Starbearer

by Rock Forsberg

  ‘Let’s hear it,’ Nenetl said.

  ‘Let me keep this world, and you keep the other. We don’t need the others. One god per world, living in peace and harmony.’

  Nenetl smiled again. Even though she was utterly evil, Berossus found her smile alluring and he was drawn to her.

  ‘I like the way you’re thinking,’ Nenetl said. ‘But I’ve a better idea: one world, one god. I’m sorry, sister—you were always my favourite Shade, please understand it’s nothing personal.’

  Nenetl raised her hands, and a ray of purple and black smoke burst forward from her palms.

  Efia reacted fast and raised her forearms to block the attack. Before them emerged an invisible shield that repelled the burst of purple smoke that flowed around it. She grimaced and pressed the shield forward. The power of Nenetl’s blast strengthened so much that the gust of air around it thrust against Berossus and Shosana, who cowered behind him.

  Daler shot a few blue bolts from his weapons. Just before hitting Nenetl, a puff of purple and black appeared and absorbed the energy.

  With a grimace, Efia pressed back against Nenetl’s stream of energy. Her voice strained, she said, ‘You can never win.’

  This caught Nenetl’s attention, and Efia was able to push back, but unlike Efia, there was a smile on Nenetl’s face. ‘It was millions of years ago, but you should remember. Then a nascent world, less developed, less detailed, less humane, took over the glorious Esse. That nascent thing was this world. Yet I hear not one of you speak for Esse.’

  ‘It’s irrelevant,’ said Efia.

  ‘Is it? Because if Esse still existed, your world would not be. You lot replaced something old and broken when you came into this world. Now you’re the old and broken ones. Through the years, the entropy has taken its toll on you. Things are breaking on the fringes—you see it in your organisations, on your planets, and in the increased anomalies of space travel.’

  Berossus’s mother had talked to him about entropy that would catch up in the end. Distances grew and warmth disappeared. But she also said that there was something that could balance it, and even turn it around.

  ‘This is different,’ Efia said. ‘Your universe lacks a key ingredient, without which it cannot survive.’

  Nenetl chuckled. Efia was able to drive back another metre. ‘And what is that supposed to be?’

  ‘You should know,’ Efia said, smiling through the grimace.

  Nenetl pushed harder and threw Efia off balance. ‘My new world is superior in every way.’

  ‘Perhaps,’ Efia said, gaining a better footing, her long dress flapping hard in the wind, the dark stream spreading around her deflected by her magic shield. ‘Except one. And if you don’t know what that is, I’m not going to tell you!’ Efia leaned forward and thrust back hard.

  Now Nenetl had to adjust her footing; she was caught off guard by Efia’s sudden thrust. Her magic met Efia’s shield midway between them. But unlike Efia, she seemed completely composed. ‘No, don’t tell me,’ she said, and propelled her purple stream harder towards Efia. ‘Because I know what you’re going to say, and that’s not it.’

  Efia leaned forward, but stepped backwards. Her expression was strained as she said, ‘Say it! Say what’s missing from your world.’

  Nenetl stepped forward, tall and composed. She laughed. ‘See, this is where we differ.’ Then she turned her palms around and made quick fists. The direction of her stream changed.

  Efia yelped as she was pulled forward, and flew face-first on to the floor. She tried to lift herself up, but Nenetl made pulling motions with her fingers and Efia slid on the floor towards her, flailing to stop herself.

  When she was right at Nenetl’s feet, her whole body was lifted and, as it was, became smaller, sucked into one of Nenetl’s rings.

  Nenetl raised her hand in front of her face and peered into the rings—Efia was inside a green stone, beside which were the stones holding Aalto and Shinzaburo. ‘Don’t worry, you’re still my favourite.’

  ‘What did you do to her?’ asked Jilius.

  She laughed insidiously. ‘She’s in the safest place there is. Right here.’ She presented her rings by waving her fingers before her face. Her gaze settled on Berossus.

  ‘Come forth, little one,’ Nenetl said.

  She didn’t mean Berossus—she was looking at Shosana, who stepped out from behind him. She was shaking, and tears fell down her cheeks as she muttered, ‘The same words.’

  ‘You knew what was going to happen, didn’t you?’ Nenetl said. ‘Yet you did nothing.’

  Berossus didn’t understand what this was about.

  ‘What could I have done?’ she said, sobbing. ‘It never matters, it’s always the same.’

  ‘Is it so?’ Nenetl asked.

  Shosana sobbed and shook. Berossus grabbed her in an effort to console her, but she shook him away and burst out crying.

  ‘You know what happens next, don’t you?’

  Shosana nodded and sobbed.

  ‘Know that I value your contribution,’ Nenetl said, raising her hand and pointing at Shosana. A shadow version of Shosana appeared, overlaid, but a dozen centimetres or so away from the original. With a motion of her fingers, Nenetl pulled the shadow into her fist. She pressed her fist against her chest.

  Berossus turned to Shosana. Her skin had turned pale grey, and her eyes dark. She looked up at him. ‘It’s aconitum; you must tell Evie—’

  ‘I don’t understand,’ Berossus said.

  She shook her head and crumpled into floating particles like burnt wood.

  Berossus drew a fast breath and stared at Nenetl. ‘What did you do to her?’ he shouted.

  Nenetl tapped her chest with her palm. ‘Her gift will live on in me.’

  ‘No!’ Berossus shouted.

  Nenetl winced and stepped back, disappearing into a purple and black void that disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared.

  ‘She’s gone,’ Berossus said, trembling.

  Daler dropped onto his knees and tried to grab the flutter that a moment ago was Shosana. He winced and muttered, ‘First Sheila, now Shosana…’

  A man dressed in a fancy white and gold outfit walked in, followed by at least ten heavily armed and armoured troops.

  Daler raised his head with a furious expression. ‘You will die for this!’

  ‘I’m sorry, you’ve been my guest for days, and we meet only now. But you’ve met my partner, Nenetl,’ Puissance said.

  ‘That’s what she makes you believe,’ Berossus said.

  He flinched. ‘Who’s the bag of meat? I saw what he did there.’

  Berossus growled. He hoped that the darkness would rise inside him and he’d rip the man to shreds. But it didn’t. He was irritated, for sure, but ready to attack the troops in front of him? No, he wasn’t plasma-proof.

  ‘Can’t speak?’ Puissance said. ‘Now, what should I do with you?’

  ‘He’s seriously hurt,’ Jilius said, referring to Oberen at Berossus’s feet. ‘He needs treatment.’

  ‘Another big monkey,’ Puissance said with disgust in his voice.

  Berossus grunted. It was because of this man, Marc Puissance, that his father had been injured. He was angry, but the dark rage remained hidden. He wondered why. Sometimes it stirred almost without reason.

  Puissance stepped closer. ‘Put those weapons down. You take a shot, and my men will kill every last one of you faster than you can blink.’

  He was right. Berossus and Jilius lowered their guns.

  But Daler kept his pistol pointed at Puissance. ‘It might be worth it. What’s a few lives like ours against the universe? I could kill you with a single headshot.’

  ‘Could you?’ Puissance said, pulling the skin from below his ear as he approached. It peeled off to reveal a shiny metal chin and temple. ‘You see I’m no ghost. You made me like this when you shot me. But did you kill me? No.’

  ‘Go ahead, squeeze that trigger,’ Puissance said, his face centimetres from Daler�
�s gun.

  They stared at each other. Berossus couldn’t move.

  Jilius cleared his throat. ‘You know, mate, you could just shoot him.’

  ‘Do it, and everyone dies,’ Puissance said with a smug smile.

  Jilius coughed again. ‘Perhaps, but it won’t be those guys that make it happen.’

  That made Puissance flinch. ‘What are you saying?’

  Jilius held a small device in his hands. ‘I’ve just deactivated their suits and weapons.’

  Marc turned around. His heavily armed soldiers struggled to move. The motorised suits made them powerful, but when they went offline, they were a burden.

  Puissance protested, ‘No, it can’t be—’

  Daler smacked him in the back of his head with the butt of his gun, and he fell, his metal face clanking against the floor. His soldiers stumbled forwards in their deactivated suits.

  ‘Stay back,’ Jilius said, his weapon aimed at the soldiers.

  ‘What now?’ Berossus said.

  ‘We’re busting out of this place.’

  ‘We have a ship in the alien world.’

  ‘Too dangerous. We’ll go to Spit City.’

  ‘Spit City?’

  ‘Evie’s there, waiting for the right time to set up Momentum 6 to receive Nenetl’s dark world.’

  Berossus wondered what he would say to Evie now that Shosana was gone. He looked at his father lying on the floor. ‘Will we be able to get him to a hospital?’

  ‘Maybe,’ Jilius said. Together they raised Oberen onto Berossus’s back. He was heavy.

  Daler stood stumped, moving his eyes back and forth between Shosana’s remains and the unconscious Puissance.

  ‘You wanted revenge,’ Jilius said. ‘There, you have it. Feel good?’

  ‘No,’ Daler said, and sighed. ‘Blast it…’

  Berossus stomped to the bridge that led to the tower. His father needed care, and Nenetl had imprisoned Efia. Even if they made it to Spit City, it could all be in vain. Images of Mianea smiling in his arms came to haunt him as the metal bridge clanked under his feet. Behind him, Daler carried Puissance on his back, and Jilius hurried back to the room where he had been working when they had found him.

  The room was filled with a number of black portals.

  ‘How do we know which one to take?’ Berossus asked.

  Jilius came in huffing. In his hands, he held a black cube of about thirty centimetres. ‘It’s that one,’ he said, and put the box on the floor. He tapped a few buttons on top of it, and it beeped in response. ‘All set, let’s go.’

  ‘What’s that?’ Berossus asked.

  ‘It’s two minutes to an electric failure,’ Jilius said with a grin. ‘Every digital system in this compound will be toast. Now let’s go!’

  Berossus nodded and stepped through.

  Part IV

  Only by giving will you receive.

  — Efia the Mediator

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Evie and Naido entered a corridor with blinking green lights and some unidentifiable soot on the floor—the classic Spit City fare—and stopped by the nondescript door to the Noir HQ, the same place they had visited not so long ago.

  A sudden ache knifed through Evie’s core, and made her gasp and stop. Her heart beat fast, and her breathing quickened to the extent she had to bow down and hold her chest.

  Naido placed his palm on her back. ‘Are you all right?’

  The pain subsided, replaced by a feeling of loss she couldn’t explain. Her heart still beating hard, she looked up at Naido, and said, ‘I don’t know.’

  He squinted. ‘What was it?’

  ‘It just hurt suddenly, and then it was gone,’ she said. The feeling of loss lingered and made her think of Ash. Maybe it was how her brain was wired: a feeling of mortal danger brought about the existential dread. She caught her breath.

  ‘You sure you’re good?’

  ‘I’m all right,’ she said. ‘Let’s do this.’

  As they got to the door of the Noir hideout, Naido pressed the ringer.

  Contrary to the last time, no answer came.

  ‘Wonder if they’re out,’ Evie said, and buzzed again.

  The only sounds were droplets of water hitting a puddle, and the ambient hum of the building.

  Naido grabbed the door handle and pushed it down. ‘It’s open—’

  To their dismay, the room was empty. The Jester-table, chairs, everything was gone. For a moment Evie thought they had entered through a different door, but it was the same. The picture of the pouting woman was still on the wall.

  ‘We were here just yesterday. Reina said nothing about them moving. Let me connect with her.’ Naido grabbed his device and initiated a call.

  All the furniture was gone, but they had left in a hurry and especially without cleaning, as all kinds of scraps littered the floor. She sauntered to the back room, where a light turned on automatically as she entered, revealing a water sink and connector ports for electricity and data. There had seemingly been a standing foodalator in the corner. There was also a small door at the back. Evie pulled it open and found it was just a cleaning closet with nothing but a broken dustpan.

  She went back to the main room. Naido had just finished with Reina and pushed his coms device back into his pocket. ‘She didn’t know they’d gone, said she’d connect with Jude, but I tried it already and she didn’t answer.’

  ‘What do you suggest?’ Evie asked, checking the time. ‘I need to get online in an hour or so.’

  ‘I know. Let’s go to the Megaplex.’

  Evie knew the place. It wasn’t the tallest building in Spit City, but it was the biggest. While most buildings were massive, from afar they resembled upright spits—the source of the prosaic name of the moon city—while the Megaplex building was a cube, like a big black button among the spits. It was a temple of entertainment; within its massive structures, it held an amusement park, racing track, grand stadium, and hundreds of restaurants and other businesses. ‘OK, why?’

  ‘The Endee Centre rents out presence rooms.’

  ‘But they’re monitored—and don’t they cost a lot, too?’

  ‘I know someone in the establishment. I’m pretty sure he can organise a direct pipe for you,’ Naido said with a wink. ‘And don’t worry about the cost.’

  That sounded great, almost too good to be true. ‘Pretty sure?’

  Naido touched the brim of his hat. ‘I’m as sure as you are pretty.’

  ‘Hmm, what are you saying?’

  ‘I’m saying I’m sure. Let’s go.’

  It had been a compliment, and it made Evie smile. What would she have done without Naido? Then again, he had been the one to snatch her from FIST, although in a way, that was what she had wanted. Things hadn’t always gone as they had planned, but of all the people she knew, this old gangster was the most reliable.

  A stomping noise came from outside the room, and they both froze on the spot. The feet stopped at the door.

  ‘Someone’s coming,’ Naido whispered.

  ‘This is Dawn Alliance Navy. Open the door!’

  Naido nodded sideways to the back door.

  What is the navy doing here? Evie thought, and tiptoed after Naido to the back room. She showed him the cleaning closet and they went in.

  The door of the main entrance swooshed open—the navy had a universal key—and heavy boots stomped in. Evie estimated a team of three.

  The closet was dark. ‘What are the navy looking for?’ she whispered.

  ‘Worst case they’re looking for you and the Starbearer. And it’s only a matter of time until they find us in this bag end.’

  Her eyes had adjusted to the dark. Naido stood close, facing the door. She grabbed his hand. ‘Whatever happens now, thank you for taking me this far.’ As he grunted in response, she rose on tiptoes to give him a kiss.

  But Naido took a small step back and stepped on something—the broken dustpan—and they both fell against the back wall. Before she ha
d a chance to reel, something clicked, and the wall turned around and pushed them with it. Now, she faced a bigger room with walls covered with long shelves of weapons. ‘A secret armoury!’

  ‘Quiet!’ Naido said.

  They listened against the wall through which they had entered, careful not to lean on it to make it turn back around. From the increasing volume of the sounds of boots hitting the floor, someone had stepped into the back room and opened the closet.

  Evie and Naido stood absolutely still, holding their breath.

  Once the sound of boots moved away, Evie relaxed, and turned back to the armoury to see what they had. The walls were lined with weapons, from knives to massive cannons that could down a ship.

  Naido picked up a rifle. ‘Nice,’ he said, turning the weapon in his hands. ‘RGX-2k, perhaps the best there is.’

  ‘Remember, we’re going undercover.’

  ‘Yeah, unfortunately,’ he said, eyes gleaming, and put the rifle back on the rack. He took a pistol with a holster and a multipurpose knife, and hooked them on his belt.

  ‘Is that a torch?’

  ‘Looks like one, why?’ Naido said. ‘Oh, I get it.’

  Evie grabbed the torch. Against Ver it was the best weapon.

  Naido offered her a small pistol. ‘Take this, just in case.’

  Evie was about to say no—usually, carrying a gun made it more likely that she’d end up in a gunfight with someone with more firepower—but something made her tell herself it was different this time, so she took the pistol.

  For its size, it was heavy, and, had all the features one would expect from a modern small firearm. She pushed it into her jacket’s side pocket.

  She listened. Hearing nothing, she whispered, ‘Are they gone?’

  ‘I think I heard the sound of the door and haven’t heard anything since.’

  They waited for a few slow minutes, after which Naido shrugged, ‘We should just go.’

  Evie nodded and pushed the side of the wall. It didn’t move. ‘Wonder if there’s a switch?’

  Naido tried the other side, pushing various spots on the wall without an effect, and in seeming frustration, threw his weight against it. The door clicked and whooshed and threw them both on the floor of the cleaning closet.