by Attard, Ryan
“What’s this?” he asked, taking the envelope and peeling it open. Inside, he found a cheque made out to his name. Nick took it out, counted the zeroes and let out a soft whistle.
“Your paycheck,” she replied.
“Damn. The government does pay well, after all.”
“Only in some sectors.”
The waiter appeared again, this time to bring their orders—a seafood salad with a side of caviar for her, while Nick, on the other hand, had selected the largest lobster in the tank and ordered it stuffed with the Chef’s speciality. Without a word to one another, they dug into their food, and the conversation stilted.
“I have nightmares,” Nick said, after a few minutes of silence. “About when I connected with the… you know…”
She nodded. “What kind of nightmares?”
He dropped an empty lobster claw on his plate. “Monsters from space coming over. People killing each other. Death, destruction. I feel the same kind of dread as if I’m constantly walking on the edge of a cliff, waiting for the moment I slip up and fall.” He looked directly into her beautiful cold eyes. “I meant what I told you guys on that island.”
Excalibur smiled. “That we should go screw ourselves?”
“Well, yeah,” Nick replied. “I mean, not you. Just Briggs. He’s nuts.”
“Yet, you were the one yelling at a moving car,” she pointed out.
“Okay, I’m insane too,” he said. “But I’m also charming, so that makes it all right.” Nick let out a heavy sigh. “I meant the part where using that sort of technology is dangerous.”
She shrugged. “Nothing either one of us can do now, not even Briggs. It’s completely out of our hands.”
Their conversation was interrupted when the wait staff arrived to clean away their dishes.
“That was a nice treat,” Excalibur said, changing the subject. She sipped her wine. “I’m glad I asked you out, Professor.”
Nick smiled nervously. “I’m still not sure how well this date is going. Or if it is a date at all.”
She smiled and opened her purse again. “Maybe this will convince you,” she said, sliding across a keycard.
“What’s that?”
“A key to my suite upstairs,” she replied coyly.
“Huh?”
“You know, for a supposed player, you’re very slow on the uptake,” she said playfully. “This is my first vacation in three years, ever since I took up the codename Excalibur, in fact. And I happen to find you very attractive.” She smiled seductively. “Not to mention the fact that you did promise we’d spend some time together in a fancy hotel in Florida once we were done. So, Nick Solomon, are you a man of your word?”
Nick swallowed hard. He tentatively slid his hand forwards, brushing against hers and their fingers intertwined together.
“I didn’t think you’d actually go for it,” he said.
She rolled her eyes and they seemed to twinkle as she smiled. “What can I say, Solomon. You got to me. So, how about it?”
Nick stood up and, still holding her hand, helped Maddie out of her seat. He pressed her close to him and their lips met in a fiery kiss—the prelude to a long and passionate night.
He smiled at her. “I say, hell yeah.”
EPILOGUE
“The ashes of your existence will fertilize the soil for the universe to follow.”
— Richard Kadrey, Sandman Slim
Terraferma Habitable Colonial Space Station: Aurora. 3012.
After a long day of learning how to pilot star-craft and memorizing deep space navigation algorithms, most cadets would simply be too exhausted to do anything but pass out at the Academy’s barracks.
Captain Lazar Solomon had just graduated mere weeks ago and already was given his rank. It was an honorary rank in recognition of his skills, but once he would enroll in an actual military division, it would become his official status. Even as a cadet, the Major who served as the Academy’s headmaster had assigned him to real combat missions. In the eyes of the Aurora’s military forces, he was an up-and-coming prodigy, a rare genius that came about once in a lifetime.
The nurse who found him abandoned back on Earth, just before the Event, had tried to help him with his mental recollection, but to no avail. Lazar had no memory of his past, just a series of flashes and a name clear as daylight: Solomon. They had assumed that was a family name, the first clue to discovering who this mysterious boy was. The nursing home had given him an official name, but Solomon much preferred his nickname.
Lazar was a moniker given to him by the Academy, once they saw him employ his favored tactic of playing possum to lure the enemy. He also had a knack for coming out unscathed from scenarios that were designed for failure, and often required technicians and programmers to redo the simulation algorithms all over again.
Ever since his first breath, Lazar Solomon felt different from everyone else: an alien, even amongst his people. He would often have visions or display feats which could be considered unnatural phenomena, and that was precisely why he always explored his abilities in the privacy of his quarters, all by himself.
Until that was no longer enough. The voices in his head grew louder by the day, compelling him towards a specific course of action.
Whatever the voices wanted, he knew he would find the answers in the Army’s archives, accessible only to personnel with the rank of Captain or above. So, in hopes of sating his strange curiosity, he snuck in a few weeks ago to access the data, and the information he found had left him staggering.
He saw it all, locked away in a databank inside an old-style wooden drawer: what he was, his nature, his memories, the voices, his abilities, the three space stations in orbit, and the Event which forever reshaped their home planet—it was all connected.
And it all led to one being in the entire galaxy: him.
Something had awakened inside him and it was like he had been reborn over the course of a few days. Lazar waited until the time was right—felt right—before springing into action.
It was the dead of night and the docks were devoid of life at this hour. He passed through locks and controls, all the way to the hanger where fourteen commercial, deep-space star ships sat as dead as outer space. He quickly selected the one best suited for his needs and hijacked it.
He took off without a second thought, guided only by his instincts, speeding towards a specific location: the Protosphere, a man-made protective barrier which served as a dome above all land on the space station.
Beyond that was outer space, and the uncertainty it brought. Few souls ever dared venture beyond the boundaries of their space stations, but Lazar knew there was nothing left for him on Aurora.
Whatever answers he sought were now among the stars.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ryan Attard is the author of the Legacy series, The Pandora Chronicles and Evil Plan Inc. When not tormenting his protagonists or ruling over his imaginary worlds, Ryan can be found within the confines of his house on
an island far, far away—either geeking out on a large variety of manga, TV shows, novels… the list is long.
Alternatively he could be found spewing his opinions and telling jokes on his podcast, The Lurking Voice Podcast, which can be found through his website and iTunes (although if you are easily offended you should definitely not listen).
He is also the kind of person who writes about himself in the third person.
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://ryanattard.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Enkousama
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