Shadow of the Colossus

by Nicole Grotepas

  She nodded stiffly. “Maybe when we’re not about to disembark.”

  “How’s the drink? I never expected you to pick one like that.”

  “I usually go for wine or imperial beers. But it’s morning.”

  “Ah, but five o’clock somewhere,” he laughed. “I’m going to go get one. Not that specific drink, but something for morning. Be right back.”

  While he was ordering at the bar, Shiro sauntered in. “I see our fourth arrived.”

  “Let’s hope he’s worth it,” Holly answered, wanting to downplay how glad she was to have Iain along.

  “Yes, lets,” Shiro said.

  An awkward silence fell over their table as Holly struggled to have something to say to her companion. “Odeon has the extra earpiece?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Good.” She knew that he did, and following that question she didn’t try to figure out anything else to say to him.

  Soon Iain returned with a Bloody Mary.

  “A bit of salt with your drink?” Shiro asked, doffing his bowler and balancing his cane between his knees.

  “What can I say, I like them salty,” Iain said.

  Odeon soon joined them and the tension in Holly’s shoulders lessened.

  “Do any of you chaps have any idea what this is about? Ms. Drake?” Shiro asked.

  Holly leaned forward to speak in a quiet tone. “It’s likely going to be—if anything—nothing more than a meeting. But my hope is that it gets us closer to the Heart somehow.”

  They discussed potential outcomes quietly and soon the Cold Blossom disembarked. The umbilicals that connected them to the space platform disconnected and the massive sails unfurled, catching photons that pushed their ship into the aether highway. A mixture of solar energy and aether force propelled the zeppelin through space. Occasional bursts of light through the windows from the star known to humans as Yol caught Holly’s eye. She had downed most of her Frozen Pearl as well as a plate of eggs and toast, while the rest of the crew also took breakfast.

  Not too long past when they had talked their way through most of their food, Odeon noticed something odd out the window. “We just passed very close to a shepherd moon,” he said, rising and moving to the large windows looking out at the sun. Holly and the others followed him. “Yes, you can see it, still.”

  “That’s not right,” Iain remarked. “We’ve veered off the aether highway, then.”

  It’s happening again, Holly’s thought. It was a loud deafening thought.

  “Why would the captain take us off the main thoroughfare?” Shiro asked. He’d brought his cane and bowler within.

  Holly felt a black cloud threatening to cover her vision. What had Iain said? Ride the edge of fear? Ride your fear. Ride your fear.

  Holly shook her head, just as Odeon seemed to notice that she was having a panic attack.

  “He wouldn’t,” Holly said, to Shiro, collecting herself. “Let’s find him. Either something is wrong, or the captain is hijacking the ship. Both scenarios mean we need to do something.”

  “Where’s the bridge? I’ve never even been in one on a ship like this,” Shiro said.

  As one, the crew looked at Iain.

  “Follow me,” he said, launching toward the hatch.

  * * *

  Iain led them up several flights of the spiral stairs and toward the bow of the ship. Getting that far was easy. Soon they came to a hatch that was locked to them without a keycode.

  “We need someone to let us in,” Iain said, looking over his shoulder.

  “Who has access to the bridge?”

  “Maybe servers? Other crew members?”

  “But who’s around that can do that for us?”

  “I’ll find someone,” Shiro said, heading back the way they came.

  “Thanks Shiro,” Holly said. “Odeon, is this a lock you can get through?”

  “It’s likely that I cannot, but I’ll try until Shiro returns with someone to help.”

  Iain moved aside to allow Shiro access to the hatch and the lock.

  “This is when we wish we had the Skelty Key still,” Holly muttered.

  “Skelty Key?”

  “Long story. I’ll tell you when we’re not worried the ship is about to crash into a shepherd moon or drift into the rings.”

  She watched Odeon, desperate to be doing something to improve their situation. The door was set to seal if anything happened. Like other ships, there was an emergency release, but it still required that they gain clearance by disabling the lock.

  Odeon pulled out his lock picking tools, set the black velvet envelope down, and shuffled through them.

  “A Yasoan with a lock picking set,” Iain said. “You keep interesting company, Holly.”

  “You haven’t seen anything yet. One of the Hands was a Yasoan. ”

  Odeon pulled out a tool that connected to the lock on the side of the hatch. He attached several wires to it and punched in some numbers. His silver eyebrows knit together as he concentrated. Iain turned around, leaned against the door, and crossed his arms. Holly imitated him, keeping watch in case someone came along. Someone crested the spiral staircase. Holly hoped it was Shiro with someone to help. Unfortunately, it was a male Constie crewman, dressed in a black and white uniform.

  “Hey, what are you doing?”

  Holly looked at Iain. “Do we tell him or knock him out?”

  Iain rubbed his chin. “Maybe he’ll let us in.”

  “Or he won’t, and will call security instead and we’ll miss our chance to save the ship. Of course, if they had security stationed outside the bridge, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

  “These are the sorts of decisions that make your job so hard,” Iain said.

  “It’s a hazard.”

  “Hello? I’m going to call security,” the Constie said.

  Holly turned to the crewman. “Come over here and we’ll tell you what we’re doing.”

  The constie scoffed. “As if I’d fall for that.”

  “There’s something wrong with the ship,” Iain offered. “We almost hit a small moon, and we’re off course. You know anything about that?”

  “What? Really?” The crewman put his hands on his hips and began to approach.

  Holly glanced at Iain. “He listens when a man talks,” she said sarcastically and scoffed.

  Grant threw his hands in the air and shook his head, playing along with Holly. “Some people!”

  The crewman stopped at comm unit on the wall and tapped the screen. “Captain Royal? Everything ok in there?”

  There was no answer.

  The crewman tried again, calling out to Captain Royal.

  When there was no reply, the crewman looked back at Holly and her crew. “Something’s up.”

  Holly cocked her head to the side. “Yes, we know. What tipped you?”

  Grant asked, “Can you get in there? Do you have emergency protocols?”

  The crewman shook his head, “Someone else may have them, but not me.”

  Grant muttered some choice cuss words under his breath about the lack of regulation on lower class zeppelins.

  “I think I almost have it,” Odeon announced, then, a few seconds later the hatch rolled open just as Shiro returned, out of breath.

  “I couldn’t find anything. Nothing. But it looks like Mr. Starlight saved the day.”

  Inside the bridge, the captain was hunched over in his seat, a knife sticking out of his back.

  Holly stared on, horrified. “Shadow coalition,” she whispered. “Knives are their work.”

  Similar knives protruded from the three other members of the crew, at least one of them was on the ground as though they’d been running to get away.

  Iain immediately stepped in, moving the body of the pilot out of her chair and sitting down. “The rest of you will have to help. Sit down. Mourn later. Someone get to the helm—Shiro, you do that.”

  “Which one is the helm?” Shiro asked, looking around.<
br />
  Iain looked up and pointed. “That one. Move the body. Get your hands on the controls and soon I’ll tell you what to do to get us back on course. Holly, sit here, and monitor any debris in our path. It’s a scanner and will also give you readings on our shields to make sure nothing gets through and damages us. I’ll take care of the coordinates and get us back on course. ”

  Shiro gingerly moved the body from the chair, his face paling considerably as he did so. And then he sat down and removed a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his hands off.

  Iain continued to direct them even as he punched the screen in front of him. “Odeon, make use of that staff and stand guard. In fact, make sure that whoever did this isn’t hiding in here somewhere.”

  The Constie crewman appeared on the bridge, stepping into the carpeted room tentatively. “Oh no, Captain Royal. Who would do this? Can I help?”

  “Yes, stand guard out there. Make sure no one else on the ship figures out that the captain’s been murdered. Just keep it business. I can get us to the space platform.”

  “How?”

  Holly turned in her chair to address the Constie. “He used to run a ship. Now do what he says.”

  Iain began calling out coordinates and instructions to Shiro. They made no sense to Holly, but then, neither did the information filing across the console in front of her. “Iain, I assume that if anything bad is going to happen, that this console will flash a warning at me?”

  “That’s exactly right, Holly. Keep an eye of it. If there are other ships approaching or if we drift into someone else’s flight path, you’ll also get a warning from the monitors around the moon system.”

  TWENTY

  Once Iain got the ship under control and back on course, they resumed the flight path to Paradise without further trouble. Whoever had sabotaged the Cold Blossom hadn’t wanted to show their face, but Holly and the rest of the crew suspected that it was meant to kill them while appearing to be an accident.

  Holly’s main concern once they reached the space platform was being accused of having done it, though she connected with Meg and Gabe and managed to navigate the interrogation from the inter-moon police in such a way that she her crew were regarded as heroes rather than murderers.

  They were all exhausted once they touched land on Paradise, so rather than head immediately to the coordinates that had been broadcast, Holly sprang for rooms in a grimy dockside hotel. “All we need is the beds. We can rest for a few hours, clean up, eat, and then head to rendezvous point.”

  They headed inside the nearest hotel, called the Mariner’s Bride. “Charming,” Shiro said. “Is there no where else we can stay? Somewhere like The Opal Galaxy resort on Itcap? There has to be a location like that. The business people who travel here can’t possibly stay in a place like the Mariner’s Bride.”

  “We don’t need posh furnishings, Shiro. It’s just to freshen up and rest before we check out the coordinates.”

  “Your mistake is in assuming that I can rest in a location riddled with bugs and rodents, as this place surely is.”

  “We’re sticking together. I’m not springing for a resort when we plan to only be here long enough to discover what’s happening.”

  He groaned as Holly went to the receptionist and tried to get four rooms.

  “Sorry. We only have two left.”

  Holly was too tired to deal with that sort of frustration, or to look further. Her eyes felt like they had sand underneath them. “We’ll take them.”

  She rejoined the crew. “There was only two.”

  “Who’s rooming with who?” Shiro asked, suddenly seeming uncomfortable, though why wasn’t immediately obvious. He could have reservations about every member of the crew.

  “I’ll go with Holly,” Odeon said.

  “Unfair, chap,” Shiro said.

  “I have her back,” Odeon said indignantly. “I always go with Holly.”

  “Precisely, but last time you did not have her back.” No one could believe that Shiro referenced their last zeppelin trip.

  Holly bit her lip, irritated that they were making a spectacle of it. If she’d had a chance to choose, she would have picked Odeon, but now that would appear to be playing favorites. “No one is in my room. How does that sound?”

  Shiro frowned. “Three of us to one room? There are only two beds.”

  “Then Iain will go with me,” Holly said, realizing she hadn’t asked him. “Iain, is that alright with you?”

  He nodded, though Holly thought she saw a flush rise to his cheeks.

  “Everyone is tired, and also hungry. Let’s never speak of this ridiculous moment in our history as a crew, please. Now, go get some rest and clean yourselves up.”

  The rooms were on separate floors, one on the bottom and another on the 7th. Apparently the Mariner’s Bride was hopping tonight. Holly gave Odeon the key and they split up. “Check in on the comms later.”

  Then she found the lift and took it to the 7th floor with Iain. Neither of them spoke, which she appreciated. She wanted to tell him how amazing he’d been on the zeppelin, but her nerves were frayed. She also wanted to apologize for Odeon and Shiro behaving like teenagers, but the exhaustion of what she’d just endured permeated her senses.

  They arrived on their floor and located the room. The lights in the corridor flickered and the carpets were worn. It didn’t bode well for the rooms and the beds. But she wasn’t going to break the bank for a luxury room, though she assumed that what Shiro had said was likely true, due to the fact that major businesses had shipping ports on the planet. They wouldn’t stay in dives like the Mariner’s Bride.

  Inside the room, there was only one large bed. It left a lot to be desired. Though the bed was made, the duvet was worn and threadbare.

  “One bed. The receptionist didn’t mention that. I thought both rooms were doubles.” Holly felt her cheeks flush, but she knew that it wasn’t a big issue. Grant was decent. Maybe he didn’t even want to sleep.

  “The Mariner’s Bride is an in-demand spot, Holly. What could we expect?” He chuckled softly.

  “I’m so tired, I don’t even care. You take a half, I’ll take a half.”

  “Sounds fair.”

  She dropped her luggage on a chair, removed her boots and many weapons, drew the shades, and fell onto the bed, not bothering with her clothes or the bedcovers. She wasn’t even aware of Iain laying down next to her, and then she was asleep.

  * * *

  She woke in a darkened room. Darker than it was when she’d fallen asleep. For a moment she didn’t recall where she was.

  She reached out and touched a lamp, which flickered on just by her hand’s proximity to it. She was surrounded by a hideous hotel room. A terrible bed. And Iain next to her, asleep. He was still fully clothed, and like her, was on top of the bedcovers.

  The memories came back to her. The zeppelin. The murders. The intermoon police. She sighed, rubbed her face, and climbed off the bed gingerly, to not wake up Iain, and went to the shades. She pushed them aside. It was dark outside. Ixion glowed yellow-orange overhead, and the city that surrounded her was lit up like a neon sign. She found her communicator and checked the local time. It was just after eight pm. They’d checked into the hotel around noon, so if they hurried, they could catch dinner before all the restaurants closed down.

  And then what? Sleep again? Having slept half the day away due to the circumstances on the zeppelin really threw a wrench in the works.

  She grabbed her toiletry kit out of her luggage and went into the bathroom, intending to freshen up before Iain woke up. She closed the door and got out her toothbrush and brushed her teeth, then splashed her face with cold water. Staring into the mirror, she saw how rumpled her clothes were. There was a shower, and she’d paid for the room, so she turned on the water, and undressed.

  As she showered off, she recalled the way Iain had saved the Cold Blossom. Her whole team had done it—without Odeon picking the lock and Shiro helping at the helm, they’d cu
rrently be scattered across the moon system. She didn’t want to touch the memories of the dead bodies, or how similar it had been to the disaster that began her paralyzing fear of space flight. A chill passed through her as she realized how close she’d come to not having Iain along. What if Charly had come instead? Would they have figured it out?

  The knock at the bathroom made her nearly jump out of her skin. Her thoughts had been in such a morose place, she wasn’t prepared to hear a knock.

  “Yes?”

  “Holly?” Iain’s voice came through the door.

  Oh thank Ixion. It was Iain, and not another SC member.

  “Who else?”

  “Just making sure. I’ll be out here when you’re done.”

  She wrapped up the shower, got out, and dried off. She eyed the clothes she’d changed out of distastefully, considering her options.

  “Hello,” Iain said, as Holly strode purposefully through the room to get a clean change of clothes out of her luggage.

  She glanced at him. “I hope I didn’t wake you.”

  He shrugged and gave her a small smile. “Time to get up anyway.”

  “I’ll be dressed in a minute and the bathroom will be yours.”

  He nodded, but didn’t pull his gaze from her.

  Holly felt her cheeks flush. Though she had a towel wrapped around her, she suddenly felt nude. She cleared her throat. “I was thinking we could go get some food before the restaurants close.”

  “Yes, should I wake the others?” He finally looked away, as though he suddenly realized he’d been staring.

  “No, unless you don’t want to shower? Be back in a minute.” She returned to the bathroom, her pulse racing, and quickly dressed into a fresh pair of tight black trousers, a gray top that she tucked into the pants, and a clean velvet blazer. Her hair was wet, so she pulled it into a pony-tail and then left the bathroom, making sure her toiletries were organized and put away before exiting so that Iain could do his thing.

  She sat on the edge of the bed with her back to him to put on her socks. He’d propped up some pillows and was sitting against the headboard.