by R. W. Holmes
“Kennedy” said Kennedy.
“Why would he matter?” asked Gael.
“It's easy” replied Zinerva. “Just have him say you were both here tonight. Say Angelica was supposed to meet both of you here and that you couldn't get a hold of her. There, alibi.”
Gael released a light chuckle as he mulled over Zinerva's idea, unable to find the fault in it. “She's right” he said optimistically. “Why wouldn't we be able to use that excuse? We could say she wanted to do a story in the paper about the public apology.”
“But then I'd be lying to the cops” said Kennedy.
“Oh come on, man!” Gael flared in frustration. “I saved your life, didn't I? I thought we were passed this stupid feud shit. I shouldn't have gotten Angelica involved, yeah, but that doesn't mean I should go to jail because she played with hellfire.”
A sharp knocking came from Gael's door then, and an angry, official tone called out to him.
“Gael Walsh? We're going to need you to open up. We want to have a few words with you.”
Gael looked to Kennedy pleadingly as Zinerva gathered up the ashes of her former self and hid beneath the bed.
“Fine...” Kennedy grumbled indignantly. “But no more public apology after this!”
Gael nodded back quickly, more than amenable to the terms, and then quickly answered the door.
Chapter 5
The Enemies of Hell
The questions the police asked Gael and Kennedy were routine, and they gave routine answers. There wasn't any suspicion, not after their fortuitous situation created an excellent alibi, and the events of the night had left them rattled in all the ways a pair of terrified, mourning college students would be.
The officers departed half an hour after their arrival, but left Angelica's room sealed off with crime scene tape. The goat, lacking a corpse as it were, was considered at large, and every student with the build of a bodybuilder was now a suspect.
Luckily for Gael, he was nowhere near such a thing, and Kennedy was far too lean to fit the profile himself.
“Zinerva!” snapped Gael. “Zinerva, it's safe now. You can come out.”
Kennedy twiddled his thumbs as Gael peeked under the bed for his imp, and couldn't contain a smirk when he watched Gael drag the napping imp out by her leg.
“We just had the craziest night of our lives” snapped Gael. “How can you sleep right now?”
“Hey, I was being good!” Zinerva proclaimed groggily. “All I wanted to do down there was cause trouble, like kick your bed to make a lot of noise, or-,”
“Yes, great, you're wonderful” groaned Gael.
“And hungry” said Zinerva. “And since I can't eat Kennedy or any of the other humans, what am I supposed to do?”
“Wait, what?” Gael queried confusedly. “You just died. Doesn't that get reset when you die?”
“I never said that” replied Zinerva. “I just said sometimes you eat, sometimes you get eaten. It's one big cannibal party down there.”
“What happens when you don't eat?” asked Kennedy.
Gael turned to Kennedy and shook his head. “Don't get involved” he said seriously. “I don't need another Angelica right now.”
“I just keep getting hungrier, though” said Zinerva. “And then I go insane.”
“Matter printer!” Gael said immediately. “Make Zinerva some, uh... I don't know. You've only ever eaten demon meat. I feel like we should do something better.”
“A matter printer isn't the right way to introduce someone to good food” Kennedy jeered. “She needs real food; grown, bred, and cooked by people. That matter printer stuff always tastes fake, like if plastic was a marinade.”
“Thanks, rich food snob” said Gael. “Are you paying? Because I don't have the money for that sort of thing. Hell, I don't have money for anything.”
“Okay yeah sure” said Kennedy. “Let's go.”
Gael reeled slightly by the offer, before exchanging equally questioning looks with Zinerva. “I kind of feel like an asshole now” he said apologetically. “But I don't know if it's safe to take her anywhere...”
“Sort of” Kennedy agreed with a shrug. “She just needs clothes. I mean, she looks weird, but not any weirder than those body modders out over on Mars, and those guys have a reputation for being really polite.”
“I'm not polite” said Zinerva.
“Then act it!” snapped Gael. “We're making this happen, and I don't care if that's wrong. Kennedy is right, matter printer food sucks, and I haven't had a real meal in three weeks.”
“I don't even know what clothes are though” said Zinerva.
“It's what we're wearing to cover our bodies, Z” said Kennedy. “You know, so you're not naked all the time.
Zinerva scoffed aloud at the idea and turned her gaze away. “I like being naked all of the time” she said stubbornly.
“War had clothes” Gael countered.
Zinerva's eyes widened, and she hopped over to the matter printer with renewed purpose.
“Make me look like a duchess!” she demanded.
“Pale skin, blue undertones, contrasting hair and eye color... she's a winter,” said Kennedy. “Better go with black.”
“Ffffwhat!?” Gael spat incredulously. “Are you gay?”
“No” Kennedy replied innocently, albeit a little embarrassed. “My mom is a fashionista, and I know how to dress myself. You got a problem with that?”
“Not if you're gonna finish the job” said Gael. “Go on, put something on that that isn't going to look out place.”
Kennedy rolled his eyes and stepped up to the matter printer.
“Thank God you've got a new one” he said approvingly. “Printer, scan subject 'Zinerva'. Print her a black blouse with bell sleeves and a, uh... Well shit, get her some underwear first, and some navy blue jeans. We'll keep it simple.”
Gael folded his arms and played with the idea of a Zinerva he could take out in public, but was too overtaken by the sense that getting comfortable with her presence was somehow unwise. No matter how much time he spent trying to work out all the angles and seize control of the situation, he found said control always just out of reach.
“My life will never be normal again” he said distantly. “Or stable.”
“That's a good thing, though” Zinerva replied as she struggled with the concept, and donning, of a bra. “You don't want things to get boring. That's how you die.”
“No, getting punched to death by a goat demon is how you die” said Gael.
“What? No!” Zinerva insisted with surprising vigor. “I mean you die, but you just go somewhere else. When you get bored, when you give up, you waste away. You stop being, because you weren't built to last forever, and... Wait, that doesn't happen to humans, does it?”
“I fucking hope not” said Kennedy. “I'm gonna have nightmares about that shit for weeks now.”
Zinerva frowned as she finished buttoning up her imp-sized jeans, and then pulled her blouse over her head. She couldn't see what she looked like, but just looking down at what she now wore made her feel less like she was, and more like something that didn't belong in a stinking, smoldering hell pit.
“So?” said Kennedy. “Good enough for Tennerman's Pub at least, right?”
“I'll be damned” Gael said with a smirk. “That's actually pretty believable when you factor in that no one would ever assume she's actually a demon.”
“Yeah, no one but the folks who know” said Kennedy. “And let's face it, you and I are the only ones.”
Far across Enterprise Island, roads and parks and the fixings that would destroy any notion you weren't actually on Earth were plentiful. A wall stood in defiance of this, cold and metal, rising up for hundreds of feet and capping out the floating island in space, and it was within this wall that the machinations necessary to accept the loading and unloading of passengers and goods alike lay.
There were only four passengers on the most recent flight into Enterprise Island, but e
ight stepped off. They were an exuberant bunch, and even the oldest among them exhibited a degree of vitality uncommon in most. It was a side effect of their profession, a profession they had arrived in Enterprise Island to continue doing.
“Right, sound off” said the eldest of them, a man by the name of Bernard Sharlot. He had salt and pepper hair, and dressed in simple business attire with a tan, corduroy jacket. “Jacky?”
The youngest of the bunch, a woman with fiercely bright eyes and strawberry blonde hair, hopped up and down in her yellow sundress and put on a playful show of a salute for her superior.
“You're insufferable” said the next of the four. Like Jacky, he was young, but that's where their similarities ended. Dark, gloomy, and dressed all in black with nothing more distinguishable than the poorly applied eyeliner he wore, he was the picture of teenage angst four years after it stopped being cool
“Okay Deacon, that's enough” Bernard said with a sigh and a shake of his head. “Cody?”
“I'm here” said the last of them, a youngish man in his late twenties who looked perpetually tired and suffered from an early receding hairline.
“Good, and the rest?” Bernard queried expectantly.
“Also here” the others replied in unison.
Bernard smiled the overly large grin of a man who knew things were about to get exciting again.
“Good” he said contentedly. “Our target's name is unknown, but evidence suggest he's attending Academy Nine here in Enterprise Island. Our objective is simple: eliminate him, his demons, and anyone else who might be privy to the secrets he discovered. None of this can be done until we know how he's achieved the summoning first, though. I need you all to be very clear on that.”
Bernard turned to address the group, and then pointed sharply at Jacky. “What did I just say?” he snapped at her.
“Find out how they did it first” Jacky replied brightly.
Turning his gaze back towards the rest of Enterprise Island, Bernard started the group forward, but continued speaking. “Academy Nine is on the other side of the city. Jacky, Deacon, get in and ask around. Tell the staff you're visiting to see if you want to apply. Cody, scan the local college businesses. If any of you have any problems, call me. Enterprise Island should be experiencing a mysterious blackout that's keeping any information from being beamed out electronically, so I'll be busy making sure all of the evidence of the event disappears before they patch things up. Understood?”
“Yes, sir!” the other three said in dutiful unison.
“Good.”
It was Gael's first time off campus since he'd arrived at Academy Nine, a fact nestled mostly in the reality that his matter printer removed any need to go out, and that he didn't have the money for it. Still, the less mechanical, more organic vistas offered by the rest of Enterprise Island had a severe mood improving effect on Gael, and by the time he, Kennedy, and Zinerva arrived at Tennerman's Pub, his outlook had become far less grim.
And Tennerman's Pub itself was anything but a grim place. It was the modern version of a sports bar for Gael's time. Waiters weren't someone who visited your table anymore, because the standardization of digital touch-screen menus had all but removed the necessity. Booths were lit up by a lining of neon light, while ultra modern TVs built into the walls and every table gave patrons the viewing experience they expected in such an establishment. In fact, when all was said and done, the sports bars of Gael's time held only two similarities to the sports bars of our own time: the pool tables and the dart boards.
“Hello! I'm Kendra. Can I seat you all this evening?” the hostess asked as they stepped inside.
Zinerva looked up at the hostess, and the rest of Tennerman's in complete awe of the sight before her. Never before had she seen such a mixture of light, color, and friendly faces.
“Sure thing, Kendra” Kennedy said casually. “Just, uh, give me and my new friends here the usual seat.”
“What happened to your old friends?” Kendra asked as she scooped up a trio of menus.
“They bailed on me when things got tough” said Kennedy, the answer drawing a surprised look from Gael. “I just met these two, and I feel like they've already saved my life.”
Kendra twirled her hair as she looked at Gael, and then Zinerva with a look of abject disinterest. “They seem nice” she said with an overly bright, far too friendly smile for Kennedy. “Right this way.”
“Wow” Zinerva said as she hopped up and clawed her way to a seat on Gael's shoulders. “She really likes Kennedy.”
“Oh you have no idea” Kennedy whispered back to Gael and Zinerva. “Let's just say Kendra knows the way to my dorm really well.”
“Yeah, uh... let's forget about Kendra for a moment” Gael said instead. “What happened to your friends?”
“What do you mean?” Kennedy replied incredulously. “Why do you think I was so pissed off earlier? My people bailed on me as soon as things started going south.”
“I'd have been a lot more pissed off if that had happened” replied Gael. “And I wouldn't have been pissed off at me...”
“Yeah, well, you get used to when you have money” Kennedy added dismissively.
“Here we are” Kendra said as she offered everyone their seats at a table near the back. “The special today is bison sliders, and it's Friday, so you get twenty-five percent off every drink after the first, up to a maximum of fifty. Feel free to order with your menus whenever you're ready, and the kitchen wait time is about twenty-five minutes.”
“Thanks Kendra” Kennedy said with a wink. “You guys open all night on account of the soccer championships over on Titan?”
“Oh, yeah” Kendra replied with a completely out of place laugh. “We're real swamped though? So I've kinda gotta...”
“No no, yeah, we'll catch up later” Kennedy said reassuringly. “You look great.”
Kendra beamed back at Kennedy as she left, and nearly ran into several other, soccer jersey-clad patrons in the process.
“You're not supposed to say soccer in front of soccer fans, you know” said Gael.
“Screw them, it's an American station” replied Kennedy. “Besides, it's association rules football. That's what soccer is slang for!”
“Is that what this is?” Zinerva asked as she stared down at the screen in the table. “How interesting can it be to watch people kick a ball? Why can't they just kick each other?”
“Table, switch to MMA” said Gael.
Zinerva's eye lit up as the screen flashed white, and then turned to a channel where people were actually kicking each other.
“Gael, I want to die when you do” she said solemnly. “Because I can't go back to living in hell after this.”
“Well that was heavy” Kennedy said with a chuckle.
Gael leaned back in his seat and muttered a reluctant, “Yeah... Zinerva, are you kidding around right now, or-,”
“No” Zinerva said seriously. “Hell is... hell. I wanna be here forever, or at least as long as possible.”
“And you haven't even had the food yet!” exclaimed Kennedy. “Here” he added as he pulled up the menu. “If being born is where you came into the world, then you were born in American space, and if you're an American, then you've gotta have a real cheeseburger and some french fries.”
Zinerva looked to Gael expectantly and asked, “Will I like that?”
“I have no idea” said Gael. “But I will.”
“Awesome” Kennedy said as he dialed in the orders. “One for everyone, and a nice big tip for our lovely hostess.”
“Isn't she a harlot if you pay her?” asked Zinerva.
“Hah!” exclaimed Kennedy. “My father has some smart words on that subject: every woman makes a man pay, but only whores offer just sex in return. My mother overheard him say that once, and she decided she'd say yes when he got around to asking for her hand.”
“Really?” Gael said in surprise. “That was the line that hooked her?”
“Yeah, that's my mo
m” Kennedy said with a shrug. “She's the most amazing person I know, and my dad's already pretty amazing. Did you know my grandfather wouldn't let him have a cent of the family's money until he started a successful business all on his own? And he did. First try. Off of a loan, like anyone else.”
Gael smiled back at Kennedy and said, “That's great, man. I think you're getting your inspiration from all the right places.”
“Heh, yeah...” Kennedy murmured uncertainly. “It's a lot to follow, though.”
“Kennedy, come on” said Gael. “You ran up to a monstrous goat demon and hit it with a baseball bat after it punched a guy's face off. If anyone can follow a tough act, it's you.”
Kennedy shrugged and said, “I didn't know it was a goat demon yet.”
“Yeah, but you totally ducked the kill shot” said Zinerva. “You've gotta be super fast to do that, like the people fighting in the table.”
Gael rolled his eyes and turned to Zinerva. “Hey, those people aren't in the table” he said to her. “You know that, right? The table is just showing us a fight that's happening somewhere else.”
“Right now?” queried Zinerva.
“Right now” confirmed Gael.
“That's even more amazing...” murmured Zinerva. “Can we go there after we eat?”
“It's probably on another planet” said Kennedy. “Maybe even another solar system. I'd be down to hit a fight up the next time there's a local one, though.”
“Yeah!” Zinerva exclaimed excitedly.
“Wait, what's happening?” asked Gael. “Are we friends now?”
Kenned snorted derisively as he reclined in his seat and said, “I need better friends. All my other ones were the friendship equivalent of whores.”
“That's true” admitted Gael. “Why have friendship whores when you have us willing to do it for free. We're the sleazy equivalent; friendship sluts, if you will.”
As Gael and Kennedy erupted in a laughter that Zinerva joined in on simply for the sake of not being left out, a curious onlooker with a penchant for staying quiet and an early receding hairline seemed to whisper to himself, while in actuality he was having a conversation with an invisible companion that insisted Gael and Kennedy's short female friend was even odder than she appeared...