That was it. The conversation was over, at least that’s the impression I got. Supposedly I had a choice, but if I ‘let his goons have their way with me,’ would I even survive it? Then I thought of Al onboard the Belle, being taken apart piece by piece, bit by bit. At the same time, what if they found out what Al was and chose to utilize his advanced skills. What the hell was I supposed to do? Did I have any choice but to agree to his terms to stay alive and keep Al safe?
Maybe the answer didn’t have to be so simple. It seemed like Erebos would allow me to retrieve the empyreus for him. If I took the job, depending on the location, I could have enough time to figure out how to stay alive and keep it out of his hands. At this point I really didn’t see any other way out of this, so I stuck my chest out in an attempt to hide my deep breath. Then I answered him.
“I’ll do it.”
“Splendid!” Erebos exclaimed, his charming personality returning. He gave both of his goons a look and they stood up and moved away from me. I relaxed a bit and sighed.
“Now that you are officially under my employment, you may use your own discretion as to how you will proceed just as long as it brings back results,” Erebos said as he stood up and buttoned his jacket. He turned to leave, but stopped short of the door.
“Of course, your initial hesitation is somewhat troubling. I hope you don’t mind that I send along an insurance policy to make sure the job gets done.”
“What-” before I could finish my question he opened the door and a woman stepped into the room. She had a slender figure, her eyes an amazing shade of blue. They were so radiant they could have been glowing. She wore a dark red battle suit that hugged her form closely. At her shoulders, chest, and thighs, metallic armor was attached to the suit, and last, but certainly not least she carried a long blade sheathed at her hip, curved like an ancient samurai sword.
“Captain Daniel Quinn, meet Cessa. She will be accompanying you on your voyage.”
As I stood up to greet her I tried to wipe my perspiring hand on my pants. My stomach tied itself in knots as she walked up to me her eyes looking into mine, her face smooth, and her lips lush. As I reached my hand out, she swiftly pulled out her sword and swung it at my arm stopping mere centimeters from cleaving it. The butterflies in my stomach exploded.
“Pleased to meet you Daniel,” she said, her voice the sound of music . . . dark, brooding music. “Disobey Mr. Erebos or look at me the wrong way, and I will cut you.”
FIVE
The blade. It sent a shockwave of recurring emotions through me. Fear, pain, and despair all attacked me at once. Before any memories could surface I fought them back. At first, I didn’t think I was in control of it, but the awkward position Erebos put me in helped me keep my focus on the present. Before the scene could fade to black, I stared hard at Cessa concentrating on every facet of her.
“So . . . Cessa right? Like . . . as in Cessation?” I asked her as my voice fluctuated. Raymond Erebos and his goons had already taken their leave. My testosterone level dropped to zero. I watched as her lips formed a soft smile while her left hand was wrapped around the hilt of the blade
“Simple and to the point, wouldn’t you say?” My body shivered with the seductive tone she spoke in. She was a predator. If she found a weakness she would exploit it. If she felt threatened she would attack. I was definitely out of my league here, but I could only assume she was going to be on my ass from here until the job was done.
“Well, we’re wasting time I suppose. Let’s go,” I said, suggesting she go first. I would like to say I did so because she was a woman, but I didn’t really want her behind me with that sword. In the end I didn’t really get a choice, as she stepped behind me and gave me a gentle shove toward the door. As we left the tavern I checked the main room for Derrick, but he was nowhere to be seen. If I survived this, I promised myself to return here and punch him in the face.
The two of us stepped back onto the streets of Galaxia City. The bright artificial sunlight temporarily blinded me, and I stood still with my hand over my eyes as I waited for the effect to diminish. Cessa made sure she was attached at my hip. If I stopped, she stopped, where I moved, she moved. I was tempted to start skipping around the marketplace just to see what she would do.
“I need to get some provisions for my ship,” I said to her. Like maybe an escape pod, some tranquilizers and extra strength antidepressants, I thought to myself.
“Not necessary. Mr. Erebos is providing you with everything you will need, including food and fuel.”
Wow, what a nice guy. You’d think he had a stake in this adventure we were about to embark on. With a simple nod I turned in the direction of the Tram and walked my way back to Al and the Belle. I was nervous that I couldn’t warn him before we got back to the ship, and I really didn’t want Cessa knowing he existed. Of course, Al was a state of the art intelligent system so I could only hope that he would stay silent while she was onboard.
We were walking through the alley that led into the marketplace when that bad feeling returned, the feeling of being followed. Someone was watching us. This time I was absolutely sure of it. I stopped in the middle of the alley, turned to look around, but at the time we were alone. Cessa tried to push me forward again, but I turned to her and gave her a stern look.
“Stop!” I whispered loudly to her. Her eyes widened in fury and her hands clenched together. I quickly followed with, “I think we’re being followed.”
Cessa tensed and turned her head toward the way we came. Her hand wrapped around the leather hilt of her sword and she stood in front of me. We both watched as pedestrians walked by, but only a few of them turned their heads to look at us. None of their expressions led me to believe they were intentionally following us. Just as I was starting to feel better, two pedestrians turned into the alleyway. They differed in height, one short and one tall. Both wore long coats over their outfits.
As much as I wanted to raise my fist in the air and shout ‘Ha! I knew someone was following me’, I restrained myself and instead activated my bionic eye. The pain that followed was sharp but manageable. I locked my sight onto them, and my eye scanned their figure inch by inch. It told me that the tall one was 6’7’’, that the short one was 5’4”, a man and woman respectively. Their coats were made of leather, but after looking over their boots and pants, my eye told me the one thing I didn’t want to see. They wore the standard uniform of an ESA agent.
“What do you want?” Cessa asked the two of them. I found myself slowly backing away. The two agents made no aggressive movements toward me, but advanced on us until they stood only a couple steps away. The taller one took something out of his jacket and flashed it in front of Cessa. It was his ESA ID. My eye zoomed in to confirm what I already knew. He was from the Echelon.
“Ma’am, we’re ESA agents from the starship Echelon. The man you’re accompanying is a dangerous fugitive. We are charged with taking him back to our ship.”
Cessa turned her head slightly in my direction, giving me a view of her side. She smiled slightly.
“Him? Dangerous? You’re an amusing fellow now aren’t you?” She laughed at the two agents. I wanted to grab her by the shoulders and ask if she was insane. They were two highly trained operatives who no doubt were carrying weaponry, most likely plasma guns.
“Ma’am,” the man continued. “We are taking him. You can move out of our way, or you can stay where you are and we will arrest you for protecting a criminal. The choice is yours.”
I’m not sure if the agents noticed her the way I did in that moment. Without moving her entire body her feet shifted slowly, all her weight towards the front. Though her hand was on her sword hilt this whole time, I noticed her fingers clenching tightly against it. She was contracting herself like a locked spring, and I didn’t have to guess what was going to happen next.
“Oh I do love it when I get to make my own decisions!” With that she sprung, moving quickly towards the two of them. Both agents in well trained fashion
threw off their coats and reached for their guns. Neither of them took their eyes off Cessa as she approached. I tried to retreat back, but tripped over a crack in the street and landed on my ass. I was completely unprepared for what happened next. The two agents had their guns pointed at her, and I could see them pulling the trigger, but before they fired, Cessa spun sideways. Her sword came unsheathed and sliced through the man’s weapon just as she lifted up her right leg in a roundhouse kick that sent the other gun flying out of the woman’s hand. I don’t think the man even realized half of his gun was missing. For a split second after her blade cut, he stood there still pulling the trigger. By the time he noticed his gun wasn’t working, Cessa brought the hilt of her sword up and thrust it right into his forehead. He fell instantly, knocked out. The woman backed away to retreat, but Cessa dropped to the ground and swept her leg under the agent. She fell and her back smacked against the ground causing her to cough out a breath. I watched in astonishment as Cessa walked up to her prone body and placed her foot on top of the woman’s chest.
There was no warning, no last words. The two of them looked at each other, the woman fearful and Cessa victorious as she raised her sword straight up, intending on running it through the woman’s midsection. All at once my vision blurred and instead of me being in the alley with a sore ass, I was back in the small, familiar room staring at a lifeless body, fatal wounds on her chest with blood everywhere. I trembled.
No, this isn’t real. You’re not here right now. Snap out of it damn it, I thought to myself, and my vision returned me to the alley just before Cessa’s sword finished the job.
“Cessa! Stop!” I screamed as loud as I could. The blade stopped just short of piercing flesh and Cessa turned her venomous gaze toward me. I stood up and ran to her, just in case she made a second attempt at taking the woman’s life. People walking by in the streets turned their heads, wondering what all the commotion was. I assumed what they were thinking with two ESA agents on the ground and a messy looking man and swordswoman standing over them.
“What in hell’s wrath are you doing? Cessa asked furiously. “These agents are pursuing us, and that cannot be allowed. They must die!” She raised her sword up again.
“No! We are not killing them. Come on, we have to go! Someone is bound to contact security if they haven’t done so already. Let’s go!” I ran away and hoped she would follow me. My feet carried me to the other end of the alley. Just before I turned into the street I looked back and saw both agents were still alive, on the ground, but my eye detected movement from their chests. They were still breathing. I deactivated my eye and continued to run. Cessa followed behind me, her expression hateful, but I would deal with that later. We avoided the crowded tram station since guards regularly patrolled that area and headed for the port on foot.
We passed city streets, businesses, and retail shops until we saw nothing but green grass and a forest in the distance. In order to reach the docks we would have to run through Grand View Park. It’s so named because of its sheer size, almost taking up as much space as the city itself. If you walked along the path built into the forest you would find a lake filled with clean water and aquatic life. Likewise the forest held many of Earth’s forest animals. I was relieved knowing our route wouldn’t pass by the public walking grounds or the children’s play area. As we stepped onto the grass, there were less than a handful of people in sight.
Behind us was a different story, a story told by a barrage of footsteps and loud voices. I turned to look and saw six station security guards with an additional three ESA agents, one of them the woman from the alley despite the fact that I saved her life. Cessa took notice of her instantly.
“You idiot. If you would have allowed me to kill that girl we wouldn’t have so many people chasing us, if any!”
I didn’t respond, but instead tried to push my legs a little harder. In that moment I couldn’t help but feel that my entire life revolved around running away from something. Did that make me weak? Was I a coward? These were the things constantly crossing my mind, but in truth I felt that sometimes you need to run away to survive and that’s what this was about right now, survival.
“Stop or we will open fire!” I heard someone scream. I didn’t have to look back again to know they had their guns trained on us. I tried to remind myself that it’s hard to shoot at a moving target, even harder if both you and your target are moving, but throw in crowded forest with hundreds of trees to zigzag through, and your chance of hitting your target is slim. At least I hoped that was the case.
Only a minute passed before I heard the first shot. More followed, but I wasn’t hit. I didn’t chance looking for Cessa because I didn’t want to take my concentration off the path in front of me. Come to think of it, I wondered why I would even look to see if she was still with me. Wouldn’t I prefer to get her off my back and get off the station alone?
Splinters smacked into my back as I rounded a tree. Had it not been there the blast might have gone right through my skull. I shuddered at the thought and kept moving. The shots never stopped. A few more hit the trees I used as cover and some hit the ground behind me. It was only a matter of time before one went straight into my back.
Without warning thick drops of rain fell from the sky, followed by hail the size of a fingernail. Both clouded my vision and if I wasn’t running for my life I would have stopped to wonder what the hell was happening. Instead, I slowed my speed so I didn’t run face first into a tree. A noise to my left indicated someone was catching up to me. Cessa appeared and ran directly alongside me.
“Keep going,” she whispered loudly. “This weather is meant to help us.”
Erebos had influence over the weather control system? The man wasn’t kidding when he said he always got what he wanted. I couldn’t be ungrateful to him now as much as I wanted to be. Thanks to him we cleared the forest and were now on the outskirts of the park. I couldn’t see the docking office at all, but the elevator shaft lights acted as a beacon. My breaths were short and I couldn’t tell if it was sweat or rainwater streaming down my face. My clothes felt heavier the longer we were out in the rain. Finally the two of us ran under the archway blowing past a crowd of people who were no doubt wondering why the weather system had malfunctioned.
There was a large commotion from the way we came. Men were shouting and feet were scurrying.
“Where are they?!”
“I can’t see a damn thing!”
“Restrict elevator control!”
The elevator doors opened and a large man with a long beard stepped off, a bag of supplies hung over his shoulder. Cessa grabbed him by the shirt and yanked him past us and at the same time turning, unsheathing her sword, and slicing the rope that held his numerous items. As we stepped onto the elevator I saw countless trinkets, canisters, and more litter the ground.
“Who is that? Stop or we will open fire!” I heard the guards shout towards the noise. I never got a chance to see if they opened fire or not. I hoped the man was alright.
“Men are such pigs,” Cessa muttered. We were finally on our way up to my ship. I closed my eyes and counted the seconds as we climbed, hoping that the commotion was hindering the guards’ attempt to remotely halt our ascent. I could hear Cessa breathing heavily and stole a glance. Her hair was clinging to her head, drenched. The water caused her face to glisten. Her mouth was parted and her chest was rising and lowering. She was beautiful.
Hey down there, I thought to myself. She is an assassin, outwardly said she would kill you, and she almost sliced up two people only minutes ago!
My brain knocked some sense into me and I turned my concentration back towards escaping. The doors opened to the familiar docks I had left earlier and a wave of relief washed over me as I saw my ship. I took a deep breath and ran as fast as I could to her knowing it was only moments before the station would go into full lockdown, if it wasn’t already. People loading and unloading their ships stared at us as we ran by, but didn’t make any motion to stop us. Wh
en we reached the ship and stepped on the bay door, I laughed. Cessa and I both hunched over, putting our hands on our knees. I watched the drops of sweat and water hit the ground.
A quick survey of the room told me we had taken on some cargo. I wanted to ask Cessa about it, but out of the corner of my eye I saw the elevator open and the Galaxy guards racing towards us. I pointed towards the left side of the wall, where the large lever stood surrounded by a taped yellow border.
“Hit that! It will close the bay doors. I have to get to the bridge and get us out of here.”
I didn’t wait for her answer but hoped she heard me. I ran towards the ladder and climbed up into the main corridor. The ship vibrated and gears squealed as the bay door closed. I crashed right through the bridge door and leaned back into it to shut it. There was no time and Cessa would be heading this way.
“You sure do like to make an entrance sir,” Al said. Hearing his voice lowered my stress level from bat-shit crazy to only shit crazy.
“Al, there’s no time. Initiate passenger protocol and let’s get the Belle out of here before they lock us in.”
“Acknowledged.”
Passenger protocol was designed to protect Al from being discovered. Anyone who understood what he was capable of would try and take him for themselves. I could only imagine the kind of damage someone like King or Erebos could do with Al. So for the duration of the protocol, he would keep quiet when any passenger was within a certain distance of the bridge and the only way I could communicate with him was by messaging him through the computer terminal.
The engines roared and the screen in front of me read: BAY DOORS SEALED. ENGINES ONLINE.
I set my coordinates for the Space Port doors and sent my authorized code to the signal tower, indicating I was departing. As the ship soared through the docks the doors opened, indicator lights flashing around them. The Belle flew back into the vast reach of outer space and we were free from the station.
Energize (From the Logs of Daniel Quinn Book 1) Page 5