‘That’s the thing I never understood in the set-up,’ Sofia said, ‘and I even asked Dr Killock to explain, but she never did properly. It was almost as if she didn’t know, but of course she knew.’
Perhaps she did, perhaps she didn’t, Henning thought. Belinda Killock was hiding something, and that could be useful. It seemed that as long as she was the one who called the shots for the admiral, the navy wasn’t going to let him have Avalon. He had no direct influence over her, but one way or another he was going to rebuild, and he was going to make the navy pay for it. He had to be cunning, and use his skills to influence people. Perhaps there was something for Jill Faith to do after all.
Chapter Twelve
Berossus stood beside a floor-to-ceiling window and stared at the slowly rotating tubular masterpiece of engineering, Gemma Station, that gleamed in the light of the star from which it had gained its name.
He waited for Efia.
He hoped that watching the slow rotation would calm him. The news from his mother had changed everything. She had provided him with answers to the questions he had been pondering. Not only was he part of the experiments of Jilius Dal—like his new friends at FIST had been—his father had also been involved. And on top of that, he wasn’t dead. But as was so often the case with new information, the answers only led to more questions.
He had little recollection of his father. He had been but a chunky little boy at the time of the accident. That’s what his mother had told him, but he knew there had been no accident. His father had left his family for some unknown monster-hunting expedition. He had given away his one chance to see his boy grow up. Why would someone do a thing like that, and why all the secrecy? Berossus wondered.
Then there was Efia. All through his childhood, the Shade goddess had been watching over him, again in secret.
The journey with Tredd Bounty, the crashing stars, the fight with the navy, and his time with FIST, were all but a blur in his mind now. He was glad it was over. The others fared well in that environment, but for him it was too stressful. And now, just as he was feeling comfortable with a steady job at a steady station, he was already being pulled back to that world.
Her mother and Efia wanted him to reconnect with his father, but his mind was torn. She had lied to him. His father had lied to him. Oberen had left him to grow up without a father. How was one supposed to forget something like that and pretend everything was fine?
Why did he even leave? Berossus had made the other choice. He’d left FIST in order to someday be a father. Oberen should’ve walked away before getting involved with Inanna. Then again, Berossus would never have been born. He swore he would raise children, and he would never, ever, leave them.
A change in the air brought him back to his surroundings and made him look around. Efia had appeared, and was stepping towards him, somewhat ethereal.
‘You look thoughtful,’ she said.
Berossus stared at the gleaming outside surface of the station. ‘I don’t know what to think.’
‘It is always better to accept what is, than to fight it.’
Berossus grunted. The Mediator, she was called. While the meaning of her words was often lost on him, she had an uncanny ability to make things look good, or at least agreeable. She was going to talk him round, and he didn’t want it. ‘What do you need from me?’
‘Look at me,’ she said, and smiled calmly. ‘I’m fading. Bad things are happening in the universe. What I want is for the Shades to work together. We must stop Nenetl before it’s too late.’
Berossus stared through the window. ‘You don’t need me for that.’
‘I do,’ she said, ‘and I know it doesn’t matter to you what I want, it’s more important that your mother wants it, your father wants it, your friends want it, and deep down you want it, too.’
‘What do you know of my friends?’
‘They know what Nenetl’s doing, they know Aalto is captured, and that unless we act, there is only one way this can end.’
‘Which is?’
‘Total destruction of the universe. It has been her goal since the division and now she is closer to achieving it than ever before.’
He eyes met hers. ‘I don’t know who you think I am. I’m just a mechanic who loves to tinker and wants to raise a family.’
‘Wouldn’t you want to do it on a planet?’
‘Of course,’ he said, remembering Mianea had already found a place in Bella on Baleor. ‘But you know I can’t.’
‘Now you can’t, but perhaps we could fix that if you’d help us.’
That was it. Just as he had expected, one by one, Efia was removing his objections and making it the most attractive choice to go with her. Berossus didn’t want to go, and this discussion wasn’t helping him.
‘I’m needed here.’
‘Yes, Mianea needs you. And you are right, she will not be happy if you leave.’
Berossus grunted. She would be furious. ‘So, it’s solved, I’m not going.’
‘No, Berossus, she will come to understand. As you will come to understand the reason he left you and your mother.’
‘Wait, what?’
‘Your father is a great man, and if you come with me, you could meet him. Look within yourself, and then decide if he was wrong to leave you. In time, Mianea will give you the same chance.’
He should’ve known Efia would find all the right strings to pull. Instead of the Mediator, she should be called the Negotiator. If she was able to give him the ability to go on planets and introduce him to his father… there was nothing for him to argue against.
‘When do we go?’
After yet another day at work, Berossus went up to Mianea’s place in the sunny side of the station. She lived in a small unit that had a real outward-facing window through which radiation-filtered light poured in and filled the room in a slowly rotating angle.
He hesitated at the door, just like he had hesitated when he’d first visited her place, but now it was for a different reason. She wasn’t going to like what he had to say.
He pressed the bell. In a moment, the door slid open to reveal Mianea looking up at him and smiling. She wore a bright floral dress and a scent to match.
‘Come in.’
Berossus stepped in, removed his shoes—as was the custom on the station—and put them on a rack in the foyer. They sat on two opposite chairs next to a small table by the window.
‘How was your day, honey?’ she asked.
‘It was good.’
‘You know, I was wondering if we should just ditch the idea of actual flowers with soil and all, and go with something simple like laser light pods. What do you think?’
‘Sounds good,’ Berossus said. But if he was going to go after his father to stand up against Nenetl with Efia, it wasn’t going to happen. He took a deep breath. ‘Actually…’ But words failed him.
‘You don’t like the laser pods? It’s OK, we can look at the options again.’
‘No, it’s not that,’ he said, and recalled the moment he had told Evie he would be moving to Gemma Central. It hadn’t ended well, and he hadn’t seen her since. But this was going to be different.
‘What is it?’ she asked, tilting her head.
‘I have to make a short trip.’
‘A trip? To where?’
‘Tabou.’
Her face fell. ‘Why on earth would you go there? Besides, it's not a short trip!’
He put his hand on hers. ‘I’m sorry, dear. I spoke with Efia—’
‘So she’s behind this?’ she said, pulling her hand away. ‘We have our wedding in a matter of weeks! Tell her she can find some other company, because you’re not going.’
‘She said my father is in Tabou.’
She squinted. ‘You told me your father was dead.’
‘I thought he was. That’s why—’
‘I don’t believe her,’ she said, and gazed around, seemingly frustrated. ‘Why does she do this now?’
Berossus shook his head. This
was exactly what he had been afraid of. Efia had promised to give him the chance to go down to a planet—which he believed, but couldn’t talk about with Mianea—and to find his father; reason enough to go when he’d spoken with the Shade. Now, it was hard to justify.
‘Does she not want us to marry?’
‘I don’t think she has anything against you. It’s just that she learned about my father’s whereabouts only recently, and I would really love to meet him and perhaps have him join our wedding. He’s my father, after all.’ That, of course, wasn’t the only reason he was going. He was going because Efia and his friends at FIST needed help, but it sounded like a reason Mianea would understand.
‘But the wedding is in fifteen days. Will you even make it in time?’
‘If I book a spacecraft to leave tomorrow, I should have plenty of time to get there and back,’ he said, thinking that perhaps he could get his father to join the wedding before they continued saving the world.
‘But I need you here to organise everything with me—what if something happens and you’re late?’
‘Nothing will happen.’
‘Still, I don’t want you to go.’ She frowned. ‘Couldn’t you just send your father a message, ask him to come here?’
‘I don’t think that’s possible.’
‘Why not?’
He shrugged. Efia had mentioned that his father was unreachable by the usual means, but he didn’t know why. He felt bad, mostly because he couldn’t talk about it—but after Efia removed his monstrousness, he wouldn’t have to keep secrets from Mianea.
’You’re going, regardless of what I say?’ she asked, with resignation.
He nodded. ‘I love you, but it’s what I have to do. I have never met my father. You must understand.’
She sniffled and started sobbing. ‘Why do you need to go now? Why does it not matter what I say?’
‘I love you, and I’ll be back for you. We will marry and move to a nice spot on Baleor. I promise.’
She hugged him and cried against his chest. For Berossus, this was at least better than the last time he had told someone he would leave.
That same evening, Berossus boarded a long-range passenger ship on the Gemma spaceport. The ship went on a circular route through Gemma, Mista, Turmalisto, and OL-1, and a dozen or so smaller stops on the way as required. Berossus expected three to five pinches before they reached Tabou, which was located between Mista and Turmalisto.
Efia’s presence floated in with him. She was transparent to him, and invisible to the rest of the passengers. Once they entered their enclosed sitting compartment, she materialised in front of him.
It didn’t take long for the ship to leave Gemma Station behind, running on propulsion, and soon Berossus felt the familiar pull of the pinch. It was the point of no return—he was now on his way to meet his father for the first time.
Efia smiled at him. ‘How are you feeling?’
‘Good,’ he said. ‘Excited.’
‘I really appreciate you taking the trip, but I have to say, I haven’t been completely honest with you…’
Part II
A hidden power is always stronger than the one that is revealed.
— Aalto the Initiator
Chapter Thirteen
The thing before Evie in the corridor looked like a small capsule, similar to the underground shuttle in Avalon, but without any discernible windows. On its metal fuselage it did have an indentation that could have been a door. Evie jumped over the deep groove that the capsule had carved on the floor as it skidded across the corridor. ‘Lucky it didn’t run us over.’
Naido walked around the capsule on the other side. Smoke was rising from below it. ‘This looks vaguely familiar.’
Suddenly, with a hiss, a hatch opened on the side of the capsule. Evie took a few steps to see what was inside. Expecting Remolan aliens, she sighed when the faces inside were revealed to be human.
A young round-faced blonde woman in a black dress, her hair a mess, squinted. ‘Are we on the other side?’ she asked, eyeing them and brushing her hair back.
‘You could say you’re on the other side.’ Naido offered her a hand.
The woman stepped down, and a young man with a square jaw and a sharp suit followed.
‘What happened?’ he asked.
‘This doesn’t look like the Thrulift lobby, and— who are you?’
‘Hi, I’m Evie.’ She smiled, trying to appear amiable, but they still looked completely lost. ‘And this is Naido.’
The man said, ‘I’m Conner, and this is Keira.’
‘Where are you coming from?’ Naido asked.
‘From Darnison, we’re here on— No, that’s not what you’re asking, is it?’
‘Darnison,’ Naido said, rubbing his chin. ‘That’s not where you boarded this capsule, is it?’
Keira’s face fell. ‘Of course not! We boarded on the other side. Is this a maintenance room?’
‘Other side? Of Spit City?’ Naido asked.
‘Duh,’ said the man.
Naido turned to Evie. ‘Should I tell them, or will you?’
Both Keira and Conner looked at Evie with faces of confusion or anger, she couldn’t tell which.
‘Just a moment ago,’ Evie pointed at Naido and herself, ‘we were deep under the plains of Fearanor in Runcor. And now, we are somewhere else. See that black spot over there? That’s where you came in.’
The pair stepped towards the portal, trailing the groove that the skidding capsule had carved on the floor. They whispered something to each other.
‘And that’s where we came from,’ Evie said, pointing at one of the similar holes at the other end of the corridor.
‘Seriously?’ Conner said. ‘You’re saying we’re not in Spit City anymore? Is this some kind of sick joke?’
‘No, sir, not a joke,’ said Naido, extending his arm to point at the small windows on the side. ‘Take a look outside.’
Evie followed them to the window with a view to a forever-stretching Remolan plain under the flat crimson sky. The plain was littered with an apparently infinite number of alien creatures and cyborg clones standing still, massive black ships littering the surface here and there, and far in the horizon, jagged edges of tall buildings, all too familiar to Evie from her last visit. Far beyond the buildings, a massive orb the size of a planet rested against the ground.
‘How do we get out?’ Keira asked.
‘We’re in a snafu,’ Evie said. ‘We were chased by armed men where we came from.’
‘But they didn’t follow you here?’
‘Not yet,’ Naido said, and glanced back to the portal. ‘We took one of many portals. It will be just a matter of time.’
‘The other way, then?’
‘Tell me,’ Naido said, ‘between the time you entered the capsule and the time you crashed here, how long did it take?’
‘It was quick.’
‘Almost immediate.’
‘Let me take a look.’ Naido stepped towards the portal the capsule had come through.
‘Are you sure about this?’ Evie asked.
‘I’ll just peek in and be right back.’
Naido ran to the portal, stepped in and disappeared.
Evie stared at the portal. The couple joined her. With Naido gone, the seconds passed slowly, and she hoped he would be back soon. If the capsule had come in from Spit City through the portal, perhaps it could take them back to Spit City.
A loud clank from behind grabbed Evie’s attention. Keira gasped. Conner swallowed. Evie thought the guards had found them, but no. In front of a portal behind them stood an alien cyborg—and there was still no sign of Naido.
Evie was unsure what to do. ‘Take cover,’ she said, and moved behind the capsule.
The cyborg wasn’t based on a human. Instead, it was some weird amalgamation of the Remolan creatures and a cyborg marine. And behind it came two more, very much like the gleaming black aliens she remembered from Remola, each wearing metal augme
ntations in various parts of their bodies.
Naido flew back in through the portal behind them, and tumbled on the floor, skidding over to Evie.
‘Whoa! That was trippy,’ he said, shaking his head.
‘In case you didn’t notice,’ Evie said, pointing to the capsule, ‘they’ve caught up to us.’
Naido held on to his elbow, and grimaced. ‘I’m all right, thanks for asking. That is a way out, but it’s—’
‘It’s what?’ Keira said.
‘A challenge—’
‘Why?’ Evie said.
‘The world behind—Spit City, where you came from—has a different orientation. Over there, this is up and that’s down.’ Naido pointed at each of the two portals in the corridor.
‘Let me get this straight,’ Keira said. ‘When we go through the portal, we have to climb up or fall back down here.’
‘Exactly,’ Naido said. ‘Your shuttle went maybe fifty metres down before it skidded to a halt here.’
‘Fifty metres?’ If Evie understood Naido correctly, it meant that the gravity had flipped ninety degrees when they stepped through the portal. Walking fifty metres on a flat surface was easy, but… ‘Are you saying we have to climb fifty metres straight up?’
Keira’s eyes flicked between the portal and Naido. ‘You can’t be serious.’
‘I am. There’s also low oxygen.’
Keira gasped. ‘What about the other way?’
It was Evie’s turn to grimace, as more cyborgs entered. There was no way they’d get through. But she didn’t want to go to Spit City. ‘Shosana and Daler are still there.’
‘There’s nothing we can do for them if we get caught, too,’ Naido said.
Evie sighed. ‘We have to move, so the portal to Spit City it is.’ She stood up and took Keira’s hand and pulled her towards the portal. Conner followed.
The Remolans stomped towards them.
Naido pulled both pistols from his hips and fired at the aliens. One of the shots hit a metal plate and clanked off, and another hit the alien itself, its skin absorbing the shot. The hit failed to hold it back—instead, it returned the shot.
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