He glanced down at the floor then back at her. Dammit, but she couldn’t get a vibe from him. “I made you something.”
“Really? Noah, I don’t—”
“Please. Before you say anything, let me give you this.”
She’d thought she was ready for this meeting; she’d been wrong. God, she hated feeling nervous. Frightened, even. Exposed. But she stood and nodded bravely. “All right.”
He exhaled in evident relief. “Thanks. So—” he frowned “—I guess I should’ve put a streamer on the box, or a wrapper, but I was too—”
She placed her hands under his and the package. “Noah.”
“Sorry. So, open it.”
She took it from him, surprised at how light it was. Still, she propped it on the corner of the desk while she removed the top. She started to lean over the open box when an object flew up and out to hover in the air in front of her.
It was a scale model of the AEGIS cruiser she’d designed. Mostly virtual, an adiamene lattice outlined the strong lines of the hull and lent it tangibility. She peered inside the frame, but no matter how closely she scrutinized it the fidelity continued—
—except there was an oddity in the captain’s cabin. She tilted her head and focused on…
…reclining on the bed was a holographic reproduction of Noah. Naked. Scrawled on his chest was a tattoo that said…she started giggling. It said ‘Property of Kennedy Rossi.’
The reproduction grinned and waved at her.
“Noah, what—”
“It’s not limited to the cruiser. Drop a crystal disk in this one slot in the back, beneath the engines, and it’ll load the schematic that’s on the crystal. So long as there’s a captain’s bedroom, you’ll find me just so on the bed. If there’s not a bed, I’ll be on the couch. If there’s not a couch…I’m not sure. I’ll probably be lounging on a floor somewhere. Now, if you decide to use it for business presentations you can toggle me off, but otherwise, Junior’s pretty happy in there.”
He grasped her hands in his, dragging her attention from the holo ship and the miniature waving naked version of himself.
“Kennedy, I’m yours. You’ve made my life infinitely better in ways I never deserved, and I’m yours whatever it means. I don’t give a shit about official institutions, but if they matter to you, okay. I never had a mother—I was raised by nannies and instructors and bots—so I don’t have any kind of reference, good or bad, for what a marriage is supposed to look like. Then again, I don’t have a reference for what any kind of stable, long-term relationship is supposed to look like. I’ve been making it up as I go this whole time.
“Anyway, I figure I’ll keep doing that. If you want to get married, okay. I’m in. If you instead want to bail on civic responsibility and run off to Requi before the Anadens get here, okay. If you want to move back to Houston to be closer to your family…” he gazed at the ceiling “…okay. What matters is you. Me with you. Because….” He gestured at the tiny, still-naked him occupying the holo ship. And his tattoo.
She brought a hand to her mouth to cover a gasp, which if she wasn’t careful was going to be followed by a sob. She breathed in; she needed to hold herself together for another minute.
“Before I say…things about that, I got you something, too. It’s not nearly so shiny or sexy or spectacular, but….” She reached into her pocket and retrieved the disk, then handed it to him.
He stared down at it.
“You don’t need to read it right now or—it’s an irrevocable bequeath of all rights and ownership of Connova to you on my death or incapacitation. The company, its patents, designs, contracts, everything. None of it will go to my family. It all goes to you. This is the legacy I care about, and you’re the only person I trust with it. So now it’s yours, no matter what happens.”
His throat worked. “Kennedy, I—first off, you’re not going to die, so stop being morbid.” He spun away from her. “You seriously trust me with this? Above everyone else?” His voice sounded shaky.
“You’re the only person I trust with it. And this isn’t the sole copy. The document’s on file and recorded and everything. It’s legally airtight.” She walked around to face him.
She’d seen this look etched on his features once before—in Seattle, at the end of the Metigen war, in a hotel room. Stark, raw honesty.
“I don’t deserve it.”
“You do.”
“Well, you’re a lot smarter than me, so I guess I’ll have to defer to your judgment.” He smiled, and one or the other of them rushed into the other’s arms. His lips devoured hers, and he was so very good at devouring.
When he came up for air, he was wearing a funny expression. He started to say something, then scrunched his nose up instead.
She did the same. “What?”
“I’m, um…so do you want to get married, or not? I know I said it doesn’t matter, and I meant it. But I sort of feel as if we should go one way or the other, you know? So we can get on with this ‘rest of our lives’ stuff.”
She dropped her hands from him to turn away, genuinely flummoxed by the question. Did she? Fantasy dreams competed with wild but real dreams in her mind, and finally she chuckled to herself as she turned back around.
“Can we…not, and take a honeymoon like we did?”
His eyes widened briefly in advance of his playful smirk. “Oh, yes, we can. Is that what you truthfully want? Because god help me, but what I want is for you to be happy. Also vacations, certainly. I am a fan of vacations and happiness.”
She cackled and pulled him to her. “It is. I don’t want to be my parents any more than you want to be your dad. Let’s keep blazing our own path—which includes a beach, lots of fruity drinks and nudity. Life-sized nudity, though Junior can come, too.”
“Oh, you are so the woman for me.”
“Damn straight I am.”
Vii interrupted them. ‘I do apologize—this reunion is beautiful, truly—but unfortunately I believe your not-a-honeymoon will need to be postponed.’
Even before she reached true awareness, Morgan knew she wasn’t alone in her mind.
She awakened to a sense of otherness enveloping her. Of watchfulness. But it felt kind, bordering on gentle. And intensely familiar.
Stanley? How are you here? I thought you were…gone.
I have always been here, Morgan. You simply weren’t ready to see me.
That doesn’t make any sense.
Of course it does. The mind is a complicated yet highly nuanced organism.
Huh. And by your way of thinking, now I am ready to see you?
Now you needed to see me.
Well, that’s rather selfish of me, isn’t it?
I don’t mind. You are who you are, and I accept a few selfish tendencies as part of the whole person. However, I would prefer it if you didn’t try to ‘kill’ me this time. I will hide again if I must, but I found it dreary.
Ah, there’s the dry humor. Yep, this is definitely you. But…how do I not kill you again? I mean, I didn’t intend to the first time. It just sort of happened, so I’m not sure what to do differently.
I think we will be fine. I will endeavor to be more assertive when I feel pressured into submission, but I suspect it will not often be necessary. Brooklyn has softened you—softened your heart, which is as important to your consciousness as your mind. Symbolically speaking.
I want to argue with you in righteous indignation, but you’re right. Evil woman.
And there is your humor. I fancy her quite a lot, by the way, so don’t run her off.
So do I. If I can keep you around, maybe I can manage to keep her, too.
She blinked—in her mind, which was when she became aware of the fact her eyes were not open. She’d forgotten about the outside world. There was a…not an accident. I was attacked. I’m guessing I was hurt.
You were. But you’re better, and you will be better still soon. Now, time is running short. So let’s rejoin the living, shall we?
/> She forced her real eyes open in the real world. Thank god the room was only dimly lit, as the light there was promptly stabbed into her brain like icicles wielded by a gleeful madman.
After a few seconds she remembered how to squint; she gazed around to see Harper sitting beside the bed, her hands folded in her lap and her chin lowered. Deep in thought, or deep in brooding.
Morgan worked moisture into her mouth. “Hey.”
Harper jumped halfway out of the chair, but quickly recovered to lean forward and clasp her hand. Blue eyes always so guarded and wary shone openly as she smiled. “You…you’re awake? I mean, you’re awake!”
“Yep….” Morgan grimaced and tried to adjust her position in the bed. “Ow. Well, this already sucks.”
“Do you want me to get a medic?”
“God, no.” She glanced down and was surprised to see both of her legs encased in medwraps, one substantially more bulky than the other. On the one hand, this should mean she hadn’t been gone for months or years—on the other hand, what was wrong with her legs? “Um, am I all right? Because I look like a reanimated mummy.”
Harper chuckled. “You will be all right. You mostly are now. Your head was the hardest part to set straight.”
“I understand you went to some extreme measures to make certain it got fixed.”
Harper stared at her askance. “How could you possibly know that? You’ve been awake for ten seconds.”
“It appears I once again have a smartass Artificial in my head whispering all the secrets to me.”
“It really did work, then?”
“Looks like.” She studied Harper, suddenly nervous. “I don’t think he’s going away this time. Are you comfortable with that?”
“Seeing as I’m the one who put him there.” Harper stood and leaned in to bring her lips to Morgan’s ear. “He brought you back to me. I adore him.”
So that felt warmer and more wonderful than pretty much anything in the world…
…and an alert from Alex crashed the party, banging around all loud and rude in her head. She winced. “Can I walk?”
Harper stepped away, adopting a suspicious countenance. “If you take it slow and cautious and accept a bit of help, I think so. Why?”
She pushed herself to a sitting position and dragged her legs over the edge of the bed. “You and I have a war to go fight.”
PART VIII:
KAIROS
“Fairy tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”
— Neil Gaiman
AMARANTHE
60
AFS STALWART II
MOSAIC
* * *
ALEX WOULD HAVE RUN to embrace her mother, if she could run. Instead, she threw the untapped energy into the fervency of the hug when her mother reached her. “One hell of a fleet you’ve got here.”
The ships from Aurora had traversed the Metis portal to gather in strength inside the Mosaic, and the Siyane joined them while they waited for the last formations to arrive. The combined Alliance, Federation and AEGIS vessels took up the entire lobby space, and in damn impressive fashion.
“You’re alive, again. I fear I’m starting to sound like a looped recording.”
“I am. I guess dumping the Machim data on you without so much as a ‘hi’ to go with it might have caused some concern.”
“A little.” Her mother drew back, and her expression immediately darkened. “And I suspect with good reason. You look awful. What happened?”
“It’s a long story—one that includes the reason for the lack of a ‘hi’—but it doesn’t matter now. I’ll be fine.”
Miriam arched an eyebrow, and Alex folded under the weight of it. She supposed she did share traumatic experiences with her mother these days.
“Okay, the short version: Caleb and I were captured stealing the Machim data, taken to a Praesidis interrogation facility and tortured for information. Valkyrie, Mesme and Eren rescued us.”
“Dear lord, Alex. Is that all?”
We could tell her about the crippling anxiety and despair I experienced while I was cut off from you, unable to help you or even find out if you were alive or dead.
Or we could not. And it wasn’t crippling—you acted superbly.
Yes, but it was hard.
“Also, who’s Eren?”
“Mom, there is so much I want to tell you, and I promise I will. But enemy warships speeding toward us?”
“Right. Of course.” She frowned over Alex’s shoulder. “Does Caleb know he’s got a sort of red aura surrounding him?”
She cringed and glanced at Caleb as well. He was hanging back, keeping his distance from other people and trying to be inconspicuous, though the preoccupied look on his face suggested he was silently talking to multiple people nonetheless.
“Yeah, he knows. He got dosed by another Inquisitor—a powerful one, apparently. Hopefully the effect will settle down after a while, but we’re not certain what the higher concentration of diati means for him.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No, don’t be. We never would’ve been able to escape from that captivity I don’t have time to tell you more about if he hadn’t trounced the Inquisitor. It’s complicated, but the power’s a good thing.”
Miriam nodded in seeming acceptance. “All right. I trust your judgment”
Alex started to bask in the compliment, then remembered her mother probably shouldn’t trust it. “Listen, I heard about the Rifter problem. In retrospect, I obviously didn’t run the equations out far enough. I didn’t imagine there would be ramifications so far out.” She cringed. “In my defense, time was short and I wasn’t at my best? Still, I feel terrible about it.”
“Your less-than-best saved my life, and it’s going to save a lot of lives today. Besides, we got it sorted.” She squeezed Alex’s shoulder warmly. “So, no time. What’s the situation?”
“The Machim fleet should reach the Provision Network Gateway in about an hour and twenty minutes. We have a lot to do between now and then.”
“You have a plan, and it involves something more devious than simply continuing on through the enormous blue portal my scouts tell me is up ahead a bit.”
“I do, and it does. What’s the range on your negative energy missiles?”
“Twelve and a half megameters.”
Valkyrie did the math, and Alex prevaricated. “If we hightail it as soon as they launch, we’ll be able to clear the blast radius. I need to borrow five of your Eidolons, each one loaded up with those missiles. Also, I need two missiles for the Siyane.”
“Done. See Commander Lekkas for details on the Eidolons. What about the other forty-eight thousand ships I went to all the trouble of bringing?”
Alex smiled.
She found Morgan in aft Logistics, lying in a reclined seat and surrounded by a revolving sphere of holos. One leg was encased in a thick gel casing; the other leg and an arm were wrapped in less-cumbersome flex medwraps.
Alex made a face as she reached the periphery of the sphere. “What happened to you?”
Morgan scowled at her in return. “What happened to you?”
“Got tortured by an Anaden prison drone for eighteen hours.”
“Nice. Montegreu’s rogue AI tried to kill me by crashing my skycar into the side of a high-rise. Stanley had to bring me out of a coma.”
“Stanley? But I thought….”
Morgan rolled her eyes. “Turns out rumors of his demise had been greatly exaggerated.”
Alex decided to just go with it for now. “Interesting. I’m here about some Eidolons.”
“I heard.” Morgan spread the fingers on her right hand and the holos flared out into a line in front of her. “Meet ESC Flight One-Alpha, -Bravo, -Charlie, -Delta and -Epsilon. ESC One, meet Alex Solovy and Valkyrie.”
Alex: Those aren’t exactly inventive names.
Morgan: They’re young and not overly sentimental. But they’re
real, so respect them.
Valkyrie: Wait—these Artificials are ships?
Morgan: Yes, they are. And your doppelganger helped to create them.
Valkyrie: Vii gave life to Artificials in the form of ships? That’s…magnificent.
Alex: Stop squealing, Valkyrie. We have work to do.
Valkyrie: I don’t squeal.
Alex: Uh-huh.
“Hello, everyone. My mother—Commandant Solovy—has authorized the five of you to help me execute a crucial opening move against the approaching Machim fleet. Are you game?”
They didn’t have vocal transmission capability, but the affirmations rang through in her head. She smiled, sensing their enthusiasm and Valkyrie’s in turn.
“Excellent. Meet me at the coordinates Valkyrie is providing to you in twenty-five minutes. Full stealth and noetic communications only.”
She waved at Morgan. “See you on the other side.”
“What are the odds?”
Alex gazed around the logistics center. Outside of Morgan’s holo bubble, military officers worked purposefully at banks upon banks of screens and virtual modules.
She thought about how the bridge had buzzed with activity and vigor, and about the tens of thousands of warships gathering around the Stalwart II. Many boasted hyper-advanced designs, the end result of her mother, Kennedy and countless others having innovated around adiamene, quantum spaces, Artificials and Prevos in ways she never could have fathomed.
“I’d say the odds are pretty damn good.”
61
PROVISION NETWORK GATEWAY
MILKY WAY SECTOR 41
* * *
“ALL VESSELS TO FULL ALERT. Shields to maximum.” It was overkill in the extreme, but so was loading his ships up with a hundred Igni missiles. The Katasketousya fielded no military; they had no internalized concept of violence and no way to commit it upon others.
But a lack of preparation was an unforced error waiting to happen, and Casmir did not take chances. No Machim did.
Relativity: Aurora Resonant Book One (Aurora Rhapsody 7) Page 36