done.” I said. “The things that he told me—“

“No, Candice. I meant what I said. I don’t want to fight anymore.” He stepped towards me, resolved. His powerful chest was still heaving from the stabbing. “This war could go on forever. But you and I don’t have that much time.”

I backed away from him. There were no words for what I needed to tell to him.

“What is the matter?” He said.

“Luke, I—“ Nothing came.

“You’re backing away from me. What’s wrong?”

“I—“ I put my hands up into the air, claiming defeat.

“Talk to me. I demand it.” Luke said, throwing down his sword.

Then, as if in a dream, I saw him reach into his pocket and pull out a small, glittering object. Even in the faint light, it glowed as if it were embedded with thousands of holographic prisms.

It was a ring.

“Be mine. Forever. I believe that it is our fate.” Luke said, staring at me intently. He did not take a knee. “It would bring me happiness.”

I did not take the ring that he was offering.

“This is never going to end, Luke. I see that now. Not only is Orion in danger, but every galaxy is in danger. Giving up your identity and moving to earth is no way to escape it, and…..” I felt as though I couldn’t breathe. “I can’t marry you. It’s the wrong thing for us both.”

Luke did not speak but continued to stare me down, waiting for a different answer, one that he would approve of.

“I’m sorry, Luke. I need my life back, and you need yours.” I said, and tears started to fall from my eyes. My heart was absolutely breaking. This was the man I loved the most in the whole universe. He was a warrior, and he was giving it all up for me. I simply believed that it was the wrong choice.

“You have suffered a great deal. You don’t know what you’re saying. I want to make it better.” His eyes were turning red.

“I need to make this decision for us.”

“Come closer.” He said, stepping towards me.

I backed away again. Physical proximity would make this much more difficult.

“We must be together. You understand this.” He said.

At this moment, I knew what I had to do. To get myself back to earth safely, I had to create that pain. It was the pain I was beginning to feel in the night, but it wasn’t strong enough to send me home. Would it cause Luke to come back with me? Would he be able to remain on Hecate? There was no telling what the result of my choice would be.

I too a deep breath for courage.

“I can’t marry you.”

As the words left my lips, the tears started to pour from my eyes uncontrollably. It was a lie in my heart. I had told Luke a lie so that we could break free.

As we stared at one another, I saw his anger and rage dissolve before my very eyes— as well as his body.

We were both dissolving, at the same time. Back through the Gate. Back to Earth.

My home. His prison...

Book 3

Chapter Eighteen

Candice

Three weeks, 4 days, 14 hours, and 5 minutes. That’s how long it had been since I had seen Luke. When I was pulled through the Gate and landed back on earth, I found myself in my living room again. When I returned to the dinner, I told Iris and Winston that I found myself in the hospital with a bad fever for a few days, but I was better now. They seemed to believe my story.

Luckily, I wouldn’t have to tell them those kinds of lies anymore, because I would never find myself on Hecate again.

Luke was back with the Carnival, I imagined. I heard they had made it all the way to New Mexico, but I didn’t inquire more. I imagined that seeing him would just be too difficult to bear. I couldn’t get the image out of my mind of Luke holding that ring, standing before me, asking me to be his wife. In the weeks that followed I had a lot of time to think about how, in truth, there was nothing that I wanted more.

But I was just too afraid, and still , of the bizarre, dangerous, and heartbreaking life that would bring to us both.

Was I a coward?

“Wake up, you’re daydreaming again,” Iris said, snapping me back into reality.

“Sorry,” I reply, realizing that I had been wiping the same bottle of ketchup for maybe 15 minutes, just thinking.

“Table 2 needs to order.” She said, looking at me with concern.

“Right. I got it.” I said, and made my way over to the corner booth. “Good morning, can I take your order?” I asked the young couple.

And then it happened, the thing that had been happening to me since coming back to work. It was like people talked to me and I couldn’t hear what they were saying. I couldn’t concentrate. I realized that the couple gave me their order, and I had just zoned out.

“I’m sorry, could you repeat that again?” I asked. They looked at me with annoyance, but finally, I managed to write down two orders of Western omelets with whole wheat toast and a pancake on the side. Thank God for my notepad. Otherwise, I’d be useless.

“Those meds they gave you in the hospital have done something funny with your head,” Winston said, wiping grease from his hands on his apron.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“You just wrote down two Webster omelets.” He said, holding up the paper.

“Oh! I’m sorry. Western omelets.” I said, blushing a little.

“I figured,” Winston said with a deadpan look.

“I think they’re really hungry, so if you can, make it fast,” I said.

“I’m not an omelet machine.” Winston huffed. I found his salty nature to be quite comforting, especially in times like this when I felt like my world made absolutely no sense.

After my parents had died and I moved to Sun Valley, getting the job at the diner was a godsend, and Winston became a kind of father figure. Now that I had lost Luke, and my heart was lost in the balance, he was here yet again, making me feel a little bit more like my feet were planted on the earth.

“Candice, there’s someone who wants to see you at the counter,” Iris said, popping her head into the kitchen.

“Who?” I asked. My heart bagan to pound. My rational mind knows that it wasn’t Luke. Why would Luke be at the diner looking for me? And yet, that was the very thing that every cell in my body was hoping and wishing for. To just see his face. To have him in front of me.

Of course, it’s not Luke.

“Christian,” Iris said with a giggle.

Now, Iris has been talking nonstop about Craig and Christian at the dinner. And of course, she kept implying that I needed to go on a date with Christian.

“You need to get over this Luke guy and give Christian a try.” She said to me days ago when we were cutting potatoes. “I know he only met you once, but he really likes you.”

Iris inevitably told me about the whole thing with Luke buying the ring from the pawn shop, but I told her that he had never proposed, that I never saw him again. This left Iris with the impression that Luke bought the ring and chickened out, leaving town to follow the Carnival. This also left Iris with the assumption that Luke was the biggest jerk that ever walked the planet. I didn’t have the heart to tell her the truth, that he was the greatest man in the galaxy. If I told her that, she’d try to convince me to find him.

I was beginning to feel like the one that had the real Curse.

“Iris, I don’t think I’m ready to go on a date,” I said to her. “I’m not interested in seeing anyone.” It was the truth. I couldn’t imagine it.

“How are you ever going to move on with your life if you don’t open yourself up and put yourself out there? It’s called letting go.”

Letting go. Could I ever possibly let go of Luke and what we shared? Was it even possible to tear it from my heart? Even a Krill alien with its six-clawed hands wouldn’t have been able to rip it out.

But Iris was right about one thing - I needed to put one foot in front of the other, without knowing what the future held. Maybe I needed to get out of my comfort zone and perhaps take my mind off of things with the company of others. I would think of it as a positive distraction.

“Okay, I’ll go talk to him,” I said begrudgingly. I walked out of the kitchen and towards the counter with caution. Would I be giving Christian the wrong idea? At the same time, I was at my job, and he was a customer, so I had to talk to him. How could that be giving the wrong impression?

“Good morning, Christian,” I said with a polite smile, pouring hot coffee on him.

“Good morning, Candice. You look nice today.” He said. I had to admit that seeing a man in slacks and a nice buttoned-up shirt was appealing.

“Thanks. Is there something that I can get you?” I asked, pulling out my pencil and paper.

“Well, it’s going to be a long day so I could use a breakfast skillet.” He said, looking up at me. I found myself trying not to make too much eye contact.

“Sure thing. White, wheat, or rye toast?” I asked, feeling him still gazing up at me.

“Wheat.” He said, handing his menu to me. “I heard you were sick. Why didn’t you come to my office?” He asked.

“Oh, it was the middle of the night, so I had to drive to the next town over,” I explained, trying to keep my colossal lie alive.

“You could have woken me up.” He added.

“Oh, there was no reason for that. I’m all better now!” I said, hoping we should change the subject soon.

“Well, you look great.” Then he laughed. “Sorry, I guess I already said that.”

Even though I was not interested in Christian, there was something really charming about him, I had to admit. He was very kind and seemed genuinely concerned about me, which did feel good.

“That’s very sweet, thank you,” I replied.

“Can I ask you something?” He said, leaning into the counter.

“Sure, what?”

“This sounds stupid, but can I walk you home tonight?” He asked, looking into my eyes.

“Um…”

“It’s not a date or anything. I know you’re still trying to get over that other guy. The carnie.” He said. Damn it. Iris had told him everything. “I just think you’re such a sweet woman. All I do is work all day and go home. I still don’t know that many people here in town. It would be nice to just enjoy a little conversation in the fresh air. And besides, it’s dark so early now that it’s not completely safe for you to be walking home alone every night.” He added.

Ok, so it wouldn’t be a date. Just a little conversation. I could justify that to myself. It would mean one less night where I walked home in silence, gazed up at the stars and thought about Luke. Or looked off onto the horizon and thought about where he was, how many miles away, and what he was doing. Whether or not he might be thinking about me…….

“Okay, that sounds nice,” I replied. We smiled at one another. “I’m going to go place this order,” I said hoping to break the little bit of tension.

“I appreciate it.” He replied.

“You forgot about the damn Western omelets,” Winston said as he passed me on my way to the kitchen. Apparently, he was taking them to the young couple himself because I had proved to be incompetent.

“How did it go?” Iris asked with anticipation in the kitchen.

“Fine. He’s a nice guy. And he wants a breakfast skillet.” I said, wearing my best poker face and placing the order on the carousel.

Winston entered huffing and puffing.

“I’ll make a breakfast skillet only if you plan on taking it out before it is cold as death.” He said, wiping his brow.

“I’m sorry about that, Winston.”

“She was talking with Christian!” Iris said excitedly.

Winston looked pleased.

“That’s a good man. Nice head on his shoulders. I was in his office last week.” Winston said, flipping some bacon.

“They’re going on a date,” Iris said.

“No, we’re not. He’s just walking me home tonight.” I said as I placed the whole wheat toast in the toaster oven.

“That’s good,” Winston said. “There’s been some crime since the Carnival moved-on. It must have attracted some shady figures, and they’ve set up camp in Sun Valley. I knew that Carnival was from the devil.”

My blood went cold. Even the word ‘Carnival’ made my heart pound with longing and regret.

“I’m perfectly safe walking home alone,” I said. “I think he just wanted some company.”

“Well, everyone gets back to work. Someone’s gotta run this dinner, and we’re all in here gossiping.” Winston said, clapping his hands together.

I started to make my way to the door.

“And Candice?” Winston added. I turned around towards him.

“Yes?” I asked.

“Give that doctor a chance. I’m serious.” He said with fatherly command.

I didn’t reply but rolled my eyes and took the exit.

Great. Now I’m getting pressure from Winston as well. This is a disaster.

Christian’s skillet eventually went out, and I could still feel him watching me. We decided to meet outside on Main Street at 6 pm.

When I stepped out of the diner that night and locked the door, I shook a little. It was colder than it has been, and I wrapped my arms around myself. Christian was already standing on the street, leaning against a pole and holding his doctor’s coat in his hands.

“You’re cold.” He said, walking towards me. “Put this on.”

“Oh, no. I couldn’t.” I said. There was something funny about wearing a doctor’s coat in the middle of the street.

“Come on. It will keep you warm.” He said.

“Okay,” I said. I couldn’t turn him down because I really was seriously cold.

“Did your breakfast skillet get you through the day?” I asked as we began our slow walk towards my house.

“I can still feel it.” He said with a laugh, patting his stomach. I couldn’t imagine where that skillet went because Christian really didn’t have a belly whatsoever. He wasa very trim guy. “Can I buy you dinner?” He asked.

Damn. This was supposed to be a little walk, and now he was already trying to make it a date.

“Oh, I have something at home in the fridge that I was planning on having.” I made this excuse knowing full well there was nothing in my fridge.

“A drink, then?” He asked. Christian was very persistent, and motioned to the Main Street Dive that was just to our left. I had only been in that little bar once, and it was the night that Pearl, the bartender, had a premonition that I’d go home, and Luke would be there. And he was.

“Okay, just one,” I said. Maybe Pearl would have some new kind of advice for me. I could sure use it.

“This place is classic,” Christian said as we stood out front of the neon signs in the window.

“Yes, I always walk by…….” I lost the ability to talk. I just stared.

“Are you alright?” Christian said, seeing the change.

I couldn’t reply. I just read over and over again the sign that I saw posted in the window.

The Carnival of Cursed Souls, returning to Sun Valley for a second engagement. Come one, come all!

* * *

Luke

“Take it easy, Luke. You’re nearly killing those poor guys today.” Merv said after I took down yet another defenseless man.

“My sincerest apologies,” I reply flatly, lifting my brow. In truth, I was not sorry. The last man wanted to make a show of it for his girlfriend who was in the audience, and I gave him a show, alright. What was happening was that I used to have a better sense of my own strength. Before, I was always sure to only use about 25% of it so that no one would get hurt, but lately, my mind had been elsewhere, and my focus had been poor.

My wandering mind made me a bit uncensored in the wrestling ring, and unfortunately, this was not good for the safety of those who had decided to challenge me.

There were two thoughts that occupied my brain most days:

What is the current state of the battle on Hecate?

Is she safe?

Regarding the first question, I needed to find a way to return to the battle to know where we stood. When I last left the planet, Grim was losing large quantities of blood from the blows of my sword, but I had no doubt that he lived on, and perhaps was engaging in battle with even more force. His troops were now equipped with nano armor, and it was my hope that when I returned - and I had full confidence that I would find a way - the Corin would have fully developed the ionic radio technology so that we could still defeat the Krill aliens - nano armor or no nano armor.

In regards to the second question, this was the one that was more pressing. If I knew that she was safe on Earth, then I would at least be partly satisfied. But the problem went much deeper than that. She needed to be with me.

I had not returned to Sun Valley yet because when I was pulled through the Gate, I landed back at the Carnival. I knew, when I asked Candice to be mine, that she was in pain, and I couldn’t bear to see it. I feared that I had caused this pain and that my Curse had finally begun to affect her life in a way that I could not possibly stand any longer.

But I still had to have her near me. It was my fate and hers.

“The humans are not like us.” Leona had advised me one evening shortly after my return. My contortionist friend sufferered from her own intergalactic Curse, as we all did, but hers was similar to mine.

“Thanks for the tip,” I replied. Tell me something I didn’t know.

“If you love that girl, you need to let her go.” She had said, taking a sip from her flask and smoking a cigarette.

“I’m here, aren’t I? She’s back in Sun Valley.” I said, trying to get her off my back.

“But she’s in here.” She put the finger on my forehead. “And she’s here.” And then the hand over my heart. “As long as she is in there, you’re never going to set her free.”

I considered Leona’s words for many days. Did it make me a tyrant that I refused to let her go? I made no apologies for my behavior - my thoughts and my desires. I could no sooner let Candice go than I could give up my need for air.

“You need to watch yourself, Luke,” Merv said, chomping on his cigar. “You’re losing control of yourself. I actually think that guy needs to go to a hospital.”

“It’s a minor injury to the left shoulder. He will recover.”

“I think you dislocated it,” Merv said.

“It was unintentional.”

“Well, these folks in New Mexico might tolerate it. They like a little blood. But just watch yourself when we tour back through Arizona. Those desert folks don’t need to see any more desolation. They need to smile.”

I stopped and stared at Merv, not giving away what I was thinking with any expression on my face.

“Did you say Arizona?” I asked.

“That’s what I said. We made a lot of money there. Arias the Angry rakes it in in the desert, so just try to stick around here for a while, if you can. This side of the Gate.” He added.

What Merv didn’t realize was that just uttering the word ‘Arizona’ threatened my existence on this planet, because I could feel the delight filling my veins. I saw her face, and I remembered the small things that we enjoyed together.

It was strange, how she changed me. Before, it was only the taste of blood and the excitement of the battlefield that brought a smile to my face. But now, thoughts of her small, delicate frame, the way I took her hand in mine, and how she smiled - these are the things that filled me with nearly as much pleasure.

“Don’t you worry, Merv. I’ll be sticking around for that.” I look to the left and saw Leona, who had been listening in on this exchange. There was disapproval on her face because she knew why Arizona was not a desert to me, but an oasis.

Now we had a problem. The pleasure was escalating. If Candice did not want to be a part of my Curse, then I would spare her that, but if I was in the same vicinity as her, and could be assured that she was safe and cared for, then one of my greatest needs would be fulfilled. In fact, it was the only need that I felt on Earth.

I am fading.

Blood is pumping through my veins, and my skin is disappearing. I’m going through the Gate.

“Arias! Did you have a pleasant trip?” Septimus asked, seated at the round table in the war room.

“Very funny,” I said, sparing no time but nodding my head at a soldier to retrieve my armor.

“We’re glad you’re back. With all those wounds that you gave Grim the last time that you were here, you’ve become one of the most famous warriors in the history of this galaxy.” Septimus said with pride.

“It’s wasn't too difficult,” I said, taking a seat at the full table and pushing my hair out of my eyes. “What’s the status of the ionic radio technology?” I asked, immediately getting down to business.

“We’re almost there. Any day now.” Halifax said with enthusiasm.

“That’s fantastic news,” I replied. My chest swelled with pride when I thought that we were going to be able to beat the Krill at their own game.

“But we have bad news,” Septimus added.

“And what is that?” I asked, already annoyed.

“The Krill have joined forces with the Argyles.” He said.

The room went silent. The Argyles were short, stumpy aliens that looked as though they were made of wood. They used to be quite a dominant alien race, but when the Krill came to power, they moved back to the forests of their planet, Frick. Although all this time the Corin thought that the Argyles had changed into a peaceful people, in reality, they were hiding out in the forest and developing new weapons.

“Grim bargained with them. He knew that they were creating laser firearms that were like nothing ever seen in the galaxy.” Halifax said.

“I don’t like this news,” I said. “This means that we’re going to have to create more advanced technology to fight back with equal force. Or even better, wipe out their planet entirely to destroy their weapons.”

“Well, there’s a new hope as well. Diplomacy.” Halifax added. What made me respect this old general so much was that he was always looking for a way to accomplish things without violence. Of course, I rather liked the violence, but I appreciated the sentiment.

“In what way?” I asked .

“The leader of the Argyles, Oofa, has asked to meet with you.” He said, and the room hushed again.

“Why is that?” I asked.

“I do not think the Argyles have officially joined with the Krill, and before he makes the pact, he asked to meet with the most feared soldier in the galaxy.”

“I see.” What could Oofa possibly want with me? I was intrigued.

“He asked that we inform him of your return to Hecate, and he was notified immediately. Would you be amenable to a formal meeting this very evening?” Septimus asked.

All the various Generals and high officers around the table looked at me with expectancy. I could tell that they felt I was their only hope.

“I will meet with him,” I said. If there was any chance that this meeting would delay or even end the pending union between the Krill and the Argyles, then it had to be attempted.

“He has requested that it take place on neutral ground. You will both fly to an anonymous spot on Hecate where a tent will be erected.” Halifax said.

A tent. How quaint. Will I ever escape carnivals? “I’ll be ready as soon as you bring me my armor,” I said.

“But Arias, why don’t we give you lavish robes to wear—“ Septimus suggested.

“No. Armor,” I replied.

My armor was my second skin. I already knew that I was a large creature in human terms, but on Hecate, I liked the extra size that it gave me. Compared to the nano armor, mine was old-fashioned, but I preferred it. Made of steel and stone, it was crafted by Corin hands and built with integrity. The strength of it was so great that it had lasted through eons of battle.

“This way, Arias.” A soldier said.

I was escorted to the hovercraft - the most technologically advanced that the Corin had in their fleet. The journey was brief as this was also the fastest vessel on Hecate. We landed in what appeared to be a wooded area. It made sense that Oofa should choose this kind of environment because it reminded him of his home planet.

The back of the plane opened and dropped to the ground, turning into a set of stairs. I walked down the stairs followed by a group of Corin soldiers holding their laser weapons. Oofa was there, standing in the forest and almost blending in with the trees. He, too, was flanked by many Argyle soldiers.

“Greetings,” Oofa said. His voice was deep and gnarly as a tree trunk.

“Greetings,” I replied nodding my head.

“Please, come inside.” He said, and motioned his thick arm towards the camo tent. It was large and spacious and on the outside looked as though it was covered with foliage.

Stepping inside, I saw that the tent was perhaps 30 meters high, and I was immediately impressed by Argyle engineering. Who would have thought that these aliens, so woodsy and natural, were also the ones who had created the most deadly weapons in the galaxy?

“Have a seat,” Oofa said. There were soft green and gold cushions on the carpeted floor.

“I have heard of your pending union with the Krill,” I said, taking a seat and getting right to business.

“You have heard right.” Oofa said, smoking a pipe. “Might I pour you some Root?” He said.

“No, thank you.” I didn’t mix business with Root. It diluted the mind.

“I’m going to assume that the union doesn’t please you,” Oofa said.

“It does not,” I replied curtly.

“I suppose you’d rather we side with the Corin.”

“No, I would rather you had not created weapons that are so deadly. I think that soldiers should fight like real soldiers. Call me old-fashioned.” I replied.

“I see. You have the heart of a true warrior.” Oofa said with a grin.

“You have to be able to stand before the creature that you intend to kill. It’s honorable.” I replied.

“I do like the way that you think. We Argyles are honorable people, but we can’t help that we’re inventors, and we must protect ourselves. The best way to protect ourselves from the Krill is to join with them.”

“I find that cowardly,” I replied.

“Arias, I’m willing to negotiate with you, but there’s something that I need from you. Something very important.” Oofa said, leaning in with a hushed voice.

“And what is that?” I asked.

Just then a hologram suddenly appeared, directly between the Argyle leader and myself.

“What—“ Oofa exclaimed.

“Hello, Arias. Welcome back.” The image of Grim appeared before me, shimmering in thousands of blue pixels. The picture went from fuzzy to perfectly clear.

“Grim,” I said, standing from the ground. “I should have known you’d find me.”

“I always know where to find you, Arias.” He replied. “Like perished food, you’re easy to detect.”

I laughed. It was a funny joke.

“To what do I owe this honor?” I asked.

“Well, I know that you’re back here on Hecate dealing with war,” Grim said, clasping his hands behind his back.

“Business,” I said.

“Aha! Business. Well, I was hoping to help you mix some business with pleasure.” He said, leaning towards me.

I pause. I sensed that I was about to be thwarted in my pursuits with the Argyles.

“What kind of pleasure, Grim? Other than reliving when I stabbed you seven times in the torso.” I said.

His face grimaced.

“That’s pleasurable for you, so why don’t you take a look at what’s pleasurable to me.” He said.

The picture changed and Candice appeared in the holographic field. What was about to happen?

“Candice,” I said softly.

“Yes,” Grim said, reappearing and putting his six claws around her. “Candice.”

I looked down, and my hands and legs were fading. It was the pain. Grim knew how to control the pain.

“Bye bye, hybrid-human,” Grim said, holding Candice tight.

This is all it took to pull me through the Gate, and the timing couldn't be worse.

Chapter Nineteen

Candice

Christian was wearing me down, I was afraid. And that was possibly been the intention the whole time. We sat down at the bar, and he ordered me a vodka martini, of all things, and unfortunately/fortunately, it went down so smoothly.

Since seeing that poster on the front of the Main Street Dive I had been totally lost in my own thoughts. It was like there were two different people here - the Candice that was being polite and making conversation with Christian, and the Candice that was thinking about the fact that Luke was coming back to Sun Valley.

“This is a lot of fun,” Christian said, taking the last sip of his martini.

“Yes, I like this place,” I said, looking over at Pearl who was watching our interaction. Almost like Pearl could sense the truth about this situation, she viewed the proceedings with a bit of doubt in her eyes. It was like she could see right through me. Oh, Pearl. My sage.

“Would you like another one?” Christian asked, looking at my empty cocktail glass.

“Um..sure,” I said. It was a poor decision, but my mind was just getting hazy enough for me to relax. The thought of Luke being here - of confronting him again after all that had happened - made my heart beat and my face flush. Was this fear that I was feeling? Or just intense excitement? They felt the same, for some reason.

“Here you go, girl,” Pearl said, placing the martini glass in front of me with her spindly hand. The length of her red fingernails reminded me of Krill talons. She would be great in battle. I imagined the Krill would have nothing on Pearl.

“Thanks, Pearl,” I replied. She pushed a dish of bar nuts in front of me, by way of saying eat something.

The truth was that I hadn’t eaten all day and having bar nuts would probably be a smart choice, although I just couldn’t get myself to do it.

I drank my second martini and started to feel a little like I was spinning, although much more calm.

“You saw that sign outside, didn’t you?” Christian asked. Apparently, he had seen it too but just didn’t want to talk about it.

“Yes,” I replied, looking down at my drink.

“Ever since you saw it you seem on edge.” He said, putting a hand on my shoulder. This was very perceptive of him.

“It’s hard to talk about, Christian,” I said, really not wanting to get into it but also needing a friendly ear. But how could I ever possibly describe the actual nature of our relationship without being locked up in an insane asylum?

“I understand. You don’t have to.” He said. “But you do look like you could use a good meal.” He added. Here he was, being persistent again. I had to admit that at this moment, I needed to give in.

“Yes, I should eat something,” I said, placing my empty martini glass down with a laugh.

“Come on, let me buy you dinner,” he said. Christian wasn’t pushy, just friendly, so it seemed like a good idea.

“Okay.”

“We don’t have to go to that Italian place again. People carry swords at that joint!” He said with a laugh. This made me laugh, too, and I was grateful that it broke the tension.

“Well, that’s the only good restaurant in Sun Valley so you may have to settle for a burger joint, instead,” I said.

“Why don’t I drive you to Boulder Park? It’s not too far, and there are some tremendous restaurants there.” Christian said.

Boulder Park was, in fact, a little resort town on the edge of the desert, just where it met the hills. It was known for its enormous, exquisitely-placed boulders, and for the 5-star hotels that were scattered amongst them. There was a lot of golfing there, fine dining, weddings. You name it.

“Isn’t that an hour’s drive away?” I asked.

“Come on, it will be fun.” He said, getting up and putting his coat on my shoulders. “You can lie down in the car if you’re tired.” He added.

Oh dear. Why am I consenting to this? It’s been a long day, I’m tipsy, and I’m going on a field trip to have a fancy dinner with someone that I’m not even interested in. Have I lost my mind?

But somewhere inside of me it just felt right. I needed to flee, to get out of Sun Valley for a night, stared out the car window at the empty desert, and made small talk. It sounded like the perfect antidote to my confusion and anticipation of what the future might bring — when Luke was back in town.

* * *

Luke

When I landed, I was not where I was before. I was riding in a truck. It swayed back and forth, and my body was aching from being pulled through the Gate.

“Just in time.” I heard Merv’s voice say from behind the wheel. “We have a special event tonight.”

I was groggy, and I rubbed my eyes to wake them up.

“How long have I been gone?” I asked.

“Not too long. You missed Amberville. But that doesn’t matter. We got a last-minute gig that is going to rake in a ton of money.” Merv said with assurance, puffing on his cigar.

“Wait, I didn’t miss Sun Valley, did I?” I asked, suddenly filled with dread.

“No, no. That’ll be after this gig. You sure like going to Sun Valley, don’t you?” Merv said, raising his brow with a suggestive arch. “It’s a nice town. Good diner food.” He said, trying to twist the screw in even deeper.

“Indeed,” I replied.

Silence overcame me as my memory was fully restored. It always took a little time after coming through the Gate. But now, I remembered the last thing that I saw on Hecate. The image of Candice being clutched by Grim’s talons was something that I would never forget and a flush of unbridled rage came over me.

Is Candice on Hecate? Has he taken her? Or was it all a chimera, a fabrication?

“I need to go to Sun Valley tonight,” I said with sudden resolve. I was not going to make it through the night if I didn’t have the assurance that Candice was safe. If she truly had been taken, then, I would find a way to return to Hecate this very night.

“Slow down, cowboy,” Merv said, putting up his hand to stop me. “You have to do this show. It’s for these rich folks. We need the money, Luke. You may be a hybrid, but when you’re on Earth you’re pure human, and we need money just like any human does.”

“I don’t care about money. I’ll starve. It doesn’t bother me.” I said, throwing on my black leather jacket and preparing to jump off the truck.

“Luke, I’m begging you.” Merv went on.

“Look, either you slow this truck down so that I can get off or I’ll throw you out and drive it myself,” I said.

I could tell from the look in Merv’s eyes that I had terrified him. I always tried to tone myself down when I was around my fellow Cursed Souls because I knew that when I was fully myself, they got frightened and backed away. But on this night, Merv was just going to have to deal with Arias, and I could guarantee that he didn’t want to see me angry.

Merv stopped the truck and pulled over. The other trucks in the cavalcade kept driving through the black desert. Merv watched the red tail lights disappear off into the distance.

“Okay, Luke. My friend. I have an idea!” Merv said, clearly nervous and trying to appease me.

“What is that?” I asked flatly, not interested in negotiating.

“Well, we’re just about 10 miles off. If I drive the rest of the way and get out then, you can have the truck!” He said with excitement, as though it was the greatest plan in the world. “You can drive to Sun Valley tonight.”

I stopped to consider this. I never liked making compromises when it came to what I wanted, but I also knew that having the truck would get me to Sun Valley much faster. It was better than wandering in the desert - although I would do that without reservations - and it was better than leaving Merv in the desert and stealing the truck. I was a gentleman, after all.

“This idea works for me,” I replied after a quiet pause.

Merv audibly exhaled as though he had just escaped death.

“Luke - Arias - you’re my hero.” He said. This made me smile.

“Where are we headed to?” I asked, taking a seat on the passenger’s side.

“It’s the richest town for miles around!” Merv said with glee. “It’s called Boulder Park, and we’re going to make a fortune.” He chomped again on his cigar.

“Boulder Park. Never heard of it.” I replied.

Chapter Twenty

Candice

“I’m not going to lie, I’ve wanted to come to this restaurant for a long time,” Christian said.

Since entering Boulder Park there had been a lot to see, and I was just trying to take it all in through the car window. The resort town seemed to come to life at night with its various gorgeous fountains, parks, walkways, lanterns twinkling in the darkness, and bustling restaurants. There were some fancy cars shuttling people that were here on holiday from the richest neighborhoods on the west coast. This was truly a destination town.

“What’s the place called?” I asked, looking out my window.

“It’s called Le Jardin de Plaisir,” Christian said. I could already tell that the doctor was going to prove to be a man of rich tastes.

“French food,” I said with approval.

“Yes, and outside under the stars. It’s really like a French garden. I read about it in a magazine.” He said.

“Sounds nice,” I replied. Now that I was no longer tipsy, I was beginning to wonder if this was the right decision, after all. At the time, the choice was made when my flight response was in full-gear, but now that I had calmed down I wasalready thinking about the long drive home. I was tired.

“There it is,” Christian said, pointing at a very beautiful establishment that illuminates the night. Inside the garden, I could see Parisian tables and chairs and lights strung overhead. There were fountains and waiters in white button-up shirts and black pants.

“Wow!” I said, my energy coming back to me. Maybe this would be fun, after all.

As the maitre escorted us to our table, I marveled at all the elegant patrons in nice dresses and suits. Clearly, the fact that I was still wearing my uniform from the diner was something that was earning me looks of disapproval. What’s a girl to do?

“I can’t believe I’m still wearing this. Why didn’t you tell me it was fancy?” I asked.

“Sorry, it was so last-minute. I think you look great.” He said.

“Yes, if bacon grease is your kind of thing.” I joked, looking down at the little stain near my hip.

“It most definitely is my kind of thing.” Christian joked. I didn’t want to say that this guy was growing on me because it was just way too soon for that sort of thing, but I did appreciate how kind he was to me.

“Voila! Your table.” The maître said, and placed our menus on the table.

“Thank you,” Christian said, and pulled out my chair for me.

“Thanks,” I replied as I sat down. It was considerably warmer at night in Boulder Park. I remembered leaving the diner this evening and being cold, but here in the Jardin de Plaisir, I felt perfectly comfortable.

Looking at the menu finally gave me a considerable appetite. I loved traditional French faire, and the options were endless.

“Look at that, over there.” Christian pointed out. I turned my head and at the other end of the garden there seemed to be some kind of event. “What do you think it is?” He asked.

“It looks like a wedding party,” I replied, seeing a happy couple holding hands and toasts being given.

“That’s the richest family in Arizona.” I heard a woman at the table next to us say. “They’re staying at the best hotel. I hear they’re going to be married next to a waterfall.” She added with a wink.

“How romantic,” I replied. “They appear to be quite happy.”

“They’re having a special show tonight.” The woman went on, leaning in as though this were the best town gossip. “And I think we’re going to have front row seats!” She added with glee.

“What great timing,” Christian said.

He ordered a fine bottle of wine and we made selections from the menu. I decided to go with a cup of onion soup with Croque Tartine Parisienne, and Christian ordered the Coq Au Vin.

There was an awkward moment where Christian tried to take my hand in his. I manage to gracefully decline, and the awkward silence that followed didn’t last long enough to make the night a total disaster. The wedding party got louder and more boisterous, and it gave us a good distraction when we ran out of things to talk about.

“Dessert?” Christian asked. His eyes were flickering in the candlelight, and I was reminded that he was a good looking guy, but I tried not to look into his eyes for too long.

“Sure. Maybe just so we can stick around to see that show.” I replied, checking my watch. It was getting late, and by the time we drove home, it might be close to midnight. I sighed. I shouldn’t be out this late.

“Mesdames et Messieurs, may I present to you zis evening, a group of talented performers who would like to entertain you!” The maître said. The crowd cheered and I joined in the applause, looking over at Christian with delight. I loved a good show, and this one was a great way to end the evening.

“For ze first act of ze night, allow me to introduce you to…” He lifted up his hand with a flourish. “Twisted Leona!”

I froze, my hands were still suspended in air. Leona came out and began to contort her body to the oohs and aahs of the crowd. I couldn’t move.

Is he here? Is Luke here?

Slowly, as if in a dream, I turned back to Christian….

I found him suspended in the air, being held by Luke’s fist.

* * *

Luke

Yes. It had become abundantly clear that it was time for the doctor to go. I was not going to kill him and make a scene, I was just going to relocate him. I could see the horror on Candice’s face, and I did not like to be the cause for it, but at the same time, the doctor needed to be removed. In many ways.

I thanked all the Gods of the universe that Candice was here, safe, and not within Grim’s clutches. The holographic image turned out to have been a fabrication, after all.

Very clever, Grim.

“Luke?” I head her say, almost inaudibly.

It turned out to be a blessing as well that Merv got out of the truck and started running. He had refused to give me the keys, and he would have felt the repercussions of that had I not spotted Candice sitting in the outdoor cafe, just near to where the truck was parked. Seeing her there sent waves of warmth down my spine. Until I saw the doctor.

“I’m going to take him elsewhere,” I said, still holding him in my hand as if he were a wet rag. “And then we’ll talk.” I walked out of the garden still holding him tight, and I couldn’t even tell if he was putting up a fight or not.

“You’re sick, do you know that?” Christian said after I dropped him on a patch of grass.

“I’m not sick,” I replied coolly. “I just like things to be a certain way. My way.” I added.

“And your way is following Candice around like a psycho?” He asked, rubbing the back of his neck in pain.

“Hm. Let me think about that.” I replied, pondering whether or not I was a psycho. I supposed my behavior could come off as being so, but the good doctor didn’t know the truth about Candice and I. There was no time to explain it to him. “Sure. Fine. I’m a psycho.” I replied and started to walk back to the garden where hopefully Candice was still seated at her table.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Christian yelled at my back.

“To talk to Candice,” I say, not turning to him.

“And what if I say that I’m going to prevent that?” Christian said, attempting to be courageous in spite of his obvious fear.

“I would say that you’re going to sit on that patch of grass there until I tell you to move.” I pointed to the grass and Christian stayed frozen. When I left, I didn’t actually see him sit on the grass like a defeated little boy, but my intuition was strong enough to know that that was just what he did.

I saw her still sitting there at the table, anxious and wringing her hands. I hoped she sould feel calmer. I wantd her to relax.

“Candice,” I said as I sat in the chair across from her. What transpired between Christian and me, was quiet enough to not draw attention, and I could see my Carnival colleagues performing in the background.

There was a long, loaded silence where we had just looked at one another. I smiled. She smiled, and then looked away. The feeling of being this close to her again, and seeing her perfect face — hopefully, I wouldn’t get pulled through the Gate from the pleasure of it. I wanted to talk to her first.

“You look beautiful, as always,” I said.

“Luke, I can’t condone this kind of behavior.” She said.

“I didn’t hurt him. He’s just sitting on a patch of grass.” I said in my defense.

“Still, it’s not nice,” Candice said, giving me a scolding look.

“I’m not a nice person. I just pretend to be in front of you.” I said with a smile.

“You’re terrible.” She said, joining my smile. “Why are you here?”

“Because I need you,” I said. I knew that this was blunt, but it was the truth.

“To get through the Gate.” She said, looking down.

“Of course, but I also need you nearby. I need to know that you’re safe at all times. It’s been bothering me.” I said. She needed to understand how important her safety was to me.

Music was now playing in the background. I recognized it as coming from the Carnival band. Couples were getting up from tables, and I rose from my seat to take Candice by the hand.

“Come,” I said, reaching out for her. She paused to contemplate my request, but I did not move. I wouldn’t move until she put her hand in mine.

“Okay.” She finally said. I led her to the dance floor and took her in my arms. I reasoned with myself that touching her like this was safe because I would be discussing serious matters and this would keep me focused on other things aside from the pleasure of feeling her skin.

“I missed this.” She said, and my heart soared with rapture. Hearing her say these words made me plunge right into what I needed to say before I disappeared.

“The Corin are in great danger,” I said. “The Krill are potentially joining forces with a civilization called the Argyles, and they have enough destructive technology to send the whole planet into ruin. It would be the end of the war for us.” I said, putting my cheek next to hers. The way she smelled was extraordinary.

“Oh, Luke. That’s awful.” She replied, distress on her face.

“Yes, I will need to return as soon as possible,” I said.

She pulled away from me, and I immediately pulled her back. She was not going to run away that easily.

“I can’t send you back.” She said.

“And I can’t demand that you do. I know how incredibly hard this is for you.” I said, pulling her closer. “But I believe that I can convince the Argyles to fight on the side of the Corin, and this would be the end of the war. I would be free.”

“I want you to be free, but—“ She tried to say.

“When I am free I choose on which side of the Gate I will remain,” I said, then held her cheek in my hand.

Her eyes open wide with expectancy and hope.

“I will choose Earth, Candice,” I said, seeing a tear form in her eye. “If it will make you happy.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Candice

Nothing would make me happier, I thought to myself. But I had trouble forming any words. Here I was. He was holding me in his arms again, and the feeling was so wonderful that I really did hope that he would never let go.

“Say something.” He said. How does Luke had this amazing ability to tell me to do something without feeling like he was ordering me to do it? I scrambled for the right words.

“This time that we’ve spent away—“ I began to form my thoughts. It was difficult to do while feeling his chest against mine. I saw him looking down at me with those gorgeous, intent blue eyes. I definitely was on the spot. “The time has been harder than I thought that it would be,” I said. It was not poetry, but it was a start.

“For me, too.” He said, still rocking me from side to side.

“I thought that I would be able to move on more easily,” I added.

Luke’s brow tightens, and I felt his body stiffen a bit. His jaw clenched.

“Did you try to move on with him?” He asked, referring to Christian.

“No, I did not. He was trying to be nice, and I was just looking for a bit of distraction.” I said. It was the truth, and I deeply hoped that he would believe me. I would hate to see the consequences of him not trusting me. Luke had never been a violent person on Earth, but his behavior on Hecate was like a killing machine.

“If you say so.” He replied, but I couldn’t tell he was trying to keep his cool.

“Luke, I think that if you were killed in that war, it would kill me.” I finally said. It was the closest to the truth that I had managed to get. “In the time that we spent apart, it’s almost like my feelings got more intense, and that means that seeing you fall through the Gate again is almost impossible for me. That is if I’m the cause.” I said. This time, I was really worried what his response would be.

He was silent. He didn’t say anything, and it almost made it worse. Luke even span me slowly on the dance floor, still not giving any reply to what I had just said. Did he not hear me? Is he choosing not to hear me? It’s driving me kind of crazy. I felt anxious.

“What are you thinking?” I finally asked. Is he tense, angry, worried? Sometimes it’s so hard to read this guy it is absurd. That steely warrior exterior manages to cover up what he is feeling, and it’s not helping me at this moment one bit.

“Come here.” He said, and took me by the hand. He was walking me off the dance floor and to another corner of the garden.

“Where are we going?” I asked. Still, he was giving me no reply.

The next thing I knew, Luke whirled me around a corner where it was silent and empty. No people, no sparkly lights, just darkness. He gently pinned me against the wall with his body and placed his lips on mine.

Oh my God, this felt so good. I breathed a sigh of relief. I was worried that we would never be this close - feeling our lips on one another’s and our bodies touching - ever again. It was so pleasurable that it was almost painful. Instantly, I became worried that we were going to get pulled through the Gate.

“I don’t think this is smart,” I said.

I finally realize that Luke had his Curse, but this was my Curse. Reveling in his touch, but always at the back of my mind worried that it was not Luke that was kissing me so passionately, but Arias, trying to return to his war. If he was, in fact, two different people, then it was Luke that I wanted to protect, and Arias - God help me - that I wanted to thwart.

“Everything about this makes sense. Us, together like this.” Luke said with a pained expression.

“I cannot be the key to your destruction,” I said, placing my hand on his face.

“You’re the key to my bliss.” He said, putting my hand over his heart. “Before, I was just a soldier, and now I’m beginning to understand what it feels like to be a man.” He said with a smile. “I have one last victory to accomplish on Hecate. One more push. When victory is mine, I will become fully human. And I will be devoted to you.” He said, clearing a piece of hair from my face.

The idea of it was intoxicating. Having Luke be a real, normal human, living our lives together in our home. Growing old together, dying together a quiet death, instead of being slain on a battlefield off in some distant galaxy. The dream of it brought a smile to my face.

“It may be just a dream, Luke,” I said.

“It isn’t a dream. It’s going to be real.” He said, and all at once he was filled with enthusiasm and a kind of boyish exuberance. But he didn’t let that show for too long before going back into warrior mode. “I’m going to win this battle because I never lose. The challenge is great, but I can promise you with my own blood, Candice, that the victory will be mine. I know it. It’s my destiny to win this war.” He said.

“What makes you think that you’re even going to be a tolerable human male? All you know is battle and slaying aliens.” I said, by way of adding some humor to the exchange.

Luke lifted his eyebrow, and I could tell he was back to his mischievous self.

“I’m going to be the greatest human male because I’m always the greatest at what I do.” He said looking at me with a mock-threatening gaze.

“Okay,” I replied. “Then prove it.”

* * *

Luke

She said the magic words. When anyone asked me to prove anything then I had no choice other than to, not only do just that but also to fully excel at the challenge. Candice wanted to see that I could be a great, normal, human man, and I had no doubt that I could be the greatest in the galaxy. This was going to be fun.

“I see the little game that you’re playing,” I replied, pulling her close against my chest. The delicate, curvaceous feel of her against my pectoral muscles was a much more delicious feeling than armor ever had been. I was going to show her that after I won the war and returned to her, it would be a decision that she could never regret.

“This isn’t a game. I’m serious.” She said.

I could see clearly that she needed for me to do this so that she could be sure she was not setting us both up for destruction. I wished I could assure her with my words that she would never be hurt by our love, but ultimately, I would need to assure her with my actions. In this, I am confident.

“Alright, then. It begins now.” I replied. I stepped back and took her by the hand, leading her like a gentleman back to the garden. I walked her across the restaurant and towards our table, where I made sure she was comfortably seated.

“Waiter,” I said. “Could you get this woman a dessert? Anything with chocolate will do.” I said.

She grinned that girlish grin, and it filled me with wonder and desire. Why does this woman always have this effect on me?

“If you’ll excuse me,” I said. “I have some business to attend to.”

“Okay.” She said with a confused look on her face.

This was when I returned to the grassy knoll where I had left the bemused doctor. When I found him, he was sitting there like a lost child staring off into the distance. When he saw me, he winced a bit in fear.

“Come, my doctor friend,” I said, and extended a brotherly arm, similar to the gesture I would make to a fellow fallen soldier on the battlefield. Christian looked at me with confusion and doubted, and I simply nodded my head to show that I was in earnest.

“Where?” He asked.

“I’m taking you home.” I pulled him up off the ground, which was not difficult because he didn’t weigh much. One Corin alien probably weighed twice as much as he did, and a rather large Krill might weighed nearly three times more.

Once he was up, I walked with assurance back to the garden, and the doctor followed. I found Candice at the table eating her chocolate dessert, and the sight of it was adorable. She was relishing what looked like a little pot of chocolate cream, and I wished I could spoon-feed it to her myself. I loved a woman with an appetite.

“Christian, why don't you sit down and wait for the lady to finish her dessert, and then I’ll drive you home,” I said.

“Alright.” He said awkwardly and took the seat I first pulled him out of.

Candice gave me a look that aid, what are you doing? I replied with a smile.

The door to the passenger side of the truck was quite high, so I made sure to give Candice a boost. My leather jacket was around her shoulders.

“Thank you, sir.” She said, beginning to catch on to where I was going with all this, and clearly enjoying it.

“Milady,” I replied, then turned to face poor Christian, who still looked horrified.

“There are no more seats in the truck, I’m afraid,” I said. “But plenty of room in the back.” I got Christian ‘comfortably’ situated among the props, costumes, and storage boxes in the back of the truck, then I hopped into the driver’s seat.

“You put him in the back?” She asked, trying to make me feel guilty.

“He’s perfectly comfortable, I assure you,” I said, then drove the whole way home with my hand on top of hers. I turned the radio to a classic music station.

“You listen to classic music?” She askeds dubiously.

“It soothes me,” I replied and kissd the top of her hand.

The rest of the drive was conducted in pleasant silence. Candice looked out the window dreamily, and in the rearview mirror, I could see that Christian was half asleep.

“Should I carry him to his door?” I askd Candice once we arrived in Sun Valley. It was the middle of the night.

“You’re too much.” She said, shaking her head. I could tell she was having fun with all this, and that was the goal.

“Why don’t I get you home first,” I said.

Once in front of Candice’s home, I opened her door and helped her down.

“You need this.” She said, beginning to remove my leather jacket.

“Don’t you dare,” I said, and stopped her from taking it off.

“You’re going to get him home now?” She asked.

“Not until I make sure you’re safely inside,” I said. I walked her to her front door and ensure that she was safely inside.

“Are you coming back here?” She asked, expectancy in her eyes.

I put my hand in her hair and kissed her on the forehead.

“Yes. You’ll find me on the couch in the morning.” I said.

“That couch is too hard. You’re never going to—”

“You’ll find me on the couch,” I repeated. “May I take you out to breakfast in the morning?” I asked, gazing into her eyes.

“You’ll make pancakes.” She said with a grin, clearly playing along with my game now.

I had no idea how to make human pancakes. It was a delicious challenge.

“Chocolate pancakes,” I said. We held hands for a moment and smiled at one another.

“Be nice to him.” She said, nodding towards the truck.

“As a gentleman - a human gentleman - it’s impossible for me to do otherwise.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Candice

When I walked into my bedroom, I felt giddy. Surely, Luke wouldn’t behave like this every day if he turned into an un-Cursed human. I meant, really, humans had their own kind of Curse that they had to deal with on a daily basis. He must only be doing this for the show. It just happened to be working.

After brushing my teeth and washing my face, I laid down in bed and thought about him. He was taking Christian home right now. It was sweet of him. He was the best man.

I couldn’t help but wish that he was coming back to my room tonight, but we both knew that it would be too difficult. I didn’t like the idea of him sleeping on the couch, but at least he would be nearby, and in the morning, pancakes! It would be like waking up on Christmas morning, knowing that he was downstairs, and God help him, flipping flapjacks.

This night I had one of the most pleasing dreams of my life. For someone who had been having nightmares lately, this was a wonderful surprise and just what I needed to have a deliciously deep sleep.

I passed out so quickly I didn’t even hear him come home.

In the dream, Luke didn’t fall asleep on the couch, but I heard him come into my room.

“Did you carry him into his house?” I asked.

“I left him on the curb.” He replied, taking off his shirt and sliding into bed.

“You’re terrible,” I replied.

“You’re wonderful.” He countered. Luke slid his huge arms around my waist and the feel of his warmth instantly comforted me. “You’re cold.” He said.

“I’m always cold,” I replied.

“I don’t like that.” He said.

Now, this dream was so vivid, that the next morning I would question whether or not it had actually happened.

“I’m glad you came upstairs,” I admitted to him.

“I did everything in my power to sleep on the couch.” He replied, nuzzling his chin into my hair. “I love the way you smell.”

“It’s my shampoo,” I replied.

“It’s you.” He said, positioning his body behind mine, cradling me.

“You feel different,” I said. Really, something about this dream had changed him. His body was still large and strong, but there was a whole different sensation that his touch brought.

“The Curse is gone.” He said in my ear.

“What?” I asked.

“It has been lifted. I’ve given up on Arias. I’m Luke now. I’ll always be Luke.” He pulled me on top of him so that I was blanketing him with my body.

“How is that possible?” I asked, sensing that it was too good to be true.

“The pleasure of vowing to be with you. To be a full human. I went back through the Gate this very night and ended the war. Grim perished just in time for me to make it back here with you.” Luke said warmly.

“Just like that?” I asked in astonishment.

“Just like that. I’m a man of my word.”

Then I woke up from my dream. I heard the door to my room actually open. It was Luke. He seemed to be checking in on me. I pretended that I was asleep, and when he was satisfied, he gently closed the door, and I heard him walk down the stairs. Almost as though he could sense that I was having this very dream, he left me to finish it in peace.

I closed my eyes again and dipped back into the dream almost instantly.

“So we’re free now? Free to be with one another?” I askd with excitement.

“We could make love all night, and I’d still be here to make you pancakes in the morning.” He said, and brushed my hair with his hands.

“Really?” I asked, on the verge of tears.

“Yes, because you’re dreaming this.” He replied.

I woke up again from my dream. My heart was racing, and there was a sheen of perspiration on my brow.

I walked out the door of my bedroom and threw my robe around me. Making my way to the top of the stairs, I looked down to see Luke quietly asleep on the couch.

It was the most beautiful dream I had ever had, and it filled me with hope.

Maybe this was possible. Maybe this was worth the danger.

* * *

Luke

It was abundantly clear to me as to why Candice was the amazing creature that was the key to the Gate. The way that she made me feel was hard to describe. I wanted to have her right here and now, but I, too, was afraid of what the effects might be on where we ended up in the galaxy.

At last, I managed to find a recipe book in Candice’s kitchen, I thanked the Universe. I had never been a good cook, but I did remember hanging out with the Carnival cook, Old Al, and I’d watch him at work. He never made sophisticated human dishes, and in fact, some of the Cursed Souls didn’t care for human food, anyhow.

I found all the ingredients in the refrigerator and got to work. To my dismay, there were no chocolate chips. How was it that Candice, the ultimate chocolate lover, did not have any chocolate in her cabinet? Perhaps she did not want to indulge. I would make her change that once I was around for good.

I decided that the only thing to do was go to the local market before she woke up. If I was going to play this little game up to perfection, then everything needed to be right.

The walk to the market in the warm morning air was intoxicating. Of course, before Candice came around, it never occurred to me to enjoy such simple pleasures. But, it was as though she had opened-up the human world to me.

The door jingled as I stepped inside the Sun Valley Market. It was a small store, and if they didn’t have chocolate chips, then I might have to put my light sword to good use. After one look at that, I’d be guaranteed to find chocolate in this market for as long as I lived.

The woman behind the counter looked at me like I was an alien. I found this ironic. I was wearing my typical black tank top and black jeans. This costume of mine did not always make humans comfortable because I guessed it came off as a kind of threat. I didn’t really care.

“You looking for something?” The old woman said. She was a rather large woman wearing a tent-like floral gown. I had heard this referred to before as a moo-moo.

“Do you have chocolate?” I asked.

“We got bars over there, and the Nestle chips are on aisle 4.”

I believed the Nestle chips were what I was looking for, and I made my way to aisle 4.

“Luke?” I heard a female voice say.

“Yes?” I replied and turned to find Iris standing there pushing a small cart.

“You’re back in town?” She looked upset, almost hostile. This was the last thing I wanted to deal with this morning.

“I am. I have come for Candice.” I said.

“After leaving her?” She said, folding her arms in front of her.

I did not show any expression on my face. There was no time for explaining. I had pancakes to make.

“Fine. Yes. That is correct.” I said, and continued on my way to aisle 4.

“You know, she’s too good for you,” Iris said.

“I cannot disagree with you,” I replied, not looking back but locating the chocolate chips on top of the shelf.

“Well, I just hope you’ve changed your ways, and now you’re going to treat her right. Not like men ever change their ways.” I could hear that there was a great deal of emotion in her voice.

“Treating her right is the least that I plan to do,” I replied, turning to Iris. She brought her left hand up to wipe a tear from her eye. Why on Earth was this ridiculous human female getting so emotional right now?

Then it occurred to me. The ring that I remembered seeing on her hand was there no longer. I would have never noticed such details before meeting Candice.

“You are upset,” I said with very little emotion in my own voice.

“You’re damn right I’m upset. That bastard!” Iris said. She was breaking down now. I took a step towards her.

“Is there someone that needs to be taught a gentlemanly lesson, Iris?” I asked, now fully understanding what was going on.

“What?” She asked, looking at me in surprise.

Of course, I was not sure that I had enough time to give another human man a hard lesson in being a gentleman before Candice woke up, but if he was nearby then perhaps there was a chance.

“If you tell me the location of the man, then we’ll exchange some words,” I replied.

“No, no,” Iris said, smiling to herself. “You don’t have to do that. He’s long gone now.” She said, looking down to the ground.

“Well, if he comes anywhere near you, simply inform me,” I replied.

“Thanks.” She said with a smile.

After purchasing my chocolate and walking home, I realized that perhaps the way to win Candice over was not to destroy the cause of her best friend’s heartbreak. However, I couldn’t help but feel the need to not only protect Candice, but also those she loved.

Back in the kitchen, I couldn’t entirely say that my efforts were a success, and I was angry. This pancake-making was not as easy as it looked, and when the last batch of burnt cakes were plated, I had to physically restrain myself from running them through with my light sword.

“Damn it,” I said through my clenched teeth.

“This might be the most memorable thing I’ve ever seen in my life.” I heard Candice’s voice say from the doorway. She was still in her pajamas, with bed hair, looking like a dream.

“Look away,” I commanded.

“I most certainly will not look away. I wish I had a camera.”

“This device is useless,” I said, holding up the kitchen implement that was the cause of my demise.

“That is a spatula,” Candice said, rolling her eyes.

“Whatever it is called, it is poorly designed. The technology is primitive.” I added. If the Corin had been given the task of designing a better tool, my pancakes on this morning would have been the best in the galaxy.

“Come on, they look good!” She said, and seated herself at the kitchen table. “If only Grim could see you now. The greatest warrior in the galaxy, fretting over pancakes.”

“Grim would not have a chance to comment on this situation. My anger over these pancakes is such that, were he to appear, he’d perish by this measly spatula.” I replied in grave earnestness.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Candice

Ok, so I was in domestic bliss. After the dream where I made love to Luke, in his fully human form, I was pretty convinced that if he did manage to win the war and return to me without his Curse, the rest of my life could quite possibly be perfect. Of course, this was what my heart was saying this morning. My head knew that life was never perfect.

The pancakes were certainly not perfect, but they were the best that I had ever had. How did that make sense? I guessed it was because he made them with so much affection.

“More orange juice?” He asked.

I smiled and nodded my head. Luke had been on Earth for so long, but every once in a while he said these things that made him sound like an alien. I loved it.

“You know, you can’t keep this up forever,” I said.

Luke arched his brow and poured my orange juice. He gave no reply. I knew why this was. It was the truth.

At heart, Luke was a warrior, and I knew that he was putting on this whole show to prove to me that he could be a normal man. But the foundation of all of this was that I had to send him back to Hecate for this bliss to be possible. My awareness returned to my Curse. I must send him into danger. And it was the kind of danger that he thrived on.

“I can do this forever if it’s with you.” He said with assurance.

“If you win the war, and that’s a big IF, then you’re probably going to land here as a human and join the military or something,” I said, taking a big bite of pancakes.

“I will not join the human military.” He said without looking up from his plate.

“You’d probably win every war on this planet if you did,” I said. “You could be a weapon for democracy and freedom.” Thinking about it, it was really the truth.

“I could fight for all those things. And win. But I promised you that I’d be here with you, and that’s what I plan to do.” He said with finality.

“You know, it’s not my intention to domesticate you. I just don’t want to see you in danger all the time.” I said. “Can you really give up on all that danger? I know that you love it.” I added.

Luke put down his fork and appeared to be frustrated. He didn’t like that I was pursuing this line of questioning. Maybe he didn’t want to face it himself. The dissolution of his identity.

“I’m going for a walk,” Luke said and got up from the table without awaiting my reply.

“Luke?” I said, and got up from the table to follow him. “I’m sorry if I was asking too many questions,” I said, reaching the door just as he walked out onto the porch.

“I said—“ He slowly turned around to face me at the top of the stairs. “I’m going for a walk.”

I watched him walk out into the desert. Oh my God, I really pushed his buttons. I felt terrible. I could see him walking along in deep contemplation, and slightly angry. This wasn’t how this morning was supposed to go.

But then it dawned on me - I don’t know that Luke is completely sure that he can do this either. The whole human thing. Maybe he’s just playing along to try and win me over, but regarding the future, even he is uncertain.

Am I demanding too much from him?

I supposed I was just asking for what I needed, which was for him to be safe. But if he was safe all the time, then could he really be himself?

I went back into the house and began to clean the mess from the pancakes. I laughd a little when I saw the spatula. I picked up his retracted light sword, which yes, he used to stir the pancake batter.

My thoughts were brought back again to my dream, and I felt that heat in my lower belly when I thought of it. His touch was so tender, and it was like there was an electricity in our bodies that I had never felt before. I thought about the last time that Luke and I made love. It had to have been weeks and weeks ago. I sighed a little and for a moment, I felt a deep loneliness.

Having him here was divine, but it was still just a portion of the beauty that we had experienced together. A portion of the contact. Deep down, we felt the need to avoid each other physically and not get too close. The great boundaries that had been built between us were tenuous, though like they were made of paper. I felt I could give in, at any moment, just to feel his touch and to experience 100% intimacy. Not just physical, but also spiritual and emotional.

I had given Luke the ultimatum that for us to come together as one, he had to be whole. He had to be cured. But by doing this, was I perhaps keeping Luke and I apart forever? Would I be able to live with that?

I contemplated all of this as I washed the dishes and looked out the window. I could see him now, off in the distance. He was sitting on a boulder. His posture was immaculate. He sat tall and proud, his large shoulders resting perfectly on his wide, ripped torso. How had I managed to have this man in my house all these days without allowing him to touch me? I had to be out of my mind.

Crazy human female.

* * *

Luke

She had a point. I would always be a warrior. The thrill of the battle, the feeling of my sword in my hand, the satisfaction of victory, I couldn’t give these things up. But I needed Candice by my side. I would never be able to sacrifice that. Maybe being a human was going to present more problems than I thought.

I could win the war, and then force Candice to be with me on Hecate. She wouldn’t agree to it, but I could simply take her and not let her leave. I would make her my prisoner bride. She might hated me for eons, but eventually, she would know that it was the right thing to do. Candice would learn to give in to my desires, and all would be settled.

The problem with this, even though it could easily be accomplished, was that Candice was a strong-willed human female, and that gave me pleasure. I could pick a Corin bride who would concede to my every wish. She would take care of every task that I told her to take care of, she would give her body to me whenever I wanted to take it, and she would obey my every wish. But this was not the kind of female that filled my body and heart with longing. It was a woman like Candice who did this. She had her own life, she had her own needs, and I took satisfaction from seeing her happy and protected.

This was a riddle that had no answer. Similar to my Curse.

I was sitting on a large boulder, looking out to the desert horizon. I needed to be alone because I did not have the satisfactory answers to her questions, and I did not want to tell her something that would make her upset.

Never in a million eons had I ever thought that one day there would be a battle raging in my heart that would be as challenging and fierce and any battle on Hecate.

I looked down to see a desert snake staring up at me, its long thin body swirling in the dirt. For some reason, the snake interested me greatly, and I leaned over to pick it up. I knew that humans were fearful of such creatures on their planet, but these things had never been intimidating to me. The snake did not fight me in my hand but went stiff. It continued to look me straight in the eye, its forked tongue dancing outside of its mouth.

“Aren’t you clever?” I said to the snake. He had given me an idea, and I was grateful to the creature for that.

I dropped the snake and began walking towards the lot where the Carnival should now stand. This was the very day that Merv said they would be returning to Sun Valley, and the person that I needed to talk to was the Snake Queen.

Her Carnival name was Medusa, for obvious reasons, and her body was completely covered with tattoos of snakes. She was also the most talented Fortune Teller among the Cursed Souls. Her counsel was needed at this time.

Once I reached the lot, it was near a hot afternoon, and the Carnival was being set up.

“Thank God you’re here,” Merv said, already sweating in the bright sun. “We need you to perform tonight.”

“I’m on vacation,” I said, walking past him without looking at him. “Where is Medusa?”

“In her tent, of course,” Merv said. “You can’t be on vacation!” He protested.

“Yes, I can,” I replied, looking from left to right for Medusa’s tent. It was a small tent made from embroidered fabrics. It was not the showiest attraction of the Carnival, but for those who knew all the Cursed Souls, they were aware that Medusa was perhaps the most powerful. Finally, I spotted her tent and lifted up the flap to step inside.

Medusa was reading cards at her little table. The woman was quite old, regarding human years, and she had been stranded with the Carnival for many Earth decades, barred from returning to her home planet by her own Curse, which perhaps would never be lifted.

“Luke!” Her old, crackly voice said. She held her cards within her sinewy and spotted hands. Her skin was as thin as parchment paper. “I have not seen you in a while.” She said with a crinkly smile.

“Many things have changed for me here on this planet,” I said, and sat down across from her. “I need your keen vision.”

“You’ve never asked me for my counsel before. You must feel quite serious about this woman.” Medusa said, looking down at her cards.

And this was where Medusa exceled. I hadn’t even told her about Candice and already she was getting to business.

“You’re too controlling, Luke. I have told you this before.” Medusa looked directly at me. Her eyes were so light blue that they were practically gray. “You have chosen a special woman.”

“I did not choose her. We came together by fate.” I said stubbornly.

“Perhaps. But you don’t control fate. You want to be Luke for her. But you are Arias.”

“That is correct,” I said. She was spot-on.

“You’re doing everything in your power to make this woman comfortable with your situation.” She added.

Also correct.

“But you don’t control destiny, Luke. Even if you believe that you can.”

“I can control many things,” I said with assurance.

“You cannot control this woman, Luke. You want to. You’re afraid of your own nature that you might just seize her and turn her into something that you possess completely, but it’s not possible. Not with this woman.” Medusa said.

“You’re not telling me what I want to hear, Medusa,” I said with a stubborn grin.

“Of course not. That’s why you came to me. Others won’t tell you the truth because you’re too intimidating. But let me say this.” Medusa said and leaned across the table towards me. “If you want this woman, completely and fully, then you must let her go.”

I leaned back and folded my arms, rolling my eyes. Didn’t Leona tell me the same thing?

“Hear what I’m saying, Luke. Tonight, you are to sleep in the desert. Give her the space that she needs. Your fate will be answered, but only when you let her go.”

“There will be no letting her go,” I said, clenching my jaw.

“Just for tonight, Luke. Let her be free, and your destiny will be revealed.” Medusa’s eyes turned from gray to white.….

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Albattera War

Bonus - Sneak Peek

PS. I just finished writing the Albatera War Set. Only Basic edits have been made, I have yet to get the final version back from the editor. However, I wanted to include this sneak peek for you. Please ignore any typos and mistake. Enjoy the raw, unfiltered sneak peek fresh of the press!

Ashley

Chapter One

REX

I didn’t think; I just shot.

The herd of hicorn—wild, free-roaming goats with four large, spiraled horns—meandered lazily around the vigibrach tree without the slightest sign of unease. Hicorn were notoriously easy targets for hunting tribesmen, despite their skittish nature and tendency to run at the slightest noise, and they were useful from horn to hoof. In fact, most hicorn were killed with a weapon made of a brother goat’s horn.

The goats were safe from me today, though. I wasn’t hunting prey. I wanted the predator.

On the opposite side of the herd, its golden eyes fixated on a particularly large hicorn, crept a broad-shouldered sabrecat with teeth as long as my forearm. Its fur was nearly as golden as its eyes, and it blended into the tall plains grass without flaw. The moment I spotted it, I aimed and released my arrow. A fraction of a breath later, the sabrecat screamed coarsely, sending the hicorn into a panicked frenzy, and crumpled into invisibility amidst the grass. I let the goats scatter away before wading through the waist-high plains flora to claim my prize.

He was still breathing when I reached him, but barely so. The arrow had slid cleanly between two ribs and successfully punctured his heart, the ideal kill for harvesting meat and pelt. I would, of course, bring the beast back to the village, but I was interested in his sabres. They were the ideal close-range weapon. The curvature fit perfectly into my hand, and the pointed ends were so sharp that they drew blood with the merest graze.

I preferred hand-to-hand combat. Most of my warriors were skilled marksmen and dangerous sharpshooters, but I reveled in the beauty of a kill up close. I was renowned across Albaterra for my lethal melee; it had been that trait to tip the scales in my favor for Tribe Elder after the civil war had left the Campestria kingdom without. Some of the other elders had been wary to appoint me due to my youth, but the youngest tribe elder in Ali’uud history had been one hundred and seventeen, so it was overlooked.

The sabrecat sighed his last breath and finally became motionless. I crouched down beside him and ran my fingers through his fur. He had a thick coat, beautifully intact with no mange to be seen. He would make a lovely blanket. I wrapped my fingers around the arrow’s shaft and eased it from his body, and I wiped it clean of blood once it was extracted.

There was something magnificent about death. It commanded respect and care, but, more than that, it served as a reminder of the Grand Circle. I lowered myself further to the ground until one knee pressed into the soil, and I dropped my gaze to the creature’s open, lifeless eyes to silently thank him for his sacrifice. To have foregone this action would have been egregious blasphemy. It was Ali’uud law to revere our planet and all of its gifts, and to treat the cat’s end with entitlement would have been to spit on the laurels of the Grand Circle. It was a crime punishable by death.

My ears pricked as I heard the sound of footsteps coming up behind me, but I didn’t move from my kneel. The steps ceased when they drew just a few strides nearer.

“I don’t mean to interrupt, Wise One.” The voice was that of Ca-es’a. He was an unshakably loyal warrior who had joined the ranks as a child when his parents became casualties of the civil war, and he was perhaps the warrior I trusted most.

I got to my feet and turned to look at him. Were it anyone else, I would have started the preliminary cleaning of the sabrecat, but I had great respect for Ca-es’a and demonstrated such.

“I was finished,” I said. “What has happened?”

“We just received word that the Tribal Elders have called for an emergency forum. I came to fetch you at once.” He stood stiff and straight-backed as he spoke. I normally would have given him permission to relax, but the news of the forum had me distracted.

“Thanks, Ca-es’a,” I said. He nodded once in acknowledgement, and I motioned to the fallen cat. “Take this back to the village. Have it cleaned and gutted, but make sure the sabres are kept for me.”

“Yes, Wise One,” Ca-es’a replied. Before the last syllable had fallen from his lips, however, I had already departed.

Forum was held inside the gates of P’otes-tat Ulti, which marked the single point at which all eleven kingdoms of Albaterra met. To reach P’otes-tat Ulti on foot was a sixteen-day journey from my village, and flying was still nearly two days. Tribe Elders, however, were granted the power to travel with the winds, a ritual in which our souls gripped the aether of Albaterra and moved us through space and time. It was no harder to do than blinking, but it was a sacred practice and one never to be abused.

Moments later, I stood outside of the intricate gates of P’otes-tat Ulti. A breeze brushed across my cheek, and I saw another elder beside me.

“Rex,” he said with a nod of greeting.

“Nice to see you, Duke,” I replied. “Do you know what this is about?”

“No idea.” He stepped forward to the gates, and then his body passed through the thick bars as though they weren’t there at all. I followed suit and kept pace with him as we walked to the massive doors that would admit us to P’otes-tat Ulti.

The doors were exquisite in their perfection and intimidating in their defenses. Upon their appointment, all tribe elders were told of P’otes-tat Ulti’s secrets, starting with the doors. They were constructed of each kingdom’s finest and strongest materials. I could see hicorn horns and the teeth of sabrecats in their eye-bending designs, meshed amongst the sparkling purple aspex minerals of the mountainous Montemba kingdom and the Altisuam wood from the Truncata rainforests. Duke pressed his fingertips to a section of aspex just as the doors opened and granted us entry.

As usual for forum, the chamber was dimly lit by firelight and smelled of Albaterran musk. Duke and I were the last to arrive, but the room was silent despite the other nine elders’ occupation. We took our seats—mine to the left of him—and waited for forum to begin.

Vi’den, the elder for the kingdom of rolling hills known as Finiba, stood. He was a very tall, very thin Ali’uud of great age and renowned wisdom. In his calm, clear voice, he said, “We shall take presence. Elder Vi’den Et’Solum Fini’tribus of Finiba.”

The others around the circle of firelight stood one-by-one, just as Vi’den had, and announced their names and kingdoms.

When it was Duke’s turn, he got to his feet and said loudly, “Elder Du’ciact Et’Petrum Montem’tribus of Montemba.”

I allowed the proper moment of silence to pass before mirroring the action. I rose from my seat, looking through the smoke rising from the fire, and spoke. “Elder Rexstrenu’us Et’Herba Cam-pes’tribus of Campestria.”

“Forum shall commence,” Vi’den announced.

We all took our seats again, save for Vi’den, who started to explain the topic of forum.

“It has come to our attention that our galaxy has been penetrated. At least four human ships have breached the borders of Andromeda, and one in particular is very near to Albaterra.” There were several sounds of fury and unhappy surprise at this news, but I remained quiet in an effort to learn about what we knew. “The course of action is at the discretion of the tribe elders.”

“Blast’em all!” shouted the burly elder of the cave kingdom.

“Take them hostage!”

“Detonate Earth!”

The outcries of rage layered over one another until the chamber was filled with the din of angry voices. I looked at Duke, and he, too, looked irate.

“What do you think?” I asked, my voice low.

“I don’t know,” he muttered sourly, “but I think they need to be stopped.”

I nodded in quiet agreement. Vi’den waved a commanding hand through the air to silence the yelling elders.

“We will discuss this peacefully and rationally,” he said, his tone firm. “This is not a matter to be handled with rash impulse.”

“Peace be cursed!” barked back the cave elder. He slammed his fist down on the arm of his chair. “They’re pests, the lot of them. Exterminate them now before they infest Albaterra.”

“I agree,” I said suddenly. All eyes turned to me. Some of the elders seemed surprised by my input, but the expression on some of the others’ faces made it clear that they didn’t care to hear my opinion. I was used to such a response; my young age tended to impair my credibility, as far as some of the elders were concerned. “We can’t wait for the A’li-uud race to be at risk, or, worse, injured, before we take action.”

There was a smattering of agreement, and Duke gave me one hearty nod of approval.

“We need to find out what they want,” said Ma’ris, elder of Albaterra’s only underwater kingdom. His voice was garbled and gravelly, almost as though he spoke with bubbles in his mouth, and I had to strain to understand him. “We need to question them.”

“As honorable as I find your amicable intentions, Ma’ris, humans are not known for their honesty,” Vi’den replied.

“There are ways of making them talk,” snarled Duke with surprising viciousness. The cave elder grunted his agreement.

“They don’t know about us, though,” I interjected. “What is the great danger?”

The response I received was as though I had suggested we turn Albaterra over to the humans immediately. Everyone began talking, some yelling, and a few elders jumped to their feet. Duke stared at me with a visceral expression of disbelief and disgust.

“You don’t know what you’re saying, boy,” Ma’ris rumbled.

“Traitor,” spat the cave elder.

“Quiet,” Vi’den intoned loudly. The chamber fell silent again, but I could still feel glaring eyes on me. He looked around as he spoke. “Rex is new to elderhood and speaks out of ignorance. If he is to learn, we are to teach him.”

“With all due respect, Vi’den,” I interrupted, “I’m very comfortable in my elderhood. My point was that we have an advantage. Humans are self-destructive by nature. Blend that with their utter lack of knowledge about the existence of A’li-uud, and there is nothing to fear.”

“You’re naive,” the cave elder growled.

“And you’re bloodthirsty,” I shot back.

He grinned toothily at me. “I say we put a hole through their planet and call it a day.”

“You’re willing to kill an entire species of intelligent beings to prevent an undetermined level of risk to our people?” I asked, appalled.

He leaned forward in his chair and stared directly into my eyes. “You’re not?”

I said nothing. Soundless tension expanded within the confines of the chamber, prompting Vi’den to speak.

“Let us address this in pieces,” he said. “First, and most importantly, the ships in the galaxy. Andromeda has already been compromised, but a ship is making its way to Albaterra at alarming speed. We need to come to a decision about this now.”

“They need to be destroyed,” Duke said. He turned to look at me. “Even you can’t disagree with the level of risk those ships pose.”

I sighed and shook my head. “No, I can’t.”

“Anyone else?” Vi’den asked, looking around the circle of elders. Heads shook, and Vi’den nodded once. “So be it. All human ships inside the borders of the Andromeda galaxy will be eliminated, beginning with the ship closest to Albaterra.”

Everyone said in unison, “So it shall be.”

“Now we must decide on what to do regarding the general human population,” Vi’den continued. “Perhaps there is no decision to be made. Perhaps there is a dreadful one to be made. Let us open the floor.”

“I’ve said my piece,” the cave elder said loudly.

Ma’ris looked sagely to Vi’den. “I believe they should be questioned. We do not know if they have any information about us; our spies know only what they learn through the masses. It stands to reason that they could know just as much about us as we do them.”

“What reason?” Duke asked. “Humans are about as smart as hicorns.”

“They are intelligent beings,” Vi’den said wisely. “They are capable of growth and expansion as individuals and as a species. That, Duke, is to be acknowledged and respected.”

“And feared,” Ma’ris added.

“It seems,” Vi’den went on, “that we have two very different opinions to consider. Are there any others someone would like to add?”

He looked around again as everyone shook their heads another time.

“Very well. We shall vote. Those in favor of destroying Earth and the extinction of the human race?”

The cave elder shot his hand in the air with such vehemence that he almost toppled off his chair. Several other hands, including Duke’s, joined his. I tried to count how many there were, but the hands were retracted before I could see through the smoke properly.

“Those in favor of journeying to Earth to question the humans?”

I raised my hand, as did Ma’ris and Vi’den himself. Again, I tried to count how many hands were in the air, but the smoke was too thick to see through to the other side of the circle.

“It has been ruled. After eliminating all intruding ships in Andromeda, A’li-uud shall be sent to Earth to question human officials.” The cave elder pounded his chair again, but Vi’den ignored him and continued to speak. “We will meet again in two days to begin devising our plan.”

He dismissed us, and everyone clambered to their feet. Being the nearest to the door, I exited first with Duke close behind me, and we stood aside to allow the others to pass so that we could talk.

“That was interesting,” I said when we finally were alone.

“My biggest concern is the ships,” he said, looking up at the sky. “We don’t know what their intentions are or what kind of weapons they have onboard.”

“No, we don’t,” I murmured, following his gaze upward. The sky was clear, disturbed only by the pale purple flourishes of daytime. I shook my head. “Well, we—”

My words dropped into nothingness as I looked back down and realized that Duke had gone. I was alone.

Chapter Two

TABITHA

“Do you ever wonder if it’s all pointless?”

I looked over at Leanne. She was reclining on her bed, hands clasped together across her chest and a faraway expression on her face.

“What’s all pointless?” I asked.

“This mission.” She didn’t look at me as she spoke. “Do you ever wonder if there’s nothing to find? Like, we were sent out here for no reason?”

“You mean intentionally?”

“Not necessarily,” she said, finally turning to face me. “Although that’s a possibility.”

I shrugged. “Not really. We’d be pretty naïve to think that we’re the only thing in the universe.”

“It’s never even crossed your mind?” she probed.

“I guess once or twice,” I admitted. “I just don’t dwell on it.”

She sighed and resumed staring at the ceiling. “You’re such an optimist, Tabitha.”

“No, I’m not. I’m just realistic.”

Leanne smiled with veiled amusement, then said idly, “I’m so hungry.”

I glanced at my watch and got to my feet. “Speaking of that, I should get to the kitchens.”

“Don’t you ever get tired of serving people?” she asked, also getting to her feet. She moved to the mirror to pluck her stray hairs into place.

“No more than you get of taking their measurements,” I replied with a snarky grin.

Leanne turned around to face me, her hands on her hips. She was the seamstress aboard the Paragon, and it showed. Even on a spaceship hurdling through an unknown galaxy at impossible speeds, Leanne was the very image of fashion. She was the only crew member that insisted on wearing Armani and Chanel when she wasn’t in uniform.

“When are you going to let me make you that dress?” she demanded.

I rolled my eyes. “What do I need a dress for? The Paragon prom?”

“You’re so frustrating.” She walked over to me and smoothed the hem of my shirt down. “You’d be a total knockout. You have such a nice shape, not like those stick-figure supermodels I was making clothes for in Milan.”

I batted her hands away and said, “Aren’t supermodels supposed to be the measuring stick for beauty?”

“Please,” she scoffed. “You know why supermodels have to be so skinny? It’s because a body with no shape allows the designer to create whatever shape they want out of the garment. It’s a blank canvas. You’re not a blank canvas; you’re a masterpiece.”

I couldn’t help but blush a little. I was by no means self-conscious about my appearance, despite having a few extra pounds, and I received plenty of attention from men, but Leanne’s compliments were so genuine and heartfelt that I felt embarrassingly adored.

We exchanged goodbyes, and I headed for the kitchens. I had been hired onto the Paragon crew as the chef when I’d unknowingly served my perfected beef wellington to a NASA recruiter. Space travel had never been on my bucket list, but the prospect of literally getting off the planet had been extraordinarily appealing at the time, and I’d accepted the offer without much thought. Leanne and I had met during orientation when she’d eyed my blouse and insisted on—in her words—bringing me out of the past and into the present.

I continued to think about my conversation with Leanne as I prepared tonight’s dinner (Salisbury steak). I hadn’t been entirely truthful with her; it had crossed my mind more than once that we would return to Earth with nothing to show for our time in space. It just wasn’t as big of a concern for me as it appeared to be for her. My decision to join the Paragon crew had much less to do with being a part of something huge and, instead, had almost everything to do with escaping my past.

Even as I sautéed the massive pan of green beans, I could still see his face in my mind, bloodied and blank. His lips had been parted, like he’d been about to speak, and he’d stared at me so intently that I’d been able to look away. His fingers had been wrapped around my wrist so tightly that I could feel my veins pulsing in an effort to circulate through my hand. I hadn’t realized I was screaming until I choked on my own voice.

It had all started in college. His name was Patrick, and he’d been the ultimate all-American guy. He was a football player and part of a fraternity, and he was majoring in Business Management. He came from money, which I’d realized the first time I’d seen him driving his Porsche. He’d been the kind of handsome that physically stopped women in their tracks. I hadn’t been immune to his structured jawline and aristocratic nose and suggestive blue eyes. His charm and wit had only served to draw me under until I was drowning with heart-wrenching, gut-rolling, mind-numbing love for him.

Like all things, it had been good for a while. I’d go so far as to say that it had been amazing. It had been thrilling for me to be chosen by such a man, not because I didn’t have self-confidence but because I’d idolized him so desperately. Little had I known it, but Patrick was drinking in my adoration and reciprocating with a poisonous cocktail of shameless devotion and unyielding dominance.

He’d done his job well. The first time he laid a hand on me, I didn’t even question it.

Two years and countless bruises later, I was finally free of him.

I shook my head violently, trying to shake the images from my brain, and returned my focus to the food. Cooking was the one thing in the entire world—no, the entire universe—that kept me sane. It was cathartic, therapeutic in its methods and manipulations. It gave me the creative freedom to explore different flavor combinations and plate arrangements, but it was also regimented in its instruction and execution. I felt balanced when I cooked.

Of course, it was just a bonus to hear how wonderful my food was.

As usual, I served dinner to the crew instead of eating with them, despite having a sous chef and a handful of kitchen staff. I plated each meal myself and handed it off with a smile. While the Paragon was a huge ship, the crew itself was small: ninety-seven people. In truth, I didn’t know everyone, but I’d learned everybody’s name and learned the rest from Leanne. She was an unabashed gossip. Having her onboard was like having an outer space edition of TMZ.

“Hey, beautiful.”

Trey Jones stepped up in front of me and winked. I had to restrain myself from rolling my eyes. He was a mechanic onboard who was persistently trying to date me—or sleep with me, most likely—and I’d turned him down at least six times already. He was actually rather attractive with his sandy blonde hair and well-toned form, but his overt and explicit personality repulsed me.

“Hello, Trey,” I said, trying to inject as much ice into my tone as I could.

“What has the chef prepared for me tonight?” he asked, looking at the food hungrily. I silently wished that the food was the only thing he would look at hungrily.

“Salisbury steak,” I said. Pointedly, I added, “It’s Walt Clark’s favorite.”

Trey turned to look around the dining hall for Walt, who was several tables away with his mouth full of steak and his hands each holding a hunk of bread. He was a portly guy with exceptional knowledge of computers. I didn’t consider myself friends with Walt, but I did find him very nice, and I felt a little bad for using him to dig at Trey.

“Well, every dog has his day,” Trey said sarcastically before turning back to me. “Why don’t you join me for dinner, beautiful?”

“I have to finish serving, Trey,” I replied absently. “And you’re holding up the line.”

He stepped aside to allow the person behind him forward, but he didn’t walk away. Instead, he reached to me and brushed his fingers through my ponytail. I lurched backward in surprise.

“I love curly hair,” he said. “So sexy.”

I didn’t respond as I handed a plate to another diner.

“I bet it looks even sexier down,” he purred, leaning closer to me. “Like those chocolate curls you put on your cheesecake.”

At my wit’s end, I slammed my gravy ladle down onto the table top and turned to him with the meanest glare I could muster. “Trey, I am trying to work. These people are hungry, and it’s my job to feed them, so either throw on an apron and get scooping, or sit down and shut up.”

Several of the crew members waiting in line for their food whooped and clapped, and one even barked out, “Yeah!”

Trey’s cheeks reddened slightly, though not nearly as much as I would have liked. His ego, though, was too swollen to allow much room for proper shame. He yanked the plate I’d just finished making from my hand and stalked across the dining hall to the opposite side, where he sat down and jammed his fork into the steak as though it had personally offended him.

I reached for my ladle again, but, before my fingers made contact, I was suddenly thrown to the ground. My ears exploded with the gritty, deafening sound of a blast, and my stomach lurched as the very floor beneath me rocked violently from side to side. Before the roar from the blast could leave my ears completely, I was assaulted with the screeching wail of alarms.

We’d been hit.

The realization smacked me in the face like a mallet, and my stomach lurched again, this time in terror rather than in response to haphazard motion. I instantly felt like I wanted to vomit from fear, but I knew I had to get myself together, and I had to do it quickly. I reached for the lip of the table and pulled myself up, and the sight that met my eyes was just as frightening as the initial hit had been.

All of the food had gone everywhere. Slabs of Salisbury steak had been flung across the floor, drenched in puddles and smears of gravy. Green beans were scattered across tabletops like beads from a broken necklace. Gobs of mashed potatoes were piled randomly all over the ground, creating a miniature mountain range of starch. Torn and tattered slices of bread rolled from one end of the room to the other with each heave of the ship.

Amidst the culinary havoc, crew members were running clumsily to the doors, fighting against the ship’s aggressive movements. I watched Walt Clark slip in a pool of gravy and land on his chin. Trey was already gone, likely to the engine room to help. Leanne was nowhere to be found, but I hadn’t seen her come into the dining hall at all that evening. It was almost like watching ants race to the entrance of their anthill, sprinting in droves to safety. Crew member after crew member ducked out of the doors, presumably to go to their emergency zones, and I remembered that I had a zone to report to as well. Every member of the Paragon had received training outside of their field, including basic medical training and emergency maneuvers.

I pulled myself all the way to my feet and joined the chaotic crowd flooding the dining hall exit. Even through the shrieks and yells and commands, I could make out a few words here and there.

“Move! I’m with the command center!”

“We’re not going to make it! We’re not going to make it!”

“GET TO YOUR ZONES!”

I closed my eyes briefly as I was jostled from all sides, and, once again, the image of Patrick’s bloody face flashed behind my eyelids. It had never occurred to me when I’d accepted my place on the Paragon that I might never make it back to Earth, but I steeled myself against the idea. I was going to do everything I could to make sure everyone returned home safely.

And, if I never made it back alive, I sure as hell wasn’t going to spend my last minutes thinking about him.

Chapter Three

REX

The smell of hicorn meat filled the house and had my mouth watering like I hadn’t eaten for days. I loved my mother’s cooking, so much so that I came by my parents’ home several times a week for meals. My father always commented on the irony that I was Tribe Elder with anything I wanted at my beck and call but still depended on my mom to make my dinner, but I knew he enjoyed having me visit so frequently. At the very least, it offered them some relief from taking care of my little brother and sister, who had been surprise twins.

“You look tired, my parva’li,” Mother said sympathetically, stroking my cheek lovingly.

“Beni,” my father interjected. He sounded exasperated, as he often did when Mother doted on me. “He’s an elder, not a baby.”

“He’ll always be my baby,” Mother crooned, stroking my cheek again.

I smiled back at her. I certainly wouldn’t have allowed my mom to behave in such a way with me in front of other tribesmen, and definitely not in front of other elders, but, in the confines of the home, I didn’t mind. I knew it made her happy.

“The hicorn smells great,” I commented with a hearty sniff. “Did you do something different?”

Before she could answer, Igno—my little brother—shrieked, “Who! Who!”

Mother, Father, and I all looked around to see where he was pointing. Through the window, I could see the approaching figure of a woman. I recognized her instantly. My parents did as well, and they shot looks back and forth between each other that they thought I couldn’t see. I ignored them and got to my feet.

“I’ll be right back,” I told them.

I exited the house before she drew near enough to announce her presence, and we met on the walkway. Her name was Pugna’ta, a beautiful tribeswoman with exquisite cheekbones and a figure that made A’li-uud men quiver. Her skin was as azure as a clear-day sky, which was a rare trait in our race, but it appeared lighter than it actually was in contrast with her long, braided, silvery-white locks.

“I knew you’d be here,” she purred.

I offered her a small, unemotional smile. “Hello, Pugna’ta.”

There was no bad blood between us, but Pugna’ta and I had a history that I was insistent on never repeating. We had engaged in a very brief, very intimate relationship many years ago that had ended with mutual disinterest and a vivid knowledge of one another’s bodies. Pugna’ta was a warrior of my kingdom, widely regarded as merciless and lethal in battle, and I considered her indispensable to my militia, but my desire to have her around no longer went beyond those lines. Prior to my being made Tribe Elder, she had reciprocated those feelings. Since my crowning, however, she had taken to showing up at my parents’ house, as well as mine, on a fairly regular basis with an excuse that was flimsy enough to see through but legitimate enough not to question.

I wasn’t foolish. I knew her interest in me was power-deep.

“It’s been a while,” she said smoothly. “How is the Honorable Rexstrenu’us?”

“I’m well, thanks. What can I do for you?” I asked crisply.

She tossed her braid over her shoulder, and I could clearly see slight irritation marring her otherwise perfect features. I didn’t care. If I gave her even the slightest hint of possible interest, she would sink her claws in.

“I’ve heard some things,” she replied. “Disturbing things.”

“About what?” I was growing a little annoyed. I knew Pugna’ta and her games, and I knew that she would draw out the conversation as long as she could in hopes of being invited inside. I wasn’t interested in playing her games tonight; I wanted to eat Mom’s hicorn.

Her eyes narrowed, and I realized that she was actually being serious. “Humans.”

“What about humans?”

“Look,” she said suddenly, sounding snappish and short-tempered, “I know you were at the forum and you know what I’m talking about. This is serious.”

I maintained my calm as I said, “I know this is serious. What I don’t know is how you know anything about what was said at forum, being that you’re not an elder and weren’t present.”

“I have my ways,” she said dismissively.

It took a lot of effort on my part not to interject my own comments to that. Pugna’ta certainly did have their ways, and they were less than moral. It wasn’t surprising to me at all that she would stoop to such a level, but I couldn’t help wondering which elder had been the one to bend to her will.

“The point is that we’re at risk. Albaterra is at risk,” she continued. “Never in our history have humans gotten so close to our planet. Our great advantage was knowing about their existence while they knew nothing of ours. That might be compromised now.”

“I am aware of this, Pugna’ta,” I said exasperatedly. “What’s your point?”

“My point is that we need to do something,” she hissed, stepping closer to me.

“We are doing something. And, by ‘we’, I mean the elders.”

She scoffed, rolling her head back with cynical amusement. “As long as that peace-monger Vi’den is running the forum, we’re not doing anything.”

My movement was swift and aggressive. I slammed my forearm into her throat, sending her flying backwards. She landed off the path in the waist-high grass on her back. I heard bustling from inside the house and knew that my family was watching everything that was happening, but I didn’t restrain myself. Walking to where she lay, I looked down at Pugna’ta with daggers in my eyes.

“I ought to have you locked away for that,” I said icily.

She scrambled to her feet, looking disheveled and furious. “How dare you,” she seethed.

“You’ve got that backwards,” I said. “It’s a crime to disrespect an elder, you know.”

For a moment, I thought she was going to attack me. Then, her face mellowed, and she looked at me with wide eyes.

“I’m sorry, Rex,” she murmured. Her tone was layered in false innocence, and she kept her gaze trained on mine. “I was out of line.”

I didn’t reply. In truth, had she spoken ill of any other elder, I probably wouldn’t have even addressed it. Vi’den was my mentor, though, and an exceptionally kind soul. I was unyieldingly defensive of him, and I wasn’t going to let anyone—much less the haughty Pugna’ta—dishonor him.

“Really,” she said, closing the space between us and tracing a finger along the muscles of my chest. “I’m truly sorry, Rex.”

I grabbed her wrist and eased it back to her side. “What do you want, Pugna’ta?”

She pouted slightly with my rejection but said, “I want to help.”

“What do you mean?” I asked. “How?”

“However you need,” she replied silkily. Again, she lifted her finger to my chest and dragged it along my pectorals, but I didn’t stop her this time. She looked at me with earnest, suggestive eyes and added, “I want to offer myself to you in any way I can.”

The offer was double-edged, and there was no good way for me to answer. If it became necessary for us to go to war with the humans, Pugna’ta would be a vital resource. Her sword skills alone could slay an army. She also, however, was implying something much more personal, and to accept or turn down one offer would be to accept or turn down the other. Of course, as Tribe Elder, she would go to war if I commanded her, but Pugna’ta was the stubborn type of individual that was at her best when she wanted to be.

Finally, I settled on a response. “Thank you, Pugna’ta. I’m glad to have your support.”

“Always,” she murmured.

“Let me walk you to the post,” I said pointedly.

She shook her head. “No need, My Liege. Why don’t you just”—she brushed the tip of her finger over my lips—“get back to your family?”

I waited outside until she reached the post that marked my parents’ property anyway, mainly to make sure that she wasn’t going to turn around and return. She threw a coy look to me over her shoulder before taking off at a sprint, and I knew that I could go back inside.

“Is everything okay?” my father asked once I closed the door behind me.

I quickly ran through my options in my mind. I could tell them that everything was fine and pretend the nature of Pugna’ta’s calling was purely social, or I could tell them that something was going on. If I opted for the latter, I would have to decide how much information to share. Had it been anyone else, I would have shared very little, but, since they were my parents, I chose full disclosure.

“Pugna’ta visited to offer her help with a recent crisis,” I said slowly. My mother and father exchanged looks immediately, but I continued to speak. “The elders were called to forum today—”

“What’s going on?” Father interrupted. His tone was sharp and brusque, and I knew it was from worry.

I sighed and leaned in close to them so that my siblings wouldn’t hear. “I’m going to tell you, but you cannot tell anyone. I mean it. This could be a life-or-death matter.”

“Son,” my father said, putting a hand on my shoulder, “just tell us what’s happening.”

I looked at him. He stared back at me with a hard, concerned gaze. I turn my eyes to my mother, and she gave me a small nod of reassurance.

“Humans have entered our galaxy,” I said. I tried to keep my voice calm and level to prevent them from panicking, but my mother’s eyes opened wide immediately and my father stiffened. “We have knowledge of at least four ships within Andromeda, and there is one ship that is approaching Albaterra.”

“Oh,” Mother said softly, placing a hand to her mouth.

“A vote was taken and passed to destroy the known ships within Andromeda’s borders, starting with the one nearest Albaterra, of course. Another vote was taken as to our next move after destroying the immediate threat, and it was agreed that A’li-uud would go to Earth to question human leaders.” I inhaled a brief, slightly shaky breath and added, “We don’t know if they have intelligence of our existence or not.”

“I thought that was known,” Father said loudly. He sounded angry. “We’ve been told they don’t know of us.”

I nodded. “That was what we honestly believed. Now that they’re so near, we can’t be sure. It’s possible they just happened across our galaxy and Albaterra and have no idea that we’re here. However, it’s equally as possible that they’re here for a reason.”

Mother’s eyes were as wide as saucers, and she looked over at my little brother and sister. I knew she was frightened, but I had nothing to say to reassure her.

“Does Vi’den believe they know of us?” Father asked. My father and Vi’den had known each other for many years, and much of my father’s concerns for the well-being of the A’li-uud race were alleviated in knowing Vi’den ran forum.

“He didn’t say, but I don’t think he believes—”

My words were cut off by a sudden, ground-shaking boom, and my father and I both jumped to our feet. Mother raced to my siblings and tugged them into her arms, but Igno tried to disentangle himself from her as he yelled, “Oh no! Oh no!”

“Quiet, Igno!” I barked, and he silenced immediately. There was another boom, smaller this time, and I turned to my father. “Stay here. Protect them.”

“You can’t go alone!” he said.

“They need you more than I do right now,” I told him. “Stay.”

Had I still been a child, he never would have listened to me. As his Tribe Elder, however, I had authority over him, and he knew it. He inclined his head in a show of obedient respect, and I darted out of the door.

I scanned the horizon for any sign of trouble or disturbance, and I found what I sought almost at once. Sooty smoke rose in billows across the plains, and I could see the flickering glow of flames within the curls. The source was too far away to see from my parents’ walk, so I took off at a run toward the smoke. I reached down as I sprinted to ensure that I was armed, and, as I drew nearer, I was glad that I did.

In the eye of the smoke cloud was a ship.

Chapter Four

TABITHA

I awoke to blindness and a strange, high-pitched buzzing in my ears. It felt like my eyes were open, but I couldn’t see a thing. My muscles tensed as I started to panic, and I didn’t even notice how sore I was until I moved my legs to kick at whatever was on top of me. I realized with horror that the Paragon had crashed, and I was trapped under the wreckage.

The stink of acrid, burnt rubber and thick smoke filled my nose and forced me to choke back vomit. All I could hear was that buzzing, and I didn’t know if it was from the sudden pressure change that had occurred when the ship careened into the atmosphere or something else. I grit my teeth and forced my legs upward in an attempt to shove the object above me away. I felt it give slightly, but not nearly enough to move it, and my panic increased as I wondered if I was trapped and would die here of starvation. I tried again, and it gave a little more. On the third try, it separated from its other parts with a loud whine of protest, and I was instantly dazzled with weird, white sunlight.

I righted myself and started to awkwardly maneuver through the warped metal of the destroyed ship. I was certain I was going to throw up at any moment, and my vision was swimming in such a way that everything I saw seemed to have a disconcerting ripple effect. After what felt like hours, I was free, and I collapsed onto the ground like a dropped puppet.

The grass beneath me was bizarre. It was tan in color, but it was brighter and more vibrant than the kind of grass I was used to, and it felt as soft as grey dandelion fuzz. Through the tall blades, I made out the forms of several bodies littered around the ruins of the ship, and my stomach rolled violently as I realized that they weren’t moving. The buzzing was finally fading away into a soft hum, and I pricked my ears for any noise inside the Paragon, hoping against hope that those inside were still alive. I didn’t hear a thing except for the crackling of flames.

I realized that, if there were any survivors, I might be their only chance. I inhaled deeply and was instantly struck by what I breathed. The air was different, cleaner, almost sharp in its purity. It seemed to take less effort to fill my lungs and satisfy my need for oxygen. I let out the breath slowly and methodically, counting each second as a measuring stick. Then, I shakily got to my feet again.

My eyes had finally adjusted in the white light, and I was instantly paralyzed with awe as I saw my surroundings. The peculiar grass seemed to stretch for miles on flat, limitless land until it met with an ethereal sky of turquoise and lavender swirls. Despite the sunlight, I could clearly make out the pricked pattern of winking stars between each elegant flourish. Punctuating the landscape were several trees, widespread and alone in their roots, and they each boasted at least eight long, gnarled branches that extended in all directions and were adorned with queer tendrils of leafy flora. Everything seemed to be in technicolor, brilliant and utterly brazen in each hue, almost as if from a painting, and I couldn’t stop myself from repeatedly blinking just to make sure that the crash hadn’t injured my eyesight—or my brain, for that matter.

I turned back around to look at the Paragon. The ship was utterly decimated and looked like nothing more than a pile of rubble from a junkyard. Thick flames licked the creases between bent and broken metal, and I noticed immediately that the flames were unusual in their color: a rather salmon-like hue. Dark grey smoke poured continuously from every inch of the spacecraft in bursts so thick that they looked more like cement than smoke. I wanted to cry. There were almost certainly others inside, still alive and frightened, but to attempt to rescue them would basically be a suicide mission.

There had to be something around that could help me, so I scanned the visible perimeter of the ship before glancing around the foreign terrain, searching for anything that I could use to clear a path or push the burning debris aside. Before I located anything, however, movement caught my attention. In the distance, I saw the form of somebody that seemed very human approaching. I felt panic swell in my chest, and I wondered if I should hide. It was possible that, on this strange planet, whoever it was would not be friendly to me.

Before I could decide if I wanted to hide or to ask for help, though, I saw the humanoid reach to its side and unsheathe a weapon. It looked like a scimitar, but it glowed a bright fuchsia color and seemed to pulsate. I knew that the thing had seen me and that hiding would do no good now, so I stood with my feet planted firmly in place, awaiting whatever was to come.

As he drew nearer, I wondered if my eyes were deceiving me. He was very human in form, tall with two arms and two legs, and a head, of course. His face looked like any other human’s face as well, but his skin was blue. It wasn’t the shade of sickly blue caused by suffocation, either; it was a beautiful, hydrangea kind of blue, and it seemed almost translucent. I realized that what I interpreted as translucence was actually a pale shimmer that was practically indiscernible if not for the white light of the alien sun dancing off of it.

His eyes were trained on me, unmoving and focused, and I lost myself in them for the briefest of moments. They were small, but they were intense in both their color and their expression. He clearly had an iris and a pupil as human eyes did, but his iris was ghostly white. His eyes were set beneath a stern brow and above a pair of exquisitely-sculpted cheekbones.

I was so captivated by his eyes that I almost didn’t notice his body. When I did, I was just as enthralled. As sculpted and angular as his cheekbones were, his abdomen put them to shame. I could clearly see each and every muscle, so defined that the indents between them looked like marker-drawn lines, and, as he walked, they flexed and rippled. His arms were equally as toned, but he wasn’t beefy as I would have expected by looking at his stomach. They were lithe and athletic with evident but gentle curves where his biceps and triceps were. I couldn’t see his legs, for he was wearing a pair of pants that were made from some kind of leather I had never seen before, but I imagined that they were just as impressive.

He stopped walking when he was about ten feet away from me, and we just stared at each other. I didn’t want to speak. I wasn’t sure what he was going to do, and I couldn’t help noticing the way he alertly gripped his weapon. He looked back at me with the same kind of wariness that I felt, and then he opened his mouth.

What came out was a series of clacks and clicks and snaps, and it sounded strangely similar to the crackling of the flames behind me. They were staccato sounds that only lasted for a second, but so unusual were they that I was rendered speechless for a second. He stood there, looking at me with his weapon brandished, and I realized that he was waiting for a response.

“I-I don’t understand,” I said.

My voice sounded extraordinarily weird to me. It was like I hadn’t heard myself speak in years and I’d finally broken the silence. The unsettlingly clear air made my words sound almost melodic, rather like a song. I tried to remain stock-still to avoid appearing threatening to him as I waited for some sort of conversational reciprocation.

He opened his mouth again, and I expected some more clacks. What I heard, instead, stunned me.

“Who are you?”

He had a low, growling voice that seemed predatory in its nature, and his words had the same kind of staccato delivery as his clacking had. I was able to understand him, though, and it surprised me so much that I almost couldn’t answer.

“You…speak English?” I asked.

“I speak whatever language is spoken to me,” he said. He jerked his scimitar forward and repeated, “Who are you?”

“Tabitha,” I answered at once, my eyes on the sword. “Bartel.”

“You are human, Tabitha Bartel?” His eyes were unnaturally still as they stared at my face.

I started to nod before remembering that I meant not to move. “Yes.”

“You are from Earth?”

“Yes,” I said again.

He stared at me a moment more before slowly, painstakingly slowly, turning his gaze to the Paragon’s wreckage behind me. In the same growl, he asked, “What happened?”

“I-I don’t know,” I said. I started to turn to look at the ship as well, but the movement startled him, and he leapt forward with the scimitar extended toward me. I shrieked, my hands shooting up involuntarily to both protect myself and show him I was not a threat. He placed the tip of the weapon below my chin and used it to tilt my face up to his.

“You will not move,” he intoned.

“Okay,” I whispered. I didn’t realize I was shaking until I felt the sword jiggling slightly against my neck.

He didn’t speak as he looked back at the ship, keeping the glowing scimitar in place beneath my chin. I watched his eyes glide slowly over the broken structure, lingering on something unknown for a second or two before moving on to something else. I kept my hands up by my ears and tried not to swallow for fear of the sword puncturing my throat. Silence passed between us for a long time as he just looked, and, finally, I spoke.

“Where am I?” I asked.

My words jarred him, and his ivory irises darted back to me. For a moment, I thought he wasn’t going to answer me—or, worse, that he was going to kill me—but then he responded.

“You are on the planet Albaterra,” he said.

“And…what are you?”

He studied me for a second. “I am A’li-uud.”

“Are there more of you?” For some reason, I couldn’t stop the questions. They offered me some reassurance, though I didn’t know of what nature.

Again, he studied me before replying. “Yes. We are to Albaterra what humans are to Earth.”

I wanted to nod, but I refrained. The tip of the scimitar was still resting against my throat and serving as a reminder that this creature, this A’li-uud, could kill me at any time.

“Do you have a name?” I murmured hopefully.

This time, he didn’t answer me at all. Instead, he lunged forward unexpectedly, and I yelped. His fingers closed around my upper arm and yanked me to him with such a powerful grip that I had no chance of getting away without tearing my own arm off in the process. Trembling violently, I started to whimper, and tears flooded my eyes. I was certain I was experiencing my last moments of life.

“You are to come with me,” he said.

“What?” My voice sounded high-pitched and gravelly with fright. “Where?”

“You will come to my village to be questioned.” He shoved me forward with such strength that I nearly fell on my face, and, when I straightened up, I felt him press the tip of the sword against my spine. “You will lead.”

I nodded as the tears finally started to dribble down my cheeks and took a step forward. Then, I remembered the other crew members and stopped dead in my tracks, not even thinking that I should warn him in case he continued to walk and ended up spearing me clean through.

“The others,” I said loudly. “There might be others. There were ninety-seven of us. Some may have survived the crash.”

“They are not your concern,” he growled.

“I can’t just leave them to die!” I cried tearfully, now weeping freely.

I anticipated being told to shut up, to keep walking, to do as I was told, but he said none of those things. Instead, he was quiet for a beat, and then he spoke.

“If there are any survivors, my warriors will find them.”

“Will they kill them?” I asked.

“They will be ordered to bring them back safely to the village,” he told me. His voice was calm and steady, and it sounded so genuine that I felt relief flood through me.

“Thank you,” I whispered. I was sure he wouldn’t be able to hear me, as my words were quiet and he was standing behind me, but he replied at once, and I realized that his hearing must be exponentially better than a human’s.

“You are welcome, Tabitha Bartel. Now, walk.”

Chapter Five

REX

I had seen humans in elder recollections and surveillance logs, but I had never met one in person. She was different than I had expected. From what I knew of humans, they were self-destructive creatures with paralyzing fear of the unknown and self-serving morals. They invented reasons for the things they couldn’t explain and dismissed the things they could. Abuse of their land, their race, and their existence was instinctual for them, and self-preservation took precedence over the greater good.

Tabitha Bartel skewered those notions.

It was possible, of course, that she’d wanted to save her fellow humans to ensure herself allies. It was also possible that she’d desired to be lauded for her heroism. I had heard her words in the wind, though, and they had whispered of the honest desire to rescue the others for the sake of nothing more than the sheer value of life, and that was something I’d thought impossible of a human.

Had she never requested their rescue, I would have instructed my warriors to save them anyway. The decision of their fate did not lie on my shoulders alone; it was to be the responsibility of the entire elder council. Her genuine plea, however, ensured safety for her crewmates that they otherwise would not have had. My warriors would be commanded to spill no blood and cause no harm to any human alive in the destruction. As for Tabitha Bartel, I would question her myself.

I was taking her back to my parents’ house. It was much closer than my own, and my house was also guarded and staffed. I didn’t want anyone knowing I’d brought back a human yet.

When we arrived, I said, “Stop.”

She froze immediately. I stepped in front of her and looked at her. I could tell that she wanted to look around, but she kept her eyes firmly on mine. It was a good choice on her part.

“I will enter first. You will not run. If you do, you will die. There are creatures in the plains that will kill you in an instant, and, if they don’t get you, I will. Follow me closely,” I instructed.

She nodded shakily, looking like her voice was stuck in her throat. I turned and opened the door, and I felt her presence within inches behind me.

The moment we stepped inside, my mother and father both looked up. They were near the cooking pot and appeared to be in a deep discussion. Upon seeing the human, however, they both responded at once. Mother sprung back and raced over to my siblings, placing her body firmly between them and Tabitha Bartel. My father had the opposite reaction; he jerked toward me in an attack stance. I coolly held up a hand to stop him.

“There was a crash. I assume it’s the ship that was closest to Albaterra,” I told them, looking at Father as I spoke. “This human was the only one I found, but she thinks there are survivors inside the ruins.”

“You didn’t kill her?” my father hissed. He was staring aggressively at the girl, and I involuntarily stepped in front of her to shield her from him. I didn’t know why I did it, but it was my natural response to the expression on his face.

“To kill her would undermine the authority of the elder council,” I said. “That is a forum decision.”

“Why did you bring her here?” Mother whimpered. She was visibly trembling.

I glanced over my shoulder at Tabitha Bartel and saw that she was looking between my parents and me with a mixture of fright and confusion on her face. I realized that I had reverted back to A’li-uud dialect in speaking to them, but I continued in the language, not feeling that she should understand the conversation quite yet.

“I have staff and guards, Mother. I don’t want more people knowing that I have her until necessary.”

“Isn’t that undermining the authority of the elder council?” Father asked pointedly.

I turned my gaze back to him, and I felt myself standing a little straighter with the power of my elderhood. He seemed to shrink slightly beneath the weight of my expression.

“You may be my father,” I said quietly, “but I am still your king.”

He looked furious, but he kept silent.

“I need you to dispatch the warriors to the crash site. All survivors are to be extracted and brought to confinement. Any warrior who harms a human in the slightest will be executed; be sure they understand this. Tell nobody of this human.”

Father looked as though he wanted to argue, but he turned to my mother with a small nod and exited the house, sidling past Tabitha Bartel cautiously. When the door closed behind him, I said to Mother, “I will be taking her upstairs to my bedroom to interrogate her. Stay down here with Igno and Risa.”

“Yes, son,” she murmured, clutching my siblings to her.

I motioned for the human to follow me and led her up the staircase to what used to be my bedroom. Once inside, I closed the door behind us and pointed to the bed.

“Sit.”

She obeyed. As she sat, she looked surprised by something, and I realized that she was probably unfamiliar with virtually everything she saw, touched, and heard.

“Are you going to kill me?” she asked in a small voice.

For the first time since finding her, I was able to properly take in what I saw. Her hair was dark brown, much like the spots on hicorn, and fell past her shoulders in loose but bouncy curls. It looked as soft as the prairie grass, and I actually found myself wanting to touch it. Her eyes were fixated on me in wide, fearful rounds, but I noticed that they were almost the same color blue of the mid-morning sky. She had a figure similar to Pugna’ta, but her human curves were slightly curvier and she didn’t sport Pugna’ta’s muscular ripples. She was beautiful in a way that I’d never considered before, beautiful in a way that I had never been exposed to.

“No,” I said finally. “Not yet, at least.”

I saw her eyes fill with liquid, and then a droplet leaked from the corner of one and spilled down her cheek. It was intoxicating a sight to behold, almost majestic in a way.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

She looked at me in confusion as a second droplet dribbled along her nose-line. “What do you mean?”

“Your eyes,” I said, motioning toward them with one hand. “What is happening?”

“Oh,” she said quickly, brushing her palm over both eyes and sniffling. “I’m crying. I’m sorry.”

“Why are you doing that?”

She looked at me like I was crazy. “Because I-I’m scared.”

I leaned against the wall opposite her and watched as she wiped away more of the droplets. I was finding her more fascinating by the second, but I didn’t know why. Even stranger than that was my lack of fear. Nothing about her made me feel threatened. In fact, I felt an urge to reassure her, to let her know that there was no reason to be scared, even though I couldn’t be sure that that was true.

“What is the name of your ship?” I asked, diving into questions to avoid any more of the strange emotions I was having.

“The Paragon,” she said with a sniffle.

“What was the Paragon doing in Andromeda?”

“I don’t know, exactly,” she said, looking up at me. No more droplets were skimming her cheeks, but her eyes looked red-rimmed and a little swollen. “I was just the chef.”

“Why were you onboard?”

At this question, her eyes dropped to her lap, and she looked torn between answers. When she responded, her voice was low and monotonous. “I didn’t want to be on Earth anymore.”

“Why?”

“Personal reasons,” she said defensively, looking back up at me with a defiant glint in her gaze.

I took a step forward and grabbed her chin harshly in my hand, jerking it upward. “There is no room for personal reasons here.”

She didn’t reply. Instead, she stared at me with an expression of awe rather than fear or anger. I released her chin.

“Why do you look at me like that?” I asked, my tone slathered in suspicion.

“Your skin,” she said in a voice of breathy amazement. “It’s so…strange.”

I furrowed my brow at her and crossed my arms. “What do you mean?”

She shook her head. “It’s just so smooth and warm and hard.” She flicked her gaze back up to mine. “What are you?”

“I told you. I am A’li-uud,” I answered stiffly.

“Can—may I touch you?” she asked, extending her fingertips toward me.

I considered her request for a moment. To my knowledge, humans were innately unmagical, and there wasn’t much she could do to me without weapons. Nevertheless, it seemed foolhardy to allow a prisoner (for all intents and purposes) to have direct contact with me. Despite my misgivings, though, I stepped even closer and held out an arm.

She pressed the pads of her fingers to my skin and slowly dragged them up and down the length of my forearm. She looked fascinated and almost excited. Something about her touch made me want to close my eyes and just revel in the sensations, but I kept my eyes fixed firmly on her as she explored. Her fingers drifted down to my hand, and she stroked down to the tips of my own fingers before caressing my palm with hers.

Everything she touched seemed to tingle. Her skin against mine felt cool and slick, and it relaxed me. I stared at her as she traveled up to the bend of my elbow and drank in the sight of her sun-white skin and sky-blue eyes.

“What’s your name?” she whispered, still stroking my arm.

Something in her voice sent a jolt through my gut, and my response sounded huskier than I intended as I said, “Rex.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Rex,” she said softly, looking up to me. She looked at my face more intently than she had thus far and asked, “May I see your eyes, please?”

I leaned down until we were level, and we stared at one another.

“Wow,” she murmured, pressing her fingertips to my cheekbone just below my eye as she spoke.

“You have never seen A’li-uud?” I asked, equally as quiet. It was a question I had intended to ask in the interrogation, but it came out now as a personal inquiry.

“No. I didn’t know you even existed.”

Her hand moved up my cheekbone and came to rest at my temple. I raised my own hand slowly until I was close enough to touch her, and I stroked her jaw with just as much intrigue as she had for me. Our eyes locked again, and I leaned forward until I felt her breath on my lips. She looked eager, intent, and slightly frightened, and I wanted to close the tiny gap between us.

But I didn’t.

I pulled back and straightened up, her hand falling limply from my face onto her thigh. She instantly seemed confused and hurt, and the slight fright on her features was now significant fear.

“I have to go,” I said. “You will stay in this room.”

“Where are you going?” she asked timidly.

I eyed her warily. “I am Tribe Elder of this kingdom. I must confer with my warriors about what they have found at your ship’s crash site, and I must speak with the other elders regarding what action we will take.”

“Shouldn’t—Shouldn’t I go with you?”

In any other circumstance, I would have brought her. I couldn’t understand why, but I couldn’t reconcile bringing her with me for fear that she would be harmed—or killed—on sight by one or several of the other elders.

“You are still needed,” I said in a clipped tone. “There are those that would kill you as soon as see you. I cannot take that chance.”

Something in her face softened, and she nodded.

“You will stay in this room.”

She looked rather disappointed as she asked, “Can’t I just stay at the house? Do I have to stay in the room?”

I thought about the request. My mother was going to be terrified whether the girl remained in the room or not. My father would likely feel more comfortable with her out of the room so that he could keep an eye on her. She was no threat that I could measure.

I nodded. “Fine. You may leave the room, but you must stay here.”

“I will. I promise,” she replied eagerly.

I moved for the door. Before I left, I looked over my shoulder at her and said, “I will be back soon, Tabitha Bartel.”

The corners of her mouth turned up in a smile, and she replied, “Just call me Tabitha.”

Chapter Six

Tabitha

I sat on the bed for a while after Rex left, reeling from everything that had happened. Fear still gripped my gut, fear of what was to happen to me as well as fear of what would happen to my surviving crewmates—if they survived at all. Greater than the fear, though, was the powerful curiosity and awe that I was feeling. Rex, this strange alien creature, was fascinating and intoxicating to me in a way that I’d never experienced before, and I wanted more of him. I wanted to be around him, to learn about this weird world from him, and to learn about who he was.

Finally, however, my curiosity got the better of me, and I stood. I crept slowly to the door, unsure if the other A’li-uud in the house were prepared to slaughter me the moment I stepped out. I heard sounds from the first floor that sounded like normal household activities, but I still didn’t feel entirely safe to just wander. Nevertheless, I opened the door cautiously and peeked out.

Nobody was around. My gaze fell on the same strange staircase that Rex had taken me up to get to this room. It seemed to be made of dirt, but it was solid and appeared to be crafted like any normal wooden or metal staircase. I tiptoed to the top step and began making my way down bit by bit.

When I made it to the bottom, I saw the two adult A’li-uud immediately. The female was hovering over a cooking pot, and the male was pacing around the space with his hands behind his back. Upon seeing me, both straightened up and seemed to freeze. I froze, too. I didn’t know what Rex had told them before he’d left, and I didn’t know if these aliens were trustworthy. Neither moved toward me, though. They both just remained rooted to their places with their eyes on me, though the female’s eyes darted across the room intermittently at the two little children.

“Hello,” I said uncertainly. My voice sounded loud and out of place in the room, and I almost wished I hadn’t spoken.

I received no reply. I considered racing back upstairs and holing up in the bedroom until Rex returned, but I couldn’t help myself.

“I’m Tabitha,” I continued, my words trembling slightly with nerves. “Rex said I could stay here while he was gone.”

“We know,” the male said.

I was taken aback by his voice. It was deep and low, and, while he spoke in English with the same staccato mannerism that Rex had, there was something almost foreign about the words. It was as if I could hear the clacking of his native tongue inside each syllable.

I understood him, though, and I nodded. “May I walk around?”

The female was looking at me with wide eyes now, clearly fearful, but the male seemed to be slightly more comfortable now that we were conversing.

“Rex says you are not a threat,” he said. It wasn’t exactly an answer to my question, so I responded to him.

“I’m not,” I said. “I don’t even know what you are or where I am.”

“We are A’li-uud,” the male replied, straightening up even further and puffing out his chest a bit.

It was a little difficult for me not to get snappish. Rex had just said that he was A’li-uud, too, when I’d inquired about what he was. I wanted to say that knowing the name of something didn’t explain what it was, but I was too far out of my element to do anything except nod again.

“Stay on the property,” the male commanded. He sounded very similar to Rex in his dominant command. “You are not safe if you leave.”

“I will,” I promised. The two adults across the room from me remained frozen in their spots, just watching me, so I decided to move first.

Walking outside, I was able to breathe a little bit easier. It was unnerving to have two sets of eyes boring into me and assessing every little move I made. There was freedom in closing the door between them and myself, and the vast expanse of plains around me only helped to lift that feeling of freedom. I stood on the front path and just looked for a moment.

The landscape was the same as it had been at the site of the crash, but, without the terror pulsating through me, it was even more breathtaking. The fluffy beige grass bent in synchronized dance with the whim of the breeze, making the ground seem to ripple like ocean waves, and it went on as far as the eye could see. A band of lilac-colored sky wrapped around the land where the horizon met the grasses, and, where there had been turquoise and lavender in the heavens before, there was now a blanket of cobalt and swirls of varying eggplant hues. The stars were so bright in the fading light that I couldn’t help but think of them as pieces of the weird white sun. The dusk brought with it blindness, but I could still make out the dark arms of the lifelike trees piercing the otherwise flawless skyline. It was beauty in its purest form.

I turned to look at the house behind me. I’d seen it when Rex had first brought me to it, of course, but I’d been so frightened that he was going to kill me that I hadn’t been able to appreciate it. It was rounded in shape but with sharp angles and straight lines at unpredicted places. I extended a hand and pressed my palm to the wall. It felt like clay or mud, dried from the sun, but firmer and hardier. There was no flaking, chipping, or dust from the structure, as I would have expected. The house also had windows made of some kind of extraordinary, nearly invisible glass, and the door was of a wood I wouldn’t have been able to name.

Without really thinking, I walked a few steps down the path and propped myself onto the top rail of a fence that was made of similar wood to the door. The fence didn’t seem to serve a purpose, as it had no gate to close and only stretched about ten yards, but it was a fitting place for me to have a seat and just relax for the first time since nearly plummeting to my death.

I was so lost in my thoughts about what would happen to me and what had or would happen to my crewmates that I didn’t notice the sky continuing to darken until a noise made me jump. I swung my head in the direction of the source, but I could see nothing, and my heart leapt into my throat with fear. Before I could decide to run into the house or wait to see what the sound was, though, Rex suddenly appeared by my side.

“Oh my God,” I said wheezily, putting a hand to my chest to steady my galloping heart. “Where did you come from?”

“We can move much faster than humans,” Rex said calmly. “What are you doing out here?”

“Just thinking,” I replied.

Through the darkness, I could make out his eyes staring at me intently. “Are you frightened?”

“Well, yeah,” I said. “I didn’t know it was you out there until you just popped up next to me.”

“No. Are you frightened of your fate?”

The question caught me off-guard, and I had to think for a moment. I knew the answer, that I was definitely afraid of my fate, but I wasn’t sure I wanted him to know that.

“Yes,” I finally answered honestly. “I don’t know what you want with me. And I don’t know what you’ll do when you get whatever it is you want.”

He continued to stare at me, and I desperately hoped that he would reassure me somehow. I wanted him to tell me that he wasn’t going to kill me, that I would be okay, and that he would help me get back to Earth.

He didn’t, though. Silence passed between us for several long beats, and then he said, “Come inside. My mother has made dinner. That is what you call night-meal, yes?”

“Yes,” I murmured. Then, tentatively, I asked, “Those people in there are your parents?”

“They are not people. They are A’li-uud,” he said sternly. “And, yes, they are my parents.”

He extended a hand to me, and I took it. He guided me gently off the fencepost to my feet and led me back inside the house. It was strange to me to enter this way, since the first and only time I had walked into this house had been with the threat of death.

Both his mother and father looked up when we walked in, and their eyes landed on me immediately with the same kind of wariness they had had before. Rex clacked something to them before showing me to the table. It was wood, but it was a different kind of wood than the fence and the door, and it seemed almost rubber-like in texture. I sat on the bench, which was also made of the rubber-wood, and waited in complete stillness for whatever was happening next.

Rex’s mother was bustling around the cooking pot, and she handed him a misshapen bowl of something, which he then brought to me with a spoon. I looked at the dinnerware as he placed it in front of me.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Hicorn stew,” he said.

I had been asking about the bowl and the spoon, as they were both cream-colored and had numerous imperfections, but this information distracted me from the original purpose of my inquiry. “What is hicorn?”

“A wild plains goat. They are a staple in our tribe’s diet.” He motioned to the bowl. “You eat from a hollowed hicorn horn, and you eat with a hicorn rib.”

I swallowed hard. I didn’t want to admit it, but I was horrified at the thought of eating off of bones. To refuse seemed like treason, however, so I carefully picked up the spoon, dipped it into the stew, and lifted it to my mouth.

It was odd, but strikingly delicious. The meat was tender and gamey in flavor, and the broth had a hearty, earthen taste to it. There were bits of other things in the stew as well, what I presumed to be A’li-uud vegetables, and they added every kind of flavor imaginable: seductive sweetness, tangy tartness, pungent bitterness, savory saltiness. If I were to dream up the most perfect, satisfying dish in the universe, this would have been it.

I ladled another spoonful into my mouth, and Rex watched me eat it before he walked back to the cooking pot. He returned to the table with two more bowls, which he set down opposite me. He made another trip, and, when he placed a bowl beside me, he sat down before it. I could feel his elbow brush against mine as he began to eat, and the touch made me shiver. His parents sat down on the other side of the table, his father across from me, and they kept their eyes averted as they dined.

Rex exchanged brief conversation with them throughout the short meal in his clacking language, but his mother seemed unwilling to speak, and his father was looking at him with a sternness on his face. I tried to eat as quickly as I could—and I was also extraordinarily hungry—so that I could escape back to the bedroom and let them talk properly. Just as I finished my food, however, Rex stood and extended a hand to me.

“Let us retire,” he said. He clacked something to his parents, and they both nodded.

I took his hand, and he guided me back up the stairs to the same bedroom he had brought me before. Once inside, he closed the door and turned to me.

“You are to sleep here,” he said. “Undress.”

“W-What?” I stammered.

He stepped toward me, closing the gap between us, and moved a hand to my waist. I realized that he was sliding my top up my torso, and I leapt back. He looked at me with surprise.

“What is wrong?” he asked. He sounded genuinely confused.

“You can’t just undress me!” I cried, tugging my shirt back down.

His head tilted to the side, and he stepped up to me again. “You are to sleep now.”

“Yes, but—” My voice died off as his hand skimmed the hem of my shirt again, his knuckles brushing along my waistline.

“You cannot sleep in these clothes. They are dirty and torn. We will get you new clothes tomorrow.”

I nodded, and, this time, I didn’t stop him as he slid the shirt up and over my head. His hands dropped back to my waist, and he eased my pants down the length of my legs. I stepped out of them gingerly, my heart beating faster than it had when he’d surprised me outside. My stomach was fluttering wildly, and my mouth was uncomfortably dry. Once I was reduced to my bra and panties, he looked me up and down. His eyes were narrow and hooded, and I imagined I had the same expression on my face as I looked back at him.

“Do you wish to remove those as well?” he asked, motioning to my undergarments.

For a moment, I imagined him unhooking my bra and sliding it from my breasts with the same gentleness he’d used to remove my other articles of clothing. I imagined the feeling of his strange skin against mine as he slipped my panties down my thighs, his mouth level with my most intimate place as he did. Then, I shook myself from the thoughts and responded.

“No. This is fine,” I said softly.

He nodded once and motioned to the bed. I climbed onto it and lifted back the blankets. They weren’t sheets and quilts as I was used to; they seemed to be made up of animal skins that had been beaten into buttery softness and furs that were exquisite to feel against my bare skin. I shimmied beneath them and pulled them up to my chin, rather self-conscious about being so naked in front of him.

“Where will you sleep?” I asked.

His eyes moved to the empty space in the bed beside me. Very seriously, he said, “There.”

Again, my stomach fluttered, and I mummified myself even more with the blankets. It wasn’t that I didn’t want him to touch me. It was the exact opposite, and that made me nervous. I wasn’t a promiscuous woman by any means, but something about this man—this alien—was making me quiver.

“Well, are you coming to bed, then?” I asked timidly.

He leaned against the wall across from the bed and crossed his arms over his unclothed chest. I couldn’t help but admire the way his muscles seemed to stand out, even through the darkness.

“When you sleep, I will sleep,” he said.

I wanted to ask him more questions, to get some of the answers I so desperately needed to know, but I was more tired than I thought. Between the crash, the new planet, Rex, and my rollercoaster of emotions, the day was more than I could take. I hadn’t even opened my mouth to ask my first question before I fell into a deep sleep.

Chapter Seven

Rex

A full moon cycle had passed since Tabitha had crashed into my kingdom and I’d brought her to my parents’ house.

My warriors had found thirty-three survivors inside the Paragon wreckage—which, counting Tabitha, made thirty-four captives. The humans had been brought to confinement within my village for holding until the council decided what to do about them. Tabitha, however, had remained with my parents, to the knowledge of no one but them and myself.

The forum on the captives had been, perhaps, the most turbulent yet in my elderhood. The vote had been very divided on what to do with the humans, but it had been ruled that they would be kept alive and tended to for questioning. In the meantime, it had been agreed that we would halt our attacks on the ships inside Andromeda’s borders. Vi’den had insisted that we learn what we could from the humans before continuing action, something I had agreed with wholeheartedly. It was unknown as of yet what would become of the humans after we had received all the information we could from them, but that was a subject for another forum.

I had chosen to forego telling the elders of Tabitha and her whereabouts. I wasn’t sure why I kept her a secret; it went against everything I believed to be my duty as Tribe Elder. For whatever reason, I couldn’t bring myself to confess, and I wasn’t entirely sure it was because I was concerned about the consequences to myself.

She had become a strangely well-integrated part of the household. I hadn’t been to my home since the crash, opting instead to stay at my parents’ whenever I wasn’t away on elder work. For several days after bring Tabitha there, my mother had been afraid of her and had stayed no greater than five strides away from my father. To my surprise, however, Mother had been the first to warm to her—not counting my little siblings, of course, who knew nothing of threat and danger.

It had happened one day when I was out hunting. I returned with a hicorn ram and found Mother and Tabitha around the cooking pot together. Tabitha was leaning over the pot, staring into it hard as though trying to memorize its contents, and Mother was explaining the recipe to her in English as she dropped ingredients in. When I’d walked in, they’d both looked up at me and smiled brightly, and I’d been so stunned to see them together that I’d just stared at them.

“What is wrong, my son?” Mother asked, reverting to our native tongue. Tabitha glanced at her momentarily before swinging her gaze back to me.

“You are not afraid of her?” I asked in surprised.

Mother flicked her eyes to Tabitha for a split second, then smiled warmly at me. “She has been no danger to us thus far. And I take great stock in your feelings for her, my boy.”

“What feelings?” I said sharply.

She didn’t answer. She just turned back to the cooking pot and resumed instructing Tabitha in English. I wanted to push the question, but I knew better. Despite being Tribe Elder, my mother was still an authority figure to me, and I wouldn’t rudely demand anything of her, so I resumed bringing the hicorn to the back to be cleaned and harvested. Her words remained in my mind, though.

My father hadn’t had an epiphany towards Tabitha, but he seemed to gradually take to her as he watched her play with my little brother and sister and help out my mother around the house. He no longer watched her with suspicion; on the contrary, he treated her as though she’d always been part of the family. He told her jokes and showed her various things about hunting tools. He also insisted that she come outside and learn about the animal anytime he brought home something she hadn’t seen from a hunt. It reminded me greatly of how he’d taught me everything I knew about living off our land and respecting the gifts of the Grand Circle.

At the end of the day, Tabitha and I continued to share the bed upstairs. Mother had lent her some new, undamaged clothes to wear for the first week of her stay, and Father had gone on several extra hunts just to get new skins that Mother showed Tabitha how to make into clothing. When it was time to sleep, however, Tabitha still wore her own underthings to bed, rather than the traditional night-skins the A’li-uud of our tribe wore. I had awoken during several nights to find my arm or my leg pressed up against her, and it had stirred something inside of me that had made me salivate.

She was so cool to the touch. I knew humans to be warm-blooded beings, but they weren’t nearly as warm as A’li-uud, and it was almost refreshing to touch her. Sometimes, in the night, when I’d realize I was touching her, she would shift in her sleep and cuddle herself against me. It was soothing and comforting, but it was also arousing, and I would spend the remainder of the night awake and alert.

During one of those nights, I gave into my whims a bit. I looked over at her and admired the way she slept. Her back was to me, her dark, curly hair spilling out over the pillow, and she breathed slowly and deeply. I lifted my hand and gently brought my fingers to the blade of her shoulder. As I made contact, she mewed a bit in her sleep, and I grit my teeth to keep down the desires that roared up within me. Slowly, I trailed my fingers down her side, feeling each ridge of her ribs and each curve of her femininity. It felt as though my skin buzzed against hers.

That was when I realized that my mother had been right. I had feelings for this human.

The next day, I studiously avoided both Tabitha and Mother, occupying myself instead with teaching Igno how to whittle vigibrach wood into pegs for building. I could tell, each time I passed her, that Tabitha was confused and a bit hurt by my behavior, but I didn’t want to address it. It frightened me that I cared for her. I didn’t know what was to come of her or what the consequences would be for either of us if we were to pursue something deeper, and I wasn’t prepared to be hurt.

“Rex!”

I looked up at the call and saw my father knee-deep in the grasses a short distance away.

“You have to go! A forum has been called!” he boomed to me.

I got to my feet, handing Igno the piece of vigibrach and the small knife, calling back to Father, “Thanks!”

He nodded and turned around, presumably to resume doing whatever he had been doing when he’d received word of the forum. I went into the house and found Tabitha sitting with Mother at the table. Furs were scattered about between them, and both seemed deeply focused.

“I have to go,” I announced, making them both look up. “There is a forum.”

Mother nodded, but Tabitha got to her feet. “Wait. I’ll walk you out.”

We exited the house together, and she smiled brightly at Igno as he showed her the peg he was working on. When we got to the edge of the front path, she put a hand on my arm to stop me.

“Is there something wrong?” she asked. Her eyes probed mine with obvious concern.

“No,” I said. “Why do you ask?”

She shrugged. “It feels like you don’t want to be around me.”

I intended to reassure her while keeping as much distance—emotionally and physically—as possible, but I couldn’t fight the feelings that took over. I reached forward and cupped her cheek in my hand. She looked back at me with a contradictory mixture of hope and fear in her expression.

“Tabitha,” I said quietly, “I always want to be around you.”

Her eyes seemed to melt, and she smiled. I could see in her eyes my own feelings mirrored back at me, and I realized that I probably wasn’t the only one feeling things I would never have expected.

“I need to go,” I told her, just as quietly as the last sentence.

She nodded against my hand. I kept it there for another second, and then I jumped on the winds to Po’tes-tat Ulti.

When I arrived, all of the other elders were already present. I took my seat, and Vi’den took presence as usual. I tried to stay focused on where I was and why I was there, but I couldn’t keep my mind from continuously reverting back to Tabitha and the look she’d had in her eyes. I was wrenched from the thoughts, however, when I heard Vi’den speak.

“It is time to revisit our action plan,” he said grandly, arms extended to the side. “The humans have been our captives for a full moon cycle. We have received a substantial amount of information from those that have been interrogated, and there is likely to be much more to come, but we can no longer forego addressing the other ships in Andromeda that continue to travel nearer to Albaterra.”

I sat frozen in my chair. The information we’d gathered from the humans, in my opinion, had been negligible; according to all of them, they had known nothing of us prior to their crash on our planet, and most didn’t know the specific reason they’d been sent on their space mission in the first place. It occurred to me that there may have been things learned that I had not been told of, and, with a sickening swoop, I wondered if any of the other elders had found out about Tabitha.

“We have enough humans to get what we need,” the vicious cave elder spat. “Blast the others.”

“It is possible those on the other ships know things these humans do not,” Ma’ris chimed in. “We would be unwise to destroy them without first questioning them.”

“Enough questions!” the cave elder barked back.

I could feel Duke’s eyes on me from my right, and I knew that he was waiting for me to say something. The humans had, after all, crashed in my kingdom, and it was expected that I would have particularly strong feelings one way or the other about our course of action. I couldn’t bring myself to say anything, though, for fear of blurting out something that would give Tabitha away.t

“We must come to a decision about the ships,” Vi’den said sagely. “The humans here are confined and pose no immediate threat to us. It is to the council to measure the risk the ships pose.”

“Blast’em!” the cave elder shouted.

“You are a foolish, narrow-sighted brute,” Ma’ris hissed to him. “Your thinking is the kind that decimates races and worlds.”

“And your thinking is what will have us all in shackles, doing the humans’ bidding,” the cave elder roared back.

“Enough!”

I didn’t mean to say it, and I certainly didn’t mean to yell it at the volume I did, but silence fell in the chamber at once as my command echoed throughout. All eyes turned to me, and I sat up a little straighter in my chair.

“Bickering amongst ourselves solves nothing,” I said. “And, if I recall, the Paragon landed in my kingdom. It was my warriors who found and brought back the surviving humans. It is my tribesmen keeping them confined and performing the interrogations. If anyone should have an opinion about the matter, it should be me, not either one of you in your ignorance.”

Both elders looked highly affronted, but Vi’den looked at me with an expression of obvious pride and approval.

“We would all greatly value your opinion on the matter, Rex,” he said.

I didn’t speak right away. I was going over my words in my mind, making sure I would say nothing of relevance to Tabitha. When I finally did speak, it was slowly and calculatingly.

“The humans have, for the most part, shown no signs of aggression. Those we have seen have been symptoms of fear for their survival. I do not believe they were aware of Albaterra or the A’li-uud prior to their crash.”

“That does not mean they weren’t sent by those who are aware,” Ma’ris cut in.

“Or that knowing about us now isn’t dangerous,” the cave elder added.

Silence fell again as their assertions rang in my ears. I realized, with a dull pang, that they were both right. At the end of the day, I was Tribe Elder, and I had a duty to my tribesmen and my race. If I was unwilling to uphold my promise of safety and protection to the A’li-uud, I may as well have been executed for treason.

My chest suddenly felt hollow and achy as the truth sank into me. My feelings for Tabitha were a distraction from the real problem, the real danger. My feelings could be the catalyst for the decimation of the A’li-uud race and Albaterra altogether. At the very least, the safety of my family was in question the moment the council found out about her.

“Let us vote,” Vi’den said. I stared at the floor, feeling sick to my stomach, as he said, “Those in favor of recommencing our plans to destroy all human ships in Andromeda?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw hands lift into the air one by one. Duke, beside me, extended his upward as well. I swallowed hard. I had a choice to make, and, if I made the wrong one, it could literally mean life or death.

With trembling fingers, I raised my hand.

Chapter Eight

Tabitha

I stood outside for several long minutes after Rex departed, just reveling in the way his palm had felt against my cheek and the husky way he’d said he always wanted to be around me. I’d been trying to ignore the tumultuous emotions I’d been feeling toward him that had been progressively growing stronger since he’d first brought me to his parents’ house, but the look in his eyes and the intimacy in his voice had finally made me come to terms with myself.

I was falling in love with him.

When we’d first met, he’d been very commanding and authoritative. That was natural, I suppose, given that I was a strange being who’d suddenly appeared into his world. I hadn’t known it at the time, but he was also Tribe Elder, and that meant that he had a responsibility to his tribe to keep them safe, and he hadn’t known if I was a danger to them.

As time had gone on, though, he’d changed. I’d seen him loosen up and become more naturally casual in his interactions with me. He had seemed genuinely interested in learning about me as a person, not just as a human, and he’d appeared to take great pleasure in showing me his life—or, at least, what I could learn of his life being confined to the house. We still slept together every night, and there had been more than one time that I’d woken up out of a deep sleep to find some part of him pressing against me. Once, I’d thought I’d felt him stroke my back, but I hadn’t been sure if it had just been a dream, and I’d never gathered up the courage to ask.

I wasn’t just falling in love with Rex, though. I was falling in love with everything. His parents, once they got used to me and stopped thinking I was going to attack them at any moment, turned out to be utterly delightful. His mother reminded me very much of my grandmother in her ways of taking care of her home and family and her willingness to pass on the little gems of tradition. His father was disarmingly sweet behind his gruffness, and, though he attempted to be businesslike and emotionally distant from me, he had become very protective of me and my safety.

Albaterra, or what I had seen of it, was a dream. I never tired of looking at the scenery around me. When Rex went for an afternoon hunt, I often sat in the tall, consuming grass and just stared at the sky around me. That was something I couldn’t get used to but delighted in: the Albaterran sky wasn’t above as it was on Earth; it was around, all-consuming. I felt as though I sat inside the sky like a little plastic snowman inside a snow globe. The turquoise and lavender heavens of the day, punctured by those incredible white stars, swallowed me whole and burrowed deep inside of me, while the cobalt sky of the eve pulled me into itself and wrapped around me like a blanket. The wheat-colored plains that stretched for miles in every direction were inviting and threatening at the same time, and I found the contradiction invigorating.

I finally moved from my spot at the end of the walk when Igno ran up to me and placed a finished peg into my hand. I studied it carefully, rolling it between my fingers, and I was surprised to find that it was crafted as perfectly as if Rex had done it himself.

“This is wonderful, Igno!” I exclaimed, smiling at the little blue boy.

“Yours,” he said with a nod.

“Thank you,” I replied earnestly. I bent at the waist to plant a kiss of appreciation on his head, and he beamed.

I took him inside and showed the peg to Beni, who raved over it just as I had. Igno bounced away, thrilled with himself, to make more pegs, but I sat down at the table again with Beni and picked up the fur I’d been working on sewing.

“You seem to like it here,” Beni said after a long quiet.

I looked up at her in surprise, accidentally pricking my finger with the bone needle. I stuck my finger in my mouth and lapped at the puncture with my tongue, but Beni shook her head and pulled my hand away from my lips by the wrist. She got to her feet and retrieved a little clay pot, which she brought back to the table and opened. Inside was a thick, greyish gunk. She took my finger and dabbed a very small amount of the gunk on the wound.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Boiled vigibrach bark and hicorn dung,” she replied. I looked down at my finger with mild disgust, but she seemed unfazed as she returned the pot to its shelf by the rustic fireplace. “It will heal by tomorrow.”

As she sat back down, she trained her eyes on me again. “Are you happy here?”

“Yes,” I answered honestly.

“Do you wish to stay?” she probed.

I thought about the question. I wasn’t sure if she was asking if I wanted to stay on Albaterra or if I wanted to stay at her house, but the answer was the same either way. “Yes, I would like to, but I don’t know what will happen.”

“Rex will do what makes you happy,” she said. She hadn’t picked up her fur yet, and I could tell that she had been wanting to have this conversation for a while.

Biting my lip, I averted my eyes from hers and stared fixedly at the table. “How do you know?”

“A mother knows.” I looked back up at her again, expecting her to have a telling smile on her face, but she looked matter-of-fact.

“My staying may not be what’s best, though,” I said, finally voicing a fear that had been building inside of me. Hearing the words spoken aloud sent a shiver of worry through me.

“Best for whom?” she asked intently.

“For anyone,” I answered. “Him, me, all A’li-uud.”

She leaned forward over the furs and peered at me with unexpected intensity as she said, “It is not up to me what is best for the A’li-uud, and I cannot tell you what is best for you. But I don’t think you need to fear that your staying is anything other than best for Rex.”

I looked back at her, and something seemed to swell inside me so rapidly that I thought I would burst. I felt both a strong desire to cry and a strong desire to laugh at the same time, but I settled to smile gratefully at her for her candor. She smiled in return and then sat back and picked up her fur.

We worked in silence for a long time until the door opened again and Rex entered. His eyes found me immediately, and I melted into a puddle beneath his gaze. He was shirtless, as usual, and the white sunlight spilling into the doorframe around him gave him an angelic appearance. His lips turned upward in a boyish grin that sent my stomach into the series of flutters I so often felt around him, and I actually giggled. In my peripheral vision, I could see a small smile of amusement spread across Beni’s face.

“You are done with forum?” she asked.

“Yes,” he answered, stepping all the way into the room and closing the door behind him. In the absence of the white sun, the room was noticeably dimmer, but it had an air of mystique that only served to heighten my arousal for him. An image of my body beneath his on top of the rubber-wood table flashed through my mind, and I felt my cheeks warm with a sudden blush.

He crossed the room to where his mother and I sat, and, as he moved to join me on the bench, his hand casually brushed the nape of my neck. I quivered beneath his touch, noticing that my skin felt the warm imprint of his fingertips even after he had sat down and rested his arms on the table.

“Has something happened?” Beni asked him. She didn’t sound overly concerned; rather, her tone was curious.

“The council has decided to resume action on the ships in Andromeda,” he said. I looked at him with questions in my eyes, but he only locked gazes with me for a second before looking away.

Beni, however, seemed intent on knowing more, and she didn’t seem at all happy about what she’d just heard. “Why? There is no known threat.”

I realized that they were most likely referring to the other ships on the mission that had included the Paragon, and I turned to him for his answer, as well as to ask more questions of my own. Before I could, though, he answered his mother in his clacking A’li-uud language. She spoke back to him with more clacks, and I looked rapidly between them in desperate hopes to understand what they said. I wasn’t sure if they realized they had switched tongues or not, but it seemed unlikely to me that they wouldn’t notice they had. Rex was intentionally making sure I didn’t know what he was saying.

It hurt me to realize that.

“Wait,” I interrupted. Both of them looked at me. “Speak in English.”

“It’s nothing for you to worry about,” Rex said dismissively, still keeping his eyes off of me.

I stared at him, trying to wrangle my mixed emotions. Part of me was hurt, but another part of me was furious that he was keeping information about the fate of my human counterparts from me.

“I didn’t say I was worried,” I said in a clipped tone. “I just want to know. I think I have the right.”

Without a word, Rex got to his feet and walked toward the door. I looked to Beni for advice, but the expression on her face told me that she was torn between loyalty to her son and her feelings on my right to know. I looked back to Rex.

“What is going to happen to the ships?” I called to his back.

He whipped around suddenly, and I thought that I’d crossed a line and infuriated him. His eyes were dark and angry, and his posture was defensive, as though he were about to engage in a deadly battle. I flinched at the mere sight of the expression on his handsome visage and opened my mouth to apologize for butting into council business, but he spoke before I could.

“Tabitha, go to the bedroom.”

I blinked numbly, shocked that he was actually sending me to my room as punishment for speaking out. When I didn’t move right away, he yelled, “Now!”

“Go,” Beni said in a hushed tone, pushing gently on my arm. “Go.”

I got to my feet in a harried rush, stumbling over the bench in my hurry to stand. Beni stood as well and reached for me to steady me. Then, with one last look at Rex, I strode to the stairs and ran up them two at a time.

“Close the door,” he ordered from the bottom of the staircase. I looked back at him, hoping to see some kind of explanation written on his face or any kind of telltale emotion in his eyes, but he was already walking outside.

I went into the bedroom and closed the door behind me as I’d been bid. Then, I made my way to the window to see where Rex was going. He was moving to the end of the walkway, and, in the distance, I saw the approaching figure of another A’li-uud. My stomach unknotted slightly as I realized that his sharpness had been to get me up to the room to protect me, but it tangled up again as I wondered who it was and what they wanted.

As the figure drew nearer, I saw that it was a female. She was beautiful, much like Rex but with more femininity, and there was a look of strong determination on her face. She wore skins that were tightly fitted to her muscular, curvy form, and it struck me just how pale she was compared to Rex and his family. Her skin was very light azure, and her hair was almost white, but she clearly wasn’t an elderly A’li-uud. In fact, she looked like she was around Rex’s age, perhaps even younger. I watched as she walked up to Rex and stood close enough that there was nothing but breath between them, and I saw her lift a hand and squeeze his arm affectionately.

My breath caught in my chest. This female wasn’t a mere acquaintance, a simple tribeswoman. As I observed the way she stood with her chest extended out and her hip popped slightly, and as I watched her lean into him to whisper something in his ear, I realized that she was something to him. It hit me that this woman—this alien woman—might have been the reason for his sudden distance from me, and I felt like I’d had a sledgehammer thrown into my gut.

When she tilted her face and pressed her lips to his, the first tear fell.

Chapter Nine

Rex

I stood at the end of the walk and watched Pugna’ta come closer. When we were within earshot of one another, I opened my mouth to call to her that it was a bad time, but I couldn’t say the words. Knowing Pugna’ta, she would interpret that as a challenge rather than a simple dismissal.

When she drew up in front of me, she smiled suggestively.

“Well, well,” she said, reaching forward and squeezing my forearm. “Awaited by the king himself. I’m a lucky girl.”

“What do you want, Pugna’ta?” I asked. My tone was harsh and very unfriendly, perhaps too much so, but it did nothing to dissuade her from her intentions. On the contrary, her eyes lit up, and I knew that I had been right about her taking any rejection as a challenge.

She bent forward slightly until her lips brushed against my ear, and I heard her whisper coyly, “You, Wise One.”

I didn’t have time to respond. She pulled her head back, tilted it sideways to look at me with a flirtatious grin, and suddenly leaned in. Her mouth pressed against mine insistently as she began kissing me.

Furious, I yanked my head back and stepped away from her. I snapped, “What are you doing?”

“Getting what I want,” she said, moving toward me again and trying to slip her arms around my waist.

“It’s not going to happen, Pugna’ta. I’ve told you this a hundred times.”

“Oh, you’re just being stub—”

Her words didn’t just die off into nothingness; they stopped short like they’d been chopped off by an axe. I looked at her, waiting for her to finish her sentence, but she was staring above my head with something like rage on her face.

“What?” I asked. I turned to see what she was looking at, and I realized, with the same sickening swoop in my stomach that I’d felt in forum, that she was looking at the upstairs bedroom window. I caught the flash of Tabitha ducking out of sight, but I knew it was too late.

“You have a human in there?” Pugna’ta shouted. I swiveled my head back to look at her just before she shoved me. I stumbled back a bit but retained my footing. “You’re keeping one in your house?”

“Shut up,” I hissed, leaping forward again and taking her by the throat. “Do not question me.”

“Our ever-faithful, ever-protecting elder, hiding a human away for his own personal pleasure,” she spat icily. Her voice sounded choked from the pressure I was putting on her throat, but I didn’t release her.

“You know nothing of what I do,” I growled.

“I know the council will be very interested to hear about this,” she retorted. Without warning, she swung her fist, and it connected with my temple. I let go of her at once, dazed, and she hopped back several feet.

“The human is not a threat,” I said, holding my head as it throbbed in my hands.

“Oh, no? Is that why we have all the others locked up?” I could see her physically seething, her body trembling with her fury. “You are putting us all in danger! And for what? To bed that human parasite?”

I roared, irate at the accusation. “Do not tell me that I am compromising my tribe!”

“You are selfish!” she screamed.

“And you are ignorant!” I shouted back.

“Well, we’ll just see who the council agrees with, then, won’t we?” she snapped.

I struck out again, grabbing her around the neck and slamming her to the ground. I pinned her to the dirt by her throat as she scratched at my hand, desperately trying to get me to let her up and free her airway. My voice sounded hoarse and otherworldly as I spoke.

“I. Am. Your. King,” I snarled.

She didn’t answer because she was unable to do anything but gasp for breath and struggle against my grip. I pushed down even harder, and her eyes grew so wide that they seemed to bug out of her head a bit.

“Don’t you ever imply that I care more for myself than my race,” I continued.

Her body flopped wildly, her legs kicking at the air and her arms pushing against mine. Her nails dug into the back of my hand, but I didn’t move even as blood rose to the surface of the wounds and started to spill in thin lines over my skin. She was making harsh gagging sounds that almost sounded like gurgles, and I could see her lips forming words that she was unable to speak.

“Rex!”

My father’s voice blossomed out of the still prairie air, and I heard his footsteps getting louder as he rushed up behind me. He grabbed me by my shoulders and pulled, trying to wrench me off of Pugna’ta, but he wasn’t strong enough to succeed.

“Son! Stop!” he yelled, moving down to take my wrist in both his hands and tug.

With a growl, I released Pugna’ta’s throat, and she scrambled away from me on all fours. Her breath was gritty and coarse, and she looked both terrified and irate. She reached up to her neck and massaged it roughly. I was still staring at her, and she stared back with equal hatred. My dad’s hands had returned to my shoulders.

“You need to leave. Now,” he said over my head, and I knew he was talking to Pugna’ta.

She didn’t move her eyes from me, and, for a moment, I thought she hadn’t even heard my father speak. Then, she slowly got to her feet, still massaging her neck. I, too, stood, and my father’s hands dropped from my shoulders. Only the breeze could be heard in the stillness. There was thick tension filling the air, and I was sure Pugna’ta was going to attack me with vengeful rage. When she finally moved, though, it was to take off at a sprint away from the house and back toward the village. I didn’t exhale until her back had become nothing more than a blurry haze.

“I’m sorry,” my father said, breaking the silence. I turned around and looked at him, and he looked back at me. “I’m sorry, son. You would have killed her.”

“I know,” I replied tonelessly.

He patted my shoulder and guided me inside. Mother was standing by the window, her eyes wide, and I knew that she’d seen everything. The moment I entered, however, she hurried to get me something to drink, and Father sat me down at the table.

“What happened?” he asked in a low voice.

I shook my head, angry at the fresh memory. Everything had happened so quickly and had been exactly what I’d been afraid of happening that it was hard for me to process the events. I could still see the image of Pugna’ta’s face as she spotted Tabitha in my mind, the fury and the fear in her features. I knew that, had I not attacked her, she would have gone into the house and killed Tabitha herself, or at least taken her to the lock-up with the other humans.

“She came to persuade me into a relationship again, and she saw Tabitha in the window upstairs.”

“What?” Mother whispered, horrified, as she brought me a mug of what I presumed was vigibrach root tea.

“She said that I was putting everyone at risk, the tribe and all the A’li-uud. She said she was going to tell the council about Tabitha.” I shook my head again and stared into the mug of tea. Steam rose up and clouded my vision, but I didn’t care. “I lost control. I was angry, and I was scared.”

“She wouldn’t tell anyone,” Mother said. I looked up at her and saw the worry scrawled across her face. “Would she?”

I almost laughed at the notion that Pugna’ta wouldn’t go running to the council about this. “Of course she will. I’d bet my elderhood that she’s on her way to Po’tes-tat Ulti now.”

Mother just stared at me with wide eyes, but Father asked, “How do the other elders seem to feel about the humans?”

“It’s divided,” I said honestly. “Almost split down the middle. We all agree that there is a potential risk to the A’li-uud if humans know about us, but there is contention about the level of risk—if any—if they don’t.”

“They’re going to destroy the ships in the galaxy,” Mother told Father. “Rex told me when he returned from forum today.”

Father looked at me for confirmation, and I nodded. “There has been no vote on what to do with the captive humans once we have everything we can get from them, though.”

“And the others do not know of Tabitha?” Father asked.

I breathed in a long, shaky breath, and then I shook my head with a hint of shame and an excess of defiance.

“Perhaps they wouldn’t mind,” Mother said hopefully. “They made you an elder for a reason. They trust your judgment. Maybe they will understand your decision.”

“My decision, at first, is what I thought was best for the tribe,” I said. I was starting to get angry again, but my anger was at myself for even getting into this situation in the first place. “But she has stayed because I knew she would not be safe if I put her into confinement with the others. Too many A’li-uud would consider her a danger for her knowledge of us now.”

“You haven’t kept her here because you wanted her here?” Mother asked knowingly.

I looked away. I felt a strange heaviness in my heart, and my innards seemed to be twisted up in fear. “It’s true. I wanted her here,” I murmured. It was the first time I had admitted my feelings out loud, and it both thrilled and scared me.

My mother moved to the side to catch my gaze. “Then, don’t you think the elders would understand that?”

“It’s not a risk we can take,” Father answered brusquely. He seemed to have snapped into action. His posture was very straight, and he looked deathly serious. “We have to protect Tabitha.”

“Of course we do, but how do we—?”

“Take her to your house,” Father said, cutting my mother off mid-sentence. His eyes bore into mine with more intensity than I had ever seen before, and I realized just how much he, too, cared for Tabitha.

I looked back at him, feeling helpless for the first time in my elderhood. “I can’t. I’ve kept her here this whole time because I can’t take her there. The staff and the guards could tell someone, and it could be a disaster.”

“The staff and the guards are the protection you need for her right now. They don’t need to know they’re protecting a human. They just need to protect.” Father lifted his eyebrows at me with insistence. “Take her to your house, son.”

“How am I supposed to get her into the house without anyone seeing?” I snapped. My fear was making me quick-tempered, and my heart was beating so hard that I could hear it in my ears.

Mother reached forward and placed her hand lovingly over mine. When I looked at her, I saw a blend of worry and pride painted in her smoke-grey eyes.

“My boy,” she whispered. “You’re the king.”

Chapter Ten

Tabitha

When Rex came flying into the bedroom, I practically jumped out of my skin. He flew around in a frenzy, grabbing the pile of clothes Beni and I had made and even snatching up the burnt, ripped clothes I’d worn when the Paragon had crashed. I was so stunned that I wasn’t even able to move from where I sat on the bed. I just watched him race around, gathering all my things and not saying word.

“Rex,” I said tearfully after a minute of no conversation or acknowledgement. “What’s going on?”

“We have to get you out of here immediately,” he said. He didn’t look at me as he spoke.

“Why?” I asked, sliding off the bed.

He didn’t answer me, but the look on his face told me not to ask again. I just started grabbing the few things I’d accumulated since arriving that he’d missed. When we had everything, he jerked his head to motion for me to exit the room first. I did, hurrying down the stairs, where I found his mother and father in a tizzy as well. Beni was hovering over the two little ones and putting away the furs we had been working on while Rex’s father trotted up to me with a huge bag made of sabrecat skin. He held it out, and I dumped the things in my arms into it. Rex came up behind me and dropped his gatherings into it as well. Then, he took the bag from his father and slung it over his shoulder.

“Be safe,” his father whispered, giving him a quick, one-armed hug.

Beni bustled over to him as well and threw her arms around his neck, murmuring, “I love you, my son.”

Rex opened the door, and I started to walk through it, but, before I could, Beni threw her arms around me as well. She pulled me to her warm body, and I could feel her trembling slightly.

“Take care of yourself,” she whispered in my ear as she hugged me.

I felt tears prick in my eyes, and I felt a heavy weight of sorrow in my chest even though I didn’t know what was happening. “I love you, Beni.”

“I love you too, sweet girl,” she said softly. She kissed me delicately on the cheek, and then she let me go. Rex’s father stepped forward and hugged me briefly as well, but he didn’t say a word. It looked like speaking would cause him pain. When he released me, Rex nudged my arm with his knuckles, and I walked out of the house into the sunset.

We hurried silently down the walk. When we reached the fencepost where I’d sat on my first day here, Rex stopped talking. He turned to me, and his face was grave.

“What I have to do is against A’li-uud law,” he said without preface. “I don’t know if it will even work, but we have to try.”

“What are we doing?” I asked nervously.

He looked out over the landscape as though ensuring nobody was within earshot, despite there not being another tribal home for miles, and then turned back to me and said, “We are going to fly on the winds.”

“That’s not against the law. You do that to get to forum.”

“It is against the law to take someone with me,” he said. “And I assume the law is especially unkind to taking humans.”

I swallowed hard. “Does it—will it hurt?”

“It doesn’t hurt me, but I don’t know what it will do to you,” he replied. He was being sincere, but the answer frightened me anyway.

I grit my teeth, and I nodded. He held out his hand to me, which I took. The feeling of his skin against mine was divine, even in the uncertain and terrifying circumstances, and I recalled the sensation of having his palm pressed to my cheek. I closed my eyes and took in a breath.

And then I was flying.

I heard everything and nothing at the same time. It was like having wind rushing in my ears and complete silence all at once. Bird chirps and rustling grass and prairie stallions galloping all seemed to sound repeatedly, but the sounds disappeared the moment I heard them and left me wondering if I was even hearing anything at all. I could still feel Rex’s hand in mine, but it had no pressure or temperature. It just existed. I was too scared to open my eyes, and even when everything suddenly came to a halt and I was jolted to a stop, I kept my eyes closed.

“Come,” Rex murmured. I could feel his body up against mine now, pressed so closely that the heat of his front radiated up and down my back. Slowly, anxiously, I parted my eyelids.

We were in front of a house constructed of the same things as his parents’, but it was much larger and grandiose in its size and architecture. My jaw actually fell open as I took in the burbling fountain before us, made of something like marble but much more exquisite and standing well over ten feet tall. The house itself was palatial, with massive, extravagant windows and beautiful balconies strung with strange, glittering lights.

I didn’t have time to take in any more than that, though, before Rex ushered me forward. He was walking quickly but quietly, and I wondered if we were breaking into someone’s home. He silently opened one of the double doors that served as an entrance and were large enough to have been the doors of an old English abbey.

It was dark inside, but I was able to see that there was a staircase before us so grand that I felt unworthy to step upon it. I didn’t have a choice, though. He grabbed my hand and ran up the steps with me in tow. Once we reached the landing, he looked every which way—for what, or whom, I didn’t know—before tugging me to the right. We raced down a long, wide corridor with portraits of A’li-uud lining the walls before coming to another set of huge double doors. He opened them, practically shoved me through, and shut them behind us. I heard the click of a lock before he turned to face me.

“What’s going on?” I asked him again for the first time since in the bedroom at his parents’ home.

“I’m keeping you safe,” he replied. He grabbed onto an armoire so big that I could probably stand inside and twirl and started to pull. It moved an inch, and he yanked again. I hurried to the other side and pushed, and it began to give. I kept quiet until he straightened up again, and I realized we had moved the armoire in front of the doors.

He wasn’t done, though. He went to a vanity of matching wood and pattern as the armoire and started to shove it toward the doors, too. I didn’t help with this one. Instead, I pushed for answers.

“What do you mean, keeping me safe?” I asked. “From what?”

“Pugna’ta saw you,” he grunted, shoving his shoulder up against the vanity as it eased its way across the floor.

“Who?”

He huffed as he got the piece of furniture in front of the doors as he wanted and turned to me. “Pugna’ta. She’s one of my warriors, and she saw you today.”

“Oh,” I said slowly, realizing who he was talking about. “That woman that came to your parents’ house.”

“Yes,” he said, walking across the room. I realized for the first time since entering that we were in a bedroom of such a size that it would likely hold Beni’s entire house and all of the things in it. He sat on the bed and looked at me, and he had such a defeated expression on his face that my heart actually ached. “She and I have a history that she’s always trying to rekindle. That’s why she came by. She saw you in the window, and she’s going to the council to tell them.”

My throat seemed to constrict with the news, but I tried to remain calm as I asked, “Why is that so bad?”

Rex’s eyes narrowed at me through the darkness. “You don’t understand. There are elders that will have you killed, or will kill you themselves, the minute they hear about you.”

“I thought you have to vote on things like that,” I squeaked.

“There are those that would prefer to do first and pay later,” he said. He got to his feet and walked to me until we were only inches apart. “I won’t let that happen.”

I looked up at him, shaking slightly with a new and powerful burst of adrenaline. “Where are we?”

“This is my house,” he said, waving a hand around. “Well, it’s the house of the kingdom’s Tribe Elder. I don’t own it.”

I nodded in understanding as my mind raced with fears and questions. I could feel his eyes on my face, but I didn’t look up at him until I found the voice to ask my next query. “Couldn’t we just go to forum? Together, I mean. I could talk to the other elders myself.”

His face, somehow, grew even more serious than it had been since he’d burst into the bedroom at his parents’ house. He said, “Tabitha, you would never get out of there alive. Like I said, there are elders that would kill you the moment they see you, and, even if they were able to restrain themselves long enough to hear anything you said, they would kill you after just because you know so much about our kind and our world.”

“So what?” I asked. My voice sounded about an octave higher than normal in my gradually rising panic. “Why does it matter if I know anything about A’li-uud or Albaterra or you or anything? What could I possibly do to hurt anyone?”

He shook his head, and I saw a mournful look take over his face. “It’s not about what threat you pose individually, Tabitha. It’s about what threat you pose as a species.”

I felt as defeated as he had looked moments before. He had an answer to every single one of my questions, and no answer was something we could work with. There was a dead end no matter which way I spun it. I felt hopeless, helpless, and tired.

“Wait,” I said suddenly. “What does this mean for you?”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Won’t you be in trouble for protecting me? I mean, especially if that girl tells the council about me and they put a—a hit out on me or something. Wouldn’t you be in trouble for, I don’t know, obstructing justice or something like that?”

He looked back at me silently, and I felt my head start to swim. I was right: he was facing serious consequences for what he was doing for me.

“The ones that will kill me,” I whispered, terrified to ask the question I was about to ask but even more terrified to hear the answer. “Will they kill you, too?”

Again, he just looked at me, and it was as if the walls around me were caving in. My heart stopped in my chest, and my breath caught in my throat. Black spots danced in my vision. I couldn’t hear anything except his breathing.

“No,” I murmured. My voice started growing louder with each word I spoke. “No. You can’t do this. They can’t do this. I won’t let them!”

With a cry of distress, I leapt forward. He caught me in the air, and I threw my arms around his neck. Our lips crushed together in a kiss so deep and so passionate that I realized I had never truly been kissed before. I tasted him, tasted the fruit of Albaterra on his lips, and relished the way his tongue intertwined with mine. My legs curled around his waist, and I felt his hands take hold of my rear end, keeping me held aloft. Suddenly, we were moving, but I knew nothing except for him. Our mouths were fused as one, and I felt his soul meeting mine.

I loved him. I was no longer falling in love with Rex; I loved him, and the very thought of him meeting his end to protect me brought tears to my eyes. They spilled down my cheeks in torrents and made both of our faces slick as we kissed, falling deeper and deeper into one another. I wept against his lips and finally released the fear, the uncertainty, and—above all—the love that I’d kept bottled up ever since I’d landed in a fiery heap on Albaterra.

“I can’t let you do this,” I sobbed, breaking the kiss in my failed efforts to restrain myself from saying the words. I became dimly aware that he was carrying me across the room toward the bed. “I can’t let you die for me.”

“I have no choice,” he said hoarsely. He wasn’t watching where he was walking. He just kept his eyes pinned to me. “Without you, there’s no life to live anyway.”

I looked back at him, our eyes searching each other, and then I kissed him again with fervor. He kissed me back, his tongue gliding over my lower lip and skimming the path of my teeth, just as we tipped backward onto the bed.

Chapter Eleven

Rex

“The ones that will kill me,” Tabitha whispered. “Will they kill you, too?”

I stared back at her, unable to form the words to answer her. My ears were pricked for any noise that would give warning of incoming danger, and, if she hadn’t been looking at me with such desperation, I would have been pacing the room and looking out of each of the windows intermittently. When I didn’t respond, her face crumpled.

“No. No. You can’t do this. They can’t do this. I won’t let them!”

She cried out and sprang toward me, and I reached for her. She landed in my arms, and, the next thing I knew, we were kissing. I felt her legs wrap around my waist, but I couldn’t process anything other than her. She tasted exactly as I imagined the heavens would taste if I could pluck one of the lavender clouds from the sky, and I was filled with that same sweet, delicate scent of hers that I smelled every night as we slept beside each other.

I carried her to the bed, and we fell onto the mattress clumsily. Her lips were against mine in furious passion and carnivorous lust. I blindly reached for her clothes and ripped them from her, so hungry for her that I was sure I wouldn’t survive it if I didn’t have her. She reciprocated by rolling my pants down my legs and whipping them off, throwing them to the side carelessly. Through the darkness, I could see her eyes widen as they focused on my nether region, and I looked down too. I was erect and ready.

“Is something wrong?” I whispered.

She shook her head. “I’ve just never seen—you’re so big.”

I looked down at myself again, still feeling the powerful urges of lust but now also feeling the impediment of nerves, and asked, “Are humans smaller?”

“Usually,” she said. She crawled up my body, then, and pressed her lips delicately to mine in a kiss of sweetness rather than urgency. When she pulled back, she said, “I suppose you’ve never been with a human.”

“No,” I replied softly. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

She kissed me lightly again. “You won’t. I’ll show you.”

My lust took over again, and I enveloped her lips with my own. She kissed me back with equal vehemence, and I felt her hand drop to my erection. Her fingers, cool to the touch as her skin always was, wrapped around my girth and started to stroke so slowly that it was almost torture. I groaned into her mouth, and I felt her smile.

“Patience,” she whispered, lifting her face from mine and easing her way back down my body. When she was level with my groin, she exhaled softly, and I felt the breath caress me. I shivered with desire.

Her fingers continued to slide up and down my length, and I watched her. Despite the darkness, I had never seen her look so radiant. She was beautiful. Her dark curls hung down in imperfect perfection, framing her face in such a way that I couldn’t help but stare. I saw those eyes that had captivated me the moment I had seen her at the crash site looking up at me, and they penetrated me to my very core.

I was in love with this woman, this human, this Tabitha Bartel. That was the truth of the matter, and I was going to do everything in my power to protect her from the prejudices and fear-founded impulses of my peers.

She lowered her head down and took me between her lips, and I inhaled sharply. My hips lifted against my will, but she pressed down on my thighs lightly to keep me in place. I had never felt anything quite like it, and I knew it was because it was she who did this to me. Tabitha was my beginning, and she would be my end.

I felt her tongue caressing my hardness the way it had caressed my tongue when we’d kissed, and it sent me into such a frenzy of desire that I writhed beneath her. I wanted to take her, to be one with her not just emotionally and spiritually but physically as well, but I let her take control. I wasn’t sure how to be with a human; I didn’t know if human intimacy was the same as with A’li-uud.

I reached down and stroked her curls. She moaned into me, so I tangled my fingers in her hair and felt the way she pleasured me through my palms. I watched my hands rise and fall repeatedly atop her head in tandem with the rise and fall of my chest as I breathed, and my head rolled back against the pillow. It was, perhaps, the most intense experience of my life, and any experience I had had prior to Tabitha didn’t compare. With each burst of sensation that crashed through me came an even more powerful burst of emotion as the love I felt her for dominated my entire being.

When she lifted her mouth from me and looked up at me, I returned her gaze. I was breathless, wanting, but I didn’t want to go alone. I wanted her to join me; I needed her to join me. I released her hair and held out my hand to her, which she took. Then, I pulled her back up until we were face-to-face again, and I claimed her mouth with my own.

She rolled to the side without separating her lips from mine, and I followed until I was atop her. Her hand dipped down again and sought my manhood. I growled, and she mewled in return. I felt her guiding me, and then I felt myself being pressed up against her most intimate of areas.

“Go,” she whispered against my mouth. “Slowly.”

I did as she asked, easing forward so carefully that the movement was almost unnoticeable. Her hand remained in place at my base, and she pushed back against me after a second to indicate she wanted me to withdraw. I obeyed, and, when she gently guided me forward again, she moaned into me. It was the most intoxicating sound I had ever heard, and I engulfed her with a deep, soul-reaching kiss. This time, she didn’t push me back, and I entered her fully.

Tabitha’s back arched to the ceiling, pressing her breasts into my chest and breaking our kiss. I looked down at her, admiring the beauty of her face in its ecstasy. Her mouth was parted very slightly to allow for the shallow breaths she panted to slip through her lips, and her eyes were closed so that her lashes kissed the shelves of her cheekbones. I grazed the tip of my tongue over her lower lip, and she opened her eyes again to meet my gaze.

“More,” she murmured headily.

Her voice alone was enough to spur me on, but the command was an order I was happy to obey. Our chest rose and fell together, our skin sliding back and forth over one another, and we kept our eyes locked. Her mouth opened a little wider as I took her and panting gave way to moaning. I couldn’t keep myself from dropping my lips to hers and tasting the guttural moans on her tongue. She reached up and clawed at my back, her nails pressing unrelentingly into my skin, and I grunted with the onset of pain. It hurt, but it was the most delicious kind of pain. It was the pain of lust and love and promise and protection and trust and safety and fear and worry and all other things. It brought me to the edge, but I held back.

“Rex!” she cried, throwing her head back and scratching up to the nape of my neck.

My name on her lips was the most beautiful sound I had ever heard in my life, and I had to taste it. I lunged forward, plunging my tongue into her mouth and swallowing her passion into myself. Making love to her was an experience I never could have understood before her, something I never could have understood without her. It was not just a meeting of bodies as times past had been; it was the meeting of souls. Her lips, her nails, her skin, her eyes, her entire being held me captive in a never-ending circle of enchanted love. It was a circle that, in all its heresy, was the only thing greater in the universe than the Grand Circle.

“I love you,” I said. My voice was muffled against her, so I yelled it out. “I love you!”

“I love you too,” she panted breathlessly.

The words sent me spiraling into the throes of euphoria, and I felt her join me. We rocketed together through time and space, leaving behind everything that was and greeting all that would be. I knew of nothing but her. As I groaned her name and stared into her angelic face, I knew that nothing would ever matter to me again. She was beauty personified, and our love was as visceral as our love-making.

I didn’t stop moving until she told me to, and, when she did, it was with a voice thick with satiation. Her eyes were dark and hooded, and her skin felt warmer than it ever had. I looked down at her without withdrawing myself and brought my fingertips to her cheek, which was crimson and flushed.

“I promise,” I whispered, “I will protect you. I will keep you safe.”

She gazed back at me and murmured, “But what about you?”

“You’re more important.” I brushed my fingertips along her jawline as I spoke.

“No,” she said, lifting her hand and pressing it against my own cheek. “It doesn’t matter if I’m safe if you’re not with me.”

I stared at her, drinking in the vision of the human I’d fallen in love with, and then I nodded. “Then I will do what I have to do to protect us both.”

She parted her lips and tilted her chin upward, and I leaned down to meet her mouth. I slid out of her as we kissed and eased myself down beside her, pulling her into my arms. When the kiss broke, I just continued to hold her, and she curled into my form in such a way that it seemed my body had been meant for hers the whole time. We stayed like that in the darkness and the silence and just listened to our breathing, letting our fears wash away in the undertow of our love.

I felt her chest slowing in its rise and falls, and I heard her breaths becoming deeper. I realized she was falling asleep, and I felt heaviness in my eyes myself. Just as she exhaled her last conscious sigh, I closed my eyes, buried my face in her hair, and allowed myself to drift.

Suddenly, I was wrenched awake by a sound. It wasn’t particularly loud, but, in the stillness, it was very clear. I bolted upright and looked around the room in a panic. Tabitha didn’t move right away, but she stirred when she realized I was no longer holding her and sat up sleepily.

“What’s wrong?” she asked softly.

“I heard something,” I whispered, putting a finger to my lips to indicate that she needed to be quiet. Her eyes widened with obvious fright, but I climbed slowly off the bed and moved to one of the large windows, trying to remain in the shadows to prevent anyone outside from seeing me. There appeared to be nothing out of place or unusual at first glance, so I shuffled even nearer the window and looked out below.

I could hear Tabitha crawling out of the bed behind me, and I extended a hand backwards to silently tell her to stop moving. She obeyed, but I heard her voice waft almost imperceptibly to my ears. “What is it?”

My eyes drifted down, and I saw a figure standing outside the front double doors.

Chapter Twelve

Tabitha

“There’s someone here.”

My heart was pounding so hard that I was sure it was going to crack right through my chest and spill out onto the floor. I got out of the bed and scrambled for my clothes, which I threw on in a frenzy of disarray. Rex turned from the window and grabbed his pants. When he had them on, he looked at me, and he looked just as intensely serious as he had when we’d left his parents’ house.

“You will stay here,” he said. His tone left no room for argument, so I just nodded, frozen in place.

He left the room so quietly that it was as if he was floating. I listened as carefully as I could for any sound of his movements, but I heard nothing. That was more terrifying than if I had heard a scuffle, because I couldn’t be sure what was happening. After a minute of panicked terror, I disregarded his command and fled from the room.

I raced down the corridor of A’li-uud portraits at lightning speed. I didn’t even care if my footsteps made noise. By the time I reached the landing of the impressive staircase, I was gasping for breath and had actually broken a cold sweat. I could see Rex hovering by the door, carefully leaning to the side to try and make out the visitor through the window. He looked back as I started to descend the stairs.

“I told you to stay put,” he whispered furiously.

His voice was low, but, in the absence of other sounds, I heard him as if he was standing right beside me. I didn’t respond until I reached the foyer.

“I had to know what was happening,” I said. My voice sounded shaky and weak, both from physical exertion and fright.

He shook his head angrily, but he didn’t argue. I was grateful for that. He resumed peering through the window, and then I saw his form relax slightly. When he turned to look back at me again, there was an expression of relief on his handsome face.

“It’s Vi’den,” he said. Before I could ask anything, he opened the door.

Standing in the threshold was a very tall, very thin A’li-uud. He wore robes rather than skins, and they flowed from his shoulders to the ground in regal draping. The shimmer I had noticed in Rex’s skin the day that he’d found me was very noticeable on this alien; even in the darkness, he seemed to shine. I glanced behind him, expecting to see a bright moon casting its glow upon him to bring forth the shimmer, but there was none. He simply gleamed.

Rex stepped backward, and the A’li-uud entered at once. There was no time wasted in Rex closing the door behind him. Even as he stepped into the shadows of the unlit house, the tall creature continued to glimmer slightly, and I could see that his eyes were even whiter than Rex’s. It was hard to make out his exact skin tone in the darkness, but it was evident that he was paler than Rex, and I knew he was also older. I wasn’t sure how I knew that, as his face showed no signs of wrinkled or weather-worn age, but it seemed inherently obvious that he was ancient compared to my prairie king. Somehow, despite the grandiose house we were in, Vi’den seemed very out of place.

“Vi’den,” Rex said. There was a level of respect in his voice I hadn’t heard before. He almost seemed awed in the presence of the old A’li-uud.

“Good evening, Rex,” Vi’den replied evenly. I was surprised to hear him speak English, but I was even more surprised by his pronunciation. He sounded like he’d spoken English his whole life, rather than learned it as a second language. “I daresay you know why I have come.”

Rex’s gaze turned to me, and Vi’den’s followed. I suddenly felt as though I’d been placed under a spotlight, and I grew self-conscious about my messy clothes and tangled hair.

“Tabitha, this is Vi’den,” Rex said to me. “He is also an elder, and he is my mentor.”

I had expected to be afraid, but something about Vi’den calmed me. Without his saying it, I knew that he had no intentions of hurting me.

“It is an honor to meet you, Tabitha.” Vi’den inclined his head as he spoke, a motion I mimicked involuntarily.

“Thank you,” I said nervously. “It’s good to meet you too.”

He studied me for a moment in silence before saying, “There is no need to be frightened, Tabitha. I have not come to harm you.”

I nodded, and Vi’den turned back to Rex.

“We must act urgently, however,” he went on. “You are in grave danger, both of you.”

“I know,” Rex said quickly. “That’s why we’re here.”

“This is not safe enough. Action must be taken.” V’den started to walk, and Rex fell into step with him. They both took long strides that forced me to almost jog to keep up behind them. We crossed into a room filled with luxurious cushions and a smattering of intricately-etched pottery, and Vi’den sank onto one of the poufs. Rex followed suit. When I didn’t sit, he shot me a look, and I dropped onto the nearest one.

“I happened across Pugna’ta. She told me you were keeping a human at the home of your mother and father.” Vi’den’s eyes swiveled back to me, and, again, I felt like the center of attention. “I was not inclined to believe her, but I see that I was wrong.”

“Pugna’ta came to my parents’ house for personal reasons and saw Tabitha through the window,” Rex explained. “She became angry and aggressive—”

“With good reason, Rex,” Vi’den interrupted. I felt my stomach roll with anxiety at his words. “After everything that has been happening as of late, it would be unnatural for her to accept such a thing without question.”

Rex bristled slightly, and, though he still spoke with respect, he sounded mad. “I am her king. She has no authority to question me.”

“Every A’li-uud has the authority to protect our kind,” Vi’den responded swiftly and sternly. Rex seemed to deflate slightly, but Vi’den continued. “I did not come to address your disagreement with Pugna’ta, Rex, nor did I come to question your decision to keep Tabitha.”

“Why did you come, then?” I asked. Both of them turned to look at me, and I saw surprise on Rex’s face.

Vi’den answered in a slow, clear voice. “I came to try to save your life.”

I just stared at him, waiting for him to go on, but he didn’t. He stared back at me. It wasn’t until Rex spoke that our eye contact broke.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Pugna’ta intends to go to the council and reveal your secret. I would be surprised if she hasn’t done so already, or at least hasn’t made contact with several elders.” Vi’den leaned forward a little toward Rex and looked him squarely in the eye. “You must take Tabitha to forum at once.”

In clear contrast to the way Vi’den leaned forward, Rex dropped back slightly. There was an expression of horror on his face as he said, “You don’t really think that should be my course of action. Vi’den, that’s a death sentence—for Tabitha and me.”

“Going into hiding is your death sentence, Rex. Coming forward offers you a chance for redemption.”

“Redemption from what?” Rex spat the words like a bitter tonic from his tongue. “I am Tribe Elder. It was at my discretion to keep her with me. I thought it best.”

“Your treason is not in your decision to isolate her and maintain close contact,” Vi’den said quietly. “The betrayal is in hiding your decision from the council. By doing so, you have effectively undermined the purpose of forum, of the council, and of your elderhood. We have not been aware of Tabitha’s existence, let alone her casual captivity, and, throughout the time of our ignorance, she has been learning much of our planet and our race. Tabitha knows more about A’li-uud life than any human ever has. The council views this as treason. Do you not see why?”

“I do,” Rex said begrudgingly.

“Then you must take her to Po’tes-tat Ulti immediately. If you go into hiding, an order will be placed on your heads.”

Rex shook his head, and I could tell that he was very conflicted. “I can’t take her there, Vi’den. There are other elders that will kill her as soon as look at her because of their fear.”

“I will make sure that Tabitha is safe,” Vi’den said. His voice was low, and he spoke in earnest. It was just words, but what he said was spoken with such calm confidence that I found myself relaxing. I believed him.

“How?” I asked.

“I will enact the Law of Witness,” he answered.

I saw understanding dawn on Rex’s face, but I felt no understanding of my own. “What is that?”

“It ensures your safety,” Vi’den explained. “The Law of Witness dictates that the guest in question cannot be harmed while at Po’tes-tat Ulti. To do so would be punishable by death.”

“It means I can take you to forum and the others have no choice but to listen to what we have to say,” Rex said quietly. His eyes had a faraway look, and I knew he was deep in thought.

“Yes.” Vi’den nodded, and he looked back to Rex. “But you must bring her immediately. You cannot afford for her to be found by anyone before she has a chance to speak.”

“What am I supposed to say?” I asked, now feeling a slight rise of panic. “What am I supposed to tell them?”

Rex lifted his gaze to me, then got to his feet and offered a hand to help me to mine. I took it as he said, “We tell them the truth. We tell them that you pose no threat to the A’li-uud, that I brought you back to ascertain what you knew and, over time, we fell in love. We tell them that you’re innocent.”

“What could I possibly be guilty of?” I murmured.

“Exactly,” he said, cupping my face in his hands and kissing me gently.

Vi’den rose from the pouf on which he sat and approached us. “We must go now. Take her by the winds; we don’t have time for you to make the journey. Bring her straight to the antechamber before she can be seen. You will wait there with her until you are called.”

Rex and I both nodded our understanding, and Vi’den walked back to the double doors. The moment he opened them and stepped outside, he was gone. Rex took my hand, and we also walked outside, but we didn’t disappear right away. He led me to the fountain before turning to me.

“This is still very dangerous,” he said. “I wouldn’t do it if we didn’t have another choice. I want you to know that.”

“I do know that,” I reassured him.

He bent forward and kissed me again, and, before our lips parted, we were flying. When my feet hit ground again, I gasped. Before me was a massive castle-like structure, complete with ornate doors as tall as a house. It was breathtaking in its beauty, but it was also dark and foreboding like the descriptions of castles in gothic romance novels. I shivered involuntarily as my nerves set in.

“This way,” Rex said, grabbing me by the wrist and pulling me away from the doors.

We rounded part of the castle until we came to a much smaller, single door of ordinary construction. He opened it for me, and I entered first. The room was a big one, but it felt cramped somehow. Statues and shelves lined with tomes and wall-hanging tapestries seemed to fill every single inch, and the grey stone walls felt like they were sinking in on me. There was just one other door in the room, and I was certain it was the door that would bring me before the elders. I eyed it with trepidation.

Rex came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, saying nothing. We stood there together without exchanging any conversation. Very faintly, I could hear the low rumble of multiple voices speaking at once on the other side of the door, but I couldn’t make out anything that was being said. It wasn’t until the door swung open—so unexpectedly that I jumped back against Rex—that I could properly hear anything.

“You’re choosing a human’s safety over the safety of our race, Vi’den,” a male was saying furiously. “The Law of Witness was not written to protect terrorists!”

“We won’t know if she’s a terrorist until we speak to her,” another voice chimed in. This one was strange, almost gurgling in its syllable.

“Please bring forth Elder Rexstrenu’us Et’Herba Cam-pes’tribus and the human.”

I recognized the third voice as Vi’den’s. I looked over my shoulder at Rex, and he nodded to me. I turned back toward the door, and the small, young A’li-uud who had opened it brandished a hand, motioning me to walk into the chamber.

“I love you,” Rex whispered in my ear.

I swallowed hard, choked back my fear, and said, “I love you too.”

End Of Sneak Peek

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About the Author

Ashley Hunt gained her Philosophy degree in Denver, Colorado at The University of Colorado. She made Denver her permanent home when she married her college sweetheart. Married six years the couple has a adorable daughter and a yellow Labrador named Oodles.

Living in the shadow of Gray's Peak proves to be inspirational to Ashley as she sits at her desk in her home office where she writes her Romance stories and can merely look out the window to renew her creativity.

She strives to make stories with beautiful scenery and intriguing plots. Heroes with great strengths, physical and mental, she pairs with strong heroines who test their limits. In the end, finding deep, passionate love, the way she thinks every relationship should be.

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