by Ann Aguirre
“My reputation must precede me, and yet, if it does, why do you persist with the notion that I need a reason to hurt someone?” There was no rancor in the question, nor any anger, and that made the words even more threatening.
“You have a reputation for professionalism,” Helix said, taking a step forward. “There is no gain in injuring those for whom there is no contract. I’ve heard that you’ve never lost a quarry, not that you do violence on a whim. I’m here within the specified time frame. Therefore, let her go. Please.” In truth, he was stalling.
As the bounty hunter stalked over to him, the numbers finally stopped scrolling. The syndicate had all their dirty credits back, but they probably wouldn’t notify Krag in time. Helix stood his ground, trying not to dwell on what came after termination of life status. Doubtless, organic beings had their ideas in order preparing for such a moment, but before this, he’d been energy and information, difficult to lose entirely when he could make countless copies. Perhaps he would return to that state, his code dispersed into the atoms of existence.
It was impossible to read anything from the hunter’s countenance, but instead of closing the last few paces to Helix, Krag wheeled and cut through Qalu’s bindings. Aevi leapt out of Helix’s grasp and darted over to Qalu, scrambling up her body and nuzzling against her with soft sounds of distress. Slowly, Qalu maneuvered to her feet, moving as if her joints pained her.
“Go,” he urged, putting himself between her and Krag.
“Not without you.”
“I’d say such selfless devotion warms my heart, but most would allege that I don’t have one. You’re both testing my patience. Take the Pherzul and get out. You’ve served your purpose, and the sound of your voice is starting to grate on my nerves.” Krag seemed to be staring at Qalu as he added the last part.
Though Helix wondered exactly what had passed between them while she was held captive, this wasn’t the time to indulge idle curiosity. Giving in to his fear, he nudged her toward the door. Aevi was uncharacteristically quiet, perhaps assessing the threat level correctly. One false step, one misspoken word, and Krag would unleash with devastating results. When Qalu moved reluctantly toward the exit, Helix relaxed somewhat. While he wasn’t ready to perish, he much preferred keeping the hunter’s focus.
When Krag strikes, I wonder if I could beam myself into the station network in time. Probably not, I’d have to start the transfer now and then delay as long as possible. He doesn’t seem like the patient type.
“Any last words?” Krag asked.
“You gave me everything,” he said to Qalu. “I wish I could have given it back.”
“Helix…” Her voice broke, his name ending on a note of absolute grief.
Aevi made a sound he hadn’t even known the Pherzul could emit, high-pitched and awful, coming in keening waves. Their sorrow echoed off the container walls as the bounty hunter strode toward him, weapon raised. It was impossible not to fear the pain that would surely come before the end. A light flashed on the bounty hunter’s helmet, the weapon sparked and—
Krag touched the xerxax lightly to Helix’s shoulder. “I tracked you. Caught you. My record remains intact. But the contract has been canceled. The syndicate is no longer paying for your death or capture. And…your companion was right. I don’t kill for sport.”
He held still, hardly able to believe what he was hearing. “Does that mean…you’re letting us go?”
“I have a new contract already. Let’s never cross paths again,” Krag said.
The hunter pulled his weapon back and his boots rang out a metallic cadence when he moved off, passing Qalu and Aevi at a respectful distance. Soon, he was gone, leaving Helix and Qalu alone. His lower limbs suddenly felt weak, and he staggered, stumbling back against the cold wall of the container.
“We’re…free?” Qalu whispered, seeming unable to fathom what had happened.
“It’s a good thing he left,” Aevi said. “I was about to chew my way through his armor. I was just biding my time, you know. I wasn’t scared!”
Helix regained his balance and hurried to them, leaning against Qalu for reassurance and comfort. When her chest touched his, he felt like he could breathe properly again. “Certainly not,” he said to the Pherzul. To Qalu, he added, “You’re well? Krag didn’t harm you?”
“Shaken, but not hurt. I can’t believe it’s really over,” she whispered.
Aevi bounced from Qalu to Helix and back again, caressing them with her tail. “Does this mean we can finally go home?”
“Soon,” Helix promised. “But if it’s all right, there’s someplace I’d like to visit and people I’d like you to meet first.”
The last night on Vaadla Station was much different than the first.
First, they took Aevi to the garden to run and stretch, and then they visited the star chamber, basking in brightness that approximated exposure to natural sunlight. Qalu swore that Aevi’s feathers looked brighter when they left, and afterward, she enjoyed exploring the orbital installation with Helix and Aevi, who pestered him endlessly about their surprise destination. “Where are we going when we leave Vaadla? Will you tell me now?”
“After the show, perhaps,” he teased.
She perked, her head tendrils quivering, poorly concealing her interest. Their last innocuous outing—free of fear or pursuit—had been the trip to the art museum on Tiralan. Since they’d fled, he’d had no chance to pursue his art or learn what else might make him happy. It seemed Helix had a surprise in store, and anticipation brimmed within her. Her entire body felt so much lighter, almost weightless.
Hard to believe I was held hostage earlier today.
Things were different now. She could look on this interlude as a vacation and not an endless exile, because they could choose to go home at any time. I want to see my mothers. Once, she couldn’t have imagined framing such a thought, not when they meddled so incessantly with her private life. She made an amused noise, recalling how she’d once thought that pressure to form a love group required a radical act.
When did this false love become true? Though she couldn’t pinpoint any certain moment, it seemed to Qalu that perhaps her heart had always belonged to Helix. She just hadn’t dared to believe that matters could end well between them. Not with so many obstacles in the way.
“Is this it?” Aevi asked.
The Pherzul was perched on Helix’s chest, her tail wound around him possessively. Once, that would’ve been unthinkable. Until he came, Aevi tolerated nobody except Qalu, quite the barrier to forming a permanent love group. Now Aevi seemed perfectly content to leap between them as if they were structures built entirely for her amusement.
Qalu glanced at the flashing sign, glowing in a quick succession of colors and shifting to various languages until it displayed one that she could read—Volant’s Fabulous Spectacle. She flashed a surprised look at Helix, marveling all over again at how handsome he was. Now, when she looked at him, she no longer saw the perfect prototype from a lifetime of research, but his intelligence, his sweetness, his endearing awkwardness, and eagerness to learn.
“It’s supposed to be incredible,” he said. “The documentation guarantees that we will never forget the awe-inspiring menagerie they have assembled for our viewing pleasure.”
An entire complex had been rented to display these marvels, and Aevi bounced off Helix and scampered toward the entrance. “I’m interested! Let’s go see.”
She raced after the Pherzul, not wanting to lose her in the crowd. There was a throng of interested beings clustered at the front of the exhibit. Helix snatched Aevi up before she could wedge herself inside, bypassing proper protocols. The Pherzuls let out a sulky hiss, but she settled, apparently deciding to wait, if not patiently. At the front, Helix seduced a positive result from the agent’s equipment, earning them the right to pass onward to view the wonders within.
The hall was dark with soft silver lights sweeping various enclosures. Qalu had no idea what to expect, and there didn�
��t seem to be a set order for viewing. Aevi had no such compunction; she squirmed free and bolted while Helix threw Qalu an alarmed look and then they both chased her, not seeing much as they ran. Surprisingly, Aevi didn’t go far, but her tail swished in puzzlement when she stopped before a crystalline case set up as a habitat.
“That’s not Bojak,” the Pherzul said, cocking her head. “But…smells similar.”
Helix approached the display, wearing an expression that Qalu judged to be surprise. “She’s human. Like Beryl Bowman. I’ve encountered three so far… I wonder how many have been taken?”
Since he didn’t seem to require an answer to his question, Qalu studied the female instead. “Does she resemble Beryl Bowman?”
Helix hesitated. “I do not believe so. In all honesty, in my prior incarnation, I paid little attention to physical details, so I cannot be certain.”
The human moved around in her enclosure, not seeming bothered by their observation. In fact, she acted like she had no idea she was being watched. Was that part of the attraction? Perhaps viewing was possible from their side only? If so, Qalu didn’t enjoy the sense of invading the human’s privacy. Now, she was eating while fiddling with some entertainment device. But if Qalu hadn’t encountered Bojak already, she conceded that she might equally as fascinated as those crowding around the exhibit.
“No head tails. No talons. Not even a pseudopod. Look how soft it is!”
“Turn on the narration!”
Suddenly, audio sounded all around them. “Welcome to Volant’s Fabulous Spectacle. Here, you will marvel at the rarest creatures in existence. We start at the human enclosure, where you observe Yara Duncan, busily attempting to solve the puzzle she’s been given. If she manages to complete it in the allotted time, she’ll receive a reward!”
The audience was interested enough to watch Yara twist the object she held as the narrator continued, “Watch how dexterous her clawless digits are. She’s almost got it!”
Before the human female received her prize, Aevi pulled Helix toward the next enclosure. “Bored! I want to see everything and then I want to eat, and if there’s time, let’s go back to the garden. I could run and climb more before we sleep.”
Though Qalu had never reared offspring, sometimes she imagined this must be what it was like. She didn’t recall ever challenging her mothers in this way, though, because she’d always been a calm and introverted child. Wearing a gentle expression, Helix agreed to all Aevi’s requests, and if Qalu hadn’t already adored him, this would have done it.
He cherishes her as I do.
“Do we have time for everything?” she whispered, as the Pherzul led the way to the next marvelous display.
“We may not rest much before our departure, but we do. Our ship leaves early, just into the next sleep cycle.”
Qalu feigned a stern demeanor. “Do you plan to tell me where we’re headed?”
“If you trust me, I think I’d rather surprise you.”
Aevi practically screeched, “Hurry! This one has an annelid that eats itself and then a bunch more are born from the digested material! We can watch it happen.”
That sounded equal measures horrifying and fascinating. She registered Helix’s air of bemusement and rushed after their Pherzul, who was already scampering in circles outside the crystalline cage. Within, the creature was mottled with spots, quite enormous and pulpy looking with a maw that opened and closed as it chewed methodically on its opposite end. The scientist in her admitted to reluctant curiosity as to how any of this worked, how a creature would integrate their digestive and reproductive cycles.
“This is quite a spectacle,” she breathed.
“Unforgettable,” Helix agreed.
His eyes never left Qalu.
[ 22 ]
For some, a return to where everything began might seem like homecoming, but for Helix it was a reunion.
He wanted to see Zylar, and he needed to make amends with Beryl Bowman before he would believe that he fully deserved the life that awaited him on Tiralan. At least, he hoped it did. They had left a great many matters unspoken, but once he settled the emotional debt on Barath, then he could move forward. Zylar had cared enough to want him to forge his own path, and Helix wondered how their relationship might evolve, now that he could understand better.
“You’re taking us to meet your family,” Qalu whispered.
Aevi was too excited about the prospect of being on a planet again to pay much attention. Currently the Pherzul was pressed against the viewport, watching the spaceport with her tail quivering. He had never made the approach to Barath this way. Before, he had been part of the ship, perceiving trajectories and angles of approach and registering all the physical details in a much different way. Now, however, he saw the way the light glazed the spires and the color of the sky. The city was beautiful, though he hadn’t realized it before. He’d only been aware of aesthetic particulars in the abstract.
“I suppose that is the most accurate description,” he said.
“Are they expecting us? Zylar and Beryl Bowman?”
“I wanted to surprise them. Before, I sent a message updating them on my situation, but I don’t know if it reached them.” It occurred to him, then. “Beryl has a little one as well. I suspect Aevi may enjoy exploring with Snaps.”
Qalu seemed startled, her head tendrils fluttering. “Another Pherzul?”
“No, a rare lifeform native to the human homeworld. From the way Beryl Bowman treats him, I collect his people are akin to royalty.”
“Fascinating,” said Qalu. “I can’t wait to meet them.”
Before leaving the ship, they received boosters that would allow their Tiralan systems to breathe in the different chemical cocktail that comprised the air on Barath. Then they waited for their documentation to be processed, and he had a bad moment, fearing that the Barathi neural network might recognize him, and call him a fugitive AI. But apparently his brain pattern was sufficiently different when the network granted them clearance, thanks to the Tiralan hardware, that the system didn’t flag him. The bored migration agent told them to move along.
The spaceport seemed different to Helix as well, crowded and close, with all sorts of troubling and fascinating smells. Helix carried Aevi to prevent her from investigating all the various food stalls when they really needed to pass through. Qalu stayed close to his side, filling him with a soft wonder that she trusted him so much. In many ways, he was no more experienced than she, but her unwavering faith boosted his confidence.
It would be discourteous to appear completely without warning, so before they left the arrival area, he pinged a message to Zylar at his old habitat. The message came back as invalid. They don’t live there anymore? Carefully, he stepped out of the stream of pedestrian traffic and delved into the network, carefully skimming for Zylar’s current location. Other AIs scrutinized his intrusion, but he distracted them with data spikes elsewhere.
Then he found what he was looking for. Stunned, he regarded Qalu with worry he couldn’t hide coloring his next words. “Apparently they’ve been sent to the Barrens. We’ll need to hop on a shuttle from here. City transport won’t get us there.”
“You don’t sound like that’s a good thing.”
“The area is…dangerous. But the settlement should be safe enough. Are you willing to go to the end of the world with me?” he asked.
Qalu’s amusement showed in her light tone. “Haven’t I proved it over and over again?”
“Then let’s book passage. There’s a shuttle leaving soon.”
“Not another ship!” Aevi whined.
“This is the last one for a while,” Qalu soothed. “We’ll visit Helix’s family, and then the next journey we take will carry us home.”
That satisfied the Pherzul enough to settle her. They got the last seats on the next flight to the Barrens, surprising that so many would want to go there. But from listening to the conversation, it seemed the shuttle was full of thrill-seekers and monster hunte
rs. Aevi curled up on Qalu’s lap and went to sleep, whirring softly as she dozed.
It wasn’t a long flight, but Helix grew nervous the closer they got to their destination. If he dug deeper in the system, he could access Zylar’s private comm-code and send a message making sure of their welcome. At the same time, they were already en route, so if Zylar and Beryl Bowman did not wish to see him, it would be impossible to divert course. No, better to believe they would be pleased by his return.
In time, he slept because his physical body required rest, even if his mind remained unquiet. He awoke as the shuttle lost altitude, the swooping motion unsettling his insides. Gravity affected his Tiralan form in so many interesting ways. The shuttle AI explained one last time how often it would be possible to book a return to the city and the codes for doing so, then the shuttle set down near the settlement. Helix gaped at how different it was from the rest of Barath. Here, the landscape was craggy, bare rocks and sand, with a poison cloud visible in the distance. There was an outpost carved from the land itself, hollowed into the stone like a warren.
Did they punish Zylar for letting me go?
Others rushed ahead to disembark, leaving his group for last. Aevi stretched and hopped down, choosing to exit under her own power. Some of the arriving travelers had welcome parties waiting. Unsurprisingly, they did not, and he realized they hadn’t washed their swators in several days. Under these circumstances, they might not make the best impression, but this wasn’t a tourist destination, and the only option for shelter lay ahead.
He’d acquired schematics when he retrieved the information on Zylar’s new domicile but seeing it in three dimensions was quite different. They climbed steep stone stairs with Aevi racing ahead and doubling back, smelling everything, until at last they reached the heavy door that had been carved with the following: Home of Zylar and Precious Gem of Kith B’alak.
A thousand thoughts teemed in his brain, but he didn’t let nerves get the best of him. Mustering all his courage, Helix activated the mechanical signal that would alert them to the fact they had visitors. From within, even through the thick walls, he heard Snaps shouting, “Hey! Beryl! Hey! Someone’s here! Hey!”