by Larkin, Matt
She found Knight and Phoebe engaged in a wrestling match in the dojo. By the look of it, they’d established rules for winning points. She had removed her Sentinel jacket and wore only an undershirt, and Knight had no shirt at all. They looked like a perfect pair of soldiers—toned, hard bodies, movements like predators. Funny, she supposed he had more in common with the Sentinels than he did with her. He was a warrior, albeit not one who shared their morality or sense of honor.
Phoebe got a hand under his leg and twisted, flinging him to the dojo mat. “You should just admit I belong on top,” she said, her voice broken by heavy panting.
Rachel cleared her throat.
At that, Phoebe sat up. “Yup, yup. Someone else wants to be on top, right now.”
“Knight, I need to see you.”
He rolled to his feet, then stalked over. Like a tiger. Shirtless, covered in sweat, it reminded her of another time they’d spent together, and she felt herself flush. There was no way. She was with David now. He’d be back, and she couldn’t afford a repeat of what had happened with Knight. It was the one time, only.
Of course, that wasn’t what his emotions said. He knew she could feel it, too. His face told it all. His eyes swept over her body, lingering on her hips. She tried to still the tremor that ran through her by spinning on her heel. “Come on.”
It didn’t work. Now she felt him watching her ass, and knowing she knew it.
From the irritation seeping across the dojo, Phoebe knew it, too. “Better luck next time, ninja boy!” Phoebe shouted as they left the room.
“You two seem to be getting close,” Rachel said.
“Not that close.” He fell into step beside her.
“You were half naked and sweaty.”
“Not as much fun as all naked and sweaty. We could …”
“I … can’t. Knight, please.”
He grabbed her and pushed her against the wall. His lips roughly brushed over hers and for a moment, she let him. His arms were so strong against her, holding her, his kiss deep. His emotions ran hot, and like any empath, she risked drowning in the feelings around her. He’d take her right here, against the wall, if she let him. And part of her wanted to.
“Please,” she moaned, pushing him away. “Please, Knight. I’m with Mac.”
He pulled away a few centimeters, still so close she could feel his hot breath, smell his sweat. “Fine,” he said after a moment, stepping back. “What do you want?”
God, that was the question, wasn’t it? She wanted David. She’d been dreaming of the life they could have together for years. Now she’d have the chance … Except his sense of duty had separated them again. And she had her own duty—mankind needed her to offer them the hope of salvation. A chance for unity. Once, she had thought the Ark might grant that, but it wasn’t enough. The Ark was a ship, and people could exploit that. She needed a symbol no one faction could possess.
Knight leaned close to her face again, his eyes boring into hers.
Rachel stammered, trying to push away, but found solid wall behind her. “I …” Focus, Rachel. If she allowed her resolve to weaken, Knight would … She shook her head. “I have a friend in the Seekers of Eden.”
“Who?”
Rachel blinked, trying to clear her mind, then wiggled free from him. She started walking down the hall, knowing Knight would follow. “They’ve been searching for the location of Eden. Really, even in the Days of Glory they were searching, but since the Vanishing they’ve become a bit more public.”
“Never heard of them.”
“The Redeemers consider their work blasphemy, and most people just think they’re—”
“Totally off rotation?” Knight chuckled. “Come on, Rachel. You really believe Eden even existed? That mankind came from some blue-green paradise world?”
“I think it existed. I doubt it was a paradise, but we had to come from somewhere, Knight. And my ship could show us the way back. I know I can find it, I just have to keep digging. These people have been looking for Eden for—”
“Centuries? Millennia? Does that tell you anything?”
“Do you know how annoying it is when you constantly interrupt me?”
He shook his head. “You’re the empath. I don’t sense other’s feelings.” He shrugged. “But, fine, I can agree Eden probably existed. It’s been lost since the Exodus. Maybe it’s gone. Otherwise, the Angels didn’t want us to find it.”
“I don’t care what they wanted!”
Knight quirked an eyebrow and she realized she’d shouted at him.
“Sorry. I’m trying to save us from that kind of thinking, Knight. I need your help.”
Knight sighed, then offered her his fake salute. “I’m here for you.”
She’d known he would be. It was nice to be able to count on some things. “Look, my friend on Ekron has data that might help me find Eden. They’ve been collecting findings for centuries—if I plug their data into the Ark, it should help me narrow down my search. I need you to go and meet with him. I’d go myself, but I …”
“You’re afraid to leave the Ark? Careful, Rachel. You’ve become awfully attached.”
She bit her lip. Had she? No. She was the captain. She had to protect the Ark. Half the holy universe would kill to get its hands on this ship. “His name is Thomas O’Malley. Will you go meet him?”
“Yeah.” He cocked his head. “Ekron? Isn’t that Phoebe’s homeworld?”
Was it? “It’s an ice planet in the Milky Way, so it could be.”
Knight nodded. She couldn’t read his emotions. At least he looked into her eyes. “Rachel, one thing. If the Angels did want to hide Eden from humanity, they must have had a reason. You might want to remember that.” He turned and left.
Rachel shook her head. He still didn’t understand, but it was all right. At least she could trust him.
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
November 16th
The ice planet Ekron lies in the Milky Way galaxy, well within the borders of the Mizraim Empire. While the Angels—and following the Vanishing, Laban Worlds—terraformed a number of planets, many retained their natural temperatures. This created an abundance of worlds rich in crystals and other natural resources, but forever caught in subzero cold. To harvest these resources, the Angels created Cold-worlders, commonly called Icies.
From orbit, Ekron looked like a gray-and-white rock. Knight had a hard time imagining what it was like down there. He’d seen pictures, of course—you didn’t go into a situation without recon. But Gehenna never had snow, and a whole planet covered in ice boggled his mind.
“Time to go, big guy,” Phoebe said.
She’d insisted on coming along—it was her planet, after all. Just as well. He couldn’t fly either of the shuttles David had left them. He’d have figured it out, of course. But now he didn’t need to.
He followed Phoebe down to the hangar, and sat beside her while she started up the engines.
“When was the last time you were home?” he asked.
“Eighteen months, almost. I had leave just before I was assigned to the Logos, so I came to see my parents. They moved back here when I went to the Academy.” She eased the shuttle out of the hangar.
Knight stared out the smart glass at the Ark above them. From outside, it was even more impressive. Massive, jet black, and reflective. Like a mirror into space, so sleek you could almost miss the edges if you weren’t looking right at them. It’d make great camouflage. The Ark had wings, too, like an Angel. A shimmering Angel of the night.
He turned back to the icy planet below. “Your family left this place?” Then why ever come back here? Who would choose a world like this—or Gehenna—when they could live in a place like New Rome? One day, he’d see it. When this was done he’d be rich and maybe live there himself. Clean air, crystal blue waters. Paradise.
“Yup, yup. We moved to a Norm world when I was thirteen. Not too far from here. They thought we’d get better educations—you know, like Norm schools were superi
or or something. Like we couldn’t get all the information in the universe through the Mazzaroth. But they wanted the best for us.”
Must have been nice. Parents who cared about that kind of thing. “You and your siblings?”
“Yup, yup. Me and my bros—Cold-Worlder kids on a Norm planet. Pale as ice and hot as fire.”
She was hot. When they wrestled, her body felt almost scorching. Amazing what a difference a few extra degrees of body heat made. It made him never want to break contact with her skin. “They gave you Icies a hard time there, huh?”
“Have I mentioned I don’t like that term?”
He shrugged. “You might have.”
“So you should probably stop using it.”
“You should make me.”
“Expect me to.”
“I will.” He found himself smiling, just a little.
“How about you?” she said, at last. “How many Knight bros and sisters?”
He shook his head.
“What? None?” She looked at him askance. “You’re an only child? Really?” She stared into his eyes, and he knew his face must look dark. “Aw, does somebody need a hug?”
“I don’t need a hug.”
“I think you do.”
“I’m a professional assassin raised from birth to be a killer. I don’t need a damn hug!” He didn’t speak for a moment. He had no reason to tell her anything. But she was so … her. And oddly, he found it easy to talk to her. Hadrian and Rachel, the only friends he’d ever had, had been like that. So could she be … he snickered to himself. Making friends all over the holy universe these days, wasn’t he? “My parents died when I was young. No chance for other kids.”
She blew out a long breath. “Oops. Verbal misstep on my part. David always says my mouth will get me into trouble.”
“What have you been doing with it?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?”
Yeah, he would. She did have a tight body and an ass that made him want to grab hold. He might have accidentally done so once or twice while wrestling.
Phoebe clucked her tongue. “One of my brothers was on Hazaroth with me. It’s the Sentinel training world. Very harsh world, like yours. Extreme cold in places, volcanic wastes, jagged mountains. The base is in an orbital habit.” She paused, her voice sounding far away. “It’s a ringed world, you know, ice particles.”
“Must have made you feel at home.”
“Nah. Up there, in the black, it’s a whole other thing. Ever done a spacewalk?”
Knight shook his head. His zero-G experiences on the Logos were the closest he’d ever come to that. The feeling of weightlessness had unsettled him more than he wanted her to know.
“Sentinels have to. All of us, but especially officers. The uniforms are black on black because we walk through darkness to protect the light. We guard humanity against threats without and within—you know. It means I’m basically a hero and you should probably worship at my feet, but there’ll be time for that later.”
He chuckled.
“Aaron—my brother—we were on a spacewalk out by the rings. It’s supposed to be dangerous, teach us fear and respect for the black. Void, I don’t know, I guess it does.”
Knight folded his arms. He didn’t have to be an empath to see she was upset. But he wasn’t good with people. What was he supposed to say?
“Aaron’s suit ruptured. I tried to get to him, past the rings, but he was falling … By the time they got his body it was … I, uh … I kind of hate the black, you know? The vacuum. It’s about the worst way to die you can imagine. Your eyes freeze and your lungs …”
Knight patted her on the shoulder. “Yeah. I know what spacing does to a body.” If Rachel was here, she’d know what to say. None of his training involved this stuff. People died. You just pushed it down.
“You’re probably wondering why I stayed in the Sentinels, huh?”
Well, not really, but he nodded anyway. It seemed to be what she expected.
“Yup, Phoebe’s a glutton for punishment, right? But I owed it to him, to Aaron. We joined together, we promised we were going to make it. I couldn’t exactly walk away.”
“You could have.” Knight had never had the choice to walk away. If she’d kept herself in the Sentinels, it was by her own choice.
“Nah. Maybe you wouldn’t understand.”
“Maybe not. So it was pride, keeping you up in space when you’re scared of it? Explains your attitude, I guess.” The way she always looked everyone right in the eye, like everything was a challenge.
“My attitude? Yeah, fuck you, Knight.”
“Might want to set the autopilot first. We’d need a bit of time.”
She glared at him for a moment, then slapped something on the console. Autopilot Engaged flashed on the screen, and the shuttle swept into a geosynchronous orbit. And she stared at him with a raised eyebrow.
Knight burst out laughing. He couldn’t help it. The girl had some panache, he’d give her that. In some way, she reminded him of Shirin. A thought that sobered him. Shirin had died protecting him. And all he had left of her was a pair of cracked holo glasses inside his coat.
“Sorry about your brother.”
She shrugged and resumed control of the ship. “Some other time, then, blondie. And for your information, life was never easy on a Norm world, not for an Icie. Do you have any idea how sick I was of hearing that every day?”
Right. Whatever. She got picked on as a child. “When I was thirteen I was being trained as Gibborim. Tortured to teach me to withstand pain. Kept awake for days on end to teach me endurance. I guess that’s similar.”
Phoebe clucked her tongue. “Ooookay, then. Time to bring us in for a landing.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
Some of these Cold-worlders, such as our own Phoebe Dana, resent the nickname “Icie,” although I’ve met others who embrace it. The Cold-worlders have a body temperature several degrees higher than Norms and other Races. They are extremely resilient against the cold, but do not tolerate heat as well.
Ekron was a world deep in the Mizraim Empire, and it showed. The spaceport was thick with transports, mining vessels, and travelers. Knight doubted tourists came to the frozen planet, but plenty of other people seemed to. Merchants and their security, he supposed.
Sunlight reflected off the ice all around them, shimmering like an endless sea of diamonds while they landed. The sparkle stung his eyes the moment they stepped outside. A freezing wind whipped around them and suddenly his nanomesh long coat didn’t seem sufficient.
Outside, a company of Shiza Security passed by, escorting a hover pad carrying some unmarked cargo. Knight had read about the megacorp. It never hurt to study potential threats. Shiza Security were the most famous mercenaries in the universe. Which meant, knowing Rachel, he’d probably wind up having to kill some of them one day.
Phoebe handed him a parka from a storage locker. “Suit up, big guy. This place can be a bit nippy.”
Knight did as she bade, then followed Phoebe down the path away from the shuttle. It was a long walk toward the city proper, and it gave him plenty of time to take in Ekron City. From a distance, it looked to be formed from ice, though his research said most of the city was actually carved from an opaque crystal native to the planet. Smart glass could be seamlessly fitted into the walls, so you never knew when someone was looking through a window at you. Unnerving.
But beautiful. Light glittered off every peak, every tower—a radiance to challenge heaven itself.
“God, has he been rendered speechless after all?” Phoebe said, and he realized she was staring at him.
“Nice place.” Was that the best he could come up with? Still, nothing better came to mind.
Phoebe laughed, the sound rich and warm in the cold air. “Yeah, my own ball of ice. Come on, I want to see my parents while we’re here. God only knows when I’ll get another chance.”
Knight glowered a bit. Rachel had sent them on a mission. A mission she claim
ed would affect the fate of the human race. Of course, Rachel always seemed to say that. But still, what the void what he supposed to say to this girl’s parents?
Nevertheless, there was no point in denying her. It was true what she said—they might not be back here for a long time. Given Rachel’s penchant for stirring up everyone she came into contact with, they’d probably be running for their lives again soon.
So he said nothing, just followed her through the too-bright streets, wrapping his parka tighter against a chill that seemed to have no effect on Phoebe. Icies. Huh.
His muscles twitched. Wrapped so tightly in this blanket-jacket, he could hardly fight. Even getting to his throwing knives would be tough. He’d have to shed the parka first. Not a good position. Of course, he had the pulse pistol Phoebe had given him. He could use a firearm, but they weren’t his specialty. So little use for them on Gehenna.
Pity MAGs seemed to work fine in the rest of the universe.
While ice caked most of the city, including the buildings, the main streets and sidewalks had been cleared. They seemed to radiate a faint heat, so he supposed they were kept too warm for ice to form. These people had adapted perfectly to the frozen world.
From the corner of his eye, he kept catching glimpses of someone following them. He couldn’t turn around—it would give them away. Instead, he lingered a half step behind Phoebe, trying to catch their pursuer’s reflection.
All he could make out was a man in a parka, though. Just another Icie on a planet full of them.
“Does Jericho have a presence here?” he asked.
“Not really, why?”
It was possible the man was just heading the same way they were. Easiest way to know for sure would be if he followed them inside a building.
Knight shrugged. “Jericho has been hunting Rachel for weeks. Just keep an eye out.”
“Yup, yup. I’m always on the watch for trouble. I was born to find trouble. I could find trouble on a barren asteroid. And if there wasn’t trouble there, I’d make some.”