by D. A. Hicks
What would Tek and Ari think if they knew there was a way to kill immortals after all?
Captain Weston’s unit dropped in from the sky in under five minutes. In seconds, a swarm of QEC commandos seized the alley, barking orders and shoving me out of the way. I backed away toward the dumpster and watched as they processed the old man.
When they moved on to handle Ry, Captain Weston ordered them away. He picked her up in his arms and gently placed her in a body bag. With tears brimming his eyes, he fixed her hands over her chest. I knelt next to her and arranged her hair so it would frame her face. She looked so peaceful and beautiful, like a fallen angel.
He rose to his feet and nodded to his men. One of the commandos rammed his shoulder into mine and moved into position to load Ry’s body onto a gurney. With two QEC commandos guarding either side of the wheeled stretcher, they rolled her onto the pod and were gone in a blink.
An odd silence blanketed the alley. I hugged myself, rubbing my cold arms. My entire life had been turned upside down on this very spot. The surrounding buildings, plastered with soot and blue-green algae, loomed over us the same as before. Beyond the pier, boats swayed in the wind as they had earlier. Everything was as if nothing had ever happened.
How did we get here? Just a few hours ago, I’d been sailing on the bay, talking to Ry about boys and worrying about how I would survive three months in solitary. Captain Weston could punish me however he saw fit. I didn’t care, but this? This was too much. Ry didn’t deserve this. She didn’t deserve to die like a common human, a mortal.
I didn’t know how long I’d sat on the curb before Captain Weston tapped my shoulder. “Time to go.”
I nodded and stuck my hand in my pocket to feel Ry’s locket between my fingers. “Wait. The necklace is gone.”
“What?”
I rummaged through the small pocket again and then the others, but came back empty. Someone stole the chip. I turned to Captain Weston. “The locket Ry gave me with a chip in it. It was in my pocket. And now it’s gone.”
His eyes burned a bright purple. “Are you sure?” He took a step deeper into the alley.
“Yes, I’m sure.” I rubbed my temple, trying to remember what I’d done in the last half hour. “I need that chip. She wanted me to have it.”
“Lower your voice.” Captain Weston put up his hands as he glanced left and right. Cursing under his breath, he shrugged out of his jacket and draped it around my shoulders. “Come on. We have to go before someone sees you. We’ll take my pod.”
“She wanted me to have it.”
“I know. We’ll worry about that later. For now, we have to get you out of here.” He placed the silver, elongated bullet casing in my hand.
“Someone on this planet or ours has figured out how to kill immortals,” I said under my breath.
“Don’t ever repeat that again.” He seemed composed, and back in commando mode as he ushered me through the empty alley. “When we get back to the Epoch, you will be placed in solitary. You talk to no one but me. Do you understand?” His tone reminded me that he was still my captain. He’d given me a moment to deal with Ry’s murder, but now it was business as usual.
“Yes, sir. What about Ry’s utility vehicle and—” I swallowed. “—and my comm?”
His jaw clenched as he glanced upward. “This is why first-years are not allowed to download to the planet. My unit already took care of Ry’s car. Where’s your goddamn comm?”
“I left it hidden in someone’s side yard, inside a wooden crate.”
“For fuck’s sake.” He tapped on his wristband, and a hologram map of Wharf District popped up. “I’ll get someone I trust to fetch it. Show me where.”
I tapped on the location and chose not to mention that I had powered off the device. Captain Weston was right to be pissed at me. Asking Ry to bring me along on her mission had been childish and reckless on my part.
By the intense look in his eyes, Captain Weston already had a plan to deal with the aftermath of Ry’s death. The way he hovered near me as we darted back to his pod told me I was part of whatever scheme he had come up with.
9
You Really Are a Full-Time Job
Catita
Captain Weston’s pod was a smaller transport ship meant for only a handful of passengers. I sat next to him while he maneuvered the vessel past the blue sky and white, fluffy clouds. When we broke through, the now familiar black space greeted us.
What would happen to me now? How was I supposed to move on? More and more questions swirled around my head. I didn’t have an answer for any of them. Mainly because I didn’t want to imagine a life without Ry. I wasn’t ready for that.
Captain Weston’s pod though smaller, it was definitely faster than any of the freight ships. The twinkling lights of the Epoch appeared in the distance ten minutes after we broke the Earth’s atmo. As we got closer, Captain Weston bypassed the entrance to the cargo bay and flew us around and over to the top tier.
“Sir?” I shifted my body to face him.
“We have our own private access on tier twenty.” He shot a glance toward me. “As soon as we get in, I’ll walk you over to solitary. You’ll stay there until we decide what to do with you.”
“I didn’t do anything wrong.” Technically, I had left the mothership without permission, but at this point, did that even matter anymore?
“Without Ry to back your story, your little trip to the Old Planet looks bad. For all we know, you had direct involvement with the attack on the fields and Ry.”
“What?” I shifted my body to face him. “You were there. You know that’s not true. The old man shot Ry. He killed her.”
“There’s no telling how Lady Sonja will perceive this.” He released a breath. “I promised Ry I’d help you. Make no mistake, that’s the only reason why you’re even here.”
If Ry hadn’t begged Captain Weston to protect me, would he have left me down on the planet? I blinked away my tears. Even toward the end, Ry had been thinking about me and my safety.
His hands glided over the console as he pushed the hologram controls left and right. Up ahead, a door split open to reveal a narrow landing pad. The pod descended gently onto the platform, and then we were lowered into a large, empty room with sleek white walls and round windows. Of course, the captain had a private garage.
“Looks like Lady Sonja isn’t back yet.” He pointed across the way to another landing pad similar to the one we were on. “Come on.” He pressed a button on the console and the door on my side opened downward to create a ramp.
“Thank you for not leaving me stranded,” I said. Captains were not required to babysit first-years.
“Right.” He pushed himself off the chair and walked off the ship.
I followed him down a long corridor to the elevator bay. The supermax section of the ship was located on tier fifteen. He ushered me to a door and entered the code on the screen mounted outside the unit. My new accommodations consisted of a single cot, and a scratchy blanket in a six-by-six-foot cube of a room.
Captain Weston leaned on the threshold. “The panel will give you access to facilities.” He tapped on the screen and a toilet dropped out of the wall.
“Right.” Solitary was pretty much exactly what I thought it would be—crammed and isolated.
He furrowed his brows then stepped back into the corridor. “Where are you taking these men?”
I stalked over to the door to get a better look. A QEC commando from Ry’s unit had two soldiers in restraints. When the one man was shoved toward Captain Weston, he shook his head repeatedly, eyes wide and red from crying. I knew the feeling well. Being interrogated by the QEC was torture.
The commando holding them glared at me before he met Captain Weston’s gaze. “Sir, they’re being held for additional questioning, Lady Sonja’s orders. She believes they were involved in the fires.”
“Go on.” Captain Weston shut the door and effectively left me out of their conversation.
A c
ouple of beats later, the lights went out, and I was left staring into nothing. I tried not to dwell on the fact that this was going to be my life for the next twelve weeks. I pressed my ear to the wall, but I couldn’t make out what Captain Weston and the others were saying.
How did Lady Sonja find the perpetrators so fast? Of course, Lady Sonja would be in a hurry to figure out who’d given the locals vital insider information to mount such an attack on the Ukruum fields. But what about Ry? What was she planning to do about Ry’s murder?
The old man, Lee, was dead, but we both knew he wasn’t the brains behind the assault. Someone gave him drugs and a deadly weapon to kill an immortal. Could the commandos next to my cell have been involved in that too?
I sat on the cot and dropped my head in my hands. After what felt like several hours, the walls changed to a stark white again and illuminated the bunk. And so it began, switching between light and dark until I lost the ability to tell time. I rested my head on the pillow and brought my knees to my chest.
A ribbon of red smoke filtered through the air vent next to the bed. It hovered over the floor, but as more of the substance leaked in, the cloud started to rise. The citrus scent of it lingered in my nostrils. My throat closed off, and suddenly it was hard to breathe.
The point of solitary confinement was to teach us a lesson in obedience, not get us killed. What the hell was this? Coughing, I stalked away from the fog, and banged on the door. I pressed my nose to the seam along the threshold, but the room was sealed tight. The only oxygen coming in was through the vent oozing red haze. My eyes drooped closed as the room became murky and distant.
No one had ever mentioned that death by asphyxiation came with solitary confinement. I had to get out of here. But the only way out was through the front entrance, which only a QEC commando with the proper codes could open. Ry’s face floated in front of me, but I shoved the image aside. She couldn’t help me anymore.
I padded over to the small screen mounted on the wall and entered in a few number sequences. Of course, nothing happened. Now what? I swallowed and wheezed a bit of air. All systems were required to have some kind of override for emergencies. Suffocating gas definitely qualified as urgent.
I yanked at the blanket and scratched fibers off, balling them as I went. The room turned dark again, but I stayed focused on my fingers and the feel of the strands in my hands.
When I had enough material, I fished Ry’s bullet casing from the back pocket of my pants. My chest tightened at the sight of it. I swallowed back tears and rammed the casing against the plate on the door panel.
I ground metal against metal several times until my make-shift tinder ignited. The fire consumed the synthetic fibers faster than I’d thought it would, but I had enough of it to feed the flame while I carried it to the bed. By the smell of it, I was sure some of my own hair had made it into the mix. Within seconds, the sheets had caught fire and the small room filled with a different kind of smog.
To my relief, the smoke alarm went off immediately, along with a voice instructing me to evacuate the room, except the fucking door didn’t open. Who would want to do this to me?
Even if Captain Weston was right and Lady Sonja decided to accuse me of treason, she couldn’t just kill me like this, not without a trial anyway. I pressed my body against the wall as the flames on the mattress grew in size. Okay, that was a bad idea.
“Help.” I yelped, ramming my palm on the screen. A series of beeps echoed in my ears and then the door slid open.
“What the fuck?” Captain Weston blurted out in his usual angry tone.
He punched a code into the screen, then the pulled me out. As soon as I stepped out, the room shut down. A loud whooshing sound rattled the walls as the ship’s vent system vacuumed out the fire and hopefully whatever that red gas was.
“Sir.” I turned to face him.
“You really are a full-time job.” He rubbed the furrowed creases between his brows. “Why would you set your cell on fire? You could’ve died.”
“I know that. An agent was released into the room. I wanted to activate the emergency alarm.” I coughed, gasping for air. “But it didn’t work.”
“What?” He glared at me, shaking his head.
Why did he always assume I was lying? “I think it was deliberate.”
“Why would anyone want to kill you?” He marched to the unit next to mine and tapped on the panel.
When the door opened, red smoke rushed out onto the hallway. He darted inside, pulled the two men out, and initiated the emergency lockdown to flush out the smog. If I hadn’t dowloaded to Earth, I wouldn’t be in this mess. I kneeled next to one of the men to check his breathing.
“Is he dead?” Captain Weston asked.
“I think so.” My stomach churned with dread. What the hell was going on? First Ry, now a couple of uniforms? “Is this because they were accused of causing the fire out in the fields?”
“Of course not. We’re required to follow due process.” He raked a hand through his hair, as he glanced up and down the corridor. “Fuck. You’re going to have to come with me.” He gripped my arm and strode toward the stairwell.
He took long and quick strides. I had to practically run to keep up with him. “How did you know I was in trouble?”
“I didn’t. I came to see you for something else.” He released me. When I opened my mouth to ask why, he put up his hand. “Not a word until we get to where we’re going.”
He climbed down the stairs, while I chased after him. Twice, he stopped at the landing to make sure I was still following. Since we’d gotten back to the Epoch, he’d gone from treating me with deadly stares to impatient glares. Oddly enough, I considered that an improvement. When was the last time he had to play nice with a mortal?
When we reached tier ten, he opened the door and waited. My heart pumped hard as we darted across the bridge toward the storage facility where the fallen were kept. I wasn’t sure what to expect.
If we were on our way to Ry’s memorial service, then everyone would be there. Had Captain Weston been able to get a hold of Wela? I wiped my cheeks and fixed my hair and dirty uniform.
Captain Weston touched his palm to the door, and it retracted into the wall automatically. I hugged myself against the cold draft.
“There’s no one here.” My stomach sank, aching for Ry all over again. “I was sure we were here for Ry’s service.”
“No, that’s not happening.” He tapped on his wristband.
10
But Your Killer Hasn't Paid
Catita
“Ry deserves her memorial.”
Though rare, when immortals opted out of immortality, the City of Phoenicis would come together to honor them one last time. Seven days where every household in Phoenicis would line their windowsills with candles to celebrate how bright their light had burned when they were alive.
I pressed my lips together. None of it could bring Ry back. None of it could fill the void in my chest. But Ry had earned her place in the QEC, and she deserved to be celebrated one last time.
“I’m meeting Lady Sonja here. Stay out of sight until she leaves.”
“Just like that? She’s gone and everyone moves on?” I glanced up at the cavernous facility.
“Catita.” He exhaled toward the ceiling.
Something like an electric shock rushed through me when he said my name. He’d never called me by my name before. Ry had to remind him of it often, and still he could never get it right.
“Don’t make me regret bringing you with me. Do as I say.” He pointed toward the end of the room, where row after row of stacked shelves were piled with storage bins.
With long strides, he sauntered toward the entrance to meet Lady Sonja. “Bring her back.” Captain Weston’s deep voice echoed against the high walls.
“You know I can’t do that, Captain.” Lady Sonja strode to the middle of the room where the lights glowed a pale blue.
A small gasp escaped my lips, and I stalked back to t
he safety of the shelving units. Of course, I had to land in the middle of a clandestine meeting between two of the highest-ranking officers on the ship. I rubbed the hair on the nape of my neck. Lady Sonja’s presence always put me on edge. As one of the founders of Phoenicis, she had been around for over a century, same as Wela and Captain Weston.
What did all this mean to them? What happened to Ry was unprecedented, but more importantly, it meant someone out there wanted the immortal regime gone. Or at the very least, they wanted some sort of control over them.
I hadn’t forgotten how scared Captain Weston had been to touch the bullet that killed Ry. He was afraid it might eradicate the Ukruum virus, the thing that made him impossible to kill. Until now.
Lady Sonja had been in charge of security for a very long time. She had zero tolerance for any kind of transgression. Immortals were above all.
“Damn the protocol. How do you think Wela’s going to feel when she finds out?” Captain Weston asked.
“It’s done. I grow tired of Wela and her entire family thinking the law doesn’t apply to them.” Lady Sonja practically spat the words.
Captain Weston had been telling the truth when he said my presence here was an insult to Lady Sonja. But whatever was going on between Wela and Lady Sonja had nothing to do with Ry’s murder. Her death couldn’t go unpunished just because Lady Sonja and Wela didn’t see eye-to-eye on political issues. Whatever those might be.
“Wela is on her way to the Epoch. When she gets here, we need to have a very good explanation as to why her granddaughter is dead.” Captain Weston wasn’t at all phased by Lady Sonja’s commanding glare.
“What happened is quite obvious to me.” She dug her fingers into her hip and winced.
“You know what I mean.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Lieutenant Johns was killed with a military-grade weapon. One of ours has the ability to kill us at will.” Captain Weston raised his voice, all composure and pretense gone.