by Paul Tassi
Kyra nodded. “It’s nice to see you again,” she said, smiling weakly. She looked visibly ill, but she was now clad in a gray mesh exercise suit and at least no longer spattered with blood.
“I’ll call my father,” Finn Stoller said emphatically. “He’ll know what to do.”
“He could help,” Noah said, considering the idea. The man he’d spoken to indicated he wasn’t Fourth Order, but someone attempting to assassinate the Palace Keeper’s granddaughter was assuredly part of some antigovernment group. Perhaps Chancellor Stoller could be actually be of assistance; he hated such organizations with a passion.
“Just … hold on,” Erik said. “We can’t make any outgoing transmissions yet. They could have someone tracing them in the area.”
Kyra looked around nervously. “I already tried to reach my grandfather.”
“Did it connect?” Erik asked sharply. Kyra shook her head. “Then it should be fine, but hold off until we’re in the wormhole. Comms can’t be tracked there.”
Erik apparently had learned much through evading colony security to go on his little excursions.
Theta had barely said a word since Noah and Kyra showed up. Noah put a hand to his throbbing head as the Xalan shot sealing gel onto the plasma wound on his neck.
“Theta, what are you doing here? You’re going to Mark’s Mission?”
Noah had been surprised to see her onboard. Though she helped Erik arrange these escapes, she never went with him. Noah had half expected to see Erik’s newest fling Penza instead, but no one else was there except Finn and the young snow-white Xalan.
“Yes, I … very much enjoy … the gambling,” Theta said unconvincingly. She threw a worried look toward Erik who was talking with Kyra. Noah knew the obvious reason she’d want to spend time with his brother, but why would he agree to bring her along? He normally wouldn’t give her the time of day.
“Don’t worry,” said Finn, puffing his scrawny chest out from beneath his dress shirt. “You couldn’t be in a safer ship. This Shatterstar has military cloaking capabilities and the purest core in existence. Nearly 50 percent faster than anything the SDI has. Father made sure we had the first one in the world.”
A great use of the planet’s resources, Noah thought, though Stoller’s ego would actually serve them well in this case.
Finn left the room to take over for the autopilot, and Theta was attempting to console Kyra with her own brand of awkward bedside manner. Erik and Noah sat across a table from each other, with Noah downing a full pitcher of water. He still felt sick and hadn’t stopped shaking since he’d arrived.
“What do you make of this?” Erik asked him. “A colony guard? Those guys are supposed to be eternally, unflinchingly loyal. This is some serious shit.”
“I know,” Noah said, holding the glass pitcher against his burning forehead. “I don’t know who we can go to with this. I trust Tannon. Not sure about Stoller. We need to get ahold of Keeper Auran too.”
Erik shook his head.
“I don’t know. Guards are under Tannon’s command. And isn’t it convenient he’s off-world for this?”
Now it was Noah who was shaking his head.
“No way, the Watchman’s a hardass, but he’d never do something like this.”
Erik leaned back in his chair.
“Yeah, they said that about his sister too.”
Both of their gazes drifted toward Kyra. She’d finally stopped crying and Theta was showing her something on her wrist display.
“Why the hell is she so special?” Erik asked. “Who would go to this much trouble for a Keeper’s granddaughter?”
Noah simply stared at the pitcher on the table.
“I don’t know, but it’s not the first time, according to her,” he said. “The assassins … I’d never seen armor like that. Didn’t have time to search them for ID chips, though something tells me I wouldn’t have found any.”
Erik turned back toward Noah.
“How many did you kill?”
Noah paused, feeling sick again.
“Three. She killed two.”
“Was it … hard?”
Noah thought about that. The answer was no, which was perhaps the most frightening part of the whole night.
“Yes,” he lied.
“I wish I was there. To help.”
“Be glad you weren’t.”
Erik was silent for a minute. He kept fidgeting in his chair and checking the ship’s readouts.
“You look like hell,” he finally said. “The two of you should just hit cryo until we get to Deca Quadrant. The Mission is a good place to disappear for a while, and we can figure all this out.”
Noah wasn’t sure if he’d ever be able to sleep again, but he nodded. He’d call Sakai in the morning and let her know what was going on.
“I’m glad you came,” Erik said. “This trip wouldn’t be the same without you. It’ll be one to remember.”
Noah could hardly believe Erik was still thinking about girls and gambling right now. But that was Erik. Still, though, he was acting rather strangely.
Noah led Kyra down to the lower decks where a row of exceptionally spacious cryogenic pods was spread out. She looked like she was about to collapse, which was how he felt. The door opened to her pod. She brushed the dark hair out of her eyes.
“Thank you,” she said to Noah. “I would have died if you hadn’t come.”
“Thank Kyneth,” Noah said. “He must have sent me.”
In truth, Noah was rather irritated with the gods at present, but he supposed they had spared the pair of them.
“I’m not going to be able to sleep,” she said, echoing his earlier thoughts.
“You will,” he said. “The intravenous compound will see to that. It’s what we need right now. And we’ll be safe here. We’ll figure all this out.”
Kyra lay down in her pod, and tubing began to sprout from the walls and snake its way into her veins. Liquid slid quickly up the piping into her arms, legs, and torso.
“I’m sorry to have dragged you into this,” she said.
“We’ll figure it out together,” Noah said, as he began to close the pod door. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
But she was already asleep as the door hissed shut. He lay down in his own chamber next to hers, and soon liquid peace was flowing through his veins. The world drifted away, as did the images of ravaged corpses and crushed skulls. Everything faded to white until only one word remained.
Dubai.
There were no flames in his dreams. Only oceans.
6
Noah woke from the chamber groggily, his head swimming from the cocktail of drugs that had kept him under for the night. The lights blinked on inside the pod and he glanced around the cavernous interior, briefly imagining the events of the previous night had been a bad dream. But no such luck.
Electrodes attached to his muscles had given him a workout while he slept, and reaching up to feel his face, he found the luxury pod had even given him a fresh shave for the morning.
Rich people, he thought as he tapped the controls of the pod and the door slid open. He stumbled a bit as he rose, but regained his footing and glanced down at Kyra’s pod next to him. It was still closed. He’d let her sleep a little more. Gods knew she needed it.
Noah stretched and wandered toward the bridge where he figured he’d find at least one of the three other passengers.
Instead, he found an empty room, lights dimmed and the viewscreen shuttered by metal blinds. A pang of fear started to twitch within him.
“Hello?” he called out. Already thinking of the worst-case scenario, he wondered where Erik had put the weapons.
His stomach unknotted itself when Erik strode into the room and raised the lights.
“Christ,” Noah said, conditioned to use an old English profanity when surprised. He breathed out a huge sigh. “I thought something had happened.”
Erik walked past him toward the central captain’s chair and sat down. Finn and The
ta also entered through the doorway. All of them looked eerily solemn, even the normally hyperactive Stoller.
“There’s something I need to tell you,” Erik said slowly, turning slightly in the chair.
Oh gods, Noah thought. Was something wrong with Kyra? Her pod readouts had looked fine. What was—
“Or rather, show you,” Erik continued, interrupting Noah’s panicked thoughts.
Erik swirled his hand around inside a control cluster. The shades of the viewscreen began to open. When they had disappeared completely, Noah’s jaw hung open, his heart racing.
After being frozen in place for a solid minute, he lunged at Erik, grabbed his brother by the collar, and threw him out of the chair onto the ground. For once, Erik didn’t fight back. He knew he had no right to.
“Tell me that isn’t what I think it is!” Noah shouted. “Tell me you’re not this stupid!”
Finn cringed as Noah slammed Erik down again on the metal floor. Theta put her claw to her mouth, but neither intervened. Noah got up and shoved Erik backward; he stumbled into a holotable and steadied himself.
Noah turned to look at the planet in the viewscreen.
Earth.
Alpha’s Earth, the one he’d shown them with budding oceans and lakes and bizarrely shaped continents that looked nothing like the old archive images.
“How long have I been out?”
Erik was smoothing the wrinkles in his clothes. His hair was longer, Noah now noticed.
“Three months. The Shatterstar’s new core got us here incredibly f—”
Noah didn’t wait for him to finish, he ran over and grabbed Erik by the throat, bending him backward over the holotable. His blood was molten. Three months? He was supposed to be in cryo for twelve hours at the most.
“Noah, stop, please,” Theta had finally found her voice. Noah looked up at her.
“And you, you knew about this?”
It dawned on him.
“This is why you came …”
“I-I navigated us here. I ensured the ship could not be traced by its owner, High Chancellor Stoller, or the SDI.”
“My father wouldn’t exactly approve of this little excursion,” said Finn in an irksome tone.
Noah wrenched Erik up and let him go. Erik coughed violently as his throat unconstricted.
“Why are we here?” bellowed Noah, far from the usual soft-spoken individual who was everyone’s friend at the colony. His mind raced to try and comprehend the insanity he was seeing and hearing.
“Don’t worry,” Erik said, regaining the ability to speak. “Kyra will be safe. There are no assassins out here, I’ll tell you that much.”
Noah looked at the ravaged planet slowly rotating in the viewscreen.
“No assassins? What about the Xalans? Or have you forgotten who we’re currently fighting a war against?”
“The ship is cloaked, we don’t need to—” Finn began.
“I was not talking to you!” Noah snapped, and Finn closed his mouth and took a few steps back.
“Now, I’ll ask you again,” Noah said slowly, his hand again attached to Erik’s collar. “Why are we here?”
Erik remained silent and glanced toward the viewscreen. On the planet, one red dot was pulsing, somewhere a few thousand miles north of the planet’s equator.
Noah let Erik go and walked toward the display. He swept his hands out in an arc, zooming in on the point. His heart stopped when he read the identifier.
Dubai.
After catching his breath, Noah turned back around.
“We need to talk,” he said, jamming a finger into Erik’s chest. “Now.”
The pair of them retreated to a small storage bay filled with a collection of oddly shaped boxes and janitorial supplies. Erik rubbed his neck where a distinct red handprint had formed.
“Don’t blame them,” Erik said. “I needed Stoller’s ship and Finn’s just trying to prove to his father he’s a man, which he probably never will. I brought Theta to make us untraceable, and she wanted to come to impress her parents by investigating the planet’s climate shift.”
“I don’t blame them,” Noah said coldly, resisting the urge to choke his brother again. “I blame you.”
“Look,” Erik said, rolling his eyes, “don’t you ever get tired of being cooped up in the colony cage? This was supposed to be an adventure for both of us. That’s why I wanted you to come.”
Noah gritted his teeth.
“You didn’t say you were going to Earth.”
“Well, if I had, you would have ratted me out the first chance you got, ‘for my own safety,’” Erik replied. Noah knew that was true, but didn’t acknowledge it.
“I know that isn’t why you came,” Noah said. “I know about Dubai.”
The look of surprise on Erik’s face was obvious, and it took him a second to respond.
“How?”
“I hear it,” Noah said. “In my sleep, during prayer. I didn’t know what it was until now. Some old Earth city. You’ve obviously heard it too. What does it mean?”
Erik shook his head.
“Hell if I know. Once I learned what it was, I can’t explain it—it’s like I was pulled here. I had to come. I didn’t have a choice.”
“You had a choice,” Noah said. “And you’ve endangered the lives of three innocent people in the process.”
Erik waved him off. “Theta and Finn agreed to come, they know the risks.”
“They know the risks?” Noah asked. “Theta is practically a child, Finn is a spoiled prat who doesn’t belong anywhere near a warzone. And Kyra didn’t sign up for any of this.”
“Well, I didn’t sign up for Kyra,” Erik said, crossing his arms. “This plan was in motion months ago, and what was I going to do, drop the girl being hunted off at the nearest space station? Whatever is chasing her won’t find her here.”
“Gods Erik, have you even thought about what you’ve done?” Noah said. “Sora will be losing their minds over this. We’re two of the most recognizable people on the planet, not to mention the fact that you’ve essentially kidnapped the High Chancellor’s son. And the colony, Sakai …”
“I left word for Sakai that you were safe, but would be gone for quite a while. I also got in touch with Keeper Auran to tell him about Kyra’s attack so he can investigate while we’re away.”
“Give me access to the comm relay, now.”
Erik shook his head.
“Can’t. Theta’s got us in permanent lockdown now that we’re here. No communications in or out so no one can come haul us back.”
“I’m going to be the one hauling us back,” Noah said emphatically. “We’re turning this ship around.”
“We’re not,” Erik said, “and you know it.”
Dubai.
The voice was clear now, and he was fully awake. Noah jumped like a specter had just whispered in his ear. He knew they should leave. But he wanted to land. He wanted nothing else but to land in that damn city. The pull. He could feel it now. He tried to speak, but saw Erik had the same look on his face. He’d clearly just heard the same thing.
“We’re going. I’ll leave it to you to explain things to Sleeping Beauty,” Erik said as he stood up from the crate where he’d been sitting. Noah was still at a loss for words.
“It’s not like she has anywhere to be.”
Noah’s head was reeling as he sat alone in the storage bay, leaning back against the cold metal wall. He didn’t feel like facing Kyra with this news. How did the old Earth adage go? Out of the frying plate, into the fire.
His brother had always been reckless, but this was a new level for him. A voyage to Earth? Only a few Soran and Xalan elite had even dared to return to the recently healing planet, and there was no telling what they’d find in Dubai. What was so significant about that place? It hadn’t come up in any Earth history they’d covered. But what had been discussed in class were the telepathic abilities of Chosen Shadows. The kind that could whisper in your mind. This felt like a
trap.
But still, for some reason, Noah couldn’t shake the feeling that he was supposed to be there. That despite the insanity of the situation, coming to Earth felt right. He couldn’t explain it any more than Erik could. He knew they should leave, but he had to stay.
Besides, wasn’t this what Noah had always wanted? He was sick of being trained to fight but not allowed to do so. The events at the White Spire had been horrifying, but strangely … liberating. Like he was finally doing what he was meant to do. Not the killing necessarily, but the fact that he’d rescued Kyra filled him with a sense of pride he hadn’t felt, well … ever.
Alpha had told them the Xalans and Sorans had come to Earth in recent years. Why had either gone there at all, if there wasn’t something of significance on the ruined planet? Had the call of Dubai somehow affected them as well? Could others hear it?
Noah sighed. He missed Sakai and wished she were there with him. She had to be beside herself with worry, and would never forgive Erik when they made it back. If they made it back. In truth, Noah realized, she was really the only thing he missed about Sora. Colony life had long grown dull, and he was too old and too healthy to be cooped up, unable to fight in a war that threatened to decide the fate of the entire galaxy. Perhaps on Earth he could make a difference. At the very least, he could now live up to what Lucas had asked of him all those years ago.
“Lead them.”
And finally, he would be looking out for his brother.
“Let’s see it, then,” Noah said to Finn, who was standing in front of a large, conspicuously blank metal wall. Outside the porthole across the room, they could see the cruiser was still orbiting Earth in a low-powered stealth mode. They were drifting through a debris field of what had once been a Xalan Sentinel, a remote observation station with the capability to deploy assault drones. This one had apparently been destroyed by a Soran infiltration fleet, and their scanners picked up three other similar debris clouds nearby, along with a few other unidentified objects deemed non-hostile. Few active or intact Sentinels were still in orbit, it seemed.
“Some of this stuff was harder to get than the ship itself,” Finn said proudly. He pressed a panel and the entire wall split in half, revealing an impressive display of military hardware. Before them were five sets of slim power armor, each some shade of gray or brown. Surprisingly, every body type present seemed to be represented in the line-up.