by V. St. Clair
“Max is in the guest bedroom. Since this floor was mostly for my late husband’s office and my son’s room, I don’t have much reason to come here anymore.”
Jessamine’s lips parted slightly as she opened the door and realized she was going to be sleeping in Topher’s childhood bedroom. It looked like nothing had been disturbed since he’d packed his belongings and moved to the Augenspire at fourteen. The room was mostly empty, though there were some old clothes hanging in the closet and a picture on the nightstand beside a half-full bookshelf. Other belongings were packed into boxes with a fine layer of dust over them, shoved carelessly into a corner of the room. Jessamine was itching to pry them open and see the relics of Topher’s childhood, of who he was before he joined the military and found his calling in life, but she resisted the temptation.
Jessamine wasn’t sure what she had expected to see here; toys, perhaps? It was hard to imagine Topher playing with action figures or board games, even as a child. Had he always been so contained, or was there a time when he laughed easily and openly?
Topher would have brought most of his crucial belongings to the Augenspire with him when he became a Provo-Major, and he had been gone for many years now, but the emptiness of the space was jarring.
“The bedsheets haven’t been changed recently, but they’re clean.” Hera was watching her reaction to the room as she spoke, eyes narrowed in contemplation. “I doubt this is the first time you’ve slept in my son’s bed, so you should be comfortable here.”
Jessamine twitched in surprise before leveling a challenging look at Hera.
“What I do within the walls of the Augenspire is no one’s business but my own. If you’re angry with Topher, feel free to lecture him when he returns, but you are not entitled to vent your feelings on me. If I’m not welcome here, I’ll leave and find somewhere else to go until I am able to return home.”
Hera vented a huff of disbelief. “He told you to remain here, so your threat is empty.”
“The only one who can command me to do anything is my father, and he isn’t here. Topher brought me to you because he was under the impression you were a woman who could be relied upon to do the right thing. When he returns to find me gone, you can explain why I left.”
Jessamine thought she had scored a hit by the tension in the older woman’s body, though the next words the woman delivered sounded mechanical and rehearsed, so perhaps she was only feigning defeat.
Hera pursed her lips and said, “I’m sorry, Vicerina. You are correct—I am angry with my son, more than I thought I would be after all this time. His arrival during the night was unexpected and jarring, and I have reacted poorly in the aftermath. Please accept my apology, and get some rest. We will begin anew when you wake up.”
“Thank you,” Jessamine's voice was harsh as she closed the door—a little more forcefully than she had intended—desperate to be alone.
She kicked off her boots and took a seat at the edge of Topher’s bed, examining the picture on the nightstand in more detail. It featured a young Topher with a man that must be his father, since he was wearing military fatigues in the photo. There was something similar in their features, though Topher more closely resembled his mother.
The Topher in the picture looked quite young, probably only six or seven years old, and though he was clearly happy, he wasn’t grinning toothily like most children of that age in pictures.
Even then, there was something contained about him.
Jessamine smiled at the picture and set it back on the nightstand, resisting the urge to dig through the packed boxes and instead lying down. There would be time for exploring tomorrow, assuming she was still here.
She turned out the lights. Alone with her thoughts in the darkness, the worry for her father and sister began creeping back into her, no matter how much she tried to keep her concerns at bay.
Enough time had passed by now that Topher and Lorna would be back at the Augenspire whether they were summoned or not—assuming Topher didn’t decide Lorna was in on the conspiracy, in which case they had probably fought to the death by now.
Great, now I’m terrified that Topher is hurt too.
She scowled and rolled over on her side, trying to force the dark thought away, but it had taken hold of her. What if there was fighting at the Augenspire when Topher returned? What if he got caught up in it and was killed? What if he never came back to get her and she just waited here for days and days before she heard the news of his death? What would she do if everyone she loved was gone and she was in exile from her own home?
What if she was really and truly all alone?
2
Topher Augen
~
It hurts…
It hurts…
Why won’t you make it stop?
~
Topher felt the emergency signal vibrating on his wristband as he sprinted towards the Tetra, winded from running the entire twenty-block span separating the theater from his mother’s house. He’d removed his heavies in the basement before departing, since it would look suspicious for him to return to the Augenspire from a night out on the town in his full battle gear, so flying was not an option.
It was imperative he get to Lorna before she returned to the Augenspire and told anyone he hadn’t been with her tonight. No one could be able to link him to Jessamine’s escape, or they would compel him to reveal her whereabouts. Since Topher had no idea what kind of conditions he would be returning to at the Augenspire, the last thing he wanted was to reveal Jessamine’s location before it was safe to do so.
A traffic light turned green and the cross-traffic began moving just as Topher flew past a group of teenagers walking side-by-side at the crosswalk. He blew past them and darted out into traffic, forgetting that he wasn’t wearing any of his armor and needed to avoid being hit by a ground-car.
There were shouts of surprise from the group behind him, but thankfully the approaching drivers were able to slam on their breaks and swerve to avoid him, so Topher charged across the six lanes of traffic without slowing down. His lungs were aching, but he powered through his discomfort and continued towards the Tetra.
Up ahead he saw Lorna jogging from the theater in her street clothes, easily visible due to her tall frame and distinctive features. Her brown hair was pinned neatly away from her face with silver needles, making her look like a valkyrie. She was clearly looking for an aerial speeder to commandeer, but there weren’t any on this side of the street.
“Lorna!” Topher called out to her, drawing the knife—Fox’s knife—from his waistband, but keeping it concealed as he ran.
Lorna looked around at the sound of her name and quickly spotted Topher, eyebrows lifting in surprise as she changed directions and came to him.
“Topher, where have you been? We’ve got to get a—”
Topher was within arm’s reach now, and without slowing down to greet her he used his momentum to throw her to the ground. Lorna landed on her back and he pinned her there, straddling her and getting the knife to her throat just as she punched him in the jaw.
He absorbed the pain of the blow and ignored the passersby who pointed and stared. Their enhancers were in plain sight, so anyone close enough could tell they were Provo-Major, and no one intervened to help either of them.
“Were you in on it?” Topher demanded, lungs screaming from exertion and jaw throbbing from Lorna’s punch.
“What are you talking about?” Lorna asked angrily, no longer struggling while he had the knife pressed so closely to her throat. Topher didn’t mistake this for a sign of surrender; she was biding her time and collecting information while she formulated ways to rip his arms off.
“Fox attempted to murder Jessamine in her room tonight while he thought I was out. Were you in on it?” he asked quietly, watching her face closely.
“He did what?” she seemed incredulous, but Topher was focused on the ripple of colors and numbers flickering over her face. He’d equipped a Talent to let him monitor phy
sical and chemical responses of the human body while running here. People could lie, but their bodies couldn’t.
All of her signals were consistent with genuine surprise and fear, which was good news for Topher because it meant she probably had no part in orchestrating the events of tonight.
“Is the Vicerina alright? What of Fox?” Lorna demanded, scanning his face carefully as Topher released her and offered a hand to help her up.
“Who do you serve, Lorna?” Topher pressed. “Where is your allegiance?”
Lorna considered him for a moment before saying, “I serve the Viceroy and his family, and if you hadn’t slowed me down I would be on my way towards them in a speeder by now.”
Topher believed her.
“Good. I’ll explain as quickly as I can on the way.” He looked around but didn’t see any parked speeders nearby.
Damn it, driving will take forever.
“There’s a muni.” Lorna took off running towards the municipal police officer, who was currently issuing a citation to a young man for littering. Topher was hot on her heels.
“Officer!” Lorna got there first, ignoring the litterer entirely. “We need to return to the Augenspire at once. Clear us a path.”
The officer was a woman in her fifties, who reacted to the sudden arrival of two desperate Provo-Majors without blinking and said, “Get in the car.”
Topher and Lorna piled into the back seat without question. The officer slid into the front and slapped four different buttons on a console of about twenty, seemingly at random. Topher had never ridden in a municipal police car before, so he had no idea what the buttons were for or how quickly she would be able to get them home, but anything was better than running miles on foot.
The traffic lights ahead of them all changed abruptly to green, and the car’s sirens began wailing to notify others to get out of their way as the officer gunned the engine and they shot forward.
“Zero-three-zero-one-Bravo,” a man’s voice came in across the radio. “What is your emergency?”
“I’m returning Provo-Majors to the Augenspire with all haste. Clear the roads.”
“Copy that,” the voice responded. “I’m sending you a nav-map now, and six units to clear your path to the ASE.”
The monitor in the center console beeped and Topher saw the promised routing map pop up and begin directing her towards the fastest path to get onto the Augenspire Expressway. They took a hard turn at speed and Topher’s head smacked the window to his left. Lorna had smartly buckled her seatbelt, so she was locked in place, and Topher scowled and strapped himself in, massaging his head above his left enhancer.
“I assume this is related to why you stood me up tonight?” Lorna shot him a sideways glance as she spoke. “You didn’t even answer the comm when I called, nor did you return my message.”
“Sorry, I haven’t checked my comm yet. It’s been a busy night.” Topher removed the device from his belt and saw there was indeed one missed call and a voice message from Lorna.
“That’s strange,” Lorna frowned thoughtfully, reading the display from beside him. “I sent you a snarky message after the play ended but it doesn’t seem to have gone through.”
“We can figure it out later.” At the moment, Topher really didn’t care whether he missed a message about a theater performance.
Six speeders descended from sky-level and split off to force traffic away from the main roadways as needed, keeping ahead of them.
“What’s your name, Officer?” he called up to the front seat, bracing himself as she slammed on the brakes to take another sweeping turn. There was a car in the middle of the road up ahead, but one of the aerial cruisers was towing it up into the air so they could drive beneath it.
“Senior Officer Maria Guzman,” she answered without taking her eyes off of the road, flooring the accelerator as the Augenspire Expressway came into view ahead of them.
“Good work tonight, Officer Guzman,” he thanked her, nerves beginning to tingle unpleasantly as he was finally able to think about what he was going back to. Would there be full-scale fighting in the top-levels of the Augenspire, or were things well-contained? Would the bottom levels be rioting, or did they even know something was wrong?
And the critical question in all this: how much support did Fox have for his coup? Topher and Lorna would be walking into the building with no armor and a very limited supply of weapons.
They slowed at the on-ramp, where the conveyor belt latched onto their wheels and carried them up the sharp incline to deposit them on the expressway. It seemed to take an eternity for their wheels to be released so Officer Guzman could hit the accelerator once more.
“What exit do you want?” she called back to them, achieving maximum speed at last.
“Eight,” Lorna answered. “Fastest elevator access from the main entrance.” This she directed at Topher.
Topher nodded, eyes still focused on the road ahead.
“You said you would update me on what the hell we’re walking into,”
“And I will,” Topher frowned as they flew past exit twenty, nearly completing the circle of the expressway and returning to exit one. He glanced at Maria Guzman before continuing. “It’ll have to wait until we park,” he apologized.
Lorna shot him a glare, a quick threat of unpleasantness later if he didn’t explain everything, and said “Just a reminder.”
I’m only going to have about two minutes to tell her everything she needs to know.
They were slowing rapidly as they approached the off-ramp for AS-8. Topher tried not to grind his teeth in impatience as they were lowered down to ground-level for the final approach to the building.
Well, there are no signs of fighting from out here.
Not that he really expected there to be. The fighting would be contained to the topmost floors of the Augenspire unless things had gotten completely out of control in the building.
He mentally made a list of his top priority targets. Viceroy. Shellina. Darius. He scowled at the last, biting down on his resentment.
“Thank you, Officer,” Lorna said as they bolted from the vehicle and jogged towards the main entrance. “Tell me quickly,” she mumbled to Topher, slowing down as they approached the doors.
“I was with you all night at the Tetra. What show did we see?” he whispered.
“Marianna,” she replied quickly. “Woman has to choose between three wealthy suitors; ends up choosing one of their sisters instead. Witty and humorous. Moderately enjoyable.”
Topher nodded as they cleared the main entrance and walked purposefully towards the elevators. The building was still dimly lit, as there was a night shift in some departments, but they didn’t see any signs of trouble. He would have almost rather seen fighting down here, because then he would know what was going on. The silence was oppressive, and he felt entombed by it.
“Fox is against the Integration Initiative and has been plotting to kill the Viceroy— and apparently Jessamine, as well,” he continued in a whisper, while Lorna scanned her biochip at the first set of elevators. If she found this news about one of her peers sensational, her face didn’t show it.
“Was he acting alone?” she mouthed as they boarded the elevator, punching the button for the two-hundredth floor.
“I’m not sure,” Topher admitted. “I know he has collaborators in Tech, and at least a couple of Minors. I’m not sure who else.”
“What a disgraceful bastard,” Lorna scowled. “First he loses his Talents, and now this?”
“Remind me to share my thoughts on that when there is more time,” Topher explained as they boarded the second set of elevators and rocketed upwards to the two-hundred-and-ninetieth floor. Lorna shot him a look that plainly said she wasn’t impressed with him for keeping secrets.
Yeah, well, most of them I only found out tonight.
Topher braced himself for whatever nastiness he was about to walk into as the doors opened to the High Chamber, the place where the Majors gathered whenev
er there was an emergency.
The first thing he saw was Shellina, sitting on a bench in the front row with a robe pulled over her pink nightgown, face streaked with tears. There’s target number two. Half of her strawberry-blond hair was in curlers, and her wide, frightened eyes made her look younger. Darius Hamish had one hand resting awkwardly on her shoulder, attempting to comfort her, though he also appeared to have been woken suddenly, because he was wearing a monogrammed set of silk pajamas and was missing one slipper.
Target number three unfortunately survived.
Topher pushed aside the unprofessional thought and moved further into the room, glad to see most of his peers. There didn’t appear to be any active fighting going on. About half of his colleagues were in their heavies, with the rest in their light armor. Topher and Lorna were among only four Majors in plainclothes.
“What happened?” Topher went to Shellina, the highest-ranking person currently present, but his eyes were scanning every inch of the room. Where’s the Viceroy? A few of Topher’s peers were missing as well, and he needed to know if they were together upstairs. He mentally began composing a list of unknown personnel.
Gareth, Lara, Zenaya, Fox…
He was forgetting at least two others, but at the moment he couldn’t dredge up any other names.
“Topher!” She jumped to her feet and ran up to him, throwing her arms around him and crying into his chest. Normally he wouldn’t tolerate this kind of closeness from her, but he could appreciate that she was probably terrified right now, so he tried to have some compassion.
“Someone needs to tell me what happened,” he said again, this time to Darius, who was standing behind her, but the man glanced at Shellina briefly and opened and closed his mouth without saying anything. Good to know he’s still utterly useless.
It was Major Reya who answered.
“There’s been an attack,” she said bluntly, and some of the other Majors drifted closer, for lack of anything else to do.
“An attack? By whom?” Topher feigned surprise, redirecting Shellina’s vice-like grip away from him and back onto Darius.