by Lea Linnett
Her grip loosened slightly on the comm, and she gave a soundless sigh. This was it, then. Helik had made his choice. Of course he had, she thought, shaking her head. He’d made it clear that change was impossible—or at least, that he wasn’t willing to be the one to make it. And it made sense, right? Not everyone could rebel like the sub-species she was now sharing an apartment with.
“However,” Helik added, his voice ringing out clearly over his audience, “my personal views do not align with those of my program.”
Ellie barely heard the sudden clamoring that sounded, and didn’t even try to work out how much of it was coming through the comm and how much was in the room with Helik, catching his microphone with its intensity. She felt weightless and planted to the floor all at once, her blood rushing in her ears as Helik opened his mouth to continue.
“I question the need for laws that create boundaries between our people.” His claws were gripping the podium tighter now, the tips pressed tightly against the metallic surface in an anxious gesture that she recognized. “I question a law built upon fear: fear of unprecedented collusion between our species, fear of losing some indefinable ‘purity’ within the levekk. Outside of CL-32, the minimal increase of hybrid births has had little to no noticeable effect on our society. Life goes on, and I believe the same would be true here.”
He paused, staring down the camera for a moment. “So this law protects nothing. Instead, it keeps our subjects from acting as equal players, removes protections from those who are most vulnerable, and punishes members of our society over something as trivial as their ‘interests.’
“What we’ve seen this week is more than enough evidence of that,” he said, visibly swallowing down a wave of nerves. “I have personally seen this happen many times. I’ve seen sub-species ripped from their partners and made to disappear. I’ve seen levekk wracked with guilt over decisions that were supposed to keep their partners safe, but instead endangered them.”
Ellie almost forgot how to breathe. Because no matter how oblique the reference, he could only be talking about her and Calli. On the other end of the comm, Augusta was breathing heavily, the sound filling Ellie’s ears as she strained to hear what Helik said next.
“For this reason, I will be handing over control of my current program to a trusted colleague of mine, and I am taking this opportunity to announce my intent to lobby for change. I will be running for the next term on a platform of true equality, and to succeed, I’ll need to be able to count on your support.”
Helik was silent for a moment, watching the camera carefully, but Ellie heard the words he said next as if they were meant for her only, despite the clamor filtering through the comm and through the door of her communications room.
“For now, I’ll be spending some time with my closest friends, and hopefully awaiting the return of someone I hold very dear.”
His speech over, Helik pried himself from the podium and strode out of frame while a wave of hands holding microphones—some levekk, some not—invaded the screen.
Ellie sat back down in her chair, words failing her. The comm was still clutched against her ear, and amid the angry voices of the Lodestars she could still hear Augusta’s shaking breaths.
They were silent for a long moment, Ellie still not fully processing everything she’d heard, but then Augusta spoke: “He’s the one you worked for, isn’t he?”
Her heart leaped to her throat, her pulse hammering. “Y-yes.”
“And he was talking about you.”
Ellie opened her mouth, but only strangled silence escaped her. Augusta breathed out the closest thing to a sob that Ellie had ever heard from the woman, but quickly recovered.
“Don’t bother coming home,” she rasped, her voice strengthening with an anger that Ellie had witnessed only once before, when Augusta had caught Lena and Kormak that night in the kitchen. There was no room for argument, no pause for Ellie to make excuses; the comm buzzed in her ear, the connection lost.
She sat frozen, her hands shaking around the comm. She expected to feel yet another wrench in her gut, another loved one lost, but after Helik’s speech, all she felt was a strange giddiness. He’d changed his mind! He’d thrown away the program and struck out on his own.
He’d asked her to come back, publicly.
She breathed out a tiny laugh, tears welling in her eyes. She felt the sadness of Augusta’s rejection and the happiness at Helik’s words all at once, a wobbly smile breaking out on her face.
She had to go to him, she thought, abruptly standing. He was going to do something for Devis and Scott—she had to help him!
The comm slipped from her fingers, landing on the table with a plastic bang, and she headed for the door, her thoughts laser-focused on Helik.
She came up short when the door slammed open before she could reach it. Freezing mid-step, she watched in horror as Cara stepped out of the darkened corridor, a large pindar filling the frame behind her. The look on the other human’s face was murderous, her gaze flitting from Ellie to the screen and back again as she entered the room.
Ellie’s stomach turned, her eyes widening in fear as the other human fingered the knife at her waist.
“I’m guessing you saw what I just saw.”
34
“Cara…”
“They’re all in on it,” Cara fumed, stepping towards her. “All of these levekk are pretending they give a shit, but get them behind closed doors and its clear what they’re really after.”
Ellie paused, backing up a step. That wasn’t quite the opener she’d expected. “H-he sounded like he wanted us to be treated as equals. That’s not bad,” she dared to say, eyes skittering between her friend’s dark glare and the knife at her belt.
“Don’t be naive,” Cara hissed. “Do you really think he wants anything more than to be able to stick his cock in a human without ending up like Sidana?”
Ellie’s mouth snapped shut, her hackles rising. If it had been anyone else, she might not have been so sure, but she knew Helik. She’d looked him in the eye while he spilled his story to her. She couldn’t doubt him.
“I believe him,” she whispered, managing not to flinch when Cara’s sharp brown eyes flew back to her.
But the woman’s expression quickly turned flat. “You’re the one he lost, aren’t you?” she said, sounding resigned.
Ellie blanched, almost falling back on the familiar lies that she’d been telling for months now out of habit, but she caught herself in time, and squared her shoulders. If Helik was done running, she was too.
“I am.”
Cara sagged, her brows angling together in pain, rather than anger. She glanced behind her at the pindar guarding the doorway, her fingers frozen around her sheathed knife. “And you’re going to him?” she said to Ellie.
She nodded.
“Come on,” Cara moaned, her eyes going skyward. “You told me he didn’t treat you right. You’ve seen how he talks about us and his fucking program.” When Ellie remained silent, the other human stepped forward. “How can you go back to letting him control you like that?”
Ellie grit her teeth, digging her heels in. “He doesn’t control me. There’s a Helik that you get to see, and there’s a Helik that I get to see.” She breathed in a steadying breath. “And the one that I get to see is worth going back for.”
Cara winced, but made no move to grab her like Ellie expected. She still hadn’t drawn her weapon, and the pindar remained stationary outside. Ellie edged towards the exit, planning her escape route.
They were interrupted by heavy footsteps, and Ellie glanced up to see Taz standing in the doorway, a handgun drawn and pointed straight at her. She froze, staring down the barrel of it as the dark-haired woman stepped into the room.
“What the hell are you doin’, Cara?” the newcomer hissed, her eyes on Ellie. “I thought we agreed she couldn’t be trusted.”
“She deserved a chance to explain herself,” said Cara, crossing her arms.
“And
she’s as guilty as I said she’d be. Jeez, what is with all these gross fucks?” Taz stepped closer to Ellie, the gun still trained on her. “What the hell do you see in those scaly assholes? I’m seriously asking.”
Ellie blinked, trying to focus on the woman’s words and not the dulled metal of the gun-barrel. The weapon was covered in scratches, and Taz held it with a quiet confidence that sent a chill down Ellie’s spine. “T-they’re just… people,” she said honestly, sealing her lips shut when Taz’s lip curled.
“People, my ass,” the woman said, shaking her head. “Invaders, slavers, monsters, maybe. Not people.”
Ellie had heard those words before, back when Lena had left, and they brought the pain of Augusta’s rejection flooding back. “At least a levekk never pulled a gun on me,” she found herself biting out, flinching when Taz only cocked the weapon in reply.
“I think you’ve said enough,” she said, flicking her short hair from where it had fallen into her eyes. “And we can’t let you go around telling people where we are.”
Ellie tensed, her eyes flicking to the door. Could she run fast enough to escape two irate rebels? Who was she kidding; there was a whole apartment full of rebels—plenty of them twice her size—just outside that door. She’d never make it. Her pulse quickened, her vision tunneling to Taz and the gun in her hand.
“Taz, don’t hurt her,” said Cara, stepping towards them. “We don’t want any clean-up.”
Taz rolled her eyes. “If she does what she’s told, I won’t have to hurt her.” She met Ellie’s eye, raising an eyebrow. “You gonna come with me?”
Part of her wanted to scream that no, she wouldn’t come. She needed to get to Helik, and she needed to get there now. But thankfully, her lips remained sealed with fear, and she bit down to stop them from trembling. She nodded.
Behind her sister, Cara let out a sigh of relief.
Ellie allowed the two women to march her out of the room, Taz’s weapon still raised. She passed by the pindar, who was so large that he blocked the way to the stairs, obscuring her view of the newcomer who came up behind him.
“Ellie?”
The group paused, and Anna popped her head around the alien’s huge body.
“What’s going on? Where are you taking her?”
Cara didn’t answer, but beside her, Taz sneered. “I think she can bunk with our resident reptile since she’s so fond of them. Whatcha think?”
Anna fell silent, her eyes widening, but she didn’t try and squeeze past the pindar guard. Ellie gave a wobbly smile, her hands shaking at her sides. Despite Cara’s orders, she didn’t dare think she might get out of this unscathed. She’d heard the disgust in the humans’ voices when they spoke of Scott, and she’d seen the injuries on the imprisoned levekk that she would soon be sharing a room with. If it wasn’t Taz or Cara, it could be any of the other rebels in here.
She needed to find a way to escape.
But she held her tongue and kept her gaze on the floor as she was guided down the hallway and into the now-unlocked storeroom.
The levekk was silent as they entered, watching them bind Ellie’s wrists behind her back with sharp eyes. She wondered if he recognized her from before.
Taz grimaced as she tightened the ropes. “You know, it all makes sense now,” she said. She paused, waiting for Ellie’s reply, and raised her eyebrows when none was forthcoming. “I always wondered why they picked you to do all the speeches and stuff. But I get it now. You fucked the boss. It’s the oldest trick in the book, I can’t believe I didn’t think of it before.”
“Taz,” Cara snapped, glaring down at them.
Taz opened her mouth to bite back, but a voice from the hallway diverted everyone’s attention.
“I just got word that one of Kaan’s old ships is being prepped,” said the dusky pink cicarian from earlier—Deeno, Ellie remembered.
“Are you serious?” Taz’s fingers paused on Ellie’s wrists.
“My guy sent me a picture of the thing being refueled if you need proof…”
“They’re moving,” Cara surmised. “He’s going to try and get off-planet—probably taking Scott and Sidana with him.”
“So we’re gonna stop him, right?” said Taz.
Cara bit her lip, sharing a long look with her sister. “I think we found a better use for your fireworks.”
Ellie emitted a panicked noise and squirmed against her bonds, trying to rise to her feet. But Taz moved faster, pushing her back to the ground and heading for the door.
“Too late, lizard-licker,” she said, grinning with excitement. “Don’t have time for you to put up a stink. I’m not convinced he’ll wait around for you to come back.”
Taz left the room with a spring in her step, but Cara paused, her expression hurt when she turned to Ellie.
“I’m sorry about this,” she murmured. “Really. I thought, coming from Manufacturing, that you’d understand that all they ever do is use us. I thought you’d join us. I know we haven’t always agreed, but… I thought we’d agree on that, at least.”
With that, she left the room, and the click of the lock was deafening.
---
Helik tried to tell himself that less than twenty-four hours wasn’t enough time for Ellie to come back to him.
He was pacing again, moving back and forth before Devis’ living room window as if he were caged there, despite the wide berth the rest of the room’s occupants were giving him. He winced every time a drone passed by the window, its camera lens roving blindly over him thanks to the reflective glass, and he couldn’t keep himself from glancing at the square of fabric in the window’s top corner. It plugged the second hole they’d found in Devis’ apartment, and he shivered at the thought of how many more could be hiding.
But that anxiety was nothing compared to what he felt for Ellie. It was only the morning after he’d practically outed himself on a national broadcast, and although he knew how long it could take for a human to cross the city, a part of him still feared that she might not come.
Or worse, that she’d tried, and something had happened to her.
He squeezed the plates of his head together with frustrated fingers, blinkering off the outside world with his arms. The plates made coarse, grating noises that he felt rather than heard as he pushed and pulled at them, but it was better than the ever-screeching panic of his thoughts.
“Helik.”
He turned, at once angry and relieved at the interruption, to find Devis holding out a glass full of greenish whiskey. He took it, raising the glass towards her in thanks before knocking it back in one swift movement. Devis rolled her eyes.
“Come sit?” She gestured to the collection of sofas, and the whiskey bottle sitting on the table between them.
Helik relented, sinking down into a seat and pouring himself another drink as Devis sat across from him.
“Your speech yesterday,” she began, her eyes on the metal table. “…Thank you.”
Helik buried his nose in his glass, but only sipped it this time. “For what?”
“For sticking up for us,” she said, reaching for the bottle to fix her own drink. “It was… more than I could have expected.”
He scoffed, his eyes downcast. “Don’t thank me just yet. Two days ago, I was ready to tell anyone who would listen just how much I wasn’t involved in all this.” He ran a claw around the rim of the glass, shuddering at the sound. “It was Ellie who made me see what a fucking ass I was being.”
“I know,” Devis said after a beat. “You’ve been different ever since she came here.”
That got his attention, his gaze flicking up to meet his friend’s. “How so?”
Devis leaned back. “Well, for a while you were worse. You were barely talking to me, always thinking about the program. But now, I think she’s changed you for the better.”
“You weren’t talking to me, either,” Helik pointed out, glancing at her human, who was stubbornly cleaning the front entryway. They’d tried to tell him that wa
sn’t necessary anymore, but Scott had said that if he didn’t do something he was going to reopen the hole in their bedroom window with his fist, so they’d let him be.
Devis’ gaze followed his. “Fair point. I guess we were both trying to keep our secrets. We just had different ways of going about it.”
He wanted to tell her that pretending you were abusing your own human was a foolhardy way of ‘going about it,’ but he held his tongue. He didn’t have the energy to argue anymore.
“Well, the secret’s out now,” he said, taking another sip.
Devis sighed. “Sure is.”
“We’re not going to be able to stay here,” Helik murmured, meeting her eye. “Roia’s already had to block certain comm signals, the complaints were so incessant. I knew there’d be anger, but…”
“Don’t worry about the donors. You gave up the program—it’ll recover.”
“It’s not donors. It’s everyone. Regular sub-species citizens from the Inner and Outer Districts.” Helik cradled his head, wishing his whiskey could wash away the headache that was forming. “Apparently I’m a pervert that wants to legalize abuse. I might be the former but the latter’s kind of insulting.”
“There are no supporters?”
“Two. And they were anonymous.”
Devis huffed out a laugh, but her heart evidently wasn’t in it, her face soon falling. “There goes that plan.”
“I’m not giving up. If I can’t make them let us stay, then I’m going to get us away from here,” he promised, leaning forward. He didn’t mention that he wasn’t sure if their ship would be ready in time, or that he didn’t know whether Ellie would make it back before the enforcers came knocking. They couldn’t arrest him for speaking his mind, but it was only a matter of time before they came to collect Devis.
“You’d leave everything behind like that?” asked Devis, her eyes widening.
Helik nodded. “Everything except her.”