WHEN HEROES FALL

by Abby J. Reed

  At his words, my tension eased. I squeezed his hand in return.

  If even Brody could forgive me for kidnapping him, then maybe I could forgive myself. If I could forgive myself and lay down all my guilt, lay down this excessive need to atone, I could embrace the fear. If I embraced the fear and still chose to live anyway, then maybe.

  Maybe I could make the best, most inclusive, most loving choice for this moment and trust the future and all its consequences to take care of itself. Maybe I could make the choice I secretly wanted to make, but this time from a place of love instead of fear.

  Maybe I could leave after all.

  Chapter 62

  LUKA

  As soon as Breaker vanished into Cal’s room, I flagged one of the Solteran nurses. She wasn’t as tall as the others and had the sense to look slightly intimidated by me, despite LuLu in my arms. “Rumor says the Princess is paying for all our medical expenses. That true?”

  “It is.”

  “Then I would like to get a procedure done.”

  The nurse beckoned for me to follow her into an empty room. It was bare. A simple bed and chair in front of a window. Couldn’t see Yana or Mateo hiking from here, but the view wasn’t terrible.

  I set a squawking LuLu on the bed while a bot flew over and scanned my body. LuLu’s dark matter tipped finger waved in the air. When the scan finished, my holo and vitals rose on the wall, a perfect replica of all the parts that made me. Including the new white patch of shaved hair.

  “Is this data public?” I said.

  “No. Royal private database only. The Princess insisted. Do you have a dark matter addition?” I lifted my tunic, and her lips twisted. “We haven’t been able to remove it from anybody, if that’s what you want.”

  “No.” I eased down my hem, picked up LuLu. Braced for the words that could change my life. “I want a line.”

  “A proto-line or a full line?”

  “What’s the difference?”

  “The proto-line is a softer introduction to the on-line world. There’s not many functions beyond basic nanites. You don’t have to upgrade past it if you don’t want, but it qualifies as a line registration.”

  “If I don’t want to register?”

  Her lips pressed together. “You can take that up with the Princess.”

  Would they let Jupe out of here without a line? Maybe there were other ways to register. Eh. Living in this banging universe would’ve been ridiculous without a line. How could anyone say no? “Just give me the full line.”

  Her eyebrows rose. The bot popped out a keyboard and she rapid-typed. “You’ll have to sign these forms with your DNA.”

  “Why?”

  “Protocol saying you won’t communicate on-line for a set period of time. I understand something is happening with your planet? This agreement is supposed to protect that.”

  Suddenly I was very glad I was not in charge of the compound and what remained of Scarlatti. I glanced over the bot’s holo forms. Seemed simple enough. “Will it have nanites?”

  “Of course. It will adjust to your body upon insertion. Though, if you wish, I can make sure they are programmed to be effective immediately.”

  “Good.” I pricked my thumb on a disposable needle the nurse held out and pressed it to the bot. I sat on the chair and tipped my head toward LuLu, to expose my neck. “I have migraines. Get rid of them.”

  “I’m not sure—”

  I jerked my head up. “You don’t know if it will help? I thought your tech is supposed to be ingrith.”

  The door vibrated and a hole appeared large enough for the bot to pass back out. The nurse watched the bot go, then gave me a kind smile. “It will help but we cannot cure all diseases. Migraine is one of those diseases. However, we can prevent some of the symptoms from manifesting and, whether or not we can prevent the actual event from occurring, we can stop the pain.”

  I rubbed a hand over my head. “So, you might not be able to stop a migraine, but I won’t be able to feel it?”

  “That’s correct.”

  “Good enough. I still want it.”

  I sat for a while longer before the bot returned, jiggling LuLu to calm her. The rhythm of my moving legs also seemed to settle me. Banging ridiculous to be this nervous, like a rook on my first scout duty. The nurse opened the bot’s side and showed me the slender line with her gloved hands. Would never have believed something so tiny could create so much change.

  “Why don’t you give your child to me while you adjust to the line? Insertion is always overwhelming at first and I can easily do it one-handed.”

  “She’s not my child.” I didn’t want to give her up, but I also didn’t want to accidentally drop her. “But good point.” I held out LuLu.

  The nurse tucked my niece into the crook of her arm. “It will only hurt a little.” The nurse gently bent my head over, swabbing the back of my neck.

  My heart hammered. LuLu’s head rolled back, her big eyes catching mine. I got you, Uncle.

  A pinch. And then—

  I was no longer in the room.

  Instead of the soothing space, I stood in a jet-black expanse. Exactly like the vast expanse of space, save it wasn’t trying to kill me. Beneath my feet, beryl hued lines ran straight as a blaster shot until they got lost in the horizon. What was this, some metaphysical vortex? I wore all dark colors that seemed to bend with the light. But I couldn’t tell where the light source came from. It just was.

  Craziest ‘stroid I’d ever seen.

  I patted my hips, and my minis appeared. They felt real enough, but I wasn’t allowed to take them inside the med station. They were in a storage locker, where I visited twice a dia to check on them. So they couldn’t truly be here.

  An idea sparked. I lifted my tunic. Where my dark matter should’ve been . . . Nothing. A giant gap along my side, as though the data couldn’t upload. Guess the lines didn’t interact with dark matter either.

  “Luka?”

  I swiveled. My body was lighter, freer here.

  Brody stood bathed in golden light, about five meters from me. His face was whole, and he seemed as jolly as when I first caught him trying to sneak into basic two cycles early.

  “Kid?”

  His face glowed. “I thought you’d show up.”

  “Am I dead?”

  He laughed. The sound was so unlike the ship version of him, it near knocked me off my feet. “No. You’re in zero. It’s like a home base. Or a welcome mat. You’re on the threshold of the on-line world. Don’t worry, it’s not violating whatever you just signed. You have to go in deeper for that. Once you get used to it, you’ll be able to customize whatever data and apps you want here and in the mindview over your normal vision.”

  “Aren’t you supposed to be in bed, like, growing your eyes back or something?”

  “I am. They cleaned up Leader’s line and gave it back, so I’m sending you a holo of myself from my line to yours. That’s how I can visit.”

  My hands drifted to my mini hilts. I hadn’t visited him yet. Hadn’t—no, didn’t—want to. Wasn’t sure what I was gonna say. “Sorry I left you, kid.”

  “You didn’t mean to.”

  “But I still did.”

  He shuffled. “Honestly . . . I might’ve left me. I was an ass. To both you and Breaker. I can see that now.”

  “You had your head bashed in.”

  “True. But it’s better now. And you were right. I wasn’t being the best brother.”

  “This an apology?”

  He rubbed his toe into one of my beryl horizon lines and grumbled something. I took it as a yeah. “Will you send Breaker to me?”

  “He’s prolly already on his way.”

  The kid breathed out. “You’ll come visit me?”
>
  “And have to look at your creepy-ass face?”

  “Please?”

  My gaze softened. Kid was prolly still overwhelmed with everything that had gone on. “Fine. But, once they are out of the storage locker, you don’t get to touch my minis.”

  “I can’t see your minis. I don’t have eyes yet.”

  “I’ll make sure it stays that way if your hand strays near them.”

  “Deal.” He was grinning.

  And, bang it all, I was grinning too. “So, how do I get back?”

  “I can show you. But next time you come, you have to actually come inside. I can help you get all set up, too. There’s so much nova ‘stroid in here, you’re gonna love it.”

  Somehow, I doubted that.

  He reached out his hand—

  My conscious slammed back into my body. My head jerked. The nurse was wrapping up her gloves and tossed them into a chute in the wall. She gave me a startled look. “You’re back fast.” She returned LuLu to me. “What do you think?”

  All the corners of my vision flashed with images that weren’t auras. Data and images and layouts and graphs and— Took a sec, but I pushed them all aside so there was nothing obstructing my view.

  Clear vision.

  No sign of black and white and colored flashing. No sign of disturbances.

  The only thing I could sense was the holy peace in the back of my head. The blissful stillness. The here and now. My niece breathing against the hair on my arms. An invisible weight had lifted off my shoulders and, for once, I wasn’t haunted. If I weren’t holding LuLu, I would’ve been tempted to run and punch and do all the khaim-ass things kids do when they’re happy and free.

  “It’ll do.”

  Chapter 63

  TAHNYA

  The sight was unlike anything I’d ever seen. The antiship net had been removed for the dia. Ice floats had been built beside Atina, creating a massive platform floating in the water. The center held the highest part of the platform. It stretched into the heavens, where those not lucky enough to get a seat, but lucky enough to get a sky pass, could get a closer view. Bridges fanned out from a center hub to create platforms with seats. They were connected together by a web of ice. Two massive bridges for Atina’s pedestrians stretched from here to the city and then on to the palace. Some barrier kept the wind under control because only a pleasant breeze swept across the entire structure.

  We’d already waited for several horas while the seats finished filling on our own separate platform. Raelyn and Levi joined us, along with some of the more famous faces from the factions. Only a handful from Scarlatti opted to come. They sat next to us. Breaker, Malani, Luka and his sister’s family, a handful of others, a couple of braver Elik and one of the Herons all stared wide-eyed at the new world.

  I wasn’t so sure it was out of pure kindness that Scorpia invited and paid for them to attend. If they got a glimpse of the rest of the galaxy, it might induce them to negotiate over the dark matter with her.

  Jupe leaned next to me, whispering details about the opening entertainment I would never have noticed or appreciated. He looked so handsome in his dress clothes. He wore tight charcoal pants under a magenta robe belted with gold. The metal made his dark eyes sparkle. He found me a matching dress on the TriRing that shimmered like suncots across my curves and pooled at my feet like liquid.

  “Right there, Tahnya, those dancers won the Intergalactic Games last cycle. See those quad-flips? Beaut, right? Ooo, see those people with the shamrock hair on top—”

  “Stacked like a stingfly hive?”

  “Uh, sure. They are line-famous for their vid work. Never mind, you’d have never heard of them. See those musicians? The suite they are playing is a combination of all of the wedges’ anthems.”

  Right now, if I turned, I could see the palace and the landing pad where we had tried to escape. I could pinpoint the places where the wrecked ships lay underneath the churning water’s surface. Coming back felt strange, especially under such different circumstances. It was like being in a lucid dream, where part of you insists what you’re seeing isn’t reality.

  It’d only been a septdia since I tore the asteroid from the sky, but Jupe warned me some of the people who tried to talk to us weren’t real people. They were media droids. We already had three try to swim to our platform, hoping to get a word with the Hero of Salvade and his opinion on the circulating rumors, but Raelyn immediately kicked them into the water. I’d been on the alert ever since.

  Even though the seats were warmed, I still felt cold. I knew the chill was psychological. I wouldn’t have been let out of the hospital if I weren’t fine, but it felt like more than just my blood had been drained out of me. Maybe it was using all that power.

  I shivered.

  Jupe slowed his chatter, giving me a concerned look. “You bien?”

  I snuggled closer to him. If it meant saving my life, he was willing to give me all his blood. And then he’d stayed by my side, refusing to leave until Malani kicked him out to go take a shower and to work on getting the Leech repaired. He was willing to die for me. My cheeks warmed at the thought. “I’m fine,” I whispered. “It’s just all so overwhelming. I want some peace and quiet once this is through.”

  “I know. I wanted to ask . . .” He trailed off. “Look.” He pointed behind me.

  The music suddenly shifted from the suite to an ecstatic drumroll. A gasp filled my throat as the dome of the royal palace elongated into the ice-blue sky. The tip peeled back, exposing layer after layer until a bud was revealed and opened. A pod floated out, surrounded by a collection of guard pods.

  “The Councilors,” Jupe whispered.

  The main pod settled into the middle of the high-rise platform while the Councilors encircled it. Scorpia stood as straight and as rigid as the Atina temple statues. Her pants were jewel bright as ice caps and draped along her impossibly long legs. Her top crisscrossed her body, until it collected into a disk-like collar that stretched half a meter above her head. The collar split into twelve painted strips. One for each wedge.

  The only makeup she wore was six fine slashes of white along each cheek. Her platinum hair tangled with the breeze and her dark skin shone as though sprinkled with stardust.

  She stepped out of the pod and bowed before her people. A servant.

  The ceremony was long yet beautiful, filled with Solteran history and myths. Jupe’s legs jogged so hard that by the end, our platform jiggled in time with him.

  When the end came, Scorpia kneeled before each of the Councilors, swearing before the Angel and Demon to serve their wedges, to serve their people. After she finished her vows to the Councilors, she swore to the audience to protect her own wedge, her people, for the good of all. There was a slight emphasis on those last words.

  One by one, the Councilors voted her in. She still knelt while they placed the crown on her head. It looked as though the heart of a star had been plucked from the sky and shaped for her head. Rise and take your throne.

  When she stood, the light refracting off her crown, her clothes, and the ice created an illusion of wings flittering behind her. The Angel, incarnate.

  The crowd cheered, voices echoing off the water and Atina’s ice shelves so it seemed the entire galaxy was there with us. Maybe through the lines, they were. Maybe the entire galaxy had just broken out in a cheer.

  Scorpia waited until the cheering had died and everyone turned expectant.

  Jupe whispered, “Her first act in office will be made public.”

  “Please hand me my kpinga,” the new Queen said.

  One of the Councilors brought out her shining kpinga on a silken pillow. She raised it high as though to strike, but with a quick slice, she swept one of the smaller blades across the back of her neck. She handed the weapon back, trading it for a piece
of fabric, and she dotted her neck.

  She held her royal Solteran line to the heavens. “Let this be my first act as Queen. From now on, no royal will bear a line that has the ability to hack others. Furthermore, all lines will be made equal and accessible, no matter where in the galaxy you may live.”

  The cheer this time was deafening.

  I couldn’t help but think Leader would’ve been satisfied by this.

  As the audience got up and started to fight their way onto the bridge that led to the palace, where the celebration would occur, Jupe slipped his fingers through mine. “Wait a sec.” He gestured me away from the others. Levi raised an eyebrow but Jupe waved him off. “Have you thought about what you want to do next?” he asked me.

  I glanced again at the handful of Elik on the Scarlatti platform. A couple more had visited me in the hospital. With Malani’s help, they explained how they were willing to share their history with me, since I missed out by having grown up in the compound. They were confused how one of them came to live with the red-bloods. I’d been holding my breath this entire time, waiting for someone to connect the pieces of the kidnapped egg and royal, waiting for one of them to puzzle out what really happened with the asteroid. No one seemed to.

  I could claim my birthright. Technically, since I was a living royal Elik, I could make a claim to the rest of the dark matter. But I was only getting to know my Elik side. It didn’t seem fair for me to go and claim it when I’d only known my Human side my entire life. Not that I would know what to do with it anyway.

  I could reconnect with my past, hear more stories about my childhood, about my parents. All the things I’d forgotten. I could even help Cal regroup and set Scarlatti on a new course. Maybe somedia I would.

  But not now.

  I wasn’t sure how, but something changed when I faced the asteroid. A tiny shift inside my deepest self. Maybe it was as simple as accepting this power and realizing I could use it if I wanted. Maybe it was a deeper change.