“Mom, that’s definitely a forfeit,” Alexis agreed, popping through the curtain behind her brother.
Admiral Thomas looked at the four of them in bemusement. “What’s the forfeit for?”
Bethany Anne covered her face with a hand. “Nothing.”
Alexis snorted. “If we hear Mom cursing, she has to do a forfeit.”
Gabriel nodded. “We found out about it when we were eleven, while we were in the game world.”
Bethany Anne walked over to the thin gap left in the curtain by the twins. “Yes, and haven't you both just gotten the biggest kick out of trying to catch me ever since?” She opened the gap a smidge with her finger and peered out.
Michael chuckled along with the twins. “Something in my bones tells me you’re rolling your eyes at us right now, my love.”
“So hard,” Bethany Anne confirmed. She removed her finger and turned to Gabriel and Alexis. “I have a few words to say to everyone, and then we’re leaving. Your Aunt Jean wants to see you both in the armory aboard the Izanami. Make it quick, so Aunt Jean has time to get off the ship. And if you hurry, you can be there when K’aia gets out of the Vid-doc.”
Michael remained by Bethany Anne's side while Alexis and Gabriel ran off to find Jean. You have something prepared?
Bethany Anne's eyebrow twitched. I only decided to move the unveiling forward an hour ago. She ducked through the curtain and walked out onto the temporary stage. Something will come to me.
The crowd noise doubled when she appeared.
Long before he loved her, Michael had recognized that Bethany Anne would give her life before she gave up on a call to Justice.
Her Justice.
The Justice where everyone got exactly what they deserved, honor be damned. Then again, Bethany Anne had always been more than happy to bring a whole lot of “oh, fuck” down on anyone who thought she was going to allow things to go any other way than what she decreed.
Equally, she stood before these people—her people—to offer comfort and hope despite the agony Michael knew damn well she was feeling about ADAM.
I can feel you admiring my ass. Bethany Anne held up her hands to quiet the crowd.
Michael scanned the concourse as a matter of habit, locating Eric, Scott, and Darryl by the energy they gave off. Then you must have been channeling Tabitha, because I was “admiring” your strength as a leader. He nodded when he spied John looking down from the security booth above.
Suck-up.
Michael’s deep chuckle reverberated through her mind.
Bethany Anne walked over to the lectern and placed her hands flat on either side of the microphone. She leaned in to look out over the sea of color representing most of the peoples she had gathered under her aegis over the years. “Thank you all for being here to honor our fallen. I appreciate that you came at such short notice.”
Her voice carried to the farthest corners of the concourse without any need for the mic, the contrast between her soft tone and the weight of the words reaching everyone there. “This ceremony was scheduled for a few days from now, but as you’ve probably noticed, about half the people on this station are about to depart. Before that happened, I wanted to remind everyone we're leaving behind why we’re doing this.”
She waved a hand and the curtain dropped, revealing the shining monolith. “Without any theatrics, because we will celebrate life once the dead have been avenged, I give you the Robinson Memorial. For Tessa and Calvin, and for every cherished life lost in this war so far.”
Bethany Anne paused a beat to let her words sink in, then swept a hand back to indicate the two long columns of gold script on the black rock. “So far. Make no mistake, these names are not the last we will carve on this wall. Again and again, the Ooken have brought us pain. We’ve given it back in equal measure, but it has cost us dearly.”
Bethany Anne stepped out from behind the lectern, spreading her hands wide in front of her. “The losses have hurt us, but they have not broken us. Thanks to the hard work and support of everyone aboard this station this last few months—and believe me when I tell you I know exactly how hard it’s been—we are ready to repay the Ooken tenfold for that pain.”
Bethany Anne heard the murmurs of comfort and felt the shared emotion and pain in the air. She lifted her chin and let the tears fall for all to see, and they wept with her. The bond between her and her people would never falter, never fail. Not when they knew she would shed tears for any one of them. That she would fight until the end of her days if it meant they were safe from harm.
She moved to grasp one side of the lectern as the connection she felt with the sea of faces took her with it for a moment.
Should I dial your emotion down so you can concentrate? TOM inquired carefully.
No, she told him. I want to feel every bit of this. She composed herself and continued. Her eyes began to glow, her hair rising around her as her feet left the stage, walking into the air. “This war, these deaths—it’s all on me. I thought I had made it clear to the whole damn universe what happens when you mess with what’s mine, but I will address my failure to communicate.”
The tension around the concourse ratcheted as Bethany Anne's eyes flashed her incandescent fury. Hair, hackles, nerve pulses, and all sorts of other biological reactions went up as the rage of the Queen was revealed to them.
“The Ooken came here for a fight and we sent their sorry asses home to lick their wounds.” Bethany Anne laughed without a single hint of empathy. “When we turn up on their doorstep looking to resolve our grudge, they’re going to be even fucking sorrier.” She looked around. “Prepare for battle, because we only have one response to the murder of our own…”
Bethany Anne rose higher, flashing her red eyes at them as her hands curled into fists by her sides. She uttered two final words before vanishing.
“Total annihilation.”
12
QT2 System, QBS Izanami, Rec Room
Alexis paced in the space between the Vid-docs. “How long, Izanami? Did it go as planned?”
“I’m about to put K’aia into the rejuvenation cycle,” Izanami replied. The AI’s avatar vanished in a spray of pixels, reappearing on the other side of the Vid-doc in almost the same instant. “And yes, the process was successful.”
Gabriel looked up from his half-drawn sketch of Izanami, considering the difference between Izanami and most of the AIs he knew.
The aura Izanami projected sparkled and glitched. The apparent malfunctions highlighted her inhumanity, which
Gabriel thought it was a perfect juxtaposition to the hidden emotion the AI's deliberately poised body spoke to.
He touched his stylus to the screen, making gentle, sweeping lines to recreate the way her hair floated around her. “Izanami, why do you do that?”
Izanami phased in and out a few times. “That is a broad question, Gabriel. Can you clarify what you wish to understand?”
“Well, you are kind of human in appearance, but you also have an unreal quality. It’s the way you move.” He paused. “No, that’s not quite right. It’s more in the ways that you don’t move.”
Alexis nodded, pausing in her pacing to look at the avatar. “Yes, exactly! I think it’s like someone drew you in a comic. You move from frame to frame without any actions to join them together.”
Izanami tilted her ghostly-pale face to smile at Alexis and Gabriel. “What is movement but the expression of emotion and intent? Each step, each touch, each glance is revealing. I can choose whether or not to emote, unlike most biological life forms,” the AI explained. “When I do move, it has meaning.”
Izanami was lit by a soft golden glow, the folds of her dark kimono billowing as the invisible wind snatched at her long white hair, whipping it around her. Her eyes were filled with galaxies as she spread her arms wide and rose a few more inches off the floor. “Besides, am I not glorious?”
The twins nodded, awestruck as the stars spilled from Izanami’s hair and eyes and her avatar burst into a m
illion shining lights.
“Even prettier than Aunt Eve,” Alexis agreed in a whisper. “But don’t tell her I said that.”
Izanami’s presence grew, and her voice came from the speakers for a moment while her freeform avatar swirled around the room. “I am not restricted to one form, nor am I bound by needing to express myself physically. I admit that this display is mostly for your entertainment.”
Alexis gazed at the starbursts dancing in complex patterns around her, her smile growing by the second. “So why have an avatar at all?”
Izanami returned her avatar to its previous serene form and directed her smile at Alexis. “I choose to retain my nature while still appearing in a form that is conducive to communicating with organics.”
The Vid-doc lit up and Izanami looked down. “K’aia has completed the rejuvenation cycle. Please step back, Alexis. She may be disoriented when she emerges due to the changes in her physique.”
Gabriel tilted his head. “I didn’t think she was having stage three enhancement?”
“She did not,” Izanami clarified. “However, the repairs during stages one and two were significant. K’aia is now in peak condition for a female Yollin of her age, which she was limited from reaching by poor nutrition and years of hard labor.”
The Vid-doc opened and K'aia stretched, blinking slowly. “Did it work… Oh. Oh!”
Alexis was done giving her new friend space. She rushed to K’aia’s Vid-doc and climbed the side to get a closer look. “What is it? Are you in pain?” she asked, eyes darting up and down the space where K’aia lay.
K’aia rolled one shoulder, then the other. Then she stood up inside the Vid-doc. “The opposite.”
Gabriel grinned. “That’s awesome. Alexis, get down from there so K’aia can get out.”
Alexis rolled her eyes. “Oh, yeah.”
She hopped down and gave K’aia room to move and test her repaired body.
K’aia looked around in amazement as she slowly put her weight on the rear left ankle she’d injured in a rockfall years past. Her mandibles tapped in surprise. “I’m pain-free!” She looked at the humans. “How long will this last?”
Alexis chuckled. “Forever, or near enough that it doesn’t matter.”
K’aia’s mandibles dropped open. “That’s…dangerous technology. What if someone tries to take it?”
Gabriel’s mouth turned up at the corner. “I don’t see that being a worry,” he assured her. “Mom has some experience dealing with those types of situations.”
Alexis snickered. “We need to get going. She wants to see us all on the bridge.”
K’aia nodded to Izanami and followed Gabriel and Alexis out of the rec room. She looked around as she walked. “Where are we? This doesn’t look like the Helena.”
Alexis turned to answer. “We’re aboard the Izanami.”
K’aia nodded. “Another location. Okay. And that was the ship EI in there?”
“AI,” Gabriel amended. “Izanami has free will, to a point.”
“The ship and the AI have the same name? Why?” K’aia wanted to test her body’s limits but resisted the urge to run the length of the corridor because she felt so full of energy. “I’ve met a few artificial intelligences—”
“Digital life forms,” Gabriel supplied. “AIs are people, too.”
K’aia bobbed her head. “Well, either way, I can’t tell the difference.”
“You have to get to know them to see it,” Alexis explained. “Like Aunt Eve.”
K’aia looked at them skeptically. “The scary android?”
Gabriel snorted. “I suppose if you’re not used to her she could seem that way.”
K’aia looked at Gabriel in disbelief. “She offered to upgrade me with armor I never had to take off,” she told them in a horrified voice. “Have you seen how bulky Yollin armor is?”
Alexis and Gabriel shared a look and burst out laughing.
“Have you seen Aunt Jean’s armor?” Gabriel asked.
K’aia shook her head. “I haven’t met your aunt.”
Gabriel winked. “I bet you’ve heard of her, though.”
K’aia racked her brain for the name. “No, the only Jean I’ve ever heard of is Jean Dukes.”
The twins did that weird smiling thing that creeped K’aia out, but their meaning was clear.
“Jean Dukes is your aunt?” She threw out a couple of choice Yollin cursewords in exasperation. “Of course she is.” She groaned long and loud. “I can’t believe I turned down Jean Dukes’ armor. How could I be so stupid? Jean Dukes armor!”
Alexis patted K’aia’s arm as they walked. “Don’t stress it. We’ll find a way to get you hooked up with some.”
QBS Izanami, Bridge
Bethany Anne and Michael stood shoulder to shoulder, looking out over the fleet. The ships were displayed across half of the screens that wrapped the bridge.
Bethany Anne's mouth drew into a tight line as she observed the three other groups getting into formation. “Is this enough, or have I kept too much back to cover my ass while we’re gone?”
The ancillary fleet looked tiny and insignificant in comparison to the super-massive ships they were flocking to join.
Michael’s hand enveloped hers. “You’re sending four superdreadnoughts plus a host of other ships, all filled with highly destructive weaponry, to each of the larger targets. That should be more than sufficient to deal with what we’re looking at.”
John’s voice cut in over the speaker. “Hey, Boss. We good to go?” His face appeared on an unoccupied screen. “I think Eve might just use Scott as a warm-up if we hang around much longer.”
Bethany Anne raised a finger. “Let me check. Izanami, get me the others onscreen.”
The remaining screens lit up. Bethany Anne opened her link to Alexis and Gabriel while she waited for everyone to arrive. Alexis, Gabriel, we are about to get underway, and the three of you are not here.
We’re almost there, Mom, Alexis replied.
The elevator door opened a moment later to emit the three youths.
“Nice shipsuits,” Bethany Anne commented to Alexis and Gabriel.
“A gift from Aunt Jean,” Gabriel explained.
Bethany Anne smiled. “Then I'm sure they have a few extras included.” She turned her smile on K'aia. “Good to see you again, K'aia.”
K'aia nodded, lost for words. She'd forgotten again what it was to be in Bethany Anne's presence.
Bethany Anne gestured to the couches and turned back to the screens.
“Now that we’re all here,” she gave Scott a pointed look as he slid into view beside Eve, “finally, let’s move out.”
Scott grinned. “What, no speech? I’m disappointed.”
Bethany Anne shook her head, her lip curling slightly. “No more speeches. I’ve talked enough recently to be mistaken for a politician.”
Gabrielle made a disappointed face. “Not even, say, one minute and forty seconds for a pep talk before we leave?”
John grunted, shrugging nonchalantly. “I reckon two would do it.”
Eric shook his head. “Nah, I need a good solid five minutes of you telling us how great we are.”
Bethany Anne raised an eyebrow, her mouth making a little “o” of sympathy. “That’s a shame. I don’t know why you’d put money on me taking five whole minutes to go over what you already know.”
The guilty faces on the screen said it all.
“No speech,” Bethany Anne told them with finality. “See who makes money on me now.” Scott’s eyes flicked toward Michael. “Really?”
Michael lifted his hands in a good-natured shrug. “What can I say?” He grinned at the others on the screens. “You can settle up when we get back.” He didn’t fail to catch the look Bethany Anne threw his way. “My wife and I will enjoy the dinner you all just paid for.”
Bethany Anne cut the screens and returned to watching the fleet. “Izanami, I need to speak to Bart.”
Admiral Thomas appeared on the scree
n vacated by John a moment before. “Bethany Anne.”
“It’s time to move. Fire up the Gate drives, and good luck to you all.”
Admiral Thomas nodded briskly and the screen went dark once again.
Alexis, Gabriel, and K’aia watched on from the edges of their couches as the fleet exodus got underway.
Gabriel leaned in to whisper to his sister, “It’s so…serious. This feels nothing like the game.”
Alexis was transfixed. “It’s exactly like the game.”
Gates sprang into existence one after the other, flooding the space around the departing ships with pale, wavering light. Izanami initiated their Gate, the rippling light increasing in intensity the nearer they got to the event horizon.
Alexis took hold of her brother’s hand as the Izanami entered the Gate.
Federation Deep Space Research Outpost, QBS Izanami
Bethany Anne reached out with her mind as the Izanami crossed the Gate.
She caught the barest whisper of ADAM, no more than a slight pull far in the distance. Nothing like words, just the familiar sensation of his presence. ADAM, are you here?
There was no reply.
The throb at the base of Bethany Anne's skull returned with a vengeance.
TOM, can you get a lock on him?
He’s here somewhere, but that’s all I can tell. Bethany Anne, there's something happening with your chip.
My chip? Is it malfunctioning?
No… But it's not working at its optimal level right now.
That would explain the headache. Tell me if anything changes with it.
I will, he assured her. In the meantime, I will keep attempting to diagnose and repair the problem.
Bethany Anne turned her attention to Alexis and Gabriel. “I believe your father discussed your duties while aboard the ship?”
The twins nodded in unison.
“Help Izanami keep the ship running smoothly,” Alexis reeled off, “keep the repair bots running optimally, take care of the more complicated repairs if the ship is hit. But Mom?”
Bethany Anne tilted her head toward her daughter. “Yes?”
“The Izanami is invisible. Who’s going to hit her?”
All’s Fair in Blood and War (The Kurtherian Endgame Book 4) Page 13